《Revolt against the Heavens》


 Chapter 1: The fateful night

    In the courtyard of the Cao family estate, two young boys were fighting on a ring before the eyes of the main members of the family.


    One of them was Cao Yun, a 15-year-old boy, with silky long black hair. He was not especially muscular in his azure robe, yet he still exuded an aura of strength. He was fighting another member of his family, a much more muscular 16-year-old boy with very similar hair and fiery eyes. Their fight was very impressive. Each one was at turn launching a strike and at turn parrying an assault. Every time their fists and limbs collided, shock waves were sent around them, blasting away some dust.


    Watching them was Cao Beiwen, the patriarch of the family, a very old man with white hair and beard. He was sitting on a platform, a little higher than everyone else. He had celebrated his 213th birthday a few days ago and this fight was the last round of a tournament held at this occasion. Cao Beiwen was a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    The two boys were only 3rd-grade Mortals.


    In this world, sentient beings could cultivate immortality by cultivating their life energy, the Qi. The main system of cultivation consisted of 9 ranks, each one subdivided in 9 grades. The first three ranks were Mortals, Mortal Warrior and Spirit Warrior. A Spirit Warrior could manifest his Qi outside of his body, allowing for fantastical martial arts. But Mortals could still perform impressive feats, and the two boys fighting on the ring were living proof of this statement.


    Cao Yun was a year younger than his opponent, but he had already fought and won against fighters older than him. One time, he even was able to strike a draw with a 4th-grade Mortal, a fighter one grade above him. It impressed everyone, including his great-grandfather, the patriarch Cao Beiwen.


    Cao Yun breathed in and relaxed. He was ready to launch a final strike, too tired to fight any longer. His opponent did not fare any better and understood him. He too relaxed and got ready for the final assault.


    In the audience, a middle-aged woman with light hair had a tinge of anxiety in the eyes while staring at the ring. She was Cao Shui, the mother of Cao Yun. She knew her son wanted to impress everyone here, especially the patriarch. For he wanted to help his father strengthen his position in the family. She was worried because she knew he would go to his limits and beyond and was afraid he could hurt himself. She knew how hard he trained himself. Of course she was very proud of him, but she could not quiet down her worries.


    Cao Yun pounced like a wild tiger toward his opponent. He punched with his left arm. The punch was blocked and his arm caught. Cao Yun followed with a kick right in the knee of his target who lost balance. His right arm was then free to break the hold on his left one. With both arms freed, he punched at the same time to the head and the torso. His opponent stopped the punch to his head but was hit in the ribs. When he finally tried to retaliate, Cao Yun used his other leg and swept him off his feet before striking him with his heel coming like a hammer from above.


    Cao Yun had just won and he collapsed, sitting on the ground with a heavy breath.


    As soon as his victory was announced, Cao Shui appeared at his side as if by magic. She placed her palms on his back. Cao Yun felt a warm sensation spreading from his mother''s hands toward his entire body. A surge of Qi alleviated his fatigue in a matter of seconds. His mother was a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior, impressive cultivation for someone who married in the Cao family with no background whatsoever.


    The hearty laugh of Cao Beiwen could be heard in the whole courtyard.


    "Good! Very good! With this kind of fighters, the future of our Cao family is assured. In a matter of years, the young ones won''t even need me. Ha! Ha! Ha! Good!"


    Upon these words, drums were heard and a banquet was put together for every one to enjoy.


    Many members of the family came to congratulate Cao Yun. His cultivation was pretty good for his age, but what was really impressive was his fighting abilities. He could battle people with better cultivation, better physique, and even slightly older and more experienced fighters.


    His father, Cao Guang was also a very popular man in the family. He was 45 and yet had reached the 7th-grade of Mortal Warrior. He was very close to becoming a Spirit Warrior. The patriarch was slow when he was young and only managed this breakthrough when he was at least 90, twice as old as this grandson of his. Cao Guang was not present at this event, precisely because he was attempting to breakthrough from the 7th-grade Mortal Warrior directly to 1st-grade Spirit Warrior.


    As a matter of fact, the last three levels of Mortal Warrior had to be broken through successively to achieve the Spirit Warrior rank. That was one of the most difficult Tribulation in the early ranks of cultivation. It could take months of isolated practice and meditation. And even for the birthday of the patriarch nobody dared to disturb him in this crucial phase.


    Cao Yun finally freed himself from all the young members of the family and walked toward a very young girl. She seemed shy and intimidated by all these persons. But when she looked up and saw this familiar face, her smile got bright.


    "Older brother, do you think that father will be successful this time?"


    "Little Huiying, do not worry. I heard him talk with mother. Even if he failed last time, he gained a lot of insights and grand-father even guided him.


    I''m sure he will soon get out with good news."


    "What are you both doing?!"


    A young man in his twenties spoke to the brother and sister. He really looked like Cao Yun but with a burly physique. Even though it was a festive occasion, he was still wearing an armor, with the symbol of the Cao family.


    "Big Brother Sheng, I am tired of all this attention, and little Huiying does not like to be in a crowd, let alone such an enthusiastic one."


    "Come one! You both need to enjoy this moment. I swear you will both remember it fondly. Little Yun, you could even strike it up with a lady."


    Cao Huiying blushed when hearing her older brother who was blinking very suggestively.


    "And you, little Huiying, you need to get out and speak with people. Everyone here is friendly enough. I know it''s hard for you, but I''m sure you won''t regret it. Please, listen to your big brother and enjoy yourself."


    Cao Huiying was still very shy, but she felt the warmth of this hearty older brother of hers.


    "Hmm..."


    She finally stood up, but still she only stayed close to her brother Cao Yun.


    After some hours, the patriarch finally made a speech. Everyone was listening carefully.


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    "Our Cao family is still young in this land, but with the young generation that we have, we are blessed with a bright future. I know the last years were difficult for you all, and I do not want to remind you of bad news at such a joyous event. But when these events come to your mind, remember the children you saw today! They will bring us to a new day. The Cao will thrive again, and we''ll be even more prosperous than before!"


    A loud round of applause erupted with joyous cheers.


    But suddenly, the loving face of Cao Beiwen darkened. He sent telepathic messages to the elders of the family who were present and the captain of the guards. Without hesitation, he leapt into the air and flew many meters above the estate. He had sensed a very potent killing intent and knew a disaster was coming. Upon his instructions, without a second delay, the guards gathered and protected the family members, especially the young ones.


    Cao Yun understood at once and saw his mother and older brother taking arms. He was holding the little Huiying who went from a happy smile to shaking from fear. The array formations protecting the estate were activated. These were some circuits using the Qi of nature to perform magical feats to defend the family. The light from the arrays engulfed the entire courtyard and a barrier of light cut it from the outside world.


    Just before the barrier closed itself, a blade flew toward the patriarch. He saw it at the last moment and was able to repel it. The fight had begun.


    Several figures clad entirely in black assaulted the barrier. It was pretty late in the evening and although light emanated from the barrier, it was difficult to make out their faces. The Cao family lived pretty far from the nearest city, so no one could witness what was transpiring here.


    Cao Sheng went to Cao Yun and Cao Huiying.


    "Go hide inside!"


    Cao Yun was about to say something.


    "I''m not kidding! This blade should be from a Spirit Warrior. You have no place here! Obey me!"


    Cao Sheng''s face was usually very kind, and he was ready to laugh at any moment. But in this instant, he was all serious. Cao Yun was proud but not stupid, even though he was a big deal in his generation, he was useless in a fight of this magnitude. He took his little sister and ran inside, as did many young members of the Cao family.


    From the inside, he heard the soldiers preparing for battle. They all knew the array formations would not hold forever. And indeed, it took at least 40 minutes, but the barrier was breached.


    A breath of fire was sent toward the main courtyard. Cao Beiwen stopped it with a single gesture. The flames literally froze.


    The ice then exploded and was sent against the invaders. The weaker ones were pierced through and died. A figure flew toward the patriarch and began the fight. Only a 3rd-grade Spirit Warrior or higher could fly. He was able to keep his ground against Cao Beiwen which meant he should be a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    But his weapon was strange. It was a curved sword with a dark red blade. It seemed like it was covered in fresh blood who would never dry. If a weaker cultivator watched it for too long, they would hear the cries and lamentations of the people murdered by this blade.


    On the ground, the fight was as intense as in the air. Alas, the Cao family was outnumbered and outmatched. The invaders knew the strength of their prey. And they prepared adequately.


    A small group of them went toward a side wing. It was the isolation pavilion, where Cao Guang was meditating to breakthrough into becoming a Spirit Warrior. Seeing this, Cao Shui sliced many invaders on her way and moved as fast as the wind to stop them. She put her body between them and her husband.


    The fight kept on going for almost an hour. The Cao family was taking serious damage but they kept on fighting and killing the enemy. Even if they were to fail, they would kill as many of them as they could. And they were not ready to accept a failure yet.


    Cao Shui was bleeding profusely, and before her, tens of corpses were amassed. She seemed very soft when in reality she was a tigress ready to protect the family she was accepted in. Alas, due to her fatigue, an invader was able to enter the isolation wing. Cao Shui was terrified. During his attempt of a breakthrough, she knew her husband was powerless to protect himself. She tried to run in, but was attacked in the back and had to defend herself. As she feared for the worst, the pavilion exploded from the inside and the corpse of the invader flew in the air. When he touched the ground, there was nothing left of him.


    An unkempt man came out of the pavilion.


    "Dear, were you successful?"


    The man answered.


    "Just barely... Now, let''s tidy up this mess."


    He looked at the invaders attacking his wife. They saw a monster in his eyes and the fear engulfed them. One of them even died on the spot, his heart just stopped beating. In a flash, Cao Guang appeared beside his wife and with a punch, turned all these men into a mist of blood. The power of a Spirit Warrior was way beyond what a Mortal Warrior could endure.


    He joined the battle with his wife and they almost turned the tide. But alas, a huge thunder struck down from the heavens and the lifeless body of Cao Beiwen collapsed on the floor. His opponent then came down from the sky and plunged his blade in his heart, just to be sure. An ethereal soul tried to leave his head and the invader caught it in his hand and burned it to ashes.


    Seeing the patriarch dead, and even his embryo soul burnt, the fighting members of the Cao family were horrified. Let alone the death of the patriarch, the most powerful man of the family, they knew that this invader, a 6th-level Spirit Warrior, was going to join the battle.


    At this moment, all hope was lost.


    They instinctively went around the building in which the young ones had hidden themselves. Cao Shui and Cao Guang were leading the final battle.


    Inside, Cao Yun was holding his little sister very tight. No one was above 16 in this building and every one was afraid. They were hearing the battle raging for more than an hour now. When they heard the thunder striking, they knew something terrible must have happened, for no one in their family used thunder in battle.


    Cao Sheng went toward his parents on the battlefield. He was now the chief of the guards because the former one had just died.


    "Go inside and help the young ones to flee, we''ll hold them as long as we can!"


    They both hesitated.


    "What''s with you all today?! Listen to me! Do not hesitate and obey! Save as many as you can!"


    They nodded and rushed in the building. They were the last two more powerful fighters. Without them, there was no chance at all, but even with them they could only last for some minutes. The last guards activated the final array formation, it sent a powerful killing intent toward the enemies. Some of them even fainted, and it blocked the Spirit Warrior for a bit.


    Cao Guang and Cao Shui used this chance to take the children with them. They fled toward the mountains, but they were rapidly chased. Cao Sheng fought until the end, with the utmost of bravery, but fell to the Spirit Warrior who cut off his head with the bloody blade. The Spirit Warrior then chased the couple and the children.


    Cao Guang sensed him just as he was stabbing him with his blade. He had no time to react and saw the bloody tip of the sword coming out of his chest. Cao Shui attacked toward the Spirit Warrior, but he barely flung his sleeve and all her energy dissipated in mid-air. Cao Guang took a hold of the sword and with his bare hands broke its tip which he threw toward its owner. Taken by surprise, thinking no one could break his weapon, the blade sliced his face. He let go of the hilt and drew back a little.


    Cao Guang sent a telepathic message to his son. He had just broken through the Spirit Warrior rank, and could now barely manage this kind of telepathy.


    "Leave with your sister. Protect her! Live! Your mother and I love you! Do not throw away your life. Live!"


    Cao Yun had stopped running when he had seen his parents attacked. He heard his father and then saw the eyes of his parents, they were begging him to keep on living without them. Reluctant to leave them to die, he knew he had no power to help them. He had gone from proud genius of the family to powerless nobody. He hugged his sister even stronger and used all his strength to run.


    He heard two bodies hitting the ground. He knew. His parents were both dead.


    Several men in black chased the children. Of course, they caught them and slaughtered everyone.


    Cao Yun was the fastest of them all and was able to flee deep in the mountains. But it was useless. The same Spirit Warrior with a bloody scar on his face stood before him and his sister. Cao Yun could not even move when the man took his little sister from his arms. The man flung his fingers and a deep cut appeared across Cao Yun''s torso.


    Huiying was screaming and crying with every thing she had in her as she saw her brother, the last member of her family being killed. In a last moment, Cao Yun tried to touch his sister, held captive by the Spirit Warrior, but an invisible force sent him flying backwards.


    He fell into a ravine in the mountains as he heard the cries of his sister dying down in the distance.

 Chapter 2: Meeting a dying god

    Cao Yun was laying broken at the bottom of the pit. He was still alive but barely. A 3rd-grade Mortal had bones that could endure a fall fatal to normal humans. Even with this kind of body, Cao Yun could feel that his back was broken in multiple places, he should have fallen very deep within the earth. He could also feel the warmth of his own blood flowing below him.


    Unable to think clearly, he was about to lose consciousness. Only the terrified face of his little sister kept him awake. He knew that if he let go, he would never wake up. But, despite all his struggle, he was still losing blood and could not move at all.


    His blood was flowing down the rocks and even further below, deep within the earth. It touched something that had been there for hundreds if not thousands of years. Cao Yun knew nothing of what was going down below his broken body. Finally, he could not fight anymore and his mind went blank. The last thing he saw was the face of Cao Huiying distorted by sadness and fear.


    Sorry, little Huiying, your big brother failed you. Sorry, mother. Sorry, father. Please, forgive me in the next life...


    As his view became pitch black, something else invaded his mind. It was a tiny dot of red light. Cao Yun could not think anymore and had lost all awareness of himself or his surroundings, yet he was barely aware of this light. It pierced through his mind and Cao Yun clearly felt it rummaging through his memories. He felt violated as every memory he ever lived and every thought he ever had were laid bare for this thing to examine. It felt as long as his own life, but Cao Yun knew only a few minutes had actually passed.


    "Do you want to survive?"


    A very deep voice, as if echoing inside a huge cave, asked Cao Yun. He had not even the strength to be surprised. Immediately, he thought about the light that was still invading his mind and he focused everything on it. It was the last thing preventing him from falling into an endless sleep.


    "Who are you?"


    "You could not comprehend who I am. If I were to use terms you are familiar with, I am beyond your so-called Gods."


    "An existence above the Gods?!"


    "You only know the first three ranks of your cultivation, I reached the middle of the eighth one. I am what''s called a God Monarch and my title is Cleansed Asura."


    Cao Yun was terrified. He did not even know what the ranks above Spirit Warrior were called. They were mostly legendary. Of course, he knew that upon achieving a certain rank, one would be called a God. But the person he was speaking to was even above that level.


    "High Lord, this insignificant one begs for your mercy. I did not know your rank. Please, I do want to survive!"


    "I saw everything in your mind. I must admit, I like you, neither humble nor arrogant, working relentlessly every day to strengthen yourself and serve your family. Yet, this work was nothing against a stronger foe."


    "I concede my weakness... But I know I can beat them. If I survive and have enough time, I know I can beat them, for sure!"


    "Hard work alone won''t help you. You need to think before acting. You know nothing of the people who slaughtered your family, being their motive or even their identity."


    "Please, High Lord, could you illuminate me?"


    "I have neither the time nor the inclination to speak about such mundane problems. The reason I decided to interact with you is something else entirely. For 50,000 years, my lifeless body rested deep down within these mountains. And even though my mind was able to endure, I must admit I am at the end of my ability. Very soon, my mind itself will crumble and I will be definitively dead... I had many things I wished to do. But none can be done now. Yet, one wish remains within me: I wanted to have an heir to continue my cultivation path. Your talent is still a little low for my standards, but your character is perfect. So let me ask you, would you mind receiving this old dying remnant of a soul as your teacher?"


    Cao Yun was shocked beyond belief. An existence as high as, no, even higher than a God would accept him as a disciple. It took him a few seconds to regain his composure.


    "High Lord, this insignificant one is unworthy. The relationship between a disciple and his teacher is sacred and binding even after death. If this master accepts this lowly one as a student, I would not dare refuse, but are you sure?"


    "I probably would not do it under normal circumstances, but I am at the end. And I highly doubt that another chance would present itself. If your character was not to my liking, I would rather die and be forgotten. Regarding your talent, it does not matter that much to me, hard work and diligence can even make the great geniuses of all worlds blush. I will ask only one thing of you: when you are strong enough, dig up my body and give me a proper burial."


    "This lowly one salutes his master, and swears to abide to his words." Cao Yun could not move, so he could not kowtow but he was sincere.


    "I receive your pledge and acknowledge you as my disciple."


    "Master, how long can you still survive?"


    "Probably one or two centuries, no more. But you should first worry about your lifespan. Your body is broken everywhere and you almost lost all your blood. Without my intent present in your body right now, you would be already dead. And you will be as soon as I leave."


    "Please, Master, show me a way. You would not have recognized me as a disciple just to let me die."


    "Indeed, I can save you by using the last drop of blood in my body. This blood is so potent that it will probably change your entire body. In other words, your whole cultivation will collapse."


    Cao Yun realized that his only way to survive was to throw away all the work he had done for at least 10 years. With only an instant of hesitation he replied.


    "I will not resign myself to die. I accept the generous offer of Master."


    "This drop of blood is my last treasure. I kept it preciously. Without it, my mind will not even have the strength to speak with you and I will slumber until my real death. So, before giving it to you, I will give you the technique to refine this blood within you and a cultivation method to use its real potential. Open your mind and meditate on my words."


    Suddenly, a thousand books worth of information penetrated the mind of Cao Yun. Had he not been warned, his mind would have collapsed. He tried his best to relax and let the words soak through him. When finally everything was in his mind, a drop of crimson blood flew up from the ravine below and landed on his forehead. The red dot of light disappeared as the blood slipped through Cao Yun''s skin. It entered his bloodstream.


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    At this moment, his mind was filled with red, either blood or flame. He saw a scene of destruction. Buildings, pagodas, castles, palaces were all burning, the flames reaching the firmament. Millions of slaughtered corpses paved the streets. A red figure was standing, yelling to the heavens. This figure had 6 arms and 3 faces. Its skin was red as blood with strange lines similar to tattoos. It was the most scary thing Cao Yun could ever imagine. It was full of rage and killing intent. This was the origin of this drop of blood.


    Cao Yun skipped through the information he was given earlier and found out how to refine this blood. He needed to guide it with his Qi toward specific location in his body to let it infuse itself within his blood and flesh.


    The process took at least 6 hours. The drop of blood kept a trace of life from his last master and also from the monster it originated from. It was this life that prevented Cao Yun from dying as it had protected the mind of his master. But the process of refining this drop of blood inside him was atrocious. The pain was really unbearable. Without a purpose to focus his mind, Cao Yun would have given up. The thing that kept him going was the face of his little sister. She was probably killed like the others, but there was a small chance she was still alive and Cao Yun would cling to it until the end.


    If even one member of his family was alive, he would find and rescue them. And if none survived, he would annihilate all the criminals.


    Finally, the process of refining the blood was done. The technique used was called ''Domination of Wrath'', as the drop of blood was known as the Drop of Wrath. Cao Yun felt a fire igniting within his blood vessels. It spread through his entire body. The ''Domination of Wrath'' was a two-part technique: first you had to refine the blood in your bloodstream, permeating the drop within your own blood. The second part consisted of transforming your flesh so that it could survive this new blood.


    The Drop of Wrath resided deep within the heart of Cao Yun and now that it was refined, it gave a very small part of its property to his real blood. Even such a tiny portion of its power was enough to burn his muscles, organs, bones and skin. He had to slowly manipulate his blood throughout his entire body to first heal his wounds and then acclimate it to this new kind of blood.


    Once again the process was very slow and painful. The only reason he was not dead was this Drop of Wrath. Its magical properties were keeping him alive during the technique. By focusing his mind on the Drop of Wrath and chanting the mantra of the ''Domination of Wrath'', Cao Yun understood how to manipulate his new blood to lead it wherever he wanted.


    After two or three days of intensive work, Cao Yun was able to heal his wounds and end the refining method. His blood and flesh now had a tiny aspect of the creature from which the drop originated. It was very dim but his skin had a tinge of red it had not before. Even with the help of this blood, Cao Yun had not slept, drank or eaten in at least three days, so he should have been extremely weak. Yet he felt refreshed by feeling this blood full of vigor in him. It did not mean he had no need for water or food, but the feeling was so intense, he almost forgot about his hunger and thirst.


    He stood up. The sun was high in the sky and the ravine was receiving a part of its light. By looking down, Cao Yun saw his own blood, blackened on the rock. He fully realized that death almost took him. He bowed respectfully.


    "Master, this unfilial disciple has not the strength to help you or even honor your dying wish. But I swear that I will repay this second life you bestowed upon me. When I am strong enough, I will come back and dig you up. But I will not just bury you, I will do everything I can to find a way to restore your life. You saved my life and accepted my as disciple, giving me a knowledge I did not even know existed... You are like a second parent to me."


    He bowed again respectfully and looked up. He had to climb the ravine up to the surface. He knew that the exhilaration from the blood would not last for very long and soon his basic needs would take over. He rushed to the surface, climbing as fast as he could. He was still weaker than he was some days ago. That''s when he realized that his cultivation was really gone.


    The first stages of the first rank, Mortal, consisted in strengthening and forging the body. By refining the Drop of Wrath, he had deeply changed his body and all the results of his past training was gone. But his muscles were still more powerful than those of a normal human.


    Cao Yun finally reached the surface. He was in a forest spreading around and on the mountains. He closed his eyes and breathed fresh air for a few minutes. Luck was on his side for he felt a river not far from here. He rushed toward it and drank as much as he needed. He only lacked food, and a deer was fortunately drinking at the same river. Cao Yun had gone hunting with his father once or twice but he had never killed an animal with his bare hands.


    Unfortunately for the deer, even with a diminished body, Cao Yun was faster and stronger. He dashed toward his prey and broke its neck quickly, to avoid any unnecessary suffering. After igniting a small fire, the young boy feasted on the flesh of his prey and truly felt alive.


    In the same moment, guilt took him by surprise and he remembered his family who was slaughtered just a few days ago. He was enjoying a simple life but every one he ever knew was probably dead. He fell asleep, tormented by these thoughts.


    In the morning, he went to gather some food. He dared not wander too far because this mountain was certainly home to more than just animals. There were beings known as demonic beasts. They were more ferocious than animals and had the ability to cultivate. Alas, one of their main way to become stronger in their cultivation was to devour human cultivators. On the other hand, human cultivators could strengthen themselves by eating the flesh of demonic beasts. Their body parts had also all kinds of uses, either in medicine, weapon forging, array formation and many other disciplines.


    At last, Cao Yun was relaxed. He skipped through the information of his Master Cleansed Asura. Amidst much knowledge he had no way to understand, Cao Yun found what he was looking for. Cleansed Asura gave him a cultivation method to fully use the properties of the Drop of Wrath, simply called ''Cultivation of Wrath''. He only looked at the first rank of this method, the Mortal rank.


    To be known as a Mortal, one had to enter the first rank of cultivation. This first step was also known as the Foundation. As all the other ranks, it was divided into 9 small grades. The first grade consisted in forging and strengthening the exterior body, that is, the muscles and tendons. The second grade then focused on the bones and the marrow. Only after the third grade, did it focus on the Qi.


    For the first grade, Cao Yun found out there was a punching routine to perform. It was known as the ''Dance of Slaughter''. It was both a routine to strengthen the body and a martial art. It included eight movements : ''Shaking the Earth'', ''Pushing the Sky'', ''Forging the Fort'', ''Annihilating the Horses'', ''Dyeing the Ground'', ''Breaking the Formation'', ''Cutting the Retreat'' and ''Slaughtering the Enemy''.


    He started performing the punching routine. With each movement, he had to focus his intent on many things: the right posture, a specific mantra, a specific mental image, and he had to guide his blood through a special path in his muscles using the intent of the Drop of Wrath.


    Very soon, he felt a warm feeling surging through his body. The routine was really taxing on him and he could only repeat it three times. Yet he felt he had already advanced in the first grade of Mortal.


    During his break, he kept reading the method. There was a way to speed up this grade. If he were to kill certain demonic beasts, he could use their blood to reinforce the path his blood had to follow. And this method was perfectly aligned with the other one: he had to use this routine in actual battles.


    In other words, he could kill two birds with one stone by killing demonic beasts to refine his routine and then using their blood to help strengthen his body.


    Of course, fighting demonic beast was difficult, and by definition his punching routine was bare-handed. If he was to fight a demonic beast without any weapon, he had no confidence in defeating the beast. Hell, even with weapons, he could easily get killed. The more the fight would drag on, the more likely for another beast to ambush him. Luckily for him, Cao Yun had not yet faced against a demonic beast in this forest, but he knew some lived there.


    Indeed, he had already gone hunting with his father, and he saw him cut a demonic beast in half. That was both fascinating and terrifying.


    But without the help of a demonic beast''s blood, his cultivation would take way longer to progress. He started training around 6 and reached the 2nd-grade of Mortal when he was almost 11 and then the 3rd-grade at the age of 14, almost 15. The man he was after was a Spirit Warrior and even his father waited until he was 45 to breakthrough into this realm. Every day counted for Cao Yun.


    What if my little sister is still alive? What if she is persecuted as I''m trying to strengthen my resolve? I must stay alive, yes. But I must also become strong to keep this life!


    Cao Yun finally made up his mind. His eyes were resolute to find a demonic beast, slay it and take its blood for himself.

 Chapter 3: 1-Core Demonic Beast

    Demonic beasts were very similar to animals. The biggest difference was in what was called a core. Demonic beasts did not possess the intelligence of humans and therefore could not really cultivate. But they could gain strength and power by living near special sources of power or devouring certain plants, other demonic beasts or even cultivators. The Qi they absorbed this way was digested and condensed into cores. They looked like metal ores and could be used by cultivators to absorb the Qi little by little and supplement their cultivation. They could then also serve as a kind of currency. Different cores had different levels.


    The strength of demonic beast was, most of the time, dependent upon the number of cores, 9 being the limit. After the formation of the ninth core, it was said there was a magical phenomenon, but no human ever witnessed that, or at least none survived it.


    Cao Yun had decided on his prey. He would hunt a Crimson lion-stag. It was a beast as big as a horse. Its body was very similar to a lion with a white fur. Its paws looked like the hands of a human with long claws. And, as its name suggested, in addition to a crimson mane, it had antlers similar to those of a stag. What was particularly unsettling with this beast was its face that looked a little like a human face with sharp fangs.


    It was said that some lion-stags were even able to mimic the voice of a human, screaming for help to attract cultivators too nice for their own good.


    Cao Yun had not encountered such a beast these last few days but he had already seen their unmistakable tracks.


    From what Cao Yun knew, Crimson lion-stags should not have more than one core, and probably a little one. The more core they developed, the more their antlers would develop and their form would change as well.


    He was hunting near the tracks he had already discovered. He only went hunting with his father twice but he had a pretty good idea of what he should do. First of all, a Crimson lion-stag could kill a 3rd-grade Mortal if it was fighting without consideration for its life. Thus, a frontal attack would be suicide.


    Cao Yun had laid several traps. He spent two days to reckon the terrain. He had found their tracks of course, but also leftovers of their prey, and he was pretty confident about their number and where their den was. At most there should be one male, three females and five cubs. Contrary to the lions, usually, only the male Crimson lion-stags were hunters. And the tracks were confirming this.


    He would be able to fight the beast alone. He used blood from deers to attract the hunter where he wanted it, and now he was laying, hidden in the leaves, waiting for the prey.


    After several hours, the shape of a lion got out of the bushes. The place was devoid of trees and the lion-stag felt that something was off. Still, it smelled the nice odor of blood and dared to proceed forward. It made almost no sound as it was walking carefully. Suddenly, the ground was robbed under its paws and it fell into a pit Cao Yun had dug. The beast roared and its claws pierced the wall of the pit, trying to stop its fall. The bottom of the pit was full of wooden spikes. Cao Yun knew the lion-stag could easily leap from the pit in no time. He dashed toward the trap and used two wooden spears to pierce the eyes of the beast down below. He got one but missed the other. The lion-stag let out a roar of pain and hate, prepared its body and leapt toward the human.


    Cao Yun dodged at the last moment and used a chipped stone to cut the belly of the beast jumping over him. Another roar as the beast was now blind in one eye and bleeding on the ground. Even with this advantage, Cao Yun knew he was in a tight spot. The beast was now enraged and even though it was partially disabled, one hit of its claws could mean his death. But weakening the beast was not the only reason for this line of actions. Now, even if he were to retreat, he could still harness some of its blood. And Cao Yun had masked his own odor with several animals he had hunted prior to this fight, so it would be hard for the lion-stag to track him.


    Cao Yun had tried to put everything in place to ensure his success. It was a pity that the beast had an eye left but still it was weakened enough that Cao Yun thought he could win. He did not wait for the beast to attack first. He used the first move of the ''Dance of Slaughter'', ''Shaking the Earth''. A powerful kick hit the demonic beast right in its flank and sent it a few feet away. It clawed the ground and arched itself ready to pounce on the human. Only rage fueled the beast at this point.


    A huge claw sliced the air in direction of the human''s head. ''Dance of Slaughter'', second movement, ''Pushing the Sky''. Cao Yun pushed the paw and changed the direction of the blow, avoiding the lethal attack by a hair''s breadth. The beast, even more enraged by this frustration, leapt again, trying to ram into the human.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', third movement, ''Forging the Fort''. Not fast enough to avoid a beast as huge as a horse dashing toward him, Cao Yun made his stance firm into the ground and protected his torso and head by joining his forearms before him. Gathering the properties of the Drop of Wrath into them, they were able to absorb the charge of the beast without breaking. Yet, Cao Yun could feel a radiating pain in both his forearms.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', fourth movement, ''Annihilating the Horses''. Suddenly, Cao Yun''s body dropped low and he swept one of the legs of the beast off the ground.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', fifth movement, ''Dyeing the Ground''. Two open hands struck the beast in the neck using the edge of the hand, thanks to its unbalance. For the very first time, the blood of the lion-stag was shed by the human himself and not an improvised weapon. Cao Yun found himself almost under the mouth of the creature. It tried to grab him to devour his head.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', sixth movement, ''Breaking the Formation''. Using his firm stance, Cao Yun launched himself, shoulder first into the beast. He was even able to push it several feet away. Then, he attacked with several elbow strikes in a very close combat, weakening its attempt to grab him.


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    ''Dance of Slaughter'', seventh movement, ''Cutting the Retreat''. Focusing his blood in his legs, Cao Yun performed a strange movement and he became extremely fast. He quickly got out of the range of the beast''s limbs. The lion-stag tried to follow him with its eye. He was too fast though, and soon he was standing in one of its blind spot, on the side of its disabled eye.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', final movement, ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. When this final movement was activated, Cao Yun could feel the Drop of Wrath in his heart have a reaction. This movement consisted in vibrating one''s blood at the moment of impact to send a lethal force deep within the enemy, trying to directly attack their organs. And indeed, when Cao Yun struck the lion-stag, the beast screamed and coughed up blood.


    It was fully enraged and began to sway its claws everywhere around itself. It even got up on its two back legs, trying to reduce its blind spots. The fight continued for several minutes. Cao Yun used the ''Dance of Slaughter'' again and again. As he was using it, he became more and more proficient in it, understanding in more depth what he had read earlier. Performing the punching routine in the air was already useful but applying it in an actual life-and-death battle was an eye-opener. Things that did not make much sense to him became obvious.


    Finally, the beast drew its last breath and loudly fell on the ground. Cao Yun too was extremely exhausted. Yet, he decided to sit down right here and right now.


    He started replaying the battle in his head to consolidate his understanding of the ''Dance of Slaughter'', and by extension of his cultivation. As he was reminiscing, he imagined his blood flowing according to the routine, trying to match how he felt in reality when his heart was racing. His muscles were throbbing and becoming redder and redder, they were gorged with blood and were absorbing the properties within. The breath of Cao Yun became grayish as he was literally expunging some of his impurities.


    He sat there for almost an hour. When he woke up, he felt revived and immediately went toward the corpse of the lion-stag. Its blood was still flowing thanks to its important vitality. Cao Yun gathered some of its blood. He took off his clothes and applied the blood directly to his skin. He followed certain pathways following his muscles, bones and nerves. He was very careful to respect the correct order and even the correct amount of blood.


    When he was finally done, he started performing the same punching routine. Though it was identical in theory, its appearance was absolutely different. One could almost see a demon fighting an army alone and slaughtering everyone, defending against all assaults and killing thousands with each strike. Nothing really appeared and Cao Yun was very far from being able to perform such feats, and yet, there was a mystical aura of rage and war around him. He was beginning to really understand the routine having performed it during several days in the air and just once in an actual battle.


    As he was moving, the blood was slowly absorbed by his body. He could feel his muscles and tendons being fed by the beast''s rage as it was being killed by a mere human boy. Once again, Cao Yun was in a trance and time flew by. When this fantastical feeling went away, he opened his eyes and saw that there was no more blood on him. His muscles were much more toned and defined. He was not yet at the end of the 1st-grade of Mortal, but he knew it would be sooner than he thought.


    To end his hunt, he plunged his hands in the beast and took out its core. A core could be used to absorb the Qi trapped inside. During the first grades of the Mortal realm, Qi was not used, but it would be useful very soon. And Cao Yun did not like the idea of wasting anything after having taken the life of the beast. Even though it was a demonic beast and it would have killed him without any hesitation, Cao Yun still wanted to respect his opponent who had been so useful to temper him.


    Cao Yun kept on surviving in the forest and went on killing two other Crimson lion-stags. They were among the pack led by his first prey. The females were more agile but less powerful. He still laid some traps and was able to dispose of them fairly easily.


    Once again, his understanding of the ''Dance of Slaughter'' gained new insights. And when he performed it, covered in the blood of the two beasts, he was not just imagining the scenes of destruction, he was vividly feeling them. He finally heard a sound in his muscles.


    They began to shake and emitted the sound of thunder. It was the sign that he had broken through to the 2nd grade of the Mortal realm. What had taken him almost 5 years was done now in a matter of around 10 days. Of course, he was helped by his previous work and understanding, but still being able to recover so quickly surprised him. He thought that at least six months would have been necessary. He was overwhelmed with joy, but quickly calmed himself and kept on focusing on his movements, on the flow of his blood and on the sensation in his muscles. He wanted this breakthrough to be as perfect as possible.


    After the breakthrough finally ended, Cao Yun could not stop a sigh of regret from leaving his mouth.


    Father, mother, I swore to live and not throw my life away. But if there is the slightest chance that little Huiying or anyone else is still alive, I must protect them. And if not, I swear to avenge them. I will do everything to gain more power to fulfill this pledge. And little Huiying, if you''re alive, do not lose hope, your big brother will find you and save you. I will have no mercy against anyone who tries to harm my family.


    Please, just wait for me. I would like to come soon, but I really need strength. Please endure!


    Cao Yun did not know if his little sister was alive, but the assassin who killed everyone on sight had taken her from him before striking. And when he came out of the ravine, her corpse was not here. So there was a chance that he had kept her. Maybe he abused her and threw her body elsewhere. When this thought came to his mind, Cao Yun rejected it as firmly as he could. He would cling to this hope. And if it was false, he would unleash hell on the culprits.


    But first, he had to survive, gain strength. And even after that, he still had to find clues against the culprits. He had not even seen one of their faces or heard a single sound coming out of their mouths. They could have been anyone: bandits, demonic cultivators, a rival family, hired assassins, ...


    When all these thoughts surged within him, Cao Yun realized he was fully in the 2nd-grade of the Mortal realm.


    After strengthening and tempering his muscles and tendons, now he needed to strengthen and temper his bones and marrow. The process was way more delicate because the marrow was weaker. Failing to temper the muscles and tendons was risky but you would just injure yourself. On the other hand if you failed to properly nourish your bones and marrow, you could even end up paralyzed. You had to work on every bone and all your marrow. If you overlooked one place, it would become a weakness that would stay with you forever. Trying to correct it later during your cultivation, would become increasingly more difficult.


    And when this breakthrough was achieved, Cao Yun could finally go back to where he was before, the 3rd-grade of the Mortal realm. The first grade during which you could finally absorb Qi and put these demonic cores to good use.


    The night was falling and Cao Yun went to sleep.

 Chapter 4: Full recovery

    Cao Yun was still performing his punching routine under the night sky. He was getting tired of this forest and was wondering what he should do. He put aside these thoughts to first complete his practice.


    When he was done, he mulled over his plan. The first thing to do was to fully recover his past strength, being a 2nd-grade Mortal at 15 was way too weak, he needed to be at least 3rd-grade. If he could become a 4th-grade, that would be good but how long would it take. The only reason why he was able to break through to the 2nd-grade in only 10 days was his past cultivation. Even though his body had been broken and reformed, the medicinal properties of all the balms and pills he had taken before stayed in his flesh. He also had a good experience of these grades and remembered how they felt.


    For the 3rd grade, he could still rely on his past experience and on a portion of the medicinal essence still in his body. To temper your bones and marrow, there were several ways. The most superficial ones consisted in absorbing medicines that could penetrate the bones and nourish them. Physical routines could work in depth in your body, using your strengthened muscles and tendons to temper your bones. By using your intent, you could focus on the bones and marrow to amplify the results. You could also attack your body with vibrating strikes to penetrate deep in your bones, the point was to strike with enough power to have any gain, but not with too much power so that you would not get injured.


    Other cultivators could also infuse their energy in your body to nourish them as well and guide your intent in the corresponding parts of your bones. But Cao Yun was alone for now.


    The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' had similar techniques. The main technique was a punching routine, a variation of the ''Dance of Slaughter''. The mantras were different as well as the images you had to visualize during the routine. It allowed you to focus more on the bones instead of the muscles. A strange part of the routine was to use the vibration of your own muscles to strike your bones. It was similar to the last movement, ''Slaughtering the Enemy'', that could create a vibrating strike penetrating the defense of your enemies. By understanding this phenomenon, it was possible to infuse it in all the movements of the ''Dance of Slaughter''. By doing so, you could both cultivate and increase your fighting prowess.


    Using the blood of demonic beasts was still useful in this grade. Cao Yun also found pill formulas, but he had no way of finding the ingredients necessary and he had no experience in forging any pill. And, of course, he could not buy pills in the forest. Going back into the city would be too dangerous, people would certainly recognize him even though he did not go out much, and the information could be heard by the assassins.


    Finally, he found a last method of training. The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' contained a special way to strike yourself in order to temper your bones and infuse the properties of the Drop of Wrath deeper into your marrow. While doing so, you had to focus on the Drop of Wrath and guide its intent in the parts you were training. It would then alter your marrow that would start to produce blood with even more properties of the Drop of Wrath.


    This last method was tough to do alone, especially to hit the back, but Cao Yun had no other choice. First of all, he was alone, but even if he was not, he could not trust anyone with this cultivation technique, even a small fraction of it. The bond between a Master and his student was sacred and without the explicit agreement of the Master, sharing his secrets was forbidden.


    Cao Yun was literally hitting himself with his own fists and against trees and rocks. The trees were rapidly broken and deep marks were left within the rocks. Yet, his body had no trace of injury.


    His days were very similar to one another. He trained his body by striking it as a blacksmith would to forge a weapon. Then he meditated to focus on the feeling in his bones and guide his intent as well as the intent of the Drop of Wrath deep inside them. While this feeling was still fresh, he performed the ''Dance of Slaughter'' with the new mantras and visualizations.


    He felt that he was making huge progress.


    He decided to go hunting again. He found the last Crimson lion-stag, it was a female. After the death of the other three, it seemed to be scared. It was staying in its den with the five cubs. Cao Yun had some remorse, but he really needed their blood, and after all, they were predators as well. He was not killing them for the fun of it but in order to survive the ordeal he was in.


    Cao Yun breathed deeply and toughened his state of mind. He stepped into the den ready to kill.


    But once inside, he discovered that the cubs and the female had been slaughtered. They were terribly mutilated and someone had taken their cores. These wounds were clearly caused by weapons and not by other beasts. Cao Yun was not the only human in this forest. The hunters seemed to have enjoyed torturing the beasts before killing them. Cao Yun was more than upset by this show of sadism. Fortunately for him, the hunters had taken the cores but there was still a lot of blood and right now it was even more important to him.


    He took all the blood he could, using their skin as bags. It took him some time but it was worth it. Right now, he had to be careful not to be discovered by the hunters. He did not know their strength or their number, and they could maybe recognize him. As such, he went deeper within the forest, fully entering the mountains.


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    He then resumed his daily training, using the blood to cover his body according to specific pathways. As he was training, he felt the blood penetrating his skin and making its way deep inside his bones. He could feel a burning sensation in them. As they were heating up, his bones were hit by his own vibrating muscles. Cao Yun put all his mind and intent on this feeling, to really guide the process.


    Cao Yun kept on training for two weeks when he finally broke through to 3rd-grade Mortal. A thunderous roar echoed from deep within him and a hot sensation spread throughout his body. He felt as if his bones were about to split open but they endured. His whole body was shaking for several minutes. He focused his mind on all these sensations to improve the quality of his breakthrough.


    This feeling was a little different to the one he was familiar with. This difference, no matter how small, was still magical to Cao Yun. He realized that even though he was the same grade as he was before the attack, he was stronger. He had been able to fight a 4th-grade Mortal to a stalemate. Right now, he would probably win, with difficulty of course, but that was exceptional.


    And besides this revived cultivation, he had gained a new insight into the ''Dance of Slaughter''. Every single one of his movements was filled with the concept of vibration. He decided to test his new strength by striking a rock. Putting all his power and newfound understanding in his fist, the rock was pulverized into dust. Killing a Crimson lion-stag would not be perilous for him right now.


    Cao Yun had taken less than a month to fully recover. At first, he was convinced it would take him at the very least a whole year. But right now, he was aiming for the 4th-grade Mortal. The 3rd-grade Mortal focused mainly on the training of the Lower Dantian. The Lower Dantian was located in the lower abdomen, under the umbilical.


    It was often referred to as a cauldron in which the life essence, called Jing, was transformed into life energy, the Qi. The Jing was the essence that gave birth to any life and could be considered as the lifespan of any living being. This Jing then was transformed by the body into Qi, the energy flowing in the bodies of every living being. Understandingly, this Lower Dantian was able to store huge amount of Qi. Filling the Lower Dantian with Qi was a key part of the cultivation path. But before filling it, it was paramount to strengthen and temper it, as one did with his muscles and tendons and then bones and marrow.


    To temper the Lower Dantian, it was necessary to strike it from within with surges of Qi. Consequently, you needed to be able to direct your Qi toward your Lower Dantian. This process could be sped up by another cultivator guiding his own Qi within you. Cao Sheng had indeed guided his little brother in this grade. Since Cao Yun had entered this grade, months before the attack, he had trained with his brother to somewhat gain a little control over his Qi. He could now focus his intent and manipulate his Qi.


    It was time for Cao Yun to use the three Crimson lion-stag cores he had. The core from the male was the biggest, containing more Qi than the other two combined. In the beginning, Cao Yun preferred using one of the core from the females. He sat down cross-legged, holding the core right in front of his lower abdomen. The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' contained special breathing techniques and mantras to absorb the Qi from a core more efficiently. Absorbing the Qi from a core always resulted in a waste of energy, and that was greatly limited by these techniques.


    Cao Yun had not absolute control over the Qi, but enough to focus it in his Lower Dantian. He imagined the filaments of energy intertwining and contracting inside his Lower Dantian. He put all of his intent within, even using the intent of the Drop of Wrath, and let go. The Qi exploded outwards. It erupted against the walls of his Lower Dantian. As with the bones, the force of the impact had to be managed so that it was strong enough to produce a result and not too strong so as not to harm oneself.


    Cao Yun could feel his Lower Dantian react to this impact and contract a little before it returned to its natural state.


    Cao Yun kept on meditating for almost the entire day. The core was not completely depleted but its end was near.


    Even if it was only a little, Cao Yun felt a small fire in his lower abdomen. If he focused enough, he could feel the strings of Qi moving on their own inside him.


    The first time he had entered the 3rd-grade Mortal, he had worked hard for over two months before being able to feel this sensation. Fortunately, he had not lost this feeling and was thus able to reduce the time he needed. But he had never broken through to the 4th-grade, so it would still take time for him to do it. For most people, it would take around a year. Cao Yun tried to estimate how long he would need. If he could train with demonic beast cores every day, and taking into account his familiarity with this level, he came to the conclusion that he would need 4 or 5 months.


    The problem was that the cores he had would probably only last 10 days at most. The first one was very tiny and would crumble tomorrow, the second one could maybe last 2 or 3 days and the male core would probably last a little less than a week.


    He was in need of other cores. Normally, a cultivator would mainly use Qi Gathering pills. Qi Gathering pills or even stronger pills like the Qi Condensation pills, were made from medicinal herbs and could send profound surges of Qi in a cultivator. The medicinal essence could even last for a week and be used freely by the cultivator. Alas, Cao Yun had no knowledge of pill forging, and did not even know how to recognize medicinal herbs. Surely, this forest was filled with such herbs but to Cao Yun it was as if they did not exist at all. Of course, he would be able to feel the fragrance of very high-grade medicinal herbs, but had no way of discerning the low-grade ones. And even if he could, ingesting medicinal herbs without understanding their properties would be stupid.


    He could only rely on demonic beast cores. The beasts had absorbed and condensed the Qi themselves and Cao Yun could tap into it and use their hard work for himself. But he had to hunt these beasts. He was not too afraid, for these past few days he realized there was no demonic beast with more than one core. What was worrying for him were the other hunters. He did not want to meet anyone who could potentially expose his identity. For all intents and purposes, Cao Yun was dead and he meant to remain this way.

 Chapter 5: Feng Yingyue

    Cao Yun was hunting for other 1-core demonic beasts. A typical 1-core demonic beast could threaten a 3rd-grade Mortal but with the ''Dance of Slaughter'' and his fighting abilities, Cao Yun was not afraid at all. A Crimson lion-stag was a rather average demonic beast and judging by his fights with them, he estimated that he could take on any 1-core demonic beast. He was a little worried about a pack of them though, so he did not let go of his caution. What was more worrisome was the prospect of a 2-core demonic beast. According to what his father had told him about these mountains, they should be very rare and they mostly inhabited the higher areas. Nonetheless, from time to time, they could get down to hunt weaker beasts than them.


    Another thought Cao Yun had was concerning the hunters. He had not return to the city so that no one would recognize him and he did not want to meet hunters who would recognize him in these woods either. These last few days, he had tried to get the farthest away from the city and the Cao family estate as possible, without entering any dangerous area. To do so, he had circled around some peaks and gotten deep in the forest.


    A week had passed.


    He had killed several 1-core demonic beasts, Gray-beak storm eagles, Carnivorous hammer-gorilla, Purple rotten keelback snake, and so on. He had gathered several cores of different sizes and densities. He had almost twenty of them and they would last him for a month.


    In the same time, he kept on training diligently. The more time passed the more often he thought about his family. When it had occurred, the shock had made him numb, but he was beginning to fully realize what really happened. And he felt more and more guilty about his enjoyment in these woods. Because he was sincerely enjoying himself. He always loved cultivating and learning martial arts. Of course, he trained to please his father and gain more power, but also due to his real inclination toward it. He could keep practicing days and days without thinking about anything else.


    He also loved reading about new martial arts and profound systems of cultivation to then try them on himself. That was precisely what he was doing with the knowledge imparted to him by his Master Cleansed Asura.


    And this life of surviving in the forest was absolutely new to him. This feeling of adventure to a 15-year-old boy was exhilarating.


    Hence, he felt guilty. When he ran, he had to leave the corpses of his kin to the wild. Yes, his parents had asked him to live and to not throw away his life. But they had also asked him to protect his little sister. Was she dead? Was she alive? Maybe the assassin had taken her alive and then killed her while Cao Yun was adventuring in the woods.


    Cao Yun reasoned himself. He needed power to potentially save his sister. And even if he had power, he also needed clues to find the culprits. He could not get it out of his head that he was just trying to make up excuses for his cowardice.


    These thoughts were beginning to poison his cultivation. He even had to stop several times because of this. After these almost two months in the wild, the solitude was exacting a toll on him.


    It happened again and to clear his head, Cao Yun decided to go hunting, passing his frustration on a demonic beast was great to keep his calm.


    -


    A woman was running like a madman through the woods. She was wearing a blue robe covered in mud and twigs that masked some golden embroidery of average quality. Her hair was unkempt. Fiery strands were fluttering in the wind. Her face was pale and full of fatigue with two heavy bags under her eyes similar to a panda. Her breath was short and panicky. Nonetheless, she clearly knew her way around a forest and even being this obviously tired, she avoided every obstacle on her way and ran like hell.


    Very soon, the reason of her state became apparent. Five men were running after her. They were wearing dull black cloaks with hoods that had long slipped from their heads. On their faces, the fatigue was even more clear than on the girl, and one of them even tripped on a root before getting up and resuming the pursuit. The men were in their teens, between 16 and 18 at most. The swords hanging on their waist were slowing them down but they were still faster than the girl. Any cultivator would have known: they were 2nd-grade Mortal at least and the girl was only 1st-grade.


    No matter her resistance, they would end up catching her.


    One of the men was close enough. He pounced on her. She tried to dodge. The man was still able to catch her ankle and threw her on the ground. She hit her head against a tree and was shocked an instant. It was sufficient for the other four men to reach them and surround her.


    Terror filled her eyes when she came to.


    "Please, Huang Lixin, I have no such thing." She begged, tears swelling up in her eyes. "If I had, I would not throw away my life. I swear! This rumor is false. You have to believe me, please."


    "Little Yingyue, I do not know whether the rumor is false or not, but your death is certain." The man called Huang Lixin answered with a serious look on his face. "Do not think that I like it, but you are an interference with our business. We did try the civil way but you are just too stubborn. It is really a pity that such a beautiful and talented woman must die. You should have sold your shop when it was time."


    "Hey, what about we play with her a little, huh?" One of the other men exclaimed.


    Huang Lixin turned toward him and instantly slapped his face. The slap was so harsh that the man coughed up blood. This Lixin was probably a 3rd-grade Mortal. He had no peculiarity apart from pure white hair. Even though he was around 16, his head was as white as pure snow, and his eyes were a mix between gray and very light blue.


    "We are not animals." Huang Lixin yelled, staring at the man he just slapped. "You should not enjoy killing anyone, and you should not want to ''play'' with a girl. If you want to ''play'', go to a brothel. That''s the only way you''ll get a woman given your face. Or maybe you want me to make it better with a few slaps."


    "Sorry, sorry, my Lord, I lost myself. I beg your forgiveness."


    The man literally groveled on the ground as his companions were laughing at his misadventure. They knew that their lord was very strict and hated this kind of shady business. If his father had not insisted, he would never have agreed to this assassination.


    "Little Yingyue, do you have any last wish for me to fulfill?" The girl shook her head no and closed her eyes, resigning herself to death. "Then, please hear mine: do not hate me in your next life, and do not be too stubborn."


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    He took out his sword and sliced toward her neck, trying to behead her in one swift move.


    His arm stopped midair. Around his arm, a hand had appeared and he felt a grip that was almost breaking his bones. Huang Lixin jumped backwards as a cat whose tail had been trampled upon. The grip let go and let him take some distance. The man who had just stopped this lethal blow was none other than Cao Yun.


    He had been observing the scene since he heard the commotion of their pursuit through the woods. At first, he was hesitant to react, mulling over his ideas about not being recognized by anyone. But in the end he could not stay still when a beautiful young woman, who was clearly innocent given what he heard, was killed. Cao Yun gazed at the ''little Yingyue'' and found no injury at all, only fatigue. As she opened her eyes, she saw the back of the man who just saved her and then heard his voice.


    "Five men against a woman, and two grades beneath you. What kind of scum are you? Do you dare to call yourselves humans?" He was directly speaking to Huang Lixin, the leader. "You think your words are honorable. You''re no more than a beast disguising itself virtuous. If you were a real man, and you were sincere, you would just stay your hand and spare her life."


    "You... You know nothing, you!"


    Huang Lixin was clearly flustered. Essentially because he knew Cao Yun''s words to be true. Since he had gotten the order to kill this woman, he was trying to convince himself that was necessary and that if someone else did it, they would torture her. At least, she would die quickly with him. He really tried to convince himself.


    He had already killed people before, but that was always after a fair fight and his life was at risk. That was his first cold-blooded murder and deep down Huang Lixin hated it. He was enraged against himself and transferred this rage unto Cao Yun who was unknowingly speaking his own thoughts.


    In his rage, Huang Lixin attacked instinctively. He had sensed the strength of his opponent when he grabbed his arm. The would-be hero was a 3rd-grade Mortal and so was he.


    "Leave him to me. Do not touch Feng Yingyue, just stop her from running again, if need be."


    He yelled at his men and dashed toward Cao Yun, trying to pierce him with his sword.


    Cao Yun waited until the very last moment to dodge by a hair''s breadth. He then hit the blade with his palm and a vibration cursed through the metal into the hands of Huang Lixin. He felt as if his small bones were breaking apart and he lost control over his weapon for an instant.


    Cao Yun used this opportunity to send a palm strike directly in his chest. Huang Lixin was sent flying and coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.


    "You... You..."


    Huang Lixin''s eyes cleared a little and a sudden realization washed over him. The same realization struck Cao Yun. He had a strange feeling and now he understood it.


    There was a Huang family residing near the family Cao estate. It was a prominent family in Baziyun City and two years ago they held a tournament amongst their descendants, from the main branch and all the side branches. It was the first event Cao Yun went out to see with his father. And he had indeed met this Huang Lixin there. They even had a chat and were very friendly back then. Huang Lixin was from a small side branch of the Huang family and lived in an another city Cao Yun failed to remember.


    "I remember you, you are..."


    Before Huang Lixin could end his sentence, ''Dance of Slaughter'', seventh movement, ''Cutting the Retreat''. All of a sudden Cao Yun was holding him by the neck. No one was able to follow his movement and they could not react when he squeezed and a crack echoed from the young man''s throat. Cao Yun let his limp body fall down onto the ground and turned his eyes toward the other men.


    His eyes were filled with hate. Cao Yun was as possessed.


    He took the sword of Huang Ling and threw it in the head of the man farther from him. It penetrated his skull and killed him before he touched the floor. The other three finally regained their senses and took out their weapons. But Cao Yun was already in front of one of them, the one with the imprint of a slap on the cheek. He sent a palm to Cao Yun''s chest who did not bother to dodge. ''Dance of Slaughter'', third movement, ''Forging the Fort''. The man felt as if his palm had hit an iron wall and then a strange vibration reverberated in his arm. Before he had time to scream, a palm went to his throat and crushed it.


    The last two men watched each other and prepared a combined attack. Cao Yun just disappeared from their field of vision. A thud was heard when the body of one of them hit the ground. The last survivor lost all composure and tried to run. He felt his legs break. Looking down, he saw that Cao Yun was kicking him and destroying his legs. Cao Yun then crushed his back with a trampling kick.


    Witnessing this scene, the woman called Feng Yingyue was utterly speechless. This man was so strong. He was obviously no more than 16, maybe even only 15. Already being a 3rd-grade Mortal was impressive, but this fighting prowess was beyond her understanding. She was a little scared, and quickly got her ideas in order: this boy came here specifically to save her, she could not be this ingrate. These men would have killed her, and some were even willing to abuse her body beforehand.


    Cao Yun regained his calm and looked upon his handiwork. He did not initially mean to kill these men, at most, he wanted to rough them up and send them packing. But when Huang Lixin recognized him, it was as if a switch was flipped. He was overwhelmed by fear, the fear that the assassins would find him, that his family would never be avenged and his sister never rescued. This fear was then overtaken by wrath and he felt the Drop of Wrath react.


    He understood that he was in a kind of trance. That was really frightening for Cao Yun. He was still controlling his body but he felt as if he was a different person doing it. It was the first time he had ever killed anyone, and it was someone he knew, even if for a short moment.


    Filled with emotions, he had a hard time to process everything.


    He had to kill them, but...


    "Young master?" The sweet voice of Feng Yingyue woke him up. "Thank you for your help young master, I thought I was dead for sure. Please accept my sincere thanks."


    She bowed on the ground. Cao Yun put his mind in order. If he had not killed these men, this woman would have been killed, his identity revealed and then who knows what could have happened.


    Yes, Cao Yun did not like the feeling of losing the control of his emotions and he would need to dedicate some work to it. But in the end, he understood that killing them was the right decision. Maybe he could have reasoned with Huang Lixin but he did not know him enough to trust him and a small misstep would mean the end for him, and maybe the definite end of the Cao family.


    Cao Yun looked over Feng Yingyue.


    "If I heard right, your name is Feng Yingyue. My name is... Chen Guo. I accept your thanks. In exchange, I have only two things to ask of you. The second one will be to answer my questions, but the first is to help me bury these men. I do not know what they are to you, but I do not want to leave them exposed to the wildlife. So please, help me honor their bodies even though they meant to murder you."


    Feng Yingyue was surprised. This boy was thinking of honoring their corpses just after killing them. After thinking about it, she thought it was the proper way to handle it. After all, she even knew Huang Lixin and she knew he had no malicious intent against her. She knew precisely who had ordered him to perform such a villainous task and she also knew why he could not refuse.


    "Yes, Young Master Chen. You are very generous. I will help you."


    Cao Yun wanted to offer them a proper burial to alleviate his conscious but also because he could not stop thinking about the bodies of his family. Surely, the assassins had not the same scruples. By now, they were probably entirely eaten by different beasts and totally desecrated. And Cao Yun could not bear to inflict this on someone else.


    If killing was necessary, more barbarism was not.


    Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue took their time and after an hour of work, the five men were properly buried. Feng Yingyue even added some words for Huang Lixin so that he may find peace in his next life, freed from such crimes forced upon him.

 Chapter 6: Sorrowful Dew Pearl

    "Young Master Chen, I cannot thank you enough for saving my life." Feng Yingyue was bowing politely to Cao Yun.


    "I may be impolite but what is a young girl like you doing into these woods? If my eyes do not deceive me, you should only be a 1st-grade Mortal. I''m not sure you could survive an encounter with even the weakest of the 1-star demonic beasts roaming this forest."


    Cao Yun was sincerely curious. But he also had something else in mind. If possible, he wanted to get some information about her, that could maybe lead him to news regarding his own family. Also, he had not really considered where he was going. She obviously came from a town. Hence, he decided to interrogate her.


    "Young Master Chen, this incompetent one went into the woods to gather some medicinal herbs. I am a small alchemist and I just needed a few materials for my decoctions." Feng Yingyue spoke very humbly. "When I was deep into the woods, those men attacked me. I fled for several days but they were faster than me."


    "Several days?! You were able to evade them for that long?! They were 2nd-grade Mortals and that Huang Lixin guy was even a grade higher. How did you pull it off?!"


    Cao Yun was shocked. In the same circumstances, he never could have fled for more than an hour or two. Yet, this small girl that was way weaker than him managed to do so. Feng Yingyue was a little flustered but she answered truthfully.


    "I am but a small alchemist, but I do possess several pills. I used them to alleviate my fatigue and keep me alert. And these woods were in fact very helpful. My craft demands that I know my way around nature. Thus I was able to use the environment to delay them. Thankfully, none of them was used to hunting in the woods."


    "You claim to be a mere alchemist, but I believe it to be the sign of a great alchemist..." Cao Yun was really impressed by this girl. Judging by her looks and the state of her shoes, what she said was absolutely true. She had ran through the woods for several days with five men chasing after her.


    "Oh, I am nothing of the sort. My craft barely allows me to earn a living." Feng Yingyue lowered her head shyly.


    "You own a shop?"


    "Yes, in Yinmen city, to the east. My father founded it... but now, I manage it alone. My father was the real alchemist, I just make do with the craft he taught me." There was a small pause in her answer and Cao Yun felt some sadness in her voice. He decided not to talk further about it, he could imagine what this meant and did not want to put her on the spot.


    "I see. Even though I am ignorant of the ways of alchemists, let me tell you that you seem very impressive."


    Feng Yingyue clearly could not take a compliment about her alchemy and she just stared at the floor.


    "You must be very tired. I still have some questions, but I think you should rest first. Do not worry, I will keep guard. Rest for now."


    "Thank you, Young Master Chen."


    "Please just address me as Chen Guo and I will address you as Feng Yingyue."


    Feng Yingyue was not comfortable around people and she just nodded. She took a pill from her robe and immediately went to sleep.


    -


    Several hours later, Feng Yingyue woke up and saw the back of Chen Guo. During a moment, she was lost, and then, she remembered what happened and it jolted her awake.


    "Are you well rested?"


    "Yes, thank you, Young Mas... sorry, thank you, Chen Guo." Her face clearly showed her shyness.


    Cao Yun turned toward her and helped her on her feet.


    "Please forgive my curiosity, but I would like to know why I killed these men."


    "I understand." Feng Yingyue hesitated a bit. "I believe I know the reason why they were trying to kill me. My father died a couple years ago. Since then, the Huang family has been trying to buy my shop. I did not really know why, considering they never had any interest toward alchemy. But I was able to overhear some rumors. It seems they are under the impression that my father left a mystical pill formula somewhere in his shop." Feng Yingyue rapidly shook her head. "I can assure you that there is no such thing."


    Cao Yun was a bit amused by her behavior. She was waving her hands in the air to deny it, even though he didn''t ask. However, he did not dare to smile because of the contents of her answer.


    "Whether it is true or not is of no importance to me. Now I get the general picture. But if I am not mistaken, Yinmen city is pretty far from here."


    "Yes, by walking, it should take us two months if we are very careful and take the safe way." When she ran from her pursuers, it took her almost twenty days to come here. But she used all her strength and several pills to help her. She also went through dangerous paths. Unfortunately, her pursuers also had some pills and even dared chase her through the most risky areas.


    "You really fled for your life with everything you got. Impressive!"


    Feng Yingyue did not know what to say and Cao Yun was silent for some time.


    "Fine. I will accompany you back to Yinmen city."


    "What?!" Feng Yingyue was flabbergasted. "Young Mas... sorry, Chen Guo, do not worry yourself over me. You already saved my life, you did enough."


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    "If I just left you to your fate, I do not know if you could go back alive. You must have consumed most of your pills and it should be difficult for you to defend against demonic beasts. What would be the point of saving you to then let you die? And I must admit I am not doing that by pure goodness. This Yinmen city piqued my interest. I was wondering where to go, and you helped my make up my mind."


    Feng Yingyue hesitated but acquiesced.


    Cao Yun was in desperate need of information about the Cao family slaughter. He was a little worried about this Huang family, but it was only a side branch, Huang Lixin recognizing him was just a fluke. No one should be able to recognize him in Yinmen city and he should be able to gather some intel. The city was not that far from Baziyun and word of his family''s demise should have already reached them. And, Cao Yun had to admit that the loneliness was becoming difficult for him. He was a young boy and was not used to being alone for so long.


    And he was not against traveling with such a beauty.


    Feng Yingyue was in a sorry state, but still, she was very charming with her delicate face and her fiery hair. Her silhouette was pretty generous as well.


    It was decided! Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue set out toward the east, to return back to Yinmen city.


    -


    Feng Yingyue went to gather ingredients in order to replenish her stock of pills. Cao Yun insisted on accompanying her, she tried several times to dissuade him saying it was boring and tedious work. It did not work.


    At first, she was a little flustered and did not know how to act with this boy with her. But, as soon as she immersed herself in her craft, she was someone else.


    She dug a little hole beneath a tree and took out a strange looking root. She felt the curious gaze of Cao Yun on her.


    "This is a Charred Cow''s Knees. It grows under some trees as a parasitic root. To find them, you need to look for signs. For instance, the trunk of this tree is slightly orange over here, this is a sign of the Charred Cow''s Knees stealing its nutrients. Then if you look on the ground, you''ll see that no moss grows around there, and that''s precisely where the root was buried. If you look at the root, you''ll understand its name, with its appearance like the knee of a cow. It has a very abrasive smell. There."


    Feng Yingyue hold up the root for Cao Yun to smell it. And indeed, the smell was very powerful, and awful as well.


    "Its smell alone can be used to wake up someone who lost consciousness. But what''s interesting is that it can have a very different effect. If you boil it in fresh Lunar tears, it will even produce the opposite effect. Instead of stimulating someone, it can relax him, even to the point of putting him in a deep slumber."


    Feng Yingyue looked up and saw Cao Yun''s face. He was in a daze and lost in his thoughts and it awoke Feng Yingyue.


    "Oh, sorry. When I''m talking about herbs, I just can''t seem to stop myself, sorry. I won''t bother you again."


    "You''re not bothering me at all. On the opposite, it''s pretty interesting. As a cultivator, alchemy is very important. It''s just that I realized I was walking amidst a treasure trove of medicinal herbs with no way of knowing it. Please go ahead."


    Feng Yingyue blushed a little and got back into her herbs. She kept talking for a long time. Each time she found something interesting, she exposed all its properties to the young boy. And he was not just being polite, he was really interesting in everything she said. Usually, he was passionate about cultivation and martial arts and never really tried reading books about alchemy. Yet this subject was essential for cultivators. Most of the time, they just took pills without understanding the inner work of the craft. Right now, he realized that learning a little could bring many benefits to his cultivation.


    They kept on treading through the woods, Feng Yingyue was gathering many herbs, roots and all kinds of plants. Cao Yun was listening to every thing she said. He did not understand it perfectly but it was still beneficial to him.


    Alchemy was mainly the art of forging pills from medicinal herbs, but it could also use parts from demonic beasts or even some miraculous water, ores or all kinds of ingredients. These pills could be used in medicine of course, but the most interesting thing for cultivators was that some pills could improve your cultivation, calm your state of mind, and all kinds of other fantastic effects. Some pills could even temporarily increase the strength of a fighter.


    As the sun was setting, they both came back to the campfire they had set earlier. Feng Yingyue had spoken all day long and was now at ease around Cao Yun, they even started talking about other things.


    "Little Yingyue, I was wondering... There must be herbs and pills meant to calm the emotions, for example to soothe anger."


    Cao Yun became more and more worried about the effect of the Drop of Wrath. He had read the materials from Cleansed Asura and he understood that the more powerful he would get, the more effect the Drop would have. There were many mantras and techniques to temper the mind and resist its intent. Alas, it was still a little too advanced for Cao Yun and all the pills mentioned in the books were completely unknown to him.


    "Of course. The first one to come to mind is the Sorrowful Dew Pearl. You just have to reduce it into powder and mix it with the blood of a female 1-core demonic beast with a strong yin intent. By digesting it, the medicinal properties will gradually diffuse throughout your body and calm your mind. It''s especially useful against anger."


    "Would the blood of a Purple rotten keelback snake be up to the task?"


    Cao Yun took out a small pouch made with demonic beast skin. He had gathered the blood of all the beasts he killed to use them during his training.


    "Of course, and I happen to have a Sorrowful Dew Pearl on me. Let me prepare it."


    "Could you teach me?"


    Feng Yingyue was surprised but she smiled brightly.


    "Of course."


    They both got to work. Feng Yingyue was keen to teach everything, even more than what was necessary to Cao Yun. But he too was very eager to learn all he could.


    After the process was done, Cao Yun ingested the mixture. He felt a very cold flow of medicinal essence in his throat. This sensation rose up and his mind calmed down. While feeling this, he started performing his cultivation.


    As he was activating the ''Dance of Slaughter'', he tried to focus his intent on guiding the medicinal properties alongside the intent of the Drop of Wrath. He quickly felt that the medicine was effective and the drop that used to feel as if it was burning was cooling down. To his surprise, the cultivation gave him more benefit than usual.


    Feng Yingyue gave him enough ingredients to make the concoction throughout their journey. With her help first and then alone, he worked on making it.


    The next few days were all the same. Cao Yun soon realized that the medicine were less and less effective. The Drop of Wrath had already calmed down a little, but it would not respond to the medicinal properties anymore. However, it still helped Cao Yun to calm his mind before cultivating and helped him focus even more. He would have to wait to be more advanced before trying out the ways of the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. Indeed, he did not want to lose his sanity during an important fight.


    Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun were becoming really intimate. She had no more trouble speaking with him as if they were old friends. She kept talking about herbs and alchemy and eagerly listened when Cao Yun spoke about cultivation and martial arts.


    Cultivation was also important to alchemist. Some pills and forging methods needed strength to be performed, but they could not use too much time on cultivating. The insights she gained from Cao Yun were very fruitful and she could quickly advance her cultivation. She was still some weeks away from becoming a 2nd-grade Mortal, but she was feeling real change in her body. She even trained with Cao Yun and they prepared several mixtures together to help them during the journey back to Yinmen city.

 Chapter 7: 2-Core Demonic Beasts

    "Guo, I would like to go hunting with you."


    "Yingying, really?" Cao Yun had a moment of pause. "Do you want to practice your fighting?"


    "Well, as an alchemist, I could encounter dangerous beasts when traveling for ingredients. It''s only natural for me to want to protect myself. Usually, I simply do not have the time to train: mastering alchemy and advancing my cultivation just enough so it doesn''t keep me away from craft is time-consuming already. But with you, I am fairly confident that I will be safe around any beasts. So I was wondering if we could combine our activities and share our specialties."


    "I teach you how to fight demonic beasts and you teach me even more about alchemy. That sounds lovely." Cao Yun had a smile on his face, so did Feng Yingyue. "Wait, I''ve never seen you fight. What martial arts do you use?"


    "My cultivation method is the simple ''Universal Law of Immortality''. I do not need anything fancy for alchemy. On the other hand, I inherited a strange martial art from my late mother. I will show you."


    Feng Yingyue took out two daggers, the weapons she used as tools to gather ingredients. She began to dance with them. It was fascinating. Her charm was amplified, yet, there was an sense of danger in the air as if thousands of blades were hanging all around, ready to pierce through your body.


    When she finally stopped, Cao Yun realized he was actually imagining thousands of blades around him. They were not real of course, but the moves of this martial art gave this impression.


    "It is called ''Bladeless Eternity''. Supposedly, if you master this martial art, you could use anything as a blade. Even the air around you could be turned into blades to attack your opponents. Hence its name, you will fight bladeless because you will have an infinite number of blades all around you for all eternity. At least, that''s what it says in the technique manual. To see the result, you would need to be able to manifest your Qi at the very least, so you need to be a Mortal Warrior, or even higher. This martial art emphasizes elegance and speed, to cut apart your enemies and avoid all their strikes. There are also some throwing techniques. It''s really great for me, because I always need small knives and daggers for collecting ingredients, so I don''t need a weapon besides my tools."


    "I must admit, I''m really intrigued by this technique. It suits you, both in practicality and in elegance."


    Feng Yingyue blushed and little with a small smirk. Both of them were kinda flirting with each other. They even started calling one another by their first name. Cao Yun was even calling her with a nickname.


    For around two weeks now, they had been moving toward Yinmen city. They had a routine consisting of hunting, gathering alchemical ingredients, training with one another, advancing their cultivation and talking. Feng Yingyue had tried to talk about Cao Yun''s family but she soon understood he did not want to expand upon the matter. She already found that his name was dubious. He had introduced himself as an itinerant cultivator but she had some trouble believing him on that point. If an itinerant cultivator had his strength and talent, he would probably choose to settle down. Indeed, he would be received with honor almost anywhere, giving him access to more resources, essentials to cultivation. She had long decided to not push him on this subject because she did not want to ruin their little talks.


    They were slower than they thought. In fact, they should have already been halfway through their journey, but they had only crossed a quarter of the road back to Yinmen city. They just didn''t mind.


    -


    Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue were progressing carefully through the woods. The alchemist was scanning the ground, the trees, the leaves, the branches, everything around her, to find traces of ingredients she could use. The hunter was doing the same to find traces of prey and danger.


    Feng Yingyue stretched her arm before Cao Yun and stopped him. She then threw a dagger up a branch. A small head fell down on the ground and then, the body of a snake.


    "A Venomous hydra plum. A 1-core Demonic Beast. It''s very small, but as its name would suggest, it has a potent venom, almost lethal for any Mortal, and even early Mortal Warrior. Its name comes from the odor of the venom on the corpses of its victims."


    "You''re also very knowledgeable about demonic beasts?"


    "Well, we also use their parts in alchemy."


    "Great. Then you could help me, I believe I found tracks but I do not know the beast responsible. I thought they were from a lion-stag but it''s strange and there''s something else with it."


    Cao Yun lead Feng Yingyue toward tracks in the mud.


    "Indeed, it looks like a lion-stag, but it''s at a higher level. If I''m not mistaken, it should be a High silver lion-stag, a Lion-stag that reached 2-core. And with it, the tracks remind me of an Eagle-headed wolf, also a 2-core demonic beast. I''m pretty sure, the wolf is tracking the lion-stag."


    "Do these Eagle-headed wolves also hunt in packs?"


    "Fortunately, no, they''re very individualistic."


    "Who do you think would win between the two?"


    "Most likely the Eagle-headed wolf. The reason why lion-stag are considered 1-core demonic beasts is because they almost never grow old enough to form a second core. And generally when one does, it''s very old. On the contrary, Eagle-headed wolves can form a second core fairly easily, so it should still be young."


    A demonic beast cultivated by absorbing the energy of its meals, whether plants, cultivators, or other beasts. This energy was then digested and condensed into a core. When enough energy was condensed, a new core would then be formed. And the formation of a core gave new characteristics to the beast, but unlike cultivators, they had not the intelligence to create methods to accelerate their natural cultivation. Hence, some species could be stuck at a specific rank because of their longevity.


    "We should be cautious and observe their fight from afar. According to their state we''ll intervene or not. It''s always a good thing to be a little cautious."


    Feng Yingyue acquiesced. She was not a fighter and even though she wanted practice, she did not want to risk her life if it was not necessary. Cao Yun on the other hand was the type to analyze before deciding his actions. Some times, it was important to act first, but if he could, he would first study the situation to formulate a correct plan of action.


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    They slowly made their way to where the beasts were fighting. Given the tracks in the mud and the state they were in, they should have been attacking each other for five minutes, no more. The Eagle-headed wolf was really self-explanatory, a big gray wolf with the head of an eagle, talons on its front paws and feathers in place of its tail. The High silver lion-stag was slightly bigger than a Crimson lion-stag, its mane was silver and its antlers were taller and more intricate.


    They both seemed in a difficult situation, but the wolf had the advantage. Several marks of beaks were piercing the body of the lion-stag.


    Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue observed the fight for several minutes. The two beasts were pure savagery, their fight crushed rocks and broke trees tens of meters away. Only by watching them fight to the death, the two cultivators got some insights into their martial arts. None of them had ever seen a 2-core demonic beast, let alone seeing two of them battling each other.


    The Eagle-headed wolf was covered in blood, but so was the lion-stag. The main difference was that the blood covering the lion-stag was mostly its own, contrary to the wolf. The lion-stag took a couple of steps back, its eyes were clearly filled with fear, but also rage. It knew its death was coming but it wanted to take its enemy along. The Eagle-headed wolf was ready to end the fight. It was already salivating at the idea of having this beast as its meal.


    "Yingying, before the Eagle-headed wolf deals the final blow, I will distract it. The High silver lion-stag is in a terrible shape. I''m confidant you can block it while I deal with the wolf. If it tries to run, let it go. You could not fight it if it was desperate. But I''m sure you can prevent it from ambushing me during my fight."


    Cao Yun had carefully observed the fight and knew the right course of actions but he simply had no time to explain everything to his friend.


    "What?!" Feng Yingyue''s eyes were incredulous. She wasn''t even a 2nd-grade Mortal and a High silver lion-stag was a 2-core demonic beast, able to rival a 6th-grade Mortal. Even injured, it was dangerous.


    "Trust me! Just focus on evading!"


    Before she could oppose this plan, Cao Yun was already standing before the wolf. Both beasts were surprised. The wolf quickly reacted and tried to slice the human with its talons. It was exhausted from the earlier fight and its speed was slower than usual. Cao Yun dodged and sent a kick toward its lower abdomen. He tried to follow with a palm but the beast''s beak drew near him to bite his head off. Cao Yun rolled to the side and sent a palm to its flank. Cao Yun was halfway through the 3rd-grade of Mortal. If the wolf wasn''t weakened, he would probably be dead right now.


    On the other side, Feng Yingyue was standing right in front of the High silver lion-stag. The beast did not attack, contrary to the Eagle-headed wolf. It was way more injured and it knew this little human could not harm it in the slightest. It was staring at the fight between the other human and the wolf, ready to kill them both at the right opportunity. Feng Yingyue knew that she was not supposed to fight the lion-stag, but just hinder it if it tried to intervene. She was not sure of herself but was convinced that Cao Yun would not put her life in any real danger.


    Very soon, the Eagle-headed wolf and Cao Yun had exchanged more than twenty strikes. The wolf was breathing loudly and one of its legs crumbled. A light flickered in the eye of the lion-stag. The dying beast arched its body ready to pounce on its prey. It could probably use the human to eliminate the wolf. Feng Yingyue drew her daggers and threw one toward the beast. It had disregarded her completely and was slow to react. The blade cut open its face as it was aiming for its left eye. The lion-stag turned its fierce gaze on the little human. It was enraged by this distraction. It tried to grab her but she evaded. It tried again, she evaded again. Feng Yingyue was not trying to fight, she was just evading the beast over and over again. And it was becoming mad, there was an insignificant insect before it and it could not kill her. It had lost too much blood and it was slower than this human.


    While this cat-and-mouse game was happening, Cao Yun delivered the final blow to the exhausted wolf. He then started to watch Feng Yingyue. He was right. He had killed many lion-stags and knew how this one would react. It was blinded by rage and could not see the big picture. It had not realized that the wolf was dead and that two humans were against it. If the lion-stag had fled, it would have had a chance, but Cao Yun knew it would be stubborn.


    "Yingying, try to attack. I''m here to help you no matter what happens."


    Hearing his voice, she knew the Eagle-headed wolf was dead. She became fearless and shifted her martial art from evading to slicing. She was able to get three hits in before her life was in real danger. Cao Yun intervened then and put the lion-stag down. It was way too weak after its earlier fight and this frustrating chase. Nonetheless, Feng Yingyue had earned a lot of experience in her ''Bladeless Eternal''. Her motion was more refined and even with so few slices, her attack got a little bit better.


    Cao Yun began cutting open the beasts to get their cores and Feng Yingyue tried to help.


    "What are you doing? Let me do it. You, focus on your insights. If you lose the sensations you just felt, it will be a shame."


    "Of course! Thank you, Guo."


    She retrieved the dagger she had thrown at the very start of the confrontation and walked away to perform her technique and meditate on what she gained. Cao Yun was way more skillful than he was initially at getting the cores out of the beasts'' bodies. They were both 2-core demonic beast, therefore they both had two cores. When he was done, so was Feng Yingyue.


    "It''s incredible. I did not think I could progress that much with such a short fight. And I did not even really fight."


    "Of course, applying your art in real-life situations is the best way to improve it when you''re stuck. Even with a partner, you get used to the sensation and you can lose yourself in the routine. In real-life, every fight is different and you will always discover new things." Cao Yun then handed Feng Yingyue one 2-core. "This core is yours. It will be useful when you break through to 3rd-grade Mortal."


    "Guo! But I''m still a long way from this grade. You should keep it. After all, you killed both the beasts."


    "Without you, this lion-stag would have killed me as I was fighting the wolf. And I never trained with 2-core, but I''m pretty sure each one could help me cultivate for at least a month. I''m convinced the three 2-cores will allow me to break through in the next 2 to 3 months at most, so I won''t need the four of them. Even if you don''t take, I wont use it."


    "Then, I will not be impolite."


    Feng Yingyue took the 2-core from Cao Yun''s hand. Both their hands touched each other longer than needed.


    During the evening, Cao Yun tried to absorb the Qi from one of the 2-core and realized he was mistaken. The 2-cores were not just bigger, they were even more dense and rich in Qi than the 1-cores he was using. In other words, his estimations were too conservative. In 2 months, he was fairly confidant he would have tempered his Lower Dantian enough to break through to 4th-grade Mortal.


    Once your Lower Dantian was strengthened, the next steps consisted in tempering the meridians, the channels through which the Qi circulated throughout the body. There were three kinds of meridians, the 8 extraordinary vessels, the 12 standard meridians and countless small capillary-like vessels expanding in the entire body. The 8 extraordinary vessels were the most important meridians, able to stock Qi and of main importance in cultivation. The 12 standard meridians were linking them to the organs and had thus an important part in the functions of the body.


    After the tempering of the Lower Dantian, Cao Yun would then temper the 8 extraordinary vessels and finally the 12 standard meridians. The tempering phase of the Foundation, the first realm of cultivation, would then be over. He would be halfway through the Mortal rank.


    They resumed their journey and changed their routine. Feng Yingyue was now always fighting alongside Cao Yun. They were beginning to be able to understand each other without talking or even looking at one another. Finally they reached the halfway point of their travel. The fighting experience had allowed Feng Yingyue to break through to 2nd-grade Mortal.


    She then began the tempering of her bones and marrow. She knew of pills to help her in this endeavor. Moreover, Cao Yun was here to help her. He could not send Qi in her body but he was able to use the vibration of his strikes to stress her bones and speed up the process. He also performed massages to help the flow of Qi to the deepest part of her marrow. It was very intimate but neither Cao Yun nor Feng Yingyue ever found it inappropriate.


    One night, as they were both meditating, Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun were alarmed by a screech. It sounded like a dying bird, but it reverberated throughout the entire forest. They looked toward the sky and saw the silhouette of a bird falling in the distance.

 Chapter 8: The bird and the snake

    The moon was high in the sky when a gigantic shadow hid it. It was far but as big as an elephant with wings twice wider than its body when fully deployed. Its features were difficult to distinguish but Feng Yingyue knew what it was as soon as she heard its screech.


    It was a Mountain fenghuang, a sub-species of phoenix. This kind of bird was a 3-Core demonic beast. Moreover, it was considered as a sacred bird by cultivators. Feng Yingyue did not even know that such a beast lived in these mountains. She was overwhelmed with curiosity and admiration and turned toward Cao Yun.


    "Guo, let''s go observe it!"


    Cao Yun was a little worried. What kind of beast could have hurt a 3-core demonic beast? He was more worried that a human had done it, a fenghuang was a symbol of virtue and most cultivator would be very reluctant to kill one unless they were in danger, or very greedy. And a greedy cultivator was a huge threat, even more so than a powerful demonic beast.


    But he had to admit, he was as curious as Feng Yingyue. The bird was injured and Cao Yun could probably get some of its blood without fighting it. The blood of a 3-core demonic beast would greatly boost his cultivation.


    "Yingying. With utmost caution!"


    Feng Yingyue nodded with a huge smile.


    They both made their way through the woods. They were very careful trying to hide their presence as much as possible. A 3-core demonic beast was on par with a 9th-grade Mortal and could even fight against some 1st-grade Mortal Warriors. Even injured, this Mountain fenghuang could probably still kill them, and the reason for its injury was even more dangerous.


    When they finally got close enough to see it, Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun were amazed by its elegance. Its head was golden and it had the long legs of a crane made of jade. It tail was similar to a peacock wheel. The bird turned its eyes toward the humans. There was no animosity in it, but only caution. Its body was covered in blood, sticking its feathers together. Feng Yingyue felt sad for this beast. Yes, they had killed demonic beasts on their way, but this one had a special air around it and none of them seemed to be able to harbor bad intentions against it.


    Feng Yingyue bowed and cupped her fists.


    "Noble beast, I beg your forgiveness. We were curious about your appearance. This one may be incompetent, but I have small achievements in alchemy and medicinal herbs. May this one approach you to better see your wounds?"


    Some 3-core demonic beasts were known to comprehend human intentions. They were not yet able to understand their speech, but they could make out the gist of it through their attitude. The fenghuang stared at the little girl for some time. It clearly saw her sincerity and thus it bowed its head and looked away.


    Feng Yingyue approached carefully while Cao Yun was watching her. He did not want to make the beast wary and just kept his distance. The young girl did not know what took over her but she really wanted to help this majestic beast. The fenghuang moved its wing to let the girl inspect its body. Cao Yun decided to keep watch. He hid a few meters away at the top of a tree.


    Feng Yingyue took all her time so as not to harm the beast. The wounds were pretty big, these were traces of fangs and the distinctive sign of corrosion from poison. The fenghuang had a strong vitality and could defend against this venom. She racked her brain to figure out which beast was responsible. It should be a huge snake, or something similar. She finally decided that it was not important right now. Knowing the attacking beast would get her clues regarding the kind of poison but she could do without that. She began by washing the wounds with fresh water from one of her pouches. She mixed several ingredients together to appease the pain. The fenghuang let out a small moan but let the human do her work. It clearly felt its pain going away.


    The young alchemist was very careful and focused. She had lost any perception of her surroundings. Usually, she would not allow herself to be so immersed in her work in the middle of the woods but she was with Cao Yun. Her trust in him was absolute. She had known him for around a month now, and he had even helped her reach 2nd-grade Mortal.


    Cao Yun heard a small sound and focused his senses toward it. He could see trees falling one after the other. It was zigzagging through the forest, but it was obviously going their way. The movement was terrifyingly fast. Even if has was running with all his strength, Cao Yun could not keep up with it. He tried to trace back the origin of the movement. Apparently, it was coming from the peek of the mountains. The wounded phoenix was called a Mountain fenghuang and obviously, as its name stated, it lived in the mountains.


    The wood they were in was on the flank of a rocky mountain with many peaks. Cao Yun quickly surmised that the fenghuang was probably nested on the peak the movement came from and the so-called movement was the attacker. Strangely, Cao Yun was relieved, for it was clearly a beast and not a human cultivator. Such a beast relied on its strength and physical attributes whereas a cultivator could be way more cunning, with many weapons and tools at his disposal.


    Cao Yun jumped down and ran toward Feng Yingyue. The fenghuang opened its eyes and looked at the boy. It was not worried because it remembered the human who was with the woman treating it. From the behavior of the boy, the bird understood he was warning them. Its head rose from the ground and it scanned its surrounding. The earing of the beast was very well developed and it recognized the threat right away.


    "Yingying, a huge beast is rushing here!"


    Feng Yingyue was startled. She had been immersed in her treatment for almost twenty minutes, and she was coming out of a daze by hearing Cao Yun''s voice.


    "Were you able to identify it?"


    "I am not so sure. It should be a huge snake. Huge enough to break down the trees on its way."


    Feng Yingyue mulled over the clues she had.


    "A bashe! At least, a kind of bashe. It''s similar to a python, but big enough to swallow an elephant whole. From the wounds I treated, it should have some poison, but not that potent. From my guess, it should be a Muddy bashe, a 3-core demonic beast. Usually a Muddy bashe would not prey upon a beast as powerful as it is. So, it''s possible that it''s in the process of forming its fourth core and just could not resist the temptation of eating another 3-core demonic beast. Well... I''m just guessing, but it''s very likely."


    "Can the fenghuang fly?"


    "Given its state, I''m not even sure it could manage a very short fly, at best a few minutes before collapsing, if it even succeeds in taking off."


    The fenghuang was very alert but it still understood that the humans were worried about its fate. It turned toward them and shook its head as it knew humans did. It got up on its legs and tried to jump. However, it almost instantly fell back down. The poison from the bashe was not deadly to a fenghuang but partially paralyzed its legs.


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    "Yingying, can you make a cure?"


    "Now that I know what beast produced this venom, I think I know what this is. So... yes! I have the ingredients, but this will take some time."


    Feng Yingyue went back to the side of the bird to try and help it. Cao Yun was racking his brain to come up with a plan. The safest thing to do would be to abandon the fenghuang and leave with Feng Yingyue. However, he knew she would not want that and Cao Yun himself really wished he could help this beast as well. He made up his mind. If he could not come up with a plan very soon, he would take Feng Yingyue away, by force if need be, no matter what she may think of him.


    The fenghuang noticed the conflict within the boy and pushed him softly with its beak. When Cao Yun looked at it, the bird tightly closed its eyes and flicked its beak toward the movement before closing its eyes again, keeping them shut with force. Cao Yun''s face lit up. This bird was smarter than both of them thought. But it also meant that this bashe could be this way as well, alas. Cao Yun rushed to Feng Yingyue.


    "Tell me what you know about the senses of a snake. They must have a good smell, right?"


    Feng Yingyue was surprised by the question but kept her calm and answered as extensively, and shortly, as possible.


    "Their smell is very powerful. They use their tongues to catch the scents within the air and send them to special organs to identify them."


    "Do you still have some Charred Cow''s Knees? Both raw and boiled in fresh Lunar tears?"


    "Yes, I kept half of it raw after making the decoction. You want to use it against the bashe?"


    "If I remember right, the root itself has a strong and awful smell, but once prepared, it''s some kind of anesthetic, right?"


    "Right..." Feng Yingyue finally understood. "Right! But a bashe can also detect heat. It has special pits that can pick up our temperatures."


    "Would it be able to spot us very far in these woods?"


    "Probably not, it should rely on its smell right now. Without it, I doubt it will be able to pursue us as expertly."


    "Then, my plan should work. But once again, Yingying, your martial art will come in handy."


    "What?!"


    "I don''t have any weapon, and your martial art has several special throwing techniques. Precision is the essential part of my plan. If you can''t do it, I see no other way to save this fenghuang, in which case, I will ask you to leave it."


    "No! I will do everything you want! I trust you!"


    Cao Yun explained exactly what he wanted to do. Even the fenghuang listened carefully. It could not understand the words but it was intelligent enough to get the gist of it. Cao Yun put everything in order. And he hated himself right now. The only way he found to save the day was to put Feng Yingyue in a terrible situation. If he were stronger, or if he only knew the right techniques, that would not be necessary. But he had no time for self-loathing this very moment.


    He had taken some blood from the fenghuang, mixed with the poison of the bashe to be sure to convince it that was the real deal. He was trying to create a fake track to lead the bashe where he wanted it, as far away as possible.


    Feng Yingyue was applying the blood from other demonic beasts killed by Cao Yun on the fenghuang to mask its natural smell. Cao Yun was keeping a lot of blood to help during his cultivation and it was really coming in handy right now, especially thanks to Feng Yingyue. Since they had met, she used herbs to maintain the blood fresh and stop it from coagulating. The fenghuang hated the process but let her do it because it knew these humans were putting themselves in danger for it and it had understood their plan. It made sense.


    When she was done, Feng Yingyue bowed to the bird and ran away as fast as she possibly could.


    Cao Yun had never ran as fast, even with his 3rd-grade Mortal cultivation, he was exhausted. He had slalomed through the trees to make the bashe follow the smell through a difficult path. When he stopped, he breathed deeply and tried to calm down. If he had not miscalculated, Feng Yingyue should be able to reach him just before the bashe, despite its speed. She knew her way around a forest while the bashe was just rushing through the trees to get to its prize.


    Cao Yun made final preparations. It was the most dangerous moment in his life since the time he almost got sliced in half by the assassin of his parents. Once again, he thought about his little sister and pictured her bruised and dead body before convincing himself she was still alive and then putting all these thoughts away.


    Feng Yingyue finally arrived. Before she could even take a breather, she took position in a tree.


    When Cao Yun felt the tremor in the ground and heard the trees being uprooted one after the after, he set the final part of his plan in motion. He had poured some liquids in several places to facilitate this moment. He set them all on fire. They were not big fires, but many small ones.


    The head of the bashe finally appeared. This head was a wall of scales the color of autumn leaves. Neither Feng Yingyue nor Cao Yun knew a snake could be this big. It was almost nine chi* tall and they could only imagine that its body covered at the very least ten times that. Its scales changed color the further from its head, becoming the color of dirt. The eyes of the beast were gouged out, apparently by a beak pecking them. That was what the fenghuang tried to tell Cao Yun.


    Arriving here, the bashe was confused. It had been tricked by the smell. The demonic beast blood had hidden its real prey from it and it was on a wild-goose chase. Without its eyes, the bashe followed its nose but the smell stopped here. It could still see silhouettes thanks to small pits below its nostrils sensitive to heat. But with all these fires, it was very confused. However it could tell that the large body of its prey wasn''t here.


    The bashe was deadly silent. It began to flick its tongue more aggressively as if it was trying to catch something in the air. And it was, it was attempting to track the scent of its prey. As its frustration grew, it started hissing angrily. Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue only heard their own heartbeat that was so much louder than anything. The fenghuang was also a 3-core demonic beast but it was friendly enough, the bashe on the other hand was exactly what they imagined a 3-core demonic beast to really be. Even though they were mentally prepared, they just realized that they were too naive. Fear had seized their entire body. The bashe was moving its head left and right while flicking its forked tongue. The snake was becoming more and more frustrated.


    Feng Yingyue was observing its tongue. She only had one chance. When she felt she was ready, she threw several needles in its tongue. These needles had been covered in either the Charred Cow''s Knees or the anesthetic made from it. The first ones produced a pungent smell covering everything else, and the others put the tongue to sleep, at least for a time.


    As soon as the needles pierced its tongue, the bashe instinctively put it back in its mouth. And that was the moment the smell flooded its mouth, the beast contorted its massive body in all kinds of spasms. It really did not like this smell at all. Trees, dirt and rocks were flying around the convulsing beast. It tried to take its tongue out but the anesthetic was already taking effect and the snake could not control it. The smell was polluting its senses.


    Feng Yingyue jumped toward Cao Yun and they both ran into the woods. Cao Yun was faster and yet stayed behind Feng Yingyue, both to protect her because he was stronger but also because she was better at navigating in these woods. As they were running, the ground was shaking and trees were flying above their heads. The bashe was convulsing from discomfort as well as from rage and was destroying the woods around itself.


    When the Muddy bashe cleared its mind, it tried to follow the needles thrower but was blinded by the fires. Without its eyes and its smell, it could only discern silhouettes through their body heat. It began to extinguish the fires by simply using its body to cover them.


    Despite their running, the boy and the girl were not breathing at all. Feng Yingyue was right, the bashe was ready to form its fourth core. The idea of a 3-core demonic beast was already scary as it was but a 4-core was an unimaginable monster to them. They ran around in random directions for some time, just to be sure the bashe could not get their track, and then went back to the fenghuang.


    After their little stunt, it would be more difficult for the monstrous snake to find them. Its heat vision was very limited and the smell would disturb him for some time. Feng Yingyue should be able to help the fenghuang fly and it could then leave without their help.


    *Approximately, 1 chi = 1 foot = 0.33 m

 Chapter 9: Parents protecting their kid

    Feng Yingyue was still treating the fenghuang. The stress it was under with the bashe rummaging the woods not far from them was really not helpful. Cao Yun was scouting the surroundings to warn them if the beast got too close. From the top of the tree, Cao Yun could see that the Muddy bashe remained in the area. It probably knew that its prey was around here and it needed some time to get its smell back. According to the young alchemist, it was the matter of two to three hours top. After that, if the bashe had not gone too far, it would take it less than half an hour to get to them and if the fenghuang could not fly, they would most likely die. As a 3-core demonic beast, the Muddy bashe was not stupid. It would not fall twice in the same trap and Cao Yun could hardly come up with another one.


    Their only hope was to allow the fenghuang to fly again so it could flee, then they would run as far away as possible.


    After more than an hour of treatment, Feng Yingyue finally breathed a sigh of relief. The bird got up on its two long legs and let out a very small noise of satisfaction. The snake was still hearing just fine and no matter the distance, it was a bad idea to give him any chance at finding them, hence the fenghuang was very careful. Cao Yun who was near them came back when hearing the beast.


    "Yingying, you''re already done?"


    "Well, it should still rest with the blood it lost, but yes, I tended to all its wounds and the poison is completely gone. Once I knew it was due to a bashe, it was easier to know the right antidote. Well, I had to make do with the herbs around here, but given the vitality of a fenghuang, it was enough."


    "Amazing!"


    Feng Yingyue blushed while looking at Cao Yun straight in the eyes.


    "Your plan was amazing, and bold, ... and also scary I must admit."


    "And even in my plan, your role was the most important. I''m under the impression that without you, crossing these mountains would have been way more dangerous for me."


    As they were flirting with each other, the fenghuang lowered its head toward the two humans. It tried to signal something to them. It pointed at one of the rocky peaks and then at its own back.


    "Feng''er, you want to take us somewhere?"


    The bird nodded its head yes.


    "Feng''er?!" Cao Yun was surprised by the nickname.


    "Well... I had to call him something. He''s a male, so I thought that Feng would suit him. And don''t you think that Feng''er is cute?"


    "Ah... I guess so..." The boy did not know how to react. This ''Feng''er'' was as large as an elephant. He was able to gouge out the eyes of a Muddy bashe who scared them to death, and now he was called ''cute'' by a young girl. Cao Yun found this pretty strange but the so-called ''Feng''er'' did not seem to mind, so...


    While Cao Yun was still lost in his thoughts, Feng Yingyue climbed on top of Feng''er. She then looked down at the dazed boy.


    "Come on, he wants to show us something!"


    "O... okay."


    Cao Yun liked to plan ahead but his friend seemed to completely trust the beast. After all, Feng''er had been healed by Feng Yingyue, so he should have no bad intention.


    The cautious boy followed the example of his friend and got on the back of the giant bird. As soon as both of them were on him, Feng''er pushed with his legs and jumped higher than the trees. When he was high enough, he opened his wings and he got almost four times larger. He flapped his wings, blowing some smaller trees away and began to fly in the direction of the nearest rocky peak.


    The two amazed riders were grabbing on his blue and golden feathers as they saw the background change. None of them had ever flown and the experience was incredible. Feng''er did not fly at full speed, for the humans would have probably fell down, but he was still very fast.


    Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue almost forgot what happened these last few hours and were in awe before the landscape scrolling under their eyes. It was absolutely beautiful. They remained transfixed for at least half an hour before the fenghuang slowed down.


    They had reached the rocky peak. Feng''er circled a certain area and got ready to land. When the humans looked down below they immediately understood what it was that he wanted. There was a huge nest partially smashed and in its center, a female fenghuang was laying down, covered in blood. Her body was shivering and small painful moans erupted from her beak.


    Feng Yingyue''s eyes opened wide and she was almost ready to jump down and rush to her at once. She controlled herself and as soon as Feng''er touched the ground, she dashed forward with her tools. She began examining the female fenghuang. Her wounds were way more serious than Feng''er''s were. She was not even conscious and kept shivering and moaning.


    Cao Yun got off Feng''er as well and the male drew near his mate. He shook her beak with his own and cuddled his head against hers. The young boy was touched by this scene. He had killed many demonic beasts but he never saw beasts so hurt, physically and emotionally. He stayed silent as Feng Yingyue was taking care of the female. Fortunately, she had still enough antidote after treating Feng''er.


    Cao Yun looked down below to try and find the bashe within the woods. He had no difficulty to find the place it used to be. There, the trees were all down. In fact, there was a path of uprooted trees from the foot of the peak to where they had ambushed it. But after, that, there was nothing. The Muddy bashe was probably laying low as to allow its smell to come back fully.


    After several minutes, the female fenghuang began to regain consciousness and reciprocated the cuddles of her mate. She had a small movement of retreat after sensing the human touching her but calmed down and let her do her work.


    Feng Yingyue kept working for at least two hours and the female got back on her feet. When she got up, the young alchemist was amazed for there was something in the nest. In the middle of the amalgam of branches, an egg half her size was laying softly. For 3-core demonic beasts, producing an offspring was very difficult. In their entire life, a fenghuang couple should only be able to give birth to a handful of chicks. Witnessing such an event was a rare chance. She immediately called Cao Yun.


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    He did not know as much as Feng Yingyue, but he was still surprised by this egg. And he understood.


    "You said that this bashe was in the process of forming its 4th-core. So I think I know what happened. It found this egg and thought it could break through if only it ate it. It must have fought against the female who was alone but the male came back and chased the snake somehow."


    Feng''er emitted a small cry to confirm the theory of the young boy. He had fought against the predator for a long time. He was able to gouge out its eyes. He took it in his claws and sent him away to continue their fight in the woods, but he got bitten and could not fly properly. The bashe was stubborn and decided to finish him off before going back to the nest and eat its fill.


    "But then, it means the bashe will come back here!"


    "I fear that after getting its smell back, it will try to eat the egg. It must still believe the female is terribly hurt, or even dead, and the male is away. It probably won''t abandon such a golden opportunity to break through. Yingying, do you think that Feng''er and... "


    "Huang''er!" Feng Yingyue interrupted to give a name to the female fenghuang. She smiled proudly as she watched over the mostly recovered bird. ''Huang''er'' let out a small noise of approbation with her head high.


    "... do you think that Feng''er and Huang''er could fight off the Muddy bashe?"


    "Hmph, fight it off?! They will rip it apart if it dares come near their child again!"


    Both parents yelled in unison to affirm their intentions. Watching them, Cao Yun saw the faces of his own parents when they gave their life for him. An urge to help them took him completely.


    "If we do not kill this Muddy bashe right now, it will recover and maybe form its fourth core. If it becomes a 4-core demonic beast, it will be easy for it to come and get its revenge. First, we need to attract it here. If it senses that either of the fenghuang is recovered or that they''re both at the nest, it will probably run away. We need to make it believe nothing has changed here, and when it gets near the nest, Feng''er will cut off its retreat and with Huang''er, they will both get rid of it."


    "Guo, shouldn''t they just find it in the woods and kill it? If it comes near the nest, it could be dangerous for the egg, no?"


    "But what if we can''t find it? If it smells the fenghuang flying over its head, it will hide. Last time, it rushed through the woods and destroyed the trees around. But if it wants to hide, it could go underground."


    "Yes... You''re right."


    Cao Yun turned toward the couple of fenghuang.


    "I''m sorry, but I can''t find any other way. It''s your life that''s in danger. So, if you accept to trust me, I can tell you my plan."


    Huang''er seemed more skeptical but Feng''er on the other hand had trust in his eyes and he convinced his mate.


    -


    The bashe was coiled up, immobile and silent. It was focusing on restoring its smell, bearing the pungent odor of the Cow''s Knee and trying to forcefully move its paralyzed tongue. After nearly three hours, its was finally able to discern the smell of its prey. It hesitated but decided to go back to the nest in order to devour the female and the egg. It could feel its fourth core almost formed.


    When a demonic beast gathered Qi, it would condense inside its cores. But then came a moment when the cores were so dense in energy, they could not accumulate more of it. They would vibrate and send out some filaments of Qi to create a new core. But for this new core to be fully materialized, the beast needed a lot of Qi. And the Muddy bashe could feel that its core was almost tangible. With just a little push, it would at last become a 4-core demonic beast. That was a new realm completely that would bring about a lot of changes in itself.


    The giant python was very cautious this time. It was blind and relied on its smell and a limited heat vision. It tried, as best as it could, to not disturb the woods with its movements for it did not want to alert its prey.


    It climbed up the peak where the nest was and sneaked through the rocks. When it reached the top, there she was. The female was still convulsing and moaning, the smell of blood was everywhere and her body appeared very cold.


    The Muddy bashe approached with caution. It was blinded by its desire to devour them whole, but it still had a little bit of sense after its last encounter in the woods. As the goal was so near, it could not bear to wait any longer. It prepared itself to pounce on the fenghuang.


    That was at this precise moment that Huang''er woke up and jumped high in the air. She was a 3-core demonic beast, on par with a 9th-grade Mortal, and as such, could perfectly control her body functions. She had gathered her blood in her vital organs to give the illusion that she was freezing, and dying. The bashe immediately understood what was going on and launched its head against the fenghuang in the air. Its speed was phenomenal but Huang''er was ready. She avoided the attack and caught the snake''s neck with her talons. The beast was too heavy for Huang''er to fly it up the air, but she brutally slammed it back on the ground.


    The tail of the bashe bashed against her upper body to make her let go. Huang''er did, but put her talons in its body again, and then pecked several times, drawing blood. The Muddy bashe, once again, frantically moved its body to stop her. This time, it hit her wing and she dropped to the ground a little farther.


    Feng''er who was waiting higher, hiding behind the peak, came to the rescue as the noise of the battle echoed. When he arrived, he saw his mate on the ground and dived toward the bashe. The snake felt his heat and was able to avoid his claws.


    Huang''er got back up and together with Feng''er, they attacked the bashe again and again. The snake was very slippery even with its massive body. But each time a fenghuang got it, they would claw and peck its body.


    Feng''er was able to get a good grip and flapped his wing as much as he could. He lifted up the snake several meters in the sky. His mate came to help him and caught another part of its body. Now that there were two of them to lift the giant python, it was easier to bring it higher. They finally let go and the beast went crashing on the rocks below. Some of these rocks broke its scales and sliced its body open. It was bleeding profusely.


    The Muddy bashe understood it could not fight the two fenghuang alone. It was why it had attacked when the female was alone the first time. But it realized something. After its fall, it was closer to the nest than before and the egg was just before its mouth.


    Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue who were hiding behind the nest realized that too. They were watching the fight, which was really useful for gaining insights into their martial arts. Watching a fight between 3-core demonic beasts was like watching a duel between peak 9th-grade Mortal, or even 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. Behind the nest and the huge body of Feng''er, the bashe had not seen them when it got here.


    The snake launched itself toward the egg. If it ate the chick inside, there was hope for its breakthrough. A breakthrough during a fight was a desperate attempt, but were it successful, the bashe could then easily dispatch both of the fenghuang. Seeing this course of actions, Cao Yun gathered all his strength. ''Dance of Slaughter'', seventh movement, ''Cutting the Retreat''. It was the fastest move he knew and he dashed straight for the egg as well. At a hair''s breadth, the human grabbed the egg as the huge opened jaws of the snake closed themselves around nothing.


    Cao Yun rolled over several meters, the egg half his size in his embrace. The fenghuang was even more furious than before and dived toward the bashe. They kept attacking the beast again and again, lifting it up in the sky to throw it to the ground, pecking, clawing. The fight lasted a long time as the snake was trying to survive. It was outnumbered and its last chance for a breakthrough was stolen by an insignificant human it could easily crush. And yet, this vermin had sealed its fate.


    Finally, the Muddy bashe stopped moving as a lot of its blood was spread all around. Feng''er landed on the body and pecked at it. He put his beak inside the beast and took out its organs to make sure the snake was dead.

 Chapter 10: Yinmen City

    The body of the Muddy bashe laid lifeless on the rocks below the fenghuang couple''s nest. Feng''er was cutting apart its body to dig out its cores as his mate was approaching Cao Yun. The boy still had the egg in his embrace and Huang''er wanted to know whether it was safe or not. Cao Yun had hit his back against the wall at full speed to protect the egg, but he was not too hurt. He opened his arms to show it to the worried female. She was relieved and cuddled the egg with her head before issuing a small cry as if she was thanking Cao Yun.


    The young boy went back to the nest that was in a sorry state and put the egg back in it. Huang''er tried to sort out the branches around the egg and laid beside it. Feng''er was almost done digging out the cores. There were four of them, three were crimson medium-sized pearls and the last one was blueish and its diameter was a cun* bigger. Such a core was very rare, it was a 4-core in the process of forming itself. A 4-core had a higher density of Qi and was larger still. Despite its incompleteness, this 4-core was more precious than the three 3-cores combined.


    Feng''er took them all in its beak. It got near Feng Yingyue and let go of a 3-core at her feet. Afterwards, it got near Cao Yun and hesitated a bit before giving him the pseudo-4-core. The boy was shocked. He was expecting a reward after seeing his friend got one however such a gift was beyond his expectations. Both fenghuang had seen him risking his life to save their egg, and he was after all the boy who planned how to delay the bashe in the woods and how to entrap it earlier. Feng''er left Cao Yun utterly shocked as he went back to his nest. He cuddled a little with Huang''er, picked up some branches to repair the nest a little bit. Finally, he rested along with Huang''er and the egg. He put the two 3-cores between their two bodies. They were both tired and absorbing the Qi from these cores would be very useful. Usually, demonic beasts would just gulp them the cores and absorb their energy from within. The reason why Feng''er did no such thing was to nourish his egg as well.


    Cao Yun regained his composure and took the pseudo-4-core in hand. As soon as he touched it, he felt its Qi transferring in his body on its own. The quality of Qi was different from what Cao Yun ever knew. Qi was the life energy present in all things, allowing life itself. But there were always impurities in the Qi as it circulated. Clearing the impurities in the Qi was time-consuming but such a pure Qi would be that much powerful. Of course, the Qi within the pseudo-4-core was not all pure but its quality was higher than the Qi a Mortal was used to, it was similar to the Qi of a Mortal Warrior.


    Cao Yun tried to estimate how long it would take him to temper his Lower Dantian with such a quality and quantity of Qi. He thought a few months would be necessary but with this core, maybe only a few days would suffice. However, if he went too fast, he could damage his Lower Dantian. As Cao Yun was thinking about all the ways he could use this core to its fullest, his eyes locked on the blood flowing under the Muddy bashe corpse. The blood of a demonic beast could be used to strengthen the body, and it could also be used to protect, strengthen and temper the Dantian and meridians. Cao Yun also knew there were pills made from demonic beast parts that could also be useful. This corpse was a treasure trove.


    "Yingying, do you think we could take some blood and other parts of the Muddy bashe for alchemy?"


    "I..." Feng Yingyue was still in a daze gazing at the 3-core she was now holding in her hand. "... as long as we are not too greedy, I believe they would not stop us. After all, they killed it, so they should get the spoils. However, considering the rewards they gave us, they seem to recognize our help."


    Both of them went to take some parts of the Muddy bashe, Cao Yun was mostly interested in its blood as he did not know how to forge pills or even which parts were best used for this purpose. Feng Yingyue was very thoughtful, trying to only take what was useful for her. She did not take the best ingredients because she knew she was not proficient enough to use them well. On the contrary, she focused on taking the ingredients she knew she could work with.


    The fenghuang couple watched them but did not prevent their actions. Very soon, the humans stopped as they had gathered a lot of ingredients. The corpse was so big that their share was only a little fraction of it and the fenghuang did not mind at all.


    The night was falling. The humans walked some distance away from the nest, staying on the peak and taking refuge in a small cave. They examined the huge rewards they got and rejoiced. They slept very close to each other as the fatigue washed over them.


    -


    In the morning, all of them, humans and beasts, were well rested. As Feng Yingyue opened her watery eyes, she saw Cao Yun practicing his routine in the distance. He was half naked with the blood of the bashe painted on his body. It followed some paths on his skin, similar to the path of his meridians. The blood was slowly seeping through his skin. Sweat was shining all over his body as he was performing the ''Dance of Slaughter'', the eyes closed. Feng Yingyue was fascinated by his body moving in the first lights of the sun. Quickly she got back to her senses and turned away.


    She decided to practice as well and forged a pill using some marrow from the Muddy bashe. She performed her routine. It was a generic set of moves known as the ''Dragon Stretching its Body''. Despite its name, containing the name of a legendary beast, this routine was pretty bland, but highly effective nonetheless. The ''Universal Law of Immortality'' was not that great to develop your strength or any uncanny ability, instead it had been designed by the first Emperor so that every single human could cultivate. If you were to judge it by this standard, then it was perfect ; it had no special merit but if practiced diligently, it could allow anyone to advance in cultivation.


    Of course, every man did not have the same resources or talent ; some had to work just to survive and could not devote enough time to cultivation. But if you were hard working and obstinate, the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' would never betray your efforts. On the other hand, most cultivators in the big families and sects practiced more mystical laws, that were better suited to their personal body and affinity.


    Both humans decided to stay here for the day after the events of yesterday. Their journey was more than half done. In fact, they probably could have crossed these mountains in five or six weeks. However, they had taken their time, to cultivate on the way, and to be more careful of the demonic beasts. Recently they were even slower than before, because they came to enjoy their time together.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Feng Yingyue treated the two fenghuang one last time before bidding them farewell. Feng''er was ready to carry them on his back outside of the mountains. Given his flying speed, it would have been a matter of days. Both Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun refused, telling the beast to take care of his family. Truthfully, they wanted to stay together a little bit longer.


    -


    The rest of the way was uneventful. Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue resumed their routine. They were training together, gathering medicinal herbs and hunting 1-core and 2-core demonic beasts.


    After two weeks, Cao Yun finally broke through to 4th-grade Mortal. The next step of his cultivation was to fully open his 8 extraordinary vessels to then temper and strengthen them like the rest his body before. Concerning Feng Yingyue, she had also a breakthrough. She was now a 3rd-grade Mortal and was beginning to use her 3-core to accumulate Qi in her Lower Dantian in order to temper it. They both exchanged tips about their cultivation and gained various insights.


    The 8 extraordinary vessels were the most important meridians of the body. Their roles were many, amongst which, regulating the Qi in the other meridians by acting as reservoirs, protecting the body with a layer of Qi, and circulating the Jing Qi, the Qi produced from the Jing, the very essence of the person. Two of these vessels, Du Mai (Governing) and Ren Mai (Conception), were circling the body face and front, enveloping it in a layer of Qi, also called Wei Qi, the Guardian Qi. If you were able to circulate more energy in them, this layer would become thicker and stronger, and could even protect you from physical harm instead.


    The Chong Mai (Thrusting) was essential to transport the Jing Qi in the others. The Dai Mai (Belt) was circling the waist as the only horizontal meridian, to balance the upper and lower body. Finally, the other four, Yang Qiao Mai, Yin Qiao Mai, Yang Wei Mai and Yin Wei Mai were balancing the Yin and Yang meridians of the body, linked to the Du Mai in the back for the Yang and to the Ren Mai in front for the Yin.


    It was essential to open any obstruction in theses vessels to enhance your own vitality. Then you had to temper them so that they would be ready, like the Lower Dantian, to receive a huge quantity of Qi. It was the very first step in which, you could really increase your lifespan. A 4th-grade Mortal lived to be 100 at the best, but once you stepped into the 5th grade, you would not die before turning 150. Your lifespan would not change much until the later stages of the Mortal realm and would skyrocket after that.


    Crossing a grade in the Mortal realm needed between one and three years for most people. Cao Yun''s breakthrough was real fast, but not exceptional. He had been lucky to find the right resources. Feng Yingyue also felt lucky for having found Cao Yun. Without him, she would have died, and after that, he even allowed her to cross a grade fairly quick. During this journey, she had seen things she only read in books and was very grateful to him.


    Usually, an average cultivator would reach 3rd-grade at 19 and 4th-grade at 20. They were both around 16 now. Yes, the Mortal realm was the easiest because it mostly dealt with tempering, forging and strengthening so there was no need to understand profound truths about yourself or the universe. But still, if you were mistaken, you could harm yourself, so speeding through this realm was not a good idea in general.


    They kept their daily life until one day, they finally caught a glimpse of Yinmen City.


    It was a small city near the woods at the foot of the mountain, almost four times smaller than Baziyun, the city bordering the Cao estate. Cao Yun had asked information about it to Feng Yingyue. The city was administered by the City Lord Dun Mofan. He was a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior but his talent was pretty low considering he was already 329. He had broken through to this realm after he was 150 whereas Cao Yun''s father had done so at 45 and most average cultivator would do it at around 70.


    According to Feng Yingyue, this city lord was very kind to her. He was a friend of her father, a mere mortal, and doted on her after his death. As city lord, he recognized the importance of having a competent alchemist in town and really helped the girl perfect her craft.


    On the other hand, the most powerful family was the Huang side branch. They were ruled by Huang Mingze, a 49-year-old 4th-grade Mortal Warrior. He had married into the Huang family and after his wife died, he settled in this town in which he had a lot of influence. His family here was not that big, but he formed an alliance with many small families, owning most of the business in town. The only one stubborn enough to never sell to him was Feng Yingyue''s father, Feng Ziya and then herself of course.


    Cao Yun wondered if Feng Ziya had been killed but according to Yingyue''s testimony, his death was from natural causes. He was only a mere mortal after all, and never started to cultivate. As for her mother, Feng Yingyue knew nothing apart from her early death when she was still a baby.


    Both were excited to see this city and then a little sad. It meant that their journey was over.


    "Guo, you could stay in my shop for the time being..." Feng Yingyue had taken all her courage to dare utter such an invitation. A boy and a girl their age under the same roof was a little unorthodox.


    "Yingying, that''s..." Cao Yun was hesitant. "That''s a good idea. But first, we must come up with an excuse for your absence and sudden rise in cultivation. If you talk about the attempt on your life, the Huang family''s main branch could even involve themselves to seek ''justice''. In my opinion, it''s best to leave this part out. The best lie is the one hidden in the truth. We could use the events surrounding the bashe and these fenghuang. If we just change it a little, the Huang family could imagine themselves that their assassins were killed by demonic beasts."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Well, you were chased by demonic beasts in the woods and you fled for a long time. Then I happened to save you. Many beasts were wreaking havoc because of the fight between the fenghuang couple and the Muddy bashe. Their rampage stopped as soon as the conflict was settled. As for the rest, we just tell the truth. I was hunting in the woods when I met you but we had to hide and flee to avoid many other beasts that were restless deep in the woods due to this territorial dispute. It would be easy to imagine that Huang Lixin was killed by a group of them after trying to follow you too deep."


    "But other people must have gone into the woods since then without encountering this problem."


    "Because they did not go deep enough, or came in after the fight. Only if they were as desperate as you, would they dare tread that far. After all, many people must die in these woods under the claws and teeth of demonic beasts. And it would be easy for the city lord, or even the patriarch of the Huang family, to check whether there was a big conflict between 3-core demonic beasts."


    "Well, it certainly makes sense."


    "And technically, it''s true, you did flee before beasts. The only difference is they were humans and not demonic beasts."


    *Approximately, 1 cun = 1.3 in = 3.3cm

 Chapter 11: Huang Cixi

    In Yinmen City stood a big mansion, almost as big as the one of the city lord. There were many courtyards separating several pavilions. Their roofs were covered in red tiles, and a 2-storied pagoda was erected in the middle of the residence. All the buildings and gardens were organized around it. Some servants were busy when one of them started disturbing the peace by dashing through the corridors. He almost collided with a couple of people. Quickly he arrived before a huge door decorated with gold and red, featuring the shape of a fiery phoenix, the emblem of the Huang family. A fiery phoenix was a kind of mythical high fenghuang.


    He did not even knock at door before entering. The servant was a middle-aged man, with a tired face and an unkempt short beard. His clothes were also a mess. Clearly, he was woken up. Indeed, it was very early in the morning but as soon as he got a certain piece of news, he knew he had to give it to his mistress at once. Behind the door was an office in which a pretty young girl was working. On her wooden desk, hundreds of papers were piled on. With a severe look on her face, she suddenly looked up toward the intruder.


    The man quickly locked the door behind her.


    "Bao Zhong, what are doing?"


    "Young mistress, please excuse this old man, but you have to hear this immediately!"


    "Is this so urgent as to disturb my... wait! Is this about my brother?" She finally realized this possibility and almost jumped from her chair. In a flash, she was holding the old servant and her grip was a little too strong. Despite her young age, her cultivation was already at the 2nd-grade of Mortal and the old man was only a servant who never broke out of the 1st grade.


    "Yes, young mistress." The old servant, Bao Zhong, dared not delay the news and endured the pain. "The guards saw Feng Yingyue enter the city less than an hour ago."


    "She''s alive?!" The young woman''s eyes got lost in her thoughts. Many scenarios flashed before her eyes in an instant and she came back to reality. "Was she alone?"


    "No, she was accompanied by an unknown boy. From the reports, he should be around 16 or 17. Both of them were pretty worn-out."


    "And no news concerning my brother?"


    "I am sorry, young mistress. But I knew you would want to know the news as soon as possible."


    "You were right, Bao Zhong!" The young mistress realized at last that she was hurting the old man and let go of his shoulders. "Have your men follow them."


    "I already did, young mistress. They should both be going to the auction hall right now. The boy is probably a hunter in need of selling some parts. I also arranged for trusted employees to take care of their demands."


    "Good, very good! You''re as reliable as ever."


    "This lowly one dares not accept your compliment, young mistress."


    The young mistress he was talking to began to walk mindlessly in the room. Bao Zhong let her do for an incense stick*.


    "Once they are done, immediately call Elder Gu from the auction hall in my study. For the time being, I will go talk to father. You''ve done well, Bao Zhong, accept this, without any complaint."


    As she finished her sentence, a red pill appeared in her palm and she gave it to the servant.


    "A Lava Gathering Lotus pill! Its rank is 3-star Earth! Thank you, Young mistress."


    The old servant cupped his fists and bowed before leaving the room quietly.


    The young woman took some time to get herself ready. She was going to talk to her father, the head of the Huang family. Such an audience required to be well dressed. The girl put on a imperial dress in the color of the family, red and gold. She called two women servants to do her hair. They tied them high on her head, adorned with golden hairpins and some peacock feathers, another symbol of the fiery phoenix. As for all members of the Huang family, her hair were pure white.


    This woman was Huang Cixi, the 15-year-old daughter of the Huang side family in Yinmen City. For more than two months now, she had been worried about her older brother Huang Lixin. Her father, under the suggestion of the oldest brother Huang Longwei, had sent him on a mission to assassinate the young alchemist Feng Yingyue in the woods. Huang Cixi knew her brother. He was a righteous man and hated this assignment but he could not disobey their father. The true culprit was Huang Longwei. She knew he was jealous of the achievements of his little brother, far more talented in his cultivation. At 24, he was only a 6th-rank Mortal, which was not bad but pretty average.


    Huang Cixi despised this first brother of hers. He was cruel and cunning without being too smart.


    -


    The young woman knocked on the huge door of the biggest pavilion.


    "Huang Cixi seeks an audience with the Patriarch Huang Mingze."


    The door opened and the woman''s smile froze when she saw Huang Longwei kneeling before her father.


    "Come in, little sister. I was just talking with father about the Alchemy Conference. What''s bringing you here this early?"


    "First brother, it''s good to see you. I fear the matter I have to talk about is bad omen. I sincerely hope it will not disturb your pleasantries." Behind the sweet smile of his sister, Huang Longwei felt her anger. Only their father was oblivious to this tension. "Father, I have news of Feng Yingyue."


    The face of Huang Mingze lit up. "Huang Lixin is back?!"


    "No, Father." As her head dropped, Huang Cixi suppressed a tinge of worry in her voice. The faces of both men became dark. "Feng Yingyue is back in town... safe."


    "Hmph, he could not kill the beauty."


    Hearing the low murmur of his son, Huang Mingze erupted. "Silence! You will not insult your brother. I did not forget that you insisted on him leading the mission."


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Huang Longwei lowered his head and tried to kneel even lower.


    "Little Cixi, gather all the information you can and report to me at once."


    "Father, she went into the auction hall with an unknown boy. I already asked for Elder Gu to come to my study as soon as they''re done. I will be thorough, father. No matter what happened to second brother, I will know for sure, I swear."


    "Good. Good." Huang Mingze paused for a little bit. "Xixi, I am sorry... If I had not asked your second brother..."


    "Father is not to blame." Her eyes darted toward Huang Longwei. "And we still don''t know whether second brother is safe or not. Let us not lose hope until the very end."


    Huang Cixi left the room with a bow. Huang Mingze cupped his head in his hands.


    "Longwei, I am tired now. We will speak of your affairs later. Leave!"


    Huang Longwei did not dare oppose his father and left politely, if not bitterly.


    -


    As all this turmoil overtook the Huang mansion, Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue were already inside the auction hall. This was the best place to sell cores and parts of demonic beasts. This was the small Yinmen branch of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, the biggest union of tradesmen in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Amongst other activities, they bought ingredients from hunters and gatherers to sell them, either in shops or in auctions. Feng Yingyue was used to trading with the Yinmen Auction Hall. She sold her pills and herbs in her own shop but she also needed to sell more refined products to the auction hall if there was no suitable client in town. Sometimes, she also was in need of rare ingredients she could not find herself for special orders.


    She knew that most of the clerks in the auction hall, and the elder in charge himself, were under the Huang''s control. They did not make her business too hard, for they were still serving the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. However, in the limit of what they could lawfully do to her without endangering their reputation, they made her life pretty difficult.


    "Chen Guo, let''s go there." Feng Yingyue pointed toward a man in the corner. "He''s not affiliated with the Huang family and pretty easy to work with."


    Cao Yun nodded and they both went toward the counter she pointed to. The man behind it was wearing a distinctive black robe with cherry blossoms embroidered at the bottom and in the back. Such a robe was of course the uniform of the Myriad Hall, hence its name, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.


    Before they could make their way to him, another man interrupted them.


    "Dear customers, how may I help you?"


    Feng Yingyue instantly recognized the man. He was a nasty fellow who would do everything to humiliate her.


    "Are you in need of alchemical ingredients? I am afraid our establishment has a pretty high standard in terms of payment. Dear customers, are you sure you''re ready to pay for what you want?"


    "Gu Ouyang... !"


    Before Feng Yingyue could even lose her composure, Cao Yun answered matter-of-factly.


    "We''re here to sell demonic beasts parts and cores."


    "Oh?!" The man started laughing. "Once again, our establishment has harsh standards. I fear your sorry ingredients can not get into our eyes."


    "Can you really take this decision before examining our offer?"


    Cao Yun stayed calm and it annoyed this Gu Ouyang who decided to become even more nasty.


    "Our Yinmen auction hall has a perfect reputation! It''s obvious two beggars like you do not have anything of interest for us. In our great goodness, we''re ready to extend an olive branch to you, but you would rather spit such arrogance... It seems we are really misunderstood... If you have nothing of value to sell, please do not mock our noble establishment." Gu Ouyang was very proud of himself. He wanted to humiliate this little girl in front of the crowd to gain favor from the Huang family. Even to the onlookers, it was obvious to the point of being painful.


    "You''re so prompt to lick your master''s boots that you would tarnish the name of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall? Are you able to pay the price for this insult? By insulting honest customers, you insult the Hall."


    "How dare you?!"


    "You''re just a buffoon getting worked up over nothing." Cao Yun then decided to get louder. "Let everyone here be witness. We came in good faith to sell the product of our hunt for which we risked our very lives, and the Hall sent us away without even looking at what we were selling. Is it fair? Is it the way the great Myriad Hall conducts business?"


    "You dare sully the name of our Hall?!" Gu Ouyang lost all facade. A sword appeared in his hand and he was ready to strike down the boy.


    "Enough!" A loud voice came from the top floor. The building had five stories and the yell resounded throughout them all. An old man wearing the same black robe with cherry blossoms appeared. At a glance, it was obvious he was a very high Mortal, 8th or maybe 9th grade. He had gray hair and beard and was a little fat. "What sort of business is this? Gu Ouyang, do you think your life would be enough to compensate the face of the Myriad Hall?"


    As the voice erupted, Gu Ouyang fell on his knees before the old man.


    "This lowly one would never dare to threaten the Hall''s great reputation. These people..."


    "Enough of this! Do you even know what they have to sell?!"


    "This lowly one... does not..."


    "Dear customers, please, state your business." The old man directly addressed Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue.


    Cao Yun took out some ingredients from his pouches made from the skin of several demonic beasts. He made sure to take out the most impressive ones first. There were 2-cores and 1-cores from various demonic beasts in high quantity, several precious parts from demonic beasts of the same level. That alone was impressive by the quantity but what really subjugated everyone were parts from the Muddy bashe. There were scales, bottles of poison, bottles of blood, some parts of organs and a teeth.


    "Are our materials enough to trade with this auction hall?"


    The old man sent an angry look to his employee. In a flash, he smiled toward the two youths.


    "Of course, of course. We welcome hunters with such bounty! That servant will get ten lashes for his insult."


    "Ten lashes?!"


    "Isn''t it enough?! Twenty then! And apologize!"


    Gu Ouyang lowered his head.


    "This lowly one had eyes but could not see Mount Tai."


    The old man dismissed him and sent the customers to the counter where they initially wanted to go.


    "Ye Zhiyun! Take good care of these patrons." He then looked back to the youths and spoke loudly. "As an excuse for this ridicule, and to show our fairness, we''ll give you this black card." He then took out a piece of paper, entirely black with one cherry blossom painted on it and handed it over to Cao Yun.


    Cao Yun naturally knew what this meant. His family have had dealings with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. This black card with one cherry blossom was the proof of a trusted customer. It could help smooth out the relations between the holder and any hall under the jurisdiction of the Myriad Hall. The number of cherry blossoms indicated the level of trust and importance. For more precious clients, the card would also give many benefits. This one only proved that you had had past deals with the Hall and you could be trusted.


    Usually, one would not get such a card before many deals, but the old man really wanted to save the face of the Myriad Hall and he knew Feng Yingyue who was a regular.


    He quickly left, and met with this Gu Ouyang.


    "Moron! Never drag the Hall with your petty quarrels!"


    "But, grandfather..."


    The old man slapped him violently and Gu Ouyang even lost a tooth.


    "Do not talk back to me! The Huang family expressly wanted us to extract information from these two and you had to go out there and antagonize them?! And worse, you use your position in the Hall?! If the Myriad Hall learns that our employees behave this way, we could lose their support! Would your miserable life be enough to repay such a catastrophe?!"


    Gu Ouyang started to shake and his legs gave way under him.


    "If you understand your mistake, go ask for your twenty lashes! I will also ask your father to discipline you and teach you how to conduct business more thoroughly!"


    *1 incense stick = around 5 min

 Chapter 12: The first night in town

    "Dear customers!" Ye Zhiyun cupped his fists and quickly went to examine the cores and materials Cao Yun had taken out. He really took his time. Expertly, he could determine from which demonic beast originated every ingredient, even the cores. Even though they were mere accumulation and condensation of Qi, the cores had distinctive shapes according to the beast who produced them.


    "Hmm... If I round it up, I reckon the value of your goods would amount to 30 taels of gold."


    Feng Yingyue was a little shocked. Of course, she knew their approximate value, but hearing the actual number in the Auction Hall was something else. Fortunately, she had prepared herself and steeled her mind not to react. She even thought the Hall would try to lower the value, but they actually rounded it up. Most likely, it was thanks to Cao Yun, so that they could protect their face. The most important thing for any branch of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall was to uphold the name and reputation of the Hall. If ever they were caught doing nefarious deeds while using their name, the lesser punishment would be to be banned, but they could also simply be executed.


    "Either the Hall can buy it from you directly, or we could put it up for auction. The next one is in less than ten days from now."


    "Give us 30 ingots of gold then, we''ll sell everything to the Hall right now." Cao Yun was unfazed, for he was already used to this kind of money. He accepted the gold directly and gave half of it to Feng Yingyue.


    "Thank you." She then turned toward Ye Zhiyun. "Thank you as well, Mister Zhiyun."


    "The customers are too polite. It was a pleasure to do business with you."


    They both left the Auction Hall under the gaze of everyone present. Some of them were envious but no one in their right mind would ever covet the fruit of a transaction with the Myriad Hall. The Hall was very powerful, with connections to the Emperor himself. And they were terribly protective toward their business. Strangely, having customers killed or robbed after a transaction was bad for their trade, so they always ensured the protection of their customers. No one would ever dare to rob someone near the Hall, even less so within the Hall, or any of its branches.


    -


    As Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun were walking in the direction of a small alchemy shop, Elder Gu rushed to meet with the Huang family.


    Bao Zhong was waiting for him in a back alley with a palanquin.


    "Elder Gu, please get in."


    They made many detours to finally get to the Huang residence. Even then, they did not go through the main door but took a small passage on the side. They never crossed through the gardens and finally the palanquin was put down right before a building. Just as the wielders left, Bao Zhong opened the curtain and let Elder Gu out.


    He immediately recognized that this was the building where lived Huang Cixi. Even he was nervous. Huang Cixi was only 15 and her cultivation was good but not that impressive. Despite that, Elder Gu, who already had had some dealings with her, was afraid of her. He could not really explain it and he knew it was not just because of her background or her father. After all, he also had dealings with her brothers and he never felt this fear. What he felt was that, if she wanted to take care of him, he would never even know what happened to him.


    He promptly, but respectfully, got inside and followed the servant. The route was not new to him and quickly he was before the study of the young lady. Bao Zhong knocked on the door and a small yet firm voice allowed them in. Elder Gu took a step in, cupped his fists and bowed.


    "Elder Gu presents his respect to Young Mistress Huang."


    "Bao Zhong, you can leave us. Thank you."


    Without speaking, Bao Zhong bowed and closed the doors. As Elder Gu was still bowing, Huang Cixi got near him. She was now fully dressed up and exuded an air of royalty. Rumors said that the bloodline of the Huang family contained a trace of a True fiery fenghuang. Being in the presence of Huang Cixi would make anyone believe that there were solid grounds to this rumor.


    She examined Elder Gu for several seconds before asking him to get up and show him to a chair.


    "Elder Gu, I heard there was... a situation..."


    "This lowly one was unable to control this lowly one''s ungrateful grandson. Young Mistress Huang, this stupid boy will be harshly punished."


    "Fine, this is just a minor inconvenience. Never let that happen again. I want to know what Ye Zhiyun learned."


    Ye Zhiyun was in fact a spy for Huang Cixi. He was the most loyal and fair dealer of the Auction Hall, the reason why everyone trusted him, especially Feng Yingyue. Everyone in the Hall always tried to cause her problems to curry favors but not him. And that''s precisely why he was able to get the most informations from her, and from all the other customers as well.


    "Feng Yingyue seemed to have been in the forest for these last few months. According to the number of beasts that were killed, there is no reason to doubt this. I also estimate that she broke through to 3rd-grade Mortal."


    Huang Cixi reacted at the news.


    "Are you absolutely sure of that?"


    "Well it''s still pretty weak but I could feel some Qi gathering in her Lower Dantian. I''m not a Spirit Warrior but I''m fairly confident she just broke through during her journey in the mountains. Given the ingredients they brought back, we can assume that they stumbled upon some treasure who helped them cultivate."


    "Speaking of them, what about the boy?"


    "His name is Chen Guo. He''s not older than her, probably 16. And his Lower Dantian seemed full of energy, so he''s probably a 4th-grade Mortal. I don''t think that he was able to break through to the 5th-grade yet. He''s probably the one who did most of the hunting. There were traces of fighting between demonic beasts on some parts. I think his strength is enough to easily kill 1-core demonic beasts as long as they''re not too many. To kill the 2-core ones, he probably targeted injured beasts."


    "Some of our men tried to ask them how they managed to kill so many beasts. Apparently there was a fight between a fenghuang couple and a bashe. Most likely, many beasts got agitated and left their usual hunting grounds. It happened pretty deep within the mountains but I already sent men to investigate. Given that they are 3-core beasts, they will have to be very cautious in approaching their nest so it will take some time."


    "Did other hunters spoke about any agitated beasts?"


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Not recently, no. But we did lose more hunters than usual in the last month, so... I cannot be conclusive on the question."


    "Fine. If you ever hear anything more, even if it seems insignificant to you, inform Bao Zhong immediately. I will not be ungrateful." As she was speaking, she gave a pill to Elder Gu.


    As soon as he saw the pill, his eyes opened wide and he cupped his fists before accepting it.


    "Thank you, Young Mistress Huang. Do not doubt me, I will inform you of everything."


    "About that grandson of yours..." Elder Gu''s heart dropped as he felt cold all over his body. "He will most likely attempt some foolish revenge. I need information from these people, so control him or someone else will have to educate him for you."


    "This lowly one understands."


    As Huang Cixi was threatening him, Elder Gu felt some Qi circulating around him. It was the clear sign of a Mortal Warrior. Only a Mortal Warrior was able to consciously send their Qi outside of their body. Obviously, the young mistress of the Huang family would have a Mortal Warrior as bodyguard. Despite being almost a hundred years old, Elder Gu was only an 9th-grade Mortal. Against the weakest of the Mortal Warrior, he would probably die without a body. After all, he had never focused on fighting and had little experience about it.


    The meaning behind the young woman''s words were very clear to him. Not only his grandson, but he would probably be killed as well to avoid any volition of revenge. Thinking a little more about it, Huang Cixi could replace him with Ye Zhiyun who was admittedly very competent. Elder Gu would not let this grandson be the death of him. As such, Elder Gu forbade him to leave their estate until the auction in ten days and hired some tutors to teach him how to properly conduct business. He also beat him up a little to vent his anger. Of course, it only served to make him even more pissed against Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue. He simply got smart enough to hide it.


    Huang Cixi was alone in her study. She took out a drawing of her brother Lixin and stared at his face for a long time.


    "Brother, please, be safe..."


    Her authoritative voice had just become gentle and shaky.


    -


    As the previous discussion ended, Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun just entered the alchemy shop.


    The shop was very small with only one sign simply stating "Feng Alchemy". The interior was even smaller than it looked from the outside. Indeed, it was divided into two parts with the shop being quite modest and a room in the back where the alchemy was done. Feng Yingyue invited Cao Yun in and showed him around. In the back, there were many tools to prepare ingredients, many scrolls and books, some of which were scattered around with hand-written notes all over. In the center of the room, there was a big cauldron made of poor-quality metal, covered in burning marks on the bottom and around the top. Clearly, it was very, very old, probably a family heirloom.


    Feng Yingyue was really excited as she showed everything to her friend. Unable to stop speaking, her eyes were sparkling and she got into tiny details about her craft. After more than four hours of that, fatigue finally hit the young girl and she brought Cao Yun to the chambers upstairs.


    She fidgeted a little in the corridor as she pointed to a door.


    "This is my room." She then pointed to another one. "This used to be my father''s. But I don''t have anywhere else for you to sleep, so..."


    Cao Yun saw that it pained her to give away this room to someone.


    "I will be very respectful. But if it''s really too hard for you, I could always pay for a room in a ..."


    "No. It''s fine. It''s just... It''s been almost two years since... Anyway, you must be tired of all this travel, so please do not be reserved."


    Cao Yun slowly opened the door and entered the room. It was perfectly clean, showing obvious signs of someone taking great care of it on a daily basis, despite the few months of absence.


    Feng Yingyue left the boy to rest as she went back in the shop to tidy up a little before going to sleep herself.


    First of all, Cao Yun sat cross-legged on the floor and examined his Lower Dantian with his mind. He could clearly feel it now as if it was a physical organ. The Dantians, the Vessels and the Meridians were energetic construct, usually invisible to the naked eye, but as they got stronger and stronger, it was possible to feel them as if they were tangible objects.


    He began to circulate the energy through his 8 Extraordinary Vessels. The goal of the 4th-grade Mortal realm was to temper these Vessels and also to completely open them. Most people would accumulate stress, tensions and even wounds that would hinder the flow of Qi within these Vessels and Meridians. You needed to free them of all these obstructions and reinforce them to bear more energy.


    According to the ''Cultivation of Wrath'', Cao Yun used his intent to guide the Qi gathered in his Dantian to specific points along his Vessels. He felt heat flowing through his body and some of his fatigue disappeared with it. But there was also a trace of something else. The Drop of Wrath became agitated again and Cao Yun''s mind got clouded. It was harder and harder to focus.


    The discomfort was not strong enough that it stopped him from cultivating but it was annoying, and a little worrisome. Cao Yun did not want to lost his temper again. He tried to use some Sorrowful Dew Pearl again and its effects were really limited now.


    After achieving a small success in his cultivation, Cao Yun finally decided to get to bed. It had been almost four months now, maybe five, since he ever used a soft bed. Strangely it was a little uncomfortable at first as used as he was to sleeping in nature. It took him quite some time but he finally slept.


    Alas, his body would know peace but not his mind. He dreamed about fire and blood mixing together in a huge storm destroying his family''s mansion. His brother, his father, his mother, his great-grandfather, everyone in the Cao family were being tortured to death by dark shadows within this storm. They were pleading for their lives. Suddenly, his mother turned her eyes toward him.


    "You left us to die!"


    "No, mother, I... I couldn''t do anything..."


    "You forgot us!"


    "No, I swear, I will... I will find them and..."


    "And what?!" A shadow wielding a bloody blade approached him. "What can you do little boy?!"


    The blade cut him in half in an instant. Cao Yun looked at his body falling on the ground. When he looked up again, his little sister was held by the shadowy figure.


    "I will take my time with her. She will know more than just my blade." An evil laugh came out of the creature.


    "No! She''s alive! I know she''s alive!"


    Her little sister answered. "No, brother, you killed me as well. He tortured me for days before ending it and deep down, you know it."


    "No! No! You''re alive! I know it!"


    The shadow kept on talking. "Little boy, go play in the woods with your new friend, and let me play with your sister."


    The Cao family appeared all around Cao Yun. "You forgot us!" "You forgot us!" "You forgot us!" ...


    "NO!!!"


    Suddenly, the storm of fire and blood turned even more violent. Within it, a figure slowly appeared. It had six arms wielding many weapons and its head was strange. As Cao Yun tried to look more closely, he saw two more faces on each side of its head. These three faces all seemed to glare at him and a voice from beyond the grave talked to him.


    "They took everything from you! Kill them all! Show no mercy! Use my power!"


    Everything else disappeared but these six burning eyes and this grating voice. Staring in these fiery orbs, Cao Yun began to discern scenes of battles, of war and chaos.


    Feeling as if he was being engulfed in these scenes, he suddenly woke up, covered in sweat. After calming himself by taking deep breaths, Cao Yun focused his mind in his heart. And there it was, the Drop of Wrath inhabiting his heart was more radiant than before. Cao Yun knew that this creature in his dream came from this Drop of Wrath, he had already felt it the first time it got inside him. This was probably the creature from which it originated.


    Once again, Cao Yun felt that it was vital to find ways to calm his mind and his emotions. Otherwise, he could one day get lost in this primal rage.


    Putting his worries to the side for now, Cao Yun thought about the situation. His life in the mountains forced him to always be focused on survival but this night inside town had jolted his memories. He had to find out who had attacked his family and what happened to all of them. Maybe his little sister was still alive, there was still hope. Maybe some others had managed to escape too. As long as there was even a tiny bit of hope about that, he would not give up.


    And one thing was for sure, he would never forget his family. He would find any survivor if there were and whether it took a year, ten years, a hundred years, or more, he would get justice for those who died that day. To accomplish any of these goals, what he needed was strength, and also, information.

 Chapter 13: The City Lord Dun Mofan

    As Cao Yun left his room, Feng Yingyue called him.


    "Guo, come here. I made some tea." Cao Yun followed her voice into a narrow living room. She was sitting at a small table with two cups of smoking tea. "I made it from Sweet Blue Acacia Bark and Soothing Windy Drop. It''s really great to appease someone''s mind, especially after a bad night."


    While he was sitting down, Cao Yun heard her last sentence and was taken by surprise.


    "Did I make some noise last night?"


    "Huh... I''m sorry... I did not mean to eavesdrop but..."


    "It''s fine. It''s fine. Thank you for the tea."


    After blowing a little over the tea cup, Cao Yun inhaled some of the smoke and a peaceful sensation spread throughout his body. Drinking from the hot cup, the sensation got more and more soothing and all his worries seemed to evaporate.


    "It''s really good, thank you Yingying."


    The young woman smiled coyly before drinking her own cup of tea.


    "Guo, what do you want to do in town?"


    "Well, I was wondering where was the best place to get information about surrounding cities. I rarely stay long in one place, so I need to gather information to know my next course of action."


    "I see..." Feng Yingyue was a little dejected hearing him talk about leaving so soon.


    "Well, I will stay for a while, but in the end, I''ll need to leave."


    "I understand. Well, to get information, the best way would be to buy it from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall."


    "I don''t think it would be wise. The Hall is very famous for buying and selling intel. But that would also mean they knew exactly where I would go next. I already seem to have offended some characters and if they were to buy this intel, that would put me in danger."


    "I''m sorry, the only reason you got in trouble was me." Feng Yingyue thought for a while. "There''s another way!"


    The interest of Cao Yun was picked.


    "I''m pretty close with the city lord. He was good friend with my father and since his death, he has been really good to me. I''m sure he knows what''s going on in the neighboring cities. And I''m pretty confident he would accept to share some of these informations with any friend of mine. We could go meet him together."


    "Really?!" Cao Yun pondered for a while. He did not like lying to such a trusting young woman, but he could not bear to drag her in his mess. "Then I will gladly accept your offer."


    "When I left he was away on an important trip, but if I''m not wrong, he should be back very soon. I think he should come back before the auction in ten days. So... in the meantime... maybe you could..."


    Seeing her fidgeting on her chair, Cao Yun let out a small laugh. "I will stay here for the next few days."


    Feng Yingyue''s face was beaming.


    "After all, I need to stabilize my cultivation."


    The next few days passed by very quickly as the two teenagers lived under the same roof. Busy with his cultivation, Cao Yun almost never left the house and Feng Yingyue cared for him as her business was pretty slow. She feared that the Huang family would try to start some troubles for her but it did not happen.


    -


    In the Huang''s main hall, Huang Mingze was facing his children Huang Cixi and Huang Longwei. Visibly angry, the older brother managed to control his voice as he spoke.


    "Father, we should use this opportunity to trash her shop. Let''s take her and her boy and make them confess."


    "Father, the city lord will soon come back. Acting rashly will do us no good at all. We already used her absence to investigate her shop, there is no such thing as 5-star Human pill anywhere."


    "She probably keeps such a formidable pill on her. That''s why I thought that sending Huang Lixin after her was the best course of action."


    As soon as he uttered the name of his younger brother, both his father and his sister angrily stared at Huang Longwei. Feeling their animosity, he tried to smooth things over.


    "Father, I know you''re worried about little Lixin. I''m sorry I insisted back then, but it really was a good opportunity for him."


    "Good opportunity?! He hated this task. If you had not been this insistent, he would have declined. You say father ordered it, huh?! But who pestered him relentlessly until he caved in. Without you, brother Lixin would still be here."


    "Little sister, it was only killing a 1st-grade Mortal. I could not predict that he would fail and..." The last words stayed within his throat as he could not mention his brother''s death before his father.


    "Enough! Both of you! Longwei, you''re the one who convinced me that this girl had inherited some mysterious pill that could help to break through. I trusted you! You''re the one who convinced me to send your little brother to kill her deep in the woods. And I trusted you again! You even convinced us not to send any bodyguard as it could leave evidence for the city lord. Once more, I trusted you! And what do I have to show for all this trust?! We used the city lord''s absence to search her shop and we got nothing! Your brother has not returned after more than two months but she has! My best son may be dead right now, for nothing at all!"


    Huang Mingze started coughing as he lost control over his anger. Even some blood got mixed in his cough. Huang Cixi ran toward him to try and support him.


    "Father, calm down please. Your injury is acting up. I can''t bear to lose you too. And I won''t lose hope that brother Lixin is still alive. Please, father."


    Huang Mingze had indeed suffered a backlash during his cultivation. Being a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior, he was accumulating Qi in his Middle Dantian, located in the chest. During his meditation, some Qi deviated and entered his heart. By the time he realized the mistake, he suffered a terrible backlash from the Qi within his vital organ and almost died on the spot. He was lucky to survive but he would most likely need many years, if not decades, to fully heal, thwarting his chance to ever cross into the Spirit Warrior realm.


    Staring with cold eyes, Huang Longwei was still focusing on these two words ''best son''. He was the one who had convinced his father to send his little brother to kill Feng Yingyue. As a matter of fact, he did not even know if the rumor about a miraculous 5-star Human rank pill was true or not and he did not care. After all, the only thing important in his eyes was to kill the girl. She was a little too talented and very close to the city lord. If she was allowed to prosper, that would strengthen his power even more.


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    Indeed, alchemists were really well respected by any cultivator and having a talented one as a close friend could make your reputation and social status skyrocket. Huang Longwei had long ambitions to rise to power. Knowing Feng Yingyue and her relationship with the city lord, he knew he would never be able to convince her to join the Huang family. The only way he found was to kill her.


    But, once again, alchemists were well respected so he needed the approval of his father. Otherwise, if he learned of the murder, it would be very bad for him. Hence, he used this rumor he had overheard. The rumor stated that her father had left her an incredible pill and he changed it to better suit his needs. He described a 5-star Human rank pill able to allow any breakthrough under the Spirit Warrior realm. Such a pill was so enticing to Huang Mingze that he was easily swayed.


    But why did Huang Longwei choose his little brother to kill the girl? Well, there was no pill of the sort and even if she did have a miraculous pill, it was maybe useless to his father. So Huang Longwei, who envied his little brother, more talented than he was, and more cherished by their father, decided to send him to fail. He would kill the girl and find nothing. There was no expert bodyguard to witness the killing, so it would be easier for Longwei to claim that she was able to hide or throw the pill away and that his little brother had failed. Lixin was also very honest, so Longwei knew that killing an innocent woman would hit him hard. So hard that it could even slow down his cultivation for a long while and allow him to stay the strongest.


    "Father, I''m sure that this woman and her friend know what happened to little brother. Either they killed him themselves or they saw him being killed by demonic beasts."


    Huang Cixi glared at her older brother as their father was trying to control his heart.


    "How dare you talk of brother Lixin as if he was already...! If you were a good brother, you would go into the woods yourself to find him and get him back!"


    "Little Cixi, calm down. This is all your father''s fault. I was so obsessed with getting this pill, I let my feelings cloud my judgment." Huang Mingze stopped talking. "I will listen to you. I will keep the hope that your brother is alive. But I won''t send another of my children to find him."


    "Zhao Guodong!"


    An old man appeared right in the middle of the room.


    "Yes, Patriarch!"


    "Go into the woods and search the entire mountains if you have to, but find my son."


    "Yes, Patriarch!"


    The man disappeared as fast as he had appeared.


    "Little Cixi, Zhao Guodong is the man I trust the most. If your brother is alive, he will find him. And if he is not, ..."


    "Let''s not talk about that, father."


    Huang Longwei was fuming. He was the one who took all the blame as his little sister got even closer to their father. And if Lixin was alive, his status would skyrocket within the family. Worse, if he was dead, all the blame would go to him. At least if he was killed by Feng Yingyue and her new friend, he would be able to divert this blame to them, but if he had been killed by beasts, only he could endorse the fault.


    -


    The day of the auction was drawing near and the city became more and more bustling, with many people coming and going. Even Feng Yingyue''s shop got more customers despite the pressure from the Huang family.


    "Guo, tomorrow is the day of the auction. I heard there will be many good items. Are you going?"


    "The auction? Maybe... But what about the city lord?"


    "Oh, he just sent words that he should be back in the evening. We could go out together and meet with him tonight."


    "Fine. I''ve been secluded for ten days straight, some fresh air would be nice. I almost forgot, is there some library in town?"


    "Not really any that could interest you... But the city lord has a huge private collection pertaining to martial arts and cultivation. He probably has some materials that could catch your eye."


    "A private collection? Would he let me take a look?"


    "He''s very fond of finding new talents. And... well... your cultivation is pretty impressive for your age. So I think he could allow you, yes."


    These past few days, Cao Yun was feeling the Drop of Wrath acting up during his cultivation. It allowed him to be faster at gathering Qi but it was dangerous for his state of mind. Luckily, Feng Yingyue''s tea was very useful to keep it under control. However, Cao Yun was in urgent need of techniques to temper his state of mind and stabilize his emotions. More than this very pragmatic goal, Cao Yun was legitimately happy about a huge private collection of martial arts and cultivation manuals. He had always loved reading such materials.


    -


    Wearing her most beautiful dress and all dolled up, Feng Yingyue took Cao Yun along with her toward the city lord mansion. The sun was set and the moon high.


    When they arrived at the mansion, the guards immediately recognized the young alchemist and sent words to the city lord as they let both of them in. Feng Yingyue knew the way and showed Cao Yun to a room where they waited for quite some time.


    Finally, a huge man entered the room. He was bald and a long white and slender beard went from his chin to his waist. Despite the large robe he was wearing, his muscles were very visible. Clearly this man was a warrior hardened on the battlefield. As he entered, he directed a huge smile toward Feng Yingyue, almost looking like a granddad reunited with his long lost family.


    "Little Yingyue, it''s been so long. I heard of the misfortunes that befell you during your trip to the mountains... I told you, you should have waited for me to return."


    "Senior Dun, I''m sorry if I worried you. I just did not wish to disturb you in your work."


    "Nonsense! You''re family to me! What could be more important than protecting you?!"


    All of a sudden, the city lord''s eyes fell upon Cao Yun who was bowing since he entered the room.


    "This one shows his respect to the City Lord."


    Brutally, the sensation of being observed by a predator ready to pounce on him took over Cao Yun. This feeling was very familiar to him, it was the same he felt from his great-grandfather when he was little. Without any doubt, the city lord was a Spirit Warrior. What Cao Yun was feeling was his spiritual senses scrutinizing him. Although it was familiar, this sensation was clearly weaker than the one from his patriarch, but it contained way more killing intent. This intent was not directed at him, but rather the result of many decades of fighting and killing in many wars.


    Cao Yun was able to keep his composure under such an intense gaze. As fast as it had come, it dissipated and a smile appeared on the face of the old man.


    "Good, good. You must be the one who helped my little Yingyue. I heard the result of your hunt was plentiful and I must say... you did not disappoint me. Already 4th-grade Mortal at 16... I was 24 when I crossed this boundary. The young generation will really eclipse the old geezers."


    The city lord laughed loudly. As a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, it was easy for him to see through the material and immediately understand the cultivation of a junior like Cao Yun.


    "Your name is Chen Guo from what I know, right?"


    "Yes, City Lord. I was hunting in the woods when I met Feng Yingyue who was threatened."


    Sending a look to the young woman, the old city lord quickly understood something.


    "It seems like you stayed pretty long in the woods alone, you two."


    Hearing this remark, Feng Yingyue''s face became hot and red.


    "Ah, ah, ah! Good, good! Boy, I like your talent, just call me Dun Mofan."


    "This junior would not dare to be so casual, Senior Dun." Cao Yun had still changed his way of addressing the city lord.


    "Ah, ah, ah! I''d like to think that you came to see this old geezer, but I think there is something else."


    "Yes, sorry, Senior Dun. As I was saying, I''m a hunter and an itinerant cultivator. I wanted to ask senior for informations about the neighboring cities to plan my future movements." Cao Yun made a small pause. "This junior would also have a favor to ask of Senior Dun."


    "Ask away!"


    "I''m in need of some inspiration for my cultivation. So, this junior would like an opportunity to look at specific manuals from Senior Dun''s collection."


    The old man changed instantly.


    "What kind of manual?"


    A very powerful killing intent submerged the young man.


    "This junior has difficulty calming his mind during cultivation. I''m in need of methods to appease my state of mind and suppress my emotions and thoughts."


    Suddenly, the killing intent disappeared.


    "Little Chen had me worried for a moment. Ah, ah, ah! Manuals about the state of mind are really not that important for a warrior, but I know they are primordial for alchemists and other professions of the kind. My collection is full of manuals on war but very few about the mind." Dun Mofan stroke his beard pensively. "Yes, I have some of them. They are just basic manuals but they should be useful to a young lad like you. Follow me."


    As he followed behind the old man, Cao Yun was certain that were he to utter the wrong answer, his life would have ended right there. No matter how nice he seemed to be, Dun Mofan was a city lord who took part in many battles. If he had thought that Cao Yun was trying to use Feng Yingyue to obtain secret manuals, he would have had no hesitation in striking him down in an instant.

 Chapter 14: Sealing the Seven Demons

    Dun Mofan walked Cao Yun into his study. There were many books and scrolls stored on several shelves. The old man showed the boy to a seat and went through the covers of many of them.


    "There it is! ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''."


    It was a very thin manual with a green cover and much dust on it.


    "I don''t really train my state of mind, so I won''t be able to help you much. Take your time."


    Dun Mofan gave the old manual to Cao Yun and walked away. Of course, he stayed inside the room and started to talk with Feng Yingyue.


    On the green cover, there were several characters unknown to Cao Yun, apart from the title. Inside were around twenty to thirty pages. The first page was an overview of the method. According to it, this manual presented a method to strengthen one''s control over his mind. It was beneficial to control one''s emotions, but also to increase your intellect and your comprehension of other manuals. There were four layers to this methods: ''Discipline the Five Children'', ''Climb the Nine Peaks'', ''Subdue the Seven Demons'' and finally ''Seal the Seven Demons''.


    After trying to browse through the four layers, Cao Yun realized he had some difficulties to understand the principles of the manual. Not losing his determination, he focused on the first layer, ''Discipline the Five Children''.


    "The Essence of Man has Five Aspects, Five Elements. One Aspect is a Treasure. Nourishing the Treasures will bring Peace." Then, a diagram showed a circle around a pentagon. Each vertex of the pentagon had a special color and a strange character. Then five pages showed each one of this character.


    Cao Yun understood why Dun Mofan did not really care about this manual. Apart from some cryptic sentences, all the symbols in it were unknown to him.


    The first one was yellow. Cao Yun tried to focus his intent on the character. Very soon, there was nothing else in his mind, but he could not feel any change at all. After several minutes he was getting tired and decided to try something else. Instead of just focusing on the symbol, Cao Yun tried to draw it in his mind. He did it once, twice, three times, four... As he was drawing it a fourth time, everything went black and he fell down on the ground.


    Feng Yingyue immediately rushed to him as Dun Mofan went to retrieve the manual on the floor with a perplexed look.


    -


    When Cao Yun came to, he was in a bed. The room was unfamiliar. And, as he was inspecting the room, he saw Feng Yingyue. She was ecstatic to see him wake up. Without Dun Mofan in the room, she would have jumped on the bed to hug the boy.


    "What happened?"


    As he spoke, Cao Yun realized that his mind seemed to be clearer. He could focus his thoughts more precisely, as if a fog he never knew was there had been lifted.


    "It seems like this manual and you are fated with each other. Several people tried to use it, including me. Even though I''m not really interested in its contents, I was intrigued. But like everyone else, I never got any result. No one was even able to read past the first page. Nonetheless, I can see in your eyes that you gained some results. Impressive!"


    Dun Mofan handed the green manual back to Cao Yun. Feng Yingyue almost jumped backwards.


    "Senior Dun, are you insane?! Guo fainted just by reading it!"


    "Little Yingyue, do not worry. You should have faith in your friend."


    Cao Yun took the manual and he felt as if he was able to read the strange characters on the cover. But as soon as he tried to focus his mind, the sensation disappeared. He went back to the page with the yellow character. And then he was able to read it, Yi, the Earth Intent. He also was able to read a small line under it.


    "8, small success, 64, true success, 108, perfection."


    Does it mean that I have to draw it 108 times in my mind. I fainted after only four times.


    Cao Yun tried to draw the symbol in his mind again. Once, twice, three times, four times, five... As he was drawing the fifth symbol, he felt the same way he did earlier and stopped at once. Last time, he did not understand the feeling but this time he knew that he was at his limit. If he had continued only for a second more, he would have fainted again. Despite stopping himself before fainting, Cao Yun felt as if he had exhausted all of his will drawing these four symbols.


    "Guo, are you alright?"


    "Yes, Yingying. Just tired."


    "I''ll make some preparations for you."


    As Feng Yingyue was about to leave the room, she heard Dun Mofan. "Guo? Yingying? You seem really close, huh?"


    The young woman blushed while promptly leaving the room. But she still heard the hearty laugh of the old man.


    "Little Chen, it seems that you know what you''re doing with this manual." The old man examined Cao Yun''s eyes a little. "Fine. I''ll gift it to you!"


    "What?! But Senior Dun..."


    "No buts! You should realize that it''s impossible to make a copy of these unknown symbols. Even if we tried, it probably would not have the same effects. It could even be dangerous!" Dun Mofan got closer to Cao Yun. "But there is one condition! Feng Yingyue is very important to me. If ever you were to hurt her in any way..."


    Cao Yun cupped his fists. "This junior understands. I do not intend to bring harm to Feng Yingyue."


    "So it''s ''Feng Yingyue'' now, not ''Yingying''?! Ah, ah, ah! Good, good!"


    Lost in his laugh, the City Lord failed to notice the young alchemist rushing back in the room with a cup of tea. Not even an stick of incense had passed and she was already back, with hot tea.


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    "Thank you." Cao Yun gulped down the cup without hesitation and felt some of his mental fatigue alleviated.


    Dun Mofan gave them some time before speaking again.


    "If you are looking for ways to control and temper your mind, I heard that a certain pill will be sold during the auction tomorrow."


    "The auction?"


    "Yes, one of the reason why I got back was to overview this auction. It happens five or six times each year. To ensure the safety of the clients, the mere name of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall is not always sufficient. As the City Lord, I act as a deterrent, just in case. After all, this branch of the Myriad Hall is very important for our Yinmen City. I can''t very well let one Elder Gu be in charge of the fate of the entire city. I must stay neutral during the auction, but I don''t think many people would be interested in a pill strengthening the mind. You should come!"


    "But for now, you should rest!" Feng Yingyue sent a menacing glare to Dun Mofan and tended to Cao Yun.


    "A loving wife is really terrifying." As soon as Dun Mofan had whispered, the young woman turned back to see him exit the room.


    This night, Cao Yun slept without any problem given how exhausted he was. Maybe that was not just fatigue as he sensed that the Drop of Wrath seemed to be less active as well.


    -


    "Young Master Huang."


    In the study of Huang Longwei, a man in his thirties wearing a taoist robe was bowing toward the Huang brother.


    "Luo Jiang! Get up, get up! I was waiting for you!" Huang Longwei got up himself to help this man up. "How are your preparations?"


    "Young Master, I am fairly confident about my victory. I''ve seen the pills concocted by this young girl. I must admit... they are of good quality. But not as good as my own."


    "Good, good. If you need anything, just let me know!"


    "Young Master is too kind. But there is indeed something that could help me ensure a total victory."


    "Tell, tell!"


    "Apparently, a Frozen Heart Pill will be auctioned off tomorrow."


    "A Frozen Heart Pill? Isn''t it a 5-star Earth rank pill?!"


    "Indeed it is. And one of the most difficult to concoct. It''s able to strengthen the mind, heighten your concentration and even your senses. If I can consume such a pill, I''m absolutely confident that I will deal a definitive blow to this young woman."


    "Great. Then you can bid whatever it takes to get it, the Huang family will pay for you."


    "Young Master is too kind."


    "When dealing with such a talented alchemist, we can never be stingy."


    Both men laughed and continued talking. They drank some wine and laughed some more.


    -


    "A test?"


    In another room of the City Lord mansion, Dun Mofan was talking with Feng Yingyue.


    "She assured me it would only be a test of alchemy. Your cultivation level is irrelevant. Of course, I did not know that you would rise by two whole levels when I was gone. This Master will come in less than a month."


    "But, Senior Dun, I never agreed."


    "Come on, little Yingyue, what better way to become an alchemist than to study under a great master?"


    "But..."


    "Are you afraid to leave the city you father lived in? Trust me to protect your father''s shop!"


    "Of course, I trust Senior Dun..."


    "Little Yingyue, I know you have a lot of talent, even though you act too humble each time. Ask your friend, I''m sure he''ll agree with me! I''m not forcing you, but this great master will be here in less than a month to recruit good talents. It took a lot of effort to convince her sect to send her here. And yes, I did it for you, but you are the one to choose in the end."


    "This junior understands. Thank you, Senior Dun."


    Dun Mofan smiled and patted her head as she tried to avoid his hand.


    "Ah, ah, ah! How fast do they grow up! Now, let''s talk about your time with this boy in the woods. And now, under the same roof."


    Feng Yingyue tried to dodge the subject all night.


    -


    In the morning Cao Yun woke up and became confused. His senses seemed to be a little sharper. Once again, it seemed as if he had been living surrounding by a black fog without ever knowing it. And suddenly, it had lifted as if by magic. He sat cross-legged on the bed and immediately tried to circulate the first symbol, Yi the Earth Intent. Once, twice, ... six times, seven... Six times was his new limit.


    After working with it several times, he finally got it. The first symbol was training your intent, hence it allowed you to progress quickly as you could put more and more intent into your practice. It made sense to strengthen it first. With a strong intent, it would be easier to then train the four other symbols. Cao Yun tried to watch them but he could read none of them. After a second of hesitation, he decided not to attempt to draw them. Maybe it was necessary to perform the first symbol up to Perfection. Perfection was 108 repetitions and he could only perform 6 of them right now. Trying to eat more than you could chew was always a bad idea.


    When he came back to reality, Cao Yun realized that his ability to focus his mind was even stronger, albeit a little tired right now. And a sudden truth hit him right in the face. He had completely forgotten about the information concerning the neighboring cities. He would have to ask again.


    Leaving his room, he quickly found Feng Yingyue and they both went to Dun Mofan. Alas, he had already departed for the auction hall.


    "Guo, I know that you really care about these informations but the auction could be very beneficial for you..."


    Feng Yingyue tried to console her friend. He answered with a bright smile.


    "You''re right! I may be able to purchase this Frozen Heart Pill. A 5-star Earth rank pill should be auctioned for at least twenty taels of gold, right?"


    "Well, a Frozen Heart Pill is not that important to cultivators. It''s especially useful for alchemists and other professions. Thus, even though it''s one of the most difficult pill to concoct, it should not be auctioned for more than ten taels of gold."


    "So cheap?!"


    "Unless you''re an alchemist, you don''t really need this pill. It''s rare because it''s difficult to produce and it''s not that useful so its price is too low. Most alchemists don''t have time to produce such a pill, unless it''s for them or their disciples."


    "So, high risk, low pay. It makes sense to try and auction it off. At least they could raise the price."


    -


    The couple walked through the busy streets as many people were going in the direction of the auction hall. Cao Yun cut the line at the entrance by showing his Cherry Blossom Card. It really was coming in handy.


    As soon as they entered, Ye Zhiyun welcomed them.


    "Dear customers! I assume you are here for the auction."


    "Of course."


    "Then, follow me. I will bring you to a private lodge."


    They both agreed and followed behind the servant.


    The lodges were pretty small and could only contain three or four people. On one side was the entrance door and right in front of it, the so called lodge was more like a small balcony directed toward the main room. Many people were already sitting down below, facing in the direction of some platform.


    A very young woman was standing on the platform. Her voluptuous forms were enhanced by gorgeous clothes. Almost nothing was revealed but everyone''s imagination could do the work.


    Even Cao Yun''s eyes were drawn to her for an instant and Feng Yingyue pouted a little seeing it.


    "Sorry, sorry."


    "Is she maybe more beautiful than me?"


    "Huh..."


    "Hmph!"


    Turning her face on the side, Feng Yingyue smiled mischievously as Cao Yun did not know how to answer her.


    That will teach him a lesson! she thought.

 Chapter 15: The auction

    Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue were alone in their lodge. The other lodges were all empty for now as people were still gathering for the auction.


    "Yingying, of course you''re way more beautiful than she is."


    Cao Yun really did not know how to flirt and it amused the young woman.


    "Fine, fine. I''ll trust your words." As her face got near Cao Yun''s ear, she whispered. "For now."


    Usually, Feng Yingyue was very shy, but she was beginning to show her real personality to Cao Yun. And he had to confess that he liked her even better that way.


    As they kept flirting with each other, the auction hall got full of people. All the lodges were now used and no more chair could accommodate anyone. There were even some people standing in the back of the room. As everyone was settling down, the doors were closed and in a lodge above the central platform, City Lord Dun Mofan took place. At his arrival, everyone stood up and cupped their fists in silence. He waved his hand then sat down. All the people attending the auction followed suit, even the esteemed guests within the lodges.


    On stage, the voluptuous woman finally spoke. Her voice turned out to be as enchanting as her looks.


    "Dear customers, let the auction begin. We will only be dealing in gold today."


    Two men brought a large wooden box on stage and opened it. Inside, lined with red silk, was laying a jade sword.


    "Our first item. A 4-star Earth weapon. Splitting Waves Jade Blade. It belonged to a powerful 9th-grade Mortal. With this blade, he was able to behead a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior during an execution. The starting bid will be 7 taels."


    "7 taels and 100 coins*."


    "7 taels and 250 coins."


    ...


    "9 taels and 430 coins."


    After the last man spoke, no one else seemed to want to up the price.


    "Are there any more bidders?" Some people seemed to think about it but no one moved. "9 taels and 430 coins, going once. 9 taels and 430 coins, going twice. Sold! For 9 taels and 430 coins."


    The two men closed the box and took it away. Then, two other men brought a different box.


    ...


    The auction continued for some time. Most items were not interesting for Cao Yun, they were weapons, recipes for pills, martial art manuals, demonic beast cores, rare ingredients, ... The starting bid never got over 10 taels and the most expensive purchase was done by an old woman. She had purchased a Rejuvinating Sorrowful Balm for 14 taels.


    Almost thirty items were sold in that manner and the auction was soon to be over.


    "Our last item is here!" As the young woman spoke, one man got on stage. He walked slowly, showing a lot of respect for this little box. It was black and stamped with a golden character.


    "It''s an alchemical pill." Feng Yingyue''s interest got picked. "You see the symbol on the box, it''s the name of the alchemist who made it. It''s a little hard to see clearly but I think this is Alchemist Zhi He. He''s not that famous, but his alchemy is very orthodox. He never makes any extraordinary pill, but the quality of his products is always sure."


    She was so focused on the box that Feng Yingyue failed to notice the glare that the man on stage sent to her. He was Gu Ouyang and clearly he did not forget the punishments he had suffered because of these two.


    As he opened the box, a sweet fragrance filled the room and everyone''s fatigue just vanished.


    "Our last item is a 5th-star Earth Pill. It was made by Great Master Alchemist Zhi He. His name should be enough to ensure the quality of such a pill. He said himself that this is the best Frozen Heart Pill he ever forged. Hence our starting bid will be 12 taels."


    Feng Yingyue was about to up the bid when Cao Yun stopped her.


    "Do not show that we are interested just yet."


    "12 taels and 200 coins."


    "12 taels and 250 coins."


    ...


    "13 taels and 420 coins."


    "14 taels!" A voice came from one of the lodges. This lodge was occupied by a man and two beautiful girls. Their clothes were very thin and small and the man was playing with their breasts with no regard for the public eye. He was Luo Jiang, the alchemist Huang Longwei was in business with. The two women seemed out of it, as if they were not aware of what was going on around them. As he was bidding, Luo Jiang kept playing with their forms under their so-called clothes. Many people were annoyed by this behavior, first of all the City Lord. But this man was an alchemist and there was no rule in the Myriad Hall to forbid his actions today.


    He addressed a very suggestive look to the lady running the auction. Almost everyone seating before the platform got quiet. Some of them were pensive but decided to let it go. Alchemists were very respected because any cultivator could encounter a terrible backlash or an insurmountable bottleneck some time in their life. Knowing an alchemist with the right pill to help you was priceless. So no one wanted to offend an alchemist for a pill that was just useful when tempering your mind. After all, this kind of pill was mainly used by alchemists themselves, and rarely taken by other cultivators who were busy training other arts.


    Seeing everyone falling silent, Luo Jiang chuckled a little and sent another sign to the lady on stage.


    She was very annoyed by the guy but stayed professional. "14 taels, going once. 14 taels, going twice."


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    "14 taels and 200 coins." As soon as these words were uttered, everyone''s face turned toward the man who spoke them. The first one to find the man responsible was Luo Jiang. He immediately recognized Feng Yingyue whom Huang Longwei had described in details to him. For a fleeting moment his anger decreased by seeing her, but he was not foolish enough to mess with a girl under the protection of the City Lord. His eyes then stopped on the boy.


    "Oh, is this young friend trying to impress a lady?" Luo Jiang obviously thought that the boy wanted to buy the pill for Feng Yingyue. The effects of the pill were perfect for alchemists, so it was only natural to come to such a conclusion. Luo Jiang also knew about the Alchemy Master who was coming to town. Huang Longwei had specifically chosen him to beat Feng Yingyue and be recognized by this master instead of her, thwarting the plans of the City Lord.


    "I suggest that this little friend consider who he should or should not offend. There are better ways to use one''s money than making enemies."


    The City Lord stood up.


    "Luo Jiang!" Being the overseer of this auction, he obviously knew the names and backgrounds of the important bidders. "Threats are forbidden during an auction! Are you trying to insult the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall?"


    Luo Jiang cupped his fists in his direction. "No, City Lord Dun Mofan. I would never dare do such a thing. I''m just reminding that little friend that one has never too many friends and always too many enemies. Losing a pill in order to gain an alchemist as a friend is not a bad deal at all. No threat, no threat!" Luo Jiang turned back toward Cao Yun. "What do you say? Stop wasting your money and I will owe you a favor."


    "Whether I spend or waste my money is none of your business!" Cao Yun would not spare any face to such an obscene character. Playing with women was fine, but doing so in such a blatant manner in public was not to his taste at all. Also, he felt that there was something strange with these two girls. Moreover, Luo Jiang even tried to use his status to pressure him into stopping the auction. Definitely, he did not like this guy one bit.


    Luo Jiang was not expecting that he would be answered in such a way. "Be careful, little friend. Do not seek grudges where there is none."


    "What grudges?! I''m only bidding on an item I want. Who told you to want it as well?"


    "Fine, fine. 15 taels."


    "16 taels." Cao Yun had spoken with Feng Yingyue beforehand about the way they would split the money they got from their hunt. Despite being insistent that she keeps half of it, Cao Yun had accepted to get 25 taels for himself.


    "17 taels!"


    "18 taels!"


    "20 taels!" Luo Jiang was enraged. He kept his calm demeanor for the public eye but his fingers were heavier in their fondling. He had to use more money than he had wished. Huang Longwei had given him enough gold to buy the pill, but he had hoped to keep some of it.


    "25 taels!" Cao Yun did not care for money at all. He came from a family for which it was not a problem and right now he only considered it as a form of resource. He could spend all of it as long as the investment was useful. This Frozen Heart Pill could help calm the Drop of Wrath and safeguard his sanity. There was no better investment, for he needed to keep his mind intact to accomplish his goal.


    "Little friend, do you even have the money to pay such a sum?!"


    Cao Yun laughed loudly and took out twenty-five ingots of gold.


    "Fine, fine." Luo Jiang was so annoyed that he stopped playing with his two women. A Frozen Heart Pill was worth around 10 taels of gold. Considering the man who forged the pill, maybe it could go up to fifteen or sixteen taels. He had just bid 20 taels and it was still not enough! If he really wanted this pill, he would have to use his personal money. He had not taken a lot of money with him, but he could not accept a defeat against a young boy who was trying to impress a girl. Right now, he was ready to use up all the money he had.


    "Little friend, I will remember this day. 26 taels!"


    Cao Yun was astonished. There really was such a fool. Buying a pill more than twice its usual price.


    "26 taels, going once."


    Feng Yingyue whispered something to Cao Yun. "I still have the 5 taels from the sale and my shop could afford to give you 6 more taels." She saw Cao Yun''s face twitch. He clearly did not want to take advantage of her. "Without you, I would not have this money, because I would be dead in the woods, take it! If you don''t, I''ll stop talking with you!"


    "26 taels, going twice."


    "27 taels!" Cao Yun finally caved in and accepted the offer of his friend. Right now, he could use up to 36 taels of gold. Turning toward the other bidder, he tried to stay as calm as possible. He realized that the man was adamant on outbidding him, and maybe it was to save some face. "This lowly pill is not worth that much money. I don''t think it would be beneficial for you to continue bidding on it. Let this foolish one ruin himself for it."


    Under normal circumstances, Luo Jiang would have taken the loss, but it turned out that he really needed this pill. He was arrogant but not stupid. When he ascertained his victory to Huang Longwei, he exaggerated a bit. As a matter of fact, his carnal desires were becoming a hindrance to his alchemy. But he just could not stop himself ; that was why he really wanted this pill, to calm his desires and appease his heart during alchemy.


    "27 taels, going once."


    He gritted his teeth and took a decision. "30 taels!"


    Everyone in the audience was flabbergasted. 1.5 kilograms of gold for such a small Earth rank pill.


    Cao Yun understood that he was against a steel wall. He really did not want to use Feng Yingyue''s money but he would have to try it. "31 taels."


    Once again, the audience gasped. But before they could finish. "40 taels!" Luo Jiang had lost his mind. He just wanted this auction to end and take out his anger on the two women by his side. "Do you dare go on?!" His eyes were full of rage when he looked at Cao Yun.


    "This lowly one has been outdone today, it seems."


    "Fine, fine! This pill is mine then!"


    The woman on stage did not even try to ask for another bid. "The last item, a Frozen Heart Pill, goes to Mister Luo Jiang for 40 taels of gold. Our Auction Hall thanks everyone present. This was an exciting night! I am sure you all enjoyed the show. Please, come again for the next auction."


    The woman was still talking when Luo Jiang darted out, dragging his two women behind him.


    -


    "Guo, I''m sorry."


    "Yingying, it''s my fault. Maybe I antagonized him a little too much earlier. But he just annoyed me."


    "For sure he did. He was so vulgar!" Feng Yingyue was absolutely mad at the guy "Still I think he really wanted this pill. I mean, 40 taels of gold for a Frozen Heart Pill... He was not just trying to keep his face by outbidding you."


    "You''re right... It seems like I had no chance from the beginning." Cao Yun took a deep breath. "Anyway, what''s done is done."


    -


    After getting rid of his anger in the sensual embrace of his two beauties, Luo Jiang dressed up. He had gathered information on the little guy who made him waste all his money. Chen Guo, a vagrant hunter, a nobody.


    "You want to impress your girl?! Well, let''s see how she likes you dead..."


    Luo Jiang went into a room furnished with a huge bronze cauldron and many alchemical tools and ingredients everywhere.


    Gu Ouyang was also in the room. Earlier, he was the one to whom Luo Jiang had paid the price of the pill. After some talking, they got an understanding as they both had a grudge to settle with Chen Guo.


    Luo Jiang took the Frozen Heart Pill and consumed it in one go. Without even trying to correctly absorb the medicinal energy of the pill, he immediately began to work. During his alchemy, he sent the soothing properties of the pill infusing in his body and mind along with his work. After more than an hour of labor, the cauldron opened and a green smoke got out. Putting a small vial on the table nearby, Luo Jiang filled it with the content of the cauldron.


    "Thousand Torments Jade Soup."


    * Approximately, 1 tael of gold = 50g of gold


    * 1 tael = 1000 coins


    * 1 coin would be equivalent to 2$

 Chapter 16: Assassination

    Having lost the auction, Cao Yun was a little dejected. On the other hand, Feng Yingyue was furious.


    "This disgusting pervert dare to threaten you?! He even forces you to bid all your money and even then...! AH!" It was the first time Cao Yun saw her this angry and frustrated. During his stay at her shop, he had watched her forge some pills and no matter how many times she failed, she would open a book, study, and try again without any complaint.


    They were both back at the City Lord''s mansion and he was there.


    "Senior Dun!" Dun Mofan who was listening without really caring was jolted back to reality. "You let him threaten Chen Guo and did nothing!"


    "Well, hmmm... This is delicate. I mean, the rules of..."


    "The rules?! What rules?! Isn''t it forbidden to threaten someone in the auction?! Hell! In the entire Auction Hall, even when there''s no auction. Do you think I don''t know the rules?!"


    "But he did not actually threaten him?"


    "What?!" As soon as the words left his mouth, Dun Mofan knew that he had misspoken. Feng Yingyue''s eyes just stared right at him with an ominous glare.


    "I mean... what I meant was... He was cunning and devious in his way of speaking. Otherwise I would have stricken him down." Despite his status as the City Lord, Dun Mofan was scared by the sudden change of behavior of this little girl. He had seen her grow up since her birth in the Yinmen City. And after the death of her father a couple of years ago, he regularly visited her. The first reason was because he genuinely cared for her. But another reason was that she had the potential to become a great alchemist one day and that could only be good for him and his town. She was always so obedient and shy. To be honest, he even wanted her to rebel some times. Well, he just got what he wanted.


    Feng Yingyue was fuming and she took out her anger on this grandfather figure. For more than an hour, Dun Mofan accepted her berating, letting her act as a spoiled child for once.


    When she was finally done, she left the room while adding some words. "I''ll do some alchemy to calm my nerves!"


    "Ah, ah, ah!" Dun Mofan waited for her to be away before laughing loudly. "Impressive, young boy! It seems like she really cares about you. Ah, ah, ah!"


    Not knowing how to respond, Cao Yun changed the topic.


    "City Lord, I''m sorry if I''m too impudent. Yesterday I asked you for two things. I know that I already took advantage of you by receiving this manual, but I really need to get informations on the neighboring cities. Being a hunter, and being alone, my life could depend on these informations."


    Dun Mofan examined Cao Yun and answered. "It''s a good thing to be cautious. Of course, there are some reports that I can''t show you, but I already gathered all the reports without any sensitive materials in them. You can browse through them in my study, follow me."


    "Thank you, City Lord." Cao Yun cupped his fists politely and followed Dun Mofan to the same room as yesterday. On the huge desk, there were several piles of scrolls, books and parchments. This time, the City Lord left him alone to read. There was a little bit of trust between them. Anyway, Dun Mofan was a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, his senses were heightened and he would immediately see if someone had touched the books on the shelves or not.


    Cao Yun decided to read everything, in order to hide what he was really trying to find, just in case. There were many reports about uninteresting things: some promotions of officials or public servants; not very prominent figures attempting, succeeding or failing a breakthrough; the movement of some small vagrant tribes; a few changes of territory for dangerous demonic beasts; ...


    He still read everything and decided to keep some of these news in mind. After all, even though he was not searching for it, there was useful stuff mixed in there, especially if he wanted to survive in the wild. Amidst all these reports, he finally found what he was looking for.


    A book was listing the recently dead. Among the unfamiliar names, he found a character he knew too well, his own family name, Cao. Cao He. Cao Lifeng. Cao Bui... At least a hundred names from the Cao family were written there. He scanned them all and found his parents Cao Guang and Cao Shui, then his great-grandfather Cao Beiwen. Some lines under them, he found Cao Sheng.


    His own name was absent from the list because no one had found his corpse. There even was a small note in the margin. ''Cao Yun, not found, presumed dead.'' His heart was beating like a madman in his chest as he was coming to the last name, Cao Huiying, his little sister. Once he saw it, his mind went blank. He had hoped for his little sister to still be alive. He had clung to this possibility... for nothing. This wisp of hope had turned into despair.


    While he was lost in this black fog, the Drop of Wrath activated and began to pulse deep within his heart.


    After more than an incense stick, Cao Yun got back to reality. Father, mother, big brother, little sister, patriarch, everyone! I swear on my life that you will be avenged! No matter how long it takes, I will gain the power I need to find and kill the culprits with my bare hands! Let the Heavens be witness to my oath! In this life or another, you will be avenged. Your grievances will be addressed.


    Deep within his soul, Cao Yun forged this solemn oath with his dead family. He still had no way to find the culprits and even if he did, the main killer was at least a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. It would probably take him several decades before he could do anything, but Cao Yun had decided. From now on, his goal was set in stone!


    He continued browsing through the reports. He saw that the corpses of his family members had been found. Some had been partially eaten by beasts or animals. Luckily, his family was renowned and appreciated enough that Baziyun City''s City Lord paid for a proper burial. Apparently, although his body had not been found, Cao Yun also was officially buried, everyone thinking he was dead deep within the mountains.


    There was no clue as to who did this, just speculations. It was probably the act of a demonic sect. Demonic cultivators were humans following the Evil path. Techniques like torturing, killing, raping, eating human flesh, stealing souls, ... were used by these people. It allowed them to grow stronger way faster, but it influenced their state of mind, making most of them insane, and often limited the peak of their strength. They were able to advance very fast for a period of time and then, it would take a toll on them that many demonic cultivators could never overcome.


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    Demonic cultivators killing humans was not unheard of, but slaughtering an entire family was. The main culprit was even an advanced Spirit Warrior. Most demonic cultivators were unable to advance very far in this realm considering it dealt with their very soul. The forbidden techniques used to gain power tended to damage their soul, greatly limiting their progress in the Spirit Warrior realm.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was the only witness. Apart from him, it was unlikely for anyone else to find out the truth. He had engraved in his memory every details of that night.


    -


    Finally, as the night was getting darker and darker, Cao Yun decided to head back to Feng Yingyue''s shop. He bid farewell to Dun Mofan and left.


    Arriving there, she was still mad but her mind was entirely focused on her alchemy. Cao Yun did not want to disturb her and tried to sneak past her. As soon as he put a foot on the stair he heard her voice.


    "Guo?" He turned back to her. She saw his face and felt a deep sadness. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"


    "It''s..." His face blackened and he dropped his dead. "I''m sorry, I just can''t talk about it. Please."


    Feng Yingyue rushed toward him and took him in a warm hug. "You don''t have to tell me anything. You don''t have to say anything at all."


    They stayed this way for several minutes. Cao Yun even cried a little. He had always thought that it was disgraceful to cry before someone, but before her, he could.


    Ending their embrace, Feng Yingyue kissed him on the left cheek. Cao Yun felt her warmth on his cheek and all over his body. He could also smell her fragrance all around. She was getting back to work but he stopped her.


    "I have something to give you." While speaking, he took out the green ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. "This manual deals with mind cultivation. It''s perfect for an alchemist. I got some understanding of it, so let me guide you."


    "But, this manual is yours, now. I can''t accept."


    "You don''t have to take the manual to cultivate it. I''ll stay here for at least a week, maybe two. We can study it together for the time being. After that, there will still be time to decide who keeps it." Seeing her hesitation, Cao Yun pressed on. "Come on, you know it''s really useful for alchemists. You were ready to use your personal money to help me. And you did not want me to refuse, right? So please, don''t refuse me either."


    "... okay."


    They both sat down in the living room upstairs. Cao Yun explained all he had learned about the manual and the characters. He explained to her the feeling he felt just before fainting so that she could know exactly when to stop.


    Without knowing, they were holding hands when they both started to draw the Yi symbol, the Earth Intent, in their mind. Once. Twice. ... Seven times. Eight times. ... Twelve times. Cao Yun had a huge improvement. He easily achieved Small Success, eight repetitions, and advanced up to twelve repetitions.


    When he opened his eyes, he saw Feng Yingyue through new lenses. He was able to note every part of her face. Even with the eyes closed he would be able to visualize her face perfectly.


    "How did you do?"


    "Six times."


    "Great! The first time I did it, I fainted after only four."


    "Well, it''s thanks to your explanations. And... I also felt... I don''t know. I felt as if we were connected."


    Unknowingly, they had shared their mental strength by holding hands and both of them had progressed rapidly thanks to that.


    "The result of this cultivation is incredible. I feel like I have a new understanding of the pill recipe I was just studying. Maybe, I could try again when I''m well rested."


    She took the cold cup of tea that was still on the table and was ready to drink when she stopped herself. After this session, her intent was stronger and so were her senses. Something was strange with this cup of tea. She focused her nose on the smell and tried to pinpoint what was bugging her.


    "Yingying, what''s wrong?"


    "I don''t know... I feel like..." Closing her eyes, she focused on the smell. Suddenly, she opened her eyes again. "Thousand Torments Jade Soup!"


    "What?!"


    "This tea is poisoned! The smell is very thin, but I''m positive, this is the Thousand Torments Jade Soup. A single drop of it and your death is certain unless you''re a Mortal Warrior. The poison energy will spread through your body and you will bleed through every skin pore. This death is particularly long and cruel."


    As she finished her sentence, Cao Yun signaled her to be quiet. There was some noise on the roof.


    He rushed toward the noise. "Yingying, stay here!" He saw a man dressed in black trying to climb out from the window of Feng Yingyue''s father''s chamber. Cao Yun jumped him and grabbed his legs to pull him back in. Falling down on the floor of the chamber, the face of the running man got lit by the moon, Gu Ouyang.


    Gu Ouyang tried to fight. He was a 6th-grade Mortal and Cao Yun should only be a 4th-grade Mortal. The only reason why he had not tried to kill him with his bare hands was for fear of being discovered by the City Lord. As a Spirit Warrior, he could detect Qi more easily and maybe even find out who had dealt a lethal blow to someone.


    ''Scorpion Stinging its Prey''. His fingers stuck together and stabbed toward Cao Yun''s throat.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', second movement, ''Pushing the Sky''. Cao Yun parried the attack, directing all its strength in the void.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', first movement, Shake the Earth. Taking advantage of the fact that Gu Ouyang was still kneeling on the floor, Cao Yun tried to trample over him with a descending kick.


    Gu Ouyang was not a good fighter. His cultivation was mainly due to resources he got from his grandfather and he never fought a life-and-death battle. On the other hand, Cao Yun loved learning martial arts and had trained against demonic beasts for several months. Although he should have had the speed to avoid the attack, Gu Ouyang did not react in time and his left leg was broken. He screamed as he leapt straight toward his target.


    ''Ten Thousand Bites''. He tried to plunge his fingers directly into Cao Yun''s chest.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', third movement, ''Forging the Fort''. Unable to avoid in time due to the speed of his opponent, Cao Yun put his forearms before him as a defense. Red blood gushed out as Gu Ouyang''s fingers stabbed through his flesh, almost piercing his bones.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', sixth movement, ''Breaking the Formation''. As Gu Ouyang was trying to press on with the attack in order to push Cao Yun to the ground, the boy rotated and hit him with a shoulder strike, right in the ribs. Throughout the room, the sound of broken ribs echoed. Not used to pain in an actual fight, Gu Ouyang lost his momentum and just screamed.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', fifth movement, ''Dyeing the Ground''. With fingers still lodged in his forearms, Cao Yun opened his hands and used the saber of his two palms to cut off the fingers in a huge sweeping movement. Ten pieces of flesh hit the ground at the same time.


    ''Dance of Slaughter'', eighth and last movement, ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. Following his sweeping move, Cao Yun closed both hands and sent a double strike in Gu Ouyang''s chest. It cut off his breath and sent him to the floor, bawling.


    A 4th-grade or even weak 5th-grade Mortal would have been instantly killed by such a strike. But even though Gu Ouyang had not the fighting experience, he still had the cultivation. His body was strong enough to resist to the vibration power of the ''Dance of Slaughter''.


    Cao Yun was ready to kill him. He approached him, lifted his hand.


    "Mercy. Have mercy. Please!"


    Instead of Gu Ouyang, Cao Yun saw the image of Huang Lixin and simply could not give the final strike. Deep within his heart a pulsation was affecting his mind and pushed him to the brink. Yet, he decided to circulate the Yi character in his mind and was able to control himself. He put his hands down and stepped away from the wanna-be assassin.


    "Let the City Lord give out justice!"


    Barely had he spoken, Dun Mofan was behind him. Feng Yingyue had used some kind of talisman. It was a signal he had given her to call for help. As a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, he had rushed here with all his speed and understood everything in an instant with his spiritual senses.


    Seeing the City Lord and his own blood and flesh on the floor, Gu Ouyang fainted.

 Chapter 17: Great Alchemy Master Hua

    Gu Ouyang finally came to. As he was lying on a rigid surface, he tried to get up by putting his hand flat on the floor. A jolt of pain coursed through his arm and he remembered his injuries. Looking down, he could see some bandages where his fingers used to be. The pain had subsided but the horror of losing some parts of his body had not. Trying to figure out where has, he suddenly realized. He was in a jail. Most likely, it was the prison ward outside Yinmen City.


    While he was trying to get a hold of his own emotions, he heard footsteps walking down a stair. From the dim-lit corridor, two figures appeared. The first one he saw filled Gu Ouyang''s heart with fright, City Lord Dun Mofan. Instinctively, he took a step back, even though he was beyond bars. But as soon as he saw the other figure, he regained some spirit, this was his grandfather Gu Lin.


    However, the look on Gu Lin''s face was terribly dark. It became even darker when he saw the hands of his grandson. Elder Gu had lost many people in his life and Gu Ouyang was his last family member, the son of his deceased daughter.


    "City Lord, how is that a way to treat a prisoner?!"


    "Calm down, Elder Gu, these wounds were inflicting in self-defense. I had nothing to do with them. You can not expect people not to protect their lives against an assassin, right?"


    Elder Gu calmed down his anger. Before he could speak again, his grandson butted in. "Grandfather, help me! I am innoc..."


    "Silence!" Despite his love for his grandson, Elder Gu was a sensible person. He knew that the accusations against him were mostly, if not entirely, true. The City Lord would never risk his reputation in such a way. Elder Gu was the head of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall Yinmen City branch. Accusing his grandson of attempted murder without very good reason would be disastrous for Dun Mofan.


    "No one was killed, right?"


    "Right..."


    "City Lord, could you please overlook my grandson''s stupid actions this time? I will be forever grateful to you." Gu Lin cupped his fists and even bowed down to Dun Mofan. He was humbling himself as much as he could bear. An attempted murder on an alchemist would warrant the death penalty. After all, the Emperor himself was very protective of alchemists in the Hongchen Kingdom, no matter how talented they were.


    "Junior Gu, you should know that this is a terrible offense he tried to commit. You should also know how much I care for this little girl. How would you react if someone tried to kill your grandson? Would you accept it if I were to just let them go? Tell me, what would you have me do to someone who tried to poison and torture your family to death?" Dun Mofan had stopped addressing Gu Lin as ''Elder''. He was after all his junior. Dun Mofan was more than 300-years-old and Gu Lin less than a century old.


    Those questions really shocked Gu Lin. His family had indeed been killed by poison many years ago. When the killer was found, the torments Gu Lin inflicted on them were legendary. He had tried to hide his involvement but City Lord Dun Mofan had known about this for a very long time, waiting for the right moment to use this information.


    "City Lord..." Gu Lin dropped his head in defeat. "What do you want from me?"


    "Ah, ah, ah! This one would never dare to tell you what you should do. If such an affair were to happen to me, I think I would want to take some time back from worldly matters. I mean, how could I administer a city, or even an auction hall, with that much pressure on my grandson?"


    Gu Lin immediately understood what he was getting at. After a breath of hesitation, he asked again. "And who, in your opinion, would be better suited to take my responsibilities during my absence?"


    "Ah, ah, ah! This one would not dare interfere in the way you run your auction hall. But I hear that this Ye Zhiyun lad is very competent. I''m sure he would be a great replacement. Temporarily, of course."


    Gu Lin swallowed his pride. "City Lord is right. Maybe I should take some time off to take care of my grandson. I''m going to inform the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall that I petition for Ye Zhiyun to take over while I sort out my business."


    "Oh! Junior Gu dares listen to my advice?! I''m really flattered." Dun Mofan opened the cell. "Since you''ll be able to devote all your time to your family, I think I can let your grandson be under house arrest for now. And who knows how long it will be until we have enough time to hold a trial for him... We''re really too busy recently."


    Dun Mofan left the grandfather and his grandson alone. Gu Ouyang was not a total idiot. Of course he understood that the City Lord had used his life to evict his grandfather from the head of the Auction Hall. He wanted to say something to his grandfather but he did not know what. Keeping his head down, he followed behind him, dejected.


    -


    "City Lord, are you just going to let him free?!" Once again, Feng Yingyue was enraged.


    "Ah?! Little Yingyue, this is just politics... And don''t you think that Gu Ouyang was punished enough? He lost his fingers, he will be a cripple for the rest of his life."


    "You!"


    Cao Yun intervened. "Feng Yingyue, the City Lord is right. Moreover, I doubt Gu Ouyang came across this poison on his own."


    "Well, we''ll try to question him. However, he will probably not tell anything. Through the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Gu Ouyang should have enough connections to get any poison he desired. But if you want my opinion..."


    "It was Luo Jiang!" Cao Yun interrupted him.


    "Most likely, yes."


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    "Luo Jiang?! Go arrest him then!" Feng Yingyue yelled at the City Lord.


    "It''s not that easy. We have no proof against him, and he is an alchemist. The Emperor is very protective of all alchemists, they''re so rare and precious for the cultivators. If I were to accuse him without conclusive evidence, I would put my position in danger and the Huang family would use it against me. Luo Jiang would not suffer any punishment. He would even gain from it."


    "Useless!" Once again, Dun Mofan was surprised by the way this little girl was behaving recently. "The poison was really cruel. And the wounds Chen Guo suffered were gruesome. I had to use some powerful balms to heal them." Unconsciously, she touched, almost caressed Cao Yun''s arm where Gu Ouyang had pierced him.


    None of that eluded Dun Mofan''s eyes. Cao Yun tried to calm her down. In reality, he knew that it would turn out this way. Gu Ouyang had strong ties with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall after all. That''s why he had an hesitation back when he was at his mercy. He could have killed him and resolved this grudge. But he would have made an even more powerful enemy with Elder Gu. And more importantly, he did not want the Drop of Wrath to control his temperament.


    -


    In Huang Longwei''s study.


    As the doors burst open, Huang Longwei was startled and immediately assumed a fighting position. From behind the door, the shape of his little sister Huang Cixi appeared and he calmed down.


    "Little sister? Why do you barge in in such a brutal manner?"


    "Were you involved?!"


    "I do not..."


    "Do not play dumb!" Huang Cixi was really enraged by this stupid older brother of hers and she had let go of all pretenses. "Were you involved in the attempted murder of the alchemist girl?"


    "Why would I be..."


    "Why?! Let me ask you another question, Brother. Who was it who told our father about a mystical pill that this girl was supposed to have?" Before he could answer, Huang Cixi asked him another question. "Do you perhaps know that there is another rumor? Apparently, the City Lord petitioned an alchemy institute to send a master here. Maybe Brother knows about it..."


    Huang Longwei was silent.


    "Nothing to say?! Isn''t it strange that you suddenly introduced your alchemist friend to Father? Maybe you want him to be taken in by this master instead of the girl? Wouldn''t it be great if your friend could study under an alchemy master? Wouldn''t it be great if your friend could perform well during the next Alchemy Conference?"


    Huang Cixi was calming down as she spoke and walked closer and closer toward he big brother. "So, let me ask you again, Brother. Were you involved?"


    "No." Huang Longwei stopped playing games. "I''m pretty sure that Luo Jiang decided to do it on his own because of what happened during the auction..."


    "Well, then. I suggest you control your ''friend''. All this ruckus is bad for our family. We''re trying to find Lixin, we need calm and peace to achieve that goal. Are we clear, Brother? Put a leash on your dog!"


    A fleeting spark in his little sister''s eyes almost scared Huang Longwei. "Little sister, I assure you that I also want calm and peace for my business."


    "Good!" She turned back. "Then, while you continue your ''business'', I will keep attending to some small matters... like trying to find our missing brother!"


    When the door finally closed again, Huang Longwei erupted and broke down his desk. He knew that his little sister was very smart but he had still been underestimating her too much. She had clearly seen through all of his plans.


    -


    In another room, Luo Jiang was even more enraged. He sat cross-legged and tried his best to calm himself with the medicinal essence of the Frozen Heart Pill that was still dissolving in his heart.


    "This Gu Ouyang is useless! He could not poison them correctly! And he could not even kill a meager 4th-grade Mortal?! What a trash!"


    His mind was absolutely chaotic. Circulating the cold medicinal essence through his bloodstream, Luo Jiang was barely able to maintain his sanity. There was something really strange with him. He stopped meditating and went back to his bed where the two women were laying, almost unconscious.


    -


    As the dust was settling after this all incident, Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun continued their routine.


    Dun Mofan had sent many bodyguards to protect the couple. At first, he wanted them both to live in his mansion but the girl was adamant against it. She would not abandon her father''s shop. She was even against the guards inside her shop, for she did not want them to disturb her time with Cao Yun. Finally, she agreed to have them outside the shop. Some of them were even stationed on the rooftop.


    The two teenagers kept circulating the Yi symbol in their mind together. They had quickly realized that their progress was faster when they held each other''s hand. Apparently, they were able to energize their mind through this connection and could go faster in their mind cultivation. Cao Yun had heard about this practice. It was called a dual cultivation. By fusing the dominant Yin of a woman and the dominant Yang of a man, both of them could gain huge benefits. Cao Yun was still young, and had rarely left his family mansion. Thus, he had no particular experience in this kind of matter.


    For a week, nothing special happened. Luo Jiang was fuming in secret. Huang Longwei was trying to concoct many plans to outsmart his little sister who was still focused on her brother Lixin. In the Gu estate, Gu Lin was admonishing his grandson again and again, while still tending to his wounds. He even tried to get a medicine that could grow back limbs, but the price was astronomic, despite his remaining connections to the Hall.


    Dun Mofan was very proud of his little manipulation. Right now, he had a loyal man at the head of the Auction Hall. What he did not know was that Ye Zhiyun was even more loyal to Huang Cixi. Effectively, she was now the head of the Auction Hall. Since Ye Zhiyun began to work there, he had feigned loyalty to Dun Mofan and always was fair to everyone. He was the perfect clerk. In reality, he was working for Huang Cixi from the get go. From a very young age, she had always been very smart. Ye Zhiyun had been trained by her to be perfect for this job. Knowing that her first brother and her father had many spies within the Auction Hall, she wanted one who would be loyal only to her.


    -


    Finally, a week had passed and something prodigious happened.


    Above Yinmen City, two swords were floating high up in the air. They had arrived so fast that no one had even seen them appear. The two swords were floating above the City Lord''s mansion. Dun Mofan left in a hurry and cupped his fists toward the sky.


    "Dun Mofan presents his respect to the alchemy master."


    Two figures fell from the sky.


    The first one was an elegant woman dressed in red and dark blue. She had very long and light hair nicely tied behind her back. As she fell, she kept her composure and her right hand was pointing to the second figure. It was a little plump man who was visibly panicking. Despite being nicely dressed, his hair was disheveled and his clothes a little open. He was waving his limbs in the air as if he was trying to swim in the sky.


    When they finally touched the ground, the woman who seemed to be in her late thirties elegantly put her foot down. The little guy closed his eyes and put his arm up to protect his face. When the impact did not happen, he looked down and saw that he was floating in the air just a little bit above the ground. No sooner had he let out a sigh of relief, the woman put down her right hand and he fell flat on his bottom.


    "Master..." A small complaint accompanied his pitiful grunt.


    "City Lord! I am Grand Master Hua Fenfei. I am here to examine your candidate."

 Chapter 18: Alchemy Competition

    In Huang Longwei''s study a small servant jut gave him a news.


    "They''re here?!" He erupted from his chair. "Quick, go inform Luo Jiang!"


    At the same time before the City Lord''s mansion, the Grand Alchemy Master and her little companion were waiting for the arrival of Feng Yingyue.


    Dun Mofan had sent people to bring her here immediately. She was still indecisive about this matter but Feng Yingyue had to admit that studying under an alchemy master would be perfect for her. The only problem was that she did not want to leave her father''s shop. Cao Yun came along with her and they quickly arrived before the mansion.


    As soon as he saw her, the little guy whistled and angry glares stabbed him from all sides. The City Lord did not dare to be too impolite but Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun''s eyes were screaming murder. And on his side, Grand Alchemy Master Hua''s eyes were full of rage.


    "Sorry, sorry. I''ll behave, I''ll behave." He approached the young lady. "This lowly one is way too vulgar. But faced with such a beautiful young woman, how could I suppress my admiration?" The little guy was around twenty but he seemed to be way older than that. Being a Spirit Warrior, the City Lord could easily see through his cultivation. Qi was abundant throughout his entire body, the sign of a 9th-grade Mortal. According to the movement of the Qi within him, he was very close to a breakthrough. Despite his appearance, the little guy was certainly competent.


    Feng Yingyue immediately despised him. As he got near her, Cao Yun positioned himself between them, a little on the side.


    "Oh?! Who might this little friend be?" The fat guy darted his eyes to both of them and laughed. "Are you perhaps her Dao companion?"


    A Dao companion was akin to a lover, but Dao companions shared an even deeper connection. They were people who roamed the painful world of cultivation together, sharing their life, their death, their body and their soul. Of course, when someone used the term, they often did not mean it literally and referred more loosely to mere lovers among cultivators. It was especially the case for this guy who was just joking around.


    Cao Yun did not know how to answer him when he heard Feng Yingyue. "And what if we are? Is it any business of you?" After this outburst, she just remembered that she was in public and that her potential Master was here. The City Lord had spent many efforts to get this audience. Although, Feng Yingyue was not too sure of her decision yet, she did not want to ruin his efforts.


    "Enough! Song Guixiang, you went too far! You''ll have to eat vegetarian for the next month."


    The fat guy''s face turned from amusement to terror. "Master, Master! I was just joking! I swear! I have no ill will!" He turned back to Feng Yingyue. "Young lady, you know I was joking, right? I apologize! Please, tell my master we were just joking..."


    The Grand Master did not care for her disciple''s act and got closer to Feng Yingyue. As the little guy was frantically trying to find a way out, she examined her demeanor. Her eyes stayed a long time at examining her hands and fingers. "Good. You seem to be a real hard worker. Your cultivation is very stable as well. It''s rare to see such a young alchemist with a firm cultivation."


    Feng Yingyue cupped her fists and bowed.


    "This lowly one has just some meager achievements in alchemy, nothing too impressive."


    The Grand Master turned her head toward Cao Yun. "Little boy, you''re even more impressive. You''re only 16 and already ready to break through to 5th-grade Mortal. Quite impressive!"


    Song Guixiang who had realized his efforts were vain had stopped talking. When he heard the cultivation of Cao Yun he looked at him again. He thought he was quick in his cultivation, but this boy was something else. Alchemists were often quicker in their cultivation because they used various pills and ingredients to advance. Hence, their cultivation was not very stable and their fighting power pretty low. But they mostly cared about being able to master their craft, and cultivation was essential to use certain alchemical techniques.


    When he heard her Master say that the young girl''s cultivation was very stable, he also knew that she most likely cultivated without assistance from drugs or pills. In such a little city, that was also impressive. But that could also mean that she did not spend enough time training her alchemy. However, a small look at her fingers immediately told him that that was not the case. She had all the signs and marks of someone who spent their entire days manipulating a cauldron, alchemical tools and ingredients.


    As they were speaking, two men came rushing with several servants. They were Huang Longwei and Luo Jiang. As soon as she saw them, Feng Yingyue''s nerves erupted. Cao Yun took her hand to calm her down. Nothing good would come out from antagonizing them, especially before a grand master.


    "This lowly one pays respect to the Grand Master."


    Hua Fenfei was intrigued.


    "And who might you be?"


    "I''m just a nobody who dabbles in alchemy. When my friend told me that such a powerful alchemy master was coming, I just could not resist. Please, allow this lowly one to perform his meager craft before you."


    Huang Longwei took over.


    "This lowly one heard that City Lord Dun Mofan had invited a prestigious alchemy master to examine a candidate for the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. My friend here is too modest. He has real skills in alchemy and I petition the Grand Master to allow him to prove himself."


    "You should know that, per the rules of the institute, I can only accept one candidate, were he to qualify."


    The City Lord was furious but could not say anything, it was all up to the Grand Master. Hua Fenfi was pensive for some time and finally concluded.


    "Fine. Both of you will take the examination. I will be fair. The one who performs better will be qualified to follow me back to the institute."


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    Huang Longwei hid a huge smile on his face. "Thank you, Grand Master. We all trust in your fair judgment."


    Feng Yingyue, Cao Yun and the City Lord were enraged. Huang Longwei was too crafty.


    -


    They all settled down in the courtyard of the mansion. Two tables had been installed with basic cauldrons and alchemical tools.


    The Grand Master waved her hand and a black ring on her index lit up. In a burst of light, several scrolls appeared in the air. This was a spatial ring. Long ago, some cultivators were able to cut off some parts of space and put it into objects. One of these objects was called a spatial ring. No one had the power and knowledge to build more of them nowadays and only big lineages or lucky adventurers could ever possess them, no matter how rich they were.


    In a tiny ring, there could be a space as big as a storage room, or even an entire mansion. There were legends about spatial rings as vast as a the capital of the Hongchen Kingdom. The only weakness of such a ring was that no living thing could be taken in. They could not be used to transport people or even animals or beasts. On the other hand they could harbor dead things like alchemical ingredients, scrolls or tools. They were also useful to contain food and water during long journeys.


    "Here is the examination. Each one of you will try to forge a 5-star Earth rank pill."


    Everyone present was surprised. Pills were classified into several tiers: Earth, Human, Heaven, Spirit and God. Each rank was further divided into stars, from 1 for the lowest to 5 for the highest. Earth rank pills were pills that could be forged by Mortals. From the 1-star Human rank on, only a cultivator able to use his Qi outside of his body could forge them, so only Mortal Warriors or higher. But a 5-star Earth pill was the utmost difficult to forge within this rank. It was already bordering on the Human rank.


    "You do not need to be able to complete the pill. I will judge you on your skills, not necessarily on the results."


    As Feng Yingyue and Luo Jiang took place behind their respective table, the scrolls started to float around them.


    "These are all 5-star Earth rank pill recipes. Choose any one you want. I will provide all the ingredients for one batch, and only one. Then, everything is up to you."


    Both of them quickly browsed through the scrolls.


    Luo Jiang was trying to think of the best strategy to win. He used to be pretty confident, but his state of mind, despite the Frozen Heart Pill, was chaotic recently. No matter how hard he tried, he could not calm down until Cao Yun was dead. But right now, he had to focus on the examination. Were he to become a member of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, it would be easy to kill such an insignificant insect.


    I need a recipe easy to make. Given my excitement, a yang pill would be perfect. It''s also easier to make, and... "I choose the Gorilla Fleeting Pill."


    As soon as he spoke, several ingredients appeared in a flash of light. Among them was the 1-core of a Carnivorous hammer-gorilla. The Gorilla Fleeting Pill had the effect of enhancing one''s physical strength during a interval of time, varying from an incense stick to an hour according to the quality of the pill.


    Song Guixiang sighed. "This one is choosing the easy path."


    "It''s not a bad choice to be cautious. Let''s see what the little girl will choose."


    Feng Yingyue had never seen that many scrolls of such rare pills. She was at a loss as to what to choose. Coincidentally, her eyes fell on the title of one of the scrolls, ''Frozen Heart Pill''.


    "I choose the Frozen Heart Pill."


    Instantly, all the ingredients appeared, including a small box emitting an eerie sensation.


    Song Guixiang was surprised. "She chose the opposite. I''m pretty sure that''s the most difficult pill in the lot."


    "Indeed, this pill is highly Yin in nature. If you fail to correctly balance the Yang of the flame, you can easily harm the ingredients and fail to take out their medicinal effects. But if you fail to control the Yin, you can also extinguish the flame. Mortal alchemists who are able to succeed in its forging are very rare."


    Cao Yun overheard them. He knew why Feng Yingyue had chosen this pill. She had done so because he needed it. It was for him.


    Luo Jiang''s laughter echoed throughout the courtyard. "Oh?! Such a difficult recipe. Is it to replace the pill you could not afford, perhaps?! Oh, oh, oh!"


    Cao Yun gritted his teeth so as not to rush him and bash his face in. Feng Yingyue kept her calm and circulated the Yi symbol in her mind to prepare herself for the forging. On the other hand, Luo Jiang was already preparing each ingredient, as if he was in a rush.


    Song Guixiang whispered to his Master. "I find this little guy pretty distasteful."


    "Don''t you always find men distasteful?"


    "Come on, Master. Have more faith in me!" His Master chuckled a little. "But, Master, I don''t know... There''s something..." His eyes went beyond the boy and examined the two consorts he had brought along with him. Their skin was still very exposed, leaving little to the imagination. "I must admit that his ladies seem very tempting..."


    His Master rolled her eyes as he walked over to them.


    Feng Yingyue had finally reached a state of mind peaceful enough for her alchemy. She prepared all the ingredients and lit up a flame under the cauldron.


    The last ingredient was in the box. With extreme care, she opened it, trying to protect its content from the sun. The box contained five Embalming Lake Lotus Leaves. These leaves grew from the corpses found in lakes or rivers. With an extreme Yin nature, they only bloomed during a new moon night, the only time to pluck them. Inside the box, there was a strange yellowish sand, Dead Sun Barren Soil. This soil was also very strong in Yin, often found inside caves.


    Such leaves were very useful to reduce Yang and calm the mind. Of course, trying to consume them like that would be highly poisonous and the Yin had to be balanced out by the alchemical process.


    The real difficulty here was the control of the flame. A Mortal Warrior was able to infuse his Qi in the flame to gain more control over it, but a Mortal alchemist had no choice but to use his senses to examine the flame. Feng Yingyue had to monitor what was going on in the cauldron, while putting the ingredients at the right moment and controlling the heat of the flame. She used several powders that she threw in the fire at the right moment to either strengthen it or reduce it. Some powders even gave strange colors to the flame, amplifying or altering its Yang nature.


    Cao Yun knew almost nothing about alchemists but he could see how focused she was. The Grand Master was also very attentive to both alchemists. And the boy looked at her from time to time to gauge her reactions. But her face was impassive. But, after more than an hour, a frown appeared on her calm face. Suddenly, an explosion echoed in the courtyard.


    Luo Jiang had failed to control his cauldron. His flame was too intense and the Yang energy within the cauldron exploded. With a mind in chaos, it was impossible for him to really control such an powerful energy. Thus, his state of mind degenerated even more.


    He tried to calm himself. After all, he had prepared the ingredients masterfully and his technique had been perfect until now. He turned toward the young girl and got enraged. She was perfectly controlling and balancing the Yin and Yang in her cauldron.


    Huang Longwei who was on the side was horrified as the City Lord was beaming with joy.


    Luo Jiang left the table in a feat of rage and went back to his consorts. But he found out a plump little guy caressing their beautiful curves. Had the Grand Master not been present, he would have unleashed all the poisons he had on him, killing everyone. His sanity was almost gone by now.


    The contest was not over and it took around forty minutes more. The flame under Feng Yingyue''s cauldron decreased and a sweet fragrance filled the courtyard. The young girl was sweating profusely and she fell backwards. Cao Yun immediately rushed behind her and caught her body before she touched the ground. She was too tired to even stand.


    The forging had completely exhausted her mind. If she had not practiced ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', she would never have had the strength to finish it.

 Chapter 19: True success

    The pill flew from the cauldron and landed in the hand of Grand Master Hua. Examining it with scrutiny, she then exclaimed.


    "Very good. This Frozen Heart Pill retains 87% of the medicinal essence. It''s a huge success."


    Pill forging''s success could be measured by the ratio of medicinal essence retained between the ingredients and the pill. A pill could be considered successful as long as it contained 60% of medicinal essence. A pill exceeding 90% was considered as Perfect, but they were extremely rare on the market. The Frozen Heart Pill bought at the auction had around 92% of the medicinal essence. It had indeed be forged by Master Alchemist Zhi He. A junior in the Mortal realm who could forge a 87% 5-star Earth rank pill with such a difficult balance was a true genius.


    "I declare the examination over." Grand Master Hua did not even look at the fail product of Luo Jiang. "The victory goes to Feng Yingyue." She walked toward the young girl, still in the arms of Cao Yun. A pill appeared from her ring and into the hands of the boy. "Give her this Autumn and Springs Reviving Pill."


    The pill was very small with orange, red and brownish colors constantly moving on its surface. Cao Yun had no reason to be suspicious of such a Master. She was a Spirit Warrior and could destroy them with a mere thought. She had no reason to harbor any ill will toward Feng Yingyue.


    As soon as she consumed the pill, a rejuvenating sensation spread in her mind. All her stress and mental fatigue simply vanished, like dead leaves blown by the wind.


    Luo Jiang was absolutely crazy. He knew this pill, it was a 2-star Human rank pill. Such a precious medicine was wasted on that girl. Before his thoughts could become even darker, he heard an anxious voice behind him.


    "Master Hua! I feel something strange with these two girls."


    "Not now, Song Guixiang." Master Hua was busy with Feng Yingyue and did not want to entertain her mischievous disciple.


    "Master! I''m serious." For once, Song Guixiang really was serious. He had even stopped caressing the two beauties. A fear took over Luo Jiang.


    "Seniors, my two consort must simply be tired." He tried to take them by their hands and leave. But Song Guixiang stopped him and it attracted the curiosity of everyone present.


    Hua Fenfei appeared in a flash before the two women. "What''s wrong?"


    "They seem to be completely out of it. At first, I thought that maybe they were drunk. But I checked their pulse and... I don''t know. Something''s not right here." As a matter of fact, Song Guixiang was not groping the two ladies, he was examining their condition. Well, maybe he did cop a feel... But it was for a good cause.


    Master Hua used her spiritual senses to explore the women''s bodies. Her eyes opened in shock and energy rushed from her fingers. Two strands of fiery energy engulfed the ladies. Everyone was shocked except for City Lord Dun Mofan. He was a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior and he knew that Hua Fenfei could control her energy to enter someone''s body without hurting them. Indeed, even though her energy was similar to fire, it got inside the women through their skin without any burn at all. Two or three breaths later, they coughed a vicious black smoke.


    Luo Jiang was ready to flee when he felt a powerful killing intent freezing him where he was. With this pressure, he could barely breathe.


    "Enchanting Snowy Powder." Hua Fenfei''s eyes were full of resentment.


    "Master?"


    "This is a forbidden poison. Only a demonic cultivator would dare produce such a thing. This powder penetrates the mind and erodes it. Anyone who fall victim to it will become obedient but their minds will be forever broken. These two women were used as cultivation tools."


    She turned toward Luo Jiang as her killing intent intensified. Behind her, Song Guixiang was grinding his teeth and clenching his fists. He really liked to play around, but this kind of evil ways made him absolutely mad.


    Hua Fenfei examined the young alchemist who was paralyzed by her intent. "If I''m not mistaken, you must practice some evil arts. That''s why your mind is so chaotic and your body so Yang. That''s the reason why you failed so miserably during the examination despite having the skills. These two women have extreme Yin bodies."


    "So he abused them to balance his Yang?!" Song Guixiang could not bear it anymore. He jumped on Luo Jiang and sent him flying with a kick. The sound of his bones breaking on impact echoed in the courtyard. No one said anything to defend the beaten alchemist, not even Huang Longwei.


    "Don''t kill him." Master Hua stopped her disciple who was beating him to death. "Only a Spirit Warrior could produce Enchanting Snowy Powder. If there is a demonic Spirit Warrior, we need to know everything about him." She lifted Luo Jiang in the air just by moving her right hand. "Little demon, tell me. Who is your master?"


    Before he could utter a single word, black flames erupted from his heart. Amidst terrible screams, Luo Jiang was devoured by this black fire.


    "A Heart Locking Fire Pact?!"


    "Master?"


    "Some demonic alchemist can put a special kind of fire in the heart of their disciple. It will enhance their alchemy and their cultivation. But their master can activate the flames anytime they want to eliminate their disciple. It ensures that they have absolute obedience."


    "What is the range of such a pact?"


    "As long as the flames are within the heart of the disciple, his master can ignite them from almost everywhere. He could be in Yinmen City or on the opposite side of the Hongchen Kingdom. Impossible to know."


    After everyone finally realized what had occurred, all eyes fell on Huang Longwei. He was Luo Jiang''s friend after all. Huang Longwei did not even wait for someone to interrogate him. He kowtowed before Hua Fenfei.


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    "I swear, I knew nothing! I met this demon in the woods. He was getting some ingredients. When I witnessed his alchemy, I decided to use him to try and gain some benefits. I swear! Had I known what he was..."


    Master Hua got closer. "Tell me absolutely everything about this Luo Jiang. Everything!"


    Cold sweat ran down Huang Logwei''s spine.


    -


    Somewhere in a remote cave, an old man shrouded in darkness woke up.


    "Idiot! You could not forge a single pill and you even exposed yourself. Taking the two human furnaces with you... How stupid can you be! You''re lucky I just burned you alive. If I had the time, I would have made you repent from ever being born in the same world as me."


    -


    After it became clear that Huang Longwei knew nothing of interest, he was let go. He got back to the Huang mansion as fast as he could.


    "I must warn the Institute! My guess is they knew we were coming here and they tried to get this boy to enter our Institute. It''s possible that other demonic cultivators infiltrated us as well. We must search thoroughly and eliminate them all!"


    The atmosphere that should be joyous with the great success of Feng Yingyue became incredibly gloomy. Realizing this, Hua Fenfei handed a small box to the young alchemist.


    "I''m sorry that your victory turned out this way. We should celebrate but time is of the essence. You will find the official token of our Institute. Join us within a month and ask for me."


    As she was about to depart, Hua Fenfei remembered something else.


    "Oh! There''s also the Frozen Heart Pill that you forged. Since I gave you the ingredients for the examination, this pill is rightfully yours. It should prove beneficial for your mind."


    Feng Yingyue opened the small box and found both the pill and a little token looking like a golden hibiscus flower. The characters Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute were engraved on it.


    "Grand Master Hua, thank you." She hesitated a little. "Can I do what I want with the pill?"


    Hua seemed confused. "Of course! It''s yours. But you shouldn''t wait too long to consume it. The more you wait, the more medicinal essence will be lost. Its Yin nature makes such a pill really fragile."


    "I understand, Master." Feng Yingyue turned toward Cao Yun. "Chen Guo, please take this Frozen Heart Pill."


    Cao Yun had a feeling that this was her intention all along.


    "I can''t accept..."


    "I forged it for you. If you don''t accept it, wouldn''t it mean that all my work was for nothing? You even shared your understanding of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' with me. I do not think I will be losing anything by gifting you this pill. I know you really need it, so please, accept."


    Master Hua was silent, but not her disciple.


    "Come on, little friend. When such a beautiful lady gives you something, you smile and you accept. Ah, ah, ah!" Song Guixiang was slapping Cao Yun''s shoulder. Well, he mostly slapped his arm because he was too small to reach his shoulder.


    Finally, Feng Yingyue began to have a good impression of the little guy.


    "And, I''m sure you can think of some other way to repay her. Huh?" As fast as Song Guixiang blinked, the good impression was gone.


    The young boy paid no mind to the little guy. He really was crude, but after the way he reacted earlier, it was obvious that he wasn''t a bad guy at all.


    "Feng Yingyue, I swear that I will never forget your kindness." He took the pill and they held hands for some time as everyone around was a little embarrassed, except for Song Guixiang who was ecstatic.


    With flashes of blue light, two swords appeared from Hua Fenfei''s spatial ring.


    "I''m sorry, but this matter is of utmost importance. We can not delay. We must inform the Institute immediately. I did not think things would turn out this way so I did not prepare any means to contact them, we''ll have to fly there."


    Song Guixiang was a little apprehensive. "Maybe Master can go back first, you''ll be faster without me, right?"


    "Oh? And maybe I can deprive you of wine for the next month as well?"


    He literally jumped on the sword and bid farewell to everyone.


    A Spirit Warrior as powerful as her could fly without assistance, but to travel long distances, it would be too exhausting. And a flying sword was faster than most Spirit Warriors before a certain grade. They ascended into the sky and a huge boom was heard as the swords flew at their fastest speed.


    City Lord Dun Mofan was so happy that his candidate was accepted into the Institute that he organized an entire banquet for the whole town. It lasted several hours. The first ones to leave were Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun as the feast given in their honor kept on without them.


    -


    Inside Feng Yingyue''s shop, Cao Yun sat cross-legged and took the Frozen Heart Pill. The two cultivators held hands and circulated the Yi character as they were used to. Cao Yun could feel the medicinal essence following his mind. This cold Yin energy drew the character in the same way Cao Yun was doing it.


    Once. Twice. ... Twelve times. Thirteen times. As Cao Yun sensed that he was about to faint, the soothing and cold fragrance of the Frozen Heart Pill spread through his mind. He felt fresh and well rested. Thus, he persevered. Fourteen times. Fifteen times. It went on and on.


    Usually, it would take around a month for all the medicinal essence of the pill to be used up. This night, it took less than two hours. Sixty-three. Sixty-four. True Success! Cao Yun even pushed past True Success and ended at seventy-two repetitions before feeling the medicinal essence of the pill becoming too weak.


    When he opened the eyes, the world around him had changed. His senses were sharper and he could focus all his mind on a single point to absorb everything details about it. Not only the world outside him, but the world inside him had changed as well. He tried to focus his intent within and he discovered that he could move his Qi more freely. When he focused his intent, it was way stronger than before and his Qi obeyed more easily and with more speed. He could also feel more subtle movements inside his body, like the blood flowing through his veins are his muscles contracting and relaxing. He was discovering new sensations he never knew existed.


    I just reached True Success and I already have that many benefits. I''m sure my cultivation will go faster and smoother than before. Wait! What about the Drop of Wrath?


    Cao Yun focused his intent on the Drop of Wrath. It tried to vibrate under this scrutiny. But soon after, it calmed down and surrendered to it. Cao Yun was then able to direct the intent of the drop as if it was his own.


    It seems to have calmed down. But I can''t let my guard down. I feel like a prey before a crouching tiger. I don''t even know it''s here but in its head, I''m already dinner.


    All of a sudden, an inspiration hatched in Cao Yun''s mind. He stood up and fetched a paper and a brush. He focused all his intent on the brush and tried to draw the Yi character, the Earth Intention. Of course, he had already tried it before but each time, even though the drawing was right, it had no effect at all. As soon as he finished, he examined his drawing.


    He was right! After achieving True Success, he could partially reproduce the effects of the character. His understanding of the character was finally present in the drawing. It was not as clear as the real one, but it could already be used to cultivate the Earth Intent up to True Success, but not Perfection.


    Taking the paper, he handed it over to Feng Yingyue.


    "Take it. I know it''s not as useful as the original manual, but it will still help you. As an alchemist, strengthening your mind is really important. I swear I will also give you the other characters as soon as I master them."


    She took the drawing and without knowing what took over her, she kissed Cao Yun.

 Chapter 20: Farewell

    Earlier, Feng Yingyue was still hesitant to join the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Of course, she wanted to become an official alchemist and develop her craft. But on the other hand, she did not want to leave her father''s shop. In fact there was a deeper reason, she was afraid that she was only considered a genius in this small city.


    She was afraid that people in the Institute would not even deign looking in her direction. But as she practiced Yi the Earth Intent and as she grew closer and closer to Cao Yun, she got bolder and bolder. She could feel the changes in her as she felt more confident and less shy. These last few days, she was able to express herself with more ease, and not just with City Lord Dun Mofan.


    But then a new fear took her. Cao Yun would leave this town. She knew that there was something he needed to do, something he was not telling her. She had heard him screaming in the night. Not wanting to spy on him, she did not try to listen to it, but she still overheard things about his family. Thus, she knew that something terrible had happened to him.


    These nightmares were slowly torturing him. And seeing that they almost vanished completely as he trained the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', she wanted to help him even more. That''s why she decided to forge the Frozen Heart Pill. Because she could not bear to see him suffer again every night.


    And if he left her, she knew he would climb up the cultivation world. Very soon, she would be behind him. Very soon, he would forget about her. And she would go back to being the shy little girl with no confidence.


    As she watched him perform the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' by consuming the Frozen Heart Pill, she steeled her resolve. She would go to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. She would become an official alchemist. She would exceed the dreams of her father Feng Ziya. She would stand shoulder to shoulder with Cao Yun. Hell, she would surpass him!


    He would not protect her, she would protect him.


    Burning with this new resolve, she saw Cao Yun gifting him the Yi character he had drawn himself.


    Unable to restrain herself, she kissed him as a fire was burning deep within her. The fire spread throughout her body and got into Cao Yun. He gave her back her kiss and hugged her with all his passion.


    They crossed the room still deep in their embrace and fell on the bed.


    As their bodies intertwined, their Qi began to circulate between them. In their passion, they were involuntarily practicing a dual cultivation. They used their Earth Intent to better feel each other. Gradually, their intents melted into one another. Their very minds were intertwined, more so even than their bodies.


    Qi was flowing from Cao Yun to Feng Yingyue and from her to him. Feng Yingyue also felt something cold flowing in her body and mind. The remaining medicinal essence of the Frozen Heart Pill was coursing through her as it was leaving Cao Yun''s body.


    They kept exploring each other for many hours before the exhaustion put them to sleep. They could barely remember the moment they finally fell asleep, but they would forever remember this night.


    -


    In the morning, they woke up full of vigor. Both their Qi seemed to be even richer than before and their minds clearer. Still in bed, they caressed and kissed each other for a while. None of them had ever experienced such pleasure, and they did not regret it at all.


    It did not alter their relationship, as they went back to their routine.


    There was one change however. With her resolve to join the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, Feng Yingyue knew she would have to leave this very same day. Indeed, the Institute was all the way to the south of the Hongchen Kingdom. Without a flying sword, she would need a month to get there and she had to find Master Hua, precisely in a month, so she had no choice.


    "Guo? What are you going to do?" She stared at him intently, carving every feature of his face into her mind.


    Cao Yun was jolted back to reality when he heard his fake name. It reminded him that he had lied to her all along. After the genuine link they had shared the night prior, he felt terrible about his dishonesty.


    "Yingying... I must tell you something."


    "You don''t have to!" Caressing his face, she interrupted him. "I know there is something that you must hide. Until the day you don''t have to anymore, you''ll be Chen Guo." She gently kissed him. "And I will forever be your Yingying."


    "... Um!"


    "But, what are you going to do, now?"


    "I don''t exactly know. I think that my best course of action would be to join a martial sect. From what I read in the City Lord''s mansion, I''m thinking of the Wubei Sect."


    "The Wubei Sect? All the way in the north?"


    "Yes. I heard that they are conducting examinations very soon. And their rules and philosophy are pretty open-minded. Of course, their strength is undeniable as well. This should be the perfect place for me."


    "I see..." Feng Yingyue took some time to memorize his face some more. "I''m going to the Institute today. It''s far in the south, so I cannot delay my departure. Apparently there is an Alchemy Conference in 5 years in the capital. This event will gather all the best alchemists of the Hongchen Kingdom. I''m sure that all the most powerful clans and sects will send their members there. After all, having good relations with alchemists is essential. I promise you that I will be an official alchemist, and I will attend this conference in 5 years. So, promise me that you will also attend the Alchemy Conference. That you will stay alive and grow stronger so that nothing can hurt you."


    Cao Yun was shocked by hearing her. He realized that she was worried sick about him. Seeing her like this, he steeled his resolve as well. "I promise!"


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    They concluded their promise with a kiss.


    -


    Soon after the sun was at the highest in the sky, Cao Yun was bidding farewell to Feng Yingyue with Dun Mofan by his side.


    "So, you will leave for the Wubei Sect... It''s lost in the Mount Heidai up north. I know you''re already very strong for your age, but you may need this."


    Dun Mofan took out a beautiful sword. Its handle was sculpted in the form of the head of a dragon and a constellation was engraved on its glowing blade.


    "This is a 3-star Human rank sword. The blacksmith who made it named it ''Star-Devouring Dragon''. Even without injecting Qi in it, the blade can easily cut through a 3-core demonic beast or a low grade Mortal Warrior. And the day you can inject Qi through the sword, it will be even deadlier."


    A 3-star Human rank was a real treasure. Cao Beiwen''s most prized weapon''s rank was 1-star Heaven, only three ranks above. In general, only a middle or late Mortal Warrior would use this kind of weapon.


    "I cannot..."


    "Nonsense! One day, you will take care of her in my stead. You need a good weapon for that! And if you die on your way to the Wubei Sect, this girl will hate me until my death. So stop spouting nonsense and learn to accept a gift!"


    "Thank you, City Lord. I swear that I will repay the kindness you and Feng Yingyue showed to me. I will always be in your debt!"


    "Ah, ah, ah! Good, good! But there is one last thing I should tell you. You''re still young, and a little bit naive. I understand that you don''t like killing. Nonetheless, there are some people who are better off dead. Do you understand me?" Dun Mofan''s face became serious all of a sudden.


    "I''m not sure, Senior Dun."


    "Well... You''ll get there... Sadly... Anyway, when are you leaving?"


    "Right now! We both prepared to leave today."


    "Good, good. Then I will not keep you any longer. Be cautious on your way there. Demonic beasts are not the only monsters in this world."


    They bid each other farewell and Cao Yun went north.


    -


    At the same time, in a secret room of the Huang mansion, two men were whispering. They were Gu Ouyang and Huang Longwei.


    "Young Master Huang, why did you want to see me?"


    "Don''t you want to kill the little beast who cut off your fingers?"


    As soon as Huang Longwei spoke, hatred burned in the eyes of Gu Ouyang, and then fear.


    "Of course, I wish to kill him, cut his flesh and drink his blood. But..." He looked at his hands. "Even when I was at my best, I wasn''t his opponent. Now that I am..." He could not finish his sentence. "Anyway, how could I kill him?"


    "Oh? I have an idea about that. The little punk will go north to the Wubei Sect. If he reaches the sect, there won''t be anything we can do against him. Just like his friend Feng Yingyue. Now that she was accepted by a master of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, trying anything against her would be suicide. Are you really ready to let him enjoy life and soar through the cultivation world as you look at your mangled hands?!"


    The fire of hatred was back in Gu Ouyang''s eyes.


    "Tell me your idea, Brother Huang."


    "We must act in full secrecy so that my father does not discover our plan." Huang Longwei thought of something else. "Well, especially so that my sister does not. I''m pretty sure to know where he will head first. We can lay a trap in advance. It''s true that you were not his match, but I am! I also know three other friends whom I can trust. They are 5th-grade Mortals. I refuse to believe that this little punk could survive our combined forces."


    "But..." Gu Ouyang almost did not finish his sentence. "But, Brother Huang, why do you want to kill him?"


    "First of all, he thwarted my plans with Feng Yingyue, then he drove Luo Jiang mad and I had to bear the blame for his evil ways. I lost my position in the eyes of my father and Cixi is rising. I''d like to take my anger on the little girl but touching an alchemist recognized by the Institute... Even I am not that bold. On the other hand, this boy is a little nobody, no one will really care if he dies during his journey. And everything is his fault after all, who told him to save Feng Yingyue?"


    "Aren''t those reasons enough for me to want him dead?"


    "Of course, Brother Huang." Gu Ouyang looked back at his hands. "I really want to help you... If only I could still fight with my hands..."


    "Oh? You don''t need your fingers for that!"


    Huang Longwei took out a wooden box and immediately opened it. Within the box were two claw bracers. Made from black metal, they had four claws each, atop, below, and on each side. They varied in size and form.


    "They are 4-star Earth rank weapons. And you don''t need fingers to use them."


    Gu Ouyang went to touch them as if he still had fingers. Only frustration was on his face as he could not even put them on alone. Huang Longwei took them and strapped them on his forearms. As soon as he had the weapons on, Gu Ouyang felt more powerful. He performed some moves in the void and his face regained some vitality and ardor.


    "Let''s kill that little brat! I''ll tear him apart piece by piece and make him watch everything I cut off!"


    Gu Ouyang just lost his mind as all the tortures he wanted to inflict upon Cao Yun were filling his head.


    -


    In the main pagoda of the Huang family, Huang Cixi was talking with her father.


    "Your brother got us involved with some demonic cultivator. I fear that even the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute will distrust us now. I just received a letter from the main branch of our family." He threw the piece of paper to his daughter.


    Huang Cixi took it and began to read in silence.


    "Father! How dare they?! We''ve always been loyal to them! You''ve always worked so hard to please them."


    "Well, I''m not really their blood after all, so why not throw me away if I become a liability. If your mother was still alive, maybe we could do something..."


    Huang Mingze was indeed not a member of the Huang family, he just got married in the family. As all members had pure white hair, he had to dye them just to be accepted in. But in his eyes you could not see the same light that was in his daughter''s or his sons''. Apart from being an outsider, it was somewhat shameful for a man to marry into another family. As such, he was ridiculed a lot and mostly ignored by the main branch, unlike his children.


    "Father, you must not give up. I''m sure if I go explain it to grandfather..."


    "Oh, your grandfather will listen to you. But for me, it''s over." Huang Mingze looked at the sky he could see through the windows. "I should have listened to you from the beginning. Your second brother would be alive and our name would still mean something in Yinmen City. I''m sorry, little Cixi, your father failed you, as I failed Lixin."


    Huang Mingze began to cry. Huang Cixi was startled. Since the death of their mother, she had never seen her father cry. She tried to console him, but he took a hold of himself.


    "Save yourself! Tell your grandfather that I was the incompetent one who never listened to you. He will believe you. After all, it''s the truth! But, please, little Cixi, do not hate your first brother. I know you don''t see eye to eye, but please, he is also your family. And if Lixin is..." He almost burst out crying once again. "If Lixin does not come back, you must take care of each other. I won''t be long for this world. My heart wasn''t that great since the backlash, but now... I almost feel like he stopped beating."


    "Father..." Huang Cixi sincerely loved her father and could not bear to see him like it.


    "Father, I will swear everything you want me to. Just stay with us! We need you, Father! I need you!"


    Outside, the rain began to pour.

 Chapter 21: Ambush

    Cao Yun had decided to go to the Wubei Sect on foot. The horse or the carriage that Dun Mofan had proposed were both slower than he was and needed more rest. Moreover, many of the terrains he was going to cross were not practicable for any horse. A demonic beast would have been useful, especially a flying one, but beast tamers were extremely rare and few.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was planning to use this trip to temper himself some more. After his dual cultivation with Feng Yingyue and his True Success in cultivating Yi the Earth Intent, he could feel his Eight Vessels brimming with Qi. He was almost ready to break through to 5th-grade Mortal.


    With his strong intent, no blockage in his Vessels would be a problem and he could easily move his Qi through them. When finally the Qi would spill out of them, his Qi would begin to fill his Meridians. Then, he could finally advance to 5th-grade Mortal.


    The Vessels were the large arteries of the body and played a major role in connecting the Three Dantian together. They also controlled the flow of Qi through the other Meridians, similar to small arteries. The Vessels were both controlling the flow of Qi through the Meridians and playing the role of reservoirs for them. The Meridians were linked to the Vessels, to the organs and also to the exterior of the body through 361 vital points. Once the Eight Extraordinary Vessels were full of Qi and devoid of any blockage, the Meridians would begin to fill up with the excess of Qi.


    Cao Yun was not in a rush to break through and decided to let the Qi naturally fill up his Vessels. Only when they naturally spilled into the Meridians would he begin to circulate the Qi through them to resolve all the possible blockages.


    -


    It was the third day of his travel and Cao Yun just reached a small pass between the foot of the mountains and a large river. He had decided to just follow the mountains up to the north. This mountain range was known as the Nine Peaks, because it had nine prominent peaks. It was the same mountain range that he had crossed over from Baziyun City to Yinmen City with Feng Yingyue. To the south, the Nine Peaks gradually died down into a desert and to the north, they split to the east and the west, forming the natural frontier of the Hongchen Kingdom. The Wubei Sect was established upon one of the nine peaks to the north-east, Heidai Peak, the Black Turtle.


    It was pretty obvious that this pass was dangerous. It could only accommodate three, maybe four men, walking alongside each other. Cao Yun was hesitant to travel through here but trying to get around the river would take way too long.


    He circulated Yi the Earth Intent and focused all his senses to detect anything that would be abnormal. Either in the mountains, in the river, even on the ground before him. Atop the mountain were some trees which were moving with the wind. He also saw some traces on the ground that someone had tried to hide.


    He took out his sword ''Star-Devouring Dragon'' and walked slowly on the path. He was pretty sure that most brigands would not try to attack someone whose weapons were ready. Usually, they preferred to scare everyone without fighting and take some easy money. And Cao Yun was alone without much on him, a brigand would not risk a fight for a booty he could not see beforehand.


    Cao Yun was right to be careful. But he was wrong about brigands. There were people in the trees, five people to be precise. Huang Longwei, Gu Ouyang and three 5th-grade Mortals. They were all waiting for Huang Longwei to give the signal. He was hesitant. Cao Yun had clearly sensed that something was amiss. Their element of surprise was gone. Huang Longwei was watching him draw near the ambush point and he was pondering whether it was worth it or not.


    At first, he thought that Cao Yun would not be armed, as he wasn''t when he came back from the mountains. According to what Master Hua had said, he had a strong cultivation, ready to breakthrough to 5th-grade Mortal. His three friends were probably not his match individually. He also could see from Cao Yun''s posture that he really knew how to handle a sword. In the end, they would probably still win thanks to their number, but at what cost was the true question. This attempt on Cao Yun''s life was really just to appease his anger and humiliation. Was it really worth it?


    Still hesitant, Huang Longwei stared at Gu Ouyang''s severed fingers. He could win and lose an arm, a leg, an eye, or anything. Huang Longwei was not a coward but he would not just risk his life for no benefit at all.


    Gu Ouyang saw him very hesitant as Cao Yun was almost on the point of the ambush, the perfect position to attack him from front and back. The young man saw that Huang Longwei was going to fall back. However, he could not accept not to kill this Cao Yun. Before Huang Longwei could make his final decision, Gu Ouyang yelled out the signal!


    The other three thinking it was Huang Longwei jumped from the tree right behind Cao Yun. And Gu Ouyang followed suit, jumping in front of him. Only one of them stayed in the tree with a bow.


    Seeing this, Huang Longwei got mad. He had no choice now, he could not abandon his friends during the attack. After jumping to the side of Gu Ouyang, he sent him an angry stare and took out his weapon, a saber. The two men behind Cao Yun also took out their weapons. They both had long pikes.


    An arrow whistled in the air. Cao Yun cut it in half before it could hit him. He did not hesitate at all and ran toward the men in his back. The two men with the long pikes were supposed to force him to confront Huang Longwei and Gu Ouyang who were stronger. But Cao Yun did not want to let them control the flow of the battle.


    It had been a long time since he had a sword in hands. As the son of the Cao family, he had of course studied all the classical weapons. And the Cao family had a secret martial art invented by his great-grandfather, the patriarch Cao Beiwen. This art, ''Three Storms'', was meant to be used with a sword, the weapon that was considered as the most noble by many martial artists.


    As the name would suggest, ''Three Storms'' had three variations. Cao Yun had decided not to use this secret art in public because someone could recognize its origin. But either these five men would die, or he would. Either way, there would be no witness. The secret art was contained within a poem: ''The Wind rises in the East. The Thunder rumbles in the West. The Ice hails in the South. The Three Storms unite in the North. All is gone in the world.''


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    Seeing Cao Yun rush toward the back, Gu Ouyang ran after him. "Lay down your life, demon!"


    ''The Wind rises in the East.'' As the long pikes tried to stab him, Cao Yun moved his sword with finesse and blocked all the attacks. He was moving like the wind and two more slashes cut the long pikes in half. This sword was really as incredible as Dun Mofan had advertised. The shafts of these pikes were made of metal and yet, they were cut as if they were nothing, with little effort from Cao Yun.


    The two men were afraid and let go of their pikes to take out their swords. Several arrows targeted Cao Yun but he was moving way too fast. And as soon as he engaged the two men, the archer could not shoot anymore without endangering his comrades.


    The two men were 5th-grade Mortals, almost the same level as Cao Yun. They had almost the same strength and speed. The only difference was their talent. Cao Yun did not even use his second variation. With supple stabs he pierced both their hearts. Even Cao Yun was amazed by this weapon, he had exerted almost all of his strength in each stab and the sword pierced through the armor of the two guys without any problem.


    Huang Longwei was watching in horror. He was right, they should have canceled the attack. Nonetheless, it was too late now. He had to see this through to the end. If Cao Yun stayed alive and testified to the City Lord, their family would be in danger. Worse, with his talent, he had real chances to enter the Wubei Sect and soar through its ranks. Then, he would not even need the City Lord to execute them.


    Huang Longwei was a 6th-grade Mortal. Contrary to Gu Ouyang, he had earned his cultivation through work and actual battles. The Qi flowed in his Meridians, strengthening his body. Pushing with all his strength through his legs, he ran way faster than Gu Ouyang. He was upon Cao Yun almost at the same time. As he launched his attack, he yelled at Gu Ouyang. "Do not play with him! Kill him!"


    And as his blade descended on Cao Yun''s head, he yelled some more. "Keep shooting!"


    The archer obeyed and kept shooting arrows to hinder Cao Yun. He had to avoid the arrows while fending off Huang Longwei and Gu Ouyang. Huang Longwei''s sword was of great quality and it did not get cut by ''Star-Devouring Dragon''. But to his horror, he could see that the blade was chipped everywhere it collided with Cao Yun''s sword.


    Gu Ouyang was using very crude moves, mainly trying to stab, pierce or slash using his weapons. Unlike Huang Longwei''s saber, ''Star-Devouring Dragon'' cut the blades of his claw bracers one after the other. As the blades were cut apart from his bracers, Gu Ouyang had the illusion that his fingers were cut off again and became absolutely crazy. His attacks became frantic and he did not care about his surroundings.


    An arrow pierced his shoulder and, using the distraction, Cao Yun cut off his head in one clean swing.


    Dun Mofan had been right. He should not have spared his life back then. He should never feel pity for someone who tried to kill him or someone he cared about.


    Huang Longwei was at a disadvantage now. His cultivation was higher than Cao Yun but it only gave him a bit more speed and strength. Between the minor grades of the Mortal realm, the difference was not that big. The higher the realm, the bigger the disparity between each grade was. Right now, all the benefits of his cultivation could be balanced out by skill and weaponry. Cao Yun''s weapon was obviously better. And, although Huang Longwei hated to admit it, his skill with the sword was better as well. Even his martial art was intrinsically better.


    The arrows had stopped and Cao Yun did not want the last guy to flee. He used the second variation of his secret art. ''The Thunder rumbles in the West.'' With a sudden change of his moves, Huang Longwei lost the rhythm of the battle. His saber was thrown from his hand. As the sword approached his head, he tried to plead.


    "Wait, wait..."


    But Cao Yun''s sword already stabbed him through the neck. He fell on the ground and died in a matter of seconds.


    With Yi the Earth Intent, Cao Yun''s senses were sharp enough to make out the shape of the archer running through the trees. He took one of the long pikes'' extremities and threw it toward his target. He had had Feng Yingyue teach him this move. As a martial art fan, he had really liked her ''Bladeless Eternity''. As it happened, he was missing a technique to strike at a distance. Now, he had one. He only learned one move from her martial art, a throwing move, as he did not want to take too many things from her.


    After Cao Yun made sure that everyone was dead, he ran like hell. A boy like Huang Longwei was probably protected by powerful bodyguards. Apparently he had come alone, but they could be searching for him right now.


    -


    The day before, Huang Cixi had heard about her brother disappearing from the Huang mansion. She called for her own bodyguard.


    "Find my brother!"


    "But, Young mistress..."


    "Do not doubt me. What do you think could happen to me while Dun Mofan is still in town? Find my brother! And no matter what he''s doing, stop him and bring him back. I fear he went to kill the little boy, so go north. If he were to kill him, who knows what the City Lord would do to us. What an idiot!"


    As she said that, a sudden thought crossed her mind. What if the ''little boy'' killed her brother? What if the ''little boy'' had already killed another of her brothers?


    Huang Cixi could not leave as she was attending to her weakened father. He was barely conscious now, and mumbled incoherent thoughts about his wife and his youngest son as if they were still alive.


    -


    Four days later, an envoy interrupted Huang Cixi.


    "Young mistress, I just came back from the mountains. I..."


    "What?! What did you find?" In her heart, Huang Cixi knew but she refused to admit it until she saw it with her very own eyes.


    Two men carried a coffin inside the chamber. Huang Lixin was lying, dead.


    "Someone buried him in the mountains. There was a small altar so we were able to dig him up."


    Huang Cixi stopped breathing for a moment and her father lifted his head.


    He saw his youngest son and ran to him. He took him in his arm and yelled like a dying animal.


    "My son! My son!"


    Another person arrived just at this moment.


    "Patriarch, Young Mistress."


    It was Huang Cixi''s personal bodyguard, the one she had sent after her brother, coming back without her brother. She knew that her worst fears had become reality.


    "Young Master Huang Longwei is dead."


    Another coffin was brought inside the chamber. Huang Mingze lifted his head again and watched the corpse of his older son. Right then, his heart stopped beating and he fell down on the floor.


    Huang Cixi rushed to him but he was already dead.


    "Father! Father!" She cried and screamed for a very long time as every servant around her was silent.


    Her face covered in tears and distorted by hatred, she only uttered two words with a guttural voice. "Chen Guo!"

 Chapter 22: Entering the Lunar marsh

    As the Huang family was mourning, Gu Lin, the former head of the Auction Hall was standing over the corpse of Gu Ouyang. The servant who had brought back Huang Longwei''s corpse had also taken the other four with her.


    He knew something like that was going to happen when he had failed to find his grandson a few days back. This idiot had attacked Chen Guo, but the boy had finished the job this time.


    When he was younger, Gu Lin had lost his entire family, brutally murdered. The only one he had left was now lying with his head separated from his body. Gu Lin did not know how to react at all. Qi began to gush out of him. As a late 9th-grade Mortal, he was at the limit of being a Mortal Warrior. Even though he could not really control it, his Qi could sometimes exit his body.


    This day, he felt like he had nothing more to lose in this life. His family was gone, his status was gone. The last thing that mattered was to send his grandson''s murderer to join him in death. Gu Lin still had some hope of achieving something with his life. Even though he was 82, his cultivation could allow him to live at least until 300 years old. His cultivation talent was mediocre and he spent more time managing the auction hall and his grandson than training. But through these activities, he had the possibility of doing something that could matter. All this was now gone.


    Right now, he decided to give it his all. He consumed many pills to forcefully increase his cultivation. To become a Mortal Warrior, he had to open specific points on his palms and the soles of his feet. Through the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, he was able to obtain medicines designed for that. The opening would not be very clean, but the points would be open nonetheless.


    When he finally directed the medicinal essence to these points, he felt as if a dam had just broken down. All of his Qi could now willingly leave his body and be used outside. He launched a palm strike and a rock many meters away from him was reduced to dust.


    Satisfied with this new-found power, he went back to his grandson''s body.


    "Gu Ouyang, you were reckless and stupid. I failed you in that regard. But it seems like your old man is as stupid and reckless. No matter your faults, you were my family and Chen Guo will pay with his life!"


    During the next few days, Gu Lin took care of the final ceremony for his grandson''s burial. He then departed. Having just broken through to Mortal Warrior, he was faster and stronger than before. His cultivation was a little shaky but it did not matter at all for him. He knew where Cao Yun was headed to and he used his old connections in the Myriad Hall to get informations on his moves. Almost all of his fortune was spent in this endeavor, but money was not a problem anymore.


    -


    Huang Cixi had a very different reaction.


    She had simply left Yinmen City to go back to the main branch of the Huang family in Baziyun. This town was much larger than Yinmen City. It was the capital of the entire Wu Province. The Hongchen Kingdom was so vast that it was divided into several Provinces, each one with a unique capital and a governor.


    It took her more than a month to reach her destination, as the only path to Baziyun City was to cross the Nine Peaks mountain, following what Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue had done. She stopped where her servants had found her brother''s tomb. She stayed the entire day there, showing respect the her second brother. It was apparent that the ones who killed him took great care of his body after his death. For a moment, she was relieved. Her brother had not been devoured to death or brutally tortured, maimed and killed. He had been shown some humanity, even in death.


    After this long travel, she finally arrived before the Huang estate. Compared with her mansion in Yinmen City, this estate was a small town in itself. There were many statues and a huge door in which her family name was engraved. Most statues depicted various forms of the phoenix, the sacred beast of the family. A legend stated that the Huang family had a trace of the fenghuang''s blood in them, making their hair pure white.


    Huang Cixi was brought to her grandfather, the current head of the family.


    "Little Cixi, I''ve missed you so much!" Her grandfather seemed to only be in his forties and had a huge physique, with numerous scars on his neck. "It''s a real tragedy what happened to your brothers." She immediately noticed that he did not even mention her father.


    "Grandfather, I must ask you a favor."


    "Anything, my dear. You''re back with your family now, you can have anything you want."


    "I wish to enter the Wubei Sect." Her grandfather was taken aback. "I know that our family has some connections there. And... I want to become strong!"


    "Little Cixi, you just came back to grandpa and you want to leave so soon? If it''s to avenge your brothers, let your family deal with it, just tell me who did it!"


    "Grandfather, I''m sorry. But it''s more than that. If I had more strength, none of this would have happened. My brothers would be alive and my father would be fine."


    "Your father is precisely the one who should have protected you! He''s the one who should have been strong!" Her grandfather''s rage erupted but he controlled himself. "What I meant is, you can rely on your family to be strong for you."


    "Please, grandfather." Huang Cixi pleaded with her charming eyes on the brink of tears. She knew exactly how to get what she wanted from her grandfather.


    "Fine, fine. We''ll see about that. First, let''s celebrate your return."


    Huang Cixi did not want to just kill Chen Guo, it was the truth. All this tragedy had taught her that her schemes were nothing. What she needed was real strength. She would not scheme against Chen Guo, she would fight him fair and square. After beating him, she would send him to join her brother.


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    -


    Cao Yun was unaware of these two people swearing to take his life. It had taken him two months but he could now see Heidai Peak, the peak where the Wubei Sect was located. To finally reach his destination, he had to cross a deep swamp called the Lunar Marsh. At night, the marsh reflected back the light of the moon and became silver.


    Before entering there, Cao Yun decided to sleep in a very small town nearby, Fulao.


    During the night, he felt that the time was right. The Qi contained within his Eight Extraordinary Vessels was so rich that it was beginning to overflow.


    Sending his mind back to the ''Cultivation of Wrath'', he read the part about the 5th-grade of the Mortal realm. According to the ''Universal Law of Immortality'', a cultivator had to circulate his Qi through his Meridians. There were 12 main Meridians and each one had to be filled with Qi at a certain hour of the day. You would circulate your Qi within in order to free the Meridians of any blockage and then sent the Qi back to your Vessels. By repeating the process over and over again, the Qi would naturally flow through each Meridian. This would increase the overall health of a cultivator and strengthen him for the next stages of cultivation.


    The Mortal realm was also called the Foundation Realm because its main goal was to prepare humans for the other realms.


    The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' was a little different. You had to circulate your Qi along strange pathways that would originate from and end in the Vessels, going across different Meridians. The point was to create a pathway between all your acupoints, vital points on the surface of the body connected to the Meridians. Despite being more difficult, this method would give great results in the next stages of the cultivation.


    With his strong intent, Cao Yun was not afraid of directing his Qi along difficult pathways. After this couple of months, he had almost reached Perfection with Yi the Earth Intent. He only needed six more repetitions of the character, but each repetition was more difficult than the last. Anyway, with his strong intent Cao Yun could already direct the Qi anywhere he wanted and getting rid of blockage was simpler as well.


    Usually this process took around 2 years for the average cultivator. Some were able to complete it in less than 8 months though. With his intent, Cao Yun was confident to perfect this strange pathway through his Meridians in half a year.


    Cao Yun calmed his mind and circulated Yi the Earth Intent. He was still short of five repetitions. Given the difficulty, it would take at least a month to perfect this first character. The First Layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' was called ''Discipline the Five Children'' because there were five characters to perfect. Cao Yun was impatient to work on the second character but he was not rash and did not try to do it before perfecting the first one.


    After calming and resting his mind, Cao Yun focused his intent on his Qi. As his intent followed the pathways described in the ''Cultivation of Wrath'', he could feel his Qi following behind. His Meridians were still very small and only a fraction of his Qi could flow within them. Despite his big confidence in his intent, completing the first pathway was harder than he had thought. He had to complete it in one go, otherwise some of his Qi would remain in his Meridians and could harm him from the inside.


    After a stick of incense, Cao Yun finally completed the first pathway. He had circulating his Qi through every single point of each one of his Meridians. As he relaxed, he felt that a very small part of the Qi accumulated in his Eight Vessels was slowly getting in his Meridians, following the pathway he had just focused on.


    Cao Yun was officially a 5th-grade Mortal. As he practiced, his Meridians would become larger and stronger and his Qi would eventually flow naturally through them. Already, Cao Yun could feel his body being nourished by the little Qi in his Meridians. He was a little stronger and faster.


    -


    The time had finally come to cross the Lunar Marsh. Cao Yun was familiar with this place through the reports that Dun Mofan had given him. From some villagers, he also got information on the type of demonic beasts and plants.


    The Lunar Marsh was very Yin. During the day, the dangers were few, but at night, this place was a nightmare for simple mortals. Luckily, Cao Yun was not a simple mortal. Combining his strengthened mind and his new cultivation, he did not have to sleep as long as mere mortals to rest. It would then be easier to protect himself during the night.


    It was possible to take a long way around the Lunar Marsh. But it would take too much time, and Cao Yun had another reason for going this way. From the reports of Dun Mofan, he hoped to find something in this swamp.


    -


    He entered in the Lunar Marsh during the day and was able to cover a lot of distance. With his new cultivation, Cao Yun realized that he was able to go even farther than he had thought. This small change within his body was giving him many benefits. His senses were also more refined.


    As the sun was setting, he used everything he had learned from Feng Yingyue to examine the plants, the trees, even the insects. Combining all of these clues, he found a place where he would be mostly safe during the night. The first night went by without any problem. Some screeches echoed in the swamp and Cao Yun could make out some dangerous beasts, but none of them decided to make him their prey.


    As he continued walking with caution, he found something familiar. In a pond of water, there were stems coming from the very bottom of the water up to the surface. By examining them, Cao Yun understood why they seemed so familiar. These were Embalming Lake Lotuses. By consuming the Frozen Heart Pill made from their leaves, he had obtained a great benefit for his mind cultivation.


    He really wanted to pluck them but there were two main issues. First of all, they could only be obtained during a new moon night. But the other problem was more difficult. They were very Yin and so, you had to preserve them in a Yin environment to be able to keep their medicinal essence.


    Cao Yun was very frustrated. This treasure was before him but he could do nothing with it. After some pondering, he decided to walk away. This swamp was known to be rich in Yin energies. Thus there was a chance to find something suitable to preserve the medicinal energy of the lotuses. And if Cao Yun was not mistaken, there would be a new moon during his time in the swamp. He would have to rely on a bit of luck.


    Even though these leaves were beneficial for him, he had other more important business in this swamp, and he did not want to miss the entrance exam into the Wubei Sect. During his travel through the Lunar Marsh, Cao Yun had to fight off several demonic beasts. But most of them did not exceed the 2-core stage, so he had no problem with any of them.


    One night, a Red Slashing Tarantula tried to slit his throat during his sleep. His mind was alert enough to wake up in time and kill the beast. Another time, he almost got surprised by a Bark Parasitic Moon Eater, a type of carnivorous plant. This plant had the particularity of hiding within a tree, looking very similar to its bark. But if you were unfortunate enough to touch the tree, its very potent paralytic would kill you instantly before it tried to digest you. Luckily, Cao Yun had learned a lot during his time with Feng Yingyue.


    He collected some materials as he was roaming through the swamp. Until one day, he finally found what he was looking for. There were clear traces of humans.


    According to the reports he had read, many people got kidnapped and their bodies were later discovered in the outskirts of the swamp. Anyone would think that the swamp had killed them, but the authorities suspected a group a demonic cultivators. There were some more urgent matters to take care of than this as they only seemed to target normal mortals, not cultivators. Thus, the Shuangli Province Governor had not sent anyone to investigate.

 Chapter 23: The Evil Way

    According to the reports of the City Lord Dun Mofan, Cao Yun''s family had most likely been killed by demonic cultivators. Although the information seemed authentic, it was unheard of for an entire family to be killed by demonic cultivators, and it got Cao Yun thinking. Replaying that night over and over in his mind, he began to believe that it did make kind of sense.


    The leader of the attack was using a very strange blade. In the light of the moon, it almost looked as if it was constantly covered in fresh blood. The knowledge of Cao Yun concerning demonic cultivators was very thin, however he could see that this weapon was not orthodox.


    Of course, it wasn''t proof enough. Anyone could use a weapon with a demonic feel to it. His train of thought then incorporated Luo Jiang. Apparently, a demonic cultivator who was at the Spirit Warrior realm was trying to get into the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Such a powerful demonic cultivator was rare judging by the attitude of Grand Master Hua. But that was precisely the kind of demonic cultivators who had slaughtered the Cao family.


    It was a little far-fetched, but maybe it was the same person. Well, it was not that unlikely. Demonic cultivators had to hide to avoid getting purged. So very few of them were able to reach great heights in their cultivation. There could never be that many Spirit Warriors among them. And Yinmen City was relatively close to Baziyun City.


    Racking his brain, Cao Yun was constantly making associations between elements and then doubting them again. The only certain fact was that he had very little to go on with. That was why he was in this swamp, not just as a shortcut to the Wubei Sect, but also to gather some intel.


    The demonic cultivators who probably roamed the Lunar Marsh had only killed normal humans or very low grade cultivators. It was precisely the reason why the Governor of the Shuangli Province did not divert any of his forces to eradicate them. And it was precisely the reason why Cao Yun had chosen them. If they were weak enough, he could probably beat them without killing them. And he wanted to get them alive for interrogation.


    Demonic cultivators tended to be stronger than other cultivators though. Their demonic arts allowed them to obtain great strength quickly, but it messed with their mind and hindered their progress in the long run.


    Cao Yun had no first hand knowledge about their arts. The only thing he knew were rumors and none of them made him feel any remorse about hunting them down.


    There were many arts that were considered to be part of the Evil Way. Among these arts, most consisted in hurting other humans. Some demonic cultivators were even known to drink human blood and eat human flesh. There were accounts of demonic cultivators bathing in blood, flaying humans alive to use their skin, and many other monstrous stories.


    Cao Yun did not know which ones were true, exaggerations or pure inventions. Maybe orthodox cultivators wanted to worsen their image among the general population, but Cao Yun knew from his father that they really were evil, and sometimes mad. Indeed, when he was a little bit younger, Cao Guang had told him stories about a punitive expedition against some demonic cultivators. Of course, Cao Shui stopped him before he could traumatize the poor kid, but the story had impressed him.


    Wait! Maybe that was the link! Cao Yun suddenly thought about his father''s story. His father and the patriarch were forefront during this expedition, maybe the attack was a retaliation...


    As these new thoughts erupted in Cao Yun''s mind, there was some movement in the distance that brought him back to reality.


    The young boy had been hiding around the spot where the traces were, waiting in ambush. Five men and two women just walked by. Four of the men were obviously cultivators. They were wearing light leather armors, probably to move more easily through this damp swamp where an heavy armor would be too inconvenient. Arms in hand, they were walking the other three, one man and two women. Both their hands and feet were tied up and chained together. Their clothes were torn in several places but it was still obvious that they were mere mortals without any cultivation to speak of. Traces of abuse and torture were visible on the flesh that was exposed. Following these demonic cultivators, the heads of these humans were down with gloomy expressions, almost devoid of life.


    The first impulse of Cao Yun was to jump them and save these people. After some hesitation, he chose not to. He wanted to find where these demonic cultivators were hiding. His best bet was to follow them and then find their leader. Discerning the cultivation of someone was very difficult without spiritual senses but they were probably at most 4th-grade Mortals as he could not feel strong Qi emanating from them.


    Every life form was enveloped by a layer of Wei Qi, protective Qi. It was a natural emanation of their vitality. As cultivators gathered Qi in their Vessels and Meridians, this layer of Wei Qi became denser and denser. Although invisible to the naked eye, it was possible to perceive a kind of vitality from this Wei Qi. Usually, only Mortal Warriors could really feel it at a distance while Mortals could just feel it around them. With his stronger intent, Cao Yun was more perceptive and he could sense that their vitality was pretty low. In the worst case, some of them could be 4th-grade Mortals, but if they were, their breakthrough was pretty new.


    In any way, none of them was an opponent for Cao Yun. Most likely, he could kill the four of them with a single strike each, especially if he attacked by surprise.


    -


    He followed them for at least two hours. They were clearly trying to avoid any threat in the swamp. Finally, they stopped before a small pond of water full of Embalming Lake Lotus closed stems. Watching their every move, Cao Yun was perplexed. They cut off the bonds of the prisoners.


    All of a sudden, Cao Yun realized what they were going to do. Embalming Lake Lotuses were lotuses that grew from corpses. Most of the time, the corpses were beasts, or even fish. But these demonic cultivators had found a way to exploit their victims even in death. Sadly, Cao Yun realized this a bit too late. Jumping from his hiding place, he tried to rush toward the group, the ''Star-Devouring Dragon'' sword in hand.


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    One of the demonic cultivators turned back while his friends slit the throat of their prisoners. As their blood flowed down their body, there was some kind of relief in their eyes and then, they fell in the pond. While their blood was spreading and gave a reddish color to the waters, Cao Yun''s sword was already deep within one of their murderer''s throat.


    He made quick work of them all but kept one alive. He had cut off the hand that was holding his weapon and was crushing his head beneath his foot.


    Looking into the pond, Cao Yun was able to make out at least a dozen of other corpses already rotten down below. His rage was fuel for the Drop of Wrath that was starting to vibrate again. Fearing to be overtaken, Cao Yun calmed down and focused on his captive.


    "You will answer my questions, or you will join your accomplices." His foot exerted more pressure, putting his head deep in the mud.


    "How many are you in this swamp?"


    "There are thousands of us! You''ll never get out alive!" As soon as Cao Yun let go of his head to let him speak, the demonic cultivator screamed like a madman.


    Cao Yun stabbed his shoulder. He had absolutely no mercy for this lunatic.


    "I''ll ask again. How many are you?"


    Still defiant, the demonic cultivator answered as the sword rotated in his shoulder, touching his nerves. "We''re twenty-three."


    "Counting these guys?" Cao Yun showed the three other bodies with his head.


    "Yes, yes. So, we''re twenty now I guess."


    "What''s the cultivation level of your group?"


    "No one is above 3rd-grade Mortal. Only our leader is 5th-grade." They really were weak...


    "What are you doing here? Where do you come from?"


    "We... our sect was destroyed by orthodox cultivators. So our sect master sent the young ones away. We fled here with our older brother."


    Demonic cultivators also formed sects. Mostly their candidates were either enslaved children or criminals, outcasts. Through atrocious trainings, they could mold the young ones to fully embrace their ways. Most sect was in fact using their disciples in order to test out various techniques before the leaders could use them themselves. Demonic techniques were always dangerous for humans to perform, so it was safer to have other people test them out first.


    "What was your sect?"


    "The Wolf Head Sect."


    "Do you have any link with demonic cultivators in the Wu Province?"


    "What? No... I don''t know!" As a low-level disciple, he had no way to know the actions of the upper echelon.


    "What about the Meifen Province?" The Wu Province was where Baziyun City lied and the Meifen Province was just to the east, where Yinmen City lied.


    "I don''t know!"


    "You''re not really useful..." Cao Yun took out his sword from his shoulder.


    "Wait, have mercy!" Understanding that he had outlived his usefulness, the young demonic cultivator tried to plead for his life.


    "How many people have you hurt and killed? Having mercy on you would equate being cruel to them." Cao Yun had learned his lesson with Gu Ouyang. Some people were better off dead. If he let him live, he would probably kill again, or even harm Cao Yun later.


    With one swift stab, he pierced through his heart and ended him.


    He quickly went through their stuff but there was nothing of importance. He found some vials of blood and some common pills. On the body of the last man he killed, he discovered a small manual. The book had no name and explained in a very general manner how to use a human as a living furnace. This term served to designate humans that were used as tools to advance your own cultivation. Several methods were discussed such as drugging them, torturing them, maiming them, ... Once you controlled them, you could cultivate their blood to consume it, abuse them sexually to extract their energy, train your martial arts on them, test your drugs or your different cultivation theories on them, ... Cao Yun tore the manual apart and felt good about killing this man.


    If the cultivators in this swamp were really juniors from a demonic sect, they would not know much. But the ''older brother'' had maybe taken some documents in his run. And, whether there was something to gain or not, Cao Yun was adamant on eradicating this threat. If the Shuangli Province Governor did not take action, he would!


    -


    Cao Yun tried to follow the tracks of the seven people backwards. Fortunately, they were transporting prisoners so they had no time to hide their tracks. Most likely, they would have done so when coming back.


    He followed their path up to a small cave. From what he had heard from the demonic cultivator, there should be nineteen people in there, all under 4th-grade Mortal and only one above, and merely a 5th-grade Mortal. However, Cao Yun could not be sure that this intel was to be trusted. But given the size of the cave, he was sure that they could not be too numerous. Around twenty was a good number from what he could see from the cave.


    Taking that many cultivators on on his own was very difficult. And he did not even know if they knew how to coordinate their attacks well with each other. His best bet would be to follow some groups that were leaving the cave to pick them up one by one. When the group he had killed would not be coming back, surely a search party of some kind would be sent out.


    Cao Yun decided to wait in ambush a little farther from the cave. But he got thinking. What if they had more prisoners? What if more innocent people were killed while he was waiting? Should he really just wait and not intervene? But if he intervened, he risked dying. And if he died, he would not help anyone either way.


    The decision was really tough. It had completely slipped his mind to ask about other prisoners when he interrogated the demonic cultivator earlier. He should have asked if they had more of them in their camp. But what if they had? He could not take all the demonic cultivators on alone anyway...


    Anxiety grew in Cao Yun as he was laying perfectly still in the swamp. All of his senses were focused on his environment, not just the cave. There was always a possibility to be attacked by demonic beasts in this swamp. It was also possible that another group of demonic cultivators would be coming back to the cave. He couldn''t be sure that they were all inside.


    Several hours passed.


    Finally, around ten people got out of the cave. Six were men and four were women, but this time they were all demonic cultivators, no prisoners.


    Cao Yun tried to make out what they were saying. Apparently, they were talking about the other group who did not return, just as Cao Yun had thought. They were complaining that maybe they decided to play with their women prisoners and lost track of time. Even the women in the group were very visual and vulgar about it.


    Once again, they made it easy on Cao Yun''s conscious. When he had killed Huang Lixin, he had felt indescribably bad, and even today he was riddled with remorse. On the other hand, he would not lose a second of sleep on their kind.

 Chapter 24: The Demon kills Evil

    Cao Yun decided to follow the small group as they were leaving the cave. Even though they were cursing the four guys who left, joking about them having a good time and all, their guard was up. After the recent destruction of their sect, they had become very cautious. Although they did not think that the four guys were dead, the possibility was still in their mind.


    Hence, all of them had their weapons ready. Against ten 3rd-grade Mortal demonic cultivators, even Cao Yun who just broke through to 5th-grade Mortal was not too sure. If they were able to coordinate their attacks with each other, the fight could prove difficult, or even impossible. He had killed the four demonic cultivators because they were unprepared and he attacked by surprise. However, these guys were more vigilant despite their conversation. The way they laughed about their comrades was meant to comfort themselves and give themselves some courage. In the Lunar Marsh, there were many beasts or poisonous plants that could kill them.


    They took the exact same path as their comrades, following their tracks. After three hours, they were standing above their corpses. As the sun had set, they were even more vigilant of dangerous beasts. The moment they saw the corpses of the four demonic cultivators, all their fatigue vanished and they took a defensive position, just in case.


    One of the women seemed to have better medical knowledge and examined the wounds. Listening from afar, Cao Yun was surprised when he heard her describe precisely how each one was killed. She was even able to determine his own cultivation.


    The moon was high and walking through the swamp in the middle of the night was not such a good idea. Thus, the group of ten decided to stay here and began to set up a camp. Showing their heartfelt camaraderie, they all went and searched the corpses, taking and sharing all of their belongings, before dumping them into the lake with the Embalming Lake Lotuses. The lotuses were partially blooming considering the moon was extremely dim and a new moon would occur very soon.


    -


    Attacking their camp was very tempting, but too risky all things considered. Cao Yun used all of his senses to scan his environment and he got an idea.


    The area they were in was full of ponds of water, more or less deep and large. By examining the different plants and animals, he was able to determine what kind of demonic beasts was roaming the swamp. Ten 3rd-stage Mortals could easily dispatch a 1-core demonic beast, but fighting off a 2-core demonic beast was another story. And depending on the beast, ten of them could not be enough. After all, each core in a demonic beast was equivalent to three stages for a human cultivator, so a 2-core demonic beast could rival a 6th-stage Mortal.


    In one of the pond, the moon was shining even more. By examining everything around it, Cao Yun knew why. He took some plants here and there and mixed them together. He even killed off some small birds and mixed their blood in. Then, he proceeded in dropping this mixture along a path between the camp and this shining pond. Finally, he took the corpse of a bird and threw it directly into the pond.


    It was a trick that Feng Yingyue had taught him. By mixing certain plants with blood, you could enhance the smell and make it even more appetizing to demonic beasts.


    There was some movement in the lake and then, nothing for a while. In the end, the beast could not resist the smell of blood and a huge form emerged from the water. In the middle of the night, the form''s back was very bright. It was a Mirror Back Ancient Alligator, a 2-core demonic beast. As its name suggested, this was an enormous alligator, the size of two buffaloes, and its back was so polished that it looked like a mirror. Obviously shown by its physique, the defense of this beast was one of the strongest amongst the 2-core demonic beasts. On the down side, it was very slow on land but it could have outburst of speed to pounce on a prey with its gigantic jaw.


    Tempted by the blood, the beast followed the track for a while. It was not very bright but the beast still understood that something was fishy. As it was about to go back, Cao Yun jumped straight in front of it. Seeing a human cultivator, the beast immediately got wary. Given that no one else was coming, the Mirror Back Ancient Alligator still decided to pounce forward in order to engulf the human. Fortunately, Cao Yun was more reactive and jumped backward before fleeing in the direction of the camp.


    Now salivating at the prospect of devouring a cultivator who seemed pretty advanced, the beast decided to risk venturing further inland.


    Cao Yun was able to manipulate the beast to lead it to the demonic cultivators camp. Then the only thing to do was to enjoy the show. And he was not disappointed. As soon as they saw the Mirror Back Ancient Alligator, the demonic cultivators attacked. During the fight, three of them were mawed down by its fangs as others were hit by strong swing of its tail. Enjoying the fight, Cao Yun realized he had been right. Even though each one was weak, the demonic cultivators had a very effective battle formation.


    The difference between a 2-core demonic beast and a 3rd-grade Mortal was pretty big. In term of pure strength, the beast was four or five times stronger. Each one of its strike was lethal. But the ten humans were able to contend with it by working together.


    When the Mirror Back Ancient Alligator finally died, only four cultivators were still alive. Without letting them breathe a sigh of relief, Cao Yun launched his own offensive. Using their fatigue, the night and the surprise, he was able to kill them effortlessly.


    This time he kept two of them alive. And he interrogated them separately to compare their answers.


    -


    Cao Yun finally decided to go examine the cave. According to what he had learned, there really were only nine more demonic cultivators. The entrance of the cave was full of traps. And there was no more prisoner, alive. The remaining demonic cultivators were also 3rd-grade Mortals, except for their older brother who was a 5th-grade Mortal.


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    He also learned that they were keeping Embalming Lake Lotuses in vials of Icey Horned Swamp Frog''s blood. The blood of this 2-core demonic beast was especially Yin and being very opaque, it could both further nourish the lotus leaves and protect them from the sun and the moon. Apparently, these leaves were important for their demonic arts. They used human furnaces to refine these leaves by disgusting processes. This way, their victims became more Yin and the demonic cultivators who had a surplus of Yang could balance it out.


    -


    After hearing all their crimes, Cao Yun''s resolve was even stronger, as was his rage. This time, he would take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. He had heard enough and he had a plan.


    Two demonic cultivators were keeping watch at different positions inside the cave. Thanks to his intel, Cao Yun was able to pass through the traps without any problem whatsoever. As soon as he saw the first guard, he stabbed him in the throat and prevented him from sounding the alarm. The second one was a little trickier as he was standing deeper in the cave, right in the middle of a small room. There was no way to get near him without being seen.


    Once again, Cao Yun used ''Bladeless Eternity'' and threw the pike of the first guard to impale the second one, right through the heart as well.


    He kept advancing carefully and finally saw the seven remaining demonic cultivators sleeping. That''s when he saw their last victims. A least thirty bodies were laid on the ground. Many were women and children, easier to capture probably, and naturally more Yin than male adults.


    With his sharper senses, Cao Yun was able to imagine the sufferings they had endured. No respect was shown to their bodies at all. After all, they received no mercy in life, why would they receive any in death?


    As rage was building up in him, a cold sensation overwhelmed Cao Yun. Immediately he tried to calm himself down but it was too late. He had lost control of himself. The intent sleeping deep in the Drop of Wrath submerged him. Sensing the danger, he tried to circulate Yi the Earth Intent. But reality faded from his eyes.


    He was now trapped in his own mind.


    -


    All around him was an ocean. This was his sea of consciousness, above which he was floating. The sea was violent and huge waves erupted here and there. Everything began to turn red.


    Once more, the red figure he had already seen appeared to him. It looked like a man with crimson skin. It had six arms and three faces, one more on each side of his head. In front of Cao Yun, its red blazing eyes were pure hatred and rage. One of the six arms took the boy. Each one of his hand was as big as Cao Yun himself.


    Of course, none of this was real, it was all in his mind. But it didn''t mean that it was harmless. This figure was the intent residing within the Drop of Wrath, the remains of the progenitor of this drop of blood. Oozing from the hand a dark and reddish blood started to engulf Cao Yun. Losing control over his emotions, he still tried to circulate Yi the Earth Intent.


    He needed to calm himself as fast as possible, for he had no idea what was happening outside. But worse, he did not know what would happen to him if he let this rage take over his mind. Would he ever be able to come back to his senses?


    The Yi character circulated in his mind over and over again. This time he did not care if he lost consciousness. It was better than to lose himself. His last attempt had ended with 103 repetitions.


    Thoughts and images tried to invade his concentration again and again. Ironically, they were able to forge his intent, because they forced him to focus even more on the Yi character. He could feel the emotions boiling inside of him. One instant of carelessness and they would wash over him and completely drown him. He tried to focus everything on the Yi character, to suppress them.


    Yi the Earth Intent was of course the ability to focus all your mind on a singular point. The stronger your intent, the more focused you could be. With this constant attack against his mind, Cao Yun was able to achieve a breakthrough. As he was fighting off the attempt to corrode his mind, his focus became stronger and stronger. He finally reached 108 repetitions, Perfection.


    The last Yi character he had drawn stayed in his mind. It was now engraved in him. He opened his eyes and was still trapped in this gooey blood. The Yi character appeared in his eyes and all the chaos around him began to diminish. Everywhere he looked, the Yi character created order and focus. His sea of consciousness was a stormy ocean of blood but it slowly became a pure surface of calm water.


    The gigantic red demon tried to squeeze even more. He screamed as loud as he could. But it did not faze Cao Yun who just looked at him and focused his intent. The Yi character began to engrave itself deep into the chest of the creature.


    This thing was an image of the intent from the Drop of Wrath. And now, this intent was fully under Cao Yun''s control.


    Everything disappeared and Cao Yun woke up in a middle of a fight. He evaded a stab to his heart but got pierced through his left shoulder.


    A quick look around and he realized that four of the seven demonic cultivators were already dead. The Drop of Wrath had taken over his mind and body long enough for him to slaughter more than half of them. But he felt several wounds all over him. This intent was pure rage and hatred, it had no intelligence whatsoever, so it could not fight, just brawl.


    Now that Cao Yun was back in control, he could really fight.


    ''The Wind rises in the East.'' His speed increased all of a sudden as his moves changed completely. One of his enemies was surprised and lost an arm and then, his head.


    The other two took some distance to analyze the sudden change. One of them was obviously the older brother, the 5th-grade Mortal. His cultivation was the same as Cao Yun and he knew how to fight. If he had not been surprised in the middle of the night by this insane attacker, Cao Yun would have probably been killed during his absence. But now, the demonic cultivator realized that his opponent also knew how to fight. He turned from a mindless brute to a sophisticated martial artist, surprising everyone.


    Cao Yun would not let them have any relief. They had been awaken in the middle of their sleep, he had to use their confusion as long as it lasted.


    He ran toward them and at the very last moment, his movements changed once more. ''The Thunder rumbles in the West.'' He easily dispatched the other demonic cultivator. Only the older brother remained.


    Enraged, he rushed to slash Cao Yun in half. ''The Wind rises in the East.'' His moves changed again and he evaded.


    As the 5th-grade Mortal was expecting the other set of moves to come back, Cao Yun used a new set of moves altogether. ''The Ice hails in the South.'' Surprised once more, the demonic cultivator got pierced in the stomach. He let go of his own sword and grabbed ''Star-Devouring Dragon'' with his right hand. With his left hand, he took out a knife and slashed toward Cao Yun''s throat.


    At the last moment, Cao Yun dodged. He exerted more strength and took out his sword, letting the demonic cultivator fall to ground and bleed to death.


    During the fight, Cao Yun had sustained many wounds and was losing a lot of blood. He really tried not to, but he lost consciousness, here in the middle of the cave.

 Chapter 25: Elder Gus revenge

    Above the Lunar Marsh, a woman wearing a pure white robe was standing on a sword floating in the sky. She had long light brown hair with several golden ornaments. With light makeup on, her skin gave off a very faint red color making her seem full of life.


    She seemed like she was in her twenties. Actually, she was more than 150-years-old. Her cultivation had reached 7th-grade Spirit Warrior, and was getting real close to advance again. This made her one of the most powerful cultivators in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    The strongest cultivator was the Emperor himself who was an advanced 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Since the time of the first Emperor, Emperor Nuwa, there was no record of a cultivator crossing over the realm above Spirit Warrior, the legendary fourth realm, Sage. And most people in the late stages of the Spirit Warrior Realm were closer to 200-years-old than 150.


    This fair lady came directly from the mountains. As her sword floated above the swamp, it got lower and lower. She arrived where Cao Yun had killed the first group of demonic cultivators. She did not even look at the bodies. At her stage, she had developed what was known as spiritual senses. Reality was perceived by her spirit directly, without using her physical senses. In an instant, she knew exactly what had happened. She even saw the traces of blood to attract the Mirror Back Ancient Alligator.


    "Smart." Her soft voice was like a melody.


    Like thunder, her sword moved toward the cave. Following the tracks of the demonic cultivators was no challenge at all for her. All the traps set up in the cave did nothing to her. Not even paying attention to them, some arrows tried to pierce her but were stopped by an invisible wall, more than 2 meters away.


    Finally she was in the huge room where the victims were amassed. Nine demonic cultivators were laying down in puddles of blood, some with terrible wounds on their body. At last, she put her feet on the ground and walked toward another body, Cao Yun''s.


    Just by moving her fingers, Cao Yun levitated in the air and was gently sent sitting against a wall. From a silver ring on her finger, the woman took about a small porcelain bottle. Some fragrance escaped the bottle and she directed it toward the boy. A strange purple smoke penetrated his skin, his nose and his mouth. The woman''s hands began to shine with a bluish tint and followed the smoke. This energy traversed his Meridians and his wounds started to heal themselves.


    -


    After several minutes, Cao Yun regained consciousness. However, he was in his sea of consciousness again. There was now a huge yellow Yi character drawn in the sky that was reflected on the calm surface of the ocean. Right in the middle of the ocean, just above the water, was a single small drop of blood. The Yi character was also engraved on this drop of blood. Cao Yun instantly recognized the Drop of Wrath. Right now, he could feel that he was able to control the intent of this Drop of Wrath as if it were its own. He was not sure that it would not try to invade his mind again but it was subdued for now.


    Now, Cao Yun had a new understanding of this Drop of Wrath. Apparently, it really was made of wrath. There didn''t seem to be any mind within this drop, just pure anger and hatred. It was probably the last resentments of its owner.


    It was not consciously trying to take over. But each time Cao Yun was agitated, the feelings contained within would resonate with him and spill out. Sadly, Cao Yun''s mind was not yet strong enough to suppress them easily. This time, he nearly got drowned in them, and he had no way of knowing if he would have been able to come back from it.


    He was not awake yet but he felt a sweet sensation flowing through his body. His Meridians were warming up and the pain in his body slowly faded away. Even the fatigue from his forceful cultivation of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' was being washed away.


    -


    Outside the cave stood an old man that Cao Yun would have recognized. He was Gu Lin. As of now, he really looked like a madman. After ingesting various pills and drugs, he had increased his cultivation as high as he could, just to be sure that he could kill Cao Yun. Even though his cultivation was not really at 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, he had an equivalent strength. The price to pay for such an increase was his life force.


    Increasing your cultivation through pills and drugs was somewhat possible in the first stages of cultivation. But the more advanced your cultivation, the less effective any drug was. Moreover, some bottleneck could not be overcome by external means. And the last thing, was the toxins.


    Each pill contained toxins in it. Most of the time, the doses of toxins were so small that the body would just eliminate it naturally. But most of the pills that could forcefully increase your strength needed to be extremely aggressive and had a high level of toxins in them. This was a huge threat to whoever took them.


    Unfortunately, Gu Lin did not want to live any longer. He literally wanted to kill Cao Yun and die, to find his family back. All this increase in power was to ensure his goal, but also, to feel this power coursing through him at least once in his life.


    Sadly for him, he felt no joy at all. First of all, this strength was artificial. But most importantly, he could not feel anything anymore.


    He was walking toward the cave as he had been able to see the flying sword from afar. Thanks to his last contact in the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, and to every bit of his fortune, he had found out about Cao Yun''s presence in the nearby town and his departure in the Lunar Marsh.


    For two days now he was searching for clues. This flying sword seemed like a sign from the heavens. Fate was with him! Gu Lin even imagined the spirit of Gu Ouyang guiding him to avenge his death.


    -


    Gu Lin was now standing in the cave. The scene of this beautiful woman tending to Cao Yun''s wounds was otherworldly. No matter the bloodbath around her, she looked like a fairy visiting the world of men.


    Gu Lin cupped his fists and bowed.


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    "Senior." Despite all the drugs coursing through his body, Gu Lin was not an idiot, he knew that this young woman was certainly a senior cultivator beyond his understanding. "This lowly one has a grudge to settle with that little demon. Please do not interfere."


    The woman''s interest was piqued.


    A dim light shined in her eyes for an instant.


    Soon after, her melodious voice echoed in the cave. Gu Lin had the feeling that he was listening to music. "Sir, I will not interfere with your actions. You have karmic chains to break. Please, do."


    Her figure disappeared into thin air.


    Gu Lin was ecstatic. "Thank you, Senior."


    He walked to the young man who was sitting still against the wall of the cave. Gu Lin clenched his fists and pictured the face of his grandson Gu Ouyang. Then, he also saw his daughters, his son, his wife. His entire family was all around him, watching over him.


    Tears dripped down his face. His right fist lifted up and went down. A shock wave shook the walls as the chest of Cao Yun was caved in.


    Gu Lin dropped on the floor, sitting. He cried again and all of his will dissipated. The Qi he was using to keep the toxins at bay was released and Gu Lin died in a matter of seconds, with the face of his family waiting for him in a next life.


    -


    In reality, the scene was very different. Advanced Spirit Warriors had access to new skills and arts pertaining to the mind. The fairy-like woman was easily able to get inside Gu Lin''s mind. After watching his memories, she understood what was going on. It only took an instant, but she knew why Gu Lin wanted Cao Yun dead. She could have invaded the boy''s mind as well but she did not. This technique was always dangerous as it could damage the mind. She had done so against Gu Lin because she saw that he was not long for this world. But she would not risk destroying a boy''s mind without a good reason.


    She was intrigued by this boy. And after reading Gu Lin''s memories she knew he had done nothing wrong. It could be said that he even was pretty moderate. Had it been her, Gu Ouyang would have been killed the first time he attempted to murder anyone. But she could not blame Gu Lin either. He had really tried to stop his grandson. No matter his crimes, he was his only family left.


    She hesitated but decided not to kill Gu Lin. If reading his mind was easy, feeling the deadly toxins in him was easier. By using a secret art, she manipulated his mind to make him see exactly what he wanted. That way, he died peacefully. She even opened a bottle of medicine whose fragrance erased his pain at the last moments of his life.


    -


    Cao Yun woke up in a bed, confused. Two women were busy preparing some tea. As soon as he opened his eyes, one of them turned around.


    "Young boy, try not to move. Our mistress found you in the Lunar Marsh. Your wounds are mostly healed, but you must be exhausted." She got near the bed. "We''re preparing some soothing tea for you, everything will be fine."


    Cao Yun was disoriented for an instant. Before long, he took all this information in. He cupped his fists and bowed down. "Thank you for your kindness. May I know who your Mistress is?"


    The door opened and the woman from the cave entered. "Xiao Xuefeng. I am a guest elder of the Wubei Sect."


    "The Wubei Sect?!" Cao Yun tried to look around him but the windows were a little too high and he could barely sit down in the bed, let alone stand up.


    "Yes, this is the Wubei Sect." She sat down at a small table where the two women had already set up two cups of tea. "I had heard about the disappearances in the swamp. And seeing as nobody seemed to want to lift a finger to help, well, I did." She sipped some tea. "I must admit, you surprised me, boy. I saw the way you took care of these demonic cultivators."


    Xiao Xuefeng decided to hide her encounter with Gu Lin. "I assume that you came here to enter the Wubei Sect. The entrance examination is in less than a week after all."


    "Yes, Senior. That was my intention, but when I heard the rumors about demonic cultivators, I had to do something about it!"


    "And you did. Good!" A light shined from her silver ring and around ten boxes appeared on the floor. "These are your rewards." Flicking her fingers the boxes all opened. A sweet fragrance filled the room. Embalming Lake Lotus Leaves.


    "Senior Xiao, this is too much, I can''t..."


    "Are you going to say that you can''t accept it? You eliminated the threat. There were even more leaves in the cave, this is only a small part of them. There was nothing more of value, so take it."


    Cao Yun hesitated a bit. "Fine, Senior." The boxes closed themselves and went back to her ring.


    "I''ll keep them for you now, just ask me if you need any. They are very sensitive to light of any kind. More importantly, come and drink some tea. It will be good for your fatigue."


    Cao Yun got up with difficulties and walked toward the table. As it was painful to watch him stumble, one of the two servants supported him. When the tea flowed down his throat, a peaceful sensation calmed some of the pain he suffered from just getting up.


    "It occurred to me that I never asked for your name." She hid the fact that she had seen Gu Lin''s memory.


    "Chen Guo, Senior."


    "Chen Guo?" Given her heightened spirit, it was clear for Xiao Xuefeng that he was lying. "Let''s talk some more."


    As if she was interrogating him, Xao Xuefeng made him tell her almost everything about what had happened to him. She could easily tell whether he was lying or not without invading his mind. And Cao Yun told mostly the truth. He only let out some parts.


    He obviously did not talk about his family or the killing of Huang Lixin, or Huang Longwei, even though the last one was pure self-defense. He knew the Huang family was powerful in Baziyun City and did not want to risk offending them publicly. As long as there was no proof, they would maybe hesitate to attack him, especially if he got into the Wubei Sect.


    And Cao Yun could not know for sure whether other members of the family were aware of Huang Longwei''s acts. After all, he seemed to have ditched his bodyguards to try to murder him. Most likely, he had wanted to hide it from someone in his family.


    Xiao Xuefeng listened to everything and could vaguely make out the parts he hid. From the memories of Gu Lin, everything since the slaughter of the Cao family was clear to her. Still, she did not expose him at all. She was one of the most talented experts, if not the most talented expert in the spiritual arts across the entire Kingdom.


    "Fine, Chen Guo. As a guest elder, I do not have much authority, but I will secure a candidate seat for you."


    Cao Yun did not believe what he heard. Quickly, he cupped his fists and bowed down. "Thank you, Senior Xiao."


    "No need to thank me. It''s nothing much. You will just be able to skip a screening phase. And I''m pretty sure your achievements in getting rid of these demonic cultivators would have been enough for you to get a candidate seat. I don''t even know whether I will have to vouch for you or not..."


    She stood up and stopped Cao Yun who tried to do the same to salute her.


    "For now, rest well. The entrance examination is in five days. Do not make me lose face by failing them."


    "I swear I''ll honor your trust, Senior!"


    She left the room and the two servants helped Cao Yun back to his bed, before leaving as well.


    "Mistress, did you take a liking to this boy?" One of the servant was joking when she asked her mistress.


    "Indeed, I find him very interesting. He''s talented but not arrogant. He also seems to hide something."


    "You could just..."


    "No! I will not invade his mind to read it." Xiao Xuefeng was well aware of the potential damage it could cause. "Kang Hai, Kang Cai, take good care of him. I want to see his full strength at the entrance examination."


    "Yes, Mistress!"

 Chapter 26: Entrance examination

    Cao Yun was cared for by the two servants Kang Hai and Kang Cai. Both women were pretty young. These girls looked quite alike with dark blue eyes and black hair. They were always dressed in green outfits with brown outlines.


    The young man was focusing on resting his body and decided then to advance his mind cultivation. When he had been swallowed in his own mind, he was able to see his sea of consciousness. This was a spiritual representation of one''s mind. In theory everyone could learn to project their conscious mind in it, but in practice, only Spirit Warriors were truly able to achieve it. Wanting to see it again, Cao Yun used all of his intent to focus on the sensation he had felt back then.


    After several hours, Cao Yun''s mind was absolutely empty and tranquil. He felt as though all of his thoughts had sunk into the bottom of the ocean. Gradually, this sensation spread through his entire body and all his senses were dulled. Finally, he was able to get back to this calm sea. As far as his eyes could see, a serene blue water was covering the world under a very light blue sky. Up in the sky, the Yi character was shining with yellow colors. It almost looked like a little sun.


    In the middle of the sea, just above the surface, a single drop of blood floated in the air. Very bright, it also reflected the Yi character as if it had been engraved within.


    Getting out of his own head, Cao Yun asked for a brush and paper. After achieving True Success he had been able to vaguely draw the Yi character. Now that he had reached Perfection, he wanted to try again. With the vivid image still in mind, Cao Yun dragged the brush across the paper. Once done, he admired his drawing. The result was identical to the one in the real manual.


    He then wrote a letter addressed to Feng Yingyue recounting his journey to the Wubei Sect. Adding the Yi character with it, he had Kang Hai send it to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. With this perfect drawing, her mind cultivation could advance as well. He even took the time to explain to her in details the feelings and sensations he had during his meditations.


    He went back to the green ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. The third page of the First Layer exposed the second character. It was pure black and seemed a little sharper than Yi. No matter how much he tried to concentrate, he could not understand any of the characters on the page.


    After meditating a little bit to calm his mind, Cao Yun used all his new intent to try and draw this black character in his mind. Compared with the Yi character, this time was different. He was within his own sea of consciousness and the symbol was literally being drawn in the sky. Strangely, the character did not reflect in the water below as it was ethereal.


    In his first try, Cao Yun was able to achieve Small Success, 8 repetitions. But he could barely do any more than that.


    After his Small Success, he had gained knowledge about the black character. Watching the third page of the First Layer again, the text was clear. This black character was Zhi the Water Will. Yi was strengthening the intent, in other words, the focus of your mind. Zhi was strengthening the will, the ability to persevere in any goal you set for yourself. The stronger the will, the longer you could exert your intent.


    As his body was still recovering, Cao Yun decided to train his martial arts within his own mind, using his sea of consciousness. Most cultivators could not access their sea of consciousness before they reached the Spirit Warrior realm. Of course, it was always there but cultivators tended not to focus on the mind in the lower realms. Some alchemists were still able to access their sea of consciousness pretty early on, but no sooner than the late Mortal Warrior realm. It was really beneficial as they could strengthen their mind with various techniques this way.


    Cao Yun repeated his martial arts deep within his own mind. He focused on the ''Dance of Slaughter'' and the ''Three Storms'', but he also trained the one throwing move he had gotten from ''Bladeless Eternity''. As a 5th-grade Mortal, he could now supplement these martial arts by making his Qi flow through the right Meridians. Each technique had its own flow of Qi. By respecting this flow, every move became stronger and faster.


    The rest of his time, Cao Yun focused on trying to free his Meridians from any blockage. With his new intent, he could also drive the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Both combined allowed him to circulate his Qi more efficiently. His intent allowed him to feel absolutely everything in his body, as long as he focused on it. Whether it was the flow of his blood, the subtle movements of his muscles and his skin, or even the electricity coursing through his nerves, his entire body was transparent to him.


    This fantastical feeling allowed him to feel the blockages in his Meridians and solve them fairly easily. As he practiced the pathways from the ''Cultivation of Wrath'', his first Meridian was completely opened, his Lung Meridian. In this cultivation method, it needed to be fully opened first, because it controlled how Qi could be absorbed through breathing. Among the twelve principal Meridians, the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' taught a pathway traversing all of them in an intricate way and they would open up in a certain order to harmonize each other. The Meridians were linked to specific organs: Lungs, Heart, Pericardium, Triple Burner, Kidneys, Spleen, Liver, Gall bladder, Bladder, Stomach, Small Intestine and Large Intestine. The first ones focused on absorbing the Qi from the world and transforming it within the body. Of course, they also enhanced the body functions. The last ones focused on the Jing, the essence of life.


    According to his newfound abilities, Cao Yun was thinking that he would need four months to open up all his Meridians and step in the 6th-grade of the Mortal realm. Most cultivators took from one to two years just in this grade. Of course, there were always faster cultivators. Some alchemists were even able to cross this grade in a matter of weeks with the right pills, but it was not optimal as they could not really feel the process. This lack of sensation and control over their own Qi could be a problem in later stages. But Cao Yun was using a very stable method to cultivate. The richness of his Qi through his Meridians was proof of that.


    Once the Meridians were open, they would naturally circulate some Qi without any restraint.


    -


    The date of the entrance examination was finally upon Cao Yun. During these last few days, he had not seen Xiao Xuefeng at all. However, he had become very familiar with Kang Hai and Kang Cai. They were twin sisters who served Master Xiao since they were 5. Apparently they came from a very poor background and Xiao Xuefeng took a liking to them. They had no real talent for alchemy or cultivation but they were really lively and pleasant to be around.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    They guided Cao Yun to the place of the exam. Without knowing it, he had been staying deep within the Wubei Sect, in a private chamber of Xiao Xuefeng''s residence. She had joined the sect not too long ago as a guest elder and had many business to attend to. The Wubei Sect was atop the Heidai Peak in the Nine Peaks mountains.


    The place of the examination was a little lower on the peak. There were many people waiting in front of a giant black gate. Many of them seemed to come from rich families as they were surrounded by bodyguards who were in the Mortal Warrior realm at the very least.


    Some young people were also on the side. The way they were dressed clearly showed their humble backgrounds. Cao Yun had more respect for them. He had both lived the rich family and the poor hunter life. Obviously, he could not blame the kids for being born in a rich family, but he found that the poor ones had probably more talent, just to achieve the same or slightly inferior results.


    Cao Yun literally walked through the black gate to join the people waiting. And of course, his entrance was noticed by all. Some eyes darted on him, but his clothes were really common and he did not seem to come from a rich family. Children from great backgrounds were intrigued but then they saw him go toward the poor kids and they lost interest.


    "Hello, fellow cultivators. You''re all taking the entrance exam?"


    He politely saluted the poor kids who were pretty shocked. But one of them immediately answered. "Ah, fellow cultivator, it''s the third time I''m trying. I almost succeeded last time, and I have high hopes today." He was way taller than the others and through his clothes, he had huge and chiseled muscles. As soon as you saw his face, you already thought he was a good guy. His entire demeanor inspired trust and honesty.


    He went closer to Cao Yun and tapped him on his shoulder. "I''m Ren Chao."


    "... Chen Guo." Cao Yun almost blurted out his real name when faced with such an honest guy.


    He tapped again his shoulder. "You seem strong! I''m sure you''ll achieve great results today. Come, let me introduce you to some guys." As he was walking, taking Cao Yun by his shoulder, he stopped. "And some gals!" All the poor cultivators were really happy to talk with Cao Yun. More than half of them had already tried this exam and failed. Apparently you could only try under 20 and some of them were reaching the age restriction this year. Talking with Cao Yun was also a way to calm their nerves.


    The other cultivators, from better backgrounds, did not deign to watch them.


    In another spot however, a young man with a cold attitude watched them from the corner of his eyes. Disdain was all over his face. "Commoners! They hope to achieve something?!"


    -


    As Cao Yun got introduced to tens of young cultivators, people wearing a black and grey robe with red outlines walked out from the black gate.


    Immediately, the cultivators around Cao Yun stopped talking and got in line. They recognized the elders in charge of the examination. They were late Mortal Warriors. One of them was even ready to cross over to the Spirit Warrior realm.


    Every cultivator felt these elders'' senses on them.


    "Brother Tang, it seems like the candidates this year are not so bad."


    The oldest of the elders answered. "I had to eliminate a huge number of failures just to get these few people." All in all, the candidates were eighty-nine.


    "Brother Tang, you''re a little too strict I reckon."


    "Brother Lin, if we''re not strict enough, our Wubei Sect will lose its prestige."


    "But if we don''t have enough disciples, we''ll lose our sect altogether..."


    "Then, maybe Brother Lin will want to take care of the screening process next year."


    Elder Lin suddenly cleared his throat. "Maybe, you should just... get on with the exam."


    Brother Tang continued to tease him a little. "You''re always too lazy, Brother Lin. I''ll have to report to the Chief Elder. You need some occupations."


    "Brother Tang..."


    Before he could finish his sentence, Elder Lin saw his friend walk further away and address the candidates.


    "Welcome to the Wubei Sect! Most of you already know me, I am Elder Tang. Here is Elder Lin, Elder L¨¹ and Elder Wang. We are in charge of this examination. Let me tell the rules to the newcomers. This examination is divided into three parts. First, we''ll assess your cultivation level. Then, you will go through three tests where you''ll be alone to assess your fighting ability, your talent and your character. Were you to fail any of those, you will be refused on the spot to maybe try again next year. I will talk about the third part if you''re able to pass the first two."


    As he was speaking, there were three other people watching from afar. They were two old men and a woman. No one could see them as they were floating above the clouds. With their spiritual senses, it was easy for them to watch from this distance.


    They got distracted when a fourth person joined them. It was Xiao Xuefeng.


    "Miss Xiao, you join us? How peculiar of you."


    The old woman took over "It appears that Miss Xiao has chosen a candidate this year."


    Both men were surprised. "Really, Miss Xiao? Who could it be?" They both watched even more intently at the cnadidates.


    Xiao Xuefeng only let out a small smile. "I''m sure the chief elders will be able to figure it out in a few moments."


    "You''re that confident in your little finding?" One of the men started asking. "Then, what about a bet? I''m pretty confident in mine as well."


    "Oh? Brother Suxian also has a candidate? This could be interesting..."


    Xiao Xuefeng was not fazed by the proposal. "And what would you bet?"


    "Well, I''m in need of a special pill, so... What about this? If my candidate performs better than yours, you''ll have to forge me a 1-star Heaven Pill. I''ll provide the ingredients of course."


    "And when I win?"


    "When?!" Chief Elder Suxian was a little surprised by her confidence and wondered if he had not spoken too fast. "Well, I..."


    "Chief Elder Suxian, I heard you received some Exquisite Purple Jasmin, right?" The other old man asked.


    "Yes..." He opened his eyes as big as he could. "Brother Luoming could not mean?"


    "If you win, Miss Xiao will forge this incredible pill. And if you lose, you''ll give her this Exquisite Purple Jasmin. I hear it makes an otherworldly tea that can enhance the mind and spirit. Even a grand alchemy master would envy anyone for drinking it." He turned with a sinister smile toward Chief Elder Suxian. "What say you, Brother, do you dare?"


    Chief Elder Suxian was exasperated by this Chief Elder Luoming. They were always competing with each other, and he almost never won. "Fine!" He calmed himself and looked back to Xiao Xuefeng. "Is Miss Xiao willing?"


    "I am. I accept the bet."


    Chief Elder Suxian had a terrible feeling about this. Next time, he would have to better control his mouth. But nothing was lost yet.


    When the chief elders focused back on the candidates, they were already leaving the entrance.

 Chapter 27: Assessment stone

    The eighty-nine candidates were following the four elders in charge of the entrance examination. As they were crossing the giant black gate, Elder Tang stopped and addressed the cultivators from noble backgrounds.


    "From here on out, you must bid farewell to your servants. Only the candidates may enter."


    They all knew the rules beforehand and their bodyguards were just meant to protect them until the entrance gate. This huge black gate was known as the Shell Gate. Many outsiders had numerous speculations as to what it actually meant. Some thought that it came from it being the first line of defense to the Wubei Sect, its shell so to speak. Others imagined that it was built using the shell of a legendary demonic beast. But only a handful of elders knew the truth.


    The candidates could not help but marvel at this Shell Gate, even the ones who had already failed the entrance examination before. It was at least 100 meters high and pure black. The material was difficult to make out, but it was neither stone nor metal. It was also very large and walking under it, the candidates realized that it was pretty deep. The gate almost felt like small tunnel. It took the time for a incense stick to burn for the candidates to cross it.


    What they saw beyond the Shell Gate was the Heidai Peak, riddled with all kinds of buildings. All across the peak were many different constructions with various architectures, arranged in concentric circles. There were pagodas of different sizes and single story mansions with courtyards, wings and shrines, as well as pavilions of all forms. The top of the Heidai Peak could not be seen because it was even above the clouds. There were also many forests here and there and all kinds of areas certainly meant for special training.


    Elder Tang lead the candidates toward a small coliseum. Inside was a huge blue raw stone, at least twenty chi high.


    Elder Tang had the candidates wait before the stone and he and the other elders went to a small platform nearby. In the coliseum, dozens of sect disciples were lined up, forming a corridor in front of the stone.


    "Candidates! The first step of the examination is this stone, the Assessment Stone. You must place your hands on the stone and let its energy course through your body. It''s harmless." Elder Tang gave a head signal to one of the sect disciples.


    The young man put both hands on the stone and a bluish light began to shine around them. When it finally stopped, the stone began to light up. It started very dim and became stronger and stronger. Once it stopped lighting up, the disciple took his hands away and it slowly faded.


    "The Assessment Stone will resonate with your Qi and Meridians. You need to be at least a 3rd-grade Mortal to make it shine at all. Only a Mortal Warrior can make it shine its brightest. The point of the Assessment Stone is to measure your cultivation objectively and precisely. Two people within the same grade will have different results based on the stability of their cultivation. You may proceed."


    Naturally, the noble candidates lined up first and went to the stone one by one. Even the youngest of them was able to make the stone shine. The light was dimmer, but it was not weak either. Usually, average cultivators reached 3rd-grade Mortal around 18 or 19, but the youngest candidate was 15. It was very good. Cao Yun himself had reached 3rd-grade Mortal at the age of 15 and was considered a genius in his family.


    The candidates kept on lighting the stone. The last candidate was the one who had the most disdain for the commoners. He proudly walked and touched the Assessment Stone. It took a little longer than for the other candidates and it outshined all of them. Compared to the disciple who had demonstrated the effect of the stone, its brightness was more than half of it.


    Above the clouds, the three Chief Elders and Xiao Xuefeng were still observing.


    "Brother Suxian, is he your favorite?"


    Chief Elder Suxian broke into laughter. "Isn''t he good?! He''s only 16 but he''s already a 5th-grade Mortal. It was a good surprise! He broke through two weeks ago." He kept laughing as the light faded away.


    "Sun Liao? From the Sun family. It makes sense." Chief Elder Luoming was thinking aloud. "The Sun family has produced a few great geniuses. But a high cultivation is not everything, you should teach him not to be too complacent!"


    "Yes, Brother, you''re right." After he laughed some more, a strange look appeared on Chief Elder Suxian''s face. "Miss Xiao, didn''t you choose a candidate yourself? Where is he?"


    All the noble candidates had already touched the stone by now and Chief Elder Suxian was confused.


    "Chief Elder Suxian, there are still some candidates."


    "The commoners?" Chief Elder Luoming''s interest was piqued.


    On the ground, the commoners were also lining up. Their result was not that great but none was disastrous either. All of them were able to light the Assessment Stone. They tried their utmost, circulating all of their Qi in hopes that it would intensify the light. Maybe by focusing their energy, they could make the stone shine a little bit brighter. That didn''t work that way, but it made them feel better. Only the candidates who had already failed knew the level of brightness to pass this assessment, so all the others were anxious.


    The last two candidates were Ren Chao and Cao Yun as they were both chatting with each other.


    "Brother Chen, let me be first, I''m really anxious to know how I fare since last time."


    Ren Chao touched the stone and it lit up more than for any other commoner. It outshined most of the noble candidates as well. When the light stopped intensifying, it was probably in the top 10.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Ha, ha, ha!" He looked at the nobles. "A background does not do everything for you, right?"


    All the other commoners cheered as Ren Chao had safeguarded their honor from the scorn of these nobles. Of course, many of the nobles had no ill intent against the commoners, but they still felt that they were better than them in a way.


    "Sorry, Brother Chen, I seemed to have made things difficult for you. Do not take the result to heart, okay?" Ren Chao was sincerely, albeit clumsily, trying to cheer his friend up. He was absolutely convinced that Cao Yun''s light would be average, if not worse.


    "Oh? So that''s your candidate, Miss Xiao? Not bad, not bad." Chief Elder Suxian was a little ironic as he watched Xiao Xuefeng with ridicule in his eyes.


    On the side, Chief Elder Luoming was shaking his head. He had recognized Ren Chao who had already tried the examination last year. There was no way he was the candidate chosen by their guest elder. Anyway, he said nothing, watching his friend dig his own grave by parading before his victory was certain.


    At last, Cao Yun walked toward the Assessment Stone, but no one seemed to pay him any mind except for the elders in charge of the examination.


    When he touched the stone, it did not respond right away.


    Sun Liao who was angry after seeing some commoner have a great success with the stone decided to use the opportunity to get some laughs.


    "It seems you commoners are not so bad. After all, you''re the only ones who failed to even light up the stone." His words put everyone''s attention on Cao Yun. The commoners'' joy turned sour.


    Sun Liao was pretty satisfied and was about to add some words when the stone began to shine. Could there be a problem with...? Suddenly he remembered, when he had used the stone, it also took a long time to react as his cultivation was above the others. It couldn''t be... No! This commoner had waited even longer! It couldn''t mean...


    The stone outshined everyone, including Sun Liao. Compared to the disciple who demonstrated it, the light was a little dimmer of course, but it was still very impressive.


    Chief Elder Suxian could not talk at all, and his friend acted as the commentator. "5th-grade Mortal, and very stable. He will probably break through to the 6th-grade in a matter of months. Given his age, he will be a 16-year-old 6th-grade Mortal, very impressive!" He turned toward Xiao Xuefeng. "Miss Xiao has a good eye for talents, it seems."


    "Chief Elder Luoming is too kind. I just happened to meet him and his talent is not bad. Not bad at all. Don''t you think Chief Elder Suxian?"


    Chasing the image of a cup of tea running from him with human legs from his mind, Chief Elder Suxian kept calm and answered. "Indeed, not bad, not bad. But cultivation is not all, right, Sister Baishen? The next test should be about your specialty, I wonder if you have a prognostic?"


    The old woman spoke. "My prognostic is that you should learn to think before you speak, Brother Suxian. It would spare you a lot of pain."


    Except for Chief Elder Suxian, they all suppressed a small laugh.


    -


    Sun Liao felt humiliated. The boy he used to vent some frustration was the most frustrating of all.


    "A frog in a well! If you think cultivation is everything, you''re really a frog in a well!"


    Cao Yun did not wish for conflict. During the auction in Yinmen City, he had learned that offending people was rarely a good thing. Some idiots would double down to keep face, just to have the little face they tried to protect trampled all over. He would rather lay low.


    Alas, his new friend Ren Chao was not of the same mind.


    "Sour loser! You could not even light the stone as much as Brother Chen and you run your mouth?! Is that all nobles are really capable of?!"


    "You..." All the nobles, even the ones who did not like Sun Liao''s attitude got vexed.


    "Ha, ha, ha. I don''t know about cultivation, but background is certainly not everything!"


    Commoners and nobles kept antagonizing each other with Cao Yun right in the middle. What could he possibly say to salvage the situation? Any word in favor of the nobles would be an insult to the commoners.


    He was truly depressed. The only thing he wanted was to enter the sect peacefully in order to gain enough strength to accomplish his goal. Showing his skill was necessary to attain this ambition so he would not fail on purpose. But, he did not need to make more enemies.


    Even though it seemed impossible, he still tried to calm the situation.


    "Fellow cultivators. We are all to be comrades under the Wubei Sect. Either cultivation or background are indeed nothing important. Who knows what our cultivation or our status will be once we leave the sect? Some of us may even become elders and never leave it. So please, fellow cultivators, do not fight each other."


    Most people were moved by Cao Yun''s words. He was indeed right. Some commoners had been able to become great heroes after joining a sect and some nobles were covered in shame despite an illustrious family.


    The only one who was not convinced was Sun Liao.


    "What Fellow Cultivator Chen just said rings true to my ears. But there is nothing wrong with a little competition between future sect brothers, wouldn''t you agree?"


    Ren Chao kept answering before Cao Yun. "Nothing wrong indeed! But who would compete without a reward?"


    "Quite right... I fear Fellow Cultivator Chen has not enough money to play with me... So what about face instead? If my results are better than yours, you will have to kowtow before me and admit your inferiority."


    Ren Chao erupted! "You... ! Do you think my brother is afraid of you, you despicable villain?! He accepts your bet, and when he wins, you''ll have to kowtow before us all to admit you nobles are all trash!"


    Cao Yun had just managed to salvage the situation but Ren Chao just destroyed everything. He even turned back with a huge smile as if he had done a great act. Once again, he had involved all the nobles in the deal, even though most of them did not like the attitude of Sun Liao. Now, they all seemed to hate Cao Yun and wanted to see him fail.


    Well, he could not very well go back on his word, even though Ren Chao had given it for him.


    "Fellow Cultivator Sun, let''s compete fairly!" He turned toward the nobles. "My friend''s words are little overbearing, please do not pay him too much mind. He''s just impulsive, that''s all. Nothing bad."


    -


    Back in the sky, Chief Elder Luoming was holding back his laugh. "Brother Suxian, Sun Liao and this big fellow look an awful lot like you..."


    "You... !" Chief Elder Suxian kept his mouth closed for once. "It''s not like it''s good to be too timid either..."


    "I think that''s why you''re always in trouble with the Sect Leader, Brother."


    "Oh? I guess this Chen Guo fellow is like you, trying to smooth things over. Always sugar coating every word." Chief Elder Suxian was a bit sour with his friend.


    "Brother, remember, you never have too many friends, but you always have too many enemies. Try and make friends, not enemies." Chief Elder Luoming turned to Xiao Xuefeng. "I really like your little candidate. Let''s see how he fares."

 Chapter 28: Eight Directions Engulfing array formation

    "Stop your nonsense!" Elder Tang finally interrupted the candidates. "I''ll announce the results now. Fifteen people are disqualified. Zhi Yue, Liao Ming, Xu Biao, Li Kongzi, ..." He kept calling each name.


    All of them were commoners, and all among the candidates who had never tried the entrance examination before.


    Seeing their dejection, Ren Chao said loudly. "Brothers! Sisters! All of you are young, you can always try next year. I''m sure you will eventually get in the sect! Myself, I failed two times during the Assessment Stone trial. As long as you keep a strong heart, you can make it!"


    His speech had a strange effect on everyone. It almost seemed as if he was boasting of failing twice at the very first trial. But, how many times did he try to get into the sect?


    Even Sun Liao was speechless. He realized that trying to fight this big guy with words was meaningless. Apparently, nothing could break his morale. He was just too dense for words to have any effect.


    Elder Tang cleared his throat. Considering the many times he had tried out the entrance examination, Elder Tang was becoming very familiar with the hearty Ren Chao, maybe a little fond of him too. Strangely, Elder Tang was a little sad today because Ren Chao would be 20 year old next year. If he did not succeed today, he would never join the Wubei Sect. To be accurate, Ren Chao had tried six times. The first two times, he really was too young and he failed because of his cultivation level.


    Elder Tang was really rooting for him to succeed this time, but he would never alter the examination results to help him either.


    The four elders then discussed between themselves for a short time, before facing the candidates again.


    "Your ratings are done:


    Chen Guo - 56 points


    Sun Liao - 52 points


    Mei Hua - 49 points


    Zhao Qing - 47 points


    Tian Lan - 46 points


    Ren Chao - 45 points


    Xin Chen - 45 points


    Zhi Wang - 44 points


    Li Gui - 44 points


    Xin Xiong - 42 points"


    Elder Tang announced the ten first candidates. Then, Elder Lin, Elder L¨¹ and Elder Wang announced the following candidates.


    "You will understand the use of your points as we continue the examination. Follow us."


    Once again, the candidates were lead to another location. This time it looked like a large well, but when they looked inside, it was shallow. It was a circular room made from stone that was dug in the ground. In the center of the room was engraved a complicated circle. Cao Yun had little experience with those, but he knew that this was an array formation.


    "This is the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation. This is the first part of the second trial. As I said, the second trial is in three parts and each one has a minimum achievement to advance to the next. There will be no demonstration this time."


    Elder Wang took over. "This array formation is meant to test out your fighting ability. Inside the array formation, the flow of your Qi will be highly limited. Your cultivation will be limited to 3rd-grade Mortal, as if your Vessels and Meridians were all closed. Then, every minute, a 1-core demonic beast will appear. By the end, eight 1-core demonic beasts will surround you. You must defeat at least two of these demonic beasts to advance further."


    There was some commotion among the candidates, especially the commoners. If their cultivation was limited, then they could only rely on their weapons. But nobles were sure to have better ones. They even had better armors and maybe many other artifacts to help them out. Strangely, Ren Chao and some other commoners said nothing. They already knew about this trial and they had no objection.


    Elder Lin took over. "Of course, any external help is forbidden. No weapon, no armor, no artifact of any kind."


    This time, the commotion was among the nobles. In this trial, no matter their status, they would have the exact same strength. Of course, nobles had better martial arts but given their low cultivation, they weren''t that different from those of commoners.


    Elder L¨¹ concluded. "This trial will only test your ability in a fight. Of course, the beasts are not real. These are apparitions generated by the array itself. They can inflict pain but no wound of any kind."


    -


    The first one to enter the array formation was the lowest ranked candidate, Luo Xing. He was a 15-year-old commoner with a 3rd-grade Mortal cultivation. In the first trial he only got 32 points. Pretty afraid and nervous, he stood in the center of the array formation.


    Elder Tang put a blue stone in some kind of hole atop some pedestal. All of a sudden the array formation lit up. Luo Xing tried to calm his mind, when a beast jumped out of nowhere right in his back.


    The beast looked like a blue phantom of a Sun Catching Vicious Tiger, a 1-core demonic beast. The beast almost looked like a tiger, but it was bigger and it had a mane that shined like the sun at noon.


    Luo Xing turned over and tried to kick the beast right in its head. The lion easily dodged and pounced on the boy, its claws dug deep in his chest. As the boy was screaming "Help! Help! Save me!", his head was devoured by the Sun Catching Vicious Tiger.


    As soon as it happened, the image of the beast disappeared and no wound was visible on Luo Xing. However, he was still sweating and shaking. Even though the wounds were not real, the pain was perfectly accurate. He really felt as though a tiger had eaten his face.


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    Elder Tang was merciless and shouted. "Candidate Luo Xing, disqualified! Next!"


    The next candidates got inside the array formation one after the other.


    They discovered that the demonic beasts were random. There were only eight different beasts, but the order of their apparition changed each time.


    Many of the first candidates, who were commoners, failed. Some of the nobles failed as well. As the rank of the candidates became higher, they achieved good results, killing two or three beasts before being ''killed'' themselves.


    Sadly, some people with a good rank were eliminated. Some failed to kill the first beast before the apparition of the second one and were unable to fight them both at the same time.


    Finally, the first candidate of the top 10 got in. He killed four beasts before his elimination.


    After some more candidates, it was Ren Chao''s turn. He quickly dispatched the beasts one after the other. His physical strength was insane and he only needed one hit each time. However, he still sustained some blows and with the accumulated fatigue, the sixth beast put him down.


    "Incredible! Last year I was killed by the second one! Ha, ha, ha! This year, I''ll really succeed!"


    Everyone got silent. He kept boasting about his past failures.


    -


    All the candidates of the top ten were victorious, only Sun Liao and Cao Yun remained.


    "Fellow Cultivator Chen, how many beasts do you think you can kill before being eliminated?"


    "Fellow Cultivator Sun, my abilities are nothing much. But I do not think that mere 1-core demonic beasts could fell me."


    "Oh? Then you think that you can take all eight of them? So let''s make another bet!" Sun Liao turned toward Elder Tang. "Elder, if I fail in killing all eight of the beasts, I will consider it my loss." As he talked, he watched Cao Yun intently. "With such meager accomplishments, I would have no face to show in the sect."


    Unknown to him, all the candidates, including the nobles, got very annoyed with Sun Liao. After all, none of them had killed all eight of the beasts and he was boasting before even trying.


    Elder Tang was being annoyed as well. "Nonsense! If you want to quit, just say so. Do you get in or do you quit?"


    Sun Liao got flustered after being admonished by the elder. "I''ll get it, I''ll get in." Before going in the array formation, Sun Liao turned back and saw the gloomy faces of his fellow candidates. He especially saw the girls'' faces...


    In the sky, once again, Chief Elder Suxian got ridiculed by Chief Elder Luoming. "He really is like you, Brother Suxian! Learn from his mistakes my friend. Think before you speak!"


    Sun Liao stood in the middle of the array formation and a Crimson Lion-Stag appeared.


    The young boy easily dodged its charge and kicked its side. The beast was violently sent against the wall and exploded into millions of light particles. They danced in the air before going back into the circle engraved in the rock. Sun Liao smiled to the audience as he waited for the next beast. He was expecting cheers but none ever came. More than martial arts, Sun Liao excelled in the art of turning people against him.


    -


    Sun Liao was eventually fighting against the eighth beast. He only started to have some difficulties with the last two beasts as he had dispatched the first ones with a single strike each time. As the fight went on, he had underestimated how weakened he would be with his cultivation suppressed.


    If he had not said such nonsense before going in, Sun Liao would have given up by now. His body was hurting everywhere and his mind was exhausted. Arrogance and pride were the only things keeping him going. Despite his harsh words, the candidates were now a little eager to see him succeed.


    The fight took more than 3 minutes, but in the end, Sun Liao killed the last beast, a Golden Horn Buffalo. Exhausted, he literally dropped to the floor as the circle''s light faded away. Some sect disciples had to get down into the stone room to take him out. He had no wounds but his stamina was gone. Coming from a rich family, he had many healing pills so he took one out and quickly restored his health. He had to be in perfect condition because he really wanted to watch Cao Yun''s humiliation.


    In the array formation, he had left a little surprise.


    -


    "You think my brother Chen can''t equal your results? He will kill the eight beasts even faster than you did! Go on, Brother!"


    Once again, Cao Yun did not know how to react with this Ren Chao fellow.


    "Then, please let me show you my meager talent."


    He got into the room and walked to the center of the circle. His intent was stronger now and he felt that something was a bit off when he looked at Sun Liao''s face. As Elder Tang activated the array formation, Cao Yun focused on the energy circulating through the circle. It seemed that it was taking a slightly different path.


    All of a sudden, it was not one but eight demonic beasts that appeared all around Cao Yun.


    "What''s going on?!" Everyone was surprised, except for Sun Liao.


    You want to outshine me? Let''s see how you deal with this. Even if you''re not eliminated because the array formation is deemed defective, you''ll humiliate yourself by cowering in a corner.


    -


    Up in the sky, the chief elders stopped their quarrel.


    "Brother Suxian, this candidate of yours is too much!" Chief Elder Luoming was furious. "I understand why you like him. He''s an expert in array formation?"


    "Yes, Brother Luoming. He is..."


    "But I must say that his character is deeply lacking!" Chief Elder Luoming''s eyes were full of rage as he stared at his friend.


    "He''s young, that''s all! No harm intended, really." In reality, Chief Elder Suxian was also enraged by this attitude, but he did not want to admit it right now. "Brother, let''s stop the array formation for now, okay?"


    "No, let him take care of it!" The melodious voice of Xiao Xuefeng surprised everyone.


    "Miss Xiao, with a 3rd-grade Mortal cultivation, I''m afraid he won''t be able to kill even two beasts."


    "He could be lucky enough to get one, but two..."


    "Let''s stop the array formation. This Sun Liao messed with it, so this round does not count. We''ll restart it again. Do not worry, we won''t disqualify your candidate!"


    "Miss Xiao is right, let him deal with it." This time it was the old woman who spoke.


    "Sister Baishen, you too?!" Dejected, Chief Elder Luoming gave up. "Fine, I''ll just warn Elder Tang. If Chen Guo fails, we''ll just relaunch the trial."


    He sent a telepathic message to Elder Tang. Elder Tang knew that some chief elders were watching the trial and he was going crazy. He really did no know how to handle this. When he heard the order of Chief Elder Luoming, he was even more worried. They were going to let the trial go on?!


    In the array formation, Cao Yun was faced with eight demonic beasts. Some of which he knew firsthand, Crimson Lion-Stag, Gray-Beak Storm Eagle, Carnivorous Hammer-Gorilla. Others he had seen during the trial, Sun Catching Vicious Tiger, Black Two-Headed Wolf, Long-Billed Shelled Crow, Rainbow Feather Cobra and Golden Horn Buffalo.


    What was going on?! Cao Yun remembered the strange feeling he had when looking at Sun Liao''s face. He had probably tampered with it. Cao Yun knew almost nothing about array formations so he did not know what he had done to it.


    Right now, he was convinced that the elder was going to cancel the trial but Elder Tang did nothing and let it go on. Did it mean that he really had to fight under these conditions?!


    Cao Yun had no more time to think about it! He circulated his mind cultivation to focus all of his intent. With his Perfection achievement in Yi the Earth Intent, Cao Yun was able to simultaneously focus on all eight of the beasts at once. None of their moves was secret to him. These beast apparitions were so realistic that he could even sense their breathing and the tension in their muscles.


    His intent was very strong, but by focusing it this much, he could not keep it up for too long.


    The beasts were not real, they were created by the array formation, so there was no chance to pit them against each other. Cao Yun had to fight them all, and they just started to act!

 Chapter 29: Killing in the eight directions

    Seeing Cao Yun surrounded by demonic beasts ready to slaughter him, Sun Liao felt really good. Somehow, he considered Cao Yun as an eyesore and wanted him gone. To achieve this, he had used a little trick to alter the array formation. It was very complex but a small part of it was an array formation he was very familiar with. The part in question served to control the timing of the activations. By messing with it a little, he was able to force the appearance of the eight beasts at once.


    Sun Liao was waiting for Cao Yun to cower in fear. It would be great if the elders could not stop the array in time and Cao Yun suffered great pain. Maybe he would even faint from the pain, or pee himself in front of everyone. Many possibilities appeared in Sun Liao''s head as a huge grin deformed his face.


    All of a sudden, his grin was replaced by fear. A voice had just echoed in his mind.


    "You little rascal! You''re proud of yourself?!" It was Chief Elder Suxian''s voice. As a Spirit Warrior, he could send him telepathic messages. Considering that Sun Liao was his prot¨¦g¨¦, they both knew each other.


    Sun Liao moved his head around, trying to catch a glimpse of the chief elder.


    "You must think that you''re terribly clever, huh?! We''re all watching the exam right now. Are you really willing to make me lose all face?! You can''t even win but you keep on making bets and you use cheap tricks?! I''ll try and convince the others not to ban you from the sect for this little stunt. But stop being so conceited! Just because you''re from a big family and someone is not does not mean they can''t be better than you at certain things."


    Chief Elder Suxian kept berating him. As a matter of fact he was using Sun Liao to vent his anger and some of his attacks were maybe directed toward himself. He probably shouldn''t have made the bet with Xiao Xuefeng. In his mind, he had already given up on the Exquisite Purple Jasmin tea. It had required so much efforts to obtain just enough for one cup and he would never be able to enjoy it. He really should learn to shut his mouth...


    Chief Elder Luoming was watching him, knowing exactly what he was thinking. But he also knew too well that his friend would not learn, he never learned.


    -


    Cao Yun was circulating Yi the Earth Intent to the utmost and divided his intent on every beast for an instant. The demonic beast he was the most familiar with was the Crimson Lion-Stag. Considering how many he had killed in the woods, he was confident enough in dealing with it quickly.


    The first thing Cao Yun had to do was to break from the encirclement. For the time being he did not know whether this malfunction of the array would impair his chances to join the Wubei Sect so he decided to act quickly.


    He ran straight for the Crimson Lion-Stag as the eight beasts were just getting ready. Easily getting in its blind spot, Cao Yun used ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' and his palm hit the beast somewhere on its neck. Even the candidates were able to hear the sound of cracking bones as the beast fell to the floor, its neck broken in several places.


    In this fight, Cao Yun could only rely on the eight variations of the ''Dance of Slaughter''. As long as he killed another beast, he would be qualified no matter what, but he did not want to just qualify. Despite not knowing the rules of the sect, it was obvious that the more points you got in the exam the more benefits you would obtain. The main goal of Cao Yun was to get stronger and securing benefits and resources was essential.


    The Long-Billed Shelled Crow immediately flew toward Cao Yun. It was a crow the size of a man with a sharp beak as long as a sword and a black turtle shell on the back. It flew close to the ground, trying to impale the human on its beak. ''Cutting the Retreat''. Cao Yun was able to dodge the attack at the last moment. As it tried to fly up to avoid the upcoming wall, the Long-Billed Shelled Crow felt a hand grabbing one of its leg. The human was trying to get on top of it. The crow tried to rotate itself in order to collide with the wall and squash the boy. Seeing the wall getting closer, Cao Yun jumped at the last moment letting the bird hurt itself against it.


    In midair, a shadowy figure pounced toward Cao Yun. The Rainbow Feather Cobra had its jaw wide open with two shining fangs ready to bite into his flesh. Its speed was impressive and Cao Yun could not evade in the middle of the air. But he could still parry. Using his intent, he focused on the right timing. ''Pushing the Sky''. His left palm hit the snake''s head and he used the impact to propel himself back to the ground as the colorful feathers on its tails carressed his face.


    Cao Yun had not a second to breathe. He felt the floor shake as the Golden Horn Buffalo decided to charge in his direction. Once again, his strong intent allowed him to calm his mind and only focus on the beast''s attitude. He evaded at the last moment.


    However, another beast had used the buffalo''s charge as a distraction. When Cao Yun saw it, it was already too late. The Carnivorous Hammer-Gorilla was already on him. The gorilla had jumped from afar and was now atop Cao Yun who got pinned down to the floor. ''Forging the Fort''. Using his forearms as a shield, Cao Yun felt the strikes from the hammer-like fists of the beast. Every beast was made with the light emanating from the array. So Cao Yun''s arm could not really break. But he still felt the pain of his forearms being broken everywhere. The gorilla finally lifted up both his arms for a final strike.


    ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. Cao Yun sent a vibrating punch to the abdomen of the beast. Its fur, skin and fat were too thick to sustain any damage, but the vibration spread through its tissues and hit its organs. The wind taken out of it, it let go of the human. Ready to give the final blow, Cao Yun was again interrupted as the Gray-Beak Storm Eagle was rushing straight for him. He was also assaulted from both sides by the Black Two-Headed Wolf and the Sun Catching Vicious Tiger.


    Cao Yun forgot the killing blow he was about to give and took an instant decision. He rushed right between the heads of the black wolf. Just hitting the beast was not enough to kill it, but he had a flash of inspiration. ''Breaking the Formation'' and ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. He sent an elbow strike on both sides and tried to add the vibrating effect of the last movement to them. The wolf got surprised by the sudden dash of the human. Just as it was about to jump backwards and put some distance with Cao Yun, two elbows collided with both of its heads and it died on the spot. The vibrating force could penetrate any tissues to hit directly the innermost parts of the body.


    -


    "Your little candidate is impressive Miss Xiao. He technically passed the trial." Chief Elder Luoming was not trying to be coy, Cao Yun''s performance really was great.


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    "I cannot recognize his martial art."


    "That''s rare for you Sister Baishen." Chief Elder Luoming got thinking. "He''s a vagrant cultivator, so his martial arts must not come from some great lineage."


    "On the contrary, the moves he used are full of mysteries. And he seems to be getting deeper and deeper in them. Miss Xiao was right not to stop this trial. I reckon it will be very beneficial to him. Only in dire situations can you push yourself and discover new heights."


    Chief Elder Luoming and Chief Elder Suxian were astounded by their sister. Usually, she was really harsh when it came to complimenting martial arts, but she seemed to have a very good opinion of this fellow and his moves.


    Cao Yun was heavily relying on ''Dance of Slaughter''. It was a martial art that was derived from ''Cultivation of Slaughter''. If she had known that the art she praised was only a mere cultivation routine applied in a fight, Chief Elder Baishen would probably not believe it. But she was right on the fact that there were many mysteries within it. Cao Yun had only scraped the surface and in this fight, he was starting to realize that.


    -


    "Isn''t my brother great?! Even with this stupid array messing it up, he got qualified!" Ren Chao was yelling his pride and joy as loud as he possibly could. For Sun Liao, it seemed as though he was rubbing salt in his wounds.


    Back in the array formation, the eagle was flying straight toward Cao Yun. He really needed to take care of the flying beasts first. Holding this thought, Cao Yun sensed the ground shake and put his focus on its source. Without any hesitation he dodged with ''Cutting the Retreat'' as the Golden Horn Buffalo passed right where he was a moment ago.


    Seeing its failure, the beat stopped in its tracks and charged again. This time, Cao Yun saw it coming. As he focused on the raging buffalo, an idea popped in his mind. If he had a weapon, he could take down the two birds with more ease. Well, the buffalo had two weapons. When the buffalo charged again, Cao Yun waited for the last moment on purpose. He dodged and cut off one of its horns with ''Dyeing the Ground''. As payment, he was grazed by the beast but stood his ground by rooting himself with ''Shaking the Earth''.


    Throughout the array, the sound of his broken ribs resonated. No wound was real but the pain was vivid. He really felt as if his forearms earlier and his ribs now were shattered in his body. Without Yi the Earth Intent, he would have collapsed from the pain. Luckily, he was able to focus his mind on the fight and make the pain vanish in the back of his head.


    Cao Yun grabbed the horn he had cut off and as he was anxious about the eagle, it was the crow who appeared. After hitting the wall earlier it got a little disoriented but nothing much. Cao Yun waited for the very last moment when the crow was at full speed and could not change its course. That''s when he threw the horn, copying the move of Feng Yingyue. The horn flew right between the crow''s eyes. The speed of the throw got added to the speed of the crow itself and the horn penetrated its thick skull, killing it on the spot.


    Up in the sky, Chief Elder Baishen finally recognized a move. "That''s a move from ''Bladeless Eternity''. He probably learned it to be able to fight at a distance. He''s smart."


    Cao Yun had no time to rest. He saw the gorilla who was still a little unfocused after the vibrating attack and ran toward it. Before he could get close, the cobra attacked again. The boy was able to dodge once, twice. But he was getting tired and there was still more than half of the beasts to fight.


    A plan in mind, he got close to the wall and waited for the cobra to attack again with a gaping jaw. The beast was not stupid, it controlled its speed not to hit the wall as Cao Yun evaded once more. But now, its head was precisely between the wall and Cao Yun, it had no room to gain momentum for a new jump. It tried to bite off Cao Yun who moved to the side of its jaw and duplicated his move from earlier. His hand acted as a saber and cut off its left fang. In pain, the cobra spat out some poison.


    Cao Yun jumped to avoid it but still got some on his left leg. The pain was unbearable! He even began to sense the poison spreading through his skin. Of course, the poison was not real but the sensations were the same as if it was.


    Alas, Cao Yun could not kill the cobra yet. If he did, the fang would disappear with the rest of its body. He needed this weapon to compensate for his fatigue.


    Once again, he threw the fang. It got into the gorilla''s throat as it was still a bit stunned. Looking for the eagle, he felt the ground shake again.


    Cao Yun decided to use the fact that only the pain was real. From the poison of the cobra he had finally understood all the rules of the array. It would not stop as long as he did not sustain a lethal injury. Indeed, he could feel the poison creep up inside of him but the array did not consider it his loss yet.


    As the buffalo got near him, Cao Yun crouched down and swept with his leg, ''Annihilating the Horses''. The impact broke off the buffalo''s front legs and inflicted the same pain on Cao Yun who still let out a moan of agony. Now that the beast could not run anymore, Cao Yun put it down for good.


    But using this opportunity, the eagle sank its claws into Cao Yun''s shoulders and lifted him up in the air. Before getting too high in the sky, he contorted his body to kick the beast in its belly. The vibrating force of ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' coursed through its lower abdomen and the eagle fell down to the ground. Before it could get back up, a saber hand of Cao Yun was deep within its heart.


    Taking him by surprise, the tiger jumped him. Weakened by the poison, Cao Yun could not evade anymore. He rolled and pushed the beast with his leg, but still got lacerated by its claws. Facing him, the tiger was waiting for the right opportunity, sensing that the human was getting weaker and weaker. If he just waited, Cao Yun would be eliminated because of the poison, but the tiger was right between him and the cobra. He could not kill one without taking care of the other first.


    He ran toward the tiger who jumped again. Cao Yun got pinned down to the floor with the claws deep within his chest. He was way too tired to dodge anymore. As his arms were free, he put one as a defense and the fangs of the beast sank into his flesh. With his other arm, a saber hand pierced the tiger''s head. The pain was extreme as all four of his limbs had been broken or pierced by fangs and claws. His ribs were shattered and a deadly poison was slowly going to his heart.


    Without Yi, Cao Yun would have fainted and lost. But as long as he stayed awake and did not sustain a lethal injury, the array would not stop.


    There was only one beast left, the cobra with a single fang remaining. The beast was hurt and it sent its tail to bash Cao Yun against a wall. It worked. Cao Yun''s back violently collided with the wall. This injury was real though. The damage done by the beasts was an illusion but the walls were still real.


    Never mind! Cao Yun had no more time and just enough strength for one final assault. He needed to close the distance but he could not run fast enough. For that, he had one last idea but did not know if it was any good as his mind was approaching its limit. Even after cultivating Yi to Perfection, he could not keep it up forever. That was why he also needed to cultivate Zhi, the Water Will. It would allow him to keep going a lot longer.


    ''Shaking the Earth''. His right leg trampled on the floor to propel him forward. This kick was used as a jump. All of a sudden, his speed exploded and it threw off the cobra''s attack. At last, he got near to its head but he could not stop his run.


    ''Breaking the Formation''. His crazy run just turned into a shoulder strike straight toward the cobra.


    ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. A vibrating force erupted from his shoulder and got deep within the beast''s body. Vibrating his shoulder was really hard to do. But with Yi, Cao Yun could feel every subtle movement in his body and was able to contract and relax any muscle at will.


    Cao Yun got down to the floor as all the excitement had finally brought the poison within his heart. Just before his view blacked out, he saw an explosion of light. The cobra was considered killed. All the beasts were considered killed. Cao Yun had achieved a perfect victory.

 Chapter 30: Eighteen Weapons Mechanical Puppet

    "Sister Xiao, I must admit my defeat." Chief Elder Suxian finally humbled himself. "Both in talent and in character that candidate of yours is superior to mine."


    "Do not be dispirited Brother Suxian! I''m sure you''ll get your hands on Exquisite Purple Jasmin again."


    "You!" Chief Elder Luoming naturally knew how difficult it had been for Chief Elder Suxian to get just enough for one cup of tea. Unfortunately, he could not give in to his anger. "Brother Luoming, Sister Baishen, I must speak up for my candidate. He''s still very young. I promise I''ll discipline him." When he said these words, flames of fury erupted in his eyes and Sun Liao felt a cold shiver running down his spine. "Please, could you do me a favor today and overlook his misconduct?"


    Bowing deeply, Chief Elder Suxian really tried to smooth things over. Sun Liao was a real genius when it came to array formations, as his little stunt had just demonstrated. And it happened to be that Chief Elder Suxian was the chief elder in charge of the array formation pavilion. It had been ages since he scouted out such a talent and he could not bear to part with him even before he got accepted in the sect.


    "Brother Suxian, I think we should not be the ones to decide on this matter." Chief Elder Baishen looked at Xiao Xuefeng. "Miss Xiao, this concerns your candidate, what is your opinion?"


    "This little Sun did not mean any harm to Chen Guo. He only tried to humiliate him. I''m confident in Chief Elder Suxian''s ability to teach him the error of his ways. Let''s forget about it."


    Chief Elder Suxian was ecstatic. "Thank you, Miss Xiao. You''re so benevolent. I swear that this punk will never forget this lesson!" Sun Liao would probably pay the loss of his Exquisite Purple Jasmin as well...


    -


    Cao Yun was still unconscious. His use of Yi had been really intense. Unbeknownst to him, the Yi character in his sea of consciousness had begun to shine. Resonating with it, the vague Zhi character had started to become firmer. In this ordeal, he had exerted his intent to its limit and pushed some more. Thus, he had also consolidated his will and the Zhi character with it.


    But this change was still unknown to Cao Yun. He felt a sweet sensation in his body. From the heavens, a cool energy entered his meridians and spread in his body. As he regained consciousness, he remembered this presence. It was Xiao Xuefeng. Despite the distance between them, she was still able to heal him. Of course, Cao Yun understood that she was probably watching from the start. But he was amazed. He could not see her but she was nonetheless able to send Qi in his body. If a Spirit Warrior wanted to harm him, Cao Yun could do nothing with his current strength.


    Standing up, he saw the concerned faces of the commoners around him. Ren Chao''s face was the ugliest. Just when Cao Yun opened his eyes, this ugly face turned into the most radiant of smiles.


    "Brother Chen! Brother Chen! You were incredible! The way you broke that horn! The way you..." Ren Chao could not stop himself. He almost redid the entire fight while shouting close to Cao Yun''s face. The poor boy almost went deaf. Ren Chao''s joy was really contagious as all the commoners were shouting and yelling.


    On the other side, the nobles were also all impressed by Cao Yun''s performance but they just weren''t as expressive. The only one who had a gloomy face was Sun Liao. He had tried to humiliate Cao Yun, but not only had he failed miserably, Cao Yun was now a hero and Chief Elder Suxian who was doting on him seemed to bear a grudge now. He made up his mind not to harass Cao Yun in the near future.


    -


    After everyone calmed down, the elders concerted with each other to decide on the points. They were really embarrassed about the malfunction of the array and had to come up with some kind of compensation.


    The man of the hour was busy thinking. During the fight, he had realized many things about ''Dance of Slaughter''. Each move was not meant to be isolated as a single attack. They all contained profound truths about fighting that he could use together. In his last assault, he had used three of the eight moves together. The most enigmatic move was the eighth and last one ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. By vibrating at the moment of the attack, any part of his body could send a killing wave inside an opponent. He had been able to use his shoulder, but he could probably do it with his knees, his elbows, even with a headbutt. He realized that he could not only vibrate his muscles but he could probably also vibrate the Qi within him.


    A Mortal cultivator could not send Qi outside of his body voluntarily. That was the huge difference between Mortal and Mortal Warrior. But by vibrating his Qi, still within the confines of his flesh, it could be used for killing.


    He asked for some calm to the other commoners and they let him meditate on the fight he just had.


    Cao Yun got inside his sea of consciousness. He was too busy studying his ''Dance of Slaughter'' and he did not look at the Zhi character, or he would have noticed the difference. In his mind, he performed the routine several times and in reality, he could feel his Qi vibrating along with it.


    In the sky, Chief Elder Baishen was the most interested in the boy. As a Spirit Warrior she could clearly see his Qi with her spiritual senses even through his flesh. She was the head of the martial art pavilion. Not unlike Cao Yun who loved learning new martial arts, Chief Elder Baishen always loved testing herself against other techniques. She had not learned that many arts, but she had fought almost every style. However, this one was different from everything she ever knew. An entire new world opened before her eyes and she could not suppress her excitement.


    Her brothers were a little concerned when they saw her staring at the little boy. They even wondered if maybe she happened to have some deviant ideas about him. Luckily, they did not speak out loud, otherwise, their sister would have probably broken their bones.


    -


    At last, Elder Tang and his three brothers decided on the result.


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    "Candidates, attention!" Everyone turned toward the small platform above the array formation. Even Cao Yun stopped his meditation. "First of all, I will announce those who failed."


    This time, they already knew who had failed because the requirement was clear. Anyone who could not kill two beasts was disqualified. By the end of the list, there were only sixty-one people left.


    "Now, for the ranking." This time, Elder Tang started by the end. He wanted a little suspense. His brothers also stated the points of some candidates but the top ten were given by Elder Tang.


    "Li Gui - 84 points


    Zhi Wang - 87 points


    Xin Chen - 88 points


    Xin Xiong - 91 points


    Mei Hua - 94 points


    Tian Lan - 96 points


    Ren Chao - 97 points


    Zhao Qing - 105 points


    Sun Liao - 132 points


    Chen Guo - 156 points"


    Everyone was surprised. According to their calculation, each beast was 10 points. After all Sun Liao had just gotten 80 points for this trial.


    "Due to the malfunction of the array, Chen Guo had to face all eight beasts at the same time. We decided on an additional 20 points to compensate him." Elder Tang faced Cao Yun. "I was at fault. These trials are my responsibility. As a representative of the Wubei Sect, I apologize."


    The way he addressed Cao Yun was different now. Most likely, Cao Yun would get accepted in the sect and given the talent he had demonstrated, he probably would have great achievements. Of course not all talented disciple ended up as legendary powerhouses. Talent alone could not predict success, but being friendly with talented people was never a mistake.


    Cao Yun cupped his fists. "I thank Elder Tang. It so happens that this fight just now gave me new insights into my art." He looked at Sun Liao from the corner of his eyes. "It was a blessing in disguise."


    "Good, good."


    Sun Liao did not know how much more he could stand. Chief Elder Suxian would probably make him suffer, the man he considered as an eyesore was the hero, he even got 20 additional points, and he rubbed it in by boasting about his new insights. Of course, Sun Liao knew that Cao Yun would suspect him. He did not mind at first for he had no proof, but in the end, the chief elder of the array formation pavilion was here and had obviously seen through his actions.


    Cao Yun had indeed no proof against Sun Liao but he knew. After all his efforts to not antagonize him, the boy still tried to do him dirty. As much as Cao Yun did not like useless conflicts, he was not going to just get trampled on.


    "Fellow Cultivator Sun. I remember that the next trial should be about talent. What about we compete against each other?"


    Sun Liao wanted to dig a hole. He knew that Chief Elder Suxian was watching, but so were all the nobles and the commoners he had insulted.


    "Brother Chen. I..." Sun Liao got more respectful toward Cao Yun. "I fear that I''m not your match. I''ll try to focus more on the trials so as not bring more shame to my name."


    "Oh? I''m very disappointed. I thought Fellow Cultivator Sun would have more backbone." Cao Yun shook his head in a disapproving way. "But I seem to recall we already have a bet going on, right?"


    Sun Liao really wanted everyone to forget about that. "Indeed, Brother, I remember now. That was a little childish of me... If Brother could just..."


    "I''m looking forward to seeing you kowtow. But if I''m not mistaken, you''re also supposed to admit the inferiority of the noble candidates." Cao Yun shook his head. "I don''t think it''s right for you to implicate them with your failure." Sun Liao''s face turned red. "What about it, Fellow Cultivator Sun? Let''s change the bet. You will only admit your own inferiority."


    "You!" Sun Liao almost erupted but he felt the gaze of Chief Elder Suxian on him. "Brother Chen is right... There is no reason to implicate anyone else, this bet is just between us."


    Ren Chao went back to the charge. "Brother Chen, well said! Well said! I''m also looking forward to Sun Liao kowtowing before us. Ha, ha, ha!"


    This time, the nobles were not angry. They even began to sincerely cheer, albeit discreetly, for Cao Yun. Now, the bet had nothing to do with them, Sun Liao was alone.


    -


    "Candidates, the pause is over. Follow me." Elder Tang took the remaining candidates to another area.


    This time it was a small building. Inside, there was a circular ring on a platform. Right in the middle of the ring stood a metallic puppet with the same structure as a human body. All around the room were racks with several weapons. There were also many bookshelves full of old manuals.


    "As I said in front of the Shell Gate, the next trial will be about talent. Each one of you will choose a weapon among the Eighteen Classical Weapons. Then, you will browse through these old manuals and choose one martial art. In the very rare case where you would find a martial art you happen to know, you can''t choose it. You will then be given one week to learn as much as you can from the manual in isolation. Finally, you will be judged on how much you learned and how well you mastered it."


    Everyone had some questions. A young woman asked first.


    "Elder Tang, please. There''s something I''m not quite sure about. Could you help me?"


    "Of course, ask your question."


    "Every manual and every weapon should vary greatly in their difficulty. How are you going to evaluate our comprehension?"


    "A sensible question!" He walked to the side of the puppet. "That''s why this puppet is here. It''s called the Eighteen Weapons Mechanical Puppet. A master blacksmith forged it, an array formation master gave it life, and a martial art master trained it. This puppet is moved by an array and it knows every single one of these manuals. Usually, it''s used to train, but during the exam we take it out to test the candidates."


    "It will fight against you and adapt to your level to push you. It''s not just a test, it''s also a sparring session. Some of you may gain great benefits from it. You can maybe even further your understanding of the martial art as you get tested. Once the puppet beats you, because it will, it will judge your performance based on the difficulty of the martial art, your own constitution and your overall understanding from the start of the fight to its end."


    "Elder Tang, can''t we beat this puppet?"


    "Ha, ha! No, you can''t! This puppet is so resistant that only a Spirit Warrior can break it. And with its knowledge of martial arts, it can spar against low-level Mortal Warriors. It will gradually up its fighting ability to match yours and as soon as you can''t follow, you''re done. But do not worry, it won''t hurt you... too much."


    "Let me be clear. You can choose any weapon, even one you already master. However, even though there shouldn''t be any, I warn you again. You cannot choose a martial art you already know. And against the puppet, you can only use the martial art you chose, nothing else. As soon as you use another martial art, the fight will stop and you''ll be judged by your performance no matter how short it was."


    "If there is no more question, go choose your weapon and your martial art. You all have one hour to choose, but you can examine everything. There are 18 bookshelves with the corresponding weapons on the rack next to it."


    The Eighteen Classical Weapons were the staff, the saber, the double-edged sword, the spear, the axe, the shield, the bow and arrow, the sword breaker (a metallic rod looking like a sword), the wind and fire wheels (cutting disks held in both hands), the mace, the dagger-axe with crescent blade, the halberd, the trident, the monk''s spade, the hook sword, the whip, the rope or chain dart and the meteor hammer.


    As every candidate went to the weapon they were the most familiar with or the one they thought would be the easiest, Cao Yun was conflicted.


    He really did not know what to choose right now.

 Chapter 31: Choosing a weapon

    Cao Yun first scanned the room and soon realized that every rack had only one kind of weapon indeed. But they were all exactly the same training weapon. He moved toward the sword rack. Thirty swords were present here and seventeen candidates had chosen this rack. Sword was the most used weapon by cultivators in the Hongchen Kingdom. It was the weapon of the first emperor, Emperor Nuwa and of the current emperor as well. In the tales, many of the great heroes of mankind used swords too. Sometimes they were strange variation of swords, but swords nonetheless.


    The swords on the rack were all 3-star Earth rank. Not that great in the Wubei Sect but pretty decent for mere candidates. These weapons were probably only meant for training. Some of the commoners had never even been able to fight with such a weapon in their life, but of course they could not compare to the resources of a martial sect.


    Cao Yun had an instant of hesitation but he did not want to use a sword with anything but the martial art of his family, ''Three Storms''. He wanted to have a look at all the martial art manuals but he needed to focus his time on looking for the right weapon and the right manual. He would probably get enough time to browse through these manuals after getting in the sect. They seemed to be pretty accessible if even candidates could try and learn them.


    Deep in his thoughts, he tried to imagine himself with every weapon. The saber was a good option as it was pretty similar to a sword. Blunt weapons did not attract his attention. The whip, the chain or the meteor hammer seemed too complex to learn in only one week and he did not see himself carrying them around. The bow and arrow was intriguing but he did not go well with the way he liked to fight. What he loved in a fight was exchanging moves and he did not see how it would work out with a bow.


    Finally, he thought about the long weapons. He had long hesitations before going to the spear. As he lacked experience with these weapons, he would rather use the simplest one first. Around seven disciples had chosen the spear as well and they had already taken their weapon.


    Cao Yun put a hand on the shaft of one of the spears. Infusing his intent in his hand, he felt the spear and decided that he liked it. He could see himself fighting with such a weapon.


    When he finally took his weapon, at least a quarter of the time was gone.


    -


    Outside the building, up in the sky, the chief elders were still watching. With their spiritual senses, they could easily see everything that was going on inside the walls.


    Both Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder Baishen got intrigued.


    "Sister Baishen, what''s wrong?"


    "Nothing, it''s just strange. When I saw him fight, I clearly felt that he was a sword user. There was no trace of spearmanship in his moves."


    "Chief Elder Baishen is right. When I found him, he was using a sword and had no spear on him."


    "Interesting..." Chief Elder Luoming was perplexed and Chief Elder Suxian just kept quiet since the last trial. "Let''s see what martial art he''s going to chose."


    -


    Once he had a spear in hand, Cao Yun began browsing through the manuals. There were six rows of manuals. The lowest row was marked ''1-star Earth'' and the highest ''1-star Human''. Martial arts could also be categorized by the same ranks as weapons or pills. It did not mean that someone with a 1-star Earth rank martial art could not beat an opponent wielding a 2-star Earth rank one, or even higher. After all, you could practice a powerful martial art and be unskilled. Some masters could even push their martial art to higher levels. The system was just based on average cultivators with the highest level of mastery of the art.


    Many names went by: ''Thundering Spear'', ''Butterfly Dances in the Wind'', ''Seven Stars of Death'', ''Sun Wang''s Spear'', ''Forty-Two Variations of Stabbing and Slashing'', ...


    Some of the names seemed a little ridiculous to Cao Yun as ''The Monkey Rises its Tail''. Well, a martial art could not be judged by the name alone. He proceeded to open some manuals and closed them right away. Maybe some martial art could be judged by their name after all.


    After browsing through many manuals, Cao Yun had some favorites but not one that he really thought was the one. The time was still running. He finally looked at the highest row.


    As soon as a martial art was in the Human rank, there was a qualitative change. In the Earth rank, martial arts could be practiced by anyone, even mortals. Obviously, they could not all push it to its limit but they could still wield it and apply it in actual fight. The Human rank was more targeted toward Mortal Warriors as they were able to project their Qi outside of their body.


    In these martial arts, you needed a great control over your Qi, and the ability to bring it anywhere in your body, and further outside. It was always possible to use one of these martial arts without being a Mortal Warrior. As a middle or late Mortal, you could control the flow of Qi in your body, allowing you to use a fraction of these arts, but they would be weakened and not that much different from 5-star Earth rank martial arts. However, as soon as you were able to project your Qi outside, that''s the moment where they would shine the brightest.


    Once again, Cao Yun saw many names and browsed quickly through the contents of some manuals.


    Around the middle of the row, a manual caught his eye ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. The manual only had ten pages. The first one explained the general idea.


    "Move your Qi in your meridians as stars in a constellation. Harness the power of the Azure Dragon and each part of your spear will become the body of the divine beast." The page continued to present the characteristic of the art.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Then, there was a chart of stars. It showed seven Mansions, each one composed of several constellations with one or many stars each: Horn, Neck, Root, Room, Heart, Tail and Winnowing Basket. Some of these constellations were strange as Cao Yun had no memory of ever seeing them in the sky. Could this martial art have been invented so long ago that the stars were different? Or perhaps, it came from another world? There were legends of cultivators coming from other worlds.


    Anyway, it intrigued Cao Yun who kept on reading.


    Every page was related to a Mansion and its constellations. It detailed how to move your Qi and several movements centered around a same idea. For example, the Horn Mansion focused on stabbing with the spear, while the Neck Mansion focused on firm stances and breathing techniques.


    Finally the last page was an esoteric description of an Azure Dragon, a legendary divine beast. It was big enough to cover an entire galaxy with its body. Strangely, Cao Yun could not shake the feeling that this divine beast was real. Maybe the constellations did not refer to real stars but to points of the dragon''s body.


    As soon as he had read the first page, he was hooked. After that, he took the manual with him. But he still browsed through the others, just to be sure. He used the time he had left to look again over all the spear manuals. Maybe, they could give him some pointers. Comparing several martial arts was a good idea to master your art, as long as you did not get lost in them.


    -


    "Sister Baishen, what do you think of his choice?"


    "He has keen eyes. The ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' is a great martial art for the spear. But I fear it may be a little too much for a junior who''s inexperienced with the weapon."


    "Do you think he''ll fail?" Chief Elder Suxian started talking again.


    "I cannot know for sure. I''d say he should be able to learn it to a degree, but I don''t know about his result. It''s best not to speculate."


    "But maybe Brother Suxian would like to bet another of his treasure?" Chief Elder Luoming was relentless in his teasing. By now, his friend knew better than to argue. But a small hope was beginning to be revived within him. Maybe he would not have to part with his Exquisite Purple Jasmin.


    Xiao Xuefeng was as calm as usual. All this did not really concern it. She had just taken a liking to the boy and was interested to see what he could accomplish. Even if she was to lose the bet with Chief Elder Suxian, she would just have to forge a pill. And she was confident in her ability to do so.


    -


    The time was up.


    Elder Tang got back on the ring and addressed the candidates.


    "So as to ensure fairness, each one of you will be shown to a chamber. As soon as you are all settled in, you will have an entire week to train. Servants will bring you your daily necessities. After that, we''ll bring you all back here for the evaluation of your progress. So calm yourself and focus only on the martial art you chose!"


    Several sect disciples lead the candidates to the upper floors where individual rooms were arranged for every candidate.


    Cao Yun got himself on the fifth floor. The room was pretty spacious but it was completely empty. A window gave a nice view of the Heidai Peak. Apart from that, this room was the definition of spartan.


    Having no time to loose on sightseeing, Cao Yun put his spear on the ground and sat cross-legged. He took the blue manual out and started to learn.


    The first thing he did was to focus his intent to learn every star of every constellation of every Mansion. With his intent memorizing that much information was not a problem at all. In the time of a cup of tea*, he could draw them back with his eyes closed.


    Now he began reading the other pages. He also memorized all the information. He even memorized the esoteric poem about the Azure Dragon. It was not rare for secret knowledge to be hidden in inconspicuous writings. He would maybe discover some hidden truths within the poem one day. Now, the manual was completely memorized in his mind and he put it down.


    After an hour had gone by, he deigned take his spear. The first thing he did was to try out all the moves he had memorized to see whether his form was good. It was not perfect but it was very close to the right movements. Just knowing the moves was not everything. He also needed to perfect them and be able to go from one to the other seamlessly.


    He repeated them over and over again until the end of the first day. For some moves, he repeated them up to a thousand times as he thought they were either important or he had difficulty reproducing them. As a huge part of the time was gone, Cao Yun focused on directing his Qi following the manual. He lost no time on cultivating anything else.


    He first tried without using Yi. Trying to coordinate the body, the breathing and the flow of Qi at the same time was pretty hard. Without Yi, it would probably take a day or two, but he had no time. He then circulated Yi the Earth Intent and all of a sudden his Qi obeyed him without any problem. In less than two hours, he was able to perfectly focus on every point the manual was talking about.


    He imagined an opponent against him and used the rest of the time to try out different combinations. The manual talked about stabbing, parrying, deflecting, avoiding, swooping, hitting with the shaft, feigning and other techniques.


    At first, Cao Yun''s moves were too rigid as he tried to copy them exactly as they were described. He was fighting as a puppet imitating as much as possible. But as he practiced, he became more flexible, the techniques were beginning to adapt to his body and his own rhythm.


    -


    "Sister Baishen, what do you think about his technique?"


    "It''s becoming smoother. At first, it was a little too formal. He''s pretty quick to get the hang of it. I''d say he''s almost reached Small Success, not bad."


    As with ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', martial arts had several levels of mastery, Small Success, True Success and Perfection.


    "But the way he''s able to control his Qi is flawless for a Mortal. I''d say that even a Mortal Warrior could not do it as accurately as he does. Miss Xiao, is he perhaps an alchemist? "


    "No. At least, I don''t think so."


    "You don''t think so?"


    "I only met the boy a few days ago."


    "What do you mean Miss Xiao?"


    "You remember that I went out to take care of the demonic cultivators who were plaguing the region, right?"


    "Well, yes. I still think that this job was beneath you. The Province Governor should have sent some soldiers to take care of them."


    "But you probably did not hear that I actually killed none of the demonic cultivators."


    All the chief elders were surprised.


    "Wait, does it mean that HE did?!"


    "Indeed, there were twenty-three demonic cultivators and he killed them all, alone. He even confronted ten of them at once and won."


    "I see. It''s no surprise that he''s such a good fighter."


    -


    The last day had finally come. That''s when a strange thought occurred in Cao Yun''s mind. He tried to read the final poem again. As he spoke, he felt a very weak filament of Qi flowing through certain pathways in his meridians. It seemed to follow the rhythm of the poem. Without his superior intent, he would have missed it completely as the flow of Qi was extremely thin. Reading out loud the poem, a strange connection was forming between the words and his Qi. Very soon, he recognized some patterns he had just practiced.


    Then he was able to draw parallels between some words or phrases and moves from the manual. Considering that the time was lacking, he decided to try and perform the moves according to the rhythm of the poem. He only had the time to do it once before being interrupted. The time was up and all candidates had to come down to the ring for evaluation.


    During his walk down, a stronger filament of Qi flowed unconsciously through his Meridians according to the poem.


    *the time for a cup of tea = 15min

 Chapter 32: Azure Dragons Seven Piercing Stars

    Elder Tang and his three brothers were waiting on the ring. After the sect disciples lead the candidates down to the first floor, they lined them up before the elders.


    "You all have had one week to study the martial art of your choosing. Now is the day to finally show us the result of your training."


    Some candidates were fired up, others were anxious, and some were even depressed. Choosing a manual too difficult to understand was a common mistake during this examination. Although it did not mean that they would surely be failed, they would at the very least show a poor performance and earn little points.


    Once again, Elder Tang asked for the last candidates to be the first against the puppet.


    The first candidate was a very young boy who probably just turned 15 a few days ago. According to his clothes, he clearly was one of the commoners. The puppet was almost twice his size as it was modeled after an adult. With a saber in hand, the boy had chosen a relatively easy weapon.


    "State your name, your weapon and your martial art."


    The boy was startled when he heard Elder Tang''s voice.


    "Xin Zhuge. Saber. Two moons desolation."


    As soon as he finished speaking, the puppet began to move. Its first movements were really strange, as though it was trying to mimic a human. Slowly, it started to actually move like a human.


    The puppet only launched probing attacks during the first moves. Xin Zhuge got more courageous and went from defense to offense. With each move, the puppet became more serious and more violent. Finally, the puppet got a hold of the saber and disarmed Xin Zhuge.


    While it stopped and got back to its original position, Elder Tang announced the result.


    "Xin Zhuge, 12 moves. Passable." He turned toward the other candidates before adding something. "I forgot to mention this, but the number of moves you''re able to sustain is a good indication of your overall score. Even though you''ll know your number of points only at the end. Generally, under 8 or 10 moves, you''ll be disqualified."


    Hearing this, Xin Zhuge froze. He was really close to this boundary.


    -


    The other candidates took their turn and, despite some accidents, most sustained more than 10 moves. There was some guy who tried to learn a 1-star Human martial art but only took three moves before reverting to his own art. He was immediately disqualified and had no real hope of making the cut.


    It was finally the turn of the top ten candidates.


    "Li Gui. Sword. Elusive Edgeless Sword." ... "Li Gui. 39 moves."


    "Zhi Wang. Sword. Wild Horse Thousand Blades." ... "Zhi Wang. 38 moves."


    "Xin Chen. Wind and fire wheels. Moon and Sun Courtship." ... "Xin Chen. 43 moves."


    "Xin Xiong. Staff. Monkey Climbing the Mountains." ... "Xin Xiong. 42 moves."


    -


    "Mei Hua. Rope dart. Ten Thousand Thorns."


    Mei Hua was the only woman among the top ten. She wore a purple dress that perfectly enhanced her beautiful figure. Black hair fell on both sides of her face on which she always wore a serious look. Cao Yun got a little intrigued by the weapon she chose as she was the only one with a rope dart. The rope was 5 meters long and a metal dart was attached to one end of it.


    As soon as the fight started, she made the rope spin and twirl in the air, using her arms, shoulders, elbows, knees and even waist to control and alter the direction of the dart. The puppet had a hard time getting near her. The dart attacked it from the sides, the back, even from below and above. The way she was controlling the weapon gave the impression that her mind was able to move it freely in the air.


    For more than 30 moves, the puppet could only block and avoid. But even when it came close to her, Mei Hua got the dart in hand and used it as a weapon and the rope as a defense. She was able to trip the puppet and get in its back.


    During the trial with the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation, she obtained a pretty disappointing result. Her fighting ability was not on par with the other boys of the top ten. On the other hand, her learning ability was prodigious. She lasted more than anyone before her.


    She finally exceeded 50 moves. Just after that, the puppet seemed to become even faster than before. The dart hit it in the throat and retracted as fast as before, but this time, the puppet caught it. As Mei Hua could not contend with it in strength, her weapon was taken from her.


    "Mei Hua. 51 moves. Excellent!"


    Despite her achievement, she seemed a little dejected. Even with that many moves, she probably would not gain enough points to balance out the previous trial and she had no idea what the next one would be.


    The candidate just after her was very nervous because he was not confident at all in being able to exchange fifty moves.


    "Tian Lan. Sword. Ninety-Two Testimonies Variations." ... "Tian Lan. 47 moves. Very good."


    Indeed, he had failed short, but he kept his head high as his result was not shameful.


    Then came the turn of Ren Chao. His forte was strength and he got on the ring with a large mace.


    "Ren Chao. Mace. Bujun''s Chest Piercing Mace."


    He wasted no time and directly went closer to the puppet. Swaying his large mace around, he struck the puppet many times. Not a single mark was made on the strange metal that composed the puppet. Ren Chao seemed to become angry and his attacks were more and more violent. No matter how hard he hit the puppet, it moved but its surface stayed perfectly clean.


    Ren Chao had not lost his reason. He used the head of the mace to strike, but also to push and even to block. Some of his moves were made with the shaft of the mace to parry some blows.


    "I refuse to believe there is a metal I can''t bend!"


    This time, Ren Chao had lost it. He focused everything in a single attack and bludgeoned the puppet right in its chest. The sound was so aggressive that all the candidates covered their ears. At last, there was a small dent, a very, very small dent on the puppet. It would be more accurate to call it a scratch.


    Anyway, Ren Chao was proud and when he got eliminated just after, because he had no more stamina to go on, he didn''t care.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Ren Chao. 29 moves."


    "Ha, ha, ha! You all saw that! Even a Mortal Warrior can''t destroy this puppet, but you saw me?! There''s no metal in this world I can''t bend with my hammer!"


    But you''re wielding a mace though, not a hammer. Everyone thought the same thing at the same time, even the chief elders up in the sky.


    Ren Chao went back to Cao Yun as another candidate took his place.


    "Zhao Qing. Meteor Hammer. Crust Smashing Comets."


    Ren Chao didn''t care and kept on talking with his friends.


    "You saw that?! I showed them all! Ha, ha, ha!"


    "Brother Ren, are you perhaps a blacksmith?" Cao Yun was a bit perplexed but asked away.


    "Ha, ha, ha!" He hit the palm of his hand with the mace as if it was a hammer. "It shows, right?"


    I mean, you literally called your mace a hammer. But Cao Yun did not say his thought out loud.


    "Oh? Is Brother Chen interested? We could become master blacksmiths together? Wouldn''t it be great?"


    "Huh... Sorry, Brother Ren. It''s really fascinating but I''m more of a martial art guy..."


    "What a pity... But you don''t have the muscles to be a blacksmith anyway."


    Then why did you want to be a master blacksmith with me? Once again, Cao Yun silenced his thoughts. Since the different incidents with Sun Liao, it was clear that there was nothing to gain from arguing with Ren Chao. As long as he was happy, everything was fine.


    "Zhao Qing. 46 moves. Very good."


    "Wait!" All of a sudden Ren Chao shouted. "My points?! I forgot about the points!" He realized that he could have fought for a little bit longer. Crossing the fifty points mark was not possible but he was sure to have been able to go at least up to forty points. "My points!"


    Elder Tang cleared his voice. He liked the guy, but he had to admit he did not know how to behave.


    -


    "Sun Liao. Bow and arrow. Houyi''s Nine suns."


    It was almost the end of this trial as Sun Liao got on the ring. Just like Mei Hua, his weapon was unique among the candidates. Even among cultivators, using a bow and arrow as a main weapon was very rare.


    He had a quiver with around a hundred arrows. The main reason bow and arrow was rare was that before begin a Mortal Warrior you had to use physical arrows. This meant that you could be without weapon in the middle of a fight. At least, when you reached Mortal Warrior, you could produce Qi arrows. But, by this time, all cultivators had already chosen a main weapon and they would seldom change.


    The reason Sun Liao used a bow was because of his main occupation. As an array formation master, he could fire flags instead of arrows and create a temporary formation right in the heart of the battle. Cao Yun was very intrigued, because he wondered how he would fight when the puppet would get near him.


    As soon as the fight started, Sun Liao launched a barrage of arrows all other the puppet, but also all over the ground. The puppet blocked or dodged most of it. But when it tried to move again, its speed plummeted. With the arrows, Sun Liao had created an array formation.


    Ren Chao yelled to Elder Tang. "He''s cheating! He used another technique!"


    "An array formation is not a martial art. He used his martial art to create this array formation."


    Ren Chao got frustrated.


    Sun Liao used is bow to then demonstrate all his skills as the puppet was almost immobile. He shot two or three arrows at once. He was able to make his arrows vibrate to alter their course. Everyone was a little angry about his tactic as they had to fight the puppet head on, but his skill with the bow was real. As the puppet reached the fiftieth move, it suddenly began to move faster and broke out of the array formation.


    Sun Liao was expecting that and knew the end was near. He just wanted to do better than Cao Yun. If he could reach sixty moves, he would probably be alright.


    He chanted some mantra as he fired his arrow and it seemed as though the air around got hotter. When the puppet blocked the arrow, its surface also got redder for an instant. His last arrows were pretty mysterious as another one changed course in midair and hit the puppet in the back of the head.


    When the puppet was upon Sun Liao, he was still able to exchange some blows by using the bow as a kind of staff. Eventually though, his bow was taken from him.


    "Sun Liao. 58 moves. Excellent!"


    While leaving the ring, he sent a look of challenge to Cao Yun.


    "Final candidate, get on the ring."


    Cao Yun did not hesitate at all and stood firm with his spear in hand.


    "Chen Guo. Spear. Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars."


    Immediately after his presentation, Cao Yun dashed with his spear in hand. He kept the right distance and stabbed several times. The shaft of the spear was pretty rigid but with Cao Yun''s strength making it vibrate was easy. In a single strike, he was able to stab at least four times in a row. He attacked all the vital parts on the puppet. When it got closer, Cao Yun used the shaft of the spear as a blunt instrument to strike him in the side and get some distance.


    The way he handled the spear was very elegant, but there was a ferocity within. He used a large sweeping move to push back the puppet and immediately followed with a vertical hit. The candidates were amazed by such a mastery. They knew that this martial art was a 1-star Human rank and how difficult it was to learn.


    -


    Chief Elder Baishen was completely absorbed in the trial. "He almost forged the first star."


    "The first star?"


    "According to the legends, ''The Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was created by a great master who studied the stars composing the body of a true Azure Dragon, a divine beast as vast as our galaxy. He then grouped these stars into different constellations and these constellations into seven Mansions. To achieve the Small Success, you must first forge the seven central stars of these Mansions. A star is formed as the martial art gets engraved in your body and mind."


    "Then, each star can further evolve into a constellation. That is called the True Success. Every move made by the martial artist will contain a bit of the technique at this point. Finally, these constellations can evolve into the Mansions themselves. This is called Perfection. There is no record of anyone attaining the Perfection grade. But if the legends are to be trusted, the martial artist will form a real Azure Dragon''s spirit within him."


    "How long does it take to forge the seven Stars, Sister Baishen?"


    "It depends on the practitioner. I''d say that two to three weeks to forge the first Star is really good ; a week would be excellent. The first one is the easiest to forge. The three following stars can take months to forge each. Finally the last three require a year at the very least. Some martial artists just stop and choose a different martial art. That''s why it''s only considered a 1-star Human rank."


    "You mean to say, that its real rank is superior?"


    "Well, if we only consider the Small Success, yes it''s a 1-star Human rank. But if we consider the True Success, it would probably be between 5-star Human rank and 1-star Heaven rank."


    "And what about the Perfection realm?!" Chief Elder Luoming became terribly curious.


    "Hard to say as no one was ever officially known to have reached it. I can only speculate based on the legends, but I''d say that it surpasses the Heaven rank. After all, it''s supposed to create an Azure Dragon spirit within you, so that could only be a Spirit rank martial art."


    "Then, how come this manual is in the exam?"


    "As I said, nowadays, people consider that forming 1 star is a Small Success, 4 stars a True Success and 7 stars Perfection. No one has the patience to try and evolve the Stars into Constellations or Mansions. These two realms are almost treated as legends. And to be honest, they may be. Some people tried to evolve a Star into a Constellation for more than fifty years. Most just lack the patience and choose another manual. Unless you''re fated and achieve good results, I would also recommend to change for another martial art."


    -


    As he was fighting, Cao Yun was refining his mastery of the spear. Gradually, he was understanding the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' a little better. He was like a rider and his spear was the dragon he rode. As these images got in his head, in his sea of consciousness a dot began to shine dimly in the sky.


    Finally, the puppet got faster. Cao Yun had already reached fifty movements while he was absorbed in his martial art. For him, it was almost like a trance. Cao Yun decided to use the intent of the Drop of Wrath as well as Yi that he was already using since the beginning of the fight. His moves became a little sharper. No one noticed except for Chief Elder Baishen who got even more excited.


    Cao Yun blocked a punch from the puppet with the shaft of his spear and repelled it by creating a vibration in the metal before it grabbed it. His moves got more violent as he was trying his best to last one more move.


    One more move.


    Each time, he was almost beaten but kept on going.


    One more move.


    One more move.


    "One more!" Cao Yun shouted with all his might on the ring. At this moment, the little dot of light in his sea of consciousness exploded into a small star in the distance. Cao Yun felt this change and lost his focus for a moment. He got afraid that the Drop of Wrath he was using was getting out of control again. Sadly, Cao Yun''s instant of distraction ended the fight. The puppet grabbed the spear and flicked it away.

 Chapter 33: Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array

    Chief Elder Baishen''s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "He did it! He forged the first star! Damn it! Why did he get distracted at the last moment?! I want to see him use it!" She sent a telepathic message to Elder Tang. "Restart the fight!"


    Chief Elder Luoming took over. "Sister, sister, calm down! There will be other occasions to see it. Remember the last part of the test." He cleared his voice and got back to Elder Tang. "Sorry about that, Tang Wu. Go on, go on."


    With a frustrated look, Chief Elder Baishen let it go. She would indeed have other occasions to see it. But she would see it! Forging the first star was the easiest part but it required two to three weeks to the average martial artist. Moreover, Cao Yun did look like his weapon of choice was the sword not the spear. With such talent, Chief Elder Baishen could not repress her desires to see more of his growth.


    -


    Unbeknownst to all, Elder Tang got a headache with these chief elders screaming in his mind.


    "Chen Guo. 63 moves. Perfect!"


    All the candidates were in uproar, especially the commoners.


    "Brother Chen! You were amazing! I could almost see the dragon leaping from your spear!" Of course, Ren Chao was the first one to praise him, and very loudly.


    "Brother Chen! You''re awesome!"


    "Brother Chen! Would you spar with me after the exam?" A young boy brandished his spear proudly while asking Cao Yun.


    "Why would Brother Chen waste his time with you?! Spar with me, Brother Chen!"


    ...


    Cao Yun did not know how to answer to all these people. Luckily for him, he was saved by Elder Tang.


    "Silence, silence! It is time to announce the results of this trial! Four candidates have failed. Jiu Lin. Wang Ran. Lishang Huo. Gui Nuo."


    The four candidates already knew they had failed even if one or two still clung to hope. Still, they were young and could try again next year. After all they had come all the way to the second trial of the second test. The next time they took the examination, they would have better results yet.


    The other elders began announcing the points of all the other candidates.


    Once again, Elder Tang was the last one to speak to give the ranks of the top ten. The names had not changed but their rankings did a little.


    "Li Gui - 123 points


    Zhi Wang - 125 points


    Ren Chao - 126 points


    Xin Chen - 131 points


    Xin Xiong - 133 points


    Tian Lan - 143 points


    Mei Hua - 145 points


    Zhao Qing - 151 points


    Sun Liao - 190 points


    Chen Guo - 219 points"


    Ren Chao''s face turned sour when he heard his name so soon. He had been taken over by his own enthusiasm during the trial. Almost starting to cry again, he saw the dark face of Elder Tang and decided not to push it.


    Mei Hua surprised many people. She had no great achievement in the Eight Directions Engulfing array, in an actual battle. However, her comprehension was very good. She probably lacked the experience to apply it in battle against demonic beasts. Mastering a technique and using it in an actual fight were two different things. Similarly, facing beasts and humans were two different things as well.


    Despite her advancement, she was not pleased at all. Her face stayed cold as she was thinking. Fighting was not her main preoccupation, but maybe she would need to give it some more time.


    When it came to Sun Liao, the boy had lost any hope of beating his rival. There were almost 30 points of difference between them. How could he beat him in the next trial with such a margin?


    Finally, the candidates broke out in cheers when Cao Yun''s results were announced. Hearing his fake name being used to praise him, Cao Yun felt a little strange, but he did not recoil from enjoying it. It had been a long time since he received such ovations. Ironically, these compliments made Cao Yun think about his most painful memories. He remembered his family back then. His parents, brother and sister, they all praised him for his achievements. The entire family thought of him as a genius. And now, they were gone. He thought he would always be alone but he had found Feng Yingyue.


    Thinking back to all of this, Cao Yun realized that life was not so bad. Even without his family, he could find some pleasure here and there. That''s when he remembered his father''s last message "Do not throw away your life. Live!" His resolve reaffirmed itself. He would find the culprits and make them pay. But he would also build a life for himself and when the time came, he would rebuild the Cao family. The whole world would remember the Cao name. His relatives would be immortal thanks to him.


    Elder Tang let the youths appreciate their victory. He knew that the last trial was going to be difficult for them.


    -


    "So, Sister, what do you think about the next trial?"


    "I don''t care. Let''s just skip to the fights!"


    "Ha, ha... Sister, please, be patient!" Chief Elder Luoming turned toward Xiao Xuefeng. "What is your opinion, Miss Xiao?"


    "Mei Hua seems to be the most suited for the next trial. The little rascal Sun Liao has also a good disposition but I fear that his character might be lacking." Hearing it, Chief Elder Suxian''s face darkened a little and he kept looking down. "But, I''m more interested in seeing the results of Chen Guo. I believe he has a strong resolve, but I did not test it yet."


    "Oh? I think Miss Xiao''s opinion is very on point. So, let''s see if this little guy gives us another surprise."


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    -


    Elder Tang took the candidates to yet another location. This time, they climbed down some stairs and went underground. It almost looked like they were in a prison. There were heavy metallic doors on all the walls and no sound could be heard.


    Some candidates became worried.


    They finally arrived before a huge empty arena that was dug in the ground of the room. Inside, many complicated and intricate circles were drawn. A huge circle encompassed the entire arena as some ones popped up everywhere, linked to this one.


    The elders went toward a small platform.


    "The next and final trial of this test is the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array formation."


    Hearing the word ''torture'', many candidates became livid.


    "This array formation will test out your will and your character. It will make you feel, see and hear many things, none of which will be real. The only way to fend off these illusions is with your will. No amount of Qi or strength will help you here. As soon as it is too much for you, you need only stand and leave the array formation. To pass this trial, you need to stay inside of it for at least an incense stick. Of course, the longer you stay, the better your results. The current record is eight hours and thirty-seven minutes. This array formation is really tough on your mind but it''s also a great way to temper your will. Most cultivators fail to train their mental strength before they reach Spirit Warrior, that''s why we have so few of them in our Hongchen Kingdom. The sooner you train your mind, the better results you''ll have later, remember. So, I say this as an advice. Try to stay as long as you can, it will only give you benefits."


    This time, Mei Hua''s face seemed to almost lit up and she stopped being so serious with a little smile. In this trial, she was confident in getting the lead.


    It also gave hope back to Sun Liao. Not knowing how the points would be given, he could not be sure, but finally there was a way to fill the gap with Cao Yun. Fires once again burned in his eyes.


    Cao Yun was more interested in what Elder Tang had said in the end. This array formation could be used to temper the will. Incidentally, he had recently begun to train Zhi the Water Will. The Zhi character was already formed in his sea of consciousness but he had had little time to train it. His last week was spent solely focusing on his martial arts. With Yi the Earth Intent, he had been able to train almost every waking moment but none of it had been spent on his mind cultivation.


    Cao Yun was not really afraid of the Drop of Wrath taking over now that his intent had achieved Perfection. But he had realized how beneficial training the mind was. Mastering the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' before would have taken him at least two to three weeks. With ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', he could achieve twice the result for half the effort.


    Following the elders'' instructions, the candidates went down in this array formation. Each one took a seat within the center of all the smaller circles. Once they were all positioned, Elder Tang spoke again.


    "You will have one hour to calm your mind. And I can tell you that you''ll need it. Prepare yourselves well. Then, we''ll activate the array formation."


    Every candidate tried to calm their mind and strengthen their will. If they were given an entire hour to prepare and that the passing time was around five minutes, it could only mean that the trial was really harsh.


    At last, Cao Yun had enough time to get into his sea of consciousness. None of the other candidates should be able to do so yet. In this trial, he had a huge advantage but he wasn''t going to be complacent.


    There had been some changes in his sea of consciousness. The first thing he saw was the small star in the pure sky. It seemed to be really distant but Cao Yun could easily focus on it. It looked exactly like the main star of the first mansion described in the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' manual. When he put his mind on it, he could imagine the moves from the first mansion. Just by studying this star, Cao Yun was able to improve his understanding of the martial art. Of course, it was still essential to test out this understanding in real battles, but that was still a great gift. Most martial artists who would train in the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' would do so solely based on the star chart on the first page. Naturally, being able to see the actual stars was way more useful.


    But he had no time to give to it as of now.


    The second change he saw was within the Zhi character. It seemed to be a little more substantial than last time. And although its color was black, it seemed to have gain a bit of yellow here an there. Looking back to the Yi character, its color had gone from bright yellow like a sun to pure gold. Without his realizing, both characters seemed to have influenced each other.


    Finally, he saw that the Drop of Wrath had stabilized between both characters and there was a very small and faint reflection of the Zhi character in it.


    Cao Yun was amazed by all these transformations. Many things had happened without him knowing. But he could all trace it back to his training. It opened new doors for him to explore. But now was not the time! He circulated his Yi the Earth Intent. This allowed him to get a firm grip on his mind, eliminating all the noise. He was purely focused on the now.


    -


    An hour had finally passed by and Elder Tang''s voice erupted.


    "The trial has begun."


    A sect disciple ignited an incense stick. As its smell began to envelop the arena, other sect disciples put blue stones in different pedestals.


    A blue light followed carvings in the stone and flowed down toward the array formation. As soon as it entered the main circle, it turned into an ominous red. Every small circle lit up at once.


    All of a sudden, the faces of all the candidates changed. An intense pain took over their entire body.


    One moment they were preparing their mind and eliminating wandering thoughts, the next, they were in hell. Their bodies were burning in the middle of a volcano. The pain was so intense, some of them almost immediately stood up. Luckily for them, they remembered that this was just an illusion. Nothing was happening to their physical bodies. But standing this heat for five whole minutes was terrible.


    Mei Hua was the only one who had no change whatsoever on her face. Even Sun Liao and Cao Yun let out small traces of pain, albeit very subtle. She was suffering the same pain as the other, but she was able to let it slip away effortlessly.


    Cao Yun decided not to use the Zhi character right away. If he was correct, the character had been tempered before without him using it. Most likely, it had reacted to his firm will during the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation trial. And he was right, as long as he exerted his will, it would also cultivate the Zhi character. The progress was very slow, yet steady. It was hard to know for sure, but Cao Yun estimated that he could draw the character fifteen to twenty times now.


    Ren Chao was also able to bear the heat. As a blacksmith, he was used to extreme heats. He had obviously never been burned himself to such a degree, but he was more resistant to it than others.


    It turned out that all the candidates were able to bear the first incense stick. Some of them who were on the verge of collapse were even using the aroma of this stick to focus. They were trying to shift their attention from the pain to the fragrance of the incense.


    As soon as the fragrance was becoming fainter, four of them stood up and literally ran out. As they left the array formation, the pain disappeared instantly and they heaved a sigh of relief.


    Elder Tang was smiling and stroking his small beard. This year, all fifty-seven candidates in the trial had succeeded.


    Fifty-seven was still pretty low, but it was in the acceptable range. The previous years, they had between a hundred and sixty candidates who made it to the end. Sadly, the number of candidates taking the exam was decreasing, and the ratio of those who passed seemed to get lower as well. Yes, quality was good, but number was also important. They really needed to attract more candidates, and especially more geniuses.


    Thankfully, their name still had a huge renown. And this year''s batch was top-notch. Sun Liao and Mei Hua were expected, but Cao Yun was such a great surprise, it gave more hope to the elders.

 Chapter 34: Tempering within torment

    The moment the first incense stick burned out, a sect disciple put another one. As a matter of fact, there were twenty sect disciples putting incense sticks all around the array at the exact same time. It served to measure the time, but the fragrance was also part of the array. Yes it had helped some candidates to take their mind off the pain, but it was also necessary to ensure the illusions. If they had used another way to escape from their suffering, their result would have probably been better, but not by much.


    More than fifty candidates still endured the scorching heat. Unbeknownst to them, the heat and pain were gradually increasing.


    After the second incense stick burned away, a sudden reversal occurred. The hellish heat turned into a freezing cold. Feeling as if their limbs were entirely frozen, many candidates were too surprised by the change and quit, not able to adapt to the new kind of pain. Some candidates literally bit their lips to feel a warm sensation of blood and stay focused.


    Ren Chao began to feel the pain. As much as heat was not a problem for him, cold really was. In order to stay strong, he tried to imagine being near the hearth of his father''s forge. Cao Yun, Sun Liao, and even more so, Mei Hua, had no real difficulties steeling their wills against these illusions.


    Soon after, two more incense sticks burned away and a new phase began again. This time, the sensations of extreme heat and extreme cold randomly alternated between them. Their duration and timing were unpredictable so that no one could really adapt to either. Many candidates lost their concentration. Against a continual torment, they could force through, but the constant change eroded their wills.


    Almost an hour after the beginning of the trial, the sensations changed a little as extreme cold and extreme heat could now target different parts of their body at the same time. It created a horrifying sensation. You could for example feel as if your hand was burning but your fingers were frozen. This time, new pains were added as if swords were piercing through them. During at least another hour, they were subjected to all kinds of pain and torment of the flesh. Around half of the candidates could not steel their will against such sufferings and quit.


    Finally, at the start of the third hour, the pain stopped. A melodious music played in everyone''s ears, trying to take them away toward a place of peace and sweetness. The sudden change made many candidates fail. With their wills eroded by the pain, this promise of respite got them. After their hearing, their smell was subjected to such a heavenly promise. Each candidate could smell their favorite food as if a huge banquet had been prepared for them. At the same time, a great sensation of hunger took them. Many candidates could not resist.


    Ren Chao was one of them. Physical pain was not too difficult for him, but his mind was unguarded against this kind of temptation. After all, he really loved meat and wine. When he woke up he was more disappointed by the absence of meat than by his failure. He had been able to resist more than three hours, that was pretty good.


    Cao Yun finally felt his will coming to its limit and was almost taken out of his meditation when mental images flooded his mind. Everyone saw images of beauty and horror, trying to make them give in. That''s when Cao Yun decided to circulate Zhi. It turned out to be very efficient as it renewed his will to fight.


    He was able to draw the character twenty-three times. But as he was approaching his limit, he focused his intent and pushed through. He then tried to focus on the Zhi character itself with every illusion he felt. All the images he was seeing turned into the Zhi character.


    Then, the candidates'' bodies began to feel really uncomfortable, forcing all of them to try to move around. The last sense that was put to the test was their taste. In their mouth, disgusting mixtures could be felt. Some even imagined they were eating their own flesh and blood.


    It kept on and on.


    After the fifth hour, there were fourteen candidates left. A new stage of the array began. They saw scenes of carnage as if they were in, either as torturer or as victim. Gradually, these scenes turned into pictures of paradise. Cao Yun was faced with the beautiful figure of Feng Yingyue completely naked, awaiting him. To her sides, many other beautiful women playing together. Even Xiao Xuefeng was among them, so was Mei Hua. The Zhi character kept circulating and the women turned into water. Just as they had transformed, the water formed the Zhi character in the air.


    Cao Yun was breaking through his mind cultivation like crazy by using the array to fulfill his ends. It continued for another hour.


    After six hours of pain, torment and distractions of all kind, only Sun Liao, Mei Hua and Cao Yun remained.


    Yet another phase of the array began. Now they were reliving parts of their lives.


    Sun Liao was faced against Cao Yun. The boy was smiling as he kept beating Sun Liao, stabbing him with his spear again and again. He put his foot on his head, crushing it to the ground. Suffering this humiliation, Sun Liao''s anger erupted. He could not take it any longer. Jumping to beat up his opponent, Sun Liao realized that he was standing up in reality. The trial was over for him, all because of Cao Yun again. As he harbored this irrational grudge, he looked all around him and was pleased to see that there were only two other people, until he saw who the second person was. Cao Yun was the person who made him fail in the illusion and he was the one who would beat him in reality. It was already too late, no matter if Cao Yun was first or not during this trial, he would stay first in the ranking.


    The visions of Cao Yun were different. At first he was with his family. They were all happy and congratulating him on his achievements after the tournament.


    "Second Brother, come play with me." Cao Huiying watched him with her usual cute face and grabbed on his arm to take him away.


    With tears on his cheeks, Cao Yun could barely answer her as he fought to stay where he was. "Sorry, little sister, big brother is busy right now."


    Cao Yun had stopped circulating the Zhi character. Even knowing that this was an illusion, he wanted to see everyone again and the illusion was so perfect...


    "Come on, your sister wants her big brother." Cao Sheng kept urging his brother from afar.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Big brother, you don''t want to play with me?" As she was about to cry, Cao Huiying looked up to Cao Yun. "The bad men played with me, them!"


    "Yes, brother, they played with her for days. She kept calling for her brother but he was busy..."


    His parents got near him. "We died to protect you, but you let them torture your little sister to death."


    They turned into disfigured corpses and red shadows appeared everywhere. The only person who still looked human was Cao Huiying. The shadows took them and tortured her before Cao Yun.


    "Brother, please! Help me, brother! It hurts! Please!" She kept on screaming, crying and begging.


    If Cao Yun had circulated the Zhi character from the start, he could have controlled himself. But he had given in to temptation. He watched the agony of his little sister. But worse than that, he could only wonder whether or not she had endured such pain before her death. The man who slashed him open had taken her alive but according to the reports her body had been found. Cao Yun could only imagine what had happened between these two moments. And imagination was often worse than reality.


    In real life, Cao Yun was clenching his fists and his teeth so hard that blood was gushing from his hand and from the corner of his lips.


    The chief elders were still looking and Xiao Xuefeng had a sad look on her face.


    "What happened to this little fellow? What kind of memory can trigger such rage?" The blood was flowing on the ground but tears were also flowing down his cheeks.


    Everyone was watching and they could only imagine what he had lived through to get an illusion that would push him to this state.


    Cao Yun was on the verge of losing it when something happened deep within his heart. The Drop of Wrath acted up. Fueled by his rage, the Drop of Wrath tried to overwhelm him. Ironically, the sudden attack on his mind shifted his focus and the illusion almost disappeared before his eyes. If the Drop of Wrath had waited a little bit, he would have lost it and the opportunity to strike would have been even better. Luckily, the Drop of Wrath had no mind of its own. It seemed to only act on instinct.


    However, it stayed a crisis for Cao Yun, but from the outside it seemed as though he had overcome the ordeal.


    The truth was vastly different. He had just exchanged this ordeal for another one. And the new one would not mean fewer points, it would mean losing his sanity.


    However, the change allowed him to circulate Zhi once more. He also circulated Yi to the extreme to put all his mind on this singular task. In his sea of consciousness, the water had turned red and the sky dark. Only the small star of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was visible, staving off the darkness. The two Zhi and Yi characters were resonating with each other as Zhi became more and more tangible.


    From the Drop of Wrath, six arms began to form from blood. On the surface of the water below, the image of the same red demon with six arms and three faces was reflected.


    Cao Yun focused on the Yi character that was reflected on the Drop of Wrath and tried to suppress it once more. While he was focusing on this singular task, the Zhi character kept on becoming stronger and soon enough, it also got reflected in the Drop of Wrath. Steadily, the fury of the Drop of Wrath subsided.


    -


    Up in the sky, the chief elders were seeing everything.


    "He almost gave in to the illusion... What strong willpower. He came back from the brink just now!"


    "Miss Xiao, could it be that he is an alchemist as well?"


    "No, he''s not." Xiao Xuefeng was sure of this for she had seen Gu Lin''s memories. "But I believe he has the talent for it." Xiao Xuefeng also turned her eyes toward Mei Hua. "So does this little girl."


    "Oh? Miss Xiao, do you happen to also know this little girl?"


    "Indeed, she was a servant in my institute."


    "Oh?! Interesting..." Chief Elder Luoming stroked his nonexistent beard. "Maybe she came here to follow you, Miss Xiao."


    -


    In the array, only Mei Hua and Cao Yun were enduring the trial. More than eight hours had now passed. They were both close to exceed the record.


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath had finally calmed down. He could also feel that his Zhi, the Water Will had advanced to the True Success stage. But, he was completely exhausted.


    Sweat was dripping from both cultivators. It was clear for everyone that they would soon collapse. The onlookers stopped breathing as they focused their eyes on every subtle movements of the two last candidates.


    The first to collapse was... Mei Hua, just as the one hundred and third incense stick was burned away. Cao Yun sensed that he could not persevere much longer. In a final attempt, he decided to circulate Zhi one last time. As he finished, the one hundred and fourth incense stick was being replaced.


    -


    When Mei Hua left her meditative state, she could barely stand up. She was forced to use her hands to get up. Seeing all the candidates watching her from above, she felt a huge sense of pride and achievement. Yes, she was not the best fighter, but her mind was way superior to everyone else. She looked for the top ten candidates. That''s when a foreboding sensation crept up in her.


    "Where is Chen Guo?"


    She looked for Cao Yun everywhere, thinking that maybe her fatigue was tricking her. When she finally decided to look around her in the array, she almost coughed up blood.


    What pride! What achievement! What superior mind! This boy was better in cultivation, in fighting, in comprehension, and now even in her forte, in mind.


    Mei Hua almost felt as though she was still in the illusion. Her will had been completely exhausted by the trial and she had no more to keep her calm. While people saw her disturbed, they naturally thought she had pushed herself a little too hard. Some sect disciples went to carry her out.


    "Great job, Junior! You can rest now!" The consoling words of one of them were just noise to her. The world she knew was gone.


    -


    Cao Yun also could not stand by himself. His body collapsed on the floor as his breathing was chaotic. Elder Tang immediately commanded other sect disciples to get him out.


    When Cao Yun got back to his senses, he was resting beside Ren Chao.


    "Brother Chen!" No sooner had Ren Chao yelled, Elder Tang hit him behind the head.


    "He needs some rest, not your screaming!" Elder Tang was quite fond of Ren Chao, but he was still exhausting.


    Ren Chao looked down and for the first time in the exam, he whispered. "Sorry, Brother Chen."


    After confirming that Cao Yun was fine, Elder Tang went back to the platform. He knew that Cao Yun was very important for the chief elders and the sect given his performance and the message he had received from Chief Elder Baishen.


    "Congratulations! All of you have passed the trial!"


    Cheers of joy erupted everywhere as no one was failed in this round. A sense of camaraderie was forming between nobles and commoners. They had gone through all these trials and realizing how hard it was, they started to really respect each other and rejoice together.


    Elder Tang let them enjoy their victory. It was necessary after such an ordeal.


    The only ones who did not rejoice were Mei Hua and Sun Liao. The girl was still shocked and did not know how to process the earlier events. Her confidence had been destroyed. She thought she was lacking in terms of fighting but that was because she focused on her mind...


    The boy was different. He had almost let go of his resentment earlier but the illusions he saw had reignited his desire to humiliate Cao Yun. He was staring at him as he was still recovering.

 Chapter 35: Final test

    At the end of the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array formation trial, Mei Hua had lasted eight hours and fifty-five minutes, falling short of Cao Yun by only five minutes. They had both exceeded the previous record though.


    When Elder Tang started to announce their rankings, the candidates were used to it by now. Each elder gave some rankings and Elder Tang concluded with the top ten.


    "Li Gui - 140 points


    Ren Chao - 145 points


    Zhi Wang - 154 points


    Xin Xiong - 154 points


    Xin Chen - 162 points


    Tian Lan - 179 points


    Zhao Qing - 185 points


    Mei Hua - 208 points


    Sun Liao - 229 points


    Chen Guo - 283 points"


    Ren Chao was gloomy as he realized that he was falling more and more behind. If it kept on going, he would not even be in the top ten by the end of the exam and there was still one test left.


    Mei Hua who should have been elated to be in the top three with points above 200 almost did not react. Sun Liao had no reaction either when he heard the gap between him and Cao Yun becoming larger yet again. And Cao Yun was still recovering and examining his sea of consciousness to fully grasp what was going on. He knew he had passed the trial and that he was first, but everything else did not matter that much.


    To say the least, the atmosphere was pretty strange with four of the top ten acting very weird as the other candidates seemed more happy for them than if it was actually them in their stead. Even the chief elders were a little perplexed. Luckily, the candidates were so excited that they failed to notice that the people they cheered did not seem as happy as they should have. And Elder Tang quickly took over.


    "The first two tests are done. You all passed the Assessment Stone and the Three Trials. Soon, the last test will begin. But before that, you''ll be able to rest some more. Sect disciples will show you to your rooms. I advise you to use this rest to its fullest, for tomorrow''s trial."


    All the candidates finished their conversations, very excited by what would happened the following day. While their chatter died down, they followed the sect disciples to their respective room. The rooms were what they had seen when first entering, small chambers with metallic doors. They only had a thin mattress on the ground. Obviously, these were meditation chambers meant to isolate oneself from the rest of the world.


    And they worked perfectly, no sound could enter or escape these chambers.


    -


    Cao Yun sat cross-legged on the thin mattress and went into his sea of consciousness. The Zhi character was now fully formed, but it seemed pretty weak with small cracks everywhere, ready to crumble at a moment''s notice. Moreover, the Drop of Wrath had stabilized once more, right in the middle of the two characters. Of course, the sea was back to being blue and calm and the sky white and peaceful. The Yi character was pure gold and seemed even sturdier than before, and maybe a little bit bigger as well.


    Seeing that everything seemed fine, Cao Yun heaved a sigh of relief. The danger was real, but he had received great benefits. When he tried to draw the Zhi character, he was able to do it seventy-two times. Its True Success stage had been reached and exceeded in a matter of days.


    Carried away by his excitement, Cao Yun decided to take some time to examine the star that was shining above his sea of consciousness. Using his stronger intent, he discovered that this was not one star. There were actually two stars orbiting each other. The first one was bright and blue and the second one was half its size, explaining why it was difficult to see at first. They turned rapidly around each other.


    Cao Yun was transfixed by their dance. Gradually he began to recognize the movements of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' through this stellar choreography. Unless someone was able to forge and admire the first star, they could never see this. The star chart in the manual did not even show that they were in fact two different stars so close to one another. He really wanted to keep watching this celestial performance, but he had to admit that he was exhausted. Trying to derive truths with this level of fatigue could easily lead to many mistakes.


    After some hesitation, he decided to only cultivate briefly so as to avoid any Qi deviation. He used Zhi and Yi jointly and circulated his Qi according to the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. He could feel his meridians loosening as his energy flew through them.


    -


    The next day, Cao Yun woke up more energized than he had ever felt in his entire life. His willpower had clearly skyrocketed. He would probably be able to use his intent at its fullest for half a day without any problem. When he finally reached Perfection with Zhi, he would be able to use his intent all day long. At that point, it would always be active in his mind.


    The sect disciples gathered the candidates outside of this prison-like underground compound. Elder Tang was waiting for them. Once the sect disciples had lined up the candidates, he started to speak.


    "Congratulations! You are now all official outer disciples of our Wubei Sect."


    All the candidates were visibly confused as they thought that today would be the final test.


    "I see that you''re a little lost. Let me then explain to you the three tests once again."


    "The first test only consists of the Assessment Stone to see if your cultivation is high and stable enough for the second test. You can see it as another kind of screening. It''s just a little more precise that the screening you already passed. The second test is composed of three trials meant to assess you according to your fighting ability, your comprehension and your will. Each trial removes candidates who are too lacking in any of these aspects. But they also determine the amount of points you''ll receive."


    "You should be wondering what is the use of these points... You''ll find out after the third test but to sum it up briefly, they''re a kind of currency within the sect, allowing you to get better resources."


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    The candidates all recalled how many points they had and felt either dejected or pretty good. They knew that having more points was probably a good thing, but they mainly thought it would decide on their passing the exam or not.


    "Then the third so-called test. This test is not meant to determine whether or not you''re worthy of joining the sect, but rather to better test your aptitude and rank you within the sect. It''s also a kind of rite of passage. You will be faced against the current outer disciples of the sect who passed the exam last year. They''ve cultivated and trained within the sect the whole year. As you see, this ''test'' is a tradition of our Wubei Sect and will not change our decision. It''s still technically part of the examination, so you won''t be able to wear our sect uniform yet. But for all intent and purposes, you are outer disciples of our Wubei Sect."


    The candidates started to whisper among themselves.


    "Follow me, then, toward your sect!"


    When they heard the Wubei Sect being referred as ''your'', the candidates finally realized that they had succeeded. Elder Tang let them some time for the news to sink in.


    The remaining commoners jumped in the air to express their joy and excitement. Ren Chao took Cao Yun in his arms.


    "Brother Chen, I''m in, I''m in!" Cao Yun wanted to tell him that so was he, but he abstained from it.


    After several minutes of raw celebration, Elder Tang finally cleared his throat and asked the newly appointed outer disciples to follow him.


    They reached a gigantic door, almost as big as the Shell Gate but red. Before crossing the gate, Elder Tang stopped and explained.


    "This is the Heart Gate, only special guests and disciples may walk through it. Even the servants must take the long way around. When you cross this gate, remember, you are disciples of the Wubei Sect! Be proud of what you achieved but stay humble and uphold the dignity of our sect, your sect!"


    With a solemn attitude, all the candidates walked beneath the huge Heart Gate. Pride and joy overtook them and they felt a little bigger when they came out the other side.


    Cao Yun also felt something. He was a little bit closer to his ambition. Avenging his family would require information and strength. The sect would give him both, through connections in the Hongchen Kingdom and through training and resources.


    -


    Once on the other side of the Heart Gate, they saw the scenery change. Between the Shell Gate and the Heart Gate were all the facilities, the training grounds, the large buildings of the sect. After the Heart Gate, was a more residential area. The buildings were pretty basic but they seemed very old. The Wubei Sect had existed for more than ten thousand years and these buildings were at least that old and still standing.


    Few people were walking the streets. And the only ones who did were servants. In a sect, servants were people who got in before they could pass the requirements. They would be employed to serve the disciples and help the sect in various activities such as cooking, cleaning and this sort of things. In exchange, they would get some resources and training to help them become true disciples later on. Most of the time, these servants were pretty young, between twelve and fifteen.


    Elder Tang lead the new disciples straight to a square from where huge clamors could be heard.


    As they approached, they saw around two hundred people wearing the Wubei Sect uniform. They were standing around a wooden platform clearly designed for duels.


    These people wore a small emblem on their chest. It had two characteristics. The first one was a number that probably indicated their year, and behind it was a symbol different for every disciple. For some it was a red cliff, for others a purple cloud, and a few had a flying swallow. These symbols were meant to represent something but right now Cao Yun did not know what it was. With his intent, he quickly realized that there were only eight different symbols.


    The other thing he realized was that most of the emblems had the numbers one or two. There were some numbers four and five, very few of them, but no number three.


    Elder Tang entered the square first. All the disciples bowed respectfully to him. Some servants came to show the new recruits to their area. Among the disciples gathered in the square, the new recruits recognized some of the faces from the sect disciples who had accompanied them during the trials.


    Most likely, the gossip had spread throughout all the disciples. Indeed, many of them were staring at Cao Yun. He got a little uncomfortable and it served to make Sun Liao even more jealous.


    The new recruits lined up on the wooden platform. It was big enough to support at least a hundred people. With them being only fifty-seven, it seemed a little empty. Most years, the sect accepted around eighty recruits. This batch was indeed a little small.


    From the sky, the chief elders descended. As they stayed above all else, floating in the sky, all the disciples cupped their fists and bowed to them.


    "This junior pays respect to the chief elders." The new recruits imitated their seniors.


    "Our new disciples have been chosen! Welcome them in our Wubei Sect!"


    All the disciples cupped their fists. "Welcome, Junior Brothers!"


    And the new guys followed suit. "Thank you, Senior Brothers!"


    The man in the sky kept talking, he was Chief Elder Luoming. "From today onwards, and as long as you uphold the name of our Wubei Sect, you are all brothers and sisters. Conflict may arise between you, but remember! We all strive for the betterment and protection of mankind!"


    All turned toward the chief elder. "This junior understands, Chief Elder!"


    "Now, as per the tradition, juniors and seniors will fight on the examination platform. For this day, forget about seniority. But do not forget, these are not life-or-death battles. Show your strength but also show restraint."


    He then landed on a higher platform with the other chief elders. Cao Yun also recognized Xiao Xuefeng. They probably all observed them during the tests. He vaguely remembered her naked in his illusion and quickly erased this picture by circulating both Zhi and Yi. She was a Spirit Warrior, if he had indecent thoughts about her, she may be see through him, and his fate would be terrible. He also thought that this was disrespectful.


    Elder Tang took over after Chief Elder Luoming.


    "Each one of the new disciple will fight one of the first-years. This test serves to show your strength as new disciples and for the first-years to showcase their progress during the year they trained with us. The fights have already been decided. To be clear, there is no ranking in these fights; just show us your ability."


    When he heard it, Sun Liao got thinking. He looked at Cao Yun. He had already lost his bet, but technically the examination was not over. He had to think of a way to bridge the gap between us, but it seemed like no point would be awarded in this test. Most of all, he wanted to fight Cao Yun. Yes, he had been astounded by him, but he still had a chance. They had the same cultivation, so the result of the fight was not certain.


    "Given that you still don''t have real weapons yet, you will all fight with the training weapons. But this time, you can choose any weapon, even several of them. You can also use all your martial arts and techniques, but no artifact. The rules are simple, if you get knocked out, if you give up or if you fall from the platform, you lose. Killing and irreversibly wounding your opponent is strictly forbidden. You are all disciples, brothers and sisters. Some accidents can always happen but in this case, I will personally stop the fight. And if you try to seriously hurt your opponent on purpose, do not blame me for being cruel. Are the rules clear?"


    "Yes, Elder Tang!"


    "Fine, let the final test begin!"

 Chapter 36: A friendly competition

    The pairings had already been decided and the first fights began. The first-years were fair play and let the juniors demonstrate their abilities before getting serious and beat them. And they did beat them. All the new disciples lost their fight.


    Around the platform, the first-years who did not fight and the second-years took good care to record everything they saw. All the strengths and weaknesses of the new recruits were exposed for them to see.


    Finally, it was the turn of the top ten. All of a sudden, the audience got more invested.


    Li Gui got on the platform and showcased his swordsmanship. Being last in the top ten, he did not want to lose face before the others. He put up a good performance as his opponent was not too aggressive. Seeing that none of his attacks even touched the other party, he used his ultimate move.


    ''Infinite World of Blades''.


    Being a 5th-grade Mortal, Li Gui could not manifest his Qi outside yet. However, he could control its flow in his meridians. By doing so, a cultivator could still use some of the mysteries within a martial art. The people close to the platform felt as if they were surrounded by blades.


    When Li Gui''s attack got close to his opponent, he blocked with his saber. A shock wave erupted from the collision but only one of the fighters was sent back, Li Gui.


    "I admit my defeat. Thank you for your leniency, Senior Brother."


    -


    In the next fight, Ren Chao was pitted against a woman fighting with a whip. On her uniform was the number one and in the background two strips of silk intertwined. One was red and the other silver.


    "Junior Brother, I''m Wang Mei."


    "Senior Sister, I''m Ren Chao. Please give me some pointers."


    Wang Mei took out her whip and immediately a boom echoed in the square, as if thunder was coming down. Wang Mei''s outfit was a lot looser than the others. In order to fight, she took an arm out of her uniform and exposed her naked shoulder. Added with her provocative posture, she had an adult charm that was hard to resist for young men.


    Ren Chao was somewhat embarrassed to fight with a woman and even more so by the way she revealed her body. He had no experience whatsoever with the fair sex. On the other hand, Wang Mei had, and she was amused by the flustered man before her. Even though he was almost twenty and looked like a giant bull, he was blushing before this woman.


    "So, are you coming to get me?" An amused voice entered his ear and Ren Chao got even more flustered.


    Taking a huge breath, he tightened the grip on his mace. "Here I come!" Running like mad, he soon was near Wang Mei. With all of his strength, he hit with the mace. Wang Mei easily dodged as the mace collided with the platform, leaving a dent in it. Despite her dodge, she felt a gust of wind pushing her further.


    Using her evasive movement, Wang Mei''s whip wrapped around Ren Chao''s leg. She took two steps backwards due to the shock wave from his mace and pulled on the whip. Ren Chao sensed the whip trying to trip him over and used all his weight as well as his mace to keep his balance.


    As he tried to hit the whip with his mace, Wang Mei took back her weapon and lashed several times. Her whip looked like it obeyed her mind given the mastery with which she was able to wield it. Its impressive speed was enough to cut the flesh. As speed was not his strong suit, Ren Chao stayed deeply rooted where he was and used his mace as a shield. Not a single lash went past the head of his mace. Each time there was a gap in the attacks, he tried to move forward.


    Wang Mei''s whip coiled around the shaft of his mace to try and take it away from him. His grip tightened even more and this time, he used his weight to try and pull her over instead. Wang Mei was lifted up into the air and went straight for Ren Chao who was ready with his mace.


    ''Dancing Goddess''. In the air, Wang Mei was able to retract her whip and lashed in another direction to change her course. It seemed as if lightning went out as she lacerated the air with her weapon.


    "You''re even stronger than you look." Ren Chao was a middle 4th-grade Mortal but his physical strength alone was similar to a 7th-grade Mortal or even higher. Despite her higher cultivation, Wang Mei was not a match for him. If she could not move him at all, the fight would be difficult. At first, she only wanted to push him off the platform. But this would be too difficult from the look of things.


    "Ain''t I?!" Ren Chao started to laugh out loud. He even lifted up his mace and contracted his arms. "No metal can resist my hammer."


    On the ground, everyone had the same thought. "You''re not in a forge! And this is not even a hammer!"


    Wang Mei burst out laughing. "I really like you."


    "What?!" Ren Chao had no idea how to answer that. "I... I... I won''t fall for your trap! You won''t disturb me!" Despite his words, Ren Chao really was disturbed, and red.


    Just after he finished talking, Ren Chao ran with his mace up in the air. As Wang Mei was expecting a vertical strike and was ready to dodge, she got surprised when Ren Chao used the shaft of the mace to stab straight. When she dodged the stab, Ren Chao changed his grip and swept horizontally. The sudden change put Wang Mei in a difficult position.


    When she was close to the mace, she felt as though she was only a piece of metal on the verge of being demolished by a hammer.


    ''Goddess''s Embrace''. She got as close as possible to Ren Chao and wrapped her whip around his entire body in an intricate way. By using her whole body pressed against his back, she tightened her bindings as much as she could. Both of Ren Chao''s arms were now bound to his chest. The way the whip was coiled around him used his own strength against him. The more he fought against the whip, the tightener it became.


    Ren Chao was blunt but he was not stupid. Understanding that, he stopped fighting and tried to use his legs. Wang Mei was just behind him and they were both very close to the edge of the platform. In order to win this duel, he just had to trip her over.


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    When he was about to execute his plan, Wang Mei rotated with him and inclined her body. At the same time, the whip loosened and Ren Chao got disoriented. Wang Mei easily tripped him over the edge.


    As Ren Chao hit the ground, he lost the duel. Watching him from the platform, Wang Mei whispered a sweet message for him. "If you''re lonely, come and see. I''d love to have a chat with you."


    Leaving Ren Chao in a very strange state, Wang Mei slowly walked off into the distance.


    When she got back to the disciples she knew, a very young woman stopped her. "Don''t you feel any shame? We''re in public!" She wore an emblem with the number one and some kind of swallow in the background.


    "Oh? Sorry, was I too bold for you, Sister? Maybe I should find you a man to relax."


    "You! If I ever want one, I wouldn''t need you!"


    "Oh? So you do want one?"


    "That''s..." The young woman got as flustered as Ren Chao was. "That''s not what I said!"


    Another woman, a little older, went to her rescue. On her chest was the exact same emblem, the number one and a swallow in the back. "Sister Wang, do not tease my sister please." Wang Mei laughed a little and walked away. "And you Ling Hui, you should know that you can never win an argument with Wang Mei. And what did she do that was so improper?"


    "I''m sorry, Sister Zhi." Ling Hui looked down but then got thinking and tried to retort. "But she flirted during her duel. You know she''s with the Coiling Silk Faction, these women are all..."


    "Ling Hui!" The woman had a stern look. "You should know better than to spread rumors about your sisters."


    "Sorry..."


    -


    When he walked back to the new disciples, Ren Chao got really quiet. Elder Tang almost laughed out loud when he saw his face, but he had to keep his composure in public. Maybe he would tease him a little in private.


    "Brother Ren, this senior sister seems to really like you. Good for you!"


    "Ah... Ah..." Not knowing how to answer, his nature quickly took over. "Ha, ha, ha! Who wouldn''t like me after all?! Ha, ha, ha!"


    -


    Wang Mei got back to a group wearing the same emblem as her, two strips of silk intertwined.


    "Do you really fancy him?"


    "Yes. He''s interesting." Wang Mei took a quick look back to watch the young man and saw him laughing with his friends. "And he seems very honest."


    "Isn''t he a little too weak?"


    "Not at all... I almost used all my Qi in my attacks, but he took everything on with sheer strength. I thought I could restrain him but even by going full out he almost broke free. If we had been in a life-or-death battle, I probably would have been crushed under his mace. He''s a bit lacking in experience, but that can always be rectified. And his character is very good."


    -


    While the other disciples all went dueling on the platform, the older disciples looking from the ground kept on discussing about them.


    Cao Yun was watching them and he noticed that they were gathered according to the emblem they wore on their chest. The number was their year and the background was most likely some kind of group affiliation.


    They were eying the new disciples as if they were about to go buy some meat, comparing them to their tastes. In total, he noticed eight emblems. The emblem he saw the most was just a red cliff, then there was a purple cloud, a flower of some kind, difficult to make out, maybe an orchid, the door of a temple, an horizontal flame, a lake with a shell in it, the two strips of silk intertwined and finally the swallow emblem.


    The swallow emblem was worn by only four people, including the two women who spoke with Wang Mei. And they were all first-years.


    During his examination of the square, the fights had gone on.


    -


    Mei Hua also lost her fight. Her rope was controlled with more dexterity and she was almost able to tie up her opponent. Unfortunately, he escaped the encirclement at the last minute and using the gap in her attacks got close. Once a blade was on her throat, she admitted defeat.


    "Thank you for letting me win, Junior Sister." The guy visibly tried to subtly flirt with her but in this fight, he had no hope.


    Then came the fight of Sun Liao. Still with a bow, he also took up a sword.


    In the first part of the fight, he tried to keep his opponent at a distance. In a single shot, he could fire five arrows, all going in different directions. He even was able to produce small array formations with his arrows. On the platform, his arrows formed a kind of circle and began to move on their own. They flew around and trapped his opponent within the circle. He had to dodge at least ten arrows each time he tried to make a move.


    "I thought that Mortals could not use Qi outside of their body, how can he control those arrows?"


    A first-year with the lake emblem asked out loud and he got an answer from a second-year wearing the temple emblem.


    "This is not Qi manipulation, this is an array formation. For low-level array formations, you don''t have to infuse any Qi in it, the Qi of nature itself can be used. If you align your array formation with nature, it can absorb a small quantity of Qi from the environment and sustain itself for some time. Of course, if you can emit Qi, the formation will be stronger and will last as long as you do."


    "Wait, he was able to set up these arrows in a formation aligned with nature during the fight?! But he should not have been here before, right?"


    "Yes, he probably used the other duels to analyze this place and deduce the right way to set up his formation..."


    "Awesome!"


    "But it won''t save him..."


    Alas, the area of the platform was not that big, so Sun Liao soon found himself too close to his enemy who kept on advancing. The arrows only slowed him down but they could not beat him.


    Sun Liao was forced to switch to his sword. It was obvious he had only trained a little with a sword, just in case he could not use a bow. Still, he was able to put a small fight before being thrown off the platform by a powerful strike he blocked head-on. Sun Liao was expecting to lose, but he was so down when he thought about Cao Yun and their bet, that he looked really dejected by this defeat.


    "Junior Brother, no need to feel so bad. Your archery and your array formations were excellent. If we had been on an open field, I''m not sure I could have even come near you."


    "Thank you, Senior Brother. Your swordsmanship was great as well." Sun Liao really did not need more enemies now, so he controlled himself to shave off some arrogance and be polite.


    On the platform of the chief elders, Chief Elder Luoming got surprised.


    "It seems like your candidate is different from you, Brother Suxian."


    "What do you mean?!" Chief Elder Suxian instinctively asked but then inquired further. "Are you going to tease me again?"


    "No, no. If you say that, Miss Xiao will think that I''m just a bully. I only meant that your candidate can learn from his mistakes and control his mouth. That''s a good thing, right?"


    "You!" Chief Elder Suxian understood the subtext that he was incapable to do so himself.


    "Brother Suxian?! You disagree with me?"


    Chief Elder Suxian decided to stop trying to argue with his friend. The bet he had a few days earlier was lost for sure now and he just didn''t have the will to play with his friend for the time being.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun was going to fight. His opponent was a woman wielding a sword. He immediately recognized the woman because she was one of the only disciples to wear the swallow emblem.


    She was extremely elegant and stood perfectly straight. In her eyes, there was a great determination but she seemed friendly enough.


    "Junior Brother, I''m Zhi Yin. Let''s exchange some pointers."


    "Senior Sister Zhi, I''m Chen Guo. Please give me some pointers."

 Chapter 37: The first horn of the dragon

    Once Cao Yun took his spear in hand, he looked different, like an animal with its fangs and claws out. Zhi Yin followed suit and her friendliness disappeared at once. She was one with the steel of her sword, calm and ready.


    Many people were excited by this fight, this was the last one and it opposed two legends. Cao Yun had been known through the news they got of the trials. He rapidly became a legend because he broke many records. In the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation, he took out all the eight beasts as they attacked together. In the Eighteen Weapons Mechanical Puppet trial, he chose a 1-star Human rank manual and got one of the highest score in history. It was not in the top ten, but if you only considered 1-star Human rank martial arts, he was in the top three. Finally, he broke the record in the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array formation.


    All the disciples had gone through these trials as well and knew how difficult each one was. So Cao Yun really impressed them. Of course, some disciples refused to believe without seeing and ridiculed the ones who already idolized him.


    On the other hand, Zhi Yin was known as ''Fairy Zhi'' by some. Last year, she was the only candidate to beat one of the first-years. Since then, she had quickly climbed up the power ranking of the sect. Her way of the sword was very famous and for many, flawless. When you added her elegant beauty to the mix, she was worshiped as a fairy by a few disciples. As a matter of fact, she found it pretty disturbing. But as long as they kept to themselves, she wouldn''t say anything.


    Instead of listening to all the chatter down below, Cao Yun focused all his intent on the fight. It was the first time he was going to be able to use ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' in an actual battle. He even had obtained some insights since the Eighteen Weapons Mechanical Puppet trial. From the get go, he circulated Yi and Zhi together.


    -


    Around the platform, the disciples were still chattering about the fight as the opponents were gauging each other.


    "How do you think he will fare against Fairy Zhi?"


    "From the rumors, this Chen Guo got 283 points. Last year Fairy Zhi only got 258 points..."


    "Only 258?! How many did you get, you?!"


    Anyone who would speak in a bad or not flattering way about Fairy Zhi immediately met a wall of outrage.


    "I only meant to say that he got a bit more than her."


    "So what?! If she took the tests right now, aren''t you convinced that she would beat his small record, huh?"


    "Yes! And just because you have a higher score doesn''t mean that you''ll win!"


    "I never said that he could beat her!" The young man who had first talked tried to backtrack a little under this barrage. "But he should be able to last some time."


    The disciples were overexcited, and were looking forward to the fight. On the chief elders'' platform, the atmosphere was way different. On one side, Chief Elder Baishen focused all her senses on the fight. And on the other side, Chief Elder Suxian was completely devastated. The only thing on his mind was the Exquisite Purple Jasmin. Chief Elder Luoming felt really awkward as he could not speak to any of them.


    "Hum... Miss Xiao? What do you think about your candidate against Zhi Yin?"


    "I''m not too sure either. She''s a 6th-grade Mortal and her sword art seems very well refined for her age. She''s a formidable opponent even within her own cultivation grade. However, Chen Guo looks like he is a raw material waiting to be modeled."


    "What do you mean?"


    Chief Elder Baishen interrupted. "He gained some insights in the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' and he wants to test them in actual battle. I don''t think his chances of winning are very good right now. But if he can confirm what he guessed, Zhi Yin may be in danger."


    Chief Elder Baishen loved fighting, but what she loved even more was seeing fighters progress. That was the main reason why she had decided to be the Chief Elder of the martial art pavilion. She could follow each fighter''s evolution. Even young martial artists could have ideas she would never have thought about. After all, she could not learn every single martial art to the Perfection stage.


    Among the crowd, many disciples were also speaking in a more quiet way. They were trying to figure out how they could make Cao Yun rally their side.


    -


    Both fighters watched each other for an instant. Zhi Yin was the first one to move.


    ''Peng Opens his Wings'' As she charged, a huge gust of wind formed behind her. Mortal cultivators could not use Qi manifestation so they could not control the Qi outside of their body. But by using a martial art and controlling the flow of Qi within their meridians, some phenomena could still happen around them. They just lacked a real control over it. These phenomena were caused by their martial art itself.


    Cao Yun stood his ground. He focused his intent on Zhi Yin''s sword and stabbed with his spear. His weapon collided with the sword and altered its trajectory. Unable to change it in time, the gust of wind went into the distance, hitting nothing. Using the distraction, Cao Yun stabbed again.


    ''Peng Goes Back to Sea''. Zhi Yin jumped backward and landed gracefully on her feet.


    Cao Yun was relentless. Spear in hand, he ran toward the woman and kept on stabbing in an obvious motion.


    Zhi Yin tried to block the stabs by deflecting the shaft with her sword. But as soon as her sword touched the spear, a strange vibration entered through it and went into her arm. Without any hesitation, she jumped back again and had to grab her right arm with the left to stop it from shaking.


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    Cao Yun had incorporated ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' with his normal stab. This was a feint to force her to get in contact with his weapon. He charged again and was about to stab when he retracted the spear completely and made a big sweeping motion with the shaft. Ready to dodge on the side so as to not suffer this strange vibration, Zhi Yin got surprised.


    ''Black Wings Cover the Sky''. She used her sword as a shield before her. As both weapons collided, Cao Yun sent the same vibrations from the spear to the sword. But this time, Zhi Yin was prepared. She stabbed the sword in the ground just at the moment of impact, creating another vibration through it. She then changed hand and ran toward Cao Yun.


    ''Ninety Thousand Li''. Her figure flashed before his eyes. She was already behind him. As he was attacking with the shaft, Cao Yun got just enough time to block her sword with the tip of his spear.


    ''Annihilating the Horses''. He went low to sweep off her legs. As she easily dodged, he exerted all of his strength in his leg and took some distance, combining once again ''Annihilating the Horses'' and ''Cutting the Retreat''.


    The spear properly back in hand, Cao Yun tried to focus on the binary star that was revolving in his sea of consciousness. He was preparing another stab.


    This time, Zhi Yin had no desire to come close to him. She understood that if she had not dodged his legs, her bones would have been broken. But a sword was at a disadvantage against a spear if she kept a long distance. She had the perfect move to solve the problem.


    ''Mount Tai Fills the Sky''. She jumped and slashed with her sword. As the blade came down, the winds gathered around the strike. It formed a long blade of air following the trajectory of the sword.


    Cao Yun persevered and paid no attention to this sharp wave. His mind was entirely focused on the binary star and its rotation.


    Just when the air blade was going to strike him, he stabbed with the spear. By adding the vibration from ''Slaughtering the Enemy'', he made a strange motion with his hands. The spear began to rotate in his back hand along its axis. It became like a drill directed at Zhi Yin.


    He had finally uncovered the first move hidden within ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. First star, Horn Star, ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''.


    The ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' manual contained techniques and moves, but they were just the basics. To really master this martial art, you had to meditate on the stars themselves and derive hidden techniques from them. Of course, doing so without seeing the actual stars was terribly hard and it explained why many people just gave up on it. But Cao Yun had the chance to be able to get inside his sea of consciousness. This way, he could emulate the creator of this martial art and directly observe the stars for himself.


    The rotation and the vibration both hit the blade made of air and the tip of the spear pierced through it as if it was paper. Continuing its trajectory, it was going straight for Zhi Yi''s chest.


    Seeing this drill going right for her, Zhi Yi circulated the last variation of ''Peng''s Journey to Heaven'', ''Journey to the Southern Darkness''. Once more her figure disappeared for an instant and she reappeared in a blind spot of Cao Yun.


    Her technique was very mysterious as it used the wind to move at incredible speed. But she still had some issues with controlling the last variation and she got disoriented. Luckily for Cao Yun, he had his Earth Intent. The movement of Zhi Yin could not escape his eyes, she wasn''t fast enough yet. If she was a bit more proficient in this last technique, he never could have followed her move just now.


    Using the force of the spear going forward, he jumped and took some distance from the young woman behind him.


    -


    Chief Elder Baishen was in a trance. These moves were nothing for a Spirit Warrior like her, but seeing someone derives new understandings about their martial art right in the middle of the fight got her excited.


    Xiao Xuefeng was silent, but according to her own words earlier, Cao Yun was like a raw material waiting to be modeled. With her spiritual senses, she could feel that he was trying to figure out something with this fight. It turned out, he was in the process of deriving the moves of the first star.


    Zhi Yin was maybe going to be the only first-year beaten by a junior this year. Losing against such a talent did not seem humiliating for Zhi Yin, nor for anyone else watching the show. But it would be ironic that the only one who was able to beat a first-year during the last examination would then be eliminated the following year.


    She would fight until the end. There was still one move she had not used from her ''Peng''s Journey to Heaven''. It was a move she had not been able to pull off in actual battle as of now. Even in training, it was too taxing on her, and she could only do it once. This move required her to circulate her Qi along a certain pathway and suddenly reverse it with as much strength as possible. With her 6th-grade Mortal cultivation, her meridians and vessels were not strong enough yet to bear this kind of pressure and she would be completely worn out afterwards.


    Not willing to use it, she tried to think of what she could do instead. In the end, she reckoned that she would probably wear herself out fighting this boy and he would win anyway.


    She made her decision and assumed the position of ''Lake of Heaven''.


    Cao Yun felt something odd with this position and readied himself. His intent was focused on Zhi Yin and he was the first to perceive what she was doing, apart from the Spirit Warriors who could literally see her Qi within her meridians of course.


    ''Splashing the Lake of Heaven''. She stabbed straight in front of her and a wave of wind erupted in all directions. The waves looked like ripples created on the surface of a lake.


    Cao Yun used the newfound ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. His spear and the wave of wind collided, creating a cone of violent gale around Cao Yun. In this situation Cao Yun had a small advantage. The secret martial art of the Cao family was ''Three Storms'' and the first storm was ''The Wind rises in the East''. Thus, he already had some familiarity with wind. His father could literally create small hurricanes when he used this technique with Qi Manifestation.


    Combining everything he knew with his stronger intent, Cao Yun directed his spear toward the weakest point he could find and the cone of gale vanished. The boy was pretty shook but Zhi Yin had no more strength at all. She put down her sword and admitted defeat.


    "I have exhausted my strength. This is my loss, junior brother."


    All the onlookers were astounded. Fairy Zhi was an idol for the first-years. Some were of course a little annoyed by Cao Yun, but his talent was real.


    "Thank you for letting me win, Senior Sister."


    Cao Yun put down his spear and bowed politely.


    All around the platform, many people were in deep thought. Cao Yun had showcased a great talent, but he was new in the Wubei Sect. Still ignorant of the rules, he did not know about the structure of the sect and many people began to think of ways to get him on their side.


    Orders were given to not make things difficult for him and to find out as much as possible about his actions. In order to recruit him, they needed to know what could sway him.


    Once again, among the new disciples, Ren Chao was the loudest.


    But there was a great change. Sun Liao had still a glimmer of hope a moment ago. Just now, it had died down. No matter what he did, he would never be able to beat Cao Yun. He had even thought about challenging him by betting some of his points, but Cao Yun could just refuse and the elders would maybe not even allow it. Seeing the strength of Cao Yun just now, he was utterly convinced. He had hit an iron pot. Finding no other way to get out of this predicament, he finally made his peace with his loss.


    -


    Chief Elder Baishen who was excited by the fight got a little frustrated.


    "I''d want him to fight someone able to push him beyond his limits. Little Zhi was good but she sadly came short. If she had mastered her ''Peng''s Journey to Heaven'' or if she was one grade higher, it would have been better. Not only did he understand the first move of the Horn Star, he even mixed it with other martial arts. If he were to fight a stronger opponent, he could advance a little more." She turned toward Xiao Xuefeng.


    "You really picked an impressive candidate. Too bad I didn''t find him beforehand... But he must join my pavilion!"

 Chapter 38: Settling two bets

    As Zhi Yin went back to the little Ling Hui, she saw her fuming.


    "That savage! How could he be so violent with Fairy Zhi?!" She was venting her anger like a child.


    Zhi Yin smiled and stopped her. "This was a fair fight, and I''m pretty sure Brother Chen held back." She paused a little. "I sensed some swordsmanship in his spear."


    Ling Hui almost did not listen. "What did you say, Sister?"


    "Don''t make things difficult for him!" Her face got closer to Ling Hui. "I know you have a bad temper..."


    Embarrassed a little by her idol calling her out, she could only agree. "If Sister is fine with it, I''ll be fine with it too."


    -


    After Cao Yun received a lot of praise from his fellow new disciples, Elder Tang spoke.


    "This year''s entrance examination is finally over! The duels were fair and friendly. Remember. Even though you may compete with one another, never go overboard. You are all brothers and sisters of our Wubei Sect. We''ll now announce the new disciples accepted within the sect. When you''re called, come accept your uniform. The definitive results of the entrance exam are as follows."


    The same pattern occurred where the different elders called out every new disciple and stated their points. Finally, Elder Tang called the top ten.


    "Li Gui - 140 points


    Ren Chao - 145 points


    Zhi Wang - 154 points


    Xin Xiong - 154 points


    Xin Chen - 162 points


    Tian Lan - 179 points


    Zhao Qing - 185 points


    Mei Hua - 208 points


    Sun Liao - 229 points


    Chen Guo - 283 points"


    Rounds of applause erupted every time one of them went toward the elders to get their uniform. Soon, they all had their green outfit in hand.


    "You can be proud of today''s accomplishment. But do not forget! This is just the beginning. During your time in our sect, you will face other trials. We''ll push you to become the best cultivators you can!"


    Elder Tang left the new disciples some time to enjoy this moment, as all the other disciples were cheering for them.


    After the calm came back and before Elder Tang could speak again, Sun Liao walked to Cao Yun with his head low.


    "Brother Chen. You must remember that we had a bet." Ren Chao was the closest to Cao Yun and had no good feeling for Sun Liao whatsoever.


    "Oh, yes, I remember! You had to crawl like a dog and admit you''re trash." The young man could really not control his words when it came to Sun Liao.


    "Brother Ren, please, we''re all brothers now. No need to be so cruel with your words." Cao Yun admonished his friend and looked back at Sun Liao. "I remember Brother Sun."


    "I have to admit that you bested me in all the trials. I''m no match for you... now. But I''ll train harder than anyone else and I swear I''ll catch up to you." Sun Liao was getting on his knees. "Today''s humiliation..."


    Before his knees could touch the ground, he felt two hands catching his arms. "Brother Sun, please, do not." Looking up, Sun Liao saw the smiling face of Cao Yun. "As I said, we''re brothers now. Let''s just forget our childish bet, okay? We should all strive to become better during the following year, no need for conflict between us."


    Hearing these words, Ren Chao let out a small humph. "Had he won, do you think he would have been so nice with you?"


    "Brother Ren, it''s been a week since our bet. Time has passed. And aren''t you convinced by Brother Sun''s talent? In the way of array formations, I don''t think anyone can match him. When he''ll be a Mortal Warrior, his enemies will have a hard time even getting close to him."


    Ren Chao acted as though he was not convinced but he was.


    "Brother Chen..." Sun Liao was moved by these words. When he got back up, helped by Cao Yun''s hands, he cupped his fists and bowed. "This is my fault for being blind. I had eyes but could not see Mount Tai. Brother Chen, you are as magnanimous as you are talented, a true hero! No, you''re a dragon among men! This time, I lost..." He looked back up. "But please, Brother, allow me to fight you fair and square next year."


    "Brother Sun, we can exchange pointers whenever you want. I was even pondering on asking you a few things about formations. I know nothing about this craft and it could prove useful to have a little amount of knowledge."


    "Of course, Brother Chen, come see me and we''ll discuss it over some tea."


    -


    On their platform, the three chief elders and Xiao Xuefeng were watching the situation unfold.


    Chief Elder Suxian was not pleased but he was not as enraged as he thought he would be. This little Sun Liao had been found by him in person. As a matter of fact, he wanted to make him his direct disciple when he got into the sect. If he was humiliated just as soon as he got in, that would be a problem. It could even lead to him forming some inner demons.


    When the emotions of a cultivator ran havoc, it could form inner demons that would hamper his cultivation. In the worst case, these inner demons could even kill a cultivator by causing a Qi deviation. There were also orthodox cultivators going insane because of it. Some became convinced of being invincible and died in battle, others turned toward the Evil way and became depraved, then had to be killed by their past friends. Inner demons were really one of the worst calamity for any cultivator. And the young ones were weaker against them as their emotions tended to be a bit hotter.


    Chief Elder Luoming could not stop himself from admiring Cao Yun. "This Chen Guo is very smart. He turned a future grudge into a present friendship."


    "What do you mean?" Chief Elder Suxian was a little perplexed.


    "Brother, you didn''t see it? Oh, maybe you were busy ruminating over your Exquisite Purple Jasmin... By the way, you still didn''t give it to Miss Xian."


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    "You!" Chief Elder Suxian calmed down and from his spatial ring, a small wooden box appeared in a faint light. With extreme care, he gave it to Xiao Xuefeng. "Miss Xiao, I admit my defeat. This Exquisite Purple Jasmin can produce one of the best tea there is. It should be really beneficial to you as an alchemist."


    Miss Xiao did not stand on ceremony and took it in her spatial ring without even opening the box. "Thank you, Chief Elder Suxian. But I feel a little remorseful after taking such a treasure from your hands. What about that? I remember that you wanted me to refine a 1-star Heaven pill. My talent may not be good enough, but I can try doing it before the end of the year. And to show my sincerity, I''ll only ask half the price. What do you say, Chief Elder Suxian?"


    His face suddenly gained some color back. "Oh, thank you, Miss Xiao. I have no doubt about your talent. I''ll send you all the ingredients right away and you can take as long as you need. Thank you, Miss Xiao."


    "It seems that these two candidates are really similar to the two persons who scouted them..." Chief Elder Luoming could not repress his laughter.


    -


    In truth, Cao Yun had rehearsed for this moment. He knew that if he made Sun Liao kowtow and humiliate himself in public, he would bear an undying grudge toward him. There was nothing to win at all in this bet except for some misplaced pride and a lifelong enmity that could eventually fester into a blood feud.


    Cao Yun''s goal was to use the sect to become strong enough so that he could find out the truth about that fateful night and avenge his family. He had no time to lose on senseless conflict. Hence, he asked Ren Chao to act as arrogant and insulting as he could when Sun Liao would come see them.


    With this harsh attitude of Ren Chao, Cao Yun could easily play the magnanimous sage. In just a few words, he used the strong emotions of Sun Liao and turned them into gratitude. One never had enough friends, but one always had too many enemies. Cao Yun was already enemy with a Spirit Warrior, the one who killed his family, and he probably got the Huang family on his bad side as well. He really didn''t need an array formation genius to add on this list.


    And now, he even had some way to learn about array formations. He knew almost nothing about it as he had focused on martial arts and cultivation when he was still using his real name.


    Once more, Sun Liao bowed respectfully to Cao Yun. "About the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation, you should know that..."


    Before he could end his sentence, Cao Yun stopped him. "No need to say anymore, Brother. I happen to have gained a lot from this ordeal."


    As Cao Yun suspected, Sun Liao was behind the simultaneous attack of all eight beasts. Sun Liao also suspected Cao Yun of knowing about it, and he just got confirmation.


    "I''ll never forget the kindness you showed me today, Brother Chen."


    The people around were a little disappointed. The bet between the two highest ranked candidates was a well-known matter among the disciples. As much as they would not admit it, many people loved seeing a genius humbled and humiliated in public. Seeing someone better than them in such a state gave them some satisfaction and made them feel a little better about themselves.


    Amongst the disciples, some were really admiring Cao Yun for his magnanimity. He gave off the air of a true hero. On the other hand, some changed their opinion of him. He was smarter and maybe a bit more cunning than they initially pegged him as.


    It included Zhi Yin. She was already pretty interested in him. After the fight, her interest flourished even more. But now, she was keen on getting him by her side. There were other disciples who harbored such an intention.


    -


    Elder Tang soon put an end to the celebrations and let the chief elders address everyone.


    "This year''s entrance examination is now over. Our new sect members must be pretty tired. Servants will show you to your rooms. From now on and until you leave, this sect is your home."


    Servants quickly lead the new disciples to a building where they could rest in individual chambers. Some older disciples wanted to discuss with them but Elder Tang was a great deterrent.


    -


    Higher up on Heidai Peak was a huge palace. The throne room was empty and small curtains were hiding the throne. An elegant shape flew from the sect up to this palace. This was Xiao Xuefeng.


    She landed very far from the palace and walked the rest of the way. She passed through many doors and walked up many steps to finally arrive in the throne room.


    "This junior pays respect to the Sect Leader." Cupping her fists, Xiao Xuefeng bowed deeply and waited for an answer.


    From behind the curtains, a sweet voice rose. "You may approach." This voice was very thin and low but it was definitely the voice of a man.


    Without raising her head, Xiao Xuefeng got closer to the throne. She stopped in the middle of the room.


    "Did you find anything during the examination?"


    "No, Sect Leader. All the candidates who were suspicious got eliminated during the screening."


    "I hear there were still some problems."


    "Just a little quarrel between boys. I can put my name on the line, Sect Leader. No demonic cultivator mixed in with this year''s candidates."


    "And what about this boy, Chen Guo? He''s lying about his name and his past."


    "I know, Sect Leader. But I do not suspect him. I believe he has other reasons to lie."


    "Why are you so sure? You even put your name on the line. You seem certain of you. Did you read his mind?"


    "I couldn''t bring myself to do such a low act. But this Chen Guo almost died fighting the demonic cultivators in the Lunar Marsh." Xiao Xuefeng seemed vexed that someone could imagine her doing this kind of thing.


    "It could have been a ploy to lower your vigilance and gain your trust."


    "He also was the one thanks to whom we know about this treachery from the demonic sects."


    "Oh?"


    "He was in Yinmen City when my senior sister came. From our investigation, it turns out that he almost was killed by the little demon who tried to trick us into getting in our institute. And he even was close with my senior sister''s new disciple."


    "I see. Such a ploy would be a little contrived indeed. But his path seems to cross the demonic cultivators a little bit too much." The voice stopped for a moment and rose again. "When he got into Yinmen City, where did he come from?"


    "The Nine Peaks mountains to the west of the city, Sect Leader."


    "Oh? Did you hear about the Cao family that was slaughtered by demonic cultivators? Their estate was just on the other side of these mountains, what a coincidence."


    "What a coincidence indeed..." Xiao Xuefeng already had some suspicious of her own. That was why she trusted Cao Yun not to be a demonic cultivator in disguise.


    "Fine. If Miss Xiao trusts this boy, then I will trust your judgment. No one must know of any of this. And it should be better for this boy if word did not get out about any of his adventures."


    "This junior understands."


    Xiao Xuefeng was initially an elder of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute but she had become a guest elder in the Wubei Sect for a reason. Her senior sister Hua Fenfei had traveled to Yinmen City and uncovered a ploy to infiltrate their institute by a demonic cultivator who seemed to be in the Spirit Warrior realm. Naturally, she had warned the other institutes and sects.


    It turned out that the institute had a good relationship with the Wubei Sect. Xiao Xuefeng was the elder with the best spiritual perception. She was the most likely to be able to catch a demonic cultivator in disguise. Their ways left traces in their mind, no matter how well they tried to hide it. By using the different trials, especially the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array formation, Xiao Xuefeng was able to sense the mind of the candidates. Unless they were Spirit Warrior, they could not hide from her.


    But, it was still possible for some demonic cultivators to have entered the sect already. They could also use the help of orthodox cultivators turned traitor, or maybe use mysterious techniques to hide themselves. As no one wanted to alarm them, they would have to search with utmost discretion. Even the other elders and chief elders knew nothing of the matter. It was vital to find out the true culprit behind this infiltration attempt.


    A demonic Spirit Warrior was not something anyone wanted in the Hongchen Kingdom. If he got to the 9th-grade, the calamity he could unleash would be unimaginable.

 Chapter 39: The Wubei Sects rules

    Elder Tang and some servants lead the new disciples to a huge building. It was only one story high but it was very large.


    When they were finally lined up in the courtyard, Elder Tang spoke again.


    "You must be tired, so I''ll try to be short. You are not officially first-years as the ceremony for the first-years to become second-years is in a few days. But, you already have access to all the same facilities as the first-years. In your room you''ll find a plan of our sect. It is forbidden for any outer disciple to enter either the inner yard or the summit of the peak. The inner yard is reserved to the inner disciples so you should not see them often. The summit of the peak is the residence of some elders, the chief elders and the sect leader. Now, I''ll quickly explain your next week. The first four days, you are free to do whatever you want, but I suggest you go pick a weapon in the armory pavilion. You''ll have a temporary token to allow you to choose any weapon under 1-star Human rank."


    When he said these words, many disciples got excited, especially the commoners. The training weapons were 3-star Earth rank, but now they could get a weapon that was 5-star Earth rank.


    "You could also visit the different pavilions. We have many of those: the martial art pavilion, the array formation pavilion, the alchemy pavilion, the blacksmith pavilion, the cultivation pavilion. We also have a number of art and cultural pavilions such as the tea pavilion, the calligraphy pavilion, and so on. You may also wish to pass by the library. As first-years you are entitled to read some books and manuals and can even borrow two of them, under specific conditions the librarian will tell you."


    "After that, the fifth day will be your first training. You will need to go to the first-years training grounds where an instructor will wait. You must be there when the sun rises. I highly suggest you not to be late or you might discover the disciplinary pavilion. And that''s not something you want to deal with."


    "The following two days, you''ll be able to rest, and you''ll need it trust me. Finally, the first day of the next week, you''ll receive your first-years emblems. With your emblems, you''ll learn all the information you need to. It''s a lot, so I''ll not annoy you with anymore information."


    Elder Tang gave a signal to the servants.


    "Each one of you will also be attended by an appointed servant. These servants may become your junior brothers and sisters in the near future, so treat them with respect. They also have their schedule but during this week they should be able to attend to you all day long. I''ll say it again just in case, our Wubei Sect values its reputation, so do not mistreat your servants in any way. You also have a small pamphlet with the map of the sect in your rooms. That will be all."


    The disciples bowed as Elder Tang left. Fifty-seven servants came to the new disciples. They were all between twelve and fifteen, boys and girls. Their uniform looked very similar to the uniform of the disciples, but its color was a little different. There were also some brown patterns to identify them.


    At Cao Yun''s side came a young girl who kept her head down. She was maybe the oldest one among the servants. Cao Yun had no way to recognize her, but she was Huang Cixi. Her demeanor was very subservient as she kept her head down.


    After asking her grandfather to send her to the Wubei Sect, she became a servant as her cultivation was still too weak, only 2nd-grade Mortal. Using the influence of her Huang family, she was able to ask the sect to hide her identity. It was pretty common actually. Some rich boy or girl who wanted to join the sect did not necessarily want to be recognized when they were just servants.


    Using this as an excuse, she also asked a favor from her grandfather. Her most distinctive feature was her pure white hair due to her bloodline. Using some strange technique, he put a seal on her blood and her hair became a very light brown. If she wished for it, this seal could be broken at any time. As a Mortal cultivator, it did not really change her fighting ability, so it wasn''t a problem at all.


    After that, she did everything she could to be paired with Cao Yun. There also was a competition among servants to choose the disciple they would serve. During the competition she won and chose Cao Yun. She knew this boy had killed both her brothers. Despite her resentment, she was able to hide her feelings so well that no elder saw through her.


    "Young Master Chen, would you like me to show you to your room?"


    "Just an instant, please." Cao Yun bid farewell to Ren Chao and some other disciples he got along pretty well. He also bid farewell to Sun Liao.


    "What''s your name?"


    "I''m Mei Yuzhi, Young Master."


    Cao Yun was accustomed to have a servant with him so it did not faze him as it did for other disciples who used to be commoners. He quietly followed the young girl to his room.


    The room was very spacious and it even had a space for his servant to live as well. There was a small chamber with a bed, a desk, a space to practice martial arts with some training gears. No wonder the building was so huge. If there was a hundred or more rooms like this one, it really needed to be this big. Hell there was also courtyard.


    "Are all the rooms this big?"


    "No, Young Master, the rooms of the top ten are at least 25% bigger."


    "Well, that''s still big for the other rooms." He quickly looked around and saw that the servant quarter seemed to have already been used. "Did you set up your things yet?"


    "Yes, Young Master. But I can change it if it''s inconvenient to you."


    "No, no, it''s fine. It''s your space after all. And please, stop calling me ''Young Master'' all the time. Especially when we''re alone, no need to stand on ceremony so much."


    "I understand."


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    On the study, there was a small pamphlet, a folded paper and a wooden token. When Cao Yun got near, Huang Cixi explained.


    "These are the materials Elder Tang talked about. The pamphlet explains the rules of the sect, the paper is a map of its facilities and the wooden token will give you access to the pavilions and the armory while you await your first-year emblem."


    "I see. Thank you. I don''t think that I''ll need you for the time being. Just warn me when dinner is ready, please."


    "Of course. I''ll leave you alone for now."


    Huang Cixi retreated within her own quarters which were separated by a wooden screen.


    The first thing Cao Yun did was read the rules. By flipping the pages he understood why he had not seen a single third-year, there was some kind of special retreat during the third year. The rules stayed vague on the matter as it seemed to be a well-kept secret of the sect.


    Every month, the disciples would receive different resources to help them based on their performance. To evaluate this performance, there were several scrolls. The main scroll was based on the points they had already received during the entrance exam. By performing duties for the sect, like taking the role of a servant in special occasions, a disciple could earn some points, and even some resources. Another way was simply to progress in your cultivation or your training. The instructor could allot points to the disciples according to their merits.


    It was also possible to earn points by gathering resources in the mountains but first-years were forbidden from leaving the sect. So only the second-years and higher could exchange demonic beasts cores or medicinal herbs for points. It would probably be the main way Cao Yun would use to earn points in his second year.


    The other scrolls were more specific, like the fighting scroll. In line with its name, it ranked the disciples according to their fighting abilities. To rank higher, you just had to beat a higher ranked disciple. The ranking tournament was every other month. You had to issue your challenge at least two weeks prior and it was forbidden to challenge a lower ranked disciple. There were also specific rules in case someone received many challenges at the same time to allow for some rest. If you beat someone, you just took their rank and they would fall one rank below.


    Other scrolls were the pill forging scroll ranking the alchemists by the highest pill they forged, the blacksmith scroll, the formation scroll and so on. There were also art and philosophy scrolls. The Wubei Sect valued strength of course, but it also insisted on the importance of studying beauty and elegance, spirituality and philosophy. The official goal of the Wubei Sect was to elevate mankind.


    Cao Yun also read many rules concerning the uniform, the emblem, the hours of the different facilities, ... It took him an hour to read and remember everything. With his stronger intent, his focus was better and thus his memory as well. All the rules were now in his mind and he could literally quote them perfectly.


    Mei Yuzhi, aka Huang Cixi, was watching him from her quarters. Of course he had noticed thanks to his strengthened mind but he only thought she was curious as he was her new master and he also was ranked first in the entrance examination.


    Cao Yun sat cross-legged on the floor and started to cultivate. First he circulated his Qi according to the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. In the last few days, he had mostly focused on his martial arts and he got worried that his cultivation would lag behind. After a dozen of circulations, he felt as if his second meridian was about to open. After the Lung Meridian, the next one to open would be the Heart Meridian.


    By using his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'', he had circulated some Qi in his meridians and it helped open them a little bit. Luckily, these ten days had not delayed him by too much. In less than four months, he would probably be able to open each meridian. The average cultivator needed around fifty days to open one meridian, he would do so in ten days. Of course, there were other cultivators who could be faster than the average one, but Cao Yun''s speed was really impressive.


    Using the time he had left before sleeping, Cao Yun went inside his sea of consciousness. There was very little change apart from the Zhi character appearing more sturdy and the Horn Star shining a bit brighter.


    Cao Yun first circulated Yi the Earth Intent and focused on Zhi. He had achieved True Success and was aiming for Perfection by the end of the month. He could probably begin the cultivation of the next character but a steady progression was a better choice. After all, the Perfection stage Yi had allowed him to advance within Zhi way faster. If he had Yi and Zhi both at the Perfection stage, cultivating the other three characters would be easier and easier. He probably could achieve Perfection in the first layer ''Discipline the Five Children'' before the end of the year.


    During the trial his Drop of Wrath had almost driven him mad. For a time he thought he had it under control with Yi, but this was clearly a time bomb inside his body. Cao Yun could not afford to be complacent with his mind cultivation.


    Finally, he focused on the Horn Star. Within his sea of consciousness, he repeated the first move he had derived from it as well as the basics of the spear. He could sea the star reacting to his moves and could thus determine whether he was on the right track or not. After repeating it in his mind for some time, he tried again his move in real life.


    The day had been very long and dinner was ready. Huang Cixi served Cao Yun in his chambers. As she was about to exit the room, Cao Yun asked her if she wanted to eat with him. She agreed.


    They talked for some time, Huang Cixi already had a backstory prepared just in case. What she said was mostly true but she just lowered the status of her family and both her brothers had been killed fighting demonic beasts, not Cao Yun himself.


    Hearing her story, Cao Yun remembered when he lost his family and became more attached to this girl. She had gone through terrible hardships but she did not lose her courage and kept on fighting.


    It was time to sleep. As his mind cultivation advanced, Cao Yun realized that he needed less and less sleep to recover every night. He could probably sleep less than five hours and still be fine the next day. He had heard from his parents that the patriarch did not sleep at all, he could recover just by meditating. But before becoming a Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun would need a lot of time. His own father took a little more than thirty years. Cao Yun could not imagine taking this step before he turned 40, which meant his revenge would take a very long time, but he was ready for it.


    -


    During the night, Huang Cixi woke up and looked at Cao Yun. This time he was completely unguarded as he slept in the Wubei Sect. There probably wasn''t a more secure place except for the Imperial Palace. The young woman watched him peacefully sleep.


    This quiet face was the last one both her brothers had seen. Even though she didn''t like Huang Longwei much, he was still her brother. This quiet face had single-handedly destroyed her family, killed her two brothers and ended her father. She was supposed to hate him.


    However, she still had some family. If she dared to harm Cao Yun in the Wubei Sect, the entire Huang family would be involved and most likely the Emperor would intervene as well. Her family would then lose its prestige and fall in disgrace. The Wubei Sect was the most respected martial sect after all.


    Now that Cao Yun was a disciple, killing him would be way more difficult. That''s why she wanted to serve by his side. She would gain his trust and discover everything about him. Either she found out something she could use to have him lose his title or she would find a way to get rid of him discreetly. Either way, she would play the nice and submissive servant for as long as she could. Even if she had to wait a hundred or a thousand years, she could break through all the cultivation grades to expand her lifetime and be able to kill this murderer. But... was it really what she wanted to do?


    Within many conflicting thoughts, she stepped back. As she remembered Huang Lixin playing with her, she went back to sleep.

 Chapter 40: Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear

    Waking up as the sun was rising, Cao Yun felt more rested than ever. At last, he had a sense of accomplishment in his ambition. True, he had no lead on the murderer of his family, but he had enrolled into the Wubei Sect. From now on, he would get more and more powerful. With more power, he could roam through the entire kingdom to find the man. He could forge connections and most importantly, he could kill him once he was found.


    Still in bed, he sat cross-legged and cultivated for an hour or two. During this time, Huang Cixi woke up. Last night, he had trained for hours before sleeping. And there he was again when she woke up. The young woman was beginning to wonder how long he had slept for. Anyway, she cooked some breakfast and tidied the room.


    When he was done, Cao Yun ate with Huang Cixi who was waiting for him.


    "Mei Yuzhi, you don''t have to wait for me to eat. In the future, you just go ahead and enjoy your meals. I''ll just eat whenever I''m done."


    "I understand." She had let go of formalities as he had asked the day before.


    "I was thinking of going to the armory to get a spear. Do you know anything about this place?"


    "Yes, of course. The armory is managed by Elder Tian. He does not really care about what''s going on outside of the armory, but he''s strict concerning the rules. There probably won''t be anyone to help you as it''s not compulsory and Elder Tian is not overzealous."


    "I see. Well, I''ll just go and see. If I''m not sure, I think Brother Ren could maybe help me out." Cao Yun got thinking. "Although I''m not too sure whether he is a good blacksmith or not..."


    -


    Cao Yun lost no time and went toward the armory with Huang Cixi following him. He had tried to dissuade her but she insisted it was her duty. In order not to tire her, he walked a bit slower than he could.


    "Young Master, do not worry about me, I know where the armory is, I can still meet you there."


    "Nonsense! If you''re accompanying me, you''ll accompany me. I won''t ditch you in the middle of the road."


    -


    The armory was a large pagoda with three stories.


    "Each story corresponds to a level of weapon. The last one is said to also harbor some Spirit or God rank weapons but apart from the elders, no one can go up there. And until you break through to Mortal Warrior, you can''t even ask the permission to get to the second floor."


    "So this armory is one-story high for us."


    Cao Yun walked in and saw that it was mostly empty. After all, it was still early in the morning and everyone had gotten excited yesterday.


    An old man was sitting at the front desk almost sleeping. When the doors opened, he turned his head and asked without emotion. "What''s your business?"


    "This junior pays his respect to Elder Tian. I''m a new disciple, Chen Guo. Here is my token. I''m looking for a spear." From the description Huang Cixi had given him, Cao Yun decided to just cut to the chase with this man.


    The elder casually looked at the token. With his spiritual senses, he did not need to lay eye on it to analyze it. "The spears are in the fourth alley to your right. You can only choose one, so choose wisely."


    "Thank you, Elder Tian." Huang Cixi also bowed to Elder Tian and followed Cao Yun.


    He casually looked at the other alleys. There were many swords, sabers and staffs of all shapes, materials and sizes. These were the most numerous weapons. Next were the spears and bows. Finally the other weapons of the Eighteen Classical Weapons were pretty few in number.


    Cao Yun was really wondering about also getting a ranged weapon like a bow, but he could only choose one right now. And he wanted to advance his mastery of the spear and the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. There was neither any name nor any rank on the weapons. It was up to the cultivator to choose wisely.


    Cao Yun tried to use his intent to find a good spear. He took several in hands to try and feel them in his grasp. Some of them were nicer but he wasn''t quite sure. About swords, he was confident enough, but he had just picked up the spear as a weapon only a few days ago.


    As he was ready to call it quits, he had another idea. By touching the spear next to him, he focused on the Horn Star. It was almost imperceptible but the star reacted a little.


    Huang Cixi saw Cao Yun grasp all the spears, twice. And she was wondering if he knew what he was doing.


    While he was busy touching hundreds of spear a second time, almost an hour had passed and some people were entering the armory. They were second-years who came here to find out what weapon the new first-years would choose.


    "Brother Lun, it seems there''s already someone there."


    "Oh? An early bird? Let''s see who he is!"


    They were five young men wearing an emblem with a red cliff. When they arrived in the alley, they saw Cao Yun touching every weapon. As he was busy, they only saw his back and his little servant, so they didn''t know who he was.


    "What is he trying to do?"


    "I don''t know."


    "Hey, you!" Brother Lun talked to Huang Cixi. "Is this your master?"


    "Yes, Senior."


    "What is he doing?"


    "He''s looking for a spear, Senior." Huang Cixi did not know how to answer as she was as baffled as they were.


    "Who needs to grasp every spear in existence to choose one?! Either you know what you''re doing or you don''t! What a clown! Does he maybe just want to look cool with his spear and doesn''t care about its quality?"


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    "Senior, please, my young master is not trying to stir up trouble. We''re really just here to choose a spear." Since Huang Cixi had chosen the role of a little servant, she had to play the part.


    "What makes you think you can answer to my brother Lun like that, you insolent brat!" The other man was ready to slap Huang Cixi. Just as his hand fell, another arm grabbed him.


    "You little..." The boy did not end his sentence because as soon as he raised his eyes he saw Cao Yun. Of course, they had been watching the duels yesterday. Someone who could best Fairy Zhi was clearly beyond their reach. "Oh? Brother Chen, I didn''t know it was you..."


    "What were you going to do to my servant?"


    "Oh? Your servant? I didn''t know... I thought she was annoying you. Really brother I''m not at fault here."


    "According to the rules, no disciple may discipline his or anyone else''s servant with physical violence. Only an elder may issue such a punishment. And according to the rule, the punishment for hitting a servant is five lashes or one small spirit stone."


    Spirit stones were one of the main resources of the Wubei Sect. These were stones formed by the condensation of the Qi in the air around special minerals. They were the blue stones that were used to power up the array during the entrance examination. They were pretty useless before 3rd-grade Mortal as the cultivator was only training his body, and after the first stages of Spirit Warrior as the cultivator would then focus on his spirit.


    But for cultivators in the middle or late Mortal and Mortal Warrior realms, these were very important. By absorbing the Qi from these stones, the process would be way faster than by absorbing it directly from the air. Another way was to use medicinal pills, but they could be terribly expensive and they would always contain small amount of toxins. If you relied too much on pill, the toxins could poison you or harm your body and prevent you from breaking through to higher grades.


    Every month, the disciples received resources based on their performance and spirit stones were a part of it.


    "Brother Chen, please, I''m really sorry. I truly thought that..."


    Cao Yun tightened his grip around his arm.


    "Senior Brother, I do not make the rules. But if you think I''m mistaken, we could go see Elder Tian for him to give out the appropriate punishment."


    Elder Tian was known to stick to rules, the disciple knew he was in the wrong but most servants would not dare report a second-year.


    "Okay, Brother Chen." Brother Lun took the side of his friend. "My friend went a little overboard. We don''t need to implicate Elder Tian, that would be a waste of his time. What do you say my brother just gives you a small spirit stone and we forget about that?"


    Cao Yun finally let go of the man''s arm. "What Brother Lun says sounds about right. But you should give the small spirit stone to my servant since she was the one who almost got slapped."


    Huang Cixi looked surprised. She was sure that Cao Yun was doing that to extort a spirit stone for himself.


    "Sure, Brother, sure." Brother Lun turned toward the friend who was rubbing his reddened arm. "Brother Hu, give the little servant a small spirit stone."


    "But, Brother Lun, it''s my last..." Seeing the anger in his brother''s eyes, he did not dare say anymore. "Of course." Searching around in his clothes, he took out a small blue stone and gave it to Huang Cixi. "Sorry, Little Sister, I was mistaken."


    "Brother Chen, we''re sorry to have disturbed you. But if you don''t know how to choose a spear, I know people who could help."


    "Thank you, Senior Brother. But I think I found my weapon already." Everyone had failed to notice a very long metal rod in his right hand.


    This spear was nine chi long. Its shaft was entirely black with a little bit of gold at the bottom end. The upper part was wrapped in a dark red cloth and the tip was a very dim metal. Nothing was eye-catching about this spear except for its size. It was at least twice the size of Cao Yun himself as he was still growing up.


    Among all the spear, it was the one who reacted the most with the Horn Star. When he touched it, the two stars rotating around each other stopped for an instant and then accelerated as though they were a little surprised then excited. Cao Yun knew little about spears so he couldn''t tell anything about the overall weapon, but when he examined the tip, it was one of the sharpest weapon he had ever seen. It was almost on par with ''Star-Devouring Dragon'', his 3-star Human rank sword.


    "I see. Then we''ll excuse ourselves. Sorry for this incident."


    "Senior Brother Lun, you said it yourself. Let''s forget about it, now that the crime has been compensated."


    "Thank you, Brother Chen." Brother Lun left with his friends as Brother Hu looked awful.


    When they were away he asked his friend. "Brother Lun, why did you..."


    "Silence, moron!" Brother Hu was dumbfounded. "Who asked you to antagonize Chen Guo''s servant? If the faction leader hears about this, you''ll beg for these five lashed! Everyone wants to get him on their side and you, you try to push him away?! Idiot! You should know that offending anyone without knowing better is the shortest path to death. What if that servant was the grandchild of an elder, did you think about that?"


    Brother Hu realized his mistake. "Sorry, Brother Lun, sorry. I didn''t realize..."


    "Idiot!" Brother Lun wanted to vent his anger. Of course, they were used to being arrogant with the servants, but they had to know when to draw the line to avoid any problem. "It seems like Brother Chen didn''t take it to heart, you''re lucky."


    Indeed, Cao Yun preferred to avoid any conflict. However, it didn''t mean that he was ready to overlook someone hitting his servant. When his family was alive, he was very protective of them and now that they were dead, he vowed to never let someone who was by his side suffer any injustice.


    "Mei Yuzhi, are you fine?"


    "Yes, Young Master, he didn''t hit me after all. But, about this stone..."


    "I feel very little Qi around you, so you should only be a 3rd-grade Mortal, correct? Then this stone can be useful. But control the amount of Qi you use to temper your Lower Dantian. With the Qi within the stone, it will be quicker than just using the Qi you have already in you. But it can also be dangerous if you overdo it, so please be cautious."


    "I''ll remember your words, thank you." Of course she knew all that, given the legacy of her family. Her grandfather had even wanted to give her some spirit stones himself. She had refused in order to play the poor little girl.


    When they left the armory, Cao Yun went to disturb Elder Tian and register his weapon.


    "Elder Tian, this junior is sorry to bother you. I''ve chosen this spear."


    The old man looked up and his eyes stayed on the spear a little longer than usual.


    "''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Good choice!"


    There were some people inside the armory right now. Most of them were juniors who did not know Elder Tian and the others were disciples wanting to know which weapons would be chosen by the new guys. These disciples were astonished. Usually Elder Tian gave no praise at all. This spear should have been exceptional, or very suited for Cao Yun.


    "Wait! I know this spear! The ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' is a 5-star Earth weapon that borders on the 1-star Human rank. It''s said that a blacksmith forged it after witnessing a fight between two Ebony Snake Dragons. Apparently he was able to obtain a scale from one of them and melted it in the metal of the shaft."


    "Ebony Snake Dragons? Aren''t they 3-core demonic beasts?"


    "Yes, and even in their rank they''re pretty powerful. Their blood has a strange power that can turn them berserk for a time and they can rival an early 4-core demonic beast."


    Cao Yun was listening as he knew nothing of the spear he had himself chosen. And he did not think that asking Elder Tian was a good idea. Hearing all of this, he understood why the Horn Star had reacted, it probably resonated with the dragon scale in it.


    "This junior thanks Elder Tian."


    Cao Yun finally left the armory pavilion with Huang Cixi behind him, a strange look on her face. As a servant she already had received one small spirit stone and with this one, she had enough to temper her Lower Dantian until the next batch. With this, she would probably break through in five to six months, just before she turned 16. And this quick breakthrough would be thanks to Cao Yun...

 Chapter 41: The martial art pavilion

    "Are we going back, now?"


    "No, I''d like to test this spear as soon as I can. If I''m correct, the martial art pavilion should be closer than the training grounds, right?"


    "Indeed, it''s only a few minutes away. After all, they often need to go fetch some weapons."


    "Then it''s decided. Let''s go there first. We''ll have plenty of time afterwards." Little did Cao Yun know that he would not leave the martial art pavilion before dusk.


    -


    The martial art pavilion was a big building, way bigger that the armory. It had at least ten stories, and several hundred men could easily fit inside each one. In this area, this was the biggest building. It made sense, if cultivators were to fight inside, they needed a lot of room.


    When Cao Yun entered, many people were already fighting. The first floor had seven rings for sparring and many instruments all around. There was a kind of chaos in this, but nothing seemed out of place.


    No one paid them any mind when Cao Yun and Huang Cixi got in. They looked around until they heard a very young voice moaning in pain.


    On one of the rings, a small girl who wasn''t more than 12 was fighting against a 17-year-old boy. He had an emblem with the number two and a red cliff behind. Gradually, Cao Yun got a very bad impression of this emblem. The people around the ring did not seem particularly pleased but did not dare utter a word.


    Finally a young woman, still very sweaty from her training, spoke up. "Senior Brother, I think she got enough."


    "Enough?! Did she now?! She wanted to spar..." As the little girl was trying to get up, he kicked her in the belly. No sound even came out of her and she rolled backward. "and she gets to.." he kicked her again. "spar!"


    Huang Cixi saw Cao Yun ready to intervene and she took his arm. "Young Master, you''ll get into trouble. Technically, he''s allowed to do this, as long as she doesn''t give up. And I know this man, he''s Luduo Bu. He''s known to be vicious. He already got punished several times but he keeps on being ruthless."


    "I do not care whether he has the right to do so or not, this is disgusting!" Cao Yun circulated ''Cutting the Retreat'' and ran at full speed. In a matter of seconds, he was before the little girl.


    Surprised by this intrusion, Luduo Bu jumped back.


    "What are you doing?! You''re interrupting my fight! Do you know the penalty for this?!"


    "Senior Brother, I''m sorry. But as I watched you so bravely beating up this little girl, I could not stop myself from wanting to spar with such a valiant warrior. May you offer me some pointers?"


    "Oh?! You want to fight me to help this little trash?! Ha, ha, ha! Fine! But if you give up, I''ll go back to spar with her, okay?"


    "No problem, Senior Brother."


    Once again, Cao Yun did not want to find trouble, but he could not let this little girl being beaten to death as the other disciples just looked disapprovingly.


    Luduo Bu was one of the only second-years who did not go to the final duels of the entrance examination. As such, he did not recognize Cao Yun at all.


    "You have a spear, so I''ll take my weapon out as well." Placed against the ring was a halberd. Luduo Bu took it and faced Cao Yun.


    The other disciples around the ring had all recognized Cao Yun and got worried. They had been ordered to not make trouble for him and the first time they met him, they were watching helplessly as a little girl was beaten. And now, he was going to fight the worst scum of their pavilion...


    If Luduo Bu had known who he was fighting, he probably would have done some more thinking. But he was overexcited by his beating.


    Without bowing or waiting for Cao Yun, he charged with his halberd, ready to slice him apart. ''Thousand Cut Blade''. His halberd lacerated the air around Cao Yun. Moving as little as possible, Cao Yun blocked with the shaft of his spear. Not yet accustomed to its weight and length, he got cut four times to the arms.


    "Not bad, but not good enough!"


    ''Never Ending Torture''. The blood he had drawn from Cao Yun seemed to seep through the halberd and the attacks of Luduo Bu became more vicious.


    Cao Yun became a little bit serious. Getting into position, he countered the halberd again and again. For now, he wasn''t attacking as he was focusing on getting used to his new weapon.


    -


    Higher up in the building, a disciple was running through the stairs. "Chief Elder, Chief Elder!"


    He reached a huge door and knocked several times while shouting "Chief Elder, Chief Elder!".


    Chief Elder Baishen suddenly opened the door. "What''s going on?! Why do you disturb me?!"


    "It''s Luduo Bu, Chief Elder. He''s beating up a servant on a ring."


    "What?! And you let him do it?!"


    "Well, it''s not against the rules..."


    "The rules?! Pathetic! I''ll break his arms, we''ll see if it''s against the rules."


    In an instant, Chief Elder Baishen disappeared and arrived in the first floor. Her fury turned into surprise when she saw Cao Yun fighting against Luduo Bu. "Did this idiot finally do something right?"


    In fact, she had already expelled Luduo Bu from her pavilion twice already. But unless he went too overboard, he could not be forbidden from getting in. This idiot never learned his lesson and always caused trouble. But this time he seemed to have realized her deepest desire. She wanted to watch Cao Yun fight.


    Luduo Bu was more vicious than Zhi Yin. His technique was weaker, but he had more strength and his cultivation was a bit higher, ready to cross into 7th-grade Mortal.


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    Luduo Bu thought that Cao Yun was pretty weak because he only stopped his attacks and did nothing more. Accordingly, he pressed on and exerted more and more strength. His martial art was ''Bloody Cavalry''. It became stronger and stronger as his blood became hotter. His halberd could also absorb someone''s blood to use the Qi within to strengthen itself.


    They fought like that for some time. Gradually, Luduo Bu who wasn''t completely stupid realized that Cao Yun was gaining momentum. Indeed, he was getting familiar with his spear. It was longer and heavier than the training spear so it took some getting used to. Now he was used to it.


    Chief Elder Baishen had not said anything as she did not want this fight to end yet. Right now was the good part as Cao Yun had finally decided to act.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. He immediately used the first move of Horn Star. As the spear started to spin, the Horn Star in his sea of consciousness accelerated as well. With her spiritual senses, Chief Elder Baishen could see the Horn Star faintly appearing on the tip of the spear. Cao Yun was not a Mortal Warrior so he could not materialize yet, it was just his intent and only Spirit Warriors could even catch a glimpse of it.


    The spear seemed more rigid in Cao Yun''s hand and a vortex of wind formed on its tip as it went for Luduo Bu.


    Sensing the danger, he stepped back and tried to stop it. ''Butcher''s Cleaver''. His halberd stroke vertically and collided with the vortex.


    The onlookers felt their blood pulsate in their veins. The air around the halberd became hotter and hotter. Cao Yun added a little bit of vibration in his spear and angled its trajectory. As the spear moved, the halberd fell on nothing and was then pushed back by the vortex of air that passed right beside it. Luduo Bu tried to control the trajectory of his halberd to attempt a block with its shaft. But he was too slow and the spear went right for his head.


    Chief Elder Baishen had an instant of hesitation but she relaxed.


    In the last moment, the spear changed its course and pierced his right shoulder. Cao Yun had controlled the hit. If he had used the full power of the blow, Luduo Bu''s arm would have been torn apart, but he just had a bloody shoulder.


    "You!" Luduo Bu tried to take back his halberd that fell to the ground when he got hit. When he touched the weapon, Cao Yun''s feet landed on his fingers and crushed them. His spear went straight for his throat.


    "So, do you give up now?"


    "You!" Cao Yun kicked him right in the face.


    "Do you give up?" Before he could even answer, he kicked again, and again, and again.


    "I give up. I give up." With a bloody mouth, Luduo Bu answered. "You''ll pay for this!"


    "Oh?! You threaten someone in my pavilion?!"


    As soon as he heard this voice, Luduo Bu''s blood turned cold. He remembered what had happened to him the last two times.


    "Chief Elder Baishen, I respected the rules this time. You can''t punish me for nothing."


    Her eyes went to the little girl who could barely move.


    "You call this respecting the rules?!"


    "She asked to spar, I swear! If she had given up, I would have stopped!"


    "You crushed her throat! Do you take me for an idiot like you?!" She got closer. "And you did break the rules when you threatened Chen Guo!"


    Hearing the name ''Chen Guo'', he turned even paler. He clearly remembered his faction leader asking him not to stir up anything with this fellow. Not only the wrath of Chief Elder Baishen, but he also feared the anger of his own faction.


    Why didn''t I ask for his name?! I really am an idiot...


    "Chief Elder Baishen, this is just a misunderstanding..." His body suddenly rose into the air and was thrown through the door to the ground outside. The noise of some bones breaking could be heard.


    "Crawl back from whence you came. For threatening a fellow disciple, you are banned from entering my pavilion for six weeks!"


    Immediately, Cao Yun went to the little girl. She really was in a bad state. She was no more than twelve and coughing blood as her breathing was difficult.


    "Chief Elder Baishen, please..." Before he could ask for help, the old woman was already holding the small body in her arms. She injected some Qi to stabilize her condition. "Quick, go fetch Physician Ming."


    Luckily, the martial art pavilion had several physicians just in case.


    A middle-aged man came down running. If the chief elder gave an order, he had to rush. He examined the little girl for some time.


    "She''ll be fine." Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. He gave her a pill that she couldn''t chew. "Please Chief Elder Baishen, can you direct the medicinal essence of the pill through her body." As a Spirit Warrior, she was much more competent with controlling her Qi outside her body, even though she was not a physician.


    She followed the directions of Physician Ming and very soon, the little girl opened her eyes.


    "She''ll need some days to get back up, but she''ll be fine. There''s no definitive damage."


    "Thank you, Physician Ming."


    Chief Elder Baishen caressed the girl''s face. "Everything will be alright." The next moment, her face was dark and her eyes stared at the disciples around the ring. "You just stayed there doing nothing?! My martial art pavilion''s honor was being sullied by the blood of a child and you did nothing?!"


    "But, Chief Elder, it was all according to the rules."


    "So if I beat you until you pass out but it''s according to the rules, you''ll be fine with it?!"


    No one dared answer her anymore.


    "Oh, I will ask your instructors to lend you to me for some special training! After this month, you won''t dare stay silent when faced with such barbarism!"


    The disciples could not imagine what they would endure. In fact, even though the next month was going to be hell on earth for them, afterwards they would be way stronger than before. In a way, it was a blessing in disguise.


    Chief Elder Baishen put the girl on a small bench. "Chen Guo, I''m sorry this is the first thing you saw of my martial art pavilion. But your technique already seems a bit more honed than before. Come on, I''ll show you to better opponents!"


    The rest of the day, Cao Yun fought against all kinds of opponents, but none was weaker than 7th-grade Mortal. He even fought against a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior who restrained his Qi not to manifest it outside of his body. He tried to leave several times but Chief Elder Baishen was very insistent. She even bribed him with some small spirit stones before the other disciples'' incredulous eyes.


    "What?! It''s within the rules. I thought you liked to follow the rules?!"


    But Cao Yun had to admit that he really was getting stronger. His martial art became more and more refined and by the end of the day, he perfectly controlled his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. He had realized that it could become harder or softer according to the technique he used, probably thanks to the Ebony Snake Dragon''s scale within. When he was able to control Qi, he could probably control this aspect of his weapon as well.


    Chief Elder Baishen had finally gotten enough and she had some work to do. She left as the sun was setting.


    Cao Yun had gotten friendly with many of the disciples he sparred against. At first they were reluctant but couldn''t say no to Chief Elder Baishen. But as they fought against him, they realized he had a great understanding of martial arts. His cultivation was still lacking but he was only 16. Not one of them was at his level when they were his age. They all thought beneficial to get closer to him.


    Finally, Cao Yun decided to leave. But first, he went back to the little girl. She was asleep and Huang Cixi was caring for her.


    "How is she?"


    "She''s fine. She woke up during your fights and gave me a message for you: ''Thank you, Big Brother''."


    "You know her?"


    "Yes, she''s one of the servants assigned to the new disciples. She just got into the sect this very year as well. It''s been three weeks since she got here. Apparently she really wants to become a fighter and so she loves coming here. I hope this doesn''t change anything..."


    "Do you know who her master is?"


    "Yes, do not worry, someone will take her home shortly. Chief Elder Baishen already told me to leave everything to her."


    "Fine." Cao Yun brushed off her hair to watch her face. Earlier there was only pain on it, but now she was very peaceful. When he saw her earlier, he had remembered the face of his little sister being taken from him. Luckily, the Drop of Wrath had behaved because he really could have killed this man on the ring. Cao Yun was afraid of this part of him. He loved fighting but not killing.


    Huang Cixi watched as Cao Yun was full of affection for this little girl and she remembered her second brother''s body who had been buried. It really was him who showed this respect in death.

 Chapter 42: A troubled night

    In the outskirt of the outer yard, there was a mansion with the emblem of the red cliff on each side of the door. Inside the mansion, in the innermost room, a scolding was taking place.


    Five men were kneeling on the floor. Among them was Lun Jiao. Naturally, the other four were the disciples who had met Cao Yun in the armory earlier today.


    "Faction Leader Chan, we ask for your leniency. We really did not know that this boy was Chen Guo."


    On a makeshift throne was Chan Weifeng, the leader of this faction. The Wubei Sect''s disciples were divided into eight factions. Among them, the Red Cliff Faction was the most popular and powerful one. It mainly focused on martial arts, but also welcomed any other occupations. Alchemists, like everywhere else, were particularly valued as well.


    Chan Weifeng was fuming inside. The day before, he had specifically asked all his subordinates not to mess with this ''Chen Guo''. After the entrance examination, all the faction leaders had received the important news, either because they were there in person or many reports came to them. Chan Weifeng was in the second situation. Due to his cultivation, he hadn''t been able to make it to the entrance examination but he knew exactly what had happened.


    The Red Cliff Faction Leader was around twenty-two. On his chest was the emblem with the red cliff and the number over it was five. This was his last year as an outer disciple. The Red Cliff Faction had been founded by a former disciple but he was able to lead it when he became a fourth-year. These subordinates of him had offended the man every faction wanted to recruit, before he could even introduce the Red Cliff Faction to him.


    "Do my orders mean nothing to you?! When I asked everyone not to stir up troubles with Chen Guo, why the hell would you even start anything with anyone?! Hu Guan!"


    The guy who had tried to slap Huang Cixi stepped forward. "Yes, Faction Leader Chan."


    "You should know that what Chen Guo said is true. Hitting a servant deserves fives lashes."


    "But, Faction Leader, I already paid a small spirit stone to atone."


    "But did you atone to me as well?" Chan Weifeng was truly pissed tonight. Thus, Hu Guan decided to take his losses and endure.


    "No, Faction Leader. Sorry, Faction Leader. I accept my punishment."


    "Take him away and give him his five lashes!" Two men walked toward Hu Guan. They brought him outside without any resistance.


    As the sound of the lashes and Hu Guan''s groans of pain could be heard, Chan Weifeng kept on going.


    "Lun Jiao, you did good by smoothing things over. You''ll need to apologize again later for your friend as I''m not confident enough for Hu Guan to do so himself. This idiot could start trouble again. But I hope you all learn your lesson! Do not offend anyone if you''re not sure of their background! Hell, why would you offend anyone for such a trivial matter?!"


    "Thank you, Faction Leader. We understand."


    "Fine. Leave."


    When they were gone, Chan Weifeng put his head in his hands and stroked his forehead.


    "Brother Jiang, how can we handle this? We can''t even apologize on behalf of the Red Cliff Faction before the end of the week..."


    Indeed, the factions were forbidden from recruiting the disciples before their first week. To ensure this neutrality, no faction or faction leader could even approach the new disciples during this time.


    "Senior, I think the best course of action is to wait and then send a token of our sincerity when the time is ripe."


    "Yes, you''re right. We''ll need to find out what gift would be most appreciated by Chen Guo."


    As Hu Guan''s groans stopped, a young woman walked in the room and gave Chan Weifeng a new report.


    "What?! What the...?! Bring him in!"


    While Chan Weifeng was fuming, a scholar looking man beside him took the report to read it himself and an injured man walked in. This was Luduo Bu who had many broken bones. Even his face was bruised all over.


    "Faction Leader Chan, please redress my grievances. This Chen Guo was too cruel with me!"


    "You!" On his forehead, Chan Weifeng''s vein was popping. "Do you think I''m a moron like you?! You''re the one who was too cruel! First of all, you sullied our name by beating up a little girl, a servant no less. Then, you get taken care of by Chen Guo and you threaten him before a chief elder. Is your brain even working?!"


    "But, Faction Leader Chan, he insulted our Red Cliff!"


    "Oh?! You really think I''m a moron, don''t you?! He probably doesn''t even know our Red Cliff exists! YOU insulted our Red Cliff! Last year, we gave you many occasions to amend your ways, but you never seem to understand! As I said, Chen Guo is a very promising young man and it''s essential that we can get him in our faction."


    "But Faction Leader, this Chen Guo is only a 5th-grade Mortal with no background whatsoever, he''s just a small trash before us."


    Chan Weifeng lost it. "Are you really that stupid?! Do you think he''ll stay a 5th-grade Mortal all his life?! Weren''t you a 5th-grade Mortal just a year ago as well?! And with his talent, you think he''ll stay without a background?!"


    Jiang Yifan whispered something to the faction leader that got him thinking.


    Chan Weifeng nodded by hearing it. "Luduo Bu, you are officially banned from our Red Cliff Faction!"


    Luduo Bu stood up in shock. "But, Faction Leader, I..."


    "Silence! Either you leave freely or we make you leave!"


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    Behind Chan Weifeng, the golden image of a lion''s head began to form. As a fifth-year, his cultivation was already in the Mortal Warrior realm and he could manifest his Qi in the physical world. Before this sight, Luduo Bu did not dare retort and left with his head low and full of killing intent toward Cao Yun.


    "Chen Guo, it''s all your fault! I''ll cut you into pieces and watch you bleed to death!" Luduo Bu kept these words for himself as he left.


    "Why did we even accept this animal in our faction in the first place?"


    "Senior, he seemed really promising last year. But his character just kept on degrading no matter what."


    "What now?"


    "We publicize the expulsion as much as we can. We can even use it to uphold our public image. One of our own bullied a little servant and sullied our name. It can be beneficial for us in the end."


    "Why can''t any of these clowns just follow a simple order?! Tomorrow, we''ll send orders for all the Red Cliff members to avoid any conflict for the time being."


    "Yes, Senior."


    -


    On the summit of the peak, inside a huge residence, a chief elder was being scolded as well. Chief Elder Luoming was reprimanding Chief Elder Baishen.


    "We have a lot of work to do and you waste your entire day?!"


    "But, Brother Luoming, Chen Guo was there and you know how much I was looking forward to training him."


    "And you think I''m going to do all your work for you?!"


    "Brother Luoming, I''m sincerely sorry about this. I swear I truly forgot about the paperwork when I was training him."


    "Oh, I know how you are with martial art and young prodigies... But don''t you think I have better things to do than to do more paperwork myself? And I thought Brother Suxian was unreliable... At least he did his work. Sister Baishen, if you don''t want me to tell the Sect Leader, you better finish your work as soon as possible!"


    "Thank you, Brother Suxian. The Sect Leader doesn''t have to know, I''ll get to it immediately."


    As she was ready to leave, a small voice resounded in the room.


    "What don''t I have to know?"


    Chief Elder Baishen was done for. For neglecting her duties the first day of the new year, she was ordered to do the work of all the Chief elders. After that, she stayed in seclusion for at least four days, working like a madman on all the paperwork.


    With all the disciples advancing to the next year, the fifth-years leaving the sect and the new disciples, there really was a lot of paperwork. Even as a Spirit Warrior, who almost did not need to sleep, it took her four days of tedious work.


    Using this opportunity, she also decided to change some rules within her martial art pavilion and reorganized the personnel so that what had happened with this little servant would never occur again.


    -


    As all these events unfolded, Cao Yun was back in his room with Huang Cixi. The young woman was absorbed in her thoughts. She did not believe that Cao Yun was purely evil as he had probably killed her second brother to save Feng Yingyue''s life and her first to defend his own life. However, she soon realized he was nicer than she had thought.


    That didn''t really change anything. Her second brother was still slain by his hands, no matter how nice he was with little girls. Huang Cixi was trying to convince herself, but it wasn''t very effective.


    "Mei Yuzhi, I''m not in the mood to eat tonight. Just cook something for you and I''ll be cultivating."


    She made a small dish for the evening and started cultivating herself. With the small spirit stone she had received, she was eager to advance her cultivation as fast as possible. If she was diligent, she could be a 4th-grade Mortal before the end of this year.


    Focusing on the spirit stone, she absorbed a large wisp of Qi and sent it to her Lower Dantian. Using it, she lashed at the walls of her Dantian. She used a cultivation method specific to her family. It was just an enhanced version of the ''Universal Law of Immortality'', but it became more specific to her bloodline in the later stages. By lashing her Dantian in a specific way, she could temper it more efficiently. To control the Qi, she used a mantra of her family with very peculiar visualizations. This technique was more efficient but also more painful and she could hurt yourself more easily. However, she wasn''t reluctant to use it at all.


    The ''Universal Law of Immortality'' could bring anyone from nothing to Spirit Warrior and beyond, in theory. In practice, it required a lot of time and dedication. And you could also injure yourself and impede your progress at almost every step of the way. That was the reason why many people did not even practice cultivation at all. By using treasures such as medicinal pills, it was possible to advance more smoothly, but the cost was too high for mere mortals.


    When she was done, she looked at her two small spirit stones. The first one had been given by the sect but the other came from Cao Yun.


    In the other room, the boy was sitting cross-legged on the floor. This little girl being beaten almost to death had awaken the memories of his sister Cao Huiying. He knew he couldn''t cultivate with this image in mind, so he started by circulating ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Once again, he advanced in the Zhi character. In less than two weeks, he would probably reach Perfection. At this stage, he would be able to draw the Zhi character as perfectly as in the manual. This thought calmed him a little as he remembered Feng Yingyue.


    Then, he cultivated his Meridians by circulating the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. His Qi followed the usual pathway. When it traversed his Lung and Heart meridians, it was powerful and rich as all blockages had already been removed. The meridians were all working at the same time but the order in which they opened was very specific. If he kept on working like this, every one of them would be opened in less than two weeks each. He could break through in a matter of months.


    After that, the next stage consisted in gathering Qi in the Lower Dantian. The more Qi you accumulated in this grade, the higher you could then climb. Some cultivators too eager to advance neglected this grade and destroyed their future cultivation, getting stuck in some further grade. There was a minimum requirement to break through, but the upper limit was just how much Qi your Dantian could bear, which heavily depended on how well you had tempered it during the 3rd-grade Mortal stage. And Cao Yun''s Lower Dantian had been tempered using the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' which was really advanced. His Lower Dantian was probably one of the best any Mortal cultivator had in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Finally, he focused on the Horn Star and found that his day of training bore fruit. The binary star was brighter and more vibrant. By observing it, he almost saw the two horns of a dragon intertwined and the technique became clearer in his mind. He could probably work on the second star in some days. It would take more time to be forged though. After all, he had forged the first one in a week. It was hard to be faster than that.


    -


    During his sleep, Cao Yun could not circulate Yi and Zhi. Thus, he fell into a nightmare where he saw the face of Cao Huiying being kicked in and trampled upon. Her small body was broken all over and she coughed blood.


    She started to whimper and tried to call for her older brother. But Cao Yun was paralyzed, a deep cut in his torso.


    Hearing some noise, Huang Cixi woke up. Her sleep was not that good tonight after all. The noise was coming from the other room. Cao Yun was moving around in his bed. Very faintly, she heard him call out "Little Huiying, little sis!".


    All of a sudden, Cao Yun woke up and stood up straight, breathing heavily. He was in a daze, trying to figure out the dream from the reality.


    When he saw Huang Cixi, he came to. "I''m sorry, did I wake you up?"


    "No, I was still awake." Huang Cixi was clearly lying but she was trying to be nice. "Are you alright?"


    "Yes, I''m sorry, just bad memories. I just need to meditate a little."


    "I''ll leave you be then."


    Cao Yun sat cross-legged on his bed and used the rest of the night to circulate ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Every time he thought he was in control, something woke up his trauma. If he was not careful, he could easily form an inner demon. But worse than that, the Drop of Wrath could act up at any moment and devour his sanity.


    His main goal should be his mind cultivation. For that, his best bet was the Frozen Heart Pill. Xiao Xuefeng still had the Embalming Lake Lotus Leaves he had stolen from the demonic cultivators. But he lacked an alchemist to make the pill.

 Chapter 43: Alchemy principles

    As the sun rose in the morning, so did Cao Yun. Despite his troubled night, he had somewhat recovered mentally but his body was still aching all over because of the training and the bad sleep. Last night had reminded him of the danger hidden in his body. The Drop of Wrath had saved his life and its intent was a little bit useful. But controlling it was a real problem. Given that it was in his heart, he had no way to get it out so he had to find a way to at least suppress it.


    Once again, the Frozen Heart Pill could be useful to boost his mind cultivation.


    "Senior Chen, where do you want to go today? Back to the martial art pavilion?"


    "No, it''s been very beneficial, but I need to rest my body. I was thinking of going to the alchemy pavilion."


    "Are you an alchemist?" Huang Cixi knew that he was not, but she still played her part.


    "No, but I need to find someone to refine a certain pill for me. And I could still try to learn the basics, it could always prove useful."


    -


    They both went to the alchemy pavilion. The building was not as big as the martial art pavilion but it was way more impressive. Its architecture was very complex and detailed. Magical cauldrons were drawn as a symbol on the building''s doors.


    When he got in, Cao Yun saw several young men and women coming and going through different rooms. There were very few people in the sect right now as many things were happening at the same time. While the new first-years were slowly getting used to the sect''s facilities, many things had to be prepared. There was a lot of paperwork to be done as the sect was still under the supervision of the Hongchen Kingdom and disciples were registering in or out of the sect and certain pavilions.


    Going to the counter, Cao Yun was looking for someone to guide him. After waiting for a while, a young woman finally came.


    "Excuse me, Junior Brother, we''re really busy. What do you want?"


    "Well, I''m a novice so I''d like to try and learn some alchemy."


    A laugh erupted from behind him. An arrogant looking young man appeared, accompanied by eight beautiful women and two muscular men. The man was wearing the same emblem Cao Yun had seen many times, the red cliff with a two on it.


    "A frog in a well, really! You''re going to inconvenience Sister Zhong and you don''t even know anything about alchemy?!" His laughter continued as the two men besides him started to look more and more confused.


    "If you don''t know anything, don''t even try to come to this pavilion!"


    "If you don''t know, you can''t learn? Then how do you learn, please enlighten me."


    "You dare retort back?! Well, who asked you to be ignorant? If you don''t know, it''s your own fault." The two men finally whispered something to the young man''s ear. "What?!"


    He looked at the two guys and then back to Cao Yun. "Brother Chen?"


    "Indeed, I''m Chen Guo. It is true that I am ignorant of alchemy, Brother. But I fail to see why me seeking to remedy this ignorance would be a problem. Please enlighten me."


    "Brother Chen, I was just joking, really. It''s admirable for you to seek the guidance of a true alchemist. Those who seek knowledge are always welcome here."


    The receptionist was very surprised. This Xue Rui was constantly coming here to try and boast before her. Despite having eight concubines already, he was trying to seduce her. Most of the time, he did so by belittling others to seem brighter. This time he had hit an iron pot. The two muscular men were his bodyguards and unlike him, they had seen Cao Yun during the examination, so they quickly recognized him. Being a member of the Red Cliff Faction, Xue Rui had obviously heard the order of not starting trouble with Cao Yun, and yet the first thing he did this morning was precisely that.


    A woman''s voice came out from a door. "Indeed, Xue Rui, but those who want to play should go back."


    He immediately bowed as he recognized the voice. Guest Elder Xiao Xuefeng appeared from behind a door.


    Cao Yun bowed as well when he saw her, so did everyone else. "This junior presents his respect to the guest elder."


    "Chen Guo, it''s nice to see you here." She smiled toward Cao Yun and turned to Xue Rui. "Young boy, I hear that you inconvenience little Zhong almost everyday. You should learn some manners before coming here with your harem. No amount of talent in alchemy will teach you how to be respectful of others. Leave for today."


    "This junior understands his mistake, Elder Xiao. I''ll be more proper from now on." He turned toward Cao Yun. "I hope Brother Chen won''t take this joke to heart." He quickly left the alchemy pavilion.


    Chan Weifeng would have another headache in less than an hour when this matter would be reported to him.


    "Little Chen, I was just about to give a lesson to a first-year when I sensed your presence, come and join us."


    "Thank you, Elder Xiao. I hope you won''t mind my inexperience. I have no knowledge of alchemy, but I''m very interested in learning."


    "Good. As long as you''re sincere, you can learn anything."


    The receptionist Zhong was really surprised. Xiao Xuefeng had arrived a few months ago and she had never taught anyone in person. Yet today, she took two first-years with her in a small study.


    -


    When Cao Yun got in the study, he saw Mei Hua, who was third in the entrance examination''s ranking. Both of them were surprised when they saw each other.


    "Miss Mei, Chen Guo is a novice but he''ll learn with us today."


    "A novice?!" Mei Hua''s attitude seemed strange today. During the examination, she had always appeared calm but when Cao Yun examined her, she seemed enraged. No matter how much she tried to conceal it, her face was full of anger.


    "Chen Guo, be patient with Miss Mei today, a very bad news regarding her little sister came out yesterday. But first of all, what do you want to learn?"


    "Elder Xiao, I''m in need of a Frozen Heart Pill, so I''d like to know more about it."


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    "The Frozen Heart Pill?!" Mei Hua got so surprised that she answered before Xiao Xuefeng. "It''s one of the most difficult 5-star Earth rank pill to refine! Don''t you think you''re a little bold to want to start with this?!"


    "I''m sorry Sister Mei, I''m really ignorant of the alchemy way. I do know that this pill is hard to forge, but I''d just like to learn a little bit of alchemy to help me."


    "A little bit?! Don''t you have some respect for our craft?! It''s not something you can just learn ''a little bit'' about! Either you''re committed to it or you''re not, in which case you should just hire a real alchemist instead of trying to play as one!"


    "Miss Mei! Please!" Xiao Xuefeng stopped the little girl. "Chen Guo is sincere in his answer. You should know that many cultivators learn just a bit of alchemy merely to recognize the ingredients they meet in the wild. Or so that no dirty alchemist can scam them easily with low-level pills. I know today is difficult for you, but please, do not vent your anger on Chen Guo."


    "Miss Mei, I''m sorry if I seemed to belittle your craft. I''m not. A dear friend of mine is an alchemist. I just wish to learn a little bit because I know that this craft is complex and I don''t have enough time to focus on it. I swear that my intentions are sincere."


    "Humph!" Cao Yun could sense that this hostility was not directed toward him so he didn''t mind but it still felt awkward in the room.


    Xiao Xuefeng also felt this awkwardness and decided to start the lesson.


    "I''ll teach you both using the Frozen Heart Pill as an example."


    As she spoke, many tools appeared on the table in a small light coming from her spatial ring.


    "Alchemy is the art of extracting medicinal properties from the natural world and mixing them together to create new properties. It is ruled by five big principles, the Five Golden Elixir Principles."


    Xiao Xuefeng took a small cauldron from her spatial ring. There was nothing impressive about it and it almost looked like it could be used to cook beans.


    "I''ll use this training cauldron. It''s not great but not bad either. Remember, a cauldron is just a means, not an end. If you''re proficient enough, you should be able to refine any pill in any cauldron. As long as the cauldron can sustain the temperature and the pressure of course. Maintaining your cauldron is of utmost importance. If you fail to do so, your pill will be a failure before you even attempt anything."


    "This is the first principle. Your cauldron can absorb the medicinal energies of the ingredients you put it. As such, it''s essential to either clean it with care or feed it special ingredients to cook. According to the state of your cauldron, it can mess up the refining process. This training cauldron is absolutely neutral, so it can accommodate many kinds of pills. On the other hand, your flame can also alter your cauldron, sometimes it is even necessary to commission a blacksmith to fix it."


    She then took out the ingredients for the Frozen Heart Pill. There was a Embalming Lake Lotus Leaf covered in Icey Horned Swamp Frog''s blood, one of the leaves the demonic cultivators Cao Yun had killed were growing. There was also a lot of other ingredients, like a vial of yellow water, a root of some kind, a metallic powder and some moss.


    Cao Yun recognized the ingredients that Feng Yingyue had used in front of Grand Master Hua Fenfei.


    "The second principle is the preparation of the ingredients. This is also a crucial step. If you fail to prepare them the right way, your pill will be a failure before you even start the fire. You first need to understand the ingredient in order to extract as much medicinal essence as possible."


    "Let''s take this Embalming Lake Lotus Leaf for example. Everyone knows this is a Pure Yin ingredient. It''s also related to water. As it''s been stored in Icey Horned Swamp Frog''s blood, we first need to carefully remove it. There are several ways but using a Yin water would probably be the best. As the blood is Yang in nature, even though it comes from a Pure Yin demonic beast, you need to be careful not to mix any blood with your preparation of the leaf."


    Xiao Xuefeng took out a small bowl of water. As soon as it came out of her spatial ring, it emitted some vapor.


    "Sleeping Crystalline Tears?!" Mei Hua was astounded.


    "Is this rare?"


    "Rare?!" She turned toward Cao Yun. But realizing she was missing the process, she kept her eyes on Xiao Xuefeng. "You really know nothing. This is a 3-star Human rank ingredient. Even I have never seen it before."


    "Indeed, this is Sleeping Crystalline Tears. Your knowledge is very good, Mei Hua."


    She tenderly put the leaf in the water as it was still slowly evaporating into the air.


    "This water is very Yin but contains a tiny bit of Fire element in it, so it evaporates as soon as there is some light around it. This evaporation takes a bit of the Yang properties with it, so it''s easier to clean the leaf."


    When she was done, she took a small rolling pin. Putting the leaf on a sheet, she rolled the pin over it.


    "You need to extract the medicinal essence from the leaf and you''ll get a green powder."


    She kept on preparing all the other ingredients by explaining her process step by step. Mei Hua and Cao Yun were focusing all their attention on her, to remember every small detail.


    "The third principle is the control of the flame. When you become a Mortal Warrior, you''ll be able to control it even better by infusing your Qi within. But a true alchemist should be able to manipulate their flame without Qi."


    She started the fire under her cauldron, and set up small piles of powder and dirt around it.


    "By using various kinds of powder, you can control the intensity of the flame. But that''s not all. Each powder will also infuse some properties into a flame. In principle, a flame is Pure Yang, so it can easily clash with Yin ingredients or even burn up Yang ingredients as their Yang becomes too intense. By using your Qi, you can alter its properties and even mix several of them inside a single flame. Some experts can form a flame that burns at different temperatures in several places on the cauldron. But you can also use powders to control the properties of the flame."


    She threw a bit of powder in the red flame and it became blue.


    "For example, this Immovable Mercury powder has some Pure Yin properties while retaining a tiny bit a Yang. It keeps the flame very hot but gives it a more Yin nature to avoid any clash with the Embalming Lake Lotus Leaf. When forging a pill, it''s not rare to have to use several powders to control your flame. You must remember that these powders interact with one another as well, so be careful. They can also infect your cauldron, hence why you must always maintain it properly."


    As she started to put the ingredients in the cauldron, controlling the flame at the same time, Xiao Xuefeng continued her lesson.


    "The last two principles are related to one another and focus mainly on the refining process in itself. The first one is Yin-Yang Balance. There are four kinds of Yin and Yang: Pure Yin, Small Yin, Small Yang and Pure Yang. Yin is passive and black, it''s darkness and calmness. It pertains to anything that would cool your body and mind. It can be poisonous as it will reduce your bodily functions and the heat of your body. Of course, the Pure Yin is stronger in that aspect than the Small Yin."


    "Then, the Yang is active and white, it''s light and excitement. It pertains to anything that would heat up your body and mind. It can also be poisonous as it will burn up your body. Once again, the Pure Yang is stronger in that aspect than the Small Yang. But remember that everything is a mix of Yin and Yang. It can be very tiny, but even in the most Yang ingredient, there will be a wisp of Yin, otherwise the ingredient would be destroyed before it can ever come into being."


    "Finally, the last principle is the Five Elements Wheel. It''s the most complex principle to master. In addition to the Yin and Yang, ingredients also have elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water."


    Cao Yun immediately recognized these elements as they were linked to the First Layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. He could maybe advance faster if he got a better understanding of these elements.


    "These elements are also in everything around us. A great alchemist will be able to align the elements within his forging process with those outside. Each element is linked to the other in various ways: they can generate, weaken, regulate, excite or counter each other."


    "Discussing it in details here would be difficult, but let''s take this pill for example. The Frozen Heart Pill is linked to Water of course as its goal is to regulate the fire of the heart. If you use too much Wood element, you will weaken the Water. If you use too much Earth element, you will obstruct the flow of the Water element. If you use too much Fire element, you will burn out the Water element. Finally, if you use too much Metal, you promote the Water element and flood the others."


    "Each element can act on the others, and you must balance them out. It''s especially important to know in what order you must put your ingredients in. By understanding the elements better, you''ll also be able to control the timing and enhance the effects you want while diminishing the adverse ones."


    As she spoke, Xiao Xuefeng had finished the refining process and a small pill leapt from the cauldron and into her palm.

 Chapter 44: The first pill

    During the entire process, Cao Yun had used both his Yi and Zhi to observe every tiny detail of Xiao Xuefeng''s alchemy. As it was a lesson, she was very slow in her movements and explained each step carefully.


    "The Five Golden Elixir Principles are thus as follows: Cauldron Maintenance, Ingredients Preservation, Flame Control, Yin-Yang Balance, Five Elements Wheel.


    The most important one to understand in the long run is the Five Elements Wheel. Thanks to it, an accomplished alchemist can refine a pill without any formula. If he knows the properties of the pill and of the ingredients, by using this principle he''s able to determine how to best combine the ingredients together.


    You see, the human body also contains the five elements, so do the diseases. The pill will act upon these elements to produce the desired effects. If you understand the elements of the body, you know how the pill should interact with them. And if you know that, you know how the elements of your ingredients should interact to refine it.


    It allows alchemists to research new ways to refine the same pill more efficiently."


    She then presented the pill to Mei Hua. After watching the gorgeous alchemy of Xiao Xuefeng, she was a little more calm, but her face was still tensed. "This is..." When she examined the pill, she smelled its fragrance and concluded. "94% of the medicinal essence?"


    "Indeed. Chen Guo, you may know that pills can be judged from how much of the medicinal essence they preserved. 60% is the strict minimum to not be considered a failed pill. To judge this number, you have to take into account the color, the smell and the size. There are many other factors, but these are the main three. And when you develop spiritual senses, you can literally see the medicinal essence.


    A pill with 100% is almost impossible to obtain as some medicinal essence is always lost. But some pills are so close to it that we call them True Essence pills. There are two other categories. A pill with more than 90% is considered as Perfect and more than 95% as Pure."


    Cao Yun took the pill in hand and he could indeed feel a sweet fragrance coming from it. Right now, he had no way of clearly identifying its level, but it seemed high.


    Xiao Xuefeng took back the tools from her desk in her spatial ring and flicked her hand again. These same tools appeared before both of the disciples.


    "Now, you''ll try."


    "But, Elder Xiao, today, I''m not sure that I can..."


    "I know, I know. But it''s important to train even if you fail. When you''re a master alchemist, you sometimes have to work in bad conditions. Your pill will probably suffer a bit, but you should be able to forge one anyway. And it will keep your mind off your little sister''s troubles for a moment. So, please humor me."


    "I understand, Elder Xiao."


    "Elder Xiao, about the materials..." Cao Yun was embarrassed because he knew that he would be wasting the materials as he had never refined any pill before.


    "You''ll be using my materials, do not worry about it."


    "But I had some Embalming Lake Lotus Leaves, so I''d like not to waste yours."


    "Well, I got those thanks to you as well, so go ahead."


    "Fine." Cao Yun was not at all convinced that he could replicate any of what he had just seen. But by using his yi and Zhi at full capacity he remembered almost everything.


    -


    First, they both prepared the ingredients without any difficulty. Seeing Cao Yun replicate the moves of Xiao Xuefeng so easily, Mei Hua was wondering whether he had ever practiced alchemy or not. However, he had no reason to lie about that.


    Soon, they were both done preparing the ingredients. Mei Hua''s preparations were a little superior as she had extracted a bit more powder from her Embalming Lotus Leaf. Even by mimicking a grand master, it was not possible to be one.


    Then, they started their flame. When Cao Yun ignited his flame, it became too big for an instant as he was not used to it at all. As a matter of fact, he had never started a fire under a cauldron before. The only fires he ever started were campfires in the wild.


    Mei Hua could immediately see that he really was a novice. However she was surprised to see him put the flame under control fairly quickly. It was not as good as hers, but great for someone inexperienced.


    Cao Yun understood that the most crucial step in this refinement would be the flame. He had memorized the order of each ingredient as well as the timing. He just had to put them in the exact same way, there was no technique involved once you knew that.


    On the other hand, controlling the flame was difficult. The flame was alive, it was never exactly the same, so you had to manage it at all times. Even though he knew what powder to use to change its attributes and what temperature should be ideal, he couldn''t simply tell the flame. He had to control the amount of powder he used and adjust the flame in real-time.


    They both started to refine the pill. Cao Yun was entirely focused on his task as he circulated Yi and Zhi to their fullest. Mei Hua on the other hand was distracted by watching him perform. The matter with her little sister was also cluttering her mind.


    During the process, she made some mistakes but soon corrected them. Thanks to her experience, she was able to compensate every distraction. But each one created more frustration and caused other distractions and thus mistakes.


    Beside her, Cao Yun was trying to control his flame. It was even more difficult than he had first imagined. When Xiao Xuefeng did it, it seemed as if it was nothing much. Now, he fully realized how talented she was. She was able to control her flame with such ease while explaining everything to them and determining the correct order and timing for the ingredients.


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    Xiao Xuefeng was observing both of them. She found that she had been correct in pushing Mei Hua. Her pill would probably not be perfect, but she learned a lot by correcting her own mistakes and pushing through. Alchemists needed to control their mind, and by training in these conditions, Mei Hua was training her will and her focus.


    She got more surprised by Cao Yun. At first, she just wanted to be polite to him by giving some pointers. Having the most basic of knowledge was beneficial for cultivators as they would often require pills. Some alchemists were scammers and you could even buy a dangerous pill without realizing it. During the entrance examination, the boy had showed a great mind in the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array, but it did not mean that he could necessarily become a good alchemist.


    Now, she saw that he was really good. He had memorized all the process just by seeing it once. And even though he lost control of his flame several times, he had been able to adjust. The final product would be impacted but he could probably succeed.


    After a long time, the pills were both done. The two of them were able to forge one.


    "Good, very good."


    Xiao Xuefeng first took the pill of Mei Hua. "87%!" This shocked Cao Yun as it was the exact same as Feng Yingyue when she made this same Frozen Heart Pill in Yinmen City.


    Mei Hua seemed mentally exhausted but she held her head high and proud to face Cao Yun.


    Taking the pill of Cao Yun in hand, Xiao Xuefeng could feel it was lacking in comparison. "68%. For a first attempt, it''s still very good. After all, the Frozen Heart Pill is a 5-star Earth rank pill. And it''s known to be difficult to forge. Had it been another pill of the same rank, you probably could have reached 75% or 80%. It''s good."


    Mei Hua was surprised. The first time she had ever forged a pill, it was a 1-star Earth rank and she only attained 67%. Anyway, she was pissed at Cao Yun so she wouldn''t congratulate him directly. "Not bad, your pill is not a total failure."


    "Chen Guo, I know you don''t want to focus an alchemy, but I think you have all the dispositions to be a great alchemist. You should think about it."


    Hearing this praise, it pissed off Mei Hua even more. In reality, she had no qualm with Cao Yun, but she was just in a bad mood and he just happened to be here so she tried to vent her anger on him. She couldn''t vent it on Xiao Xuefeng after all.


    "Elder Xiao, you should not give him ideas. After all, he just wanted to learn ''a little bit''. If he tries to learn more and fails, it would be too disheartening for him, so we should not get his hopes high."


    In a normal occasion, Xiao Xuefeng would have reprimanded this little girl, but she knew what had happened and was a bit too lenient today.


    "Chen Guo, I''d like to gift you this pill." She took the perfect Frozen Heart Pill she had forged and handed it over to the boy. "I know you really need it."


    "Elder, I can''t."


    "Again?! You never seem to be able to accept any gift. You know that one day someone will take it literally and take his gift back. In exchange for it, I can still take one of the Embalming Lake Lotus Leaves that are yours."


    "Elder, if I remember right, I had ten leaves, so what about you take two of them, one to compensate the one used in the refinement and the other for the refinement itself?"


    "Fine." She then turned toward Mei Hua. "And you, you should consume this pill, it''s very beneficial for the mind and it will help you deal with your troubles."


    Mei Hua did not hesitate and swallowed the small pill. All of a sudden, she felt better. The medicinal essence would keep flowing in her body for quite some time, but the first effect was already so potent. She wanted to apologize to Cao Yun but she really did not know how, so she kept her facade.


    "So, Mister ''a little bit'', are you decided on learning alchemy yet?"


    "It''s even more difficult than I thought, but I quite liked it. I don''t want it to sound disrespectful, but if I have time, I want to learn more."


    "Good. It''s not a bad thing to know what you want. If alchemy is not your priority, it''s still good to learn a little. Maybe one day, you''ll change your mind... I''ll choose a good instructor for you. I don''t think that I could teach you well considering your low level. Next time, the receptionist will know who to send you to."


    "Thank you, Elder Xiao. I''ll take my leave. Sister Mei."


    "Humph! I guess we''ll see each other during the training session in three days."


    "Oh? While you''re at it, take this." Xiao Xuefeng had almost forgotten. A small manual appeared from her spatial ring and landed in Cao Yun''s hands.


    "It''s the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic''. It contains the basics of alchemy. All alchemists have read it at least dozens of times. It elaborates on the Five Golden Elixir Principles and even talks about other minor principles. It''s always a good read no matter your level."


    "Thank you again, Elder Xiao."


    When he left, Xiao Xuefeng turned toward Mei Hua. "I know you''re angry after yesterday, but that was a bit too much, I think."


    "I know, Elder Xiao. It''s just that..." Although she tried not to, Mei Hua started to cry. The effect of the pill was powerful on the emotions and what she was trying to suppress came crashing to the surface.


    "I know, I know." The grand master took this little girl in her arms. "I''ll deal with it, do not worry."


    -


    As servants were not allowed within the study, Huang Cixi was waiting outside when Cao Yun came out.


    "Senior Chen! How was your lesson?"


    "Very good! I learned a lot today. Maybe being an alchemist wouldn''t be so bad. But it takes a lot of time to master it... I''ll have to think about it more carefully. Let''s go back for now."


    This time, Cao Yun came back before the sun set. With a perfect Frozen Heart Pill, he really wanted to advance his mind cultivation.


    Back in his room, he consumed the pill. The effect of the pill was noticeably better than the pill he had received from Feng Yingyue.


    He immediately circulated the Zhi character and realized he was able to draw it ninety-six times. He was getting very close to Perfection. The medicinal essence also circulated through the Yi character and even in the Drop of Wrath. If nothing unusual happened, he would be able to sleep well for many nights to come.


    He then read the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic''. It explained everything Xiao Xuefeng had already said and went beyond. In particular, it expanded upon the Five Elements Wheel. In less than an hour, Cao Yun was able to read and remember everything. Alchemy was even more subtle than he thought.


    The manual talked about the different kinds of fire and what powders could produce them. It compared some cauldrons to teach the reader how to choose one and how to maintain it or feed it. It showed various ingredients with basic techniques to prepare them and how to adapt them to other ingredients. The manual was very rich.


    Even though he had remembered every word and drawing, it did not mean that Cao Yun could apply everything in real life. He still needed to train and gain experience.


    The manual was advising young alchemists to try and control a flame outside of a refinement. This way they would not waste any important ingredients, only the powders. This was called ''Nurturing the Dragon''. As controlling the flame was often the most difficult part for beginners, this technique was well explained with various exercises.


    Some of them even produced an unstable flame so that you could train on how to stabilize it, ''Poison the Dragon to Nurture it''.


    Cao Yun was really thinking about learning this craft. He probably wasn''t going to need it much, but it was interesting. And he also had a stupid thought, it would give him a topic of conversation with Feng Yingyue.

 Chapter 45: Training grounds

    Back in the outskirt of the outer yard, in the Red Cliff Faction, Chan Weifeng was rubbing his face with both hands.


    Before him was Xue Rui. He was a talented alchemist so Chan Weifeng could not be too harsh on him, but he really wanted to strangle that damn playboy. The day before, he had made sure that everyone received the order not to offend anyone, especially not Cao Yun.


    And the first thing Xue Rui did was to offend him right in the entrance of the alchemy pavilion. At least it wasn''t too bad as he did not try anything funny. But then, Guest Elder Xiao personally came to show Cao Yun in. What the hell?!


    Chief Elder Baishen seemed to want him as a student, or a guinea pig, and now Guest Elder Xiao gave him a personal lesson on alchemy. Knowing Chief Elder Baishen, Chan Weifeng understood her motivation. She was crazy about fighting and loved watching young talents rise. With her behind him, Cao Yun was sure to become stronger and stronger.


    Alas, Guest Elder Xiao was very new to the sect and Chan Weifeng had no information on her.


    Jiang Yifan whispered in his ear.


    "From what I gathered, Chen Guo did not take the screening test because an elder vouched for him. First I thought Chief Elder Baishen had done it, but maybe it was Guest Elder Xiao."


    Chan Weifeng could not be sure, but in any case, it was a disaster. Luckily, they had no bad blood with the boy. But trying to recruit him would be bad. Each time he saw their emblem, it meant trouble...


    His eyes went back to Xue Rui. The young alchemist did not worry too much because he knew the faction would not be too harsh. Alchemists were really well respected. What he worried more about was Guest Elder Xiao. He would have to try and give her a better impression later on.


    "Xue Rui, to make you reflect on your behavior, I''ll forbid you to leave your quarters until the end of the week."


    "Yes, Faction Leader." It wasn''t so bad.


    "And no one may enter your room as well. You''ll be alone."


    "Alone? You mean, alone with my concubines?"


    "No! I mean, alone! Stop thinking about collecting women, that''s what''s causing you troubles!"


    "But Faction Leader..."


    "My decision is final! Accept it or leave the Red Cliff Faction!"


    Xue Rui was not that great of an alchemist so he could not join a faction dedicated to the craft and he had some bad blood with the second biggest faction. Staying in Red Cliff was the best option for him. But one entire week?!


    "Fine, Faction Leader, I understand."


    Xue Rui was totally defeated. He left with the head low and depression in his face.


    "Jiang Yifan. Why am I surrounded by trouble-makers? In two days, Chen Guo met three times with our members and three times he was insulted or worse. Why can''t they just behave themselves?!"


    "Senior Chan, we''re the biggest faction in the Wubei Sect, we can''t possibly control every single member. And being part of the faction can turn the heads of some young guys, I admit."


    "Do you believe we can salvage it and rope Chen Guo in anyway?"


    Jiang Yifan got really pensive for a while. "I doubt it would be easy. I already asked several people to watch him carefully. We''ll analyze his character and figure something out to attract him."


    "Fine. Give another warning to every member. Until the end of the week, no more problem. If they can''t stay put, order them to stay indoors!"


    -


    In another room on the summit of the peak, Xiao Xuefeng was talking with a burly man, Chief Elder Bian, the head of the disciplinary pavilion.


    "Miss Xiao, I understand your concerns but every rule was adhered to."


    "So your Wubei Sect allows for a twelve-year-old girl to be beaten to death as long as she does not scream for help and is still alive at the end? Is that the moral code of your pavilion?"


    "Miss Xiao, I''m not saying that this is not disgusting or appalling, please understand me. My duty is to uphold the law and strictly speaking nothing illegal was committed there. If I could beat up the dog who did it I would do so in person, but I can''t. Just because I don''t like something does not mean I can do whatever I want. My disciplinary pavilion must stay perfectly impartial under every situation. The sole purpose of my function is to strictly follow the letter of the law."


    Xiao Xuefeng was not pleased at all.


    "So that''s your so called moral conduct?! I had heard great things about the Wubei Sect but you sure are greater than I thought. So great that you beat up little girls until they cough up blood."


    Chief Elder Bian was visibly annoyed but sadly she was right. When Luduo Bu had beaten up the girl in the martial art pavilion he did adhere to the rules.


    As they were arguing, Chief Elder Baishen came in. She was still in the middle of her paperwork but she had just finished the revised rules of her pavilion.


    "Miss Xiao, what are you doing here?"


    "Chief Elder Baishen?" Xiao Xuefeng was surprised, but she quickly remembered that the crime had happened under her supervision. "I''m here to denounce a crime in your pavilion!"


    "What?! What happened Miss Xiao? I was busy with paperwork all day long. Tell me what happened and I''ll punish the fool myself!"


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    "Yesterday the little sister of Mei Hua was almost beaten to death. Luckily she was saved at the last moment. I had to use my alchemy to help her get over it. And the disciplinary pavilion tells me that beating a twelve-year-old girl is perfectly fine." She said the last part while watching the poor Bian who did not know where to hide.


    "Yesterday?! I know what you''re referring to! I beat up the dog who did it myself!" Chief Elder Baishen lowered her head. "I''m sorry it ever happened... That''s why I wrote some new rules about that. That bastard crushed the poor girl''s throat to stop her from giving up and then destroyed her. The stupid disciples who watched idly by are all being punished by me personally." Chief Elder Baishen was really ashamed, but there was nothing more she could do.


    "Wait!" Chief Elder Bian finally raised his head proudly. "You''re sure about that?! He crushed her throat to stop her from talking?!"


    "Yes, does it make a difference?"


    "It might! I have to look through ancient rules but if he did it specifically so that she could not stop the fight, then this is no more a sparring session. Gather all the witnesses of the incident!"


    Chief Elder Bian finally felt good about his job.


    "Miss Xiao, I can only swear that I''ll follow every rule possible to try and nail that bastard! Anyone who disrespects our rules must be punished!"


    "What''s the punishment he can receive?"


    "Well, it depends on what we can precisely establish. But if it''s proven that he did it on purpose, then this can be considered as cruel physical punishments on a servant. He cannot be expelled but he can suffer up to a hundred canings and three months in isolation."


    "Thank you, Chief Elder Bian. I''m sorry if my tongue was harsh earlier."


    "No, Miss Xiao. I understand completely, trust me. Even though I uphold the law impartially, it does not mean that I don''t feel any outrage when I hear such stories. However, the law is always my priority. I know it might sound cold, but I take pride in my duty."


    -


    In a dark room, Luduo Bu was raging. He was using his halberd to destroy a wooden mannequin as his servant was curled up in a corner. Luduo Bu had never directly hit him as it could result in severe punishments but he was terrorized by him.


    He had to find another faction to get in but his track record was bad. After only one year, he had to deal with the disciplinary pavilion on many occasions and even got punished several times. Without a faction, he knew that life was too difficult in the sect. But he could not figure out which faction could possibly accept him, especially because of this Cao Yun.


    Everyone seemed to want to rope him in, so no faction would take the risk to offend him before he made his choice.


    Someone knocked on his door. An evil look was sent to the poor servant. Terrified, he stood up and went for the door. Behind it was a man in a black and purple uniform, different from the one of the sect. On his uniform was an emblem with two fangs biting in a red flower. His face was completely covered.


    "I''m sorry, my master doesn''t want to receive anyone."


    "Oh? He''ll want to receive me." The man walked in by pushing the servant to the side and closed the door. His voice seemed really strange, almost as if several people were speaking at once.


    -


    Finally there was some calm within the Wubei Sect. During the following two days, Cao Yun strolled through the sect to locate every facility. Even though he remembered the map, he preferred to see everything by himself. During his walk, he met up with several other first-years like him. He even met with Ren Chao who was as loud as ever. However, he did not meet Sun Liao.


    He focused on absorbing the medicinal essence of the Frozen Heart Pill and advancing his cultivation. The training of Chief Elder Baishen had really taken a toll on him. After one more day he could probably go train again but the fifth day was the first collective training of the first-years so he needed to be at his best.


    Thus, he kept training the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' in his sea of consciousness. It wasn''t the best option but it preserved his body. Once he had seen what kind of training that would be, he could decide on a schedule for the weeks to come.


    His mind cultivation was advancing faster than he thought once the medicinal essence of the Frozen Heart pill was added to the mix. The Zhi character was going to reach Perfection before the end of the week. Then he could try the third character in the First Layer. He was impatient to know what it was and what benefits he would gain from it, but he kept his curiosity in check.


    On the other hand Huang Cixi was pretty shaken. At first, she wanted to get near him in order to find ways to get rid of the murderer of her brothers and father. But now she realized he was not evil at all. Deep down, she knew he had probably only acted to protect Feng Yingyue but he did not have to kill Huang Lixin to do so. He could have just beaten him. No matter how nice this ''Chen Guo'' was, Huang Cixi could not forgive him. One way or another, he had to pay. But she was second-guessing whether she could actually go through with this.


    Her own cultivation was advancing smoothly thanks to her small spirit stones. By using the Huang cultivation method, her Lower Dantian would probably been tempered in four to six months, she would then step into the 4th-grade Mortal stage. Technically, she could enter the Wubei Sect with this cultivation. If she kept on training for the entire year, she was convinced that she could join the sect next year. But should she join as soon as possible or wait one more year to keep monitoring Cao Yun?


    She would have to decide on it when the time was right.


    -


    Like that, two more days passed by. The fifth day was today.


    Cao Yun woke up earlier as Elder Tang had asked them to get to the training grounds when the sun rose. He had located where they were in the sect and planned his way.


    Without waking up Huang Cixi, he left for the training grounds. They were a huge plain in the outskirt of the Wubei Sect, in the same area where the entrance examination took place. Even though it was a mountain, the area was perfectly flat, covered in dirt and sand.


    There were many tools for training here and there and at least two hundred people could have fitted there.


    When he arrived, Cao Yun met with all the other first-years. At least half of them were already there and soon enough they all came. No one was late.


    Cao Yun talked with Ren Chao and Sun Liao. Mei Hua was still visibly shaken by what had happened to her. He wasn''t sure on how to talk to her so he didn''t. As a matter of fact, she also wanted to talk to him. During their last time together she was too harsh and she was sincerely regretting it.


    Ren Chao and Sun Liao were strangely similar and could not stand each other without Cao Yun in the middle to temper their characters. Sun Liao could not stop boasting and being arrogant for the life of him. And Ren Chao could not stop speaking loud and being overly friendly, which seemed disrespectful for the people who did not know him.


    As the sun rose, several men and women came down the mountain toward the training grounds. There were as many men as there were male first-years and as many women as there were female first-years. Leading them was a somewhat round fellow with a small beard. It appeared to have been poorly shaved.


    As soon as he reached the training grounds, he yelled.


    "Get in line!"


    When the disciples did so, he made a gesture and all the other people went to the side of a specific disciple.


    "These are your personal instructors. I am your chief instructor. You will call me ''Chief Instructor Peng'' and nothing else. You will call them ''Instructor'' and nothing else. Understood?"


    "This junior understands, Chief Instructor Peng!"


    "Good, you''re not too slow. Every week you''ll come here at the exact same time, if you''re late, you will regret being born. If you''re absent, I will go find you myself and you will beg to die. Am I clear?"


    "Very clear, Chief Instructor Peng!"


    "Good! The instructor beside you will be assigned to you until the end of this year."


    He walked between every disciple and looked at every last one of them for a long while each time. After every inspection, he whispered something to the instructor standing beside the disciple.


    Finally, he went back in front of everybody.


    "Now, I''ll explain the contents of these training sessions!"

 Chapter 46: The turtle whips

    "Your training with me will be cultivation. As all of you know, cultivation is the foundation of any cultivator. Yes, your cultivation level is not everything, but it is the basis for everything else. Even if you are the best Mortal cultivator of all time, you can''t manifest Qi."


    Chief Instructor Peng got into a specific stance and all of a sudden a giant bear with bat wings appeared behind him.


    "No matter how powerful you are, if you''re in the Mortal realm, and your opponent is in the Mortal Warrior stage, you will lose. The grades within a realm can sometimes be disregarded, especially in the lower realms, but as soon as you change realm, you change the rules of the game. If you can''t manifest Qi, how can you fight against a Mortal Warrior? Similarly if you don''t have any spiritual sense, how can you fight against a Spirit Warrior who can enter your mind?


    Of course, there are always exceptions. For example, alchemists tend to cultivate through pills and their fighting power are sometimes way weaker than their cultivation level. But even in these conditions, jumping a realm to fight is as hard as a mortal climbing Mount Tai."


    The gigantic bear disappeared as it had appeared. This kind of Qi manifestation that was so tangible that it looked real meant that Chief Instructor Peng was at least a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior.


    "Now, let''s review the first grades of the Mortal realm. You begin by training your exterior body, your muscles and your tendons. Then, you train the inner parts, the bones. Finally in the third grade you begin to train with your Qi by strengthening and tempering your Lower Dantian.


    All of you have already crossed these grades. So your bodies are strong and you can collect Qi.


    Your grades vary from the 4th to the 5th. These grades are pretty similar. In the 4th grade, you circulate the Qi through your 8 Vessels and you try to open them so that Qi can flow naturally within. And in the 5th grade, you repeat the process for your Meridians.


    That''s what we''ll be training today."


    Chief Instructor Peng went to fetch some kind of thin cane. When he whipped the air with it, a sonic boom echoed throughout the training grounds.


    "This is called a ''turtle tail''. It is an instrument you''ll get to know as your best friend and your worst nightmare. A turtle tail can transmit a lot of Qi. It''s not a great weapon, but it''s very difficult to break."


    He whipped the turtle tail again in the air.


    "I remember this one time when I was in this brothel and..." Seeing the young faces of boys and girls, he paused and cleared his throat. "I probably shouldn''t talk about that."


    "Anyway! Every instructor by your side has been chosen to wield such a turtle tail. They will pour their Qi within and send it straight through your skin and flesh toward your vessels."


    As he spoke, every disciple looked at their side and saw their instructor holding such a turtle tail in hand.


    "For those who are still in the 4th-grade, it will allow you to fill your vessels and help them open. For the others, as your vessels are naturally full of Qi, they will play their role of reservoirs and this Qi will overflow into your meridians and help open them.


    This technique is called ''Turtle Whips the Channels''. It''s part of the cultivation method of the Wubei Sect, the ''Coiling Turtle''. You must not try to focus on the circulation of Qi at all. You only have two goals, fending off the pain and keeping your position.


    The positions! I will demonstrate all eight positions of the ''Turtle Whips the Channels''. You must stay in every one of those for one hour each. They all target specific vessels. Let''s begin!"


    In front of the incredulous disciples, Chief Instructor Peng performed the first stance. He really looked like a turtle as his back was bent forward.


    "''Turtle Whips the Channels'', first position. Get in it!"


    The disciples knew they had no choice so they got into position. The instructor by their side corrected the ones who needed it.


    "Fine. Not bad. Remember, you must fend off the pain to keep your position but you must not focus on the flow of Qi, let it be natural. Only try to focus on the sensation itself, do not attempt to help it or control it or the process will be slower. I''m sure you wouldn''t want to suffer through this longer than necessary."


    The disciples were all ready for pain. When the first hit came at the base of their spine, many let out a groan of pain. Some even broke their stance and were rapidly put back in it.


    At the first whip, almost no one felt any difference, except Cao Yun. Preparing for a tough pain, he had already circulated his Zhi to steel his will. When the hit came, he almost felt no pain at all but sensed a wisp a Qi penetrating his body.


    The vibration of the turtle tail acted like his ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' as it allowed for this wisp of Qi to penetrate deep into the flesh and into the Du Mai Vessel.


    Almost every twenty seconds a new hit came down on every disciple at the same time.


    After around ten hits, Chief Instructor Peng spoke again.


    "You should feel the Qi gathering in your spine by now."


    "Chief Instructor Peng, I only feel pain." Ren Chao was the only one who dared to speak. And everyone rolled their eyes.


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    "Oh?!" Chief Instructor Peng got closer. "Well then your instructor must not hit hard enough. Do you think I should whip you instead?"


    "No, Chief Instructor Peng. Now that I think about it, I did sense some Qi flow into my spine."


    "Good! All of you, you should have realized the use of the turtle tail by now. With its vibrations your instructors are not only sending Qi through you, they control the hit so that this Qi goes straight into your vessels."


    To do such a feat, all the instructors were of course Mortal Warriors. Only a Mortal Warrior could control their Qi outside of their body. They were probably 1st-grade or 2nd-grade Mortal Warriors to send Qi through an object. A Spirit Warrior could have probably sent the Qi in their Vessels with just a physical contact, but these cultivators would not train mere outer disciples.


    The training kept on going. Every hour, without any pause, Chief Instructor Peng would show the next move. Gradually, all the disciples felt the Qi flowing strong in their vessels. The pain was great but the benefits were worth it. If they had not trained their bodies, their flesh would have been ripped apart by these hits.


    Cao Yun was still circulating Zhi at its fullest and he barely felt any pain. One time, he tried to focus his intent where the wisp of Qi was going but he discovered that Chief Instructor Peng was right. When he tried to direct it, it stopped moving altogether and melted with the rest of his Qi. It would still fill his vessels but the efficiency was way lower.


    As a 5th-grade Mortal, his vessels were already full of Qi that circulated naturally. So each time a wisp of Qi entered his vessels, they would overflow a little and send Qi through his meridians. This Qi flowed easily in the meridians he had already cleaned and then began to open the others.


    Apart from the pain, this feeling was exhilarating for the disciples. At first, they fought through the ordeal in order not to be punished, but now they realized how much they were gaining from it.


    -


    After eight long hours of whipping, if the students were to take off their clothes, they would appear red all over their body. Not even their legs and arms were spared. The only part of their body that wasn''t aimed at was their face.


    "Good! By now, your vessels for some and meridians for others should be full of Qi. It''s the perfect opportunity to train your bodies. You see, most cultivators tend to neglect their physical training when they work with their Qi. Once you cross over the first two stages, you think that it''s not necessary to train your flesh anymore. After all, just the increase in Qi will train it for you. You''re wrong! The stronger your body the faster and the higher you can cultivate.


    Just look at this exercise, if your bodies weren''t strong enough, you never could have endured that, and yet it was so beneficial for your cultivation. So remember, do not neglect your flesh.


    It reminds me of the time I was completely drunk and..." Once again, Chief Instructor Peng stopped for a while. "I probably shouldn''t talk about that either."


    Chief Instructor Peng went to fetch some instruments. They were very standard strength training equipments like dumbbells.


    "Your instructor will guide you and push you through. Until the sun set, you will train your muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons.


    Then tonight, you will cultivate before sleeping, do not let all the Qi within your body run havoc. If you fail to meditate properly, you could suffer a backlash tomorrow. These physical exercises will help you absorb a huge part of the Qi you were given in your tissues but you must still control what will remain in your vessels and meridians.


    Every week as long as you''re first-years, you will come here and train like this. The positions of ''Turtle Whips the Channels'' should be engraved in your minds and your bodies right now, so it will be even smoother.


    And if one of you neglects their cultivation, I will personally help them practice ''Turtle Whips the Channels'', and I can promise you, you don''t want that. Now get to training!"


    The disciples followed their instructor and each one gave them specific exercises to perform. These were all standard strength exercises. For a 5th-grade Mortal lifting several hundreds of jin* was not very difficult. Cao Yun got to lift twenty dan*, around two thousand jin. It wasn''t impossible but it still got heavy for him.


    While he was training, he focused his Yi on the tissues who were working out. As he did, he felt the Qi within his meridians seeping through his tissues and nourishing them.


    By the end of the training, his overall strength had increased by almost 2%. If he kept this progress rate, he would almost triple his strength by the end of the year.


    What he was feeling was very strange. His body and mind were exhausted because of all this training, but yet he felt full of energy inside. There was a fire flowing through him that wanted to express itself but his mind and body could not follow.


    Remembering the words of Chief Instructor Peng, Cao Yun realized he was absolutely right, if he did not cultivate tonight to put this energy under control, a backlash would undoubtedly occur.


    When the training was over, Chief Instructor Peng said nothing. Considering all the disciples were in even worse states than Cao Yun, no one would have been able to even listen to him anyway.


    Although they were exhausted, they still had to climb back up toward their rooms.


    -


    When Cao Yun got back, he only wanted to sleep but forced himself to sit cross-legged on the floor and cultivated. Huang Cixi got startled by his sudden arrival but left him alone.


    Cao Yun activated his Yi and circulated his Qi through his meridians. After an hour or so, his third meridian opened, the Pericardium Meridian. He probably was faster by two or three days. With this training method, by completely nulling the pain with his Zhi, the Water Will, he could speed up his cultivation even more. He was thinking of breaking through in four months but he could probably do it in three. But now, he really had no more strength to do anything else, not even his mind cultivation, his mental training of martial art, or even merely eating.


    He went to bed at once and slept longer than usual.


    -


    While Cao Yun was sleeping, Luduo Bu was outside of the sect, deep in the woods. He was cultivating in a pool of blood, surrounded by the corpses of several low-level demonic beasts. With reddened eyes, his skin seemed to absorb the blood. Some of this blood also flowed in a strange pattern on his halberd and sank into its blade.


    During the night, with blood all over him, Luduo Bu looked like a pure monster. In his mind was only one thing, ''Chen Guo''. For him, he was the source of all his problems. Had he not been there in the martial art pavilion, he would not have lost. If he had not lost, he would not have threatened him and broken the rules. He also would have not been expelled from the Red Cliff Faction.


    Of course, everything was his own fault, but it was easier to blame someone else. And very close to him was the man in black and purple who had knocked on his door. He had been feeding his hatred and delusions, but he was also the one who gave him a new way of training.


    His martial art ''Bloody cavalry'' already put a lot of emphasis on blood so it was perfect to test this blood cultivation. In blood there was a lot of Qi that circulated as well, so absorbing it could prove useful. That was one of the techniques in ''Cultivation of Wrath'' after all. But the technique Luduo Bu was using seemed different, more savage, more primal.


    * 1 jin = 500 g = 1.1 lb


    * 1 dan = 100 jin = 50 kg = 110 lb

 Chapter 47: Mei Ying

    The following day was really uneventful. Cao Yun was so tired that he could not do anything at all. Instead, he only focused on cultivating his mind, practicing his spear mentally and cultivating his Qi. As he was really getting close to Perfection with the Zhi character, he decided to spend a little more time on it.


    He also discussed with Huang Cixi, disguised as his servant, Mei Yuzhi. They mainly talked about cultivation as Cao Yun wanted to reward his little servant by sharing some insights.


    She actually gained quite a lot and was feeling pretty strange about it. The more time she was spending with Cao Yun, the more confused she was getting about her own desires. The mourning of her family was getting further and further from her. Instead, she was recovering her composure. The more she observed Cao Yun, the more she realized that he was sincerely a good man.


    -


    The next day was the last one of the week. Elder Tang had told them that they should probably rest two days after the first training session, and he was right. But Cao Yun did not want to stay idle.


    He walked through the courtyard to get some fresh air. He also took his spear with him and did some moves. As he didn''t want to destroy the courtyard, he did not circulate his Qi to its full potential. While he was training, he mainly focused on slow moves to feel each technique and to recover at the same time.


    In the middle of his training, he sensed a small presence watching him from afar. It clearly was a child, probably one of the servants, so Cao Yun did not mind.


    When he was finally done, he heard a small applause.


    "You were so cool, Older Brother!" The voice was very small and cute.


    Turning around, Cao Yun immediately recognize this cute smiling face. The last time he had seen it, it was still covered in blood. She was the little girl who got beaten up by Luduo Bu.


    "Older Brother, thank you for saving Mei Ying." The girl spoke with a brimming smile.


    "Mei Ying?"


    "Yes, that''s me, Mei Ying." The little girl seemed confused by his question as if it was obvious. "You were so cool with this big spear. But ain''t it too big for you?"


    "Wait! Whose servant are you?"


    "I''m not her servant! I''m her sister!" Mei Ying started to pout and stamp the ground with her feet.


    "Whose sister?" This strange answer was really confusing for Cao Yun.


    "Mei Ying! I told you not to leave your bed!" To answer his question properly, Mei Hua came running outside. As she tried to grab the little girl, Mei Ying jumped behind Cao Yun.


    "Older Brother, protect me again! She wants to make me sleep all day long!"


    Mei Hua had not even seen Cao Yun here and got surprised. All of a sudden, she realized that she wasn''t properly dressed and arranged her clothes. She wasn''t even wearing her uniform.


    "Chen Guo. I wanted to speak to you."


    "Is she your servant?"


    "No! I''m her sister, not her servant!" Mei Ying protested again.


    Sighing deeply, Mei Hua explained. "She''s indeed my little sister. Like me, she enrolled in the Wubei Sect this year, so she became a servant. Usually she should have to compete with the other servants to have the right to choose the disciple she would serve. But an exception was made for her so that she could stay with me."


    "I''m not the servant of a stupid alchemist!" Mei Ying pulled on Cao Yun''s uniform. "Hey, Older Brother, don''t you want me as a servant?"


    "Mei Ying! Stop it!"


    "No! You only want me to sleep! With Older Brother, I''d learn cool moves all day long. You just sit and cook, that''s boring!"


    "It''s alchemy, it''s not boring at all, you just don''t understand!"


    "Isn''t it just cooking some beans? I can do it better than you!"


    "You little..." Mei Hua jumped toward her little sister who started to run across the courtyard.


    "Bean cook! Bean cook!"


    This was a sight to be seen for sure. Remembering his own little sister, Cao Yun could not stop himself from smiling and laughing a little.


    After a while, Mei Ying went back to him. "See, Older Brother, she''s mean! She always wants me to do boring stuff! I want to be cool like Older Brother not some lame bean cook."


    Cao Yun got down to her level. "Come on, your sister is just worried after what happened to you. And if you want to be a cool fighter, you''ll need alchemy at some point."


    "Well, if Older Brother says so, it''s probably right..."


    "You little..." Mei Hua could not imagine that she would be betrayed by her own sister. She would not listen to a single one of her words but everything this guy said was pure gold. "Wait! Older Brother? You know him?"


    "Of course, silly. He''s my older brother. I told you about him. Stop cooking beans, it''s bad for your head!"


    Mei Hua was so used to her teasing that she simply disregarded it. "Chen Guo, it''s you who saved her?"


    "Well, I didn''t know she was your little sister, but yes, I did."


    Mei Hua was even more mortified than before. She already wanted to apologize because of her behavior but now it turned out that he was the man who had saved her sister. "Listen, about the other day..."


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "I know. You probably had learned about your little sister very soon before." There was a heavy pause in his voice. "I can understand that it was hard to process.


    Are you doing anything today?"


    "What?!" This sudden question shocked Mei Hua as she imagined that Cao Yun was interested in her.


    "Well, I thought that I could show some moves to Ying''er if you don''t need her." He stroked her head, and it exasperated her sister. Each time she tried to only pat her head, she received hundreds of insults about alchemy. However, she was absolutely obedient with this guy. Well, he had saved her life after all... "I know you''re worried about her but moving around should be a better way to recover than lying in bed."


    "Older Brother is so great! Come on, Sister..."


    "Fine, fine. But please, do go overboard." When she heard that Cao Yun wanted to spend time with her little sister and not her, Mei Hua felt a little relieved but very frustrated.


    "So, what weapon do you want to use?"


    "The same as you!"


    Cao Yun broke a small branch and made a wooden spear for the little girl. Even though it was small, its length was still twice the size of Mei Ying.


    As soon as she got it, she waved it around trying to mimic what she had seen. But she clearly didn''t know what to do with it.


    "Let''s play a game, it''s simple, just try to touch me with this ''spear''."


    "Easy! Yah!" She tried to attack by surprise just after speaking but Cao Yun dodged without any problem.


    She kept trying to touch him again and again without any success. Mei Hua, who had left them alone, went out to see them from time to time. Huang Cixi too came out and was surprised to see Cao Yun playing with a little girl. When he was still with the Cao family, he loved playing with his little sister, so he found it very refreshing.


    "You''re too fast, Older Brother! I can''t touch you..."


    "No, I''m not too fast. I''m only moving as fast as you are. The problem is not my speed, it''s your moves. You use too much energy in every strike. Stop waving the ''spear'' around, it allows me to see your movements sooner. And you''ll be tired faster."


    They kept playing around for at least an hour. Cao Yun took the opportunity to give real pointers to this little girl. After an hour of trying to hit him, she got better and better at wielding the spear. As she got tired, she could not do big movements anymore, so her technique became smoother and more refined.


    Finally, sensing that she was at her limit, Cao Yun let her touch him once, just barely. This way, he would not discourage her but she would still want to improve again.


    "Almost!" Mei Ying got so tired that she literally felt asleep in the courtyard. Cao Yun took her in his arms and went to Mei Hua''s room.


    -


    When she opened the door Mei Hua was a little surprised to see Cao Yun coming to her room. Then she saw her little sister in his arms.


    "I''m bringing her home."


    "Of course, come in."


    Mei Hua showed him where her bed was and thanked him again. "Without you, I don''t know what could have happened to her... I''m very sorry about the other day."


    "I understand. But I can tell you again that I''m not belittling alchemy. It''s even more complex than I thought, but I must say that I got more and more interested as I read the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic''."


    "Well, of course, alchemy is the oldest and best science that we have. It''s said that before people discovered cultivation, they were using alchemy to try and achieve immortality. Some even call cultivation the internal alchemy for this reason." Mei Hua hesitated a little. "If you have any question, feel free to ask me. I know that Elder Xiao has chosen a good instructor for you, but you can still ask me."


    "Thank you, Sister Mei. That may be a little indiscreet, but I was wondering how you knew Elder Xiao."


    "Oh, it''s no secret. I used to be a servant in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute until last year. Actually, I wanted to enroll there this year, but then I learned that Elder Xiao was going to be a guest elder in the Wubai Sect. Back in the institute, she had asked me to be her disciple when I would finally enroll. So when the decision was made, she tried to have someone else take me in in her stead. But I''m convinced that Elder Xiao is the best alchemist in the entire kingdom."


    At the same time, Cao Yun learned that Xiao Xuefeng came from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    "So you decided to follow her here."


    "Yes. If everything goes well, she should officially accept me as her disciple once all the paperwork for the new year is done. Well, there''s also this matter with Mei Ying." She paused while looking toward her sister. "Elder Xiao is busying herself to make sure that this bastard gets nailed down."


    Both of them talked for a little while but Cao Yun also had other plans so he bid her farewell and got back to his own room where Huang Cixi was preparing the dinner.


    After eating, Cao Yun''s mind felt invigorated. This day had been great for his recovery.


    He decided to start cultivating his mind while he was in a good disposition. With the Frozen Heart Pill''s medicinal energy still infused in him, he drew the Zhi character again and again.


    This evening, he finally achieved the 108th repetition, the Perfection stage. Once he did, the Zhi character became perfect, there was no crack at all on it and it was as solid as the Yi character. At that exact same moment, the Yi character resonated with the Zhi and they moved a little closer to each other. As both of them influenced each other, the Yi was now pure gold and the Zhi looked like a piece of onyx naturally formed in the shape of the character. It was perfectly reflected in his sea of consciousness and in the Drop of Wrath.


    Coming out of his meditation, Cao Yun had once again a new perception of the world around him. It was more subtle than with Yi, but he felt a small change. In his eyes as well was now a new glint. Taking a brush and a paper, he sat down and drew the Zhi character perfectly.


    He then proceeded to write a letter to Feng Yingyue. Earlier he had decided to write to her every time he advanced significantly in his mind cultivation. In the letter, he described everything that had happened and even talked about his alchemy experience. He could not talk about his past and the way it affected his emotions though, because it was always possible that someone else would read the letter at some point.


    When he was done, he took the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual and went to the next character. This one was pure red. Now he was used to this cultivation so he started to draw the character in his mind by using the other two as a basis.


    This time, he only achieved four repetitions, even with the Frozen Heart Pill''s medicinal essence within him. It seemed like it was getting more difficult. Without Zhi and Yi he probably wouldn''t have been able to draw even one character.


    But now that he had, he understood the page. This red character was Shen, the Fire Spirit. It pertained to your decisions, the perception of what you are, what makes you. After the two characters which were pretty concrete, this one seemed a bit more elusive to understand. Of course, with his new knowledge of alchemy, Cao Yun saw through the pattern of these five characters. Each one was affiliated to an element.


    The Frozen Heart Pill was strong in Water element. That could explain why his cultivation of Zhi, the Water Will, went so smoothly once the pill consumed. On the other hand, Shen was the Fire Spirit so the Frozen Heart Pill would not be so useful. It still helped Cao Yun focus and calm his mind but it wasn''t optimal.


    In his sea of consciousness, the Shen character was very ethereal, almost invisible to the naked eye. Apparently, it was going to take a longer time for him to master it.


    Today was the last day of his first week in the Wubei Sect. Thus, tomorrow he would finally receive his emblem.


    -


    In various buildings in the outskirt of the outer yard, many people were busy. Tomorrow, the new outer disciples would be fair game. Before this day, no faction could approach the new disciples and try to recruit them. The top ten were of course the most prized targets, as every faction wanted them on their side and would do anything to prevent the others from getting them on theirs.


    There was a silent war in the shadows and the first-years had no idea that hundreds of eyes were now on them.

 Chapter 48: Eight Factions

    As soon as the sun rose, a bell rang in the first-years'' courtyard. A familiar voice followed right after.


    "Line up in the courtyard!"


    Elder Tang was standing in the center of the place, near a huge bodhi tree. With him stood a dozen of servants.


    Gradually the first-years left their rooms and lined up before the elder. Cao Yun quickly saw his friends Ren Chao and Sun Liao. They had almost not seen one another since the entrance examination, but they had no time to talk.


    "I hope that your first week was instructive and I''m glad to see that Chief Instructor Peng did not kill any one of you." After a small laugh, Elder Tang continued. "Even though you were officially disciples, you had not received your emblems yet. Indeed, there was a lot of paperwork to send to the capital. Despite being one of the largest sect, we''re still under the jurisdiction of the Hongchen Kingdom, you know."


    He made a gesture toward the servants. From two large wooden boxes, they retrieved small emblems similar to the ones the other outer disciples had. There was one noticeable difference. The number one was written on a completely black background.


    "These emblems represent your status. They''ll be essential to gain access to some facilities in the outer yard or the exterior yard. Do not lose them!"


    The sect was divided into several yards with huge gates on the main road between them. The exterior yard was where the entrance examination had taken place and where the training grounds were. The main gate of the sect was there as well, the Shell Gate. Then, if you were to follow the main road, you reached the Heart Gate. Beyond this gate was the outer yard. As its name suggested, it was the living place of the outer disciples and many pavilions were there. On the other side of the Heidai Peak, separated by the Cinnabar Gate was the inner yard. Obviously, it was the living quarters of the inner disciples.


    Inner disciples were disciples who had vowed their life to the sect. They were really separated from the outer disciples. An outer disciple could become an inner one after his five years of training though. The biggest difference was that an inner disciple could not easily leave the Wubei Sect but in exchange they had more resources. Outer disciples would rarely meet inner disciples within the sect.


    Technically, instructors and elders were former inner disciples, most of the time. There were also some rare cases when the sect would ask for someone exterior to the sect, such as Xiao Xuefeng.


    Finally, the Meridian Gate marked the summit of the peak, where the elders lived. On the highest point of the Heidai Peak was also the Sect Palace where resided the Sect Leader.


    As the servants were handing out the emblems, Elder Tang kept talking.


    "From now on, it''s likely that you''ll be contacted by factions. Indeed, the disciples within the Wubei Sect are organized into eight factions. I''ll first explain the use of your merit points so that you understand the point of these factions.


    I already told you about the ranking scrolls. Your ranking on the main scroll is given as a number of points. You''re already ranked according to the points you got during the entrance examination, which means that you''re all at the bottom of the ranking for now. Every month, you''ll get resources based on your ranking on this main scroll but also on the other scrolls such as the fighting scroll or the pill forging scroll. These other scrolls are not based on points but on specific abilities.


    You can also obtain more points by performing duties for the sect. Right now, as you can''t leave the confines of the sect, you''ll only be able to perform menial tasks." Elder tang stopped to think. "Well, you can also sell some products or very specific tasks. I''ll let you inform yourselves with a pamphlet later.


    The points do not only determine the monthly resources you''re alloted but also your quota to use the facilities of the exterior yard. For example, the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array formation that you used during the entrance examination can also be used as a way of training. But using a formation requires the use of spirit stones to power it. These resources are not free, so the time you can use each facility is limited. In order to know your quota of use, we refer to your points.


    Let''s keep the example of the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array formation. Let''s say you want to train there. Well, you need at least a hundred points. These hundred points will give you one hour of use during the month. Two hundred points will give you two hours of use during the month. These quotas only depend on certain levels you have to cross. To make you understand, if you have 499 points, you can use the formation four hours during the month. But if you get to 500 points, then you''re in the next level and you can use it one hour and a half every week.


    Every facility is different so you''ll need to inform yourself. There are also specific ways to register for a spot. Once again, the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array formation requires that you book a spot at least two days before you use it."


    Elder Tang let all this information sink in as all the first-years were recalling how many points they got. Cao Yun was the highest ranked with 283 points.


    "Now, let''s go back to the factions. The factions receive additional points simply called faction points. They can give it as they see fit within their ranks. These points also depend on their merit for the sect but also on their number and quality of members.


    You''ll find that these factions give a lot of benefits. There are general rules concerning the factions, but each one can establish its own hierarchy and internal laws, as long as they don''t clash with the Wubei Sect''s rules. I won''t tell you much about them, as they will probably try to recruit you very soon. So I''ll just give you their names:


    The Red Cliff Faction, the biggest, focused on fighting.


    The Purple Northern Cloud Faction, almost as big and also focused on fighting.


    The Hidden Orchids Faction, almost half the size of the other two, it''s not focused on anything specific.


    The Enshrouding Temple faction, we get into the small and more specialized factions here. It''s focused on array formations.


    The Dragon''s Fire Faction, it''s focused on alchemy.


    The Lake Turtle Faction, it''s focused on various arts and crafts such as blacksmithing, painting, calligraphy, and so on.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.The Coiling Silk Faction, it''s mostly formed of women and they focus on artistic performance.


    Finally, the Heavenly Swallow Faction. It''s been founded last year by a first-year just like you. It''s still pretty small and does not focus on anything in particular.


    Just to avoid any misunderstanding, you''re free to join, or not, any faction at any given time. But be careful, some factions have conditions for you to leave. All these conditions, if they''re written in their laws, have been authorized by the sect. Do not get lightly into a faction without thinking. But I must also warn you, trying to live your life without joining a faction will prove more difficult. There''s strength in numbers after all. Now, before I leave, I''ll give you all the informations you need on the factions and the exterior yard facilities. Read them well. Good luck!"


    The servants handed out little pamphlets on these two points. Then, they all left with Elder Tang.


    Cao Yun immediately read the pamphlets and memorized everything in it. By using his perfect Yi and Zhi as well as the very faint Shen, he was able to read and remember way faster than before. Many points were interesting for him about the facilities. But when he read the informations on the factions, he frowned. The conditions to leave them were all pretty intolerable. For example, to leave the Red Cliff Faction, you had to gift them 750 of your points. The only faction that wasn''t making things so difficult was the Heavenly Swallow Faction. You only had to gift them 20 points.


    "Brother Chen! What do you think about these factions?" Cao Yun recognized the voice immediately. It was Ren Chao''s.


    "Brother Ren, it''s been a while since we talked." Cao Yun looked back to the pamphlet. "I don''t know... Their laws seem pretty strict, especially to leave them. But on the other hand, Elder Tang is right, refusing to join a faction could be even more difficult. But do you already have an opinion?"


    "Well, I don''t have much choice. I''m not as impressive as you so I have very few points. After looking through it, the Lake Turtle Faction should be the obvious choice for me. It''s not a big faction so the conditions won''t be as hard and it''s focused on my occupation."


    "Same here!" Sun Liao joined in. "I''ll probably join the Enshrouding Temple faction as it mainly focuses on array formations."


    "And who asked your opinion, huh?!" Ren Chao and Sun Liao really had issues getting along.


    "I wasn''t giving it to you, you boar! I was talking to Brother Chen."


    "You! What did you call me?! A boar?! Then I''ll call you..." Ren Chao was desperately looking for a retort.


    Before he could come up with anything, Sun Liao kept on talking. "I hesitated with the big factions but since it''s focused on array formations, I will probably progress faster with them even if I maybe get less resources. What about you, Brother Chen?"


    "I still don''t know..."


    They kept talking for a while. Cao Yun even invited them to drink some tea. Despite their quarrels, it seemed as though Ren Chao and Sun Liao were starting to hit it off.


    They only left after several hours to register to the factions they had chosen.


    -


    The afternoon, Cao Yun received many visitors. The first one was an envoy of the Red Cliff Faction.


    Chan Weifeng had made sure that their faction would be the first to contact him.


    "Junior Brother Chen, please accept these spirit stones as a token of apology."


    The man gave him ten small spirit stones.


    "I can''t..."


    "Please, I insist! We know that some of our members have made things difficult for you. This is really sincere. Faction Leader Chan Weifeng himself is sorry about these matters. This really is just compensation, no strings attached."


    As he was used to, Cao Yun always tried to decline gifts first before accepting them in the end anyway.


    "Fine."


    According to the rules he had read, he could get three small spirit stones at the end of the month. There was one for everyone and then one more for every hundred points and he had 283 points. So this gift was equal to more than two months of resources.


    "Joining the Red Cliff Faction would be very beneficial for Brother Chen. Our faction emphasizes fighting ability and we have many experts with much experience. We know all the best facilities and how to use them."


    "I read your conditions, and I must admit that you''re impressive, but..."


    "Brother Chen, for you, we could propose a different offer. Our members must pledge 30% of their resources to the faction. For you, we could go down to 25%. And remember, as much as you give away your resources, the faction can also give more. If you''re talented and useful to the faction, you can even get way more than you give."


    The factions were able to function thanks to the resources given by the sect but most of all, thanks to the fee from their members. Then, the leader could dispatch this wealth as they saw fit to encourage people working for the faction. Some rare members received more than they gave, but the others mostly were repaid by the influence of the faction. In a faction, it was easier to work within the sect. You had better information and you formed connections. Many disciples served in different facilities after all.


    For example, many helpers in the alchemy pavilion were members of the Dragon''s Fire Faction. And within the martial art pavilion, there was a lot of members from the Red Cliff Faction and the Purple Northern Cloud Faction.


    "I''ll think about it, Senior Brother. Please, help me relay a message to Faction Leader Chan."


    "Of course."


    "I don''t deem the Red Cliff Faction responsible for what happened. There''s no reason to have any bad blood between us."


    "Thank you, Brother Chen. Your openness will be appreciated."


    Cao Yun was sincerely unsure. On one hand the conditions of the Red Cliff Faction were pretty harsh, even though he had to admit the benefits were probably worth it. On the other hand, he would have to do many works for them in order to receive the resources that he had originally received for his own merit in the sect. These points would be his anyway, but he would have to work twice just to get them. However, until he made up his mind, he would not outright refuse any offer.


    He had to remember his goal! This Wubei Sect was chosen as a means to an end. The most important thing for him was to find the best way to become stronger faster. Was joining a faction really such a good idea to advance quickly?


    -


    After the Red Cliff Faction, the Purple Northern Cloud Faction also sent an envoy. He gave almost the same speech, but a slightly better condition, 23%.


    Then, an envoy of the Dragon''s Fire Faction came in. Cao Yun was rather surprised by this visit as he wasn''t an alchemist.


    "Brother Chen, I heard of you by Sister Mei."


    "Oh? So Mei Hua already joined your faction?"


    "Indeed, she''s a real talent, even compared with the older disciples. And we talked about you. I know that you''re a novice but if you were able to impress Elder Xiao, it means you have a lot of potential. I imagine the Red Cliff and Purple Northern Cloud Factions already tried to recruit you."


    "Yes, but I did not make my choice yet."


    "Of course, Brother Chen has so many options. It''s not surprising that you have a hard time deciding. I''m sorry to plague you with yet another choice, but my faction is interested in seeing you progress in your alchemy."


    Cao Yun did not decline outright. However, he really was not interested in making alchemy his main activity.


    -


    Finally, later in the afternoon, a young woman knocked on his door, Zhi Yin herself. She was the founder of the Heavenly Swallow Faction, and the woman he had fought at the end of the entrance examination.

 Chapter 49: Heavenly Swallow

    Zhi Yin was as elegant and graceful as ever. While she was not the most beautiful woman Cao Yun had seen, she had a dignified air without looking arrogant. In her eyes, there was the faint glint of a sword. At a moment''s notice, she could leave her scabbard and kill away.


    "Brother Chen. May I have a word with you?"


    "Please, Senior Sister, come in."


    "Thank you."


    While they were both sitting down around a table, Huang Cixi brought some tea. It was the fourth time in a row she was making a tea pot. She was even wondering where Cao Yun was putting all of this.


    "Good tea! Thank you Little Sister Mei." Zhi Yin was the first of the envoys to thank a servant. "Brother Chen. Let me be blunt! I know that you received offers from three other factions. Mine should look very weak by comparison."


    She put down her tea and sighed.


    "And it is. I only founded this faction last year and had to deal with a lot of suppression from the main factions. But this year will be different. I''m a second-year now, so I''ll be able to adventure outside the sect to garner more merit points and resources.


    But if our faction is empty too often and for too long, it will be a problem as well. Hence I came looking for Brother Chen. I know that you''re probably still weighing the pros and cons of joining a faction or not. Let me tell you frankly! You have to join one!"


    "Sister Zhi, the rules are pretty clear on that point. Joining a faction is optional."


    "According to the rules yes, but you should also know that reality is always different and more complex than a set of written rules. You will soon discover that if you don''t join a faction, your progress in the sect will be greatly hindered. I''m not trying to convince you, the next few days will do it for me.


    I''m here to give you an option. If you join the main factions, you''re not sure to get the most benefits. After all, there are many fourth and fifth-years in it. Of course more resources will go to them and you will only get a tiny portion of it. Even if you''re better treated than the other first-years, it won''t be by much.


    That''s the reason why I founded my own faction last year. We knew it was going to be tough the first year but we made it through! And now, we can earn many more points directly by going outside. So, for now, just listen to my offer. In a few days, when you see the reality of the sect, you''ll make your decision.


    I won''t lie to you about our faction. It''s small. This year we only have four members. We started with a few more but they left as the year became harder and harder. All four of us need to go outside in order to gather merit points. Ironically, this is a good thing for you. We don''t need many resources from you. So we''ll not ask you for any."


    Cao Yun was surprised and shocked by everything she just said. After giving him plenty of reasons not to join, she just told him he could get in for free. Cao Yun was waiting for the catch.


    "By just having you in our faction, given your rank, we''ll get a lot of points already. So our condition is different. No matter if you leave our faction or not, next year we require that you keep our faction alive."


    "What?"


    "The truth is, when we''re third-years, we won''t be able to bring any points in. As you should know third-years are not within the sect. As such, our faction would collapse.


    I''m convinced that you''re going to become even stronger, so it won''t be difficult for you to go hunt down demonic beasts or take on missions for the sect when you''re a second-year. As such, you''ll be able to bring in enough resources to keep our faction alive. As long as a faction has at least four members including one active member, it''s recognized by the sect. Thus, next year we''d be automatically disbanded.


    I''ll let you think about all your different offers for now."


    Zhi Yin bid farewell to Cao Yun and left the room.


    "If you agree to my offer, come and find me in the Heavenly Swallow Faction residence. A map of all the faction residences should be in your pamphlet. I hope that I''ll hear from you soon. If not, it will always be a pleasure to spar with you, Brother Chen."


    "Senior Sister Zhi." Cao Yun bid her farewell as well.


    -


    Cao Yun had not been able to do anything today, but he had a lot of thinking to do now.


    Zhi Yin''s offer was really good in theory, but her faction was so small that it would hardly give him any benefits. On the other hand, the other offers were prohibitive.


    Anyway, Zhi Yin had told him that he would see by himself why joining a faction was essential. So until this moment, he would reserve his judgment.


    As usual, Cao Yun cultivated the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' and trained his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' mentally. Then he went back to ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''.


    Shen the Fire Spirit was really hard to grasp. Since yesterday he only advanced by one repetition. And that was even after using Yi and Zhi together. When he tried to make the sixth repetition, he was only able to draw one stroke before feeling the sensation he knew too well. If he had continued, he would have fainted, so he stopped himself.


    -


    In the morning he woke up with the sun. And as he was scheduling his day, a violent knocking interrupted his thoughts. Huang Cixi was startled. She was busy preparing the breakfast so Cao Yun told her to keep working and went to the door himself.


    As soon as he opened the door, a madman threw himself at him and grabbed his shirt.


    "Brother Chen! Save me! Save me!"


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Almost expecting to be assaulted by the man, Cao Yun was ready to knock him out when he recognized the voice, and then the face.


    "Brother Ren? What''s going on?!"


    "She''s after me! Please, hide me! Please, Brother!"


    "... okay... come in."


    Ren Chao looked around him like a hunted animal.


    "Thank you! Thank you! I knew you were a real brother..."


    As he was trying to walk in, a hand grabbed Ren Chao''s shoulder and an enchanting voice came from behind.


    "Ren Chao, here you were." The terrified man slowly looked behind him. The voluptuous figure of Wang Mei was posing before his eyes. "I''ve been looking all over for you. Come on, let''s have breakfast together."


    As she started dragging him away, she turned toward Cao Yun and blinked. "Sorry for disturbing you so soon in the morning, Junior Brother Chen."


    "Please, Brother! Save me! Who knows what she''s going to do to me?! Please!"


    Ren Chao screamed so loud that everyone opened their door. They all saw a beautiful woman dragging a screaming muscular giant through the courtyard. Many of the men were envious.


    Damn! Sister Wang, if he''s so insistent on being saved from you, take me instead!


    On the other hand, the women were annoyed by this Wang Mei who dressed too provocatively. She even went so far as to kidnap men now.


    Watching the ''poor'' Ren Chao begging for dear life, Cao Yun slowly closed the door. "Good luck, Brother Ren."


    "Brother, no! Don''t forsake me!"


    In the kitchen, Huang Cixi was visibly disturbed when she saw her young master walking back in.


    "Brother Chen, what was that?"


    "Just a lover''s quarrel, nothing much!"


    "Lovers?!" She looked through the window of the kitchen and saw Ren Chao trying to grab a tree to escape Wang Mei''s grasp. "Are you sure about that?"


    "With Ren Chao''s physical strength, he could easily overpower her and run. If he doesn''t it''s because he feels something for her. On the other hand, I don''t know this Wang Mei enough to understand her intentions. She''s part of the Coiling Silk Faction, right? ... From what I heard, they''re mostly women and they focus on artistic performances. I''m not too sure what it is they''re doing exactly, but I didn''t sense any malice in Senior Sister Wang."


    "And if she had malice?"


    "Ren Chao is a friend. Even though we did not talk much since the entrance examination and he tends to cause trouble by speaking too much and too loud, I''m quite fond of his company. If Wang Mei had ill intentions toward him, she would have to go through me as well.


    I will never lose someone close to me again!"


    The last sentence was barely audible, but Huang Cixi noted it well. She had yet another impression of Cao Yun, but she also thought about those dear to her whom she had lost due to him.


    -


    He was still recovering a little from the first training with Chief Instructor Peng, but Cao Yun still wanted to train his martial arts anyway. From the pamphlet he had read, he knew several places that could be useful in the exterior yard. He could always go to the martial art pavilion, but if Chief Elder Baishen saw him, he would live hell on earth once more. It was a bit too much for him today.


    As he was leaving, he saw Ren Chao.


    "Brother Chen... You abandoned me... Why?!" At a glance, it was obvious that he was faking his crying.


    "Brother Ren. You seem well! Was your breakfast with Senior Sister Wang so bad?"


    "No, it was.. fine. But you, Brother! How could you leave me alone?!"


    "Ren Chao, if you do not want to see Wang Mei ever again, just tell her."


    "It''s not that..."


    "Then be happy that she wants to see you too." Cao Yun tapped his shoulder. "I know you''re nervous. But if she had no good feelings toward you, do you think she would drag you all the way from my room so soon in the morning?"


    Ren Chao stopped fake crying and looked Cao Yun seriously. "I''m not comfortable with a lady, even less so when the lady is Wang Mei. She''s too bold for me..."


    "Well, if you''re not comfortable, I think a bold lady is best for you anyway. I''ll only give you one advice. Be honest with her. The rest is up to you, I won''t interfere, unless you really want me to. Would you want someone interfering with your blacksmithing?"


    When he mentioned blacksmithing, something woke up in Ren Chao''s eyes. "I understand, Brother!"


    To be honest, Cao Yun himself did not understand the connection between flirting and forging a weapon, but it did work out well.


    Then, Cao Yun left for the training grounds.


    -


    The first facility he wanted to try was the Warrior Dream array formation. This array formation was very similar to the Eight Directions Engulfing array formation, in the fact that it allowed you to fight against constructions of energy. The particularity of this array formation was that it was designed to find flaws and repetitive patterns in your moves. Then, the imaginary enemy would use them against you to temper your martial arts.


    This array formation was said to be especially efficient to train with a spear as its creator was using a spear herself. It was very good for other weapons as well, but a little less so.


    When he finally arrived at the facility, Cao Yun was pleased to see that there was no one else but the instructor in charge of the array formation.


    "Instructor, I''d like to book an hour of training." Cao Yun showed his emblem and waited for an answer.


    "I''m sorry, Junior. All the slots are already booked."


    Cao Yun looked around to make sure. "But there''s no one here."


    The instructor sighed. "The truth is..." He was hesitant but he spoke nonetheless. "The factions booked all the slots. It''s a way to show to the newbies that refusing to join them will make your life miserable. In fact, the factions have a priority over the facilities and they can book slots way earlier than other disciples."


    "Then, how can non-affiliated disciples ever train?"


    "Well, booking a facility still depends on the number of points you have, so they can''t book every facility all the time. But if they want to make your life difficult, they can."


    "But couldn''t they make life difficult for one another as well?"


    "To avoid that, every faction has a minimum quota of slots every day, depending on how many members they have. If all the slots of a day are booked by only one or even two factions, another faction can demand to have a certain number of slots removed so that they can book them instead."


    "But unaffiliated disciples are screwed."


    The instructor looked around again. "Yes, pretty much. I shouldn''t tell you that because it could be construed as way to disrespect the rules and the disciplinary pavilion by extension, since they made them. But I really rooted for you in the entrance exam."


    "Thank you, Instructor."


    Cao Yun went to other facilities but it was the same deal. Even though no one was training anywhere, no slot was available. This clearly was a show of strength to force the newbies to join a faction. They probably all agreed to do it together. Well, if only the two biggest did, it was sufficient to block everyone else.


    Even a small faction like Heavenly Swallow could get a slot thanks to their quota but a cultivator alone did not count as a faction, so there was nothing he could do right now. However, he understood what Zhi Yin meant earlier. He probably would have to join a faction if he ever wanted to use one of the facilities. Even if a slot was free, Cao Yun would have no control on the hour and it would change every day, not the greatest conditions to plan his training.


    Anyway, he did not want to do nothing today. So after many considerations, he decided on going to the alchemy pavilion. Training with Chief Elder Baishen was beneficial but too harsh for him today. He would definitely go back there but another day.


    Xiao Xuefeng had told Cao Yun that she would choose a good instructor for him, maybe he should try to go see him. Alchemy was not his priority but he knew how useful it could be.


    Therefore, Cao Yun set sail for the alchemy pavilion.

 Chapter 50: The sleepy alchemist

    Cao Yun finally arrived before the alchemy pavilion. It hadn''t changed at all, the place was still deserted. It would probably become more lively later in the year. Currently, everybody was busy trying to recruit for their faction after all.


    Cao Yun went to the reception desk. Behind the counter was a young woman different from last time.


    "Excuse me, Senior?"


    She raised her head and just looked at his emblem before lowering it again. Her tone suddenly changed.


    "Sorry, I don''t have much time."


    Was it because he was a first-year or because he was unaffiliated with a faction? Cao Yun looked her over and saw that she was a second-year and a member of the Dragon''s Fire Faction.


    "I should have an instructor appointed to me. I''m..."


    "Sorry, no instructor gets appointed for a first-year. Someone pulled your leg. Get going."


    "Senior, please, I insist, my name is..."


    "I told you already!" She got up a little pissed. "Get! Going!"


    "Is this because I''m not in your faction?"


    "You dare put my professionalism into question?!"


    As she was getting worked up, Zhong Ling saw the scene from afar. As soon as she saw the boy''s face, she rushed toward the counter. "Junior Sister! Stop!"


    "Huh?!" The receptionist was stunned when she saw her senior running like crazy. Zhong Ling got near her and whispered in her ear.


    "He is Chen Guo. Elder Xiao has personally appointed an instructor for him. I don''t know what''s going on, but please don''t offend him."


    As a matter of fact Cao Yun had a hearing good enough to understand almost every word. And even without that, the gloomy face of the woman was telling enough.


    "Oh?! Brother Chen?! You should have told so from the beginning!"


    Was she serious?!


    "Elder Xiao has appointed Instructor Meng Jia to you. I''ll go check but he''s probably free by now." The woman would now always remember to check someone''s name before being rude. If word reached Xiao Xuefeng, her job here was done for. This was an easy job to get a good amount of points, and she even got close to some alchemists. Being one herself, she could form good relationships with alchemists more talented or even instructors or elders.


    The Dragon''s Fire Faction was always arrogant when it came to alchemy, so when she saw a first-year who was in no faction, she assumed he was no one. She should immediately have thought of Cao Yun.


    I''m an idiot! Damn it!


    She had missed an occasion to befriend someone who was valued by the guest elder in charge of her pavilion.


    As she kept beating herself up, she arrived before a door with the name ''Meng Jia'' engraved on. On the door was a sign reading ''Working! Do not disturb!''. She knew enough about Instructor Meng Jia to immediately know it was a lie.


    She opened the door to a dim-lit room with lowered curtains. The room was perfectly tidied up. In the bookcases, every book was perfectly aligned, as if no one had ever used them. In a corner of the room was a cauldron which appeared as if it was brand new and never used before.


    The woman could not see anyone in this darkness. So the first thing she did was open the curtains. As she did, a moan of discomfort resounded. When she turned toward the noise, she saw an middle-aged man lying under the huge wooden desk.


    "Instructor Meng, your student is here!" The woman was kind of venting her frustration by making sure that every curtain was open as fast as possible.


    "What...?" The man was trying to cover his eyes and rolled further back under the desk.


    As a 5th-grade Mortal, the woman easily lifted the desk to move it away.


    The man was visibly in pain as he squinted his eyes. "I don''t take students."


    "Oh? Instructor Meng has already forgotten? Elder Xiao assigned you to a first-year."


    As soon as she said ''Elder Xiao'', the man stood up. "Yeah... that... He''s here?"


    "He''s waiting at the reception. Should I show him in?"


    "No, no, I''ll take him to a training room. I figure that no one is using one right now." Almost every other word was punctuated by a deep yawn. When he walked out of the room, one of his eyes was still closed.


    Cao Yun saw an unkempt middle-aged man with an eye closed who kept exposing all his teeth by yawning. His first thought was "Please, don''t let him be Instructor Meng!"


    Sadly, the man spoke to him and shattered his faint hope. "Kid, I''m Meng Jia. Xiao Xuefeng has assigned me to you. Follow me."


    Cao Yun thought about leaving for an instant but he had nowhere else to go today and he trusted Xiao Xuefeng. She wouldn''t have assigned an incompetent instructor after trying to convince him to practice alchemy. He would not judge him on his appearance.


    "So, you''re going or I''m going back to sleep?"


    He wasn''t even pretending to have been working anymore...


    "I''m going, I''m going." Cao Yun exchanged a strange look with Zhong Ling and the other woman who came back. He then followed this weird instructor into a training room.


    -


    When entering the room, the first thing instructor Meng did was lower the curtains. Then, he sat in a chair, put his feet on the table and closed his eyes.


    "Elder Xiao told me that you''re a total novice but that your mind is impressive. So first, let me ask you. What alchemy book did you read?"


    "Only ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic'', Instructor."


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Oh, no need to call me instructor when we''re alone." He started to yawn less and less but kept his eyes closed. "''Four Seasons Cycle Classic'' is the very basics, but it''s essential to go on. Did you memorize it entirely?"


    "Yes, I could quote it without problem."


    "Really? Tell me the fifty-seventh line of the hundred and sixteenth page."


    To answer such a specific question, Cao Yun had to look in his memory and even circulated his Yi to be sure. "in the ''Bamboo and Spring Canon'', it is said that Evergrowing Sinuous Algae are a mix of Pure Yin Water and Pure Yang Wood, but such a fact is contradictory to..."


    "Fine. You do remember the book. Good. How many pills did you forge and what were the results?"


    "Only one pill, the Frozen Heart Pill, and..."


    "I know, it''s the pill you forged with Elder Xiao. So no other pill at all?"


    "None."


    "Of course, you should remember the Five Golden Elixir Principles. What principle seems the most important to you right now as a novice?"


    "I''m not too sure, but I would probably say Flame Control."


    "Oh?! Why is that?"


    "Cauldron Maintenance and Ingredients Preservation at the beginner''s level are just about following the rules without thinking. I''m not knowledgeable enough to prepare the ingredients any other way than the textbook way. And my pills won''t cause too much trouble for my cauldron, if I even have a personal cauldron at this stage.


    On the other hand Yin-Yang Balance and Five Elements Wheel are very complicated and I should just follow the recipe for now. Then there is only Flame Control. Even if I know what to do, if I can''t control my flame to behave as it should, I won''t achieve anything."


    "Your analysis is almost perfect. Did you train your Flame Control yet?"


    "No. I just know the basic techniques from the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic''. But I did not have any time to try them as of now."


    "Well, the best technique to really train someone is the ''Poison the Dragon to Nurture it'' but you already need to have a small experience to use it. For now, I''ll create a very basic flame and you''ll alter it exactly as I say.


    You''ll find all the powders and tools you need in the cupboards, set it up."


    After this discussion, Cao Yun was a bit more convinced by this eccentric instructor. He went through several cupboards to get every thing he would need, and set it up on the table where the instructor still let his feet rest.


    "Good, but you won''t need the Sweet Red Cypress Bark powder, put it back." Meng Jia still didn''t open his eyes, he only used his nose to differentiate the ingredients.


    In the center of the table Cao Yun had installed a furnace with no cauldron.


    As soon as everything was ready, a small light left the fingers of Meng Jia and the fire started. It was a small red fire.


    "I''ll first give you instructions as to which powder to use and how to control the flame. Follow everything to the letter."


    "Let''s begin!"


    "Two fen of Weeping Eucalyptus."


    "Five fen of Deep Sea Breathing Kelp."


    ...


    By circulating Yi and Zhi, Cao Yun had no problem whatsoever to follow every instruction to the letter.


    "Very good. Now you''ll tell me every step we took, what happened to the fire and even give an analysis as to why I asked you to do it, if you can.


    Start by the very beginning."


    This time, Cao Yun tried to remember precisely what had happened. Remembering the orders was not a problem, he could also remember what they were supposed to do according to ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic''. But to analyze what had happened he had to rely on the actual sensations of the flame.


    "First, the Weeping Eucalyptus. It''s a Pure Yin ingredient associated mainly with the Wood element. Wood feeds Fire where Pure Yin appeases it. When I put it in, the fire dimmed down a little before increasing by around 15%. The fire had gained a bit of Yin attribute but its temperature was higher. It could be used to melt a Yin ingredient without damaging the Yin too much.


    Then, the Deep Sea Breathing Kelp is a Small Yin ingredient, mainly associated with Water and Earth, with Earth being dominant. When I put it in, the flame erupted a little and then almost died down. I imagine that when the Earth attribute that had already interacted with the Water was suddenly put in contact with the Wood attribute still remaining with the flame, they reacted. Wood can weaken Earth, this interaction allowed the fire to feed on Wood even more, but then the Water element came in as it was no longer contained by Earth and almost killed the flame. It could be used to finalize a melting with a huge flame for only an instant."


    ...


    Cao Yun tried to be as precise as possible and gave his opinions without fearing to be wrong.


    "Good. You''re mostly right in your analysis. It''s still pretty shallow, but very impressive for a beginner. Elder Xiao sure has the eye for talents."


    "Let''s do something different." He extinguished the flame and created another one. "I''ll tell you what properties and temperature I want for the flame and you''ll try to come up with the right move, then explain your thought process.


    First, make the flame twice as big and as Yang as possible with Water attribute in it."


    Cao Yun looked through all the powders on the table and tried to recall specific parts of the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic''. After at least a minute, he took a yellow powder and sent it in the fire. All of a sudden, the flame erupted and became twice as big.


    "I used seven fen of Drying Copper Mustard powder. As the name suggests it has a strong element of Metal, but also a bit of Water. It''s also Pure Yang. Metal can promote Water. As soon as the powder gets into the flame, the fire melts the Metal element and then the balance between Metal and Water is broken and as it melts, it promotes Water within the flame. It even protects Water during the process."


    "Perfect! Then, I want the flame to stay the same size but to become a bit Yin with as much Earth element as possible without losing the Water."


    ...


    Some answers took him almost ten minutes, but Cao Yun was able to give satisfactory ones to every question.


    "You don''t seem tired at all, are you?"


    "Only a little, nothing much." In reality, with Zhi his will was so energized that he almost felt no fatigue at all.


    "Your mind is indeed impressive. It can take months for an alchemist to forge such a mind and also an understanding of the flame."


    Meng Jia finally opened one of his eyes with a big yawn.


    "We''ll attack ''Poison the Dragon to Nurture it'' immediately. I will perturb the flame again and again and your goal is to keep it as stable as possible. In a first try, it''s okay if you change the attributes I put in, but try not to do so as much as you can. During a refinement you may lose control of your flame so you must bring it back under control but if you change the attributes you''ll damage your ingredients and lower you final product.


    During the process, if you realize an error you made, even later, say it. Speaking out loud instead of brooding it in your mind is beneficial. First of all, it takes it out of your mind so that you can focus better, and it trains you as you have to express your thoughts on the matter."


    Meng Jia extinguished the flame and lit another one.


    "Get ready, as soon as I alter the flame, you''ll have to act very quick so as to not lose control."


    By only moving one hand, he directed some powder into the flame. As an advanced Mortal Warrior, he could control his Qi outside of his body, so manipulating small objects was very easy for him. The moment the powder touched the fire, the flame turned blue-green and became long and thin, ready to dissipate at any time.


    Cao Yun had to think as fast as he could and used Yi, Zhi and Shen. He took a brownish powder and threw a very small speck of it inside the flame. Gradually it became larger and its height decreased back to normal.


    Before Cao Yun could enjoy his success, two different powders were thrown at the same time. The fire turned almost transparent and became so tiny one would think it was already dead.


    ...


    It lasted for almost two hours. This training was extremely strenuous on the mind but Cao Yun had his cultivation to help him. What he gained was enormous. He had failed to keep the attributes of the flame or even the flame itself many times, but several minutes later he was able to give an explanation and even a potential solution.


    Meng Jia extinguished the flame one last time. "I''d say you''re very close to achieve Small Success in Flame Control. It''s as high as it gets under Mortal Warrior. To go beyond Small Success, you need Qi manipulation."


    "You can go find me whenever you want. I''m always sleep... working in my office. Next time, we''ll talk about Ingredients Preservation, it''s the second most important principle for a beginner. We could even try some pill refinement, why not?


    Oh?! When you leave, don''t make too much noise and try not to let anyone know we''re done, I''ll try to stay here to... to... to think of a schedule for your training. That''s it!"


    As soon as he walked through the door, Cao Yun heard snoring from behind him.


    *1 fen = 373 mg

 Chapter 51: Deciding on a faction

    Walking back to the counter, Cao Yun saw the same woman. When he first saw her she seemed very relaxed, but now she was depressed. As soon as Cao Yu talked to her, she faked a smile.


    "Brother Chen, I hope you can forgive me. When I saw that you were a first-year, I sincerely thought that someone was messing with you by telling you to go see your appointed instructor. It''s really not how I behave usually."


    "No harm done, Senior. I''d like to ask you a question."


    "Of course, go ahead, ask me anything. I''ll answer as best as I can."


    "How can I get a furnace in my personal chambers?"


    "Well..." The poor woman seemed distressed as she was going to announce more bad news. "You need 500 points to request a furnace and a ranking on the alchemy scroll. For that, you must officially register as an alchemist and have an alchemy master observe you as you refine a pill. Then, the pill will be judged by its rank, its refinement difficulty and its quality."


    "500 points... Senior, what ranking would a 68% Frozen Heart Pill get?"


    "I''m not too sure, but I think you''d be in the lower ranks. Right now, there are 62 alchemist registered on the scroll. I''d say this pill could rank you around 40th and 45th. Beyond 10th, all alchemists are able to forge Pure 5-star Earth pills. Between 10th and 20th, they are alchemists able to forge Perfect 5-star Earth pills."


    "As for the points, can I earn some by forging pills?"


    "Technically yes, but it''s very difficult if you don''t join my Dragon''s Fire Faction." Understanding that it could be misinterpreted, she quickly added "I''m not trying to threaten you or anything. It''s just that my faction is the leading one in term of alchemy. So every alchemist who''s not affiliated with us still sells us their pills. If you make very high-quality or rare pills, you could also sell them to the sect itself but unless it''s a Human rank pill or higher, they probably won''t buy it. And you could sell the pills to outer disciples. That''s how we make a lot of profit. It''s possible to exchange your points with someone, so some disciples use them as currency. But our faction almost has a monopoly on the sales and few people will risk offending us by buying from someone else unless the pills are worth it."


    "I also know that I can earn points by doing menial tasks."


    "Well... Once again, outside of a faction it will be difficult. You see, the low-skilled tasks are performed by servants, the high-skilled tasks are performed by older disciples or even inner disciples or instructors. So you really can only apply for intermediate tasks, for example managing a reception. But you need to have experience. And you''ll also get reviewed by others, that''s when the faction comes in handy. First of all, they''ll tell you exactly what''s expected of you and this will make things smoother. But they will also have people who already perform the tasks and if they don''t want you in, you''ll have a hard time getting the task.


    If I take my task for example, I was interviewed by five disciples and an instructor. Four of the five were from my own faction, and one of them was even the senior who had coached me for the interview. So it''s not impossible to get in as the instructor will be fair and impartial. But if all the disciples are against it, then there''s no way you can work properly as a team, so you''ll get rejected either way."


    Right now, Cao Yun realized the unfair advantage of being part of a faction. As a first-year, all his opportunities to earn points were being destroyed if he was unaffiliated. He could only try to rank higher on the scrolls or advance his cultivation. These were the only two things that could give him points.


    Each time you moved up in the ranking, even by a single place, you earned some points. And even if you went down afterwards, your points were secured. Your instructor could also award you points for advancing in your cultivation.


    He was also interested by the idea of selling pills. Cao Yun had to admit that he got hooked by this session. When he first read ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic'', he was not that passionate about alchemy. He still thought it was interesting but not as much as learning from Feng Yingyue in the woods. However, after having practiced himself, it definitely was something he liked. It reminded him a lot of martial arts.


    In a fight, you had to analyze your opponent at every moment to determine what they wanted to do and act before them. In a similar way, with a flame, you had to anticipate as much as possible to control it, as it really was alive and ever changing. Even without touching it, the flame would change all the time.


    When he refined his first pill, he only followed the example of Xiao Xuefeng and was mechanical in his approach. Today he had realized that this was a kind of fight and that every refinement was different even for the exact same pill. He really hoped that he could work on his Flame Control tonight but his points would not allow it.


    "Wait! I have an idea! Please, wait an instant, Brother Chen."


    The woman hurriedly ran toward a corridor and disappeared behind a door. After five minutes, she walked back with Zhong Ling.


    "Brother Chen, if you can accept it, I can gift you an old furnace of mine. It''s in a sorry state but you should mostly be practicing ''Nurturing the Dragon'', so it should be fine. When you have enough points, you should definitely get a new one though. What do you say?"


    "Senior, I can''t accept..." Cao Yun realized that just as Xiao Xuefeng had told him, he immediately started by rejecting the gift without even thinking about it. You should never punch a gift horse in the mouth. "Thank you, Senior Zhong. I''ll gladly accept your kind offer, and I''ll remember it."


    "It''s really nothing. When you see my old furnace, you won''t be as happy I fear... I''ll get it sent to your room by the evening."


    "Its state doesn''t matter given my poor level, Senior. Thank you again." Cao Yun then turned toward the other receptionist. "Thank you as well, Senior."


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    In her mind, she heaved a sigh of relief, she had salvaged her own mistake from earlier. She had probably said some things that her faction would like hidden, but no one had heard her and this boy did not seem like the stupid kind who would scream it everywhere.


    Feeling very satisfied, Cao Yun was ready to head out, but he remembered. "I almost forgot. Instructor Meng is busy ''working'' in the training room. He''s been a really good help, so could you let him ''work'' some more?"


    Both women burst into laughter. "Do not worry, Brother Chen. Instructor Meng is really competent, it''s just that he seems to love sleeping even though he probably doesn''t need to that much. It''s pretty quiet today, so we won''t need the room for a while, he can ''work''."


    The first impression of a lazy teacher Cao Yun had was completely replaced by that of an eccentric genius.


    -


    It was already late and Cao Yun had nothing to do. For now, he decided to head home. Joining a faction seemed like the only way to advance faster within the sect. If he did not, he would probably have a very rough time and stagnate a lot. So he had to think about the different factions and make his choice.


    The Dragon''s Fire Faction was out of the question. Although he had loved practicing alchemy, he didn''t want to be a full-time alchemist. First of all, he still loved martial arts more. But maybe even more importantly he needed to be strong enough to kill the murderers of his family with his own hands. As an alchemist he could probably have people do it for him, but that''s not what he wanted. He wanted to track them down himself and end them in the name of his parents, his brother and his sister. But alchemy could also be a great way to get information.


    Then, he only had four choices: Red Cliff Faction, Purple Northern Cloud Faction, Hidden Orchids Faction and Heavenly Swallow Faction.


    The Enshrouding Temple Faction was focused on array formations and he knew nothing at all on it. The Lake Turtle Faction was about various activities he did not care for such as blacksmithing, poetry, painting and so on. Finally the Coiling Silk Faction was mostly composed of women practicing artistic performances. He was still not clear on what they were doing exactly but he thought that it would probably be a nefarious affair given the way Ling Hui talked about them. If it was something he could not talk with Feng Yingyue in his letters, he probably should just abstain from it. But was Ling Hui reliable on the matter?


    No matter what their actual activities were, art wasn''t part of Cao Yun''s considerations so this faction was a no-go anyway.


    He didn''t know much about the Hidden Orchids Faction, but it seemed to be very low-key and yet still had a bad reputation. Preferably, he should stay away from them, just in case.


    The two top factions had both given him preferential treatment, but it was still quite strict. He would have to give them 23% to 25% of all his resources and if he wanted to leave, he had to gift them 750 more points. This meant that he would still have to work for them even after leaving, just to pay off this debt. In other words, as soon as he accepted their offer, he would be trapped.


    Being a first-year, he wasn''t sure what kind of treatment he would get. It was a risky gamble. And to be honest, his dealings with the Red Cliff members had been terrible until now. Although he couldn''t judge the entire faction by the acts of a few, he had a negative opinion of these big factions nonetheless. If some people among them had this bad temper, it meant that at some level it was enabled. Still, the Red Cliff Faction''s leader seemed like a sensible man. Cao Yun had even heard about the harsh punishments he had dealt out, especially the expulsion of Luduo Bu. If that man was still in the faction, Cao Yun would have flat out refused on the spot.


    On the other hand, the Heavenly Swallow Faction gave a pretty good condition. Even the fact that in his second year he would have to take care of their faction. In fact, it meant that he would de facto become the leader of their faction. The only negative was their small size. It probably wouldn''t be a problem to gain access to the facilities though.


    Every faction had a certain daily quota and the other members of the faction would probably be out to earn points outside quite a lot. In other words, he would be the only one to use their quota. The problem could be concerning the points precisely. The members would not give him their hard-earned points so easily, and being in a small faction, earning points was going to be hard.


    The only way he could think of was selling his pills. He probably would not be able to make high-quality pills to sell to the sect. And trying to build a pill business for the outer disciples seemed quite complicated with this monopoly of the Dragon''s Fire Faction. There was still the scroll rankings way of earning points. But advancing through the rankings was not that easy once you had achieved a rank high enough.


    In any way, he would have to talk to Zhi Yin again to dispel some of his doubts. Right now, the Heavenly Swallow Faction appeared as the best choice though.


    While deep in thinking, a servant brought the old furnace of Zhong Ling into his room. It was amusing to see the small Huang Cixi carrying it effortlessly into the room. Having been warned beforehand, she had already prepared a spot for the furnace.


    It was indeed in a sorry state. There were many scorch marks and traces of old ingredients. There were even scratches and dents at some places, almost as if someone had hit it with a hammer and cut it with a cleaver.


    Anyway, Cao Yun tested it and the flame ignited without any problem. It didn''t seem to be altered by anything so he could work with it.


    From his earlier training, he had kept some powders in a pouch. He probably had enough to work for a week and then he would have to ask his instructor for some more.


    Huang Cixi was impressed seeing him manipulate the flame so expertly. She was very confident that he had never engaged in alchemy before joining the academy and yet he was already so good. As she had had long dealings with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Huang Cixi knew quite a lot about alchemists. She was able to easily recognize a master from an amateur. And, although Cao Yun still had the traces of a novice, his talent was obvious to her. The part that impressed her the most was his mind state.


    Indeed, with both Yi and Zhi at the Perfection stage, being focused on every tiny details for hours was not a problem for Cao Yun. Without that unfair advantage, learning alchemy would have taken him months, not days.


    While practicing, he soon realized that as faint as Shen the Fire Spirit was, it still seemed to help him control Yi and Zhi better. Shen was like a general and Yi and Zhi two military advisors. They obeyed but they also guided and gave new perspectives.


    Having played with his new furnace long enough, Cao Yun dined with Huang Cixi.


    Then he went back to his routine, he cultivated, trained ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' in his mind and advanced ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''''s Shen character. His comprehension of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was really in a stalemate for now and the Shen character only advanced by one repetition and two or three strokes more.


    Tomorrow he had to go see Zhi Yin and try to get into the Warrior Dream array formation to test out his spearmanship in a simulated battle. He could also go to the martial art pavilion to train some more. And he needed to get his alchemy ranked as well to earn some points.


    Every day, his schedule was becoming busier and busier.


    Later in the evening, Mei Ying came in to play with him and he indulged her. This time, he had her try to hit him with the spear for a while and then sparred gently with a wooden stick. This little girl was full of energy and laughed quite a bit as she was fighting. It was very refreshing and calming.

 Chapter 52: Warrior Dream array formation

    As he left in the morning, Cao Yun saw Wang Mei walking toward Ren Chao''s chamber.


    "Brother Chen? How are you?"


    "Fine, thank you. How is Brother Ren?"


    "Very lively! Good day." She just kept on walking toward her goal.


    -


    The first order of business was to meet with Zhi Yin. Using the map he had gotten, Cao Yun went to the outskirts of the outer yard. There were many great mansions along the way, belonging to all the factions. Finally he arrived before a small courtyard with a short perimeter wall around and a single one-story building within. Over the entrance gate was the stylized drawing of a swallow and the words ''Heavenly Swallow''.


    Going near the entrance, he looked around and saw no one.


    "Is there anyone here?"


    A small face appeared from behind the building. "Who is it?"


    "Oh? It''s just you... Come in." With an annoyed look, a little girl walked to the front of the building and showed him in. "You''ve been making Fairy Zhi wait! Who do you think you are ?! You''re overestimating yourself!"


    As Cao Yun was baffled by this cold and insulting welcome, a sweet voice left the building.


    "Sister Ling, be more polite toward our guest. I only asked him yesterday, he''s still very fast in his answer."


    "If Fairy Zhi says so, it must be true." The girl almost looked twelve but she had the emblem of the second-years so she was probably at least around fifteen or sixteen. To become a disciple you needed to reach 4th-grade Mortal and achieving this before late fourteen or fifteen was impossible. Her demeanor was really what made her look so childish. By looking at her you really thought she was just an insufferable little child. That''s the image Ling Hui would have to Cao Yun from now on.


    So he dismissed her behavior as a child pestering him.


    "Sister Zhi, sorry for making you wait." He said it while keeping an eye on Ling Hui who let out a small "Humph!".


    "No, Brother Chen, I was even expecting you way later. Come on, sit down. Sister Ling, could you ask the servants for some tea please?"


    "Of course, Fairy Zhi." Unlike with Cao Yun, this Ling Hui was extremely polite and smiling when it came to Zhi Yin.


    "So, Brother Chen. Are you here to ask more information or to make a decision?"


    "A bit of both to be honest. I''m still not convinced on several points. If I join your faction, how would you ensure that I would indeed keep it alive during my second year?"


    "That''s easy. You''ll sign a written commitment with the Wubei Sect. This way, you won''t be able to join any other faction the next year even if you''ve already left us during the first year. So whether you stay the entire first year or leave midway, you won''t have any other faction the second year. That will ensure that you''re forced to stay with ours during the entire second-year. And how could you let the only faction you can join die?"


    Her wordings was pretty clever. The rules forbade any faction to coerce someone into joining them. But this way, she just stopped him from joining others.


    "Will this commitment be public?"


    "Not necessarily, no. It would even be better indeed if it weren''t." If the other factions thought that they could win Cao Yun back once he joined the Heavenly Swallow Faction, they would probably try to stay friendly. But if they learned that he was committed to them for the entire second-year, the enticement to get him in would decrease significantly. Thus, they may try to suppress the faction even more.


    "That''s acceptable. What I worry most is on the matter of the points."


    As they were speaking, a servant brought them some tea. Ling Hui also came back and sat beside Zhi Yin, with the same annoyed look on her face.


    "Fairy Zhi wants you in her faction and you keep nitpicking?!"


    "Please, Sister Ling, it''s perfectly natural. I probably wouldn''t want him in our faction if he was too naive.


    On the matter of points, I know that it will still be difficult for you to earn them. So I will give you all the points we get from the sect for our daily needs. You see, we get points based on the number of members and their quality. With you, we would probably earn 30 points by month, so you would get 360 points during the first year, without doing anything. On the other hand, we''ll keep all the points we get from our own activities. As you must suspect, we''ll go hunt in the wild almost all year long. And when we''re here, we''ll probably be training to make up for the time we lost last year."


    When she mentioned last year, Ling Hui''s face darkened.


    "These traitors!"


    "Last year was very hard on us, as we had to fight off the other factions. We were twenty when I founded this faction, but they left one by one until we were only the four of us. But I cannot blame them, we were all first-years so it really was tough.


    The main reason I founded the Heavenly Swallow Faction was because of the unreasonable conditions of the seniors. However, fighting the influence of factions which have existed for decades is even more difficult than I imagined. I won''t sugarcoat it, Brother Chen. Joining us will give you less benefits than joining another faction, and you will face more hardships. On the other hand, I''m convinced our conditions are great and that you will enjoy way more freedom. We demand no work from you and your schedule will be entirely free."


    Cao Yun thought a very long time under the evil stare of Ling Hui. In her eyes, you could read her mind without any problem ''Fairy Zhi invites you to join her! Why do you hesitate at all?''.


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    "Sister Zhi, I''ll accept your conditions. I''ll join the Heavenly Swallow Faction."


    "About time! What did you even have to think about?!"


    "Ling Hui, please!" Losing her smile for an instant, Zhi Yin reprimanded the little girl who blamed it on Cao Yun even more. "Brother Chen, this is a great news." She took out a parchment from one of her sleeves. "This is the written commitment for your second-year. Please read it carefully and ask me if anything seems strange."


    Clearly, Zhi Yin was prepared and she fully expected Cao Yun to join her faction. He read the parchment several times. It was very well-written without any loopholes. He still looked for any potential trap.


    When he was satisfied that the conditions were clear and fair, he signed it.


    "Didn''t you trust Fairy Zhi that you had to read it so many times?!"


    "Ling Hui, leave us please."


    The little girl''s face lost all life when she heard her fairy. "Yes. Sorry..." She left with her head very low as if she had lost someone dear to her.


    "I''m sorry about my little friend. She''s a bit too much sometimes. Here take this." Zhi Yin gave him the emblem with the number one and the swallow in the background. "This was my emblem last year. Now it is yours. I''ll take care of registering your affiliation to our faction. Do you need anything?"


    "I do! I wanted to access an array formation."


    "Of course. Our daily quota are of two one hour slots every day in most facilities, a little less in the ones with fewer spots. I''ll give you full authority to book these slots when we''re out. You can either book them up to one week prior or the very day you use them. For example, if you arrive at a facility with a spot that''s already been booked but with no one using it, you can use this quota to take it instead. Just wait till the afternoon for the paperwork to be handled."


    Cao Yun took off his emblem and put the Heavenly Faction one in its stead. "Thank you, Faction Leader. I''ll take my leave for now."


    -


    Waiting for the evening, Cao Yun went back to the alchemy pavilion. The receptionist was surprised to see the new emblem on his chest but she did not make any unnecessary comment. She had learned her lesson already.


    Meng Jia was as sleepy as the day before. He pushed Cao Yun even further in his flame control as just a warm-up.


    "You trained on your own. Good." Even without opening his second eye, Meng Jia could tell.


    "As I said yesterday, we''ll work on Ingredients Preservation, the second principle of the five.


    I imagine that you remember how every ingredient presented in the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic'' should be prepared. These are the most basic of preparations, but for a novice these are the best. You must master the basics before discarding them. When you''re a master, you prepare your ingredients according to your state of mind, the season, the day of the week, the hour, the weather, the effects you want from your pill and so on. But if you can''t handle the most basics preparation, trying this advanced stuff is useless.


    Let''s start with a simple one, a Terrified Fox Root. Go fetch one in the cupboard."


    When he brought back the small root, Meng Jia continued.


    "There are many techniques but this root can be prepared with a good proportion of them and it''s very cheap. That''s the best ingredient to work on. You''ll also take four or five of them with you to train at home. The first step is almost always the same, you must wash the ingredient. The liquid you use must be adapted, for now just use the one that''s advised by the book. What is it for this root?"


    "The Slow Running Rain."


    "Indeed. Proceed then. Remember, you have to wash and rinse several times but you must be very careful so as to not lose too much medicinal essence. Even in the skin of the root there is some."


    Cao Yun took all his time to wash and rinse the root, rubbing it with utmost care.


    "Fine. Pretty good, you only lost 7% of the medicinal essence. You should aim for 5% as a novice. Here, take this crystal." Meng Jia gave him a small translucent crystal. "Put it in the water, if it changes color, you have more than 5% lost in the water."


    And indeed, when he put it in the Slow Running Rain, the crystal turned a little gray.


    "It won''t react if there''s not enough medicinal essence.


    Then, the next step is to peel it. We''ll prepare the skin and the flesh in two different ways to train your skills. So all the skin must be peeled but no flesh must stay on the skin. I hear you''re skilled with a spear and a sword, but handling a knife is somewhat different. By working on it, you''ll probably gain some insights into your martial arts as a benefit."


    Once again, Meng Jia was right. The precision needed to perform this operation was way different than what Cao Yun was used to. And it made him think about martial arts. This instructor had easily understood him and used martial arts as a way to keep him invested in his work.


    After the peeling, Cao Yun practiced many techniques of preparation, mincing, grinding, cooking, smoking, burning, infusing, ... By the end of the session, he had practiced all the different traditional ways of preparation for alchemical ingredients.


    "You told me that you wanted to try an array formation in the afternoon so we''ll stop here. Train your flame control and your preparation skills for some days. Don''t come back before you achieve the goals I gave you. Next week you should be good to attempt your first pill refinement without a model."


    "Thank you, Instructor Meng."


    Meng Jia gave him some powders, some Terrified Fox Root and Slow Running Rain to train for a week at home.


    -


    It was finally time for Cao Yun to go back to the training facilities. Like the day before, the Warrior Dream array formation was mostly empty apart from the instructor of course and two disciples training within.


    The facility was in fact five identical array formations. So five disciples could train at the same time.


    "Instructor, I''d like to use one hour of training."


    "Sorry, all the slots are booked, so unless you''re from a faction that got one, it''s not possible right now."


    "I know, Instructor." He showed his Heavenly Swallow emblem more clearly. "My faction leader gave me the authorization to claim our daily quota slot."


    "Oh? Wait a second, I''ll go check that." The instructor took a jade pendant from his pocket and closed his eyes. After some time he spoke again. "I got confirmation from the sect. As many slots are not currently being used, I can give you one right now if you want."


    "Thank you, Instructor." Then Cao Yun walked in and followed some servants. They explained how the array formation worked.


    As soon as the servants put a spirit stone in the pedestal linked to the array formation, they would also use incense to measure the time. One incense stick before the end, Cao Yun would be warned to prepare so that he wouldn''t be surprised by an abrupt end. Interrupting someone''s training right in the middle of it was really frowned upon. If the cultivator was on the verge of gaining a new epiphany, all his efforts would be ruined. Or worse, if he lost control of his Qi because his opponent suddenly disappeared, he could suffer from Qi deviation. The Qi could go in the wrong path or in his own flesh or organs.


    The array formation was pretty straightforward and was exactly as Cao Yun had read. A man absolutely identical to him appeared before his eyes. The only difference was that he was translucent. It was a construct made by the energy of the stone used to feed the array formation.


    He wielded the exact same spear. Each time Cao Yun attacked, his opponent would block, parry or evade and almost immediately target his weak spot. He was able to detect every weakness in his assaults and every blind spot for his attack.


    Cao Yun focused heavily on the Horn Star to try and perfect his ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. As he trained, his technique became more and more simple, removing all the useless moves one by one. He also tried to use the moves of the second star from the manual. The first star was firmly established in his sea of consciousness so he wanted to forge the second one.


    It would take way more time than the first one, so he wanted to work on it as soon as possible.

 Chapter 53: The trial

    While Cao Yun was training, word of his joining the Heavenly Swallow Faction spread to all the faction leaders. When the instructor had used his jade pendant, it was in fact a small array formation inside the jade. This array formation was able to send your thoughts to a specific person within another array formation in the disciplinary pavilion. This was the most efficient way to transmit messages in the sect. It only worked within a certain radius and the person receiving the message had to stay inside the receiving array formation.


    The disciplinary pavilion also managed much of the administration of the Wubei Sect. When the disciple sitting in the array formation received the message, he asked for confirmation and then an elder in the Spirit Warrior realm sent a telepathic thought to the instructor. Only a Spirit Warrior was able to send his thoughts without an array, and only within a certain distance.


    As a matter of fact, a huge array formation was circling the Wubei Sect so that all the elders could send their thoughts on a slightly larger distance.


    Of course, many disciples of different factions were working in the disciplinary pavilion. They had all sworn to uphold the rules of the sect, but as this information was public, there was no problem with sending it to their faction leader.


    In the Red Cliff Faction, Chan Weifeng was precisely learning the news from Jiang Yifan.


    "What should we do about this?"


    "Nothing. The Heavenly Swallow Faction is desperate because they lost too many members and next year will be their end. They probably gave a very nice offer to Chen Guo. But he will soon realize that earning points with such a small faction is difficult and the inconveniences far outweigh the advantages. When he does, it won''t be too late for him to join us. We could even offer him to pay off his membership as a sign of goodwill.


    For the time being don''t make trouble for him but keep on applying the current pressure. All the ways for him to get points should be blocked without a direct intervention from us. We must hide the stick in the shadows and then show the carrot in the light."


    Of course, no faction imagined the conditions Cao Yun had agreed upon. After all, even the disciplinary pavilion did not either. The written agreement had been signed in secret and it would not be divulged before it took effect. Zhi Yin was right, believing there was a chance to recruit Cao Yun, all the factions decided not to suppress him openly.


    -


    When he concluded his training, his Horn Star was more vibrant than ever. And a very small dot could be seen nearby, where the second star should appear according to the star charts of the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' manual.


    Life became quiet for the next week. Cao Yun was creating a new routine. In the morning, he was working on his alchemy to achieve the goals set by Instructor Meng Jia, by controlling his flame and preparing the Terrified Fox Root. Then he would go train his martial arts, either in the formations when he could or in the martial art pavilion otherwise.


    Given his points he only had two hours in the Warrior Dream array formation so he decided to wait three days before going again. He also used other formations, such as the Ten Thousand Soldiers array formation. Obviously, this array formation created up to ten thousand soldiers to attack you. Each level would add one soldier, they were all at the 3rd-grade Mortal stage. One by one, they were really easy to beat for Cao Yun, but when ten of them attacked together, he had to use his martial arts.


    The soldiers were more and more well coordinated. Thankfully, they couldn''t use battle formations, but they were still hard to beat in groups. With the fatigue piling on, Cao Yun was able to go up to 27 soldiers before being eliminated, just as his time was up.


    Later, in the afternoon, he focused on his cultivation and on his mind cultivation. He was afraid of falling behind a little in his Qi cultivation. And he also tried to concentrate on the Horn Star and the second star still in formation. After his time in the array formations, his stalemate was gone and he felt again as though he was making some progress.


    Finally, he played with Mei Ying, teaching her all kinds of moves with his spear.


    He also got to see Ren Chao going on a date with Wang Mei. Amused, he teased him a little, maybe more than a little.


    -


    Among the goals set by Instructor Meng, he had achieved all of them. When he prepared the Terrified Fox Root, the crystal showed no sign at all. It meant that less than 5% of its medicinal essence was lost in the water, maybe even less. With his mastery of the sword and the spear, he didn''t take long to master the knife as well. His flame control getting better, the preparation techniques requiring fire became easier as well.


    In a week he had made huge strides toward the alchemy mastery. It still wasn''t his main goal, but he had to admit that he really was into it now.


    He even wrote a letter to Feng Yingyue where he talked about all the things he got excited about and all the things he wanted confirmation on. In his excitement, he also had long conversations with Mei Hua when he brought the little Mei Ying back after their training/playing sessions. Both of them were very immersed in their alchemy talk and often spoke longer than they should.


    -


    This first week was very nice. It ended like the previous one with Chief Instructor Peng.


    There was nothing new in the training, apart from the fact that the instructors were hitting harder.


    "Now that you suffered through one training, we can up the intensity. Your bodies should not get too used with your training or you won''t get too many benefits. Remember it for your cultivation as well! Treat every session as if it were a fight. You cannot do it mechanically. You must listen to all the little changes within and use them to progress. Otherwise you''ll just be wasting your time."


    This really resonated with Cao Yun. Chief Instructor Peng was right. Each of his session should feel different than the others. He should always gain a little something. If he just circulated his Qi in the pathway of the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' mindlessly, he wouldn''t get much result.


    From this day on, he really took great care to be fully alert to everything going on in his body when he cultivated. With Yi and Zhi, coordinated by Shen, it really wasn''t difficult at all. He already was alert enough before, but now he focused on anything, even how his skin reacted to the flow of Qi deep beneath it.


    -


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    As the week concluded, something big happened.


    An instructor came to Cao Yun''s door and demanded to see him.


    "Junior Chen?"


    "Yes, Instructor. What''s going on?"


    "You don''t get to ask any question. As per the rules of the sect, you are to follow me to the disciplinary pavilion immediately."


    Indeed, Cao Yun had read all the rules and the disciplinary pavilion could summon anyone at anytime. Even the elders had to answer without question.


    "Fine, Instructor."


    Cao Yun asked Huang Cixi to take care of the room while he was gone. He could not think of anything that would require the disciplinary pavilion. Until now, he had adhered to all the rules.


    Wait! It was forbidden to lie about your identity! Did they find out?! After all, the elders are all Spirit Warriors, it''s likely that at least one of them saw through his lie!


    The more he walked, the more anxious he got. If the sect knew he was lying, he could get expelled and his identity would be revealed. In which case, the murderers of his family would maybe track him down and kill him. He could do nothing against a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. Worse, someone might suspect him of having betrayed his own kin. After all, he was the only survivor and he was hidden all this time.


    They finally arrived in front of the disciplinary pavilion. The building was an austere pagoda. All around this pagoda were wooden billboards with the sect rules engraved on it. And beneath the pagoda was the sect''s prison.


    It was an underground prison which could hold even Spirit Warriors thanks to some array formations that could cut off your spiritual senses and block your Qi. These array formations had been created by some of the greatest array formation masters and were regularly maintained even though there was currently no such prisoner.


    The instructor turned back toward Cao Yun. "Remember! From now on, everything you say must be the truth. Do not attempt to hide any detail. Tell everything as you know it and truthfully."


    The anxious Cao Yun followed behind and walked into the pagoda. He was taken in a large room. The light made it hard to discern them, but there were three elders on a platform in front of him. Their faces were impossible to make out.


    On one side he recognized Mei Hua, Mei Ying and Xiao Xuefeng. On the other side was Luduo Bu and an unknown woman.


    All of a sudden, everything became clear to him. This was the trial of Luduo Bu. According to the rules, the witnesses would not be warned in any way before being brought in the courtroom. A huge relief spread through his body, but he also remembered what Luduo Bu had done. Back then, he didn''t know Mei Ying personally and he was already furious. Now he got to play with the little girl and saw her full of life and always smiling when he taught her the way of the spear. When he saw his face again, he really wanted to bash it in.


    A voice coming from the three figures jolted him back to reality.


    "Are you Chen Guo?"


    His heart almost stopped in his chest. He had completely forgotten. This was the moment he dreaded most. This simple question meant a huge lie for him. Spirit Warriors could discern a lie more easily so he quickly circulated his Yi and Zhi balanced by his Shen. "Yes, Elders."


    Xiao Xuefeng hid it very well but she was shocked for an instant.


    She was the most perceptive Spirit Warrior in the kingdom. She knew that Cao Yun was lying. And yet, she saw no trace of deception at all. With her spiritual senses, she could see the flow of Qi of someone and easily determine whether they were truthful or not most of the time. However, Cao Yun controlled his mind so well that he let no sign escape.


    Even with their spiritual senses, Spirit Warriors could not see through every lie. They could if they invaded the person''s mind, but there was always a risk to damage it. And even so, some techniques allowed one to hide things deep within their mind or soul, preventing a normal Spirit Warrior to perceive it at all.


    In truth, Xiao Xuefeng was ready to inform the three elders in the courtroom that Cao Yun was using an alias in the sect. It wasn''t a rare thing, Huang Cixi was doing the same with the authorization of the Wubei Sect. She had seen through him a long time ago and didn''t want that to prevent this trial. But she also didn''t want to put Cao Yun in any danger by revealing his secret either. She had many guesses as to what had happened to him but Cao Yun was definitely not a demonic cultivator in disguise.


    But at this moment, all the elders, her included, believed he was saying the truth. However, it wasn''t necessarily a good thing. She was very confident in her ability, but if a junior was able to hide so well from her, others could do the same. Just now, she realized that she had been too arrogant. In the near future, she would have to be even more careful, demonic cultivators were known to be crafty and Cao Yun just showed her the limitation of her spiritual senses.


    "Why did you attack Luduo Bu?"


    "Elder, I did not. We sparred together."


    "Didn''t you almost rip off his arm?"


    "No, Elder. I stopped my strike just before it got dangerous for him, as per the rules of the sect. I would not try to harm a fellow disciple."


    "Did you interrupt the sparring between Luduo Bu and Mei Ying?"


    "No, Elder. The sparring was already over when I got there."


    "Weren''t they still fighting?"


    "No, Elder, Mei Ying was lying on the floor unable to move."


    From the corner of his eyes, Cao Yun was seeing Mei Ying with her head low and small tears on her cheeks. While hearing him, she was reliving this day, all because of this bastard. If the rules of the sect did not forbid it, Cao Yun would be ripping his limbs by now. As these thoughts came to his mind, the Drop of Wrath got excited but the Shen calmed it easily, despite being incomplete.


    Cao Yun realized that this Shen was very powerful. It was harder to master, but its effects were prodigious.


    "But, wasn''t Luduo Bu still fighting?"


    "No, Elder. He was kicking her in the stomach. This was not a fight."


    "How could you be sure that this wasn''t part of their sparring?"


    "Elder, according to the rules of the Wubei Sect, no sparring can result in permanent harm or death by the willful actions of one of the fighters. Accidents can happen but fighters must never try to actively maim or kill. Mei Ying could not move at all, she is only a 1st-grade Mortal, a servant, the fight was lost and kicking her in such a way was a willful attempt to harm her permanently. I thus concluded that this wasn''t a sparring session but a beating."


    "Weren''t the other disciples within the martial art pavilion not interfering with the sparring session?"


    "Elder, I''m sorry, this was not a sparring session." Cao Yun corrected the question immediately.


    "No matter what it was, weren''t the other disciples not interfering?"


    "This is wrong, Elder. One of the women told him to ''stop'' when I got there."


    "But did none of them act in any way?"


    "No, Elder, I acted before they did." Knowing how the law worked, Cao Yun was very careful with his wording. After his first lie, he knew he could get away with it, but he decided to stay absolutely truthful. He just turned his sentences the right way.


    "Didn''t Luduo Bu tell you that you were interrupting his ''fight''?"


    "Yes, Elder. He referred to this beating as a ''fight''."


    "Didn''t he say that he was going back to ''spar'' with her if you gave up?"


    "Yes, Elder. He referred to a future hypothetical sparring."


    Frustration was starting to be heard in the elder''s voice.


    "Didn''t your servant tell you that this was going according to the rules?"


    "Yes, Elder. She was mistaken about the rules."


    "Didn''t you answer her that you didn''t care if he had the right to spar with her?"


    "No, Elder, I never referred to what was going on as ''sparring''. I specifically told Luduo Bu that this was a ''beating'' and he did not correct me."


    "But didn''t you answer your servant that you didn''t care if he had the right to beat her?"


    "Yes, Elder, I didn''t care because no disciple has the right to beat up anyone. My servant was mistaken on this point of the rules."


    The elders present were clearly trying to make Cao Yun look bad and prove that Luduo Bu was within his right. Xiao Xuefeng was deeply annoyed but Cao Yun''s answers were perfect. He prevented the elders from ever making him refer to the beating as a sparring session and even made them refer to it as a beating themselves. The last elder almost asked him if Luduo Bu had the right to beat someone up.

 Chapter 54: 1-star Earth rank alchemist

    "Was this a joke?!" Xiao Xuefeng was enraged. Before her, Chief Elder Bian did not know how to react as she had come barging in in his study with Chief Elder Baishen.


    "Please, Miss Xiao..."


    "Your impartial judges did everything they could to absolve Luduo Bu of all charges. What kind of impartiality is this?!"


    "They even tried to accuse Chen Guo of violating the rules! Do you think I don''t know what happened in my own pavilion?!"


    "Please, please. Our judges have to balance both sides of the story to find out the truth. And Cao Yun''s answers were really playing with words."


    "You''re going to accuse the man who saved the life of my disciple''s sister?!"


    "I did not say anything of the sort. It''s just that it wasn''t too convincing. The elders determined that there really was a fair sparring and that Mei Ying had lost and did not call for help, neither did she give up. But they also considered that Luduo Bu did go too far."


    Chief Elder Baishen went back to the charges. "He made sure that she couldn''t give up."


    "Alas, the evidence was not too strong on that point either."


    "I saw her throat crushed with my own eyes! Isn''t my word strong enough?!"


    "Sister Baishen, I just meant that we can''t prove he did it on purpose to stop her from giving up."


    Xiao Xuefeng was ready to explode but as a master alchemist, she quickly regained her calm. "What punishment will he receive?"


    "He''s going to receive a harsh punishment, 6 weeks in the Devil''s Jail''s first level."


    "6 weeks?!"


    "First level?!"


    The Devil''s Jail was the name of the prison under the disciplinary pavilion. It was organized in many levels. Each one suppressed the prisoners more and more. The first level had no suppression at all, so it was a just a regular prison.


    "He will also lose 150 points. For beating up a servant without lasting injuries, the rules establish a punishment that can go from nothing to 8 weeks of isolation and a maximum loss of 250 points. This punishment is pretty severe already, even though the judges concluded that this fight was an actual sparring session without any foul play."


    The two women did not even know how to react to this.


    "Chief Elder Bian, you''re disgusting! I''ll leave, otherwise I might do something you will regret." Chief Elder Baishen was the first to leave.


    "So this is the justice of the Wubei Sect? I heard a lot about the honor of your sect. Well, I saw it and I''m not impressed."


    Chief Elder Bian stayed alone in his study. He was fuming with rage after these insults but he could do nothing. His job was to uphold the law of the sect, no matter what it was. He had tried to nail Luduo Bu but the elders did not find the evidence conclusive. And he had to stay true to their decision. In fact, he started to shift his focus on Cao Yun.


    He had not lied but clearly he was interpreting the events the way he saw fit.


    -


    Later this night, Luduo Bu was taken to the Devil''s Jail''s first level.


    The bastard was smiling while remembering the face of the little servant distorted by fear, and more so the face of Cao Yun enraged. He wanted to make Cao Yun pay. In his mind, all his problems were caused by this boy.


    While in his cell, the same man who had come to his room was in front of him and Luduo Bu''s smile became even larger.


    -


    On the other hand, Mei Ying was crying in her bed. Usually, she was playing with Cao Yun at this hour, so he got worried and went to see Mei Hua.


    "The verdict has been decided. He''ll only be imprisoned for 6 weeks... Master Xiao tried everything. She even went to the Sect Leader but even he can''t change a decision of the disciplinary pavilion. Otherwise, the rules would mean nothing, from what he said."


    "Luduo Bu! If I had known, I would have taken his life back then."


    "No, Brother Chen, you would be sent to the Devil''s Jail. Don''t ruin your future for this bastard!"


    Cao Yun went toward Mei Ying and tried to pat her back. She recoiled in fear and looked back. When she saw the worried face of her older brother, she jumped around his neck and cried even more.


    "Ying''er, I swear that this beast won''t harm you ever again."


    They stayed like this several hours. It was so long that Huang Cixi got worried and went to find Cao Yun. When she entered the room, she saw the crying little girl in the boy''s embrace with Mei Hua sitting next to them, caressing her sister''s hair. What she saw was her brother Huang Lixin consoling her when she was little.


    She backed away and went back to Cao Yun''s room. She wanted to hate the boy with all her heart, but the more she was with him, the more she realized he was not evil at all. However, he had killed her brother, she was sure of it. It could only be him!


    -


    The next day, Cao Yun decided to sacrifice his training to stay with Mei Ying and tried to make her happy. She was so different from Cao Huiying, but he still felt as though he was with his real little sister. And seeing her like this was torture for him.


    Finally, she got better thanks to him and Mei Hua. They even went back to training with mock spears.


    -


    Then the time had come for Cao Yun to go refine his first pill without assistance. He went back to the alchemy pavilion and asked for Instructor Meng Jia.


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    Once again, the first thing he did in the training room was lowering the blinds, lying down in a chair and putting his feet on the table with only one eye half open.


    "Before you try to refine anything, prove to me that you''ve passed the test I gave you." Cao Yun quickly took out a Terrified Fox Root and prepared it before Meng Jia. When it was washed, the instructor sniffed a little. "4%, very good! You had to achieve 5%, and it''s even closer to 3% than 5%. You learn fast. Go on."


    Cao Yun demonstrated all the techniques he had already used on this ingredient and Meng Jia found them all to be satisfactory. Some were perfectly mastered and others were very good.


    "Fine. Then let me explain the system of ranks within the alchemists. In fact, it''s pretty simple, the rank of an alchemist tells you which pills he can refine, so we use the same ranks as the pills themselves. For example a 5-star Earth rank alchemist is able to refine 5-star Earth rank pills with success no matter how difficult it is. The catch is that success doesn''t tell you the purity of the pill.


    And how do we determine the rank? The only qualification is the pills you can refine. But an alchemist can always refine some easier pill one rank, sometimes even two ranks above his own. The fact that he succeeds once does not mean he''ll be able to do it again. So to guarantee that an alchemist of a certain rank can always succeed in the refinement of a pill of the same rank, there are certain rules.


    The most obvious, during the qualification process for an alchemy grade, the alchemist cannot rely on anyone''s help.


    The second one is that the pill he makes must necessarily be Pure, which means at least 95% of medicinal essence must be kept from the ingredients. If you can make even the simplest of pill from a grade with Pure quality, you should be able to refine all the pills of the same rank. The most difficult ones will probably have a low quality of course.


    For each grade, the alchemist can choose any pill he wants to pass the qualification, but there is a list of recommended pills.


    To officially become a 1-star Earth rank alchemist, I will be your examiner. The pill you''re going to forge is the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill. This is the most famous pill in the cultivation world. As it dissolves in the body, this pill will release a large quantity of Qi that a cultivator can easily absorb in his Lower Dantian, vessels or meridians. This kind of pill is as efficient as a small spirit stone, but its cost is way inferior in general. And while you need several days or weeks to absorb from a spirit stone, the pill dissolves in a matter of hours.


    The downside is the same there is with every pill, the toxins in it can become a problem if it''s consumed too often. You must give enough time at your body so that it eliminates the toxins before taking another one. That''s obviously a problem you don''t have with spirit stones.


    The recipe was in the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic'', so you should know it perfectly, right?"


    "Yes, I do. But I''m not confident in being able to make a Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill. The only pill I ever made was the Frozen Heart Pill and it was only a success with 67% of the medicinal essence."


    "What are you talking about?! You should know that you''re comparing the hardest pill to forge in the 5-star Earth rank with one of the easiest ones period. But if you''re scared of failure, you can go back to peeling roots..."


    "No, I''m sorry if I sounded scared. It''s just that I never did any refinement on my own and it''s already for a qualification to an alchemist grade."


    "Well, if you fail, nothing happens and if you succeed you''re an alchemist. There''s no problem at all."


    Cao Yun circulated his Zhi and Yi guided by his Shen and got into the right mindset. In fact, it was yesterday''s business that was still going on in his head. He completely suppressed it and went into the cupboards.


    The Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill was very well-known and studied, so even a novice like Cao Yun had read its recipe: blood from a 1-core demonic beast, Rotten Skull Pine Bark, Frozen Dragonfruit Seed, Whale Eel Spine Powder, ...


    He started by checking the furnace and the cauldron that were set up on the table. When he was convinced that everything was alright, he began to prepare the ingredients. For each ingredient, he first remembered everything he had read to make sure that he did not commit any mistake. He really took his time and almost one hour passed by. A master would have been done in around ten minutes.


    Cao Yun had decided to use enough ingredients to make ten pills so he could optimize his chances.


    After the preparation, he activated the fire and watched it for a minute or two, just to be sure there was no problem with the furnace or the cauldron.


    The only thing left to do was to follow the recipe. He threw a red powder into the fire and filled up the cauldron with the blood from a Purple Rotten Keelback Snake. Just after, he closed the lid and got ready for the next step.


    One by one, he introduced the ingredients at certain timings. Sometimes he changed the flame before introducing it, sometimes after. Sometimes he even introduced two ingredients at once, changed the flame, then looked at the cauldron until the mixture changed and altered the flame again.


    Following the recipe point by point, Cao Yun was done in thirteen minutes or so. He then completely extinguished the flame. As he was both excited and anxious, his hand took the lid off the cauldron. A sweet aroma filled the room. In the cauldron there was no more blood, it had all been absorbed into ten little red pellets.


    While Cao Yun was observing its first work without any assistance, the pellets flew into the air and landed into Meng Jia''s right hand. They were forming a rotating circle over his palm.


    "92%, 94%, 91%, 95%, 97%, 93%, 94%, 97%, 98% and even 99%."


    They were all Perfect. Half of them were Pure. And one had even achieved the 99% mark.


    "Oh? Wait." For the first time ever, Meng Jia partially opened his other eye. For once, he almost didn''t look like he was talking in his sleep. "The last one is a bit better than 99%, this is a True Essence pill. Almost no medicinal essence has been lost. And you were worried about your performance..."


    The pills all flew back toward Cao Yun and landed in a small wooden box he had prepared in advance. Just when he was admiring the pills, a small emblem landed beside it. "From now on, you''re officially a 1-star Earth alchemist. This small emblem is proof. I''ll still have to do some paperwork... Hmm... Fine, I''ll do it..."


    "Thank you, Instructor Meng."


    Cao Yun admired his work one last time and then closed the small box putting it in his uniform. After that, he examined the emblem. It was just a small disc with the character for ''Earth'' and one diagonal golden stripe over it.


    He proudly put it on his chest. The emblem of the Wubei Sect with the Heavenly Swallow Faction''s symbol was at least four times bigger. That was the reason why Cao Yun had never really paid attention to it but all the people in the alchemy pavilion had one. He even remembered that Mei Hua had one as well, but on hers, there were five golden stripes.


    Thinking about this, Feng Yingyue should be a 5-star Earth alchemist. After all, she had been able to forge a 87% Frozen Heart Pill, the most difficult 5-star Earth rank pill. He hadn''t asked her her rank, but Cao Yun would do so in his next letter.


    Finally, thinking about his discussion with Feng Yingyue through letters, a question came to mind. He had not yet received an answer because of the distance between the Wubei Sect and the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But Meng Jia could answer him.


    "Instructor Meng, I have a question. Do you know of any pill that has a similar effect on the mind as the Frozen Heart Pill but is strong in Fire element?"


    The Frozen Heart Pill he had consumed had already completely dissipated in him, and it was not suitable for training his Shen, the Fire Spirit.


    "Of course there is. The cheapest one would be the Praying Demon Pill. It''s an intermediate 1-star Human rank pill. But if you want it, you''ll have to buy it since you can''t forge any Human rank pill unless you can control your Qi outside of your body." Meng Jia seemed as though he was going back to sleep. "Wait... I think I heard the receptionists mention that there was such a pill in the market, you could go there." His head finally fell and he was sleeping.


    Cao Yun was now used to his strange behavior so he paid it no mind and left the room.


    -


    He went back to the reception desk and saw Guo L¨¹ye, the woman who almost threw him out. The first thing she saw when he walked out of the room was his alchemy badge.


    "Brother Chen, you''ve passed a qualification test?"


    "Yes, Instructor Meng made me refine a Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill."


    "Congratulations!" When Cao Yun looked at her chest, he saw that her emblem had two golden stripes.


    "Senior Guo, I was wondering about a specific pill, the Praying Demon Pill. Do you perhaps know if I can find one in the sect?"

 Chapter 55: The Wubei Merit Market

    "Well, there is one I know of. Do you know the Wubei Merit Market?"


    Cao Yun was surprised because he never read this name in any pamphlet he had been given. Seeing his face, Guo L¨¹ye knew he was ignorant of the matter.


    "This is an unofficial market founded by the outer disciples. Instead of buying with money, you can buy by using your merit points. The Wubei Sect allows outer disciples to exchange their merit points for other goods or services. To be accepted, this market had to adhere to certain rules. The ones who originally founded it was my faction, the Dragon''s Fire Faction.


    At first, it was specifically aimed at selling pills but now you can find many things. The rules state that anyone can sell any product as long as they don''t lie on their real value. Of course, only my faction ever sells pills there."


    "Can any disciple go there?"


    "Oh, yes! No matter your year, you may go buy anything. It''s just that you''re lacking in merit points. And if you exchange the few points you have, you''ll lose access to many facilities and your resources at the end of the month will be reduced."


    "Senior Sister Guo, if you talk about this market, it means there is a Praying Demon Pill there, right?"


    "Indeed, but its price should be around 500 points. And if I remember right you should have..."


    "283 points." Cao Yun reminded her before she could remember herself.


    "Well, it''s truly lacking... If you were in a bigger faction, you could ask for a loan, but the Heavenly Swallow Faction is still rather poor." She was a little too obvious when she tried to recruit Cao Yun. And this was not the first time.


    "Wait, couldn''t I sell my pills to earn these points?"


    As soon as she heard this, Guo L¨¹ye''s face changed. "Well, technically you could... But you really shouldn''t."


    "Why not? Because of the Dragon''s Fire Faction."


    Before answering, Guo L¨¹ye looked everywhere and got closer to Cao Yun.


    "My faction is the only one who ever sells pills. Even the other three biggest factions give them the pills they want to sell. In exchange they get a commission on the sale. If you try to sell any pill without their approval, you''ll probably get into trouble. I don''t like to speak ill of my own faction, but they''re really vicious when it comes to their business. Most factions don''t want to offend them because they''ll become great alchemists later."


    "But, I could imitate them, sell my pills through the Dragon''s Fire and get a commission, right?"


    Once again, she looked around and got even closer, some people could even think that she was trying to kiss him.


    "I heard that my faction really wants to recruit you. As you probably know, I''m hinting at it quite a lot." Yes, she had not been subtle about that from the beginning. "So, they will probably not help you at all. If you see that you can''t get any merit point in the Heavenly Swallow Faction, it would maybe push you into their ranks. And now that you''re officially an alchemist, they''ll want that even more."


    Well, Cao Yun did not want any conflict with the factions as they could make his time here harder. In which case, his cultivation would probably slow down. But he needed this pill to speed up his cultivation, so it would almost be the same result after all.


    "Thank you, Senior Sister, for being so honest with me. I''ll go see the Wubei Merit Market first. Then I think I''ll still try to negotiate with the Dragon''s Fire Faction. With a good enough deal, they may accept to help me out, we''ll see."


    "I''m not optimistic about it, but you can always try..."


    -


    In a secluded part of the outer yard, Cao Yun found the place Guo L¨¹ye had talked about. This was out in the open. Tens of people had set up stands or just put blankets on the ground to present different products. You could find weapons, scrolls, paintings, all kinds of art, and pills.


    On the stands, the prices went from 5 points to 1,200 points. It was bustling with life as many disciples were trying to buy some things. There were even many inner disciples there. Outer disciples could not go into the inner yard, but the inner disciples could come to the outer yard. This market was located precisely near the border between the two yards, for this very reason. That way, they could expand their customers.


    In the sect, points were more important than money because it allowed you to gain access to more privileges. Within the sect, as long as you had the right amount of points, you were given new rights. But, here, you had to spend your points to obtain something.


    All the products here were either original works you couldn''t buy with money or products that were very expensive outside. First-years could not leave the sect but the other disciples could. So, if you were part of a faction, you could always ask your seniors to go buy you something from the outside. Hence, this market mostly dealt with products made by the disciples themselves that you rarely saw outside or whose price was too high.


    Browsing through this market, Cao Yun finally found it, the Praying Demon Pill. As all pills here, it was sold by the Dragon''s Fire Faction. Its price was 499 points, 1 point shy from the dreaded 500 points he had heard about.


    "Oh? Brother is interested in this pill? You have good eyed." A tall woman was managing this part of the stand.


    She quickly saw the emblems on Cao Yun''s chest and changed her way of speaking.


    "Fellow alchemist, I know this price is very high but this Praying Demon Pill is a true treasure. You''ll never find one outside, no matter how much you pay. It''s been refined by our faction leader, a Mortal Warrior. He''s not yet a 1-star Human alchemist but he''s very close. This pill has 83% purity."


    Someone whispered something in her ear.


    "If Alchemist Chen is in need of such a pill, you could maybe directly talk with our faction leader, Wen Zhu. I''m sure he could help you."


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    "Thank you, Sister. I''ll browse through the market a little bit more, but I''ll be sure to take you up on that offer."


    "Perfect, I''ll warn Faction Leader Wen immediately. Just go to our faction residence when you''re done."


    Cao Yun already knew that this Wen Zhu probably wanted to recruit him in exchange for this pill. After all, he had connections with Xiao Xuefeng and was now officially an alchemist. He could not accept but maybe he could come up with a way to pay for this pill.


    He quickly looked at the other pills to get a good idea of the prices. The Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills were sold for 20 points. All of them were guaranteed Perfect. Finding Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills outside was not that difficult, but they most likely wouldn''t reach the Perfect stage all the time.


    Having a Perfect Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill was of course superior to an inferior one. Indeed, each pill consumed brought toxins in the body. Usually, the person would naturally eliminate the toxins, but they could not consume too many pills because of this. If the toxins accumulated, then it could lead to various problems. Thus, consuming a pill with more medicinal essence was always better. And concerning the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill, the difference in effect was really important. For example, compared to a Perfect one, a Pure pill was at least 10% more potent.


    Right now, Cao Yun had ten Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. Half of them were Perfect, so it made 100 points. Then he could probably sell the Pure ones for 50% more, 30 points, so 120 points. Finally the True Essence one was really a pill you would never find easily, so he could probably push the price up to 70 to 80 points by comparing with the other pills sold here. If he added everything with the most conservative estimate, his pills were worth 290 points.


    If he made another batch, he could maybe directly exchange them for the Praying Demon Pill without needing to sell anything himself. With some luck, he could even make another True Essence pill.


    Browsing through the market he discovered that there were also some alchemical ingredients. They were not rare at all but very cheap. The sect could give points if you brought back ingredients. But it didn''t mean that they would simply take everything. Thus, some disciples decided to also sell the ingredients they were left with in exchange for points.


    These ingredients were very cheap compared to their real market price. But merit points were much more precious than money to the disciples, so it was to be expected.


    By looking through all the ingredients, Cao Yun realized that he could buy enough to make ten Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills for 30 points. So the Dragon''s Fire Faction made 17 points of profit on each pill. That was a big margin. But they had no competition in the pill selling business so they could set the price as they saw fit.


    -


    When he was done, Cao Yun did not wait any longer and went to the Dragon''s Fire Faction residence.


    "Excuse me, I''m here to see Senior Wen Zhu, I was told he would expect me."


    The guard sized him up and let him in. Just as he entered the residence, he saw that it was at least ten times larger than the Heavenly Swallow Faction. From what he knew, this faction had around 50 members. There were also some alchemists in the other factions, but most of them joined the Dragon''s Fire Faction.


    A servant guided Cao Yun toward a large room where a man of about 25 was waiting. He seemed pretty effeminate with a slender body and very delicate hands holding a cup of tea. His face looked like a porcelain with deep green eyes and pure black hair tied up high.


    "Junior Brother Chen, it''s so nice to finally meet you, take a sit."


    "Thank you, Senior Wen."


    As the servant poured him a cup of tea on the side, Cao Yun took place around the table.


    "Senior Wen should know why I''m here."


    "Oh, yes, I heard about this Praying Demon Pill. But let''s leave the business for an instant. I haven''t congratulate you on your achievement yet. I heard that you were a complete novice in alchemy when you came in our sect and yet here you are. In less than two weeks, you became a 1-star Earth alchemist, congratulations. It seems like Elder Xiao can really pick geniuses anywhere she goes.


    It''s a pity you lack points. With your attainment in alchemy, I''m sure you could earn enough to buy the pill you want. But you also lack the proper tools. You need 500 points to earn the most basic of furnace and cauldron. Brother Chen, you should really think about joining a faction that would allow you to flourish."


    Of course, Cao Yun was expecting Wen Zhu to try and recruit him.


    "Senior Wen, I''m moved by your kind words. It is true that I lack points, so I would like to request a favor from you." He took out some of his Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills, one Pure and two Perfect ones. "Would it be possible for the Dragon''s Fire Faction to buy my pills for half the market price?"


    Wen Zhu examined the pills. "These are very well made. I imagine this is how you passed the qualification test, it''s a very common pill to pass the first test indeed. But I''m sorry, Brother Chen, I''m afraid I can''t. You see, we already have deals in place with other factions to buy the few pills their alchemists forge. And the deal we passed with them forbids us from dealing with individuals. And sadly, we have no deal with the Heavenly Swallow Faction."


    "But now that the Heavenly Swallow Faction has an alchemist, you could potentially make a deal with us as well."


    "I''m afraid that I would need the cooperation of our current partners to do so. And they seem really intent on pressuring this poor Heavenly Swallow Faction."


    If you believed the words and the attitude of Wen Zhu, he really was trying hard but the circumstances just would not allow him to do as he pleased. Cao Yun knew the truth of course, he wanted to push him to join his faction. In his speech, not only did he give himself a good role, but the other factions were all bullies as well.


    "Then, I have another proposition. If you cannot buy my pills, could you let me sell them? I heard that anyone can sell anything in the Wubei Merit Market as long as they can prove its value. Instructor Meng was there when the pills were made and you yourself examined them, so their value should be proven, right?"


    "Indeed, their value is real. But selling in the market is more difficult than you think. Even we had to deal with many hardships over the years. I''m not sure that an individual or a small faction like Heavenly Swallow could stand the pressure of such a business. Apart from my Dragon''s Fire Faction, I doubt anyone can sell any pill in the market."


    "Senior Wen, I know this could be difficult, but I really want to try."


    "I understand. With such good pills who wouldn''t want to sell them? Brother Chen, you''re free to sell anything in our market, but I''m afraid this won''t be as simple as that. I''m not trying to dissuade you, but my advice would be to not sell any pill there.


    If you want, I can try to negotiate with the other factions. I can maybe come to an agreement to buy your pills exceptionally. Please, Brother Chen, I''ll try and meet with them as soon as possible, just be patient for a few days."


    "I understand, Senior Wen. It''s a pity that you can''t buy off my pills. It seems I''ll have to wait for your good news. Otherwise, I''ll have to try a very difficult business..."


    Both men understood perfectly each other''s subtext.


    "Brother Chen, I sincerely hope that I''m successful in persuading these faction leaders. If only my Dragon''s Fire Faction could help, we would. It''s a pity that we can''t put all our resources and experience to your service..."


    "Thank you, Senior Wen. I''ll remember your sincerity."


    They both kept talking about various topics, mostly alchemy, and they bid each other farewell.


    -


    Wen Zhu asked another man in the room.


    "Brother Luo, how are the sales of our Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills?"


    "Very good, Faction Leader. Even among inner disciples, they sell well. We''re making a big profit with them almost every day."


    "How much can you decrease their price?"


    The man was startled but got thinking. "I think, going as down as 12 points would not hurt us on the long run."


    "If someone else tries to sell Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills, lower their price to 12 points immediately. Relay my orders to all our sellers."


    He was startled once again but didn''t dare refuse a direct order. Wen Zhu had no intention of allowing Cao Yun to sell his pills whether to his faction or in the market. He was just trying to buy some time by pretending to negotiate.

 Chapter 56: First sell

    Later this night, Cao Yun received a message from Zhi Yin to come and see her. Apparently, she had just come back from the woods.


    "Faction Leader, I hope your hunt was successful."


    "It was. Brother Chen, I heard that you became a 1-star Earth alchemist and that you went to the Dragon''s Fire Faction."


    "Faction Leader, I''m not thinking of defecting. I just had some pills to sell."


    "I know. I''m not suspecting you of anything. But you should realize that selling pills in the Wubei Merit Market is as difficult as climbing Mount Tai. The Dragon''s Fire Faction will do everything they can to stop you. Most outer disciples won''t even dare buying from you by fear of offending them."


    "I''m not naive, but I hope that Wen Zhu won''t be too stubborn and will prefer buying my pills rather than seeing me as competition."


    "It''s very unlikely... How many points do you need?"


    "Faction Leader, the pill I need costs 499 points."


    Zhi Yin got silent. "This is not a small cost. I''m afraid we can''t help you."


    The problem with buying with points was that you not only needed the points to cover the price, but you also needed to have enough left for keeping your privileges within the sect. For example, if Cao Yun went under 200 points, he would lose one small spirit stone by month and a one hour slot in most array formations among the training facilities. These were both options he could not accept.


    -


    Cao Yun waited several days. He kept on pestering the Dragon''s Fire Faction for an answer. But he kept receiving messages telling him that Wen Zhu was sincerely trying but the other factions would just not budge.


    During this time, Cao Yun''s cultivation even advanced. He opened another meridian, his fourth, the Triple Burner Meridian. He stuck to his routine of training his mind cultivation, but it was advancing very slowly. Each day he added one repetition and some strokes. With this progress rate, he would probably need two months just to achieve True Success.


    His ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''''s second star was forming steadily as he practiced with the array formations and once in a while went to the martial art pavilion. Apart from that, he still kept enough time to play with Mei Ying who was reverting to her more lively character.


    -


    He also regularly went back to the alchemy pavilion to study under Meng Jia.


    "You should not try to go too fast in your alchemy. it''s a very slow process. Some alchemists, as soon as they pass the 1-star Earth qualification, tend to immediately go on refining 2-star Earth rank pills. But the best thing to do for you is to keep training your 1-star Earth refinement process.


    We''ll train again with the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill today, then we''ll go on more difficult pills. Your goal today is first to try and recall every tiny detail of your first refinement. We''ll talk about that together. I want you to be able to tell me exactly what happened at every single second. Not only what you did, but what you think happened in the cauldron as well. Under Spirit Warrior, you can''t see what''s going on in the cauldron but you can use your other senses to try and smell or hear what''s going on. By coupling that with your reasoning, you can almost be as perceptive as a Spirit Warrior alchemist."


    Then Cao Yun began recollecting his first refinement. Each time, Meng Jia asked him to be more specific and when he didn''t remember, he asked him to make an educated guess. Some times he did not say anything more and some times he added a bit of information.


    ...


    "You see, this bitter smell indicated that the essence of the Rotten Skull Pine Bark was interacting with the Purple Rotten Keelback Snake''s blood. If you had changed your flame at this moment, less medicinal essence would have been lost."


    ...


    In this discussion, Cao Yun was using his sea of consciousness to try and imagine the process. With his Yi, Zhi and Shen, he was able to vividly picture the cauldron and furnace as if they were before his very eyes. No detail could escape him and he even simulated the changes his instructor suggested.


    ...


    "You did not hear the low whistle there. That''s when the Frozen Dragonfruit Seed cracked. If you had, you would have realized that it was beginning to lose some medicinal essence by evaporation. If you had lowered the temperature, you could have saved more of it."


    ...


    "Well, I think we went through everything."


    The real process had taken less than fifteen minutes but this thorough analysis kept on going for three hours.


    "I believe you still have enough time to try out one batch of Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. If you apply everything I said, you should have ten Pure pills by the end of it. If you get one or two True Essence pills, it''s good, but remember, even great alchemists must rely on luck to get one. Sometimes you''ll be very lucky, and sometimes you won''t. One day, I got four True Essence pills in a batch of five pills and then I did not get a single one in my next seven attempts."


    Cao Yun got all the ingredients ready. This time, he was not as stressed so it took him less than twenty minutes, a third of the time he had needed before, but still twice longer than a master. Once again, he decided to refine a batch of ten, to replicate the exact same process.


    This time, he got attentive to all the small details Instructor Meng had mentioned. By circulating his Yi, Zhi and Shen, his senses became way sharper than any Mortal cultivator''s. In his mind, he could almost see through the cauldron, watching as the ingredients entangled with each other and slowly fused their medicinal essence.


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    Once he was done, the fragrance was even stronger than the first time when he opened the lid.


    The pills flew into Meng Jia''s right hand and he rotated them to examine each one.


    "95%, 97%, 98%, 95%, 96%, 99%, 98%, 99%, 97% and 95%.


    Good, all of them are Pure and you even got two True Essence. You should still train with this recipe when you have the time, but we''ll pass to another pill. It''s an intermediate 1-star Earth rank pill, the Cold Blood Clotting Pill.


    This pill is used to cure an excessive bleeding. If someone has lost a lot of blood, it can make their body produce a large quantity of new blood. It''s especially potent in low grade Mortals but it can always be useful in higher grades. As this pill relates to the human body, it''s always more delicate to make as a mistake could kill the person. So not only do you need the right amount of medicinal essence, but you also must minimize the toxins.


    Well, this is getting late, so we''ll stop for now. In the next few days, train your Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill. You should never make one under the Pure stage."


    -


    When he left, Cao Yun met Zhong Ling once more.


    "Brother Chen, good news! The paperwork is done. You''re now officially recognized by the entire Hongchen Kingdom as an alchemist. And the sect gave you a spot on the alchemy scroll. It will only update at the end of the month, but right now you''re last, 63th."


    "Thank you, Senior Zhong. I had a few questions."


    "Go ahead."


    "I''m in need of a cauldron and a few ingredients. Could the alchemy pavilion provide me with some of it?"


    "About the cauldron, it''s the same as with the furnace, you need to get 500 points and a ranking on the alchemy scroll. So you only need 500 points now. As soon as you hit this mark, you can ask the sect for a brand new furnace and cauldron. I would like to give you one of my own cauldrons, but unlike a furnace, using an damaged cauldron for alchemy will damage your ingredients.


    And about ingredients precisely, I''m sorry but the pavilion only provides ingredients at the demand of an instructor. And even the instructors have quotas they can''t exceed, that''s why they always keep a part of the pills you forge. If you want ingredients, you can either buy some in the Wubei Merit Market or maybe ask an older disciple to go buy some outside of the sect."


    "Thank you, Senior Zhong." Cao Yun realized that Instructor Meng was really generous in the previous sessions. He had never asked him to give even a single pill away.


    In reality, Meng Jia had no other student, so he could easily use all his quota of ingredients on Cao Yun. But the young man did not know that.


    -


    Cao Yun decided to go buy enough materials to make other batches of Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. Until now, he had relied on the alchemy pavilion''s resources but if he were to train at home, he needed a batch of the ingredients and a cauldron.


    As he had no cauldron yet, he decided to buy some powders to train his flame control and he found some Terrified Fox Root to practice his Ingredients Preservation. Finally, he bought enough to make twenty Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. Even though he could not make them without a cauldron, he could still prepare the ingredients. All the ingredients could be prepared beforehand and easily conserved.


    After his purchase, he paid 72 points, so he only had 211 points left.


    The news of this purchase immediately reached Wen Zhu.


    "He shouldn''t have a cauldron yet... He''s probably just training the Five Golden Elixir Principles. He can''t refine any pill without a cauldron and no one in his faction has one. Even with money, he''s a commoner so I doubt he has enough to buy a cauldron outside. In the end, he still needs 500 points either to buy the Praying Demon pill or to get a cauldron."


    Wen Zhu was absolutely right on all the points. Cao Yun had 40 taels of gold. And even the cheapest cauldron cost at least 50 taels, and even if he asked his faction, they didn''t know how to choose a good cauldron.


    -


    In the afternoon, Cao Yun got better and better at preparing the ingredients with the Terrified Fox Root and then got to work on the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill''s ingredients. He was very satisfied by his work.


    The morning with his instructor had given him an idea. Even though he had no cauldron, he could try to visualize the process. In his sea of consciousness, he imagined a transparent cauldron over his real furnace.


    He first tried to imagine the entire process in his mind.


    Then, he spiced things up. As he was imagining what was happening in the cauldron, he controlled the flame in reality. His flame followed exactly what his mind was imagining.


    Lastly, he did the same while also feeling the ingredients, as if he was ready to throw them in the cauldron. This way, the ingredients in his mind were perfect copies of the real ones. He could even smell them in his sea of consciousness.


    Cao Yun didn''t know but this technique was called ''Spiritual Sea Refinement''. It was taught to Spirit Warrior alchemists to enhance their understanding and perception of the refinement. In the first stages of the Spirit Warrior stage, it was difficult to control your spiritual senses to feel what was going on in the cauldron, but you could usually enter your sea of consciousness. This way, you could train with a fake refinement to accustom your spiritual senses to what they should perceive in your cauldron.


    Without entering your sea of consciousness, it was impossible to do. And under the Spirit Warrior realm, no one was known to be able to do so. Cao Yun had even asked Feng Yingyue but she could not. Training the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' had not helped her either. It was a gift from his Drop of Wrath. If the Drop of Wrath had not tried to devour his mind, he never would have been able to get in.


    -


    Cao Yun had had enough of waiting. He went one last time to the Dragon''s Fire Faction but got the same answer.


    "Brother Chen, I''m sincerely trying to negotiate with the other faction leaders. But they''re unreasonable. Please, wait a bit more. If only you were not in such a small faction..."


    He then went to Zhi Yin to inform her that he was going to start a business in the Wubei Merit Market. Unfortunately, all the other members had left the sect to earn some points outside. It wasn''t rare and Cao Yun had been warned that this would happen all year long. He still left a note, in case she came back, so that she could be informed immediately.


    From Guo L¨¹ye and Zhong Ling, he had learned that he had no procedure to follow to sell anything in the market. To get a stool in the inner parts, he needed to pay a fee, but he could simply set up a blanket anywhere and sell his merchandise.


    This morning, Cao Yun set up his small business. He put only five pills up for sale. They were all Perfect grades. And his selling price was 10 points, half the Dragon''s Fire Faction''s. As soon as he set shop, the tall woman he had seen the first time he got into the market lowered her price from 20 to 12 points.


    Anyway, no outer disciple bought from Cao Yun, too afraid to offend a faction of alchemists. After they left the sect, they would need the help of alchemists so it was always nice to have a good relationship with them and Cao Yun was alone. Moreover, their faction leaders wanted to isolate Cao Yun to force him into joining them. Hence, they were not stupid enough to give him points.


    On the other hand, inner disciples mostly bought within the inner parts of the market.


    But once in a while, an inner disciple got curious. This time, it was a plump little man with a shaved head. As soon as he saw Cao Yun''s shop, he got interested.


    "Junior, are all these pills Perfect grades?"


    "Yes, dear customer, they''ve been examined by both Instructor Meng Jia and Faction Leader Wen Zhu."


    "Then, I''ll buy you one Perfect pill. If it''s as good as it''s supposed to be, I''ll be back tomorrow for more."


    "I''ll be there, dear customer."


    The purchase was finalized by signing a written contract. Just like an acknowledgment of debt, this contract would allow Cao Yun to ask the sect for a transfer from this man''s points to his. If the man had not enough points, he would get punished accordingly and Cao Yun would still get all the points as compensation. There was no way to cheat your way out of this.

 Chapter 57: Exceptional sell

    When wen Zhu heard about Cao Yun''s sale, he was annoyed but it was within his expectations.


    "He probably refined a ten-batch, that''s the most classic recipe in the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic''. Let him continue his small business, even if he does sell everything, he won''t have enough to buy the pill he wants. But just in case, make sure that no one in the market accepts to sell him any ingredient.


    The members of his sect are outside for now, so he won''t be able to buy ingredients from somewhere else. And he won''t even be able to ask for their help."


    -


    The next day, the same plump little man came by Cao Yun''s small shop.


    "Junior, your pill really was as effective as a Perfect grade is supposed to be. You still sell at 10 points, right?"


    "Yes, dear customer, 4 Perfect Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills, 10 points each."


    "Good, good. I''ll buy one more for me and another one for a friend." The little man got ready writing a contract with the right amount of points. "By the way, Junior, how long should I wait before taking the other pill?"


    "The safest would be to wait two weeks, but given its grade, ten days should be enough for your body to eliminate all toxins."


    "Thank you, Junior."


    The inner disciple took the two pills and gave the paper to Cao Yun.


    -


    The next day, no one visited Cao Yun. He waited almost all afternoon and wasted some precious time. But two days later, another inner disciple got interested in his shop. She was a mature woman walking with an umbrella.


    "I heard from a friend that your pills are of good quality. Do you only have two left?"


    "Dear customer, I''m selling the last items of my first batch today, but once I''m done, I''ll have another batch ready."


    "Fine. Then I''ll take these two pills first. I''ll be back tomorrow."


    -


    The news of Cao Yun selling another batch rapidly reached Wen Zhu''s ears. Although he was prepared for it, he still got a bit uneasy. At first he thought that Cao Yun would not sell as fast. He just got lucky and met with two inner disciples. Wen Zhu tried to comfort himself. But if word got out about Cao Yun''s pills, he would sell them even faster, but more importantly, it would hurt the sales of the Dragon''s Fire Faction. If Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills could be bought so cheap, the customers would not accept to pay their regular price anymore.


    Wen Zhu quickly sent a servant to fetch Cao Yun.


    "Brother Chen. I''m happy to see you. These last few days, I''m always negotiating with these sly faction leaders to no avail... But I heard you made quite a profit."


    "Only 50 points, Senior. I''m still very far behind what I actually need."


    "Too bad... But I heard you''re selling your pills for only 10 points, is it true?"


    "Yes, Senior. Is there a problem with this?"


    Wen Zhu feigned to be embarrassed. "Brother Chen, the truth is, it''s way below the market price... Usually, these pills are sold for 20 points. If you sell too low, you''re going to hurt other businesses. I''m afraid you''ll get into trouble with the factions selling ingredients. If your price is too low, they may be forced by customers to sell their ingredients lower."


    "Oh? But I heard that your faction had lowered the price of its pills to 12 points."


    "Indeed, Brother. I''m really ashamed to admit it, but we had a bad batch lately. The pills are barely in the Perfect grade, only 90%, so we decided to discount them."


    "I understand, Senior. But do not worry, I will increase my price. Tomorrow my pills will cost 20 points."


    "Fine, Brother Chen. I hope you''re still successful in your business. I''ll go back to persuade these faction leaders, but they keep insisting on refusing to do any favor to the Heavenly Swallow Faction. That''s really a problem."


    He didn''t show it too much but Wen Zhu was overjoyed. But he was also a bit confused. He didn''t think that it would be that easy to make Cao Yun change his price. Could this ''Chen Guo'' be an idiot?


    -


    The next day, Cao Yun set up his shop but he had changed the written note he always put before his pills. "Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills - 20 points each"


    The tall woman who managed the Dragon''s Fire Faction''s shop heard this and sent someone to check the quality of the pills. They really were all Pure grades. Immediately, she sent word to Wen Zhu.


    "That little..." Technically Cao Yun was true to his word, it''s just that he had also increased the quality of his pills. "Call Zhuge Si!"


    Zhuge Si was the intendant of the faction and the right-hand man of Wen Zhu.


    "Faction Leader, I heard about this little Chen Guo. He''s very impudent to dare compete with us."


    "How long can we sustain a price of 8 points for our Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills?"


    "8 points?! This will hurt us if we keep it up more than two days. I imagine many people would buy quickly fearing for the price to go up, so we''ll lose quite a bit. As we''re almost in the last third of the month, our resources are getting thinner. We should still be able to get by for two days, but three might be pushing it. But if we do, we''ll also have to limit the number of pills we sell, so that we don''t make too much of a loss."


    "See to it! Try to attract as many people as you can! Our best bet is to prevent inner disciples to even see his shop."


    -


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    In the market, the mature woman from yesterday came back to Cao Yun.


    "What?! You increased your price?!"


    "Sorry, dear customer, but it turns out I was quite lucky with my new batch. These pills are no more Perfect, they''re Pure."


    The woman looked more closely and saw the quality written on the paper with the price. "Is this accurate?"


    "Instructor Meng Jia witnessed the refinement, he can vouch for it."


    She seemed to hesitate. "I heard that these pills are 10% more potent and even contain less toxins."


    "The volume and mass of the pill are the same, so more medicinal essence means less toxins as well. You''ll get more effect and you can use them more often."


    "Fine, I''ll take two of them. But I hope what you said is true."


    "Dear customer, I''m ready to gift one for free to you if these are not to your liking."


    With today''s transaction, Cao Yun had gathered 90 points, he had finally reached 301 points, crossing the 300 level. This month, he would get four spirit stones instead of three and he could use the array formations for one more hour.


    "Will you be there tomorrow as well?"


    "I''m sorry, dear customer, tomorrow is the training day of the first-years. But I''ll be there the day after. Please come back."


    -


    That night, Cao Yun used the last of his small spirit stones and advanced in his cultivation. He opened his fifth meridian, the Kidney Meridian. The day after, he was back with the other first-years but they had no time to talk with each other. Chief Instructor Peng made the training even harder than last time. Each week seemed to be a new kind of torture. As soon as you thought you could deal with it, you realized that you couldn''t.


    -


    The next day, Cao Yun was back selling his three Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. This time he got two visitors. The mature woman came by first.


    "Junior, I acknowledge the quality and efficiency of your pills. I will buy one more for a friend of mine. Do you think you''ll get other Pure pills later?"


    "Dear customer. I was lucky in my refinement. I cannot guarantee that the next one will be as good. But I''m confident in saying that there will be a least one Pure pill yes."


    "And when will this new batch be on sale?"


    "I''m waiting after the sell of this one, dear customer."


    "Will the price be the same?"


    "For the same quality, the same price."


    Then, the plump little man came by. "My friend told me you were still selling two Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. I feel like I should have waited and bought them instead of the Perfect ones."


    "Dear customer, I''m sorry, I really wasn''t lucky in my first batch and could not make a single Pure pill."


    "Fine. I''ll buy the other two. My friend told me you were sure of getting at least one Pure pill in your next batch, when will it be?"


    "Tomorrow, dear customer. Now that I''m sold out, I''ll get to refine it immediately. And yes, I can guarantee at least one Pure pill. I might even get lucky enough to produce more."


    Cao Yun was obviously lying to all these customers, but he first needed to establish himself. That''s why he had started by the Perfect pills at a lower price. When the customer was hooked, he amped the game with Pure pills. He also needed to establish scarcity to make them come back as soon as possible and sell everything before the Dragon''s Fire Faction could do anything.


    Luckily for him, the factions were all reluctant in forcing Cao Yun out. They all still hoped to recruit him at some point. And even without that, Wen Zhu knew that he had connections with Xiao Xuefeng and was personally taught by Meng Jia.


    Nonetheless, it was becoming a real headache for him. At first he thought that Cao Yun only had a ten-batch, but it seemed that he had made another one. If there were more Pure pills within, it would start to be a real problem.


    "Zhuge Si, divert some of our better alchemists into producing Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. We really need to teach Cao Yun a lesson. Outside of our Dragon''s Fire Faction, there''s no making profit through selling pills."


    "Faction Leader, it will hurt us a lot. If we have less higher pills to sell, we probably won''t make it until the end of the month. We could be forced to borrow some points from another faction."


    "I know, but he won''t be able to make a profit."


    "Faction Leader, how long can we keep it up? Wouldn''t it be better to crush his little business?"


    "How do you suggest we do that?"


    "We could buy one of his pills and claim it was not Pure. Not by much, maybe just short of 1%. Even if Meng Jia witnessed the process, it''s always possible for a pill to lose some of its medicinal essence if it''s not properly stored."


    Wen Zhu got thinking. "This plan is a little bit too dangerous. Xiao Xuefeng also seems interested in this boy. And Meng Jia may seem to be very relaxed, but I can assure you that if we try to claim he made a mistake, we''ll pay it dearly. For now, just make ten Pure pills and sell them at 20 points as well."


    "Faction Leader! This is a huge loss!"


    "I know... I''ll try to think of a way."


    -


    The next day, Cao Yun practiced alchemy in the morning with instructor Meng. He refined his first Cold Blood Clotting Pill with success. The process was a bit more difficult, so he only produced Perfect pills and even one below at only 88%.


    In the afternoon, he put on sale all the Pure Low-level Qi Gathering he had, 7 of them, with the same price, 20 points.


    The plump little man came first. "Oh? You were very successful!"


    "Indeed, dear customer! More than you can imagine! I made a batch of ten and 7 of them were Pure."


    "So you already sold the other 3?"


    "Oh, no! They were neither Perfect nor Pure pills..."


    The man''s interest got picked. "Wait, with your previous pills, it''s not possible for you to fail such a recipe... Do you mean... ?"


    "You''re very perceptive, dear customer. I was blessed with a fantastic result. But I''m waiting for these 7 pills to be sold before I sell anything else."


    "Wait, I''ll ask some friends to come and buy all of them from you. Can you put the other pills on sale?"


    "Dear customer, I''m sorry, I only intend to sell these 7 today. But if they''re all sold, I''ll put one of the other pills up to sale tomorrow."


    Cao Yun wanted to attract as many inner disciples as he could. Inner disciples did not care about offending the Dragon''s Fire Faction. As a matter of fact, they did not even know its actual name. They knew this faction existed, but they did not care much about the affairs of the outer disciples.


    Outer disciples were in the sect for five years at most. Inner disciples had vowed to stay there all their life which could last hundreds if not thousands of years were they talented enough to become Spirit Warriors.


    That morning, the plump little man left and came back with at least five other inner disciples and the mature women. Each one bought a pill. The stool of the Dragon''s Fire Faction was snubbed by the inner disciples but many outer disciples got a really good surprise.


    By waving the shadow of his True Essence pills around, Cao Yun had hooked even more fish today. He was starting to believe that he should have been a merchant in a past life. He now had 481 points, and most of all, inner disciples were talking about his pills. Perfect or even Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills were not that impressive, especially for Mortal Warriors. Even middle to late Mortals would not bat an eye. On the other hand, True Essence pills could only be refined by luck, so the idea of a junior making 3 of them and selling them got many people talking.


    These 3 pills were the last ones Cao Yun had. He now needed to make more of them, but he could only do so with a cauldron. However, he was still short of 19 points. After selling his first True Essence pill, he would have enough points to ask for a brand new cauldron.


    Then he just had to space out the sale of his pills. It would give him enough time to make two new batches and maybe get even more True Essence pills. Of course he only needed 500 points for the Praying Demon Pill, but the more points he got, the more advantages he would receive. Now that the Dragon''s Fire Faction had forced him to start his business, he would not stop by himself.


    He still got the idea of buying more ingredients in prevision of his next sales. However, as soon as he tried to buy anything, the sellers got real quiet and made up all kind of excuses not to sell to him. The Dragon''s Fire Faction and maybe the other factions as well were clearly putting pressure on him.


    But, wait! What if they also refused to sell him the Praying Demon Pill even when he got all the points he needed?

 Chapter 58: Howling Crane Gorges

    Cao Yun would have to burn this bridge when he got there. If he did not earn enough points, he couldn''t buy the Praying Demon Pill anyway. But apparently, the only way he could earn these points was by offending the only people who could sell it to him.


    To avoid this problem, he was thinking of other ways to force their hand. It wasn''t optimal because he didn''t want to push it too far. But he may be able to convince them that it would be better for them to live in harmony.


    The market was really big after all. Overall, the outer disciples were around 300 people while the inner disciples numbered around 3,000 people. Their number never really decreased because most of them were able to reach the late Mortal Warrior stages and lived hundreds of years. Moreover, every year some outer disciples would decide to join the inner sect. There were even some vagrant cultivators who directly tried to enroll within the inner sect without being outer disciples.


    As the inner disciples had vowed their life to the sect, they had a better treatment. But the outer disciples were also very important to the sect, as it was their way to show themselves to the world. There were a lot of influential families who used the sect as a training ground. It allowed them to help their children cultivate faster and with better results. For the sect, it established relationships and helped it keep its fame within the Hongchen Kingdom. It was almost like an institute in fact.


    Among these thousands of inner disciples, many were still in the Mortal realm. For an average cultivator, it took almost twenty years to enter the Mortal Warrior realm, but some were slower than others. Many cultivators took more than thirty or even forty years. And among the Mortal Warrior realm, every grade was harder and harder to cross to the point that many got stuck at the later stages, too afraid to cross over to Spirit Warrior.


    Under the Spirit Warrior realm, Earth pills were still very popular, even a 1-star one could be prized if it had the right quality. And producing such pills was of course way cheaper than producing better pills of a higher grade.


    Cao Yun was not afraid to oversaturate the market with his pills if need but he still needed to make sure they stayed rare to have high value though. Maybe he could work some kind of deal with Wen Zhu. After talking to him several times, he had understood that it was going to be harder than he had initially thought, but he had no other way right now.


    -


    Now that Cao Yun had enough points, he wanted to test out an array formation, the Howling Crane Gorges. It was in a remote location of the exterior yard, almost outside of the sect, but still within the area first-years were allowed in. One hour by month required 400 points because it was pretty expensive to maintain and activate.


    This array formation was actually a series of several array formations formed by literally digging gorges in the mountains. As he walked toward the facility, he saw the gorges running through the mountains for at least seven or eight li*. This really was humongous. Cao Yun arrived in front of the instructor and asked to use the gorges.


    "It''s your first time so I''ll tell you the rules. Inside, you will be faced with a violent gale trying to stop you from advancing. Every li you walk, the gale will become twice as powerful. If you''re not careful, you can be badly injured."


    He gave a small jade plate to Cao Yun.


    "If you think you''re in danger, crush this plate and the formation will stop for an instant. There are many passages dug in the sides. They are angled so that the wind cannot pass through them. So crush the plate and go into one of them. They all bring back to the top of the gorges. From there, you can go back to the sect.


    Is it clear?"


    "Yes, Instructor, very clear."


    The man activated the formation with four spirit stones. The cost to activate this formation really was great. In fact, for every level in the formation, new stones had to replace the old ones, so it was even more costly. That''s why 400 points were necessary for only one hour a month.


    Cao Yun was hesitant on which facility to use to maximize his progress. After many considerations, he had chosen this one because there were some similarities with his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. The Horn Star''s technique, ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'', consisted in creating a violent gust of wind around the spear to help it pierce its opponent even without manifesting any Qi.


    This Howling Crane Gorges array formation was initially meant to strengthen the resistance, endurance but also the footwork of the disciples. If they failed to root their feet properly, they could be blown away in a matter of seconds. This array formation could also be used to train one''s speed, but very few disciples ever tried to temper their martial art techniques with it.


    As soon as Cao Yun tried walking into the gorge, a powerful blast pushed him back. He had to lean forward with his arms crossed in front of him to get inside. Putting his spear right in the direction of the gale allowed him a bit more ease to walk. The wind was being somewhat pierced by the tip of the spear, creating a cone in which Cao Yun was spared. He walked a few meters to get used to the wind. Usually, he could have walked through the entire gorges in less than an hour but with this wind, and considering it got twice as powerful every li, he would probably only cross two li in an hour, and maybe even less.


    When he finally got used to the wind, Cao Yun tried to perform some stabbing moves with his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Merely keeping it straight was hard, but he kept on stabbing over and over again. He was not really walking, he just moved forward by striking with his spear. After several minutes, he finally got to perform ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' but he generated very little wind around his spear.


    In his sea of consciousness, he could feel the Horn Star revolving faster and faster as though it was trying to counter the wind. The star seemed to try and compete with the Howling Crane Gorges''s wind.


    Executing the same technique over and over was tiring for the muscles, but also the Qi and the mind. To perform this technique, Cao Yun had to circulate the Qi through a specific path, so he had to control his body, control his Qi and harmonize both. Thanks to his mind cultivation, it was easier than for others, but it stayed exhausting.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    As his time was halfway done, he realized that he only was a third of the way in the first stage of the array formation. Anyway, he still focused on his spearmanship, as he felt he was close to a breakthrough.


    And, indeed, a few minutes later, his Qi, his breathing, his movements and his mind were perfectly aligned and he performed a flawless ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. A drill of wind formed around his spear and pierced through the wind of the formation. Cao Yun kept on going until he realized something.


    As the technique consisted in rotating the spear before stabbing, he realized that he could not stab. By just rotating the spear and suddenly halting it, the cone of wind was sent nonetheless. This way, he could send several cones of wind successfully. Each one would be less powerful than the one with the full force of the spear, but it could be very useful to distract an opponent or attack someone at a longer range.


    Immediately trying out his theory, Cao Yun realized that it was harder than he had thought. To send the cone of wind, he had to rotate the spear almost all the way into the attack and halt it at the last possible moment by completely stopping its spin. His hands had to grasp it with full might and he even had to circulate a lot of Qi into them to have enough strength.


    He kept on trying and by the time his time was up, he was successful. The Horn Star revolved like crazy and a majestic roar echoed in his sea of consciousness. Strangely, he had the feeling that this roar meant ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'', a variation of ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''.


    Trying to push himself to his limits, he performed the attack again and was able to send two ''Dragon''s Horns'' before stabbing with his spear. The succession of three cones of wind broke through the gale of the formation and Cao Yun got protected from the winds for two seconds. Soon after, the gale stopped completely and he simply walked back as he had almost not moved forward.


    Later in the evening, he analyzed his sea of consciousness and discovered that the second star was even more tangible than before. It would probably take 2 to 3 weeks to forge it, maybe more, it was hard to say.


    -


    His routine did not change much, he went to various facilities to test different training methods. He went to the martial art pavilion once a week as it was really intense each time, thanks to Chief Elder Baishen. Also, he took enough time to both cultivate and advance his mind cultivation. In the evening, he always kept some time to play with Mei Ying. She was getting really good with a spear and Cao Yun even gave her some advice about her cultivation. When Mei Hua did so, her little sister screamed "Boring!" and ran away, but she was very obedient with Cao Yun.


    It both amused and annoyed Mei Hua.


    In term of alchemy, he had told Meng Jia that he would come back when his refinement of the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill was good enough for his taste. For now, he could only try to perform the refinement in his sea of consciousness. So, he really needed 500 points to get a cauldron and buy it.


    The only difference for a few days was that he spent a lot of time in the Wubei Merit Market.


    And today was not so different. Except that today, he would finally get his 500 points.


    -


    Unlike the other days, he did not set up a blanket, he only put up a sign "True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill - 50 points" and waited. After a while, the little plump man, the mature woman and about ten inner disciples came to greet him.


    "Junior, our brother told us that you had three True Essence pills, is that accurate."


    "Dear customers, look for yourselves." On the chest of the man who spoke was the emblem of a 3-star Earth alchemist, so he could easily determine whether a pill was True Essence grade or not.


    Cao Yun handed it to him and he examined it for a long time. He then gave it back to its owner.


    "Brothers, it really is a True Essence pill. Compared to a Pure pill, its effects should be 20% higher. And it will have way less toxins."


    A pill always had the same mass and size if it was successful, so if more medicinal essence was kept, it meant that less toxins could get in. There were always some toxins in a pill, but a True Essence pill was the kind of pill with the least of it.


    "Junior, you said you had three of them, right?"


    "Indeed, but I only sell this one today."


    "And tomorrow?"


    "Another one."


    "And the third one?"


    "The day after."


    "And you don''t have any other pill?"


    "Not for now, I will make another batch soon. I''m confident in getting Pure pills but I can''t promise anything about True Essence."


    "This junior is right. True Essence pills rely on luck more than skill. The difference between a Pure pill and a True Essence one is only 1%, but crossing this 1% is almost impossible. Only Spirit Warriors with their spiritual senses could be sure of forging a True Essence, and only if the grade of the pill was low enough."


    "Junior, I want to buy it."


    "No, Brother, I need it more than you do. Didn''t you ingest a Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill just a few days ago? I have no toxin in me, so it will have a better effect, wait for two days."


    "Who knows if I''ll be able to buy in two days?"


    "Brothers, calm down, I think you should both let this pill go to avoid conflict. I''ll buy it instead."


    They kept arguing among themselves. Only the alchemist was not partaking in it. This pill was rare, but it was not very important for him. Instead, he talked with Cao Yun about his refining process while his friends were finding an agreement.


    "Fine, then Brother L¨¹ buys one today, Brother Jiang tomorrow and Sister Lan the day after." The little plump man was the one who organized his friends. Then he turned toward Cao Yun. "And, friend, if you make other True Essence pills, will you tell us in advance?"


    "I will make them tonight, so I''ll let you know of my success tomorrow."


    "Fine, fine."


    The brother called L¨¹ gave the contract with 50 points to Cao Yun and admired his pill for a long time.


    "What''s wrong with you? You''re afraid to lose it?!" The other brother who could not buy today was annoyed by this scene.


    They all left and Cao Yun got an idea. If the Dragon''s Fire Faction stopped him from buying the pill, couldn''t he just ask one of his dear customers to buy it for him. The faction would never refuse to sell to an inner disciple or their business would suffer a severe backlash. In the worst scenario, he just had to give the points needed and ask them for the pill.


    They would surely do so in order to keep buying his pills.


    Finding an agreement with the Dragon''s Fire Faction would probably be better in the long run because he may need other things from the market and he could not always rely on others, especially with valuables items.


    -


    As tough as it was for Cao Yun, Wen Zhu had it worse. By selling their pills at such a low price and diverting some of their attention from higher grades to such a low grade pill, they had lost quite a lot of profits. Just by existing, their faction needed a steady income of points. If they kept it up, they would have to borrow points from another faction, just to mildly annoy one first-year.


    They could not resort to intimidation or force. And neither could they sustain a war on price as they had expenditures and Cao Yun had none. Wen Zhu was thinking of other ways...


    Zhuge Si was the first one to think of one.


    "Are you sure about this?"


    "I am confident that he will accept. And is there even a doubt about our victory?"


    * Approximately, 1 li = 500 m = 500 yd

 Chapter 59: True Essence pills

    Having now 531 points, Cao Yun could finally ask for a cauldron and a new furnace. Thus, he went to the alchemy pavilion.


    "Senior Sister Guo, I got enough points, so I''d like to request a cauldron and a furnace."


    "I know, Brother Chen. I already got them ready and they should both be in your room when you get back." She looked around and leaned forward. Maybe this senior sister was a bit paranoid. "I heard that Wen Zhu is very upset about your small shop. He almost ruined the faction just to try and ruin you."


    "Well a little competition is always good for business."


    "You don''t understand. He didn''t go overboard because of your connections, but he seems really upset. You should be careful from now on."


    "Thank you, Senior Sister." Cao Yun had no intention of stopping as long as he hadn''t the Praying Demon Pill, but he saw that Guo L¨¹ye was sincere. It was not her trying to make a veiled threat.


    -


    When he got back, sure enough, the cauldron and furnace were both set up and the old furnace was in a corner, ready to be discarded.


    "Mei Yuzhi, please do not throw that old thing yet."


    "Yes, I understand. It''s your first furnace, you must be a little bit attached to it..."


    Indeed, it was stupid because he only used it for a few days, but it was the first furnace that was his.


    He examined his new tools. The furnace was exactly the same as the old one but perfectly clean and with no mark at all. The cauldron was also rather simple, a bronze tripod with no sculpture or engravings.


    Cao Yun began by cleaning the cauldron as best as he could, just to make sure it was in the best condition possible. Even though he could not buy ingredients anymore, he had already bought two batches previously, enough for twenty pills.


    One last time, he meditated in his sea of consciousness about this refinement and circulated his mind cultivation. Then he was ready to begin the process.


    As the ingredients were already masterfully prepared, he only needed to follow the recipe. Using all his mind, he focused entirely on it and finished the first batch in thirteen minutes. When he took the pills out, he was able to correctly identify their grade. He wasn''t yet able to give the exact number, but he had enough experience to differentiate Perfect, Pure and True Essence.


    All the pills he had just made were Pure and one was even True Essence.


    The time he had spent replaying the refinement process in his sea of consciousness had been worth it. Just when this thought crossed his mind, he got an idea. He washed the cauldron again. But this time, he spent more time washing his cauldron than using it. Keeping a cauldron perfectly clean was essential. So essential that it was the first of the Five Golden Elixir Principles.


    Cao Yun''s idea was pretty simple. "Why not use my sea of consciousness in real time while I refine the pill?"


    He did not know that this technique was called ''Spiritual Sea Refinement''. It was supposed to help a Spirit Warrior use his spiritual senses during a refinement process. A Mortal could only use his normal senses. Even a Mortal Warrior who could inject a bit of Qi inside the cauldron wasn''t able to see through it. But by combining his mind cultivation and his sea of consciousness with the information he got from his senses, he could have a vivid picture of what was going on in his cauldron. It was more akin to a deduction than a real perception, but unknowingly, he had found a way to imitate a Spirit Warrior alchemist.


    As he worked on his second and last batch, it was as if his cauldron was transparent. Of course, what he saw was just his imagination but it was almost perfect. Without the Shen at a high enough level he wouldn''t have had such a result, as it was the element that was synchronizing and harmonizing everything else. That made him realize how important it was to advance it even faster. He could also use that in a fight and be able to foresee his opponent''s moves to a degree by combining all the sensory cues with his deduction.


    When the refinement was finally over, he opened the lid and was astonished. Eight of the pills were True Essence and the other two Pure. If only he had another batch of ingredients, he would try again. It was said that getting a True Essence was pure luck but Spirit Warriors were able to do so with low level pills thanks to their spiritual senses. Perhaps he could do the same.


    If he sold all the pills he had just refined at the same price than before, he could get 670 points, enough to buy the Praying Demon Pill.


    -


    The following day, he went to the alchemy pavilion in order to train with Meng Jia. He was too impatient to try his new discovery with another pill. And his instructor had told him that they were going to work on the Cold Blood Clotting Pill, an intermediate 1-star Earth rank pill.


    Cao Yun had read about it in the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic''. He knew the ingredients and the recipe. So just before going to see his instructor, he tried to imagine the refinement process in his sea of consciousness. It was harder as he had never actually done so in real life. As such, he couldn''t test whether what his imagined was accurate, but he had already tested the flame alone and knew how it reacted. Now, he needed to do so with the actual ingredients.


    If Meng Jia had asked him to refine this pill, it was to see which progress he had already made.


    "We''ll get on a matter that''s rarely studied by alchemists of the Earth rank, toxins minimization. It''s a small principle, unlike the Five Golden Elixir Principles. It''s part of what''s called the Minor Principles of Silver. There are several of them and their count can vary from one alchemist to another. Toxins minimization is a principle simple to understand and difficult to grasp. First of all, just make the pill."


    This time, Cao Yun was way more comfortable with the preparation of the ingredients even though he had never worked on some of them. His time spent training on the Terrified Fox Root was really paying off. He prepared everything nicely, compared to an expert, he still took too much time, but less than double the time.


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    Then he ignited the flame and began to use his new technique. As he put the first ingredient in, he realized that it behaved differently from his prediction and he adjusted his visual image. Then it went pretty smoothly. Each time there was a difference between reality and his expectations, he could adapt it in a few moments and it flowed nicely.


    By the end, almost three fourths of what he had imagined happened as he had foreseen. But now he had an even better understanding of the refinement process. While Meng Jia was examining the pills, Cao Yun was mentally comparing what he had imagined to what actually happened. Slowly, he understood where he was wrong to enhance his next refinement.


    The batch was smaller than for the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill, so there were only four pills.


    "92%, 96%, 95% and 97%. For a first try, it''s very good." Meng Jia almost woke up when he spoke, but his right eye quickly closed up again.


    With only one eye half open and some yawns, he continued.


    "Toxins minimization consists simply in trying to let as few toxins as possible in your pill. Let''s take yours for example. Your pills have between 15 to 23% of the toxins from the ingredients. If your quality was lower, there would be more toxins simply because there would be more space in the pill to harbor them. The first way to minimize them would be then to increase the quality, but you cannot absorb more medicinal essence than there is in the ingredients. So the true principle is about preventing the toxins to get in.


    Refining a pill consists in absorbing the medicinal essence from the ingredients in suspension in the cauldron to fuse them into a pill. So when you refine your pill, you try to absorb as much medicinal essence as possible but you also let many toxins in by doing so. But if you try to block the toxins, you will also block some medicinal essence. So you must be able to absorb when the medicinal essence is strong in the cauldron and block the absorption when the toxins are. When you become a Mortal Warrior, you can even try to use your Qi to guide the medicinal essence in and the toxins out, but it''s difficult to do so without seeing the interior of the cauldron. But, unless you''re a Spirit Warrior, you can''t. That''s where the principle of toxins minimization comes in handy.


    To master this principle, you must be able to identify when the medicinal essence is strong in the cauldron and when the toxins are strong. Then you will control your flame to stop the absorption or promote it. Toxins minimization is also called ''The Art of Absorbing and Rejecting''. The first time, I''ll watch you refine a new batch and I''ll tell you when you should block and when you should absorb. Then we''ll discuss to see if you were able to get why from the clues you got."


    Cao Yun got back to refining. The process was three times longer as Meng Jia kept telling him to block the absorption, so Cao Yun had to change his flame accordingly. But it also trained his new technique as it had to adapt to the new changes and derive new understandings from the reactions. During the process he was even able to guess how his instructor determined whether the toxins were strong are not.


    By the end he even guessed such a moment just as Meng Jia told him to block the absorption.


    When he took the pills out, their quality was a little lower.


    "87%, 89%, 92%, 91% and 90%. It''s still pretty good! I was expecting a decrease of at least 15 to 20% to all your pills. Now let''s watch the toxin levels. It''s between 8% and 17%, very good as well. You adapted fast. Now, why do you think I told you to stop the first time?"


    "I''m not too sure, but I guess it''s because the bile of the Sun Catching Vicious Tiger was emitting a very faint rancid smell, indicating that it was interacting with the Mushy Spider''s Cocoon. The bile probably dissolved the cocoon and by doing so freed some toxins from it. By stropping the process there I think some of the toxins were absorbed by the bile and then I just had to slowly burn them away within it by boiling the bile itself."


    "Perfect, that''s exactly right."


    ...


    They kept on talking and Cao Yun was able to guess the reason two thirds of the time.


    "Great! You''re very perceptive!" As they kept talking, Meng Jia''s eyes slowly awakened. "You should work on the refinement of this pill until you''re able to make a Perfect pill with less than 5% toxins. Going lower is almost impossible without using your Qi because toxins and medicinal essence are intertwined. Even with all the best techniques of alchemy, you can never go lower than 1%, as you cannot absorb more than 99% of the medicinal essence.


    To test the toxin levels, it should be too difficult with just your senses. Dissolve the pill in a bowl of blood from a Winter Heavy Stallion, a common 2-core demonic beast. If the blood becomes yellowish, you have too much toxin."


    Well, Cao Yun didn''t want to tell his instructor that he couldn''t buy any of these ingredients, so he simply agreed and left. For the time being, he would simply rely on his new technique to visualize the process. It had worked really well for him. He decided to call it ''Shen Visualization''.


    -


    During the afternoon, he went back to the Wubei Merit Market. Even before he arrived, the customers were already here.


    "Friend, we''ve come to buy your pill."


    "Of course, dear customers. Here it is."


    As the second brother took the pill and gave a 50 points contract, the plump little man could not help himself.


    "Friend, were you successful in your refinement yesterday?"


    "Yes, very. I got 4 True Essence pills and some Pure ones."


    The eyes of all the inner disciples were incredulous. What luck was this?!


    "I can sell one more to you today since you''ve been a customer since the first day."


    "Great, great. Sister Lan, the third pill was supposed to be for you, so I''ll let you buy it in my stead."


    The mature woman was happy with this arrangement. "Thank you, Brother Men. Junior, you really are lucky in your alchemy. But isn''t luck another word for talent?"


    "I wouldn''t dare call myself talented, dear customer. I will sell the other three True Essence pills here tomorrow."


    Now, Cao Yun had 621 points.


    -


    When he got back to his room, two young women were waiting for him, Zhi Yin and Ling Hui. While they were waiting, Huang Cixi was preparing some tea.


    "Young Master, I''m sorry, but they would not take no for an answer and since Miss Zhi is your faction leader..."


    "It''s fine, Mei Yuzhi, it''s fine."


    Cao Yun walked toward the two women. "Faction Leader Zhi, Senior Sister Ling. What business do you have with me tonight?"


    "You! It''s all your fault and you dare ask?!"


    "Ling Hui, please. Control yourself!"


    "Sorry... but Brother Zhao is injured because of him!"


    "Someone from the faction is injured?!"


    "Indeed. We''ve been attacked in the wild. We have no concrete evidence except our word, but they were part of the Dragon''s Fire Faction. So, Brother Chen, tell us exactly what happened during our leave."


    These rascals couldn''t make Cao Yun give up, so they attacked his faction. As a first-year, Cao Yun could not leave the sect so he was protected, but the other members were relying on their ability to leave to finally earn some points this year. But now, Cao Yun had maybe ruined it for them.


    But first, he had to think about this senior brother. He had never met the guy but they were in the same faction, and this attack was probably because of him.


    "Faction Leader, how is Senior Brother Zhao?"


    "He lost a lot of blood. He''s being attended by his sister right now. His life is not in danger but he''s still weak."


    "Faction Leader, I may be able to help him. We''ll talk on the way."


    Without waiting for their answer, Cao Yun left the room. The three women inside looked at each other and Zhi Yin and Ling Hui followed him while Huang Cixi tidied up the room.

 Chapter 60: A forced bet

    When they reached the faction, Cao Yun had already told everything to the two women. Zhi Yin did not show any emotion. On the other hand, Ling Hui did not seem to remember how to talk. But in the end, it came back to her.


    "You rebelled against the entire Dragon''s Fire Faction?! Are you insane?! Our faction barely survived last year because we were bidding our time for this one and you just antagonized the richest faction of all, and full of alchemists!"


    "Sister Ling, please." Thousands of thoughts were going through Zhi Yin''s mind right now, she needed some calm.


    "I''m sorry, I did not think that they would go to such lengths..."


    When they entered the faction residence, a young woman was tending to a man who looked exactly like her. However, his complexion was pale and he seemed to be sleeping.


    "Sister Zhao, how is your brother?"


    "Faction Leader, he''s still very weak. He''s been asleep since you''ve left."


    Cao Yun got closer and saw that there were bandages all around his torso.


    "I have a pill that might help him."


    He took out the Cold Blood Clotting Pill with highest level of quality and gave it to the woman. She had a strange look and saw the alchemy emblem on his chest as well as the emblem of their faction.


    She looked toward Zhi Yin and, seeing her nod, she finally woke up her brother. He was barely conscious and ate the pill without thinking. If his sister gave him something, it should be good for him.


    In a matter of minutes, his face came back to life. Several minutes later, he fully woke up. He would have to wait an hour or so before having all his vitality back. The Cold Blood Clotting Pill was specifically designed to help replenish lost blood. It could not heal anything, but as the wound had already been treated, the pill was really useful.


    Zhi Yin finally spoke. "Brother Chen, let''s talk about what we''re going to do."


    "Yeah. You put us in a terrible situation! How could you pay back if something bad were to happen to Fairy Zhi?! Even your life could not compensate that!"


    Zhi Yin looked at her sister and went back to Cao Yun. "Brother Chen, it''s best we discuss it in private."


    -


    "The Dragon''s Fire Faction is not a group of fighters. I badly wounded four of our attackers, but they were at least twelve. However, they could most likely ask the help of other factions to take us down in the wild. Even though it''s against the rules of the Wubei Sect, as long as they''re not caught, there''s no crime.


    This was probably a warning. But from what you told me, they can''t just force you to leave the market due to these inner disciples who got interested in your pills. It could hurt their reputation if they prevented the sales you already promised.


    More importantly, they probably lost quite a lot by battling with you and the prospect of your True Essence pills should be very alluring right now. If my guess is correct, they did this attack because they want to ask something of you."


    And sure enough, an envoy of the Dragon''s Fire Faction came knocking.


    While Cao Yun and Zhi Yin were talking, they heard a huge commotion outside. They quickly went out and saw sister Zhao beating a man on the ground. Other members of the Dragon''s Fire faction stood there doing nothing.


    "Sister Zhao! Sister Zhao!" Zhi Yin rushed to stop her sister. But she was mad.


    "He boasted about trying to kill my brother! Let me kill him!"


    "Sister Zhao!" Zhi Yin could contain her but not calm her.


    "Sister, it''s fine... You''ll just bring more trouble on us." Her brother stood up and went to hug her.


    Zhi Yin finally showed some emotion as she looked at the men before us. "Why did you come here?"


    Zhuge Si was leading the group. "Oh, Miss Zhi, we just heard about your misfortunes in the woods and we came to give a treatment for your wounded member. But your friend misunderstood and beat one of us with so much violence... Such a crime would probably be severely punished by the disciplinary pavilion."


    "What do you want?" The members of the Dragon''s Fire Faction were all smiling, except the guy who got beaten up. On the other hand, Cao Yun and all his faction were full of rage and resentment.


    "I have a proposal for Junior Brother Chen, a bet of sorts." Zhuge Si walked closer to Cao Yun. "An alchemy competition between you and our most talented alchemist within the Earth rank, tomorrow in the market in front of everyone. It will be a great entertainment."


    "What will be the stakes?"


    "Well, if you lose, you must definitively leave the Heavenly Swallow Faction and you may never sell another pill in the Wubei Merit Market without our authorization."


    "And if I win?"


    "Then everything will go back as usual."


    "I refuse!" When he answered, everyone got surprised except for Zhi Yin.


    The first to talk was not Zhuge Si but Ling Hui. "You rascal! That''s how you''re going to repay us?! You create the problems and when it gets worse, you just run from it?! You!"


    "Sister Ling, silence! Listen to what Brother Chen has to say."


    "Thank you, Faction Leader. Zhuge Si, aren''t four of your members wounded?"


    Zhuge Si immediately knew what he was getting at, but everything had been taken care of. "Oh, Brother Chen, many of our members are outside the sect. I cannot know if they are wounded or not." Indeed, the four wounded members were being treated outside of the sect.


    "Do you think we''ll find evidence of Zhi Yin''s attacks on them?"


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    "Brother Chen! I have no idea what you''re referring to. Are you accusing us of something?"


    "I guess they''re not in the sect. But do you think Guest Elder Xiao wouldn''t be able to find them quickly?"


    Zhuge Si got silent. He didn''t know how close Cao Yun was with Xiao Xuefeng. Would she really waste her time to help him find four of their members? In fact, Cao Yun himself was not very confident about it, but he knew how to lie perfectly with his mind cultivation. He could pretty easily control his emotions and had even been able to lie to Spirit Warriors.


    "If I were to trouble Guest Elder Xiao right now, how long do you think it would take her to find your brothers?"


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about... But it would not change the fact that your member viciously attacked one of us!"


    "Indeed. But what if I were to accept another bet? If I lose, I''ll adhere to your conditions. But if I win, you must forge a contract with our Heavenly Swallow Faction for the sale of our pills with a 25% commission. You''ll also add a clause allowing us to buy anything in the market without any interference." Cao Yun hesitated but seeing Zhuge Si''s face, he pressed on. "And you''ll gift me the Praying Demon Pill."


    Cao Yun had decided that selling pills was taking too much of his time. So if the Dragon''s Fire Faction could do it for him, that would be great. It also was a way to try and find peace. If they showed to them that they were making a huge profit thanks to the Heavenly Swallow Faction, they would have no more reason to try and hurt them in the wild. It was the best thing he could come up with to try and solve this particular problem, because no amount of rules or pacts could do anything. The rules already forbade this kind of behavior but as long as they thought they could do it without leaving any evidence, they probably would.


    "Brother Chen, I know of no interference in our market. About the contract, I cannot agree to such terms. Even the biggest factions give us 30% of commission."


    "Then, if I lose, I also give you two of my three True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. And if I win, in the contract, you''ll declare that any seller who would refuse us a sale could never do any business with your faction."


    "Brother Chen, maybe the disciplinary pavilion should just take care of this situation."


    "Yes, Senior. I''ll go inform Guest Elder Xiao immediately. I''m sure she''ll be happy to help treat your poor wounded members lost in the wild."


    There was an absolute silence as both men stared at each other. In fact, they were both bluffing. Their member who got beaten up earlier was not really hurt, he had taken a pill to facilitate bruisings so he looked very rough. But if an elder were to look at him, it would be apparent that he was fine. After all, no alchemist would agree to be beaten up for a plan. His cultivation was higher than that of Sister Zhao and her punches did almost nothing.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun had no idea whether or not Xiao Xuefeng would help him. And even so, with his past experience with the disciplinary pavilion, he was not too sure about their ability to serve justice fairly.


    Zhuge Si was usually a very good judge of character, but in this case, he wasn''t sure. Cao Yun was able to hide his true intentions so deep that even he could not see through.


    "Brother Chen, my final proposal. I hope we can all agree.


    If you lose, you must definitively leave the Heavenly Swallow Faction. You may never sell another pill in the Wubei Merit Market without our authorization and you must gift us your three True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills.


    If you win, you will receive the Praying Demon Pill for free. We''ll forge a contract with your faction for a commission of 27%. And we''ll publicly announce that anyone refusing to sell to any member of your faction will never do business with us ever again."


    Zhi Yin butted in. "Make the announcement an official rule ratified by the disciplinary pavilion and we''ll have an agreement."


    "Fairy Zhi?!" Ling Hui could not believe what was happening. Were they really going to bet with the faction who tried to hurt them? And were they really relying on Cao Yun for this?


    "Fine, Junior Sister Zhi. We agree on the conditions of the bet."


    "How will the bet be settled?"


    "Oh, it'' easy. You and our alchemist will both refine a pill the other one has chosen, under the Human rank of course. Then we''ll examine which one has the highest quality."


    "Any pill can be chosen? Even an original creation?"


    "Of course not. We''ll limit ourselves to the pills of the ''Ten Thousands Earthly Mysteries''."


    Cao Yun knew this book. It was just an encyclopedia of many Earth rank pills. There were not exactly ten thousands recipes, but several hundreds. He had read this book since he had started to learn alchemy and got it perfectly memorized. His opponent wouldn''t be able to surprise him with a pill he didn''t know. Immediately, he started to look for the most difficult pill possible in his memory.


    "Who will examine the pills?"


    "We asked Instructor Meng to be our referee. He''s your instructor, so you should have no problem with him making the decision, right?"


    "What about the ingredients?"


    "Each alchemist will bring the ingredients necessary for the refinement of the pill they chose."


    Cao Yun could not buy any ingredient. If he agreed to these terms, he would simply lose by disqualification.


    "Your faction will provide the ingredients since you made the bet. And if you fail to do so, I will automatically win the competition." Cao Yun didn''t like that because they could potentially tamper with the ingredients but he had no choice as he couldn''t buy a single ingredient.


    "Fine, I agree." He stretched out his hand to shake hands with Cao Yun, but he had another opinion on the matter.


    "Let''s put that on paper."


    Zhuge Si smiled and agreed. They both signed a contract, following all the rules of the Wubei Sect.


    -


    After their departure, Sister Zhao was only worried about her brother and Ling Hui was going insane.


    "You think you have any chance of winning?! And even if you do, they can attack us again in the wild! You screwed everything up! You destroyed Fairy Zhi''s ambition, you bastard!"


    This time, Zhi Yin did not even try to calm her as she was on a rampage. She really needed to vent her anger.


    "Brother Chen, how confident are you?"


    "I have to admit that I''m unsure."


    "Unsure?! Unsure he says! Awesome! Unsure! Unsure!" Ling Hui went on breaking some furniture.


    "Then, we''ll just have to cross that bridge when we get there."


    "Can''t you just call Guest Elder Xiao like you said?" Still screaming, Ling Hui was starting to make sense.


    "Let''s assume she listens to me and finds the four wounded members. We may be able to prove that you fought, but can you prove that you weren''t the ones who attacked first?"


    "So you were just bluffing?!"


    "No, they don''t want this to be publicized either. Even without proof, it will be obvious for almost anyone and they may still suffer from this in their business."


    -


    In the Dragon''s Fire Faction, the atmosphere was more serene. A very relaxed Zhuge Si was talking with Wen Zhu.


    "Faction Leader, I told you that Chen Guo would accept."


    "But we will probably never recruit him. Let''s say he joins one of the big factions and become more and more powerful in both martial arts and alchemy. Then we will have a terrifying enemy, both inside the sect and maybe even later outside."


    "We''ll just have to play our cards well when he leaves. I used the stick. You must use the carrot when the time comes."


    "And you''re sure we will win against him?"


    "Faction Leader, I will pit the best of us against him, there is no way he can win. We''ll crush him! I already know the pill I''m going to use to make him lose."


    "But don''t go overboard. As you said, we need the stick and the carrot. I''ll also have to smooth things over with Fairy Zhi. She''s also very talented, and unless you''re able to completely crush her, you should not make her an enemy."


    "Faction Leader, I''m ready to take the full blame for this decision. You can pretend that you knew nothing and blame all of it on me."


    "Zhuge Si, losing you would also be a terrible loss. Just win the bet and then I''ll appease Fairy Zhi and Chen Guo. I''ll gift him the Praying Demon Pill to show my sincerity. For Fairy Zhi, what she wants is to preserve her faction, I''m sure I can think of many ways to help her achieve her goals while keeping her in check. I''ll need your help on this point. Fairy Zhi is not a stupid person."


    "Do not worry, Faction Leader. After tomorrow''s competition, everything will be as it should."

 Chapter 61: Another duel of two Hearts

    Cao Yun decided not to cultivate or train his martial art that night. He entirely focused on training his mind as he had realized that his Shen, the Fire Spirit, was essential. It was the force harmonizing Yi and Zhi, and it also seemed to boost his deduction abilities during alchemy. Since he had first started cultivating this character, he could now draw it forty-six times and was still short of eighteen repetitions to reach True Success. If he was able to get this Praying Demon Pill, he would surely be able to advance at least twice as fast.


    Then, he focused on alchemy and tried to sort through all the recipes to find the best one to challenge his opponent. By the same occasion, he reviewed all the recipes. Even when he woke up, he used the entire morning to focus on his alchemy. He trained with flame control and ingredients preservation. Expecting to have some problems with the ingredients of the Dragon''s Fire Faction, he was particularly careful with that.


    Today, Cao Yun was going to lose a lot of time on alchemy. Recently, he was starting to realize that he had gotten too absorbed by alchemy. He had not abandoned cultivation, mind cultivation or martial arts, but this little fight with the Dragon''s Fire Faction was getting out of hand. Whether he won or he lost, he would stop selling pills himself and he would limit the time he devoted to pill refinement.


    But he would still work on it daily for several reasons. First of all, he quite liked alchemy now, and he could even talk about it with Feng Yingyue. But, it also was very good for his mind cultivation which was important as the Drop of Wrath could act up at any moment. And finally, he had realized that this new technique he had named ''Shen Visualization'' could be used in actual combat.


    Just before he left for the Wubei Merit Market, the entire Heavenly Swallow Faction came to see him.


    The first one to talk was the only man. Contrary to yesterday night, he seemed to be in good shape. His face was now full of life. He had short hair and yellow eyes. Compared with Cao Yun, he was smaller, but still taller than the little Ling Hui who was fuming behind.


    "Brother Chen, we never properly introduced ourselves. I''m Zhao Fei and this is my twin sister Zhao Lin." The woman he showed was stern and glared at Cao Yun with angry eyes. Her eyes were as yellow as her brother''s and her hair also kind of short as they only reached the bottom of her shoulder blades. Both their hair were brownish.


    "Do not mind my sister, she''s upset about what happened to me. I know this is related to your fight with the Dragon''s Fire Faction, but I do not blame you." He looked back as though he wanted to speak to everyone at once.


    "We all knew that we''d have to fight against the other factions. If we got enough points outside, there was no way they would leave us alone for long. So you should not blame Brother Chen. If he had known we would be implicated, he would have waited to warn us before doing anything. And he is risking a lot for us today. Remember that if he loses, he will have to leave our faction for good which means that he won''t be able to be in any faction next year because of our agreement." He finally put his hand on Cao Yun''s shoulder as his sister was pouting. "Brother Chen, good luck!"


    "My brother is too nice. He may have forgiven you, but I''m still a long way from this. You better not lose today!"


    "Stupid Chen, if Fairy Zhi loses face because of you today, I''ll break both your arms and we''ll see how you can do alchemy then!" Ling Hui was once again the most ferocious. She really had a problem when it came to Zhi Yin.


    "Brother Chen, do not mind the harsh words of these ladies. I know that you will do all you can to make up for what happened. I probably shouldn''t have to remind you, but Zhuge Si is very crafty. The competition he organized won''t be as simple as that. Even with Instructor Meng there, I fear that there might be some traps. Be very mindful and wary of everything."


    "Thank you, Faction Leader. I''ll do everything I can.


    Brother Zhao, Sister Zhao, I never thought that my fight with the Dragon''s Fire Faction would result in your injury. I naively thought they would only target me, but it seems like they found no other way to me than through you. No matter what, this is my fault, I should have tried to warn you even though you were outside.


    Sister Ling, if I bring any more harm to the Heavenly Swallow Faction, I will gladly let you break my arms."


    Since the death of his family, Cao Yun was even more intent on protecting the people close to him. Even though he had joined this faction recently and had almost never seen them, he still felt a feeling of belonging. He had not joined them on mere impulse. And since he intended to stay with this faction for a long time, he would have to fight for them.


    As they were leaving, the group saw Mei Hua. Usually, she was busy at this time of the day as she almost entirely focused on her alchemy and spent a lot of time in the alchemy pavilion with Guest Elder Xiao.


    She approached Cao Yun.


    "Brother Chen, Mei Ying was asking why you didn''t come play with her yesterday."


    When the others saw the Dragon''s Fire emblem on her chest and then the 5-star Earth alchemy insignia, they all became wary. Ling Hui even walked up front and put up a stance.


    "What do you want, you bastard?!"


    Mei Hua recoiled. She was friendly with Cao Yun so she did not understand what was going on. As she was busy with her study, she did not really care about the internal affairs of her faction. Moreover, Cao Yun had never talked about his problems with her faction with her because he did not want to put her in a bad position and make things awkward between them.


    "Sister Mei, please do not mind them. Some people from your faction hurt Brother Zhao. They have no qualm with you, but..."


    "What?! What happened?!"


    "Sister Mei, I''m sorry, this is a long story and we don''t have the time right now. I''ll explain everything to you when I get back from the market. Tell Mei Ying that I''m sorry but I had to help some friends. I''m sure she''ll understand. Excuse us."


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    "The market?!" Mei Hua got silenced by this word and she watched as the glaring group left with Cao Yun, her face utterly shocked.


    -


    When they arrived at the Wubei Merit Market, two tables with a furnace and a cauldron had been set up. Many outer disciples and some inner ones were gathering around them. No one knew what was going on, but there was a banner announcing an epic alchemy duel between Heavenly Swallow and Dragon''s Fire. The inner disciples asked around because they did not really know the factions of the outer yard. Dragon''s Fire was known but Heavenly Swallow seemed completely new to them.


    Among these inner disciples were the customers of Cao Yun. They had never even heard the name ''Chen Guo'' so when the outer disciples told them, they did not react. But the little plump man suddenly had an idea.


    "Brothers, sorry, but this ''Chen Guo'', could he be the friend who was selling Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills these past few days?"


    "Yes, it''s him. I heard that the Dragon''s Fire Faction was waging a price war with him. Apparently they got enough of this and here we are."


    Many people had really enjoyed this war as the prices of the Dragon''s Fire Faction had gone down. As a matter of fact, the reason the other factions did not try to hinder Cao Yun even though he was earning many points was precisely because of that. A faction with a monopoly on pills was always a problem, but they wouldn''t dare cross a faction full of alchemists. And the prices weren''t too crazy, otherwise the inner disciples would just stop buying anything. That was also the reason why Zhuge Si did not even try to get their help, as he knew they had no real incentive to stop this price war.


    When they heard the news, the inner disciples were shocked.


    "Brother, does this mean that if he loses, he won''t sell his pills anymore?! Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills, even Pure ones, are not that precious or rare. But on the other hand, his three True Essence ones are really useful to us, and we probably won''t be able to buy them anywhere else unless we''re really lucky."


    "Calm down. We don''t know for sure that he won''t sell. And if he''s able to make Pure and True Essence pills so easily, he should be a great alchemist, so he may win."


    "But Brother, he''s clearly a 1-star Earth alchemist. His Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills were really good, but that should be because he focused all his time on those. Could he really fare as well with other recipes?"


    "Sister, it doesn''t matter what we think. The competition will happen either way. As we can''t intervene, let''s just enjoy the show. Afterwards, it will still be time to act. If he loses, maybe we will be able to buy them from the Dragon''s Fire Faction, who knows what they bet..."


    Soon, Cao Yun and his group arrived. Cao Yun examined both furnaces and cauldrons to determine that there was nothing wrong. They were the most standard tools, exactly like the ones he had received.


    "Junior Brother Chen, do you maybe suspect me of rigging the competition with faulty alchemy tools?"


    "Of course not, Senior Zhuge. But a good alchemist should always properly inspect his tools, don''t you think?"


    "Indeed, indeed. You sure are a great 1-star Earth alchemist." Zhuge Si was almost puffing his chest out to show off his 1-star Human alchemist emblem. In the Dragon''s Fire faction, there were four Mortal Warriors who had achieved the 1-star Human rank in alchemy. By using pills, alchemists could boost their cultivation, but their fighting prowess stayed very low. Most likely, despite being Mortal Warriors, they could be beaten by late Mortal cultivators. Luckily for them, almost no one dared challenging them to a fight. After all, alchemist was the most respected profession in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    "I was wondering where my opponent is, Senior Zhuge."


    "Oh, do not worry about that. She''s on her way right now. I''m sure that this competition will be very exciting. I look forward to our win."


    "You woke me up for... I mean, you disturbed my work for this competition and your alchemist is not even here yet?" A very sleepy Meng Jia walked through the crowd. He was constantly putting his hands or even entire arms other his eyes to protect them from the sun.


    "Oh, I''m sorry Instructor Meng, she will be here shortly. We prepared a spot for you." Zhuge Si lead Meng Jia toward a chair over which an umbrella was set up.


    "Good, good. You seem to still be respectful of your seniors." He took place and finally was protected from this awful warm and pleasant sunlight. "Chen Guo, you''d better win today. I did not make the trip all this way to watch my only student lose. If not, your training will be hell from now on."


    "I''ll do everything I can, Instructor Meng. Thank you for watching over my duel."


    -


    After long minutes, the contestant from the Dragon''s Fire Faction arrived. She was the dejected Mei Hua. This morning her faction had asked her to partake into a friendly competition with their rival. Zhuge Si knew she and Cao Yun had some kind of relationship through Xiao Xuefeng. But from what he had gathered, they just vaguely knew each other from the entrance examination and Cao Yun played with her sister from time to time.


    As a matter of fact, Xiao Xuefeng had made sure that the news concerning Luduo Bu and Mei Ying would not spread, as she wanted to protect the little girl. Chief Elder Baishen had also ordered the disciples who were in her pavilion the day of the beating to shut up about it. Hence, apart from the people directly involved, no one knew what had gone down.


    Even Zhuge Si, who bragged about being an excellent strategist, had no access to this information. If he had, he would have asked someone else.


    Cao Yun was surprised, but he soon realized that this made sense. The day after her sister''s attack, still with a chaotic mind, she had been able to refine a 87% Frozen Heart pill and she was a 5-star Earth alchemist. Of course she was the best alchemist under Human rank in the Dragon''s Fire Faction. After all, she was even the direct disciple of Xiao Xuefeng.


    "Brother Chen, I''m sorry. I didn''t know that this competition would be against you. I was just asked to partake in it this morning."


    "Sister Mei, do not worry. Competing with you is always a pleasure. Since the first time we refined a pill together, I got better and I hope to showcase my improvement to you today."


    "But, Brother Chen... If my Dragon''s Fire Faction is competing with you, there should be some high stakes..."


    "About that..." As Cao Yun was a little embarrassed to tell her that she was going to compete with him under such a high bet, Zhuge Si took over. He was not stupid and he quickly understood that he had made a mistake. Alas, Meng Jia was already here and he had announced Mei Hua as their contestant already. He couldn''t simply replace her in front of everybody.


    His only course of action was to minimize the consequences of this competition to appease his contestant.


    "So many people have gathered to watch this friendly competition between our Dragon''s Fire Faction and the alchemist from Heavenly Swallow. I hope everyone will be able to enjoy the great alchemy skills of Guest Elder Xiao''s sole and direct disciple." By using Xiao Xuefeng''s name, he was trying to pressure Mei Hua into showing her best so as to not dishonor her master''s name.


    "The conditions are agreed upon by both alchemists. The stakes of this bet are a little agreement between our factions as well as these pills." Zhuge Si showed the Praying Demon Pill to the crowd, and then stretched his hand toward Cao Yun. As per their bet, Cao Yun sent him the three True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills.


    "Instructor Meng will be the referee. Now, both contestants will declare the pill they want their opponent to forge. Our Dragon''s Fire Faction will provide all the ingredients."


    The crowd got quiet in order to hear the name of the pill that would decide this duel.


    "Frozen Heart pill."


    "Frozen Heart pill."


    Both of them had chosen the same pill!

 Chapter 62: A disheartened duel

    Meng Jia reacted a little as he was started to fall asleep. From Xiao Xuefeng, he had learned that both these kids had already competed with each other by refining a Frozen Heart Pill. And here they were again. This could be interesting, his only student against Guest Elder Xiao''s only disciple. To be honest, he had no confidence in his student''s victory but he had been surprised before.


    The crowd got overexcited. Both alchemists had announced the same pill at the same moment.


    "Well, it makes sense. It''s the most difficult pill under Human rank."


    "Yes, I hear that you must use all the Five Golden Elixir Principles to be able to refine it."


    "Well, they won''t really use the Cauldron Maintenance as they both have the standard cauldron and furnace. But apart from that, yes. I tried to refine it once and it turned out 64%, very mediocre. Yet, I had used everything I got."


    "Do you think Chen Guo can even make it?"


    "Well, he''s only a 1-star Earth alchemist, but he was able to make Pure and True Essence pills, so he should be barely able to have a success. On the other hand, Mei Hua is the direct disciple of Xiao Xuefeng, I think she could refine a Pure pill if she were to give it her all."


    "But Chen Guo only made Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. He may just have trained exclusively on these, hence his good results."


    Technically, they weren''t too far off with this remark. But Cao Yun had also trained with the Cold Blood Clotting Pill, and he had already refined the Frozen Heart Pill. But at that time, he had used Xiao Xuefeng''s refinement as a model.


    -


    Zhuge Si was also a bit surprised but this was within his expectations. This pill was indeed the hardest to refine.


    "Fine, it''s a little unexpected but it seems that both of our contestants will be competing on the Frozen Heart Pill. At least, as the difficulty is the same, no one could claim a disadvantage."


    The fact that a 5-star Earth alchemist competed with a 1-star one was already a huge disadvantage, but Zhuge Si omitted this detail.


    "My Dragon''s Fire Faction will now bring the ingredients. We won''t even have to wait as we had already prepared enough for at least two Frozen Heart Pills."


    Zhuge Si went to give some orders to the faction members in charge of the ingredients. After several minutes, he came back in front of the crowd while Cao Yun and Mei Hua were staring at each other with complicated gazes.


    "Each contestant can now look at the ingredients and determine whether or not everything is there."


    While he was speaking, two faction members brought the ingredients toward both contestants. Mei Hua quickly looked at them, but since it had been prepared by our own faction, she wasn''t too vigilant and found no flaw whatsoever. On the other side, Cao Yun took a lot of time to look at every single ingredient.


    "What is he doing? How long do we have to wait?"


    "Shut up! His opponents have prepared the ingredients, of course he needs to be careful. If you had a duel with someone and they gave you their sword, wouldn''t you be suspicious of it?"


    "Well, he just had to buy the ingredients himself then!" The disciple who got reprimanded tried to save some face.


    "Don''t you know that the Dragon''s Fire Faction made sure that he could not buy anything within the market? And he''s a first-year so he can''t even go outside to get the ingredients himself. Think before you speak, and learn to be patient." The reprimanded disciple decided that he should be quiet when his senior was with him and waited with a bit more patience.


    Under the umbrella, the sleeping Meng Jia still had exceptional ears. When he heard this conversation, a sudden realization struck him. He had asked his student to train on some recipes, but he never actually asked whether he had the ingredients or not. This whole ordeal was maybe his fault. What if Cao Yun was fighting against such odds just because he couldn''t buy the ingredients?


    Meng Jia wasn''t exactly right. However, he began to feel somewhat guilty. Cao Yun was his first and sole student, and yet he had not taken good care of him. After this competition, he would have to rectify this.


    -


    Finally Cao Yun spoke. "I''m satisfied with these ingredients."


    "Good!" Zhuge Si went back to the crowd. "Friends, sorry for the delay. Our contestants took a lot of time to look at the ingredients. But now the competition can..."


    "Wait!" Mei Hua interrupted her senior. "Brother Chen. What about exchanging our ingredients? You must feel uneasy competing with someone else''s ingredients after all. I can swear that mine are of great quality."


    "Junior Sister?!" Zhuge Si was outraged. With Meng Ji overviewing the competition, he had not dared to mess with the ingredients. However, he had made sure that Cao Yun''s were of far lesser quality and far harder to prepare.


    "Senior Zhuge, I think that this gesture of good-will can prove to everyone here the fairness of our faction. Unless there''s a problem with Chen Guo''s ingredients, why couldn''t we exchange?"


    "You..." Zhuge Si had known right away he had made a mistake when he saw Mei Hua''s face, but it was too late by that point. "You''re perfectly right, Junior Sister." He went back to the crowd while the faction members who had brought the ingredients exchanged them.


    "Our Mei Hua is very fair. To appease the mind of her opponent, she asked to exchange their ingredients. Now we can officially start our competition! The two contestants can begin!"


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    Cao Yun was moved by Mei Hua''s gesture. It was obvious that his ingredients were very bad compared to hers. There were even some blood residues particularly difficult to remove on the Embalming Lotus Leaves. And they probably stayed under the sun a little bit too long. They were still usable but their quality would drop significantly. Sadly, even though his was the referee, Meng Jia couldn''t have said anything as the ingredients were still good to use. If Cao Yun had asked him, he could have produced the perfect ingredients in a few minutes. But Cao Yun thought that he was already bothering him by keeping the pills he made during training, so he did not even think about asking.


    -


    The first of the Five Golden Elixir Principles was Cauldron Maintenance. Since they both had the exact same cauldron and furnace and that they appeared perfectly new, there was nothing to do on that front.


    The second one was Ingredients Preservation, the art of preserving as much of the medicinal essence from the ingredients as possible during their preparation. They both looked like cook, mincing, crushing, kneading, washing and so on.


    It took at least half an hour as they were both very careful. Mei Hua had the hardest time. The ingredients were even in a worse state that she had imagined. If Cao Yun had worked with these, he would have taken at least one hour or maybe two, and the result would have been lower no matter how careful or talented he was.


    Apart from the alchemists and a few craftsmen, the disciples got visibly bored by this long and tedious process. They all knew it was a vital step so they did not complain but their minds went elsewhere many times.


    "Look! Chen Guo is igniting his flame!"


    "He finished first?! Has he rushed?!"


    "No, he was very thorough. It''s just that his ingredients were of better quality and easier to prepare."


    "So the Dragon''s Fire Faction really tried to be unfair."


    "Of course, they did. I don''t know the real stakes but no matter what they are, the Dragon''s Fire Faction would never want to lose in alchemy."


    "The real stakes?! But they said it was about pills, no?"


    "You''re too naive! Zhuge Si also said this was about a ''little'' agreement between their factions. Do you think it''s as simple as that?"


    The young disciple finally seemed to understand something. "Is it about Chen Guo not being able to sell his pills anymore?"


    When they heard this, the inner disciples from earlier began to panic, but the little plump man calmed them down. "Remember, if he loses, the three True Essence pills will go to the Dragon''s Fire Faction, so we''ll be able to buy them."


    "But Chen Guo promised to sell to us, will the Dragon''s Fire Faction honor this promise?"


    "... that..." They could indeed sell it to anyone, not necessarily them.


    "Look, Mei Hua is igniting her flame!"


    "Finally!"


    For mere cultivators, watching a refinement process was more fun than just the preparation. Even though they couldn''t see what was going on in the cauldrons, they could see the flame change and almost dance as the alchemists worked on it. This was always a beautiful show, and the tension in each alchemist''s face was also very exciting.


    -


    Mei Hua had overheard all the conversations and she was starting to really doubt the stakes of this competition. She also remembered what Cao Yun had told her earlier. Her faction had hurt one of his fellow faction members. She had no idea what was really going on between her faction and her friend, but it disturbed her. Her mind was even more chaotic than the time her little sister got hurt. Because this time, it was the very refinement process she was working on that was the problem in her mind. So how could she properly focus on it?


    The third principle, Flame Control, was the last one that was visible to mere cultivators. To perceive the last two, they just needed to wait for the result as they could not see what was going on in the cauldrons.


    Both alchemists were handling their flame expertly. Mei Hua was a matter of course. On the other hand, Cao Yun''s mastery surprised even Zhuge Si, it was no wonder he had been able to produce such top quality pills.


    Cao Yun was using his personal technique ''Shen Visualization''. He had refined this pill before so he already had some intuitions about it. By circulating his Yi and Zhi harmonized by his Shen, the cauldron appeared in his sea of consciousness. It was transparent and he could see all the ingredients by using his smell and his hearing. Compared to what he had imagined, there were some discrepancies but nothing too unexpected.


    However he realized that even by ''seeing'' the inside of the cauldron, this pill was still very hard to refine. The Yang of his fire was clashing with many ingredients and he had to control it with utmost care. While he was already using his mind cultivation to use his technique, he also had to use it to focus on the flame and deduce the right way to alter it at almost every instant.


    Meng Jia seemed as though he was sleeping. But in truth, he was fully immersed in this battle. Just by using his smell and his hearing, he was able to know what was happening. He had not the same technique as Cao Yun, but he could vaguely picture what was occurring in his mind.


    All of a sudden, he opened both his eyes before closing them. No one had noticed. In this moment, he had received a telepathic message.


    "Your student is even better than I initially thought. Too bad alchemy is not his main objective or I would have stolen him from you."


    This was the voice of Xiao Xuefeng. As Meng Jia could not talk telepathically, he could not answer but he had to admit that this student had surprised him more than once. At first, he accepted to teach him because he owed Xiao Xuefeng. Gradually, he got to really enjoy this little student and his fast progress. What a pity that he still didn''t consider alchemy his main occupation...


    Xiao Xuefeng had been warned of this duel earlier today when Mei Hua asked her to cancel her training. Since the beginning of the year, she had trained every single day with her. Right now, she only needed to advance to Mortal Warrior to be able to make a Pure 1-star Human pill. She was at the pinnacle of 5-star Earth alchemy. Sadly Xiao Xuefeng could see the doubt in her mind. Usually she enjoyed alchemy but this refinement seemed to be painful for her.


    As a guest elder, Xiao Xuefeng was really busy, so she had no idea about what had transpired in the Wubei Merit Market, but she could vaguely guess the stakes of the duel from the conversations she overheard. For at least an hour she had been floating above the clouds, invisible to the eyes of the disciples down below.


    With her spiritual senses, she also felt the wound of Zhao Fei who was wearing the same uniform as Cao Yun. It didn''t take long for her to understand. Cao Yun seemed to be pretty smart, he had no reason to accept an alchemy competition with the biggest alchemy faction while he was still learning. Most likely, he had been coerced into doing it.


    Even though Cao Yun was not her disciple, she found him very interesting and wanted to see him progress. Always protecting him would not be the right course of action, but if some disciples were to break the rules in order to get to him, she should still intervene.


    With her spiritual senses, Xiao Xuefeng could literally see what was going on in the cauldrons. The more Cao Yun refined, the more astounded she became. He seemed to adapt to what was actually happening in the cauldron. It was as though he was also using a low level of spiritual senses. First he had shocked her by being able to lie in her presence and today he looked like he had some kind of spiritual senses. Xiao Xuefeng was really wondering what kind of mind cultivation he was using.


    -


    The refinement process was finally over. Both contestants finished at almost the same time. Despite his small lead during the preparation of the ingredients, Cao Yun had taken a bit longer during the refinement process.


    As soon as the lids of the cauldron opened, both pills flew into Meng Jia''s hands. He examined them for a long time and so did Xiao Xuefeng.


    The crowd was hanging on his lips, dying to know the result of the duel. Even Zhuge Si was a little worried. Being a 1-star Human alchemist he could see that both pills were of good quality, but they were too far to judge them properly.

 Chapter 63: Truce between Fire and Swallow

    "Everyone seems to be impatient, so I won''t delay the results. Mei Hua''s pill retained 85% of the medicinal essence."


    All the people present, including Zhuge Si and Cao Yun were surprised. It was a good result in theory, but for Mei Hua, it was terrible. Even after her sister''s wounds, she had been able to create a 87% Frozen Heart pill. Cao Yun realized to what extent she had been distressed by this duel. After that, he really needed to tell her everything in detail.


    Zhuge Si had known from the start that it was going to be a problem. If only he knew beforehand that they had a close relationship, he would have chosen someone else. By trying to ensure the victory, he had endangered it. Nevertheless, Cao Yun''s result could still be lower, nothing was lost.


    "Chen Guo''s pill retained 86% of the medicinal essence."


    There was a long silence, followed by powerful cheers. Cao Yun was the black horse in the competition. And these last few days, he had forced the Dragon''s Fire Faction to lower their price. So even though their respective faction leaders had asked them to make things mildly difficult for him and despite the good reputation of Mei Hua, many people were rooting for him.


    Zhuge Si could not accept this ruling. "Instructor Meng, the gap is so small between the two, are you sure about theses results?"


    Everyone froze. Zhuge Si was implicitly accusing an instructor of cheating.


    "What are you getting at, Junior?! Do you think my senses are bad?!"


    "No, Instructor, I wouldn''t dare. But you seem really tired, so maybe you misjudged by a very small margin."


    Meng Jia finally opened his eyes in full and stood up with much energy. Everyone around him felt as if they were only ants in a gigantic jungle and a huge tree just shook above them. Zhuge Si almost fell to his knees. Meng Jia was a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior, ready to cross over to Spirit Warrior anytime soon. His mere presence was enough to intimidate even the inner disciples here.


    "If you doubt me, would you also doubt Guest Elder Xiao, Miss Mei''s own master?"


    "Instructor, I''m sorry if my words have offended you. But I don''t think it would be proper to waste Guest Elder Xiao''s time for such a matter..."


    Before Zhuge Si could finish his sentence, a beautiful voice alleviated the pressure from Meng Jia. All the disciples affected were feeling refreshed and protected from this violent jungle. Zhuge Si was the only one in turmoil. As he looked up, he saw Xiao Xuefeng descending from the sky.


    "Is a junior like you allowed to choose what''s a waste of my time?"


    "No, Guest Elder Xiao. I misspoke!" Zhue Si literally fell to his knees and kowtowed to her.


    All the disciples cupped their fists and bowed. "This junior pays his respect to Guest Elder Xiao." Not only was she a guest elder, she was one of the best alchemists in the entire Hongchen Kingdom.


    "You doubted my junior''s eyes, but do you dare doubt mine?!"


    "No, Guest Elder Xiao, never!"


    The two pills flew into her hands. "My disciple is indeed extraordinary, but today some bad news plagued her mind and she only achieved such a mediocre level of 85%. On the other hand, Chen Guo is only a novice and yet he was able to achieve 86% for this difficult pill. This is Chen Guo''s win!"


    Now that Xiao Xuefeng had spoken, no one would even dare to doubt it.


    "Master, I''m sorry, this disciple has been unfilial." Mei Hua had thrown away the face of her master by failing today, but she couldn''t bring herself to compete with Cao Yun.


    As she was crumbling before her master, she heard both her voice and her telepathic message at the same time.


    "Mei Hua, it''s not a shame to lose your focus from time to time. You''re still young and inexperienced. No alchemist under the Human rank can best your alchemy. You just need to focus a little more on your mind and this Frozen Heart pill will be perfect for that."


    But in her mind, what she heard was different. "I know that you suspected something nefarious against your friend. Stay assured that as long as I''m within this sect, I won''t let anything bad happen to you and those you are close with. I don''t think you shamed me today. The Dragon''s Fire Faction shamed me, not you."


    Mei Hua controlled herself because she was almost crying in front of the crowd. "Thank you, Master."


    Xiao Xuefeng then walked toward Cao Yun.


    "Chen Guo, congratulations! I see that I wasn''t wrong in appointing Meng Jia to guide you. I''m really looking forward to seeing you progress even more. It''s really such a shame that you don''t focus entirely on alchemy. But every cultivator must follow their own heart."


    She chose her words carefully to make everyone here know that she had personally guided him toward Meng Jia. With this relationship, few people would dare try underhanded tactics against him. While she did so, she sent another telepathic message.


    Zhuge Si was still kneeling on the ground. All of a sudden, he felt as if he was suffocating and he heard a sweet yet cruel voice. "If you hurt anyone from the Heavenly Swallow Faction ever again, the disciplinary pavilion won''t even have time to get to you. And do not think that the absence of proof would stop me."


    The Mortal Warrior was shaken to his core. He had not realized that Xiao Xuefeng cared for this boy as much as she did. He was lucky to be spared. A Spirit Warrior such as her could easily destroy him without leaving any trace. And even if she did, she was a proud genius of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, no one would dare offend her for some junior alchemist.


    Zhuge Si who thought himself very smart got completely defeated. Unable to stand back up, the poor alchemist contemplated the ground. His only thoughts now were on how to coexist with his past enemies. But as low as he thought he was, even more bad news were coming his way.


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    "Zhuge Si. I won the competition, so remember your bet!"


    He remembered! He had to publicly announce that they were now doing business with the Heavenly Swallow Faction. And anyone who would refuse to sell them anything would be shunned from any business with the Dragon''s Fire Faction. Then, he had to put that on paper and have it ratified by the disciplinary pavilion.


    He found enough strength to stand up and speak in front of the crowd. "My Dragon''s Fire Faction admits its defeat. As per our agreement, this Praying Demon Pill is yours." He handed a small box over to Cao Yun and kept on talking. "And with everyone here as our witness, my faction officially declares that Heavenly Swallow is now an official business partner. If someone tries to disrespect this fine Wubei Merit Market by refusing to serve anyone from the Heavenly Swallow, it will be akin to slapping the Dragon''s Fire Faction in the face!"


    Now that he had lost, and with Xiao Xuefeng as deterrent, he only had one path. It was essential to turn an enemy into an ally. Cao Yun would keep on getting stronger and stronger, they had to have him by their side, even if he wasn''t directly in their faction.


    All this mess had started because they wanted to drive Cao Yun into a corner in order to coerce him into joining their faction. Now he had a deep grudge with them and the upper hand. However, even during the bet, he had given them an olive''s branch as he had asked for a partnership. Cao Yun was not ready for an all-out war between them and Zhuge Si had understood his intentions.


    "Junior Brother Chen, you really are a dragon among men. Our Dragon''s Fire Faction is sincerely sad not to have you among us."


    In the meantime, Mei Hua had asked the other members of the Heavenly Swallow what had lead to this duel. Learning what her own faction had done, she was enraged. Since the first day, she had joined this faction because it was focused on alchemy. But being the direct disciple of Xiao Xuefeng made this faction pretty useless to her. As a matter of fact, she gave them more benefits than she could receive.


    "Senior Zhuge. This junior has dishonored the good name of the Dragon''s Fire Faction. I no longer have the face to come back to the faction residence. Please, allow me to resign." Trying to sugarcoat her disgust of his actions, Mei Hua announced her decision loud enough so that everyone here could hear.


    After losing all possibilities of having Cao Yun join them, they were now losing the best alchemist under the Mortal Warrior realm. Zhuge Si had brought many benefits to the faction over the years, but a bad judgment was really too costly.


    "Sister Mei, please, think about it. As you did not dishonor your master, you did not dishonor our faction. Faction Leader Wen will not find you responsible of any fault. Moreover, remember. You need 400 points to leave our faction, this is not a small sum."


    Mei Hua had used all her time to train under Xiao Xuefeng, thus she had won no point at all.


    "Oh? 400 points?" Hearing Cao Yun''s voice, Zhuge Si was expecting the worst. Was he going to gift all his points to her? No, as a fighter, he really needed these points to have access to all kinds of formations. "I happen to have an unfinished business right now."


    Cao Yun turned toward the inner disciples who were his customers. "Dear customers, I did not forget about our agreement. Here are the three True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills I promised to you."


    "Thank you, friend. I knew that you would not forget us. My friend is surely someone who keeps his word."


    "But, I also have some news for you, dear customers. It seems that I was really lucky. As I was making a new batch of ten pills, half of them turned out to be True Essence."


    "What?! Five more True Essence pills?" Everyone was shocked. Even Xiao Xuefeng was wondering how lucky this little guy was. Then she remembered that he was refining as though he could see the inside of his cauldron. Was it possible that he had spiritual senses as a Mortal? No, she focused all her senses on him and she felt nothing. Then, it meant that his mind was strong and focused enough that he was able to mimic such senses.


    "If you were so nice as to buy them from me, I''m ready to sell all of them to you exclusively."


    "Thank you, friend, thank you. Of course we buy!"


    As he received all the papers, he had now 400 points in contract, for eight True Essence pills. Putting them in order, he walked to Zhuge Si and handed them to him.


    "I think this will be enough."


    "Brother Chen, I can''t accept that you pay for me."


    "Sister Mei, do not be like me and learn to accept a gift." She seemed to have the same bad habit of instinctively refusing any gift before accepting it in the end.


    Zhuge Si was cornered. "Brother Chen, no need for such vulgarity. Miss Mei is not an object that can be bought. If she wants to leave our faction, this is our loss. Miss Mei is free to do so if she pleases. I was just trying to get her to reconsider as she is such a great alchemist." Fighting a lost battle was stupid, Zhuge Si could use this loss as an opportunity to show his good will. "Brother Chen, you earned these points through your talent, it''s normal for you to keep it."


    "Oh?! Then I will thank Senior Zhuge. Please tell Senior Wen that our Heavenly Swallow Faction will send someone to negotiate the fine prints of our contract later in the evening."


    "Of course, Brother Chen, we''ll gladly listen to your proposals."


    Zhuge Si gladly took his leave. He was too embarrassed to stay here and too afraid to be in the presence of Xiao Xuefeng.


    Meng Jia, who had been more active during a few seconds than for the entire decade, fell back in his usual position. "I got a bit too excited. I''ll go back to sl... to work. I''ll go back to work."


    Finally, the crowd dispersed as Xiao Xuefeng flew away.


    -


    "Faction Leader, I know this will not compensate the danger I brought to your Heavenly Swallow, but please take theses 400 points for the faction."


    "How many points do you have right now?"


    "621."


    "Then we''ll do things this way. Keep enough to get to 800 points, our sect will take the rest. Since you established such a good deal with the Dragon''s Fire Faction, we''ll be able to sell our ingredients in the Wubei Merit Market. And I''m sure, you''ll also give us a lot of benefits by selling pills, right?"


    "Faction Leader, even though alchemy is not my main occupation, I will make some pills for the good of our faction."


    "And I will too!"


    "Sister Mei?"


    "I have no more faction now. So I would like to join yours. Will Senior Zhi accept someone who so easily left her own faction?"


    "Junior Sister, what are you talking about? It will be our honor to have such a distinguished alchemist among us. I only fear that our Heavenly Swallow Faction is too small for a phoenix like you."


    On the side, Zhao Fei, Zhao Lin and Ling Hui were all speechless. Since the intervention of Meng Jia and then Xiao Xuefeng, they thought they were in a dream. Even Ling Hui who was so vocal against Cao Yun, looked at him as though he was from another world, in a good way now.


    "Faction Leader, I also happen to have some Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. To redeem myself, I will gift them all to the faction. I hope Faction Leader can use them well."


    This time he was not stingy with his pills and gave all eleven pills he had left.


    This business was very lucrative. In a month, he had gone from 283 points to 800 points. Now he could go to the Howling Crane Gorges two hours a month, which meant he could go back once more before the end of the month.


    He also got the Praying Demon Pill and had greatly improved his alchemy. So as to keep the price of his pills high, he would make only one batch by week. He could probably have between 5 to 10 True Essence pills each time. In a month, that would earn their faction an average of about 1100 points after subtracting the commission of the Dragon''s Fire Faction who would sell them. Neither Cao Yun nor Mei Hua had any time to lose being merchants, neither any of the other members.


    What Cao Yun did not consider was the cost of the ingredients. The Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill was the cheapest pill to make, and thus produced great profits. But some pills like the Frozen Heart pill were way more costly. Even the richest faction in the sect was always balancing income and expenditures. To gain money in this business, you really needed to spend a lot.

 Chapter 64: First month in the Wubei Sect

    Cao Yun wanted to buy some ingredients but reducing his points just before the end of the month would hurt his alloted resources. So he waited for a few days.


    Now that the conflict was over, he let Zhi Yin handle the negotiations. Wen Zhu even lowered their commission to 25% to compensate the harm done. Zhi Yin seemed pretty plain as she never showed any emotion. It was very hard to know what she was thinking. Even Ling Hui who idolized her could not figure it out. But she had a lot of ambitions. And thanks to Cao Yun, she now had gained a lot.


    After his interview with her, Wen Zhu was devastated. He would need some time to repair the damage. The reputation of the Dragon''s Fire Faction was pretty low right now, and they had lost the most promising alchemist in the kingdom. On the other hand, they had gained a stable relationship with her and Cao Yun through this contract. Wen Zhu completely discarded the idea of recruiting Cao Yun. As long as they worked together, it wasn''t so bad. Cao Yun had no desire to make alchemy his main occupation so he was no threat to their business as he even used them to sell his pills.


    On the other hand, the two main factions who mostly focused on fighting did not like the new situation.


    Chan Weifeng from the Red Cliff Faction was slowly worried. He was the faction leader of the greatest faction and yet he was worried by a first-year. He remembered how his faction had offended him over and over again because of some arrogant idiots. Deep down, he still hoped to gain Cao Yun to his faction, but it seemed to become more and more difficult. Now that his faction had strong ties with the Dragon''s Fire Faction, he would be stupid to leave like that. Right now, he was certainly the most important member of the Heavenly Swallow Faction so he would get a better treatment there than with them.


    Chan Weifeng did not want trouble with Cao Yun as he felt it was really unwise, either inside or later outside the sect. But on the other hand, if his sect grew too big too fast, he would also have a problem. What a conundrum!


    -


    Cao Yun was using his last day before the final training with Chief Instructor Peng to advance the cultivation he could not before.


    He began by his Qi cultivation. His mind had worked so hard the last few days that controlling the flow of Qi was now as easy as breathing. In a matter of twenty minutes, he opened his sixth meridian, the Spleen Meridian. After this first month, he was halfway through in his 5th-grade Mortal stage. If he could keep up with this speed, in two more months, he would break through into the 6th-grade Mortal stage.


    He was wondering whether or not he should use pills. They could speed up the process but he was already pretty fast and the toxins worried him a little. If he could better grasp the toxins minimization principle, that would be better. For now, he would wait. If his cultivation began to slow down, it could be a solution.


    Finally he could use the pill he had gone to such lengths to get, the Praying Demon Pill. It was a 1-star Human rank pill, very beneficial to the mind with a Fire element to it. This should prove really beneficial for his mind cultivation which was getting a bit too slow. Cao Yun had seen how useful it could be, so he wanted it to advance as soon as possible.


    And even if the threat of the Drop of Wrath had not appeared in a long time, he still saw it every time he got into his sea of consciousness. Every day, he was reminded that this time bomb was in him.


    Cao Yun was ready for a very strong effect. This pill was 1-star Human rank, it was a totally different thing compared to the Frozen Heart pill. As soon as he took it in hand, he felt his mind getting heated. Even the Drop of Wrath seemed to react a little. Preparing his mind, he circulated his Yi, Zhi and Shen at their utmost and gulped down the pill.


    He felt a fire rising in his stomach. It flowed down toward his belly and went all the way down to his coccyx. Afterwards, this fiery energy went back up through his spine. Even the skin of his back was hot. If he had taken off his clothes, his skin would have been red. Finally, the energy shot up in his head.


    Waves erupted in his sea of consciousness as his mind was getting excited. This pill could boost one''s mind but it was very potent and with a lack control, it could even prove harmful. Of course, Cao Yun had a great control over his mind. He easily calmed down and condensed the medicinal essence into a fiery ball. It almost looked like there was a sun in his sea of consciousness.


    The Drop of Wrath was reacting to the medicinal essence and tried to move closer to this fake sun. Fortunately, Cao Yun used his three characters of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' to trap it. After a first unsuccessful attempt, the Drop of Wrath calmed back down.


    Focusing his mind, Cao Yun began to draw the Shen character with the medicinal effect of the pill infused in it. The character that appeared in his mind was not only red, but it was literally written in flames. In only one night, he broke through his bottleneck. He went all the way toward True Success, 64 repetitions. Along the next month, the medicinal energy would get thinner and thinner but he should be able to go all the way to Perfection.


    When he stopped cultivating, the Shen character in his sea of consciousness seemed to be surrounded by an extreme heat. The Drop of Wrath tried to put some distance between itself and the character. On the other hand, Yi and Zhi seemed to be even more attracted to it. These three characters were like planets orbiting around the Drop of Wrath, prisoner between them.


    -


    The next day was the group training with Chief Instructor Peng.


    The day after, Cao Yun went back to the alchemy pavilion to thank his instructor.


    "Chen Guo, you did not tell me that getting ingredients was difficult for you!"


    "Instructor, I did not want to cause you any trouble. You already give me all the pills we make, that''s already very generous of you."


    "What are you talking about?! You''re my only student, and I don''t even use my quota of ingredients since I sleep all... I mean, my work does not require any more ingredient, so I never use my quota of ingredients. Take these." He pointed toward a table on which there were many ingredients for the Cold Blood Clotting Pill and the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill.


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    "But I have a question for you. Do you have spiritual senses?"


    "No, Instructor. I''m only a Mortal!" Cao Yun got surprised by the question.


    "But you see what''s going on in your cauldron, right?"


    He finally understood. "No, Instructor. But I can picture it in my head. Thanks to your lesson, I learned how to use my other senses to deduct what was happening and imagine it."


    Meng Jia opened his eyes an instant. "That''s impressive! But to do so, you must be able to enter your sea of consciousness, right?"


    "Indeed. I had a terrible experience one day and I found myself in my sea of consciousness. Since that day, I know how to get in."


    "I see. You probably shouldn''t tell it publicly. This is a fantastic advantage, but some demonic cultivators could get the idea of capturing you to decipher how you did it. Be very careful!"


    Cao Yun already knew that, that''s why he hid his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. But he had to explain himself to his instructor or that would hinder their relationship.


    Finally, Cao Yun worked on the Cold Blood Clotting Pill all morning, trying to reduce the toxins while keeping the medicinal essence. It was really harder than he thought. But with his new mind cultivation, his ''Shen Visualization'' was even stronger. He could almost see all the particles of medicinal essence and toxins. These were just his deductions but as he kept testing them, they became sharper and sharper.


    Eventually, he would be able to have a perfect image of what was happening in the cauldron.


    Back home, he continued to cultivate his Qi, his mind, and he gave a little time to his martial arts. Finally, he refined a new batch of Low-Level Qi Gathering Pills. All the batch was True Essence except two pills that were Pure. With two or three more refinements, he was sure that he would only ever get True Essence pills. Sadly, people could get suspicious of him. A streak of luck was something but if he kept selling pills that only a Spirit Warrior could make consistently, he would be very suspicious.


    He then decided to make some Pure pills. Then he could sell some True Essence from time to time and only sell Pure pills the rest of the time. Moreover, he decided to keep some True Essence pills to gift them to his friends. He didn''t know if they would want to use them or not, but having the option was always a good thing.


    He also trained a little on toxins minimization both on the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill and on the Cold Blood Clotting Pill.


    Tomorrow was the last day of the first month. He would get his resources the day after. But before that, he would go to the Howling Crane Gorges one last time as his points now allowed two visits a month. And he was excited to be able to test again his martial arts. For these past few days, he had been too focused on alchemy.


    -


    Cao Yun was really itching to test his martial arts again. These past few ways had been focused on alchemy. As interesting as it was, he loved martial arts more. The last time he was in the Howling Crane Gorges, he did not even go all the way to the second li. The gorges were meandering in the mountains along a winding path of 8 li. Each time you crossed a li, you came into a new stage of the formation and the gale doubled in intensity. This time, he wanted to train in the second li.


    For that purpose, he rushed through the first li in less than ten minutes. During this time, he used various moves of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' to warm up. When he got just before the second level of the formation, he stopped for at least twenty minutes and trained his ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' and his new technique, ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. Since the last time he was here, he had not used this technique once.


    Instead, he had used his mind to test it over and over again. And he was gladly surprised to see that his ''Shen Visualization'' also seemed to work on his martial arts. By just training in his mind, he had improved quite a lot. He still needed to train his real muscles of course, but he got a better grasp of the technique''s concept. Before half the hour had passed, he was able to perform five strikes in a row, including the final one with the spear.


    This technique was very taxing on the body and mind. Not only did you need to control your muscles and harmonize them with your spear and your Qi, but you also needed to stop a rapid movement just an instant before starting again as fast as possible.


    When he got satisfied, Cao Yun finally entered the second stage. He immediately got surprised by the intensity of the gale. Although he knew it would be double compared to the first stage, it was still a shock. If he hadn''t been well rooted in the ground, he probably would have been sent backwards. He took at least five minutes just to be able to move his upper body.


    This time, he wanted to train the second star. According to the manual, this star was related to stances. Working in an environment where his stability was constantly challenged seemed like a good idea to train it. He focused on performing his stances. Every little unbalance was immediately punished by the intensity of the wind. Gradually, his stances which he imagined very stable revealed many weaknesses. Thankfully, he could use this wind to help him detect these weaknesses and adjust his stances.


    When the time was up, Cao Yun was able to perfectly move his legs even in the second stage of the Howling Crane Gorges.


    -


    The final night of the first month had come. Cao Yun did not change his routine at all, but just put his focus on different things. Instead of doing a lot of alchemy, he cultivated his Qi, his mind and then used his time for his martial arts.


    This evening had taught him that ''Shen Visualization'' was as efficient on martial arts as it was on pill refinement.


    He tried to picture himself and his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. It was pretty strange because he could see himself in his sea of consciousness, as if he had gotten in with his body. And his body moved around as though a puppet whose strings were pulled by his mind. Using this method, he trained his martial arts in the void. From his point of view, he was able to discover many faults in all his moves.


    This method was a little bit dangerous as he could easily be mislead if he did not try his understandings in actual battles. So Cao Yun only focused on refining the moves he had already tested out. The improvement was small but it was still there.


    As he performed his moves, the Horn Star was reacting. While this image of himself was performing ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'', the Horn Star shone more brightly and revolved faster. The moves had first been invented by a master observing the stars forming the body of a dragon. Then, Cao Yun had learned them again by observing the star formed in his sea of consciousness. The more his moves were aligned with the original star, the more the Horn Star reacted. This way he was able to sharpen his understanding a bit more.


    At the same time, he circulated the Qi in his body according to the technique. He could train to increase the time it took him to send the Qi through the right pathways. Also, the more Qi he could mobilize, the stronger his technique. To perform the ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' he needed to be able to stop the flow of his Qi quickly and then restart it as fast as possible.


    As he trained his stances later, he had the feeling the other star would soon appear. He could vaguely see its shape in the sky but it was still very vague with no light at all. His stances were even more easily trained as he could perform them simultaneously in his mind and in real life without much fear of going the wrong way.


    With enough training, he could form this second star this month, he was sure of this.


    Finally, tonight, the first month in the Wubei Sect was officially over. Tomorrow, the second month would begin.

 Chapter 65: A blacksmith in need

    The next morning, Elder Tang was back. Just like the last time he came to the first-years, he was waiting near the huge bodhi tree in the courtyard. Some servants rang a bell and his voice echoed throughout the compound.


    "Line up in the courtyard!"


    As the disciples left their rooms, Cao Yun saw some familiar figures, Ren Chao and Sun Liao. These last few days he almost never saw them. He should talk with them after Elder Tang''s speech.


    "Fine. Everyone is here, so I will be as brief as possible. Your first month in our Wubei Sect is over. This is the last time I will come to bother you before the end of the year. I''m here to remind you of two things.


    The first one is the allocation of resources. The first day of every month, you will receive resources based on your merit points. They will be delivered to you directly in your rooms by servants. The resources are based solely on the number of merit points you have the day you receive your resources. So be mindful of how you handle your points as I know some of you have already begun to use the Wubei Merit Market.


    The sect will not interfere even if you give out all your points. These are yours, so tread carefully. Also remember that you gain merit points according to your ranking in the different scrolls. These are given in different ways depending on the scroll. For example the fighting scroll will give 100 points to the first fighter, 50 points to the top 10, 20 points to the top 100, 10 to the top 200, 5 to the top 300 and finally 1 to the rest. So, congratulations, you all earn 1 point.


    Ranking scrolls such as the alchemy scroll give way more points because alchemy is more rare and coveted.


    Then, my second reminder. This month will be the first one during which you''ll be able to issue challenges. I already gave you the pamphlets with the rules, but let''s review them, in case some of you did not read them properly.


    Just before the end of every other month, you will be able to fight against other disciples to try and gain some ranks on the fighting scroll. It''s pretty straightforward, you obtain the rank of the person you beat, and that person loses one rank. You can only challenge someone who is higher than you, never lower. And you must issue your duel at least two weeks prior. Indeed, some disciples will often leave the sect, so you need to give them enough time to come back. You may not challenge 3rd-years either, for the simple reason that they''re not within the sect.


    It sometimes happen that the person can''t come back in time. In which case, the duel will happen at a later date and you''ll be able to challenge someone else instead. You can only challenge one person, but several people can challenge you. If you get issued several challengers, they will always begin with the strongest challenger. If the fight is lost, the other challenges are canceled. If the fight is won, there is a time of rest before the next one. There are also special rules about that, but considering you''re only first-years, these shouldn''t be too important and you''ll be responsible to look them up.


    You also earn merit points each time your ranking gets higher, similarly to the points you earn for your ranking itself. To issue your challenge, you must register to the martial art pavilion in time.


    Now, the servants will give you your monthly resources. I will not come back until the end of the year. You should know all the important rules. So I hope you can all train hard and make great progress until the time I see you again."


    While the servants were giving out the resources, Elder Tang left without waiting. A small servant came toward Cao Yun.


    "Young Master Chen, here are your nine small spirit stones."


    "Thank you." By computing quickly in his head, considering his ranking in the fighting scroll and the alchemy scroll, he should have have 841 points now. Thus, Cao Yun had now a lot of resources compared to the first month. These stones would be more than enough to cultivate the whole month. Maybe he could even gift one to Huang Cixi as payment for her work. She seemed to be very close to a breakthrough, maybe three or four months. That could be very helpful to her.


    "Brother Chen!" As he was thinking, a tall and burly man came to him with a very loud voice.


    "Brother Ren. It''s been a long time since we''ve spoken."


    "Yes. I heard that you were shaking the foundation of the factions. Even my small Lake Turtle Faction is a bit scared of you."


    "Well, Brother. I have no bad intention. I just needed a pill and the Dragon''s Fire Faction made things difficult for me. I would rather be low-key and cultivate with calm and peace of mind."


    "Sadly, I happen to have the same problem within my faction. Blacksmithing requires a lot of materials, just to train. Luckily I can make do with scraps and things like that, but when I will want to make a real weapon, things are gonna get tough."


    "Brother, if you want to forge a weapon, I can buy you the materials in exchange for the weapon. I''d be curious to see your craft."


    Ren Chao paused a bit and burst into laughter. "My craft is not worthy of being wielded by you yet. To speak the truth, I''m in some kind of a slump right now. I don''t seem to make much progress..."


    As they were speaking in the open, Sun Liao joined their conversation.


    "What''s difficult about blacksmithing? You just hit hard with a hammer."


    Just by hearing his voice, Ren Chao''s nostrils flared. "You! And what''s so difficult about array formations?! You just put flags and you scribble some drawings on the ground!"


    Letting out a small "humph" Sun Liao kept his arrogant posture. "A hammer-head like you could never understand the subtleties of array formations. They''re way more elegant and intricate than your trinkets."


    Cao Yun was helpless as the two young men were getting on each other''s nerves.


    In the distance, even Elder Tang could hear the voice of Ren Chao and shook his head helplessly.


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    The back and forth between the two was speeding up when Mei Hua came to them. "Brothers! You should maybe take this conversation inside..." The two of them were so engrossed in their talk that they had completely forgotten the people around. Even Sun Liao got a little embarrassed as he had started to yell as loudly as Ren Chao.


    The four of them went to Cao Yun''s room to keep talking.


    -


    The first to talk was Mei Hua. "Brother Ren, what''s your problem with blacksmithing? I happen to have gone through a bad period during my alchemy studies, maybe I can help you find some solutions."


    Despite his embarrassment to ask for help, Ren Chao really needed a new perspective. "I''m very good with shaping the materials with a hammer..."


    Before he even finished his sentence, he got interrupted by Sun Liao. "Of course you are..."


    While Ren Chao was going to erupt again, both Cao Yun and Mei Hua calmed the both of them. "Please, please. Brother Ren, go on."


    "Fine! I have real difficulties with controlling the temperature either during the heating process or the cooling phase. Right now, I''m only a 2-star Earth blacksmith but to get to the next level, I must really master these principles. There are many new techniques I never knew existed and I get lost. I don''t really know where to start or what to do. So in the end, I mainly focus on my hammer skills." He turned toward Sun Liao. "Now you can laugh at me."


    "Not at all, Brother. It''s natural that you only train your hammering given that you seem to be in love with your hammer. Even when you wield a mace, you use it as a hammer." After this little jab, Sun Liao talked seriously. "But believe it or not, I had this same problem when I started getting to more advanced subjects. At first, setting up array formations seemed very straightforward, but then, I discovered innumerable ways to set them up. There are thousands and thousands of techniques and they can vary for every environment. So you easily get overwhelmed. My advice would be to get an instructor who can tell you what to prioritize."


    All the people around the table were surprised by this very accurate answer. "Well, I''d like to, but I lack points to see a personal instructor. I can only join group sessions and I don''t get much help."


    Cao Yun was the only one surprised. "You need points to get a personal instructor?!"


    "Brother Chen, you''re too cruel by saying this. We''re lucky all three of us. Guest Elder Xiao is Sister Mei''s master. She also appointed a personal instructor to you and considering he has no other student, you can see him whenever you want. I, on the other hand, have been chosen by Chief Elder Suxian to be his future disciple, so I can train with him everyday too."


    "Brother Sun, I thought Chief Elder Suxian would have taken you as a disciple by now. Is it still because of the entrance examination?"


    Sun Liao got embarrassed when Cao Yun mentioned the entrance examination, during which he had sabotaged an array formation to try and humiliate the guy who was now his friend. Apart from Cao Yun, no one here knew what he had done and he was to ashamed to talk about it.


    "Not really..." He remembered the hellish training he had to suffer through. He later discovered that Chief Elder Suxian had lost an Exquisite Purple Jasmin to Guest Elder Xiao in a bet regarding him. When he did, he wondered whether Chief Elder Suxian was punishing him for his actions or for the loss of a precious cup of tea. "It''s just that I''m still a bit far off in my mastery. Chief Elder Suxian has accepted to officially recognize me as his direct disciple when I''ll be able to set up a Pristine array formation and become a 5-star Earth array formation master."


    "Pristine?"


    "Oh, you don''t know about that? Array formations are ranked according to the same system as the alchemy pills. But even the same array formation can have several levels of quality, just like the pills really. This level depends on how much energy can be circulated in the array, how much is lost and how much you need to activate it. The lower your consumption and your loss, the higher the energy you can circulate, the better your array formation is. An array formation is said Pristine when less than 5% of the energy injected in it is lost and its effects are at least at 95%.


    I''m working on the easiest 5-star Earth array formation and I''m at 7% loss and 97% of the effects. I just need to work on the loss of energy and I think I''ll officially become a 5-star Earth array formation master before the end of the week. Then I''ll become Chief Elder Suxian''s direct disciple."


    "You''re all very lucky..." Ren Chao seemed depressed by hearing this conversation. "But you''re also very talented. I''m just a commoner. I trained myself and I thought that I was really good, but everyone here is better than me..."


    It really was painful to watch Ren Chao when he was down. Usually, he was all joyful and loud, he brought life to every place he went. Sun Liao was the first one to break the silence, as he was the one with the darkest face. "You really are a commoner!"


    Cao Yun and Mei Hua were about to stop him. "And look where you got! Without any army of experts to guide you, without huge family background, you learned your craft alone and you got into the Wubei Sect, one of the most, if not the most powerful sect in the entire kingdom. What do these so-called geniuses have on you? Only a head start, but certainly not talent nor determination."


    Just like everyone else, Ren Chao''s eyes were about to pop out from the surprise. "So stop lamenting and brooding. Get up and show them your worth. But if you really think you''re worthless, maybe I''ll help myself to your sweet Wang Mei."


    "You!" Hearing the last sentence, Ren Chao jumped where he was.


    "Well, are you worthless?"


    "I''ll show you worthless! By the end of the year, I''ll be a 5-star Earth blacksmith. Watch as I surpass your ranking. My weapons will be known throughout the kingdom!"


    With a satisfied smile, Sun Liao sipped a bit of his tea and left. "I have many things to attend to. Brother Chen, do not hesitate to call me if you need anything. If you had asked me when you got into trouble with the Dragon''s Fire Faction, I could have helped smooth things over. Do not treat me as a stranger."


    After he left, Mei Hua and Cao Yun were pretty disconcerted. During the entrance examination, he was the most vehement against commoners and now he defended them against the ''so-called geniuses'', but he was one of them. Apparently, his way of arguing with Ren Chao was really a show of affection between the two men. Mei Hua just thought that men were weird. "I''m sorry. I''ll have to take my leave as well. I have a lesson with my master."


    "So, Brother Ren, tell me more about blacksmithing, I can probably help you if it''s about controlling heat and cooling. After all, we need to control the flame in alchemy."


    "Well, blacksmithing can take many forms but the most fundamental steps are the Seven Iron Transformations: Drawing the Palace, Fetching the Iron, Burning the Three Fires, Shaping the Earth, Freezing the Sky, Suffering the Seasons, Unifying the World.


    Drawing the Palace is pretty advances as it''s about drawing your own plan for the weapon. At my level, I just use an already existing plan and then make some adjustments.


    Fetching the Iron consists in choosing the right materials for your weapon. For now, I only train with scraps and second-hand materials, so nothing much to it.


    Burning the Three Fires is where I have some problems. You must heat your materials to work with them. But you must control the temperature and even the nature of the heat to keep or alter the structure of your materials.


    Shaping the Earth is where I''m the more confident. You shape your heated materials through various means, such as hammering.


    Freezing the Sky is the cooling process. Right now I''m working on some quenching technique where you need to cool down your weapon in various liquids and even some kind of powder as well. But you need to alternate very quickly according to the temperature of your metal. That''s where I have problems with it. I don''t seem to find the right rhythm.


    Suffering the Seasons is another problem for me. You must heat and cool your weapon to give it some more properties. And once again, you must be able to really control the temperature to master it.


    Finally, Unifying the World consists in assembling the different parts. For example, you assemble the blade of a sword with the different parts of the handle."

 Chapter 66: Lu Meihan

    "Brother Ren, from what I gather, all your problems stem from your perception. As it turns out, alchemy heavily relies on perception and on the training of one''s mind. I think you would gain a lot by reducing your physical training and maybe use some alchemical methods of mind refinement."


    "Maybe..." With a pensive look on his face, Ren Chao suddenly raised his head. After looking through his uniform for a while, he took out a small yellow book. "That''s right, I borrowed this manual from the library. It''s called ''Golden Principle of Flame and Fire'' and supposedly, it exposes the principles of controlling the flame in any occupation. It''s been a bit too obscure for me. Perhaps Brother Chen could take a look."


    Cao Yun wanted to use his time to train, but he could not abandon this guy whom he considered his friend. He quickly went through the manual that was pretty worn-out. Hopefully it was in this sorry state beforehand, otherwise the librarians would chew Ren Chao out. There was no new information for Cao Yun, only what he already knew but presented in a slightly different manner. However, he had to admit that the writing of the book made it way more complicated than it should be.


    Cao Yun took a paper and a brush. "I''ll write down some books I quickly browsed through. They should be easier to get your head around. I''ll also write down some ideas of exercise for you. Do you have a furnace?"


    Ren Chao got excited like a child getting a present and suddenly realized. "... No, Brother, I... I don''t."


    "Then you can take this one." Cao Yun pointed at the old furnace in the corner of the room. "It''s pretty old and damaged but very sturdy. I''ve got a brand new one so it''s not a problem at all. I can''t help you with cooling or quenching, but controlling the flame is really my domain indeed."


    Ren Chao was trying to read what his friend was writing. These were exercises to perform with the flame in order to control its temperature with the use of different powders. The flame in blacksmithing was often bigger than in alchemy. It was often larger in size because alchemists worked with smaller ingredients but the temperature in which they worked could sometimes be even hotter, but much more focused. Indeed, the ingredients were imprisoned in the cauldron so the pressure and the temperature combined could skyrocket at incredible levels.


    "What kind of exercises do you do for your blacksmithing?"


    "Well, my main training is with my instructor, in groups. We work on small parts of materials or scraps to learn their different structures and how to work with them. In my free time, I often go to the Immovable Rock. It''s a special mineral that can absorb a lot of force. The point of the training is just to hit it with your hammer. As soon as you can break one rock, you can go on to the rock one size higher. It doesn''t just train brute force. You also need to be able to hit the rock in the right place considering its structure. And you must also strike consistently the same spot.


    There''s also the Impenetrable Fortress array formation. It''s pretty similar but with a huge brick imbued with energy. It''s made to train your precision and control of your force. You must hit consistently with the exact same force over and over again. If you hit with a force slightly higher or lower, your hammer just bounces off, you can really feel it in the arms. It''s the same if you miss the spot you already hit.


    Finally, I use the Blazing Iron Rods. These are rods imbued with a fiery energy. No matter how many times you cool them, they will heat up again. They''re sorted according to their initial temperature. Hence, you can use them to train your quenching and other techniques of cooling."


    Cao Yun was taking notes as Ren Chao was speaking.


    "You will need to cut on some of these trainings to put in more exercises centered around the control of the flame and the mind. You really need to boost your perception of the materials you work on. First, you should start by understanding your flame better. Also the last exercise you mentioned doesn''t seem like it can give you good feedbacks. I guess, it''s better suited to someone who can already roughly get if he''s on the right track or not.


    I also added some exercises about visualization. You need to have a strong mind to do so, but it''s extremely useful in alchemy. I think even a little bit of this could change your craft drastically. There, take that as well." He handed over a small pill to Ren Chao. "That''s a Frozen Heart pill. I had it for a long time but it''s not useful to me anymore. As you seem to have never trained your mind, even though its effects are low, it should bring you quite a lot."


    This pill was the one he had forged the first day with Xiao Xuefeng and Mei Hua, and it was only 68% so he never got to consume it. However, he didn''t tell Ren Chao its value by fear of him refusing.


    "Brother Chen, you give me so many things. There''s no way I won''t become a 1-star Human blacksmith in the future. I swear that the day I am a blacksmith worthy of you, I''ll make you any weapon you desire. No matter if you ask me for thousands of different kinds, I''ll do it nonetheless. And I never break my promise."


    "Thank you, Brother Ren. But for now, focus on your training." As he handed the pill over to Ren Chao, he suddenly remembered about the True Essence Low-level Qi Gathering he had forged. "By the way, I meant to give these pills to Sun Liao and you, among others. Take it now. I don''t know whether you''ll want to use it or not, but this pill can be very useful to you."


    Seeing the pill, even Ren Chao who knew little about alchemy understood what it was. These last few days he had heard of his brother''s achievements in the Wubei Merit Market. "Brother, you''re really giving this pill to me?! Thank you, Brother! I''ll use it carefully, I swear!"


    Unlike Cao Yun who always rejected gifts before accepting them, Ren Chao was way more direct. Maybe he needed to learn some things from his brother. Soon after, Ren Chao began to fidget a little. "Brother, I''d like to buy another pill, if you have one."


    "Brother, you shouldn''t consume too many pills in a row, their toxins will be very harmful to you. Even with a True Essence pill, there are always some toxins."


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    "This isn''t for me..." Ren Chao became a bit embarrassed.


    "I see... Wang Mei?" Just by saying her name, Cao Yun saw the truth on Ren Chao''s face. He wasn''t as embarrassed as he was in the first days, but he clearly could not conceal his lack of experience. "I do have more pills. I can give you one more."


    "No! That''s a gift, so I insist on paying!"


    "Fine, Brother. You have 421 points, so let''s do this, I''ll lower the price to 21 points, is this good enough for you?"


    "Thank you, Brother Chen!" Ren Chao quickly wrote a contract to give his brother 21 points and took the other pill Cao Yun handed to him. "Huh, Brother? Which one of the two is the best?"


    "The first one I gave you."


    Ren Chao then put the second one in his pocket and closed the small box in which the first pill was. "I''ll gift it to her with the box then."


    "You really seem to care about Wang Mei. Tell me, Brother, I heard strange rumors regarding the Coiling Silk Faction, but I don''t know the truth from the slander. According to Ling Hui this is some kind of brothel."


    "Who dares to insult my woman?!" Ren Chao erupted on the spot, his face full of anger. "The next I hear such slander, I''ll break the bastard''s bones."


    Cao Yun didn''t want to tell him that the ''bastard'' was a little girl.


    "The members of Coiling Silk are mostly women, yes. But they''re not part of a brothel, they are artistic performers. To stay in the faction, you need to be proficient in all kinds of arts. Wang Mei for example is a master painter, a master calligraphist, a master dancer, a master musician, ... You should hear her when she plays the zither, your mind gets taken to otherworldly places..." Realizing he got a bit too excited, Ren Chao calmed down a bit. "Of course, as they''re mostly women and they mainly perform for men, there are baseless rumors on them. But they''re also very skilled warriors, so not many men would be able to force their way with them.


    The next time you have some free time, you should go there. You''ll see there''s nothing indecent! It''s a pity I never got to go... It''s too pricey for me, but Wang Mei gave me some personal performances. I can tell you, she was gorgeous and elegant. I know she can seem a bit too provocative, but don''t get the wrong idea. At first, I thought she was just playing with me. But she''s really not. And neither am I."


    -


    Speaking of Wang Mei, she was precisely in the Coiling Silk Faction residence. The residence was pretty big for a faction with less than twenty members, but this faction, a little bit like the Dragon''s Fire Faction, was very rich for its size. As Ren Chao had said, many people, especially Ling Hui, had the wrong idea about this faction. There were almost only women. As a matter of fact, this year, there were only two men and they were absent because this was their third year.


    They offered all kinds of services, but none was indecent. Entering the Wubei Sect was very difficult for everyone, so no one decided to enter the sect just to sell their body. If that was your only goal, there was no need to put in so much work. What they sold was their performance. While the Lake Turtle Faction focused on craftsmanship, the Coiling Silk Faction gave the most importance to the performance aspect of art.


    Their members learned all kinds of arts, calligraphy, dance, music, singing, poetry. Some also learned philosophy or games to entertain their audience. Because mostly men came to be entertained, baseless rumors were circulating. The Wubei Sect would probably not approve of such activities being performed on the ground of the sect itself if that were true. Visiting a brothel was not strictly forbidden, but it was not viewed with good eyes by the sect and it could only happen outside of their grounds.


    In the matters of love, the orthodox path of cultivation in the Hongchen Kingdom heavily insisted on the importance of having a Dao companion, a reliable pillar. It was not forbidden to have several women though. Even having several men, which was more rare, was not forbidden. The Emperor Nuwa had decreed the orthodox path at least two thousand years ago. The best one was having a Dao companion for life, the second one was celibacy, then having several women or men was considered to be closer to the mundane world and thus not that favorable for cultivation.


    Emperor Nuwa''s sister happened to have had five men as husbands. But it wasn''t a common practice. Most cultivator only had one romantic relationship but given their very long lifespan, they would sometimes change their partner. The others were often seen at too frivolous and unfit for the great path of cultivation where you needed to abstain from such pleasure during very long period of times to reach your goals.


    Wang Mei was in the main room of the Coiling Silk Faction residence. She was kneeling before a woman lying in a bed. Even though her complexion was a little pale, she looked absolutely gorgeous. Her supple black hair was entangled all over her cushion and a young lady was slowly brushing them, trying not to hurt her.


    Her clothes were also a mess but they were covering all the strategic parts of her body. Despite being almost entirely covered, just by seeing her face and her shape under these fabrics, anyone''s mind would have gone rampant. All her body exuded an incredible charm, but also a terrible weakness. Slowly, she tried to get up. Seeing that she was lacking the strength to do so, her young servant helped her to sit on the bed.


    "Wang Mei, I heard many things about you. Get closer, please." Once again, her voice was melodious but it would bring many people to tears given how weak it was.


    "Yes, Faction Leader." Affected by a deep sorrow, Wang Mei got very close to the bed as the poor woman could barely speak. "How are you recovering?"


    "Very slowly..."


    "If you hadn''t taken those Tiger''s Mane Invigorating pills the other day, your recovery would be faster."


    "The other faction leaders must not know of my condition, our faction could be destroyed by such a rumor. Many people are jealous by how much money we make. But I did not call you to discuss my health." Stretching her hand, she tried to touch the face of Wang Mei, almost like a mother caressing the cheeks of her child. Wang Mei was 18 and this woman, Lu Meihan was 25. She had gotten in the Wubei Sect just at the limit of 21. The maximum age to enter was 20. And she had barely reached the 9th-grade Mortal stage.


    Sadly, when she tried to cross over to the Mortal Warrior realm a few weeks ago, she had suffered a terrible backlash. However she had insisted to be there during the entrance examination as a show for the other factions, but she had to take a 5-star Earth pill. Of course, it did not help her recovery. Even a month after, she still seemed weaker than she was before taking the pill.


    "I heard that you were in a relationship with a first-year."


    "Yes, Faction Leader. But I did not break my vow!"


    "I do not doubt you, Wang Mei. However you should know that it will be difficult for him to accept it for five years. Men can be impatient."


    "I believe in him."


    "But did you tell him that all the members of the Coiling Silk are constrained to abstinence as long as they''re with us?"


    "I... The subject did not come up yet."


    "Wang Mei, you should be honest with him. If he wants you, he''ll have to wait until you leave our faction. But that''s not the main reason I''m talking about this. This man seems to be friend with Chen Guo, right?"


    "Indeed, Faction Leader."


    "I''d really like to meet this Chen Guo." Some fire ignited in her eyes for an instant. "He''s a very talented alchemist, and he even has ties with Xiao Xuefeng. He may be able to help with my problem."

 Chapter 67: Preparation for the duel

    In the Red Cliff Faction residence, Chan Weifeng was having a conversation with Jiang Yifan.


    "Faction Leader, shouldn''t we try to do something about this Chen Guo? Thanks to him, the Heavenly Swallow Faction is starting to gain a lot of strength. And as an alchemist who stood his ground against the Dragon''s Fire Faction, he''s becoming very popular."


    "I know... The best thing would be to rope him in. But I don''t think that could be easily done now. After all, his faction has an even better deal with the Dragon''s Fire Faction than ours."


    "Well, he focuses on martial arts, not alchemy. We could still try to attract him. And if we fail, we must break his momentum. If he keeps getting more fame, he may even convince other members to defect at one point. This month will end with the ranking competition. What about issuing as many challenges as possible to him?"


    "Given his ranking right now, only other first-years can challenge him. Do you think a single one of our new recruits could potentially beat him?" He paused to let that sink in Jiang Yifan''s mind but did not wait for an answer. "No, the best course of action is to watch. He will issue a challenge to someone, that''s a matter of course." Chan Weifeng began to ponder on the matter while fidgeting with his cup of tea. Suddenly, he raised his head. "And I''m fairly certain of who he will target."


    "Faction Leader? You know who he will target? Who?"


    "Luduo Bu!"


    Jiang Yifan suddenly remembered as he heard the name. "Yes, the information about the incident has been kept quiet, but there was that matter indeed."


    "He''s only been sentenced for six weeks, which means he will be let free a week or so before the ranking competition. From what I''ve been able to gather, the servant he beat up was the little sister of Mei Hua. Considering the relationship Chen Guo seems to have with her, do you think he won''t want to beat him up again?"


    "Maybe Mei Hua will do so herself?"


    "No, she''s too weak! She''s an alchemist not a fighter. Luduo Bu could rival Fairy Zhi. The only reason he was not at the entrance examination was because the new students were too few so the elders did a selection among the second-years. All the elders thought he was too violent and didn''t want any problem to occur during the exam. Mei Hua mainly trained her alchemy since her arrival here. And even if she had trained non-stop her martial arts, I don''t think she would have much chance against Luduo Bu."


    Jiang Yifan pondered on the matter some more. "Yes, you''re probably right. But does it mean that we won''t do a thing against the Heavenly Swallow Faction for the entire month?"


    "Not at all. But we''ll leave Chen Guo alone for now. Look at the Dragon''s Fire Faction, they tried to mess with him and they got utterly humiliated and almost got economically crippled. But it doesn''t mean that we can''t try to suppress the Heavenly Swallow Faction outside." Chan Weifeng got a bit more serious after his last sentence. "However, relay my orders. No one must forget the rules of our sect. Even if this is outside the Heidai Peak, no one should go overboard. If a single one of our member harms someone from the Heavenly Swallow, I will personally deliver justice unto him."


    "But, Faction Leader, it''s unavoidable that there will be some skirmishes if we try to suppress them."


    "Skirmishes are fine. Try and steal their prey, prevent them from entering certain areas. That''s fine. But our people should know where to draw the line between suppressing them and attacking them. They have two members who are very close with Guest Elder Xiao, we need to be very careful. Don''t think that we would easily be able to hide anything from this woman. Guest Elder Xiao is the cultivator with the highest spiritual senses in the entire kingdom. Even the Sect Leader should be inferior to her in that aspect."


    "I understand. We''ll do all we can to make their life difficult without any frontal confrontation."


    Jiang Yifan left the room to relay the orders he just got.


    "Chen Guo... What a pity! If only we had gotten you, would we have gotten Mei Hua as well? And now that we lost you, are we doomed to be a stepping stone for your legend?" Chan Weifeng was very worried about the situation but he had no perspective of ever convincing Cao Yun to join the Red Cliff Faction.


    Yes, the Red Cliff Faction heavily focused on martial arts, but that wasn''t necessarily a good thing. First of all, Cao Yun had access to Chief Elder Baishen who took a liking to him. Then, he was also an alchemist. Although he insisted he did not want to make it his main occupation, only a fool would completely reject being an alchemist. In Chan Weifeng''s faction only a handful of cultivators were also alchemists and not that good. Whereas in the Heavenly Swallow Faction, Cao Yun had access to Mei Hua, the best alchemist in the Earth rank and a direct disciple to Xiao Xuefeng.


    Moreover, his faction had made a terrible first impression on Cao Yun. The very first week he joined the sect, he had three meetings with members of the Red Cliff Faction and all of them were terrible. One of them was even with Luduo Bu, and the worse possible thing to happen. Chan Weifeng had the intuition that this boy would have been a fantastic member of his faction, but he also felt as though missing this opportunity would be something he''d never be able to recover from.


    All thoughts of fighting against the Heavenly Swallow were slowly fading behind this ominous feeling. He had taken over the faction one year ago and hoped to leave it to Jiang Yifan next year when he would leave the sect. But maybe, the faction would only be a fraction of what it used to be.


    No matter what, he also had to think about life after the sect. He had no intention to become an inner disciple. Actually, he wanted to join the military of the Hongchen Kingdom. He wanted to fight against the demons threatening mankind. Chan Weifeng''s family was a small noble family from the outskirt of the Hongchen Kingdom. When he was younger, he saw an attack of demons, and since this day he swore to protect his kind against these abominations.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    As of now, he got to think more about how to get closer to Cao Yun who could be a great ally outside the sect than how to suppress his small faction.


    -


    In other factions, similar conversations were happening with all kinds of viewpoints. In the end all the faction leaders decided that it was better to keep the status quo and see how Cao Yun would fare in the competition at the end of the month. Two factions were somewhat different. Among them was the Coiling Silk. Lu Meihan was very curious about this great man everyone was talking about and gave order to make things easy for him. All the members received the order to try and convince him to come see her quickly.


    The other faction was the Hidden Orchids Faction. This faction was very secretive and mostly kept to its own devices. Once again, they decided to do nothing in the open. The war between the factions was none of their concern.


    And all this was exactly to Cao Yun''s liking. At first, he really did not want to antagonize the Dragon''s Fire Faction. His only goal was to become stronger as fast as possible and then find the murderers of his family to slaughter them all without any mercy. His family members needed this justice.


    -


    The man of the hour was training in the martial art pavilion. He came here from time to time. At every single one of his visits, Chief Elder Baishen abandoned all her duties and trained him. She never asked him to be her disciple or anything, she just loved seeing him progress. And each time, she was gladly surprised because he was progressing faster than anyone else.


    In fact, his ability to use ''Shen Visualization'' allowed him to reproduce in his mind every move and even every fight he ever did. That way, it was extremely easy to find his faults. Working on them was a bit harder. If he only used his visualization, he could err. After all, only by confronting his understanding with a real opponent could he know how effective it was.


    Some of the modifications he thought about turned out to be even poorer than the faults he had tried to remove. Just by fighting using this trial and error process could he improve faster. So, even though Chief Elder Baishen always kept him all day long, he still came here at least twice or three times a month. And this month was different as he would be challenging an upperclassman.


    The old woman was watching as Cao Yun beat the last of his opponent. Today, he had fought in at least fifty fights. Of course, they were friendly so no one used any killing moves and went too far, but it was still exhausting. This and the training from Chief Instructor Peng were the two things that completely drained Cao Yun for one or two days. But now that he had a lot of spirit stones, he wanted to try them to recover faster.


    "You''re very close to forging the second star! It''s been a little more than a month since you forged the first one. You''re almost twice as fast as the average martial artist in that regard. I really look forward to seeing you use it in a real fight!"


    She got closer to Cao Yun and asked him to come in her study to speak alone.


    "I think I know who you''re going to challenge this month."


    Cao Yun''s eyes turned from dead tired to deep rage. "Yes, Chief Elder. I''ll beat down the dog Luduo Bu."


    She heaved a deep sigh. "I do feel terrible about this whole situation. And if the servant he beat up hadn''t been someone important to Guest Elder Xiao''s disciple, he probably would have gotten away with this." She punched her poor desk, already full of dents. "This damn Bian Gui! He talks about laws all day long, but knows nothing of justice!"


    She tried to calm down and kept talking. "But you know that you can''t go too far in the duel. Many chief elders will be there to watch the duels, especially yours. If you go beyond what the rules allow, I can assure you that this time Bian Gui won''t miss you. He just cares about rules, nothing else."


    "Do not worry, Chief Elder. I read the rules of the sect and I can quote them perfectly. I won''t do anything outside the rules during this duel. But it doesn''t mean that I won''t be as violent and cruel as I can against this animal."


    Chief Elder Baishen let out a smile. "As you should! I got worried that you were too nice for your own good."


    "Chief Elder, I do not seek conflict for the sake of conflict. But I won''t shy away from them either. My path is clear and I just don''t want any nuisance on it. What I can compromise, I negotiate. However, some things cannot be compromised."


    "Great, great! Your heart is as sturdy as your mind and your body it seems. I know you''ll achieve greatness in your life, and I can''t wait to see it with my own eyes. Remember, all the elders and chief elders, including Miss Xiao and I, will stay perfectly impartial during the duels. Do not mistake my passivity that day for apathy, but some decorum must be respected. I know for a fact that you will beat this dog. You did it once after all. And I doubt he got that much better in the Devil''s Jail."


    "Thank you, Chief Elder. I''ll come once more this week. But then, I''ll focus on keeping my stamina for the duels themselves. Could you issue my challenge as soon as possible?"


    "Of course, that''s the best course of action. Stay full of energy for the fight. I''ll officially record the challenge now and Luduo Bu will be informed two weeks before the fight. Well, he''ll still be in jail for some days, but he''ll be there for the fight."


    -


    In the evening, Cao Yun resumed his routine. He played a bit with Mei Ying and taught her some spearmanship. Then he focused on his mind cultivation. He was very close to achieving Perfection thanks to the Praying Demon Pill''s medicinal essence still in his body. Then he reviewed his martial arts with ''Shen Visualization''. As he still had time, he also reviewed some alchemy.


    Finally, as the month was started he made enough Pure Low-Level Qi Gathering pills to sell all month long. He also put some True Essence pills in the mix. With his mind cultivation, he could achieve full batches of True Essence pills now, but given that only Spirit Warriors were able to do so, he refrained from it.


    According to his calculations and considering the commission of the Dragon''s Fire Faction, and also the share for the Heavenly Swallow Faction, he would get 368 points in total. On average, an outer disciple earned around 200 points by month. But of course, it could vary a lot. For example, a big alchemist could easily earn 1,000 points. But he also needed to invest hundreds of points to get all the materials in order to have this much revenue.


    Right now, Cao Yun could not earn that much. Low-Level Qi Gathering pills were useful, but the Dragon''s Fire Faction already sold a lot of them. So Cao Yun focused on quality so that his pills would keep on selling. And if he made too much of them, they would lose their value over time.


    Finally, the last thing Cao Yun did was to cultivate his Qi. By absorbing some Qi from a small spirit stone, he could increase the quantity in his body but also alleviate some of his physical fatigue. Instead of needing two days to recover from his training, only one would be more than enough.


    For now, he had opened half the meridians he needed to break through. He could already feel more powerful as he circulated the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. But once all his meridians were open, they would connect perfectly between each other and his already opened vessels. Finally this complex system would be linked to his Lower Dantian and energy would erupt throughout his body.


    Circulating his Qi would become easier and faster. The quantity of Qi he could circulate would also improve. From there, his martial arts would become that more effective. The ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' move was hard to do because of brutal interruption of Qi immediately followed by its return. After becoming a 6th-grade Mortal, this would become much much easier.

 Chapter 68: Coiling Silks invitation

    After his time with Chief Elder Baishen in the martial art pavilion, and even with the consumption of almost a fifth of a small spirit stone''s Qi, Cao Yun could not train his body the next day. Hence, he decided to go back to the alchemy pavilion. Recently, he had finally achieved less than 5% toxins in a Pure Cold Blood Clotting Pill. In a batch of five pills, only one was sure to achieve such a state when he refined pills though. It still met the criteria to say that he had gotten an understanding of the toxins minimization from the Minor Principles of Silver.


    As usual, Meng Jia was almost sleeping during the session, but Cao Yun had seen him awake. From the day of the competition, he had started to see his instructor in a new way. He really was a sleeping tiger, ready to bare his fangs if need be.


    "Good, good. Now that you have achieved this grade, we can try to work on your 2-star Earth rank. To be awarded this grade, you have to be able to forge a Pure 2-star Earth pill. But we''ll still work with a 1-star Earth pill. It''s considered as one of the most difficult because the ingredients used in it all contain very potent toxins. These toxins will clash with the medicinal essence and they will damage them. On the other hand, if you''re able to make such a pill at a Pure rank, you''ll have no problem to increase your rank. That''s why I first asked you to master toxins minimization.


    The pill is called the Seven Frogs Winter pill. The main ingredients are seven poisons. They don''t all come from frogs, but two of them, the most powerful, do. They come from the Golden Leaf Frog and the Winged Bull Frog. There''s also the poison of an Eternal Crouching Toad. Despite being made from so many poisons, the pill is not a poison itself. On the contrary, this pill is used to soothe pain and relax muscles. Controlling the seven poisons and avoiding their toxins from ruining the pill is highly difficult.


    The day your mastery reaches this level, you''ll in fact almost be a 3-star Earth alchemist. I mean, you already have the bare qualifications to become a 2-star Earth alchemist. But there''s no reason for you to advance too soon. As you''re not using all your time on alchemy, I think you should focus on actually training your skills and not only work on trying to increase your rank."


    In fact, Cao Yun didn''t care about his rank. It was useful to increase it, especially just before the end of the month, to get higher into the alchemy ranking scroll. But apart from that, he did not want to make alchemy his profession, so the level did not mean much to him.


    "I understand your words."


    Cao Yun worked on this pill all morning long. It really was difficult. Thanks to his ''Shen Visualization'', Cao Yun quickly got the hang of it. But, even though he did not fail a single refinement, the result was always lacking. The highest quality he got was 87% of the medicinal essence with 12% of the toxins.


    But he understood why his instructor had chosen this pill. It really worked on his control of what was going on in the cauldron and of course on his perception of it. Thus, it trained his ''Shen Visualization'' and by extension his Shen itself. Thanks to this, Cao Yun was getting closer and closer to achieve Perfection in the Shen character of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''.


    -


    In the residence of the first-years, Ren Chao was training as well. His group training had just ended and he was trying an exercise of Cao Yun. By his side was the furnace he had received. With eyes closed, he was trying to feel the temperature of the flame. Over the furnace was a small copper bowl filled with an orange liquid. The goal of Ren Chao was to keep it just at the boiling point. The liquid had to produce bubbles without disturbing its calm surface.


    The goal of Ren Chao was to control perfectly the temperature of the metal when heating it. At first, this training was terribly tough on the man. Until now, he had mainly trained his body, and switching his focus on his mind was torture at first. It wasn''t painful, but terribly exhausting and frustrating. However, every time Ren Chao thought about quitting, he saw the image of Sun Liao who would mock him. Just this sight gave him enough fortitude to push through.


    After a very intensive training, Ren Chao was getting very good results. He had chosen a variety of liquids with different boiling points. This allowed him to train his ability to maintain a given temperature for as long as he could, but also his ability to rapidly increase or decrease a flame to get to a precise temperature as fast as possible.


    In order to increase his progress, he found out that Cao Yun was right. By closing his eyes and focusing all his senses on the flame, he was getting better results. At first, it was even harder, but he trusted his friend and again pushed through a disheartening phase. But now, he almost never trained with his eyes open.


    As he was immersed in his training, someone knocked on his door. While he was about to yell for them to get lost, a sweet voice flooded the room. This feminine voice jolted him back to reality and he decided that he had trained enough.


    After taking some time to fix his clothes, Ren Chao opened the door.


    "Wang Mei, it''s always a pleasure to see you. Come in, come in."


    "Thank you. Don''t mind if I do." She saw the furnace still red from the flame and quickly turned to Ren Chao. "Sorry. I disturbed your training. I can come back later."


    "No! What are you saying?! It''s always good to take a break. If you don''t, you''ll just get bad results." While he was speaking, Ren Chao closed the door and brought the young woman to his table. "I''m sorry, my servant is not here right now. I''ll prepare some tea for you."


    "It''s really not necessary. I''ve come to talk about a serious matter with you."


    The young man became a bit worried. Despite his lack of experience, he saw that something was troubling his lady. "Mei, I also had something to talk to you about." Immediately, he looked through his clothes and took out a wooden box. "I bought this pill from my friend. This is for you." Handing over the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill, Ren Chao kept on talking. He didn''t want her to reject his gift, so he talked a bit too much. "Chen Guo already gave me one, so you shouldn''t be worried about taking it from me. Also, it wasn''t that expensive so don''t feel bad about me."The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Given the amount of points the Coiling Silk was making, Wang Mei could easily buy such a pill in the Wubei Merit Market now that Cao Yun was dealing with the Dragon''s Fire Faction. The Coiling Silk Faction was the smallest faction apart from the Heavenly Swallow Faction, but it was the second richest. Despite that, there was something more about getting a gift from this man. This pill was rare but not priceless. However, when Ren Chao gave it to her, it seemed more valuable.


    "Thank you, I''ll gladly accept your gift." What Ren Chao did not know was that many suitors had already bought her hundreds of gifts. Until now, she had never accepted a single one of them.


    "What I have to talk about is very important. I will be direct. The Coiling Silk Faction rules say that all its members must stay chaste as long as they''re a member."


    Wang Mei had imagined many ways to break the news to her ''friend'' and finally decided to be as direct and frank as he was. However, she was terrified by his reaction. In her mind, many possibilities were fighting each other and she wondered if he would simply end the relationship they had. Contrary to all her expectations, Ren Chao was simply quiet, unable to understand what was her point.


    "Well, that''s... huh... Why are you telling me?"


    "Because...! Wouldn''t you want us to...?"


    Suddenly, Ren Chao realized what she was hinting at, and became crimson red. "Sure, I''d ... I mean, who wouldn''t? But do you think I''m such a beast that I can''t wait 4 or 5 years. Blacksmiths can work decades on a weapon to make it perfect. Do you think I would be so impatient?! Wait! Were you afraid that I wouldn''t be seeing you anymore because of this?!" Ren Chao got closer to Wang Mei. "You should know better. I love being around you and talking with you. Even if there was no chance that we would ever... consume it, I would still want to meet with you."


    "Thank you, that''s very reassuring, Chao. And I too love being in your presence."


    As a very sweet atmosphere invaded the place, the two lovers kept on talking of many subjects, including their own training.


    Finally, Wang Mei remembered another mission she had. "I also have a message from our faction leader, Lu Meihan. She''s very insistent on meeting with your friend Chen Guo. She has some problems which I can''t talk about, but the help of an alchemist such as him could be very useful. She hopes that he can meet her in secrecy. I know our Coiling Silk Faction is victim of many slanders, but Faction Leader Lu is a great woman. I do not want you to try and convince your friend for me, please just relay the message from Lu Meihan to him."


    "Of course. I already told him to go to the Coiling Silk Faction residence himself in order to see that these rumors were baseless. I cannot speak for my friend but I''ll relay the message, trust me."


    -


    When Cao Yun got back from his training, he found Huang Cixi preparing the dinner. On the table she had left a letter. Since he got in the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun had sent letters to Feng Yingyue. But as the sect was pretty far from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, even by using very fast birds or flyings demonic beasts, it was long to send and receive mail. The woman had finally answered him. She thanked him a lot for the new character of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' telling him that she had mastered Yi the Earth Intent.


    In the letter, she also spoke a bit about her alchemy and her progress. Apparently, in a matter of weeks, she had officially become a 5-star Earth alchemist. As the institute was closer to Yinmen City than the sect was, she had already been enrolled for at least one more month. Grand Master Hua Fenfei had also accepted her as a direct disciple and she was working on her cultivation. With the help of pills and various alchemical means, she could increase her cultivation fairly quickly to get to the Mortal Warrior realm before the Alchemy Conference in 5 years.


    In the kitchen, Huang Cixi was very pensive. She had been the one to send the letters and she knew who was receiving them. This evening, the young alchemist from Yinmen City got back into her thoughts. As Huang Cixi was living with Cao Yun, she was slowly getting used to this life and even forgot about the reason of her presence here.


    Everything had started because her first brother wanted to get rid of this woman. She was innocent in this, but nevertheless, she was the element who caused everything. If Feng Yingyue had never existed, her brother Huang Lixin would still be alive.


    Huang Cixi put her mind in order and got back to work. She was more and more confused. She didn''t know who to hate in this matter. Her first brother had given the order, her father had approved, her second brother had tried to kill an innocent woman. And yet the real culprit to hate would be Cao Yun who only saved her?


    As much as she tried to be rational, she still hated Cao Yun. But she realized he wasn''t a bad man at all, quite the opposite.


    While Cao Yun was reading the letter, someone knocked on his door. Usually Huang Cixi would be the one to answer but she was lost in her own mind. Hearing the knocking continue, Cao Yun looked at the servant and got worried when he saw her. Apparently, something was weighing on her mind. Thus, he decided to get the door himself.


    "Brother Chen!" Ren Chao was back and despite the late hour, spoke as loudly as ever.


    "Sorry to disturb you so late. I hope I''m not interrupting your training."


    "No, Brother Ren. I was about to dine, join me."


    As Ren Chao entered the room, Huang Cixi came back to reality. She quickly apologized and set up the table.


    During the dinner, Ren Chao thanked his friend profusely and relayed the invitation from Lu Meihan. This invitation got Cao Yun thinking. He knew very little about the Coiling Silk Faction and he thought it best to discuss this invitation with Zhi Yin so as no not cause trouble for his faction this time. Ren Chao really seemed trusting but Cao Yun decided to be careful.


    -


    In the Coiling Silk Faction, Lu Meihan was sitting on her bed. Her servant had helped her and then left. In front of her was a man in a black and purple uniform, adorned with an emblem showing two fangs biting in a red flower. They were alone in this dim-lit room.


    "Are you sure that this Chen Guo can help me practice your art?"


    "Miss Lu, I''m not 100% sure. But this art must be performed either with the right physique or someone of great potential. This boy is not as strong as others but his potential is incredible. And you probably couldn''t handle someone stronger right now anyway."


    Indeed, Lu Meihan was very weak after her backlash and couldn''t even sit straight alone.


    "And this technique will remove all traces of the backlash?"


    "Absolutely everything, yes. It should even allow you to break through to Mortal Warrior. I''d love to practice it myself, but only a woman can."


    In the faction leader''s eyes, there was still a lot of mistrust. "Why do you want to help me?"


    "As I said, I''m just curious to see this technique brought to life. It''s been discovered in ancient ruins and even though its effects are known, I''ve never seen it. I''m just very interested in the results."


    From the small table before her, Lu Meihan picked up a scroll. It depicted various positions to perform between a man and a woman.


    "''Reversing two Universes Dance''. Indeed, this dual cultivation method seems absolutely fantastical. But..." The woman was deep in thought. She really was hesitant about such a matter until she looked back at her arms already shaking just by picking up and holding the scroll. "I''ll inform you of my success."


    "Great, Miss Lu. I sincerely wish you to have a full recovery and I''ll wait for your good news."

 Chapter 69: A fragrant room

    As Cao Yun was busy training and getting ready for the day of his duel against Luduo Bu, he decided to wait until the end of the week to go see Lu Meihan. Indeed, after Chief Instructor Peng''s training, no matter how much energy he absorbed from his small spirit stones, he would need some physical rest.


    But before going, he went to see Zhi Yin. Fortunately, the entire Heavenly Swallow Faction was back from the wild at this moment. Apparently, they did not run into too many problems. However, their bounty was pretty small.


    Cao Yun relayed the invitation he had received.


    "I do not know much about this Lu Meihan. Last year, she mostly stayed within her faction residence. However, I know Sister Wang Mei well enough to tell you that she wouldn''t knowingly send you into a trap."


    As Zhi Yin was speaking, Ling Hui surprisingly interrupted her with a "tsk". "This vile woman is a part of this depraved faction."


    "I''m sorry for Ling Hui. She has some kind of grudge since the Coiling Silk Faction tried to recruit me."


    "These women thought they could get Fairy Zhi to mingle with their crowd." Cao Yun had a deep impression that Zhi Yin had been asked but not Ling Hui, hence the animosity.


    Someone stood up for this faction, Zhao Fei. "Sister Ling, I can assure you that this faction is not what you think it is. Everything there is very proper."


    His twin sister looked at him suspiciously. "And how would you know that?"


    "Well... I went there once." He was hesitant to talk.


    "With what points?! We earned nothing last year."


    "Some of my friends invited me. It was to celebrate the breakthrough of a senior brother." Ling Hui and Zhao Lin''s eyes were focused on the man who was sweating more and more. "I swear, it''s not the kind of establishment you think it is. I even heard that some guy tried to be improper one day and got dealt with. Even the disciplinary pavilion took care of him. Now that we have some points, we could even all go there." In his sister''s eyes he saw some doubt. "Trust me! We listened to music and poetry, we watched dances and plays, I even played some chess with one of the girls. Nothing immoral happened."


    "Hmm..." Zhao Lin still wasn''t convinced. On the other hand, Ling Hui sure was convinced, of the opposite.


    "No good thing could come out from seeing the leader of bunch of lowlifes like them."


    "Ling Hui, please. Stop slandering Sister Wang. You should know she''s a very hard working girl. No matter how much you dislike her, she''s respectable. Cao Yun, I see no problem in you going there. Our faction is too different from the Coiling Silk to be a threat to them. Anyway, you should be careful nonetheless. I think you would get in more trouble if you didn''t go. After all, her faction is almost the richest and they have a very good reputation..." She looked at her sisters. "... among male disciples." When she finished her words, Zhi Yin looked straight at Zhao Fei.


    "I swear! Sisters, let''s all go there when we have some time, you''ll see for yourselves. Would I ask you to accompany me if it was what Sister Ling thinks it is?"


    "You just want to have an excuse to go back there and take a look at all their beautiful members!"


    Cao Yun left the poor Zhao Fei trying to explain himself faced with Ling Hui''s attacks and the doubt in his own sister''s eyes.


    After he took his decision, Cao Yun asked Ren Chao to report to Wang Mei that he would personally go to the Coiling Silk Faction five days from now.


    -


    During the following few days, he mainly focused on his martial arts, going to several array formations, including the Howling Crane Gorges. This time, he was able to go to the end of the second stage. When he tried to enter the third one, the gust of wind doubled yet once more. It was so powerful that even with his spear pointed straight in front of him, he couldn''t pierce through. His spear kept moving and no amount of strength helped him. To get through, he had to adjust his weapon at every instant. The time he had was limited and after several minutes trying to get his second foot inside the third stage, he finally succeeded.


    Having only minutes left, he focused on maintaining his stance. But he couldn''t just stay still. As with his spear, he had to adjust his stance every single instant because the wind itself was ever changing. Although it came from the same direction, its movement and intensity were always subject to small changes. No matter how small these were, the effects on a human body were huge.


    While he was fighting to keep his stance, deep within his sea of consciousness a ball of fire exploded up in the firmament. Besides the binary star that was the Horn Star, a very small dot almost invisible just exploded into an orange ball of fire. It settled down into an orange-hued star more than three times bigger than the Horn Star and ten times as bright. This was the second star of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'', the Neck Star.


    Sensing this change in him, Cao Yun got overexcited but rapidly regained his calm. Forging a star was just the first step. Now, he had to study it and derive its complexities. He had a little less than a month before the duel. But now that the Neck Star was fully formed, by using the star chart from the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' manual, Cao Yun knew roughly where all the other stars would appear. It could give him a small advantage to form them as he knew where to watch within his sea of consciousness.


    -


    The night, he focused on this new star, but deriving comprehension from a star was not that easy. He also tried to understand the Neck Star in relation to the Horn Star. These were not just isolated points but small parts of a huge whole.


    Until his meeting, his routine didn''t change much. Once again, he only shifted a bit of his focus. Instead of alchemy, Qi cultivation and mind cultivation, he focused a bit more on martial arts. All were important aspects of his training so he maintained them as well, just not with the same intensity and duration.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    -


    The day of his visit to the Coiling Silk Faction was upon him.


    When he arrived in front of the Coiling Silk Faction residence, Cao Yun got surprised to see many people. He recognized many of the first-years. Apparently they also thought that the training of Chief Instructor Peng was too hard and came here to relax. Indeed, his last training was even tougher than before. Every session, he increased the intensity, but compared to last month, the increase was sharper. This was also the first week of the month so they could spend a bit of merit points and still hope to earn them back before the distribution of resources at the end of the month.


    Not wanting to stand out too much, Cao Yun queued up like everyone else. However, he was soon recognized and even caused a small commotion. Two young ladies wearing fourth-year emblems walked through the crowd.


    "Junior Chen, you should have warned us of your arrival. Miss Lu is waiting for you, please follow us."


    Despite her seniority, the woman who talked was very subservient just like a clerk toward a client.


    "Of course, Senior. I''m also looking forward to meeting your faction leader. Please lead the way."


    He followed the two women inside as the crowd was shocked. Lu Meihan was waiting for Cao Yun?! Last month, he had tamed the Dragon''s Fire Faction and now he was dealing with the Coiling Silk Faction''s faction leader personally. These two factions were the richest of the entire outer yard. The most powerful were the fighting factions such as Red Cliff and Purple Northern Cloud. But, even combined, they didn''t have as many points as the Coiling Silk Faction.


    The residence had several buildings, a huge garden with beautiful sculptures, plants and ponds. The energy flowing through this place was calm and peaceful. It really looked like a haven of peace, perfect to get some rest and enjoy art. Some small pavilions were used by people listening to a woman reciting poetry or playing some music.


    Other people were just taking a leisure walk with some company.


    When he got inside the biggest building, Cao Yun saw many closed rooms. With his sharp senses, he could hear music, dancing and singing. There were all kinds of activities within these walls. However, it seemed like what he had heard was right, everything was very proper. Of course, the women wore attractive make-up and clothes to show off their beauty, but nothing out of the ordinary. These clothes were different from the uniform of the sect though, and each member was wearing something different. Although they covered their body, they allowed for anyone''s imagination to run wild.


    Cao Yun understood the purpose of this. It wasn''t just to show off their beauty but also to contrast from the sect. Customers could even forget that they were in the sect for some time.


    Expecting to go up to the top floor of the building, Cao Yun was surprised when he was taken to a room within the first floor. In fact, Lu Meihan had move her room because of her weak body, walking up or down the stairs was absolutely impossible for her. And even with the help of a servant, that was still torture.


    The two women stood on both sides of the door and knocked on it.


    A small servant got out. When she saw Cao Yun and understood the situation, she gestured him to wait. "Young Master Chen, please wait a moment, I''ll warn my mistress."


    She hurriedly went back inside and after a few more moments, she came out. "My mistress will receive you. We won''t disturb you." She completely walked out of the room and let Cao Yun go in. After entering the room, he heard the door shutting behind him.


    The room was spacious but not luxurious. Deep in the back of the room was a bed with open curtains. And on the bed was Lu Meihan in a sitting position. Her servant had helped her sit just before leaving.


    "Junior Chen, it''s a pleasure to see you today. Please come closer." Her voice was very weak and with his sharp senses, Cao Yun immediately perceived that her whole body was as well. In fact, it would probably be impossible for her to stand up. Seeing her so defenseless, he relaxed a bit.


    When he walked further inside the room, he failed to notice several incense sticks positioned at various strategic locations. The servant had lit them all just before leaving. Her mistress had told her that this was an invigorating incense meant to help her during their conversation. Indeed, she had a tough time even holding a simple conversation if it became too long.


    But it was all a lie. The moment Cao Yun got a bit farther inside the room, he smelled a fragrant odor that seemed to be localized in the center of it. Suddenly, he started to feel a little bit light-headed and looked around. Now that he was paying attention, these incense sticks looked like they were forming an array formation. The moment he wanted to retreat, he found himself unable to. His eyes were drawn to Lu Meihan. Instead of her beautiful figure, some kind of illusion happened, and he saw Feng Yingyue. She was waving for him to come closer and to bury himself in her embrace.


    Heat began to crawl down his spine. All his lower abdomen was full of fire. Having let down his guard, he did not think of circulating his mind cultivation and the effect of the incense was already active. And now, he lacked the clarity of mind to do so. Right now, he was faced with Feng Yingyue whom he had not seen for at least three to four months. And she was ardently asking for him to come to her.


    As the fire spread through his body, a small drop of blood within his heart started to vibrate. The Drop of Wrath was still physically inside Cao Yun''s heart. The drop that was in his sea of consciousness was a manifestation of its intent, not the drop itself. The Drop of Wrath did not seem to have any mind of its own, instead it acted on instinct alone. And right now, it got excited by this fire and felt the three characters of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' being weak.


    Using this opportunity, it immediately attacked Cao Yun''s mind. In his sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath fell down inside the vast ocean that turned to blood. The shock was so intense that Cao Yun was instinctively brought inside his sea of consciousness. Now that he was, the effect of the incense almost disappeared. In real life, his body was still slowly going forward like in a daze.


    Ironically, by trying to take over his mind, the Drop of Wrath had once again saved him. He had no idea what Lu Meihan wanted to do to him, but he sure wanted none of that. Quickly circulating his mind cultivation, all three characters began to shine brighter and brighter while revolving around the place where the Drop of Wrath used to be. Three precious stones were rotating, gold, onyx and cinnabar. Gradually, the Drop of Wrath rose from the water as if it was drawn out like poison from a wound. It condensed once more.


    Now that he was fully conscious, Cao Yun could feel a medicinal essence within him. He was familiar with medicinal essence after his alchemy training. The medicinal essence from a pill or from a poison were fundamentally different. One was meant to help you and was fairly easy to control even without training. The other one was more primal, more violent. The higher the grade of the poison the more difficult it was to control. Thankfully, this poison was not very powerful. Its effects were amplified by the formation he was in. Usually, someone would simply fall under the influence of the illusion and would be unable to resist the medicinal essence entering their body.


    By using all his Yi, strengthened by his Zhi, both harmonized by his Shen, Cao Yun overtook this medicinal essence. He was able to gather all of it within his Lower Dantian and suppress the heat from spreading throughout his body.


    The moment he did, his body stopped moving as he was two third of the way in the room. Seeing this, Lu Meihan got worried. She looked closely at Cao Yun to see whether he was having a problem or not. She did not mean him any harm but she needed something from him she was not ready to ask for.


    ''Reversing Two Universes Dance'' was a dual cultivation method that could help her regain her strength and some more. This method had to be practiced by a man and a woman. And given the details of this practice, she was fairly certain that Cao Yun would refuse. Thus, she had to resort to other means.

 Chapter 70: Controlling the fire in ones mind

    ''Reversing Two Universes Dance'' consisted of some strange positions between two partners. By putting specific points in contact and by performing a special breathing, the woman would absorb much of the man''s essence and turn it into Qi within her own body. This practice would weaken the man of course, so no cultivator would agree to do it without a profound reason. This kind of method was considered to be part of the Evil Path. In the orthodox path, dual cultivation was always supposed to enlighten both partners. Some selfish dual cultivations were also accepted in times of crisis, but they were exceptional.


    For example, to help the woman you loved, this cultivation would be tolerated by the orthodox path so long as both partners were fully aware of its consequences and approved of it. Trying to steal someone''s essence was akin to forcing yourself on someone. And it was strongly frown upon, even by Lu Meihan herself.


    Sadly, she had become desperate. She was not yet ready to abandon all pretense, but means she never would have even considered before were now acceptable options. Thus, she still felt scared that something had gone wrong with Cao Yun. First of all, she didn''t want him hurt. And getting him hurt would make using ''Reversing Two Universes Dance'' impossible. But, also, if he got hurt in her chambers, an inquiry would be conducted. None of these options seemed good at all.


    She had used an array formation built from incense sticks and their fragrance. This was a very specific type of array formation. The man who had built it was a true genius and the array formation was very easy to activate, even for Lu Meihan. All she had to do was ask her servant to put incense sticks at specific spots. Then, to activate the array formation, you just had to burn these incense sticks.


    Hence the array formation was pretty short lived but its effects would last as long as the fragrance was within the room. It also meant that were would be no proof of this array formation as all proof literally burned away. In return, it wasn''t that powerful. But its effects targeted the mind. As long as someone was not wary when entering the formation, they had no chance of resisting unless they were a Spirit Warrior. And indeed, Cao Yun had the strongest mind in the outer disciples thanks to his mind cultivation, and yet the tranquil atmosphere of this place had made him fall for this trap.


    No matter how much she looked, there was nothing wrong with Cao Yun.


    "Junior Chen, are you alright?" Lu Meihan was trying to gauge out whether he was fully awake or not. Was there still a chance for her to perform ''Reversing Two Universes Dance''? Did he realize what had happened?


    According to the expert who had built this array formation, once its effects spread through someone, they would affect their memory and they would have no recollection at all.


    -


    Deep within his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was now controlling the entire medicinal essence gathered in a ball within his Lower Dantian. More medicinal essence kept on entering his body through his nose and he quickly condensed it with this ball.


    He had an idea in mind. This medicinal essence was very similar to the Praying Demon Pill in nature. It was full of Fire element as its goal was to excite and arouse. He was a bit worried to try out his idea, but he had to find a way to get this medicinal essence out of him anyway. Right now, he hadn''t learned to control his acupoints, so sending it out from his meridians was pretty difficult.


    Usually, he needed to go find his instructor. Meng Jia would have no problem at all taking this medicinal essence and purging it. But he had a better idea. He could use this essence to temper his Shen character. Indeed, he was very close to reach Perfection. The Praying Demon Pill had allowed him to increase a lot in a very short time. What he was most worried about was not the Drop of Wrath taking over during his training, but the people around him.


    He split a part of his intent to extend his senses outside. His body was standing completely still and Lu Meihan affected a worried look on her face. They were still both alone in the room and the woman was clearly too weak to do anything at all. Lu Meihan did not seem to realize that he had countered the medicinal essence. She probably thought that something went wrong with the array formation.


    Cao Yun did not want to reveal his cards right now. He had no idea what she wanted to do to him but her face showed him it wasn''t to physically harm him at all. After all, there were many witnesses who saw him get inside. With Xiao Xuefeng as a support, hurting him in full view of the public was akin to suicide. Xiao Xuefeng would probably kill Lu Meihan even before a trial.


    "Miss Lu, I''m sorry. I suddenly felt strange. I apologize but I have to meditate right now." Cao Yun used a fraction of his mind to speak and then sat cross-legged right there on the floor. To the surprise of Lu Meihan, he really started to meditate.


    In his Lower Dantian, the medicinal essence was condensed in a small fiery ball. He controlled a small part of it and sent it through his spine toward his mind. In his sea of consciousness, a very small red dot appeared from nowhere and joined with the Shen character. Cao Yun drawn the character using this dot but it was too small. However, the heat around the character still increased slightly.


    Now that he had proof that his idea would work, he controlled more of the medicinal essence. As he was controlling it, more medicinal essence was coming in his body. It was taxing on his mind as he had to control the new essence, manipulate the one he was sending up his spine and also circulate the Shen character to temper it.


    This process was also teaching him how to control medicinal essence with his Qi. No alchemist under the Mortal Warrior realm had ever done so. But he was also thinking of other ways to emulate this process without any danger.


    In a matter of minutes, the fragrance that flooded the room had completely disappeared within the Shen character. The incense sticks were burnt away and no proof of the array formation was kept.


    For Cao Yun, this trap was a big opportunity. He had finally reached Perfection. Now, the Shen character was a perfect piece of cinnabar carved in the form of the character. This Fire Spirit character was surrounded by a very light flame.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    All three characters got closer to each other, closing in on the Drop of Wrath. On this drop, the Shen character was now engraved in fire. This character was also perfectly reflected by the vast ocean below. The Shen was like a general and it floated a little bit higher than the other two.


    Right now, Cao Yun knew he could perfectly draw the Shen character, just as it was in the manual. He had reached Perfection in three of the five characters. Only half of the first layer was mastered and yet his mind was already his trump card. It was really the reason of his fast progress in all other fields. Without this powerful mind, he would still be a talented fighter, but he probably would have needed at least three months to forge the Neck Star. Thanks to it, he did it in less than 6 weeks. Similarly, he never would have gotten any alchemy rank at all.


    Mind cultivation was way more important than he had thought. Finding this obscure manual in a private library from such a small city like Yinmen was truly a gift from heaven. The Drop of Wrath and the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' were also great gifts, but the first always tried to take over his mind and offered very few advantages. The Drop of Wrath could only be used to back up his intent. However his Yi the Earth Intent, was way stronger than the intent from the Drop of Wrath, especially when combined with Zhi and Shen, even more so now that all of them had reached Perfection.


    The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' was only a cultivation method. Even though it seemed more powerful and faster than the ''Universal Law of Immortality'', it wasn''t something he could advance as fast as he wanted. Cultivating was always a slow process and every stage took usually longer and longer. Even his mind cultivation would inevitably slow down in the later stages.


    -


    Finally, Lu Meihan saw Cao Yun open his eyes and get back to reality. She had realized that her plan had failed for a long time but this was definite proof right there.


    "Junior Chen. Are you alright?" Affecting a very concerned look, Lu Meihan used all her talent in performance to convey her sincerity. Of course, Cao Yun knew she was the one who planned all this. After all, she had requested for his presence. It was her room. And she had made sure that everyone else was out. Moreover, the incense sticks were ignited just before he came in. He really needed no other proof to know for sure that she was the one behind this trap.


    "I''m sorry, Miss Lu. There was just something that troubled me. Maybe I just overworked with some ingredients earlier. I almost saw things. I sincerely apologize for my behavior, coming in your faction residence and just starting meditating out of the blue..." He tried to find a plausible explanation. This array formation assaulted the mind. By reminding her of his alchemy position, he could both pressure her and explain why his mind could resist. He also provided a way to make her believe he was none the wiser to her trap. An alchemist having visions because of medicinal essence could indeed explain it as a byproduct of his work.


    Cao Yun had almost no information so he was going to keep the few things he knew to himself. He had no idea why he was attacked, why he was targeted, if the target was him personally or his faction, what she wanted to do with him or who knew about this.


    Did Wang Mei know?


    On the other hand, Lu Meihan knew the answers to all these questions. The only thing she didn''t know right know was whether Cao Yun was aware of the trap he just thwarted. Naturally, she was suspicious but what he said made sense. Maybe he had absorbed too much medicinal essence. Maybe it had even clashed with the incense and this was the reason of the failure. Maybe he thought that the assault on his mind was due to this medicinal essence and not the incense. Everything was plausible, but Lu Meihan was a faction leader. She knew to always be careful or all her influence and power could be lost in a single moment. During her five years in the sect, she had seen it happen to many, hence her desire to recover as fast as possible without anyone noticing her weakness in the meantime.


    She was also a performer, so she knew how to put up an act. "Junior Chen. I''m so sorry that your first visit would bring you such discomfort. I have many girls who could soothe your mind with various means. Do you prefer music, singing, dance... ? Tell me what would be to your liking?"


    "Miss Lu. I''m really fine. I''ll just get some rest later." Cao Yun got a little closer. "But I''m intrigued. Why did you want to see me?"


    "Junior Chen is very direct. Good." For a while, Lu Meihan closed her eyes as if she was struggling to say her next words. "As you see, I''m terribly weak. During my cultivation, I tried to forcibly open some of my acupoints to break through into the Mortal Warrior realm. Since then, some important meridians have been terribly damaged and I have difficulty moving my Qi through them. Even simple movements can become impossible because of my state."


    She had no intention of letting the truth get out, but she now had no other choice. She had been careless. With the array formation in place, she was confident that Cao Yun would be under her charm. Beforehand, she had pondered about using a pill to temporarily increase her stamina. But the aftershock of the one she had used during the entrance examination was still affecting her. Now she was cornered because her weakness was exposed for Cao Yun to see.


    Hence, she quickly decided to be truthful about her condition. "I asked many physicians about it... They all agreed that there was nothing to do. I know that you are close to Guest Elder Xiao, so I wondered if you could petition her to help me. I know it''s far-fetched, but I''m very desperate." There was no way that Xiao Xuefeng could help her. She had been able to get the help of a 3-star Heaven physician. Even a 5-star Heaven alchemist was not as proficient in matters of health as a 1-star Heaven physician. So if her higher-ranked expert told her there was nothing to help her, Xiao Xuefeng would find nothing either.


    "I see. What Miss Lu has told me is indeed terrible. Guest Elder Xiao is very busy, but I will ask her in person if she can examine you. I cannot promise anything though." In truth, Cao Yun had no intention whatsoever of doing so. Lu Meihan had tried to use him against his will for some nefarious plan, he wasn''t going to help her just like that. However, this information was useful to him. By watching her, her weakness was obvious. And with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun did not detect any falsehood in her statement up to the point she talked about Xiao Xuefeng.


    Clearly she asked him to come for something else and only used Xiao Xuefeng as an excuse. Cao Yun was also aware that even though alchemists had some notions, they were not physicians. In the matter of poison, an alchemist could rival a physician of the same level, but not on wounds or diseases.


    Using this information, Cao Yun gathered that she wanted to use him in order to heal. The only thing he could think about was some kind of dual cultivation. After all, this array had caused him to see the woman he loved in a very lascivious way. Given her beauty and her status, she could also have used her own charms to seduce him. The fact that she did not meant that this dual cultivation was not that simple. Most likely it wasn''t part of the orthodox way.


    In Cao Yun''s mind, a conclusion appeared and then a question. Was Lu Meihan part of the demonic cultivators? Probably not. But she had maybe come into contact with one. He had targeted the demonic cultivators of the Lunar Marsh in an attempt to gain information and now he had another chance. He couldn''t expose her. If she was a demonic cultivator, she would be tried and Cao Yun could not speak with her alone anymore. On the other hand, if she only got in contact with one, the true demonic cultivator would simply run away.

 Chapter 71: The Metal Corporeal Soul

    Cao Yun''s conclusion was just an educated guess. For that matter, he had no proof whatsoever. Many thoughts came into his mind as to how to act. Being unsure right now, he decided to retreat first and gather as much information as possible.


    Lu Meihan continued their conversation. "As long as Junior Chen tries, it will be enough for me. You really seem tired... You can freely use my Coiling Silk Faction. There are plenty of ways to relax yourself."


    "Thank you, Miss Lu. I have to admit that I really need some quiet and some rest. I think I''ll just take a walk around your beautiful garden, it should alleviate some of my fatigue."


    "Of course. We are very proud of our residence. You''ll find that just walking around here is soothing for the mind. I hope you get better soon."


    Lu Meihan painfully took a small bell and rang it. Immediately, the small servant who was behind the door got in.


    "Ren Rong, escort our guest please. He''s a bit tired and wishes to stroll through our garden." She turned back to Cao Yun. "I''m sorry but for obvious reasons I won''t be able to see you off."


    "Miss Lu, no need to apologize. I''ll try and get Guest Elder Xiao to help you as soon as I can. Do not lose hope about this matter." Cao Yun was sincerely trying to hide his suspicion.


    The small servant walked in front of him as he exited the room. "Young Master, come with me, please. I''ll guide you through our Coiling Silk."


    Both of them walked outside and the girl showed Cao Yun all their estate. The garden was indeed very soothing to the mind. Even with all his thoughts and suspicions, Cao Yun quite enjoyed it. There were flowerbeds, small ponds, elegant trees, and even a waterfall. Many other disciples walked around accompanied by servants of the faction. The members of the faction were used to entertain customers in more artistic ways. For example, a woman in white was playing a zither surrounded by a dozen of men.


    All of them were transfixed by the music. Just by hearing it from afar, Cao Yun had to admit this music was extraordinary. It wasn''t just music, it had the strange effect of entering one''s mind. As it did, the person would see images related to the melody. It was really a kind of hypnotic technique. Getting out of the hypnosis was simple as you just had to focus a little on something else, but the effects were great.


    Even Cao Yun got some benefits of this walk as it calmed down the Drop of Wrath even more, helping the three Perfection characters to tame it completely.


    When Cao Yun finally decided he had seen enough, he asked Ren Rong to lead him toward the exit. The reason Cao Yun strolled through the garden was not to appease his mind at all. In reality, he wanted to understand the layout of the residence. All the time he was walking, he had used his mind cultivation to remember every single detail he was seeing. Right now, he had a perfect image of the entire place. So perfect that he could literally walk through it with his eyes closed.


    His reasoning was simple. To confirm his suspicions, he would have to sneak in here and search the premises. For that purpose, he needed several things. The first one was naturally to know the place he wanted to sneak into. When Ren Rong walked him out of the main pavilion, he had already used all his senses to their maximum to figure out exactly how the place was structured. Once he got outside, he got even more details as he watched the pavilion and deduced new information from its size and its shape. He had only walked through the first floor so all the other floors were a bit fuzzy in his mind. But he could still place the stairs and use some cues from the first floor to imagine their layout even though they were unclear.


    Then, he needed to prepare himself, but that would take some time. For now, he decided to walk back and even circulated his Shen to silence the many thoughts assailing his mind.


    -


    When he got back to his room, it was still pretty early and Huang Cixi was surprised. She thought he would stay out longer. These last few days, Cao Yun had indeed used all his time to train in many different ways and occupations, only coming back late in the evening. Then, he had the same routine. He spent some time with Mei Ying and cultivated in seclusion for several hours before sleeping four or five hours.


    "Young Master, is everything alright?"


    "Yes, thank you, Yuzhi. I just have a lot of things on my mind. I won''t disturb you. Do whatever you wish as if I wasn''t there. I''ll retire to my room to think."


    "Of course, I won''t disturb you either." Seeing the serious look on Cao Yun''s face, Huang Cixi got curious. But she had to be subtle about it and couldn''t just ask him upfront.


    Cao Yun sat cross-legged on his bed and tried to sort out his thoughts.


    "Let''s assume that Lu Meihan really is a demonic cultivator. She should have some techniques or artifacts to practice her art. And given her state, these are probably in her own room. That''s dangerous for her but asking a servant to fetch them for her would be even more so.


    On the other hand, let''s assume that she only got into contact with a demonic cultivator. Then, she maybe has some documents from them. Maybe a dual cultivation scroll or some strange medicine to heal her. I think my best bet is to assume she''s using some demonic ways in order to find a way to heal her backlash.


    I could warn Xiao Xuefeng but if she were to launch an investigation, there''s always the risk of alerting the demonic cultivators. It''s possible they could have already infiltrated the sect. After all, the man who attacked us was at least a 6-star Spirit Warrior. Even with her spiritual senses, I''m not sure Guest Elder Xiao could detect such a demonic cultivator.


    And if I''m wrong about Lu Meihan and she had other intentions... Then involving the elders might be a disaster for her. And it could also backfire on me for accusing an innocent woman of practicing the Evil path.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    For now, I''ll just lay low and focus on ways to get inside the Coiling Silk Faction residence. If I find evidence, I''ll still have the opportunity to go to Guest Elder Xiao with them. I''m fairly certain I can trust her. After all, she could have just killed me in the Lunar Marsh."


    With all these thoughts sorted out, Cao Yun had a plan of action. First, he would need to protect himself from illusions produced by incense or by array formations. There could also be array formations protecting the residence or able to detect intruders. So he would also need to look into array formations. Fortunately, he was friends with the prodigy of array formations trained by the chief elder of the array formation pavilion himself.


    He would also need to train his stealth. After all, Lu Meihan probably never left her room so even though she was weakened, he would need to be able to hide his presence as much as possible. Thanks to his mind cultivation, his senses were as sharp as they could get. Even a Spirit Warrior, without the use of their spiritual senses of course, only had a slightly higher perception. Mortal Warriors were also more sensible to the variation of Qi in the air. These were two things he lacked right now. Normally, there shouldn''t be any Mortal Warrior in the Coiling Silk Faction residence, but just to be sure, he would need to be able to suppress his Qi as much as possible.


    Even though a Mortal could not control their Qi outside of their body, they naturally exchanged Qi with their environment. A very perceptive Mortal Warrior could pick up on small variations of Qi around them to detect someone''s presence, but they lacked any true spiritual senses. Thankfully, Cao Yun knew there were techniques meant to hide one''s Qi variations. He had to pick at least one of these techniques.


    But he also had to work on his martial arts so as not to fall behind. If he could obtain clues on demonic cultivators but was too weak to do anything, that would be stupid. His goal was to find the murderers of his family, not offer his head to them.


    For now, he decided to focus on his mind cultivation as it had just advanced. He knew that the higher his mind cultivation was, the more chances he had. After all, it increased his senses, his memory, his intent, his will and many other things.


    A few hours ago, he had just reached the Perfection stage in his Shen character with a dangerous method. So when he entered his sea of consciousness, he made sure that everything was fine, and it was. The three characters looked like three precious stones orbiting a drop of blood. The more he looked at them the more mysterious they seemed, as if they were rocks naturally formed with these shapes. Yi the Earth intent was a golden character. Zhi the Water will was a pure black Onyx stone. Finally, Shen the Fire spirit was a gorgeous red cinnabar stone. Around it, air was steamy as if the character itself was scalding hot.


    If you looked more carefully, the red character was also surrounded by very faint flames, almost invisible to the naked eye. They expanded toward the other two characters without touching them yet. It looked like it was both attracting and subduing them.


    After carefully examining his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun took out the green ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. The next page showed a pure white character. So white that it was even a bit painful for the eyes as if it radiated some kind of light. When he looked at it, Cao Yun felt the Drop of Wrath which had been agitated earlier become excited again. As soon as it began to move around, the suppression from the other three characters forced it to stay still. But Cao Yun could feel its intent becoming restless. It really was drawn to this character.


    With even more caution than ever before, Cao Yun tried to draw this character in his mind. As he drew it, he felt his Qi moving unconsciously along the same path within his Lower Dantian. He drew it four times before stopping. Once again, the Drop of Wrath became agitated as if it was resonating with the character. In reality, Cao Yun could have gone farther in his cultivation but he had to stop due to this Drop of Wrath. He really did not want to let it run wild in his sea of consciousness again.


    Now that he had started the cultivation of the white character, he was able to read the page and soon understood what was happening. This character was Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. The corporeal soul was the soul responsible for the bodily functions. It was in charge of maintaining the body alive and was also in charge of the essence and Qi of the person. It was the soul that pushed people toward bodily actions to survive, but also carnal desires and all kinds of passions. It was easy to excite. Even though it wasn''t Fire in nature, its element was Metal and easily melted by Fire.


    But this character was also extremely important as it would allow Cao Yun to control his impulses more easily. One of its functions being to control the essence within someone, and consequently his Qi as well. Cultivating it would also bring many benefits in his Qi cultivation in the long run. Essence, Jing, was the basis of the Qi produced by the body. Jing was stored in the kidneys and could also travel through the Governing Vessel in the back, up to the brain. Having a strong Jing was essential for a cultivator. With this character, Cao Yun would be able to stimulate his Jing to strengthen his mind but also produce more Qi and have a better control over it.


    To put it simply, he would be able to produce and absorb more Qi, more easily. And his mind would develop faster. Once more, this mind cultivation was giving him twice the results for half the effort. Paradoxically, it would also help him to control the Drop of Wrath. As it got excited each time he practiced this character, Cao Yun could also work on the harmonization of the other three to subdue it. But it was still a bit dangerous, so he did not push it too far. If the Drop of Wrath became too restless, he would stop and wait a bit. Hence, cultivating this character would be longer than the others.


    Being very careful, Cao Yun was able to reach Small Success in two hours of work. Each new repetition from now on would be more difficult. To reach Perfection, he would probably need several months but it heavily depended on how the Drop of Wrath reacted, more so than his own mind cultivation.


    With a very faint Po character in his sea of consciousness, he circulated his Qi cultivation. Combined with a small spirit stone, he very quickly opened his seventh meridian, the Liver Meridian. It was two days earlier than his expectations. Even with a tiny bit of success with Po, his absorption of Qi had increased. The speed at which he absorbed Qi from the stone was at least 10% higher. And the blockages he met in his meridians were dealt with with way more ease thanks to his new Perfection Shen.


    Blessed with his new mind cultivation, his internal sensations were even more fantastical than before.


    When Cao Yun thought he had done enough, he immediately wrote a letter. As he had reached Perfection with the Shen character, he could now write it down as perfectly as in the manual. This drawing was of course for Feng Yingyue. He also wrote everything he had experienced to cultivate it, such as the Praying Demon pill he had consumed.


    Since Feng Yingyue was studying under Grand Master Hua Fenfei, she had access to almost every alchemy pills imaginable. It would be easy for her to get such a pill, or even a better one. He had an instant of hesitation on whether he should tell her about the potential demonic cultivators within the sect but he stopped himself. She knew that some of them may be infiltrated already since the incident with Luo Jiang back in Yinmen City, so Cao Yun didn''t need to warn her. And he had no way of knowing whether his letter would maybe be intercepted or read by anyone else.


    No one but Feng Yingyue would be able to use the Shen character as you needed to already have performed the first character of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. But regarding the informations about himself and the demonic cultivators, Cao Yun was careful.

 Chapter 72: The Wubei Sects library

    Now that he had advanced his cultivation, Cao Yun needed to make preparations for his plan to sneak into the Coiling Silk Faction residence. He probably would have to wait several weeks to be ready, so he decided to start as soon as possible.


    The easiest thing to get his hands on was some kind of pill to protect himself from the fragrance of incense. By looking within his memory, he browsed through ''Ten Thousands Earthly Mysteries''. It contained hundreds of recipe about pills. He limited himself to the ones he was able to make but couldn''t find the specific pill he was looking for.


    As he had perfectly memorized the book, he looked through the bibliography and found several other books pertaining to incense, to protecting the senses from external influence and to repel poisons and invading medicinal essences. As Cao Yun had not read these particular books, he had not memorized them of course. So he would need to go to the library to look them up. There, he could also use the opportunity to look for the other things he needed.


    -


    In the morning, he went to the library of the Wubei Sect. Cao Yun had enough points to borrow at least ten books, depending on their level and rarity. But thanks to his mind cultivation, he could memorize everything he read, so he did not care much about these restrictions. However there were still some books and manuals he had to have with him to practice. The best example would be the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. Without the actual characters under the eyes, he could easily make mistakes in drawing them within his mind. Even Cao Yun with his extraordinary memory had to look at them from time to time to be sure he wasn''t on the wrong track.


    The library was a huge pagoda with eleven levels. Each level''s access was also dependent on your merit points. Right now, Cao Yun had more than a thousand merit points with all the pills he was having the Dragon''s Fire Faction sell for him. So he could gain access up to the fifth floor. To get to the sixth one, he would also need to become a Mortal Warrior.


    The man in charge of the library was the same elder in charge of the armory, Elder Tian. Most of the time the armory was only attended by an instructor because disciples rarely went there. They had the right to pick a weapon when they entered the sect, when they gained ten thousand points and when then broke through a new realm. It wasn''t something that happened everyday. Thus, Elder Tian was in the armory at specific times, when many disciples went in. It was especially the case at the beginning of the year with the new disciples and the former third-years who came back to the sect.


    "This junior pays his respect to Elder Tian. I wish to browse through various books in the five inferior levels."


    Elder Tian briefly raised his head. "Do as you wish, as long as you don''t get in the sixth floor."


    "Thank you, Elder."


    There were books on almost every subject one could imagine. There were martial arts manual sorted by level, books on alchemy, on blacksmithing, on array formations, on demonic beasts... There were also history books, philosophical discussions, cultivation manuals...


    This library was a treasure trove of knowledge. It was also perfectly sorted. The first time Cao Yun came here, Elder Tian had warned him not to disturb the order of the books, scrolls and manuals. Unlike him, a first-year boy had not complied with the rules. One day during the first month, that boy was putting books back in the wrong section. All of a sudden, he was swallowed in the air by an invisible force and thrown out of the library. Since this day, every time that boy came back he was very obedient and kept his head as low as he could.


    Cao Yun started by looking up the books that were mentioned in ''Ten Thousands Earthly Mysteries''. He read all of them to memorize their content. In the process, he found out the perfect pill for his goal, the Small Moon Closing pill. This was a 3-star Earth rank pill.


    This Small Moon Closing pill was pretty obscure so it did not appear in the books Cao Yun had previously read. According to its description, this pill was not especially difficult or expensive to make. The pill''s medicinal essence would stay within the body for at least a quarter of a lunar month, a little less than a week. And it would react with any Fire medicinal essence coming from any of the five senses. As soon as it reacted, it would consume itself to burn away this invading essence. So it only worked once per pill and could be overwhelmed by an important quantity of invading essence.


    The pill had very few toxins and could be safely used several times in a short row. Even if one pill was entirely consumed by an invading essence, you could still take another one right away. However, it was only effective against low-level poisons and medicinal essences. But for what Cao Yun needed it for, it was perfect.


    The recipe was not within the book so he quickly went to the third floor where 3-star Earth pill recipes were stored. He looked through various other scrolls as he was at it, but mainly focused on the Small Moon Closing pill. All the ingredients were fairly cheap and with his connections to the Dragon''s Fire Faction, he could easily get them in a matter of days. By giving them two True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering pills, he would cover the cost and some more.


    -


    Now that he was done with the failsafe against the incense of Lu Meihan, he could focus on his two other goals: detecting array formations and stealth.


    He went back to the first floor and looked up martial art manuals about movement and hiding one''s presence. Sifting through the books, scrolls and manuals, he found several interesting things.


    Among them was a treatise called ''Raging Storm in Still Rock''. It wasn''t exactly what he was looking for but he realized a certain similarity with the Neck Star he was cultivating right now. The treatise talked about the way to produce movement and energy while seemingly staying perfectly still. According to the treatise, nothing was ever perfectly still, not even the most immovable rock. Every object or person was always moving in some way, even if it was only its most basic components. Every single thing was composed a tiny blocks moving all the time and vibrating.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    With this knowledge, the treatise expanded that a martial artist was always adapting his stance with micro-movements. Sometimes they were so small that even the martial artist himself did not notice it. The secret to achieve true stillness was in fact in these small movements. And this paradox also worked the other way around, in stillness, movement could be achieved.


    Cao Yun read this treatise several times as he was really inspired by it. Even though he had already memorized it, he could not take his eyes off the treatise. He even began to think of ways to integrate it within his practice. In his sea of consciousness, he was imagining his stances being influenced by this way of thinking. There was no stance or practical exercises within ''Raging Storm in Still Rock''. It only contained the thinking of an anonymous martial artist. Cao Yun had been really lucky to randomly find this treatise.


    This way of thinking about vibrations also reminded him of ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' from ''Dance of Slaughter''. He had not used this cultivation routine for quite some time, but he had already integrated the vibration aspect within his own martial arts. Now he realized that this vibration aspect could in fact exist within every aspect of his cultivation.


    Sensing that time was flying by, Cao Yun decided to put all these thoughts and ideas on the side. He would test them the next time he went to the Howling Crane Gorge. If he tried to alter his martial arts only using his ''Shen Visualization'', he could easily go astray and he would need even more time to forget a bad habit.


    He finally found what he was looking for inside a very small manual called ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. It contained two different techniques.


    The first one ''Locking the Seven'' was a reference to the seven apertures of the head: the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils and the mouth. By mastering this technique, you would become invisible to the normal senses of Mortal cultivators. To a degree, you could also escape the senses of a Mortal Warrior by reducing the variations of Qi around you. But you had no way of escaping the spiritual senses of a Spirit Warrior.


    This technique consisted in slowing down your entire body while still being able to function normally for a time. This slowing down affected your heartbeat, your breathing and even your Qi. By circulating your Qi through various pathways, your heart would beat more and more slowly. You also had to harmonize with your breathing to increase the effect. But the most important part was allowing your body to still function, especially your muscles and your mind. Instead of using your blood and your breathe, you would directly use Qi to feed your organs. It could not be sustained for long but with enough training, a normal cultivator could go on for at least four hours a day.


    The second part was ''Stopping the Waves''. This part pertained to Qi and how to use it to erase every sound from your movements. Once again, you had to circulate it in very specific pathways as well as use specific leg movements. But if you mastered it, your steps would not produce any sound at all. You could even jump or run without producing any sound.


    Combining both parts of the manual was also very difficult as you needed your Qi to both sustain your body and your movement technique. Thus, if you combined the both of them, your movements would become extraordinarily slow. But on the other hand, the only reason you would have to move fast would be if you were discovered. In which case, you did not need to use this technique anymore.


    This technique was a 4-star Earth martial technique. It wasn''t particularly useful in combat but it was difficult to master and could prove essential to survive in certain situations. For example, you could sneak on demonic beasts and kill stronger creatures than you more easily and with less danger.


    Right away, Cao Yun began to circulate his Qi as it was described. As all his meridians were not open yet so it did not circulate as smoothly as it should, even with his new Po character. Nonetheless, he still felt the effects as his heartbeat slowed down by around 5%. If he could reach 6th-grade Mortal, he would progress way faster in this technique as all his meridians would be perfectly open. As such, his Qi would flow faster and more naturally. But, according to his own progress, he would only reach 6th-grade Mortal the next month.


    This technique also showed Cao Yun that he had to be more careful with his attention. Due to a momentary lapse in his attention while in the Coiling Silk Faction residence, he had fallen victim to a trap. Knowing that this kind of stealth technique existed, even in the Mortal realm, Cao Yun imagine what could exist in the higher realms. A Spirit Warrior could probably literally stand right in front of him without Cao Yun being able to detect a single clue about them.


    Thankfully, his mind cultivation enhanced his senses. So Cao Yun was confident that he would always have a better perception than someone at the same level. But if he did not progress fast enough, the difference would get smaller and smaller. After all, having spiritual senses would most likely balance out this advantage he had on others.


    Anyway, now Cao Yun had a pill to protect himself against the previous trap. He had memorized the Coiling Silk Faction residence''s layout perfectly. And just now, he knew what to cultivate to sneak easily inside and not be discovered. He even found some benefits for his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''.


    What he lacked now was a basic understanding of array formations. Apart from the trap he had fallen into, there could be other array formations meant to capture or detect any intruder. Even if he were the stealthiest man in the kingdom, such an array formation could foil his plans. Until now, he had never paid much attention to array formations.


    When he was younger, his older brother took him to look at the array formations protecting their residence. The young Cao Yun quickly got overwhelmed by all the information and got bored. Cao Sheng realized this soon enough and switched toward martial arts, reigniting his interests.


    Of course, Cao Yun could go ask Sun Liao directly, but his friend would not give him an entire introduction course about array formations. And even if he did, Cao Yun did not want to waste all his time. Thus he decided to read some books on the subject to at least have some basic understanding before asking him anything. As he was not proficient enough to find the best book for a beginner, he went to Elder Tian.


    Elder Tian rarely answered any question. But lucky for Cao Yun, he had left a good impression on him.


    "I''m not an array formation master, but ''Guarding the Ten Thousand Directions'' seems to be the book to start with. It''s very extensive on what array formations can do but very light on actual practice. It will give you an overview of the occupation. After that, you should consult with a true master."


    "Thank you, Elder Tian."


    Cao Yun followed this advice and went to look for the ''Guarding the Ten Thousand Directions'' book. It was in the first floor as it was just an introduction to the array formation occupation. As it was getting late, Cao Yun decided to read it once without trying to understand anything and memorized every single character of the book. He would try to understand it later. Then he would probably go to Sun Liao to learn even more. He did not care about setting up array formations. What he wanted was being able to detect them, or even break them.

 Chapter 73: Guarding the Ten Thousand Directions

    Cao Yun asked Huang Cixi to send a message to the Dragon''s Fire Faction requesting the materials needed for the Small Moon Closing pill. He was ready to exchange up to two True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering pills for them, but would rather do so for only one. The more he could hide his real abilities, the better, especially with potential demonic cultivators going after him.


    In the evening, he kept playing with Mei Ying before focusing on his mind cultivation. Once again, he had to balance his progress with agitating the Drop of Wrath. Every repetition, the Drop of Wrath tried to attack the Po character as though fire trying to melt down metal. Every one of his attempts gave Cao Yun the opportunity to strengthen his mental defense against the Drop of Wrath. Paradoxically, it was allowing him to better control it by being so violent. But the Drop of Wrath had no intelligence, it seemingly acted on instinct alone. So even though it was very dangerous and powerful, it wasn''t that much of a threat to Cao Yun, as long as his mind stayed clear.


    He also advanced his Qi cultivation and was happy to notice that he was absorbing even more Qi from the small spirit stones. Very soon, he would even be able to consume the entirety of a small spirit stone in a couple of days. All this Qi was sent toward his Lower Dantian. Then he circulated it according to the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' to open up his last five meridians.


    After all that, he kept some time to train on ''Locking the Seven''. He discovered that the Po character was very useful as it made his Qi control a bit easier. The goal of the technique was to slow the heart down to one or two beats by minute. This was the Small Success, and the practitioner''s heart would be around fifty times slower than normal. The True Success was one or two beats by hour. As it turned out, slowing the heart with this technique was very easy. The problem was keeping your body functioning thanks to your Qi. You had to control the flow of Qi to all your organs, and even move the blood yourself.


    Right now, Cao Yun was able to slow down to twenty beats by minute without any problem. He stayed in this state for more than three hours while circulating his Qi accordingly.


    -


    In the Coiling Silk Faction residence, Lu Meihan was talking with the man in black and purple.


    "Chen Guo resisted your array formation. But he doesn''t seem to have noticed anything at all."


    The man in black and purple had his face entirely masked so his expression could not be seen but he still seemed pensive. He finally spoke.


    "We should be more careful about him. Maybe he did notice but hid it very well. I''ll personally set up other array formations in your residence. Now on the matter of your health..."


    Lu Meihan looked utterly defeated. "What is there to discuss about it? If I can''t dual cultivate with Chen Guo, there''s nothing to do. I can''t very well try to go after other geniuses as they''re all Mortal Warriors by now. Chen Guo is the only viable option but his mind is strong enough to resist my means."


    The little hope she had received was now an even deeper despair than before. If she stayed crippled, she would have no choice but to return to her family. She was the youngest daughter of a small noble family. Without her cultivation, she would just become a political pawn married off to someone else. Cultivators were proud. Their whole life was about going against fate and nature itself to reach godhood and immortality. Resigning oneself to a fate such as this was impossible.


    "But there are other ways to act. For now, do not worry too much. I have plans in motion to weaken Chen Guo. If he''s wounded, getting to him will be that much easier."


    Startled, Lu Meihan finally realized what she had signed up for. "You''re going to physically harm a disciple of our sect?!"


    "Well, you should know that there are ways to do so while respecting the rules." The man was almost laughing when he said that. "For the time being, you still need to recover some of your strength."


    As soon as she heard him, a thought suddenly popped into Lu Meihan''s mind. Instinctively, she tried to stand up but immediately fell back with a moan of pain. "Do you have a way?"


    "Calm down, Miss Lu. Of course I have a way. But there''s a reason why I never talked to you about it." The man had seen the deep despair in her eyes and decided it was the best opportunity for him. He took out a small and round metallic box. "This is called the Life Essence Phoenix Balm. I also have a manual with it. This balm, if applied to specific acupoints, can help you. It will seep through your meridians and coat them from inside with medicinal essence."


    Meridians and vessels were not material constructs, at least not inside a Mortal''s body, so only other energies could alter them.


    The man gave the balm to Lu Meihan. As soon as she got it in hand, she opened it. A powerful blood stench flooded her nostrils. At first, it smelled like the blood of demonic beasts, but behind that was another kind of smell. Lu Meihan was a fifth-year so she had enough battle experience to recognize this smell. There was also human blood in this balm. She was deeply shocked. The ''Reversing Two Universes Dance'' dual cultivation manual was at the limit of being a demonic cultivation. After all, it was possible to still perform it with a consensual partner as long as he agreed to giving part of his energy.


    On the other hand, this balm truly was demonic. It wasn''t just blood but blood essence. You had to kill someone to take that from them. She pondered for a while and then closed the box to examine the manual.


    With her experience, she rapidly found that what the man in black and purple had said was most likely correct. She was no physician but she had consulted a few experts and had quite an understanding of her own condition. But besides the evil way from which the balm had been created, there was another toll to pay.


    The medicinal essence would dissipate in her meridians faster and faster with each use of the balm. And once she would become immune to its effect, she would suffer a terrifying backlash. It would probably be powerful enough to kill her on the spot.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "You finally understand why I waited to give you this opportunity. I estimate that once you use this Life Essence Phoenix Balm, you''ll have five to six months to live. If you cannot get Chen Guo by then, it''s over. I suggest you wait until the end of the month to start using it." He paused seeing the hesitation on Lu Miehan''s face. "If you want to use it, of course..."


    It had been several weeks that Lu Meihan was this weak. She wasn''t even able to relieve or bathe herself. Every act, as simple as it seemed, required a servant to help her. It had been particularly humiliating for her. A few days ago, she would have refused the offer and probably denounced the man to the elders of the sect.


    However, despair and shame were now thriving in Lu Meihan. The man in black and purple waited for a very long time. He was very patient because he already knew what the woman would choose.


    "I''ll only use it next month. I hope your plan succeeds so I can get my hands on Chen Guo."


    "Good, good." Even with his face masked, a smile could be heard in his answer.


    -


    The next day, after several other trainings, Cao Yun decided to use some of his time to go talk to Sun Liao. He first asked him through his servant to know whether he had some time to help him. When Sun Liao learned that Cao Yun wanted him to teach the basics of array formations, he got excited. His servant was surprised because Sun Liao always seemed very composed and calm.


    In fact, Sun Liao felt like he owed much to Cao Yun. He had tried to humiliate him during the entrance examination and had made some outrageous bet with him. But in the end, not only did he drop both matters, he even befriended him. When entering the sect, Sun Liao was very arrogant and had only scorn for commoners. This ordeal had shown him his errors.


    Later, he even learned that his future master, Chief Elder Suxian, also was a commoner before entering the sect. All this served to humble him. And he had realized that he was learning and improving faster now that he wasn''t blinded by so much arrogance. Oh, he was still arrogant, but his ego was now in his work. He had faith in his own abilities. What had changed was that he did not see people through their status at birth now. Also, he tried to avoid unnecessary conflicts, even though that was very hard for him to do.


    In a sense, Cao Yun had broaden his mind and he discovered new ways to form array formations.


    Sun Liao set an appointment with Cao Yun in the array formations pavilion. The place was not particularly big. Compared to the alchemy pavilion, it was almost the same size. Array formations could be of all sizes, so Cao Yun figured that they did not need to build huge ones while training. For example, the formation that protected the Cao residence was as large as the residence itself. Around the Wubei Sect, there should also be array formations as large as the Heidai Peak. But array formations could also fit on a weapon.


    Cao Yun walked into the array formations pavilion and went to the front desk. There, a young man was reading a book while mumbling some things.


    "Excuse me, I''m here to meet with Sun Liao."


    The boy wasn''t interested until he heard the name. "Sun Liao?!" He quickly raised his head and first saw the Heavenly Swallow emblem, then the 1-star Earth alchemist badge. Even before seeing his face, the boy knew who was before him. "Mister Chen. Of course, of course. Hui Mingyi!"


    As she was called, a tall and elegant woman came out from behind a curtain and walked toward the counter.


    "Please, take Mister Chen to see Young Master Sun."


    The woman had a moment of surprise before showing the way to Cao Yun. He arrived in a big room filled with bookshelves. In the middle of the room was a giant compass embedded in the ground. Around the compass were several tables with some tools on them.


    Sitting at one of the tables, sifting through documents, was Sun Liao.


    "Young Master Sun, Mister Chen is here to see you."


    "Oh?!" Sun Liao was taken out of his mind by the sweet voice. "Thank you, Hui Mingyi."


    She gently bowed and left the room with the two young men.


    "Brother Chen, nice to see you. I really got surprised when I received your letter. Why did you suddenly want to learn about array formations? I imagine your alchemy should already be plenty for you. Especially considering you don''t want it to become your main occupation."


    "Indeed, Brother Sun. But I ran into a problem and my lack of knowledge was very perilous. What I need the most is the ability to detect array formations. And in the worst case, escape from them or destroy them if possible. I don''t want to delay your training, but I''d be grateful if you were able to teach me a bit about that. I''m sorry if I''m being too naive, but I really don''t know much about array formations."


    "No need to worry about that. I''m always glad to share my knowledge with a talented man. And I have plenty of time. I''m still a bit stuck to achieve my Pristine 5-star Earth array formation. Some going back to the basics is always a good thing. So, what do you know?"


    Cao Yun had used some of his time to browse through ''Guarding the Ten Thousand Directions''. It was a good overview of array formations.


    Array formations were constructs made with almost anything. They could be formed by engraving a certain shape, or just drawing it. But could also be formed through the use of flags stabbed into the ground, or even buildings or nature itself. Some masters could engrave an array formation on a plate for it to be used almost anywhere. Some masters had also created array formations by planting trees at certain locations. By arranging these in a specific alignment with nature, you could force the Qi circulating through all things, including the earth and the air, to follow a certain pathway. Then, this pathway could create mystical effects.


    Some of the array formations were: attack formations, defense formations, illusory formations, sealing formations, cultivation formations, and many more. The book did not really have many examples and only talked about the basic principles.


    For example, array formations were classified the same way as the pills. Earth array formations could only use a source of Qi provided to it and needed a lot of maintenance to keep working properly. On the other hand, a Human array formation contained a bit of Qi from its creator, which meant you had to be a Mortal Warrior to make them. This way, the array formation could be used a number of times without resupply. Some could even use a small part of the Qi around them, but only to strengthen them, not to activate them. A Heaven array formation could recharge and activate solely on the Qi in the environment, but sometimes it could be too long, so it was also possible to recharge it.


    The main principles of array formations were the Eight Directions. But as the name of the manual suggested, these were only the main principles, and each one had many interpretations and variations. They were Qi Circulation, Yin-Yang Alternation, Five Transformations, Sixty Rotations, Eight Trigrams, Nine Halls, Twenty-Four Mountains and finally Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems.


    The first principle was obvious and consisted in optimizing the flow of Qi in the array formation. The second and third one permeated to interactions between the Yin and the Yang for Yin-Yang Alternation and the five elements for Five Transformations. For an alchemist, it was pretty simple as well. Even though the application was different, the principles were the same.


    Then, the other principles all had connections to the environment, either the stars, the planets, the cycle of nature, time itself. These were more difficult to put into practice. One tool that was used by array formation masters was the Luopan, a great compass.

 Chapter 74: 1-star Earth array formation master

    Cao Yun explained what he understood from ''Guarding the Ten Thousand Directions'' and Sun Liao listened carefully.


    "It''s very interesting! The way you see the Yin-Yang Alternation and the Five Transformations through your alchemy is really fascinating."


    Sun Liao pondered for a bit. As a matter of fact, Cao Yun had given him some new ideas. But the most important one was to go explore within other occupations similar concepts he was working with in array formations. This new perspective on these two principles was an eye-opener for Sun Liao. Just after this session, he would run toward the library to fetch some books on these principles in alchemy and maybe even blacksmithing or other occupations.


    "However, apart from the first three principles, your understanding is too shallow. These principles were made based on our world of course, but they should also adapt. An array formation master should always be able to adapt to their environment. If you arrive in a place where the stars are different, you must be able to look beyond the surface and reach the truth.


    But for now, I think I can directly show you how to use a compass and help you make your first array formation. I know you just want to be able to detect them. But you must be able to use a compass to do so. It is certainly the most important tool of any array formation master. It can help you set up an array formation without spiritual senses but also detect them if you pay close enough attention to your surroundings.


    I know you don''t have a compass, so I got one ready for you. You can take it back with you, it''s really the most basic compass, only used for training. As long as you''re not above 2-star Earth, you don''t really need a better compass. It''s called ''Twenty-Four Mountains and Eight Rivers Compass'' or simply ''Twenty-Four Eight Compass''.


    A compass is usually divided into 8 sectors, themselves subdivided into 3, which gives us the Twenty-Four Mountains."


    Sun Liao took a black compass the size of a medium plate and gave it to Cao Yun. Then, he went to a free space of the room and took out his own compass. It was a little bit different from the other one but Cao Yun could not really tell in which way, apart from the looks.


    "I''ll show you how to set up the most basic array formation that could be useful to you. Just like the Low-Level Qi Gathering Pill you''ve been known for, its main use is to help cultivators in gathering Qi. Its basic material is twenty flags and one spirit stone. The spirit stone will be the source of energy. Then, the array formation will be able to draw energy from the surroundings to gather it around the cultivator and help them absorb it. It''s called Qi Vortex array formation."


    Sun Liao took a lot care while placing the flags on the floor. Thus, Cao Yun was able to easily remember every single one of his movements.


    "You see, I use my compass to determine how to best position each flag according to the room, but also themselves. There is a specific diagram to respect but the distance between the flags is not absolutely set. So even though the general shape will be the same, this will never be the exact same array formation. When you''re an expert, you''re able to always find the optimal setting.


    That''s why working with flags is easier for beginners. If you''re mistaken, you can just move the flags around. The problem is also obvious. If you move the flags around, your array formation is broken. Now try and get inside."


    Cao Yun obeyed while being careful not to kick any flag. When he got inside the array formation, he felt absolutely nothing. Then, Sun Liao put a small spirit stone on the ground. It shined and Cao Yun felt the air around him becoming more dense in energy. Each one of his breath now contained more energy and he could absorb it more naturally.


    "If you''re good enough, you can obtain at least seven times the energy contained in the spirit stone before it runs out. Then you need to replace the spirit stone to activate the array formation again.


    Now, I''ll set it up again while explaining the reasoning behind it. After that, you''ll try to do the same. I''d advise you to focus on the first three of the Eight Directions for now, so I''ll only explain them."


    And so, Sun Liao began.


    "This flag must be in the north-east of our array formation, it''s the master flag. Array formations always have more important parts. The master flag here is the cornerstone of the entire thing. Given the formation, it should be very Yang and with Metal attribute. I''ll use my compass to align with this room and find the best spot within this space. What''s important is the relationship between the flags inside the array formation. Once your master flag is set, you''ll use it as a reference for your compass."


    He continued to explain the positioning of each of the twenty flags and then even the small spirit stone.


    "Your turn. I''ll consider it a success if you''re able to produce twice more energy density than from the stone alone."


    Cao Yun tried to follow the directions of Sun Liao. He knew the shape and the properties of every flag. So he used his compass and also tried to imagine the result with his ''Shen Visualization''. To determine the exact positions, he used his alchemy knowledge of Yin and Yang and of the five elements. Regarding the flow of Qi within the array formation, he tried to use his own meridians and vessels as reference to understand it.


    Finally, the array formation was set up, his very first one. Sun Liao watched it for a while under many different angles.


    "It''s very neat. I imagine that you used some alchemy principles in there as well. That''s really fascinating, I''ll go fetch some books on it just after that. I think that three of your flags are slightly off, but the array formation works." He put his small spirit stone in and both the men who were inside the array formation felt the Qi gathering in the air around them.


    "It''s almost four times the energy density contained in the stone. Very good for a first try. I''ll just explain to you how I figured out you were off on these flags."Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ...


    Using all the advice from Sun Liao, Cao Yun altered his ''Shen Visualization'' and made another Qi Vortex array formation. This time he reached six times.


    "Great! You''re a fast learner! Well, of course you are, given how quickly you took on alchemy. I''d say this array formation is Perfect and almost Pristine. Just a little bit and you''ll get the qualification to become a 1-star Earth array formation master."


    Cao Yun just wanted to detect array formations, but now he had learned how to set them up using a pre-established plan. And this Qi Vortex array formation would be very useful as his consumption speed of the spirit stones would only get higher with his Po cultivation.


    "Just remember that this array formation literally sucks in the Qi from the surroundings. In this pavilion, there''s an array formation to provide Qi to the rooms just in case. But if you use it in your own room, you''ll be depriving other disciples of the Qi around them. So when you use it, I''d advise to do it either in the array formation pavilion during the day. Or in a remote place during the evening or the night. Mortal cultivators are not sensible enough to perceive the difference in Qi but as soon as they start cultivating, they''ll see that they can''t absorb as much as they should."


    Indeed, only Mortal Warriors could feel the Qi in the air. Mortals could only get a sense of the Qi if it was very close to them. Cao Yun and Sun Liao were able to feel the effects of the array formation because they were trying to absorb the Qi and felt the difference. A Mortal Warrior would feel the difference just by entering the room.


    "Well, we still have some time, so I''ll first explain how you can use the compass to find out whether an array formation has been set up. And then you should try to set up the Qi Vortex once more. If you''re qualified, I''ll just call an instructor and give you the 1-star Earth badge.


    You used the compass to find the best position for your master flag and then to deduce where to put the others. To find out if an array formation is being used, unless you''re a Spirit Warrior with spiritual senses, you do essentially the same thing. You try to find the spots where a cornerstone of the array formation could be and then deduce the position of the rest of it. If you find strange elements where the array formation cornerstone should be and also in some positions you deduced, you know there''s an array formation. In order to deduce these positions, you have to understand all the Eight Directions and know quite a bit about array formations. Usually, we try to first detect attack and illusory array formations as they''re the most dangerous. But you should also learn some detection array formations.


    Even though anyone can create an array formation, you still have to adhere to the principles for it to work. Then, to break an array formation, you must also use the compass. The best way is with low level array formations like the Qi Vortex. They can have one or several cornerstones. If you remove them one way or the other, the array formation crumbles. There are also cases in which you can''t do that. For example, if the array formation is engraved, it can become more difficult. You can still try to engrave something else of course, but you can also use the concept of gates.


    Every array formation has at least one gate. The Gate of Life is the best one to find. If you can find it using your compass, you can exit the array formation at once. Of course, it can be a problem for illusory array formations as your senses are altered.


    There are other ways, but they''re pretty impracticable unless you''re way more advanced. I don''t want to make things too complex for you just yet. I''ll give you a list of manuals that should give you a great number of array formations you should know, as well as specific techniques to find out if they''re being used and where are their cornerstones or gates.


    But remember that every array formation master will use their own way to set up an array formation. So you should trust your compass more than the books and adapt to the environment around you."


    Cao Yun tried one last time to set up the Qi Vortex array formation. And this time, he succeeded brilliantly. The array formation was Pristine, it produced energy seven times as dense as the one from the stone.


    Sun Liao immediately went looking for an instructor before Cao Yun could stop him. He wasn''t sure whether he wanted to expose his newfound knowledge to everyone else. As much as it could bring him many benefits, it could also attract the wrong kind of attention from the people he suspected were inside the sect.


    Anyway, while pondering about it, he thought there were more pros than cons. He set up the array formation once more before an instructor and got the 1-star Earth array formation master. To pass a rank, you simply had to set up an array formation of this rank in a Pristine state. That meant that the array formation had to reach at least 95% of the effects and less than 5% of the energy loss. Since the Qi Vortex array formation was about gathering energy, it could be judged only on its effects respective to the spirit stone. And seven times was the criterion.


    -


    Before leaving, Cao Yun had an instant of hesitation because he did not want to implicate Sun Liao but he still asked him. He drew what he remembered from the formation with incense and showed it to his friend.


    "Brother Sun. This formation caused me some trouble. Do you know it?"


    He took the drawing and frowned deeply. "I''m not too sure. It''s certainly in none of the books I''ve read, but I feel some familiarity with it. Every array formation master has some tells in their craft. So I may see someone''s signature in it, but I''m not too sure either. What were the effects?"


    "This array formation was manipulating incense to produce illusions and excitement, arousal."


    "I see... I''ll look into it, Brother Chen." Sun Liao took the drawing with him.


    "Be careful! I can''t explain everything to you, but if the person who set up this array formation, or at least created it, is who I think they are, they are very dangerous."


    Sun Liao saw how serious Cao Yun was. He took out the drawing and burned it away with a candle. "I remember the pattern, so I don''t need to walk around with a proof on me. I''ll remember your words, Brother Chen. But I insist on helping you. Trust me, I value my life, so I''ll be careful."


    Once they were done talking, Cao Yun left. On his way, he thought about what Sun Liao had told him about the way to use the Qi Vortex array formation. But going alone in a remote place could also be dangerous if he was targeted. On the other hand, his spirit stones were now too quick to deplete.


    He would try to find a place that was remote enough and safe enough for him to practice later. Maybe he could have Huang Cixi look as well. She could also help him stand guard during his training. In the sect, there was no real danger apart from the demonic cultivators hidden in the shadows. But he wasn''t even sure there were really any within the sect. For now, it was just his hypothesis based on his deductions.


    Anyway, for now he returned to his room and followed his routine, training his mind cultivation, his Qi cultivation, focusing on the Neck Star in his mind, circulating ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' and also using ''Shen Visualization to train his array formations.


    The next day he would read the books suggested by his friend and memorize every single array formation in them. Then, he would use ''Shen Visualization'' to deduce all likely positions of array formations within the Coiling Silk Faction residence. He still had a perfect image of the layout of the garden and of some of the buildings.


    It would take a very long time, but he was waiting to be perfectly ready before trying anything. And he still wasn''t confident about his stealth for now anyway.

 Chapter 75: A visitor to the Devils Jail

    According to what Cao Yun currently knew about array formations, there were at least a hundred locations where they could be positioned. Detecting an array formation was often easier than setting up one. And depending on its level and grade, breaking it could be either fairly simple or impossibly difficult. Right now, Cao Yun had many things to jungle with and it did not give him much time to think.


    In priority, he had to train his martial arts with ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''''s Neck Star. He had to train to erase his presence with ''Locking the Seven'' and to move with stealth thanks to ''Stopping the Waves''. He also had to get enough knowledge about array formations to sneak into the Coiling Silk Faction residence without problem. Then, he had to train his mind cultivation with the Po character to enhance everything else and protect himself even better against the Drop of Wrath. Of course, he had to advance his Qi cultivation too, using spirit stones and the Qi Vortex array formation.


    Finally, he needed to train his alchemy to be able to produce a Small Moon Closing pill of good enough quality. It was a 3-star Earth pill whereas he was still working on the Seven Frogs Winter pill as Instructor Meng had asked him.


    There was a lot of things to consider. But in the end, he realized that all of these could be used to help him get inside the Coiling Silk Faction residence. Once he uncovered the truth, he would decide on his next course of action. And for that, he needed to be strong enough both in his martial arts and in his Qi cultivation.


    For now, he decided to organize his schedule around this goal. He also remembered his upcoming fight but he wasn''t too stressed. He had easily taken care of Luduo Bu once and he was even stronger now. Whereas, Luduo Bu had spent the past few weeks in the Devil''s Jail.


    Using his ''Shen Visualization'', Cao Yun worked on the two pills he had to perfect, the Seven Frogs Winter pill and the Small Moon Closing pill. The first one only served to train his craft but it was essential to be able to refine a decent Small Moon Closing pill. There was no new concept to master, he simply had to harmonize his hands with his senses to get the timing right. As the flame and the flow of medicinal essences and toxins were always changing, he could not just mindlessly follow instructions. Every refinement was a new experience, but it fed his ''Shen Visualization''. Little by little, he refined his understanding and polished his deductions.


    Even without spiritual senses, his Shen was powerful enough to allow him to almost see what was going on in the cauldron through his other senses and his intelligence.


    When the time he had allocated to his alchemy was over, Cao Yun had made a Seven Frogs Winter pill with 97% medicinal essence and 6% toxins. With only a bit fewer toxins, he would reach what Instructor Meng had asked of him. His best bet was to reduce the amount of medicinal essences as well, by absorbing a bit less of both, he would be able to reach this stage. On the other hand, his Small Closing Moon pill did not exceed 84%. It was a 3-star Earth pill after all. Even though it wasn''t particularly hard within its rank, it still was tough to reach a Perfect grade.


    After his alchemy training, he went back to the Howling Crane Gorge. With his points he could go there three times during the month. And if he kept on selling his pills, he would even gain a fourth access before the end of the month. Thus, he decided to go there once a week. With its powerful gale, it was the perfect place to train his stances and his movements. Before going inside the formation, he looked it from above.


    The formation was dug inside the mountain. It looked like a snake strangely coiled on itself. Using what he had learned, he tried to examine the array formation. He did not get a lot, but he tried to see its shape and positioning relative to the mountain and the surroundings. During several minutes, he tried to figure out why it had been made in such a way. This formation was a 3-star Heaven array formation, so he had no way to understand it. Nonetheless, he still got a bit of understanding from studying it. Such an array formation was able to recharge itself with the Qi from nature itself and required little to no maintenance.


    Once inside the array formation, he quickly went to the third stage. In there, he had to fight just to keep his stance. This perpetual fight to simply stay still was allowing him to understand the concept of ''movement within stillness''. This concept was the core of the Neck Star but also of ''Stopping the Waves''. The concept that was more difficult to grasp was ''stillness within movement''.


    For the first half of the hour, Cao Yun only focused on keeping his stance. And soon enough he was able to stay perfectly still despite the gale. All his body was moving with the gale itself and for any onlooker he would appear to be immobile even though he was constantly moving. In his sea of consciousness, the Neck Star shone brightly and Cao Yun understood the first move of the second star, ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''. With this deeply rooted stance, he could increase the strength of his strikes twofold at least and move even faster.


    He also achieved a little bit of success in ''Stopping the Waves'', but the main concept to really understand it was ''stillness within movement''.


    During the second half of his time, Cao Yu trained his ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. Using it while performing ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' was exceptional. Each of his strike split the gale for several seconds.


    As his time was soon over, he decided to try and get inside the fourth level. Once again, the gale became twice as violent and powerful. Without his new understanding, he would have been blown away instantly. But with the first move of the Neck Star, he was able to barely stay standing.


    When he got back home, he tried to circulate his Qi in his legs by following ''Stopping the Waves''. Focusing all his senses on his steps, he faintly heard that he was making less noise, but the difference was not that impressive. He also used this time to practice ''Locking the Seven''. Circulating his Qi to perform both at the same time was more difficult, but he needed to be able to do so.


    During his time walking around, there was nothing else to do. His Qi and mind cultivation required him to be still and perfectly focused on what was happening within his body. On the other hand, this technique was meant to be used on the field. He also focused on the concept of ''stillness within movement'' and he was beginning to get some clues about this. Although he was constantly moving, there were always small pauses. It was impossible to go straight and immediately go backwards without stopping first. But even by going straight, there were small pauses in your muscles. Cao Yun felt like the mystery of the technique laid there.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    While walking around he also looked for a good place to set up a Qi Vortex array formation. He found one near the boundary between the outer yard and the exterior yard. It was a small basin. Once inside it would be difficult for people to see him from afar. And its shape would strengthen the effect of the array formation even more. He made a mental note about it. Later he would ask Huang Cixi to accompany him there. He really needed someone to stand guard. While in his Qi cultivation, his senses could not perceive the exterior world. Even someone without bad intention could jolt him out of his meditative state and cause trouble for him.


    If it wasn''t within the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun would not even entertain the idea of training in such a place. He had done so when he was in the wild, but it was always dangerous.


    -


    Under the disciplinary pavilion was the Devil''s Jail. It was a relic from at least twenty thousand years ago. The sect had been founded around ten thousand years ago and the current sect leader was its seventh leader. When the sect was founded, many ruins and relics of the time before Emperor Nuwa were found. Most of them were now used by the Wubei Sect.


    Emperor Nuwa was the great savior of mankind. Twenty thousand years ago, demons were ruling the entire Piaolu planet. Humans were nothing more than cattle for them. But then came a woman who stood up against their tyranny. She was the first ever cultivator of the human race since the Legendary Era. With her cultivation, she could turn entire continents upside down, trample on mountains and rip out the sky. A great war was waged against the demons and finally a safe haven was built for humans, the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Everyone in the Hongchen kingdom knew this story. The Devil''s Jail was a relic from this distant past. It had been used to imprison powerful demons for a long time. There were nine levels and each one added a layer of suppression. Even a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior was unable to escape the ninth floor. In the first floors however, the restrictions were almost nonexistent. Then, the more you went down, the less Qi you were able to control and move, even inside your own body. Finally, your very mind and soul would be suppressed. Nowadays no one was able to reproduce the array formations that were in the walls of this prison.


    Past emperors had even used this Devil''s Jail to imprison powerful cultivators or demons. Right now, the jail was almost empty and only a handful of disciples were sent to its first layer as punishment. It had been decades since a disciple was condemned to go deeper than the second floor.


    In the first floor, Luduo Bu was within a cell. His sentence was soon over. And earlier in the week, he had received the official challenge from Cao Yun.


    For now, he was meditating cross-legged. Within his body, he was moving his blood with the help of his Qi. The cultivation he practiced was very strange. Humans tended to focus on cultivating their Qi. But his martial art, ''Bloody Cavalry'', put more emphasis on blood. He could even use blood as a weapon and enhance his strength by infusing more of his Qi within his blood. When he became a Mortal Warrior, he could manifest his Qi outside of his body. This way, he would be able to control his blood outside of his body with more precision.


    His martial art allowed him to have a bit of control, but not that much.


    As he was cultivating, the man in black and purple appeared right in front of his cell.


    "You seem to have achieved two runes in your blood cultivation, that''s a small success. But your own blood won''t be enough to condense more runes."


    As the man spoke, two very strange characters left Luduo Bu''s arms. There was a cut on both of his forearms with a little bit of blood dripping from them. The two runes leaving his arms were drawn in his own blood. There was something really ominous about them, and not just because they were made of blood. A sense of brutality and savagery was embedded into them.


    "Your cultivation method is really incredible! I was stuck in my ''Bloody Cavalry'' for at least a year. But as soon as I condensed the first rune, I broke through."


    "I''m glad to hear it. You know about your fight with Chen Guo, I presume?"


    "Yes. I can''t wait to crush him!"


    "Good! However, remember! You cannot kill him. First of all, we need him. But we also could not protect you if you were to kill him within the sect. Just wait until next year. We probably won''t need him anymore and you''ll be able to take your revenge as soon as he leaves the sect''s grounds."


    Luduo Bu had a look of disappointment. "I know, I know. I''ll just break his limbs and crush him beneath my feet. I just hope he doesn''t give up before I''m done with him." A sinister laugh flooded the Devil''s Jail. "And next year, I''ll use his blood essence to condense a new rune. No, wait! I''ll rip apart the little servant and Mei Hua before his eyes and then I''ll condense his blood essence. The look of despair as I torture them slowly while he''s powerless before me... I just can''t wait for it."


    "I know I had chosen the right man for the job." He took out a small jade vial and opened it. A pungent smell of blood flooded Luduo Bu''s nostrils. "I brought you some more blood."


    When Luduo Bu took the vial, he poured its content in his hand. Then he circulated his Qi in his palm and the blood started to move as well, trying to take the form of another rune.


    "It would be way easier if I could just use fresh blood from something I''ve killed myself. Or someone..."


    "Do not worry, you''ll have a bit more than a week to train. I''m sure you can forge one more rune without any problem. Once you condense a rune, you store it within your own blood, so not even Xiao Xuefeng will be able to tell where the blood came from. But remember, always be wary of her. She''s a real complication."


    "I know. And when do we act?"


    "The Demon Palace only opens every seven years. We''ll have to wait two more years. I''m sorry but you''ll be a fourth-year, so you''ll miss the best opportunity. But you''re already a mid 7th-grade Mortal. If you''re able to cross over to the 8th-grade soon enough, I''m sure you''ll become a Mortal Warrior before you''re even a fourth-year. You should not underestimate how beneficial the third year will be for someone practicing the Demon path."


    Obviously, the cultivation the man in purple and black had given Luduo Bu was a demonic art. It was called ''Blood Runes'' and consisted in forging runes from the blood essence of your victims. The runes would then enter your own blood and increase your strength. They also gave you some powers on your own blood. And as blood transported Qi, it also helped you increase your Qi cultivation.


    ''Blood Runes'' had several layers going up to 108 runes. The first layer was only the condensation of your first rune using your own blood. After that, you had to use the blood of demonic beasts or other cultivators. This was not inherently evil as you could use demonic beasts, but using human blood was way faster. And each time you cultivated this method, you would become more bloodthirsty. However, Luduo Bu was already rather violent and bloodthirsty.

 Chapter 76: Preparation for the challenge

    There was less than two weeks before the day of the challenge and Cao Yun kept doing his little routine. Unfortunately, he would not be able to master ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' before that. Thus the only decision was to wait after the challenge to sneak into the Coiling Silk Faction residence.


    In the evening, Cao Yun also kept on playing with Mei Ying. She was always excited to learn new spear moves and Cao Yun felt like he was playing with his little sister. She was way more energetic and less shy, but the light in her eyes was the same. And she was curious about everything Cao Yun had to teach. Mei Hua was always watching from the corner of her eyes while she studied alchemy. She did not have much more to learn. In fact, she was waiting to become a Mortal Warrior in order to pass the 1-star Human grade evaluation.


    Cao Yun sometimes used this opportunity to ask her some questions about the problems he was facing in his alchemy. And even by teaching someone like Mei Ying who was very young, he could deepen his understanding of the spear. Having to explain the concepts he felt intuitively made them more concrete in his mind.


    This was really the time of the day he was waiting for the more. Since he would be able to leave the sect the following year, he wouldn''t have as much time with this little sister, so he tried to enjoy it now.


    However, something came do disturb this peaceful time.


    A man with the uniform of the sect but no emblem on his chest entered the first-years residence. As soon as the man got near Cao Yun, even before seeing his face, he felt something ominous. Deep in his sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath became restless. Quickly, he had to use his mind cultivation to suppress it. This time, it was more violent than ever. It was as if it resonated with something else, something evil.


    "Chen Guo!" Hearing the voice, Cao Yun knew who was here, Luduo Bu. He had his halberd in hand with a huge sinister smile on his face. "I''m really looking forward to our duel. I hope you won''t disappoint me."


    Cao Yun was still a Mortal and had no spiritual senses, but he could feel something different. There was something in his blood, something new and evil.


    As soon as she heard the voice, Mei Ying froze. She let go of her makeshift spear and went to hide behind the young man. Instinctively, Cao Yun put his spear before her as a shield.


    "Oh? If it isn''t the little brat... I heard you completely recovered from our ''sparring session''. Do not worry, when I''m done with your big brother here, he won''t die." He was crouching down to speak with Mei Ying while looking directly in her eyes. "But I''m not sure whether he''ll ever be able to hold even a twig in his hand."


    Mei Hua turned red from anger. "Luduo Bu! Did you forget who my master is?! If you dare threaten Chen Guo in my presence..."


    "Calm down, little Mei. I did not threaten anyone. There''s always the possibility of an accident during a fight. I''m not saying that I''ll hurt your precious friend." He stood up and looked very sorry. "But given my strength, I''m not sure he could even withstand one of my moves."


    Luduo Bu slashed with his halberd and the ground right in front of Cao Yun got deeply cut. He was amazed. This Luduo Bu was totally different from the one he had fought. As he was still a Mortal cultivator, Luduo Bu could not manifest his Qi, but just the pressure from his martial art had caused such a cut. Cao Yun had not even felt the movement of the air before the cut appeared. If this attack had been directed to him, he would have sensed it only at the very last moment.


    He had hugely miscalculated. Even in the Devil''s Jail, Luduo Bu had become way stronger. What was going on here?! There was also an evil atmosphere in his newfound strength. No one else felt it. But with his Drop of Wrath, it was perfectly clear to Cao Yun.


    "You have nothing to retort? Not so arrogant, are you?"


    "Luduo Bu...! No matter how strong you are, I''ll destroy you!"


    Luduo Bu only laughed. "Not very convincing, little boy. I just hope you don''t give up too early. What if I was to crush your throat?" He looked back at Mei Ying. "It worked really well last time."


    "Luduo Bu! If you dare violate the rules during the challenge, don''t think that the elders won''t intervene!" Her older sister retorted as soon as he spoke.


    After letting out a small laugh, he looked her straight in the eyes. "But I won''t violate any rule. I have the clear intention of beating your friend up as much as the rules allow me. Trust me, I wouldn''t want our fun to be interrupted."


    Mei Ying was shaking and crying in silence. Cao Yun''s anger only increased while he was trying to control the Drop of Wrath. He felt his Po character activate more strongly and it helped him to keep his rage under control. From the very faint Po character, a powerful white light flooded his sea of consciousness. The white light was fighting against the red glow of the Drop of Wrath. Using his Shen to coordinate Yi and Zhi, he took control of this white light and subdued the wrath of this blood.


    "Luduo Bu! Mark my words. I will beat you, no matter what!"


    "I''m really looking forward to that!" Luduo Bu left while laughing. "Do not worry. I won''t be in the sect until the day of the challenge. I have to train a bit more. With my strength, you won''t even be able to survive one move."


    The three of them watched as Luduo Bu''s back disappeared in the distance.


    "Brother Chen! There''s something strange with him. Be careful!" Mei Hua got closer to Cao Yun. Then, she squatted down to hug her little sister.


    Cao Yun also squatted down and put his hand on her head. "Ying''er, do not be afraid. Your older brother won''t let this animal do anything to you."


    Mei Ying was crying a lot. "But... I don''t want older brother to get hurt..."


    "Do not worry about me! If I thought I couldn''t win, I would just give up the fight."Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Mei Hua was pensive. "Maybe, you could forfeit the duel..."


    "No! I will beat him! Trust me!" In his eyes, there was a new conviction! For the days he had left, Cao Yun would stop everything and would only focus on his fighting strength and Qi cultivation.


    After taking a bit of time to calm down Mei Ying, the little girl fell asleep. All this emotion had truly exhausted her. Cao Yun was watching her sleep with her sister.


    "Are you sure?" Mei Hua was sincerely worried about Cao Yun. Just a few minutes ago, she had no doubt about his victory, but even without the Drop of Wrath, she had felt something ominous about Luduo Bu, but nothing particularly evil. After all, she was one of the greatest alchemists of her generation, so her senses and mind were sharper than almost everyone else. The only ones with sharper minds in her generation were Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue thanks to ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''.


    "I also felt it. Something happened to him." Suddenly, Cao Yun had an idea. Lu Meihan had some evil intentions regarding him and now this Luduo Bu had an evil aura around him. The fact that Lu Meihan was using a demonic dual cultivation was just a deduction from Cao Yun. But now that Luduo Bu also seemed to use a demonic art, he was truly convinced of his deduction.


    But were the demonic cultivators targeting him, or were these just coincidences? What if they had figured out who he was and wanted to finally extinguish the Cao family? Or maybe it was linked to the demonic cultivators he had killed while entering the Wubei Sect? No matter what was really going on, right now, Cao Yun had to focus all his mind on becoming stronger.


    -


    When he returned home, his face was gloomy. So gloomy that Huang Cixi got worried. Seeing his face, a genuine worry welled up inside her. She immediately asked.


    "Young Master, what''s going on? Did something bad happen?"


    He was jolted back to reality.


    "Luduo Bu is way more powerful than he was before. I''m not sure whether I can defeat him."


    Huang Cixi should feel happy as she wanted to hate Cao Yun for the death of her brother. But after all the time she had spent with him, she felt sympathy for him.


    "Young Master Chen! I know you can do it!"


    "Thank you, little Yuzhi. I''ll go train immediately, please do not disturb me."


    "Of course. I''ll prepare dinner. Just eat whenever you want."


    Cao Yun sat cross-legged. The first thing he did was remembering the fight he had with Luduo Bu as well as the move he just performed. His martial art was ''Bloody Cavalry''. Cao Yun had seen it in the library. As soon as he could, he would go read it.


    Right now, he focused on this one move he had not been able to react to. He used his ''Shen Visualization'' to imagine how he would deal with it.


    After mentally training, he cultivated a bit. By depleting another small spirit stone, he finally opened his eighth meridian, the Gall Bladder Meridian. A new surge of energy swept over his body. He also trained his Po cultivation to try and increase his perception even more.


    The rest of the week, he read the ''Bloody Cavalry'' and trained with Chief Elder Baishen. He also went back once to Howling Crane Gorge. He was really getting closer and closer to understanding ''stillness within movement''.


    -


    As a second-year, Luduo Bu was able to come and go from the Wubei Sect as much as he wanted. Hence, he had decided to go toward a small wood nearby. It was known to be populated by 1-core and 2-core demonic beasts. He was knee deep in blood with at least eleven corpses of Feral Lunar Rabbits. When they were alive, their fur was silver and shined under the full moon. Unlike rabbits, they were the size of humans with fangs and claws. Their eyes were bloodshot and they always attack in packs.


    Luduo Bu had found one of their holes and slaughtered every single one of them. And now, he was cultivating in their blood, surrounded by their demonic cores. They were shining the same color as blood. All around him, the red blood gathered, coming closer to him. Finally, it condensed around the demonic cores. As if they were attracted by a mysterious force, the cores collided and the blood splattered all around. It started to float into the air and form into a strange symbol.


    After almost an hour, a new rune was formed. Luduo Bu had his third blood rune. But he had needed eleven kills to do so. Right now, he felt like even killing twice as many 1-core demonic beasts would not cut it.


    He decided to hunt some 2-core demonic beasts.


    It took him four days but he slaughtered seven 2-core demonic beasts. As he was above the last corpse, an incomplete blood rune leapt from his arm. It whirled in the air and sucked in the blood of the corpse. Finally, the fourth blood rune was complete. His Qi cultivation had not changed and he was still a mid 7th-grade Mortal. But his strength was comparable to a 9th-grade Mortal at the very least. His blood cultivation, ''Blood Rune'', consisted of seven layers. Each one had more runes than the previous one. The second layer was composed of four runes. But the third one had a total of eight runes.


    Given the time he had, Luduo Bu had no chance to reach it just by killing weak demonic beasts. This blood cultivation worked best with human cultivators after all.


    Just when he was thinking of that, Luduo Bu heard some noises coming from afar. He tried to approach in silence. Stealth was not his forte, so he was more careful than usual.


    Not too far from him, a group of three cultivators was fighting against a 2-core demonic beast. It was an Alpine Golden-Fur Macaque. It looked like a simple macaque but twice as big and with a golden mane around his neck. The cultivators were two women and a man. They were not even in their twenties. Absorbed in their fight, none of them sensed Luduo Bu, including the Alpine Golden-Fur Macaque. The beast was completely worn out. Finally, he fell down in a puddle of his own blood.


    The group was exhausted as well and panting deeply. With their weapons covered in blood, they supported themselves.


    "Sister Xian, Sister Yun. Are you okay?"


    "It was harder than I thought, but I''m fine."


    "What a great catch, Brother Chen!"


    Luduo Bu heard the name of the boy and an evil smile disfigured him. He leapt from his hiding place.


    "What strong cooperation!"


    All three of them got alert. It wasn''t a rare thing for cultivators to have their bounty stolen from them. As such, they were ready. The strongest of them was a 5th-grade Mortal, but all three together could fight off against a 7th-grade or even a low 8th-grade Mortal. However, they were exhausted and Luduo Bu had a sinister look on his face.


    They saw his uniform and got a little bit reassured. The Wubei Sect was known to be virtuous. It did not mean that all its disciples were as well, but maybe they could leave with a part of their bounty.


    "Senior, may I know your name?" The young man was ready to run if need be, but he tried to be cordial first.


    "You''re called Chen, right?" On Luduo Bu''s face, his desire to kill became more and more pronounced.


    "Yes, Senior." As a primal fear was growing inside the young man''s stomach, he decided to give up the fruit of his labor. "If you want this beast, take it. Take whatever you want."


    "Oh?! Thank you. But you see... The problem is that I don''t want this beast at all."


    Just as Luduo Bu''s halberd hit the ground, the man knew he was going to get killed. He didn''t know why, but he was experienced enough to know it. All three of them were vagrant cultivators, so they were used to bloody battles. But usually, their opponents just wanted to steal from them, not slaughter them for no reason.


    "Run!" The moment the man called Chen screamed, his head rolled to the ground. And the last thing he saw were the bodies of his two sisters cut in half. Blood erupted everywhere and gathered up in the air.


    The blood from all three of them condensed into a small ball as Luduo Bu was meditating. Slowly, this ball changed shape. And in a matter of minutes, Luduo Bu had formed his fifth rune. It was even brighter than the runes he had formed before.


    "Using human blood sure beats these useless beasts!"

 Chapter 77: The first ranking duels

    The day of the challenges had finally come. The first challenges to be fought were those involving first-years. They were performed in the order of perceived importance of the fights, so that the best ones were all near the end.


    Several first-years challenged better ranked other first-years. And only a handful of them chose to challenge second-years. No one dared to challenge a fourth-year or a fifth-year.


    As the sun was rising in the sky, Elder Tang appeared on the platform. It was the same place where the entrance examination had taken place. Gradually, several elders appeared on different platforms around the central duel platform. Among them were all the elders who took part in the entrance exam and some others Cao Yun did not know.


    But Cao Yun was not there yet. He was still practicing. To avoid getting tired during the fight, he had not trained his body the day before. But he had trained like never before the previous days. Right now, he was still using his ''Shen Visualization''. After reading the ''Bloody Cavalry'' manual, he was now imagining exactly how he would counter every move of Luduo Bu. Of course, this was not perfect as he really needed to spar in order to test his understanding. Sadly, he found no sparring partner who used this martial art and learning it in a few days was not feasible.


    Chief Elder Baishen had nonetheless found him opponents who were wielding halberds to get used to the timing and the distance. Since his last encounter with Luduo Bu, he knew that his opponent had certainly advanced even more. He also used all the time he had in the Howling Crane Gorge and was extremely close to piercing the mysteries shrouding the Neck Star. He knew there was a variation of ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' involving ''stillness within movement'', but he lacked a bit of understanding.


    Using his day of rest, he had more or less understood the concept and could not wait to apply it in this duel. His mind cultivation had progressed again and his senses were even sharper than before. The Po character also allowed him to circulate his Qi more efficiently. He could rapidly change the flow of Qi which allowed him to adapt faster during a fight.


    Finally, the chief elders appeared. They were not all here, but Chief Elder Bian from the disciplinary pavilion was. Making sure that all the rules were followed during these duels was his prerogative and he took great pride in his work. He scanned the place and noted that Cao Yun and Luduo Bu were the only fighters of this first part who were not here yet. After the matter with Luduo Bu beating a servant and the testimony of Cao Yun, Chief Elder Bian had a terrible image of both of them. He particularly did not like Cao Yun as he thought his testimony was just him playing with words.


    Besides him, Chief Elders Luoming, Suxian and Baishen were arriving. Other chief elders came, but someone important was missing, Xiao Xuefeng.


    Apparently, she had left the Wubei Sect a few days ago on an important mission.


    Chief Elder Luoming greeted Chief Elder Bian cordially, so did Chief Elder Suxian. On the other hand, Chief Elder Baishen was terribly cold to him. His face was dark, but he could say nothing. In Chief Elder Bian''s mind, this insult was due to Cao Yun and no one else. Strangely, he did not seem to find Luduo Bu responsible as he had already paid his due. For him, as long as his pavilion had pronounced a verdict, the matter was over. On the other hand, Cao Yun had twisted the facts during his testimony to suit him. However, he had not lied outright and it infuriated Chief Elder Bian. Despite his feelings, he tried not to let it show, as he valued his impartiality over everything else.


    The only other high ranking member of the sect who was not present was the Sect Leader himself. Recently, he was getting more and more discreet within his own sect. In a few years, he would reach the old age of 2000. Even for a 9th-grade Spirit Master, this was the limit of one''s lifespan. Unless he finally broke through to the legendary fourth realm, the Sage realm, he would die in less than a hundred years. In truth, he would probably not last longer than a couple of decades. By consuming rare medicines and with the help of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, he could hope to reach fifty years, but he would get weaker and weaker near the end.


    -


    Elder Tang declared the first part of the challenges officially open. Several fights happened between first-years. Some of them had really progressed since the entrance examination. But in the end, the ranking did not change that much. Little by little, the onlookers were gathering around the ring. No one was really interested in the very first fights, but some had heard of Cao Yun''s fight against Luduo Bu and got curious. Luduo Bu was ranked 195th overall, and 6th among the second-years alone.


    Cao Yun had beaten Zhi Yin during the entrance examination, but it was only a friendly competition to welcome them in. Everyone knew that Zhi Yin had not used all her strength. She was ranked 167th overall and 1st among the second-years. And this year, they all expected her to become even more powerful as she had access to more resources. What was funny was that this was due to Cao Yun in huge part, thanks to his agreement with the Dragon''s Fire Faction.


    As the fights kept on going, the faction leaders began to arrive. The first one was Wen Zhu from the Dragon''s Fire Faction. He was accompanied by several 5-star Earth alchemists and one 1-star Human alchemist who was a fourth-year. Then came Chan Weifeng, the leader of the Red Cliff Faction. He was only accompanied by Jiang Yifan. Everyone knew that Jiang Yifan would take over the Red Cliff Faction after Chan Weifeng''s graduation at the end of the year. They arrived sooner than people thought. Some were even surprised to see Chan Weifeng himself.


    In truth, he had begun to fear Cao Yun a little. Not that he was exceptionally strong right now, but his future was certainly prosperous. His faction had crossed him several times over trivial matters. Even Luduo Bu was a former member. Today, he wanted to make sure that all the bad blood between his faction and Cao Yun was settled. Chan Weifeng did not intend to become an inner disciple but if Cao Yun became one, he still needed to have a good relationship with him. And worse, if he left the sect after the five years, he really needed to have him on his side, just in case. He deeply felt that this boy''s future would be prodigious. In fact, he did not understand himself, but he trusted his instincts.


    Jiang Yifan was a bit less convinced. After all, he would still be within the sect next year, so he would rather have Cao Yun suppressed. Still, he listened to his faction leader and decided to wait for today''s duel before making a decision on how he would treat Cao Yun.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    From the Purple Northern Cloud Faction, Long Jian came. He was extremely tall, almost two heads taller than everyone else. His face was pure seriousness and he had several swords at his waist. Chan Weifeng was first within the ranking scroll and Long Jian second. In fact, they had switched places several times during the years, but they clearly dominated all the other disciples now.


    He went to Chan Weifeng. "Brother Chan. I heard that you were interested in the new boy. Is he really that great?"


    Chan Weifeng quickly turned around. As Jiang Yifan bowed and cupped his fists, the faction leader directly spoke. "Brother Long, you''ll have to see for yourself. Even though he''s not at our level yet, I feel like he will surpass us both in a matter of years."


    Long Jian''s face twitched a little. "I trust your intuition, Brother. But I''m still not convinced. I was told about his fight against Zhi Yin. He seems good but not that good. I guess we''ll see."


    Other factions were represented but no other faction leader came.


    -


    As the fights were unfolding, it was Ren Chao''s turn. He went on the platform with a new mace which absolutely looked like a huge hammer. While he was walking, Wang Mei was by his side. She even held on his arm and he did not seem flustered at all. Just when he was about to walk up the stairs, she let go.


    "Ren Chao, show them all! I know you can beat him."


    Ren Chao only nodded and went on the platform. He was faced with a second-year who wasn''t very high in the rankings.


    "Senior L¨¹, give me some pointers." The second-year named L¨¹ Qian took out a saber and stood in a high stance.


    Ren Chao looked through the crowd one last time. He saw Sun Liao but not Cao Yun and got a little disappointed. His friend had really helped him in his blacksmith training and he wanted to show him that he did not slack off in his fighting training neither. Just as he was about to move forward, Ren Chao heard a small commotion.


    Finally, Cao Yun had arrived. As he was the star of this first part of the duels, everyone got excited. Rapidly, the calm came back as Elder Tang did not want anyone to disturb the fight. Accompanied by Mei Hua and Mei Ying, Cao Yun went to Sun Liao''s side and they both looked at Ren Chao. Seeing his friend nodding toward him, Ren Chao got hyped. Wang Mei, Sun Liao and Cao Yun were the three persons Ren Chao did not want to let down.


    He charged with his mace. He was not very agile but he blocked most of the attacks from the saber. His opponent felt as if his hands were being cut open each time his weapon hit against this mace. It was like hitting a giant iron wall at full speed. The fight lasted a bit as Ren Chao was only focusing on defense, deflecting the attacks over and over again. Some cuts went through but they were superficial.


    Finally, as his opponent got tired, he swung his huge mace around. Each strike was powerful enough to break every bone in his opponent''s body, so the roles reversed. His opponent was now focusing on retreat and did not even dare block the mace with his saber. As he got dangerously close to the border of the platform, he tried a last assault.


    L¨¹ Qian used his martial art with all the strength he had left. A light pierced toward Ren Chao. And a hammer went crashing down on this wisp of light. Then, Ren Chao angled his mace and thrust it straight toward his opponent. Putting his saber on the way, the impact made him let go and he was ejected from the platform.


    Ren Chao had won. "Everyone, look at that! That''s my hammer! I made it myself! ''Crushing Mountains Mace''!" Everyone, even his close friends, had the same thought. "Why did you name it a mace? Didn''t you just call it a hammer?"


    Anyway, he got a huge cheer from the onlookers, especially Wang Mei. Sun Liao stayed calm but he still nodded his head with a smile.


    When he went down, he returned to his friends and kept on shouting. "Did you see me?! Did you see this hammer?! Thank you, Brother Chen, it''s thanks to your advice!"


    Sun Liao got a bit annoyed. "Your fight lacked all class. You could have been handling a brick, it would have been the same."


    "Oh? Really?! I can''t wait to see how you''re going to lose!"


    The fights kept going. Mei Hua did not challenge anyone. Since the entrance exam, she had been focused on her alchemy and did not train her fighting abilities that much. In fact, she did not care about it very much.


    Sun Liao, on the other hand, was ready to advance in the ranks. During the entrance examination, he had been unable to showcase his mastery of array formations. But today, he was deeply intent on proving his worth to everyone here, especially Cao Yun who had a small interest in array formations.


    "Brother Chen, look carefully. You may learn some things about array formations and their real application during a fight."


    He walked on stage. Just before the fight began, he looked toward Ren Chao. "Look how it''s really done."


    A bow in hand, he immediately fired several arrows in the sky. When they came down, they formed a strange formation on the platform. Up in the air other arrows gathered and formed a temporary formation. Both array formations aligned for a few instants and Sun Liao''s opponent got completely immobile.


    Chanting a mantra, Sun Liao shot another arrow straight for his opponent. "One Sun from Tang valley". It was the first layer of his martial art ''Houyi''s Nine suns''. Contrary to what the name suggested, there were ten layers to this martial art. It was the one Sun Liao had picked during the entrance examination, but he took quite a liking to it.


    Unfortunately, he could not manifest his Qi yet. However, he had found a workaround by using an array formation engraved in his arrows. In exchange, it took him a bit more time to use his technique. As such, he created a very temporary array formation by superposing two arrays of arrows in the air and on the ground. His opponent would be disturbed long enough for him to activate his arrow.


    As the arrow flew in the air, it caught on fire. Its light was blinding and the opponent got unable to watch it directly. He tried to block but the arrow exploded and he got thrown off stage.


    The fight was decided as soon as the disciple got taken in Sun Liao''s array formation. Cao Yun was watching intently as he was trying to decipher these array formations. They were only 2-star array formations, but by using them together, he confused his opponent quite easily. Then, he also used array formations on his arrows to amplify the effect of his martial art. Even though Sun Liao could not yet manifest Qi, he had a high level of mastery of his martial art. And with the help of this small array formation, it almost had the same effect.


    The day he could manifest his Qi, this arrow would literally be a small sun. Each layer of ''Houyi''s Nine suns'' was a different sun. And if one was talented enough, they could even use several of them together and enhance their power.


    Sun Liao smiled valiantly and got off the stage while looking at Ren Chao.


    "Show off!" Ren Chao was really lacking in his retort to Sun Liao.


    Before they could really start to bicker, an ominous presence appeared behind them.


    Luduo Bu had just arrived. All around him was the smell of fresh blood. And his halberd was still covered in many kinds of blood. Luduo Bu had been careful to clean any human blood but there was still plenty of demonic beast blood.

 Chapter 78: Settling a grudge with the bimonthly duels

    "So? Are you ready to suffer?" Luduo Bu walked past Cao Yun and laughed. Mei Ying hid behind her sister and Cao Yun. At first, Mei Hua did not want her to come but she had insisted.


    "I know that Big Brother is fighting for me.... I want to be here to cheer for him." Behind some fear, her sister could see a real determination both in her eyes and her words. The little girl had trained, or played, almost every day with Cao Yun. In fact, even though it was some kind of breather for Cao Yun, he still trained her seriously. Within this period, she had truly progressed in her martial arts. Just like her sister, she was as devoted as she was talented, just not toward the same goal. But these sisters were blessed indeed, as one was a genius alchemist and the other had a great potential for martial arts.


    No one tried to answer or delay Luduo Bu. Sun Liao and Ren Chao were both ready to jump the guy but they knew it would be bad for their friend.


    "Brother Chen! Beat him up! I heard what this bastard did... I''d really like to hammer his teeth in!"


    "For once I concur totally with the hammer-head. This man is unworthy of our Wubei Sect. Being in the same uniform he wears feels insulting in and of itself."


    "Do not worry, my friends. I saw what he was capable of." He turned back toward the two young men. "I wouldn''t be here if I hadn''t thought of ways to win." He looked pensive for a while. To be honest, he wasn''t sure he would be able to win against him.


    A small hand tugged on his sleeve. When he looked down, he saw Mei Ying.


    "Big Brother. If you''re in danger, just stop. Don''t get hurt because of me."


    With a big smile replacing the seriousness of his face, Cao Yun patted her head. "Silly you. I don''t intend to get hurt at all. And how could I get hurt with you cheering for me?!"


    He stood up and looked at all his friends. Finally he asked a last question to Mei Hua.


    "I saw that Guest Elder Xiao wasn''t here. Do you know why?"


    After looking toward the chief elders, Mei Hua sighed and replied. "She got word of suspicious activities and decided to investigate it. She did not give me the details and I did not ask. I know she came here for a very important mission and I think this is part of it. It''s just that the timing is..."


    Seeing a strange look on Mei Hua''s face, Cao Yun could not keep himself from asking yet another last question. "What do you mean when you talk about the timing?"


    "It''s just that she left soon after Luduo Bu got out of the Devil''s Jail." After an awkward pause, she kept going. "But I''m probably just imagining things. You shouldn''t think about this right now. Focus on your duel!"


    "Of course I will! Trust me, I''m not going there to lose!"


    As Cao Yun went toward the platform, he thought some more about this. It really looked like there was some kind of conspiracy. Maybe some people did not want Xiao Xuefeng to interfere with Luduo Bu''s fight, or maybe there was something more. This piece of news about suspicious activities ought to be related to demonic cultivators. The first time Cao Yun had met Xiao Xuefeng, she was chasing demonic cultivators. And she was from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. The first time he had met someone from that institute, a demonic cultivator was involved as well.


    More and more, Cao Yun was wondering whether he was specifically targeted or if the heavens were just playing with him. Apparently a demonic cultivator had slaughtered his family and he seemed to be knee deep in their intrigue right now.


    All these thoughts were poisoning his mind. But the moment he set foot on the platform, his mind cultivation circulated and all these thoughts disappeared. His new level of mastery allowed him to perfectly control his train of thoughts and focus all his intention exactly where he wanted to.


    This time, Chief Elder Bian himself stood up. Even though he was pretty far from the platform, his voice echoed throughout the entire square.


    "I know that there is a grudge between you two. However, the rules of our Wubei Sect are absolute! Accidents can happen during a fight, but if either one of you tries to voluntarily kill or maim his opponent, the consequences will be dire. For this duel, I will personally be the referee. No matter what happens, you must obey my instructions! Is it clear?"


    Both of them bowed and cupped their fists toward Chief Elder Bian. "This disciple understands, Chief Elder!"


    "Good! Let the fight begin!"


    -


    The onlookers were a little perplexed by this attitude of Chief Elder Bian, but they did not take it to heart. On the other hand, Chief Elder Baishen was disgusted. In her eyes, Luduo Bu was the worst of the worst and Chief Elder Bian gave off the impression he was treating him on an equal footing with Cao Yun.


    Besides her, Chief Elder Suxian and Chief Elder Luoming were back to their usual bickering.


    "Brother Suxian, who do you think will win? This Chen Guo boy seemed to really interest Sister Baishen and he even defeated the young Zhi Yin."


    "Well, I''m no expert in terms of martial arts. We should ask Sister Baishen instead." He turned toward the old lady. "So, what do you think, Sister?"


    She was more cold than usual due to Chief Elder Bian''s presence. "I sincerely do not know. There is something really unusual with this brute..." Eying Chief Elder Bian, she added "It''s almost as if he got stronger in the Devil''s Jail. What a great punishment that should have been!" The strict man became even more tense but did not react as he was watching over the duel.


    Chief Elder Luoming was deeply shocked. "Even Sister does not know who''ll win?! So, Brother Suxian, do you dare to bet on this duel?"


    "Bet with you?! Do you think I did not learn my lesson during the entrance exam?! I won''t bet!" This time, Chief Elder Suxian was very adamant.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Oh?! Too bad." Chief Elder Luoming took out a small box out from his uniform. As soon as he saw it, Chief Elder Suxian was transfixed.


    "Is this...? Is this... Exquisite Purple Jasmin?" While speaking, he almost was drooling.


    Chief Elder Luoming was speaking very casually and feigned indifference. "Indeed it is. I thought you might want to bet for it, but I was mistaken. Well, too bad."


    "Wait!" The line had been casted and the fish took interest in the bait. Chief Elder Suxian thought a long time over it. "Fine! But I''ll bet on the Chen Guo boy this time. And it depends on what you want from me..."


    "Nothing much, Brother. I heard you''re about to achieve 4-star Heaven array formation master. I happen to have an ancient array formation plate in need of repair. It''s at least a 3-star Heaven rank plate. It shouldn''t take you more than four months to repair it, right?"


    "And you want to bet against a free repair? Fine, I agree."


    "Thank you, Brother."


    "Wait! Did you find the Exquisite Purple Jasmin to pay me for the repairs?!" A sudden realization came to Chief Elder Suxian who watched his friend with an evil eye. "So if I had refused your bet, you would have asked me to repair it in exchange for these tea leaves, right?!"


    "Brother, you make it sound like I tricked you... But you''re right. I had indeed searched for this Exquisite Purple Jasmin to ask for your help. But remember that if you win the bet, you''ll get it for free and I''ll still have to pay you for the repairs."


    Chief Elder Suxian was pissed off again. These two chief elders just couldn''t stop their feud. From an outsider''s perspective, they seemed to always fight each other. But in truth, they were really good friends. It''s just that Chief Elder Luoming loved teasing him.


    "Fine! This time, I''ll trust in that Chen Guo guy. Even my disciple trusts him after all."


    "Oh?! Sun Liao is already your disciple?"


    "Well, not officially. But I''m just trying to push him to get his next ranking emblem. He''ll soon get it and then it will be official. His only shortcoming was his character and it got fixed, thanks to Chen Guo by the way. I can''t wait to see his fight after two months in the sect."


    "Well, I''m a bit worried for him since he also learned alchemy. He couldn''t have had that much time to work on his martial arts."


    As soon as Chief Elder Luoming doubted Cao Yun''s martial arts, Chief Elder Baishen interrupted him. "I can assure you that he did not slack off at all in regards to his martial arts. If he was faced against Zhi Yin, he would win even if she used all of her means. It''s just that Luduo Bu seems really strange today..."


    -


    On the platform, Cao Yun and Luduo Bu were facing each other. Inside his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was circulating his mind cultivation to its paroxysm. First of all, he needed to keep the Drop of Wrath in check as it kept on getting excited by Luduo Bu. Thankfully, his mastery of the Po character had increased and he could do so more easily. But he also used his mind cultivation to increase his senses and his reflexes. He also even used his ''Shen Visualization''. Thanks to the little understanding he had of ''Bloody Cavalry'', he knew all the moves Luduo Bu could use with this martial art.


    But he couldn''t be sure of the way Luduo Bu would use them and all the variations he could produce from them.


    Anyway, Cao Yun took the stance he had learned from the Neck Star, ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''. From this stance, he could perform all his attacks and give them more power. On the other hand, he could also dodge more easily and retaliate in the same movement.


    Luduo Bu took no stance at all and just grabbed his halberd still slick with blood. The blood moved strangely and took the form of characters. These were the same characters as the runes that were deep within his own blood.


    All of a sudden, his halberd moved and before any onlooker could understand what was going on, a scar appeared on the platform. It wasn''t very deep as the platform was meant to resist duels between early Mortal Warriors, but the area was still pretty wide all things considered. Apart from the chief elders, Long Jian and Chan Weifeng, no one saw clearly the attack. Neither did they see Cao Yun''s movement.


    Indeed, Cao Yun had dodged the move with ease. And as soon as he evaded ''Butcher''s Cleaver'', he used ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. His spear stabbed straight for Luduo Bu''s chest. Stunned for just an instant after realizing Cao Yun''s speed was beyond what he imagined, Luduo Bu still moved his halberd to block the attack and did not flinch at all.


    On the halberd, a thin layer of blood absorbed the impact entirely.


    ''Splitting the Oceans''. An horizontal strike from his halberd tried to cut off Cao Yun''s legs. But once more, he dodged. This time, he leapt into the sky and used the same ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. Luduo Bu deflected the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' and unleashed ''Thousand Cut Blade''. As Cao Yun was in the air, he could not dodge at all. Only a Mortal Warrior could move a little through the air thanks to his Qi Manifestation and only a Spirit Warrior could freely fly through the air.


    Nevertheless, Cao Yun was able to dodge. He unleashed several ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' in the opposite direction. These small vortexes of wind allowed him to move and land a bit farther.


    Frustrated, Luduo Bu became more relentless. He unleashed attack after attack but Cao Yun seemed to be able to dodge all of them. In fact, Cao Yun was very close to completely understanding the concept of ''stillness within movement''. And using his understanding with ''movement within stillness'' allowed him to dodge as precisely as possible. With his ''Shen Visualization'' and his heightened senses, he could avoid the attacks more and more minutely.


    As the fight went on, the Neck Star started to shine with more and more color. A great orange star was burning in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness.


    At last, Luduo Bu got enough of it. He stabbed his halberd in the platform, the edge faced to him. And he cut his own arm on the blade. A bright red fluid flowed all over the weapon and two characters flew from his wounds. They were very strange runes that no one could read. As two small fireflies, they were floating around Luduo Bu.


    Luduo Bu had only taken out his first two Blood Runes. The other ones had been formed with human blood. Only Xiao Xuefeng had enough perception to see through his body and notice them. However, if he took them out, all the chief elders gathered here would see that they were made from human blood and he would immediately be captured as a demonic cultivator. Manipulating blood was not inherently evil, but stealing the essence blood of humans was. Then, the chief elders would search the surroundings and with their senses, finding the bodies he had hidden would be easy if they knew what they were looking for. Very quickly, it would be shown that he slaughtered innocent cultivators to steal their blood.


    The orthodox way could accept stealing the blood of someone who attacked you as killing in self-defense was of course permitted. But killing innocent cultivators, or worse, innocent mortals, was heavily frowned upon. Everyone knew that this happened but if you went to the point of stealing their blood, flesh, or even soul, you would be denounced as a member of the Evil Path.


    The audience got over excited.


    "Is this Qi Manifestation in the Mortal realm?!"


    "No, it''s impossible. Luduo Bu is not even in the 8th-grade Mortal. His acupoints should still be closed."


    "Wait! I heard about people born with acupoints naturally open. There was even a legend about someone whose all acupoints were open at birth."


    A small laugh of ridicule erupted behind all these conversations. All the onlookers got irritated as they thought someone was mocking them. They turned around and saw Long Jian. As the number one on the ranking scroll, he immediately calmed down their irritation. He had the qualification to mock them all.


    "This is not Qi Manifestation. First of all, these bloody characters did not come out of his acupoints, he had to cut open his body himself. And neither can he directly control them. They are most likely an emanation of a secret technique. They will amplify his strength but they can only follow his martial art understanding. He cannot control them with his mind and Qi yet."

 Chapter 79: Blood horse vs Wind dragon

    All the other elders were also surprised as these blood runes did not seem to come from a martial art they knew. The chief elders all turned toward Chief Elder Baishen except for Chief Elder Bian who kept on overviewing the duel.


    Naturally she felt everyone''s gaze on her. She was the expert in term of martial arts so they all wanted some kind of explanation from her. Sadly, she did not know this art neither.


    "Although I do not know this martial art, it is similar to techniques I''ve seen before. Apparently he condensed these runes from the blood of demonic beasts and then refined them in his own blood. As such, they resonate with his blood and will follow his intent. If he was able to manifest his Qi, he could control them more easily and each one would have attributes based on the character they are representing. Most likely, only someone versed in this technique is able to read these characters. But I sense some ominous feeling in these runes. They were made from blood so naturally they feel revolting. It''s not a technique I''d like to practice at all."


    "Sister Baishen, you''re harsh on the boy. I know you have some grudge because of his behavior. But it''s natural for cultivators to use demonic beasts for their resources." Another chief elder added.


    "Sister Liu, you''re mistaken. There are of course martial arts that rely on demonic beasts blood, but this one feels different. I just don''t like this feeling at all. My personal feelings toward this brute have nothing to do with it."


    The woman who spoke against Chief Elder Baishen looked back toward the platform. She focused her senses on Luduo Bu for some time.


    "Wait! I heard that this boy was in the late 6th-grade Mortal stage, right?"


    Hearing this, all the chief elders focused their intent on Luduo Bu. Using their spiritual senses, they quickly saw through his cultivation. He was a late 7th-grade Mortal now. The 6th-grade only consisted in accumulating Qi inside the Lower Dantian. You were considered to have broken through once your Qi was so rich that it overflowed naturally inside your Extraordinary Vessels. After all, vessels were both playing the role of reservoirs of Qi and regulator of it through the meridians and the body. The 7th-grade then consisted in using your Qi to strengthen and temper your vessels and meridians, preparing them for much more powerful flows of energies.


    In theory, it was possible to go very fast through the 6th-grade by absorbing huge quantities of Qi. But it could be very dangerous as your body may not adapt properly. And the quality of such Qi could hinder your progress, making your energy more difficult to control.


    On the other hand, apart from using natural treasures or very expensive pills, the 7th-grade was hard to advance so quickly. In less than two months, he had achieved the result of two years of cultivation. This wasn''t unheard of, but still very rare.


    Among the onlookers, Mei Hua and Sun Liao were both shocked as well. They were the two disciples with the best senses. Even though they had no spiritual senses, they were geniuses in alchemy and array formations. Since both these occupations required a powerful mind and sharp senses, theirs were very well developed. They both felt that these blood runes were ominous in nature. And despite not being able to perfectly pinpoint his cultivation level, it was clear for them that he was not a 6th-grade Mortal anymore.


    The only one among the disciples with better senses was Cao Yun. Since the beginning of the duel, he had used his mind cultivation to pay close attention to Luduo Bu. It was what had allowed him to dodge so efficiently and to prepare for all his attacks. He had sensed that his Qi cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. With his senses, he could feel that Luduo Bu''s acupoints were still closed but that his Lower Dantian was full of Qi. It meant that he was somewhere in the 7th-grade Mortal.


    All these elements led Cao Yun to be sure of his supposition. Luduo Bu had been approached by a demonic cultivator. Then, he assumed that Lu Meihan was also approached by one. At least one demonic cultivator was trying to recruit members from within the Wubei Sect. Lu Meihan was easy prey as she was hurt and weak, and so was Luduo Bu. His violence and his arrogance made him a perfect mark for a demonic cultivator.


    -


    Once the Blood Runes were out in the open, Luduo Bu''s eyes became bloodshot red. Even though the wound on his arm was still open, it was not bleeding at all. It shined a strange bright crimson, pulsating with the two Blood Runes. He still kept three Blood Runes in him. Two of them were made from demonic beasts but the last one had been made with human blood. No matter what, he would not expose it.


    His strength and speed increased. But for a while, he still used his ''Bloody Cavalry''. The first attacks were hard to dodge and Cao Yun was also forced to deflect some of them and even block one. When he blocked a blow from Luduo Bu''s halberd, he felt as if his arms were going to be ripped off his body. However, he endured by using his speed to quickly go away before the force got too strong for him.


    In this exchange, he understood that he was unable to withstand the full strength of Luduo Bu. However, he was more perceptive and his movement technique was better. In fact, he had started to mix ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' with his own movement technique. Despite being a stealthy technique, it incorporated essential elements of all movement techniques. And fusing it with his understanding of the ''Raging Storm in Still Rock'' treatise, Cao Yun had achieved a new comprehension of movement.


    Gradually, his ''Shen Visualization'' adapted and Cao Yun got able to dodge as effortlessly as before. This served to enrage Luduo Bu. This time, he merged his ''Bloody Cavalry'' with his blood cultivation, ''Blood Runes''. With every one of his strike, the two blood runes would also shoot out. They tried to pin down Cao Yun by cutting off his retreat.


    Adapting to that was very hard, but luckily the runes only reacted to Luduo Bu''s martial art. By understanding his technique, it was still possible to determine where they would go.


    Feeling an ominous presence behind him, Cao Yun dodged instinctively and a red flash grazed his shoulder. Even this small contact was able to send him flying. He stayed on the platform but the shock was intense. Luduo Bu had secretly taken a third Blood Rune out. As blood was trickling down his arm, Cao Yun understood that he could follow these runes with his senses. His Drop of Wrath was excited by them and it allowed him to find them more easily. As such, he let go of some restrictions on the Drop of Wrath to detect them better.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    -


    The fight had been going on for almost twenty minutes. Luduo Bu was always attacking with full violence. On the other hand, Cao Yun was only focusing on dodging and he was getting better and better. Hence, Luduo Bu got frustrated beyond any measure.


    "Chen Guo cannot win if he just evades. Even if he wears Luduo Bu out, his Qi cultivation is higher so his stamina will be higher as well. Brother Suxian, what do you think?"


    "I think you will lose your bet, Brother Luoming. Is any 5th-grade Mortal able to resist to a late 7th-grade as he does right now? This Chen Guo stood his ground until now, I highly doubt he intends to lose. He wouldn''t exhaust himself if there was no way of winning, right, Sister Baishen?"


    "Both of you, shut up and watch. You''re going to miss something extraordinary."


    Both men had great faith in their sister''s discernment when it came to martial arts. So they both stopped talking and focused on the duel.


    Gradually, Cao Yun''s movements changed. When he dodged, he was almost still. As a matter of fact, he was using the least amount of movement necessary to dodge perfectly every attack. Finally, he had understood the concept of ''stillness within movement''. In his sea of consciousness, the Neck Star was shining more brightly than ever and was rotating at full speed. Beside it, the Horn Star seemed as happy as it was.


    Dodging another attack, Cao Yun''s spear shot out seven times in a row and sent seven ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' and concluded with ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. The little vortexes went straight for Luduo Bu. He was able to block three of them and evade three others, but he took the seventh in the abdomen and the final strike in his right chest. The force was not enough to perforate his flesh, but enough to cut his skin.


    These attacks were the first to draw blood from Luduo Bu. The fighter got enraged and attacked relentlessly for several minutes.


    Cao Yun was able to dodge everything while giving the impression he wasn''t moving at all. After every attack, he unleashed a new vortex of ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. As he kept using his technique with the new understanding of the Neck Star, words appeared in his mind, ''Imperial Throne''. All of a sudden, he changed his stance and got ready.


    He had understood a new variation of the Neck Star that was coupled with the Horn Star. However, using his ''Shen Visualization'', he was pretty sure that this new attack was not powerful enough to cut Luduo Bu very deep. However, the fight had the same rules as during the entrance examination. He did not have to directly beat Luduo Bu, he could also throw him off the platform.


    Cao Yun waited for the right opportunity. When it came, he dodged the attack from Luduo Bu and used ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' to get behind him. For Luduo Bu, it looked as if he had disappeared. By moving at very high speed and erasing his presence, he had confused his opponent and was able to get right in his blind spot.


    Assuming his new stance, his spear hit the ground and a powerful gale erupted. Feeling this great wall of wind, Luduo Bu turned back and only saw the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' sweeping toward him. He had no time to react. This technique was the ''Imperial Throne'', a deep defensive position blowing all offenders away. But Cao Yun was not finished, he used his momentum to unleash a final ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' toward Luduo Bu just as he hit the ground. This time, the vortex on his spear took on the vague shape of a dragon''s horn, very similar to an elaborate antler.


    Luduo Bu was incredulous. He refused to accept that Cao Yun could even blow him away. But just as he tried to stand up, the wind horn pierced into him. Raising his halberd, he tried to block. However, he blocked the horn right between two spikes. And one of them was long enough to hit him in the stomach. He got folded in two, lost his footing and flew off the platform.


    Cao Yun''s martial art was not powerful enough to pierce through Luduo Bu''s body, but this horn still cut his abdomen and drew some blood. Finally, the wind horn dissipated in midair and Luduo Bu crashed down below. The attack had dealt minimum damage but it had won him the duel.


    Luduo Bu was almost ready to jump back on the platform when a voice erupted in his mind. Only a Spirit Warrior was able of such a feat. As such, he calmed down and listened.


    "Junior, calm down. Worsen your injury and play weak!"


    The voice was so commanding that Luduo Bu could not refuse. As he was standing up, he wavered and fell on the ground. Using his blood cultivation, he could control his internal blood pretty well and caused a bigger hemorrhage.


    Seeing this, Chief Elder Bian got furious and immediately appeared on the platform right in front of Cao Yun.


    "What is the meaning of this?! Did you try to kill him with that blow?"


    Shocked, Cao Yun did not know how to answer. He was clearly weaker than his opponent and yet he was the one being accused of malicious intent. What about all the blows of Luduo Bu?


    Chief Elder Bian was enraged as he had a terrible opinion of Cao Yun, believing him to be a master manipulator. But other chief elders were enraged as well. The first one to appear on the platform besides Cao Yun was Chief Elder Baishen. And then Chief Elder Suxian followed. He had gone from over excited and ready to celebrate his victory to furious as well. Even Chief Elder Luoming decided to imitate his friend despite his loss.


    "Chief Elder Bian, you go too far! Everyone here saw that Chen Guo had no way to hurt this brute. He struck with the intention of sending him off the platform, it''s obvious there was no ill will."


    "Indeed, Brother Bian. I thought you were impartial...! Is it the result of your impartiality?! Tell me, without this move, how could Chen Guo win? And didn''t Luduo Bu unleash several blows that could have been lethal if Chen Guo had not dodged them? Why are you so partial toward this young man?"


    This was the worst insult for Chief Elder Bian. He valued his impartiality above all else and it just got questioned publicly.


    "I''ll take Chen Guo into custody first and then we''ll hear his side of the story."


    "What?!" This time, almost all the chief elders stood up. This was outrageous! How could Chief Elder Bian be this blinded by his prejudice?! Seeing everyone against him, even someone as robust as Bian Gui began to doubt himself.


    As he was wavering, a low voice came from the ground. Luduo Bu was standing up with difficulty.


    "Chief Elder Bian, I''m fairly certain that Brother Chen did not attack me so viciously with ill will. Please, forgive him."


    The group of Mei Hua was particularly stunned. When did Luduo Bu grow a brain? He was clearly playing the chief elder. Of course, almost everyone knew the reputation of Luduo Bu so the disciples all understood that this was just an act. Nevertheless, they got a bit confused. Could it be possible that Luduo Bu had been misunderstood?


    Chan Weifeng was the man who was the most convinced of Luduo Bu''s true nature. And he knew this act was something new. Someone was obviously helping him to get this strong and this conniving.


    Cao Yun finally got his confirmation. There was a demonic cultivator who was pulling the strings. But if he was able to give instructions to Luduo Bu before everyone else, it meant that he was a Spirit Warrior. Could he be the same demonic cultivator who had attacked his family?!

 Chapter 80: Hate and despair

    Chief Elder Bian was still standing on the platform faced with Chief Elders Baishen, Suxian and Luoming protecting Cao Yun. Everyone around the stage was watching him intently. He had never been so humiliated in his entire life. The sole purpose of his existence was to uphold the laws of the Wubei Sect. Right now, he felt like Cao Yun had in fact orchestrated everything. Luduo Bu had had runnings with the disciplinary pavilion but Chief Elder Bian had never been directly involved.


    This time, it seemed to him as though Luduo Bu was reasonable and Cao Yun was the brute. Since he did not meet very often with the other elders, he also felt like Cao Yun had used his words to twist the facts just like in his testimony.


    "No matter what Luduo Bu says, a trial must be held to judge whether Chen Guo acted in good faith or had any ill will."


    Chief Elder Baishen was the first one to speak. "There is no need for any trial! All the chief elders and elders present here can decide by themselves. We all watched the same fight. What do you say?"


    She turned around and all the elders agreed. They stood up and all declared "The fight was fair!"


    After such an endorsement by everyone present, Chief Elder Bian had no more way to try and keep his face. His reputation was ruined and in his mind it was a danger to the integrity of the entire Wubei Sect. Ten thousand years of prestige would be ruined by a little outer disciple. Sadly, he had no choice right now. But Cao Yun would fall for sure. The law would prevail!


    "I humbly accept the judgment of the elders. If I was mistaken, this is my fault."


    After casting a heinous glare toward Cao Yun, he got off the stage and went to Luduo Bu.


    "How are you?" He sent his spiritual senses inside the young man and found that he had lost a lot of blood, but other than that the injury wasn''t so bad. Some alchemy pills would be enough to restore his vitality in a few days. Hence, he used his spatial ring to bring out a porcelain bottle.


    "Here, take these pills. You''ll be fine in no time." Then, as he had lost all face today, he did not want to stay here any longer. "I''m very tired, so Qian Longhua will take my stead." A tall man with an oblong face and long earlobe came forward. He was an elder of the disciplinary pavilion. Unlike the other elders, he was on the ground, watching the people looking at the duels.


    "Chief Elder Bian, I humbly accept this duty."


    Chief Elder Bian left and took Luduo Bu with him.


    -


    On the other side of the square, Cao Yun was exhausted. As soon as he left the platform, he literally fell on the ground. During the fight he had used every ounce of energy he had. This had been a true battle of attrition. If he had to fight Luduo Bu in a real fight, he would have died. Fortunately, within the Wubei Sect he was protected.


    But now he was sure that there was a conspiracy by demonic cultivators within these walls. And he also wondered whether Chief Elder Bian was a part of it or not. Anyway, he would have to wait for Xiao Xuefeng''s return to discuss it with her. She was the only one he could fully trust. And to root out a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator, only she could do it. Also, she probably knew more than he did. If they were to share what they knew, maybe they could get somewhere.


    Yet, he was still decided to investigate further into Lu Meihan''s affairs. And during the fight, he had discovered new understandings of his ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''.


    The chief elders went back to their seats, leaving Cao Yun with his friends.


    Mei Ying was the first to go to him. She literally jumped on him and hugged him. "Big Brother, you were so cool up there. Nothing could touch you and threw the bad guy away!" In fact, he had been touched as his shoulder was still bleeding.


    Mei Hua was smiling when she saw her little sister. It had been several nights since she had problems sleeping. But now, after letting go of Cao Yun, she was shadow fighting, mimicking Cao Yun''s moves.


    Sun Liao and Ren Chao also congratulated him.


    "Brother Chen! You were awesome! I would have lost in a heartbeat against your techniques!"


    "Indeed, I concur with Brother Ren for once. At the end, you almost manifested your martial art in reality. If your cultivation was higher, I''m convinced a True Dragon would have chewed on this Luduo Bu."


    Sun Liao had other, more negative thoughts, but he decided that now was not the time.


    "Thank you, all. I was lucky. But I''m really too tired right now. I think I''ll take my leave." He stood up and saw Zhi Yin and Ling Hui walking toward him.


    "Junior Brother. I saw your fight and you were indeed incredible. Since the time we fought, your progress is prodigious. I knew I made the right choice with you."


    "You praise him too much Fairy Zhi. He was so-so." As Ling Hui spoke, it was obvious that she lacked confidence for once.


    "Thank you, Sisters. I''m sorry I won''t see your duels, but I must really get some rest." Cao Yun barely bowed as he was absolutely exhausted.


    "Do not fret about that, Brother Chen. Your health is essential. And do not worry, we''ll win!"


    Cao Yun finally left the square, with Mei Hua and his friends helping him back to his room where Huang Cixi was waiting.


    -


    In the next duels, Zhi Yin, Ling Hui, Zhao Fei and Zhao Lin all challenged disciples higher ranked and all prevailed. Zhi Yin went from 167th to 121th. The fifth years of her first year were gone and the new resources she obtained made all the difference.


    The other factions were a little bit worried, but it seemed as if the Heavenly Swallow was now a real player. And with Cao Yun in it, there was nothing much they could do against it.


    Chan Weifeng also battled Long Jian. The fight lasted for almost an hour and in the end, Chan Weifeng kept his first place in the ranking.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    -


    As the sun was setting, the duels had ended. Chief Elder Suxian was full of life in the evening.


    "Brother Luoming. Fate favored me this time, it seems." Chief Elder Suxian kept laughing and teasing his friend. For once, he had the upper hand. And in his hand, was the Exquisite Purple Jasmin. "What incredible tea I''ll be able to savor!"


    "Brother Suxian, I''m humble before you. It seems that the universe took pity on you after accumulating all these losses..."


    "You!" He instinctively turned toward his friend, but rapidly turned back. "No! You won''t spoil my fun! I won! YOU lost!"


    "Since you seem so happy tonight, I''ll even invite you to a nice restaurant."


    "Oh? You just want me to take a look at your array formation plate, don''t you?"


    Busted, Chief Elder Luoming laughed it off. "Brother, you misunderstand me all the time. I would have given you the Exquisite Purple Jasmin anyway. If I had won, I would have invited you to take a cup of tea with me. Isn''t there enough leaves for two this time?"


    Chief Elder Suxian quickly looked inside the box and there was maybe barely enough for two. "You won''t get me! I''ll look into your plate, but you''ll need more than a dinner to buy me off!"


    -


    Cao Yun also celebrated his victory but in his room with his friends. Huang Cixi had prepared a feast as though she knew her young master would definitely win. In fact, she thought he would be more injured. But he was mainly just tired.


    Eating such a feast and laughing with his friends, the atmosphere was delightful. Ren Chao and Sun Liao were always teasing each other like Chief Elders Suxian and Luoming but this was particularly fun, even for themselves. They enjoyed the evening together and before leaving, Sun Liao arranged an array formation with several small spirit stones.


    "This is the Blood Replenishment array formation. It will drain your spirit stones, but you''ll get new ones very soon. In exchange, it should replenish your vitality in no time. If you sleep within this array formation, you''ll be perfectly rested tomorrow."


    "Thank you, Brother Sun." Cao Yun immediately went into the array formation and the effects were obvious. After several hours in it, he would indeed make a full recovery. "Your talent in array formations is incredible indeed."


    "Even I must admit that you''re sometimes useful!" Ren Chao tapped him behind the back and Sun Liao almost fell down. Despite his weaker cultivation, Ren Chao''s body was monstrous.


    Mei Ying gave a small kiss on Cao Yun''s cheek. "Thank you, Big Brother." Then, they all left.


    Cao Yun was alone with Huang Cixi. And finally, he let go. All of a sudden, he collapsed on the floor. Luckily he was already sitting on the ground. Huang Cixi ran to him. "Young Master, you could have shown how tired you were to your friends."


    "No. I did not want to worry Ying''er." In Huang Cixi''s mind, he was just like her older brother. But every time she saw his good side, she always remembered he had killed the only family she cared for, her older brother directly and her father indirectly. Anyway, she helped him up a little and gave him cushions to sleep within the Blood Replenishment array formation.


    At last, he fell asleep and the Qi from the small spirit stones activating the array formation helped him recover his strength. As he slept, Huang Cixi was watching him, terribly conflicted.


    -


    The next morning, Cao Yun woke up surrounded by broken stones. They had crumbled while fueling the array formation. In exchange, he was in perfect health. All his vigor had come back. Of course, he would still rest all day long and would not train physically.


    However, he decided to train his Qi cultivation. With his new vigor and the last spirit stones he had left, he circulated the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' and opened his ninth Meridian, the Bladder Meridian. He just lacked three meridians to enter into the 6th-grade Mortal stage. His fight with Luduo Bu had shown him that martial arts could help him against a stronger cultivator, but they could not completely fill the gap. With almost three stages higher than him, Luduo Bu was too strong. He could maybe fight him and win, but the cost would be huge, if not lethal.


    Although his cultivation had progressed really fast, it still wasn''t enough and he wanted to progress even faster.


    -


    In a room of the disciplinary pavilion, Luduo Bu was resting. Suddenly a voice echoed in the room.


    "You did good." Right in front of his bed, the man in black and purple was back. In fact, the only thing that allowed Luduo Bu to know he was the same man was the voice. But his voice was different from the one who gave him instructions after the duel.


    "I want to kill Chen Guo!" Leaping from his bed, rage was all over Luduo Bu''s face. "I played along earlier because the elders were all here, but I need to kill him myself! I want to kill his friends before his eyes and put an end to his sufferings with my bare hands! I want to drink his blood and eat his flesh!" As he spoke, the Blood Runes circulated in his blood and his eyes became redder and redder.


    "I understand, but the timing is important. Today you were able to lead Chief Elder Bian a little closer to us. But if you were to kill Chen Guo within the sect, it would all fail. Next year, Chen Guo will most likely leave the sect, then you''ll kill him. And we also need him for a small matter. But I assure you that next year, by cultivating the ''Blood Runes'', you''ll be so much more powerful than he is that he won''t be able to do a thing except grovel at your feet."


    Even after this attempt at appeasing him, Luduo Bu had a terrible time just calming down. His ''Blood Runes'' cultivation method was clearly affecting his emotions. And the hatred he felt toward Cao Yun amplified it. When you looked into his eyes, you could almost see his sanity disappearing.


    Like all demonic cultivators, he was slowly losing his mind. This hatred and the feeling of humiliation were now fueling an inner demon. The man in black and purple immediately saw it in his eyes. Developing an inner demon could be a double-edged sword for a demonic cultivator. The ''Blood Runes'' method could be tempered by using an inner demon. But on the other hand, it could make your cultivation go berserk and literally devour yourself, taking over your body.


    Fearing for his plans to be foiled by Luduo Bu''s uncontrolled rage, he had to find a way to send him away for a while. "Brother Luduo, you should leave the sect right now and focus on training the ''Blood Runes''. If you''re able to reach the third or even fourth layer, no Mortal cultivator will be able to stand in your way."


    -


    In an entirely different place, Lu Meihan was pondering over her next course of actions. The man in purple and black had told her to wait for Cao Yun and Luduo Bu''s duel so that he got weaker. But Cao Yun had won the duel and from the intel she got, he recovered in a night. Right now, he was even more powerful than before. And he became a 1-star Earth array formation master. That meant that the array formation she used would be completely useless.


    Lu Meihan was even wondering whether he had decided to learn it because of her. It made sense, but if he knew, he could have talked to Xiao Xuefeng and with her spiritual senses, she probably would have found some clues on the matter.


    Right now, she was eying a small wooden box. This was the Life Essence Phoenix Balm that the man in black and purple had given her. By using this, she would get her strength back and some more. But then, she would only have less than half a year to live.


    Her only way to survive then would be to dual cultivate with some very talented young man. Cao Yun was the best candidate. And even though she was confident in her ability to seduce anyone, she wasn''t sure to find a better candidate than him. Her best course of actions would be to get Cao Yun to dual cultivate with her.


    In the eventuality that he were to refuse, she would need to resort to other less enviable means. Many possibilities wandered into her mind.


    Finally, she looked at her frail body and got sick of herself. She took the box and opened it. The smell of blood was very faint and an early Mortal would probably not even smell it at all. The faction leader took out her small bell and rang it.


    A small girl entered almost immediately.


    "Yes, Mistress?" She was kneeling on the floor awaiting her instructions.


    "Ren Rong. Take this manual and rub this ointment on my acupoints according to it." She laid down on her stomach and let Ren Rong approach her. "You have to keep quiet about this. Do not tell anyone, not even the other members of the faction. They would worry about my health... But this balm is the last chance I''ve got."

 Chapter 81: New determinations after the fight

    Still enraged, Luduo Bu had only one desire: to go find Cao Yun in order to slaughter him. However, he saved a bit of his sanity and knew that trying to do so within the sect would be his last mistake. Not only would he be punished by the sect, but Xiao Xuefeng also dotted on the boy heavily, so she would probably kill him or destroy his spirit. Moreover, his benefactor needed the boy as well, so if Luduo Bu tried to kill him, he would die without knowing who murdered him.


    Reasoning in such a way, he decided to leave the sect and train his ''Blood Runes''. If he had reached the third layer, 8 Blood Runes, he would have won without problem. No matter how agile Cao Yun was, he couldn''t have fended off Blood Runes attacking from all eight directions. And worse, if he was able to manifest his Qi, he could control them at convenience and his martial arts would be even more formidable.


    For now, he decided to focus on getting stronger and when the time came, he would torture Cao Yun to death out in the wild.


    But deep within his mind, an eternal grudge had festered and given life to an inner demon. Such a thing was a disfigured echo of a cultivator''s obsession. In normal cultivator, it could lead to death or insanity. But for demonic cultivators who used evil methods, the end result could literally turn them into killing machines. Evil methods could be strengthened by an inner demon but they also strengthened the inner demon as well. And if a demonic cultivator failed to keep it in check, his own mind could be devoured and replaced.


    -


    Other people were also thinking about Cao Yun.


    In the Red Cliff Faction residence, Chan Weifeng was talking with Jiang Yifan. Next year, the current faction leader intended to join the army and Jiang Yifan would take his place. Even if he wouldn''t be in the sect, Chan Weifeng wanted his faction to thrive. He had a great relationship with the faction leader before him and he did not want this faction to disappear. On the other hand, Jiang Yifan was going to lead the faction so he obviously wanted it to stay as powerful as it was, and maybe become even more influential.


    "Faction Leader, aren''t we going to do anything against Chen Guo?"


    After a long pause, Chan Weifeng finally talked. "No. That would be a mistake. The Heavenly Swallow Faction survived all our suppression last year and now they can become stronger faster than before. And they even found an ally such as Chen Guo. What more could we do to them? We have to accept that they are here to stay."


    "But, next year..."


    "I know! Zhi Yin and her subordinates will be in the Ancient Ruins but Chen Guo and Mei Hua will stay. Do you think they won''t attract newcomers? Hell, they may even attract some of our own very soon. Instead of thinking about how to suppress them, you should think about how to attract new members next year."


    Jiang Yifan became silent. His faction leader was not wrong. Eliminating the Heavenly Swallow Faction was now impossible. The only thing to do was to convince people that joining his Red Cliff Faction was more beneficial. The fact was that it wasn''t so clear. Yes their faction was bigger and had more resources. But with an alchemy genius such as Mei Hua, the Heavenly Swallow Faction could easily get more resources and their treasury was indeed growing very fast.


    On the other hand, their faction was specialized in fighting. And Cao Yun was on his way to destroy all the records. After beating Luduo Bu, he was now ranked 195th on the fighting scroll. Even his faction leader did not soar that fast during his first year. And Jiang Yifan himself had to wait until the end of his first year to reach the 204th rank.


    Then, there was the matter of the conditions. His faction had harsh conditions to leave whereas their Heavenly Swallow was very easy to leave. It was harder to get back in of course, but leaving was fairly easy. Obviously, Jiang Yifan did not know that Cao Yun had gotten a special condition. No matter whether he left or not, he could not join any other faction during his second year.


    Although Jiang Yifan wanted to fight to uphold the reputation of the Red Cliff Faction, he had to admit his faction leader was right. There was no way to suppress the Heavenly Swallow Faction efficiently. As such, he decided to obstruct them just as much as the other factions. They would compete in the wild for resources, without going overboard. And they would compete in the fighting scroll. Sadly, he knew that no one under Cao Yun could beat him right now. In fact, Luduo Bu had gotten way stronger than his rank and Cao Yun had still beaten him.


    In truth, Cao Yun could have aimed higher. If he had chosen Luduo Bu, it was because of his grudge.


    -


    In the Purple Northern Cloud Faction, the atmosphere was completely different. Long Jian did not really care about the future of his faction. What he loved was fighting. And after seeing Cao Yun''s fight, he got fired up. But then, he got a bit gloomy. Cao Yun would not grow strong enough to contend with him in just a year. So to fight Cao Yun, he would have to wait at least five years, when he would leave the sect. And maybe even then, he may not be able to fight him either.


    Long Jian had gone from excitement to depression. Fortunately, his sister was by his side. She was a second-year, Long Huafang. Just like her brother, she loved fighting and would love to fight against Cao Yun. In the ranking, she was just under Zhi Yin, so she could not challenge Cao Yun yet. Right now, she was above him. However, she felt confident that she would fight him this year, before she would go to the Ancient Ruins for her third year.


    "Brother, do not be so depressed! You''ll be able to see my duel with Chen Guo this year, I''m sure of it. And one day, all great fighters must fight each other. As long as Chen Guo keeps up, you will be able to test yourself against him!"


    The young girl was really trying to cheer her tall brother up.


    "Thank you, Huafang. You''re right. What would be the point in fighting below the Mortal Warrior realm anyway?! Unless he''s able to manifest his Qi, such a duel would be a letdown!"If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    -


    Finally, in the Coiling Silk Faction, something else was happening. Wang Mei went to report to her faction leader, but what she found surprised her beyond all reason. Lu Meihan was performing her martial art routine in the courtyard.


    "Faction Leader!" Wang Mei sprinted toward her faction leader and just could not believe her eyes. Then a thought popped in her head and she got anxious. "Did you use some pills? What about the backlash?"


    Lu Meihan kept moving while talking with Wang Mei. "Do not worry over that. I finally found a way to treat my problem. Everything''s going to be fine!"


    "But, Faction Leader?! Is it permanent?"


    A sinister smile shined on Lu Meihan''s face. "It will be!" When she was finally over, she went to her subordinate. "Wang Mei, talk to me about Chen Guo and your ''friend'' Ren Chao."


    Wang Mei felt something a bit off in Lu Meihan''s eyes but she thought it was only her excitement. After all, she had been forced to stay in her bed for several months. She could not even bathe or relieve herself without any help. This had been truly humiliating and her future seemed terribly bleak.


    Anyway, Wang Mei got her mind together and began to chitchat with her faction leader. They used to talk very often before her backlash and Wang Mei was elated to be able to go back to these times.


    -


    The man everyone was talking about was cultivating in his room. Today was the day of the resources distribution. He had already consumed all his small spirit stones and was waiting for the next batch. As his rank had soared, so did his points. Right now, he was over 2,500 points. It was getting higher and higher and gave him more and more resources and time in the array formations.


    Early in the morning, some servants knocked on his door. Huang Cixi was the one to answer. After carefully checking the resources, she thanked the servant and closed the door.


    "Young Master, you received two medium spirit stones and six small ones."


    "Medium stones? Aren''t they worth at least twenty small spirit stones each?" He took the stones and examined the medium ones. They were four times bigger but their color was much darker.


    "Well, it depends on each stone. But it should be around twenty times richer in Qi. Both the size and the density are higher."


    Just by touching the medium spirit stones, he felt a surge of Qi through his palms. He was already absorbing Qi at almost his fastest speed. But with these stones and his new knowledge of array formations, he could maybe increase his speed a little. It would not be a huge improvement but everything was good to take.


    Right now, he had two main objectives. He needed to find out the truth about the demonic cultivators and he also had to get as strong as possible. Indeed, if he were to fight against Luduo Bu in the wild, he would most likely die. As long as he was within the sect, he wasn''t too worried, but Chief Elder Bian''s attitude was a bit suspicious. Anyway, he had to focus on what he could control. The main tool that gave him all these benefits was his mind cultivation.


    For now, his Po cultivation was progressing smoothly. However he had to be careful as his Drop of Wrath always got excited and threatened to burn Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. As such, he advanced by only one repetition each day. But this wasn''t a huge problem as it was really smooth. Maybe he could find ways to speed things up but he was more concerned about strengthening his Qi cultivation and his martial arts.


    And for now, what he needed the most was sufficient knowledge of array formations to sneak inside the Coiling Silk Faction. Moreover, he could also use array formations to speed up his Qi cultivation without danger. Unlike pills, using an array formation had no negative impact as it did not affect the body directly but rather the environment around the cultivator. Of course, it was faster to increase your cultivation with high-ranked pills, but many alchemists who did so had very poor fighting strength. There were even cases of early Spirit Warriors being defeated by late Mortal Warriors.


    Before getting down to it, he first entered his sea of consciousness. The two stars shining in his sky were brighter than ever and they even reflected a tiny bit in the clear sea below. Cao Yun put his focus on the orange one, the Neck Star. This star was deeply connected with stances and, even more, with movements. Even his understanding of the ''Raging Storm in Still Rock'' treatise and of the ''stillness within movement'' and ''movement within stillness'' was engraved inside this star. Moreover, he had put a bit of ''Stopping the Waves'' within.


    He had almost perfected the ''Locking the Seven'' part of the stealth manual. In a week or two, he would be able to erase his presence so completely that only a late Mortal Warrior or Spirit Warrior would be able to detect him. His movement comprehension had been lagging behind a little, until he broke through in his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. While focusing on the two stars, the head of a dragon began to appear. Strangely, it was a blue dragon even though the Neck Star was orange and way bigger and brighter, the blue of the Horn Star was dominant. Only the head and a part of its neck was visible. It was still very faint but with his sharp senses, Cao Yun could see it vaguely.


    As he looked at the movement of the stars, he saw how the Azure Dragon was moving and it deepened his understanding. He was pretty sure that his ''Stopping the Waves'' would be perfected in a matter of days if he kept on training and studying the stars as a reference.


    In Cao Yun''s mind, his stealth was assured in a matter of two weeks, tops. His other problem was then to set an array formation allowing him to cultivate more quickly and efficiently. And of course, he also needed to be able to detect array formations in order to sneak into the Coiling Silk Faction residence. Each time he got new knowledge, he used his ''Shen Visualization'' to figure out where in this residence array formations could be set up. In his mind, he had a perfect replica of the residence, at least the courtyards. In the inside, apart from the building he had gotten into, he was blind.


    So, he needed to sharpen his skills to guess the array formations beforehand. But he also needed to be able to identify them when he would be there in person. The best course of action would be to avoid them, but maybe he would also have to break through them. And then, that was the hard part as he would have to neither activate nor destroy them so as to not alert anyone he had broken into the residence.


    Anyway, the only person who could help him achieve such a result was Sun Liao. He was the genius of the outer sect and close to Chief Elder Suxian, the chief elder in charge of the array formation pavilion.


    Once again, Cao Yun decided to go visit his friend with all the questions he had in mind. In fact, his questions always pertained to array formations able to increase the cultivation speed and array formations susceptible to be set in the courtyards of the Coiling Silk Faction residence. Memorizing many books on array formations, he had discovered very bizarre array formations with effects he would never have suspected were even possible.


    Just as he got really immersed in alchemy once he started to learn it, array formations were another rabbit hole. But he had a clear goal in mind. It was always good to learn more about other occupations, but his time was limited and the new strength of Luduo Bu was worrying Cao Yun. He needed to gather as much information in as little time as possible.


    Hence, he set out to go toward the array formation pavilion in order to find his friend. Once he got there, he learned from the reception desk that Sun Liao was training with Chief Elder Suxian. Cao Yun did not want to insist and was even ready to leave. But the receptionist stopped him.


    "Wait, Master Chen. Chief Elder Suxian told me to report your presence as soon as you arrived. Please, wait a moment."


    As soon as she had spoken, the receptionist ran through a corridor.

 Chapter 82: Chief Elder Suxians personal lecture

    A big noise echoed throughout the array formation pavilion and Chief Elder Suxian appeared just before Cao Yun. He had no time to even perceive him that he was right before his face.


    "Junior Chen! It''s a good thing that you''re here. My disciple tells me that you''re pretty talented in regards to array formations. A great fighter, a great alchemist and soon a great array formation master. Good, good."


    Soon after his master''s sudden arrival and hearty welcome, Sun Liao came running behind with the receptionist.


    "Master, do not move that fast within the pavilion." Sun Liao was almost out of breath and had to recover a bit. "Brother Chen, it seems like you made my master lucky."


    Hearing theses words, Chief Elder Suxian''s face froze. He turned toward Sun Liao and admonished him. "I just took you in as a direct disciple and you thank me by spilling my secrets?!"


    "Master, I''m sorry, but it is your teaching that gambling and bets are bad, right?" Vividly in his mind, Sun Liao remembered how his now master had punished him for betting against Cao Yun during the entrance examination.


    Chief Elder Suxian did not know what to respond to that. He had indeed scolded Sun Liao. But, in reality, it was because he had lost his Exquisite Purple Jasmine back then. Defeated, Chief Elder Suxian did not try to talk his way out with his disciple. Instead, he turned back.


    "Young friend, this isn''t what you think..."


    "My master apparently bet with Chief Elder Luoming on your victory and he won the Exquisite Purple Jasmine which he had lost while betting against you during the entrance examination. Isn''t that the reason of your good mood, Master? I hear that this jasmine makes some divine tea."


    Clearing his throat, Chief Elder Suxian looked at Sun Liao who was walking to Cao Yun''s side. Sun Liao properly greeted his friend before continuing. "Chief Elder Luoming came in person to gift this prize. Since then, my master just keeps talking about you. So when I told him that you were deeply interested in array formations, he just couldn''t wait to help you out, right, Master? Isn''t that what you said?"


    "Luoming..." Once again, Chief Elder Luoming, even in defeat, had been able to tease his friend by spilling the beans to his disciple.


    "Thank you, Chief Elder Suxian. That would be my pleasure." Understanding that his friend was teasing his master in order to help him, Cao Yun immediately stepped in. "I have indeed great need of such a master as yourself."


    Speechless, Chief Elder Suxian quickly laughed it off. "Of course, of course. After all, my disciple had made things difficult for you during the entrance exam and he never paid you back. As his master, I''ll take full responsibility and help you as atonement for his devious acts."


    "Master! I did make amends to Brother Chen!"


    As the duo of master and disciple kept bickering with each other, Cao Yun finally realized something. On Sun Liao''s chest was a 5-star Earth grade array formation master emblem. He had probably passed the graduation test the day before and had finally become the official disciple of Chief Elder Suxian. And it seemed like their relation was very good. Even though they argued with each other, they were very cordial.


    Sun Liao was trying to get back to his master for the hellish training he had to endure after the entrance exam. Moreover, Sun Liao had realized that this was due to his master losing a bet and not entirely due to his actions. Although, he now admitted that his actions had been terrible...


    As Chief Elder Suxian was not a noble, he was very open with other people, even inferior to him. He was wise enough to know that no matter how weak a cultivator appeared, he could soar through the heavens and overcome anyone in a matter of decades. And with Cao Yun''s talent, Chief Elder Suxian was convinced he would reach even the sect leader himself one day. On the other end, Sun Liao''s mastery of array formations would allow him to surpass his master in no time either. As soon as he reached Spirit Master, he would exceed him in his craft.


    But Chief Elder Suxian was not worried at all, instead he was looking forward to seeing their achievements. As both of them would be taught by him, their achievements would also in part be due to him. Although, with such talents, they would soar regardless of the master who taught them.


    Anyway, they both stopped bickering and walked Cao Yun into the room they had just left. At the reception desk, the young servant was agape. For her, Chief Elder Suxian was an otherworldly existence. And yet, she saw him as excited as a little boy, sprinting to meet Cao Yun, and then quarreling with his young disciple. Even Sun Liao was a pinnacle of array formations for her, and she just witnessed a very charming side of him. Right now, she was even more seduced by this boy.


    In fact, many women in the array formation pavilion had been seduced by Sun Liao, even without him trying to do anything. Since his arrival in the Wubei Sect, he did not have much time as he wanted to reach the 5-star Earth stage as quickly as possible. Now that he had, he would get more time to ''socialize''.


    -


    Once inside the room, Cao Yun realized it was much bigger than the room he had trained with Sun Liao previously. It was the training room of Chief Elder Suxian. Many bookshelves were lined up with thousands of books, manuals and scrolls. Just sweeping his eyes over them, he recognized many references he had seen but that were not in the Wubei library. At least, they were not in the levels he had access to.


    "Oh? You have good eyes! These are my personal collection. You can browse through them if you want. But be cautious! It''s not necessarily a good thing to get too deep in array formations without a firm foundation. There are so many techniques, they can cloud your mind more than help you understand. First, you really need to learn the basis."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Chief Elder Suxian pondered a bit. "What about this? I''ll go over the foundation of array formations with you both and talk about some basic techniques. That can always be beneficial, no matter your level. Even for me! Trying to explain difficult concepts is a great way to make you understand them more. So don''t shy away from trying to teach what you learn.


    Of course, there are some things that are considered secret, and you should not teach them indiscriminately. But remember that the goal of our Wubei Sect is the betterment of mankind. Despite how safe the world may seem to youths like you, I can assure you that demons lurk in the shadow. They''re just waiting for the right opportunity to send us all back to the irons they kept us in. So, all mankind should try and educate young talents. The more talented cultivators we have, the better off we are against these monsters."


    Cao Yun had frequently heard stories from his parents about the demons. He knew they were talking about a real threat, but he had to admit that he did not take them too seriously. For him, this was a very distant threat, a very hypothetical one as well. Even his great-grandfather Cao Beiwen, in more than 200 years of existence, had never had to fight off a demon invasion. The Cao family lived pretty far from the borders, so Cao Yun had never even seen a demon in his life.


    Anyway, he decided to focus on the content of Chief Elder Suxian''s lecture. And so did Sun Liao.


    "I''ll go through the very basics taught in ''Guarding the Ten Thousand Directions''. Array formations were developed by Saint Duan Huang. He was a trusted ally of Emperor Nuwa. This discipline is really a culmination of our human knowledge. By observing the universe, he derived how Qi flowed through all nature. From the smallest blade of grass to the biggest star, Qi flows through all the universe. He realized that humans could alter this flow of Qi to produce mystical effects.


    Hence was born the first of the Eight Directions, Qi Circulation. To understand this concept better, you must observe how Qi flows all around you. Of course, only Mortal Warriors can perceive Qi that''s not directly around them, but you can still learn a fair amount just by watching how Qi flows through you. Just try to let it flow without controlling anything, as a spectator. Then, you''ll understand its nature and how it flows better.


    Then, you must understand Yin-Yang Alternation and the Five Transformations. As an alchemist, Chen Guo, you should already be familiar with these concepts. Qi itself has a Yin and Yang nature and also contains the five elements. You must use this to control how it flows and also get your desired outcome. Contrary to alchemy, you must be able to create an array formation which will preserve these qualities for very long period of times. In alchemy, you just need to adjust it during the refinement. In array formations, you must almost set it in stone. That''s why observing your environment and using a compass are very useful.


    It''s possible to make an array formation without the use of a compass. But unless you''re a great master, the result won''t last long. For example, during his fight, my disciple produced a small array formation but it couldn''t sustain itself for more than a few breaths. In a fight, that can be the difference between life and death, but it won''t be considered a great array formation.


    Sixty Rotations pertains to the cycle of time. Our time is divided into sixty segments according to the movement of the celestial bodies. This movement influences Qi, but to master it, you must understand the stars themselves. A great array formation master should be able to perform his craft even if the stars were to change. Because even on small time scales, the position of the stars do shift. If you become a true immortal, you can even witness the constellations change. So your craft should not be reliant on absolutes, but it should adapt to the stars you actually see.


    Eight Trigrams is even more complex. It''s based around the Eight variations of Yin and Yang. You must already know Small and Pure Yin or Yang, but they can further combine with Yin and Yang and create Eight variations. And even more complex than that, the Eight Variations of Heaven are symmetrical to the Eight Variations of Earth. So you must be able to use their interaction to manipulate the environment and make your array formations more stable.


    Nine Halls is a way to analyze the environment. You can use it to extract the structure of the flow of Qi from a map. For example, mountains are known to generate Qi while rivers are known to conduct it. By using the topology of the terrain, you''ll be able to create great diagrams, more abstract than the maps themselves. Then you can use these diagrams to consider how to best set your array formations.


    The Twenty-Four Mountains principle further explains how to read your compass. Each of the eight directions linked to the Eight Variations can be further divided into three sections. Thus you obtain the Twenty-Four Mountains. You may use your compass to detect any wandering Qi and perfect its flow through your array formation. Thanks to this technique, you''re able to locate where the palaces and gates of your array formation should be. But it means, that you''re also able to locate the gates and palaces of another array formation. By altering the palaces, you can change or even destroy an array formation. You can also use the gates to leave any array formation unharmed.


    Palaces and gates differ greatly from array formation to array formation. They can be physical objects or pathways in the flow of Qi. But every single array formation has at least a Gate of Life and a Master Palace. If you''re able to destroy the Master Palace, the array formation will cease to function completely. And if you locate the Gate of Life, you can leave the array formation without any problem.


    Finally, Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems refers to further subdivisions of time. It''s also linked to mystical animals and celestial bodies. This is maybe the most difficult concept to grasp. It''s said that if you understand this principle your array formations will last through the life and death of ten suns. And if you grasp all its profundities, your array formations will become eternal. This principle is used to increase the lifespan of your array formations and decrease the need for repairs.


    To sum up, setting any array formation is akin to changing the flow of Qi of the universe. You can consider the universe itself as a giant array formation. By using some principles, your senses and a compass, you can understand a part of its structure and alter it to create a smaller array formation within. By the way, that''s something you can also do with array formations: putting smaller ones within bigger ones. You can even create thousands of them harmonized by a larger one. The possibilities are limitless.


    There are hundreds of lesser principles and thousands of techniques. Some are only used in very specific settings. For example the Small Dragon River is used to set an array formation under water, as long as the body of water is not too large. Outside of this situation, it''s pretty much useless. So trying to learn them all is not a good idea at first."


    Even though Cao Yun had read much of what Chief Elder Suxian had just told, the way he put it so succinctly was very great. He felt as if he had a better understanding of array formations. Instead of considering the Coiling Silk Faction residence alone, he could consider the entire map of the Wubei Sect. The Wubei Sect could be seen as an array formation and the Coiling Silk Faction residence a smaller one within. Then, he would have several diagrams to consider, as well as their interactions.


    With this new knowledge, he could be able to more easily determine where traps could be hidden. In fact, he could also increase his stealth by not disturbing the flow of Qi. Since he wasn''t a Mortal Warrior yet, he could only sense Qi in his immediate vicinity but a Mortal Warrior could feel it a bit further. Of course, their senses were not as good as those of a Spirit Warrior. However, compared to Cao Yun''s, they were a magnitude better.

 Chapter 83: Seamless Qi Vortex Array formation

    Chief Elder Suxian continued with his lesson.


    "Usually, an array formation is judged according to how much Qi actually follows the right path. The Qi that doesn''t is called Wandering Qi. If there is too much Wandering Qi, the array formation will be disrupted. Either no effect will be produced or they will decrease over time and disappear quickly. The ranking is as follows: if you control 90% of the Qi flow or more, your array formation is Perfect ; if you reach 95% or higher, it''s Pristine ; and finally if you achieve 100%, it''s Seamless. Of course, you can never reach a perfect 100%, but if you get close enough, your array formation will be considered Seamless.


    In such a state, an array formation perfectly blends in the environment. Trying to destroy it would be akin to try and destroy the environment itself. It''s not impossible because the array formation is obviously smaller and contains less energy. And the higher the grade of your array formation, the harder it is to destroy.


    I''ll go over the grades next. Earth is the lowest and needs frequent maintenance to stay attuned with the environment. It also requires an external source of Qi, most often with spirit stones. Human is the next grade. It requires a bit of Qi from the user to get started but can then be used several times and even use a bit of the energy outside to function. Heaven is a step higher. It can naturally recharge itself over time from the environment.


    But there are also two levels above. They are the legendary Spirit and God levels. I only saw one 5-star Spirit array formation in my entire life. It possessed a spirit and could take decisions on its own. Such an array formation can rearrange itself to maximize its power. The one I saw only had an elementary spirit, unable to speak human language. But it was still extremely impressive. Finally, the God level is really from the myths. And according to some ancient texts, it should be able to evolve, just like human cultivators.


    To finish, I''ll just go over the basic tools of an array formation master. Of course, there is the compass. This tool allows you to find out the best way to set up your array formation. And it also allows you to decipher other array formations. You can also use flags. These flags will be sent to strategic places in order to guide the flow of Qi. In reality, you can use many objects as flags. But the traditional flags are pretty neutral and can be used more easily in most cases. You can also use formation plates. Such plates are metallic disks in which you can engrave an array formation. To use it, you must have a basic understanding of the engraved array formation though."


    Cao Yun had learned a lot. Now he realized more clearly what an array formation master was doing. By changing small parts in his environment he had to divert the natural flow of Qi and even alter some of its properties in order to manifest mystical attributes. Hence, the array formations he had read about were just giving the general shape of the finished product. But the exact position and orientation of every part had to be deduced each time a master wanted to set up a specific array formation.


    Suddenly, an idea popped inside Cao Yun''s head. "Chief Elder Suxian, if an array formation is just the control of the flow of Qi, isn''t circulating one''s own Qi a form of array formation?"


    Sun Liao was surprised and with a huge smile, Chief Elder Suxian answered. "Indeed it is. In fact array formations were deduced by using this principle. It''s said that Emperor Nuwa invented our Qi cultivation system and Saint Duan Huang used it as a basis to create his theory of array formations. He just had to observe nature to put it in relation with cultivation."


    Sun Liao had studied for several years before connecting the two principles. But Cao Yun had done so in a handful of lectures.


    "But, then, wouldn''t it be possible to form an array formation inside the body?"


    "Of course it is! That''s exactly what martial arts do! Even if you can''t manifest your Qi, you can use mystical powers by controlling the flow of your Qi within. And when you can control it outside, then an whole new range of martial arts opens itself to you."


    "But, then, we could also try to align the array formation not only with the environment but also with the individual within. Wouldn''t it increase its efficiency?"


    This time, Chief Elder Suxian and Sun Liao were both surprised. This was a very advanced principle but Cao Yun spoke about it as if it was obvious.


    "Yes it would. Sadly, unless you aim to use your array formation for a single person, you can''t adjust it perfectly to their constitution. But, for the array formation you got interested into it''s possible. The Qi Vortex array formation is very temporary as it consumes the spirit stones used to form it. So, usually, only one person will use it. If you adapt the Qi Vortex to your needs, it will increase your absorption of Qi by 4 to 7%.


    I think it''s time for us to get down to the practical side of the craft. I want you to set up a Yellow Moon array formation."


    Chief Elder Suxian pointed his finger toward an empty part of the room with some tools and flags. Cao Yun knew what this ''Yellow Moon'' was. This array formation increased the weight of Qi itself, hindering any cultivator inside of it. In reality, Qi had no real weight but it increased the difficulty to move it around. It could be used to delay an opponent or even to train oneself. As Qi was more difficult to move, you needed more will to do so as fast as if the array formation didn''t exist.


    Cao Yun had taken his ''Twenty-Four Eight Compass''. The first thing he did was to use his ''Shen Visualization'' to get a rough idea of where he should set the flags. Then, as he did for alchemy, he corrected his interpretation by using the compass.


    In the end, he was able to set up the right array formation. When he put a small spirit stone in the Gate of Wind, the array formation activated and Cao Yun felt as if his Qi had become as heavy as mercury. He had to use his Yi, Zhi, Shen and even Po to control it with the same ease.


    Chief Elder Suxian and Sun Liao got near the array formation and examined it.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Disciple, what do you think its grade is?"


    Sun Liao took out his own compass. It was a bit bigger, with more characters written on it and some golden linings. He walked around and did some calculations.


    "Master, if I''m not mistaken, it should have barely reached the Pristine stage."


    "Good. You''re right! It''s very faint, but it just crossed over the Pristine rank." Chief Elder Suxian turned back toward Cao Yun. "This ''Yellow Moon'' is a 2-star Earth array formation, which means that you are now officially a 2-star Earth array formation master. Congratulations!"


    Just like that, Cao Yun had upgraded his emblem and also his ranking on the array formation scroll. This ''Yellow Moon'' had just barely made it, but it was good enough. Moreover, he had set it right under the eyes of the chief elder of the array formation pavilion. No one would contest his advancement.


    "You''ll get your new emblem at the reception desk. But I''d like to do something else today." Chief Elder Suxian went and picked one of his books. "I''ll set up a very obscure array formation and you''ll have to decipher it. Your goal is to point out the palaces and the gates as well as the effects of the array formation. And if you can, even tell me how the Qi flows within. I''ll adapt the array formations to your respective levels."


    Then, the rest of the day was used to decipher array formations. By doing so, Cao Yun could further enhance his ''Shen Visualization'' concerning the array formations. When he got back in his room, he had a better idea of where traps could be hidden within the Coiling Silk Faction residence.


    -


    In order to further advance his cultivation, Cao Yun had decided to set up a Qi Vortex array formation. He had already started to survey the exterior yard and had found the perfect spot, a small depression in the ground forming a basin.


    By setting the array formation there, he would increase its effects and gain a bit of cover. Still, he would have to ask for Huang Cixi to help him stand guard. According to the rules, as long as the array formation did not stay more than a day and did not disturb anyone, he could set it up.


    Hence, he asked his servant to accompany him with all the necessary materials. With the recent distribution of resources, he had enough small spirit stones to set the Qi Vortex array formation. He could probably even use a medium spirit stone. But for now, he would just work with the small spirit stones.


    Even though Huang Cixi was his servant, she still had other things to do in the day. So to compensate her, he decided to gift her small True Essence Low-Level Qi Gathering pills. At first, she refused but in the end, just like Cao Yun always did, she accepted the gift as payment.


    Using his own Qi circulation as a basis, Cao Yun began to decipher the position of the flags. He wanted to align the array formation with the environment and his own cultivation as well. By doing so, the natural flow of Qi would follow his ''Cultivation of Wrath'' more easily. And it would then increase his absorption speed. Given the rank of the Qi Vortex, it would not be great, but he could be faster by a day or two in opening the next meridian.


    The first array formation he set up was not that good, but he quickly learned and his next attempts were Pristine. As he cultivated inside his own array formation, the Qi flowed even faster within his meridians. His Po cultivation had also increased and he could control Qi better. Everything combined made his cultivation smoother and faster.


    One day, he was even able to set up a Seamless Qi Vortex array formation. As he was always using the same spot, he could improve bit by bit every day. Array formations also took time and seasons into account but a difference of a few days was not that crucial for such a low level array formation.


    He did not only focus on his Qi circulation. First of all, he could not ask Huang Cixi to stay with him all day long. But, also, he needed to train his martial arts, his Qi cultivation and he also devoted some time to alchemy. He did not have to specifically train his array formation skills for now as he was working with it every day.


    -


    Finally, he was able to forge a Pure Seven Frogs Winter pill with 3% toxins. Thus, he went to Meng Jia whom he had not seen in quite some time. After greeting Zhong Ling at the reception desk, he went with his instructor in the usual room and gave him the pill.


    When he took the pill in hand, Meng Jia examined it very carefully. He was able to guess how it had been formed. In fact, he even enunciated it as he was thinking. Then, he put it down.


    "Great. You have achieved the level needed to reach the 3-star Earth alchemist grade." From a spatial ring, he took out several ingredients. "You should be familiar with the Recoiled Turtle Miasma pill. It''s a pretty easy 3-star Earth pill to refine. In fact, it''s very similar to the Seven Frogs Winter pill. You should have no problem to forge a Pure one. Once you do, you''ll officially be a 3-star Earth alchemist."


    And then, Cao Yun refined the pill with great ease. Meng Jia had been right. Once he had mastered the Seven Frogs Winter pill with a very low level of toxins, forging a Pure Recoiled Turtle Miasma pill was almost easy. This was one of the common pills used to take the graduation exam.


    Just like that, Cao Yun had become a 3-star Earth alchemist.


    "There''s not much to teach you until you reach the Mortal Warrior stage. I''ll make you a list of pills to refine with the level and quality you should aim for. I''ll also give you a list of books to read. Some are not available to you in the library, but the alchemy pavilion can give you access with your new rank. If you have any question, feel free to come and ask me."


    -


    In the next day, Cao Yun was cultivating in his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation when he felt his Qi opening another meridian. His tenth meridian was entirely open, the Stomach Meridian. There were only two more meridians to go and he would break through to the 6th-grade Mortal stage. In fact this stage only consisted in absorbing enough Qi to fill up the Lower Dantian until it overflowed into the Extraordinary Vessels. From all the work before, especially during the 3rd-grade Mortal stage, the Lower Meridian could store more Qi and it took a lot of time to fill it up. The absorption speed was also limited by one''s own body and this stage was a way to train oneself to gather Qi faster. But with his Po cultivation and his newfound knowledge of alchemy and array formations, Cao Yun could probably break through to the 7th-grade Mortal in a matter of months while some cultivator took a year or two.


    In this grade, you had to use your Qi to strengthen and temper your vessels and meridians so they could resist the higher level of energy you would output later on.


    Cao Yun began to read the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' on these levels and discovered interesting things. According to this cultivation method, you could use the 6th-grade Mortal stage to begin a small part of the tempering process. But you could also increase the quantity of Qi you could store by using your vessels. To do so, you had to concentrate your Qi in certain points that would act just like very tiny Dantian. By doing so, you would have more Qi and you would even gain some time on the next levels. In the later stages of the Mortal realm, you had to open your acupoints and by performing this cultivation method, you would already have some experience with specific acupoints. This experience alone would increase your speed by twofold.


    The Drop of Wrath had been a poisoned gift but the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' was really useful. And without this Drop of Wrath from Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun would be dead.

 Chapter 84: Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell

    The next few days, Cao Yun kept on training as usual. Now that he could, he using his Seamless Qi Vortex to advance his Qi cultivation. But he was also going in the Howling Crane Gorge to try and consolidate even further his understanding of the Neck Star and of ''Stopping the Waves''. Occasionally, he even went to the martial art pavilion and trained under Chief Elder Baishen.


    Recently, he was a bit more aggressive. Now that he had achieved a 3-star Earth rank in alchemy and a 2-star Earth rank in array formations, he was in no hurry to advance anymore. As long as he was a Mortal, the highest grade he could achieve was the 5-star Earth rank in both occupations. Thus, there was no point in going too fast. He decided to put his efforts into his martial arts, his Qi cultivation and kept on advancing steadily in his mind cultivation.


    Every day, his Po cultivation was advancing by one repetition. In a month, he should be able to reach True Success and two months later, Perfection. Then he would finally start the last character of the first Layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. He was a bit impatient to know what the second layer would be like. There were four Layers in all and the first one had already brought him many benefits. His mind was similar to an early Spirit Warrior''s mind, albeit without any spiritual senses.


    In his Qi cultivation, the array formations allowed him to go a bit faster but not by much. After all, he was already very fast before. But even gaining one or two days by meridian could allow him to break through weeks earlier. And in the later stages, he could even save months. He was not just thinking of the Mortal realm, his goal was the Spirit Warrior realm. This was the realm of his parents'' murderer and most likely of the demonic cultivator operating in the shadows within the Wubei Sect. Reaching such a level took decades and some cultivators never even reached it either because they lacked the talent, the time or the resources. Some were also injured during their cultivation.


    The ''Universal Law of Immortality'' was supposed to allow anyone to reach the highest point of the Spirit Warrior realm. However, not everyone was able to follow it. For some people, it took simply too much time by lack of talent or understanding. Some just lacked resources to speed up the process.


    Cao Yun''s father had reached the Spirit Warrior realm just prior to his death when he was 45. He had used thirty years of his life to get to this point. Cao Yun hoped he would achieve the same result a bit faster.


    Finally, we had to talk about his martial arts. His spearmanship was becoming better than his swordsmanship. To be honest, he had not seriously trained his sword skills since his arrival in the Wubei Sect. Indeed, the only arts he knew with his sword were from the Cao family, including the ''Three Storms''. Fearing that he could be recognized by these, he was focusing on his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Coincidentally, they both manipulated winds. But the ''Three Storms'' could also manipulate thunder, water and ice, all the elements of the storms.


    The ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' seemed to focus much more heavily on wind. But he only mastered two of the seven stars, the Horn Star and the Neck Star. By watching them frequently, Cao Yun was able to understand more and more about this martial art. Just watching theses stars in his sea of consciousness gave him the impression of admiring a dragon soaring in the sky. However, he could only see a small part of its neck and its head. And, the image was still extremely vague, he was more imagining than observing.


    By using the star chart within the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' manual, Cao Yun deduced where the third star should appear. For now, there was nothing much there but a frail white halo. According to what he was reading in the manual, this star should be linked to defense. The first star focused on stabbing with the spear, the second one pertained to the stances and their use to enhance your attacks and your moves. The third one seemed to contain the knowledge of defenses with the spear.


    In order to train his defense, Cao Yun decided to keep training a bit within the Howling Crane Gorge. But this time, he did not try to fight off the gale with his spear or even move. No, this time, he stood there perfectly still and tried to resist the powerful gale with his own flesh. By using ''Forging the Fort'' from ''Dance of Slaughter'', his body could be hardened a bit. It wasn''t as hard as the scales of a dragon, but the first and second levels of the gorge were no problem.


    However, in the third level, the pain became much more intense. He had to simultaneously focus on circulating his Qi in his legs not to be blown away and in his body to strengthen his muscles. Thankfully, the weekly training of Chief Instructor Peng was very useful. The blows from the turtle tail not only tempered the vessels but also the muscles both superficial and profound. And then, the physical exercises gave even more resistance to the body.


    Cao Yun also decided to train other parts of his body with the violent winds, exposing both his sides and his back to them.


    The winds could strengthen and temper one''s defense, but they were not perfect. In a fight, you would not be faced with a constant force but with several powerful spikes of force. So Cao Yun decided to go train his defense inside a new array formation in order to understand his third star.


    The array formation he thought about was the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation. It was inside a building closer to the inner yard. This array formation''s purpose was to send intense waves of pure energy from random directions. This way, martial artists could train their reflexes. But they could also work on dodging, on parrying, on blocking, on deflecting, some even worked on countering. To do so, they tried to match the intensity of the wave to cancel it.


    Anyway, this array formation was less glutton in energy so Cao Yun could have access indefinitely given his number of merit points. Inside the building, there was a dozen of array formations and there were probably even more on the seven floors of the pagoda. Indeed, these array formations were pretty small so many of them could be accommodated inside a small space.


    Cao Yun went toward an instructor and asked to use one of the array formations. The other disciples looked at him as he was a great attraction. There were some first-years as well. All were very interested to see what he was going to do inside the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Since it''s your first time, I''ll remind you of the rules. The Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation has several levels of activation. The first one is more or less the strength of a 3rd-grade Mortal and the higher would be equal to a standard 6th-grade Mortal Warrior." He looked at the 2-star Earth array formation master emblem on Cao Yun''s chest. "You should be able to adjust the level without help. Here is the layout of the array formation."


    The instructor handed Cao Yun a small scroll. Just after taking it, he opened the scroll and memorized the array formation. There was a place called the Gate of Power. You could alter it a little to control the output of the array formation. Usually, the instructor would be necessary to adjust it himself. However, Cao Yun was competent enough to do it without assistance.


    He gave the scroll back to the instructor. "Thank you, Instructor. I can indeed adjust it myself."


    "Then, just use whatever array formation is available. You can have up to two hours daily."


    Cao Yun went toward the nearest spot that was free on the first floor. He had some hesitation but he decided to begin with the lowest setting. The array formation was engraved in the ground but some spots could be changed either to maintain, activate or alter the array formation. After performing some changes, Cao Yun went inside the array formation.


    As soon as he got in the middle, the array formation activated itself. Cao Yun focused all his senses and circulated his mind cultivation. He did not use his ''Shen Visualization'' to determine the direction the waves of energy would come from. His goal was to strengthen his defense and grasp the concept of the third star. However, he also thought that training his reflexes was good. To do so, he would only rely on his senses and not try to predict in advance the direction of the attack.


    The first wave hit him right in the chest. He almost did not flinch and realized that this power level was too low for him. Even without using ''Forging the Fort'' he could sustain it without any injury. Still, he tried it out for four more waves when his interest declined.


    Everyone around him knew that he was just testing the array formation now. What they wanted to know was up to which level he would go. They were convinced that he was going to train his dodging ability given that was what saved him during the fight with Luduo Bu. Strangely, he seemed to instead stay perfectly still.


    Cao Yun was cautious, the Howling Crane Gorge had taught him that sometimes just upping the level a little could change drastically the result. The output was set on the power of a 4th-grade Mortal. Once again, he did not need any defense and only used his physical body. The pain was a bit higher, but nothing unbearable.


    Then he tried the 5th-grade Mortal setting, which corresponded to his own cultivation. This time, the first wave hit him in the lower back. The force was greater and he had to move a bit forward as his back bent a little. It did not create any internal damage but he would have an bruise to show for it. For some time, he stayed in this level, using only his body, but quickly he shifted to using ''Forging the Fort''. When the Qi circulated in his body, his flesh became more rigid and the waves had almost no effect anymore.


    He had to up the setting to 7th-grade Mortal to get the same result while circulating his martial arts. This time, he trained for half an hour. He was able to sustain the waves fairly easily but he used them to temper his reflexes while focusing on the position of the third star. This was still a white vapor up in the sky but he could feel the faint reaction of the star to be.


    The people around lost interest because they understood that Cao Yun was just tempering his body and his reflexes. What they wanted to see was his martial arts. Still, they were surprised that he could resist a force equivalent to a 7th-grade Mortal. Even if he was a late 5th-grade Mortal, fighting two grades higher was very difficult. Mortal cultivators could more easily fight above their own grade because the Mortal realm was rather weak compared to the other ones. It wasn''t rare to be able to fight two or three grades higher especially if you specialized in fighting and your opponent was an alchemist whose cultivation had been improved by pills.


    But it was clear that Cao Yun could fight a martial artist two grades above him and that was a feat to be recognized. In the fight against Luduo Bu, he had won thanks to his speed, so people were wondering about the rest of his abilities. And clearly, he had not just focused on increasing his speed. His overall fighting ability was on par as well.


    Finally, Cao Yun decided to stop his training. Although everyone had stopped looking at him, they realized this change and turned their attention toward him. Was he really just going to leave like that? Maybe the array formation did not have the effects he hoped for?


    Cao Yun just left the array formation to fetch his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Then he got back on the platform and stayed at the 7th-grade Mortal setting. Using his spear, he blocked and parried every wave of energy while performing the techniques of the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''''s third star. Alternatively, he used the shaft, the tip or the butt of the spear to block the waves. He clearly felt the power of the strikes in his hands. And to stop his hands from shaking, he used a mix of ''Forging the Fort'' and ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' to create a counter vibration.


    After several minutes, he realized once again that this setting was too low so he upped it to 8th-grade Mortal. The difference between 7th-grade and 8th-grade was pretty big compared to the other ones. And the gap between 8th-grade and 9th-grade would be even bigger.


    Nonetheless, Cao Yun was still able to contend with this level of strength and people around were interested but no more. There was nothing to be shocked about. A weapon was meant to reduce the gap between two fighters, as were martial arts. And Cao Yun''s martial art was known to be 1-star Human rank. However, it was stronger than that, this rank was due to how slow it was to master. But Cao Yun could literally see the stars in his sea of consciousness so he got much faster than anyone else. Even the creator of this martial art had been slower, since he had to derive all his understandings from nothing.


    Cao Yun could both see the stars and use the manual which contained the knowledge of the creator. In fact, the stars that were shining in his sea of consciousness were the stars as the creator of this martial art saw them. Inside them, there was his knowledge.


    Cao Yun kept on training at the 8th-grade Mortal setting. This array formation was very beneficial for his reflexes and he could vividly feel the third star starting to condense itself from his understanding of the martial art. Forming the third star could take months, but he was going to so in a matter of weeks. But then came the hard part, understanding the star itself. For that part, he would probably need a month or two. The fourth star would be almost as easy, but the last three ones would require much more time to forge and understand.


    When his time was up, Cao Yun did not leave. He went to an empty space to meditate on his experience and observe the stars in his sea of consciousness. Other cultivators did the same, trying to better absorb what they had understood inside the array formation.

 Chapter 85: Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves

    The first weeks of this new month, Cao Yun kept following his training program. Right now, he was able to resist the 9th-grade Mortal setting of the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation. In his sea of consciousness, there was a very small white dot surrounded by a white vapor floating in the sky. The star was not entirely forged but it was getting closer and closer.


    He also trained in his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation, always guarded by Huang Cixi. Several days after opening his tenth meridian, he opened the next one, the Small Intestine Meridian. Only one more meridian and he would officially be a 6th-grade Mortal.


    Cao Yun thought about waiting for his breakthrough but he decided to sneak into the Coiling Snake Faction residence the next day. He had finally reached the highest level of ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. No one in the Mortal realm should be able to perceive him if he did not want them to. He was still a bit worried about a potential Mortal Warrior, but unless they were 3rd-grade or higher, they should have a real trouble finding him thanks to his knowledge of array formations.


    He had combined what he knew with ''Locking the Seven'' and he could erase not only his presence but also a huge part of the Qi perturbations around him. His speed was even higher than from his fight with Luduo Bu and he could easily use half of it while performing ''Stopping the Waves''. At first, he had thought about using Ren Chao and his connection to Wang Mei in order to get intel. Eventually, he had decided not to involve his friends at all.


    After losing his family, he became very protective of the people close to him. And if Lu Meihan was truly linked to the demonic cultivators as he strongly suspected, they would all be in grave danger. He would rather die alone than take them with him. However, he was not ready to die at all!


    He chose a day he would be in perfect health and did nothing but visualize his attempt in his sea of consciousness. He had already deciphered all the places where array formations could be set up and had thought of all the array formations they could be. There was objectively no more reason to wait any longer. Cao Yun himself wondered whether he had delayed it for too long. He needed to be sure of course, but maybe he was a bit too safe.


    -


    Cao Yun waited for Huang Cixi to fall asleep. As his cultivation and especially his mind cultivation were higher, he did not need as much sleep as she did. In fact, he could make do by sleeping two hours a night. He traveled toward the Coiling Silk Faction residence in the middle of the night.


    There were always customers but they tended to be fewer and fewer as the sky became darker and darker. Cao Yun was hidden in a tree and used his sharper senses to observe the residence from atop. He memorized how everyone moved, trying to find every bit of information on them. From the way they moved around, he got a vague understanding of everyone''s cultivation level.


    In fact, he had already gathered intel in such a way. He already had a pretty good idea of some of the girls and their usual customers. The sect had not many outer disciples and inner disciples seemed to never come here. In a matter of days, Cao Yun could predict the movements of almost two thirds of the people in the courtyard.


    Right now, he was confirming what he already deduced and trying to guess what the people he did not know would do. If he got caught, being punished by the disciplinary pavilion was nothing. If his suspicions were right, he could get killed and despite his attempt to protect them, his friends could also be implicated. Moreover, he was also suspicious of Chief Elder Bian who ruled over the disciplinary pavilion. In other words, he had to avoid being found out at all costs.


    By watching how everyone moved, Cao Yun was able to eliminate possible array formations but the road he had chosen so that he wouldn''t be detected could have two array formations on the path. And, of course, there could be array formations inside the building as well. His goal was the main pavilion where Lu Meihan had received and tried to trap him the first time.


    The moment he felt the opportunity was good, Cao Yun let himself fall from the tree and walked toward the walls of the residence. Then he fully activated his ''Locking the Seven''. All his body functions slowed down terribly. A physician could have thought him to be dead. He could not stay in this state for more than an hour, and he had estimated that he needed ten minutes to get in. All in all, he would have forty minutes at best to search Lu Meihan''s room.


    Sneaking through the night, he easily avoided everyone''s senses. At some point, he literally walked a few meters behind someone without the girl realizing he even existed. When he arrived to the first spot where an array formation could be set, he took out his ''Twenty-Four Eight Compass'' and examined the spot. He was very careful and finally determined that no array formation was there.


    Slowly walking through, he got nervous. Luckily, he had been right and no array formation got activated.


    In a matter of minutes, he was at the second spot and this time, he found traces of an array formation. Thanks to his ''Shen Visualization'' and his knowledge, he had been able to reduce the number of possible array formations. With his ''Twenty-Four Eight Compass'', he tried to decipher which one was set up. However, he realized that he did not know.


    This was an unknown array formation. This was something he knew possible because the first array formation that Lu Meihan had tried on him was in no book. In fact Sun Liao had asked his master about it and even he did not know about it. However, it wasn''t a very powerful array formation. And from what Cao Yun could decipher, this array formation was at best 3-star Human rank. His own rank was only 2-star Human, but he was confident in his ability.


    He aligned his compass with the eight directions and the stars. Aligning nature itself with the compass, the Twenty-Four Mountains showed where all the palaces could be. Further deriving the principles of array formations, combined with the principles of alchemy, Cao Yun had a rough idea of where the Gate of Life was.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    He had no idea what this array formation would do, so he preferred to neither activate nor break it. This time, he got very anxious but he knew that he needed to move soon as a regular was going to walk around here in no time. Calming his mind as much as he could, he walked through the path he had divined. Despite being fairly certain of himself, he walked very slowly. As all his senses were locked in and did not distract him, he vaguely sensed the fluctuation of Qi around him.


    There really was an array formation here and he went through it without any problem. In fact, he had no way to know whether he had activated it. Some array formations were meant to detect people for example. Even if you activated them, you would feel no difference at all. And since Cao Yun was only a Mortal, he could not sense the Qi unless it was directly around or inside of him.


    Anyway, he kept going and soon arrived to the rear of the main building. He put his ear against the wall, trying to hear the people walking inside and to get a rough idea of what was going on. When he got positive that no one was near, he climbed through a window and hid himself in the ceiling. Fortunately, his memory of the layout from the very little time he had been there was spot-on.


    This time, he had no idea about the routine of anyone in here. In fact, he did not even know what most of these rooms were used for. From his first time in this building, he remembered the sounds he had heard through the walls and the doors. Thanks to that, he could vaguely guess how many people could fit into each room and had a rough idea of the layout. He focused his senses to their utmost and slowly progressed through the first floor until the room of Lu Meihan.


    Luckily, she had not changed her room. It used to be on the upper floors but she had moved to the first one after her backlash. Even though she had taken the Life Essence Phoenix Balm, this room had not changed as she got used to it. Cao Yun did not know any of that and finally found the room. After several seconds listening to everything around him, he decided to get inside.


    In fact, he was ready to search the room even with Lu Meihan in it. Given her condition, it was obvious that she had to sleep a lot more than even mere mortals. However, Cao Yun got surprised. Despite his days passed looking at the Coiling Silk Faction residence, he had not seen Lu Meihan. Indeed, she tried to keep her recovery as secret as possible. Only her most trusted members knew of both her backlash and her sudden recovery. Of course, she did not want Cao Yun to know about it considering he was her prey.


    Both of them had partial intel. Cao Yun sensed that something was not right but he could not miss this opportunity. With a slight hesitation, he still got to search the room. Inside the room, he let go of his ''Locking the Seven''. He could only keep it up for an hour at most. This technique slowed down everything in his body, including his heartbeat and his breathing. As such, keeping it up for too long could be dangerous.


    Opening the drawers and looking through everything, he found several elements. First, he discovered some incense sticks very similar to the ones that were used against him. Using all his knowledge from the books he had read, he tried to figure out what they were but failed. Since he couldn''t just take one, he tried to cut off a very small part. As they were all the same size, he cut a tiny portion of all of them to hide it.


    He also found the manual explaining how to set up the array formation these incense sticks were used with. With ease, he was able to memorize it completely. Thanks to his newfound knowledge of array formations, he scanned through the document and found out where were every gates and palaces. This was a 3-star Earth array formation. Apparently it only served to concentrate the medicinal essence of the incense sticks. Moreover, it slowed down the mind resistance of the person inside with a relaxing effect. What made this array formation effective was the combination of its own effects with the fragrance of the incense coursing through it.


    Finally, he found two manuals, the Life Essence Phoenix Balm manual and the ''Reversing Two Universes Dance'' manual. The manual about the balm had nothing extraordinary on it, it only showed which acupoints needed to be rubbed with it. The effects were not described, neither was the composition of the balm, so it was useless. However, the ''Reversing Two Universes Dance'' manual showed clearly what the point of the technique was.


    It truly was a demonic art. By using specific postures and breathing techniques during a dual cultivation, it was possible for a woman to absorb the life force of her male partner. In fact, she absorbed so much Qi and Jing that the male could be severely injured and in the worst cases, he could probably die. Of course, the manual did not say that, it only indicated that the partner would be weakened for some time. But with his knowledge, Cao Yun understood the truth.


    Given how weak Lu Meihan had been, the dual cultivation necessary to heal her would most likely kill him. She would absorb every single ounce of Qi from his body and even most of his essence. This would heal her but be lethal to him. In fact, Lu Meihan did not understand that. She had been clouded by her condition and only thought that the consequences on Cao Yun would be mild. In her mind the worst thing that could happen would be to hinder his future progress. Maybe that would limit his cultivation.


    The truth was that she did not really care whether it was true or not. And since she had recovered, she began to ponder about it but decided that she was better off not knowing.


    While Cao Yun was searching through the room, he heard footsteps in the corridor. Abruptly, he jumped inside the ceiling and circulated his ''Locking the Seven''. Two people walked into the room, Lu Meihan and a man in black and purple. Cao Yun sharpened his senses and tried to pierce through this person''s disguise. The only thing he could see was his chest emblem. On it was the image of two fangs biting into a red flower. Looking even more closely, this flower was an orchid. Immediately he thought about Hidden Orchids, but the emblem was different, even the flower had another shape. The Hidden Orchids Faction was very secretive despite being in the top three with Red Cliff and Purple Northern Cloud.


    Lu Meihan sat down as the man in black and purple stayed up.


    "So, Luduo Bu was your idea, I guess?"


    "Indeed. But everything is not over. This Chen Guo has become a problem. It''s essential that you take care of him quickly." Cao Yun tried to remember his voice but he realized that there was something strange. Focusing his senses, this voice was a mix of several voices. This person was really hiding very well. But he didn''t seem to be the Spirit Warrior who gave instructions to Luduo Bu after their fight. Well, Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether there was such a mastermind but it was his deduction, and he was right. If this person had been a Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun would have been discovered instantly. At most, he should be an early Mortal Warrior but it was impossible to tell.


    "Do you have any idea? Even though your balm gave me back my strength, I''m not a fighter and Cao Yun is protected by Xiao Xuefeng."


    "Xiao Xuefeng is not a problem for now. It will still take her several months before she''s back. Do not worry about her." The way he talked suggested that the demonic cultivators were really behind her departure. Most likely, they created false intel or even used other demonic cultivators as decoys. "And yes, I have a way to attract Chen Guo... He has friends, right?"


    Lu Meihan was shocked. "Mei Hua and Sun Liao? Are you insane?! Both of them are direct disciples of chief elders..." Suddenly, she remembered something. "Do you mean?" She leaned forward as she spoke.


    "Yes. Ren Chao!"

 Chapter 86: Nefarious intent toward a blacksmith

    Hearing the name of his friend, Cao Yun''s blood began to boil. Inside his sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath got agitated. Thankfully, he quickly circulated his mind cultivation and calmed it down.


    "You should know that Ren Chao is very close with one of your members, right?" Even though his voice was masked, his delight was obvious through the way he was talking.


    "And you should know that Wang Mei is more than a mere member! She used to be my servant. And she''s the one I trust the most. Do you suggest I use the man she took a fancy to as a hostage?!" Lu Meihan became quite angry.


    "That''s precisely what I''m suggesting. With his friend held hostage, Cao Yun will have no other choice but to obey to you!"


    Lu Meihan stood up and her chair almost broke from her strength. "You want me to betray my own people?!"


    "Oh?! Do you remember what''s going to happen to you if you don''t use Chen Guo to heal your backlash?" Lu Meihan''s face darkened. "I told you to use the Life Essence Phoenix Balm as a last resort. But you just couldn''t resist the temptation. Now, you''re fighting time itself. Moreover, Wang Mei has no reason to be in the know. You have thousands of ways of dealing with her. After all, in the end, you just need Cao Yun, Ren Chao will survive."


    "But he will know what happened!"


    The man seemed to ponder over the matter. "You''re right, I did not think of that... It seems like you''ll have to silence him afterwards then."


    Cao Yun''s heart almost exploded in his chest. He was seething with rage but had to use all his mind cultivation to keep the Drop of Wrath at bay and keep up ''Locking the Seven''. Even a single lapse in his focus would give him away. Fighting Lu Meihan should be possible. Even though she was a 9th-grade Mortal, her wound should still be affecting her. However, the man in black and purple was another thing. Cao Yun had no idea of his strength, but even if he only was a late Mortal, combined with Lu Meihan, Cao Yun would be defeated.


    They only had to gain some time for the other members to come in and his fate would be sealed. Either, he would die in battle or he would be tried by the disciplinary pavilion. And Chief Elder Bian was not someone he could trust.


    "I won''t do that to Wang Mei!" Lu Meihan was resolute in the matter.


    "Then... Are you ready to die?" The man approached her slowly.


    Lu Meihan got stunned. She clenched her fists and her jaw.


    "I''m sure you''ve realized by now. To recover completely, you''ll have to drain Chen Guo almost entirely. He won''t survive the process. You know it, right? You could play ignorant before but not anymore."


    Lu Meihan''s breathing sped up. "I know..." She only admitted the truth in a whisper.


    "So? Are you ready to die?" The man''s face was very close to her ear.


    Defeated, Lu Meihan lowered her head. "No. But what about the disciplinary pavilion?"


    A small laugh escaped the man''s disguise. "Do not worry about that. Once you''re done, just call for me. Everything will be just fine. Didn''t Luduo Bu''s case turn out fine after all?"


    Lu Meihan did not answer but nodded. She had not heard all the details, but indeed, Luduo Bu''s sentence seemed to have been lighter than it should have, especially with his past offenses.


    "Then, you should know what to do, right?" He walked back toward the door. "I know you''ll make the right choice. But do not worry, Chen Guo is a dead man anyway. If you do not kill him this year, Luduo Bu should do so next year." He then left the room and his presence seemed to disappear altogether. Cao Yun heard no footsteps at all. Either he was using an artifact of some kind or a better stealth technique than he was.


    In the room, Lu Meihan absolutely destroyed the chairs and the tables around her. She was literally shaking with rage and frustration. Her head cupped in her clenched hands, she called for Ren Rong.


    "Young Mistress. How may I help you?" The small girl was a bit intimidated by her young mistress. Her eyes darted to the destroyed furniture and she did not dare say anything about it.


    "Where is Wang Mei?"


    "She''s in the zither hall. She''s entertaining some regulars, but she should be finished very soon. Should I call her in afterwards?"


    "No! I''ll go there myself." She looked around her. "Clean this room and replace the furniture."


    "Of course, Young Mistress." Lu Meihan quickly left the room.


    Cao Yun was still trying to control his emotions. After the death of his family, his sense of protection toward the people related to him got stronger. The idea that someone would target his friend to get to him was maddening and infuriating.


    He waited for Ren Rong to have finished cleaning the mess. When she left to get rid of it, he quickly escaped through a window. A small part of him wanted to go listen in on Wang Mei and Lu Meihan''s conversation. He wanted to know how Wang Mei would be involved. Maybe she was so loyal that Wang Mei would obey to her orders, or maybe Lu Meihan would simply lie. Given her attitude, Cao Yun was more inclined to believe that Wang Mei would be left in the dark. But he couldn''t be sure of that.


    Unfortunately, it was way too risky. The zither pavilion was in another building he knew nothing about. Even after preparing his path ahead, he still had to cross two array formations including one he knew nothing about. And he did not think of a good pathway toward the zither pavilion from the main building. This was too risky.


    Unwillingly, he decided to leave and get back to his room.


    -Stolen novel; please report.


    Wang Mei was indeed playing the zither for six men and one woman. They were all from the Red Cliff Faction. Wang Mei''s hands seemed to float over the instrument. The zither itself was beautiful, carved in a magnificent wood. And the music that came out of it was so pleasant that people around were imagining fantastical sceneries. Even the arts could be divided into several ranks, just like alchemy or array formations. And Wang Mei was a 5-star Earth musician.


    In the Earth rank, the music had nothing exceptional, but it could induce deep states of calm and even cause imagination to run rampant. Someone in the Human rank could mix their Qi with the music. By doing so, they could cause illusions and either soothe the mind more deeply or attack it. Usually, only a Spirit Warrior was able to launch spiritual attacks and they were also adept in defending against them. A normal Mortal cultivator had no real way to defend their mind, so a Human rank musician could be a threat.


    Of course, using music in the middle of a fight was not that easy, but it could be used as a trap.


    Slowly, her music faded in the air. The audience gradually got out of their trance and fully woke up. When Wang Mei had finally finished her show, everyone cheered and applauded.


    "Miss Wang is as exquisite as ever. I feel like all my fatigue is gone."


    "I could almost fight right here and now."


    "Yes, me too."


    "Let''s quickly go back to our residence. I''m itching to move my body."


    "Thank you, Miss Wang. You''re as talented as ever." They all bowed toward Wang Mei and left the room in a hurry. They were really fired up and they would spar with each other until the sun rose in the morning.


    Just as they all left, Lu Meihan got in. While she was starting to tidy up, Wang Mei saw her.


    "Faction Leader." She quickly bowed down.


    Waving and shaking her hand, Lu Meihan stopped her. "No need for such formality. I wanted to see you for something important."


    Watching her faction leader, Wang Mei saw that something was wrong. Until she became an outer disciple, she had been Lu Meihan''s servant during her first and second years. She knew her former mistress very well and something was wrong.


    "Faction Leader, you shouldn''t have come all the way here. If you had just called me..."


    "Nonsense! I have no time to deal with such trivial matters. I want an answer from you." She paused for a bit while Wang Mei got worried. "What do you think of Ren Chao precisely?"


    Shocked by the sudden question, Wang Mei could not utter a sound for a while. "Faction Leader, I swear I never did anything inappropriate with him. I''ve always adhered to my vow since I joined the Coiling Silk Faction."


    Indeed, all the members of the faction had made a vow to not have any sexual behavior with anyone as long as they stayed a member of the faction. They could have a romantic relationship but nothing physical.


    "I''m not asking you that. I know you would not betray the rules. I want to know what you really think of him. Is he just a fling or something more?"


    Wang Mei could see that her faction leader was deadly serious. Hence, she decided to be blunt. "I love him."


    Hearing these words she already suspected, Lu Meihan''s heart sank. Despite her attempt to hide it, it was very obvious for Wang Mei who used to attend to her. "Faction Leader, are you in conflict with Lake Turtle? Or Ren Chao?" The absence of answer gave her the answer she was looking for. "This is about Chen Guo, isn''t it?"


    Once again, Lu Meihan''s face betrayed her. This time she did not even try to hide it as she knew her former servant would see right through her. "I cannot tell you anything more, but I do have a conflict with Chen Guo. There is no way Ren Chao won''t be involved in this."


    "But... Surely we can resolve this. I met Chen Guo several times through Ren Chao. He''s a very reasonable man. As long as it''s not a blood feud, there''s no reason we can''t find common grounds."


    "Wang Mei!" Lu Meihan interrupted her thoughts. "Who would you choose? Would you side with Ren Chao or with me?"


    A few months ago, she would not have had an instant of hesitation. In fact, she just wanted to tease Ren Chao at first as she found him pretty interesting. But the more time she spent with him, the more she realized she liked his personality. He was honest to a fault and always spoke his mind. Yes, he was a bit loud and rather dense on some topics. But in the end, she found that charming. She was used to conniving nobles who would try to use stratagems to seduce her. Ren Chao was the perfect opposite. He even tried to avoid her for some time.


    This instant, she did not know what to say.


    "Wang Mei, I won''t make you choose. I have a mission for you outside the sect. It should take you a very long time. Most likely, everything will be settled once you get back."


    Her mind was in total confusion. Did it mean that when she got back, Ren Chao would not be there anymore?


    "I''m sorry, Wang Mei. Just take some time to think about it, but I need your answer by the end of the month." She was about to leave when she turned back. "I trust you to stay quiet about everything." Then, she left.


    Wang Mei''s mind was utter chaos. She had no idea of what she had to do. Lu Meihan should not do anything too excessive. But again, she seemed off these last few days, since she looked like she recovered. Could there be a connection? She had asked to see Chen Guo and after his fight against Luduo Bu, she made a miraculous recovery but hid it. It would have made more sense to show her health to everyone in order to protect the faction. But maybe, she did not want Chen Guo to know. All these thoughts were in turmoil in Wang Mei''s head.


    She had known Lu Meihan for four years now. For two of them, she had been her servant. Then when she came back from her third-year, Wang Mei was a first-year and she joined the Coiling Silk Faction while Lu Meihan became its faction leader. Lu Meihan had even asked her to take her succession once she would be a fourth-year. Lu Meihan was rather reasonable and did not like useless conflicts. She was trying to achieve peace through art.


    But something had changed after her backlash and she became depressed. And once again, she had changed after her recovery, there was an urgency in her eyes, and something Wang Mei did not recognize.


    -


    Cao Yun got back home. Now he was absolutely certain of himself. Some demonic cultivators were infiltrated within the Wubei Sect. Apparently, they also had ties with the disciplinary pavilion. Apart from Xiao Xuefeng, he could not trust anyone fully. Most likely, Chief Elders Baishen and Suxian were not implicated and neither was Instructor Meng. After all, they had participated in raising his strength. Instructor Meng had even been appointed by Xiao Xuefeng herself.


    Chief Elder Bian was the most suspect. However, it wasn''t sure, he could also be simply manipulated. Lu Meihan herself did not seem like a demonic cultivator. Clearly, this man in black and purple had used her weakness against her. And now, she had to choose between dying or killing. But it did not change a thing. Whether she was willing or not, Lu Meihan was going to try to kill him and Rao Chen. There was no way Cao Yun would let her do.


    He was truly enraged. If she wanted to kill him in order to recover, he could accept it. But she was going to implicate his friend. And the idea came from this man in black and purple. But then, they could also try and implicate Mei Ying. She was also very close to him and even more defenseless. Probably, they did not want to use her because of her sister who was a direct disciple of Xiao Xuefeng.


    Right now, the only thing that was in Cao Yun''s mind was the safety of his close ones. The first thing he had to do was to warn Ren Chao. Then, he would need to gain in strength as fast as he could. According to what he heard, Luduo Bu would try to kill him next year when he would be able to leave the sect. However, there was also a possibility of him attacking Zhi Yin and the members of her sect.


    Right now, Cao Yun had to deal with the threat of Lu Meihan. Thinking about future threats was useless for the moment. As long as Ren Chao stayed as far away as possible from the Coiling Silk Faction residence, Cao Yun could have some time to gain in strength. The best option would be to wait for Xiao Xuefeng to come back. But of course, Lu Meihan would be more and more desperate as time passed.

 Chapter 87: 6th-grade Mortal

    The first thing Cao Yun did was to go find Ren Chao. He waited for the sun to come out and went to his room. A young boy opened the door. Of course, he was the servant of Ren Chao.


    "Is Ren Chao here? I would like to speak with him."


    The servant had recognized Cao Yun without him saying his name. He turned back. "Young Master Ren, Mister Chen is here to see you."


    A boom echoed in the room as a form intertwined in silk sheets rolled from the bed. "What?!" The big head of Ren Chao slipped through the sheets. As his eyes fought against daylight, he recognized his friend. All of a sudden, he jumped up.


    "Brother Chen! Come in! Come in!" He quickly raced toward the door to show Cao Yun in. Below his sheets, he was still dressed with his uniforms. Most likely, he had fallen asleep in it.


    Cao Yun walked in and the servant closed the door. He followed his friend and took a seat at his table.


    "Ming Xiao will prepare us some strong tea. I really need to wake up!" Ren Chao nodded toward the boy.


    "Of course, Young Master." The boy then went to the small kitchen to get everything ready. In fact, he had already taken out the tea since yesterday night. He knew that his master would need some to wake up.


    "You won''t believe it!" With his right hand, he grasped the chest of his uniform and displayed his blacksmith emblem. It had changed. "I''m officially a 3-star Earth blacksmith now! I celebrated with my faction last night. I would have loved to do so with you, but I figured you would be busy. As a matter of fact, it''s amusing that you''re here because I wanted to find you." Ren Chao bowed, his head hitting the table. "It''s all thanks to you! I did exactly as you suggested and my progress just skyrocketed."


    "Brother Ren, no need for such formalities between us. If I needed a weapon or an artifact forged, wouldn''t you naturally do it for me?"


    "Sure I would! Do you need anything?"


    Cao Yun looked at the servant and back at Ren Chao. "I need to speak with you in private."


    Despite his natural disposition, Ren Chao was not an idiot. He was somewhat straightforward but not oblivious. "Ming Xiao, could you leave us when you''re done?"


    "Of course, Young Master."


    "For now, let''s talk about you, Brother Ren. Is everything alright?"


    With a hearty laugh, Ren Chao answered. "How could it be otherwise?! I''m sure that I can achieve 4-star blacksmith with your advice. I may even do so before the end of the year. Do you realize that I could potentially leave this sect as a Human rank blacksmith? Even in my faction they started treating me differently. I went up on the ranking scroll and I have more resources. My training will be even smoother now. It''s just awesome!"


    "And wait until I tell that to Wang Mei! She already has many 3-star and 4-star emblems in many artistic disciplines. I could maybe try to forge something for her now..." When he evoked the name ''Wang Mei'', Ren Chao had an even brighter smile and then he pondered what he could actually forge for her that could be useful. He thought about an instrument but he knew nothing of music, then he thought about tools of calligraphy. Many ideas popped in his mind.


    On the other side of the table, Cao Yun was embarrassed by this name. Without Wang Mei, what he had to say would have been easier.


    Anyway, he waited for Ming Xiao to be done with the tea. The servant then left the room. Cao Yun got cautious to the point of using his senses in order to be sure that he had left.


    "Brother Ren, listen to me without interrupting please." Seeing Cao Yun so serious, Ren Chao followed suit and fell silent. "No matter what happens, you must never go in the Coiling Silk Faction residence anymore. And more than anything, you must stay as far away as possible from Lu Meihan. I''m not kidding!" After many hesitations, Cao Yun had decided not to tell the whole situation to his friend. He did not know how he would react. Sometimes he was honest to a fault and way too direct. "I''m sorry I can''t tell you why, but..."


    "I trust you!" Cao Yun could not finish his sentence that Ren Chao had agreed wholeheartedly to his request. "We intended to go to the Coiling Silk for the celebration of my graduation. But I''ll come up with an excuse. If you don''t want to tell me the reason, you don''t need to, I trust you!" He looked down for an instant. "What about Wang Mei?"


    With a very dark face, Cao Yun answered. He was pained to see such a jovial young man looking so serious all of a sudden. "I do not know what she''s a part of or not. I suspect that she may not know much. But, still... I''m sorry that it would be better to be wary of her." Cao Yun paused. "I mean, if she had to choose between you and her faction, who do you think she would choose?"


    "Me!" Without any hesitation, Ren Chao answered. "I trust her as much as I trust you, Brother Chen. I know for a fact that she would never bring me harm. If you don''t know which side she''s on, I can tell you that much."


    All Cao Yun''s doubts disappeared when he looked in Ren Chao''s eyes. Yes he was very honest and direct, but he was no fool. If he trusted her that much, he had to have his reasons.


    "I will believe you, Brother Ren. Anyway, be careful nonetheless. Even if she doesn''t try to bring you harm, her faction could use her without her knowing. I''m sincerely sorry to bring such bad news while you''re still celebrating your graduation."


    "Brother Chen, you don''t have to apologize for anything. I''m sure you''re worried about my safety. That''s why you came first thing in the morning."


    "Brother, one more thing."


    "I know! I won''t talk about this to anyone. Anyone at all."


    Cao Yun leaned back and got relieved. This way, he could probably gain some time.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "I''ll just stay in my faction and in the blacksmith pavilion as much as I can. I swear I''ll be very careful. But I must talk with Wang Mei at least one last time."


    The two men kept talking for a while. But their conversation was now way lighter.


    -


    During the day, Ren Chao wanted to go find Wang Mei, but she found him first. Soon after Cao Yun''s departure, she came knocking on his door. As Ming Xiao had not come back yet, Ren Chao himself answered.


    "Ren Chao, I have to speak with you. It''s very important." He did not recognize her usual self. When she came to him, Wang Mei was always happy and radiant. But right then, on her face, he saw worry and conflict.


    "Come in." He knew why she was here, but he had promised his friend not to tell anyone and there was one thing he was good at, keeping his word.


    Fidgeting and walking nervously, Wang Mei did not even take a seat. She looked around to see if anyone was here with Ren Chao.


    "I''m alone. Ming Xiao just left." Usually, he would be delighted to be alone with this woman, but he could not enjoy it right now.


    "Please, do not ask me why, but... Stay away from me and the Coiling Silk Faction."


    "Is it because of Lu Meihan?" Hearing the name of her faction leader, Wang Mei''s face was horrified.


    "Please! I can''t tell you anything! Don''t make me choose! Just trust me!" Wang Mei tried not to shout but still raised her voice while closing her eyes.


    "I do trust you!" Ren Chao took her and hugged her frail and shivering body. "But do not make this face again. It''s too painful for me!"


    Wang Mei let go of all her tension and burst into tears in his chest. Ren Chao did not know what was going on but he knew Lu Meihan had his friend worried and his woman crying. Even though he had never met her, from this day he deemed her his enemy. Ren Chao knew he wasn''t the smartest or the most cunning. After all, he had been raised in a small town and there was no plot like that. However, he could guess that Lu Meihan intended to get to his friend through him.


    He would keep his word and try to stay as far away as possible from this Lu Meihan.


    -


    Cao Yun kept on training with a renewed urgency. The only way he had to really protect his friends was to get strong enough to deter the threats.


    His martial art was progressing very smoothly as the third star was almost condensed. He had continued to train in the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation. Several times, he tried the 1st-grade Mortal Warrior setting but it was still too intense for him. With this setting, his defense could endure only three strikes. In fact, this was still very good for his current level, but not good enough. Nevertheless, he always challenged himself with this setting from time to time.


    The third star appeared to be very gaseous. It was a huge white blur in the sky of his sea of consciousness. But the mere fact that he was able to see it allowed him to study it a little. With such an advantage, his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was advancing by leaps and bounds. In a matter of days, the star would be fully condensed. Then he would have to observe it even more attentively in order to decipher its true meaning. For now, he had always found a superficial technique and a more profound variation for each star. It did not mean that every star had two techniques. Some could have only one or several other variations.


    He also focused on his mind cultivation of course and it was still progressing at a steady rhythm of one more repetition per day. By keeping a steady pace and not rushing it, Cao Yun was tempering his control over the Drop of Wrath. Once more during his sneaking into the Coiling Silk Faction residence, the Drop of Wrath could have cost his life. He was very aware of its dangers. It had once saved his life, but since then it had been more of a burden than a blessing.


    Just to fight against it, he had devoted a huge part of his training to his mind. Ironically, without that, he would not have advanced as fast as he had. And this Drop of Wrath had allowed him to discover how to enter his own sea of consciousness. Such an event had changed his life and his talent forever. In a way, the Drop of Wrath was a double-edged sword.


    Finally, the last part of his training was his Qi cultivation. He had to advance faster in order to be able to contend with the threats hidden in the sect. Only then could he really take control of his fate and start to act rather than react.


    Every grade in the cultivation system was a leap in power. Of course, the gaps between the lower grades were not extraordinary. However, a 6th-grade Mortal still had an advantage over a 5th-grade Mortal even though it wasn''t that big. The difference between two realms was usually greater than between grades. For example, a 9th-grade Mortal was at a real disadvantage against even a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. The gap was not unconquerable but it was best for Cao Yun to get to a higher grade quickly. He did not want to be too fast though. Stability was more important than the grade itself. After all, many alchemists cultivated through pills and had high cultivation but low fighting prowess.


    Using his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation with Huang Cixi standing guard a bit farther, he finally opened his twelfth and last meridian, the Large Intestine Meridian. As soon as he achieved this, he was officially a 6th-grade Mortal. In his body, he felt his Qi circulating naturally throughout his vessels and meridians.


    He did not need to focus at all for the flow of Qi to be rich and powerful. All of a sudden he felt full of life and all the Qi from his Lower Dantian moved on its own. It felt like the Qi itself was happy and it coursed through his now perfectly opened meridians. The feeling was exhilarating! All of a sudden, the Qi around him got absorbed at least twice as fast.


    The meridians were all linked to the vessels at various locations and they all seemed to emit cracking sound. The sensation was heavenly, as though all the parts of his body were one. Even Huang Cixi could hear small cracking sounds. She knew that Cao Yun had succeeded in breaking through. His vessels and meridians were now perfectly aligned with each other. While the Qi passed from one vessel to a meridian and the other way around, the process was so smooth that it didn''t feel like anything had happened.


    Right now, Cao Yun could circulate way more Qi and way faster. His reaction time had at least doubled if not tripled. He would have to test it out at the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation.


    Transfixed by this prodigious feeling, Cao Yun used his Po character to feel his Qi even more deeply. He tried out several of his moves with this new Qi. His ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' could now send more than a dozen of small vortexes of wind. And they were all closer in time. Even his movement techniques were now faster.


    Cao Yun knew that each grade was stronger than the last, but it was beyond his expectations. If he were to fight against Luduo Bu right now, he would never be hit even once. His attacks would do more damage but probably still couldn''t cut him much deeper though.


    Then, Cao Yun would have to focus on the 6th-grade Mortal. This grade was pretty straightforward. Its main goal was to accumulate Qi inside the Lower Dantian. It had been forged during the 3rd-grade to accommodate more Qi. And now that all the Qi was coursing freely through his meridians, Cao Yun understood that he was indeed lacking in quantity.


    But this step was not just about quantity. Quality was also important. As an alchemist he understood that Qi itself had properties. Just like all things, it contained all five elements as well as the concepts of Yin and Yang. The Lower Dantian was stronger in Water element, but a good balance had to be kept. And then, there was the question of the density. The more dense your Qi was, the more energy you could store in your body.


    The space was limited so you had to compact your Qi and still be able to control it as well as before. All these points were explained in length in the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. The techniques were pretty classic but effective. In fact, the ''Dance of Slaughter'' could be used once more to absorb and compact the Qi within the Lower Dantian. Then, he would need to use his mind to expel any unbalance of elements within his Qi.


    Thanks to his Po character, this process would be very easy. Cao Yun decided to not waste any time and started to cultivate immediately.

 Chapter 88: Unifying all the meridians

    Impatient to test out his new cultivation level, Cao Yun left his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation.


    "Young Master Chen, congratulations on your breakthrough." Huang Cixi was waiting for him a little higher.


    As there were still some spirit stones left in the array formation, Cao Yun proposed her to take his place.


    "Mei Yuzhi, you could still cultivate in there for an hour or so."


    "But, these are your spirit stones." Once again, Huang Cixi was surprised by the generosity of Cao Yun. In the array formation, there were five spirit stones.


    "They are almost depleted. Go down, I''ll stand guard while stabilizing my breakthrough, do not worry." While speaking, Cao Yun almost pushed her toward the array formation.


    She reluctantly agreed and began to cultivate. Her cultivation level was pretty weak as she was a middle 3rd-grade Mortal. When she had asked to join the Wubei Sect, she was still a 2nd-grade Mortal. But she trained intensively to reach the 3rd-grade. And thanks to Cao Yun''s help during the beginning of the year, she had progressed pretty fast. In a matter of months, she could probably break through to the 4th-grade.


    When she began to cultivate, she felt the Qi density around her. It was at least ten times higher than what she had ever experienced. Her cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds within the array formation. Even though she could not absorb Qi as fast as Cao Yun, this was still four to five times faster than her usual cultivation.


    On his end, Cao Yun was sitting cross-legged. He kept his senses active but a part of his mind was busy feeling all the changes within his own body.


    When the last spirit stone crumbled to dust, Huang Cixi left the array formation. "Thank you, Young Master. This was extremely beneficial."


    Cao Yun stood up. "Don''t sweat it. You should go back and meditate on what you just cultivated. Try to really feel the Qi pulsating in your Lower Dantian. And it could also be useful to divert a small part of your intent to feel your vessels. Even though you did not train them yet, some Qi should still be flowing in them. The sooner you feel it, the faster reaching the next level will be. But don''t focus too much or you risk to make the Qi you accumulated leave your Lower Dantian to flow through your vessels. Only focus on the natural flow of Qi to try and feel your vessels."


    "I understand. Thank you for you advice." The girl bowed and they parted ways.


    Cao Yun wanted to try his martial arts now that he had broken through.


    -


    He went back to the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation. This time, he started with the 8th-grade Mortal setting without any weapon. His body took the blunt of the shock waves. Without using ''Forging the Fort'', he could sustain a dozen of them. Then, he shifted to using his Qi to strengthen his body and resist longer.


    Finally, he took his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. When he got to the 9th-grade Mortal setting, he realized that this became a bit too easy for him. Thus, he took the decision to up the setting up to 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. This change got everyone''s attention. A Mortal against the strength of a Mortal Warrior was something to behold. With Cao Yun''s reputation, many thought he could sustain it, but they never saw him do so. Many disciples just stopped their training to watch him.


    The force was way stronger than the 9th-grade Mortal setting. Cao Yun did not try to resist with his body because he felt that his bones would break if he did. Even with his spear, each wave made him feel as though his hands would split. However, he circulated his Qi in them and the pain almost disappeared.


    People were really astonished by his session. Even though the array mimicked the strength of a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, it wasn''t the same thing as fighting the real deal. After all, a cultivator would not mindlessly attack with the same thing over and over again. The greatest advantage of the Mortal Warrior realm over the Mortal one was Qi Manifestation. Their martial arts could literally manifest physical phenomena thanks to their Qi.


    When Mortal cultivators fought, they were able to move nature around them thanks to the circulation of their Qi within their bodies, just like an array formation. However, their Qi never actually left their bodies. The difference was huge on their fighting prowess. Resisting this setting did not mean that Cao Yun could fight against a Mortal Warrior. However, it meant that he could probably fight on equal footing against a 9th-grade Mortal.


    Seeing as Cao Yun could stay within the array formation for so long, the disciples soon understood that he had broken through. After all a 5th-grade Mortal could not sustain this setting for so long, no matter how talented they were. Some kept looking but Cao Yun did nothing extraordinary.


    He stayed in the array formation for an entire hour and had no problem at all. His reflexes were a bit faster. In fact, his mind was just as fast as before but his Qi responded faster to his commands. As time passed, he focused more and more on the third star that was slowly condensing in his sea of consciousness. Since his breakthrough, he felt that it was going to change very soon.


    In the end of his training session, Cao Yun tried out the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior setting. As the force wave hit him, he was able to deflect it at the very last moment but the spear almost left his hand. He tried two more moves and was forced to focus on his technique as much as possible, unable to rely on his body or his Qi too much. Suddenly, an explosion echoed in his sea of consciousness. The third star had fully materialized. It was a white star as big as the Neck Star. Cao Yun tried one last move and stopped because he felt that his grip would really let go of his spear if he kept going.


    After leaving the building, he went back to his room to observe the third star. Focusing his mind, he realized that this was not one star. There were two stars. The second one was four times smaller and was almost eclipsed by the bigger one''s light. Straining his senses even more, he saw that both of them were binary stars. This third star system was the Root Star. It pertained to defense and was composed of a total of four stars.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    By focusing on this star, Cao Yun did not see the vague image of a dragon. This star had just been forged and he still had to understand its profundities to extract its moves. Its appearance was a good surprise for Cao Yun. But to get the moves from the star, he would probably need a month or two.


    Anyway, he had gained a lot of benefits today so he meditated on those.


    -


    The week was soon over and the weekly training of the first-years was today. Chief Instructor Peng was still putting them through the same training. In the first part of the day, they were whipped with the turtle tail in order to guide their Qi in their vessels. As everyone was gathering, the instructor in charge of Cao Yun touched his shoulder. Cao Yun felt a surge of Qi within his body. In his mind, he immediately thought that this was an attack.


    He had discovered a conspiracy against him within the sect so he got scared. Fortunately, he soon understood. The instructor was only looking at his cultivation to check his level. Indeed, the instructor was only a Mortal Warrior so he could sense Qi but he had no spiritual senses. As such, he had seen that Cao Yun''s Qi had changed but could not confirm whether he had broken through or not.


    "Chen Guo. You''ve broken through?"


    The instructor was a bit surprised but nothing much. When he enrolled Cao Yun was already a middle 5th-grade Mortal. Reaching the 6th-grade could take from one year to two depending on the cultivator. But Cao Yun had taken around three months to break through. That was relatively fast but not unheard of.


    "Yes, Instructor." Cao Yun had no reason to hide anything. Several disciples heard their conversation, including Sun Liao, Ren Chao and Mei Hua.


    "Brother Chen, you''re a 6th-grade Mortal?!" When Ren Chao yelled out, everyone heard of the news. Murmurs spread throughout the training grounds.


    "Silence!" Chief Instructor Peng''s voice shut up everyone. "Are you so lively that you want us to train you even harder?"


    "No, Chief Instructor. We''re sorry, Chief Instructor." Everyone was of the same mind on the subject. If they let him train them harder, they may not be able to move for two days.


    Chief Instructor Peng stared at Cao Yun.


    "Chen Guo! Come here! Everyone else, start the training!"


    Cao Yun was accompanied by his instructor, but Chief Instructor Peng told him to take care of this session in his stead. After that, he also sent his Qi throughout Cao Yun to sense his exact condition.


    "Good, good! Your cultivation is not rushed at all. Your vessels and meridians are perfectly connected and very sturdy already. Your natural flow of Qi is intense. You have a great foundation for the rest of the Mortal realm. You should know that the first realm is also called the Foundation realm. Many people try to break through too fast and neglect their foundations. But if you do, you''ll hinder your future progress.


    So, tell me Chen Guo, do you want to know how to rush forward or are you ready to consolidate your basis even more?"


    Cao Yun knew that the stronger his foundation was, the higher he could go afterwards. "This disciple is ready to listen to the Chief Instructor."


    "Good, good! Our Wubei Sect has a technique specialized in reinforcing the meridians. You know that there are 8 Extraordinary Vessels and 12 Standard Meridians. But of course, there are many other meridians. You have the 15 connecting collaterals linked to the 12 standard ones to harmonize the overall health of the body. You have the 8 divergent collaterals that go deeper within the body from the standard ones. You also have the 12 muscle meridians that go from the 12 standard ones to the surface of the body, nourishing the muscles. Finally, there are also 4 cutaneous meridians on the surface of the skin.


    The most important ones may be the 15 connecting collaterals because they create a complex web of connections between all meridians, but the other ones are also useful for your cultivation. If you train the 12 muscle meridians, you will strengthen your exterior body and if you focus on the 8 divergent collateral, you''ll strengthen your innards. However, very little cultivation method talk about them. Indeed, they require a lot of effort and pain to be trained effectively and they''re not essential to advance forward.


    So, my question is simple, do you wish to suffer through my personal training or are you satisfied with going the easy way?"


    Chief Instructor Peng took out a turtle tail and whipped the air right before Cao Yun. A powerful sonic boom echoed in the training grounds.


    "I''ll have to use much more strength to hit the meridians deep within your body. The pain will be great, but you''ll see many benefits. It reminds me of the time this woman hit me with..." As a grin appeared on his face, the burly man stopped talking.


    "I probably shouldn''t talk about that. What''s your decision?"


    The decision was obvious for Cao Yun. In fact, he had read about all these meridians in the ''Cultivation of Slaughter''. By using the ''Dance of Slaughter'' and the blood of 3-core demonic beasts, it was possible to activate them easily. The main problem was that Cao Yun would have a hard time finding enough blood to train himself. Being a first-year, he could not leave. Perhaps, he could ask Zhi Yin to bring some back, but 3-core demonic beasts were very powerful so the quantity would always be low. On the other hand, if he had a middle Mortal Warrior help him by infusing his own Qi within his meridians, this would be perfect.


    Then, he would only have to focus on gathering Qi in his Lower Dantian, condensing it and balancing out the elements within.


    "I want to train all my meridians, Chief Instructor."


    "Good, good! Usually, only second-years train this way and they need to use their merit points to have enough time with an instructor. But since you have free trainings as a first-year, we''ll do that instead of the ''Turtle Whips the Channels''. This technique is from the ''Coiling Turtle'' and is called ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals''. When your 15 connecting collaterals will be trained and infused with Qi, you''ll be able to circulate your Qi through new pathways, increasing the speed and strength of your martial arts. Now, get in position."


    Chief Instructor Peng showed him the first position and proceeded to beat him up with the turtle whip. There were much more positions than with the ''Turtle Whips the Channels'' as it trained 39 meridians and not just the 8 Extraordinary Vessels. Each time Chief Instructor Peng whipped Cao Yun, the turtle tail broke the sound barrier. The pain was extreme but Cao Yun used his mind cultivation to divert his thoughts toward his meridians. He felt very thin canals being bombarded with intense surges of Qi.


    Each time, a new part of the canals swelled up as Qi got into them. The pain both on his skin and deep within was hard to sustain. Thanks to his mind cultivation it had subsided greatly. However, the benefits were real indeed. These meridians were not deemed as useful because they connected acupoints already on the 12 Standard Meridians. However, they allowed the Qi to follow other pathways and also nourish both organs and flesh.


    So they would not help Cao Yun to break through again, but they would increase his overall strength. His training lasted a bit longer than usual as he had more meridians to work on. After this new training, Cao Yun followed the chief instructor to train his body as usual. This time, he had the chief instructor himself help him out.


    Of course, his training got way more intense than before. First of all, he had reached a new cultivation level so he needed heavier weights but his meridians were also full of Qi. He had to disperse the Qi through his body to balance out his internal organs. The new weights he lifted weighed between one and two hundred dan, almost ten tons for the heaviest ones.

 Chapter 89: Contrived Shell Balm

    After everyone was done for the day, Cao Yun kept training with Chief Instructor Peng for at least an hour more. The pain was intense but the feeling of pure energy coursing through his entire body, both his muscles, his skin, his bones and even his organs, was exhilarating.


    Finally they were done as well.


    "Good, good! For breaking through this fast and with a robust foundation, I''ll award you 500 points. Then, for going through my personal training without any complaint, a hundred more. But you won''t be able to enjoy them. Indeed, to progress in your training of the lesser meridians, you''ll still need an external help. In our ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'', there is a balm used on specific acupoints to temper and strengthen the lesser meridians. It''s the Contrived Shell Balm. You can find enough to train until the end of the year in the Wubei Merit Market. From what I hear, it should cost a thousand merit points."


    This was very similar to what the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' suggested. But instead of using the blood of a 3-core demonic beast, a 5-star Earth medicine was enough. The Qi infused by Chief Instructor Peng would serve as the foundation and the balm would only consolidate it. Cao Yun''s meridians were bloated from the training. This balm would only make sure that they would not revert back to their original size too much too fast. It was way cheaper, but Cao Yun needed the help of a Mortal Warrior regularly. Thankfully, he could get the help for free from Chief Instructor Peng.


    "This balm is best applied by a young woman given her Yin aspect. It will balance out the Yang Fire from the balm and you won''t need to get another medicine. It''s always best to reduce the quantity of medicine you take. No matter how well you eliminate the toxins, they''ll still leave marks in you."


    "This junior understands and thanks the Chief Instructor." Cao Yun bowed deeply while cupping his fists.


    "No need to be so formal when we''re alone. I heard great things from you in all kinds of fields. I was worried that you would neglect your cultivation. So I''m happy to see that it isn''t so. I''m sure you''ll be a true pride of our sect."


    Cao Yun bowed once more and left. He would have Huang Cixi apply the balm. Thinking about it, he was using her a lot lately with his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation. The best thing to do would be to ask her to apply it just before going to bed, that would not hinder her time during the day.


    Servants were future disciples most of the time. As such, they had some time to train themselves. Of course they had access to way fewer resources and the trainings they went to were not personalized at all. So Cao Yun felt bad for using her during her free time. He was compensating her and he tried to only ask her when absolutely necessary but it was still weighing on his mind.


    -


    The next day, he used a thousand points to buy the Contrived Shell Balm and went in the library to read its exact effects. It was a very obscure medicine since only the Wubei Sect used it. By reading on it, Cao Yun came to the same conclusion as what Chief Instructor Peng had told him. Having Huang Cixi apply it for him would be the best way to optimize the results.


    He also bought some ingredients to make some pills. As a way to compensate his servant, he would refine some True Essence Qi Gathering pills. Given her low level, this was the perfect pill for her with almost no toxin. He decided to make a batch of ten of those. While refining them, he realized that this was even easier than before.


    When Huang Cixi came back, Cao Yun was already meditating cross-legged in his room. Despite her attempt to not disturb him, he opened his eyes.


    "Mei Yuzhi, I need to speak with you." Standing up, he walked toward her.


    "Yes, Young Master." It was unusual for Cao Yun to strike up a conversation out of the blue in the middle of his training. Most of the time, he would try to use all the time he had to train.


    "I''m sorry, but I''ll have to ask for your help again. Chief Instructor Peng advised me to use this Contrived Shell Balm." What Cao Yun showed was a small vial on the table. The servant quickly looked at it and could vaguely guess what Cao Yun was going to ask. "I need someone to apply it to my acupoints. And you''re the perfect person to do it since you''re a girl and thus richer in Yin." Quickly before she could answer, he took out another vial, the one filled with the refined pills. "I won''t disturb you for free of course. These Qi Gathering pills are all True Essence. Those will be very beneficial to your cultivation. And if you need anything, feel free to ask."


    Huang Cixi laughed a little. "Young Master, I''m your servant. This is my work to help you. What you''re asking is very reasonable. You really do not need to give me all these."


    "I insist! I still feel bad in delaying you. I know that you train really hard." Indeed, with his sharp senses, Cao Yun could feel that Huang Cixi was almost always tired in the evening. In fact, she was training the hardest among all of the servants. Even though she tried to hide it, Cao Yun''s senses could not be fooled by her low cultivation.


    And the time she had to spend with him, serving him, was a time during which she could not train at all.


    Hearing this, Huang Cixi got surprised. In reality, she did not think that Cao Yun was that aware of her.


    "Young Master. I... I can''t accept your praise." This was the first time, she was sincerely flustered. Strangely, she was a bit embarrassed about her facade being seen through. It was the same thing with her brother Huang Lixin. She always tried to hide her worries and her fatigue but he never failed to see through her. And then, he would make sure to support and help her. The man who took her second brother from her was behaving exactly like him. Moreover, she understood that he was not playing a role at all, he was like that.


    "Mei Yuzhi! I do not know which goal you''re pursuing, but I can see in your eyes that something deep is pushing you. I do not wish to intrude on your private matters. However, you should learn not to punch a gift horse in the mouth." This was what Xiao Xuefeng had told him. At first, he always rejected a gift before accepting it after the other party had insisted. People could think that this was just being polite, but it could also be a problem if the other simply accepted his rejection. Instinctively he was still behaving a bit like that but was trying to get over it.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "Yes. I''ll accept." Huang Cixi was defeated. What she did not dare to say was that Cao Yun was trying to help the woman who had sworn his death. However, she was slowly doubting her own conviction more and more.


    "I''ll just explain to you how to apply the balm." Cao Yun took off the top of his uniform and laid face down on the bed. Taking the balm from the table, Huang Cixi got closer and followed his instruction.


    As Cao Yun enunciated each acupoint, Huang Cixi found them easily and applied the balm. While she was doing so, she felt rather strange. There was nothing erotic between them, but she had never touched a man in such a way before. Despite lacking any attraction for the young man, it still felt a bit off in a way.


    On the receiving end, Cao Yun could feel the fire of the balm seeping through his body. And soon after, the Yin energy from Huang Cixi''s hand massaging his acupoints soothed a bit of this fire. His meridians were still a bit bloated from the training similar to muscles filled with blood. If they were left alone, they would soon shrink back and most of the benefits of the training would be lost.


    The Contrived Shell Balm sent another surge of fire through them and they stopped shrinking down. This process could be very stressful for the body. Once again, it was akin to training a sore muscle. However, the balm also had a small part of Water energy and the Yin from Huang Cixi promoted it. Just after the first surge of the balm, a soothing sensation cooled down the meridians.


    Cao Yun could clearly feel the effects of this training coupled with this therapy. Overall, his lesser meridians had grown by 5 to 7%. Usually, these meridians were not actively trained so their size was pretty small. They were used unconsciously, just as the heart beat without any conscious thought. But cultivating them would bring great benefits. Cao Yun was already thinking about new pathways he could use to increase his reaction speed and his strength with his martial arts. To switch from one meridian to another, it was sometimes necessary to go through a vessel. But this was a waste of time. If he could directly go from one meridian to another through a faster course, the time necessary to activate any technique would increase by a bit. In a life and death scenario, this very tiny bit of time could make all the difference.


    -


    As Cao Yun was getting massaged in his room, the news of his breakthrough spread through all the factions.


    Chan Weifeng was absolutely glad of the decision he had taken. If Cao Yun was cultivating that fast, he was sure to become a Mortal Warrior within these five years. In fact, he could probably reach this realm during his fourth-year or even third-year. Most disciples only reached the Mortal Warrior realm in their fifth-year. Some never reached it at all. And people like Chan Weifeng or Long Jian had reached it in the end of their fourth-year, but they were older than Cao Yun when they joined in.


    At his side, Jiang Yifan was not as happy. He was still concerned with what would happen to this faction the following year. However, he had to agree with his faction leader, fighting Cao Yun was not a viable option now. His fame had spread too fast too wide. In fact, if he tried to suppress him and failed, it would increase Cao Yun''s fame even more and the Red Cliff Faction''s reputation would be harmed. The best thing to do was to treat the Heavenly Swallow Faction as any other faction.


    They would not be neither friendly nor threatening. The Heavenly Swallow Faction was still very small and it would take a lot of time to grow big enough to compete with them. Moreover, their own members would not leave because of the penalty to do so. However, new disciples may choose to join this easier to leave faction instead of them. He had to rethink the strategy of his faction to recruit new members.


    -


    The Purple Northern Cloud Faction also got the news and Long Jian was delighted. He was eating with his little sister Long Huafang.


    "This Chen Guo is amazing. If my calculations are correct, he cultivated for six to eight months in order to go from 5th-grade Mortal to 6th-grade Mortal. With his speed, he could maybe reach 7th-grade Mortal before the end of the year. If he does, he should be able to contend with a Mortal Warrior restraining his Qi Manifestation."


    Listening to her brother''s fiery speech, Long Huafang stopped eating. "Do you mean that you want to fight him in the final duels?"


    Seeing his little sister''s inquisitive eyes on him, Long Jian laughed out loud. "If I restrain my Qi Manifestation, I should be able to fight him on equal footings. I mean, if I don''t fight him now, I''ll have to wait almost four years to hope to fight him again. But then, I don''t know what the disparity between us will be."


    "Father will be angry with you again if you only think about fighting. Our Sunmen Province needs you. Father is almost alone to protect our borders right now."


    Long Jian was the son of the governor of the most western province of the Hongchen Kingdom. This province was always threatened by demon incursions. In fact, this was also the native province of Chan Weifeng. This was the province with the most cases of demon attacks. Some small cities were raided fairly frequently and humans were either slaughtered or captured. The Hongchen Kingdom had sent some reinforcements but there were other problems on all borders so the fighting force was thin.


    Long Cheng, the father of Long Jian and Long Huafang, was a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior. He was a little younger than 150. All of his children had died in the hands of the demons when he was younger so he had sworn never to have any more children. However, he had found a wife he was crazy about and broke his oath. In the end, she had also died, but from illness. Long Cheng wanted his children to be safe but both of them only dreamed of helping him in his fights. No matter how much he wanted to protect them, he loved them enough to grant their wishes. However, he was always angry with Long Jian who only thought about fighting.


    Long Jian''s face turned sour. "I know Father wants us to leave a peaceful life... But how can we?! We never met our brothers and sisters because of these abominations! I swore that I would protect my kind no matter what. Becoming stronger is necessary if we don''t want our lives to be at the mercy of monsters. And it so happens that I quite enjoy the process as well." Ending his sentence, he gulped down an entire cup of wine. "Sister, tell me. Don''t you also want to fight for our province?"


    "Of course I do, Brother." Some sadness flashed on Long Huafang''s face. "But I''d like to see Father happy as well. He tries to hide it but seeing that both his children are drawn to the same life he leads just eats it from within."


    After a moment of pause, Long Jian took the entire bottle of wine and gulped it all down. Conventional wine had no effect on cultivators past a certain level and Long Jian was in this case. So the wine he drank was a special breed. It was known as Small Immortal Wine and it could intoxicate even early Spirit Warriors. But Long Jian had a strong constitution and he could hold his liquor.


    "Then, we just have to give him plenty of grand-children! Don''t you have anyone in mind, dear sister?"


    With a reddened face, Long Huafang stood up. "Brother, you''re drunk! Stop spouting nonsense! I only care about becoming stronger. To conquer me, a man should first be able to best me in battle!"


    Just before she left, she heard the voice of her brother and reddened even more. "Chen Guo may be able to..."

 Chapter 90: Hunting in the Lunar Marsh

    The next few weeks were rather calm and Cao Yun put a lot of efforts in his training. His Po character was becoming more and more concrete. With a month more, he would finally achieve True Success.


    He put a lot of time in his Qi cultivation in his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation accompanied by Huang Cixi. His lesser meridians were at least a fifth of the width of his standard meridians. Extraordinary Vessels were at some places twice as large as the twelve standard meridians. And lesser ones usually were a tenth of their width. According to the ''Coiling Turtle'' cultivation method, he was on the right track to complete ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals''.


    The wider his meridians got, the longer it would take to expand them. In a matter of weeks he had doubled their size. But to reach the final stage, he would probably need three to four months. However, he could already feel the results of his training.


    In the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation, his reflexes were way faster. In fact, his mind had not really changed but his Qi could flow through new pathways. By doing so, he could speed up all of his moves. The time he needed between the moment he wanted to act and the moment he effectively acted had become shorter and shorter.


    Thanks to that, he was able to resist more moves in the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior setting. He could focus his Qi in his palms faster and this allowed him to keep his grip on the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Right now, he was able to sustain at least ten moves before he had to switch to the 1st-grade Mortal Warrior setting. This wasn''t much but it allowed him to push his Root Star further and further.


    Also, it attracted a lot of attention on him. What amazed people was not necessarily his achievements but his progress. Being strong was one thing but showing everyone that you were getting stronger and stronger was something else entirely. Cao Yun was still 16. He was almost sure to reach Spirit Warrior in his life so he would probably live to be at least 2,000. In other words, if you had a good relationship with him, you would gain a lifelong of benefits.


    Some weaker disciples tried to suck up to him. However, he stayed cold and indifferent to them. He did not act too arrogant. As he knew perfectly well what they wanted, he did not care for them at all. This attitude of his gained him even more fame. People saw that he wasn''t some commoner wowed by the prospect of a nice life. In his heart, he was a true cultivator.


    After his daily training in the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation, Cao Yun stayed sometimes hours observing the Root Star in his sea of consciousness. The fact that it was so complex with two binary stars orbiting each other, made it fascinating to watch. Every single day, except for the training day, he felt as though he was understanding a bit more of this star. Around the first three stars, the ghostly shape of a blue dragon was spreading. Now it had both a head, a neck and a chest. For now, it was still extremely vague even with Cao Yun''s perception.


    Watching both the Root Star and the subtle movements of this ghostly figure allowed Cao Yun to advance in his understanding of the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Gradually, he refined his moves more and more but he still did not learn the first move of the Root Star. Despite some small deductions, he had yet to form the entire move in his mind.


    On the other hand, he pretty much put alchemy aside for the time being. Surprisingly, he kept working a bit on array formations. After understanding that martial arts worked on the same principles as the array formations themselves, he wanted to learn more. Every day, he tried to apply the Eight Directions to his own Qi circulation. And little by little, he was witnessing very small changes in the right direction.


    -


    Outside of the sect, nefarious events were unfolding.


    A group of seven cultivators was hunting a 3-core demonic beast in the Lunar Marsh. They had tracked the beast for several days now and it had fled from them here. They were not that strong individually, ranging from 4th-grade Mortal to 7th-grade Mortal for the strongest guy. However, they knew how to act as a team and were able to corner the beast with various strategies.


    The Lunar Marsh had a terrible reputation, especially since Cao Yun had killed demonic cultivators from the Wolf Head Sect in there. Logically, it meant that no more demonic cultivators were there. But on the other hand, some people thought that their vengeful ghosts could haunt the place. The Lunar Marsh was a very Yin location and this was incredibly nourishing to ghosts and other such entities.


    This did not deter these cultivators. After all the time and work they had put into hunting the beast, there was no way they were going to simply leave because of ghost stories. Anyway, a Spirit Warrior had been there so she probably took care of all possible ghosts.


    They were all vagrant cultivators. A clear indication of this fact was their age. The oldest of the group was 32 and he was only a 7th-grade Mortal. Indeed, trying to cultivate without a sect, a clan or an institute was terribly tough. Cao Beiwen had done so and he had been able to reach Spirit Warrior when he was 90 while his grandson achieved the same result at 45. Cao Guang was talented, but he also had better resources thanks to his great-grandfather.


    This group was not really talented or they could have joined even a small sect or given their services to a noble family. Their living was made by being mercenaries and by gathering resources in the wild. As such, they knew a lot about surviving despite having lesser strength compared to other cultivators.


    A 26-years-old woman squatted down to look at the ground. A small drop of blood was barely visible but she caught up on it. Taking a small sample with her finger, she smelled it and looked around for other traces.


    "Brother Luo, there!"


    Without making any noise, Luo Jingren ordered his party to approach this direction in one of their usual formations. For many years, they had fought side by side and knew how to coordinate their attacks perfectly. Despite their low cultivations, they could even contend with a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior thanks to their battle formation and their great coordination.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Two of them stayed pretty far behind while two more went to the sides. Finally Luo Jingren, the woman who had found the trace and another man with a deep scar on his face walked straight in that direction. If Cao Yun had been there, he would have been surprised by their stealth. They were almost as silent as he had been while sneaking into the Coiling Silk Faction residence.


    From this moment onward, they only communicated with hand gestures. The beast seemed to be hidden behind a large dead trunk. The tree was partially broken but its shape gave off an ominous feeling. When it was still alive, it probably survived by eating corpses, and by making corpses.


    The three cultivators acting as vanguard had their weapons drawn. All three of them were wielding sabers. This was the easiest weapon to master so many cultivators with poor talent were using one. Slowly, the body of the beast got revealed. This was some kind of leopard with purple fur and red eyes. Its paws were bones, without any flesh at all. The line where its flesh gave way to bones was perfectly clean. This was a Thunder Walking Panthera.


    This beast was known for its high agility and incredible blood thirst. In its flank, there was a huge gap and some of its ribs were even visible. The bleeding had almost stopped but the beast was extremely weak. It was Yin in nature so it had tried to come here to find medicinal herbs to digest. Sadly for it, the Lunar Marsh was more desolate than it had thought and the humans had caught up to it.


    The beast knew clearly that it was going to die. However, it refused to do so alone. If it were to die, it would take as many of these humans as it could with it. The beast prepared itself for its final fight. Both the beast and the hunters were wary of the situation. Despite its weakened state, the beast was extremely dangerous and even more so since it was ready to die.


    For long minutes, they stared at each other. All of a sudden, the Thunder Walking Panthera pounced on the third guy. As soon as it moved, at least ten arrows fell all around it. Both of the guys on the sides and on the back had shot simultaneously. Knowing the beast was too fast for them, their arrows were aimed not at it but closer to their comrades as a barrage against its attack. No matter how well the leopard adjusted itself in the air, it still received an arrow in the face. But it did not slow it down by much and its claws tried to penetrate the closest hunter.


    He was able to put the saber between him and the best. His saber was a 4-star Earth weapon and the claws of the beast almost went through it instantly. If it had been in good health, the weapon would have broken in a million pieces and the man''s throat would have been slashed open. However, the force of the collision sent the man on the ground with the beast on top of him. Surprisingly, he did not panic at all. He kept struggling as his weapon was being crushed by the bony paws of the beast. And on both sides, Luo Jingren and the woman, Ma Feiran, attacked the leopard.


    Sensing that it was too weak to kill its prey easily, the leopard tried to get away but the man let go of his weapon and grabbed its front legs. It lasted only an instant but the beast''s attention got diverted and before it could slaughter this man, two sabers fell down on it. Their coordination was perfect. A single strike from the beast would mean death to them. So, if they had let their comrades grab him for too long, this would have been over for him.


    Both their attacks were aimed toward blind spots. With its instincts, the beast still felt them and moved his body. Its sudden move forced the man on the ground to let go. Then, the beast''s side collided with Luo Jingren. Luckily, he was the strongest of the group. His body was sent flying into the dead tree trunk and he coughed up a bit of blood while hearing some bones cracking.


    But this was the end. Ma Feiran''s saber fell on the beast and several arrows penetrated its skin. For a few seconds, it tried to stay standing before finally collapsing to the ground, lifeless. Still wary, the four hunters hidden away stayed where they were and Ma Feiran stabbed the beast again, right in the head. This was really over this time.


    Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. There had been some wounds but nothing medicine could not fix. And now, they would get three 3-cores as well as all the resources of the Thunder Walking Panthera. With this, they could get between twenty to thirty taels of gold each. This was a really huge sum for them. As vagrant cultivators, the resources they needed were rarely cheap.


    Luo Jingren was slowly getting up with Ma Feiran helping him while the other guys were skinning the beast and carefully harvesting all the possible resources. Ma Feiran gave him a small red pill. Both of them had a thing for each other. It wasn''t a secret for anybody but it wasn''t official either. They got closer to the beast and a new hope was born within Luo Jingren. With these funds, he could maybe buy what he needed to break through.


    Right now, he was in the late stage of 7th-grade Mortal. He needed just a little bit of help to find the final push forward. He could see himself becoming a 8th-grade Mortal before the end of the year. Each breakthrough was tougher and tougher for vagrant cultivators but it got them closer and closer to the famous Mortal Warrior realm. All of a sudden, he would cross over to another world. First of all, Qi Manifestation was a game changer, but there was also the matter of the lifespan. In the final stage of the Mortal realm, humans could leave at most 200 to 300 years. And in the final stage of the Mortal Warrior realm, they could live to be a thousand years old. For mere mortals, this was already akin to immortality in a sense.


    For vagrant cultivators, it meant that they had more time to try and reach their grail, the Spirit Warrior realm. In this realm, cultivators could earn another thousand years of lifespan. Indeed, a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior could live to the age of 2,000 years-old, more or less.


    All the hunters had many dreams in mind while they butchered the beast. Since they knew each other pretty well, they did not argue about the distribution. Being hunters and mercenaries, they knew how to survive in the wild and as such, two of them were standing guard far from the main group still busy on the body. They couldn''t just take the body because they needed to drain all its blood in the first hours of death. There were also some parts that needed to be harvested soon after death. Thankfully, they were used to this kind of work and were very efficient.


    As they were almost done, a terrible shriek came from the position of one of the guards. As one man, all five hunters assumed fighting positions. The sound of arrows whistling through the air echoed in the otherwise quiet Lunar Marsh. Some instants after that, a dark shape flew from the sky in the group''s direction. With their senses and experience, they quickly identified what it was. This was the head of the first guard.


    Mercenaries were used to death but it did not mean that they were unaffected. Every mission could be their last one. Even though they always took precautions beforehand in case of death, they did everything to ensure their survival.


    The tragic death of their friends affected all the group but they stood their ground and stayed in position. If panic overtook them now, they would be dead for sure. As long as they stayed calm, they could survive. Most of the Thunder Walking Panthera''s body parts had been harvested. Even if they were to flee, they would still earn a huge sum of money.


    If the guard had been killed so easily, it was certainly a better idea to run rather than to try and avenge him only to die as well. They cared about each other since they had been together for years, but their minds were very practical in this situation.

 Chapter 91: Blood drinking runes

    The group of five could not move recklessly since they did not know how many enemies they were facing. They had no idea who or what they were either. Right now, they were focusing on defense and strained their senses to their limit. The first thing to do was to gather as much information as possible to then determine their best course of actions.


    Even though they were all armed, they were figuring out all possible escape routes in their mind. No one tried to collect the head or the body of their friend despite their desire to offer him a proper burial. Sadly, it wasn''t rare for vagrant cultivators or even regular cultivators to die without a body. And even when their corpses were intact, it wasn''t rare either for them to stay in the wild during very long period of time.


    Most people in the Hongchen Kingdom believed in reincarnation. A part of the soul could leave the body at death and reincarnate in another life form eons later. Some believed that this part of the soul could even transcend the universe and reincarnate in other worlds. In some cases, this part of the soul could also become a ghost. And in a Yin environment such as the Lunar Marsh, this was a very likely possibility. Ghosts were not inherently evil. However, they lacked the intellect of their human life as well as most of their memories. Indeed, if a ghost formed, then death had most likely been violent and this traumatized the soul to the point where it could not exit the body properly at death.


    Being damaged while leaving the body could create this ghost. Human cultivators were particularly afraid of this as it could destroy their hope for reincarnation. If the ghost was not properly sent through to the reincarnation cycle, it would roam the living world forever. Some legends spoke about ghosts able to cultivate but this was extremely rare.


    Luo Jingren was the only one in the group to have ever seen a ghost in his life. In fact, he had witnessed a Spirit Warrior exorcise such an existence. Seeing his friend slaughtered on the ground, he really wanted to send him to the reincarnation cycle, to be sure to save him from such a fate. However, he was not ready to risk his life without knowing what was going on around him. And the risk of becoming a ghost was pretty low even in the Lunar Marsh. In fact, it became higher with stronger cultivators as their soul was becoming more and more powerful. Even a small part of it could produce a great ghost.


    On the other hand, they were so powerful that even in death their soul rarely got damaged. So, all things considered, ghosts were extremely rare. However, they terrified many vagrant cultivators who tended to be superstitious.


    From the trees, they saw the other guard running toward them. Alone, he knew he was an easy target as he had not even seen a glimpse of the attacker. He was only a 5th-grade Mortal, the very reason why he stayed in the rear and used a bow and arrow. Despite his low cultivation, he had very sharp senses. Yet, he did not see anything, so their attacker was probably way stronger than he was.


    And as he was running, a red flash pursued him and his friends got horrified. Two crimson red characters pierced his torso. A huge gush of blood spurted as his body got cut in half. His legs kept running for a few moments and his upper half fell on the ground reddened with his own blood.


    The two strange characters were spinning in the air around the body. The blood on the ground started to move on its own. The faster the two characters spun, the faster the blood moved. Even the blood inside both halves of the poor guard started to get sucked outside. A big ball of blood got formed, right in the center of the circle formed by the characters'' rotation.


    Slowly, the ball of blood levitated. When it got to the level of the characters, it stretched into thin filaments that got absorbed by them.


    The mercenaries knew exactly what was going on. Such a technique did not belong to a demonic beast. They were facing a demonic cultivator. And apparently, they were gathering blood to enhance their cultivation.


    The Evil path was full of terrible techniques that could quickly enhance one''s strength. But they were immoral and could also destabilize one''s mind. Most of the demonic cultivators became insane as they trained. Only a few were able to keep their sanity but they were absolute monsters either way.


    Faced with such an opponent, it was impossible to negotiate because they most likely wanted to drain them of all their blood for some strange cultivation method. Their best option was probably to flee. However, demonic cultivators were stronger than orthodox cultivators of the same level. Even if they were facing only one opponent, none of the vagrant cultivators would be able to flee without someone stalling for time. They all understood this, especially Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran.


    Indeed, Luo Jingren was the only one strong enough to gain them the time they needed. In his mind, he quickly accepted this reality and his likely death. He had fought side by side with his comrades for a decade at least. And he really was ready to die for them. It was the only rational solution. Whether he tried to flee or to fight, he had high risks of dying. But if he stayed behind to fight, he could increase his comrades'' survival chances.


    Luo Jingren gripped his saber even firmer and took a big inspiration. Closing his eyes, he accepted his fate. Without turning his head, he spoke to his comrades.


    "You should all be aware of the situation by now. If there''s only one demonic cultivator, I''ll take him on and you run. Even there are more, you''ll stay to fight according to your own strength. At least one of us should flee."


    He then turned toward Ma Feiran.


    "Feifei, I want you to live, no matter what! I want you to know that I loved you since the first day we met."


    This was the first time he got as open about their relationship in front of everyone else, but even in front of her. Ma Feiran''s resolve got renewed by his confession. She walked up and went to his side.


    "I won''t let you die alone!" Before he could protest, she kept talking. "You want me to live?! Well, I don''t want to live without you. Isn''t it the same for you?! Please, let me be selfish!"


    Luo Jingren was not that surprised but he was deeply moved. Even though he hated the idea of his woman dying by his side, the idea of them fighting one last battle together was not so bad. In this moment, he regretted to have never been more open with her. They could have had a family of their own by now. However, they were both proud cultivators and this wasn''t the life they had chosen for themselves.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Fine." He turned toward the others. "But I won''t accept any heroic sacrifice from you lots. You run as soon as you can!"


    "Yes, Leader!" With reluctance in the eyes, they all agreed.


    Finally, the two characters were fully satiated with their friend''s blood. However, they did not move. Instead, their master walked forward. He was covered in dried blood. Of course, he was Luduo Bu with his bloody halberd in hand.


    This halberd was new. It had been gifted to him by the man in purple and black. This halberd was a 2-star Human weapon called ''Red Frenzy''. Apparently it was perfect to use with ''Blood Runes''. And perfect it was. Even though Luduo Bu was still a Mortal cultivator, his blood runes could go way farther from him thanks to this halberd. They even seemed to have a mind of their own. Of course, the runes were not intelligent but they could react to external stimuli.


    For example, Luduo Bu did not need to circulate the ''Blood Runes'' method in order for the runes to absorb fresh blood. If he were a Mortal Warrior, he could control them only with his mind and increase both their range and their speed. Right now, he was in the process of forging his eighth runes. The closer he got to the third layer of this method, the more freedom the runes seemed to get.


    Right now, Luduo Bu had reached the 8th-grade Mortal stage. The blood runes had strengthened his vessels and meridians, coating them with the blood of the ones he had killed. This level consisted in opening his acupoints to better absorb Qi. If he opened them completely, he would even be able to absorb or let out the blood runes without cutting himself. And with this method, he seemed to be easily opening his acupoints thanks to the blood he was receiving. In fact Luduo Bu was advancing way too fast.


    There were many kinds of blood in his own body and it would now be impossible to hide it to any Spirit Warrior. Even Mortal Warriors would be able to detect the trace of some demonic method on his body. But in exchange, he was becoming stronger and stronger.


    In his mind, he only cared about killing Cao Yun now. And this rage was fueling his own ''Blood Runes''. His inner demon was gestating and grew stronger each time he thought about Cao Yun. But for now, it was a good thing. His hatred condensed into such an inner demon allowed his ''Blood Runes'' to advance faster. Every rune contained Evil Qi and an inner demon was both fueled by and fuel for such an sinister energy.


    This inner demon was growing within his mind and Luduo Bu was having more and more hateful thoughts. For now he was able to control himself, but he seemed to have failed to realize this threat in his own mind. After all, he had not been a demonic cultivator for very long. And he had had no real teacher.


    As soon as they were faced with this man, the hunters saw that his eyes were completely red with blood. He was the caricature of the demonic cultivator made insane by his own methods. A terrifying grin crept on his face and Luduo Bu charged toward the group. Even though he was not a Mortal Warrior, they understood that with his strange characters of blood, even their cooperation would not be enough. They truly had to run.


    Running would diminish their strength but even at full strength they had little hope to win. Their best bet was to flee away as fast as possible.


    Immediately, Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran advanced and their three comrades ran into the woods. With a big swing of his halberd, three characters were sent right in front of him and collided with Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran''s sabers. But at the same time, four other characters circled around them and shot toward their friends.


    "Be careful!"


    "Behind you!"


    One of them lacked the reflexes and was beheaded on the spot. The other two were able to deflect the blood runes but still sustained some cuts on their body. Some Evil Qi present in the runes started to seep through their meridians. Gradually, as they were fending off against the assaults of the runes, more and more Evil Qi got into their system. In a matter of seconds, their movements got slowed down.


    This was a vicious circle. The more Evil Qi they were infected with, the slower they moved and the more wounds they sustained, and in turn, the more Evil Qi they were infected with. These characters were a bit different from the fight with Cao Yun. During this fight, Luduo Bu had tried to hide his new demonic methods. But right there in the middle of nowhere, he did not care at all. He had changed all his characters and they now all contained human blood. As such, they were brimming with Evil Qi.


    This Evil Qi would slowly try to progress through a cultivator''s meridians to slowly kill him. So the cultivator infected had to use his own Qi to fend off the intruder. But by doing so, he had to slow down the flow of Qi everywhere else in his body. In fact, this Evil Qi was also inside Luduo Bu, but his ''Blood Runes'' method consisted in using it to become stronger. Most of the times, this was this Evil Qi that turned demonic cultivators insane.


    Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran understood that the only way to save their last two friends was to distract their opponent. If he were to retract two or three runes, they would probably be able to flee. But the longer they waited, the slower their friends would become.


    Without even watching each other, they ran toward Luduo Bu. Their cooperation was perfect. Luo Jingren sent the three runes flying with powerful saber strikes as Ma Feiran protected his openings. Once they got freed from the runes for even an instant, they reached their foe.


    Luduo Bu took a fighting position with his halberd and decided to do something both of them did not expect. They thought he would get the runes attacking their friends back to him as the other three had been sent pretty far away. Instead, he focused on defending with his halberd and sent the three runes toward their friends. He had not full control over them given his low cultivation. But with his ''Blood Runes'' method and his ''Red Frenzy'' halberd, he was able to circulate his Evil Qi to influence their trajectory. And once they were near human cultivators, the blood runes would instinctively try to kill them in order to absorb their blood. The problem was that they did not coordinate with each other that well and their attack pattern was very predictable. However, quantity could quickly take over quality.


    Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran became more desperate and used all they had to fight against Luduo Bu, hoping to make him call them back. They were able to injure him several times, but he guarded his vital areas efficiently enough. None of the injuries was lethal or even dangerous for him. In fact, he did not even bleed that much since his ''Blood Runes'' method had allowed him to better control his own flow of blood.


    Hearing screams, the couple knew that they had failed. Another of their friends had died and when the last one got faced with the seven runes, he had no chance at all. In a desperate attempt, he still tried to flee but was reduced to pieces. The corpses were horribly mutilated. Luduo Bu seemed to enjoy the process of killing a bit too much, even compared to what he was before.


    Luduo Bu started to laugh maniacally.


    "You''ve put up quite a fight you two. It''s a pity all your friends are dead. And now, they''ll help me kill you two."


    The blood from all three of their slain comrades got condensed into the existing runes. The process took some time but Luduo Bu was able to resist the assault of the couple. Right now, their strength was equal to a late 9th-grade Mortal despite not exceeding the 7th-grade each.


    Finally, Luduo Bu called back the blood runes. The couple took some distance with Luduo Bu and looked at each other one last time. It only lasted an instant but they fully admired every detail of each other. They wanted the other to be their last memory before dying. Some superstitions stated that this could allow them to reincarnate together.


    Luduo Bu saw that and an even more sinister smile crept on his face.


    "Oh? You''re lovers..."

 Chapter 92: The Silver Lion leader

    "So... Who wants to die first? Wouldn''t it be too cruel to part you in death?" Another disgusting laugh left Luduo Bu''s mouth. Wielding his bloody halberd, he slowly walked toward Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran.


    This ''Red Frenzy'' was made of Blood Jade. This Jade was not natural. It was a kind of metal produced by infusing the earth with blood. Usually, the blood came from demonic beasts but demonic cultivators were known to use human blood. This Blood Jade could absorb the blood it had been grown from. It was also very conductive of Evil Qi. And indeed, Luduo Bu''s halberd had been made with the blood of human cultivators. This really was the perfect weapon for his ''Blood Runes''.


    The blade always looked slick with fresh blood. But the shaft was also emitting a sinister crimson light. All over the weapon, strange runes were engraved to mimic the characters of ''Blood Runes''. This weapon had been made specifically to train the ''Blood Runes'' method and it was clearly efficient.


    All seven of the runes Luduo Bu had currently formed joined with the halberd. Thanks to this weapon, he could store the runes elsewhere than in his body. However, he still needed to refine them in his own bloodstream and he couldn''t keep them outside for too long.


    Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran felt their blood freeze in their veins. Combined with the blood runes, this halberd was akin to a real demon. It was even more terrifying than its wielder. The couple assumed a fighting posture and was ready to go forward.


    All of a sudden, Luduo Bu slashed with his weapon and the blade extended. No, it wasn''t the blade. A thin layer of blood came out of the halberd and slashed the air. Luo Jingren had no time to react and his chest was cut deep. However Luduo Bu kept him alive. He dashed, using the surprise to his advantage, and smashed the butt of his halberd into the wounded man''s stomach. With the difference of cultivation, the strength of Luduo Bu was way beyond what Luo Jingren could bear and he fell on the ground.


    Before Ma Feiran could react, she felt the evil coldness of ''Red Frenzy'' on her neck. Luduo Bu retracted the weapon, cutting the side of her neck. The cut was not deep enough to kill her on the spot but she was bleeding profusely. Luo Jingren tried to get up but Luduo Bu''s foot pushed him back down.


    The two lovers stretched their arms to grab each other''s hands. They knew the final moment had come. To add to their terrible fate, Luduo Bu did not intend to kill them quickly. First of all, he was amused by their suffering, but he also had a more pragmatic reason. He wanted to fight strong cultivators, but not strong enough to be a threat to him. As such, he stood over them, his face distorted by an ominous smile.


    He looked to Luo Jingren and rested his halberd on his bloody chest.


    "We''re going to talk for a bit. And if I don''t like your answer..." Lifting his halberd, he superficially slashed Ma Feiran''s face. Once more, Luo Jingren, filled with rage, tried to get up but received another blow. "I''ll cut her up into tiny pieces."


    Both of the hunters'' eyes were filled with hatred and self-loathing. No matter how much they hated this monster, they were powerless and could only wait for the release of death.


    "Tell me where I can find a 9th-grade Mortal nearby. You were hunters, right? So you should know of small cities or settlements to sell your bounty. Just tell me which one is the closest without any Mortal Warrior within. And just to be sure you won''t lie to me." Two more slashes scarred Ma Feiran''s bloody face. Right now, Luo Jingren could not even recognize her due to the blood spilling all over her. The cuts were not deep but their psychological impact was huge.


    At first, Luo Jingren intended to lie. He knew that if he told the truth, other innocent cultivators would die. Damn, this guy was a demonic cultivator, so he could even slaughter mortals just for the fun of it. However he may have some strange methods to determine whether he was lying or not. And even if he had none, he could keep them alive to check what he said and come back to torture them some more. In this desperate situation, Luo Jingren resigned himself to obey his commands.


    "Fine. But if I tell you the truth, can you bury us with the proper rites?" One of his greatest fears was to become a ghost. He was the only one in the group to have ever seen one and he would do everything to ensure that he would not turn into one. Popular beliefs dictated that a proper burial was a way to soothe the ethereal soul before departing the body. In this way, the ethereal soul would find its way through the reincarnation cycle and not roam the earth. In reality, Luo Jingren did not know whether this belief was true or not, but he wanted to increase his odds as much as possible.


    Another laugh came from Luduo Bu. "I do not care about your fate after death. I just want your blood. So tell me what I want and your death won''t be too painful. I''ll even consider leaving you with an intact body." His smile turned serious as he put the halberd on Ma Feiran''s wrist. "But if you''re playing games, I''ll cut her up into pieces. I wonder if her soul will be able to go back to the cycle of reincarnation with such a death."


    Luduo Bu did not care about such beliefs but his victims did, so he used that against them. Luo Jingren had no other choice. No matter what he said, he was at the mercy of this madman but he had to at least try.


    "To the south-east, there is a small town called Fulao. It''s a tiny place and the strongest cultivator there is at the limit of the 9th-grade Mortal stage. There are less than two hundred people in the town."


    Seeing the defeated look in Luo Jingren''s eyes, Luduo Bu knew he was telling the truth.


    "Good! Now, you can both feed my weapon." His halberd penetrated Ma Feiran''s chest and her blood started to seep through the Blood Jade of the blade. On the side, Luo Jingren was mad. Seeing his woman die in such a way was unbearable. Luduo Bu took as much time as possible to extract every single drop of blood while keeping her alive. Once again, Luo Jingren tried to get up but Luduo Bu''s boot pinned him down. "Wait your turn! You''ve been so helpful that I want you to enjoy your last moments together."


    Watching the poor Ma Feiran, all the color in her body left her gradually. "Isn''t she a beauty? You were very lucky to have her!"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Finally, she was completely drained of all her blood. Luo Jingren was screaming and trying to get out from under Luduo Bu''s boot but he was too weak. Cursing his fate, he begged the heavens to hear his wish. In the next life, he wanted to be strong enough to live happily with his woman. Interrupting his thoughts, Luduo Bu''s halberd also penetrated Luo Jingren''s chest.


    This time, he felt firsthand the pain of having his blood sucked dry. In fact, some Evil Qi seeped through his body from the halberd and took over his bloodstream. The pain was absolutely horrendous. In his final moments, Luo Jingren felt what the woman he loved had suffered and his hatred only increased. But with a final ounce of lucidity, he tried to calm down his emotions. What he wished for was a peaceful life after his reincarnation so he put aside all other thoughts and focused on his lover''s face.


    At last, both corpses were drained of all blood. The red fluid was flowing within the crimson halberd and nourished the seven blood runes. Despite the quantity, it was still lacking to form the eighth rune. This was the final rune of the third layer and as such, it was rather hard to form. With the blood of a 9th-grade Mortal on the verge of breaking through to the Mortal Warrior realm, the eighth rune should finally be condensed.


    Luduo Bu admired the corpses and of course, he did not care about burying them. He let them out in the open for other beasts to devour them. He had used their blood and he was ''generous'' enough to let the demonic beasts use their flesh now. The way they died had allowed him to produce even more Evil Qi to fuel his blood runes.


    Satisfied with his work, he went toward the direction of Fulao, a prideful smile on his face.


    -


    Fulao was indeed a very small town. This was the place where Cao Yun had stayed before going into the Lunar Marsh. This town had been founded by some vagrant cultivators a while back. At first, it was only a settlement for hunters before exploring the Lunar Marsh. But with time, some mortals joined the town. Even though the cultivators were not powerful, none of them being in the Mortal Warrior realm, for mortals they were extraordinary. A 9th-grade Mortal would live for three hundred years. And he was strong enough to lift a bit more than five hundred tons. No weapon from a mortal could penetrate his skin and he moved so fast than their eyes could not follow him.


    For cultivators, this level was not considered weak in the absolute. But compared with a Mortal Warrior or even a Spirit Warrior, this was nothing indeed. A Mortal, no matter how strong he was, could not manifest his Qi and had no spiritual senses. Luduo Bu was very confident in his ability to kill such a man. Moreover, he should be pretty old considering he was a vagrant cultivator who was on the verge of crossing over to the Mortal Warrior realm.


    However, Luduo Bu had not lost all rationality. If he were to fight a dozen or so of Mortal cultivators at once, he would probably be killed. There was always strength in numbers. To avoid such a fate, he decided to attack in the middle of the night. For such a small town, guards were at most 5th-grade Mortals and Luduo Bu could kill them very easily.


    He waited not far from the mansion of the city lord. This was called a mansion, but it was only a larger house than the others. When the shift changed, he attacked and killed four guards with his blood runes. They did not even understand what had happened. The moment they saw four red dots coming to them, they were already dead.


    Knowing that stealth was not his strong suit, he decided to dash through the mansion in order to kill the city lord as fast as possible. Running through the garden, he sent his blood runes all around him and killed three more guards before entering the building. Even though he could not control them efficiently, they were too fast for weaker cultivators to do anything against.


    Finally, he arrived into the bedroom of the city lord. The moment he stepped into the room, he saw an old man jumping from his bed. He had gray hair and a white beard. This was Fu Jiao, the city lord of Fulao. He was the leader of the Silver Lion, the hunters faction of Fulao. He was extremely close to breaking through to the Mortal Warrior realm. As such, his senses allowed him to feel Qi farther around him. Coupled with his instincts, he felt the presence of Luduo Bu as soon as he stepped into the building.


    Fu Jiao vividly felt the demonic aura and the smell of blood all over Luduo Bu. As such, he did not even try to talk. Fu Jiao was at least 70-years-old and he was an upright man. Destroying the demonic cultivators was a duty everyone should perform according to him. Qi gushed out from all the pores of his skin. Even though he was not a Mortal Warrior yet, his Qi almost manifested. It was a thin layer around him.


    And the image of a lion of pure white appeared on his body. His hair and beard looked like they were his mane and his clenched fists appeared as though they were clawed paw.


    Immediately, he dashed toward Luduo Bu who got surprised. He was expecting a weak old man. In his mind, vagrant cultivators and commoners were nothing much but he had miscalculated.


    Fu Jiao''s punch collided with ''Red Frenzy''''s shaft, sending Luduo Bu a few steps backwards. Another punch whistled just above his head, followed by a kick to the stomach. Luduo Bu had no time to even use his blood runes as he had to block with his halberd. He finally attacked with a strike from the butt of his weapon to the flank. Fu Jiao almost did not flinch and instinctively, he sent his head backwards as the blade of the halberd passed one cun away from his throat.


    Sending strength in his legs, Fu Jiao jumped backwards. He was as agile as a young lion. Taking a huge breath, he yelled as loud as he could. This was ''Prideful Roar Chases Away the Thunder''. In his voice, some Qi was mixed with the sound waves. This technique was really at the limit of what a Mortal could perform as Qi was imbued within. There was no physical manifestation of Qi though. However, the force was quite tyrannical and Luduo Bu had to use his halberd blade as a defense while crouching down just to not be blown away.


    Fu Jiao strained himself to the limit and two wind and fire wheels flew from the walls in his hands. Once again, this power was almost reserved to the Mortal Warriors, the ability to use Qi to control small objects. In fact, Fu Jiao only used a suction force, he could not control objects in the air.


    With these cutting weapons acting as real claws, he got ready to fight and kill his opponent. What he did not consider was that Luduo Bu had the blood runes. This was a cultivation method who gave him an edge in this fight. Indeed, as the blood runes could fly in the distance and act on their own, they were akin to having the ability of a Mortal Warrior without being one. And Fu Jiao did not consider that his opponent could attack him at a distance.


    Luduo Bu slashed with his halberd and sent a thin layer of blood toward Fu Jiao. Despite a slight surprise, he did not flinch and blocked with ease thanks to his superior reaction speed. At this moment, his instincts warned him and he dodged to the side just when a blood rune went for his head. Only his shoulder got cut but this time he was really surprised.


    Fu Jiao felt some Evil Qi crawling under his skin. Very easily he sent a surge of his own Qi toward his shoulder. The Evil Qi got erased completely and his bleeding stopped. In fact, his wound started to heal. He was only a Mortal, so his wound did not close on the spot, but he could totally heal in a matter of hours, not days.


    With his superior senses, Fu Jiao felt seven characters circling around him. His experience quickly told him he had to fight Luduo Bu up close. Otherwise, these strange runes would weaken and tire him. And the closer he was to Luduo Bu, the less dangerous these runes would be. Fu Jiao did not know how much control Luduo Bu had on these, but clearly he wasn''t a Mortal Warrior. So he would probably hurt himself if he used them to close to him.

 Chapter 93: Eight Blood Runes

    As they were fighting in his own room, Fu Jiao had the advantage. His higher cultivation level gave him more speed and more strength. No matter the distance between them, he could cross it with only one move. And if they were fighting close to each other, he would have a clear superiority in terms of strength and reflexes. Moreover, he had the experience of fighting against demonic beasts stronger than him. Most of the time, he could rely on the help of other hunters. But there were also moments where he had to defend against a superior beast and survive long enough to either flee or be rescued by his comrades.


    Fu Jiao jumped toward Luodu Bu and pushed some blood runes out of his way with his wind wheel. His fire wheel around which the image of a silver claw was visible went straight for the demonic cultivator''s throat. Luduo Bu tried to block the stabbing motion but it suddenly turned into a slashing attack. Surprised, Luduo Bu had just enough time to angle his ''Red Frenzy'' and protect his stomach. But the force of the slash and the surprise sent him against a wall.


    Using his ''Blood Runes'' to its limit, he circulated his ''Bloody Cavalry'' martial art in his body. By doing so, the blood runes got closer to him. Three of them stayed right in front of him as protection. They resonated with his ''Closing the Bit''. His halberd was held in front of him as a defense and the three blood runes rotated around him.


    Fu Jiao kept on attacking. Every one of his strikes got intercepted by the blood runes. But every time, the runes got pushed backwards and Luduo Bu was now completely back to the wall with no way out. He quickly took a decision.


    Opening a small faint in his defense, he tried to bait Fu Jiao. However, he got the opposite answer. Instead of attacking where the defense got weak, he struck its strongest point. Surprised by this, Luduo Bu''s defense failed and blood gushed out of his shoulder. He had blocked the brunt of the attack, only letting the fire wheel penetrate his shoulder superficially.


    Luduo Bu still tried to use this lapse of time to attack Fu Jiao. He dodged and jumped back, immediately ready to attack again relentlessly. The blood runes did not lose this opportunity to strike. Luduo Bu changed his tactic as well. The commotion they were causing would attract many people. If he could not even deal with one Fu Jiao, he had not chance against several experienced hunters fighting alongside him.


    It was best to risk it all now than to wait for certain defeat later. Too self-conceited, he had misjudged his victim''s actual strength. Not only was he almost a Mortal Warrior, but he also had way more experience in fighting than Luduo Bu, and fighting against stronger foes at that.


    Luduo Bu decided to take the risk. He used his blood runes to attack very close to him. He got slashed superficially on both arms and legs but the runes kept Fu Jiao at bay. Then Luduo Bu went for the offense. He rushed the old hunter with both his halberd and his runes. Fu Jiao was not able to keep up with all the simultaneous attacks. Thus, he produced more Qi around him. This was not Qi Manifestation, he was just increasing the Wei Qi around him.


    This was a natural layer of Qi protecting every human''s body. However, it got influenced by his martial art ''Winged Metallic Mane''. And the image of a lustrous mane made of silver appeared. It was still pretty vague but anyone could see it without much effort. His own hair looked like it got extended into this beautiful mane. The blood runes now had a tough time getting inside his defense. As such, all their attacks only left superficial wounds.


    The fight kept going and the blood frenzy of Luduo Bu got higher and higher. The more the fight continued, the more insane and angry he got. Very soon, he was attacking without any consideration for his own body. He was only protecting his vitals. During the fight, he received many injuries on his arms, legs and even two slashes to the face and some to his chest.


    Both fighters were a bloody mess. The fight had been very short in reality as both of them moved extremely fast. Outside, a dozen of hunters were coming to Fu Jiao''s bedroom having heard the commotion. They were all armed and ready to fight the intruder.


    Naturally, Luduo Bu did not know that, but he knew that reinforcements were coming and sooner rather than later. They had made way too much noise. He relinquished the blood runes protecting him and sent them to attack Fu Jiao with him.


    Fu Jiao had fought against four blood runes since the beginning of the fight but now they almost doubled in number. The surprise was enough to harm him. The blood runes were attacking instinctively so Luduo Bu could not use them to attack specific spots. However, they were naturally drawn to blood, so they were aiming for lethal spots.


    The stress accumulated and Fu Jiao made a mistake. He let a spot open for Luduo Bu. Immediately, he took the opportunity and landed a decisive strike in Fu Jiao''s flank. The slash was not that deep but when Fu Jiao tried to grab the weapon, it disappeared. It wasn''t the ''Red Frenzy'' halberd but a layer of blood from the ''Blood Runes'' method that had extended from the actual weapon. And the real halberd was ready to stab. It pierced through Fu Jiao''s heart.


    Despite this lethal injury, Fu Jiao kept moving. As a late Mortal cultivator, he could survive some time without blood flowing through his veins thanks to his Qi. But this time was limited to some seconds. Knowing he was dead for sure, Fu Jiao stopped defending and grabbed the halberd with both hands. No matter how hard Luduo Bu tried, he could not get his weapon back. Fu Jiao took a deep inspiration and roared as loud as he could.


    His ''Prideful Roar Chases Away the Thunder'' was at its most powerful ever. Fu Jiao literally poured everything he had in it. His throat was going to be forever destroyed but he didn''t care since he was dead anyway. On the receiving hand, Luduo Bu''s head began to buzz. Many of his capillaries exploded and his eyes got injected with blood. He had to drop his halberd and cover his ears not to go deaf.


    Finally, Fu Jiao died, his body still standing, grabbing the halberd with a ferocious air on his face.


    Luduo Bu could not hear the hunters running as fast as they could after this attack, but he could imagine the situation. Despite his injuries, he tried to take back his halberd. In his condition, he had to try three times just to grab the shaft. His internal ear had been messed up and he was battling just to stand still.


    When he finally grabbed the shaft though, he circulated his ''Blood Runes'' method and all of Fu Jiao''s blood got sucked into the shaft. The strong body of the Silver Lion collapsed on the ground as a brittle old man, no trace of his past radiance remaining.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The moment the hunters got inside the room, Luduo Bu had at last condensed his eighth blood rune. This was the completion of the third layer out of seven layers overall. This was a significant step in this method. Right now, the blood runes could move even farther and faster. Moreover, they were infused with even more Evil Qi. The first two guys to enter the room were both 8th-grade Mortal cultivators. However, they both got killed instantly as they were not ready for four blood runes to attack their vital points.


    Too hasty to save their leader, they got careless. Luduo Bu was ready to go slaughter the other hunters. The blood from his last victims gathered up into the air and fused with the existing blood runes. To forge the ninth rune, he would need either vast amount of blood or the blood of a Mortal Warrior. However, Mortal Warriors were not existences he could contend with right now, not even with his new level of mastery. First of all, he had trouble against a 9th-grade Mortal who was only a vagrant cultivator. But most importantly, he was terribly injured right now. Without the blood runes, he had no way to fight against the remaining hunters.


    To try and alleviate his injuries, he summoned back two blood runes in his body to use their blood. This was a secret technique of the ''Blood Runes'' method, ''Flowing Blood''. By circulating the blood inside the runes within his body, he could speed up his recovery, however it was dangerous as the blood runes would also spread their Evil Qi within him. But Luduo Bu did not care about this as he needed to recover his strength in order to survive. Right now, his mind was in chaos and he did not think clearly at all.


    The evil blood circulated in his body as the other hunters were setting up their battle formation. Luduo Bu was absolutely tired and had no pill to recover his strength. He really had underestimated this foe, just like he had underestimated Cao Yun both times. This thought came to his mind and he got more and more mad. Suddenly, he felt something strange move in his own mind. Even though he had never worked on his mind or spirit, he was feeling such a disturbance. It clearly meant that it wasn''t something small.


    As the two blood runes were dissolving into his bloodstream, their Evil Qi also went into his meridians. He completely lost control of it.


    While both the blood and the Evil Qi passed through his system, the pain was unbearable. He felt the Evil Qi seeping through his flesh as well and his bleeding began to stop. He did not heal completely, but the hemorrhage had mostly stopped. As the tension was getting higher and higher, the hunters ready to attack and him recovering, Luduo Bu felt a tremendous pain in his head.


    He tried again and again to control the Evil Qi that had escaped his intent, but it was as though another will was leading it. And it was the case, his inner demon had finally been fully born. It had no mind of its own but held the same hatred as Luduo Bu. Using the confusion of Luduo Bu and the Evil Qi, it tried to break through and take over its host, just like a parasite.


    Suddenly Luduo Bu found himself in a giant blue ocean. He had no idea what was going on, but he was in his own sea of consciousness. Panicking, he tried to move around but he was paralyzed. Looking down, he saw that around his feet the blue water had turned into thick blood. And the blood was quickly expanding around him. Luduo Bu tried to move his feet but they were completely frozen.


    The expansion of the blood became faster and faster. Very soon, his entire sea of consciousness was a blood ocean. His head almost split in two under a brutal headache and he saw the image of the person he hated the most, Cao Yun.


    "Chen Guo!" Screaming his hatred, Luduo Bu wanted to remember his goal. Despite his lack of experience he had understood. The Evil Qi had penetrated his mind and was slowly corroding it. If he could not control it, he would become a feral beast. But no matter what, he did not want to let go of his grudge. Luduo Bu was a very vindictive man and the humiliation he had suffered could not go unanswered.


    But he had misjudged the situation and the more agitated he was, the more hateful and spiteful he was, the less chances he would have. The reflection of his mind in the ocean of blood was not him anymore, it was his inner demon.


    Luduo Bu suddenly fell down within this blood and his inner demon got out. As he was drowning in his own sea of consciousness he saw this distorted image of himself smiling down at him. The only thought in his mind was his desire to slaughter Cao Yun and all his close ones. Unknowingly, he was strengthening the thing that had taken over his body.


    In the real world, Luduo Bu was literally fuming a red mist. He was not emitting Qi but blood, the blood of the two blood runes. His wounds had been closed but he had lost a bit of his own blood. His eyes were no more injected with blood but they were entirely red. All semblance of conscious had left him. He took his ''Red Frenzy'' and rushed outside. The blood runes were now perfectly obeying him.


    In fact, this mist of blood had suddenly opened all of his acupoints and even the gates allowing for Qi Manifestation. However, they had done so with such brutality that he would never be able to cultivate ever again. But this was not a problem as Luduo Bu''s mind was slowly being digested inside his own sea of consciousness. Only one thought was still animating him, the desire to kill, and Cao Yun in particular.


    The blood runes now perfectly under his control, the feral Luduo Bu slaughtered all the hunters. He was almost like nine men fighting thanks to his blood runes. As such, he was easily able to fight off the battle formation of the experienced hunters. When they died, their blood gathered and strengthened the blood runes even more.


    Luduo Bu did not stop there. He was raging like a rabid dog and went further inside Fulao. This night, he slaughtered absolutely everyone without any mercy, men, women, elderly, children. He was no more human. This was the danger with demonic cultivation. The methods were immoral to begin with but they could also easily corrupt your mind. Most demonic cultivators were able to become powerful at a record speed but they completely collapsed rather quickly and turned into abominations of various kinds.


    Luduo Bu had instantly reached 1st-grade Mortal Warrior by opening all of his acupoints and even some of his gates. Usually it took humans several months and sometimes several years to open the acupoints without any danger. But it was always possible to force them open. By doing so, they would be damaged beyond repair. As such, Qi was always leaking and your health would decrease very fast until your inevitable death.


    However, thanks to the ''Blood Runes'' method, the blood itself was keeping the Qi from leaving Luduo Bu''s body. However, even if he regained his sanity, which was almost impossible, his body was ruined for Qi cultivation. And with this lack of sanity, despite the ability of his body to manifest Qi, he had no way to do so. Qi Manifestation was dependent upon one''s mind as well, it was not a natural occurrence.


    When the sun rose, everyone in Fulao was dead and Luduo Bu was covered in blood. He was still panting like a rabid dog and he turned his sight on the Wubei Sect. A tiny part of his intellect was still there. Cao Yun was inside this sect and he needed to kill him. Despite the orders from the demonic cultivators within the sect, Luduo Bu had kept an eye on Cao Yun and knew where he was training. He knew about his Seamless Qi Vortex and instinctively, he went there. All that did not come from Luduo Bu but from his inner demon.


    Cultivators, and especially demonic ones, could produce what was known as an inner demon. In most cases, this was a deep emotion linked to an obsession, a regret or something similar. This inner demon could grow and even take over someone''s mind. This was not really an independent being, more of a distorted reflexion of the cultivator himself. Luduo Bu obviously had an inner demon since his first fight against Cao Yun and it had grown further after the official duel. Right now, this was the only thing left of his sanity. His hatred was so big that it took over his senseless body.


    There was only one thought in his mind. He wished to see Cao Yun suffer and die.

 Chapter 94: Luduo Bus Inner demon

    Luduo Bu was still drowning in his sea of consciousness turned into a blood ocean. Everything that made him who he was was slowly being corroded as though he was digested by his own cultivation method. ''Blood Runes'' was a terrifying method that used the blood of human cultivators to give incredible strength to its user. On the other hand, the blood runes formed contained lots of Evil Qi. This was part of the technique itself and could not be changed. That was the reason why human blood was so important for the technique and why demonic beasts just couldn''t cut it when reaching a certain point.


    When killing a human cultivator, their resentment would be turned into Evil Qi, strengthening the blood runes. But then, it meant that whoever was practicing this technique was flowing Evil Qi within their own bloodstream. This Evil Qi could easily either kill or turn insane anyone. Among others, it had the property of strengthening strong emotions and promoting the rise of inner demons. Unfortunately for Luduo Bu, he already had a deep inner demon.


    Luduo Bu had used his emotions to strengthen his cultivation. But what he had failed to realize was that he was also feeding his inner demon. There was now nothing left of Luduo Bu but this inner demon. And it was even nourished by his own death. Becoming stronger and stronger with his resentment, Evil Qi condensed around the inner demon. Paradoxically, the inner demon even regained a bit of sanity by absorbing Luduo Bu''s mind, especially his memories.


    This was not Luduo Bu anymore, but a monstrous reflexion of all his obsessions. The strongest obsession was his deep desire to inflict pain and death on Cao Yun. As such, he used the bits of memory he had left in order to enter the Wubei Sect. First of all, he cleaned himself up considering he was covered in blood. As a matter of fact, he had slaughtered hundreds of people, cultivators and mere mortals alike. Fulao was now a mass grave, with disfigured corpses everywhere. Thanks to the inner demon running Luduo Bu''s body, he wasn''t completely a mindless murder machine, but he was very close to it.


    In fact, as soon as he would kill Cao Yun, Luduo Bu''s last obsession would disappear and his inner demon would be able to extinguish the very last bit of consciousness he had left. Right now, he acted solely on the memories he had absorbed from Luduo Bu. His real self was long gone, forever, but a sliver of tenacity was trying to stay afloat. Once Cao Yun was dead, it would disappear entirely and the inner demon would become his own entity.


    Cleaned up, he used a very remote entrance to the Wubei Sect. The guards there were pretty weak. They were only Mortal cultivators. In fact, despite being guards, their role was mostly to just control who among the disciples was going in and out. The Wubei Sect was very powerful in the Hongchen kingdom. With its reputation, no one would dare try to harm the sect. And in the worst case scenario, they all had jade plates. These jade plates were inscribed with array formations. If they crushed it, a Spirit Warrior would immediately come there.


    However, they still sensed something strange about Luduo Bu, without being able to determine what it was precisely. If they had been Mortal Warriors, they would have felt Evil Qi all around him, despite how much he was trying to hide it. They saluted him and got no response at all. This did not alarm them as they had already met with such arrogant disciples before. It only made them dislike him more. They were inner disciples and yet they had heard about this Luduo Bu because he had been condemned to the Devil''s Jail. That was a really rare occurrence and the rumor spread even to the inner sect.


    Luduo Bu kept walking. He had two destinations in mind. The first one was the spot where he knew Cao Yun was cultivating within his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation. And if he wasn''t there, he would go to his residence. Even if he wasn''t present, he could slaughter his servant and maybe some of his friends.


    -


    Cao Yun just left the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation. He was getting increasingly close to deriving the first move of the Root Star, but he was lacking a bit of actual combat experience. Tomorrow, he would go to the martial art pavilion to duel a real cultivator. The best would be to fight against a Mortal Warrior restraining his Qi Manifestation.


    After his defense training, Cao Yun had made an appointment with Huang Cixi. He met with her in his room. First, she applied a bit of Contrived Shell Balm to some of his acupoints. With Chief Instructor Peng''s help, ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'' was advancing smoothly, nicely supported by Huang Cixi''s massages. Cao Yun was also complementing it with the ''Dance of Slaughter''. He had altered it a bit to be more in accordance with the ''Coiling Turtle'' method. In a month or two, his lesser meridians would be on the level of his standard meridians. Then, he could circulate his Qi twice as fast as before, anywhere in his body. And his physical strength would be enhanced as well, just like his cultivation speed.


    For example, if a standard cultivator needed a year to break through a level, with this method complete, he would only need ten months. But in later stages, this advantage would lessen more and more. However, breaking through a bit before everyone else in the early stages could give him an edge, for getting resources for example, but also to have more vitality when reaching the higher stages.


    After Huang Cixi''s little massage, they both went to the spot where Cao Yun was used to setting up his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation. As of lately, he shared his array formation with his servant as a way to repay her. As a 6th-grade Mortal, he only had to accumulate Qi in his Lower Dantian in order to break through to the next level. But this Qi had to be condensed as much as possible to optimize the quantity. And in the same time, he had to balance out all five elements within, Water being the dominant one in the Lower Dantian.


    In theory, any Qi would have been good enough, but to maximize his chances of success in higher realms, a Qi with a dominant Water element was the best. On the other hand, the Qi in the Middle Dantian was dominant in Fire element. In the Mortal Warrior realm, both these Water and Fire Qi would be used together. So instead of purifying the Qi in his Lower Dantian later, he could do so right now and gain some time.


    In the 7th-grade Mortal, all the Qi he had accumulated in the previous grade would then be used to temper his vessels and meridians so that they could become strong enough to resist higher pressures. These vessels and meridians had been perfectly opened, but they still needed to be strengthened. Finally, the last two grades both consisted in opening first the acupoints and then all the skin pores to absorb Qi from the environment. This would allow the cultivator to absorb phenomenal quantities of Qi compared to the early grades. As such, the vessels and meridians had to be able to resist the pressure.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Cao Yun had tampered a bit with his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation. He had thought about it for some time and altered it a little to increase the Water element in the Qi inside. This had allowed him to work on his understanding of the principles of both alchemy and array formation. Studying them together was really interesting. Of course, it also limited his speed in both disciplines but he did not want to become a grand master in either of them.


    Nonetheless, he understood more and more that these disciplines would also help him have a better and faster cultivation. Some principles that were hard to grasp became easy because they were similar in these occupations.


    When he was done with his training, he asked Huang Cixi to take his stead and went to meditate a bit farther.


    -


    Luduo Bu was walking toward the spot. When he got near, he saw Cao Yun sitting cross-legged on the ground. His mere sight plunged the inner demon into a frenzy. Tightening his grip on ''Red Frenzy'', Luduo Bu sent all of his eight blood runes toward the unsuspecting Cao Yun.


    Cao Yun was not cultivating, only meditating on his knowledge. Indeed, he was serious in standing guard for Huang Cixi. Without neither spiritual senses nor Qi perception, he only heard the attack when the blood runes whistled through the air. They were extremely fast. Fortunately, Cao Yun had trained in the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation.


    Despite achieving the third layer of ''Blood Runes'' and forcefully opening his acupoints, Luduo Bu was still inferior to a real 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. And Cao Yun was able to block attacks similar to a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior. Even though eight blood runes went for him, his defense was tight enough to block all of them. However, no matter how many times he blocked the runes, they always came back.


    Obviously, he immediately recognized the technique Luduo Bu had used against him during the challenge. During the fight, Cao Yun quickly regained his composure thanks to his mind cultivation. All his characters circulated in his sea of consciousness and he diverted a bit of his focus to find the attacker. Luduo Bu had done no effort whatsoever to hide and Cao Yun found him instantly.


    However, he saw something strange in his eyes. Cao Yun had heard from the demonic cultivator who visited Lu Meihan that he would only be killed next year. Apparently, Luduo Bu was not patient enough. But to dare attack him within the sect, he most likely had lost his mind.


    Cao Yun had read a lot about demonic cultivators since they were his target. And he knew that most of them ended up insane, sometimes devoured by their own methods or by inner demons. Clearly, Luduo Bu was in this state right now. Reasoning with him would be impossible.


    Luduo Bu did not even try to boast. As soon as Cao Yun saw him, he attacked with his halberd. Thin layers of blood went straight for Cao Yun. Now he had to fight off both the blood runes and the attacks from the halberd. Luckily, Luduo Bu had not seen Huang Cixi who was still in the array formation. Naturally, she had heard the commotion and understood that she would only be a burden to Cao Yun were she to come out.


    Both to keep her safe and to end it quickly, Cao Yun charged toward Luduo Bu. He had the same idea as Fu Jiao. The closer he was to Luduo Bu, the safer he was.


    He activated ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' and moved faster than Luduo Bu could follow with his eyes. However, the blood runes were not controlled by his eyes, they instinctively followed the blood of their prey. Luckily, Cao Yun was still faster than them. His speed had increased since their last fight.


    He got in Luduo Bu''s back and launched four ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' before being attacked by the runes and moving again. Luduo Bu did not even try to block all of them. He blocked the three strongest and let the last one strike him in the shoulder. Nothing happened. With his forceful breakthrough, he had a layer of Qi all around him and attacks of this level could not pierce through. Cao Yun would have to strike tens or even hundreds of times to inflict damages to Luduo Bu.


    Using only wind would not cut it. He would have to actually pierce him with his spear.


    The fight was extremely fast-paced. Cao Yun was using his ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' to its limit in order to move around as fast as possible. He always kept in mind the position of Luduo Bu, each of the eight blood runes and even Huang Cixi. He had to try to get in Luduo Bu''s blind spots while avoiding the blood runes always pursuing him and without exposing Huang Cixi.


    Luduo Bu, even possessed by his inner demon, was not stupid and he quickly understood this strategy. As such, he attacked in his blind spot. Cao Yun got surprised and had no time to move so he instinctively activated ''Imperial Throne''. A great wall of wind blew away the attacks. But in this wall of wind, several blood runes managed to pass through as the others got swept away.


    Three of them attacked Cao Yun. Chaining his different techniques was easier as he could more easily alter the flow of his Qi, but it wasn''t simple either. Without enough time to activate his movement skill, he had to focus all his Qi in the spots attacked and his hands. With the spear, he blocked one blood rune and the Qi in his hand made sure that his grip did not falter. The other two runes both hit him in the flank and the leg. Thanks to his rudimentary understanding of the Root Star and ''Forging the Fort'', the cuts were not very deep.


    But soon enough, he felt some Evil Qi seeping through his body. Immediately, he circulated his Po character to control his Qi and try to chase it away. But all of a sudden, the Drop of Wrath got excited. It seemed to be attracted by this Evil Qi. Cao Yun got scared. For the first time ever, the Drop of Wrath''s intent completely escaped the influence of the four characters. As soon as that happened, he had to distract a part of his focus to try and get it back.


    The Drop of Wrath was physically in his heart but its intent was now trying to control the Evil Qi that had entered his body. Cao Yun had to split his focus in three: the biggest part on the fight, and two others on fighting off the Evil Qi and trying to get back the Drop of Wrath''s intent under control.


    Unable to divert too much of his focus from the fight, he was still visibly slower and Luduo Bu interpreted this as the effect of the Evil Qi. Technically, he wasn''t wrong, but it was linked to the reaction of the Drop of Wrath to this Evil Qi.


    Despite his slower movements, Cao Yun was still able to evade but he completely stopped attacking for the time being. He knew though that in a battle of attrition, he would lose in the end. During their previous duel, Luduo Bu''s cultivation was higher than his and right now it seemed even higher than before.


    Both outside and within, the battle was raging. Within, Cao Yun was trying to stop the intent of his Drop of Wrath. He felt that this intent was attracting the Evil Qi toward his heart. He had no idea of what would happen if the Drop of Wrath absorbed this Evil Qi. However, he was terrified by this idea. If the Drop of Wrath was to become stronger, he could lose his mind to it and end up just like Luduo Bu.

 Chapter 95: The Dragons Chest

    Seeing Cao Yun in a very bad position, Luduo Bu pressed on with his attacks. He was utterly convinced that his Evil Qi was working perfectly. Technically, it was due to it, but the true culprit of Cao Yun''s weakness was the Drop of Wrath.


    Within his mind and body, he was circulating an increasing part of his mind to fight off its intent. The Drop of Wrath was actively trying to stir the Evil Qi through Cao Yun''s bloodstream toward his heart. The most likely reason was to strengthen itself by absorbing it. A possibility emerged in Cao Yun and he wondered whether this Drop of Wrath came from a demonic cultivator. The fact that it was linked to blood was not proof enough, many orthodox martial arts were linked to blood after all. But if it was trying to feed off Evil Qi, maybe it was evil in nature.


    Evil Qi was not just Qi. This was a kind of Qi with extreme Yin properties. And more than that, this was a Qi polluted by resentment. This kind of Qi could appear naturally. For example, after a tragedy some Evil Qi could be formed. This was akin to ghostly energy in a sense. And ghosts were very fond of Evil Qi themselves. Most of the time, Evil Qi was pretty tame as long as there wasn''t too much of it. To make it as corrosive as it was now required a great level of resentment.


    Luduo Bu had cultivated this Evil Qi by slaughtering human cultivators and absorbing their blood. The way he killed them was brutal and he extracted a lot of Evil Qi from them. His ''Blood Runes'' method was even able to amplify Evil Qi by condensing it. One way to refine this Evil Qi was to use one''s own resentment. To do so, the easiest way was to harness the resentment of an inner demon. This was what had allowed Luduo Bu to enhance his strength so fast, but it also became his downfall.


    Moreover, after the inner demon took over and slaughtered Fulao, the Evil Qi around him had increased exponentially. The cultivators and mortals he had tortured to death in this small city were still being used by him in death. This was a part of their resentment that entered Cao Yun.


    In the real world, Luduo Bu kept attacking both with the blood runes and his ''Bloody Cavalry'' expressed through his halberd. Each strike was accompanied by thin layers of blood. Despite not being a Mortal Warrior, he was extremely close to it and he was able to send a small part of Qi through this layer of blood. No strange phenomenon got manifested but it turned each slash into a poisonous attack.


    Absorbing more Evil Qi would weaken Cao Yun even more. In this case, he would have to focus more of his mind into stopping it and the Drop of Wrath would probably grow even more envious of this energy. As such, an even bigger part of his mind would need to fight it off. In the end, he would have almost no more focus on the actual fight. Thinking about it amidst the fight, the solution finally popped up in Cao Yun''s head. The Drop of Wrath was agitated by the Evil Qi in his bloodstream. So if he got rid of it, it would maybe calm down.


    With this thought in mind, he almost let go of the Drop of Wrath''s intent. All the intent he used within his body got focused on the two surges of Evil Qi. As soon as he let go of the Drop of Wrath''s intent, the attraction it exerted on those two surges increased dramatically. However, thanks to his Po character, Cao Yun had a better control over his Qi. Pushing it to the limit, he was able to force the Evil Qi out of his bloodstream. Fighting against both the Evil Qi trying to infiltrate his body and the Drop of Wrath trying to attract it deeper in his heart, at last, he had purged the intruders.


    In the physical fight, Cao Yun was in a tight spot. Using his speed, he could dodge the attacks of both the blood runes and Luduo Bu. However, he could not divert any attention to attacking or he would risk being infected with Evil Qi again. For now, the Drop of Wrath had indeed calmed down, but it could become even more violent if other surges of Evil Qi were to penetrate Cao Yun''s defenses. But on the other hand, if he did not attack, he would exhaust his strength way sooner than Luduo Bu, considering his cultivation level.


    His only hope seemed to be an outside help. The problem was that he had chosen this spot for his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation precisely because no one seemed to pass through here. He had to find a solution himself. Pushing the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' to its limits, a sudden explosion of white light eclipsed all the stars in his sea of consciousness. The Root Star had reacted. For a while now, Cao Yun had been trying to pierce its secrets and he was ever so close to do so. Immediately, he understood. The principle behind the first move of the Root Star was similar to what he had just done. Using his own Qi to expel a foreign influence could also be used to repel attacks on the outside.


    This was ''Dragon''s Chest''. By focusing the Qi in specific areas and circulating it in a certain way, he could strengthen his body and resist attacks. If Cao Yun had been a Mortal Warrior, scales of a dragon would have even appeared on the spot he was focusing his Qi. Just knowing the technique was not enough, he also had to test it in real life. Unfortunately, he had no right to fail in an actual battle.


    Without any other choice, Cao Yun tried to meditate on this technique while dodging. But Luduo Bu became more and more violent with his attacks, if that was even possible. Finally, Cao Yun who was getting tired got hit by a blood rune in the back. As soon as he understood that he could not dodge this one, he tried out ''Dragon''s Chest''.


    Contrary to its name, it could be used anywhere on the body. When the blood rune collided with his defense, it got repelled and Cao Yun was not cut. However, he was sent forward by the impact. Thankfully, it wasn''t so bad because the blood runes were not too fast yet. Their impact was comparable to what he had suffered during his training in the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation.


    Seeing this, Luduo Bu became enraged and started screaming to death. His best technique had failed to cut Cao Yun. This boy was a nightmare for him. No matter what he did, he always failed faced to this insignificant brat. An inner demon was of course way more vulnerable to mood swings. Luduo Bu changed all his strategy and rushed toward Cao Yun to beat him up in a more personal manner.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Now that the Evil Qi had been purged, Cao Yun diverted all his focus on the fight. Luckily he had been right and the Drop of Wrath was calm for now. However, Cao Yun was terrified by the idea of being overtaken by it again. He really had to end this fight as fast as possible. Up close with Luduo Bu, even with his new understanding of ''Dragon''s Chest'', the fight was tough. Thanks to both his Po character and his collateral meridians being wider than the norm, he could easily send Qi wherever he needed even faster than his opponent.


    However Luduo Bu had the physical strength of a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. Even without the ability to manifest Qi, this was a tremendous strength. No matter how much Qi Cao Yun used, he was pushed back with every strike blocked. Cao Yun even used all the techniques of ''Dance of Slaughter''. In fact, he got forced to integrate the concept of vibration from ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' to the ''Dragon''s Chest. This technique even served to strengthen his grip of his spear. Otherwise, his hands would have been destroyed by the impact the first time he had dodged Luduo Bu''s physical halberd.


    Finally, Cao Yun was sent flying by a powerful strike to his lower abdomen. He fell into the basin, right before Huang Cixi''s eyes. Still lying down, he saw the girl''s shocked face.


    "Mei Yuzhi, run!"


    The young girl had no time to do or say anything. Luduo Bu was standing on the edge of the basin, looking at her as dead meat.


    "Oh? Your little servant is here? Great! I want to see your face when I skin her alive!"


    Luduo Bu was even more sadistic and violent now that his inner demon had taken over. Hearing these words, Cao Yun circulated all his Qi and jumped back up.


    "You''ll have to go through me!" His brave words were met with Luduo Bu''s maniac laugh.


    Cao Yun was weakened and this threat against his servant was plunging his mind in turmoil. The Drop of Wrath was agitated once more. But this time, Cao Yun had not the luxury to care about this. If he couldn''t contain Luduo Bu, Huang Cixi would die very fast. And he even had the strange blood runes. If only one of them went past him, Huang Cixi would die. To avoid that, he needed to use all of his strength and push Luduo Bu back. But even then, he could easily kill his servant. He had to find a way!


    Seeing the array formation around him, Cao Yun got an idea. He activated the Seamless Qi Vortex array formation. By doing so, a vortex of pure Qi condensed around Cao Yun and started to replenish his strength. Luduo Bu had no understanding of array formations so he did not understand what was going on. Instinctively, he jumped back. Thanks to his ''Shen Visualization'', Cao Yun went through rudimentary array formations and one suddenly popped up in his mind.


    He changed the array formation around him and formed the Dark Veil array formation. This array formation was able to hide one''s presence. It was a very standard array formation, and very weak. But from what he had witnessed, the blood runes were not intelligent. They seemed to only attack by instinct. So even such a weak array formation would be able to hinder their detection abilities. He had thought about using a defensive array formation but their force was too high even for the strongest array formation he could set up.


    "Mei Yuzhi, come inside!" She did not hesitate at all. The young girl knew that her master was talented in array formations. Despite his talent, this array formation was very rudimentary and set up in haste. As such, it did not even reach the Perfect rank, it was only 68% effective. Luckily, he had already a great understanding of this place, so he could set up such a simple array formation in a matter of seconds.


    When Luduo Bu understood he had been duped, he charged forward. Cao Yun did the same and rushed him. Using his entire body, launched with his ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'', as a battering ram, he pushed Luduo Bu out of the basin. He left two blood runes behind to try and kill Huang Cixi. But he had lost her visual and the blood runes were perturbed by the Dark Veil array formation.


    Huang Cixi laid down, flat on the ground. If she were to try and run, the blood runes would easily detect her and she would die immediately. However, the array formation had already used most of the spirit stones. As such, Cao Yun was worried. Time was already his enemy, but now it was also Huang Cixi''s enemy.


    He decided to throw all cautious to the wind. He pushed his Qi to the limit and attacked relentlessly. After racking his brain, he had failed to find a good way of winning.


    Thanks this speed, he was able to avoid all the attacks of his opponent, even at point-blank. As such, he had opted for an harassment strategy. His projected ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' could not pierce through Luduo Bu''s defense, but his ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' was different. He could inject his understanding of vibrations into the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Thanks to that, even though his spear could only inflict superficial wounds, its force penetrated deep within the body. Luduo Bu''s organs were damaged by each strike. However, using the ''Flowing Blood'' from ''Blood Runes'', he absorbed three blood runes. Two of them were used to heal and protect his insides while the third one was used to enhance his defense.


    Thanks to the very small time Cao Yun had spent in the Seamless Qi Vortex array formation, he had regained a third of the energy already used in the fight. Luckily, he had trained just before so his meridians and vessels were still fully open and could absorb more Qi than usual.


    Unfortunately, he wouldn''t be able to convert the array formation back during this fight. Thinking about Huang Cixi, he got more and more agitated as the fight went on. Within his sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath was also excited. It got extremely agitated but Cao Yun just decided to turn a blind eye to it. If he diverted an ounce of his focus from the fight, he would have no chance to protect his servant. The fight would drag on, the array formation would collapse and she would die.


    As long as he took care of Luduo Bu fast enough, he could regain control over the Drop of Wrath.


    In his sea of consciousness, the three stars of the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' shined brighter and brighter. The entire ocean turned almost white as the Root Star shined brighter than all the other stars. Cao Yun had just understood its first move and it seemed elated. The ''Dragon''s Chest'' allowed him to keep his grip on the spear no matter how powerful the collisions with Luduo Bu''s weapon and body were.


    Soon, Luduo Bu turned absolutely insane. He kept trying to strike Cao Yun down. Up close, he only needed one hit to kill him but all his attacks were dodged. His frustration built up and strengthened the inner demon''s grip on Luduo Bu''s body. He was now revolving all his Evil Qi to try and increase his leg muscles and thus his speed.


    Even with Cao Yun''s understanding of vibrations, his attacks had a minimal effect on Luduo Bu. Paradoxically, the Evil Qi had more effect. Indeed, his organs were starting to be corroded by the Evil Qi itself and were only protected by his ''Flowing Blood'' which also sent even more Evil Qi in his system.


    As the fight went on, Cao Yun seemed to gain the upper hand. Deep within, the Drop of Wrath was ready to attempt another takeover. His sea of consciousness turned into blood. His mind got forcefully pulled in. Cao Yun resisted but the distraction got him.


    A blood rune flew in his back and pierced through his flesh, straight toward his heart.

 Chapter 96: The blood devours eight demons

    Cao Yun felt the cold touch of the blood rune on his back. Without enough time to react, he could only try to shift his body so that the trajectory would change. No matter what he did, the rune penetrated his flesh, letting Evil Qi seep through his body. As its trajectory had changed, thanks to Cao Yun''s movement, it went through his right lung instead of his heart.


    Since the moment Huang Cixi''s life got threatened, Cao Yun had neglected to control the Drop of Wrath. He wanted to beat Luduo Bu as soon as he could. And if failed, he would die anyway, so there was no point in protecting his mind. In this fateful instant, the intent of the Drop of Wrath escaped totally his vigilance. In addition to his voluntary lack of restraint, Cao Yun was now facing death itself. And as such, his mind was not able to fight against this internal threat.


    The intent turned the sea of consciousness into a sea of blood, just like Luduo Bu''s own sea of consciousness had been transformed by his inner demon. The Drop of Wrath was physically residing deep within his heart, right in its center, the Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir. When its intent activated, Cao Yun felt a burning blaze erupting from his heart.


    Under his powerless senses, he could feel this heat radiating toward the coldness of the Evil Qi and the blood rune. All that was taking place in a matter of breaths. The heat completely surrounded the blood rune and its Evil Qi. Just when the blood rune perforated Cao Yun''s lung in the back, the heat closed around it. Luduo Bu did not feel anything but he had just lost all control over this blood rune. It was as though it had been cut off from the outside world.


    As the rune was now within Cao Yun''s lung, it started to melt down. Gradually, it turned into blood and Evil Qi. Then, a powerful suction force attracted this amalgam toward the Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir.


    During the process, Cao Yun fell to his knees, still trying to support himself with his spear. His face turned completely pale. Contrary to the previous instants, all his focus turned within, observing the action of the Drop of Wrath. On the outside, Luduo Bu was towering over him with a sadistic smile.


    "Isn''t this position more befitting of you?" After an evil laugh, Luduo Bu put the ''Red Frenzy'' on Cao Yun''s chest. Very slowly, he slid the blade over his clothes, deep enough to cut through his skin but not his muscles. Seeming to derive a lot of enjoyment from cutting his opponent, he slashed him ever so slowly twice more.


    "I won''t kill you right away, do not worry. I want to skin your servant before your very eyes. Too bad the little brat is not here right now. Watching her body being torn into pieces would have been such a show..." Luduo Bu was talking about Mei Ying. In his mind, she was the cause of all this, the reason why he had fought against Cao Yun in the first place.


    Luduo Bu called back all his blood runes. After his attack in the back of Cao Yun, Luduo Bu was convinced that his Evil Qi was responsible for his powerlessness. Now, there was no chance for Huang Cixi to run away. As long as she was in the basin, he could not see her, but if she tried to get out, he would see her immediately. For now, he was enjoying torturing Cao Yun.


    Laughing maniacally, Luduo Bu''s smile froze. The blood runes rotated around him. But there was something strange. Only seven of them were there, not the eight he had forged. The eighth one was in Cao Yun''s body. But he had called back all the blood runes. Despite his forceful breakthrough, Luduo Bu was still not a real 1st-grade Mortal Warrior and thus, he could not sense the Qi that wasn''t directly around him. Hence, he could not feel the blood rune, neither the fact that it had been cut off from his influence.


    Within Cao Yun, the dissolved blood rune and its Evil Qi had been transported to the Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir in the center of his heart. The Drop of Wrath was pulsing as though it was excited. As soon as Evil Qi penetrated this chamber, it started to spiral toward the Drop of Wrath. The same thing happened to the blood from the dissolved blood rune. All of this disappeared inside the Drop of Wrath.


    Cao Yun''s mind was now fully in his sea of consciousness. After taking a hit in his lung, he was in shock and took some time to react. When he finally came to, he was waist deep in the ocean of blood that was his sea of consciousness. He only had a vague perception of the exterior world. His worries lessened when he understood that Huang Cixi was still safe.


    He tried to activate his mind cultivation to calm down the Drop of Wrath. All of the four characters shined brighter and brighter while revolving around him. Slowly, he began to ascend and left the blood. He found himself standing on the surface of the ocean of blood. However, the Drop of Wrath was doing its own thing.


    The heat from its intent became hotter and hotter. And there was no sign of it calming down. Luduo Bu got ready to literally open up Cao Yun''s chest to find his eighth blood rune when an unexpected event occurred. From all around Cao Yun, a powerful blood intent spread in Luduo Bu''s direction.


    The boy felt all his acupoints being forced open by the intent of the Drop of Wrath. The pain was atrocious. If he had not crossed over to 6th-grade Mortal, his body would have simply exploded right here. Thankfully, he had also practiced the ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'', so all his meridians, even the lesser ones, were increased in size. Contrary to Luduo Bu''s forceful breakthrough, the intent of the Drop of Wrath was not trying to fully open Cao Yun''s acupoints. It was just using them as a pathway to the outside world.


    Only surges of Qi could open the acupoints. But the intent from the Drop of Wrath was extremely powerful compared to Cao Yun. It was merely using his acupoints to feel the world around and yet it caused great pain. If the Drop of Wrath had controlled some Qi, or worse some Evil Qi, to go outside, it would probably have been over for Cao Yun.


    Realizing this, Cao Yun''s worries about this Drop of Wrath renewed. It had saved his life again, but this was the worst threat he was facing at the moment. Even Luduo Bu did not seem like such a threat right now. He only wanted to kill him while the Drop of Wrath would utterly destroy him. Cao Yun was thinking that maybe this Drop of Wrath was linked to some kind of evil existence, potentially an inner demon. After all, it had reacted to the blood rune and the Evil Qi. It was possible that some part of an inner demon had fused with this drop of blood.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    All four of his characters were activated at their fullest and Cao Yun began to sense some reaction. The intent of the Drop of Wrath started to subside. But it fought as hard as it could. Finally, it had found what it was looking for, the other blood runes. The intent dissipated all around Cao Yun and got concentrated in the direction of those blood runes. It fought against the influence of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' and by focusing his intent, it was more successful.


    Slowly, the blood runes got attracted toward Cao Yun''s body. Luduo Bu got terrified, sensing his blood runes being sucked away. He focused all his ''Blood Runes'' understanding to try and keep them. However, there was nothing to do, all his blood runes turned into a mist of blood and got sucked within Cao Yun''s body. Finally, the pain stopped. When the Drop of Wrath finally sucked in all the blood runes, it did not need his acupoints anymore.


    All the blood runes got dissolved by the Drop of Wrath''s intent and were finally absorbed by it. For a while it became lethargic as though it was digesting its meal. At last, Cao Yun''s mind cultivation took over and his sea of consciousness returned to the way it was just before. The boy calmed down. His body had been stressed to the utmost. With a deep wound in the back going straight into his right lung, his acupoints forcefully opened in both directions for a short time and his strained mind, could also be added his worries about Huang Cixi and his own life.


    On the other hand, Luduo Bu was infuriated. All eight of his blood runes had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Try as he might, he could not call them back. If he had been a true 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, he would have felt the Evil Qi disappear completely. Even a Spirit Warrior could not pierce through the Drop of Wrath to feel what was going on inside. In fact, even Xiao Xuefeng had failed to notice it when she had met Cao Yun, and even during his fights.


    The only thing Cao Yun was sure about this Drop of Wrath''s origin was that it did not come from Cleansed Asura himself. He probably got it from someone else. A great expert such as he was could control it, but Cao Yun was way too weak right now. For the time being, he would have to focus on his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' in order to contain it as much as possible. If it had absorbed these blood runes, it would maybe grow a bit stronger and this was a problem.


    In fact, the Drop of Wrath had resonated with the amalgam of blood and Evil Qi. One or the other alone would have not enticed any reaction at all. Both of them combined, on the other hand, had become a delicacy it just could not resist. In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath was pulsating while it was digesting all these runes. However, it stayed calm as it was doing so.


    Before Cao Yun could fully regain control over his body, Luduo Bu tried to cut off his head in rage. Simultaneously, Cao Yun activated both his ''Dragon''s Chest'' around his neck and his ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''. He leapt backward with all his strength and reinforced the spot the halberd was targeting. His moves were not as good as before and the tip of the blade grazed him. Luckily his ''Dragon''s Chest'' held on, but Cao Yun was sent a few meters away by the sheer strength of Luduo Bu''s attack.


    He felt blood gushing out of his back right where the blood runes had hit him. Luduo Bu charged toward him and got repelled by ''Imperial Throne''. Cao Yun had an idea and used ''Dragon''s Chest'' around his wound to try and reduce the bleeding. And it did work. However, he was not yet proficient enough to use ''Dragon''s Chest'' on multiple parts of his body. So, if he wanted to protect somewhere else, he would have to let the bleeding resume. He used ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' and sent twelve ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' from different directions all around Luduo Bu.


    Weakened by the loss of his blood runes, he failed to dodge some of them but sustained very few damage. It was only a distraction for Cao Yun to appear in his back. ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' hit him right in the back with the power of vibration from ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. Even though the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' did not penetrate, the force of the attack traveled all the way through his heart.


    Without the blood runes to protect his internal organs, they were under the stress of the Evil Qi from the inner demon. Adding the pressure of this attack, Luduo Bu''s heart skipped a beat. Quickly, he tried to retaliate but was once more sent a few steps back by ''Imperial Throne'' as a wall of wind circled around Cao Yun. From this wall, several ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' pierced through toward Luduo Bu. He dodged and blocked all of them, just when the actual spear stabbed straight for his heart once more.


    Sweeping down with ''Red Frenzy'', Luduo Bu stopped the attack and sent the tip of the spear crashing down into the ground. Cao Yun immediately moved around. Both fighters were in a terrible condition by now. Luduo Bu''s body was only standing thanks to his ''Blood Runes'' method. The Evil Qi he had absorbed was slowly corroding his organs and without his blood runes, he could not control it. He even thought about using his own blood to condense one last blood rune. But it would weaken him and the effects wouldn''t be that good.


    The inner demon understood that there was nothing to be done. But before dissipating into nothingness, he wanted to kill Cao Yun. Even Huang Cixi had disappeared from his thoughts. Only his hatred for Cao Yun persisted. The boy had been the doom of Luduo Bu and was now the demise of his inner demon as well.


    Despite the loss of his blood runes, he still had a layer of Wei Qi around him thick enough to prevent Cao Yun from penetrating his skin. Even the power of vibration was reduced when it got inside his body. Without this advantage, he would have been killed by the previous strike in the back. The gap between a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior and a 6th-grade Mortal, no matter how powerful he was, was almost impossible to bridge. However, Luduo Bu was not a real 1st-grade Mortal Warrior and his cultivation had been forcefully enhanced in only a matter of seconds. It was very shaky and unstable, the reason why his body was giving way, slowly but surely. He had crossed over two grades, from 8th-grade Mortal, in an instant. Of course, there were consequences.


    The fight reverted to what it was in the beginning. Cao Yun was moving all around Luduo Bu using his speed to protect against his opponent''s strength. But this time, he could focus back on attacking as well. He would move around, send an attack or two and move back. But this time, he tried to predict Luduo Bu''s movements to go to the perfect spot. Thanks to his ''Shen Visualization'' and all he had already observed of his enemy, it was fairly easy. This was the true meaning of a battle of attrition.


    Both men were slowly dying and the last one standing would be the victor. Every strike from Cao Yun that landed was hastening the process within Luduo Bu''s body. The Evil Qi was slowly corroding his body and the inner demon did not seem able to confine it, even with the ''Blood Runes'' method. Without the blood runes themselves, it had indeed become way less effective.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun''s wounds worsened visibly. Even with his attempt at using ''Dragon''s Chest'' to stop the bleeding, a part of his lung was literally pierced through. A mere mortal would have died, but a cultivator was able to endure for a while, but not forever.


    The fight only lasted a few more minutes.

 Chapter 97: End of the obsession

    The more Cao Yun was using ''Dragon''s Chest'' in an actual fight, the faster he was understanding it. Within his now calm sea of consciousness, the Root Star was shining even brighter than the actual sun. The principle behind the technique could seem simple at a first glance. It consisted in sending Qi to enhance the part of the body one wanted to protect. However, in practice, the way of circulating said Qi was extremely complicated. Thankfully, Cao Yun had developed his Po character and his ability to circulate his Qi was way more refined compared with a standard Mortal cultivator.


    The next step seemed pretty obvious. It consisted in enhancing all of the body at once. If one was able to reach this stage, his body would become as resilient as the body of a dragon who would have a similar strength. Dragon scales were usually considered like the most durable material any living thing could produce. Some metals or rocks were more resistant but they did not come from a living being.


    Cao Yun had not yet reached this level. But right now he was using this ''Dragon''s Chest'' both in his back to prevent the bleeding and in his hands to tighten his grip on the spear. He did not need to protect anything else because he was focusing on dodging and attacking quickly, before retreating just after.


    Finally, after several minutes, Luduo Bu''s defense started to give way and Cao Yun''s ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' penetrated his waist. The wound was not very deep. Yet the effect on Luduo Bu was tremendous. The inner demon realized he was losing and with this wound, he would have a harder time moving. Understanding that fighting Cao Yun head on was foolish, a ray of rationality pierced through his hatred.


    The little servant had not been able to run away until now. She had been pinned down by the blood runes. Even though they had all disappeared, absorbed by the Drop of Wrath, Huang Cixi had no way of knowing that. In fact, she was still laying down in the Dark Veil array formation. The sounds of the fight were echoing relentlessly in the basin and she was utterly powerless.


    Huang Cixi hated this feeling. Her own life was in the hands of the man she was supposed to hate but yet couldn''t do wholeheartedly. The only thing she could do was stay out of his way. No matter how much she racked her brain, there was no other choice. And just like Cao Yun, she began to deeply understand the importance of strength. Even if she became the most important woman in her family, everything could be destroyed in an instant by a powerful assassin. As she was cursing her own weakness, she swore to become stronger. Then, she heard someone approaching.


    Her heart stopped for an instant. The noise of the fight had not stopped. And Cao Yun would never come to her because she knew he was actively trying to protect her. The only person who could be coming down there was Luduo Bu. And the only reason why he would do so was obvious.


    Huang Cixi was right.


    Around the small basin, Cao Yun was trying to divert Luduo Bu by attacking him. Although his attacks were making some flesh wounds, they were not enough to deter the inner demon. By the time he went down toward the array formation, he was covered in fresh blood, as he wasn''t fast enough to block every attack.


    "Chen Guo, look what I do to your servant! Even if I can''t kill you, someone else will! But first, your servant brat!" Luduo Bu dashed inside the array formation. This Dark Veil array formation was only 2-star Earth, and Cao Yun had to improvise it on the go. So it really wasn''t that strong. Against the blood runes, it could easily confuse their senses as they had no spirituality. But Luduo Bu had no difficulty seeing through it.


    Moreover, the flags of this array formation were perfectly visible. Moving a flag while the array formation was activated required enough strength to break apart the flow of Qi. But this array formation was so weak and the spirit stones feeding it so feeble that Luduo Bu only had to step on a flag to break it down completely.


    Huang Cixi was so shocked when facing this insane cultivator covered in his own blood that she ended up being paralyzed by fear. Luduo Bu approached with an evil grin. Cao Yun was screaming in the back and used his fastest movement technique to bridge the gap. Luduo Bu raised his ''Red Frenzy'' and performed ''Butcher''s Cleaver''.


    As his halberd fell down from above, ready to cleave Huang Cixi in half, Luduo Bu''s eyes darted to the side. His real goal was not Huang Cixi. He knew for a fact that Cao Yun would try to protect her and he was fast enough to do so. He literally ran past the halberd wielding attacker and put himself right between him and his own servant.


    Cao Yun used a lesser move of the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' manual called ''Mountain Under Thunder''. Putting a knee down, he raised his spear horizontally and blocked the halberd on the middle section of the shaft. This was not an optimal position because Luduo Bu could just rotate his halberd and cut off his fingers, but he had to act instinctively.


    However, Luduo Bu did not follow this tactic. He used the spear as a spring to bounce back his halberd and revert its movement in a big vertical rotation. With the butt of the halberd, he hit Cao Yun under the spear, square in the chest. By reaction, Cao Yun pushed his spear down to block the halberd.


    Still lying on the ground, Huang Cixi was only seeing the broad back of Cao Yun protecting her. All her feelings were in turmoil. She had been plotting against him since the beginning and yet he risked his life for her. In her mind, she even saw the face of her second brother. Then, her eyes got attracted to the terrifying wound on his back. She could literally see inside of him. Even if he won, his wounds would be horrifying. And he had not won yet.


    Luduo Bu stepped to the side and took his halberd away. In the same move, using the fact that Cao Yun''s spear was low, he tried to slash open his head with ''Crimson Horizon''. An horizontal slash came straight for the forehead of Cao Yun. Reversing his Qi, he was able to block with a diagonal spear and his knee was forced even more strongly into the ground. His kneecap almost broke on the spot.


    Luduo Bu tried another attack but Cao Yun was still faster. He used ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' to stab through Luduo Bu''s head. However, he dodged with a very small movement and grabbed the spear right next to his face. Changing his grip, Cao Yun used his understanding of vibration with ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' was a 5-star Earth rank weapon made with the scale of a dragon. Its metal could either become more rigid when it needed to, but also more flexible if need be. By sending his vibrations through it, the spear responded and undulated. The tip of the blade was thus sent directly into Luduo Bu''s right eye.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Simultaneously, Luduo Bu used his free hand to plunge his halberd straight into Cao Yun''s heart. Just when he was about to kill the boy, the pain from losing his eye kicked in. His trajectory changed and his halberd sank into Cao Yun''s belly. Ignoring the pain, the boy changed his grip on the spear that Luduo Bu had let go of. The last bit of focus he had left was sent into one final ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' aimed for Luduo Bu''s heart. The spear pierced him through and through this time. And to be absolutely sure, Cao Yun used his vibration one last time. Outside, a popping sound was heard just as Luduo Bu''s heart exploded in his chest.


    With his last strength, the inner demon tried to budge the halberd. However, Cao Yun used ''Dragon''s Chest''. The wounds in his back started to bleed back a little as he wasn''t able to use this technique on two large parts of his body at the same time. However, it allowed him to strengthened the muscles of his abdomen and prevented the halberd from moving around.


    With each other''s weapons deep within their opponents, both men fell on their sides and Cao Yun saw the last light of life disappearing from Luduo Bu''s eyes. Before losing consciousness himself, Cao Yun saw the image of his family and whispered.


    "Father... mother... brother... patriarch... Huiying... I''m sorry... I failed you all..." Then, everything turned black.


    Behind him, Huang Cixi heard all he said. Finally, she knew for sure! She had searched and had gathered intel. So she had a strong suspicion about Cao Yun''s true identity. For starters, she knew that ''Chen Guo'' was an invention. But she couldn''t be sure that he really was from the Cao family even though the timeline seemed perfect. But after hearing the name ''Huiying'', she knew for a fact that he was Cao Yun.


    She remembered that her brother Huang Lixin had met this boy when he was younger. Maybe he had not killed him solely to save Feng yingyue but also to hide his own identity.


    Many thoughts popped through her mind, but Huang Cixi put them aside. A red puddle was forming beneath the two men. Luduo Bu was dead for sure, a spear right through his heart. But Cao Yun was still alive. Huang Cixi knew that alchemy was an incredible art, defying heaven and earth in some matter. There had to be a way to save his life.


    However, she was unsure whether she wanted to or not. She couldn''t bring herself to really hate him. But the truth remained. Her direct family had been killed by this seemingly heroic boy, single-handedly. Deep down, Huang Cixi did not want him to die in such a way.


    "You saved my life and I''ll repay this karmic bond."


    She decided to not move Cao Yun''s body so as to not worsen the wounds in his abdomen. Instead, she used her own uniform to try and stop the hemorrhage in his back. It really wasn''t much but it could give her some time and the distance was pretty long. Unable to move him, she had to bring the help to him.


    She took the alchemist emblem of Cao Yun and pushed her legs to their limit, running toward the outer yard. Huang Cixi was cultivating not so long ago. Some excess of Qi still remained in her body, and she was going to use it all.


    -


    In the alchemy pavilion, Zhong Ling was back at the reception desk. As it was pretty soon in the morning, no one seemed to come by and she was bored. In front of her, there was an alchemy book. She was preparing to take the 4-star alchemy rank examination and she needed to study a lot. She was not as talented as Mei Hua or as Cao Yun.


    Her thoughts got interrupted by the sounds of running. Exasperated she raised her eyes to see who was so brazen as to run within the alchemy pavilion. Seeing a small servant, she was terribly upset.


    Huang Cixi did not take time to properly salute the receptionist. In haste, she put the emblem on the counter.


    "Senior, my master is terribly wounded. I need Instructor Meng Jia''s help. Please!"


    Zhong Ling was taken aback by the urgency in her voice. Looking down, she saw that the emblem was covered in blood. Looking more closely to the young girl, her hands were also bloody and her uniform was missing some parts. Zhong Ling had a terrible feeling about this. If the servant was asking after Meng Jia, then...


    Her fears turned out to be reality. Every emblem was craved with the name of its rightful owner. Ans this one was Cao Yun''s.


    "Where is he?" Zhong Ling became as agitated as the servant.


    "In the outer yard. Please, he''s bleeding a lot. I couldn''t move him!"


    Zhong Ling did not even respond. Immediately, she went running into Meng Jia''s room. The instructor was still sleeping and got woken up in a haze.


    "Instructor Meng Jia! Chen Guo is mortally wounded in the outer yard. His servant is at the counter." As soon as she gave the needed information, Meng Jia''s eyes opened completely. A powerful gale of wind went right past Zhong Ling and took Huang Cixi on the way. Meng Jia was a late Mortal Warrior so he couldn''t fly but he was extremely fast when he wanted to be.


    Instead of going toward the outer yard, he went straight for the martial art pavilion. The doors opened abruptly and he caused a commotion. He did not run to the upper stairs. Instead, he stayed on the first floor, Huang Cixi under his arm, and screamed "Chief Elder Baishen!".


    Immediately, an enraged Chief Elder Baishen appeared before him with her full cultivation in display.


    "How dare you cause mayhem here?!"


    "Chen Guo is dying. I need you to take me to him, now!" There was no time for pleasantries.


    Chief Elder Baishen knew Instructor Meng Jia and his connection with both Xiao Xuefeng and Cao Yun. Analyzing his figure, she knew he was stating the truth and the girl in his arm was Cao Yun''s servant. She was probably the one who had called for him and she knew where he was. Chief Elder Baishen made a gesture with her hand and both she and Meng Jia started to levitate.


    "Just tell me the way."


    All three of them went toward the outer yard, Huang Cixi leading her two seniors. Their flight in the middle of the Wubei Sect attracted many gazes. It was not strictly forbidden, but etiquette wanted that it had to be reduced to absolute necessities. If a chief elder decided to fly in broad daylight in the very heart of the outer yard, something major had to have happened.


    Even by running with all her strength, Huang Cixi almost took half an hour. And she had even gone through the Heart Gate. This gate was supposed to be for the outer disciples only. Servants were forbidden to go through it but she was ready to be punished if need be. With the cultivation of a late Spirit Warrior, it took less than a minute for the three of them to get to Cao Yun''s body.


    As soon as she arrived, Chief Elder Baishen sent her spiritual senses all over Cao Yun and described all his wounds to Meng Jia. He then directed her to send surges of Qi in his body while he prepared a pill. From his spatial ring, many vials appeared on the ground. He asked Huang Cixi to explain exactly what had happened. She did not miss a single thing.


    Chief Elder Baishen had stopped the bleeding thanks to Meng Jia''s instruction and her masterful control over her own Qi. On the other hand, Meng Jia had chosen the perfect pill for the situation.

 Chapter 98: Healing after the battle

    Meng Jia put away all the vials he had taken out. He only kept a yellow pill with green stripes floating in his hand. Then, he turned toward Chief Elder Baishen.


    "Chief Elder Baishen, infuse the medicinal essence of this pill within his Yin acupoints. Then circulate them according to the Wind course." There were several classical pathways for Qi circulation. Five of them were simply named according to the five elements. These were not particularly useful in martial arts or cultivation. However, they were used in medicine. It was easier to name them rather than to explain every acupoint and every meridian the Qi had to pass through.


    Chief Elder Baishen was a bit knowledgeable in medicine. As the chief elder in charge of the martial art pavilion, she had had to help out some disciples after accidents and she had actively deepened her understanding of medicine to help them better. Instructor Meng Jia knew about this, so he did not waste any more time than necessary.


    Every second was critical in order to heal Cao Yun. At first, Meng Jia had agreed to take him as a student because of Xiao Xuefeng''s demand. However, he ended up really liking the kid and his talent. With his proficiency in alchemy, there was no way he was going to just let him die.


    Similarly, that was also the case for Chief Elder Baishen. She was fond of his talent, but she also recognized that his character was upright, unlike Luduo Bu''s. And in fact, no one cared for Luduo Bu at all. They did not even try to determine whether what Huang Cixi had said was true or not. They had both taken her words for it and it was logical. Luduo Bu was known to be violent and impulsive. Not many people liked him within the sect, but he had never crossed the red line, always breaking the rules enough to be punished but not expelled.


    The yellow pill levitated in the air, under the control of Chief Elder Baishen. It slowly began to dissolve and a vague mist washed over Cao Yun''s body. It delicately entered his mouth and went through his meridians. Chief Elder Baishen could have tried to send it through his acupoints directly but this was more brutal, especially for a Mortal who had not opened them yet. Once the medicinal essence got within his body, she circulated it according to Meng Jia''s instructions and focused on the Yin acupoints along the way.


    Meng Jia took out a balm and applied it to the wound on his back. It was not bleeding anymore as Cao Yun had lost a lot of blood already. However, it was wide open. The balm acted to close up the wound, just like scar tissues. It would also promote the self-repair of his flesh. This balm could speed up the natural healing process by a magnitude of five to six. Then, Meng Jia went to work on the halberd.


    He unceremoniously took out the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' from Luduo Bu''s body as blood spurted out a bit. Then, with utmost care, he applied the balm on Cao Yun''s belly while taking off his uniform bits by bits. Ever so slowly, he took out the halberd''s blade and used both the balm and his own Qi to prevent any more blood from spilling out. Cao Yun had already lost a great quantity of blood and every drop he lost would weaken him further and reduce his chances of survival.


    Once both wounds were closed, Meng Jia delicately put him on the ground, laying him on his back.


    As the situation seemed to be more in control, Meng Jia''s tension alleviated. It had been ages since he had been so serious. Usually, he preferred to sleep most of his days and to live peacefully. His mastery of alchemy could not go higher before he finally broke through to the Spirit Warrior realm but he was not too hasty. In fact, he came to really like his slow life.


    But today, Cao Yun''s beaten body woke him up quite a lot. On the side, Huang Cixi was also extremely tense. When she finally saw Meng Jia calm down, she heaved a sigh of relief. She knew both of them were dotting on Cao Yun and the way they were treating him was proof of that. They would have helped any disciple, but they clearly cared a lot about this young boy.


    Sensing that Cao Yun''s state was stabilized, Chief Elder Baishen also heaved a sigh of relief. She was really putting all her focus on circulating the medicinal essence without hurting Cao Yun''s body any more than it already was. With her spiritual senses, she could easily feel whether his life was in danger or not. Right now, he was safe. However, he had lost of lot of blood. Cao Yun was still unconscious and he would probably not wake up for a long time. To replenish enough blood and completely heal his internal wounds, it would take several days or even weeks.


    Fortunately, the Wubei Sect had great physicians and Cao Yun would be carer for. Now that he was safe, Chief Elder Baishen finally started to analyze the scene. According to what Huang Cixi had said, Luduo Bu had most likely used demonic arts. And indeed, she felt Evil Qi all over Luduo Bu. But she also felt some Evil Qi around Cao Yun. Indeed, as they had fought, both of their Qi was all over each other. However, she did not catch a glimpse of the Drop of Wrath. It was nested deep within the Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir in Cao Yun''s heart. Moreover, it was now in a state of slumber, digesting the Evil Qi and the blood runes it had absorbed.


    But even when it was active, even Xiao Xuefeng could not feel it. She was the one with the most sensible spiritual senses. If she could not feel it, no one in the entire Hongchen kingdom could. The Drop of Wrath came from an existence no one in the Hongchen kingdom could even imagine and no matter how weakened it was, its innate properties protected it from spiritual senses.


    This hurt the story of Huang Cixi, because the blood runes had completely disappeared without any trace at all. But it could be imagined that Luduo Bu had taken them back within his body. However, Chief Elder Baishen looked through his blood and every bit of his body with her spiritual senses. And she found nothing unusual except for the corrosion of Evil Qi. Sadly, it could have been explained by another theory.


    And soon, someone who could adhere to this theory appeared, Chief Elder Bian. Considering the ruckus caused by Chief Elder Baishen''s flight, the disciplinary pavilion had been warned. Accordingly, Chief Elder Bian decided to take action immediately. In a matter of minutes he was towering over them, up in the air, his spiritual senses spreading throughout the area. Since Luduo Bu''s trial, he had a grudge against Cao Yun. Strangely, he was under the impression that Cao Yun had orchestrated everything and twisted the facts to accuse Luduo Bu.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    And now that Luduo Bu was dead, he obviously suspected Cao Yun. A deep frown on his face, he examined every single trace of Qi on the scene. Usually, differentiating between Qi was pretty easy, especially for a Spirit Warrior. However, Evil Qi was another story altogether. As it was corrosive and full of resentment, it was a bit more difficult to trace it back to a single source. Xiao Xuefeng could do it easily, but for Chief Elder Bian, it was very complicated. With his spiritual senses, he could only feel that Cao Yun and Luduo Bu''s bodies were covered in Evil Qi. However, only Luduo Bu''s organs were corroded by this Qi.


    There were only two possibilities. Either Luduo Bu had lost control of the Evil Qi he used. Or Cao Yun was the one who wielded Evil Qi against Luduo Bu. And with their difference in cultivation, it made sense for Chief Elder Bian that the latter was true. After all, if Luduo Bu had used Evil Qi, Cao Yun should have been killed with ease. Ironically, Chief Elder Bian was technically right. Cao Yun had indeed used Evil Qi, against his will, when the Drop of Wrath had absorbed the Evil Qi from the blood runes. And Luduo Bu had also lost control over his Evil Qi, because of his inner demon and his frustration about both Cao Yun''s dodges and the loss of his blood runes.


    Chief Elder Bian was a reasonable man in theory. But he felt wronged by Cao Yun for some reason. There was only one irrational thing in his mind, the law. For him, law was absolute and needed to be adhered to very strictly. As such, he wanted to get back to Cao Yun, but it did not mean that he would just make up false charges. On the other hand, his grudge painted the situation the worst way possible for him.


    Knowing that Chief Elder Baishen would oppose him, he decided not to act right away. After all, it was clear that Cao Yun would stay comatose for a few weeks at least. His first course of action should be interrogating Cao Yun''s servant in a neutral place. With both Cao Yun''s personal instructor and Chief Elder Bian, he knew that everything would be favorable to Cao Yun.


    With his spiritual senses, he sent orders to the disciplinary pavilion. Within the Wubei Sect, array formations allowed his telepathy to reach almost everywhere. Even though his senses could not reach as far, some disciples were always posted in the disciplinary pavilion in order to receive such orders. As such, he easily contacted them. He could not get any response but he did not need to. His orders were absolute.


    He made sure that the interrogation rooms were ready. He also sent orders to keep watch over Cao Yun. Finally, he went down.


    "Sister Baishen, have you contacted the physician pavilion?"


    "Of course, they''ll be here soon enough. I gave them all the details, Chen Guo should be perfectly fine." Chief Elder Baishen''s voice contained defiance and a bit of resentment. This angered Chief Elder Bian once more, but he kept his composure.


    "Fine. My pavilion will need to investigate." He turned toward Huang Cixi. "You''re Mei Yuzhi, the servant of Chen Guo, right?"


    Huang Cixi felt as though she was immersed in freezing water. Unable to speak, she simply nodded.


    "Brother Bian! Don''t you feel any shame? Bullying a servant?" Chief Elder Baishen''s spiritual senses blocked those of Chief Elder Bian.


    "Sister, do not wrong me with such infamous accusations! Mei Yuzhi is the only witness, so I need to interrogate her carefully. I do not mean to bully her. If it can appease you, I swear upon my honor that she won''t be mistreated one bit."


    "Hmph! What honor is that, Brother? I''ll send one of my servants to watch over the interrogation. You would have no reason to object, right?"


    Chief Elder Bian''s face got distorted for an instant. "Fine. I do not wish to fight with you, Sister. But whoever you send may not intervene during the interrogation."


    Huang Cixi clearly saw that Chief Elder Bian was biased against Cao Yun. Ideas popped up in her mind. With this bias, she could easily lead him to believe that Cao Yun was responsible for everything. If he was condemned for murdering a fellow disciple, the worst punishment could be death. Even if she only lead the conversation to make him believe that Cao Yun was the one attacked but that he had acted with too much violence, he could suffer a lesser punishment. Then, she remembered that he had almost died to save her. In fact, he really chose death to protect her. At the time, he had no way to know that he could survive, and yet he risked it all to protect her.


    Hence, she decided to stay truthful. She would even go as far as do everything to present Cao Yun under a favorable light. With her words, she was masterful. In fact, she had not seen the elements that could incriminate Cao Yun, such as him absorbing the blood runes. Quickly, she knew exactly how to turn her sentences to favor her master. She had no need to lie at all, just use the right words to describe what had happened.


    Very soon, a physician came flying. The physician was an old woman, in the middle of the Spirit Warrior realm. She did not waste any time saluting the elders and with her spiritual powers, she lifted up Cao Yun''s body with extreme care. Immediately, she left for the physician pavilion.


    Cao Yun would stay several days there. When his state was deemed stable enough, the physicians agreed to send him back in his room. There, his friends visited him often. In fact, when Mei Ying learned about her older brother, she insisted in staying with him as much as possible. Mei Hua as well stayed there a lot to visit him. After all, she had free time since her master had left the Wubei Sect for the time being, pursuing some intel she had received. However, Mei Hua knew nothing of her mission.


    Ren Chao and Sun Liao spent many hours with him too. Sun Liao even asked his master, Chief Elder Suxian, to set up an array formation in order to increase Cao Yun''s recovery. Coupled with Meng Jia''s pills, this array formation allowed Cao Yun''s body to be fully healed in less than a week. But then, he needed to replenish both his Qi and blood. The physicians had seen that his acupoints had been stressed. If they rushed his recovery, his future cultivation would be threatened. Given his talent, everyone agreed that the best thing to do was to take as much time as possible.


    During his coma, Cao Yun slowly healed. And deep within his heart, the Drop of Wrath started to become more active. When he first refined it within his heart with the knowledge from Cleansed Asura, it had replenished all his blood, giving a bit of its properties to his body. Right now, a similar process was happening. For quite a while, Cao Yun had been more and more reluctant in using the Drop of Wrath, understanding the danger it was for him.


    However, now that he was unconscious, there was nothing he could do to prevent it from acting on its own. The new blood that Cao Yun produced came directly from the Drop of Wrath. It was thicker than his past blood and even slightly hotter as well. Also, it contained at least 20% more Qi. Blood, as many other fluids, also served to circulate Qi.


    All these changes were not that perceptible, even for the physicians. They were really subtle and spanned over several days. Fortunately, the Drop of Wrath did not emit or produce any Evil Qi. And the new blood was fully Cao Yun''s, it was not under the influence of the Drop of Wrath, thanks to the ''Domination of Wrath'' technique he had inherited from Cleansed Asura.

 Chapter 99: The Drop of Wrath

    As Cao Yun was unconscious, several rumors spread across the Wubei Sect. Luduo Bu''s reputation was pretty terrible, while Cao Yun''s was mainly positive. Even the Dragon''s Fire Faction eventually got a great opinion of him through their joint work.


    However, Chief Elder Bian decided to investigate this case very thoroughly. During several days, he had interrogated Huang Cixi himself. No matter how he tried to ask his questions, her version of the events never changed. But from her own testimony, she had not seen a long part of their fight. Even though it seemed clear that Luduo Bu was the one initiating the attack and that Cao Yun''s kill was in full self-defense, it did not innocent him. Maybe he was the one who had used some demonic art nonetheless.


    Despite his grudge against Cao Yun for a supposed humiliation he was not responsible at all, Chief Elder Bian was not stupid. When the truth was so obvious, he had to accept it. Besides, he had to wait for Cao Yun to wake up to interrogate him. In fact, as a Spirit Warrior, he could have penetrated his mind. But entering someone''s mind was always dangerous for the receiving end. Even with Xiao Xuefeng''s mastery, she would not dare do so unless the situation was dire or urgent.


    She had done so when she first met Cao Yun but it was against someone who wanted to kill him and was obviously about to die anyway. And of course, the rules of the Wubei Sect only allowed to intrude into someone''s mind under very specific and rare conditions.


    For now, Chief Elder Bian had ordered for Cao Yun to be placed under house arrest. He ordered two 2nd-grade Mortal Warriors to prevent anyone from entering or leaving his room. They were inner disciples. Chief Elders Baishen and Suxian got so infuriated that he had to lower the harsh restrictions. Finally, his close friends were allowed in but they had to register each time. The tension between the disciplinary pavilion and the three main pavilions, the martial art, the alchemy and the array formation pavilions, was at its highest. The weeks passing, Chief Elder Bian was even forced to lower the guard. In the end, he sent three 7th-grade Mortals who were outer disciples.


    -


    Somewhere else in the sect, the demonic cultivator wearing black and purple was talking with someone else. The person was not visible even to the man he was speaking with. There was a screen hiding him completely. Just like the person wearing black and purple, his voice seemed to be a mix of several different voices and even his sex was unknown.


    "Mo Zi, aren''t you glad that I dissuaded you from training the ''Blood Runes'' art?"


    "Indeed, Master. I was too rash..." Mo Zi lowered his head even further.


    "Remember, demonic arts should never be underestimated. The stronger they can make you, the more dangerous they are. However, it''s a pity... This Luduo Bu was a very interesting guinea pig. He probably reached the third layer of ''Blood Runes''. What a pity that we couldn''t study him."


    "Master, with the inner demon festering within him, he probably got taken over once he reached it. We tried to erase all traces of him within Fulao, and there should not be any way to connect him with us. What''s more interesting is the fact that all the blood runes seemed to have disappeared from his body."


    "You''re right. This Chen Guo should have used some secret technique to remove them. It could be a threat to us." The voice stopped an instant. "Xiao Xuefeng should soon realize that her mission is a wild goose chase. We have very little time to take care of him. Either through Lu Meihan or Bian Gui."


    "Master. I think that using Lu Meihan would be the best option. Gaining her over would be very profitable to us all. She''s not like Luduo Bu at all. I''m pretty sure she could master advanced demonic arts without succumbing to their side effects. Even though she''ll be graduating next year, we could convince her to become an inner disciple. With her, we could gain a big influence very fast. After all, her business is already attracting most of the men among the outer disciples. Bian Gui on the other hand is much more unpredictable."


    Mo Zi continued on, faced with his master''s silence.


    "I know that gaining a chief elder would be of great help. But he''s really too stubborn. We can manipulate him a bit, playing on his pride. But we''ll never be able to turn him."


    "I know. But I have other ideas for him. Owning the disciplinary pavilion would allow us to move more freely when we''ll need to." The voice stopped again. "Fine. Ask Lu Meihan to put your plan into motion. But make sure that nothing can link her to you in any way. You''re valuable to us, but remember that anyone can be replaced. Only our leader''s plan is important. If anyone nows you''re involved, you''ll become a loose end. Make sure that Cao Yun dies. I wanted to explore his mind, but it''s safer to just get rid of him. After all, Xiao Xuefeng could probably feel my touch in his mind if I did so."


    "Yes, Master." Just when Mo Zi bowed, the presence behind the screen vanished completely.


    -


    In Cao Yun''s room, Huang Cixi was taking care of him. She had been freed after several days of interrogation and was now at his bedside. Despite her deep grudge against him, he had saved her life and it meant something to her. Following the physicians'' instructions, she cared for him while he was slowly regaining his strength. As he could not cultivate at all of course, she decided to also help him by massaging his acupoints with the Contrived Shell Balm.


    She had asked the physicians if it could have adverse effects. And they even told her the opposite. During the fight he had used great quantities of Qi. He literally had to try and absorb even more Qi than he could normally endure to replenish himself. As such, all his meridians had been put under stress. Even his acupoints had been stressed a lot. This balm was supposed to help the meridians recover while stopping them from shrinking back down. Using it while he was recovering would prevent his progress from diminishing and could even help him increase the tempering of his lesser meridians by a small margin.


    -The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Even though Cao Yun seemed unconscious, that wasn''t exactly true. In fact, his mind was in a state of dream. Even in this very hazy state, his mind cultivation allowed him to stay conscious of what was happening. It was a kind of lucid dream but Cao Yun quickly realized that it didn''t come from him.


    Time and space were ever changing, but he always looked through the eyes of the same person. More than a dream, he was rather jumping through disordered memories. Around him, the people were not humans. Their skin was crimson red with various lines of gold, silver or other metallic colors. From their eyes, a dim fiery light was visible.


    The person whose eyes he was seeing through was only a child, but in the next moment he turned into an adult, and back to his childhood. It was very difficult for Cao Yun to understand what was going on because of all these jumps. But also because none of those people were talking his language. In fact, when he looked in the sky, he saw that the stars were all unknown to him. These memories occurred on another world.


    As the days passed, Cao Yun regained a small control over his mind and was finally able to mobilize his mind cultivation. Unfortunately, he was still too weak to cultivate it any further, but the fog around his mind lifted a bit. He tried to enter his sea of consciousness but failed. However, he got lucid enough to be able to piece together what he was experiencing.


    The boy he was seeing the memories of was named Axiu Qian. During a great war, both his parents who were very low in the social hierarchy got killed and his country was annexed. He ended up being a slave. After being tortured and ''disciplined'', he got sold off to a rich family. They had hundreds of slaves and were known for their cruelty.


    Axiu Qian got bought with other boys and girls. The first day, their new owner forced them to fight to the death. Some refused and were flayed alive before the others. This was the first time Axiu Qian ever killed anyone and he threw up. For this show of weakness, he got beaten up some more. Days after days, the children were subjected to the worst possible kind of training. Their owner was forming slaves to serve in the army.


    When Axiu Qian was only 12, he was sent to the battlefield. By some miracle rather than his own skill, he survived.


    An endless life of pain and misery was awaiting Axiu Qian. The empire he was enslaved to was always waging wars. All those battles forged his body. Before turning 20, he was one of the most powerful warriors of the empire. He was fighting with a kind of trident with a pike at the lower extremity. Slowly he had grown to command hundreds of men on the battlefield. In the end, the emperor himself gave him his freedom back.


    Although he was free from his master, he was not free from the empire. As a full-fledged general, his life was endless battles. Until one day, he led a giant rebellion against the empire. Almost all of his men were wiped out but once again fate wanted him to survive.


    He fled to a country that was opposing this ever expanding empire. There, he met with a sage who taught him the secrets of cultivation. The memories Cao Yun was seeing were very hazy. He was essentially piecing together what they meant. As such, he only understood that their cultivation system was extremely different from his. In fact, their bodies were also extremely different.


    Axiu Qian became extremely proficient in cultivation. In a matter of decades, he got so powerful that he went back to the empire with an elite force. They were able to pierce through the defenses of the capital and killed the emperor as well as all heir to the throne. The empire fell into chaos and several clans battled each other to inherit the throne. While leaving the empire, Axiu Qian walked by the household who had bought him when he was a child.


    Remembering what he had suffered, he could not stop himself. After asking his men to leave without him, he went into the household and massacred everyone. In fact, the moment he saw his old master, he lost his mind and only craved blood. No one escaped this fate, even the women, the elderly and the children. This day, he had completely lost all sanity and became a god of slaughter and wrath.


    Sadly, the fights never ended. Even with the downfall of the empire, other powers tried to take over and new wars erupted. In the end, Axiu Qian followed the last teachings of his master and ascended. His cultivation got so high that he was able to leave this world for another. Literally ascending into the sky, this world full of blood and carnage became only a small speck of dust lost in the cosmos. This first part of his life had lasted for hundreds of years.


    The memories became increasingly more hazy. Then, a final memory popped up into his mind. Axiu Qian had changed beyond recognition. Cao Yun was seeing through six eyes. On both sides of his head, two new faces had appeared, with two new pairs of eyes. With them, he was almost seeing all around him at once.


    On the sides, he saw that he had six arms in total. Of course, Cao Yun had already understood but these memories came from the Drop of Wrath. He had known that this drop of blood came from an existence he did not know. Apparently, it was this red skinned man.


    Chains made of gold, silver and jade were stabbed into his arms. They then coiled all around him and pierced through every part of his body. Cao Yun followed the chains as they descended from the sky. Towering over him was a man made of pure gold. He had thousands of arms. They were spread all around him and formed a perfect circle. Among these thousands of hands, hundreds of them were holding the chains.


    Axiu Qian was fighting the restraints as much as he could but they would not budge at all. His scream was powerful enough to destroy entire planets but this golden god was not impressed in the slightest. The memory was too vague for Cao Yun to understand their words and they spoke a language he did not know anyway. One of the hands formed a jnana mudra* and moved before the golden chest of the god. Gradually, a white lotus with thousands of petals condensed itself over this hand.


    Very slowly, the lotus then floated toward Axiu Qian. Just before touching him, it bloomed suddenly and a powerful white light engulfed the red demon. The chains themselves started to burn with a white flame. All of Axiu Qian''s body started to be consumed by the flame, but even his mind and his soul started to be affected as well.


    In a last-ditch effort to survive, he focused all his intent on his heart and thousands of drops of blood fled his body in all directions. As soon as they moved, the golden god''s arms moved as well. They encompassed all the directions the drops fled to. White sparks caught them all and burned them to cinders.


    Axiu Qian saw his last chance being annihilated and he thought the end was near. In reality, a single drop had survived. However, it had been burned deeply and was almost gone. It literally crossed over space and time. Finally, it arrived into another realm. In its course, it fell on a small planet. At first, the spirit of Axiu Qian was inside this drop of blood, but it had been mostly erased by the white flame. The only thing that remained then was his last feeling, pure rage.


    The drop of blood was then found by a young man. And that was its last memory. Then, Cao Yun only perceived vague sensations through the lens of the Drop of Wrath that had no physical senses but only relied on very weak spiritual ones.


    Cao Yun guessed that this young man was his master, Cleansed Asura. He had used various means and techniques to further reduce the intent within the drop. By doing so, he had invented the ''Domination of Wrath''. Those memories were only bits and pieces and Cao Yun was not even able to see the face of the young Cleansed Asura.


    Finally, Cao Yun''s mind got strong enough for him to go back to his sea of consciousness.


    *jnana mudra: thumb and index touching each other, forming a circle while the other three fingers are extended

 Chapter 100: Ren Chaos disappearance

    Back in his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun looked through everything. The most critical aspect he wanted to examine was of course the Drop of Wrath. Now, he had a better understanding of what it was. When Axiu Qian died, he was at a level that transcended everything Cao Yun knew. In fact, the mere idea of a sentient being flying through space was part of the legends. The people from the Hongchen kingdom believed their planet, called Piaolu, to be a ball of earth, metal and water animated by fire. It was covered with one large ocean and only one continent.


    In fact, this vision of their world was brought to them by Emperor Nuwa. It was said that when she ascended, she witnessed the Piaolu planet in all its glory and majesty. As such, she revealed the truth to all humans. She left them words of wisdom and a map of the entire planet, not just their own kingdom. Before her, no human had the luxury of wondering about such matters.


    The Piaolu map was part of the sacred treasures of mankind, as well as the ''Universal Law of Immortality''. It was considered as a way to tell humans that they would end up dominating all the land. There were other relics from this time as well, but right now none of that was important.


    When Axiu Qian saw his demise, he tried to embed his soul into every drop of his blood. But this white fire destroyed both physical and spiritual aspects of him. Not a wisp of his soul had survived. Only a tiny bit of his Po had persevered. The Po was the corporeal soul. Cao Yun was familiar with it because that was one of the characters he was cultivating with ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', Po the Metal Corporeal Soul.


    The Po was made of seven parts working together. One of those parts was the Po of Jing. Every part of the Po was responsible for the vital functions of the body. Despite being from another species, Axiu Qian also had this soul. In fact, his body was different but his soul was pretty similar. However, every part of the Po could be corrupted by emotions. The Po of Jing was corrupted by anger. This anger got further intensified by the white flame when everything else around it was burned away. Even the other parts of the Po were destroyed, and caused a great unbalance. This speck of Po turned into the Flying Poison, a corrupted form of itself.


    Vague memories of Axiu Qian subsisted within the Drop of Wrath but only bits and pieces. The first events and the very last moment of his life had so much impact that they were mostly intact.


    Now, Cao Yun understood better. This also explained why it reacted so violently with his Po character since it was a kind of rival to it. But it also meant that he knew how to better control it. By using his understanding of the Po, he could focus specifically on the Po of Jing to put a leash on the Drop of Wrath. And he also understood what it was doing. It was trying to rebuild the other parts of itself. Being corrupted, it was of course attracted to Evil Qi. And being a drop of blood, it obviously consumed blood, not Qi directly. So when a blood filled with Evil Qi got near it, it could not restrain itself.


    But Cao Yun got reassured. This Drop of Wrath was neither an inner demon nor a ghost. Inner demons were born from the Shen, they were obsessions nested within the mind. Ghosts were born from Hun. To be precise, they were born from any damaged parts of the Hun when it left the body after death. As such, there was almost no risk for the Drop of Wrath to have any sentience. In fact, it was trying to acquire just that. But as long as there was no sentience within, Cao Yun''s chances at controlling it were better.


    Strangely, Cleansed Asura had never written about this. There were many notes about his experiments with this Drop of Wrath in ''Domination of Wrath''. But he only seemed to have understood its ability to strengthen the physical body, especially the blood, as well as its strong intent that could be used to enhance his own. When Cleansed Asura had found the Drop of Wrath, his cultivation was way higher than Cao Yun''s. As such, he never had any problem controlling it and never let it absorb any foreign energy. This was probably why he never perceived its true nature. This was also the reason why he had hesitated to give it to Cao Yun. For him, he was too weak to really master it. But Cao Yun was dying and Cleansed Asura would die himself very soon, so he had no choice if he were to find an heir.


    When Cao Yun looked at the Drop of Wrath, it was peaceful, slowly digesting the Evil Qi contained within the blood runes. It was trying to recreate the six other parts of the Po. But it had no sentience and only mimicked what it had felt long ago. This made Cao Yun have an idea. He could use his own Po character to guide the Drop of Wrath. If he was able to insert a bit of his own Po inside the Drop of Wrath, it would become way more obedient.


    To achieve such a result, he needed his mind cultivation to be way higher than it was right now. In fact, he probably needed to be at the third or even fourth layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. He wasn''t sure of what those layers consisted of, but he knew that the first one would not cut it.


    Anyway, now that he understood the Drop of Wrath better, he could more easily fight off its attempt to take over his body. In fact, if he had known that the Drop of Wrath would try to absorb the Evil Qi, he could have made preparations beforehand. And he also realized that the Drop of Wrath was not really trying to take over his body. The truth was that the rage from Axiu Qian was just washing over him. But it was so strong that it had the power to literally corrode and even wipe out his mind altogether. As long as it wasn''t an intentional attempt, Cao Yun was pretty confident in his ability to win over it. But fighting it would put him at a disadvantage during a fight, just like it did.


    Fortunately, the Drop of Wrath was calm for now. Cao Yun was still too weak to regain full consciousness. He had tried to go back within his body, but he did not manage to do so yet.


    Then, he looked at the three stars in the sky. The Root Star had given him great benefits and the image of the dragon around the three stars was now a bit more material. Other than that, there was no change. His four characters did not change either. Using the slumber of the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun decided to train his Po character.


    Despite cultivating this character, the Drop of Wrath was too busy to get agitated and Cao Yun finally reached True Success. When he did, his control over his own Qi got even better. And despite being unable to feel anything from his body, the sensation of the flow of Qi got back to him. Using this, he focused on circulating his Qi. This allowed his body to recover faster. Soon enough, he slowly regained sensations in his body. And in a few hours, he opened his eyes.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    -


    Both Mei Ying and Huang Cixi were at his side. When he woke up, they got startled. Quickly, Huang Cixi went to fetch a pill left by Meng Jia. He had prepared it for when Cao Yun would wake up to help in his recovery. However, when she got back to her master, she realized that it wasn''t a good thing to force-feed him just after his awakening.


    "Older Brother? How are you?" Mei Ying was excited but also a bit concerned. A tiny tear was in her eye.


    Cao Yun tried to sit up with much difficulty and Huang Cixi ran to give him a hand.


    "Thank you, Mei Yuzhi." Then he turned toward the little girl. "Little Ying, do not worry. You should let your older brother worry about you, not the other way around." He stretched his hand and patted her head. "Did I stop you from training?"


    Mei Ying was elated. "No, I''ve become much stronger. I could beat Luduo Bu alone!" She flexed her tiny muscles and smiled happily.


    Then Cao Yun turned toward his servant. "Mei Yuzhi. I''m sorry. You got implicated because of me. I shouldn''t have asked you to accompany me knowing Luduo Bu wanted to kill me." In fact, Cao Yun had heard the demonic cultivator Mo Zi claim that Luduo Bu would kill him during the second year. As such, he had thought that he was safe for the time being, especially within the sect.


    "Young Master Chen, don''t say such a thing. You almost died for me. I''m sorry to have been such a burden." Huang Cixi was sincere about this. Deep within her conscious, she did not know how to handle her conflicted emotions toward Cao Yun. Her desire to be close to him in order to find his weaknesses had backfired completely. Right now, she had found her own weakness.


    "Young Master Chen, please take this pill. Instructor Meng refined it specifically for you after your awakening. It should be able to help you recover even faster." She handed over the small pill to Cao Yun.


    The moment he touched the pill, he immediately smelled its medicinal essence. This pill should be at least a 5-star Human rank. It was even possible for it to touch upon the Spirit rank. Cao Yun was shocked. It was a real proof of both his instructor''s talent and his care for him. During the lessons, Instructor Meng always seemed either sleepy or sleeping but Cao Yun had a very good impression of him. Apparently, the feeling was mutual. Cao Yun also remembered how he had acted during his contest with Mei Hua in the Wubei Merit Market.


    Taking the pill, he felt its medicinal essence flow through his body. All trace of fatigue disappeared completely. The pill even helped his body produce a bit more blood. During his time in a coma, Cao Yun had recovered most of the blood he had lost though. And this blood was richer in Qi than before, thanks to the Drop of Wrath. This small pill was extraordinary and now that Cao Yun was conscious he could freely use his intent to drive the medicinal essence were he needed it.


    The two girls decided to let him meditate in peace. Huang Cixi went into the kitchen to prepare something to eat. All the time he was in a coma, Cao Yun had been fed with liquids, so he would need to eat a real food right now. Mortal and even Mortal Warrior cultivators still needed to eat and drink, just like mere mortals. However, the higher their cultivation, the more time they could survive without either. This trend continued with Spirit Warriors who could survive weeks if not months without water and several years without eating, using Qi to nourish their body. Legends said that reaching the seventh realm of cultivation would make a cultivator impervious to both thirst and hunger. But these realms were now the stuff of legends because no one had crossed over the fourth realm for over fourteen thousand years.


    Mei Ying decided instead to leave. She immediately went to find her older sister. When Mei Hua learned that Cao Yun was awake, she went to find Sun Liao and Ren Chao. After all, they were both worried about their friend. Hence, she thought they had to be there all together.


    Finally, Cao Yun was done and he realized that he was in perfect health. In fact, he was even stronger than before. Looking inside his body, he found out that his lesser meridians were now half the size of his standard meridians. The only explanation was that Huang Cixi had used the Contrived Shell Balm on him. She had really taken good care of him. His Root Star had also improved a lot thanks to its use in an actual fight. Cao Yun felt as though it was even ready to give him the next variation of ''Dragon''s Chest''.


    First things first, however. He went to Huang Cixi.


    "Mei Yuzhi, I didn''t ask you, but how long have I been unconscious?"


    Huang Cixi was a bit embarrassed by the question. In her mind, she remembered all the care she had to give Cao Yun. She had to bathe him for example. "It''s been more than a month. Forty-seven days to be precise."


    Taken aback, Cao Yun tried to rack his brain over what he had missed. "Then, did I lose my rank in the fighting scroll?" Indeed, Cao Yun had been unable to partake in the second round of the challenges. They were every other month. And if his calculations were right, he had missed it by a few days.


    "Do not worry. Given your condition, it has been decided that all your challenges were pushed back to the next session of duels. And in fact, no one dared challenge you knowing that they would actually have to fight you..."


    Huang Cixi put food on the table and Cao Yun kept asking her everything that had occurred during his coma while eating with her. She obviously talked about the disciplinary pavilion and this infuriated Cao Yun. The proofs were pretty clear and yet Chief Elder Bian would not change his mind on him.


    As they were talking, a ruckus emerged outside. People were yelling and they recognized the voices. Cao Yun opened the door. As soon as he tried to put one foot outside, two staffs blocked his way. There were two disciples tasked with keeping him detained in his own chamber. In fact, there were three of them, but they had a rotation.


    "Chen Guo. You''re under house arrest. Go back inside." As one of the guards ordered him, Sun Liao interjected.


    "Brother Chen, Brother Ren has gone missing. We went everywhere! Then we found Sister Wang..." The natural calm and arrogance of Sun Liao had completely gone away.


    By his side, Wang Mei was also in a state of panic. "I tried to find him since this morning. I fear that..." She had her doubts about her own faction but just couldn''t come to express them.


    "Lu Meihan!" After Cao Yun''s yell, Wang Mei nodded discreetly her head. No matter how much she did not want to admit it, she probably had something to do with it. Her last conversation with her was cryptic on the matter, to say the least.


    "We should warn..." Before Mei Hua could finish her sentence, Cao Yun cut her off.


    "No!" Thinking about it some more, he knew that the demonic cultivators were behind this. Most likely, they were using Ren Chao as a bait for him. Maybe they even watched him until he woke up to use the right timing. And the only way to know this kind of thing was by using the two guards before his door.


    Cao Yun had a terrible impression of the disciplinary pavilion. As such, he immediately suspected them.

 Chapter 101: Plan for a rescue

    The two guards started to become impatient. Before they warned Cao Yun again, he spoke.


    "My friends, let''s talk inside." He showed Mei Hua, Sun Liao and Wang Mei in.


    Naturally, they all agreed and followed him in. Once inside, Cao Yun asked Huang Cixi to prepare some tea for his friends. In fact, he just wanted to keep her away as the matter he was about to talk about was extremely dangerous.


    They all sat down around his table and Cao Yun was the first one to talk. All of his friends were pretty anxious about Ren Chao, especially Sun Liao and Wang Mei.


    "I did not want to involve you all, but it seems like there''s no other choice. What I''m about to tell you will put your lives in danger... but maybe, they already are... Do you still want to know?" With a very serious tone, Cao Yun looked at each of them straight in the eyes.


    The first to answer was Sun Liao. His usual arrogance had almost disappeared to be replaced by worry.


    "Brother Chen! If Brother Ren or yourself are in danger, then I wish to share it with you. Do not belittle me by thinking me a coward!"


    Following suit, Wang Mei answered.


    "I know that my Coiling Silk is involved in some way. But I wish to protect Ren Chao no matter what!"


    And finally, Mei Hua was the one with the fewer ties with Ren Chao. However, she had ties with Cao Yun and felt a bit responsible for his situation. After all, he had antagonized Luduo Bu in order to protect her own little sister. Moreover, she was quite fond of Cao Yun and considered him as a dear friend after all the time he had spent with Mei Ying and her. He could even be considered half a brother considering the interest her master had in him.


    "Brother Chen, I agree as well. I may not be a great fighter, but I can be extremely useful, I assure you."


    Letting out a heavy sigh, Cao Yun felt as if a tremendous burden had been lifted from his shoulders. There were many reasons why he had not talked to his friends about this matter. The most important one was that he did not want to implicate them with him. Demonic cultivators were extremely dangerous and used devious and malicious techniques. On the other hand, he was also thinking of his main objective. He wanted to capture demonic cultivators to interrogate them. If they were captured by the Wubei Sect, he probably couldn''t do so alone and his identity could be exposed or he may not get to the information he wanted.


    At first, he thought he could deal with Lu Meihan before anything happened to his friend. But now that the threat against Ren Chao had become reality, there was no more time for secrecy.


    "Then, I''ll tell you everything. The first time I met Lu Meihan, she tried to use an array formation against me."


    Hearing this, Wang Mei was shocked but she saw that Cao Yun was truthful. She was sincerely loyal to Lu Meihan. When she had joined the sect as a servant, Lu Meihan had been like an older sister. And since she had finally become an outer disciple, she had always been generous with her. The Lu Meihan she knew would never resort to such means. However, her injury had changed her a lot. She turned depressed and Wang Mei had to admit that she now could see her do such a thing.


    Sun Liao also realized something. "This is the array formation you showed me, right?"


    "Indeed, she used some incense to make me lose control over my own body. I only later understood her objective. I caught a conversation between her and who I believe to be a demonic cultivator."


    The shock intensified on his friends'' faces. Demonic cultivators were really considered like demons by the orthodox cultivators. Some even deemed them more disgusting than demons because they were betraying their own species. Humans in the Hongchen Kingdom were surrounded by demons on all their borders and yet some of them were ready to throw down their humanity to gain strength. This was a treason against all mankind.


    And their means were really horrendous. Imagining than Lu Meihan was in league with them, Mei Hua and Sun Liao turned toward Wang Mei. She was as shocked as them and yet she did not protest. It meant that she could picture her own faction leader doing this. In fact, Wang Mei had realized that Lu Meihan would be able to do anything if she could recover. She was truly desperate.


    "Apparently, she got severely wounded during an attempt to break through to the Mortal Warrior realm. Since then, she''s almost been too weak to leave her bed. And the demonic cultivator gave her a solution: a dual cultivation method. It seems like I''m the best candidate for it. If she performs this method with me, she''ll absorb my energy. I''ll die. But her injuries will be healed."


    Sun Liao stood up. "And she''s using Ren Chao as bait since you resisted her first attempt!"


    Wang Mei realized that this meant Ren Chao was still alive and safe. They would have no reason to hurt him as long as they did not use him to lure his friend in. But this also meant something else. Ren Chao would become a loose end and he would have to be killed. She remembered her conversation with Lu Meihan and knew that she was right about this.


    "We need to go rescue him! Once they use him to lure you in and force your hand, they won''t need him anymore!"


    Wang Mei had completely lost her elegant demeanor. She went from worried to panicked.


    "Calm down, please. They won''t hurt him. They still need him to lure me in as you just said. Right now, they don''t know that I know. They probably think that we''re worried about him but that we have no clue as to where he might be." Cao Yun''s eyes insisted on Wang Mei. "But you may."


    "What?! I know nothing!" Wang Mei thought he was accusing her and denied sincerely.


    "That''s not what I meant. You''re from the Coiling Silk Faction, so you may know of the perfect place to keep a prisoner."


    Thinking about this, it made sense. Wang Mei tried to rack her brain and figure out where Lu Meihan would keep Ren Chao. Suddenly, an idea popped in her mind.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    "I''m not absolutely sure, but there is a small storehouse in the southeast of the faction residence. It''s not really used lately and it''s surrounded by a pond and some trees. Almost no one goes near it. I can''t think of anywhere else in the faction residence. After all, all the other buildings are open to customers and in the private chambers of the faction members, that would be too risky. Someone would find out eventually."


    Cao Yun had memorized the complete layout of the faction residence thus he saw precisely what she was talking about.


    "Perfect! My friends, do you want to hear my plan?"


    Mei Hua was a bit surprised. "Brother Chen, shouldn''t we just warn the elders? Even though Master Xiao is not here, you have a good relationship with Chief Elder Baishen. If you were to tell her the truth, she would help us for sure."


    "Even if she were to break the rules to help us, her intervention would force Chief Elder Bian to intervene in person. If a chief elder acts against a faction, the disciplinary pavilion will necessarily notice. Do you trust Chief Elder Bian? Maybe Xiao Xuefeng would be able to use her spiritual senses without being noticed, but apart from her..."


    This question of Cao Yun made Mei Hua silent. She remembered the trial against Luduo Bu and the powerlessness she had felt. He had almost killed her little sister and the justice Chief Elder Bian was so proud of did almost nothing. It was as if the life of her own relative meant nothing to them.


    "You''re right, we can''t trust the disciplinary pavilion!"


    Wang Mei did not require any convincing as she sincerely loved Ren Chao. Neither did Sun Liao. His relationship with both Cao Yun and Ren Chao had started very poorly but he had made amends. And now, he considered them both as close friends, no matter how much he teased Ren Chao.


    In the best scenario, Cao Yun wanted to get information from Lu Meihan. But he understood that she probably knew nothing at all. The demonic cultivator was very careful with both his appearance and his voice. In fact, Cao Yun, despite his sharper senses, could not even identify whether he was a man or a woman.


    Now that Ren Chao was in danger, he let go of the idea of capturing her alone to interrogate her. He would use the help of his friends to free Ren Chao. Deep down, he wanted to kill Lu Meihan in order to protect his friends. However, he was within the Wubei Sect. If he killed anyone, the chief elders would be able to find the culprit fairly easily and no matter how much Chief Elder Baishen liked him, he would be judged severely.


    "I''m confident in my ability to sneak into the Coiling Silk Faction residence, even in broad daylight. Until Ren Chao is safe, we must not alarm anyone. But I''ll still need a bit of a diversion. And I''ll need support in case things go haywire. Are you ready to help me?"


    All three of them agreed and they listened to the plan. In the kitchen, Huang Cixi was not making tea, she was listening in on them. They had been talking rather discreetly so as not to be heard by the guards, but not discreetly enough for Huang Cixi who was just in the other room. She had a deep grudge against Cao Yun, but just like all the orthodox cultivators, she despised the demonic cultivators. She had witnessed firsthand their savagery.


    When she was very young, during one of her travel, her father had killed some demonic cultivators who had slaughtered an entire village. This scene had marked her. The bodies of the villagers, even babies, were piled on, burned, in the middle of the streets. Right now, her mind was a mess as she wasn''t sure of what she wanted to do. At first, she had wished to kill Cao Yun in order to avenge her second brother. But as time passed and she came to know him, she just couldn''t imagine herself do it anymore. And she also had uncovered his identity.


    She knew that he too had lost all of his family. They were slaughtered by demonic cultivators who attacked without any reason. At least, Cao Yun had killed her brother to save a life. For now, she would support him against these monsters, but she felt extremely conflicted.


    -


    All three of the visitors left Cao Yun''s room. Cao Yun bade them farewell before the two guards and came back inside. He asked Huang Cixi to stay quiet about what she could have overheard. And he also told her he was going to leave in secret. She agreed to help cover for him.


    Using ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'', Cao Yun was able to exit his room through a small window without producing any sound whatsoever. He quickly hid on the roof. He saw other guards at the entrance of the first-years dorm, but they were not a problem for him at all. Discreetly, he was able to leave the building and went toward the Coiling Silk Faction residence.


    -


    It was the beginning of the afternoon in the Coiling Silk Faction residence and a few outer disciples were coming in and out. There were always disciples who came here just after their training. The peace of mind here was perfect to digest newfound insights and understandings. Some members were also able to help someone temper their mind and soul, through music, dance, painting, and many other artistic performances.


    With his ''Shen Visualization'', Cao Yun knew exactly where the storehouse was. He had deciphered the possible array formations around it and on the way. Unlike last time, he had even been able to get Sun Liao''s help. Thus, he was sure of his deductions. After analyzing the movement of everyone, he was confident that no one would approach the old storehouse. As such, he planned his route through the faction residence and found out the best way to get there.


    Then, he only had to wait for his friends.


    Very soon, Mei Hua and Sun Liao arrived near the main door. Mei Hua''s face was dark and angry. As soon as she saw the women guarding the door, she erupted.


    "You! Tell me the truth! This moron came here last night, right?!" Mei Hua''s tone was excessively aggressive and she pointed at Sun Liao without even looking at him.


    "Please, Sister Mei, don''t make a scene..." Sun Liao had to act rather meek and obedient.


    "What?! You dare tell me not to make a scene!" Mei Hua''s acting was perfect. In fact, her anger wasn''t really an act. When she heard the diversion she had to partake in, she had sincerely gotten angry. She turned back toward the women. "Don''t you dare lie to me! He was here last night, right?!"


    The other customers got intimidated by this ''domestic dispute''. Many women from the Wubei Sect had the wrong idea about the Coiling Silk Faction. As such, some men did not want to be discovered even though they never did anything suspicious.


    Seeing their customers fleeing the gate, the two guards quickly sent words to their superior and tried to appease Mei Hua.


    "Sister Mei, I can attest that Brother Sun has not come here yesterday at all, day or night." That was the truth. In fact, he had gotten invited by people in his faction so he had come here previously. But it had been a long while now.


    "You see, Sister Mei, you wronged me! How are you going to make amends, now?" This time, Sun Liao''s arrogance came back. Hearing him speak with such a tone, Mei Hua got even angrier.


    "You''re working together to hide the truth!" The scene went completely out of control. "I won''t leave until you tell me what actually happened here last night!"


    An older member of the faction arrived and tried to calm the situation. Even though Cao Yun was far from the entrance, he could hear the yelling. This was his moment to act!


    He had left his weapon with his friends when they left his room. Even with the ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'', his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' was way too big to sneak inside with it. Circulating this method, he realized that it was even more efficient now that his Po had reached the True Success stage. Even faster that before, he got inside the faction residence and went straight for the storehouse.


    He easily passed through the only array formation on his way and listened to what was going on inside. With his sharp senses, he heard the slow heartbeat of someone. He was not able to identify whose it was, but it sounded like someone sleeping, or drugged. As such, he immediately thought about Ren Chao and entered the small building.

 Chapter 102: Silky Trap

    Using a small opening at the top of the back wall, Cao Yun got in the storehouse. Inside, there was nothing of interest, only shelves full of scrolls, parchments, stationeries of all kinds, as well as music instruments, some clothes, and other artistic tools. But in the center of the room, Ren Chao laid unconscious. He was not tied up, but his breathing was very rugged and his face a little red. It almost looked like he was drunk, or more likely, drugged.


    Suspecting that this was a trap, Cao Yun inspected the room very carefully. His senses told him that there was no one else inside and that there was no trap either. Then, he used his array formation knowledge. Indeed, there was an array formation. From what Cao Yun knew, it looked like the Spider''s Embrace, a 3-star Earth array formation. It wasn''t a powerful array formation, but as soon as someone got inside, two things would happen. The first one was that the person who set up this array formation would get warned. The other thing was that a powerful force would push the intruder on the ground for several minutes. Its name was very apropos.


    However, it was a classical trap and Cao Yun saw right through it. He even found out where the eight Gates of Silk were. These gates would allow someone to cross this array formation without setting it up. Worried for Ren Chao, Cao Yun decided to jump down below into the room. He landed precisely on one of these Gates of Silk.


    The moment he touched the ground, light surged from all around the room. It formed a net with Cao Yun in the center.


    "No, the Spider''s Embrace couldn''t have been activated. I''m sure I stepped into the first Gate of Silk!" Cao Yun was trying to figure out what was going on here, his thoughts in chaos. At this moment, a slender figure walked into the storehouse, it was Lu Meihan.


    "Do you think you''re the only one who can be stealthy?" She was hiding just outside the storehouse from the beginning. Slowly, she walked toward her prey.


    Cao Yun tried to move but the net of energy around him contorted and filaments of light bound him to the ground. His arms and legs were completely trapped.


    "I''m not a master in array formation, but I have a friend who is." Lu Meihan was of course referring to the demonic cultivator who was supporting her. "We prepared for this day since your fight with Luduo Bu. We had array formations set up all around the walls. He personally came to set them up, knowing how proficient you were. And he was right to do so. Even with my senses, I couldn''t have felt your presence. But you did trigger some small array formations."


    Cao Yun was racking his brain and with his perfect memory, he analyzed the path he had followed. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn''t be sure of where theses detection array formations were. He was only a beginner in the art. Against the array formations set up by the Coiling Silk Faction, this wasn''t a problem at all. But against someone like Sun Liao for example, he couldn''t see through a single one of them. And detection array formations were the smallest and the hardest to pick up on.


    "I thought that you would come running for your friend, but I wonder... How did you know he was here already? You suspected me from the first time we met?" Lu Meihan was intrigued. She had prepared for Cao Yun but she had not given him any clue to come here. The only thing that could have gotten her exposed was her first failed attempt against him. Of course, she was unaware that he had spied on her conversation with her friend.


    "I know you want to use me for some dual cultivation thing. Probably to heal your backlash." Cao Yun was not going to spill the beans. However, he was going to try and buy some time. Looking around him, he understood. The Spider''s Embrace was just a decoy. There were at least two other array formations hidden within. But he did not recognize them at all.


    The first one was generating this net of energy. Given how consuming it was, it probably couldn''t last very long, but for the time being he couldn''t move his body. And the other one, he could feel it within his body. It was obstructing the flow of his Qi. Trying to circulate his Qi was just like trying to move mercury. As such, neither his physical nor energetic body could be of assistance.


    Well, that would be true without the Po character. Thanks to his True Success in it, the Po character allowed him a better control over his Qi. And even though it was impossibly difficult to circulate his Qi, the Po character made the task hard, but achievable.


    "Well, you''re smart." Her charming smile disappeared and she got serious. "Indeed, I need your energy to heal me. In fact, I''ll die without it now. So I''m sorry, but I swear that you won''t regret my embrace." She slowly walked toward him, trying not to get stuck in the array formations herself. She knew where the gates were but she wasn''t very proficient in the use of array formations so she decided to be extra careful.


    Cao Yun needed more time so he tried to get her talking. "I''ll die, won''t I?" Lu Meihan''s face got shocked. She was trying to minimize the situation so as not to expose the truth. If Cao Yun was fighting too desperately, it would be more cumbersome.


    "Why do you think so?"


    "Luduo Bu told me about you before dying." Knowing that Lu Meihan was aware of Luduo Bu''s connection with the demonic cultivator, Cao Yun tried this bluff. "You want to use Ren Chao to force yourself onto me. You''ll literally suck me dry. Then, you''ll probably kill Ren Chao to remove any possible witness."


    Lu Meihan stopped in her track. "I''m sorry... But there is no other way... At least, your last moments will be happy. And your friend won''t feel a thing."


    "What about Wang Mei?"


    Once more, Lu Meihan''s face darkened. "What she doesn''t know won''t hurt her. But you should be more worried about your friends at the main gate. You shouldn''t have involved them. I don''t know what you told them, but I''ll have to get rid of them, just in case. I''m sorry..."


    "You keep claiming that you''re sorry, but you just don''t care! You only care about your power!"This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    This time, she got mad. "Why couldn''t I control my fate?! If I don''t heal my backlash, I''ll just become useless. My parents will marry me off as a mere political tool. I''ll have to serve a pathetic noble just to gain a meager influence for my family. I would rather die than go through this! Hate me as much as you want, but I won''t suffer such a life! As long as there''s a way, I''ll persevere."


    Just as she was about to get to him, Cao Yun was finally able to mobilize enough Qi. He sent it through his meridians, following the ''Imperial Throne'' path. A surge of wind erupted around him and blew away the filaments of energy. Without his spear and with a small amount of Qi, the technique got weaker, but it was still strong enough to get rid of those bounds. He only needed an instant to move away. Once free of them, Cao Yun jumped toward Ren Chao and took him in his left arm.


    Lu Meihan reacted at once and placed herself in front of the door. Not wasting any more time, Cao Yun charged toward her. His right palm hit her right in the chest. ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. A vibration penetrated her flesh and sent her flying backward. She literally broke through the doors and landed on the grass outside.


    Cao Yun ran as fast as he could to leave the garden of the Coiling Silk Faction. But as soon as he left the storehouse, he heard Lu Meihan''s scream.


    "Coiling Silk! Intruder!"


    At the front gate, the guards heard it as well and immediately assumed fighting positions. They obviously connected it with the domestic dispute that was keeping them occupied. This had to be a distraction for an intruder to get inside. And apparently, he had attacked their faction leader.


    Sun Liao let go of all pretenses and took out his bow. He had the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' with him. Surprising everyone, he used this giant spear as an arrow. To propel such a weapon through the air, he needed colossal strength. But Sun Liao had recently broken through to 6th-grade Mortal. His talent coupled with Chief Instructor Peng''s training had bore fruit. Pushing his muscles to the limit, he shot the spear through the sky.


    The guards tried to stop him but Mei Hua was on them. She wasn''t a great fighter and was one grade below Sun Liao. However, she was good enough to buy some time. Her rope dart coiled around the guards. They quickly got out of the restraints but the spear was already in the sky.


    Once this was done, Sun Liao jumped on the wall circling the faction residence. He produced several arrows and fired them everywhere. Right now, he was forming very temporary array formations all over the place. Mei Hua took a pill and her strength surged forth. For several minutes, she would become as strong as a peak 7th-grade Mortal, jumping two levels. Alchemists often used pills in battle to increase their abilities, but there were always consequences.


    Luckily, Mei Hua was the direct disciple of Xiao Xuefeng, so she wasn''t too afraid of a severe backlash. Moreover, the pill she had consumed had reached the Pure rank, so the toxins were very limited within. She had also mastered the principle of toxins minimization. A pill of such a low grade was not a problem for her.


    ''Ten Thousand Thorns'', ''A Bed of Brambles''. Her rope fell to the ground, circling the guards. As soon as they tried to move, Mei Hua moved her hand and the dart went for them. It quickly attacked and then retracted. If they tried to go through the rope, it would lift up and tense. The rope became as hard as steel, blocking their way. Before they could chase it away, the dart was attacking them.


    They all decided to attack different parts of this encirclement. Mei Hua had given enough time to Sun Liao. Array formations were set up all around the faction residence. Thanks to Cao Yun''s description, he had already prepared the array formations in advance within his mind. The best thing would have been if Cao Yun could escape with Ren Chao without any ruckus. But they had prepared for things to go south.


    Now that he was done, Sun Liao helped Mei Hua. Other guards were coming and those inside ''A Bed of Brambles'' were ready to break free.


    From ''Houyi''s Nine Suns'', Sun Liao recited the second mantra, "From the East, the Vault rises". He took another stance and in his mind he focused on a specific image. Right now, he was picturing a gigantic sun rising from the horizon.


    The ''Houyi''s Nine Suns'' manual was made up of ten layers. Each one had a specific four-words mantra, a specific stance, a specific illustration and a specific end result.


    Sun Liao had three arrows in his right hand while holding his ''Ten Thousand Li Bow''. Of course he could not shoot an arrow at ten thousand li, but this bow was a 2-star Human weapon. Its range was at most ten li but for now, Sun Liao could not shoot that far. His own range would be around six li. This bow was engraved with intricate figures depicting all kinds of birds and sparks flying through them.


    Sun Liao was aiming toward the sky. As soon as he let go, the three arrows flew upward and started to burn due to their own speed and the ''Houyi''s Nine Suns''. They rapidly fell back down, right in the direction of the guards encircled by Mei Hua''s rope. Seeing those small balls of fire descending on them, they switched to defensive positions. The moment they did, the rope came alive and tensed all around them.


    It was like a steel cable striking them from all sides, followed by the intense heat of the arrows. The guards had a higher cultivation so they weren''t too badly hurt. However, this served as a deterrent to the others. Mei Hua and Sun Liao working together was a great combination. And, they had not even worked on battle formations yet. If they had, they could have beaten a 9th-grade Mortal without any problem despite being in the middle stages of the Mortal realm themselves. Battle formations were really powerful if mastered correctly.


    -


    In the southeast of the residence, Cao Yun was running toward the wall with Ren Chao on his left shoulder. Lu Meihan had her weapon ready, a chain with weighted extremities. It was a variant of the rope dart from the Eighteen Classical Weapons.


    Her chain flew toward Cao Yun''s legs, trying to trip him over. Feeling the wind pressure, he jumped without looking. As long as Ren Chao was with him, he could not fight properly. But then, he would have a problem to get over the wall. Lu Meihan, despite her backlash, was a 9th-grade Mortal. And the Life Essence Phoenix Balm had restored almost all her strength.


    Thankfully, everything happened according to the second plan and Cao Yun heard the whistling of a large object in the air. He knew instantly that his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' was coming down. Using all his strength, he jumped toward the sound. Lu Meihan was quick to react. She saw the black spear flying toward them and understood. Her chain was sent to catch the weapon but Cao Yun was faster. The chain only caught air and Cao Yun was now armed.


    Still in the air, he launched a ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' toward the enclosure wall. The vortex of wind broke down the bricks and dust was sent everywhere. Behind the dust, Wang Mei was waiting. With her sharp senses, Lu Meihan recognized her through the cloud of dirt. Her face got complicated. Deep down, she really cared for the girl, but her desire to overcome her wound had taken over. If she were to stop now, she would die in a few months due to the side effects of the Life Essence Phoenix Balm.


    But seeing Wang Mei looking at her as an enemy, Lu Meihan''s heart was hurt. She remembered the little girl who used to be her servant. There was no going back anyway!


    Cao Yun took Ren Chao and threw him over to Wang Mei.


    "Take care of Brother Ren, I''ll keep her busy."


    Cao Yun fell back between Lu Meihan and Wang Mei who had caught her boyfriend. His spear was ready and his stance firm in the ground.

 Chapter 103: Dead Pines Dance

    Cao Yun fully activated his three stars within his sea of consciousness. The Horn Star was meant to stab with ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' and ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. The Neck Star focused on rooted positions allowing fast movements and great defense with ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' and ''Imperial Throne''. Finally, the Root Star dealt in absolute defense with ''Dragon''s Chest''. And Cao Yun was ready to decipher the variation of this last move. After his fight against Luduo Bu, he had received a lot of insights into his own technique. And he had also observed his stars while slowly regaining consciousness.


    Faced with Lu Meihan, he had no fear. She was a 9th-grade Mortal but so was Luduo Bu when he last fought him. Of course, Luduo Bu''s cultivation had been enhanced by his ''Blood Runes'' method. But his strength was really comparable to a 9th-grade Mortal. And the use of his blood runes made him an even more dangerous opponent. Also, Lu Meihan focused her training on the arts, which meant that her fighting strength was not very high.


    Despite only being a 6th-grade Mortal, Cao Yun was not too worried. As long as she was not a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, he should be able to win. The problem would be fighting against several members of the Coiling Silk Faction at once. That was where Sun Liao intervened. With his temporary array formations, he had blocked the access to this garden. It would take several minutes for anyone else to get inside as no member had reached the Mortal Warrior realm.


    Lu Meihan circulated her own martial art, ''Dead Pine''s Dance''. Her movements were more akin to dancing than martial arts. The chain was flying around her. The two weighted balls at the extremities smashed into nearby trees. The wood exploded and splinters flew in the air. No matter how delicate or beautiful it looked, her dance was deadly. A mere mortal would be reduced to a mist of blood in an instant if one of these balls got near them.


    Cao Yun evaded several attacks of the weighted balls. Seeing them up close, they almost looked like pine cone. They were two oval shaped metallic weights. Each one should weigh around one or two dan, almost heavier than Cao Yun and his spear combined. Each time they hit the ground, dirt was sent flying everywhere with a metallic sound.


    This time, Cao Yun''s speed was at its limit. Unlike Luduo Bu, Lu Meihan was extremely agile and fast. Soon enough, the chain coiled itself around the shaft of his spear. Cao Yun tried to fight off to get his weapon back. But as he was strengthening his grip, he realized that the two weights were attacking him on both sides. She had been able to coil the weapon with the middle of the chain and attacked with the extremities.


    Cao Yun simply let go of his weapon. It got pulled toward Lu Meihan. And as soon as he was free, Cao Yun rushed forward. Without his spear in hand, he was slightly faster. He grabbed it back before it reached Lu Meihan. ''Imperial Throne''. A powerful gush of wind erupted around him and the spear. It blew away the chain and Lu Meihan lost control of her weapon for an instant. It was enough for Cao Yun to charge forward again and strike her with ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. When he hit her, only a sound of metal echoed. Jumping back, he realized that beneath her uniform, she was wearing a supple layer of metal.


    Lu Meihan smiled. "Do you like my armor? It''s made of Silk Gold. This metal is a supple as textile, but harder than any steel." The Coiling Silk Faction was one of the richest ones after the Dragon''s Fire Faction. As such, it wasn''t surprising that their leader would have access to such equipments. However, Cao Yun noted that this armor was not covering her face. He didn''t necessarily want to kill her, just because it would bring more problem. Indeed, Chief Elder Bian was already accusing him of having murdered Luduo Bu. But if he had to kill her, he would. The time to show mercy was long gone. She had tried to use his friend and was ready to kill them both!


    However, he also noticed that despite what she was trying to show, pain was on her face. His weapon could not penetrate her armor, but the impact was not reduced by much.


    Cao Yun assumed his stance once more and sent twenty ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. Used to performing this attack, he was able to chain them very quickly. Lu Meihan got scared by all these attacks and quickly evaded them. Her footwork was excellent. Even Cao Yun was impressed by those movements. Her weapon was really useful. The weights at the extremities were heavy but she could simply let them rest on the ground and move around freely.


    Once she evaded the attacks, she retorted with her own, ''Thorns in the Wind''. The chain danced in the air and many splinters from the trees she had destroyed earlier began to get dragged by the wind. Very soon, there was a literal tornado of wood around her. All of a sudden, this tornado was launched on Cao Yun.


    Unable to dodge in time, he activated ''Imperial Throne'' and produced his own tornado. However, when they met, the myriad of splinters pierced through the wind protecting him. Seeing that his technique was useless, he used his spear to protect his face and activated ''Dragon''s Chest''. He was able to control it a lot better and focused its power on his vital areas.


    The tornado passed over him but his deep stance allowed him not to be blown away. However, he got cut thousands of times everywhere on the body. Luckily, his organs and his face were protected. Not a single cut appeared on his torso or on his back. Most of them were on the exterior of his limbs.


    The spear in hand, he went straight for Lu Meihan. The moment she tried to attack him with the chain, he quickly changed direction. He used the ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. His presence disappeared and Lu Meihan got distracted long enough for him to appear in her back.


    ''Unbreakable Dead Stump''. Immediately, she pulled on the chain and the two weights appeared before her. The spear hit them and most of the strength got dissipated in them. They were sent backwards but Lu Meihan was not there anymore.


    -


    As the fight was raging between Cao Yun and Lu Meihan, the conflict at the entrance gate was frozen. Thanks to all the array formations from Sun Liao, almost no other guards could come. They would also need several minutes to break through his temporary array formations as none of them had any knowledge of this occupation. They could only rely on brute force.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Sister Mei, I''ll go find Brother Chen. Rejoin with Wang Mei and take care of Brother Ren." Sun Liao ran atop the enclosure wall.


    Mei Hua had no time to answer, but she agreed wholeheartedly with his idea. She was not a fighter, so there was no point in her helping Cao Yun. On the other hand, she was a gifted alchemist and no matter what kind of drug had been used on Ren Chao, she was confident in her ability to help him.


    Running on the wall, Sun Liao saw the members of the Coiling Silk Faction as well as some customers stuck within his array formations. They would probably last less than what he had thought. But they only needed to run away. Now that they had rescued Ren Chao, they had him as a witness. They could involve the elders without much problem. All three of them had the support of at least one major elder. Chief Elder Baishen was supporting Cao Yun, Guest Elder Xiao was the direct master of Mei Hua and Chief Elder Suxian was the direct master of Sun Liao.


    With this support, the disciplinary pavilion would be forced to at least listen to them and investigate.


    When he arrived in the southeast part of the courtyard, Sun Liao saw Cao Yun covered in blood. Quickly he relaxed as he saw it came from superficial wounds. And the complexion of Lu Meihan was not so good either. It had been a long time since she had fought. Even after retrieving her full power, Cao Yun was a powerful opponent and she was already exhausted.


    Sun Liao still decided to help his friend. He recited the third mantra, the last one he mastered. "Three Lights in Its Claws". He was holding his bow a little tilted with three arrows. When he let go of the arrows, his hand rotated and the three arrows went spinning through the air. When Lu Meihan saw them, she realized that she could not dodge them. Their movement was sealing her own. As their range was wider, she had no place to go. Neither the left, the right or even up were viable options.


    As such, she reused her ''Unbreakable Dead Stump'', putting her weights between her and the arrows. Cao Yun took advantage of the distraction to get to her. But she was ready. This time, she did not move. The arrows collided with the weights but they had not enough force to push them very far behind. As soon as Cao Yun got too close, she took both weights in her hand and hit them together.


    A sonic wave went through Cao Yun''s ears. Getting dizzy, he lost his balance. Quickly he retreated and the spot he was an instant ago got crushed by a weight. Once more, Lu Meihan grabbed the chain and sent the two weights to hit each other far from her. This was ''Chiming Bells''. The weights sent another sound wave toward Sun Liao this time. He was about to shoot another salve of arrows but the dizziness made him miss.


    Lu Meihan was extremely proficient in music. And she could use her weapon as an instrument. Usually her music could soothe the mind, but in battle, she could use it to weaken her opponents and make them lose both their balance and their orientation.


    As he was still affected by the dizziness, Cao Yun was unable to dodge another attack and took a weight square in the chest. At the last moment, he activated ''Dragon''s Chest'', but he still got sent backward a few meters. The weight in itself was not that heavy for him, but the force behind was really intense.


    The fight went on but Sun Liao realized that he had no more arrows. He had used too many to make all the array formations. In a close combat, he was way less effective and would probably just hinder Cao Yun. Until he broke through to Mortal Warrior, when he would be able to generate arrows from his Qi, the need of projectiles reduced the usefulness of his weapon. Obviously, the group had taken that into consideration. Sun Liao followed the plan they had established and started to leave as well.


    As he left through the same path Cao Yun had taken, he realized the presence of very small array formations. They had escaped Cao Yun''s eyes but Sun Liao was a 5-star Earth array formation master. Of course, he saw them. That was not the time to analyze them, but he did recognize something familiar in them.


    The fight kept on going. Cao Yun was unbalanced and took two other hits in the torso. The ''Dragon''s Chest'' was really efficient, and by using it, he had finally an idea about its variation. Cao Yun took an instant to circulate his mind cultivation. By doing so, he received another blow. But he was able to clear his mind of the effect of ''Chiming Bells''.


    Now that his mind was clear, he was going to test his understanding. Cao Yun stopped moving altogether. He put his spear in the ground, straight toward the sky and simply stood there. Contrary to its appearance, his position was not simple at all. Both his feet were really rooted in the ground and an intimidating aura was spreading from him.


    Lu Meihan had an instant of hesitation. Finally she decided to attack.


    "Chen Guo. If you surrender, your last instants will be bliss. But if you''re stubborn, I''ll break all your bones and have my way with you as you''re writhing in pain. Make your choice!"


    She had thrown all pretense away. Right now, Lu Meihan was contemplating her own death. If she did not absorb Cao Yun''s energy now, she would have no more opportunities. She had searched the sect and even the surrounding villages and cities. No one seemed to be useful for her in the ''Reversing Two Universes Dance''. Apparently, only Cao Yun had the proper potential for her to heal her wounds. In theory, she could still perform the technique with lesser men, but healing her wounds would require much more partners. Each time she would use this dual cultivation, her risk of Qi deviation would increase and her recovery rate would diminish as well.


    Unless she had no other choice, she would not resort to this alternative. With her weapon in hand, she prepared her last attack, ''Uprooting the Earth''. Her grip on the chain changed and both her hands got close to one extremities. High in the sky, the other extremity was spinning at an incredible speed.


    "Your decision?"


    Cao Yun did not answer, he raised his spear a little bit and violently hit the ground with it. His decision was clear. He was awaiting her best shot.


    For the first time, Cao Yun was using the ''Dragon''s Chest'' all over his body. The Root Star was shining ever so brightly within his sea of consciousness. And some words popped up in his mind, ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''.


    Lu Meihan finally unleashed her attack. The weight almost looked like it had tripled in volume. This was only an illusion but the strength behind it was tremendous. Her target was his right shoulder, to stop him for fighting back. The very moment the weight collided with his body, all the Qi from ''Dragon''s Chest'' condensed on the spot of the attack.


    Most of the impact was absorbed and sent back through Cao Yun''s body into the spear. Instantly, he unleashed his most powerful technique yet. The spear sliced the air and a kind of cone of wind flew all the way toward Lu Meihan. The change was so sudden that she did not know how to react. The attack was aimed directly at her head. If she was hit by this, she would probably die.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield'' allowed its user to send back the force behind an attack. However, if you did not judge the attack properly, you would suffer a terrible backlash. Thankfully, Cao Yun had gotten used to Lu Meihan''s weapon during the fight and knew how much Qi he would need to counter the force and divert it toward his spear.


    Alas, as the attack was about to hit Lu Meihan, it completely dissipated and a figure appeared in the sky.

 Chapter 104: Ten judges trampled by a wild horse

    High in the sky, Chief Elder Bian had just appeared. Despite Sun Liao''s array formations, the commotion got heard pretty far. Some disciples who were going to the Coiling Silk Faction residence warned the disciplinary pavilion. When they claimed to have seen both Mei Hua and Sun Liao in front of the residence, the information was brought to Chief Elder Bian himself. Both of them were prominent outer disciples and direct disciples of elders. As such, the matters pertaining to them had to be handled with care.


    But when he heard the news, Chief Elder Bian automatically thought about Cao Yun. He was known to be friends with both of them. On the other hand, there was no account of Mei Hua and Sun Liao being affiliated in any other way. His resentment for Cao Yun shined through. In his mind, this boy was deceiving everyone. Even though the trial had not yet been held, he was convinced that Luduo Bu''s death was not as simple as the other elders believed.


    Chief Elder Bian was convinced to be the only one to see the truth of this boy. Immediately, he sent a telepathic communication to the guards before his room. They got surprised and obeyed at once.


    They erupted inside the room. Apart from Huang Cixi, they found nothing. Understanding that they would be severely punished, they gripped a jade pendant they had. If Chief Elder Bian was able to send them a telepathic message, it wasn''t just because he was a Spirit Warrior. There were array formations around the Wubei Sect to enhance the range of telepathy. However, he still needed to know where the person he wanted to talk to was. That was the role of those jade pendants. Another role of them was to allow even Mortals to send their thoughts back.


    Inside the jade pendants was a small array formation connected to another one within the disciplinary pavilion.


    As soon as the guards gripped their pendants and focused on their thoughts, the message got sent. Chief Elder Bian was right in the middle of the reception array formation. Hearing that Cao Yun had fled, he disappeared in a flash. This time, he was the one who flew over the Wubei Sect. He pushed his speed to its limit and arrived in a matter of minutes.


    The moment he floated above the Coiling Silk Faction residence, he perceived everyone down there. There were many array formations all around. Sensing that they had been set through arrows, Chief Elder Bian surmised that Sun Liao was responsible. And in the southeast of the courtyard, Cao Yun was launching a powerful attack against Lu Meihan.


    Chief Elder Bian had no problem with the Coiling Silk Faction. To the contrary, he had a very good opinion of them. Despite the rumors of improper conducts, every time he had looked into it, he had realized that they were perfectly proper. Being himself adept of arts, he even enjoyed their performances and their devotion to the different crafts. Seeing that Lu Meihan was in danger, he could not stay idle.


    Chief Elder Bian simply sent a small surge of Qi and annihilated the attack of Cao Yun. The next instant, the boy felt a tremendous force pushing him down. He immediately recognized the feeling he had from his great-grandfather. A Spirit Warrior was converging his spiritual senses on him. But then, it got even more intense, the spiritual pressure was subduing him completely. All around him, he could feel as though the air was arid and ten thousand eyes were watching his every movements. In fact, he felt absolutely bare as though his entire life was being judged by those eyes.


    Cao Yun fell on the ground, forcefully kneeling. Even by supporting himself with his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'', he could not get up at all. He only managed not to fall flat on the ground. But the pressure was slowly intensifying. The scene should have been positive for Lu Meihan as her life just got saved, but it really wasn''t. If Cao Yun was captured and judged, she would never be able to use him in her ''Reversing Two Universes Dance'' dual cultivation and she would end up dead.


    Nevertheless, she couldn''t quite expose herself before an elder, let alone a chief elder from the disciplinary pavilion. She cupped her fists and bowed.


    "Thank you, Chief Elder Bian."


    The moment she spoke, she heard a voice in her mind. At first, she thought that Chief Elder Bian was talking to her, but the voice was strange.


    "Lay all the blame on Chen Guo. Do not worry. If he''s sent to the Devil''s Jail, he''s as good as yours!"


    Surprised, Lu Meihan understood rapidly. This was probably the master of the demonic cultivator who was helping her. But then, it meant that they were infiltrated even deeper than she thought. Then, she remembered the case of Luduo Bu. After he left the Devil''s Jail he was even stronger than before. Most likely, they had the control over this jail. So if Cao Yun was sent there, she could get to him with even more ease.


    "I thought I was going to die... I don''t know what took him over. Brother Chen attacked us out of the blue..."


    Cao Yun heard everything but he could not deny. In fact, he couldn''t say anything at all. All his efforts were used just so that he wouldn''t lay face down on the ground.


    Chief Elder Bian was now touching the ground. A small ivory tablet appeared in his hand. It was a ritual scepter in the form of a narrow tablet held from the broad end. He waved his hand and all the array formations of Sun Liao just ceased to be. To begin with, they were very temporary as Sun Liao could not produce self-sustained array formations. Only a Mortal Warrior could imbue his own Qi in his creations. And even if they were, Chief Elder Bian was a Spirit Warrior, controlling the surrounding Qi was an easy feat for him. As long as the array formations were weak enough, he could easily destroy them without understanding a thing related to this occupation.


    "Chen Guo!" Chief Elder Bian''s voice was echoing throughout the courtyard as well as in Cao Yun''s mind.


    "You violated your house arrest!" The pressure intensified once more and the skin of Chief Elder Bian seemed to become red from anger. All around him, the image of a terrifying reddish figure was slowly forming.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "You trespassed in the Coiling Silk Faction residence!" The figure appeared almost tangible. It was a gigantic man with red skin. On his face, a heavy beard circled all his mouth, up to his ears. And on his head was a judge''s cap with a golden character on it.


    "You tried to kill Lu Meihan!" All around Cao Yun, nine other similar figures appeared. And this time, he could not control his body. He fell face down on the ground. His body even sank a little into the ground.


    "Prepare to face trial!" With this last word, the water from the pond turned into a gigantic horse. It trampled on the nine judges circling Cao Yun before facing the one behind Chief Elder Bian. The old man stepped back in shock.


    "Chief Elder Baishen! What are you doing?!" Raising his eyes, he saw the old woman flying over the residence. By her side were other chief elders, such as Chief Elder Suxian and Chief Elder Luoming.


    The horse made of water was obviously from Chief Elder Baishen. Chief Elder Bian was not a fighter at all whereas his senior sister was a genius in this domain. She knew tens of Spirit rank martial arts. The one she had used, the ''Vibrant Wave Stallion'' was only a minor art among the ones she practiced. Yet, this small display of her prowess was enough to suppress Chief Elder Bian''s technique in an instant.


    The old woman was the first to talk, in order to answer her comrade. "What am I doing?! What are you doing?! You''re unleashing your full art against a junior! Aren''t you ashamed?"


    Chief Elder Bian slowly took in the situation. He realized that he had indeed gone a bit overboard. His fury had taken over, however he was hard-pressed to admit it. Slowly, the red figure behind him dissipated. Then, so did the horse. The water peacefully flew back to the nearby pond.


    "Sister Baishen, this boy tried to kill his fellow disciple. Such a crime must be thoroughly punished. If not, our entire Wubei Sect will fall into disarray and anarchy. But, do not worry. I shall adhere to the rules of our sect. Chen Guo will stand trial before the judges of the disciplinary pavilion."


    "I object!" This time, Chief Elder Suxian was the one who talked. "The accusations you made against Chen Guo are extremely severe. I believe that a public trial before all the chief elders is the best thing to do."


    All the elders present were shocked. This kind of trial was exceptional because only great offenses could justify it. But it also meant something else. Chief Elder Suxian did not trust the disciplinary pavilion. Chief Elder Bian''s face was sour. Such a proposal was a direct attack against his probity. Implicitly, Chief Elder Suxian was saying that his court and his judges would not be fair against Cao Yun.


    Before he could retort back, Chief Elder Baishen seconded the proposal.


    "Brother Suxian is right. If the crime is indeed as you claimed, then such a trial would be necessary. We can''t let such a matter in the hands of the disciplinary pavilion."


    She was even more direct with her words.


    "Brother Suxian, Sister Baishen, my disciplinary pavilion is perfectly able to handle such a matter. There is no need to trouble our fellow chief elders. And do not forget, three chief elders have to agree for a public trial to be held." Even if Xiao Xuefeng had been there, her vote would not count as she was only a guest elder.


    "Brother Bian is right." Chief Elder Luoming started to speak and immediately, the angry eyes of both Chief Elder Baishen and Chief Elder Suxian fell on him. He was unfazed and kept talking. "Three votes are indeed necessary. But if two of my fellow chief elders believe it to be necessary, I see no reason to oppose this."


    And as simple as that, the public trial was decided. As soon as Chief Elder Luoming had spoken in public, there was no going back on his word. Chief Elder Bian''s face was blushing from humiliation and anger. His reputation would be sullied because of Cao Yun. More and more of his brothers and sisters were turning on him.


    A public trial would be under the administration of nine chief elders. And they would vote on the culpability of the disciple. Usually, unless the crime was treason, the disciplinary pavilion would handle all matters of justice. The fact that three chief elders had asked for a public trial was a slap in the face for the entire disciplinary pavilion and their chief elder foremost.


    Chief Elder Suxian was rather surprised by his friend''s actions. Usually Chief Elder Luoming did not intervene in the politics of the Wubei Sect at all. He was the chief elder of the art pavilion. It entailed all kinds of arts and had very good relations with the Coiling Silk Faction.


    "Brother Luoming, thank you for your support."


    He waved his sleeve. "My friend, no need for such formality. If both you and Sister Baishen support Chen Guo, I do believe he deserves a fair trial. I have to admit that the attitude of Chief Elder Bian is a bit overbearing. Using his full martial art against an outer disciple who did not even reach the Mortal Warrior realm is concerning. Chief Elder Bian has always been too strict concerning the rules. I fear that his pride has bested him."


    Chief Elder Baishen got down to the ground and walked toward Cao Yun to help him up.


    "Thank you, Chief Elder." Calming his mind, Cao Yun truly felt the terror of a Spirit Warrior. Against such a strength, he was only an ant ready to be crushed depending entirely to someone else''s will and whim. This feeling was absolutely horrifying. Chief Elder Bian had a grudge against Cao Yun, but today Cao Yun forged a grudge against him as well. He had already a terrible opinion of the disciplinary pavilion. However, he now believed that there was a real possibility of demonic cultivators intrusion within.


    As everything was unrolling in such manner in the courtyard, two elders came back with Mei Hua and Sun Liao. They presented them to Chief Elder Bian.


    "You two seem to have helped Chen Guo in order to sneak inside the residence."


    "How dare you?!" Chief Elder Suxian erupted and appeared before the elders holding the two disciples. With a single thought of his, they were pushed back and the youths released. "Sun Liao is my direct disciple. If he needs to be arrested, this is my role, not yours!"


    He sent his spiritual senses over his disciple. Satisfied that he was unharmed, Chief Elder Suxian looked back.


    "Brother Bian, is my disciple accused of anything?"


    "For now, he''s suspected to have willfully helped Chen Guo in his crimes. The trial of Chen Guo will decide everyone''s contribution."


    "Then, just tell us the date and we''ll be there. But if you dare to arrest my direct disciple without me, do not blame me for being ruthless!"


    Chief Elder Suxian looked at Chief Elder Baishen. "Let''s go for now!" He turned back toward Chief Elder Bian. "Unless our word is not enough for you?!"


    "It is enough. I will send you a notice to know when and where the public trial will be held. It won''t even be a week."


    Just after that, the two chief elders left with the outer disciples. They all traveled back to the martial art pavilion. In the courtyard, Chief Elder Bian was still there with Lu Meihan and the two other elders. In the air, Chief Elder Luoming scanned one last time the place with his spiritual senses and left as well.


    The disciplinary pavilion had been utterly humiliated and now they really needed a win against Cao Yun. However, during the public trial, two of the nine chief elders would be Chief Elder Suxian and Chief Elder Baishen, both sympathetic to Cao Yun. Of course, Chief Elder Bian would also be a judge, and the main prosecutor as well. Then, he had to convince four other chief elders to vote with him against Cao Yun.

 Chapter 105: Wubei Sects public trial

    Chief Elder Baishen brought Cao Yun to her martial art pavilion and Chief Elder Suxian followed her with Sun Liao and Mei Hua. When they finally arrived, she asked for the whole truth.


    Cao Yun hesitated and his friends decided to let him speak and decide what she should be told or not.


    "Chief Elder, I believe that Lu Meihan has joined forces with demonic cultivators." Both chief elders were shocked, but not completely surprised. "She captured my friend Ren Chao in order to lure me in her faction residence. She confessed everything to me. Some demonic cultivator gave her a dual cultivation. Apparently, I''m the best candidate to use it with. You see, she suffered a backlash and to recover, she needs to absorb all my energy."


    Cao Yun did not say anything else about the matter, but that was the gist of it anyway.


    Both chief elders talked telepathically. Mortals, or even Mortal Warriors, could not pierce through their thoughts.


    They both knew the real reason of Xiao Xuefeng''s presence here. A demonic cultivator had tried to infiltrate the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. To prevent this from happening within the Wubei Sect, they had sent her. It wasn''t a coincidence if she had left just before Luduo Bu''s attack and Lu Meihan''s incident. However, Cao Yun was a bit suspect. After all, he had been found while killing demonic cultivators in the Lunar Marsh and he was connected to all these strange affairs.


    Thinking some more, they concluded that he was innocent. Xiao Xuefeng was the most sensitive among all Spirit Warriors. She was absolutely confident about Cao Yun, so she was probably right.


    While the chief elders were conferring, Cao Yun asked his friends about Ren Chao''s condition.


    "Wang Mei is taking care of him. I gave her some pills to help him recover. He was poisoned with Feverish Eucalyptus Liquor. This is not a very potent poison, but it will mimic the effect of alcohol. In fact, mere mortals would die from intoxication right away. But Brother Ren is resistant enough. With my tonic, he will be absolutely fine. However, I doubt that he will be able to remember anything, not even how he got captured. Everything will be a blur."


    Sun Liao stayed quiet. In fact, he was thinking about the array formations he had seen. When Cao Yun had showed him the array formation used by Lu Meihan, he had a sense of familiarity. And now that he had seen the same kind of work, his mind was trying to piece the clues together. He was sure that he had seen this handiwork somewhere else, but it was well hidden.


    Finally, the chief elders got back to the disciples.


    "For now, you will stay confined in your rooms. In a few days, the public trial will begin. If five of the nine chief elders vote against you, there is nothing even we can do. We''ll investigate what you just told us. Chen Guo, tell us exactly the words used by Lu Meihan."


    Cao Yun described absolutely everything that had happened in the Coiling Silk Faction residence. He also added some elements. For example, he made Lu Meihan speak about the Life Essence Phoenix Balm. She had not, but Cao Yun remembered the manual he had found about it when he first sneaked into her room.


    -


    When the interrogation was over, they all went to Ren Chao''s room. He was with Wang Mei, but still unconscious. The woman was taking great care of him. When she saw Cao Yun and his friends, she went to them.


    "Thank you!" She bowed to them. "Without your help, he may have..." Lowering her head in shame, she couldn''t not think about her former mistress. "How could Lu Meihan do such a thing?"


    Seeing her conflict, Cao Yun told her. "She used a demonic method to alleviate her backlash. But if she doesn''t absorb my energy she will quickly die."


    Hearing this, Wang Mei was shocked beyond belief. "Was she that desperate?" She remembered the behavior of her faction leader these past few weeks. And indeed, there was a sense of despair that turned into urgency. Maybe, if she had talked to her more, she could have helped her go through it. Slowly, Wang Mei was starting to feel responsible for the way things had turned out.


    Mei Hua intervened. "You should not feel guilty." With a very serious look on her face, she continued. "People will make their own decisions. No matter how much you wished you could have changed her way, it was her decision. She could have chosen to come to you for help but she did not. In the end, she succumbed to the temptation of this demonic cultivator." It seemed as though their was some personal history behind her statement.


    "Anyway, people make their own choices, especially cultivators. You should not burden yourself with the sins of others."


    Wang Mei''s face was complicated. Deep down, she knew that she was not responsible, but still, she should have seen how much her faction leader was suffering.


    On the other hand, Sun Liao was near Ren Chao. Only a few months ago, he despised the man. But now, he was an important friend. His arrogance would not let him admit his feelings, but it was apparent to all. Seeing him fine, he heaved a sigh of relief.


    "Brother Chen, you should trust us more." He turned toward his friend. "I know that there are some things you keep to yourself. I do not ask you to tell us all your secrets. But if your life is in danger, do not think that you can just take care of it alone. In the Wubei Sect, we''re all brothers and sisters, right? So treat us as such, unless you think we''re so inept that we will burden you!"


    Shocked, Cao Yun got thinking. "Brother Sun, you''re right. The truth is... I''m looking for a demonic cultivator. I thought that if I involved someone else, I would miss the chance to get information about him."


    This time, Mei Hua''s face was complicated. She had a terrible past with demonic cultivators as well and she was remembering things she would rather forget.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Wang Mei felt a bit awkward and went back to Ren Chao. This was not a conversation she should be a part of.


    "Brother Sun, Sister Mei. When Brother Ren wakes up, I swear I''ll tell you more. But there are some things I simply cannot say. Please understand me."


    "It''s fine, Brother Chen. We all have things that we want to keep for ourselves. But do not risk your life to ''protect'' us. We''re competent enough to take care of ourselves."


    The friends let the heavy talk for later and decided to drink some tea in order to calm down. The tea from Mei Hua was just perfect. They felt as though all their worries were evaporating with the steam.


    -


    Several days later, Ren Chao woke up. But the group of friends could not have their talk. The public trial was beginning!


    Two instructors came to fetch Cao Yun in his own room. They were armed with punishing rods, metallic staffs used to discipline the Wubei Sect''s disciples. They were meant to inflict pain without killing. Unless you were a Spirit Warrior, they would ignore all your defense and pain would penetrate your flesh. Of course, the more advanced you were, the less pain you felt, but those rods were known to be ruthless.


    Cao Yun was isolated from his friends. Each one of them got fetched by different instructors to be produced as witnesses. They brought Cao Yun in front of the disciplinary pavilion.


    On the pagoda that was this pavilion, the rules of the Wubei Sect were engraved in golden characters. The most important rule was on the front of the pagoda. "Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!". Since its founding, the Hongchen Kingdom had always been threatened by demons all around its borders. In order to protect themselves, humans had formed a great sense of solidarity and belonging to one kingdom. All the orthodox cultivators felt morally obligated to defend their species against the demons, no matter what.


    Right in front of the pagoda, there was a platform with nine high seats. They were towering above the rest of the people as many disciples were gathering around the platform. Most of them had heard about this upcoming trial. The attack of Luduo Bu, the coma of Cao Yun and then the invasion of the Coiling Silk Faction residence were no small matters.


    When Cao Yun walked toward the platform, he recognized some people in the mass. They were the members of the Heavenly Swallow Faction. He felt a bit conflicted because he could unintentionally involve them in this trial. After all, he was a prominent member of this faction and some may imagine that the attack on the Coilig Silk Faction was due to strifes between the two factions.


    Zhi Yin had no expression but Ling Hui was severe. She idolized her senior sister and because of Cao Yun, she would once again be in a difficult position. He had literally attacked another faction without consulting them beforehand. In her views, it showed that he did not care about their Heavenly Swallow Faction at all. For Ling Hui, Cao Yun was the worst!


    Feeling this murderous gaze on him, the boy decided to just ignore it and look away. There were also Zhao Fei and Zhao Lin. All the members of the faction were here. Their gazes were a bit different, unsure of what to think. As everyone else, they were in the dark about what had transpired in the Coiling Silk Faction residence. They only heard Lu Meihan''s version. According to her, Cao Yun had just attacked out of the blue.


    They had a hard time believing it. And just like everyone else here, they were waiting to hear his version. Moreover, if a public trial was held, the situation could not be as simple as that.


    On the platform, nine chief elders were seated on the high seats. They were all in charge of pavilions in the outer sect. Chief elders were appointed among the inner disciples. Some were in charge of matters within the inner sect, some within the outer sect, and there were also chief elders in charge of external matters. For example, just as Xiao Xuefeng came from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, a chief elder from the Wubei Sect had been sent there in her stead.


    Among the nine, there were of course Chief Elder Baishen, in charge of the martial art pavilion and Chief Elder Suxian, in charge of the array formation pavilion. Both of them were favorable to Cao Yun and they had investigated to corroborate his story. Chief Elder Luoming, in charge of the art pavilion was also present, as well as Chief Elder Bian in charge of the disciplinary pavilion. As was his duty, he would preside over this public trial.


    The Sect Leader himself had been warned, given the exceptional nature of such a public trial. Usually, the trials of the disciplinary pavilion were performed in private. The faces of the judges were also unknown. But all this publicity made Chief Elder Bian even more adamant about his decision. He had to convict Cao Yun and prove to everyone else that he had been right.


    Among the judges, there were five other chief elders Cao Yun had not met before. In the outer sect, there were more chief elders, but only nine were to be judges at a public trial. There were two women, Chief Elder Yisheng, in charge of the demonic beasts pavilion and Chief Elder L¨¹mian, in charge of the soul and mind pavilion. Finally, the three men were Chief Elder Tingyu, in charge of the blacksmith pavilion, Chief Elder Qinghe, in charge of the physician pavilion, and Chief Elder Kong, in charge of the philosophy pavilion.


    All of them were wearing the uniform of the Wubei Sect, and waiting for Cao Yun. Lu Meihan was still on the platform. And everyone had heard her version. On the other side of the platform, Wang Mei, Sun Liao, Hua Mei and Ren Chao were standing. Wang Mei had a hard time watching Lu Meihan straight in the eyes. And she too seemed to been pained by the presence of her former servant.


    When Cao Yun finally reached the middle of the platform, the two instructors stepped back a little. And from the high seats, Chief Elder Bian floated down toward the boy.


    "Chen Guo! You are accused of serious crimes against our Wubei Sect and your fellow disciples! The murder of Luduo Bu. The attack of the Coiling Silk Faction residence. And the attempted murder of Lu Meihan. What do you plead?"


    Cao Yun breathed calmly, looked at the chief elders, then looked around to watch all the disciples gathered here.


    "I''m innocent of everything!"


    Chief Elder Bian was expecting this but the outer disciples began to whisper among them. In the eyes of Cao Yun, there was a deep conviction and they couldn''t stop thinking that there had to be an explanation. Cao Yun was the most prominent first-year, he had no reason to commit such crimes. Even Lu Meihan failed to bring up a reason in her version.


    "Fine. Let''s begin with your first crime. Aren''t you the one who murdered Luduo Bu?"


    "I did not murder him. I acted in self-defense."


    Hearing him, everyone got the confirmation. There had been rumors but they were really true. Cao Yun, a 6th-grade Mortal, had killed Luduo Bu who was a second-year and a 7th-grade Mortal. In fact, Luduo Bu had even reached higher than that but only in his final moments. So no one actually knew the real disparity in power between them both. Crossing one small grade to fight an opponent was not unheard of at all, but three of them was something else.


    "You claim that this was self-defense. But no one actually witnessed your fight. Even your servant only saw a tiny portion of it. Isn''t it right?"


    "Indeed. But you can examine his body to know the truth."


    "And what would his body tell us about this? The wounds could not confirm whether he attacked you or you attacked him."


    "No, but they can reveal that Luduo Bu was a demonic cultivator!"


    Hearing this word, ''demonic cultivator'', all the disciples were shocked. Noise rose in the crowd and even the chief elders were perplexed. Apart from Chief Elder Suxian and Chief Elder Baishen, no one had heard Cao Yun''s version. As such, they were all taken aback by this accusation.


    If Luduo Bu was really a demonic cultivator, killing him was not a crime but a huge achievement instead.

 Chapter 106: The truth must prevail

    "You dare spout such nonsense?!" Chief Elder Bian was furious because of the reaction the crowd had. Even some of the chief elders were intrigued. He needed to control this trial. No matter what, he had to convict Cao Yun or the reputation of his disciplinary pavilion would fall. And with it, the rules of the Wubei Sect would be undermined. They had been set in stones for around ten thousand years. He would not be the first chief elder of the disciplinary pavilion to fail them.


    "Luduo Bu''s body has been examined! There was nothing unusual with him, no trace of demonic arts. But it''s interesting that you mention demonic cultivators. Luduo Bu had indeed suffered from wounds inflicted by Evil Qi." He paused for letting the information sink in. "In fact, you were both covered in Evil Qi, but only he was wounded by it, isn''t that right?"


    Everyone present understood what he was trying to get at. He was clearly accusing Cao Yun of being a demonic cultivator.


    "Chief Elder Bian, you fail to consider one thing."


    "Oh?! What would that be?" Chief Elder Bian was rather proud of himself with the little effect he had produced on the assembly.


    "Demonic cultivators fall frequently victims to their own malicious art. The Evil Qi Luduo Bu gathered caused his own death while he was fighting me. In fact, I did not kill Luduo Bu because Luduo Bu was already dead when he got back in the Wubei Sect. I killed his inner demon."


    "Chen Guo! Stop trying to rile up people! What proof do you have of your allegations? None!" Chief Elder Bian turned back toward the other chief elders. "We examined Luduo Bu''s body and nothing suspicious was found."


    Unfortunately, it was partly because of Cao Yun. The Drop of Wrath had indeed consumed his blood runes. Otherwise, traces of his demonic arts would have been found. On the other hand, finding traces of an inner demon wiping out Luduo Bu''s conscious was an extremely arduous thing to do. Apart from Xiao Xuefeng, no one should be able to do so. And even her would need to examine the body very soon after his death. For once, Cao Yun could not blame Chief Elder Bian for his incredulity.


    But Cao Yun knew exactly where he was going. He did not need to prove everything, he only needed to paint out the big picture. All the little discrepancies in Chief Elder Bian and Lu Meihan''s version would add up and many would see the truth.


    "Whether you believe me or not is not my problem. I had no reason to kill Luduo Bu. Remember that I did win the fight."


    "The truth is... you killed him because you won the fight. You''ve had a grudge with Luduo Bu since you came in the Wubei Sect. The very first day you were here, you picked a weapon and went after him. You then tried to frame him. And you''re the one who challenged him, not the other way around. During the fight, you almost killed him. Everyone remembered how hurt he was, right? For some reason, he came to you. Maybe you even called him to meet with you. You were there with your little servant thinking she would lie for you. Finally, you killed him because you realized during the fight that he had advanced too fast and he would soon threaten you."


    Even some people who hated Luduo Bu''s guts began to think it kinda made sense.


    "Chief Elder Bian, you''re full of imagination... You accuse me of providing no proof for my allegations. And yet, here you are, relying on suppositions." Cao Yun addressed the audience. "The first day, Luduo Bu was beating on a servant in the martial art pavilion. That''s why I stopped him. That''s also why I dueled him. If I wanted to kill him, I could have done so either the first time and I would have had a justification. Or I could have done so before the duel. Chief Elder Baishen can be my witness!"


    Before the old woman could respond to his call, Chief Elder Bian intervened. "Chief Elder Baishen is here as a judge today. She cannot be any party''s witness. And your accusations solely rely on the testimony of the little girl Mei Ying. I want to remind everyone that her sister is Mei Hua, your friend."


    "Chief Elder Bian, do you accuse everyone to lie except for Luduo Bu and Lu Meihan?" In Cao Yun, there was a tinge of anger. Chief Elder Bian was insulting all his friends. No matter who he would produce as a witness, they would automatically be framed as a liar.


    "Chen Guo, you misrepresent my words. I just say that the testimony of your friends cannot be impartial toward you. This does not mean that they necessarily lie."


    "And yet, you trust Luduo Bu''s testimony. Ask anyone in the audience if this man was trustworthy!" Cao Yun once again looked at the audience below the platform. "If anyone here trusted the man, let them come forward!"


    Many whispers spread throughout the crowd. Luduo Bu had a terrible reputation and the people who actually met him had an even worse impression of him. Apart from the first-years, almost everyone despised or even hated the guy.


    "Chen Guo! You will not address the crowd! Your trial only concerns the judges!"


    "Then I ask the judges. How many times had Luduo Bu been convicted by this very disciplinary pavilion?"


    Chief Elder Bian knew that this question was the door to terrible answers for him. Hence, he changed the subject. "Chen Guo, stop speaking ill of the dead! Killing him wasn''t enough, you also want to ruin his name?! I won''t let you sully him! Let''s talk about your second crime! You attacked the Coiling Silk Faction residence. Many disciples were witness to the attack, do you dare deny it as well?!"


    This time, Chief Elder Bian had actual neutral witnesses. Many disciples had witnessed Sun Liao and Mei Hua distracting the guards. And some of the disciples who were inside the residence did see Cao Yun fight against Lu Meihan. There was no way to deny his involvement. And he did not try to.


    "Chief Elder Bian, once again you present the facts as you''d want them to be. I did not attack the Coiling Silk Faction residence. I went to free a friend who was held hostage, Ren Chao!" All the eyes darted to the tall man. His complexion was still a little sick from the Feverish Eucalyptus Liquor.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Well, I heard that your friend could not remember a single thing. And he reeked of alcohol! Couldn''t the truth be more simple? Ren Chao went into the Coiling Faction residence and got drunk. Unable to restrain himself, he was inappropriate with a lady and you came to defend him. Isn''t that possible?"


    Wang Mei and Ren Chao clenched their fists. Even Sun Liao was visibly annoyed. On the other hand, Cao Yun used his words to calm his anger.


    "Once again, a great story. But you fail to have any proof! Many people saw me enter the residence. Did you find a single witness who saw Ren Chao enter that day or the day before. Apart from members of the Coiling Silk Faction that is. After all, you said it yourself, no? If they''re close to Lu Meihan, their testimony can''t be trusted. Isn''t that what you said about my friends?"


    "You...!"


    "Chief Elder Bian, do you have any witness of your accusations?" This time, it was Chief Elder Kong, in charge of the philosophy pavilion who asked the question.


    Chief Elder Bian''s face was red. It was hard to say if it was because he was angry or because he felt humiliated.


    "Several members of the Coiling Silk Faction corroborate this story..."


    Hearing this, Wang Mei looked at Lu Meihan. Her faction leader looked away in shame. The people she felt the closest to had lied against the man she loved. Wang Mei could not believe that they would go to such villainy.


    "Anyone else?" Chief Elder Kong asked again.


    "No... But Chen Guo has no proof whatsoever to support his accusations either!"


    "Oh? I don''t?!" The tone of Cao Yun''s voice was unnerving for Chief Elder Bian. Usually, Cao Yun was pretty agreeable. But he was not to be trampled upon, and he had a bottom line. Chief Elder Bian had failed to uphold the law when Luduo Bu was condemned too lightly. Then, he had put all the blame on him. And finally, he was even accusing his friends, especially Ren Chao who had almost died. Cao Yun did not just want to be recognized innocent. He also wanted Chief Elder Bian to be humiliated in front of everyone.


    "Everyone here should know that Lu Meihan had stopped appearing in public. But I believe that no one knows the real reason." Lu Meihan''s face darkened as it was her most well hidden and shameful secret. "She suffered from a backlash during her cultivation. And she got so weak that she could hardly leave her own bed. Would you like to deny?" Cao Yun turned toward her, but Lu Meihan''s face was already a form of answer for everyone present.


    "Someone gave her a way to treat this injury through demonic arts."


    Once more, everyone was shocked. Cao Yun was accusing the leader of one of the most renown factions of being a demonic cultivator as well.


    Chief Elder Bian started to laugh. "That''s your answer to everything? Everyone is a demonic cultivator but you?!"


    "Not everyone, Chief Elder. Only those who use demonic arts." He turned back toward the chief elders. "Seniors, Lu Meihan used a strange balm to activate her acupoints and regain her strength. May I ask you to examine her? I saw the manual describing how to apply this balm in her room. I can tell you exactly where she applied it. I''m sure you will find that this balm is not orthodox in nature."


    "Chen Guo, even if what you say is true about Lu Meihan''s injury and about this balm, that doesn''t mean anything at all. Using the weapons or the medicines of demonic cultivators does not make you one of them. Many orthodox cultivators use the artifacts taken from the demonic cultivators they''ve killed. Once the object is forged, the evil is done. The artifact itself is not evil, only the process of building it."


    "Chief Elder Bian, you''re not wrong for once. But I can also perfectly describe the dual cultivation method she wanted to use on me!"


    Cao Yun was waiting for the right moment to talk about this. Everyone was now able to piece together what had happened. They all understood that Lu Meihan wanted to use him in dual cultivation in order to heal her injury. And Ren Chao was bait.


    Chief Elder Bian got even more angry. "So, you''re going to produce a demonic art to prove that she''s the demonic cultivator. Wouldn''t it prove that you''re the demonic cultivator?!"


    "Chief Elder Bian, would I be so stupid if I were one? It turns out that this dual cultivation method requires a small period of training called ''The Goddess Devours the Earth''. It''s a first phase needed to then absorb the energy and essence of your partner. It needs to be performed at least ten days before the dual cultivation itself." Cao Yun had completely analyzed the ''Reversing Two Universes Dance'' method and he was aware of its weaknesses. After all, he was supposed to be its victim, so he tried to protect himself.


    "I''m sure the chief elders present today would be able to find traces of Qi in the main points of this technique. With your perception, I do not doubt that you''ll realize Lu Meihan had been practicing this method."


    Lu Meihan was frozen. Cao Yun was right. She had practiced ''The Goddess Devours the Earth'' in order to prepare her body for the ingestion of Cao Yun''s energy and essence. In fact, she had started a long time ago and had kept on practicing. She wanted to be ready at any time, just in case.


    "Let''s assume we find traces of this practice in her meridians, it could also have been from another technique using similar acupoints." Beginning to understand that he was losing to Cao Yun, Chief Elder Bian got desperate. "You''re just spouting theory after theory. There is nothing that you can really prove. However, I was there when you tried to kill Lu Meihan. That is a fact! If I had not stopped your spear, she would be dead by now."


    Chief Elder Bian turned toward the chief elders. "To resolve this situation, there is only one way. Chen Guo must be subjected to a Soul Memory Search."


    "What?!" Several chief elders and disciples in the crowd were unable to process what he had just said. A Soul Memory Search was a technique used by Spirit Warriors. They could invade someone''s mind and read their memories. However, penetrating someone''s mind, even with their cooperation, was always risky. The person''s mind or soul could be damaged at any moment. Some accidents had already happened with people simply dying or being mind wiped or maimed for the rest of their days.


    "I know that this is extreme, but if Chen Guo accepts to cooperate, the risks will be minimal." Chief Elder Bian was really desperate to prove he was right. He knew that the elements he had were pretty weak against Cao Yun, but he did not think that he would be able to talk his way out so easily. Right now, most of the chief elders were ready to believe him or at least doubt Lu Meihan''s version.


    The first to speak up was Chief Elder Baishen. "Bian Gui, are you insane?! What kind of sect subjects their own disciples to such a risky and invasive technique?!"


    "Sister Baishen, I know you care about Chen Guo. But this matter is serious. Given everything that''s been said, either Chen Guo is a demonic cultivator or Lu Meihan is. We need to get to the bottom of it! Do you suggest you subject Miss Lu to this procedure? She''s the victim here!"


    The words of Chief Elder Bian started to make sense to some people. In fact, some disciples felt threatened by Cao Yun''s growth speed. They were starting to wonder whether he actually was a demonic cultivator. After all, he even knew about their techniques.


    Before Chief Elder Baishen could answer, another voice rose from the crowd. Surprisingly, it was Instructor Meng Jia''s voice.


    "Stop everything! I have proof of what Chen Guo is saying." Meng Jia was fully awake for once and was running toward the platform when several guards stepped between him and the stairs.


    "Instructor Meng, you''re Chen Guo''s private instructor. You''re not impartial here. We can''t trust what you would say."


    And before Meng Jia could answer, another voice resounded, but from the sky this time. Everyone looked up.


    "Chief Elder Bian. Am I also not to trust?"

 Chapter 107: The Sect Leaders Seal of Authority

    Xiao Xuefeng literally descended from the sky. She was a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior, ready to break through to the 8th-grade in a matter of years. And she was unanimously recognized as the cultivator with the best spiritual senses. The current pinnacle of cultivation in the Hongchen Kingdom was 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. No one had been able to break through to the fourth realm since the ancient times, the period of Emperor Nuwa. Hence the current era was called the Forsaken Dao Era.


    Thus, Xiao Xuefeng was one of the most powerful cultivators in the kingdom, and a genius alchemist at that. As such, her words were worth more than gold. When she descended from the sky, she really looked like a goddess coming to the mortal world.


    "Chief Elder Bian, what is the meaning of this?" She did not raise her voice but everyone heard her as if she was close to their ears. There was a sense of authority in her every word.


    Even Chief Elder Bian was almost ready to kowtow before her presence, but he controlled himself.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, those are the internal matters of our Wubei Sect. While we appreciate your presence, please do not interfere with our laws. In our Wubei Sect, you have no authority on the way in which we mete out justice."


    Despite his harsh words, Chief Elder Bian still kept his composure and cupped his fists with respect.


    "What kind of law authorizes you to violate the soul of a boy with no evidence at all of his so-called crimes?! I brought Chen Guo here! If anyone wants to harm him, they''ll have to go through me! Law or no law!"


    Chief Elder Bian''s irritation got the best of him. "Would the Golden FLowery Fragrance Institute accept for an outsider to dictate their own laws?! Do not think that our Wubei Sect is so easily bullied!"


    Chief Elder Bian was trying to rile up the other chief elders against a common enemy. However, no one seemed to follow him in his indignation. After all, they were agreeing with Xiao Xuefeng on the matter. A Soul Memory Search was really going overboard.


    "Brother Bian, calm down." Chief Elder L¨¹mian from the soul and mind pavilion reacted. "What Miss Xiao is saying makes sense. The Soul Memory Search is extremely invasive and the risks are high. We should debate about it more thoroughly. At the very least, we should first listen to Instructor Meng. There is no need to rush to such extremes." As a specialist in the questions of soul and mind, she was well aware that this technique was a last resort. In fact, unless there were tremendous evidence against Cao Yun, she would probably not accept the use of it. But for now, she was just trying to find a peaceful way out.


    Rapidly, other chief elders supported her. "Brother Bian, listen to Sister L¨¹mian. Do not be hasty! Our disciple''s life is at stake."


    Chief Elder L¨¹mian turned toward Xiao Xuefeng in the sky. "Senior Xiao, I understand your fury. But please, be assured that the Wubei Sect will never bully a junior without serious evidence against him. I think that Brother Bian got a little too surprised by your sudden arrival. I can give you my word that the trial will be fair. So please, Senior Xiao, do not interfere."


    The majestic woman nodded and got down. She went to Mei Hua''s side. "Chief Elders, I will show you respect." She talked while looking at the eight chief elders but not Chief Elder Bian. Then, when she finally looked at him, she added something else. "However, fairness must be adhered to."


    Realizing that he had managed to rally all the chief elders against himself, Chief Elder Bian was even more adamant on convicting Cao Yun. Panicked, he tried to take back the control of the situation. "Instructor Meng is the personal teacher of Chen Guo. He already protected him several times. So I do believe that his words are not to be blindly trusted. However, I do recognize that he has some abilities. Brothers, Sisters, I did not intend to take such a heavy decision without a very careful debate. But I thought that Instructor Meng''s arrival was rather cavalier." He looked at the instructor. "Meng Jia, please speak."


    Instructor Meng walked to the middle of the platform and bowed before the chief elders. He then turned toward Xiao Xuefeng. "Thank you, Guest Elder Xiao."


    From his spatial ring, the body of Luduo Bu appeared with a small table under him. His body was covered appropriately but it shocked the disciples. Before Chief Elder Bian could protest this macabre show, Instructor Meng talked.


    "I conducted a thorough examination of Luduo Bu''s body with the approval of the physician pavilion." Chief Elder Bian looked at Chief Elder Qinghe who simply nodded. Usually, only the disciplinary pavilion was allowed to examine the corpses of the disciples in order to mete out justice. However, there was no strict law on the matter. Even though Meng Jia was not a physician, he was a very talented alchemist. And as such, he was qualified to perform examinations on a corpse.


    The disciplinary pavilion had tried to keep the body for as long as possible. According to the rules, unless the investigation was over, they could not neither bury nor burn it. But they still tried to keep it for themselves. Fortunately, the physician pavilion had put in a formal request to take it over. And they had won very recently. In fact, Meng Jia had used his connections within the physician pavilion to have access to the body. And for several days, he had been working on it.


    "It is true that there is no apparent trace of demonic arts. However, there are several suspicious elements that can attest of their use. First of all, Luduo Bu''s acupoints have all been forcefully opened with a tremendous force. Even after so much time, there are still traumatic marks on his acupoints. I even found traces of Evil Qi in many of them. It is true that someone could have attacked him from the outside. However, Chen Guo is only a Mortal, there is no way for him to perform such a feat."


    While speaking, he showed various prominent acupoints who were still bruised or a little bit corroded. This was not apparent to the naked eye for most of them, but the chief elders were all Spirit Warriors. When Meng Jia showed them what they were supposed to look at, they clearly saw the signs. And they nodded as they were listening to him, proving that what he was saying made sense.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The whispers through the crowd resumed. This was not a decisive proof, but it did show that either Luduo Bu had opened his acupoints with Evil Qi or someone else had done it for him. And Cao Yun clearly was not a Mortal Warrior, he could not send his Qi in all the acupoints of someone. Only a Mortal Warrior who could control his Qi outside of his own body could do such a thing. So either another demonic cultivator who was a Mortal Warrior had done so or this Evil Qi came from within Luduo Bu himself. A Mortal could perfectly control his Qi within his own body.


    "But that''s not all! By using various mixtures, I was able to detect unbalances in the brain and the heart. It''s sadly been too long, but the possibility of an inner demon having emerged is very likely."


    This time Chief Elder Bian interrupted him. "This is just one possibility! My pavilion''s examination concluded that the violent conditions of death could also have produced such a result. We have no proof concerning any inner demon. And even if he had formed one, sadly, even orthodox cultivators can succumb to it..."


    "Indeed, Chief Elder. However, the wounds of Luduo Bu are extremely consistent with Chen Guo''s account. I do believe that we should conduct a medical examination of Lu Meihan. After all, this procedure is way less invasive and dangerous than a Soul Memory Search. I propose that Chief Elder Qinghe himself does so."


    On the side, Lu Meihan was beginning to be afraid. If a Spirit Warrior who specialized in medicine was to examine her, all her secrets would rapidly be exposed. The Life Essence Phoenix Balm was made from human blood. Cao Yun himself did not know that since it wasn''t said in the manual, for obvious reasons. But with an expert physician, it wouldn''t be hard to see through that fact. There were still traces of the balm in her meridians after all.


    Chief Elder Bian interjected. "Lu Meihan is the victim here! Subjecting her to such an humiliation is absurd! You''re just trying to protect your student!" All reason had left Chief Elder Bian. He did not even care about the truth anymore. In his mind, he had to convict Cao Yun no matter what, in order to uphold the dignity of the disciplinary pavilion and the laws of the Wubei Sect. As he had dug a hole for himself, he was going to keep digging to get out of it.


    "I ask the chief elders not to fall victims to such words. All the findings Instructor Meng claims to have discovered could have been planted by him. He''s a talented alchemist and Guest Elder Xiao could have even helped him." None of his words were touching anyone now. Seeing the looks he was receiving, thousands of possibilities crossed his mind. And he only found one way. "I''ll show you all!"


    All of a sudden, his hand was on Cao Yun''s head. All the chief elders stood up in shock. He was going to perform a Soul Memory Search! In his despair, it made sense. As long as he exposed the truth from Cao Yun''s mind, everything would be settled. He did not care about the consequences on Cao Yun''s mind and he was going to be as fast as possible. In fact, he was ready to literally break his mind and extract the memories he needed.


    "I''ll show you that I was right!"


    The moment he sent his spirit into Cao Yun''s mind, a force blocked him. Chief Elder Bian was a late 5th-grade Spirit Warrior. It was impossible for Cao Yun to stop him from invading his mind even with the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' method. However, someone here was able of such a feat, Xiao Xuefeng.


    As soon as Chief Elder Bian violated the rules, she had intervened. As the woman recognized with the most powerful spiritual senses, stopping his attempt was extremely easy. Chief Elder Bian saw a white crane appear in his mind. The bird flapped its wings and his spirit was sent back within his own mind. In the physical world, a powerful force sent his body backward and Xiao Xuefeng appeared between him and Cao Yun.


    The boy was sweating as he had felt the touch of Chief Elder Bian in his mind. The old man had tried to break into his sea of consciousness and he had been so close to do so. Even though Cao Yun was not a demonic cultivator, he did have the Drop of Wrath within him. If Chief Elder Bian had exposed it, explaining things would have become more difficult.


    All over the outer yard, Xiao Xuefeng''s voice echoed.


    "Chief Elder Bian, you''ve lost all reason! You dare attack someone under my protection?!"


    Completely suppressed, Chief Elder Bian coughed a bit of blood. "You...! You would rebel against our Wubei Sect?!"


    The other chief elders were conflicted. Chief Elder Bian had gone way too far, but Xiao Xuefeng was an outsider, so they couldn''t let her attack him either. They were trying to think of ways to soothe them both, when Xiao Xuefeng acted. From her spatial ring, a cube of jade appeared. It was as big as a dozen of fists combined. Over the cube, there was a turtle carved in exquisite jade. And on the top of its shell, a single character engraved and lined with gold.


    Once the cube left her spatial ring, a complete silence fell upon the entire outer yard. Everyone felt absolutely insignificant. Even people who were not near this trial felt this presence. All the chief elders recognized this object, it was the Seal of Authority of the Wubei Sect. Only the Sect Leader could own it. And he had the right to lend the seal to anyone. Having the Seal of Authority was considered as being the Sect Leader himself.


    Chief Elder Bian and all the chief elders kowtowed instinctively before this seal.


    "Chief Elder Bian presents his respects to the Sect Leader."


    All the disciples understood the meaning of this and kowtowed as well.


    The character on the turtle''s shell shined and a giant golden character appeared in the sky. It was the character for ''Discipline''.


    "Chief Elder Bian! You have lost your integrity! Unable to admit your mistakes, you blamed your error in Luduo Bu''s case on Chen Guo. You failed to uphold true integrity! Blinded by your pride, you did not see the plot of demonic cultivators right under your nose. You failed to uphold true objectivity! Fueled by your fear of losing your reputation, you tried to hurt an innocent disciple. You failed to uphold true justice!"


    With the Seal of Authority in her hands, Xiao Xuefeng''s words were sent throughout the entire Wubei Sect, all the way to the manor of the Sect Leader.


    "This Seal of Authority has been forged by Ancestor Wu himself when he founded the Wubei Sect. Do you admit to your sins before your forefather?"


    Chief Elder Bian was still not ready to admit anything, but his mind was clearer now. He felt as though he had been in a trance. Pride and arrogance had completely blinded him. And he was now thinking less passionately. Slowly, he came to realize that what had been said during this trial made a lot of sense. He may have been mistaken over Cao Yun. But admitting this meant that he had to admit that he had tried to break the mind of an innocent disciple and he simply couldn''t.


    "Still unwilling to repent?!" Xiao Xuefeng''s finger pointer at the disciplinary pavilion. All the characters engraved on it started to shine. They flew in the air and encircled Chief Elder Bian. Those were all the laws forged by Ancestor Wu ten thousand years ago. He had personally carved every single one of them.


    "Then, can you swear on these very laws that bind you that your actions were righteous?"


    Chief Elder Bian raised his head and saw golden and silver characters floating all around him. Ashamed, he lowered his head back to the ground.


    "This unfilial one cannot."

 Chapter 108: Nine years of confinement

    Then, Xiao Xuefeng''s voice resounded once more.


    "Do you admit that Chen Guo only ever told the truth?"


    Chief Elder Bian had to search deep in his mind. Thinking back over everything, he had to break his own ego to admit it. But he finally realized that everything Cao Yun had said made sense and was corroborated by the evidence. On the other hand, his own investigation into Lu meihan''s version had been very inconclusive.


    "This unfilial one admits to it!"


    Being faced with the Seal of Authority was akin to being in front of the Sect Leader himself. But much more than that, it was akin to being in front of all the sect leaders. And with the very laws of the Wubei Sect he had sworn to uphold floating around him, Chief Elder Bian felt as though Ancestor Wu himself was watching him.


    "Chief Elder Bian, do you admit that you failed to give justice to Mei Ying who was attacked so viciously by Luduo Bu?"


    At first, he had been revolted by Luduo Bu''s actions after hearing from Chief Elder Baishen and Guest Elder Xiao about what had happened in the martial art pavilion. But then, his own judges had deemed that the affair was not as simple. They found that Cao Yun may have had altered the truth to serve him. Instead of questioning the verdict, Chief Elder Bian had decided to side with their decision and formed a grudge against Cao Yun. Thinking back over it, his own judges had been wrong.


    "This unfilial one admits to it!"


    Xiao Xuefeng was relentless.


    "Chief Elder Bian, do you admit that you failed to see through Luduo Bu''s deception?"


    "This unfilial one admits to it!"


    "Chief Elder Bian, do you admit that you failed to treat Chen Guo fairly and with impartiality?"


    "This unfilial one admits to it!"


    "And finally, Chief Elder Bian, do you admit that you failed to uphold the true ideals of justice of the Wubei Sect and brought shame to the name of Ancestor Wu?"


    "This unfilial one admits to it!"


    Chief Elder Bian was utterly broken. More than the public humiliation, it was his sincere realization that he had sullied the laws he had sworn an oath to uphold that really broke him.


    "Chief Elder Bian, you are hereby demoted of your rank and of your functions. You will not administer the disciplinary pavilion anymore. Then, just as Ancestor Wu secluded himself for nine years to found the Wubei Sect and edict all of its laws, for nine years, you will repent in seclusion within the caves of the Heidai Peak."


    "This unfilial one admits to all his mistakes. This unfilial one accepts his forefathers'' judgment."


    Just like that, Chief Elder Bian who had managed the disciplinary pavilion for at least four hundred years was demoted. With the Seal of Authority in Xiao Xuefeng''s hands, no one had any complaint. On the side, Lu Meihan''s heart had stopped. She knew that she had no way to get out of this now. Her only chance of survival was if Cao Yun was sent to the Devil''s Jail. In this case, the demonic cultivators could allow her to use him and restore her health. Now that this wasn''t possible anymore, she was doomed to die in a matter of weeks.


    As everyone calmed down, Xiao Xuefeng took back the Seal of Authority into her spatial ring. Slowly, all eyes went onto Lu Meihan. From the beginning, there were holes in her story. And with Xiao Xuefeng supporting Cao Yun, everyone started to wonder whether she really was a demonic cultivator.


    Lu Meihan, just like everyone else was kowtowing before the presence of the Sect Leader in the Seal of Authority. Now that it was gone, all the other disciples were slowly standing up but not her. In fact, she moved a little and kowtowed to her former servant.


    "Wang Mei, I''m sorry." The girl heard sincerity in her words. "I never meant to harm you in any way. I knew what Ren Chao meant to you, but I just couldn''t let go. Please forgive me."


    Then, she turned to Cao Yun. "Chen Guo, it seems like you won. You and I had no grudge and yet I tried to kill you." She was finally admitting to everything. Chief Elder Bian on the platform was dumbfounded. Xiao Xuefeng had been able to solve this matter so easily. All of his efforts seemed to have been for naught, he really was unfit to manage the disciplinary pavilion.


    Lu Meihan stood up. "However, I have no regret! You can condemn me all you want but what would any of you do if your cultivation just disappeared forever? Would you accept to simply let go and lead a normal life? I couldn''t! I would rather die under the scorn of every orthodox cultivator than live in humiliation! Without power, the whole world turns on you. So I would rather betray the world before it betrays me!"


    In Lu Meihan''s eyes, the disciples could see a firm resolve. She really was ready to die rather than becoming a mere mortal. She came from a small noble family. As such, everyone knew that she would probably just be used as a political tool without her cultivation. Many disciples were starting to wonder about her actions. Demonic cultivators were seen as traitors against all mankind, but wouldn''t they also attempt everything not to lose their cultivation?


    Xiao Xuefeng''s voice resounded throughout the plaza. "Do you actually believe such nonsense?! Did the Wubei Sect forsake you?! When you suffered your backlash, Chief Elder Qinghe personally tried to help you, didn''t he?"


    Lu Meihan''s resolve was shaken. Indeed, she had asked the physician pavilion. And Chief Elder Qinghe had come in person to help her. They had even agreed to keep her situation quiet.


    "Do you know that Chief Elder Qinghe is still, to this day, searching for a treatment? He even asked for my help and he was ready to pay any sum. Has he forsaken you?" Lu Meihan looked at the old man on the high seat. Chief Elder Qinghe was a very low-key man and he got a bit embarrassed. But when he saw Lu Miehan''s stare on him, he had to speak.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I''m sorry... I did not tell you because I didn''t want you to have false hopes. Your condition is so critical that I know of no treatment. However, I thought that with the history of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute in the medical domain, we could find something. We still did not..."


    The girl realized that the Wubei Sect was really trying to help her in the shadows.


    "You let despair take over and the demonic cultivators used you! Do you think they care about you? You''re just a pawn in their plan, whatever it is. Even without your cultivation, aren''t you a 5-star Earth calligraphist, a 5-star Earth musician, a 5-star Earth strategist, and much more? The Wubei Sect could have accepted you as an inner disciple. Even monasteries or province governments would have gladly taken you in!"


    Gradually, Lu Meihan started to realize her own folly. In fact, the Wubei Sect had never even told her anything about her injury. She was the one who imagined that she was useless.


    "If your self-worth is attached to your own strength, you are doomed to feel despair when you lose it. But isn''t it the fate of all mortals? And yet, they do not succumb to temptation and betray their own kind!"


    Xiao Xuefeng was not only speaking to Lu Meihan, but to all the disciples as well. She had been brought in to root out any potential demonic cultivators. Even though none had tried to get in during the entrance examination, it seems like some were already in.


    "Remember Saint Xun Ke! During the Founding Era, he sacrificed his entire cultivation to save Emperor Nuwa from a coup by the demons. Instead of feeling defeated, he dedicated the last decades of his life to the Hongchen Kingdom. Thanks to this man who was a mere mortal at the time, the government was stabilized and the unceasing wars between humans and demons ended. This ''mere'' mortal ushered in the Seven Treaties Era, our most prosperous era ever! He even became one of the Four Saints despite having no cultivation at all. Always remember his last words: ''All men, no matter how long they live or how bright they shine, can shape the world. A fleeting moment for a man, an eternity of benefits for mankind. No cultivation can replace the Dao Heart!''."


    When she quoted the words of Saint Xun Ke, Xiao Xuefeng put her own soul into her words. These three sentences shook the hearts of everyone present here, even some of the chief elders, especially Chief Elder Bian. On the side, Cao Yun was also marked by this.


    In the crowd, some eyes were starting to show signs of faltering.


    "The most important thing is the Dao Heart. If you lack determination, no amount of cultivation will be able to make you feel secure. You will always live in fear no matter how powerful you become. Unless you truly believe in yourself, you can''t achieve the pinnacle of cultivation. But if you lack morale, no amount of cultivation will earn you any respect. You will live surrounded by enemies and preys. Your life won''t be different from the life of a beast."


    As she spoke, the words on the disciplinary pavilion started to burn hotter and hotter even though she had stopped using the Seal of Authority.


    "Remember! Cultivation is not just about power! You must strive to achieve the true ideals of our human race."


    Another voice resounded, a voice that seemed to come from another world. "Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!"


    Chief Elder Bian''s eyes bulged. This was the voice of Ancestor Wu himself. The words he had engraved in the disciplinary pavilion had recognized Xiao Xuefeng''s truth. This strange phenomenon surprised everyone. All of a sudden, they all kowtowed once more, except for Lu Meihan.


    "This junior will never forget Guest Elder Xiao''s words. Thank you for this truth."


    As Cao Yun was also kowtowing, the words ''Dao Heart'' were resounding within him. In his sea of consciousness, he felt the four characters rejoice.


    The most shaken disciple was Lu Meihan, the only one still standing. Since her backlash, she had lived in a black fog. All day long, she only thought about her cruel future. But today, she realized that this future was solely in her mind. She could have simply chosen a different way and many people would have been there for her. Defeated, all her strength disappeared and she fell straight to the ground as a puppet whose strings were cut.


    In the crowd, some disciples were in fact in the same situation as Lu Meihan. The demonic cultivators had already recruited several of them. And right now, they were doubting their choice. Most of them were even wondering whether they should reveal everything to the chief elders.


    Lu Meihan was looking at Wang Mei. "Sister Wang. You''ve always been there for me, but I was too blinded by my own fears. If only I had confided in you more... I know you would have found a better way..."


    Wang Mei''s eyes were a bit watery. She thought herself responsible for Lu Meihan''s lack of openness. And now, she realized that they had the same thoughts.


    "Faction Leader, I''m the one who should have seen through your despair. I''m sorry it had to end like this."


    Lu Meihan laughed a little. "No matter what I did, you still care for me... Wang Mei, you had no responsibility in what I did." She raised her head and looked at Xiao Xuefeng. "No one in the Coiling Silk Faction knew what I was doing. I acted alone. But I''ll tell you about the guy who..."


    Before she could finish her sentence, she felt all her meridians starting to burn inside. The small traces of Life Essence Phoenix Balm still in her system were becoming flames. With her spiritual senses, Xiao Xuefeng felt it instantly. The Seal of Authority reappeared in her hand. A new character shined in the sky, the character for ''Salvation''. It was pure gold and shined right over Lu Meihan.


    Xiao Xuefeng did some hand gestures and a giant cauldron formed around Lu Meihan. She was completely hidden within this Qi Manifestation. The cauldron was absolutely gorgeous with thousands of elegant birds engraved all over it. The flames from within Lu Meihan started to get dragged out of her, but the pain was unbearable.


    As soon as Xiao Xuefeng tried to save her, the flames changed in their nature. Lu Meihan''s Qi became as cold as ice and an evil feeling permeated through her flesh. Sensing the severity of the situation, Xiao Xuefeng changed her approach. A Spirit Warrior was trying to annihilate Lu Meihan completely.


    Four doors fell from the sky all around the cauldron. These too were Qi Manifestation. On each one, a legendary beast was engraved. They were all awe-inspiring and gave the impression of almost being alive.


    The strength that was tormenting Lu Meihan got subdued a little, but it escaped once more. This time, it attacked her very soul. She screamed so loudly that everyone in the plaza heard her despite the layers formed to protect her. Xiao Xuefeng''s face was distorted as she was putting all her efforts into helping her. Other chief elders came to help her, but she was the one with the highest cultivation and the most powerful spiritual senses.


    Deep within Lu Meihan''s mind, something shattered. She saw all her memories being corroded right before her eyes. One by one, she was losing everything that she was and soon her very soul would be destroyed as well.


    With her last breath, she yelled out. "Grand Master Xiao, make it stop!"


    Wang Mei and everyone else was beyond shocked. Only Xiao Xuefeng kept her calm. Being the most perceptive, she knew what was going on in Lu Meihan''s mind. Seeing her own mind being destroyed bit by bit was the worst feeling possible, way worse than being tortured or maimed. The feeling of powerlessness as her very being was slowly disappearing before her was utterly crushing.


    "I understand." All the Qi Manifestations dissipated into thin air and Xiao Xuefeng appeared in a flash right in front of Lu Meihan. With two fingers as a sword, she stabbed her forehead. In an instant, her mind collapsed entirely and her lifeless body fell to the ground.

 Chapter 109: The truth revealed for the first time

    In the air, sparks were shining around Xiao Xuefeng''s fingers. She had killed Lu Meihan and was now extracting her mind from her body. As it was pulled out, it became visible even to mere mortals. The woman was condensing what remained of Lu Meihan''s mind in order to find out the one responsible for this attack.


    Luckily, the attack had targeted her mind and not her soul. The mind was the seat of the personality and the memories. On the other hand, the soul was believed to be the very essence of someone, beyond the ego. In the Hongchen Kingdom, people believed that the soul was the thing that got reincarnated. Destroying or hurting a soul was thus seen as the worse crime against someone since you would not only kill the person but also extinguish all chances of reincarnation.


    In the particles floating in the air, there were some evil vibes. Xiao Xuefeng focused on those and pulled them together. Very soon, the other chief elders were helping her. The ''Salvation'' character was still in the air and was suppressing the evil energy within. Chief Elder Suxian took out a compass. The artifact increased in size and got large enough to completely encapsulate the particles in the air.


    Some strands of this evil energy tried to flee but hit against an invisible wall. Gradually, the compass became smaller and smaller. Xiao Xuefeng also increased the force she was using. Violent outbursts from the small wisps of evil went and collided with the array formation set by Chief Elder Suxian. But the combined effort of him and Xiao Xuefeng was enough to reduce their strength.


    Very soon, all the particles collapsed into a purple flame. It wasn''t bigger than the tip of a finger. Yet, all the cultivators were terrified of it. This small thing had caused so much pain and suffering in Lu Meihan who was almost a Mortal Warrior. And most of the outer disciples were only Mortals. Only a handful of them was able to reach Mortal Warrior before the end of the five years.


    The chief elders were talking telepathically as they did not want to alarm the disciples even more. Chief Elder L¨¹mian came to help the other two as she was specialized in soul and mind. The other chief elders turned toward the disciples and tried to disperse everyone as calmly as possible. Within the disciples, some of them had already been contacted by demonic cultivators, just like Lu Meihan. The words of Xiao Xuefeng had almost been able to convince them to turn back toward the orthodox way. However, this scene of torture was a clear deterrent.


    Xiao Xuefeng knew it as well. Whoever did this could have killed Lu Meihan instantly but they wanted to show two things. They were able to inflict unimaginable pain. If they could attack the mind, they could also attack the soul, the great taboo. But this also showed that not even the presence of nine chief elders and Xiao Xuefeng herself was enough to stop them. It meant that no one could really protect the disciples. All the chief elders understood this blow they had received.


    But it also came with a price. Now, Xiao Xuefeng had a part of the energy from this Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator. She wouldn''t be able to find out who he was right away, but this was a step in the right direction. And she also knew how they were operating. Rather than sending demonic cultivators who would be easily spotted, they were using apparent orthodox cultivators. As long as they did not practice extreme demonic arts, they would not be detected.


    In fact, if Luduo Bu had only used blood from demonic beasts to forge his blood runes, even Xiao Xuefeng would have been blind to his treason. And they could still show orthodox cultivators how effective their arts were. When the time was right, they would then fully embrace the Evil path.


    All these informations were vital.


    Soon enough, everyone was sent away, including Cao Yun and his friends. Wang Mei looked at the lifeless body of Lu Meihan and Ren Chao hugged her tightly.


    -


    The friends were all shaken and did not know what to say to each other. They stayed in the same room for a while. Ren Chao was the first one to break this awkward silence while keeping Wang Mei in his embrace.


    "Brother Chen, thank you for saving me. I know that you feel responsible for my abduction but you''re not! I''ll take Wang Mei to her room for now, but I''ll come back to thank you all properly another day."


    Wang Mei was indeed quite emotional after witnessing the terrible death of her friend.


    "Brothers, Sister, I''m sorry. I should have told you everything instead of trying to protect you. The truth is that the demonic cultivators have done something to me. And I''m trying to find out the ones responsible for it. I thought that going at it alone was the best choice. However, when they targeted my friends, I foolishly believed I could keep you safe by taking care of them myself..."


    Sun Liao stood up. "Brother Chen, it''s good that you admit you were stupid. Next time you try to protect us by keeping us in the dark, I''ll ask Brother Ren to knock some sense into your head. Do not belittle us! I''m a 5-star Earth array formation master, and the disciple of a chief elder of the greatest sect in the entire Hongchen Kingdom." He then pointed at Mei Hua. "Sister Mei is a 5-star Earth alchemist and the direct disciple of one of the most powerful Spirit Warriors in the Hongchen Kingdom. And Brother Ren is..." Sun Liao had a pause and seemed to think for a very long time. "He''s big."


    Mei Hua took over. "What Brother Sun is trying to say is that we''re all your friends. I sincerely understand not wanting to involve us. But we were involved the moment you were a target. I do sympathize with your way of thinking thanks to my little sister. However, we''re not weak! Do not forget it!" In the end, she seemed a bit mad, but nothing excessive. "You should come see Mei Ying in the following days. She was very worried about her older brother."


    Mei Hua left the room, leaving Cao Yun alone with Sun Liao.


    "Brother Chen, I also wanted to talk to you." He sat down and took a sip of tea. "I saw some array formations around the Coiling Silk Faction residence. I think they were made by the same guy who did the array formation you showed me. You see, masters always pick up habits as they set up array formations. If you know what you''re looking at, it''s possible to determine which master set up a specific array formation. These are very minute details, but I''m just that good." Sun Liao''s arrogance had been beaten out by Chief Elder Suxian but it was slowly coming back.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "I''m positive that these array formations have been set up by the same person and no one in the Coiling Silk Faction is competent enough to do so. But, I also feel a familiarity with these array formations. I''m pretty sure the array formation master who set them up tried to hide his touch. And I probably saw it somewhere else. You see, unlike you, I''m keeping my friends in the loop, not so hard, huh?"


    Sun Liao put down his cup of tea which he had finished. "I''ll try to discreetly look into it."


    "Brother Sun, I won''t stop you, but be careful, please."


    "Don''t worry about me. I''m more competent than Ren Chao! And much more refined as well! I won''t put my life at risk for nothing. If push comes to shove, I''ll just go to my master."


    Cao Yun ended up alone and Huang Cixi got back into the main room.


    "Mei Yuzhi, how is your cultivation going? When I was... well, when I was unconscious, you couldn''t use my Qi Vortex array formation. I hope you didn''t lag behind too much."


    "No, Young Master. I''m on the verge of breaking through to 4th-grade Mortal. I can fill my Lower Dantian getting ready. It won''t be too long."


    "Great! If you need to, I can give you another spirit stone." Cao Yun went into a drawer and took a small spirit stone out.


    "Young Master, really..." She was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. Relieved because she did not want to abuse of Cao Yun''s generosity, she went to answer.


    A very young woman was there, Kang Hai, a servant of Xiao Xuefeng.


    "I''m sorry to disturb you so late but my mistress would like to see Young Master Chen."


    -


    In a very dark room, Mo Zi was kneeling in front of a screen. Behind this screen was his master, the Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator.


    "Master, this unfilial disciple begs your forgiveness."


    The voice that left the screen was impossible to trace. It was as though it came from all around at once. And no one could tell whether it was from a man or a woman, it was extremely well hidden.


    "Mo Zi, I do not blame you. I expected too much from you. Luduo Bu was just a spur of the moment but he could have been of some use. However, Lu Meihan was really important. With her access to young disciples through her faction, we could have poisoned the mind of so many..." After an audible sigh, he kept talking. "I never should have left such an important task with you. Luckily I''ve been able to salvage most of it. Chief Elder Bian was so easy to manipulate it wasn''t even funny. Learn from him, arrogance is always your own defeat. But now that he''s out of the picture, we''ll fully control the disciplinary pavilion. No, the real problem is not your failure, it''s Xiao Xuefeng."


    "Yes, Master. This woman will be way more trouble than we thought."


    "It was to be expected. No matter how powerful she is, I can deal with her. But in the end, all is Chen Guo''s fault. He was the one who exposed Luo Jiang in Yinmen City. It was very ironic that he also was the perfect candidate to help Lu Meihan''s recovery."


    "Yes, Master. We should kill him as soon as possible. He''s no use to us anyway and I doubt we can convert him."


    The demonic cultivator laughed out loud. "And you think you can do so while he''s in the same place as Xiao Xuefeng. I was able to kill Lu Meihan before her eyes because I already put a wisp of energy in her Life Essence Phoenix Balm. If you want to kill Chen Guo, you''ll have to go through her. Even though I''m confident in a duel against her, I would need to fight several hours to simply injure her. And the other chief elders wouldn''t just sit idly by."


    "I''m sorry, Master, I spoke too rashly."


    "Oh, you''re young, it''s your right. But let Luduo Bu''s example be a lesson to you. When we use demonic arts, our minds can be easily swayed by our emotions. The day you stop controlling them, they will control you. This Chen Guo has almost formed an inner demon in you. Be careful."


    "I understand, Master. However, Chen Guo will be a threat to us in our plan. In two years, he will be a third-year, so..."


    "Do not worry. I said we shouldn''t kill him while he''s in the same place as Xiao Xuefeng. But next year, there is no way he will just wait inside the Wubei Sect. He''ll obviously go out. And no matter how careful he is, we''ll kill him. After all, the first part of our plan is going very smoothly. Next year will be very fun..."


    "Of course, Master." Mo Zi''s face was hidden but even in his distorted voice, a smile could be heard.


    "However, you should worry about Sun Liao a bit more." Mo Zi''s head suddenly moved to show his surprise. "I thoroughly erased all traces of your array formations, but he saw some of them. Do not underestimate him. If he sees your work, he won''t be long to piece things together. Be wary of him."


    "Master, killing Sun Liao would deal a severe blow to Chen Guo. It could even form an inner demon."


    "Do not be too impulsive. Killing Sun Liao is less difficult, but he''s still the prot¨¦g¨¦ of Suxian Zheng." He paused for a while. "If you have the opportunity and you think he''s onto you, do it. But remember what happened to Lu Meihan. I like you Mo Zi, but not nearly enough to jeopardize a century-old plan."


    With this last sentence, cold sweat flowed down Mo Zi''s spine. "I understand, Master. I''ll follow your teachings and I won''t endanger your efforts."


    -


    Cao Yun followed Kang Hai into the alchemy pavilion. Tehn she brought him underground. The girl knocked on an extremely wide metallic door before opening it. On the other side, Xiao Xuefeng was sitting inside a very small room filled with engravings on all the walls. Immediately, Cao Yun saw that it was an array formation.


    This array formation was more intricate than anything he had seen before. Even with all his knowledge, he could understand none of it. Xiao Xuefeng showed him in while Kang Hai stayed outside the room. As soon as he was in, she closed the big door and Cao Yun was completely isolated from the outside world, alone with Xiao Xuefeng.


    "Chen Guo, this is the Universe Engulfing Sparrow, a 5-star Heaven array formation." The rank of the array formation shocked Cao Yun. Such an array formation was on the verge of having a spirit of its own. It could use the energy of its surrounding environment to recharge itself naturally. Cao Yun looked all around and tried real hard to memorize everything. If he was to study it, he could further his array formation mastery.


    Xiao Xuefeng gave him some time to observe the room. This array formation was not a secret and either way, Cao Yun was still too weak to be able to duplicate it. However, he could get some insights from its study. When she felt like the boy was done, she resumed her speech.


    "Within this room, no cultivator, even a Spiritual Warrior, can sense anything. Everything that happens or is said within those walls will stay between us. Sit down." Xiao Xuefeng showed him a spot on the ground for him to sit.


    Cao Yun was feeling a bit nervous given the tone of this conversation, but he trusted Xiao Xuefeng. And even if he did not, he was nothing before her. If she wanted, she could literally enter his mind and extract anything from him.


    "You know that I left for a long time. The truth is that my presence in the Wubei Sect is because of you." Cao Yun did not know how to respond. "You showed us that a demonic cultivator had tried to enter my Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute." All of a sudden, he remembered Luo Jiang.


    "Thus, I was sent to root out all potential demonic cultivators. That''s why I asked you here tonight." Xiao Xuefeng''s eyes got a bit more serious. "I won''t beat around the bush. I know that you are from the Cao family!"

 Chapter 110: A large-scale conspiracy

    Cao Yun tried not to show it, but he was shocked by Xiao Xuefeng''s words. All this time, he had lied about his name, afraid that demonic cultivators would find out he had survived. He still had no clue to figure out why they had slaughtered his family. And depending on the reason, they may mobilize another Spirit Warrior to kill him and his friends. Of course, he had antagonized them with Luduo Bu and Lu Meihan. But he had no way of knowing how they would react if they realized that a witness of their attack still lived.


    Mobilizing all his mind cultivation, he answered. "Guest Elder Xiao, I think you''re mistaken. It''s true that I traveled near the Cao Family residence but I''m not a member of this family."


    Xiao Xuefeng smiled a little. "''Chen Guo'', I discussed with Grand Master Hua. I know everything that happened in Yinmen City. According to the timeline, you had to be close to the Cao Family residence right before their tragedy. But it is true that you could simply be a vagrant cultivator who happened to pass by. So I also searched for any mention of Chen Guo anywhere. No one matching neither your description nor your talent was ever seen. If my reasoning is correct, you should be a young member of the Cao Family. Then, I just had to look through the victims. Only one body was not found, Cao Yun''s." She bent a little to get her face closer to his. "You''re very good at lying. Even with my spiritual senses, I can''t detect it. But I can also use my reason to see through it. You are Cao Yun, right?"


    This time, Cao Yun really hesitated. After all, if she meant him any harm, she would just need to think about it and he would die on the spot. On the other hand, a demonic cultivator would simply kill him, probably, unless she wanted something from him. It was possible that they were looking for something when they killed his family and they may not have found it. Thousands of thoughts were crossing Cao Yun''s mind. Thanks to his mind cultivation, he did not show any sign of doubt on his face.


    "Cao Yun, this array formation cannot even be seen through with my own spiritual senses. No one in the entire Hongchen Kingdom will ever know what was said here. But if you still do not wish to tell..."


    "I am Cao Yun." As soon as he spoke, a weight lifted from his shoulders. He had used a fake name for almost a year now, since he had met Feng Yingyue. Being able to use the name his parents had given him made him feel extremely nostalgic, and happy. All of a sudden, the faces of all his family erupted in his mind, just as if a dam had been broken.


    Xiao Xuefeng smiled. "Your acting was good, but you let too many traces behind you." Indeed, Cao Yun became worried. He had not planned his fake identity very carefully as he had to improvise. But if Xiao Xuefeng could trace back his origin, other Spirit Warriors would probably be able to do so as well. And with the demonic cultivators he had crossed within the Wubei Sect, they could find out the truth. His lack of preparation may bring a calamity on him and his friends.


    "Do not worry. I used the authority of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute to hide out your identity. We created a Chen Guo out of thin air and gave him a life of his own." She produced a small scroll and handed it over to Cao Yun. "My institute has connections within the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, forging an identity was rather easy. No amount of money will be able to unbind this knot. From now on, you really are Chen Guo. Read the contents of this scroll, this is your history."


    Cao Yun took the scroll and started to read. It mentioned how he had lived in a small village but lost his family to an attack of demonic beasts before being taken in by vagrant cultivators who had recognized his talent. This Chen Guo had even been part of a very small sect for some time. In the end, he had a falling out with them and traveled to Baziyun City. He arrived before the tragedy of the Cao family and departed a few days prior to it. There were even names of shops and clerks he had met in the city. Unraveling all the lies within this biography would probably be difficult indeed. Most of the events he read about, he remembered from the reports he had had access to in City Lord Dun Mofan''s study.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, thank you." Cao Yun kowtowed sincerely to her.


    "No need for that. You''ve done a tremendous service for all mankind by rooting out these traitors."


    As he had read the contents of the paper, Cao Yun gave it back to her. A small spark left Xiao Xuefeng''s fingertip and burned the whole thing.


    "I feel ashamed... My task was to find out the reality of the demonic cultivators infestation within the Wubei Sect. You did more than me in that regard. However, you also put a target on you! As long as you''re within the Wubei Sect, I will not leave, and I''ll protect you. After all, I have a lot of mess to clean up and a report to give to the Sect Leader."


    She took out another object, a small paper talisman with her name on it.


    "Take this talisman. If you tear it or crush it, I''ll know exactly where you are and I''ll come rescue you. As long as you''re within the Wubei Sect, it shouldn''t take more than a minute. However, you should still be extremely careful. The demonic cultivators will probably lay low for a while. I understand that you want to avenge your family, but I''ll be painfully honest. You''re still too weak."


    These words hit Cao Yun right in the heart, because he knew she was right.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, thank you again. May I ask you something?"


    "You want to know about your family? Of course. I wasn''t there when the investigation was conducted but I asked my junior brother who was. I must admit that everything is rather peculiar. At first, the Huang family was in charge of the matter. However, some rumors stated that they were not impartial in this. People claimed that the Huang family was the one who gained the most from the Cao family''s destruction."


    "No! My great-grandfather had a very good relationship with the Huang family! We were even invited to one of their ceremonies."


    "Indeed, this rumor seems pretty baseless. The Huang family''s matriarch is a 8th-grade Spirit Warrior and they have several late Spirit Warriors among them. There''s no way they could feel threatened by your Cao family with only one Spirit Warrior."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Two!" Instinctively Cao Yun spoke. He lowered his head as he was remembering the night of the killings. "My father broke through to Spirit Warrior, just before..."


    "I did hear that Cao Guang was a great hero. You''re really taking after your father.


    "What''s strange is that despite such ridiculous and baseless rumors, the Imperial City dispatched people to investigate themselves. They were under the direct command of the Emperor in person. That in itself is extremely unusual. I don''t think it ever happened for over seven hundred years."


    "What does it mean?" Several possibilities came to Cao Yun''s mind but he was afraid of the implications.


    "I''m not too sure. Maybe, they were trying to hide either the real culprits or the reason of the attack. There was seemingly no reason for this attack. Even after the investigation, we have no answer concerning this matter. However, we did find the culprits."


    Cao Yun stood up! "They were found?!"


    "It was the Wolf Head Sect. Their hideout was raided and we found treasures from the Cao family within. We also found vials of blood from your family, and... well, various ''materials'' from the deceased."


    Cao Yun''s fists were clenched so hard that he was almost drawing blood from his palms. Thanks to his mind cultivation, the Drop of Wrath was contained, but otherwise he would have lost his sanity. Demonic cultivators were known for using human parts in their cultivation. Some could refine weapons from human bones. Some drank human blood and ate human flesh. There were even stories of demonic cultivators consuming human souls.


    Calling them ''demonic'' was not just to discredit them. Their ways really were demoniac.


    "However, I''m not too sure about this..."


    "What do you mean?"


    "The strongest cultivator, their leader, was only a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. It''s still possible for weaker cultivators to kill a stronger foe, but..."


    "It''s impossible!" Cao Yun was categoric. "My great-grandfather fought against their leader. He was at least a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, I''m sure of it. They did not use any battle formation. No 4th-grade Spirit Warrior could have killed him alone!"


    Xiao Xuefeng was deep in thought. "I had my suspicions, but this man was really the leader of the Wolf Head Sect, no doubt about that. So, either, they were lead by another demonic cultivator or another demonic sect was the real culprit... Well, there are other possibilities..."


    Cao Yun was starting to sense dangerous secrets in Xiao Xuefeng''s words. "Cao Yun, you might not know, but the demonic cultivators have become more and more active over the last couple of decades. And just as they were becoming a powerful threat to our kingdom, the demons all around our borders also became more active. Some people suspect that they are working together. The demonic cultivators would weaken us from within in order for the demons to deal a killing blow to our Hongchen Kingdom.


    "Cao Yun, hiding your identity was a very good idea. It seems like the infestation and corruption of the demonic cultivators is wider than we initially thought. Even with my spiritual senses, detecting whether a Spirit Warrior is a demonic cultivator is as hard as reaching the heavens. And if they corrupt orthodox cultivators, without letting them cultivate the Evil path, finding them all out will be almost impossible." Xiao Xuefeng let out a heavy sigh. "The situation seems even more dire than I thought. If even the Wubei Sect is corrupted by a Spirit Warrior, it''s very likely that the Imperial City itself has been infested.


    "Our Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute will have to warn the Emperor. But he''s very busy with the invasion attempts by the demons. And he''s getting a bit old, right now..." As she thought out loud, Xiao Xuefeng interrupted her thoughts. "I''m sorry, Cao Yun. It seems like I can''t answer all your questions. But I can assure you that we do care about your family and we''ll help you to find out who killed them and why. However, for the time being, you should lay low. I can understand your frustration, but you can''t do anything by yourself yet."


    Sadly, Cao Yun had to admit that she was right. He had no clue whatsoever for now, except for the array formations that Sun Liao had seen. And since he couldn''t leave the Wubei Sect during his first year, he could not investigate this Wolf Head Sect. When he entered the Wubei Sect, he had killed some former disciples from this demonic sect in the Lunar Marsh.


    Moreover, if even the Imperial City was infiltrated by demonic cultivators, it was beyond what he had imagined. The Emperor was the most powerful cultivator in the entire Hongchen Kingdom after the Wubei Sect''s Sect Leader. He was a late 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, at the very limit of this realm. For more than a thousand years he had reigned and was himself around 1,500 year-old. Cao Yun had heard his great-grandfather claim that the Emperor was almost ready to reach the fourth realm of cultivation.


    The cultivation system described in the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' exposed nine realms. However, for more than fourteen thousand years, no one had been able to cross over to the fourth realm. This era, just after the prosper Seven Treaties, Era was named the Forsaken Dao Era. No expert knew the reason for this decrease. There were many hypothesis. Even the demons seemed to have been afflicted with this phenomenon. Otherwise, they could have easily wiped out mankind and yet they had not.


    In fact, no one even deigned to teach the entire ''Universal Law of Immortality'' anymore. Only the first three realms were taught. Reaching the fourth realm was considered a thing of legend. Some people even put doubts on its real existence.


    But with the bits and pieces from Cleansed Asura''s memories, Cao Yun knew that this realm was real. The nine realms were real. Cleansed Asura had reached the middle of the eighth realm and was thus called a God-Monarch. And even an existence such as him had fallen...


    "Cao Yun, I also wanted to ask you to take care of Mei Hua. She''s hiding it very well, but she has a terrible past with demonic cultivators. Thankfully Mei Ying does not remember anything. I ask that you do not pry into it, please. Just as you''re hiding things from your friends, they have the right to hide things from you. But, please, support her, just in case."


    Finally, Xiao Xuefeng waved her hand and the door opened. Behind it, Kang Hai was waiting for Cao Yun.


    "Young Master Chen, may I lead you back to your room?"


    Cao Yun bowed down. "Thank you, Guest Elder Xiao. I''ll remember your words." He then followed Kang Hai and went back to his room.


    When he got back, he saw Huang Cixi who was cultivating. He decided not to disturb her and went to his own cultivation.


    He went inside his sea of consciousness and observed the stars of the Azure Dragon. Around the three stars, the shape of this legendary beast was becoming increasingly clearer. He still had four stars to forge. The fourth one was the last of the easiest stars. He should be able to forge it in a few months. Given what Xiao Xuefeng had told him, he would focus on his cultivation and his martial arts until next year. During his second year, he could finally leave the Wubei Sect and he would have more opportunities.


    He also felt his meridians and realized that he was really on his way to complete the ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'' method. Huang Cixi had really taken good care of him during his coma.


    Finally, he brought his attention to his mind. He circulated the Po character and was able to draw it eighty-seven times. Thanks to his new understanding of the Drop of Wrath, it stayed quiet during all his training. It was a matter of weeks before his Po character reached the Perfection stage.

 Chapter 111: Aftermath of the trial

    As time was passing, Huang Cixi was getting extremely conflicted during her meditation and her cultivation. It had in fact began after the disappearance of her second brother Lixin. As time went by, her cultivation even suffered a lot and she was delayed. Every time she tried to train, she had her brother''s fate in mind. Then, it got worse when Feng Yingyue returned into Yinmen City alive. By this time, even falling asleep had become a problem but she was still able to put those thoughts aside.


    She had completely given up on her cultivation at the time. And she even had to be careful of her other brother Huang Longwei. But it wasn''t the worst yet. When Huang Longwei died and the poor girl had to hold in her arms the cold body of her own father, her mind suffered a huge blow. At this moment, her desire for revenge was the fuel of her cultivation. She immediately went back to it. But deep within her mind, an inner demon was slowly festering. She had one goal in mind and one goal only! She wanted to kill Cao Yun.


    However, everything had changed when she actually got to know him. She realized that he was in fact a lot like her second brother. And the same qualities that made her love her brother, made her like Cao Yun. This feeling was growing more and more every day. Cao Yun was really good with his friends and close ones. However, he had no hesitation when dealing with the people against them. In fact, he was maybe a bit more ruthless against those who were trying to harm his friends than himself.


    It was when Luduo Bu tried to kill her that Cao Yun risked his life to take his. Because Ren Chao had been abducted, he had almost killed Lu Meihan in battle, even though he was within the Wubei Sect and risked a lot with the disciplinary pavilion.


    What was disturbing Huang Cixi the most was not that she came to care for him. What she hated most of all was that she always compared him to her deceased brother, as though he was some kind of replacement in her heart. Deep down, she knew Cao Yun would never replace Huang Lixin, but her thoughts wandered irrationally. Every time she would start to meditate, her state of mind would suffer a bit. Very soon, she felt the inner demon within her and realized its existence. Thanks to her family, she knew of techniques to suppress it.


    However, her state of mind was extremely chaotic and now she realized that she had a time bomb in her. Unlike demonic cultivators, inner demons rarely took over orthodox cultivators as they had no Evil Qi within them to feed off of. However, they could cause many damages and even, in the worst case, kill the cultivator. Unless they were able to get rid of this obsession or this doubt within their heart, they could not advance very far.


    -


    Several days went by. Many changes occurred within the Wubei Sect.


    Chief Elder Bian decided to retire into an immortal grotto. There were many caves riddling the Heidai Peak. Some were even there since before the founding of the Wubei Sect. As Xiao Xuefeng had ordered, he would stay there for nine years. This was the amount of time Ancestor Wu had stayed in seclusion before officially founding the sect. He would perform the ritual of the ''Nine Years Staring at the Void''. It simply consisted at looking within oneself for nine years to reflect on one''s own mistakes and derive ways to use this experience to improve the entire society.


    However, this ritual had a strict condition. The cultivator could neither eat nor drink anything. All of his time had to be used for his meditation. As a Spirit Warrior, he could survive without eating or drinking for nine years, but this would still be a terrible challenge for him. Spirit Warriors could survive in extremely harsh conditions, but their bodies were still made of flesh and blood in the end. A nine year period was really pushing it, especially without drinking. To achieve such a result, he would have to slow down all of his metabolism, staying perfectly still and serene.


    But this meant that the disciplinary pavilion had no more chief elder. The Sect Leader decided of a vote by the other chief elders. The result was still unknown.


    On the other hand, the Coiling Silk Faction had also lost its leader. Despite the fact that Lu Meihan had confessed to being a demonic cultivator in the final months of her life, not many disciples were condemning her. In fact, some even understood the despair who had pushed her to such extremities. And as such, the Coiling Silk Faction did not suffer from the incident. Moreover, it was clear for everyone that no member was aware of her activities.


    Wang Mei was naturally chosen to be the faction leader. She was only a second-year but her cultivation was already on the verge of breaking through to 7th-grade Mortal. People even thought that she could become a Mortal Warrior in her fourth or fifth year. She reluctantly accepted. Indeed, she felt terrible at the idea of replacing her former mistress and friend. Wang Mei could not bring herself to use the same room and thus Lu Meihan''s room was sealed off and Wang Mei kept her own. In a matter of days, everything went back to normal.


    Finally, some changes occurred among the first-years. Mei Hua broke through to 6th-grade Mortal. Being an alchemist, her fighting prowess was not very high, but she needed to quickly become a Mortal Warrior. Only then could she at last become a 1-star Human alchemist thanks to her control over Qi outside of her body. The 6th-grade would be very fast for her as an alchemist. It mainly consisted in accumulating Qi and unlike Cao Yun, she refused the proposal of Chief Instructor Peng. She did not care about training her lesser meridians. Her main goal was to reach the greatest heights of alchemy.


    Sun Liao also broke through to 6th-grade Mortal. Even though he was closer to this than Mei Hua during the entrance examination, they broke through more or less at the same time. In fact, a few months ago, she was only a late 4th-grade whereas he was an early 5th-grade. The real life experience they had received from their attack on the Coiling Silk Faction residence had played a small part.


    Sun Liao was not an alchemist but as an array formation master, he could use several array formations to help in his cultivation. He also had a better control his flow of Qi as he was used to manipulating the flow of Qi of the environment. He would probably be a bit slower than Mei Hua, but he would reach the 7th-grade before the end of the year.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The slowest one was Ren Chao. He had just broken through to 5th-grade Mortal. This was already great as he had only been a middle 4th-grade when he had enrolled. Being a blacksmith, his occupation did not give him any advantage in his cultivation. However, Wang Mei did. By listening to her music and watching her dance, he had fortified and calmed down his mind a bit. At first, Ren Chao felt inferior to everyone because he had realized that all the other blacksmiths were better.


    But when he received Cao Yun''s guidance, he regained some self-esteem and realized that his hard work was effective. They all had a higher starting point than him. However, this didn''t mean he could not beat them anyway.


    -


    Cao Yun resumed his training. He did heed Xiao Xuefeng''s warning and decided to lay low. He had several things to train once more: his Qi cultivation, his mind cultivation, his martial arts, his alchemy and his array formations.


    With all these, his days were already excessively busy. But he had to become stronger as soon as he could. Next year, he would be able to leave the Wubei Sect and he was going to do so. He had some vague leads, but leads nonetheless. Investigating the Imperial City was out of the picture for now, but he could maybe go back to Baziyun City. Also, this Wolf Head Sect was an interesting lead. Some of them had survived in the Lunar Marsh, maybe others had too. If he could find surviving members of this demonic sect, he could maybe discover some elements of truth.


    But leaving the Wubei Sect also meant becoming a target. Luduo Bu was supposed to kill him next year after all. But he wasn''t ready to wait any longer. As such, he needed to be strong enough before the end of this year.


    Array formations were essential as they were able to both enhance his cultivation and increase his fighting abilities. He had seen how Sun Liao used them to contain many cultivators. If he could reach a comparable level, he could maybe use them to deal with Mortal Warriors. Cao Yun loved being prepared before engaging in anything. He loved having plans and array formations were perfect for that.


    Alchemy was a no-brainer as it could help him cultivate and heal his injuries. If he was to go into the wild, knowing the different medicinal herbs around him was essential. And it also was a kind of link with Feng Yingyue after all. He had sent other letters to her since he woke up, but the distance between them was difficult for epistolary exchanges. Every letter could take weeks before being read.


    His mind cultivation''s importance was also self-evident. And with his newfound understanding of the Drop of Wrath and the fact that it had considerably calmed down, it was the best time to cultivate the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''.


    He kept training his Po character in the evening and he was advancing very fast. In fact, the only thing that was slowing him down that the Drop of Wrath acting up, but it was very docile, for now. As such, in less than two weeks, he achieved Perfection in the Po character.


    In his sea of consciousness, the fourth character was now similar to a perfect ivory sculpture. It was shining like a polished mirror. The four characters were rotating around the Drop of Wrath, with Shen a bit higher than the others. The fiery energy radiating from it was encompassing all four of the characters, as if to unify them under its command. It really felt like a general organizing its troops.


    There was only one character left and Cao Yun would have completed the first layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. After that, there were three more layers and he was really excited to discover them later. Cao Yun opened the manual and read the last page of the first layer. The character on this page was green emerald.


    When Cao Yun started to circulate the character he realized that he needed all four of the other ones under the command of Shen to even manage one drawing of it. This character was extremely taxing on his mind. And deep within him, he felt a profound energy being awaken, his Jing. Jing, the essence, was the energy that was the foundation of all life. It was given by the parents during the conception and by the mother during the entire gestation. This was the Yuan Jing, the original essence. This Yuan Jing would then be used to produce Qi and animate the body. Without Yuan Jing or if its quality was lacking, Qi would be depleted and life would cease. Protecting this Yuan Jing was essential for cultivators.


    The Yuan Jing was believed to be stored in the kidneys and was used in the Lower Dantian. As such, strengthening this Lower Dantian and nourishing it with a lot of Qi was also meant to replenish this Yuan Jing. But there also existed more direct approaches to enhance the Yuan Jing. Many thought this was also the basis of longevity, so there was a lot of pills dedicated to increasing the quantity and quality of someone''s Yuan jing.


    But this energy was more difficult to manipulate, compared to Qi. This character seemed connected to it. Cao Yun was barely able to complete only one drawing of it. But it was enough for him to be able to understand it. It was Hun, the Wood Ethereal Soul. Contrary to Po, Hun was a kind of soul who would survive the death of the body. It was precisely the soul that people believed was responsible for reincarnation.


    The Hun was manifested thanks to Jing and was linked to life. As soon as the Jing would be depleted, the Hun would cease to be attached to the body and would leave to be reincarnated in another life form. Training the Hun allowed someone to better control his Jing, increasing its quantity and even improving its quality. With a more powerful Jing, it was then possible to produce a better Qi. Even the Qi absorbed would be transformed as well. But it was the most difficult character to train. Just as a tree, you had to have a lot of patience before seeing its fruits.


    Cao Yun also trained his Qi cultivation of course. But he had decided not to ask Huang Cixi for her help to guard his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation. She still helped him with the Contrived Shell Balm to perform ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'' and temper his lesser meridians. However, he got an idea for guarding his array formation. He was also a alchemist with a good reputation within the outer disciples. As such, he simply paid 9th-grade Mortals with True Essence pills to guard his array formation during his training. It wasn''t very expensive for him and it put his mind at ease.


    Finally, Cao Yun wanted to train his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. There were many array formations he wanted to go back to, but this wasn''t the first thing he did. He rested a few days and calmly observed the Horn Star, the Neck Star and the Root Star. Using his ''Shen Visualization'', he remembered the use of all the moves and variations from his martial art.


    He was trying to imagine the same moves with the stars manifested before him, as if he had reached the Mortal Warrior realm. He even tried to imagine the moves of the real dragon.


    The third star was still a bit unstable as he had understood it too quickly. He had discovered its move and its first variation during fights. But he still needed a bit of time to really let it sink in. Afterwards, the fourth star would be the last one that was easy to grasp. He could probably forge it and understand it before the end of the year. However, the other three would be more difficult.

 Chapter 112: Laying low in the Wubei Sect

    For a very long time, Cao Yun had mainly worked for his objectives and not by pure pleasure for his martial arts and cultivation. Having Xiao Xuegeng tell him to lay low made him think. Before being able to take down a Spirit Warrior, several decades would be necessary, even by the most conservative estimations. In the meantime, he could not just lose himself in his revenge. Even if he wanted to, he didn''t have a clear objective in mind as the clues were so few.


    In fact, he only had two leads. The first one was the array formations investigated by Sun Liao. Cao Yun lacked his talent for this occupation so he was pretty much useless in that regard. The second lead was the Wolf Head Sect but he could not leave the Wubei Sect for now. And even then, he probably lacked the strength to merely survive such an investigation.


    Cao Yun was a bit alone with his thoughts. Since the day of the tragedy, he had pretty much gone with the flow while trying to find bits and pieces. But what would he do when he was done? All these thoughts brought him back to his father''s last words, "Do not throw away your life. Live!"


    He also remembered the words of Xiao Xuefeng about the Dao Heart. A Dao Heart was a way of referring to the will of someone to follow the Way. The Way or Dao could be understood in numerous manners. Most cultivators were imagining it as the cultivation of immortality, transcending their own mortality and understanding the laws of nature itself. In the end, cultivators even wanted to transcend the very laws of nature and to touch upon the absolute truths of existence. Once again, all these notions were pretty vague for a young boy like Cao Yun. There were cultivators who devoted their life to philosophy just to wrap their head around all these concepts, most of which came from Emperor Nuwa and the cultivators from the Founding Era.


    Cao Yun circulated his mind cultivation and focused on the new character, the Hun. It was said to be connected to his very soul, the ethereal soul that was the vessel of reincarnation. He was sincerely trying to figure out who he really was in this life. His parents had brought him up to be virtuous and virtuous he was trying to be. He had a deep sense of justice and a strong attachment to mankind thanks to his father and his great-grandfather. All his youth, he had worked only to please his father and increase his position within the family, without questioning the world around him. Even after their death, he was still working for them in a way.


    He didn''t thing that this was wrong, but right now, it felt lacking, almost empty. What did he have for himself?


    The only thing that came to mind was his martial arts. More than fighting, he had always loved discovering new martial arts. He had first trained just to be filial, but he surprised himself reading hundreds of books on the subject. Even the martial arts he wasn''t learning, he loved reading about them. And learning both alchemy and array formations comforted him in this passion. What he really loved was learning the complexities of the world around him and within him. That was the reason why he could immerse himself in cultivation for so long and was fascinated by the new methods he was reading about.


    Even his time with Feng Yingyue was marked by the many conversations they had when she taught him about her own occupation. And one of his favorite things in the Wubei Sect was playing with Mei Ying. He was giving her instructions on her spearmanship while having some fun with this little sister. He almost felt like he was back with Cao Huiying. This was a bittersweet feeling as he thoroughly enjoyed it but it reminded him of his deceased sister.


    Slowly, a new sense of purpose was growing in him. He would uncover the truth about his family''s massacre even if he had to topple the Imperial City in a far future. This would also benefit all mankind as he was going to purge the demonic cultivators from the entire planet. But he would also allow himself to live his life and find out who he really was and what he really loved. He would not be just a tool of righteousness, he wanted to live for himself as well. For now, what he sincerely wanted to do was deepen his understanding of cultivation and martial arts.


    Thus, he decided on his schedule. He would visit the many array formations he was familiar with to test his understanding of the first three stars, especially the Root Star. The challenges were coming very soon as the middle of the year was close by, he had no interest in issuing any. He had no need for them at all. In fact, his alchemy allowed him to be absolutely self-sufficient in terms of merit points and resources, thanks to both the Wubei Merit Market and the Dragon''s Fire Faction. As such, it was better not to draw too much attention on himself. And frankly, he had no idea who he would challenge. His duel against Luduo Bu was not meant to increase his ranking, but only to take down the bully who had tormented Mei Ying. And in the martial art pavilion, he could spar against many experts.


    This introspection had given a new luster to the four precious stone-carved characters in his sea of consciousness. Even the Hun character was becoming a bit more tangible. Unbeknown to him, Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul was influencing his psyche a bit. This character was able to establish a deeper link between someone and their ethereal soul, the Hun. It was responsible for reincarnations but it also was the soul that pushed someone to aspire to fulfilling and spiritual goals.


    The Po, the corporeal soul, was a part of the soul that was always trying to survive, it anchored the person in their body. As such, it was linked to the Qi, the energy of life. But, by trying to survive, it could use and waste too much Qi and end up exhausting the Jing, the essence of life, causing a decline in health and a premature death. On the opposite side was Hun, the ethereal soul. It was connecting the person to higher aspirations, either spiritual, philosophical or simply social. It was the desire to become a better person, to form relationships with others, but also to find one''s place in life. As such, it was always ready to escape the body to reach the Heavens, which would lead to death of course.


    The Jing was the tether between the Hun and the body. As long as Jing was ample, Hun would stay within the body. It would also balance out Po. But once Jing was lacking, Hun would fly out and take life with it. Then it was believed to join the Heavens and slowly drift into another life.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    -


    Somewhere else in the Wubei Sect, Sun Liao was studying inside his private chamber within the array formation pavilion. He had finally reached the 5-star array formation master rank and was now the direct disciple of Chief Elder Suxian. As such, he did not have much to do. Just like Mei Hua, he only needed to increase his cultivation in order to cross the next step in his occupation. Only a Mortal Warrior was able to set up a Human rank array formation.


    With his time mostly free, he was thinking about the array formations he had seen around the Coiling Silk Faction residence. Unfortunately, he had not seen the ones in the storehouse that were more intricate and complicated. They probably had more clues for him. But he had seen small array formations meant to detect intruders all around the residence. He even went back to the residence thanks to the new faction leader, Wang Mei. However, all traces of these array formations were gone.


    As he had said to Cao Yun, array formation masters with experience tended to pick up habits and it showed in their work, even when they tried to hide it. Paradoxically, it was easier for a newbie to hide out his identity because he had no habits and mostly followed the rules to a T. Sun Liao racked his brain to remember every array formations he had seen to compare them. Very quickly, he eliminated many of them that were too different from what he had seen.


    However, there was still a handful of candidates. He noted all the array formation masters who had set up these array formations. In the end, he had nine suspects. If he could see a good proportion of their work, he would be able to tell who was the culprit. As such, an idea popped up in his mind but he really hated it.


    He would have to go ask them for advice. If he chose carefully the questions he asked them, he could compare their ways of setting up array formations with his memory on very specific points. However, the idea was pretty appalling. Indeed, he had been maybe a bit too arrogant with some of them. The lessons of Chief Elder Suxian had not worked perfectly, and his natural disposition had still shone through. The prospect of having to go ask questions which he knew the answers to, and even worse, asking them to people he had belittled for some of them, was really hard on Sun Liao.


    Breathing deeply, he decided to put his pride aside. This was to help his friends! Cao Yun had risked his life for Ren Chao and Sun Liao was absolutely sure that Cao Yun would have done the same if it had been him instead. If his friend could put his life on the line, Sun Liao could accept to humble himself a bit. And he could still eclipse everyone else in the array formation ranking scroll later on, anyway...


    -


    Cao Yun went back to the Howling Crane Gorges. The last time he had come, he had only been able to step in the fourth level. There were eight of them, each one measuring one li. Now that he had mastered the Root Star, his defense was heightened. While focusing on the Root Star and the Neck Star, Cao Yun slowly walked through each level. He was trying to feel the wind against his body. Clearly the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was linked to wind and he was perceiving this element. Wind was not one of the five elements. However, it was present in the Eight Trigrams, one of the principle from the Eight Directions in array formations. From what he understood, wind was one of the eight trigrams.


    Trigrams resulted from complex interactions between Yin and Yang, lesser Yin, lesser Yang, great Yin and great Yang. The wind trigram was linked with the Wood element. And coincidentally, Wood was the element of his new character, Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul. Even though it was still very immaterial, Cao Yun could feel a connection between this character and the stars in his interior sky.


    The more he walked, the more he understood the concept of wind all around him. Unconsciously, he was circulating his comprehension of the three stars in his mind, reciting mantra he did not even learn. The stars were stabilizing their anchor in the sky. As he was in a state of deep meditation, Cao Yun walked several li.


    When the hour was up, he was in the beginning of the fifth li. The pressure was extreme but he could still take it thanks to the Root Star increasing his defense, especially to wind.


    In the following days, he went back to this array formation. Even though his understanding was becoming stronger and stronger, he realized that without further stars, he would not be able to cross over to the last three li of the way. After all, each level was twice as violent as the previous one.


    Another day, Cao Yun decided to go back to the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation. This array formation able to send out attacks from all directions could be set all the way to 6th-grade Mortal Warrior. The last time he had tried it out, he had been able to resist the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior setting for several moves. each level from then on would be increasingly more difficult.


    Thus, Cao Yun decided to start with his own level, 6th-grade Mortal. This time, he would only work on his defense to train his Root Star. For that very purpose, he stayed perfectly still and took all the attacks. With the ''Dragon''s Chest'', he was able to easily focus his energy in the right place before the attack hit him and he received no injury. Again and again, he upped the setting, all the way to 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. This time, he was still fast enough with his Qi to protect his body. However, the attacks were actually hurting him and leaving deep bruises on his skin. Deep down though, they did not damage neither his soft tissues nor his bones. He could have easily dodged or deflected them, but that wasn''t his point.


    After an hour of suffering this painful tempering, he shifted to blocking and deflecting in order to work on his speed and perception. Mainly, he focused on the Neck Star and ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''. He went all the way to the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior setting and did not test out the next level. This setting was tough but he could now stay with it for an entire hour. Before trying an even higher setting, he would need to increase both his understanding of the martial art and his cultivation. Even with a great martial art, Cao Yun''s body was limited by his cultivation. Fortunately, his Qi cultivation was going smoothly.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun decided to go to the Warrior Dream array formation. The fighter made from energy whom he was fighting against in this array formation was always able to find flaws in his technique. Thanks to that, it was a great way to progress. However, it did not tell him what were his flaws, he had to figure that part out for himself. In fact, this motivated Cao Yun even further as he had to engage in deep thinking to improve his moves.


    This array formation was very good to polish his moves, but it wasn''t as optimal as fighting real battles.


    After several days in those various array formations, Cao Yun decided to add another exercise to his training regimen. He would go back to the martial art pavilion. In fact, he had not gone there for a long time. Chief Elder Baishen was battle crazy but he had to admit that her training was effective.


    When he went there, she would always make him fight opponents she had hand-picked specially to increase his better points and get rid of his flaws.

 Chapter 113: Long Huafang

    As soon as Cao Yun entered the martial art pavilion, a servant recognized him and went to inform Chief Elder Baishen. The old woman was busy in her study. The demotion of Chief Elder Bian had caused many problems and there was a lot of paperwork to be done. It was necessary for the Hongchen Kingdom but also for the workings of the Wubei Sect itself.


    That was really a part she hated. And no matter her cultivation level, it always took a lot of time. Most of the papers had to be either checked or crafted by her in person. The only chief elder she knew who seemed to enjoy paperwork was Chief Elder Luoming. His work was always praised and he was always the first one to finish all of his administrative tasks.


    As she was struggling with the amount of work, she heard her servant knocking on the door. Usually, she did not like to be disturbed, but this was a perfect excuse to take a break.


    "Come in."


    A small boy pushed the door open. He bowed deeply and spoke.


    "Chief Elder Baishen, this humble one is sorry to disturb your work, but Chen Guo is here."


    As soon as she heard the name, she stood up!


    "Good, good. Perfect!" This really was a great moment to take a break.


    "Sort out my documents and send those who are done to the disciplinary pavilion."


    She left the room, leaving the poor servant with a mountain of papers thrown randomly on the desk.


    -


    Cao Yun was already training with another disciple when Chief Elder Baishen came down. The fight was rater slow and she got bored almost instantly.


    "Chen Guo! Do not waste your time with this slowpoke. I''ll find you a real opponent." The poor disciple on the ring felt dejected and Cao Yun sent him a sympathetic look. Chief Elder Baishen looked through the room and found the perfect candidate. "Mu Hue, come here!"


    A very tall woman with a shaved head and golden eyes walked toward the old woman. Her weapon was a sword breaker. It almost looked like a sword but instead of the blade, there was a metallic rod. It was a blunt weapon initially meant to destroy any blades. But it was also extremely effective against flesh and bones. She cupped her fists.


    "Chief Elder Baishen?"


    The old woman showed her Cao Yun. "This is Chen Guo, I''m sure you know him, right? Spar with him."


    Mu Hue was a bit surprised. She had heard of all the feats of Cao Yun but she had not met him yet. She wasn''t there neither during the entrance examination, the first-years challenges nor the trial. In fact, Mu Hue mostly lived as a monk. On her uniform was an emblem showing she was a fourth-year and a member of the Purple Northern Cloud Faction.


    The tall woman turned toward Cao Yun and bowed politely with a small smile.


    "Junior Chen. My name is Mu Hue. It''s a pleasure to meet you. Please offer me some pointers."


    "Senior Sister Mu. I''ll have to embarrass myself in front of you."


    Mu Hue was a 9th-grade Mortal. She would probably break through during her fifth year. And her martial art was ''Tormented Buddha Disciplines the Earth''. It was a technique that emphasized the use of brute force to resist the enemy''s attacks and break his defense. It really was perfect for Cao Yun. He had speed but during his fight against Luduo Bu, he had realized that he was lacking in penetrative force. Moreover, he was training his defense.


    Thanks to his ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield'', he could send back any strike directed against him. Of course, he could not redirect all attacks though. If the attack was powerful enough, it would pierce through his technique and he would suffer the consequences.


    When she fought, Mu Hue''s body almost seemed like it was golden. And the attacks of Cao Yun were mostly inefficient. On the other hand, Mu Hue''s attacks were able to break his bones. Even though he was able to resist the 1st-grade Mortal Warrior setting in the Thousand Snakes Invade the Shell array formation, fighting a real cultivator was different. Every cultivator had their strong points and weaknesses. Mu Hue''s strong point was her physique, both her strength and her resistance. However, she was very slow considering her cultivation.


    In fact, despite her strength, she had a real hard time even following Cao Yun''s movements. However, her attacks were so powerful that just the pressure from them could threaten him. As such, the boy decided to use her to temper his defense and his new star.


    They kept on fighting for several hours and they both gained a lot of benefits. Chief Elder Baishen knew her stuff for sure. Mu Hue increased her ability to follow rapid movements and to respond to them while Cao Yun increased his defense and his attack. He also tried out some ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. The first one deeply shocked Mu Hue and excited Chief Elder Baishen. However the other two tentatives were much more refined and the Root Star seemed particularly happy, if a star could feel anything...


    The old woman just couldn''t get enough of Cao Yun. Each time she saw him, he showed her new progresses. What she loved beyond everything else was nurturing talented martial artists and watching them grow.


    "Thank you, Brother Chen. This was greatly beneficial. I''ll meditate on our fight for several days."


    "Likewise, Senior Sister. You really helped me in my martial art."


    Both of them cupped their fists and bowed to Chief Elder Baishen. "Thank you, Chief Elder."


    "Good! You showed me a very interesting fight." She paused for a bit. "By the way, Chen Guo, the bimonthly challenges must be issued before the end of the week. I know that this past couple of months has been difficult. But, have you thought about who you''re going to challenge?"If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Cao Yun knew that this would probably displease her, but he had made up his mind. "Chief Elder Baishen, I decided not to challenge anyone. I''m fairly certain that no one under my ranking will issue a challenge to me, and I want a bit of peace for now."


    "Brother Chen, you''re really not going to challenge anyone?"


    Mu Hue talked before Chief Elder Baishen. The old woman was stunned by the answer of the boy. She was looking forward to his next challenge, thinking he was going to fight a powerful 9th-grade Mortal this time.


    "Indeed, Senior Sister. These past events have tired me. And to be honest, I do not need a better ranking. I have enough merit points. I don''t even know what to do with those I already have..." Cao Yun felt a bit ashamed as most disciples had trouble getting merit points. But with his alchemy, it was extremely easy to have as many points as he needed.


    "I see... Well, everyone has their own aspiration. Thank you for today, Brother." Mu Hue then left the martial art pavilion.


    Finally, Chief Elder Baishen overcame her shock. "Chen Guo, are you really sure of this decision?"


    "Yes, Chief Elder. I''m sorry to disappoint you. But I''ll try to come here more often. I''d like to engage with various martial arts. And this pavilion is perfect for this endeavor. I hope that Chief Elder Baishen can still guide me toward interesting opponents." He knew exactly what she wanted to see. And witnessing him fight all kinds of martial artists was precisely her wish.


    Her morale was back. "Of course, Chen Guo. Even if you don''t need merit points, it''s always great to confront different styles. Trying to learn too many styles is dangerous for your stability, but confronting them is beneficial to form your own style."


    -


    Mu Hue went back to the Purple Northern Cloud Faction residence. She knew that Long Jian, the faction leader, was interested in Cao Yun. Long Jian was battle hungry. Mu Hue was very close with him, so she decided to go to his room in order to convey the news.


    The tall woman was ready to knock on the door when she saw a young girl walking to her.


    "Junior Sister, are you here to see your brother?"


    There was an interesting look on Long Huafang''s face. "Indeed. And you, Senior Sister? What a peculiar time to visit a man..." It was indeed rather late and the sun had already set in the sky.


    Mu Hue was not flustered because she knew that this little girl really liked to tease her. Mu Hue had feelings for Long Jian but she had vowed to devote her life to becoming a monk. She had made this decision during her second year. But she had still decided to finish her five years with the Wubei Sect. After that, she would join a monastery and study the scriptures. In the Hongchen Kingdom, the two main philosophies were the School of Ren Dao, the Human Way, and the Sutra Faith.


    The School of Ren Dao was recognized as the official philosophy of the state. However, many other schools of thought and religions existed. Almost all the inhabitants of the Hongchen Kingdom adhered more or less to the School of Ren Dao. It had been founded during the Founding Era and emphasized both the necessity of a unified mankind and the individualistic pursuit of immortality and the Way. There was no explicit indications on how one should organize their daily life. As such, anyone could adhere to it while being in another school of thought, or even another religion.


    The Sutra Faith, the second most prominent philosophy, believed in a secluded lifestyle. It was lived as a philosophy by some and a religion by others. They believed that by studying the Wheel Sutra, an ancient scripture that some thought predated even the Emperor Nuwa. Of course, some did not like this idea because Emperor Nuwa was seen as a great saint of mankind who had created their entire civilization and founded cultivation.


    But the Sutra Faith was strangely well accepted despite this, thanks to its main principles. It emphasized the necessity of living a simple and even solitary life to find peace and really understand the Way. As such, it encompassed both secular and religious practitioners. The religious ones were monks who lived in monasteries. Those monasteries were well respected as they produced a lot of interesting art and philosophy. And in time of need, they were ready to help mankind as much as they could. Within those monasteries, they almost formed private armies but they could be used by the Emperor in times of need against the demons.


    Wheel Sutra believers believed in a great figure, Buddha Cangjing. He was believed to be a man from the Legendary Era, a mythic time before the enslavement of mankind by the demons. His existence was controversial, but during the Seven Treaties Era, a monk had a vision of his figure. He had not been able to describe the figure at all. However, he had writen the Wheel Sutra just after waking up.


    There were other schools of thought collectively known as the Lesser Houses of Wisdom. They were in minority though, but still accepted by the Emperor.


    By becoming a monk of the Sutra Temple, Mu Hue had to forsake all relations between man and woman. Long Huafang found that it was a pity so she loved teasing her about it, but she still respected her decision.


    "So, did you have something to say to my brother?"


    "Indeed. I learned an important piece of news about Chen Guo."


    Long Huafang became much more interested. "You''ve seen him?"


    "Yes. I even fought with him in the martial art pavilion."


    "And? Is he as he''s been described?" Long Huafang had seen Cao Yun during the trial but she had missed his fight against Luduo Bu.


    "He''s even more talented if you ask me." During her fight with Cao Yun, Mu Hue got really impressed by both his current level, but also his ability to adapt and progress. In a matter of hours, he had understood her rhythm and was able to contend with her. But he had been extremely polite, he had not just tried to progress himself. He had also let her many opportunities so that she could train as well during their sparring. In that aspect, he was truly different from someone like Luduo Bu who was just using his ''sparring partners''.


    "Well, let''s go see my brother. He''ll definitely want to hear about this."


    -


    After hearing the news, Long Jian was mortified. He had hoped to be able to see Cao Yun fight during the next challenges. Secretly, he had hoped that he could fight him himself, but their cultivations were too different. On the other hand, his little sister was only a 7th-grade Mortal. Cao Yun was very close to this level and he had even killed Luduo Bu who had forced his way to the limit of the Mortal realm, stepping a bit into the Mortal Warrior realm.


    This feat had ignited Long Jian''s desire to fight him. If he could progress a bit more, they may have an interesting fight by the end of the year. However, he was impatient to see him fight his little sister. But if he did not challenge anyone, his rank would stay the same. And given how many merit points he had, he wouldn''t need to issue any challenge all year long. Was he really going to just avoid all the bimonthly challenges?


    The young man was depressed. He had been excited to know the name of Cao Yun''s next opponent. Well, he just had, it was nobody.


    On the other hand, Long Huafang was also a bit frustrated. They were both hungry for a fight, to the great desolation of their father.


    "Brother, I think I''ll just go in the martial art pavilion for once." She turned to Mu Hue. "Senior Sister, you said that he went there to train, right?" After Mu Hue nodded in approval, Long Huafang resumed. "Then, he''ll probably come back to train some more. The fact that he decided not to fight in the challenges does not mean he will stop his training. And, Brother, if it''s not for an official challenge, wouldn''t it be easier for you to fight against Chen Guo? You could restrain your cultivation to the Mortal realm without any problem."


    Long Jian started to retrieve his vitality. "You''re right! And if you train with him, he''ll probably become even stronger. It''s perfect!"


    Long Huafang frowned a little. "Brother, are you trying to use me as a whetstone in order to sharpen his skills?" The only answer was a small cough from Long Jian.

 Chapter 114: Sparring partners

    Huang Cixi was becoming increasingly more unstable. Her every night was filled with nightmares now. She was witnessing the death of her little brother in horrendous conditions. Cao Yun was torturing him as she was unable to move or scream to stop him. The moans of anguish and suffering of her brother were grating her very bones. Then, Cao Yun went on to smile to her.


    "Now, I can be your new brother. Isn''t that what you want?"


    Cao Yun then flayed the still writhing Huang Lixin in order to wear his skin as his own.


    In other nightmares, her father was also tortured to death while she was holding him in her arms. The poor man was begging her to make it stop and when she looked at the hands tormenting him, they were her own.


    She was often waking in the middle of the night while stifling a scream. All her body was drenched in sweat. Then, she meditated to keep it under control. But it was more and more difficult to keep it under control. And soon enough, those hellish scenes appeared during her cultivation as well.


    She was doing everything so that Cao Yun would not notice her plight. The young boy did see some things, but he only thought Huang Cixi was still shocked by the attack of Luduo Bu. As such, he tried to alleviate her tasks as much as possible.


    "Mei Yuzhi. I know that Luduo Bu''s attack has caused you a lot of distress. If you need time for yourself, you should just take it. And if you need anything at all, just ask."


    Cao Yun felt responsible for her since she was his servant. But he also felt guilty since she had been attacked because of him, as he was the one Luduo Bu wanted to kill. Ironically, this worsened the situation. The nicer Cao Yun was, the worse Huang Cixi''s state of mind was. However, she got better at hiding it.


    -


    Cao Yun continued to train. He also put more effort into alchemy and array formations. However, he was really wondering what was his end goal...


    If he wanted to kill the murderers of his family, he needed enough strength, but also enough influence to flush the demonic cultivators out. According to Xiao Xuefeng, even the Imperial City was tainted by their presence. In order to accomplish that goal, what was the best course of action?


    And even more than that, what would he do afterward? Would he join the army? Would he become an inner disciple of the Wubei Sect? Would he become a province governor? Would he try to restore the Cao family? He wanted to be with Feng Yingyue as he had not seen her for several months now. Would he restore the Cao family with her? Would he become an alchemist with her? There were so many options, he was a bit overwhelmed by all this. And to be frank, none of those propositions seemed fully enjoyable to him.


    In the vague memories of both the Drop of Wrath and of Cleansed Asura, he had caught a glimpse of a gigantic world, way beyond his imagination. This was probably the kind of world Emperor Nuwa had ascended to. But this world was out of reach since no one had been able to break through into the fourth realm for around fourteen thousand years. Still, he was dreaming about this kind of adventure, sailing to unknown worlds and discovering new comprehensions of the Way. He could even imagine traveling through the universe with Feng Yingyue by his side.


    Cao Yun was feeling a bit guilty because he was trying to think of a life for himself but he had not avenged his family yet. However, he had to obey to his father''s last wish, and the Hun character was really helping him. It was pushing him to try and find a purpose in his life. Vengeance was only temporary. He had to think about his future after that. Indeed, he was sure that he would get his revenge, no matter what. Thus he had to think about what to do after the murderers of his family were killed, to the last one of them.


    One thing that was certain in Cao Yun''s mind was that he wanted to keep cultivating and practicing his different occupations, mainly his martial arts.


    -


    A few days before the challenges, Cao Yun came back to the martial art pavilion. However, many martial artists were otherwise busy, resting for their upcoming duel. Even Chief Elder Baishen was too busy to meet him. These challenges were always a pain in the neck for her. And with the disorganization of the disciplinary pavilion, this was even worse. She had to put all the paperwork concerning the different challenges issued in order.


    Cao Yun was ready to leave when he spotted a young girl entering the pavilion. She had a face full of life, not as pale and ghostly as other girls, intricately braided hair as black as obsidian, and silver eyes. She instantly focused her eyes on Cao Yun. They both looked like two full moons. Within them, Cao Yun detected a captivating allure. Looking into them was really like admiring the moon.


    She was wearing the uniform of the Wubei Sect with an emblem of the Purple Northern Cloud Faction engraved with the number two. Seeing Cao Yun, she smiled and walked to him.


    "Brother Chen, I''m Long Huafang. I''ll be direct. Spar with me!"


    Her name sounded familiar to Cao Yun. Thanks to his perfect memory, he quickly went through the official documents of the Wubei Sect and saw her name on the fighting scroll. She used to be just under Zhi Yin at the 166th rank. But that was the last ranking of the previous year. Since then, Zhi Yin had reached the 79th rank. Afterward, she lost against Long Huafang who was the new 79th best fighter. Thanks to that, she was now recognized as the strongest second-year.


    Sparring against such an opponent would necessarily be a good thing.


    "Senior Sister Long, please give me some pointers."


    Long Huafang smiled. "Good. I was a bit worried that you were a coward when I heard that you wouldn''t challenge anyone. At least, you have some backbone. But I''ll warn you! I''m better than both Luduo Bu and Mu Hue. Even though this is just a sparring match, I will be serious. If you don''t want to get hurt, you should fight me seriously as well."Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    As she spoke, she unsheathed her sword and jumped on a nearby ring. The scabbard was made of a minutely sculpted white wood. On it were engraved the figures of legendary beasts looking like dragons and wolves. And the blade itself was pure Lightning Silver, the sharpest metal in the Hongchen Kingdom. It was extremely rare.


    This sword was a 2-star Human sword called ''Shining Fang''. According to its blacksmith, it contained the canines of a Moon Devouring Gray Wolf. Such a demonic beast had six demonic cores, and was on par with very early Spirit Warriors. According to the legends, these beasts could become increasingly powerful as the moon got bigger within the month. And they were at their weakest during a new moon, the perfect opportunity to hunt them. Their fangs were said to be powerful enough to bite a part of the moon, even though that was probably an exaggeration.


    The martial art pavilion had many rings meant for sparring and Long Huafang chose the widest. She then faced Cao Yun.


    "What are you waiting for? Afraid?"


    Cao Yun understood what was going on. Long Huafang had probably heard of his sparring session with Mu Hue since they were in the same faction. And knowing that he wouldn''t challenge the fighting scroll, she got impatient and came to challenge him outside of an official challenge. According to the rules of the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun could decline of course, but she seemed very upright. Moreover, she had an aura of strength around her and he wanted to test his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' to the limit.


    "Senior Sister, I do miss a real fight with an honorable opponent. I won''t insult you by holding back."


    Long Huafang smiled even more, but with a glint of ferocity in her eyes. She was like a beast who had just found a new toy.


    Cao Yun gripped his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' and jumped on the ring, facing her. They both cupped their fists and bowed.


    Immediately after that, they assumed their fighting position.


    "Brother Chen. I know you practice the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. To be fair, I''ll tell you that I cultivate the ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons'', a 1-star Heaven rank martial art. This is the defining martial art of my Long family. Prepare yourself!"


    ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was considered a 1-star Human martial art. However, it was solely based on practitioners who would stop studying it before forging the last three stars. Considering its real potential, it was at least 5-star Human rank. And in fact, with the ability to get into his sea of consciousness, this same martial art showcased by Cao Yun was closer to a Heaven rank martial art, or even higher.


    Earth rank martial arts were mostly used by mere mortals and Mortals. They were extremely powerful but limited to the body. Once you were to use a Human rank martial art, strange phenomena could happen around you just by circulating your Qi in specific pathways. And if you were a Mortal Warrior, then you could fully manifest your Qi and produce even stronger phenomena. Finally, a Heaven rank martial art was able to impact the very soul of a practitioner.


    They looked like two dragons facing each other. Cao Yun had a serene demeanor with a tinge of excitement while Long Huafang had a fierce light in her silver eyes.


    The first one to move was her. ''Wolf''s Pounce''. In a flash, she was in front of Cao Yun. His spear gave him an edge if she kept her distance, so Long Huafang reduced their distance immediately.


    ''Imperial Throne''. Unable to move away in time, Cao Yun protected himself. With a powerful gust of wind, he swept her away. Faced with a wall of wind, Long Huafang was pushed back while blocking with her sword. ''Baring its Fangs to the Moon''. She held her sword vertically in front of her and the wind got separated by the blade.


    ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. To push her back even further, Cao Yun harassed her with at least thirty cones of wind. ''Wolf Walks on the Moon''. Long Huafang was extremely agile and fast. She was even faster than Cao Yun. Despite her lower cultivation, she clearly overcame Mu Hue in term of fighting ability.


    In this fight, Cao Yun''s speed was completely negated not by her defense, but by her own speed and agility. He had to completely change his strategy. Thankfully, his mind cultivation allowed him to follow her moves without any problem. Otherwise, this sparring session could have been quicker than he thought.


    On Long Huafang''s face, there was excitement and joy. The boy everyone talked about was worthy of his reputation and she was convinced that she would enjoy the fight.


    From Long Huafang''s mouth, a shrill cry erupted toward Cao Yun. ''Wolf and Dragon''s Howl''. For an instant, Cao Yun had the image of a beast threatening him. The creature had the shape of a wolf but was covered in scales with bits and pieces of silver fur here and there. It had enormous claws and fangs. Cao Yun could not clearly see the beast as it was more of a feeling, but this gave off the impression of a hybrid between a gigantic wolf and a dragon.


    In his sea of consciousness, his mind cultivation quickly brought him back to reality. But there was something more. His three stars seemed to react, as if they were challenged by a rival. These stars were the representation of a true Azure Dragon as it had been seen by the expert who had created the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. And the martial art of Long Huafang was also clearly inspired by a dragon of some kind.


    Freed from this distraction, Cao Yun was able to react just in time. ''Silver River Overflows''. The tip of the ''Shining Fang'' was aiming straight for his chest. Long Huafang could easily control her blade and stop it before a lethal strike. However, she still targeted a non vital area, just in case. Sensing the blade drawing near, Cao Yun decided to try his last technique.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. The moment he received the strike, Cao Yun felt as if a violent flow of water was sent directly onto him and was trying to penetrate his skin. Long Huafang was faster than him, but he was stronger and more resistant, even without martial arts. His technique worked perfectly, he diverted all this current into his spear and struck with it.


    Surprised by the lack of reaction of Cao Yun, Long Huafang was almost ready to withdraw her attack so as not to hurt him. However, she soon realized there was no need for such a worry. Her sword would not pierce him at all. And she felt something strange. Her instincts warned her before her senses. When the counterattack came, she was already retreating. ''Tail Follows the Sky''. With a sweeping move, she accompanied her retreat with a strike meant to behead Cao Yun.


    Of course, the attack had no killing intent behind it, but Cao Yun still acted as if it had. That was the point of a sparring session, they wouldn''t really kill each other but they had to act as if they were really trying to. He redirected his spear to block the incoming attack. The shock was so brutal thanks to the energy he had redirected in his spear that Long Huafang almost let go of her weapon. But she used this shock to jump away.


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the stars were more active than ever. Even if Long Huafang could not enter her own sea of consciousness, she also felt that her martial art was resonating with her opponent''s. They were both gaining a lot from this sparring, but Cao Yun was on top. Indeed, his martial art was linked to the Wood element whereas Long Huafang''s was connected to the Water element. Some martial arts were more closely related to one specific element while others used several aspects indifferently. And obviously, according to the Five Elements, Water was able to feed Wood.


    Cao Yun was experiencing this situation for the first time. In his past fights, he was the faster opponent and he had to deal with a powerful defense. This time, he was slower than Long Huafang and she had a tough time penetrating his defense, even with her precious sword.

 Chapter 115: Qi Deviation

    They both were deadlocked in their fight for several hours. However, they thoroughly enjoyed it. Long Huafang used other martial arts to help her break the stalemate and this engaged Cao Yun even more into the fight. ''The Rabbit Grinds Jade'', ''Flowing River of Silver'' or ''Nightly Ghosts Dissipate'' were some of her martial arts. They were not as refined as her ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons''. But the change of pace kept Cao Yun on his toes.


    As the fight progressed, he was thinking of plans about how to end it. He was also in the process of forming his fourth star, the Room Star. This star was presented on the page dedicated to controlling the enemy''s movement. It dealt in feints for example, but also in a number of low and very light attacks meant to either probe or even direct the enemy.


    The movements in themselves were not very useful. Contrary to other techniques, they could only be practiced with someone else. Stabbing could be trained alone as it heavily relied on your own body. Of course, you also had to train your timing and your own positioning relative to your opponent. But feints and techniques to control your opponent''s behavior could only be trained with an opponent. All those techniques were highly dependent on human interactions. You had to get inside your opponent''s head. A feint too light would be seen through whereas a feint too heavy would not allow for a swift change and would just become a normal attack.


    Cao Yun thought back about a book he loved reading when he was younger, ''Dashan''s Discussion of the Thirty-Six Stratagems''. It had been written by Saint Dashan, one of the Four Saints. Saint Dashan was the greatest strategist of mankind. Without him, Emperor Nuwa''s wars would have lasted way longer. Some even claimed that without him, she could not have won any of the major battles. The most memorable battle was the Invasion of the Pillar of Blood, when she finally killed the ruler of the demons, throwing their army in disarray and splitting them into several camps.


    Saint Dashan was also known for the application of his military strategies to martial arts. ''Dashan''s Discussion of the Thirty-Six Stratagems'' was a book where he interpreted the main military strategies and explained how to use them alone in a duel.


    Remembering this book, Cao Yun began to switch from defense to offense. He launched some feints, but amidst these feints were real attacks. Some were aimed at spots before Long Huafang could move there. This forced her to dodge in specific directions. By always changing, Cao Yun prevented her from adapting, and he controlled where he wanted her. The ring was a square. This provided Cao Yun with a very simple strategy. If he forced Long Huafang into a corner, she could not move as freely as before.


    Of course, she saw right through his intentions. However, his sudden change and his new unpredictability made it difficult for her to find a solution quickly. Every time she tried to move away, she was faced with a barrage of attacks. When she thought they were feints, she would be grazed by one strike. Cao Yun was stronger than she was despite her cultivation one level higher. Even being close to one of his attacks was dangerous for Long Huafang.


    As he was progressing forward, Cao Yun could feel the fourth star slowly forming itself. In his sea of consciousness, a tiny blue-white dot was now visible in the sky. Although it wasn''t fully forged yet, its influence was already acting on the other three stars.


    Sensing that she was being pushed back again and again, Long Huafang decided to test out the last move of ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons''. Contrary to Cao Yun who had never seen any of the moves from ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' in real life, she had since all her family members knew and practiced it. This was the defining manual of her family, invented by their ancestor seventeen thousand years ago. All of a sudden, she stopped moving and stared at Cao Yun''s eyes.


    ''The Moon in the Eye''. Cao Yun froze up. In his sea of consciousness, a giant moon had appeared and was eclipsing the three complete stars of the Azure Dragon as well as the vague hue of the fourth one. Down below, the blue sea became silver as it reflected this gigantic moon. The silver aura of the celestial body spread throughout all Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Even the Drop of Wrath had changed color. But when it tried to touch the five characters of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', it stopped. Shen, the Fire Spirit, which was above the four other characters burned. It was always surrounded by a bit of fiery energy, but right now, it was burning intensely.


    This fire pushed back the Water element of this moon. All this happened in an instant in real life. The moon that had appeared in Cao Yun''s consciousness was slowly being burned away. As such, he had regained his consciousness but he was still unable to move his body.


    Long Huafang was coming straight at him with her sword. ''Shining Fang'' stopped right on Cao Yun''s neck. If she had pressed on, his head would have been cleanly cut off. Now that he was out of the trance, he could see the eyes of Long Huafang. They did not look like their usual silver, but they were as two moons shining brightly.


    She was sweating profusely. Obviously, this technique was taking a huge toll on her. On her face was a big grin and she started talking while heavily panting.


    "Seems like I won."


    Cao Yun surprised her then. His hand finally moved and he touched the blade to gently push it away.


    "Seems like you did."


    Long Huafang was impressed that he had been able to free himself from her ''The Moon in the Eye''. Even though she did not fully master it yet, this was the ultimate technique of ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons''. In fact, it was this technique alone that had pushed the ranking of her family''s martial art all the way to the 1-star Heaven rank. Her ancestor was said to be able to stop one''s heart just with a stare. This technique could literally attack the soul. Of course, she wasn''t masterful enough to go to such an extent yet. Right now, she would only affect one''s perceptions to the point where they would black out for a few seconds. But for Cao Yun, it didn''t last more than five or six breaths.


    Another kind of smile appeared on her face. Long Huafang was a bit of a battle maniac. Contrary to Cao Yun who was loving the martial arts in themselves, Long Huafang loved fighting. What she loved most was being pushed to her limits and finding out that she could still push further through.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    When they stopped, they realized that Chief Elder Baishen was there.


    "Great! Amazing! You''re both exceptional." She walked to Cao Yun. "Did you almost forge the fourth star?" Her spiritual senses went all over him. It was rather impolite but she was just too excited. These two kids had thoroughly pushed each other further and further. That was exactly what she loved in her duty. Deep down, she loved pushing disciples and witnessing their progress.


    Then, she turned to Long Huafang. "It''s rare to see you or your brother here. How moons did you carve yet?"


    "What?! How do you know about the moons?" Long Huafang was quite shocked and let go of her usual attitude for an instant.


    "Of course I would know! I trained your father when he was in the Wubei Sect. When he left he had already carved seven moons. It took him even longer to materialize the remaining five. Oh? Are you worried that I''ll tell your father about how much you like to fight all the time?"


    Long Huafang''s shocked face changed. "Worried? Why would I worry about this? Father will never be mad at me! And who told him to have children who looked just like him?"


    Chief Elder Baishen laughed out loud. "That, you''re right! He was as much fascinated by fighting as you and your brother. But try to understand him a bit. He already lost his family once, losing you would crush him."


    "I know! I know..." In fact, she really was worried about her father. Not because she feared his scolding, but she hated his sadness. She knew Long Cheng was hiding it before his children, but he truly was sad to see them throw themselves into every fight. However, he never tried to control them, because he knew their feelings.


    "However, it doesn''t mean you should not follow the path you desire. Just be nice with your father next time you see him. And tell him that Baishen sends her regards. Anyway, how many moons?"


    "Hmph. Only five. I''m pretty confident in reaching seven before my fifth-year, but they are more and more difficult to materialize." Just like ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' had seven stars to forge, ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons'' had twelve moons. Contrary to Cao Yun, Long Huafang could not enter her sea of consciousness to observe them. However, she had many accounts of her family members describing them.


    "Well, if you keep training with this little genius, you''ll carve them even faster." Chief Elder Baishen took Cao Yun by the shoulder while speaking.


    "Little genius? I won! ''I'' won! Didn''t I?"


    "And you think next time, he won''t be able to free himself from your ''The Moon in the Eye'' faster? Hell, you still have to make eye contact considering your level, right? He just has to not look at your eyes."


    Indeed, if she mastered this move a bit more, it could work without eye contact, but no Mortal cultivator had ever been able to reach this level. Most people in her family reached it by the middle of the Mortal Warrior realm in fact.


    Long Huafang was a bit sour about this. "So what? I also saw his moves. I already thought of ways to counter them!" She then turned to the boy who was trying to get away from under Chief Elder Baishen''s arm. "Chen Guo, let''s fight again tomorrow! I''ll show you that this wasn''t just a fluke. I''ll convince this old hag!"


    "What? Who is an old hag here? Has your father ever spanked you? I''ll discipline you in his stead, little brat!"


    The old woman chased after Long Huafang who ran out of the martial art pavilion in panic. With her cultivation she could have caught her in an instant, but she was just playing around. However, she kept chasing her outside for a few minutes.


    Cao Yun was a bit disconcerted by the comic duo.


    Before walking back to his room, he stayed to meditate on everything he had learned today. This fight was rather enjoyable and to be honest, he was looking forward to another duel, even if the girl had not asked for his opinion. Moreover, he had gained a lot of benefits. Even the fourth star had almost been forged. He focused on it and realized something. This star was related to controlling the movement of your opponent. When he put it into practice, he was shocked to find out it was very similar to array formations.


    However, instead of using flags or objects, he was using his own attacks. And he wasn''t controlling the flow of Qi in the environment but the flow of his opponent to direct him where he wanted him. Maybe, by studying array formations a bit more, he could develop this star and find out about its move faster. He would also reread ''Dashan''s Discussion of the Thirty-Six Stratagems''.


    Moreover, this reminded him of ''Dying Poems Under the Mirage Pavilion'', a collection of poems attributed to Saint Dashan. He had always found that there was a sad and yet beautiful feel to them. According to the legend, he had made all these poems after the end of the war. Every single poem was in memory of a great battle and the people who had died in it.


    Even though they were sad, Cao Yun had always imagined that reading them brought back to life all those heroes who had sacrificed everything for mankind. That was probably why Saint Dashan had written them. Thinking about this, Cao Yun also remembered his family, and his parents who had died so that he could live.


    Some verses of ''Dying Poems Under the Mirage Pavilion'' came to his mind.


    ''The butterflies, into the fire, soar,''


    ''Like lions roar, wings in sorrow burn,''


    ''Turn into dew as the living mourn,''


    ''Refresh the young, who now will soar.''


    They strangely made him think about his parents. He had never quite understood these verses before. But now, he clearly pictured soldiers dying in battle so that the young generation could live on.


    With a light and refreshed mind, Cao Yun walked under the moon and remembered many poems. By the end of his walk, he was even singing a few of his favorites. This night was quite magical.


    Finally, he was back in front of his room. Strangely, he felt bad going back inside. The night felt particularly nice.


    As soon as Cao Yun opened the door, he saw blood on the floor. Right in the middle of the main room, Huang Cixi was lying on the floor, with blood coming out of her mouth. She was still breathing, but extremely faintly. Instantly, Cao Yun took out the paper talisman Xiao Xuefeng had given him, and crushed it.


    Carefully, he scanned the room before approaching the wounded girl. Then, he walked toward the girl whom he tried to talk to but she was unconscious.


    All of a sudden, Xiao Xuefeng was in the room. When Cao Yun had crushed the talisman, she received a telepathic signal and moved as fast as she could. The moment she got there, she understood why the boy had called her. Cao Yun felt her presence and moved out of the way. He knew that she was able to deal with it better than he could.


    The elder went to Huang Cixi''s side and felt her pulse. While touching her wrist, she sent her perception throughout the girl''s body. She felt something strange but soon realized that wasn''t the problem. The cause of this was pretty obvious, sadly.


    "She''s suffered from Qi deviation. She was probably cultivating and tempering her Lower Dantian. But her state of mind was not stable enough and she lost control of her Qi. I fear that her Lower Dantian is severely damaged. I''ll take her to Chief Elder Qinghe."


    "I''ll come too!" Cao Yun did not hesitate one bit. And Xiao Xuefeng, not wanting to waste any time, took him with them. The three of them suddenly rose in the sky under Xiao Xuefeng''s powers, and flew in the distance.

 Chapter 116: Dantian pierced in all ten directions

    Xiao Xuefeng flew all the way to the physician pavilion. This pavilion was rather close to the martial art pavilion for obvious reasons. There were also smaller clinics near the training grounds in case of emergency. And array formations were set up there to contact the main pavilion.


    Chief Elder Qinghe was reading some old manual about the Soul Embryo. This was the difference between a Mortal Warrior and a Spirit Warrior. While Mortal Warriors could manifest their Qi and control it outside of their body, Spirit Warriors could deploy spiritual senses all around them, able to see through flesh and bone. These spiritual senses came from the Soul Embryo they had birthed within them during the last stages of the Mortal Warrior realm. This was this very process that Cao Guang had achieved the night of the attack on the Cao family.


    Chief Elder Qinghe was a very old man, approaching his 2,100th birthday. Spirit Warriors had extremely long lifespan and among them physicians and alchemists boasted the longest of all. He was a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior and had been stuck there for more than a thousand year. No human cultivator had been able to exceed the Spirit Warrior realm since the end of the Seven Treaties Era. And even the last levels of Spirit Warriors were harder to reach.


    He had the appearance of a great scholar with a pure white beard. The top of his head was shaved but he still had very long white hair behind. Considering his old age, Chief Elder Qinghe would not be alive for more than a few decades and it showed on his face. Even Chief Elder Baishen who was old only looked like a sixty or seventy-year-old mortal woman. But if Chief Elder Qinghe was compared to a mere mortal, he would look older than a hundred-year-old man. Without his Qi, he would not even be able to move around.


    His spiritual senses were not as developed as Xiao Xuefeng''s but he sensed her from very far. In fact, she attracted many other chief elders and elders. But seeing her direction, they quickly understood that something had happened to a disciple. However, they had to admit that since the beginning of this year, many Spirit Warriors were flying at full speed all over the Wubei Sect. This was unusual!


    Chief Elder Qinghe woke up some elders and asked them to welcome the woman as he prepared an examination room.


    Guest Elder Xiao Xuefeng was also feeling everything that was going on in the physician pavilion. She went straight to those elders. They were two men and one woman.


    "This one pays respect to Guest Elder Xiao Xuefeng." They all quickly bowed and almost immediately stood straight. As physicians, they were used to emergencies and politeness was reduced to its minimum.


    All three of them sent their spiritual senses over Huang Cixi. Xiao Xuefeng let go of her and the physicians kept her floating in the air.


    After some quick examination, they walked toward the room prepared by their chief elder.


    "Follow us, please."


    Cao Yun was unable to follow them because of their speed but Xiao Xuefeng kept him under her control and took him with her. They arrived to the room set up by Chief Elder Qinghe.


    "Miss Xiao, what happened?" As soon as he spoke, he was already examining the girl''s body while waiting for an answer.


    "Chen Guo found his servant bleeding on the floor tonight. I believe that she suffered from Qi Deviation during her cultivation. Her Lower Dantian seems to have suffered terrible injuries."


    Chief Elder Qinghe was sending his spiritual senses all over the poor girl. The more he examined her, the deeper the frown on his face became.


    "Miss Xiao, it''s way worse than that, I fear." Cao Yun''s heart skipped a beat. "She completely destroyed her Lower Dantian."


    Cao Yun''s mind went blank. This meant that even if she survived, she could never cultivate again. The Lower Dantian was the foundation of all of human cultivation. If it was too damaged or worse, accumulating Qi would become impossible as it was the main reservoir and producer of Qi in the human body.


    He was devastated. Huang Cixi was a servant, but Cao Yun valued her greatly, as he did everyone close to him. Xiao Xuefeng''s complexion was not so good either. She had examined her in haste so she had not seen the severity of her condition. However, Chief Elder Qinghe was a 5-star Heaven physician. His word was absolute.


    "Physician Qinghe, is there nothing we can do?" Cao Yun panicked and asked what was on his mind.


    "For now, I''ll stabilize her condition or she could simply die before sunrise. That won''t be difficult but I need calm. Leave me!" As soon as he spoke, the doors opened. Xiao Xuefeng looked at Cao Yun and they both walked out.


    The boy''s eyes were almost devoid of life. He knew close to nothing in terms of medicine. However, he had read many books on both alchemy and cultivation. Desperately, he tried to browse through his memories but nothing was able to help. He even tried to look through the memories he had obtained from Cleansed Asura. However, everything was still too complicated for him to understand.


    Finally, Xiao Xuefeng talked.


    "Chen Guo, I have a way..."


    "Really?! Please, do tell!" Cao Yun talked first, but then he saw that the woman''s face was rather gloomy.


    "There is a legendary pill known as the Life Boiling Cradle pill. The texts claim that it''s able to create a Pure Golden Dantian. There is a possibility, a very tiny possibility, that this pill could restore someone''s Lower Dantian." She insisted on the fact that the possibility was slim.


    Cao Yun thought about it. He looked through all the texts he knew, from the ''Four Seasons Cycle Classic'' and the ''Ten Thousands Earthly Mysteries'' to the most obscure texts he had read. This pill appeared nowhere, not even a single mention of it.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, I never heard about this pill..."


    "Of course, you haven''t. This pill is legendary. Some ancient texts claim that Emperor Nuwa found one and started her cultivation this way. A Pure Golden Dantian allows one''s cultivation to soar much faster than a regular mortal. The legends are not clear on the details, but for a Mortal or a Mortal Warrior, the benefits should be plentiful. However, the chances of success of such a pill are so slim that most cultivators who ever tried it during the Founding Era died. As such, it was never consumed by anyone afterward.


    "But the bigger problem is different... This pill is a 1-star Spirit pill." With these words, she poured cold water on Cao Yun''s hopes.


    Pills were ranked according to both their difficulty to refine and their effects. Earth rank pills could theoretically be refined even by mere mortals. Human rank pills required the ability to control the flames with one''s Qi, so only a Mortal Warrior could succeed. Heaven rank pills required spiritual senses to sense the process within both the flames and the cauldron. After those ranks were two special ranks: the Spirit rank and the God rank.


    They did not require new abilities. In theory a Spirit Warrior could refine them. By in truth, this was almost impossible. A Spirit rank pill was known as an ''aware pill''. Legendary texts claimed that such pills were similar to plants. The medicinal essence in them had started to develop a wisp of consciousness. It wasn''t really conscious but it could react to its environment. The moment it was created, it would try to flee from the cauldron to absorb the purest Qi of nature, the Heaven Qi.


    A Spirit rank pill could not really develop a spirit, but for people around, it looked as though it had one. Only a God rank pill had a true spirit. Being able to forge either of them was akin to creating life from medicinal essence. Not only was it extremely hard, it was also difficult just to keep the pill from leaving afterward. Cao Yun had read one document about them, ''Annotations of Grand Alchemist Zhang Pao''. He was the last one to attempt to forge a Spirit rank pill during the Forsaken Dao Era.


    He had reached the pinnacle of 9th-grade Spirit Warrior and was confident in his strength. Despite being a 5-star Heaven alchemist, he failed more than a thousand times. And when he was finally successful, the pill just flew in the sky never to be seen again. He tried to chase after it with all his strength but lost it after a few months.


    In this personal notebook, he had detailed all the process. For his experiments, he had used almost all the resources he had accumulated during his entire life and had wasted numerous ingredients. However, he was able to give very comprehensive explanations. According to him, an array formation had to be set up to ensure the retrieval of the pill. In the ancient times, people were able to exceed the Spirit Warrior realm so they could tame these pills without external assistance, but not anymore.


    Forging such a pill was almost impossible and even if you could do it, you may not be able to use it.


    -


    As Cao Yun was trying to rack his brain over this problem, Chief Elder Qinghe came out of the room.


    "Her condition is stabilized, but her Lower Dantian is completely destroy. She''ll never be able to gather any Qi in it. Worse, if she tries, the Qi will overflow in her organs and she may die."


    Fortunately, Cao Yun''s mind cultivation was excessively strong. As such, he resisted the shock of the news and the Drop of Wrath stayed calm. Before, it could have tried to use this dark occasion to assault his sanity.


    "Physician Qinghe, did you find the cause of such a Qi deviation. I''ve rarely seen one so intense." Most of the times, a Qi deviation could cause injuries but in a level as low as 3rd-grade Mortal, the wounds should be minimum.


    "I fear that she developed an inner demon. I don''t know what happened for such a young girl to form one, but it probably woke up during her last cultivation. All the Qi she was gathering in her Lower Dantian erupted in the ten directions. No wall was safe. Miss Xiao, I''ll have to trouble you for some pills tomorrow. Luckily, I can salvage her body. She won''t suffer much, but her cultivation days are over. I''m sorry..."


    "Thank you, Physician Qinghe. I know you did your best. Just send my servants the list of what you need."


    Chief Elder Qinghe looked over at Cao Yun. Seeing his lifeless face, he heaved a deep sigh. "Young boy, there was nothing you could have done. If you want to stay the night with her, go ahead."


    He then left as Cao Yun and Xiao Xuefeng walked into the room.


    In Cao Yun''s mind, many possibilities emerged. Could she have formed this inner demon because of the attack of Luduo Bu? Then, everything was his fault. And worse, he had failed to realize that she was in anguish. Inner demons weren''t just born out of the blue like that. It could take months, sometimes even years, before they manifested themselves. In demonic cultivators, it could cause insanity, but in orthodox cultivators it mostly caused wounds and death by Qi deviation.


    Walking closer to Huang Cixi''s frail body, Cao Yun began to feel an intense guilt. As he stroked her hair, his hands were shaking. This girl had helped him a lot, and she was very nice and obedient. She had been a great servant for this half a year. He couldn''t shake out the idea that he was at fault somehow.


    In fact, he was. Her inner demon had festered on her own guilt and sadness. The sadness and rage of losing her second brother and then her father. But also the guilt of finding the same qualities of her brother in his murderer.


    Cao Yun could only see one alternative to her fate. He fell on his knees before Xiao Xuefeng.


    "Grand Master Xiao, please. I''m sure that the great Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute has enough geniuses to attempt such a refinement. I know how hard this pill is to forge. But if the Institute attempts it, I''ll be forever grateful. I know that I''m still just a child, but I swear that I''ll repay this kindness thoroughly. Please!"


    Xiao Xuefeng was quite surprised. She knew that Cao Yun was happy with his servant, but she did not suspect that he would be so emotionally attached. It was probably related to his family''s death. A deep sense of guilt was now present in him. He had failed to save even a single child from his family, while he alone had survived. She understood where he was coming from. She too had thought about the assault of Luduo Bu as a potential cause for this inner demon.


    "Chen Guo. You should not put all the sufferings of this world on your shoulder. Qi deviation can happen to everyone. You''re not responsible." She paused for a bit, pondering her next words. "Just as you''re not responsible for what happened in the past."


    Obviously, he knew what she was talking about. Outside of her Universe Engulfing Sparrow array formation, she would never directly address anything susceptible to give away his real identity. After all, the demonic cultivator who had killed Lu Meihan was a powerful Spirit Warrior, so he could potentially overhear them, and he seemed to have many agents within the Wubei Sect as well.


    "I understand all that. I really do. But... please Grand Master Xiao. If I don''t at least try to do all I can to save her, I won''t be able to go on. I know both the refinement process and the actual effects only give a slim chance to Mei Yuzhi. However..."


    "And are you sure that she''ll be able to risk her life in order to regain her cultivation?"


    Very faintly, the voice of Huang Cixi interrupted their conversion.


    "If there''s a chance, I''m ready to try..." It was only a glimpse of consciousness and she quickly fell back asleep.


    Both Cao Yun and Xiao Xuefeng were surprised. And the boy went back to caring for her as he sat on a small chair beside the bed.


    Xiao Xuefeng was full of doubt, but finally she took a deep breath.


    "Chen Guo. I''ll think over it. But I wont promise anything. If I am to attempt this refinement, I''ll need to go back to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Alone, there is no hope of success at all."


    She then left them both in the room.

 Chapter 117: Sharing the Seven Demons

    In the Purple Northern Cloud Faction residence, Long Huafang went back to her brother''s room. She found him sitting cross-legged on his bed. He wasn''t cultivating though, but he was deep in his thoughts.


    Seeing him like that, she knew what he was thinking about. She approached as quietly as possible. When she was finally close to his ear, she whispered.


    "Just ask her and she''ll follow you."


    Long Jian was jolted back to reality. The first thing he saw was the mischievous face of his little sister.


    "You! If I was cultivating, you could have wounded me!"


    "But you weren''t cultivating though... You were thinking about Mu Hue, right?"


    Long Jian did not answer. But by turning his head away, he also gave away the answer.


    "Come on! It''s not good for either of you. If you keep it up, you may develop an inner demon. You could just go to Mu Hue''s room right now." Long Huafang walked around her brother so that she could see his face. "I''m sure she would welcome you. Better yet! Go abduct your fianc¨¦e! I''m sure she''s just waiting for it to happen. You''re obviously meant for each other."


    This time, Long Jian became serious.


    "No! That''s precisely because she would follow me that I''m not asking. I know how important the Sutra Faith is to her. I will never ask her to choose between me and her convictions!"


    "She''ll just join some decrepit old men who live alone in the mountains... What good can it bring her? You''d both be happier together!"


    Long Jian''s gaze got lost in the distance. "I''ll join the Hongchen Kingdom''s army and she''ll join the Silent Peak''s Ten Thousand Rivers Monastery. We were not meant to be in this life..."


    Long Huafang scoffed at her brother''s words. "Well, when you''re a decrepit old man yourself, and I''m still young and beautiful, don''t go complaining about your stubbornness. You should seize the good things in life. Love may not come twice."


    "What do you know of love?! You''re just a brat! Your only concerns are eating and fighting. You think you''ll find a husband that way?!"


    "What do I need a husband for?" A mischievous smile crept on her face and she threw herself on her brother''s arm. "I already have such a loving older brother."


    "Stop it!" He threw her off. "I''m not in the mood for your teasing."


    "You''re so mean... Maybe I''ll go marry Chen Guo instead."


    When she used this name, Long Jian stopped moving. Suddenly, he turned toward her and grabbed her shoulders. "You met him?! Wait, did you fight him? How was he? Could he be a worthy opponent to me?"


    Under this barrage of question, Long Huafang simply smiled at her brother. "Oh? I thought I was the one only concerned with fighting..."


    Flustered, Long Jian took a step back and calmed himself.


    "Well, he''s even better than the rumors claim. He forced me to use ''The Moon in the Eye'', and he was able to overcome it in a few breaths." Realizing she was putting herself down, she quickly added. "I still won though, obviously."


    Long Jian was impressed. He knew his sister had carved five moons out of the twelve from ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons''. By unleashing this ultimate move, most Mortals would be completely paralyzed for a few seconds. He himself had carved seven moons and he was wondering whether he would exceed his father''s record before the end of the year.


    If Cao Yun was able to overcome his sister''s ''The Moon in the Eye'', there was hope for a great fight with him. After all, they still had around six months before the end of the year. He still had many opportunities to grow, especially if he was sparring with his little sister. Even though she could be kind of bratty, it was undeniable that she was talented.


    "So, Brother, do you want to hear about my fight with him? Or do you want me to keep his techniques a surprise?"


    She had been successful in cheering up her brother. Long Huafang knew exactly how to push his buttons. In fact, she really thought it was a waste that he and Mu Hue were so stubborn. But, on the other hand, she understood both parties. They both had to choose between something that was essential to them and someone they loved. In fact, Long Huafang was also in this situation with her father. Even though she loved him, she could not give up fighting even though she knew how much it pained him.


    -


    In the physician pavilion, Cao Yun had stayed the entire night by Huang Cixi''s side. The girl seemed so weak and brittle in her bed that it hurt him. Even throughout the whole morning, he stayed with her.


    Finally, she woke up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she felt that her cultivation was gone and that her Lower Dantian was destroyed. Her eyes were filled with despair. Was it her punishment for failing to protect her family, and for being attached to their murderer?


    The first thing she saw was the top of Cao Yun''s head. He was bowing to her.


    "Mei Yuzhi. I''m sorry! Everything is my fault."


    Huang Cixi first thought that he had discovered who she was and panicked. Then, she slowly analyzed the situation. No, he was talking about something else.


    "If I had not asked you to accompany me during my training, Luduo Bu would never have attacked you. Everything is my fault."


    He really had misunderstood.


    "Young Master Chen. You''re not responsible for anything. This is my fault for not being careful enough. I did feel that something was wrong these past few days... But I still tried to push through by sheer will... Turns out my resolve was too weak." She was referring to her resolve to avenge her family. In the end, she could not bring herself to sincerely hate Cao Yun. She hated that her family was dead, but she knew why it had happened, and who was really to blame.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "I... I..." Cao Yun was full of hesitation in the wording of his next sentence. "There may be a way to restore your Lower Dantian." He did not want to give her too much hope, but he needed to ask her if she was willing to take the risk.


    "What?! But it''s completely destroyed, I can feel it!"


    "Grand Master Xiao knows of a pill that could heal you, and much more. However..." Seeing his face, Huang Cixi understood the catch. "The chance is very slim, and if it fails, you may die. It''s not even sure that Grand Master Xiao will be able to obtain it. But I need to ask you..."


    "Yes!" Huang Cixi did not hesitate one instant. She was so quick to respond that Cao Yun was taken aback. The previous night, she had answered while she was almost unconscious, but this time she was fully awake and aware. Cao Yun had never realized how much she desired strength, and how resolved she was. "I''m ready to risk it all. If there''s even a tiny chance, I''ll take it."


    Cao Yun slowly realized how Lu Meihan had felt. If it had been him, Cao Yun was not sure whether or not he would have succumbed to the demonic cultivators. However, he was sure that he would be willing to risk his own life to get back his strength. He needed it to avenge his family.


    Huang Cixi would have never sacrificed anyone else, but if the only risk was her life, she was ready to gamble. Since her family''s death, life wasn''t that good anyway...


    Cao Yun hesitated a bit. "Then, I''ll petition Grand Master Xiao to obtain this pill. But, there''s another matter... Even if your Lower Dantian is restored, you''ll still have inner demons. They''re not that easy to get rid of."


    He had thought about it all night long. Ultimately, his guilt had won over. Cao Yun did not want to share ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' with anyone except for Feng Yingyue. This was a very powerful mind cultivation, and somehow it was also a secret between them. But this was the perfect way to get an inner demon under control, or even root it out completely, he was sure of it. As such, he was wondering whether he should gift it to Huang Cixi. Right now, he could write the four first characters, and he was convinced that the fifth one was not far from reaching Perfection either.


    After a night of guilt, his reticence was mostly gone. The final nail in the proverbial coffin was the resolve he saw in Huang Cixi''s eyes. The Dao Heart Xiao Xuefeng had talked about, he could see it in her pupils.


    Later, this evening, he would write to Feng Yingyue in order to let her know that he had shared this mind cultivation. He felt as though he was betraying something special between them. Even though this mind cultivation was his, as City Lord Dun Mofan had given it to him, he felt as though she had a right on it as well. If Xiao Xuefeng was convinced to go back to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, she would also be the perfect messenger.


    He left to fetch a brush and a paper. Just like that, he started drawing the first four characters. But concerning the explanations, he wrote nothing. Instead, he explained the method to Huang Cixi verbally.


    The more she listened to him, the more she realized that this method was perfect for her problem. Yi, the Earth Intent and Zhi, the Water Will alone could easily suppress her inner demon. With Shen the Fire Spirit, they would become even stronger. And according to Cao Yun''s explanations, Po the Metal Corporeal Soul and Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul would definitely annihilate her inner demon.


    Thanks to these explanations, Huang Cixi could start the cultivation of her mind immediately. It wasn''t taxing on the body so it wasn''t a problem. And as she didn''t have the Drop of Wrath, she could maybe calm her mind more easily. Even though she had an inner demon, it wasn''t as powerful as the Drop of Wrath. Moreover, Cao Yun knew perfectly what kind of pills were necessary to help her and he could get them fairly quickly now.


    Cao Yun stayed by Huang Cixi''s side as she started circulated Yi the Earth Intent. Thanks to his explanation, she was able to reach five repetitions. It was better than what Cao Yun had achieved his first time but less than Feng Yingyue. However, she still felt as though it was miraculous. Her mind was exhausted but somewhat refreshed at the same time.


    If she kept on practicing this method, she was sure that her inner demon would subside and eventually disappear entirely. She looked at Cao Yun with a new glint in her eyes. Even though he was the reason of her torments, he was also the man trying everything to help her. At this very moment she decided that she would stop trying to get revenge. This decision was extremely painful for her, but deep down, she knew that she couldn''t go through with it. Later, she would need to ask forgiveness to her deceased family. Ironically, this decision who had tortured her for weeks, if not months now, just freed her mind. All of a sudden, a heavy burden got lifted off of her and she could sleep in peace again. The cycle of violence would be broken.


    Huang Lixin had been killed trying to murder Feng yingyue. And Huang Cixi was ready to then murder Cao Yun to avenge him. Obviously, Feng Yingyue, now a student of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, would try to avenge him. In a very short time, the Huang family would get involved as her grandfather loved her dearly. And this feud could even spread to the entire Hongchen Kingdom. At this very moment, she had decided that this wasn''t worth it at all. She could not forget what Cao Yun had done, but she was now able to move past it.


    In the following days, Cao Yun would gather the pills necessary to advance ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', the Frozen Heart pill and the Praying Demon pill for example. Chief Elder Qinghu also gave several treatments to Huang Cixi through the help of Xiao Xuefeng. Refining pills and balms under the Human rank was so easy to her that it did not require any effort. She really was at the pinnacle of alchemy in the Hongchen Kingdom. Apart from Hua Fenfei, no one could measure up to her in this field.


    -


    Up in the Sect Palace, Xiao Xuefeng was talking with the sect leader of the Wubei Sect. He was still behind curtains, talking with a small and low voice.


    "Miss Xiao, have you uncovered the identity of the Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator?"


    "No, Sect Leader. I''m ashamed to admit that his hiding and plotting are excellent. However, I came with an urgent matter."


    "Can it be about the boy? Chen Guo?"


    "Indeed, Sect Leader. His servant fell victim to an inner demon. While examining her, I found something strange. It seems like there is some kind of seal on her bloodline."


    "You are correct, Miss Xiao. This young lass is Huang Cixi. She was enrolled under a false identity and to hide her true lineage, her family performed a sealing technique. I can assure you that she has nothing to do with any demonic cultivator."


    Xiao Xuefeng quickly made the connection. She had investigated Cao Yun thoroughly, and she knew what had happened in Yinmen City. The reason why Huang Cixi had enrolled in the Wubei Sect was now obvious for her. She was here to kill Cao Yun. Xiao Xuefeng was now trying to figure out her course of actions. She did not know how to deal with this situation. On one hand, Cao Yun wanted her to try and refine a legendary pill. On the other hand, this pill was to save the life of someone who wanted him dead.


    Anyway, she would have to discuss it with the girl herself.


    "Sect Leader, I also came here to inform you that I may be forced to go back to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute for a few months."


    "Is there a problem in the Institute?"


    "No. However, I may need to refine a very high-ranked pill. If I go through with it, I will need my sisters'' help."


    "A pill that even Miss Xiao cannot forge alone? Could it be related to the Huang lass?"


    "I won''t hide it from you. I''m talking about the Life Boiling Cradle pill. I''m still indecisive. I''ll first talk to the girl, but if I accept to attempt this, I cannot do it here. I''ll also have to ask Chief Elder Suxian to accompany me. For such a pill, I will need an array formation master."


    The Sect Leader was quiet for some time.


    "Fine. I agree. The Huang family gave a lot to the Hongchen Kingdom. It''s natural that we try to save their young generation."

 Chapter 118: Departure from the Wubei Sect

    Xiao Xuefeng was in doubt. First of all, she wasn''t even sure whether or not she would be able to forge the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Even with the help of all the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, a success wasn''t certain. And the lower the quality of the pill would end up being, the more dangerous it would then be for Huang Cixi to consume. On the other hand, Cao Yun was adamant on saving his little servant. Little servant who, it turned out, was probably here to kill him in order to avenge her brothers. Brothers that Cao Yun had killed in self-defense right after losing his entire family in a carnage. That was a very complicated mess...


    This conundrum was even more of an headache for Xiao Xuefeng. Because, now, she knew that this servant was a member of the Huang family. Not only that, after the investigations she had led in Yinmen City, she knew that Huang Cixi was heavily dotted on by the current family head, her own grandfather. The young girl had decided to stay in Yinmen City to support her father. But being a talented woman, her grandfather had wanted her back in the main family for a very long time.


    In fact, the Huang family was different from most families in the Hongchen Kingdom. The legend stated that their first ancestor was a woman who had received the blood of a True Fiery Fenghuang. From this day onwards, she and all of her descendants had possessed a part of a True Fiery Fenghuang''s bloodline, attested by their pure white hair. Even outsiders had to dye their hair white as a symbol of belonging, but the difference could be seen by an expert eye. Moreover, this bloodline was especially strong in the women.


    As such, most of the power was held by women in the Huang family. In other families, the men stayed within the family and women married outside. There were always exceptions, but this was the common practice. In the Huang family, women stayed within the family to protect their bloodline and men were sent out to marry. This sometimes could cause some tensions but, with Emperor Nuwa - the ancestor of all of the Hongchen Kingdom - as an example, they had good grounds to make their case. In fact, the Huang family had a very good image and this practice was well supported by now.


    Huang Cixi was the granddaughter of Huang Yi, the current family head. He was in charge of the affairs of the family. It was unusual to have a man leading the Huang family but the current matriarch was too old to manage the family and was currently in seclusion. Thus, the family was debating on who should succeed her and in the meantime, one of her juniors was taking charge. In cultivators'' families, there tended to be a lot of generations. Most of the children were not able to reach the Spirit Warrior realm and could not live more than a few hundred years. They still lived very long and many generations just kept accumulating over time. Hence, the succession was rarely based on pure kinship.


    This practice also dated back to Emperor Nuwa. Despite having children herself, she chose a young man unrelated to her to be the next emperor. The law of succession for the new emperor of the Hongchen Kingdom had always been competence before kinship. In the Huang family, succession was based on purity of the fenghuang''s bloodline and talent foremost.


    Moreover, Huang Cixi''s bloodline had been tested, and she boasted the purest fenghuang blood in her generation. With the fact that the current family head was her own grandfather, it was very likely that she was one of the top candidates to take over the entire family in a few years. If the Huang family heard of her accident and saw that their Institute had decided not to try to refine the only pill that could help her, this could end badly.


    Anyway, Xiao Xuefeng first had to talk with the girl herself. Thus, she went back to the physician pavilion. It was now the beginning of the morning. When she got there, she saw Cao Yun sitting besides the bed of Huang Cixi. He had stayed here for several days despite the many protests from his servant.


    When he saw Xiao Xuefeng, he bowed down. "Grand Master Xiao. Have you considered my request?"


    Xiao Xuefeng heaved a long sigh. "Chen Guo, this is why I''m here. I''ll talk with Mei Yuzhi alone if you will."


    "Of course." He was about to leave when he heard Xiao Xuefeng''s voice directed at him.


    "Worrying for the people around you is not a bad thing. However, stop feeling responsible for everything. I''m sure that your friends already told you so, but I''ll add in my words. If you continue to live like that, one day your Dao Heart will be crushed by this pressure. Caring about others is fine, but do not live for them. Living just for yourself is already hard enough, don''t pile on the burden of others onto yours. Even a saint cannot save everyone, and you don''t want to be one, trust me. That''s it, you may go now."


    Her words touched him, but also Huang Cixi who was listening as well. With his new Hun character, Cao Yun was full of doubts, not knowing what he really wanted in life. Up till now, he had lived for his revenge, not unlike Huang Cixi in fact. And the guilt he felt for surviving his own family was the reason why he was so emotional about his close ones. He didn''t want to be indifferent to their plights but he knew she was right. There was a fine line between caring for others and being crushed by their sufferings. However, Cao Yun would not stop protecting the people around him. He circulated his mind cultivation while he was walking, still looking for an answer.


    What was the best thing to do for him? As he had no more clue on the murderers of his family, he was forced to think about other things, things he had never even considered. He was painfully aware that trying to bear the burden of others was too much. On the other hand, he sincerely believed in the first rule of the Wubei Sect, "Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!". Some people took it as to mean that the population as a whole had to be protected. But for Cao Yun, it meant that every individual had to be protected.


    These many thoughts would keep him busy for a while. If he let his emotions become chaotic each time he saw someone somewhat close to him in need, his Dao Heart could crumble. But if he stopped caring, his Dao Heart would dry up and he would not be that different from demonic cultivators in his mind. He had to forge his own conviction. Slowly, his Hun character was becoming stronger and stronger. It was not just fed by his cultivation but also by his interrogations. In fact, it was clearly influencing him to question himself, without ever giving him the answers. He had to forge them himself to move on.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    -


    As he was walking, he got assaulted. He was completely lost in his thoughts when a slap hit him in the back of his head. Feeling safe in the Wubei Sect, despite the incident with Luduo Bu, he didn''t have his guard up. And when he turned toward the culprit, he saw a young woman, Long Huafang.


    "You stood me up! I told you that we would spar together and you never came! I even had to put up with the old hag..."


    Cao Yun had indeed completely forgotten about this sparring session. To be fair, Long Huafang had decided of it on her own, just before fleeing for her behind.


    "I''m sorry. Our sparring was truly beneficial to me. However, something happened to my servant, and... I forgot. I''m sorry."


    Seeing in Cao Yun''s eyes that the situation was not as simple as he was saying, Long Huafang calmed down a bit.


    "Fine. As long as you admit your mistake, I''m not petty to the point of blaming you forever. You don''t seem so good now. But as soon as you''re fine, just send me a message in the Purple Northern Cloud Faction and we''ll fight, okay?"


    "Of course. I look forward to fighting with you again."


    Long Huafang let out a smile while walking away. "But if you forget again, I''ll teach you a lesson!"


    Cao Yun walked back to his room. It felt empty without Huang Cixi. In fact, she wasn''t present most of the time, but now that she was gone, Cao Yun really felt her absence. Without realizing, he had gotten used to her presence, considering her as a member of his group. He couldn''t use the word family, but deep down, that was a little bit what it was. Mei Hua, Mei Ying, Ren Chao, Sun Liao and Huang Cixi were just like his brothers and sisters. And the elders were a bit like his older generation in the Cao family.


    -


    At the same time, Xiao Xuefeng was talking with Huang Cixi.


    "I talked with the Sect Leader. You are Huang Cixi, right?"


    Obviously, this wasn''t a secret for the upper echelon of the Wubei Sect so she wasn''t surprised that Xiao Xuefeng knew. In fact, she was more surprised that she hadn''t known earlier. Indeed, Xiao Xuefeng''s mission to draw out the demonic cultivators had consumed a lot of her time. And what she had left, she had spent with Mei Hua. So she hadn''t had time to care about those things.


    "Indeed, I am, Guest Elder Xiao."


    "Then, let me ask you. Why did you choose Chen Guo? And before you answer, know that I investigated what happened in Yinmen City."


    Xiao Xuefeng controlled herself because Huang Cixi was still weak, but nonetheless she used her spiritual senses to put a bit of pressure on the girl. Huang Cixi was surprised to feel that the small mind cultivation she had cultivated was able to fend off a portion of this pressure. However, against Xiao Xuefeng''s spiritual senses, it couldn''t do much and she still felt as though an ancient beast was sizing her up for dinner.


    "I won''t lie. The original reason was to gather information on him to avenge my family. But, now... I don''t think I want to walk that path anymore." The alchemist saw sincerity in the young girl''s eyes.


    "I believe you." Thoroughly convinced, she would not dwell on the matter. "Then, there is the matter of the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Chen Guo should have explained the situation to you. I''m not sure whether I can refine it. And even if I''m successful, you could simply die while consuming it. Are you fine with it?"


    "Guest Elder Xiao. Is there another way to restore my cultivation?"


    The woman shook her head no. Then, with absolute resolve in her eyes, Huang Cixi answered. "If so, I''m ready to risk my life. Whether I live or die will be up to me. I''m even ready to write a will to state that this was my decision and that my family must not blame anyone else."


    Xiao Xuefeng examined her eyes for several breaths. "Fine. I acknowledge your resolve. My Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute has nothing to lose in attempting to refine this pill. It''s quite the opposite in fact. However, we won''t be able to make too many attempts. The ingredients for this pill are rather rare and expensive. We''ll have your Huang family pay a part of the cost of course. Prepare yourself. If you have methods to train the mind, this would be perfect. You could even go to the alchemy pavilion to learn some. When you ingest the pill, you''ll need to be sure to guide its medicinal essence in the right way. Learning a bit about the structure of the Lower Dantian in the physician pavilion is not a bad idea either."


    "Thank you, Guest Elder Xiao. My I ask another favor from you?"


    "I know. I won''t tell Chen Guo. However, you cannot stay here forever. After this incident, I doubt your family will even accept. I''m pretty sure your grandfather will want you by his side."


    She was quite right on this point. Xiao Xuefeng knew that she would need to go back to her family very soon, whether she was healed or not.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, whether the refinement or the healing process are successful or not, my grandfather will remember this act of kindness from your Institute."


    "My round trip will last at least three months, even with my fastest speed. Use this time to get yourself ready. I''ll ask some teachers in the alchemy pavilion to take care of you if you have any question. Even though you''re a servant, you''ll be able to learn there as a full fledged outer disciple."


    "Thank you again, Guest Elder Xiao."


    Xiao Xuefeng then left the room. She went to find Chief Elder Suxian. They had both talked about this a bit earlier and he had agreed to come with her. He bid farewell to his disciple Sun Liao while Xiao Xuefeng did the same with Mei Hua. In her absence, she had decided to put Meng Jia in charge of the alchemy pavilion. To which he was not too thrilled. He probably couldn''t sleep as much as before. And without too much ceremony, the two chief elders left for the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute standing on two flying swords.


    Even though they could both fly, a travel of more than a month was too difficult to sustain. And these swords had been forged especially to be faster in the air.


    -


    In another room of the Wubei Sect, Mo Zi was kneeling in front of a screen hiding his master.


    "Master, Sun Liao is asking questions to several array formation masters. Even though he tried to be secretive, he''s obviously trying to compare their array formations to mine."


    "Mo Zi, be patient. A golden opportunity is coming for us with Xieo Xuefeng and Suxian Zheng''s departure. Both the woman with the best spiritual senses and the man in charge of your pavilion. Moreover, since Chief Elder Bian has been demoted, our agents within the disciplinary pavilion have full authority. No matter who is elected to replace this idiot, we''ll still have enough influence in the coming years."


    The voice of his master was very calm, but Mo Zi was panicking. He knew that he could be discarded easily. Thus, he absolutely did not want to be discovered as he knew for sure that his master would not hesitate to burn him alive in order to stay hidden.


    "Do not worry, Mo Zi. I won''t forsake you this time. You made mistakes, but you''re lucky enough that I have a way to help you. Listen to me and do exactly as I say. If you fail to follow my instructions, do not blame me for being ruthless when the time comes."


    Mo Zi got more attentive than ever as cold sweat was running down his spine.


    "Thank you, Master. This disciple is listening to your every word."


    "Good!"

 Chapter 119: Unquenchable Vessel

    During the following days, in the Wubei Sect, several changes occurred. Meng Jia was temporarily put in charge of the alchemy pavilion. Usually, another Spirit Warrior would have been chosen, but Xiao Xuefeng trusted this man. What few people knew was that Meng Jia and Xiao Xuefeng had known each other for a very long time, since Meng Jia was a kid in fact.


    Xiao Xuefeng had even asked him to join their Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But Meng Jia was not attracted by power or fame. At the end of the day, he liked to lead a quiet life. Even in his cultivation, he wasn''t in any hurry. In fact, he probably could have broken through a long time ago, but he preferred to be absolutely sure. The last three stages of the Mortal Warrior realm were a tribulation to become a Spirit Warrior. Many failed and received wounds that would never heal. Some, too hasty, even died in the process.


    For Meng Jia, there was one important rule, ''patience is a virtue''. He only desired to leave a simple life without too many restrictions and responsibilities. Yet, all of a sudden, he had to manage the entire alchemy pavilion. This was a nightmare come true.


    Zhong Ling, the main receptionist of the alchemy pavilion was now chasing after him everyday to force more and more work on the poor man. Lately, a strange game of cat and mouse was going on in the corridors of the pavilion. Meng Jia''s attitude was not a problem when he was only an instructor, but now that he was the temporary chief elder, this was another story.


    The alchemy pavilion was not the only place in trouble. The disciplinary pavilion was in a difficult position as well. With their chief elder being demoted, they had lost a lot of their face and they were getting more and more disorganized. This resulted in the chief elders having increasingly more paperwork. Even though Spirit Warriors could work longer without sleeping, eating or drinking, and still staying focused, this wasn''t good for anyone. To find a solution, an election was held to choose a temporary chief elder for the disciplinary pavilion.


    Only the chief elders were authorized to vote. Many decided that it was better to put this charge on a chief elder of a lesser pavilion. And finally, the responsibility fell upon Chief Elder Luoming. He was in charge of the arts pavilion. Thus, the other chief elders decided unilaterally that he probably didn''t have a whole lot of work to do and could accept a bit more. In fact, the person who put this idea in everyone''s mind had long left. It was Chief Elder Suxian.


    Both chief elders seemed to always tease each other.


    Chief Elder Luoming was in the study of the disciplinary pavilion with a mountain of paperwork on his desk, and several others on the floor. Moreover, he also had to put some order back into the pavilion. This was a living hell. All the other chief elders finally saw the opportunity to give up their newly acquired tasks to him. The disciplinary pavilion was not only in charge of dealing out punishments. Their main task was to make sure that the rules were adhered to. And most of the time, it meant to do a lot, an awful lot, of paperworks.


    Luckily, Chief Elder Luoming was rather competent. The first few days, he only focused on putting the pavilion back in order before delegating the work to the competent personnel. However, he still had a lot to do and could not attend to many exhibitions from his own pavilion.


    Ironically, he did such a good job, that many people were wondering whether he should not get the position permanently. Instead of finding a replacement for the chief elder of the disciplinary pavilion, some were now petitioning to search for a replacement for the chief elder of the arts pavilion. Chief Elder Luoming was suffering from headaches... If he did a poor job, he would be drowned by paperworks. But if he did a good job, he would be stuck here forever. Chief Elder Suxian would have a really good laugh.


    -


    Several days passed and Cao Yun went back to sparring with Long Huafang. They spaced out their training to optimize their benefits. If they fought together too often, they would get used to each other and this could hurt their martial arts. This could lead them to being over specialized in fighting each other. They would believe they were making progress but when faced with someone completely different, they would realize their mistake. Of course, Chief Elder Baishen was there and would not permit such a mistake.


    They decided to train together around three to four times a month. Long Huafang was always extremely domineering. In their second sparring session, Cao Yun was able to completely escape the effects of her ''The Moon in the Eye'', simply by looking away. She had to rely on her other techniques. In the end, Cao Yun got the upper hand by a small margin. However, both of them got a lot of benefits. Long Huafang could feel her sixth moon being carved in her mind. Contrary to Cao Yun, she could not enter her sea of consciousness so she could only make gross estimates. However, Cao Yun was able to see that his fourth star, the Room Star, was indeed becoming more and more tangible.


    He was now sure that this Room Star was linked to array formations. Thus, Cao Yun decided to get back to training his side occupations, alchemist and array formation master. Chief Elder Suxian wasn''t here anymore but Sun Liao''s advice would probably be enough given his current level. And of course, Sun Liao was extremely happy to help Cao Yun.


    -


    "Brother Chen, what you describe to me looks an awful lot like what I personally do during my fights. You see, setting a full array formation in the middle of a fight is almost impossible unless you''re either a late Mortal Warrior or a Spirit Warrior. And even then, the array formation you''re able to set is way weaker than it should be. Personally, I use mostly the Nine Halls. This is a somewhat advanced principle among the Eight Directions, but very useful in practice."


    Sun Liao took out a small map and a piece of paper on which he drew a few lines.


    "Let''s suppose you want to set up an array formation in this wood. You would need to be there and analyze every detail, even use a compass. In an actual fight, unless you prepared yourself beforehand - which is the best thing to do of course - you would be unable to set anything. However, by abstracting the place, you can figure out the most important patterns you need. This is called making a Bamboo Map, because the first ones were all drawn on bamboo sticks.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "You see, the point is to figure out what the main characteristics of the place you''re in are. Let''s take this map for example. The most important features are the small lake, the hill here, the density of trees there, this huge rock on the side. You see, you take these elements and then, you create a much simpler map. And your array formation will be set according to this Bamboo Map.


    "The more experienced you are, the better your abstractions. Grand masters will take much more details into consideration and their Bamboo Maps will be more complex while being much simpler than the actual map and they will really contain only the elements they need, nothing more. The Nine Halls principle is fundamentally the art of extracting the relevant information from too much information, and condensing it for a single purpose.


    "In an actual fight, you can use this principle to create a Bamboo Map in your mind. Then, you set up your array formation according to this Bamboo Map. You can also try and incorporate your enemy in this map and even the kind of techniques he uses. The fact that everything else has already been simplified will make taking your enemy into account that much easier. Of course, your array formations won''t last as long and they won''t be as powerful as ones you set up with more time and knowledge, but they will still do what they''re meant to."


    With his ''Shen Visualization'', this process would be even easier for Cao Yun. Just by looking at a place, he could form a complete image of it in his mind. However, he had not thought about trying to abstract a simpler visualization.


    "Let''s try your ability, alright. Let''s assume that you want to create an Elusive Hare array formation in this room. Draw me the Bamboo Map you would use and then explain your setting process. Let''s see how you fare!"


    Sun Liao kept criticizing Cao Yun''s Bamboo Map over and over again. In the end, he drew around a hundred maps before Sun Liao deemed it passable. The following days, Sun Liao had Cao Yun repeat the process in various locations, either by going there themselves if it was within the Wubei Sect or using a map. At one point, he even provided him with only a painting of a place, or even just a description. Even without seeing the place, he should be able to extract enough information to craft a Bamboo Map.


    Sun Liao was very harsh in his critics. Fortunately, Cao Yun knew that he meant no harm, he was just very abrasive. In fact, Sun Liao was not a very good teacher in the fact that he wasn''t able to understand that things didn''t come as easy to others as they did to him. However, the content of his explanations were always clear and on point. So, on one hand, he was extremely demoralizing, but on the other, he was extremely knowledgeable and ready to share.


    During their training, Sun Liao also explained to his friend what he was doing. For several days now, he had asked questions to many other array formation masters. To Cao Yun, he insisted on the fact that he obviously had the answers to all these questions even though they were difficult. He even added that some of those he questioned were so stupid that they didn''t even know the answers to such problems. Until now, he had greatly reduced the list of suspects but he still had a few of them. In the end, he was particularly suspicious of L¨¹ Bai and Meng Hanyi.


    Meng Hanyi was a second-year in the Hidden Orchids Faction while L¨¹ Bai was a fourth-year in the Enshrouding Temple Faction, Sun Liao''s own faction. Both of them had very similar styles from what he had seen. However, he had not been able to talk with them directly as of yet. Being a first-year, he was forbidden from leaving the Wubei Sect, not them.


    -


    Cao Yun''s routine kept on going for several weeks. He would train with Long Huafang frequently, but not too much. The rest of the time, Chief Elder Baishen found him perfect opponents. His fourth star was fully materialized and he was on the right track to understand its first move. This was also greatly helped by Sun Liao''s training. Besides that, he still trained his lesser meridians and had hired people to stand guard when he was using the Seamless Qi Vortex array formation.


    Huang Cixi was now out of the physician pavilion and back in Cao Yun''s room. She had naturally been dispensed of many activities. As she was advancing very fast in her mind cultivation thanks to the pills Cao Yun had gotten for her, she insisted to repay him. As such, she kept on massaging him with the Contrived Shell Balm.


    During one of Chief Instructor Peng''s training day, Cao Yun finally felt that his lesser meridians were fully opened. As Chief Instructor Peng was reddening his skin with his turtle tail, he felt as though a dam had broken. All of a sudden, his Qi got excited and flew through all his meridians, through the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, the Standard Meridians, the collecting collaterals, the divergent collaterals, the muscle meridians, and even the cutaneous meridians. Cao Yun did not want to lose this fantastical feeling so he focused his Po character to observe it. Very soon, he also used both his Yi, Zhi and Shen, not to focus his intent but the opposite. He made sure to abstain from focusing on any singular point in order to feel the entirety of his body.


    According to the ''Coiling Turtle'' method, trying to focus your intent on the flow of Qi would slow it down, or even interrupt it. You had to focus on the feelings themselves without trying to impose your intent on your Qi. And as he did, Cao Yun felt that all his body was overflowing with Qi. Even his deepest tissues were infused with this overjoyed energy. It also nourished his most superficial tissues and his bones and muscles were vibrating. Seeing this phenomenon, Chief Instructor Peng stayed his hand. He let enough time for Cao Yun to lose himself in all these sensations.


    "Good, good! It reminds me of the day when I achieved it as well. I was so full of energy that I exhausted many... I probably shouldn''t talk about that. Anyway, Chen Guo, congratulations! Now, when you''ll reach 7th-grade Mortal, you should achieve a breakthrough in less than a year. In my case, it took me a bit more than eight months, while most cultivators waste more than a year. But I don''t think I have to remind you. You still need to break through to 7th-grade Mortal. Right now, I have nothing more to teach you. You should go lift some weights, then you''ll only focus on gathering more and more Qi. With fully opened Meridians, your body will be able to store much more Qi, so you should really work on gathering and condensing as much as you can. The more Qi you have and the better its quality, the easier the next stages will be."


    Cao Yun could feel the truth of his words in his flesh. His Qi could flow without any hindrance throughout all of his body, but its quantity seemed smaller now than when he had entered the 6th-grade Mortal. This was paradoxical because he had absorbed so much Qi. But with a bigger container, his body felt a bit empty. This was called having an ''Unquenchable Vessel'', as even huge amount of Qi could not quench its thirst for it.


    As Chief Instructor Peng had told him, Cao Yun went lifting some weights. He pushed his limits up to 275 dan. The upper limit of a 6th-grade Mortal was 200 dan, but as he could mobilize more Qi in his muscle meridians, his muscles were nourished beyond what a normal 6th-grade Mortal could hope to achieve.

 Chapter 120: Sun Liaos investigation

    "Good, good!" Seeing Cao Yun''s performance, Chief Instructor Peng was satisfied. It was rather rare for outer disciples to use the ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'' method. Indeed, they only had free trainings during their first year. After that, they used most of their time outside the sect. And during their third year, they could not get any help from the instructors. Thus, if they didn''t reach 6th-grade Mortal during their first year, they had no way of even attempting this training.


    In fact, Chief Instructor Peng had also proposed this training method to both Sun Liao and Mei Hua. Both of them had declined. They were not that interested in gaining more strength. And as they had array formations and alchemy respectively to advance their cultivation, they really didn''t need it.


    When Cao Yun was done, Chief Instructor Peng came to him and handed him a stone. It was ten times bigger than a small spirit stone and more than twice the size of a medium stone. The stone itself was a very dark blue, similar to a night sky.


    "This is a high spirit stone as a reward for completing ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals''. It''s not the kind of stone that you can easily get. I''d say that even in the Wubei Merit Market, it''s pretty rare. The Qi is at least a hundred times richer than in a small spirit stone and five times richer than in a medium one. And its quality is way purer, you almost have no impurity within. This will help you as you won''t have to condense it much when you absorb it."


    In the 6th-grade Mortal stage, the point of the cultivation was both to absorb enough Qi to fill the Lower Dantian until it naturally overflowed in the entire body and to balance its properties. To achieve the first goal, condensing Qi was great as it allowed to absorb even more of it in the same volume, but it wasn''t necessary. However, the more Qi a 6th-Mortal absorbed, the easier the next stages would be, but it wouldn''t impact the next realm that much. On the other hand, balancing the five elements within one''s Qi was essential for the next realm.


    The Qi in the Lower Dantian had to be rich in Water element without breaking the balance. The Lower Dantian itself was linked to the Fire element as it was believed to be where Jing was turned into Qi by fire. Having too much Water element could extinguish this fire and limit the amount of Qi the body would produce. But having too little Water element would make it impossible to cross to the Spirit Warrior realm later. This was one of the reasons why alchemists were so popular.


    Balancing out your own Qi could prove quite difficult, but alchemists could easily determine your imbalances and provide you with the perfect pill. So right now, Cao Yun decided on his two main goals. He needed the array formations to understand his fourth star, but also to increase the amount of Qi he could absorb. There also existed array formations meant to alter the elements in the Qi of the environment, that could be useful in this stage. On the other hand, alchemy was extremely useful to balance out his Qi himself, or even refine pills to help him in both absorbing and balancing Qi.


    Hence, Cao Yun would use most of his time into reaching 5-star Earth into these two occupations. Moreover, he had to admit that he had developed a great interest in them both. They had many aspects in common which he also found in cultivation and martial arts. In martial arts, he was more enticed by the prospect of learning new things and not the fights themselves. He had found this same excitement in these two occupations. Also, they were extremely well respected and rather rare, this would give him an edge and maybe a way to gather information more easily. He would also gain more opportunities, and he had not forgotten what Xiao Xuefeng had told him. There was probably a connection between the murderers of his family and the Imperial City. He had no interest in becoming as talented as Sun Liao or Mei Hua since he probably would need to devote all his time to only one occupation to do so. Ultimately, it would be enough for him to be average in both occupations to supplement his training.


    With the high spirit stone in hand, he quickly understood that using it to power a Seamless Qi Vortex array formation was a waste. He had read about much stronger array formations. The best one was probably the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation. This was a 5-star Earth array formation. Cao Yun had read about it in the ''Sixty-Four Tribulations of Earth''. It was a rather easy array formation to set up for its rank and it had a similar goal as the Qi Vortex array formation. As its name could suggest, its main goal was to gather Qi and condense it around the cultivators inside the array formation. It would also filter the surrounding Qi and gather more of its Water aspect within the array formation.


    It was the perfect array formation for Cao Yun''s purpose. Technically, he was still only a 2-star Earth array formation master, so this was a bit difficult for him. However, he had trained a lot with Sun Liao and he only needed to be able to set up this array formation at one specific spot. With Sun Liao''s help, he was confident in his ability to be able to replicate it. Thus, he decided to ask his friend for assistance.


    When the training day was finally over, he went to talk with Sun Liao who was as tired as everyone else.


    "Brother Sun, I need your help with a 5-star Earth array formation. Are you free tomorrow?"


    "You still have enough energy to think about array formations?!" Sun Liao''s face was extremely pale. In fact, Cao Yun was the only one full of energy. Usually, he was as exhausted as his fellow first-years. However, his body had achieved the state of ''Unquenchable Vessel''. The exhilarating feeling had completely erased his fatigue for the day. In the next few hours, he would still feel full of vigor.


    "But that''s really a good timing. I wanted to talk to you as well." He spoke in a smaller voice, almost whispering. "I think I know who the demonic cultivator who helped Lu Meihan is."


    Cao Yun got taken by surprise. He knew that his friend was discreetly looking for the culprit, but he didn''t think that he would get the answer so soon. Suppressing his surprise, he also started to whisper. "Are you sure?"


    "No, but I''m very confident. I just have to check a few things. Given that my master is absent, I was wondering whether I should wait or not to expose him. I mean, if I''m wrong... But I just have to make sure I''m right."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Well, the only one I still trust in the Wubei Sect''s upper echelon is Chief Elder Baishen. If you really think you know who he is, we should probably go to her." Cao Yun wanted to get answers, but he also did not want to put his friends in danger.


    "Are you sure? You don''t want to confront him yourself?"


    "Knowing Chief Elder Baishen, she should accept to let me interrogate him."


    "But what if he''s killed as soon as the truth is exposed?"


    This was a very credible possibility, as even Lu Meihan had been killed while Xiao Xuefeng was present.


    "We''ll just have to ask her to stay absolutely discreet about this. Brother Sun, I trust her. There''s no need for us to risk our lives too much."


    Xiao Xuefeng was not in the Wubei Sect, so the situation was more dangerous than ever. However, if he had been alone, Cao Yun would have probably tried to take care of it. But he wasn''t ready to put his friends in harm''s way for his own vendetta.


    "We''ll meet each other at the array formation pavilion tomorrow morning."


    Sun Liao nodded and they both left the training grounds.


    -


    In the same chamber as always, Mo Zi was kneeling in front of his hidden master.


    "Master, I did everything as you asked. Sun Liao should be exposing his findings to Chen Guo by now."


    "Good work, Mo Zi. I knew I wasn''t mistaken in choosing you as my disciple." A small metallic disc floated in the air toward Mo Zi. "This is the array formation I talked to you about. It''s 5-star Human. However, with a weak Mortal Warrior cultivation, the array formation will only be activated at around ten percent of its actual strength. It also won''t last for very long, one hour at most. But if you''re prepared, you should be able to pull it off without much trouble."


    Array formations could be engraved on plates. Such a plate was carved by an array formation master but it could be then used by anyone. Only a Mortal Warrior could activate such a plate by sending his own Qi within. But as the array formation could not be perfectly harmonized with the outside world, it would be temporary and would mainly depend on the strength of the user. The more Qi they used, the more stable the deployed array formation would be. Lesser cultivators could still use a part of its power by using another array formation to extract Qi from an exterior source such as a spirit stone. However, it was really not optimal at all.


    "Thank you, Master. I won''t disappoint you, I swear."


    "If you''re successful, we should be able to get rid of all the loose ends for now. However, remember!" Mo Zi felt an intense glare on him even though he couldn''t see his master''s face. "I won''t risk decades of work just to save you. You''re a good disciple, but not that good."


    Mo Zi was sincerely terrified. "I understand, Master. If I fail, you won''t have to do anything, I''ll end my own life."


    "It''s good that you know what''s proper. On the other hand, if you''re successful, I won''t be stingy." After the array formation plate, two high spirit stones flew in the air toward Mo Zi.


    He kowtowed before taking them. "This disciple thanks Master."


    -


    In the morning of the next day, Cao Yun went to the array formation pavilion. Being used to it, he naturally went into Sun Liao''s training room. They had spent a lot of time in here when Sun Liao helped Cao Yun with his study of array formations.


    "Brother Chen, you''re very early!" Sun Liao was still a bit weak after yesterday''s training. On the other hand, Cao Yun felt quite refreshed. Obtaining an ''Unquenchable Vessel'' body was almost like breaking through and it definitely energized him a lot.


    "Well, that''s a really important matter after all. Maybe you need some more rest though..."


    Sun Liao gulped down the cup of tea he had before him. "Not at all! Who do you think I am?" He tried to put up a strong front but his sleepy eyes betrayed him. "But you had something to discuss, right? Why don''t you go ahead while I''m... organizing my thoughts."


    Cao Yun suppressed a small laugh. Ren Chao was always honest to a fault, but Sun Liao could never admit when he was weak or in a bad situation.


    "Fine. After receiving a high spirit stone by Chief Instructor Peng, I''ve tried to think of a better array formation than a Qi Vortex. After some considerations, I think a Tidal Gathering Mist array formation would be perfect, don''t you think?"


    "Indeed. To use this high spirit stone to its fullest and get ready to break through to 7th-grade Mortal, that''s the best possible array formation. And it''s not that difficult to set up in fact. Do you know where you want to set it up?"


    "Yes. I''ll put it right where I was setting up my Qi Vortex array formation. Here''s a map. I also drew how I set up my previous array formation." Cao Yun put a hand-drawn map on the desk in front of Sun Liao. He had perfectly reproduced every detail of the small basin where he was used to cultivating. Superimposed were the positions of all the array flags he had positioned.


    Sun Liao was still waking up, but he truly was a genius. By glaring at the map for a few breaths, he already had a good idea about the location.


    "I must admit that your array formation is pretty good. If you want my opinion, you should be close to a 4-star Earth array formation master already." He took a brush and drew some figures on the map. "That''s the perfect spot to put the Gate of Sky. Here you could arrange the Master Palace and connect it to the Wind Palace through the Gate of Sky. Here is the ideal way to place your high spirit stone." Sun Liao kept going and created a thorough map for the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation.


    He then gave back the map to Cao Yun. The boy was clearly impressed by Sun Liao''s aptitude. Even though he was dead tired, he effortlessly gave him great indications on a 5-star Earth array formation. Using his ''Shen Visualization'', he imagined how it would look in real life. In a short time, he quickly understood that these indications were breathtaking. Even without understanding all the subtleties of this array formation, it was obvious to Cao Yun that these indications would help him setting it up. He wouldn''t be able to achieve a Pristine array formation though, not to mention a Seamless one. In fact, he would probably only set up a 70 to 80% array formation. With a bit of training however, he could maybe push it to a Perfect array formation.


    "Thank you, Brother Sun. This will be a huge help."


    "No problem. It''s just an insignificant thing." Sun Liao waved his hand as if this array formation was nothing much, despite being 5-star Earth. "If you''re trying to set it up this afternoon, I could come and help you a bit. I don''t think I can cultivate today after all..."


    As the tea was beginning to do its work on Sun Liao''s mind, he stood up.


    "But now that that''s out of the way, I''d like to talk about the reason why I called you here. As I told you, I investigated the man who set up the array formations around the Coiling Silk Faction residence. After a few weeks of subtly questioning a lot of them, I''m certain that this is either L¨¹ Bai or Meng Hanyi. I wasn''t able to talk with L¨¹ Bai yet. However Meng Hanyi''s craft seems a bit too different. He could be trying to hide his signature, but L¨¹ Bai seems way more suspicious. I investigated the dates when he was in and out of the Wubei Sect and it perfectly matches several key events. For example, the day you saw him in the Coiling Silk Faction, or the day Luduo Bu was freed from the Devil''s Jail. There are many coincidences such as these."

 Chapter 121: Martial arts vs array formations

    "I''m not entirely positive that the culprit is L¨¹ Bai. However, I''m sure that this is either him or Meng Hanyi. If I could just see L¨¹ Bai set up an array formation, I''m convinced that I could conclude definitively!"


    Cao Yun was pondering over Sun Liao''s words. "What do you know about them?"


    "Meng Hanyi is only a second-year. He and I are in the same faction, the Enshrouding Temple Faction. Of course, it was easier to have access to him. He''s a bit reserved so I can''t say much about his personality. But from what I''ve seen, he''s talented in array formations but not to the point of setting up the array formations I''ve seen. However, there are similarities. For now he''s only a 7th-grade Mortal and nearly a 4-star Earth array formation master."


    "L¨¹ Bai, on the other hand, is a fourth-year with a cultivation of 9th-grade Mortal and he''s already a 5-star Earth array formation master. Even though he''s in the Hidden Orchids Faction, he briefly trained under the same teacher as Meng Hanyi. If he''s the culprit, this could explain why there are similarities in both of their craft. But, for now, I''ve never been able to meet with him or even see one of his array formations, which makes him even more suspect.


    "So, Brother Chen, do you think we should go to Chief Elder Baishen with only this? I really tried to meet with L¨¹ Bai, but it''s almost impossible. Even when he''s in the Wubei Sect, he never stays long, and he mostly stays in his room. You should know that the Hidden Orchids Faction is rather secretive, so they don''t let anyone in."


    Indeed, everything Sun Liao exposed was suspicious. However, Cao Yun was wondering what the best course of action would be. This time, he didn''t want to involve his friends in his conflict, and Sun Liao had already done so much. If he kept on digging, he could put himself in harm''s way. Moreover, Cao Yun was convinced that he would never be able to dissuade him. On the other hand, Chief Elder Baishen was one of the few people he sincerely trusted. Apart from her, Xiao Xuefeng and Meng Jia, and on a lesser note, Chief Elder Suxian, were people he trusted as well, maybe Chief Instructor Peng too.


    "Yes, we should go to Chief Elder Baishen. After all, the demonic cultivators have a Spirit Warrior with them. If we go after L¨¹ Bai just to be attacked by this kind of enemy, we won''t even know how we died. Are you sure that they don''t suspect you''re onto them?"


    "Who do you think I am? There''s no way they suspect a thing. All the questions I asked them were specifically targeted to make them believe they were genuine. Of course, I knew all the answers already, but that''s not the point."


    Cao Yun was not so sure about this. Lately, Sun Liao seemed to be reverting back to his usual arrogance. But this would be a discussion for another time.


    The two boys decided to go to the martial art pavilion in order to see Chief Elder Baishen. But it turned out that she was absent due to some errors in her paperwork. Chief Elder Luoming had summoned her to deal with it. Thus, they left the building and talked a bit about what they were going to do.


    "We should simply come back tomorrow. In the meantime, I think we should just act normally." Cao Yun suddenly had an idea. "You could come with me now to set up the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation. I already hired a few people to protect the spot. They should be there already. You know, since Luduo Bu''s attack, I prefer to err on the side of caution."


    Sun Liao thought about it for a moment. "Fine, I have nothing interesting to do today anyway. And maybe we could talk about the use of array formations in combat. Having a wide open space will be better than being cramped in a small room."


    Sun Liao''s training room really wasn''t small, but it was true that it wasn''t meant to train in martial arts either, let alone archery.


    "Thank you, Brother Sun, great idea. I feel like I''m on the verge of understanding the fourth star."


    Just as they were talking, a young girl appeared between the two guys.


    "You''re speaking about training your martial arts with array formations?" She was Long Huafang. "I''ll come with you then!"


    Sun Liao had never met her so he was surprised. "We''re talking about serious business here! This is no place for a little brat to play around." As soon as he spoke, a fist sank into his abdomen.


    "Oh? You don''t think I''m serious? Is this serious enough or do you need to be convinced a bit more?"


    "Sister Long, calm down. Brother Sun didn''t mean to insult you. It''s just that it won''t be very interesting. You see, we''ll mostly train our array formations, we won''t have much fighting practice." Cao Yun tried to be a mediator as Sun Liao was folded in two attempting to breathe.


    "You little..."


    "What?! What did you say?" Seeing the fierce girl walking toward him, Sun Liao changed his address.


    "Sister, Brother Chen is right! I just meant to say that you''ll get bored."


    "So what if I''m bored, I''ll just beat you for entertainment!"


    Sun Liao had kicked an iron plate. Cao Yun was worried about his arrogance coming back. Well, this would be a lesson in humility. Long Huafang was as domineering and arrogant as he used to be, maybe a bit more.


    Sun Liao wasn''t an idiot. He quickly saw the emblem of the Purple Northern Cloud Faction on her chest, and coupled with the name Long, he knew who she was. Sun Liao wasn''t into fighting so he rarely went to see the challenges and as such he never saw her, but she was the new number one among the second-year.


    Even though she looked very young, she was 16, not that much younger than them. Cao Yun himself had turned 17 a few weeks ago.


    "Sister Long. I didn''t mean any disrespect I swear. But we''ll really be talking about array formations a lot."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "So what? You think I''m too stupid to understand any of it?!"


    Defeated, Sun Liao let go and accepted her company. Long Huafang seemed really triumphant and kept on teasing Sun Liao on their way. They followed Cao Yun to the place where he used to set up his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation.


    -


    There were three outer disciples around the small basin. They were all fourth-years and 9th-grade Mortals. One of them was very close to being a Mortal Warrior, he would probably break through the following year. And they all needed a lot of resources to help them progress. This little gig from Cao Yun was perfect for them. As an alchemist, he had no shortage of merit points to pay them. They all had specific pills or items they wanted to buy at the Wubei Merit Market so they were eager to earn these points.


    As the trio formed by Cao Yun, Sun Liao and Long Huafang walked in their direction, they first took defensive positions. Recognizing their employer, they calmed down. Even if they were in the Wubei Set, they were used to fighting in the wild and they knew about both Luduo Bu''s attack and the existence of a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator.


    Of course, such a news was difficult to silence. The Wubei Sect had managed to prevent the rumor from leaving its walls, but all the outer disciples were in the know.


    The three guards welcomed Cao Yun and went back to their work, leaving the trio be.


    "So this is where you set up your array formation?" Sun Liao inspected the place very thoroughly while Long Huafang only sent a few glances here and there before losing interest. "That''s a good spot indeed."


    Now that he was seeing it in person, it was easier for him to determine the best way to set up the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation. He took out a few flags.


    "Come on, Brother Chen, that''s a great opportunity for you to improve your array formation skills. I''ll guide you as little as possible. But I won''t settle for less than a Perfect array formation."


    "Brother Sun, it seems a bit excessive, no? I don''t think I can achieve it so easily."


    "What do you mean?! With me as a teacher, how can I accept something less than that?! It''s my reputation that''s on the line."


    "Hmph! Your reputation?" Long Huafang was completely bored, so she decided to tease Sun Liao as she loved his reactions.


    Sun Liao took a quick inspiration as he glared at the young girl. He had to control himself not to erupt, but he knew that nothing good would come out of it. In fact, he was confident in taking her on if he had prepared the right array formations, but in a fair fight, he had no chance whatsoever.


    "Sister Long, you see that this is boring, so why not go back, huh? I''m sure you''ll have plenty of opportunities to play with Brother Chen."


    "You think we play?! It''s you who play around! Array formations are just a small occupation used by weak people! If you''re strong enough, you don''t need to. Even for cultivation, you can just get a tool like you to set it up!" Long Huafang hated when people didn''t take fighting seriously.


    "What did you say you muscle brain?! Fighting is all you care about! Do you think you could escape from a single array formation I''d imprison you in?!" That was the straw that broke the camel''s back. Sun Liao could take a lot of insult, but he couldn''t bear to hear his occupation ridiculed. His family was renown as great array formation masters. This was akin to insulting his ancestors.


    "Please, please." Cao Yun tried to mediate once more, but it was useless.


    "Bring it on! Set any array formation and see how I crush it! If you''re not satisfied then, I''ll also crush you! Let''s see how you retort with your head under my foot!"


    "You little brat! Bring it on alright! If you can''t get out of my array formation in a hour, this is your loss!"


    "And what do you want to bet?"


    The word ''bet'' almost woke up Sun Liao, but it was too late for this. He remembered how his master had beaten him up after his bet with Cao Yun. From this day onwards, he had sworn never to make the same mistake again. However, if he was to back down now, it would be much more humiliating. So he found a way to make a bet he could accept to lose.


    "I don''t want much. If you lose, I want you to admit that array formation is a noble occupation."


    "Tsk. Not bold I see! Well, if I win, I want you to bow down and call me father!"


    Sun Liao had sincerely tried to calm things down. And it was incredibly hard for him. But Long Huafang only wanted to escalate things.


    "Fine. Then, if I win, you''ll have to kowtow and call me grandfather!"


    "It''s on!"


    On the side, Cao Yun didn''t know how things had come to this. Those two really were meant for each other...


    "Brother Sun, why don''t you just help me set up my Tidal Gathering Mist array formation, alright? And Sister Long, why don''t you just wait for me to be finished, I''ll train with you, okay?"


    "No!" They both turned toward him with fiery eyes.


    "Brother Chen, here are my suggestions. Just set up the array formation. And don''t you dare fail!" Sun Liao was completely different from his usual calm persona. He turned back to Long Huafang. "Give me twenty minutes to set up my trap, then we''ll see who wins!"


    "You need twenty minutes?! In a fight, I''d have killed you a thousand times by then. Pathetic. But I won''t let you say that I didn''t give you enough time to prepare. I''ll give you half an hour, don''t go complaining after that!"


    It was a terrible headache for Cao Yun but what was done was done. Even the guards around the basin were a bit perplexed. The two rivals were screaming so loud that everyone had heard them.


    They both went up so as to not disturb Cao Yun''s work in the basin. And Sun Liao took out his compass. He wanted to prove the usefulness of his array formations, so he wasn''t going to pull any punches at all. Right now he couldn''t set up any 1-star Human array formation so he had to settle for 5-star Earth ones. The one he had in mind was the Isolated Gate of Torment. It was maybe a bit too much, but she had asked for it.


    This array formation was special. All array formations had at least one gate, the Gate of Life, and one palace, the Main Palace. The palaces were important areas to stabilize the array formation and to enable its effects. On the other hand, the gates were points where either the energies gathered or were totally absent. They could have various effects on the array formation. Some allowed people to enter or exit an array formation without triggering it.


    The Isolated Gate of Torment array formation, as its name suggested, had only one gate, but it was the Gate of Death. In fact, this gate coincided with the Gate of Life. This meant that it was extremely difficult to leave this array formation as the Gate of Life was also the worst location to be in. The only way to beat this array formation was either to be strong enough or to count on the palaces. As Long Huafang had no knowledge of array formations, the second option was out of the equation. And as long as she wasn''t a Mortal Warrior, Sun Liao was sure she couldn''t break it with brute force.


    At the same time, Cao Yun was focused on setting up his Tidal Gathering Mist array formation. Sun Liao''s indications were near perfect. He began by circulating his mind cultivation. After a bit more than a month, Cao Yun was very close to achieving True Success in the Hun character. Thanks to it, his mind was now clearer and it helped him a great deal. However, it had the effect of questioning him on his purposes in life. It wasn''t necessarily a bad thing. However, not having the answer was making Cao Yun doubt. That was why he decided to focus entirely in his training, to silence all these questions on his future and the meaning of his life.


    Using his mind cultivation to stimulate his ''Shen Visualization'', Cao Yun used several of the Eight Directions principles to determine the best position for the flags. He did several tests in his mind. Setting up a 5-star Earth array formation, even with great indications was clearly not an easy feat.


    As he was fully immersed in his craft, Cao Yun suddenly heard fighting above him.

 Chapter 122: Ten Directions Mind Corrosion array formation

    As Sun Liao was setting up his Isolated Gate of Torment array formation, he heard a scream behind him. Turning in its direction to see what was going on, he saw a Silver Tailed Wolf. It was a 3-core demonic beast with a fur that looked like metallic spikes made from pure silver. The beast looked like a wolf but was at least twice their usual size. Behind it, there were three tails ending as terrifying pikes. As the beast was baring its fangs, Sun Liao realized that its mouth was full of blood. On the ground, Long Huafang was lying dead, her head had been devoured by the beast.


    Sun Liao did not understand how such a demonic beast could have appeared in the middle of the Wubei Sect. Looking around, he also saw that the three guards were lying on the ground, covered in blood. He had no time to think about what was going on. Grabbing his bow, he nocked an arrow. While reciting a mantra, he loosened the arrow on which a small array formation was engraved. "One Sun from Tang valley". The arrow started to ignite and a pure light blinded the wolf. It instinctively tried to dodge but the moment it was close enough, the arrow exploded.


    The blow from the explosion pushed the beast further back, giving more breathing room to Sun Liao. As long as he kept the beast at bay, he knew he had a chance. After all, such a breach in the Wubei Sect should have been detected.


    For his next move, he targeted the sky with three arrows. "From the East, the Vault rises". The arrows caught on fire as soon as they flew upward. While the wolf was running toward Sun Liao, the three burning arrows fell down and exploded all around the battlefield. The wolf was too agile and evaded all of the explosions. However, it allowed Sun Liao to gain a bit more distance.


    Sun Liao tried to nock three other arrows, but then the wolf stood its ground and from its mouth, a powerful roar erupted. Its roar was so strong that Sun Liao thought that his ear-drums were going to rupture. The world around him started to spin and the wolf charged forward. Still disoriented, Sun Liao decided to try a move he had just mastered, the fourth mantra of ''Houyi''s Nine Suns''.


    "The winged Longma pulls". The arrow he took was a lot larger than the others. Its shaft was four times wider and the tip was a flat metallic piece. Sun Liao circulated a lot of Qi in his hands and his arms to draw his bow and get enough strength for this heavier arrow. When he loosened it, it traveled as fast as his other projectiles.


    The wolf was charging at full speed and was not able to change its trajectory in time. Thus, one of its tails went to block the arrow while still running forward. The arrow got crushed against the tail but it pushed back the beast. The force of the arrow was entirely sent through the beast''s body who got completely halted in its course. It felt as though it had hit a steel wall.


    Very uncertain of his next move, Sun Liao took a bit of distance and fired a barrage of exploding arrows accompanied by vertical ones who targeted wider areas. He kept thinking about his possibilities but he had not mastered the fifth move yet. Thus, he reverted back to his usual tactic. While using his martial art to keep the beast away from him, he fired array formation flags all around the battlefield. This way, he created many temporary array formations that would hinder the beast''s moves.


    Being able to breathe a little, Sun Liao got perplexed. Why wasn''t anyone from the Wubei Sect coming? A 3-core demonic beast should have been detected the very moment it entered the sect. And where was Cao Yun? He wasn''t the kind of coward who would stay hidden. Then, he looked back at the four corpses all around. Something wasn''t right there.


    -


    Long Huafang was waiting for Sun Liao to be done. Deep down, she realized that she may have gone a bit too far, but that was done. She had been too impulsive and she couldn''t back down now. Instead, she had even tripled down on her rashness. Now that she was forced to wait patiently, she was feeling more and more awkward. Her older brother was maybe right about her...


    Then, a screech echoed from the sky. Several projectiles flew in her direction. With the sun pretty high in the sky, it was difficult to discern them, but they looked like feathers. Long Huafang rolled to the side. However, the three guards were not so lucky, they got impaled by those feathers at least half the size of a human. Realizing they were all dead, she turned immediately toward Sun Liao. As he was busy setting up the array formation, he did not see the attack coming. He was also completely impaled.


    And on the spot where he was standing, a bird landed. It was a red rooster with two majestic combs in the form of crowns on its head. Long Huafang knew this beast, this was a Sun Crowned Rooster, a 3-core demonic beast. Its wings were adorned with large feathers that it was able to throw as weapons. They could pierce through most materials and were deadly for Mortal cultivators.


    How could such a beast fly above the Wubei Sect without being detected? What was going on here?


    Unable to process what the hell was happening, Long Huafang immediately charged forward with her sword in hand. Against a flying demonic beast able to attack from the air, she had to shorten their distance as quickly as possible. ''Wolf Walks on the Moon''.


    As she was running forward, the red bird opened its right wing and shot a feather in her direction. While she was trying to dodge it, it began to emit a powerful light that blinded her and she couldn''t react when it exploded. Luckily, she had started to dodge and was not on its trajectory, but she was still pushed back. Before she could regain her focus, the bird had jumped in the air and shot several feathers from above. Long Huafang tried to dodge them while taking into account their range of explosion.


    However, those feathers seemed to have a wider range and she got surprised once more. Sensing that she had to take the initiative, Long Huafang activated ''Wolf and Dragon''s Howl''. A powerful roar erupted from her mouth. The bird fell back down to the earth and was visibly confused. Using this opportunity, she used ''Wolf Walks on the Moon'' at full speed. She was extremely close from the bird when it flapped its wings. A ferocious gale of wind rose and collided with the young girl. To protect herself, she put her sword vertically in front of her head and chest, ''Baring its Fangs to the Moon''. The force of the wind almost seemed as if she had received a tree shot from a bow and the shock pushed her back.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    No matter what, she had to draw near the beast. Long Huafang didn''t know if her ''The Moon in the Eye'' could be effective against a demonic beast of such a rank, but this was her only way.


    -


    The three guards were completely taken aback when they heard an explosion in the basin where Cao Yun was. Before they went to look down below, an Ebony Snake Dragon came out, another 3-core demonic beast. It was a snake the size of four men. Its head looked like the head of a strange reptilian horse topped by a very small mane. The scales on its body were entirely black with a shiny luster. The three guards were armed with polearm surmounted by two crescent blades. All of them were ready to fight the beast. A 3-core demonic beast was dangerous for a 9th-grade Mortal Warrior alone but three of them had a very good chance of killing the beast.


    -


    Hearing the sound of battle, Cao Yun stopped what he was doing and went to look what was going on above. He had paid three guards to protect this place so he was pretty confident that he was safe now, but he still remembered the attack by Luduo Bu. Maybe, the demonic cultivators knew about Sun Liao''s investigation and wanted to silence them before they could talk with Chief Elder Baishen.


    The moment he saw what was going on, Cao Yun got incredibly confused. Sun Liao was shooting arrows toward Long Huafang. And the girl was holding a sword with a clear intent to kill her opponent. Their relation was tensed but it shouldn''t have escalated to such a degree. Just as he was about to look for the guards a painful headache almost split his skull in half. His mind cultivation was still activated as he was working on his array formation just a moment before. And it felt as though something was trying to penetrate his mind. It felt like a corrosive force, some kind of acid trying to burn away his sanity.


    As he opened his eyes, he saw all kinds of images of beasts. But they were fluctuating and he saw that they were actually both his friends and the guards. This was certainly an illusory array formation. This was the worst kind of array formation according to many masters. As it was able to corrupt your senses, the moment you fell victim to it, deciphering the array formation became almost impossible. You had to first break free of its illusion.


    It reminded him of the array formation used by Lu Meihan. He really was right before! The demonic cultivator in black and purple was probably behind this attack. Thankfully, Cao Yun had his mind cultivation activated at its fullest. His Shen was clarifying his mind and concentrating the other characters. His Yi sharpened his senses to see through the illusions. This effort required a lot a energy and both his Zhi and Po worked on it. His Zhi activated his will and enhanced his endurance while his Po allowed him a quasi-perfect control over his Qi to nourish his mind. Finally, the Hun seemed to protect his mind from the corruption.


    Despite all of this, the illusions were still present. However, contrary to the others, he saw them a bit transparent and above all, he knew they were illusions. Usually, once you were in one, you would simply not realize that what you saw didn''t make sense. This was kind of like a dream. Your mind would just accept what was going on around you, and forcing yourself to question it was arduous in itself.


    However, it didn''t save Cao Yun. He still had to defend himself against the three 9th-grade Mortals he had himself hired for protection. The irony was not lost on him, but he had no time to waste. He immediately activated ''Imperial Throne'' and a wall of wind erupted all around him. Following by ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'', he went toward Sun Liao. He was the expert on array formation. Cao Yun knew he could not break this one alone. He had tried to see through it, but he wasn''t even able to detect anything. Without his mind cultivation being attacked, he wouldn''t even know that there was an array formation.


    However, he wasn''t sure what he should do. For now, he was only dodging the attacks. Thankfully, the three guards were seeing a powerful demonic beast so they were not eager to rush toward it. In fact, seeing that the beast was leaving, they were ready to let it go. Instead of chasing after it, they descended into the basin to try and rescue their employer. He was maybe still alive...


    -


    Sun Liao was questioning the reality around him. The more he thought about it, the more it didn''t make sense. Just as he was about to piece all of this together, an Ebony Snake Dragon headed toward him. Ready to shoot other arrows, Sun Liao realized something. There was no such demonic beasts in the surrounding woods. Neither the Ebony Snake Dragon nor the Silver Tailed Wolf were living in this part of the Hongchen Kingdom. As an array formation master, he was aware of illusory array formations and he had trained to resist them.


    The only way he knew how to protect himself from them was ''Lifting the Fog of a Dream''. This technique was rather simple. Every single instant of every day, he had to question himself on the reality around him. Thus, the day he was either in a dream or in an illusion, his mind would unconsciously question the coherence of it. And it was beginning to work.


    At first, Sun Liao was still in a troubled state of mind due to his bet. But now that he was calm, many things didn''t make sense in this situation. Unlike Cao Yun, he couldn''t see through the illusion yet, but he knew what was going on.


    "Brother Chen, if you hear me, stop moving!"


    As soon as he spoke, the black snake halted its charge.


    "Brother Chen. It''s you?! Fine, I don''t know how but you''re not affected by the illusions."


    He quickly looked around himself. It was clear now that the Silver Tailed Wolf was in reality Long Huafang, but he had no hope at all of her realizing that. After all, she knew close to nothing about array formations. And even though he knew that this was an illusion, he couldn''t see through it. So he had no way of stopping the array formation.


    "Brother Chen, I can''t decipher this illusion while I''m in it. You must set up an array formation around me and Sister Long. I hope you know about the Soul Waking Bell. It''s a 4-star Earth array formation taught in the ''Sixty-Four Tribulations of Earth''. It won''t be enough to extract us from the illusion, but it should give a portion of our senses back. I know it''s hard, but without this, we have no chance!" The wolf was ready to attack again. "Brother Chen, do it! I''m still in the illusion so I can''t count on my own senses to set it up."


    Cao Yun''s options were limited. He could try and fight against Long Huafang but he risked injuring her. If she was fighting with her life on the line, he wasn''t sure he could even win without killing her in the end. Going to warn an elder could be a solution, but in the meantime, Sun Liao may not be able to survive his opponent. Finally, he could set up the Soul Waking Bell array formation. This array formation was rather obscure, but it was in the ''Sixty-Four Tribulations of Earth'' book he had memorized.


    Thankfully, the three guards were not attacking him and he had all his array formation tools and materials since he had come here for this very purpose. In the end, he decided to try it out. If he wasn''t able to do it, he would have to try and deal with Long Huafang. In the worst case scenario, he could endure her attacks while Sun Liao went to find help.

 Chapter 123: Lower Dantian detonation

    Cao Yun took out his ''Twenty-Four Mountains and Eight Rivers Compass'' while Sun Liao was trying to delay Long Huafang with temporary array formations. Very soon, Cao Yun understood why Sun Liao had asked him to do it for him. Everything was a bit shifted from what his compass was telling him. Thanks to his mind cultivation, that was exhausting him, he could see reality beneath the illusion but it was a lot of effort.


    Sun Liao could easily form his small array formations because they were excessively weak and temporary. But for an array formation such as the Soul Waking Bell, that was another story altogether. Cao Yun was really familiar with only four of the Eight Directions principles: Qi Circulation, Yin-Yang Alternation, Five Transformations and Nine Halls. The first three came from his study of alchemy and the last one was the subject of Sun Liao''s recent lessons.


    He had a small understanding of Twenty-Four Mountains and Eight Trigrams. Twenty-Four Mountains was the main principle permeating to how to read a compass more efficiently. And Eight Trigrams was somehow related to the interactions of Yin and Yang, and even to the Five Elements as well. For example, his martial art was using Wind, which was one of these Eight Trigrams, related to the Wood element. But his understanding of these was more theoretical than anything.


    Finally, the last two principles he knew almost nothing about were Sixty Rotations and Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems. Both of them were related to the celestial bodies and the flow of time. They were probably the most difficult ones to get a feel for. This didn''t mean they were the hardest to master, but getting started in them was tough.


    Cao Yun had the Soul Waking Bell array formation in head and he started to plant his flags around Sun Liao and Long Huafang.


    The girl was still only seeing the Sun Crowned Rooster who was Sun Liao in her illusions. She was desperately trying to get to him but her movements were impeded by strange forces she could not understand. Despite her lack of knowledge on the matter, it was obvious to her that these were array formations. Originally, she was supposed to break free of one to prove they were nothing much. However, she was now trapped in several layers of low level array formations. This was infuriating.


    Unfortunately, Sun Liao could not set up powerful array formations in a fight yet. And with the illusion around him, it was already exceptional to be able to set any at all.


    -


    Farther from this scene, there was a man in black and purple whose face was completely hidden. He was standing in front of a metallic plate inside a small array formation. As he wasn''t a Mortal Warrior, he had used a smaller array formation to activate the plate and entrap Cao Yun and the persons close to him into the Ten Directions Mind Corrosion array formation. This was a 5-star Human array formation causing illusions in order to force everyone inside to kill each other.


    The man could clearly see what was going on as he was outside of the range of the Ten Directions Mind Corrosion array formation. He was controlling the illusions to an extent. Witnessing Cao Yun almost unaffected who was setting up flags, he got worried and tried to amplify the amount of energy sent to the plate but it had almost no effect.


    One of the side effect was that the array formations set up by Sun Liao became less and less effective as his perception got even more distorted. And Long Huafang clearly felt the strength hindering her movements lessen.


    The demonic cultivator then tried to focus much of the illusions around the three guards. And it worked. They were seeing more and more monsters attacking them and they began striking the air. But for them, it was quite real. Very soon, the illusions distorted again and made them believe that the Ebony Snake Dragon who was really Cao Yun was responsible. The beast was staying away from them while controlling other smaller beasts to attack them from a distance.


    As their state of mind was slowly corroded by the illusions, the three men decided to attack the Ebony Snake Dragon. They didn''t want to fight such a demonic beast unless it was necessary but apparently, it was. The three guards were used to working together. They were members of the Red Cliff Faction and spent most of their time outside the Wubei Sect to gather ingredients and barter them against what they really needed. As such, they had a great coordination together. Even though they were only 9th-grade Mortals, they could probably fight and win against a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior or early 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior even. With a good battle formation, there was always strength in numbers.


    Believing that the Ebony Snake Dragon was their enemy, they slowly surrounded him. The beast was staying in the same vicinity, turning around a certain spot. Indeed, Cao Yun stayed around Sun Liao and the advancing Long Huafang to set up the Soul Waking Bell array formation around them. As he was completely absorbed in his task, he failed to notice the guards until they were already in position.


    The first one attacked with his polearm. Cao Yun dodged at the last moment and was immediately attacked by another guard. In fact, he quite literally threw himself on his attack. ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''. Cao Yun completely changed his direction by increasing his speed. However, the only escape route was barred by the last guard. Cao Yun found himself unable to find a way out of their encirclement. He could feel that they would be able to attack him no matter which way he went.


    ''Imperial Throne''. A gush of wind was sent in all directions. ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. As the wall of wind was going toward the guards, Cao Yun hid several small attacks within. He was focusing both on the fight and on setting up the array formation. His main objective was to free Sun Liao from the illusions. Then, with his expertise, he would probably be able to destroy all the illusions. He had four flags left to position, if he was correct. His Soul Waking Bell array formation would not be Perfect, not even very good, but he only needed it to work even a little bit.


    The guards had good intuition and dodged most of the attacks. Those who hit them were rather weak. Indeed, they were just meant as a distraction. However, in their illusions, they saw the beasts all around them become more active and ready to kill them. They were filled with a sense of urgency. If they did not kill the Ebony Snake Dragon, they would soon die.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Hence, fearing for their life, they went back after Cao Yun. He got attacked right when he was setting down a flag. Unable to react in time, he focused on defending. ''Dragon''s Chest''. He had hesitated to use ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield'' but he didn''t want to counterattack yet. Unless he was really in danger of dying he would not harm the guards he had himself hired for protection. That would be really too stupid to be killed by your own guards though. The attack was extremely powerful as the guards were desperate and even with his strong defense, Cao Yun felt his ribs break. His organs were protected but this was a very close call.


    Once again, he tried to escape only to feel trapped by the other two guards positioned at the perfect locations to cut off his escape route. No matter what he did, he was always harassed by them. They were sealing his movements just by being at the right position. Cao Yun began to use his ''Shen Visualization'' to determine where they would go. As they focused on cutting off his path, he could somewhat predict where they would move to next.


    In his sea of consciousness, the fourth star seemed to get more and more active. A blue-white hue shined in the sky as this small binary star rotated. This star, the Room Star, was half the size of the Horn Star. In fact what the guards were doing was exactly what this star was about, controlling the enemy''s movements. Suddenly, Cao Yun got an illumination!


    Instead of trying to predict their moves, he could control them. If he knew that they would position themselves according to his own position, instead of being controlled by them, he could quite literally put them exactly where he wanted them. This was not really the move from the Room Star, but it was getting closer and closer to it.


    Only three flags remained for the Soul Waking Bell array formation to be done. Cao Yun quickly put down two others. His strategy had worked, but the three guards were better than that. Seeing that the beast was using their tactics against them, they adapted, without even talking with each other. Cao Yun got completely cut off from the very spot he needed to go to complete the array formation.


    -


    On the other hand, Long Huafang finally broke free from all the array formations which were getting weaker by the second. ''Wolf Walks on the Moon''. She appeared right in front of Sun Liao. The poor boy saw the image of the Silver Tailed Wolf with its fangs closing on him, too fast for him to dodge. ''The Dragon Bears its Fangs to the Wolf''. The sword of Long Huafang penetrated Sun Liao''s skin and tore a hole in his liver.


    Hearing his yell of pain, Cao Yun turned around and saw the girl ready to strike again. She was preparing ''Tail Follows the Sky''. If she performed this attack, Sun Liao would be beheaded in an instant. He had no way of resisting as he wasn''t a close-range fighter.


    With this threat on the head of his friend, Cao Yun decided to go set the flag disregarding the danger. Jumping right toward one of the guards, he finally activated ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. The moment the flag came down, a polearm went straight for his neck. The strike was stopped by a thick layer of Wei Qi but the shock still inflicted pain on soft tissues in Cao Yun''s throat. He diverted a bit of the strength in his spear. But instead of sending it back to the guard, he sent everything in the ground by striking at nothing.


    Sun Liao with blood around his mouth and a deep laceration in his liver was seeing Long Huafang''s sword coming right for his head. It was in the shape of one of the three tails of the Silver Tailed Wolf. This was utterly horrifying. His senses were good enough to see it coming but his reflexes were unable to allow him to dodge in time. As the tail was almost touching his neck, he saw a glimpse of a sword in it. The Soul Waking Bell array formation was just completed. It was at around two third efficiency but it still allowed Sun Liao''s mind to see through the veil of the illusion.


    Hoping that Long Huafang was as perceptive as he was, he screamed. "Stop!"


    The sword stopped just before cutting him. Long Huafang was also now seeing a human face in the Sun Crowned Rooster, Sun Liao''s face. Remembering all the fight, she finally understood that she was not fighting a beast, but a man. Sun Liao fell on the ground, putting pressure on his wound with both hands.


    "You finally realize it?! We''re in an illusory array formation! Look around you, Chen Guo is fighting against his own guards."


    Looking around, she saw vague figures moving not too far from them. Long Huafang was ready to go when Sun Liao stopped her.


    "If you leave this spot, you''ll fall back into the illusion, not even knowing that this is one. Let me do my work." Even with his gushing wound, Sun Liao was trying to use the Soul Waking Bell array formation to enhance his senses and find the gates and palaces of this array formation.


    He then commanded her to help him up so he could use his bow. This array formation was in theory extremely powerful. But the truth was that it came from a plate, and Sun Liao knew it. An array formation that wasn''t fully harmonized with its environment had many weaknesses and he had found quite a few of them. Moreover, the one behind it wasn''t very powerful so Sun Liao could easily exploit these weaknesses.


    Cao Yun, a bit wounded, was in a bad situation. He had absolute faith in Sun Liao''s abilities but he hoped that he would be fast. However, the guards stopped attacking. Even through the illusion, they saw that the Ebony Snake Dragon had disregarded a perfect opportunity to retaliate and it made them think. Not unlike Sun Liao, they were slowly realizing that something was fishy. As they were used to working outside the Wubei Sect, they had already been confronted to array formations of all kinds. And even if illusory array formations were rare, they knew about them as they were deemed the most dangerous. They could even make you kill yourself or your dearest friends.


    This pause was enough time for Sun Liao to obliterate the illusion with seven arrows. He targeted several gates to disrupt a few palaces. On his arrows he had put fragments of small spirit stones and array formations. This was an ingenuous way of duplicating the ability of a Mortal Warrior. This tiny amount of Qi in the right place was able to disrupt the web of Qi. Then, they just had to watch nature itself dissolve it, once weakened.


    But this wasn''t over, Sun Liao had also deduced the position of the culprit.


    "He''s there!"


    The guards who had understood what had happened turned toward the place he pointed at. There, a man in black and purple was sitting down. The backlash from the array formation being destroyed had stunned him a bit. In a flash, all three of the guards were around him, ready to strike.


    "Surrender!"


    "It seems like there is no more choice..." The man in black and purple took off his hood. Under it, Sun Liao saw a face he had seen before.


    "L¨¹ Bai?! So it was you!"


    "Indeed... I admit that I underestimated you..." He was a 9th-grade Mortal himself, but the guards were three and they were trained fighters. He had no way to escape.


    "I don''t have a choice, then..." He lowered his head and a wave of heat rose from him.


    The three guards immediately understood. "He''s going to detonate his Dantian." This was a suicide technique. By condensing all of your Qi in your Lower Dantian, you could make it explode, destroying most of your body and the people too close to you.


    The guards jumped backward as L¨¹ Bai''s body disappeared in a fiery explosion. Even the small array formation and the plate in front of him got destroyed and everyone had to close their eyes because of the light.

 Chapter 124: Back at the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute

    The three guards had been able to take enough distance. L¨¹ Bai was only a 9th-grade Mortal and even by detonating every ounce of Qi in his body, the explosion wasn''t too big. However, his entire body had been vaporised and the plate was completely destroyed. Only small shards of it remained, with scorch marks on them. Everyone was shocked. Dying in such a way was extremely cruel. Most people in the Hongchen Kingdom believed in a variety of funeral rites. Some involved burning the body of the deceased but dying that way was something entirely different.


    Demonic cultivators were really insane. That was the thought in everyone''s mind. L¨¹ Bai had probably preferred dying in such a way so as to avoid Lu Meihan''s fate. After this agitation, the three guards kowtowed in front of Cao Yun whose clothes were torn here and there, exposing terrible bruises.


    "Brother Chen, this lowly one is sorry." They all apologized in unison.


    "Even though you hired us to protect you. We were the ones who attacked you in the end."


    Cao Yun saw a great sincerity in their eyes. They didn''t do so just to keep their pay or because they were worried about the disciplinary pavilion. In fact, the rules of the Wubei Sect would be with them as they were fooled by a powerful illusory array formation.


    "It''s fine. The only culprit is... was L¨¹ Bai. I know you didn''t mean to attack me. In the end, you even realized that something was wrong. You''re not array formation masters. And even then, Brother Sun himself was fooled for a hot moment."


    As he talked about him, all eyes went on Sun Liao. He had a deep wound, a stabbing wound all the way to his liver, and was bleeding a lot despite Long Huafang applying pressure.


    "What are you waiting for?! Call for help! Do any of you have some pills or bandages, or anything at all?" The girl was even louder than usual. And this time, there was no amusement on her face. This was the first time Cao Yun had seen her so serious. Deep down, she felt responsible. Although this was caused by an illusion, she was the one who had failed to see through this. She wanted to prove to Sun Liao that array formations were useless in front of raw power, but she proved that she was useless.


    Thankfully, the three guards were used to fighting in the wild. Even though they were inside the Wubei Sect, they got used to carrying some healing materials. One of them ran into the distance to go call for help while the other two went to help Long Huafang with the wound.


    Long Huafang knew nothing about medicine. Her older brother had tried to convince her to learn a bit. His reasoning was simple. If she wanted to join the army, as he did, she had to know how to heal injuries on the battlefield. She always claimed that this was useless because she would never get hurt. When her brother told her that she could also help others, she simply didn''t care. They just had to be good enough not to get injured!


    Of course, she wasn''t serious. She just wanted to annoy her older brother, and mostly, she didn''t want to learn medicine. The idea of reading complicated books on this gave her headache.


    However, she found herself regretting not to have listened to her older brother. This annoyed her, but not as much as seeing Sun Liao. The wound she had inflicted was really vicious. Not only had she stabbed him, but her ''The Dragon Bears its Fangs to the Wolf'' had also sent a shock wave through the wound. Sun Liao''s liver was in a terrible state and his other organs had been hit as well. Fortunately, he was extremely good at circulating his Qi. In fact, he even used a small array formation within himself to limit the damage. Sun Liao wouldn''t die but he would probably need to rest several weeks, if not months.


    "Brother Sun. I''m sorry. You were right about array formations... I''m perfectly useless..."


    Sun Liao heard her but he was too focused on his wound to respond. Everyone was around Sun Liao to try and help him. They waited a few minutes for an elder to come. Thankfully, they were close to a small clinic of the physician pavilion so it was rather fast. As soon as he arrived the elder took care of Sun Liao.


    -


    Cao Yun was facing Chief Elder Baishen.


    "You should have told me everything way sooner! Even without proof, I would have had L¨¹ Bai watched. Don''t you trust me?"


    "I''m sorry, Chief Elder. I never thought he would attack us in such a way. But I do trust you! We came here to talk to you but you were absent. Sun Liao didn''t think that his investigation had been uncovered. I''m sorry."


    Chief Elder Baishen was satisfied with this answer.


    "Next time, even if you don''t know anything for sure, tell me immediately! I talked with Chief Elder Luoming. The private chamber of L¨¹ Bai has been searched. And they found many suspicious documents. They are probably encrypted, but it''s safe to assume that he was the demonic cultivator behind both Lu Meihan and Luduo Bu. However, I don''t think we''ll be able to find anything against his master... Chief Elder Qinghe examined the place where he died and found nothing at all. His body has been utterly destroyed. And even the fragments of his array formation plate are in a disastrous condition. I don''t think we''ll get anything out of them."


    There was no more lead. L¨¹ Bai''s master had been thorough and it seemed impossible to find him.


    "There''s something that I wanted to ask you for a long time. Maybe this is the right time. It could prevent any retaliation against you... Chen Guo, do you want to become my disciple?"


    Cao Yun was taken by surprise. He thought that he was going to be chewed out some more. But he never expected to be offered what he felt was a reward.


    "Don''t believe that I will forget your recklessness! But if you officially become my disciple, even a Spirit Warrior will think twice before attacking you. To tell you the truth, I was hesitant because I felt like Guest Elder Xiao was going to ask you. However, it seems she''s happy with only Mei Hua and you don''t seem to want to become a full-fledged alchemist. But these last few weeks showed me that you were serious about your martial arts. I can swear that with me, your martial arts will soar beyond your imagination. What do you say?"If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    In truth, Cao Yun had no need to be further convinced. Even though Chief Elder Baishen could get carried away in her training sessions, they were always perfect for him. She always found the right opponent to make him progress every single time.


    Without hesitation, he kowtowed. He had already recognized Cleansed Asura as his master even though he had only met him for a few hours. And most of what he had sent into his mind was unintelligible for Cao Yun. Before his family had died, he also had had a master, his own father. However, in the Hongchen Kingdom, it was not rare for someone to have several masters or teachers in his life, or even at the same time. You could learn from anyone and you should learn from everyone.


    The relationship between a disciple and a master was deemed as sacred. Thus, it was never done without careful thinking. Sometimes, it was even necessary to ask the other masters of the disciple. It showed how much this was valued. This ideal came directly from Emperor Nuwa. She thought that teachers were essential for mankind to strive and fight off against the demons.


    "This lowly one accepts Chief Elder Baishen as master."


    Cao Yun followed the rites and bowed to his new master accordingly.


    "Good. Now, get up. Let''s talk about your achievements in the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. If I''m not mistaken, you should be very close to understanding the fourth star, right?"


    Cao Yun stood up and took a chair close to Chief Elder Baishen.


    "Indeed, Master. That was one of the reason why I was training with Brother Sun. This Room Star is related to controlling your opponent''s moves during a battle. It''s very similar to an array formation. I believe that I''m extremely close. I just need a little something and I''ll derive the first move of this star."


    "Controlling the flow of a battle... I''ll teach you a technique that should prove useful for this. If you master it, you should understand your Room Star at once. This is the ''Walking in the Mud Without Staining the Silk''. It''s a lesser movement technique, not very useful in itself. However, it exposes very clearly a fundamental principle of battle, how to move according to your enemies. If you master it, it''s almost impossible for an enemy to force you to move how they want you to. On the other hand, it should teach you how to do the opposite."


    Chief Elder Baishen gave the manual to Cao Yun. It really wasn''t very useful from what he could read. But its core principle pertained exactly to what Cao Yun was trying to learn.


    "You''ll train with it for a week. After that, if you haven''t mastered the move, you''ll try something else. But I''m confident you will."


    -


    In another room, Mo Zi was still alive, facing his master.


    "Master, thank you. Everything went as planned. They all think that L¨¹ Bai was responsible and all evidence against you or me is gone."


    "Mo Zi, learn this lesson well. L¨¹ Bai was useful to us and yet I killed him to save you. If I have to kill you to save myself, don''t doubt that I won''t hesitate for one instant. Do not do anything until the end of the year. Chief Elder Luoming is reorganizing the disciplinary pavilion. But we''re already too deep in the pavilion and I don''t think he can deal with us all. If we''re smart, we''ll be able to spread our influence even further. In two years, we must be ready to act or we''ll have to wait even longer..."


    "Master, I won''t spoil our plan. I swear! However, Chen Guo is a real problem. Even though we lowered the power of the Ten Directions Mind Corrosion array formation, he was almost not affected at all. In two years, he''ll be there! We should get rid of him next year."


    "Do not worry with him. We already have plans for next year. But you''re right. I knew his mind was strong for him to learn alchemy and array formation as quickly as he did, but I didn''t suspect it to be this strong. He could even become a new Xiao Xuefeng if we let him prosper. Gaining his support would be great, but I highly doubt it''s possible at all. Too bad... He''ll have to die before he can thwart our plan. Let him enjoy his last year alive. We''ll be busy next year, and even more so after that. Our patience will soon be rewarded."


    -


    As all this was happening in the north, Xiao Xuefeng was finally in the south of the Hongchen Kingdom.


    She had been flying on her sword for more than a month now. During the entire travel, she had not slept at all. She had food and water in her spatial ring so she still sustained herself, even though she had few needs compared to mere mortals. The scenery was becoming more familiar to her. This was the place where she had grown up and spent several decades. Unlike the woods and the mountains surrounding the Wubei Sect, the Golden Flowery Fragrance was in the middle of plains and fields. The geography was really flat here and the climate warmer.


    She breathed the air of her homeland and slowed down a bit. She looked at the fields where mortals were cultivating grains and plants of all kinds. This simple life was very resting to watch for an immortal. Xiao Xuefeng was a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior and as such she could live almost 2,000 years, that was immortality for most mortals. Even though she looked like she was in her twenties, she was more than 150 years old. And it wasn''t even a tenth of her lifespan.


    Although she had slowed down, she was still too fast for anyone to see her clearly. People only saw the vague image of an immortal and they bowed down in her direction. Mere mortals were always envious of cultivators but they also revered them. The peace they could enjoy was all thanks to those heroes fending off the demons. And all of them had access to the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' thanks to Emperor Nuwa. Sadly, even though most mortals were trying to cultivate, it wasn''t possible for all of them to succeed.


    The majority of them were 1st-grade Mortals, or just barely. Since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era, cultivation had become too hard. Many people lacked either the time, the resources, the talent, or even the drive. Unless they reached the later stages of Mortal, their lifespan wouldn''t increase by much and some people required decades just to cross over to 2nd-grade Mortal. If cultivation kept on regressing, the Spirit Warrior realm would become legendary in a few millenniums.


    Finally, Xiao Xuefeng saw it, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Its perimeter walls were as white as ivory, made in Ageless Marble, one of the most durable stones. Even Mortal Warriors couldn''t make a dent in it. The wall was perfectly white with some golden engravings. Atop the wall was a narrow walking path with various small rooms topped by golden roofs.


    Around the institute, there were many fields with all kinds of trees, flowers and medicinal plants, the Small Heavenly Gardens, maintained by students of the institute. Outside the walls, many buildings were built respecting a superb geometry. The colors were mostly white and gold. All other the institute, nature was thriving with trees, flowers, birds and small animals everywhere.


    In the center of the institute stood a large tower, this was where the elders, chief elders and the Head of the Institute were working and living.


    As flying within the institute was highly regulated, Xiao Xuefeng stopped before reaching the wall. She used her spiritual senses to contact the Head of the Institute. To send a telepathic message, she needed to be close enough and to know the location of her target. No one was better than Xiao Xuefeng with spiritual senses so if she could see something, she could send her mind there. The Institute Head was rather old and she stayed in her study most of the time. She had failed to reach 9th-grade Spirit Warrior several times with little hope to progress ever again.

 Chapter 125: 1-star Spirit pills refinement preparation

    Xiao Xuefeng was in the study of the Head of the Institute, Ge Ling. She was a 1,900-year-old woman. Physically, she looked like she was sixty or even fifty. Thanks to alchemy she could prolong her lifespan even more than other cultivators, similarly to Chief Elder Qinghe with medicine. However, she only had two, maybe three hundred years to live. Even though it seemed long for mortals, it was too short to achieve a breakthrough. She would forever stay an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    Thankfully, the institute had two geniuses, Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei. They were both under 200 and Xiao Xuefeng was very close to achieve 8th-grade Spirit Warrior, with unprecedented spiritual senses. On the other hand, Hua Fenfei was only 6th-grade Spirit Warrior but her alchemy was one of the best, if not the best, in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Director Ge Ling herself wasn''t sure whether or not she was more qualified. Comparing alchemists was always a bit complicated.


    Director Ge Ling, as Head of the Institute, was however the most influential alchemist. Despite her appearance which didn''t seem too old, she had gray hair and her eyes looked a bit tired. But she always had a majesty and an elegance to her. Her posture was perfect, amplified by her uniform. It was a very complex robe entirely white with golden flowers embroidered within. Over it, she also wore a golden stole with the emblem of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, a lotus with ten white leaves and a golden core in the form of a cauldron.


    "Miss Xiao, you didn''t warn us about your return. Did something happen?"


    "I''m sorry, Director Ge. However, I had to depart at once because time is of the essence. I will report everything but first I must ask to use the Thirteen Celestial Pyre."


    Ge Ling''s calm and smiling face was shocked. This was the treasure of the entire institute, the most precious alchemy cauldron in the entire kingdom. Some even claimed that it had been used by Saint Guo, the legendary founder of alchemy during the Founding Era. Even Ge Ling herself had only used this cauldron a handful of times. It required at least twenty alchemists to control it correctly.


    "Tell me the reason why you need it." Ge Ling was now rather serious.


    "Director Ge, I know my request is a bit unreasonable... I need to forge a Life Boiling Cradle pill." Ge Ling''s eyes opened wide but she let Xiao Xuefeng finish her explanation. "Because of my carelessness, a demonic cultivator was able to prosper in the Wubei Sect and one of his subordinates hurt a young girl. Without this pill, she will never be able to cultivate ever again. I know that I only have a very small chance of refining this pill, but I won''t be able to go on if I don''t try. This girl is a young daughter of the Huang family. They will surely pay for the ingredients if need be. So, if I fail we won''t lose much, we may even gain some understanding on Spirit rank pills. And if I succeed, we''ll be the first ones to forge such a pill since the Seven Treaties Era."


    Ge Ling was fully immersed in her thoughts and Xiao Xuefeng did not dare disturb her.


    "We don''t have an appropriate array formation master here, so you probably took someone with you, right? Who?"


    "Chief Elder Suxian, Director. I asked him to wait in my residence for now."


    "I know him very well. He''s a bit impulsive with his words, often putting himself in bad situations. But he has the skill needed, of that I am convinced." Ge Ling paced through her study before going to look through her window for a while. Xiao Xuefeng stayed kneeling on the ground.


    "Fine! I''ll allow it. However, gathering all the ingredients will take some time. They should be ready in a week. I''ll also choose several students to witness the process. Even if they don''t understand everything, this will be a great opportunity. I already have some names in mind. We''ll organize a small competition to choose the other spots. For now, you should seclude yourself and meditate on the refinement process. You''ll have time later to discuss with your fellow sisters and brothers."


    "I understand, Director."


    "Send Chief Elder Suxian in my study. We''ll have him prepare the array formation around the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. I don''t know what array formation he thought about, but it should take some time to set it up. You may go."


    "Thank you, Director. I''ll send Chief Elder Suxian right away."


    As she was leaving the study of Ge Ling, Xiao Xuefeng met Hua Fenfei accompanied by Song Guixiang.


    "Grand Master Xiao." Song Guixiang was the first one to salute her. He looked at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Of course, he looked at several other women the same way. But Xiao Xuefeng was now used to him. He liked to play but he never went overboard. "Such a pleasure to finally see your beauty back with us."


    Hua Fenfei was always a bit amused by that frivolous disciple of hers. So she didn''t reprimand him very often. "Song Guixiang, you may want to have some alone time with Sister Xiao, perhaps?"


    "Oh, Master, I wish it was possible. But our difference in seniority makes our love impossible. It wasn''t meant to be..."


    Both women held back a laugh when they heard the way he said it as though it was a great tragedy.


    "Sister Xiao. It''s good to see you back. Are you staying for a long time?"


    "Unfortunately no, Sister Hua. And I don''t have the time to converse with you right now. Director Ge Ling will explain everything to you I''m sure." A thought crossed Xiao Xuefeng''s mind. "By the way, where is your new disciple, Feng Yingyue?"


    "She spends most of her time in seclusion to train. If you want to, I can call her to meet with you."


    "It''s not necessary. But I have a letter for her." Xiao Xuefeng took out a small envelope from her robe.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Oh...?" Song Guixiang was the first one to understand. "Is it a love letter?"


    Hua Fenfei didn''t get it at first, but soon it hit. Cao Yun was also in the Wubei Sect. "It''s from Chen Guo?"


    "Indeed, Sister. I met him there. In fact, my presence here is related to him. Ironic, isn''t it? My presence in the Wubei Sect was related to him as well in a way, as he was there in Yinmen City when you found out the demonic cultivator."


    Hua Fenfei took the envelope. "How is he?"


    "Well, in one word, brilliant. He''s 17 and already a 6th-grade Mortal who reached the ''Unquenchable Vessel'' state, as well as a 3-star Earth alchemist and a 2-star Earth array formation master. And apparently he never studied neither of them before entering the Wubei Sect. But as I said, I don''t have the time to converse with you. When I''m done, I''ll tell you everything about Chen Guo and my time in the Wubei Sect, alright?"


    "Of course, Sister. I don''t want to disturb you. I''ll ask Director Ge."


    "Thank you. And I''m sure I''ll be able to rely on you at the end of the week." With these words, Xiao Xuefeng left and went to ask Chief Elder Suxian to go meet with the Head of the Institute.


    On the other hand, Hua Fenfei was a bit perplexed about her last words. However, after meeting with the Head of the Institute herself, she understood. Hua Fenfei would obviously be part of the alchemists assisting Xiao Xuefeng. Even though her alchemy was better, Xiao Xuefeng''s higher cultivation and extraordinary spiritual senses made her the obvious choice to lead the refinement process and Hua Fenfei would assist her. When the Head of the Institute told her about the situation, Hua Fenfei immediately agreed to help her sister.


    It was obvious for her that she had to help Xiao Xuefeng. First of all, she had always been supportive of her as a big sister. But even without that, attempting to forge a 1-star Spirit pill in the Thirteen Celestial Pyre was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even using the Thirteen Celestial Pyre was an extremely rare occurrence. And if Ge Ling had accepted, it meant that she had a small hope of success.


    -


    While Xiao Xuefeng was meditating on the refinement process in her personal chambers, Hua Fenfei went to inform her young disciple.


    Feng Yingyue was very close to finally becoming a 5-star Earth alchemist. Right now, she was working on her cultivation which was already at late 6th-grade Mortal. In less than a month, she would reach 7th-grade Mortal. And before the end of the next year, she even had a chance of reaching 8th-grade Mortal. In fact, the first realm could be really fast for an alchemist, but her speed was still impressive. Compared to Cao Yun, she had been in the institute a bit longer as it was closer to Yinmen City. And her master had allowed her to use very advanced pills. Some of which were secrets of the institute. Coupled with her mind cultivation, breaking through had become extremely easy for her, as easy as eating beans.


    With her speed, she even had hopes of becoming a Mortal Warrior by her third year. Hua Fenfei herself was surprised by her progresses. She tended not to disturb her as her training was going smoothly. However, she had to inform her of the situation.


    "Disciple, I have important news."


    Feng Yingyue who was meditating opened her eyes and bowed. "This disciple salutes Master."


    Hua Fenfei handed her the letter from Cao Yun. "This letter came from Chen Guo. My sister Xiao Xuefeng just came back from the Wubei Sect."


    Song Guixiang was behind his master. "And your Dao companion sends his regards!" He loved teasing his junior sister. Unlike the other women, he never tried to flirt with her or court her, or seduce her in any way. He knew that she loved Cao Yun and he wasn''t one to break or make light of such a bond, even as a joke.


    Feng Yingyue''s face had been illuminated when she heard her master and it became red when she heard her senior brother. Song Guixiang drew near her.


    "Come on, Junior Sister. Never be ashamed of your heart! I always follow mine!"


    "Maybe your heart is a bit more volatile than Feng Yingyue''s. Don''t use yourself as a good example!" Hua Fenfei was really quite fond of her disciples, despite, or even thanks to, their little quirks.


    "Disciple Feng, our institute will participate in the refinement process of a legendary pill in a week or so. I already made sure that you had a spot. A few days before, you should stop all training to calm your mind. The more you''ll be able to discern the more beneficial it will be for you."


    "And me, Master? Do I have a spot?" Song Guixiang was ecstatic at the idea of seeing a refinement that even his master was looking forward to.


    "Well, it will depend on your ability. A competition will be held to choose the remaining spots. You just have to win one of them."


    The little guy feigned to cry. "Master, what injustice is this?! I''m the senior disciple and yet this is how I am treated?!"


    Hua Fenfei wasn''t worried at all for this little guy. Despite his act, he was rather talented. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have accepted him as a disciple, no matter how much he would have cried back then.


    -


    The Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute held a competition with several spots to witness the grand refinement. They only had a week to prepare everything as Xiao Xuefeng wanted the pill as soon as possible. Firstly, it was to help Huang Cixi faster. Each day was a day of cultivation lost. But most importantly, there was a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator in the Wubei Sect, she couldn''t let him act freely. With her spiritual senses, she was the best equipped to deal with that kind of enemy.


    The institute had been able to gather all the ingredients which were all rather rare. They had even started to prepare some of them. There were the cores and parts of two 9-core demonic beasts, extremely terrifying creatures, able to rival with 9th-grade Spirit Warriors. To get them, they had to deal with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. The institute had no cultivator specialized as hunters and they lacked these cores. The Myriad Hall got them in less than five days. As 9-core demonic beasts had, by definition, nine 9-cores, the Myriad Hall got paid with four of them for each beast and the institute took the five remaining 9-cores. They had five 9-cores of each one of these two beasts, as well as important parts.


    As such, they prepared enough ingredients to refine the Life Boiling Cradle pill four times.


    In less than a week, the ingredients had been gathered and perfectly prepared. All the spots to observe the refinement had been awarded to students and twenty-seven alchemists had been chosen to assist Xiao Xuefeng, Hua Fenfei being the head of the assistants.


    -


    The students selected to observe the refinement process were waiting outside of the Calamity Wing. This was the personal garden of Director Ge Ling. Usually, this was a forbidden ground for students as it not only contained the Thirteen Celestial Pyre, but also many relics and advanced manuals. Feng Yingyue was obviously there. Usually, she preferred to stay alone most of the time in order to practice both her alchemy and her cultivation. But the opportunity to observe her master and Grand Master Xiao refine a legendary pill was too important.


    Contrary to Cao Yun, she didn''t care about fighting prowess, so cultivating alone was not a problem. If Cao Yun did so, he would progress faster in his cultivation as well but his fighting abilities would lag behind. As she was waiting for the main door to open, the other students were all distancing themselves from her. They only saw her as being cold and arrogant. In fact, she was just shy but always tried not to show it. And with her status as a direct disciple of Hua Fenfei, no one dared anger her. Thus, they all tacitly decided no to approach her. All, except for one boy.


    Among the crowd, an eighteen-year-old man wearing the white and golden uniform of the institute walked toward the young woman. The moment she saw him, she was already fed up. He was Xue Gulin, certainly the most annoying guy she had ever met.

 Chapter 126: Thirteen Celestial Pyre

    Feng Yingyue had to admit that Xue Gulin was extremely beautiful. And he was also rather talented, not as much as she was, but he was in the top five students among the 5-star Earth alchemists of the institute. Unfortunately, his character was as poor as he was otherwise gifted. Feng Yingyue would have loved to never see his face or hear his voice ever again. Even though he knew that she already had a Dao companion, he still pursued her.


    "Fairy Feng. What a nice surprise to meet you here!" Xue Gulin bowed elegantly while jealous women stared at the poor Feng Yingyue who wanted none of this.


    "What surprise?! We''re all waiting here to observe the pill refinement. Brother Xue, I wish to stay alone to calm my state of mind. Please leave me."


    "Of course, Fairy Feng. It''s crucial that we''re all at our best. Such an event hardly ever happens, even in a thousand year. However, I may have something of interest to you." Xue Gulin was not demoralized and took out a small box. It was clearly expensive as it was made of jade and engraved with gold and silver.


    "I don''t need any exterior help. Take whatever you prepared for me and gift it to someone who cares." Feng Yingyue had tried to be polite at first. But the more Xue Gulin sent her unrequited gifts, the harsher her words had become. Now, she couldn''t see him without wanting to berate him.


    Strangely, Xue Gulin got even more attracted to her the more she resisted him. He had had many women before, despite his age. Indeed, his father was the governor of the Heinu Province. It was a rather large province near the Wu Province. With such an influential father, he had been spoiled a bit too much and had gone after many women, including some servants. When he had turned out to be a talented alchemist, Xue Gulin had literally lost himself in luxury. With such an occupation, he could become even richer than his own father. Succeeding him would become a breeze as none of his other siblings showed any talent for alchemy. Xue Gulin could even imagine becoming close with the Emperor himself.


    He had great ambitions. But in the end, he only wished to be drown in luxury and women. Not even the institute''s teachers could change his inclinations. It was easier to change mountains and rivers than to alter one''s character.


    "Fairy Feng, I swear you''ll like it. This isn''t just some external help." As he opened the box, a deep fragrance spread through the courtyard. The box contained a transparent pill, so pure that it was almost invisible. Its fragrance was extremely sweet and made everyone want to taste it.


    "This is a Transparent Celestial Key pill." Xue Gulin was proud when he saw all the disciples around him envious of such a gift. This pill was excessively rare. It was a 3-star Heaven pill that could allow a cultivator to open all his acupoints in a matter of weeks. As such, an 8th-grade Mortal cultivator could reach the Mortal Warrior realm in two or three months instead of two or three years. It would also accelerate the first levels of the Mortal Warrior realm. This pill was very rare and required expensive materials. Xue Gulin had spent more than half of his money on this, but he knew that he could conquer Feng Yingyue with such a gift.


    "Stop calling me ''Fairy''. And take back your toy! I don''t need anything from you, Brother Xue. If I wanted a pill, couldn''t I just ask my master?"


    Just as she was destroying the hopes of Xue Gulin, Song Guixiang came along. He went behind Xue Gulin and tapped his shoulder as though he was trying to comfort him.


    "Brother Xue, do not despair. You''re still quite charming. But Sister Feng only cares for her Chen Guo." On those words, Feng Yingyue became red and glared at the plump man.


    "Brother! Stop spouting nonsense in public, or I''ll have master punish you!"


    Seeing the flustered Feng Yingyue, Xue Gulin''s heart dropped down. So, there was a man who could move her... And it wasn''t him!


    "Brother Xue. If you give me this pill, I''m sure I can find you some ladies you''ll fancy even more than my cold sister. What do you say?"


    Sensing Song Guixiang''s coveting eyes, Xue Gulin closed the box. "Thank you, Brother Song. But I don''t need your help in that domain."


    As they were talking in front of the door of the Calamity Wing, it opened. Several deans were coming out. Apart from Director Ge Ling, the deans were the primary authority of the institute. Five of them were here. All the students became serious and checked their posture. In unison, they bowed.


    "This student pays respects to the deans!"


    The dean who seemed in charge was an old woman with a bent back.


    "Good, you''re all here. We have no time to waste, come with me and don''t make a sound. If anyone disturbs the refinement process, exclusion from our Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute will be a light punishment."


    "This student understands!"


    From this moment onwards, no one, not even Song Guixiang, would dare to breathe too loud. They all knew that refining a 5-star Heaven pill was already difficult. Thus, attempting to forge a 1-star Spirit pill, which no one had succeeded in doing since the Seven Treaties Era, was as hard as reaching the heaven.


    -


    In the actual Calamity Wing, there was a splendid garden and several pavilions. The deans lead the students toward the innermost pavilion. It was a squared building in the heart of the garden. Inside, there were already around thirty people. Among them, Xiao Xuefeng was meditating in a remote corner of the pavilion. Even Director Ge Ling was there to supervise everything. There was also an old man whom no one recognized, he was Chief Elder Suxian. As a 5-star Heaven array formation master, he was leading the few array formation masters from the institute. They had worked the entire week to set up several array formations all around the pavilion. Finally, Hua Fenfei was organizing all the other experts around a giant cauldron.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    This was the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. This cauldron was ten times bigger than any Feng Yingyue had ever seen before in her life. Even students from rich families such as Xue Gulin, never imagined that cauldrons this big were ever a thing. It was made from Celestial Inborn Bronze, a metal that was said to have come from the skies even during the Legendary Era. It was able to absorb Qi and increased the ability of people to control it within. It was great to forge a weapon, but even more perfect for an alchemical cauldron. With her spiritual senses, it allowed Xiao Xuefeng to manage every little detail inside the cauldron.


    Under the cauldron itself, instead of three feet, there was a pair of talons holding it. They looked as though a gigantic bird was trying to steal the cauldron away. No one here was able to recognize the beast from the appearance of these talons alone. Indeed, it was a legendary beast called a Thirteen Calamities Vulture. This beast had allegedly been slain by Emperor Nuwa herself. The legends were not very clear, but it was said to be a 3-pearl immortal beast. To be honest, even the deans and the director were not entirely sure of what it meant. However, it was clearly way stronger than even a 9-core demonic beast.


    Around the cauldron, many treasures had been arranged to form several array formations, as well as some engravings on the ground, and even a few flags, just to be safe. Finally, near the cauldron, a small table had been set up with several ingredients. The students could not recognize all of them, but each one they did recognize was shocking them. It was no wonder that this kind of refinement was rare. Thankfully, the deans had warned them beforehand or they could have gasped and ruined everyone''s concentration.


    -


    Xiao Xuefeng was finally ready. She stood up and walked toward the Thirteen Celestial Pyre without saying anything. As soon as she sat down, all the other alchemists took their own seat. So as to not disturb her state of mind, Xiao Xuefeng was using telepathy to send orders to Hua Fenfei. She was then tasked with synchronizing the twenty other alchemists who would assist her sister. Xiao Xuefeng had the best spiritual senses and Hua Fenfei was the best alchemist. Besides them, Director Ge Ling was here to overview the process with an exterior eye.


    The alchemists produced several hand signs and the ground opened a little under the cauldron. It was the strongest furnace in all the Hongchen Kingdom, the Core Earthly Life. This was directly connected to the fire deep within the Piaolu planet itself. No one had ever been able to measure its depth, but the texts claimed that it was ten thousand li deep. It was impossible to know whether it was literal or a figure of speech. However, even Xiao Xuefeng could not send her spiritual senses very deep within. The heat was so intense that spiritual senses themselves would burn.


    There was an array formation dating from the Seven Treaties Era to control the heat, simply named the Core Earthly Life Master. Its precision was diabolical. And no one today was able to reproduce either the Thirteen Celestial Pyre, the Core Earthly Life or its master array formation. However, many grand experts had come here to study it and all had gained some new understandings in their field of expertise.


    Finally, the refinement process would begin.


    -


    The Life Boiling Cradle pill was a pill that was extremely Yin within and almost pure Yang outside. It was also rich in both Water and Metal elements. The Metal element was perfect to supplement the Water element. However, you needed a lot of Fire element to melt and refine the Metal element. And this Fire element could easily clash with the Water element. This pill was a subtle balance of many things, and a good understanding of the Five Golden Elixir Principles was not enough. You also needed many of the Minor Principles of Silver. For example, you needed to understand ''Flying a Needle in the Furnace'', a principle dedicated to the use of Metal and Fire element together.


    Apart from the burning sound of the Core Earthly Life, it was impossible to hear anything. All the students were even breathing with less noise, almost holding their breath for some of them.


    A 9-core floated in the air. It was a mix of reddish green and gray. This came from a Verdant Immortal Ox and as the demonic beast it originated from, it was rich in Wood and Earth elements. Very delicately, it flew inside the cauldron and began to melt as soon as the heat attacked it. Xiao Xuefeng coated it with many layers of Qi to slow down the melting process. At the same time, she poured small pellets of a golden metal, the Golden Unearthed Silk. Its Earth element was soothing for the 9-core and its Metal element was slowly taking over as it was melting as well and mixing with the 9-core.


    When the metal was entirely melted, the 9-core was halfway gone. As the other alchemists sent their Qi in the fire to control the melting process and mixing both substances in a uniform golden mixture, Xiao Xuefeng focused on the next step. She slowly let go of the 9-core that melted even faster.


    A viscous liquid floated in the air with a shining silver color. This was the liquefied marrow from a Silver Claws Imperial Tiger, another 9-core demonic beast. Very similar to a metal, it mixed easily with the mixture already in the cauldron. But the alchemists around had to control their flames to match the various disparities in elements everywhere. The three substances had to be perfectly mixed together. Xiao Xuefeng went as slowly as possible to allow them enough time. However, she couldn''t go too slowly or the medicinal essence would be lost. They had already failed on this process once already.


    As the mixture got formed, it was time to quench the metal with Water element. A white nectar poured from the sky, it was Starry Boiled Milk. Each drop of this nectar caused a powerful smoke to rise. The alchemists closed the cauldron and Xiao Xuefeng controlled the flow of smoke inside the cauldron. She had to keep everything in but the smoke could not touch the Starry Boiled Milk or it would corrupt its nature.


    Once the nectar poured entirely, Xiao Xuefeng slowly put several pieces of Eternal Purifying Ginseng, a root able to absorb many impurities from a metal. They were almost like sponges sucking in the unwanted toxins. However, she had to control it so that it didn''t absorb any medicinal essence. And she had to coordinate with the alchemists who were sending different flames to where those pieces of root were, according to the impurities they wanted to get rid of. They had also failed on this process once before.


    Now that the mixture was pure enough, Xiao Xuefeng added the Nine Acres Storm''s Rage Drop, a water with the nature of a worldly storm in it. As soon as it entered the cauldron, a powerful whirlpool formed inside and she had to use all her strength to keep the cauldron from opening or moving. The alchemists had to synchronize their flames with this raging movement inside. It would further intensify the melting now that the metals were pure.


    There was one last metal to add to the mix, the most essential to reform a Dantian, the Eight Thousand Dan Mercury. As the name suggested, this was a very heavy metal. A 9th-grade Mortal could only, and barely, hold a single pellet of it. Yet, Xiao Xuefeng had to manipulate an entire ingot of it, almost a hundred times heavier, and only with her mind.


    This was the metal which took the longest to melt among all the other ingredients. But it was absolutely essential to the pill. The Lower Dantian was literally called the Cinnabar Fields. And cinnabar was formed from mercury. It was the metal that would constitute the basis of the new Lower Dantian for Huang Cixi. Without it, the pill would be useless.


    The alchemists had already failed once when it came to melting it and mixing it with the rest of the mixture. In total, they had thus failed three times already. And they only had enough materials for four refinements. This was their ultimate attempt. If they failed now, the pill would never be a success.

 Chapter 127: Life Boiling Cradle pill

    As the Eight Thousand Dan Mercury ingot was sinking to the bottom of the cauldron, the flames had to be controlled to not burn it completely. The alchemists had to keep the mixture at its fusion point without heating it any more than that. It was a very difficult process and Xiao Xuefeng helped them by controlling the flow of the molten mercury inside the mixture already inside the cauldron. Hua Fenfei was also synchronizing everyone and she took over when there was any problem.


    The melting process took at least three hours, but it was finally done.


    The pieces of Eternal Purifying Ginseng had slowly absorbed a bit of impurities as well, but they were at their limit. It was time to take them out while calming the raging mixture inside the cauldron. It was necessary to soothe the medicinal essence without reducing the heat. For that very purpose, Xiao Xuefeng used hundreds of petals. They were petals from Dew Pearling Angelica flowers. As the name suggested, this flower was close with the Water element. However, the temperature in the cauldron was too high for the petals not to burn up.


    As such, Xiao Xuefeng had to coat them in many layers of her own Qi. There were so many layers that the petals looked like tiny stars falling down from the sky. By retracting the layers gradually, Xiao Xuefeng allowed for the medicinal essence to slowly infuse into the mixture.


    Finally, the last step of the refinement process was coming. The alchemists had been working for almost twelve hours straight right now. The process had already failed three times and they had enough ingredients for only four attempts. If they failed this final step, it would be over. Unfortunately, they had never reached this step before. Of course, they had mentally prepared and trained for this during the entire week, but training wasn''t the real deal.


    As the mixture was liquid, it was necessary to condense all of it in a single point and quench it with an extremely cold substance. It needed to be timed perfectly. The alchemists got ready to kill the flames at any moment. Xiao Xuefeng''s Qi was slowly condensing all of the mixture at the very center of the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. This process was exhausting all her strength, but it wasn''t over yet.


    A small cube of ice floated above the cauldron. It was Universe Spanning Frost, ice that came from the skies. This ice was able to stay solid way beyond the temperature at which iron and steel melted. However, the moment it approached the cauldron, it started to melt very slowly.


    Xiao Xuefeng opened the lid and sent the Universe Spanning Frost to meet with the drop of the condensed mixture. At the same moment, Hua Fenfei killed the flames entirely and all the alchemists helped Xiao Xuefeng with their Qi to sustain her efforts. She was pushing from every direction to keep the drop and the melting Universe Spanning Frost at the same spot. The lid was left open to allow the cauldron to cool down.


    At this moment, a suction force spread from the open lid. It sucked in all the Qi in the environment. This force spread to the alchemists themselves. Being Spirit Warriors, they easily resisted this suction. However, it also started to affect the students. As they were only Mortal Warriors or even mere Mortals, they were powerless. Every one of them started to feel their Lower Dantian being sucked dry.


    Chief Elder Suxian began to act. He activated the first line of defense he had prepared, the Pure Sanctuary Solace array formation. A translucent wall appeared all around the Thirteen Celestial Pyre, blocking its influence in all ten directions. The alchemists were within this wall but this wasn''t a problem for them. The students could still see through this array formation. Inside of it, there was almost not a single ounce of Qi left in the air as everything had been sucked in by the cauldron.


    The pill was now formed but the medicinal essence within was still stabilizing. It had absorbed enough Qi to form a beginning of intuition. A Spirit pill was not conscious but it reacted to the world surrounding it, just like a plant did. This was this intuition, this instinct that was being formed right now.


    A shock wave erupted from the pill and a chime reverberated from the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. This sounded like a giant bell. The sound was extremely pleasant for the students because they were protected by the Pure Sanctuary Solace array formation. Inside of it, the alchemists, despite being Spirit Warriors, felt their bodies vibrate and they had to use Qi to protect their organs. The refinement process had been exhausting and in their weakened state, this sound alone could kill them if they weren''t careful.


    Another chime resonated, even stronger. Xiao Xuefeng was ready to act. So were Chief Elder Suxian and Director Ge Ling. The Life Boiling Cradle pill was said to chime three times if it was successfully refined. It had been more than fifteen thousand years since someone was able to hear all three of them. Everyone was extremely emotional, except for these three people, because they knew what was coming next. Even though there was little chance of success, they had prepared adequately.


    The third chime echoed. For the first time in fifteen thousand years, human alchemists had refined a Spirit pill. This was a historical moment and Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei would now become legends. No matter the quality of the pill, people would start referring to them as 1-star Spirit alchemists, Spirit Master Xiao and Spirit Master Hua.


    But at the very same moment, a tiny golden pill flew from the open cauldron. It was so fast that many students failed to see it until it hit the wall of the Pure Sanctuary Solace array formation. Once a Spirit pill was formed, it would naturally try to flee. It was an instinctive response. The pill was looking for a place to settle down and absorb the Qi of its environment. Some claimed that a Spirit pill could gain sentience if it absorbed enough Qi for thousands of years. However, Saint Guo An, the founder of alchemy, had negated this. According to him, only a God pill could ever hope to reach sentience. There was still a qualitative rift between these two kinds of pills.


    The wall started to crumble and Chief Elder Suxian had the array formation masters under his command activate the final line of defense. A dark energy erupted from the ground and from all the pillars around the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. This dark energy turned into chains that intertwined with each other. They formed a giant net around the cauldron, full of thorns. This was the Myriad Wings Nailing Bell array formation.Stolen story; please report.


    The Pure Sanctuary Solace array formation crumbled and the pill hit this black net with all its speed. It deformed but stayed intact. There was a terrible noise as the pill was rotating against the chains. It was as if two metals were scraping against each other, producing a shrill noise that was very painful to hear.


    The Myriad Wings Nailing Bell array formation seemed to endure, but it showed signs of weakness. Even Chief Elder Suxian was alarmed. It was its most durable imprisoning array formation and it couldn''t hold this small pill.


    Xiao Xuefeng was exhausted but she tried to help. All the other alchemists shared their remaining strength with Hua Fenfei who sent all of it to her sister. A giant white crane appeared outside of the Myriad Wings Nailing Bell array formation. It closed its wings over the black net. An intense pressure slowed down the pill. However, the alchemists were too exhausted and the pill was still fighting.


    That was when Director Ge Ling intervened. She was monitoring the process from the skies. Sensing the danger, she was ready to even activate the array formations of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But for now, she used her most powerful technique, ''Absolute Bell of Confinement''. A golden bell fell from the sky and encased both the pill, the black net and the white crane. The moment it touched the ground, it chimed with a pure sound that kept on resonating in the air.


    Apart from Director Ge Ling, no one could sense what was going on in the ''Absolute Bell of Confinement''. This technique could almost cut off small parts of space. It wasn''t at that level yet, but it was very close to it. She endured for several minutes and finally felt that something had changed within.


    "Retract your techniques." The moment Director Ge Ling spoke, Chief Elder Suxian and Xiao Xuefeng obeyed. The old woman came down from the sky and the giant bell slowly subsided. The Thirteen Celestial Pyre appeared again. Just in front of it, there was a small golden dot, the Life Boiling Cradle pill.


    Director Ge Ling sent her spiritual senses to be sure. Then, she controlled the pill to give it to Xiao Xuefeng. The woman examined it carefully.


    "87%!" Director Ge Ling answered the question that was on everyone''s mind. The pill had failed to reach the Perfect grade, but it was close. For such a 1-star Spirit pill, it almost seemed impossible. All the tension in the air disappeared and the students cheered. Their liveliness even energized the alchemists who stood up and cheered with them.


    In Xiao Xuefeng''s eyes, excitement was clearly visible. She had not believed that she could succeed. And yet here she was. Even she failed to restrain her emotions and cheered with the crowd. The Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute would hold a great celebration every year at this date. And it began this very same year. For a few days, festivities were organized and the pill, under tight watch, was shown to all the students. Several of them drew sketches of it. It was golden and marked by red and silver streaks floating on its surface. The pill gave off the impression of being alive.


    Letters were sent to the Emperor himself. The news that mankind had finally been able to forge a legendary 1-star Spirit pill was spread throughout all the Hongchen Kingdom. There were strifes at the border and this news was seen as a sign that mankind would ultimately prevail once more. Maybe, the Forsaken Dao Era would finally subside and mankind would be on top of the demons. Of course, those were crazy hopes, but hope was needed for those fighting the demons at the border.


    -


    Xiao Xuefeng was conversing with Director Ge Ling.


    "Director, I''m sorry, but I will leave as soon as I''m well rested. I worry about both Chen Guo and my disciple. I think that the demonic cultivators will lay low, but we''re never sure with their kind. They can lose their mind at any time."


    "I understand. However, I need to have a word with you. I read all your reports and I feel like someone is pulling the strings behind the scene. A Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator is already rare, but what if there were several of them?"


    "Director? It''s impossible! They couldn''t have hidden from all the experts of the kingdom."


    "Well, wouldn''t you have thought that a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator was impossible in itself just a few months back?" Xiao Xuefeng realized that this was true. No one ever thought that a demonic cultivator would be able to achieve Spirit Warrior. First of all, they often went crazy rather quickly. But most of all, their demonic arts could be felt by spiritual senses if they became too powerful. After all, they were full of Evil Qi.


    "They''ve become smarter. Instead of using demonic cultivators, they are trying to corrupt orthodox ones. If their subordinates do not use demonic arts, or just enough to get an edge, they''ll be difficult, or even, impossible to detect. There could be spies everywhere for all we know. But I''m more worried about their objective."


    "What do you suspect?"


    "This Luduo Bu... the arts Chen Guo described look a lot like the arts of the demons. And the demons have become more and more active at the border as of lately."


    Xiao Xuefeng was startled. "Do you think the demonic cultivators are working with the demons? Even if they follow the Evil Way, they''re still humans. Dealing with the demons would be insane."


    "Maybe. Maybe not. All the techniques you talked about, even this dual cultivation method, I''ve never heard of them. They may have received those from demons or... they found relics from the time the demons were still ruling this land. Maybe, they found other things and they hope to negotiate with the demons. Those are mere speculations, but if I''m correct..."


    "They''re after the Ancient Ruins of the Wubei Sect!"


    "Most likely, yes. And I also wonder about that Luo Jiang..."


    Luo Jiang was the boy who had tried to infiltrate the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute back in Yinmen City.


    "What do you mean, Director?"


    "They showed us that they were able to not even be detected by you. Yet, they sent such a foolish disciple to infiltrate us?! I wonder whether this was a way to send you to the Wubei Sect. You''re the one with the most sensible spiritual senses. Maybe they wanted you somewhere else. I''m not quite sure, but this Luo Jiang incident seems more and more suspicious. It feels as though the demonic cultivators wanted us to know of their presence. But it could also simply be a mistake by one of them..."


    "Director, I''ll report all your words to Sect Leader Xuan."


    "Be careful, little Xiao. I hope I''m reading a bit too much into things. But I fear that we are only seeing the surface. I suspect a larger conspiracy is going on..."


    "I understand, Director. I''ll remember your words."


    Director Ge Ling drew closer to Xiao Xuefeng. Even though the woman was more than 150 year old, she looked like a child in Ge Ling''s eyes. She had seen her grow up and become one of the most important experts of the Hongchen Kingdom.


    "It pains me to send you for such a dangerous mission. But the fate of our human race may be at stake. If my worries are true, this is the worst crisis we ever faced since the Blood and Dirt Era when Emperor Nuwa lead the Great War against the demons. Take care of yourself. Come back safe!"


    "Yes, Director."

 Chapter 128: Crafty Harassment

    Back in the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun had finally achieved True Success in his Hun cultivation. The more he progressed the more insistent the questions he was asking himself were. The Hun character was stimulating his desire to have a meaning in life. For a long time, he had been convinced that vengeance would be his fuel. However, he soon fell into a somewhat tranquil life, despite some lurking threats. And this vengeance seemed further and further away.


    Cao Yun realized that vengeance alone could not sustain him. Thus, he had turned toward martial arts and other pursuits of knowledge such as alchemy and array formations. But once more, knowledge for its own merit did not seem like it could fulfill his existence either. He enjoyed it thoroughly though. But when he imagined the life of a scholar, he didn''t find it appealing one bit. The life of a solitary cultivator or of a fighter weren''t enticing either. Neither was the idea of joining the army and either fighting all the time or thinking about political intrigues.


    He even thought about having a family life. Maybe, he could rebuild his Cao family with Feng Yingyue. But that wouldn''t bring back his dead parents. He could live happily for a while but then he would live in fear of losing everything again. The prospect of rebuilding a Cao family made him realize that if it weren''t demonic cultivators, demons could also attack and rob him of everything once more. He would fear not for his life but for his family, as he was now fearing for his friends.


    If not vengeance, if not knowledge, if not family, what could fulfill him? Cao Yun was in a constant indecision and he realized that his Hun cultivation was becoming slower and slower. As long as he hadn''t found an answer, he wouldn''t be able to move on.


    He would kill the murderers of his family, but then what?


    He would accumulate knowledge, but then what?


    He would live happily with Feng Yingyue, but then what?


    Cao Yun was only 17 and yet he was faced with the most important question of anyone''s life. What was the meaning of his existence?


    Ultimately, all choices would lead to either his death or the death of the people he loved. If he became a late Spirit Warrior, he would live for two thousand years and he would see many live and die. What was the point of life then? Just living to watch others die again and again?


    He then thought about Cleansed Asura and Axiu Qian. They were both existences who had transcended everything he could possibly imagine. Both of them were even able to sail through the void and travel to other worlds. Was it also his aspiration? When he thought about this, Cao Yun had to admit that he was amazed. But then, doubts came back in his mind. Could he abandon this planet and everyone on it?


    Cao Yun firmly believed in the precepts of the Wubei Sect. "Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!" was its first and most important rule.


    As his rage of vengeance had subsided and all of the threats from within the Wubei Sect seemed to be over, Cao Yun had all the time to examine his own convictions and he was confronted by a void that threw him into confusion. To try and forget about his interrogations, he threw himself in training.


    He wasn''t so afraid to use the intent from the Drop of Wrath anymore and he realized that it could enhance his Yi even further. Now that his Hun was well developed, he could subdue the rage from Drop of Wrath as long as it wasn''t too much. The Drop of Wrath was in fact a Flying Poison, the perverted form of the Po of Jing from Axiu Qian. Now, Cao Yun had a fully formed Po character so he could somehow exert control over it. And his Hun character also gave him better control over his own Jing, as well as over the traces of Jing still within the Drop of Wrath.


    Cao Yun was still a bit worried, but he had several ideas about how to tame this Drop of Wrath definitely. However he would have to further advance his mind cultivation, probably until the third layer.


    -


    In the meantime, Sun Liao was still recovering from his injuries. And Long Huafang regularly went to visit him. To her brother''s surprise, she had started to learn a bit of medicine, just to help Sun Liao. Indeed, she felt guilty for his wounds, because, well, she was the one who had inflicted them upon him.


    As she was changing his bandages, Sun Liao asked her again the same question he had for several days.


    "Don''t you have something else to do? I thought you''d want to train with Brother Chen all the time?"


    Long Huafang did look at his face, still focused on her work. "I have to repair what I did. It''s the honor of my family, do you want to sully my name?"


    "You''re not responsible. Even I was put under the influence of the illusions."


    "But you freed yourself, while I couldn''t..."


    "Well, unless you train your mind, there''s no way to resist against an illusory array formation. And if the plate had been activated by a Mortal Warrior, my meager achievement wouldn''t have protected me. The abnormal one here was Brother Chen, he almost wasn''t affected by the illusion. His mind cultivation must be extraordinary!"


    In the following days, Long Huafang would surprise her brother by starting to cultivate her mind.


    "It''s not an excuse. Even the three guards noticed something strange..."


    "Well, maybe then... you should go train instead of visiting me everyday."


    Finally, Long Huafang raised her chin. "If you don''t want me here, just say so! Every man would be happy to have such a sweet and innocent girl to take care of them, you know!"


    "Sweet and innocent? What are those? I see none in here!"


    "You... !" Suddenly, she tightened the bandages and Sun Liao yelped.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "You want to break my ribs?! Perforating my liver wasn''t enough for you!"


    "Don''t worry! I''m learning medicine. Even if I break your ribs, I''ll put them back together..."


    "You brat! Go train with other muscle heads!"


    "That I will! Staying with a weakling like you all day long is useless!" Long Huafang put back all her tools in a small wooden case and left the room. But just as the door closed, she added a few words in a very low voice. "I''ll be back at sunset to change your bandages."


    Sun Liao really didn''t know what he was going to do with this girl.


    -


    Long Huafang spent an hour or so in the physician pavilion. She really tried to listen to her teacher, but it was quickly too boring for her. Immediately after her lesson, she went to the martial art pavilion, that was very close to the physician pavilion, for obvious reasons.


    Now that Chief Elder Baishen was Cao Yun''s master, she pitted him against all kinds of opponents. She even made him fight 1st-grade Mortal Warriors who restrained their cultivation so as not to manifest any Qi. In these conditions, it was still tough to fight them, but Cao Yun had a chance.


    When Long Huafang entered the martial art pavilion, Cao Yun was precisely fighting such an opponent.


    His opponent was not an outer disciple but an inner disciple instead, a formal student of Chief Elder Baishen. However, he wasn''t a direct disciple like Cao Yun. Thus, he had decided to push him by using all of his strength, apart from Qi manifestation, to see what he was truly made of.


    In terms of strength alone, Cao Yun could lift 275 dan while his opponent was a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior able to lift twenty thousand dan. In fact, physical strength became less and less important in the later stages as cultivators could use Qi to compensate. By using his Qi, a cultivator could greatly enhance his body. However, some cultivators still put a lot of emphasis on their physique, especially if their cultivation was hitting a bottleneck.


    Cao Yun''s opponent was Guan Mo, a twenty-seven year-old man with many scars on his body. His weapon was a staff with both ends wrapped in metal and complex engravings on the shaft.


    Guan Mo wasn''t even using any martial art, he relied on his strength alone. A single strike of his could kill Cao Yun. Obviously, he would stay his hand at the last moment, but Cao Yun could still feel this looming danger over his life. Chief Elder Baishen had chosen Guan Mo to train Cao Yun''s speed and strength. Guan Mo was as agile as a monkey and as powerful as an ox. Hence, Cao Yun had to constantly dodge his attacks. And when he was forced to block or parry, he had to use all of his strength not to be destroyed instantly.


    In the last moments of the fight, Cao Yun seemed to become as fast as the wind. His image stayed at one spot a breath or two even after he had gone elsewhere. Each time, he moved, Cao Yun sent a small ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he attacked and moved right away. His moves seemed to follow a very strange path. In fact, they were forming some kind of array formation around Guan Mo. From this moment forward, each time Guan Mo tried to move, a ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' hit his articulations. They weren''t dangerous for him but they completely threw off his concentration and his timing.


    Guan Mo turned from an agile fighter to a clumsy brute. In truth, he was really tempted by the idea of manifesting his Qi to blow Cao Yun away. Of course, he wouldn''t do that while Chief Elder Baishen was watching the fight. This was infuriating. With only one strike, he could win but he wasn''t able to move as he would have wanted to.


    Cao Yun was however using a lot of energy and very soon, he wasn''t able to continue with his technique. In a final attempt, he tried to strike his opponent but his attack did not even scratch his skin. Although he was suppressing his cultivation, the Wei Qi around Guan Mo was extremely dense. Seeing his fatigued opponent, Guan Mo sent his staff in his ribs. Cao Yun tried ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''.


    At the last moment, Chief Elder Baishen stopped the fight. With a single palm, she halted the staff.


    "Chen Guo. Even with your defense, you''re still not strong enough to take such a hit. Maybe when you break through, and even then..." She then turned toward her formal student. "Student Guan, thank you. You can go back to your occupations."


    "Thank you, Chief Elder." He also bowed to Cao Yun. "Thank you for letting me win, Junior Chen."


    As soon as he left, Long Huafang drew near Cao Yun. "So this is your current strength... I wonder how you would fare against my improved ''This Moon in the Eye''? I don''t need to directly look at someone in the eye for it to work. What about a small fight?"


    Cao Yun was covered sweat and breathing heavily. "Sister Long, what about tomorrow? I don''t think I can fight anymore today..."


    "You''re such a weakling, just like this Sun Liao..."


    Cao Yun was even too tired to laugh.


    -


    Coupled with his array formation training, Cao Yun had finally understood the first move of the Room Star, ''Crafty Harassment''. This technique allowed him to move around his enemies while attacking with very light ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. The pathways he followed would then be forming some kind of array formation around his opponents in which those ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' were kind of like the circulating Qi. Someone trapped in this technique became slower and had a hard time just moving around, as his movements were constantly interrupted by the light attacks. None of them were strong enough to harm his enemy, but they would still annoy him enough to seal may of his movements.


    The first time he had used this move, against Long Huafang, she became insane. All her moves were sealed and she couldn''t even use ''The Moon in the Eye'' because Cao Yun was moving around too much. This was the most frustrating fight of all her life. Since then, she had decided not to come back until she had made a breakthrough in her martial art.


    Chief Elder Baishen took over.


    "Chen Guo. Your technique is interesting, but it''s full of holes. As it consumes a lot of energy and is very tiring, you should limit your movements to those that are absolutely essential. You''re still running around a bit too much. You could have achieved the same result with half the moves, or even less. In which case, you would have had enough stamina left to at least deal Guan Mo a direct strike." She thought for a while. "I think that you should go back in the Warrior Dream array formation. It''s the best way to perfect a technique. It will target all your weaknesses. By next week, I expect you to be able to achieve twice the results with half the efforts."


    "I understand, Master."


    -


    In a few weeks, many things changed. Cao Yun''s ''Crafty Harassment'' became more and more refined. He quickly realized while looking at the Azure Dragon stars that he had to try and emulate their own movement. But it was easier said than done. However, he still achieved what Chief Elder Baishen had asked of him. And he was even beginning to understand a bit of the first variation from the Room Star.


    Sun Liao recovered completely and continued to help him in setting up the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation. Long Huafang liked to tag along some times. And Cao Yun had the strange impression that was very accurate that she was here to be with Sun Liao. Both of them loved to quarrel but it seemed cuter and cuter.


    Ren Chao was now able to tease Sun Liao back, even though his comebacks still weren''t that great. But he gained in confidence since he had achieved the status of 4-star Earth blacksmith. Considering the speed at which he was improving, Ren Chao even believed that he could achieve 5-star Earth blacksmith before the end of the year. His progress was really exceptional and stemmed down from Cao Yun''s advice and his rivalry with Sun Liao.


    Of course, Cao Yun also spent some time with Mei Ying and her older sister. He also took care of Huang Cixi who was cultivating ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. The girl found out just how extraordinary this mind cultivation was. Even though her Lower Dantian didn''t allow her to cultivate her Qi, she still had hope thanks to both Cao Yun and Xiao Xuefeng.

 Chapter 129: Condensing Water Qi

    Huang Cixi was now cultivating Zhi the Water Will. Thanks to Cao Yun''s advice, but also her own talent and merit, she had spent less than two months on Yi the Earth Intent. As she couldn''t access her sea of consciousness like Cao Yun, her discussions with him were incredibly helpful. And she was also spending almost all of her time on this cultivation while also being helped by many pills, such as the Frozen Heart pill, provided by Cao Yun. Thanks to his deal with the Dragon''s Fire Faction in the Wubei Merit Market, he could have almost any pill he so desired.


    Huang Cixi was cultivating her mind as much as she could in order to improve her chances when she would finally receive the Life Boiling Cradle pill. The probability of failure for Xiao Xuefeng was higher than her chances of success. However, Huang Cixi chose to act as if she would succeed. And even if she failed, this mind cultivation was a good thing nonetheless. If her Lower Dantian couldn''t be healed, then she still had to live anyway. With her grandfather''s help, she could probably extend her lifespan to two hundred years with pills and physicians.


    Huang Cixi''s aim had always been political. What she was craving for was not necessarily power, but the ability to change the lives of her people. Even without her cultivation, she could still become a great minister for her family. Saint Xun Ke was proof of it. She had studied many of his works, such as ''Ruling the Waterfall to Raise the Mud''. In this treatise, Saint Xun Ke explained that the virtue of the rulers had to fall toward the common men to raise the moral of all the society. Even when a ruler had to do an immoral act, he couldn''t let it affect the morality of the people.


    But he also made more obscure works such as ''Darkness in Light and Light in Darkness''. In this treatise, he manipulated many aphorisms and fictional anecdotes. What he was trying to show was that ruling had never been a clean process. A ruler should stay moral and virtuous even though he might have to do many evil deeds in the shadows. A true virtuous leader would always be repulsed by these deeds and his heart would not get used to them. On the other hand, a villain would claim to do them for the greater good while enjoying the most benefits and the deeds themselves. If war was necessary, you should not enjoy killing. If lying in a negotiation was necessary, you should not revel in crafty and dishonest conducts. In other words, a ruler should not be corrupted by or used to the evil he might have to commit.


    Huang Cixi had always been impressed by these works and aspired to become a virtuous leader. She had great ideas about the way she could improve the lives of everyone in the Hongchen Kingdom. But she had to prove herself before she could be taken seriously by the Emperor, or any official of the court, even in her own province. Cultivating was a way to gain credit, but this wasn''t the only one. Even if she could not heal, she could still achieve many things. Huang Cixi truly had the Dao Heart Xiao Xuefeng was talking about.


    However, she was still conflicted about her feelings toward Cao Yun. After her stay with him, she had finally decided to stop chasing her revenge. However, she couldn''t forgive him. Instead, she even started blaming herself as she was still receiving so many gifts from him. Despite her mind cultivation, her inner demon was still within her. In fact, she was now able to sense it thanks to Yi the Earth Intent. Although she couldn''t see it, there was a small ball of dark miasma in her sea of consciousness. It was slowly taking her own form, fed by her own guilt. Deep down, she felt responsible for the death of Huang Lixin.


    Her second brother was coerced to go kill Feng Yingyue by her first brother. She knew it, but she didn''t try hard enough to convince their father because of his injury. The poor man was convinced that this was the only way to heal himself. Huang Cixi had decided to favor her father''s well-being. That was the worst mistake of her life. Even if she had had to argue or even fight with her father over this issue, she should have prevented this assassination. She had failed her morale obligations and her beloved brother was dead. And now, she also felt guilty because she liked the man who had murdered him.


    Indeed, Cao Yun was clearly a morale man, talented, and caring for the people around him, even his servants. In battle, he was able to be merciless and fierce against his enemies without ever being unnecessarily cruel. He lacked the technical qualities of a leader, but he had the morale qualities a leader should have. The more Cao Yun helped her in her mind cultivation to suppress her inner demon, the stronger the inner demon was getting. This paradox was very apparent to Huang Cixi, but even if she tried to reason herself, it was useless. From what Cao Yun had told her, if she was able to reach higher realms in her mind cultivation, she could probably erase the inner demon no matter its strength. This was a race against time. Either her inner demon would become too strong for her, or her mind cultivation would reach this stage and eradicate it.


    Deep down, she knew that in order to eliminate it, she had to forgive both Cao Yun and herself. Huang Lixin had chosen his path. Even though he had been influenced by their father and their older brother Huang Longwei, he knew what was right and he had chosen to ignore it. But she couldn''t lay this blame on the brother she loved, she had preferred blaming Cao Yun and her other brother. Many ruminating thoughts were clouding her mind. But with Yi, she was able to clearly focus on each of them. Just like a ball of yarn, she was pulling each thread to solve her interior conflicts.


    -


    Cao Yun had mostly focused on his martial arts, his Qi cultivation and his array formation. Quite at the opposite of Huang Cixi, he was trying to avoid all these questions. He was still advancing his mind cultivation but it was getting increasingly slower as he couldn''t find satisfying answers to these existential dilemma. In the end, he found nothing of interest in the Hongchen Kingdom for him except for Feng Yingyue, and the people themselves. But that wasn''t a goal for his existence. He had decided that he couldn''t just live for others. And the only thing that seemed to captivate him seemed almost impossible. Since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era, no one had ever crossed to the Sage realm.


    Thus, Cao Yun was trying to focus his mind on other tasks. Chief Elder Baishen was extremely useful in this endeavor. With her training, he had no time to think at all. She sent him to several array formations and made him fight many Mortal Warriors, always restraining themselves. But fighting them was still almost impossible for Cao Yun. The biggest difference between Mortals and Mortal Warriors was Qi Manifestation. A Mortal Warrior was able to voluntarily send his Qi outside of his body and, above all, control it. This meant that their martial arts were able to literally materialize around them. That was exactly what he had seen from Chief Elder Bian and Chief Elder Baishen in the Coiling Silk Faction residence.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    But there was something else. Every living being was surrounded by a thin layer of Qi, called Wei Qi or Guardian Qi. It protected the body from exterior influences to a degree. When someone finally reached the Mortal Warrior realm, their Wei Qi would naturally expand way beyond what even a late Mortal cultivator was able of. Despite their attempt to contain it, this Wei Qi would always be denser. As such, unless Cao Yun used everything he had, he couldn''t penetrate their natural protection. If he had another breakthrough, his strength would increase by quite a large margin and he would have a small chance.


    In fact, the 6th-grade Mortal stage insisted on accumulating Qi. But once he reached the 7th-grade Mortal stage, he would need to put it in motion within his own body. In itself, it would naturally increase both his strength but also his Wei Qi. Then, the 8th-grade and 9th-grade Mortal stage were both focused on opening various points on the body to both absorb and project Qi. Once again, it would increase his Wei Qi and his overall strength. Only when his body was entirely open to absorb and project Qi was a cultivator able to reach the Mortal Warrior realm and control the Qi outside of his body.


    Even though his ''Crafty Harassment'' had finally reached a level that Chief Elder Baishen deemed acceptable, there were still too many useless moves. To limit them and to cultivate faster too, Cao Yun was also working on array formations.


    Under the harsh lessons of Sun Liao, who was always bickering with Long Huafang, Cao Yun had been able to set up a Tidal Gathering Mist array formation with 96% efficiency. In other words, Cao Yun had set up a Pristine 5-star Earth array formation. He was now officially a 5-star Earth array formation master. Now, it was his alchemy that was lagging behind. It was mainly due to his own schedule but also to the fact that Instructor Meng was way too busy. To be honest, he was busier trying to avoid his work than actually working, but this prevented Cao Yun from taking many lessons with him. Nevertheless, he had not neglected his teacher''s duties and had given some assignments to Cao Yun. However, Cao Yun was more immersed in other matters.


    Even though he was a 5-star Earth array formation master, Cao Yun was nowhere near Sun Liao in his understanding. In fact, Sun Liao was probably closer to a 2 or 3-star Human array formation master. The only thing he was lacking was his cultivation. Every star after the Earth stage was increasingly more difficult to get. It was easy to progress in the lesser grades. But then to advance further, you had to understand very obscure theories and take insignificant small details into consideration. This really wasn''t enticing to Cao Yun. He was using the array formations to achieve other goals. And even though he quite liked learning about all these theories, trying to master them all to such a degree seemed like a pain in the neck, even for him.


    With this Pristine Tidal Gathering Mist array formation, Cao Yun was able to fully use his high spirit stone. He hadn''t used it until now because he didn''t want to waste this rare resource. Now was the time.


    The moment he stepped into the array formation, he immediately felt the difference of pressure. The Qi within the array formation was really like being hit by a powerful tide. In fact, it almost felt like he was forcing his way through a wall of water. The Water element was also more present, without being in excess. All things, even Qi itself, had aspects of the five elements. This was a teaching he had found in alchemy, in array formations, in his mind cultivation and even in his martial arts. They were not necessarily linked to the elements in nature, but rather to their intrinsic qualities and to philosophy. For example, Fire was the element linked to expansion and excitement while Water was the element of calm and serenity.


    The Five Elements were always generating, regulating, weakening each other in very complex and intricate cycles. Qi itself, like almost everything, was containing all five of the Five Elements. Any unbalance could cause health problems. For example a Qi too rich in Fire element would cause swelling in the organs. But a Qi too rich in Water element could cause the metabolism to slow down and even reduce the ability of the heart to send blood everywhere. The Lower Dantian was considered like a cauldron that was able to take Prenatal Jing from the kidneys and use the fire of the body to transform it into Qi. It also converted the Jing that was absorbed through eating or even breathing to turn it into Qi that the body could then use. Thus, the Lower Dantian was very rich in Fire element. To compensate it, it was necessary to refine the Qi with a slightly superior Water element.


    Then, this Water Qi would later be used in the last stages of the Mortal Warrior realm. Right now, Cao Yun wasn''t worrying himself with the details of the other realms, but he knew the general outline. Thus, he knew the importance of refining this Qi. If he did a good job now, he would gain a lot of time later. Refining his Qi further in the later stages would be more difficult. It was easier to just refine it before absorbing it in his current stage.


    Thus, Cao Yun used his understanding of both array formations and alchemy to refine the Qi he absorbed and maintain a good balance in his Lower Dantian. When he felt that the Water element was taking over, he left the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation to absorb Qi outside of it. As it was filtering the Water element within, right outside of the array formation, this element was lacking and it helped Cao Yun to keep a balance.


    He also realized that focusing on different aspects of his mind had an impact on this Qi as well. It was more complicated than just using Zhi the Water Will to promote the Water element though. For example, his Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul was able to promote the Fire element while being promoted itself by the Water element. Thanks to his alchemy, his cultivation became way faster than it should have been. That was when he understood that alchemists had better cultivation, not only because of their pills, but also because they understood these principles better than anyone else. Sadly, their fighting ability was usually rather weak as they focused on their craft. Even cultivation was usually seen as just a way to improve their alchemy.


    After several weeks of work, Cao Yun finally felt strands of Qi leaving his Lower Dantian naturally. No matter how much he tried to keep them in, his Lower Dantian was completely full and his Qi had to leave. Cao Yun really wanted to condense his Qi to its maximum. By activating his Hun, he was able to still retract a bit of this fleeing Qi within. However, it only worked for a few more days before even his entire mind cultivation was not enough to stop his Qi from leaving. Cao Yun felt that if he tried to force it, he would damage his own Lower Dantian. Thus, he let it happen.

 Chapter 130: 7th-grade Mortal

    Cao Yun had pushed his cultivation to the limit. One of the main reasons why many people failed to achieve high levels of cultivation was injury. Almost every level could injure the cultivator. To become stronger, there were risks. Thus, to become godly beings, the risks were huge. In the 6th-grade Mortal stage, the cultivator would gather and condense Qi within his Lower Dantian. This meant that his Lower Dantian was under extreme pressure and could break. That was the main goal of the 3rd-grade Mortal stage, to temper the Lower Dantian so that it may resist.


    Of course, the more Qi you could gather, the stronger you would become. For that very reason, Cao Yun had used all his cards to condense as much Qi as possible, risking the rupture of his Lower Dantian. Thankfully, his mind cultivation, especially his Yi, made him more aware of all the small changes in his body. As such, he was able to stop just when he started to feel his Lower Dantian in danger.


    At this moment, he released his tension. All of a sudden, just as a dam breaking, the Water Qi from his Lower Dantian flowed through his Eight Extraordinary Vessels. The flow was so intense that the vessels of a normal human would have ruptured, preventing that was the training of the 4th-grade Mortal stage. It continued to flow into his Twelve Standard Meridians strengthened by his 5th-grade Mortal stage. Finally, a very small part of his Qi went into his lesser meridians. This was the reason why many cultivators didn''t work on them too much, only a small portion of this gushing Qi was flowing through them and they could easily control it. So there was almost no danger of them being damaged. However, now that Cao Yun had tempered them, the Qi naturally flowed through them just as if they were Standard Meridians.


    He would become much stronger than a normal 7th-grade Mortal. Because, indeed, he had finally broken through to 7th-grade Mortal. Obviously, he wouldn''t be as strong as an 8th-grade Mortal, but he probably would be very close. Even as a 6th-grade Mortal, his strength had exceeded the upper limit by a good margin. He could lift 275 dan when an average 6th-grade Mortal was limited to lift between 100 and 200 dan.


    Physical strength was increasing rapidly during the Mortal realm, also called the Foundation Realm. This was a realm focused on the body, tempering it to prepare for the next realm. But then, the physical strength would stagnate a lot. There was a limit for a body of flesh bone, even with the use of Qi. However, if he could improve his physical strength, it would give him an edge in battle.


    Thus, Cao Yun decided to go test his brute strength. For the time being, he continued to meditate and observe the Qi flowing naturally in his system. As he had learned, he didn''t try to hinder it or focus on it, he just put all of his intent in watching it, as if it wasn''t even his own body. The knowledge he gained from it was invaluable. Seeing firsthand how the Qi was flowing in his muscles for example, would allow him to better train them when he would be consciously controlling his Qi. Cultivators were fighting against nature in the sense that they were trying to exceed their natural lifespan. However, it was also extremely important for them to observe nature to understand the principles behind it and use them.


    According to the legends, even Emperor Nuwa had derived the Qi cultivation method she taught to mankind from her understanding of nature. These principles already existed in the universe, even before the apparition of the first human. Only someone who watched the universe''s inner workings was able to derive them and teach them to mankind.


    -


    After several hours of silent contemplation, Cao Yun''s Qi was perfectly calm. His Lower Dantian felt completely full and his flesh was bloated by some Qi that left his Meridians. Then, he headed toward the Anvil of Marble. This was a training facility meant for blacksmiths. The point was to hit it as hard as you could to train your physical strength. Obviously, blacksmithing was the occupation requiring the most strength. Even Spirit Warrior blacksmiths had still to use their muscles as their spiritual powers were not enough to produce as much impact as their body.


    The Anvil of Marble was the name of a rock shaped in the form of an anvil. This rock was made from Ageless Marble, the same material that constituted the perimeter walls of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. By its side, there was also a big hammer made from Silk Gold, a metal renown for its flexibility. It was the perfect metal for this hammer. The Ageless Marble could not even be dented by a Mortal Warrior using all of his strength, including Qi Manifestation. If you were to strike with a tool that couldn''t bend, all the force would then be sent into you as it couldn''t deform the Anvil of Marble at all. It could lead to innumerable damages.


    It was rather late in the evening and no one was using the Anvil of Marble. There weren''t that many blacksmiths to begin with. Of course, other cultivators still used this facility from time to time to train their upper strength. Many forgot about their lower strength though...


    The instructor monitoring the facility didn''t bat an eye when he saw Cao Yun. He quickly explained the rules, which were easy. You just took the hammer and hit the Anvil of Marble with as much strength as possible. Then, an array formation on the wall facing you would illuminate itself according to the strength measured. This array formation was engraved on the surface of the anvil itself. It then continued on the wall vertically. And it would shine from the bottom to the top. On the wall, there were also characters to give you an idea of your strength depending on how high the array formation would get illuminated. This was very straightforward, many blacksmiths liked that. This facility was just meant to train your strength so you needed clear feedback.


    A 7th-grade Mortal should have a strength between 500 and 1000 dan. As Cao Yun had just broken through his strength should be in the lower part of this range. He took the hammer and breathed slowly to calm his mind. Using his Yi to its fullest, he focused all his strength in his legs to be deeply rooted into the ground. Then, he moved as fast as he could and used all his articulations from his ankles to his wrists to generate as much power as he possibly could.


    The hammer hit the Anvil of Marble with a powerful sound. In fact, the sound came from the hammer itself that was vibrating, absorbing a huge part of the impact while the anvil itself did not change at all. Cao Yun felt a little backlash but it was less than ten percent of the force he had used. Just by sending some Qi in his articulations he could completely protect his body from his own strength.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Then, he looked at the shining wall. The highest mark was written as twenty thousand dan, twice the highest strength of a 9th-grade Mortal, almost a thousand tons. In fact, this was the highest strength of a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. The lowest mark was only 100 dan, the lowest strength of a 5th-grade Mortal. The wall began to get illuminated. A dim light rose. It came from the anvil itself and rapidly made its way to the wall. In the end, the light went all the way to around 800 dan. This was already a very nice performance. Cao Yun had still not trained his body with the huge quantity of Qi he had now in his meridians.


    However, as he was full of energy, Cao Yun couldn''t stop just now. He kept on hitting the anvil over and over again. His results were disparate but all of them were between 750 and 850 dan.


    Putting the hammer down, Cao Yun was ready to leave when he remembered something. He had used his intent, but he had not tried to use his entire mind cultivation, and especially, not the intent of the Drop of Wrath. When he had been recovering his cultivation back in the woods between Baziyun City and Yinmen City, the Drop of Wrath had been really helpful. But since then, he had tried not to use it, fearing that it would take over. However, now that he knew for sure what it was, this fear was mostly absent from his mind. He knew what he was doing with it and he could suppress it if it went out of control.


    Hence, he tried once more, but this time, he used all of his mind cultivation. His Qi circulated with even more vigor thanks to his Po character and the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Cao Yun even felt the thin Qi transported in his blood get excited. All of his muscles vibrated and he even put his understanding of ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' in his strike. To the utmost of his concentration, he yelled as the hammer went down. The shock was so brutal that Cao Yun was forced to let go of the hammer. The sound alerted the instructor in charge of the Anvil of Marble, who was immediately worried. Of course, he had recognized Cao Yun who was renown in the Wubei Sect by now. If the young prodigy hurt himself under his watch, he would get in a lot of trouble.


    When he turned back, the instructor got so shocked that he forgot how to talk. The wall of light was showing a strength of 3,000 dan. It wasn''t that impressive in itself, but considering that Cao Yun was only a 7th-grade Mortal, it was incredible. The instructor had no spiritual senses but as Cao Yun had just broken through, his body was exuding his own Qi and a Mortal Warrior was extremely sensitive to it.


    A strength of 3,000 dan was the middle strength of an 8th-grade Mortal, usually ranging from two to five thousand dan. The disparity between levels became wider as one ascended in his cultivation. Technically, even though he was only a 7th-grade Mortal, Cao Yun had the physical strength of an 8th-grade Mortal. Seeing that Cao Yun was panting, lying on the ground, he probably couldn''t exert this strength more than once, maybe twice. However, he could surprise an opponent in the middle of a fight. Only one strike would be necessary.


    The instructor decided to keep it for himself. He would just warn the chief elders and no one else. Spreading rumors on fellow cultivators was bad in itself, but someone who was favored by many chief elders, that would be suicide.


    Cao Yun himself was shocked. This wasn''t a strength that he could use freely during a fight. But the instructor had been right. If he used it when the enemy least expected it, he could reverse a fight. And that was without taking into account that he hadn''t trained his body since his breakthrough. Could he achieve a strength of four or even five thousand dan? Even if physical strength was not very important in later stages of cultivation, in the levels he was currently in, it was.


    -


    Back in his room, Cao Yun went through his memories. He pulled up the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' and the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' to read and compare the details on the 7th-grade Mortal stage. This stage was pretty straight forward. It consisted in strengthening his vessels and meridians with this new quantity, density and quality of Qi that was now in his Lower Dantian.


    They had already been strengthened separately, but now he would consider them as a whole. Even though they had already been tempered, this wouldn''t be enough to resist to the movement of Qi in the Mortal Warrior realm. This realm was also a great opportunity to temper his flesh and prepare his body for the next levels. In the 8th and 9th-grade Mortal stages, he would have to open a myriad of points all over his body, his acupoints. Having the best possible physique was a good idea. There was no special technique of any kind. The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' once again advised the use of the ''Dance of Slaughter'' as well as the use of blood from 3-core demonic beasts. The ''Universal law of Immortality'' also showed a few moves to focus on specific pathways through the vessels and meridians.


    Later, Cao Yun would ask Chief Instructor Peng. As it was only the beginning of the week, Cao Yun went directly into his study.


    "Well, you broke through again?! You''re even faster than me when a husband... I probably shouldn''t talk about that. Anyway, I''ll send another high spirit stone in your room later as a reward."


    Chief Instructor Peng used his spiritual senses to scan Cao Yun''s body.


    "Your Qi is condensed to its limit. I assume your physical strength has soared. Even though I emphasize the training of the flesh, do not get too agitated by numbers. In a fight, speed can completely suppress strength, or the opposite. The more advanced you''ll become, the more you''ll realize that how you use your body is more important than one specific aspect. It doesn''t mean that you should neglect your strength though, of course."


    Chief Instructor Peng asked him to get inside.


    "I guess you came to learn about our ''Coiling Turtle''. And you''re right, we do have a secret technique concerning the 7th-grade Mortal stage. Usually, an outer disciple must vow to serve the sect for at least ten years to learn of it. However, I already asked the chief elders about you. They agreed to teach to you on a much simpler condition." Cao Yun was first apprehensive as he didn''t want to serve the sect for ten years. He was currently full of doubts and wouldn''t be able to make such a decision. "When you become a Spirit Warrior, you must promise to protect the Wubei Sect if it is attacked by demonic cultivators."


    Cao Yun was surprised. It meant two things. The chief elders believed that he would become a Spirit Warrior for sure. But it also meant that they were afraid of a conspiracy from demonic cultivators that could last for decades. No matter his talent, Cao Yun didn''t believe he could become a Spirit Warrior before he turned 40, in a bit less than 25 years.


    "I agree!" Cao Yun didn''t have to hesitate. After all, killing demonic cultivators was the only goal that was clear in his mind. Everything else was uncertain. And the Wubei Sect had given him many things, it was natural to repay his benefactors.

 Chapter 131: Challenge from the faction leaders

    Chief Instructor Peng was grinning at Cao Yun''s answer. It was very rare for such a young disciple to be able to perform this special technique of ''Coiling Turtle''. Even the ''The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'' technique was seldom used on first-years. From all he could remember, in the forty years he had been working in the outer sect, this had never happened. Moreover, the quick answer from Cao Yun proved that he was the kind of character to be grateful to the Wubei Sect.


    The Wubei Sect wasn''t training the elite of the Hongchen Kingdom just out of the greatness of their heart. Even if their first rule stated that mankind had to be protected over everything else, this didn''t mean that there was no conflict. Of course, the demonic cultivators were a problem, but there were also internal struggles of power. By welcoming and training the young generation, the Wubei Sect made sure to have roots everywhere in the Hongchen Kingdom. This created a strong feeling of all mankind toward them and made sure that they would stay the most prestigious martial sect the same way the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute was the most prestigious alchemy institute.


    All these political intrigues were not completely invisible to Cao Yun. However, all the members of his family had a good opinion of the Wubei Sect. And since his arrival, despite the incidents with the demonic cultivators and Chief Elder Bian, Cao Yun was clearly receiving a lot of benefits from them. It wouldn''t be correct for him to forsake them if they were in need one day and he had the ability to help them.


    Chief Instructor Peng was rather excited to help Cao Yun. He knew that the boy would become a great character in both the Wubei Sect and the Hongchen Kingdom. And he would be a part of his tale.


    "I''ll directly explain to you this secret technique. In theory this is nothing special, I''ll simply send my own Qi in your body to temper your meridians. Even though your Lower Dantian is full of it, your Qi is still insufficient to properly strengthen your meridians and vessels. This is why it takes between one to two years for most cultivators. They also need to absorb a bit more Qi along the way to supplement their training. Moreover, I''m almost a Spirit Warrior, which means that my Qi is denser and with a purer quality. This way, I''ll be able to use more of it to help you while avoiding many injuries you could induce yourself.


    "This technique is called ''The Snake Invades the Shell''. I''ll send my Qi through several points both in the extremities of your limbs and your Ren Mai, the Conception Vessel. Those are called the Four Ancestral Courts and the Seven Former Mansions. It''s important that you relax yourself as much as possible. As you can''t open and close your acupoints voluntarily yet, if you try to oppose my Qi, you will hurt yourself. The best way is to visualize my Qi entering your body as a stream of water. The mantra for this technique is ''The source of water gushes from the earth. It crosses the gate and gathers in the well. The well overflows into the river and flows to the sea. The sea sinks into the universal ocean.''


    "Water is my Qi obviously. The earth is the contact between my body and yours. Your acupoints are both the gate and the well. The river is your meridians, the sea your vessels. And finally, the universal ocean is your entire body."


    Chief Instructor Peng took out a large sheet of paper from one of his cupboards. When Cao Yun looked at it, this was only a painting. Clearly the master painter had an extraordinary brush and even though the painting looked simple, it also seemed real, even more real than reality itself. The master painter had caught the true essence of its subject. The subject was the mantra Chief Instructor Peng had just quoted. Immediately, thanks to his explanations, Cao Yun was able to see that even though this painting depicted the cycle of water through the inlands into the vast ocean, it was really representing the human body.


    "Focus on this image and on the mantra. The best would be to harmonize the mantra, the image and your sensations. As you''re more sensitive to the Qi around you, you should be able to perceive mine gathering just over your acupoints before it goes inside. Just like before, do not focus on the Qi itself, but contemplate the sensation. And once my Qi is attacking your meridians from the inside, it''s natural for you to feel fear or anxiety, do not try to chase them away. The more you resist, the more tense your body will get. Just picture the flow of water and let your worries flow with them. It''s very important, your emotions will cause Qi to stagnate and cause damage. And the more you try to oppose them, the more your body would tense.


    "So you should have understood that you need to trust me completely. Are you ready to do that?"


    Cao Yun had never really talked much with Chief Instructor Peng. During their trainings, he had no time for it. And after them, he was too tired to. However, he really had a good impression of the man. This didn''t mean though that he fully trusted him. Sadly, there were demonic cultivators within the Wubei Sect and anyone could be a spy for them. Pondering over it for a few seconds, Cao Yun finally accepted.


    "Chief Instructor, I''m sorry if I hesitated..." Cao Yun cupped his fists and bowed. "I''ll trust you."


    Chief Instructor Peng answered by laughing it off. "I understand. I understand." He obviously knew what had transpired with Luduo Bu, Lu Meihan and worse, with Chief Elder Bian. Thus, he didn''t reproach his suspicion to this disciple.


    Cao Yun took off his shirt and rolled up his pant legs. He then sat cross-legged on the floor. Over him, Chief Instructor Peng stood with both palms directed toward him. They were extremely close to each other. If Chief Instructor Peng wanted to, he could touch Cao Yun''s body, but there was no physical contact.


    Cao Yun began to feel a warm sensation floating around both his legs and forearms. It then spread all over his skin, but stayed on the surface. Gradually, it increased as Cao Yun circulated his mind cultivation to relax as much as he could. His mind went over every fiber of his body to contract them and then relax them even further. Many small tensions disappeared and the warm sensation intensified. Chief Instructor Peng felt all of it. When he was satisfied with Cao Yun''s relaxation, he began to concentrate his Qi on seven points in each of the lower parts of his four limbs. These were the so-called Seven Former Mansions as they were taught in ''The Snake Invades the Shell''.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Cao Yun felt the energy cross over, very slowly, into his body. Naturally, some tensions arose and a beginning of panic began to swell in his body. No matter how much Cao Yun was relaxed, this was an instinctive reaction. He thus focused on the mantra and, using his ''Shen Visualization'', he imagined his body as if it was the painting he had seen. Chief Instructor Peng was surprised by the speed at which Cao Yun let go of his defense. Then, he kept on sending his Qi further and further.


    He also sent his Qi through four points along his Ren Mai, the vessel going from the perineum to the mouth, passing through the navel. These four points were called the Four Ancestral Courts in ''The Snake Invades the Shell''. It greatly increased the quantity of Qi he could inject into Cao Yun''s body. This Qi circulated in all of his vessels and meridians, avoiding to cross into either of his three Dantian.


    The process quickly turned from inducing panic in his body to a pleasant sensation through his entire system. It then spread to his vessels and finally to his entire body. There was a bit of discomfort, but nothing too painful. The session lasted for at least two hours. Once it was over, Chief Instructor Peng slowly retracted his Qi and Cao Yun felt that his own Qi was being sucked in by the depression from his Lower Dantian. He could feel his vessels and meridians able to resist even more pressure than before. When Chief Instructor Peng finally retracted his Qi through the Four Ancestral Courts and Seven Former Mansions acupoints, Cao Yun felt, for the first time ever, his acupoints opening and closing. It was a very faint sensation as he hadn''t learned to control them. However, it was a first step. Opening and closing one''s acupoints was the goal of the 8th-grade Mortal. Through this training he would be able to gain a small idea of the sensation. This was a priceless benefit.


    "Good. It was only the first session. And yet, you were extremely receptive. This kind of session is very taxing on your fragile acupoints. So we can''t perform more than one of them by month. However, I''d say that in five or six sessions, you should be able to break through." Chief Instructor Peng was truly excited when he said that. "This kind of speed is seldom seen. In my experience, I only remember one disciple who was as fast as you, maybe even a bit faster. But he was an alchemist and he relied on many pills. However, contrary to what you could expect, his cultivation was still pretty stable. But, never mind. You should go rest for now. During our next public training, you''ll only work on strengthening your muscles, your tendons and your bones. You should already be stronger than a normal 7th-grade Mortal, but you can go even higher. Don''t let yourself be limited by the common ranges. Even though it''s said that a 7th-grade Mortal can only lift between 500 and 1,000 dan, I know some of them, especially among the blacksmiths, who can lift more than 4,000 dan just before they break through to 8th-grade Mortal."


    Cao Yun thanked his instructor and left. Becoming an 8th-grade Mortal before the end of the year was impossible, but he would achieve this breakthrough next year, before even turning 18. While most disciples were only able to become Mortal Warriors by the end of their five years, Cao Yun had good hopes of becoming one during, or even before, his fourth year.


    -


    In the following days, the news of Cao Yun''s breakthrough spread through all the faction leaders, especially Chan Weifeng and Long Jian. The most excited of them was Long Jian. He had been wanting to fight against Cao Yun for a long time. As he was going to leave the sect at the end of the year, he would have to wait at least two years for Cao Yun to be a fourth-year and have a chance of fighting against him. However, if he was too weak, he could not enjoy the fight at all. As such, Long Jian asked for his sister to come and see him.


    "What do you want? You''re still obsessed with Chen Guo? You should get rid of your obsession in Mu Hue''s embrace, it would be more pleasant I''m sure..."


    Long Jian got flustered when he heard such brazen words. "You...! What would you know of this kind of pleasure, eh?"


    "Well... More than Sister Mu knows I think."


    Long Jian erupted from his seat. "You little brat! You know nothing of the affairs between man and woman." He then paused. "Or maybe... I know you spend a lot of time time with a young array formation master. Could my wild animal of a sister have finally found love?"


    Just as he finished his sentence, a foot came crashing down on his. "I''ll show you who''s the wild animal! If you don''t take Sister Mu, I''ll do it in your stead!"


    "You little... !"


    They kept on fighting for a while until someone knocked on the door.


    "Faction Leader, this is Mu Hue. I have some matters to discuss about your succession."


    Indeed, Long Jian would leave the Wubei Sect in less than three months. And he needed to make sure that his succession in the Purple Northern Cloud Faction was well prepared. He had received this faction from another disciple and intended to make it prosper even after his departure.


    Long Jian put his clothes back in order and told her to come in. Mu Hue saw a lot of chaos in the room, then she noticed Long Huafang. The siblings had once again fought. It seemed to happen more and more often. Mu Hue smiled when she thought that the girl had finally reached this rebellious age.


    "Mu Hue. I don''t see what you find attractive in this moron! However, I understand why you want to become a monk rather than to stay with him, hmph!"


    Even though Long Huafang was harsh, Mu Hue knew it came from the fact that she didn''t want to see her brother suffer.


    "Junior Sister Long, this has nothing to do with Faction Leader Long. Just as he is following his Dao Heart and will join the military, I''m following my own inspirations. Isn''t that what all cultivators are yearning for?"


    The tumultuous girl didn''t know how to argue with Mu Hue who was always calm. "You''re just wasting your youth!" She spoke as if she was an old man and was ready to leave.


    "Wait, Sister. About Chen Guo? I want to fight him! Tell him that before the last challenges of the year, I want to duel him. I''ll restrain my cultivation and won''t use Qi Manifestation. There is no bet or anything. I just want to test out his ability. If he indulges me, I''ll gift a high spirit stone to him."


    "You really are shameless. A fifth-year, a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, the Faction Leader of the Purple Northern Cloud Faction and you want to fight against a first-year?! Well, I''ll convey it to Chen Guo."


    -


    In the Red Cliff Faction residence, Chan Weifeng was thinking about Cao Yun too. In the beginning of the year, he had been convinced that he would always ever want to fight against Long Jian and no one else. They were rival as faction leaders, but they were also both from the same province and wanted to join the military. However, Cao Yun had proved worthy of his notice fairly early. And the fact that he did not partake in a single duel since his first one against Luduo Bu had increased Chan Weifeng''s frustration. He couldn''t see how good he was. However, he wasn''t as bold as Long Jian and didn''t think about such a duel with him, yet.

 Chapter 132: Xiao Xuefengs return

    After several days to stabilize his breakthrough and particularly meditate on his session with Chief Instructor Peng, Cao Yun was back in the martial art pavilion. Once more, he was sparring with Guan Mo restraining himself. Cao Yun''s speed had greatly increased and he was now fast enough to avoid all the attacks of Guan Mo. Of course, he still wasn''t using any martial art while Cao Yun was circulating ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' to its limit. But even Guan Mo was impressed.


    Cao Yun finally used the move he had derived from the Room Star, ''Crafty Harassment''. This time, he didn''t move all around. In fact, his form appeared as an afterimage in seven places, just like the seven stars of the Azure Dragon''s constellation. And the ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' he was launching were behaving quite differently. They were moving around as though they were strands of Qi in an array formation or in a network of Meridians.


    However, as soon as Guan Mo tried to move, at least one of them came to throw off his rhythm, hitting him in vulnerable places. This wasn''t enough to stop a Mortal Warrior, but it annoyed him and hindered all of his actions. Unbeknownst to him, Cao Yun had way more control over this technique now. He could keep it up for a longer period of time. But he could also stop it and activate it again to save energy. Thanks to this ''Crafty Harassment'', Cao Yun was able to force Guan Mo to adapt to his rhythm and even, in a small measure, control his moves. He just had to change this makeshift array formation and the ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' would move differently to seal some other paths.


    Thanks to this technique, Cao Yun could somewhat imitate a Mortal Warrior. It was more or less the same idea behind Sun Liao''s technique. As they couldn''t neither manifest nor control their Qi outside of their body, they could still set up an array formation to gain some level of control. There was no way to manifest Qi, but controlling it could still be done. Technically, Cao Yun was not controlling the ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' as they were literally simple vortexes of wind, but he controlled the flow of Qi in this temporary array formation. In turn, this flow influenced the air currents.


    It was even more stable than Sun Liao''s array formations as his own Qi was used to feed the array formation. And he could also stop and change it on the go, while Sun Liao still had to get his arrows back and shoot them again in another way.


    Guan Mo became quite annoyed by this technique. Even though he was stronger than his opponent, he was harassed over and over again. Could an ant kill an elephant by biting it ten thousand times?


    Fed up with this, he decided to finally use a martial art. He would not lift the self-imposed restraints on his cultivation but he would use his main art, ''The Sea Temple Collapses''. ''The Torrent Floods the Earth''. With a huge move from his staff, Guan Mo blew away all the ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' moving around in the ''Crafty Harassment''. Cao Yun got worried as Guan Mo appeared right in front of him. His speed had almost doubled. Now, Cao Yun had a small disadvantage.


    ''The Pillar Shakes the Earth''. Guan Mo''s staff went for Cao Yun''s left side in a direct stabbing motion. Unable to dodge, he accepted the attack in order to counter. ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. The shock from the staff was enough to shatter his bones but Cao Yun had demonstrated to his sparring partner that he could take it thanks to ''Dragon''s Chest'' several times. Hence, Guan Mo did not hesitate at all. In the worst case scenario, Chief Elder Baishen could call Chief Elder Qinghe and heal him quickly.


    The moment Cao Yun felt the impact, he even used the intent from the Drop of Wrath and redirected most of the shock through his body all the way into his hands. This was the perfect moment to test out his maximum strength, further amplified by Guan Mo''s own attack. The man thought himself untouchable thanks to his Wei Qi, but was he really?


    Cao Yun used all his cards. He even complemented the attack with his ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' comprehension. He still felt a part of the attack hitting his bones, but more than two thirds of it had been redirected by his ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. Adding all of his strength to it, the strike went right for Guan Mo''s chest. Cao Yun didn''t know how powerful this strike would be. Nor did he know whether he could control it or not. As such, he chose a non vital area and did not aim for Fuan Mo''s heart, just in case.


    Guan Mo was surprised as Cao Yun had never used ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield'' until now. The counter went straight toward him but he wasn''t worried. Even with his cultivation restrained, his Wei Qi was dense enough to protect him. However, this didn''t happen the way he had imagined. The tip of the spear pushed against the outer layer of his Wei Qi. In a flash, his Wei Qi got pierced through. Overtaken by surprise, Guan Mo could not react fast enough. The spear had lost almost half of its strength. When it hit him, Guan Mo panicked and used all of his strength to jump backward. He still took most of the attack though.


    The moment he landed farther away from Cao Yun, his uniform was torn apart and a big bruise was visible on his chest. Guan Mo was shocked. This attack was not enough to pierce through his muscles but even bruising a Mortal Warrior was incredible for a 7th-grade Mortal. Cao Yun had already broken through a few days ago. If he had more sessions with Chief Instructor Peng and a month or two of training, he could really be able to injure him. And worse, when he would become an 8th-grade Mortal and then a 9th-grade Mortal, he may be able to contend against Mortal Warriors as long as they didn''t use Qi Manifestation.


    "Good. Excellent!" The first one to praise Cao Yun was of course Chief Elder Baishen. "Thank you, Guan Mo, you may go for now."


    "Yes, Chief Elder."


    Looking over his shoulder to Cao Yun, the man left the martial art pavilion, anxious at the idea of watching that young man grow further. He finally understood why Chief Elder Baishen was so attached to the boy. He had a terrifying potential.


    On the side, Long Huafang had also been watching the sparring session. She had realized that she wasn''t Cao Yun''s match anymore. The girl had sparred several times with her brother and she knew how powerful a Mortal Warrior was, even without Gi Manifestation. The mere fact that Cao Yun had made one of them retreat was incredible for her. However, she didn''t get discouraged. The only way to overcome her doubts was to train even harder. Maybe she had become too complacent recently, especially with her time spent with Sun Liao. However, she didn''t want to stop seeing him...The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    She waited for Chief Elder Baishen to have finished her conversation with Cao Yun before talking with him. After receiving many reprimands from the old woman, Long Huafang had finally learned her lesson.


    "Brother Chen! You were great!"


    "Thank you, Sister Long. You came to spar with me?"


    Long Huafang got taken aback and her face made Cao Yun laugh a little.


    "What''s so funny?! I''m not as freakish as you. This strike would have killed me for sure!"


    "Well, I can only use this amount of strength once or twice..."


    "Don''t go complaining about it! Once is enough for me! But, no, I didn''t come to fight with you! My brother wanted me to give you a message."


    "Long Jian? What is it?"


    Cao Yun had never met him in person, but he knew that Long Jian was the faction leader of the Purple Northern Cloud Faction.


    "It''s very shameful, but my brother would like a duel with you. Of course, he will restrain his cultivation and won''t use Qi Manifestation. To show how ashamed he is of such a request, he will give you a high spirit stone if you agree, irrespective of the results."


    "What?! Isn''t your brother second in the fighting ranks?"


    "Indeed... Very shameful of him, right? That''s what I told him. Even with your performance now, you have no chance of winning at all! He just wants to have some fun with a talented expert and he just can''t wait for you to reach his level. If you want my opinion, he knows that you''ll wipe the floor with him once you become a Mortal Warrior. That way, he''ll be able to claim that he beat you fair and square once in his life. How humiliating to be his sister!"


    Long Huafang was clearly trying to frame her brother in a very negative light, but her acting was a bit over the top. She was making huge hand gestures while hiding her head in the crook of her arm as though in shame.


    However, Cao Yun understood her brother very well. This wasn''t a matter of strength. What he wanted was probably to confront their martial arts. Obviously, Cao Yun had no way of winning, but this wasn''t the point. Fighting against such an expert would be extremely beneficial. Without speaking about the high spirit stone, he could maybe further advance his martial arts. After the fourth star, the three other stars from ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' were way more difficult to grasp. In a year, he had understood the first four stars, that was called True Success. He had even derived their moves and variations, except for the variation of the Room Star. However, for each of the three remaining stars, he would probably need a year to both forge them and derive any technique from them, if not more.


    That was one of the reason why this art was only considered a 1-star Human rank martial art. Many practitioners gave up after learning the first four stars. But they couldn''t see them in their sea of consciousness, so in fact, they weren''t even able to discern their true techniques. In the hands of Cao Yun, it was already a 5-star Human rank martial art. And it could maybe reach the Heaven rank if he pushed it all the way to Perfection. Better yet, this only was the first layer. There were two more layers after that, turning the Stars into Constellations and then into Mansions, birthing a true Azure Dragon Spirit.


    "Tell your brother that I accept. I''ll train until the very last day. But just before the final challenges of the year, I''ll fight with him. I hear your brother has a good reputation and is upright, so I''ll let him decide on the rules."


    "Upright?! Yes, too upright for his own good if you want my opinion. He can''t even abduct the woman he loves and who loves him. A complete upright moron!"


    Cao Yun didn''t know how to respond to that. But before he could speak, he heard a voice in his head.


    "Chen Guo, I''m back." This was Xiao Xuefeng''s voice. Even though this was a telepathic message, she still decided to use his fake name. This woman was very careful. Cao Yun had found that out when he had read about his fake background, she was very meticulous in her endeavors. "I was successful. Come and see me with your little servant."


    Cao Yun''s face lit up. He had faith in Xiao Xuefeng''s alchemy but he also knew that no one had succeeded in forging such a pill for more than fifteen thousand years.


    "Excuse me, Sister Long. An urgent matter just happened. I''ll see you later!"


    Before she could react, Cao Yun was already using his full speed to sprint out of the building and toward the first-years'' residence. During the months that had gone by, he had seen how hard working Huang Cixi had been. Her mind cultivation was already at the Shen character. She had even reached True Success. Of course, she had both Cao Yun''s advice and the correct medicine right away, but this was still impressive. For a girl with such a strong mind to develop an inner demon, it meant that her anguish had been extremely deep. As a result, it pained Cao Yun even more. He knew that she was anxious to hear news of Xiao Xuefeng and the pill. And he dreaded the day he would have to tell her a bad news. But this day would never come!


    He almost stormed through the door before realizing that she could be cultivating right now. Taking a deep breath, Cao Yun calmly opened the door. And indeed, Huang Cixi was cultivating. She had just taken the Praying Demon pill for her Shen cultivation. Not only was this cultivation beneficial to fight against her inner demon, but it also taught her how to best control medicinal essence within herself. This would prove useful with the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Cao Yun decided not to disturb her and waited for a few minutes.


    When she finally came out of her meditative state, she immediately sensed someone''s presence. Seeing Cao Yun in the middle of the day was rather rare as he was always training recently. Wait?! Did this mean that... ?!


    "Young Master Chen?"


    "Mei Yuzhi, Xiao Xuefeng is back! The refinement was a success and she''s waiting for us."


    The girl stood up in a hurry. Even she had a hard time hiding her excitement. Although she had hope, she knew how difficult this refinement was, not because she knew alchemy but because she knew how long it had been since anyone had succeeded. The Heavens were with her after all. She couldn''t stop herself from thinking that it was her decision about vengeance that had influenced fate in her interest. Usually, she wasn''t very superstitious, but this truly was a miracle.


    -


    The two of them quickly went to Xiao Xuefeng''s residence. Kang Hai and Kang Cai were waiting for them and they lead them to their master. Xiao Xuefeng had just come back. Despite her cultivation, she was exhausted. Traveling more than a month on a flying sword was not a resting experience. And she had almost traveled for three months in a row as she had left about a week after she arrived at the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    However, she didn''t want to let Huang Cixi wait in anguish. The girl had to prepare herself. Even though the refinement was hard already, taking the pill wouldn''t be much easier. Apart from Emperor Nuwa, Xiao Xuefeng was unaware of anyone who had survived this pill. Even that story was more a legend or a rumor than a verified fact. But this was Huang Cixi''s choice and she was ready to accept the consequences.

 Chapter 133: Pure Golden Dantian

    Cao Yun and Huang Cixi were lead toward Xiao Xuefeng. Right in front of her chamber, Kang Hai and Kang Cai asked Cao Yun to wait outside.


    "I''m sorry, Young Master, but our mistress wants to talk with Miss Mei alone."


    "I understand." Cao Yun turned toward Huang Cixi. "I''ll be waiting here, but I do believe that you can fully trust Grand Master Xiao."


    Huang Cixi nodded. She had a vague idea of what the alchemist master wanted to talk about. However, she wasn''t ready to have this discussion with Cao Yun yet.


    Kang Cai knocked on the door.


    "Mistress, Miss Mei is here to see you."


    The door slowly opened, showing Xiao Xuefeng sitting in front of a board of Go.


    "Come in."


    Huang Cixi walked into the room as the doors closed behind her. She naturally took place on the opposite side of the table. As soon as she was comfortable, Xiao Xuefeng took a stone and put it on the board.


    "Have you prepared yourself?"


    Huang Cixi looked at the board. Go was a game that she was very familiar with. Fighting was not her domain, but as she had studied diplomacy and politics, she had also studied strategy and Go was often used as a way to transpose military principles. Saint Xun Ke even called it ''Learning Through the Stones''. Huang Cixi calmed her mind and put another stone on the board.


    "Yes, Grand Master. In fact, Chen Guo helped me a lot. He gave me a great mind cultivation."


    Considering the spiritual abilities of Xiao Xuefeng, Huang Cixi was sure that she could see through her lies. Moreover, she had no reason to hide it. Given her level, Xiao Xuefeng would not covet a junior''s method.


    They both kept talking while playing.


    "Indeed, his mind is certainly extraordinary. Apparently, the Feng Yingyue girl also received this method."


    Huang Cixi got destabilized when hearing the name of Feng Yingyue, it brought her back to the past. Huang Cixi realized that it had been a bit more than a year now.


    "Are you still holding a grudge?"


    As she was about to put another stone on the board, Huang Cixi stopped in the middle of her movement. She really looked within herself before answering. Finally, she looked Xiao Xuefeng straight in the eyes.


    "No. I finally admitted the truth to myself. Chen Guo was innocent in all this and Feng Yingyue was the victim. The only one who can take the blame now is me. All the others are dead... I should have been more insistent. First Brother Huang Longwei wasn''t as competent as I am. I should have been able to convince Father not to listen to him and Second Brother not to obey, no matter what. I''m the only one alive with any blame in this."


    "Really?" The sound of the stone on the board was forming some kind of melody as the two women talked. "Aren''t you still running away from the truth? You tried to blame Chen Guo and now you blame yourself? But who was really responsible?"


    A doubt appeared in Huang Cixi''s mind. "What do you mean, Grand Master?"


    Xiao Xuefeng had the matter thoroughly investigated and knew almost everything by now.


    "Who thought about assassinating Feng Yingyue? Who approved the assassination and gave the order? Who followed the order?"


    "Are you saying that my entire family was guilty but me?" Huang Cixi kept her attitude composed but she was beginning to get confused. Unknowingly, her inner demon was slowly growing. It had been born by her desire for vengeance but now it was feeding on her guilt. Huang Cixi could not enter her sea of consciousness, but it was very easy for Xiao Xuefeng to sense this inner demon. Such a parasite was born from human desires and emotions, obsessions and traumas. She wasn''t trying to put Huang Cixi in a difficult situation, but she was attempting to make her realize a way to fight off this inner demon.


    "Huang Cixi, you blame yourself because you failed to convince your father and your second brother. But they were the ones who acted. You admit that Chen Guo only acted to defend Feng Yingyue. But yet, you fail to admit that your second brother and your father did anything wrong. You blame everything on your first brother, but as he''s dead himself, this blame then befalls onto you."


    Huang Cixi put another stone on the board. Unconsciously, she was circulating her mind cultivation.


    "Look within yourself, sincerely. I know that you don''t want to blame the people you love. But you must detach yourself from your guilt. You loved them and yet they acted against morale. Admit that good people can also do heinous crimes. It doesn''t mean that your second brother was evil. He just wanted to keep the admiration of his father. Even concerning your father, he was blinded by his fear and his pain. You must admit that good people, people you love, are able to commit heinous crimes when lead by the wrong emotions. The blame is not on you."


    The girl was more and more confused about her real feelings. To say the truth, Huang Cixi was very good at thinking and planning but getting in touch with what she felt was not something she excelled at. That was why she had first directed her anger at Cao Yun. Then when she found out that she couldn''t hate him, she directed this anger at herself. This was how her inner demon had disturbed her cultivation and caused her injury.


    In demonic cultivators, an inner demon could take over the cultivator and turn him insane. But for orthodox cultivators, their minds were more stable. It would usually cause confusion and be nourished by chaotic emotions. In the end, it would generate a Qi deviation or any other deadly problem, either in the Qi, in the mind or even in the flesh. A cultivator who couldn''t get rid of his inner demon would simply end up dead because of it. Almost no orthodox cultivator had ever been corrupted or devoured by his inner demon.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Huang Cixi kept on playing mechanically. And as her mind was losing itself in the game, she thought about the past. Xiao Xuefeng was right, her first brother, her father and even her second brother all had a choice. Her first brother had acted on greed and jealousy. Her father had acted on fear because he thought this could bring him a way to heal himself. Finally, her second brother had acted on the desire to keep his father''s approval. Any one of them could have said no. Yes, she could have stopped them as well, but she wasn''t carrying all the blame. In the end, she had even tried to convince her father and her second brother. Unfortunately, she had failed. Even though she could blame herself for this failure, this was their decision, their choice.


    A change occurred in her sea of consciousness. The Shen character had just reached Perfection. It produced a powerful flame. In a corner of this sea, there was a small shadow. It had the exact same features as Huang Cixi, but it was around half her size and its eyes were still closed. This was her inner demon. With its eyes closed, the inner demon was not fully awake, otherwise Huang Cixi would be dead. But its size was very impressive. The flame from the Shen character engulfed this shadowy figure and it began to shrink to the size of a bean. Eliminating an inner demon could take years, but thanks to her mind cultivation and Xiao Xuefeng, the process had been sped up. Huang Cixi would still need to put in the effort. However, her inner demon was on the right track to being eradicated.


    In truth, Xiao Xuefeng had used the game of Go as a kind of hypnotism. She was the cultivator with the most powerful spiritual senses in the kingdom. As such, she was able to help Huang Cixi deal with her inner demon, but she had to realize the cause herself. If Xiao Xuefeng tried to get into her mind to erase it, the inner demon couldn''t resist. But Huang Cixi''s mind could collapse from her intrusion. That was the reason why Xiao Xuefeng rarely tried to read the memories or even the mind of someone.


    A few decades ago, she had tried to help one of her friends who had developed an inner demon as well. Desperate to help this friend, she had used her spiritual senses. She had eradicated the inner demon alright but her friend''s mind collapsed and he died a few days later. Xiao Xuefeng herself almost birthed an inner demon due to this failure. And it was by overcoming this tribulation that her spiritual senses became stronger than ever. Director Ge Ling had been extremely helpful at that time, and that was why Xiao Xuefeng was extremely attached to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. However, to this day, she still remembered this deadly mistake of her.


    Sensing that the inner demon in Huang Cixi had considerably reduced in size, Xiao Xuefeng could not help but marvel at this mind cultivation. She knew from Hua Fenfei that this mind cultivation had been obtained from an obscure manual in the private library of the city lord of a small town. That really was a fortuitous encounter. Xiao Xuefeng wouldn''t dare stealing from a junior, or anyone for that matter, but she was now curious about this method. She would ask Cao Yun later about it, maybe she could get some inspiration from it.


    Xiao Xuefeng waited for Huang Cixi to come back to reality. The girl was almost entranced as she was sorting out her emotion. She had finally been able to let go of her own guilt.


    "Huang Cixi, I have one final question for you. Do you know who Chen Guo is?"


    Huang Cixi immediately knew that Xiao Xuefeng knew. And she wasn''t surprised by this.


    "Grand Master, I know."


    "Then I will ask you this one favor. Never, ever, speak about it!" Xiao Xuefeng still found that the tragedy of the Cao family was peculiar. Right now, the demonic cultivators seemed to be busy with something, so they probably wouldn''t send a Spirit Warrior to kill him. But there was a risk if they learned that he was from this family.


    "I understand, Grand Master. I won''t!"


    "Good. Kang Cai will show you to the room I chose for ingesting the pill. Follow her and prepare yourself. I''ll try to help you as much as I can, but this is your Lower Dantian. So you must be the one to reform it."


    Huang Cixi put one final stone on the board and stood up. She cupped her fists and bowed. "Thank you for everything, Grand Master. I see the world more clearly. In case I fail, I already wrote a letter for my grandfather, I swear that he won''t blame anyone but fate."


    She then left the room. When Xiao Xuefeng looked at the board again, she realized that the young girl was controlling more than two thirds of the board. Xiao Xuefeng had not really played seriously, but she knew that this girl was probably a future master strategist.


    -


    After discussing a bit with Cao Yun, Xiao Xuefeng lead him to the chamber she had chosen. There was an array formation to strengthen the room and isolate it from exterior influences. Huang Cixi was sitting cross-legged right in the middle of this array formation.


    Satisfied to see that her state of mind was optimal, Xiao Xuefeng took out the Life Boiling Cradle pill from her spatial ring. The pill floated in the air and went toward the young girl.


    "Are you ready?"


    "I am, Grand Master."


    Cao Yun was very nervous. Either she would heal and even become way stronger, or she would die. But he could do nothing and she had made her choice.


    The pill entered Huang Cixi''s mouth and slowly dissolved in her system. She felt an intense fire spreading through her meridians and vessels, trying to converge in her Lower Dantian. But as it was destroyed, this fiery energy was spilling out. If she let it, her organs would get attacked by this fire and she would die. Using her Yi and Zhi, coordinated by Shen, she took control of this medicinal essence and did everything she could to keep it within. On the other hand, Xiao Xuefeng sent a few strands of Qi around her other organs to protect them. She couldn''t interfere too much with the medicinal energy because Huang Cixi needed to reforge her Lower Dantian herself. Otherwise this could cause more problems later as it wouldn''t be fully harmonized with her own Qi.


    Huang Cixi was sweating profusely. The medicinal essence was extremely Fire in nature. Thankfully, she had mastered Shen the Fire Spirit and it helped her a lot. Moreover, this Fire was balanced out by her Zhi the Water Will. The mind cultivation of Cao Yun was indeed incredible and kept on surprising Xiao Xuefeng.


    Finally, Huang Cixi felt as though a ball of magma was formed in her lower abdomen. Then, from within the fire energy, a new kind of medicinal essence appeared, full of Water element. It was time to quench her Lower Dantian to make it stable. If she let this Water energy free, it would collide with the unstable ball of magma and this could cause an explosion within herself. This time, she felt Xiao Xuefeng''s Qi forming a sphere around her Lower Dantian, to contain it if the worst came to be.


    Huang Cixi did everything she could to hold this Water energy and let it spill bit by bit. Each time she let out a thin strand of this energy, the pain was intense. But she had to maintain her focus. If she let go, she would probably die, no matter the protections from Xiao Xuefeng. Even if her other organs were safe, her lower abdomen where the energies were would be obliterated and she would die on the spot, either from the pain or the subsequent loss of blood.


    Cao Yun was unable to see what was going on inside of Huang Cixi but he was able to see her pain. He reduced his own breathing so as not to disturb neither her nor Xiao Xuefeng. There was an eerie silence in the room. Even Huang Cixi was silent despite the pain she was feeling. She was entirely focused on her task.


    All of a sudden, she felt something move in her mind and being suppressed by fire. Her inner demon had tried to use this opportunity but was now too weak thanks to Xiao Xuefeng and got suppressed by the fire of Shen. Huang Cixi had the vague sensation that without her discussion earlier, she would have died right now.


    Finally, all the Water energy was gone and this ball of magma had completely cooled down. Huang Cixi put her focus on it and realized that she had gained the legendary Pure Golden Dantian.

 Chapter 134: A miraculous recovery

    Huang Cixi focused all her intent on her lower abdomen and there it was. She felt a pulsating orb of Qi. It was still brimming with some of the medicinal essence from the pill. Xiao Xuefeng was also seeing this scene. With her spiritual senses, this orb seemed indeed to be completely golden. After more than fourteen thousand years, the Life Boiling Cradle pill had finally be refined once more.


    And what was even more incredible was the fact that Huang Cixi had survived. It was thanks to both her mind cultivation and the help from Xiao Xuefeng. The alchemist had helped calm down and stabilize her mind just before the attempt. Through the game of Go, she had even hypnotized her a little to reduce her inner demon and her stress. Of course Huang Cixi was still stressed to some measure. She knew that she was playing her life here.


    Right now, Huang Cixi was officially a 3rd-grade Mortal as she had a Lower Dantian that was perfect. In fact, she had a Lower Dantian that was attributed to Emperor Nuwa alone, according to the legends. No one in the entire Hongchen Kingdom had ever been recorded with a Pure Golden Dantian. Maybe some other people had one, but this was so rare that none had been registered. It also could have been a way to pay tribute to Emperor Nuwa during the Seven Treaties Era and add to her legend. As, for example, no one had ever named their child Nuwa since then. However, the people had lost the ability to produce this pill during the Forsaken Dao Era, and some historians were not sure of the exact meaning of some archives. Even for people with lifespans of two thousand years, more than twenty thousand years was a lot of time.


    Xiao Xuefeng herself didn''t know what this Pure Golden Dantian entailed either. However, she saw that some medicinal essence was still within this golden orb that was fully formed in Huang Cixi''s lower abdomen. Before announcing the success to the anxious Cao Yun, she talked to Huang Cixi.


    "Follow my instructions and circulate this medicinal essence through the acupoints I tell you."


    Huang Cixi heard her telepathic message and obeyed without any hesitation. There was no reason for Xiao Xuefeng to harm her after putting so much effort into healing her Lower Dantian. Moreover, she was a great alchemist, so she knew what she was doing. Even though the Pure Golden Dantian was formed, the ordeal was not over. After all, the remnant of medicinal essence alone was quite enough to annihilate the young girl.


    Huang Cixi followed every instruction to the letter. Slowly, she felt the medicinal essence nourish both her vessels and her meridians. This was a burning sensation as she had never known before. In fact, she almost felt as though someone was pouring molten metal down her bloodstream. Cao Yun immediately saw that she was shaking all over. Apparently forming the Pure Golden Dantian was just the first step of the process. There hadn''t been that many attempts to begin with. Then, some were not properly documented and others had died very early in their attempts. Thus, Xiao Xuefeng didn''t know about any of this.


    Gradually, all her body was submerged by this medicinal essence and the pain was unbearable. Huang Cixi could not even scream. Without Zhi the Water Will, she would have lost consciousness and died. Cao Yun didn''t need any spiritual senses to see her sufferings.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, can''t you do anything for the pain?"


    "If I give her a pill, the new medicinal essence could completely throw her off. If she loses control, she''s dead."


    From her spatial ring, Xiao Xuefeng took out a zither. It was a white guqin with seven strings. The body of the instrument almost looked like a bird and many stylized wings and feathers were engraved in the wood. Floating above the ground, Xiao Xuefeng crossed her legs and put the guqin on her lap. Expertly she began playing the instrument.


    Her music broke the tensed atmosphere. Cao Yun felt that the melody resonated with his own mind and realized that his Hun character was reacting to it the most. Of course, he wasn''t the only one affected. Huang Cixi''s pain began to diminish a little bit. It was still extreme, but she had hope now. And she was right.


    As Xiao Xuefeng kept plucking, pressing and lifting the strings of her instrument with supple and elegant movements, her music filled the room. It was incredibly peaceful, as if it came from another world. Cao Yun and Huang Cixi were now completely in a trance. It was easy to imagine what would happen on the battlefield. With several notes from her instrument, Mortal Warriors would be charmed by the hundreds if not the thousands. Obviously, neither Cao Yun nor Huang Cixi had resisted, but Xiao Xuefeng wasn''t being aggressive either.


    This music contained a faint trace of Qi. So it both calmed down and nourished the people around her. In fact, in battle, this was the kind of technique she would use to strengthen her allies, not to kill her enemies. For that purpose, she had other techniques. The guqin was one of the most renown musical instruments as it was said to have been invented during the Legendary Era and was favored by Emperor Nuwa during her reign. Xiao Xuefeng was a 4-star Heaven musician and with her exceptional spiritual senses, she could easily play the perfect music to induce different effects in the minds of the people around her.


    Usually, she would even be able to direct her music in a single direction, but she had chosen to also send her notes to Cao Yun. As she was playing soothing tones, this could also prove useful for him and even help him in his cultivation.


    Huang Cixi''s pain became like a distant memory and her Shen got elevated to higher points. Thanks to this, she was able to control the medicinal essence with a serene mind. She was following the pathway instructed by Xiao Xuefeng feeling a burning sensation that was strangely painless. From Xiao Xuefeng''s perspective, the process was incredible. Seeing the effects of the Life Boiling Cradle pill firsthand would prove extremely useful to better understand the Spirit rank pills. Later, she would write down every single detail for Director Ge Ling and Hua Fenfei. This text would even become an essential manual, ''The Crane Singing to the Storm''.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun let go of all tension. He understood that Xiao Xuefeng was doing everything she could to help his servant. And she also seemed to be helping him as well. Cao Yun sat cross-legged on the floor and focused on his mind cultivation. His anxiety was mostly gone. If Xiao Xuefeng could not save Huang Cixi, there was nothing anyone else could have done. It was the first time since his departure from Yinmen City that he trusted someone wholeheartedly. Part of it was due to the music to be honest, but deep down, he knew that he could rely on the woman. In his sea of consciousness, he discovered that the surface of the tranquil ocean that spread in all directions was gently vibrating with the music itself. This scene amplified the sensation of plenitude and peace. He really had the impression of being in an heavenly realm, sitting above the surface of an infinite ocean with an otherworldly music.


    His five characters were also rotating in harmony with the tones, as though they were dancing to this melody. His Hun character was almost formed. It had been several days since he hadn''t been able to advance and finally perform the 108 repetitions. This Hun character was stimulating his real Hun, the ethereal soul. As such, Cao Yun was always questioning himself on his goals in life. He had been able to find out some things about himself but he still wasn''t completely sure of the path he wanted to follow.


    First of all, he obviously wanted to avenge his family. But this wasn''t so simple anymore. He didn''t just want to do it for him or his parents, not even just for his little sister. He had sworn to do it for all the Hongchen Kingdom. Demonic cultivators were a threat to all of mankind and he would get rid of them, to appease the memory of his deceased family, to appease his own pain, but also to protect and help all of mankind. Once he had finally made his peace with this, Cao Yun felt that the Hun character produced harmonics to go with the music.


    Then, he had to think about what he wanted to do after this task would be over. Thanks to both his master, Cleansed Asura, and the progenitor of the Drop of Wrath, Axiu Qian, he had caught glimpses of a realm beyond everything he knew. Of course, those realms were talked about in the ''Universal law of Immortality'', but they were glossed over today as no one had been able to enter them for more than fourteen thousand years. The mere fact that someone had been able to refine a 1-star Spirit pill, something no one had done either for fourteen thousand years, gave Cao Yun hope. No matter the difficulty, he would reach those realms. He would sail through the vast universe and discover new horizons.


    However, he felt guilty at the idea of abandoning his homeworld. But now he thought that he had the solution. Just as he would get revenge not only for him but for the sake of mankind as well. He wouldn''t just try to transcend the Spirit Warrior realm for his own sake. Thinking about Emperor Nuwa and the first rule of the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun thought he had finally reached the conclusion of all his interrogations. The path of cultivation he wanted to walk was both for his own satisfaction and curiosity but also to rise all of mankind. Many secrets had been lost during both the Great Sorrow Era when mankind was enslaved by the demons and the Forsaken Era when cultivation became harder and harder. If humanity stayed this way, sooner or later, mankind wouldn''t even be able to reach the Spirit Warrior realm.


    This was Cao Yun''s final decision. While acting for his own satisfaction, he wouldn''t disregard his own kind. He would climb higher than anyone before to discover the ultimate secrets of cultivation. And he would help mankind rise as well. He wouldn''t be some kind of savior, no. However, he would do everything so that humans could live in a world in which they had the freedom to seek out their own goals. This day, Cao Yun decided to eliminate the threat of the demonic cultivators, of the demons, and even of the decreasing Dao. He wasn''t sure of the means to do so but he was clear on his goal.


    The task he had decided for himself was beyond what he would have imagined only a year ago. However, once his goal was clear and his mind at peace, the Hun character naturally circulated and took on a perfect physical form. It was now a splendid green jade sculpture. All five of the characters from the first layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' had reached Perfection. The first layer, ''Discipline the Five Children'', had reached Perfection. Naturally, his Qi circulated in all of his body and nourished both his mind and his flesh. His cultivation was soaring. Of course, he couldn''t break through yet, but his foundation became even more firm and stable.


    The five characters representing the Five Agents of the mind were all taking their natural place in his sea of consciousness and the Drop of Wrath became excessively docile. Yi the Earth Intent was a golden statue, Zhi the Water Will a precious onyx, Shen the Fire Spirit a cinnabar stone, Po the Metal Corporeal Soul an ivory engraving and Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul a jade sculpture. They all rose in the sky, stopping midway between the ocean and the four stars from ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. They too seemed to be overjoyed and shone brighter than before. The Drop of Wrath stayed rather low, almost touching the surface of the ocean, but with each one of the five characters reflected in it.


    When Cao Yun opened his eyes, his senses were now clearer and his perception could spread farther. He was now able to discern the subtle fluctuations of muscles and blood under Huang Cixi''s skin. The young woman had almost completed the absorption of the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Xiao Xuefeng was stupefied by what she had witnessed. Focused on Huang Cixi to help her, she couldn''t divert too much of her mind on Cao Yun. But she had sensed that he had entered his own sea of consciousness and that he had gained a lot. She really would have to talk to him about his mind cultivation.


    On the other hand, Huang Cixi had refined her vessels, then her meridians, crossing over to 6th-grade Mortal. But this still wasn''t over. The medicinal essence transformed slowly into Qi and filled up her Pure Golden Dantian, bringing her to 7th-grade Mortal. And now, she was unconsciously circulating her Qi through all her body. Her meridians that were already nearly perfect got rid of all blockage and fused together in an intricate network. She had reached the 8th-grade Mortal. Finally, her breakthroughs slowed down.


    Since Huang Cixi had first ingested the pill, thirty-five hours had gone by. Even Cao Yun had not noticed at all as both he and Huang Cixi were under the influence of Xiao Xuefeng''s music. However, Xiao Xuefeng who had used all of her spiritual senses during this entire time was exhausted. Even with her 7th-grade Spirit Warrior cultivation, this had been a trial for her. And the result exceeded everything she ever thought possible. A 1-star Spirit pill was truly incredible. No wonder Emperor Nuwa was so powerful. She finally saw firsthand what it was that mankind had lost during the Forsaken Dao Era. However, she also knew that they had a chance to get it back and it fired her up.


    With everything she had learned these past hours, Xiao Xuefeng was certain that Hua Fenfei could derive more knowledge from this. Maybe, they were going to open another era for alchemy. Refining and absorbing this pill had been beyond tiring. But it had been an extraordinary success.


    For the time being, Cao Yun and Huang Cixi needed to get some rest. Later, she would have to talk to both of them for very different reasons. For now, Xiao Xuefeng let them get some rest and some sleep. Leaving them in this room, she went to immediately write down all her observations.

 Chapter 135: Climb the Nine Peaks

    Cao Yun and Huang Cixi fell asleep on the floor of this room. They were absolutely exhausted and could not even move a single muscle. Huang Cixi''s body was covered in sweat and sore all other. Similarly, her mind was strained to its limit and so was Cao Yun''s. Seeing them like that, Kang Cai and Kang Hai attended to them. The twin sisters were afraid to move them, especially Huang Cixi. She had gone through a terrifying process and they didn''t want to disturb them at all. As such, they brought blankets and towels. The two servants cleaned up the sweat from the young girl''s body, trying as much as possible to not move her.


    They stayed with them while their master was writing absolutely every single detail of the process, no matter how insignificant it might have seemed. Her spiritual senses were so developed that she remembered the behavior of every single acupoint on Huang Cixi''s body. Even the tiniest of detail could give ideas to a great alchemist and she wouldn''t dare omit anything. Director Ge Ling and Hua Fenfei may be able to understand more about Spirit pills, or even, maybe, about something entirely different. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.


    Cao Yun woke up first. He had fallen asleep after his breakthrough, so his mind was still pretty fired up. When he saw Huang Cixi''s body on the ground, he quickly went to her.


    "Young Master Chen. Miss Huang is fine. She just needs some rest." Kang Hai spoke to him with a whispering voice. "My master asked to see you as soon as you woke up, if you will." The young woman showed the door.


    Cao Yun was hesitant to leave Huang Cixi behin but he fully trusted Xiao Xuefeng. Seeing that his servant was breathing just fine and that her face was full of color, he let her be. Cao Yun followed Kang Hai while her sister stayed with the sleeping girl. Kang Hai brought him to the room he had been before, with the Universe Engulfing Sparrow array formation. Xiao Xuefeng had become somewhat paranoid, especially after Director Ge Ling''s words. She suspected that demonic cultivators may have purposefully lead her to join this sect. If so, she feared that she had always been one step behind them. Maybe, they had way more spies than she thought.


    As long as a demonic cultivator with a lower cultivation practiced demonic arts, Xiao Xuefeng was confident in finding them out. But if they were stronger than her, or if they didn''t practice any demonic art but were still following their master, she had no way to detect them. Before Luduo Bu fully embraced the demonic arts, she couldn''t see through him at all unless she had violated his mind. But if she did so for everyone, many people would die, most of them innocents. However, she was wondering if she should use the Soul Memory Search method against highly suspicious individuals. She had a terrible history with penetrating someone else''s mind, and she wasn''t sure whether or not she would be able to do so.


    Interrupting her thoughts, Kang Hai knocked on the door and lead Cao Yun in before closing it back, leaving them alone together.


    "Cao Yun, sit down." As they were absolutely isolated from the outside world, Xiao Xuefeng was not afraid to use Cao Yun''s real name. Strangely, this was his old name that felt strange now. It kinda ticked him off. The name his parent had given him was feeling strange to him. This wasn''t a good thing. Living under a false name with a false background wasn''t really enjoyable.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, thank you. My gratitude cannot be expressed with words. I''ll always remember this kindness."


    She waved her sleeve. "I wasn''t alone in this endeavor. My Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute worked together to refine this pill. If you just remember this favor, this is enough for us. I do believe you will achieve great things. And I do not think that you are the kind of man who would forget his benefactors."


    The name of the institute brought back memories. "Guest Elder Xiao, may I ask if you''ve seen Feng Yingyue?"


    "Of course, I did. She''s a great girl. In fact, she''s already a 5-star Earth alchemist and her cultivation is following smoothly. She gave me a letter for you." Xiao Xuefeng was starting to feel like a homing pigeon. From her spatial ring, a small letter appeared and she handed it over to Cao Yun. He didn''t want to read it in front of someone else so he put it in his uniform with care.


    "There are many reasons why I called you here. The first one is to hear from you exactly what happened during my absence."


    Seeing the stern on her face, Cao Yun knew she was talking about L¨¹ Bai''s attack. Thus, he recounted every single detail of it.


    "I see... I fear that this may have been a plot to make us believe that everything was cleared. But we still do not know who the demonic cultivator behind Lu Meihan''s death is. And we can''t be sure that L¨¹ Bai was the real culprit. No matter what you think, you were under the effect of an illusory array formation. If a Spirit Warrior was behind this, he could have shown you exactly what he wanted to in order to make you believe that the culprit was dead." Xiao Xuefeng was really on point. Concerning matters related to perception and illusion, she was the number one expert in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    "We don''t have any more lead anyway. They''re still several steps ahead of us... You should be extremely careful! They will probably target you next year outside of the Wubei Sect. But if you stay within, you''ll miss on many opportunities. I''ll give you this."


    She gave a tiny sphere to Cao Yun. It was half the size of a fist and perfectly blue. Cao Yun took it but he had no idea of what it was.


    "This is a Spirit Condensation Barrier, a shielding charm. You just have to crush it. It''s imbued with part of my Qi within and it will activate a defensive barrier around you. It can resist against one attack from an early Spirit Warrior or many attacks from Mortal Warriors. This really depends on their strength so I can''t tell you for sure, but it should allow you to survive and flee. I do believe that you have good stealth techniques. Just work on them a bit more, that way you could use this shielding charm to distract your enemies while protecting yourself and then disappear."The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Cao Yun was stunned both by the effect of this small sphere, but also by the fact that Xiao Xuefeng even knew that he knew stealth techniques. She must have investigated him very thoroughly to know precisely what martial arts he had studied in the Wubei Sect.


    "Then, I''d like to talk a bit more about your future. What do you intend to do during your next year?"


    Cao Yun had indeed thought about that. Even though he had been plagued with doubts about his future life, he had had a very good idea about his next actions for a long time.


    "I''ll investigate the Wolf Head Sect. I know that you all destroyed their headquarters. But as the Lunar Marsh showed, some of them fled and survived. I may be able to find some leads on whether or not they attacked my family and on who lead them."


    "So you''ll first go back to the Lunar Marsh?"


    "Indeed. And if I don''t find anything, I''ll try and go to their old headquarters. This is very unlikely, but maybe I''ll find something no one noticed..."


    "This isn''t a bad idea at all. However, this will be very dangerous if you encounter other demonic cultivators. From what you told me, their leader clearly saw your face. And some demonic cultivators may have stalked your residence for weeks or even months. Some of them may also be able to recognize your face." Xiao Xuefeng thought about it for a while. "I''m not too sure about this, but I''ll try to think of something before you leave the Wubei Sect..."


    "Thank you, Guest Elder Xiao. You''re really too kind to me. I didn''t even repay you from saving my life twice."


    "I did not help you just out of the kindness of my heart. You are worthy of my investment. I''m sure you won''t forsake the people who helped you or mankind itself."


    "Never!" In Cao Yun''s eyes, Xiao Xuefeng saw what she recognized as a firm conviction. She was absolutely right about him.


    She then felt a bit flustered as she was dying to ask him about something else. After her words about helping him for mankind''s sake, it felt a bit hypocritical but she really had to ask.


    "Do not take it the wrong way. I''m not coveting your possession. But... would you tell me about your mind cultivation?"


    Her embarrassment was absolutely obvious. In fact, she did nothing to try and hide it. With her spiritual attainment it would have been easy but she didn''t want to appear deceitful while asking for someone''s cultivation method.


    Cao Yun was in doubts. This mind cultivation was not really his. He had obtained it by mere chance and it used to belong to Dun Mofan. It wasn''t some secret technique taught to him by an old master. In fact, he could freely share it with anyone. However, he had realized how effective it was and didn''t want it to be used by the wrong people. On the other hand Xiao Xuefeng was clearly the right person to learn this technique. Given her aptitudes, she could maybe even master the first layer in a few weeks.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, this is but a small repayment for all the kindness you showed me. Allow me to share it with you." Cao Yun had the small green manual on him and took it out from his uniform to show it to Xiao Xuefeng.


    She was very respectful and sifted through it. Her face slowly changed. "This is Insight Writing! These characters, they''re not from any specific language. In fact, they are literally the comprehension the writer had transposed into a character. Unless you understand a bit about the principle, it''s impossible to read it at all."


    "Can you read it, Guest Elder?"


    "Yes, I can." Xiao Xuefeng had of course some understanding of the mind. As such, she was able to read the entire manual as if it was written in her own language. In the first layer, Cao Yun had to first understand the character to then read about it. It wasn''t optimal. In fact, he wasn''t sure about what he would do for the other layers as he still couldn''t understand them. He hoped that his new attainment would give him this ability. But by watching the manual in Xiao Xuefeng''s hands, he realized that he didn''t understand a single character apart from the titles.


    "From what I read, you should have reached Perfection in the first layer, right?"


    "Yes, Guest Elder."


    "But you shouldn''t be able to read the next part... I''ll read it to you." All of a sudden, Cao Yun focused his every thoughts and memorized every single syllable from Xiao Xuefeng''s mouth. "The human body has three Dantian. The Lower Dantian is a crucible turning Jing into Qi. The Middle Dantian, in the chest, controls the blood and harbors parts of the soul. Finally, the Upper Dantian is the residence of the mind where the sea of consciousness is. Each Dantian is further divided into nine chambers. In our Qi cultivation, these chambers are not particularly useful. They''re mainly known by physicians. In fact, many cultivators don''t even know they exist.


    "The Upper Dantian''s nine chambers are Chamber of Mysterious Elixir, Chamber of Jade, Chamber of Moving Pearls, Chamber of Splendor, Chamber of Medicine Field, Chamber of Ultimate Truth, Chamber of Heavenly Court, Chamber of Government, Chamber of Bright Spirit. Apparently, the second layer of this manual consists in energizing each one of these chambers by using the combined characters you formed during the first layer. This is thus called ''Climb the Nine Peaks''. Energizing is not done with Qi, but with your own mind. Each time you energize a chamber, you''ll see a white flash and your overall mental abilities will increase.


    "This manual must have been written by a late Spirit Warrior or even an early Sage at the very least. His understanding of the mind is incredible. Even I pale in comparison." She kept on reading and memorized everything. With the understanding she already had, it was easy for her to read and remember. Contrary to Cao Yun, she would probably be able to reproduce it quite easily.


    "I''ll send to you a diagram of the Upper Dantian''s Nine Chambers. It should prove useful to achieve Perfection in the second layer. Energizing them all should take you between two to five years, depending on your speed." Xiao Xuefeng then got a bit redder. "I hate to ask, but... may I share these informations with some of my most trusted friends?"


    "Of course, Guest Elder Xiao. You even helped me decipher the second layer. Just understanding how to approach this could have taken me months if not years." After all, Dun Mofan had never been able to understand anything at all.


    Xiao Xuefeng intended to share it with Director Ge Ling and Hua Fenfei. She wasn''t sure that anyone else should have it. Maybe the first layer could be shared, but nothing else. Seeing the results on Cao Yun and reading it herself, she was convinced that this method was prodigious. Whoever wrote this was probably a great genius. The manual seemed pretty old, but Xiao Xuefeng wasn''t able to determine its actual age. Could this be a manual from the Seven Treaties Era or even the Founding Era? It was perfectly possible. And as such, she had to treat it as a great art, worthy of being kept secret.


    Even though the institute was also seeking mankind''s betterment, it didn''t mean that they would release powerful techniques for anyone to learn it. What if demonic cultivators learned it? Their main weakness was their mind, corroded by their demonic arts. If a demonic cultivator studied this technique, it would be a disaster.


    "Guest Elder Xiao, I only ask one thing from you?" The woman was ready to listen to every request from Cao Yun. "Teach it to Feng Yingyue."


    Xiao Xuefeng, not expecting such a simple request, burst about laughing. She gave back the green manual to Cao Yun while answering. "Of course! Even if I don''t, you''ll keep on sending her letters anyway."

 Chapter 136: Planning the final duels

    After Cao Yun''s departure, Xiao Xuefeng called Huang Cixi in. The young girl was now full of energy. It was clearly visible on her face. It wasn''t from her sudden and numerous breakthroughs, nor was it from her quick recovery. In fact, it was due to her fresh mindset. Thanks to Xiao Xuefeng, she had been able to let go of her guilt. Deep down, her inner demon was still there, but she had no doubt that she would eradicate it in a matter of months, if not weeks. She would take all of her time so as to not damage her own mind in the process. However, now, her success was a certainty.


    "Grand Master Xiao, thank you for everything. You did not only give me a new Dantian, you gave me a new perspective on life. For that, I''ll forever be grateful to you. And I will never forget neither the kindness of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute nor the hospitality of the Wubei Sect."


    "Do you intend to leave, now?"


    Haung Cixi paused for a while.


    "Living as a simple and timid servant was a nice change to my usual life. But I will indeed go back to the main Huang family. I''ll tell my grandfather that the one responsible for my brothers'' death is gone."


    "You should stay until the end of the year though. You still need to stabilize your cultivation. We don''t know for sure how stable it is. After all, the informations on the Life Boiling Cradle pill are pure legend."


    Huang Cixi looked down. "To tell you the truth, I''m not so sure how I should face Chen Guo..."


    Xiao Xuefeng cut her off. "In this array formation, no one can detect anything. You can call him by his real name."


    She had asked Huang Cixi if she knew, but she still had a small doubt as she couldn''t confirm anything without risking exposing him.


    "Cao Yun." Huang Cixi understood the meaning behind Xiao Xuefeng''s remark. "Grand Master, I swear that I''ll never divulge this truth. I now fully realize that he was innocent in all this. He simply acted to defend an innocent woman and then his own life. However, I cannot watch him without thinking about Lixin. But I''ll hear your advice and I''ll stay until the end of the year." As she stopped speaking, she thought about how she would explain her departure to Cao Yun. After everything he had done for her, she couldn''t just up and leave.


    "Grand Master, I''ll write Cao Yun a letter. I''ll make sure not to divulge anything in case someone intercepts it. Please, do not tell him who I am."


    Haung Cixi bowed sincerely. "Fine, I won''t. The next few days, you''ll stay with me though. I''ll tell you the truth, I want to monitor your condition, both to help you, but also to gather informations on the pill and its effects. We could have a real game of Go this time."


    "Of course, Grand Master. After what you did for my sake, of course I''ll agree."


    In the next few days indeed, Huang Cixi stayed mostly in Xiao Xuefeng''s room. They played Go and Xiao Xuefeng realized how fierce of a strategist the young girl was. Apart from that, Xiao Xuefeng used her guqin to help her calm her mind and speed up her mind cultivation. She also frequently sent her spiritual senses to monitor her Lower Dantian and her cultivation. It was very stable, not as much as Cao Yun''s, but much more than alchemists who heavily relied on pills to ascend fast, too fast sometimes.


    In fact, she would probably be safe to cultivate her Qi in a matter of days. Despite her sudden breakthroughs, her condition was already stabilized. And her Dao Heart was also very firm. Xiao Xuefeng was convinced that in a year or two, she would have become a Mortal Warrior already.


    -


    During this time, Cao Yun decided to train his alchemy that was lagging behind. The return of Xiao Xuefeng had freed Meng Jia who could now give him a bit of his time. He was trying to enjoy his new time to rest but still helped Cao Yun train. Before the end of the year, Cao Yun would have eventually become a 5-star Earth alchemist. He wasn''t as good as Mei Hua or Feng Yingyue. But thanks to his mind cultivation, he was still rather competent for someone who had learned so late and so fast.


    He also kept on training his martial arts with Chief Elder Baishen. Once a week, he went to the training grounds with Chief Instructor Peng and all the other first-years. And once a month, he had his special cultivation session with Chief Instructor Peng alone. Everything was going very smoothly. Chief Instructor Peng had been mostly right about his speed. Until the end of the year, he could only have two more sessions of ''The Snake Invades the Shell''. He probably would need two more to break through. So his breakthrough would probably be during the first months of his second year. However, his cultivation was way more stable and by the end of the year, his strength would reach five thousand dan, a fourth of the strength of a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior.


    Right now, as long as an early Mortal Warrior wasn''t using Qi Manifestation, he had a chance of beating him. It would be hard, but it was feasible. This strength was only possible if he gave everything he had on a single attack. But thanks to his mind cultivation, he could do so several times in a fight. He wasn''t limited to a single overpowered strike, he could probably use it three or four times depending on his condition.


    Apart from all this training, Cao Yun decided to also spend some time with his friends. He had found that it was important for his mind as he was trying to practice the second layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. As such, he kept playing and practicing the spear with Mei Ying who was more and more cheerful, putting all the trauma of Luduo Bu''s incident behind her. He saw a strange relation between Sun Liao and Long Huafang develop. They were both very arrogant and domineering in their own way. Thus, they kept on teasing each other but it became more and more playful.


    Ren Chao was also teasing Sun Liao about it every occasion he had. He was grinning each time as he could finally get back at his friend. On his end, his relation with Wang Mei was very stable. At the end of the eleventh month, Ren Chao finally became a 5-star Earth blacksmith. This day, he came boasting in Sun Liao''s training room with a hammer he had forged himself.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    -


    "Brother Sun. I called this the ''Lion''s Roar (Shi Liao)''. Each time I hit anything with it I hear my victory over you! You thought I couldn''t reach 5-star, huh? Here I am!"


    Ren Chao lifted his hammer, proud of his little wordplay. He had spent several days just on this wordplay that wasn''t really good either... As such, Sun Liao wasn''t that impressed. His friend had never been very good with his words.


    "Brother Ren. You know I''ve been a 5-star array formation master way before you. And I must say that my occupation is way more complex than just hitting metal scraps with brute strength. So come back when you''re a 1-star Human blacksmith before I am!"


    "You...!" Ren Chao tightened his grip on the hammer. "I''ll show you!" He darted out of the room and went back to training while Sun Liao smiled proudly.


    Long Huafang was in the room as well but their interaction was so fast that she couldn''t say anything at all.


    "You give the impression that you''re insulting him, but you''re really just pushing him forward. Why can''t you just be honest?"


    "Look who''s talking!"


    Long Huafang stood up in fury. "What did you just say?!"


    "Nothing. Nothing... But I assure you that Brother Ren and I completely understand each other."


    -


    Cao Yun was also preparing his duel with Long Jian. A few weeks before the end of the year, Zhi Yin and Ling Hui were back and he went to inform them. As a member of the Heavenly Swallow Faction, fighting the Purple Northern Cloud Faction''s Faction Leader could have consequences.


    When he entered the faction residence, Zhi Yin was practicing her swordsmanship while Ling Hui was watching her, totally enthralled. Zhi Yin had a new aura around her. Without spiritual senses, it was almost impossible to discern someone''s cultivation, but Cao Yun was convinced that she had recently broken through. That would mean that she was now an 8th-grade Mortal.


    As he didn''t want to disturb her, he waited for several minutes. Her swordsmanship was supple yet hard. She could use several rapid and agile stabs and then become deeply rooted with powerful and heavy strikes. He could see her almost dancing in the air and then crashing down on the ground, sending ripples around her. Since she wasn''t yet a Mortal Warrior, she couldn''t manifest her Qi. However, Cao Yun was slowly seeing the image of the legendary Kun Peng. This legendary beast was described as a fish named Kun, so large and vast that it wasn''t swimming in any body of water but the expanse of the universe. By occasion, it could turn into a gigantic bird named Peng. Just by flapping its wings, it could push back entire planets and fly across galaxies. Compared to the legendary Azure Dragon, it was still a bit smaller, but this beast was still incredible for people who had never left their own planet.


    Zhi Yin''s martial art was ''Peng''s Journey to Heaven''. It had been inspired by a cultivator who had seen such a beast in his dreams and tried to duplicate its abilities. Just like Cao Yun''s martial art, its main weapon was wind, so it was strong in Wood element. It also contained a bit of Water element nourishing this Wood element as well. This art was typically considered a 3-star Human martial art. Zhi Yin had been able to study it thanks to her achievements in the Wubei Sect. Specifically, she had gained access to this art thanks to her good ranking in the fighting scroll early into her first-year.


    When she was finally done, Ling Hui applauded.


    "Brother Chen, come in." When she heard the name of Chen Guo being called out, Ling Hui turned around and saw him. Her face was sour as he was disturbing her time with her idol.


    "Sister Zhi, Sister Ling. I''m sorry to disturb you, but I have something important to tell you."


    "What did you do to humiliate Fairy Zhi this time?!"


    "Calm down, Sister Ling. Brother Chen, let''s talk inside around a cup of tea."


    Chen Guo followed Zhi Yin and the pissed off Ling Hui inside. He quickly explained that Long Jian had challenged him. Since then, Long Jian had explained the rules he had chosen and Cao Yun had agreed. Long Jian would restrain his cultivation as much as he could. If he expanded his Wei Qi or used any form of Qi Manifestation, or even of Qi control outside of his body, he would automatically lose. They were both allowed to use any weapon under the Spirit rank and any armor. However, a strike on the armor would equate a real strike. Protections were just here to avoid injury. On the matter of martial arts, of course they could use any technique as it was exactly what Long Jian wanted to test with Cao Yun. There was no problem with these rules and Zhi Yin agreed as well.


    However, she had another idea.


    "Brother Chen, how confident are you in this friendly fight?"


    He had to think some more but based on his progress and his experience with other Mortal Warriors suppressing their cultivation, he could make a guess.


    "I shouldn''t be able to win. But I''m confident in breaking his defenses and maybe even give him a bit of a fright."


    "You boast too much! Not only is he a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, I hear he''s very close to a breakthrough and he''s only second to Chan Weifeng in terms of fighting abilities. He bests you both in his cultivation, in his physique and even in his understanding of martial arts. And yet, you think you can give him ''a bit of a fright''?!"


    Zhi Yin did not react at all and instead stared into Cao Yun''s eyes to determine his conviction. Ling Hui feeling an awkward atmosphere as no one reacted to her fiery statement took up her cup of tea and slowly sipped from it. Finally Zhi Yin nodded.


    "Fine, Brother Chen. You seem to be able to back up your words. What do you say about fighting in public?"


    Ling Hui didn''t believe what she just heard. It meant that her idol was recognizing Cao Yun''s brazen claims that she herself had just mocked. Did it mean that she had just mocked ''Fairy Zhi''? Ling Hui was mortified.


    Cao Yun hesitated a bit. He wasn''t worried about fighting in public. In fact, that wasn''t a problem at all, he was sure that he would eventually lose, that wasn''t the point of the fight. And he was also certain that he wasn''t going to humiliate himself or he would have flat out refused. Cao Yun wasn''t one to overestimate himself. If he had accepted the duel in the first place, that was because it was a friendly fight and a great opportunity to push himself and improve his martial arts. He also had a good relationship with Long Huafang, so he wasn''t worried about her older brother being unreasonable.


    "I don''t have a problem with it. You want to use this opportunity to showcase the strength of our Heavenly Swallow Faction?"


    "Indeed. Next year, you''ll be almost alone. Of course Mei Hua joined us, but she''s the direct disciple of Guest Elder Xiao. Her membership is really just for show, for the most part. If you can show your competence to everyone, your name will even be known by the next first-years and I won''t have to fear for my faction while I''m in the Ancient Ruins."


    Cao Yun got curious. "What are these Ancient Ruins? This is where all the third-years go, correct?"


    "To be honest, I don''t really know either. It is one of the greatest secrets of the Wubei Sect. Only when you become a third-year will you officially be told about it and you can''t divulge this information either. Of course there are rumors about it, but even fourth-years or fifth-years won''t talk about it. Even when they left the Wubei Sect, no one dared break the silence. But what I do know is that this is a great training ground for the disciples. It''s not rare for some people to break through two levels in the span of a single year in there. There''s also a possibility to find some treasures. In other words, it''s a great opportunity!"

 Chapter 137: Chamber of Jade

    The last months of the year were extremely peaceful. There was always some competition among the disciples but the Wubei Sect made sure that they never went overboard. The point of this sect was to develop mankind to help the Hongchen Kingdom fend off the demonic threats, either from demons themselves or from demonic cultivators from within. As such, they really wanted to bring forth a sense of belonging and camaraderie. Even the competition between factions was regulated. Cao Yun had been faced with some problems at the beginning because his faction was very weak. But now that he was well established, he had no problem whatsoever.


    He was even the official disciple of Chief Elder Baishen and the recent events had proved his strength. No one tried to challenge him. And few were surprised when he issued no challenge considering that he also was an alchemist and an array formation master. Cao Yun didn''t need any more point. However, a few weeks before the official day of the challenges, a rumor spread. Long Jian would have a friendly fight with Cao Yun and this fight would be held in public.


    Zhi Yin had contacted Long Jian to organize the fight in the same square where the official challenges were held. With Chief Elder Baishen''s support, who was dying to see such a fight, they got the approval of the sect. Some members of the Purple Northern Cloud Faction tried to dissuade him, fearing that this would give too much credit to the Heavenly Swallow Faction but Long Jian didn''t care. Unfortunately for them, Long Jian was too excited by this fight. And he didn''t believe that this would change the dynamic of the factions by much. After all, Cao Yun already had a very good reputation in the Wubei Sect. If the Heavenly Swallow Faction gave better terms to new members, they would get more members quite naturally. Thanks to Cao Yun and Mei Hua, resources weren''t a problem at all for them after all.


    -


    While all this was going on, Cao Yun only focused on his training.


    His mind cultivation was steadily progressing. The second layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' called ''Climb the Nine Peaks'' consisted in energizing the Upper Dantian''s Nine Chambers. Usually, a cultivator would not work on his Upper Dantian before the Spirit Warrior realm, but some occupations put emphasis on it beforehand. There were many techniques, especially for Mortal Warriors, to train the Upper Dantian. Obviously, this Dantian was located in the brain and closely linked with the mind.


    As the documents sent by Xiao Xuefeng explained, it was formed by nine chambers, just like the two other Dantian. ''Climb the Nine Peaks'' consisted in using the Five Agents formed during the first layer to energize them. It wasn''t using Qi to strengthen the Dantian like in Qi cultivation. This was more subtle. Each chamber was related to some quality of the mind. Energizing meant enhancing this quality. The first step was to perfect the harmony between the Five Agents to use them for this purpose.


    Right now, Cao Yun was in his sea of consciousness. The Five Agents in the shape of five characters carved in precious stones were rotating in the sky. From Shen the Fire Spirit, a fiery energy encompassed all five characters. Very slowly, as they rotated, their color melted together. Making them rotate again and again was not very taxing for Cao Yun but it was rather boring. This second layer wasn''t difficult, but it required a lot of patience.


    In a few weeks, the colors all melted in the center of the rotating Five Agents. Gradually, it became more and more concentrated and dense. After almost two months of training, a drop of pure white, similar to a pearl, was formed, the Five Echoes Pearl. It contained in equal parts each one of the Five Agents. Then, this drop solidified more and more. Each day, it would get a little bigger.


    A few days before the duel, this drop was finally perfect. Cao Yun had waited until the very last moment. After several days without any noticeable change, he decided to finally use it to energize the first chamber. Now that the pearl was formed, he couldn''t waste it or he would need to spend more than two months reforming a new one.


    With utmost care, he used the Five Agents to control its descent. Very slowly, he guided the pearl toward the infinite ocean that was forming the basis of his sea of consciousness. In his Upper Dantian, he was focusing all of his mind on a singular point that was the center of the Chamber of Jade. This Chamber of Jade was located right in the back of the skull, just above the spine. Sometimes, this part of the spine was also called the Heavenly Pillar as it was a path for Qi to enter into the mind. There was also an acupoint called the Wind Palace and accordingly, this chamber was also associated with wind. Thus, it was strong with Wood element.


    There was no real order in which the chambers had to be activated. But energizing this chamber first had many benefits for Cao Yun. The first was that nourishing Wood element with Water element was easier and the imagery used in his sea of consciousness was related to water. Another one was that his own martial art was based around wind and strong in Wood element. But a final reason was even more practical. The Chamber of Jade was said to increase both wisdom and intuition. These two qualities would be extremely useful both during a fight and while training his martial art. Cao Yun had no idea of what the result of this first energizing was going to be but he was looking forward to it.


    While all his mind was focused on this Chamber of Jade, he felt the pearl touch the surface of the ocean. A small ripple spread gently on the water. Cao Yun felt the superficial muscles on the back of his skull pulsating a little. The pearl fully entered the ocean and Cao Yun''s mind got sucked in with it. Just like the pearl, his mind dissolved into the ocean and a powerful flash of white light flooded both his sea of consciousness and all of his mind and senses. When it faded, Cao Yun''s mind was focused on the Chamber of Jade that he was now able to feel much more clearly. He was able to perfectly sense its location and its boundaries in his Upper Dantian.


    And he had a feeling of fullness in it. The effect on his mind wasn''t obvious at first. But he turned his senses on the four stars in the sky and realized that they were easier to observe and understand. Just by watching them, new ideas came to him about his martial art. He then decided to read some of the texts he had memorized on alchemy and array formations. In a few hours, he was able to determine that he truly understood it better. And more importantly, it gave him more ideas of things to try out.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    In the following days, Cao Yun was really wondering whether he should share this method with his friends. He had shared it with Feng Yingyue whom he was very close to. Then, he shared it with Huang Cixi because he thought she needed it to eliminate her inner demon and improve her chances of surviving the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Finally, he had even given it to Xiao Xuefeng who was his great benefactor. But Cao Yun had also decided to help all of mankind and not just himself. The only reasons he could have to hide the manual now were the fear that a demonic cultivator would use it, the fear of someone coveting it from him, or the need to have a better technique than others and feel superior to them. When he interrogated himself, he realized that his friends had risked their lives for each other against demonic cultivators. They were already in danger. And he clearly didn''t feel the need to be special or superior to anyone. He was just another human, a simple boy. In the end, he resolved to gift them the complete method.


    As he had finished the first layer, he could easily copy the characters and he now had the translation from Xiao Xuefeng with even more details from her personal knowledge. Cao Yun gifted Sun Liao, Ren Chao and Mei Hua this method. The only condition he gave them was to only share it with people whom they trusted with their very lives. He also wrote down all the pointers he could think of about this cultivation and even the sensations he had when entering his sea of consciousness.


    -


    Finally, after almost three months truly peaceful, for once, it was time for Cao Yun and Long Jian''s duel.


    As this wasn''t an official challenge, the elders weren''t in charge of the duel. However, Chief Elder Baishen proposed herself to monitor and be the referee. Both Long Jian and Cao Yun obviously agreed. With a Spirit Warrior in charge, and a chief elder at that, they were quite sure that nothing could go wrong. Even in a friendly fight, accidents could happen. Both men wanted to test out each other''s martial arts, they had no desire to kill or maim their opponent. Chief Elder Baishen could react way faster than them and stop all of their attacks without any problem. With her monitoring the fight, they could really go all-out without any worry.


    Many people had already gathered around the platform where the fight would happen. Among them was Chan Weifeng. His faction had had many idiots find problems with Cao Yun, even Luduo Bu was one of them at the beginning of the year. For this, Chan Weifeng felt kinda bad. Deep down, he wondered if his faction could have attracted Cao Yun if he had taken care of these idiots before. But the past was gone. And today, he was very interested in seeing this fight.


    In fact, he had in mind that he could maybe ask to fight Cao Yun as well. The circumstances of this fight would tell whether this was a good idea or not. However, just like his rival Long Jian, he was looking forward to see Cao Yun pushed to his limit. Both Chan Weifeng and Long Jian were convinced that no Mortal cultivator could really force Cao Yun to show everything he was capable of and he wouldn''t challenge a Mortal Warrior either. Against a Mortal Warrior, the inability to use Qi Manifestation was almost an insurmountable obstacle.


    The people around Chan Weifeng were of course all members of his Red Cliff Faction, including Jiang Yifan who would take over next year. They were not as passionate about this fight, fearing that Cao Yun would gain even more popularity if this went too well for him.


    Finally, Long Jian arrived with Mu Hue and Long Huafang. He was a tall man with a darker skin than most, eyebrows like sword, and short hair as black as obsidian. Like his little sister, his eyes were silver. His pupils almost looked like two moons. Long Jian was still wearing the uniform of the Wubei Sect but under it, he was wearing a black armor. It was difficult to discern it, but the emblem of his family was visible under the clothing. This emblem was very stylized and showed a wolf head trying to bite off the full moon.


    This armor beneath his clothing gave him the aura of a true general on the battlefield. People were even wondering what was going on. Long Jian was a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, there was no way he was afraid of being harmed by Cao Yun. Chan Wiefeng recognized this armor and got even more surprised. This was the ''Nightly Wolf Hide'', a 4-star Human armor. On a battlefield, it could take one hit from a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior before breaking. Even he would need several attacks to penetrate it. Was he really that worried about being hurt?! This wasn''t like Long Jian at all.


    On his waist was the scabbard of a sword. Just like his sister, his main martial art was ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons'', the characteristic martial art of their Long family. Chan Weifeng also recognized this sword, it was ''Dragon Wolf Fang'' a 4-star Human weapon. Cao Yun''s weapon was only 5-star Earth. The main difference between a Human rank and an Earth rank weapon was the ability to canalize Qi. As Long Jian was going to restrain his cultivation, it wouldn''t matter that much. Thankfully, ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' was one of the most robust Earth rank weapons from the armory pavilion. It wouldn''t break easily as long as Long Jian didn''t put any Qi in his own weapon.


    But this clearly showed that Long Jian was not treating this fight as a joke at all. He was dead serious in his desire to push Cao Yun to his utmost limit and get the best out of him.


    Long Jian climbed onto the platform and waited for his opponent.


    He didn''t have to wait very long. Less than ten breaths after his arrival, Cao Yun came as well. By seeing his face, Chan Wiefeng knew instantly that he was in the exact same state of mind. Cao Yun wasn''t wearing a powerful armor, but his clothes were a bit different. He was wearing an azure robe with white linings and an emblem with an azure dragon formed of seven polygons put together. In its claw, it was holding a spear. This robe had been ordered by Chief Elder Baishen, for this very fight. Wearing the sect uniform was not an absolute rule, but it was encouraged. For this fight, that new robe would be his armor. It had been made with Sleepless Moth Larva''s Eternal Silk intertwined with threads of metal, such as Silk Gold, a very flexible metal. There were even some threads of Dragon Tendon, a red metal able to conduct waves without any loss. It could even amplify them in some instances. This metal was perfect to send vibrations through a weapon or divert them inside an armor.


    Chan Weifeng had a very keen eye, and so had Long Jian. They were not able to clearly rank this robe, but it was a powerful armor meant to divert all blows. With this, piercing through Cao Yun would be difficult even for a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior with a 1-star Human weapon, unless he injected Qi in it of course. The manifestation of Qi, and its manipulation in a broader sense, was really a game changer in many aspects.


    According to Chief Elder Baishen, this robe was a 5-star Human armor, even superior to the ''Nightly Wolf Hide''. The rules stated that armors wouldn''t count in the results, it was only here to avoid injuries. And Chief Elder Baishen could judge the fighters'' performance impartially.


    Both men were now facing each other on the platform.

 Chapter 138: Azure Dragon vs Wolf Dragon

    It had been a very long time since Cao Yun had a real fight, not a sparring session, with someone he had no enmity. It was refreshing. Cao Yun liked learning about martial arts more than he liked using them. On the other hand, Long Jian was the exact opposite. He liked learning them alright but just like his little sister, he thrived while fighting. For their father who didn''t want them to get hurt, this was the saddest thing. Indeed, this passion that ran in all of their veins was pushing them toward the military. Given his history, Long Cheng didn''t want them to join the army, even if it was to protect their own Sunmen Province. But he was also a loving father who wouldn''t deny his children their aspirations.


    Long Jian and Cao Yun were terribly excited. The most exhilarating part was the prospect of novelty as they had never fought each other. Long Jian had seen Cao Yun a long time ago and he had heard things from his sister but he had not fought against him directly. Similarly, Cao Yun knew Long Jian''s martial art since he had fought against his little sister, but he knew that this young man was in a whole different league.


    Both men were gauging each other. They saw a complete determination in the other''s eyes. A small smile appeared on their faces. They both cupped their fists and bowed.


    "Senior Brother Long. I''m looking forward to your pointers."


    "Junior Brother Chen. Let me show you my humble talent."


    They were on each side of the platform. Long Jian unsheathed his sword. Pure black in color, the scabbard was very simple without any patterns, but the metal seemed special. The sword itself was silver in color with some red linings here and there drawing the image of a dragon with several claws and spheres in them. Most likely, these spheres were representing some moons.


    Following suit, Cao Yun grabbed his spear with both hands and assumed his stance.


    Finally, Chief Elder Baishen declared the start of the fight. Her spiritual senses were encompassing the entire arena. The old woman was looking forward to this fight, but she was also ready to stop it in order to protect both of them. And she could also feel that Chief Elder Suxian and Guest Elder Xiao were both above the clouds to watch this fight as well.


    -


    As soon as the fight started, Cao Yun circulated his mind cultivation to its fullest. In his sea of consciousness, the Five Agents were rotating, melting all their colors into one, surrounded by the fire from the Shen character. In the sky, the four stars were all shining brightly, the faint image of the Azure Dragon revealing itself. The beast was still missing half of its body, but it was visible now, although faint.


    At the same time, Long Jian used ''The Moon in the Eye'' to test his opponent. At his current level, he didn''t need Cao Yun to look him in the eyes, he only needed to be able to see him. He was pleased when there was no effect. With his mind, Cao Yun was impervious to this level of mental attack.


    Knowing that he was probably slower than his enemy, Cao Yun didn''t make the first move. He was fully focused on his immediate surrounding, ready for any attack. Thus, the first move came from Long Jian. ''Wolf Walks on the Moon''. Long Jian''s speed was incredible. Even with all his senses ready, Cao Yun failed to see him move. He felt a tingle in the back of his neck and knew his opponent was behind him. With the Chamber of Jade, his intuition was more developed and he could sense the sword coming for him. ''Imperial Throne''. By rotating the spear around him, a powerful vortex of wind pushed against Long Jian.


    Sensing the opportunity, the moment his rotating spear came near Long Jian''s flank, Cao Yun used the Drop of Wrath''s intent to focus all of his physical strength. With his new cultivation, his strength had reached the fourth of what a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior was capable of. But he also knew another technique. He added the vibration from ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. All of a sudden Long Jian felt some danger from the spear that was coming for him. In an instant, he retracted his sword.


    ''Shining Dragon''s Fur''. His blade changed its course and followed a downward trajectory to pin the shaft of the spear to the ground. Long Jian''s speed and reflexes were way above Cao Yun''s. The moment ''Dragon Wolf Fang'' made contact with ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'', Long Jian felt a tingling sensation in his hand. He suppressed it fairly easily but he finally understood his little sister.


    The armor Long Jian was wearing had been advised by his little sister. At first, he had thought that she was just joking around. But apparently, she had been dead serious. Long Jian had been even more excited when he had realized that. If she had insisted, it meant that Cao Yun had probably enough strength to at least harm him a little bit. As such, he had been looking froward to this strength. And he just witnessed it. Cao Yun''s first move was enough to make his hand shake. If he gained a bit of momentum during the fight, with the excitement of battle, he could definitely pierce through his Wei Qi and maybe even injure him.


    Long Huafang had seen Cao Yun fight against Guan Mo these past weeks. His strength had skyrocketed. And she felt as though he had not given it his all yet. If he were to put everything in a single strike, she had the feeling that even a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior could be seriously injured.


    Anyway. The spear was pushed back against the floor and the vortex of wind that was forming around Cao Yun faded away. Reacting quickly, Cao Yun threw the butt of his weapon toward Long Jian. When he dodged, Cao Yun grabbed it back and jumped backward using ''Cutting the Retreat''.


    ''Crafty Harassment''. Once a bit of distance was put between them, Cao Yun immediately sent more than twenty ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' toward his opponent. None was enough to pierce through Long Jian''s Wei Qi, but they were only meant to delay him. Speed was Long Jian''s best advantage. The Long family''s martial art ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons'' was created on the battlefields and this art put a lot of emphasis on speed. With this technique, you could slash down hundreds, if not thousands, of enemies in a single flash of silver lightning. As Long Jian also had a higher strength than Cao Yun, letting him get close was too dangerous, but being faster than him was impossible.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    The only way was to control the flow of the battle to keep him at bay. A powerful roar erupted from Long Jian''s throat. ''Wolf and Dragon''s Howl''. The vibration in the air destroyed the ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. They were not Qi Manifestation but mere whirlwinds in the air. By vibrating the air with a powerful roar, Long Jian had crumbled them all.


    ''Silver River Overflows''. A flash of light crossed over the platform. Long Jian was so fast that only the light shining on his blade was visible.


    Cao Yun used two techniques at once. ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' and ''Dragon''s Chest''. He spun the spear in his hand and pierced through the air. The moment the spear hit, a figure had appeared in this spot. Even though Cao Yun could not follow Long Jian with his senses, he had guessed where he was going to attack him from. His defense was also at his highest just in case. But luckily, Cao Yun had been right, and fast enough. If he had had an instant of hesitation, Long Jian would have struck first.


    Cao Yun hadn''t put all of his strength in this attack as he was also focusing on defense. Consequently, the spear didn''t pierce all the way through Long Jian''s Wei Qi. Even while suppressing his own cultivation, there was still a natural layer of Wei Qi around him. And the Qi from a Mortal Warrior was way denser than the Qi from even a 9th-grade Mortal. However, the shock was still enough to push back the swordsman. It didn''t stop him though.


    ''The Dragon Bears its Fangs to the Wolf''. Long Jian followed through with a penetrating blow. It sank into Cao Yun''s robe. In an instant, he changed from ''Dragon''s Chest'' to ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. Most of the shock was diverted but a part still hit Cao Yun. The diverted force of the blow traveled through his body and went into his spear to counter. This time, Cao Yun used his whole strength. Long Jian who was now retracting his sword jumped backward instinctively.


    The spear grazed him a bit and he did feel that this blow would have been powerful enough to cut through his Wei Qi and hit his armor. Cao Yun really was powerful.


    All the spectators were astounded. This fight was only a friendly duel and there was no Qi Manifestation. Yet, it was already extremely intense. For everyone, it was clear that any 8th-grade Mortal would have been pulverized by Cao Yun. And most 9th-grade Mortals wouldn''t fare well against him. And he was still rather defensive for now.


    That would change! Cao Yun knew it but after exchanging some moves, he was sure of it. If he kept on defending, he would ultimately get suppressed and he wouldn''t even be able to do a thing about it. Long Jian had a higher cultivation, hence he had better stamina. Cao yun was already using almost all of his strength. Still, he had kept some trump cards for a decisive blow, but he was feeling exhausted already.


    Thanks to Chief Elder Baishen''s ''Walking in the Mud Without Staining the Silk'' and his new intuition, he had perfected the Room Star. Unable to be faster than Long Jian, he would have to block his movements. Cao Yun began to move way faster all of a sudden. Seven afterimages appeared all around the platform and small ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' flew everywhere.


    Long Jian sensed that he was getting trapped and tried to escape but a ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' hit him right behind the knee. It wasn''t very powerful but many others followed. A constant barrage of smaller attacks was enough to hinder his movements.


    ''Wolf and Dragon''s Howl''. The ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' disappeared but new ones took their place at once. Feeling the trap around him, Long Jian tried to find where the real Cao Yun was. He was moving too fast for many people but not for him. However, several ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' kept interfering, breaking his concentration. Whatever! He decided to attack one of the spots where an afterimage was.


    ''Wolf''s Pounce''. Long Jian pushed through the barrage of ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'', taking several of them in strategic locations on his body. However, he had finally left the makeshift array formation. The Cao Yun he had targeted was unfortunately not the real one.


    But before he could savor his victory, he felt an intense force pinning him down. This attack had only been a distraction. Cao Yun was using his newest technique, the first variation of the Room Star, ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted''. It was a kind of array formation as well, also formed by Cao Yun''s own movements and attacks. Anyone in the array formation felt as though a gigantic dragon was crushing them with its full body.


    It wouldn''t hold Long Jian for long but Cao Yun only needed one instant. During his training, he had caught a glimpse of the fifth star. It had flashed only once before disappearing but thanks to his mind cultivation, he had been able to engrave it in his memory. Cao Yun wasn''t absolutely sure of this technique, but he still had tried it out. That was the technique that had convinced Long Huafang to ask her brother to wear an armor.


    The star he had seen was a gigantic red ball of fire that was so distant it looked like a little red dot in the sky. But Cao Yun had the impression that he had seen a beating heart. He didn''t even know the name of this technique yet, but he still decided to use it. All of his mind, his Qi and his physical strength got focused on the exact point where he had felt this red dot. All his muscles bulged and Cao Yun felt his strength being multiplied. This was so taxing on him that he couldn''t even concentrate on a move and he just stabbed straight with the spear.


    The moment he focused on this new technique, ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted'' faded away. Long Jian was still a bit shaky and couldn''t dodge in time as Cao Yun''s speed had increased tremendously. ''Baring its Fangs to the Moon''. However, he tried to put his sword in front of his body pointing toward the sky as a shield.


    Then, the spear of Cao Yun collided with his weapon. That strength of his was at least of thirty thousand dan, six times his usual strength. Even an average 1st-grade Mortal Warrior could only reach twenty thousand dan. Long Jian at full strength was around twenty-seven thousand dan himself. Time seemed to slow down. Long Jian was seeing his own sword slowly moving toward his chest to protect himself while the spear of Cao Yun was advancing toward him.


    ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted'' had shaken Long Jian too much. With Cao Yun''s sudden acceleration, his defense came at the very last moment. His sword wasn''t stable enough and the spear slid on the blade, going for Long Jian''s armor. Cao Yun''s spear collided with his Wei Qi, it was literally torn apart as though it was paper. The force of the blow ripped through his uniform and the tip of the spear began to touch his ''Nightly Wolf Hide''. Long Jian clearly felt that without his armor, this attack could have pierced his flesh. Even with the armor, he would feel the shock in his bones.


    However, before the spear could fully transfer its kinetic energy, ''Dragon Wolf Fang'' came to the rescue. The blade collided with the shaft of the spear to push it away. A terrible noise of metal against metal echoed through the area. Many onlookers had to cover their ears. The spear was pushed to the side with many sparks as it scratched the black armor. With his heart palpitating like crazy, Long Jian sent ''The Dragon Bears its Fangs to the Wolf''. Long Jian was so excited and shocked that he unconsciously used all of his strength against Cao Yun. However, Cao Yun was slowly falling to the ground, completely spent.


    When Long Jian finally came to, he realized that his attack was going to hit Cao Yun right in the head and he couldn''t stop at all.

 Chapter 139: Heart Star

    The attack of Long Jian was going straight for Cao Yun''s head at full power. Even receiving this attack in his robe, it would have been dangerous, but in his unprotected head, he would die instantly. Jong Lian tried to stop his own momentum but it was way too late. Even by reducing the shock of the attack, Cao Yun was apparently completely out and he wouldn''t be able to defend at all. The time seemed to be frozen for Long Jian as he was seeing this disaster that was about to happen without any way to prevent it.


    All of a sudden, a hand grabbed the blade itself and stopped it right away. Time resumed for Long Jian. A pain in his arm jolted him back to reality as all the force he had put in his sword went back to him when it was stopped. Chief Elder Baishen was obviously the one who had intervened.


    Up in the air, above the clouds, Chief Elder Suxian and Xiao Xuefeng were both ready as well but Chief Elder Baishen had been closer. With one hand she had stopped Long Jian''s sword and completely negated his momentum. With the other arm, she stopped Cao Yun from falling to the ground. He had literally used every ounce of strength in his body. His muscles were all exhausted, even his heart. In fact, his heart had almost stopped for an instant.


    Chief Elder Baishen sent her spiritual senses all over Cao Yun''s body. Fortunately, he didn''t seem to have any internal injuries. The technique he had used seemed to have accelerated the Qi in his body to its maximum limit. This ultra fast Qi had pushed his body, increasing his physical abilities sixfold. However, this was so taxing that he couldn''t move even a single finger. He had already used a similar move during his training but he hadn''t pushed it to such an extreme. Against Long Jian, he got a bit overwhelmed and went too far.


    "Sister Baishen, let me take a look." The telepathic voice of Xiao Xuefeng echoed in the chief elder''s head. She then sensed the alchemist''s spiritual senses all over Cao Yun and didn''t try to stop her.


    "He''s mostly fine, but this technique is way too dangerous for him. Several of his organs almost shut down. Did you know about this?"


    Chief Elder Baishen felt both bad and guilty. She did know about this technique but she hadn''t seen him push it to such an extreme.


    "When I saw it, he only increased his strength two to threefold. I didn''t think that there could be such a situation... Don''t worry, I''ll talk to him about this."


    While they were talking, Long Jian looked down. On his black armor, there was a long scratch. The spear of Cao Yun had left a terrible scar on this 4-star Human armor. Of course, Long Jian could have enhanced it by sending Qi through it. But even without Qi circulating through the armor, only a Mortal Warrior should have been able to damage it. At this moment, Long Jian realized that if he had fought against Cao Yun when he was still a 9th-grade Mortal, he would have been defeated. This boy''s martial art was impressive. And his fighting sense was also extremely sharp. Despite his great speed, Cao Yun had been able to predict where he would strike from. Even though he couldn''t follow his movements, he had predicted his pattern to use it against him.


    The crowd was speechless for a while.


    Then, a voice resounded. It was the voice of Chief Elder Baishen.


    "Chen Guo is unconscious. Long Jian is victorious."


    This simple remark broke the dam. Loud cheers erupted from all around the square. Most of them were not addressed toward Long Jian but to Cao Yun. He had fought against a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior while still being a middle 7th-grade Mortal himself. Of course, the Mortal Warrior had not used any Qi Manifestation. And of course, Cao Yun had lost in the end. But he had almost won. Everyone was able to see that if Long Jian had been an instant too late, the attack would have pierced through Long Jian''s armor. Chief Elder Baishen would have then stopped the fight to declare Cao Yun the winner.


    Chan Weifeng was in the crowd but he was too pensive to cheer with the others. He had enjoyed the fight as Long Jian had pushed Cao Yun to his limit. There was no need for him to challenge Cao Yun anymore. From what he had seen, Cao Yun would not be able to be a worthy opponent for at least a couple of years. If he became a Mortal Warrior then the fight may prove interesting, but not before that. What made him so pensive was Long Jian''s performance.


    On the platform, Long Jian finally came back to reality.


    "Thank you, Chief Elder. I couldn''t have controlled it... I''ll apologize to Chen Guo later."


    "No need for that. You did nothing wrong. That was precisely why I was here. You should just let him rest. And think about your next fight as well. Everyone is waiting for your final fight. Do not disappoint us!"


    Long Jian cupped his fists and Chief Elder Baishen flew in the air with Cao Yun. His friends who were cheering with the crowd were a bit worried so they decided to go to the physician pavilion.


    When Long Jian left the platform, he saw Chan Weifeng with a somewhat sad face.


    "Brother Chan, maybe you wanted to fight with Junior Brother Chen as well?"


    "The idea crossed my mind, but thanks to you, I''ve seen his full potential. I''m really looking forward to his future progress. However... I don''t want to sound too harsh, Brother... But did you really give your best?"


    Long Jian had a foreboding feeling. Deep down, he didn''t want to, but he still asked his question.


    "Are you saying that this level of strength is insufficient against you?"


    Chan Wiefeng turned toward him, dead serious.


    "Indeed. Even though you were restraining your cultivation, I could somehow see that none of your attacks should be able to pierce my defenses."


    Long Jian saw in his rival''s eyes that he wasn''t trying to be arrogant or boastful. He was perfectly sincere and this ignited something in Long Jian''s heart. He had already fought several times against Chan Weifeng but he had never felt this deep confidence in him. In fact, they had switched their rankings quite often. The only explanation was that Chan Weifeng had made a breakthrough. His cultivation was the same, so it was his martial arts. He had probably understood something new in his martial art.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "Brother Chan. I''m looking forward to our final duel. If what you say is true, you won''t blame me for being too ruthless, right?"


    "Quite the opposite, Brother. Be as ruthless as you can or you''ll lose too fast."


    Both men smiled at each other. The other disciples around had obviously heard the entire conversation and were completely crazy. This was the fight everyone was waiting for. There were three fights all the disciples wanted to see.


    The first one had just finished. The other two were between the two highest ranked from the second-years, Zhi Yin and Long Huafang, and the two greatest faction leaders, Long Jian and Chan Weifeng.


    -


    Cao Yun woke up several hours later. His friends were all around him. Ren Chao was the loudest but they all cheered for him. Cao Yun was still a bit weak but he thoroughly enjoyed this festive occasion. They even agreed to dine together to celebrate the end of the year, after all the other duels would be over.


    His friends then let him get some rest. They also left because Chief Elder Baishen was coming in.


    "Stupid disciple! Didn''t I tell you not to use it?! Your technique is way too dangerous. You''re lucky you''re even alive!" Chief Elder Baishen was both relieved and pissed off. "You''re really lucky! There''s no damage in your body. You pushed this technique too far too fast. Some of your organs almost stopped working. You realize you could have ruptured your meridians as well, right?"


    "I''m sorry, Master. I wasn''t able to control it. I sincerely thought I could. I tried to increase my strength all the way to the Mortal Warrior level. But the Qi was too difficult to control then and I went too far..."


    "Until you forge the fifth star and observe it, you won''t be able to control this technique. That''s why I told you not to use it in an actual fight, stupid!"


    Cao Yun had only exhibited this technique once, against Guan Mo. Back then, he didn''t go very far, just enough to pierce through his Wei Qi. And using the surprise, he had beat him, for the first time. Even though it was powerful, Chief Elder Baishen had warned him that he could lose control over this. This technique consisted in accelerating his Qi and sending it at full speed all over his body. A fraction of this high-speed Qi would then enter his muscles and his various tissues to increase Cao Yun''s physical abilities.


    But he hadn''t yet forged the fifth star and he only had a vague idea of how it worked. Thus, controlling it was extremely difficult and it could get out of hand really fast. Cao Yun had tried to increase his strength just enough to beat Long Jian. But, even with his mind cultivation, his own Qi got out of control and went too fast. Some of it even sank deep in his organs and almost killed him. Thankfully, the Drop of Wrath in his heart had instinctively deviated a surge of Qi going straight for it. If it hadn''t, Cao Yun would be dead by now.


    However, despite the risk, he had also gained something. In his sea of consciousness, the fifth star was now visible.


    After pushing this technique to his utmost limit, he had gained more understanding about this star, the Heart Star. Usually, he understood the star and then, only after that, he derived its technique. But by just seeing a glimpse of it, he had got a part of the technique and from it he had forged the star. The first time, he had only seen a small red dot. Right now, this star was the brightest in the sky. However, it was still tiny compared to the other stars. By observing it some more, Cao Yun realized that this star was in reality at least a hundred of times bigger than the Room Star. But it was so far away that it seemed tiny in comparison.


    What was not tiny at all was its brightness. It shined a crimson red way brighter than any other star in his sea of consciousness. It was even brighter than all the stars he had seen in real life. This was extremely beautiful. Given its position, it really looked like it was the heart of the Azure Dragon.


    Seeing his surprise, Chief Elder Baishen understood right away. "You''ve forged the Heart Star, right? Well, that''s a good thing... However, until you''ve mastered this technique, don''t use it! And even when you master it, limit yourself!"


    She paused a bit to calm down and spoke with more conviction and determination. "As your master, I demand that you promise something. Unless there is a deadly situation and you have no other way - no other way! - only then can you use this technique. Promise me this!"


    Well, it wasn''t that bad of a promise. In fact, Cao Yun himself had realized how reckless he had been. He just got carried away during the fight. And to be honest, he really wanted to try out this new technique. To be fair, he still kinda wanted to try it out... Deep down, he knew that this was a bad idea, but he still felt that he could control it if he tried enough. Training was a bit too addictive to Cao Yun. This wasn''t necessarily a bad thing as it allowed him to progress very fast. But with a technique that was so dangerous, he had to control himself and his eagerness to test it out.


    "Master. I swear that, until I fully understand this move from the Heart Star, I will only use it if the situation is desperate and I see no other solution."


    Cao Yun was too weak to stand up but he cupped his fists and bowed in his bed.


    "Good." Chief Elder Baishen finally calmed down. "However, I must admit that this fight was exceptional!" Her fear for her disciple had masked her excitement, but now it was back.


    "I''ve seen techniques that could push someone further for an instant. But increasing all your physical abilities sixfold, that''s really something else! Even before that, the intuition you showed during the fight... If I didn''t know better, I would have said that you had spiritual senses!"


    Chief Elder Baishen went on and on about this fight.


    -


    Long Jian was also very surprised by this last move and by the overall fight.


    "When he finally reaches Mortal Warrior, I don''t think I''ll be his match at all. I really need to train more! Brother Chan also believes that I won''t be able to beat him."


    He was alone with Mu Hue. She knew Long Jian well enough to know that this was excitement in his voice, not fear. This fight and the comments from Chan Weifeng made him want to push himself.


    "The only reason why Brother Chan is so confident is because he had a breakthrough in his martial art. I''m sure of it. It means that I just need to break through as well."


    "Brother Long, you only have two weeks to train. Do you think it will be enough?"


    Long Jian raised his head to look at Mu Hue. "I don''t know... But it won''t stop me from trying. If Brother Chan told this to me, I''m sure it''s because he wants me to push my own limits. Everyone wants to see our fight. I won''t disappoint them!"


    Until the very last moment, Long Jian decided to train with all he had.


    -


    These were the last days of this first year. Many people had been excited by Cao Yun''s fight, but now, the two main duels were there.


    Several fights occurred between first-years, but Cao Yun did not participate and no one dared challenge him. It was now clear for everyone that no Mortal cultivator could beat him in a fight. Mei Hua, Sun Liao and Ren Chao were not fighting either. They had spent most of the year focusing on their respective occupations after all.


    There were still a lot of challenges though. The duels spanned several days. Cao Yun wasn''t that interested in watching them. Instead, he focused on his mind cultivation and his martial arts. He knew that by developing his mind, he would understand the Heart Star faster.


    However, he came to watch the final duel of the second-years, Zhi Yin versus Long Huafang.

 Chapter 140: Kun Peng vs Wolf Dragon

    As the duel between Zhi Yin and Long Huafang was about to happen, a meeting was taking place in a dark room. Mo Zi was kneeling in front of the screen behind which his master was. Once again, he couldn''t see him, but was hearing his voice.


    "Mo Zi, are you ready for your entrance into the Ancient Ruins?"


    "Yes, Master. I prepared everything. Just in case, I''ll go over everything once more in the next few days. When my third year finally begins, I''ll be absolutely certain of my success. I won''t disappoint you, I swear."


    Mo Zi felt an ominous feeling all over his body.


    "This is in your best interest. The main reason why I helped you and didn''t kill you for your failure was this next task. You''re the best suited to perform it. Everything must be ready for our plan in two years."


    "Speaking of which, Master, what about Chen Guo? He''s clearly a threat. When the Palace Spirit wakes up, he''ll also be in the Ancient Ruins. He may hinder our plans. And I highly doubt there is any chance of convincing him to join us."


    "Do not worry too much about this boy. Just focus on your mission. You should know we have some plans for next year as well. There may be a way to get rid of this nuisance. Besides, losing this boy and her own disciple would also crush Xiao Xuefeng''s spirit, that would be good. This woman is the real threat, everything else is insignificant in comparison. Although we needed to get her away from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, attracting her here was a dangerous move. Even if I can monitor her, it would be best to distract her with the death of these children."


    "Master. I fear that this boy is really dangerous. We should use everything against him, just to be sure."


    All of a sudden, a terrifying pressure crushed Mo Zi to the ground.


    "You dare tell me how I should act?! Do you take me for a fool?! If I could kill him in person, I would. But we have to bid our time... If Xiao Xuefeng discovers us, all our preparations will have been for naught. In the best case, we''ll have to wait seven more years. But in reality, we probably won''t have this opportunity anymore. We have to make sure that our main operatives are not discovered, no matter what! Instead of telling me how I should conduct our business, worry about your own mission. If you fail, you will beg for the sweet release of death. Even though I''m your master and reluctant to end you, our leader would annihilate your very soul in an heartbeat if you were to fail."


    The pressure finally lifted but Mo Zi stayed lying on the ground. When he thought about their leader, an indescribable fear took hold of his heart. It was only after several breaths that he finally got up and assumed his kneeling position once more.


    "Master, I''m sorry if I spoke out of turn. My mission will be successful. If it''s not, I will end my own life as atonement."


    "What is your life worth compared to the centuries our leader had to wait? If we find what we''re looking for, the demonic cultivators will be the absolute rulers of this entire Piaolu planet. Demons and orthodox cultivators alike will bow before us. Millenniums of subjugations will come to an end! If you make us fail, do you think your miserable life can atone for it?! Go prepare yourself some more!"


    "Yes, Master. This disciple will not fail you, I swear!"


    When Mo Zi left the room, a black smoke faded away from behind the screen. His master''s body had never been there in the first place. As a late Spirit warrior, this kind of distant conversations was easy for Mo Zi''s master.


    -


    Back in the square where the duels were held, Zhi Yin was faced with Long Huafang.


    "Fairy Zhi will obliterate this brat!" Ling Hui was fired up and yelled out many cheers even though the fight had not officially begun. She had hatred in her eyes while looking at Long Huafang. She had been rivals with Zhi Yin for a long time, but recently Long Huafang had beaten her. This completely enraged Ling Hui who was the number one fan of Zhi Yin.


    This time, neither Long Jian nor Chan Weifeng were present. But the crowd was as big as during Cao Yun''s fight. Even for fourth-years and fifth-years, this was an exciting duel.


    "Sister Zhi, you seem to have broken through, right?"


    "Indeed, Sister Long. I''m an 8th-grade Mortal now. But you don''t seem to have slacked off either..."


    "Hmph! I knew you would get stronger. Of course I didn''t rest on my success. No matter how stronger you''ve become, I''ll convince you of my superiority."


    "Then, let me demonstrate my meager talents before you."


    Both girls assumed their stances. Chief Elder Baishen was once again monitoring the fights. In fact, she delegated some of the fights to other elders, but the main duels were all monitored by her in person. If one of the top students was injured because of the carelessness of an elder, it would be tragic. But Chief Elder Baishen didn''t want a fearful elder to stop the fight too soon either.


    "The fight can begin!"


    Both girls'' martial arts were revolving around speed and they showed it immediately.


    ''Ninety Thousand Li''. Zhi Yin disappeared from most onlookers'' eyes and appeared right to the side of Long Huafang. ''Wolf Walks on the Moon''. Just as fast, Long Huafang appeared behind Zhi Yin. During their last fight, Long Huafang''s speed had exceeded Zhi Yin''s, but now they were almost identical. In fact, after several moves, Long Huafang realized that she was a little bit inferior in that aspect, enraging her.


    Speed couldn''t help her, so she stopped moving around to save her energy. ''Peng Opens his Wings''. Using her speed, a gust of wind formed behind Zhi Yin. She slashed with her sword and all this accumulated wind went crashing down on Long Huafang.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ''Shining Dragon''s Fur''. The range was too wide to evade so ''Shining Fang'', Long Huafang''s sword, parried Zhi Yin''s attack. The young girl still felt a powerful force pushing against her, but she stood her ground. Most of the impact was deflected in the distance thanks to her defense.


    Knowing that speed wouldn''t be that useful to her, Long Huafang adapted her strategy. ''Wolf and Dragon''s Howl''. A powerful roar echoed throughout the platform. It wasn''t as powerful as her brother''s and it couldn''t have dispersed the wind attack earlier, but it still was impressive. Zhi Yin knew her opponent''s martial art very well, so did Long Huafang in return.


    ''Black Wings Cover the Sky''. Her sword was used as though it was a shield to protect herself from the vibrations. She also focused her mind to keep her focus. The sound was meant to affect her stability and allow for a surprise attack. And just as she thought, it came.


    ''Wolf''s Pounce''. Long Huafang dashed toward Zhi Yin. However, she wasn''t stunned at all. ''Journey to the Southern Darkness''. Zhi Yin''s figure disappeared. Apart from the Mortal Warriors, no one in the crowd was able to follow her movements.


    When she reappeared, her sword was descending on Long Huafang''s head. It almost looked like a giant shadow crashing through the clouds as a powerful gust of wind went along with the sword''s blade. ''Mount Tai Fills the Sky''.


    "Yes! Fairy Zhi! Fairy Zhi is going to win!" In the crowd, Ling Hui was overexcited. On the other hand, Cao Yun who was watching from somewhere else saw through Long Huafang''s stratagem. He had sparred with her several times and she wasn''t that easy to deal with.


    Long Huafang was waiting for this opportunity. She knew her opponent''s martial arts and capabilities. While using this attack, she couldn''t move around or she risked a backlash from her own Qi. In fact, Long Huafang had used only a portion of her energy in her last strike. ''Silver River Overflows''. All of a sudden, she sent her Qi in another pathway. This reversal shouldn''t be that quick and it surprised Zhi Yin. But as Long Huafang had sent the minimal amount of Qi in her meridians for her last attack, she was able to change its course way faster.


    Her sword went straight for Zhi Yin''s belly that was fully exposed. This stab brought with it a powerful vibration.


    Seeing this scene, Ling Hui gasped. "Monster!"


    The sword collided with Zhi Yin. It pierced through her Wei Qi and when it touched her skin, Long Huafang felt as though she was striking a wall of steel. ''Peng Turns to Kun''. Zhi Yin sent all of her Qi to strengthen her skin and muscles. Surprised, Long Huafang was unable to pierce through. Of course, Chief Elder Baishen was using her spiritual senses to observe the fight. If the sword had been able to really stab Zhi Yin, she would have stopped the fight and declared the winner.


    ''Peng Goes Back to Sea''. Zhi Yin jumped backward to take some distance. Having just brutally changed the course of Qi, she coughed up a bit of blood.


    "Fairy Zhi!" Ling Hui was full of worries for her idol. She then sent deadly stares at Long Huafang. "You animal! Beast! Fiend!" The people around her were a bit worried by her attitude and took some distance.


    "Sister Long, you''ve indeed become stronger, I have to admit. But I still have some moves left."


    Long Huafang smiled back at Zhi Yin. Both women were rivals but they were very respectful to each other. In fact, Long Huafang had looked up at Zhi Yin for a long time. The girl had even founded her own faction and was able to contend with the seven others. Of course, she couldn''t admit her admiration publicly.


    They both got ready to use their trump cards.


    Long Huafang''s eyes became just like two moons. Zhi Yin knew not to look her in the eyes. As a matter of fact, she had always avoided her gaze during the entire fight, only looking at her body to predict her movements. However, Long Huafang didn''t need for her opponent to look at her eyes for this technique. As long as she could see them, she could activate it.


    ''The Moon in the Eye''. As she was about to attack, Zhi Yin got frozen. Not a single one of her muscles seemed to be able to move. Everyone in the audience got perfectly silent. Most of the onlookers knew about this technique as they had seen either Long Jian or Long Huafang fight before. Unless you protected your mind beforehand or you had a powerful enough mind, this technique was impossible to break. The best strategy was to guard your mind to avoid being subjected to this. Once you were under the illusion, it was over.


    Even Ling Hui was convinced that her idol was going to lose. She didn''t know how she could escape from this illusion.


    However, something happened. Long Huafang was ready to attack when she saw Zhi Yin move, while still under the effects of her illusion. She was raising her sword, preparing her next move.


    Zhi Yin had a trump card no one knew about. Similarly to Cao Yun, she had found out how she could enter her sea of consciousness. And in this sea, there were five giant moons shining in the sky and the water was pure silver. But there was also something else. A shadow as gigantic as the moons themselves was lurking beneath this silver water.


    Giant wings erupted from the water, breaking its calm surface. These four enormous wings flapped down and tsunamis were generated. The water splashed as high as the moons in the sky. They kept on flapping over and over again. The distinction between sky and sea had completely disappeared as the moons were now both in the ocean and in the sky. Slowly, the black form at the bottom of the ocean rose. It was a kind of fish by its texture but it was so large that seeing its complete form was impossible. Its body was covered in light gray scales.


    As it came out of the water, a roar so powerful that the moons shook engulfed the entire sea of consciousness. This beast was a Kun Peng. It was the manifestation of Zhi Yin''s attainment in her ''Peng''s Journey to Heaven''. Kun Peng was linked to both wind and water, the Wood element and the Water element. The Water element was also the element of the Long family''s ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons''. But it was also the element associated with Zhi the Water Will.


    Even though Zhi Yin had never heard about the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual from Cao Yun, she had found another mind cultivation. This cultivation was in fact hidden in the ''Peng''s Journey to Heaven'' manual. But she had been able to discover it, ''Drowning in the Lake of Heaven''. The idea was simple, you would literally drown in your own sea of consciousness to develop your own will. This will would then strengthen the materialization of the Kun Peng. Of course, even if she was a Mortal Warrior, she couldn''t manifest the beast with as much power as in her own mind. But it was still extremely impressive.


    Chief Elder Baishen was shaken. She knew precisely what was going on. The ''Peng''s Journey to Heaven'' was known to be a 3-star Human art. But just like Cao Yun''s art, she knew that if someone was to really master it, it could enter the realm of Spirit martial art. The legends said that if you could see the secrets lurking beneath the surface and flying higher than the clouds, you could forge a real Kun Peng in yourself.


    Everything in Zhi Yin''s mind was happening in an instant. The Kun Peng rose at the level of the moons and hid them. The sea turned blue again. But it didn''t stop there. After an earth-shattering roar, it flapped again its four wings with some wet feathers on them. The moons got literally cracked into thousands of pieces. Long Huafang was not at the level where she could see what was going on in Zhi Yin''s mind. She only activated the technique but, apart from her opponent being paralyzed, she couldn''t see its results.


    However, she clearly saw that Zhi Yin was now moving without any problem. And her eyes were shining with a tint of blue. This color almost seemed like the deep ocean and the high sky had melded together. The will behind those eyes even shook Long Huafang''s determination.


    "Sister Long. It''s time for you to witness my attack."


    Putting her sword vertically, she violently struck the air in front of her. ''Splashing the Lake of Heaven''.

 Chapter 141: Impenetrable defenses

    ''Splashing the Lake of Heaven''. From the tip of Zhi Yin''s sword, ripples spread in all directions. It looked like a powerful tide but within the air. Many disciples were shocked. This almost looked like Qi Manifestation but Zhi Yin was only an 8th-grade Mortal.


    Chief Elder Baishen who was captivated by this fight saw through it. Zhi Yin had not manifested her Qi, but she had however sent a powerful surge of condensed Qi through her blade into the air. She had no control over it and could not change its form. It was a pure wave of Qi. But thanks to her technique that was creating a shock wave in the air, this Qi melded with the ripples and enhanced the attack.


    Even though she didn''t really manifest her Qi, this kind of attack was not something an 8th-grade Mortal could usually perform. It required to send a powerful surge of Qi through specific acupoints. Although she had learned to open and close those acupoints, they shouldn''t have been strong enough to resist such pressure. Most likely, she had some secret that enabled her to strengthen these acupoints.


    After the surprise of Cao Yun a few days ago, everyone got shocked even more. In the end, it was hard to judge who would win in a fight between Zhi Yin and Cao Yun. He could increase his strength beyond measure for a very short time, but she could send a surge of condensed Qi all around her.


    Long Huafang quickly overcame her surprise and put her sword as a defense. ''Baring its Fangs to the Moon''. It protected her body from the shock wave but she was still blown away. The force pushing against her sword was so powerful that the girl was ejected from the platform. Her body was sent flying away and she crashed toward the ground. Her older brother wasn''t here but Mu Hue was. She quickly appeared under Long Huafang and caught her before she hit the ground.


    Mu Hue examined her briefly and was relieved to see that she was fine.


    On the platform, Zhi Yin was exhausted. She had sent a powerful surge of Qi through some of the acupoints in her arm. Despite her calm demeanor, it had been a reckless move. It wasn''t as reckless as Cao Yun''s move, but she could have injured her acupoints as she was only an 8th-grade Mortal.


    After a moment of surprise, the silence was broken by Ling Hui''s cheers.


    "Fairy Zhi has won! She was incredible!"


    Following her, everyone cheered for Zhi Yin. Even the chief elders were pleased with her performance. Xiao Xuefeng was also very intrigued as she had sensed Zhi Yin enter her sea of consciousness for an instant. This was a really rare occurrence among Mortals, and even Mortal Warriors. Yet, she had found two Mortal cultivators able to do this. And they were both in the same faction, from the same sect. An idea popped in Xiao Xuefeng. Maybe Zhi Yin had sensed it in Cao Yun, and that was the reason why she asked him to join her faction.


    The alchemist became very curious about this young woman.


    Zhi Yin bowed politely and left the platform to join Ling Hui and the rest of the Heavenly Swallow Faction.


    "Fairy Zhi, you were awesome up there! How could a mere Long Huafang think she could defeat you, huh? She was just lucky last time!"


    "Sister Ling, do not belittle her efforts! Her martial arts truly bested me last time. And despite this, she did not slack off. Her ''The Moon in the Eye'' was even more powerful than before. Just using my will alone was not enough to break it." She turned toward Cao Yun. "Brother Chen, you felt something, right?"


    Indeed, Cao Yun''s Zhi the Water Will had been stimulated just by being near Zhi Yin''s technique.


    "Faction Leader, your mind cultivation seems to have indeed resonated with mine."


    "Interesting... Your mind cultivation must be incredible. I''d really like to exchange some pointers with you. It''s too bad that we won''t see each other in the next two years." She paused. "I''ll be a Mortal Warrior by the time you come out of the Ancient Ruins. If you''re able to break through during your fourth year, it would be my pleasure to spar with you, Brother Chen."


    Ling Hui was pouting on the side.


    "Fairy, what''s so good about this boy? He just has a strong physique, that''s it! In the Mortal Warrior realm, this won''t help him at all!"


    "Sister Ling, you''ve become a bit too much lately... I should teach you a lesson, I think."


    Ling Hui was shocked to hear her idol say this. "Fairy Zhi..."


    "Brother Chen, I''m tired so I won''t be attending. But you should watch the final fight of this year''s challenges. Chan Weifeng and Long Jian are both exceptional 1st-grade Mortal Warriors. You may even be able to get some insights for both your cultivation and your martial arts. Don''t miss on this opportunity. Sister Zhi, let''s go."


    Ling Hui was dejected but she followed behind her idol, not daring to add a single word.


    The fight between Chan Weifeng and Long Jian was to be held the following day and Cao Yun was determined to see it. He had fought against Long Jian, but he had suppressed his cultivation as much as he could. If he had not restrained his Wei Qi, even his most powerful attack wouldn''t have been able to pierce through it. Ling Hui was not so wrong when she spoke. Physical strength wasn''t very helpful against a Mortal Warrior. The strength needed just to pierce their Wei Qi was incredible. And they wouldn''t just stand there and watch you try. Against Qi Manifestation, physical strength wouldn''t be extremely useful.


    By using the incomplete technique of the Heart Star, Cao Yun could maybe resist some moves. But in the end, unless he could manifest his own Qi, there wasn''t anything he could do but flee. However, the fight he had just witnessed gave him ideas about this. Thanks to his Chamber of Jade being energized, he had an incredible intuition for martial arts. This was what allowed him to perceive the move from the Heart Star with just one glimpse of it, even if it was still incomplete and thus dangerous. By watching the attack from Zhi Yin, he had several ideas. But unless he had already opened a few acupoints, he wouldn''t be able to try them out.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Watching Zhi Yin leave the square, Cao Yun was wondering whether she had used this technique to show him something. After all, she probably could have won without using a technique that could potentially harm her. Did she really ask him to join her faction just to safeguard it during her stay in the Ancient Ruins? Or was there something more?


    Cao Yun had had very little interactions with Zhi Yin. But he clearly felt that she never did anything without a good reason. However, he never felt any ill will from her either. Cao Yun was pretty confident that she wasn''t in league with the demonic cultivators. But to be honest, he didn''t fully trust her, because he wasn''t sure of her real goal. That was why he had given his mind cultivation to his close friends but not to his faction.


    -


    The next day, the square was absolutely full. This time, everyone had joined in to watch the final fight. There was even a number of inner disciples. Cao Yun recognized some inner disciples who had bought him some pills during his first months in the Wubei Sect. They recognized him as well and exchanged a few courtesies. In particular, they were really thankful for his pills and were hoping to purchase more now that he was a 5-star Earth alchemist. Cao Yun didn''t want to disappoint them but he had no intention of being a full-time alchemist. He just told them that if he had time, he could consider making specific pills for them.


    Finally the last fight before the great finale ended. Chief Elder Baishen announced the winner and unceremoniously sent her away. The poor girl was a bit dejected, but she knew that everyone was here to watch the final fight between the leaders of the two greatest factions. However, some of her friends were there to cheer her up and congratulate her on her victory.


    "The fight that everyone has been looking for is upon us! The Red Cliff Faction''s Faction Leader and number one of the fighting scroll, Chan Weifeng!"


    Chan Weifeng climbed the stairs of the platform. He was wearing his Wubei Sect uniform, but there was something else. Around his arm was an armband. It was marked with an emblem that Cao Yun knew, the emblem of the Sunmen Province. Sunmen Province''s emblem looked like a setting sun crushing a black gate. This province was in the extreme west of the Hongchen Kingdom. And it was one of humanity''s bastions against the demons. This was probably the province with the most powerful military force, even before the Imperial City.


    Of course, all the provincial military forces were under the commandment of the Emperor, but they also had a form of independence. The Sunmen Province''s army was under the control of Long Cheng, the father of Long Jian and Long Huafang and also Sunmen Province''s governor. Chan Weifeng was also from this province and wished to join the military, just like Long Jian. As such, they were natural rivals.


    Chan Weifeng was not holding any weapon, but a wooden umbrella made from black paper. In fact, oil-paper umbrellas were part of the unconventional weapons. For a man wishing to join the military, this was a strange weapon. But strangely, it seemed to be perfect for him. This weapon was also the one of Ancestor Wu, the legendary founder of the Wubei sect. He had also left a martial art behind that was using this weapon, ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain''. However, it was extremely difficult to master and since the founding of the sect, only a handful of cultivators had really trained in it. It turned out that Chan Weifeng was one of them. This martial art was said to be 5-star Heaven, but could be pushed beyond the Spirit realm if it was truly mastered. It was on the same level as ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons'' of the Long family.


    "Against the Purple Northern Cloud Faction''s Faction Leader, Long Jian!"


    Long Jian climbed the stairs as well. Compared to the day of the fight against Cao Yun, his aura was way fiercer. He wasn''t restraining his cultivation at all. Both men smiled to each other, cupped their fists and bowed down.


    "Fight!"


    The very moment the fight began, both men went full out. They knew each other very well and didn''t need to test their opponent. A powerful aura emanated from them. Limited to the platform, a heavy rain started to fall. It wasn''t even coming from the clouds above, it was just raining. This was the Qi Manifestation of ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain''. And in the sky above, eight moons appeared. They were small but shined brightly. Finally, under Chan Weifeng''s feet, an ethereal shell materialized. Only two of its thirteen scutes were missing, leaving two holes on either side of the shell. There also appeared to be characters engraved in every scute on the shell, but it was impossible to read them.


    "Brother Chan, impressive! You''ve almost mastered the full shell!"


    "It''s really nothing much, Brother Long. But it seems like you''ve exceeded the record of your own father by forging eight moons before graduating from the sect."


    "It''s just luck. I must say that your words and my fight with Chen Guo really pushed me! To thank you, I won''t hold back."


    "Neither will I, Brother. Let''s compare our best!"


    ''Tail Follows the Sky''. Long Jian''s sword swept toward Chan Weifeng. In the air, the light from the eight moons formed the tail of a wolf lashing toward the young man. Impassive, he struck with the butt of his umbrella. ''Knock out the Snake''s Head''. The rain intensified just at this very location, forming a wall of water that blocked the tail. Long Jian felt as though he had hit a wall of steel.


    Not wanting to let Chan Weifeng breathe, Long Jian followed his attack with ''Silver River Overflows''. He took over the wall of rain that turned silver and went toward Chan Weifeng with the sword ''Dragon Wolf Fang'' right in the center of it. Both martial arts were heavily focused on the Water element. As such, no one had any advantage over the other. Having a small advantage in element could always be useful in a fight, even though it wasn''t essential.


    ''Black Snake Darts Out its Tongue''. Chan Weifeng stabbed with the shaft of his umbrella. The form of a small snake appeared coiled around the umbrella. As the umbrella stabbed toward Long Jian, the head of the snake jumped forward, trying to bite its opponent. It forced Long Jian to redirect a part of his Qi to protect himself, weakening his attack. Both men received the other''s strike in the chest. Long Jian was pushed away but Chan Weifeng stood his ground. His Wei Qi vibrated but was not pierced.


    "Brother Long. I warn you. You won''t ever be able to break my defense."


    "I don''t need to!"


    The eight moons shined ever brighter, making the entire platform silver. Long Jian''s eyes were now two literal silver moons. ''The Moon in the Eye''. At the very same moment, Chan Weifeng finally opened his umbrella and sent it flying in the sky. It went straight in the center of the platform and rose into the air. The umbrella was rotating faster and faster. What was strange was that it was stopping the silver light but not the rain. Gradually, it looked like the rain was coming from the umbrella itself.


    Of course, it wasn''t real rain, just as they weren''t real moons. They were Qi Manifestation of each other''s martial arts.


    ''The Shell Encompasses the World''. Suddenly, the umbrella widened and engulfed the entire sky above the platform, hiding the eight moons. Long Jian saw a perfect opportunity. His attack had been blocked but Chan Weifeng was unarmed now.


    ''Wolf''s Pounce''. He lounged toward the unarmed man with all of his strength, ''Dragon Wolf Fang'' ready to pierce through his Wei Qi. But the moment he got close, Chan Weifeng''s Wei Qi expanded. It fused with the ethereal shell under his feet.


    Now, the shell engulfed all of Chan Weifeng. Long Jian''s sword collided against this shell and was pushed back. The shock was so intense that Long Jian almost lost his weapon and was sent all the way to the other side of the platform.


    ''Impenetrable Turtle Shell''!

 Chapter 142: The fangs bite into the shell

    ''Impenetrable Turtle Shell''!


    Chan Weifeng was encased in a black shell that was almost perfect. Only two scutes were missing on the sides of this ethereal shell made of Qi. Thanks to it, Long Jian''s sword had been completely blocked. This shell was very similar to an extension of the Wei Qi of Chan Weifeng. Inside of it, he was assuming a very defensive stance and circulating his Qi according to his ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain''.


    His Qi Manifestation was still weak as he only was a late 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. As such, it was completely see-through but it had enough density to make Chan Weifeng impervious to Long Jian''s attacks. It didn''t stop the swordsman from trying though. However, all his attempts failed. His sword was not making a single dent into this turtle shell, only some sparks on the surface.


    "Brother Long, I warned you. From what I''ve seen in your last fight, there is no way you can penetrate my shell now. I finally formed its eleventh scute a few weeks ago. Even though it''s not perfect yet, it''s enough to make you powerless."


    Long Jian was panting from all his failed attacks. "I have to admit that your shell is indeed extraordinary. No wonder you told me that I couldn''t win. However, you''ve never seen me use all eight of my moons either. You''re not the only one confident in his martial art. I''ll show you that my Long family''s art can even defy the great Wubei Sect''s ancestral art!"


    -


    On the chief elders'' platform, Chief Elder Baishen was completely absorbed by the fight and nothing could distract her. Long Jian had surpassed his father when he was his age. He had formed eight of the twelve moons from ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons''. And Chan Weifeng had formed eleven out of the thirteen scutes necessary to reach Perfection in ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain''. They were both renowned martial arts, respectively invented by the Long family''s progenitor and the Wubei Sect''s founder, Ancestor Wu.


    The other chief elders were also extremely curious about the result. Chan Weifeng''s martial art was more advanced than Long Jian''s but their respective strength were very similar. And the martial arts themselves were rather similar. Both of them put a lot of emphasis on the Water element. Even though ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain'' was the martial art left behind by their ancestor, the chief elders wouldn''t dare claim that it was superior to ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons''. The Long family was known to be a family of great soldiers. Their art had been refined on actual battlefields. Ancestor Wu had mostly formed his through duels against other cultivators and martial artists.


    Both arts were considered 5-star Heaven martial arts. But they could also be pushed to the Spirit rank. The ranks of martial arts were very lacking to correctly judge them in fact. These ranks were based on the average practitioner, but many great experts had been able to use a low-ranked martial art and make it exceptional. However, if an average cultivator practiced a high-ranked martial art, he would get more powerful faster with less effort. On the other hand, true martial artists didn''t really care about the level of their martial art in theory, but they cared about the heights they could take it to.


    And these two young men had reached incredible heights for their age. Long Jian had attained True Success and Chan Weifeng was close to Perfection. Perfection was often considered as the last stage of mastery. After this stage, he would have absolutely understood this martial art, but it didn''t mean that he was done. He could then try to enhance it with his own technique and understanding in order push it even further. There was a chance that Chan Weifeng would create variants to the Wubei Sect''s ancestral art. Even the chief elders who had never practiced this technique were excited to see this one day. The glory and name of their sect would soar even further.


    -


    On the platform, Long Jian had finally stopped to attempt to crack the shell. He had tried to attack the two parts of the shell without scutes. But Chan Weifeng had simply turned his body and the shell had turned with him. No matter how fast Long Jian was, Chan Weifeng had just to move a little bit to align his shell with the attacks.


    Long Jian went to the other side of the platform and looked up. His eight moons were still hidden by Chan Wiefeng''s oil-paper umbrella. He couldn''t use their power to increase his attack. Then, he activated ''The Moon in the Eye'' once more.


    "Brother Long, your mind attack won''t work against me as long as my shadow covers the..." Chan Weifeng didn''t finish his sentence because he understood his rival''s goal. He wasn''t trying to paralyze him. He was trying to dissolve his ''The Shell Encompasses the World''. His eyes became as two silver moons. The light amplified again and again. The blood vessels around his eyes bulged and the silver light in his pupil became painful to watch. Even Chan Weifeng had to look away.


    Chan Weifeng was hesitant to take advantage of the fact that Long Jian was focused on something else to attack him. This could also be a faint. If he let go of his defense to use this opportunity, Long Jian may be able to counter attack. He was really too fast. In his hesitation, Chan Weifeng was distracted by this painful light.


    Long Jian started to roar like a beast. ''Wolf and Dragon''s Howl''. Behind him, the vague image of a legendary beast appeared, howling at the sky. This was Ya Zi, the Wolf Dragon. Even though it was very vague, its distinct characteristics were visible. Its body was similar to that of a wolf but it had scales and a form that was more reptilian. There were also patches of silver fur here and there. The beast seemed particularly fierce and its roar joined Long Jian''s.


    Through the shadow of the umbrella, a silver hue started to grow. Chan Weifeng tried to focus his mind on the technique. It became a battle of will more so than a pure martial art fight. As such, it interested Xiao Xuefeng more than Chief Elder Baishen. The old woman was still immersed in the fight of course. But a battle of wills was more interesting for an alchemist. Some occupations, like alchemists, put a lot of emphasis on mind cultivation.


    However, it didn''t mean that all the other cultivators didn''t care. Martial artists usually developed their will first. Their intent was also an important part of their practice. But it was usually trained through indirect means. By training their martial arts, they were inevitably developing some parts of their mind as well.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The roar from the vague silhouette of Ya Zi was assaulting Chan Weifeng''s senses. The shell around him protected him from surges of Qi sent through the air but not from the sound itself. In this roar, there was a strong aura. Chan Weifeng was too much defensive and faced with this frontal assault against his will, it slowly cracked.


    Long Jian knew that he wouldn''t be able to crush Chan Weifeng''s will, but he only needed just one instant. When he sensed the time was right, he focused all his will on the eight moons. The shadow of the umbrella was completely eroded and the oil-paper umbrella fell to the ground.


    Now that the moons were freed, they descended from the sky and went behind Long Jian''s back. They formed a circle slowly rotating. In the center of this circle, the vague silhouette of Ya Zi could be seen. Long Jian was not powerful enough yet to fully materialize the legendary beast. Seeing that Chan Weifeng was a bit disoriented, it was the perfect moment for his last counter-attack.


    Long Jian raised his sword in the sky. The eight moons shone on the blade that became pure silver. Slowly, the blade got longer and longer, as a pillar of light rising in the heavens. The moons began to rotate around it. All of a sudden, Long Jian slashed down. ''The Dragon Bears its Fangs to the Wolf''.


    The movement of the sword was akin to the moons crashing down to the earth. Chan Weifeng was now entirely focused on defense. He quickly called back the umbrella that was on the ground and opened it above his head. His posture was deeply rooted in the ground and the shell itself became even more radiant. On one of the scute, a shining character appeared, ''Fortress''.


    The first moon fell down and collided with the shell. The moon literally exploded into a stream of silver light and pushed down on the shell. Chan Weifeng''s defense did not bulge at all.


    One by one, all the moons fell but the shell stood firm. Chan Weifeng himself did not move at all. His posture was perfect. However, the shell was now covered by a thin layer of silver light. Finally, Long Jian''s sword, ''Dragon Wolf Fang'', came down hard on the shell. For the first time since it had appeared, a small crack appeared on the surface of the shell.


    From all directions, the silver light began to condense back into the sword. Chan Weifeng circulated his Qi as much as he could to enhance his defense. But Long Jian was doing the same thing to enhance his attack. Their martial arts were very similar but also completely opposed. ''The Dragon Howling at the Moons'' emphasized fierce and rapid attacks while ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain'' was focused on immovable defenses.


    The cracks spread throughout the shell and ''Dragon Wolf Fang'' slowly pierced through it. The blade was moving incredibly slowly. However, it was moving. Both men were pushing themselves to their limits. Their muscles were literally pulsing under their uniforms. Both their Qi and their physical strength were used to fight against each other.


    Chan Weifeng felt as though his shell was going to shatter. The cracks were now everywhere and some particles of silver light were creeping through the small cracks. Taking a big inspiration, he tried one move. This was an attack but he could also use it as a defense.


    The oil-paper umbrella in his hands began to rotate. The black paper forming the umbrella looked like it was made from the shell of a turtle. A small manifestation of Qi had changed its aspect but also its resistance. Chan Weifeng sent it toward the sword of Long Jian with a slight angle.


    All of a sudden, the shell around Chan Weifeng disappeared. The silver light all around came crashing down. But as ''Dragon Wolf Fang'' was now going straight for Long Jian''s opponent, the umbrella collided with it. It was able to change its course. The blade fell just beside Chan Weifeng. However, the silver light was not blocked at all and Chan Weifeng''s body had to suffer its complete attack.


    Amidst this light show, Chan Weifeng stayed in a solid position. All his will was circulating in his flesh and he stood his ground against this avalanche of attacks. His body was covered in bruises and his uniform torn here and there, but he was still in his defensive position. The umbrella brutally came down after colliding with the sword of light from Long Jian.


    The shell was back to where it was in the first phase of the fight, under Chan Weifeng''s feet. This time, it was covered in cracks everywhere, ready to collapse. But it had not collapsed yet. Grabbing the falling umbrella, Chan Weifeng used Long Jian''s fatigue to attack.


    ''The Snake Leaves the Shell''. He closed the umbrella and stabbed with its handle. The umbrella became just like a small staff piercing toward Long Jian. The two men were pretty far from each other. But Long Jian was wary of his opponent and quickly retracted his sword of light. He had not enough Qi to maintain it anyway.


    From the ground, the shell exploded into countless shards and a long slithering form pounced from it toward Long Jian. It was a small and black snake. The beast was very ethereal as Chan Weifeng was also running out of Qi. But against a Long Jian too tired after his last attack, it was dangerous.


    ''Baring its Fangs to the Moon''. Long Jian tried to use his sword as a defense against the straight trajectory. At the moment where the snake was going to hit the sword, Chan Weifeng titled his wrist and his target shifted. The small snake''s trajectory changed. It avoided the sword and went with an angle toward Long Jian''s side.


    The swordsman was unable to react in time. As the small snake collided with his body, Long Jian felt his ribs ready to rupture. They resisted but the young man let out a grunt of pain. He lost his footing and was sent flying away. Long Jian fell on the platform and his momentum sent his rolling away. At the last moment, he was able to stop his own movement before falling from the platform.


    Standing up, he sized up his opponent. After an instant of hesitation, Long Jian cupped his fists.


    "Brother Chen. I admit that your defense is more powerful than my attack. This is my loss today..."


    Gradually, the rain disappeared and several fragments of Qi Manifestation from both men faded away. All the onlookers were speechless. Even for those who had seen both men fight before, this duel was incredible. Their martial arts had almost reached Perfection for the two of them. This almost looked like the fight from two late Mortal Warriors. The only real differences were their stamina and the materiality of their Qi Manifestation. As cultivators progressed through the Mortal Warrior realm, their Qi Manifestation would become larger and more real. They would also gain more and more stamina of course.


    Chief Elder Baishen''s words woke everyone up.


    "Chan Weifeng is victorious! He stays the number one of our Wubei Sect!" Technically, he was only number one in the outer Wubei Sect, but she didn''t want to reduce his achievement. Even in the inner sect, he would probably be number one among those of the same generation. Even Chief Elder Baishen couldn''t think of someone with the same cultivation who could beat him.


    The crowd burst into cheers for both fighters. Even though Long Jian had lost, this fight had been absolutely insane. They had witnessed the birth of two new heroes. Surely, they would both join the Sunmen Province''s army and become great heroes of mankind against the demons.

 Chapter 143: 10,484th year of the Wubei Sect

    After this great fight, the end of the year was really uneventful. The excitement was still in the air and everyone was talking about the greatest fight they had ever seen. Even the elders and the chief elders had been impressed by Chan Weifeng and Long Jian''s fight. Having an outer disciple reach this level of achievement in such powerful martial arts before they even turned twenty-five was rare. But having two of them at the same time was miraculous. They even came from the same province. Sadly, both of them wanted to join the military, not their sect.


    As was the case every year, all the chief elders attended a great meeting with the Sect Leader. They gathered in the courtyard of the Sect Palace all the way on the top of the Heidai Peak. It was forbidden to fly in any way around the Sect Palace. As such, all the elders arrived walking. As they were all late Spirit Warriors, walking such a distance was not a problem at all.


    All the chief elders who had been present during the trial of Cao Yun were now gathered. Apart from them, there were nine more chief elders. All were dispatched through the outer and inner sect and rarely met. In fact, the chief elder of the disciplinary pavilion was probably the one who met the other chief elders the most. Indeed, he was in charge of all the administrative aspect of the sect. And, especially during the end and the beginning of a year, he had to meet almost every single chief elder to make many reports.


    However, he also had to take care of it along the year as well. The Imperial City liked to keep a thorough record of everything that was going on inside the Wubei Sect. Thus, the disciplinary pavilion, that was thankfully seldom used to actually discipline the disciples, had to take care of it.


    And right now, the current chief elder of the disciplinary pavilion was Chief Elder Luoming, also the chief elder of the art pavilion. He had been the last one to arrive and his face was darkened by fatigue. This was a very rare sight as Spirit Warriors could stay awake for weeks if not months without any sign of fatigue.


    Chief Elder Suxian went to him.


    "My friend, you look like you went through hell... How I wish I could share some of my Exquisite Purple Jasmine tea with you..."


    As Chief Elder Suxian was laughing, Chief Elder Luoming had not even enough energy to retort cleverly.


    "Brother, you have no idea how much paperwork I had to do... Brother Bian''s organization was absolutely insane. He''s kept an archaic system in place as if time had been frozen thousands of years ago. Talk about inefficient! No wonder there were no many dysfunctions with this disciplinary pavilion. It took me seven weeks just to reorganize one administrative branch of the pavilion. Seven weeks! How can one an be so inept at his job?!"


    Seeing the lack of life in his friend''s eyes, Chief Elder Suxian decided to stop trying to tease him. For an instant, he almost proposed his help but thankfully, he stopped himself before saying it out loud. There was no way he would put his hands in that much paperwork.


    As a matter of fact, all the other chief elders were also keeping their distance from Chief Elder Luoming. All of them feared that they would have to help in any way. Administration was really a plague for them. And they were happy to have found someone to take care of it in their stead. Moreover, they were all rather pleased with Chief Elder Luoming.


    Contrary to Chief Elder Bian who was obsessed with respecting the rules to the letter, without any flexibility, they knew that Chief Elder Luoming was more practical. He was the chief elder of the art pavilion after all. His mind was more free. And they all had sensed a real difference with the exigences from the disciplinary pavilion during the end of the year.


    As they were in the courtyard of the Sect Palace, all the chief elders were whispering when talking to one another. This place was sacred as this was where the ancestor of the Wubei Sect had officially founded it more than ten thousand years ago. It was said that he had done so by killing thousands of demons. According to the legends, he had been helped by an Immortal Beast.


    Immortal Beasts were another kind of demonic beasts. But since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era, no one had been able to see one of them. Thus, many people doubted that story. But according to the legends, the corpse of this Immortal Beast was buried right under the Sect Palace and it was protecting the Wubei Sect with its presence. All this history could be felt in the air by the chief elders. Even though they had the right to speak normally, they felt as though they needed to stay quiet so as to not disrespect these sacred grounds.


    Right now, they were all wondering why they were still waiting outside. Usually, the Sect Leader would receive them as soon as everyone was present. There were rumors about the health of the Sect Leader and the invasion by demonic cultivators added to these rumors. Maybe the Sect Leader was really at the end of his life. Maybe that was why the demonic cultivators had been able to invade as easily. And apparently, there was even a Spirit Warrior strong enough to evade Xiao Xuefeng''s spirit senses. Worry and even traces of fear could be subtly heard in the chief elders'' voices.


    With their powerful senses, they all heard the Meridian Gate being pushed open once more. Looking all around, the chief elders recounted, but they were indeed all present. The only missing person was Chief Elder Bian but he had been demoted and was in seclusion right now. Who was going through the Meridian Gate at this time?


    Before they could speculate any further, the Sect Palace opened its gate and a gong resounded throughout the courtyard. After that, a voice echoed. This voice was weak and feeble. However, it strangely echoed throughout all the Sect Palace and everyone felt as though the person speaking was right next to them. This presence was very faint but extremely reassuring.


    "Chief Elders of my Wubei Sect, the 10,483th year of our prestigious sect is over. Let the meeting for our 10,484th year begin. Please, come inside."


    Hearing the voice of the Sect Leader, the chief elders turned their gaze toward the Sect Palace and they did not wait to see who had opened the Meridian Gate. Obviously, this was according to the Sect Leader''s orders. Despite the many rumors, Sect Leader Xuan was known as the most powerful cultivator in the Hongchen Kingdom and maybe the entire Piaolu planet. Some were still wondering whether the current Emperor would be able to defeat him, no matter how old he was getting. However, it was clear that on the matter of cultivation and martial arts, Sect Leader Xuan was above the Emperor. There were other ways to win a fight though.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    As the chief elders were all taking place in the Sect Palace, a woman walked into the courtyard, Xiao Xuefeng. Many of the chief elders were surprised. Even though she had taken control of the alchemy pavilion, she was only a guest elder. As such, she couldn''t officially partake in this meeting. Many watched her with incredulous eyes, without saying anything. Others were more calm. If she was here, Sect Leader Xuan was obviously behind it and they would wait for his explanation. In the meantime, they would abstain from any reaction at all.


    Finally, Chief Elder Baishen and Chief Elder Suxian welcomed her warmly. Xiao Xuefeng felt that her presence was confusing many people but she was ready for it. Perfectly following the etiquette, she saluted the chief elders and stepped into the Sect Palace with them.


    The room they entered was extremely spacious and full of wonderful architecture and arts. Made in Ageless Marble, there were sumptuous columns rising from the floor and disappearing in the ceiling.


    Along the walls, magnificent paintings were exposed through various scrolls and engravings. Even though they were coming here each year, no chief elder could stop himself from admiring them. Many techniques had been used to make these masterpieces and the prodigious art looked like it was full of life. Among the scenes it depicted was an incredible fight between Ancestor Wu and thousands of demons.


    Ancestor Wu was riding an enormous beast that was completely black, as if it was made of shadow. No one could see what kind of beast it really was as it was even larger than the entire room and the paintings were full-scaled. And all over this beast, thousands of demons were running away from Ancestor Wu and his wrath. Most demons looked like humans, but some had strange bodies with horns, red skin, fangs or claws. The scene was really abstract but it had a great evocative power. By watching it, the chief elders felt that mankind could eventually triumph over the demons who had tortured their species for tens of thousands of years on this planet. Some could even imagine the spectacular fight of Emperor Nuwa against the demons way back then.


    The room lead to some kind of throne. In front of it, there was a bead curtain hiding the figure behind it. On each side of the room, there were nine seats. The inner chief elders sat down on the right of the throne while the outer ones were on its left.


    Finally, Xiao Xuefeng surprised everyone by sitting down in the closest seat to the throne on the left. As Sect Leader Xuan said nothing, no one dared say anything, but many ideas were popping in their minds. They could have spoken telepathically but this was disrespectful in front of the Sect Leader. And he soon started speaking.


    "I know that some of you may be wondering why Spirit Master Xiao is among us. I also know that some of you have been distressed by the threat of demonic cultivators invading our Wubei Sect. By now, you should have realized that this was the initial reason why Spirit Master Xiao joined us.


    "Sadly, the threat is still alive and even stronger than we initially thought possible. As such, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute has agreed to let Spirit Master Xiao stay among us for as long as necessary. Given the nature of her presence, I decided to grant her all the privileges of a chief elder. She is the most talented alchemist in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Her spiritual senses are the most developed and she even succeeded in forging a legendary pill. I''d like to hear my chief elders'' opinions."


    As one, they all bowed down. "We salute the sage decision of the Sect Leader."


    Then, they bowed down once more. "We welcome Spirit Waster Xiao in our esteemed Wubei Sect."


    Just like the Sect Leader, they referred to her as ''Spirit Master''. Insisting on it reminded everyone that mankind was slowly walking out of the Forsaken Dao Era. This was a powerful symbol for everyone here. The idea that once forgotten pills could be refined again opened the idea that the higher stages of cultivation could be reached once more.


    In turn, she bowed down and thanked Sect Leader Xuan and the chief elders.


    "I promise to serve the prestigious Wubei Sect and its long history as best as I can."


    "Good! With our young disciples becoming stronger and Spirit Master Xiao refining a legendary pill, it seems like the future of our kind is bright indeed. However, in this bright future, there is also darkness. I won''t hide it any longer. Our sect is indeed under attack by demonic cultivators, stronger than anything we have ever seen. With the Forsaken Dao Era, many cultivators turned toward the Evil Path in search of greater power.


    "Those who betrayed their own kind for power are no different from the demons who mean to subjugate us all. Spirit Master Xiao will stay with us in the years to come. Unless we are confident that the threat is completely rooted out from our Wubei Sect, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute agreed to let her stay. But we''ll also need a powerful disciplinary pavilion. So let''s discuss the replacement of Bian Gui."


    The mere fact that Bian Gui was addressed by his name and not his former title showed what Sect Leader Xuan thought of him.


    "Chief Elder Luoming?"


    "Yes, Sect Leader."


    "I heard great things about your work in the disciplinary pavilion. I understand that you''re still reorganizing it. How long do you think you''ll need?"


    "Sect Leader. This is hard to say, but it will at least take several months."


    "Then, this is official. You will become the new Chief Elder of the disciplinary pavilion. Your pavilion must give everything she needs to Spirit Master Xiao during her investigation. I''ll also give you full authority to choose among your elders someone to replace you in the art pavilion."


    Chief Elder Luoming stayed quiet for a few moments and everyone sympathized with him. However, no one tried to save him. It was better that all this work fell on someone else than them. Unable to refuse a direct order from the Sect Leader himself, Chief Elder Luoming bowed down and accepted.


    "I understand, Sect Leader. Even though I''m not very confident in my abilities, I think that the disciplinary pavilion is up to the task." Chief Elder Luoming turned toward Xiao Xuefeng. "Spirit Master Xiao, no matter what you ask, we''ll try our best to help you."


    "Fine! The demons are active at our borders and the Emperor is busy organizing our defenses. At the same time, the demonic cultivators are active within our borders and it is our duty to root out every last one of these traitors. Finally, we have young people who give hope to our Hongchen Kingdom. In time, they will outgrow the older generation. But we must still protect them until they can fend off for themselves. Remember our ancestor''s teachings! ''Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!''.


    "What do you think about our current disciples? It is a pity that we''re losing Chan Weifeng and Long Jian. But their prestige will still rain down on our sect. And I am sure that they will bring immense glory to our kind. I also heard great things about Chen Guo, Mei Hua and Sun Liao. What is your opinion on them?"

 Chapter 144: Reviewing the entire year

    The first one to answer the question was Chief Elder Xiaoci. As a member of the inner chief elders, he had never met Cao Yun directly. However, he was the direct superior of Chief Instructor Peng. As such, he had gathered many reports about Cao Yun and his training progress, including the private sessions with Chief Instructor Peng.


    "Chen Guo is extremely impressive. He even started practicing our ''The Snake Invades the Shell''. If everything goes on like this, he should be able to break through to Mortal Warrior during his fourth year. In fact, if he''s lucky in the Ancients Ruins, he will probably reach this realm before his fourth year."


    Then, Chief Elder Suxian stood up. Just like Chief Elder Xiaoci, he bowed and spoke while facing the aisle and not the throne.


    "And he''s also impressive in term of mind cultivation. I am certain that he knew nothing about array formations. However, in a year his rank reached 5-star Earth. Unfortunately, he''s more concerned about martial arts. Otherwise he could probably rival my direct disciple."


    After him, Chief Elder Baishen spoke in the same manner. Truly, this meeting was exhausting due to all the protocols to respect.


    "Indeed, his martial arts are extraordinary. From what I hear from my brothers and from Spirit Master Xiao, this incredible progress is mainly due to his mind cultivation. I do believe that he should be able to push the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' to its limits, and beyond. You know that my judgment is always spot-on in terms of martial arts. But I have to admit that even I don''t know what his limits will be. We have to nurture such a talent."


    After all these praises, Sect Leader Xuan spoke again.


    "Spirit Master Xiao, I also heard that he was the student of Instructor Meng. Apparently, his achievements in alchemy are as good as in the other domains, right? You seem to have a good relationship with him. What do you think? Will he stay with our sect in the future?"


    While the other chief elders had all sat down, Xiao Xuefeng stood up.


    "Sect Leader, I only met him this year. But I can tell you that he won''t forget the benefits we provide to him. Concerning his future in the sect, I won''t talk in his stead. But I do believe that he could be persuaded to stay with us. His goals do align with the precepts of our Wubei Sect." It was strange both for her and the other chief elders when she referred to the Wubei Sect as being hers as well. However, for the foreseeable future, it would be the case.


    Not wanting to expose Cao Yun''s goal to eliminate demonic cultivators, she still hinted at it. Of course, the Sect Leader understood the meaning behind her words. Even though she had used all her influence to hide Cao Yun''s real identity, she knew well enough that she couldn''t completely fool Sect Leader Xuan.


    "Thank you, Spirit Master Xiao. Then, I will relay my orders. Chen Guo must be valued by our Wubei Sect. As he will enter his second year, he will probably leave the Heidai Peak to train outside. Even though there is some danger to it, it will be necessary for his growth. I''m confident that Spirit Master Xiao gave him some means to defend himself. Concerning the other chief elders, you must treat him with fairness, but it is also important to value him for our future."


    All the chief elders bowed and accepted the orders.


    "Then, I''d like to talk about his friends. First is Mei Hua, your direct disciple Spirit Master Xiao. After the incident with her little sister, how is her vision of our Wubei Sect? I fear that such an alchemy prodigy would be tempted to join the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. This would probably be good for your sisters, but I have to admit that our Wubei Sect lacks in alchemists... What is your opinion?"


    "Sect Leader, my disciple does not blame the sect for the acts of Luduo Bu, neither for the treatment of the matter by Bian Gui. However, it did have some impact on her. Moreover, she seems to be in a slump due to the disparity between her achievements in alchemy and her cultivation level. Unless she reaches Mortal Warrior, there is nothing more for her to learn right now in the Earth rank.


    "I will encourage her to leave the sect with her friends so that she may get more experience in real life situations. But I have to admit that I''m not that confident about that. She''s a bit too attached to her little sister and this story woke up past scars. Concerning her future, right now I can''t be absolute on her choices. I won''t sugarcoat it. Of course, she would be a great recruit for my institute, but I do not think that she''s entirely sure of her future herself. She came here just to follow me, without any conviction."


    "Then, we should nurture her until she can make up her own mind. Even if this young prodigy leaves us in the end, she will be a great help in the future. Maybe, she can become a spirit master. I heard your institute also had an incredible talent called Feng Yingyue, related to Chen Guo as well. The more I hear, the more extraordinary this boy seems...


    "Speaking of him and his friends, Chief Elder Suxian, what about Sun Liao?"


    Xiao Xuefeng sat down and Chief Elder Suxian stood and bowed.


    "Sect Leader, my disciple has reached the pinnacle of the 5-star Earth rank. Just like Spirit Master Xiao''s disciple, unless he reaches Mortal Warrior, he won''t progress much in his occupation. However, I do not think that he will join our sect. His family is very influential and produced many prodigies in array formations. Most likely, he will join back with them.


    "But I have to add that his behavior changed a lot thanks to Chen Guo. And I am thoroughly convinced that they will stay friends. As such, if we can secure Chen Guo in our sect, I do believe that we''ll have more tight ties with Sun Liao and the Sun family. There is no way that Sun Liao won''t inherit the full authority of the Sun family. If we have such a close friend to him with us, our relation with this powerful family will be greatly strengthened.


    "Moreover, if I might add, this Chen Guo has also strong ties with Mei Hua and her younger sister. If we can secure him, we''ll also gain a strong relation with this alchemy prodigy. And without wanting to expose any secret of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, this Chen Guo seems to be Feng Yingyue''s Dao companion."This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Many chief elders had thoroughly investigated the great talents of this year, but this piece of information was news to most of them. Indeed, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute wasn''t keen to let this kind of rumor prosper, especially because it was true.


    "Indeed, I did hear about this. It seems like we really have to attract this Chen Guo. Not only can we strengthen ourselves, we''ll also improve our relationship with both the Sun family and the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. If Chief Elder Suxian believes this Sun Liao can become the future head of the Sun family, that must be so. Even if the current head is still less than a thousand years old, if this Sun Liao is as extraordinary as you say, he won''t be late to take his place. The Sun family has always valued array formations above all else.


    "But I also heard about one last of his friends, Ren Chao. Chief Elder Tingyu, I do believe that he practices your occupation, right?"


    The man who stood up had a very large and dense beard that was beautifully sculpted. However his head was completely bald and he also had two long eyebrows falling on both sides of his face. Despite his uniform, he was visibly way more muscular than anyone here. Most blacksmiths were in that situation as they were training their bodies much more than any other cultivator.


    "Sect Leader, I must admit that I totally missed him when the year started. His physique was impressive but he was too lacking in terms of knowledge and perception. However, he grew a lot during this year. Apparently, Chen Guo shared some pointers with him and his rivalry with Sun Liao pushed him farther and farther. Once again, I admit my mistake. I never thought it possible, but he has reached the 5-star Earth rank.


    "Even though he has some strange ideas about the way his creations must look or be called, his talent is limitless. His personality is also absolutely frank and honest, like all my blacksmiths. Thus he will always be loyal to his friends, among whom is Chen Guo. Concerning his future, he will probably want to help his family. His father is a blacksmith in a small town, a commoner. If our Wubei Sect can help his family, he may stay in our midst after his fifth year."


    It was obvious that Chief Elder Tingyu was hesitating about something else. Before the Sect Leader enjoined him to talk, he did.


    "And I may be wrong... but I do believe that this Ren Chao has a Golden Silk Body."


    All heads turned toward Chief Elder Tingyu. Even the tone of Sect Leader Xuan changed.


    "How confident of this are you?"


    "Right now, he''s able to produce more than twenty-one thousand dan of strength. And his cultivation is still 5th-grade Mortal."


    A 5th-grade Mortal should only be able to produce around twenty dan of strength, while twenty thousand dan of strength belonged to the realm of Mortal Warriors.


    "I understand your reasoning. But until he reaches higher grades, we won''t be able to know for sure. However, even if he doesn''t have a Golden Silk Body, his physique is clearly exceptional. I will not impede on your freedom, but did you think about making him your direct disciple?"


    "Sect Leader, I did think about it. I have to admit that I feel bad for failing to nurture him myself. Without Chen Guo''s advice, his bright future would have been bleak because of me. I do not feel like I deserve such a disciple."


    "This is a great lesson for all of you. ''Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!'' is not just a nice idea, this is the truth. Every single disciple must be properly nurtured, because they can all produce unsuspecting results. Chief Elder Tingyu, do not blame yourself too much. You failed to see his talent, but you can still make it up by allowing him to grow faster and farther. I know that you''ll be a great master."


    "Thank you, Sect Leader."


    "Finally, I''d like to speak about the other first-years."


    The meeting kept on going. They reviewed every one of the new disciples. They also talked rapidly about the candidates that were going to attempt the entrance examination this year.


    After that, they talked about the second-years and the prospects they had in the Ancient Ruins according to the chief elders. Two of them were particularly interesting, Zhi Yin and Long Huafang. Both were very talented. Some chief elders were even wondering whether Zhi Yin would be able to break through to Mortal Warrior. She had two small realms to cross over. This was maybe a bit too much, but she would be very close to it by the end of the year.


    Long Huafang was also incredible and could reach either late 8th-grade Mortal or maybe even early 9th-grade Mortal. When they talked about her, the chief elders couldn''t stop themselves from comparing her to her older brother Long Jian. In fact, it was possible that she may exceed his own record.


    Then, they talked about what they were expecting from the current third-years when they would leave the Ancient Ruins as fourth-years. And finally, they ended the meeting by talking about the fifth-years.


    "I have to admit that losing both Chan Wiefeng and Long Jian is a waste. But they will spread the fame of our Wubei Sect, especially Chan Weifeng who will show the might of our ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain'', Ancestor Wu''s martial art. And they will also benefit our kind. With them to protect the Sunmen Province, our borders are safe.


    "Then, I would like to talk about the future of our Wubei Sect."


    Just as he said these words, a powerful aura erupted from behind the bead curtains. Many array formations around the Sect Palace got activated and nothing could enter or leave it, not even spiritual senses.


    The meeting lasted for several more hours, as they discussed more sensitive matters. In particular, they talked about the demonic cultivators and their potential goal. Xiao Xuefeng also stated some doubts she had about their recent activities.


    -


    In the following days, Ren Chao got excited because he finally became the direct disciple of Chief Elder Tingyu. He was so excited he decided to celebrate it with a huge banquet where he invited Wang Mei, Cao Yun, Sun Liao and Mei Hua, as well as several other outer disciples he was acquainted with.


    The banquet was very nice. However, the sight of Ren Chao devouring entire boars was quite overbearing for some. This night was also the perfect occasion to end the year. As the night kept on going, this banquet attracted other first-years and even second-years. Ling Hui found it vulgar but when Zhi Yin joined in, she magically discovered how fun it was.


    Even Long Huafang came with her older brother. Surprisingly, it became a giant festival that lasted several days to officially end the year and congratulate the fifth-years as they were about to leave.


    For once, even Huang Cixi stopped being professional and joined in on the fun. Other servants also forgot about their rank and status. This was extremely joyous and the chief elders looked at it from afar. Technically, this should have been forbidden, but without Chief Elder Bian, no one had the heart to break up such a festival.


    However, there were consequences in the days after...


    Thankfully, the sect was mostly deserted. Indeed, it was necessary to prepare the departure of the second-years and the return of the third-years from the Ancient Ruins. There was also the matter of the new first-years. Right now, the candidates were being screened before they could attempt the entrance examination. And they also had to select the current first-years to spar with them at the end of the examination.

 Chapter 145: Official end of the first year

    Cao Yun woke up after the festivities. Even with his mind cultivation, he was a bit stumped. After all, they really did spend several days of eating, chatting and playing without any sleep. Any Mortal cultivator would be unable to function properly for a few days. However, Cao Yun merely slept for fifteen hours and he was good to go.


    Speaking of mind cultivation, he decided to cultivate the next Five Echoes Pearl from his Five Agents. This time, he had decided to energize his Chamber of Ultimate Truth. This chamber was related to understanding, knowledge and memory. Even though he wasn''t entirely sure of the actual effects of this chamber, he knew that it would increase his ability to study martial arts. As he was still somewhat at a bottleneck with his Heart Star, he had decided on this approach.


    Maybe the effects wouldn''t be as important as he could hope for. But after all the miracles from this ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', he sure was expecting a lot from the second layer. Just like the first Five Echoes Pearl, Cao Yun focused all of his Five Agents on a singular purpose and tried to extract a single drop of pure liquid in the center of their rotation. This was even more taxing on his mind than the first time. Clearly the concentration of energy within the Five Agents had increased. And as it was more dense, it required more mental strength to extract it.


    ''Climb the Nine Peaks'' would also train his Five Agents. Apparently, for each Five Echoes Pearl extracted, the characters would become denser in energy. Cao Yun had not yet noticed the difference, but it was obvious now that he was working on extracting the second drop. Each drop would probably take between two to three months, even more, to be extracted. The actual process to use the Five Echoes Pearl would only take an instant, but it was after months of hard work.


    After several hours, Cao Yun decided to observe his five current stars. Right now, he was partially making out the shape of a dragon. The Heart Star that was literally a pulsating red dot really looked like it was the heart of the beast. With the subtle movements of the stars, Cao Yun was imagining the movements of the beast. Then, he tried to visualize them in his own movements. However, it was still too difficult to control the ''Dragon''s Heart''.


    This technique consisted in accelerating his own Qi. As a result, this Qi would increase all his physical abilities. But, as a side-effect, it was increasingly more difficult to control, to the point that Cao Yun could easily let it accelerate too much. Once he lost control over the actual speed, the Qi could become a lethal weapon in his own body. Right now, he was fairly sure that he could keep it under control if he only increased his physical abilities by threefold. If he went beyond, he wasn''t sure of anything. Probably, he could still control it for an instant if he went to fourfold, but there was always a risk.


    Finally, Cao Yun reviewed his knowledge of alchemy and array formations. During the year, he had read many books that he fully memorized on the subject. But memorizing a book, understanding it and applying it in real life were three separate things. Thanks to his Chamber of Jade, he had realized that he was more innovative and creative in his reading. It didn''t really increase his ability to understand, but he was now able to imagine new approaches to old problems more easily.


    Sadly, he was still inferior to both Mei Hua and Sun Liao in their respective occupations. But, after all, they had spent years to master their crafts. There was no way, even with his mind cultivation, for Cao Yun to surpass them so fast. And as they were now also using the same mind cultivation, their craft would evolve even more and faster. But this was good news.


    Cao Yun trusted both of them and he didn''t really care about being the greatest genius of all. Maybe, the both of them could create another miracle just like Xiao Xuefeng. Maybe, thanks to his help, they would push further what humanity could do and this would also benefit him as well as everyone else.


    When he finally stopped, Cao Yun felt strange. Huang Cixi wasn''t around. The young servant was not in her room and everything had been cleaned up. Cao Yun became more and more worried. There was no trace of her at all. Then, he remembered that Elder Tang had addressed them during the festivities.


    As everyone was having fun, he had interrupted everything and asked for attention. Of course, no one was really paying great attention but Elder Tang himself didn''t care that much either. The informations he gave were not that important.


    In fact, Cao Yun was playing Go with Mei Hua at that point. And as he was thinking of several moves, his mind was distracted but he still remembered the words of Elder Tang.


    "In a few days, your first year will officially be over. As such, you will be asked to vacate your current residence for another. Indeed, the second-years can leave the sect and most of them don''t stay very long in the sect. It allows your servants to have more free time. As such, they can prepare to become full-fledged disciples sooner.


    "For this purpose, your servants will clear your rooms and prepare to move everything. Some disciples choose to stay in their own faction. If that is something you wish, just warn us in advance. The rooms we allocate to you do cost some points each month. If you prefer to live in your own faction residence, you will save up on points, just by a little bit, but still...


    "And as there will be more candidates and probably more new first-years in this year''s entrance examination, we''ll have to choose among you who will participate in the ''final test''. Some of you will fight several times, but we''ll take care of the organization so as to not exhaust you. You''ll also receive points depending on your performance. However, remember that the point of this final test is a sort of welcoming ceremony, do not bully your future juniors. I trust each and every one of you to stay fair and correct.


    "You may go back to your little party. I''ll send pamphlets into your rooms later. Dismissed!"


    And indeed, Cao Yun did find a small pamphlet on his desk. There was nothing more in it, just some details about everything Elder Tang had already said.


    Cao Yun should go ask the Heavenly Swallow Faction. He would probably spend most of his time outside during the upcoming year. As such, if he could optimize his points and give more free time to his servant, that was interesting. Since Zhi Yin and the other members would enter the Ancient Ruins, they wouldn''t occupy the residence for a single day. Thus, Cao Yun could probably set up his room inside the residence despite its small size. But he would still ask the faction leader. Besides, apart from Mei Hua and himself, there was no other member. Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether she would stay inside the sect or leave as frequently as he would.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Hence, Cao Yun went toward the Heavenly Swallow Faction.


    -


    When he reached the small residence, he saw that Zhao Fei and Zhao Lin were training in the courtyard. It was very rare to see them active within the sect. Most of the year, they stayed outside or only came back for a few days at a time.


    "Brother Chen!" Zhao Fei got distracted when he saw Cao Yun and took a punch right in the mouth by his sister.


    "Oh? Sorry..." Rubbing his bloody mouth, Zhao Fei caught the hand his sister extended to him. She helped him up and also welcomed Cao Yun.


    "You''re here about your lodging?"


    "Indeed, is Faction Leader Zhi here?"


    Still with a bloody mouth, Zhao Fei answered. "Of course, she''s getting everything in order. There is always a lot of paperwork. Thankfully, the disciplinary pavilion is more flexible as of now. And the paperwork seems to be less of a hassle with Chief Elder Luoming. That''s partly thanks to you, in fact."


    "Your friends are also in there."


    "Friends?" Apart from Mei Hua, there was no reason for his other friends to come by.


    "Ren Chao and Sun Liao. You should go inside."


    As the two siblings went back to their training, Cao Yun knocked on the front door. Just after his knock, Ling Hui opened the door. Apparently, their servants were also otherwise busy.


    "Oh? It''s you..." Since his fight during the end of the year, Ling Hui was a bit more reserved around him. Maybe she had finally acknowledged his talent. In her eyes, only Zhi Yin was the most talented of all, but Cao Yun had somehow disturbed this natural order. "Fairy Zhi was expecting you. Don''t make her wait! Come in!"


    Well, she was still commandeering when it came to her idol.


    When he finally got inside, Cao Yun saw Ren Chao and Sun Liao sitting on one end of a table and Mei Hua and Zhi Yin on the other end. There was another seat ready for him besides Mei Hua, but no seat for Ling Hui.


    "Fairy Zhi, Chen Guo is here."


    "Good, take a seat, don''t mind us. Sister Ling, you may go back to your training. It''s important to be as prepared as possible for the Ancient Ruins."


    "Yes, Faction Leader."


    Just like that, the obedient Ling Hui went outside and closed the door behind her. In the same time, Cao Yun took a seat next to Mei Hua.


    "Brother Chen." All three of his friends welcomed him and he gave them back their salute.


    Sun Liao was the first one to explain his presence.


    "You must be wondering what''s going on. It''s simple, we''ve both decided to join the Heavenly Swallow Faction. It turns out that I have nothing to gain from the Enshrouding Temple Faction. After discussing with Brother Ren, neither did he from his Lake Turtle Faction."


    "Indeed. In the first place, you''ve helped me far more than my faction. When I was in a bad place, you''ve given me great advice. And now that Chief Elder Tingyu took me in as a direct disciple, I really won''t need my faction''s help, which I only received so little of to begin with."


    "So we talked, and we decided to buy off our membership and join your sect. With your pills in the Wubei Merit Market and your ability to leave the sect, we''ll make these points back in a matter of weeks."


    Mei Hua intervened. "And it will be a great way to help each other as well. If we''re all part of the same faction, it will be easier for us to work together outside of the sect. We won''t have to debate about whose accomplishment each hunt is as we''ll all share the rewards."


    Cao Yun was not expecting this at all. "So, you''re all decided to explore outside of the sect in the following year."


    "Brother Sun and I have both reached the maximum of what we can learn in our craft before becoming Mortal Warriors. I, myself, thought it would be a good idea to leave the safety of the sect." Mei Hua paused a bit. "And my master got rid of the last hesitation I had."


    Ren Chao also answered. "For one, I do have a lot to learn still. But getting first-hand experience in the field will be beneficial to my cultivation. I''ll also be able to discover more ingredients. Observing demonic beasts can also be helpful as most of them have natural weapons built in their bodies. And I''m sure that traveling with you all and being close to your expertise will greatly improve my views."


    Finally, Zhi Yin spoke.


    "And this will be greatly beneficial to you, Brother Chen. Sun Liao comes from a great family and he''s very good in terms of managing a business. He will be able to manage the faction in your stead. I''m sure you should be aware of this. But, after your fight, your fame has increased a lot within the disciples. The new disciples will obviously hear about you. It''s also possible that some of the older disciples may want to join our faction as well, thanks to your reputation.


    "Without Sun Liao''s help, it would be very cumbersome to deal with all of this. But if you work with him and Mei Hua, all of this administrative aspect will be a breeze. Especially since all the changes within the disciplinary pavilion.


    "As you should know, during the first week of the new year, the current second-years will be brought inside the Ancient Ruins at the same time as the third-years come out of it. We all decided that we won''t assist at the final test and we''ll focus on preparing our departure. No one knows much about the Ancient Ruins. This is one of the biggest taboo of the Wubei Sect.


    "Even older disciple from the Wubei Sect never talk about it as it''s the most guarded secret of our sect. Even the Imperial City would punish anyone who would spread rumors about those ruins. However, it is clear that many benefits can be obtained in that place. Some people have even been able to cross over two cultivation grades. With enough chance, I may even be able to reach Mortal Warrior.


    "I have to admit I''m not that optimistic, but I do hope that I''ll get as close to it as possible."


    The group kept on talking for several hours as they were drinking their tea. There were many things to settle in order to reorganize the faction. And as Zhi Yin would not be available for a long time, it was important to take care of it quickly. Indeed, this was her faction, and even though she would be away for the entire year, she would still be in charge the last two years. She had built and kept this faction alive through many hardships.


    Thus, Cao Yun would feel bad if he completely changed her faction into something she wouldn''t like.


    They spent a lot of time on the matter of new disciples. Cao Yun quite insisted on contingencies. Since there were many demonic cultivators around the sect, he was worried that some of them would invade their faction as well. Even if they got in without having practiced any demonic art, they could still be agent of the demonic cultivators.


    In fact, they could also get turned, just like Luduo Bu or Lu Meihan. Xiao Xuefeng herself could not be completely sure whether someone was a demonic cultivator as long as they had not practiced demonic arts to a sufficient extent.

 Chapter 146: Dysfunctional blood seal

    Huang Cixi was outside of the Wubei Sect with several servants of her family. With them were also Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder Yisheng. This was the only pavilion that was outside of the Wubei Sect, beyond the Shell Gate. Indeed, they were in the courtyard of the demonic beasts pavilion.


    In the Hongchen Kingdom, the rarest occupation was beast tamer. Demonic beasts were seen with fear and defiance for the most part. However, some of them were appreciated or even revered as sacred or holy. For example, the Mountain Fenghuang was one of those demonic beasts. They rarely attacked humans and fed on other demonic beasts, or even directly from natural resources. Such demonic beasts were thus seen as very useful as they could hunt down more dangerous creatures.


    And as such, some humans had tried to tame those demonic beasts. Hence were born the beast tamers. However, it wasn''t as prestigious as alchemy, and taming even one demonic beast was extremely dangerous and difficult. This wasn''t because they were less aggressive than other demonic beasts that they would gladly by tamed by humans. In fact, most of the times, this wasn''t strictly speaking about taming a beast. Most relationships between beast tamers and demonic beasts were about mutual benefits.


    As this occupation was scarce, it had very few lineages and legacies. This caused it to be way less developed than other occupations. However, there had been attempt to improve on this. And this was one of the reasons why a demonic beasts pavilion had been founded around a thousand years ago. Chief Elder Yisheng was in charge of taking care of the very few demonic beasts kept by the Wubei Sect. His occupation was at the crossroads of medicine and alchemy.


    A beast tamer needed to have an extensive knowledge of demonic beasts of course. Not many physicians would be able to help them take care of their beasts. And they also had many techniques to promote the cultivation of their demonic beasts faster. This was the main way to tame a beast. If it realized that you could help it improve its cultivation, the beast would, in most cases, accept to serve you to a certain extent.


    Whiles they were discussing in the courtyard, a giant creature was being taken care of. The size of two elephants with its wings closed, it was a Blue Mane Falcon. This 9-core demonic beast would probably be able to defeat Xiao Xuefeng herself if they fought. With dark blue feathers on its body, it had very bright ones around its neck. It gave it a royal aura, like the mane of a lion. Its face gave off an aura of extreme intelligence. Even though it couldn''t speak, it could still understand human speech.


    This beast had served the Huang family for more than nine hundred years. Interestingly enough, it had formed a great bond with Huang Yi since he was just a child. This was one of many factors that had contributed to Huang Yi''s current position as family head. This Blue Mane Falcon was at the middle of its life and had yet to produce any offspring to serve the Huang family later on. The more powerful a demonic beast was, the more difficult it was to reproduce.


    Sadly, it had little hope to break through to the legendary Immortal Beast realm. But it was kept within the confines of the Huang residence in order to prepare it to achieve its next phase in its cultivation. The moment Huang Yi had heard about his granddaughter''s Qi deviation, he had personally asked the Blue Mane Falcon for help. Seeing how affected he was, the demonic beast gladly agreed. As it was a flying demonic beast, it had been faster than Xiao Xuefeng, crossing the distance from Baziyun City to the Wubei sect in around three weeks.


    Obviously, Huang Cixi had been warned but she kept it a secret to Cao Yun. However, she had decided to leave the sect and meet back with her grandfather. As the beast was tired from its flight, it stayed at the Wubei Sect, being taken care of by the servants from the Huang residence and Chief Elder Yisheng in person.


    Among the servants was also Huang Liyue. She was the personal bodyguard of Huang Yi. This woman was really intimidating with a fierce face marked by a deep scar on one of her eyes. Even though she was an 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, she had decided to never heal this wound as it meant a lot to her. Through alchemy it wouldn''t have been difficult at all. For hundreds of years, she had been the bodyguard of the current matriarch but had chosen to guard the new family head after the matriarch had decided to seclude herself.


    Many among the Huang family had tried to curry favor from Huang Liyue, seeing her as a great symbol. If a young lady from the Huang family was chosen by the former bodyguard of the matriarch, her position would be elevated of course. She could even be chosen as the next matriarch.


    It happened to be that Huang Cixi was now greatly interested in becoming the new matriarch. Before, she had thought about it, but she had been happy just being with her direct family. Now that this wasn''t possible, and that she had abandoned her vengeance, she was back to her political views. If she became matriarch, she could extend her influence over a huge part of the empire. And in time, she could maybe have influence over the Imperial City, one way or another. Through this power, she could finally have a real impact on everyone''s lives.


    Power for the sake of power meant nothing to her. But now that her cultivation had risen, she could vie for more political power and finally reach the influence she desired. The fact that she had consumed a legendary pill and developed a Pure Golden Dantian was secret. Even though Xiao Xuefeng''s deed was known through the entire kingdom, the name of the girl had been silenced. However, all the important people of her family knew about it, as well as many powerful figures in the Hongchen Kingdom. It gave her both an advantage and a weakness.


    If she were to stand out too much, her rivals would rapidly try to get rid of her. And she was still a bit too weak in her own family to be able to contend against them. Thus, Huang Cixi was feigning weakness. Even though the pill had cured her and repaired her Lower Dantian, she was still deeply affected by it and would need several years, if not decades, to fully recover from her injuries. At least, that would be the story until she was confident in her endeavor.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Huang Liyue rapidly used her spiritual senses and saw through her with no problem at all. However, being loyal to her grandfather, she said nothing about it.


    "Spirit Master Xiao, thank you for everything you''ve done for me." Huang Cixi handed her a letter. "Please, pass this letter to Chen Guo. I couldn''t tell it to him directly. I don''t know if we''ll meet again, but... we''ll see about this when it happens I guess."


    After playing this part for so long, Huang Cixi had still the air of a small servant to her. Consequently, Huang Liyue was even more severe than usual. Imagining that the current family head''s only family was this meek little girl did not bode well for the future. When she had agreed to come here, she also wanted to have a look at this girl she had heard so much about. How disappointed she was to find out such a frail girl, so sentimental and devoid of ambitions. This travel had been such a waste of her time.


    Nevertheless, she could meet with Spirit Master Xiao. Forming a good relationship with her was essential for the Huang family.


    "Spirit Master, our Huang family thanks you through me." She gestured some servants to bring out a wooden box. "Please, accept this insignificant token of appreciation from the Family Head."


    Without opening the box, Xiao Xuefeng analyzed its content. The box was really extravagant, even for Xiao Xuefeng. There were many rare ingredients and even a few recipes for legendary pills that she herself had thought long gone. Used to political gifts, she had the appropriate response.


    "This was but a small favor I gave to a friend of my disciple. And my Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute already gained a lot through the refinement process. I''ll humbly accept this gift and express your sincerity to Director Ge."


    Then, she sent a telepathic message to Huang Cixi.


    "I''ll also personally give your letter to Cao Yun. Unless you tell him yourself, I won''t divulge the whole truth yet. However, one day, you will definitely meet again as neither you nor he will be quiet in this Hongchen Kingdom. Carefully think about your future."


    Huang Liyue and Huang Cixi both bowed down and walked toward the Blue Mane Falcon. As it had served the Huang family for so long and with so much loyalty, this demonic beast was revered as though it was an elder of the Huang family. But he was still a demonic beast. On his back, this ''Elder Ying'' had a carriage big enough for a dozen of people. In total, there were only four servants and Huang Liyue. As such, there was plenty of room and the travel would be very enjoyable.


    Once everyone was on board, Chief Elder Yisheng made sure that the beast was free to move around and forbade all the other beasts to get near it. Elder Ying opened his large wings and became five or six times wider. Flapping them with great force, he slowly ascended in the sky. As Huang Cixi was seeing the Xubei Sect getting farther and farther, she also left behind her role of servant. Many memories came back to her. This year had been really eventful for her. But now a new chapter of her life was beginning.


    When she turned back, Huang Liyue saw something completely new in the girl''s eyes. All of a sudden, she was seeing an ancient beast that was bidding its time before devouring all of the world. Still confused, Huang Liyue got woken up by the girl''s firm voice.


    "Senior, I''m going to lift my blood seal. May you be kind enough to protect me?" Huang Cixi had recognized every servant here and she knew they were all absolutely loyal to her grandfather. As such, she wasn''t worried about exposing her real self. When she came back to her family, she would need to seem weak and defeated. But for now, she was finally free to be herself once more.


    "Of course." Lifting a blood seal should have been really easy. Of course, Huang Cixi had suffered from a serious injury, so Huang Liyue felt that it was natural for her to be anxious. But it lowered even more her esteem of the girl.


    The Huang family was known to have some of the blood of a legendary True Fiery Fenghuang. A proof of that was their pure white hair. Within the Huang family, the purity of one''s blood was a great indicator of talent. And Huang Cixi had a very pure blood. She focused her mind on her own heart and felt a small flame pulsating in her Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, the very center of her heart. This flame was weak and contained by some chains. However, she felt that only a small push with her blood could dissolve these chains completely.


    Strangely though, she was reluctant to do so. Although the flame seemed weak, Huang Cixi had felt that it had reacted with the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Unsure of what had happened, she was wondering what would be the effect of freeing this flame. In fact, this flame was a condensed drop of the True Fiery Fenghuang''s blood in her veins.


    By practicing ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'', a familial cultivation method, she had condensed this drop and was able to control it to an extent. Right now, she was feeling as though it was about to erupt and engulf her entire body. That was why she had asked for Huang Liyue''s help.


    Circulating the mind cultivation she had received from Cao Yun, Huang Cixi finally flooded her Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir with blood. The moment she did so, this flame became a powerful blaze. It completely engulfed her heart and traveled through her veins and arteries to spread through her entire body. She felt as though a dam had broken. There was still some medicinal essence from the pill that had been trapped within this drop of blood. This energy was so great that it almost caused her breakthrough right then. Fortunately, she controlled herself. Such a forceful breakthrough could damage her acupoints and her whole body.


    But by suppressing this energy, she realized that it was gathering in her own blood. She could feel that her own blood was evolving. Before, her blood had been deemed very pure, one of the purest from her family. But right now, she was convinced that she was on par with even the old monsters of her family that had been gone for millenniums. In her mind, she saw the vision of a bird as large as the sun. With its wings, it could cause droughts and fires across the entire world.


    As the bird screeched, Huang Liyue saw the effect of the seal being broken. Smoke came out of Huang Cixi as her body''s temperature rose rapidly. Her own clothes were almost ready to catch on fire. Acting quickly, Huang Liyue sent her Qi to protect the young girl''s clothing and skin from her own heat. Using her spiritual senses, she felt as though Huang Cixi was a monster from the ancient era. While the blood calmed down in her body, her hair turned as white as pure ash.


    And the moment she opened her eyes, all the servants, Huang Liyue included, got shocked. There was something primordial in her pupils. This glint quickly disappeared, but Huang Liyue felt as though her judgment of the girl had been way too hasty.


    Indeed, during the entire travel, seeing Huang Cixi cultivate her mind cultivation and her blood through ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'', she understood. This girl really was a monster. Even without her Pure Golden Dantian, she was talented. But with it, her progress was incredible. In less than two years, she would probably become a Mortal Warrior. Clearly, this girl had played a role. This thought convinced Huang Liyue that this little girl was the real deal. Bragging opponents were never a real threat, but the hidden blade was the one meant for killing.

 Chapter 147: Farewell letter

    The day of the final test was drawing increasingly near. In fact, the new recruits were right in the midst of the Eighteen Weapons Mechanical Puppet trial. Just like Cao Yun had done last year, they would have an entire week to try and understand a martial art of their choosing as thoroughly as they could. While many people were gossiping about any piece of news, Cao Yun wasn''t particularly interested in the trials. Elder Tang had sent word to him that he would probably fight only one candidate during the final test. Contrary to other first-years, Cao Yun wouldn''t fight several of them.


    The reason was simple, Cao Yun was probably unbeatable by anyone under Mortal Warrior. As such, he would only face the best of the candidates. Elder Tang had even insisted on the fact that he should hold back in the fight as it was just a way to welcome the new first-years. Of course, Cao Yun was not at all like Luduo Bu and he would not try to humiliate or crush a new first-year. However, there was no way he would lose. This wasn''t arrogance, but fact. Even though he couldn''t control it completely, his ''Dragon''s Heart'' was powerful enough to allow him to beat anyone who couldn''t manifest their Qi, both in terms of speed and strength. But he did not believe he would have to resort to him. Even if he had to, he would not as this was just some kind of exhibition, more so than an actual duel.


    Moreover, he was confident enough about his technique and his fighting sense.


    But these last couple of days, Cao Yun got increasingly more worried as he had no news about his servant. Because he had been busy with his moving into the Heavenly Swallow Faction residence, he had had no time to investigate about her. And just as he was about to ask about her, Xiao Xuefeng sent word to him.


    Kang Cai, the little servant of Xiao Xuefeng, came into his personal chambers. Cao Yun was surprised because she was now wearing the uniform of the Wubei Sect. Until now, he had always seen her in different clothes, probably the uniform of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Or perhaps, they were uniforms made specifically for Xiao Xuefeng''s servants. Right now, she was clothed as though she was a servant of the Wubei Sect.


    "Young Master Chen, my master asked me to serve you from now on."


    "What?" That was completely unexpected. Huang Cixi should still serve him. Wait! Maybe, with her increased cultivation, she was part of this year''s recruits. But then, why wouldn''t she say so? Quickly, Cao Yun decided not to try and make assumptions.


    "Where is Mei Yuzhi?"


    "Unfortunately, she left the Wubei Sect. Spirit Master Xiao would like to discuss it with you. Apparently, Mei Yuzhi wrote a letter to you and gave it to her."


    "Is she available right now?"


    "Indeed. I may lead you to her if you wish."


    "No need. I won''t trouble you for this. While I go to see her, you may use this space as you see fit." In the corner of the room, there was a wooden sliding door leading to another, smaller room. This was the quarter of the servant.


    "Thank you, Young Master. I''ll get right to it."


    After some more pleasantries, Cao Yun left Kang Cai alone and headed toward the alchemy pavilion to meet with Xiao Xuefeng. The moment he arrived, he met with Zhong Ling, the receptionist who had given him his first furnace.


    "Brother Chen, welcome. I''ll call Instructor Meng right away."


    "No need for that. I''m actually here to consult Spirit Master Xiao. Her servant came to me, so she should be expecting my visit, I imagine."


    "Oh?" The name of ''Spirit Master Xiao'' was now legendary among alchemists. Even before she succeeded in refining a Spirit pill, she was renown. But now, she was a goddess among mortals. "I''ll go find her myself."


    Zhong Ling was elated by this opportunity. In fact, she could have sent a servant, but she couldn''t stop herself from wanting to see Xiao Xuefeng. Every occasion to both be close to her and curry favor was a good occasion.


    After several minutes, she came back down with Xiao Xuefeng behind her. Both women were talking very friendly. No matter what her reputation was, Xiao Xuefeng was always extremely open with the younger alchemists.


    "Thank you for all these insights, Spirit Master. I can''t wait to try them out. You really are incredible!"


    "You''re praising me too much. I wasn''t the only one who refined the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Without Spirit Master Hua and the elders from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, I would have failed. So always remember this. We humans need to help each other as much as we can. This is true for cultivators and this is true for alchemists. If you stay isolated, you won''t amount to much. What help I gave you, give it back to your juniors when you rise through the grades."


    With sparkles in her eyes, Zhong Ling bowed. "Spirit Master is so wise and benevolent."


    "Chen Guo. I was waiting for you. I guess that you''ve met with Kang Cai, right?"


    Bowing to salute her, Cao Yun answered. "That is correct, Spirit Master. She told me that you had a letter from Mei Yuzhi."


    "Yes. Come with me."


    Contrary to what he thought, she didn''t take him into the Universe Engulfing Sparrow array formation. This meant that she didn''t want to tell him confidential informations. She wasn''t worried that some powerful Spirit Warrior would overhear them. Of course her office was also protected. The walls were lined with Void Nurtured Platinum, an extremely rare metal. In fact, even the entire Hongchen Kingdom only produced less than around three to four fen* a year. This metal was used as a way to block spiritual senses. If someone tried to expand his spiritual senses through this metal, they would sink into the ore and be consumed. Of course, you could still try to control your spiritual senses to resist the suction force. But unless you were very talented or your cultivation was high enough, this was more difficult the more Void Nurtured Platinum there was.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Moreover, this metal was also considered extremely beautiful and was used to make ornaments and jewelries as well.


    "First of all, I''ll tell you what happened to Mei Yuzhi." As she was speaking, a small letter flew from her desk and arrived into Cao Yun''s hands. "Mei Yuzhi is not her real name. I won''t tell you everything because some of it should be told by her in person. But I will tell you that she''s from a noble family. It''s not rare for nobles to be sent as servants and hide their lineage so as to avoid what they perceive as humiliation. When her family learned about her Qi deviation, they immediately wanted her back. But she still decided to stay by your side. However, she couldn''t put her departure off any longer. She will not come back to the Wubei Sect. Many matters need her attention in her own family. I hope you understand."


    Cao Yun was not that shocked. In fact, he had a small hunch that Mei Yuzhi was not an ordinary girl. With his mind cultivation, he was very perceptive and he had sensed several times that she wasn''t absolutely truthful about minor details. But as she was competent and loyal, he never questioned her. After all, he couldn''t blame someone if they wanted to hide their true identity.


    After hearing Xiao Xuefeng''s explanations, he opened the letter.


    "Young Master Chen,


    "I must apologize as I couldn''t speak with you in person. In truth, I don''t know if I could have found the strength to do it. So please, excuse my cowardice. This year has been extremely important to me. You''ve helped me several times and showed a great kindness to me. You even saved my life against Luduo Bu and you gave me a second life with the help of Spirit Master Xiao. Do not believe that I disregard any of it.


    "I swear that I will never forget everything that you did for me. However, I also realized that coming here was a mistake. You made me understand something that I already knew deep down. For several months I have been walking a wrong path. Some emotions were clouding my judgment. Paradoxically, my inner demons have allowed me to realize my mistake. But you also played a huge part in it. For that, I thank you sincerely. But this also means that I won''t be able to stay by your sides any longer...


    "I hope you can forgive my sudden departure. You gave me so much and yet I left you without a proper explanation. I''m sorry.


    "The truth is that Mei Yuzhi has never existed, either her name or her behavior. I joined the Wubei Sect under a false name to protect the honor of my family. All this year, I have been playing a role. Right now, I''m going back to my family. Do not worry about me, I am perfectly fine. Thanks to the Pure Golden Dantian, I''m even more than fine. And your mind cultivation is also incredible. No matter what happens in the future and how we meet back, I swear that I will repay this to you in some sort.


    "Truthfully, I also fear our next meeting. For there are things that I''ll have to express and I don''t know how you will react. In a way, I''m looking forward to this day, but in many other ways, I dread that day...


    "One last time, your little servant, Mei Yuzhi."


    Reading the letter several times, Cao Yun was able to perceive some things through the handwriting of Huang Cixi. For him, it was clear that she was sincere. However, he wasn''t entirely sure of what she meant in the last part of the letter. Actually, Cao Yun could never have figured out that Mei Yuzhi was in fact Huang Cixi. The first reason was because he had never met her. Even Feng Yingyue had not. But he still knew that all the members of the Huang family had pure white hair and he didn''t know about their blood seal. Indeed, this was a technique that was almost never used. The members of the Huang family had almost no reason to hide their identity considering the prestige of their name.


    Seeing that Cao Yun was done reading the letter, Xiao Xuefeng decided to talk to him about other matters.


    "I won''t elaborate more on what Mei Yuzhi told in her letter. There are things that she should talk to you in person. Considering your talent, you''ll clearly meet with her again in the future. To be honest, I have no idea how this will go... But I didn''t ask Kang Cai to invite you only for this. There is also the matter of the upcoming year. In only a few days, you''ll be a second-year. And as such, I am sure that you''ll go outside. And Mei Hua should have already told you that she wanted to do so as well."


    "Indeed, I talked with her about it."


    "Fine." Xiao Xuefeng kept talking but while she did so, she sent a telepathic message to Cao Yun.


    "I racked my brain for weeks. But the truth is, I don''t see a nice way to protect your identity. Initially, I thought about a mask to protect you from spiritual senses with some Void Nurtured Platinum. But the use of a mask would only increase everyone''s suspicions about you. And any Spirit warrior who would feel Void Nurtured Platinum in your mask, could just tear it off with no problem.


    "Thus, the only thing I can tell you is to be incredibly careful. I used all of my contacts within the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to make sure that your identity was solid. Even if someone recognizes you, the Myriad Hall''s reputation should be enough to instill some doubts in them. But demonic cultivators may try to kill you. Well, to be fair, just what you did for our Wubei Sect may warrant their attention anyway. So I''ll warn you again. Do not hesitate to use my shielding charm, the Spirit Condensation Barrier. Just crush the small sphere and you should be protected from most Spirit Warriors.


    "In fact, if your opponent is powerful enough to go through it, there really was no hope to begin with."


    After her telepathic message was over, she continued to talk about more trivial matters.


    "I also wanted to add a few words about your alchemy. After many years, I finally convinced Meng Jia to break through to Spirit Warrior. Thus, he won''t be available for quite some time. As will I. All this matter with the demonic cultivators will keep me busy in the foreseeable future. Thankfully, you will travel with Mei Hua. If you have anything to ask, I''m sure she''ll be glad to help you. And being a teacher is also a great way to strengthen one''s understanding. So it will also be beneficial for her.


    "About Mei Hua, I just want to tell you that she''s still a bit shaken about her little sister. For several years now, they have never been separated, due to events I prefer not to divulge, related to their family. I''m sure you understand. Leaving her behind for several days or weeks may be hard on her. Even though her mind is strong, I know she won''t be overjoyed about this. Having to teach you will also allow her to take her mind off of it.


    "Finally, Meng Jia asked me to transmit a personal gift to you. It''s meant to celebrate your achievements all year long. I have no doubts that you''ve realized how competent he was, despite his propensity to slack off. The gift should already be in your new chambers, Kang Cai should have taken care of it by now. Even though I''ll be busy, do not hesitate to come and visit me.


    "Is there anything you''d like to add?"


    Still a bit stunned by the news of Huang Cixi''s departure, Cao Yun didn''t think of anything more to ask. Xiao Xuefeng had already told him so much, and done so much for him as well. With utmost sincerity, he bowed down.


    "Spirit Master, as I said several times, I''ll always be grateful for all your help. Do not worry about Mei Hua, I''ll treat both her and Mei Ying as though they were my kin. And, although I don''t know how yet, I will repay both you, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and the Wubei Sect for their generosity. So many people helped me here that I couldn''t live with myself if I failed them."


    Sensing a great honesty in his words and his attitude, Xiao Xuefeng was satisfied. She knew she had been right about him for a long time. But she couldn''t imagine how right she had been.


    * 1 fen = 373 mg

 Chapter 148: Final test II

    When Cao Yun finally came back to his chamber, everything had changed. Kang Cai sure had been hard at work. It almost looked exactly like his old room in the first-years residence. But somehow, it felt warmer. And when he inspected the room, he heard the slow breathing of the young girl. Apparently, she was sleeping in the middle of the day. Clearly, she had worked extremely hard. Cao Yun remembered Huang Cixi and her attitude. Considering that she was of noble birth, her demeanor probably was an act all along.


    However, Cao Yun felt that she had still been honest with him about what really mattered. He didn''t feel betrayed. From reading the letter, he had understood that she was afraid to look like someone who had used him to obtain benefits, among which was the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Anyway, all these thoughts were not necessary. When he would meet her again, he would have all the time to talk about their time together and meet the real Huang Cixi behind the mask. Of course, he still didn''t know her actual name and he kept referring to her as Mei Yuzhi.


    Then he recalled Xiao Xuefeng''s words about Meng Jia. Looking through the room, he quickly understood her. His old furnace and cauldron were stored in a corner of the room. And where they should have been set up, there were brand-new tools. The new furnace looked like a very small flattened desk. No trace or mark was visible on it and there were many engravings of trees and fiery birds. On the top of the furnace, there were spots to put the cauldron, but also specific spots to store various powders and a place where you could prepare the ingredients. And of course, there was a cauldron.


    With three decorated legs and two handles, the cauldron was standing tall over the furnace. Just like this first tool, the cauldron was expertly engraved and decorated. The lid itself was a beautiful sculpture of a sort of lion with fire as a mane. When put together, the two artifacts were perfect.


    Cao Yun found a note on the furnace. "Life Burning Tree and Roaring Scorched Land - 1-star Heaven."


    Such a gift was extravagant! Cao Yun was barely able to make Perfect 5-star Earth pills. Obviously, he had done so in order to reach his current rank. But he had only managed to do it with the simplest of pills. Having such tools for his alchemy seemed really overkill. That was when he remembered one of the criticisms he had received from Xiao Xuefeng back then. He used to always reject gift before accepting them. This time, he would gladly accept it and thank his instructor after his successful breakthrough. Cao Yun refused to believe that Meng Jia could fail.


    For the rest of the day, Cao Yun worked on this set of Life Burning Tree and Roaring Scorched Land. He tried many refinements and was overjoyed with the quality of the tools. The flame was way more stable and was easier to adjust. Its heat was conducted with more precision and even without spiritual senses, he was able to control which spot it was heating more. In addition, the cauldron gathered the medicinal essence with more ease while purifying the toxins. Working with these tools was really twice the result for half the effort.


    -


    At last, the final day of the entrance examination was approaching. Just like last year, the new recruits would fight against the current first-years in exhibition duels. Cao Yun was talking with Mei Hua, Sun Liao and Ren Chao. The current second-years were busy training and preparing themselves before their departure to the Ancient Ruins. Some of them were ready to go watch the show in order to have some relaxing time. But Zhi Yin had insisted on keeping training until the very last moment. After two years of hardships with her faction, she was determined to get as much as she could from this third year.


    Hence, Cao Yun and his friends already felt like they were second-years and leading this faction. Amidst some taunts between Sun Liao and Ren Chao, they all agreed on how to approach the potential recruits to their faction. During the first week, they had no right to approach them directly. However, it was obvious that some of them would then get in touch with them thanks to Cao Yun''s reputation. Of course, adding Mei Hua''s and Sun Liao''s names to his would increase the curiosity of the recruits.


    Their faction was not specialized in anything and they had less to offer than others. Thanks to the pills from Cao Yun and especially Mei Hua, they had quite enough for a few disciples. But they couldn''t sustain a very large faction. As such, they agreed, as they had previously discussed with Zhi Yin, they would be strict with the members they would accept. But their conditions would be very light. Zhi Yin''s goal was not to have the greatest faction of them all. What she wanted was a faction to allow some freedom to the disciples, away from the big ones.


    "By the way, Brother Ren, how is Mei Wang? You won''t see each other next year, and the following year neither. Why don''t you spend more time with her while you can?"


    Mei Hua''s question darkened Ren Chao''s face.


    "Well, the Coiling Silk Faction will be lead by someone else while she''s gone. So she needed time to organize everything. And just like Faction Leader Zhi, she needed to get ready and I didn''t want to disturb her. But it will indeed be hard...


    "My third year should be busy enough with the Ancient Ruins that I won''t be able to think about her. However, I don''t know what this second year will be like." Then, a huge smile replaced his darkened look.


    "Thankfully, I''ll be adventuring with Brother Chen. That should be enough to keep me happy. Of course, I''m not forgetting about Sister Mei. I hope we can have lots of fun all together."


    "Aren''t you forgetting someone, hammerhead?!"


    "Oh? Brother Sun wants to have fun with me as well? I thought this would be beneath you. But of course, with Long Huafang gone as well, you''ll feel lonely I guess."


    With a reddened face, Sun Liao stood up. "What has she to do with anything?! And who wants to have fun with you?! The only way you know how to have fun is eating until you burst and striking hot metal with your hammer!"


    "It''s better than staying shut inside your study all day long. If you don''t know how to have fun, I can teach you!"Stolen novel; please report.


    Once they were at it, it was impossible to stop them. Thus, neither Cao Yun nor Mei Hua tried. Moreover, it was obvious in their eyes that they quite liked to be in each other''s company.


    -


    The time had finally come. Several elders gathered the first-years and brought them toward the plaza where dueling platforms were. Just like the previous year, there were around two hundred disciples around the wooden platform. Most of them were first-years and second-years but some fourth-years and a few fifth-years were also there.


    After this event, they would all receive their new emblems and go up one year. But for now, they had their old emblems.


    Very soon after their arrival, Elder Tang brought the new recruits and lead them toward the wooden platform. This year, they were more than a hundred. Contrary to the previous year, much more people had been able to pass the entrance examination. However, there was no extraordinary prodigy. Last year, three of them had exceeded two hundred points. This year, only one recruit had done so, and he only had 201 points.


    His name was Liu Ang and he held his head high. Compared with the second ranked recruit, his results had been great. As such, he thought he was incredible. To be fair, he actually was very good, but not if he were to be compared with the elite of the Wubei Sect. This year''s recruits were more average. But this wasn''t too bad for the sect. As long as they had potential, there could always been hidden gems within the average recruits. After all, Ren Chao turned out to be very interesting for Chief Elder Tingyu even though he had discarded him as pretty much useless at first.


    And having enough recruits was also a good thing. Last year, they had only gotten fifty-seven first-years, that was rather alarming. Apparently they were making up for these numbers right now. Maybe, some candidates had waited one more year before trying the examination.


    Anyway, the final test began. Chief Elder Baishen was the one who stated the rules and presided over the final test this time.


    Cao Yun had been asked to only fight Liu Ang. However, almost all the other first-years had to fight twice. As such, their fights had been spaced out so that they could fight to their utmost. Despite this disadvantage, not a single first-year lost a fight. Even Mei Hua who was not a great fighter was able to beat up the new recruits.


    Of course, no one went overboard. Even Ren Chao tried to control his physical strength. With a single blow from his hammer, without using any martial art, the mere wind he had pushed sent one disciple hurtling toward the ground. Ren Chao seemed a little embarrassed. Just after him, Sun Liao went on the platform with his bow.


    Shaking his head after the poor sportsmanship of his friend, he walked on the platform and was faced with a burly fellow.


    "You''re going to fight me with a bow?! On such a small platform, how can you hope to win? Don''t you have a real weapon?"


    From the ground, Ren Chao used this chance.


    "Yeah. If you''re a man fight with a hammer!"


    Once again, some wondered whether Ren Chao was fighting with a mace or with a blacksmith''s hammer. But hearing his friend, Sun Liao''s face darkened.


    "Do not worry, Junior. I won''t hurt you despite your nasty mouth."


    As soon as the fight began, Sun Liao drew an arrow and shot immediately without letting his opponent show any move. "The winged Longma pulls". A large arrow flew through the air and collided with the man''s weapon when he tried to block. However, the shock was way more intense than what he had expected and he was sent flying from the platform.


    When he stepped down, Sun Liao was confronted by Ren Chao.


    "Brother Sun, don''t you think you went too far? We''re supposed to be welcoming them here. This poor dude couldn''t even show one move..."


    "Don''t you dare...."


    "What?! During my fight, this was an accident. But you clearly tried to take him down because of his comment. You''re so petty."


    Unlike Cao Yun, Mei Hua had to stay down here and bear with their comedy routine. In the meantime, Cao Yun was walking on the platform. In front of him was Liu Ang. The boy was probably fifteen or maybe a bit over fourteen. However, he was an early 5th-grade Mortal. His cultivation had just stabilized a few days ago during the entrance examination. In fact, he had broken through just a week before the actual examination. Just like Sun Liao, he was coming from a noble family but he wasn''t as arrogant. The moment he saw Cao Yun, he felt as though he was faced with an unbeatable foe.


    Nonetheless, he decided to fight with everything he had.


    Liu Ang and Cao Yun both bowed politely and grabbed their weapons. Cao Yun had left his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' in his chamber and was fighting with a training weapon. Faced with his spear, Liu Ang had chosen a pair of hook swords. The martial art he had trained with was ''Dance of the Jingwei Talons''. Just like ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'', this martial art was based around wind which derived from the Wood element.


    As the fight started, Liu Ang did not hesitate one instant, ''Sweep the Ocean Away''. Both his hook swords got hooked into one another and he used them as a whip to reach his opponent despite having less range with his weapons. As they flew through the air, the blades caused a wave of wind to go toward Cao Yun.


    Cao Yun decided not to use any martial art for now. It wasn''t arrogance. He just wanted to train his basics. As he was figuring out how to control his latest technique, Cao Yun had understood that the basics were even more important than he had thought.


    By stepping backward, he gave himself a bit more time to strike with his spear. Targeting the exact point where the two swords met one other, he completely canceled the attack. The wind crumbled just before reaching him. Right there, Cao Yun could have won by pressing his attack. However, this wasn''t the point of this fight, and he was curious to see what the boy could do.


    ''Talons Assaulting the River''. Sensing that Cao Yun was letting him exhibit his techniques without ulterior motive, Liu Ang became more trusting. His swords danced in the air and slashed toward Cao Yun. Each time an attack came toward him, Cao Yun evaded at the last moment with as few movements as necessary.


    They kept on dancing for several minutes. In fact, there was no ferocity in this fight. However, it was clear to everyone that those attacks were indeed fierce. If Cao Yun were to take one of the attacks without any martial art to defend himself, he would be deeply cut despite the disparity in cultivations. Of course, if Cao Yun had been an 8th-grade Mortal, then this would be different. The density of Wei Qi for someone who had started to open his acupoints was at another level.


    Finally, Cao Yun got heated up and decided to counter when he saw that Liu Ang had reached the pinnacle of his technique. All of Liu Ang''s momentum was out. Cao Yun stabbed with a direct spear but it was as fast as lightning. Even some weaker first-years failed to see the spear move.


    It didn''t prevent Liu Ang from feeling it. Even though he had not seen it with his eyes, he had very good instincts. ''Wings to Seize the Twig''. Both hook swords closed around the spear. But the moment, Liu Ang tried to disarm Cao Yun, the spear vibrated. This vibration traveled through his swords and into his hands.


    This was a watered-down version of ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. Liu Ang tried to resist but he was unable to hold for long. Very soon, he had to drop both of his swords. Despite his loss, he stayed graceful and bowed while congratulating his opponent.


    Cao Yun and Chief Elder Baishen had a great opinion of this boy. He wasn''t the strongest but he had very good intuition and his character seemed modest and ready to learn.

 Chapter 149: Preparing the first expedition

    Once the final test of this year was over, Cao Yun left the square and went back to the Heavenly Swallow Faction residence with Mei Hua, Ren Chao and Sun Liao. When they arrived, Zhi Yin and the older members of the faction were waiting for them.


    "We''re going to leave for the Ancient Ruins in a few hours." Zhi Yin took off her second-year emblem and handed it over to Cao Yun. "You''re officially second-years. The paperwork has been done way faster than last year. Apparently the disciplinary pavilion is way more efficient."


    Cao Yun took the emblem and replaced his own. So did all his friends. It happened that they had the same number of second-years and first-years in the faction. As such, they didn''t need to have any more emblem made.


    "I asked the disciplinary pavilion for a few emblems for the first-years. And I also asked for a couple of second-year emblems just in case." Zhi Yin looked at Sun Liao and Mei Hua. "I''ll trust you with the recruitment process while I''m away. This is not a problem if we don''t have many members as long as the faction stays true to my vision. When I founded it, I wanted a place in which disciples could train freely without the restrictions from the big factions."


    "Yes, Faction Leader." Both of them nodded. Cao Yun wasn''t really concerned about it. Thankfully, he had been able to delegate all administrative responsibilities to his friends. Just like Ren Chao, he didn''t care about this side of things at all. In fact, administration was something that he dreaded. The less paperwork he had to do, the happier he was.


    "You''d better not ruin Fairy Zhi''s faction. When I''m back from the Ancient Ruins, I''ll surely be way stronger. If you''ve wrecked the place, I won''t forgive you!" No one really paid attention to Ling Hui. Right now, she was the one with the weakest cultivation. In fact, she was quite aware of that fact. And seeing that her idol was soaring through the ranks and she was dangerously behind her, not even crossing to 6th-grade Mortal yet, she was panicking.


    "Sister Ling, I''m sure you''ll have a great harvest indeed. But cultivation and strength aren''t everything. Look at what happened to Lu Meihan. Never measure your worth through your cultivation or you risk your sanity. Just as Spirit Master Xiao said that day, your Dao Heart is your most important treasure!"


    Hearing the encouraging words from her fairy, Ling Hui smiled brightly and nodded. "I understand, Faction Leader."


    "Anyway, we don''t have much time. I just wanted to ask you. When are you going to leave?"


    "We''ll wait around ten days. The first week will be a great occasion to get ready. Then, I do believe we''ll have a few recruits, so it should take us a few days. In the worst case, we won''t delay our departure for more than two weeks. Otherwise, it will be way too long."


    "That''s a wise decision indeed. If you wait too long, you''ll risk being overtaken by new things and you''ll delay even more and more. By the way, Brother Chen, I know that you have individual training sessions with Chief Instructor Peng, right?"


    "That''s right. The results are incredible. I may even be able to break through to 8th-grade Mortal in two to three months. This is quite insane..."


    Hearing this, Ling Hui''s eyes popped out. Then, she lowered her head. Of course, Zhi Yin saw it. This little girl was quite energetic and somewhat rude at times. But Zhi Yin was fond of her, also for her flaws. She decided to talk with her a bit more on their way to the Ancient Ruins. If she stayed in that state of mind, she wouldn''t progress too much. In fact, she could even miss out on some opportunities. However, she didn''t want to do so in front of everyone else because she knew Ling Hui''s character. She wouldn''t admit to any weakness in front of others.


    "Then, you should probably go see him today or tomorrow. After the entrance of the new first-years, he''ll be busy for a while. After all, he has to organize their entire training. It doesn''t look like it, but it''s a lot of work. He has to choose the perfect instructor for every disciple and discuss it with every single one of them. You should have realized by now but Chief Instructor Peng really values his work. When he decides to help train someone, he goes all out."


    "I understand, Faction Leader. I''ll go see him as soon as I can, thank you."


    Zhi Yin looked back at the residence. For the past couple of years, she had gone through many hardships just to keep this faction running. During her first year, she had lost hope several times. Thankfully, Ling Hui, Zhao Fei and Zhao Lin had always been there to support her. One last time, she examined every detail of the residence and carved them in her memory.


    Breathing deeply, she let go of her attachment to this place. This was just wood and stones. The real faction was the cultivators around her.


    "We''re off!"


    Just like that, Zhi Yin left with her group.


    -


    Cao Yun followed Zhi Yin''s advice and she had been right. Chief Instructor Peng was already a bit busy as he was studying the reports from the entrance examination. Choosing the right instructor for each disciple was of utmost importance. However, he still put his work aside to train Cao Yun.


    Cao Yun could feel that his meridians were reaching their peak. In fact, he could even feel some of his acupoints more accurately. Not only would he rapidly break through to 8th-grade Mortal. His next cultivation phase would also be smoother. The 8th-grade Mortal consisted in controlling all of his acupoints to open and close them at will. There were 361 vital points, or acupoints, in the human body. Right now, Cao Yun was feeling that at least twenty of them were reacting when he sent his intent around them.


    If he tried to open them right now, he could damage his body though. Indeed, if he opened them and let too much surrounding Qi inside without having tempered his meridians adequately, this Qi could injure him. The risks were low, but it would be stupid to take them.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Chief Instructor Peng was also rather pleased with Cao Yun''s progress.


    "I''ll be a lot busier for the next few weeks. But as you''ll be away from the sect, it won''t be much of a problem. However, we''ll have to schedule your next training session in more than five weeks. You should be back by then, right?"


    "If everything is going fine, yes. We''ll leave in less than two weeks. We''re only going to the Lunar Marsh so eight or nine days to travel to and back. I think, six weeks would be a safer schedule."


    "Fine. And maybe, you''ll have gained some insights. It''s indeed better to wait a bit after your return. Frankly, I think this will be our last session together. Your progress is very steady and you should be close to a breakthrough by that time. It''s even possible that you''ll do so during or right after our next session."


    Old reminiscing memories came back to Chief Instructor Peng and he chuckled a bit.


    "I remember when I broke through in the middle of... I probably shouldn''t talk about that." Clearing his throat, he quickly changed the subject.


    -


    During the entire week, Cao Yun spent a lot of time with his friends to prepare their adventure into the Lunar Marsh. As he was the only one who had traveled through the place, he explained everything he had seen there. Mei Hua and Sun Liao were particularly interested in it, especially Mei Hua.


    "Brother, it''s important that you tell me every detail of the plants and the beasts. No matter how many books I read, firsthand experience is always a great source of information. And I don''t think I''ll be able to refine any pill there, so I should get them ready before we go."


    Hearing this, Sun Liao winced.


    "Sister, what do you mean? You won''t be able to refine any pill there?"


    "Well... I can''t very well take my furnace and cauldron with me on the road."


    A sudden realization lit Sun Liao''s face. "Oh, I see... You shouldn''t get too worried about that. The Wubei Sect authorizes the rental of spatial tools to the factions. Every faction can rent one spatial tool at a time."


    "But none of us are Mortal Warriors, we can''t operate a spatial ring."


    Ren Chao who was a blacksmith had gotten very interested in spatial rings. But in addition to their scarcity, they could also only by operated by a Mortal Warrior. To store something inside of it, or take something outside of it, you had to send your Qi within the ring. Of course, you had to control it very carefully. In fact, even for Mortal Warriors, controlling a spatial ring was quite difficult unless they had a great perception. Only a Spirit Warrior could optimize his use of a spatial ring.


    "Brother, there are other spatial tools than spatial rings. In fact, the Wubei Sect has a few spatial pouches. Contrary to what you could imagine, they are in fact array formation plates. I know how to activate them without any problem. However, they''re not as efficient as a spatial ring. You can either put something inside or take everything out. You can''t really control what you take out. And of course, the space is limited.


    "Without these tools, harvesting materials would be a real hassle. And we can also bring important objects, just in case. Of course, getting them in and out all the time would be a pain. But I don''t think you intend to use your cauldron all the time."


    "I see... But it should still be a good idea to prepare as many pills as I can beforehand. With this spatial pouch though, we should be able to manage some unforeseen complications."


    "I''ll take care of renting it when we leave. After all, I''m the only one who can operate such an array formation to its full potential."


    "Wait! Then, you''ll be the one who will control all of our bounty?"


    "Brother, are you accusing me of trying to steal from the group?"


    "Of course I am!"


    Once more, Ren Chao and Sun Liao went at it. While they were arguing among each other, Cao Yun and Mei Hua kept on talking about the Lunar Marsh and what kind of pills they needed to prepare. They also prepared some to sell them at the Wubei Merit Market.


    Wen Zhu had left the Dragon''s Fire Faction, but their agreement had survived thanks to the new faction leader, Zhuge Si. Thanks to this, they had secured their merit points for the entire year.


    -


    The entire week passed by in a flash. The group became more and more united. Mei Hua and Sun Liao both worked alongside Cao Yun. Even though his knowledge of alchemy and array formations was way more superficial than theirs, he was able to bridge the gap between them. In fact, he acted kind of like a translator between the two of them. Both occupations had similar concepts but with different terms and vocabulary. Moreover, he was the one who knew the Lunar Marsh the most.


    Assisted with books on the matter, they all prepared everything they deemed necessary for their adventure. From memory, Cao Yun even drew a map that they compared with actual maps they had. There were some differences and Cao Yun had been able to point out spots where certain demonic beasts or plants and medicinal herbs were. He also pointed out where the demonic cultivators had settled their camp. It was obviously a huge point of interest for him.


    Unfortunately, Ren Chao felt left behind as he had nothing to bring to the group during this preparation phase. Hence, he focused on training his body. And, a rare thing for him, he also dedicated much of his time to his mind cultivation. After suffering for a period of doubts in his blacksmithing, Ren Chao had followed Cao Yun''s advice and he had found a new breath. Since then, he had realized how important someone''s mind was to his craft. Contrary to all his friends, he had a very poor perception. However, his will was above average. In fact, if he hadn''t lost in a stupid way, he could have bested Mei Hua and Cao Yun during the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion trial.


    The new trials made him think about it and he went back to this array formation to train. And, indeed, he had way better results.


    -


    Finally, the Heavenly Swallow Faction received many candidates. Mei Hua and Sun Liao took care of them. In the end, they accepted three second-years whom they both knew, as well as five first-years. Among these first-years was Liu Ang. He had been courted by both the Red Cliff Faction and the Northern Purple Cloud Faction. But Cao Yun had left such a impression on him that he couldn''t not join his faction, even though he wouldn''t see him that often.


    However, as there was still time, Cao Yun decided to spar with him under Chief Elder Baishen''s gaze. Both of them quite enjoyed it. Mei Ying who was observing the fight also got hooked and she went to spar with this new guy. Liu Ang was really charming and he looked extremely young. Even though he was two years older, he looked as young as she was.


    During Cao Yun''s absence, both of them would keep on training again and again. Although she was a servant, Chief Elder Baishen also got attached to the young girl, feeling a bit guilty about what had happened to her. But she would help her, out of interest and not pity. Indeed, Mei Ying was starting to show a real talent for martial arts.


    Seeing her younger sister back on a duel platform was painful for Mei Hua. However, she decided to respect her sister''s wishes. It reminded her of scenes from a past she would rather forget. Fortunately for her, her mind cultivation was very advanced and she could decide to stop having these thoughts. Besides she needed this peace to thoroughly prepare their adventure. Going into the Lunar Marsh was not a fun ride at all.


    During the day, the place was rather calm. But in the night, when the Yin was at its extreme, this place was full of dangers. Mei Hua even asked some pointers from her master who had gone there as well. At first, Mei Hua wanted to do it without her help, but she decided that this pride was misplaced. Xiao Xuefeng was quite happy to provide as much information as she could, as she was anxious about her disciple leaving her for several weeks.

 Chapter 150: Traveling back to the Lunar Marsh

    Finally the day came. After less than two weeks, Cao Yun, Ren Chao, Sun Liao and Mei Hua set out toward the Lunar Marsh. Everything had been prepared. Sun Liao had rented a spatial pouch. Just as he had said, this was an array formation plate. This was big enough to be held in both hands. Stylized, the plate looked like the starry sky and the constellations and stars were in fact the engravings of the formation itself.


    The knowledge to make spatial ring had not disappeared but no one under the Sage realm was able to use it. Thus, spatial rings were now very rare and only used by nobles and powerful cultivators. However, there were other spatial tools, less convenient, but easier to produce. One of those was the spatial pouch. Technically, it was a 2-star Heaven array formation called Sleeping Tao Tie. Of course, such an array formation could only be set up by the elite of the array formation masters. And to engrave it on a small plate, only a handful of them were able to do so successfully. The advantage was that the array formation could recharge itself through the surrounding Qi as long as you didn''t drain it too fast. And anyone with enough knowledge, could use a plate of such a grade.


    It wasn''t a Spirit array formation, so it didn''t have a spirit yet. But it was still imbued with the Qi of its maker and made its use easier for cultivators beneath the Mortal Warrior realm.


    This array formation sealed a part of space within the plate itself. But if the array formation was to fail, every object stored within the space would be crushed as this pocket dimension would collapse. As such, spatial pouches were also rather rare, even more so than spatial rings. After all, there were many spatial rings still working from the Founding Era and the Seven Treaties Era. These spatial pouches were mainly used by powerful families or sects to help their weaker members.


    Hunting without a spatial tool was always difficult. Trying to harvest the organs and parts of a demonic beast in the middle of the wild was dangerous. And carrying and transporting everything was also very inconvenient and dangerous. As they couldn''t make spatial rings, they decided to use this method. In fact, the spatial pouch Sun Liao was using had been forged by Chief Elder Suxian in person a few hundred years ago. Even he had to spend several months to forge only one plate.


    The group gathered in front of the Shell Gate. There were other exits, but it was symbolic for them. They had crossed this gate to join the Wubei Sect and for their first adventure outside, they would cross it again.


    Sun Liao had put several artifacts in the spatial pouch, such as a cauldron and a furnace. Discussing it over with Mei Hua, they decided to take Cao Yun''s old cauldron and furnace. There was always a risk when using a spatial pouch and going outside. They wouldn''t risk important tools. For a similar reason, they had to wear their weapons with them. Extracting something from the spatial pouch took some time. And no one could control what came out of it, either you took everything out or nothing at all.


    When the group met up, they were all wearing new robes. They were very similar to the one Chief Elder Baishen had had made for Cao Yun. As resistant as 5-star Human armors, they could resist the purely physical strength of a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. Of course, a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior would also be able to manifest his Qi and had other ways to fight than just physical strength.


    The robes were different for every one of them. They had been made specifically for them and were to their respective colors.


    Sun Liao was wearing a black robe with golden and crimson red linings. His emblem was a golden crow engulfed in a sun. His friend, the blacksmith Ren Chao was wearing a green robe with white and blue markings. And his emblem looked like a mix between a hammer and a mace with a head formed by several bulbous structures, somewhat like a flower. Finally, Mei Hua was wearing a white robe with light blue linings and a cauldron made of thorns as an emblem. She also wore several birds as a reminder of her master.


    They were also wearing the emblem of the Wubei Sect. Showing one''s sect was always a difficult dilemma. It could deter some cultivators but also attract the wrong kind of attention. Some bandits might get the idea of attacking young sect members to steal from them, or even kill them. With the threat of the demonic cultivators, this was even more true. However, not wearing it would not protect you. In fact, it could attract even more people thinking you weak.


    At least, this emblem would deter the weaker threats. And even without them, the higher threats would surely still be there.


    Cao Yun''s intentions were very clear and he had discussed them with his friends. First, they would climb down the mountains and train on some weaker demonic beasts to improve their teamwork. Of course, they had trained together, but a real fight was something different. Then, they would rest in Fulao City for a time. Finally, they would enter the Lunar Marsh and look for traces of demonic cultivators through Cao Yun''s memories.


    "Great! I can''t wait to break the bones of a ferocious beast with my hammer!" Ren Chao was absolutely fired up. These past few days, he really felt useless to the group as he couldn''t help them in any way. However, fighting demonic beasts was right up his alley.


    Sun Liao and Mei Hua were more calm but still thought that this course of action was perfect.


    As such, the group of four went into the mountains surrounding the Wubei Sect and took their time to climb down toward Fulao. Combined with their hunt, it took Cao Yun''s group a bit more than four days to climb down the mountains. They spent a lot of time on coordinating their attacks and learning more about each other''s moves and tactics.


    Even though Ren Chao was the one with the lowest cultivation, as he was still a 5th-grade Mortal, he lead the group. Indeed, he was physically stronger than even Cao Yun who was a 7th-grade Mortal. Of course, Cao Yun could use his ''Dragon''s Heart'' and increase his strength several folds. But this technique was still very dangerous. He had been trying to control it but was still lacking. Right now, he was able to go up to a threefold increase in his physical abilities for five or six breaths without losing control. He could probably push it to fourfold for just one breath, but he would risk losing control and hurting himself. Hurting oneself on the duel platform in the middle of the sect was of course different from doing so in the middle of the wild.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Right beside Ren Chao, Mei Hua was also walking in the front. From the group, she was the one with the most knowledge about plants and beasts thanks to her study of alchemy. Even Cao Yun did not know as much as she did. His perception was maybe a bit better, but not by much when it came to nature. Finally, Sun Liao was rather in the back as his weapon was a bow. However, his perception was also really good and he increased it with his compass.


    A compass could detect artificial array formations but also natural dangers as well. They would always leave traces in the surrounding Qi. Some times, Sun Liao was able to detect demonic beasts or even important or dangerous plants before Mei Hua. Some times, she detected them first. With the both of them, Cao Yun had almost nothing to do and the group did not walk into any trap.


    When the time came to fight, Ren Chao and Cao Yun were mostly taking care of things. Their weapons were really great together. Ren Chao could fight very close to his opponents while Cao Yun''s range was a bit longer. Then, Mei Hua with her rope dart could fight at a distance and Sun Liao from even farther. They mostly fought against 1-core and 2-core demonic beasts. For the 1-core demonic beasts, usually, Ren Chao only had to strike once with his hammer.


    At one time, they met a Red King Boar. This demonic beast was known for its incredible charge. Even though it only had two cores, at full speed it could generate more strength than a 3-core demonic beast. As the name indicated, this beast was a boar the size of a horse. Its back was extremely narrow and high, almost like a mountain range culminating in several peaks. With this back covered in red fur, the beast was as tall as some trees. Its face was full of anger with two prominent tusks. And behind it, there were four tails whipping the air. The shock waves from these tails produced frightening noises to chase away some predators.


    When it saw the group, the Red King Boar charged immediately. As everyone was screaming at Ren Chao to get out of its way, he stood his ground.


    ''Unbreakable Iron Bones''. Using his ''Lion''s Roar'' as a form of shield, he waited for the Red King Boar''s impact. With a powerful noise, the majestic tusks of the beast collided with the head of his hammer. Ren Chao did not move at all. The ground around his feet got dug a little though. With a profound scream, Ren Chao pushed back the beast. Even the Red King Boar was shocked by what had happened.


    ''Earth Crushing Charge''. Each step from Ren Chao was enough to shake the ground and left terrifying marks in the loose soil. However, the Red King Boar was as stubborn as Ren Chao. Instead of staying where it was or even escaping, it charged once again. At the moment of impact, the shock was so intense that the nearby trees fell down. As he was holding his hammer horizontally, both ends of Ren Chao''s weapon were blocked by the boar''s tusks.


    With all his strength, Ren Chao used his hammer as a lever. The head of the hammer bumped against the left tusk of the beast and Ren Chao flipped over the large beast on its right side to the ground. Astonished, the beast could not react at all. During the move, the tusk broke and the hammer got freed. Using his momentum, Ren Chao struck down.


    ''Shattering Palaces and Splitting Mountains''. The skull of the Red King Boar shattered in an instant, before it could even register what was going on.


    Panting heavily, Ren Chao picked up the broken tusk and turned back.


    "You see? Not even that monster can withstand my hammer! Ha ha ha ha!"


    Who was the monster exactly? Ren Chao''s strength was difficult to comprehend for the group. But it was great that Ren Chao was such a nice guy... Even Sun Liao had shivers down his spine. Without Cao Yun, he would have stayed Ren Chao''s enemy. One day, he may have tasted this hammer of his. He was even more thankful to Cao Yun right now.


    -


    By the time they reached Fulao, the group was able to perfectly fight together. For now, they had no battle formations, but their coordination was on point. As they all knew one another''s techniques, strengths and weaknesses, they were able to complement each other without any blunder.


    After these four days in the Heidai Peak, they finally reached Fulao. This was the city Cao Yun had stayed in when he first came to the Wubei Sect. Of course, they had learned about its fate, as it had been destroyed by Luduo Bu. No one knew what had happened exactly. Someone had erased all traces of the carnage, but it was not difficult to understand that Luduo Bu had slaughtered the population. However, even Xiao Xuefeng could find no clue in the ruins of the city.


    Seeing the desolation, the group was infuriated. Knowing about a carnage was one thing, seeing it with their own eyes was another. Ren Chao broke down some rocks with his hammer to calm down. While the other three displayed a calm face, Cao Yun and Mei Hua were reminiscing old memories. Of course, Cao Yun was seeing the massacre of his family, strengthening his determination to explore the Lunar Marsh.


    On her side, Mei Hua was having flashbacks from her infancy. To be accurate, she remembered what had happened to her father. It had been a turning point in her life, the day she had met Xiao Xuefeng and her father had died. These were memories she didn''t like to remember. However, she knew that she would have to, as one day, she would have to tell the truth to her younger sister. In fact, this was her greatest fear. Mei Hua''s greatest wish was to protect her sister as much as she could.


    But deep down, she knew she would soon be old enough to know the truth...


    The group didn''t stay for long in the ruins of the city. This step of their journey also served to rest and manage their time. Indeed, they didn''t want to enter the Lunar Marsh in the middle of the night when the Yin was at its greatest. The best course of action was to maximize their time during the Yang period of the day. The Pure Yang was at noon and the Pure Yin at midnight. As such, they decided to enter during the morning when the Yang slowly took over the Yin.


    As they traveled toward the Lunar Marsh, their trip reminded many memories to Cao Yun. It was as though he had traveled back in time when he first joined the Wubei Sect. He had literally left a scene of ruins and desolation, he had traveled through the woods in the mountains, and now he was going back to the Lunar Marsh.


    It wasn''t exactly the same, but it was very strange to relive these events slightly differently. Of course, he thought about Feng Yingyue, but also about his dead family, and even about his master for a day. Even though Cleansed Asura had only given him the Drop of Wrath and a knowledge he could, for the most part, not understand, he still considered him as his master. Without this disembodied voice, Cao Yun would have died with his family.


    Once more, Cao Yun strengthened his resolve. In the Lunar Marsh, it was unlikely, but there was a small possibility of finding clues about the Wolf Head Sect and the murder of his family. As of now, Cao Yun was not just trying to get revenge or justice, he was also trying to help all of mankind by getting rid of these traitors. And when he would get powerful enough, he would also try to help his master. Even if the only thing he could do was to bury him properly, he would do everything he could.

 Chapter 151: A trap in the tunnels

    The group finally entered into the Lunar Marsh. This place was really eerie. One moment they were walking through a nice green plain with a soft wind caressing their faces, the next moment, they were in a dead swamp. Cao Yun remembered this place perfectly. And yet, he felt as though it was even more dead and eerie than before. Maybe it was just his perception of the place that had changed.


    From what Cao Yun had read within the Wubei Sect, this place used to be an ordinary forest at the foot of the mountains. However, these mountains were also the northern frontiers of the Hongchen Kingdom. As such, they had known many battles until the time Ancestor Wu founded the Wubei Sect. Since this day, not a single demon dared attacking through these mountains. First of all, they were a difficult terrain to cross for weaker cultivators. But with the newly established Wubei Sect, trying to pass through here was suicide.


    All the deaths that had happened around the mountains had caused the Qi of the dead to linger. Despite Ancestor Wu''s efforts, it was impossible to get rid of it completely. Thus, he had the lingering Evil Qi pushed back. This way, the Heidai Peak was saved but the surroundings were plagued. Through the millenniums, the Evil Qi had slowly subsided but it had still seeped deep into the ground to the point that it had created this Lunar Marsh. In short, this really was a dead land. No wonder it was an extremely Yin place.


    Cao Yun guided the group through the Lunar Marsh. In order to help him, Mei Hua and Sun Liao stayed focused on their surroundings. No matter how well Cao Yun was remembering everything, nature was always changing. The plants and beasts he had encountered could very well have migrated. However, they found nothing dangerous at all. In fact, they found it suspicious. During the day, they only had to fight one Mirror Back Ancient Alligator.


    Once again, Ren Chao shocked everyone. With a single strike from his hammer, he felled the beast. The hardest part of a Mirror Back Ancient ALligator was obviously its back. In fact, it used its shining reflection to attract smaller beasts above the water and devour them. But with one strike, Ren Chao completely cracked the back of the beast. Blood splattered everywhere. In a desperate attempt, the Mirror Back Ancient Alligator tried to blow Ren Chao away with a whipping attack from its tail.


    ''Unbreakable Iron Bones''. The defense of Ren Chao was so strong that he did not budge at all. However, he still let out a small groan of pain.


    The body of a 2-core demonic beast was highly profitable to middle Mortal Warriors. Hence, while Ren Chao boasted about his strength, Sun Liao took several minutes to activate the spatial pouch. Putting one spirit stone in the center of the Sleeping Tao Tie array formation, a blue light shined below the plate. Sun Liao threw the plate over the dead body of the beast and the light engulfed it completely. In an instant, the body turned into particles of light and got sucked into the plate.


    Since he had felt so useless during the preparation of this journey, Ren Chao was extremely happy to show off his strength at every occasion.


    -


    As the group was walking by the places where the demonic cultivators used to cultivate the Embalming Lake Lotus Leaves, Cao Yun looked into the water. Apparently, there were no more lotuses. And there were no more corpses either. Seeing his intrigued face, Mei Hua answered his doubts.


    "Spirit Master Xiao had the bodies retrieved to offer them a proper burial. This Lunar Marsh has enough Evil Qi. There''s no need to add more to it."


    "I see... I hope they''ll have a better fate in their next life."


    When they walked by, the group showed respect to the dead. Even though it wasn''t rare for cultivators, especially vagrant cultivators, to die in the wild, imagining their bodies being used as fertilizer was even more unpleasant.


    Finally, as the night was slowly falling, the group had to find a place to set up their camp. Using his compass, Sun Liao tried to find the perfect spot and lead the group not too far from the cave where Cao Yun had killed the demonic cultivators. If they tried to go there, they would arrive in the middle of the night and this wasn''t such a good idea. Thus, they followed Sun Liao''s advice and decided to set up camp in the spot he had found.


    When they reached this point, they found the traces of a previous camp. It was very spartan, with a couple of tents. These tents were torn apart. All around the camp, there were traces of blood and fights. Some rocks and trees were still marked by lacerations and various signs of violent fights. However, there was no body at all. Clearly, some vagrant cultivators had come here to hunt, but they had been hunted instead.


    Before this scene, the group stayed quiet a while. Then, Ren Chao was the first to break the silence.


    "Brother Sun, are you sure this is a good spot to set up camp?"


    "Indeed. These vagrant cultivators just didn''t know how to set up an array formation. This place is perfect for a few defensive array formations that I know. This will only take the time to drink a cup of tea."


    As Sun Liao was using his compass to determine where he should set up his flags, the group looked through the camp. There was nothing of value left. Four weapons were still here, but they were 3-star Earth weapons.


    "Why did such weak cultivators come in this place? This was suicide for them!"


    "Brother Sun, you were born a noble so you can''t understand the life of commoners. Hunters know they can die at any moment, but hunting is their only way to make enough money and find the right ingredients to advance their cultivation. Even with the ''Universal Law of Immortality'', the cultivation path is difficult for us commoners."


    As he was born in a family of blacksmiths, Ren Chao had seen many hunters come by his father''s shop. Most of them had no other way to advance in their cultivation. Without external help, unless they were particularly talented, most would not be able to reach the Mortal Warrior realm before they turned 100. And then, they would probably never reach the Spirit Warrior realm. The ''Universal Law of Immortality'' had been created by Emperor Nuwa during the Founding Era. But during the Forsaken Dao Era, cultivating it without help became increasingly difficult.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Even the most talented among the humans, with all the help they could get, were not able to reach the Sage realm anymore. So vagrant cultivators were in a really tight spot.


    "And with Fulao''s destruction, this must have become even harder for hunters. This city was a sort of hub for hunters to gather and form hunting parties. Right now, they probably still haven''t found a new way to organize themselves. Only four hunters in this place seems like a very small number. They probably couldn''t find enough hunters to join them and still decided to come anyway."


    Cao Yun''s analysis was spot-on.


    Anyway, Sun Liao sent several flags according to his compass. After around fifty of them were in the ground, a gigantic circle of green light flashed for an instant all around this place.


    "This is the Towering Tree Fort array formation. Even a 3-core demonic beast would find it difficult to pierce through this 5-star Earth array formation in less than an incense stick. I''ll also add the Twelve Unearthing Vines array formation to it. That way, any beast that touches the Towering Tree Fort array formation will be faced with an onslaught of earth vines. We won''t even need to stand guard. If something attacks, we''ll be woken up by the noise."


    Just as he had said, Sun Liao spent a little less than an hour to set up both of these array formations. Combining two of them was more difficult than just placing a single one. During his process, Cao Yun watched him and Sun Liao ended up explaining his reasoning while he was setting up the array formations. For a while, Ren Chao tried to follow along but he understood none of it.


    Thus, he decided to help Mei Hua set up the camp. She wanted to refine a few more pills, just in case. The night was uneventful, but when they woke up, the group found the corpses of a few 1-core demonic beasts. Among them were Venomous Hydra Plums, Feral Lunar Rabbits, Spotted Tiger Wasp and some other small vermin. Apparently, the array formations had been greatly effective. Of course, the group would have been able to kill these beasts without any problem. But this spared them the effort. While hunting in this place, it was better to keep all their strength for the really dangerous beasts.


    "This is very strange... Even in the middle of the night, we were not attacked by 2-core or even 3-core demonic beasts. This Lunar Marsh should be fraught with danger in the nighttime..."


    "I concur. Sister Mei is absolutely right. There''s something very strange happening around here..."


    -


    When the group arrived in the cave, they waited until the sun was almost all the way up in the sky. This was the most Yang moment in the entire day. As such, the Evil Qi was way thinner than usual. To explore a dangerous cave inside the Lunar Marsh, this was the perfect opportunity.


    Cao Yun lead the group through the cave all the way to the place where he had lost control and killed everyone. Of course, after Xiao Xuefeng''s coming, there was nothing here at all. Still determined to find any clue possible, Cao Yun used all of his perception. There was absolutely nothing to find in the cave. However, there was a new tunnel dug deeper in the cave. Cao Yun was sure that this tunnel did not exist when he had first come here.


    It was the size of an elephant and went down into the ground.


    Mei Hua was the first to examine the hole. Pondering over it, she passed her delicate hands over the edge of the hole. As no one wanted to distract her, they all stayed behind in silence. In the meantime, Sun Liao was still looking for traps with his compass, just in case.


    "I''m not too sure, but I think I know which beast dug this tunnel. We should move forward a bit to confirm. Follow me."


    Just like that, the group went after her. Ren Chao and Cao Yun stayed as close as possible while Sun Liao was way behind with his compass and his bow. In such a tunnel, his bow would be way less effective and he didn''t like it. Thus, he focused mainly on his compass to detect any possible trap.


    After several minutes, Mei Hua completely stopped. Kneeling down, she retrieved a bit of dirt. When she showed it to her friends, they understood. There were traces of blood in the dirt. It was clearly human blood. Most likely, this was the blood from some of the hunters who had been attacked in their camp. More determined than ever, Ren Chao gripped his hammer.


    "We should avenge these poor souls if we can."


    "Brother, stay calm. This may not be as easy as you think. If I''m not mistaken..."


    Suddenly, she stopped talking. In a flash, she sent two palms against Ren Chao and Cao Yun. Surprised, both of them were thrown several meters away, just behind Sun Liao.


    "Stop breathing!"


    Hearing Mei Hua''s warning, they understood that something was up. The girl staggered and fell down. Watching the scene, they knew that something had poisoned her. As the best alchemist within the Mortals of the Hongchen Kingdom, she had surely felt it. Yet, she had been affected so fast. All three of the young men had stopped breathing. Even with their cultivation, they couldn''t hold their breath for more than several minutes. As they saw Mei Hua, if they were to breathe for even an instant, they could get affected.


    The more she would breathe, the faster the poison would operate and she knew it. However, she couldn''t just do nothing. No matter what happened to her, she had to do something or all of them would be dead. Hearing a faint crawling sound behind her, she knew she had been right about these tunnels. With one look, she met Sun Liao''s eyes. In an instant, they understood each other. They had to retreat at once.


    Watching his two friends getting up, Sun Liao knew he had no way to convince them to leave unless they could take Mei Hua with them.


    Locking their eyes together, Sun Liao and Mei Hua shared a strange bond in these tunnels. As she could feel the poison spreading through her veins, Mei Hua felt her strength leaving her. However, as it was more active, she was now able to identify the poison without any doubts. Feeling her conscious fade away, she now knew what she had to do. As he was an alchemist, Cao Yun would know what to do.


    Just as she was gathering every last ounce of strength, the crawling sounds were getting closer and closer. She had to act faster. Unable to speak, she took out her rope dart.


    ''Digging Roots Dive Toward Heavens''. Mei Hua threw the blade very close to the ground and with a powerful move of her wrist, it suddenly darted upward. As he was almost ready to rush forward, Ren Chao was the closest to her. This allowed him to grab the rope.


    From behind Mei Hua, the crawling noises were now so loud that everyone could hear them as well. Using all of his strength, Ren Chao pulled on the rope. On the other extremity, Mei Hua gathered all the strength she had left to grab on tight. However, as soon as she began to rise into the air, strange stalks erupted from the ground. All of a sudden, a large portion of the tunnels was obstructed by these stalks.


    Surprised, Mei Hua collided with the stalks and let go of the rope. The strength with which Ren Chao had pulled made some of the stalks break but more of them rose in their stead.


    "Leave!"


    Even behind these stalks and as her voice was getting weaker, all three of the young men heard her clearly. Despite her cry, Ren Chao and even Cao Yun were ready to rush toward her. Once more, Sun Liao locked eyes with Mei Hua. Just like his friends, he was almost ready to go help her, but he was way more hesitant than them. That was precisely the moment when he clearly saw the beasts arriving behind her.

 Chapter 152: Tensions and illusions

    Unfortunately, Mei Hua had used up all of her strength. Her last cry had forced her to breathe even more poison. Seeing that the plants had started blocking the tunnel, she was at least reassured by the fact that Cao Yun and Sun Liao would recognize them.


    When the crawling noises were so close that she could feel the ground shake beneath her, Mei Hua looked up. She had been right all along. What she saw was a spider whose body was almost as large as hers. It consisted of two parts. The first part looked rather small and flat while the second one was very round and ended in a small sting. On this part, there were several patterns and some black protuberances. All of these created beautiful geometrical forms. Moreover, this spider was very colorful despite crawling in a dark tunnel. From the first part of the body where the head of the spider was, eight very long and slender legs were moving incredibly fast.


    There were three beasts. And they were so colorful that it was easy for the young men to see them even though their view was reduced by these stalks. Now, Mei Hua had completely lost consciousness and the beasts went around her. From their stings, they produced a sticky white silk and weaved a cocoon around their prey.


    This was too much for Ren Chao. He took his hammer and charged to break down the stalks and save his friend. Despite the excitement, he remembered to hold his breath. Cao Yun followed along, and even though he stayed behind, Sun Liao decided to act as well. Drawing his bow, Sun Liao tried to aim through the stalks. The arrow whistled in the air and hit the demonic beast that was holding Mei Hua right in its abdomen. As the projectile sank into its chitin, a blue liquid dripped down on its body.


    The beast writhed in pain and all the eyes of the beasts stared at the group. With one strike from his hammer, Ren Chao broke down all the stalks. They almost looked like dark red bamboo stalks. Although they looked robust, against Ren Chao''s strength, they were nothing at all. But, just as he was ready to step forward, new stalks grew almost immediately. This time though, they aimed toward Ren Chao himself. He had the reflex to jump backward and his robe protected him from minor lacerations. However, the surprise made him breathe in.


    He quickly understood what had happened to Mei Hua. As the poison spread into his system, he felt his strength leaving him. Even with his incredible physique, he was unable to fight. In fact, the more he tried to struggle, the faster the effects were spreading to all his body. But he was stubborn and still tried to break down more of these stalks. The only thing he had in mind was Mei Hua. He couldn''t abandon his friend.


    Cao Yun saw the reaction of the stalks and tried to attack from a small distance with his spear. But, their growth was so fast he could do nothing at all. In fact, just like Ren Chao, he was also targeted by their sudden growth despite the distance between him and the plant.


    Sensing that Ren Chao was also getting affected by the poison in the air, Cao Yun had the feeling that they couldn''t save Mei Hua. This situation woke up the trauma of his family. In fact, he even circulated his mind cultivation to prevent the Drop of Wrath from taking over, but it was now almost an afterthought as he had a good grasp on it. Once more, he was feeling powerless. But he wasn''t! He knew these beasts and he knew these stalks. He could use his knowledge as a weapon.


    As the one who had lead his friends here, he had to get them out alive. Right now, the fight was lost because they couldn''t even breathe without being poisoned. If Mei Hua had been unable to fight off the poison, no one could. The alchemists were always more resistant to poison as they had learned to control the medicinal essence of pills within their body. As such, they could somewhat control the flow of toxins and even poison through their system. It didn''t mean though that they could completely block it, only slow it down.


    Understanding the situation, Cao Yun took a handful of the destroyed stalks and looked back at Sun Liao. The archer was still firing on the spiders behind the stalks. Ironically, by attacking the stalks, Ren Chao and Cao Yun had made them even more numerous. Right now, Sun Liao had almost no way of reaching his targets. And each time he took down several stalks, even more grew in their stead.


    It was clear that they were all reaching their limit. From behind the stalks, one of the spiders had left with the body of Mei Hua imprisoned within a cocoon of silk. Cao Yun had to fight off the urge to rush forward. Maybe by using ''Dragon''s Heart'', he could literally go through the stalks and reach the other side. But he couldn''t fight alone against these beasts, without even breathing because of the poison. Moreover, within the tunnels, these spiders were way faster than humans. He had no way of catching up.


    That was when he locked eyes with Sun Liao. Their gazes were the same, full of rage and resignation. Right now, they had to run and leave behind Mei Hua. Even though they didn''t want to accept it, they had to act fast. A loud noise forced them to act. Ren Chao fell on the ground. Until the very end, he had tried to resist but ultimately, the poison had won.


    Taking Ren Chao''s body, the group ran toward the exit of the tunnel. The two other spiders were waiting behind the stalks. As they had walked in the tunnels for less than an hour, by running as fast as they could, it took them less than the time to burn two incense sticks to leave.


    The moment they emerged in the cave, Sun Liao immediately started to set up an array formation. On the other side, Cao Yun was tending to Ren Chao. With his powerful constitution and now that he could breathe poison free air, he regained conscious after a few minutes. When he woke up, Ren Chao realized that he was in the cave where the entrance to the tunnels was. The only thing on his mind was Mei Hua. Looking around, he didn''t see her at all.


    Suddenly, he jumped back up. Beside him, Cao Yun tried to stop him as he was going straight back into the tunnels. But on his way was Sun Liao setting up an array formation.


    "Let me through!"


    This time, Cao Yun put himself between Sun Liao and Ren Chao.


    "Brother Ren, I know what you''re thinking. Let Brother Sun finish his work. We have to think before we act."


    "Think?! What is there to think about?! Mei Hua is back there! We have to save her!"Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Moron! If we go straight ahead without thinking, how can we save her?! Rush forward if you like, but you''ll just end up captured and you won''t be of any use to Sister Mei! Since you''re useless, sit in a corner and wait!"


    Sun Liao was venting his own frustration. When he spoke, he realized that he had gone too far, but leaving Mei Hua behind was harsh on all of them. For once, Ren Chao''s face was dark. Cao Yun had never seen this complexion on his friend, not even once. It was clear that he was enraged. If he had been alone, Ren Chao would have still rushed toward Mei Hua without any regard for his life. However, he had to admit that Sun Liao was right.


    Seething with rage, Ren Chao''s breathing was erratic. The only way he had to calm down was to go punch a wall. Venting his anger and frustration, Ren Chao punched the rock wall of the cave, again and again, and over again. Even his powerful hands were bloody after this. But two craters were now scarring the solid wall.


    Both Cao Yun and Sun Liao left him alone.


    Cao Yun had to analyze everything he had seen. Moreover, he had a handful of stalks with him. They looked like bamboo sticks. Very rigid, they were dark red and within, a greenish liquid was acting as though it was the blood of the plant. This plant was a Burrowing Deadly Typha. It was extremely rare and shouldn''t have been within the Lunar Marsh at all.


    This was considered as a 5-star Human plant or even a pseudo 1-star Heaven one. Indeed, it wasn''t actually conscious but it had a bit of instincts to it. This plant was living underground and reacted to vibrations. When it felt someone over it, thousands of small sprouts would let out a vicious gas. As soon as anyone breathed it in, they would quickly lose control over their muscles and then their consciousness.


    But it could also attack more directly by producing many stalks in a very short time. And if the poison was not enough to kill its prey, the plant would simply skewer them. Once the prey was dead, the plant could slowly digest the corpse''s nutrients. In fact, the presence of the spiders was a good thing. If they hadn''t caught the body of Mei Hua, she would have been killed by the effects of the poison from this Burrowing Deadly Typha.


    In a way, it almost looked like these spiders had planted the Burrowing Deadly Typha here as a trap. However, from what Cao Yun knew about these beasts, it shouldn''t have been possible. But once again, this plant shouldn''t have been in the Lunar Marsh. Could they have both been brought here by the demonic cultivators? But then, Xiao Xuefeng should have sensed them... Unless other demonic cultivators brought them later.


    Finally, Sun Liao stopped working. From the several flags he had set up, small sparks erupted before quieting down. After this work, Sun Liao''s clothes were drenched in sweat. In less than an incense stick, he had set up one of the most complex array formations he knew. This Infernal Heart Cannon array formation was a 5-star Earth array formation meant for attacks. As he had seen him set it up, Cao Yun could easily see through it. And this array formation would create a powerful fireball shooting down anyone who would get too close to it. With each fireball, the flags themselves would be consumed in flames. However, this array formation could shoot down even late Mortals.


    In fact, if Cao Yun wasn''t careful when approaching this kind of array formation, he could very well be shot down himself. Using his own compass, he quickly determined that this place was not suited for such an array formation. This meant that not only Sun Liao had been incredibly quick to set it up, he had also managed to adjust this array formation with his surroundings faster than Cao Yun thought possible. It was no wonder that he was so tired.


    "Are you done?"


    Still exhausted, Sun Liao heard Ren Chao''s voice behind him.


    "Yes..."


    Barely had he spoken that Ren Chao grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against a wall of the cave.


    "Explain yourself! How are we going to save Sister Mei?!"


    Fearing that Ren Chao would attack Sun Liao, Cao Yun tried to separate them.


    "Brother Ren, calm down. Sister Mei should be fine for now. Hear us out, please."


    Breathing heavily, Ren Chao''s face was distorted by rage and guilt. Finally, he let go of his friend. Thrown to the ground, Sun Liao stood up, helped by Cao Yun. After catching his breath, Sun Liao started to explain the situation.


    "The beasts that took Sister Mei, they''re Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras. In fact, they were probably male Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras."


    Cao Yun stayed silent because he had recognized them as well from the various books he had memorized.


    "So what?! Get to the point!"


    "Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras are 3-core demonic beasts. They''re social spiders. And if they''re here, that means their nest is close by. It''s safe to assume that there are at least twelve to twenty of them inside. But the good news is the way these beasts feed. They capture human cultivators inside cocoons. The silk from these cocoons allows them to penetrate into their preys'' mind. Then, they slowly devour their mind. As long as they''re not done with the mind, they don''t devour the flesh. Thus, they can keep their victims alive for several hours or several days depending on the resistance of their mind."


    "How is that a good news?!"


    "Brother, do you think that these beasts will be able to easily devour Sister Mei''s mind? Personally, that''s really not something I''m worried about."


    Thinking about it, Ren Chao realized he was right.


    "So, what? We''re just wasting time! What''s your plan?"


    "The real threat is this plant."


    "Yeah. And you didn''t even feel it!"


    "Brother Ren. Even Sister Mei didn''t feel a thing until it was too late. The mere fact that she reacted before we could get poisoned ourselves is impressive. This plant is a Burrowing Deadly Typha. To be honest, with our level, we almost had no hope of sensing it before it attacked. We got too confident..."


    Hearing reason, Ren Chao could not reply anything. Himself didn''t know who he had to be angry against. In fact, he was angry at himself.


    "But I may have a solution. I grabbed a few of the stalks you broke. If I combine them with some detoxifying pills Sister Mei refined, I should be able to produce something to protect us long enough. This plant is not that dangerous if you know it''s here. After all, it can only infect you if you breathe its poison. If we''re prepared, we should be able to go through it with ease. Trying to fight it head on is impossible with our strength, but brute force is not the only way. Then, we just need to find the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora''s nest."


    The words ''brute force'' shook Ren Chao. Once more, he was confronted with his uselessness.


    Sun Liao took over.


    "I can help with that. With my arrows, I also shot an array formation. As long as it''s in contact with the blood of my prey, I can follow it around using my compass."


    The fact that Cao Yun and Sun Liao had sound plans made Ren Chao even more angry. He really felt that he was useless to the group. Even in a fight, his only strong point was his strength. His perception was lower, his speed was slower, even his technique was cruder. After all, he was meant to be a blacksmith not a fighter, not an alchemist and even less so an array formation master.


    "Fine! Just get on with your plans! I can''t wait to squash these disgusting bugs!"


    Sun Liao thought "They''re not bugs. They''re spiders.". But never mind that... This really wasn''t the time to be a smart-ass. Usually, he would have teased Ren Chao about it. But he could see that he was frustrated by the fact he had nothing to do. As Sun Liao was feeling frustrated as well, he could only imagine what was going on in Ren Chao''s head. Not a single one of them was happy with the situation.

 Chapter 153: Devouring ones mind

    When Mei Hua came to, she was in an old mansion. Still fuzzy, her senses didn''t immediately register what was going on around her, until she heard a certain voice. That was when she finally remembered this place. All around her was the mansion where she had been raised when she was a kid. Until ten years ago, she had lived there. But almost a year after the birth of her younger sister, she had met Xiao Xuefeng, in certain circumstances...And the voice that had woken her up was a voice she had not heard for all this time. This was a voice she used to cherish and then hate. Many emotions flowed through her mind. The main emotion was simple. She was afraid to turn around.


    "Hua''er. You''ve grown so much. Look what a great lady you''ve become. And a wonderful alchemist."


    Still silent, Mei Hua jumped a little when she felt a hand on her shoulder.


    "This wasn''t me. These last moments, this wasn''t me."


    "But this was!" Overtaken by anger, she violently turned around while screaming. But the moment she saw the man behind her, she froze.


    In her hands was a knife sunk deep within an old man''s chest. Looking down in terror, she saw her hands covered in blood.


    "This was you. All of this was your fault. You''ve killed me."


    "No... No... I... I didn''t... I..." Before she could finish her sentence, she stopped. Her mind was becoming clearer. And in an instant of clarity, she circulated her mind cultivation. With her talent, she had already reached three characters and was working on the fourth. Deep in her sea of consciousness, Yi and Zhi started to rotate while Shen was above them, covering them in a warm heat.


    "You''ve killed your own father, Hua''er."


    "Yes I did." All of a sudden, she had regained her composure. The worst thing about mental and soul attacks or illusions was the fact that you couldn''t tell whether this was real or not. Someone under such an attack was just like in a dream. No matter how absurd it was, everything could make sense in a way.


    When he heard the tone of her voice, the old man''s expression changed.


    "Then, who are you? My father is dead. You''re not him."


    The old man''s face did look a bit like Mei Hua. However, his face was marked by old age. Even his hair was gray. Clearly, he had had Mei Hua when he was already extremely old. In her memories, she remembered this father more like a sweet grandfather. Until this fateful day, he had always been nice to her and she only had good memories. But when she discovered what he intended to do, she had to stop him.


    "You were wrong about me. I''ve never meant to hurt your sister. Haven''t I always been a good father to you both?"


    "Silence. Tell me who you are. I won''t debate my family history with some mindless beast trying to devour my mind."


    "You hurt me..."


    "Yes, that''s what I intend to do."


    The scene around Mei Hua changed. All of a sudden, fires erupted from all around. High in the sky, a gigantic bird was trying to claw into a golden cauldron. Contrary to expectations, the cauldron didn''t last for even an instant. It exploded into a myriad of filaments of energy. All this energy fell back down and increased the fires all over the mansion.


    Right in the middle of the courtyard, trapped by the fires, a 6-year-old Mei Hua was holding a still and silent baby. On the face of the baby, there was no more life. One instant, Mei Hua was witnessing this scene, the next, she was living it. Before she could process what was going on, she was back in her younger body. And right in front of her, the nice father she had always known fell down from the sky. His sweet face was distorted by pain and terror as blood was now covering part of it and staining his clothes.


    High in the sky, Xiao Xuefeng was floating while playing her guqin. This scene was otherworldly. On the ground, this was chaos and desolation, fires and screams. But high in the sky, there was only peace. Xiao Xuefeng looked like a goddess untouched by the sufferings of the mortals. Her eyes were not even open. It was as though she was merely playing her music and none of this was of any concern to her.


    Mei Hua''s father crawled back and saw his daughters.


    "Hua''er...? I''m sorry. I never meant for this. You know I''ve always loved you. You know that, right? I just need your help one last time."


    She remembered. All the memories she didn''t want to remember, she was remembering them now.


    That night, she had discovered the reason why her very old father had wanted a child. Sadly for him, Mei Hua had not the constitution he was looking for. But after several years, he had been able to find the right mother. And he gave birth to Mei Ying. Finally, he had a child with the right constitution.


    Thankfully, Xiao Xuefeng had intervened just before Mei Ying''s death. If she had not been there, then...


    But in the last moment, her father turned toward her with the same smile he had always had with her. He needed her help or he was going to die. But she knew what kind of help he wanted from her and she knew what he had just done to her sister. In the end, she just ran away. And in the distance, she heard the last breath of her father being silenced by Xiao Xuefeng''s melody. In a single night, the Muyang family fell. Later on, Muyang Hua became Mei Hua, and she followed behind Xiao Xuefeng.


    "You''re the reason why all this happened. If you had been the daughter I wanted, your sister wouldn''t even have been born. She wouldn''t have had to suffer in your stead."Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Deep in Mei Hua''s eyes, sadness turned into resolution.


    "You think you can play with my emotions and my memories?! You think I''m still just a little girl?! If I had been the daughter my father wanted, he would have sucked the life out of me before I could even walk! Do I feel guilty for running from him when he needed me?! Don''t take me for a fool! The help he wanted from me was to finish off my sister. And if it hadn''t been enough, he would have devoured my life as well."


    "Yes..."


    Once again, the scenery changed. This time, this was a real scene of horror with people burning and screaming. And the sweet father had turned into a gigantic demon. This sight of him was terrifying. The skin of his face had almost been ripped apart as if something underneath was trying to come out. He had eight arms with talons on his fingers. And his eyes were two orbs of oozing blood.


    "You were born to be devoured. Let me accomplish your destiny."


    "So that''s your actual look. I knew I was right in these tunnels..." Contrary to the creature''s expectation, Mei Hua was not afraid at all. "Oh? You thought a show could intimidate me?! I know exactly where we are. All of this is my mind!"


    "Ha ha ha! You think you can beat me because this is an illusion? Ha ha ha!"


    "Stupid beast! I know I can beat you because I know you''re not an illusion! To devour my mind, you need to get inside of it. And now that you''re here, you won''t get out!"


    Suddenly, the scene disappeared and became a clean ocean as far as the eyes could see. The vision of nightmare that was her enemy was still there but it had lost much of its intimidating aura now that it was in such a quiet place. High in the sky, the three Perfect characters from ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' were rotating. Shen the Fire Spirit was the highest of them and showered Yi the Earth Intent and Zhi the Water Will with a warm heat. However, Po the Metal Corporeal Soul was almost invisible. Even with her great mind, Mei Hua could not cultivate it that fast.


    From the ocean below, roots rose, full of thorns. In a matter of a few breaths, they formed a gigantic cage all around Mei Hua and her enemy.


    "You came to devour my mind. You''ll become a great nourishment for it."


    "You ridiculous human! You''re just increasing my appetite. Once I eat you whole, I''m sure I''ll form my fourth core. And when my sisters devour your friends, we''ll all ascend. We''ll devour even stronger humans then. Ha ha ha!"


    "Stupid beast. You still think you have a chance. Until now, you''ve only killed lower Mortals. You''ve never met with someone who had a decent mind cultivation. I''ll show you the difference between you and me."


    The characters in the sky stopped moving for an instant. And suddenly, birds flew from them. Each one seemed to be in the same material as the character. In total, three cranes soared through the sky, a golden one, one in onyx and the final one in cinnabar, covered in fire. As they flew, vines of thorns slowly formed around their legs, going all the way into the blue ocean. Even though Mei Hua had never used it in an actual fight, she had learned ''Otherworldly White Crane'' from Xiao Xuefeng.


    This martial art required someone to be at least a Mortal Warrior to use it as they had to infuse their Qi within the music they would play. And as such, Mei Hua had been forced to learn more vulgar martial arts like her ''Ten Thousand Thorns''. In fact, she didn''t really care for it. During the entrance examination, she had chosen the one that seemed the best suited for the occasion and just stuck with it. In the end, what she wanted to master was the great art of her master. During the fateful night they had met, the young Muyang Hua got subjugated by its beauty. Since that day, she dreamed of being this woman, tranquil, high in the sky, untouched by violence and suffering, but clearly not afraid to use them to mete out justice.


    The cranes flew around the monster. It tried to strike them down but they were faster than it was. Slowly, the thorny vines got entangled around the monster. Of course, this was a part from the mind of one of the female Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras. In order to devour Mei Hua''s mind, they had to use their Soul Silver Silk to entrap her into a cocoon. With this cocoon, they had the ability to crawl into someone''s mind and torture it until it broke and they could slowly eat it away piece by piece.


    With Mei Hua, they had made a terrible mistake!


    The monster tried to change its form, but as soon as it moved, the vines got narrower. The sharp thorns sank into the monster''s body. Even though it was immaterial, the thorns inflicted pain directly into its mind. A powerful scream shook the surface of the ocean. The monster was now completely entangled within the thorns, screaming and writhing in pain.


    "By the way, thank you. If you hadn''t invaded my sea of consciousness, I would have had to wait several decades to finally get inside." Deep down, Mei Hua thought that if Cao Yun had been able to discover how to get inside his sea of consciousness through only one experience, she could as well. For an alchemist, this ability was a game changer. And just like Cao Yun who had been sent into his sea of consciousness by an ill intent, so did she.


    Maybe being attacked by giant spiders was not such a bad thing after all. But the moment she thought about this, she remembered how the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras ate their prey. Shivers ran down her spine. Of course, she could easily devour this mind. But then, she was done for. In the real world, she was still trapped in a cocoon. And if one of the females died while trying to eat her, the other females could simply kill her and eat her flesh. Even though they savored the minds of their prey, they were not gluttonous to the point of risking their very lives.


    The good news was that as long as the spider''s mind was within her sea of consciousness, she couldn''t communicate with the others. But the moment Mei Hua destroyed her mind, her body would lose all life. In fact, her body would still be alive technically, but without a mind to control it.


    "I have a great idea! You put me into a cocoon to savor me when you see fit, right? Let''s see how you like it yourself."


    The monster was now completely subdued by the thorny vines. It hadn''t even been difficult for Mei Hua. Without ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', it may have been a challenge. But even then, she was convinced that she wouldn''t have had any major difficulties. Her master was Spirit Master Xiao Xuefeng, the woman with the most powerful spiritual senses in the entire Hongchen Kingdom and probably the whole Piaolu planet.


    Mei Hua focused her mind and produced several hand gestures. Slowly, the thorny vines emitted some kind of light. At first it looked like a ball around the monster. But then it became clearer and more vivid. This was a cauldron. The three birds who were still circling the abomination to strengthen the trap opened their wings and grabbed the ball with them. Their wings closed around it and fused with its surface. In a matter of seconds, the cauldron was perfectly formed.


    This cauldron was Mei Hua''s actual cauldron, the Five Winged Principles. As a 3-star Heaven cauldron, it was incredibly powerful. So powerful that Mei Hua couldn''t even use it to its fullest yet. However, Xiao Xuefeng was so certain of her future that she did not hesitate to gift it to her. Its surface was made of five golden wings intertwined. Each one of them represented one of the Five Golden Elixir Principles.


    Gradually, the cauldron shrank and shrank, all the way to its actual size. All around it, thorny vines were still present. And the cage that had formed around Mei Hua in her sea of consciousness dissipated as well. The part of the beast''s mind that had invaded Mei Hua was now confined into a small cauldron.


    Although Mei Hua should have been afraid for her life, she was confident in her friends. She knew that it should have been terribly frustrating for them to leave her alone. But she also knew that they tried until the very end. And they would keep trying to get her back. In the end, she just had to be patient. She didn''t like not controlling her own fate, but she trusted her friends.

 Chapter 154: Emptying the ocean to prepare oneself

    Mei Hua''s friends were completely focused on their preparations. Both Sun Liao and Cao Yun had shared all they knew about the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras and the Burrowing Deadly Typha. As it took some time, it allowed Ren Chao to calm down a little.


    However, he was now fully aware of the fact that they really had to run back then. If they had stayed, they would have been captured or killed and Mei Hua would have been next anyway. Since they were free and safe, they had a chance of saving her. But he still had the same problem. The more he listened to his friends, the more he realized how useless he was in these preparations.


    "Brother Sun. I need Sister Mei''s alchemy tools."


    Frowning, Sun Liao was a bit perplexed by Cao Yun''s idea.


    "Are you sure you can do something about the Burrowing Deadly Typha''s poison? We don''t have the ingredients to create a pill against it, unless I''m mistaken."


    "No, you''re right. But..." Cao Yun showed the stalks he had retrieved, still oozing with a greenish substance. "I never tried it before, but there''s a recipe to not eliminate but greatly reduce the effects of the poison. As long as we don''t have to fight within the tunnels, it should allow us to walk through without being attacked by the Burrowing Deadly Typha."


    "What do you mean?"


    Ren Chao interrupted the conversation and Sun Liao answered first.


    "Brother Ren, this traitorous plant only attacks when it feels threatened. And it''s just a plant, it only reacts to vibration, a bit like the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras in a sense. The sprouts probably got active when Sister Mei sent the both of us away with a double palm. And then, when you exerted all your strength to pull her away, it must have felt threatened.


    "Usually, it stays underground and just waits for its preys to fall victim to its poison. Most of its victims die without even knowing what happened. As long as we''re light on our feet, it shouldn''t be aggressive. Well, it could be a problem with you in our midst of course..."


    "I see... So it was my fault..."


    All of Ren Chao''s anger had dissipated and only frustration remained. Sun Liao had spoken with his usual snarky tone. Usually, both of them liked to tease each other, but Ren Chao was not in the mood. Paradoxically, Sun Liao liked him better when he was angry. Now there was a heavy atmosphere around the three of them that added to the worry they had about Mei Hua. As much as they trusted her, she was still alone in a nest infested with 3-core demonic beasts. Even though they probably couldn''t best her in mind techniques, they could tear her apart. She wasn''t even armed after all.


    In order to change the mood, Cao Yun spoke.


    "Instructor Meng told me about a method called ''Ocean FLowing Back to the Summits''. It consists in separating the medicinal essences of a pill in order to forge another one using similar ingredients."


    "I''ve heard of it! This is a technique reserved to Spirit Warriors. Without spiritual senses, it''s impossible to see what''s going on in your cauldron. In these circumstances, how could you separate medicinal essences you don''t even see or feel?"


    "... I''m not too sure, but I developed a technique that allows me to... guess what''s going on in the cauldron."


    "''guess''?!" Thinking about it, Sun Liao ended up sighing. "Well, I guess there''s no other choice. If you fail, I may be able to come up with something. But I''m not too optimistic about it. I''ll take the alchemical tools out."


    Once again, Sun Liao activated the array formation on top of the spatial pouch. As a powerful light left the plate, in a great circle on the ground, all they had put inside got out. There were alchemical tools such as an old cauldron and an old furnace. But there were also more than twenty corpses of 2-core demonic beasts. During their trip down the mountains, they had killed several demonic beasts, among which many were 1-core demonic beasts. But as the space within the spatial pouch was very limited, they only retrieved the corpses from the 2-core demonic beasts.


    However, they still had some elements from a few 1-core demonic beasts that they had deemed valuable. Immediately, Cao Yun took what he needed and set up an improvised alchemical study in a corner of the cave.


    Then, Sun Liao turned toward Ren Chao.


    "And I''ll need your help, Brother. While Brother Chen works on the countermeasure for the poison, we''ll work on both our attack plan and our escape route. As we said, the Burrowing Deadly Typha should be easy to pass now that we know what we''re dealing with. We just have to be careful. But when we''ll leave, I''m pretty sure we''ll be forced to run. We won''t be able to take care of both the Burrowing Deadly Typha trying to skewer us and the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras chasing us."


    "I don''t think I can really help you with anything..."


    "Come on. You''re a blacksmith, right? I need your talents for this."


    "Fine. I''ll give you a hand. What do you want?" Seeing Ren Chao with so little life and energy was truly painful for Sun Liao.


    "We don''t have many spirit stones and I still need them to activate my array formations. However, I can replace them with demonic cores. First, I need your help to take them out from the corpses..."


    "Humph! That''s all I''m good for, manual labor..."


    Still victim of his natural arrogance, Sun Liao wasn''t able to say what he wanted. But seeing this big fellow completely disheartened was more than he could endure. However, he still couldn''t say what he wanted and got to work beside him.


    -


    Cao Yun had taken out almost thirty Three Knowledges Detoxifying pills. These had been prepared by Mei Hua and him when they got ready to leave the Wubei Sect. These were 4-star Earth pills and Mei Hua had done most of the work to ensure that they were all Pure grades. A few of them were even True Essence pills. As the name suggested, they were mainly used to detoxify poisons. They could be effective against poisons attacking the body, the mind and the Qi. Unfortunately, they weren''t powerful enough to do anything against the Burrowing Deadly Typha''s poison.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    However, within their ingredients, Cao Yun had found everything he needed to make a more powerful pill. By adding the sap from the Burrowing Deadly Typha itself, he was sure he could come up with a pill to reduce the effects of the poison. As his friends and he were middle Mortals, they couldn''t hold their breath for too long. But they could slow down their heart and thus slow down the spread of the poison in their system. Cao Yun even had the ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' technique. With it he could almost erase his presence by slowing down his metabolism.


    By consuming the pill he had in mind and using a watered-down version of ''Locking the Seven'', he was sure that they could walk through the tunnels without being affected by the poison. For their escape, he wasn''t too sure, but Sun Liao''s idea could work.


    The pill he had in mind was the Purifying Muddy Source pill, a 5-star Earth pill. In fact, he knew better pills than that, but he simply couldn''t refine them. Even the simplest of the Human pills required the ability to manipulate one''s Qi outside of his body. Unless he suddenly became a Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun couldn''t do that.


    In theory, he could refine this pill without any problem. The trick was that he didn''t have the ingredients. However, he had the Three Knowledges Detoxifying pills which contained all of their medicinal essences. There came the ''Ocean Flowing Back to the Summits'' technique. Instructor Meng had talked about it in passing and Cao Yun had read a bit about it. He wasn''t particularly interested in it, but he thought that since this was a Spiritual Warrior technique, it could help him upgrade his ''Shen Visualization''.


    In the end, it hadn''t helped him much. But today, it would come in handy. The main problem was that he had never actually used it and he wasn''t sure whether or not he could master it enough to create even a single successful pill. The idea behind the technique was simple. As an alchemy pill was the amalgamation of many medicinal essences from the ingredients, it should be possible to revert the process and extract the medicinal essences directly from the pill. The first step was thus to break down the pill and separate the medicinal essences. Then, it was necessary to either add or subtract what you needed and reform another pill.


    In theory, since Cao Yun could not control his Qi, he couldn''t really control the medicinal essences. Luckily, he had worked on toxins minimization and had learned how to promote or stop accumulation of essences within the pill. He didn''t have to control the essences per se. In fact, in a heated cauldron, the essences and toxins would always move and become more or less active due to the heat. He just had to wait for the right essences to be active to promote absorption into the pill.


    Of course, it really wasn''t an easy process at all. Even with his ''Shen Visualization'', he had no certainty as to whether he would succeed and how much he would.


    For more than five hours, he refined again and again. Just to adjust his ''Shen Visualization'' which was really an educated guessing game, he destroyed seventeen pills. But after that, he obtained the first results. Four more pills got wasted for failed products. But finally, he was able to produce his first Purifying Muddy Source pill. Under this tension, Cao Yun''s alchemy reached new heights. In fact, he wouldn''t have tried such a process if it wasn''t for the situation.


    After all, he had wasted twenty-one pills of Pure grades. Obviously, he had decided to preserve the few True Essence pills. Refining a batch of four Purifying Muddy Source pills should take around four or five incense sticks with Cao Yun''s level. However, it took him more than two hours. By the time he was done, Cao Yun had produced seven Purifying Muddy Source pills. Only two of them were Pure and the others were Perfect except one. The Pure pills should probably be kept for their escape. On their way in, they should use the less efficient pills. Being an alchemist, Cao Yun could tolerate poison a bit more. As such, he would take the only pill below Perfect grade.


    In the end, the day was almost over. This really wasn''t a good thing as the Yang was now receding and it was becoming more Yin with the falling sun and the rising moon.


    But when Cao Yun was done, so were Sun Liao and Ren Chao. And apparently, they were both more calm.


    -


    While Cao Yun had been working on his alchemy, Sun Liao and Ren Chao had both been extracting the 2-cores from the corpses of the demonic beasts. Once they were done, Ren Chao was ready to go back in his corner but Sun Liao stopped him.


    "Brother, I still need your help. For the array formations I have in mind, I''ll need very specific flags." He looked over at the corpses and the materials they had stored in the spatial pouch. "And I''ll need your expertise to help me make them."


    Thus, they both worked on the flags. They used several tissues from the beasts to forge the array formation flags. Then, Sun Liao asked Ren Chao''s help to forge special arrows. Finally, Ren Chao felt really useful. Forging flags and arrows was not that difficult but he was sure to be more competent that Sun Liao, despite his occupation. Even for flags, a blacksmith was better suited to make them. And his arrows were almost perfect. He was convinced that no archer would ever complain about his work.


    During the hours they worked on the flags and arrows, Ren Chao ended up chatting with his friend.


    "I''m sorry... I completely lost my calm back there. I know you would never have left Sister Mei behind if there had been a way... The truth is..."


    "Brother, no need to say anymore. I also felt the same. Despite all my knowledge, I couldn''t do a thing but run away in front of vulgar spiders."


    "Brother...?" After hearing this, Ren Chao looked at Sun Liao. In his eyes, he saw the same frustration that was in his heart. Yes, he wasn''t the only one who felt useless. All of them had had to run from a few demonic beasts and some plant while leaving their friend behind.


    "Brother Ren. The truth is that you''re essential to our plan. While I set up my array formations, someone will have to protect me. If I were alone, any beast could easily attack and kill me. Brother, not only is your blacksmithing great, but your physical strength is prodigious."


    "Brother, did some poison go into your brain? You seem awfully nice."


    "Moron." A little embarrassed, Sun Liao went back to his work.


    "Don''t worry. While you''re useless setting up your little drawings, I''ll protect you!" With a new life in him, Ren Chao punched his own chest.


    Sun Liao raised his head and locked eyes with his friend. After a short silent, both men burst into laughter.


    -


    "Brothers, I''m done! Are you ready?"


    Sitting beside a pile of arrows and flags, Sun Liao and Ren Chao nodded.


    "What are we going to do about the darkness in the tunnels? If we go torch blazing, we won''t really be discreet..."


    "Don''t worry, on the way there, just follow me and my compass. When we reach the nest, we won''t need any torch. I assure you! However, remember everything I tell you about my array formations. It wouldn''t be any bit funny if you got caught in our own traps on the way out." He especially looked at Ren Chao.


    "Hey!"


    Seeing them tease each other, Cao Yun knew they were back to normal, maybe even friendlier than before.


    Then, they only needed to finalize their plans. Cao Yun gave them the pills he had refined and explained the right way to circulate their Qi to both slow down their metabolisms and enhance the effects of the pills. Finally, they had to clearly state their roles in the assault of the nest. They would be faced with several 3-core demonic beasts, at least twelve of them if not more, according to what they knew about Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras.

 Chapter 155: Ensnared in the web

    "Brothers, I''ll cover our retreat as much as I can. However, I''ll need some time to set up the array formation I have in mind when we reach the nest. Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras are especially dangerous within their nest. From their sting, they produce Soul Silver Silk which enhances their mental attacks. Even if we''re not trapped in their cocoon, they should be able to produce powerful psychic waves. Weak cultivators would probably die on the spot due to head splitting headaches. I could spend some time setting up an array formation to protect us, but..."


    "No need to worry about me!" As soon as he had started speaking about mental attacks, Ren Chao knew he was being targeted. Even though Cao Yun had given him the same mind cultivation as the others, Ren Chao was still weaker than them. "My perception is weak, I have to admit this. But I can assure you that my will is powerful enough to resist to mere headaches. I went back to the Yin-Yang Torture Illusion array formation. And this time, I was able to resist way longer. If I remember right, the record was around eight hours. Well, I could resist more than fifteen hours. And I couldn''t go beyond because of my points."


    And indeed, even though his mind cultivation was weak, Ren Chao''s Zhi was overly developed. If they could see his sea of consciousness, they would discover a Zhi made of an amalgamation of several metals such as onyx and obsidian. It gave off an air of incredible solidity. In fact, unknowingly, Ren Chao had developed a will stronger than anyone else in the group. That was ironic considering how little faith he had in himself.


    "But what about you, Brother Sun? Do you really think you''ll be able to set up your array formation while under their mental attacks?"


    "What?! You think a bunch of spiders can best my mind cultivation?! If that''s what you think, you''re insane! However, I do have to admit their physical attacks could prove difficult to handle while I''m setting up the array formation. That''s where you''ll come in handy. Brother Chen will take care of rescuing Sister Mei. Thus, I''ll need you to protect me. Do you think you can handle it? After all, we''ll be faced with 3-core demonic beasts."


    "Humph." Showing his hammer, Ren Chao had neither doubt nor fear in his eyes. "I''ll squash these bugs! Even if they had the strength of an early Mortal Warrior, I could still block them. Do not worry about any of them getting near you. I''ll die before it happens. And I don''t intend to die."


    "I hope so. How could I explain this to Sister Wang when she gets out of the Ancient Ruins? If you die before you can even know of the pleasures between man and woman, that would be a shame..."


    This completely shut down Ren Chao who got embarrassed. After a moment of silence, all the young men started to laugh heartily. It was more due to the stress and the frustration from their previous escape. But they really needed to vent their emotions.


    According to what they knew, there should be around twelve to twenty Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras in their nest. Even though they were 3-core demonic beasts, the males were rather weak. In fact, the dominant sex was the females. They were at least ten times larger than the males. And their bodies were way more dangerous. The main strength of the males was only their speed as they were smaller.


    However, both females and males could unleash powerful mental attacks within their nest. From the comparisons Cao Yun had read, he knew that he could resist them with his mind cultivation. For Sun Liao and Ren Chao, it was uncertain but from what Ren Chao had said, he should resist. And Sun Liao''s mind cultivation had also reached Shen and he had almost attained Perfection with it. Finally, they couldn''t invade their minds unless they were wrapped up in their Soul Silver Silk. By the way, this was also a great material for both blacksmithing, array formations and alchemy.


    Unfortunately, they wouldn''t have to time to gather much of it.


    Their plan had been rehearsed many times. In fact, even when they were on their way, they still went over it again and again. After all, they were walking rather slow due to Sun Liao setting up his array formations. With Ren Chao, they had made a lot of new flags from several materials and he intended to use them all.


    When they reached the portion of the tunnels where they had been poisoned, various emotions went through them and they stopped talking. A great tension could be felt. Thanks to Cao Yun''s pills and his ''Locking the Seven'', they slowed down their metabolisms and almost stopped breathing for several minutes. The tunnels couldn''t be completely filled with Burrowing Deadly Typha as the poison would also be a problem to the demonic beasts. But its presence was very strange. It really seemed like the demonic beasts had set it up as a defensive mechanism. However, they were not known to have neither the intelligence nor the physical ability to plant these. After all, they had neither hands nor fingers.


    Deep down, Cao Yun was wondering whether this was a trap from demonic cultivators. These tunnels were in the cave where he had killed several of them. So, such a coincidence was strange. It could be a mere coincidence though. Maybe the demonic beasts had been attracted by the Evil Qi in the air. As he had violently killed the demonic cultivators, and even despite Xiao Xuefeng''s intervention, there was a concentration of Evil Qi in that cave.


    Anyway, now was not the time to think about it. They had to rescue Mei Hua. Although they were not worried about her mind being devoured, they were worried about her body being devoured.


    -


    Mei Hua could not see or feel anything as she was trapped inside a cocoon. And her mind was even trapped into her sea of consciousness. If she were to leave this mental prison, she wasn''t sure whether she would be able to keep the mind of the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora confined or not. Right now, its mind was trapped within the cauldron she had manifested. Mei Hua also gathered her four characters around it. She focused on her Po which was the weakest of her characters. With this mind she had captured, she was convinced that she could literally consume its energy to build up her fourth character.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    However, unless she had a way out, she would not dare destroy this mind. The moment she would, the demonic beast would become brain dead. And its companions would probably either attack Mei Hua''s mind together, or more likely, they would simply kill Mei Hua. Even if they hadn''t the intelligence of humans, they were not stupid and had a powerful instinct.


    When she thought about this, Mei Hua got an idea. She hadn''t realized it back then, but it really was strange that she couldn''t feel the Burrowing Deadly Typha''s poison before it was too late. Even Cao Yun should have had enough intuition, especially after energizing his Chamber of Jade. Racking her brain around it, Mei Hua only saw one possibility. Someone had done something to hide it. As she tried to remember, she suddenly smelled something. It wasn''t actually here, but it was a part of her memory.


    At the time she had been focused on the poison, but there was another smell as well. It was very faint and she had to stop breathing to protect herself. But it was clearly there. Unfortunately, she couldn''t figure out exactly which smell it was. However, it proved that she had been right. Most likely, someone had used some kind of fragrance to try and mask the poison as much as they could. Otherwise, Mei Hua was convinced that she would have felt it before it became dangerous. It was only a 5-star Human plant, not something that should have threatened her.


    Apart from Heaven rank plants which had a form of instinct that could frighteningly look like intelligence, no plant should evade her senses.


    Then, there was the problem of the illusions she had seen. Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras shouldn''t be able to access her memory. Usually, they sent very generic visions to destroy the mind of their preys. In fact, some times, they only had to send a raw mental attack to break it with pain. Of course, it wouldn''t have worked with Mei Hua. But then, it showed something. They knew about her past. And 3-core demonic beasts were not smart enough to discover it on their own. Even then, they had no way to discover it because Xiao Xuefeng had done everything she could to hide the past and even the real name of Mei Hua.


    Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras were way smarter than other 3-core demonic beasts thanks to their powerful mental abilities. However, they were still not up to the task. All of this meant that someone else was controlling them. And the obvious conclusion was a demonic cultivator, probably a beast tamer at that.


    But this wasn''t the time to think about this. When she had more time, and she wasn''t in a mortal danger, she would ponder about this. Right now, she focused on her sensations. She didn''t know what had happened to Cao Yun to enable him to access his sea of consciousness, but this situation was probably very close. Surviving such an ordeal would give her many benefits. In fact, if she were to meditate on these sensations, she was sure that she could access her sea of consciousness. Something that only Spirit Warriors could achieve, she would do while being a 6th-grade Mortal. And as an alchemist, it would be a game changer.


    Using her three characters as a form of tripod, Mei Hua stabilized her cauldron. It was moving and shaking as the mind inside was trying to break it to free itself. However, Mei Hua''s mind was way stronger. Then, her Shen started to hover over the cauldron as a kind of lid. But this wasn''t a lid at all, the warm heat from Shen got focused on the insides of the cauldron. Slowly, Mei Hua was quite literally cooking the intruder''s mind. She couldn''t directly destroy it, but she could start absorbing it.


    Unfortunately, she couldn''t invade the spider''s mind, but she could extract some things from it. With all her guesses, she decided to be extremely careful. If this beast had been tamed by a demonic cultivator, it would probably have seals to both control it and ensure that no one could pry any information from its mind. Even on humans they used this kind of seal. Thankfully, she could ask her master for some help with that once she was safe. But for now, she was only interested in the recent memory of the beast.


    What she wanted to know was the number of beasts and the layout of the tunnels to go back toward the cave. When her friends would come, that would be the way they would retreat through. She needed to know whether other tunnels could allow the beasts to surprise them. A single surprise had brought her here, she wasn''t ready to have others.


    Using her knowledge gained through Xiao Xuefeng, Mei Hua was able to extract the recent memories of the beast. She couldn''t actually see them, but she had a general understanding of them, just like a dream. The nest was a giant hollow ball dug into the ground. There were webs everywhere and several other cocoons. The Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras really were the ones who had attacked the camp they had seen. They had also killed several demonic beasts and even animals.


    The nest was so dark that it was impossible to see anything. The Soul Weaving Cyrtophora were mostly blind anyway, they were able to see through vibrations. As such, the total darkness of this nest did not hinder them at all, quite the opposite. There were many movements in the nest as the males were ready to go hunting. The females were managing most of the nest and the males were sent to hunt while they ate. The spider that had invaded Mei Hua''s mind was a female.


    Unlike the males, its body was mostly dark with terrifying patterns of dark red and gray on its back. There were also many spikes coming from its abdomen and all over its long and slender legs. The patterns on its cephalothorax almost made it look like the face of a crying woman. But with the body of a spider as big as an elephant around it, this was a vision of nightmare.


    -


    In the nest, a female crawled on the wall and got closer to one of the cocoons. With extreme agility, it positioned itself right over the cocoon, its head near the heart of the poor captive, one of the men from the camp. His body was almost not moving at all but he was still alive. The spider put its chelicerae over the man and sank its fangs into his flesh. As they were pulsating, the man''s body began to convulse and bleed out from the mouth, nose, ears and even eyes. The body began to collapse on itself as it was becoming flaccid as if the bones were turning to rubber. While the spider was liquefying his innards, she also drank from his body.


    Luckily, the man''s mind had already been destroyed. Otherwise, the pain would have been immeasurable as his nervous system was able to resist a rather long time.


    The process lasted for several minutes until only a empty husk remained. The skin had been preserved and it got discarded. When the female left, other males came to get rid of the cocoon and the limp skin. This vision would have been a nightmare for anyone. Thankfully, all the other captives were trapped inside illusions. Some had happy visions, others horrible nightmares, whatever allowed the spiders to extract more of their mind and soul. They wanted to drain them from everything before killing them and sucking their liquefied bodies. Even Mei Hua was not conscious of what transpired around her.


    From all the cultivators captured in the camp, only a couple of them was still alive.


    When the female was done eating, it turned toward the female invading Mei Hua''s mind and waited. Strange noises came out of its horrid mouth. But there was no answer at all. Mei Hua could not know what was going on. Even though the female looked perfectly alive, it was not responding. At first, it seemed like she was having difficulties with the captive''s mind, but after several hours, this female was suspecting something more ominous for her sister.

 Chapter 156: Attacking the nest with full rage

    Just as the female was getting dangerously close to Mei Hua, three balls of fire flew through the nest. Considering that it was completely filled with webs of Silver Soul Silk, fire could become a real concern. Fortunately for the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras, their webs were not that easy to burn. Only a handful of small sparks ignited on the web and several males immediately went to cut them down.


    However, these arrows were not meant as an attack.


    Indeed, Sun Liao''s group was right in front of the nest, in the entrance tunnel. Obviously, these three arrows had been shot by Sun Liao himself. Just in front of him, Ren Chao was holding his hammer ready to obliterate every vermin coming his way. And running from them, literally jumping into the nest, was Cao Yun. Even with their developed senses, neither Cao Yun nor Sun Liao could detect where Mei Hua was without seeing anything.


    But with just these three burning arrows, both of them had perfectly engraved the nest in their memory. And with their senses, they could easily detect the movements of the demonic beasts. Fighting them all, especially in the midst of their very nest would have been suicide. Thus, they had no desire to fight at all. As fast as it had been, Cao Yun had seen all of the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras. There were only twelve of them, eight males and four females. All things considered, it wasn''t that bad. The females were clearly the more dangerous sex among this species.


    Shocked for an instant, the spiders didn''t know what to do. But very quickly, they organized themselves. That was also one of their strong suits, they were able to coordinate themselves extraordinarily well. With their mental abilities, they could send simple commands to one another on very short distances. And inside their nest, their webs allowed these commands to travel both faster and farther. The female that was close to Mei Hua turned her attention toward Cao Yun who was rushing toward her. Not afraid of this single human cultivator, she commanded her comrades to take care of the other humans.


    The spiders were especially wary of the one with the bow. Even though they were not as smart as humans and didn''t have all their knowledge, they clearly understood that he was preparing something. Since there was another, taller and bigger human protecting him, he should be a threat to their nest.


    Several males charged toward Ren Chao. The tunnels were just big enough for the females. As such, they would completely obstruct the way. And their role was different in this strategy anyway.


    Before they could really implement their plan though, the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras got surprised. The man with a bow fired several other arrows, without any flame on them. All these arrows went directly toward their cocoons. All of them understood exactly what was going on, they wanted to rescue their preys.


    At this very moment, a tremendous pain went through Cao Yun''s, Sun Liao''s and Ren Chao''s skull. For a split second, they all stopped and froze. With a face full of pain, Cao Yun circulated his mind cultivation and the pain completely disappeared. His sea of consciousness became stormy for a few breaths but everything was back to normal. In fact, this attack had even activated his Five Agents. This was a great stimulus for them as it wasn''t strong enough to damage them but still powerful enough to force them to counteract.


    With his spear firmly in hand, Cao Yun kept on running toward the cocoons. He had to walk on the web. Thankfully, he had his stealth technique, ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. It had taught him several ways to move. And by using them, he was able to walk of the Soul Silver Web covered in a sticky substance secreted by the spiders without getting stuck.


    Cao Yun even activated his ''Dragon''s Heart'' as much as he could to increase his speed to the limit of what he could achieve safely. Just as he was rushing, the arrows hit the cocoons. At the moment of impact, they exploded. This was the first move of ''Houyi''s Nine Suns'', "One Sun from Tang valley". Several of the cocoons were just holding demonic beasts and small animals. However, three of them were holding humans. And seeing them getting open, Cao Yun rushed toward the one in which he recognized Mei Hua. The sparks from these liberating arrows had illuminated the nest for only a fraction of time, but it had been enough to identify them.


    Sensing that the preys would escape, the only female close to the cocoons got furious. From her monstrous mouth, a disgusting shriek was sent toward Cao Yun. The pain from the previous mental attack increased. Once again, it wasn''t enough to do anything against his mind cultivation. However, he clearly felt the pain this time. Another 7th-grade Mortal cultivator would have collapsed at once and a weaker one would have even died.


    Feeling that the human didn''t care about her attacks, the spider got frightened. But fortunately, her body was still way bigger than this little prey. If she couldn''t put him down with her mind, she would just cut off some limbs. Such a strong mind was a great treat and she truly wanted to have a taste of it. Of course, if she were to try, she wouldn''t fare any better than her sister who had tried to devour Mei Hua''s mind.


    By the way, these mental attacks had also reached the young alchemist. The first time, she had a doubt, but the second one was way stronger as it was right next to her. This could only mean one thing. Her friends had come!


    Thus, she decided to definitely burn off the conscious inside the part of the mind she had trapped. And at the same time a pitiful scream filled her sea of consciousness, she left it to regain full consciousness in her body. When she woke up, the nest was almost entirely dark except for small sparks around her cocoons and a light in the tunnels in the distance. Thanks to her enhanced senses, she immediately recognized Cao Yun coming to her and Ren Chao and Sun Liao guarding the tunnels.


    As soon as he saw her wake up, Cao Yun called for her and sent something in Mei Hua''s direction.


    "Sister, your weapon!"You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Catching her dart rope, Mei Hua felt confident they would all get out of this alive. However, she remembered some of the vague memories of the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora who had tried to devour her mind. Talking about her, the beast was now brain dead and even her most basic physiological functions had become damaged by the sudden destruction of her consciousness. The spider''s body simply fell down from the web toward the ground. The impact was not enough to kill her, but her mind was already dead. The part she had sent into Mei Hua''s mind was essential to her conscious. Right now, she was just an empty husk, like her poor victims.


    What Mei Hua had in mind was the other captured cultivators. Luckily, the cocoons were all close to each other. Using her rope dart, she attacked the female close to her, the only one around here.


    -


    In the meantime, Sun Liao and Ren Chao were also faced with the mental attacks from the other two females and the males rushing toward them. It turned out that Ren Chao did nothing to counter the pain, he just endured it. Even Sun Liao felt that the pain was unbearable and circulated his mind cultivation. On the other hand, Ren Chao''s will was so strong and his character so stubborn that he simply ignored the pain. In his sea of consciousness, the Zhi character representing the Water Will was now transforming all the ocean in this strange amalgamation of black metals and rocks.


    Now that the pain had subsided, Sun Liao got ready. He took out several spirit stones that gave off enough light for Ren Chao to perceive his enemies. Then, he simply got down to work. He had to set up his array formation as fast as he could before all the beasts were upon them. Against the males, Ren Chao would probably be able to resist, but against all the females, it was something else. Fortunately, the tunnels were not big enough for two females to attack at once. And just according to plan, only the males went toward them.


    In fact, the females who were focused on the mental attacks tried to increase their violence again and again.


    Neither Sun Liao nor Ren Chao were giving any attention to Cao Yun. They were both convinced he would do his part without any problem. As he was using his compass to analyze this place, Sun Liao got anxious. Obviously, he knew that this wouldn''t be a great spot for his array formation, but it was even worse than he had thought. Maybe he wouldn''t have the time to set it up given the difficulty and the raging spiders. However, he caught a glimpse of the side of Ren Chao''s face. Seeing his resolution, it ignited his own. Of course, he would set it up. He wasn''t going to be bested by neither stupid beasts nor a mere blacksmith.


    Time seemed to have slowed down, but it really hadn''t. The males were way faster than both the females and the Mortal cultivators assaulting their nest. In a matter of seconds, they were close to Ren Chao. Three of them tried to get past him at once. One was coming from the bottom of the entrance while two more came crawling from the top on each side.


    Wielding his ''Lion''s Roar'', Ren Chao struck the beast right in front of him with ''Shattering Palaces and Splitting Mountains''. As soon as the head of his hammer touched the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora, its cephalothorax literally exploded. The entrance of the tunnel got splattered with a blueish blood and several pieces of the spider''s internal organs. The shock was so violent that the other two males froze for an instant. Imagining that a weak human cultivator could do so much damage was beyond them.


    Even though the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras were not known for their physical prowesses, they were still 3-core demonic beasts. Of course, their strength mainly came from their developed mind, both for their mental attacks but also for their organization and coordination. Although they couldn''t use any battle formation, even other 3-core demonic beasts were wary of them. And yet, a 5th-grade Mortal human had smashed and killed their brother with a single strike.


    When Ren Chao got his hammer out of the shattered body, one of the 3-cores was even visible. There was a dent in the 3-core. Cores kept evolving with the demonic beasts. A 3-core was extremely resistant and yet he had dented it with his strike.


    Without losing any time, Ren Chao directed his attention above. The two males felt an ominous presage. The first one jumped toward Sun Liao to stop him while the other one sent some Soul Silver Silk against Ren Chao.


    ''Kill the Hundredth Son''. Ren Chao''s hammer flew right into the jumping spider. The weapon had so much strength that it went right through its body, leaving a gaping hole oozing with the same blueish blood. As Ren Chao had turned his back to the second male, his web completely trapped him. However, the male didn''t feel that confident. As such, he decided to imitate his fallen brother and tried to quickly get rid of Sun Liao. He felt that this cultivator was a threat for the entire nest. The burly man was dangerous up close but against several females working together, he would ultimately fall.


    ''Humiliation Cleansed by Fury''. Under Ren Chao''s scream, the entire web shook, even the entrance of the tunnel shook a little. His muscles bulged and the sticky Soul Silver Silk covered with some organic fluid shattered under his pressure. Filaments of Soul Silver Silk flew everywhere. Without his hammer, Ren Chao jumped and got a hold of one of the spider''s legs. Using his strength and his weight, he threw the beast to the ground.


    The legs were razor sharp and cut Ren Chao''s hands very deep but he simply didn''t care. To the contrary, he tightened his grip and pulled the demonic beast to him. Before the spider could react, Ren Chao''s other fist penetrated its abdomen. Ren Chao''s face was full of fury and rage. Deep within the beast''s innards, Ren Chao''s fist opened and his hand closed around a solid ball. Taking it out, Ren Chao was now holding one of the beast''s 3-cores.


    The poor male was writhing in agony as it wasn''t yet dead. That was when Ren Chao stamped with his foot. In a very gruesome way, the beast kept on twitching for a while before stopping moving at all.


    While other beasts were coming toward the tunnel, Ren Chao went to retrieve his hammer that was stuck into the walls of the tunnel.


    Busy, Sun Liao didn''t flinch at all in front of this scene. If he had the time, he would have been surprised by his brother''s ferocity and inhuman strength. However, he had no time at all. The males were not that impressive to be honest and Sun Liao was confident in Ren Chao''s ability to get rid of them. On the other hand, the females were another story. And he needed to complete his array formation as fast as he could.


    While blue blood splattered all around, Sun Liao stayed focused on his compass and sent the flags he and Ren Chao had prepared all around. From time to time, he also sent demonic cores and even a couple of spirit stones. The array formation he had in mind was extremely powerful but it was at the limit of the 1-star Human rank. This was the most difficult array formation he had ever worked on. Of course, he had been able to set it up before, but that was in a quiet and perfectly suitable environment, the absolute opposite of these tunnels.


    Before setting up the array formation, he had to first stabilize the wandering Qi of these tunnels. Only after achieving that could he set it up. And he didn''t need it to last very long, just long enough for one strike. Then, they would flee as fast as they could and the other array formations would probably take care of the other demonic beasts. Either they would fell victims to the traps or they would deem that chasing these humans was not worth it.

 Chapter 157: Burning away the nest

    While Ren Chao was protecting the busy Sun Liao, Mei Hua was now out of her cocoon with her rope dart in hand. Between her and Cao Yun was a single female Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. A female was as large as an elephant and way stronger than a male. However, due to her size, she was slower. Moreover, her main way to attack was not her body but her mind. However, both Cao Yun and Mei Hua had extremely strong minds. Apart from Ren Chao''s abnormal will, their minds were above their friends by a good margin.


    Quickly, the female understood that she had no effect on their minds at all and decided to use her strong body. That was the exact moment Mei Hua''s attack connected. Her rope dart sliced off a leg from the female, and before she could react, Mei Hua bent the rope with her other forearm. All of a sudden, the trajectory of the blade changed and as it had still enough momentum, it sliced off another leg.


    Just as Cao Yun launched a ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' toward the beast''s legs, she jumped in the air. Seeing her up there, Cao Yun tried to attack once more thinking she couldn''t evade his attack anymore. However, she shot some webbing toward the existing web and changed her trajectory to fall back on another web. Even with some legs missing, she wasn''t weakened at all. In fact, in a matter of a few breaths, her legs had grown back.


    "Brother! Help me get them out!"


    Cao Yun understood why Mei Hua had not immediately tried to run away. Inside the cocoons there were two other human cultivators and they seemed to be breathing, albeit very faintly. Activating ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'', Cao Yun''s movements became faster than before. He couldn''t move at full speed though because he didn''t want to get stuck on the web. As such, he had to balance out his martial art and his ''Stopping the Waves''.


    Mei Hua was closer to the cocoons so she easily took the two cultivators out. Both of them looked very alike, probably a brother and a sister. The brother had lost an arm and the sister was also extremely pale. They had probably sustained terrible injuries when the demonic beasts had captured them. Despite being freed from the cocoons, they were still unconscious.


    The young alchemist, thanks to her cultivation, was strong enough to hold both of them. She knew she wasn''t that much of a fighter. Thus, she wanted to allow Cao Yun to move around freely while she took care of the burden that were those two humans. Seeing her taking charge, Cao Yun only acted as a guardian and kept his senses focused on the female that was still dangerously close to them. Even in this very obscure place, he could clearly feel her hatred. More than keeping her prey here, she especially wanted to slaughter Mei Hua who had injured her and probably killed her sister.


    -


    Just when the females were ready to take action, understanding the full situation, the humans were freeing all of their human preys, their best preys. As they loved devouring minds, Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras were always more enticed by humans than by demonic beasts or animals. And they now understood that no matter how powerful their mental attacks were, those humans were ignoring them completely. Moreover, watching Ren Chao slaughter three males effortlessly, they knew the other males would be no help at all.


    Fortunately, they had understood the exact situation a bit too late. Sun Liao had finally finished his array formation. This array formation was a modified version of Infernal Heart Cannon. In fact, he had invented it himself to complement his own ''Houyi''s Nine Suns'' while using Infernal Heart Cannon as a basis. He had named it the Sun Blazing Cannon array formation.


    As soon as he set up his last flag, the dozen of spirit stones and demonic cores started to light up. Just after that, the hundred of flags began to burn away. Slowly, all the blazes gathered right in front of Sun Liao. The young man was now holding his bow drawn without any arrow. The center of his bow was right in the Gate of Hell. And in this gate, all the blazes were beginning to form a very small sun. It was completely red and extremely condensed. The heat was so intense that Sun Liao had a hard time breathing. Covered in sweat, he tightened his grip on the bow. Even though his ''Ten Thousand Li Bow'' was a 2-star Human weapon, Sun Liao still heard cracking sounds.


    According to the armory pavilion, the ''Ten Thousand Li Bow'' had been forged using the bone of a Moon Devastating Sparrow, a powerful 4-core demonic beast. Despite all this, the bow was almost ready to split apart due to the extreme heat. Even Sun Liao''s hands were burning red. Bearing the full strength of the heat, Sun Liao did not move at all.


    The tunnels were now full of light. It was so bright that Ren Chao got blinded by it. Even the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras who were mostly blind got attracted by this intense light. The females knew they had been right. That human was really the most dangerous of the group.


    Before they could act, the small red sun was complete. Ignoring the pain, Sun Liao kept his bow fully drawn. Slowly, the sun''s form turned into the shape of an arrow. With this array formation, Sun Liao could use one of the most powerful techniques of his ''Houyi''s Nine Suns'', the ninth mantra. Contrary to its name, this wasn''t the final mantra. There was still a tenth and last one. However, even Sun Liao hadn''t been able to reach this level.


    But more than using this technique, the Sun Blazing Cannon array formation could allow him to use it as though he was a Mortal Warrior. In a way, it was Qi Manifestation. Instead of controlling the Qi outside with his own mind, he did so with the array formation. However, he had to be perfectly synchronized with the array formation, circulating his Qi within in the appropriate way.


    "Nine back at Fusang". For a split second, the sun turned into a solid arrow. Just then, Sun Liao let go of the string.


    "Get down!"


    Immediately, Ren Chao lay down on the ground. Just above his head, the arrow whistled while bringing intense heat. In a matter of a few breaths, the arrow produced an even more intense light while it burned away. Sun Liao had calculated his attack perfectly. When the arrow reached the center of the nest, it exploded back into a red sun. All of a sudden, most of the oxygen from the nest got sucked in by the expansion of this red sun. For an instant, it looked like there were two wings leaving the core of this tiny sun. And just after that, the entire web started to burn down while flames spread everywhere.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Still protecting Mei Hua and the two vagrant cultivators she was holding, Cao Yun activated ''Dragon''s Chest''. While focusing most of his Qi in his back, he covered the girl, even using his spear to stab the wall behind her. That way, he was able to resist not the heat but the blast from the explosion. As the flames were slowly burning away everything, Mei Hua and Cao Yun used the confusion to quickly go back toward the entrance tunnel. Once more, Mei Hua sent her weapon toward Ren Chao. This time, they both grabbed each extremity firmly as if their lives depended on it, as they did. And with a single powerful motion, Ren Chao pulled the four cultivators toward him.


    As soon as they got reunited, Cao Yun gave a pill to Mei Hua. Being an alchemist, she immediately recognized a Purifying Muddy Source pill. What shocked her was that they shouldn''t have had the ingredients to make such a pill. Several possibilities came to her mind, but this wasn''t the time at all. Trusting Cao Yun''s skills, she ate the pill without hesitation and started to direct the medicinal essence. It was extremely potent as Cao Yun had kept the purest pill for her, fearing that she may be injured. She wasn''t in the slightest though.


    While the flames were devouring all the nest, the Soul weaving Cyrtophoras were trying to get it under control. The core of their nest was totally destroyed, but by cutting some webs here and there, they could maybe isolate it enough to extinguish it. However, some males caught on fire because of the heat and spread the flames even farther.


    Cao Yun''s group didn''t wait to see whether the spiders would extinguish the fire or not. Once they were done rescuing their friend, they ran as fast as they could.


    And that was the wisest decision. Because as two other males got badly burned by the fire, the spiders gave up on controlling this. They would simply wait for it to burn all the oxygen in the room. Even though it would take time, they could easily spin other webs to replace their nest. However, something was clear to them, they had to kill these humans. In fact, the largest female of the group sent telepathic messages to her comrades. No matter what happened, they were to kill the human with the spear, even at the cost of their own lives.


    Usually, a nest of Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras was not taking orders from a single individual. The males were obeying the females yes, but most of the time, all the spiders just worked together. However they all agreed to the order, just as if they were obeying to a higher power.


    -


    Inside the tunnels, the powerful light from the blazing fire lit up the galleries almost all the way to the cave. Cao Yun''s group had taken three hours to get to the nest. But with their current speed, they would reach the surface in less than half an hour. Sun Liao was leading the group with Mei Hua just behind him. As she didn''t know about all the array formations he had set up, she followed him very closely while holding the two other cultivators.


    Behind them were Cao Yun and Ren Chao. The blacksmith was the slowest of the group and Cao Yun didn''t want to leave him alone to deal with potential pursuers.


    Very soon, they could hear the crawling from the galleries behind them. All the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras were trying to catch them. The males, faster and smaller were leading the charge. Many of them had died under Ren Chao''s attacks but they were still determined. For Cao Yun''s group, the males were not really dangerous, but the females truly were a problem. This would especially be the case if they had to confront the three surviving females at once. The best scenario would have been if they didn''t pursue, too busy with trying to salvage their nest.


    Now, the second best scenario was for them to fall victims to Sun Liao''s array formations.


    All of a sudden, a powerful noise shook the tunnels. Behind the group, pillars of rock erupted from the ground and almost crushed several males. Unfortunately, they were so fast that they dodged every attack. And just behind them, one of the females, almost as large as the tunnels themselves literally ran through the several solid pillars.


    Many other array formations got activated. One of them turned everything around it to ice. The spiders were too strong to get frozen. Just like humans, demonic beasts had Qi flowing through their bodies. The main difference with their energetic body was that instead of having Dantian, they had demonic cores that naturally condensed Qi. But with this vital energy flowing through them, even this incredible cold did nothing to them. They could survive even lower temperature. However, the ground turning to ice slowed them down a bit.


    Very soon, Sun Liao and Mei Hua reached the part of the tunnels with Burrowing Deadly Typha. This time, and despite the adrenaline shooting through her entire system, Mei Hua circulated her mind cultivation to increase her perception to the limit. She put everything else aside. It would probably be her last possibility to analyze the smell that was hiding the poison. With the charge from the females, there was a real risk for the tunnels to collapse.


    The Purifying Muddy Source pill from Cao Yun greatly slowed down the poison but didn''t completely canceled it. As such, she wasn''t ready to breathe too much of it. However, she had to understand this smell. The more she thought about it, the less it made sense. In the end, her only conclusion was that someone had prepared everything just for them. Even the behavior of the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras was strange. After assimilating a small part of the mind from one of them, she knew that their natural inclination would have been to let the threat run away. Given their weak bodies compared with other 3-core demonic beasts, they were not prompt to engage in a fight. And after witnessing their main attacks, their mental attacks, fail, they should be even more hesitant to give chase.


    Mei Hua only breathed a small fraction of air. There! The smell was there! This was from some incense. Now, she was sure that humans were behind this. As it wasn''t the time to think about it right now, she kept this smell in a corner of her mind and kept following Sun Liao.


    All of his array formations activated one after the other. All the spirit stones and demonic cores he had used were not wasted. Some of the array formations simply slowed down the beasts, but others killed a couple of them.


    The moment they ran above the Burrowing Deadly Typha, they knew what would happen. And they were right. From all around the ground, plants looking very similar to red bamboo stalks erupted. They were as sharp as Human rank weapons. Prepared for them, the group dodged the first ones as best as they could. Soon the entire tunnel was pierced by a forest of deadly stalks.


    These stalks reacted to vibrations. Obviously, the running group was causing a lot of them, contrary to the spiders who were able to move extremely fast without disturbing their surroundings, used to crawling over their web. The only one of the group who could run freely was Cao Yun with his ''Stopping the Waves''. Unfortunately, it wasn''t something his friends could learn in less than a day, no matter how talented they were. They only learned a bit of ''Locking the Seven'', just to reduce their metabolism and reduce the impact of the poison, further helped by the pills.

 Chapter 158: Facing against the nest

    Cao Yun''s group put all their strength into running. They used all their martial arts and Qi to increase their speed. As many stalks were piercing through the tunnels, Ren Chao was the one who had the worst time. Sun Liao and Mei Hua were both very perceptive. Thus, they felt the stalks growing underground way before they became a threat to them and were able to dodge them. With his movement technique, Cao Yun was also able to reduce the stalks targeting him. Besides, he too used his great perception to avoid them. In fact, he could have been even faster but he would have had to stop using ''Stopping the Waves''. And he would also have had to leave Ren Chao alone in the back.


    While running away, Ren Chao activated ''Unbreakable Iron Bones'' and circulated his Qi in his superficial tissues. Some stalks grazed him but none could pierce his skin full of Qi. As Cao Yun was not particularly targeted, he decided to further help his friend. Each time they attacked a stalk, several more grew in its stead as a defensive mechanism. But they didn''t really care now, quite the contrary.


    They were trying to run, so the stalks would grow back behind them. In fact, they would hinder the pursuing Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras more than they would block their own path.


    The moment Ren Chao really looked in trouble, Cao Yun used ''Imperial Throne''. A large movement of his spear caused a form of whirlwind around him and blew away many stalks. With his great physique, Ren Chao, who knew exactly what was going to happen when he watched his friend, was not affected in the slightest.


    Despite these Burrowing Deadly Typha stalks, the group almost didn''t slow down at all. The effects of the Purifying Muddy Source pills combined with their slower metabolisms protected them from the poison as they were not exposed to it for a long period of time. Mei Hua also forced the two unconscious cultivators to eat a pill each. There was nothing more she could do for them. When they got out, she would have to use her alchemy to make sure they were fine though. Thanks to her knowledge, she was able to further reduce the effect of the poison on her. But she couldn''t do so for someone else until she became a Mortal Warrior.


    As the group was getting closer and closer to the exit, they were hearing the noise of the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras literally ramming through the Burrowing Deadly Typha stalks. The males were so fast that they were not worried at all by the idea of being impaled by these stalks. On the other hand, the females were bigger and their chitin more resistant. Some did suffer from a few wounds but only superficial, not a single stalk was able to penetrate their flesh.


    Finally, after this insane run, the group came back into the cave where Cao Yun had first slaughtered the demonic cultivators. On the way, a few array formations activated as well to try and slow down the spiders.


    The moment Ren Chao jumped out of the tunnel into the cave, two males with some wounds on their bodies could be seen right behind him. Thankfully, the Infernal Heart Cannon array formation activated. The flags still in the ground burned away when the beasts got too close. All of a sudden, several sparks rose in the air and flew toward the beasts. Now that Sun Liao had stopped running, he also took his bow and shot a few arrows.


    "Three lights in its claws". Three arrows left his bow and started rotating around each other. Passing through the entrance of the tunnel and the array formation, they caught on fire. Amplifying the effect of the Infernal Heart Cannon array formation, the arrows pierced through the beasts.


    "Brother Ren!"


    Hearing Sun Liao''s command, Ren Chao knew what he had to do. In order to activate the array formation, all the flags had burned away and the spirit stones had crumbled into dust. There was no more protection. They had used everything they had. With a powerful strike from his hammer, Ren Chao collapsed the entrance of the tunnel.


    However, this wasn''t over.


    Tremors shook the wall. Knowing what was about to go down, Mei Hua put the two unconscious cultivators in a corner of the cave. One way or another, this would end in this cave. The night had now fully fallen. Trying to run through the Lunar Marsh with several demonic beasts chasing them would be literal suicide. In the best case scenario, the various traps had weakened or even killed some of the females. If their count was right, the males should be mostly dead. But they weren''t that dangerous anyway.


    The rocks and the sand got blown away by the face of a spider. A true vision of nightmare appeared right in front of Ren Chao and Cao Yun who were holding position between the tunnel and Mei Hua and Sun Liao. This was a female alright, but not any female. The demonic beast they were facing right now was a bit bigger than her companions. Her face almost looked human but as though spider appendages had torn apart its flesh. Her cephalothorax was also slowly becoming a proper thorax separated from the head.


    Clearly, this demonic beast was in the process of forming her fourth core.


    On her nightmarish face, there were some residues of dirt and blue blood. She had literally rammed through the corpses of the others to get out of the tunnel. Here and there, there were even pieces and parts from both males and females. All over her body, there were also some dents and scratches. Some of her legs were either partly scorched, frozen or simply broken. However, despite all of this, she appeared full of vigor, animated by a powerful bloodlust against those humans. And as soon as she was fully visible, she made sure that everyone knew about her feelings. Through the entire cave, a skull-splitting shriek echoed.


    "The winged Longma pulls". Immediately, Sun Liao shot an arrow thicker than usual using his fourth mantra. With a powerful impact, it completely stunned the spider for an instant. The impact should have been enough to crush a 2-core demonic beast, but the female did not even move. She merely got stunned. However, Ren Chao used the opportunity.


    ''Earth Crushing Charge''. Ren Chao charged toward the female. And this time, using the head of his hammer, he pushed her back. Her chelicerae fully opened, pushing back the hammer. At the end of both her chelicerae, she had spikes as large as Ren Chao''s torso.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ''Unbreakable Iron Bones''. The moment she tried to pierce through his skin, he circulated his Qi to protect himself and also put his hammer between them. Despite the strength of the beast, the spikes didn''t pierce all the way through. However, they still began to inject a powerful acid into his body.


    Having seen this process in the mind of the spider trying to devour her mind, Mei Hua acted at once.


    ''Digging Roots Dive Toward Heavens''. Her rope dart flew toward Ren Chao, almost touching the ground. When the blade passed right beside him, Mei Hua suddenly changed its trajectory. All of a sudden, the blade went directly for the mouth of the spider, where her tissues were the softest. Shrieking in pain, she let go of Ren Chao and put down one of her legs on the rope. She was so strong that it forced Mei Hua to release her grip on her own weapon once more. In terms of mind, she was way stronger than any spider, but her fighting abilities were really weak compared to her friends.


    ''Humiliation Cleansed by Fury''. With powerful swings from his hammer, Ren Chao unleashed all his rage while shouting loudly. Sensing the danger, the spider retracted her chelicerae and used them as a form of shield. But the strength of Ren Chao was so great that her chelicerae became more and more tender as the chitin broke under his strikes. Even for her, fighting Ren Chao head-on was too much.


    When she decided to move away and attack from a distance, the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora felt an immense pressure over her entire body. ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted''. Cao Yun had started moving around Ren Chao and the beast. Unfortunately, he couldn''t control his technique to the point where he would only target the spider. Even Ren Chao felt this incredible pressure on him. He simply ignored it and kept on swinging his hammer around.


    From the sky, a blazing ball of fire fell on the spider''s abdomen. "From the East, the Vault rises". Using his second mantra, Sun Liao was shooting in a curved trajectory.


    Despite all these attacks, the beast kept her vigor. As she couldn''t fight both the pressure from Cao Yun''s attack and Ren Chao''s crazy unleashing of hammer strikes, she made a choice. With a swift movement, she sent her front legs toward Ren Chao. All her legs looked like sharp spears coated with thousands of small spikes. Even with ''Unbreakable Iron Bones'', Ren Chao''s skin would probably not be able to stop such an attack. And as he was absorbed in his raging attack and pressured by Cao Yun''s technique, he would be unable to dodge and would get skewered.


    ''Crafty Harassment''. In an instant, Cao Yun''s technique changed. The pressure completely dissipated and Ren Chao used one of his own strikes to jumped backward. The moment he did, tens of weak ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' hit the spider all over. These attacks were all superficial but made the beast angry as it was specifically targeting her legs, trying to pin her down.


    Cao Yun was moving all around. And this time, Ren Chao could not even get close to the beast or he would get hit as well. Instead, he observed the beast. Despite his incredible strength, Ren Chao was not a good fighter. In fact, only Cao Yun had a good fighting sense in the group. Maybe Sun Liao could be considered as a good fighter as well, but only at a distance. His perception combined with his proficiency with a bow made him a frightening archer.


    Putting two of her legs in front of her, the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora increased the defense of her face. Then, she lowered her body and jumped high. She almost touched the ceiling of the cave, but getting to the ceiling was not her objective. Instead, she had aimed toward Mei Hua who was the farthest from the fight. After analyzing the situation, she understood that Cao Yun was just too fast for her. In fact, she couldn''t even figure out where he was. However, she knew that the humans wouldn''t let her kill one of them without reacting.


    And the demonic beast was right. Sun Liao shot several burning arrows into the bottom side of the jumping monstrosity. Some penetrated her flesh but not that deep. However, the ground around her landing site got covered in blue blood. As he was very close to the spider when she landed near Mei Hua, Sun Liao got targeted as well. The spider turned violently and rammed its body into Sun Liao. Unable to dodge, Sun Liao got blown toward the wall. The impact was so brutal, Sun Liao''s right arm broke and he let go of his bow.


    Mei Hua had nowhere to go. She wasn''t fast enough. At once, both Ren Chao and Cao Yun ran toward her. However, Ren Chao would never be able to reach them in time. On the other hand, even with ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'', Cao Yun felt that he was too slow. Accelerating his Qi to his absolute maximum for a split second, Cao Yun used ''Dragon''s Heart'' and got four times faster. Luckily, he managed to control his own Qi and arrived right between Mei Hua and a leg of the spider.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. As the leg tried to penetrate his robe, its elasticity allowed it to resist. However, the shock of the attack was sent toward Cao Yun''s body. Then, he channeled most of it into his own arms and riposted with the most powerful spear stabbing he had ever performed. Very acute to the danger, the spider moved aside. Her left chelicera and two of her legs got literally torn apart. After a powerful shriek, her legs grew back but her chelicera that was denser in tissues did not.


    The female Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras could easily regenerate their eight legs, but other parts of their body could not grow back at all.


    Enraged, the female just rammed into Cao Yun. Seeing that he couldn''t send back this attack, he preferred ''Dragon''s Chest'' to resist the blow. Cao Yun got sent toward a wall and got buried more than a meter into it. This time though, the spider completely neglected Mei Hua and went straight for the wounded Cao Yun. It was clear that her main goal was this specific boy and it got Mei Hua thinking. However, the fact that the beast did not consider her a threat at all annoyed her.


    Mei Hua quickly grabbed her weapon from the ground. ''Circle of Thorns''. Her rope wrapped itself around the abdomen of the spider. With a powerful move of her wrist, it then completely went back to her while lacerating her entire body in the process. Once more, a terrifying shriek shook the cave and just after, Soul Silver Silk shot out of the strange spike she had at the end of her abdomen. Caught in this sticky substance, Mei Hua had difficulty moving and could not control her weapon at all.


    As the beast was close enough to finally kill her prey, Ren Chao still hadn''t reached her.


    ''Kill the Hundredth Son''. With a swing, Ren Chao sent his hammer toward the beast. This time, he had targeted the spike at the end of her abdomen, from where she was shooting her Soul Silver Silk. Backed up by his incredible strength, the hammer completely crushed this spike that got bent into a painful angle. Actually, this spike was composed of several spinnerets connected together, but now they were all crushed toward different directions. As soon as the hammer hit, the spider writhed in agony all over the ground, in terrible spasms.


    After this attack, the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora completely forgot her orders. Indeed, although she had been the one to command her comrades to kill Cao Yun, she had herself been ordered to do so by someone else. However, not the pain, but the mutilation of her body made her see red. If she could finally form her fourth core, this wound would be mostly healed. But there would always been some traumas from it.


    In this fight, all her nest was dead, her left chelicera got destroyed. And now, her spinnerets got broken. She couldn''t even spin a web anymore. More so than Cao Yun whom she had to kill, she wanted to slaughter Ren Chao.

 Chapter 159: Uncontrolled heart opens the way

    The Soul Weaving Cyrtophora completely disregarded Cao Yun who was painfully getting out of the wall. All her rage was directed toward Ren Chao. From the beginning, he had butchered several males. In the tunnels, what had killed the other spiders were traps set up by Sun Liao. The beast was not knowledgeable about array formations and thus she couldn''t know for sure who had prepared them. However, she clearly remembered the broken bodies of her comrades under this young man''s hammer. And now, she had been mutilated and had lost a vital part of her body because of him.


    Unfortunately for Ren Chao, he was now unarmed. The beast charged straight for him and was way faster than he was. Even though she was slower than the males due to her size, Ren Chao was exhausted and even at full strength, he couldn''t compete with her in speed. Moreover, she was extremely agile. Despite her injuries, she expertly turned around Ren Chao and assessed all possibilities.


    Too tired, Ren Chao decided to first focus on his defense with ''Unbreakable Iron Bones''. The spider kept turning around him and even above him. With her long legs, her body could rise more than three meters above the ground. That way, she could attack him from almost every angle with her legs. She could also try to crush him with her full weight. But she thought, and she was right, that Ren Chao had enough strength to pierce through her tissues if she did that.


    All of a sudden, the spider made up her mind and attacked. Two legs stabbed Ren Chao straight in the chest and back. Both his robe and his technique prevented the razor sharp legs to penetrate his skin. However, the impact was almost enough to shatter his bones. Clenching his teeth to bear the pain, some blood dripped down from his mouth. Using this moment of agony, another leg swept his footing. Surprised by the attack, Ren Chao fell right on his back.


    Then, the demonic beast stepped back a little so that her body wasn''t directly above the human cultivator, just in case. And after that, she sent two legs toward his face. She had sensed that his clothings were special and she wanted to be sure to kill him quickly so that she could then slaughter her real target.


    Ren Chao saw two pikes as sharp as razors and acted on instinct alone. Both his arms went in front of his head. Without any problem, the two legs pierced both his naked forearms. However, they got stopped by his bones. An immeasurable pain coursed through Ren Chao''s body as his bones were being slowly pierced through. As they were extremely robust and further enhanced by his circulation of Qi according to his martial art, the two legs couldn''t easily tear them apart. However, they would eventually get through them. And then, his head would be next. Even though his skull was even more resistant than his forearms, he wasn''t looking forward to putting it to the test.


    Ren Chao tried to move around, but the spider didn''t leave him any room to breathe. Her other legs kept stabbing him everywhere. Although his robe was protecting him, he still felt all the impacts. Fortunately, Ren Chao''s will was the strongest of the group. Thanks to that, he stood the pain and stayed focused on his ''Unbreakable Iron Bones'' technique. No matter how brutal the demonic beast was, none of his bones broke under her relentless attacks.


    A few meters away, Mei Hua was trying to get out of the Soul Silver Silk. In fact, there was more sticky fluid from the spider than silk. Anyway, she did not possess the strength of Ren Chao and she couldn''t get herself free fast enough. Deep down, she knew that it wouldn''t change much anyway. She couldn''t really harm the beast. And the enraged spider would probably accept to suffer a lot of pain if it meant she could kill Ren Chao.


    On another side of the cave, Sun Liao''s arm was broken and he couldn''t use his bow at all. Right now, he was hesitating whether or not he should attack using an arrow as a form of dagger.


    But the only one who could act was Cao Yun. Finally out of his hole, he saw his friend writhing on the ground, blood everywhere around him. For a split second, the Drop of Wrath almost acted up. But by now, his mind cultivation was way too strong for it to get out of control. Channeling all of his rage, Cao Yun knew he had only one move to end it fast.


    ''Dragon''s Heart''. Through his meridians, the Qi sped up to three times its usual speed, almost four times. Cao Yun knew that a fourfold increase was the utmost limit of what he could control. If he went all the way there for more than a few breaths, he would probably lose control. As such, he went just under the limit he knew he could control. All of his physical abilities became four times higher.


    With a single step, he launched himself toward the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. Spear in hand, he was ready to skewer the beast through and through to save his friend. Unfortunately, the beast was able to sense his attack. With one of her legs, she simply swatted him away. Once more, he got sent toward a wall of the cave. For a split second, he lost control over his Qi and some of his organs almost got damaged. Thankfully, he had been under the limit and was able to keep it under control.


    However, he knew that this speed would not be enough. Cao Yun was ready to try something else, when finally Ren Chao reached his physical limit. The legs had perforated his bones all the way to the marrow. His only way to still resist the pain was to yell it out. With his powerful chest, the cave got flooded with screams of pain and agony.


    Under this pressure, Cao Yun decided to try out his last move. He pushed his Qi over the fourfold limit. As he had no time to lose, he immediately got ready to attack, but it was already too late. Almost as soon as he exceeded his limit, he lost control of his Qi. Even with his Po used to the maximum, his Qi sped up faster and faster. In his meridians, it almost felt like molten lava was flowing through his body.


    And in his sea of consciousness, the Heart Star was beating like crazy. Its light was so intense that the entire sky turned crimson red and so did the ocean, reverberating this ominous light. In this bright red, even his Drop of Wrath seemed soft in comparison. His entire sea of consciousness looked like a palpitating heart. Po the Metal Corporeal Soul was also bathed by this red color. Cao Yun was trying to use this character to keep his Qi under control but it became useless. He had completely lost control of the Qi circulating in his own meridians. The only thing he was still able to do was to try and keep it out of his organs. But he wouldn''t be able to do so for very long.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Suddenly, a thunderous noise echoed in his sea of consciousness and then in the cave. More and more noise came out of his own body. This became so loud that Mei Hua and Sun Liao turned their gazes toward him. The rapid Qi in his meridians had tempered them. In fact, they had acted just like Chief Instructor Peng''s Qi with his ''The Snake Invades the Shell''. By keeping his Qi confined in his meridians, Cao Yun had even further increased the pressure and unknowingly, he had caused a premature breakthrough.


    His meridians, instead of breaking, absorbed the last remnants of Qi from Chief Instructor Peng. And, stimulated by this sudden onslaught, they had further evolved. All of his meridians and vessels had reached the 8th-grade Mortal realm. Such a breakthrough could have been a joyous occasion, but it really wasn''t. In addition to the current fight, the fact that his meridians got more resistant allowed his uncontrolled Qi to flow even faster. The speed further increased and his Po character was beginning to suffer from small cracks. The perfect ivory statue was starting to look increasingly weaker.


    And this intensified pressure caused another phenomenon. Some of the acupoints Chief Instructor Peng had stimulated in his forearms and legs were being assaulted by his Qi, as though his body was instinctively trying to let this Qi go to protect itself. As this pathway had been used several times during training by Chief Instructor Peng retracting his Qi, it was instinctively used by Cao Yun''s body to get rid of this pressure. However, even though they had been trained, Cao Yun was not ready to open and close them at will. This forceful opening could prove incredibly dangerous. Unfortunately, Cao Yun was unable to stop anything. If he lowered the focus he was putting on his organs, the Qi would go through them and he would die almost instantly. He would rather be injured than killed by his own Qi.


    Letting the Qi leave his body through some of his acupoints on his extremities, the speed in his meridian rapidly decreased. It was still above his limit, but he was not in danger of dying from the Qi going to his organs thanks to these acupoints. In total, twelve points got opened. But Cao Yun had no way to know if he could close them afterward. If he couldn''t, he would always leak Qi and his cultivation journey would be damaged beyond repair. Around his forearms and legs, he felt an intense heat and the air got twisted. The Qi was so concentrated that Cao Yun''s Wei Qi became almost visible, distorting the air around him.


    The Wei Qi was the guardian Qi all around one''s body. By reaching the 8th-grade Mortal stage, this Wei Qi became a bit denser. And as one opened his acupoints, it would further solidify. This Wei Qi was also what made a great difference between a Mortal and a Mortal Warrior. A Mortal Warrior could control it with no problem and it was so dense that few Mortals could even go through it.


    During his sudden breakthrough, he had opened a bit more than 5% of his acupoints. This caused a sudden peak of Wei Qi''s density. In fact, it became so dense so fast that it took some time for it to stabilize. Right now, it was visible to the naked eye. And although the situation was critical, Cao Yun felt an exhilaration like never before. He felt as though he was the strongest he had ever been. That was true, but he was also extremely fragile. All things considered though, this was the perfect opportunity.


    His Heart Star had become so active that Cao Yun had gained an insight into it. Right now, he was almost sure he could perform the first variation of ''Dragon''s Heart''. It was urgent for him to end the situation so that he could focus on his cultivation. If he let it go on like that, his acupoints would be ruined, his meridians would also sustain some damage and he would probably lose a good portion of the Qi he had already accumulated in his Lower Dantian. But if he didn''t act, Ren Chao would die, and then him and all his friends as well.


    Grabbing ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' with all his strength, he heard it squeal. Right now, he was almost too strong for his own weapon. However, he felt a resonance between the spear and his Dragon Heart. Inside the spear was the scale of an Ebony Snake Dragon. Apparently, this scale reacted to the pulsating Dragon Star. And it was incredibly subservient to it. With this reaction, the spear became even more firm and sharp.


    Wielding this spear, Cao Yun focused all of his mind on the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. Everything in his mind was reduced to the tip of his spear and the demonic beast. For an instant, Cao Yun was engulfed in an absolute calm. Even the Dragon Star stopped beating. So did Cao Yun''s heart.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    Under Cao Yun''s feet, the ground got vaporized half a cun deep. His shape became blurred even for Sun Liao and Mei Hua''s senses. The next instant, he was on the other side of the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. With his spear held with only one hand, Cao Yun himself looked like he was part of its shaft. For an instant, all his friends had the impression that Cao Yun was the spear itself. The weapon was not just an extension of him, his very body was the spear.


    Through the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora, a gaping hole was oozing blue blood as the gigantic beast was twitching. Her legs still stuck in Ren Chao''s forearms turned limp. With a single move, the blacksmith was able to take them out while screaming. Then, the body of the giant spider just fell to the ground, devoid of life.


    For what felt like an eternity, there was an deafening silence in the cave. In reality, it lasted for only one breath.


    Afterward, Cao Yun''s spear fell to the ground. And so did he. Without even checking whether the demonic beast was dead or not, he closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground of the cave. After his attack, he knew for a fact that his foe could not survive. In fact, an early Mortal Warrior would have probably been killed. Chan Weifeng''s defense could maybe resist it, but it wasn''t even sure. This ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry'' focused everything in the tip of the spear. After a powerful dash forward, there was only the tip of the spear that existed. If Cao Yun had used a normal Earth spear, it would have shattered at the moment of impact. Thankfully his weapon bordered on the Human rank.


    But the crisis had not been averted, it just changed in nature. Now that the demonic beast was dead, Cao Yun had to control his rampaging Qi. He had to slow it down. But he also had to learn to close the twenty acupoints that had gotten open by the pressure. In the process, he could easily kill himself by sending Qi in the wrong path. But he could also cripple his future cultivation if he wasn''t able to close his acupoints or if he damaged them too much.


    All around him, his Wei Qi was still visible to the naked eye and caused a blue hue all around his body. This Qi came essentially from his Lower Dantian and was rich in Water element.


    Mei Hua had finally gotten herself free. And, just like Sun Liao, she walked closer to Cao Yun and Ren Chao who were both near the corpse of the beast. Contrary to the blacksmith, the two of them understood what was going on for Cao Yun and how critical the situation was.

 Chapter 160: Early 8th-grade Mortal

    Within Cao Yun, the flow of Qi was erratic. His Po character was slowly getting cracked all over as he was losing control of this accelerated Qi. Right now, the only thing he could really do was preventing the dangerous energy from going into his own organs. Thankfully his meridians had been tempered enough with Chief Instructor Peng''s training. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have broken through, his meridians would have simply collapsed and he would be as dead as the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. Right now, Cao Yun was feeling as though molten lava was flowing through his meridians. The walls of those meridians and vessels were thenakfully extremely resistant and the energy didn''t leave them. As he was a Mortal cultivator, his meridians and vessels were still immaterial and a surge of Qi could go through them if it was violent and powerful enough. If that were to happen, given the speed of the Qi in his body, he would die instantly.


    Cao Yun couldn''t divert any fraction of his mind to stop the Qi from leaving through the twenty acupoints in his extremities. In fact, the Qi was already trying to leave through other acupoints. If it did, these points would be damaged beyond repair. Only the twenty acupoints it was already exiting his body from had been used by Chief Instructor Peng and were more resistant as a result. In fact, his body was naturally using them as an exit because of the habit developed by Chief Instructor Peng when he expanded and retracted his own Qi through them. However, it didn''t mean that they could bear the brunt of these waves of energy for very long. And Cao Yun needed to learn how to close them. Otherwise, they would keep on leaking his Qi.


    Around him, Mei Hua and Sun Liao used all their perception to gather as much information as possible. As Mortals, they couldn''t see the Qi, and just to feel it, they needed to be close enough. However, the intensity and violence of Cao Yun''s Qi were so high that it was visible to the naked eye. All around his body, waves of blue hue kept on washing over him. In a few instants, it allowed his friends to understand exactly what was going on inside of his body.


    Ren Chao who slowly got up with bleeding forearms was at the very limit of his will. Without his robust Zhi, he would have collapsed from the pain a long time ago. Anyone could literally see his marrow through his wounds. However, he got more worried for his brother than for himself.


    "Brother Ren, take it, quick!"


    Mei Hua sent him some purple pill she had bought before leaving the Wubei Sect. It was the highest grade she could find in the Wubei Merit Market, a 3-star Human pill. Even she was unable to refine such a pill with her current cultivation. As his sister was giving it to him, Ren Chao did not hesitate and gulped it down instantly. The moment he ate the pill, he felt a nice warmth spread through his wounds. Gradually the pain subsided and the wounds visibly began to close themselves. It would still take more than an hour, but it was extraordinary. This pill was the Golden Threads Salvation pill. It could heal any flesh wound. However, to heal Ren Chao''s bones, it would take a bit longer and even more extravagant pills. Thankfully, Mei Hua knew she could count on her master. And she had enough pills to make sure her friend''s wounds wouldn''t get any worse on their way back.


    "Brother Ren, put my arm back!"


    Sun Liao''s arm was bent and had a huge swelling. Indeed, his bones had been broken in several places. But without his arm, he couldn''t do what he wanted. Even with pills, his bones wouldn''t naturally get back in place.


    "Are you sure about this?"


    "Do it!"


    Sensing the urgency in his friend''s voice, Ren Chao understood he wanted to help Cao Yun. He also understood how critical the situation was. Putting his own pain aside, he grabbed Sun Liao''s arm. Just closing his hands was painful with the holes in his bones. But he pushed through the pain and in one brutal move, he put back his friend''s arm the right way. Using his left sleeve to bite into, Sun Liao stood the agony. But he ended up kneeling on the floor and panting. His forehead was covered in sweat. With an embarrassed look on his face, Ren Chao was standing above him. Even if Sun Liao had asked him to do it, it didn''t feel good to torture his friend.


    "Brother, I need you to collect some things." Before he could even register what was going on, Mei Hua kept on asking for his help. "Take the silk glands and the ovaries from this Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. I imagine that Brother Sun will also need its cores. If I''m right, she should also have a pseudo-4-core given her appearance."


    "Also take some silk and break her legs. I can use them as a form of flag with some work." Still panting and with a short breath, Sun Liao added some instructions.


    Ren Chao didn''t know what they wanted to do but he felt the urgency of the situation and the anxiousness in their voices. Thus, he went to work without any protest.


    He wasn''t an alchemist but Mei Hua gave him clear enough instructions on how to take the parts she needed. At the same time, Sun Liao activated the spatial pouch and Mei Hua immediately gathered her alchemy tools and began to prepare some ingredients. Each time Ren Chao brought her some parts, she began to prepare them as well. It was obvious that she was trying to refine pills for Cao Yun. On the other hand, Sun Liao ignored the pain and began to make some makeshift array formation flags. During their attack of the nest, he had used all of his flags as well as his spirit stones and demonic cores.


    In the end, considering how much it had cost them, they wouldn''t gain much from their hunt. Thankfully, they had kept some 2-core demonic beasts'' corpses. Even though they had used up all their cores, they could still collect important parts.


    When Ren Chao was done with the spider''s materials, he decided to help Sun Liao with the flags. As a blacksmith, he was way faster with this kind of work.


    After almost a stick incense of time, Sun Liao was ready at last. As fast as he could, still fighting the pain, he set up an array formation all around Cao Yun. The moment it was done, the Wei Qi around the young man''s body began to stabilize. This was the Solemn Celestial Lake, a 5-star Earth array formation. Inside, it could soothe both the body, the mind and the Qi. Usually, it was meant to meditate and recover from fatigue both physically, mentally and spiritually.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Cao Yun''s senses had stopped focusing outside of his body and were fully engaged on controlling his critical situation. And as soon as the array formation got set up, he felt his turbulent Qi calm down a little. Even his Po character was able to breathe a little. It was covered in so many cracks that Cao Yun was fearing that it might crumble at any moment. This soothing sensation was a lifeline in a chaotic sea. It calmed even his sea of consciousness that was still a bit red despite the fact that the Heart Star had slowed down significantly.


    Around his body, he also felt that his Wei Qi was becoming more stable. However, there were still waves of Qi leaving through his acupoints. As he wasn''t worried about losing control over his internal Qi, Cao Yun could send parts of his intent on those acupoints. More than his Qi, this sensation calmed his mind and not just because of its effects. Cao Yun knew immediately that this feeling came from his friends. Probably, Sun Liao had set up an array formation around him. That meant that they were safe. This knowledge alone soothed his turmoil. In fact, the sense of danger and urgency almost disappeared when he understood that his friends were helping him.


    All these factors contributed to calming the raging Qi in his meridians. And now that he had reached the 8th-grade Mortal stage, they were resistant enough to restrict the Qi accelerated by the Heart Star. Cao Yun''s past limit was fourfold but now he could probably push it to sixfold or even sevenfold. He wasn''t sure about that right now though, because he had other problems in mind.


    His main concern now was to control his twenty acupoints to open and close at will. If he could achieve this, he would have made a huge leap into the 8th-grade Mortal stage and the crisis would be averted. His main worry was that his acupoints would get damaged and he would be unable to close them afterward.


    In order to achieve this objective, Cao Yun decided to look back at his ''Cultivation of Wrath''. Normally, he would have gotten some advice from Chief Instructor Peng as he still needed to have at least one session with him to break through. Unfortunately, his cultivation had not been normal. The ''Dragon''s Heart'' had forced his breakthrough and he had no clear knowledge on how to control his acupoints. Wanting to solve this problem, he went to the books he had in mind. Of course, he had read books on cultivation but he first decided to examine his ''Cultivation of Wrath''. It was the only piece of knowledge from Cleansed Asura he was able to understand at all.


    This cultivation method exposed several ways to control one''s acupoints. Many ways were not possible right now, among which were using demonic beasts blood to strengthen, loosen and relax them. One could also use massages, or more violent method. But his acupoints were already open and under tension. Finally, he found what he was looking for. The intent from the Drop of Wrath could be used to forcefully open and close one''s acupoints. It was deemed as a very dangerous technique, only to be used if one needed to gain control of his acupoints rapidly. Because any mistake would result in injury. Just to be safe, Cao Yun also looked through all the books he had read about cultivation. However, he felt as though he hadn''t the time to ponder about it and no other method seemed to be possible.


    Despite that, those books gave him more confidence in himself.


    Just as he was about to start, he heard Mei Hua''s voice.


    "Brother, eat this pill!"


    Trusting her completely, he opened his mouth as the pill was thrown into it. The moment the pill began to dissolve in his mouth, he felt his mind becoming increasingly clear. After swallowing this Eight Silky Rivers pill, his sea of consciousness regained its absolute calm. The ocean turned crystal clear and so did the sky. With the naked eye, it was almost impossible to see the difference between water and air. Peace and serenity were absolute.


    In fact, the pill was so effective that his Po character began to recover bit by bit. Sensing this change, Cao Yun became even more confident and sent as much of the medicinal essence as he could into the Po character. Doing so, he pushed his mind cultivation to the limit. In fact, the Five Agents even started to produce some tiny droplets to nourish the Five Echoes Pearl he had been slowly building up. Using those characters to their utmost, Cao Yun also woke up the Drop of Wrath he had restricted earlier.


    With his mind, he sent his intent on only one acupoint at a time. Usually, this was in itself a difficult task to precisely detect one''s acupoints. But Cao Yun had several advantages. The first one was that Chief Instructor Peng had used them several times and Cao Yun had felt them back then. But he also could feel his intense Qi leaving his body through them, feeling this stream both inside his body and over his skin.


    Controlling the intent from the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun imagined the acupoint he had chosen to be the first as thoug it was a muscle. First, he contracted it as much as possible. This was extremely difficult to do in fact. Because Cao Yun needed to contract the acupoint without contracting any muscle around it. An acupoint was the extremity of the smallest meridians. And just like the meridians, they were not material yet for a Mortal. If Cao Yun contracted his muscles, it would tense the region of the acupoint and make his work harder.


    Thanks to his powerful mind cultivation however, he was able to clench this acupoint without much problem. As soon as he did, he felt the pressure slowly build up in it as the Qi was still trying to leave his body. Then, he slowly imagined the point relaxing without opening. It was even more difficult because of the pressure against it. His own body wanted to open the acupoint in order to reduce the internal pressure.


    Finally, using the intent from the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun visualized his acupoint as a closed flower. Very slowly, he opened every petal one by one. And in a few minutes, he had learned to open and close his first acupoint. This simple task could take weeks if not months to a Mortal cultivator. Thanks to chief Instructor Peng''s training method and this precarious situation, he had sped up the process so much that he felt as though it was unreal.


    Then, he focused on every acupoint one by one. And as he progressed, Mei Hua gave him two more pills. After almost two hours, Cao Yun had finally learned to control the twenty acupoints. In total, there were 361 acupoints one had to open and close at will before reaching the 9th-grade Mortal stage. Chief Instructor Peng had worked a lot on these twenty acupoints. He had also worked on several other points that would be easier for Cao Yun to control as well. However, he had no idea how long it would take for him to learn to control his other acupoints.


    He didn''t even know exactly where they were located. Every person''s body was different and to control his acupoints, the cultivator needed to know precisely where his were, not just the general area.


    Nonetheless, Cao Yun put all this thoughts aside. The crisis had been averted. He had lost a certain amount of Qi though. That plus his wounds would take some time to heal.


    When he finally opened his eyes, Cao Yun saw the injuries of his friends and realized that they all needed to rest. It was urgent for them to go back into the Wubei Sect and lick their wounds for several weeks or months.

 Chapter 161: Demonic beast tamers

    Everyone was in terrible shape, except for Mei Hua. Sun Liao and Ren Chao had heavy wounds, especially on their arms. The Sun Blazing Cannon had scorched parts of Sun Liao''s hands and forearms. Moreover, his right arm was clearly broken in several places. On the other hand, Ren Chao''s exterior wounds were healed but his bones were still pierced all the way to the bone.


    Some remnants of the Golden Threads Salvation pill''s medicinal essence were still protecting the internal wounds from further complications. But they couldn''t heal bones. Sadly, Mei Hua did not have a pill that was efficient enough for his wounds on hands. But she was sure that her master would gladly help him once they got back.


    Instead of worrying about her friends who were safe, Mei Hua took care of the two human cultivators she had saved from the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras'' nest. They couldn''t be more than fifteen. And they looked so alike with very light hair and round faces that she was convinced they were siblings. While treating them, she realized they were not even 3rd-grade Mortals. Yet they came inside the Lunar Marsh.


    Most likely, they were the weakest of their small group. And sadly, with the destruction of Fulao, it was more difficult for hunters. They probably didn''t have much choice to survive out there.


    Their wounds were very heavy. During their stay in the cocoons, some Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras had already began to devour their minds. Their weak cultivation saved them as the spiders began by the stronger cultivators. A stronger cultivation generally meant a stronger mind and for the demonic beasts, a tastier mind. The boy also had had his right arm torn away. However, Mei Hua found out that it was not due to a Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. From the marks on his flesh, his arm should have been devoured by a Mirror Back Ancient Alligator.


    There were even some traces of treatment. So his comrades had saved him once already, and then they got attacked again and all died. The young girl who was probably his sister was in a better physical state. But her mind was as damaged as his. Mei Hua could stabilize them but only her master or maybe the chief elder of the physician pavilion were competent enough to help them wake up.


    The group needed to go back to the Wubei Sect. But she also needed to converse with Cao Yun.


    The young man was still meditating to stabilize his sudden breakthrough. In the center of his Five Agents, he had almost formed a new Five Echoes Pearl thanks to the medicinal essence of the Eight Silky Rivers pill combined with the effects of the Solemn Celestial Lake array formation. Cao Yun was clearly the one who had gained the most but he had risked quite a lot. All over his body, there were small internal wounds. Just like before, he would probably need to rest several weeks or more. But it was also a great opportunity to focus on his mind cultivation and advance it quickly.


    After him, Mei Hua was the one who had gained the most. Deep in her sea of consciousness, the mind of the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora was still being slowly burned by her Shen. She didn''t want to assimilate it right away because she would rather have her master with her. First, she could maybe extract some more informations from this beast''s mind. But she could also ensure that the process was without risk.


    "Brothers, before we leave, I have to talk with you. I know this isn''t the right time, but I think it''s important."


    All the others looked at her and gathered closer.


    "What is it, Sister? You can tell us anything."


    "We should focus on recovering and going back. But, I think Brother Chen should know about what I found. The Burrowing Deadly Typha''s poison was hidden behind another smell. And I''m certain that this was Purity Ablution Aglaia perfume. The idea that 3-core demonic beasts could use Burrowing Deadly Typha as a defense mechanism was already very hard to accept. But hiding them with a perfume, that''s just impossible. And they clearly seemed set on killing you, Brother."


    In fact, Cao Yun had the same intuition of something odd. Considering that this cave had been used by demonic cultivators, he had thought about their possible involvement.


    "So someone knew you would come back here and prepared all of this just to kill you without leaving any trace of their involvement... But wait! This would mean that..."


    Sun Liao quickly understood the implications Mei Hua had left out.


    "Indeed, he probably was a beast tamer, and at least a Mortal Warrior."


    To tame an entire nest of Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras who were 3-star demonic beasts, a beast tamer had to be a Mortal Warrior and not just a weak one. Beast tamers were already rare, and a Mortal Warrior beast tamer demonic cultivator was thus an oddity.


    "We have to tell everything we know to Spirit Master Xiao."


    Then, the group decided on the best way to go back to the Wubei Sect. They had already traveled through the Heidai Peak and knew how to be safe.


    -


    In the middle of a rocky plain, there were several tents with a few people working around them. Suddenly a young man in his late twenties or very early thirties erupted into the main tent. Right in front of him, an old man was examining some maps and documents. Seeing the young man come in unannounced, he got quite angry.


    The old man had only gray and white hair. His hair was shaved on the front half of his head and his beard only consisted of a very long strand hanging from his chin. All over his face, he had several scars he wore proudly. And despite his age, his body was huge and full of vigor. As he was a Spirit Warrior, it was almost impossible to know his actual age, but he should have been several hundred of years old. This old man had the air of an adventurer who had spent most of his time in nature.


    On the other end, the young man seemed very well dressed and groomed. It was a great contrast as he appeared to be a scholar in comparison.


    "Why are you disturbing me?!"


    Immediately, the young man knelt on the floor.


    "Master, my Soul Weaving Cyrtophora just died."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "What?! Are you sure?!"


    "Yes, I felt her contract blood dissipate. She''s completely dead. I don''t know what happened, but we can assume that Chen Guo survived."


    Angry, the old man sent the table with all the documents flying while screaming out loud.


    "This bastard will use that to curry favor once again! I can already hear his grating voice ridiculing me!" He then shifted his gaze toward the poor young man. "You told me you were sure of yourself! How dare you lie to me?! I should flay you alive for your failure!"


    Hearing this, the young man thought back about the tortures his master had inflicted to other people. He had indeed assisted at a few flayings. Moreover, he knew that his master was very emotional and impulsive. In an instant he could decide to torture and slaughter him and then change his mind after he was already dead. In order to avoid this fate, he groveled even more.


    "Master, this is all Mo Tian''s fault. He''s the one who told us to only use 3-core demonic beasts. If I had been allowed to send my most powerful beasts, these kids would be dead for sure! And I chose these Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras based on his reports. Everything is Mo Tian''s fault!"


    These words got the old man thinking. And as he stroked his long and narrow beard, he also nodded his head.


    "You''re right. This is all that bastard''s fault. I''ll report it directly to the Demon King. We''re not responsible for this failure. First of all, we''re already busy with our real mission and this is a pure success, right?"


    "Right, Master. Everything is going exactly according to plan. We dispatched the beasts precisely where they were meant to be. No one can reproach anything to your masterful management." In fact, the young man had supervised a great portion of the operation but he knew that his old master would never let any credit go to someone else than him. He would rather be a tool than a corpse.


    "Indeed, indeed! But on Mo Tian''s part, this is just failure after failure. After all, this Chen Guo is also his responsibility and his failure! Let''s see how he turns it around with the Demon King. Ha ha ha! Good work, Can Mouye. I''ll only give you twenty lashes for your failure."


    "How generous of you, Master."


    "Aren''t I?! Ha ha ha!"


    Still groveling on the floor, Can Mouye left. Sadly, he was used to the lashes. But it was better than being eaten alive or dismembered. His master tended to be very imaginative when he was frustrated or angry.


    Happy with the way he could present the news, the old man activated his spatial ring and retrieved a small array formation plate. This was very similar to the jade pendant some of the Wubei Sect''s instructors or elders had. With these pendants, they could send their thoughts into array formations that were very far from them. Even though the old man was a Spirit Warrior, he couldn''t use his spiritual senses to send a telepathic message too far. And right now, he was in a very remote part of the Hongchen Kingdom.


    When he activated the plate, an array formation got activated in an isolated room deep underground. The place was empty. But as soon as the array formation lit up, a figure appeared inside of it. When he got inside, he heard the words of the old man.


    "Demon King. This insignificant one is Xiong Nixie. I humbly request an audience with you, Great Venerable. I''ll have my men prepare your Myriad Flying Sounds array formation right away. The news I have for you is important. I would never dare waste your precious time, Great Venerable."


    After that, he indeed ordered his men to set up an array formation. It had been specifically created to communicate with their master, the one they called the Demon King. This Myriad Flying Sounds array formation was at least a 1-star Heaven array formation that allowed communications between two specific points. As long as the array formations had been built in the exact same way, they could communicate even across long distances. In fact, apart from demonic cultivators, it was safe to say that no one had heard of this array formation.


    However, it took several days to set it up, even under the threats of Xiong Nixie.


    -


    At last, Xiong Nixie could talk with the Demon King. He waited inside the array formation for a few more days. But the moment he finally heard a voice, it made him mad. This voice was Mo Tian''s. This was the master of Mo Zi who was inside the Wubei Sect.


    "The Demon King asked me to take care of all operations for now. What do you have to report, Brother Xiong?"


    Swallowing his pride, Xiong Nixie knew that Mo Tian wouldn''t dare lie about the Demon King''s orders. And he wasn''t insane enough to discuss them, especially not with this Mo Tian he hated. However, he had to change his words. Instead of putting the failure on Mo Tian, he would put it on his disciple.


    "My disciple failed. His Soul Weaving Cyrtophora died in the Lunar Marsh. You''ll probably see Chen Guo come back alive very soon."


    "Indeed. He''s already come back this morning. In fact, all his friends are also safe. Their wounds were pretty serious for some of them, but they''re fine. I''d like to add that Chen Guo seems even stronger than before."


    Clearly, Mo Tian did not hide how annoyed he was.


    "I gave you everything. I even predicted exactly what Chen Guo would do and you failed... I hope the preparations for our plan are going better!"


    Xiong Nixie had to control himself not to insult him. But he had still a hard time controlling his tone.


    "This was my disciple''s screw-up, not mine. The plan is going perfectly. The 9-core demonic beasts are all precisely where they''re supposed to be. In a few weeks, we''ll be set to go. On our end, there won''t be any problem. But I must remind you that this is your plan. I hope you''ll take responsibility if it fails."


    "I''m not like you. I won''t push all of it unto my disciples. But I have another way for you to redeem yourself for this small failure."


    "Why should we care about an insignificant Mortal?"


    "Because this Mortal screwed a few of our plans. Yes, Luo Jiang was supposed to be discovered, but not like that. And Luduo Bu and Lu Meihan could have been great test subjects. I even had to sacrifice a pawn to protect my disciple. This boy is clearly a problem we should take care of before it''s too late. And given his cultivation speed, he''ll probably be stronger than all our agents in the Ancient Ruins next year. Remember, only youths will be able to enter it. If he survived your beasts, do you think our agents will be able to do anything against him? If this plan fails, would you be able to push your fault on someone else?"


    "... Fine, I listen. What''s your proposition?"


    "I''ll give you a list of towns and cities. When the operation begins, you''ll have to cause chaos there as well. If you follow my instructions, I can tell you exactly where Chen Guo will be. And he will be alone, without his troublesome friends... The question is, are you sure you can kill him?"


    "If I send a 9-core demonic beast, there won''t be any problem."


    "Are you stupid?! We need all of them for our plan! Unless you have some you''ve kept secret to the Demon King?"


    "No, I wouldn''t dare!... Wait, I know! I can send my disciple! This will also be a way for him to atone for his failure."


    "Are you sure of his abilities?"


    "I''d go myself, but I''m needed for our plan. And this boy is not even a Mortal Warrior. My disciple will either kill him or die trying!"


    After the conversation, Mo Tian was not happy at all. First of all, he despised Xiong Nixie. Unfortunately, he couldn''t be picky. Beast tamers were rare already, Spirit Warriors were also rare. Finding and training one Xiong Nixie had already cost them a lot. However, they needed him for their next plan. They could do it in other ways but it would take too much time. The best thing would be for Mo Tian to kill Chen Guo directly. But just like Xiong Nixie, he was needed for other plans. Demonic cultivators were too few to send any of the Spirit Warriors against him. Even sending a Mortal Warrior was a bit too much. And if Xiao Xuefeng was able to find him out because of that, this would be a disaster.


    But Mo Tian was sure that Cao Yun had to be eliminated. Once he went inside the Ancient Ruins, he could endanger the plan they had worked on for centuries. If Mo Zi was able to do his part properly, it would diminish the risks but Mo Tian didn''t want to take any chances.

 Chapter 162: Chamber of Ultimate Truth

    Cao Yun and his group were back in the Wubei Sect with the two vagrant cultivators they had saved. When they had come back, they were immediately brought to the physician pavilion. Everyone knew the importance of all of them, so no instructor gave them any choice. Those three disciples were direct disciples to chief elders and Cao Yun had become a celebrity. No instructor wanted to be even the slightest bit responsible for any injury or lasting wound.


    Chief Elder Qinghe acted in person. Mei Hua insisted for him to examine the two unconscious youths first. Her pleads were so sincere that Chief Elder Qinghe agreed. Upon further examinations, it appeared that they were mostly safe. Sadly, their wounds wouldn''t recover completely. To grow back an arm, it required Spirit medicines and even then, depending on the cultivation of the patient, it always had a risk of failure. About the mind, it was even worse. Spiritual wounds were always more difficult to heal than physical ones.


    But once Mei Hua got satisfied with the diagnosis, she agreed to be examined. Chief Elder Qinghe quickly concurred with her own earlier analysis. Mei Hua was mostly fine, just exhausted. Sun Liao''s wounds were also very easy to treat. It was just important to make sure his bones healed the proper way, and the burns were only superficial thanks to his understanding of his martial art. After all, the Sun Blazing Cannon array formation had been invented by using his ''Houyi''s Nine Suns'' as a reference. As such, the wounds were not too severe.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun''s wounds were very serious. With the naked eye, he seemed like the most healthy due to his increased cultivation. But internally, he had been deeply wounded.


    "Chief Elder Baishen should have told you how dangerous your technique was, right?"


    Of course, Cao Yun knew the consequences of using this technique. But this time, it hadn''t been about winning a duel, it had been about staying alive.


    "Yes, Chief Elder. However, I had no choice."


    The only alternative he had back then would have been to use the Spirit Condensation Barrier that Xiao Xuefeng had given him. But it could only protect himself. Thanks to it, he could have run away. However, his friends would have died without any doubt.


    "Humph! I guess Chief Elder Baishen will give you an earful. So there''s no need for me to add anything. But I''ll insist on the fact that you must rest for several weeks. Now that you''ve broken through, your vitality should be higher. Thankfully, your rampant Qi didn''t go into your organs or this would be another story. Your meridians and acupoints are not too damaged. If you don''t overdo it, they''ll heal naturally." He then looked over at Mei Hua. "And with the right pills, you should be able to completely recover in a month or two."


    Finally, he went over to Ren Chao. This time, Chief Elder Qinghe examined him longer than any other disciples. All his spiritual senses were focused on his bones. During the meeting of this new year, he had heard about the possibility but now that he was looking at his wounds, he got more convinced that this was true. Although Ren Chao''s bones had been pierced all the way to the marrow, they were perfectly fine after only a few days. There were several possibilities, but combined with his incredible strength, the most likely was that he indeed had a Golden Silk Body.


    A Golden Silk Body was a special constitution. Anyone with that constitution would have his muscle, bone, ligament and tendon tissues more permeable to Qi. This caused several things. First of all, his physical abilities would be insanely strong compared to another cultivator of the same grade. Secondly, his cultivation would get slower as a great part of his Qi would sink into his own tissues to nourish them. Theoretically, it was impossible to know for sure until he reached a sufficient cultivation level.


    However, Chief Elder Qinghe was almost certain of himself. Such a physique was a double-edged sword. Yes his physique was exceptional but his cultivation would get more and more difficult until he finally reached Spirit Warrior in which Qi was less important. However, during the Forsaken Dao Era, even reaching Mortal Warrior could prove impossible for him.


    Now that his constitution was known, they would have to take good care of him. If the Wubei Sect could nurture a Spirit Warrior with a Golden Silk Body, that would be an absolute ace!


    As soon as he was done, Chief Elder Qinghe did not waste any time and went to report to Sect Leader Xuan at once. Thankfully, Chief Elder Tingyu had taken Ren Chao in as a direct disciple. Thus, the Wubei Sect had a very solid relationship with this boy. And his friendship with Mei Hua, Sun Liao and Cao Yun was so strong that they almost died for each other. His constitution was great but his morale was also on par. Such a loyal boy was perfect for the Wubei Sect.


    -


    Cao Yun got chewed out by Chief Elder Baishen, and even by Xiao Xuefeng. The sect confined him in his chambers until his full recovery. He could only cultivate his Qi and his mind. Thanks to his ''Shen Visualization'' he could also train his martial arts though but it was not as beneficial as an actual fight. He also used this opportunity to train his his array formations and his alchemy, even though his instructor was not available. Moreover, he read every book he had access to in the library. Now that he had broken through, he had gained enough points to get to another section.


    But Cao Yun was not the only one who got reprimanded, Sun Liao also got destroyed by Chief Elder Suxian. Sun Liao had never seen him as worried as he was. The technique he had used could have backfired. If he had made any mistake, Sun Liao could have simply been burned alive.


    The only ones who were not scolded were Mei Hua and Ren Chao. After all, none of them had done anything crazy. No chief elder thought it had been a wrong decision to go save one of their friends, quite the opposite. If the group had come back without Mei Hua because they had abandoned her behind, they would have been way more furious. Loyalty was a great value of the Wubei Sect and the Hongchen Kingdom as a whole. Deciding not to risk your life to save a complete stranger could be  understood but abandoning your friends was a coward act. Anyone who did that could not walk the great path of cultivation.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    However, they still received several sermons on everything they could have done better.


    In the end, Mei Hua told Xiao Xuefeng everything she suspected. And it did not surprise her master in the slightest. Demonic cultivators seemed to be everywhere these days. Even Director Ge thought that Xiao Xuefeng''s presence in the Wubei Sect had been orchestrated by them. She had the disgusting feeling that no matter what they did, they were playing right into their hands.


    "Master, I still have some remnants of the demonic beast''s mind in my sea of consciousness. I thought that you might be able to get more information on the matter."


    The fact that Mei Hua could now enter her sea of consciousness had been a very pleasant surprise. However, as long as the mind invading hers had not been completely dealt with, Xiao Xuefeng would not feel at ease.


    "Mei Hua, you have to relax your mind as much as you can. I''ll crush this parasite. Then, you''ll be able top absorb it easily. Unfortunately, I do not think that this beast knew anything. From what you described, the most likely possibility is that this pseudo-4-core demonic beast had been tamed by a demonic cultivator. The other ones only obeyed. I''ll probably just be able to confirm your theories..."


    Hearing her master, Mei Hua relaxed as much as she could. From her spatial ring, Xiao Xuefeng took out her guqin. Gradually, her music filled the air and Mei Hua''s mind relaxed even more, to the point where she was almost unconscious. Everything around her felt like a dream.


    Slowly, the music penetrated her sea of consciousness. Of course, Xiao Xuefeng could have gotten into her mind in a more direct way, but it would traumatize her. This soothing approach was also meant as a form of therapy. Around the cauldron Mei Hua had formed, the music became solid. It was very hard to describe because it wasn''t the real world. But the notes in the air seemed to form strange and yet beautiful and enticing geometrical shapes. In a matter of seconds, the cauldron was completely encased in this physical music.


    Within the music, Mei Hua who was barely aware heard her master''s voice asking her to release the cauldron. The moment she did, the nightmarish spider tried to run but collided with the music. All this monster''s screams got silenced by the melodious rhythm and very slowly, its body was torn apart. There was no blood at all. The geometrical shapes simply separated the body into tiny parts until there was only a cloud of black and red dust. Everything had been incredibly calm.


    In reality, the mind of the demonic beast had not been calm at all. It had tried everything it could in a desperate attempt to stave off its ultimate doom. Now that its body was dead, the only thing this mind could hope for was to become some sort of ghost. Unfortunately, against Xiao Xuefeng''s spiritual senses, all its efforts became useless. It was absolutely powerless and got destroyed without doing anything.


    Xiao Xuefeng was able to sift through its memories. However, she had been right. There was nothing interesting. The only things she saw were the poor victims of the spiders mentally destroyed by their psychic torments before their bodies were literally drunk. In fact, there was only one tiny memory that was interesting. This pseudo-4-core Soul Weaving Cyrtophora was not originally from their nest. But she forced them to accept her and brought many fresh victims to the nest. Clearly, it had been tamed and nurtured by a beast tamer. Thus it confirmed what Mei Hua had suspected. All of this had been a trap, and from what she understood, it was specifically targeting Cao Yun.


    When Xiao Xuefeng was done, Mei Hua came back to her senses. All over her sea of consciousness, there was a fine powder slowly being dissolved in the ocean. With this nourishment, her mind would get even stronger.


    "I see that you''ve advanced far in Chen Guo''s mind cultivation. And now that you can enter your sea of consciousness, there are many techniques that I can show you. The most interesting for you would be a modified version of ''Spiritual Sea Refinement''."


    This ''Spiritual Sea Refinement'' was almost the same technique Cao Yun was calling ''Shen Visualization''. An alchemist could use it to imagine his refinement process over and over until he was satisfied with the result. Considering Mei Hua''s knowledge in alchemy, if she could master this technique, she would probably be able to refine all Earth pills with True Essence grade.


    -


    On the other hand, Cao Yun had decided to focus on his mind cultivation. His Five Echoes Pearl was almost formed after the recent events. After only a few days, he was able to complete it. Once more, there was a perfect pearl of pure white floating within his Five Agents. With as much care as he could, he slowly lowered this pearl into the ocean below. At the same time, he was focusing all his intent on the Chamber of Ultimate Truth. It was located at the top of the Upper Dantian, just below the Bai Hui point at the summit of the skull, the Gate of the Hundred Convergences.


    While the Chamber of Jade was mainly Water, the Chamber of Ultimate Truth contained a lot of Fire element. As such, it was a good idea to energize them one after the other to stabilize the Upper Dantian and allow the rest of the process to be smooth. But that wasn''t Cao Yun''s main concern to be honest. He had been more practical. This chamber pertained to knowledge and wisdom. He was sure that it would help him in his martial arts, but not only. With all the knowledge he had absorbed, he remembered a lot, but having read something did not mean he fully understood it or could apply it in real life. Thanks to this chamber, he was convinced that his ability to understand the materials he had read would be faster.


    Energizing this chamber was a bit more difficult because of the contradicting elements. The Five Echoes Pearl was liquid and the chamber was rich with Fire element. They were just imageries of course, but picturing the right images was important to improve the chances of success. For that purpose, Cao Yun imagined that this drop was in fact a ball of steamed water that would nourish the fire.


    The moment it mixed with the clear water of the ocean below, his entire sea of consciousness turned pure white as a flash erupted. Finally, the Chamber of Ultimate Truth was energized.


    The next moment, the way Cao Yun saw the world had once again changed. The Chamber of Jade had increased his intuition. And now the Chamber of Ultimate Truth had increased his understanding of what he was watching. The first thing Cao Yun did was to look back at the five stars high in the sky of his sea of consciousness. Right now, he could clearly perceive the real Azure Dragon behind these simple stars.


    Cao Yun''s guess was absolutely right. Whoever had created this martial art had done so by observing a true Azure Dragon. And these mansions, these constellations and stars, they were not just celestial bodies, they were the actual body of the beast. As Cao Yun only had the five first stars, he could only see a vague figure of the legendary beast. However, thanks to his mind cultivation, he was still able to see how the dragon was breathing. He could understand how its muscles were twitching, how its body was moving. In fact, he even saw how its heart was beating. For now, he couldn''t see the flow of blood in its body, but he could imagine it a little. This new vision completely changed his approach of the martial art.


    Thanks to this, he was convinced that he could exert more control over ''Dragon''s Heart''. The sensation was insane. It was as if all the training he had done was washing over him all of a sudden and he realized a truth that was right in front of him from the very start but was eluding him. Right now, Cao Yun felt like he had a perfect understanding of this star. In truth, he wasn''t quite there yet, but this was a powerful epiphany nonetheless, and quite exhilarating.

 Chapter 163: Discovering the 361 acupoints

    With all this excitement going on in his mind, Cao Yun had to test it out. Due to his injuries, he couldn''t overdo it, but he had to do something. From everything he had witnessed and from what Mei Hua had told him, he knew what had happened in the Lunar Marsh. Everything was meant to target him specifically. And because of that, his friends got injured and almost killed. He even had to leave Mei Hua behind to run away.


    All this frustration and bitterness were mostly silenced by his mind cultivation. But it didn''t mean that these feelings were not there. In fact, Cao Yun was somewhat glad they were strong because they could be a fuel for his ambitions. Clearly the demonic cultivators were planning nefarious things for at least the Wubei Sect, but most likely the entire Hongchen Kingdom and the human race as a whole. He had been right in his determination. Just avenging his family was not enough. What he needed to do was to use this desire to achieve something bigger. Instead of just helping himself, he was going to help all mankind, at his own scale.


    If he couldn''t have his vengeance himself, he could maybe at least help the powerful cultivators from the kingdom eliminate this threat. After all, he had helped Xiao Xuefeng, who was the cultivator with the best perception, to see a bit through their deception.


    Not wanting to stay idle by but not ready to compromise his recovery, he decided to just try accelerating his Qi to threefold. This was a threshold he knew he was already able to control without any problem. Controlling his Qi only started to get difficult when he reached a fourfold increase. He also limited this acceleration in specific pathways to avoid his heaviest injuries. And just like he was expecting, he could control his Qi with way more ease. In fact, he could also control its speed with more precision. Thanks to this, he would probably never again exceed his limits unknowingly.


    Of course, he could still speed up his Qi over the limit. But with this small test, he was sure that he could stop the acceleration at any point before this limit. However, he wasn''t sure about the limit yet. Hence, he preferred not to play with fire. His meridians were still recovering. The wounds were especially severe in his forearms and legs where his first acupoints had been opened. Indeed, it was through these acupoints that his body had tried to alleviate the pressure by releasing the uncontrolled Qi.


    Cao Yun would have to calm his excitement and wait for a few weeks before he could attempt to use the technique in real life. While waiting for this moment, he could still use his ''Shen Visualization'' to perform his martial arts in his mind. And the technique that interested him was ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. In the very last moment of the fight, he had a form of epiphany and instinctively used this technique without really understanding what he was doing.


    This attack consisted in concentrating all of his mind, intent, energy, will, everything, at the tip of his spear. During this technique, he was one with his weapon. Then, he just released all his strength to dash forward and pierce through his enemy. It was so fast that it became almost impossible to dodge even for an early Mortal Warrior. And the attack was so focused that it could go through many defenses. It was as though all of Cao Yun''s strength and energy was applied to a single point.


    Thinking back on this technique, Cao Yun also remembered Zhi Yin''s way of fighting. During her duel, she had been able to mimic Qi Manifestation. The idea behind her trick was to project her Qi within her attack. Even though she had no control over her Qi outside of her body, it simply flowed with the shock wave caused by her attack and strengthened it. Now that Cao Yun had opened twenty of his acupoints, he could release Qi in high quantity. As he wasn''t a Mortal Warrior yet though, he had no control over it once outside of his body.


    But he could still use Zhi Yin''s idea. His attacks were also using the wind created by his weapon. If he projected his Qi into it, it would probably behave in the same way, being manipulated by the wind and the shock waves of his attacks. This kind of technique was not comparable to Qi Manifestation at all, but it would probably increase the strength of his attacks beyond his expectations.


    Because he couldn''t really train on it with the acupoints he had currently opened as they were still recovering, he decided to try to open other ones. The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' had given him several ideas and his own experience was also useful. Last time, despite being in a precarious situation, Cao Yun had tried to focus on the sensations he had felt. The first points that were in theory the most difficult to control had revealed themselves to be quite easy instead. Most of all, it was thanks to Chief Instructor Peng''s training. And Cao Yun had still one session scheduled with him.


    As he had been confined to his room, he probably wouldn''t be able to go see him. But, afterward, he would have to thank him again.


    Right now, he would be as gentle as possible. Targeting some of the easiest acupoints on his belly, just in front of his Lower Dantian, Cao Yun began to focus. The point he chose was Qi Hai, sometimes called the Fake Dantian. It was directly in front of his Lower Dantian and Chief Instructor Peng had also stimulated it, but not as much as the other ones. Using his mind cultivation, Cao Yun brought the intent of the Drop of Wrath over this point. Once again, he knew exactly where it was so it wasn''t that difficult.


    But without the Qi pressure and the excitement, opening the acupoint proved troublesome. After several hours of work, he had not opened the acupoint but he had gained a lot. Indeed, he could test several ways and theories. With both his Chamber of Jade and Chamber of Ultimate Truth energized, even the slightest thing gave him some insights. By the end, he wasn''t even trying to open the acupoint, he was just trying out ideas.


    Then, Cao Yun spent many hours reading the books he had already memorized on many subjects. As their contents were entirely in his mind, he just imagined them in his sea of consciousness and read them. That was strange but he felt better imagining reading the actual book than just remembering his content. In a way, if he didn''t, he felt as though he wasn''t doing anything. By imagining that he was actually holding the real book in hands, he felt more active.


    Mainly, he focused on alchemy, array formations and cultivation. Now that he had energized his Chamber of Ultimate Truth, he realized that everything seemed to make more sense. This was subtle at first and he couldn''t pinpoint the origin of the feeling. But as he read and read again, he understood. Each time he read something, he was able to figure out the links it had with other things he had read. Slowly in his mind, a gigantic map of interconnections between subjects that seemed completely foreign to each other was being built.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    He realized that all these occupations had many things in common, and much more than what was obvious. Cultivation itself was very close to array formations and alchemy. Many techniques were in fact the same principle applied in different situations. The more he delved into it, the more transfixed he became. At first, his only passion was martial arts. But slowly, he had gotten intrigued by these other occupations. Right now, he realized the truth. He wasn''t truly fascinated by martial arts, he was fascinated by learning about them.


    Now that he had found interesting things in other domains, he also became passionate about learning more. And the more he learned, the more he realized how little he knew. Instead of disheartening him, it made him even more excited. That meant that there was much more to learn and discover.


    Unknowingly, some strange characters began to slowly condense deep into his sea of consciousness. They were unlike any other characters and they were still barely visible and deep under water. However, they were clearly there and Cao Yun did not notice them. Unfortunately, he was more fascinated by what happened in the sky with the five stars and just over the surface with his Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath.


    -


    Cao Yun got surprised when someone knocked at his door. Kang Cai opened and let the visitor in. He was Chief Instructor Peng.


    "Hey, kid!"


    Kang Cai left the two men together and retired into her own room.


    "Chief Instructor, I''m sorry for missing our schedule session."


    As soon as he saw the man, Cao Yun stood up from his meditation pose and bowed.


    "Don''t worry about that. I heard about what had happened. And this was true it seems... You''re already an 8th-grade Mortal. Impressive!"


    Chief Instructor Peng took a chair and sat right in front of Cao Yun who was standing where he used to meditate. Understanding that he was here to give him some advice, Cao Yun sat cross-legged and listened.


    "You''ve opened your first twenty acupoints, right?"


    "Indeed, thanks to you, Chief Instructor."


    "I know. That''s the point of ''The Snake Invades the Shell''. But you shouldn''t be in a hurry to try and open the others. Listen to me.


    Your next five stages of cultivation are all more or less related to acupoints in some way. You''ll learn to control them, being able to open and close them at will, even the most subtle of them. When you''ll be able to control the points known as the Five Prodigious Gates, you''ll be an early Mortal Warrior. Finally, you''ll strengthen them to resist your Qi Manifestation and make it more and more tangible and thus powerful.


    As you can see, you''ll work on these acupoints for a long time. An average cultivator who doesn''t have any trouble spends around seven years to conclude all those stages. Some are easier and can be done in months, but others require at least two years. The more acquainted with your acupoints you are, the easier it will be down the line.


    Some alchemists or array formation masters have ways to help open their acupoints. But as they don''t really control them - they lack sensation - they''re way weaker than other cultivators in the same stage. Of course they don''t care, they just want to be able to practice alchemy or array formations.


    However, it''s not your case. You need to really focus on feeling your acupoints. The more you know them and their sensation, the easier it will be to progress and the stronger you''ll be. And for that, there''s a trick that''s really not intuitive. Instead of working on the easiest acupoints, you should focus on the most difficult ones.


    The first thing you should do, and it''s perfect considering your wounds, is feeling their location. Every acupoint is in a general area, but for each individual, the precise location is different. So, during the weeks you''ll have to stay confined in your room, feel them. Since you''re a 5-star Earth alchemist, you should have a good perception. Use it to locate all of your acupoints. But don''t just stop there. Try to really feel them.


    Some will feel very relaxed and easy to control. Others will be almost without any sensation at all, just as if they were dead. These are the most difficult to open. Most of the time, they are in places where there are few tissues over your bones, very rigid places like the back of the neck. But they can vary from people to people.


    Once you''ve done that, you should focus on the most difficult ones first. Like that, you''ll be able to keep the easy ones to train with. Every time you fail in opening an acupoint, you''ll still get ideas. Use them on the easier ones to try them out. The mistake of some cultivators is to open all the easy ones first because they want quick progress. But then they get stuck because they have no way to test their ideas.


    Of course, when you loosen your acupoints, it feels great. You feel more relaxed and more powerful. It''s understandable that they want to get this feeling again. I remember, it''s just like the first time I... I probably shouldn''t talk about that.


    Imagine you want to test a new martial art technique but you only have opponents way stronger than you, you won''t even be able to use your technique at full power. But if you keep weaker opponents, you can spar with them and test out your insights. That''s the same principle here."


    Everything Chief Instructor Peng said was aligned with both the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' and what Cao Yun had himself experimented. Instead of opening his Qi Hai, he had played with it for several hours to test out ideas.


    "Also, there are techniques I could use to help you. But it''s best for you if you control your acupoints alone. As I said, the more sensations you obtain, the easier it will be for you down the line. And the stronger you''ll become. However, if you need any advice, don''t fret about it and come ask me."


    For the next few weeks, Cao Yun stayed inside and worked on his acupoints. Just like Chief Instructor Peng had told him, the essential thing was first to locate them and then to try out many different things to see what worked or not for him. Cultivation was a personal journey, it was the same for all and yet different for everyone. Everybody had a similar body and mind structure, but the way they felt and behaved was highly personal.


    In total, there were 361 acupoints. Some were easily felt, but others were difficult to sense. Even knowing their general area, feeling clearly their precise position was quite tough. Despite his mind cultivation, several weeks wouldn''t be too much to find them all.


    Of course, Cao Yun did not neglect his mind cultivation. In fact, it increased a bit as he tried to feel all his acupoints. He also continued reading and understanding the books he had memorized. However, he didn''t progress much in his martial arts. The only thing he could really do was observe the stars and imagine the movements. But with his injuries he didn''t actually try them out in real life.


    In the end, this period of isolation was extremely beneficial to him.

 Chapter 164: Return to the Huang family residence

    During this whole ordeal, Huang Cixi was riding on Elder Ying''s back with four servants and Huang Liyue. They would reach Baziyun City in a few days. The travel had been a bit longer than it should have been because Elder Ying seemed to slow down so as to not disturb Huang Cixi''s cultivation. The young girl was cultivating three things at the same time, her mind through ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', her Qi through the ''Soaring Blood Bird'' method and her blood through ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire''.


    ''Soaring Blood Bird'' was the cultivation method of the Huang family. It could only be practiced by someone with blood from a True Fiery Fenghuang. There was nothing too incredible about it as it mostly derived from the ''Universal Law of Immortality''. However, it was optimized to use the specific bloodline of the Huang family. As such, it allowed them to advance faster and with less risk. As she was now an 8th-grade Mortal, Huang Cixi had to locate and work on her acupoints just like Cao Yun. Thanks to this technique, she could use her blood to achieve these very results. And thanks to her mind cultivation, she was able to locate the acupoints with even more ease.


    By the time she would reach her residence, Huang Cixi would have controlled at least a tenth of her acupoints. This speed seemed incredible. This wasn''t directly related to the Life Boiling Cradle pill, but more specifically to her blood. The moment it had evolved, she had known that it would give her many benefits, but she had never imagined that it would be so amazing. If she kept on training with such results, she would break through again in less than a year. In fact, she could probably become a Mortal Warrior next year.


    On the other hand, ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' was a special cultivation method solely meant to train one''s blood. It derived a lot from the observation of demonic beasts. The Huang family with its heritage was the one family that birthed the most beast tamers. And it was due to the fascination of some members for demonic beasts because of the blood coursing through their veins. While observing and caring for these demonic beasts, beast tamers derived much knowledge and tried to apply it to human cultivators.


    The ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' method was born through this process. While observing the demonic beasts naturally condensing into demonic cores the Qi they absorbed, beast tamers had thought about doing the same with their blood. Through the Huang family''s veins, the blood of the True Fiery Fenghuang flowed with more or less vigor. And the purity of one''s blood was rather important among the Huang family. This method consisted in emulating the formation of the cores but with blood. By using this method, the cultivator would condense the small traces of True Fiery Fenghuang blood within his bloodstream into a pure drop, simply called True Fiery Drop.


    Just like the demonic cores, it was possible to condense nine drops. And all of them were kept within the Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, right in the center of the heart. Before she went to the Wubei Sect, Huang Cixi only had one True Fiery Drop in her heart. But now, she had formed her second one. The first drop had taken her several years of arduous cultivation but the medicinal essence of the Life Boiling Cradle pill was so powerful that it woke up her bloodline. And with these two drops, she could clearly feel the True Fiery Fenghuang blood in her. Combined with her mind cultivation, forming the other drops wouldn''t take years, it would take months.


    Going into the Wubei Sect had truly given her many benefits, enough for a lifetime.


    On the other side of Elder Ying''s back, Huang Liyue was observing the young girl. During the entire trip, she had almost never stopped cultivating unless she needed some sleep or sustenance. Clearly, she had been wrong about her, she was way stronger than she had initially thought. Using her spiritual senses, Huang Liyue kept on being shocked. This girl was really otherworldly.


    None of the servants could feel it. For them, she looked like she was resting, as though she was still quite weak. But for Huang Liyue, she appeared to be quite formidable.


    Despite being a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, Huang Liyue herself had only formed five True Fiery Drops in a bit less than a millennium. Of course her bloodline was not as pure as Huang Cixi''s but forming two True Fiery Drops at her age was beyond amazing. She had trained since she had been four or five and yet in more than ten years, she had only condensed one True Fiery Drop. But now that she had a Pure Golden Dantian and the mind cultivation from Cao Yun, she had formed another drop in less than a month. With her spiritual senses, Huang Liyue knew that this was mainly due to the remaining medicinal essence that was now in her blood.


    However, she could feel something strange about Huang Cixi. For some reason, she felt as though she could exceed the previous records. In the Huang family, only the ancestral matriarch had ever been able to condense all nine of the True Fiery Drops. And she had the real blood from the True Fiery Fenghuang. Huang Liyue was privy to even more details. Their ancestor had talked about a level beyond this one, but even she was never able to reach it, at least not before leaving this planet when she ascended.


    And Huang Cixi''s cultivation was way above her age. She was 16 year old and had already reached the 8th-grade Mortal realm. Moreover, she would probably be able to become a Mortal Warrior just around her eighteenth birthday. In addition, Huang Liyue sensed that her mind was very powerful even though she wasn''t a Spirit Warrior. Yes, it was possible for Mortals to cultivate their mind, but most of them were alchemists or from such occupations and the results weren''t that good, except for a select few. Considering that invading someone''s mind was inappropriate, even more so when they were from your own family, she didn''t try to see through her mind cultivation. However, this travel taught her that her first impressions were wrong. Huang Cixi was not weak or meek. To the contrary, she was fierce but hiding her fangs.


    -


    Finally, Elder Ying reached the Huang family estate. With a few flaps of his wings, Elder Ying went toward a large courtyard, close to the stables. The majestic Blue Mane Falcon landed with grace under the gaze of Huang Yi. Even though he was several hundred years old, he looked as though he was fifty at most. His hair and facial hair were perfectly white. Unlike Huang Mingze, he had been born in the Huang family and this color was natural.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    At the prospect of seeing his granddaughter again after her Qi deviation, Huang Yi had a hard time hiding his joy. Lucky for him, there was almost no one in the stables. His position as family head forced him to stay neutral and impartial. Indeed, the current matriarch was reaching her 2,000th birthday and would soon choose a successor to her title. If he were to show any favoritism, this could be interpreted in a terrible way, even though Huang Cixi was his own granddaughter.


    Huang Yi had had only one daughter in his entire life with an outsider who had died not long after. Since her death, he had stayed celibate. Sadly, his dear daughter got seduced by Huang Mingze and she too ended up dying after gifting him with three grandchildren. However, Huang Mingze could not stay at the familial residence and he took the children with him. As he was too busy, Huang Yi had only been able to visit them once in over fifteen years when Huang Cixi was around eight. That day, he immediately saw the traits of his wife in her, both physically and mentally. He knew she would achieve greatness.


    And clearly, he had been right. She was the only one for more than fourteen thousand years to receive a Spirit pill. Thanks to this, she had formed a Pure Golden Dantian. The only record of someone officially having one of those was Emperor Nuwa herself. And no one really knew what benefits this would bring Huang Cixi. But to be honest, all this was way in the back of his mind. Right now, he was just a grandfather looking forward to being reunited with his prized granddaughter.


    Several servants were with him but they stayed back, afraid to anger Elder Ying. Given his strength, he would probably be on par with their matriarch and he wasn''t pleased to be treated as if he were just another demonic beast. However, Huang Yi walked directly to him and patted him on the side of his neck. The scene was surreal for the servants. The family head, the man with the most power in the Huang family beside the matriarch was treating a proud 9-core demonic beast like a pet. And the beast was acting all coy about it. Indeed, the Blue Mane Falcon was shaking his head to show his enjoyment. Both of them knew each other since Huang Yi had been just a little child and their relation had been great.


    Finally, the servants got off his back and humbly saluted the family head. He didn''t mind them and simply waved them away. And just after them, Huang Liyue was ready to get down. But she heard a voice behind her.


    "Senior Huang Liyue, may you help me? I''m too weak to get off myself..."


    At first shocked, Huang Liyue understood with a glance. Her spiritual senses clearly showed her that Huang Cixi was in perfect condition. She could have literally jumped from the Blue Mane Falcon when he was still above the ground and been fine. But this courtyard was within the Huang family residence. There was no form of protection and many people could see what was going on. Moreover, there were many servants whose loyalty wasn''t clear. Right now, many factions were competing to become the new matriarch. And with all the events around Huang Cixi added to her bloodline that had been tested as the purest in the family, she probably didn''t want to attract attention.


    "Of course, Young Mistress."


    The more she came to know Huang Cixi, the more Huang Liyue thought she was incredible. During the travel, she had shown no sign of all the amazing things happening in her body. Most likely, even the servants who were with them thought she was still weak from her Qi deviation. Apparently, she had been thinking about the succession all along. Seeing her compete with the likes of Huang Si would be quite interesting.


    Using her Qi, Huang Liyue lifted Huang Cixi up in the air and put her down on the ground as she herself flew down from the back of the beast with absolute grace.


    Immediately, Huang Yi rushed to go to his granddaughter. Seeing her like that, he got afraid that she was still hurt. Thankfully, he received a telepathic message from Huang Liyue. She was the only one after the matriarch he trusted completely. For several hundred years, she had devoted her life to guarding the current matriarch and these last decades, she had pleaded loyalty to him as family head.


    When he heard her recount all that she had witnessed during the travel, he got overjoyed within but kept a worried facade as he pampered his granddaughter.


    "Xixi, how are you?"


    "Grandfather, the travel was exhausting. Could you help me to my room, please?"


    "Of course, of course." He then turned around and yelled out some orders.


    Just as they were walking away, Elder Ying let out a small and cute sound. Slowly, he lowered his head and got it very close to Huang Cixi. Even her grandfather was amazed. Somehow, Huang Cixi understood what he wanted, as though they already shared a bond. She slowly brought her hand toward his beak and touched it. After staying still for some time, Elder Ying moved his head to have her hand caress him while letting out a pleased sound. Then, he raised his head and went toward the place where he was used to sleeping. Most of the times, Elder Ying didn''t really stay in the stables as he loved to roam free, but he always had a place to stay here.


    During the travel, Elder Ying had felt Huang Cixi''s blood transformation and he too got really interested in her. As a 9-core demonic beast, Elder Ying was almost as intelligent as a human. In fact, he could understand human speech even though he wasn''t able to speak himself. But his instincts were intact and he felt that this little girl was special.


    Everyone was dumbfounded, even Huang Yi. Knowing his friend, he would never allow anyone but him and the matriarch to touch him in such a way. It was a really good sign for his granddaughter. And all the people around the stables also got surprised by this gesture. Many of them were loyal to different factions within the Huang family. And in the following hours, both the return of Huang Cixi and her strange relation with Elder Ying would be brought up to almost everyone with a semblance of power and ambition. But all of them also received the information that Huang Cixi seemed so weak that she couldn''t get off Elder Ying herself.


    -


    As all this was happening, Huang Yi had brought his granddaughter in her room. It seemed way bigger now, probably because of her time as a servant in a very small room. All of a sudden, she felt like she was a queen returning from living like a beggar.


    In the room, Huang Cixi was alone with her grandfather and Huang Liyue. Since he trusted her completely, Huang Cixi decided to do the same. She knew her grandfather wasn''t a fool. He might have been too emotional about his grandchildren, but the mere fact that the matriarch had chosen him to lead the family during her seclusion spoke volume about his competence.


    This room''s walls was lined with some Void Nurtured Platinum. As it was a very expensive metal, there was not much of it, but enough to stop early Spirit Warriors from spying inside. In fact, during her absence, Huang Cixi had asked her grandfather to especially protect her study. Right now, only Huang Yi and Huang Liyue were capable of clearly seeing through the walls of this study. As such, that was where they went to discuss.

 Chapter 165: A new bodyguard

    As soon as she entered her study, Huang Cixi''s demeanor changed drastically. Up until now, she was a little bent forward and had a weak complexion on her face as though she was still in convalescence. But she knew that no one would be able to spy on her here. With both her grandfather and Huang Liyue, if someone did, they would be found out anyway. They were among the most powerful experts in her family after the matriarch herself. After all, Huang Liyue used to be her personal bodyguard. Moreover, the traces of Void Nurtured Platinum both in her room and in the walls of her study made it very difficult to send in spiritual senses inside.


    Seeing her change so suddenly surprised both Spirit Warriors, even though they knew she was faking it. Her ability to switch was capable to trick even their senses. Without spiritual senses to feel her injuries, they would have been fooled.


    Nostalgia washed over Huang Cixi. Although she hadn''t been gone more than a year, it felt like all this was from another life. As she walked through her study, she skimmed through some books. The emotions on her face were very subtle but Huang Yi could feel a deep sadness.


    Then, she watched over a scroll that was nailed to the wall. It was a sublime painting of her second brother Huang Lixin. Many emotions coursed through her mind as the image of Cao Yun also appeared. In the end, the two young men were really alike. Had they met under other circumstances, they would have been good friends.


    Would Brother hate me if he knew I didn''t avenge him?


    Fighting off her thoughts, Huang Cixi asked without any emotion in her voice. "Grandfather?"


    "Yes, sweetheart?"


    "Did you bring back their bodies?"


    Huang Yi knew that she would ask that, but he wasn''t expecting it so soon. Just before leaving, she had asked him to retrieve all her family''s corpses to bury them in the familial burial chamber. Usually, only members of the main branch could be buried there. Technically, Huang Cixi and her brothers were from the main branch through their mother. But as they were the children of Huang Mingze, they were deemed to belong to a mere side branch. Now that he was dead, Huang Yi had been able to officially recognize his grandchildren as part of the main branch though.


    However, trying to bury Huang Mingze as well was a huge problem.


    "I did. Even... Even your father. I had to deal with many criticisms but I was able to obtain the approval of most of the elders. However, I couldn''t put any memorial tablet for him in the ancestral hall. And I knew you wouldn''t want to honor your brothers and your father separately. So... I had a small altar built in your courtyard. Their memorial tablets are there if you want to honor them."


    Huang Yi had never made any effort to hide his resentment toward her father, not even when he had met her as a kid. Despite his resentment though, he had done many efforts to have him buried with honor. In life, Huang Mingze had to be away from the coffin of his wife. In death, they had finally been reunited. In a sense, it brought solace to Huang Cixi. And the actions of her grandfather warmed her heart.


    "Thank you, Grandfather. This means a lot to me." For once, she let her emotions through. And it left a bittersweet taste in Huang Mingze''s mouth. He couldn''t tell whether she was happy or sad, maybe both at the same time. All a sudden, she regained her composure. "I have other things to discuss with you."


    "Is it about the boy?"


    Suddenly, Huang Yi''s face became quite severe.


    "So you know..."


    Of course, with his influence, it hadn''t been hard for Huang Yi to find out exactly what had happened in Yinmen City. It became especially clear when Huang Cixi enrolled as his servant in the Wubei Sect.


    "This boy is still alive, right? Do not worry. Despite all his connections, I''ll find a way to get rid of him. Even if it''s the last thing I do, he''ll get what he deserves!"


    "Grandfather! Don''t!"


    "What?!"


    For the first time, Huang Cixi turned away from the portrait of her beloved brother and looked back at her grandfather.


    "He did nothing wrong. We acted in a vicious way and look what it brought us... Chen Guo was innocent in the matter. I may never forget nor forgive... But Chen Guo is not to blame. I am!"


    "Sweetheart?"


    "I knew that First Brother and Father were making a terrible mistake. I knew that their plan was wicked. Yet, I did not stop it. I know I could have stopped it. If they''re all dead, the first persons responsible were them. Then, it was me. Grandfather, if someone tried to harm an innocent and you killed them to protect that innocent, would you become a murderer?"


    The sincerity in Huang Cixi''s voice made Huang Yi falter. Concerning Huang Mingze''s death, he honestly didn''t give a damn. However, he cared about his two grandsons. Contrary to Huang Cixi, he couldn''t let go of his rage that easily. Intellectually, he had to admit that she was right. And Cao Yun was now very difficult to kill considering all his relations. From now on, the Wubei Sect would surely value him more and more. He had the protection of Xiao Xuefeng, and he was an alchemist at that. Even the Imperial City would protect him against the Huang family.


    Huang Cixi wasn''t stupid and she knew she couldn''t convince her grandfather that easily. After all, it had taken a lot of time for her to come to grip with the facts. But she also knew what could help to convince him. For a while, the words got stuck in her throat, but she got over it.


    "Grandfather, he even buried Huang Lixin''s body with respect." These words shocked Huang Yi. She was defending the killer of her beloved brother. "Moreover, he petitioned Spirit Master Xiao for me to obtain the Life Boiling Cradle pill."


    "But he was the cause of your Qi deviation, wasn''t he?"This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Not directly, no. My own feelings brought forth this deviation. The fault is mine. Grandfather, this Chen Guo is not a bad man at all. And he gave me a new life. Can''t you respect my choice?"


    "I..."


    Huang Yi looked deeply in her eyes. All he saw was sincerity. Faced with her gaze, he couldn''t stand it.


    "Fine... I won''t pursue the matter. But don''t ask me to forget about what he did."


    The atmosphere was extremely tensed. On the side, Huang Liyue felt quite strange, but as a bodyguard she was used to witness very personal conversations.


    "Come on! It''s the day you return to your family! It should be joyous! Let''s stop this gloom! I''ll have a banquet prepared for you!"


    "No."


    "What?!"


    "Grandfather, you should have understood. Many people are vying for the position of matriarch and I''m an eyesore for them."


    "If someone dares bully you..."


    "Remember your status. As family head, you can''t act favorably to me just because I''m your granddaughter. If you do, you''ll receive more than criticisms. And it could also become an obstacle for me."


    "Wait? Do you mean that you want..."


    "Indeed." For an instant, there was an ancient ferocity in Huang Cixi''s eyes. "I will become the next matriarch. Grandfather, let me pave my own way. Unless you believe I can''t?"


    "Don''t talk nonsense! Apart from you, no one is more talented to become our matriarch."


    All of a sudden, Huang Yi was completely excited. As a grandfather he was blind when it came to Huang Cixi, but he was also really clear on her talent. Huang Cixi''s blood was the purest among the young generation. Compared with the current matriarch, it was maybe a bit lacking. But she still had the time to cultivate ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' to new heights. With her talent, he was sure she would be able to achieve great results.


    "By the way, Grandfather. Could you examine my blood once more? The medicinal essence I absorbed pushed me to condense a second True Fiery Drop."


    "What?!"


    Without waiting a single moment, Huang Yi took her wrist and injected his Qi in her body. Inspecting someone''s bloodline required more than just normal spiritual senses. Maybe Xiao Xuefeng could have done so, but probably no one else. Thus Huang Yi sent a few surges of Qi in his granddaughter''s bloodstream. They went into her heart and allowed him to perfectly sense her True Fiery Drops.


    "You... you... Your blood is even purer than the matriarch''s..."


    This time, even Huang Liyue got shaken. She knew that Huang Cixi''s breakthrough had been extraordinary, but she didn''t believe it was to this extent. No wonder her cultivation had become so fast. The more True Fiery Drops she could condense, the purer her blood would become. On the other hand, each new drop would become harder to condense. Thus, when she condensed a new one, she had to do so in the best possible way in order to enhance the purity of her bloodline. That way, the next one wouldn''t become too hard to condense. But if Huang Cixi had already a purity equal to the matriarch''s, it was incredible. The matriarch had condensed eight True Fiery Drops with great results each time.


    Only Huang Cixi was not surprised. During her breakthrough, she had vividly sensed that her blood was entirely different. This result was still beyond her expectations, but was not that surprising. However, the purity of the True Fiery Fenghuang blood was important but it wasn''t everything either. Other aspects were essential, and maybe more. But Huang Cixi was even more confident in these other aspects.


    "Thank you, Grandfather. I have much to do. I''ll come visit you again as soon as I can. I''m very sorry, but can you leave me alone for now?"


    "Uh... Of course, of course." His mind was completely chaotic. Before he even realized what he was doing, Huang Yi was outside of the room and back in his own study with Huang Liyue.


    Then, he heard her voice and suddenly snapped out of it.


    "What?"


    For a while, he looked around and tried to figure out where he was. Just like in a daze, he had walked all the way here and did not remember a single thing.


    "Family Head, excuse me. I have a humble request."


    This surprised Huang Yi as his bodyguard had never expressed any desire whatsoever. He had no idea of what she could want at such a time. But then, it hit him.


    "You want to guard Huang Cixi, right?"


    Even though the woman barely spoke, Huang Yi had been able to know her character since she had been appointed as his bodyguard. For hundreds of years she had guarded the matriarch. And the reason for her presence was not just to guard Huang Yi, but also to be the eyes of the matriarch and help her choose her successor. She was the only woman the matriarch trusted completely. Without her by his side, Huang Yi could have maybe attempted to use his influence and guide the choice of the new matriarch toward his direct relative.


    However, after seeing Huang Cixi in person, Huang Liyue was more than intrigued. Indeed, she had a talent and blood cultivation worthy of a future matriarch. But purity of blood and cultivation were not the main factors. Other young women from the Huang family also had impressive bloodline and talent, not quite as impressive as Huang Cixi''s though. From the little Huang Liyue had seen, her character seemed to also be good to govern the family.


    "I have no reason to oppose this request. Quite the opposite. But if you do so publicly, it will bring a lot of attention on my granddaughter. Some may even think that I coerced you somehow. The best thing would be for you to watch her from a distance. No one can know you''re with her except for me and her of course."


    This was indeed for the best. Clearly Huang Cixi wanted to be low-key for the time being. As long as she didn''t understand everything that was going on within the family and the various factions battling for influence and power, it was best to lie low.


    "Thank you, Family Head."


    Just as she spoke, Huang Liyue disappeared.


    -


    A few moments later, she was back inside the study of Huang Cixi but the girl wasn''t there. Many books had been scattered over her desk. Most of them were related to bloodline and cultivation. But others talked about mind cultivation, philosophy, religion, economics, politics, history, ... So many subjects were mixed on this desk. And Huang Liyue didn''t know what to make of it.


    After sifting through the contents, Huang Liyue decided not to fret about it. She looked for Huang Cixi in the room but she wasn''t there. Then a thought came to her and she focused her senses. From the courtyard she heard the faint sound of her voice. Even with her sharp senses, Huang Liyue couldn''t make out what was being said. Huang Cixi seemed to be muttering some words inside a building of some kind. And the new bodyguard knew exactly what she was doing.


    At first she was hesitant to disturb her but she approached the small altar in the courtyard.


    Huang Cixi was burning some incense sticks in front of three wooden tablets. On each of the tablets, names were carved, ''Huang Mingze'', ''Huang Lixin'' and ''Huang Longwei''.


    "So you decided to be my bodyguard instead of Grandfather''s ?"


    The way she talked, Huang Cixi gave off the impression that she had known it would turn out this way from the very start. In fact, she wasn''t sure, but she had a hunch that Huang Liyue would be intrigued enough to follow her.


    "Young Mistress, this humble one vows to protect you. And..."


    Before she could finish her next sentence, Huang Cixi interrupted her. Her voice was still very low as though she didn''t want to disturb someone''s sleep.


    "Thank you. But could you please wait in my quarters for now? I really want to be alone. Please wait a bit and I''ll come back."


    "Of course, Young Mistress."


    Huang Liyue had no objection because she could easily observe Huang Cixi from her room. There was nothing in the courtyard to block her spiritual senses. Even though there was no danger, now that she had become her guard, she had to be as careful as possible. She always took her role very seriously.

 Chapter 166: The Huang familys situation

    Huang Cixi ended up burning several incense sticks to pay homage to her deceased family. All her movements were very solemn and precise. As the incense sticks were burning, she kowtowed before every memorial tablet several times.


    "Father. I am sorry but I won''t be able to avenge the death of my brothers. However, I hope you can be happy in the Heavenly Court while you await your next life. You are reunited with Mother. Grandfather and you have had many differences, but in the end I know he understood that Mother truly loved you and that you truly loved us. I swear to you that I''ll become the next matriarch, and your name will be beside Mother''s in the ancestral hall.


    "First Brother, we never saw eye to eye. But I still hope that your next life will be more peaceful. Your ambition wasn''t wrong but power shouldn''t be an end, just a means to something greater. If you can, watch me until I achieve my goals and you''ll see what I mean. I won''t become the matriarch just for the sake of it but to use this position.


    "Second Brother... I couldn''t go through with it in the end... I''m sorry. Please do not believe that I abandoned you. The fact is, he wasn''t the one truly responsible for your death. In your next life, I hope that you can please your parents without being forced into such impossible decisions. But know that Father has always been proud of you and so was I."


    She then spent almost an hour honoring her deceased family. From the other side of the courtyard, Huang Liyue was observing her. She wasn''t trying to spy on her, she only wanted to ensure her protection.


    Afterward, Huang Cixi came back inside. All traces of her emotion were now gone. Apparently, she was very good at switching between different moods.


    "Senior Huang Liyue. I imagine that you asked my grandfather to become my bodyguard. Is it because of what you saw when we traveled together?"


    Hearing the young girl, the new bodyguard was shocked. Could she have planned everything from the moment they had met? She could have waited to come home to cultivate... Could she have done so to entice her and make her join her side?


    "Don''t overthink this. It''s just that I saw how you reacted around Grandfather and me. Sorry, Family Head and me. I''ll accept your service as bodyguard, but under the express condition that you won''t interfere with my business. There are many things that I need to do and if you are too visible, they may fail."


    "I understand, Young Mistress. Unless you desire it so or your life is at stake, no one will ever know that I''m by your side."


    "Good."


    Just as she finished speaking, a knock on the door attracted Huang Cixi''s attention. The moment she turned her head, Huang Liyue had completely disappeared. No matter how much she tried to concentrate, Huang Cixi was unable to sense her presence at all. But she knew for a fact that she was still in the same room. Such a powerful woman would be very reassuring for her plans.


    As she had just come back, Huang Cixi had not seen her servants yet. As such, she went to open the door herself. And just as she did, she immediately recognized the middle-aged man with a small beard, Bao Zhong. He had been her servant almost all her life when she was living in Yinmen City. Bao Zhong was only a 1st-grade Mortal, and he would probably never reach the Mortal Warrior realm. However, he was one of the few people Huang Cixi trusted. And for the tasks she had in mind, he was certainly the best man she could think of. Indeed, he would know what she wanted and how she wanted it.


    And behind him was another man. He was an old man with gray hair and beard. Even though his face was riddled with wrinkles, there was a strong feeling of vigor from him. He was Zhao Guodong, Huang Mingze''s personal bodyguard. All his life, he had been absolutely loyal to him and also to his daughter. Sadly, he had failed in his mission and now only Huang Cixi was left alive. No matter what would happen, he would protect her with his life. He was only a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior and almost seventy years old. However, he was ready to break through to Spirit Warrior at any moment now. The last three levels of the Mortal Warrior realm were known as the Lesser Tribulation. All three levels had to be crossed over in a single session that could last several days or even weeks. Failing could result in permanent injuries or even death in the worst case.


    As soon as they saw Huang Cixi, they both bowed. Before they could do anything else, she invited them in and lead them to her study. When she had left for the Wubei Sect, both men were still getting her affairs in order with City Lord Dun. But she had asked them to come back to the Huang family residence in Baziyun City. However, the moment they had arrived, she was already gone. And since then, they had been staying idle by.


    "Young Mistress, please let this incompetent one serve you with his life."


    Zhao Guodong spoke first but was soon joined by Bao Zhong.


    "Sirs, you''ve always been loyal to my family. I welcome your help wholeheartedly. And I am honored to keep your trust."


    Both men kowtowed in front of her.


    "Bao Zhong, I will need some documents and informations."


    "Young Mistress, I already took the initiative to gather some things that might be of interest to you. While I was staying here, I often traveled through the city to understand the state of business. I also tried to gather as much intel as possible about the various factions vying for the position of matriarch. In fact there are really two factions of importance.


    "The first one is Huang L¨¹. She''s not that popular but she does have some abilities. Her achievements in the Five Imperial Arts is indeed impressive. However both her character and her cultivation are lacking. In fact, your cultivation should even be a bit stronger than hers even though she''s almost a Mortal Warrior. In the end, her real weaknesses are her bloodline that''s rather weak and her character. Apparently she only recently formed her first True Fiery Drop. And she''s known for being a bit too callous and arrogant. Sadly, her recent achievement in ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' didn''t help...This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Only a handful of elders are more or less behind her. But they should be easy to sway one way or another.


    "The second candidate is probably the most likely successor to the matriarch, Huang Si. To be direct, she''s perfect. Turning 32 this year, she''s already a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior and very close to a breakthrough. Her bloodline is almost as pure as yours and she has condensed two True Fiery Drops."


    Bao Zhong didn''t know that Huang Cixi had also condensed her second True Fiery Drop. And her blood had become even more pure thanks to the effect of the Life Boiling Cradle pill.


    "Moreover, she''s also acclaimed as a great practitioner of the Five Imperial Arts. As of now, almost half the elders have decided to side with her. And a tenth of them even publicly stated they were endorsing her.


    "Right now, the other half of the elders is still waiting. Considering how well the Family Head is managing the household, they''re not in a hurry to choose another matriarch."


    Huang Cixi was obviously very familiar with the Five Imperial Arts. Since the era of Emperor Nuwa, they had bee popularized as the best way to determine a just ruler. Any aristocrat or public servant had to have a bit of achievement in at least one of them and a general knowledge of them all. Namely, they were Go, the strategic game, guqin, the zither that was Emperor Nuwa''s favorite instrument, calligraphy, painting and poetry.


    These Five Imperial Arts were part of Huang Cixi''s education of course. Although she would not claim to be the best in each art, she wouldn''t have to be ashamed by anyone''s achievement.


    As Huang Cixi didn''t stop him, Bao Zhong kept on talking about the situation of the family. Right now, there were seventy-two elders. Generally, the successor of the matriarch would be appointed by the current matriarch but the elders had their word to say. In all of the Huang family''s history, it seldom happened that they disagreed. In the end, the matriarch had the last word. However gaining the support of the elders was very important. With their authority, they could make life difficult for any ruler. Moreover, it was important to keep the family stable and avoid internal strifes.


    The Huang family was a very prominent power in several provinces, but they were unrivaled in the Wu Province, which Baziyun City was the capital of. For several thousands of years now, they had been one of the leading families in the Hongchen Kingdom. Their first ancestor was said to have helped Emperor Nuwa all the way back in the Blood and Dirt Era, before the Hongchen Kingdom was even officially founded.


    Like many other big families, the Emperor was both cordial and suspicious of them. There were many restrictions on them to avoid infighting. Mankind had to be united against the common enemy, the demons. Since the time of Emperor Nuwa, it had been so, despite some internal rivalry. No one had ever gone too overboard, fearing both the Emperor and the other families.


    One of these restrictions was the number of children. In fact, it wasn''t a written rules, but past examples had shown that having too many children for people who could live several centuries, or even millenniums, was a terrible idea. Back in the Founding Era, many families had tried to produce countless children to fight off against the demons, increasing their own numbers. However, it had also lead to catastrophic struggles for power. All this bloodshed had been stopped by Emperor Nuwa who was an absolute symbol of unity for all mankind.


    But everyone had learned their lesson. It was already difficult to handle succession with dozens of generations living together. But if, in addition, they were too many potential successors, that would have been cataclysmic. Then, the example of Emperor Nuwa inspired everyone. Succession, in most families, was not based on heredity alone, but on competence.


    As such, the main reason for the matriarch''s seclusion was to allow the selection process of the next matriarch. She didn''t want to get involved in any way and interfere. She also knew Huang Yi enough to know that he would never favor his own granddaughter. As long as the competition was not bloody, the matriarch would not interfere anyway but her mere presence could be an obstacle to some. Moreover, sensing her age taking its toll on her, she had wanted to try and break through even further. With her experience, she was on the verge of breaking through into the 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Despite her old age, she wanted to cross that limit before her death.


    Before the Forsaken Dao Era, average cultivators could even exceed the Spirit Warrior realm way before turning a thousand years old. The current era was really a disaster for mankind...


    In the study, Bao Zhong was still exposing everything he had uncovered about the internal relationships within the Huang family and the state of the city. He had also written many reports that Huang Cixi would read and memorize later.


    As every major town, Baziyun City had a Major Hall from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. It wasn''t just a small auction hall like in Yinmen City, but a giant hub for trades of all kinds. The headquarters of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall was of course in the Imperial City. But the capital of every province had such a Major Hall. In Baziyun City, the two major players in economy were the Huang family and the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Of course there were other people taking part in the economy, but none were as big as those two.


    The fortune of the Huang family came primarily from the Xiliang Mines. In the outskirts of the city, they produced many spirit stones and other ores prized by blacksmiths, alchemists and array formation masters alike. They also had a few gold and silver mines. Moreover, many members of the Huang family were also involved in small commerces, from restaurants to alchemy shops. Most members of the Huang family were not directly responsible for these shops, but they rent them to others and owned a part of their activity.


    In fact, the main wealth of the Huang family was its ownership over certain lands. The Emperor only allowed this right to big families and a select few among the kingdom. For example, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall was able to confer that right to some of its members for a hefty price.


    Finally, Bao Zhong was done and assured Huang Cixi that she would receive all his reports before the end of the day. In fact, she would even remember them all before the end of the day as well.


    "Your report was already extremely thorough and useful. I do not doubt that your written reports will prove even more important to me. But since we''re talking about the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, do you have word of Ye Zhiyun?"


    "Of course, Young Mistress. As soon as I learned of your arrival, I asked him to come and meet you. Apparently, he cannot right now because it would expose him, but he will come before the week is over."


    "What is his current position?"


    Just before her departure, Huang Cixi had asked her trustworthy Ye Zhiyun to come in Baziyun City. And he had. After asking for a transfer from Yinmen City and chosen a replacement for him, he got a menial job in the Major Hall.


    "Young Mistress, in a single year, he went all the way to the top. Today, he is the first adviser of Fang Shaolong, the Major Hall''s Hall Master. That''s precisely why he didn''t want to expose his relationship with you."


    "Good. If Ye Zhiyun said he would meet me later, he will."


    There were not that many people Huang Cixi trusted, but Ye Zhiyun was her most trusted servant. And clearly, he was extremely competent.

 Chapter 167: A rude invitation

    "I have other things to ask of you and Ye Zhiyun. Can you get into contact with him?"


    "Of course, Young Mistress. Even though he cannot come here right now, I can relay your orders."


    "Good. The first demand is not really a secret, but you should still try to be as covert as possible. I need you to gather manuals about mind cultivation. Specifically, I''m looking for a manual called ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. It''s a green manual written using Insight Writing. City Lord Dun Mofan had one in his library. You may be able to find out information about it from this. This manual is very important for me, but even if you can''t find another copy of it, other manuals should be useful as well."


    Huang Cixi had clearly understood the power of the mind cultivation she had received from Cao Yun. And she wasn''t ready to let go of such an opportunity. She may not be able to find another copy of this manual, but she could perhaps discover more information about it. It was worth a try.


    "The other task I''ll ask of you must be accomplished with absolute secrecy though, no matter how long it takes. I want information on the Cao family. More precisely, I want to know about their massacre. And I want to know everything. No detail is insignificant, none at all."


    Now that she had made her peace with the fate of her family, Huang Cixi got interested in what had happened to Cao Yun''s. No matter how much she would like to hate him, she got fond of the boy. Ironically, he even reminded her of her own brother. And she was feeling that something was terribly wrong with what she had learned from the official narrative. As such, she wanted to dig into it as secretly as possible and Ye Zhiyun was the perfect man for it. The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall was dealing with information as well as with commerce.


    "Young Mistress, it could take a lot of time. But I will not fail you."


    "And of course, I also want you to keep digging for every bit of information on Huang L¨¹, Huang Si and their supporters. I imagine you''ve already done so, but keep investigating as much as you can."


    "Of course, Young Mistress."


    After that, Bao Zhong left the room and Zhao Guodong stayed with Huang Cixi. Even though she had Huang Liyue to guard her, she was to stay hidden. And Huang Cixi could not show herself without a bodyguard. In fact, it would invite many suspicions on her. On the other hand, having a Mortal Warrior as a bodyguard was also a good thing. It would diminish the level of scrutiny from others. This would lower her status a bit compared to Huang L¨¹ and Huang Si.


    -


    In the following days, Huang Cixi stayed mostly isolated in her chambers. Thanks to the servants from the stables and the subtle help of Bao Zhong, many rumors spread throughout the Huang estate. After consuming the Life Boiling Cradle pill, the family head''s granddaughter had indeed obtained a Pure Golden Dantian but she had also sustained many injuries. Right now, she was too weak to even cultivate and needed to rest.


    The truth was of course the exact opposite. Huang Cixi had never felt better.


    Her days were spent reading various books and reports from very different places. Thanks to her grandfather, she had gotten access to all kinds of records of the Huang family. Of course, there were still some records she couldn''t consult, but she had a way better understanding of the situation of both the Huang family and the entire Hongchen Kingdom.


    Moreover, she had memorized every single thing thanks to ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Her mind cultivation had been really fast. Right now, she was forming her last character. Contrary to Cao Yun, she had no hard time forming Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul. Indeed, she was now perfectly clear about her life goals. What she wanted was to first become the Huang family''s matriarch. For when she would finally obtain such authority, she had many ideas about her policies. And her ambition did not stop at just a few provinces.


    In a short amount of time, Bao Zhong had been able to gather many manuals and books about mind cultivation. And with the help of Ye Zhiyun, he had even identified a potential copy of the green manual. Apparently, there were several copies of this manual but its origin was unknown. To make sure that no one would obtain such a powerful mind cultivation, Huang Cixi made sure to investigate every copy and have them all bought. It would take her several weeks, and she would employ many ways. In the end, Huang Cixi would be able to acquire every ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual she could locate. After all, nobody knew of their value. In fact, the most difficult thing was to make sure that no one noticed that someone was specifically looking for them.


    As soon as she got the first manual, she studied it as much as she could and realized that just like Cao Yun, she could hardly read it. The only thing she could read was the first layer, and a bit of the second one. When she would finally reach Perfection in the first layer, she would probably understand the entire second layer. However, with all the knowledge of the other manuals about mind cultivation, she arrived at a conclusion. Whoever had written these manuals was a true genius. Even during the Founding Era and the Seven Treaties Era, this kind of method was unheard of. How lucky Cao Yun had been to have found this.


    But Huang Cixi also realized that there really was nothing written in any language she knew. Across time, the language used by the Hongchen Kingdom had evolved quite a lot but there were always huge similarities generation after generation as they were pretty much isolated. The current language came from several tongues of the demons when humans were under their rule. However it was later modified to make it unique to the free humans, and named after Emperor Nuwa, the Nuhua.


    Even the title was written in Insight Writing. Anyone with a bit of achievement in mind cultivation could read the title, but they had to know more to read the content itself. Huang Cixi came to wonder whether this manual dated from before the Emperor Nuwa, the Great Sorrow Era, or even further back, during the Legendary Era. Examining the paper, she quickly realized that she simply couldn''t identify it. She even asked Huang Liyue but all her spiritual senses failed. Clearly, the cultivator who had written this manual was not simple. And he had written several of them. Indeed, the writing was always the same, so a single author had written all the copies. But for what purpose?Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Huang Cixi was curious as she knew that information was vital. But she knew when not to be stubborn. There was no way she would get an answer any time soon. Rather that wasting her time, she would focus on other urgent matters.


    As such, she used her almost complete Five Agents to compile all the knowledge she had gathered from many books and subjects. Energizing the Chamber of Ultimate Truth from the second layer would be a great idea to assimilate the content faster. But for now, she focused on what she really needed to know. In terms of cultivation for example, she focused on mind and blood cultivation. But she also used her time to advance in her study of the Dive Imperial Arts. Even though they were not that important for cultivators, they were essential for aristocrats and rulers in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Of course, Huang Cixi already had a good knowledge of these arts. But she felt a bit rusty. However, as soon as she started to write down some verses, she realized that she was even more inspired and talented than before.


    -


    A few days passed by while Huang Cixi was cultivating her mind, stabilizing her blood and organizing her thoughts. The many reports she had read were now perfectly clear in her head and she understood a lot of things that were hidden in the most innocent informations.


    Before Ye Zhiyun had time to get back to her, someone knocked on her door. Immediately, Huang Cixi lied down on her bed with a poetry anthology in hands, ''Songs from the Desolate Pavilion''. The book compiled thousands of poems from anonymous humans. The common factor between them was that all of them had been either slaves or victims of the demons. Each poem talked about the horrendous life humans had to suffer for tens of thousands of years. And yet, through all this despair, there still remained hope, and even humor by moments. Even in the worst time of mankind, humans found strength and dignity. This was particularly inspiring and one of the most renown anthology.


    After his young mistress assumed her weakened face, Bao Zhong went to open the door. When he did, a tall and beautiful woman was behind it. Around her, she had several servants, not one was under 4th-grade Mortal and yet they all appeared to be younger than twenty. The woman was exceptionally tall with perfect white hair. From her height, she towered over Bao Zhong, a red fan hiding her mouth. Only her piercing and arrogant eyes could be seen, exposing a light gray glint.


    Bao Zhong immediately recognized the woman, Huang L¨¹. Sadly, he had had the misfortune of meeting her several times. Although she was very talented, her prospects to become matriarch were low because of her horrendous attitude. Apart from Huang Si, it seemed like she deemed everyone inferior to her.


    "Little man, I''m here to see your mistress. Move aside!"


    With a disdainful gesture, she sent a surge of Qi over Bao Zhong and he fell to the ground. Although she feigned to still be reading, Huang Cixi was focused on the situation. When her loyal servant got humiliated in such a way, she almost leapt to slap this ridiculous woman.


    "Dear Xixi. I heard about your terrible condition."


    Before even looking at the lying Huang Cixi, this haughty woman spoke as if to mock her. And when she finally got eyes on her, she clearly suppressed a laugh.


    "What a waste of a Spirit pill... Destiny is really cruel on you. First your pathetic family is eradicated. Then, you destroy yourself. And when you finally see hope, it''s another calamity. And now you''ll be forced to watch as I snatch the authority of our family from your grandfather."


    Had she been talking to someone else, Huang L¨¹ probably would have been slapped many times by now. Violence was not condoned within the Huang estate, especially not on members of the Huang family. However, it didn''t mean that you could just insult people as you wished. But Huang Cixi was not that stupid. Right now, she understood why Huang L¨¹ would never become matriarch. Her tactics were way too obvious. Her own tactics were not that great right now, but still leagues away.


    In a few seconds, Huang L¨¹ had revealed that she didn''t believe Huang Cixi''s cover story. It was clear that she was trying to get a reaction of anger or violence from the girl. And she had so many witnesses with her. Huang Cixi knew that her story wouldn''t stick forever. After all, any Spirit Warrior could see through her body and realize that she was fine. But she only wanted to gain some time. Luckily, Huang L¨¹ had not been stupid enough to bring a Spirit Warrior in this encounter. Otherwise, it could really be interpreted as a revolt against Family Head Huang Yi, especially with her last words.


    Seeing right through Huang L¨¹, the lying girl decided to play along.


    "Oh, Senior Sister L¨¹. You''re right... Destiny has been cruel to me. Not only my body suffered, but now I must watch as my own family humiliates themselves in front of me. If only I had the strength to discipline them..."


    "Oh...? I see that your tongue is not as sick as your frail body. Sad indeed. Such verve and so little strength behind it."


    Suddenly, Huang L¨¹ took the book from her junior sister''s hands.


    "You read this?! Are you trying to find inspiration? You look through the despair of past humans to try and alleviate your own? I''d like to know whether it brings good ideas to your mouth... Junior, there is a great poetry gathering in a few days. Only a handful of insignificant people will be there. As you said, I don''t want to be ridiculed but I''ll expose a bit of my humble achievements. Do you dare try and educate us all?"


    She threw the book back at her as if it was some trash.


    "After all, even though your body is useless, your tongue seems to have some strength left..."


    So that was her goal... Huang L¨¹ was too forceful and her attitude revealed too much of her intent. Huang Cixi saw through her without any problem, and that was a problem for the future matriarch. She had come here to ascertain her doubts about Huang Cixi''s physical condition by provoking her while staying at the very limit of the family rules. At worst, she would be admonished by the family head. But it could also serve her, after all some could see it as Huang Yi taking sides in the competition for the position of matriarch.


    But it wasn''t her only goal. She also wanted to test out Huang Cixi''s ambitions. This poetry gathering probably wasn''t as simple as that. And if she declined such an invitation, she would lose a lot of esteem from the elders. On the other hand, if she accepted, she would officially announce her desire to become matriarch. Moreover, she would also have to expose some of her cards before she wanted to.


    Huang L¨¹ wasn''t completely inept after all. But still, Huang Cixi could not stop herself from judging her severely. If she had been in her place, she would have found a way better plan to achieve all this without needing to be so rude and yet transparent to her gaze.


    "Sister, it would be a pleasure to hear your poetry. It must be absolutely incredible if you express yourself with as much spirit as you do now. I have to admit that my achievements are mediocre in this art. I do not think anyone will want to hear it, especially if they heard yours before. But I cannot say no to my lovely senior sister. My humble words might sublimate your vulgarity."

 Chapter 168: Ye Zhiyuns information

    "Oh? It seems like you didn''t lose your character... I sure hope that your meager achievements will not be too outshined by my performance. The gathering will take place in the Divine Feather pavilion in the residence of the governor. I''m looking forward to seeing you there."


    Just before leaving, Huang L¨¹ threw a letter to Huang Cixi with disdain. This was a formal invitation to the poetry gathering of Governor Leng. The gathering was going to be attended by many people who had a lot of influence in the Wu Province. There would be Governor Leng and his wife of course. But given the nature of the gathering, Huang Cixi was sure that Fang Shaolong would be there, the Major Hall''s Hall Master.


    Such a gathering wasn''t just about poetry of course. Although poetry was really appreciated by noble families, and jousts of this art were loved, this kind of event was a great way to get information on what was going on in the upper society. Historically, alliances had often been sealed in this kind of events. By inviting Huang Cixi there, Huang L¨¹ wanted to humiliate her and show her superiority. Even though she was doubtful about her weakness, she knew that shooting her down as fast as possible was the best course of action.


    The more Huang Cixi could meet with various people and form relationships, the more difficult it would be for Huang L¨¹. But if she could show her superiority in public among people who practically knew nothing of her, she would score a great victory. In fact, given her attitude, Huang Cixi was almost certain that Huang L¨¹ had given up on becoming the next matriarch. Right now, she was probably trying to secure enough support to still have power after Huang Si''s ascension to this position.


    All this brutality and vulgarity in her approach made Huang Cixi absolutely sure of her analysis. However, she was gravely mistaken if she thought she could use her as a stepping stone to shine in society.


    Huang L¨¹ walked past Bao Zhong whose clothes were wrinkled. He even had some bruises on his hands from the moment when he had tried to prevent his fall. After all, Bao Zhong was almost a normal human. His cultivation had never exceeded 1st-grade Mortal. As such, his body was just slightly stronger than the average human.


    Just like Huang Cixi, he had suffered from an injury that had prevented him from cultivating his body. Sadly, it was essential to do before cultivating one''s Qi. If he tried to cultivate his Qi with a weak body, it would damage his organs and he could die.


    Even after Huang L¨¹''s departure, Huang Cixi kept acting as though she didn''t care for her servant. Finally, she heard a telepathic message in her head.


    "Young Mistress, they are gone."


    Huang L¨¹ was almost a Mortal Warrior. Even without spiritual senses, she had sharp senses and could feel the Qi in a larger area around her. Now that Huang Liyue had ascertained that she was out of range, Huang Cixi stood up and went toward Bao Zhong.


    "Mister Bao, how are you?"


    "I''m fine. I''m fine, Young Mistress."


    Thankfully, Huang L¨¹ had been gentle in her action. Clearly, she was here to stir up trouble but she still had enough decency not to harm the servants. Nonetheless, Huang Cixi was more than crossed. During this poetry gathering, she would completely crush her. In public, it was best not to humiliate her own family, but she would have less restraint with this brute.


    "Mister Bao, take a seat please. Rest for a while."


    "But..." Before he could protest, Huang Cixi lead him in her own study and gave him a comfortable chair to sit in.


    Huang Cixi had always been nice toward her faithful servants. And now that her closest family was dead, she was even nicer to them, only, not in public.


    -


    In the following days, Huang Cixi read again a few anthologies about poetry. Even though she had memorized everything, poetry was not just about memory. This imperial art was mainly focused on writing nice poetry of course. But the way this poetry was recited meant as much as the content itself. Poetry and song were two arts that were very close to each other. And despite her now perfect memory, Huang Cixi still had to practice on her diction.


    Moreover, she didn''t slack off neither on her blood cultivation, her mind cultivation nor her Qi cultivation.


    Her two True Fiery Drops had increased the quality of her blood, but also of her Qi. Combined with her mind cultivation, she realized that her Qi cultivation was way easier now. She could open several acupoints every day. With this speed, she would only need four or five months to break through. And then, she would probably reach Mortal Warrior in less than ten months. Reaching Mortal Warrior just before hitting eighteen was really miraculous. The average cultivator would only do so around thirty. Of course, there was nothing average about the Huang family, but this was still incredible.


    Through all the records, Huang Cixi knew no one who had cultivated this fast since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. Her speed was equivalent to the speed of cultivators before this dreadful period. Could the rumors be true? Would humanity finally break the shackles of this era and usher in a new prosperity?


    Huang Cixi soon realized that everything was thanks to Cao Yun. But more than that, it was also thanks to this strange green manual. ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' had the potential to change everything. Her decision to try and keep it secret was a good idea. She could share it with specific people, but letting anyone have access to it right now was too dangerous. Huang Cixi wanted to know more about this beforehand.


    -


    As she was training, Huang Cixi finally received the visit she was looking for, Ye Zhiyun.


    Just as she was paying homage to her family by burning some incense stick, Ye Zhiyun knocked on the door. He was let in by Bao Zhong. In an instant, he saw the vague silhouette of his mistress and the smoke of the incense in the courtyard. Of course, he understood immediately what she was doing and waited with Bao Zhong and Zhao Guodong.Stolen story; please report.


    Ye Zhiyun was the man she had helped put in charge of the Yinmen Auction Hall, the branch of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Thanks to his new position, he had enjoyed many benefits and had become a 7th-grade Mortal despite lacking talents in cultivation. This man was completely loyal to Huang Cixi and also very competent. Before her departure, she had asked him to petition for a transfer. She wanted him in the Major Hall of the Wu Province, here in Baziyun City. In less than a year, he had managed to climb the hierarchy and was the right hand man of the Hall Master.


    As soon as Huang Cixi entered back in her chambers, he knelt in front of her.


    "Young Mistress, you called for me?"


    Seeing him, Huang Cixi was quite happy. She walked to him and took him by his arms to make him stand up.


    "I have. Ye Zhiyun, you did a great job. But I need your help even more now."


    "Young Mistress, I prepared everything. Fang Shaolong trusts me to a great degree."


    Huang Cixi had heard many rumors, contradicting each other about this man. The few reports she had read about him from Ye Zhiyun seemed more trustworthy in her eyes. Ye Zhiyun was very competent when it came to managing a business or gathering information. One of the many talents of Huang Cixi was her way to tell someone''s usefulness. She had deemed Ye Zhiyun very useful and she was absolutely sure of his loyalty. Even though she was young, she had been able to test it several times in her short life. She would definitely trust Ye Zhiyun with her own life.


    "I read about him, but I want to hear your direct opinion. How is this man?"


    "Young Mistress. I must say that Fang Shaolong is an impressive man. His work is alway impeccable. However, his cultivation is quite weak for his age, he''s in his forties and still a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior. And his physique has nothing impressive. Hall Master Fang is short, a bit round and his face is rather ordinary. But there is always a sense of elegance radiating from him, as well as a natural authority. In a word, he is competent. And when he''s faced with something he''s not sure about, he doesn''t fear delegating his authority.


    "Moreover, he is always fair when giving out rewards or punishments. Hall Master Fang would never accuse a subordinate to save his own face. After you, he''s probably the one I loved working under the most, Young Mistress."


    Hearing all this, it completely seemed to align with what she had read in Ye Zhiyun''s reports. But it troubled her a bit.


    "What about his lifestyle?"


    "Oh? He''s quite austere in that regard. Although his salary is certainly grand, his residence is quite small in comparison with other merchants. He only has a handful of servants. Moreover, his wife is only a mortal. They don''t have any child. And Hall Master Fang doesn''t seem to be inclined to take another wife to remedy the situation."


    The more she heard, the more confused she seemed to be.


    "Tell me about the Xiliang Mines."


    The Xiliang Mines were the main source of revenue for the Huang family. However, they were not directly exploited by the Huang family. Indeed, the mines were rightfully owned by them but they rented the right to exploit them. The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall was the one who had bought these rights. As such, the Major Hall of Baziyun City was tasked with their exploitation. A substantial part of the profits was then shared between the Major Hall and the Huang family.


    There were also other investors as well as taxes. These mines were the most important of the entire kingdom. Neither the Imperial City nor the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall could let go of such a profit. And many other people were trying to fructify their own assets by investing in the mines, while the work was mostly done by the Major Hall.


    "Well, Hall Master Fang takes care of them personally. Nothing happens there without his say-so. Considering their importance, this is not a surprise at all."


    "So it''s impossible for anyone to alter the records about the Xiliang Mines?"


    Ye Zhiyun was surprised by this question.


    "No, Young Mistress. Not even I could do so. What do you have in mind?"


    "Never mind. But I''m quite interested in these mines. At how much are they estimated?"


    "Right now, the most conservative estimate would be around 7 millions Yuanbao*. Every year, they can produce around three or four thousand Yuanbao worth of ores. And from what we know of it, it could still be exploited for thousands of years."


    A Yuanbao was a small statue of gold or silver weighing 50 taels. In truth, it was a fancy ingot of gold. But this was also the highest form of physical currency. For trades exceeding hundreds of those, paper notes or bonds were mostly used. The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall also managed a banking system that was rather archaic but still effective for the use of the citizens.


    "How much of it does Hall Master Fang personally own?"


    "Right now, he owns around seven percent of it. But he has to pay taxes to the Imperial City and to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall as well as to the Huang family."


    "Well, his wealth should still be consequent... Do you any idea of how he spends his money? And more specifically, did his lifestyle change recently?"


    "I''m sorry. From what I understand, he almost never spends anything. Not even his wife spends too much. Compared to the wives of other merchants, she almost seems poor. As I said, they have a very austere way of life. And, even though I looked through his past, he didn''t really change in any way. However I know nothing of his life thirty years ago. He just suddenly appeared in Baziyun City one day. From this moment onward, he began as a small servant in the Major Hall and quickly reached his current position.


    "Even though he got offered some promotions, he decided to stay in the city. According to him, he just loves this place and its people. And to be frank, it seems to be mutual. No one ever complained about him. Some commerce owners find him a bit too stubborn and adhering too much to the rules, but even they have to agree on his impartiality."


    Hearing all this, Huang Cixi''s confusion began to clear away.


    "I need you to find everything you can on what happened around the time he arrived in Baziyun City. This may contain the answer I''m looking for. Also, there''s something I want to confirm. In order to do so, I''ll need several documents about the Xiliang Mines and the taxes of the Myriad Hall. I already have what you brought me through Bao Zhong, but I need more. Through my grandfather, I''ve obtained some reports about the mines. What I lack are documents from the Imperial City."


    When he heard about this, Ye Zhiyun became a bit reluctant. But, seeing the flame in his mistress'' eyes, he had to let go of his apprehension.


    "Fine, Young Mistress. I''ll find you what you need."


    "Thanks. I know this is hard for you. But I wouldn''t ask if it wasn''t important."


    Huang Cixi knew enough about Ye Zhiyun''s past to know that he didn''t want to be associated with the Imperial City. But she also knew he was the only one who could get documents from there.


    "It will take some time though."


    "I know. But I''m already quite sure of my findings. I just need them to confirm other things I''m not too sure about. Moreover, while you''re at it, you could use this opportunity to find more information on the Cao family."


    "Young Mistress, are you that interested in this massacre? I already received your orders through Bao Zhong."


    "Demonic cultivators attacked and slaughtered an entire family right in our city. Of course I''m interested. They also infiltrated the Wubei Sect and maybe many other organizations. What if some of them tried to infiltrate or destroy us?"


    With these words, she worried everyone present, including Huang Liyue. Even with her spiritual senses, she knew she was inferior to Xiao Xuefeng. And even she had failed to detect their presence. Indeed, what if there were already demonic cultivators in her own family?


    *1 Yuanbao = 50 taels of gold = 100,000$

 Chapter 169: Divine Feather pavilion

    As soon as she raised her concerns, Zhao Guodong spoke out. Since he didn''t know about Huang Liyue protecting Huang Cixi from afar, he thought that he was her sole and only bodyguard. As such, he took this kind of possibility very seriously.


    "Young Mistress! Is it just hypothetical or do you seriously think demonic cultivators have infiltrated the Huang residence?"


    "For now, it is just hypothetical. But there are indeed strange happenings as of lately. Well... I have explanations for most of them, but... Our elders think that outsiders could never infiltrate us because they are very careful with our bloodline. However they failed to notice what is currently going on in the Wubei Sect. Demonic cultivators could have been easily detected by Spirit Master Xiao, so they completely changed their strategy. They adapted.


    "Instead of sending demonic cultivators who already practiced the Evil path, they sent agents to convert orthodox cultivators to their cause. Until they really practice demonic techniques, no one is the wiser. Even Spirit Master Xiao failed to find them out. Do you think that anyone in our residence could outdo her in terms of spiritual senses? Even our matriarch?"


    Not only Zhao Guodong but all the other men and Huang Liyue were speechless. Indeed, they did not consider that someone from the Huang family could betray them and join the demonic cultivators. Even though it was hard to swallow, the possibility was not zero. Moreover, they were right in the middle of a conflict about the succession for the matriarch''s position. If there was a time to turn anyone traitor, that was now. However, none wanted to imagine such a thing. The Huang family had a grand and prestigious history. The idea that some of its descendants could join forces with people seeing humans as mere expendable tools was sickening.


    Sadly, they couldn''t declare that it was impossible.


    "Do not get so gloomy. As of now, I have seen no indication that some of our own have turned. However, there are more possibilities that some outsiders did. Our family is engaged in many ventures. We cannot be sure of anyone concerning this matter. Yes the Cao family was weaker and way younger than ours, but we should be careful that their disaster doesn''t repeat itself, with us this time around."


    Her last words acted as a trigger. Everyone realized that they were not as safe as they had thought.


    "Ye Zhiyun, I rely on you for this mission. I know how much you despise the Imperial City bureaucrats, but this is essential for me. It''s possible that they know even more about the demonic cultivators than both the Wubei Sect and the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. However, be as careful as possible."


    Bowing, Ye Zhiyun agreed once more to this mission.


    "You can count on me, Young Mistress."


    "Fine. Then, I need some quiet to prepare for tomorrow''s poetry gathering, and to think about other matters as well."


    "Of course."


    Ye Zhiyun and Bao Zhong both left the room to leave their mistress alone. Even Zhao Guodong retreated outside of the room. But all his senses were focused on the interior of the room. The only one left was Huang Liyue. She kept observing Huang Cixi with many conflicting emotions. Unfortunately, she had to admit that she herself had neglected the possibility of a family member turning traitor. There had been many strifes within the family, but none escalated to full-out treason. However, the recent activities of both demons and demonic cultivators alike were known to her. And indeed, it was a possibility that seemed more and more plausible the more she thought about it.


    -


    In another wing of the Huang residence, a young woman was reading many documents. They were reports about various businesses of the Huang family as well as internal conflicts. Among them, a large portion of the reports were about Huang L¨¹ and Huang Cixi.


    The woman who was examining them was wearing a gorgeous dress of red, blue and gold. The fabric was a masterpiece covered in embroideries depicting flames, feathers and birds. Her stature was extremely dignified and she truly looked like an empress. Both her eyes were light gray. Very deep in them, a flame could be barely seen. In fact, there were two faint flames orbiting around each other.


    Of course, this woman was Huang Si, the main candidate to become the next matriarch.


    After she was done, she put the documents back on the table and finally a servant who had been waiting for a while talked.


    "Mistress, is it safe to let Huang L¨¹ take care of the problem?"


    "Huang L¨¹ knows she has no chance against me. She''s competent but too forceful, she lacks... subtlety. Just by me hinting at Huang Cixi, she immediately went to confront her. But this will be a great opportunity. From what I heard, I do not believe in Huang Cixi''s weakness for one second. And even then, she would not abandon her ambitions so easily. I can clearly see that she wants to be matriarch. Her dead brothers were a the perfect occasion to get rid of her competition... If only she had stayed in the Wubei Sect longer, I would have ascended to the position without any problem.


    "But I won''t let a decade of work be ruined by a child. Huang Cixi is a tiger dressed in sheep''s clothing. However, when she shows her fangs, Huang L¨¹ will be the one receiving them, not me."


    "But, won''t it sway some elders to her side?"


    "It could. In the end, it''s not important. I have enough support among the elders. What I lack right now is a support with the matriarch herself. But very soon, the best opportunity for this will show up. As long as I suppress this girl, it will be fine. Sadly, her grandfather prevents many of my usual methods. Nevertheless, I won''t let her ruin my efforts!"


    Hang Si paused for an instant and spoke toward an empty spot as though someone invisible was standing there.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "Go watch her tomorrow. I want to know every single detail, no matter how insignificant they might seem. Be especially careful about Fang Shaolong. Huang Cixi has a man in the Major Hall." Even though Ye Zhiyun had tried to conceal it as much as he could, Huang Si had been able to discern who he was working for. But she was the only one who had so far.


    -


    Eventually, the day of the poetry gathering came.


    In the center of Baziyun City stood a gigantic mansion with several wings, gardens and pavilions, Governor Leng''s residence. One of the pavilion was a wooden building without any wall giving a fantastic view of the garden. This Divine Feather pavilion was truly enchanting. And the garden around had all the classical structures of the School of Ren Dao philosophy. All around the garden, small streams of water traveled through various elements, circling statues and specially arranged landscapes.


    Many servants were actively setting up chairs and tables as well as some fancy food and tea.


    While the servants were still busy, two men were talking in the center of the pavilion. One of them was a ordinary middle-aged man with a thin beard. There were only two things interesting about him. The way he talked and expressed himself gave off a powerful charisma. And he was wearing a very famous robe, the uniform of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. This robe was black with some cherry blossoms on it. In fact, he had several of them on him, and on both sides of his chest two had golden petals. This was proof that he was the Major Hall''s Hall Master, Fang Shaolong.


    The man he was talking to was clearly a scholar. His clothes were extremely fancy and the way he tasted his tea showed his aristocratic manners. Even while talking to a high representative of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, he was not servile at all. But he wasn''t arrogant either. Considering Fang Shaolong''s attitude, this man was Governor Leng.


    Governors were appointed by the Emperor himself. Usually, his ministers chose them according to the local situation of each province, but he was ultimately the one to make the decision. Given the influence of the Huang family, they needed a very powerful man for such a position but also a true politician. It had always been the concern of the Imperial City to both control and mitigate the influence of the noble families while ensuring that they all worked together in harmony.


    As such, Governor Leng was a man who preferred to solve the conflicts through politic. Instead of going head-to-head with the Huang family or the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, he was always trying to weave relationships, contracts and alliances to balance out everyone''s influence. But he was also a powerful cultivator, having reached 7th-grade Spirit Warrior before turning 200.


    He was also a clear practitioner of the School of Ren Dao. Even though this philosophy was subtly permeating the entire kingdom, it was more cultural than philosophical for many. Besides the wellbeing of the humanity as a whole and the individualistic pursuit of knowledge through cultivation, this philosophy was putting a lot of importance on beauty and arts. And Governor Leng had been a long time patron of artists in the Wu Province and even beyond. Moreover, he was quite fond of luxurious goods and artistic masterpieces. And so was his wife.


    The content of the discussion between the two men was not very important as it pertained to art and philosophy. This day was not only a poetry gathering but also the occasion to renegotiate some contracts between Baziyun City, and by extension the Wu Province as a whole, with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. However, neither Governor Leng nor Hall Master Fang wanted to rush things.


    After almost an hour, they started talking about various affairs and spent a lot of time on the Xiliang Mines. Even though the ownership of the mines was in the hands of Matriarch Huang Yufeng, the exploitation rights and some specific rights were owned by various individuals and organizations. These mines were essential for the Wu Province and even for the Hongchen Kingdom. Negotiating these rights was extremely difficult and it would likely take hours of discussions despite the two men having stayed in constant contact for several weeks now.


    Governor Leng was always afraid of people trying to monopolize the resources. On the other hand, Hall Master Fang was worried about taxes. He had to pay the Huang family for the exploitation rights, the Wu Province, the Imperial City and various investors. This was really tedious business and both men had decided that this poetry gathering would be a good way to appease them during their negotiations.


    -


    Finally, the sun was at its highest in the sky and people started to arrive in front of the governor''s residence. Any form of flight was forbidden in Baziyun City unless extreme circumstances required it. This regulation was not directly aimed at Spirit Warriors, but also at any demonic beast or artifact some cultivator may possess. As such, even members of the Huang family would have to arrive in a cart.


    When she arrived, Huang Cixi saw several carts attended by a few servants. This poetry gathering would reunite many members of dignified families but also a few commoners who had illustrated themselves in the art. It often caused tensions, especially among younger people. But the Hongchen Kingdom had a long history of promoting commoners according to their merit. This was especially true for the provinces that bordered the territories of demons as they could feel the existential threat they were under. As such, they were always looking for competent people, no matter their birth. But in calmer provinces, young nobles didn''t like this kind of competition.


    Among the carts, many were clearly so fancy they could only belong to nobles.


    Huang Cixi had decided to arrive in a very modest cart. And the moment she arrived, another man was trying to enter the main gate of the residence. The young lady was sitting quietly in her cart while focusing her mind on the different objectives she had by coming here. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a ruckus just outside her cart.


    "Who do you think you are?! You dare block my master?!"


    Before she could look at what was going on, she heard several loud noises that sounded like someone getting beat up with a staff. Immediately, she opened the cart and went out.


    What she saw enraged her. Bao Zhong had been driving the cart, and now a burly man was proceeding to beating him up for it.


    "Stop!"


    Huang Cixi ran and put herself between her servant and the aggressor. The moment she did, Zhao Guodong intervened and put his hand on his sword.


    "Who... ?!" Finally, the man saw the white hair of Huang Cixi and understood. From her eyes, he could see a deadly glare and became frozen. All around him, a burning sensation stopped all his movements. Huang Liyue was using a very small amount of her spiritual senses to send him a very clear warning.


    From the cart this man was driving, a lazy voice came out.


    "What''s taking so long? Crush this insect and get me inside."


    The man with the staff in hand was still unable to answer due to the pressure of Huang Liyue. His cultivation level did not even allow him to understand what was going on. For him and everyone around, he was just frozen from fear after seeing that he had attacked a servant of the Huang family.


    Huang Cixi went to inquire about her servant''s health. Satisfied that he wasn''t hurt, her fury receded a little. But now that she was calm, her eyes were even scarier to the frozen man. She walked up to him and her chilly voice made him quiver.


    "Who gave you permission to discipline a servant of my Huang family in front of Governor Leng''s residence?"


    But before he could answer, the lazy voice from his cart spoke again. This time, the man behind the voice put his head out of a curtain.


    "Just break his legs and arms..."


    Unfortunately for him, the man behind the lazy voice only saw Huang Cixi once he was done speaking.

 Chapter 170: Forming a grudge

    As soon as the lazy man saw Huang Cixi''s hair, he understood his mistake. Pure white hair was the clear mark of the Huang family, especially in a young woman like her. Moreover, on her robe, there were emblematic signs and designs of the Huang family as well. However her cart had been really modest. As such, he had failed to consider the possibility that the cart obstructing his path belonged to a noble.


    "Oh? Miss... My servant has been rude to you. I''ll discipline him later. Get assured of that."


    Hearing his master forsaking him even though he merely obeyed his order, the brute lost all color. Just after that, he could finally move again and he simply fell to the ground, deprived of the will to stand up. Indeed, Huang Liyue who was still protecting Huang Cixi from afar let go of the pressure she was exerting on him.


    The lazy man was quite charming and maybe a year or two older than Huang Cixi. As she was still a Mortal, it was hard for her to discern someone''s cultivation level, but this guy was probably a 7th-grade Mortal. It wasn''t that bad. However, his character and brain were doubtful. Stirring problems right in front of the governor''s residence was more than stupid.


    Thanks to all the reports she had read, she quickly recognized this guy, Gui Bei. Apparently he was the son of a small shop owner. In truth, this shop owner had some ties with criminal organizations but nothing could be clearly proven. And as their activities were not too problematic, and kept some kind of control over the overall criminality, Governor Leng was lenient with them. However, these last few months, Gui Bei''s strength soared for no apparent reason and he started to cause problems here and there. All of a sudden, he went from middle 4th-grade Mortal to 7th-grade Mortal in less than a year.


    From Huang Cixi''s reasoning, this boy had either made a fortuitous encounter or he was allied with demonic cultivators. If he were a demonic cultivator, at least one Spirit Warrior would have found him out, especially with this sudden increase in cultivation. Either way, she was disgusted by what she had read about him. One day, he had challenged a man in a duel for his fianc¨¦e. The man got viciously killed and Gui Bei tried to force himself on the poor woman. Thankfully, some city guards had intervened. Then, Gui Bei''s father had had to use many resources but he had been able to prevent too harsh of a punishment for his son. For Huang Cixi, it was clear that this guy was insane. Even if he wasn''t a demonic cultivator, he was scum.


    Seeing Huang Cixi immobile and silent, Gui Bei left his cart and bowed down.


    "Miss Huang, please, let''s forget this incident. Are you here alone? We could get inside together. I''m sure your poetry must be delightful. I don''t want to brag but my talent is also very impressive. What do you say about joining me for the day?"


    "Scram!"


    The direct response from Huang Cixi shocked Gui Bei who didn''t even know how to react. Huang Cixi did not want to entertain this moron even for one more second. Even Bao Zhong and Zhao Guodong were surprised. It wasn''t in their young mistress'' habit to talk like that.


    "Miss... I''m sorry about my man''s brutality. Please..." The sincerity he tried to infuse in his words could not hide the savage glint Huang Cixi saw in his eyes.


    "Either you scram now or I will break all of your limbs. Your choice!"


    Gui Bei clenched his fists, ready to act upon his impulse, when someone else arrived. The new cart was very sumptuous and wore proudly the colors of the Huang family. From the sides, a curtain got pushed aside and a woman''s voice could be heard.


    "Xixi, this is no way to act today. With your brutality, how do you think you will fare in poetry?"


    Of course, she was Huang L¨¹. Her eyes still staring straight at Gui Bei, Huang Cixi answered in a cold voice.


    "Senior Sister, you should know that poetry can express any feeling. The simplistic idea that poetry must be tame and docile is antiquated. Saint Dashan himself wrote some ruthless and savage poems. With such a shallow understanding of poetry, I doubt you can achieve anything in today''s gathering.


    "And if you fail to protect your own servants, know that I won''t let anyone bully mine. Maybe you do not care about the reputation of our Huang family, but I do. If we allow an outsider to deal out his own punishments to our servants, what are we?"


    After these words, Huang L¨¹ stayed quiet for a while. Indeed, if she chose to back up Gui Bei to oppose her sister, she would also choose to side with an outsider beating a servant of the Huang family. However, Gui Bei was not stupid to the point of not seeing this rivalry. Everyone knew that the Huang family was now divided on the matter of the matriarch''s division. And he knew exactly what to do.


    "Senior Sister Huang L¨¹, I swear that this is just a misunderstanding. My servant acted without my approval and got violent for no reason. Please, believe me. I would never do such a thing."


    Of course, no one believed him for one second. But this was the perfect chance for Huang L¨¹ to try and gain the upper hand.


    "You see, Xixi... A good ruler never resorts to violence first. This is a joyous occasion. I''m sure that Governor Leng wouldn''t appreciate you being so ruthless right in front of his residence. Think about our Huang family''s reputation. We should not jump to conclusions and deal out unfair punishments."


    "Senior Sister L¨¹, I admit that you have a very elegant way of presenting your cowardice as a moral virtue. But if you want to be responsible for that idiot with a rotten brain, I''ll let you do it." After her harsh words, she simply stopped talking to Huang L¨¹. "How will you compensate my servant?"


    Huang L¨¹ was incredulous. Usually, she was the most ruthless in the room. But today, Huang Cixi had abandoned her quiet act and showed the more forceful side of her character. Even she didn''t know how to react right away. In fact, she had been waiting for Huang Cixi to arrive so as to cause some problem for her. When she saw what had happened with Gui Bei, she had thought that this would be a good opportunity. Indeed, if Huang Cixi kept on acting weak, this would prove that she wasn''t fit to rule the family. However, she had simply abandoned this role even before Huang L¨¹ could intervene.Stolen novel; please report.


    "Miss Huang, I''ll have my man beaten right away."


    Gui Bei''s servant was still livid on the ground. He knew that he would have to take responsibility even though he had only obeyed his master''s orders. But he knew that his master was extremely ruthless.


    This proposal wasn''t satisfying though. And Huang Cixi immediately retorted before Gui Bei could add anything.


    "How does that compensate my servant in any way? Do what you may with your men, that''s none of my concern. But you''ll have to take responsibility for their actions. So I repeat myself. How are you going to compensate my servant?"


    As Gui Bei was still unsure of what he should do, he took out a small pouch. Opening it, he made sure of the amount of gold within. There were ten strings of coins, each one with a thousand coins. As they had a hole in their center, coins could be gathered on a string, either by a hundred or by a thousand. Even without counting, these strings of coins were clearly the latter.


    "Miss Huang, here is my compensation."


    Gui Bei was still repressing his anger. He bowed once more and gave the money to Huang Cixi.


    "With this, we can put this terrible misunderstanding behind us, I hope."


    Huang Cixi did not make any motion toward the charming Gui Bei, no matter how docile he acted.


    "Why do you give it to me? Give it to my servant. In person!"


    Feeling completely humiliated, Gui Bei waited for Huang L¨¹ to say something but she did not. He knew that he had no way of getting out of this. As such, he clenched his teeth and walked toward the middle-aged man. Bao Zhong was still hurt from the strikes he had suffered. But seeing his young mistress protect him in such a way had alleviated most of the pain.


    "Mister. Please forgive my servant. This was just a terrible misunderstanding. Please accept this as compensation."


    "Thank you."


    Nonchalantly, Bao Zhong took the pouch and looked inside. Gui Bei was ready to see him shaken by the amount. But contrary to his expectations, Bao Zhong almost did not react.


    "That''s acceptable..."


    The way he spoke almost made it look like he took the compensation out of pity for Gui Bei. It was as though he was so poor that Bao Zhong didn''t want to take too much from him. All this encounter was infuriating for the young man. In fact, he only wished he could skin this servant alive and throw his bloody corpse toward Huang Cixi. Right now, Gui Bei was fantasizing about all the atrocities he could inflict upon them both. But in reality, he wouldn''t dare do anything against the Huang family, for now...


    "If my servant is satisfied, then all is well. However, if you dare act so blatantly arrogant in front of me again, you will regret it."


    Huang Cixi immediately went back in her cart without adding anything toward Huang L¨¹. Then Bao Zhong brought the cart inside the residence.


    Still outside the residence, Gui Bei was furious but he had to hide it as Huang L¨¹ had not left yet. The woman also felt a bit humiliated and didn''t want to stay here for too long. Several people were now watching them. And some guards had probably already reported everything to Governor Leng. Huang L¨¹ also knew of Gui Bei''s reputation. In fact, she would have preferred not to associate herself with him. Sadly, she felt like she had to seize every opportunity to try and get one over Huang Cixi.


    The curtain of her cart closed and she didn''t even say anything to Gui Bei before leaving as fast as she could. This only made him even more angry. As he had no one to turn his anger against, he stared at his servant who was cowering in fear.


    -


    In Huang Cixi''s cart, she heard a voice in her head.


    "I won''t be able to follow you inside, or the governor will know of my presence. But as long as you don''t go inward, my spiritual senses will be able to see you. However..." Huang Liyue had a pause as she wasn''t sure whether her next words would be inappropriate.


    "Ask away."


    "This behavior was unlike what I''ve seen of you."


    Letting a smile show on her face, Huang Cixi answered by whispering. With Huang Liyue''s spiritual senses, she could hear her even though almost no sound escaped her lips.


    "I''ve been docile for far too long. And I know enough about this Gui Bei to understand his type. Sadly, and it pains me to admit it, but he looks exactly like my late first brother. Men like him only understand strength. If I had been a commoner or from a small noble family, he would have acted way differently. Trying to reason with this kind of men is of no use at all.


    "But his stupidity was a good way to show Huang L¨¹''s true colors. Although she tried to act against me, she still understood what was proper. Yes she is way too forceful in her approach but she still knows that protecting our family''s name is primordial. Unfortunately for her, she doesn''t know when force is necessary and when reason and calm are. If she only has one way to solve her problems, she won''t do much. In that regard, Huang Si seems way more apt. I feel her moving against me and yet I never even met her."


    "What do you mean? Did Huang Si do anything to you?"


    "Humph. Even you didn''t notice...? Unfortunately, she''s not as subtle as she thinks. I have to admit that she''s good, but not good enough."


    Her words were really intriguing Huang Liyue. She wondered what Huang Cixi had seen to make her believe that Huang Si was moving against her. But she knew that this would happen at one point. After all, they were both vying for the position of matriarch. As long as both of them were not going overboard, no one within the Huang family would oppose them competing.


    "Moreover, this Gui Bei is very suspicious. Did you notice anything at all about him? I do not believe he is a demonic cultivator, but..."


    Hearing this, Huang Liyue amplified her spiritual senses around the boy.


    Gui Bei was sitting in his cart sulking. Both his eyes were full of repressed rage. With every ounce of will, he was trying to control himself so as to not cause a ruckus right in front of the governor''s residence. But he was unable to restrain his vivid emotions. The Spirit Warrior tried to look inside his body. This boy was a mere 7th-grade Mortal. In fact, he was even very close to becoming a 8th-grade Mortal. Yet he wasn''t even eighteen. Huang Liyue had thought that her young mistress'' speed was incredible, but this boy''s was unimaginable. The only explanation she could find was that he had found an ancient treasure of some kind.


    There were still ruins and antics from the ancient eras. Even artifacts from the Legendary Era could be found sometimes. It was extremely rare and only chance could make you find one. But maybe, he had had a huge stroke of luck.


    Just as she was about to retract her spiritual senses, Huang Liyue almost got the impression that the boy was looking at her. It only lasted for an instant, but this was impossible... Right? A Mortal could not possibly feel the spiritual senses of a late Spirit Warrior, even for an instant. No, it was impossible. This was surely just a coincidence...


    Keeping her worry for herself, she confirmed to Huang Cixi that he wasn''t a demonic cultivator. At least, he had never used a demonic cultivation method. If he had used one to advance his cultivation so fast, there would be traces of it on him. Demonic cultivation always affected the mind but also the Qi of any cultivator. If the techniques were not used for long, these traces could be very difficult to notice. But with his current level, they should have been obvious.

 Chapter 171: Meeting Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang

    "It is still possible that Gui Bei might have some way to conceal his demonic cultivation, but I do not believe that he is a demonic cultivator. However, there are way too many coincidences around him. I already intended to investigate him and our encounter will just speed up my plans."


    "Too many coincidences?"


    "His cultivation began to skyrocket just after an expedition during which his comrades were killed. And this expedition happened just after the destruction of the Wolf Head Sect. I do not know what it is that he found, but after studying all the reports I read, I am rather convinced that this is related to this demonic sect. No technique or artifact is demonic in itself, only their creation or their use can be deemed as such. However, some techniques can easily push someone toward the Evil path. Considering Gui Bei''s disposition, if he''s not a demonic cultivator now, he will be very soon."


    "Indeed. I have to agree with you. This boy should have already been arrested."


    "But he hasn''t. Yes the man he killed had agreed on a duel to the death, but he also tried to abuse a maiden in broad daylight. I reckon that even our Huang family would have had to answer for such a crime. But he just had to pay a ridiculously small amount of money to get out of this predicament. The fact that the repercussions were so light makes me believe that someone else is interested in knowing more about his little expedition. Governor Leng is a smart man. But, although he abides by the laws, he is no stranger to morally gray areas."


    "Wait! Are you trying to say that Governor Leng let Gui Bei act out because he wants to discover his secrets?"


    "That is exactly what is going on. I do not know though whether he does it for himself or if someone higher than him asked him to."


    Huang Liyue became quite alarmed. What Huang Cixi was talking about was corruption within the Imperial City.


    "Young Mistress, you shouldn''t talk about this kind of subjects. Even if we were in the confines of your study, this would be dangerous talk."


    With only a small laugh, Huang Cixi changed the subject. She had way more thoughts on the matter but she realized that her bodyguard was not conformable discussing them any further.


    "Senior Huang Liyue, make sure that nothing happens to neither Bao Zhong nor Zhao Guodong while I''m attending this gathering. Someone like Gui Bei can be extremely petty and vicious."


    Just like Huang Liyue could not enter the governor''s residence, neither servants nor bodyguards could. The carts were lead into an outer courtyard and then, the invitees were to follow the governor''s servants, alone. Within, the personal guards of Governor Leng would take care of security. With all the nobles'' bodyguards outside the residence and the prestige of Governor Leng, there was no reason to worry about security. Even a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior would be hard pressed to attack this place. Moreover, the Huang family residence was close enough that their most powerful experts could arrive in less than a minute.


    However, it didn''t mean that incidents could not happen. More specifically, Huang Cixi was worried that Gui Bei''s servant would target her own. After all, his family had ties with criminal organizations. As long as they didn''t go too far, injuring a servant was not that big of a deal overall. And Gui Bei had gotten away with a more serious crime already, he could get the idea that he was free to do as he wished.


    "Yes, Young Mistress. Do not worry, I won''t let anything happen to them!"


    Appeased, Huang Cixi followed the very young lad who lead her toward the courtyard of the Divine Feather pavilion. As she had never been here before, the first sight amazed her. This place looked like a paradise of serenity and quiet. Such a place was indeed perfect to listen to poetry and make some of her own. Breathing deeply, she could isolate every flower''s scent. These fragrances were arranged so meticulously that they almost formed an array formation to soothe violent emotions. Then, Huang Cixi heard the splendid voices of several cranes.


    From the corner of her eyes, Huang L¨¹ observed her junior with a look of derision. In her eyes, Huang Cixi was a small girl from a tiny town who knew nothing of the big city. She really looked like a country bumpkin in her eyes. But she still had her previous outburst of authority from just a few moments ago in mind. She had known for some time that Huang Cixi was probably feigning her weakness so that she could refuse to go out or meet anyone. This would give her enough time to understand the situation before doing anything. Now that her suspicions were proved right, Huang L¨¹ only wondered how powerful her junior really was. After all, she was supposed to have the legendary Pure Golden Dantian and her blood was the purest of her generation. Clearly, this girl was a threat to her ambitions.


    Unfortunately for Huang L¨¹, she had no idea on how to get rid of her. Earlier, she had almost committed a grave mistake. Had she kept on supporting Gui Bei, this would have turned against her. She perfectly knew that he was in the wrong. But she had tried to use him to pressure her junior. Some elder could see it as siding with an outsider against her own family. If Huang Cixi had been in the wrong, she could defend it as upholding the virtue of her name. But Huang Cixi had stayed reasonable, albeit a bit forceful, and had been in the right.


    This poetry gathering could still be a great way for her to show how superior she was to this little girl. Although poetry was one of the Five Imperial Arts, this wasn''t the most important to master for a ruler. Nonetheless, Huang L¨¹ was quite confident in her abilities and she wanted to demonstrate her competence in front of everyone. She had worked so hard for it, she wanted to show off.


    As of now, there were many elders from different horizons all around both the courtyard and the pavilion, as no wall separated the two. Among them, there were six elders from the Huang family, five of which supported Huang L¨¹. The sixth one was Huang Jian. Right now, he was still unaligned, supporting neither Huang Si nor Huang L¨¹. Huang Jian was known for his celibacy and his deep moral virtues. Fortunately, he wasn''t as strict with others as he was with himself. As such, this allowed him to form very amiable relationships with many people. He was seen as a virtuous man but also very tolerant and lenient without sacrificing his own ideals either. If someone were to gain such an elder to her side, she would gain much traction in the competition to become the next matriarch.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Many other elders were discussing among themselves while the younger generation was mostly sitting at the various tables waiting for the event to begin.


    As soon as she entered the grounds of the pavilion, Huang Cixi recognized every single person there. Among the elders, she saw a famous painter whose works she found rather provocative and interesting. There were also several poets, among whom two were also writing pamphlets under different names that were extremely polemic. In the distance, she even recognized a great general of Governor Leng''s army. He had distinguished himself during a campaign in the east when the Wu Province had helped another province on the border of demon territory. With very fast and brutal tactics, he had been able to win several battles while preserving his own forces.


    Finally, Huang Cixi saw the two men she was most interested in, Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang. Just as the small servant was about to guide her to her seat, she walked straight toward them.


    The two men were talking among themselves and no one dared to disturb them. Also, when people saw this young girl no one recognized, they all wondered who had the audacity to go directly to them. Of course, her white hair betrayed her ascendancy but her face was unknown. Many people also looked at Huang L¨¹ who had to know this girl. Huang L¨¹ didn''t know either what her junior was trying to do, but she sincerely hoped that she would make a mistake. This way, she could got there under the pretense of helping her save some face. By doing so, she could show her magnanimity to everyone while crushing her rival.


    Apart from Huang Yi and Matriarch Huang Yufeng, these two men were the most powerful and influential people in both Baziyun City and the Wu Province as a whole. Although a bit surprised, neither of them seemed to mind Huang Cixi''s approach. Obviously, they both knew exactly who she was. As soon as she was close enough to talk to them normally, she stopped and bowed respectfully. Her bow was perfectly measured to both signify her deference and to respect her own name.


    "Governor Leng. Hall Master Fang. This humble one is sorry to disturb you. However, this humble one needed to express her apologies for the ruckus that she caused outside of your prestigious residence. Please accept this humble one''s apology."


    Governor Leng who was still wondering what this young girl was going to say was rather surprised. And so was Fang Shaolong. For an instant, there was a small pause and Governor Leng heartily laughed.


    "Miss Huang Cixi, I should be the one to apologize. The fact that you had to suffer such an insult just after returning to Baziyun City is unacceptable. Please, do not be so formal with us. Your grandfather is a friend of mine. This pains me to see you so humbled before me." Governor Leng himself extended his arms to help Huang Cixi up.


    Of course, he had been informed right away of the ruckus. His guards had not intervened when Bao Zhong got beaten up because they didn''t know that he was Huang Cixi''s servant. Moreover, they had received orders concerning Gui Bei. As long as he didn''t go overboard, they were to turn a blind eye to his actions.


    "Thank you, Governor Leng. But I did threaten one of your guests. This wasn''t my intention to upset the atmosphere of today''s celebration."


    "Ha ha ha! Good lass. Family Head Huang Yi sure had a great granddaughter! How could I fault you?! My guards should have prevented this sad thing from happening in the first place. You could even say that I''m the one to blame, certainly not you. You absolutely didn''t spoil today''s gathering. This is I who is concerned whether or not this would spoil your enjoyment."


    "Governor Leng, this is quite alright. I know that today''s gathering will be very enjoyable."


    She then turned toward Fang Shaolong.


    "Hall Master Fang. I hope you won''t mind my candor, but there are things I''d wish to discuss with you when you''re available."


    He hadn''t said anything but Fang Shaolong had been surprised by the conversation between Huang Cixi and Governor Leng. Many other people had the same thoughts as he did, but he had way more information than them. And as he replied to her, many whispers regarding all the rumors surrounding Huang Cixi and her Pure Golden Dantian spread through the crowds. Both elders and juniors were interested in this girl. And visibly, the two most important men present today were as well.


    "Miss Huang Cixi? I wonder, what is it you want to talk about?"


    "Nothing much. And I know that this isn''t the place or the time. But I read some interesting reports on the Xiliang Mines. Of course, Hall Master Fang knows how important they are to my family. As such, I''d like to discuss some of the things that are troubling me. I know that you have more pressing matters to attend to, especially today. However, I''d be grateful if you could dissipate the doubts of this ignorant one."


    For a split second, Fang Shaolong''s demeanor changed. This was so fast that not even Governor Leng noticed. In fact, only Huang Cixi did, because she was expected it.


    "Miss Huang Cixi, do not say such things. These kinds of reports are obscure even for me. I''ll be glad to help you shed some light on these reports. As you said, today won''t be possible, but I''ll get back to you as soon as I can. There are also some things I would like to talk about with you. I am sure that despite your young age, you must be an incredible conversationalist. Also, I look forward to hearing the poems you''ll craft for us today."


    "You praise me too much, Hall Master. I am sure that my senior, Huang L¨¹, will have amazing poems for us all. I''ll just try to not ridicule myself in front of her."


    For an instant, all eyes went on Huang L¨¹. The current situation of the Huang family was known to all. And clearly, this was a declaration of war between the two women. In a poetry gathering, you could either enjoy poems declaimed by others, declaim them yourself, or even craft your own poetry. Of course, the latter was the most complex to do as you had to both be able to imagine a poem and declaim it with the right intention. But with Huang Cixi''s words just now, Huang L¨¹ could not afford to not declaim any poem. Thankfully, she was rather confident in her oratory skills.


    "Miss Huang Cixi, if you wish, I can also forbid Gui Bei to attend this gathering."


    Just as Huang Cixi suspected, Governor Leng truly wanted to learn more about Gui Bei. More specifically, he wanted to learn how he came to progress so fast, and what he had discovered during his expedition. However, this didn''t mean that he was ready to disregard all his violations. In fact, if his guards had not prevented him from abusing that girl back then, Governor Leng would have punished him severely, no matter the consequences. He could accept to be a bit ambiguous about morality, but he could never accept such a crime in his own city.


    "No, Governor Leng. I wouldn''t want to inconvenience you. And I''ll also try not to react to his provocations..."


    "Nonsense! If he dares utter anything improper to you, I will personally chase him away!"


    Just as Governor Leng said these words, the last invitee arrived in the Divine Feather pavilion. All eyes turned toward him. He was Gui Bei.

 Chapter 172: Three great poets

    After taking some time to compose himself, Gui Bei had finally been the last one to arrive in the courtyard of the Divine Feather pavilion. As soon as he walked in though, he saw all the eyes turning toward him. The only thing Gui Bei saw in those eyes was scorn and ridicule. Deep within himself, he felt as though they were mocking him. Then, he saw the worst gaze of them all. Talking with Hall Master Fang and Governor Leng, Huang Cixi was also looking at him. And in her eyes, he felt as though he was nothing.


    All of a sudden, Gui Bei felt like he wasn''t worthy of being here. He was just the poor kid of a pitiful crook. In his veins, his blood congealed and a voice began to grate his mind. However, his distorted view of the world slowly faded away. The eyes full of scorn, pity and ridicule were in fact quite innocent. Apart from a few people, no one really cared about his presence. In fact, there were even people from lower descent than him. His breath that had become erratic for an instant returned to normal.


    Since his return from the expedition, Gui Bei''s cultivation had soared through the sky. But he was also more on edge than usual. And in his mind, there was always something trying to give him ideas. Until now, this voice was only making unintelligible sounds, but Gui Bei knew for a fact that it was trying to talk to him. But no matter what he would have to go through, in the end, he would prove his worth to all who had belittled him. Even this Baziyun City would grow too small for him. Even the Hongchen Kingdom or the Piaolu planet would end up as dust in his eyes. No matter the cost, he would crush those who had humiliated him and would become a god among gods.


    With this restored confidence, Gui Bei walked forward and sat down at one of the empty tables. Even though his face appeared calm, no one dared get close to him and his blazing eyes. In his pupils, there was a kind of burning ice. This was really strange and difficult to explain. His gaze seemed frozen but still full of fire and rage at the same time.


    His arrival didn''t really cause any commotion. To the contrary, everyone stopped talking. And Governor Leng used that as an opportunity.


    "Dear friends! Thank you all for accepting my humble invitation. I hope that you will all enjoy the modest scenery of this pavilion. And I am certain that our esteemed guests will provide us with enchanting poetry that will resonate with you."


    Just as he spoke, two women and a man walked to his side. Everyone recognized them immediately. They were peerless poets. All of them were wearing very light blue clothes that almost appeared white. And they also had a small emblem on them. They were official poets of the Imperial City. The ranks and emblems of the main occupations like alchemist or array formation master could be delivered by both the Imperial City and the various institutes and sects under its administrative supervision. However, only the Imperial City could deliver emblems and ranks concerning the Five Imperial Arts. In a sense, they were a way of expressing the social status of some individuals, just like military ranks.


    Although they were always given to people with the right competence, they were also a political tool. With these ranks, the Imperial City could balance out the influence and power of noble families by creating another caste of aristocrats. They often also rewarded commoners. In fact, some noble families had been founded after a mere commoner had received a high rank either in war or thanks to his achievement in the Five Imperial Arts.


    The ranks were a bit more vague than those of the main occupations. Indeed, no attainment in any of Five Imperial Arts required a specific cultivation. As a matter of fact, Saint Xun Ke was probably the greatest master of Go in all known history. However, his cultivation had been completely destroyed. However, he had obtained the rank of 5-star God. In death, he was even awarded as Heavenly Minister of Go. It was said that he could see all the world as a one giant board of Go. Both in war and in politics, he was just moving nonexistent stones on an invisible board and could win everything.


    Governor Leng presented his esteemed guests.


    "5-star Heaven Master Poet Ju Liang." The first woman bowed with a very subtle gesture. Given her status, she was almost on par with Governor Leng himself. Of course, she had neither the authority nor the power but she had the prestige and the nobility. Huang Cixi could hardly make out her cultivation, but she could discern that her body was sufficiently refined. At the very least she was a Mortal Warrior. But she could very well have been an early Spirit Warrior. Unless someone had spiritual senses, it was almost impossible to guess someone''s cultivation. Moreover she looked like she was in her twenties. But this could have been the effect of some pill and not her cultivation.


    "She is known for her mastery of Four-Four Aphorisms. Her most renown work is ''Resting on the Road to Wuxian''. Anyone who read this masterpiece will remember the many conflicting emotions they have felt. I was even moved to tears by the way some of these aphorisms resonated with my own feelings."


    As the name suggested, Four-Four Aphorism was a style of poetry in which poems consisted of four lines with four characters by line. In theory each line had to have a very specific sense for the overall aphorism. Ju Liang had changed the formula a bit and had even made some variations. For examples, she had produced four-four aphorisms linked together in groups of four as well. That way, the structure of the four lines in each stanza as well as the structure of the four stanzas themselves could mirror each other.


    "5-star Heaven Master Poet Xiu Ma."


    Once again, the woman only bowed slightly. She seemed maybe a bit more charming than Ju Liang. Her forms were also much more voluptuous. Even though her clothes were hiding most of her skin, the imagination of both men and women was able to run rampant.


    "The way she declaims her Songs of Zhang Te has no equal in her generation. I would even go beyond that. No master poet alive can match her elegance and charm when she performs her art. Even though she''s especially known for her performances of classics, I have been deeply moved by her ''Love Wanderings''. Usually, even I would be hard-pressed to be able to admire a single one of her performances. Yet, she has agreed to greet us today with her presence."You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    This kind of poetry was way closer to real songs. The tones of each character had to be perfectly chosen so as to produce a specific rhythm. They were difficult to write but even more difficult to perform. However, the Songs of Zhang Te style was probably the most beautiful to hear. And imagining such a beautiful woman performing a love song full of enticing rhythm, everyone in the audience was excited.


    "Finally, 1-star Spirit Master Poet Li Muyang."


    This time, it was the man who barely bowed. Contrary to the other two women, he seemed a bit older, in his late thirties or even forties. His body was extremely slender but his face showed a strict and firm resolution. His rank was above the other two masters, but it didn''t mean anything about his cultivation. Just like them, Huang Cixi could tell from his constitution that he had to at least be a Mortal Warrior, but nothing more precise.


    "He is the current reference in the domain of Ancient Prose. Enumerating all his works would be way too long, but I am sure you have all read the famous ''Forty Thoughts of Old''. Even though this is not an original work, that is certainly the best anthology of our millennium. To understand poetry during the Blood and Dirt Era, this is the most coherent treatise with in-depth analysis of every poem. This is the work of both a great poet and a precise historian."


    Ancient Prose was a style of poetry that had way more freedom to it than more modern ones. It had originated among the slaves when humans were still subjugated by demons. In fact, it had probably existed way before this period but finding documents written by humans before this period was almost impossible. The Blood and Dirt Era was the time during which the first humans broke their chains, helped by Emperor Nuwa. After more than twenty thousand years of slavery, humans left the Great Sorrow Era and forged their own destiny. Most likely, even as slaves, humans had produced art, but none of it remained nowadays.


    As soon as he was done presenting his guest, Governor Leng clapped. Immediately, several servants went to each table where the guests were now sitting. They gave them cups of wine. Each one was extremely well crafted taking the form of a jade vessel with three legs. Cultivators could hardly get intoxicated by wine as the Qi in their blood would detoxify alcohol very quickly. As such, wine brewers came up with many different methods and formulas to create intoxicating liquors.


    They were sought after by a lot of cultivators. Even with powerful liquor, it was hard to get drunk but they could find the thrill of wine in these liquors. And the mere fragrance leaving the cups was extraordinary. It wasn''t surprising that the governor would have exceptional wine. To be honest, some guests had come more for the wine than both the poetry and the social gathering. But it didn''t mean that even they weren''t anticipating the poetry. As one of the Five Imperial Arts, this was a popular entertainment. Moreover, Xiu Ma''s curves had made many men impatient for her performance.


    Huang Cixi was not fond of wine but wine and tea were the main beverages drank in the Hongchen Kingdom. As such, knowing about them was a necessity to attend social gatherings of any kind. Moreover, some official ceremonies or rituals required people to drink cups of either specific wine or tea. With her new mind cultivation, she discovered that her senses allowed her to enjoy the smell and taste of the liquor way more than before. As she slowly drank, this Five Minerals Rice Wine flowed through her body and slowly sipped through her blood, she felt every sensation. As her Qi tried to detoxify the liquor, it had little time to exert any toll on Huang Cixi''s mind. But the feeling was quite exhilarating.


    The different flavors hidden within the wine activated all her senses. And as everyone was enjoying this fine liquor, Ju Liang began to speak. No music or sound of any kind accompanied her voice. But each syllable out of her mouth was pure music to the ears.


    "Idle clouds and wild cranes,


    The worries of the mundane world disperse,


    The soul travels the vast expanse,


    A tranquil smile vanquishes evil."


    The poem was magnified by the sound of her voice and the fragrance of wine. Huang Cixi could literally see the scene around her. The clouds in the sky and the cranes flying through it turned into black shapes. The universe got covered in darkness. All men cowered and feared for their future. But amidst this anguish, a face she couldn''t really distinguish smiled. This smile was so subtle that Huang Cixi wondered if she had just imagined it. However, as soon as she saw it, the colors came back to the world. And these new colors seemed deeper than before. Everything around her seemed as though it had gained a new and more vivid life.


    After that first performance, a moment of silence allowed everyone to meditate on these images and drink more wine. Then, this was Xiu Ma''s turn. Her voice sounded like a musical instrument. Even though no music was played, the rhythm of her voice created the illusion of hundreds of musicians accompanying her. To enhance her performance, she also danced a little and completely transfixed everyone.


    "High mountains, and deep waters, the road stretches,


    I yearn your warmth, even though the end comes near.


    Our hearts will bloom, but like flowers may wilt,


    Closer and closer, yet we cannot meet, may our love persist."


    This time, no one saw any vision. However, a myriad of emotions and memories assaulted the audience''s minds. They could remember the feelings of a forbidden love between a soldier leaving for war and his wife administrating his domain. Although they had not lived this love, they felt every emotion as if they had. Some tears were even shed by a few guests. Some had slightly different emotions and memories based on their personal history, but they all felt something intense.


    Huang Cixi felt as though she could have blocked these emotions with her mind cultivation. But she was here to enjoy the performance and she submitted to it. Strangely, for her this wasn''t about a love story. Her story was about her second brother''s love.


    When finally, their hearts calmed down, the final poet was ready to begin. With his experience, he chose the perfect moment to start talking. Contrary to his two comrades, there wasn''t anything fancy in his poetry. He almost sounded like any other man.


    "Iron chains weigh down on my tired body,


    Nights of black, pain and sorrow rain on me,


    Weak and feeble, my soul doesn''t dare to hope,


    Torn wings and broken bones can''t take me far."


    Despite the simplicity of his declamation, his words had an incredible power. Every single person was transported in the ancient time. They imagined themselves in chains, working in the mines, watching their brothers die for someone else''s enjoyment. A powerful rage flooded their hearts and their very souls. This righteous rage and indignation turned into sorrow. Finally, all emotions left them. And as they were lost into an ocean of despair, devoid of all hope, a figure appeared. Millions of broken bodies, covered in dirt, in bruises, in blood and bound by irons, stood up. As one man, all of humanity was ready to fight for its freedom.


    All the emotions that had left them got replaced by pride, by vigor and above all else, by hope.

 Chapter 173: A one-month promise

    After all these performances, Governor Leng and the three poets gave enough time for the audience to slowly get back to reality. When everyone seemed to be in the right state of mind, Governor Leng announced the beginning of the discussion.


    A poetry gathering could be performed in many different ways. Some times, it was extremely codified, when it was during certain ceremonies or rituals for example. Although faith and philosophies were rather free under the imperial law, rituals and ceremonies were scrupulously adhered to, just like decorum in politics. These were all essential parts of life in the Hongchen Kingdom. But, just like today, there could also be informal poetry gatherings. Usually, it began with wine or tea tasting. Then, some master poets would declaim either original or classical poems. There could be a theme or not. Finally, people would discuss these poems with one another and would have the opportunity to confront their views with the master poets themselves.


    Of course, this was also a great way to socialize. As such, many politicians and traders of all kinds loved these gatherings. Moreover, everyone also had the opportunity to declaim their own poems and get opinions from the master poets. With time, it became also a kind of duel. These gatherings allowed people to compete with the way they declaimed their poems. Once again, knowing how to talk was very important for politicians and traders. But even commoners could sometimes attend these gatherings and get noticed by a master poet or even just a noble patron of arts.


    "Dear friends, I am sure that these words moved you deeply. Enjoy the wine and meditate on them. Our esteemed guests will be delighted to hear your opinions. Do not restrain yourselves. We are all equal today, as we pursue the same goal of art and beauty."


    After this grand invitation, several people started to whisper, among themselves at first. But very soon, there were a few conversations going on around several tables. Some people talked about the poems they had heard, others judged the wine or even the scenery. Here and there, the talks concerned recent events or even general politics. Although the wine had very little effect on cultivators, it still had an impact on the general atmosphere, just like a great buffet.


    Many people got curious about Huang Cixi. Apart from her own family and very high-ranked individuals, no one knew about her. The only thing they could know was that she had come from Yinmen City after a tragedy had befallen her direct family. And of course, they knew she was the granddaughter of the current family head. Her mere presence here and her talk with Governor Leng showed that she was probably vying for the position of matriarch. And whether she would succeed or not, befriending the granddaughter of Family Head Huang Yi was a very good idea.


    Huang Cixi was perfectly in her place here. Just like her senior Huang L¨¹, she kept her distance. The people around the two women were moving around but the two women themselves never got close to each other. Everyone could feel the tension between them. However, neither of them said anything about the other. Spreading rumors about their own family in public would be terribly frown upon by everyone, especially the elders present.


    Talking about them, the elders from the Huang family were mostly staying with the older generation. In fact, the older generation left the young ones alone for the most part.


    Someone else was also alone. After more than an hour, Gui Bei was still alone at his table. Considering the conversation between Governor Leng and Huang Cixi, no one wanted to try and approach him, lest they would invite Governor Leng''s anger. If Gui Bei did something inappropriate and they had been seen discussing with him, they were afraid to be implicated in some way. Moreover, the rumors about him hadn''t been good to begin with. But right now, even more insane rumors went on.


    With his senses, Gui Bei was able to hear almost everything. He even heard that he had tried to assault Huang Cixi in front of the main door but was beaten by the guards. The more he listened, the more enraged he became. And his pride wouldn''t allow him to try and go converse with anyone. Slowly but surely he was focusing his hatred on Huang Cixi herself.


    "Without this woman..." Of course, Gui Bei''s thoughts were biased and he was a little off. Even without the incident with Huang Cixi, few people would want to be associated with him considering what he had done in the recent past. The story of him killing a man in a duel before trying to take his fianc¨¦e by force was known to all.


    In fact, many people were wondering why he had been punished so little. Before the duel, both parties had agreed that they could die but this kind of thing was still very unusual and frown upon. However, trying to force yourself on a young woman was a terrible crime. Thankfully, the guards had stopped him, but everyone knew what would have happened if they hadn''t.


    The truth of why he had not been punished too harshly was known by only a handful of people. It was clear that this wasn''t due to the frail ties between his father and the criminal underground. No, it was due to the interest many had in his sudden cultivation speed. And his invitation today was probably also regarding his secrets.


    Even more than that, what really stopped people from interacting with Gui Bei was not the rumor around Huang Cixi, but the very words of Governor Leng.


    -


    More than two hours had passed. Huang Cixi had conversed with almost everyone. She had impressed quite a few people both with her insights into the poems they had heard and her own poetry. In fact, she had recognized a lot of the inspirations the master poets had used themselves. As such, she had a deep literary analysis of their works. Moreover, she had read almost all they had written. With her mind cultivation, it was very easy to remember everything. And she had used the cover of her weak state to read as much as she could when she had come back to her family. She knew it would come in handy, and once again, she had been right.


    Some of her own poems were patchwork from different sources. But she impressed the young ones. A few elders who heard her through their sharp senses had even some difficulties replacing every inspiration she was using. Among them, she attracted the interest of Master Poet Li. Although he didn''t try to go to her, this became visible to the important elders there, including Governor Leng, Hall Master Fang and Elder Huang Jian. As Master Poet Li was passionate about history, maybe more than he was about poetry, hearing a young girl who could so easily combine poetry from thousands of sources of all times was intriguing. In her inspirations, he even recognized some of the works he had helped uncover from the ruins of ancient eras.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Two other people were very clear about Huang Cixi''s success in this gathering, Huang L¨¹ and Gui Bei. While the young woman from the Huang family was able to keep her composure, it was obvious to all that Gui Bei was boiling inside.


    "They all think they''re better than me! This woman! Who does she think she is?! Just because she''s from a noble family, she thinks she can humiliate me?! If I were born in her family, I''d already have achieved way more than she could ever hope for! Trying to use her status to suppress me..." The only thing Gui Bei could think about was how all the other people around him thought they were better than him, but how much superior he was to them all instead.


    As Huang Cixi was laughing with some juniors, she subtly asked questions about the city. It wasn''t strange at all as she was very new to Baziyun City. But her questions were all directed at extremely precise points. In fact, she sounded like she knew the city as if she had lived in it for hundreds of years. Apparently, she had been well informed. Such an indication was important for merchants, traders and politicians. They all realized how prepared she was to become the next matriarch. In a way, she almost acted as if it would be her natural role in a few years. And she just needed to know these things for her future responsibility.


    Finally, Huang L¨¹ could not take it anymore. She was now more immersed in Huang Cixi''s conversations than her own. Just as she approached her rival, a sudden noise attracted everyone''s attention.


    Gui Bei''s chair had just been ripped apart. In a split second, Huang Cixi sent a gaze to Governor Leng. If she had been an instant too late, he would have thrown the boy out in a heartbeat. However, he understood her intentions. Having someone else handle her problems for her wouldn''t be good for her ambitions. Probably, she wanted to use this opportunity to show her qualities to everyone.


    "Huang Cixi! Do you dare compete with me?"


    For a moment, no one knew if Gui Bei was talking about poetry or a fight. His voice was full of poorly contained rage.


    "Compete with you?! What do you know about beauty? I know your kind very well. Even though my senior sister showed you kindness, you can only repay it by making a ruckus here." Hearing this, Huang L¨¹ wanted to hide herself. Of course, everyone understood that she had sided with him against Huang Cixi. This was a given considering the rivalry they had in their ambition.


    "Gui Bei, I know your kind all too well. My first brother was sadly like you. You think that everyone is out to get you and ridicule you. But in truth, you''re the one who''s weak and pathetic. And you hope that through fear and power you''ll be able to achieve something... Gui Bei, no matter how much power you obtain, you''ll only ever be a sad little man."


    These words were the worst kind for Gui Bei, as they hit exactly where it hurt. If he hadn''t been surrounded by the audience, he would have challenged her into a death battle right away. Hell, he could have attacked her...


    "Your first brother?! Oh...! I heard about him, right... All of a sudden, you''re back under the wing of Family Head Huang Yi after all your direct family died in the middle of nowhere. Tell me, Miss, did you kill them yourselves or did you hire someone to do it?"


    As soon as Gui Bei uttered this insane accusation, the air around Huang Cixi got hotter and hotter. Just like City Lord Fu Jiao who had been very close to break through into the Mortal Warrior realm, strange phenomena appeared around her. With the acupoints she had already opened, her Wei Qi was now denser. And even though she could not control her Qi outside of her body, she could expel it to strengthen her own Wei Qi. Mixed with her rage, it took on the attribute of her blood.


    All the juniors got surprised. As they had no spiritual senses, they couldn''t guess Huang Cixi''s cultivation. But now they knew. She was extremely close to becoming a Mortal Warrior, and her cultivation was incredibly firm and stable at that. The elders weren''t surprised because they had been able to see her cultivation right away. However, Elder Huang Jian and those from the Huang family were still shocked. Even with their spiritual senses, they were unable to completely see through her bloodline. But inside her Wei Qi, they felt the attribute of the True Fiery Fenghuang. This meant that Huang Cixi''s blood was even purer than before. Most likely, she had condensed at least another True Fiery Drop.


    "Oh? You want to intimidate me to silence the truth?"


    "Gui Bei, you are a vulgar and insignificant little man. I have no desire to dirty myself with your filth. However, you dared implicate my late brothers and father in your stupidity. I know you are famous for your duel. What do you say about dueling me?"


    Her words surprised everyone, including Gui Bei. But before he could answer, she added.


    "But of course, I''m way stronger than you are, right now. If you''re too afraid to accept, I''ll give you one month! In one month, come to my Huang family. Everyone in Baziyun City is free to come. Unlike you, I am not a blood thirsty beast. When you lose, you will have to apologize to the spirits of my family. Then, you will be forbidden to get near my Huang family residence ever again! Do you dare?"


    "Do I dare?! This will be fantastic! I will crush you and cover your name in shame in your own residence. All will see that the Huang family is nothing much. Talent will prevail over lineage! You think you''re legendary phoenixes, but you''ll see that your entire family is just a bunch of chickens. I only have one question. What happens when I win? Will you admit that your family is inferior?"


    All the members of the Huang family got enraged when Gui Bei answered in such a way.


    "Gui Bei, the honor of my Huang family is not a worthless trinket I can bet with. I know you lack the understanding of what honor is, of course... But since you want a bet..."


    Before she could finish her sentence, Elder Huang Jian spoke.


    "Boy, my Huang family will give you acceptable terms. If you lose, you''ll ask forgiveness to our ancestors and you''ll be banished from our residence henceforth. But if by chance you win, you will receive any pill you wish for, even a 5-star Heaven one."


    The moment he spoke, Huang Cixi saw something in the eyes of Huang L¨¹. The woman couldn''t believe that Huang Jian would side with her rival. Of course, he hadn''t really. It was just that he couldn''t sit by when the name of the Huang family was used with such frivolity. Elder Huang Jian was a reasonable man and he wouldn''t have announced such terms if he hadn''t checked with both Governor Leng and Family Head Huang Yi. Even though Family Head Huang Yi was too far to talk with, even by telepathy, Elder Huang Jian had sent him the news through his bodyguard. In less than a minute, he had sent the message and had come back with the answer.


    Finally, Governor Leng ended this hostile conversation.


    "Gui Bei, you are not welcome here anymore. Leave."


    Accompanying his voice, his spiritual pressure fell upon Gui Bei. Contrary to the governor''s expectations, it had almost no effect on the boy. However, he left the courtyard without any further incident.

 Chapter 174: Fiery Fenghuang and cherry blossoms

    After this outburst, the atmosphere that had been cheerful and serene suddenly turned sour. No one really knew how to get back to the festivities. Even the elders of the Huang family were a bit embarrassed. After all, their name had just been slandered in front of everyone. Even Elder Huang Jian had gotten worked up and intervened. Until now, he had never interfered when it came to the younger generation. But he just couldn''t take an insult against the Huang name in public. However, he felt bad now because he had given the impression to support Huang Cixi while Huang L¨¹ was also there. In fact, he even knew that Huang L¨¹ could be hurt by this as she had tried to mend things between Gui Bei and her rival.


    Governor Leng was about to say something to clear the air but Huang Cixi spoke first. She bowed before him and Hall Master Fang.


    "This impudent one is sorry about this lack of composure on my part. I hope you can forgive me, but hearing my own family being degraded in such a way. Accusing me of... I''m sorry, Sirs."


    She then turned toward the three master poets.


    "This humble one also asks for your forgiveness, Masters. I have still much to learn about the Five Imperial Arts, and poetry in particular. If I were more advanced, I would have been able to better control my anger."


    Hearing her sincere apology, the three master poets didn''t blame her. Having an open conflict in their presence was indeed rude. But, they would never have accepted such slander against them if they had been her. How could they expect someone else to accept it without retorting? It was said that poetry could allow someone to better understand, express but also control their emotions. However, this wouldn''t make them saints overnight. Even they would have gotten angry if someone accused them of killing their own relatives.


    Only two people in the audience realized that Huang Cixi was not being entirely sincere, Hall Master Fang and Governor Leng. Both of them were hardened politicians. As such, even Fang Shaolong that was only a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior, had been able to see through her. They had to commend her because her mind cultivation was so advanced that they almost got duped by her performance. But she had clearly not been really angry. Gui Bei was just a clown performing in front of her. Both men were sure that she had played him all along. The reasons why she would do so were numerous and they couldn''t be sure of them all. The most obvious one was to lower her rival''s reputation by showing that she was a poor judge of character and had sided with an enemy of their own family.


    Moreover, she had also forced the elders to side with her in public. Also, banning Gui Bei from the Huang family residence was not necessary right now, but she had maybe decided to do so to avoid future problems. Given the speed of his cultivation, if he were to ally himself with Huang L¨¹, it could be a problem. Although that bridge had now been burned, maybe Huang Cixi wanted to make sure of it.


    The only thing that wasn''t too clear for them was why she had given him one month to train himself. Surely, she knew how fast his cultivation had been recently. But then, they also remembered that she had a Pure Golden Dantian. Unlike most people around them, both men knew this information. None of them knew the effects of such a legendary Dantian though. Perhaps, this had made her confident in her cultivation. And both men also thought there was something more to this one month period.


    As they were both trying to figure out all the subtleties of her actions, they were brought back to reality when she addressed them again.


    "Governor Leng, I am deeply sorry. But I will be impolite and leave early. Sadly, I am not in the mood for poetry anymore..."


    "Of course, Junior. No one here will find your departure disrespectful, I assure you. This is I who failed in my task as a host. None of my guest should have to tolerate any insult in my own courtyard." He turned tower Elder Huang Jian. "The Huang family is a great benefactor of mankind and your virtue has always been tested and proven throughout all the hardships our kingdom faced. With a single word from Matriarch Huang Yufeng, I am ready to punish this Gui Bei if that is what you wish for."


    "Thank you, Governor Leng. But this matter will be settled by our younger generation. Let''s just take those words for what they were, heated comments from a young boy. I am sure that our younger generation will prove to him and to all that our name is not just inherited, it''s been earned."


    After this exchange between Elder Huang Jian and Governor Leng, everyone noted that he was careful not to mention Huang Cixi by name. He only referred to the younger generation of which Huang L¨¹ was also a part of. For an instant, Huang Cixi who was actively looking for it, saw some clues in both Elder Huang Jian and Huang L¨¹''s eyes. However, no trace of her thoughts could be seen on her face and she turned toward Hall Master Fang.


    "To try and restore the poetic spirit of the day, I wanted to address my last poem to you, Hall Master. I feel ashamed to show my meager talent in front of everybody, especially the three august master poets."


    All the audience was indeed silent and ready to hear her. In a way, this was also a great moment to show her competence.


    "In the deep plains of a dark tomb,


    A majestic bird soars with gold,


    Her blue light brings calm and peace,


    And her colors fly to the peak.


    "When she stops, on a gigantic tree,


    Her feathers blend with the radiant pink,


    Living together, none outshines the other,


    But their colors bring life to the tomb.


    "Carefully chosen, branches make a nest,


    Featherless chicks screech with silver fur,


    Watching their mother soar higher and higher,


    And the tree grow taller and taller.


    "Golden light unearths gems and riches,


    Roots dig and nourish the ground,


    A perfect symbiosis, a universal rainbow,


    Inside a dark world, life is restored.


    "Courageous chick screeches to no avail,


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Hurt, she falls and in the dirt finds truth,


    This land so beautiful, is still so fragile,


    Buried secrets can darken all the colors."


    The master poets were very interested in her composition. Each one of her stanzas seemed to follow both the precepts of Four-Four Aphorisms in their construction but also the rhythm variation of Songs of Zhang Te. This was rather difficult to do as both styles had different length in their verses. But she had been able to combine them together. Moreover, her imagery was also leaning toward the style of Four-Four Aphorisms. Master Poet Li Muyang who had been interested in her analysis earlier was now intrigued by her poetry as well. It was possible for someone to be great at analyzing without being able to produce anything original. But, even though it wasn''t at a Heaven rank yet, her poetry had a lot of potential.


    In addition, her declamation had had a terrific impact on everyone. It had probably been helped by her imagery of the fenghuang in her poem and the blood of this legendary beast flowing in her veins, but it had marked everyone nonetheless. Some people had even been able to mistake the shape of the cranes flying in the courtyard for a fenghuang. In the mind of some, the trees themselves had turned into beautiful cherry trees fully bloomed. These images stayed with them for a while as Huang Cixi slowly left the courtyard after showing her deference to her hosts.


    Among the audience, only two people were truly shocked by her poem. The first one was her rival, Huang L¨¹. She now fully realized that Huang Cixi was a tough opponent. At first, she was convinced that this would be just a simple girl from the countryside. Her first days in the Huang residence had indeed been spent cloistered in her chambers. Although she had never bought her act, she now realized how much she had underestimated this girl. Very easily, she had stolen the show and had even forced the elders to take her side. However, this was also dangerous for her. If she were to lose against Gui Bei, she would be done for as she would have humiliated the Huang name.


    Moreover, Huang L¨¹ was confident in her achievement in the Five Imperial Arts. But after hearing Huang Cixi''s declamation, she had to admit that this little girl was more advanced than her. Right now, no matter what she said, only her rival''s words would remain in everyone''s memory. And it wasn''t just because of its intrinsic qualities, that were undeniable. It was also because of all her theatrics. She had chosen the perfect moment to declaim this poem and illustrate the Huang family''s prestige as well as the relationship between her family and the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.


    Precisely, the other person who was shocked by the poem was the hall master of the local branch of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Hall Master Fang didn''t let it show but this poem had made him very uneasy. Thankfully, he was almost as good as Huang Cixi to hide his thoughts and emotions. And unlike her, he wasn''t acting in front of everyone''s focused gaze. Not even Governor Leng saw it, but Huang Cixi did. If she hadn''t been specifically looking for it, she wouldn''t have, but she knew exactly what she was doing. The poem seemed innocent until the last stanza. The audience thought of it as some cryptic way to say that they had to keep their alliance strong to thrive. But Hall Master Fang didn''t understand that at all.


    Instead, he began to fear that what he actually thought of was known. Then he remembered the words of Huang Cixi. She had doubts about the Xiliang Mines after reading some reports.


    No. It couldn''t be... No one should have been able to see through it...


    -


    Leaving many minds confused in her wake, Huang Cixi was now back into her dull cart. Bao Zhong and Zhao Guodong were still waiting for her outside of the governor''s residence. And even though she couldn''t find any trace of her, Huang Cixi knew that Huang Liyue was looking out for her from afar.


    As soon as the cart began to move, she heard her voice in her head.


    "Young Mistress, I do not understand. Why did you give one month to Gui Bei? I can guess what you tried to do today, but... If he really found something that can speed up his cultivation, giving him this time could be a problem."


    "First of all, I am rather confident in my own ability. But that would indeed be a mistake to give him a month. I don''t know how far he could go, but with all the incentive I gave him, he will want to crush me completely. And considering the cultivation level I showed to him, he should try to reach at least 9th-grade Mortal if not more."


    "What?! It''s impossible! He can''t reach the Mortal Warrior realm in a month!"


    Even Huang Liyue was doubtful of such a possibility. Usually, it would take at least two to three years to cross over the last two grades of the Mortal realm. Some geniuses could do so in maybe fourteen to sixteen months, but they were the exceptions. Trying to become a Mortal Warrior in a month was absurd.


    "That, I don''t know. But what''s important is that he''ll try everything to become insanely strong just so that he can humiliate me and regain his pitiful self-esteem. And by doing so, he will be way more likely to reveal his secrets. I suspect that Governor Leng already gave orders to increase his surveillance of the boy."


    Suddenly, it hit Huang Liyue. Her young mistress wanted to discover Gui Bei''s secrets.


    "By the way, with all his anger, did you detect an ounce of demonic cultivation? I''m pretty sure he was unhinged when he left the gathering."


    During this gathering, Huang Liyue had listened to everything that had happened. She couldn''t extend her spiritual senses over the Divine Feather pavilion with Governor Leng present. But her natural senses were sharp enough to overhear every conversation. Moreover, Gui Bei''s outburst wasn''t discreet at all. Apparently, in a single gathering, her young mistress had achieved many objectives related to many people. And Huang Liyue was sure that a lot of things had escaped her vigilance.


    Instead of thinking about all of this, she recalled what had happened with Gui Bei''s departure.


    "I tried to be more discreet than before. I have detected no trace of any demonic cultivation in him. Given his anger and rage, I am rather certain that he couldn''t have hidden it from me at that moment. But... I did feel as though he guessed my presence. Earlier, I thought that he had clearly seen through my spiritual senses. So this time I tried to be even more cautious and he was not able to find me. However, given his cultivation, he should never have been able to sense anything at all. There''s definitely something peculiar going on with him.


    "But, Young Mistress, if you want me to follow him, I have to remind you that I am only your bodyguard. I cannot leave your side for too long and I am not a spy. My spiritual senses are good but I never used them for such a task."


    Hearing the complaint, Huang Cixi simply smiled and answered by whispering so that only Huang Liyue could hear her.


    "I know, do not worry. Someone should come and visit me shortly. He''ll provide a team of experts to follow this Gui Bei. Even if he isn''t a demonic cultivator, I fear that his secret is related to them. And with his attitude, it won''t be long for him to fall down this path." She paused for a while. "In a way, he''s just like my first brother."


    Indeed, Gui Bei''s attitude reminded Huang Cixi of her first brother whom she had failed to stop. If she had been more decisive back then, both her brothers and father would be alive today. She wasn''t going to let someone''s low self-esteem destroy her again. Now that she had planted the seeds she wanted, Huang Cixi had nothing more to do but to wait.


    She was confident that in a few days at most, someone would come knocking. After that, it would be time for her to visit a couple of people.

 Chapter 175: Xiliang Mines finances

    After the poetry gathering in Governor Leng''s residence, Huang Cixi once again stayed cooped up in her room. Hearing the master poets had had a great impact on her psyche. And she felt like she was ready to finally attempt the first step of the second layer from ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Just like Cao Yun had done himself, she had spent several weeks focusing on her Five Agents to form her first Five Echoes Pearl. Finally, after almost twenty hours of work in a row, she had formed a perfect pearl in the center of the rotating characters.


    It should have been way harder for her because she couldn''t enter her own sea of consciousness, but she had studied many manuals about mind cultivation as well as the indications Cao Yun had given her on the first layer. This did not mean that it was easy in any way though. Moreover, her own blood cultivation was very similar to this second layer in a sense. Indeed, ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' consisted in extracting the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang blood running through her own veins. As such, it was rather close to this second layer. Instead of extracting essence from her blood, she had to extract energy from the Five Agents which were a representation of her own mind.


    By the end of the day, she had finally energized her Chamber of Ultimate Truth. Thanks to this, her memory expanded and all of a sudden, all she had read in the recent weeks came crashing down on her. Even though she had understood most of it, she suddenly realized that her understanding had been shallow. And right now, she saw everything with a new look. And she realized how mistaken she had been about her own ignorance. Indeed, a little bit of knowledge could be dangerous. An entire new world of knowledge and possibility opened up right before her eyes. However, it would take her a lot of time to browse through this insight and put her mind in order.


    During this time, she decided to let her mind cultivation alone. Right now, she needed to enhance her blood and her Qi cultivation. Blood was essential in the Huang family as it was a great sign of power. In fact, some members of the Huang family even considered that, to a degree, it was more important than Qi cultivation. But she couldn''t disregard it either. After all, even though she had done so knowingly, she had to admit that provoking Gui Bei and giving him one month to prepare himself was dangerous.


    It was necessary because she suspected him of at least having knowledge from demonic cultivators, if not being directly connected to them. And she knew the pressure she had put on him would push him to make a mistake. Thanks to that, she hoped to uncover more of the truth. The massacre of the Cao family was important to her because of Cao Yun but also for her own family. The fact that the demonic cultivators were active and so brazen in their attack was dangerous for all her family. And she would not sit by while doing nothing. She had decided to be way more decisive from now on.


    Strangely, she felt conflicted about this Gui Bei. He was detestable, but she realized that she was a bit biased because he reminded her of her first brother Huang Longwei. Her sentimentality had thankfully prevented her from killing Cao Yun, but she couldn''t show mercy to such a heinous boy. Yes, the fact that he had killed during a duel was not illegal as both of the fighters had agreed beforehand. But from the testimonies of the witnesses, he had been especially vicious. Moreover, he had tried to assault his fianc¨¦e. And the only thing that had prevented him from committing this crime were the guards.


    Deep within herself, Huang Cixi was debating whether she should injure him to stop him from doing it ever again, or even kill him. It wouldn''t be good for her family to inflict too much harm to an outsider who would come in their own residence for a duel that she had initiated. However, keeping him alive would also be very dangerous. If his cultivation could stay as fast as it was right now, he would become a huge threat in the future. Well, they could still send someone after him later. Huang Cixi was unsure of what she should do. But one way or another, this boy had to be taken care of and despite her feelings, she knew that he was not deserving of mercy. If he had the opportunity, Gui Bei would surely kill her without any problem. Maybe, she could just wait for that and act in self-defense...


    -


    Just as she had predicted, only a couple of days after the tea gathering, someone came into the Huang residence. Walking alongside Ye Zhiyun, this man was wearing plain clothes which could hid his face. There was a great elegance in his posture and his way of walking though. The path he walked through was devoid of guards. In fact, both men encountered no one in the corridors. And soon, they arrived in front of Huang Cixi''s private chambers.


    Of course, this man was Fang Shaolong. As soon as he had entered the residence, Huang Liyue had warned her young mistress. And just as her bodyguard suspected, she was not surprised at all. Most likely, Fang Shaolong had asked Family Head Huang Yi to help him enter the residence without being noticed. With Ye Zhiyun, they had been extremely careful so that no one in Baziyun City could know about this visit, just in case Fang Shaolong''s intuition was right.


    Despite knowing his young mistress very well, Ye Zhiyun still got surprised when Fang Shaolong asked him to accompany him. The man was usually very calm and took all his time before doing any business. But now, he was rushing to meet with a young girl.


    After knocking on the door, Ye Zhiyun had to wait for at least the time to drink a cup of tea before a servant deigned to open the door.


    "Excuse me, Hall Master. My young mistress is very tired right now, but she can still receive you. Follow me."


    Bao Zhong''s words strengthened Fang Shaolong''s worries. The fact that he knew who he was meant that Huang Cixi had told him of his visit. This meant that she knew he would come as soon as possible. Unlike his usual self, he wasn''t annoyed by the wait and didn''t even make any remark. Ye Zhiyun felt as though he was completely absorbed in his thoughts. And indeed, many things were going on in Hall Master Fang''s head.


    Huang Cixi had stopped acting as the frail little girl, but she still received Fang Shaolong with a weary face. She was sitting at her desk with many documents all other the place. It looked like she had been frantically searching for something and the place was a mess.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "Hall Master Fang, I''m sorry to receive you in such a way."


    "No need to apologize, Miss Huang. I''m the one who came unannounced. Excuse my haste." Fang Shaolong had very good manners. Led by Bao Zhong, he took a seat close to Huang Cixi. On the other hand, Ye Zhiyun stayed standing behind him.


    "You said that you wanted to talk about the Xiliang Mines?"


    "Indeed. Even though the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall has the rights to exploit them, these mines belong to my family in the first place. And you know that..." She paused a bit before continuing. "Well, it''s no secret that I am interested in becoming the next matriarch. As such, I tried to get a better understanding of our family''s properties and investments."


    "Very commendable. And do not worry, Miss Huang. I don''t intend to intervene in your internal affairs. Whatever you say will stay confidential, I won''t interfere with the choice of the next matriarch at all."


    "I''ll trust you, Hall Master.... The truth is that my position is very uncertain. I am sure that you know about my Pure Golden Dantian, but this won''t be enough to secure the position of matriarch. Senior Huang Si is a very talented woman with many investments all other the Wu Province. So I tried to find flaws in her business to use it against her. That''s when I found strange things in the records. Although I have some achievement in finances, I am still a bit perplexed. I wouldn''t want to embarrass you but..."


    After hearing Huang Cixi, Fang Shaolong relaxed quite a bit. This wasn''t apparent at all but Huang Cixi was able to see it as she was watching him very attentively.


    "I understand. I''m not sure that I should know about the internal business of your family, Miss Huang. But I''m ready to hear you out, maybe I can dispel your confusion."


    "Thank you, Hall Master." Huang Cixi parsed through several papers and showed them to Fang Shaolong. "I asked my grandfather to give me documents on the current situation of the Xiliang Mines. There is something I do not quite understand..." As Hall Master Fang was examining the documents, she kept on talking. "There seems to be a disparity between the amount of ores extracted from the mines, the amount declared to the Imperial City, to the Myriad Hall and even to my own family. Each time, it isn''t much, and I must say that finding all these small variations is extremely difficult."


    Hall Master Fang smiled a little and his voice was slightly calmer. "Miss Huang, you are indeed correct. But there are always small errors while measuring the ores after extraction. Moreover, we have to clean every extracted ore and it can change the weight by a few fen each time, nothing much."


    "Well, I thought of that at first. But after looking through the records over several decades I realized that these small errors were random at first, but then, they increased a bit and got way more stable over time. Thankfully my family kept all the records of the mines, otherwise I would never have noticed it at all. Don''t you find it peculiar, Hall Master?"


    Hall Master Fang let go of his smile and stopped talking for a while. Then, he completely let go of all pretense.


    "I will not humor you any longer. What are you trying to say?"


    "Oh, nothing much... Just that you''ve been stealing a very small part of all extracted ores from the Xiliang Mines."


    Suddenly, Hall Master Fang stood up in rage. "Miss Huang, how dare you insult me in such a way?! How would I even sell this ore that I supposedly stole?! I came here because I sincerely wanted to help you! It seems that I was mistaken about your character."


    Just as he was walking toward the door to leave in anger, Huang Cixi''s voice stopped him.


    "I also discovered how you sold this ore." Fang Shaolong''s arm stopped in midair just before opening the door and he stayed frozen in place.


    Huang Cixi stood up from her chair and very slowly walked toward him. "Maybe, you would rather discuss it into my private study where no one can hear us? Or do you still insist on your absolute innocence?"


    Very slowly, Fang Shaolong turned his head around. What he saw sealed his fate. Not only was Huang Cixi holding a document he perfectly recognized, Ye Zhiyun had stayed by her side. For a split second, Fang Shaolong entertained the possibility of murdering the three people in this room. A year ago he would have done anything to hide this, but now he wasn''t as determined. Moreover, as soon as a killing intent emanated from him, he felt a powerful spiritual pressure all around him. He knew that if he moved while harboring ill intent, he would die instantly.


    Dropping his head down, he mechanically walked into Huang Cixi''s study with the girl and Ye Zhiyun. Huang Cixi sat at her desk with Ye Zhiyun standing behind her and Fang Shaolong slumped in a chair in front of the desk.


    "Hall Master, you''ve created a fantastic financial construct to hide your theft. Even Ye Zhiyun with his expertise of imperial taxes wasn''t able to see through it at first. Thankfully, I also had all the documents of my family. You''ve not only stolen from the Xiliang Mines, but also directly from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and the Imperial City while manipulating the various taxes. The mere fact that you were able to hide it from Governor Leng is impressive. But duping Ye Zhiyun, that''s really amazing. I did not even think that possible...


    "The doubt I had in mind was on the use of this money though. Your lifestyle is rather plain. From what I know, you have no hidden mistress or favorite courtesan. Neither you nor your wife have an extravagant lifestyle and you don''t have children who would be in need of this money. So, Hall Master, can you humor me once more and satisfy my curiosity?"


    During long minutes, a deep silence tortured Fang Shaolong. He was alone with his thoughts. But in the end, he did not try to deny anything. He raised his head with a firm determination in his eyes and looked Huang Cixi straight in hers.


    "I won''t ever tell you that! You can denounce me to Family Head Huang Yi right away. I won''t humor you!"


    "It''s good that you know how to keep a secret. I have no intention of denouncing you to anyone. In fact, I even went to the trouble of hiding your tracks in my family''s records. Moreover, I saw that you stopped your little embezzling operation. As the next matriarch, I am ready to pardon you completely. However, I have things that I need from you. After all, you took so much from our family, you can give it back in service. If my count is accurate, you stole more than five thousand Yuanbao from my family. This is equivalent to a good year of production from our mines."


    The Hall Master had to admit that this was accurate. Huang Cixi stood up and walked behind Fang Shaolong who was still waiting for what she would ask next.


    "Don''t you think it is natural that you repay us for that?"


    "What do you want from me?" In his voice, Huang Cixi heard that he still wasn''t convinced.


    "Hall Master, do not worry. I do not wish for much. You will first cede all your shares in the Xiliang Mines to me, personally. Then, I will need your help to gather information and invest my newfound money in several projects. It isn''t that bad, right?"


    "What kind of information do you want?"


    "About the demonic cultivators, and the Cao family."


    Hearing this, Fang Shaolong abruptly turned his head to look at the young girl. And he saw that she was dead serious.

 Chapter 176: The second master of the Major Hall

    Quite shocked, Fang Shaolong had to think back about the entire conversation. What did this young girl know? And didn''t she know? She had completely controlled the discussion from the beginning. But how much of it was pure speculation and how much was substantiated by proof?


    Anyway, Fang Shaolong felt like he would never actually know what she was thinking. Thus, he chose to err on the side of caution. All his reactions, not matter how subtle they were, could be used by her to get more information. And as long as he wasn''t sure of her goal, he had to make sure she learned as little as possible from him.


    Ye Zhiyun was also rather surprised. His young mistress had indeed asked him about the Cao family but he had not found anything linking Fang Shaolong to either the family itself of its massacre. Clearly, he had been wrong considering the Hall Master''s current reaction. The question was rather how Huang Cixi could have figured it out. But Ye Zhiyun knew her well enough to understand that he wouldn''t get an answer unless she wanted him to know.


    Finally, Fang Shaolong relaxed completely in his small chair and just stared at the ground before answering. Now, he was too afraid to give himself out if he were to look her in the eyes.


    "Tell me what you want me to do exactly. Depending on your terms, I might wish to rather be sentenced to death by the Imperial City."


    Huang Cixi let out a very small laugh and walked back to her desk. She leaned against it while facing the slumped man. If someone were to walk in on this scene, they would never believe that the girl was just a young girl of the Huang family and the man before her the powerful Hall Master of the Major Hall.


    "Hall Master. I know for a fact that my conditions will be acceptable to you. You may not trust me, but I am always true to my word. And I only need your cooperation until I officially become matriarch." Once she became matriarch, Huang Cixi wouldn''t need the help of the Major Hall that much. And she was convinced that she would get it anyway. If all her guesses were right, Fang Shaolong would in fact end up trusting her completely.


    "Right now, I only have three main objectives. The first one is to reorganize the Xiliang Mines and some possessions of my family. Considering that you will give me all your shares, doing exactly what I want won''t be too difficult and Ye Zhiyun will be able to handle it alone." Glancing at Ye Zhiyun, she saw him nod and that was all she needed to be sure of him. In fact, she didn''t even intend to give him any specific instructions as she was fully confident in his ability. And she was right. In a matter of days, Ye Zhiyun would launch huge reforms in the management of the mines and of several other properties. After a few weeks, the profits would increase by a significant margin and the expenses would drop as well.


    "So I first need you to let him manage the assets of my Huang family that the Major Hall currently handles. Given that you''ve chosen him as your first adviser, I''m pretty sure that you would have no objection at all, right?"


    Indeed, Fang Shaolong had even intended to slowly give more authority to Ye Zhiyun. Before today, he had considered him as his successor. In fact, he was even convinced that he could become a major part of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Ye Zhiyun seemed to be more competent than some officials from the Imperial City, to the point that Fang Shaolong himself felt inferior to him in many matters. As such, he really had no problem with that, apart from the fact that he felt betrayed by this boy he had put his faith into. But Huang Cixi did not go overboard, demanding him to only handle assets of her own family. In the end, this was only a small part of what the Major Hall managed daily.


    "By your silence, I guess this is fine. Then my second point. With the resources and profits I''ll get from the Xiliang Mines, I will need to invest them in some specific venues. This time, I will really need your participation. No one must discover that I am the one investing and buying. Ye Zhiyun will give you lists of what I need to buy and how much I want to invest. Your goal will be to create fictive identities to allow me to do so discreetly. No one should even suspect that someone is buying large parts of anything.


    "Finally, my last goal is about information. Yes my family has some networks, but your Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall is an expert in the domain. I am sure you have many experts that could potentially even rival Spirit Master Xiao in terms of intelligence gathering. Here are the things I am interested in.


    "I want to know exactly what everyone owns in my own family and more generally in the Wu Province. Particularly, I''m interested to know that about Huang Si and Governor Leng. But that''s just a very small detail in the end. What I''m more interested in right now concerns the demonic cultivators. I''ve seen firsthand how dangerous they can be for our kingdom. And I have the detestable feeling that they have infiltrated our administration way deeper than we all would like to believe. Thus, I want to know more about the investigation that took place over the Cao family massacre. More specifically, I need you to find out why the Imperial City took over and how they came to accuse the Wolf Head Sect so fast. Right now, I cannot tell you everything you''ll need to investigate because it will depend on what you find. But this is the main idea.


    "Moreover, I have need of your investigative talents right away. You will send your best men to tail Gui Bei. This is a supposition, but I suspect that he is in some way connected to the demonic cultivators. Maybe he is not even conscious of that yet, but the secret he found to enhance his cultivation might very well be related to them. However, this boy has a terrifying instinct. He''s been able to feel the spiritual senses of a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior on him."


    After hearing all of this, Fang Shaolong was still silent. But he was actively thinking about all of this. The first two points were not really a problem for him. What was worrying him more was the part about gathering information. She could tell him that it served one purpose and use it for another. Could he really risk giving her everything she desired?


    "If you worry about me misusing your intel, you should not. I will let you in command of everything. Neither Ye Zhiyun nor me will have access to the direct reports from your men. But I expect to receive your own synthesis as soon as possible."Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    This new condition made Fang Shaolong raise his head. If she respected her word, he could literally hide any information from her. In fact, he could even investigate her as well without her knowing any of it. In some sense, this was a way to build trust between them. The more Fang Shaolong trusted her, the more he would give. And this showed that Huang Cixi also trusted him to give her useful and true informations. Anytime, he could feed her lies or half-truths. However, he still had to think about it for several more minutes. During this time, Huang Cixi did not reveal any sign of distress. She just patiently waited.


    "I agree."


    "I knew we would see eye to eye." With a bright smile, Huang Cixi took some documents and handed them over to Fang Shaolong.


    In them, he saw several of her plans. She had already written down everything she wanted him to do in very specific details. Clearly, she had been convinced from the beginning that he would accept her terms. And what he read was exactly what she had said with way more details. It pained him but he had to admit that some of her plans were better than his.


    "Hall Master, I won''t bother you any longer. You may go now. I still have things to discuss with Ye Zhiyun concerning the management of my properties. He will join you back in a few hours."


    Just like that, Huang Cixi had more or less taken charge of the Major Hall. Of course, Fang Shaolong kept managing it and she only controlled a small fraction of the operations. But as time would go by, Fang Shaolong would listen to her more and more. And as trust would build up, dependence would as well. If it went on long enough, all sectors of the Major Hall would have some of Huang Cixi''s plans implemented in them. Moreover, Ye Zhiyun would stay as the first adviser of Fang Shaolong of course. And she could somewhat influence the hiring of new employees to push more of her own men.


    After Fang Shaolong''s pitiful departure, Ye Zhiyun did not ask anything to his young mistress. If she didn''t tell him something, this meant that he didn''t need to know at all. Huang Cixi gave him general instructions on the way she wanted things to go. With Ye Zhiyun''s competence, she didn''t need to tell him every single detail. She trusted him enough to figure it out by himself, and even to develop better ideas than her. Among all her servants, Ye Zhiyun was the one she trusted the most, both at a personal level but also in terms of ability.


    -


    Three hours passed by and both of them discussed about all the sectors Huang Cixi wanted to invest in. After that, Ye Zhiyun went back to the Major Hall and met back with Fang Shaolong.


    The man was still a bit mulling over the situation in his head. When he saw Ye Zhiyun, it saddened the young man a bit. Indeed, Fang Shaolong had always watched him with an ounce of pride and admiration. However, there was now doubt and mistrust. Ye Zhiyun knew though that it would change. He was fully confident in his young mistress'' talent. If she had chosen to expose him to Hall Master Fang, it meant that she knew this would be beneficial in the long run. Over time, Fang Shaolong would come to recognize her competence and even trust her. By extension, this would revive his trust in Ye Zhiyun. Maybe, they would never be able to get over this betrayal. But at the end of the day, Ye Zhiyun was only fully loyal to Huang Cixi. Even so, this didn''t mean that he liked the situation.


    Ye Zhiyun had fled a city of lies and deceptions when even his close friends had turned on him and his kin. Soon after his escape, he had found Huang Cixi. To be more accurate, she had found him, a diamond in the dirt. Since then, he had vowed to dedicate his life to her, even if it meant lying and deceiving. Although he despised both, he had sadly gotten accustomed to both early in life.


    The two men shared an office and the atmosphere was terribly gloomy. Thankfully, both had a lot of work to do...


    Fang Shaolong created many documents to forge pure fictive identities. With them, he would accomplish Huang Cixi''s goal of buying off small parts of many businesses. Among the economy of the Wu Province, there were many small properties one could buy and many rights as well. Patrons were also numerous to both alchemists, blacksmiths, and many other occupations either productive or artistic. By buying lands, buildings, various rights, it was possible to obtain quite a rent. Although economic power was not considered very noble, this was undeniably a great tool of power and influence.


    In the School of Ren Dao, art and crafts were deemed noble pursuits in life for cultivators. For commoners, agriculture was also considered way more noble than commerce or trade. Indeed, people who allowed other humans to survive and even thrive, either by what they were producing, creating, crafting, inventing or by their fight against enemies of mankind, these were the people who were the most respected. The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had always understood that it was necessary to dabble in commerce and trade though. Their prestige was thanks to their patronage of many artists, philosophers and craftsmen. They also gave a lot of resources to various religious and secular sects and institutes to keep their hegemony. But on the other side, they received a fair part of their money from less noble activities such as commerce and trade.


    After that, Fang Shaolong would give very specific directions to the intelligence branch of his hall. According to what he had heard from Huang Cixi, he decided to send his best men after Gui Bei to observe him. Of course, he had deduced that most of what had happened during the poetry gathering was in fact a performance to make Gui Bei reveal his secrets.


    On the other hand, Ye Zhiyun stayed busy for several days while reorganizing the Xiliang Mines. With Fang Shaolong''s manipulation of the accounts, it was difficult to sort everything out. But now that he knew everything, he was able to do so in an inconspicuous way. According to his projections, the mines could increase their profit by 4 or 5%. In fact, he could have increased that by threefold but Huang Cixi wanted the mines to still be profitable in hundreds, if not thousands of years down the line. This was an advantage of cultivators over mortals, they could think and plan over very long spans of time.


    -


    In parallel, another discussion was going on in Huang Cixi''s private study. The girl was now alone with Huang Liyue. Clearly, the bodyguard was a little pissed off about Fang Shaolong.


    "Who could have thought that the Hall Master of the Major Hall was a vulgar thief?! Young Mistress, do you trust a man who''s been stealing from our family? Do you not want to punish him?"


    "Well, it depends on the reason why he''s been stealing... And he will repay us, way more than you can possibly imagine."


    The cryptic words of Huang Cixi would not have convinced Huang Liyue before. But after witnessing her these last few days, she was sure that this girl knew what she was doing. However, it didn''t mean that she was completely on board with her way of handling the situation.


    "Do you know his reasons? Does it have anything to do with the Cao family? He seemed to change when you talked about that..."


    After this question, Huang Cixi stayed silent for a while.

 Chapter 177: Some secrets in the family

    "Senior Huang Liyue. To be honest, I do not know for sure. I only made educated guesses. You see, he stopped his little operation right after the massacre of the Cao family. This is why I asked Ye Zhiyun to secretly find all he could on the Cao family, and on Hall Master Fang personally."


    Hearing her young mistress, Huang Liyue was not very convinced by the answer. Deep down, she felt like she knew more than she was letting on. This young girl was too good at lying and withholding information. Even a middle Spirit Warrior like her could not see through her facade. But as a bodyguard, she knew when to respect the privacy of the people she had to protect. And she also knew that it was useless to probe Huang Cixi for information if she was not willing to give it.


    "I am sorry, but I still have a problem with the situation..."


    With a smile Huang Cixi knew exactly what her bodyguard was going to say. After all, Huang Liyue was loyal to Matriarch Huang Yufeng foremost.


    "Hall Master Fang stole from our very family. We cannot trust him. Moreover, he has to pay for what he did."


    "Senior, you are too rigid. No matter how much he stole, he is going to repay us tenfold in the long run."


    Still unconvinced, Huang Liyue slightly changed the discussion.


    "Only the matriarch can make such a judgment. And... you''re not the matriarch... yet." After hesitating, Huang Liyue had added this ''yet''. In fact, compared with Huang Si, this young girl seemed to be as apt at ruling their family, if not more. In a matter of days, she had mostly convinced Huang Liyue of her competence. However, she still remained loyal to the current matriarch and could not take sides in the competition. Even though she had been the bodyguard of Huang Yi, she had always been the most trustworthy servant of Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Yes, Huang Cixi had intrigued her, but it didn''t mean that she was her favorite to replace the current matriarch.


    "I knew that you would want to report everything to Matriarch Huang Yufeng. In fact, I suspect that you already reported quite a lot about my grandfather, my senior sisters Huang L¨¹ and Huang Si, and even me. But I will ask something of you." The atmosphere changed as Huang Cixi became more serious and resolute than ever. "Do not say anything to Matriarch Huang Yufeng about this matter until my duel with Gui Bei. By then, I am sure that even you would agree that I am the best choice to replace Matriarch Huang Yufeng."


    "What?!"


    Huang Liyue could not even imagine lying to the matriarch. Merely suggesting that was akin to treason in her eyes. And yet, she was in doubt.


    "This is only one month. How much do you think it will hurt our family? Hall Master Fang has been stealing from us for two decades now. What is one more month? Then, if the matriarch wants to punish him further, or even punish me for that matter, I will have no problem completely submitting to her. I am not asking you to betray Matriarch Huang Yufeng, I just want you to give me enough time to prove myself over everyone else. In a sense, if you report everything right now, you will interfere with our competition. Besides, you would have to disturb the matriarch''s seclusion."


    The mere fact that Huang Liyue was hesitating gave enough proof to Huang Cixi that she was seriously considering her for the role of matriarch. Full of doubts, Huang Liyue softly caressed the scar on her right eye. Several memories crossed her mind and it took her a while to make a decision. But once she had, it was impossible to change her mind.


    "Fine... I will give you one month. Once you beat Gui Bei, either you tell the matriarch yourself or I will. Then we''ll abide by her judgment." Such a decision had a huge impact on Huang Liyue. For Huang Cixi, it was a clear sign that she trusted her. What Huang Liyue did not add was that she was also ready to accept any punishment for the delay in the report. But it was obvious from her gaze.


    "Thank you, Senior. However, there is more." A fierce glint lit up Huang Liyue''s eyes as she feared that her young mistress had more revelations. "I have to visit someone. And you will probably hear things that you don''t like. Can you promise me that you will also wait this one month before saying anything?"


    Now that Huang Liyue had agreed to compromise once, it would be easier to make her do so even more.


    "Young Mistress, I cannot make such a promise. Moreover, what would you think of me as a bodyguard if I was so quick in betraying my allegiance? But I can promise you that if I do not think that this is a direct threat to our family, I will consider withholding it from Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Only for one month, not a single day more. Do not ask me for anything else!"


    Clearly, Huang Liyue had reached her limit. Huang Cixi was well aware that she couldn''t push her too far too fast. In fact, Huang Cixi admired her loyalty to Matriarch Huang Yufeng. If she wasn''t that adamant about her loyalty, indeed, Huang Cixi would have no respect for her. As a bodyguard, Huang Liyue should keep her mistress'' secrets. But as a servant of the Huang family, she couldn''t hide anything from the matriarch. Such a situation was tough to manage.


    "Senior. I can assure you that everything I do, I do it for the sake of my family, and the overall kingdom. When you learn what I''m talking about, I am sure that you''ll agree with me about not revealing it immediately."


    Almost immediately, Huang Cixi prepared to leave her chambers. After tidying up her desk, leaving the rest of the room to the care of Bao Zhong, she went to show respect to the memorial tablets of her family.


    Then, she left the now clean room and went toward the chambers of Huang L¨¹. After Hall Master Fang''s visit, it was already late into the night and all the corridors were pitch black. The faint light from the moon was however enough for cultivators to see as well as in broad daylight. Moreover, most of them did not need to sleep. So, even though, the residence appeared quiet, most of the members of the Huang family were active in their chambers. Nighttime was a good moment to cultivate for many people who were busy during the day. Only the servants were truly resting at night.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    -


    Huang L¨¹ was alone in her room. This was almost the same exact room as the one Huang Cixi lived in. Right now, Huang L¨¹ had a lot of influence among the elders and although she came from a side branch just like Huang Cixi, and had no connection within the main branch, she was treated extremely well. The only candidate to become matriarch who was from the main branch was Huang Si. In fact, she directly was related to the matriarch through several generations of women. This explained why the True Fiery Fenghuang blood in her veins was very pure. Both Huang Cixi and Huang L¨¹ were born lucky with their own blood, considering they had women from outside of the family in their family tree.


    As she was worried because of Huang Cixi, Huang L¨¹ wanted to be alone to think properly. Sadly, she had to admit that she wasn''t very good at politics. It had been quite easy for Huang Cixi to bait her into siding with Gui Bei. Lucky for her, she had known when to stop and hadn''t endorsed him fully. If she had, even the elders who supported her would have been embarrassed.


    With many documents pertaining to the side branch of Huang Cixi on her desk, she was trying to find an edge she could use against her. While she was lost in her thoughts, a knocking on her door woke her up. After several knocks, no one went to open the door and Huang L¨¹ became annoyed.


    "Cai Ying!"


    As soon as she called for her servant, Huang L¨¹ remembered that she had sent everyone away for the time being. Hearing that the knocks didn''t stop, she cursed the persistence of her visitor and went to open the door herself.


    The moment she did, she saw the face that was annoying her the most, Huang Cixi''s.


    "Senior Sister, I hope that I am not disturbing you."


    The smile on Huang Cixi''s face was clearly fake without any attempt to conceal it. Before Huang L¨¹ could even stop her, she entered her room and closed the door behind her.


    "Junior Cixi, where the hell do you think you are?!"


    "Do not get angry, Senior Sister. When you hear what I am here to tell, you''ll want it to be as quiet as possible." Disregarding Huang L¨¹''s anger, Huang Cixi examined the room and saw the same kind of study she had in her own chambers. "I imagine that this study is protected from spiritual senses... Let''s talk there."


    "You...!" However, Huang L¨¹ did not try to stop her. There were indeed things best said in secret.


    Of course, even though the study was protected through the use of Void Nurtured Platinum, this couldn''t completely erased all sounds. With Huang Liyue just outside of the study, unseen by all, she would probably still hear most if not all the conversation.


    Huang cixi was perfectly calm and took a seat while her rival exhibited clear signs of anger and annoyance.


    "Are you comfortable?! Do you maybe want me to brew you some tea while we''re at it?!"


    "No, thank you, this is a bit too late for that..."


    Every tranquil answer from Huang Cixi could only enrage Huang L¨¹ more. She decided not to quarrel with this girl and to go straight to the point.


    "What is it you want to talk about in the middle of the night? What is it that couldn''t wait? I don''t know what kind of game you''re playing, but I am not amused at all."


    "I only wanted to talk about Elder Huang Jian. But if you are so opposed to the idea, I can do so later. I am sure that my grandfather would be delighted to have this conversation with us."


    After hearing this name, Huang L¨¹''s anger turned into fear. In fact, she even froze for an instant. Many thoughts assaulted her mind and her next words weren''t very assured.


    "I... I do not know what I would have to say about Elder Huang Jian. But I''ll humor you. What is it that you want to talk about?"


    "I''ll get to my point, do not worry. But, first, I''d like to tell you a little story. Twenty-eight years ago, Elder Huang Jian had just become an elder. To protect the stability of the family, he had vowed to stay celibate and to never have any child. And just after being promoted as the youngest elder at the time, he was sent to visit several side branches of the family. Do you happen to know which side branch family he visited first?"


    "How could I recall every detail of Elder Huang Jian''s life?" Huang L¨¹ was more and more worried as she knew where Huang Cixi was going with it.


    "That is strange... After all, it was your family he visited first. He only stayed a couple of months. And less than a year after he had first arrived in your family, you were born, right?"


    "What are you trying to insinuate?"


    "Sister L¨¹, do you really need me to say it out loud? Elder Huang Jian is your real father, isn''t he?"


    "Sister! I listened to your nonsense for far too long! You slander my mother and you insult an elder! Unless you have proof of your absurdity, leave my room immediately or I''ll condemn you in public."


    Under this outrage of Huang L¨¹, Huang Cixi stayed absolutely calm. In fact, she even got more comfortable into her seat.


    "Sister, you didn''t think that if you had found out about him, no one else could, right? As soon as I saw you two in Governor Leng''s residence, I knew right away. And once I knew, it wasn''t hard to find enough evidence. Despite his many visits to side branch families, yours was the only one he tried to actively avoid. In fact, the more he tried to distance himself, to more proofs he created."


    Huang Cixi let out a huge sigh while slowly shaking her head.


    "You misunderstand me, Sister L¨¹. I am not here as an enemy. I am here to help you out. If I discovered about it, do think Senior Sister Huang Si is oblivious about it? Why do you think she didn''t confront you directly yet? She took take of every other rival but you. Do you sincerely think you are a real threat to her?"


    Suddenly, Huang L¨¹ felt light-headed. In truth, she had asked herself those questions. Sadly she had to admit that she wasn''t very good at politics. The only reason she had the support of many elders was thanks to Elder Huang Jian''s influence behind the scene.


    Everything Huang Cixi had said was true. Elder Huang Jian knew about this daughter of his of course. But he didn''t know that she knew. After breaking his vow of celibate, he had decided to try and distance himself from the woman he had fallen for. And in doing so, he had also distanced himself from his only daughter. Along the years, he had tried to help her in secret though. Huang L¨¹''s mother was not feeling less guilty than he was. And one day, she had confessed everything to her daughter. That was the moment when Huang L¨¹ decided to become matriarch.


    At first, she wanted to get revenge on her biological father. But the more she learned about him, the more convinced she was that he wasn''t a bad man. However, she had a hard time channeling her past anger.


    "What do you want from me?"


    "That''s easy. Announce publicly that you will not pursue the role of matriarch anymore. If you don''t, Huang Si will use your father against you at some point. What do you think will happen to Elder Huang Jian when the truth gets out? And what do you think will happen to your mother? And to your... ''father''? Do you think that Huang Si wouldn''t use that against you?"


    "Huang Si? And not you?"


    Huang Cixi acted as though she had been accused of an heinous crime.


    "Sister, what do you say? I would never do such a thing! After all, I don''t need to... because we both know that you dropping out of the competition is for the best. Let''s be honest here, Sister." Finally, Huang Cixi stood up and looked her rival right in the eyes. Two sparks shined in her pupils, showing her two True Fiery Drops. "Do you sincerely believe that you have what it takes to become the next matriarch?"

 Chapter 178: End of a rival

    "I''ll be painfully honest with you. Sister. You only know how to use force. You have no talent for politics at all. And I suspect that you know nothing of economics either. Do you even have any idea of what you would do if you were named the new matriarch? In fact, you would probably only obey the elders. And consequently, the balance of power within our family would be broken. Knowing Elder Huang Jian, he would never dare giving you commands but he would probably ultimately have to. Well, in one word, this would be a disaster. Don''t you think so?"


    Huang L¨¹ was silent but her fists were clenched and her eyes cast downward.


    "I have to admit that you worked even harder than I did. Clearly you''re a great fighter." As soon as she added those words, Huang L¨¹ raised her head and relaxed completely. This had taken her by surprise. She wasn''t expecting any praise at all. Moreover, she had never shown her martial arts in public and her cultivation was average. Thus, it was terrible compared to the geniuses of the Huang family.


    "You have no natural aptitude towards the Five Imperial Arts. However, you reached very high attainments in each one of them. How is that? Because you only worked on those with the sole and explicit purpose of becoming a great noble in order to take on the role of matriarch. This is why your cultivation is so low despite your talent. I suspect that you could have broken through to the Mortal Warrior realm four or five years ago if you had focused on it."


    Everything Huang Cixi said was true. It was very subtle but after hearing her poems, Huang Cixi had understood all the work that she had done to make up for her lack of talent and passion into those arts. With her attitude and even the way her body moved, Huang Cixi had seen that she was more of a fighter than anything else. Not because it was apparent, but because she did everything to hide it.


    "At first, you decided to pursue this goal in order to get revenge on this father who never took care of you and left you and your mother."


    Once again, Huang Cixi was right.


    "But when you came to Baziyun City, you finally met him. And slowly, you changed your goal. From revenge, you shifted toward protection. By becoming the matriarch, you could make sure that his reputation would stay intact even if his affair with your mother was discovered. And you could remain by his side as much as you wanted. That was your only goal, right?"


    "Right..." Huang L¨¹''s voice had become incredibly faint, and she answered without thinking.


    "Huang Si probably knows about this already. That''s why she didn''t get rid of you yet. But it''s not as simple as you think. Considering Elder Huang Jian''s reputation, even if his indiscretion were to be known, it wouldn''t change much. In fact, all the elders would try to keep it quiet and secret. And if Huang Si tried to make it known to the public, she would literally become somewhat of a traitor in their eyes. Spreading this kind of rumor could only weaken us after all. However, there''s another problem.


    "Let''s forget about his past. In the present, Elder Huang Jian is the father of one of the few candidates to become matriarch. If it were to be known by the other elders, wouldn''t it prove that you''ve been advantaged? This would really crush Elder Huang Jian''s reputation among the elders as well as all your chances at becoming matriarch. You see... Huang Si could just say that to a few elders. In such a way, she would not be responsible for any rumor against our name. And yet, she would reap all the benefits of eliminating you from the course."


    While she was listening, Huang L¨¹ could perfectly picture it. If the adultery stayed within the Huang family, people could decide to ignore it completely. If it became public though, the Huang family would want to punish the one responsible for the rumors. However, it could be used more silently and efficiently. She had in fact never thought about this. Huang L¨¹ knew that her father had never helped her because she was his daughter, but this wouldn''t be the question anymore. The mere fact that he never said anything would be an issue. In fact, his mere silence could be construed as a way to help Huang L¨¹ against Huang Si.


    But something else became clear to Huang L¨¹. Huang Cixi talked as if only Huang Si had this idea. But this was her who was saying such words. And she could perfectly do it herself.


    Many thoughts drowned Huang L¨¹''s mind, until she got tired of it. She stood straight and went back to her usual demeanor, forceful and a bit harsh in her way of speaking.


    "I have to agree with you. My fate is not to be a matriarch. I''ve never liked all those meaningless discussions and those artistic gatherings. All that was really a waste of my time. But, Huang Cixi, let me ask you something. Aren''t you telling me this with the hope that I''ll drop out and publicly support you instead?"


    The first answer of Huang Cixi was a smile and a small laugh.


    "I am not hoping for anything. Sister, I know that you like to be direct, so I''ll be as blunt as possible. You will never support Huang Si publicly. We both know it. Then you only have two choices when you drop out." Huang L¨¹ noticed the use of ''when'' and not ''if''. Earlier it would have infuriated her, but now she had to admit that this direct side of Huang Cixi''s personality was quite endearing. The young girl was right, she hated roundabout ways of saying things, which wasn''t very good when vying to become the next matriarch. Strength was an important factor, but this position was highly political. The matriarch had to deal with the power struggles both within her own family and outside of it.


    "Either you say nothing and I''ll get the support of the elders in a matter of weeks. In the utterly worst scenario, I''ll get them after beating up Gui Bei. Or you announce that you drop out because I''m better suited for the position, in which case I get their support in a matter of days. A few would probably stay indecisive but not for long as soon as my blood purity would be revealed. So, you see, this is only a matter of time. I win anyway."


    After that, Huang Cixi walked past her former rival toward the door.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "But I can tell that you will support me. Right?"


    Before hearing an answer, Huang Cixi reached for the door. But at the last moment, she added some words.


    "By the way, Sister, as a show of my goodwill, I will warn you. I imagine that some of your servants were the ones who gave you many ideas about the way you should act. In fact, they even told you to come and see me in my chambers and then to deal with me at the poetry gathering, right?"


    Hearing this, Huang L¨¹ turned around immediately. Indeed, Cai Ying had been the one who had advised her a lot. Without her help, she probably wouldn''t have gone so far.


    "I see that you already have a name in mind. Well, I''m sorry to break it to you, but whoever you''re thinking about right now probably works for Huang Si. I don''t know how long they''ve been planted at your side. But there is no doubt that a few of your servants work for her. After all, she needed to use you to get rid of some of her own rivals. With what she knows about you, you were never a threat to her. Thus, it was smarter to send you against her competition rather than to deal with them herself."


    After this final comment, Huang Cixi left the room and walked back to hers. Still standing in her private study, Huang L¨¹ literally fell back in her chair and laughed out loud. Although the conversation had been tensed, all tensions in Huang L¨¹''s body left her. Maybe she couldn''t stay in Baziyun City after that, but she had a new clarity in mind. Even if she became matriarch, she could never have the relationship she wanted with Elder Huang Jian. In fact, it would become even worse as their secret could ruin the entire balance of power within the family.


    For example, if Huang Cixi became matriarch, her grandfather would have to retire from the position of family head and couldn''t even become an elder. Many rules were in place to avoid corruption and nepotism within the family. The Huang family fully adhered to the ideals of Emperor Nuwa and only merit and competence should dictate one''s social status within the family.


    Now that she let go of this dream, Huang L¨¹ strangely felt happy. Trying to play a role for so long had been exhausted. Even knowing that people very close to her were probably working against her did not change a thing. Now that she had let go of this ambition that wasn''t really what she desired, it didn''t matter.


    While she was walking back to her room, Huang Cixi heard a very short telepathic message from Huang Liyue.


    "The matriarch can wait one month before knowing of this."


    After that, her bodyguard stayed absolutely silent and did not question her young mistress at all. Even Huang Liyue had a good opinion of Elder Huang Jian. And she knew that Matriarch Huang Yufeng wouldn''t want slanders to be spread about him, even if they were true. In fact, she might even try to help him out, for all she knew.


    -


    The next morning, Huang L¨¹ had already sent words to all her partisans. She had decided to drop out of the competition to become matriarch. But more than that, she now officially supported Huang Cixi. And in the following days, she became a heated advocate of her taking the role of matriarch. People around her also noticed a shift in her personality.


    Only a few days ago, she was always going to public gatherings and attending artistic events. But suddenly, she started to spend most of her time training and sparring with other members of the Huang family. Even her personality seemed to be more relaxed. She was still direct, forceful and a bit arrogant. But now there was also a more playful part in her remarks. In a word, her character had become lighter.


    Everyone got surprised in the Huang family, even Family Head Huang Yi. Despite the confidence he had in his granddaughter, it all seemed way too fast.


    Only one person wasn''t that surprised, Huang Si.


    Just as Huang Cixi had predicted, she knew about the relationship between Huang L¨¹ and Elder Huang Jian. It had taken her several months of digging up information and careful observation to be absolutely sure of her. Once she had been, her plan had become obvious. Exactly like Huang Cixi had said, she wouldn''t use the adultery to destroy Elder Huang Jian or even Huang L¨¹. Instead, she intended to use her blood relation to discredit Huang L¨¹''s morality. Even without further proof, it would instill a doubt that maybe she had used her kinship to curry favor.


    With this, she was sure of her success.


    The only thing she wasn''t sure about was Huang Cixi. Cai Ying had been the one to put ideas in the mind of Huang L¨¹ to send her against Huang Si''s rivals. With Huang Cixi, this was a way to test her out without having to do anything. Unfortunately, the test had proven that Huang Cixi was a real threat to her in this competition. And right now, Huang Cixi had the momentum with her after obtaining so much credit from Huang L¨¹. Even if Huang Si were to use Huang L¨¹''s family tree against her, it could strengthen the position of Huang Cixi instead of hers.


    Indeed, the elders wouldn''t be stupid to the point of not understanding her stratagem. And with Elder Huang Jian''s great reputation, many elders would prefer to side with the one who did nothing against him.


    However, Huang Si had to do something about it. Unlike Huang L¨¹, this woman was very patient. Even so, waiting for Gui Bei''s duel would be a bit too late... Thankfully, in a week, she would get a perfect opportunity.


    -


    In a small courtyard of Baziyun City, Gui Bei was meditating. Since his confrontation with Huang Cixi, he could barely control his emotions. The longer he was unable to calm himself, the higher the risk for him to develop an inner demon was. But each time he thought about Huang Cixi, he saw the ridicule in the eyes of all the nobles of Baziyun City. In his mind, everyone was mocking him in secret. And the only way to make it stop was to shame Huang Cixi in her own home.


    But he didn''t trust her at all. Maybe she would use her family to pressure him or create a trap. After all, in the spur of the moment, he had accepted to fight in her own residence. The Huang family would probably want to destroy him. In fact, it was possible that they would kill him and pin some made-up crime on him. The more Gui Bei was thinking, the darker and more twisted his thoughts became.


    Finally, he decided to stop. Paradoxically, if he tried to expunge the possibility of forming an inner demon, he would instead give birth to it. Moreover, he also felt the voice that was hurting his mind in the back of his head. It was difficult to make up what the voice said but it was clearly trying to talk to him. And this wasn''t the only thing he felt. Since his departure from Governor Leng''s residence, many spiritual senses were always locked on him.


    No Mortal cultivator, not even a Mortal Warrior, should have been able to feel them. In fact, neither Huang Cixi nor Cao Yun with their mind cultivation would have been capable of such a feat. But since his past expedition, Gui Bei was able to do so. And he had to find a way to escape their surveillance. Right now, the only choice he had to be sure of his victory over Huang Cixi was to go back where he had gone before.


    He knew that this was extremely dangerous. After all, during his expedition, he had been with eight other cultivators. In the end, they had all died but him. In exchange, his cultivation had soared in a spectacular manner. If he were able to go even deeper, he even had a small hope of exceeding Huang Cixi''s current cultivation. But if he waited for too long, he would miss this opportunity. The earlier he went, the more time he would have to advance his cultivation and the higher he could climb before beating Huang Cixi.

 Chapter 179: Flying away from the Huang residence

    Another day passed during which Huang Cixi made sure that everything was going smoothly with Ye Zhiyun and Hall Master Fang. She also received news about the sudden change of Huang L¨¹. Obviously, she was well aware of the reason behind this. And all day long, she got several letters from various people, among whom a few elders. Most of them were still a bit hesitant in their support. Huang Cixi knew that the coming week and then her duel would shape their opinion.


    One support she received secretly was from Elder Huang Jian. Once more, he refused to take part in the actual competition for the role of matriarch. However, he wrote her a very sincere letter. At no point did he mention his relationship with Huang L¨¹, but she could see through his words. He thanked her for appeasing the young woman he cared about. Such a letter moved Huang Cixi a lot as she saw the love her father had had for her and her brothers in his words. To be honest, she felt a bit bad for using their relationship against Huang L¨¹, but politics was politics. And at the end of the day, they were all from the same family.


    Clearly, Huang L¨¹ was not cut out to be a politician. Hence, she would never have been able to become the matriarch anyway. Her defeat was just a matter of time. What consoled Huang Cixi was that once she became matriarch, she could reward Huang L¨¹ for her choice. Now, she only had two problems. The first one was very clear and simple, it was Gui Bei. The other one was a bit more tricky as it was Huang Si.


    As of now, Huang Cixi had never met that woman but she knew that she was behind Huang L¨¹''s failed attempt to cause trouble during the poetry gathering. Of course, Huang Cixi had turned it around fairly easily, but she knew that by the end of the week there would be a great event. That would be the moment to really show who was leading the competition. If Huang Cixi failed during the event, she would lose all potential support. But if she was correct, she would instead become almost sure of her victory.


    For now though, Huang Cixi was satisfied that everything seemed to be going exactly as she intended it to. As such, she could relax a little and train. Her mind cultivation had just increased a few days earlier and she would need at least a couple of months before she could condense another Five Echoes Pearl. Furthermore, she was also advancing very slowly in her blood cultivation. The similarities between ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' and ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' allowed her to be faster at both. But extracting the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang in her own blood did not depend on her talent alone. Obviously, the more she extracted blood essence, the harder it was to extract more of it.


    Thankfully, Huang Cixi had a very pure blood to begin with. And with time, the True Fiery Drops she had already condensed would imbue her blood with their properties. As such, the reserve of blood essence in her veins would very slowly increase until she could extract a bit more. To try and accelerate the process, Huang Cixi used her mind cultivation. In order to condense a Five Echoes Pearl, she had to rotate the Five Agents to focus their properties in their center. By mimicking this, Huang Cixi realized that by activating the two True Fiery Drops in her Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, she could speed up her blood cultivation.


    Some members of the Huang family could stay stuck at a certain level for decades, such as Huang Liyue. In fact, even Matriarch Huang Yufeng was stuck at eight True Fiery Drops. In history, only the ancestral matriarch had achieved all nine True Fiery Drops. But this new way of cultivating, combined with a powerful mind and an incredible intent, made Huang Cixi almost certain that she would reach great heights in her blood cultivation. Condensing all nine True Fiery Drops may be impossible, but she was sure to at least forge eight of them.


    In addition to both her blood and mind cultivation, Huang Cixi also took care of her Qi cultivation and her martial arts. Blood cultivation was not unique to the Huang family but very few people practiced it. Indeed, only a handful of families and individuals had access to powerful bloodlines. Thanks to the blood of the True Fiery Fenghuang, blood cultivation was an obvious advantage of the Huang family. But that alone would not be sufficient for her upcoming duel with Gui Bei. Moreover, she knew that he would probably increase his strength. As a matter of fact, Huang Cixi was even prepared to fight a Mortal Warrior.


    But she had not scheduled this duel without a plan. Her mind cultivation would increase her control over her own body, Qi and blood. It would also increase her cultivation speed a little and her comprehension of martial arts. Her blood cultivation would increase her physique as well as her reputation within the Huang family. But to significantly increase her fighting ability, she needed to focus on her Qi cultivation of course, but also on her very martial arts.


    The best option for Huang Cixi right now was to go out into the wild in order to fight against demonic beasts. Only in real battles could she really progress. Huang Cixi was not a fighter. But by combining all of her cards together, she was not too nervous about the upcoming duel. There were still many things she had not tried yet and she would prefer it to remain secret until the duel as a way to surprise everyone and gain even more fame. Among them were ways to use her True Fiery Drops she had uncovered recently during her meditations.


    One of these usages could be used in battle while another could help her speed up her Qi cultivation even more. Using her mind cultivation, she could focus specifically on her True Fiery Drops. After she had energized her Chamber of Ultimate Truth and thanks to all the manuals she had read, combined with her own experience, she had a brilliant idea. Using her mind, she tried to change the shape of one of her True Fiery Drops into the Yi character.


    It took her a lot of time, but after that, she was able to control her blood even more finely. As she was now in need of opening her acupoints, this kind of help from within would be very beneficial. But more than that, she had the idea of using the Hun character as it was related to Jing and hence close to blood essence. And she had been right, when she finally shaped her True Fiery Drops into the Hun character, they had an even higher impact on her blood. Amidst all this testing, Huang Cixi discovered more and more secrets of the True Fiery Drops.


    But as the end of the week was drawing close, she wanted to try out her ideas in real life.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    As such, she went to ask permission from Family Head Huang Yi.


    Considering that Huang Liyue was still following Huang Cixi as her bodyguard, Huang Yi had no problem accepting her request. But there was another problem. The hunting grounds Huang Cixi wanted to visit were deep in the Nine Peaks. Just going there and coming back would take her five days at the very least, even with Huang Liyue to carry her.


    "Xixi, did you forget about the tea ceremony?! If you''re not there, Huang Si will definitely gather even more followers while you''ll lose all your momentum."


    "Grandfather, do not worry. I did not forget at all. Quite the opposite in fact, I''m well prepared for the occasion."


    "Then, you intend to only train a day?!"


    "No. I''m not just here to ask for your permission to use the hunting grounds. I am also formally requesting permission to mount Elder Ying there."


    With a Blue Mane Falcon, the travel would take less than a day in both directions.


    "What?!" Seeing his granddaughter staying perfectly calm, Huang Yi also calmed his surprise. "Even with my authority and my relationship with Elder Ying, I cannot order him to take you there if he doesn''t want to."


    "This isn''t a problem. I already asked him and he agreed."


    This time, Huang Yi contained his surprise. The truth was that he had heard about his granddaughter visiting Elder Ying and getting closer and closer to him. But he didn''t know that they were already this close. Huang Yi was the only one in the Huang family who had an intimate relationship with Elder Ying. The Blue Mane Falcon had literally seen him grow from baby to adult.


    "Considering that Elder Ying is a bird who can manipulate fire, I figured having him by my side while training our family''s martial art would be a good idea."


    Indeed, the martial art of the Huang family had been created by the ancestral matriarch after observing the True Fiery Fenghuang whose essence blood she later obtained. As such, it was heavily related to both the Fire element and birds. Even though a Blue Mane Falcon was not as powerful or noble as a True Fiery Fenhuang, he was one of the closest demonic beasts to such a legend in the Hongchen Kingdom. Hearing this, Huang Yi was even more convinced by his granddaughter. He had himself benefited from Elder Ying''s advice when he was younger. And thanks to his help, his mastery of the martial arts had soared. In a way, if he had progressed so fast and so high in the Huang family was in part thanks to his relationship with Elder Ying by more than one aspect.


    "Thus, I only need your permission for Elder Ying to leave the Huang residence for nearly a week."


    "There is no issue about this. Elder Ying is free to come and go as he pleases unless there is a crisis. Right now, we have no reason to ask him to remain. Moreover, the hunting grounds you want to go to are still very close to Baziyun City. As long as Elder Ying agrees, you may go."


    "Thank you, Family Head."


    Huang Cixi left the room and immediately went into the stables where Elder Ying was waiting for her. Before asking for permission, she had obviously made sure that Elder Ying would agree and told him to wait for her. The majestic bird was already out in the open. The stables were rather large with a lot of open space, but most demonic beasts and animals would not be allowed to freely walk around without supervision. Elder Ying was the exception. Not only was he way more powerful than almost everyone here, he had also been recognized as an honorary member of the Huang family. Over the years, he had always protected the family. Moreover, he was close both to Matriarch Huang Yufeng and even more so to Family Head Huang Yi.


    Trying to coerce him to do anything would be akin to treating an actual elder like a beast. As such, the people working in the stables always treated him with the utmost respect and let him do as he pleased so long as he didn''t cause trouble. But, obviously, Elder Ying was too smart to cause any trouble. A Blue Mane Falcon was a 9-core demonic beast with an intelligence as close as a human mind as possible. The only thing he lacked was speech, but he could understand the meaning behind human words.


    As soon as Huang Cixi entered into the stables, Elder Ying who was lying on the ground stood up. As he let out a small shriek of excitement, the bright feathers of his blue mane stood on end. Very lightly, he shook his head to show his contentment and walked toward Huang Cixi. The girl had spent a bit of time with the demonic beast almost every day since she had decided to finally leave her chambers. As time had gone by, they had come to understand each other a bit more. Huang Cixi was not too sure of the reason why this beast had taken a liking to her. But she found him both charming and interesting.


    As her blood was infused with a very pure blood essence of True Fiery Fenghuang, there was maybe a link. Or perhaps, it was due to her blood in another way, thanks to the relationship between her grandfather and Elder Ying. It was possible that he had recognized that in her. Regardless of the reason, it was very good for Huang Cixi''s claim to the position of matriarch. And having such a powerful demonic beast as an ally would always be a good thing anyway.


    Very slowly and respectfully, Huang Cixi caressed the beak of this beautiful falcon. Sensing her intent, he lowered his head and let her do so while letting out small yelps of pleasure. Everyone around was dumbfounded by the scene. Many people were working in the stables and most of them had not seen her interact with Elder Ying yet. Usually, he was proud and distant. But he acted all cute with this very young girl.


    Suddenly, they got taken out of their stupor by this very girl''s voice.


    "Get away. We''re leaving."


    The moment she spoke these words, she jumped directly on the back of the beast. And without any equipment, she simply took a hold of his feathers. The workers were surprised but they were knowledgeable enough to act swiftly. Considering a Blue Mane Falcon''s strength, it was better to stay away when he departed. Some also went to calm down other beasts and some horses. Others also took care of equipments that were still lying on the ground to prevent them from being blown away.


    The moment Elder Ying opened his wings, his image of pride and beauty returned completely. This bird was really a king among other aerial demonic beasts. Flapping his wings a few times, Elder Ying rose into the air. The moment he was high enough so that no one could see what was going on on his back, another figure appeared beside Huang Cixi. She was Huang Liyue of course. Despite her cultivation, she had no way of being able to pursue this noble beast through the air. As such, she also took place on his broad back to accompany Huang Cixi.


    Gradually, a bluish hue surrounded Elder Ying. It was his Wei Qi. Even if Huang Cixi were to grab him with all her strength, she could never bear the impact of the wind on her. By expanding his Wei Qi, Elder Ying made sure that she would be alright. This blue Qi flowed over his wings, expanding them. With this Qi, he almost was twice as large. And with a powerful move, his wings flapped. Leaving a faint blue trail behind him, he soared through the sky as a shock wave reached the ground.

 Chapter 180: A peaceful valley

    In a matter of hours, Elder Ying reached the hunting grounds of the Huang family, deep within the Nine Peaks. Huang Cixi had chosen a wide valley lost between several mountains. Such a location was forming a natural array formation. And the valley was way denser in Qi than Baziyun City. The mountains through their very existence could easily generate and condense Qi from the Heavens. Then, it would naturally flow through nature and be carried along water streams. But the natural formation of this place made it act like a small reservoir of the Qi condensed by these mountains.


    Hence, there were many precious herbs, and demonic beasts were a bit more powerful but also less aggressive. Considering that they already received a lot of Qi naturally, they were less inclined to risk their own lives in order to devour cultivators, or other beasts. Of course, there were still predators. But they would be way more cautious. Most of the time, they would not attack unless someone entered their own territory. The majority of demonic beasts were very territorial and would instinctively attack any intruder, no matter the location they were living in.


    Seeing this beautiful valley, full of colors and brimming with life, Huang Cixi was overwhelmed. Such a valley looked like it belonged to another world, a world of true heavenly immortals. Any fruit she would randomly pick would be full of a Qi purer than some low-level pills she could buy. Although Huang Cixi was the granddaughter of the current family head, she had been raised in the small Yinmen City. And such views were absolutely unknown to her. Even during her time in the Wubei Sect, she had stayed within the walls all the time and had seen nothing as extraordinary.


    As they were getting closer, Elder Ying progressively reduced his speed. At the same time, Huang Liyue took out a red fan. With a swift movement, she completely opened it and threw it into the distance. Imbued with her Qi, the fan levitated into the air and she jumped on it with grace. Now that she was standing on this red fan, it rose higher and higher, until her spiritual senses could cover all the valley from her position.


    By the time Huang Liyue was where she wanted, Elder Ying had mostly stopped his flight and was landing on the ground. Once again, his wings flapped and folded the grass and the flowers under him. Some small animals and a few 1-core demonic beasts ran as far away as they could. Right now, an existence way superior to them all had just arrived. The moment Elder Ying touched the ground, the area all around him was deserted.


    Just before Huang Cixi jumped off from Elder Ying''s back, she heard a telepathic message from Huang Liyue.


    "Unless your life is in immediate danger, I won''t intervene. Since you want to train, you should experience genuine danger. However, just call for me at anytime if you want my help."


    Looking up in the sky, even with her senses, Huang Cixi could hardly distinguish her bodyguard. She was only a small dot in the sky, drowned away by the light of the high sun.


    "Thank you, Senior Huang Liyue. Do not worry, I won''t be reckless." Then, Huang Cixi turned toward Elder Ying. "Thank you as well. But, could you fly away a little? You''ll scare off all the demonic beasts if you stay by my side..."


    A small sadness, accompanied by the realization that it was true, lit up in Elder Ying''s eyes. This time, with much less spectacle, he flapped his wings and rose into the air. In order to keep observing Huang Cixi, he circled the sky at a lower altitude than Huang Liyue. Even though a 9-core demonic beast could contend with a Spirit Warrior, such beasts had no spiritual senses. But their instinct and their intelligence were way more developed than those of lesser demonic beasts. Elder Ying stayed high enough so that the demonic beasts would not get scared away and low enough to keep observing Huang Cixi.


    To begin with, Huang Cixi took out her weapons. She had the emblematic weapon of their family, an iron fan, and a very light sword. An iron fan as the name suggested was a fan whose frame was made of metal, not necessarily iron though. Concerning Huang Cixi''s fan, the frame itself was made of Bin Iron, a metal that was know for its great durability and its resistance to fire. Both were necessities for the Huang family. First of all the frame of the fan was very small so the metal had to be extremely resistant. And the Huang family obviously used a lot of fire techniques due to their blood.


    On the other hand, the clothe of the fan was a material known only to the Huang family named Incandescent Phoenix Paper. Not only was it resistant to fire, it even produced flames at very low temperatures without combustion. In fact, even without martial arts, just moving the fan fast enough could induce a few sparks or even some flames. And this paper could stay intact for decades of use.


    Finally, her sword was unusual as its blade was incredibly thin. Clearly, this weapon was not meant to slice but to stab and pierce through.


    With both her weapons out, Huang Cixi started to warm up by repeating the moves of ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheels'', the martial art characteristic of her family. It had been invented by the ancestral matriarch. And even though anyone could use it, it would show its true strength while wielded by someone with the blood essence of a True Fiery Fenghuang.


    The more she moved around, the more she sensed the two True Fiery Drops in her heart get agitated. With her mind cultivation, she especially focused her intent on those. Gradually, she tried to adjust her rhythm to theirs. From up there, Huang Liyue was quite satisfied by her moves. Although Huang Cixi was not a fighter, her understanding of ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheels'' was quite good. And she had very little battle experience at that. Fighting here for a few days would be a real eye opener for her. Huang Liyue was sure that she would progress fast.


    After several hours, Huang Cixi went to work. At first, she only hunted down lesser demonic beasts. Her goal was not necessarily to kill them. She only wanted to sharpen her skills and had no use for neither their cores nor their resources. 1-core demonic beasts were way too weak for her at her level. But just to be on the cautious side, instead of fighting 3-core demonic beasts, she went for 2-core ones.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    -


    Right in front of Huang Cixi was a huge mass twice as large as she was. This demonic beast was entirely covered in plates of what looked like metal. In the shape of a bull, the creature had two short and large claws on its foot. These claws were made of a dark material similar to metal which then went up the beast and covered its body here and there. In some places, its dark brown fur was hiding a bit of it. But all over its back, following its spine, metallic plates were lined up. This wasn''t metal per se. In fact those were more like bones but they contained way more iron than usual bones. Other metals were also stored in more quantity.


    On its head, the demonic beast had huge horns. Two pairs of those were facing both in front of him and on its sides. And the moment this beast smelled a human cultivator, it turned around and aligned its head with its massive body. Clearly, the beast was ready to charge at any moment.


    That was a Steel Hooves Buffalo, a 2-core demonic beast. Although its charge was absolutely terrifying, such a beast was not particularly agile and was in fact not a great threat up-close. Of course, it was necessary to get up-close without being trampled to death. Even a 7th-grade Mortal or an early 8th-grade Mortal would have had to be careful of this beast''s charge. Once it was slowed down though, even an early 6th-grade Mortal could probably kill it with no problem.


    Huang Cixi was not here to specifically hunt down demonic beasts, but rather to train herself. And she had chosen this Steel Hooves Buffalo as a first test.


    When she felt ready, she walked closer to irritate the beast and force it to charge. Up in the sky, Elder Ying was ready to rip the beast apart and Huang Liyue to burn it into cinders if necessary.


    As soon as Huang Cixi provoked the demonic beast, it charged right at her. Even though she was prepared, she still was astonished by its insane speed. Still, without using any martial art, she was light on her feet and with elegance, got herself on the right side of the buffalo. Enraged, the beast tried to skewer her with its huge horns while it was trying to stop its own momentum. However, Huang Cixi''s agility was impressive. Although she had just finished her movement, her feet almost didn''t touch the ground that she was already moving behind the beast.


    Once again, the huge demonic beast tried to break her bones with its hinder legs but it couldn''t control its own momentum and Huang Cixi didn''t even have to dodge.


    But when it was finally stopped, the Steel Hooves Buffalo turned its furious gaze toward the young girl. Her sword was back in its sheath and the fan was closed in her right hand. Once more, she was waiting for the charge. The Steel Hooves Buffalo hit the ground with its hooves again and again. The moment it finally decided to charge, it was even faster than before.


    This strange dance continued for a while. Each time, Huang Cixi tried to dodge even more minutely. Despite her mind cultivation, Huang Cixi could feel the excitement spreading through her bloodstream. Feeling the wind on her entire body and the heat of the demonic beast was incredible. She was close enough to the mastodon that she could touch it just by extending her arm. Right in front of her, even if she closed her eyes, she was able to feel the raw power of its muscles.


    Soon, the beast was completely exhausted. Without hitting it even once, Huang Cixi seemed to have won the fight. However, this Steel Hooves Buffalo would never stop until it saw blood. It was irritated beyond measure faced with this frail human that it couldn''t touch.


    In a final attempt, the Steel Hooves Buffalo tried to trample on Huang Cixi again even though all his past attacks had failed. Satisfied that this beast would not bring her anything more in her training, Huang Cixi dodged once more and struck its side with her closed fan. The impact was not enough to penetrate its metallic plates but the iron fan still left a deep dent in it. Such a collision sent the huge beast a few meters away, helped by its momentum. Shocked and tired, the demonic beast looked back at the human. Huang Cixi opened her iron fan with a sudden jerk and the Incandescent Phoenix Paper let out a few flames. Combined with the shock of previous fight, it made the Stool Hooves Buffalo decide to leave the human girl alone and it left.


    -


    For several days, Huang Cixi fought against various demonic beasts such as other Steel Hooves Buffaloes or Winter Heavy Stallions. But she also contended against 3-core demonic beasts among which Sun Crowned Roosters or Two-Tail Eluding Foxes. The Sun Crowned Rooster was an interesting demonic beast for Huang Cixi as it was a bird associated with fire. Another demonic beast was interesting for her, the Silver Winged-Lion, a 4-core demonic beast with the appearance of a muscular lion whose head was that of a vulture. Moreover, it had four gray wings that looked like silver under the sun.


    This demonic beast was among the most powerful creatures in this private valley. Usually, only a Mortal Warrior could have contented with it. However, Huang Cixi had grown accustomed to the lesser demonic beasts and wanted to challenge herself. Without Elder Ying and Huang Liyue observing her from up there, she would never have tried such a risky move. But she fully trusted her bodyguards to save her if need be. Furthermore, she wasn''t sure that she couldn''t put up a fight either. Since she had come here, she had only used the full strength of a single True Fiery Drop and she felt like she was very close to the 9th-grade Mortal stage.


    The Silver Winged-Lion was more of a scavenger than a hunter. And it lived on some of the rocky peaks all around the valley. To attract one of them, it was rather easy. Huang Cixi killed a Winter Heavy Stallion and exposed it entrails to the air. She didn''t really like such a strategy, after all this was her family''s hunting grounds. Killing a beast without then using its resources left a bitter taste in her mouth. This was such a waste and even seemed a bit cruel. However, cruelty was sometimes necessary and Huang Cixi understood that.


    Sometimes, her family even picked demonic beasts here to further nurture them and train them in the stables of the family. For example, Winter Heavy Stallions were enormous horses able to travel on many different terrains with little difficulty. And they had a lot of fat stored under their fur, allowing them to travel several days in a row without eating anything and with their strength intact. This was a demonic beast that was quite useful and it was seldom killed in its youth.


    Thankfully, the death of this beast was not useless. In less than an hour, it attracted the attention of a Silver Winged-Lion. This time, Huang Cixi was expecting a deadly battle. If she could fight and kill such a demonic beast, she would have no problem against Gui Bei during their duel. And she still had a few days to train and try again and again.


    -


    The first fight didn''t go very well. Huang Cixi was able to use her fan as a throwing disc. One of the four wings on the beast''s back got lacerated but not cut off. As its feathers got soiled with its own blood, the Silver Winged-Lion got furious and tried to tear apart the limbs of Huang Cixi. In extremis, she was able to dodge, thanks to all her training. The fight lasted many minutes. But all the attacks of Huang Cixi, even when she used her martial arts, were unable to penetrate its hide very deep.

 Chapter 181: Ten Thousands Fiery Wheels

    This time, it was Huang Cixi''s endurance that reached its limit before her prey. Sensing the weakness in the human, the Silver Winged-Lion tried to rip off her head with its beak. And at this moment, the attack would be deadly as Huang Cixi lacked the energy to dodge well enough. Just before the beak got close to her head however, a powerful shriek echoed in the valley and a huge shadow covered the entire body of the Silver Winged-Lion. Terrified, it didn''t even try to look up to see what it was. The 4-core demonic beast fled as fast as it could.


    And in its stead, Elder Ying landed in front of Huang Cixi who collapsed on its feathery side. She had lost consciousness.


    When she woke up, Huang Cixi was lying on the soft feathers of Elder Ying. The beast had sensed her move and turned his head to look her in the eyes. At first, Huang Cixi''s vision was hazy but she soon focused on these beautiful eyes. It was very vague but she understood something. Then, she stood up and the Blue Mane Falcon did the same. He jumped into the sky and flew around the young girl.


    His movements were very peculiar and almost looked like a dance in the air. Huang Cixi was completely transfixed by its charm and elegance. Meanwhile, Huang Liyue was also admiring this scene and immediately understood what Elder Ying was trying to do.


    ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheels'', the Huang family''s martial art, had been invented by observing a True Fiery Fenghuang. Obviously a Blue Mane Falcon was nowhere close to such a legendary beast, but they still had quite a few things in common. Moreover, Elder Ying had been raised with the Huang family. As such, he had observed their martial art for a very long time. And right now, he was literally showing his own understanding of these arts to Huang Cixi.


    Admiring his beauty, even Huang Liyue understood several things about her own martial arts. As a demonic beast himself, although he had no blood from a True Fiery Fenghuang, Elder Ying was closer to it than humans were. Hence, he had a more instinctive understanding of these arts. In his movements, he had removed some things that had been added by humans to correspond to their own bodies and views. Seeing such a raw illustration of the martial art, Huang Cixi, and even Huang Liyue, got new insights.


    Huang Cixi used the advantage she had. She circulated her mind cultivation to increase her focus. Moreover, she had one chamber of her Upper Dantian energized which increased her understanding. Every single subtle movement of Elder Ying got engraved in her mind. At one point, she also got the idea of using her two True Fiery Drops to try and move in unison with Elder Ying. And she was surprised to see that it was highly effective. The blood in her body started to move according to the ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheels''. Slowly, Huang Cixi entered in a state of epiphany. She let go of all control and all restriction.


    After her blood, it was her Qi which escaped, voluntarily, her control. During the process, some of her acupoints even began to open themselves. And Huang Cixi followed up by using the essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang in her blood to try and activate them even more. All the training she had done these last few days, further amplified by the training she had already done beforehand, just clicked. Suddenly, some new insights on ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheels'' became quite obvious to her.


    Without her realizing it, a strange phenomenon took place in her sea of consciousness, similar to the one Cao Yun had experience unknowingly as well. Deep in the water, very peculiar and unknown characters began to form. They seemed to be made of blood and fire, and their form was reminiscent of small feathers. Considering that Huang Cixi was unable to enter her sea of consciousness, she couldn''t see them or even know that they existed. But if she had been able to, she would have recognized the same kind of characters that were in the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. Those were Insight Writings, the physical form of someone''s understanding of nature.


    They were extremely rare and depended on each individual. In fact, only Spirit Warriors were even aware of their existence as they were the only ones, usually, who could enter their own sea of consciousness. And even for powerful Spirit Warriors, forming them was due to fate more so than to talent alone. Cao Yun and Huang Cixi had been able to form them thanks to their mind cultivation that had reached the second layer, but not only thanks to that. Cao Yun had the ability to literally see the stars that had inspired the creator of his martial art. And Huang Cixi had witnessed moves very similar to the ones her ancestral matriarch had probably seen.


    Of course, a Blue Mane Falcon was not on the same level as a True Fiery Fenghuang who was a legendary beast. But he had a lot of similarities and all his life, Elder Ying had been exposed to the influence of this legendary beast through the Huang family.


    When Elder Ying was done, Huang Cixi instinctively began to practice her martial art. She performed several forms from ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheels''. This martial art had three different forms, ''Dance to the Burning World'', ''Wheel of Searing Beauty'' and ''Peacock Displays a Firestorm''. Huang Liyue observed her young mistress and realized that some of her movements were now widely different. Of course, every martial artist had small variations in his practice, but they almost looked like different forms now. And Huang Cixi alternated them several times with seamless transitions.


    In fact, it looked like they were one and the same form. But it had been cut up in several pieces put together. Right now, Huang Liyue realized that some moves of ''Dance to the Burning World'' would be better if they were directly followed by sequences of ''Wheel of Searing Beauty'' for example. Even she gained a bit of insights from this experience.


    But the one who gained the most was obviously Huang Cixi. Several of her acupoints got tempered and she became closer to a breakthrough. Even her Pure Golden Dantian reacted. The Qi within her Lower Dantian got denser and denser. Even without training, her new Lower Dantian seemed to always gather more Qi and condense it. And she also discovered that her way of seeing the True Fiery Drops had been right. If she used them as she had imagined, the results would be extraordinary. Not only could they improve her martial arts, they could also increase her cultivation.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    After that, Huang Cixi was full of energy and vitality. She absolutely needed to use her techniques in a real fight. Thankfully, Elder Ying was aware of it. He went in the nest of the previous Silver Winged-Lion. The 4-core demonic beast''s wings were still covered with a thin layer of blood. Faced with this mighty beast, the Silver Winged-Lion was shivering and submitted fully. It knew that its life was entirely up to Elder Ying.


    Tension between the two beasts disappeared all at once when both of them turned their heads toward the south. Huang Liyue also looked in that direction. And immediately, Huang Cixi heard her voice in her mind as she was starting to levitate in the air.


    "Something''s approaching!"


    Looking up toward her bodyguard, Huang Cixi had an incredible sight. The sky turned into flames of myriad of colors. All around the Spirit Warrior, there was a prodigious rainbow of red, yellow, green, blue and purple. Each flame looked like a feather fluttering in the wind. And every color melted together in a wonderful mosaic. This was the first time Huang Cixi was seeing a Qi Manifestation of ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheels'' and it was eye opening.


    Huang Cixi, controlled by her bodyguard, floated right behind her. From Huang Liyue''s spatial ring, a blue light emerged and hundreds of iron fans appeared all around. At the exact same time, they opened and ignited. By then, the sky was engulfed in flames and riddled with wheels of fire. Joining her, Elder Ying soared in the sky and a trail of deep radiant blue scarred this magnificent wheel of fires. His body was twice as large as before as his Qi was fully manifested around him. In reality, demonic beasts could not actually manifest their Qi like humans.


    Sometimes the term was used to describe their abilities, but it was closer to a manifestation of their blood. Unlike humans, demonic beasts had no real meridians or Dantian, their Qi was stored within their demonic cores and circulated through their blood. As such, this manifestation of Qi came from a mix between their own bloodline and their cores. On the other hand, Qi Manifestation in humans was due to their mastery of martial arts. A Mortal Warrior who would try to manifest his Qi without a martial art would just extend his own Wei Qi without any particular effects.


    All the senses of Elder Ying were alert and Huang Liyue had extended her spiritual senses in the direction of the disturbance they had both felt. In the valley, both of their killing intents sent every demonic beast into a frenzy. They all tried to run as far as they could. The only demonic beast still present was the lightly wounded Silver Winged-Lion. After being subjected to Elder Ying''s intense glare, it got frozen for a while. When it realized what was going on, it didn''t dare to move. Its senses were not as great as Elder Ying''s and yet it was now able to feel that something was indeed approaching. It was very faint but the earth was shaking.


    Huang Cixi was unable to sense it at all and did not understand what was going on. But she knew that Huang Liyue would not act in such a spectacular way unless the problem was real. Thus, she decided to not say anything at all so that she wouldn''t disturb her bodyguard. As of now, she would follow every one of her commands. Huang Liyue was a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior and she had the help of Elder Ying a 9-core demonic beasts who could contend with even Matriarch Huang Yufeng. If she was on edge, the threat was at least on the same level as them, an 8-core or even a 9-core demonic beast, or perhaps a late Spirit Warrior she didn''t know. Could a demonic cultivator be after them?


    Tension was palpable in the air. Suddenly, the Silver Winged-Lion tried to fly away and the earth turned upside down. The small peak in the south literally exploded into thousands of rocks as the mountain collapsed. A large and elongated black shape erupted from the ground and before Huang Cixi could get a good look, the Silver Winged-Lion got torn apart by this shadow. Blood exploded everywhere and covered the head of the new beast. Just as fast as it had broken through the mountain, this shape returned into the ground, completely destroying a part of the valley.


    Huang Cixi was unsure of what it was but this certainly was a terrifying demonic beast. She wasn''t certain, but this must have been a 9-core. Clearly, it didn''t come all the way here just to devour a small 4-core demonic beast. The girl turned her gaze toward Elder Ying. This thing was probably here because it had felt another 9-core demonic beast and decided to come feast upon it. But no demonic beast should be that powerful so close to a city.


    Periodically, cultivators organized cullings to make sure that no demonic beast became too powerful in the vicinity of human populations. Otherwise, people would be unable to live safely and form any manner of civilization. Against a 9-core demonic beast, even late Spirit Warriors were in danger. Most of the times they could win either because they worked in teams and used battle formations, or because they knew martial arts and various techniques demonic beasts could not understand, such as array formations. Having this kind of monstrosity in the land of the Huang family was not normal at all. And Huang Cixi vividly saw that in her bodyguard''s eyes.


    Before the calm could return, that shadow reemerged from the tip of another peak, soaring through the sky in the direction of Elder Ying. It was surrounded by some kind of black fog, almost like condensed dirt. And that thing was going straight for its prey. However, tongues of fire closed around Elder Ying from the wheel behind Huang Liyue. The creature collided heavily against this barrier. The shock was so intense that Huang Cixi felt the shock wave deep within her bones.


    Huge dirty claws pierced through the living flames. Those were huge blades worn out by hundreds of years of digging into the earth. Elder Ying opened his wings and a blue fire flew to reinforce the barrier of Huang Liyue. The Spirit Warrior controlled a dozen of blazing iron fans and sent them to attack the creature''s claws. But it was too late, the demonic beast was able to rip away a part of the flames and its face became visible. Just before it could do anything else, the iron fans exploded in harmony with the fire of Elder Ying. Moreover, the tongues of fires opened again, like the petals of a flower, blowing him away onto the ground below.


    For an instant, the black fog around the creature had disappeared and everyone saw what it was, a Star Mole Dragon. Even Huang Cixi knew of this creature, a 9-core demonic beast who mostly lived underground. It only left its galleries to quickly devour its preys before going back. With a slender but extremely large body, this beast was totally blind and had a strange organ around its nose, like tentacles able to feel vibrations. There was no fur at all on this beast, but its flesh was blackened by dirt and just like Elder Ying, its Qi was flowing all around it to protect it further.


    Such a beast had the ability to completely wipe out a small city. Only a group of Spirit Warriors could put up a fight against that. Luckily, it was especially strong underground, not exposed like it was right now. And its main tactic was to surprise its prey before swallowing them all of a sudden from below. However, this was the only good news right now.

 Chapter 182: Falcon and dragon

    As the Star Mole Dragon was still a bit stunned, Elder Ying propelled himself toward it. He tucked his wings and his shock wave blew away several trees in the valley. The very mountains trembled. And he reached an unbelievable speed while his Qi was gathering around him. For all intents and purposes, he became a literal dart launched toward the demonic beast.


    Just before he could reach his target, the Star Mole Dragon shoved his claws into the ground. In front of it, two walls of stone appeared from underground to act as shields. His own blackened Qi gathered all over these walls. The moment Elder Ying collided with them, they exploded into dust but his own momentum got stopped. Just before the Star Mole Dragon could attack him with its tail, tens of wheels of fire appeared on both sides as well as behind the demonic beast. Huang Liyue was controlling them to distract the creature.


    Unfortunately, her own cultivation was too weak to fight off such an opponent. It didn''t mean she had no way to help the Blue Mane Falcon though. Some rotating iron fans were able to superficially wound the tough skin of the subterranean dragon. Disregarding the attack, the Star Mole Dragon knew that its most dangerous threat was the Blue Mane Falcon. From around his nose, fleshy tentacles coiled around the bird to try and prevent his wings from opening again. Its black Qi spread all around its prey as Elder Ying regained his composure.


    Sensing the threat, Elder Ying tried to ignite his own wings with his blood but the constriction was too powerful for him. A Star Mole Dragon had an incredible physical strength as it literally spent its life digging into dense rocks. On the other hand, a Blue Mane Falcon essentially relied on his speed and on diving attacks from the air to kill his preys. He clearly lacked the strength to free himself. And the Star Mole Dragon was resisting the heat he was generating around him. Yes it was slowly burning its fleshy tentacles but it seemed not to care.


    Up in the sky, Huang Liyue continued controlling the iron fans who were harassing the demonic beast. But this was not enough at all. She pointed to the sky and several iron fans aligned themselves with her finger. From the wheel of flames behind her, several tongues of fires coiled around the rotating fans. Their rotation was becoming faster and faster as the flames around them were flattening and spreading. These iron fans were so close they looked like one unique flat plate from which blades of blazing fire were coming out.


    Suddenly, Huang Liyue sent this rotating disc hurtling toward the ground. As it was tearing and burning the air around, a powerful screech echoed throughout the valley as though a Fenghuang was soaring through the sky. It attracted the attention of the Star Mole Dragon but too late. Due to the weak attack from the fans it was experiencing, it had completely disregarded the human and it was going to pay the price for this mistake. Huang Liyue knew that even with all her strength, she would be hard pressed to penetrate its skin very deep. Hence, she didn''t aim for its body.


    Instead, the burning disc sliced through the fleshy tentacles keeping Elder Ying on the ground. The flames around the iron fans were extremely concentrated and incredibly thin. They sliced through those appendages like they were nothing at all. Even the black corroding Qi around them did nothing to protect them from being cut off. And as soon as his was free, Elder Ying opened his wings as wide as he could. With a powerful fluttering of his wings, a firestorm got created and went toward the 9-core demonic beast.


    Engulfed in flames, the Star Mole Dragon tried to go back underground but Huang Liyue had won an inch and she wouldn''t back down. The wheel of flames behind her turned into two majestic wings in which all colors seemed to harmoniously meld together. All her incandescent iron fans flew down below. This time, they didn''t attack the body of the beast, neither did they aim toward its face. This time around, Huang Liyue went for its limbs. Accompanying the iron fans falling from the sky, the wings behind her threw down feathers of fires. They almost looked like columns of flame falling down from the sky, as if the heavens were intervening in the world.


    The Star Mole Dragon did not repeat its mistake and took her attacks seriously. Using its tail, it chased away some fans and retracted its hinder legs under its body. However, it really needed its front legs with their claws to protect its head. The firestorm from Elder Ying collided with those claws and sharp discs of flames tried to cut through them. Of course, they were incredibly tough, even tougher than its own bones. Only its skull was maybe as tough as its claws. Small tendrils of flesh began to come out of the sliced tentacles around its nose as the demonic beast was slowly regenerating.


    Flapping again and gain, Elder Ying produced many firestorms to completely overwhelm his opponent. At the same time, he regained some altitude and prepared another diving attack. Completely overwhelmed by all those attacks, the Star Mole Dragon felt small cracks slowly weakening its claws. Without hesitation, it plunged them into the ground. Underground, its Qi spread and infused the ground.


    Elder Ying opened his wings which became as sharp as blades thanks to a layer of blue Qi. He dived toward his opponent to literally slice it in two halves. Just as he was about to collide with the demonic beast, triangular walls of stone emerged around it. All of a sudden, they formed a robust pyramid. Changing his course at the very last moment, Elder Ying''s wings cut one of the walls. A perfect line lacerated the stone and the wall fell beautifully on the ground. And just as the dust was settling, tens of sharp stone spikes flew from the opening toward both Elder Ying and Huang Liyue.


    Elder Ying was attacked in the back. But he felt the disturbance in the air and acted quickly. While he was flying upward, he closed his wings and spiraled several times to pass through the barrage of spikes. Not a single one even scratched him. On the other hand Huang Liyue who was farther and way smaller had no problem whatsoever to avoid all the attacks. However, she also had to divert a part of her concentration to control Huang Cixi who was floating in the air alongside her.


    They had no time to breathe. If the Star Mole Dragon went back underground, the fight would extend in time and they would be in more danger. Gathering all her spiritual senses, Huang Liyue used them against the demonic beast. A huge advantage that human Spirit Warriors had over demonic beasts were indeed their mind. What characterized a Spirit Warrior compared to a Mortal Warrior was the formation of a Soul Embryo. Once such a Soul Embryo was formed, it gave spiritual abilities to the cultivator. And in the final stages of the Spirit Warrior realm, the embryo even contained parts of the cultivator''s mind or all of it. As such, this Soul Embryo could allow a Spirit Warrior to survive the death of their body for some time. But it would ultimately disperse as well, resulting in the true death of the cultivator after several months or years depending on the cultivation level.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Right now, Huang Liyue used a spiritual attack against the Star Mole Dragon. The beast felt a gigantic pressure all over its body and got incapable of movement. Huang Liyue couldn''t maintain it for very long as the beast was trying to resist with its powerful body. But she didn''t need to because Elder Ying was used to fighting alongside humans and knew exactly what was going on. Expertly, he changed his course once more and dived toward the Star Mole Dragon.


    Elder Ying knew perfectly well where he wanted to strike. He sent another firestorm just before reaching his target, blowing away all the walls of stone protecting it. His claws penetrated the black body of the beast. And with his beak, he ripped apart pieces of flesh. Through the gaping wound, spurts of blood stained the beautiful feathers of the Blue Mane Falcon. But his own body was so hot and surrounded by Qi that all this blood began immediately to boil and some small drops even vaporized instantly. Under the effect of the pain, the Star Mole Dragon squirmed like crazy, straining Huang Liyue''s mind. She was really at the limit of her endurance. If she persisted, she could endanger Huang Cixi as she was using her mind to keep her in the air.


    Behind all the blood and flesh, a lustrous red light shined through. Elder Ying had targeted one of the 9-cores of the demonic beast. It was a gorgeous gem surrounded by various organic tissues. Now exposed, the 9-core was quickly ripped out of the beast''s body by Elder Ying. This time, the pain and fury of the Star Mole Dragon completely annihilated the spiritual pressure of Huang Liyue as the beast writhed and squirmed like a dying fish. In its furious movements, it chased away Elder Ying who spat out its 9-core away.


    Deprived of one of its 9-cores, the Star Mole Dragon had lost a huge part of its energy. But with its despair, it became even more dangerous as it was ready to die with its opponent. Sadly for the beast, it now lacked the strength to take the bird down. Elder Ying simply flew around the bleeding beast and launched several firestorms toward its wound. Writhing in pain, the Star Mole Dragon tried to protect its innards and was attacked by the claws and beak of the Blue Mane Falcon. High in the sky, Huang Liyue focused her mind and controlled the majestic wings still behind her. They came down as torrents of flames toward the creature. Twisting around the body of the beast, they invaded the wound and attacked it from the inside.


    Using this as a distraction, Elder Ying attacked another spot on the exposed belly of the beast, ripping away another of its 9-cores. The end was near. Thankfully, unlike a human cultivator with his Dantian, a demonic beast could not detonate its cores. They were just crystallized Qi that supplied energy. The massacre lasted several minutes considering that a 9-core demonic beast was extremely resilient. But as its cores were ripped away one by one and its organs exposed, the Star Mole Dragon finally stopped moving around. With one final attack, the Blue Mane Falcon landed on the head of the gigantic dragon covered now in blood and dirt. He pierced its skull with his beak and through the opening, Huang Liyue threw a column of fire inside. In one last spasm, the demonic beast died.


    As Huang Liyue and Huang Cixi were floating down toward the ground, Huang Cixi observed the valley. It had been severely damaged and a few lesser demonic beasts had been killed, unable to flee away. Of course, the Huang family had enough resources and Spirit Warriors to repair most of the damage, but in her mind, she was already calculating the cost of such an operation. One of the mountains had even been pierced through in its center by the Star Mole Dragon when it first appeared. Clearly, she couldn''t keep training here. While she was noting all the damage, she saw Elder Ying who was gathering the 9-cores remaining in the demonic beast''s body. He also collected the ones he had ripped away and put them all together. Despite the gigantic size of the demonic beast, its cores were the size of a big fist.


    9-cores were extremely rare. And all nine of them had been taken out of the demonic beast. Moreover, its body was mostly intact, apart from the head. This meant that they could collect lots of resources from it. And as she was thinking about it, Huang Liyue used her spiritual energy to extract the blood from the beast. Draining blood and other fluids was essential to preserve the body as long as possible. Even in a spatial ring, keeping a body with all its fluids inside was a terrible idea. Hence, Huang Liyue took out several containers and controlled the blood of the beast to drain its body completely. Now that the beast was dead, she could easily control mentally its innards without problem.


    A living being was always surrounded by several layers of Wei Qi. But once dead, Huang Liyue had no problem to send her spiritual senses inside the corpse and controlling it as she saw fit. After she took out all the blood and fluids, she enveloped the beast with her spiritual senses and her Qi to send it into her spatial ring. Once again, if the beast had been alive, its Wei Qi would have prevented Huang Liyue from doing that unless it was extremely weak. Moreover, only inanimate object or corpses could be sent into a spatial ring or they would instantly die. Unfortunately, it was impossible for a Spirit Warrior to literally store his armies of cultivators or demonic beasts in his spatial ring to use them on the battlefield...


    Huang Liyue took the corpse of the demonic beast but did not touch the 9-cores. Indeed, Elder Ying had kept them at his feet and showed no sign of letting them go. Although he was a demonic beast himself, Elder Ying was considered as a full-fledged member of the Huang family. And he had rights on the spoils since he had killed this beast mostly alone, Huang Liyue had just assisted him. That was why he let her take the corpse.


    Surprising everyone, Elder Ying took the nine 9-cores in his beak and walked toward Huang Cixi. Then, he let them fall right in front of the young girl. Nodding his head forward without a small cry, he made her understand that he gave them all the 9-cores. Such a gift was incredible. A single 9-core contained almost as much energy as an early Spirit Warrior''s entire body. With just one of those 9-cores, Huang Cixi could cultivate for more than a decade. Shocked at first, Huang Cixi took one of them and felt its incredible energy. Just by absorbing a little surge of Qi that naturally escaped the core, she felt several of her acupoints opening up. She even had to control herself to stop other acupoints from opening. If she went too fast without controlling the process, she could lose some benefits.


    Huang Liyue was also utterly shocked. But those 9-cores were the spoil of Elder Ying and he could do with them as he wished. Now she had to concern herself with other problems. How did such a powerful demonic beast arrive here?

 Chapter 183: Nine 9-cores

    While Huang Cixi was recovering from the excitement, Huang Liyue flew back up and expanded her spiritual senses as far as she could. Her spirit delved deep underground and she followed galleries buried within the mountains. Unfortunately, they were too deep and she failed to see that far. If she wanted to track back the origin of this demonic beast, she would need to personally go down into those galleries. First of all, she couldn''t abandon Huang Cixi, she needed to bring her back to Baziyun City as fast as possible. But more importantly, she couldn''t go down alone. It was possible that other powerful demonic beasts were close. Usually, 9-core demonic beasts were rather solitary but there was nothing usual right now. No such beast should have been able to come so close to their city without anyone noticing.


    Right now, the only things Huang Liyue could think about were the worst case scenarios. As such, she needed to warn the city immediately. Without losing any time, she sent a telepathic message to Huang Cixi.


    "We''re leaving now! I''ll protect you with my Qi but you have to ask Elder Ying to use all of his speed. We must go back at once!"


    Obviously, Huang Cixi understood because she had the same worries plaguing her thoughts. What if this was the prelude to a larger attack? Recently, she had focused on finding clues about the massacre of the Cao family and the potential presence of demonic cultivators within her own city. But even if they were not responsible for that Star Mole Dragon, the mere presence of such a demonic beast was a threat in itself. Cullings were not meant just to protect cities from powerful demonic beasts. They also served to prevent stampedes.


    Indeed, if a powerful demonic beast appeared in an ecosystem, it could produce a chain reaction. Its mere presence would make lesser demonic beasts more aggressive as they would try to get far from it. Hence, they would cause territory disputes. And demonic beasts were, for the most part, unbelievably territorial. Then, even lesser demonic beasts would get threatened by this migration. And this would cascade into a full out chaos among the demonic beasts until they would eventually tread upon human territory.


    Such an event was called a stampede. Thankfully, it had not occurred for hundreds of years, through the hard work of humanity. Besides, a stampede caused by a 9-core demonic beast would push the most dangerous predators out of their own territory. The damage would be enormous. The process could take some time as the beasts would gradually leave their own habitat. But if no one stopped it, it would get out of hand at one point and the stampede would suddenly occur. Despite many signs, it was impossible to perfectly predict such a phenomenon. Actions had to be taken as soon as possible. Some demonic beasts would have to be put down. But if hunters chose the wrong ones, they could accelerate the collapse of the feeble equilibrium among demonic beasts in the mountains.


    Understanding all that, Huang Cixi did not discuss at all. As she had recently had an epiphany about her martial art, she would have loved to train more. Sadly, it was impossible right now. Instead, she would meditate on that in her chambers. The young woman looked at Elder Ying and saw that he got the severity of the situation too. With just one glance, they understood each other.


    This time, Huang Cixi did not control her movement. She felt the invisible hand of Huang Liyue on her as her Qi and spirit levitated her. Then, she was put onto Elder Ying''s back, just behind Huang Liyue who extended her Wei Qi around herself and her young mistress. Elder Ying gathered every ounce of energy he had left and concentrated everything on his wings and his head. Both to protect himself but also to increase his speed.


    With a single flapping of his wings, Elder Ying caused a sonic boom. It had taken him around two hours to get here. But by burning away all his energy, it took him around a quarter of an hour to leave the mountains. When he got close to Baziyun City, he slowed down as much as he could. If he flew at that speed over the city, he would blow away several buildings, and maybe kill some people as well. Furthermore, his reserves of Qi were almost exhausted and he was in pain all over. A Blue Mane Falcon was the fastest demonic beast there was. But he couldn''t maintain his full speed for very long. Usually, he used it for sudden attacks or in case of a crisis, like now.


    Of course, all the experts of Baziyun City were alerted by the arrival of such a projectile. Some among the Governor''s office even feared an attack. As soon as they recognized the Blue Mane Falcon, they knew that this was the Huang family. But it woke up new worries. If the Huang family acted in such a blatant manner, there had to be a huge catastrophe incoming.


    When Huang Liyue got close enough to send telepathic messages into the Huang residence, she immediately explained everything to Family Head Huang Yi. Right now, she couldn''t contact Matriarch Huang Yufeng. And, anyway, Huang Yi was officially in charge. Furthermore, he had proved his competence again and again over the years. Despite his own granddaughter clearly vying for the position of matriarch, nobody had asked him to step down. Everyone admitted that he was the right man for the situation and that he wouldn''t favor his own kin against someone else.


    Huang Yi did not lose a single instant and sent all the information he had received to the Governor''s office. If a stampede was possible, they all needed to work together on this. In a matter of hours, all the main powers within Baizyun City were in the know and got ready to act.


    Less than an hour after he had received the news, Huang Yi had gathered all the elders of the Huang family. And in the following days, he had meetings with Governor Leng and several great characters of Baziyun City.


    They all agreed to repatriate all their forces just in case they needed to defend Baziyun City. For a few days, the atmosphere within the city got exceptionally tensed. Although they didn''t have all the information, even the mortals knew that they were getting ready for a full-scale attack. Considering how far they were from the borders, they couldn''t fear an attack by demons. This meant that they were worried about demonic beasts and, combined with the sudden arrival of Elder Ying, rumors spread.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    In the meantime, nothing major happened in the Huang residence. Even Huang Si decided not to move at all. If she were to do something against Huang Cixi right now, this would be very poorly received by everyone. In times of crisis, assuring the stability and union of their family was primordial. And even without the fear of public opinion, Huang Si also believed in this principle. As much as she wanted the position of matriarch and was ready to use many tricks, she was fully loyal to the Huang family and would never do anything to compromise its safety and its name.


    -


    This tensed situation lasted several days. During this short period, Huang Cixi decided to meditate on what she had gained. Unfortunately, she had no way of getting inside her own sea of consciousness. As such, it was impossible for her to see all the changes that had happened. Her Shen the Fire Spirit was now surrounded by ethereal wings of fire that embraced all the other characters. Up in the sky, there were strange colors moving all over. This was a bizarre mix between an aurora and a rainbow. The lights, that intertwined with each other, were in fact feathers made of faint flames. Along these feathers, their barbs were difficult to make out as they danced with the wind and melded with one another.


    And deep within the blue ocean, where even Cao Yun could not see in his own sea of consciousness, there were a few Insight Writings.


    Her mind cultivation was progressing steadily though. And Huang Cixi felt as though she would probably be too late for her duel with Gui Bei. Even by applying the principles of ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' to her Five Agents, she would probably need less than two months to condense her next Five Echoes Pearl. That was unfortunate as she would have liked to energize her Chamber of Jade before the fight. But she wasn''t worried at all. She had gained quite a lot in her understanding of martial arts.


    Moreover, as she worked on her Qi cultivation, Huang Cixi could now use the 9-cores Elder Ying had gifted to her. In fact, she only used one of them because it could last her for more than a decade. She would probably not need another one before reaching middle Mortal Warrior or even late Mortal Warrior, that was a long way down the line. Right now, she estimated that she would probably be very close to 9th-grade Mortal before her fight and would break through to Mortal Warrior in a year or so. Clearly, her speed was due to a lot of factors. The mind cultivation Cao Yun had given her was a huge one of course. But this was just one of them. Maybe the most important one was her Pure Golden Dantian.


    When she tried to open other acupoints, she used her mind cultivation and the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang in her. Applying the principles of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' to her two True Fiery Drops, she noted that activating and feeling her acupoints were both easier. But she also felt that her own Lower Dantian had an impact. She shouldn''t have been so fast, no matter what benefits she had besides that. After consuming the Life Boiling Cradle pill, her cultivation had soared all the way to 8th-grade Mortal around four months ago. In total, it would take her less than six months to break through again to 9th-grade Mortal.


    Even compared with Cao Yun, this was fast. Deep down, she knew that it would slow down eventually. But she couldn''t repress some dreams about her Qi cultivation. Even though it wasn''t the main factor for the Huang family as blood was more important, it was a huge indication of power. Regarding strength, cultivation was not everything either, but it was the necessary foundation. Moreover, Huang Cixi felt that her cultivation was rather stable. It wasn''t exceptional but manifestly above average.


    Mind cultivation, blood cultivation, Qi cultivation and martial arts, there were now lots of aspects to Huang Cixi''s strength. Even if one aspect of her strength was not exceptionally strong, it wasn''t very important for her. Incidentally, after witnessing the Qi Manifestation of Huang Liyue and the similar ability of Elder Ying, she was convinced that she would win her upcoming duel even if her opponent were to reach 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, or even 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior.


    Since the entire city was tense, nothing important happened. The Huang family even hesitated to push back the tea ceremony that was scheduled. It was an ancient tradition that went back all the way to the first ancestral matriarch. Every five years, a great tea ceremony was to be held. It was an opportunity for the young generation to show its competence in the elegant arts of tea brewing and tea tasting. Besides, this year, it would coincide with the current matriarch''s birthday. Although she probably couldn''t be present due to her seclusion, such an occasion was a great way to select the next matriarch.


    Sadly, everyone was aware that Matriarch Huang Yufeng was approaching her death. She would be 2,000 year old precisely in a couple of days. This was the theoretical limit of a Spirit Warrior''s lifespan. Even if she were to break through to 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, it wouldn''t prolong her life very much. The oldest Spirit Warrior known had died at 2,384 year old. But in the last years of his life, he had slowly lost his strength and even his mind had showed signs of decadence. Such a fate was absolutely horrendous for proud cultivators. As much as they didn''t want to die, like any other human being, they feared being powerless even more.


    Many discussions took place but it was decided to maintain the event. After all, it was rather important for the future of their family. Moreover, it was intended for the younger generation and no matter what happened they would not have to fight. If worse came to worst, only the elders would fight. In fact, having all the young generation in one spot was not such a bad idea. It would be easier to protect them. The Huang residence was guarded by many array formations, including several 5-star Heaven array formations. Even 9th-grade Spirit Warriors would have a hard time breaking them through sheer force, and demonic beasts lacked understanding of array formations altogether.


    Thus, Huang Cixi and Huang Si kept on preparing themselves for the occasion. Both of them knew that this was a decisive moment for their competition. Strangely, even though the stakes were so high, the two women had not met, ever. This tea ceremony would be the first time they would lay eyes on one another, in the flesh.


    -


    As all that was going on, Governor Leng sent the news to several other cities and to the Imperial City. If something had happened around Baziyun City, there was a risk that it could happen elsewhere as well.


    Suddenly, a strange phenomenon was spotted in the nearby rocky hills. The sky turned black in broad daylight. Although the sun was high in the sky, everything got covered with dark and ominous clouds. Monstrous thunderbolts struck the rocky hills and sent fragments of rocks flying everywhere. All the way to Baziyun City, the sound of thunder echoed in the streets.


    Suddenly, a pillar of light rose from the ground and pierced through the layer of darkness. Lightning tried to block this enormous pillar. All the electricity in the air condensed in the spot where darkness was fighting against light to push back this pillar. However, it was useless. With a huge boom, the pillar widened even more and broke through the ominous clouds of darkness.

 Chapter 184: Matriarch Huang Yufeng

    The spectacle was terrifying and fascinating at the same time. All the mortals in Baziyun City locked themselves inside and prayed to whatever they believed in. But the cultivators knew more or less what was going. Only Spirit Warriors fully understood what they were seeing.


    All the elders of the Huang family left the residence and levitated above it to have a better view of the phenomenon. Even among the younger generation, they felt something, whether they knew what it was or not. Huang Cixi ran in her courtyard and jumped on the roof of a corridor joining two pavilions. Above her, Huang Liyue was also admiring the pillar of light fending off darkness. No one could see her but her eyes were deeply emotional.


    In the depths of her heart, Huang Cixi felt the True Fiery Drops react to this blinding light. And just as she was piecing everything together, she heard the screech of a phoenix resound all the way from these rocky hills.


    The hill itself had been completely blown away and turned into rubbles. Within the pillar of light something was slowly ascending into the firmaments. Huang Cixi focused all her senses and she was able to vaguely see it. Gradually her heart was beating faster and faster as excitement was coursing through her veins. In her blood, the essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang was reacting to this light. And she knew why.


    In the center of this pillar of light, she recognized an old woman with pure white hair. Despite the light, she saw her clothes with the colors of the Huang family. Moreover, she also recognized the characteristic crown of the matriarch. It was different from the crown of the emperor obviously. It looked like a stylized golden phoenix with the wings horizontally on each side. Its peacock wheel was fully opened in the center and its claws were holding small threads studded with colorful beads.


    The old woman, Matriarch Huang Yufeng, was sitting cross-legged amidst this pillar of light and seemed perfectly peaceful, as though all this catastrophe didn''t concern her at all. Several others distinguished her form and all understood. The matriarch''s breakthrough had invited a tribulation. During the current era, the Forsaken Dao Era, seeing a Spirit Warrior breaking through into the final grade was rare beyond measure. In the kingdom, only a handful of cultivators had reached this stage. Among them were Sect Leader Xuan of the Wubei Sect and Emperor Weide, the current emperor of the Hongchen Kingdom. Even Director Ge from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had failed repeatedly.


    Having another 9th-grade Spirit Warrior was a miracle for the Hongchen Kingdom. No matter how old she was, if the Huang family could have a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior for one or two centuries, this would change everything.


    Huang Cixi was not entirely sure of what this last stage of the Spirit Warrior realm implicated, but she was completely fascinated by the spectacle. Furthermore, her blood, like the blood of everyone born into the Huang family was getting overexcited.


    Huang Liyue and the late Spirit Warriors knew that Matriarch Huang Yufeng was not attempting just a mere breakthrough. After several centuries of cultivation and many periods of seclusion, she had decided to give it her all. The truth was that she was trying to cross over directly into the Sage realm. The recent news that Spirit Master Xiao had succeeded into making a legendary pill had renewed her hopes. Sadly, the Sage realm would not extend her lifespan. But if she could accomplish such an feat, she would die without any regret.


    Being only a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, Huang Liyue didn''t understand all the subtleties. What she knew was that during the last two stages of the Spirit Warrior realm, she had to open her Third Eye and then send her Soul Embryo through her Bai Hui point. Usually, less than five years would separate these two stages. For stages of the Spirit Warrior realm, that was very short. It was possible to attempt the two steps directly one after another and what she was seeing was clearly the second step. It meant that Matriarch Huang Yufeng was already a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. But Huang Liyue was not happy at all, because if she failed the next step, her mistress could get heavily wounded, or even killed. If she succeeded though, that would be incredible. According to the legends, a Sage could perceive the laws of nature and the Dao with their spirit directly from the Heavens.


    Huang Yufeng had indeed crossed over to the 9th-grade Spirit Warrior a few weeks ago, but had kept it a secret. Despite knowing that her chances were slim, she was well aware that her life was approaching its end. She wasn''t confident in her attempt, but if she delayed it, she couldn''t try it as much as she would need to in order to succeed in the end. This didn''t mean that she was not serious, quite the contrary. Huang Yufeng desired this breakthrough to succeed with all her blood and all her soul.


    After opening the Third Eye of her Soul Embryo, she had been seeing the world in a new light. Now, she had opened her Bai Hui and was trying to send her Soul Embryo out of her body so that it could use this Third Eye directly in the world. The gigantic pillar of light around her was the physical manifestation of the Third Eye watching the world without any veil. But she had to pierce through the dark clouds. The Dao was the ultimate truth, the first principle from which all was born. It wasn''t so easily seen through. Even if a Sage could only see a small part of it, it was still protected with jealousy and greed. Those clouds were an attempt by the Dao itself to hide its true nature to the mortals, even if it was just one small part.


    Huang Yufeng had condensed eight True Fiery Drops. She was only missing one to finish the ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' of her ancestral matriarch. Sadly she knew that she lacked the blood essence to reach this completion. But it did not mean that her strength was weak. Using all of those drops of blood, she ignited the essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang within her. Behind the matriarch, a gigantic fenghuang appeared and screeched toward the sky. Around her, the pillar of light widened even more and began to resemble a pillar of flame as the light was undulating under the temperature.


    Inside this pillar of light, Huang Yufeng felt like a goddess being birthed. And those clouds were the membrane she needed to tear apart to finally be born. Instinctively, she felt as though she had never really walked the true path of cultivation. Only by reaching the legendary Sage realm would she really be qualified to be called a cultivator. Until now, like all cultivators in the Hongchen Kingdom, she had merely cultivated her body, her blood, her mind, her Qi, all things that were hers. But she had never been able to understand the Dao, the true way, the purpose of every cultivator. She had prepared her body and mind, her very soul for this new path and it was right before her eyes.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The clouds became even darker than the starless night. Thousands of lightning bolts came hurtling toward Huang Yufeng. The flames enveloping the pillar of light protected her a bit, but this wasn''t enough. Some bolts traversed the pillar and struck Huang Yufeng directly. Immediately, the Qi Manifestation of the fenghuang behind her closed its wings and protected her body. But the pillar of light was a manifestation of her Soul Embryo, as such, it was both being tempered by the thunder but also being hurt. If it took too much damage, her Soul Embryo could literally die out and she would lose her cultivation, just like Saint Xun Ke. Given her age, it would probably mean instant death.


    Still, she persisted and the fenghuang screeched once more. Every demonic beast in the vicinity got terrorized and fled. In Baziyun City no sound except for this screech could be heard. Everyone was either terrified or transfixed by the spectacle.


    From all around Huang Yufeng, an even deeper light emerged. She was pouring everything she had into this last assault. From her spatial ring, a huge rock scarred by thousands of strange markings appeared. Her light flowed through the rock that turned into dust as all the markings came to life, animated by her light. They levitated around her, forming some kind of shield.


    Several bolts of lightning penetrated the pillar but got stopped by these strange markings floating around Huang Yufeng''s body. Some of them fluttered and dissipated under the power of the clouds. But there were enough left for Huang Yufeng''s plan. Now that she was satisfied that she controlled them fully, she aligned them over her head. They formed a straight line between the summit of her head and the dark clouds above. From the fenghuang, a long feather of fire climbed and coiled around this imaginary line. Right now, the markings looked like beads on a giant rope of fire. The fenghuang closed completely its wings over Huang Yufeng who was engulfed in an inferno.


    Suddenly, the pillar of light contracted in a deafening boom as air filled the void. Just after disappearing, this gigantic pillar of light flashed one last time. But this time, it was the size of this strange line linking Huang Yufeng to the dark clouds. A concentrated strand of light shot out from her Bai Hui and ascended through this beaded rope. Some of the markings dissipated under the pressure of this light. Finally, it reached the sky and tried to pierce the clouds. For an instant, the light of the sun shined through the sky. But in the end, the small hole got filled up by the dark clouds. A powerful lighting strike came down along the same path directly toward Huang Yufeng''s head.


    Prepared for her potential failure, she was ready. All the markings came down, even faster than the lighting strike, as they were pulled in by the rope of fire from the fenghuang. And they all formed a shield over Huang Yufeng''s head. The shock of the attack was so powerful that a crater got formed on the ground below. Everyone in the Huang family had stopped breathing as they could be witnessing the very death of their matriarch. Thankfully, she proved them wrong.


    That was the last strike of the dark clouds who slowly dissipated now that Huang Yufeng had stopped her attempt to breakthrough. Only half of the markings were still visible. The other half had been destroyed either by lightning or by Huang Yufeng''s Soul Embryo during the failed breakthrough. Slowly, they entered Huang Yufeng''s head through her Bai Hui. Huang Cixi had understood what they were, those were Insight Writings. Most likely, Huang Yufeng had engraved them herself into this rock to protect herself during this breakthrough.


    And she was right, but only partially. The Insight Writings Huang Yufeng received after this failed attempt were now different. They were imbued with a part of her Soul Embryo as it was trying to see through the Dao. In fact, it had seen through it but only for an instant. And they were also imbued with a tiny fraction of the thunder summoned by this part of Dao that tried to keep her blind to it. They were now totally different from the Insight Writings she had engraved herself. They would give her a ton of information she could use to try another breakthrough in a few decades. That was one of the reasons for her hurry. Each time she failed, she would get new insights into this breakthrough and the Sage realm. But if she lacked the time to analyze these insights, they would be useless to her.


    Huang Yufeng was now levitating in a smoking crater. She opened her eyes and looked at the sky.


    "Traitorous Dao, I will see through you. Your secrets will be exposed for me to take. Even if I die soon after, this is why I cultivated my entire life. And you won''t prevent me from doing so. Send me all your tribulations and all your catastrophes, I will endure. If not in this life, in the next."


    After this prideful comment, the last remnants of the dark clouds completely dispersed.


    In Baziyun City, Huang Liyue received a telepathic message from her mistress. Even she got agitated. Considering the distance between them, Huang Yufeng''s spiritual senses could extend at least twenty times farther than hers. In fact, she could probably sense through the entire Baziyun City without any problem. It was even possible that her spiritual senses were powerful enough to sense through a cun or two of pure Void Nurtured Platinum.


    "I still need to meditate on what I learned today. I''ll be back during the tea ceremony. But the city seems to prepare for an invasion, what is going on?"


    Unable to send a telepathic message back, Huang Liyue simply mouthed her response. She knew that with her senses, Huang Yufeng could easily read her lips even with the distance. Of course, she couldn''t tell her absolutely everything, so she focused on the important news.


    As she ''listened'' to Huang Liyue, the matriarch turned her senses over Huang Cixi and Huang Si. She knew Huang Si and wanted to see her progress. There was nothing unexpected, she was progressing at the same rhythm as usual, fast. But Huang Cixi impressed the matriarch because she was now able to see through her sea of consciousness and saw both her mind cultivation, her Pure Golden Dantian and her True Fiery Drops.


    "I understand the situation. No stampede will occur for quite some time. Most demonic beasts, even the most powerful, will be too afraid to go out after my... my failure. No one may disturb my chambers before the tea ceremony. However, you and Family Head Huang Yi will both report to me the night before. I trust Family Head Huang Yi to handle the situation until then."


    Just after talking, Huang Yufeng crossed over the distance between her and Baziyun City in an instant. Apart from a few late Spirit Warriors no one saw her figure. They simply saw her disappear. And now, she was cloistered in her chambers, meditating on her failed breakthrough.

 Chapter 185: The upcoming birthday

    There were only two days before the tea ceremony. Despite the fear of a stampede, the atmosphere of the Huang family was now very joyous. This was unreal. Only a few hours before, everyone was tense and worried. Those feelings had not disappeared but now they were overwhelmed by pride and joy. Even though Matriarch Huang Yufeng had not managed to break through into the Sage realm, she had become a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. In the entire Hongchen Kingdom there were no more than three 9th-grade Spirit Warriors and their own matriarch was one of them.


    The news spread throughout all of Baziyun City with Governor Leng''s help. Even though it was upsetting the equilibrium of powers and helping the Huang family, this didn''t matter. Governor Leng was well aware that it would alleviate most of the fear and worry of the people. Not only was this a good thing for mankind, but this was also a great timing as they were getting ready for a demonic beasts stampede. A 9th-grade Spirit Warrior could probably get rid of 9-core demonic beasts without too much problem. Technically, they had the same strength but humans could use various means unreachable for demonic beasts.


    For example, Huang Yufeng had a terrifying Qi Manifestation and her spiritual senses were almost on par with Spirit Master Xiao''s. In fact, it wouldn''t be strange if she actually surpassed her in terms of raw power with her recent breakthrough. But she probably couldn''t rival her in terms of mastery. Moreover, Huang Yufeng also had a very pure bloodline from a legendary beast. And she knew a bit about array formations and battle formations. If she coordinated the Huang family, or even the entire Baziyun City during a stampede, the losses would be minimal.


    Hence, a strange calm spread through the streets. And all that tension that had built up these past few days seemed to have gone away. In truth, it wasn''t gone at all but repressed deep within everyone. After all, they all wanted to hope that everything would be fine. And now, they had a good reason to think that their hope would come true.


    -


    Huang Cixi had once more gained some insights just by witnessing her matriarch. In fact, a few cultivators who had observed her attentively also reaped some benefits. They were dependent on everyone''s perception. And with her mind cultivation, it gave an edge to Huang Cixi. Furthermore, that breakthrough was related to the spirit, the mind and the soul. Huang Cixi better understood the distinction between those three concepts. While spirit was linked to someone''s aspirations, motivations, even their will, mind referred to their intellect, their knowledge. The spirit was more Yang and the mind more Yin. Then, the soul was the foundation of life for a human. Everything derived from this soul, both spirit and mind. But the Jing also derived from that soul, so did Qi. And the body itself was a physical manifestation of that soul who had acted through Jing and Qi.


    Thanks to her mind cultivation, it was easier for Huang Cixi to grasp all these concepts. More than that, it allowed her to grasp everything that she didn''t understand. This was strange and could have overwhelmed someone else. But now that she had energized her Chamber of Ultimate Truth, she was able to see that she was only standing on a tiny island that was what she knew. And this speck of dirt was surrounded by a dark ocean of unknown. Moreover, she knew that beyond this dark ocean was an entire universe of things she did not even conceive or imagine. With her knowledge, her understanding that this knowledge was a tiny fraction of things she didn''t comprehend grew. But this was a good thing as it opened her eyes to a larger world. She was not overwhelmed by her ignorance. Quite the contrary, she was glad to realize her ignorance because it meant she could work on getting rid of it. If she had stayed a frog in a well, she would have no hope of ever discovering it.


    Many seeds of knowledge had been planted in Huang Cixi''s mind after everything that had happened and she was now meditating. Thankfully, she had already prepared all she needed for the upcoming birthday of Matriarch Huang Yufeng and the tea ceremony. For two days straight, she stayed cross-legged in her private study. She wasn''t even cultivating, she was only meditating on what she had witnessed and experienced. It was such a pity that she had only energized a single chamber of her Upper Dantian. Otherwise, she would have gained so much more.


    Moreover, her two True Fiery Drops had been agitated under the influence of Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s bloodline. She was nowhere close to forming a third True Fiery Drop but it would help her. And it would also improve her martial arts which revolved around the True Fiery Fenghuang. What she had seen behind the matriarch was the ethereal image of this legendary beast.


    Just as Huang Cixi had reaped many benefits from this unexpected event, so did Huang Si. However, she didn''t spend two whole days meditating because her benefits were unmistakably inferior. Atop of that, she also needed to get ready for the upcoming birthday of Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Originally, she had planned for the tea ceremony and was ready to crush Huang Cixi with her abilities. In front of everyone, she would show her mastery of the art of tea and win the favor of many elders who were still undecided. In fact, she had even prepared a few gifts for some elders whom she believed could switch sides. They had joined Huang Cixi''s side after the announcement of Huang L¨¹ but she was convinced that she could sway them to support her.


    Now that the matriarch had left her seclusion, Huang Si had to put into action other plans. Fortunately, she had taken this possibility into account and she knew what gift would suit her the most. After some time, Cai Ying came to her with a small wooden box. She was the former servant of Huang L¨¹. Since Huang Cixi had told her who she was really working with, Huang L¨¹ had reorganized her servants and fired Cai Ying. Obviously, she had gone back to her true mistress. And in this box was the gift Huang Si had obtained for the matriarch. She was certain that it would have a huge impact. Moreover, she had also obtained impressive tea leaves and was ready to receive the admiration of all.


    Tea, like the Five Imperial Arts was a symbol of elegance. This was known as an heavenly pursuit that could harmonize man, nature and the heavens. Mastering the tea ceremony was essential to be recognized as a great noble. A tea ceremony would include two things, tea tasting and tea brewing. Although being able to enjoy high-quality tea was important, brewing tea would show her aptitude to all. Within this tea ceremony, Huang Si intended to create a tea competition.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    That was an obvious ploy and she knew that Huang Cixi would expect it. However, she was absolutely confident in both her ingredients, her tools and her talent. The tea she would brew would be at least 5-star Heaven in quality. Hence, Huang Cixi had nothing to win by participating in the competition but she couldn''t decline without losing her face. At the very best, she could only equal Huang Si''s tea, nothing more. But if her tea''s quality was just one bit inferior, which Huang Si suspected would be the case, she would lose a few supporters. Despite the apparent tranquility of a tea ceremony, this was a hidden war, and Huang Si intended to win it.


    -


    A few hours before the tea ceremony, Huang Yufeng finally opened her chambers and allowed Huang Yi and Huang Liyue in. For two days straight, they had both waited in front of the gate even though the matriarch had told them she would only receive them before the ceremony. This was a sign of respect. In fact, other elders were still kneeling in front of her chambers and they didn''t intend to move until the matriarch''s birthday.


    Both of them walked in while bowing and didn''t dare look at the matriarch. Their clothes were very ordinary, apart from the colors of the Huang family, they were plain even. Once they reached the center of the room, they stopped and knelt. After several kowtowing, they waited for the matriarch to speak up.


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s eyes looked extremely old but her skin was as fair as a young woman. Despite her slender and somewhat petite figure, she gave off an air of authority and power. Beyond her beauty and her apparent calm, she was a storm ready to eradicate all obstacles. With a single thought, she could probably kill both of them if she wished to. By being close to her, they realized that even though she had failed to reach the Sage realm, she was not a simple 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Huang Yi had witnessed Sect Leader Xuan''s power. Emperor Weide''s actual cultivation was unknown but he had acknowledged that Sect Leader Xuan was the strongest cultivator in the Hongchen Kingdom. And right now, Huang Yi could tell that Matriarch Huang Yufeng was very close to him. He couldn''t be absolutely sure, but she did seem a bit inferior. The mere fact that he had broken through a few decades ago, almost a century ago really, was proof enough.


    Throughout the hall, Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s voice resounded.


    "Family Head Huang Yi, your granddaughter is indeed incredible. I had high hopes for you and you haven''t let me down one bit. But this granddaughter of yours exceeds every single one of these hopes. Tomorrow will certainly be a great tea ceremony."


    Those words filled Huang Yi with both joy and pride. He cherished his granddaughter a lot. Even if she had been incompetent, he would have still loved her. But thankfully, she was incredible. Not only was her blood purer than anyone else in the family, but her mind was as crafty and cunning as the matriarch''s.


    "Huang Liyue, I know that you''ve become her bodyguard and I want you to stay by her sides until the end of the month. No matter what happens with this Gui Bei, no harm must come to her. Between her and Huang Si, I still do not know who I will choose to succeed me yet. However, both of them will become pillars of our Huang family. The young generation may have hope to finally break this Forsaken Dao Era. I have the intuition that this time is coming. When I looked through the tribulation clouds, I foresaw that many things were going to change in the upcoming decades. Even if we lose a bit of face during the duel, we must protect Huang Cixi at all costs."


    "I understand, Matriarch." Huang Liyue hesitated a bit. "But I do believe that Huang Cixi will be able to triumph."


    "Oh?" Matriarch Huang Yufeng examined her former bodyguard for a while. "If she''s managed to gain you to her cause, I do imagine that she is even more impressive that I thought. I sense that you hide some things from me... But I''ll let it slide for now. You''ve never once betrayed my trust and you have earned it."


    "Thank you, Matriarch. I promised Huang Cixi to keep quiet about certain things until the end of the month. I am thankful for your magnanimity."


    Beside Huang Liyue, Huang Yi was dumbfounded. His granddaughter was keeping secrets from the matriarch... Usually, this could be construed as treason. Thankfully, Matriarch Huang Yufeng trusted her former bodyguard and had taken a liking to his granddaughter. Hopefully, Huang Cixi knew what she was doing.


    "Now, I''d like to talk about other matters. The shadow of both demonic cultivators and demons alike are upon our kind. With my new spiritual senses, I looked through the vicinity and the demonic beasts are indeed close to a stampede. There are probably other 9-core demonic beasts lurking around. And I do not believe that they came here alone. Someone brought them here. And even more than that, someone made sure that we knew they were here."


    -


    Out in the wild, Xiong Nixie was beating up a man. Using a powerful whip, he was tearing apart his flesh bit by bit. The poor victim was biting into a piece of wood to avoid screaming. After more than a hundred lashes, Xiong Nixie stopped and kicked the bleeding man away. He was a late Mortal Warrior and yet, his flesh had been completely ripped away, some of his vertebrae were even visible.


    "Next time you fail, I won''t be so nice! Leave!"


    As the agonizing Mortal Warrior left, Can Mouye entered the tent of his master.


    "Master Xiong! The Star Mole Dragon has been slain. Baizyun City knows about the stampede."


    With a very dark air, Xiong Nixie looked at Can Mouye. He had rage in his eyes but was trying to control himself. It was so rare that Can Mouye didn''t believe it himself.


    "Good..." His tone was saying the opposite of his words. "That Mo Tian will pay for it one day... Using my precious beasts as mere bait... I swear!"


    Sensing the incredible rage of his master, Can Mouye knew that he had to erase his presence as much as possible or he would be used to vent it. Luckily for him, an unsuspecting servant opened the tent and gave a report to Xiong Nixie.


    "Venerable Xiong, we''ve found food for your beasts."


    As soon as he spoke, the whip still in the hands of Xiong Nixie lashed toward his face. The poor man was only a middle Mortal and his head got cut in half before he could even comprehend what he had done wrong.


    "Food?" An evil smile disfigured Xiong Nixie. "Can Mouye, bring the food to my darlings."


    Following behind his disciple, Xiong Nixie saw several mortals and a couple of Mortal cultivators tied up on the ground. They had been stripped of their clothes and had many wounds all over their bodies. In his mind, Xiong Nixie only saw them as pieces of meat. Can Mouye took the rope binding them and dragged them toward some cages. Inside were monstrous demonic beasts.


    The poor captives pleaded and even tried to slow down their march with no success. No one was strong enough to resist a Mortal Warrior. And even if they could have, Xiong Nixie was also there. Can Mouye bound them to the cages and walked back. Then, Xiong Nixie used his mind to open the cages. All the beasts swooped down on the humans and devoured them as they screamed in agony. Watching the scene, Xiong Nixie was delighted.

 Chapter 186: Tea ceremony

    Given the strange atmosphere in Baziyun City, the Huang family decided to open its tea ceremony to the main families of the city. Usually, this ceremony was reserved to the members of the Huang family. But as it coincided with Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s 2,000th birthday and her recent breakthrough, it was decided on very short notice to invite the heads of several other families. It would also allow them to further talk about the incoming problem with the demonic beasts. Right now, no one was absolutely certain that a stampede was actually going to happen. But they still needed to prepare a few plans to consider all possibilities. And this would also showcase the new strength of Matriarch Huang Yufeng to everyone.


    As it had been decided so fast, only the heads of nine big families were invited. Fortunately, they had already gifts prepared for Huang Yufeng in case she ever got out of seclusion. As such, this wasn''t a problem. Moreover, with the recent news of the appearance of a 9-core demonic beast and the looming threat of a stampede, all families had followed the example of the Huang family. They all gathered and confined themselves in their residence. So all the heads of these families were available.


    For a few hours, they gathered in the Dawning Sun pavilion. Arguably, this was the most beautiful pavilion in the Huang residence and as the sun was rising, the view was spectacular. The tea ceremony would last all day long as there were many rites to adhere to while brewing and tasting tea. According to the School of Ren Dao, those rites were essential to the well-being of society.


    Family Head Huang Yi was there to welcome the heads of the nine families. Among them were obviously Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang Shaolong. The latter was a bit embarrassed to be here because he knew that Huang Cixi would be an important character in the ceremony. As of now, he had strictly adhered to all her orders. And to be honest, he found that her ideas were all brilliant. They weren''t too sophisticated or convoluted, but very subtle and efficient. He should have been happy and yet he was embarrassed. Indeed, he had already failed in one of the missions she had tasked him with. In order to compensate, he had been very zealous in other tasks, but he had to announce his failure to the one person who could destroy his entire life, and he had to do so in her own residence...


    As the three men were talking among themselves, the other guests did not dare disturb them at all. They were literally the three superpowers of the entire Wu Province. Governor Leng was probably the most competent governor of the Hongchen Kingdom regarding politics. Maybe some of the governors of provinces bordering demon territories were better than him, but their main competence was oriented toward the military sciences of course. Hall Master Fang Shaolong was also a great name of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Historically, he was the man who had climbed the fastest through the ranks of the organization.


    Finally, the family head of the Huang family was obviously a terrifying existence. Even though the Huang family''s main power was in the Wu Province, they had side branches in many other provinces, albeit weaker than the main branch. The ancestral matriarch of the Huang family went all the way back to Emperor Nuwa, and they had the blood of a legendary beast coursing through their veins. The seven other guests were powerful in their own right, but not quite to this extent.


    So that they wouldn''t feel too estranged, other elders came to welcome them while Family Head Huang Yi kept entertaining the two main actors of Baziyun City. The man who had been chosen to lead the elders today was Elder Huang Jian, Huang L¨¹''s father.


    Very soon, the Dawning Sun pavilion got crowded by many people. There were several tables organized around the main one. The latter was made up of three tables actually. The first one was dominating all the others as it was the table reserved for Matriarch Huang Yufeng, Family Head Huang Yi and Elder Huang Jian. Then, two other tables were set up on both sides to receive the heads of the nine families, the first seat of each one reserved to Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang respectively.


    A little bit farther was also another table which would accommodate the most prominent members of the Huang family''s younger generation. After the elders and the heads of the nine families took place, the younger generation arrived as well. Among them, Huang Cixi, Huang Si and Huang L¨¹ were all guided toward that very table, directly faced with Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s table.


    For the very first time, Huang Cixi saw the face of her rival. Obviously, she had seen paintings, but she had never met her in person. Despite their rivalry, they stayed very cordial.


    "Sister Huang Cixi, I heard a lot about your achievements. This is an honor to finally meet with you. Let''s uphold the glory of our name in front of all those outsiders."


    "Sister Huang Si, you praise me too much. My meager achievements are nothing compared with your natural talents. I am sure that you alone will be enough to steal everyone''s admiration. I''ll just try not to embarrass myself too much."


    As they were discussing in such roundabout ways, Huang L¨¹ got frustrated. And she barged into their conversation.


    "Sisters, stop being so hypocritical. I don''t have much interest in tea, but don''t tell me you don''t plan on having a tea competition." She specifically turned toward Huang Si. "And don''t think that I forgot about your little spy in my chambers. I hope she gave you all the juicy details of my life..."


    Faced with such an aggressive glare from Huang L¨¹, her former rival just laughed it off. Cai Ying had warned her but still, she didn''t expect for her personality to have changed that much. To be more precise, her personality was the same, but unrestrained. She had always been aggressive and direct, but now she had let go of most of the decorum she had been trying to create around her.


    "Sister, please do not be so harsh on me. Didn''t you do some tricky things as well? We have no more reason to be angry with each other, right? I swear I''ll make it up to you one day."


    "You can make it up to me right now by announcing that you renounce your ambitions and let Sister Huang Cixi become the next matriarch."Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Ha ha ha! Sister, it is really not a good omen to talk about such a sensitive matter during Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s birthday. We all hope that she stays our matriarch for hundreds if not thousands of years."


    "Humph! I won''t win with words with you! Just wait a few years and I''ll win with my fists. Let''s see how you get out of this!"


    Shaking her clenched fist, Huang L¨¹ walked ahead and quickly took her seat at the table. Since she had neglecting her Qi cultivation and martial art training to embrace worldly pursuits of aesthetic and nobility, she was no match for her former rival, yet. But she intended to go back to her training now that she didn''t care about becoming matriarch anymore. In less than a year, she was convinced that she would be as strong as her sister. Just like her, Huang Si had not devoted a lot of her time to the pursuit of actual strength. Indeed, she was too busy with trying to secure her future ambitions.


    Huang L¨¹ and Huang Cixi looked at each other with a smile that was hiding a lot of things.


    "Sister, let''s put aside our rivalry for now. This is a great occasion for our family. We shouldn''t spoil the quality of the tea with our ambitions."


    "Of course. I am sure that we will enjoy the finest tea of the entire kingdom."


    Obviously, Huang Cixi was not naive enough to believe her. However, decorum was always important for a ruler.


    The two of them joined Huang L¨¹ and sat down on either side of the young woman.


    -


    A few minutes after everyone had arrived, a servant finally announced the entrance of Matriarch Huang Yufeng. All the guests, without any exception, stood up and bowed toward her seat. The old woman appeared from thin air and descended from the sky onto her seat. Her mere presence inspired awe to all cultivators. Even without trying to impress them, her aura was tyrannical.


    "Dear guests, this is a great honor to meet you again. Please, sit, sit." Once again, the heads of the nine families bowed to show their respect, and sat down. Then, Matriarch Huang Yufeng turned her eyes toward her family members.


    "Juniors, I have longed to see you all again. My seclusion lasted a long time and seeing that you took such good care of my residence is dear to my heart. I know that the times can be trying, but our Huang family stood tall against all threats. And mere demonic beasts will not scare us. In all of you, the blood of our ancestor is strong and plentiful. When the times require it, you will all be up to the challenge. But for now, let us old bones protect you. Today we will celebrate my 2,000th birthday. We will celebrate my breakthrough into the 9th-grade of the Spirit Warrior realm. We will also celebrate our entire Huang family who saved and protected humanity by Emperor Nuwa''s side. For a day, forget about the troubling times ahead of us all and enjoy a bit of peace and tranquility. You may sit."


    "This junior thanks Matriarch Huang!" As one man, all the members of the Huang family, even the elders, bowed several times while acclaiming their matriarch.


    Then, many servants brought out several cups and served everyone according to their rank. The tea was a bit red and reminded people of the colors from the rising sun. In the Dawning Sun pavilion, the colors of the dawn were still vivid both in the sky, in the ponds and even in the colors of the flowers and the plants. The first one to taste the tea was obviously Matriarch Huang Yufeng. When she drank the first sip of the beverage, the audience waited for her words.


    "This is Dew Opening Heart, a dried root that can only be found in demon territory. Its flavor is quite exotic indeed. Although bitter at first, it quickly spreads through your palate and brings a great serenity as though all your emotions and worries were washed away with the morning dew. A true gem."


    After those words, the heads from the nine families finally tasted the tea as well. And when they were done giving out their own appreciation of it, all the guests could at last savor this rare tea. Just like the matriarch had said, the effects were quite extraordinary. The taste itself was very foreign to what they all knew before. Such a Dew Opening Heart was almost impossible to get for most cultivators. Only some provinces who had skirmishes with the demons could obtain some of it, and in extremely rare occasions. Hence, everyone took their time to really appreciate this taste and its effect on their mind.


    The tea ceremony kept going as everyone talked over some various teas that were quite unusual. Moreover, some decided to showcase their mastery of arts. Some young boys decided to play various instruments, such as a guqin and a pipa, while a young lady sang a poem about Matriarch Huang Yufeng. The atmosphere was extremely relaxed. An elder painted the table of Matriarch Huang Yufeng and the heads of the nine families to immortalize this scene. Slowly many conversations began between the younger generation, and then, the nine family heads also started to talk about various things. Most of their topics revolved around tea and art. But some added discussions around cultivation, religion and philosophy.


    When the sun was at the highest point in the sky, an elder decided to speak out loud.


    "Everyone, please, may I have your attention?" He didn''t speak very loud but he used both his Qi and his spiritual senses to make sure that everyone heard him as though he was talking directly to each one of them. "Matriarch, forgive my rudeness. It just seems like this would be a great opportunity to show our esteemed guests the hospitality and competence of our Huang family. Savoring a tea after witnessing a tea master brewing it is probably the best way to enjoy it. And I am sure that many young people among our juniors would be delighted to show Governor Leng and his peers what they are capable of."


    Huang Cixi had noted that this elder had been waiting his moment for quite some time. She remembered him as Huang Lei, an elder supporting Huang Si. Instead of asking for a direct confrontation with Huang Cixi, she had been more subtle. Having an elder bring up this matter would not open her up to criticisms. And she could now show her tea brewing to all without any problem.


    "You are indeed correct, Elder Huang Lei. Is there anyone among my juniors who feel like they are up to the task?"


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng was not surprised or angry at all. She knew quite well that at least someone would use this opportunity to shine. And as long as they did shine, it wasn''t a problem. To the contrary, it was a good thing to show their competence to the guests. However, no one dared to take up the challenge. They all knew that this elder was supporting Huang Si and that this was a way for her to display her talent. Furthermore, this was also an indirect challenge to Huang Cixi. If she didn''t try to compete, many elders who were still indecisive after Huang L¨¹''s announce would change sides.


    The first one to stand up was Huang Si.


    "Matriarch. Since no one feels confident, I will have to trouble you. Please allow me to show my meager talent in front of everyone. I sincerely hope that I won''t bring any shame to our good name..."


    Just after her claim, Huang Cixi also stood up. She had no choice but to accept this indirect challenge. But, of course, she had been prepared since the first day.


    "Matriarch. Since Sister Huang Si is ready to accept this burden, I will not leave her alone. Please let me display my humble knowledge in the art of tea."

 Chapter 187: Tea competition

    In front of the nine family heads and the leaders of her own family, Huang Si was kneeling in front of a very small table. On it were several tea tools made from porcelain and jade. There were grandiose engravings and paintings on the teapot, on the teacups and on all the various handcrafted tools. Huang Si appeared perfectly calm as a pot of water was slowly heating on a stove.


    The stove was very ordinary. Tea was not the domain of extravagance. Even though fine art and minute details were important, the actual process of brewing tea was ancestral. Some historians even thought that it predated Emperor Nuwa. A few went beyond and claimed that this art had existed since the Legendary Era but no actual document had ever been able to prove such an assertion. Still, it was one of the major ceremonies among nobles, and a must-do for anyone harboring any political ambition.


    Huang Si was following the perfect ritual of tea, the Road of Milk and Peace. It was made of twenty-four steps that one had to adhere to. On her right were a few incense sticks burning slowly while she had asked some friends to play a specific music. After kowtowing to her audience, she took a small pot of tea leaves. The moment she opened the lid, a faint fragrance was detected by the Spirit Warriors with their superior senses. Those leaves were Exquisite Purple Jasmine. This was one of the rarest and most prized teas in the Hongchen Kingdom. That was the very tea that Chief Elder Suxian had lost and won back with his bets against Chief Elder Luoming.


    Using her hearing, Huang Si was trying to determine when the water was at the right temperature. The moment she decided that it was good, she stopped the fire and took the water pot. As a Mortal Warrior, she could have used her Qi to make all those movements. But while brewing tea, it was best to stay humble and modest. As such, she had to behave as though she was a mere mortal.


    In front of her, she had put the teapot inside another plate and several teacups all in the same formation. There were five servings made of three cups each, also set up into small plates. Their position was strictly the same and they were all thought out in regards to the rest of the tea tools. Just before her, there was a bowl that was a bit smaller than the teapot itself.


    At first, Huang Si poured the hot water in the teapot and in the cups. With a small pincer, she took each cup and emptied it into the plate it was in. That way, she washed the cups, warmed them up and kept them warm with the hot water that was now in the plates they were in. She also did the same with the teapot and the tea bowl.


    Before going to the next step, she changed the incense sticks. Then, she filled the teapot with the rest of the hot water, closed its lid and put the water pot away.


    With a tea scoop, she took several dried leaves of Exquisite Purple Jasmine. She smelled them and put them back. Several times she repeated the process until the fragrance was exactly was she was looking for. Now satisfied of her leaves, she put them into the tea bowl. When brewing tea, one had to consider every single detail and adjust their brewing to the environment around them. Every single leaf was different and Huang Si wanted the perfect tea for this ceremony. She wasn''t just being pretentious. In fact, right now, she was wholeheartedly focused on her tea brewing. Even the competition with Huang Cixi had disappeared from her mind. Having peace of mind was essential for the tea ceremony.


    Moreover, the spectacle surrounding the brewing of tea was also part of the tasting itself. Seeing the process being artistically done before their eyes would enhance the flavor of the tea for the audience.


    With a small mortar, she ground the leaves into a fine powder. Although she was a Mortal Warrior, she didn''t use much strength at all and the process took quite some time. At the end, all the incense sticks had been burned away.


    Once more, she changed those incense sticks. Taking the teapot in hand, she began to pour a very small amount of almost boiling water on the Exquisite Purple Jasmine powder. As the hot water came into contact with the tea powder, many bubbles formed and a faint aroma spread in the air. Huang Si took a chasen, a tea whisk. Expertly and with utmost care, she whipped the water and the powder. After several minutes of effort, a white foam had appeared on the surface of the water and was at least five times the actual volume of water below.


    Again, she poured hot water into the bowl in a circular motion. And just after that, she whipped the bowl to maintain the white foam. During a tea competition, this white foam was known as the milk surface. It wasn''t milk of course, but it was white and had the consistency of milk. Many times, Huang Si repeated the same process until the bowl was completely full. In fact, half of the bowl volume, at least, was made up of the milk surface.


    Each time, new fragrances and aromas, combined with the incense sticks she was using, spread throughout the crowd. Even the incense sticks she was using had been carefully selected to complement the natural fragrance of the tea with no alteration. Trying to do too much was also an error during a tea competition. Simplicity and humility were important.


    When finally the milk surface almost spilled out of the bowl, Huang Si stopped. It was adhering to the bowl and formed a thin dome over the tea bowl. The time had come to serve the tea. Just like she had done at the beginning, she used the rest of the hot water to rinse a wooden tea ladle. Then, she delicately went through the milk surface, taking great care not to rupture it. If the tea became visible through this milk surface, this would be a failure on her part. The tea bowl had to keep this thin layer of white foam at all times.


    Now that both the tea and a layer of the milk surface was in the ladle, she poured it into a first set of three cups. Huang Si continued the process until all of the fifteen cups got filled completely. Putting down all other tea tools, Huang Si tried to grab the teacup that was the closest to her. When her hand touched the cup, she realized that it was still a bit too hot and waited a few instants.


    After several seconds, she was satisfied by the temperature of the cup and brought it to her mouth. First she smelled the tea. Then, she drank a small sip to make sure that everything was perfect. And it was. This tea was undeniably a 5-star Heaven tea. As she was done, she simply gestured for her guests to drink. Five servants came to take each serving and brought them to the audience. The serving in which Huang Si had drank one of the cups was brought to Huang L¨¹ and Huang Cixi while all the other cups were brought to the family heads and the table of Matriarch Huang Yufeng.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    No one dared take a sip before the matriarch, but they all brought the cup to their mouth in order to smell the tea fragrance. Clearly this tea was at least a 1-star Heaven tea. Many arts and crafts were judged according to the same system of Earth, Human and Heaven. There were also two last grades which were Spirit and God. Each grade was always different in nature, while each star was just different in degree. An Earth tea was what any mortal could brew. A Human tea was able to not only calm the body and mind, but also infuse Qi into someone''s body. In fact, it sometimes had a small impact on the Jing, the very essence of someone.


    Finally, a Heaven tea was able to act upon body and mind, upon Qi and Jing, and upon the very soul of someone. For Spirit Warriors who were nurturing a Soul Embryo, such a tea was heavenly. According to the legends, one day a mortal had consumed a God tea. In only a few days, he went through all the stages of cultivation and reached the Spirit Warrior realm. As no one had been able to drink such a nectar, it was impossible to know how exaggerated this tale was.


    All the audience was salivating before this tea. Everyone was impatient but Matriarch Huang Yufeng was not hasty. After a thorough analysis of the fragrance, she finally took a sip. That was the signal the other family heads were waiting for. One by one, while respecting both status and seniority, they took their first sip.


    What they felt was incredible. The bitterness didn''t last long and was soon replaced by sweetness and calm. The heat of the tea spread through their entire bodies. They could feel their muscles relax and get infused with a quiet energy. Then, their very Dantian, both the Lower Dantian and the Middle Dantian, got filled with energy as the heat of the tea was melding with their own Qi. A few of them were able to feel some surges of energy going into their Jing, their vital essence and producing a bit more Qi for some time.


    Then, this quiet energy entered into their Upper Dantian and into their souls. As most of them were Spirit Warriors, they also felt it enter their Soul Embryo, no matter how developed it was. Not only did this tea appease their minds, it also impacted their very souls. There was no doubt at all that this tea was a 5-star Heaven tea. This was the highest grade a tea master was able to reach in the current era. Moreover, Huang Si was only thirty-two years old. To tell the truth, some of the family heads were not sure whether they would be able to brew such a tea themselves. Hall Master Fang Shaolong was sure that he wouldn''t as he had very little interest in the art. It was an art for the nobles and those who wanted to ascend to power through aristocracy.


    Hall Master Fang Shaolong was at his core a merchant and a financier. Among the three great characters of the city, he had the weakest cultivation and he wasn''t particularly versed in the Five Imperial Arts. However, he was knowledgeable enough about them because he needed to interact with people who were and because he needed to be able to evaluate the value of almost any product. Just by watching Huang Si brew the tea, Fang Shaolong had known that the result would be a 5-star Heaven tea thanks to his experience.


    The last ones to taste the tea were Huang Cixi and Huang L¨¹. Both of them had to admit that Huang Si was quite talented indeed. Huang L¨¹ looked at the girl she now strangely felt closer to, Huang Cixi. Seeing that her face was as calm as ever, she wasn''t sure whether she was confident or just hiding her worries.


    Soon after, the family heads began to speak among themselves.


    "Isn''t the water used Tranquil Melancholy Raindrops?"


    "Indeed, this is almost as rare as the Exquisite Purple Jasmine itself."


    "But the quality of the ingredients is not the main attribute of this tea. Both Huang Si''s state of mind and adherence to the rituals helped enhance their effects. A bad tea maker could easily spoil such fine ingredients."


    "Quite right. But I do find that she went a bit extravagant, what with both the music and the incense..."


    "Come on, old man. Young people want to impress their elders, that is only natural. And neither the fragrance of the incense nor the melody of the guqin were too heavy. They stayed in the background and only complemented her work. Tell me, old man, when did you savor such exquisite tea for the last time?"


    The old man who had spoken got reprimanded by an even older woman and got annoyed.


    "Tss... Who is old here? But you do have a point..." He then took another sip and stayed silent.


    A bit annoyed, the old woman calmed herself so that the taste of the tea didn''t get spoiled by her state of mind.


    During several minutes, all the family heads gave their impressions. The younger audience and the elders surrounding the main table had no way to distinguish the true quality of the tea. But after witnessing Huang Si''s methods and hearing the comments, they realized how talented she was. Unfortunately for her, she already had a great reputation. As such, her accomplishment didn''t cause much of a surprise. In fact, it was more or less expected of her by the crowd.


    After the discussions finally stopped, all eyes turned toward Matriarch Huang Yufeng.


    "Sirs, do you have an opinion?"


    The first one to answer her was Elder Huang Jian.


    "I do not think it is proper of me to give my impressions yet. I do not wish to influence anyone before Huang Cixi can show off her own competence."


    "Indeed. Elder Huang Jian is right. We have to witness both contestants before reaching a conclusion. Any word we would use to talk about Huang Si''s tea could be interpreted in many ways. It is best for us to stay quiet until all our esteemed guests have been able to give their own impressions and pass their own judgment."


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng smiled at these answers. In Huang Yi, she suspected a bit of favoritism for his own granddaughter, but she knew he would stay fair in his final judgment. On the other hand, Elder Huang Jian strangely seemed to favor the young girl as well. It was very subtle, but she could sense something in his way of talking. After all, she knew him very well. Without letting it show on her face, she was somewhat surprised. Huang Cixi seemed to be even more capable than she had initially thought.


    "You are indeed both right. We cannot let inconsiderate words sway the final judgment of the family heads. Huang Si, can you wait for our opinion a little while?"


    Huang Si was still kneeling in front the main table with her tea tools in front of her. Before answering, she kowtowed.


    "This junior understands, Matriarch. I am sure that my junior sister will also present a formidable tea to our esteemed guests."


    Without standing up, she walked backward. Finally, she went back to her seat. After her, some servants took the tea tools away and set up new tools in their stead. And at last, Huang Cixi went in front of the small table and knelt, ready to prepare her own tea.

 Chapter 188: The crow brews a unique tea

    Huang Cixi began her own brewing. Contrary to her rival, she used neither music nor incense. She strictly adhered to all the decorum of a tea competition. Just like her rival, she waited for the water to be at the very limit of boiling before taking it off the stove. But contrary to her, her senses were way more precise. The true experts among the audience could determine that she had stopped the heating process at the perfect moment.


    However, they got surprised when they saw the water she had used, the Starry Boiled Milk. Contrary to its name, it wasn''t real milk but water indeed. But it was a white nectar with a consistency similar to that of milk. Moreover, it had a distinct smell and a sweet flavor that was a bit heavy. As such, it could easily take over the flavor of her tea. But none of that was what shocked the audience. After all, it wasn''t rare for people to make unusual associations during a tea competition. The very tea of Huang Si was a unique mix as well. What drew everyone''s attention was the fact that Starry Boiled Milk was only a 2-star Heaven water.


    The name came from the aspect of this water of course, but also from the fact that it could boil at very low temperatures compared to usual water. Furthermore, it could only be found in caves resulting in the impact of some specific celestial bodies. After going through the atmosphere and impacting the ground, some celestial bodies had created a few caves on the Piaolu planet. And they retained some strange attributes. It happened that a few of them were slowly filtering the water from above into a very sweet nectar, the Starry Boiled Milk. Hence, it was pretty rare all things considered. But compared to the Tranquil Melancholy Raindrops Huang Si had used, a 5-star Heaven water, it was very common.


    Of course, the rarity of a product meant nothing in the absolute. After all, a great tea master could produce a wonderful tea with just water and the simplest tea herbs. However, it probably meant that Huang Cixi had a very specific idea in mind. Thus, they all waited to see which tea she would choose to brew with this water.


    After retrieving the pot of water, Huang Cixi cleansed and rinsed the tea tools in the most perfect of manners. Once again, her advanced mind cultivation gave her an edge on Huang Si. Among the audience, the family heads were really experts in the art of tea. It was a must for anyone who hoped to have a political carrier, especially in the capital of a province. As such, they clearly saw many details that the younger generation had neglected. One of them was her respect of the timing. And another detail was the absence of almost all useless movements.


    Some of the family heads had the impression of watching a dance. Huang Cixi was efficient and elegant. The art of tea resided in its simplicity. And eliminating all useless movements was primordial. Besides that, respecting the perfect timing to adhere to the ancient ritual was also extremely difficult. Some were worried because they feared that Huang Cixi would prioritize the ritualistic timing rather than the rhythm of the tea. Each brewing was different because every single herb required its own duration, depending even on the water, on the temperature, on the climate.


    Taking a tea scoop, Huang Cixi finally showed which tea she had chosen when she opened a small wooden box, Crow Feathers Oolong. Certainly, this was one of the blackest tea there was. Its very name came from its color which had reminded a few poets of the dark feathers of a crow in the night. Once more, the audience was surprised if not shocked and puzzled. This tea was a very medium quality as it was considered a 3-star Human herb. Moreover, this particular brand of tea was known for its deep bitterness. If it wasn''t prepared in the correct manner, it could become so astringent that it was hard to drink.


    Huang Cixi had chosen a sweet water to go with a bitter tea. Many were anxious whether one flavor would not clash with the other or mask it completely. However, right now, the interests of several of them were piqued. Contrary to Huang Si who had a great reputation and had used well-known ingredients of extremely high-quality, Huang Cixi was unknown. Apart from a very few people who had gotten some intel about the recent refinement of the Life Boiling Cradle Pill by Spirit Master Xiao and Spirit Master Hua, no one knew that Huang Cixi was the one who had a Pure Golden Dantian. The only way they could know would be to use their spiritual senses to see through her body. Obviously, this would be seen as an insult by the Huang family and no one would dare do so in their own residence under the gaze of Matriarch Huang Yufeng.


    Contrary to Huang Si, Huang Cixi only took one scoop of the herbs. But she had chosen very carefully. Using her mind cultivation to enhance her smell, she had known exactly where the right flavors were in the box of Crow Feathers Oolong. After grinding the herbs, its strong fragrance spread throughout the courtyard. Indeed, it was extremely powerful. But the most delicate noses were able to smell the sweetness of the Starry Boiled Milk behind it.


    Huang Cixi continued her brewing. Thankfully, she did not commit the mistake some family heads had feared. She respected the perfect timing of both the ritual and the tea. Thanks to her sharp senses, she knew precisely what quantity of water was needed, how long she had to whip the tea and how long she had to let it rest between each cycle. When she finally took the tea ladle, there was a magnificent milk surface. It was a pure white, almost the color of the Huang family''s hair. Not a speck of the deep blackness of the tea could be seen through.


    After seven breaths, she gestured that the tea could be savored. Just like a few hours ago, the servants brought the teacups to all the audience in the order of their ranks. Just by having the teacup in front of them, they could smell the harmony between the sweetness of the water and the bitterness of the tea. Clearly, it seemed like it was a success for Huang Cixi. For the most knowledgeable, this tea looked like it was definitely an upper Heaven tea. But as the combination was audacious, they couldn''t be sure of its actual rank before drinking it. Huang Cixi had won in terms of originality, but it would be a pity if she had done so at the expense of the quality.


    Once again, everyone waited for Matriarch Huang Yufeng to drink first. She lost almost no time examining the tea. Huang Cixi had chosen the perfect moment for her tea to be savored. As such, she enjoyed its aroma only an instant before taking a sip. After her, all the audience began drinking this unique tea. They were surprised that the bitterness was the first flavor in their mouth but it enhanced the sweetness that came right after. This sweetness flowed through their body and nourished their innermost tissues. Within their Lower Dantian, their Qi seemed overjoyed and coursed through their meridians, amplifying the effect of the tea. Moreover, this pleasure spread through their vessels all the way into the Upper Dantian.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    For an instant, the most perceptive of them could witness the ocean in their sea of consciousness turning white and milky and the sky black and starry. Matriarch Huang Yufeng who had recently attempted to force her Soul Embryo out of her body felt as though she had regained all her strength. Her Soul Embryo had been weakened a lot. But now she had the feeling that she could bring out its all strength once more. Alas, this wasn''t actually the case. Still, this feeling was incredible for as long as it lasted.


    Even if it wasn''t actually healing her soul, the two teas she had savored just now had soothed it a lot. She had tried to break through before her birthday because she was worried by her actual lifespan. This last couple of days, she had been worried whether she had made the right decision or not. Now that she had tasted both those teas, she knew she had made the right choice. Experiencing them was a great thing for her, and it could even help her understand the insights she had received a bit faster.


    All the other family heads were also delighted to have such a chance. Even though they were used to drinking great teas, a tea competition always brought new tastes and new combinations they would never have thought about. Every time this was a unique experience. But then, it caused the quality of tea to sometimes be inferior as the competitors were trying out new things to gain the favor of the audience. Today, they had tasted two teas that were undoubtedly 5-star Heaven teas of the highest tier.


    After savoring the tea of Huang Cixi, they were now faced with a tough challenge. They had to judge which one was better... Tasting tea was easier and more pleasant than choosing a victor.


    This time, Huang Yufeng broke the silence first.


    "Huang Cixi, thank you. You may wait with your sisters."


    "This junior thanks the Matriarch. This junior thanks the esteemed guests."


    While kneeling, Huang Cixi left and returned to her seat besides Huang L¨¹ and Huang Si. The poor Huang L¨¹ felt a very awkward mood surrounding her. Although her sisters were both smiling, she felt that they were engaged in a fierce battle. And she felt thankful to Huang Cixi. She really did not miss this kind of tension hidden behind cordial smiles. Furthermore, all eyes were now on the family heads and the two women vying for the position of matriarch. As none of them had failed, this would be difficult to really conclude who had won. It would depend on the commentaries of the family heads who were now the judges of this competition.


    "Dear guests, feel free to share your opinions. My family will speak last so as to not influence you. Please be honest."


    Now that they had the authorization of the matriarch, the debate began. The same old man spoke first.


    "I told you that Huang Si had been too extravagant. Look at this young lass. She was perfect. With inferior ingredients and without any exterior help, she produced a tea as good as hers, if not better."


    "Old man, you go a bit too far. Yes, her ceremony was irreproachable. On that aspect, I admit that she has won. But I cannot affirm that her tea was better. In fact, it wasn''t even as good. The two tastes were not that harmonious in my views."


    "Old woman! The age has dulled your senses, that''s why!" The old man was tired of being called old and threw it back to the woman who kept disagreeing with him.


    "You...!"


    "Come on, come on. Let''s not resort to our basest instincts. Not after two incredible teas. If you want my opinion, the flavors of both were exceptional. And the effects on the body, Qi and soul were very close to each other. I do believe that it will depend on the taste of each individual. But in my opinion, I would say that Huang Si has won by a small margin. I do not think that using music and incense was a bad thing at all. Yes, tea is about simplicity, but it is also about art and appreciating it alongside nature."


    "I have to disagree. In my views, Huang Cixi won precisely because she did not use such help. Of course a tea competition is also a form of show. But Huang Cixi''s ceremony was akin to a dance considering how graceful and precise her movements were."


    ...


    At the end, Hall Master Fang Shaolong and Governor Leng gave their opinions.


    "I do not know as much as you all about tea. And sadly I am still just a Mortal Warrior, so the effects on my soul are hard to perceive. However, in my humble opinion, Huang Cixi won. She was able to brew a tea that can make you all doubt the judgment. I am sure that not one of you is absolutely sure of the decision he made. And yet, she is younger, has used lower ingredients and no exterior help. Being able to create a product of the same quality with fewer resources is of course dear to the heart of a trader such as I."


    "Since I am the last, I have no more argument to use. You all said it. And in the end, it comes to a personal taste. I will give my preference to Huang Si''s tea."


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng was not blind. Governor Leng always took politics into consideration. Right now, there was a small advantage for Huang Si as five family heads had chosen her and the four others had chosen her rival. Now it was the turn of the Huang family to vote. For obvious reasons, Huang Yi''s decision would not count. He could express himself, but being the grandfather of Huang Cixi, no matter how impartial he was, it was impossible to ask him to judge in such a tight situation.


    All the eyes went on Elder Huang Jian. Matriarch Huang Yufeng suspected that he was secretly favoring Huang Cixi for the position of matriarch and she was curious of his choice right now.


    "Dear guests, you made my choice very difficult. All your reasonings are impeccable. In my opinion, both teas were of similar quality. Only a personal taste could decide which one is better than the other. Then I will not judge on this criterion. After the quality of the tea, what matters most is the brewing process. Yes Huang Si has used exterior means but they were perfectly chosen for the occasion. Using such help could have turned against her if her choice had been bad. I do believe that it must be taken as her own merit.


    "Huang Cixi, on the other hand, has been more audacious in her choice. And in the end, I do believe that she adhered more strictly to the ceremony. Both her gestures and her timings were almost perfect. I doubt that anyone here would be able to point out real mistakes in her brewing.


    "In the end, I will choose Huang Cixi as the winner."


    Now, there was a perfect equality between both women. Hence, all the eyes went on Matriarch Huang Yufeng. She would be the one to decide. Even though it was just for a tea competition, it was obvious for everyone that there was a great symbolism there.

 Chapter 189: Tea judgment and wonderful gifts

    "Ha ha ha... You trouble me with such a difficult choice... I never thought that my birthday would present me with a tougher situation than my attempted breakthrough. Huang Si. Huang Cixi."


    Both women stood up and bowed toward their matriarch.


    "This junior listens to the matriarch."


    "In my opinion, both of your teas have given me a great peace of mind. You even helped alleviate some of the pain my Soul Embryo had suffered. Choosing between you two is beyond my means. Also, I am sorry. I will let seniority decide this tea competition. I hereby declare that Huang Si is the winner of the tea competition. You may choose any artifact from our treasure room. Elder Huang Jian will bring you there after the end of the festivities."


    Full of pride, but hiding it as much as she could, Huang Si bowed even lower.


    "This humble junior thanks the matriarch."


    The next words of the matriarch calmed her pride though.


    "Huang Cixi. You are still quite young. Since you lost this tea competition, I am sure that you will surpass yourself even more when a new occasion arises for you. During my breakthrough, I got the premonition that our human race will soar once more. Spirit Master Xiao and Spirit Master Hua from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute have brought back a Spirit medicine from the past eras. And now our younger generation reaches such heights in tea brewing before even reaching twenty. Maybe you will be the one to brew the first Spirit tea since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. As a reward for your talent, I will allow you to browse through my personal library."


    "This humble junior thanks the matriarch."


    Several elders were unsure of what the situation was. Matriarch Huang Yufeng had chosen Huang Si as the winner, but she had then insisted on the future achievements of Huang Cixi. It was difficult to say whether she saw her as a future genius of the family or as the next matriarch. Even Huang Si was not certain of the meaning behind her words. Most likely, she simply didn''t want her choice to influence the competition between them. Probably, she hadn''t made her choice yet. But deep down, Huang Si could not shut down a small voice telling her that she had lost today.


    On the other hand, Huang Cixi was sincerely calm. As long as she kept the support of enough elders, the final decision would be in the matriarch''s hands. And right now, the elders would more or less be split in half. Those who were still indecisive after Huang L¨¹''s announcement had now a confirmation that Huang Cixi was not just anyone. The mere fact that almost half of the family heads had chosen her as the victor, plus the tacit endorsement of Elder Huang Jian, and even the ambiguous decision of Matriarch Huang Yufeng were all great reasons to support her. In this competition, she had indeed won. Huang Si was so renowned that she had nothing to gain, she only wanted to make her rival lose. On the other hand, Huang Cixi was playing her future.


    If she had failed, her ambitions would have taken a serious hit. But she had gained much more than she had initially hoped for. And behind the matriarch''s words, she saw a silver lining. Clearly the old woman had a very good impression of her. And with her mind cultivation, reading from her private library was probably the best gift she could have asked for. After all, even Heaven pills of the highest tier were nothing compared to the 1-star Spirit pill she had consumed. Maybe a weapon could have been useful, but developing her martial arts was more important. And in the private library of the matriarch, there would be handwritten documents from all past matriarchs. The insights she could gain from such a reading were beyond her imagination.


    For several hours, various talks punctuated the birthday celebration. Many young members of the family tried to impress with their art. Some played a fantastic piece with guqin, pipa, erhu and dizi. It was reminiscent of the attempted breakthrough from a few of days ago. In fact, everyone was able to see the scene play out as they were listening to it. A few poets added their own composition to this orchestra.


    Then, painters and calligraphers drew in Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s honor. A very young girl decided to draw a painting of her own vision of the tea competition she had just witnessed. Both Huang Cixi and Huang Si were charmed by this painting. As it couldn''t be gifted to only one of them, Family Head Huang Yi proposed to hang it in the Merit Hall. This was a hall meant to exhibit art that immortalized the great merits of the Huang family.


    Finally, the sun was ready to fall and the Dawning Sun pavilion was crossed by beautiful beams of colorful lights. Both the dawn and the twilight were impressive in this pavilion.


    Now that the ceremony was ending, it was time for everyone to present their gift to the matriarch. Despite the short time they had, the family heads had already gifts prepared since the moment Matriarch Huang Yufeng had gone into seclusion. After all, they had no idea how long she would stay secluded and they had to get ready for this eventuality at all times.


    The gifts were presented in the opposite order of their ranks. Thus, the first family head activated his spatial ring and got a jade sculpture out of it. This was a pure masterpiece. The statue represented a fenghuang, the animal characteristic of the Huang family. Even though the artist could never have seen a True Fiery Fenghuang, he had seen lesser demonic beasts who belonged to the same family. Hence, his sculpture was very spot-on. The audience had the sensation that a true life-like beast was now in their midst.


    He then declared how honored he was of being invited by the matriarch and how the Huang family was a pillar for mankind. He then turned toward the three young women who were sitting close by, Huang Si, Huang L¨¹ and Huang Cixi.


    "Mankind is lucky to have such extraordinary talents among its younger generation. Just like your name and your blood, you will soar through the skies and bring all of mankind with you. When I see you all, I am ashamed of my own incompetence. But it does seem that the young generation will far surpass the old geezers like me."Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    -


    All the family heads, including Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang Shaolong, gave their presents to the matriarch. She only responded politely at every one of them. Half were art pieces while the other half were either rare ingredients or rare artifacts. One woman had even gifted her a precious cultivation method about blood that she had found in the ruins of an ancient temple. This wasn''t very useful to most cultivators, but for members of the Huang family who were known for their blood essence, it was of high value.


    After all the family heads were done giving their gifts and chanting their praises to the matriarch and her family, Huang Si stood up.


    "Matriarch, if I may be so bold and impolite as to ask you to accept my meager gift as well."


    Cai Ying walked past Huang Si and knelt while presenting a golden box. At her side, she was trying to ignore the burning gaze of Huang L¨¹. She knew the temper of her old mistress and, to be frank, she sincerely felt bad now that she was out of the competition. But deep down, she knew she had chosen the right mistress. Even if Huang Si didn''t become matriarch, she would undoubtedly obtain a very influential post.


    The box rose up in the air and slowly went toward the matriarch''s seat. With her spiritual senses, she could see what was in the box without any problem but she still opened it. She knew that Huang Si had brought a gift so that everyone else could see it.


    The moment she opened the golden box, a blinding orange light came out of it. And then, a subtle fragrance. Within the box were three orange pills laced with glints of deep yellow. Immediately, the family heads recognized those pills, 5-star Heaven pills, the highest tier in the current era. They were Golden Blood Essence pills. Among the family heads and the high elders of the family, everyone knew what it was and they were impressed. But Huang Si needed everyone else to know as well.


    "Matriarch, these Golden Blood Essence pills were refined by Spirit Master Hua. I personally went to fetch them a few months ago. Two of them have reached the Pure stage and one is on the verge of being a True Essence pill. By consuming them, a cultivator will promote the production of blood essence."


    Blood usually only contained Qi. The Qi in human bodies went both through the meridians but also through the bloodstream. Obviously, it was stronger and denser in the meridians though. On the other hand, blood essence was a very special kind of blood that contained a bit of Jing, the vital essence of someone. And what was usually called blood essence was in fact a tiny portion of this. This was only the blood that contained the prenatal Jing, the essence given by the parents at the conception. Such an essence was extremely difficult to regenerate and was the foundation of life in the body. For example, it promoted the creation of Qi.


    Someone who had consumed all of his prenatal Jing would simply die, as if his lifespan was over. And blood essence, as it contained this prenatal Jing, was essential. Every member of the Huang family had traces of the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang. This blood essence, depending on its purity, would produce more blood from the legendary beast and give abilities to its owner. That was why the Huang family put so much emphasis on bloodline, because they wanted to preserve this blood essence from generation to generation. Their blood cultivation could increase its quantity and its quality of course, but that was extremely difficult.


    Those pills could maybe help somewhat condense a True Fiery Drop very easily as they promoted blood essence. Even the matriarch was touched. All the gifts she had received were just external means or pieces of art. Right now, the pills she had under the eyes could maybe help her reach the complete version of ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'', a feat only the ancestral matriarch had accomplished. Even she didn''t know what lay beyond this, or how powerful she would become. To tell the truth, she wasn''t sure if those three pills would be enough for her to succeed. And in her mind, she was wondering whether or not she should keep them or gift them to younger members of her family who had a better chance to reach this stage one day. But, on the other hand, condensing this final True Fiery Drop could be what she lacked for her breakthrough.


    No matter what she would decide, this gift was indeed incredible. And she could imagine how much Huang Si had paid to have it refined. The ingredients alone were not something anyone could buy with just money. Most likely, she had used a lot of favors. Huang Si was very good in the trading business and she owned a lot of commerces in the Wu Province and outside of it. Through this prosperous business, she had created many relationships with a lot of people, from modest families to even some governors. Despite her young age, this early Mortal Warrior was already an influential citizen of the Hongchen Kingdom.


    "This humble one also brought a modest gift for the matriarch. This humble one is ashamed to present it to her after Sister Huang Si."


    All the attention went over to the person who had just talked, Huang Cixi.


    As soon as she was done speaking, Bao Zhong walked forward with a big wooden box. Deep down, he was terrified. Even among the servants, Bao Zhong was the weakest. He had never left the 1st-grade Mortal stage even though he was already in the middle of his life. But, as he entirely trusted his young mistress, he was confident that so long as he did what he was told, everything would be alright. No matter how much he trusted her though, he was literally surrounded by people he considered immortals. For someone so close to being a mere mortal, someone who could fly and live for a couple of millenniums was a god, and even more, an immortal.


    From his shaking hands, the box also rose into the air and reached the matriarch.


    Huang Si was a bit apprehensive. Huang Cixi was not an idiot. Even if her gift wasn''t as precious as hers, it should still be incredible. And when the box opened, she had confirmation. Everyone sensed the presence of Qi in the air. The box contained eight crystals, eight 9-cores. Those were obviously the demonic cores Elder Ying had ripped out of the Star Mole Dragon.


    9-cores were not something one could obtain easily. First of all, just finding a 9-core demonic beast was rare. In the entire Hongchen Kingdom, there should be less than a hundred demonic beasts as powerful as that. And they mostly stayed in their own territory. In order to kill them, this was the effort of many late Spirit Warriors. Of course a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior like Matriarch Huang Yufeng could have probably dealt with the Star Mole Dragon herself, but only three cultivators had reached this level in the whole kingdom. As such, those hunts were rare and dangerous. And considering the number of hunters required, each one would receive at most one 9-core, and not necessarily. Sometimes they would only get resources from the corpse of the beast, not the cores themselves.


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng knew that the young woman had received those cores from Elder Ying but she wasn''t expecting her to gift all of them but one.


    This gift was not as precious to the matriarch as were the pills. However, it was precious for the entire family. Considering her cultivation level, she didn''t need more Qi, but those 9-cores could help hundreds of younger members break through or even promote a few elders. The Huang family could maybe obtain a few 7th-grade and 8th-grade Spirit Warriors in less than a decade or two. Qi was not essential for them at this stage, but it could still help them considerably.

 Chapter 190: Hall Masters reports

    "Soon the Huang family will be even richer than my Major Hall. I''ll need to get to work if I want to keep my position."


    Hall Master Fang was the first one to speak and congratulate the matriarch. The situation was a bit awkward because the gifts from the two young women were indeed superior to those of the family heads. In a strict sense, they were not, because some pieces of art were absolutely unique and worth much more money. But on the other hand, pills and demonic cores were much more useful for cultivators. In order to get rid of this awkwardness, the best thing to do was to deprecate oneself.


    "True, the younger generation really will overtake us." Governor Leng followed suit. "Oh? But Hall Master is still in the younger generation. Sorry, sorry."


    After the two main characters outside of the Huang family spoke, the other family heads felt better. Many congratulations and joking comments were made.


    As the celebration was coming to an end, Huang Cixi heard a voice in her head. Speaking telepathically during such a celebration was rude for the other guests but she soon forgot this when she recognized the voice.


    "Huang Cixi, come and see me in my chambers later."


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng was inviting her!


    The guests delayed their departure as much as possible as a sign of respect. They acted as though leaving the presence of the matriarch was heartbreaking for them. And when leaving, they all gave many words of praise both to the Huang family and to the two young women vying for the position of matriarch. Just to be cautious, they all made sure to praise them both equally. One of them would become the next matriarch for sure, and the other would be no less powerful and influential. The best thing was to try and make friends with both without offending either.


    Finally, Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang also left. They spoke at length with Family Head Huang Yi and Elder Huang Jian. When came the time for them to leave, they also offered praises to the two young women. But there was something more in Hall Master Fang''s praises. Very subtly, he told Huang Cixi that he would meet with her soon again. The woman understood that he had information to report to her. As of now, she had given him several tasks. For one, he had to let Ye Zhiyun manage the assets of the Huang family handled by his hall. In terms of handling business, he also had to invest in various venues Huang Cixi had chosen with the help of Ye Zhiyun.


    She was thoroughly convinced that there wouldn''t be any problem with both of these tasks. But when she heard Hall Master Fang, she had the ominous feeling that something had gone wrong. She immediately thought about her last task. He had to use his information network to gather many pieces of intel, on her family, on the Cao family and on Gui Bei. Most likely, he had failed in some capacity. However, that was to be expected. As long as he had good intel on some of those matters, that would be fine with her. Moreover, she had also tasked Ye Zhiyun with gathering more news from his sources in the Imperial City. Unfortunately, the Imperial City was rather far from Baziyun City. Even with the use of demonic beasts, sending and receiving letters could take several months. There was an array formation the governor could use to communicate directly with the Imperial City. But it consumed a lot of resources and could only be use in case of major events.


    For example, Governor Leng had used this array formation to warn the Imperial City of the presence of a 9-core demonic beast near Baziyun City. The possibility of a demonic beasts stampede was indeed a grave matter that needed to be reported promptly.


    After all the guests had left, Matriarch Huang Yufeng left some words for the younger generation and flew up in the air before disappearing completely. In the end, the elders left first. Then, the youths showed their admiration to Huang Cixi and Huang Si now that the elders were gone. Being among their peers, they were not intimidated and they could speak more freely. Eventually, the youths gradually dispersed as well.


    "Sister, you were really good today! Frankly, all those ceremonials bore me. I can''t wait to see you beat up this stupid Gui Bei. You know that back then... Well, I really didn''t want to side with him, right?"


    That was the best Huang L¨¹ could say to apologize for her behavior before the poetry gathering. Huang Cixi didn''t really mind what had happened. After all, Huang L¨¹ had suffered more from it than she had.


    "Do not worry, Sister. I know you were just playing around... And you knew when to stop too."


    "Well... After you beat that little rascal, I hope we can fight together. I can''t wait to see what you''re truly capable of."


    While they were talking, Huang Si left without saying a word. She was worried by this upcoming fight. Right now, she and her rival were on equal footings. If Huang Cixi were to lose, she would fall from grace. However, it wouldn''t be good for her family either. On the other hand, if she won, that would terrible for her. But intervening for Gui Bei would be akin to treason. Many plots were hatching in Huang Si''s mind. For the first time, she was confused on the right way to take care of things. Should she really just let things unfold without acting? Huang Cixi was not an idiot, if she had given a month to Gui Bei, it meant that she was confident enough.


    With many thoughts in mind, Huang Si went back to her chambers with Cai Ying. It turned out that she would have no time to care about this lack of a clear plan for the foreseeable future. As a matter of fact, she would soon receive some worrisome news and she would be too busy taking care of her own business all over the Wu province and even in other provinces.


    -


    Huang Cixi found herself in her study with Bao Zhong and Zhao Guodong. Secretly, Huang Liyue was still monitoring the situation and she felt that someone was walking toward her room. After sending a telepathic message to Huang Cixi, her young mistress asked her servants to leave her alone for some time. Of course, the Spirit Warrior stayed close.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    The man who knocked on her door was expected, Fang Shaolong. During the end of the ceremony, Huang Cixi had known that she would receive his visit almost immediately. And here he was. The last time he had seen the young women, he was nervous about his secret being discovered. Now, he was still nervous, albeit for another reason. Among all the news he had to report to her, some were rather bad.


    As she knew he was about to talk business with her, Huang Cixi lead him in her study and closed the doors. With her senses, Huang Liyue could clearly hear what was being said, but thanks to the Void Nurtured Platinum, her spiritual senses couldn''t penetrate the walls and doors. Apart from Matriarch Huang Yufeng who had a small chance of being able to pierce this study with her spirit, no one could in the Huang residence. And unless they were very close, like her bodyguard, even the senses of a Spirit Warrior would not pick up their conversation.


    "Miss, our operations are going extremely smoothly. Mister Ye Zhiyun is even more impressive than I had given him credit for. According to our projections, we''ll raise the benefits of the Xiliang Mines alone by at least 7% this year. I won''t talk about everything he did, but he must have had an extensive training. He''s almost better than some of the highest ranked officials of the Imperial City. In a matter of years, he could very well become a member of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall''s head branch. I''ll just give you the reports on those matters."


    That was to be expected. Huang Cixi knew about Ye Zhiyun''s past and about his competence. Moreover, she had absolute trust in him and he in her. That was one of the greatest strengths of Haung Cixi, she knew how to surround herself with the right personnel and then delegate the correct tasks to each one of them. From his spatial ring, Fang Shaolong gave her hundreds of pages concerning the various assets the Major Hall was currently managing and the many propositions of her servant.


    "Regarding the investments you asked, that is mostly done. I had to make very convoluted schemes so that no one could determine that a single entity was buying all of that, but the assets are secured. By the time someone figures out that something is going on, that will be too late."


    "You should not underestimate her. But it is good to hear that everything is fine on that front as well. I do imagine that the problem lies with the gathering of information then..."


    Huang Cixi had quickly identified the matter that was making her interlocutor nervous. For the time being, he had only talked about the business that was smooth. But she had known from the start that there was some complications in his work. Lowering his head, Fang Shaolong was forced to admit it.


    "About the situation of Governor Leng and of the members of the Huang family, there is no problem at all. We already had networks in place to get that kind of intel. I added them to the previous documents. However, regarding the Cao family, this is much more complicated." For an instant, Fang Shaolong seemed a bit paranoid and looked all around. "To tell the truth, I was already looking at that myself. But even my own contacts in the Imperial City are not very talkative about the matter. They cannot explain to me how the Wolf Head Sect was found guilty of the massacre or why the Imperial City decided to intervene directly. Either they were hiding something concerning the demonic cultivators, the Cao family, or their own incompetence maybe. Another possibility is that they were hiding the real culprit..."


    In subtext, Huang Cixi got several confirmations about what she already knew concerning Fang Shaolong. When she had tried to find more about him, she realized that something wasn''t right in his past. Many things about his situation prior to his arrival in Baziyun City seemed fake. In fact, it almost seemed like his life until nearly thirty years ago had been fabricated. And it turned out that it coincided perfectly with something else that had happened in the Cao family. That was the time Cao Shui who was only fourteen at the time got engaged to the almost sixteen-year-old Cao Guang.


    That could have been a coincidence. But just like Fang Shaolong, her life before this crucial moment was either missing or seemed empty and fake. Huang Cixi didn''t want to confront Fang Shaolong about this yet. Moreover, she absolutely didn''t want anyone else to hear about this, not even Huang Liyue, until she could act more freely. For now, it was necessary to gather more and more information. The time for deductions and confrontations would be later.


    "That doesn''t surprise me much. But it doesn''t seem to be the point that truly upsets you."


    Embarrassed, Fang Shaolong cleared his throat.


    "I will endorse the full responsibility for our failure. My men lost track of Gui Bei deep in the mountains. Apparently, he was aware of our tailing him. For several days, he trained in a perfectly traditional manner. However, he did show signs that he was looking for something and being a bit restless. Clearly he wanted to ditch those spying on him but couldn''t."


    Huang Cixi had prepared for this eventuality. After all, he had been able to detect the spiritual senses of Huang Liyue on him. At the very least, if she couldn''t find out his secret, she could still prevent him from becoming stronger way too fast. Huang Cixi was convinced that he would need to go back to wherever it was that he had gained his sudden growth in cultivation in order to improve even further.


    "But then... the news of a possible stampede happened and I was forced to reassign some men to other surveillance tasks. And the few men still following him lost his track when Matriarch Huang Yufeng broke through. He was able to use this as a distraction. My men tried to find his tracks back but they simply disappear in the mountains. I don''t know where he went but I assigned as many men as I could to keep watch over the entire area. Unfortunately, the area is rather large and the demonic beasts are getting restless. Not only do they have to stay alert for Gui Bei, but also for potential attacks. And I can''t even send any more Spirit Warriors because we need them on other matters. I am sorry."


    Hearing all this, Huang Cixi got thinking. She had been right about the reason of his sudden increase in talent. Gui Bei had found some special place and he went back there to try and become stronger than her. Thankfully the remaining time was short. But there was no telling what kind of opportunity he had found. As such, Huang Cixi had to be prepared for almost anything on his part. And she still wasn''t sure about the best way to deal with him.


    She was convinced that Gui Bei would go as far as trying to kill her or maim her, even if the fight took place in the Huang family residence. After many considerations, the young woman was still indecisive because his behavior reminded her of her first brother. Gui Bei could be very useful if she was able to make him see the error of his ways. However, she herself deemed that as wishful thinking. Huang Cixi, at heart, was a politician. And as such, she had to show that she was decisive. This problem should not be dealt with according to emotions but according to what she wanted others to see of her. What was the point of this duel?


    "Hall Master, thank you for your service. I know that our collaboration is not based around mutual trust. But I sincerely hope that you will end up seeing me as a trustworthy partner. I anticipated many of your shortcomings because I knew those tasks to be difficult. Otherwise I wouldn''t have needed a man of your caliber. You did accomplish most of what I asked of you. What do you say about forgetting your little indiscretions and forming a true relation?"


    Surprised, Fang Shaolong wasn''t sure what to make of it. Did she really mean that she wouldn''t use his embezzlement against him ever again?


    However, he had to admit that working with her was greatly beneficial, especially thanks to Ye Zhiyun. With his full cooperation, his Major Hall could thrive even more. But then, he would be indebted to this cunning woman...

 Chapter 191: The matriarchs library

    "Hall Master, I do understand your doubts. But I do feel we have some common interests. Not only in business, but also in more sensitive venues. From my information, it looks like you are extremely concerned with what happened to the Cao family. And it happens to be that so am I."


    This did not make Fang Shaolon trust her more, quite the contrary in fact. But she knew what she was doing.


    "Why do you think that I am that interested by this? And why are you?"


    "Please, Hall Master. Did you think that I ignored where your money was going? Since you financed the Cao family to such an extent, isn''t it natural that you should be concerned with their fate?" As a matter of fact, Huang Cixi had found no proof of that. She did not know where the money was being funneled to. However, she had the intuition that a good part of it was for the Cao family. That said, another part should have been used for something else as well.


    "And on the reason why I am interested. Well..." For the first time, Feng Shaolong saw her with genuine emotion on her face. Huang Cixi was sincerely hesitant but she decided to go on. "You should know that my second brother has been killed. The truth is that he was killed near Baziyun City. And I am fairly certain that his death is related to what happened to the Cao family."


    Huang Cixi did not really lie. And even so, she could lie without being seen through, even by someone who was used to tough negotiations such as Fang Shaolong. What had made her hesitant was the use of her brother''s death. But she couldn''t just tell him that Cao Yun was still alive. First of all, she wasn''t sure of Fang Shaolong. And she didn''t want anyone at all to hear about this, she had sworn to Xiao Xuefeng and she would keep her word.


    "There is also another reason, less personal. The Wubei Sect has most likely been infiltrated by demonic cultivators. And they also tried to infiltrate the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. It is almost certain that some of them are also hidden somewhere in Baziyun City and maybe even higher. As long as we don''t root them out, they will be a thorn in our side, ready to kill us just like the Cao family. Aren''t those reasons enough?


    "I do not pretend to know what your relation with the Cao family was. In fact, I still do not fully trust you on the matter. Yet, I am ready to put my doubts aside for now, and work with you."


    "You accuse me of..." Hearing the subtext that maybe he had something to do with the massacre, Fang Shaolong lost his calm for an instant. "No... You''re right to be suspicious of everyone... Miss Huang Cixi, for now, I will accept to work with you. But it doesn''t mean that I trust you either."


    "Hall Master, trust is not something easily earned. But I am sure that you will find me to be a trustworthy business partner."


    They then discussed the fine details of their cooperation. For now, they negotiated purely financial cooperation, and an agreement to share some information, so long as it pertained to demonic cultivators or to the Cao massacre. Considering that an alliance between the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and a great family such as the Huang family could be opposed by the kingdom, they only agreed orally, without any contract. Given the nature of this agreement, trust was of utmost importance. As such, it would take a lot of time for them to build a working relationship.


    -


    After she was done with Hall Master Fang Shaolong, Huang Cixi decided not to lose any time. Matriarch Huang Yufeng had invited her both officially with the access to her private library and unofficially with her telepathic message. The mere access to the knowledge of past matriarchs could be incredibly useful. Since Gui Bei had escaped his pursuers, he could become much stronger than before. Using that knowledge to increase her own strength would be a smart move. She had other possibilities but this one was the easiest. And she also had another idea, but Matriarch Huang Yufeng would have to agree with her. For that, she needed to present something with enough value.


    She had thought about the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' but it had been entrusted to her. In a way, this made Cao Yun her teacher. And within the Hongchen Kingdom, the relation between a disciple and his master or a pupil and his teacher was sacred. Unless she had his approval, she wouldn''t divulge this method. Even if the manual was easily accessible, until she decided to retrieve all those she could of course, she was still reluctant to do away with this secret. Thankfully, she had other ways to negotiate with the matriarch.


    Under the pretense of accessing her private library, Huang Cixi asked an audience with the matriarch to her grandfather.


    Now, she was kneeling earnestly in front of the chambers of Matriarch Huang Yufeng. For more than ten hours straight, she knelt to show her sincerity. The matriarch was not letting her kneel just out of her status. She was indeed very busy after her failed breakthrough. Fortunately, Family Head Huang Yi was a great man and was able to take care of everything in the family by himself. Still, she had to meditate on the insights from her attempted breakthrough. If she were to lose an inspiration, it might never come back.


    And during her birthday, she had gotten some inspiration from the teas that had calmed down her soul. Alas, this inspiration was not that good and did not bring a lot of benefits. But that was the way of cultivation. Not every single inspiration or insight could give wonderful results. Otherwise, anyone could reach the Spirit Warrior realm. Matriarch Huang Yufeng had been stuck for a few centuries in the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. And she had just broken through to the next level. To begin with, she hadn''t had a lot of confidence in reaching the Sage realm. However, she couldn''t let go of this ambition.


    When she was finally done and her mind had regained its calm, she went back in the Phoenix Hall. Her chambers were in reality an entire pavilion. And the main room was the Phoenix Hall where her throne was. With her spiritual senses, she had obviously seen Huang Cixi kneeling in front of the door. Now that she was ready, the door opened.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    As soon as the door was open, it revealed the glorious figure of Matriarch Huang Yufeng on her throne. Huang Cixi kowtowed and spoke with reverence.


    "This humble one salutes the matriarch."


    Then, she walked up the small stairs that were beyond the door. Finally, she was in a large corridor leading to the throne which was a bit higher than the floor, with a few steps to reach it. Once again, she knelt and gave her salutations to the matriarch.


    "No need to be so formal."


    Just as she spoke, the door closed and she stood up from her throne. Walking down, she reached Huang Cixi who slowly got up as well.


    "Walk with me."


    The two women went in the direction of the inner parts of the pavilion, probably where the private library of the matriarch was.


    "You''ve impressed me a lot with Huang Liyue. I did not think that anyone would ever convince her to hide anything from me, even for a short span of time." Hearing the matriarch, Huang Cixi was not surprised at all. Given her stature, it was obvious that she would find out sooner or later. Huang Cixi had just tried to buy some time with Huang Liyue, and maybe also test her loyalty. However, she didn''t know exactly what Matriarch Huang Yufeng truly knew. Maybe she had just guessed, or maybe Huang Liyue had told her something but not the entirety.


    "Matriarch, I just wanted to prove myself and I found that disturbing you during your seclusion would be rude. If ever you think that I showed defiance, please punish me accordingly."


    "No need for such words. I talked with Elder Huang Jian. He will soon step down from his position. I do believe that some time away from his responsibilities will be good for him. He could maybe spend some time with Huang L¨¹. What do you think should happen to this former rival of yours?"


    "Matriarch, this isn''t my place to decide such things."


    "I am not asking whether you have the authority or not. I''m asking what you would do with her if you had it."


    "Matriarch, I would send her in the Sunmen Province. Sister Huang L¨¹ seems to enjoy fighting and I do think that she has a great talent for it. We''ve always tried to increase our presence in the border provinces. The Sunmen Province is probably the one with the most elite fighters. I am sure that Sister Huang L¨¹ would fit perfectly with them. Moreover, it would also allow us to show our sincerity to the Imperial City in our efforts against the demons."


    "Yes... And Elder Huang Jian does have some tie in the Sunmen Province. We could send him with her as our envoy." The matriarch stopped talking for a while. "Fine. Elder Huang Jian will step down from his position in Baziyun City and he will become an envoy in the Sunmen Province to provide support to the armies there. The demons have become quite active recently. If Elder Huang Jian dies on the battlefield, his name will be honored for generations to come. And if he doesn''t, he will be deemed a hero nonetheless. What are minor crimes perpetrated decades ago against such a status?"


    Even Huang Cixi was surprised that her suggestion got accepted so easily. But this would indeed be perfect. Huang L¨¹ could gain much honor and with her own father with her, she had almost no chance of dying on the battlefield. Furthermore, after fighting against the demons to protect mankind, even if the adultery Huang Jian had committed was made public, it wouldn''t hurt him much.


    The rest of the way, Matriarch Huang Yufeng did not speak anymore. This made Huang Cixi nervous. She wasn''t sure whether the matriarch knew about other things, namely her dealings with Fang Shaolong, or not. Was she not talking because she didn''t know or because she did know and was waiting for Huang Cixi to reveal it herself?


    In the end, they reached the library and the matriarch broke her silence.


    "Those books contain the entire knowledge of our family. They are a treasure trove of our ancestors'' insights. I will give you one day to browse through all of them. Any book or manual that is in this room is available to you. But be aware that some contain knowledge that you cannot comprehend yet. Trying to grab too much at once can be a disaster. Cultivation must be a steady process. Even though you have been gifted a shortcut with the Life Boiling Cradle pill, you should not be hasty. I do believe that you have the right attitude, so I won''t say more. Feel free to read as much as you want."


    "Thank you, Matriarch. Do not worry. I do know when to stop."


    With her mind cultivation, remembering the content of every single one of those books and manuals was quite easy. Even if she did not comprehend a manual, she could still keep it in the back of her mind and let time do its work. Besides, she had still eight chambers to energize in her Upper Dantian. With each one, the knowledge she had accumulated, even if just by remembering it without understanding it, could result in sudden epiphanies.


    The entire day, Huang Cixi read every single book and manual. Some were diaries held by elders or by past matriarchs. Others dealt with political issues of all kinds. There were also treatises about art, philosophy, religion and many other subjects that were of more or less interest to her. Among those books were also discussions about cultivation, either Qi cultivation, mind cultivation, blood cultivation and even physique cultivation.


    The matriarch had been right. Most of what she read made little to no sense for Huang Cixi. However, she kept on reading.


    Finally, she reached what really interested her. There were many manuals about ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' and ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel''. Truly, the words of Matriarch Huang Yufeng were right. That was a treasure trove. Sadly, only a tiny portion of what she read made sense to her. Even though she obviously understood the meaning of the words, it didn''t mean that she understood the concepts behind or their relation with her cultivation. Without experiencing it herself, it was like someone explaining to her the color red if she had been blind all her life. Mere words could not convey it. But once a cultivator had reached a specific stage, it would make sense.


    Finally, she saw a very old book that was very thin. On its cover, she read ''Fragments of Huang Baifeng''. This book was a collection of all the texts historians attributed to Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng. She was the woman who had originally founded the Huang family. Regrettably the name of the volume was accurate. Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng had lived more than twenty thousand years ago. Since that time, many things had happened. Especially, the Founding Era had been rather agitated. Even the first centuries of the Seven Treaties Era had been rough. Thus, many documents from these periods were either lost or fragmented.


    This volume contained several texts written by various historians to try and make sense of everything. First, Huang Cixi focused on the parts from Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng''s hand. And they were clearly unintelligible for the most part. Huang Cixi tried to use all of her mind cultivation but she only got a tiny bit of meaning. However, she could feel that there was something deeper to it and not quite what the historians were suggesting. Most of them were trying to build context around the texts.


    What Huang Cixi wanted was the profound meaning of those texts. She felt like there was something about blood cultivation or about the ancestral martial art. If only she could find the complete version that was lost to time... That was extremely frustrating as it was right in front of her but she could barely touch it with one finger. However, it didn''t stop her from remembering absolutely everything her ancestor had written.

 Chapter 192: An extravagant demand

    Even if Huang Cixi had been able to see her own sea of consciousness, she would have missed it. But deep below the surface of the ocean, the Insight Writings that she had formed were slowly morphing. In her Chamber of Ultimate Truth something was also happening. All the knowledge she had just gathered was slowly turning into strange characters or symbols. They weren''t Insight Writings yet but they were gradually evolving in that direction.


    Insight Writings were formed by the comprehension of a cultivator. So it was not possible to create them unless the cultivator really understood the meaning behind them, even if it was just at an instinctive level. Right now, Huang Cixi''s mind was slowly building up this comprehension. With this Chamber of Ultimate Truth, her mind would naturally try to make connections and find patterns, analogies with everything she already knew. But she was still missing a few key pieces to make sense of everything.


    Among the symbols that were being refined, a majority had been influenced by the very few words of Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng. There was really something extraordinary hidden in her texts. Huang Cixi could have probably reached a higher stage in her martial arts and even her blood cultivation if she had been able to read the original documents. But like everything else, the Forsaken Dao Era was poor in past knowledge. So much had been lost to the ages.


    But this reignited her desire. She had to ask Matriarch Huang Yufeng. She had to get her permission. There was a place she absolutely needed to go.


    Despite her high mind cultivation, Huang Cixi still spent almost all day browsing through the books just to memorize them. That was how big the library was. Just by looking at the pages of a book, she could remember it, but she still had to browse through all the pages and watch them attentively first. No matter how fast she browsed through the library, it took her more than twenty hours. Thankfully her cultivation was high enough that she did not require food, water or sleep every single day. In fact, she even felt invigorated by the end of the process. She felt a bit light-headed but in a good way, as though she had acquired a great knowledge she was now digesting. And this feeling brought some kind of excitement in her. Cultivation was not really her thing, this was a means to an end. What she really loved was politics and getting the power and influence to change things according to her views. Still, this didn''t mean that she was insensitive to the joys of the cultivation, and its benefits.


    Finally, she left the private library and before she could walk back to the Phoenix Hall, she met with Matriarch Huang Yufeng. The old woman had been waiting all this time. In fact, she had been spying on Huang Cixi the entire time. The speed at which she had read all the books suggested that her mind cultivation was almost on par with a Spirit Warrior. Of course, some late Mortals or Mortal Warriors could memorize things extremely fast as well, but most of the time, those were alchemists or array formation masters. They were the elite who already had an incredible mind. However, it still took them some time to perfectly memorize every single word and they couldn''t just digest her entire library in a day. There were almost fifteen thousand years worth of knowledge in her library, and some bits and pieces about the previous eras as well.


    The mind cultivation of Huang Cixi was incredible. Obviously, any late or even middle Spirit Warrior could do the same faster than she had. But for a late Mortal, having a mind comparable to an early Spirit Warrior meant that either she had been blessed with an incredible mind at birth, or that she had found a mystical mind cultivation method. However, Matriarch Huang Yufeng was proper enough not to pry too much. Moreover, Huang Cixi had a real chance of becoming the next matriarch. Deep down, the current matriarch was still unsure of her decision. But more and more, she was favoring the youngest of the two candidates.


    "This junior thanks the matriarch. Despite your generosity, I only scratched the surface of your library. Please, excuse my lack of knowledge."


    "Your results should not be obvious right now. But with time, you will truly become a phoenix among men. I even have the feeling that my ''glorious'' achievements will be nothing compared to yours. Your name will make mine fade into history."


    "No, Matriarch. I am just an insignificant junior. How could I ever compare with you? You will surely reach the Sage realm and eclipse all of our achievements."


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng answered with a quiet chuckle.


    "I do hope that I''ll reach this realm one day. But I fear that it will be in a next life..." With the deep melancholy she saw in the old woman''s eyes, Huang Cixi could not bring herself to flatter her anymore. "Anyway. I had things I wanted to discuss with you. As you''ve been born in a side branch, I am ashamed that I do not know you enough. Unfortunately, our Huang family has become too big and too widely spread. Even with my lifespan, I couldn''t possibly know all of our members. What a pity to have missed such an individual..."


    Indeed, the Huang family had tens of side branches. And this was a family that was rather peculiar in the fact that most women stayed within and men married outside. For the majority of the families, the opposite was true. As such, they grew even bigger. But the Huang family was very careful with their bloodline. If they hadn''t been, the blood essence within their veins could have completely disappeared by now. Moreover, the tragedies of the past had taught mankind that they should try and reduce the number of children. That was especially true for old monsters who could live for thousands of years.


    Even the women could still give birth after hundreds or thousands of years. Thanks to their cultivation, their Jing, their vital essence, was much stronger than the one of mortals. Hence, they could still produce children no matter their age. But if these old monsters did produce children every now and then, the world would be submerged by young nobles. The Hongchen Kingdom could not extend indefinitely, especially with the demons at their borders. And the past had shown that the family feuds could become even uglier than the threat of the demons. Children killing their brothers, their sisters or even their parents was something no one wanted to experience at such a large scale anymore.


    The matriarch lead Huang Cixi into a wide courtyard. It was still a bit smaller than the Dawning Sun pavilion, that was meant to receive visitors and to hold ceremonies. But for a private courtyard, this was huge. It could have housed a few mortal families. Both women walked to the middle of the courtyard and took place under a small pavilion floating on an artificial river.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Under the pavilion, there was only a small table and two seats. And on the table were two wine cups.


    "Huang Cixi, let''s drink and talk together me. I sincerely wish to know more about you. Do not think of me as the matriarch but talk as though you were with your own grandmother."


    "Then, pardon my rudeness."


    Huang Cixi bowed respectfully but not as low as before. Then, she took the cup of wine and drank a bit of it. This liquor was incredible. For mortals, this would be called a nectar of the gods. The effects were very negligible, both because of her Qi cultivation and her mind cultivation as well. But it still helped her relax, sensation amplified by the atmosphere of the pavilion as much as the attitude of the matriarch. All of a sudden, she really looked like a doting old grandmother who wanted to know more about her granddaughter.


    Quite frankly, the real family links between Matriarch Huang Yufeng and Huang Cixi were difficult to precisely make out. Indeed, the only children the matriarch had ever given birth to had been dead for hundreds of years by now. Sadly, they had been stuck in the early stages of the Spirit Warrior realm and their lifespan was too short for their mother to die before them. She was 2,000 years old right now and her children had been born before she turned a hundred. As such, it was difficult to create a complete family tree of every member of the Huang family. Moreover, the story around her children was rather obscure as she didn''t like talking about it. Apart from the older generation, almost no one even knew their names.


    But with her old age, the matriarch considered all the young generation as her grandchildren, and the elders as her children.


    For several more hours, the two women discussed and Huang Cixi opened up more and more. So did the matriarch. They talked about her family, her brothers, her father. Matriarch Huang Yufeng expressed her condolences, albeit too late by her own admission. Then, they really talked about anything, philosophy, martial arts, art in general. At some point, the matriarch even touched upon the subject of romance but she saw that the young woman was committed to her ambitions. Finally, they talked about what had happened in the Wubei Sect. The matriarch did not try to force anything out of Huang Cixi.


    When she didn''t want to talk about something, she simply shifted the conversation. For example, she spent a lot of time on her feelings and sensations during the consumption of the Life Boiling Cradle pill rather than talking about the boy she had served.


    But during the entire conversation, they never talked about politics, especially not within the Huang family.


    -


    Finally, it was time to end their talk. And Huang Cixi had to ask away.


    "Matriarch, may I be bold? There is something I wish to request from you."


    "Go ahead, I won''t mind. Ask what''s on your mind."


    "I would like to cultivate in the sacred grounds."


    The matriarch was expecting a crazy request. But she wasn''t ready for this. Usually, the sacred grounds were reserved to late Mortal Warriors before their tribulation into the Spirit Warrior realm. This place was the most holy sanctuary for the Huang family. According to the legend, that was the place where Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng had received the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang, the very same blood that was flowing in their veins today. Not only had it a great significance for the Huang family, it also had extraordinary effects on cultivation.


    "You did say that you were going to be bold... You should know that the sacred grounds are slowly diminishing. And there is nothing we can do to replenish their glory. You''re not even a Mortal Warrior, you will most likely only receive a tiny fraction of benefits. But I guess that you took my protests into consideration. What do you offer for it?"


    "Matriarch, I know that you''ve been impressed by my mind cultivation. Unfortunately, I cannot gift it to either you or the family. This was given to me and I can''t do with it as I may. However, I did gain some inspiration thanks to it. My Pure Golden Dantian allowed my blood cultivation to soar faster than before. That, no one can mimic, but through the method I use for my mind, I also discovered a way to improve the ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire''."


    Just as she was speaking, Huang Cixi gave a manual to the matriarch. After experimenting, she had found ways to manipulate her True Fiery Drops just like she was using the Five Agents. By using the blood within to draw specific characters related to her Hun, she had been able to activate the blood essence within her even more. The results of all her own experimentations were written in this small manual.


    The matriarch quickly read through it and began to ponder over her request.


    "How much do you think this can improve our blood cultivation?"


    "I am not certain, but I would say that it can speed it up by 5%."


    For a Spirit Warrior, 5% was equivalent to the lifespan of a mortal. Just reading the manual, the matriarch saw herself finally condensing the ninth True Fiery Drop she had been yearning for thanks to both the contents of this and the pills Huang Si had offered to her. Not only could this help her, but unlike the pills, this manual could also help all the members of the Huang family. One had to already have formed at least one True Fiery Drop to then use it. But it could increase the rate at which the blood essence would be improved by this single drop. Moreover, Huang Cixi''s estimation was based on only two True Fiery Drops. If she had more, it could maybe be faster.


    "Matriarch, the sacred grounds will run out eventually. I do admit that their effect is better than my manual. However, my manual will help us all for all time. So long as our blood survives, the method will not change."


    The old woman closed the manual and pondered some more.


    "I do admit that you are right. But the sacred grounds are just too precious. You said it yourself, your manual will only help us so long as our blood survives. Generation after generation, finding pure blood among our younger generation becomes harder and harder despite all our efforts." Huang Cixi sensed that a huge demand was going to be made. "I will accept your request if you accept mine. Before you turn 100, you must give us an heir."


    This was indeed a huge demand but not that surprising. After all, Huang Cixi had one of the purest blood possible. Preserving the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang was of utmost importance. One way or another, the family would have pressured her into bearing at least one child. And that would be the absolute minimum.


    "Matriarch, do you have a father in mind?"


    "No, I will let you choose as long as his blood is suited with yours. I do not ask you to marry anyone, just bear one child before you turn 100. And if you find no suitable partner, I will provide one of my own choosing when the time comes. As long as you agree to this, I will allow you in the sacred grounds. In fact, I will even allow you to go back there once you face the tribulation of the Mortal Warrior realm. What say you?"

 Chapter 193: The Huang familys Sacred Grounds

    Despite her young age, Huang Cixi had already thought about this. Up until now she had only been a young member of the side branch. As such, it wasn''t that important for her to preserve the blood of the family. Moreover, her father had never talked about it once. But she knew that it would become a thing at one point in time. That being said, the deadline set by the matriarch was too short. Huang Cixi had a lot of ambitions and having a child was not part of it. For cultivators, pregnancy was almost always a time of stagnation. The mother had to be even more careful than before just to make sure that the child would not suffer from anything.


    If a Mortal Warrior, or worse a Spirit Warrior, were to send even a tiny fraction of her Qi into her unborn child, it could kill him. Of course, the bodies of cultivators were more resistant than the ones of mortals. Thus, they could still live their life just like before. The problem was that they needed to be so careful that their progress were hindered to the point that they generally had to stop cultivating altogether. And Huang Cixi could not accept to lose nearly a year during her prime.


    "I cannot go lower than 500 years old. I can swear that I will produce a child with a bloodline at least as pure as the one I have right now, before my 500th birthday. This is my bottom line. If you can''t accept this, I''ll have to change my request."


    The matriarch hesitated for a while. Five hundred years meant that she would most likely be dead by the time Huang Cixi would give birth. But she had to admit that slowing down her cultivation while she was still young could be a problem. Her initial deadline was due to the fact that she wished to see the child while she was still drawing breath.


    "Matriarch. There is no way to know for sure how fast my blood cultivation will advance. If my blood reaches an even higher purity, the bloodline of my children will be that much purer. And if you are worried that I will go back on my word, I can swear with my Dao Heart."


    Swearing with one''s Dao Heart was the most sacred vow of all for a cultivator. It was a rather abstract concept but the Dao Heart symbolized the pride and will of a cultivator. Breaking such a vow could create inner demons and lead to the downfall or even death of the cultivator. This wasn''t just a simple promise.


    "This won''t be necessary. We are family after all. If I couldn''t trust the words of my own relatives, what kind of matriarch would I be? The points you brought up are relevant." The matriarch thought about it some more. "I agree! In the next five hundred years, you will bear a child with a bloodline as pure as your current one. I dare hope that his bloodline will be even purer. Well, the best would be to bear a girl, but I will even be satisfied with a boy. However, this deal must not be made public. Only a handful of elders will be in the know. And if you fail to bear a child in time, then you will have to do so with the father I will have chosen for you beforehand."


    The only answer of Huang Cixi was to bow down.


    "Now, about the sacred grounds. They are currently available. Do you wish to go there right now?"


    "Yes. Thank you, Matriarch."


    "Once again, this must not be publicly known. Huang Liyue will accompany you and you must not take Elder Ying with you. First of all, his presence would betray your departure. More importantly, we need him in case some demonic beasts attack. The risk of stampede is not just a possibility. It will happen sooner rather than later. And only I and he can fight off a 9-core demonic beast without assistance. We cannot leave Baziyun City for now. Are you fine with this? By the time you go there and come back, it will almost be the day of your duel."


    "Yes, Matriarch. I took this into consideration. I can still cultivate on the way. And even without the benefits from the sacred grounds, I am confident about my victory. This duel was not just an impulse."


    The matriarch did not retort. She knew it already but after talking with Huang Cixi, the idea that she could have challenged Gui Bei and given him an entire month to train just out of impulse was preposterous. This young woman was always planning ahead. Most likely, she had other cards in hands to negotiate her entrance into the sacred grounds. It just so happened that those terms were agreeable to her. The matriarch was utterly convinced that even she could not force her to do something she absolutely didn''t want to do.


    "Then, please excuse my rudeness. I will depart immediately. I already took care of everything before coming here."


    "Of course... Huang Liyue!" As soon as she spoke, the scarred bodyguard appeared in the courtyard. Although she hadn''t been able to sense her, Huang Cixi knew that she was there all along. After all, she was the former bodyguard of the matriarch and her current one. She had no reason not to be here.


    Without saying anything, Huang Liyue took something from her spatial ring. Some height above the ground, a tiny vessel appeared. There was nothing peculiar about it. It looked like a small boat one would use on a narrow river. Only one person could sit in it. Flying without an artifact was always slower for Spirit Warriors, even more so when they had to fly with someone else. Of course, they could use their spiritual powers to keep someone afloat alongside them and fly on their own. But it was always easier to control an artifact with their mind and just fly on it. And it turned out that it was also way faster.


    Aware of such realities, Huang Cixi stepped onto the small boat. As soon as she was on-board, she sat cross-legged. During the travel, she would practice all her cultivations, Qi, blood and mind. Moreover, she could also imagine her martial arts. Unfortunately, she had not the same ability as Cao Yun, the ''Shen Visualization'', but she could still imagine the movements in her mind. Lastly, she also had all the knowledge from the private library of Matriarch Huang Yufeng to meditate over.


    The matriarch watched as her former bodyguard rose into the air with the small boat. Suddenly, they picked up speed and disappeared into the horizon. With her spiritual senses, Matriarch Huang Yufeng followed them until they left Baziyun City completely. The sacred grounds were not too far from the Huang residence. And they were not close to the mountains and the demonic beasts. This was a place they had sanctified. So, obviously, they had gotten rid of any threat around.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    -


    In her private study, Huang Si was racking her brain. She had many reports in front of her. Apparently many of her active investments had been bought in a short amount of time. At first it didn''t seem like something strange because the buyers were all from very different backgrounds. But now, she had an ominous feeling about this. Try as she might, she couldn''t find anything fishy at all. However, Huang Si was a true businesswoman and her instincts would not let her rest in peace over this matter. Many of her shops had been bought outside of the Wu Province. Some trades she was involved in had also been partially overtaken by other investors. She even lost a few contracts she had almost finalized.


    Clearly she couldn''t turn a blind eye to all this. Right now, she couldn''t be sure of the total amount she had lost. If this continued, she could lose more than half of her business venues. And just to prevent that, she had to spend from her personal assets. Right now, she was ready to sell some fine pieces of arts. In a last resort, she would cut off her patronage of artists altogether. Huang Si was not into the Five Imperial Arts just for the public recognition, she was a true aesthete. Thus, her resorting to such measures showed how desperate she was.


    Until a few days ago, she had no idea that such an attack was being instigated against her. Now that she was, she couldn''t stay idle by while doing nothing. Considering how late she had been to notice these unusual events, she only had bad solutions at her disposal. She had no time to think. She needed to act quick.


    -


    After a few days, Huang Cixi and Huang Liyue arrived at the sacred grounds of the Huang family. Gigantic walls had been built around the area. They were as prestigious as the Ageless Marble walls of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Just this showed how much those grounds were valued. Those mere walls were almost as valuable as the entire mansion of the Huang family in Baziyun City.


    As they were sacred grounds, flying into it was out of the question. The moment Huang Liyue got too close to the wall, she sensed a presence gathering around her. Immediately, she received a telepathic message.


    "Senior Huang Liyue, what is the reason of your visit?"


    "Matriarch Huang Yufeng ordered me to bring someone into the sacred grounds. This must stay absolutely confidential. Open the gates."


    Given her authority, the guard did not try to pry any further. Huang Liyue landed her small boat right in front of one of the entrances. An instant later, the gates opened and let Huang Cixi through. Her bodyguard stayed outside of the gate and retrieved her small boat. One last time, she sent a telepathic message to Huang Cixi.


    "When you are done, the gates will open once more and I will take you back. Until now, I''ll stay in the vicinity, just in case."


    After crossing the threshold, the gate closed behind the young woman. For the first time in her life, she witnessed the sacred grounds. To say the least, they were not exactly what she was expecting. The land was barren, burned to a crisp. Nothing could live around her, and an aura of death and grief saturated the air. There was not an ounce of Evil Qi, but a looming sadness all over the place. Near the walls, nature was thriving with many grasses of all kinds. But there was a perfect boundary beyond which no life seemed to dare venture.


    According to the legends, this was the place where Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng had received the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang. During the Blood and Dirt Era, Huang Baifeng had fought alongside Emperor Nuwa to free mankind from the demons. When she was cultivating in a far-away land, she met a legendary beast from another world, a True Fiery Fenghuang. The legendary beast helped her fight against the armies of demons. But during the war, she was struck down by their king. And this place was supposedly the location of her death.


    In her last moments, the True Fiery Fenghuang proved her total loyalty to Huang Baifeng by gifting her her own blood essence. She burned all of her being, body and soul included, to turn everything that she had into raw power that could flow in her friend''s veins. After that, Huang Baifeng became one of the most powerful cultivators after Emperor Nuwa and she turned the tides of the battle, forcing the king of all demons to retreat before the reinforcements could arrive. That was one of the most important battles of the Blood and Dirt Era and a pivotal moment for mankind, and the Huang family of course.


    But this place was not just important for historical or emotional reasons. Although the legendary True Fiery Fenghuang had burned everything that made her, a part of her will still lingered around. And since that day, it always recognized the blood of her friend. Thus, this will helped out all the members of the Huang family according to the purity of their blood. But this also meant that the will was slowly getting depleted. And after more than twenty thousand years, there shouldn''t be much left. That was just a wisp of will, not even the soul of the beast had survived the burning after all. Even the fact that her will partially survived was a miracle.


    It went to show how much she had cared for her friend, and how much Huang Baifeng had cared for her in return.


    Knowing the story, Huang Cixi became somewhat emotional when she saw the burned place. She could almost make out the silhouette of the giant bird. The legendary beast should have been four times bigger than Elder Ying. She wasn''t sure of the actual power level of the beast but according to the legends, she should have been way beyond the Sage realm. Probably, that beast alone could destroy the entirety of the current Hongchen Kingdom. This showed how far both mankind and the demons had fallen.


    Fully embracing those emotions, Huang Cixi sat right in the middle of this charred earth. She activated her True Fiery Drops to obtain a response from the lingering will of the legendary beast.


    For almost an entire day, she felt nothing at all.


    Then, ever so slowly, a tingling sensation appeared in her heart. Circulating her mind cultivation, Huang Cixi tried not to lock her intent on this sensation, fearing that it may go away. Instead, she looked at it as though it didn''t concern her. At the same time, she controlled her True Fiery Drops as best as she could. Gradually, she felt a deep emotion penetrating those two drops. All over her body, her blood was becoming hotter and hotter. It was also flowing slower and slower. Within her blood, some tiny particles were even flowing backward, going back into her heart.


    Those minuscule particles of blood seeped through the walls of her heart and entered her Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir right in its center. That was where the two True Fiery Drops were residing right now. Those particles first condensed on the surface of those two drops before leaving. Then, they coagulated beside them. Huang Cixi was even thinking for a moment that she was condensing a third True Fiery Drop. But this was beyond fast. Even in her wildest dreams, she couldn''t imagine condensing another drop so soon after the second one.


    And she was right, she realized that this coagulation of tiny particles of blood was not a True Fiery Drop. But she couldn''t make out what it was.


    All of a sudden, she was jolted out of her thoughts. A voice echoed in her mind.

 Chapter 194: True Fiery Fenghuangs lingering will

    Deep in Huang Cixi''s heart, what she could feel was indeed not a True Fiery Drop. Unknown to her, something else had taken form. As the two True Fiery Drops looked like perfect drops of blood surrounded by a blazing aura, this thing had the appearance of two wings closed around each other. It had tiny feathers of fire and was moving around, as though it was inspecting the drops.


    Then, it sent some of its feathers into Huang Cixi''s bloodstream. In a matter of seconds, the feathers flowed through her entire body before joining back with the two wings. Then, Huang Cixi heard some strange words resounding in her mind. At first, she didn''t know what she was hearing, until she finally realized something. Those words seemed familiar yet she couldn''t recognize them right away. They were in Primitive Nuhua. This was the language spoken by the human slaves among themselves before Emperor Nuwa''s war brought them freedom.


    Emperor Nuwa had promoted the use of Nuhua among the Hongchen Kingdom. And that primitive language that was some form of bastardized version of the tongues spoken by the demons slowly disappeared. Of course, Nuhua had evolved in nearly twenty thousand years. In fact, the written language was almost the same, only the pronunciation had truly profoundly changed. With everything Huang Cixi had read, understanding this language was in the end not that difficult.


    Now that she knew what she was hearing, it only took her some time to get used to it. She recalled the first words spoken.


    "Little girl, what are you looking for, here? This place is under my protection."


    Her words were not very assured but she still tried to reply as best as she could. She wasn''t sure who she was talking to. Considering the voice was using such an ancient language, she decided to err on the side of caution.


    "Pardon my intrusion, Lord. I am a young child of the Huang family, descending from Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng. I came here in search of knowledge about my ancestry and to enhance the power in my blood."


    "Oh? It has been a long time since I met someone who could speak my tongue so well. Most of the people I saw could not even answer me at all. Well, a majority did not even hear my voice. Your blood is so pure that it attracted me. Also, you have the same Dantian as Nu''er! Impressive indeed if I say so myself."


    Nu''er? ... Nu''er?


    "Are you perhaps talking about... Emperor Nuwa?" In her surprise, Huang Cixi spoke out loud, in Nuhua. Right away, she corrected herself and asked again but only in her mind and in Primitive Nuhua.


    "Yes, I''m talking about the woman who founded your entire kingdom. I must say that I''m always surprised that she managed such a feat. But to be fair, she did like to boss me around quite a lot, that little brat..."


    "Are you... the True Fiery Fenghuang who accompanied Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng?"


    "Ha ha ha. Ancestral Matriarch? The time has flown by. Indeed, that was me."


    Huang Cixi was in shock. This kind of thing should have never happened before to other Huang family members who came to meditate here. Otherwise, that thing would have known about this information. But... was it really the spirit of the True Fiery Fenghuang? Or was it something else? After all, demonic cultivators and demonic beasts, even demons, were quite active recently. Could she have been ambushed? But why? And if it truly was the True Fiery Fenghuang''s spirit, why would it only appear to her?


    "Brat. Your suspicions are understandable. But I truly am the will of the True Fiery Fenghuang. Well, what remains of it at the very least. The reason why you never heard about me is quite simple. First of all, I conserve my energy as much as possible so I only appear to those with a blood pure enough. Unfortunately, the number has been decreasing as of late. And as centuries passed by, many were just unable to understand me. And I''m too weak to learn a language through someone''s mind. In fact, I don''t think I''ve been able to have a meaningful conversation in the last three millenniums. I do remember a... Gufeng... I think, around two millenniums ago."


    "Yufeng?"


    "Yes, that''s the name! She was rather talented compared to the people I met since what you call the Forsaken Dao Era. Such a pity mankind fell so much... But I am quite impressed with you. Not only do you have a Pure Golden Dantian, but your mind cultivation is impressive as well and you seem to have even found a way to apply it to your blood cultivation. You''re still a bit weak, but you''re young enough that it can be corrected.


    "So, little girl, are you ready to receive my help? Or do you still not trust me?"


    "Lord, I am sorry to have ever doubted you. But, I was not expecting that at all. Wait! If you are the True Fiery Fenghuang''s will, you should remember the words of Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng, right? Please, help me. I read some of her texts but they are incomplete."


    "Sorry, girl. I have almost no more memory of that time. You see, I really am just a lingering will. My memories of my life are only bits and pieces. And the more time passes, the vaguer they become. Right now, the only vivid memory I have is your ancestral matriarch bawling her eyes out as I''m dying in her arms. That was such a sight... All that sorrow just for a pathetic bird like me who couldn''t even protect her properly... That day, I burned everything I was just to give her a chance. I thought I would completely disappear but my will persevered. Since then, I''ve mostly slumbered. From time to time, I sensed her blood coming here and I tried to help. Well, I knew it wasn''t her but still...


    "However, I can still help you. The blood essence in your veins comes from me. And as such, it reacts to my will as well."


    Suddenly, Huang Cixi felt her blood resonate with the will talking to her. It was rather scary in a sense because someone else was controlling her blood. But deep down, she felt a deep familiarity with this will. For sure, that will speaking with her was from the True Fiery Fenghuang.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Usually, I use the blood essence in your family to help your people in their tribulation or their cultivation. But I can do much more for you. Not only can I help you break through, I can also help you condense another True Fiery Drop."


    The former was not that important but the latter was a great news for Huang Cixi. Indeed, she wasn''t worried about her Qi cultivation as it was extremely stable and steady. In fact, she was sure that she could break through at almost any moment. That was one of the reasons why she wasn''t afraid of giving a month to Gui Bei. On the other hand, condensing a True Fiery Drop took more time for every new drop. Even the current matriarch had still not condensed the nine drops for the ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire''. If she could forge another drop right now, that would be a huge help in her upcoming duel and in her future progress as well.


    In fact, she had still many means to make sure that she would win the duel. Otherwise, she would not have challenged Gui Bei to begin with. Huang Cixi was not the kind of woman to let fate decide for her. She would rather be in control of the situation as much as possible. And even though martial arts and cultivation were not her thing, she knew that strength was essential to control one''s own fate.


    "Lord, this humble one seeks your help. May you show me the way?"


    "Of course. I only have a small quantity of energy left. Unfortunately I cannot use everything on you or I would dissipate right away."


    "Lord, if you dissipate, it will be a loss for my entire family..."


    "Do not fret about that. If I help you, I''ll be able to persist for at least half a millennium still. And if I don''t, I''ll only last eight or nine hundred years. In this time, I know that I won''t find another girl as talented as you. So why waste this opportunity to wait for another chance that won''t come? And if you''re worried for me, remember. I sacrificed everything I was to help your ancestor. I was fully prepared to consume even my will. The fact that I survived is just a fluke.


    "However, you''ll have to tell your family not to send anyone in this place for at least ten years. After helping you, I''ll need to take a nap for a while.


    "And one last thing before we get to work. When you feel ready, you should go to the Gate of Heaven and Hell. I believe you know what I''m talking about, right?"


    Of course, Huang Cixi knew about that. The Gate of Heaven and Hell was a secret location. Only the current matriarch knew where it was. Entering that gate was the final test to be recognized as the next matriarch. Even if the True Fiery Fenghuang''s will did not tell her to go, she would have to.


    "I''ll leave an imprint in you. Baibai left something in that gate. I cannot be certain, but I do not think anyone else was able to obtain it. With this imprint, you''ll have a better chance. Unfortunately, I only vaguely sense that gate so I can''t tell you what''s in it or how to obtain that thing. But I''ll put my trust in you."


    Baibai? Was he talking about Huang Baifeng? Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng?


    "What thing?"


    "I can''t be absolutely sure. You''ll have to see for yourself. But I can feel that something important is behind that gate. And only Baibai could have put anything in there.


    "Anyway, are you ready for my help?"


    "Yes, Lord. What should I do?"


    "At first, you must let me control your blood. I''ll guide it exactly where it''s supposed to go. I''ll use my will to stimulate the blood essence within your blood. In fact, I''ll even activate your two True Fiery Drops. Just focus on ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' to extract as much blood essence as possible. My will alone may not be sufficient to fully condense a third True Fiery Drop. But I must warn you. As I activate my blood essence, it will get hotter and hotter. You must also protect your physical body with your Qi. No matter how much you protect yourself, the pain will be unbearable. But if you fail to manipulate your Qi, your veins will melt and then, your organs will too. If at any moment you wish to stop, just think about it and I''ll completely retract my will. However, I do not think that I''ll be able to mobilize your entire blood essence a second time.


    "Now that I explained everything. Are you sure you want to try it?"


    Without any hesitation, Huang Cixi answered "Yes, Lord.". Although she had other means to get stronger for her upcoming duel, this opportunity was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. If the will of the True Fiery Fenghuang was ready to help her, there was no way she would refuse because of a little fear. Moreover, she had full confidence in her mind cultivation and her ability to both resist pain and control her Qi.


    "Then, I''ll take control of your blood essence right away. Get ready!"


    The two wings in her heart once again sent all their feathers in her bloodstream. Huang Cixi clearly felt their movement as her own blood was boiling in her veins. Along with this sensation, Huang Cixi activated her Qi to protect her body. She had to be extremely precise as her Qi coiled around her veins, her arteries and even the smallest capillaries. The will had been right, even though they had just started, the pain was already difficult to bear.


    It took almost thirty breaths for the will to circulate the feathers through all Huang Cixi''s bloodstream while activating her blood essence. Then, Huang Cixi felt this scorching heat navigate through her body in the opposite direction of her usual bloodstream. As the heat was gathering in the major spots of her blood system, she was able to retract her Qi in other small places. However, this also meant that the pain in those major spots was increasing like crazy.


    She had to gather even more Qi to protect her body. But this was easier to do. Instead of controlling tiny strands of Qi, she only had to send huge amount of it in very specific places.


    "Now, I''ll bring it into your heart. Protect it as though your life depends on it, because it does. If I stop then, the blood essence will kill you. Focus on ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'', it will speed up the process and extract even more blood essence."


    Usually, the blood essence in a member of the Huang family would naturally increase so long as they had at least one True Fiery Drop. And only when its level had reached a certain threshold could they condense another drop. But the will had activated every single ounce of blood essence in Huang Cixi at once. Hence, it would allow her to condense the drop much earlier. And with three drops, her rate of recovery of the blood essence would also increase.


    Huang Cixi focused on her heart and felt the blood essence enter the organ. The two True Fiery Drops began to vibrate, excited by this energy. Huang Cixi used her modified version of the cultivation method to control her two drops and agglomerate the new blood essence. Very soon the two drops gained in quality as they were brimming with energy.


    Around the two wings that were still in her heart, the remaining blood essence coagulated. Once more, the pain was insane, but Huang Cixi was using her mind cultivation to bear with it.


    After more than two hours, she had finally condensed a third True Fiery Drop. But there was something strange with it. There were two small wings engraved on its surface. This was the imprint the will had talked about.


    "Girl, I''ll have to go back into a slumber very soon. But before that, I can help you temper some of your acupoints."


    As the voice said that, Huang Cixi felt her blood accumulate around several points in her body. An intense warmth, but very pleasant this time, coursed through her body. She clearly felt that opening all her acupoints would become extremely easy as long as this warmth existed. Thus, she decided to use her Qi to open the acupoints she had not yet tempered.

 Chapter 195: Gui Bei

    Gui Bei was the son of a side branch from the Gui family. They were a family of merchants with some ties with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. In fact, Patriarch Gui was one of the lesser managers of the Cherry Hall, the head branch of the association. However, Gui Bei was born in a tiny side branch. As such, he was barely recognized as a member of the family. He always felt belittled by his own family. Sadly, his talent was not that good either, both in cultivation and in business. He wasn''t that smart.


    Gradually, he became estranged even from his own father. Gui Song was completely absorbed in his work, trying to fructify his business and regain a bit of favor from the Gui family. The only parent who could take care of Gui Bei was his mother but she died of disease. The treatment was too expensive and no matter how much Gui Song pleaded, neither the Shang Province''s Governor nor the Gui family would lend him any money.


    The following years, Gui Song turned to a whole other kind of people. Gui Song started to engage in business with various crime organizations. However, that would not prove to be a better idea. Very soon, he got denounced by some crooked merchant who gave up names to save his own life. As a result, Gui Song was banished from the Shang Province and his son along with him.


    By that time, Gui Song was barely even talking with his son. The many setbacks he had endured had completely destroyed his will. From this moment onward, Gui Song almost looked like a dead man with extinguished eyes. One last time, he tried to get into a legitimate business. And for once, it succeeded. In a couple of years, he even set up a small shop in Baziyun City, the capital of the province he had fled to.


    However, tragedy befell the small Gui family yet again. Gui Song contracted the wrong kind of debt and got roped in with criminals once more.


    On the other hand, Gui Bei was completely forgotten by his father. The boy was around thirteen then and he felt as though the entire world found him useless. One day as he was exploring the outskirts of Baziyun City, he met with a beautiful young girl whom he would later know as Ling Jia. She had beautiful light brown hair with some glistening highlights. The girl was around the same age as he was. When he saw her for the first time, she was reading a book about demonic beasts.


    It turned out that Gui Song was providing materials from demonic beasts. He would buy the corpses of demonic beasts from some hunters, and after processing them he would sell the materials. Hence, Gui Bei had enough conversation about the subject to talk with the little girl. At first, she got surprised by the poor looking boy. Ling Jia came from a noble family and did not meet a lot of commoners. But she found Gui Bei to be quite fun. For once, the boy had something to enjoy in his life.


    However, unfortunately for him, he fell in love with the girl. One day, he mustered the courage to confess. Long Jia was utterly speechless. She had never seen him as something else than a friend. Although she tried to tell him nicely, Gui Bei heard completely otherwise. In his mind, he imagined her laughing behind his back while telling everyone how pathetic he had been. Gui Bei had always been pathetic after all. He couldn''t do anything. He had no brawn and no brain. Day after day, Gui Bei fantasized about all the horrendous rumors Ling Jia would spread about him.


    Any time Gui Bei left his house, he imagined people mocking him. But what would such a pathetic excuse for a man could do?


    That was when Gui Bei realized that he could be a criminal just like his failure of a father. After all, everyone was already mocking him behind his back. But if they feared him, they would never dare tell him up front. And Gui Bei enrolled with a crowd. He really was just a lackey for other criminals. Their main thing was to ambush vagrant hunters to steal their stuff. As they didn''t want to be attacked by the governor''s forces, they always were cautious about their targets. And they never went too far. Although it was sometimes necessary to be violent, they always knew when to stop. Since they planned in advance, they had systematically more men than the hunters. Being outnumbered and exhausted from their hunt, the vagrant cultivators seldom decided to fight.


    Being in the crowd, Gui Bei still felt like he was useless. No one ever gave him anything important to do. And he only received a fraction of their bounty. When he turned seventeen, a great opportunity fell into the lap of his crowd. During a hunt, they found the location of some ancient site. All over the Hongchen Kingdom, there were many temples and various constructions from forgotten times. Most of the times, those ancient sites contained untold treasures. This could be their chance to finally make it big. Maybe, they could even advance their cultivation significantly and join a sect. In the group, no one exceeded thirty so they still had hope for the future.


    However, what they found was death.


    Gui Bei cowered in fear and ran when his ''friends'' were slaughtered. In the end, he was the only one who survived because he was a coward. He hid in a strange room and heard a language he did not know resound in his head. Since this moment, he had more and more headaches but he obtained amazing abilities. In a matter of months, he reached the 7th-grade Mortal stage.


    At last, now that he had talent, now that he had power, he would be recognized by all. It was finally his time to shine. After all, strength was the only thing he was missing compared to the others.


    Gui Bei almost remembered nothing from that ancient site. In fact, the more he tried to remember, the more the memories would evade him. The only thing he remembered was that he had somehow ran out as soon as he could gather the courage to stand up. But the strange voice in his head had stayed with him. He never understood anything the voice told him but he soon realized it was able to help him detect things. That was how he was able to sense spiritual senses on him. And during the night, he would dream of fantastical sights. More than that, he even dreamed about cultivation and martial arts.


    Deep within him, an inner demon had been ready to emerge for a very long time. But as Gui Bei was too weak, it had stayed dormant. However, it was now becoming stronger and stronger as Gui Bei himself was becoming stronger. Despite his lack of experience, Gui Bei understood what inner demons were and he was sure that this inner demon was due to the rejection he had suffered from Long Jia. But now that he had power, he could go to her and flaunt that she had been wrong. He would make her regret her decision and beg for him to want her again.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Obviously, it didn''t quite happened as he had hoped for. When Gui Bei met Long Jia after three years, she was betrothed to a young commoner, He Lin. This He Lin had nothing special. He was the son of a butcher and his cultivation was very standard for his age, being only a 2nd-grade Mortal. Even his appearance was not that great. The only word that came to Gui Bei''s mind was ''average''. Seeing the girl he had admired being so sincerely happy with such a trash, Gui Bei lost it.


    He assaulted them and insulted the young woman. Grabbing her in the middle of the street, he said incoherent words about how she was too good for a trash. She had to be with someone worthy of her. But he couldn''t bring him to say that she should be with him. Even now, he couldn''t consider himself to be worthy of her. That was when He Lin intervened.


    As a Mortal, he wasn''t able to tell the strength of Gui Bei. But considering that they were the same age, they should have had the same strength, more or less. He Lin pushed Gui Bei off of his fianc¨¦e. With a simple slap, Gui Bei could have literally torn apart his head, but he didn''t. Instead, he acted as though he got pushed away.


    "Leave her alone!"


    "He Lin!" The girl grabbed her fianc¨¦e''s sleeve. "Please, don''t hurt him."


    The more he was listening to them, the more enraged Gui Bei became. He saw pity in her eyes. Damn that woman! He was going to show her who was really pitiful.


    "You want to protect that wretched woman. I''m sure she''s just playing with you. Soon she''ll find someone better than a trash like you. You''re nothing to her!"


    "You...! How dare you insult my fianc¨¦e like that?! Are you only good with your mouth, or do you dare fight me?"


    "Oh...? You really want to challenge me to a duel?" Gui Bei knew perfectly well that his cultivation was way superior to his opponent''s. After all, they were both of rather poor social standing. Usually, considering their age, they should only be 1st-grade Mortal or 2nd-grade Mortal at most. Right now, Gui Bei was a 7th-grade Mortal. An average cultivator would not reach this level before he would turn 25. And He Lin was clearly an unaffiliated cultivator so he had to be below average. Some vagrant cultivators even ended their life as a 9th-grade Mortal after all.


    "What? Too scared to accept?"


    Seeing the confidence in He Lin''s eyes, the crazed Gui Bei got excited. He wanted to crush his confidence. The idea that this guy who was as trashy as he had himself been could get his girl was unbearable.


    "Fine, let''s do this! But what if I accidentally kill you?"


    "If you try to intimidate me, too bad. In a duel, both parties accept the possibility of dying." He Lin turned toward his fianc¨¦e. "Do not worry. I''ll just beat some sense into him. I''ll have him apologize to you."


    The young girl was still looking at Gui Bei with pity and gently nodded. Utterly enraged, Gui Bei almost killed the fianc¨¦e on the spot. But he had still his sanity. As long as he killed him during an official duel, he could not be punished too heavily by the governor''s authority.


    Both men faced each other and saluted. Now the duel was official. In the street, there were a few people who witnessed that and stopped to watch the fight. A duel in the middle of the street was rather rare, but it wasn''t that unusual either. Such duels were not strictly forbidden. But legally, they had to go through the governor''s office to have their duel sanctioned. However, as it was a pain, some cultivators fought without going through the proper procedure.


    However, if they killed their opponent during such an unlawful duel, this still wouldn''t be considered murder, as both of them had agreed to fight and risk their lives. The problem was that Gui Bei had intentionally hidden his higher cultivation to entrap his opponent.


    He Lin took out his sword and used all his strength to attack Gui Bei. He was confident in his own strength but seeing the attitude of his opponent, the boy had decided to take him seriously. Without even drawing his own weapon, the late Mortal grabbed the blade of the sword and punched He Lin in the face. The sound of his bones shattering echoed in the street.


    "You''re just trash! You can''t have her! She''s better than you! You''re nothing!"


    Gui Bei sent his opponent to the ground and kept punching. With his strength, his fists literally went through the flesh and bones of the poor He Lin. In a few instants, he was nothing more than the raw meat his father was dealing with everyday. There was nothing human anymore in his appearance. Yet, Gui Bei kept punching and punching.


    "You''re not worthy! You''re nothing! You''re trash! Coward!"


    He kept screaming and punching and punching and screaming. When he finally got out of his delirium, Gui Bei saw his hands covered in blood and flesh. Even he was disgusted by himself. Then, he turned toward the young woman whose face was pale as death. Seeing some final spasms shaking her fianc¨¦e''s body, Long Jia was stunned. Before she could even scream, the duel had ended and the man she loved was now a disfigured corpse.


    Long Jia suddenly realized that this was real. Bursting into tears, she rushed to the corpse of He Lin.


    "Look what you made me do! If you had not rejected me... If you had not favored this trash... Why was he good for you and not me?!"


    Even if Long Jia had not been completely stunned, there was nothing she could have done to prevent the boy from grabbing her. Gui Bei forced her face right in front of his. What he saw in her eyes made him mad.


    "I''ll show you that I''m worthy of you. I''ll show you that you were wrong."


    In Long Jia''s eyes, filled with tears, Gui Bei saw his own reflection and just couldn''t take it. Beyond the fear and shock, he was seeing disgust in those eyes as well. That same girl who was laughing and talking with so much joy with him was now looking as though he was the worst scum on the planet. Rage took over Gui Bei and he wished to break the girl who was disgusted with him. He forced his mouth on hers and tried to kiss her.


    Before he could go any further, the guards arrived. Thankfully, some witnesses had called for them. They were not in time to save He Lin but they would not let a man covered in blood and flesh abuse a young woman in the middle of the street. The leader of the group was a Mortal Warrior and with one gesture, he got the young woman away from Gui Bei. She appeared in the arms of his men, completely terrified. Just then, the leader pinned down the boy to the ground, his foot on the nape of his neck.


    "Vermin! What do you think you''re doing?!"


    Gui Bei was later sentenced to only a couple of months of jail. After all, despite his deception, He Lin had himself instigated the duel. And Gui Bei had not been able to abuse the young lady thanks to the arrival of the guards. Moreover, just as Huang Cixi had suspected, Governor Leng got interested in his secret. Becoming so strong so fast was not just talent, he had to have had a secret.


    -


    Right now, Gui Bei was leaving the mountains. Since he wanted to crush Huang Cixi, he had gone back in the ancient site, deep in the Nine Peaks. There, he knew he could find enough strength to crush her completely. He was going to show them all what he was worth. He wasn''t just a pathetic little boy. He would show them how powerful he had become.


    Gui Bei was looking forward to see her being humiliated right in the Huang residence. He could not wait to crush that wretched girl in front of her own family and watch the despair in her eyes.

 Chapter 196: The one-month duel

    Gui Bei walked toward the Huang residence. It had been precisely one month since his encounter with Huang Cixi. Today would be the day she would crawl in front of him. By humiliating the precious daughter of the prestigious Huang family, he would show them all who he really was. He wasn''t a loser!


    As he walked through the main gate, he saw ridicule in the eyes of the guards. Gui Bei imagined how much they were mocking him as they merely looked him walk by. In his deluded mind, everyone was always looking down on him. And after this duel, no one would anymore. He would be the one who would look down on others.


    Just before entering the inner courtyard, a guard stopped Gui Bei.


    "You are expected. Do you have your weapon on you?"


    "Yes." Gui Bei simply raised in right hand. On his finger was a spatial ring. At first the guard did not understand. Then, he realized. As the guard was an early Mortal Warrior himself he could not clearly see through Gui Bei''s cultivation like a Spirit Warrior would. But by feeling the Qi around him, he realized that he had broken through to the Mortal Warrior realm as well. That meant that he could now use a spatial ring.


    However, even with this new ability, acquiring such an artifact was extremely difficult. Considering Gui Bei''s background, the guard imagined that he had received one from some criminal organization. Many people had this misconception on Gui Bei that he was deeply involved with organized criminals. But, in fact, just like his father, he had only ever been related to small crooks. None of them had been big enough to have real ties to organized crime. But Gui Bei liked the idea that people feared him because of that, while resenting the fact that he was only a small-time thief. Even while stealing from other cultivators in the wild, he was only there to support the actual thieves.


    "You''ll have to give me your spatial ring. We will give it back to you right before the duel so that you can get your weapons, and nothing else. But you may not use any artifact to help you during the fight. If you refuse, you will forfeit the duel and you''ll have to obey the terms you already agreed upon with Young Mistress Huang Cixi. Do you agree?"


    The guard extended his hand. Gui Bei knew very well that he wouldn''t be allowed into the Huang residence with his spatial ring. That ring had been obtained in the ancient site, on the corpses of his ''friends''. In fact, he had obtained two of them. But the one he had right now was the largest. The other one was much smaller. Just in case, Gui Bei had hidden the other ring with his most important objects and most of his money outside of the city. In the ring he had today, there was nothing really valuable apart from his weapon and a few pills to help him in dire situations.


    As such, Gui Bei had no problem giving it up to the guard. Despite the great reputation of the Huang family, he couldn''t trust them at all. All the nobles were just hypocrites! The rules only applied to the weak while the strong could do whatever they wished. And he would prove to all that he was part of the strong ones. In his warped view of the world, he was certain that after today, everything would change. But just in case they decided to attack him after his victory, Gui Bei had also prepared an escape plan. He knew that the Huang family would not let him leave if he were to harm or even kill Huang Cixi. But he did not intend to kill her. No, he would completely crush her, humiliate her, but he would keep her alive. She had to live through the same humiliation he had endured all his life.


    Receiving his spatial ring, the guard walked Gui Bei into the residence. They waited for some time and then went into a large hall, the East Hall. The hall was a large pavilion without any walls. There were pillars supporting the roof and an open courtyard all around. In that courtyard, many benches had been set up for an audience. The roof was also rather high to allow for much more movement. Indeed, Mortals and Mortal Warriors, although they couldn''t fly, could still jump.


    Gui Bei immediately understood that this would be his fighting ground. The guard then gave him his spatial ring.


    "You may retrieve your weapon. Then you''ll get your spatial ring back when you leave our residence. In case something happens to you, all your personal effects will be given to your closest kin. Unless you have someone else in mind?"


    "Do not worry about that. Nothing is going to happen to me but victory and prestige."


    Gui Bei simply touched the spatial ring and sent a surge a Qi within. A blue light shined in his hands and he let the guard keep his ring. Now, he only had to wait for his opponent.


    As soon as he had entered the residence, Gui Bei had sensed that many spiritual senses were locked on him. In fact, some had even started to follow him since he had gotten close enough to the residence. But he wasn''t worried at all. Thanks to the strange voice he had in him, he was able to clearly sense in which directions they all were. In the mountains, he had been able to evade the vigilance of many Spirit Warriors and he was confident enough in his ability to do so again.


    However, everything changed when he sensed another kind of spiritual senses wash over him. He had never felt something like that and he got completely paralyzed for an entire minute. This pressure was due to Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Right now, he realized that he had been mistaken. If he tried to flee from a monster like that, he would instantly die. But should he change his plans? Would she interfere with him if he beat up Huang Cixi? Wait! What if she interfered during the duel to make him lose?


    Gui Bei knew that all those cultivators were just power-hungry brutes. Just to save their faces, they would probably try underhanded tricks. When Matriarch Huang Yufeng broke through, he was still deep in the mountains. Thus he hadn''t hear about her. Gui Bei had never sensed such a powerful intent on him. However it soon disappeared as though it was just a bad dream. Despite all the poison this little man was spewing against the nobles, the Huang family intended for the fight to be fair and square.


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng was still in her chambers. But that didn''t stop her from examining the young fighter. And she was impressed. The boy was not even eighteen and he had reached the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior stage. An average cultivator would not reach this level before being in their mid-thirties. Yet, she felt that his cultivation was very unstable and his emotions were all over the place. In his mind, an inner demon was slowly growing and it would soon wake up. Once it did, the boy would die in a matter of days. From what she had been told about him, she felt like the situation was such a pity. If someone other than him had found the secret that had allowed him to advance so fast, it could have been great for mankind.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The boy was living in constant fear. Just with a single glance, the matriarch had seen what kind of man he was. Gui Bei needed to prove himself to others all the time because deep down he simply hated himself. The scorn he was seeing in everyone''s eyes was only in his. Such a weak mind invested with a great power was clearly a threat. But the matriarch trusted Huang Cixi''s vision. Unless something unexpected were to happen, she wouldn''t intervene at all. However, she still covered her bases. With a telepathic messages, she contacted all the elders.


    "If Huang Cixi seems to be about to get harmed beyond cure, or even worse, you will stop the fight and declare the boy as the winner. Although our reputation is important, Huang Cixi is even more precious. She can lose, but she can''t suffer debilitating injuries or death."


    In the East Hall, Gui Bei saw many members of the Huang family taking a seat all around him. Then, he saw a servant bring a small altar on the opposite side of the hall. This altar was holding three memorial tablets. With his view he easily saw the names on the tablets, Huang Mingze, Huang Longwei and Huang Lixin. That was when he remembered the bet with Huang Cixi. She wanted him to apologize to her family. Gui Bei was so sure about his victory that he had simply forgotten about this. Amused by the idea, he merely chuckled with disdain. That was perfect indeed. That way, her family would see her whimper and crawl at his feet.


    After several minutes, almost all the Huang family was sitting around the East Hall. Among them were obviously Huang L¨¹ and Huang Si. No outsider had been invited. Finally, the elders all arrived flying from the sky. Even the matriarch had come in person to see the duel. She could have watched from her chambers, but her mere presence was a sign to everyone. Huang Cixi had challenged this boy because he had insulted her family.


    The matriarch was not stupid, she had seen through the plan of the young woman. Not only could she get some prestige among the elders and the young cultivators, but she could also increase the status of her father and brothers. Even now, their memorial tablets were visible by all. And if... when she would win, the man who had mocked the Huang family would have to apologize to them. Although there was no way to bring their memorial tablets into the ancestral hall considering their status, this would improve their memory in the main family. Huang Cixi''s name would be remembered but theirs too.


    Family Head Huang Yi had also understood that, like many other elders. Despite his grudge against Huang Mingze, he knew how much he meant for his granddaughter so he didn''t say anything. And although he was worried for Huang Cixi, he also understood her enough to know that she wouldn''t fight a losing battle. She was a politician, not a fighter. So she wouldn''t accept a fight she wasn''t sure of winning, even more so if she had given one month to her opponent to get ready.


    Gui Bei was under everyone''s eyes. Deep down, he felt their gazes as if they were daggers stabbing him. He knew that everyone here was mocking him and waiting for him to be humiliated. However, he would show them all!


    The last person to arrive was Huang Cixi herself. She walked out from the door opposite to Gui Bei. Finally, they were facing each other.


    "Gui Bei. You insulted me and my family. Today I will show you the strength and glory of my Huang bloodline. Not even the gods would dare slander our name. You will see why that is. And when you lose, you will kneel before those you mocked and humble yourself."


    Full of rage, Gui Bei almost jumped straight ahead. In his mind, the inner demon was getting stronger and stronger. He knew that he had to beat this arrogant little girl. Once her blood would be on his hand and her face in the dirt, he would know peace. Like that, he was convinced that his inner demon would calm down.


    "Brat! I will show in front of everyone here that your blood is nothing. You all think you''re so big! You''re nothing! Just because you were born in a good family, you act like big shots! Not only your face but your name, that is what I''ll crush today!"


    The crowd was already not with Gui Bei. But now, they hated him. Seeing this hate in their eyes, Gui Bei felt better. The ridicule he was seeing in them had completely disappeared. Of course, the mere fact that there was ridicule in their eyes before could be discussed. But that was the way Gui Bei was seeing the world right now.


    Elder Huang Jian floated in the middle of the East Hall.


    "No external help of any kind will be permitted. If anyone breaks this rule, they will automatically lose. Otherwise, you lose if you admit defeat or if you cannot move anymore. Since lethal wounds are always possible, both of you pledge that no one may seek retribution as long as the rules have been adhered to. Do you both agree?"


    "Yes." "Yes, Elder."


    "Then, take out your weapons!"


    Gui Bei revealed what he had in hands. On both of his sides, two balls hit the ground. They were linked by a chain and were the size of a human head. Gui Bei''s weapon was a meteor hammer. The weapon didn''t seem particularly expensive or precious. On the other hand, Huang Cixi took out two iron fans. The moment she did, she opened them in a swift motion. As they opened, flames erupted from them before disappearing as fast. The fans were red and golden with magnificent painting and calligraphy on them. From each radius of the iron fans, thin silver needle-like blades were visible.


    Everyone in the Huang family recognized this weapon. That was the ''Heaven Climbing Wheel'', a 1-star Heaven weapon. Compared with Gui Bei''s weapon, that was the difference between heaven and earth. Even their clothes were of different standing. And Huang Cixi was also much more elegant and refined, and beautiful, than this brutish boy. In Gui Bei''s own eyes, he was inferior in every aspect but one. He could beat her to a bloody pulp until she had lost all of her beauty and charm.


    "Let the duel begin!"


    Immediately, Gui Bei wanted to impress everyone. From all around him, a black mist rose. In the audience, the young cultivators who couldn''t sense his cultivation at all were surprised but everyone else knew he had reached the Mortal Warrior realm. What they were waiting for was to see Huang Cixi''s cultivation. She should have known about his level and yet she had chosen to fight, some were wondering whether she was also a Mortal Warrior. But they couldn''t feel anything around her. Usually, Mortal Warriors should be able to sense a powerful Wei Qi around other Mortal Warriors. Huang Cixi clearly looked like a Mortal, a powerful one, but a Mortal nonetheless.


    In a few breaths, Gui Bei was now enshrouded in a black tower. Gradually its shape changed and everyone saw a three-storied pagoda with many closed doors and windows on every story. Getting his meteor hammer ready, Gui Bei sent one of the weights hurtling toward Huang Cixi. As it passed through the pagoda, a door opened and three chains coiled around the real one.


    ''Karma Fruits''.

 Chapter 197: Chains, fire and blood

    The chains from the dark pagoda also coiled around the weight itself. Both its speed and its mass were increased. The chains were a form of Qi Manifestation. As Gui Bei had reached the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, the manifestation of his Qi was now even more corporeal and powerful. One could still tell the difference between the real chains and the ones formed from his Qi. But in the heat of the moment, they looked real enough. With both mass and speed, this attack could probably kill a middle Mortal with no problem at all.


    Just as it was about to hit Huang Cixi, she moved with grace and the weight just passed her by. ''Thousand Flames Dance''. The woman opened both her ''Heaven Climbing Wheel'' iron fans. The Incandescent Phoenix Paper they were made of ignited immediately and with a masterful movement of her wrists, the flames danced in the air and got hurtled toward Gui Bei. To be precise, Huang Cixi aimed for the door that had opened within the dark pagoda.


    Gui Bei did not care at all. ''Nine Mu Iron Podium''.* From the base of the dark pagoda, columns of chains rose in the air and blocked all the flames sent toward Gui Bei. But he wasn''t done with his attack. He still had the chain linked to the weights in hand and swiftly changed the motion of his attack. The chain that was close to Huang Cixi moved and the weight behind her came back toward her head.


    ''Inferno Blows the Feather Away''. While moving her fans with incredible speed, the young woman produced a fantastical dance of fire. Her own red clothes and her beautiful white hair added to her magnificent elegance. Gui Bei tried several times to redirect his attack. Damn, he even sent his second weight with the same attack. But his ''Karma Fruits'' could not touch Huang Cixi. She stayed almost at the same spot while dodging the weights hurtling toward her. This really was some kind of dance and the weapon of her opponent were her partners. It was as though Huang Cixi was unaffected by the fruits of her own karma and merely danced pleasantly with them.


    Of course, that pissed off Gui Bei who changed his tactic. Staying within his three-storied dark pagoda, he spun his chains around. ''Ninefold Naraka''. From many doors of the pagoda, new chains appeared and flew toward Huang Cixi. The two weights who were already close to her started to form whirlwind in the air. She still tried to dodge but she also felt a force sucking her in. Clearly, she was in a bad situation now. The shockwave of the mere movements from the weights was enough to tell her that if she were to touch them her body would be broken. Both weights were spinning so fast that they could break the bones of an early Mortal Warrior while Huang Cixi was only a late Mortal. Thanks to her recent stay in the sacred grounds, she had reached the 9th-grade Mortal but this wasn''t enough to protect her.


    ''Scorched Earth''. From ''Dance to the Burning World'', one of the three forms of her martial art, Huang Cixi chose another move. Her dance changed suddenly and the flames from her iron fans spread all around her as a kind of protection. The flames got trapped in the swirling air. As the air was getting hotter and hotter, the form of Huang Cixi slowly disappeared. The flames became so powerful that the chains themselves started to redden. Gradually, the heat traveled along the metal and reached Gui Bei''s hands. Of course, the discomfort he had to bear was nothing compared to the searing heat the weights were experiencing. Gui Bei soon realized that his chains were about to literally melt.


    The boy didn''t catch on it, but the entire Huang family was in uproar. What Huang Cixi had just done was incredibly close to a Qi Manifestation. She had not produced the flames herself from her Qi, but her Qi had increased the flames produced by her weapons and kept them alive. That was also the kind of thing Zhi Yin had done. Even though Huang Cixi could not control her Qi outside of her body, if she injected it in her flames, she only had to control her flames to manipulate her Qi. And within the ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel'', there were many ways to do so by moving the air around thanks to the iron fans. Someone who didn''t know the ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel'' would not see that something wasn''t right. But everyone from the Huang family caught on it. What she was doing was almost Qi Manifestation although she was still a Mortal.


    The Qi manifested metal that was coiled around the meteor hammer literally started to melt away under the scorching heat. Even Gui Bei''s hands were now feeling the bite of Huang Cixi''s flames. Full of rage, Gui Bei brought both weights back to him.


    He didn''t leave any time to Huang Cixi. Changing his grip on the weapon, Gui Bei grabbed the chain just above one of the weights. Thus, he had the full length of the chain to hurl the other one. And he did. ''Samsara Calamity''. This time, he did not increase the weight of his weapon with manifested chains. Instead, the weight was covered in a layer of black energy that was spinning it. The weight that was just a massive orb of metal now looked like the head of a spear. With the black energy surrounding the chain, its speed got increase, and without the increase in mass, it became way faster than before.


    Huang Cixi was surprised when the weight went through her flames. At the very last moment, she fully opened her right iron fan. ''Bright Dawn Wheel''. As it opened, it almost produced a small explosion. This reduced the impact of the weight. Huang Cixi still had to take a few steps back. However, this wasn''t over. Even faster than before, the weight came back. And again, and again, it was relentless. Each time, it was faster and more powerful. Huang Cixi was using all her strength just to hold on her iron fan. By closing and opening it up again, she created small detonations to try and reduce the impact of the weapon each time.


    After eight attacks, the ninth one was so powerful that Huang Cixi was sent flying backward. But, by focusing all her Qi in her hand, she was able to keep her iron fan.


    In the audience, everyone was silent. Huang L¨¹ was probably the most excited in the crowd, but even she didn''t dare disturb the silence. On the other hand, Huang Si was conflicted. Her junior sister was indeed very strong. Strength alone wasn''t the decisive factor to become matriarch but it still played a role. The best outcome for her would be for Huang Cixi to lose. However, she didn''t like the idea of a woman from the Huang family losing to that man. In the worst case scenario, she could maybe take over after her junior sister, but fighting him after his victory would be a bit too petty. Huang Si sincerely couldn''t choose what outcome she truly desired.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Among the elders, there was not much worry. Thanks to their spiritual senses, they could see that Huang Cixi had not used all her means. And she was still fine. The most calm of all was Matriarch Huang Yufeng. With her insane spiritual senses, she was waiting for this junior girl to amaze everyone.


    "What''s the problem? I don''t know why but I imagined that the Huang family would be better than that... I did not even warm up yet! Here, let me show you what I am truly capable of."


    ''Heavenly Pagoda Ascension''. Gui Bei rose within the dark pagoda. Usually a Mortal Warrior could not fly, not even levitate. However, Gui Bei was using the Qi Manifestation of this dark pagoda to maintain himself in the air. He found himself in the finial, the highest part of the pagoda. That finial was surrounding him as a second skin. Now in the sky, he kept manipulating his meteor hammer.


    Suddenly, he sent each weight onto the ground. Huang Cixi rolled quickly and dodged the first one. In a swift motion, she stood up and danced around the weights falling from the sky. Black energy surrounded the weights and they almost looked like small meteorites falling from the sky. ''Inferno Blows the Feather Away''. Once again, Huang Cixi used her dance to dodge all the attacks, but they increased in both numbers and frequency. From atop the pagoda, Gui Bei was only controlling one chain but several Qi manifested chains were now coiled around it. And more than a dozen meteors were now chained together with the real ones.


    Huang Cixi had only activated one True Fiery Drop for now. Seeing that this wasn''t enough against her opponent, she activated a second one. All the blood in her body began to burn. But this was different from when she had refined the third True Fiery Drop. This fire in her blood was pleasant, it was a part of her. The Qi in her blood also started to move faster than before and she increased her speed. ''Inferno Choking Claws''. Moving just before a meteor hit her, Huang Cixi used the blades along her iron fan to slice away the chain linking this meteor.


    As it was only a Qi Manifestation, the meteor disappeared, taking away a bit of Gui Bei''s energy. Enraged, he tried to increase his attacks but Huang Cixi was way faster than before and easily cut off other chains.


    ''Nine Life Pagoda Destruction''. Up in the sky, one of his meteors turned into a small two-storied pagoda. When he sent this celestial pagoda toward the ground, thunder echoed in the East Hall. This single attack was three times faster than the other meteors and they still didn''t stop falling during the attack, to try and hinder Huang Cixi''s movements. The meteors all fell around Huang Cixi to trap her in the zone of impact of this small pagoda.


    Sensing the danger, Huang Cixi activated her two True Fiery Drops to the maximum but still didn''t use the third one, the one engraved with two wings.


    ''Blazing Beak Strike''. With her closed ''Heaven Climbing Wheel'' iron fans, Huang Cixi struck toward the sky. The tip of her iron fans collided with the falling pagoda. Smiling, Gui Bei was expecting the girl to be crushed beneath his Qi Manifestation. As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, his Qi Manifestation could not be pierce through by a Mortal, no matter how powerful the Mortal was. In fact, Cao Yun would have probably been able to do so by using all of his strength, but then he would have been unable to keep fighting. Unless his opponent was using Qi Manifestation herself, Gui Bei was sure of his victory now.


    All the young members of the Huang family were also utterly convinced of the result. Even with her ingenious use of Qi, Huang Cixi could not stop this attack without manifesting her Qi. In the end, her cultivation was too weak. Her martial arts were clearly outmatching that bastard, but the gap in cultivation was just too big. Between a 9th-grade Mortal and a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, the difference was already great, but he was even two more grades beyond.


    Some elders also got worried and looked at Matriarch Huang Yufeng who was composed as though it didn''t involve her at all.


    Suddenly, everyone got shocked. The shriek of a fenghuang burst out from Huang Cixi''s iron fans. As she struck the incoming pagoda, the shape of a burning bird erupted around her and soared vertically in the skies. The dark pagoda was completely pierced through and through. The Qi Manifestation of Gui Bei exploded in the air and he just couldn''t believe what was going on.


    "Qi Manifestation?!"


    Huang L¨¹ could not contain her excitement anymore. After a small pause, all the young members of the Huang family erupted except for Huang Si. Among the elders, strange glares were exchanged. They were clearly talking through telepathy as they couldn''t comprehend what was going on.


    "This isn''t Qi Manifestation." The voice of the matriarch calmly echoed in the courtyard. She had infused her Qi in her words and even though she was talking low, everyone heard her. "Huang Cixi used the power of her bloodline to manifest this fenghuang. This isn''t Qi Manifestation per se. In fact, it is closer to what demonic beasts use."


    Everyone instinctively looked inside their own heart. And they did sense that their blood was resonating with this red bird that was fading in the sky. Qi Manifestation was the control of Qi outside of one''s body to materialize it in various shapes depending on the cultivator''s martial arts and techniques. In order to achieve that, one had to necessarily be a Mortal Warrior. That was literally the definition of being a Mortal Warrior, someone capable of manifesting his Qi. But the demonic beasts were different. They did not use martial arts and yet when they had enough cores, they could still manifest strange phenomena around them.


    Some called it Blood Manifestation. Indeed, the demonic beasts were using their blood and the Qi within it to manifest those phenomena. They were completely instinctive and they relied on the power and purity of their bloodline. As such, someone from the Huang family could theoretically achieve such a result thanks to the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang in them. But to do so, they had to have an extremely pure blood essence and a few condensed True Fiery Drops.


    As Huang Cixi had the highest bloodline of all her generation, she had discovered that she could manifest her blood. That was one of the reasons why she did not fear challenging Gui Bei. Even if he became a Mortal Warrior, she could fight off his Qi Manifestation. Moreover, even though his cultivation had increased fast, his martial art and his fighting skills were not impressive at all to the young woman. Only his physical feats were a threat to her. But as long as he couldn''t touch her, they were as though they didn''t exist.


    Using the shock and surprise to her advantage, Huang Cixi opened both her iron fans and sent them through the sky. ''Heavenly Hell Wheel''. As they left her hands, they turned into two large peacock wheels. Their feathers were as sharp as razor blades. They sliced through the chains surrounding Huang Cixi just as easily as if they hadn''t been there and flew toward Gui Bei, ready to cut him into pieces.


    *1 mu = 666 m2

 Chapter 198: Hideous inner demon

    Burning feathers fluttered in the air as the two peacock wheels were flying toward the filial of Gui Bei''s dark pagoda. Surprised and shocked by what appeared to be Qi Manifestation from a Mortal, Gui Bei did not know how to react. From every pore of his skin, his Qi left his body in the form of a black mist. Below him the pagoda became more and more corporeal. The chains of his weapons circled the monument as all its doors opened.


    From every opening in the dark pagoda, the chains shot out toward the sky. The base of the pagoda also extended to devour almost half of the East Hall. ''Nine Mu Iron Podium''. From all over the base, even more chains shot upward. But the two wheels went through them as flames melted them one by one.


    ''Nine Cycle Sweep''. Gui Bei spun the chains in his hands. Both weights formed circles all around him as the chains were revolving with the pagoda as their axis. The dark pagoda looked like the center of the world. And the world was an infinite wheel made of chains linking everything and everyone. The two wheels of fire collided with this rotating wheel of fate. Both rotations opposed each other. The flames were spreading and the chains were becoming redder and hotter. But the sheer amount of metal was absolutely incredible. Gui Bei had used almost all of his Qi to manifest those chains. On the other hand, Huang Cixi had used nearly none of hers. Indeed, her ''Qi Manifestation'' was due to her True Fiery Drops and her blood, not her Qi.


    However, the blood in her veins was moving at an incredible speed. It had also pushed her Qi to do the same. Thankfully, she had a Pure Golden Dantian and it didn''t cause too much damage. However, just like when Cao Yun was using his ''Dragon''s Heart'', she couldn''t keep it up indefinitely.


    Unfortunately, Gui Bei, with every ounce of Qi out, was beyond Huang Cixi''s attack. The black Qi from the chains slowly corroded the bright flames. And the two wheels of fire ceased to spin when their fire got extinguished.


    The backlash was felt in Huang Cixi''s heart when the two True Fiery Drops she had activated instantly stopped moving. Using her mind cultivation, she was able to prevent her blood and Qi from stopping too abruptly as well but her body still felt the pain of it.


    Now that Gui Bei was at his limit, he decided to go all out with one last attack. The chains he had manifested all condensed around the pagoda''s first floor. Slowly, Gui Bei descended from the top and touched back the ground. ''Karma Chains Bind All''. From everywhere around Gui Bei, the chains flew toward Huang Cixi to completely surround her. There was no escape for the young woman as she couldn''t fly. Slowly, the chains got closer and closer. Even the dark pagoda was gradually fading away as Gui Bei had consumed all of his stamina. This was most likely his final attack. Huang Cixi had still much Qi in reserve, but she couldn''t manifest it at all. And her True Fiery Drops had been strained by the effort. Moreover, she had lost her weapons.


    For the first time during the fight, Matriarch Huang Yufeng was unsure. She knew that Huang Cixi still had a card up her sleeve, or maybe more than one. However, this didn''t mean that everything would end up fine. Just to be cautious, she sent a telepathic message to Huang Liyue.


    "Wait until the very last moment, but if Huang Cixi can''t get out of this unscathed, protect her. Even if we have to admit our defeat and lose face, we can''t risk losing such a talent."


    "I understand, Matriarch."


    Huang Liyue focused all her spiritual senses on her young mistress, ready to act at a moment''s notice.


    "Huang Cixi, admit your defeat and I won''t crush you. Persist and you will know pain! Your choice! Kneel before me and admit that your Huang family is nothing."


    Gui Bei''s words helped Huang Cixi to focus back on the fight. There was much turmoil in her body after the sudden halt of her True Fiery Drops but it was mostly under control. From her sleeve, Huang Cixi took out a new iron fan. Those weapons were very easy to carry and to hide. And since they tended to be thrown and more easily broken than other weapons, martial artists who used iron fans often had several of those on them.


    Knowing that Huang Cixi could not fly, Gui Bei had not blocked the area over her head. With all her might, instead of using it to protect herself, she threw her new iron fan into the air. As her two True Fiery Drops were in a poor state, Huang Cixi decided to activate the third one. ''Blazing Rain''. The black piece of metal that was the closed iron fan whistled in the air. It became surrounded by flames as its speed increased. And suddenly, it fell back toward the ground aiming for Gui Bei. The closed iron fan almost looked like a feather as the fire was engulfing it and taking an elongated shape in its fall.


    Completely exhausted, Gui Bei could not dodge it in time. Usually, a Mortal Warrior was not fearful of a Mortal''s attack. Not only could a Mortal Warrior manifest his Qi, but his Wei Qi was naturally denser and richer. However, Huang Cixi could mimic Qi Manifestation thanks to her bloodline. Furthermore, Gui Bei had used almost all of his Qi to attack her in one last desperate move. And now, he was defenseless. Even an average late Mortal would have been able to breach his defense. So the attack of someone like Huang Cixi could clearly be lethal to him.


    Thanks to his attempt to dodge, Gui Bei was not struck in a vital spot. The iron fan literally pierced through his right shoulder. The impact was so powerful that Gui Bei''s arm was almost torn apart though. Fortunately for him, his bones were strong enough to resist the blow. But most of the flesh around it got utterly destroyed and charred. Even his nerves were burned away. Although he had kept his arm attached, it would take him a lot of time and resources to heal from such an injury.


    Rebuilding a lost limb required legendary medicines, on par with the Life Boiling Cradle pill, this wasn''t something that could be bought. But if it was just healing damaged nerves, muscles and skin, the medicine would be terribly expensive but it could be bought. Also, a cultivator could consume a bit of his Jing, his vital essence, to promote the healing process along with his Qi. But this would have adverse consequences on both his cultivation progress and his lifespan.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    In shock, Gui Bei completely lost control over his attack. Most of the chains simply disappeared the moment he got hit. The young boy was shaking like a leaf. A few moments ago, he had seen his life flashing before his eyes. The truth was that Huang Cixi was not hell-bent on killing Gui Bei, but in the heat of the moment, she had not the luxury to hesitate. She knew that if she hadn''t aimed for his life, he could have won. Huang Cixi was not a fighter, consequently, she had not that many means to end the fight without seriously injuring or killing her opponent. But after many considerations, she thought that it would be more beneficial to her if he stayed alive.


    In her mind, Gui Bei still reminded her a lot of her first brother and of his arrogant stupidity. Just like him he was a brute in search of more power. But she had realized, after looking at his history, that Gui Bei was not really like her brother. Apparently, even though she had disliked Huang Longwei, she still longed for him a little and just like she had seen Huang Lixin in Cao Yun, she wanted to see Huang Longwei in someone else as well. However, Gui Bei was just a sad little boy. His entire life, he had wanted to prove that he wasn''t a pathetic loser to the people around him. In his mind, everyone ridiculed him because the truth was that he was the one who hated himself. And he just wanted to hurt others as much as he was hurting from his own self-loathing.


    Such a man was dangerous as soon as he got a little bit of power. Because no matter how powerful he would become, he would always feel inferior to everyone else and would always try to prove himself through the only means he knew, violence and destruction. However, Huang Cixi had several reasons to want to keep him alive. The first one was her own reputation. It was more beneficial for the Huang family not to kill someone who had insulted them within their own residence without any witness. Otherwise, baseless rumors could be spread. Since he was still alive, no one would doubt the version of her family.


    Then, she truly wanted him to apologize to her deceased family members. This was a way to force the Huang family to also acknowledge them. The man who had crystallized their hatred through his insults would create a sense of belonging once he apologized to her father and her brothers. Deep down she knew that the three of them could never enter the ancestral hall, but their names would be remembered by all after this day.


    Finally, the last reason was rather practical. Huang Cixi still wanted to find out how and where Gui Bei had obtained his newfound cultivation. He had progressed even faster than she had thought possible. Huang Cixi had no spiritual senses but she still felt that Gui Bei''s cultivation was unstable during their fight. No matter what secret he had used, he had gone too far too fast. But if she could find it, maybe she could use it for herself, for others, or just use it as a bargaining chip with Governor Leng. There was also a small possibility that this was linked to demonic cultivators considering his incredible cultivation speed.


    Huang Cixi was almost as exhausted as Gui Bei. Under the dumbfounded expressions of her own family, she walked toward the bleeding man. After the strike, he had gone into shock and had stopped processing what was going on around him. Even the pain in his arm had not been registered by his senses.


    Taking back an iron fan on the floor, Huang Cixi put the blade that was at its extremity directly on Gui Bei''s throat.


    "You cannot fight anymore. Admit your defeat!"


    Without thinking at all, Gui Bei fell to his knees. All light had left his eyes and his face was as pale as a ghost.


    "I admit..."


    Suddenly, the dam broke. All the young members of the Huang family erupted in cheers. None of them could comprehend how Huang Cixi had reached such a level. Her blood cultivation had been powerful enough to fight against Qi Manifestations. Huang L¨¹ was the loudest of them all. But she thought back on her comment. She had said that she wanted to fight Huang Cixi... That would be insane right now. She would need a couple of years to catch up on all the training she had neglected when she was vying for the position of matriarch. But excitement had completely overtaken her mind. When both of them would fight, this would be epic!


    Huang Si was probably the most reserved. In a sense, she was happy that Gui Bei had lost, but she would have preferred for Huang Cixi to shine way less than she had.


    Now that Gui Bei had admitted defeat, Family Head Huang Yi ordered some elder to stop his bleeding. Most of his shoulder''s muscles were gone and it was possible to literally see through his flesh. Of course, he was bleeding profusely. That, added to the shock of the attack, Gui Bei was still in a daze. Nothing seemed to happen around him and he simply acted as asked.


    Thanks to his sorry state, Huang Cixi had him kneel in front of the altar where the three memorial tablets of her family were. Then, he apologized to them.


    In fact, Gui Bei only went back to normal several hours later. He had been attacked by Huang Cixi and he was certain that he was going to die for sure this time. And the next moment, he was back in his room. Suddenly, the pain washed over him and he fell to the ground while grabbing his right shoulder. Many bandages had been applied to his wounds. Some balms had also been used to try and at least close up the tissues. Cultivators, especially Mortal Warriors, healed way faster than mere mortals. However, his nerves were still not reconnected. For that, it would require a few weeks or even more than that. But he could still feel the pain from the nerve endings in his shoulder that had been burned away.


    With the pain, the humiliation also resurfaced. He saw himself kneeling in front of the entire Huang family as they were laughing. No one had actually laughed of course. They wouldn''t have laughed in front of memorial tablets from their own family... But in Gui Bei, the scene was vivid. He saw them all insult him and ridicule him while Huang Cixi was laughing like a devil. Shaking all over his body, it wasn''t the physical pain that overtook Gui Bei but his emotional instability. Deep in his Shen, the slumbering inner demon woke up.


    Just as he did, a searing pain put Gui Bei even lower to the ground. Now, he was literally lying, his face down on the cold and dirty floor. In his sea of consciousness, an abomination had been born. It hadn''t even the face or shape of a human. Usually, an inner demon would perfectly mirror the cultivator who had given birth to it. However, it was truly a monster. That thing had several horns on its head and shoulders. From its deformed and atrophied arms, lumps of skin were hanging, like failed wings from a bat.


    But within the sea of consciousness of Gui Bei, something else was present. As soon as the inner demon woke up, a black flame surrounded it and began to consume the abomination. Such a spectacle was absolutely horrendous. Luckily, Gui Bei could not see in his own sea of consciousness. The boy only felt an immense pain in his mind. After the defeat he had endured, he tried as much as possible to stay conscious. And he did.


    After more than two hours of indescribable torment, Gui Bei finally had some peace. What had happened in his mind had completely wiped out everything else. There was no energy left in the boy to care for anything anymore. That was the moment when he heard the voice he had never understood. But this time, he did understand it.


    "Do you want to get your revenge?"

 Chapter 199: First Elder Huang Jian

    After her fight, Huang Cixi had received the praise of many members of the Huang family, both from the younger generation and from a few elders. Among the elders, there were still a number of old men and women who were indecisive about who to support as the new matriarch. Most of them had once supported Huang L¨¹ and after her statement, they had waited to see how the situation would evolve. Right now, they had all joined Huang Cixi''s cause. Thanks to this fight, and to her exceptional bloodline that was exposed for all to see, she had won them over. No more hesitation was present in their mind. They could see a bright future.


    Huang Cixi would be a perfect matriarch while Huang L¨¹ and Huang Si could serve the Huang family in other domains. Huang L¨¹ had completely changed in the previous month and had shown that she was a great cultivator and martial artist. Some elders were sad to not see her anymore in art gatherings but clearly she had only been attending them for her ambitions, not out of passion.


    Huang Si, even as an elder, could also bring great fortune to the Huang family. But at this moment, she had no time at all to think about that. Despite the fresh memory of the fight, Huang Si was preoccupied with other matters. Cai Ying and she had been working nonstop to find information on what was going on in her business outside of the Wu Province, but also within. Of course, she had severe suspicions concerning Huang Cixi but she didn''t even have time for that. Many of her shops had been either bought or their competitors helped beyond measure. Some of the contracts she was negotiating had been stolen by others or simply retracted.


    As of now, Huang Si was using her emergency funds to try and stop the hemorrhage. If it kept on going like that, she would not go bankrupt because she knew when to stop, but she would lose a significant amount of influence and power all other the kingdom. There were businesses she had spent years to build relationships and connections into that were fading away. Huang Si could not believe what was going on. Apart from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, no one should be able to do such an attack on her business.


    However, she could not imagine that the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall would stoop so low as to obstruct her. Thinking about it, Huang Si focused her thoughts. Right now, knowing who was responsible was pointless. She had to do something to preserve her current status and business. No matter what, she first had to answer to the emergency and then she could worry about those who were responsible and rebuild. As a young and talented cultivator, Huang Si was certain that she would eventually reach the late Spirit Warrior stages. Hence, spending even several hundred years rebuilding her network and influence did not seem impossible. It would be a pain though.


    As the young woman was completely absorbed by her survival, someone knocked at her door.


    "Cai Ying, send them away!"


    "Of course, Young Mistress."


    The girl let go of the documents in her hand and went toward the door. After opening it, she saw Huang Cixi and Huang L¨¹. Seeing the latter''s familiar face, Cai Ying was shocked. After her treason had been revealed, Cai Ying was convinced that she would never see Huang L¨¹ ever again. To be honest, she liked the woman but her loyalty laid with Huang Si.


    "Young Mist... I mean, Miss Huang L¨¹... and Miss Huang Cixi." Cai Ying did not even register Huang Cixi''s presence right away.


    "Traitorous Cai Ying, my friend had some things to discuss with your mistress. Let''s catch up together."


    "But..." Huang L¨¹ did not let her former servant finish, or protest for that matter. As she took her by the arm, Huang Cixi entered the room.


    Since Huang Si was a Mortal Warrior, she clearly heard what had happened. Moreover, she could feel the distinctive Qi surrounding Huang Cixi. After witnessing her fight, she could recognize this feeling without any problem.


    "Junior Sister, what do you want with me? I am quite busy right now. If your matter is truly urgent, I can take some time, but..."


    "I know, Sister. You''re losing a lot of money as we speak."


    Without a care in the world, Huang Cixi took a chair and sat down at Huang Si''s desk. Her rival''s face darkened as Huang Cixi took a few documents here and there, feigning to read them.


    "This is truly suspicious, isn''t it? I wonder what could happen to your business. I mean... If someone wanted to take you down, they would first need to know exactly what your assets are. Your talents are indeed impressive. And I am sure that your connections are all well hidden and complex. You must have an impressive network of interests. Figuring out what''s yours should take an average person years, if not decades. They would need to have contact in very high places to achieve such a feat in less than a month.


    "And then, even if one could figure out all your connections and have an overview of your entire network, how could they impact it so easily? Do you imagine the amount of resources it would take? I''m pretty sure, a big percentage of what our Xiliang Mines produce every year would barely cover the cost of such an operation..."


    Huang Si had her suspicions but she could not figure out how Huang Cixi could have the power to back up such a move. Indeed, everything she had said was true. That meant two things. Firstly, Huang Cixi was really responsible for all of that. Secondly, she had the backing of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, either locally or worse. There was no way for Huang Si to fight against such an entity. However, could they really help Huang Cixi indefinitely? But then, could she resist indefinitely herself either?


    If Huang Cixi was coming to her right after her duel, when she was in a favorable position, that was certainly to ask for something. Thus, Huang Si calmed down and took a seat at the desk, facing her.


    "Sister, I won''t lie. My business is indeed in a dire condition. However, this is nothing that can''t be built back up. It took me around fifteen years to create and strengthen my network. I can wait a few decades to completely rebuild it. But, Sister, are you implying that you know what is going on with it? Do you have an idea on how to manage the situation?"You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Huang Cixi smiled brightly and put the documents she was playing with back on the desk.


    "Sister, I was worried for you. After all, I never even met you in passing. So I asked some good friends of mine to see what was going on. Unfortunately my worries were to be true... Such a pity for our Huang family if even a woman as talented as you is burdened by these problems.


    "Indeed, I have a solution that I came to suggest to you. I heard many rumors that you were vying for the role of matriarch. Really, there is no way you can preserve both your business and your network while fighting for such a position. The stress would be way too intense. Sister, think about it. You say that you''re ready to wait. But if someone is specifically targeting you, why would they ever stop? With all the assets necessary to overtake your business combined with those they will gain by overtaking your business, they can completely destroy all your hopes. But if you were to put all your efforts on fighting it, you would have a chance to stop or even reverse what happened."


    Both women knew obviously precisely what they were talking about. However, it was always a good idea to never say anything explicit. Until the very end, both Huang Cixi and Huang Si would deny their involvement in such stratagems.


    "But, Sister, even if I were to shut down those rumors, nothing could assure me that I could fight off this situation successfully. In fact, if my competitor were to gain a great amount of influence all of a sudden, they could completely annihilate me. Unfortunately, I have not a great position in our Huang family. I fear that I might be forced to even leave Baziyun City..."


    "Sister, do not worry about that. Our family will always need a talent such as you. I know that those rumors about you wanting to take over after Matriarch Huang Yufeng are baseless. After all, with your competence in economy, that would be an hindrance to your talents. Shall I remind you that the matriarch is not as free in those matters as you might think? Even Governor Leng or anyone from the Imperial City would try and stop the matriarch if she were to build too strong of a network. However, the elders are a bit more free. And they do not need to think about politics so much."


    "Sister, what you say may sound true. But the elders are also restrained. Furthermore, I''m still a bit too young to join the ranks of the elders."


    "Don''t sell you short, Sister. I am sure that you could find someone who would be your proxy until you reach the requirements."


    Technically, an elder was not necessarily old. What was required for someone to become an elder was to at least be a Spirit Warrior. Then, whether they were recognized as an elder of the main family depended on their achievements for the Huang family.


    "And you forgot that the first elder is almost as influential as the matriarch. The first elder could take care of his business with little to no restraint. And even in our Huang family, the first elder is almost as powerful as the matriarch. If you allow me to be bold, I do think that Sister Huang Si would be a perfect first elder."


    The first elder was an informal position among the elders. In the Huang family, three powers were always balancing each other out. The matriarch was the most powerful member of the family, but she still had to account for her actions and decisions to the elders and the family head. The family head was chosen by the matriarch and validated by the elders assembled as a committee. This committee was always lead by the same elder, the one called the first elder. Besides being able to veto the choice of the family head, the committee also had a few more powers, especially some powers to control the matriarch''s actions.


    Of course, most of the time, all these powers were in agreement. But this prevented a single person to bring the Huang family down. If, by a cruel twist of fate, the matriarch were to die for example, the family would need to still be organized. But worse, if she were to be incompetent, no one could replace the matriarch. Hence, the two other powers could still manage the family against her.


    Right now, the first elder was Elder Huang Jian.


    "Ha ha ha. Sister, you''re very funny. Elder Huang Jian will never lose his position. I won''t deny that such a seat would be great, but..."


    "Do not be so sure. I heard that Elder Huang Jian is going to retire very soon. The situation is still a bit too chaotic with the stampede looming over our heads. But Elder Huang Jian will not stay an elder for very long. In less than a year, he will join our side branch in the Sunmen Province alongside Sister Huang L¨¹. It should be a great opportunity for them both, don''t you think?"


    Hearing the news, Huang Si''s mind was in turmoil. If what Huang Cixi was saying was true, it meant that she was trying to negotiate the position of matriarch against the position of first elder. Huang Si had enough support within the elders. If she were to become one herself, she would have no problem to be elected as the first elder and maintain her position for a very long time.


    Unlike the matriarch, the positions of family head and first elder, or even merely elder, were all revocable. The family head could be revoked by the matriarch, either from her own volition or after being pressured by the elders. On the other hand, the elders could be revoked if they violated the rules of the family. And the first elder was an informal position. If a majority of elders were to favor someone else, he would become the new first elder.


    Hence, Huang Si was more interested in the only stable position. But she had to admit that becoming the first elder could also be a great alternative.


    "Sister, you should carefully think about this. I fear that your competitor might soon target your possessions in the Subei Province."


    "You..." Huang Si finally lost her composure and stood up all of a sudden. Faced with the serenity of Huang Cixi, she calmed down. "How do you know about the Subei Province?"


    Huang Cixi simply smiled and left. "Sister, I told you. I was worried about you. You should truly think about my suggestions. You would be a great first elder, I''m sure of it."


    After Huang Cixi had left the room, Cai Ying entered back in and closed the door behind her. What she saw was her young mistress slumped in her chair.


    With Hall Master Fang and Ye Zhiyun, Huang Cixi had easily found out about all the assets of Huang Si. The Subei Province was the place in which she had invested the most. It was a very remote province, extremely poor because of past attacks from demons. Almost nothing grew there and it was mostly a military province. However, Huang Si had found great deposits of various ores deep underground. Thus, she had invested a huge part of her benefits to buy the ownership of many lands. Moreover, she had invested in several mining and blacksmithing companies.


    Huang Si had done so in the utmost secret. What was below the Subei Province was almost as valuable as the Xiliang Mines. The big difference was that no one had found those deposits yet, so they would not run out as fast as the Xiliang Mines. In fact, they could replace the Xiliang Mines for the Huang family over time.


    Huang Si knew that she couldn''t fight Huang Cixi in both the Subei Province and the other provinces. If they were to keep fighting over those assets, Huang Si would lose them and they would help Huang Cixi become the next matriarch. Maybe becoming the first elder was a viable option...

 Chapter 200: Leaving the Huang family

    The very next day after Huang Cixi''s visit to her rival, Huang Si got notified that most operations against her had stopped. In fact, even some competitors that had been helped against her own shops had extended their help to those very same shops. Apparently, they wanted to form commercial relationships. If Huang Si were to disagree, she would probably alienate her contacts in those establishments. After all, they had been struggling against the competition and the proposals they had received were all very balanced and beneficial to all. But Huang Si knew that those proposals were just a way for Huang Cixi to show her that a mutually beneficial situation was better than a competition for the matriarch position.


    And in the very same week, she learned about capital movements toward the Subei Province. The funds weren''t very important and were presented as a way to relieve the soldiers garrisoned on the border. But Huang Si clearly understood what they meant. Either she could follow her former rival''s example and have a prosper future as a first elder or she could keep being stubborn and she would have to fight over the Subei Province''s mines. Of course, if Huang Cixi were to obtain those mines, or just the majority of them, she would be able to become the next matriarch easily. However, to do so without being too conspicuous would take some time. And no matter how careful they were, if both sisters were to fight over that province, it would end up being revealed to all one way or the other.


    Huang Si did not sleep for more than ten days straight. She even skipped all her meals. For an early Mortal Warrior, this wasn''t a problem at all. But this showed how much she had to consider her situation. Deep down she didn''t want to admit her defeat in front of this young girl who was almost fifteen years her junior.


    Weighing all her alternatives, she finally let out a sigh in front of the worried Cai Ying.


    "Contact the elders supporting me. Tell them that I will drop out of the competition. From now on, they are free to support Huang Cixi. However, add that I will soon apply to become an elder. It shouldn''t take me twenty years to become a Spirit Warrior, especially if I consume some high-level pills. Then, I will need their support. But don''t say anything about Elder Huang Jian. Make sure that Elder Huang Xi is the first one you talk to and that all the other elders know of it. And also give her this letter."


    Huang Si gave a small letter with her seal on it. The content was encrypted. But in substance, she explained that Elder Huang Jian was soon going to retire and she wanted her to take his place as the first elder. Among her supporters, Huang Xi was the one she trusted the most for this task. She knew that she wouldn''t try to stay first elder after her own ascension to the rank of elder. Huang Xi had no grand ambition but she was competent and had a very good reputation, albeit a bit plain.


    "What about Huang Cixi?"


    "Hmph. No need to tell her anything, she''ll know the moment you go visit Elder Huang Xi."


    Now that her decision had been made, Huang Si''s tension disappeared and she went to bed in the middle of the day. Sleeping was not as essential to Mortal Warriors as it was to mere mortals or even Mortal cultivators. It could even be replaced by meditation for the most part, although a little bit of sleep was always vital. Apart from that, it still felt quite good, especially after a tensed period like the one Huang Si had endured.


    As a first elder, she would have a bit less influence, but paradoxically more freedom. Governor Leng would not be as intransigent on her business. It was his duty to control the Huang family so that it didn''t grow too powerful. Although the elders were part of the Huang family, they had more leeway since their own assets were technically separate from the main branch''s. The matriarch could not mobilize all their assets as easily as she could use the resources officially belonging to her family. This system was very useful to make sure that the family could prosper without worrying the Imperial City. Separating their assets showed that they did not intend to compete against the crown.


    Also her personal life could be more loose. Huang Si had nothing in particular to hide, but as a young woman, she still wanted to have a bit of fun here and there. Being a matriarch would diminish what she could do with her free time and her own money.


    In the end, she had decided to trade power and prestige for freedom and money.


    -


    Huang Cixi knew almost instantly that her offer had been accepted when Cai Ying was seen entering Elder Huang Xi''s chambers. Immediately, she sent word to Ye Zhiyun and Hall Master Fang. Everything she had invested to fight against Huang Si had come from the Xiliang Mines. Hall Master Fang had even added a bit of his own funds as he saw that her plans were very interesting, especially in the Subei Province. Now, she gave them the order to work harmoniously with her senior sister. This would reduce the pressure on the mines and the profits could increase swiftly through many alliances.


    Also, her investments in the Subei Province stayed minimal and they had to never clash with Huang Si''s. No matter how much the young woman had invested, Huang Cixi knew that there were venues she had had to let go. The Huang family would control all the hidden ores of the military province. As the next matriarch, trying and almost taking over a province could be seen as an act of defiance against the Imperial City. But Huang Cixi''s ambitions were broader than just the seat of the matriarch.


    Speaking of the matriarch, Huang Cixi visited her a few days after her affairs were settled. All the elders were now, openly or not, supporting her as the next matriarch. As such, the young woman had been summoned by Matriarch Huang Yufeng.


    "In a month, you''ve become the only viable candidate to my succession. That is impressive. Moreover, both your blood and your attainment in ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' are unheard of in the younger generation. In fact, even in my generation, there was no such talent among our family. I imagine that the True Fiery Fenghuang''s will spoke to you..."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Indeed, Matriarch. I cannot repeat everything he told me as you know. But he did speak, and I was able to understand his speech. He was the one who helped me condense my third True Fiery Drop."


    "That''s what I thought. It''s such a pity that this will is too weak to remember all her time with Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng. We have lost way too much to the ages... Even our blood cultivation method is incomplete. I will tell you the truth. Condensing the nine True Fiery Drops is just the second layer of the method. The first one is awaking one''s blood essence and condensing the first True Fiery Drop. But once the second layer is achieved, there is at least one more layer. Even I don''t know what it is about. Many records were destroyed in the wars against the demons."


    Huang Cixi was not too surprised that the Huang family had lost a lot of their knowledge. However, the fact that their blood cultivation was incomplete did surprise her. Among all the documents, this method was the most important thing. The Huang family would rather watch all their properties burn than to sacrifice this piece of knowledge. And yet, it had been lost during the wars. Huang Cixi imagine the destructions this war should have unleashed for such a result to happen.


    "Tell me. Are you sure you want to become the next matriarch? I reckon that Huang Si would be a good choice. Most cultivators value their freedom more than their influence. As a matriarch, you will have many duties. Of course, you''ll probably be the most powerful woman in the entire kingdom. But is it what you truly wish?"


    "Matriarch. I will be candid with you. The position of matriarch is just one step in my ambitions. My march to power will not stop with this sole step."


    The matriarch did not show any surprise. All her spiritual senses were now focused around her and Huang Cixi, to make sure that no one could listen to them. If someone else had overheard them, this could be construed as a conspiracy against the Emperor. Huang Cixi saw the tension in the old woman''s eyes but did not flinch.


    "Matriarch, the Emperor is more than 1,500 years old. Even if he were to reach the Sage realm, his lifespan would not extend, not unless he crossed two more entire realms. I do not believe for one second that, no matter how talented or powerful he is, the Emperor could achieve that miracle. Thus, our Hongchen Kingdom will need a new Emperor in the next five or six centuries. If I am the matriarch of the Huang family, I will have a real chance of becoming the next Emperor."


    Looking deep into Huang Cixi''s eyes, the matriarch saw that her resolve was firm. No matter what she would say, the girl''s mind could not be changed. An even deeper respect for this junior was born in the old woman.


    "Xixi, what you speak of is not impossible. But as the matriarch of the Huang family, many of the other noble families will oppose you. Yes, we are powerful, but the Imperial City made sure that we could never threaten their own power. Even though it is said that competence is the only factor to decide on the next emperor, this is not entirely accurate. Although competence is essential, there must also be a balance between the major powers of our kingdom. Maintaining the unity of the human race is even more important than anything else. To achieve your ambitions, simply becoming the matriarch will not be enough.


    "But let me ask you. Why do you wish to rule the Hongchen Kingdom?"


    "Matriarch. I was raised in Yinmen City. I saw with my very eyes the state of our population. Of course, much is attributed to the Forsaken Dao Era, but that is wrong. This lacking era is just a good excuse to hide the truth. Our kingdom is slowly falling. If the demons do not destroy us first, we will do that ourself. Our human race could be so much more. Everywhere I looked, I saw potential. Many economic ventures have not been explored as old ideas still dominate. Many lands have not been developed to their full potential.


    "The last generations could count on their powerful cultivations and they didn''t need to worry about those mundane affairs. But we do! The Emperor should not be concerned with just the cultivators. We need to help the mortals as well. Living thousands of years can make one forget that those tiny mortals are the backbone of our kingdom. Without them, there is no prosperity, no future. Although I could have some of my ideas recognized as a matriarch, only as the Emperor may I truly reshape our Hongchen Kingdom and help mankind soar toward the future.


    "Under the illusion of unity, we are so divided that only the threat of the demons keep us together. We need to change, to adapt to those new times. If we were truly united, I am sure that we could have eliminated the threat of the demons a long time ago."


    In Huang Cixi''s words, the matriarch felt a fire and a youthful determination that resonated with her old heart.


    "Xixi. Your ideas and your desires are laudable. I do not know whether I will be able to live long enough to see them bear fruit, probably not. But I will accept you as my rightful successor. The elders will not oppose my decision since you''ve gained almost all of them to your cause. There is just the problem of your grandfather. He won''t be able to remain the family head. But until I die and you take my place, he will do. I do not think many would oppose that given how competent he turned out to be."


    After less than two months, Huang Cixi was now officially the next matriarch of the Huang family. In her heart, she wished for her father to see that. Hopefully his soul was still waiting for his next reincarnation and had seen his daughter exceed all his dreams.


    "Matriarch. Now that this is decided, I would like to ask for a favor."


    "Ask away."


    "I wish to enter the Gate of Heaven and Hell."


    "What?! Are you sure about this?"


    The matriarch was expecting Huang Cixi to ask for this, but not so soon. To become the true matriarch of the Huang family, passing through this test was necessary. And only the current matriarch knew where it was. In case something were to happen to her, she had hidden this secret. Several elders would have to assemble parts of her will to find its precise location but the secret would not be forgotten.


    This Gate of Heaven and Hell was a literal gate deep underground. According to the legends, it had been built by Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng just before she ascended and left the Piaolu planet forever. What exactly happened in that gate was unknown but it was dangerous. When someone challenged that gate, they could gain a great amount of power. However, were they to fail, they would simply die.


    The number of matriarch candidates who had died was still in single digits. Indeed, the Huang family only allowed a candidate to go to the Gate of Heaven and Hell when they were sure that she would survive.


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng was still a bit hesitant. But she knew what the test of the Gate of Heaven and Hell was. After thinking about it and examining Huang Cixi with her spiritual senses, she established that she had indeed the ability to pass the test. The result would not be dependent on one''s cultivation of any kind. The gate was testing one''s character and potential. Those were not things one could easily improve.


    "Fine. I will allow it. Passing the Gate of Heaven and Hell can take several years. When will you depart?"


    "Matriarch, I am ready! Show me the way and I''ll go right away."


    Huang Cixi had the imprint of the True Fiery Fenghuang''s will. So she had no doubt about this test. If the will of such a legendary beast had acknowledged her, so would the gate.

 Chapter 201: Cao Yuns full recovery

    Back in the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun had spent almost two months in isolation. Strictly speaking, he was not isolated since his friends had been given the right to visit him after a few weeks. But at first, everyone had agreed that he needed a lot of quiet. However, as his condition got better and better, he was still forbidden from practicing his martial arts and was confined in his chambers.


    Hence, he worked on all the aspects of his training which did not directly involve his body.


    His mind cultivation was progressing very steadily. In his sea of consciousness, the Five Agents were revolving around a Drop of Wrath that had become quite docile. Cao Yun still feared that it may act up one day but he had more understanding of its nature and was confident in his ability to suppress or even control it to some extent. In fact, he easily used its intent without any problem of any kind. On the surface of the drop, Cao Yun was slowly trying to carve the Five Agents. Their shapes were reflecting on the surface of the blood, but he wanted to really sculpt the blood itself.


    The character that was the most interesting for him was Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. The Drop of Wrath was in fact the blood of a great expert from another species, and Cao Yun suspected, another world altogether. He had tried to use this drop of blood to survive his death. Unfortunately, only a small part of his soul had survived. It was even just a tiny portion of his own Po, the soul connected to the bodily desires and the survival. As such, the Po could be more easily swayed and corrupted by emotions.


    That tiny portion of Po was the corrupted Po of Jing, soiled by anger and rage. Since the moment he had discovered that, Cao Yun had been trying to insert his own Po into the Drop of Wrath. It should have been relatively easy compared with the other agents since the Drop of Wrath was instinctively trying to reform the Jing. However, he had realized that the corrupted nature of the Po of Jing, called the Flying Poison, was corrosive. As the name suggested, it would poison any trace of the Po character. Each time, it deformed the character and Cao Yun had to battle to try and imprint it into the drop.


    But, he still felt that the drop was slowly getting used to this foreign presence. When Cao Yun had first cultivated the Po character, the Drop of Wrath had been very aggressive toward it. Right now, it still rejected it but was not reacting violently. Instead, it stayed perfectly calm. Since Cao Yun''s mind cultivation was not advanced enough, he had decided to be very slow and cautious.


    This Drop of Wrath did not give him that many benefits, apart from saving his life when he had been sliced in two. However, paradoxically, it had given much by trying to take over his mind. Thanks to it, or because of it, he had been able to enter his sea of consciousness and had resisted the invasion of his mind, for example when Lu Meihan had used an array formation against him. The other benefits were not that big. After all, the master who had given him that drop had only used it after achieving a high level of cultivation. As such, he had not tested it very much in the lower levels. Cao Yun could imagine that a powerful expert such as Cleansed Asura was able to control it with more ease and extract more benefits from it, maybe even as a weapon.


    However, Cao Yun had no other choice. There was no way to get rid of the Drop of Wrath. And now that he was getting the hang of it, he probably would decide to keep it anyway. That being said, he had decided to be proactive. He would not wait for the Drop of Wrath to escape from his control. And the time of peace and quiet he had right now was perfect to advance his mind cultivation and make sure that he stayed in absolute control.


    In his two months of isolation, Cao Yun had been able to condense another Five Echoes Pearl. After the Chamber of Jade and the Chamber of Ultimate Truth which had enhanced his intuition and his intellect, he had chosen the next chamber to energize in his Upper Dantian. With the Drop of Wrath in mind, he had chosen the Chamber of Moving Pearls. This chamber that was also referred to as a palace was right in front of the Chamber of Jade in the back of the brain. And it was related to the Fire element. What had interested Cao Yun were the effects of that chamber. According to ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', that chamber had the power to balance the mind. No matter what would happen emotionally, if a cultivator controlled that chamber, he could stay clear-minded. And he would always find the path to balance his life.


    Not only could it help him in maintaining his control of the Drop of Wrath, it would enhance all his other cultivations. The ability to keep a clear head under stress was essential. And not being fixated on some sensation or emotion was also vital.


    Hence, Cao Yun was sure of his choice and used the Five Echoes Pearl to energize the Chamber of Moving Pearls. In the following days, he saw a distinct improvement in his overall cultivation. It was as though his mind had been muddy all along but he only realized it now. Unfortunately, it didn''t help him imprint his Po character within the Drop of Wrath any faster...


    About his cultivation, Cao Yun had kept on tempering his acupoints. Learning to open and close them at will was not very taxing on the body. It was especially taxing on the mind instead. But for the body, this was in fact beneficial for his recovery. Learning to open and close those acupoints, unless it was done forcibly, was a very relaxing practice for the muscles and the deep tissues. The only way to do so was indeed to connect with very subtle sensations and feel how the body and the acupoint targeted were reacting. Then, once Cao Yun could easily open and close them, he felt a deep well-being permeating through his body.


    With his mind cultivation, it had been easy for Cao Yun to find out the precise location of his 361 acupoints. And opening them turned out to be relatively easy as well. However, he had decided to take his time to enhance his sensations. The more attuned he was to his acupoints, the easier the next levels of cultivation would be and the more powerful he could become. From the ''Cultivation of Wrath'', Cao Yun had learned how to use the intent of the Drop of Wrath to help.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    But after several tests, he had decided to use it in last each time. First, he focused his own intent on the acupoint. In his mind, he imagined various flowers with all kinds of colors, shapes and numbers of petals. Very slowly, his intent transported his Qi to open the petals one by one. In some acupoints, those petals would not budge or would give off the feeling that they could crumble at any time. Just like Chief Instructor Peng had told him, Cao Yun focused on the hardest acupoints first. When he was really lost, he tried out some of his intuitions and ideas on easier acupoints. For now, he had already opened around sixty acupoints, but they were all the most difficult ones to open. He was convinced that he would break through before the end of the year.


    Only when Cao Yun was sure that he was on the verge of opening the acupoint he was working on, did he use the intent of the Drop of Wrath. This allowed him to strengthen the acupoint in question. He couldn''t be extremely accurate but Cao Yun guessed that this intent increased the amount of Qi that could pass through the acupoints without injury by ten to twenty percent depending on which acupoint it was. Thus, it would increase his cultivation speed, but also his recuperation speed as he could absorb more Qi without problem. His meridians had been tempered enough to easily accept this increase in density and pressure.


    And, it would also help him generate more powerful attacks. He couldn''t manifest his Qi yet, but he had had ideas about that after witnessing Zhi Yin''s fight. Cao Yun was looking forward to testing them out. Up till now, he had been very obedient with the physicians and his master, Chief Elder Baishen. As such, he had absolutely not tried out any martial technique, but it was really getting hard not to scratch that itch.


    To take his mind off his martial arts, Cao Yun had immersed himself in literature and in both alchemy and array formations. Although he had become a 5-star Earth master in both occupations, he knew that there was still a lot to learn. Sun Liao and Mei Hua had reached the pinnacle of what an Earth master could achieve, but Cao Yun was still far behind them. After all, he had only trained a year on those occupations while they had studied their entire lives.


    With his mind cultivation, Cao Yun''s understanding had been greatly enhance. Ironically, he was able to more clearly realize that he was only scratching the surface. Before, with what he had learned in those two months, he would have believed that he had nothing more to learn in the Earth rank. However, he was now able to see vividly that he was still a novice. This new state of mind of his was allowing him to progress faster than many arrogant young masters. In truth, he was getting closer to Mei Hua and Sun Liao but he had still a lot to learn. And the two masters were not staying idle by. Even though they could not progress in their crafts before becoming Mortal Warriors, they could still learn about it and polish what they already knew. Furthermore, with the mind cultivation they had received, they were also improving faster. Mei Hua had even copied the ''Shen Visualization'' invented by Cao Yun.


    Finally, Cao Yun spent a lot of his time on arts, and more specifically, on poetry. He had read several times all the poems of Saint Dashan. Cao Yun had always admired him. He was a great strategist, an excellent fighter and a prodigious poet. Although Cao Yun had memorized them all, he still liked to read his poems on paper. Each time, he was discovering new ways to interpret some verses here and there. On that matter, he also read several biographies on Saint Dashan. This was hard to find accurate sources, so Cao Yun read many different texts to have a better idea of the truth.


    Also, he tried to work on his martial art without his body. In his sea of consciousness, he reviewed all the moves of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. From the very basics of the martial art to the five stars he had formed, he performed the moves in his mind again and again, relentlessly. So that it wouldn''t delay his recovery, he decided not to circulate his Qi. But over time, his understanding of every movement was allowing him to gain a bit more proficiency. Going back to the very basic movements was not that beneficial but it still brought some improvements. Moreover, Cao Yun spent a lot of time just watching the stars themselves to see how they reacted to his movements.


    Unbeknownst to him, deep in the ocean of his sea of consciousness, the weird characters that had appeared were getting more and more material. Clearly, they were Insight Writings. The more he was improving in his martial art, the less fuzzy those characters were becoming. However, they were still so deep that even he could not feel their presence.


    Apart from all those activities, Cao Yun still found some time to meet his friends when the physicians deemed that his condition had improved. At first, he only met his closest friends, Sun Liao, Mei Hua and Ren Chao. They even threw a party to celebrate their first mission together. Ren Chao and Sun Liao were a bit awkward but Mei Hua lightened the mood.


    She insisted that she had never truly been in danger because she had several charms and artifacts that her master had given her as protection. Indeed, she could have protected herself with those. But considering that she had been poisoned and then trapped in a cocoon, Mei Hua couldn''t have activated a single one of those artifacts if she had been attacked while unconscious. Thankfully, she had known that those Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras would try to attack her soul and she had been ready for that. However, against other demonic beasts, the situation would have turned very differently. Everyone knew that Mei Hua was trying to lessen the gravity of what had happened to her. Yet, it did work.


    The group really needed to lighten up. And the celebration ended with laughters and cheers.


    Cao Yun also got to spend some time with both Mei Ying and Liu Ang. Both of them had become real good friends during the past months. And Liu Ang had also become a real celebrity in the Wubei Sect. During the last challenges, he had beaten a second-year that was in the upper ranks of the fighting scroll among his year. Liu Ang was full of energy and vitality. However, Cao Yun didn''t really know how to treat him because he was always watching him with admiration in the eyes. His behavior was a bit too solemn and polite as well. In a word, he was too stiff. Thankfully, Mei Ying was always lightening the atmosphere and pushing Liu Ang to follow her example and be more casual. Watching them, Cao Yun had the impression that he was watching an older sister and a younger brother, despite the fact that Liu Ang was three years older than her.


    Mei Ying had truly begun her cultivation. The 1st-grade Mortal consisted in tempering the body through the muscles and tendons. It was difficult to judge but Mei Ying looked like she was halfway done with this stage. Cao Yun could only estimate her progress through the visual aspect of her muscles, but he knew that Chief Elder Baishen was monitoring her. With such an expert to watch over the young girl, he was not worried at all. Mei Ying was maybe a bit slower than Cao Yun had been in his youth but that was still very fast. Clearly, both sisters had great talents.


    Those discussions were also the opportunity for Cao Yun to ask about the Heavenly Swallow Faction and the challenges. Because of his condition, he had not been able to partake in the last fights and the next ones were getting closer and closer. This time, he would probably have to fight.

 Chapter 202: Mortal Warriors strength

    Since the beginning of the year, all the former third-years had heard about Cao Yun, but none of them had seen him either train or fight. Since he had been hurt, he did not even participate in the challenges that happened every other month. With time, rumors spread that those stories had been exaggerated. Maybe he was very good, but most likely, in his fight with Long Jian, the Mortal Warrior had probably gone very easy on him. That was why many had been impressed because they couldn''t see through this simple fact.


    More and more fourth-years were beginning to question the true strength of Cao Yun. Unfortunately his ranking did not allow them to challenge him. Unless he challenged them, they could not prove that the tales around him were false. Among those fourth-years, the most adamant about that was Yun Ping, a member of the Northern Purple Cloud Faction. He had been the one with the most achievements in the Ancient Ruins and had become a 9th-grade Mortal. Yun Ping was even certain of soon being able to break through the Mortal Warrior realm. And yet, every time someone brought up his name, there was always a moron to also bring up Cao Yun and compare them.


    Yun Ping was not very talented and, although he was a noble, he came from the Subei Province and was rather poor. As such, he had had no access to fancy resources or powerful artifacts. Everything he had right now, he had had to fight for with all of his might. Chief Elder Baishen also liked the boy because he was the most hard-working disciple in the entire Wubei Sect. Unlike Cao Yun who had kinda tried to evade her training sessions in the first year, Yun Ping had always come for more.


    No matter how hard the training was, he took notice of any tiny bit of progress he made and kept on going forward. During his third year, in the Ancient Ruins, he had broken through two whole grades. Usually, he didn''t mind about recognition but he had to admit that he was expecting a lot of praises after his return. Obviously, he got some, but each time, they had to bring up Cao Yun... In the end, even he could not stay stoic through this. Either Cao Yun was the real deal and he wanted to confront his strength with his, or he was a fake and he needed to show it to the world.


    -


    Cao Yun spent a few days with the new members of the Heavenly Swallow Faction. Apart from Cao Yun and his friends, there were eight members in the faction. It was still rather small but its name was huge thanks to the fact that four members were direct disciples of chief elders. Ren Chao was the direct disciple of Chief Elder Tingyu from the blacksmith pavilion, Sun Liao had Chief Elder Suxian, Mei Hua had Spirit Master Xiao Xuefeng and Cao Yun had also a master in the person of Chief Elder Baishen. Even without talking about what they had done in the Wubei Sect, this mere fact was enough to evoke a deep admiration for their small faction.


    During those few days, Cao Yun trained a lot with them and saw that half of them were pretty decent. The other half was less talented but they really wanted to impress him. In the end, he got a good impression of all of them. In his mind, what was really important was not talent but disciple. After working on his mind cultivation for so long, he really understood what a disciplined mind could do. Even a great genius could lose his way or even develop an inner demon. The most important thing for a cultivator was indeed the Dao Heart. That was a saying from Saint Xun Ke he had heard Xiao Xuefeng use. It could seem banal but it was more true than all the young cultivators could comprehend.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had nothing to take care of in terms of administration or paperwork. Sun Liao had taken care of everything. Even more than the array formations, he seemed to excel in managing a small organization. His family was indeed in the business of array formations. So he had also learned how to take care of the administrative and managerial parts of business as well.


    Satisfied that he had fully recovered and no hidden trauma could suddenly take him down, Cao Yun went to Chief Elder Baishen. As she was his master, he needed her permission to finally resume his physical and martial training.


    -


    The moment he entered the martial art pavilion, everyone turned toward him. There were a few fourth-years here and they did not recognize him. However, seeing the attitude of the other disciples, they could guess who he was. This boy did not look that impressive to them. His eyes were very determined though. However, his body was not that great. To be fair, Cao Yun had not trained his body for over a month, maybe two. And just before that, he had been severely injured, almost twice in a row. Although his body was still way superior to that of a mere mortal, it didn''t look impressive for the fourth-years.


    Cao Yun saluted some people he had recognized and walked to the stairs. The guards obviously knew him as the direct disciple of the chief elder of this pavilion. They let him walk up the stairs. And very soon, Cao Yun reached the door of Chief Elder Baishen''s office. After knocking on the door, it opened almost immediately. As soon as he had gotten close to it, Chief Elder Baishen who was working on some paperwork had felt his presence.


    "Disciple Chen Guo!"


    The old woman seemed overjoyed. And for once, it wasn''t just because she had an excuse to skip her administrative duty. Although Chief Elder Luoming had reduced that part of her work thanks to his reorganization, she was always slacking off and nothing was getting done in time.


    Chief Elder Baishen used her spiritual senses to see through Cao Yun''s body. She wasn''t a physician but she knew a lot about this occupation. As the chief elder of the martial art pavilion, she needed to be able to differentiate between a minor and a major injury. Despite the nearby physician pavilion, she couldn''t just send everyone to them all the time. And thanks to what the physicians had already told her, she was convinced that Cao Yun had fully recovered.


    "This disciple greets Master Baishen."


    "Stand up. Stand up straight."


    The master of martial arts took Cao Yun''s cupped hands and helped him up. Then, she stood in front of him with her right arm extended and her right palm facing him.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Let''s test you out. Start with a punch. Put all your physical strength in it, nothing more."


    Cao Yun did not hesitate and punched her. The moment he hit her palm, he felt as though he had punched the hardest material in existence. If Chief Elder Baishen had not intentionally bent her elbow, Cao Yun''s fist would have shattered.


    "Good. Good! Your strength should be in the upper range of the 8th-grade Mortal stage. Use your spear then. Once more, pour everything you have in a single attack."


    Once more, Cao Yun did not hesitate. He grabbed his spear with his two hands and assumed his stance. It had been a long time since he had used his spear at full strength. Even when training with the new members of his faction, he had to hold back a lot. Faced with a late Spirit Warrior, that wasn''t a problem at all. In his sea of consciousness, he almost heard the screech of joy of a dragon. Cao Yun used all of his strength but did not activate neither his Drop of Wrath''s intent, his Qi nor the techniques of the Heart Star.


    The power behind his blow was enough to annihilate a mere mortal in an instant. To Chief Elder Baishen though, this was nothing. The tip of his spear hit her palm and to reduce the impact in Cao Yun''s arms, she bent her elbow again.


    "Impressive... But that''s not all you can manage, right?"


    This time, Cao Yun activated the intent of his Drop of Wrath and focused his mind. The blood in his veins and his muscles became a bit hotter as the Drop of Wrath was exacerbating their strength. The strike from his spear became over half more powerful. Compared to before, Cao Yun felt that the difference between the strike with and without the Drop of Wrath had decreased. This showed that he was becoming increasingly closer to the limit of his physical strength. Usually, a cultivator reached this limit after breaking through to Mortal Warrior. Then, Qi became way more important to one''s strength compared with the body.


    This didn''t mean that the body couldn''t be improved, but the efforts to increase one''s physical strength became more and more strenuous for exponentially lower results. Even with Qi, there was a limit to what mere flesh and bones could endure.


    "You''ve exceeded the boundaries of the 8th-grade Mortal stage by a very small margin with this strike. But this is still not all you can do. Now, try to use your martial arts. You should have mastered the Heart Star by now, right?"


    "Master, the truth is that I only mastered its first move, ''Dragon''s Heart''. But I''m still not confident in my ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''."


    "Then use your ''Dragon''s Heart''. Let''s not risk it with a technique you''re not sure about."


    Indeed, Cao Yun had been able to use ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry'' once. But it had been a situation of intense stress and danger. Moreover, it had resulted in serious injuries. However, he was now fully confident in his ''Dragon''s Heart''. As of now, he was able to use it at full power without any problem, but he was still limited in time. With this technique, he could increase his physical strength eightfold. This was the limit of that technique. The only thing he could improve now was the time limit. For now, he was able to stay in this state for less than ten breaths. It was enough for a small burst during a fight, but he could probably increase this duration through training.


    The strike in itself was not different from before. In fact, all of Cao Yun''s attacks seemed unimpressive since Chief Elder Baishen could stop them all with her palm without any effort on her part. Instead, she had to be careful when Cao Yun hit her so that he wasn''t injured himself. But this strike was a bit different. Cao Yun''s spear was so fast and powerful that it blew the air around the two cultivators. Thankfully the room was resistant. If it had been made of normal materials, the walls would probably have been blown away.


    "Great! You''re even a bit stronger than an average 1st-grade Mortal Warrior."


    A cultivator who had just become a Mortal Warrior had a strength that was of at least 20,000 dan, twice more than a 9th-grade Mortal. Before Cao Yun could think about this, he heard his master scream in despair. Suddenly, he looked all around him in alarm. Then, he saw the reason of her scream. With his last attack, Cao Yun had inadvertently scattered all the paperwork that was on Chief Elder Baishen''s desk.


    "No! No! I have to sort all of them..."


    The old woman was so traumatized by her paperwork that she lost her interest in Cao Yun. That was a rare sight for sure. Usually, she was so crazy about young cultivators'' talent and progress that she forgot everything else. However, this was different. She needed to hand over this paperwork in less than a week as the upcoming challenges were soon. As the chief elder of the martial art pavilion, she was responsible for those duels and every administrative duties around them.


    Cao Yun decided to let her clean up the mess. He knew nothing about administration and he didn''t want to get in her way. In fact, she was so down that she did not even notice his departure.


    Contrary to his expectations, his departure wasn''t so simple after all. When he went back to the first floor, he met a young man with dark skin and light hair. There even was a bit of red in his skin. As soon as he saw this man, Cao Yun had a flash of Axiu Qian. Obviously, the man in front of him was just an ordinary human, but he still had a very strange complexion that was rarely seen in the Hongchen Kingdom. That boy was Yun Ping. As he came from the Subei Province, he did have an unusual appearance, dark skin and light hair. Even his eyes were red. Moreover, he was intimidating due to his physique. Still, he wasn''t as muscular or as tall as Ren Chao who spent all his days hitting unbreakable metals with a hammer. However, with Cao Yun''s martial experience, Yun Ping''s physique had clearly been forged to fight and kill.


    "Are you that Chen Guo I hear about all the time?"


    Yun Ping had put himself right in front of Cao Yun, very close to his face. However, Cao Yun sensed no ill intent on his part. After his time spent with Ren Chao, Cao Yun had grown used to this kind of behavior. Some people just didn''t know about boundaries... Despite the rudeness of this intimidating young man, Cao Yun stayed polite and composed. He had no reason to create a conflict if it was not necessary. And he was fairly certain that he could end such a conflict with little effort anyway, if need be.


    "Senior Brother, I am indeed Chen Guo. And you are?"


    Yun Ping was a little thrown off by the way Cao Yun answered. Initially, he had been convinced that Cao Yun would flaunt his reputation and act all mighty. The young man had been mocked so much by arrogant cultivators that he had become used to it. Although he was a noble as well, he came from a very remote and poor province. Furthermore, his physical traits clearly showed it. In fact, as he got mocked over and over, he had even started to take the initiative to be arrogant first.


    "Oh?! You haven''t heard of me?!" Yun Ping stayed in character and acted as though Cao Yun should have heard of him. Since he was the only man with such an appearance in the Wubei Sect, he was pretty famous. Of course, he had stayed in the Ancient Ruins all the previous year so Cao Yun had no reason to have heard of him. Still, Yun Ping thought he was taunting him. "Yun Ping, from the Northern Purple Cloud Faction. I am also ranked 63th on the fighting scroll. Fight me in the upcoming duels!"

 Chapter 203: A second Golden Silk Body?

    This was the first time Cao Yun had met this man and he was already challenging him. But now that he had told him his name, Cao Yun did remember reading it on the fighting scroll. Since he knew that he had high chances of being challenged, Cao Yun had read the entire scroll very recently. This Yun Ping guy was indeed ranked 63th. Thus, he could not challenge Cao Yun who was still 195th.


    Despite his current strength, Cao Yun''s rank was kind of low. In fact, the only official challenge Cao Yun he had ever issued was against Luduo Bu. And his last fight had been a friendly duel with Long Jian. Even if he had won, there was no ranking on such a fight. And since he had his alchemy for his points and could fight to his heart''s content thanks to Chief Elder Baishen, he had never needed to challenge anyone to climb in the fighting scroll.


    "Senior Brother, you are way higher than me, you can''t challenge me."


    Smiling, Yun Ping replied with a small laugh.


    "No. But you can! Challenge me!" Cao Yun was a bit taken aback. This was very sudden and he wasn''t sure of what to do. Sensing his hesitation, Yun Ping tried to taunt him some more. "Unless you''re scared..."


    This taunt had no impact whatsoever on Cao Yun. Despite the poor attitude of Yun Ping, this duel would be a good chance for him to quickly climb the ranks. Right now, Cao Yun was convinced that he would be able to put up a fight against the top fifty, considering the experience he had had with Long Jian. Cao Yun was not a Mortal Warrior, so he couldn''t feel the Qi inside someone else. But they were so close together that he was able to sense his Wei Qi that was overflowing, probably in an attempt to antagonize him further. That could only mean one thing. This Yun Ping was either a Mortal Warrior or extremely close to becoming one. Cao Yun had heard that no Mortal Warrior had exited the Ancient Ruins. Thus, either Yun Ping had broken through recently, or he was going to before or after the duel.


    "Senior Brother, I have no conflict with you..."


    Hearing this, Yun Ping was ready to add some insults in order to convince him. Even though he had been thrown off by Cao Yun''s calm attitude, Yun Ping was determined to push him as far as necessary to force his hand. Indeed, Yun Ping had no way to really coerce him into a duel with him. However, he was hell-bent on showing to everyone else that either Cao Yun''s reputation was exaggerated or, if that wasn''t the case, that he was better than him. Yun Ping had to show his hard work. Even if he was not the most talented, in the last duel, he had reached the first rank among the fourth-years. And yet he still heard about Cao Yun all the time.


    Now that he had broken through since his last duel, he wanted to flaunt it and show that his work had paid off. But as he was thinking about his next move, Cao Yun finished his sentence.


    "That being said, it would be my pleasure to fight you fair and square during the upcoming duels."


    "You think you can just cower like... Wait! You agreed?!"


    Yun Ping''s face went from arrogant and taunting to confused and dumbfounded.


    "Yes, Senior Brother. From what I heard about you, you must be an excellent fighter and very hard-working at that. Since my convalescence, I haven''t been able to fight an opponent who could really push me. Fighting you should be beneficial, and, must I add, quite fun and pleasant. Let''s do our best and give a great show to every outer disciple."


    "Uh... huh... Yeah... Sure."


    Cao Yun stepped back to be able to cup his fists and bow to his senior. Instinctively, Yun Ping returned his salute with the same level of politeness. Then, he watched the young man walk away and out of the martial art pavilion.


    "What just happened?!"


    The preconceived ideas he had about Cao Yun were just annihilated. After hearing his name being brought up all the time, he had created a terrible image of the young man. For him, he was arrogant and always trying to boast. However, this was clearly not the case. And right now, Yun Ping''s intentions were changing. From wanting to take him down a peg, he was starting to look forward to a good duel. Then, he realized that he had not told him his current cultivation.


    If it was known that he had asked someone to challenge him without revealing that he was a Mortal Warrior, that could be seen as cowardly by many. Also, he ran after Cao Yun to try and warn him about this. Unfortunately, he didn''t find him at all. Yun Ping spent the entire day looking for the young man, going to all the array formations where martial artists would train. In the end, he finally decided to go directly to his personal room. There, he met with Kang Cai and gave her the news. The young woman was not surprised at all.


    She was expecting her new young master to want to fight. He had spent almost two months in a room without training his body at all. Of course, he had to be active now. She took note of what Yun Ping told her and swore to pass on this message.


    -


    In the meantime, Cao Yun was not in an array formation for martial artists. Instead, he had gone back to the Anvil of Marble. Against Chief Elder Baishen, he could not precisely measure his physical strength and he had not even used every card he had right now.


    The Anvil of Marble could take twenty thousand dan of strength with no problem. That was the physical strength of an average early Mortal Warrior. With Qi Manifestation, they could sometimes more than double this number. Cao Yun was confident in his current body, but he still wanted to make sure that his confidence was based on something concrete.


    When he went there, Cao Yun saw that there was nobody except for the instructor in charge of the facility. And the instructor immediately recognized the young man. Last year, he had seen him try out this facility and crush all common sense in terms of strength. Since then, the instructor had also seen Ren Chao who had been brought there by Chief Elder Tingyu. Although he was only a 5th-grade Mortal, Ren Chao had the physical strength of a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, able to produce twenty-one thousand dan of raw strength. After this performance, his master had asked the instructor to stay quiet about that. And the instructor had understood. Ren Chao had probably what was called a Golden Silk Body. Such a secret should never be easily revealed. And the instructor, under the jurisdiction of the blacksmith pavilion, was not going to betray his chief elder.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The instructor was even ready for Cao Yun to produce a strength of more than twenty thousand dan with his 8th-grade Mortal cultivation.


    However, he was not ready for what truly happened.


    Cao Yun took the big hammer made of Silk God. First, he used his mind cultivation to quiet his thoughts and focus. Only the hammer and the anvil existed around him. He was feeling each part of his body, relaxing all useless muscles and ready to contract the others to their limit. Then, he sent the intent of the Drop of Wrath in his blood. The blood gorged his muscles. This blood of his contained more Qi than the average cultivator''s blood. And, focused with the intent of the Drop of Wrath, it was even more concentrated. On the outside, his muscles started to bulge.


    He still wasn''t done preparing. Cao Yun then concentrated on the Heart Star. The Qi in his body began to accelerate and vibrate, more and more, until it reached the limit. With his intent and his powerful mind cultivation, Cao Yun was able to control and channel it without any problem now. This was the absolute limit of ''Dragon''s Heart'' which could reach an eightfold increase in strength.


    Taking a deep breath, Cao Yun put every physical strength he had in this strike. The hammer hit the anvil with incredible speed. The Silk Gold that made up the hammer bent like crazy. That was the point of the Silk Gold. It was extremely resistant and yet incredibly supple and flexible, which allowed the force of the impact to not injure the wielder. On the other hand, the hammer sank into the anvil and left a dent in it. This dent wasn''t very deep but the instructor could not believe it had happened at all.


    Only a Mortal Warrior using Qi Manifestation could leave a dent in this Anvil of Marble. This stone was made of Ageless Marble after all, the most resistant stone of all. The poor instructor didn''t know how he was going to explain that to his master. It was his role to protect the facility after all. Thankfully, the dent was very shallow, but it was still clearly visible considering how perfect the surface of the anvil was, or rather, used to be.


    "Could he also have a Golden Silk Body?" was the first thought that popped up in the instructor''s head. Since he was a middle Mortal Warrior, the instructor could easily determine that the Qi emanating from Cao Yun was indeed from a Mortal. In this attack he had not projected Qi either. So this strike was the result of his pure physical strength. But then, he thought back to the first time Cao Yun had come here. His strength back then was impressive but it wasn''t on the level of a Golden Silk Body given the cultivation he had. The only conclusion was that this strength had come from his training, not from a special physique.


    While all that was going on in the instructor''s head, Cao Yun was embarrassed. His strength had completely exceeded what the Anvil of Marble could calculate. The maximum strength the array formation connected to the anvil had marked on it was twenty thousand dan. In fact, the measurement could go a bit over that limit but it wasn''t written on the wall. However, Cao Yun had completely maxed out the light on the array formation. Hence, there was no way for him to know his actual number. Then, he saw the dent in the anvil. Such an equipment was made from Ageless Marble and was clearly worth a small fortune. But, Cao Yun had gone and damaged it.


    Cao Yun turned toward the instructor and immediately bowed down.


    "Instructor, this lowly disciple is sorry. I didn''t think that I would damage the anvil."


    Due to the silence of the instructor, Cao Yun got worried. But the man was just transmitting a message to his blacksmith pavilion. Cao Yun was renown in the sect and he was even friend with Chief Elder Tingyu''s disciple. Of course, an instructor would not admonish him for slightly damaging a facility that was honestly very rarely used. Only blacksmiths used it from time to time and they were not many. Sometimes, other cultivators came to give it a go and have a grasp on their strength but it was very sporadic as well. Moreover, he knew that Cao Yun hadn''t done the damage intentionally. He was completely sincere and really sorry.


    However, he had to transmit what he had witnessed right away.


    "Chen Guo, do not worry about that. You''ve clearly done nothing wrong." Cao Yun had followed the rules and had done nothing unusual. It just turned out that he was simply too strong for the Anvil of marble.


    Soon after, Chief Elder Tingyu arrived in person. Despite his muscular body, the man was a head shorter than Cao Yun.


    "Chief Elder." Both Cao Yun and the instructor bowed. The Anvil of Marble was close to the blacksmith pavilion, so the chief elder was able to get there as soon as he heard the news. The idea that a second Golden Silk Body had appeared surprised him. But from what the instructor had told, it was unlikely.


    The chief elder went to the anvil and checked on it.


    "I can repair that." Then, he turned to Cao Yun. "Chen Guo, come with me."


    "Yes, Chief Elder."


    Before leaving, the chief elder threw a gaze to the instructor. He immediately understood that he had to stay absolutely silent on the matter. For now, he closed the facility, waiting for the repair. As an excuse, they pretexted that the array formation was in need of some repairs, not the anvil itself.


    -


    Chief Elder Tingyu brought Cao Yun with him into the blacksmith pavilion. Then, they went through a courtyard and reached another facility. In the middle of a stone podium, there was an obelisk standing tall. In the back, there was another wall very similar to the one from the Anvil of Marble.


    "Chen Guo, take this and hit this obelisk with absolutely everything that you have. Do not hesitate at all!"


    From the chief elder''s spatial ring, a spear appeared. Cao Yun had left his weapon in his room after leaving the martial art pavilion and coming here. As he couldn''t use a spatial ring yet, it was not very convenient to walk with his spear everywhere. The spear he received from the chief elder was almost on par with his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'', but it didn''t react to him in the same way. The weapon was lacking this link to the dragon that his actual spear had through the scale used in it.


    "No need to worry. This obelisk can measure the strength of Mortal Warriors, even if they use Qi Manifestation. Use all your physical strength and strike it as hard as you can."


    Looking forward to know his exact strength, Cao Yun complied and hit the obelisk. He repeated exactly the same thing as for the anvil. The fact that he was using a spear and not a hammer gave him even more strength as his martial art was designed for such a weapon.


    Then, both men waited for the result. The obelisk itself shined as a blue light was slowly creeping its way to the top. When it finally stopped, Cao Yun didn''t know what it meant so he turned to the chief elder. The old man was dumbfounded. After a while, he regained his composure and shook his head. He was sure that Cao Yun had no Golden Silk Body, not because the strike was too weak, but because it was too strong.


    "Forty-five thousand dan."


    Even Cao Yun was surprised. That was the strength of a Mortal Warrior using Qi Manifestation. And even then, not every Mortal Warrior would be able to generate that much strength. The eightfold increase of ''Dragon''s Heart'' was really insane!

 Chapter 204: Thunder Breaking Wall

    Such strength was not something a Mortal could usually produce. And yet, Cao Yun knew that this wasn''t the peak of his strength. He had only used ''Dragon''s Heart'' and not ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. As of now, he still wasn''t sure he could fully control this technique, but he knew that it wielded even more destructive power. Since it was able to condense everything at the tip of his spear, the same strength would be applied all in the exact same direction, intensifying the result.


    Moreover, he had only used physical strength, amplified with his internal Qi yes, but he had not used his Qi outside of his body. However, after witnessing Zhi Yin''s fight, Cao Yun was convinced that he could use the same trick as her. Unable to manifest his Qi, he had already opened enough acupoints to still be able to project it outside of his body. And he didn''t need to control it per se. Just by projecting his Qi while using his martial art, the energy would be naturally guided by the wind pressure toward his target.


    Right now, Cao Yun was not sure of the actual strength he could generate through the use of external Qi. For a moment, he had the idea of testing it out, but he went back on this. Seeing Chief Elder Tingyu''s face, he had already shocked him too much for one day.


    Since Cao Yun was the direct disciple of Chief Elder Baishen, the old man did not try to take him under his wing. But it didn''t stop him from boasting about his blacksmith pavilion. Physical strength was very important for a blacksmith. And the mere fact that Cao Yun had been able to dent a piece of Ageless Marble bore witness to his strength. Now that he had this more accurate measurement, Chief Elder Tingyu wanted to see Cao Yun in a forge.


    Unfortunately for the old man, Cao Yun had no such desire. Right now, he had already enough occupations and cultivations to keep him busy all day long. Learning a bit of blacksmithing could be amusing, but he had no real interest in this occupation. Still, he didn''t want to be rude and listened to the chief elder praise his own occupation for several hours. Apparently, once he was talking about blacksmithing, he didn''t seem to be able to stop.


    Chief Elder Tingyu made Cao Yun visit the entire blacksmith pavilion. As they walked, he explained how everyone had the wrong idea about his occupation. Blacksmiths were not just mindless brutes striking metals. The talk fell a bit flat as they only walked by half-naked men wielding huge hammers to shape the form of various metals.


    Thankfully for Cao Yun, they ended up meeting Ren Chao who was working on some weapon.


    Chief Elder Tingyu and Ren Chao started to talk together and they got so passionate that they forgot Cao Yun. Using this as an opportunity, he fled from the blacksmith pavilion as politely as he could, too afraid to be caught up in another discussion about the various types of metal.


    -


    When Cao Yun returned to his room, he met with Kang Cai who told him about Yun Ping. The young man found that funny that his opponent had deemed necessary to warn him. At first, he had seemed very antagonistic. But now he had showed true sportsmanship. However, Cao Yun had already accounted for this possibility so he wasn''t taken aback. This just showed that Yun Ping was a very hard-working cultivator. It only increased the respect Cao Yun had for the man.


    In the following days, the news of this duel spread through the entire sect. Cao Yun spent his time working on his martial arts. But he had no help from Chief Elder Baishen who had been reprimanded for her inability to respect a deadline. And now she had to take care of the preparations for the duels. Life was tough for the chief elders.


    -


    The day of the duels quickly came. As the day went by, more and more spectators crowded the vicinity of the duel platform. Once again, the duels had been programmed so that the most interesting fights were at the end of the day. Obviously, everyone was waiting for Cao Yun and Yun Ping''s fight. Sadly for Yun Ping, people were more talkative about Cao Yun''s achievements. It was a good thing he wasn''t already here.


    Both men had been training intensely. And before the fight, they were both working on their state of mind to be in the best shape possible for the fight.


    Finally, Chief Elder Baishen announced the last fight of the day, Cao Yun versus Yun Ping.


    As the two men had arrived a few minutes before the announcement, they walked on stage at the same time and faced each other. It turned out that they were both wielding spears.


    Cao Yun thought that his spear was already long but Yun Ping''s weapon was out of the ordinary. His spear was more than twelve chi long, twice as long as Yun Ping was tall. Furthermore, its girth was way wider as well. Even Yun Ping''s big hands were barely able to completely grab it. In fact, it looked more like a small tree than a spear. But the tip of the weapon showed that it was in fact a spear.


    "Chen Guo. This is ''Eternal Rampart''. I''ll warn you first, my spear has been forged by blacksmiths of the Subei Province. They don''t care about appearance or elegance. They only care about its ability to kill our enemies. Tens of thousands of demons and demonic beasts have been fell by ''Eternal Rampart''. Unless you are a late Mortal Warrior, you have no chance to go through its defense." Yun Ping struck the platform with his spear and the platform itself shook. "This is a 4-star Human weapon."


    Yun Ping was incredibly proud of his weapon because he came from a poor province. This was the only treasure of his family. And yet his father had gifted it to him without any regret after witnessing his strength. His father was a general in the Subei Province''s army. There were better generals than him but he had showed his worth on the battlefield and earned his noblesse after being born in a commoner family.


    Seeing that Yun Ping was sincere to a fault by even introducing his own weapon, Cao Yun followed suit.


    "Senior Yun Ping. This is ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. If your defense is impenetrable, my attacks are swift and destructive."This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Smiles on their faces, the two young men assumed their fighting positions. Cao Yun was of course using ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' and Yun Ping''s martial art was ''Thunder Breaking Wall''.


    "Let the fight begin!" Chief Elder Baishen officially launched the duel.


    Both men first observed each other for a few breaths. Cao Yun was in the ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' position while Yun Ping had preferred the ''Silent Thunder'' position. The first one to move was Cao Yun.


    Using his position, his movements got enhanced and he suddenly appeared by Yun Ping''s side. ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. His stabbing motion was sent directly toward his opponent''s face. But it did not connect. All of a sudden, Yun Ping''s massive spear rotated and struck the tip of ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. The blow was so intense that Cao Yun felt as though his hands were going to be split apart. Only by sending his Qi in them did he preserve his flesh. ''Falling Mountain''.


    ''Flashing Thunder''. Just after blocking with that immense strength, Yun Ping''s spear stabbed straight toward Cao Yun. The weapon was way faster than what Cao Yun had imagined. In fact, it was so fast that some lightning sparks erupted from the tip of the spear when it moved. But thankfully, it still wasn''t as fast as Cao Yun''s reflexes. With a great agility, Cao Yun took his distance from his opponent. And only after being in a secure spot did he realize that Yun Ping had not even moved his legs.


    A smile on his face, Yun Ping had felt the strength of Cao Yun''s attack. Since he hadn''t used ''Dragon''s Heart'' in the attack, it wasn''t exceptional but it was still in the upper limit of the 8th-grade Mortal stage.


    "Nice technique." Yun Ping had a huge smile on his face while praising his opponent.


    Yun Ping was excited after seeing the movement and strength of Cao Yun. Although they were still gauging each other, Yun Ping knew right away that his reputation was true. And it didn''t annoy him at all. Instead, he was overjoyed. He could both display all of his techniques to impress the crowd and show the result of his training. But he could also fight to his heart''s content with a worthy fighter, whom he knew to be rather friendly thanks to his failed taunting.


    "Nice defense."


    Cao Yun was also enjoying the fight. As of now, he had not fought against such a talented spear wielder. But that wasn''t all. Cao Yun''s ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was mainly based around wind. On the other hand, Yun Ping''s ''Thunder Breaking Wall'' was clearly based around thunder, and probably the Metal element as well. It turned out that wind and thunder were two variations from the Wood element. Their martial arts were very close but they seemed to focus on very different things. Cao Yun''s was emphasizing speed and agility while Yun Ping''s was dealing in immovable defense and raw power.


    Moreover, Cao Yun was interested in his opponent''s technique because he had still ''Three Storms'' in head, the technique from his family. This sword art was using both thunder and wind from the Wood element. It had been more than a year since he had last used this martial art. Because it had been invented by his deceased great-grandfather, Cao Yun didn''t want to let it die. However, he wasn''t willing to risk exposing it. Seeing someone use a technique linked to thunder could give him some ideas, especially with a weapon he now had a good grasp of.


    Moving around the platform, Cao Yun sent more than two dozens ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' while performing ''Crafty Harassment''. But Yun Ping did not move at all. ''Impassable Fortress''. All of Yun Ping''s muscles bulged and became as hard as metal. The ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' collided with his body and had no effect at all, except tearing some of his clothes, showing Yun Ping''s musculature. Only once did he move, to stop an attack directing at his face. With a very short move, he simply raised the tip of his spear. When the attack collided with his weapon, neither his arms nor his hands moved at all.


    Cao Yun was quite happy with his opponent. Since he had warned him about his real cultivation, Cao Yun knew that Yun Ping would show sportsmanship in the duel and it was good to see. He could have used Qi Manifestation right away and try to win the fight with brute force. Of course, Cao Yun was also ready for that. But because he had not, they could both enjoy this part of the duel, slowly building up momentum while testing each other.


    "Are you done testing me?"


    Yun Ping could sense that those were just probing strikes. And now he was ready to attack. Once more, Cao Yun faced Yun Ping.


    "I am. Your cultivation is truly impressive. None of my attacks went through your Wei Qi."


    No matter how much Yun Ping was trying to reign in his Wei Qi, it was still denser than a Mortal''s natural protection. And coupled with his use of martial arts, it was indeed difficult for Cao Yun''s attacks to pass through. For the crowd, it showed that Yun Ping was a powerful 9th-grade Mortal, but the chief elders had seen through his cultivation a long time ago.


    "Unless you break my defense, you have no way of winning. But even if you could..."


    Yun Ping changed his stance. Although he had been defending until now, his new stance was ready for an attack. His legs had not moved, just his upper body. ''Impaling Lightning''. Stabbing toward his opponent, two lighting bolts got released from the tip of ''Eternal Rampart''. They crisscrossed the air while pouncing on Cao Yun. Immediately he realized that his speed would not be enough to dodge. ''Dragon''s Chest''! Condensing his Qi, with the intent of the Drop of Wrath all over his body, Cao Yun received the two lightning bolts. Unlike Yun Ping, his body was pushed by each strike, but it didn''t damage Cao Yun.


    However, each time, he felt that this lightning was trying to infiltrate his body. Thankfully, his Qi was enough to block them. Yet, he felt a terrible pain through his nerves as his muscles tensed with the electricity coursing through them. Cao Yun could clearly see that Yun Ping had controlled his attack. If he had been serious, even ''Dragon''s Chest'' couldn''t have protected him.


    For a few minutes, both men exchanged many moves, increasing steadily the intensity bit by bit.


    After more than a hundred moves exchanged, they both saw something in each other''s eyes. The real fight was about to begin.


    ''Dragon''s Heart''.


    Cao Yun increased his physical strength twofold. ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''. As he leapt through the air, Cao Yun''s feet shook the platform. All of a sudden, he got two times faster and surprised Yun Ping. Even if he had not been using his heavy spear, Yun Ping realized that he could not match his opponent''s speed.


    Right then, he decided to use his strongest advantage. ''Impassable Fortress''. Grey energy condensed around Yun Ping and rose from his back. Then, an iron fort got erected all around him. Yun Ping had clearly used Qi Manifestation.


    The crowd became excited like crazy. Yun Ping had broken through to 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. And seeing Cao Yun''s lack of reaction, he had known all along. Then, they realized that he wasn''t stopping his attack at all. For the first time in the duel, even Yun Ping was surprised. Cao Yun knew his cultivation and yet he was going to attack his defense anyway?


    With his eightfold increase in strength, Cao Yun added the intent of the Drop of Wrath and unleashed another ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. The iron fort around Yun Ping was still very ethereal but it was condensed Qi and was unfathomably sturdy. However, when the spear stabbed through the air, a shockwave shook the entire square. The tip of ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' pierced through the wall of the fort. Despite Cao Yun''s strength, it didn''t go all the way through though. But cracks appeared and spread through the entire wall.


    In the end, the entire wall crumbled and collapsed. Everyone was silent...

 Chapter 205: The dragon destroys the rampart

    As the shockwave from Cao Yun''s attack still echoed within the square, the crowd was entirely silent. No one was able to register what had happened. Cao Yun had used almost every card he had up his sleeve in that single attack. Even Chief Elder Tingyu who had seen his actual strength a few days ago was astonished. This attack had more than forty-five thousand dan of strength behind it. Even with spiritual senses, it was hard to discern the precise number. However, Xiao Xuefeng was among the chief elders. She could sense several eyes darting in her direction, as though they were waiting for her.


    "Sixty-one thousand dan." For a Spirit Warrior, this was nothing. But this kind of strength was the equivalent of an early or middle Mortal Warrior while using Qi Manifestation. Even with a Golden Silk Body, reaching this kind of physical feat as a Mortal was impossible. "It wasn''t just his physical body." Xiao Xuefeng had seen what had happened more clearly than anyone else.


    "It got blurry because of Yun Ping''s own Qi Manifestation, but Chen Guo used Qi in his attack as well."


    "What? He manifested his Qi?! That cannot be! He''s only an 8th-grade Mortal. That some phenomena appear, maybe, and even that is a stretch. But he cannot manifest anything yet."


    "He did not manifest his Qi. If you''ve seen Zhi Yin fight, you''ll understand right away."


    As she reminded them of that fight, the chief elders finally understood what had happened. Qi Manifestation was the control of Qi outside of the body to produce mystical phenomena that depended mostly on the martial arts of the cultivator, but not only. What Zhi Yin had done during her fight was merely unleashing her Qi within her own attack. Then, the energy followed the wind she had created in order to amplify said attack. But she had not been able to manifest her Qi. Instead of controlling it, she just poured it out and let the wind pressure carry it. But then, it was less dense and more prone to follow wrong patterns than an actual Qi Manifestation.


    Cao Yun had just copied her technique. When he had unleashed his ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'', the young cultivator had used the acupoints already mastered on his forearms to unleash a great quantity of Qi. Since he was so close to the Qi Manifestation of Yun Ping, it had been harder to discern. But that meant that he had to use more Qi than his opponent since he couldn''t control it at all. For example, Yun Ping could retract his Qi Manifestation and restore most of his stamina like that. But once Cao Yun unleashed his Qi in an attack, it was gone. He would need several days or the use of some pills to restore it completely.


    In a fight, this was a huge flaw. But, on the other hand, his mere physical strength was not enough to fight off against Qi Manifestation.


    Being so close to him, Yun ping had noticed. And like the chief elders, he had found out the worst flaw in Cao Yun''s technique. There was a clear limit to how many times he could unleash such powerful attacks. But Yun Ping was excited like he had never been before. As a 9th-grade Mortal, he had fought against a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior soon after his return from the Ancient Ruins. And faced with his Qi Manifestation, he had been powerless. No matter how powerful he was, he couldn''t harm him at all. None of his attacks were even able to pierce through his Wei Qi that was too dense for him. Yet, here he was fighting someone capable of such a feat.


    After a silence that seemed to last forever, great clamors rose from the crowd. The dam had broken and everyone''s excitement echoed throughout the entire square. They were so loud that the platform itself even shook a little.


    A late Mortal putting up a fight against an early Mortal Warrior was not unheard of in history. But it was so rare that even the chief elders, for the majority of them, had never seen this happen. Chief Elder Baishen, for example, had seen a fighter a few centuries ago who had been able to fight against a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior while being almost a Mortal Warrior herself. Those occurrences were exceptional though.


    Yun Ping''s heart was beating like crazy under his excitement. All the resentment he still had deep in his mind against Cao Yun had completely disappeared. The truth was that Cao Yun did not deserve his reputation and the constant mention of his name. He deserved way more than that. It should have been more than four or five centuries since a fighter like him had appeared in the Wubei Sect, or even the entire Hongchen Kingdom. The Wubei Sect was known to be the strongest martial art sect, and it had produced many geniuses. Clearly, Cao Yun would enter into the legend of the sect.


    However, it was apparent that Cao Yun had exhausted a huge part of his stamina with this attack. Contrary to everyone else, he had been disappointed by his performance. He was sure that his attack could pierce through Yun Ping''s defenses. However, the tip of his spear had barely stabbed through the wall of his ''Impassable Fortress''. The gust of wind that should have been unleashed by his technique got completely neutralized and Yun Ping''s Wei Qi was not affected at all, not even talking about his physical body. Yet, Cao Yun had really poured all he could muster in this attack. If he had tried to use more Qi, he would have damaged his acupoints. His meridians could still take maybe a little more pressure but not his acupoints. He would need to work on that. If his acupoints could not follow his meridians, there was no point in having trained those meridians in the first place.


    Cao Yun still had enough stamina in him to use this kind of attack two or three times. Then, he would just fall down, unable to even move. Trying to use the opportunity of the wall crumbling before his eyes, he retrieved his spear and got ready for another attack right away. But, for the first time during the duel, Yun Ping moved away from Cao Yun. He put some distance between them and struck the ground with his gigantic spear.


    As ''Eternal Rampart''''s butt hit the platform, a powerful thunderclap resounded throughout the square. The sound completely silenced the clamor of the crowd. Even the audience had to hold their ears to resist the sound. But the vibration from the sound alone pierced their flesh and bones. Even the few 1st-grade Mortal Warriors felt their innards vibrate with the sound, and their Qi became a bit chaotic. Cao Yun, who was closer to Yun Ping, felt his Qi being disturbed in his entire body. Since he had been ready to attack again, he had used ''Dragon''s Heart'' to accelerate his Qi in various parts of his body. If he were to lose control over his highly-accelerated Qi, it could cause severe damage, or even death. As such, Cao Yun was forced to stop moving in order to focus his intent and keep his Qi under control.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    This lapse in his movement allowed Yun Ping to recover completely from the earlier shock. Contrary to the audience''s expectations, he did not try to solidify his ''Impassable Fortress''. He did the exact opposite in fact. All around him, the walls collapsed and a gray energy condensed right in front of him. Yun Ping had put himself in a corner of the platform. And now, his Qi Manifestation was agglutinating to form a curved wall from one end of the platform to his left to the other one to his right. Behind him was the edge of the platform and in front of him the gray energy.


    ''Wall of Eternal Thunder''.


    The energy now formed thousands of spears, ready to skewer anyone getting too close. But instead of actual spears, they looked like lightning bolts.


    "Chen Guo! You gave me a fantastic show. This ''Wall of Eternal Thunder'' can stop even 4-core demonic beasts charging at full speed. I tested it in the wild this very month against an Ivory Hide Rhinoceros." That demonic beast was entirely covered in a matter looking like ivory. It was known to be amongst the most brutish beasts, able to ram into incredible fortifications. As a 4-core demonic beast, it could even contend with a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. But if it was charging with all its strength, it could probably crush a middle Mortal Warrior with its horns, before trampling him under its hooves.


    When Yun Ping announced that, everyone got amazed. Such a defense was not only powerful, but it was covered in sharp weapons. Although Yun Ping''s Qi Manifestation was still very faint, the shapes of those lighting spears were very vivid, especially their tips. If Cao Yun tried to attack, he would get impaled before his spear could even penetrate the defense. And he could not really attack Yun Ping from behind.


    "Chen Guo. Your fight was incredible! I haven''t had so much fun in a very long time. Truly, your reputation is even low compared with your actual talent. However, I do not believe that you can go through my defense. This is my most powerful technique. If you can defeat it, I will admit that I have lost."


    Yun Ping could clearly see that Cao Yun was approaching the limit of his stamina. And he didn''t want to win just by exhausting him out. To end this great fight properly, he was ready for one final showdown.


    "I believe that you haven''t given me your best shot yet."


    "Brother Yun, you are right." Hearing Cao Yun confirm that he had an even more powerful attack surprised everyone but Chief Elder Baishen and Xiao Xuefeng. Both women had heard exactly what had happened in the Lunar Marsh. Cao Yun had discovered the variation of the Heart Star. Obviously, this technique which had killed a pseudo-4-core Soul Weaving Cyrtophora had to be incredible.


    "However, I am ashamed to admit that I do not fully control this technique..." Cao Yun hesitated but he finally added his concern. "If I use it, I fear that I might kill you."


    At first, Yun Ping was unsure whether this was just bravado or not. However, looking into Cao Yun''s eyes, he saw his sincerity.


    "Great, Brother. Now, I really want to see it. Brother, this is me asking you. Do not worry about my life, I know how to take care of myself. Show me your last technique before you completely exhaust yourself."


    This time, it was Cao Yun''s turn to look into his opponent''s eyes. And what he saw was also sincerity. That man was ready to take the risk just to witness his most powerful attack.


    "Fine." Cao Yun assumed his stance and circulated his entire cultivation. Deep in his sea of consciousness, the Heart Star shined more and more brightly as it expended. Very soon, it completely drowned his entire sea of consciousness with a red light. In the blackest depths of the reddened ocean, the Insight Writings Cao Yun was unaware of also started to change. A tiny part of the red light from the giant star seemed to nourish them.


    His Drop of Wrath also got excited but still under the control of his Five Agents. It was different from the times it had acted out. Cao Yun was fully in control of everything. In his mind, the audience disappeared, the platform disappeared, even Yun Ping disappeared. Right now, there was only him and his spear. Then, even him and his spear disappeared as only the shiny tip of his weapon remained.


    Absolutely everything that constituted Cao Yun was focused on this tiny point.


    On the chief elders'' platform, Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder Baishen were amazed by this technique, both in terms of martial arts and of mind cultivation. Xiao Xuefeng had seen Cao Yun''s ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', but she was still amazed that such a young boy could focus his mind so much.


    Sensing the power behind the attack, Chief Elder Baishen got ready to intervene. According to the rules, it was forbidden to willfully try and maim or kill one''s opponent. From Yun Ping and Cao Yun''s exchange, it was clear that Cao Yun didn''t want to intentionally kill Yun Ping. But the risks were high and his opponent had accepted them as well. However, Chief Elder Baishen was not ready to lose a talented martial artist, either Cao Yun or Yun Ping. Because if Cao Yun were to fail in breaking down Yun Ping''s defense, he could very easily skewer himself on his ''Wall of Eternal Thunder''.


    This attack of Cao Yun was concentrating all his strength in a single direction. And that would also be the case with his Qi. As such, it would condense it in that single direction, amplifying its destructive power. It would be extremely close to the actual power of a Qi Manifestation.


    The tension built up. If Yun Ping had not let Cao Yun focus his technique, he probably would have never been able to use it. Right now, he had still not mastered it. But, as it was the second time he was using it, this would be a great help in mastering him.


    Suddenly, time stopped. All the audience stopped breathing and no sound could be heard at all. The world had halted for an instant. A terrible noise spread from Cao Yun''s feet as they left the platform. Where he was standing an instant ago, there was a small smoking crater. Then, a flash of light went straight for Yun Ping. Its sonic boom blew away the air around both fighters and echoed in the square.


    Only the chief elders were able to discern what was going on.


    Cao Yun''s spear collided with one of the weapons forming the Qi Manifestation of ''Wall of Eternal Thunder''. The ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' took no damage, but the Qi Manifestation was literally pulverized. The shock was so intense that even the vicinity of that particular Qi manifested spear also got blown away. Yun Ping saw Cao Yun disappear and then, he had the tip of his spear right in front of his heart. His speed was so high that Yun Ping could do nothing at all. He tried to raise his own weapon, but he saw that he wouldn''t have the time.


    Then, he felt his Wei Qi he had focused on the anterior part of his body being pierced through by the mere air pressure from ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. Right now, he was sure of it. He was going to die...

 Chapter 206: Change of plans

    Lost in his attack, Cao Yun was unable to stop himself. At the very last moment, he saw the image of his spear piercing through Yun Ping''s heart. His Wei Qi had completely been blown away and his body would not be able to sustain the attack.


    Thankfully, Chief Elder Baishen had appeared right in front of Yun Ping. With a single hand, she grabbed Cao Yun''s spear. Instead of simply stopping his attack, she changed its course. Otherwise, Cao Yun''s arms would have been destroyed by the sudden halt. A huge part of the force behind his attack would have been sent back directly into his limbs. And just as he was sent flying away toward the other side of the platform, Cao Yun felt a warm sensation around him.


    Xiao Xuefeng was using her spiritual senses to cancel the force of Cao Yun''s strike. It merely vanished as if it had never existed. Once more, Cao Yun realized how powerful a Spirit Warrior was. It was as though the natural laws had been suspended by her will alone. Even his most powerful attack had been negated. From start to finish, Xiao Xuefeng had not moved at all.


    In fact, Chief Elder Baishen could have intervened without moving either. But as the chief elder in charge of those duels, she had preferred to appear on the platform. This was also a part of the show for the audience. She checked on Yun Ping. The colossus was a bit pale. He had just seen his life flash in front of him. Strangely though, he was excited like never before. The spear technique he had just witnessed had given him a lot of ideas. In this attack, Cao Yun had achieved unity with his own weapon.


    Such a state was known as Spear Heart. It was what happened when a martial artist made one with his weapon. Right now, Cao Yun had not achieved this state at all, but for a mere instant there, he had slightly touched upon it. And Chief Elder Baishen had also seen it. Even she had been shocked by Cao Yun''s attack. Usually comprehending Spear Heart was something that could take decades to achieve. And some never even reached it, or needed a fateful encounter to succeed.


    Chief Elder Baishen had developed several states relative to weapons. And among them, she had indeed mastered the Spear Heart. As such, she was able to see through Cao Yun''s technique without any problem. Of course, he had not reached that state yet, but he had shown that he had the potential to do so. After such a feat, he would have weeks worth of insights. Maybe he had a real chance to reach the Spear Heart state in less than a few decades.


    The man of the hour was now kneeling on the other side of the platform. Every ounce of energy had left his body. He was at the extreme limit of what he could bear. Right now, he had barely enough strength to not fall flat on the ground and lose consciousness. In fact, only the excitement coursing through his veins was keeping him going. Then, he felt a bit of a warm Qi that was delicately entering through his acupoints. Looking at the chief elders, he saw Xiao Xuefeng smile at him.


    Thanks to this energy, he was able to stand up.


    Witnessing this fight, the audience had been left utterly speechless. Some did not even register what had just happened. Suddenly, Cao Yun had disappeared and the ''Wall of Eternal Thunder'' had been blown away. The next instant, Cao Yun was on the other side of the platform and Chief Elder Baishen had appeared in front of a pale Yun Ping.


    The old woman looked at Yun Ping and whispered to his ears. The man nodded and walked toward the center of the platform. There, Cao Yun joined him. Both of them bowed toward one another. Finally, Chief Elder Baishen announced the result of the fight.


    "Chen Guo is the winner!"


    Some people were still unsure of what had happened. But the instructors as well as some very perceptive disciples explained to everyone that Cao Yun''s technique had broken through Yun Ping''s Qi Manifestation. If Chief Elder Baishen had not intervened, Yun Ping would have died. So, of course, Cao Yun had won the duel.


    Hence, Cao Yun climbed in ranks instantly. He was now 63th on the fighting scroll, even exceeding Zhi Yin''s record of 79th. Cao Yun was even higher than all fourth-years. As of now, except for the fifth-years, everyone could challenge him. Otherwise, every single disciple understood that only a Mortal Warrior could fight him on an equal footing. Even without his last technique, he was already powerful enough to crush any Mortal.


    In fact, Cao Yun could probably advance further in the ranks and beat many fifth-years who had either not reached the Mortal Warrior realm, or just barely. Yun Ping himself had showed that he was probably in the top 20 or more. He would probably become the next Long Jian and Cao Yun the next Chan Weifeng. All the disciples imagined a future in which this young boy would dominate the entire sect as soon as he would leave the Ancient Ruins. And what would happen once he would break through to the Mortal Warrior realm?


    -


    After that epic fight, Yun Ping was very satisfied. Although everyone was bringing Cao Yun up, they also talked about him now. And they all recognized his achievements. In front of the absolute monster that was Cao Yun, Yun Ping''s talent had shined even more brightly. Only by fighting a great opponent could one show his worth.


    It took Cao Yun two whole days of meditation within his Seamless Qi Vortex array formation to recover. He even consumed an entire high spirit stone. With a few pills, he could have achieved the same result faster, but he preferred not to ingest any toxin if it wasn''t necessary. Using such pills would be best done out in the wild to recover faster. Moreover, slowly accumulating Qi through the spirit stone was also useful to work on both his acupoints and his meridians.


    If he could open more acupoints, he would be able to gather Qi even faster. Another way was to increase the resistance of his acupoints already mastered. With his meridians, Cao Yun could bear even denser Qi in his system, but his acupoints were still too weak to stand it.


    While he was focused on replenishing his Qi, Cao Yun also diverted a bit of his intent on the stars within his sea of consciousness. The one who kept his attention the most was the giant red star lost in the sky, the Heart Star. It was incredibly larger than all other stars but it was so far that it looked tiny in comparison. After using ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry'' another time, but in a secure environment, Cao Yun felt like he was close to finally master it entirely. Once he would, he could unleash the technique without depleting all his energy in a single strike.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    The more Cao Yun was meditating on that Heart Star, the more the Insight Writings hidden deep under the surface of the ocean were becoming vivid and stable. Some were even slowly floating up to the surface. They were still way too deep to even be noticed by Cao Yun though.


    Once he had fully recovered, Cao Yun was pleased by the result of the duel. Not only had he increased his rank, he was also confident that no one would challenge him in the entire year. Now, Cao Yun was free to leave how long he wanted without caring for his rank. In the first place, he didn''t really mind that. But he had to be honest with himself. That felt good.


    -


    Within the tent of Xiong Nixie, the demonic cultivator was sitting cross-legged inside an array formation. It had taken some time and some fits of rage from the beast tamer, but now it was working perfectly. Thanks to this array formation, he could contact Mo Tian who, much to Xiong Nixie''s disappointment, was in charge of the entire operation. Both Spirit Warriors were now talking through their telepathy. While Xiong Nixie was in his tent, Mo Tian was in the same secret room of the Wubei Sect he used to meet his disciple.


    "Are all your demonic beasts ready?"


    "Of course they are. We''ve put them exactly where you wanted them. By now, all our targets should have figured out that something is going to happen. As soon as you give the order, I can unleash hell everywhere. The entire Hongchen Kingdom will suffer from the stampede."


    "Good. But remember our main objective!"


    "Did you think I had forgotten?! I sacrificed many of my own beasts for your plan! I swear, if it doesn''t work..."


    "Unless you''re incompetent, it won''t fail! According to our information, everyone is moving as planned. As long as you do not fail, Gu Song will complete our objective. Do not forget our main purpose, but if you''re able to kill a few powerful cultivators, that would be for the best."


    Xiong Nixie was more than annoyed. However, the idea of slaughtering some orthodox cultivators brought a smile to his face.


    "Give the order and your plan will be executed precisely as you asked. I can assure you that there won''t be any problem on my part. But if your Gu Song fails, do not blame me!"


    "Do not worry yourself with something that won''t happen. Instead, worry about what I''m going to ask of you. We must change our plans a little."


    "What?!" Xiong Nixie was so furious that he even shouted for real. "After all the crap you put me through just to respect your so-called perfect plan, you''re going to alter it at the last minute?! What the hell...?!"


    "Xiong Nixie, if you want to blame someone, say it to the Demon King. I personally asked his authorization for this change."


    Hearing the Dmeon King being brought up, Xiong Nixie froze and stayed silent.


    "The demonic beasts you sent near Yinmen City won''t be enough to take care of Chen Guo."


    Hearing this, the beast tamer couldn''t control himself and had to speak up.


    "You think a mere Mortal can kill my beasts. I even made sure that a 5-core demonic beast would be present, just to be sure. If you''re worried about City Lord Dun Mofan, don''t. He will be way too busy just defending his small village. I can assure you that he won''t even be able to interfere. Chen Guo is as good as dead."


    "That''s what I thought as well. But he just proved me wrong. He''s probably strong enough to kill an early Mortal Warrior. Not only is he strong, but he''s also smart and a very talented fighter. Also, do not forget that Xiao Xuefeng has probably given him some means to protect himself. I''m not absolutely convinced a 5-core demonic beast will be able to kill him for sure."


    "Fine... Let''s say you''re right. I have no more beast to send there, unless you want me to divert some from Baziyun City. Of course, if you hadn''t made me sacrifice my Star Mole Dragon..."


    "Do not be petty. You don''t just have demonic beasts."


    Xiong Nixie hesitated before answering.


    "I can''t go myself. Thanks to your ''perfect'' plan, I''m stuck here for the foreseeable future. What do you want me to do?!" Faced with Mo Tian''s silence, Xiong Nixie had an idea of what he was talking about. "You want me to send my disciple?"


    "I heard that Can Mouye had broken through not too long ago."


    "Can Mouye is very close to finally becoming a Spirit Warrior. You know how hard it is to train a demonic cultivator to this level?! And a beast tamer at that!"


    "Are you worried that something may happen to him?" Mo Tian spoke with a very snarky voice.


    "Shut the hell up! If you had let me do as I wished, I would have sent a 5-core demonic beast in the Lunar Marsh and your Chen Guo would be digested meat by now! And after that, you want me to risk my disciple? Don''t take me for a fool! If you''re sending him there, I''m sure things are not a simple as killing a small boy. And why should I care about him?! He''s your problem after all! Go kill him yourself!"


    "Xiong Nixie! Xiao Xuefeng would find me out if I were to kill her little favorite. Right now, she has no suspicion at all over me. All the chief elders are fooled, even the Sect Leader is in the dark. Near the Wubei Sect, your beasts would have attracted too much attention. You underestimate that woman way too much. Chen Guo is the only thing that may screw up our plans next year. Among the disciples who will go into the Ancient Ruins, he is the only real threat. We have to take care of him right now. Your beast and your disciple should be able to take care of the problem. Or should I tell the Demon King that we''ll have to wait seven more years before executing our plan, all because of your reticence to send your own disciple?"


    Xiong Nixie clenched his fists and teeth. If he could produce a new Spirit Warrior among the demonic cultivators, he could earn a bit more favors from the Demon King. To be honest, he did not care at all about any of his men. In a fit of rage, he could easily punish Can Mouye way too much. One day, he had even almost killed him. But he needed the young man to try and curry favors. Nurturing demonic cultivators was extremely hard and bringing them all the way to Spirit Warrior was even more difficult. Most of them were killed by their own demonic cultivation, or found out and executed by orthodox cultivators. Of course, a good number of demonic cultivators also killed each other.


    Can Mouye was both a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior who was only a bit older than 30, and he was a beast tamer, one of the rarest occupations in the kingdom. With such a disciple, Xiong Nixie was able to flaunt his competence to the Demon King. And now, the man he hated the most, Mo Tian, was asking him to send him out on a mission. How could he not think that this was a death trap? But what if he refused and caused the plan to fail? If the plan failed solely because of Mo Tian that was one thing, but if the sly fox could blame the failure on him for not wanting to kill Cao Yun...


    "Fine... I''ll send Can Mouye to kill your Chen Guo."


    "Good decision. The news should soon reach our Wubei Sect. I''ll make sure that Chen Guo goes where we need him. Just send your disciple where I''ll tell you and he''ll be able to ambush him with no problem. But he must kill him no matter what! You take care of the big targets, we can''t risk any mistake in the plan. Can Mouye will take care of Chen Guo."

 Chapter 207: Stampede

    After the great fight between Cao Yun and Yun Ping, both had become true legends in the Wubei Sect. People of the Northern Purple Clouds were even wondering whether they should make Yun Ping their new faction leader. According to Long Jian, his sister Long Huafang should take over the faction after leaving the Ancient Ruins. She had entered as a 7th-grade Mortal, so even if she were very lucky, she would fall short of breaking through to the Mortal Warrior realm. However, it was clear that she was younger than Yun Ping and her martial arts were also better.


    Those talks stopped fairly fast when Yun Ping officially stated that he did not want such a responsibility. He was quite happy with being free.


    Then, Yun Ping went to see Cao Yun in his own chambers at the end of the day. Kang Cai opened the door and invited him in as though she was expecting him.


    "My young master told me that you may come. He is still meditating for now, but I''ll tell him that you are here. I am sure he will be happy to talk with you."


    The young girl gave no time to Yun Ping who was about to say that this wasn''t necessary to disturb him. In fact, Cao Yun had expressly asked her to call for him if Yun Ping were to visit. After fighting him, and considering that he had warned him about his cultivation, Cao yun knew that the young man would probably come to talk. As he wasn''t cultivating, but just meditating, disturbing him wasn''t such a big deal. The young boy was overjoyed to hear about the news. First of all, it meant that he had been right about Yun Ping''s personality. But it also meant that he had someone to talk to about martial arts. His friends in the sect were great, but Cao Yun had found no peer to really converse about spearmanship and martial arts in general.


    Even Long Huafang who was crazy about fighting didn''t really care about such talks. But Cao Yun had seen something in Yun Ping''s eyes. Maybe they were kindred spirits. Or at least, he hoped so.


    "Brother Yun!"


    Cao Yun left his room and saluted his former opponent. The welcome was so warm that Yun Ping felt kinda bad. During their first meeting, he had been extremely rude. And that was precisely the reason of his presence. Immediately, he stood up from his chair and bowed very low.


    "Brother Chen, this arrogant one apologizes to you."


    While laughing heartily, Cao Yun helped him up.


    "No need for that, Brother. I know you were just trying to force me to challenge you since you couldn''t challenge me yourself. And after our fight, are we still strangers to one another? Come on, sit down. Let''s talk."


    At first, Yun Ping was still pretty awkward. But as both men started to talk about spearmanship and martial arts, they got so passionate that everything else disappeared. Around them, Kang Cai was smiling coyly while pouring some wine for them. Before they realized it, the sun had risen again.


    -


    Exceptionally, the chief elders had all been called by the Sect Leader on top of the Heidai Peak. Xiao Xuefeng was also present. The atmosphere was so tense that not one of them dared to speak. Although they ignored the reason of such a meeting, it was clear that this wasn''t to announce a pleasant news. They had been asked to abandon everything else in order to come here. Moreover, both outer and inner chief elders were present. Gathering them all at the same time was so rare that it had not happened for almost a century.


    From behind his curtain, the voice of the Sect Leader resounded.


    "I received news from the Imperial City. There are threats of a demonic beasts stampede all over our Hongchen Kingdom."


    Well, the news wasn''t so bad... Demonic beasts stampede was sadly a phenomenon that happened from time to time. Hearing the news, many chief elders heaved a sigh of relief. They had just been gathered to plan how they could go help some unfortunate province with this problem. Among them though, some were not so relieved. And Xiao Xuefeng was one of them. Chief Elder Yisheng from the demonic beasts pavilion was the first one to ask the question they had all on their mind.


    "Sect Leader, whose province is threatened?"


    "There is not only one province. Eight of them are threatened!" Right away, they all understood how dire the situation was. The Hongchen Kingdom was divided into twenty-one provinces. And right now, almost half of them were threatened. Moreover, there were several provinces still under threat by the demons outside of their borders. Those provinces could not help out as they had to keep their soldiers to defend against invasions. That meant that many of the best fighters could not be sent to protect those eight provinces.


    "The Huang family has been the first one to notice the problem. A 9-core demonic beast has appeared there and riled up the demonic beasts. Apparently they killed it but another one seems to have appeared later on. Since then, many other incidents have been reported. Among the major targets, the Imperial City has reported two 9-core demonic beasts, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute one of them, the Ten Thousand Rivers Monastery as well as the School of the Celestial Goddess both saw one of them too. And just now, Chief Elder Luoming reported the presence of two other 9-core demonic beasts getting closer and closer to the Heidai Peak."


    All eyes went on Chief Elder Luoming.


    "I could not identify them, but I clearly felt their aura. There is no doubt, both of them are 9-core demonic beasts. And they were both moving toward our Wubei Sect. I suspect that they will reach us in less than a month."


    "You now understand the severity of the situation. In all, including the one that''s been killed by the Huang family, nine 9-core demonic beasts have suddenly appeared all over the kingdom. Moreover, many 8-core and 7-core demonic beasts have also been spotted in several locations. We''ll need to dispatch many people everywhere. But we still need to protect our own Wubei Sect. As such, I will stay here to keep guard over our sect. Obviously, Spirit Master Xiao will go back to her Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute to help them out. And now I ask, who among you volunteers to help out our brothers and sisters?"This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    As one man, all the chief elders walked forward. "This humble one volunteers, Sect Leader."


    For a few hours, they talked about who would stay, who would leave and where, and about how they would organize their defense.


    -


    The news of the upcoming stampede spread quickly, not just in the Wubei Sect, but almost everywhere. There were only three 9th-grade Spirit Warriors in the Hongchen Kingdom and coincidentally, they were in the provinces threatened by two 9-core demonic beasts. They were Matriarch Huang Yufeng, Sect Leader Xuan and Emperor Weide. For many people, this wasn''t just a coincidence. Someone was behind this sudden threat. But were they demons or demonic cultivators? The idea that a rebel group may be behind it crossed the minds of some but it was soon discarded. This was an existential threat to humankind, not just an attempted coup against the Emperor.


    The Hongchen Kingdom was always threatened by demons on the outside, and now they were going to face an unprecedented stampede on the inside. Of course, they would probably be able to resist, but this would weaken them for some time. What if some demons were to launch an invasion at the very same time, or soon after?


    Anyway, the 9th-grade Spirit Warriors, who were the only humans able to contend with a 9-core demonic beast alone and without any external means, stayed in their respective provinces to fend them off. On the other hand, many experts were dispatched everywhere. Against 9-core demonic beasts, or even weaker creatures, human cultivators could still use many techniques. Among them were battle formations. They were similar to array formations but consisted of several people fighting together in a specific way to enhance their collective strength. Even middle Spirit Warriors could fight against a 9-core demonic beast if they were numerous enough and were using the right battle formation.


    -


    In the Wubei Sect, Xiao Xuefeng was holding an improvised meeting with Mei Hua and her friends, Cao Yun, Sun Liao and Ren Chao.


    "Mei Hua, I''m going back to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute this very day. Will you accompany me or not? The recent events must have been tough on you, but I do think that it would be beneficial to come with me. And I know that Director Ge would allow you to view our manuals and even use our facilities for some time. Even though you cannot reach the Human rank in your alchemy until you''ve become a Mortal Warrior, this would greatly enhance your abilities. Moreover, you''ll be able to discuss with many of our disciples." Then, the alchemist looked over at Cao Yun for an instant. "Among them is Feng Yingyue. She''s the most talented alchemist of her generation, without any doubt possible. In fact, she''s even more talented than all the current alchemists when they had her age."


    Hearing this brought many memories back to Cao Yun. It had been more than a year since he had last seen this woman, his woman. Thinking back about her, the last night they had shared together came to mind and he looked away a bit embarrassed. All his life, he had been protected within his family and he wasn''t used to this kind of intimacy.


    Seeing this, Ren Chao saw the opportunity to get revenge on the teasing he had suffered because of his relationship with Wang Mei. Thus, he put his arm around Cao Yun''s shoulders.


    "Brother, what did you just think about to make you so red? Ha ha ha!"


    "Brother Ren, I think he thought about something you have yet to do with your Wang Mei." Sun Liao did not come to the rescue of Cao Yun. Instead, he saw his chance to torment both his friends.


    Despite his lack of experience, Ren Chao understood right away what his friend meant. But it turned out that that wasn''t at all what he had thought about at first. Thus, his view of Cao Yun changed completely.


    "Brother Chen, you... You''ve really...?!"


    On the side, Mei Hua and Xiao Xuefeng looked at them with a bit of amusement. Mei Hua was shaking her head hopelessly.


    "No wonder you''ve left me behind with those spiders... You''re all too busy chasing women!" The anger in Mei Hua''s voice was clearly fake. She just wanted to partake in the fun a little.


    "Sister, I swear that my feelings for Wang Mei are pure! And I''m sure Sun Liao feels the same for Long Huafang." The big man looked at the calm Sun Liao with a huge grin on his face.


    "What does she have to do with anything?! We have no such relationship between us!"


    "Oh? Should I tell her that you would rather have another woman by your side when she leaves the Ancient Ruins?"


    The four friends kept teasing each other for some time and Xiao Xuefeng did not stop them at all. After they''ve had their laugh, they went back to more serious matters. And Mei Hua answered to the alchemist.


    "Master, I will come with you! I feel like I''m stagnating recently. And our hunt showed me that I''m not much of a hunter neither. If my alchemy had been better, I would have detected the presence of Burrowing Deadly Typha''s poison in the air."


    "Good. Chen Guo? You may come with me as well. I''m sure that Feng Yingyue would be happy to see you back. But I have some news to tell you first. Our Institute is threatened but so are the Wu and Meifen Provinces. The Huang family should be able to take care of their province since their matriarch has broken through to the 9th-grade Spirit Warrior stage. However, the Meifen Province has not a lot of great fighters. Furthermore, the demonic beasts seem to go directly toward Yinmen City."


    Hearing all of this, Cao Yun thought back about his first visit to Yinmen City. City Lord Dun Mofan had helped him a lot. His mind cultivation had literally come from him. Even though he was a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, a stampede was a terrible threat. Hundreds of weak demonic beasts, if not more, could kill even a powerful cultivator. And he would not just have to fight them, he would have to protect his city as well.


    "We''re still organizing the evacuation but we cannot know if everything will be over in time for the stampede. Those things are unpredictable in nature. A small group of our disciples will be sent to help relieve some tensions for the Meifen Province and their destination is Yinmen City. Since I know your history with that city, I ask you. Do you wish to accompany me toward the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute? Or do you wish to go to Yinmen City to help them out?"


    For a long time, there was a silence over the entire group while Cao Yun was taking his decision. Deep down, he wanted to meet back with Feng Yingyue. If he didn''t go to her now, he would have to wait at least two years since he would go to the Ancient Ruins. And Feng Yingyue could get busy preparing for the upcoming Alchemy Conference. In fact, he may be unable to meet with her before the five years they had talked about when they had parted ways.


    But, on the other hand, many people may die if he wasn''t there. Not that his presence was indispensable, but, without fake modesty, he was one of the strongest disciples right now. Cao Yun felt the Five Agents in his mind resonating with his thoughts, in particular Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul. This reminded him that he had vowed to himself that he would not act only for his own interests, but the greater good of mankind.


    "Spirit Master Xiao, I will go to Yinmen City. May you please give a letter from me to Feng Yingyue?"


    "Of course! I will depart when the sun will be at its highest in the sky. Bring your letter to me before that. You''ll find me in the demonic beasts pavilion. There, the group sent to Yinmen City will be waiting as well. Mei Hua, you too. Get your things in order and meet me there. We have no idea of when we''ll be able to come back to the Wubei Sect."

 Chapter 208: Oath under the bodhi tree

    The group of four friends found themselves alone. After Xiao Xuefeng left to get everything in order for her departure, they talked some more and walked around the sect. Sun Liao and Ren Chao were both way more silent than they were used to. And a strange atmosphere of melancholy was enveloping the quartet. Cao Yun and Mei Hua had not a lot of things to take care of. Maybe, the most important was to warn everyone in the Heavenly Swallow Faction that they were going to leave soon.


    Thankfully, Sun Liao had been a very thorough manager. Not only did he take care of all administrative duties, but he also formed some of the new members so that they could each perform a part of those duties. After all, they all knew that they would be gone next year. And even if Zhi Yin would reclaim her role as faction leader, she would probably get busy. It was better for everyone to have competent members to handle this stuff.


    Unconsciously, they ended up near their old residence when they were still first-years. It wasn''t very far from their new residence, but they had taken the wrong path apparently. In the courtyard, they saw the bodhi tree in bloom. Its flowers were just breathtaking. All over the giant foliage of this enormous tree, there were heavenly colors, red, gold, purple, yellow, a bit of vibrant green here and there. And with the light from the sun still a bit low on the horizon, the view was wonderful, almost mystical.


    For very long minutes, the four disciples just admired this natural beauty. Out of nowhere, Cao Yun started to recite a poem he had read from Saint Xun Ke. Then, Ren Chao and Sun Liao decided to speak up.


    "Brother Chen, we''ll go with you."


    "What? To Yinmen City?"


    "Yes." Sun Liao looked at Mei Hua. "Sister, your Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute should be just fine considering its importance and how many experts they must have." He looked back at Cao Yun. "Our Wubei Sect won''t have any problem either. On the other hand, Yinmen City may be in real danger. Although I''m not a great fighter, I am confident in my archery to keep some demonic beasts at bay. Moreover, I do not think there is a single disciple more competent than me in terms of array formations. Of course I can''t set up a Human rank array formation, but I can manage and repair even complex ones. Yinmen City should already have many defenses ready for this kind of threat. With me there, their array formations will be even more powerful. And they won''t fall as easily."


    Then, Ren Chao took over. "To support the defense of a city, a blacksmith is a great addition as well. I can help repair weapons, make new ones, build fortifications... And I am also confident in my physical strength if need be. My master may be a bit opposed to my going after our recent hunt, but I''ll convince him."


    "Brothers, aren''t you worried about your own provinces?"


    "Do not worry. I checked as soon as I heard the rumors spread. My province is not under any threat of a stampede. And I also asked for Brother Ren, his is safe as well."


    "You see, Brother, we can join you. No, we will join you!" Ren Chao turned toward Mei Hua. "Sister Mei, I''m very sorry... Not only did we abandon you in those tunnels, but now we will also let you go on your own..."


    The young woman chuckled. "What are you saying, Brother Ren? Once more, you did not abandon me. I literally asked you to leave. And this time too, I made my choice. Otherwise, I would have gladly gone with you all. But I''m sure that you will be enough to defend that small city."


    No matter what she said, Ren Chao still felt a bit awkward. That was when Sun Liao spoke again.


    "Brothers, Sister, may I be so bold as to suggest something to you?" The young man waited as all his friends were looking at him, waiting to understand what he was referring to. "Would you be willing to share an oath with me? We faced death together, and we''re going to face it again. Since we''re walking the great and noble path of cultivation, we''ll face many other hardships. And... I wish to face them with you. I wish for you to become my sworn brothers and sister."


    This was a rare sight to see Sun Liao blush. It wasn''t a playful embarrassment just like the one he showed when he teased and was teased by Ren Chao. All the group could tell that he had probably been thinking about it for a very long time but he had failed to find the resolve to say it out loud.


    The first one to save Sun Liao from his embarrassment was Ren Chao.


    "Brother Sun, I have no brother and no sister in my family. If I can have you as my sworn brother, this will be my honor." Hearing this, Sun Liao raised his head and looked at his friend. Both smiled to each other and shook hands.


    Then, they heard the voice of Mei Hua.


    "Brothers, although I already have a little sister, I have no brother. I may not know how to deal with you, but I''m looking forward to having you as my sworn brothers."


    The group of three smiled and tapped on each other''s shoulders, shaking hands and being very familiar. However, when they turned toward Cao Yun, their smiles became a bit dim.


    Cao Yun was looking down, thinking very seriously about this. Yes, he had considered those three people as very close friends. But when he heard Sun Liao talk about being brothers, he remembered his family. In particular, he saw the faces of Cao Sheng and Cao Huiying. The last time he had seen his brother, he was yelling at him to go hide inside while he laid down his life to try and protect them. And the last time he had seen his young sister, she was crying and struggling as the murderer of his parents was taking her away. He could even remember his own blood being reflected in her teary eyes.


    The idea of accepting new brothers had never occurred to him. Being sworn brothers meant as much as being blood brothers. The Four Saints had all been sworn brothers of Emperor Nuwa while they fought against the demons and saved mankind. So at the very moment when the idea crossed Cao Yun''s mind, he imagined what would happen if he was found by those who had already killed his family. What made Cao Yun look so down was the idea of seeing another family member being killed.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Then, he thought about something else. All along, he had been lying to them about his real name and his history. Was he really worthy of being their brother? Or even their friend?


    "My friends... I... There is something that I''ve never told you..."


    Before he could explain any further, he felt the big hands of Ren Chao on his shoulders and he felt his body being sent forward by additional weight. With Cao Yun hugged under his arm, Ren Chao laughed out loud.


    "You think too much, Brother! Just say yes! I know your head must be filled with many complicated stuff. Just let go. You almost died for us. You''re already like a brother to me!"


    "He''s right, you know. I am sure that there are many things that you''ve never told us. Unlike the hammer-head here, I can see that you have things you keep hidden. So what? You''re not the only one. But what I know is that you''ve been there when it mattered. You''ve already told us that you had a past and this involved some demonic cultivator. I don''t know what happened to you. But if someone threatens you, even if they are a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, or even a Sage, I will gladly risk my life to save yours."


    "Yeah!" After a small pause, Ren Chao looked at Sun Liao. "Wait... Who''s the hammer-head?"


    Before Sun Liao could answer, Mei Hua also talked.


    "Brother Chen, I also hid things from my past. Things that are just too painful for me to talk about. Things about my father... He tried to kill Ying''er and I..."


    "No need to tell us if you don''t feel like it, Sister. If someone tries to hurt you or your little sis, they''ll have to go through me!"


    "And me!"


    Both men turned toward Cao Yun, waiting for him.


    "And me."


    With a bright smile, Cao Yun raised his head.


    "Having you as my sworn brothers and sister will be my honor."


    "Great!" Ren Chao took a bottle gourd that was tied on his waist. "Let''s do it right!"


    "Let''s do it right?! We''re not savages like you, we won''t drink directly from that gourd. Let''s find some cups."


    "Come on!" Ren Chao was not annoyed by Sun Liao''s remarks for once. Instead, he bumped his shoulder into his. Then, Ren Chao walked toward the magnificent bodhi tree. From that angle, the sun was shining through the branches and the scene seemed to be from an entirely other world. Myriads of different beautiful colors were spreading everywhere. In addition to that wonderful show, the fragrance from the flowers was also enticing and fantastic.


    Even though he looked like a brute sometimes, Ren Chao also knew how to appreciate beauty and art. Right in front of him was the most exquisite painting he had ever seen in his life, except this was real. He knelt on the grass and beckoned for his friends to join him. They looked at each other and followed the blacksmith to the ground. As they knelt, they cupped their fists and bowed toward the wonderful tree.


    "Although we could not be born on the same day, in the same month or in the same year, we hope to die on the same day. Although our last names and the blood coursing through our veins are different, we vow to be as brothers and sisters. May the Earth, the Heaven, and the Dao itself be witness to our oath. The great path of cultivation is full of dangers and burdens. On our Dao Hearts, we swear to share our hardships and to always help one another in times of need. If we should ever break our oath, let all who are righteous chase and strike us down!"


    Ren Chao was the first to drink from his gourd. Then, he gave it to Sun Liao, in the order of seniority. Drinking from the gourd, Sun Liao was surprised by the strength of the wine. As he was still trying to get over it, he gave the gourd to Mei Hua. A bit apprehensive, she still took a sip and felt her entire throat in fire. Finally, Cao Yun drank and gave the gourd back to Ren Chao.


    Indeed, Ren Chao was the oldest as he had almost exceeded the limit of 20 years old when he had last attempted to be accepted in the Wubei Sect. On the other hand, Sun Liao had waited some time before entering so he was only two years younger than him. Finally, Mei Hua and Cao Yun were almost the same age. That being said, the young woman was still a few months older than him and a couple of months younger than Sun Liao.


    "Ha ha ha! Now I''m the first brother. Second Brother Sun, you owe me respect now! Ha ha ha!"


    After coughing up a bit, Sun Liao turned toward his sworn brother. At first, he wanted to say something. But seeing that Ren Chao was so happy, he preferred not to. Instead, he also started to laugh.


    The group stayed some time in front of the bodhi tree to admire it and contemplate what had happened. They had sworn on their Dao Hearts, for cultivators, there was no oath that was more sacred than that. Breaking such an oath could result in the creation of an inner demon. To an orthodox cultivator, this could mean death if they weren''t able to control it and prevent it from growing. Until the day of their deaths, they would always be as siblings to one another. Being sworn brothers was sometimes used a mere tool to forge political or economic alliances. But for them, it was different. They really felt like they were now linked for good.


    -


    After returning to their chambers, they each prepared what they needed for the upcoming mission. A stampede could occur at any time. Maybe they were going to wait several months before it actually happened, or it could begin while they were still traveling. And then, they had no idea how long it would last. None of them were old enough to have experienced one before. But from what they had read, it could span from a few days to several weeks. And apparently, the upcoming stampede was out of the ordinary. They could be defending the city for months for all they knew. Thankfully, it was still early in the year, so this should be over by the time they would have to enter the Ancient Ruins.


    Cao Yun informed Kang Cai, but her mistress had already relayed the news and the young girl had gotten everything ready. He also left a message to Instructor Meng who was still in seclusion, either preparing his breakthrough or actually breaking through to the Spirit Warrior realm. Then, he went to warn Chief Elder Baishen. Finally, he met with all the members of the Heavenly Swallow Faction. Liu Ang was clearly the most disappointed. Not only would he have to spend several months, if not the entire end of the year, without seeing his idol. But he was devastated by the fact that he could not accompany him as he was still a first-year himself.


    Cao Yun also briefly visited Chief Elder Suxian. The array formation master was busy himself as he had to make sure that the array formations of the Wubei Sect would be ready for any kind of stampede. With Sect Leader Xuan, they were not too worried about the sect itself. However, the stampede could damage the array formation around the Heidai Peak and create a lot of disturbance. They preferred to be safe rather than sorry.


    Once Cao Yun had finished his tour of the Wubei Sect, the sun was high in the sky and the time to leave was approaching. Thus, he walked toward the demonic beasts pavilion outside of the Shell Gate. Since it was not in the confines of the Wubei Sect, there were a lot of people preparing defenses around it and moving the demonic beasts away. If the buildings or equipments were destroyed, that would only cost money. But if the beasts were killed, they would not be easily replaced. Besides, every beast tamer was very attached to their beasts. For them, this would be like losing a friend or even a family member.


    As he was approaching the pavilion, Cao Yun saw a figure he recognized immediately considering how tall and big he was.

 Chapter 209: Back in Yinmen City

    That broad back, light hair and dark skin were clear signs of Yun Ping. Moreover, he had what looked like a metallic tree in his hand, ''Eternal Rampart''. Just like Cao Yun, he was walking toward the demonic beasts pavilion.


    "Brother Yun?"


    The giant figure turned back, and for sure Cao Yun saw the face of Yun Ping. As soon as he recognized Cao Yun, he saluted him with one hand and waited for him.


    "So, you''re also going to help out against this stampede thing? Where are you going to? There are several teams apparently. I had a hard time choosing... No matter where I go, I feel like I''m letting down many people. But in the end, I went for the small cities. No one seems to care what happens to small cities." Since Yun Ping came from a very poor province that was bordering on demon territory, he was sensitive to things like that. And indeed he was rather right. Most of the effort against the stampede had been allocated to big cities or even capitals of provinces. But he wasn''t absolutely right. After all, the Wubei Sect was also sending teams to protect small cities and help evacuate them. And they were not alone in this endeavor, several sects and even many religious temples had sent help for the small cities as well.


    Even though the Imperial City was more preoccupied with the powerful cultivators and their sects, they still hadn''t forsaken the people entirely. Since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era, the successive emperors had cared more and more about raising a few great cultivators to protect the kingdom against the demons rather than helping the common citizens. After all, since breaking through was becoming more and more difficult, they couldn''t waste resources on talentless people. Despite all that, they still seemed to care enough to help them out when a huge catastrophe was upon them.


    "If I remember right, I should go to... Yinmen City?"


    With Yun Ping''s accent, the tones just seemed... wrong. And the name of the city turned out weird.* However Cao Yun had understood. That was the most important thing.


    "Yinmen City! That''s where I go as well."


    Yun Ping''s face lit up and he tapped his friend behind his back.


    "Great! We''ll be able to talk on the way there. Is there a reason why you chose this... Yinmen City?" Yun Ping made sure to pronounce it right this time and waited for Cao Yun to acknowledge it.


    "Yes, I''ve spent some time there after a difficult period. And the city has been very welcoming. To tell the whole truth, my Dao companion is from Yinmen City. She owns a small alchemy shop there that she received from her dead father. Besides, the city lord has been very good to me as well. So I''d really like for the city not to be damaged. I know that our main goal is to protect the people of course. But if we could also protect the city itself..."


    "Of course! Why wouldn''t we do both?! We''ll take care of evacuating everyone who can''t or won''t fight. But I can tell you, in small cities like that there are always many people who would rather stay and fight for what they have. For some of them, starting over somewhere else is just not an option. So you can count on the people to protect their city with their dying breath. And that''s why I''m here. I think I never told you, but my specialty is battle formations.


    "From what I heard, and you''ll correct me if I''m wrong again, but the city lord is a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, right?"


    Cao Yun nodded and Yun Ping kept on talking while the two of them were still walking toward the pavilion.


    "Even a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior will have a hard time protecting his city against tens or even hundreds of weaker demonic beasts. Unless there are way too many beasts or a few 7-core demonic beasts, he should be mostly fine though. All that is if he doesn''t use battle formations. And with me there, I can assure you he should. If you know him it will be even easier to convince him to listen to me. With battle formations, even rabbits can band together and kill a wolf if there are enough of them. For example, a 7-core demonic beast could be killed by ten or twelve late Mortal Warriors as long as they fight together and use the proper battle formation.


    "I don''t want to brag but I learned on the battlefield. With me there, I can assure you that the strength of those people, and of our brothers and sisters, will be increased exponentially. Unfortunately, I cannot promise that there won''t be any casualties, but I am confident enough about protecting the city."


    "I see." Cao Yun had heard about battle formations but he had never seen one truly performed in front of him. The only moment he could have was when his family was attacked but he was hiding with his sister and the other young members of the Cao family.


    -


    Once they reached the demonic beasts pavilion, Cao Yun and Yun Ping found several disciples who were gathered in many groups. Each group was going in a different part of the kingdom. Cao Yun immediately recognized his sworn brothers and went to them. Then, he looked for Xiao Xuefeng to give her the letter he had prepared for Feng Yingyue.


    The content was not very different from what he was used to telling her. In it, he explained what he had lived and experienced and he also gave pointers about the mind cultivation they were both practicing. Just as she had received the letter, Xiao Xuefeng left. Usually, she would have used a flying sword to go back to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, but she had a lot of persons to transport this time. Also, just like the other disciples, she used one of the demonic beasts from the pavilion.


    The one she had been given was a 7-core demonic beast, a River Spanning Robin. This vibrant bird was rather large and could accommodate many cultivators on its back. But despite its high level, it wasn''t a very good fighter. In fact, it was known for its great speed. After the Blue Mane Falcon, it was the fastest flying demonic beast in the Hongchen Kingdom. Hence, the demonic beasts pavilion only used this beast to travel when the situation was critical. Losing such a demonic beast would be a terrible problem.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Xiao Xuefeng and a few disciples, obviously including Mei Hua, left while riding on this River Spanning Robin.


    Then, Cao Yun met up with his sworn brothers and Yun Ping. Sadly, they were not many to go to Yinmen City. Them included, only seven disciples were going there. Among the three other disciples, two were from the Red Cliff Faction and one from the Hidden Orchids Faction. Even during the entire journey, they didn''t really speak much, maybe they were too nervous to.


    The demonic beast they were given was only a 4-core demonic beast, a Silver Winged-Lion. This kind of vulture had four wings. It wasn''t as fast as the River Spanning Robin of course, but it wasn''t too slow either. On the other hand, it was a scavenger and not a great fighter at all. Cao Yun noted that this was the weakest of the demonic beasts that were transporting reinforcements all around the kingdom. Yinmen City was really an insignificant city and many didn''t care about it.


    During the travel, Cao Yun and Yun Ping discussed a lot and his other two sworn brothers joined in the conversation. As none of them were able to cultivate while flying on this small demonic beast, they spent their time talking to each other. Cao Yun still used the time he had to circulate his mind cultivation in an attempt to forge a new Five Echoes Pearl. By now, it had become a habit and he was doing it almost without thinking. It wasn''t particularly difficult, just very long and fastidious.


    During the flight, Yun Ping had the occasion to talk a lot about battle formations and it interested Sun Liao. Ren chao got kinda bored. And Cao Yun was also fascinated with those battle formations.


    They were very similar to array formations. But unlike them, they were not static. They moved all the time and had to be changed according to the rhythm of the battle itself. What constituted the battle formations were the cultivators themselves. Both Sun Liao and Cao Yun compared what they heard from Yun Ping with what they knew about array formations. Many of the principles were similar but simplified. In the midst of a battle, one couldn''t just use a compass to find out the best formation. Decisions needed to be taken in a split-second or people would die.


    As such, there were many techniques to balance the battle formation so that it wouldn''t break. It could diminish in power, but it couldn''t break, ever!


    And those techniques gave a lot of ideas to both array formation masters. In fact, they also gave a few ideas to Yun Ping. As he had reached the Mortal Warrior realm a few weeks ago, Yun Ping could probably lead Human rank battle formations by now. Up until very recently, he had only been a 5-star Earth strategist. Battle formations were just one facet of a strategist but they were very important.


    Right now, Yun Ping should be able to demonstrate Human rank battle formations by providing a bit of his own Qi to the cultivators. Moreover, by injecting his Qi within, he could also send his voice more accurately to specific cultivators. This would allow more control of the battle formations. And of course, he could sense Qi in the air more clearly even if it was some distance from him. All those factors would make his battle formations way more powerful.


    While they talked about all of that, Cao Yun and Sun Liao got a lot of insights. Since they both practiced ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peak'', their minds were heightened and able to almost understand everything as soon as Yun Ping explained it. Furthermore, the two of them had read many books on those subjects. In fact, Cao Yun and Sun Liao were convinced that they could use battle formations in an actual battle if need be. But of course, Yun Ping would still be better than them, both because he had more experience - understanding something was not the same thing as experiencing and forming an intuition of it - and because he was a Mortal Warrior and could thus use more powerful battle formations.


    The main principles behind battle formations were the Six Stratagems.


    One of them, Breathing as One, got Cao Yun very interested. Yun Ping explained that this was way more profound than it appeared at first.


    "When you begin, you think that this just means that all the fighters have to breathe in sync. This way, your battle formation is perfectly balanced and the flow of Qi within is perfect. As such, it''s very easy to control and modify. Then, you must also think about the fact that their cultivation should be very similar, or even identical for it to work perfectly. Because, even if they breathe the same way, the effects will depend on their respective cultivation. Although they may have the same level, it doesn''t mean their cultivation is strictly identical.


    "Even then, you''re just scratching the surface. The point is not that the cultivators breathe in the exact same way, but that their breathing is harmonized. Imagine different instruments playing together. They must not all play the same partition, but they must complement each other. That''s the same thing here. And it''s not just about breathing, it''s about everything else. When you control such a battle formation, you must be able to immediately tell which cultivator should occupy which position so that the battle formation is optimized. Even better, you may switch the roles in the middle of the fight according to how they react.


    "A Spirit Warrior is better at that of course. Not only can he send telepathic instructions, but he can even guide their minds and their Qi in the middle of the battle to tell them how they should breathe or circulate their Qi. According to my father, they can even take the mental state of the soldiers during a battle in consideration and position them accordingly.


    "Then, you don''t have just a bunch of fighters helping each other. Each one amplifies the strength of the others. My father once used seventy-two 6th-grade Mortal Warriors to force a demon that was on the level of a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior to run. This was a close call still, but not one soldier died and the enemy fled. For me, that''s a win!"


    -


    Finally, after more than a month, the group reached Yinmen City. From up there, Cao Yun recognized the city, the auction hall, the shop of Feng Yingyue, the house of the Huang family and the residence of City Lord Dun Mofan.


    But it had changed a lot as well. There was no one in the streets. Many fortifications had been built around the city as well. Several towers with archers and various war machines had been erected. As soon as the Silver Winged-Lion appeared in the sky, a few Three Bow Ballistae aimed at the demonic beast. To be honest, they were not a threat to a 4-core demonic beast, but it still wasn''t pleasant neither for the beast nor its riders.


    From the city, Dun Mofan ascended into the sky. With his senses, he had immediately been able to sense that the beast was transporting a few disciples of the Wubei Sect. And there was a familiar feeling. He gestured for the archers to calm down. Then, with his sight, he was able to understand why one of the disciples felt familiar, he had recognized Cao Yun. But he was speechless. He had last seen the boy more than a year ago when he was still a 5th-grade Mortal. And right now, he was an 8th-grade Mortal. Such a cultivation speed was not unheard of, but most cultivators took a year or more to cross one grade of the Mortal realm.


    Of course, cultivators in the Wubei Sect were faster as they had great teachers, many resources and were already recognized as being more talented. But still, Dun Mofan was amazed. However, he didn''t let it show. This was a nice surprise, but the situation was almost desperate for his little city.


    *ÒøÃÅ (y¨ªnm¨¦n) "Silver gate" =/= ÒõÃÅ (y¨©n?m¨¦n) "vulva"

 Chapter 210: Preparing the formations

    The surprise of seeing Cao Yun again gone, City Lord Dun Mofan inspected the other disciples. There were only seven disciples. According to what he knew, the Wubei sect had between three to four hundred outer disciples. Without the third-years, the number was closer to three hundred people, but the City Lord knew nothing about the internal workings of the sect. Although he wasn''t expecting the presence of the inner disciples, he had still hoped for more.


    Among those disciples, one was a mere 6th-grade Mortal, Sun Liao. Among the others, two were 8th-grade Mortals, including Cao Yun, two others were 9th-grade Mortals. And only Yun Ping was a Mortal Warrior, and just a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior at that. Every help was welcome of course, but still the disappointment was obvious in City Lord Dun Mofan''s eyes. One was even a mere 5th-grade Mortal.


    Sensing this, Cao Yun decided to try and comfort him.


    "City Lord, let me introduce my fellow disciples to you. First are my sworn brothers, Ren Chao and Sun Liao. Do not be fooled by Brother Sun''s cultivation, he will be essential for protecting Yinmen City. You see, he is the direct disciple of Chief Elder Suxian from the array formation pavilion. Right now he is only a 5-star Earth array formation master, but this is simply because his cultivation has not had time to catch up to his competence. If you lend him a hand, I''m sure he could even help you set up a Heaven rank array formation."


    Indeed, Sun Liao could not set up such an array formation himself, but he could guide a Spirit Warrior to set it up for him. Of course, he could never reach a high level of perfection. But very few array formation masters could pretend being able to perform such a feat. Sun Liao had already tried that with some elders his master had chosen. By giving them the right instructions, he had been able to set up a 2-star Heaven array formation of the most basic quality.


    The young man had pride and arrogance in his eyes when he heard his sworn brother introduce him like that. He bowed his head and City Lord Dun Mofan saluted him with more respect.


    "Master Sun. Forgive me if I have misjudged you based on your cultivation. Having a great array formation master in our ranks will be precious. And if Chen Guo and you are sworn brother, then you must truly be a talented master indeed."


    "Then, here is Yun Ping. Not only does he have experience on the battlefields since he is the son of a general from the Subei Province, but he is also proficient in battle formations. We have talked a lot and his knowledge and experience will be a great help for your forces."


    Dun Mofan bowed his head to the young man. He knew that he had sensed something in him. If he came from a military family in the Subei Province, he had to know his way around a war zone. With the coming stampede, that would be great. Moreover, proficient and experienced battle formation masters were not that common. They weren''t rare strictly speaking, but most of them were already busy in the provinces bordering demon territories, for obvious reasons.


    "Those two are Suo Xiaolu and Shi Baoxie. They are both accomplished hunters. In battle, they have a great coordination and even mastered a few battle formations themselves. Although they''re not Mortal Warriors, they have already hunted down and killed a 5-core demonic beast."


    The pair of hunters was made up of a man and a woman. They were Dao companions and hunted together. Also, even though the woman, Suo Xiaolu, was a 9th-grade Mortal and her Dao companion an 8th-grade Mortal, they could fight off against an early Mortal Warrior without losing. Furthermore, demonic beasts were often not as difficult to kill as human cultivators. They had no weapon, no secret technique, and even though they were intelligent, they did not know about many of the techniques and occupations used by humans.


    Suo Xiaolu was almost as tall as Yun Ping. Her hair was extremely black and tied up in a complex shape over her head. With her Dao companion, they had both burly physique and severe faces. Shi Baoxie was one or two heads shorter than his Dao companion. However, his musculature was more impressive, even under his Wubei Sect uniform. On their robes, they both were wearing the emblem of the Red Cliff Faction.


    Both of them cupped their fists toward Dun Mofan and he did the same. The three of them were commoners and they had evolved in the same kind of environment. Right away, it created a kind of connection. Moreover, if they truly could kill a 5-core demonic beast while being Mortals, their strength was real.


    "Your help is most welcome, my fellow cultivators."


    "Finally, here is Zeng Minghe." The last member of the small team was from the Hidden Orchids Faction. His complexion was very pale as though he rarely went outside, under the sun. And his eyes were shining with a dim blue light that was almost purple. Above his Hidden Orchids Faction emblem, he had another emblem. It represented two stylized bone jaws circling a brown number five. That was the emblem of the beast tamers. Indeed, this boy was a 5-star Earth beast tamer.


    During the journey here, he had almost not talked to the group as he was busy directing the Silver Winged-Lion.


    However, all six of them had still conversed a little so that they would at least know each other. And they had thought up of a plan.


    "City Lord, Zeng Minghe is an experienced beast tamer. And Chief Elder Yisheng from the demonic beasts pavilion has given him some indications. We have a plan to help you. But we would need to know the situation a little better to fine-tune it."


    "Of course. Come with me."


    City Lord Dun Mofan let the group get off their demonic beast. The Silver Winged-Lion stayed in an empty square as the city had no stable big enough to take it in. And there was no risk of people going through that square. Indeed, Cao Yun quickly noticed that the city had completely changed. Almost all the shops were closed and fortified with various wooden planks. The houses seemed empty and the gardens unattended. Most people who stayed in Yinmen City were busy on the outskirts of the city to create more defenses. Others were training in abandoned zones.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The atmosphere was heavy. War and death were in the air. No matter how they would defend the city, some of them, if not many, would die or be maimed and crippled for life. Yun Ping had been right though. A lot of the inhabitants had stayed to fight rather than flee. All of them had been curious of the group and they looked at them when they heard them pass. Just like City Lord Dun Mofan, there was a determination to fight for their land in their eyes. But there was also disappointment and even rage when they saw the small group.


    They should be wondering whether the Hongchen Kingdom had given up on them. The fact was that many areas were in danger. Eight provinces were threatened by the stampede. But there were several cities and towns threatened in each province. The demonic beasts would not just attack one point. Yinmen City was very close to the Nine Peaks and would definitely suffer a stampede, but other small cities or towns were also threatened up north and down south. The particularity of Yinmen City was that the mountains were more practicable to come here. Probably, there would be a more severe attack because of this. More demonic beasts would be able to easily come through those mountains.


    Very quickly, the group finally arrived at the City Lord residence. It had completely changed. From the quiet place Cao Yun remembered, it had become like a garrison. The courtyards were invaded by hunters and mercenaries. Many weapons were laid out here and there. Yun Ping felt at home. It reminded him of his own province. There was almost a permanent state of war. The demons could attack at any moment and everyone had to be constantly ready to fight.


    As a Mortal Warrior, Yun Ping could clearly feel the Qi all around the place. Even without spiritual senses, he was able to sense that no one there had reached the Mortal Warrior realm. Vagrant cultivators had a real hard time breaking through. The fact that Dun Mofan had even achieved the realm of Spirit Warrior was a testimony to his stubbornness as much as to his talent. With much effort, he had been able to become a Mortal Warrior by the age of sixty and thanks to various fortuitous encounters, he broke through to 1st-grade Spirit Warrior when he was around 150.


    Compared to someone like Yun Ping who had become a Mortal Warrior at 21, the difference was obvious. Dun Mofan had not enough talent to join a major sect. Thankfully, he had found a nice group of friends to hunt together. Sadly, none had been able to follow him in his cultivation, and all were dead by now. Either they had died hunting or of old age. Dun Mofan had served in the army and had gotten the attention of a superior who had allowed him to enter a small sect. Thanks to that sect, he had finally reached this realm. But he had soon realized that he would not go very far. It had been more than a century now and he still hadn''t progressed in his cultivation. So he had retired from the sect to become the city lord of this small town.


    And now, he was really attached to Yinmen City. No matter what happened, City Lord Dun Mofan would protect this town and its people.


    Once they reached the residence, servants brought food and beverages to the group from the Wubei Sect. But there was no time for niceties. Yun Ping was the first one to talk as he was both the strongest and the oldest of the group. Moreover, he would be in charge of forming battle formations.


    "City Lord, are those people in the courtyard your main force?"


    "Indeed. Unfortunately, our city has very few powerful cultivators. Most of them are already fortifying the outskirts of the city. But the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and the Huang family have helped us a lot. They gave some money to raise a small force of mercenaries and hunters. We could not find any Mortal Warriors as they''re all going into richer places to get more bounty. But those men are truly motivated. I know they will fight for us!"


    "I do think so too." Yun Ping was accustomed to seeing mercenaries in his own province. Many commoners were not conscripted into the army but did various jobs here and there. In times of need, the army asked for them. By now, the young man was able to see the difference between a mercenary only interested by money and someone you could really count on. Those men were mostly from the second category. Most of them should have seen the handiwork of demonic beasts on their own comrades and they would not back down in front of those man-eaters.


    "City Lord, I think I should immediately train them. Setting up battle formations require a lot of time. There are probably many of them who already know one another. It would be easier for me to work with groups who are familiar from the get go."


    "Of course. My servants may help you with that. We have all their names and backgrounds. This is necessary to pay them according to their actual involvement. But it is also useful to recognize the corpses..."


    Two servants quickly went to fetch a document where the names of every mercenary was listed as well as their characteristics and affiliations.


    "Thank you, City Lord. This will be greatly useful. I''ll get to work right away."


    Since no one knew how long it would be until the stampede, every second mattered. As such, Yun Ping who had already warned his friends before their arrival immediately left the room and went back toward the courtyard. He was accompanied by two servants. As soon as he addressed the crowd, his voice was so powerful that it was heard even inside the residence. Yun Ping had no problem at all taking charge of this disparate group. After all, he was really accustomed to those kinds of men.


    While he was working with the mercenaries and the hunters, the five others kept talking with the City Lord. The next one to talk was Sun Liao.


    "City Lord, if you allow me. I''d first like to examine the array formations you have already set up around the city. The sooner I have a good understanding of your defenses the sooner I can optimize them. And I may need your help with some things, City Lord. With my master, we already discussed a few array formations that would be perfect for this city."


    Sun Liao had indeed examined a map of the region. Right now, he had several Bamboo Maps pertaining to the city. Each one depended on many factors. Those maps were abstractions of the actual geographical characteristics of the place. With them, he would be able to set array formations with way more ease. Almost half of the work was already done in a sense. But he still needed to take the current array formations into account to harmonize all of them together.


    Moreover, he had to admit that he wasn''t very convinced by array formations set up in such a small city. Despite his change in character, Sun Liao was still very proud and arrogant when it came to array formations. And to be fair, he had every right to be. Among all the young cultivators of the Hongchen Kingdom, he was the only one who had been recognized by Chief Elder Suxian as his direct disciple. Even in his family, that had been considered as a great honor, and they knew what they were talking about.


    Once again, a servant brought various documents explaining the array formations and where they were set up.


    "Great. I''ll get to work right away. City Lord, I''ll come back to you if I need your help."


    As Sun Liao left, he also left a bad impression on Dun Mofan. But he knew that young people could easily let talent get to their head. As long as he was as talented as he seemed to behave, he would have no qualm humoring him, and even obeying him. Cao Yun was a bit embarrassed by the way his brother was treating Dun Mofan but there was no time for that. From what they had briefly discussed during their journey there, the four other disciples still in the room would be in charge of culling the demonic beasts.

 Chapter 211: Collecting information

    A stampede could be caused by many factors, either combined or in isolation. But at the end of the day, they always happened through the same process. Something would cause the migration of stronger demonic beasts into other territories. This would prompt the weaker demonic beasts there to either flee or fight and this would cascade. Thus, conflicts would arise between the various demonic beasts and the entire ecosystem would suffer. In the end, demonic beasts would become more and more desperate and some would even attack human settlements, until a true stampede finally occurred. During a stampede, an incredible number of demonic beasts could collectively attack human cities.


    The phenomenon was not completely studied because the occupation of beast tamer was still too rare. And thankfully, a stampede was a rare event as well. However, this rare event was now happening on a scale that no one had ever seen before. This was a clear sign that someone had interfered with it. But now was not the time to think about the real cause, now was the time to protect the threatened cities.


    As he was the only beast tamer in the group, Zeng Minghe started to talk with City Lord Dun Mofan.


    "City Lord, Chief Elder Yisheng has already drafted some maps of the region based on the information we had received from Baziyun City. Unfortunately, we lack information on your end. And given the sensitive nature of the threat, cultivators tried to avoid traveling deep into the mountains. If fights erupted between demonic beasts and cultivators, it could hasten the occurrence of a stampede.


    "So I will need everything you have, no matter how insignificant it may seem. According to what we know, your city should be threatened by 3-core demonic beasts at most. Thankfully, the demonic beasts are often culled. But the last reports we received indicate that many beasts have become stronger, so it''s possible that a few could form a fourth demonic core during the chaos."


    Indeed, during the various migrations of demonic beasts, many fights would occur. As such, a few beasts would devour other beasts of the same level or slightly inferior. If they devoured too many of them, they could even form new demonic cores. And a region with mostly 3-core demonic beasts could then produce 4-core or even 5-core beasts in a matter of weeks or months. Paradoxically, the longer the stampede didn''t happen, the more destructive it could become. But trying to force it to happen could also push even more demonic beasts into it. Even beast tamers had to act with utmost caution.


    "Of course I''ll give you all the reports we have. We sent a few hunters to try and gather information. Many of them didn''t come back... So we still lack a full understanding of what''s going on, but I''ll get you all you ask for."


    "Thank you, City Lord. I was prepared for your information to be lacking. Such an event can indeed cause many casualties." Zeng Minghe turned toward the other three cultivators. "I will need your help to try and obtain more precise information on the demonic beasts. Just give me a few hours to examine the maps and piece together what Yinmen City has already found. Then, I should be able to give you clear areas to explore. However, you''ll have to split up. And even then, that won''t be enough to cover all the grounds we''ll need to explore."


    "Then, I will lend you the hunters with the most experience in terms of stealth."


    "Thank you, City Lord. I was counting on them."


    Suo Xiaolu and Shi Baoxie looked at one another. With just one look, they understood each other''s feelings and Suo Xiaolu expressed their concerns.


    "We will not split up! My Dao companion and I are always fighting together. No matter what hardships we have to face, we''ll face them as one. I am sorry, but we''ll stick together. I know that we''ll cover less ground, but this is not negotiable."


    Irritated, Zeng Minghe looked at the couple. Seeing the determination in their eyes, he had no other choice but to sigh and accept their decision.


    "Then, we''ll have to find a bit more hunters..." The beast tamer finally received the documents he had asked for. "Fellow disciples, it may take a few hours. You should go retrieve your weapons and get ready. I will send you deep into demonic beasts territory with almost no idea of what you will find for sure."


    All three of them nodded and left the room. All their weapons and equipment had been carried by Yun Ping. Because he was the only Mortal Warrior in the group, he had been lent a spatial ring. It was the smallest kind of spatial ring. And the group really just needed their weapons, a few supplies and some equipments. It didn''t take a lot of space in the spatial ring.


    -


    Yun Ping was already teaching a few battle formations to the hunters in the courtyard. Although they looked unruly, Yun Ping had had no trouble disciplining those men. First of all, he was used to working with mercenaries and knew how to talk to them. Secondly, they quickly saw his mastery of battle formations and realized that he would help them a lot. They all knew that some, if not many of them, were going to die in the operation. Although they could take solace in the fact that they would die to protect this city and that a part of the bounty received from the corpses of demonic beasts would be used to pay their family, they didn''t want to die.


    So when they understood that this Yun Ping could increase their survival rate, they complied without causing a ruckus.


    Anyone could perform a battle formation as long as they had the right cultivation and followed the right pattern. But the efficiency of a battle formation depended on many factors. One of the major factors was simply how well coordinated the fighters were. Thankfully, mercenaries and hunters seldom fought alone. Thus, they already had a very good coordination among several small groups among them. Otherwise, a battle formation could even reduce the collective strength of the group if they were to obstruct one another. Yun Ping had already formed those groups and was teaching them a few battle formations perfectly tailored for them.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    If any group of cultivators could perform a battle formation of the appropriate level, being a battle formation master like Yun ping was different. They did not just practice or teach battle formations, they were able to coordinate them. They acted like generals and strategists on the battlefield. With their help, they could boost the efficiency of battle formations, coordinate them between each other, and also boost morale. The two main attributes for a good battle formation master were perception and battle intuition. They had to be able to read the flow of a battle and also the condition of their men to adapt the battle formations.


    As the son of a general used to war, Yun Ping had a lot of intuition. Just by looking at a battlefield, he could tell which army was on top. He could deduce where the weaknesses were, where to attack, where to defend and where to retreat. Now that he was a Mortal Warrior, his perception had increased as he could feel the Qi in the air. Not only could it allow him to help those men improve their battle formations, it would help him on the battlefield as well.


    Among the many principles, theories and tactics of a battle formation master, the most important ones were the Six Stratagems. They were Breathing as One, Letting the Deceptions of Gold and Mud Flow, Subduing Rivers and Mountains, Order in Chaos, Painting with Lies and Truth, and The Mundane General Enters the Hut.


    Cao Yun had read about them, but even by observing Yun Ping, he could not see them. Indeed, only Breathing as One could be trained by the soldiers. The other five principles could only be witnessed on the battlefield as they pertained to ways to perceive the flow of battle, control it and even shape it. For example, Painting with Lies and Truth consisted in using both your own battle formations and even the battle formations of the enemy to create new battle formations. At the basic level, you could just use the battle formations to change the flow of battle, by creating openings in a defense and lure in some enemies for example. But at a more advanced level, you could literally build up giant battle formations using both your soldiers but also the enemies. It was like using several small array formations to create a bigger one.


    Of course, these principles intrigued Cao Yun but he could only see them on the battlefield. And right now, they had no time to simply admire Yun Ping''s work. However, the three cultivators didn''t want to disturb him, so they waited for a moment of calm to ask for their equipments.


    During the time they had to wait, Cao Yun also decided to visit Feng Yingyue''s shop. Thankfully, it was in perfect shape. As soon as he saw the frontage, many happy memories came to him. Sadly, they were tied with the death of his family, but Cao Yun focused on the good. He walked through the shop and remembered Feng Yingyue preparing her pills and balms. Then, he walked the stairs and went into the rooms. He could still smell the perfume of Feng Yingyue. And in the room, he could remember his last night with her.


    The first time he had met her was after the most tragic day of his life. And the very moment he had met her, he had killed his first man. To this day, Cao Yun was still wondering if he could have done things differently. He was not naive at all and knew that killing was sometimes necessary. For example, if he had had the opportunity to kill Luduo Bu before he had become more powerful, he would have. Unfortunately such an opportunity never occurred. And maybe killing Huang Lixin and the others was indeed the right thing.


    But he still felt a sour taste in his mouth as he had lost control back then. Now he had mostly tamed the Drop of Wrath and he would not let something like that happen. Killing was one thing but doing it after losing control of his emotion felt worse. Moreover, it had been the first time Cao Yun had killed another human being.


    But in all this tragedy, Cao Yun had met Feng Yingyue. And he was at his happiest when he was with the young alchemist.


    -


    When finally Zeng Minghe was done, he gathered around twenty hunters as well as Cao Yun, Suo Xiaolu and Shi Baoxie. In front of him on a table was the complete map of the mountains between Baziyun City and Yinmen City. At first sight, Cao Yun recognized the path he had taken with Feng Yingyue. Once more, memories resurfaced but he pushed them aside to focus on the meeting.


    "I identified several areas I need you to investigate. You must find out what kinds of demonic beasts occupy those areas, their numbers, the way they act. In fact, even the plants may be useful. If you find animals, that could also be good information. Anything you might think is insignificant may help me determine how to act. Before the stampede occurs, we may be able to lessen its violence if we can cull out the appropriate demonic beasts. But, on the contrary, if we kill them without a clear plan, we may both increase the stampede itself and make it happen earlier. And we need all the time we can to prepare our defenses."


    Zeng Minghe put small pawns and flags on the map to illustrate as he was distributing the various areas to everyone. He also gave them all the information he had at the moment. But of course the actual situation could change at any moment. Thus, they shouldn''t take anything for granted. According to what they knew, there shouldn''t be any demonic beast with more than three cores. But they had no idea if some of them had not been able to form a fourth one, or if a stronger demonic beast had not moved from one area to another.


    Anyway, as their role was to gather information, they had to be as discreet as possible.


    While Zeng Minghe was giving his orders, Cao Yun saw something interesting on the map. He recognized the mount where the couple of Mountain Fenghuangs he had met with Feng Yingyue had their nest. During his time in the Wubei Sect, he had read about demonic beasts obviously, since he had read about almost everything he could find. And he had discovered that the egg of a Mountain Fenghuang could take between four to five years to hatch. This was a very long time. The chick of two Mountain Fenghuangs, like many more demonic beasts, was born with only one demonic core. But apparently, depending on the bloodline of its parents, it would be faster in developing new cores once born.


    Cao Yun could not be sure of how long the egg had been laid when they had met the couple. Maybe, the egg had already hatched and another Mountain Fenghuang had been born. Anyway, after all the memories with Feng Yingyue had resurfaced, Cao Yun felt the desire to see those beasts again. Feng Yingyue had even given them names, Feng''er and Huang''er. Somehow, they felt like acquaintances Cao Yun wanted to meet again to get some news.


    Looking at the map, he saw Zeng Minghen put a flag very close to that area. He had designated a group of two hunters who were both 6th-grade Mortals. The area was considered a bit dangerous because of the presence of many 2-core demonic beasts and a few 3-core ones, maybe the Mountain Fenghuangs themselves. In the area, a Muddy Bashe had tried to kill those two birds, so Cao Yun had to admit that it was probably dangerous indeed. But given his current strength, he would have no problem killing such a demonic beast with a single powerful move.


    "My friends, what about switching with me?"


    The two hunters were surprised. Cao Yun had received an area that seemed a bit less dangerous than theirs. So they didn''t have to think too long before accepting his offer.


    "Wait, Chen Guo! You can''t just change my orders like that and do as you wish. They are not just random. I put a lot of thinking into deciding which area was best for whom."

 Chapter 212: The hunters become hunted

    Zeng Minghe had been extremely calm and composed. He was a bit commandeering but as he was the only beast tamer around, that was a given. Not only was this occupation rare since it was at the convergence of both alchemy and medicine - with knowledge of many other fields to acquire - but during a stampede, it was the most important occupation. A beast tamer was someone who knew how demonic beasts reacted. And they could give a tremendous amount of help during such a crisis.


    Of course, a young man with so much influence would be a bit arrogant and proud. However, as he had been mostly silent and only talked when it came to his expertise, no one minded his tone. Moreover, they were all aware of how much work a beast tamer had to put in.


    This occupation was not often chosen by cultivators because it seemed like too much work for lacking results. Beast tamers got their names because they could indeed tame beasts. But it required a lot of time to form a relationship with a demonic beast and to learn to know it on a personal level. Many young beast tamers had in fact never truly tamed a beast themselves. Only an older beast tamer had had enough time with a beast to truthfully claim that it was tamed.


    Honestly, Cao Yun had not that much interest in such an occupation. This required a lot of time. And Cao Yun had most of the knowledge on demonic beasts that was available in the Hongchen Kingdom in his head already. He didn''t need anything else as he did not intend to tame a beast any time soon.


    "I''m sorry, Brother Zeng. But it turns out that I really know this area. I''ve been there before and I think I''ll be more useful there. Of course, if my fellow cultivators don''t want to..."


    "No, not at all, friend."


    One of the hunters answered immediately. Apparently, the area Cao Yun had to investigate originally was a bit closer to Yinmen City. That being said, both areas were still rather far and arguably closer to Baziyun City, or at least halfway between the two provinces. In addition, his area was less dangerous. So both hunters jumped on the occasion. Everyone was happy but Zeng Minghe, who was visibly annoyed and did no effort to hide it.


    "I''m very sorry, Brother Zeng. I imagine that you had to work hard on our respective roles. But I don''t see any problem with us exchanging our areas. Unless you had something specific in mind in your choice?"


    Racking his brain, Zeng Minghe found no argument to stop them from exchanging their orders. However, the audience saw that he was vexed that someone had decided to go against his orders, even a little bit. And the rest of the meeting was awkward. Some hunters had the same idea as Cao Yun and thought about exchanging their duties, but they decided not to do so in front of the beast tamer.


    -


    Before his departure, Cao Yun went to see his friends as well as City Lord Dun Mofan. Yun Ping''s authority had been recognized by everyone and he was ordering people around in the courtyard. The battle formations Cao Yun had seen before had already become way more refined. Those mercenaries and hunters knew each other prior to this, so they were able to coordinate themselves extremely fast. After less than a hundred repetitions, their battle formations had been able to reach the level of Perfect. Just like for alchemy or array formations, the Perfect grade was equivalent to a 90% mastery.


    For battle formations, this was more difficult to judge those things. First of all, the grades corresponded to the increase in strength of the fighters using the battle formation. Thus, it was necessary to take into account their original strength. And the level of mastery could change during a battle. Usually, it slowly increased as the battle intensified and then ineluctably decreased with fatigue or injuries.


    Anyway, seeing those mercenaries was reassuring. Some groups, although they were made up of Mortals, had a strength comparable to an early Mortal Warrior, or a 4-core demonic beast. They probably wouldn''t be able to maintain such a strength indefinitely though. Just like Cao Yun''s ''Dragon''s Heart'', those were short surges of extreme power.


    City Lord Dun Mofan, on the other hand, was being worked to death by Sun Liao. Despite being a Mortal, Sun Liao had some knowledge concerning Human array formations and even a few Heaven ones. The only thing preventing him from setting up such powerful array formations was his cultivation. As the direct disciple of Chief Elder Suxian, Sun Liao truly was a genius in his occupation. And now that he had a willing Spirit Warrior to set up his array formations for him, this was perfect. Of course, he could not control every single detail of the array formation, so they would not be optimal. And despite his knowledge, he was still lacking experience.


    As such, he had not the same kind of intuition concerning higher array formations compared to the ones he was used to. However, setting up a lacking Heaven array formation was still way better than the most powerful Earth array formation. And thankfully, there were already a few Heaven array formations that were rather satisfying around Yinmen City. By using them as a basis, Sun Liao could improve the overall defense of the city.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun got back to the other hunters who had been chosen to gather information on the demonic beasts. There were around twenty of them. Zeng Minghe was also there to give further instructions and insist on the things he really needed to know in each area. He was very adamant on the fact that fighting should be avoided as much as possible. Until he knew exactly how the demonic beasts were behaving, killing even a single one could tip things in the wrong direction. Only after collecting and analyzing all those information, could Zeng Minghe plan the culling of some demonic beasts. If he was good enough in his analysis, they could reduce the violence of the stampede significantly.


    Cao Yun exchanged a few words with Suo Xiaolu and Shi Baoxie. The two of them had also annoyed the beast tamer by wanting to stick together. But only Cao Yun had received a stern look from the young man. On the other hand, the two hunters who had exchanged their area with Cao Yun were quite happy.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Cao Yun''s area was a bit farther than halfway between Baziyun City and Yinmen City. And it was very close to the nest of the couple of Mountain Fenghuangs, where he wanted to go. However, he was conscious of the importance of his mission. And his choice was not purely based on those magnificent birds, but also on geography. The area he had chosen was the farthest from Yinmen City. The original area he had been given was also pretty far as well, but not to this extent.


    And he was clearly the one with the most strength and stamina thanks to his cultivation and the blood in his veins. The Drop of Wrath had formed new blood from the blood runes it had devoured, and the evil Qi within them. As such, Cao Yun had both more Qi in his blood and better muscles and tissues overall. Thus, he was sure that he was the fastest. Moreover, he knew perfectly well how to get there. Of course the hunters knew those mountains as well. But Cao Yun had even used his ''Shen Visualization'' to retake the entire road in his mind.


    Under the angry stare of Zeng Minghan, Cao Yun departed with the other hunters. Very soon, they parted ways to go to the areas they had to scout and also to stay as discrete as possible. Usually the demonic beasts dwelling in those mountains did not have more than three cores, and those were the apex predators. However, with the upcoming stampede, they could have many surprises. Not only some more powerful demonic beasts could be found, but even the weaker ones could be more dangerous because more desperate and aggressive.


    -


    It had taken Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue nearly two months to cross the entire mountains between the two cities. But now that he was alone and much more powerful, Cao Yun realized he could probably do the same thing in two or three weeks. Furthermore, he didn''t really have a hard time being stealthy thanks to his ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. With a higher mind cultivation, it was even easier to use the technique. Not only could he keep his Qi contained in his body, Cao Yun could also slow down his heartbeat and his breathing for several hours with no problem. And none of his steps were making any noise at all.


    Seeing Cao Yun run through the forest was very strange. He was incredibly fast and yet not even the air around him seemed to be disturbed. There was no sound at all. The first objective was to be stealthy, but it also allowed him to be more perceptive. Since he did not produce any sound, he was able to focus all his senses on detecting other sounds around him.


    Thanks to that, he was able to avoid a few demonic beasts. Some were very familiar to him. For example, he encountered a group of thirty High Silver Lion-Stags. The beast alone was not very dangerous for Cao Yun but a pack as large as that one was beyond rare. Usually, they stayed by five or six. And Cao Yun could see that a few of them had been wounded. The other ones had fresh blood on their jaws and their eyes were strange and ominous. They had probably gone rabid.


    This was not the only thing Cao Yun noticed. Despite his speed, he was able to take many notes. Although it wasn''t the area he had to monitor, every bit of information could be useful.


    In less than a week, Cao Yun could finally see the foot of the peak where the two Mountain Fenghuangs used to have their nest. As he had traveled through the forest, he had gotten worried about them. Maybe they were not even here anymore. But they had an egg to protect and most of the demonic beasts in those mountains lived in the forest, not on rocky peaks. So the chances were still high to find them again.


    -


    As Cao Yun was reaching his destination, the other hunters had also mostly reached theirs. They were all slower than Cao Yun, both because they were physically weaker but also because they were more careful as they lacked the confidence he had in his stealth. Among those hunters, the duo who had exchanged their areas with Cao Yun had just arrived at the border of the area they had to monitor.


    For a few hours they encountered no demonic beast at all, even though they had met quite a number of them on their way there. The two of them were becoming more and more anxious. The absence of threat was even more ominous than the threats they could actually see. Indeed, they felt like a larger menace was looming over their head.


    Gradually, they became slower and more and more careful as time was passing. The longer the calm lasted, the more their nerves were becoming agitated. Although they were used to hunting stronger demonic beasts than them, they were truly scared. Their intuition was telling them that something was wrong.


    Out of nowhere, the first man of the group screamed at the top of his lungs. When his friend looked back, he saw several trees cut in half and his friend''s legs on the ground in a pool of blood. The rest of his body had been sent against a nearby tree whose bark had been shattered. He had neither seen nor heard anything. Sending one last look to his friend, the hunter tried to run away as fast as possible, throwing stealth away.


    Being a hunter was tough so his dying friend did not begrudge the running man. Instead, he focused all of his last moments of consciousness on his family who was waiting for him, hoping they would still receive the money he had won. The final thing he saw were two long green tubes covered in hair. They almost looked like hairy flower stalks. But on their extremities, there were two suction cups. Both of them went on his torso from where his organs were now leaving his body. A great force got applied to him and his torso was split into two more halves.


    The second hunter who was fleeing did not try to understand what was going on or who or what was after him. He just ran.


    But his run stopped when an incredible pain lacerated his ankles. Still, he tried to keep on running but found himself on the ground. When he looked back, he saw that both of his feet were still on the ground, separated from his legs. Unable to register the pain, he tried to keep going anyway. Then, a boot stepped on his back and forced him to the ground.


    "You''re not Chen Guo... Where is he?"


    With a kick, the man towering over the hunter turned him on his back. Now the poor cultivator could see his enemy. He didn''t know that but he was faced with Can Mouye, the demonic cultivator working for Xiong Nixie. His appearance created an intense contrast with the scene of violence that had just happened. He was perfectly dressed, with his hair and beard impeccably neat. There was not a trace of dirt or blood on him. Plastered on his face, he had a serene smile. And his tone was incredibly polite, which made him even more eerie.


    "I was supposed to kill Chen Guo. Please, tell me where he is and I will spare you some suffering."


    As he spoke, a giant creature appeared in his back. This was a true abomination. The hunter had never seen such a thing. As adrenaline was still coursing through his body, he failed to clearly see it all. The only thing he truly noticed were ten long and hairy legs of a vivid green.


    "Sir, please, answer me. Where is Chen Guo?"


    As a hunter, he had his pride. Despite the polite tone of the man, he knew he was certainly a demonic cultivator with the sinister air around him. He would torture him for hours if not days to get his answer. And Cao Yun would also get killed. This was not acceptable! The only choice left was to die.


    The hunter concentrated all of his Qi in his Lower Dantian. As a 7th-grade Mortal, he had accumulated a lot of it. If he were to detonate all of his Qi in his Lower Dantian, he would thoroughly die. Unfortunately, he could probably not harm the young man despite their proximity, but it didn''t matter right now. Death was the best option.

 Chapter 213: Meeting up in the mountains

    Determined to die, the hunter had still a bit of reluctance of course. However, he knew what tortures could await him if he did not kill himself right away. Thus he accumulated as much Qi as possible. If he were to not concentrate enough of his Qi, he might survive the detonation. On the other hand, the more he waited, the more he risked being discovered. Killing oneself to avoid being questioned or tortured was not unheard of. And many people were even fully expecting it. As such, there were many techniques to try and stop someone from doing so. That was also why the demonic cultivators used demonic methods to ensure that their servants and disciples would die once captured, for example, the Heart Locking Fire Pact.


    Unfortunately for the hunter, Can Mouye was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, ready to step into the Spirit Warrior realm in a few years from now. His age made him appear weaker than that, but as a demonic cultivator he had used strange and evil ways to become stronger way faster than any orthodox cultivator. Although he was merely 31, he was almost a Spirit Warrior. Even Cao Guang had broken through to Spirit Warrior at 45 and he was considered a genius.


    With this kind of cultivation, Can Mouye did not need to have spiritual senses to sense that the Qi around and even within the hunter was slowly being focused in his Lower Dantian. The only conclusion was that he was trying to end his own life in order to avoid being subjecting to pain and torment. But the problem was that Can Mouye really wanted to submit him to those.


    Can Mouye bent down and put his palm on the abdomen of the hunter. He had no time to react when he felt a sharp pain radiating through his belly. By injecting a bit of Qi, Can Mouye had completely destroyed his Lower Dantian. He had mixed a bit of Evil Qi within the hunter''s Qi. And now, he was extracting it forcefully through his acupoints. It felt as though his very organs were being taken out of his body. And even though his skin was not cut open, it felt as though he had been sliced in two.


    The pain was so intense that the hunter almost lost consciousness. And just as he thought peace was finally coming for him, another kind of pain woke him up. Can Mouye had taken out his weapon from his spatial ring. In his left hand, he was holding a black whip riddled with thousands of metallic thorns. Under his control the weapon seemed to have a will of its own. Just like a demonic beast, it had attacked the poor hunter on the ground. The whip had not only lacerated his flesh but all its thorns had even taken bits and pieces of him out.


    This time, the hunter screamed so much that he felt pain in his throat.


    "Sir, I just need you to answer a single question, please. Where is Chen Guo? If you''ve come here in his stead, I shall assume that you know where he went, correct? Why would you suffer for nothing? Once you''ve answered me, I shall do what you just tried yourself, and end you peacefully. You are just delaying the inevitable. Please sir, be reasonable."


    The politeness and the calm of his tone was eerie since it was absolutely opposed to both his actions and the entire scene. He had a weapon of torture in hands and a giant monster behind him, still covered in the blood of his friend.


    No matter what pain he would suffer, the hunter would never betray another hunter. He was now certain that Can Mouye was a demonic cultivator, an enemy of all mankind. There was no way he would give out a fellow cultivator, even though he barely knew him. Cao Yun had come from the Wubei Sect to risk his life for a small city and that was enough to respect him as a brother.


    Gargling his own blood, the hunter spat on Can Mouye''s face. On the smiling face of the beast tamer, saliva and blood dripped down from his cheek. Without losing his smile, Can Mouye sighed with disappointment. He took out a small piece of cloth and cleaned himself.


    "Sir, this was not very nice. I am sincerely sorry that you fail to see how much I''ve tried to spare you from pain. But, sir, what do you think will happen if you do not grant my request? First of all, I will have to inflict a lot of pain on both your body and your soul. It may even cause you to be unable to reincarnate in a better life. But then, all your pain and sufferings will still be for naught. I know exactly which areas you''ve been assigned to. Thus, I will just have to search each and every one of them until I find my target."


    As he spoke, Can Mouye kept a composed and nice voice. It was as if he was merely advising the hunter during a friendly discussion, as though he was not concerned by all of this. From his tone, someone could have believed that he was talking about mundane business, not life and death. But more than that, the hunter got a terrifying feeling. If Can Mouye had found them here while he was looking for Cao Yun, then it meant that he did know of their areas.


    The hunter thought back on the attitude of Zeng Minghe. Could he have betrayed mankind?


    "Not only will you not protect Chen Guo at all, but you will put your fellow hunters at risk too. You see, I just want Chen Guo, no one else. There are more important matters for me to take care of. But if you do not tell me what I need to know, I will have to torture and kill more of your friends. I will let you think about it for... let''s say... twenty lashes."


    Just as he finished speaking, Can Mouye, while remaining absolutely calm, used his whip. Twenty times indeed did he lacerate the hunter''s body. His attacks were relentless and vicious. He even injected a bit of Evil Qi in them both to make them hurt more as it was slowly corroding his victim''s flesh, but also to keep him conscious. The Evil Qi was traveling in his nervous system and his organs and made sure that he was staying fully conscious.


    This technique had been invented by his master Xiong Nixie, this was ''Cultivate Love Through Pain''. As the opposition in the very name suggested, this technique was depraved. It was a technique meant to tame demonic beasts by abusing them while sending enough energy through their body both to increase their strength and keep them alive and conscious. Unlike some cultivation methods which required to inflict a bit of pain to achieve result, this one emphasized pain as the main way to break and tame. Pain during a training was usually a by-product but everything was done to alleviate it and not inflict it more than necessary. This technique was the exact opposite and tried to inflict as much pain as possible while achieving the wanted results.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Not only was the technique sickening, even its name was disgusting. However, it was sadly very effective. After the twenty lashes, the hunter only wished for the sweet release of death. And the first thing he heard was the calm voice of Can Mouye.


    "Sir, please stop making me do this. Just tell me where Chen Guo went. Please, let''s end this unnecessary pain."


    -


    The man they were talking about was now climbing the peak where the nest of the Mountain Fenghuangs used to be. Unlike last time, he had to go there without any help, but he was now way stronger and resistant. Climbing a mountain was not a problem at all. In fact, he could literally shove his hands in the rocks and create new climbing holds whenever he wanted. Despite how easy it was for him, Cao Yun regretted his inability to fly. As a Spirit Warrior, he could have reached the top of the peak in a matter of minutes without any physical effort.


    While climbing, he was completely dirtying his clothes, which was a shame. Right now he was wearing the robe Chief Elder Baishen had made for him. Since his fight in the Lunar Marsh, she had repaired and cleaned it up. And here he was dirtying it again. Thankfully, it was as tough as a 5-star Human armor so it was not easily cut. Although it was dirty, it was not damaged one bit.


    After a few hours of efforts, Cao Yun finally reached the spot where he had witnessed the death of the Muddy Bashe. That scene was still very vivid in his mind. Back then, he was unable to kill such a demonic beast by himself, but now he felt like he could take ten of them. Maybe ten was pushing it, but Cao Yun was very confident against a 3-core demonic beast.


    Just as he reached that spot, a giant shadow got cast over him and a powerful screech shook the rocks he was holding onto. Although he got startled, Cao Yun was not afraid for he had recognized the screech. It was Feng''er, the male Mountain Fenghuang, as Feng Yingyue had named him. However, he wasn''t sure whether the demonic beast had recognized him and how it would react with the recent intrusions of powerful demonic beasts in the area. Hence, Cao Yun moved carefully and slowly. Contrary to the infamous Muddy Bashe, the Mountain Fenghuang lacked a powerful sense of smell. In fact, they were not better than humans to recognize odors.


    And since Cao Yun was only showing his back right now, Feng''er had probably not recognized him at all. So the young man tried to show him his face. Feng''er landed very close to the intruder as a way to intimidate him and force him to leave. That was when he finally saw the face of Cao Yun who was slowly turning toward him.


    Immediately, Feng''er recognized the boy who had saved his life more than a year ago. All its intimidation faded away and he even went to the extent of bowing to the young man.


    "Sorry if I startled you. We humans are trying to understand what''s going on in those mountains. And since I came here to gather some information, I thought I should visit you as well."


    A Mountain Fenghuang was unable to fully understand the human language. However, it was able to discern most of Cao Yun''s intentions from his body language and tone. As a 3-core demonic beast, it was smart enough to piece it together with what was currently going on in the vicinity. A Mountain Fenghuang, unlike some other demonic beasts, mainly got its Qi from the surrounding environment. Mountains, especially high up, concentrated a lot of Qi and were good spots for those beasts. However, they still needed to feed. Most of the time, they would eat animals or small demonic beasts and would not enter into conflict with powerful foes or human cultivators. Moreover, it was a creature that was widely appreciated by humans so even hunters seldom tried to attack them.


    However, Feng''er had still had to fend off against several attacks from other 3-core demonic beasts recently. The situation was becoming more and more chaotic. And as he had an egg to protect, Feng''er had become more violent as well. Seeing the human who had helped him brought some joy to the tired beast. He flew back toward his nest and waited for Cao Yun to finally join him.


    When he reached their nest, Cao Yun also saw Huang''er, the female. She was incubating their egg in the nest. Cao Yun was unsure of how old the egg was but he knew that it took a long time for a baby Mountain Fenghuang to finally hatch. In fact, the more powerful a demonic beast was, the harder it was to reproduce. Just like humans who passed on some of their own Jing to their children, demonic beasts also passed on their bloodline. However, no matter how many cores they had, demonic beasts gave birth to babies with only one core. But their progeny''s bloodline would be further enhanced by the number of cores of the parents. As such, they could develop way faster. On the other hand, powerful bloodlines made reproduction more difficult. The best situation was in fact precisely this one, two parents with the exact same development and bloodline. Even then, the gestation was very long.


    Cao Yun was not a beast tamer but he had read enough on demonic beasts to know the gist of it. Reproduction was a tough question even among beast tamers. Since hunters were killing some demonic beasts to get resources, it was important to be careful with some species so that they wouldn''t go extinct.


    And apparently, even the demonic beasts had been affected by the Forsaken Dao Era. In the ancient texts, 9-core demonic beasts were quite common and could live for thousands of years. But most of them had simply disappeared with time. Finding them was getting harder and harder. They were even as rare as late Spirit Warriors.


    Both of the birds looked absolutely delighted to see Cao Yun. They also looked around, as if they were looking for something or someone.


    "I''m sorry. I am alone this time, Feng Yingyue is not with me..."


    Cao Yun had understood their intent and answered them. Although they did not understand his words, both of them still looked a bit dejected. But they soon got over it and gestured for the boy to get closer. They even invited him to touch their egg. A year ago, Cao Yun had risked his life to save that very egg from the Muddy Bashe and both parents fully trusted him. When Cao Yun put his hands on the egg, he could feel the warmth of the child inside. He even felt the vibration of his heartbeat through his arm. This feeling was incredible. Amidst the ongoing chaos, this was an island of peace and serenity.


    "I came here because I was worried about you. But... there is also another reason. We are worried about a stampede. I thought that, since you can fly, you may have already seen things that may interest us. I was sent to find how the demonic beasts are behaving recently. If you could point me in a direction where you witnessed something unusual, a powerful demonic beast, a lack of beasts, anything suspicious..."


    Once more, the beasts understood the gist of it. They looked at each other and seemed to communicate through small movements of their heads and tiny screeches. However, they suddenly changed their attitude. They went from calm and peaceful to aggressive and frightened. Feng''er''s feathers shook and the wheel that was his tail partially opened to make him seem bigger and more menacing. Although Cao Yun had not perceived what had scared them, he trusted their instincts.

 Chapter 214: Another spider?

    Although Cao Yun had not heard anything suspicious, he trusted the two demonic beasts'' instincts. Not only were their hearings superior even to his but they were also used to this area and the nature around them. They could more easily detect unusual things. After his misfortunes in the Lunar Marsh, Cao Yun did not hesitate at all. As soon as he thought he was maybe in danger, he activated his Heart Star and circulated ''Dragon''s Heart'' at half its power. He could not sustain its full power for long period of times, but like that he could push it to the extreme at a moment''s notice.


    And that moment came right away. From beneath his feet, he felt a tremor and a vibration coming for him. Before trying to understand what was going on, Cao Yun jumped backward with all of his strength. The rocks beneath him exploded under his feet and just as they were blown away they exploded upward. A powerful wave of air pierced through the spot where Cao Yun had been only a moment ago. Only dust remained.


    Unable to perceive any enemy from that spot, Cao Yun was looking all around him and pushing his senses to their limits. Feng''er and Huang''er also assumed fighting positions. Huang''er who was still sitting close to the egg could not move around as she wanted to protect it. However, Feng''er flapped his wings and flew in the air. As the tension was high, a very calm and composed voice resounded in Cao Yun''s ear.


    "What a pity. I wanted to kill you painlessly. But you will force me to become messy."


    If a cultivator he could not perceive at all was talking to him, this was necessarily a Mortal Warrior. The voice was in his ear, not his mind, which meant it was transported to him through Qi. Only a Mortal Warrior could do so. But this also meant that the Mortal Warrior was close enough to feel what was going on. Cao Yun was not confident in fighting him. After all, he seemed to have prepared this attack. Most likely, he knew about him. That meant that this cultivator was very confident in his ability to kill Cao Yun. He was probably a middle Mortal Warrior or worse.


    Right away, Cao Yun had no hesitation, he took hold of the small sphere Xiao Xuefeng had given him some time ago. In the Lunar Marsh he had not used it because it could only protect him and not his friends. But right now he truly feared for his life. The voice he had just heard had something inhumane in it. He couldn''t really describe it but the man who had talked seemed like he lacked fundamental emotions.


    Still waiting for the attack, Cao Yun was circulating his ''Dragon''s Heart'' to the maximum and holding the Spirit Condensation Barrier charm as well as his spear with one hand each. He was ready for anything.


    Then, Feng''er screeched at him and Cao Yun had just enough time to see a giant green and red form jumping at him from higher up the peak. His brain almost did not register what was going on as this horrendous abomination attacked. But he instinctively crushed the shielding charm.


    The sphere broke and blue lines left the broken pieces. Instantly, they completely surrounded Cao Yun forming many belts around his entire body. Up close, they looked like tiny sparks and each one seemed to be different from the others. After activating the barrier, Cao Yun realized that this was not just Qi that was in them. There was something more mysterious to them he could not yet understand. It was probably linked to the soul since Xiao Xuefeng had created this shielding charm.


    And at the very same moment, in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, Xiao Xuefeng who was preparing the defense of the institute with Director Ge Ling and Spirit Master Hua felt something. She immediately knew that Cao Yun had activated his charm. As soon as she felt that, she got worried and left the room in a hurry. She had to try and contact Baziyun City. Their institute had very good ties with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Maybe she could use them to send someone check on the boy, hoping it wouldn''t be too late. Diverting the efforts of the hall in the middle of such a crisis was difficult but she couldn''t just do nothing if Cao Yun was threatened. Moreover, it had to be necessarily linked to the stampede.


    Thanks to the Spirit Condensation Barrier, Cao Yun survived the attack. The terrifying beast''s attack got stopped by the blue sparks rotating as belts around the cultivator. Right in front of Cao Yun''s eyes was a long and thin green leg with some kind of suction cup at the end. Such a view was indeed terrifying. With his knowledge, Cao Yun had recognized the creature right away, Red Flesh Camel Spider. Although it looked like a spider at first sight, it wasn''t at all. This monstrosity was a 5-core demonic beast. Simply put, it could kill Cao Yun with a single move. If he had not used or had been too late to use the Spirit Condensation Barrier, he would likely be dead already.


    The creature was as big as a female Soul Weaving Cyrtophora. And it kinda looked like a spider as well for someone who wouldn''t be very careful. Even though it seemed to have ten legs, the two legs at the front were not legs at all, but pedipalps, similar to antennae. And with them, the beast could both feel around it and also catch preys or even attack. But this wasn''t the worst attack from this demonic beast. Unlike a spider, it could not produce neither silk nor venom. But it had two giant chelicerae right in front of its mouth. They were enormous pincers looking similar to those of a monster crab. And not only were they a vibrant red, they were still covered in dried blood and bits and pieces of human and demonic beast flesh.


    Just as the name suggested, the Red Flesh Camel Spider had a body as red as human blood and flesh. And the contrast was intense with its eight very green legs and its two pedipalps, all covered in eerie hair. The creature looked really exotic. And Cao Yun knew that it had several characteristics that made it deadly. Its pincers could cut through a human body as though it were paper, and it could even cut through the dense Wei Qi of a middle Mortal Warrior. With a single movement of its pincers, it could cut off Cao Yun in two as easily as if he was not even there.


    Moreover, it was incredibly fast and could jump very high. And by rattling its pincers, it could produce a strident sound that was able to attack the mind of a cultivator or even produce sonic wave that could pierce through very sturdy material. Most likely, the attack Cao Yun had been able to dodge at the very beginning of the assault was that kind of technique. And as a 5-core demonic beast, it was performing a kind of instinctive Qi Manifestation. Not only did Cao Yun have no chance against this beast, he could not do anything against the demonic cultivator controlling it either. First of all, Cao Yun did not even know where he was, and he was probably a middle Mortal Warrior himself.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Thanks to his protection, Cao Yun would be safe for some time. As the beast was trying to tear apart the blue lines of sparks circling him, he assisted to the spectacle of its chelicerae moving back and forth in a shearing motion. The problem was now to try and run from the creature. His protection was able to resist even the attacks of a Spirit Warrior, so he could probably stay safe for several days or even more. Hopefully, he could find a way to get to safety. He knew the road back to Baziyun City and if he was smart enough, he could make it.


    "Sir, your defense is indeed impressive. I assume Spirit Master Xiao gave it to you... Unfortunately, I will not be able to pierce through it in a reasonable amount of time."


    What neither Cao Yun nor Can Mouye knew was that Xiao Xuefeng was already using all her resources to contact Baziyun City. If he could hold on long enough, help would be on their way. That being said, Can Mouye was very conscious that he had to be quick. He had tried to kill Cao Yun immediately. Leaving him a sliver of chance to make it out alive was a mistake. But against this defensive charm, he could do nothing. He had to find another angle.


    "Those two fenghuangs looked extremely close to you. I wonder... What would you do to keep them safe? Chen Guo, I am only here to kill you. But I must say that my beast has become quite addicted to all the demonic beasts it ate on the way. I am not sure I could perfectly control it. If it were to devour both of those birds... and their egg, it could probably form a new core. So, I''ve come to wonder. If my beautiful beast attacked those poor creatures, what would be your reaction?"


    Just as he talked, a thorny whip made of Qi hit the back of the Red Flesh Camel Spider. The beast let out a small groan of pain and turned toward the couple of Mountain Fenghuangs. Both of them were very aware that there was nothing they could do against such a demonic beast. They had almost been wiped out by a Muddy Bashe who was not even a 4-core demonic beast. Yes, it had attacked them when they were separated, but fighting together wouldn''t change many things against this creature. Unlike humans, demonic beasts did not comprehend any battle formation.


    Sensing the killing intent of the Red Flesh Camel Spider, the two birds reacted right away. Huang''er took the egg in her claws, flapped her wings and tried to gain as much altitude as possible. On the other hand, Feng''er flapped his wings not to jump upward but forward. He opened his wheel to the maximum in order to distract the predator and partially hide what his female was doing. In the same movement, it rushed toward the Red Flesh Camel Spider.


    The demonic beast did not react at all. Instead, it simply waited where it was. Feng''er rushed toward it and at the very last moment tried to fly over it in the direction of Cao Yun. Still hidden, Can Mouye smiled. Feng''er was very smart. His goal was to buy time for his female and his egg to fly away while trying to make him believe it was putting up a desperate fight. It was completely the opposite. Feng''er was just trying to run but he also wanted to take Cao Yun with him. Can Mouye had been even more right than he had initially thought. However, Feng''er was still too naive about what a 5-core demonic beast could do.


    In his entire life, the strongest demonic beast he had encountered only had four cores. Although his instincts were screaming danger, he still underestimated his opponent. Just as Feng''er tried to pass over the Red Flesh Camel Spider, the arachnid raised its pedipalps and caught the long legs of the fenghuang. Then, it moved its body violently while rotating and slammed Feng''er to the rocky ground. Instantly, one of his wings broke and bent to a painful angle. From the beak of Feng''er, both blood and pain got out. Painfully, Feng''er tried to move its long and slender legs, but it had not the strength to resist to such a powerful beast.


    "Chen Guo, what are you going to do? Sadly, I won''t be able to hold up my little friend for very long. But if you were to give yourself up, I could leave right away and your avian friend would be safe. Oh? And if you think the female and the egg are safe, I do fear that you are harshly mistaken."


    Once more, a black whip appeared from nowhere and lashed out toward the female still clinging to her egg. This time Cao Yun tried to locate the origin of the Qi Manifestation and got a rough idea of where he was. Then, he suddenly activated ''Dragon''s Heart'' to its limit and struck toward the sky in order to stop the whip. Can Mouye had not used all of his strength because he only wanted to hurt Huang''er, not kill her. Thanks to that, Cao Yun''s ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' was powerful enough to cut the Qi Manifestation in two. The extremity of the whip directed toward Huang''er started to fade away.


    "This isn''t very nice of you... Because of your inconsiderate action, I shall be forced to exert less restraint."


    Before Can Mouye could act again, Cao Yun moved behind the Red Flesh Camel Spider with ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''. Since it was still holding Feng''er who was trying to resist by moving all over the place, the 5-core demonic beast was not able to react in time.


    ''Imperial Throne''. By sweeping his spear around him, while maintaining ''Dragon''s Heart'' at eightfold, a violent gust of wind blasted all the rocks away and even forced the arachnid to move. Using this as an opportunity, Feng''er was able to gain a bit of freedom. Unfortunately, his wing was broken and as soon as he moved, an agonizing scream echoed. The Red Flesh Camel Spider had used both of its pincers. Feng''er''s left wing fell to the ground in a gush of blood. But that wasn''t all. On his right side, a gaping and bloody hole had appeared.


    "Stop!"


    Immediately after, another whip lashed out against the Red Flesh Camel spider. However, it was already devouring Feng''er''s innards. After his first attack, one of Feng''er''s core was visible and it had excited the demonic beast. Can Mouye''s voice rose for the first time. He didn''t want to kill the two birds right away. Unfortunately, his beast was just too hungry for blood. Ironically, Cao Yun and Can Mouye both combined their strength to try and stop the Red Flesh Camel Spider.


    Indeed, Cao Yun finally used his most powerful attack, ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. Once more, he focused everything. Under the urgency and the emotion, Cao Yun was able to activate his technique way faster than everything he had achieved before. In a fraction of a second, all his strength was already condensed at the tip of his spear. The rocky ground beneath his feet turned hot red, almost forming magma that immediately cooled down. The air around Cao Yun''s spear also turned reddish. Then, a powerful sonic boom shook the surrounding.


    Cao yun''s figure almost disappeared. Even Can Mouye got shocked by his speed and his strength. The Red Flesh Camel Spider who had not cared for the whip lashes of his master sensed this violent attack toward its back and stopped eating Feng''er for an instant.

 Chapter 215: Bloody escape

    For this attack, Cao Yun had instinctively pushed his Heart Star to the limit. His entire sea of consciousness had turned red as the star had expanded to its full size. Even the blue sky had turned red. His Five Agents were also rotating and focusing the intent of the Drop of Wrath. The Qi of Cao Yun was moving at an incredible speed in his own meridians. In the same way, his blood was insanely hot and brimming with Qi and intent from the Drop of Wrath.


    Deep in the reddened ocean, the Insight Writings were floating with joy and absorbing the few rays of red light coming their way. This was the perfect version of ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. In this moment, Cao Yun had finally achieved a complete mastery of this technique. To protect Feng''er, he had acted without thinking. What the Red Flesh Camel Spider had attacked was not just Feng''er, but his time with Feng Yingyue and their memories. The two of them had risked their very lives to save both parents as well as their egg. Cao Yun could not accept seeing him die in front of his mate.


    After what had happened to his family, after fleeing while his loved ones died one after the other, Cao Yun could not accept this at all!


    However, this deluge of violence ended the way Cao Yun had been afraid of. His ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' pierced the carapace of the camel spider. But it only pierced through less than a cun of it. As unimpressive as it sounded, this was an incredible feat of strength. Demonic beasts had not the Wei Qi that humans had to protect them. However, their bodies were becoming more and more resistant the more cores they had formed. Even an early Mortal Warrior would have had a hard time piercing through this Red Flesh Camel Spider.


    Injuring it only a little for a late Mortal was an incredible feat of strength indeed. Not letting shock overtake him, Cao Yun remained calm and retrieved his spear before the beast moved. Its body tried to ram into Cao Yun but the protection of the Spirit Condensation Barrier stopped even its giant body. It was as though Cao Yun was an immovable object on its trajectory. It got superficially wounded by its own force coming back into its body.


    Then, it decided to completely forget the human. It was annoyed by Cao Yun but it knew that there was no danger at all. Hence, it simply disregarded him and went back to devouring Feng''er.


    Cao Yun had used his most powerful technique and had depleted a huge part of his Qi, for nothing. Up in the sky, Huang''er was also watching the spectacle of her mate being devoured alive. She wanted to act, but she had to take care of their egg. In fact, she was even hesitating on whether she should die with Feng''er or not. However, she was sure that Cao Yun needed to live. As such, she screeched to try and attract his attention.


    With his heightened senses, Cao Yun clearly saw her and in her eyes, he saw that she was asking him to flee with her. The boy was full of hesitation still. But when he looked at Feng''er''s face, he saw the same determination.


    And before he could take his decision, one of the lashes directed toward the Red FLesh Camel Spider changed its course to try and take down Huang''er who was still over the area. Thankfully, Huang''er had not been too distracted and was able to easily dodge it. But this woke up Cao Yun. If he stayed here, he would put himself in danger for nothing. And more than that, Huang''er was also staying to try and help him out. When his family got killed, he had to run. When Mei Hua was captured, he had to run. And once more, as Feng''er was being devoured alive, he would have to run again...


    Thinking about it, he realized he was the reason of this attack. After all, the owner of the monstrosity was here explicitly to kill him. Most likely, he was a demonic cultivator. There were already many suspicions that demonic cultivators were behind the upcoming stampede. It wasn''t an absolute proof, but the presence of this assassin was proof enough for Cao Yun.


    In his despair and his rage, Cao Yun thought about using the Drop of Wrath. He felt that it was ready to intervene. As much as he had gained control over it, if he were to let it run completely wild, could he wrestle back the control of his body? And even if he risked it all by fully unleashing it, Feng''er would still die. The Red Flesh Camel Spider had already devoured one of his cores, he was bleeding profusely and had even lost a few organs. Maybe a Spirit Warrior could have saved his life, but Cao Yun could do nothing at all.


    And the more he was hesitating, the more danger he was putting Huang''er in. But if he ran with her, wouldn''t she also be in danger? If he were to run alone, could he really escape? And if they were to leave separately, would the demonic cultivator still try to track down Huang''er? Threatening her was a good way to force Cao Yun''s hands.


    Cao Yun was completely paralyzed by doubt. Just as he was about to drown in it, the Five Agents shined through the fog in his mind. He had to focus on the situation right in front of him, thinking would be for later!


    ''Imperial Throne''. A giant gust of wind, like a small tornado, engulfed Cao Yun as he jumped high in the air. Immediately, Can Mouye knew what he was trying to do. For a while, he ceased his attempts to stop his own beast. It was busy eating the lifeless Feng''er and nothing would stop it now. Thus, Can Mouye used his whip to try and prevent Cao Yun from leaving. Instead of targeting him, Can Mouye targeted Huang''er herself as he was obviously trying to leave with her.


    This time, Can Mouye was fully trying to kill the bird. Pushed by her desire to save her child, Huang''er was able to avoid the brunt of the attack. But the thorns that were covering the black whip of Qi suddenly flew off of it. All around Huang''er, there was a cyclone of thorns that were closing on her.


    At this moment, Cao Yun grabbed on her feathers. And immediately, Huang''er flapped her wings like crazy to get higher and higher. Still attached to her, Cao Yun was trying to fend off the thorns coming from all around them. With the Spirit Condensation Barrier around him, Cao Yun could act as a small shield. However, the egg was in serious danger. Understanding that, Cao Yun literally climbed over Huang''er as she was moving at full speed. He went to her claws and took the egg. In order to keep his hands free to block a few thorns, he put the egg in his robe. And then, from the crane legs of the Mountain Fenghuang, he kept on protecting her, one hand grabbing on her leg, the other on his spear.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Despite all their efforts, Huang''er sustained several injuries both on her body and on her wings. However, they were able to flee. If Can Mouye had intervened sooner, he could have probably stopped them, but he had been distracted by his own beast. For the very first time, he showed frustration on his face. Yet, his features barely changed. His smile simply dimmed a bit. He then turned his attention on his Red Flesh Camel Spider.


    It had completely ingested the three cores of Feng''er. Just when Can Mouye thought he could finally take back the control of his own demonic beast, he realized he was mistaken. The Red Flesh Camel Spider was convulsing and vibrating. Can Mouye''s eyes bulged. His beast had just formed a sixth core. And right now, it was evolving. A core promotion was a form of breakthrough. Just like humans, a demonic beast could not do anything during a core promotion. But contrary to most human breakthroughs, it was almost uncontrollable. The moment the demonic beast had absorbed enough energy to form its sixth core, since they did not control the formation itself, it would form on its own.


    Can Mouye was in a pinch. Not only could he not use his demonic beast to chase Cao Yun, he would be in danger. Contrary to orthodox beast tamers, demonic cultivators in this occupation were using violence on their beasts. This allowed them to tame demonic beasts with more ease, but they were way more aggressive than usual and they were also hard to control. If the demonic beast suddenly became stronger than its master, it was difficult to predict what would happen.


    Can Mouye had tamed this 5-core demonic beast with the help of his master Xiong Nixie. Thanks to him, he had been able to force a blood contract on the beast. A drop of blood essence from the Red Flesh Camel Spider was inside Can Mouye''s body and vice versa. In theory, Can Mouye should be able to inflict intense pain and death to this beast at any moment just by focusing his intent and Qi on the blood essence in him. That being said, there was always a risk that the blood contract could be simply ignored by a demonic beast too powerful for its master.


    And Can Moue was not willing to remain by its side to figure it out. In the worst case scenario, his demonic beast would partake in the stampede and then he could ask help from his master. As long as he was able to kill Cao Yun, everything else would be a detail. But if he were to fail, Xiong Nixie would not be able to bear the humiliation he would feel in regards to Mo Tian. And Can Mouye would be the one to suffer from the rage of his master.


    After devouring the two hunters and a few demonic beasts on the way, the beast had finally formed its sixth core. The carapace around the arachnid began to crack all over. Its abdomen was already segmented, contrary to a spider, and each segment was becoming sturdier. More segments were even slowly forming from its rear ends as more legs were spurting out of each one.


    Its legs were becoming black, just as were its pedipalps. From a beast similar to a spider, it was becoming closer and closer to a myriapod. Can Mouye knew what kind of demonic beast this was, an Infernal Camel Scolopendra. He had already seen such a beast tamed by his master. And he really didn''t want to be here when it would be fully formed. And anyway, he had to kill Cao Yun. Otherwise, he would not need to fear this beast but his master''s wrath.


    Can Mouye was not used to fighting in person. However, as a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, he had the physical ability to chase Huang''er without too much trouble. Even though she had escaped, she was injured. And he knew that she wouldn''t be able to fly for very long. Indeed, his Qi Manifestation was condensed Evil Qi. And the technique he had used was ''Thorny Death Hurricane''. Each thorn contained condensed poison. Both the Evil Qi and the poison were now flowing through Huang''er''s body.


    Riding on Huang''er, Cao Yun could clearly feel that she was getting weaker and weaker. From the many wounds on her body, she was losing some blood. But what worried Cao Yun the most was the ominous aura around those very wounds. From his experience with Luduo Bu, he clearly felt the touch of Evil Qi on her. But the alchemist in him also smelled the poison in her dripping blood. Unfortunately he wasn''t as good as Mei Hua and he could not tell for sure what kind of poison this was.


    Each time some demonic cultivators were found, their methods were analyzed to prepare against them. But many secrets were still kept. It was highly possible that Cao Yun, despite his extensive knowledge, just did not know about this specific poison.


    "Huang''er, you can''t go on like this!"


    Cao Yun was trying to convince the Mountain Fenghuang to land, but it was still frenetically flying away. The shock had been too intense and the poison had spread insanely fast because of her racing heart. No matter what, she would not stop before feeling safe for her egg. And the boy could understand her behavior. She reminded him of the way he had fled the night his family had died. Everyone in his family had been killed but he was still running like crazy to try and protect his little sister. But he had failed in the end...


    This time, he would not let a demonic cultivator destroy an entire family!


    Looking all around, Cao Yun determined the most directed path toward Baziyun City, the closest city where they could get help.


    "There! Go there! Listen to me, please. There are people who could help you there."


    Sensing the sincerity and urgency in the young human''s voice, the panicked and desperate Mountain Fenghuan followed the direction he had showed. However, she was flying lower and lower. She wasn''t sure whether or not she would have the strength to reach her destination. Her vision was getting blurry and she was feeling the Evil Qi seeping through her wound.


    As an alchemist, Cao Yun was able to sense it. And he knew she wouldn''t make it. He had to find a solution! Despite the high speed they were moving at, he tried to look for plants he recognized on the ground.


    "Stop there! I know you''re trying to protect your child, but if we don''t treat your wounds, you won''t achieve anything! Stop there just for an instant, I can''t cure your wounds but I can help you last longer. Once we arrive in Baziyun City, more competent alchemists, physicians and even beast tamers will help you. Please, trust me!"


    Huang''er wanted to bring her egg to a safe place. But she was feeling that she wouldn''t make it. Reluctantly, she let the sincere and worried voice of Cao Yun convince her. As much as she could, she tried to land quietly. But at the last moment, she failed to properly control her own body and literally collapsed to the ground. Thankfully, Cao Yun was still holding the egg and he was able to protect it.


    That scene reminded him of what had happened the first time he had met Feng''er. But this time, Feng''er was dead and their situation was way more dangerous and precarious.


    Quickly, he comforted Huang''er by showing her the egg and left it with her. Huang''er painfully opened her wing and tried to snug the egg against her chest.


    Without losing any second, Cao Yun immediately went to fetch some ingredients. Unfortunately he wasn''t able to use a spatial ring yet so he had neither alchemy pills nor alchemy tools on him. Thus, he would have to prepare very basic treatments just to make sure Huang''er could survive the road.

 Chapter 216: Poison and blood

    Cao Yun''s priority was not to treat the poison or even the Evil Qi. He had to first calm down her heart and close up her wounds. Then, he had a few pills on him to restore a bit of her blood. But since he didn''t have any spatial tool on him, he couldn''t really carry a lot of them with him. Unfortunately, spatial tools other than spatial rings were almost rarer than those. Indeed, no one was able to create any of them anymore. And in the past, the people who did create them had no need for lesser tools. In the Lunar Marsh, Sun Liao had been able to get a spatial pouch thanks to their faction. However, because Yun Ping had already been lent a spatial ring for this mission, they had no other spatial tool.


    In his robe, Cao Yun had taken a few pills to heal him and replenish his Qi or blood in case of emergency. He only had a few on him, and one of them was the Burning Gate Flood pill. It was a 1-star Human pill he had bought before leaving. Such a pill could almost replenish all the blood of a late Mortal. However, as it did so by activating the heart, it was very taxing on the body. After using such a pill, the cultivator would be extremely weakened and most of his Qi would be depleted.


    If Huang''er were to consume it right now, Cao Yun was not sure whether she would even survive. However, using this pill could be a good idea. Cao Yun could extirpate the poison from her wounds with a lot of her own blood without fearing for her as the blood would be replenished. But first, he had to stabilize her condition. If her heart was already in a dangerous state before using the pill, she would have no chance of survival.


    While flying over the area, Cao Yun had recognized a plant he knew about. Feng Yingyue had shown him most of the plants in the area when they had been walking back toward Yinmen City. The plant was the Emerald Catfish Vine. It looked like a bunch of vines falling down toward the ground. All over those vines, there were strange flowers, small burs covered in pikes. Both the burs and some parts of the vines could be used. Hence, Cao Yun retrieved a few of them. By grinding the Emerald Catfish Bur, he got a green and viscous substance he could use to alleviate pain and even close up small wounds. And by burning the vines he could create a smoke who would slow down Huang''er''s heartbeat.


    With his maximum speed, he went back to Huang''er. She was now shaking and when Cao Yun touched her, she was cold even though her heart was still beating relentlessly. Quickly, he decided to go all out. He started a fire and burned the Emerald Catfish Claws, the small vines, in front of the fenghuang. Then, he took another pill he had bought, an Autumn and Springs Reviving pill. Such a pill had been purchased to replenish his mind in case of emergency. And just like the Burning Gate Flood pill, he only had one of it. However, he decided to let Huang''er consume it in his stead.


    He forced the pill down her beak and she did not protest at all. Huang''er was still barely conscious and fully trusted Cao Yun.


    Slowly, the fumes coupled with the pill both calmed her heart and replenished her mental strength. Now, Cao Yun had to find a way to extirpate the poison from her wounds. And he got a very dangerous idea. The poison in her body was completely mixed with Evil Qi. It just happened that Cao Yun had a way to extract Evil Qi. He had realized that during his fight against Luduo Bu. Deep within his heart, the Drop of Wrath was hungry for Evil Qi. Although Cao Yun was not a Mortal Warrior, he could still unleash the intent of his Drop of Wrath in the vicinity of his body.


    Cao Yun was certain that if he activated it and let its intent do its own thing, the Drop of Wrath would instinctively try to absorb this Evil Qi. Since that moment with Luduo Bu when Cao Yun had finally learned the truth of the Drop of Wrath, he was not very worried about being taken over by it by accident. Moreover, his mind cultivation was powerful enough to protect him, he was sure of it, even if the drop became stronger. What he was worried about was the fact that he would most likely absorb a bit of poison as well. As an alchemist he had a good grasp of how to control foreign substances in his body. But he knew nothing of this poison.


    Theoretically, an alchemist, who was used to controlling medicinal essence and toxins, should be able to control poison in his system. However, it depended on the level of the poison. Some were so potent that they distorted Qi and even intent. A Heaven rank poison could literally attack the soul. Against an Earth poison, Cao Yun was confident. Damn, even against a Human poison which he knew everything about he would be. However, trying his luck with a poison that was probably Human rank but which he knew nothing about...


    But if he waited too long, the poison would go even further. Even if he extracted all of it, it had done many damages already. If Cao Yun were to risk his life and then realize than Huang''er was dead anyway, the irony wouldn''t be very amusing. And watching her die without doing anything while she was embracing her child under her wing was not acceptable.


    Cao Yun pushed his mind cultivation to the limit, ready to control the foreign substance. He had already chosen the points by which he would try to take it out of him afterward. Then, he unleashed the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Most of it was focused on his palms and he approached them toward the wounds of Huang''er.


    Just as he had planned, the Drop of Wrath acted on its own. It was as though it had a mind of its own, but Cao Yun knew that this was just instinct and that the Drop of Wrath was not conscious. Huang''er felt her blood being controlled but she did not try to prevent it from leaving her body. The boy had saved her life and without him, she had no chance of survival at all. Furthermore, she could see the determination in his eyes. Clearly, he was taking a huge risk for her and she decided to leave her fate in his hands.


    From his palms and then his entire forearms, Cao Yun felt the Evil Qi and the poison pass into his body. His arms were touching Huang''er''s body and were warm with her blood. On her wounds, the blood that was already a bit blackened turned as black as oil with both the Evil Qi and the poison becoming more and more concentrated. Now that Cao Yun was feeling the poison in his own body, he clearly understood that this was at least a 4-star Human poison. Such a poison was corrosive enough to attack Qi and even intent.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun''s mind cultivation was way beyond what a normal Mortal, or even a Mortal Warrior would have. In fact, it was even similar to the mind cultivation of a Spirit Warrior, with the exception that it couldn''t extend outside of his body, so he had no spiritual senses. With the Five Agents and the three chambers of his Upper Dantian pushed to the limit, Cao Yun tried to focus all his efforts on his Yi, the Earth Intent. His Shen also acted to coordinate everything. As the Drop of Wrath was gathering the Evil Qi, and the poison, toward it, Cao Yun had to be quick and efficient. Indeed, if the poison were to enter his heart, he would probably suffer a lot of injuries or even die, but the Drop of Wrath had no intellect so it didn''t care.


    Using all his knowledge of alchemy and his mind to the limit, Cao Yun tried to separate the poison from the Evil Qi. Both were very dangerous, but luckily the Evil Qi was completely being taken care of by the Drop of Wrath''s intent. In fact, as it was being attracted with a tremendous force, Cao Yun only had to slow down the poison, and it would naturally detach itself from the Evil Qi. But then, he still had to control the poison in order to send it out of his body.


    His intent and his mind were slowly being depleted as the poison was extremely corrosive. But Cao Yun was able to stand it long enough for the Drop of Wrath to completely digest the Evil Qi. Once it was done, Cao Yun could finally use its intent as reinforcement for his own. In the end, he was able to guide the poison where he wanted to. And after several very intense minutes, Cao Yun puked a black substance. The moment it touched the ground, all life around it died. The poison and the Evil Qi had both been extracted successfully.


    But, as a consequence, Huang''er had lost even more blood. Her body was slick with blood and she was shivering. Her eyes had lost a bit of light and even the skin Cao Yun could see under her feathers seemed pale. Immediately, he gave her the Burning Gate Flood pill. The weaker she was, the less likely it was to work. Thus, Cao Yun also fed her a few Qi Gathering pills. By now, he had almost used up all the pills he had taken for himself in case of danger. But he refused to let a mother die while embracing her child.


    As the pills were taking effect, Cao Yun used the green substance he had obtained from grinding the Emerald Catfish Burs. After applying it to her wounds, it formed a kind of viscous paste. That would prevent more hemorrhage and promote healing of the skin. It wasn''t the best medicine, but in the vicinity and with the urgency, it was the best Cao Yun could come up with. In a way, it was still Feng Yingyue who was helping the beast, since this knowledge had come from her. Of course, Cao Yun had later read about it, but she was the first one to have taught him about those properties of the Emerald Catfish Vine.


    A frustrating thing was the fact that Cao Yun knew of several pills he could refine, or even array formations he could set up, but he had no tool to do so. For the pills, he required a furnace and a cauldron, at the very least. And for the array formations, since he was only a Mortal, he not only needed the flags but also the spirit stones to fuel it. But he had no spatial ring and he couldn''t just go around with all of that on him. Thankfully, in a year or so, he was convinced that he could reach the Mortal Warrior realm and finally have the ability to use one. But then, he also needed to get such a ring and they were neither cheap nor common. Thanks to his status as an alchemist, he should be able to get one though... Most likely... Maybe...


    -


    Both Cao Yun and Huang''er were slowly regaining their strength. And since they were still chased, they decided to move as soon as they could. In fact, they even started to walk toward Baziyun City before Huang''er was able to fly. In this area, not only did they fear the demonic cultivator and his beast who could potentially come and attack them. They also feared the other demonic beasts. The majority of the stampede was threatening Baziyun City, so it was safe to assume that this area was nothing but safe.


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath was more calm than usual after having absorbed the Evil Qi. Just like what had happened after the fight with Luduo Bu, it seemed to be digesting what it had received. Although Cao Yun was not too worried, he still wanted to find a way to definitively get this threat under control. There was no way to get rid of the drop of blood itself, not even a Spirit Warrior would be able to do so and no cultivator had exceeded this realm for more than ten thousand years. On the other hand, he still wasn''t sure how to use his mind cultivation to completely control it.


    The Drop of Wrath was a broken fragment of a corrupted Po. As such, it was trying to reconstruct itself. Cao Yun had thought about inserting his own Po into the drop to fully control it. The Flying Poison, or the corrupted version of the Po of Jing, was only one of seven parts constituting the Po, and even this part wasn''t complete in the Drop of Wrath. Hence, Cao Yun was sure that he would gain absolute control over it if he could subject it to his own Po. But as his mind cultivation was not advanced enough, he simply did not know how to do such a thing. As of now, he had just been trying to imprint his Po character into the Drop of Wrath and it wasn''t very fast nor very effective.


    Just as he was thinking about this, he felt something from the Drop of Wrath. It should have stayed calm but it was reacting to something. Clearly, it wasn''t trying to take over or something, it was just reacting to something close to them. Right away, Cao Yun thought about Evil Qi. Could the drop have become powerful enough to detect the presence of Evil Qi? Could the demonic cultivator already be close by?


    However, not even Huang''er could detect any human nearby. Yet, it didn''t mean that there was no one. At first, Cao Yun wanted to get away from the source of this reaction. But then, he realized something. They were very close to the area where he had been sliced by the murderer of his family. Could the presence the Drop of Wrath was reacting to be Cleansed Asura or something related to him?


    Cao Yun did not know precisely where Cleansed Asura''s body was after all. Unless he was a Spirit Warrior, he probably couldn''t find him at all. Full of hesitations, he still decided to ignore it for now. The priority was to get Huang''er to safety.


    Just as he thought that, Huang''er screamed. This time, Can Mouye had found them. And Cao Yun received a kind of confirmation of his hypothesis as the Drop of Wrath did not react to the Evil Qi within the demonic cultivator. Earlier, it should have reacted to something related to Cleansed Asura. Could it be an even more powerful heritage from the God-Monarch?


    But Cao Yun did not have the luxury of wondering about that. He had to stay alive for now. And he also had to protect Huang''er. She was way too weak to do anything. To be fair, even at full power, she was now weaker than Cao Yun when he used all of his cards.


    Both of them ran in the direction of Baziyun City when a black flame flew toward them. That flame was completely rotten and infused with Evil Qi. It was even more poisonous than the first attack that had terribly injured Huang''er. None of them could survive a direct hit by that.

 Chapter 217: A mothers wish for her child

    Can Mouye was very close to them. Since he had been forced to abandon his demonic beast, he was now running through the woods. But thanks to his keener senses, he had been able to detect the two of them with no problem at all. And he was not taking any chances. His first attack was a killing move.


    He knew his master well enough to be sure that he would pay for his mistake. Xiong Nixie had helped him tame that demonic beast. And because Can Mouye had not been able to restrain it, it had devoured too many cultivators and too many demonic cores. Now that it had broken through, he wasn''t sure whether he would be able to control it. In the end, he would probably be forced to ask for his master''s help and he would pay for that dearly.


    Sadly, Can Mouye was used to the tortures and the training from his master. In a way, they were almost the same thing. Xiong Nixie did not really care for the lives of his disciples. Can Mouye, like others, had been a simple mortal. When demonic cultivators slaughtered his family, he was still just a child. And like many other orphans abducted by the demonic cultivators, they trained them by forcing them to slaughter each other. Only those who survived were taught. And even teaching implied more pain and more killing.


    Still, even surviving the slaughters was not enough to stay alive. Slowly, Can Mouye adapted. He forgot almost all of his normal human emotions and learned to read those of others. The only way to really survive was to adapt. Xiong Nixie often tried out his new theories on his own disciples. The ones who did not show enough potential or talent were the first victims of his ideas. Most of them did not work out how he wanted. And even the lucky ones who survived those ordeals were not out of harm''s way. Indeed, Xiong Nixie sometimes killed them just to examine their bodies and understand what had happened precisely.


    To survive in such an environment, the best way was to sacrifice others and plot against his own ''friends''. A long time ago, Can Mouye had lost any form of compassion, however he had a great empathy. He was able to determine the feelings and the true personality of anyone just by observing them for a very short time. This had helped him a lot in order to manipulate his master into choosing others for his experiments. Finally, he had been able to reach the doorstep of the Spirit Warrior realm.


    If Xiong Nixie could boast having raised a disciple who had reached the Spirit Warrior realm, this would be a great way to try and curry favors from the Demon King. As such, Xiong Nixie would want to keep him alive, just out of spite for Mo Tian. But Can Mouye knew his master well enough to know that he was seldom acting out of reason. In a fit of rage, he could very well kill him and then regret it later. Right now, his best shot was to kill Cao Yun and bring his corpse with him. Then, the failure to keep a tight leash on his demonic beast could be forgotten with just a punishment. He would probably have to suffer thousands of lashes, but he could survive that.


    The moment Can Mouye sensed Cao Yun and Huang''er, he did not hesitate at all. He activated another martial art. ''Tianfomo''s Compassion'', ''Shadow Heart Palm''. Like many demonic cultivators, he was keeping a portion of Evil Qi in him. This was way more dangerous than Qi because it could corrode everything. Even for demonic cultivators, it was difficult to control it. But Can Mouye was a bit different. Unlike other demonic cultivators, he had no problem keeping his mind clear. The reason was simple enough. Can Mouye had no more human emotions. In fact, he was just trying to stay alive and had no ambition or desire of any kind. In a way, he was not even alive anymore. He was just going through the motion.


    But thanks to that hollowness in him, he was able to manipulate Evil Qi almost as well as regular Qi, which allowed him to keep a great reserve of it in his own Middle Dantian, near his heart. Then, by mixing it with his own blood, he was able to activate a powerful martial art, ''Tianfomo''s Compassion''. ''Shadow Heart Palm'' was a technique designed to kill any living thing on its way. From Can Mouye''s palm, a black flame appeared and flew outward. As it was concentrated Evil Qi, it could corrode almost anything. Moreover, it was incredibly fast.


    -


    Cao Yun saw this black flame going straight for him. With his speed, he could probably dodge it. But Huang''er was way too weak to move that fast. And Cao Yun was not sure whether he would be able to push her out of harm''s way in time.


    Pushing his body once more, Cao Yun activated the Heart Star. ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. In this attack, Cao Yun sent a lot of Qi and focused all of his mind cultivation. The black flame in the shape of a palm collided with the tip of ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. A howling sound like Cao Yun had never heard before echoed throughout the woods. He felt the influence of the Evil Qi corrode his own technique. Then, the Drop of Wrath activated once more. The Evil Qi contained within the palm spiraled out of it and coiled around Cao Yun''s spear.


    With impressive speed, it flew into his acupoints and traveled through his meridians into his heart. The Drop of Wrath was once more absorbing Evil Qi. Fortunately, Can Mouye was too far to control the Qi contained in this palm. Otherwise, even the Drop of Wrath could not have cut off the connection between a middle Mortal Warrior and his own Qi.


    Thanks to that absorption, the technique from Can Mouye decreased in strength enough for Cao Yun to divert it away. However, he had used a huge part of his stamina. Besides, the attack meant that Can Mouye was getting dangerously close. Even as a middle Mortal Warrior, he could not attack from a huge distance. As such, he was likely to reach them in a matter of minutes.


    Cao Yun could probably get away by using his stealth, but Huang''er would then be left to die. On the side, Huang''er felt the dilemma of the human boy. Despite all his efforts, Huang''er could feel that she was still extremely weak. She knew that she was not long for this world. The human boy had tried everything and once again, he had put his life on the line to protect her. However, she had made peace with the situation. Since the last time she had seen the boy, he had grown incredibly strong. As a human, he probably had many ways to evade their hunter, but she had none.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    If they stayed together, not only would they both die, but so would the egg. Huang''er looked at the egg she cherished. Her mate had already been killed and devoured by that monstrosity back then. And her fate was not going to be any better. But without Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue, they would have all died more than a year ago. Although her life was doomed, she knew that the boy would protect her egg.


    The stronger demonic beasts were, the harder it was for them to procreate. After several decades, the Mountain Fenghuang couple had been able to conceive a child. And she was not ready to let it die before it could even breathe fresh air.


    Huang''er let out a painful groan as she stood up straight. In her beak, she took the egg and handed it over to Cao Yun. Of course, the boy could not know what she was saying or thinking, but he understood her behavior well enough to know what she meant. Seeing her eyes, he remembered the light he had seen in his parents'' eyes, right before they died.


    "Huang''er, no! I won''t leave you here to die!"


    Despite the short amount of time he had spent with the Mountain Fenghuangs, Cao Yun had taken a great liking to them. After all, he had met them when they were trying to protect their egg while he had just lost his family. Besides, they also reminded him of his encounter with Feng Yingyue. And now, he could see his own mother in Huang''er''s eyes. Leaving her would be like abandoning his mother another time.


    However, the mother would have none of that. She focused all of her energy and roared as loudly as she could. Suddenly, she opened her wings as wide as possible, despite the pain.


    "No!"


    Cao Yun tried to rush and stop her, but he was too late. With a powerful blast of wind, she flapped her wings and rose high in the sky. She was so weak that just this would probably inflict so much damage that she would never recover. Of course, she did not mind because she had no intention of surviving what was about to come. On the ground, Cao Yun was watching her figure slowly vanishing in the distance, toward the direction of the previous attack. He knew what she was planning. For an instant, he was ready to follow her.


    Sensing the egg shake in his hands, Cao Yun stopped himself. Back then, his parents had died to help him. And in the end, he could not even protect his powerless little sister. Right now, the Mountain Fenghuang had both showed the same determination to let their child survive. And this time, Cao Yun would make sure that this would happen. He would protect this egg with his life. Besides, he could not die here either. He had still a promise to keep to his parents.


    "Do not throw away your life. Live!"


    Those words echoed in Cao Yun''s mind.


    Just after that, he felt a throbbing pain in his heart. The Drop of Wrath had absorbed too much Evil Qi with the last attack. It was more than it could absorb in one go. As such, the remaining Evil Qi was still agglutinated around his heart. Thankfully, the Drop of Wrath was exerting some kind of attraction on it, but it was still incredibly dangerous. However the Drop of Wrath had also become a bit stronger. Strangely though, it wasn''t as effective as the blood runes he had absorbed from Luduo Bu. Most likely, it was due not to the Evil Qi but to the blood itself, or maybe the special mixture of the two together.


    Anyway, with this small increase in power, Cao Yun could feel the sensation he had felt earlier more clearly. There was no doubt whatsoever. That sensation was from Cleansed Asura and it was incredibly close. Last time he had met Cleansed Asura, he had been able to save his life. Maybe he could find a way to help Huang''er. Cleansed Asura should have fallen into a deep slumber after gifting the Drop of Wrath, but Cao Yun decided to cling to this unrealistic hope.


    Thus, he ran toward the sensation. Moreover, it was in the direction of Baziyun City. In the worst case scenario, he could still try to reach the city and ask for help. Despite his anxiety about going back to the city where his entire family had been slaughtered and buried, he had known for a long time that he would have to someday. The day would be sooner than he expected, but that wasn''t a problem. And the stress was taking over his anxiety anyway.


    -


    While Cao Yun was running with the egg in the hope of finding a way to save Huang''er, she was flying at full speed toward Can Mouye. As a 3-core demonic beast, she was just as strong as a 9th-grade Mortal. By pushing herself to the limit, she could maybe compare with a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior who wasn''t too strong. But just like Mortals, she had nothing similar to a Qi Manifestation. On the other hand, her opponent was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior. She had no hope of winning. Right now, she only wished to delay him as much as she could.


    With his senses, Can Mouye saw her arrive way before she could see him, even with her bird''s eyes. Immediately, he saw that Cao Yun was not with her. This was just a loss of time.


    ''Thorny Embrace''.


    With a powerful wrist movement, he cracked his whip in the air. A vague form appeared out of thin air and prolonged the physical whip. It extended all the way toward the sky. Before she could react, Huang''er was completely constricted by the black shape. Then, thorns appeared all over the Qi Manifestation. Once more, Huang''er felt Evil Qi seeping through her. But this time, it immediately went into her organs. In less than a breath, she was dead. Her heart literally exploded in her chest.


    The Qi Manifestation disappeared and the bloody body of the once magnificent beast fell down. With an incredible violence, her broken body crashed on the ground, completely opening her up.


    As a beast tamer, Can Mouye was always interested in collecting materials from demonic beasts. For him, this was even more important than for other cultivators. Moreover, he could always find ways to use the materials efficiently. Since he was extremely close to reaching the Spirit Warrior realm, he could not let those demonic cores go to waste. But because he had no time to lose, he spread his Qi over Huang''er''s corpse and swallowed it whole in his spatial ring.


    Her sacrifice had amounted to almost nothing at all. Instead, she had maybe even helped Can Mouye. Anyway, he would have gotten her body even she had tried to escape. And she had lifted a burden off Cao Yun''s shoulders. In death, Huang''er was convinced that the boy would be able to save her egg. It was the only thought that let her face her death without any regret. However, she had a lot of resentment. And Evil Qi was starting to gather inside her own demonic cores.


    Can Mouye had not lost more than a minute killing Huang''er and collecting her body.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun was pushing his Heart Star to the limit. His Qi was flowing eight times faster than usual in his meridians, especially in his legs. Besides that, he had also activated the intent of the Drop of Wrath as much as he could to strengthen his leg muscles. His sprint was properly incredible. He could have literally ran through the trees without much problem, but his senses were so good he was able to react fast enough. And with his knowledge of those woods, he was following the best path possible.


    Unfortunately, as a beast tamer, Can Mouye was also very competent when it came to orientate himself in the wild. Although he wasn''t as familiar with those woods as Cao Yun, he was not hindered much in his hunt.

 Chapter 218: The black ravine

    Everything around Cao Yun reminded him of the day he had lost everyone. For sure, he wasn''t going to keep losing the people close to him. Recently, he had almost lost his friends as well because of those damn spiders. And even though he had no absolute proof, he suspected the demonic cultivator chasing after him of being behind this as well. After all, his beast looked like some kind of spider. Cao Yun knew it wasn''t strictly speaking a spider but an arachnid nonetheless. Still, the coincidence was a bit too much.


    And right now, he had vowed to protect the egg that he had saved back then with Feng Yingyue''s help. Both its parents had given their lives for it to escape unscathed and Cao Yun would make sure that their wishes would come true, no matter what!


    Running through the woods, Cao Yun used his mind cultivation to put all his feelings aside. Both his Yi and Zhi were focused by his Shen and only his mission was into his conscious mind. His goal right now was to get help. Coincidentally, the spot where he had met with the soul of Cleansed Asura and where the Drop of Wrath was pointing him toward was on the way to Baziyun City.


    Cao Yun knew that it was a long shot, but he may find something to help him there. Moreover, he also knew that he would probably never reach Baziyun City. Either something there could help him or he could be lucky and meet a cultivator on the way. Baziyun City was also threatened by a stampede after all. There could be some powerful cultivators even far away from the city.


    While he was running, holding the egg in his robe, close to his chest, his heart was painful. The Drop of Wrath was mostly under his control in the sense that it would not try to take over anymore. Now that Cao Yun knew what it was, he was able to subdue its nature with his own Po. However, he had no real control over it, other than using its intent through the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. Maybe there were other methods in Cleansed Asura''s memories but he just couldn''t read them.


    Right now, the Drop of Wrath was hungry for Evil Qi and that was putting Cao Yun in a dangerous situation. First of all, if the Evil Qi in him acted too violently, he could die straight away as it was literally in his heart. But another problem was what would happen after the Drop of Wrath was done devouring this Evil Qi. The last time it had devoured a big quantity of Evil Qi, Cao Yun had fallen into a coma and had a vision. Of course, he had been very injured so maybe the coma had been caused by the injuries more than the Drop of Wrath, but he couldn''t be sure.


    As usual it seemed, Cao Yun was pushing his body and his mind to their limits. It was so intense in his mind that the new Five Echoes Pearl got naturally formed to completion. He had been working on it for some time and was close to success, but the strain he had put on his Five Agents had forced some energy out of them into the forming Five Echoes Pearl. Unfortunately, he wasn''t in a situation to use it right away.


    His leg muscles were pulsating, red and steaming hot. Cao Yun had sent most of his Qi, blood and intent in them, with both the intent of the Drop of Wrath and ''Dragon''s Heart''''s eightfold Qi acceleration. With his mind cultivation, he completely ignored the pain in his legs. It felt as though all his tissues were about to tear. But he had to keep going.


    On the other hand, Can Mouye was also running as fast as he could. The only difference was that he was not straining himself to an unimaginable degree. As a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, his body was just stronger and faster naturally. Although Mortal Warriors were not training their body that much, their mere constitution and concentration of Qi made them stronger. And each grade would accentuate the difference more and more. Compared with Cao Yun, his speed was at least three times higher. The only saving grace for Cao Yun was the fact that he wasn''t too familiar with those woods. Yet, he was a beast tamer and was used to this kind of terrain while hunting demonic beasts.


    -


    After a few hours of running, Can Mouye was now close enough to attack Cao Yun once more. But he got surprised by something unexpected. Cao Yun just stopped moving altogether. Intrigued, Can Mouye stayed his hand. They had come way too close to the city for Can Mouye''s own tastes. Thankfully, by following Cao Yun, he had avoided most of the demonic beasts. Indeed, Cao Yun had been able to use his senses and his experience to avoid any dangerous beast. Can Mouye could have done so as well, but since he had to chase after Cao Yun, he couldn''t change his course how he wanted.


    And he knew that there were some 9-core demonic beasts in those parts. There were also several 8-core, 7-core and lesser beasts as well. Avoiding them all was not just luck. Clearly Cao Yun had a very good perception. And if someone like him stopped in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason, there was cause for alarm. Can Mouye was wondering whether there was such a demonic beast around or if Cao Yun had found an orthodox cultivator. If a Spirit Warrior was close, he could have contacted Cao Yun without Can Mouye realizing it. But if that were the case, Can Mouye could walk into a trap.


    As a demonic cultivator, he had several seals on him to either kill him or even destroy his soul if someone tried to capture, interrogate him or enter his sea of consciousness. This was both a threat to keep the disciples under check, and a way to protect the secrets of the demonic cultivators. Even with that in place, Can Mouye was not privy to many secrets anyway. However, because of that, a Spirit Warrior would probably not attack him right away. They would try to find a way to capture him alive. As such, Can Mouye became extremely wary of the situation.


    Yet, he had to kill Cao Yun. If a Spirit Warrior or a powerful demonic beast was there, Can Mouye would have to quickly kill Cao Yun and escape as fast as he could. Fortunately, he had thought about taking a few trump cards in his spatial ring. Most demonic cultivators kept all their resources on them at all times, fearing that other demonic cultivators would try to steal from them. Against an early Spirit Warrior, Can Mouye was pretty confident in his ability to flee. And if there was something or someone stronger around here, he was doomed anyway.


    Slowly, he approached Cao Yun who was now immobile in front of some laceration in the ground. It looked like a narrow ravine. But Can Mouye felt some strange sensation coming from it. The sun was at its highest and yet no light seemed to enter the ravine at all. For a time, he thought that it was just the angle at which he was seeing it. But even after focusing his senses on it, he was unable to see anything either entering or leaving this ravine. On the other hand, he was feeling vibes that were rather familiar to him. This didn''t feel like Evil Qi, although there seemed to be traces of it mixed within. If he had not paid close attention to it, he would have missed it altogether. The sensation was so faint that it felt unreal.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Of course, this ravine was very familiar to Cao Yun. Yet it was completely foreign as well. When he had fell into it, the ravine looked perfectly normal. Yet, there was this aura of death all over it now. But he was absolutely certain that this was the ravine where he had met Cleansed Asura. After gifting the Drop of Wrath to Cao Yun, Cleansed Asura had lost consciousness. Could this aura of death be the result of his final death?


    According to his words, Cleansed Asura''s body had already died and only his soul had survived. But in almost two years, maybe his soul had died as well. Could Cleansed Asura have truly sacrificed his remaining years to save Cao Yun? As a God-Monarch, even deadly injured, his soul should have been able to endure longer, right?


    Without realizing it, Cao Yun had completely stopped in front of the ravine. He was like transfixed by it. And so was Can Mouye in a way as well. However, Can Mouye was still slowly walking toward Cao Yun so as not to startle him and to be careful of what could be around.


    In his heart, the Drop of Wrath had now finally finished devouring the Evil Qi and the sensation from it was now extremely clear. Even without it, Cao Yun knew that it was reacting to Cleansed Asura. And as the intent of the Drop of Wrath intensified, Cao Yun got out of his trance. Suddenly he realized that Can Mouye was just behind him, close enough to kill him in an instant. Reminiscences from his first time here sent cold shivers down his back. The last time he had been there, he got sliced in half by a demonic cultivator. And he was not really looking forward to reliving that experience.


    However, as soon as Cao Yun moved, Can Mouye appeared right in front of him. Once more, the young man found himself between the ravine and a demonic cultivator keen on killing him. Fate was a strange thing. The same disaster was happening again but in a slightly different way. Still, that did not change the fact that Cao Yun was powerless. The difference between a Mortal Warrior and a Mortal was huge to begin with. But faced with a middle Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun could do nothing at all.


    Even by using all of his trump cards, Cao Yun could at best barely graze Can Mouye. And he had no more protective charm.


    "Chen Guo, this is such a pity. Truly, I am sad to have to kill someone with so much talent."


    Can Mouye looked at the egg in Cao Yun''s clothes. All his senses were still scanning all around himself. He was worried that this was all a trap after all.


    "Please, put the egg down and I''ll kill you fast. There is no need to be barbaric."


    A Mountain Fenghuang''s egg was rather rare. As a beast tamer, Can Mouye was very interested in it. And every thing he could get to appease his master''s anger was a nice addition.


    Seeing the nice smile on Can Mouye''s face, Cao Yun was disgusted. Clearly, his smile was fake. Can Mouye''s facial expression and each of his words seemed to be nice and polite on the surface. But deep down, Cao Yun could feel that they were not just lies, they were utterly fake. It was as if Can Mouye was mimicking emotions he had never felt before. Even in the most terrifying demonic beast, there was more humanity. In Can Mouye''s eyes, Cao Yun was already dead. And he was just trying to maximize what he could get out of him.


    There was no way Cao Yun was going to give the egg to that monster. Considering how he acted, Cao Yun could imagine how he would treat his demonic beasts. However, he also realized that Can Mouye was acting in such a way because he got surprised when he stopped for no reason. Although he was trying to hide it, Cao Yun could see that he was even more alert than before. It was apparent that he was afraid of an ambush or some kind of trap. Sadly, there was no such thing. But the thing was that this demonic cultivator did not know it.


    "Sir, if you''re going to kill me, may you answer some of my questions. Are demonic cultivators responsible for the upcoming stampede all around the Hongchen Kingdom? Is Zeng Minghe a part of this as well?"


    Cao Yun tried to act as composed and calm as possible. With his mind cultivation, this wasn''t too hard to begin with. In a way, he was trying to get some answers through Can Mouye''s behavior, but this was just some diversion to try and buy some time. If Can Mouye thought that this was a trap, he would maybe wait...


    And in Can Mouye''s facial expression, Cao Yun saw that he had been right with both questions. This wasn''t very surprising. Only Zeng Minghe knew exactly where Cao Yun would be sent. It was because he had decided to go somewhere else that Can Mouye had killed other cultivators in his stead. But Cao Yun''s idea did not work as planned. Although Can Mouye was worried about an ambush, he was not the kind to waste his time.


    He would have liked to get the egg, but right now his priority was to kill Cao Yun. And he could maybe salvage the egg anyway.


    All of a sudden, Can Mouye''s palm touched Cao Yun''s abdomen. It was right over his Lower Dantian. Cao Yun sensed his enemy''s Qi gather at the surface of his own body. Although he was a Mortal, when someone was touching him he was still able to feel their Qi circulate. He knew what technique he was going to use, it was that black flame he had been able to parry earlier. At this range though, there was nothing he could do. Even if the Drop of Wrath were to absorb the Evil Qi, the impact would have already killed him before it could.


    "I''m sorry for the inconvenience. But, please, die."


    Instinctively, Cao Yun circulated ''Dragon''s Heart''. There was no way to run from this man. Thus the only way was down. Cao Yun had no idea of what was down there, but he could sense Cleansed Asura''s presence and nothing else. Not a single ray of light was able to pierce the darkness in the ravine. Maybe even Can Mouye''s Qi would not be able to.


    With all of his strength focused in his legs, Cao Yun jumped backward into the pit of darkness. As he jumped, he felt a powerful force leave Can Mouye''s palm. ''Shadow Heart Palm''. With his movement, the black flame in the form of Can Mouye''s palm grazed him and burned off a part of his robe. Fortunately, it did not touch the egg that was still in his clothes, nestled against his chest.


    Can Mouye was surprised by Cao Yun''s actions. The young man disappeared into the darkness. As soon as he fell into the ravine, he was gone completely. Even with the senses of a Mortal Warrior, Can Mouye was unable to feel anything at all. This ravine was just like a giant black mouth devouring everything, even light, even Qi. And it gave off a vibe that worried even a demonic cultivator.


    But Can Mouye had to make sure that Cao Yun was dead. Otherwise, he was going to die for sure. With a single thought, Xiong Nixie could activate his seals and kill him.

 Chapter 219: Unknown door to Death

    Cao Yun thought that he had no other choice but to jump into the unknown rather than to face a threat he knew he had no way of defending against. Besides, this unknown was not completely unknown either. Very distinctly, he could feel the same sensation he had felt when Cleansed Asura''s soul had touched his mind. The God-Monarch had been able to sift through his memories without any problem and without any damage. Even Xiao Xuefeng was not capable of such a feat. The most talented of the spiritual senses users could not see every memory of even the most banal of mortals, unless she completely invaded his mind and soul. At most, she could only see flashes and get a vague idea of who the person was.


    But watching someone''s memories as though they were reliving their entire life to the point that Cleansed Asura had learned his language without leaving a trace, that was an entirely different level. As a God-Monarch, it was probably even as simple as thinking it for him. However, Cao Yun knew that someone as powerful as Cleansed Asura had been bested and mortally wounded. Imagining such an enemy was inconceivable. But something else was now in Cao Yun''s mind.


    If Cleansed Asura''s soul had really died, would the death of someone like him cause trouble for the Hongchen Kingdom? After all, even weak cultivators could produce Evil Qi, and in some rare cases, ghosts. If all the energy contained within Cleansed Asura''s corpse were to be contaminated by his regret, wouldn''t that create a massive ocean of Evil Qi? Maybe that was the reason why Cleansed Asura wanted to be buried properly. Many rituals were recognized for reducing or even neutralizing the deceased''s regrets and resentment.


    Anyway, soon Cao Yun would probably get his answer one way or another.


    As soon as he passed through the veil of darkness of the ravine, the outside world disappeared completely. And very soon, all notions of space also dissolved around him. He could not even feel like he was falling. He could feel nothing at all. Thankfully, there was still breathable air, but that was it. There was no Qi at all, of any kind. Besides, the absence of light, of sound and of direction was maddening.


    Cao Yun could only hear the sound of his own body through his own bones. Even when he tried to produce any sound, he realized that he was not hearing it through the air around him, but through his own skull. Yet, there was air he could breathe.


    At first, he was still able to orientate himself, still retaining a sense of where up and down were. But in his fall, his body moved around and after a few minutes, he was completely lost. Even time seemed to disappear. In such a dark place and without any exterior stimuli, Cao Yun was unable to retain his sense of time. Maybe it had been minutes, maybe it had been hours. But Cao Yun did not know how long he had been falling for. The only certitude he had was that he had been falling way longer than he had when he had been thrown into this exact same ravine. Yet he had encountered no solid obstacle.


    Thanks to his mind cultivation, Cao Yun did not let this situation get to him. There was nothing he could do right now. Thus, his priority was to get his mind focused, and to calm down as much as possible. Moreover, he could feel his legs on fire. With the exertion he had forced them through, his tissues, both his muscles, his tendons, even his bones, got almost torn apart. Naturally, he stopped all effort in his legs, dispersing both his Qi, his intent and even the excess of blood. Everything returned to a normal circulation. After all, he didn''t really need his legs right now.


    The Drop of Wrath had tried to absorb the last ''Shadow Heart Palm'' of Can Mouye. But this Evil Qi had been firmly under the demonic cultivator''s control. And since he had been so close to the attack, even the Drop of Wrath had not been able to wrestle this control away from him. Ironically, it had prevented Cao Yun from suffering a grievous injury. Although he had contained the inner threat of the Drop of Wrath, it was still dangerous by its actions on the outside world. Its ability to absorb Evil Qi was good in theory, but the fact that it was trying to suck it in through Cao Yun''s body was a looming threat. Unlike the drop itself, his body was not equipped to resist the corrosion of Evil Qi. Because the drop had not been able to control all the Evil Qi at once, it had not absorbed too much in one go and Cao Yun''s heart had survived.


    Even demonic cultivators were wary of Evil Qi. Even Can Mouye who had a good grasp on it was handling it with extreme caution. Thankfully, Cao Yun had begun to get some ideas on how to take care of the problem. Since he had known what the Drop of Wrath was, he had been thinking of ways to handle it. He did not just want to keep it calm, he wanted to take control of it. Just by absorbing the blood runes from Luduo Bu, the drop had changed his blood. Even now, Cao Yun was feeling that the Drop of Wrath was slowly releasing faint traces of blood in his own heart. Fortunately, he did not fall into a coma like last time.


    There was a strain on his body, but he had not been as injured as during his fight against Luduo Bu. Hence, this did not affect him negatively. However, the changes to his blood were minimal.


    In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun calmed down his Five Agents and observed the Drop of Wrath. It was almost lethargic, just as someone who had eaten a tasty meal and was digesting it. Yet, there was a dim light coming out of it. The reflections from the Five Agents could be seen on the surface of the Drop of Wrath. But only one seemed to be brighter than the others, Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. For months now, Cao Yun had tried to literally engrave this character into the drop itself. This process was extremely difficult.


    He could not send his own mind into the Drop of Wrath, neither his Qi. And even controlling the intent of the drop itself was difficult within its confines. Outside of the drop, he was able to use ''Cultivation of Wrath'' to control the intent with no problem at all though. Still, no matter how faint it was, Cao Yun had clearly felt that his connection with the Drop of Wrath had become stronger and stronger as he was trying to use his Po on it.


    For an instant, Cao Yun even hesitated to cultivate his mind, and he decided to hold on for now. At any moment, something unexpected could happen. Now was the time to rest and recover as much as possible. As such, Cao Yun took out a gourd he had been holding on his waist. As he had no spatial tool, Cao Yun had not brought many things. And all his pills had been used to try and help Huang''er, which had turned out the way it had...Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    However, he had still a gourd with some water in it. There was a small array formation meant to condense the water in the air over time. Thus, the gourd could last him a very long time. As a late Mortal, Cao Yun could live three or four months without eating anything, but he could not go more than a week without drinking. As cultivation progressed, these needs became fewer and fewer. For example, former Chief Elder Bian was able to survive nine years without any sustenance. And he wasn''t even a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. According to the legends, a Sage could live several decades without any food or water. But only a late Immortal was totally impervious to both thirst and hunger.


    As he didn''t know how long he would fall down, Cao Yun drank just what he needed. As much as he could, he would conserve his water.


    Closing the gourd, the unexpected thing Cao Yun was fearing happened. He felt an intense force stop him in midair. It jerked him back to reality. Since he had jumped down here, this was the first sensation he felt. Then, space around him became completely chaotic. He was thrown in all manners of directions, suddenly halting violently to be pushed in another random direction. The violence was such that even his body was beginning to suffer from it. Cao Yun''s body was as strong and resilient as an early Mortal Warrior''s body though.


    Slowly, his sense of orientation came back. He was able to feel an up and a down. Unfortunately, gravity was still working just fine and he was going down.


    A faint light appeared in Cao Yun''s field of vision. Such a faint light would have probably been invisible even at night. But after being in this darkness for so long, even this tiny ray of light blinded Cao Yun for an instant. What first appeared to Cao Yun was that this light was not natural, not in an artificial sense, but it felt as though it was against nature. As he fell, this purple light intensified. Although the light was purple, the world around Cao Yun appeared gray and black. All bright colors had been extinguished from it. Even his own clothes looked more gray than they should have.


    Now that his eyes got accustomed to the light, he quickly focused on the ground which was the immediate threat. He had appeared in midair and was now falling at an alarming speed. Thankfully, Cao Yun had already reached his terminal velocity and could not fall any faster. In fact, he even felt like he had slowed down a little since the air seemed a bit denser than in the darkness.


    Still, that speed was a problem. For a mortal, such a speed meant certain death of course. For a late Mortal, it could mean some broken bones. However, what worried Cao Yun was both his legs that had been strained a lot, and where he would land, or rather, crash.


    Looking down, Cao Yun saw a vast expanse of black sand. It was a great plain with no vegetation he could see... Wait! There was vegetation. Here and there, with his keen eyes, Cao Yun saw patches of rotten, seemingly dead, grass. Then, there were some tiny streams of water, either black water almost indistinguishable from the black sand around it, or dim yellow. All around this black plain, there were bones here and there. Some were almost reduced to powder. Others were protruding from the black sand, just like giant rib cages.


    Anyway, landing in sand was probably not a bad thing. However, Cao Yun had no idea what this place was or what kind of threat could be down there. The only thing he felt was that this place was tightly related to Cleansed Asura himself. A God-Monarch was an existence absolutely incomprehensible for Cao Yun. Although he had heard of the several realms of Qi cultivation, the young man had not all the details. And most of the details were not taught anymore since there was no point to it. Still, Cao Yun had been curious but all the elders and chief elders of the Wubei Sect had told him that it was a bad idea to read the full ''Universal Law of Cultivation'' before he became a Spirit Warrior.


    After trying to read the ''Cultivation of Wrath'', Cao Yun realized that everything beyond Mortal Warrior was impossible to understand. Like almost all the texts he had received from Cleansed Asura, they were unintelligible. In a way, they felt like someone had tried to write another language with the Nuhua characters. And since Cleansed Asura had been incredibly weak when he had transferred those memories, it was a clear possibility.


    Putting his curiosity aside for now, Cao Yun braced for impact. Falling into the sand would probably lessen the shock and his weakened legs should be able to resist it. Anyhow, Cao Yun had no real alternative. He wasn''t going to try and land on his head or his back. Breaking a bone in his leg was fine, but breaking a vertebra or his skull was another story. He could survive from a few broken bones and even heal faster than a mortal, but he was in an unknown environment. And Can Mouye could still be after him despite the risk.


    Shifting his body in the air, Cao Yun was able to prepare for the collision. As soon as his feet touched the ground, his hands did too as well, spreading the impact. Then he rolled away and diffused most of the force while taking care of protecting the egg nestled against his chest. Some black dust got blown away and Cao Yun''s back was covered in black sand. Breathing in the dust, he quickly realized that this wasn''t just black sand. There was Evil Qi in it, and even something else that reacted strongly to the Drop of Wrath.


    His throat and his lungs burned. Just as soon as he felt the pain, the Drop of Wrath attracted the black dust in the air toward his heart. For a short time, the pain intensified and then subsided when the drop finally absorbed it. That pain was extremely strange. It felt both hot and yet cold as death. To be more precise, the physical pain was hot, like an acid burning his organs. But then, he could feel some kind of emotional anguish that sent a cold sensation throughout his body and mind.


    Of course, his mind cultivation took over and calmed down both sensations of pain. Thankfully, Cao Yun had only absorbed a small quantity of this black dust in the air. And the Drop of Wrath had not tried to attract the entirety of the black sand itself. A vision of the entire plain rushing into his lungs and then his heart terrified Cao Yun for an instant.


    Apparently, unless he was in a very close contact with the Evil Qi, the Drop of Wrath would not react. And Cao Yun did not plan on burying himself into a sand full of Evil Qi and some even darker energy.


    Now that everything had settled down, Cao Yun looked around. The first thing he noticed was that there were indeed bones everywhere around him. This place looked like an ancient battlefield that time would have covered up with sand. This could explain the presence of Evil Qi in the very sand. Maybe it had come from the dead lying all around. Those bones created a stark contrast. The sand and even the tiny streams were completely black. Yet, the bones were pure white, even under the gray light of this place.


    The only other color came from the yellow streams Cao Yun had seen from up there. However, there was none in his field of vision right now.


    What really surprised Cao Yun was the complete absence of Qi in the air. There was not even the slightest hint of Qi, or of life for that matter. Then, he looked up to see what was above his head.

 Chapter 220: Exploring the graveyard

    The scene that laid bare before Cao Yun''s eyes made him doubt whether he was alive or dead. Maybe he had fallen into the world of the dead, or he had died himself. It was possible that he had never dodged the final ''Shadow Heart Palm'' of Can Mouye and he was just dead. The only thing making him sure that he was alive was the sensation that this place was related to Cleansed Asura. Despite the lack of Qi, this entire world gave him the same feeling he had had when he had met Cleansed Asura''s soul.


    Over Cao Yun''s head, the sky was pitch-black. Here and there, it was crisscrossed by purple scars. They truly looked like scars in the fabric of reality itself. And they were what was giving off this ominous purple light that strangely colored the world in different shades of gray, numbing down any bright color. But that wasn''t all there was up there. Besides those terrifying scars, there were eight structures floating high up in the sky. There was no celestial body of any kind besides those. Apart from stars or moons, there was not even a single cloud of any kind or size.


    Floating in this sky of scarred darkness, those eight structures looked like heavenly palaces. But they were in a terrible state. They were way too far for Cao Yun to see them properly but he could see that they used to be glorious. Except that nowadays, they had lost all their glory. Several walls were broken and the wood seemed to be rotten.


    Cao Yun could not understand where he was exactly. Could an array formation have transported him somewhere else? Could he be in Cleansed Asura''s soul or sea of consciousness? As a matter of fact, he knew almost nothing about the God-Monarch realm, so he could hardly hazard a guess.


    Right now, the most important thing was to get away from the place where he had come from. If Can Mouye was still after him, he may arrive in the same spot. Or he could find himself in a completely different spot. Or he could even die. Maybe Cao Yun had come here because of the Drop of Wrath, or he had survived thanks to it. As of now, Cao Yun had no certitude whatsoever. First, he would try to find a place to hide. Then, he would think about what to do next.


    As such, Cao Yun decided to go in the direction where he had seen the most bones. It wasn''t necessarily a place he wanted to visit, but that was the only spot where he could hide. From what he had seen, this black plain spread as far as his eyes could see from above. It was almost like a giant graveyard of a former world. Maybe there had been a great battle and many people had died here. Or maybe that was truly a graveyard. But that could be something else entirely.


    While walking, Cao Yun tried to call to his memory anything about such a place. Nothing came to mind, despite all the books he had read. Most of their knowledge was now in his own mind thanks to the Chamber of Ultimate Truth. But there was nothing that could help him. He even tried to look through Cleansed Asura''s memory once more. Maybe he could find an illustration or something, even if he could not read anything. Unfortunately, he found nothing useful either. Besides, it was more difficult to search through those memories. He could not understand this knowledge at all and it was worth several millenniums of reading. Even with his Chamber of Ultimate Truth, he could not easily absorb all of it. It wasn''t even organized.


    While he was walking, Cao Yun took great care to remember everything he was seeing. In his head, he was building a map of this place. Thankfully, the bones were perfect landmarks as they were all different. In fact, Cao Yun noticed that there were bones that did not belong to any kind of species he knew about. Of course, he did not know every single species in the Hongchen Kingdom. No one could boast such a feat. However, they were completely foreign to everything he had read about. Those things were not from the Piaolu planet, or maybe they were from a very long time ago.


    In the black sand, Cao Yun saw a lot of rotten grass here and there. It was black and gray, and most of all, it was completely rotten. Over the grass, there were various mosses. And the grass itself seemed to have been waterlogged. It was completely swollen and crushed on the ground by its own weight. That thing was the only form of life in this place and it did not bode well. Here and there, there were also puddles of black water.


    Cao Yun got close to one to see if he could salvage some water from it. As soon as he got close, he felt that this water was full of Evil Qi. In fact, that was so concentrated that the Evil Qi had turned liquid itself. It was almost on the level of a Qi Manifestation, like the rain manifested by Chan Weifeng during his final duel. Fearing that the Drop of Wrath would try to absorb it, Cao Yun walked away. This was not a good source of water. But if all the water in this world was like that, his gourd would be unable to replenish itself. There was an array formation to condense the water in the air into a liquid form. If the water was contaminated by Evil Qi, that was what Cao Yun would get in his gourd once it was empty. Food could wait, but securing water was essential to survive.


    After walking almost an hour, Cao Yun found a tiny stream of the yellow water he had seen from above. This time, he got even more careful than with the black water. He closed the distance with utmost caution. Contrary to the black water, he felt nothing. Maybe this was because this yellow water had just less Evil Qi in it. As a Mortal, his ability to perceive Qi was limited in scope. Unless he got close to the puddles of black water, he could not feel anything strange emanating from them.


    Still, he was not ready to trust anything in this dead world. As he got close to the yellow water, he first tried to send a piece of paper he had on him into it. The moment the paper touched the yellow water, it completely dissolved without even disturbing the surface of the water. Horrified, Cao Yun tried to throw some sand and a piece of bone. The bone was able to resist longer but it sank and very slowly dissolved anyway. On the other hand, the black sand sank like a hammer and stayed at the bottom of the yellow water. Of course, if this yellow water was able to dissolve this black sand, it couldn''t form a stream in it...


    Although he was curious, Cao Yun decided that finding out what this yellow water was would come later. But knowing how dangerous it was could still be useful. Any piece of knowledge would be useful in a world he knew nothing about. If he were to meet with Can Mouye again, he might be able to use his knowledge of this place against him, as long as he had any.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Finally, the young man reached the giant bones he had seen during his fall. They truly looked like titanic rib cages reaching up to the sky. Some were smaller while others were gigantic. Even the small ribs were almost as long as Cao Yun''s ''Nine Chi Dragon Spear''. Since they were curved, they only were as tall as Cao Yun himself. And the biggest rib Cao Yun could see was towering two times higher than his own spear, more than six meters high. If that bone was really a rib cage, which seemed very likely, then its owner would have been more than ten times bigger than any human. Even compared with Ren Chao or Yun Ping, it was incredibly large. Moreover, the ribs were not just tall, they were also large.


    Under those biggest ribs, Cao Yun could literally lay down and still be in their shadows. Clearly, this was a great spot to hide himself. And he did, after observing the environment some more.


    Unlike the rest of the black plain he had walked through, this place, covered in bones, seemed to be devoid of any water. The black sand was cracked everywhere, forming strange patterns. Even the bones seemed to be dried up and some tiny cracks were visible on the smaller ones. Beneath those cracks, Cao Yun saw some traces of faint yellow substance also very dry. For an instant, Cao Yun thought about the yellow water he had come across. But if it was the same water, the bones would have probably been slowly dissolved. Still, it was possible that those huge bones were different in some aspect.


    Anyway, this natural graveyard seemed to have suffered from an extreme drought for several years, if not decades. That created a stark contrast with the black plains where that rotten grass had been crushed by too much water. One place had suffered from a downpour while another had been destroyed by a drought. And there was no real boundary between those two places. Nothing made sense in this world.


    But now that Cao Yun had some respite, he was going to use it. Since he had first ran with Huang''er, he had exhausted his legs. Despite his high stamina, he still needed to get some rest. Thus, he sat down under the shadow of one of the biggest ribs. However, he decided not to touch the bone itself, just to be safe. If there really was that yellow water in it, it could potentially be extremely dangerous.


    Finally, he took out the egg and made sure that it was perfectly safe. Putting his hand on it, he felt that the chick inside was still moving around. Cao Yun had no way to actually know how long ago this egg had been laid. Hence, he had no idea of how long it would take to hatch. However, considering its activity, it should have been more than three years old. That meant that it could hatch in a range from a few months to more two years. And it was probably forming its demonic core right now. However, there was not an ounce of Qi in this place, so it would disrupt its development.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no way to help the egg. The only thing he could do was make sure that it was safe. But he had no material and this place was lacking in almost everything.


    Now that he was somewhat reassured about the safety of the egg, Cao Yun decided to meditate. Up until now, he had opened more than half of his acupoints, nearly two hundred out of the 361 ones that were on the human body. Moreover, by following Chief Instructor Peng''s advice, he had begun by the hardest acupoints first. And he only used the easy ones when he wanted to try out some of his understandings.


    Cao Yun used his mind and the intent from both his Yi and the Drop of Wrath to go over every acupoint in his body. After absorbing some Evil Qi, he wanted to make sure that everything was alright in his body. The acupoints were literally the doors by which Qi could enter and exit the body. After carefully examining his own body, Cao Yun heaved a sigh of relief. There was no damage of any kind. Since this place was lacking in Qi, Cao Yun decided not to cultivate. To open his acupoints, he would need to use his own Qi and he had no way of replenishing it for now. Every ounce of it was to be preserved. Just like water, this was another form of resource he had to be mindful of.


    After that, Cao Yun decided to focus on his mind cultivation. This did not require any Qi at all, just his mental strength. After his recent experience, he had finished forming another Five Echoes Pearl. Moreover, he had some more dealings with Evil Qi. But Cao Yun had had a plan for some time now.


    The last chamber of his Upper Dantian he had energized had been the Chamber of Moving Pearls. It had stabilized his emotions. Of course, it had great consequences on Cao Yun''s mind overall. But it had also been a choice in order to gain more control over the Drop of Wrath. And it could also help him resist Evil Qi even more. Unfortunately, it wasn''t enough alone. But Cao Yun had thought about another chamber that would be very useful.


    Recently, he had been hesitant because other chambers would have a greater impact on his fighting strength. For example, the Chamber of Heavenly Court would increase his reaction speed and his ability to make decisions overall. In a fight, this was obviously a key element to have an edge over his enemies. Among the six chambers left to energize, only one had a specific order, the final chamber. All the other chambers could be energized at any moment. So it fell upon Cao Yun to decide which one was truly useful to him.


    Gaining more reaction speed against a middle Mortal Warrior would be useless to be honest. But being able to resist Evil Qi could not only help him resist his attacks more and maybe even survive in this place, it could also help him get more control over the Drop of Wrath. Right now, the only threat from the Drop of Wrath was not itself, but Cao Yun''s inability to control it, except for its intent. He had to quickly be able to prevent it from absorbing Evil Qi. Yes, it had given him great benefits as his blood had become richer and richer in Qi. But if he were to absorb too much Evil Qi at once, his body would collapse. And the Drop of Wrath, acting on instinct, did not care at all. It did not even know Cao Yun existed.


    So the decision was clear. Cao Yun would energize his Chamber of Medicine Field. This chamber would help him promote positive emotions and reduce negative ones. In a more practical approach, he would be able to gain some control on the regrets and resentment both in Evil Qi and in the Drop of Wrath itself. Hopefully, if he was right, he could be able to finally send his intent deeper into the Drop of Wrath to draw his Po character. And he might even be able to repel some amount of Evil Qi. This chamber was in the very center of the brain, just under the Chamber of Ultimate Truth. And its element was the Earth element.


    Now that he was decided, Cao Yun began to focus on the Five Echoes Pearl, ready to plunge it into the ocean below and finally energize his chamber. With his usual calm, Cao Yun had now a good experience and was able to perform this without any problem. Just as the Five Echoes Pearl was about to touch the surface of the ocean below, a cracking sound echoed throughout the graveyard Cao Yun was in.

 Chapter 221: Medicine Field

    All of a sudden, a downpour of black rain fell from the sky. One instant the world was dead and absolutely silent, the next instant, Cao Yun was in the middle of a storm. Thankfully, there was no wind so the black rain fell perfectly vertically. Thus, Cao Yun was protected from it by the white rib towering over him. Clearly, it had been a good decision to hide while in an unknown world. Indeed, this black rain was similar to the black water.


    Right now, Cao Yun could feel the air start to fill with Evil Qi. In less than a second, it was as saturated in Evil Qi as the Hongchen Kingdom was saturated in Qi. And it kept on increasing until it was even three times denser in Evil Qi. The very first thought of Cao Yun was not about the Drop of Wrath that would soon act up and try and absorb this Evil Qi around Cao Yun. No, his first thought was for the egg. It had been deprived of Qi since it had come into this world. Naturally, it was going to absorb the Evil Qi in the air. Obviously, it would be a terrible thing for the chick inside the egg.


    Cao Yun felt responsible for Huang''er and Feng''er''s death. After all, Can Mouye had been after him and they got caught in his own problems. Most likely, Can Mouye had been somewhat related to what had happened with the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras in the Lunar Marsh. That meant that this assassination attempt was due to his activity in the Wubei Sect. This was a good thing because it suggested that they knew nothing of his relation with the Cao family. But on the other hand, it meant that he had put the lives of his friends and of this couple in danger by his mere presence.


    The only way Cao Yun could think of to protect the egg was to keep it very close to his heart. Indeed, the Drop of Wrath was going to absorb the Evil Qi in the air. And the Drop of Wrath was in his heart. The closer the egg was to this organ, the fewer Evil Qi he would receive as most of it would be diverted by the Drop of Wrath.


    But on the other hand, it meant that Cao Yun could not really try to prevent his Drop of Wrath from absorbing too much Evil Qi. Otherwise, the rest would go into the egg.


    Anyway, Cao Yun tucked the egg in his clothes, nestled against his chest once more. He had the sad impression of replacing its mother. But he had no choice if he wanted to protect it from suffering any damage.


    Then, Cao Yun quickly focused on his mind cultivation. The Drop of Wrath had come out of its lethargy once more as soon as the Evil Qi was powerful directly around Cao Yun. And now, it was starting to absorb it like crazy. Around the Drop of Wrath, there was already a thin layer of Evil Qi. Thankfully, it wasn''t as concentrated as Can Mouye''s attacks. The Drop of Wrath was able to digest it almost as fast as it was pulling it in. But it still wasn''t fast enough and the layer got thicker and thicker.


    If Cao Yun did nothing, it would soon touch his heart directly. Moreover, he was suffering a small yet uninterrupted stabbing pain in the acupoints by which the Evil Qi was getting into his body. Fortunately, those were acupoints he had already fully opened, but he wasn''t sure how long they could take this kind of punishment.


    In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun saw that the Drop of Wrath was extremely active. Below it, the ocean was turning gray and even black right under the Drop of Wrath. Immediately, Cao Yun regained his composure thanks to his emotional control. Then, he guided the Five Echoes Pearl down. All his intent was on the very center of his Upper Dantian. Just like the three other chambers, he saw a powerful light inundate his sea of consciousness. Unfortunately, it did not affect the Evil Qi at all.


    Cao Yun saw no immediate change after energizing his Chamber of Medicine Field. But he could feel that his Upper Dantian was more vibrant than ever. He then focused on both the Chamber of Moving Pearls and this Chamber of Medicine Field to try and contain the Evil Qi. Evil Qi was the name given to a kind of Qi intertwined with both resentment and all kinds of negative emotions created, in most cases, by a violent death. And those emotions were able to influence the Qi so much that it would become extremely corrosive to any living being. In a way, it felt like some kind of hatred from the dead against the living.


    His new chamber was supposed to be able to promote positive emotions and reduce any negative ones. The main use of this chamber was to drastically reduce the possibility of forming an inner demon. Of course, Cao Yun had no inner demon so it was difficult to evaluate this property. However, he was also thoroughly convinced that he could use it to restrain and gain some more control over the Drop of Wrath since it was literally made of some part of a corrupted Po. This was the closest thing to an inner demon that was in Cao Yun''s mind.


    Hopefully, it would also have some effect on Evil Qi. And combined with the Chamber of Moving Pearls which balanced his own emotions, Cao Yun focused on those chambers and tried to gain access into his Drop of Wrath. If he could control it, he would be able to diminish the flow of Evil Qi and keep it safe for him. After all, the air around him was very dense in Evil Qi, but not that dense either.


    Cao Yun elevated his Shen and produced a powerful fire that spread to all the other four agents revolving around the Drop of Wrath. Then, he used his Zhi to amplify his Yi and focus his intent on Po. Hun was only used to stabilize his soul while he was using everything else. Po was the corporeal soul. The Drop of Wrath was literally a broken part of Axiu Qian''s Po. So of course, Cao Yun''s Po had the best chances to form a deeper connection with it.


    Unlike Hun, Po was closer to the body as its role was to keep the body alive. But it also meant that it was more easily swayed by desires and emotions. For example, Po pushed humans to eat, but it could also push them to eat too much, and even become greedy. Those seven Po could thus more easily give birth to inner demons. But they were essential to keep the body alive. Unlike the Hun which leaved the body after death, the Po could stay in the bones for some time before returning to the earth. They were way closer to the physical world, both in good and bad aspects of it. So Cao Yun was also keeping his Hun activated to balance out the effects his attempt was going to have on his Po.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    He wanted to impregnate the Drop of Wrath with his own Po, not the other way around. Thankfully, his Five Agents and his now four chambers of the Upper Dantian would help him, especially the last chamber he had just energized.


    Indeed, Cao Yun felt immediately a kind of connection between his Po and the Drop of Wrath. He was now able to use his intent focused through the ivory statue that was the Po character to penetrate the Drop of Wrath. Immediately, he tried to draw the Po character itself inside the Drop of Wrath. His goal was clear. The drop was instinctively trying to reform his entire Po. What Cao Yun wanted to do was to use his corporeal soul as a model to insert his own imprint into the Drop of Wrath. Like that, he would be able to gain control over it. In fact, as the Po inside would slowly try to rebuild itself, Cao Yun would gain more and more control as it would duplicate his own Po instead.


    And it did seem to work. The Po character that was very faint inside the Drop of Wrath became more and more clear. In a matter of seconds, Cao Yun was able to feel a deeper connection with the Drop of Wrath. Of course, it would take weeks, if not months, to really connect with it deep enough to have some more control over it. But right now, he tried to send a single thought into the Drop of Wrath.


    "Stop!"


    Right now, he only wanted for the Drop of Wrath to stop sucking in Evil Qi in such quantity. He didn''t want it to stop altogether because he had to protect the egg. Besides, if the Drop of Wrath stopped, the Evil Qi in the air would probably run havoc in Cao Yun''s body. For the time being, it was being directed toward the Drop of Wrath and was thus unable to harm Cao Yun''s internal organs. But the drop was just sucking in too much of it. It was pulling in more Evil Qi than what would naturally enter Cao Yun''s body. He just needed to find the right balance.


    However, something happened that was unexpected. Just like in the black water, there seemed to be something else with the Evil Qi and Cao Yun did not know what it was. The ocean under the Drop of Wrath was now blackened and the water started to bubble up. From the black water, a huge white shape emerged. There was a bone hand with seven fingers almost identical to one another. And this bone hand was going for the Drop of Wrath.


    Cao Yun pushed his mind cultivation to its limit. His surprise got silenced and from the Shen character the fire intensified. All around the Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath, there was now a ball of fire. When the bone hand tried to touch it, a sizzling noise resounded. The bones were not strong enough to go through the fire but the hand still tried to force through. At the same time, Cao Yun was now able to feel the Drop of Wrath being attracted by this hand.


    Although he did not know what it was, Cao Yun was not stupid enough to do nothing and wait to see the result of their interaction. His chambers intensified and he focused more and more on his Po character. Slowly, he was able to reduce the suction force of the Drop of Wrath.


    After a few minutes, it was absorbing as much Evil Qi as it was able to digest at a given time, no more, no less. However, there was still a thick layer of undigested Evil Qi inside his heart. Thankfully, it was still being attracted by the Drop of Wrath and it would probably not cause any problem. Still, it wasn''t very comfortable for Cao Yun. He had something in his heart that could kill him as soon as he lost control over it. Overtime the Drop of Wrath would digest it as well, hopefully.


    But now that the main problem was more or less solved, he focused on the bone hand. As the Drop of Wrath was absorbing the Evil Qi, it was also absorbing this thing too. Using his Chamber of Medicine Field, Cao Yun tried to analyze that hand. The bones looked exactly like the ones from the world he was in. Using his Shen, he tried to spread his flames over the bones themselves. But the bones were regenerating as fast as Cao Yun was burning them away. In fact, he felt like they were starting to regenerate faster as time went by. Maybe because he had prevented his Drop of Wrath from absorbing it, all this strange energy was being focused on the hand.


    Then, he got an idea. He could try to feed tiny portions of it to the Drop of Wrath to see its reaction. It was risky but he had now some kind of connection with it, so he would be able to get a better idea of what was going on. The Drop of Wrath had completely turned Evil Qi into his own power. Maybe it could do the same with that thing, whatever it was.


    As his mind was focused on the bone hand, Cao Yun started to see the effects of the Chamber of Medicine Field. The bones appeared more and more like a bobbin of silk. Indeed, it was condensed in the form of a hand, but it was formed of millions of strands of an unknown energy. After that, Cao Yun looked back at the Evil Qi and he saw the very same thing. He was able to see the literal strands of resentment attached to the pure Qi, coiled around it in an intricate manner.


    But for now, he focused on this bone hand. With his Shen, he directed the fire to extract one small strand of this energy. Then, he simply let go and it naturally got absorbed by the Drop of Wrath. At that moment, he finally realized what it was. It was a degenerate form of Po. This energy melded with the Evil Qi was an amalgam of degenerate corporeal souls. Usually, Po would go back to the earth after death. In fact, Po was responsible for the processes attached to death. Thus, while Hun was the first one to exit the body to go into the world of the dead, awaiting a future reincarnation, Po was staying in the bones for some time.


    But there occurred some occasions when Po could not exit the bones and would slowly decay until it became something known as Death Energy. In the Hongchen Kingdom it was very rare, but there were still cases in some books Cao Yun had read about. Hun could become ghosts if it was damaged or corrupted, but Cao Yun had no idea what this Death Energy could produce. However, its origin explained the attraction of the Drop of Wrath, they were very similar in a way. The Drop of Wrath was a corrupted Po while Death Energy was a decayed Po.


    As the strand of Death Energy was absorbed by the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun felt a surge of energy in his entire bloodstream. It was very faint, but the Drop of Wrath had completely absorbed and digested the Death Energy. But then, it became hungry for more. Unlike the Evil Qi which did not seem to satiate its needs, this Death Energy could. So it wanted more of it.


    Cao Yun was still afraid of letting the Drop of Wrath absorb too much at once. Indeed, it could potentially corrupt it even further. And now that he had a better control over it, Cao Yun used his Po to calm it down. Still, he used his Shen to slowly extract some strands of Death Energy. Strand by strand, Cao Yun fed the Drop of Wrath.


    While focusing on the connection between the Drop of Wrath and his Po to keep it firm, Cao Yun felt it become deeper and deeper as the drop was getting stronger and stronger. Even his blood was now becoming stronger. It was getting richer in Qi. In fact, his blood was now similar to the blood of a demonic beast. It had more than twice the amount of Qi of a human being. Just like Evil Qi had condensed into black water in this world, the Drop of Wrath had turned Cao Yun''s blood into a form of condensed Qi as well. But there was still more actual blood than Qi in his veins, for now.

 Chapter 222: Weaving Evil Qi and Death Energy

    The process took several hours. But finally, Cao Yun had drawn the Po character at the Perfection level inside the Drop of Wrath. And now, he was able to prevent it from sucking in more and more Evil Qi. Cao Yun felt that he still had not full control over the Drop of Wrath though. If he tried to completely prevent it from absorbing any of it while it was around him, he could feel that the Drop of Wrath might revolt and wrestle against his will. But for now, it was docile.


    Thus, Cao Yun reduced the pressure and only absorbed the Evil Qi directly around him. Thanks to that, he was able to prevent any of it from entering his organs of course, but also the egg that was still close to his heart. Moreover, all the Evil Qi that was revolving around his heart was also digested and gone.


    Now that the situation was more calm, Cao Yun turned his attention to the bone hand in his soul of consciousness that was slowly being devoured by the Drop of Wrath. Part of the Po character inside the Drop of Wrath was in fact made of its Death Energy now. By using both his Chamber of Medicine Field and the intent of the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was barely able to control Death Energy and Evil Qi. It still required an awful lot of mental strength, but it was feasible.


    The easiest thing to do was still to let the Drop of Wrath itself take care of it. And Cao Yun just made sure that it was not absorbing too much of it at any given time. But now that he was almost certain that nothing would happen to him because of both of these energies coiling around the Drop of Wrath in his heart, Cao Yun decided to try and get more and more control over them.


    After all, his enemies were demonic cultivators. And they were known to control Evil Qi to some extent. Of course, some ended up being destroyed by that Evil Qi, either by developing incredible inner demons who would devour their very being, or by corroding their own tissues. Evil Qi was very dangerous and allowed demonic cultivators to be more powerful than orthodox ones. But of course, this came at a price. Luduo Bu for example had completely lost control of it and his very being had been devoured and replaced by his inner demon.


    Cao Yun had no intention of manipulating Evil Qi for his own cultivation. Even if he had way more control over it, he would not risk it. Besides the risk, the Evil Qi was also sinister by nature and he clearly did not like having that thing inside his own body. Moreover, he had the Drop of Wrath that could literally digest Evil Qi and turn it into its own energy but also into new blood full of pure Qi for Cao Yun. He had no reason to try and cultivate Evil Qi in these conditions. However, if he could gain more control, he would have an edge when fighting against demonic cultivators.


    As such, the young man pushed his Chamber of Medicine Field to its limit. As time was passing, his vision of the bone hand got more and more precise. Right now, he was barely seeing a hand in fact. He was mostly seeing intertwined strands of Death Energy. In a similar manner, Evil Qi was now appearing to him as strands of pure Qi with various parasites coiled around it. Those things and Death Energy looked similar but they were still different. From the Evil Qi emanated an aura of hate, of resentment. In fact, when Cao Yun focused on it, he could feel his emotions being confused. Thankfully, his Chamber of Moving Pearls was keeping his emotions in check.


    On the other hand, Death Energy did not seem to be particularly evil or heinous. However, there was an aura of death all over it. In a sense, Cao Yun felt just as though there was a rotting corpse in his own mind. Clearly, it was not enjoyable at all. But within the Drop of Wrath, he realized that this Death Energy was being refined. It was as though many impurities were burned away, just like for Evil Qi. Then, the Death Energy appeared perfectly white. The strands looked like silk made of ivory. In a way, it looked very similar to the Po character. And those strands were now coiling themselves around the Po inside the Drop of Wrath.


    Seeing this, Cao Yun tried an idea of his. What the Drop of Wrath was able to do, he attempted to imitate himself. At first he still used the intent from the Drop of Wrath to help him though.


    He focused an a single strand of Evil Qi. With his mind cultivation, he analyzed it thoroughly. Once he could clearly see how each smaller strands were intertwined around each other, he tried to unravel them. Very slowly, with utmost care, Cao Yun was pulling on strands here and there. Sometimes, a pure strand of Qi easily came off. Other times, it was tightly gripped by parasitic emotions. Just for one strand of Qi, the work was very meticulous and straining on Cao Yun''s mind. Even with his advanced mind cultivation, just purifying one strand of Evil Qi was that intense. In a way, it was like shaving off the resentments of the dead. Of course, it was not going to be easy in the least.


    After almost an hour of work, Cao Yun had finally been able to purify one strand of Qi. In that same time, he had tried to count how many the Drop of wrath had digested. And he had lost the count after only a few minutes and several hundreds of them... But this process had taught a lot to Cao Yun, both about his own mind and Evil Qi itself. This was a great way to train himself. Even though he was exhausted, Cao Yun still decided to try out purifying another one. He was convinced that he could be faster.


    And he was. In total, he refined seven strands of Evil Qi. By the end, he was able to do so in less time than it was necessary to drink a cup of tea. It was still way longer than what the Drop of Wrath was capable of. There was no comparison. But Cao Yun was still only a late Mortal. If he were to become a Mortal Warrior, his control over Qi would be way stronger. Right now, even without the Drop of Wrath, he felt that he could resist or even control Evil Qi as long as there wasn''t too much of it. Of course, here Evil Qi was at least three times denser than in the Hongchen Kingdom. Without the Drop of Wrath, he would never be able to resist that amount.


    After all of this, Cao Yun left his sea of consciousness to see what was going on both outside and within his body.


    The black rain was still falling. The noise was incredible. It almost sounded like Cao Yun was literally under a waterfall. The black sand that used to be cracked was now full of water. This brought a lot of questions to Cao Yun''s mind. Was this rain extremely rare for the ground to have been completely dried, as though it had suffered from a drought? Or was there something special about this black sand here? Maybe the bones were responsible for it? Maybe it was the absence of this rotten grass around those parts?A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Once more, Cao Yun had way more questions than answers. And he preferred not to try to guess. Making wrong assumptions could be dangerous in an unknown place. As long as he had no answer, he would keep an open mind and be vigilant.


    When looking into himself, he realized that his blood was now twice richer in Qi. At first, he even wondered whether it was still his blood. The Drop of Wrath kept on releasing new surges of blood all the time. And into his veins, his old blood had mostly been replaced. Cao Yun had read about blood cultivation, but he had no experience. Still with his mind he tried to focus on the blood flowing through his veins and he clearly felt a connection. This blood was truly is, the Drop of Wrath had produced it yes, but it had no control over it at all. However, there was a different feeling to it. It seemed to be more vibrant than normal human blood. Thankfully, there was no trace of anything demonic to it, or of Evil Qi or even Death Energy.


    Now that Cao Yun was not afraid about recovering his Qi, he decided to cultivate and put this new blood to the test. Purifying Evil Qi was a long and tiresome process which would not allow Cao Yun to recover his stamina. But the Drop of Wrath could replenish the Qi in his blood and he could more easily extract it from his own blood to then send it through his meridians.


    Since he was kinda stuck under this giant white rib until the rain stopped, Cao Yun focused on his acupoints. He had already opened more than half of them. According to his own cultivation speed, it should take around four months to finally step into the final grade of the Mortal realm. Indeed, he had still around seventy acupoints which he judged difficult to open. Some were in sensitive areas, close to his heart for example, or near important arteries. On the other hands, some were in particularly hard areas where there was almost no tissue except for bone and skin. But after those acupoints, which would take a bit longer than others, he had only easy ones.


    Cao Yun did not change his habits one bit. But this time his blood was way richer in Qi. And he felt the difference right away. As soon as he focused on his acupoints with his intent, the intent of the Drop of Wrath and both his Qi and blood, he could sense the acupoint come to life. It was immediately nourished by the thick blood in his veins. Imagining the acupoints like flowers, the blood looked like dew on those flowers. And as soon as they were showered with it, they became more delicate and also more vibrant. Most of the tension in the acupoints began to fade.


    It was not to the extent of immediately opening up his acupoints. But it would greatly enhance his experience.


    While he was at it, Cao Yun also revisited other acupoints, namely the ones through which Evil Qi had flowed through. Sadly, his worries had been right. Some had still some sequels of that trauma. Although the Evil Qi had quickly been absorbed by the Drop of Wrath, the entry doors they had used were sore. With his powerful mind, Cao Yun was even able to notice a few tears and cracks here and there. Just to be safe, he dedicated most of his time to repairing them.


    Thankfully, there was no trace of Evil Qi in them anymore because the Drop of Wrath had absorbed everything. Thus, the damage was not too severe and most of all, it was not lasting. Just by nourishing his acupoints, especially with his vibrant blood, Cao Yun would be able to heal almost all the damage. To be on the safe side, he would also have liked to have some pill or balm to help him make a full recovery. Unfortunately, he had none on hand.


    After two more days of uninterrupted rain, Cao Yun was beginning to worry. If he were to be stuck here for several weeks because of this rain, he would begin to have a problem with his reserve of both food and water. Obviously, he could go longer without eating, but he had no food at all. And he wasn''t going to eat the egg, for obvious reasons. On the other hand, his gourd would not be able to replenish his water either. Cao Yun would not drink this black water. Considering the amount of condensed Evil Qi in it, not only would his throat be corroded, even the Drop of Wrath would not be able to absorb it fast enough.


    If he were to drink this black water, Cao Yun''s body would die before the Drop of Wrath could absorb even a tiny portion of the Evil Qi contained within. And Cao Yun''s ability to purify Evil Qi was considerably slower.


    -


    It had now been a week since the rain had begun. And there was no sign whatsoever that it would ever stop. Hopefully, it would vanish just as fast as it had appeared...


    Using this time, Cao Yun had put all of his mind into cultivating and had opened eight more acupoints. It was half faster than his usual cultivation speed, with more difficult acupoints. This time cultivating had allowed his mind some respite. And now, he was ready to try something new.


    In his sea of consciousness, the bone hand had finally been completely consumed by the Drop of Wrath. Inside the drop of blood, the new Po character was now complete as well. A great part of the refined Death Energy had been used to achieve this result. The impurities within the Death Energy had been totally burned away and not even ashes remained of them. Just like Evil Qi, the Drop of Wrath was able to refine what seemed evil or harmful while getting stronger and stronger.


    The process that had happened within the Drop of Wrath gave a few ideas to Cao Yun. As a matter of fact, it had reminded him of what Xiao Xuefeng had written about the third layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Usually, Cao Yun had to wait until he had mastered a layer before starting the next one. But that third layer was a bit different. The second layer required the Five Agents to energize the chambers of the Upper Dantian. And the fourth layer required both the achievements from the second and third layer. But the third layer could be attempted as soon as the Po character was complete.


    However, having the chambers of the Upper Dantian energized was very useful. In theory, it could be attempted without them, but the last chamber especially would make everything way smoother.


    As such, Cao Yun was not really trying to force through this third layer. But he was trying to figure out something. The third layer was ''Subdue the Seven Demons'' and it referred to the Seven Turbid Demons born from the Po. The Po was formed at the conception and was responsible for building the body and then maintain it. At the end of life, it was also responsible for breaking down the body. As such, it was a part of the soul that was closely linked with the physical world. Most theories considered that the Po was in fact distinguishable into seven souls itself. And each one of those souls could easily be swayed by emotions.


    This explained why Po was often responsible for the formation of inner demons. And it happened to be that Death Energy was a degenerate version of Po. Thus, Cao Yun wanted to test his ability to control, or even neutralize, this Death Energy. Compared with Evil Qi, it did not really appear evil per se, especially the refined version within the Drop of Wrath.

 Chapter 223: Bone crows

    ''Subdue the Seven Demons'' was meant to take control of the seven souls that composed the Po, the corporeal soul. Depending on which author Cao Yun referred to, the Po was either one soul with seven parts or seven souls linked together. All the questions related to souls were always very complicated and subjective.


    Those seven Po souls were sometimes called the Seven Turbid Demons. In fact, those Seven Turbid Demons were born from the Po when some kind of unbalance plagued the corresponding Po. But, by extension, it was also a way to call the seven Po themselves. And the third layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' was related to taking control of those Seven Turbid Demons to prevent them from becoming inner demons.


    This would elevate the corporeal soul, the hardest to elevate because it was close to the earth. The greatest benefit of this layer was to prevent the formation of inner demons. Even if Cao Yun was not afraid of this at all, this third layer was very interesting for him. It was obviously composed of seven steps. In each step, Cao Yun would have to materialize the corresponding Po and form some connection between it and his conscious mind. And as he would work on Po, his control over his own Qi, and most of all, his Jing would increase. Even that was secondary for him. The most important thing was the ability to finally control the Drop of Wrath and refine it as a part of himself.


    No matter how much control he had on it right now, it was still a wild animal on which he had put a leash. Although the leash could be tight and short, this was still something that could act out. But if Cao Yun was able to literally reform the seven Po inside the Drop of Wrath, it would finally be his.


    Obviously, forming a connection between a corporeal soul and his conscious mind was easier said than done. According to the manual, it could take somewhere from two to five years to form a single manifestation of one of the Seven Turbid Demons.


    Although Cao Yun didn''t want to rush things, he still decided to try something out. The more experience he had with manipulating Po and the Drop of Wrath, the better it would be. Since he wanted to manifest those Po inside the Drop of Wrath, he had to be able to get his intent inside. Right now, he had been able to draw a second Po character into the drop.


    Thus, he focused his mind on it. By circulating his Po character both in his sea of consciousness and in the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was trying to get a better feeling of what was going on inside. He was using his intent to draw the Po character again and again. In his first Po, he had to slow down so that it would match his speed inside the Drop of Wrath. It took him several hours but drawing the Po character was not a problem now that he was very accustomed to using the Five Agents. After all, he had already formed four Five Echoes Pearl.


    When he circulated his Po into the Drop of Wrath, he saw various scenes he had already seen before. They were from Axiu Qian''s memories. Most were violent. And they were all from his time as a slave. But they were not just memories. Cao Yun was literally reliving them. He was living the pain and the anguish. The first time Axiu Qian had killed a man. The first time Axiu Qian had killed a friend in training. Many other occurrences of physical pain or psychological torment.


    Cao Yun still did not understand the language used around Axiu Qian, but he didn''t need to in order to tell what was going on. Thankfully, Cao Yun had energized both the Chamber of Moving Pearls and the Chamber of Medicine Field. As such, his emotions remained stable. And he was able to more or less gain control of his intent inside the Drop of Wrath. He was now able to draw the Po character faster and faster.


    It would still take a long time to have the same ease than with the original one though. Still, it was a great accomplishment. And Cao Yun was ready to try out his next step. Death Energy was related to Po. Thus, several strands of refined Death Energy had agglutinated around the Po character inside the Drop of Wrath. Cao Yun was convinced that by controlling this Death Energy, his mind cultivation would become faster and way more efficient.


    But he had absolutely no experience with manipulating Death Energy. Right now, he could only count on the intent of the Drop of Wrath to try and move it around. So he had decided to try it out. The more experience he would get, the more control he would obtain. When he would finally start the third layer for real, if he could manipulate Death Energy, it would be a great help.


    And indeed, he clearly felt a powerful connection between both the Drop of Wrath, the Po characters and the refined Death Energy. Within the Evil Qi the Drop of Wrath had absorbed, there was not that much Death Energy. But it was slowly building up. Contrary to the Evil Qi that turned into more blood, the Death Energy stayed within the Drop of Wrath. And with the new Po character, it was attracted to it and stayed there.


    At first, it was very frustrating. Cao Yun had such ease when it came to manipulate his Qi, that trying to control something which he had almost no feeling for was difficult. It was just like trying to control a new limb he had no sensation in. The hardest part was not the mental strength to concentrate on it, but the frustration pushing him to give up.


    He could concentrate for several hours in a row without seeing any result. Even when there was a bit of result, either the Death Energy would not move the way he wanted, or it would move only a tiny bit. But Cao Yun had not much to do except for that.


    The formation of a new Five Echoes Pearl would take at least a couple of months and as of now, it was mostly autonomous. Extracting energies from the Five Agents was getting harder, but Cao Yun''s proficiency in it was also improving. Thus, it was always taking around the same amount of time. But he had not even to think about it anymore.


    Apart from his mind cultivation, Cao Yun also tried to focus on his stars. The sixth star, the Tail Star, was beginning to appear in the sky. It was related to powerful sweeping attacks, and also to a few throwing attacks. Right now, the only throwing attacks Cao Yun knew was from Feng Yingyue, ''Bladeless Eternity''. Maybe it could help him in getting a feel for this star. His ''Shen Visualization'' was even more clear than before. He could completely immersed himself in various imaginary scenarios and try his martial art.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Finally, he took some time to try and open more and more acupoints. He was getting closer and closer to the 9th-grade Mortal realm and at last the Mortal Warrior realm. By reaching this realm, not only could he manifest his Qi, but he could also control it outside of his body. It would completely change everything. For one, it would finally allow him to use a spatial ring.


    Even with a tiny spatial ring, Cao Yun could have brought months of food supplies with him. Although he could survive several weeks, if not months, without food, he was still missing the taste. Damn, he could have brought wine as well. Besides, he could have helped the egg. Right now, he was able to protect it from the Evil Qi by absorbing most of it. But he could not nourish it with his own Qi.


    The only thing he could have done would have been to send surges of Qi in the air around him. But without any control, it would have mixed with the Evil Qi in a matter of seconds. Moreover, he could not focus it specifically on the egg either. So in the end, the benefits would be minimal while Cao Yun would lose a lot of stamina.


    -


    After what felt like nine days of uninterrupted rain, it suddenly stopped. Knowing how much time had passed was difficult in a world without stars. Even the eight decrepit palaces in the sky were immobile. But Cao Yun''s guess was rather good. It probably wouldn''t stay that way after several weeks in this place.


    Just as it had appeared out of nowhere, the rain simply stopped. It did not calm down, it just vanished all of a sudden.


    The air was now saturated with Evil Qi. Thankfully, it had never become higher than three times the density of Qi from the Hongchen Kingdom. In fact, now that he thought about it, that was strange. Since the rain had never stopped falling down, the density should have slowly increased overtime. Of course, he was absorbing some of it, but it was very low compared to the amount all around him.


    It did not take more than a few seconds for strange screeches to resound. Suddenly, Cao Yun became way more alert. Those noises could either be a good omen or a disaster. If there was life, it meant that Cao Yun may be able to find some food. But more than that, it could allow him to make sense of this world. His priority right now was to find a way out. Even if this place was related to Cleansed Asura, it would not do him any good if he were to die.


    Moreover, he knew that Zeng Minghe was a traitor. His friends were protecting Yinmen City with his help. Not only would he get a good look at their defenses, he could also give commands to some demonic beasts within the upcoming stampede. Indeed, just like Can Mouye, he was a beast tamer. He only needed to control a couple of key demonic beasts to manipulate the entire crowd.


    But the presence of life also meant that there was danger. Maybe Can Mouye was also around those parts. And Cao Yun had no idea how powerful or dangerous those creatures he had heard were. After all, beasts that could survive in such a dead world would probably be either very sinister or very ferocious. With fewer resources, only the most dangerous demonic beasts could survive.


    The screeches were coming from the black plain full of rotten grass. Maybe those beasts were feeding on it... This rotten black grass was probably very poor in nutrients. Besides, it was probably full of Evil Qi. Most demonic beasts in the Hongchen Kingdom would die by ingesting it. But it wasn''t strange for such a place to harbor unknown species.


    Even with his senses, Cao Yun could not see that far away. As such, he decided to climb on the white rib protruding from the black sand. Because it was curved, he began to climb from the inside. Once he reached the middle of the rib, he climbed on the outside of it and finally stood on its summit.


    Now, he could finally see far away. Of course, he did not just want to watch the strange beasts, he also wanted to figure out what was around. When he had fallen from the sky, he had only been able to see the black pains. But he was close to the boundary he hadn''t been able to see beyond.


    In the distance, it was vague, but he saw some roofs. It was very difficult to distinguish them, but they looked an awful lot like the palaces in the sky. At least they seemed to have the same kind of architecture. And this architecture was completely foreign to the current Hongchen Kingdom. But it was also foreign to everything Cao Yun knew about, in all the books he had read.


    However, this was a good sign. Temples meant that he could find some clues. Hopefully, he would be able to get a better understanding of this place. Damn, he could maybe even find documents pertaining to Cleansed Asura. But then, he probably wouldn''t be able to understand the language... Still, getting closer to those temples, while being cautious, was paramount to his survival.


    Finally, when Cao Yun looked in the direction of the screeches, he saw something that froze his blood. In the distance, there were birds flying all around. But those birds had no skin and no flesh. In the gray sky, thousands of skeletons were flying around, without any feathers. Even their wings were made of bones and yet they were able to fly in the air.


    Those birds looked like crows the size of a human infant. Their bones were rather peculiar. All over the bone structure, the birds had black tendrils. When Cao Yun tried to clearly see what it was, he had some trouble. But after looking at the ground, he understood. Those black tendrils were the black and rotten grass he had seen when he had walked through the plain.


    Right now, there were thousands of small holes everywhere on the ground where the grass used to be. This black grass seemed to grow on the skeletons of those bone crows. Despite their absence of organs or living tissues, the creatures were still able to fly around and screech. In fact, they also seemed to be able to see their surroundings. Most likely, they were able to sense what was around them through some strange power. And unlike living creatures, they seemed to love being in an atmosphere dense in Evil Qi, which wasn''t very surprising considering their appearance.


    Some crows went to the ground to sift through small pieces of bones. Cao Yun was completely transfixed by that surreal scene. Once more, he was wondering whether he had died and had gone to the world of the dead. Never, in any book he had been able to read, did he ever hear about those kinds of creatures. The only things he had heard about concerning the dead were ghosts. Obviously, those things were not ghosts, they were material.


    When one of the crows dug up a neat piece of bone, it tried to fly away to keep its prize. But a murder of crows swooped down on it. All of them fought for this piece of bone. The poor crow let go of the bone but it was not enough for the murder. They kept on attacking with their beaks, breaking its own bones. Finally, the broken skeleton fell to the ground and many other crows went to tear it into pieces. Some even crushed it and reduced it to dust. But most of them took some tiny pieces of it.


    As Cao Yun was trying to make sense of what he was seeing, some crows began to get closer to the graveyard where he was. Looking around him, he realized that they were probably coming to pick up more bones. The problem was that he had a lot of those in him. And he wasn''t going to just wait around to see whether they would attack him to steal his bones or not.

 Chapter 224: Awakened graveyard

    Cao Yun made sure that the egg was secured and began to run toward the temples whose roofs he had seen in the distance. Of course, he stayed as vigilant and careful as possible. He even went to the extent of using his stealth technique, ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. As a 4-star Earth technique, it wasn''t incredibly good. Against someone higher than 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, it probably wouldn''t work because he could literally sense the Qi within the person.


    But Cao Yun was able to push it to the extreme of its possibilities. Hopefully, those bone crows had neither a good perception of Qi nor spiritual senses. Otherwise, there was nothing to do against that. As such, Cao Yun completely erased his presence. Not an ounce of Qi left his body and his feet made no sound on the ground. The only disturbance he was causing was his slow absorption of Evil Qi. Indeed, he had to protect himself and the egg by continually sending Evil Qi into the Drop of Wrath. Of course, he was only absorbing the minimum amount necessary. But it was a necessity. If he did not, the egg would suffer a lot as it was still vulnerable for obvious reasons. But even Cao Yun would suffer as his organs would be corroded by the Evil Qi without the influence of the Drop of Wrath.


    His newfound ability to purify Evil Qi was still way too weak and slow to be really effective on its own. Moreover, he wasn''t sure how the Drop of Wrath would react if he tried to completely deprive it of Evil Qi it could sense.


    While running toward the temples he had seen in the distance, Cao Yun tried to hide under the white ribs raised toward the sky. Almost as fast as he was running away, the bone crows were coming toward this massive graveyard.


    The moment they finally reached the first huge bones, the crows landed on them and began to peck at the bone. Since it was very resistant, they were only able to shave white dust from it, but they still kept at it. More and more bone crows flew over the graveyard and landed on those huge bones. Some were now completely covered with crows, forming very disturbing patches of rotten grass and moss all over those perfectly white bones. And the crows kept on pecking and pecking.


    The few times Cao Yun looked back, he had the impression that some of the crows were getting bigger as they were pecking at the bones. With his heightened senses, he was even sure of it. Apparently those crows were literally feeding off those bones. Some of the crows were even reaching the size of a human child. The biggest of the crows was maybe two thirds of Cao Yun''s size. He had no idea of their actual strength. But there were so many of them, even if they were individually weak compared to him, a full-scale attack on him would be a disaster. Maybe he could survive, but he would be exhausted. And he still had to survive in this world after that.


    Thankfully, the bone crows seemed to be way more worried about pecking at those huge bones than to find any other target. As such, Cao Yun was able to run away without any problem.


    As he was reaching the center of the graveyard, he felt the ground shake. Everywhere around him, the black sand was agitated. Immediately, Cao Yun hid himself in the shadow of some bone and focused his senses all around. It wasn''t literally all the black sand. In fact, the black sand around the giant ribs was not moving at all. But there were things burrowing underground all over the place. Maybe there were some crows here, or something else entirely.


    But this time, Cao Yun was right in the middle of it. He had several options. Maybe he could throw caution to the wind and rush forward, hoping to reach the temples. But then, he had no idea what was waiting for him there. He hoped to find clues, but he could find even more enemies. The best thing would be to stay as discrete as possible. Another option was to try and hide until everything calmed down. But he had no idea what was going on and whether it would calm down in hours, in days, in years. Besides, if those things were after bones, they could still go after him.


    There was one thing for sure, Cao Yun had to make a decision. He got a little bit annoyed, because he had wanted to energize the Chamber of Heavenly Court for some time. Apparently, it could both enhance reaction speed but also decision making. Cao Yun found that the was too indecisive. And to survive here, he had to take a decision.


    Finally, he chose to try and run from this place while maintaining as much stealth as possible. But his priority was neither stealth nor even the temples now, he just wanted to get away. Just as the crows had been limited to the black plains with rotten grass, the shaking black sand was limited to this graveyard. Hopefully, if he was able to leave this area, he would be safer. After all the crows were attracted by the giant bones here. It was not absurd to think that many other dangerous creatures would be as well.


    Before he could begin his newest retreat, Cao Yun felt the wind in his back.


    ''Dragon''s Fang''!


    Instinctively using a lesser move of his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'', Cao Yun turned around and stabbed something in the air. The short collision let out some noise and a heavy little thing fell to the ground. It was a small bone. Looking more closely, it looked like a phalanx of some kind. But it also looked like a tiny throwing knife. That thing had been aimed directly at his heart, through his back.


    In the wet sand, there was a tiny hole at the spot where the phalanx had come from. This hole was a bit removed from the area delimited by the giant ribs. And just like everywhere else, it was now shaking a lot. Gradually, the black sand rose. To be more precise, a figure rose with the black sand on it. But because it was still so wet, it stayed stuck to the figure. However, as it started to move around, most of the black sand fell down.


    Cao Yun had stood his ground, ready to fight for his life. Running from an unknown enemy was not necessarily a good idea. The previous attack was neither very fast nor very powerful. Hopefully, the enemy was just as strong as that, which would put him at the level of a 4th-grade or maybe 5th-grade Mortal. If that were the case, Cao Yun could destroy him with a single strike. Thus, it was the perfect opportunity to learn more about the enemy before he got swarmed by more.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Just as he had guessed, his new enemy was another skeleton. But this time, it was as big as Cao Yun, maybe even one head or so taller. And its bones made absolutely no sense to Cao Yun. First of all, the bones themselves clearly belonged to different species. That skeleton seemed to be a poor assemblage of disharmonious bones. Besides, none of them seemed familiar to Cao Yun. With everything he had read he had a very good grasp of the ecology of the Hongchen Kingdom. Although he did not know every species, those characteristics did not match anything he had read.


    That wasn''t very surprising considering the place he was in. But the fact that this skeleton was so disharmonious suggested that it had been formed postmortem. Either someone had built that thing, or it had built itself...


    The skeleton Cao Yun was facing had some kind of humerus replacing a vertebra. It had four shoulders but only one full arm. However, it had three legs, among which two were partially made of tail bones. Its ribs were fractured and it had some spikes here and there. With the black sand still sticking to it here and there, that skeleton seemed both scary and pathetic at the same time.


    ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''.


    Cao Yun controlled his force and sent an attack just powerful enough to kill a 4th-grade Mortal. The cone of wind stabbed through the deformed skull of the bone creature, but it did not fall down. Instead, it kept on approaching Cao Yun. The attack was powerful enough to shatter the bones but apparently the head was not vital. After all, such a thing had no organ to begin with...


    Still, Cao Yun decided to test out another theory. ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. His attack was just as powerful but he had sent a few surges of Qi with it. Despite his lack of control over it, the Qi naturally followed the cone of wind as though it was sucked in. This time, his attack shattered the spine and the creature shook a little before falling to the ground, inert. He still couldn''t be sure but Cao Yun was convinced that his Qi had made the difference. It wasn''t so far-fetched, Qi was the life energy flowing through every living things. Moreover, there was no Qi here, just Evil Qi.


    Most likely, those things were moving through Evil Qi, just like humans were living through Qi. By sending his own Qi inside that creature, he had probably disturbed the circulation of Evil Qi and the damage was high enough that the creature ceased to... live. If that was the appropriate word for a skeleton.


    That discovery was interesting. But what interested Cao Yun more was that his enemy had been rather weak, thankfully. Thus, he got a bit more assured and kept on running away. Being swarmed by weak opponents would not be a good thing, but his prospects of survival were higher than before.


    Just as he had guessed, from everywhere in the graveyard, similar skeletons rose from the ground. Some were a bit taller, some a bit smaller. And none had the same bone structure. Many had very mismatched bones, just like the skeleton Cao Yun had destroyed. Even though he wasn''t actively trying to, Cao Yun still noticed that those skeletons looked like more or less advanced stages of construction. Many only had one or two arms, not even fully formed for some. But a handful of skeletons had up to six arms and even more limbs with only a few bones in them. More and more, Cao Yun was seeing some kind of pattern.


    And his suspicions turned out to be true. Some of those humanoid skeletons began to fight one another. Each time one skeleton lost, it gave up one bone to the victor. But every duel was not as peaceful. Among the more deformed skeleton, the fights were way more ferocious. Just like the crows, a band of skeletons attacked one who had lost a duel and bludgeoned it to dust. Most of its articulations got destroyed and they stole many of its bones until it simply stopped moving. Then, they inserted them where they would fit, creating very bizarre scenes.


    Slowly, the crows and the humanoids also started to fight each other. The crows were trying to steal some bones as well but they could not attach them directly to their own skeleton. Instead, each time they could take one bone, they just flew away in the distance. Most likely they would consume it in some way, but where they were safe.


    Another thing that Cao Yun noticed was that the density of Evil Qi was very slowly decreasing. Indeed, as he was always absorbing a small amount of it, just to protect both the egg and his own organs, he was keenly aware of that fact. The only explanations he could come up with were either that the skeletons were absorbing it like humans or beasts absorbed Qi, or that the black sand itself was. It wasn''t unheard of for soil to absorb Qi, just like it could absorb water. Moreover, there could be other lifeforms, or maybe other dead creatures, underneath.


    For once, this was a good news for Cao Yun. It meant that the pressure on him would slowly decrease as well. Even with the Drop of Wrath, constantly absorbing something that could kill him if he lost control was not particularly enjoyable. However, this was probably the only good news right now. As it turned out, Cao Yun was now completely surrounded by thousands of skeletons. And from what he could see, their strength varied from 3rd-grade Mortal to 9th-grade Mortal. Apparently, their duels were their way of cultivating. And with each bone won, they could become stronger. Hence, that meant that it was possible for some of them to reach a stage similar to Mortal Warrior for humans. And of course, Cao Yun had no idea what this would mean for those things.


    Because he wasn''t looking forward to finding it out, he decided to run toward the temples. Contrary to the crows, the humanoids were now actively trying to attack him, just like the previous one. Most of them did not waste even their phalanxes, but they still attacked. Thankfully, Cao Yun was way faster than them but he had to push his leg muscles once more. In the woods, he had been so harsh on them that they had not fully recovered. Yet he was tormenting them again.


    From time to time, Cao Yun found himself hindered by a few skeletons. Since he didn''t want to slow down so that he would never be surrounded, Cao Yun used lesser moves related to the Tail Star he was trying to form. For now, he only had a very slight understanding of the star, but he knew it was related to sweeping motion firstly. Thus, he used sweeping attacks to control the crowd. ''Scales Under the Waterfall''.


    Cao Yun became more and more desperate in his running away. Once he was close to the temples, he would have way more ease to hide. Deep down, Cao Yun was beginning to fear what was to come. The first creatures to wake up were the murder of crows with rotten grass. After witnessing their fights with the humanoids, they were all inferior to even 3rd-grade Mortals. Then, came the humanoids between 3rd-grade and 9th-grade Mortal. Besides, those humanoids had been buried in this place.


    In this place, there were other things buried, the giant ribs. The image of those giant ribs rising from the ground with a strength superior to a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior was now fully etched in Cao Yun''s mind. And he did not want to stay here to find out whether he was right or wrong. Right now, he would rather go toward the temples and hide behind those structures, just to be safe. If those things were constantly fighting, they would end up using all their strength and maybe go back underground.

 Chapter 225: Battlefield of the dead

    All over the graveyard, there were now thousands upon thousands of gaping holes in the black sand. As many humanoid skeletons were now out in the open fighting for more bones. The more bones they had, the more powerful they were. But it wasn''t just about the number of bones on them, they also seemed to have more vitality if that word meant something for creatures like that. Still, Cao Yun was feeling something strange from them. He wasn''t absolutely sure of himself, but he thought that they may not use just Evil Qi.


    Humans had several so-called treasures allowing their life. Among them, Qi was the life energy bringing life and strength to their entire being, nourishing them. But there was also the mind and the soul which were very close and intimate with each other, oftentimes referred to as the Shen, the spirit. Technically the Shen character that Cao Yun had in his sea of consciousness was only a fraction of the real Shen. Just like the souls, the clear delimitations between all the concepts was always very blurry. Trying to explain and rationalize everything was almost always useless. It was impossible to explain them. They had to be felt. Shen could refer both to the entirety of the mind and the soul or to the specific part that was overseeing everything else, as a general.


    And the last treasure was the Jing. Jing was the essence of life, from which Qi was derived. In the human body there were mainly two types of Jing. The most important one was the Prenatal Jing obtained from the parents at birth, very difficult to increase but that could be refined and preserved. The other one was the Postnatal Jing obtained from the environment. Without the Prenatal Jing, any human would die because it was the very foundation of his life and of Qi in his body. Moreover, Jing was clearly associated with Po. Indeed, Po was attached to the Jing at conception and would use it to build the body and then try to keep it alive. It was also the reason why Po could become an instrument of death. If it consumed too much Jing to try and keep the body alive, it would ultimately kill it.


    With all this knowledge in head, and what he had felt those last few days, Cao Yun surmised that those skeletons had Death Energy instead of Jing and Evil Qi instead of Qi. Besides, Death Energy was known to be Po and Jing which got degraded and degenerated within the bones after death. And it would also explain why Death Energy seemed to be corrupted with Evil Qi around here. Thanks to the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was however able to refine Death Energy into its purest form, which was very close to real Jing.


    -


    After several hours of running around, pushing away any enemy who tried to block his path, Cao Yun was now halfway out of this graveyard. In the distance he was able to see the desolate roofs of the temples he had only seen from a certain height before. And between that place and his current location, there was only another black sandplain without any bone or any rotten grass. Instead, there were more narrow streams of the yellow water he had already seen and briefly studied.


    Apparently, none of those creatures were trying to get close to this yellow water. It made sense because Cao Yun had sent a bone into the yellow water and it got dissolved rather quickly. Apart from the black sand, it seemed to melt everything it got in contact with. Of course, Cao Yun had not tried to put his hands inside, but he had a good feeling that he would lose both his flesh and his bones in there. Most likely, those creatures were also afraid of this yellow water.


    Although the creatures acted out some ceremonials and rituals during their duels, Cao Yun felt like they were mostly following their instincts. In a sense, they were closer to animals than even advanced demonic beasts. But they did seem to possess some measure of developed intelligence from his encounter with some of them. Hopefully, they would stick to their instincts and they would not follow him into this black plain crisscrossed with yellow streams. In fact, even Cao Yun was not very reassured by the prospect of going there. Maybe the yellow water would suddenly rise, or there would be an intense yellow rain after the black rain.


    But since the temples had endured, no matter what had happened, he could probably guard against the strange weather in them. Of course, he had no idea of what was in those temples...


    There was not a single instant without fights between the skeletons. Most of the crows had now left, either because they had been defeated, destroyed or even reduced to dust, or because they had obtained a bone they wanted. Only a handful of them was still pecking at the huge bones protruding from the soil as though giant rib cages. They were often the smallest and thus the weakest. Instead of fighting, they kept to themselves. They were also organized in murders of crows so that they could fend off exterior threats. Even the weakest humanoid skeletons did not try to attack them. Clearly, they would not bring them many benefits.


    Yet another earthquake shook the entire plains. Gradually, Cao Yun had failed to notice that the soil had become more and more dry. But when the ground shook, he realized that there were a few small cracks in it, just like before. It was as though all the water inside of it had been siphoned away. Cao Yun''s fears became reality. Sadly, it had been obvious after seeing the humanoid skeletons, but it was true. The giant rib cages began to move around. With resounding screeches, all the crows flew away as fast as they could.


    Still, some were not fast enough. A giant hand emerged from the ground and caught a dozen of them. They were immediately reduced to dust. Then, the dust spiraled in the air and went back to the ribs they had been pecking at a few instants before.


    From the ground, enormous beings got out of the sand. Unlike the humanoid skeletons, they were absolutely white with no trace of black sand. Indeed, the black sand around them had become incredibly dry, drained of all its water and maybe nutrients, if the Death Energy and Evil Qi could be called nutrients. Moreover, the bones had no more cracks in them. In fact, they appeared brand new, and strangely full of life as though someone had polished them.


    Contrary to the smaller skeletons, there was some kind of unity in their appearance. Just like them, they were clearly at different stages of completion, but they had mostly the same structure. First of all, their height was between fifty and a hundred chi*. And the taller they were, the more complete they had become. Cao Yun just looked rapidly at the tallest of them before increasing his speed.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    That abomination had fours legs attached to a disturbing pelvis full of spikes. It also had eight arms. From its shoulders, two arms were going both behind and in front of it. But lower, there were strange articulations attached to the spine with two more additional arms on either sides. Speaking of its spine, it was curved in very strange ways which did not look convenient, probably under the mass of the creature itself. And enthroned on its spine, there were three skulls which appeared somewhat humans albeit deformed, and with no mandible. Although it had no organs, it had natural weapons all over. First of all, it had huge fangs hanging from its skulls. But overall, each one of its bones had either spikes, claws or literal blades of bones.


    However, this wasn''t over. The giant abominations, once out of the black sand, plunged their hands into it and got various weapons out.


    Those weapons were all made in bones as well. But they were clearly modeled after human weapons. Some had swords, sabers, spears. Others had even bows, whips or clubs. Among these abominations, the ones with more limbs were obviously yielding more weapons. For example, one creature who had five arms and four fully formed hands was holding a bow with two of them while yielding arrows in a third one. And in its last hand, it had a serrated saber.


    As they all came out of the black sand, some of the smaller skeletons got either buried under the falling sand or blown away by the movements of the giants. Thankfully Cao Yun was far enough from any rib, so he did not suffer any consequences. But more than a hundred skeletons were destroyed by the mere rise of the giant abominations. Then, all the smaller skeletons mostly stopped fighting to try and run away from the big things. Unfortunately, the giants began by destroying the smaller creatures around them.


    Unlike the duels between the humanoids skeletons, the giants completely crushed their opponents. Once they were reduced to dust, a strange power was sucking it in the air. Just like small tornadoes, the dust spiraled in the air and went into the giants'' bones. Although it was very subtle, their bones were slowly forming and expanding. Naturally, all that expansion would lead to the full form displayed by the tallest abominations. Strangely, now that the fights between the humanoid skeletons had ceased, the battle had become even more cruel and fierce. They were all trying to get away as fast as possible. Even a few skeletons who came very close to Cao Yun did not try to attack him.


    Their natural predators had appeared and they were just thinking about survival now.


    As the smaller skeletons were running away, a few of the giants decided to turn against the others. And the same kind of fight that had happened between the small skeletons occurred. However, they were even more ceremonial and ritual. Unlike the small ones, those giants were only ever fighting one on one when it came to their own kind. After cupping their fists and bowing, they exchanged some moves. The fights never lasted very long. As soon as one decided that he could not win, he would bow down and gift a bone of his choosing to his opponent.


    Most of the times, the opponent liked the bone enough to accept it. But at other times, he wanted something else. In that case, he literally ripped it away from his submissive opponent and gave back the bone he had received. In a sense, there really seemed to be some kind of code of honor. But it was only among themselves. When it came to lower beings such as the crows or the humanoid skeletons, the giant abominations were merciless. Any who got near them was crushed and absorbed.


    Busy running away, Cao Yun was only being mindful of those creatures so far as it helped him stay safe. He had not the luxury of being too curious. But he was still able to determine that they were indeed as powerful as Mortal Warriors. Just from the shockwave produced by the clash of their weapons, the young human was able to assess their strength. The tallest abomination was most likely stronger than a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior. This was the highest grade of a Mortal Warrior. Indeed, the last three grades of the Mortal Warrior realm were in fact tribulations to overcome in order to become a Spirit Warrior.


    Because they had to be overcome one after the other, those three grades were very difficult to cross. Some people could stay years, if not decades, at the 6th-grade Mortal Warrior realm. But it also meant that there was a huge gap between a late Mortal Warrior and an early Spirit Warrior. Not only were they two different realms, but they were also three entire small grades apart.


    The only good news seemed to be that those giant abominations had no Qi Manifestation of any kind. Or maybe they just didn''t use them... But from what Cao Yun could observe, they only fought physically. With his powerful physique, he would probably be able to put up a fight against the weak ones. If he were to use everything, taking into account his more powerful blood and his better control over the Drop of Wrath and thus its intent, Cao Yun could probably develop enough physical strength to fight against a middle Mortal Warrior. Of course, human cultivators also had Qi Manifestation which would completely change a fight.


    But against those things, if they truly did not have Qi Manifestation, Cao Yun would probably be able to win. The tallest ones were clearly still out of his league though. Although they seemed to follow some code among themselves, always fighting one on one, Cao Yun had no guarantee that they would not swarm him. As such, the best thing was obviously to keep running. Besides, the humanoid skeletons had stopped attacking him or blocking his path. This was the perfect opportunity.


    Unfortunately, the giant abominations did not do as Cao Yun would have wished. Those who had already lost some bouts decided to focus their attention on the running creatures. And it turned out that they did not differentiate between living and dead. A giant with only one arm tried to crush Cao Yun with another skeleton close to him.


    Alarmed by the wind pressure on him, Cao Yun could feel that that thing''s strength was around twenty thousand dan. Even a 9th-grade Mortal would have been squashed by such an attack. Not only was it strong, it was also extremely fast. Thus, he had no choice. Cao Yun activated ''Dragon''s Heart''. He stopped running and raised his spear toward the incoming palm. ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''.


    With his past experience in mind, Cao Yun once again imitated Zhi Yin and sent forth some of his Qi with the attack. Although he could not control it, it got trapped by the wind generated by his spear and flew toward the palm.


    A powerful collision shook the air around and the giant stumbled backward. In its palm, there was now a gaping hole. Suddenly, all the giants near the scene stopped what they were doing. All their heads turned toward Cao Yun. One of theirs had been harmed by an insect and they looked like they truly wanted to squash it to death.


    For Cao Yun, it felt like an entire battlefield had turned its attention toward him. And all the gazes were full of hatred.


    *Approximately 15-30m or 50-100feet

 Chapter 226: Dragon swims in yellow death

    Several times already Cao Yun had been faced with imminent death. Obviously when his family got massacred, he had been near death. But when the Spirit Warrior had slashed him open, Cao Yun had been way so weak that that butcher had not even used any kind of technique. In fact, Cao Yun had not even been able to feel anything at the moment. Even when he was faced with Luduo Bu or the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras, he had felt his enemy''s hatred but not the pressure he was feeling right now. All around him, several dozens of giant bone abominations were looking at him.


    There was no hatred in their stare since they had no eyes to begin with. However, Cao Yun could feel a cold sensation in his entire body. It was as though he had been plunged into an icy lake. Right now, death itself was looking down upon him. For the first time ever, he was physically feeling death. His heart stopped for an entire second. Then, Cao Yun used the Drop of Wrath to dispel this deathly intent focused onto him.


    He had thought about what would happen if he were to fight one of those creatures. In theory, he could put up a fight or even win depending on their respective strengths. However, he had no intention of trying out his hypothesis. At first glance, they had no Qi Manifestation but they could have strange abilities he knew nothing about. After all, this entire world was strange and unknown to Cao Yun. Avoiding any fight was the sane thing to do.


    Once more, Cao Yun focused absolutely everything in his legs. This time, he completely got rid of any stealth. Even earlier, he had still been using a bit of it just to be safe. Now was not the time for safety though, it was the time to run as though all the souls of hell were after him.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''.


    Using his most powerful attack, Cao Yun stabbed toward the outside of this graveyard. The black sand under his foot turned into glass under the pressure and the heat. In an instant, Cao Yun broke the wall of sound and found himself almost where he wanted to. He may have been able to go farther but he didn''t want to accidentally fall into that yellow water. And despite his recovery, his legs were really in a poor state after all this running away.


    Half confident that the bone creatures would avoid that area full of yellow streams, Cao Yun still ran as fast as he could. And he was right to do so. Initially, the bone giants were staying pretty far from that area, but that was until one of theirs had been attacked. For them, the small fry was just there to be crushed and absorbed by them. Never did a skeleton had tried to resist them. And they would not let it go. Never!


    Despite their perpetual fights, the giant abominations were very respectful toward one another and seemed to disdain everyone else. Now their disdain had turned into rage and they wanted to destroy Cao Yun. The young man did not even know if they had realized he wasn''t a skeleton. In fact, he didn''t even know if they had any notion of that at all since he had no idea how they were both perceiving the world and thinking about it.


    Pushed by their rage and their will to kill, the bone giants went way closer to the yellow water than usual. The small giants were not as fast as Cao Yun, but one that had six arms with a seventh on the way and was as tall as 80 chi, had been able to catch up with the young man. Thankfully, it was the biggest of the crowd. The even bigger ones were too far away to have noticed what had transpired. From what Cao Yun could guess, that thing should have been as powerful as a 4th-grade or even 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. In theory, he should be as strong as Cao Yun with his new blood if he used everything he had. Cumulating everything, it should have a strength between seventy to eighty thousand dan.


    Without any martial art, that creature attacked Cao Yun with a trident. Well, Cao Yun did not even know if those things had any idea what martial arts were. However, the trident itself was almost as large as Cao Yun was. The force of the strike added to the weight of the weapon was devastating. No defense of his could block this weapon. Furthermore, its speed was also incredible and Cao Yun had just stopped. Unfortunately, he could not move fast enough after everything he had put into his attack. The only way was to deflect the blow.


    Thankfully Cao Yun had worked a lot on his sweeping motions. He had done so because it was the point of his next star, the Tail Star. But he had also worked on it because it was more efficient against large number of enemies. In the end, whether it was to attack or to deflect, a sweeping motion would always be the same kind of movement. ''Scales Under the Waterfall''.


    Although it was a lesser move, Cao Yun had more or less refined it to perfection. When his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' collided with the trident from his enemy, Cao Yun heard first a crack and then a howling sound. He could feel the scale of the dragon within the shaft roaring. It was probably thanks to the stars of the Azure Dragon in his sea of consciousness. Instinctively, he sent a surge of Qi through his palm. Incredulous, Cao Yun felt the scale inside his own spear absorb the Qi and reinforce itself.


    He had been told that his spear was bordering on 1-star Human rank. And right now, it was clearly a feat only a Human weapon was capable of. A Mortal Warrior could imbue Qi in almost any weapon, but a Human weapon was a better receptacle of it. Although it had no spirit, it was able to conduct Qi way better. As such, even though Cao Yun could not control his own Qi, just by sending it into his weapon, almost none of it got wasted.


    Using the shock of the impact against the trident, Cao Yun jumped in the air. He found himself at the level of the bone abomination''s head.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''.


    Unfortunately, the creature was only holding the trident with two hands. Four more fully formed hands were ready. All at once, a serrated saber, a sword a mace and a club came right in front of the creature''s skull. Cao Yun''s attack pushed against the giant and its mace exploded into tiny fragments. However, most of his force had been absorbed already and his spear just pierced the saber before it halted. As the giant was staggering, Cao Yun used his feet against the blade made of bone to jump backward. As a reaction, the giant fell to the ground. And Cao Yun found himself on the other side of a yellow stream.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Turning back an instant, Cao Yun was now able to see the temples. They were in a pitiful state but they appeared to be perfectly empty. His first idea was to hide inside while looking for any kind of clue. But now he was targeted specifically by those creatures. As such, he did not know whether they would smash the temples to get to him or not. Hopefully, the yellow streams and his own strength would deter some of the giants. And indeed, Cao Yun saw some of the weaker giants stop chasing him. On the other hand, there was still a dozen of pursuers and all were at least as powerful as a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior.


    The giant who was on the ground let go of his destroyed mace and put his hand on the black sand. Rapidly, some black dust swirled into the air. It was very similar to what those things were doing with the bone dust. But instead of building more bone for the giant, it solidified into a javelin. Spinning in the air, it flew toward Cao Yun with incredible speed. No, they had no Qi Manifestation but they had some kind of control over this sand full of Evil Qi and Death Energy. It wasn''t very strange since they had literally been buried in it not too long ago. And apparently, they were using it to absorb the black rain in some manner.


    Dodging the attack, Cao Yun almost fell into a yellow stream. And before he could heave a sigh of relief, he heard a splashing sound. The javelin was not aimed directly at him, it was aimed toward the yellow river behind him. Yellow water splashed all over the place. Knowing how dangerous it could be, the young man put even more strain on his poor legs to move away. Only one drop fell on him. The drop had reached his sleeve and his robe got dissolved almost immediately. Without waiting a single breath, Cao Yun tore his own sleeve with all his strength. As it had been ordered by Chief Elder Baishen to protect him, it was very durable. Paradoxically, the drop had weakened it and it became easier for its wearer to tear it.


    If that was how the giant wanted to play it, Cao Yun could also get some fun.


    After all his training on sweeping motions, and thanks to his Chamber of Jade, Cao Yun had now a great feel for the Tail Star. Just like the Heart Star, he had been able to almost understand its first move before even forging the star itself. Energizing that chamber first had been the right decision for sure.


    ''Scales Under the Waterfall''. With a lesser move, Cao Yun struck the black sand in front of him. Right before him was a somewhat large yellow stream. Under the impact, the black sand created a whiplash into the water. A wall of yellow water rose into the air. After a small jump, Cao Yun had taken some distance just to be safe.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''.


    Injecting his Qi both in his spear and in his technique, Cao Yun swept the air in front of him with a powerful move. Striking the air, the spear created a shockwave so intense that it broke the wall of sound. And following Zhi Yin''s example, this shockwave was also full of Cao Yun''s own Qi. For an instant, Cao Yun even caught a glimpse of a few scales over his spear. He was getting increasingly closer to a real Qi Manifestation. In less than two years, he would probably be able to do so.


    The shockwave obviously struck the reversed waterfall on its way. Thus, it turned into a horizontal wall of yellow water aimed at the giants pursuing Cao Yun. All of them stopped at once as the dreaded water was coming their way.


    Those who were farther only stopped in their track, while the closer ones tried to backpedal. The only one who had no time to react since he was on the ground was the giant who had attacked Cao Yun. He had wanted to play with water, he was going to get burned by it.


    And indeed, as soon as the yellow water touched his body, a terrible sizzling sound resounded. His bones started to melt away where the yellow drops had fallen. And at the same time, he had to suffer from the shock of ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''. Some of his ribs had been broken and the yellow water immediately infiltrated his innards.


    Although he had no organs and no mandible, he was able to produce a powerful screeching sound. Writhing in agony, he crawled back into the black sand as fast as he could. To Cao Yun, he looked like some giant mole skeleton. Under the pain, he had even abandoned all of his weapons on the surface. Some other giants were just barely touched by the yellow water. One of them got touched on his shoulder. Grabbing some black sand, he put it on the burning spot and it seemed to stop very quickly.


    Thankfully, the commotion did not attract the bone giants who had not pursued Cao Yun to begin with. For a while, Cao Yun stood his ground and felt the piercing gazes of the giants in front of him. But after what felt like an eternity, they probably decided that that tiny thing was not worth the effort. Hence, they all turned back and went back in the center of the graveyard. They were most likely hoping to get some nice bones.


    Instead of being relieved, Cao Yun focused all his senses around and made sure that nothing was following him anymore. He turned his gaze toward the yellow water. If he could get some of it at one point, it would be very useful. As always, he made sure that the Mountain Fenghuang egg was fine. Fortunately, it was.


    Finally, he kept on running toward the temples.


    Just like the eight temples in the sky, they were in total ruins. But right now, they seemed very welcoming to the running Cao Yun. He put all of his focus on his hearing. Once he was satisfied that no one was inside, he finally got in.


    The architecture of the temples was completely different from what he knew. They were way more modest and their walls were almost perfectly round. Yet, they had an intriguing atmosphere. Although they were simple and in ruins, they were keeping some solemnity. Time, or something else, had destroyed a great portion of those temples. Even the plank in front of the main entrance of the temple Cao Yun walked into was ready to fall.


    Looking at it, Cao Yun was able to notice some writings he was strangely familiar with. Right now was not the time for some architectural or calligraphic study though. Still keeping note of every detail, Cao Yun quickly got inside to try and hide away for the time being.


    Outside, the fights were still raging. Fortunately, Cao Yun''s guess had been right. Not even the humanoid skeletons were getting close to the yellow water. Although they were trying to run away from the giants, they still avoided the area where the yellow water was. And this was precisely where the temples were as well.


    Instead, they tried to run around it to find some refuge elsewhere. Moreover, most of the giants remained in the center of the graveyard. Destroying and absorbing the small fry should not provide as much nourishment as the bones they could win during their duels. As such, only those who were very weak ever tried to devour the humanoid skeletons. And even then, they did not really get out of their way to chase after them. They just grabbed those who got too close to them.


    At last, Cao Yun was able to sit down under a roof. Yes, the roof had a lot of holes, but still, it was a roof nonetheless. The presence of a building meant that at least at some point there had been intelligent life here. Maybe those temples were related to Cleansed Asura.

 Chapter 227: Otherworldly temples

    Completely spent, Cao Yun did not really explore the temples right away. However, he noticed one thing immediately after crossing the door, there was not an ounce of Evil Qi in the temple he was in right now. Unfortunately, there was no Qi either for that matter...


    But still, it allowed him to completely relax. Even the Drop of Wrath was not forced to continually absorb Evil Qi just to protect him. Despite his ability to better control it, Cao Yun still had to keep some of his mind on it just to make sure that it would not grow too gluttonous over time. In addition, now that the Drop of Wrath was way less busy, it would thoroughly digest everything that had happened. This would also be the case for the young man. After all, Cao Yun had done much progress in very various domains and he had to let it settle first. Even the Tail Star was slowly building up.


    Right now, there was a vague blue and white hue floating in the sky where the Tail Star was supposed to be. But with Cao Yun''s Chamber of Jade, he could mostly imagine what it would be like once formed. The Tail Star would be in fact composed of two stars, not larger than the Room Star each. And they would shine a blue-white color with almost the same brightness than the Room Star as well.


    With his great intuition, Cao Yun was fairly certain that he would need less than a year to completely figure out this star and its variant. The last stars were the most complex to figure out. That was one of the main reasons behind his choice of energizing the Chamber of Jade first. Increasing his intuition was a great way to boost his understanding of any martial arts. To begin with, he had a lot of intuitions concerning martial arts, just because he loved studying new ones when he was still with his family.


    Inside the temple, it seemed like it was another world. Outside Cao Yun could still hear the fights breaking out. They seemed to be more and more violent as time was passing by. Despite that, the worn-out walls were still able to isolate Cao Yun from most of the noise. The only reason he was able to hear anything was the fact that there were holes both in the roof and in the walls themselves. Without them, he was fairly certain that he would have been completely isolated from the outside world.


    -


    After a very long sleep, Cao Yun finally woke up refreshed. Still worried about his water supply, he only drank what was necessary. Then he left the gourd open. Since there was no trace of Evil Qi in this place, he could refill the gourd thanks to the humidity in the air. A tiny array formation had been built into the gourd so that water would condense faster. Despite its very limited use, this was still a 2-star Human array formation, the Clouds in the Lake array formation. Such a gourd had cost him a great number of points. Chief Elder Suxian had proposed to make one for him for free but he was embarrassed by the gift so the chief elder merely helped him reduce the cost a little.


    The array formation was of very good quality and did not require to be recharged very often. Hopefully, it would last as long as Cao Yun was in this world. Since there were places where he could replenish his water supply, only food remained a problem. At most, Cao Yun could last maybe eight months. But without a good supply of Qi to nourish his tissues, he would slowly become weaker and weaker. Considering that the local fauna was made of literal skeletons, Cao Yun had abandoned the idea of finding any meat. And after seeing the rotten grass, he had not much hope for vegetation either...


    For now, he wasn''t hungry, but he had to admit that he was missing the taste of food. That would be a good test of his will. Thinking about this, he thought about his brothers in Yinmen City. In his stead, Ren Chao would have already become insane. Damn, he would have maybe tried to cook the egg by now... Chuckling a little, Cao Yun was able to reduce the tension that had crept its way into his mind.


    Then, he finally explored the temple.


    Although the architecture was very different from the style of the Hongchen Kingdom, Cao Yun could still determine that this was some kind of temple. But he was unable to say what religion or philosophy it was supposed to be from. There were several columns with many characters engraved in them. Sadly, most of them were too deteriorated to make out and even those that were a bit more preserved were unknown to Cao Yun. Still, he had the feeling he had seen them before.


    Immediately, he thought about Cleansed Asura. Maybe they were written in his language. Thus, Cao Yun racked his mind to find any trace of the original language of his master. And he did. Cleansed Asura had tried to translate most of his texts, but he had left some works in his native tongue. Of course, the young man could not read them at all, but he was able to recognize the same kind of character. In fact, he was able to clearly notice some of them that were on those columns. He had been right. This place was clearly related to his dying master.


    Considering the state of this place, it probably meant that Cleansed Asura was either very close to death, or simply dead. This would explain the presence of so much Evil Qi and Death Energy. No matter how powerful or wise Cleansed Asura was, he would probably have a lot of regrets and resentment upon his death. An expert dying on such a remote planet from the wounds he had not been able to heal was just too sad.


    Exploring some more, Cao Yun discovered a few texts here and there. It looked like someone had already been here before him. There was no dust in this place so Cao Yun could not use it to determine that. However, he felt like someone had disturbed this temple not too long ago. The very first person he thought about was Can Mouye.


    He had no concrete proof, but there was something in the way the texts were disposed. They had not been thrown to the ground or something. Someone seemed to have meticulously sorted them out. Seeing that, the idea that Can Mouye had done so dissipated. A demonic cultivator would probably not have that much respect. Well, maybe Cao Yun was just wrong and those texts had just been miraculously preserved. Looking around to review the condition of the temple, it seemed very unlikely, unless there was some kind of magic protecting those texts, which would be very far-fetched.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Still, Cao Yun took the books. There were all kinds of documents. Some were books made of bound sheets of paper. Others were bamboo sticks woven together. And there were even stone tablets. It felt like Cao Yun was looking at all the stages of civilization in this temple. As technology progressed, they had more and more mature tools to write down information.


    All the texts were however written in the same language. But there were also a few characters Cao Yun could not place at all. Considering the emphasis put on them, he surmised that those were probably Insight Writings. Only someone familiar with a concept could read those characters. They did not convey either sound nor a cultural meaning. What they conveyed was the literal truth of the universe as it had been understood by its writer. Unfortunately, Cao Yun was able to understand none of the Insight Writings. Just like ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', he tried to draw them in his mind, but nothing really happened.


    For a moment there, Cao Yun wanted to take the documents with him but he had no spatial tool of any kind. And strangely, he felt bad about the idea of taking those documents outside of this temple. It was very peculiar but he felt as though it would be disrespectful toward his master. Yes, he had only met Cleansed Asura a handful of minutes, but he had accepted him as a disciple, saved his life and given him all of his knowledge. Even if he could only use a tiny fragment of a portion of it, this was still the knowledge from a God-Monarch.


    Of course, Cao Yun had not the same attachment to Cleansed Asura as he was attached to his masters and instructors from the Wubei Sect or his own family. But he had fully welcomed him in his heart as his true master. Even if Cleansed Asura had been his teacher for less than a day, he would respect him as his own father for the rest of his life. Without him, Cao Yun would be dead. So, in a way, everything he had lived, the woman he had met, the friends he had made, the things he had learned, everything was derived from Cleansed Asura''s actions.


    Although he was not his parent, he had truly given him a second life. The fact that Cao Yun could not understand most of his knowledge was just a mild inconvenience compared to that. Hopefully, Cao Yun could grant his one dying wish. The God-Monarch had asked for a proper burial. Cao Yun knew that those rituals could help both Death Energy and Evil Qi settle down. As they were corrupted by resentment and regrets, the sincere emotions of the living could help them calm down and even purify them to some extent. Of course, several religious beliefs had surrounded those rituals and it was difficult to sort out the truth from the beliefs. But it was undoubtedly efficient.


    Considering the condition of this world, Cao Yun could indeed imagine that Cleansed Asura had suffered much anguish. He had been slowly dying and decaying for several millenniums. According to him, it had been even more than thirty thousand years. But even he could have been mistaken. Maybe he had been there since the Legendary Era.


    Anyway, Cao Yun still decided to memorize all the texts he could. Although he had no way of memorizing the Insight Writings, he could still engrave the unknown characters from Cleansed Asura''s language in his mind. In fact, he had even built a complete set of characters from the various documents. In total, he had found more than a hundred thousand unique characters in this language. He had always found that the Nuhua was difficult. Now he had found something even more complex.


    Thanks to his Chamber of Ultimate Truth, not only was his memory photographic, he was also able to sort those characters. In a few minutes, he had found many similarities between several sets of characters and was able to quickly sort them out into various categories. Unfortunately, he had no way to understand them because he had no context at all. But it didn''t stop him from trying to analyze this language. With just a bit of information, he was convinced that he would be able to decipher some meaning out of it. Those texts were maybe too complicated right now, but he would not lose hope in this endeavor.


    While he was organizing his thoughts, he realized something by accident. In the texts from Cleansed Asura that were in his memory, he recognized one of the Insight Writings from the physical texts. This was a bamboo scroll. Immediately, he took the scroll in hand and compared its content with the memory he had in mind.


    The exact same Insight Writings were present both in the text and in his memory. Of course he was absolutely unable to read them but it was proof that Cleansed Asura had at least read, if not written, those texts. But this wasn''t all. By analyzing his memory, the text in his mind had a similar structure. But it was written with Nuhua characters. What Cao Yun realized was that all the characters from the texts had been replaced by Nuhua characters, one for one. But different characters on the text had been replaced by the same Nuhua character sometimes.


    Thinking about it, Cao Yun came up with an idea. Maybe Cleansed Asura had been too weak when he had transferred his memories. The most important document had been translated but everything else got scrambled with the Nuhua and his own native tongue being mixed together. Without more information, he would have a hard time figuring out what had happened to the texts precisely. But he realized that even learning the language of Cleansed Asura would probably not be enough to fully unravel his knowledge...


    -


    Cao Yun spent almost a week inside the various temples to both research the documents, memorize everything and also rest. His gourd was completely full and the water was perfectly normal. Cao Yun even found two other gourds laying around. Many others were destroyed but two had survived. Thus, he was able to fill them with water as well. The temples were great to refill his own gourd, but he didn''t know how often he would get this great opportunity. Unfortunately, he found nothing useful besides that, not even a map.


    Outside, the fights seemed to have calmed down. And when he went to look, Cao Yun saw that indeed many rib cages were back in the now cracked black sand. All the crows were gone and only several dozens of giant abominations were still standing and fighting. Apparently, they had completely forgotten about him, and it was a good thing.


    In a few days, he would be able to get out and explore some more. Water was not a problem, but food was. Besides the lurking threats of this world, Can Mouye had maybe come here as well. Hopefully he had, and he had died. But Cao Yun was not the hopeful kind of man. Furthermore, he had to think about his friends. Even if this place was related to Cleansed Asura, he could come back later. To be honest, he wasn''t entirely sure about that. But he truly needed to go help his friends.


    Just as he was about to go back inside, he heard a powerful sonic boom up in the sky. From one of the ruined temples floating in the scarred sky, a giant figure suddenly flew out. Focusing his senses, Cao Yun saw that there was another smaller figure being chased by the giant. It was difficult to make out their respective sizes but the small one seemed human as Cao Yun could see clothings. And if that were the case, the giant creature after the smaller shape was somewhere between a thousand chi and a full li*.


    *Approximately 1,000 chi = 1,000 ft = 300 m ; approximately 1 li = 500 m = 500 yd

 Chapter 228: Huang Liyues unacceptable mission

    After beating Gui Bei and before visiting Matriarch Huang Yufeng, Huang Cixi had asked for her bodyguard. Although Huang Liyue still had an intimidating aura, partly because of her scar, she showed tiny signs of warming up to Huang Cixi. As she had always been very perceptive of other people''s emotions, and also thanks to her powerful mind cultivation, Huang Cixi was now able to read her bodyguard as though she had spent her entire life by her sides.


    Moreover, she had finally discovered many secrets Huang Liyue had been able to hide thanks to the matriarch. With just a few pieces of information, she was now aware of almost all of Huang Liyue''s life, including how she had gotten that scar and why she would probably never try to heal it. That also explained why she got interested in Huang Cixi so quickly and why she was so protective of others to the point of becoming a bodyguard despite her status. With her cultivation and her degree of blood purity, she could have had a much more prestigious role within the Huang family. After all, in less than a millennium, she had formed more than half of the True Fiery Drops from ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire''. Maybe she had a real chance of breaking through to 9th-grade Spirit Warrior in the next millennium. In other words, she was as talented as Matriarch Huang Yufeng, and now, it made sense to Huang Cixi.


    But she had asked for her for a completely different matter.


    "Senior Huang Liyue, I will go into the Gate of Heaven and Hell."


    Immediately, Huang Liyue got shocked. It wasn''t completely out of her expectations, but it seemed to be way too soon. This was the ultimate test to finally become the next matriarch. Although the benefits were great, death was also a possibility. Strangely though, Huang Liyue could not imagine that young woman failing.


    "I do not know how long it will take me at all. But I have several things to ask of you."


    "You can ask me anything, Young Mistress."


    In Huang Liyue''s mind, Huang Cixi was almost certainly going to be the next matriarch. And after seeing her those last few months, she was convinced that this would be for the best. She was very smart and shrewd. But maybe she was a bit too soft. After all, she had spared Gui Bei''s life. It was probably due to the deaths of her direct family. Clearly it had affected her. Leaving such a heinous and dangerous boy alive was a mistake. Hopefully, Matriarch Huang Yufeng would have him killed.


    But after he had challenged the Huang family, making him disappear could bring dishonor and shame on the family. Some may start rumors, even if they were true, that they had silenced a mere boy. On the other hand, Gui Bei was known to have committed disgusting crimes. Not too many people would try to stir up trouble because of his death. However, they could still try to affect the Huang family through such an incident. Thinking some more, Huang Liyue wasn''t sure whether they should kill him right away or not. The longer they waited, the more dangerous he could get. After all, he had broken through to Mortal Warrior in almost a year...


    "I need you to kill Gui Bei."


    Just as she was thinking about it, she received the order.


    "I let him live to showcase the dignity and virtue of our family. But this brat is a thorn in our side. Considering what he''s already been capable of, both in terms of cruelty and of cultivation speed, we have to get rid of him fast. Apparently, he seems to be able to feel spiritual senses. That is why I chose you for this mission."


    Huang Cixi stood up and walked toward her bodyguard.


    "But if I just wanted to kill him, I could ask a favor from Fang Shaolong. I''m pretty sure his Major Hall has enough contacts with assassins. What I want is more than that. Gui Bei has been able to develop his strength way faster than any human cultivator ever known. Although he showed no sign of being a demonic cultivator, I have a hard time believing that he got this strength through any orthodox means. Both the Major Hall and Governor Leng will probably tail him to find out how he got this power.


    "And this is precisely what I want you to do. Since you''ve been a bodyguard for so long, your physical senses must be as developed as your spiritual ones. You must follow him and find out how he got those powers. Then, kill him and report back to the Huang residence. Unfortunately, I''ll still be in the Gate of Heaven and Hell but Matriarch Huang Yufeng should be able to handle it properly.


    "I know that this is not the kind of mission that you are used to undertake. But take this as an extension of your duties as bodyguard. Not only will you protect me, you''ll protect the entire Huang family."


    Huang Liyue was pensive. Killing Gui Bei was not a problem. But she would also have to lose the experts sent by both the Major Hall and Governor Leng. That was easier said than done. As though she could read her mind, Huang Cixi kept talking.


    "Do not worry about the other pursuers. I''ll ask Fang Shaolong to distract the men from Governor Leng. I have many things I know he will want in exchange, namely some information he''s lacking concerning both the demonic cultivators and the Cao family. With Ye Zhiyun''s connections in the Imperial City, I am sure I can find pieces of news about the investigation. I know for a fact that he will take the bait."


    "I accept, Young Mistress."


    Considering that Huang Cixi would be in the Gate of Heaven and Hell for a few years at least, Huang Liyue had no one to protect. With the return of Matriarch Huang Yufeng who had almost reached the Sage realm, no threat could endanger the Huang family. Even the upcoming stampede did not seem that dangerous. Besides, following and killing Gui Bei would not take too long either. In a month or two, this would be a done deal.


    "Great!"


    Huang Cixi went back to her seat. But she was not done at all.


    "I still have some things to ask of you that you may not quite like... During my time in the Gate of Heaven and Hell, I want you to be someone else''s bodyguard in the shadows."Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    This time, Huang Liyue was not so inclined to accept. Many names came to her mind. But if she had to protect someone outside of the Huang family, it wasn''t something she really wanted to do. Maybe Huang Cixi just wanted her to protect her father, then that would be fine. But since she had said she wouldn''t like it... Could she be talking about Ye Zhiyun? Well, she could accept it somewhat, considering his ties with Huang Cixi. But he was in the Major Hall, so he was protected.


    "The person I want you to protect has already a powerful backer. But I also want you to spy on him in some manner, and gather as much information as possible." Huang Cixi knew that her demand would not be well received so she insisted on this aspect even though it wasn''t her main concern. Maybe if Huang Liyue saw this as gathering information, she would accept it with less resistance. "I want you to protect Chen Guo."


    "Chen Guo?!"


    For once, this was completely outside of her expectations. Obviously, she knew about him. He was the one who had killed Huang Cixi''s two brothers. Even though she knew that he had acted to protect his life and the life of another girl, the fact remained that he had killed members of the Huang family. For Huang Liyue, this was not something she could either forget or forgive. The best thing she could do was to not seek retribution. But protecting him... She was no fool, clearly Huang Cixi''s intentions were not to spy on him, because she had done so in the Wubei Sect herself. Knowing her, she already knew everything about him. Could she have grown too close to the boy?


    After she had asked to kill Gui Bei, Huang Liyue was sure that the young woman had recovered her calm and composure. She did not let random emotions and past attachments to her deceased brothers dictate her actions. But now she was doubting it. Thankfully, she was sure that Huang Cixi had no romantic affection toward the boy. But she still had affection nonetheless.


    "I understand your reticence. But if I am not mistaken Chen Guo will come in Yinmen City very soon." Just evoking the name brought back some memories that the young woman pushed aside. "After all, not much help will go to protect them from the stampede. And I don''t see him leaving the hometown his Dao companion unprotected.


    "Please listen to me. At least for this period of time, observe him from afar and judge by yourself whether or not he is worthy of protection. The Wubei Sect, and even Xiao Xuefeng, will not be able to divert any personnel to guard him because of all their problems with demonic cultivators. Besides, they could even send a demonic cultivator or someone loyal to them without realizing it. Instead of a bodyguard, they would have sent an assassin. Thus, they probably won''t trust anyone enough for that mission.


    "You should know that next year, he will remain in the Wubei Sect all year long. Besides I''ll be in the Gate of Heaven and Hell for some time. According to the records, it should take somewhere between four to seven years. I''m only asking you to protect Cao Yun while he is himself protecting Yinmen City.


    "And I wasn''t lying when I said that I wanted you to spy on him. But I don''t want you to discover information on him, I already took care of this. I want you to gather information on his enemies. Demonic cultivators will surely try and get to him." Huang Cixi then thought about the Cao family. If the wrong person were to learn that Cao Yun had survived, even the Imperial City would potentially become a problem for him. Although she trusted Huang Liyue, she still didn''t tell her. "By protecting him, you will also protect both me and our Huang family. Indeed, despite our... conflict, we both need the demonic cultivators taken care of.


    "What do you say?"


    For a very long while, Huang Liyue stayed hesitant.


    "I am sorry, Young Mistress. I will not protect someone who killed my family members. Besides, I can''t abandon our residence in this our of need." Huang Liyue looked the young woman directly in her eyes. "I''m certain you know about my past..."


    Caressing her scar, Huang Liyue broke eye contact and kowtowed.


    "Pardon my impertinence, Young Mistress."


    Strangely, Huang Cixi was rather pleased by what had happened. For the very first time, she had seen the real Huang Liyue, not her bodyguard.


    "Huang Liyue, I just ask you to watch over Chen Guo from afar when he is in Yinmen City. There is no reason for the stampede to be particularly brutal there. Besides, our residence should be one of the most protected places in the Hongchen Kingdom. Don''t you trust our matriarch?"


    Huang Cixi didn''t want to let an outsider observe Cao Yun because she didn''t want his identity to be revealed. If ever Huang Liyue came to know of it, Huang Cixi trusted her enough to keep it secret. If she really refused, she could maybe rely on Ye Zhiyun to find someone they could entrust with this mission. Still, the best thing would be for Huang Liyue to do it.


    Once more, Huang Liyue was conflicted.


    "I''m not asking you to protect him forever. Instead of seeing it as protecting Chen Guo, see it as protecting Yinmen City, my hometown."


    Sighing heavily, Huang Liyue ended up letting it go.


    "Fine, Young Mistress. Until the current stampede crisis is resolved, I will observe this boy. But if I have to choose being helping the city and saving his life, my choice is already made. I won''t be presumptuous so I won''t tell you what to do, but you shouldn''t be attached to this boy."


    "I do not mind when you speak your mind. It''s quite the opposite in fact. Thank you for your time, you may go now."


    Despite Huang Liyue''s reaction, the young woman had a strange smile on her face. She was absolutely convinced that Cao Yun would win her bodyguard over. After all, he had won her over without even trying to. And now that she was aware of Huang Liyue''s early life, she knew for a fact that she would accept the mission in the end.


    Obviously, Huang Cixi sincerely wanted to protect Cao Yun, partly because he reminded her of her second brother, but also because he reminded her of herself. Just like her, his family had been killed. But of course, this had been way more brutal and for reasons way more nefarious and obscure. Despite this genuine desire, she had been truthful to her bodyguard. She also wanted to have someone close enough to learn more about the demonic cultivators who would try to kill Cao Yun. Even if they did not learn who he really was, they would still try to kill him nonetheless because he had opposed them several times already.


    She was so certain of Huang Liyue''s ultimate decision that Huang Cixi had already written a letter to Xiao Xuefeng to tell her that she would send a secret bodyguard to protect the young man while he was in Yinmen City.


    -


    Huang Liyue was not feeling well after her discussion. For the first time ever, she was a bit angry at Huang Cixi. She was certain that Huang Cixi knew about her past. Yet, she had asked her to protect someone who had killed her own family members...


    Anyway, for now, she would take care of Gui Bei. Thus, she had to calm her mind.


    After a few hours in her chambers, Huang Liyue packed some daily necessities just in case. Given her status, she had a spatial ring of course. Thus she took some supplies just in case. But she would not be gone for more than a few months at most. She just had to follow Gui Bei, find out where he had gotten his power, kill him and report back.


    Furthermore, if the men from the Major Hall really distracted Governor Leng''s men, the mission would be even faster. In a month or two, this would be done. Then, she would observe Cao Yun because her mistress had really insisted. But there was no way she would ever accept protecting someone who had harmed her own family. Never!

 Chapter 229: Tailing mission gone wrong

    As Huang Cixi was discussing her departure with Matriarch Huang Yufeng, Huang Liyue was putting some things in order before her own departure. In the end, she left the residence just as the matriarch was leading Huang Cixi into the Gate of Heaven and Hell. Only Matriarch Huang Yufeng knew the actual location of this prestigious site. Moreover, apart from the matriarchs themselves, no one knew exactly what could happen inside the Gate of Heaven and Hell. With her cultivation, Huang Liyue had no problem seeing their two figures disappear in the distance.


    Clearly the matriarch was using her spiritual senses to fly away with the young woman. And she had to know precisely who was watching them. Some had begun to call Matriarch Huang Yufeng a half-step Sage. Indeed, she had gone through the tribulation to become one and had lived. Apart from her, only Emperor Weide and Sect Leader Xuan were 9th-grade Spirit Warriors, but no information on any attempted breakthrough on their part was known. Obviously, they would probably not advertise their failure. But after watching the recent tribulation, if they were to try, unless they could use powerful array formations, they would not be able to hide it easily.


    Huang Liyue had some emotion when she saw the current matriarch leave. Either she would never see Huang Cixi ever again or she would replace the current matriarch. For a mere instant, Huang Liyue thought that she wanted Huang Yufeng to stay matriarch. Then, she realized that this would mean Huang Cixi''s death and she erased that thought.


    Huang Liyue had several powerful stealth techniques. Over the centuries she had served as a bodyguard, she had learned many of them. First it was essentially to detect someone using one of those. But by learning techniques used by assassins of all kinds, she slowly realized that she had acquired all the skills necessary to be one herself. The irony was not lost on her.


    In fact, she had even produced her own stealth techniques. After centuries of perfecting it, it had become a 2-star Heaven technique. With a bit more of polish, she was confident enough to push it all the way to the 5-star Heaven rank. That technique was ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Partially, it had been based around the Fenghuang blood seal used by the Huang family to hide their identity. But the Fenghuang blood seal, by definition, could only hide their bloodline.


    Moreover, ''Ashen Feather Seal'' did use her own bloodline to increase its efficiency, but as it had been refined thanks to many other techniques, anyone could use it. The idea behind the technique was to seal every point in both her body and soul that someone could use to see through her. As a seal, she pictured a cloud of ashes delicately covering her entire being and hiding her from the world. She had become so proficient in it that even middle Spirit Warriors could not easily detect her. She had even learned how to fly without revealing herself. Still, her stealth was diminished if she was to fly. But it remained difficult to unveil.


    Using her ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Huang Liyue completely disappeared. She was physically present, but no one could either discern or even notice her. For all intents and purposes, she had become invisible.


    Thanks to that, she flew away and found herself right in front of the building where Gui Bei was known to live in. Upon arrival, she immediately released her spiritual senses. As a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, her Soul Embryo was fully awakened and mature. Right now, her cultivation consisted in harmonizing her own soul and her Soul Embryo both to nourish it and prepare it for the next step. As such, her spiritual senses were rather powerful. From her own Upper Dantian, her Soul Embryo expanded into the physical world. In an instant, her Soul Embryo had completely covered the building all the way to the foundations.


    What she realized was that Gui Bei was gone. But she noticed something more. He had not just left. Every single human being in the building had been viciously killed, including Gui Bei''s own father. From the wounds, Huang Liyue recognized that they had indeed been killed by a meteor hammer. Some had their heads literally crushed. Among the victims, Gui Bei''s father had had his spine reduced to dust in his own body. None of the kills had been clean. With her knowledge of assassination, Huang Liyue knew it had been done by someone unstable and emotional, Gui Bei.


    There was no trace of Qi however. He had used pure physical strength to slaughter them all. In total, there were thirty-seven victims. And they had been killed around two days ago. It was impossible for the office of Governor Leng to not have noticed this. Most likely, they had but since they wanted to know the origin of Gui Bei''s sudden cultivation increase, they had kept it quiet. Until they could finally find out his secret either by tailing him or by interrogating him, they would keep everything under wraps. That wasn''t necessarily a bad thing for Huang Liyue either.


    No matter how talented Gui Bei was, he was only a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior right now. In two days he could not have gone too far. Moreover the city was under heavy surveillance because of the upcoming stampede. With these pieces of information, Huang Liyue was able to deduce where the young murderer would go. Suddenly she had an idea. She extended her spiritual senses all the way to the young girl he had tried to assault, Long Jia. Thankfully she was fine.


    Thus, Huang Liyue left the city in pursuit of the young man.


    -


    It did not take her more than an hour to find him in the woods over the Nine Peaks mountain. Considering the direction he was following, he was going toward Yinmen City. Well, it was the general direction of his movement, probably not his destination.


    What was funny was that Gui Bei seemed to be doing the same thing as she was. Indeed, as soon as she had found him, she made sure that no one was following him anymore. And apparently, Fang Shaolong had taken good care of it. Here and there she felt the presence of some Spirit Warriors but they were all going away. Most likely, they were being mislead in some capacity. Quite frankly, Huang Liyue did not care about those details. She was now entirely focused on not being discovered. To that effect, she even stopped flying around and completely restrained her Soul Embryo within the confines of her Upper Dantian.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    She had noticed firsthand that Gui Bei seemed to have a strange ability to notice spiritual senses. Thanks to her occupation as bodyguard, Huang Liyue had trained her physical senses for a very long time even after obtaining her spiritual senses. In terms of spiritual senses, Xiao Xuefeng was the most competent cultivator in the Hongchen Kingdom. But in terms of physical senses, Huang Liyue could rightfully claim first place.


    With her expertise, she had gone to the extent of adding a chapter to her own creation ''Ashen Feather Seal'', ''Burning the Cinders of the Six Openings''. This chapter had techniques put in a certain order to optimize the development of all the senses, including the spiritual senses. The Six Openings were the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, and finally the skin with all the acupoints of the human body. To them, she had also added the spiritual senses encompassing everything else. This chapter was directed toward improving the senses of the body and the mind, either physical, related to Qi, or spiritual.


    Once more, she had a great stealth and a great perception, in other words, she was the perfect assassin.


    -


    Huang Liyue had to be very patient because Gui Bei was way too careful. It took him one entire month to finally decide that he was not being followed. To be fair, he was right to be paranoid, because he was indeed being followed. Thanks to his spatial rings, he had probably a lot of resources. He had even gone to retrieve the one he had hidden away. Most likely, he could survive in those woods for several years, if not decades. Without using her spiritual senses, Huang Liyue could not determine the volume of the spatial rings just by looking at them.


    With the looming threat of the demonic beasts stampede, Gui Bei was also very careful not to encounter a demonic beast with more than four demonic cores. At his current level, he could kill a 4-core demonic beast, but he was not confident against anything higher. After seeing him fight, Huang Liyue realized that he had already progressed a little bit. His cultivation was fully stabilized. If she had no information on him, she could easily believe he had been a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior for a very long time.


    Finally, his habits changed. However, Huang Liyue stuck to hers. She didn''t want to blow her cover so close to the goal. If he behaved in a different way, it probably meant that he was now feeling safe and was going to reveal some of his secrets, maybe enough for Huang Liyue to consider the mission a success. In that case, she could then kill Gui Bei and be done with him. It would have taken less than two months after all.


    -


    Gui Bei was now convinced that no expert was following him. Some had tailed him after leaving the city. Fortunately, they had probably been worried about the upcoming stampede. Baziyun City required everyone to be ready. Even that moron of a governor had not noticed the entire household Gui Bei had eradicated. Just to be sure, Gui Bei waited a few days.


    Unfortunately, the voice in his head told him to not be arrogant and to wait longer and longer. In the end, he was forced to wait almost a month. For an entire month, he had lived in those woods while no kind of spiritual senses was used to try and detect him. Of course, he had lost his few pursuers. The people of Baziyun City were probably so worried and terrified by the prospect of a demonic beasts stampede that they had not cared about him. And he would make them regret it. Not only would he annihilate the Huang family and defile Huang Cixi, he would also raze the entire Baziyun City to the ground.


    Gui Bei could already imagine the scene of chaos and misery. But the voice in his head was wasting his time.


    "You see that no one is following me! The more I wait the more risks I''m in. If we encounter a 5-core demonic beasts, remember that you''ll also die with me. Whether you agree or not, I''m going!"


    "Fine." The voice was emotionless. Otherwise, Gui Bei would have heard disdain in it.


    This discussion happened in Gui Bei''s mind and Huang Liyue was not privy to it.


    After two days of walking, Gui Bei got closer to Baziyun City. In fact, he was now very close to the former residence of the Cao family. Suddenly he stopped in front of some ravine. And he stayed several minutes looking down without doing anything.


    "Are you sure? This isn''t the same gate... It even feels different."


    "Of course it does. The gate you used was just a tiny portion of the actual dimension. The true dimension where you''ll find the power you seek is down there. Once you enter the gate, I''ll guide you, do not worry. I know this world perfectly. And I can assure you the miserable fraction of power you''ve obtained is nothing compared to what this world can give you."


    "You promised me enough power to annihilate the Huang family, remember!"


    "Do not worry. Not only will you be powerful enough to kill them all, you will also be able to dominate the entire Piaolu planet. Trust me."


    "I don''t trust you at all! But I do want this power."


    Gui Bei''s eyes were full of a dangerous light, mixing greed and rage. Unexpectedly, he jumped down the ravine before Huang Liyue''s eyes. And just as soon, his presence completely disappeared. For the first time, the bodyguard panicked. She had lost him entirely. It was as if he had never existed.


    At first, she was hesitant to get too close. But she had no other choice to determine what was going on. In the worst case scenario, if it was some scheme to force her to reveal herself, she could just capture him and try to pry open his very soul. Maybe, like demonic cultivators, he had some seal that would destroy the information she wanted though. If it came down to that, she would simply kill him and be done with the threat he was. Losing information was better than letting a dangerous enemy walk free. Huang Cixi might disagree but Huang Liyue''s goal was to protect her family first.


    However, when she reached the ravine, she realized that there was nothing, nothing at all. For the first time for a month, Huang Liyue used her Soul Embryo and her spiritual senses tried to pierce through the veil of darkness. Even with her full concentration, and pushing her mind and soul to their limit, she was unable to find anything at all. Her soul seemed to expand into nothingness. After stretching it as far as she could, her Soul Embryo had not been able to detect anything at all.


    Since this approach was not working, she tried to feel what was going around this ravine. And she was shocked when she discovered that space itself was somewhat warped. Suddenly this made sense to her. This was the same sensation as a spatial ring, but slightly different and bigger. That black hole was a door to some other dimension. During her long life, she had already crossed such a veil once. And she clearly remembered the sensation. Gui Bei had found his power inside another dimension. That could explain a lot of things.


    Still hesitant, Huang Liyue could have gone back into the Huang residence to expose her findings. But she may risk letting Gui Bei run away. She had no idea whether this was the only gateway or not. Maybe he could leave through another door. If she let him escape, he could become an existential threat, especially with knowledge and artifacts from another dimension.


    Huang Liyue had to at least find out what this dimension was. Thus, she followed the young murderer down the black hole.

 Chapter 230: Bone King in the celestial palace

    In the dead world, Cao Yun was observing the eight desolate palaces floating high in the sky. The one closest to the temples he was in had almost exploded. Several pieces of wood fell to the ground all over the black plains. A few pieces of wall even collided and crushed one of the giant abominations. Although it was one of the biggest Cao Yun had seen, with a strength between a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior and a 1st-grade Spiritual Warrior, the creature got completely destroyed in an instant.


    Up in the sky, the palace was not destroyed but an entire part of a wall had been blown away.


    Even by using all of his mind cultivation to try and strengthen his senses, Cao Yun had a hard time making out the shape of the human figure. On the other hand, he was able to clearly see the pursuer. Once more, this was a giant skeleton. Well, the word giant was too little for that thing. The biggest abomination Cao Yun had seen on the ground was less than a hundred chi. That monstrosity was ten times bigger, at the very least.


    The first thing that popped into Cao Yun''s mind was the image of a giant whale. Indeed, that creature looked like one titanic spine with ribs forming a complex and large cage. And as it was flying in the air, it truly looked like a whale. But the rib cage was way more complex than that. The ribs themselves had several ramifications with some pikes here and there. As they were connected to the spine, it also caught Cao Yun''s attention. All over the back of that flying titan, there were bone spurs almost as long as Cao Yun was tall.


    Thanks to the human figure, Cao Yun was able to have a rough idea of the proportions. And the spine was full of those bone spurs with various exotic forms, but all seemed dreadful and lethal in some capacity.


    All along the creature, there were ribs with various sizes. Sometimes they became shorter before being big again just behind. And here and there, some kinds of joints were visible. On those, very tiny limbs, compared to the impressive body of course, were attached on the sides. Among them, there didn''t seem to be any rule pertaining to their exact location. Some were high, almost attached to the vertebrae, while others were so low they were almost under the skeleton itself.


    And each limb looked like a bigger versions of the limbs from the giant abominations Cao Yun had fought against.


    Finally, Cao Yun could see the skull of that thing. Once again, it was a titanic version of the heads the giant had. However, this creature had only one head. And on that head, there were spikes coming out of the top of the skull. Right away, Cao Yun guessed that this was some kind of crown. Maybe it could indicate that that thing had some authority on the other bone creatures. Or maybe it was just a symbol of strength and power. Another possibility came to mind. The other bone creatures seemed to develop more and more intellectual capacities as they were bigger. Maybe that flying titan was the equivalent of a Spirit Warrior for those bone monsters. And in that case, maybe was he cultivating a more developed mind through those spikes.


    Not knowing exactly why, Cao Yun thought that this hypothesis was the most likely. And thinking back on what he had seen, it made sense.


    Those bone creatures were cultivating just like humans. The first stage were those crows which either were produced by the rotten grass, produced it themselves or merely used it. Then, after absorbing enough bone dust, they could become humanoid like figures. Through even more absorption of bones, and probably Evil Qi and Death Energy, they were transfigured into the giant abominations. Finally, they could maybe ascend to the stage of that flying titan up in the sky.


    Anyway, Cao Yun decided to observe the scene without exposing himself. Hopefully the flying titan would not notice him at all, he was so small compared to it.


    -


    Up in the sky, Huang Liyue was flying away from that thing she had decided to call a Bone King due to the crown it had engraved in its skull.


    She had known that trying to infiltrate the celestial palaces would be risky, but she had to try and find a way to get out of this dead world. Since her arrival, it had been nearly four months already. Despite her exploration, she had found no trace of either Gui Bei nor any form of life. The only thing that appeared alive at first glance was the rotten grass, but it was in fact dead. Only the Evil Qi within made it look a bit alive.


    The only place she had not been able to explore in those plains was up in the sky. The celestial palaces held possibly a clue as to how to get out of this world, or what this world truly was.


    However, she discovered that the palaces also held many threats within them. Even with her great stealth, she had unwillingly attracted the attention of the giant monster coiled within the celestial palace she had entered. In this world, her stealth was compromised because, just like Cao Yun, she also needed to repel the Evil Qi. Although she was a middle Spirit Warrior, she was not immune to the corrosion by Evil Qi. Despite her best efforts to both protect herself from it and stay stealthy, she had finally been discovered.


    The titanic crowned spine had been coiled around some kind of red ornamental gate right in the middle of the palace. There were three arches with oblique beams supporting it on each of its four vertical pillars. Over the entire structure, there were incredible sculptures that Huang Liyue had never seen before. But it resonated with her somehow. She thought that maybe it was linked to some kind of knowledge, maybe a martial art or something even more profound.


    Because it was so gigantic, the monumental rib cage of the creature was coiled several times around each of the four pillars. And its skull was on top of the gate itself.


    No matter how stealthy Huang Liyue was, as soon as she entered the inner palace, all hell broke loose. In an instant the entire spine woke up and flew toward the intruder.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ''Bright Dawn Wheel''.


    From Huang Liyue''s spatial ring, thousands of iron fans appeared in a blue light and immediately turned into fiery discs. Right in front of Huang Liyue, there were now several wheels of fire protecting her. However the creature was so powerful and massive that almost half of them got demolished in the first impact. Under the force of the shock, the creature was pushed back a little and Huang Liyue was sent flying away from the temple.


    Contrary to Cao Yun, Huang Liyue was able to literally see the Qi in the air. Besides, she also had spiritual senses. As such, she was able to determine right away that this creature was as powerful as a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. On its skull she could also see six horns that looked like a crown while a seventh one was slowly growing. All around those horns, she could see an accumulation of Death Energy that had taken physical form. In fact, the Death Energy, that was corrupted Po, had almost turned back into a form of soul. That creature had no soul yet, but it was slowly rebuilding one apparently.


    Many thoughts came through Huang Liyue''s mind. At first she was hesitant to fight. Maybe there was something that could help her in that temple and she didn''t want to damage it. But she had seen no concrete proof in the short time she had been in there so she wasn''t going to risk her life for something hypothetical. To get out of this world, she first had to stay alive after all. And now that she had seen what kind of monster was in that temple, she feared that others loomed into the seven other temples. If that was the case and they were to wake up, she would have no way of surviving.


    For now, it would be a better idea to just fly away and think of a strategy.


    ''Dance to the Burning World''.


    Huang Liyue had fully mastered the ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel''. As such, she was able to fuse all the moves in each of the three forms to push it to the ultimate pinnacle. All around Huang Liyue, flames appeared and formed four wings as well as a feathery tail. In her heart, she had also activated her five True Fiery Drops. They were all burning within her own chest, like five joyous True Fiery Fenghuang.


    ''Wheel of Searing Beauty''.


    All her iron fans swirled around in the air and formed a myriad of various wheels. Among them there were no two identical ones. Each wheel had its own pattern, but they were all vibrant and full of complex geometrical drawings.


    From the ground, Cao Yun was able to discern something as well within those wheels. They were forming some kind of array formation by the way they were arranged.


    From the wheels, a bright light rained down upon the giant monster. But it was not just light, there was also an intense heat within it and some kind of spiritual pressure as well. Since the skeleton had only a semblance of a soul, it would probably not be able to resist long against a direct attack against his soul. And indeed, the skeleton was writhing in what seemed like pain. Obviously Cao Yun was absolutely unable to see through the light but Huang Liyue was.


    Still, she did not relinquish her resolve to fly away. Even if the fight seemed to go well for now, she felt something ominous. And as a bodyguard, she had learned to trust her instincts at all times. Those instincts were not always right, but they usually were. In a world she knew nothing about, trusting her guts was paramount to her survival. Moreover, other abominations could also appear from the floating temples in the distance. Just like Cao Yun, she had witnessed firsthand the solidarity of the giant skeletons on the ground. What if there were several titanic rib cages ready to intervene in order to protect their brethren?


    Instead of pressing the attack, Huang Liyue pushed her ''Dance to the Burning World'' to the limit. A literal cone of flame remained behind her as she flew faster than sound. That wasn''t a speed she could keep very long, but hopefully she would gain enough distance to reactivate her stealth and disappear. Most likely, there had been some kind of array formation she had not been able to detect in the palace. Considering the lack of spirituality of her enemy, it was impossible for it to have detected her on its own.


    The next instant, she was proven right. It had been a good decision to fly away and not attack anymore.


    From the bright and warm light, thousands of bones pierced in all the directions. With a powerful movement, the titanic rib cage spun on itself. It became just like a whip and completely dispersed the light. All around it however, there were now thousands of weapons made of bone that had appeared out of nowhere. Maybe this was something close to Qi Manifestation. Cao Yun wasn''t sure, but Huang Liyue was. With her spiritual senses, she clearly saw that those weapons were made from Death Energy and Evil Qi. Some of it had been extracted from the air, but most of it came from the creature itself.


    Since he had stayed within the temples, Cao Yun had not been able to properly feel it but the concentration of Evil Qi and Death Energy in the air was slowly receding. As the skeletons had been fighting, they had also been absorbing it, just like humans could absorb Qi. But unlike in the Hongchen Kingdom, apart from the black rain, there was nothing to replenish the Evil Qi and Death Energy when it was absorbed.


    Now that such a massive creature was extracting even a tiny portion of it, there was almost none left and the last skeletons on the ground were all going back underground. It was hard to say whether this was by fear of the fight in the sky or just because of the lack of resources.


    High in the sky, the weapons all flew toward Huang Liyue. Since they were smaller, they flew way faster than the monster and were even able to exceed Huang Liyue''s speed for a split second. This was enough to completely surround her with weapons.


    Once more, she pushed her ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire''. All five of her True Fiery Drops got brighter and brighter. One of them even left her chest and turned into a True Fiery Fenghuang half as big as she was. From her spatial ring, she took out another iron fan. It was different from the others. All the iron fans she had used until now were made with Incandescent Phoenix Paper. Every one was absolutely identical and they were in fact part of a set called the ''Myriad Inferno Feathers'', very similar to flying swords.


    The iron fan in Huang Liyue''s hand right now was entirely made of metal with no paper or tissue at all, the ''Ironclad Wheel''. At the same time she opened it, the True Fiery Fenghuang opened its own tail as well, forming a beautiful wheel of multiple colored flames.


    ''Peacock Displays a Firestorm''.


    Huang Liyue threw her ''Ironclad Wheel'' and the True Fiery Drop manifested before her spit out a literal firestorm accompanying the flying weapon. Many colors were mixed and intertwined with each other. In the middle of the attack, this was hell. But on the ground, it looked like the most beautiful painting Cao Yun had ever seen. Blue and red flames were clashing and coiling around while green ones flashed here and there. This was fascinating and seemed to come from another world.


    ''Ironclad Wheel'' was bathed in this firestorm and when it got close to the encircling weapons, it used it to amplify its attack. From the ribs of the iron fan, tongues of fire went in all the directions and burned hundreds of weapons to ashes. Even the Death Energy and the Evil Qi were burned away by the heat of the attack. And when it was literally in the midst of the bone weapons, ''Ironclad Wheel'' caused a giant explosion of colors.


    As all the weapons were blown away, Huang Liyue pushed her ''Dance to the Burning World'' once more and flew through the hole in the encircling. Passing through, she also retrieved her ''Ironclad Wheel''.

 Chapter 231: The phoenix without wings

    Thus Huang Liyue was able to get out of the encirclement by the flying crowned spine. Still, her priority had not changed at all. Right now, she did not want to fight against an unknown enemy. Instead, she was focused on trying to flee as fast and as far as possible.


    ''Dance to the Burning World''.


    The True Fiery Drop she had manifested outside of her heart grew in size and slowly got big enough to contain her entire body. Just like with ''Ironclad Wheel'', it melded with the ball of fire and the four wings manifested around Huang Liyue. Using both her Qi Manifestation and her blood cultivation, she was able to sustain her incredible speed once again. And on the ground, Cao Yun was able to hear her exceed the speed of sound with a deafening boom.


    Unfortunately, her fight had made her worst fears true. From the eight other celestial palaces, almost identical creatures appeared. Their structures were similar and their sizes were almost the same as well. To be more precise, some were larger than others, but they were so titanic to begin with that the difference was only marginal. The largest and longest of them all was a bit more than one li long. No matter how much Cao Yun was trying to think of one, there was no demonic beast that could be as big as that creature above his head. If such a thing were to attack Yinmen City, the entire city would be razed to the ground in an instant.


    And that large nightmarish spine had not six but eight horns on its head. In fact there was even a ninth one being formed. On the other hand, the smallest creature only had five horns on its skull, one less than the original monster Huang Liyue had been fighting against.


    With those reinforcements, running would become an issue. From the ground, Cao Yun could still not fully make out who the human cultivator was, but he was now absolutely sure that the fighter was indeed human. He had recognized her attacks as Qi Manifestations. That person could maybe help him get out of this place, but she had to survive herself first.


    Surrounded by eight things that were almost all as powerful as her, if not even more powerful, Huang Liyue was in a terrible situation. But she did not despair or panic. As a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, she had a lot of experience. Although she had never been in such a desperate situation before, she had already fought against demonic beasts and even demons stronger than her. The Huang family was not to be looked down upon.


    Without batting an eye, she fully activated ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire''. The four other True Fiery Drops left her chest as well and joined the fifth one outside. All of them had the shape of a True Fiery Fenghuang.


    ''Dance to the Burning World''.


    They danced around Huang Liyue with an exquisite aerial choreography. The air around the woman began to become blurry because of the heat, but she was not affected in the slightest.


    ''Wheel of Searing Beauty''.


    Suddenly, the True Fiery Drops doubled in size. With them, the blurry area also increased. Right now, Huang Liyue looked like a small star surrounded by a halo of blazing steam. Even Cao Yun was able to feel the heat on the ground, although she was way too high up for him to see her clearly. However, he felt something coming from the egg. Apparently it was reacting to the show that was above their head.


    This change in the egg made Cao Yun realize something. With the heat, the steam and the blazing birds around her, he could not even distinguish any color. But for an instant he thought he saw pure white hair. Those hair were not white because of age. Now that the egg had reacted, Cao Yun was almost certain of his guess. That woman was from the Huang family. It made sense. After all, the main branch of the Huang family was living in Baziyun City. And although Cao Yun had suffered injustice from the hands of Huang Lixin who had tried to murder him, he had still a very good impression of the main branch.


    When he was alive, his great grand-father had always admired Matriarch Huang Yufeng. And as a child, Cao Yun had heard a lot about her prowesses. Given the strength of that woman up there, she was clearly from the main branch of the Huang family. She was literally a light in the darkness. With her help, he may find a way out and he could warn his friends about Zeng Minghe and the demonic cultivators. However, she was in a very bad position right now. Hopefully, she would be strong enough to at least run away. But then, Cao Yun would have no way to find her again. And even if he could get her attention right now, which he couldn''t at all, it would put her and him in even more danger.


    From the steam around Huang Liyue''s body, a sphere with many patterns appeared, traced with flames of various colors melting together. The five True Fiery Drops were at crucial junctions at the surface of this sphere. And from them, giant wings spread.


    ''Peacock Displays a Firestorm''!


    Finally, the form of a True Fiery Fenghuang appeared around Huang Liyue with the sphere she was in as its core. The burning bird was just a hundred chi long. Of course, it was giant, as big as the tallest bone abomination Cao Yun had seen on the ground. But compared with the Bone Kings around Huang Liyue, it was nearly ten times smaller.


    As soon as it got formed, the Qi Manifestation of this True Fiery Fenghuang let out a screech so powerful that the shock wave was visible with the naked eye. All the Bone Kings got shaken by this intense shockwave mixing air pressure and heat. Even the nearest celestial palace''s walls shook a little bit. They were in such a sorry state that they got almost blown away.


    This was almost the most powerful technique of the ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel'' martial art, a full manifestation of a True Fiery Fenghuang. Moreover, Huang Liyue had used five True Fiery Drops to generate it and to give it more life. This Qi Manifestation had some traces of the real thing''s bloodline. With this, Huang Liyue could fight against 7th-grade Spirit Warriors and even resist some moves from an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    The grades of the Spirit Warrior realm were not like those of the Mortal realm. With each realm, the disparity between every small grade became higher and higher. A 6th-grade Spirit Warrior fighting equally against a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior was akin to crossing not one but at least four or even five grades of the Mortal realm. Paradoxically, it was easier to do so for a Spirit Warrior because they had many more tools available to them. For example, Cao Yun was unable to perform even the most basic of Qi Manifestation or Qi Manipulation. Until now, he had mimicked Zhi Yin and infused some Qi in his techniques but this was nothing like the real deal.


    Furthermore, a Spirit Warrior had more experience and more martial arts at his disposal. Huang Liyue had lived for almost eight hundred years. And across her long life, she had discovered many martial arts and special techniques, either from her own family or from the enemies she had fought. For example, from the assassins she had killed, she had retrieved many arts pertaining to stealth and perception. Later, they had become the basis of her personal techniques.


    Even if she did not learn all of those techniques, she had still understood many concepts that she could combine with her family''s martial art. This was like Cao Yun using the concept of vibration from ''Slaughtering the Enemy''. Recently, he had even used a tiny bit of ''Bladeless Eternity'' to get a better feel for the Tail Star. Every martial art or technique had some concepts and truths in them that could help a cultivator better understand other arts. Instinctively, Cao Yun was able to feel that from Huang Liyue. Like him, she had a thing for collecting various manuals and arts. And she had a mind perceptive enough to extract the essence of those arts to use them.


    Unfortunately, Huang Liyue knew that this wouldn''t be enough. The pressure she felt from the biggest Bone King was equivalent to a weak 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. It was still incomparable to her matriarch''s aura. But she knew that she could do nothing against such an enemy but resist one or two moves. Hopefully, this thing would not have a speed matching its power... If Huang Liyue had one more True Fiery Drop she was fairly certain that she could activate the real ultimate technique of ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel''.


    She had mostly understood it, but she still lacked the purity of blood to really unleash it in a fight. However, that would have just made her able to resist ten more moves from that abomination. For an instant, Huang Liyue imagined what Matriarch Huang Yufeng would do. And she could picture it clearly. With a single slap she would obliterate the weakest Bone Kings and her flames would reduce even the strongest one to cinders. In what could be her final moments, Huang Liyue thought about her time with Matriarch Huang Yufeng and about how she had received her scar.


    "I''m sorry, Mother."


    For the first time for more than seven hundred years, Huang Liyue was almost certain that she would die. Her first words went to her mother she felt she had let down all those centuries ago. Although she was sincere, one could feel a lot of resentment hidden behind this apology. Then, she thought about the new hope of the Huang family. Huang Cixi would become a resplendent matriarch, she was sure of it.


    "It''s a pity I won''t be able to see you mature, Young Mistress. Please, do not blame me for failing in my mission."


    For a short instant, Huang Liyue looked at her spatial ring. There was something that could help her in there, but the consequences would be even more terrible than death. At least, even if her physical body died, she still had hopes for her Soul Embryo and her soul within. She would use this last means only if she had absolutely no other choice. Right now, she still had a tiny bit of hope that she could successfully flee.


    ''Fenghuang Soars From Kunlun''!


    With a deafening roar, the True Fiery Fenghuang flew upward. Another shockwave shook the Bone Kings. But this time they were prepared and thousands of thousands of bone weapons of all kinds appeared all around them. The one with the eight horns had the most weapons. And they looked to come from the most horrendous of torture chambers. The mere fact that they were made of bones was disturbing but they also had terrifying shapes like no other human weapons.


    The Bone Kings chased after the flaming bird and flew upward as well. Before they could attack however, the Qi Manifestation suddenly dived down, back toward them. And just as it reached them, it exploded into a ball of fires. There were all kinds of colors in the fire, black, white, red, yellow, green. For the first time ever, a sun seemed to shine on that grayish world. Cao Yun had the feeling that life was coming back in a dead world. But it only lasted for an instant.


    A weak Bone King who was the closest to the blast got reduced to smithereens. All its ribs cracked and even its skull split. Some parts of its bones fell to the ground while others were immediately reduced to dust and then to ashes. It was the only casualty as all the others survived somehow. Among them, some had their spine crack while others lost either limbs or ribs. Even the most powerful of them suffered small cracks in its skull, but it endured and pushed through.


    Before the flames were even extinguished, all the weapons from the Bone Kings flew into its center, trying to slaughter the human. Most of them were completely obliterated by the mere heat inside of the explosion. Huang Liyue retrieved more and more ''Myriad Inferno Feathers'' from her spatial ring. There were almost as many iron fans as there were bone weapons coming for her. With all of her spiritual senses, she controlled her weapons to block the incoming threats. Unfortunately, she was not able to block all of them.


    Her Wei Qi faltered and fresh blood spurted staining her torn robe. She felt an intense pain both cold and hot as Death Energy and Evil Qi were crawling into her body through the wound. The intense heat obliterated the weapon and even cauterized her wound, but the poison was in her system now. And after this first wound, she received many others. Although she tried to avoid most of it, she still got hurt significantly. More and more corrosive energies penetrated her body with each wound.


    Cao Yun was obviously unable to make out anything that was happening within the ball of fire. However he felt the egg react to something and focused all of his senses on it.


    From the ball of fire, he only caught a glimpse of it, but he saw a shape fly out of it. As soon as Cao Yun had seen it, it vanished. It wasn''t that it had been too fast for him, it had just vanished in thin air. But thanks to the reaction of the Mountain Fenghuang egg, Cao Yun had been able to determine the direction it had been flying toward. And he could determine that it was crashing down beyond the horizon.


    Although it was only a feeling, the young man was convinced that it was the Huang expert who had been able to erase her presence at the very last moment to run away. And he had been right! Even this incredible attack was only a distraction for Huang Liyue to run from the battlefield. Since she had no hope of winning and no one to protect here, the best course of action was to run. As a bodyguard, it was strangely not too rare to run away because she had to protect her charge. Fighting while protecting someone was often more difficult than just running away.


    But she had been terribly wounded in the process. She had already exhausted most of her energy and mental strength and now she had Evil Qi and Death Energy in her...


    Before she could even touch the ground, she lost consciousness. On the other hand, the Bone Kings were lacking in spirituality. None were able to see through Huang Liyue''s stealth technique and they all assumed that the human had been killed.

 Chapter 232: Winds of Despair

    After the disappearance of the human, the Bone Kings, as Huang Liyue had called them, came down from the sky. Seeing them get near him, Cao Yun drew back into the temples. Those structures were able to fend off the Evil Qi. Hopefully, they would also work in both directions and his own presence would be invisible. Just to be safe, Cao Yun activated his stealth technique, ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'', and pushed his mind cultivation to the maximum to enhance it.


    All his vital functions slowed down and his presence got completely erased. No Mortal could ever detect him without looking straight at him. On the other hand, experienced Mortal Warriors could still detect the Qi flowing through his meridians. And of course, Spirit Warriors had spiritual senses against which this kind of stealth meant almost nothing. They could literally spread their soul around them to sense any disturbance.


    Thankfully, the Bone Kings were busy with something else. The first one to come down was the biggest with eight horns. It had come down at the spot where the bones from the one Huang Liyue had destroyed had fallen. Scattered all over the ground, the bones slowly levitated in the air.


    Watching from afar, Cao Yun thought that those creatures were going to do the same thing as the giant he had observed would do. But they acted differently. Instead of absorbing the bones themselves, they turned them into a fine powder. When Cao Yun imagined that finally that bone powder would get absorbed and would join the body of the monster, it caught on fire instead. A black fire was slowly burning with the bone powder as fuel. Then, this black fire accumulated around the horns of the crowned spine.


    It was very small but its ninth horn began to grow a little.


    After it had absorbed the biggest pieces of bones in such a way, the giant monster flew back up and went into one of the celestial palaces. Only when it was finished, did the six others fully descend themselves. They seemed to naturally have decided the distribution of the remnants from their former companion. Each one only worked in its own area and did not try to contend with the others. Moreover, the areas depended mainly on their own size and the number of their horns.


    However, just like the giant who did not care about inferior skeletons, the crowned spines gathering the remnants showed no mercy for the giants buried in the black sand. Here and there, a few giants got extracted from the black sand as the remnants of the Bone King levitated in the air, probably only because they were close by. And they shared the same fate, burned into a black flame and then absorbed into the horns of the remaining Bone Kings.


    As they were absorbing those black flames, Cao Yun noticed no immediate change on them except for their horns. However, after that, he noticed that they were slowly regenerating. Unlike the other skeletons who absorbed the bones, those creatures seemed to directly extract the Death Energy from them. This process probably allowed them to refine it further.


    What Huang Liyue had noticed was that those things were trying to create a soul. From the Death Energy which was a degenerate form of Po, the corporeal soul, they were slowly building up an entirely new soul. This was what gave them the ability to fly for example, just like Spirit Warriors with their Soul Embryo in a sense. The bones, which were a physical manifestation of Death Energy through Evil Qi, were not that useful for them. With their pseudo-soul they could easily use the Evil Qi in the air to rebuild bones, just like they were able to manifest various bone weapons.


    For now, Cao Yun had no way of knowing all of those details, but it didn''t stop him from having many hypotheses. Moreover, he had some understanding of both souls, Death Energy and Evil Qi. Thus, his own deductions were not that far off from the mark. After all, the Drop of Wrath in his heart was trying to rebuild its own Po. So the bone creatures were not that different from it.


    -


    Only when the Bone Kings had all returned to their respective celestial palaces did Cao Yun heave a sigh of relief. No more bone creature was present on the ground. However, there were now huge craters everywhere due to the fallen Bone King and the few giants who had been extracted and burned away. Earlier, this scenery looked like a graveyard but now it was truly a battlefield covered in fighting scars and corpses.


    After the several days spent in those temples, Cao Yun had searched everything he could. There was nothing more to find here, especially not food, nor any way to leave. Thus, he looked at the horizon, in the direction Huang Liyue had gone.


    That woman was the only lead he had right now. Despite his encounter with Huang Lixin and Huang Longwei, Cao Yun kept a good impression of the main branch of the Huang family. The actions of a few should not condemn an entire family after all. Furthermore, as a Spirit Warrior, she would be a big help to try and get out of this place. But Cao Yun was still a bit unsure. The fact that he had killed two members of the Huang family should been known, especially by someone with so much power within the main branch of the Huang family, and probably authority then. But on the other hand, he was from the Wubei Sect.


    At worst, the Huang family would want to judge him, not execute him right away, right?


    But they were in a place where no one would ever find out what had happened. If that woman harbored any ill will toward him, he would die without leaving any trace. But again, without her help, he would probably die without leaving any trace either. And would an orthodox Spirit Warrior stoop so low as to kill a junior?


    Once more, Cao Yun was plagued with uncertainty. He really wanted to energize this Chamber of Heavenly Court. This would increase both his reaction speed and his decision making. In a way, he was somehow counting on it to help him erase his uncertainties, but that probably wouldn''t be that easy. However, it would allow him to make up his mind faster, maybe think faster as well.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Although he had now clearly chosen a path for his life, he was still uncertain when it came to smaller decisions.


    Still, in the end, he decided to go find that woman. After all, he had no real other options. Then came the problem of actually finding her. If she was hurt badly, which was probably the case, she could not maintain her stealth and Cao Yun would be able to find her. Besides, the egg had a bloodline close to the one of the True Fiery Fenghuang. As such, it could help him just by its instinctive reactions. On the other hand, if she was not too badly hurt, she would detect Cao Yun before he could. Obviously, if she were to discover a human in this place, she would want to interrogate him. And in the end, he would find her as well.


    Looking back, Cao Yun thought it was a pity to leave all those documents from the temples behind. But he also felt that it was strangely the right thing to do. Even if he had wanted to take them with him, without any spatial tool, that would be complicated. And somehow, they felt like they belonged in those temples. Thinking back on it, that woman had probably been the one who had explored those temples before him. Cao Yun had felt that someone had been there and she was the most obvious answer.


    -


    Using his stealth at its highest degree, Cao Yun went in the direction of Huang Liyue. Thankfully, all the skeletons had disappeared for now, either in the celestial palaces or underground. Now that he left the temples, Cao Yun also realized that there was no more trace of Evil Qi or Death Energy in the air. The skeletons had absorbed all of it by now. This relieved him of yet another burden as he had no more control to exert on the Drop of Wrath.


    Of course, it was getting easier and easier to control the Drop of Wrath but it was still taking a bit of mental strength. Now, he could divert everything toward his stealth. Unfortunately, the only technique he had mastered was ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' which was only a 4-star Earth technique. In theory, any technique, no matter its tier, could be brought to unimaginable height by a true practitioner. It was just like saying that an artist could turn anything into a masterpiece with enough talent.


    But Cao Yun was not an expert in stealth. Although he had read many other books, he had no stealth technique higher than this one. Indeed, they were techniques that were not easily shared with others. The reason was rather obvious. They could be used for very nefarious purposes. As such, they were often hidden. And there were not that many stealth techniques to begin with. It was not really in the culture of the Hongchen Kingdom. Moreover, Spirit Warriors had great control over their own Qi and could easily hide their presence from lower cultivators without too much problem.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was slowly figuring out everything he was truly missing. Concerning the spatial tools, it was just a matter of time before he could finally become a Mortal Warrior and use them. But finding a spatial ring was easier said than done. With his current status though, the Wubei Sect would most likely provide him with one. However, he had no way of knowing how spacious it would be.


    Then, he knew that stealth would be a true ace he would need. His main goal was still to find out what had happened to his family and make the culprits pay. For that very purpose, being able to infiltrate any place without being detected would be a great help. Besides, he was up against dangerous enemies, the demonic cultivators, so he had to be able to hide from them.


    Anyway, right now, he focused all of his mind on two things, stealth and perception. As much as he didn''t want to be discovered, he wanted to discover the Huang woman who had fallen from the sky. Hopefully, she would be able to help him. Since she had a spatial ring, she may even have some food on her for him. With food, water and his Drop of Wrath to protect him from Evil Qi and Death Energy, Cao Yun would be in no immediate danger for the foreseeable future. Then, he could just focus on finding a way out of this place.


    While he walked, he saw that the scenery slowly changed. He literally walked for five days straight. Once again, his legs were painful as he had tried to go as fast as possible without disturbing the very ground on which he was walking. ''Stopping the Waves'' was very useful for this, but it strained his leg muscles some more. Compared to what he could have done before entering the Wubei Sect, those five days were equivalent to more than three weeks of travel. Indeed, Cao Yun could easily walk without any interruption and any sleep for five days now. In addition, the terrain was perfectly flat.


    In other words, this plain was very huge. Yet, he saw no trace of Huang Liyue, she had been blasted away with incredible force. But finally, Cao Yun saw some mountains. Just like everything around, they were perfectly black. Those mountains looked like ferocious fangs who had grown from the ground. They were not welcoming at all. Unfortunately, they were clearly on the trajectory of Huang Liyue. Since they were very high as well, it was likely that the woman had collided with those mountains and was now either on the mountains or buried in rubbles.


    Cao Yun found those mountains very ominous, but they were a change in the scenery. The fact that there was change was a good thing. A new scenery meant new possibilities of exploration. Maybe he could find clues in those mountains. Of course, the best thing he hoped to find was Huang Liyue. And what really made Cao Yun happy was the possibility to hide. Indeed, hiding in the middle of a plain was almost impossible. Right now, the only way to get unseen would be to bury himself in the black sand which was full of Evil Qi and Death Energy. Getting in the sand was as pleasant as burying himself into blazing charcoals.


    Hence, Cao Yun proceeded to climbing those black mountains. And right away, he noticed that they were covered with a fine powder of both bones and ashes who had turned perfectly black. Beneath this powder, the rocks seemed to be crystallized Evil Qi and Death Energy. It was difficult to be sure for a mere Mortal, but it reminded Cao Yun of spirit stones. They were crystallized Qi that had infiltrated the rocks. Just like them, Evil Qi and Death Energy seemed to have permeated and changed the rocks.


    However, as he was climbing, something unexpected happened once again. All of a sudden a powerful wind started to blow from the mountains toward the plains. It was just as sudden as the black rain. Most of the fine powder from the mountains got blown away toward the plains. Unlike the rain, Cao Yun was able to resist this powerful gust of wind thanks to the time he had passed in Howling Crane Gorges. Moreover, his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was revolving around the wind which derived from the Wood element.


    This wind, unlike the black rain, had no Evil Qi or Death Energy in it. However, it was blowing away the powder on the surface of the mountains, sending more black sand on the plains. And as such, it was full of tiny particles of that black sand rich in Evil Qi and Death Energy. So Cao Yun had to cover his mouth, nose and eyes to avoid getting any in his body. But the sand was still whipping his flesh.


    However, he kept on going and was not hindered by it too much. Looking backward, he could imagine that the black sand would slowly recover the entire world he was in. Most likely, the black rain had eroded the mountains and now the powerful wind was scattering its dust everywhere. Even the temples would end up under the black sand in time. This world was really dead and abandoned.

 Chapter 233: Rescuing a phoenix

    The rocks of this ebony mountain were as sharp as razor blades. Even with his current body, Cao Yun had to be extremely careful not to cut himself. Moreover, he was constantly battered by the powerful wind throwing tiny particles of black sand against him.


    With ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' in front of him, he was walking forward. His weapon was aimed against the direction of the wind. As such, it created some kind of cone around Cao Yun. But it was very limited in scope. Clearly, he felt exactly like he had felt in the Howling Crane Gorges. As a matter of fact, it was even a tiny bit more violent than the eighth and final li of the array formation. But it had the same kind of effect.


    Every so often, Cao Yun had to redirect his spear against the changing wind or because of conflicting currents in the air. Slowly and gradually, he was getting a better understanding of the concept of wind. In his sea of consciousness, this could be seen by two phenomena. The first one was clear for Cao Yun, he was seeing the Tail Star become more and more vivid. Up in the sky, the first of the two stars forming the binary Tail Star had been fully manifested. And Cao Yun had now a very good grasp on ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''. He sincerely wanted to try it out, he had the urge to, but he forced himself not to.


    Although it was frustrating, he did not want to alarm any potential threat. The black plains had been plagued with skeleton monsters, the celestial palaces had harbored even more terrifying monsters in them. Thus, Cao Yun had no idea what kind of abominations could dwell in those mountains. As much as possible, he wanted to be discreet and unnoticed. Maybe he was careful for nothing, but that was better than to be rash and fall victim to powerful monsters.


    However, the second star was slower to appear fully. Right now, it was still hidden by the shadow of the first star. And Cao Yun knew that the variation of this move was to be found not just in the second star, but in its relation with the first one. Right now though, he had no time to thoroughly examine the relative movement of the two stars.


    And the other thing that happened in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness was the formation of the Insight Writings deep in the ocean below. A few of them had been completed thanks to Cao Yun''s mastery over his spear. But they were still way too deep to be felt by the young man himself. However, they were now shining with more and more vigor. One of them even started to slowly float upward. Even with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun had no way to know that they were down there. That did not prevent them from having a positive impact on Cao Yun''s way of the spear.


    Indeed, without him even realizing it, his way of the spear was fueling those Insight Writings while his Insight Writings were fueling his way of the spear. Right now, his stars had way more effect on the Insight Writings than the other way around. But with time, when Cao Yun would become aware of them, they would be essential to him. For now though, he was just feeling the Tail Star that was slowly reaching its perfect form. With his Chamber of Jade energized, it was even easier to understand than before. The last stars should take a lot of time but Cao Yun was now confident that he would be able to have formed the seven of them before two years.


    After forming the seven stars, he still had to turn them into constellations and later into mansions. Only then could he honestly say that he had reached Perfection. Others claimed that Perfection was the formation of the seven stars, but this was only Small Success in reality. This misunderstanding was due to the fact that most people gave up on this art because forming the stars was just too hard. Sadly, they did not have Cao Yun''s ability to go inside his own sea of consciousness. And Spirit Warriors usually already had many martial arts so they would rather study a more powerful one. After all, ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was considered a mere 1-star Human art. But once again, it was due to people only limiting themselves to the formation of the seven stars.


    In Cao Yun''s hands, it was at least a 1-star Spirit art.


    -


    After a couple more days of walking and climbing through this dangerous mountain, Cao Yun finally felt something. For some time now, he had been focusing a small part of his intent on the egg that was still held against his chest. The Fenghuang bloodline in it seemed to become more joyous. This was the cue Cao Yun had been waiting for. It meant that Huang Liyue was very close, or at the very least that she had left maybe some blood here. Either it was a lead to follow or the end of Cao Yun''s quest.


    Cao Yun tried to get some protection from the wind by sticking his body as close to the rock as possible. Since the mountains was covered with sharp fangs of rocks, he simply found several of them to act as a wall against the violent winds.


    Then, despite the deafening noise of the storm around him, he focused on his ears and nose. He was trying to find anything out of the ordinary. If the egg was able to feel something, maybe Huang Liyue was very close by. Unfortunately, neither did he hear or smell anything special at all. Thus, he diverted his focus unto the egg itself and felt its subtle movement. In a way, it behaved like an excited child. Cao Yun was thankful for it because it allowed him to find the lead he was looking for.


    Proceeding to go in that direction, Cao Yun once again used his spear to protect himself and progressed forward.


    Every so often, Cao Yun stopped to try and hear any sound or smell, anything that may help him determine where Huang Liyue was.


    And after a few hours, he finally smelled something interesting. Amidst the winds it was difficult to make out, but Cao Yun was certain that this was the subtle smell of blood. As such, he followed the trail until he was able to hear a faint sound. Although it was mostly covered by the sound of the winds, the young man was sure of himself. Someone was breathing very close to him. Moreover, the sound was muffled and rugged.


    Obviously, this breathing came from someone in a lot of pain. Furthermore, it seemed to come from below Cao Yun. Thus, he crouched down and put his ear on the ground. Yes, this was extremely close but below him. Anyway, he quickly walked forward and saw several sharp peaks that had been blown to smithereens. Naturally, the difficult breathing was coming from below the rubbles. Considering that those peaks were rocks that had been permeated with Evil Qi and Death Energy, the dust they produced was poisonous.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    But this did not stop Cao Yun at all. He had to act fast to try and help Huang Liyue. Because it could be no one else down there but the woman he had seen crashing down around here. Immediately, Cao Yun began to dig. Spread in the air, countless particles of dust got into his lungs. Thankfully his body was tough enough to resist and the Evil Qi and Death Energy that came out of those particles got attracted by the Drop of Wrath.


    The density of both energies was too low to worry Cao Yun. Just by letting his Drop of Wrath act on its own, it was able to eliminate everything even faster than it was getting into Cao Yun''s system. After that, he just had to cough and eject the dust particles in his lungs now and then. Although there was almost no risk for him, this was a very painful process.


    Not only were his lungs burning from the contact with this dust, but his bare hands were also in a lot of pain. Indeed, he couldn''t just try and strike the ground with his spear because the woman was down below. He had no idea how weak she was but striking her by accident would not be a very good thing. As such, he had to dig with his bare hands, which was more efficient than to use a spear to do so. If he had a spatial ring, he could have brought in several tools. In fact, he could have literally tried to pull some of the rocks and dust into his spatial ring to clear a way.


    During the process, Cao Yun also tried to consolidate his mastery over the Drop of Wrath and his ability to purify Evil Qi himself. The Death Energy was too little to matter but it was still getting accumulated around the Po character inside the Drop of Wrath. While he was digging, he was thus training all his new mind techniques. For example, he drew the Po character inside the Drop of Wrath coordinated with the other Po character and his speed was getting faster and faster. It wasn''t just to progress, but also, and mainly, to take his mind off of the pain.


    Digging into those rubbles was akin to a mortal digging into incandescent blazes. The only difference was that Cao Yun would not damage his hands. Just like the Evil Qi and Death Energy getting into his lungs, what went through his skin was quickly trapped by the Drop of Wrath and neutralized. But as he dug, he was covered in dust himself because of the powerful winds. Thankfully some peaks were still protecting him but the wind still blew the dust he had already dud up. This was a very tedious process.


    Finally, after long minutes of digging that almost turned into hours, Cao Yun saw the body of Huang Liyue. She was laying down in the rubbles, covered in dust. All around her, there was some kind of energy field protecting her body. It was her Wei Qi. However, it was so weak that Cao Yun was able to go through it without much effort. It had probably helped her survive the crash but it was not able to help her anymore. She had most likely inhaled a lot of tiny particles of dust already. And she was thoroughly unconscious.


    Cao Yun took her in his arms and left the giant hole. Then, to find some cover from the winds, he took out his spear. He chose a peak larger than the others and stabbed with all of his strength. ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. In an instant, he had made some kind of cave to go into.


    Since he was covered in dust, he was happy to have two full gourds of water. If he could get that woman conscious, she should be able to access her spatial ring. Cao Yun refused to believe that a Spirit Warrior would not think about taking some water with him, and probably some food as well. Even if they did not need to drink and eat as often as Mortals, Spirit Warriors were still humans. Drinking and eating was both a necessity and a pleasure. Unless they were monks, cultivators would often take water, wine and various foods with them.


    Right now though, the woman was the priority. He could stand the burn of the dust on his skin, but she was in a pitiful state compared with him. After witnessing her fight against the Bone Kings, it was not surprising at all. Even then, she seemed even weaker than what Cao Yun had been expecting. This was probably due to the Evil Qi and Death Energy within her own body. Unlike him, she could only use her own strength to fend off against those corrosive forces.


    The first thing Cao Yun did was to use as little water as possible to try and wash the dust off. For a very short instant he got flustered, but he calmed himself with the Chamber of Moving Pearls. He had to take her clothes off, but this was not for indecent purposes. In fact, it couldn''t be further from the truth. Even when he undressed her, he only thought about helping her. As such, he only removed her outer robe that was covered in dust. Under it, she obviously had other clothes, but much more revealing. Huang Liyue had a very well-defined musculature under those clothes that astonished even Cao Yun.


    After washing her entire body, he realized that he had used almost half of the gourd he had found in the temples. Thankfully, he still had the other gourd with the Clouds in the Lake array formation. And it was full for now.


    Now that the woman was clean, he could see her complexion. And she was as pale as a corpse. But she was burning hot, and her cheeks and forehead were the only parts of her that were red. As she was faintly spasming, the young man could tell that she was still fighting off the intruders. On her fare skin, there were many small cuts but no bleeding. She had completely cauterized all of her wounds. The pain should have been unbearable, and it probably did not help her resist against the Evil Qi and Death Energy combined.


    Although Cao Yun was not a physician, he was a good alchemist and had a deeper knowledge of Evil Qi and Death Energy than others. Besides, he also had a very profound mind cultivation. As such, matters of mind and soul were easier for him to grasp than for other Mortals. But he still wasn''t on par with someone like Xiao Xuefeng or Physician Qinghe. However, there was no one else to help her now.


    Seeing that poor woman in so much pain, Cao Yun first proceeded to wash himself. But he did a very quick job, and not as thorough as he had done with her. Mostly, he took care of his hands because he would have to touch Huang Liyue''s skin.


    As a Mortal, he had no control over Qi outside of his own body. And what he needed to do right now was to extract the Evil Qi and Death Energy from Huang Liyue''s body. Given her current state, she would probably not be able to survive from their corrosion alone. Even though Cao Yun could not control his Qi outside of his body, he could still send surges of Qi out. It was just that he could not control it beyond the confines of his own flesh.


    However, he had had an idea. As much as he could not extract the Evil Qi himself, he had something in him that could, the Drop of Wrath. But it could only react if it was able to feel the Evil Qi directly. Now that he had some more control over the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was convinced that he could use this property to help Huang Liyue.


    But right now, faced with the shaking body of that beautiful woman, Cao Yun was hesitant. He had many ways he could go about it. And in his mind, he was trying to decide which way he should use to maximize her recovery.

 Chapter 234: Touching a fare maiden

    The young man got flustered when he became self-conscious about the half-naked woman in front of him. Her tender skin was covered in small scars, with a few that were very big. For example, she had a massive burning mark on her shoulder where she had received the biggest attack earlier. And on her face, there was a terrible scar over her right eye. But it seemed way older. That intrigued Cao Yun. Indeed, as a middle or late Spirit Warrior, she could have healed it fairly easily, both herself or through an alchemist or a physician.


    Anyway, despite all those painful scars, her skin was extremely beautiful albeit dangerously pale. And the heat that Cao Yun could feel from her body writhing around was disturbing. Although she was in pain, Cao Yun found himself admiring her body and quickly activated Chamber of Moving Pearls to get over it. Despite his cultivation and the eventful life he had lead, Cao Yun was still a young man. And his only real experience with the other sex had been with Feng Yingyue.


    For now, he solely focused on finding ways to extract the Evil Qi and Death Energy from her body. The first way he thought about was the best one but also one that turned his mind upside down. He could dual cultivate with her. By being inside her, he could share his own Qi and absorb hers. However, he quickly dismissed the idea. First of all, she was unconscious!


    Although he wanted to help her, dual cultivating with a woman against her will was clearly part of the demonic ways. Of course, it would be the best way to help her, but the cost was very huge for both of them. Indeed, Cao Yun was Dao companion with Feng Yingyue. He could not betray her in such a way, no matter how much he could rationalize it. Besides, if he were to engage in such an illicit act, he would probably form an inner demon due to the remorse. Even with his powerful mind cultivation, this would be too much shame to bear.


    Even if she had been conscious and willing, Cao Yun would have not wanted to perform such acts with someone else than Feng Yingyue. Thankfully, he was able to push aside his young impulses. However, those thoughts were still somewhere in his mind and they polluted his view of the woman in front of him. Just to be serene, he used the Chamber of Moving Pearls. Definitely, this chamber had been useful to control his emotions.


    With a clear mind, Cao Yun looked back at the woman. He had to admit that she was incredibly beautiful, with very toned muscles all over her body. She was unlike some beauties he had seen in the Coiling Silk Faction who had very slender and small bodies. But now, he was analyzing the situation without any passion. The other best thing to try in order to extract the Evil Qi was to send the intent of the Drop of Wrath inside her through his own Qi.


    The main difficulty would be that her body would probably try to fight off his own Qi and intent as any intruder.


    Cao Yun had very little knowledge about medicine, but he had read about that subject. As such, he searched his memories to find the best way to send his Qi. Very quickly, by mobilizing his Chamber of Ultimate Truth, he was able to identify a few acupoints. Most of them were located near her Lower Dantian and in her back. The two points with the best characteristics were Qi Hai and Ming Men. Both of them were around the same place, one in front and one in the back, around the location of the Lower Dantian, near the navel.


    Both were great doors to send Qi into a body. In fact, Chief Instructor Peng had used Qi Hai to perform ''The Snake Invades the Shell''. Unlike him though, Cao Yun would need to get into contact with Huang Liyue''s body. Although her Wei Qi was weak, he had no way to control his Qi. Unless he sent a very powerful surge which could hurt her, he was not confident in going through her Wei Qi without her letting him do it. And even if his Qi was able to somehow get inside of her, the connection with the Drop of Wrath could be lost as well.


    Chasing all indecent thoughts from his mind, Cao Yun delicately removed the few clothes hiding Huang Liyue''s stomach. Her pale skin was covered in perspiration. When Cao Yun put his hands on her skin, he felt both her spasming muscles and her rugged breathing. Then, he tried to inject as little Qi as possible. With it, he mixed in the intent from the Drop of Wrath.


    However, the first attempt was a failure. Almost immediately, he felt some force trying to push him away. Most of his Qi got dispelled before it could penetrate deep enough into her system. In order to succeed, Cao Yun put his other hands in the crook of her back, over the Ming Men acupoint.


    Once again, he sent a more powerful surge of Qi from both of his hands. And just like before, her Wei Qi tried to dispel the intruder. But this time, he had sent enough Qi so that some of it would be able to go deep enough. Finally, the Drop of Wrath reacted to something. With its intent mixed in Cao Yun''s Qi, as soon as it touched any trace of Evil Qi and Death Energy, the Drop of Wrath tried to attract them to digest those energies.


    At first, the Wei Qi of Huang Liyue tried to oppose the action of the Drop of Wrath. It was purely instinctive. Thankfully, Huang Liyue was now way too weak to fight against the Drop of Wrath. And as the Evil Qi and Death Energy were slowly sucked out of her body, her Wei Qi ceased to oppose the movement. Somehow, Huang Liyue''s body had understood what was going on. Instead of losing energy fighting off this exterior force that seemed to help Huang Liyue, her body let it do whatever it wanted.


    Suddenly, Cao Yun felt that all the Qi he was sending in her was effectively sent into her system. Although he was unable to control his own Qi once outside of his body, Huang Liyue was capable of such a feat. Apparently, her unconscious mind was guiding Cao Yun''s Qi toward the Evil Qi and Death Energy in herself. It was very strange because Cao Yun was somehow able to sense the touch of Huang Liyue''s mind as she was unconsciously taking over his own Qi.


    -


    Huang Liyue was in a deep fog. She had entered her sea of consciousness as soon as she had left the battlefield. Her body had been invaded by both Evil Qi and Death Energy. Even by using her five True Fiery Drops, it was difficult to fight both of them at the same time. As such, she focused her Qi and her blood on the Evil Qi to protect her physical body. And in her sea of consciousness, she focused her Soul Embryo on the Death Energy.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    With her current cultivation, her soul was fully inside her Soul Embryo as she was trying to merge them definitely.


    And in her sea of consciousness, there was now a small figure looking almost like her. But it was in a meditative posture, levitating high above the water. In the sky, there were five True Fiery Fenghuang flying around while a giant wheel of fire was visible even higher in the sky, just like the stars in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. This wheel was made of ten thousand feathers of fire of all colors. And those colors were radiated in every direction, coloring the water below. They were even bathing the Soul Embryo in its radiant glow.


    Under the water, there was also a giant iron fan made of Insight Writings. In a sense, it looked very similar to what Cao Yun had in the depths of his own sea of consciousness, but in a more advanced stage.


    The water had turned black and a bone hand was getting out of it, going for the Soul Embryo. Suddenly, out of the water, the iron fan leapt up and started to break down the bone hand. Unfortunately, it was reforming just as fast. From the Soul Embryo, the lights from the wheel of fire erupted in all directions. Under the violence of the outburst, the bone hand exploded. But the dust swirled in the air and reformed into a new hand.


    Even the True Fiery Fenghuang acted to attack the bone hand. A terrible fight was taking place in Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness and she was completely cut off from the outside world.


    After several days that seemed like an eternity, Huang Liyue felt something else in her sea of consciousness. An intruder was trying to break within her mind. At first, she sensed a pull on her very soul. There was an immense rage from the intent she felt. Immediately, she reacted by focusing the ten thousand lights of the giant peacock wheel of fire. Combining them, she easily pushed against the red light that was slowly permeating her skies.


    But she had had to divert some of her attention away from the bone hand that had now grown into an entire arm. Still, she had been victorious...


    Once more, the sky began to turn red. But this time, she realized something new. The red light was not focused on her at all. It was looking for something else. And she quickly realized that the something else was the bone hand below her Soul Embryo. It really wasn''t her Soul Embryo.


    Huang Liyue tried to control the red light in the sky. Although she could feel she wasn''t strong enough to really take it over, she had an idea. Since it was looking for the bone hand, she just had to help it find it. Using all of her mental strength, she shined a giant beacon from her Soul Embryo onto the bone hand. Following that, the red light in the sky got more and more concentrated around this beacon, just like a tiny red star.


    In the end, it coalesced into a single red dot. Just as soon, it flew down below into the bone hand. At that moment, Huang Liyue felt that the bone hand was trying to fight it off and she grabbed the opportunity. Her iron fan slashed the bone hand while the True Fiery Fenghuang attacked it. The lights from her peacock wheel kept on shining on it as though they were some kind of beacon. As soon as they were broken, the bones got completely crushed under the pressure and the heat from the True Fiery Fenghuang and the peacock wheel. Then, all of the dust, instead of reforming the hand, got sucked into the red dot.


    In the actual body of Huang Liyue, the Death Energy and Evil Qi were both sucked out of her system. They were following the intent of the Drop of Wrath and the Qi of Cao Yun. When they then entered the young man''s body, he could partially also sense a few strands of Huang Liyue''s Qi. Somehow, he could also feel her touch on it. And he was able to feel her emotions. There was much confusion and pain, but also a powerful desire to survive. In her mind, he could feel that she had a strong desire to meet someone again and maybe get rid of some regrets and resentment.


    This near-death experience had made her realize some things about people she cared about. And what Cao Yun did not know was that some emotions of Cao Yun also slipped into Huang Liyue''s mind, although she was unconscious right now. But inside her sea of consciousness, she could still barely feel the young man''s touch, albeit very faintly.


    When those energies entered Cao Yun''s body, he quickly activated all of his mind cultivation. While a huge part of those energies were sucked into the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun still focused on trying to improve his control over Evil Qi. He could now clearly see each strand of both negative remnant emotions and pure Qi. But it was still difficult to fully separate them. Just as it was difficult to untangle silk threads, merely seeing the Qi strands did not mean it was easy to extract them.


    At the same time, he also drew the Po character again and again inside his Drop of Wrath. Although it was very slow, he realized that as he was getting faster and faster with it, he had a deeper connection with the Drop of Wrath. Moreover, he could also see the Po character grow bigger. Right now, it had almost turned from an ivory sculpture to a real bone. However, the Po outside of the Drop of Wrath had stayed perfectly the same. As it was happening, Cao Yun also noticed that the Drop of Wrath was able to absorb more and more Evil Qi.


    But soon, it reached some kind of plateau. Apparently, Cao Yun had completely nourished the Drop of Wrath. Even though it was still digesting the Evil Qi and Death Energy, it did not change much. Those energies were now too weak for the Drop of Wrath. Even the Po character did not advance any further. However, Cao Yun felt that his blood was changing faster than ever, until it too reached some kind of plateau.


    In his own veins, he felt that his blood had become four times heavier. It felt as though he had mercury in his veins. Besides, it was charged with Qi to an incredible degree. As the Drop of Wrath had absorbed everything it wanted from those energies, it sent the rest into his own bloodstream.


    At first, it was difficult because Cao Yun had to consciously move his own blood due to its heaviness. Thankfully, his muscles had been thoroughly trained, even the tiniest muscle meridians had been trained thanks to Chief Instructor Peng. Thus, his body very quickly adapted to this. If it had been another Mortal, it would probably have been way more difficult and if he had been too weak, he could have suffered a terrible fate.


    Finally, all the changes stopped altogether. Cao Yun had really reached the limit of what he could attain in his current condition with those two energies. And even he had been surprised by all the benefits he had gained from them. His blood was almost as rich in Qi as a demonic beast''s blood essence. Unlike humans, they had no meridians and stored their Qi inside demonic cores. The blood essence was blood permeated with their own Jing and Qi directly from those cores. From this blood essence, all the blood in their bloodstream derived.


    The only thing Cao Yun could improve right now through this treatment was his mental ability to manipulate Evil Qi and purify it. Helping that woman had really been a great idea. Hopefully, once she would be awake, she would be even more helpful.


    Suddenly, Cao Yun felt a force against his body. Abruptly, he got thrown against the walls of the cave and almost felt his back break.

 Chapter 235: The cave of the dragon and the phoenix

    The shock was so brutal that Cao Yun''s spine almost broke. Even with his superior body, he was still only an 8th-grade Mortal. If he had been a 7th-grade Mortal, he would have died right then, or be thoroughly crippled. At first, he tried to sense his enemy when he realized the truth of the matter. Huang Liyue had opened her eyes.


    Still agitated, upon waking up, the beautiful woman had felt someone''s touch on both her belly and back. Without even thinking, she had used her Wei Qi to get rid of the one responsible. Only after doing so did she begin to think and assess the situation. However, her entire body and soul were in pain. Despite Cao Yun''s efforts, she still had a lot of Evil Qi and Death Energy in her system. Besides, they had already damaged both her Soul Embryo and her meridians. Thankfully her soul was protected inside her Soul Embryo.


    But she could barely move her own Qi within her meridians without pain. And she could also feel that her Soul Embryo was even too damaged to use her spiritual senses at all. If she tried to force her Soul Embryo out of her body in her condition, she was not sure of what could happen to it. It had taken centuries to form and develop it and she was not ready to let go of her cultivation. There was one case in history, Saint Xun Ke. He had sacrificed his Soul Embryo to save Emperor Nuwa. Even back then, no one had been able to help him go back to the road of cultivation and he had died a mere mortal.


    If Huang Liyue were to lose her Soul Embryo, she would end her life as a mortal as well. Without those spiritual senses, she only had the strength of a Mortal Warrior. By taking into account the damage to her meridians, unless she was ready to completely destroy them, she could not muster much Qi. As such, she was barely to the level of a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior for now. By throwing caution to the wind and almost killing herself, she could still exert all of her strength. But even with the fog in her mind, she felt that this would be her last action.


    Barely able to move around, Huang Liyue tried to look in the direction of the one who had been touching her. What she saw was a young man literally embedded into the wall of the cave. And because the rocks were incredibly sharp, he was even bleeding here and there. Thankfully, his robe had protected most of his body, but he had still suffered from the shock. Cao Yun was bleeding a little but those were just scraps. And his robe was completely covered in dust. It was a good thing he had not wasted too much water on cleaning himself...


    Slowly, he got himself out of the wall. But the cave was just too dark for Huang Liyue to see him. With spiritual senses, she would have been able to recognize him straight away, but right now, she could not. Moreover, she had never heard his voice. So when Cao Yun started to speak, she did not recognize him either.


    "Senior, please, calm down. I''m not your enemy."


    Hearing this, Huang Liyue remembered what she had just felt. Yes, that boy had been slowly extracting the Evil Qi and Death Energy from her system. Since he had been completely repelled by her mere Wei Qi, the boy should only be a Mortal. Yet, he was able to extract Evil Qi, the first thought of Huang Liyue was that the boy was a demonic cultivator. But then, he would have no reason to try and help her.


    Finally, Cao Yun was able to get out of the wall, but Huang Liyue still had her Wei Qi all around her. In fact, she was suffering just from keeping it up. However, she was still in a state of confusion and pain. Thankfully, some feelings came to her. By sending his Qi through her body and by the presence of the intent of the Drop of Wrath in her sea of consciousness, Cao Yun had established some link with the woman. And right now, she was able to feel that he had sincerely tried to help her. She could vividly feel his intentions from earlier.


    Slowly, as the pain was deepening the fog and confusion of her mind, Huang Liyue receded her defenses. Her Wei Qi was now only at the surface of her body.


    With a very slow pace, Cao Yun walked toward the laying woman. He was acting as though he was faced with a ferocious animal. To be fair, in a way he was. If he had been just a bit weaker, she would have killed him by pure instinct. Thankfully, she was weakened to the point she could not kill a mere Mortal.


    But now that she was awake, he could maybe help her even faster. Until now, her body and mind had reacted instinctively. If she could regain some consciousness, it would be for the better. Moreover, she probably had a few pills in her spatial ring. Thinking about it, Cao Yun would have liked to receive some pill to help him as well. His mind had been strained a lot and he had lost much of his Qi. Thankfully, the Drop of Wrath had filled his blood with Qi, but his meridians were almost out of energy. Right now, he had to extract some Qi from his own blood to keep on going. This was not ideal.


    At one moment or another, he would have to replenish his reserves. But this place was devoid of pure Qi. So his only hope for that would be a pill. Despite being an alchemist, Cao Yun had no way of refining one because he had no ingredient and no tool. Owning and being able to manipulate a spatial ring was really essential to a cultivator.


    Finally getting close to her, Cao Yun could feel the Wei Qi all around Huang Liyue. Unless she relaxed, he had now no way to send anything into her body. Since he was only a Mortal, he had no way but either touching her body directly or dual cultivate. Thinking back to it, he was truly happy he had not entertained that ridiculous idea. Otherwise, he would be thoroughly dead by now.


    "Senior, forgive my rudeness. But I need to touch your Qi Hai and your Ming Men. If you keep your Wei Qi active around those acupoints, I can''t help you at all. I swear that I have no indecent thought and no ill intent toward you."


    Huang Liyue''s eyes had closed themselves up again. With much effort, she tried to open them but they were just twitching uncontrollably. In her mind, she laughed at herself. She was even too weak to open up her eyes. But then, there was no sense in keeping up her defenses. If a truly malicious person came around, she would have no chance to defend herself. Just maintaining her Wei Qi was causing her intense pain. Thus, she decided to completely recede her defenses.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    As he was very close to her, Cao Yun was able to feel her Wei Qi disappear back into her skin.


    "Thank you for trusting me, Senior. Then, pardon my rudeness."


    Cao Yun put his hands back on Huang Liyue''s belly and back. As she was now partially awake, the close contact felt even more intimate. But Cao Yun had sincerely gotten rid of any indecent thought. Besides, he was not really worried that she could perceive the nature of the Drop of Wrath. Indeed, even Xiao Xuefeng had never been able to sense it at all. Of course, she could probably feel the intent of the Drop of Wrath since it was pulling on the Evil Qi and Death Energy. But for her, it would only be some special technique. Cao Yun had even thought of it. Since he was a 5-star Earth alchemist who had progressed quickly and had close ties with Xiao Xuefeng, he could explain it through a powerful mind cultivation.


    It was a bit far-fetched, but after witnessing it firsthand, Huang Liyue should at least believe there was some credence to it. Hopefully, as a noble member of the Huang family, she would not try to snatch the secret technique of a renown alchemist such as Xiao Xuefeng, let alone from the hands of a junior who had saved her life.


    This was a risk, but Cao Yun had no real alternative. Without Huang Liyue''s help, he had very little hope of surviving. As such, he had decided to trust in the reputation of the Huang family he had heard from his own great-grandfather. He put the incident with the side branch from Yinmen City aside.


    Still, now that Huang Liyue was conscious, he decided to be more careful. At first, he sent very little Qi and intent.


    Now that she was consciously feeling it, Huang Liyue was able to clearly sense everything. And she got a shock. Cao Yun''s Qi was very very weak. It was barely to the level of a 3rd-grade Mortal who had just started to work on his Lower Dantian. Immediately, she understood he had been using a lot of his Qi to help her already. Besides, they were in an environment where he wouldn''t be able to replenish his reserves easily. That young man had truly gone all out and she had thanked him by hurting him some more.


    But within this weak Qi, she felt a powerful intent. As a Spirit Warrior, she had a good grasp on both mind and soul. Of course, she was not to the level of someone like Xiao Xuefeng. Directly confronted with this intent, she may have been able to understand some things, but for Huang Liyue, it simply looked like a powerful intent. From what she could tell, it just meant that Cao Yun had an incredible mind cultivation.


    Then she witnessed everything happening in her sea of consciousness. Now that she was aware of it all, she could control it consciously. And the speed of extraction of Evil Qi and Death Energy increased. The wounded woman was completely baffled. Even a demonic cultivator who had reached the Mortal Warrior realm, and maybe higher, would not have been able to control it as well. Of course, Cao Yun was not controlling it per se, the Drop of Wrath was. And even then, it was just gathering it to consume and digest it.


    As she was witnessing all of that, Huang Liyue could also feel Cao Yun''s intentions. He had been truthful. The young man had no ill will at all. For that matter, she even perceived that he had no indecent thought toward her, he was fully focused on helping her. That made her feel even more guilty about her outburst. Gradually, she relaxed.


    Considering that she was a bodyguard, she had to always be wary. An instant of inattention could kill someone. But now, she completely let go. Feeling that Huang Liyue was more trusting, Cao Yun slowly increased his intent. To strengthen the young man''s actions, Huang Liyue even used her own Qi to replenish his. Within his body, the young man felt those surges.


    Despite her weakness, Huang Liyue could still control her Qi outside of her body. From her Five Prodigious Gates, she sent tiny surges of Qi into Cao Yun''s own Qi Hai. It felt just like Chief Instructor Peng''s training sessions. The difference between a Spirit Warrior and a Mortal was so huge that what seemed insignificant to Huang Liyue was a lot to Cao Yun.


    Thanks to her, he was now able to send more and more Qi and intensify the treatment. In a way, they were performing a form of dual cultivation, albeit they had no indecent physical contact. If Cao Yun had been a Mortal Warrior, he could have even done so without touching the woman at all. However, it still felt very intimate. Both their intentions and emotions could be felt by one another. And they were in a dark cave literally touching each other. Apart from their Qi, they could feel each other''s warmth and even their every breath as well.


    Through the process, Cao Yun realized fully that he had reached a plateau, or even a bottleneck, in both his Drop of Wrath and his blood. Of course, he had not tried to cultivate his own blood, it had happened as a side effect of his attempts to tame the Drop of Wrath. He had read a bit about this, but blood cultivation was not a widespread knowledge. Most of the times, a blood cultivation method was related to a specific bloodline. For example, the ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' could only be practiced by the Huang family.


    Blood cultivation was mostly related to demonic beasts in the Hongchen Kingdom. Since they had no meridians, their blood was the vessel of their Qi.


    On that note, the egg, still in Cao Yun''s clothes, reacted to the close presence of Huang Liyue and the True Fiery Fenghuang''s blood in her veins. Thankfully, Cao Yun had been sent into the wall back first. So the egg had not suffered at all, even from Huang Liyue''s Wei Qi. And now that the woman was sending her Qi into Cao Yun''s body, she was also able to feel the egg in front of his chest.


    Immediately she recognized that this was the egg of some kind of Fenghuang. Fenghuang was an entire family of demonic beasts. Among them, the True Fiery Fenghuang was known as the all-powerful ruler. Of course, the egg of an inferior Fenghuang would react fiercely in front of such a bloodline. In fact, it would probably be positive for it.


    As such, Huang Liyue also decided to gift some Qi to the egg. In her mind, this was both a way to atone for her initial reaction, but also a way to reward some fateful encounter. No matter their strength, Fenghuang were very rare and revered, especially by the Huang family, for obvious reasons. And because of their bloodline, they had even more difficulties when it came to producing any offspring. As such, encountering an egg in this dead world was truly a sign of fate.


    Even by sending her Qi in both the egg and Cao Yun and despite her weakness, Huang Liyue still had some left.


    The process lasted several days. Once or twice, Cao Yun stopped to drink some water. The second time, it downed on him and he bowed.


    "Senior, forgive me, I completely forgot. Do you want some water?"


    Even though she was a Spirit Warrior, drinking some water may be good for her in her condition. However, she gently waved her hand to show that it was not necessary. Along with the passing days, she had regained a lot of strength. But she was keeping most of it. Deep in her body, she could feel some Evil Qi that had nested in her meridians.


    Even with the intent from the young man, it would be very hard to get rid of it all. Despite that, in a couple of days, she would be in a good enough state to fully wake up. For now, she still stayed in some sleeping state to let Cao Yun do his work without any obstruction.

 Chapter 236: Healing in the cave

    In the end, Cao Yun had been really rewarded by the woman who had almost killed him. Just by extracting Evil Qi and Death Energy, he had strengthened the Drop of Wrath and his hold on it. Now, the Drop of Wrath had a fully manifested Po character in it. And Cao Yun could use it as easily and as fast as the one outside of it. Thus, Cao Yun was able to feel the Flying Poison in the Drop of Wrath.


    Originally, the Drop of Wrath was a drop of blood from Axiu Qian. And it used to contain his entire soul. But after being burned to almost nothingness, only a tiny portion of his corporeal soul had survived and had turned into Flying Poison, one of the Seven Turbid Demons. It had no consciousness and was almost pure rage. Thankfully, it was extremely weak but it was still trying to instinctively rebuild itself. With this Po character in the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun had now a better grasp on it. This was the first step to gain absolute control over this drop of blood.


    He had planned to use his mind cultivation to slowly rebuild each one of the seven parts of Po, but according to his own rules. In the end, the Drop of Wrath would really become his because his very soul would be infused with it. For now, it was still a wild stallion he had put a bridle on. But he was able to feel its emotions and had thus a way better control over it than before.


    In fact, during the process, Cao Yun realized that he could use the Drop of Wrath to attract Evil Qi and Death Energy as much as or as little as he wanted. He had now a full control on this. It was helped by the fact that the Drop of Wrath seemed to not want such inferior quality energies for now. If Cao Yun was faced with purer forms of Death Energy, maybe the Drop of Wrath would try to wrestle back the control. Even then, Cao Yun was fairly confident in his ability to control it as long as he did not go completely against its actions and only tried to moderate them.


    Besides that, he also got a better grasp of his mind cultivation and had slowly built up some energies for the next Five Echoes Pearl. He had a clear objective in mind, he would energize the Chamber of Heavenly Court as soon as possible. This chamber would increase his reaction speed and he hoped his ability to be more decisive. Cao Yun was starting to resent his lack of certainty before acting. Yes he had a firm resolution but he was always hesitant when it came to the way to put this resolution into actions. Of course, he knew that this probably wouldn''t be miraculous. Most likely, it would only increase his thought speed. However, just by recognizing that problem, Cao Yun was still on a good way to solve it.


    Finally, his blood had received a lot of Qi and was extraordinary. Even Huang Liyue who was an expert in blood cultivation would have been amazed by his current blood. And this Qi was also strong in his meridians and Lower Dantian. Thanks to his exchange with Huang Liyue, he had replenished almost all of his reserves. For her this was just a drop in an ocean and despite her relative lack of Qi, it didn''t cause any problem. Even if she were to absorb all the Qi from Cao Yun, this would not help her in the least. The disparity between a Spirit Warrior and a Mortal was just too vast.


    After all, a Spirit Warrior could fly in the air, use spiritual powers and even partially survive the death of their own physical body. They were halfway between mere mortals and Immortals, the sixth realm of Qi cultivation. And Huang Liyue was a powerful 6th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    -


    At last, Huang Liyue woke up. She still could feel some of the damage done by the energies that had intruded into her body and soul. Even now, she could not risk taking her Soul Embryo out. Healing such wounds always took a lot of time, just to be sure to not neglect anything. Huang Liyue had some pills but none could heal such a wound to her Soul Embryo. For now, she had to keep it inside of her Upper Dantian. Thus, she could not activate any spiritual senses. They were literally the expansion of her Soul Embryo and soul outside of her body. Now her soul was within her Soul Embryo since the 6th-grade Spirit Warrior stage consisted in merging the two. So she could not expand either of them for the time being.


    Moreover, her meridians were in a terrible state. But now that all traces of Evil Qi seemed to have been eliminated, she had some pills that could help her. Without hesitation, a pill flew out of her spatial ring. It was a round and large deep red pill. As soon as it appeared, Cao Yun smelled a powerful scent of medicinal essence. Just smelling the fragrance sent a soothing sensation in Cao Yun''s meridians, vessels and Dantian. Immediately, he was able to recognize the pill, a Mercury Cinnabar Alloy pill. This 5-star Heaven pill was extremely rare and difficult to make. Even though Cao Yun could not clearly discern the grade of that pill, he could guess that it was close to a Perfect pill but not quite there yet.


    Still, this was an incredible pill that could repair and strengthen all the meridians and the three Dantian.


    Huang Liyue was about to take the pill when she thought back to the young man who had helped her. From her ring, another pill appeared and flew toward Cao Yun. It was a lesser pill he was familiar with, an Autumn and Springs Reviving pill. Compared with the Mercury Cinnabar Alloy pill though, it had reached the Pure grade. Of course, it was only a 2-star Human pill so it was easier to forge, but reaching such a grade was still not a feat any alchemist could perform. This pill had been forged by at least a 5-star Human alchemist. Thus, its value was immense. Yet, Huang Liyue gifted it to Cao Yun without any hesitation.


    "Young man, you saved my life and I repaid you with violence. I am truly ashamed. Please, accept this lowly token of sincerity for now. I swear I will properly repay the kindness you showed me later."


    Even such a gift was lowly for Huang Liyue... But again, Cao Yun had saved her life. Obviously, her life would have more value than a Human rank pill.


    Moved, Cao Yun accepted the pill and consumed it immediately.


    "Senior, no need to apologize for earlier. I know that you did not attack me on purpose. You were still confused and I understand."The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Thank you for your consideration. But I will take responsibility for that. Besides, you truly saved my life. And even though you seem to be fine, this was probably a difficult and painful process."


    Huang Liyue was still harboring some doubts as to how a Mortal had been able to extract Evil Qi and Death Energy from her body. She was not sure if even Xiao Xuefeng in person could have done so as thoroughly as he had done. There was really no more trace of either in both her body and Soul Embryo. But she was not going to interrogate the junior who had just save her life. She had no suspicion that he was a demonic cultivator at all. Even the Huang family had some secrets they did not want to share.


    This boy had probably also some secrets and he had risked exposing them to save her life. She could not repay him by being too suspicious.


    Under the effect of the pill, Cao Yun''s mind regained all of its mental strength and almost all fatigue disappeared. The remaining medicinal essence even helped him condense the Five Echoes Pearl faster than usual.


    While he was absorbing the medicinal essence in a cross-legged meditation, Huang Liyue looked at herself. The cave was very dark but she could still make out that her clothes were drenched in sweat and very revealing. As an 800-year-old woman, she was not too embarrassed. After all, she knew that Cao Yun was merely a Mortal, without touching her he could not have treated her injury. Even a great physician, if he could not control his Qi, would be forced to physically touch his patient. Besides, she had clearly felt that the young man had had no indecent thought and had stayed focused on helping her. Still, she did not feel comfortable with such revealing clothes even in the darkness of the cave. Thus, she took advantage of the fact that Cao Yun was meditating to change her clothes for identical ones from her spatial ring.


    Then, she consumed the Mercury Cinnabar Alloy pill. Immediately, she felt the medicinal essence dissolve into her body and go straight for her meridians. Most of the pain subsided thanks to the soothing effect of the pill. And the repair to her meridians became quite apparent very soon. The largest cracks in her meridians slowly closed themselves. After going through the Mortal Warrior realm, her meridians, unlike those of Cao Yun, were fully material. They were not just pathways of energy, but crystallized and as material as flesh and bone.


    With the help of the pill, it would take her some weeks but she could repair most of the damage and get a strength equivalent to a middle Mortal Warrior, or even very close to a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. But she had also lost a lot of Qi. Since she could not replenish herself in this world devoid of pure Qi, she could only use pills. However, she had not that many pills to recover her Qi. After all, she had not planned to get stuck in such a place. And she had thought her initial mission would have taken less than two months. Now it had almost been four months. And three of those months had been spent trapped in this dead world.


    Just like Cao Yun, she had fought against those bone creatures and suffered from the effects of the black rain.


    -


    After a few more hours of serenity, Cao Yun finally left his meditative state. Seeing that Huang Liyue was meditating to control the medicinal essence repairing her meridians, he got hesitant to speak to her. But before he could ask her anything, she answered what he wanted to say.


    "You must be famished. Besides, considering the water on the ground, you probably used a lot of your supply just to clean me. Thank you for your care. Here, eat and drink as much as you need."


    As she spoke, a blue light lit up the cave. It was way brighter than for the two pills. On the ground, many supplies appeared. There were a few gourds, some filled with water and others with wine. And above all else, there was food. Immediately, Cao Yun did not stand on ceremony and went at it. It had been way too long since he had eaten anything. Furthermore, the food in front of him was exceptional. There were some fruits rich in both Qi and Jing. However, what Cao Yun really cared about at that moment was the divine taste they had.


    In fact, he went a bit overboard and ended up eating too much. But that wasn''t a problem at all. In front of him, there was clearly enough food to last a mortal for a month. Most likely, Huang Liyue had even more in her spatial ring. But for Cao Yun, if he was careful, this amount of food would be enough for almost a year. As such, he could enjoy it to the fullest. After all the time he had spent in this world, this was really a fantastic meal.


    Once he was done eating and drinking, Cao Yun realized that Huang Liyue was still meditating. Absorbing the medicinal essence from a 5-star Heaven pill would indeed take some time, especially for someone who had suffered so many injuries. Hence, the young man decided to sit back cross-legged and cultivate. Besides, the violent winds were still echoing through the cave. So Cao Yun had nothing to do but to stay inside and try to advance his Qi cultivation.


    Right now, he really did not need to work on his mind cultivation at all. In fact, he should even slow down a little to let all the changes settle down. On the other hand, he could open some more acupoints. In total, he had around a third of his acupoints to open. But among them, only a few dozens were difficult. Indeed, he had followed Chief Instructor Peng''s advice and had focused on the hard acupoints first. Thus, those he had left were easier and more than half of them were so easy to open, Cao Yun could probably open several of them at once.


    For the time being, he decided to focus on the most difficult acupoints. Those were usually in places where there was little blood circulation, a lot of bones and rigid tissues such as tendons. Of course, those were the acupoints which were the hardest to even feel.


    But what Cao Yun noticed was that his new blood had also permeated many of his tissues by now. All his body was way richer in Qi. As such, he was able to feel his acupoints with more intensity than ever. In fact, he even tried to open one somewhat easy acupoint with only his own intent, without even using the Yi character. It wasn''t immediate but in less than a minute, he had opened the acupoint thoroughly. And he could now open and close it as much as he wanted.


    Before going any further, Cao Yun decided to focus back on every acupoint to get a better sensation. Right now his cultivation consisted in getting more control over each one of his acupoints to open and close them at will. The more attuned he would be to them, the greater his progress would be later on. So, of course, that was what he decided to do.


    He still worked on opening other acupoints. But he was not that hurried to break through for once. Of course, he could still try and reinforce his sensations after his breakthrough, but this was the ideal moment to do so. And Cao Yun took advantage of it. He even used several exercises of visualization using his own sea of consciousness to get a greater sensation with every acupoint.


    Several more days passed in the cave as the winds were calming down outside.


    Finally, both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue left their meditative states. The woman had healed most of her meridians and Dantian. As of now, she had restored a strength equivalent to a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior, with way more experience than one, but with way less Qi. And Cao Yun had gotten extremely close to a breakthrough.


    Since the cave was too dark, Huang Liyue took a torch out of her spatial ring and lit it up. For the first time, she saw Cao Yun''s face and recognized it immediately.

 Chapter 237: Huang Liyue and Chen Guo

    Of course, Huang Liyue had seen Cao Yun''s face. And she knew almost everything about him. But thanks to Xiao Xuefeng and her relation with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, she had found no fault in his personal history. Moreover, Huang Cixi had not told her anything about his real identity.


    In front of her was the boy that her young mistress had asked her to protect and she had refused to. But this was this very boy who had saved her life. Fate was really mysterious. Although she had said very firmly that she would never protect the boy who had killed members of her own family, she had been saved by him. Moreover, she had already promised to repay him for that.


    Obviously, she knew that Cao Yun had acted to protect others and himself when he had killed Huang Longwei and Huang Lixin. Even according to the laws of the Huang family or the Hongchen Kingdom, he could not be held responsible for that. If people got judged for defending their own lives, there would be no justice in the kingdom. No cultivator would just let himself get killed. And many would not let someone get assassinated before their very eyes either. Besides, Cao Yun was a very prominent, if not the most prominent, outer disciple of the Wubei Sect. He had even become a direct disciple to Chief Elder Baishen. In a way, it made him similar to an inner disciple. And there was a huge chance that he would indeed choose to become one after his five years. After all, he had no powerful background, so he would have no reason to refuse becoming attached to the Wubei Sect.


    To be fair in the matter, Huang Liyue would have probably acted herself if she had met Feng Yingyue chased down by several young men. But she still didn''t want to protect someone who had shed the blood of her family, even if they were from a side branch. Despite her reluctance though, she had declared her vow to protect the young man who had saved her life.


    "You''re Chen Guo, right?"


    Cao Yun had sensed something when Huang Liyue had finally discovered his face. Apparently, she knew who he was. That meant that she also knew what he had done. He had been worried about this, but he counted on the honor of the Huang family his great-grandfather had talked about.


    "Yes, Senior. I am Chen Guo, from the Wubei Sect."


    Thanks to his mind cultivation, not even Xiao Xuefeng could see through his lies, so a weakened Huang Liyue had no way of doing so. Besides, she was convinced that what she knew was true thanks to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. The way Cao Yun answered her was also a way to remind the woman that he had some powerful backing. Of course, if she were to kill him in this world, no one would ever be able to know that she had done it. So, no matter what Cao Yun could say, he had no way to prevent her from doing exactly what she wanted.


    Thankfully, Huang Liyue was an orthodox and respectable cultivator. She still could assassinate people though. After all, she had been trapped in this world because she was chasing down Gui Bei in order to murder him. But Gui Bei and Cao Yun''s circumstances were clearly different. One was a heinous criminal while the other had acted to help others and save his own life. In addition, her young mistress had literally asked her to protect this young man. She could not kill him, especially not after he had saved her life. Furthermore, he was also the one who had helped her young mistress heal her Lower Dantian.


    Still, Huang Liyue decided to be blunt with him.


    "You should have realized... I know what happened in Yinmen City. As a matter of fact, I know everything that transpired there. Chen Guo, you should know who my young mistress is."


    Huang Liyue stood up and walked closer to Cao Yun. They were now fully lit by the torch and could clearly see each other''s eyes.


    "I used to be the personal bodyguard of the matriarch. And now, I serve as the bodyguard of the future matriarch. She is someone you should have heard about, Huang Cixi."


    The name struck a cord. Although he had never met the young girl, he had heard of her. She was the younger sister of Huang Lixin and Huang Longwei whom he had killed. Her two brothers had fallen by his hands and Cao Yun had just saved her bodyguard. But something shocked him even more. She was the future matriarch of the Huang family!


    Such a status was incredibly high. Not only were demonic cultivators his enemies, he had also forged a grudge with the future matriarch of one of the most powerful families of the Hongchen Kingdom. Did fate really hate him that much?


    However, in Huang Liyue''s eyes, he saw nothing that worried him. In fact, she had just stated it matter-of-factly and now she seemed to await his reaction.


    He bowed down.


    "Senior, I swear that I only ever acted rightfully. Huang Lixin was about to kill an innocent girl. And Huang Longwei attacked me with the intention to kill. I sincerely regret their deaths, but I had no other choice."


    As he talked about the two brothers, Cao Yun''s mind went especially to Huang Lixin. Yes, the boy had tried to kill Feng Yingyue, but when Cao Yun killed him, he had something else in mind. The Drop of Wrath had acted out when he had feared for his identity to be discovered. Could he sincerely claim that he had acted rightfully?


    Yes, he would probably have killed him anyway in order to protect the young girl. But the moment he had killed him, he had no such great ambition in mind. Being faced with someone close to Huang Cixi, Cao Yun was questioning himself.


    "You do not need to apologize for anything or explain yourself. Not to me! If you want to make amends for the lives you''ve taken, you may get an audience with Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Huang Cixi is away for the foreseeable future. However, you should know something about her. She has accepted that the deaths of her brothers were due to their own actions and she decided not to blame you for those. Still, I think it necessary that you meet her yourself to fully resolve the matter."


    Huang Liyue had decided that it wasn''t her place to reveal that Huang Cixi had been Cao Yun''s little servant in the Wubei Sect. This was a conversation they should have together.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Hearing all of this, Cao Yun was surprised. He didn''t think things would end so peacefully. If everything Huang Liyue was saying was true, he could resolve this grudge by simply talking it out... Cao Yun understood why the reputation of the Huang family was so good and why his great-grandfather held them in such high esteem.


    "You saved my live and I swore to repay you. Thus, I swear that I will protect you with this life that you saved. Until we get out of this world, consider yourself under my protection."


    "Thank you, Senior...."


    Huang Liyue had not given her name yet.


    "Huang Liyue!"


    "Senior Huang Liyue, I... I sincerely don''t know what to tell you."


    "As I said, you should keep it for my young mistress. However, know that I can''t get over the fact that you''ve shed our blood. No matter the reason, this is not something I am comfortable with. I hope you can understand and respect that. However, I swore to protect you and I will put not only my life but my name on the line!"


    While she talked about this, Huang Liyue caressed her scar. On her face, Cao Yun could tell that she had suffered. Probably, people had died and she had kept this scar as a reminder. Those people had to be members of the Huang family, and most likely very close to her, maybe siblings or parents. That would also explain why she had become a bodyguard for her own family. Most of those were guesses, but Cao Yun was fairly confident.


    Because of the shock Huang Liyue had suffered, she had a tougher time hiding her emotions. As a bodyguard, she had to stay as stoic as possible in her duties. Truth be told, Cao Yun was very close to the actual facts.


    "Chen Guo, to protect you, I need to know how you got in here and what happened."


    Her eyes immediately went to the Mountain Fenghuang egg. There was clearly some story behind it. With the egg, Cao Yun would not have jumped into a rift of pure darkness in the ground.


    Huang Liyue was absolutely right, Cao Yun needed to explain everything to her. After all, it was possible that the demonic cultivator had followed him through the darkness. The only thing he left out was the relation between this place and the Drop of Wrath. Obviously, he did not mention Cleansed Asura either. Anyway, that would not bring much information in the immediate. If that became vital later, he would reassess the situation then. But for now, he mainly talked about the risk of stampede that had brought him in Yinmen City. He also explained that one member of his group was a spy for the demonic cultivators. Then he talked about the sacrifice of the egg''s parents.


    -


    "I see. You''ve gone through a lot, both of you."


    For the first time, Huang Liyue touched the egg that was still nested against Cao Yun''s chest. In her veins flowed the blood of a True Fiery Fenghuang. As such, she felt very close to this egg. Just by touching it, she could feel the warmth of the chick inside.


    "It''s very close to hatching. Maybe a few months, maybe a few weeks. But it''s lacking a lot of Qi in this place..."


    From her spatial ring, Huang Liyue took out three 6-demonic cores. She gave two to Cao Yun and kept one for herself. Finally, she could replenish a huge part of her Qi through this. Cao Yun could barely believe his own eyes. Such cores were incredibly rare, and she had casually gifted him two of them.


    "Use the first one for you and keep the second one close to the egg. It''s from a Flame-Tailed Wolf. As its name suggests, that 6-demonic beast is related to the Fire element. Hence, its Qi is rich in Fire, just like a Fenghuang''s Qi. I think the egg will naturally absorb the Qi from it if you let it."


    Listening to her, Cao Yun put the first 6-demonic core close to the egg. And indeed, he soon realized that some Qi was being extracted from it. As a Mortal, he could roughly feel it because it was within his own Wei Qi. Then, he sat cross-legged with the other 6-demonic core and started to absorb some of the Qi within. In a similar manner, Huang Liyue did the same with her own 6-demonic core.


    Unfortunately, while this kind of core was ample enough for Cao Yun, it was still too little for a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. Huang Liyue barely replenished her Lower Dantian. As it turned out, she had almost no pill or spirit stone or demonic core to replenish her Qi right now. Thankfully, she had a lot of pills to heal. As a bodyguard, she was always ready to use any means necessary to save her charge.


    After several more hours, Cao Yun had used half of the demonic core and was at full capacity. With the rest of the demonic core, he could probably keep on cultivating and use the excess of Qi to help him open his remaining acupoints. After all, most of them were very easy to open. On the other hand, Huang Liyue had completely consumed her 6-demonic core and the egg had only absorbed a fraction of the one close to it. Cao Yun could not tell whether this was a good sign or not. Among all the books he had read, almost none were about beast taming. Even the books concerning demonic beasts did not really talk about their health. Most of them explained how they acted in order to hunt them, and how to use their parts.


    Finally, Huang Liyue had regained most of her colors. She had now perfect clothes and seemed to be full of life. Of course, Cao Yun knew that this wasn''t the case at all. Probably, she had the strength of an early to middle Mortal Warrior right now. If she were to go against the flying bone monsters once more, she would not stand a chance and would be crushed in an instant. In fact, she probably would be in trouble even against the giant creatures Cao Yun had fought on the ground.


    "Chen Guo. I said that I would protect you. Thus, I need to tell you all I know about this world."


    From her spatial ring, a map appeared. It had been drawn by hand and according to what Cao Yun knew already from his short exploration, it covered an area as large as the Wu Province. Even for a Spirit Warrior, it should have taken several months to make such a detailed map. Moreover, Cao Yun could see names written on the map. Among them, he saw Desolate Palaces, Plagued Plains, Ocean of Turbid Anguish, Merciful Deity Temples, and much more.


    Huang Liyue sensed his gaze on the names she had written down.


    "I needed to name those places to orientate myself." She paused a bit as Cao Yun was reading hundreds of different names more or less inspired. "Besides, I was getting bored.


    "I do not think you know much about dimensions. But this place is clearly an isolated dimension. And the dark rift you fell into is the same entrance I used to get inside. Most likely, there are other entrances hidden in the mountains. And they all lead to this world. There is no way to know how wide this Yellow Death World is. But I would say that it is probably as large as the entire Hongchen Kingdom, if not larger. Even by flying as high as I could, I was not able to see any limit or boundary of any kind.


    "I''m not sure of what this world is for now, but I have some ideas. However, our priority right now should be to find a way out. I need to warn Baizyun City that this dimension exists and you need to warn your friends about the traitor in their midst. The problem is that I explored almost all the land and was unable to find any clue. Even in the Merciful Deity Temples that are protected from the Evil Qi, I was unable to read the documents. The language used is different from everything I know."


    Cao Yun thought back about the temples he had gone to. He had been right about the fact that someone else had explored them, it had been Huang Liyue. In his mind, he probably had the key to decipher those documents by comparing what he had read to what he had obtained from Cleansed Asura. But it would take a very very long time without more clues.


    "That''s why I decided to explore the Desolate Palaces in the sky."

 Chapter 238: Desolate Palaces and Bone Demons

    Despite their apparent trust, both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue were hiding things. For example, Huang Liyue would not tell that she was pursuing Gui Bei in order to assassinate him. In fact, she somehow felt that it would make her look like an hypocrite. She could not forgive Cao Yun for killing her distant family members even though he had acted in justified self-defense. On the other hand, she had been sent to kill a boy who was a threat to her family. Yes, the boy had committed some heinous crimes but the reason of the assassination was not so noble as to punish him. The main reason was indeed because he was a threat.


    Besides, Huang Liyue had failed because she had not found any trace of Gui Bei after coming into this Yellow Death World. However, she had searched the place as much as she could. She had even used some flying boat she had in her spatial ring to cover more ground. In around three months, she had literally traveled almost nonstop. The only moments she had slowed down were during the frequent black rains and the awakening of the bone monsters after those events.


    Aside from Gui Bei, Huang Liyue explained exactly what she had witnessed during her travel.


    In the documents from what she had called Merciful Deity Temples, she had been able to decipher a handful of Insight Writings thanks to her own understanding. In her travel she had also come across some steles and some engravings. Thankfully, she had also found some drawings which she was able to understand way better. As such, she had been able to get a better grasp on what was going on in what she had called the Plagued Plains.


    "Those bone creatures are related to the Yellow Sorrows Water. Apparently, whoever wrote those documents had been studying this water. But I found almost no mention of the creatures themselves in the most ancient documents. They only appear in recent engravings. Apparently, whoever studied them decided to call them Bone Demons. Indeed, what I found strange was that the most recent documents have been written in a mix of that unknown language and Nuhua.


    "The crows are Bone Children. Then, they can cultivate Death Energy through bone dust and become Bone Warriors. Those humanoid creatures further absorb and refine Death Energy until they turn into gigantic monsters named Bone Generals. After that, I found no mention of the things sleeping inside the Desolate Palaces. But they should probably be called Bone Kings if I use the same logic."


    Cao Yun decided that Huang Liyue loved naming things. He wasn''t even sure whether the names she had given had truly been invented by whoever had written the documents she had found, or by her. Anyway, it wasn''t very important. But what was important was the fact that she had found some recent engravings. Questioning her, Cao Yun was able to determine that what she had found had been written after he had met Cleansed Asura.


    Cleansed Asura had probably learned Nuhua after sifting through Cao Yun''s memories. As such, it was possible that he had written those documents. But Cleansed Asura should have been in a very deep slumber. Maybe someone or something else had written those documents.


    However, what truly interested Cao Yun was not the explanation about the Bone Demons. No, what was truly interesting for him was the fact that Huang Liyue had found documents written in both Nuhua and Cleansed Asura''s language. Reading and analyzing them would probably help him decipher Cleansed Asura''s memories he had in him.


    Just like Huang Liyue, Cao Yun had not revealed everything. Obviously, he had not revealed that he was in fact the sole survivor of the Cao family. But he had also hidden the existence of Cleansed Asura and his relation with this place. Neither did he talk about the Drop of Wrath. Even though he had used it to save Huang Liyue''s life, she had not been able to see through it. She probably thought it was his superior mind cultivation. And she would probably think that he had gotten it from Xiao Xuefeng.


    He was right on both accounts. Moreover, Huang Liyue had been able to observe the efficiency of his mind cultivation in Huang Cixi herself. So, although she had been shocked by Cao Yun''s abilities, she attributed it solely to his relation with Xiao Xuefeng and his own talent, not to some incredible heritage he had in him.


    Since Cao Yun was close to Xiao Xuefeng who had saved Huang Cixi, after Cao Yun had asked her, it made Huang Liyue even more conflicted. Because of her duty as a bodyguard and of her past, she could not forgive Cao Yun for the killings of her own blood. But he had also saved the woman who would become the next matriarch. However, no matter how much she wanted to get over it, she couldn''t. Intellectually, she knew she shouldn''t blame him, but she still held negative feelings against him. In that sense, she was similar to Huang Cixi when she had gone to the Wubei Sect. And she was painfully aware of that. Would the boy end up convincing her as well?


    Anyway, she put all that aside and decided to start talking about her quest to find an exit.


    "As I said, I have several ideas about what this place is. So I decided to make sure. That''s why I tried to infiltrate a Desolate Palace. If my hypothesis is correct, there should be some breach toward the outside world in those Desolate Palaces. But my hypothesis is not that good, because if I''m right, there should be nine palaces not just eight.


    "Maybe one of them fell from the sky at some point. When you look at the current state of those palaces, that''s really a good explanation. But again, maybe I''m simply wrong.


    "Anyway, despite my stealth, some kind of array formation was in place. I was absolutely unable to sense anything before walking into it. Yet, I spent more than ten days just to make sure there was no trap of any kind. Apart from the giant King Bone sleeping inside the Desolate Palace, I have been unable to find anything out of the ordinary. But once I got inside, it woke up instantly and attacked me. Thus, I could not explore the Desolate Palace at all."


    "So you don''t know whether there''s any exit there?"


    "That''s not what I said. I said I wasn''t able to explore. But there is indeed something hidden, and even guarded by this Bone King. In fact, I would surmise that every Desolate Palace is hiding something under the protection of a Bone King."This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "Now that one of them is destroyed, maybe we could find something in the corresponding Desolate Palace."


    "This is indeed my hope. But even if there is no more guard, I won''t risk entering any Desolate Palace before I have been able to recover some of my strength. For now, I can barely use my stealth techniques after all. Moreover, with you by my side, this will be a real problem..."


    Hearing Huang Liyue, Cao Yun thought about what he was looking for. The woman had given him protection, a clue on how to leave this dead world, even a clue on how to translate the language of Cleansed Asura, provisions of course. And now, she was giving him a sliver of hope on his stealth. Being stealthy was almost a prerequisite for the young man. If he wanted to investigate the death of his family, this would be essential. Besides, she was a powerful cultivator with a profound background. And as a bodyguard, she probably had extensive knowledge in the matter of stealth.


    Teaching her technique to someone else was maybe not what she had in mind, but her phrasing made Cao Yun think about it. Thus, Cao Yun bowed before the woman.


    "Senior, thank you for all the information. But as you said, without a good stealth technique, I may become a burden to you, especially with your injuries." Immediately, Huang Liyue knew what was coming. "If I may be so bold, may you teach this incompetent one some of your stealth techniques?"


    As soon as he spoke, Cao Yun was ready to give something in exchange.


    "I do not know how useful it could be, but I can give you some pointers concerning mind cultivation."


    Even without spiritual senses, Cao Yun could tell that Huang Liyue''s Soul Embryo, or even her very soul perhaps, had been damaged. It was obvious considering the amount of Evil Qi and Death Energy that had entered her body. From what he had experienced, Cao Yun knew he could potentially give her an altered version of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' based around the Po character. With this, she would not be able to fully control Evil Qi like him, because she had not the Drop of Wrath. But if she combined it with her Chamber of Medicine Field, she could achieve something.


    After all, as a Spirit Warrior, she had a way closer relation with her Upper Dantian which was probably brimming with Qi. Even without the Five Agents and their Five Echoes Pearl, she could probably be able to activate any of her nine chambers. Maybe it wouldn''t be to the extent Cao Yun could reach in the future, but she could imitate the process.


    Huang Liyue hesitated for some time. But after seeing the effects of the mind cultivation on Huang Cixi, she had to admit she was intrigued. On the other hand, stealth techniques were very dangerous. Indeed, it could be used for infiltration and assassination. But again, as a member of the Wubei Sect, he would probably get access to powerful stealth techniques.


    And in a very short amount of time, he would not be able to master her technique. Maybe she could accept such a trade...


    As she was trying to decide on the matter, Huang Liyue felt a stabbing pain in her sea of consciousness. Right in the middle of their conversation, she suddenly collapsed while holding her head. The Death Energy had caused even more serious injuries to her Soul Embryo than she had initially thought.


    Immediately Cao Yun went to help her. The injured woman literally fell into his arms.


    "Senior..."


    "It seems like I''ll have to take you up on your offer."


    Huang Liyue had suffered way too many injuries. If Cao Yun''s mind cultivation was as great as she thought it was, it could probably help her subdue those injuries until she could receive a proper treatment.


    -


    For several hours, Cao Yun explained an altered version of his mind cultivation. It wasn''t that he was intentionally keeping the true version for himself. But Huang Liyue needed only a specific part of this mind cultivation right now. No matter how talented she was, she could not learn the full version in a matter of hours or even days. So for now, Cao Yun focused on the Po character and the Hun character. To be honest, he had no way of knowing how this mind cultivation would react with her Soul Embryo.


    But he used his own experience with Evil Qi and Death Energy to try and make a comprehensive technique which he called ''Death Souls in the Ten Directions''. By injecting some Qi in the Chamber of Medicine Field, Huang Liyue made some foundation for both the Po and Hun characters. That chamber was related to the Earth element so it was a good chamber to develop both Metal and Wood elements. Still, this could cause some unbalance as Wood could deplete Earth. In order to resolve this issue, Cao Yun developed a special way to circulate Qi through some other chambers.


    On the spot, this was the best he could do. And it was still very good.


    Thanks to Huang Liyue''s own knowledge, she was able to fully understand what he tried to explain. In fact, she was able to understand the underlying principles and everything made sense. As a Spirit Warrior, she had not specifically trained her chamber. Instead, she had seen her Upper Dantian as a whole. But she was still able to isolate each chamber easily.


    In just a matter of hours, she had formed very faint Po and Hun characters. Then, she focused their energy on her Soul Embryo. Right away, she noticed an improvement. It was not miraculous but there was indeed something.


    Since Cao Yun had done what he had said, Huang Liyue would not go back on her words. From her spatial ring, she took out a small manual. It had been written by her in person to develop ''Ashen Feather Seal'', her unique stealth technique. Although it was still in development, this technique had been created thanks to her experience and through the knowledge of several dozens of powerful techniques.


    It was still lacking a bit as it was not a Heaven rank technique yet. But this was her technique. Among the other techniques she knew, there were some she could simply not share with an outsider. In fact, some could even attract problems to Cao Yun because of their origin.


    Thus, she decided to give him a modified version of her own creation, ''Ashen Feather Seal''. The only problem she could see was that mastering the technique had two prerequisites. The first one should be achievable considering Cao Yun''s talents. He had to manifest his Qi inside his own body. Unless he became a Mortal Warrior, he could not do so outside, but it should be possible within. In fact, even Huang Liyue was not entirely sure of that. But since Cao Yun was very close to breaking through to 9th-grade Mortal, it should be feasible.


    But to master the full extent of ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he needed a powerful bloodline like her True Fiery Fenghuang blood. Even without that, he should still be able to acquire a profound stealthiness. But it was such a pity to not develop the technique to its highest point. Still, she decided to tweak her own stealth art a little. And like that, she could also hide some parts that referred to her blood cultivation. The technique would be less effective. But that didn''t matter that much. After all she wasn''t expecting him to master it in a few days.


    Anyway, if she was able to recover enough, she could help him hide his presence. As long as he could hide enough, it would reduce the burden on her and make everything smoother.


    "Chen Guo, here is the technique I created. It''s not perfect yet, but I do believe it should give you some benefits."

 Chapter 239: Bloodline and ashes

    To be perfectly honest, Huang Liyue was rather convinced that Cao Yun would not be able to master the technique that much. Even if he did, he had no way to duplicate her bloodline and even manifesting his Qi within his own body should be quite a challenge. Over time, he could probably resolve most issues but he still wouldn''t have the right blood for the technique which had been tailored to the Huang family by Huang Liyue herself. She hoped to one day transmit this technique to another generation of the Huang family. But for now, she still found it lacking.


    Hopefully though, Cao Yun would be able to discern some things in it to allow him to improve his stealth. Besides, the young man had given her an altered version of his mind cultivation that had had immediate, albeit faint, effects. Huang Cixi had not given her mind cultivation to Huang Liyue but as her bodyguard, she had still seen parts of it. And clearly, what Cao Yun had given her was different. But it was perfectly tailored to the problem she was faced with.


    Mastering the full version in a short period would be impossible. However, with this watered-down version, she could probably reap many benefits in a matter of months, or even weeks. Already, she could feel the two characters shining in her Chamber of Medicine Field. Besides, the concepts of the chambers of a Dantian was very well known to her. The ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' blood cultivation made use of the nine chambers of the Middle Dantian as well.


    While Huang Liyue was circulating the method she had received and was witnessing the soothing effect on her Soul Embryo, Cao Yun was reading the ''Ashen Feather Seal'' manual he had just received. It was obvious that this manual had been written by Huang Liyue herself. She had taken inspiration from many different techniques. Cao Yun had read some introductions on stealth techniques when he had looked at ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. Right now, he was able to see some of those notions inside this new technique.


    The concept behind the technique was very similar to a seal, hence the name. The idea was rather simple and yet ingenious. Mastering this technique consisted in manifesting one''s Qi in the form of ashes to then coat the acupoints from the inside with it. In fact, the goal would be to coat the entire body and even soul with those ashes. As such, nothing could get out of the body, either Qi or soul. But since those ashes were literally Qi, the practitioner could easily turn them back into pure Qi and get rid of the technique at any moment.


    So it would be a kind of seal that the cultivator using it could break at any moment. Actually, he could also only partially release it in some places to keep some of his stealth and still attack, or attack for only an instant before disappearing again. In a sense, that was similar to his own technique, the ''Locking the Seven'' part consisted indeed in locking the seven apertures of the head. For example, it entailed to reduce breathing to erase one''s presence.


    Huang Liyue had even given him the chapter about improving one''s senses, ''Burning the Cinders of the Six Openings''. She felt that this would be the most beneficial to Cao Yun. Since Huang Cixi had asked her to protect the young man, and because she was reluctant to, she had decided to give him this technique. In a sense, she would be protecting him. Moreover, by helping him out of this world as well, she would have completely resolved their karmic bond. But she had no intention of helping him any further than that. Keeping him alive was enough.


    ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was made up of several more chapters: ''New Life Through Ashes'', ''Covering the Mud with Cinders'' and ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes''.


    ''New Life Through Ashes'' was the very basis and consisted in turning Qi into ashes. Of course, they were not mere ashes. They had to be very special to seal any disturbance from leaving the body. As such, there were a few mantras and mental images. Obviously, most images were based around the True Fiery Fenghuang. It was evident that this technique had been created for the Huang family. Probably, they would work by activating the True Fiery Fenghuang bloodline in the cultivator so produce these specific ashes. Although he could try to imitate them, Cao Yun would not reach the same level any time soon.


    However, Cao Yun had energized the Chamber of Jade. Thus his intuition and wisdom were enhanced. Even compared with a Spirit Warrior, his mind had an incredible ability to get in new information and make connections with what he already knew. His Shen character was made of fire and the Drop of Wrath was also full of Fire element, so was his blood now. Instead of using the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang which he had not, he could maybe use the new blood that was coursing through his veins.


    The problem was that he had little experience in terms of Qi Manifestation even inside his body. In theory, it should be possible because he could control his Qi within. After all, Qi Manifestation was an enhanced form of Qi control outside of one''s body. Yet the idea had never come to mind. And there was a reason for it, manifesting one''s Qi within could damage the tissues inside. If someone were to manifest a literal sword of Qi inside his own organs, he would probably suffer the consequences.


    But once more, it wasn''t really a problem for Cao Yun because he had the Po character that enabled him to have a better control over his Qi. By combining it with Yi and even the intent of the Drop of Wrath, controlling his Qi within his own body was very easy. Thus, this chapter should not be a problem. From what Cao Yun could gather from his reading, he would be able to manifest traces of ashes in a matter of days.


    Then, ''Covering the Mud with Cinders'' was even easier. In fact, this was the easiest chapter probably. It merely consisted in sending those ashes in specific locations to seal one''s presence. Furthermore, since Cao Yun had almost opened all of his acupoints, sending Qi manifested ashes to them would not be a problem at all. There were other points though that would be an issue. For example, he could not easily send them into his own soul for now. Although he had some understanding of souls, he was not to the level of a Spirit Warrior at all. And there were even some other points that Cao Yun had not even discovered. Only after fully mastering the 9th-grade Mortal realm, could he fully seal his Qi within his body.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    But by combining this technique with his understanding of ''Locking the Seven'' and by controlling his Qi with his mind cultivation, he could still reach a great level of stealth.


    Finally, ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes'' was probably the most complicated chapter. Indeed, it made full use of the bloodline to even warp other people''s perception. It was very complicated for Cao Yun to understand because it related heavily to both soul and bloodline. Although his mind cultivation had some relationship with his soul, Cao Yun had no Soul Embryo and he had never directly worked on his soul. Until now, he had always used his mind cultivation to form some connections with his souls, nothing more.


    Maybe his new blood could replace the bloodline necessary for this last chapter, but even then, Cao Yun had just obtained this blood. Even the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' did not mention what he could do with this blood or how he could cultivate it. This was completely uncharted territories. By seeing the blood cultivation of the Huang family, he could maybe find some clues. But this was one of their most precious secrets. Although no one outside of the Huang family could cultivate it, they were afraid of people finding weaknesses in it.


    For such powerful or intimate techniques, it was not rare to be hidden from the public.


    -


    The winds were still very violent outside so both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue worked on the techniques they had just received from the other.


    Cao Yun had been right. In three days, he had been able to form some tiny particles of ashes from his own Qi. His understanding of array formations had been very useful. Manifesting Qi was in reality some form of array formation. By circulating one''s Qi in a specific way, it could gain new properties that could then be used in the physical world. The most basic Qi Manifestation was allowed by circulating one''s Qi according to their own martial arts. But a cultivator could willfully control his Qi Manifestation if he had enough understanding of what he was trying to achieve. Usually, experts in a martial art could easily produce any Qi Manifestation because the Qi circulation of that specific art had become intuitive.


    On the other hand, Huang Liyue had been able to reduce the pain in her soul. In fact, she was now able to see a possibility of not only healing completely but even breaking through. This mind cultivation, even a small part of it, was truly incredible. Now she wanted to ask Cao Yun for the full version. But Huang Cixi also had it. And she was not going to master it in a matter of weeks or months. So instead of asking to the young man against whom she had mixed feelings, she would wait and ask Huang Cixi, even if she had to wait several years.


    Unfortunately, her recovery was still too superficial and she could barely use her spiritual senses. Besides, each use would put further strain on her Soul Embryo. So as much as she could, she would avoid it. Even Qi Manifestation was dangerous in her condition. Initially, she had believed that she would get better over time, but apparently the damage was way worse than she had thought. The more she waited, the more powerless she would become. Leaving this dead world was really an emergency.


    Looking at Cao Yun, she was able to feel that his presence had decreased by quite a lot. His breathing and his heartbeat were almost nonexistent. But even his Qi was barely leaving his body. The first part was due to another stealth technique that she didn''t know. But the extreme decrease in Qi was clearly thanks to her own art. Of course, this surprised Huang Liyue. In three days, he had been able to form some ashes to seal his acupoints!


    It was no wonder he was so valued by the Wubei Sect. This young man was a true genius. Of course, she didn''t know that Cao Yun had energized his Chamber of Jade and had gained an unfair advantage over everyone else. But even considering that, he was very quick in learning new techniques. Most likely, it came from the fact that he did in fact love to learn new arts. Each technique or martial art had its own specificities but also the same principles. And seeing what was new and what he already knew but was in a different form were things he loved to do. Comparing completely different techniques to see what they had in common was also thrilling.


    Huang Liyue wished she could have looked inside Cao Yun''s body. But she would not take such a risk with the wounds on her Soul Embryo. As much as it wounded her pride, she had to admit though that her technique had been at least partially mastered by Cao Yun. Of course, forging the very first ashes was not even considered Small Success. But this was the first step to take. And she honestly did not expect Cao Yun to take this step so fast. Considering what she had heard about him, she was confident that he could extract some benefits from her technique, but not so fast. Besides, she had even only given him a rough version of ''Ashen Feather Seal''.


    The full version was still in her spatial ring. For now, it still wasn''t totally to her satisfaction. Moreover, she was certain that Cao Yun could not master the full technique because he had not the bloodline of their family. What she didn''t know was that Cao Yun had obtained a special bloodline as well, and it was even more potent that their True Fiery Fenghuang bloodline. With her spiritual senses though, she could have determined it because she was an expert in terms of bloodline.


    But even without her spiritual senses, she could feel that Cao Yun was special. No matter how advanced his mind cultivation was, he should not have achieved such a result without any help. Huang Liyue did not even consider the possibility that he had a bloodline as powerful as their family''s. Instead, she thought that he had obtained some treasure from Xiao Xuefeng or the Wubei Sect.


    For several more hours, she watched him intently and was amazed by his ability to understand and perform her art. Of course, he was clearly not on par with her for now. But if he were to break through to the Mortal Warrior realm, he probably would be. Indeed, considering his mind cultivation, the parts referring to soul and mind would probably be quite easy for him to master while they had been the most difficult for her. She had been forced to look up many ancient and profound documents to create that aspect of the technique.


    But that was what made this technique so powerful. With those ashes, she could not only hide her Qi and her bodily functions, but she could even conceal her very soul and mind. Right now, she was able to hide from Spirit Warriors as well. As long as their spiritual senses were not too good, she was able to completely erase her existence in front of them. Of course, it wasn''t perfect because she still lacked some understanding of both souls and minds. But this boy''s mind cultivation was insane. Most likely, he had a real chance of advancing her art even further.


    For an instant, she was in doubts. Had she made a mistake by giving him such a dangerous technique? If he mastered, or even improved it, he would probably be able to hide from her own senses... But on the other hand, she was excited to potentially see her technique be brought to new heights. And she was also a bit vexed that a young man would be able to do so while she had been the one to invent that technique. But for now, she was just speculating. Maybe he would never reach such heights.

 Chapter 240: 9th-grade Mortal

    As long as the winds were so violent outside, it was a bad idea to get out. As such, both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue stayed within the cave. And both of them were working on their cultivation.


    The wounded woman was advancing her soul cultivation thanks to the altered version of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Although it was incredibly slow, she was able to literally feel her Soul Embryo steadily healing. Right now, she was just trying to stabilize her condition. Maybe she had some hope of regaining her past strength. As long as they could leave this dead world, she knew that her family would be able to find the right pills to heal her Soul Embryo. The only worry she had was that her wounds could worsen. But with this help from Cao Yun, this wasn''t a problem anymore. Unless she recklessly used her spiritual senses, her wounds would even improve over time.


    From time to time, she also left her meditative state to look at Cao Yun. He had truly advanced in his mastery of her stealth technique. In less than a week, he had reached a proficiency that was very close to what she estimated to be Small Success.


    Small Success in the ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was reached when someone was able to fully seal his body and completely hide his Qi. For now, Cao Yun was only able to hide his bodily functions such as his breathing and his heartbeat. And he was still using ''Locking the Seven'' to help him reach such a state. Here and there, he was able to limit the amount of Qi one was able to feel from him. But this was still very limited. However, he had understood the concepts behind it. Thus, it was only a question of time for him to fully reach Small Success. Once Small Success would be reached, he would be able to hide from most Mortal Warriors because he would not disturb the Qi in the environment around him.


    Then, True Success would be reached when he would be able to also seal his sea of consciousness. In such a state, he would be able to hide from spiritual senses. Obviously, hiding from someone like Xiao Xuefeng would probably be impossible though. Her perception was truly insane, even for a Spirit Warrior. But thankfully, there was only one Xiao Xuefeng in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Finally, Perfection was the grade Huang Liyue had almost reached. If Cao Yun mastered it, he would become invisible to almost everyone. To be more precise, he would still be there, but no one would be able to notice him. This was a state Huang Liyue did not fully master yet. However, she was still able to disappear in front of some weaker cultivators. Unless she acted, Mortals and even Mortal Warriors could not even know she was in the same room as them. Even if she was right in front of them, they would probably not think anything was strange at all.


    Now and then, Cao Yun stopped his meditation and tried out some moves with his spear. He did not use any martial arts because he didn''t want to destroy the cave they were in. But he still tried some moves to see if he could keep his stealth while moving around. Sadly, as long as he moved around a bit too much, the ashes turned back into mere Qi. As a Mortal, it was still very good that he had been able to manifest those ashes, but he lacked experience with Qi Manifestation.


    That was very frustrating to know what he had to do, feel it, and then lose the sensation right in the middle of doing it.


    But he knew that he was on the right track. Although he could not manifest his Qi outside, he had been able to do it within even though he could not perfectly control it yet. Maybe if he broke through again, he could improve upon it.


    Thus, Cao Yun decided to try and improve his cultivation. After all, they were trapped in this cave and they had no way to know how long it would take. The problem with the stealth technique was not his understanding but his experience with Qi Manifestation. With a slightly higher cultivation, he could probably be better at it. Indeed, he had heard of some 9th-grade Mortals being able to partially manifest their Qi. Of course, it required a great mastery of this realm, but it was theoretically possible to get very close to a real Qi Manifestation.


    What Cao Yun didn''t know was that his blood had become so potent that he should have been able to perform a pseudo-Qi Manifestation, just like Huang Cixi had done in her fight against Gui Bei. Since it was so rare, even Cao Yun had never heard of it and it was not mentioned in the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. Maybe, if he had read some beast tamer manuals, he could have gotten the idea, but his knowledge in that particular domain was very scarce. After all, beast tamers themselves were pretty rare in the Hongchen Kingdom and their heritage was not that profound either.


    Since he had half of the 6-demonic core Huang Liyue had given him left, Cao Yun could use it to finally open all of his acupoints. The number of difficult acupoints remaining in his body was ridiculously low. And all the other ones could be open in a matter of one or two hours each. So, if he really went for it, he would probably be able to break through in less than ten days, or even a week. But he still wanted for his breakthrough to be as perfect as possible considering the situation.


    Once more, he spoke with Huang Liyue and bowed.


    "Senior Huang, please excuse my boldness. You''ve already given me so much with these cores and that technique, but may I trouble you for some array formation flags?"


    Obviously, Huang Liyue knew that Cao Yun was a 5-star Earth array formation master. And it happened to be that she had array flags in her spatial ring. They were quite simple flags because she only had small attainments in array formation.


    "This is just a tiny favor compared to you saving my life."


    From her spatial ring, around fifty flags appeared.


    "I imagine that you want to create an array formation to refine the 6-demonic core completely. But do you have your compass with you?"


    Cao Yun had not taken his compass with him. Once more, if he had the ability to use a spatial ring, life would be so much easier. Even without a compass, he could still try to set up some array formation, but the results would be way less potent.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    As she said that, a simple compass appeared as well. This was the most standard compass, the ''Twenty-Four Mountains and Eight Rivers Compass''.


    "Do not mock my poor compass please. I only know a handful of array formations so I don''t really need any impressive tool. But I guess that you already trained with this kind of compass..."


    Indeed, this was the very first compass of most array formation masters. As such, it would be easy for Cao Yun to use it.


    "Thank you, Senior."


    -


    For several hours, Cao Yun tried to set up an array formation to extract Qi with more efficiency from the 6-demonic core. But the results were really lacking. Unfortunately, he was in a completely different dimension and his understanding of the Eight Directions was lacking. Besides, Sixty Rotations and Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems were two principles referring to time and its relation with celestial bodies. Of course, the celestial bodies in this dimension were different. And it completely threw off Cao Yun''s understanding. Until now, he had only a rough idea of what those two principles were, but he only needed to consider the stars and constellations he already knew. Right now, he had to take into account the strange phenomena happening in the sky.


    In the end, his Roaring Heart Waves array formation did not even reach the Perfect grade. Its effects were somewhere between 65 and 70%. Thankfully, the demonic core was from a 6-core demonic beast, so it was very powerful.


    Within the array formation, the density of Qi increased crazily, and only a tiny portion of it spilled.


    Once he was in the array formation, Cao Yun began to circulate his Qi cultivation. One by one, he focused on all his acupoints. With his mind cultivation, his rich blood and the density of Qi outside of his body, he was able to quickly open most of his acupoints, even the most difficult ones.


    Like he had estimated, in less than five days, Cao Yun was finally able to open his very last acupoints.


    As soon as he did, it was like a liberation. That was strange because the very last point he opened was Shan Zhong located near the heart. With a single new point, it was like his entire body opened. Like all the other points, Cao Yun imagined a lotus flower slowly opening up. The moment his Shan Zhong got opened, his blood flowed with even more intensity and a bit more Qi from the outside world got into it. Both his bloodstream and his Qi circulated through his entire body several times.


    Cao Yun let go of all control to better feel what was going on. This flow of Qi and blood crossed through all his acupoints and the sensation was wonderful. For several minutes, Cao Yun sweated some kind of gray mixture. More and more toxins were being eliminated from his body as his blood was nourishing and improving his tissues. The circulation of both Qi and blood was improved like crazy. And so were the sensations of his entire body. Right then, Cao Yun was able to expertly feel each fiber of his being. And he further understood the next level of cultivation.


    Now that he was a 9th-grade Mortal, he had a better understanding of what both the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' and the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' were talking about.


    According to them, the human body was not just made of flesh and bones, or organs and meridians. Every single tissue in the human body was also composed of tiny elements all working together. With his new sensations, Cao Yun was literally able to feel those cells. The feeling was still rather vague, but it was there. He could feel that his very veins were composed of those cells and that even his blood had those cells in it. There was almost nowhere in his body where there was no cell or small organisms.


    And those cells were in the image of the body. Just like the entire body, they had Qi circulating in them. Although they had no real meridians, they had things similar to acupoints in them.


    The entire point of the 9th-grade Mortal realm was, after opening the superficial acupoints, to open the profound acupoints. Now that Cao Yun could feel his cells, he understood what those were. No amount of knowledge could trump firsthand experience. Those profound acupoints were not real acupoints. What opening them meant was to completely open one''s cells to the circulation of Qi. That way, every cell in the body would be able to absorb Qi. Then, the cultivator would be able to circulate Qi even outside of his meridians.


    As such, he could both absorb and send Qi from every cell of his body. And when finally the entire body - every single cell of the entire body - would be transparent to the flow of Qi, one would transcend the Mortal realm. One would become a Mortal Warrior.


    To open those cells, the most essential aspect was to be able to feel them. For Cao Yun and his mind cultivation, this really wasn''t a problem at all. Furthermore, thanks to Chief Instructor Peng, he had really worked on feeling his acupoints so he had a better sensation of his whole body. With just this training, he would be able to cut in half the time he needed to break through again. Instead of one to two years, Cao Yun was now convinced several months would be enough to cross that new boundary.


    This meant that he would probably be able to become a Mortal Warrior either by the end of the year or next year.


    But then, he also read the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' with his new understanding. The description of the cells from the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' were more detailed, which surprised Cao Yun. Emperor Nuwa seemed to have had a better understanding of the human physiology. However, the method from Cleansed Asura was way more powerful and efficient. Instead of only using intent and Qi to slowly open each cell, Cao Yun could use the Drop of Wrath. In fact, since his blood had now a lot of similarities with the Drop of Wrath itself, he could literally use his entire bloodstream. Some techniques could also use external constraints to force his cells open, like demonic beasts blood or dense Qi.


    For now, Cao Yun should have just been happy with his breakthrough, but he could not wait to test out those ideas. By converging both his Qi, his intent and his blood, Cao Yun already tried to open up some cells. At first, he focused on his Lower Dantian where his Qi was the strongest. As his blood was permeating through his tissues, the rich Qi in it radiated and Cao Yun could feel his cells slowly align with it. Each cell had some kind of axis, just like the Du Mai and Ren Mai in a sense, and they were getting aligned with his own flow of Qi, like magnets attracted to the north pole.


    In less than an hour, Cao Yun could feel billions of cells that had completely opened up to the flow of his Qi. In his body, Cao Yun was able to feel several dozens of thousands of billions of cells. Some had already been opened by his past cultivation without him even realizing it. But more than half of those cells still needed his conscious intervention to fully open. However, with this cultivation method, Cao Yun was certain that it was only a matter of ten months, maybe even eight, before finally becoming a Mortal Warrior.


    In the cave, Huang Liyue had obviously felt his breakthrough as Qi had overflowed from his body all over the place. For a 9th-grade Mortal, his Qi was extremely rich and powerful. Even compared to the genius of her family, he had nothing to be envious about.


    "Oh?! Congratulations!"


    Both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue turned toward the only entrance to the cave. From outside, the voice of a man had echoed through the whole cave.

 Chapter 241: The ninth palace

    Just after Cao Yun jumped into the darkness engulfing the entire ravine, Can Mouye was observing. He had absolutely no desire to jump in there as well. But he needed to confirm Cao Yun''s death. He had several seals from his master in his body, in his blood and even in his soul. Losing a demonic beast was one thing. But if he were to fail in this mission, Xiong Nixie would get humiliated by Mo Tian.


    Although his master wanted to keep Can Mouye alive to then boast about having trained another Spirit Warrior, if he failed that specific mission, he would die. Whether in a fit of rage or not, Xiong Nixie would never forgive him and no amount of punishment could help him get over the humiliation, especially when it related to Mo Tian. Not only was this mission an order from Mo Tian, it had been agreed upon by the Demon King.


    And with all the seals on him, Can Mouye had no alternative. He could not run away. He could not even hide. With a mere thought, Xiong Nixie would kill him. Unless he became a Spirit Warrior stronger than his own master, he would have no way to get rid of those seals. In secret, he had obviously tried to find several ways to erase them, but to no avail. If only his master had been Mo Tian, the situation would have been different. But who had asked him to be abducted by this crazy master of his?


    Apart from blaming his fate, Can Mouye had only one thing to do. Hopefully, Cao Yun had died. But Can Mouye did not dare be optimistic, not after what had already happened. This young boy should have been dead a long time ago, but he had survived again and again. And this wasn''t just because of the Spirit Condensation Barrier. Can Mouye was sure that the boy and the Mountain Fenghuang should have been poisoned by his Evil Qi. Yet, they had both survived until now. Obviously, he had some kind of treasure, maybe a pill, to help him fight off Evil Qi. This was interesting!


    Without spiritual senses, Can Mouye still tried to use his ability to detect Qi. However, absolutely nothing could leave this darkness below. Not even light or sound seemed to leave it. As such, he had no way to determine whether Cao Yun had died down there or not. And he did not want to go after him himself. However, he had little to no choice if he wanted to stay alive. Maybe he would die in that darkness. But if he didn''t go, he would die with absolute certainty. An uncertain death seemed more appealing than a certain one, especially at the hands of Xiong Nixie. In the best case scenario, his rage would take over and he would kill him fast, but he could also decide to give him to some of his most detestable demonic beasts. Some insects loved to burrow deep in the flesh of cultivators and slowly digest them while they were alive and kicking.


    Can Mouye had witnessed many horrendous deaths that had never affected him in any way. But the prospect of turning from the witness to the victim was not to his liking at all.


    With the same permanent smile on his face, Can Mouye took out several pills from his spatial ring, just in case. After all, he wasn''t even sure if he could use his spatial ring down there. Immediately, he swallowed one of the pills. Without any more hesitation, Can Mouye literally dived into the unknown darkness.


    Just like Cao Yun, what he experienced was pure darkness and silence. As he was a Mortal Warrior, he was theoretically able to feel Qi all around him. Yet, there was absolutely nothing, only air. He had even been prepared to stop breathing, but he had a nice surprise with this air.


    For several hours, Can Mouye fell and slowly he understood what was going on. Most likely, Cao Yun was alive. Unlike Huang Liyue, he had not that much experience with other dimensions. But while they had been preparing for their grand plan, the demonic cultivators had worked on spatial array formations. Clearly, this was some kind of transition between two dimensions. Hopefully, he could try and find a way to exit that unknown dimension later on.


    But for now, he had to be extremely wary of his environment. In another dimension, he had absolutely no idea what could await him, or even how the natural laws would behave.


    Suddenly, he felt space around him act out. Even with his senses, he met the same fate as Cao Yun and lost all kind of sense of orientation. With intense force, he was thrown in every direction again and again.


    When finally something new appeared, he saw the same black sky scarred by many purple lacerations. High in the sky, there were also eight palaces in a desolate state. And below him, there was not a wide black plain. Instead, there was a rocky and sharp mountain. It was made of thousands upon thousands of black rocks sharp as blades pointed toward the sky. Compared with Cao Yun, he had way less chance.


    Immediately, he reinforced his Wei Qi and sent several powerful palms to try and destroy the rocks before landing on them.


    ''Shadow Heart Palm''!


    Below him the rocks exploded into a heavy cloud of dust. Although the rocks had been pure black, there were traces of white dust within the cloud. Not prepared for it, Can Mouye inhaled some particles from the cloud and realized what it was at once. As a demonic cultivator, he was deeply aware of what Evil Qi and Death Energy were. And he also knew how terrifying they could be.


    Even as a middle Mortal Warrior ready to break through to the Spirit Warrior realm, he was worried by this cloud. Demonic cultivators were used to working with Evil Qi, but that didn''t mean they were complacent with it. In fact, those who were always ended up consumed by it at some point and died, just like Luduo Bu.


    As soon as some dust entered his body, he stopped breathing and intensified his Wei Qi to resist Evil Qi. Thankfully, he was knowledgeable about this kind of corrosive force. The tiny amount he had breathed in was quickly maneuvered thanks to his ''Tianfomo''s Compassion''. This was a martial art using Evil Qi as fuel. Of course, it could also be used with Qi, but Evil Qi truly brought out its full force. Like he had done against Cao Yun, his attacks could poison any cultivator with Evil Qi and slowly shave off their very life.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    But this technique could also be used to circulate Evil Qi and contain it within one''s body. For that very purpose, Can Mouye had ingested many poisons who had cause immeasurable pain. But that way, he had forged a small part of his Lower Dantian so that it could contain Evil Qi. Even his meridians could resist its corrosion with more ease. As such, they could bear the pain of the technique long enough for it to be fully manifested.


    However, he had been a bit too violent with his attacks. He had not only broken the sharp peaks he had been about to be skewered upon, he had also dug some kind of well. What he realized while falling was that there were a few galleries dug under the mountain. Most likely, he had struck right where those galleries connected. And he found himself deep underground.


    With his powerful body, the fall did not cause any damage. But he wasn''t sure whether this was a good idea to get out or instead stay below the ground.


    Looking at the galleries, Can Mouye was convinced of two things. They were not natural at all, but they had not been dug by demonic beasts. Not only was Can Mouye a beast tamer, but he was also fascinated by insects and arachnids. Thus, he knew a lot about tunnels. And those galleries had not been dug by any kind of demonic beast he knew. Moreover, there was no trace of any beast at all on the walls of the tunnel. Instead, there were strange markings here and there. Some had already faded away, but clearly they were not from any language Can Mouye knew.


    Unlike Huang Liyue, he did not realize that those markings were Insight Writings. In his mind, they were either nonsensical or from another language he had no way of understanding. Thus, he did not pay them any mind.


    After a bit of hesitation, he still decided to follow the galleries. Maybe Cao Yun had also fallen down there. But for now, he had to gather some information to understand what was going on.


    -


    He walked for several hours until he met something unexpected.


    From all around the tunnel, below his feet, above his head, on both sides, the walls started to shake. Then, several skeletons broke through the rocky walls. They were the Bone Warriors Cao Yun had met in the black plain. But they were also buried deep under the mountain apparently.


    Instantly, Can Mouye used his senses to feel what those creatures were. What he felt was an intense Death Energy deep in their bones. And circulating all around their body was Evil Qi. Can Mouye had never met any creature like those.


    But he was used to dealing with unknown creatures as a beast tamer, so he stayed calm. Thanks to his understanding of Evil Qi, he could vaguely guess the strength of those skeletons. They were barely strong enough to equal a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. Observing their movement, he also quickly guessed that they lacked any real form of intelligence. Most likely, they should not be able to manifest their Qi. In a word, they were not a threat at all for him.


    Can Mouye didn''t want to cause a ruckus. Yet, he was fascinated by those creatures. If they could control Death Energy and Evil Qi, studying them could help him get a better control over it as well. This could be the push he needed to finally break through to the Spirit Warrior realm. Maybe this mission would finally give him some benefits. Until now, he had failed again and again and he was getting tired of it.


    The Bone Warriors started to fight among themselves. But they were brutally interrupted by one of them. It stood out from the other ones because it was covered in the same markings that could be seen on the walls of the tunnels. But unlike the walls, those markings were shining with a terrifying yellow light. That peculiar light reminded Can Mouye of death itself.


    Trying to use his senses to analyze those markings, he realized that his senses could not penetrate them at all. He could see them but if he closed his eyes, he could doubt that they had ever existed. From the skeleton, he could feel Evil Qi and Death Energy but no marking at all. Maybe there were other markings inside the skeletons but he simply couldn''t feel them.


    Can Mouye felt compelled to break down those things and analyze their bones. As such, he took out his whip and was ready to attack. However, he was not ready for what happened next. After subduing his companions, the marked skeleton engraved a few runes in them. Then, they all stood aside and quite literally opened up a path for the human. From both sides of the tunnel, they were simply standing still and the marked Bone Warrior showed the way to Can Mouye, inviting him to go further into the tunnels.


    Obviously, the first thought that came to Can Mouye''s mind was that this was a trap. But those skeletons, even all of them together, were not a threat to him. At any moment, he knew he could destroy them. The real question was where they wanted to bring him to. There, he might be faced with a more powerful enemy. But again, if he was faced with an enemy on par with a Spirit Warrior, he could not really escape. Clearly this marked skeleton had come for him, so someone or something had sensed his presence.


    As long as he had no clue of what was going on in this world, following those creatures might not be a bad idea. They were brimming with Evil Qi. As a demonic cultivator himself, he wasn''t particularly reticent to follow them. If he had been an orthodox cultivator, that would have been another story, but he wasn''t. Since he had no other lead, he decided to go with them. If worse came to worst, he still had some trump cards in his spatial ring. And he had made sure that it was indeed working properly even in this other dimension.


    Hence, Can Mouye followed the marked skeleton and walked between the rows lines of Bone Warriors on each side of the tunnel. He still had his whip in hand though. A large part of his mind was focused on his senses while a fraction of his attention was inside his spatial ring, ready to take a certain something out at any time.


    Contrary to his expectations, his travel was very short. In less than ten minutes, he literally found himself in front of a giant cave underground. The only light visible came from a small stream of yellow water. It was the exact same yellow color that he could see shining through the engravings on the skeleton. And just like those engravings, this yellow stream gave him a sensation of death. He wasn''t able to feel any Evil Qi or Death Energy from the water, but there was indeed something ominous in it.


    With his senses, this tiny bit of light allowed him to see as though it was broad daylight. In the giant cave, there was a partially destroyed palace. It looked precisely the same way as the eight palaces floating in the sky he had seen while falling down. But it was way more destroyed. The roof was mostly gone and all the walls had a few holes in them. Here and there, some columns had even fallen down and crushed those walls in some places. All around the destroyed palace, a dozen of humanoid skeletons were walking around. They all had the engravings the one guiding Can Mouye had.


    In front of the palace, there was a giant cauldron but Can Mouye could not see it properly because he had arrived from the back. However, what he saw was a young man in chains. The chains were coming from the walls of the cave and completely trapped the young man in the air. Apparently he was unconscious. Obviously, Can Mouye wondered whether that would be his fate or not.


    However, a voice answered his doubts. But it created new ones as it echoed in his very mind.


    "Do not worry. Your fate will not be his. Come on, get closer."

 Chapter 242: A tempting proposal

    In the entrance of the cave, Cao Yun immediately recognized the demonic cultivator who had been chasing him in the woods. He was the man who had killed both Feng''er and Huang''er. And he had probably killed several cultivators who had come to help Yinmen City. Besides, he probably knew a lot about what was going on with the stampede. For once, Cao Yun had a real lead in front of him, but the man was way too powerful for him, even with his recent breakthrough.


    Quickly, Cao Yun sent a meaningful look to Huang Liyue. Obviously, she understood that this man was the demonic cultivator the young man had talked to her about. Trying to suppress her wounds, she stood up firmly and exuded an intimidating aura. With just her bloodline, she gave off the impression of being an ancient monster ready to tear apart those who would dare oppose her. Even Cao Yun felt as though the temperature had risen and his skin was burning a little. It was as though he was getting closer to the sun. If he got any closer, he would turn into white ashes.


    The intruder did not try to enter the cave. Instead, he bowed respectfully toward Huang Liyue. However, he never acknowledged Cao Yun''s presence. The only time he ever laid eyes on him, the young man felt as though he was already dead in the eyes of Can Mouye. Despite his permanent smile, or maybe because of his permanent smile, Can Mouye''s face looked ominous.


    "Senior, please excuse my intrusion. I sincerely hope I did not disturb you. Would you please kindly relinquish this young man into my care?"


    Huang Liyue''s aura intensified a little and she talked back.


    "Why would I ever listen to a demonic cultivator like you?! Surrender or die!"


    Hearing her response, Can Mouye did not get angry in the slightest. In fact, he even chuckled a little.


    "Senior, please do not make this difficult for me. My master asked me to take care of this little boy. His life is of no concern to you, right? Besides, if I really wanted to take him from you by force, could you really stop me?"


    While he was still bowing and smiling, Can Mouye''s tone was slowly changing. But he always kept up an appearance of politeness. On the other hand, Huang Liyue''s face became quite sinister. Unfortunately, he wasn''t entirely wrong. In her current condition, she was not sure she could fight off this man, especially because he was a demonic cultivator. Such cultivators were often stronger than their actual realm because of the perverse techniques they used. And they could more or less manipulate Evil Qi. In this place, this was a true advantage he had over her. She was limited to pure Qi but he was not.


    Since she had already been weakened by Evil Qi, this advantage would get multiplied. In fact, unless she used her spiritual senses, she was almost certain that she would indeed die by his hands. Her only option would be to try and flee. Giving Cao Yun up did not even cross her mind for an instant. And deep down, she was furious! Fleeing from an enemy she could had literally killed with a single wave of her hand just a few weeks ago was infuriating. If she had been alone, she might have taken her chances and fought him, but she had to consider Cao Yun. Although she still kinda resented him for spilling Huang blood, she had sworn to protect him and admitted that her feelings were irrational. As a bodyguard, she could not disregard that duty and that promise.


    "Senior, I have absolutely no reason to fight against you. To be honest, if you were to use your spiritual senses, you would probably kill me on the spot. However, you would at the very least destroy your Soul Embryo. Even if you survive that, you will then die in this world. But I can offer you something in exchange for the boy''s life."


    "What could you offer me to buy my dignity and honor?"


    "Please, Senior, do not put it like that. In this world, aren''t we all in the same boat? I imagine that just like me, you wish to see the light of day again, right?"


    Suddenly, both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue got interested. Did he have a way to get out of this world?


    "My new master is able to help us get out of here. He controls most of this world already and very soon, he will control all of it. And he already told me he was ready to help you leave this world alive, if you agreed to help him until then."


    Cao Yun was shocked by those words. Could this Can Mouye have been talking about Cleansed Asura? No, although Cao Yun knew almost nothing about Cleansed Asura, he was clearly an orthodox cultivator. After all, the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' was an orthodox method. And he had chosen Cao Yun because he had read his memories and liked his character. If he had been a demonic cultivator himself, he would have probably tried to take over Cao Yun''s mind instead. But then, who could control most of this world if it wasn''t Cleansed Asura?


    "And you think that I will trust the words of a demonic cultivator?"


    "You misunderstand me, Senior. My master is not a demonic cultivator, he is something else entirely. Besides, he can also help you with your Soul Embryo. You see, he knows a lot about souls. If you help him, he might even be able to bring you to 7th-grade Spirit Warrior."


    Can Mouye paused for an instant before adding some more promises.


    "Senior, I do realize that believing me may be hard for you. So I will add some information to my proposal. I can tell you everything I know about the demonic cultivators in the Hongchen Kingdom, even the Demon King. For example, I could tell you why we caused this demonic beasts stampede all over the kingdom."


    "Are you mocking me?! Your master probably left many seals in you to prevent you from spilling any information."


    "Oh, that he did. But as I said, my new master knows quite a lot about souls. It only took him two weeks to erase every single seal in my body and soul, without any damage. And I had more than a hundred of them..."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Huang Liyue had no spiritual senses right now, so she couldn''t scan Can Mouye''s body to ascertain that claim. But if that were true, his new master''s abilities were really incredible. Even Xiao Xuefeng could not claim to be able to erase a soul seal without any complications, let alone do so in less than a month. If his new master had indeed gotten rid of a hundred seals in two weeks, his ability was just beyond what Spirit Warriors could do.


    Although Cao Yun''s understanding of seals was beneath Huang Liyue''s, he could still understand how incredible that statement was. And it reinforced in him the idea that this new master might have been connected to Cleansed Asura in some way. Another idea popped up in his mind. Maybe that mysterious master had acquired some of Cleansed Asura''s knowledge that Cao Yun could not read...


    "And you want me to believe you so easily? If your master really were so powerful, he wouldn''t need my help, right?"


    "Senior, my master does not need your help. He just thinks it would be easier if you were to join us. But, with or without your help, everything will be fine. As to whether you believe me or not, it is beyond my control."


    Huang Liyue''s face changed. She appeared as though she was seriously thinking about the offer. Right now, they were in a stalemate. She could kill Can Mouye, but she would die sooner or later after. Without her, Cao Yun would not be long for this world either. In fact, he would not have access to food anymore and stuck in this world, he was doomed to die of hunger. That was really a pitiful way to go for a cultivator. But even if they survived, Huang Liyue had not found any way to leave this place. So, assuming that they were able to get rid of Can Mouye, they would still be stuck in this world.


    And if his master was really as powerful as he claimed, that would be the end.


    Moreover, he was probably not lying. Although it was difficult to ascertain it from his demeanor, Huang Liyue could somewhat tell.


    "What is your master''s name?"


    "My new master does not want his name to be revealed. But you may call him by his title, Cleansed Asura."


    Even with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun could not hide very subtle signs of surprise and shock. Could Cleansed Asura really be working with a demonic cultivator? Maybe he had turned desperate. After all, this world was clearly dying, just like Cleansed Asura had been when they had met. But then again, just because he was using the same title, that did not mean that that mysterious master was truly Cleansed Asura.


    Both Huang Liyue and Can Mouye had noticed Cao Yun''s reaction, no matter how subtle it had been. But to be fair, it had been a real shock to Cao Yun. Cleansed Asura had saved his life and now someone claiming to work for him was here to kill him... If that were truly Cleansed Asura, maybe he just didn''t know who Cao Yun was. Can Mouye had probably used his fake name, ''Chen Guo''. If that were true, maybe there was a way to resolve this peacefully.


    "Senior, you see, this young man received something from my master. And my master wants it back now. I''m sure he never mentioned anything to you, right?"


    Huang Liyue looked at Cao Yun who was now beyond shock. That mysterious master truly was Cleansed Asura! Only he knew about the Drop of Wrath.


    "You ask whether you can trust me, Senior. But may I be so bold at to give you an advice? This is this young man you should doubt. I never lied once. Yet, this young man whom you are ready to protect with your life, can he say the same thing? Senior, are you even sure that Chen Guo is his real name?"


    Everything was lost! Can Mouye even knew Cao Yun''s real identity. That master truly was Cleansed Asura. No matter what could happen now, how would Cao Yun fight against a literal God-Monarch. Even if he were weakened, hundreds, if not thousands of late Spirit Warriors probably stood no chance of winning. Cao Yun was not sure of the actual strength of Cleansed Asura. But he had some memories of Axiu Qian''s life. As such, he could imagine the strength of a God-Monarch, someone able to cross the void. Even close to death, he had been able to read Cao Yun''s memories with no problem at all.


    "Preposterous!" As Cao Yun was starting to feel really anxious and desperate, Huang Liyue answered in rage. "Do you think I would reveal all my secrets to someone I just met?! Then, why would I expect it from someone else?"


    In Cao Yun''s mind, the Chamber of Medicine Field and the Chamber of Moving Pearls shined. Suddenly, the despair and shock almost disappeared from Cao Yun''s mind. He could still feel them, but those feelings seemed to belong to someone else now. They had no more sway over his mind.


    "You say that you never lied once?! If your master really were so powerful, I would be dead by now. Even if he indeed erased your seals, it doesn''t necessarily means he is extremely powerful. Maybe he has some restrictions that prevent him from doing what he wants. After all, why would such a powerful entity accept a Mortal Warrior as his ally?"


    For the first time, Can Mouye fully stood up. Until now, he had always stayed somewhat bowed as a sign of ''respect''. But now, he had thrown that pretense away. Even his tone changed a little. But his eerie smile remained.


    "Senior, are we really going to do that?"


    "I think we are!"


    Just as she finished her sentence, hundreds of iron fans left her spatial ring. Those were the ''Myriad Inferno Feathers'' set. As soon as they left her spatial ring, they ignited into flames of myriads of colors.


    ''Exploding Feathers''!


    Several dozens iron fans went straight for Can Mouye.


    ''Surrender to Compassion''.


    Can Mouye assumed a strange position with his two palms. Right in front of him, a giant palm appeared with a character in it. The palm was golden and yet it exuded a sense of death and desolation. As soon as the iron fans touched the palms, they completely stopped. Although they were still in the middle of the cave, Huang Liyue did not put an end to her attack. Suddenly, all the iron fans exploded.


    At that very moment, Huang Liyue took out her ''Ironclad Wheel''. Using it closed, as a small stick, she stabbed toward the ceiling of the cave Cao Yun had dug. ''Blazing Beak Strike''. A column of fire pierced through the mountains above and the gray light of the scarred sky appeared.


    While Can Mouye was still distracted by the earlier explosion, Huang Liyue took Cao Yun and the egg with her and leapt into the sky through this new tunnel. Although she could not really fly in her condition, she could still jump extremely high. And as soon as they were in the sky, she opened her ''Ironclad Wheel'' and controlled it with her Qi.


    It was now floating in the sky with them on it. Even without her full strength, she was still able to manipulate her weapon well enough to fly in the sky. Can Mouye was still a Mortal Warrior. No matter how advanced he was, he would not be able to fly. This gave Huang Liyue an advantage. Despite her desire to get rid of that demonic cultivator, she had to keep Cao Yun alive. And she knew she could not fight and do that at the same time, not in her current condition at least.


    Cao Yun had had barely any time to register what was going on. But this greatly reminded him of what had happened in the woods. Huang''er had risked her life to fly away with him. Hopefully, the conclusion this time would be different.


    Just as he thought that, a whip of black energy attacked Huang Liyue.


    ''Inferno Blows the Feather Away''.


    The ''Ironclad Wheel'' flew away, leaving a trail of fire behind it. And Huang Liyue was able to avoid the whip with no problem. But then, the giant figure of a Buddha appeared behind them. And his palms tried to swat away the flying iron fan with Huang Liyue and Cao Yun over it.

 Chapter 243: Evil Buddhas mercy

    All around Can Mouye, the dust from the black rocks destroyed by Huang Liyue''s attack was swirling more and more violently. That dust was almost entirely made of Death Energy and Evil Qi. Before entering in this world he would have never been able to control so much of it, even with his ''Tianfomo''s Compassion'' that was specialized in it. But thanks to his new master, not only all his seals had been erased, he had also learned how to control both of those energies to unprecedented heights.


    Can Mouye was even convinced that he had greatly exceeded his own master in Evil Qi mastery. Maybe, Mo Tian himself was inferior to him on that aspect. Of course, both of them were powerful Spirit Warriors. Through sheer force they could still control that much Evil Qi, but if they had Can Mouye''s cultivation, they would probably be vastly inferior.


    With this much ominous energy around him, Can Mouye poured everything in his ''Tianfomo''s Compassion''.


    From the mountains, a giant figure appeared. It was made of pure gold and as it ascended in the air, the dead world seemed to be brimming with light. However, this light was strangely terrifying. Such a golden aura should have felt pure and benevolent, but instead, it seemed like the final light one would see before dying. And as the light became brighter and brighter, the figure started to take physical form. It was a man sitting cross-legged. He was only wearing pants while his belly was fully exposed. That man was extremely plump and full of life. Both of his eyes were closed and he was smiling with intense joy. Completely bald, he had thick eyebrows and a large pimple right between them. In addition, his earlobes were extremely deformed, both elongated and enlarged.


    His entire body exuded golden light. While his face seemed to be jovial and full of life, Cao Yun and Huang Liyue saw something else in him. That Qi Manifestation would kill anything without batting an eye and without losing this permanent smile. The compassion of this fake Buddha meant death to all. Only in permanent death would all living beings find salvation. That feeling was rather vague but that was what both of them felt by watching that giant golden Buddha.


    That smiling Buddha was Tianfomo, the Evil Heavenly Buddha. In order to bring compassion and salvation to all, he had to exterminate all. Death of everything was the ultimate form of compassion as all reincarnations would then stop. Until every single living being was dead, no real salvation could be reached by anyone. To stop pain and sufferings, death and rebirth, all had to die. Then, true happiness would exist in the universe.


    Behind Tianfomo, thousands of arms were forming a perfect circle. Each hand had manifested with a specific gesture. Although there were thousands of hands, they all had a unique mudra. And once the Evil Heavenly Buddha was fully manifested, his hands all started to move in order to bring compassion to all living beings. And there were only three living beings around him, Cao Yun, Huang Liyue and the egg. Obviously, Can Mouye was not part of the living beings targeted because he was the one who was controlling this Qi Manifestation.


    The Evil Heavenly Buddha''s compassion had to be accepted!


    ''Everlasting Salvation''!


    Hundreds of arms started to move. From the sky, many palms got manifested and began to rain down on Huang Liyue. The bodyguard was unfortunately too weak to use the most powerful moves from ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel''. In fact, she was not even sure whether she could mobilize all five of her True Fiery Drops. Right now, she had only activated two of them and she was already feeling a terrible pain through her entire chest. Although she had regained some Qi, she had not been able to heal her wounds. In a last effort, she could probably use her spiritual senses and make quick work of this Evil Heavenly Buddha. But then, she would really die. And after her, Cao Yun would die as well.


    Besides, this demonic cultivator had probably a lot of information that would be very beneficial to the Huang family. Thus, if she wanted to protect her family, she also had to make sure that he was captured alive. For once, they could maybe make a demonic cultivator talk without seeing him burst into flames. But for that, she needed to stay alive first.


    ''Bright Dawn Wheel''.


    Several dozens of her ''Myriad Inferno Feathers'' left her spatial ring and formed many wheels of fire hovering over Huang Liyue. Even with her speed, the palms were too fast to dodge all of them. Around fifty of them fell on top of her. Each shock was incredibly intense but her iron fans protected her. However, each strike was also composed of Evil Qi and Death Energy. Cao Yun had gotten all of it outside of her but her body was being assaulted by them once more.


    Of course, Cao Yun would not let his new bodyguard risk her life without doing anything. Although she had literally told him that she could not forgive him for the Huang blood he had shed, she was still honoring her words. Huang Liyue could have agreed with the demonic cultivator, even to merely gain some time. But instead, she had decided to risk her life to try and protect Cao Yun. Of course, he could not let her do it without helping her in return.


    In his sea of consciousness, he activated his Chamber of Medicine Field and pushed his Five Agents and his Drop of Wrath to their limit. With the intent from the Drop of Wrath, all the Evil Qi around him was absorbed. There was a lot of it, but considering Huang Liyue''s wounds, he could not let her get infected again. The same was true for the egg. Thankfully, the egg was still in contact with the 6-demonic core and was being saturated by this Qi.


    On the ground, Can Mouye could feel that almost all of the Evil Qi and Death Energy were being absorbed by Cao Yun. Thanks to Huang Liyue''s defense, the density of both of those energies had been greatly reduced as they were being burned by her flames. Still, no Mortal should have been able to survive the corrosion of that amount. Cleansed Asura had been right. This boy truly had a treasure in his body. Can Mouye had not been told what that treasure was exactly, but his new master had indeed told him that ''Chen Guo'' was Cao Yun and that he wanted to get back what was his. That thing was hidden in his body and would help him survive Evil Qi.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Now there was no more doubt in Can Mouye, what Cleansed Asura had told him was true. But that didn''t mean that everything else was true as well. After spending so much time with demonic cultivators, Can Mouye knew that trust was a weakness. The best way to hide a lie was within truth itself. No matter how much Cleansed Asura''s words would turn out to be true, Can Mouye would still doubt every single detail until he had been able to verify them himself.


    But for now, Can Mouye focused on killing the running boy. Last time, he had let Cao Yun escape all the way to the veil of darkness. He really didn''t want that situation to repeat itself. Right away, he mobilized all of his strength.


    ''Infinite Wisdom''!


    This time a gigantic palm appeared right beneath Huang Liyue. The hand itself was at least twenty times Huang Liyue''s size. Even compared with the image of the Evil Heavenly Buddha, it was out of proportion. In the middle of the palm, on the golden skin, there was a character engraved. Neither Huang Liyue nor Cao Yun could read it, but it didn''t bode anything good. Quickly, this was proved as Huang Liyue realized that she was barely moving. Although she was activating her movement techniques, the surroundings never changed. They were both stuck inside this giant palm.


    ''Inferno Choking Claws''!


    Huang Liyue sent her iron fans toward the palm below. At the moment of impact, they opened and sliced through the Qi Manifestation. The first target of Huang Liyue was the strange character. After several attacks, it was completely destroyed and the palm started to disappear while Huang Liyue''s iron fan on which she was standing with Cao Yun recovered all of its speed and some more.


    However, this technique had only been a delaying strategy. Still in the mountains, Can Mouye had produced several thousands of mudra. Now that he was done, a change occurred in the Evil Heavenly Buddha. The two giants eyelids closed under his thick eyebrows slowly began to shake. Even more slowly, they began to open and let out a more terrifying light. While his entire body was golden, that light was pure black.


    ''Life Eradication''.


    Once his eyes were perfectly opened, the world around the Evil Heavenly Buddha became even darker than with the gray light from this dead world. All the way to his own golden light, no more color existed in this world. Then, that deadly light got focused and two beams of dead light were hurtled toward Huang Liyue.


    ''Illuminated Peacock Wheel''!


    Her second ''Ironclad Wheel'' appeared from her spatial ring and Huang Liyue sent it against those beams of dead light. Upon impact, the iron fan turned into a magnificent peacock wheel full of all the colors of life. High in the sky, there was a fight between life and death. On one side, the world was devoid of colors while on the other side, myriads of colors crisscrossed the dead world. But the more Huang Liyue used her martial arts, the more she was suffering.


    Although Can Mouye was a mere Mortal Warrior, with all this Evil Qi and Death Energy around him, he was in fact almost as strong as an early Spirit Warrior. In itself, this was a miracle Huang Liyue would have never thought possible. Clearly the master he had talked about had given him new methods to control Evil Qi. If the demonic cultivators in the Hongchen Kingdom were able to do so, they would be even greater threats. In fact, the kingdom would have maybe fallen already...


    At that moment Huang Liyue realized something. She had to leave this place, yes, but she also had to make sure that neither Can Mouye nor his master could. If they were able to get outside and ally themselves with the other demonic cultivators, the consequences would be terrible. However, all the objectives she had seemed more and more impossible. She wasn''t even sure whether she would survive this very encounter. And yet, she was deluding herself into thinking she could stop Can Mouye''s new master...


    When this thought crossed her mind, Huang Liyue circulated Cao Yun''s altered mind cultivation and regained her fighting spirit. She had one last trump card to try out. If that failed as well, then she would be forced to try and expand her Soul Embryo. With it, she could directly attack Can Mouye''s soul. No matter how powerful he was, as a Mortal Warrior, he would have almost no way to defend against her Soul Embryo. But then, she would probably die as well.


    ''Fenghuang Soars From Kunlun''!


    Huang Liyue forced the activation of her five True Fiery Drops. They were burning inside her heart. Grinding her teeth, she stood the pain and a giant True Fiery Fenghuang flew from her body toward the ''Ironclad Wheel'' blocking the two beams of dead light. At the precise moment of impact, the world got flooded with life and lights of all colors. That light was so bright that even the Evil Heavenly Buddha closed his eyes. So did Can Mouye still in the black mountains.


    Hidden by this blinding light, Huang Liyue took out something from her spatial ring and sent Cao Yun inside. With the light, even he could not see a thing. But he felt that he had fallen unto a solid floor made of wood. Then, he heard Huang Liyue''s foot touching the same wooden floor. Immediately after, he felt an incredible force exerted on his body and Huang Liyue''s body behind him preventing him from falling backward. Apparently, he was accelerating like never before. In fact, there was a powerful sonic boom echoing all around the two of them.


    With the intense light, not only could Can Mouye not see a thing, but even his senses were dull. But when finally he was able to see what was going on, there was a small boat flying away. This was a traditional junk ship. But its sails were horizontal and on the sides, just like wings. On top of that junk, there was a small wooden room as well. What shocked Can Mouye though was the speed of the boat. But after losing Cao Yun once when he had been following Xiong Nixie''s orders, he was not going to fail again while under his new master.


    This time, he had prepared accordingly. From his spatial ring, the skeleton of a big demonic beast appeared. The bones had been engraved with several markings similar to the ones Can Mouye had seen in the tunnels and in the Bone Warrior he had followed all the way to his master. Furthermore, if Cao Yun had been there, he would have recognized the skeleton right away. This was the skeleton of a Mountain Fenghuang, most likely Huang''er''s.


    Every bone had been thoroughly preserved and they were shining white. Although there was no ligament or no flesh of any kind, the skeleton started to fly and Can Mouye rode on it. Quickly, he rose in the air and flew toward the fleeing ship. Unfortunately for him, his skeleton beast was way slower than that ship. That was when he activated his movement technique.


    ''Three Steps to Cross the World''.


    Evil Qi and Death Energy enveloped both Can Mouye and the dead Huang''er. As a result, their speed skyrocketed. And just like the junk ship, they exceeded the speed of sound. Yet, they were still slower than the junk ship. The big difference though was that that flying ship was maneuvered by a weakened Huang Liyue. Hopefully for Can Mouye, she would be out of stamina before he would. Then, he could take his time to make sure to eliminate Cao Yun and retrieve his body without endangering himself too much.

 Chapter 244: Ocean of Turbid Anguish

    After the light subsided, Cao Yun could finally see where he was. He was on a ship flying in the sky. Looking all around, the ship was not very big. In the center of it, there was a room where four or five people could fit into. From his understanding of plants, he also recognized the wood used, Enlightened Sandalwood. Such a wood was a great conduit for spiritual senses and Qi alike. As such, it was often used to create artifacts.


    With this wood, the ship could both fly with more ease as one would need less energy and concentration to maneuver it, but also protect the inhabitants from external threats. Just like the human body, this wood could produce Wei Qi to form some kind of protection all around itself. And with Cao Yun''s perception, he was vividly feeling this Wei Qi all around him. But since the wood was dead, this Wei Qi had to come from someone, namely Huang Liyue.


    Turning his head around, Cao Yun saw Huang Liyue''s face distorted by both fatigue and pain. To fly in the sky, she had to use a tiny bit of her spiritual senses along with her Qi. But both her Soul Embryo and her meridians were wounded. Right now, she was clearly at the limit of what she could stand. Thankfully, this ship was able to enhance her spiritual senses so she could control it without putting too much strain on herself. Still, the pain was unbearable.


    In fact, without the altered mind cultivation from Cao Yun, she would not have been able to keep this ship flying for so long. She would have probably already cracked. Right now, in her sea of consciousness, the two characters Po and Hun were extremely agitated. There were also five True Fiery Fenghuangs floating around. Her entire ocean was in turmoil and the sky was full of flames of all kinds of colors. The peacock wheel high in her sky was rotating with incredible speed.


    Huang Liyue was pouring as little energy as necessary into her ship, the ''Feng Soaring Junk''. Considering her current condition, she knew that in a battle of attrition, she would ultimately lose. That was frustrating beyond belief to run away from someone who was so much weaker than her. But she could not win this fight, not under those conditions. Besides, she had sworn to protect Cao Yun who had saved her life. No matter what her personal feelings were, she would never renege on her own words. Despite Can Mouye''s words that had indeed troubled her, she still decided to protect the young man.


    Apparently, she had been duped by the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and Cao Yun was not ''Chen Guo''. Most likely, Chen Guo had never existed in the first place. For an instant, Huang Liyue wondered whether her young mistress knew of this. But thinking about her, the bodyguard was convinced that this young girl had known for a long time. She always seemed to know more than everyone else in the room, whether this was true or just airs she was putting on.


    Behind the ''Feng Soaring Junk'', Can Mouye was flying on the back of a Mountain Fenghuang skeleton. And further behind him, the Evil Heavenly Buddha was still smiling and floating toward the ship. His thousands of arms were producing various mudra. Among them, one of his hands pointed to the sky. Quickly, some kind of disk condensed itself from Evil Qi. Its mere rotation was so fast that it produced a strident sound that was heard all the way to the ''Feng Soaring Junk''.


    Hearing this, Cao Yun looked back while protecting his ears. That was when he finally saw the Mountain Fenghuang. As soon as he laid eyes on it, he recognized the bone structure. This skeleton was indeed Huang''er''s corpse. With his keen senses, he also saw that they had been preserved through various processes. Apparently, each bone had also been covered in some kind of dust, probably related to Death Energy. The entire skeleton appeared to be pure white, but here and there there were some taints of yellow. Of course, it reminded Cao Yun of the Bone Demons, but this was different.


    From what Cao Yun had seen, the bones from the Bone Demons were physical manifestations of Death Energy. That was why they were all fighting to steal them from one another. Those bones however were the real bones of Huang''er. Cao Yun had never heard of any technique that could reanimate a corpse. Either this was a technique known by demonic cultivators, which was highly possible, or this had been taught to him by the master he had called Cleansed Asura. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Cao Yun was still harboring doubts on whether Can Mouye had been talking about the true Cleansed Asura. Even if he had all the memories from the real one, this entity could still be something else, there were several possibilities. Until he knew for sure, Cao Yun would reserve his judgment.


    What really made Cao Yun choose such an approach was the fact that Cleansed Asura, although lethally wounded, used to be a God-Monarch. If they were fighting against him, they would probably die, no matter how weakened he could be. In fact, Cleansed Asura could have completely erased his mind the first time he had met him.


    Putting all that aside, Cao Yun was now more determined than ever. Seeing the body of Huang''er being defiled in such a way and being used by the very man who had killed her enraged him. For once, he did not use his mind cultivation to calm himself. He didn''t want to calm himself. That poor mother had sacrificed herself to protect her unborn child. She did not deserve to be treated as an object by this demonic cultivator. One way or another, Cao Yun would kill this man. Even without considering Huang''er''s fate, Cao Yun would have been forced to kill Can Mouye, both to simply survive but also to silence him because he seemed to know his real identity. But none of those reasons were in his mind right now.


    The only thing Cao Yun was thinking about was a mother protecting her child. In his mind, Huang''er and his own mother shared the same tragic death. Watching Huang''er suffer even after death was unbearable in such circumstances. Unfortunately, he was still too weak. Even now that he was a 9th-grade Mortal, he remained too weak.


    But his enemies would not wait for him to grow. Cao Yun had to become stronger as fast as possible. He had decided to fight against the demonic cultivators to protect the entire human race. But for that, he needed strength!


    This rage in him did not affect the Drop of Wrath at all. After all that had happened, Cao Yun finally seemed to have absolute control over that Drop of Wrath. And as his mind cultivation would progress, he would slowly strengthen it and make it fully his. For now though, this was still a foreign object.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    On the other hand, his Zhi shined brighter and brighter. His will had reached a new height. Until very recently, Cao Yun looked down on himself because he was unable to take decisions quickly. Now, in an instant, he had taken one. No matter what would happen, he would kill Can Mouye and destroy his corpse. If he could, he would even want to annihilate his very soul. Before leaving this place, Can Mouye would be no more, not a single trace of him would remain. As he thought like that, a tremor gently shook his Upper Dantian in the region of the Chamber of Heavenly Court.


    From Zhi the Will Water, some black light shined inside this very chamber. Although he had not energized it yet, it was becoming more active. In a sense, it was as though a veil of fog had lifted. That decision just now was one of the strongest determinations Cao Yun had ever had since the death of his family. His rage also resonated with the Drop of Wrath. And unlike what had happened previously, the Drop of Wrath strengthened Cao Yun instead of getting out of control.


    -


    Huang Liyue knew this place because she had mapped an area as large as the Wu Province in the three or four months she had been here. Not only had she observed the geographical and geological aspects of those places, she had also witnessed the behavior of the Bone Demons. Seeing the skeleton of the Mountain Fenghuang, Huang Liyue''s blood immediately told her what kind of demonic beast it used to be. And with Cao Yun holding a Mountain Fenghuang, it was obvious that that skeleton was either the father or the mother of that egg. But although it was not a Bone Demon, Huang Liyue hoped that it still behaved similarly to one.


    There was one spot the Bone Demons seemed to fear. Toward the yellow water, they seemed to harbor both fear and awe. However, there was a place that they clearly feared without any awe at all. Right now, she was going there at full speed, hoping for her idea to work. There was a giant body of water, probably an ocean, made of pure black water. Even her spiritual senses had failed to go deep into it as it was literally made of Evil Qi. Contrary to the rain, this black water was made solely of Evil Qi without any trace of Death Energy.


    For this very reason, Huang Liyue had been reluctant to explore this ocean. If even the Bone Demons were terrified of it and avoided it, there had to be a good reason. What could terrify those creatures would probably not be a good thing. But right now, she had no choice. Hopefully, whatever scared the Bone Demons would not be a threat to living humans.


    Both Cao Yun and Can Mouye quickly realized where she was going. Indeed, Cao Yun had seen her map and Can Mouye had been informed by his new master. While Cao Yun was completely silent and had no special thoughts on that place, Can Mouye became agitated. He had to get rid of them before they could go too far into the black ocean. Fortunately, he had been preparing an attack for some time now. Hovering over an index finger of the Evil Heavenly Buddha, there was now a brilliant wooden wheel. All around its circumference, it was full of spikes and there were several spokes keeping it together. The entire wheel was very intricately chiseled.


    ''The Wheel of Life Ends All Sufferings''.


    With an incredibly slow movement, the Evil Heavenly Buddha stretched his arm. Once his arm was fully extended, the wheel flew out, toward Huang Liyue''s flying ship. A strange phenomenon occurred. Although the wheel was slower than a walking man, it had already appeared near the ''Feng Soaring Junk''. It was as though space meant nothing to it. Or maybe it had distorted Cao Yun''s senses. Right now, it was impossible to say for sure. But one thing was certain, the ship was in danger.


    As that so-called Wheel of Life was close to him, Cao Yun felt his soul being assaulted by it. Obviously, it was no match for his mind cultivation though. Both Hun and Po were protected by the fires of Shen and even the Drop of Wrath fought off the impact of that Wheel of Life. On the other hand, Huang Liyue was greatly diminished by her wounds and her current efforts to maneuver the ship. With the Wheel of Life so close to her, an intense pain radiated from her soul within her Soul Embryo.


    Then, the Wheel of Life collided with the ''Feng Soaring Junk''. The pain had distracted Huang Liyue and weakened the Wei Qi of the ship. A first tremor completely shook the entire ship but the Wheel of Life was not able to collide directly with the ship. Its Wei Qi had still protected it. But it had weakened Huang Liyue even more.


    "Senior Huang, please listen to reason. I plead to you. Even if you stay stubborn, you will accomplish nothing. Not only will the young boy die anyway, but you will also die with him for no reason at all. Do not throw your life away, please, Senior."


    Can Mouye tried to put sincerity in his words, but they sounded shallow to Huang Liyue. Anyway, she had made her mind and she would not deviate from it. Even if she were to die here, she had already some ideas to try and make sure that Cao Yun stayed alive. Without him, she would have died some time ago. Deep down, she was trying to convince herself that she was acting solely out of duty because she had sworn to protect him and that her own young mistress had instructed her to as well. But she had to admit that she was also curious of what this young man would accomplish in the future.


    Losing such a prodigy would be an immense loss for the human race. Although he had spilled Huang blood, he was a disciple of the Wubei Sect. So he would later become a pillar of the Hongchen Kingdom. Moreover, if he formed some relation with Huang Cixi, not only would the Huang family be strengthened, but the entire humanity would soar to new heights as well.


    No matter what happened, Cao Yun had to stay alive!


    "Chen Guo, hide inside!"


    Seeing the distress on Huang Liyue''s face, Cao Yun obeyed right away. The poor woman was risking her very soul to protect him. He would not disregard her commands.


    The moment he entered the small room at the center of the flying ship, he saw that Huang Liyue had prepared enough food for him to survive at least ten years. Most of the food was dried and could be conserved for a very long time. This would not be very enjoyable, but by eating only what was vital, Cao Yun could indeed survive at least ten years with those. It was apparent that Huang Liyue had already imagined that she could die. As such, she had prepared to make sure that Cao Yun would live. Understanding her determination, the young man was sincerely touched.


    Outside of the room, Huang Liyue had finally reached the Ocean of Turbid Anguish. This ominous ocean that was as dark as the veil they had crossed to get into this dead world paradoxically brought hope to the bodyguard. Indeed, it was very subtle but Can Mouye''s speed decreased a little. Although he had to kill Cao Yun, he was afraid of this place.


    But his attacks did not relent. In fact, it became even fiercer. The Wheel of Life was still manifested and it collided with the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' again and again. Can Mouye had ceased to try to convince Huang Liyue. Right now, he was clearly trying to eradicate her along with Cao Yun.

 Chapter 245: Falling into the abyss

    In the small room, Cao Yun could not see what was going on outside. But he knew precisely what was happening anyway. Indeed, both the deafening noise of the disk hitting the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' and the tremors in the Enlightened Sandalwood told him everything he needed to know.


    Just like he was imagining, the Wheel of Life was colliding with the flying ship with more and more intensity. Not only was the Wei Qi slowly weakening, Can Mouye himself was pouring more and more energy in his attacks. By now, the ship was literally above the black ocean. His new master had told him exactly what was on that black ocean and he did not want to go there for his death would be certain. On the other hand, he could not lose Cao Yun once more.


    For now, he still only had a vague understanding of his new master. But he was rather convinced that he would not accept such a failure on his part. Although he did not know what Cao Yun had on him, that treasure should have been invaluable. So not only did he have to kill Cao Yun, he also had to grab his corpse so that his master could extract what he wanted from it.


    At first, he had wanted to win Huang Liyue over. Such a desolate place was a good way to push even an orthodox cultivator to betray his ideals. But clearly, Huang Liyue was not easily swayed by his words. And even though he didn''t want to push her too far, fearing what she might do in a really desperate situation, Can Mouye was now acting with urgency.


    Unfortunately, this was working. Huang Liyue was almost oblivious to everything else but the flying boat. As she was using her spiritual senses to keep it floating in the sky, her mind had gradually closed itself off to protect her. In fact, she could not even see the black ocean in front of her. Right now, she was just flying straight ahead, hoping that Can Mouye would ultimately cease his chase. And it was not a stupid plan because undoubtedly, Can Mouye was slowing down.


    The farther they went into this black ocean, the more danger he would be in. For now, they had not reached the point of no return yet.


    Can Mouye was so focused on destroying the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' that even his Evil Heavenly Buddha Qi Manifestation had dissipated. On the other hand, his Wheel of Life was turning so fast that it looked like a full disk. No detail could be seen from it. Someone who would see it right now would think that this was just a golden plate. Around it, the Wei Qi of the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' was slowly being pierced through.


    Finally, the golden disk grazed the ship itself. The sound of metal rubbing against wood reverberated through the entire ship as all of it started to shake. But this did not only cause damage to the ship, it also injured Huang Liyue''s soul further. The pain was so intense that the Po and Hun characters that she had formed not too long ago were beginning to crack. Some pieces even fell and crumbled into dust.


    Paradoxically, it was a good thing. Indeed, those two characters were taking the brunt of the attack to protect her own Soul Embryo. However, as it was slowly crumbling, her Soul Embryo would soon be completely bare. Then, her soul would suffer the consequences as well. To try and protect herself further, she ignited all five of her True Fiery Drops. In her sea of consciousness, five True Fiery Fenghuangs appeared and circled around the two characters, engulfing them in their fires.


    With the last shred of consciousness that Huang Liyue had left, she hesitated to resort to her final technique. By withdrawing most of her senses, she had tried to preserve some strength to eventually use this technique. With it, she would probably be able to get rid of not only Can Mouye''s attack but of Can Mouye himself. But then, she would certainly die. Her soul would be so damaged that she would fall into a deep slumber and slowly drift away into eternal sleep.


    A Spirit Warrior could usually survive his physical death because his Soul Embryo could leave his body. Even in this situation, the Soul Embryo would decay rapidly. In the best situation, a Soul Embryo could live on for one or two centuries, and only if it was the Soul Embryo of a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. But given the current state of Huang Liyue''s Soul Embryo, it would clearly not even be able to survive leaving her body. And it would decay within her own corpse.


    Finally something good happened. Can Mouye stopped pursuing the flying ship.


    In front of him, he had seen what he had been dreading. In the black ocean, there were three arches visible in the distance. Each one was as colossal as the eight Bone Kings combined. Considering the state they were in, it was difficult to know what they were supposed to be. Indeed, several stones had fallen from them and they were covered in various black and gray moss. Besides, the black water had also corroded their basis.


    However, Can Mouye knew perfectly well what they were. Those three colossal structures were three bridges that Cleansed Asura had told him not to cross. If he were to cross those bridges, not only would he die, his very soul would be lost. As such, those bridges had been known as the Bridges of the Three Blind Ghosts.


    Just to be safe, Can Mouye decided to keep his distance. Thankfully, he could still control his Wheel of Life to attack the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' even beyond those Bridges of the Three Blind Ghosts. And he was relentless. His Wheel of Life was now attacking the very structure of the ship.


    Finally, Huang Liyue reached her limit. If she did not act right then, she would be unable to unleash her ultimate attack. Then, both Cao Yun and her would die. Since her death was almost certain, she had no reason to bring Cao Yun down with her. Although he would have very few chances of survival, Cao Yun might be able to pull something off...


    With her final strength, she used her spiritual senses to send a telepathic message to the young man in the room aboard the ''Feng Soaring Junk''.


    "Chen Guo, or whatever your real name is, you already saved my life. But I have one last request for you. Please, survive! There are things I didn''t tell you about Huang Cixi, but I know for a fact that she''ll want to meet you once again. So survive! And when you finally leave this place, find Matriarch Huang Yufeng."The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    In the small room at the center of the ''Feng Soaring Junk'', Cao Yun was emotional while listening to Huang Liyue. Those were what she believed to be her last words. Although she had already told him that she would protect him with her life, actually hearing her ready to throw away her life in order to give him a slight chance of survival was different. However, even with the emotion, he caught that piece of information, ''once again''. Had he met Huang Cixi already?


    Just as Huang Liyue had finished her sentence, a small fan appeared in the room, surrounded by blue light. It was obvious that Huang Liyue had extracted it from her spatial ring. At such a crucial moment, this fan had to have some emotional value for her. But in Cao Yun''s hand, it didn''t seem all that valuable. This wasn''t even a weapon, just a regular fan. Even its materials were rather common. The bamboo used to make it could probably be found by any mortal. In fact, the only remarkable thing was both the calligraphy and the painting on the silk tissue.


    The fan itself was formed by a golden painted frame and red tissue. On this red tissue, many peacock feathers were painted as well. And on the other side, there was some calligraphy. Two names were written ''Huang Liyue'' and ''Huang L¨¹feng''.


    "Give her this and tell her that I''m sorry. I''ve killed another child of hers..."


    "Senior Huang Liyue!"


    Cao Yun was not sure of what she meant, even though he could guess. But from her tone, he knew she was going to do something irreversible.


    And he was right, of course. During the entire chase, Huang Liyue had kept just enough strength to perform the most powerful attack she could currently use. Considering the condition of her Soul Embryo, she knew that using it would be probably her last thing in this world. After that, she would lose all consciousness and drift away into death. But if she did not, she would also die, except that Cao Yun would also die with her.


    At the very moment she had made up her mind, the Wheel of Life completely pierced the hull. The Enlightened Sandalwood exploded into thousands of shards and the Wheel of Life destroyed the bottom half of the ship. Thankfully, the room on top of it was spared. But Cao Yun still felt the terrifying impact as the ship was slowly falling apart.


    ''Fenghuang Soars From Kunlun''!


    The five True Fiery Drops inside Huang Liyue''s heart left her body and fused into one singular Fenghuang. Then, she took out a golden pill and consumed it without any hesitation. At this very moment, her Soul Embryo shook and it became golden in color. At the very surface of the Soul Embryo in her sea of consciousness, cracks appeared all over. Then, flames began to burn and even slowly consumed it. Huang Liyue''s soul that was nested deep within the Soul Embryo also felt the tremendous heat from those fires. Huang Liyue''s very blood almost turned into flames as well.


    Finally, a sixth True Fiery Drop got condensed under the effects of this medicinal pill.


    Outside of her body, this sixth drop fused with the Fenghuang that had already appeared. It was now twice as big as the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' itself. And as soon as the sixth drop had fused with this Qi Manifestation, it screeched loudly. The air around the ship also started to catch on fire. The very surface of the black ocean below started to boil as steam was rising from it. Even the Wheel of Life manifested by Can Mouye turned into ashes.


    Suddenly, the True Fiery Fenghuang opened its wheel. The world got completely inundated with bright colors. In the distance, Can Mouye who had stopped his chase also felt the tremendous heat from this Qi Manifestation. This was the full strength of a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. Against it, he could only die right away. In fact, if he had pursued the chase and if he had been closer to the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' right now, he would have turned into ashes on the spot. But the distance did not mean that he would be safe either.


    For a split second, he weighed his options. In a fraction of an instant, Can Mouye completely tucked his tail and ran away. He could feel that the very skeleton he was using was attracted to those flames. Indeed, it belonged to a species of Fenghuang after all. Thankfully for the demonic cultivator, it was not strong enough and he stayed in control of the skeleton he had subdued. Still, faced with the full intensity of a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior''s rage, Can Mouye did not hesitate to flee as far as he could.


    The ship had been partially destroyed and right now, Huang Liyue was going to give away her own life. As long as he stayed alive, Can Mouye would have a chance to retrieve Cao Yun''s body. Once Huang Liyue would be dead, there would be no one to stop him. The only problem would be to locate the body. And if the ship fell into the Ocean of Turbid Anguish, retrieving the body may be too complicated. Can Mouye knew this was a possibility that his new master wouldn''t like, but he really had no choice in that moment. He would rather face the wrath of his new master than die and turn to ashes.


    In the sky, the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' had already lost almost a third of its structure. Huang Liyue was still standing on the deck. Although her life was reaching its end, she appeared stronger than ever. Her powerful muscles could be seen through her robe and her scarred face was full of resolution. She had accepted her death, but she wanted to make it count for something. Deep down, there were many things she realized she should have done and especially things she should have said to Matriarch Huang Yufeng. But hopefully, she would understand her feelings through the fan she had given to Cao Yun.


    One last time, the True Fiery Fenghuang screeched and flapped its wings. From those wings, hundreds of feathers flew toward the direction of Can Mouye. Unfortunately, he had reacted very fast. Among those hundreds of feathers, hopefully several would reach him. Even one of those feathers would be enough to annihilate a Mortal Warrior, no matter how strong he could be.


    Then, as Huang Liyue was losing consciousness, the True Fiery Fenghuang closed its wings around the ''Feng Soaring Junk''. That Qi Manifestation was literally made of Huang Liyue''s Qi, blood and soul. It could protect what remained of the ship for some time, even in that black water.


    Finally, the ship did fall into the black water below. But as a last effort before everything turned black, Huang Liyue pushed the wreck farther. She had realized that the three bridges were scaring Can Mouye. Thus, she tried to get far enough beyond those three bridges so that he would never come and pursue them. Although she knew nothing of the possible threats beyond those, she gambled. That was unlike her as a bodyguard. However, desperate times called for desperate measures.


    In her sea of consciousness, the Hun and Po characters completely exploded into dust. Then, her Soul Embryo gave way. The cracks spread through the entire Soul Embryo now covered in flames. Everything in her sea of consciousness became pitch-black. Huang Liyue had completely lost any shred of consciousness.


    Although Cao Yun had no spiritual senses, he felt it clearly. Indeed, he was now surrounded by the Qi Manifestation of Huang Liyue. The moment she fell into a deep slumber, he could feel the anguish of her soul through the Wei Qi she had created thanks to this True Fiery Fenghuang. Just after that, he felt a shock as the ship was now sinking deep into the black ocean below.

 Chapter 246: Sinking in Anguish

    The ''Feng Soaring Junk'' was getting deeper and deeper into the Ocean of Turbid Anguish. Because of the damage caused by the Wheel of Life, the hull was partially destroyed. And even though the True Fiery Fenghuang Qi Manifestation had greatly strengthened the Wei Qi of the ship, it was not able to prevent the black water from completely infiltrating the lower parts of the ship. Thus, it was sinking at an alarming rate.


    Even inside the sealed room, Cao Yun was able to feel the increasing speed at which they were falling down. He could also hear cracks all around him. The black water was exerting an immense pressure on the Wei Qi. As much as it tried to resist, it still got contracted and in turn pushed against the Enlightened Sandalwood. Thankfully, as this wood was almost a perfect conduit for Qi and soul, it was robust enough to resist this pressure. In fact, the Qi pressing against it strengthened it further. But this was a precarious balance. If the pressure became too high or if the strain lasted too long, no matter how robust this wood was, it would eventually break.


    Although Cao Yun had no idea how deep he was right now, he could imagine the pressure outside. Moreover, this black water seemed to be way denser than normal water. Any crack in the wood would spell his death.


    But right now, Cao Yun was not worried about this. He was not worried neither about his death nor his future. The only thing on his mind was the woman who had given her life for his. However, he wasn''t thinking about her death either. Indeed, right now, she shouldn''t be dead, she should be unconscious and sinking down with the ship.


    Hopefully, she was still on the deck, protected by the Wei Qi she had risked everything to create.


    The main problem was that Cao Yun could not exit the sealed room. To protect him, Huang Liyue had used a small array formation to keep the doors tightly shut. During the fight, Cao Yun had not tried to leave because he knew that the only thing he would have managed would have been to disturb Huang Liyue. Unfortunately, he had to admit that he was way too weak to even help her during the chase. However, he could maybe save her now. Although he was not as knowledgeable about souls as Xiao Xuefeng, and even less so about Soul Embryos, he had some attainment. Besides, his mind cultivation had even shocked Xiao Xuefeng herself.


    Even if he could not restore her Soul Embryo, he may be able to save her soul and keep her alive. As long as she was alive, there was hope!


    With this conviction in mind, Cao Yun analyzed the array formation on the door. It was etched within the wood itself. In a way, this array formation was very similar to an array formation plate. Apparently, it was supposed to prevent someone from entering within the room, hence the reason why it was inside. Since Cao Yun did not know what this array formation was, in theory, he shouldn''t have been able to force it very fast.


    After watching it just an instant, Cao Yun realized that this was at least a 3-star Human array formation. Solving it would take several hours at least, or even days. And those were the nicest estimates he could make if he stayed hopeful. Thankfully, the room had enough food and water for him to survive. Instead of trying to solve the array formation fast, he could rest first and think of a plan to survive just like Huang Liyue had told him to. But he refused to do nothing while the woman who had sacrificed her life was slowly dying outside of this door.


    Although Huang Liyue had been clear that she could not forgive what he had done to a branch of the Huang family, she had been sincere and trustworthy. Besides, many people had already sacrificed themselves for him. It was time for things to change. In this moment, Cao Yun also remembered his parents who had asked him to live and to not throw away his life. Maybe the safest thing to do was to wait for a while, but he was just sick of tragedy. Huang Liyue had risked everything to keep him alive so he was not going to waste her efforts. But that didn''t mean he was not going to try everything to save her either.


    Mobilizing all of his strength, Cao Yun pushed his mind cultivation, his Qi, the intent of the Drop of Wrath and his blood to their limit. Then, he pushed some more by activating ''Dragon''s Heart''. All of his strength was focused on his hands and feet. With everything he had, he pushed on the wooden door.


    Although he was underwater, he could clearly feel the Wei Qi all around him. Although he was not a Mortal Warrior yet, as a 9th-grade Mortal, he was able to feel Qi a bit farther than before thanks to his open acupoints. Thus, he could tell that this Wei Qi spread at least a dozen of chi beyond the door. This meant that he could open the door without fearing that the water would completely invade the room. As long as he closed the door fast enough, the Wei Qi would not get weakened. Indeed, it was using the Enlightened Sandalwood as support. So opening the door would still create a small weakness, but it wasn''t too much of a problem if the door didn''t stay open for long.


    The wood both under his feet and in front of his hands started to creak. Finally, while all of his muscles were bulging and his skin was reddened with blood, the door began to bulge a little. On it, the array formation started to shine and Cao Yun forced even harder. In that moment, his strength was almost equal to the strength of a middle Mortal Warrior. As most of his blood was in his limbs, Cao Yun was feeling very lightheaded. Without his mind cultivation to prevent him from doing so, he would have fainted already.


    Finally, the array formation gave way and the door opened on the outside world. Immediately, what shocked Cao Yun was the intense light. The ship was surrounded by the colorful fires of the True Fiery Fenghuang Qi Manifestation. But beyond these lively colors, there was a darkness as intense as the one he had crossed through to get in this dead world. Moreover, this darkness was slowly dissolving the Wei Qi. However, the real problem was something else entirely. Huang Liyue was nowhere to be seen.


    At some point, she had probably fallen from the ship while unconscious. If it had happened too long ago or even while they were still in the air, finding her would now be almost impossible. Since this black water was made of Evil Qi, it would be extremely corrosive. Without her own Wei Qi, even her superior body would end up being consumed and she would completely disappear. Something worse came to Cao Yun''s mind, it could even be possible for the Evil Qi at such a concentration to corrode her very soul, especially because it should already be extremely weakened. Not only would she die without a body, she may even be erased from the cycle of reincarnation. Although Cao Yun was not sure whether to believe this tradition or not, he felt anxious about the fate of Huang Liyue''s soul.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    In this darkness, the only way to find her would be to detect her feeble Qi. Without spiritual senses, this was the only way. But Cao Yun was not a Mortal Warrior either. Although he was very close to becoming one, he was still lacking a bit.


    But he had to try something. Now that his acupoints were fully open, he could send way more Qi outside and he was able to control its trajectory a bit better. The only thing was that he could not control it once outside of his body. It would be like shooting an arrow in a tornado. Although he could control the initial trajectory, he had no hold on what would happen after.


    Thinking about this conundrum, Cao Yun had already thought of something while healing Huang Liyue earlier. Although his own intent could not control his Qi outside of his body, the Drop of Wrath''s intent seemed to have no problem at all. Besides, it was very sensitive to Evil Qi. This time, he needed the opposite of what he had done while treating Huang Liyue''s wounds. He didn''t want to detect Evil Qi in pure Qi, he wanted to detect the faintest traces of pure Qi in an ocean of concentrated Evil Qi.


    After all the efforts he had made and all the risks he had taken to finally control the Drop of Wrath, hopefully he could use it for something other than just keeping it calm.


    In his sea of consciousness, the Po character inside the Drop of Wrath started to resonate with the other Po character. Both of them were in the Perfect stage and a strong connection was thus established between them. Although Cao Yun could not use the Drop of Wrath as though it was his, he had now some control over it. Not only was he able to keep it calm under extreme emotions, both thanks to this connection and the chambers of his Upper Dantian that could literally calm his emotions. But he was also able to command more of its intent and even some of its abilities.


    For now, he had not really tried to use the intent to detect anything. However, the idea had popped up in his mind. Cao Yun knew of animals and demonic beasts using sound to detect anything in their environment. What he wanted to do was very similar. The intent from the Drop of Wrath would probably be able to endure the terrifying corrosiveness of the Evil Qi in this black water. As such, he would be able to send it very far. Then, where that intent would detect either less Evil Qi or pure Qi, that would be where Huang Liyue would be.


    In fact, that was something that even Huang Liyue would have trouble with. Indeed, even spiritual senses were corroded by the Evil Qi considering how concentrated it was down there.


    After concentrating all of his mind cultivation, Cao Yun focused everything on the Drop of Wrath. Then, he injected it into his Qi and sent a surge of it in all directions. Since he wasn''t a Mortal Warrior, it was almost impossible to manipulate his Qi outside of his body. But through his double Po characters and the intent from the Drop of Wrath, he was still able to keep the contact with the Qi he had projected. It was very faint but since all his acupoints were open, the sensation was stronger than when he was a 7th-grade Mortal. When all his cells would be transparent to Qi, the sensation would be so intense that he would finally be able to control his Qi outside.


    But for now, Cao Yun had to push his mind cultivation to the limit. As his Five Agents were rotating around the Drop of Wrath, the Five Echoes Pearl started to form faster and faster. However, Cao Yun did not care at all, his focus was solely on the Drop of Wrath.


    Even with this, the sensation from his Qi was extremely weak. He wasn''t a Mortal Warrior after all. Not even his mind cultivation could make up for such a difference. Still, he had to try as much as he could!


    Cao Yun had to locate Huang Liyue. He had not even thought about how he would retrieve her yet. Right now, all his attention was on finding her first. And the Drop of Wrath really seemed to obey his commands. It was extremely compliant albeit somehow rigid. For the time being, it still felt like a foreign limb Cao Yun was trying to control. Although it was obeying his commands, it wasn''t as flexible and agile as his other limbs. Thus, finding Huang Liyue proved very arduous and frustrating.


    The Chamber of Jade turned out to be very useful. With each sensation, Cao Yun was able to use his intuition to get better and better at controlling the Drop of Wrath. But even then, the Evil Qi was so concentrated that even a Mortal Warrior would have had a hard time detecting Qi very close to him. Right now, Cao Yun was trying to detect very faint traces of Qi in an undetermined radius. Moreover, there were currents in this black water. So Huang Liyue could have drifted away by a large margin by now.


    After several hours, Cao Yun was still at it. He had closed the door of the room to make sure that what remained of the ship would last as long as possible. But he himself was outside of the room, somewhat protected by the Wei Qi left after Huang Liyue''s last technique. Despite this protection, there was an intense pressure on his body as the very pressure of the entire ocean was pressing down on the Wei Qi itself. Then, in turn, the Wei Qi pressed against Cao Yun.


    Without realizing it, Cao Yun had even started to make transparent to Qi thousands upon thousands of cells just thanks to this powerful Wei Qi pressing and somewhat entering his body. The change wasn''t that important, but every bit of advantage was good to take. The closer he would be to an actual Mortal Warrior, the easier his current task would be.


    From time to time, he still took some pause to analyze what he had felt and to try to think of a better strategy. No matter how much Qi remained in Huang Liyue''s body, she would not be able to resist the corrosive black water for very long, especially under this kind of pressure.


    It had been a long time now since Cao Yun had felt the boat sink again. That meant that he had probably touched the depths of the ocean. Of course, he couldn''t know whether there were deeper parts or not. But hopefully, Huang Liyue could not fall any deeper. Hopefully...


    With this kind of pressure, a mortal would had died instantly. Cao Yun could only estimate it but on an entire human body, there would be between twenty to fifty thousand dan* of pressure. Even an early Mortal Warrior''s body would be in danger. For a Spirit Warrior, this was absolutely not a problem though. And for Cao Yun''s body further nourished by his changed blood, he would probably be able to survive. After all, he could survive the reduced pressure induced through the Wei Qi.


    The real problem was the corrosiveness of the Evil Qi. Right now, it was even slowly dissolving the Wei Qi formed by Huang Liyue''s last resort. That meant that her own Wei Qi would be dissipated even faster. In fact, it was possible that her Wei Qi had already given way and that her flesh and then soul were under the burn of the Evil Qi all around her.


    Cao Yun had to find her as soon as possible. Then, he could think of a way to help her.


    * Approximately 1,000 to 2,500 tons

 Chapter 247: The sixth Chamber

    The frustration was swelling up inside Cao Yun. Even with the intent of the Drop of Wrath, he was unable to clearly feel anything. Yet, he had some vague impressions. Unfortunately, the pitch-black ocean was moving around. Although it was rather calm, there were still some currents and water was not immobile. And since he could not control his Qi outside of his body, he had to get all his sensations from the Drop of Wrath.


    Thankfully, his connection with it was now very good, but it didn''t mean that it was perfect yet. In a way, it was like trying to see through someone else''s eyes. No matter how much they could detail what they had seen, you could not have the same exact and precise image in mind.


    But Cao Yun also used his ''Shen Visualization'' to try and piece together any shred of sensation he could obtain from the Drop of Wrath. He had gotten so good with it that by now he had a map of the deep currents. In fact, he also had a general understanding of the ocean floor. And it brought him some consolation because the ship was indeed in the deepest part of the ocean. This meant that there was nowhere deeper than that, in the vicinity at least. Thus, it reignited his hopes of finding Huang Liyue.


    She had probably not sunk as fast as the ship. But considering the several hours Cao Yun had already spent trying to feel what was around him, she should had reached the deepest parts by now. Another good news was that he had not to search deeper. And he had not to search too high either given all the time that had passed. On the other hands, the current could make her drift far away from the ship. So the area to search would get smaller in depth but larger in terms of surface to cover.


    With his ''Shen Visualization'', Cao Yun was able to gather any piece of information from the feelings he received from the Drop of Wrath. Although the black water was literally made up of Evil Qi, Cao Yun was now able to control the Drop of Wrath so well that it never even tried to absorb a single drop of this water. Besides, it had probably already gotten its fill since entering in this dead world. But from its intent, Cao Yun was able to detect the disparities in different parts of the water. Like that, he could somewhat map out the area. However, it could hardly make out small differences and subtleties.


    Hopefully Huang Liyue would have still enough Wei Qi to appear very clearly to this intent.


    Paradoxically, as time passed by, Cao Yun was getting better at using the intent of the Drop of Wrath to feel the Evil Qi around him, but at the same time, he was losing hope. Even if he found Huang Liyue, if she was too far from the ship, retrieving her would be an ordeal he wasn''t sure he could survive. As much as he wanted to save her, he didn''t want to waste her sacrifice by throwing away his own life. In that moment, he didn''t even think about his own goals and his own life. What troubled him was to not waste her efforts. He fully remembered what his parents had told him. Many people had died or risked their life for him to survive. There was no way he would throw away his life. Otherwise, he would have the impression of killing them once more.


    -


    As he took a breather to analyze what he had felt with the intent of the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun realized that his Five Echoes Pearl was now complete. He had last energized one of his chambers when he had entered this dead world. Since then, a bit more than two months, maybe three, had passed. And given his experience, his Five Agents had condensed this Five Echoes Pearl instinctively without Cao Yun ever needing to intervene.


    Maybe this was the push he needed to finally find Huang Liyue!


    For a very long time, he had decided on the order of the chambers. Indeed, only the last chamber was predetermined. The order of the other chambers was completely free, although ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' suggested a certain sequence. In practice, Cao Yun had chosen his own order so that it would help him best. And the next chamber he had wanted to energize was the Chamber of Heavenly Court.


    According to his mind cultivation manual, it was supposed to help him make decisions faster, and even help him make decisions period. Since the death of his family, Cao Yun had been plagued with hesitations and he was getting tired of it. Although he knew what his main objective was, every small decision was difficult and Cao Yun felt like he had mostly gone with the flow. It wasn''t exactly true because he had made decisions and had risked his life for his friends. But deep down, he felt like he had almost always reacted to events instead of causing them.


    Ironically, in this very moment, his decision had been incredibly fast. He wanted to save Huang Liyue and was ready to go to great lengths for this purpose. But once again, it was in reaction to what had happened. Cao Yun yearned to be proactive. And even though this Chamber of Heavenly Court would not have magical properties on his personality, he still thought that it could help him achieve this goal.


    But this chamber would be useless in this situation. On the other hand, there was a chamber that could help him more, the one he wished to open after that one. Changing the order of those two chambers was not that much of a problem. He would just have to wait three to four months before energizing the Chamber of Heavenly Court. By the end of the year, it would be done.


    Right now, what he needed was to increase his ability to focus and stay focused. For that, the Chamber of Government was the best choice. Moreover, it was rich in Water element, just like Zhi the Water Will. Maybe it would be a good thing when he was deep in that immense ocean.


    This Chamber of Government was located right in the middle between his Chamber of Medicine Field at the center of his Upper Dantian and the Chamber of Bright Spirit directly behind his glabella. As was his current goal, this chamber could enhance one''s focus and concentration. As such, it would resonate with Zhi the Water Will because both of them were rich in Water element. But it would also have other effects like increasing one''s perception. Of course, by having a better focus, it would be easier to perceive things.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Thus Cao Yun did not hesitate at all and changed the order of his chambers.


    Like he was now used to do, he slowly lowered the Five Echoes Pearl into the ocean below in his sea of consciousness. Without any problem, the same events occurred. As soon as the Five Echoes Pearl got dissolved into the ocean below, a powerful white flash inundated Cao Yun''s entire sea of consciousness. As the Chamber of Government was rich in Water element, it was one of the easiest ones to energize. And as soon as it was energized, the effects could be felt.


    Cao Yun immediately focused on his Zhi character and felt that it was even sturdier. Right now, this character looked like a statue of onyx. But after energizing the chamber, it somehow looked similar to the Zhi character of Ren Chao. Of course, Cao Yun had never seen it but he had heard his brother describe it. Unlike his, Ren Chao''s Zhi seemed to be an amalgamation of several metals. Right now, this was what was happening with Cao Yun''s Zhi. However, it didn''t stay like that. Indeed, his Zhi character now looked like it was made of molten metals flowing around each other.


    At one instant it appeared solid, but the next it could turn liquid. This was very strange to describe because it was more about sensations than actual reality.


    However, something was very clear, Cao Yun''s will had evolved. And this change greatly affected him.


    To try out the effects on his mind, he began by trying to feel his own body. Then he realized that all of his sensations were now deeper. His ability to focus had increased way beyond his beliefs. In fact, he was able to feel almost all of his individual cells. Such a result was beyond Cao Yun''s expectations. With this chamber, he would probably be able to break through even faster. His friends would greatly benefit from energizing this chamber as soon as possible. In fact, Cao Yun should have probably done the same. But he had never thought that the difference would be so great.


    Besides, he could increase his focus and stay focused on tiny details far longer than before.


    Now that he was both astonished and satisfied by those results, he tried to use them in order to find Huang Liyue. Using his intent, he mobilized the one from the Drop of Wrath and mixed it in his own Qi. With his new chamber energized, Cao Yun realized that he was able to clearly feel each individual strand of Qi and their subtle movements and relations with one another. Hopefully, he would get the same results with Evil Qi.


    And indeed, when he tried to map the surrounding area, he realized how much more precise he was. Combined with his ''Shen Visualization'', he now had a perfect image of what this black ocean was around the ship. In fact, he was even able to make out the perfect shape of the ship and how the hull had been broken. Although he couldn''t directly feel the ship itself or the Qi infused with it, unless it was very close to him, he was able to do it in negative. By sensing where the Evil Qi was stopped and where it couldn''t go, he had the perfect shape of the ship in mind.


    Gradually, he extended this intent farther and farther. Even if he had already mapped the vicinity, he wanted to make sure he had not missed anything.


    It turned out to be the right decision.


    As he was now way more accurate in his mapping, Cao Yun realized that there was a tiny area where Evil Qi was both absent but also a bit more violent. The shape was clearly human and all around it, the Evil Qi seemed aggressive as though it was attacking something. Moreover, fate was with Cao Yun because this abnormality was less than two li away from the ship. And just like the ship, it was right at the bottom of the sea, directly lying on the sea floor.


    There could be no doubt about this. Although Cao Yun could not detect Huang Liyue''s Qi with his current cultivation, it could not be anyone else. And now that he had detected her so close to the ''Feng Soaring Junk'', he had high hopes of retrieving her. With his current cultivation, he had absolutely no way of controlling the ship. Considering where the ship was and its state, even an early Spirit Warrior would have had some trouble trying to move it around, let alone a late Mortal.


    But since Huang Liyue was so close and on the sea floor, Cao Yun could literally go there on foot.


    In theory, a late Mortal could breathe underwater. Indeed, Cao Yun had enough strength to fill his lungs with water and still make it flow as easily as air. In addition, although there was way less oxygen in water than in air, a late Mortal could survive with those amounts for a very long time. Just like water and food, as one''s cultivation progressed, one would need less and less of those as his body would also improve. In fact, a late Mortal could probably stop breathing altogether for more than two hours.


    The problem was not to breathe underwater. The problem was to breathe in this black water. If Cao Yun tried to breathe this black water, he would literally breathe in Evil Qi. As much as the Drop of Wrath could protect him, it would probably be way too concentrated for it. Besides, his lungs would be corroded almost right away, and so would his skin. Even if he survived, he would get badly injured.


    Thus Cao Yun breathed as much air as possible from what had been trapped in the Wei Qi surrounding the ship. Even under the pressure of the entire black ocean, Cao Yun could not believe it would take him more than an hour to get to Huang Liyue and back. From what he had felt, there was no life form of any kind in this part of the ocean. Maybe there were things elsewhere, but not there. Hence, he would only be threatened by the pressure and nothing else.


    Before going, Cao Yun took off some of his clothes and left any object he had on him. Then, he focused on his acupoints and tried to voluntarily increase his Wei Qi. Although he was not a Mortal Warrior, he could still send surges of Qi around him. He did not really need to control them. Indeed, as soon as he left the Wei Qi of the ship, the intense pressure of the ocean tried to crush him. And to resist it, Cao Yun used his ''Dragon''s Heart'' and periodically sent small surges of Qi to alleviate the pressure here and there on his body.


    Still, the pressure was absolutely terrifying. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s body was way stronger than an average 9th-grade Mortal. But it didn''t meant that it was easy by any stretch of the imagination. His body felt incredibly heavy and every single movement required all of his strength. As such, it forced him to make as few movements as possible. Cao Yun''s understanding of martial arts became also a great tool, especially his movement techniques. Both ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' and ''Walking in the Mud Without Staining the Silk'' he had received from Chief Elder Baishen came in handy.


    As he was walking on the sea floor, Cao Yun was completely blind. After less than a minute, he could not even see the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' anymore. This ocean abyss was a realm of pure darkness. But Cao Yun still could count on the intent from the Drop of Wrath. Besides, he also used his Drop of Wrath to try and protect himself against the Evil Qi. Because the Drop of Wrath could attract it, perhaps it could repulse it as well.


    Sadly, the effects were not that great. But it still helped Cao Yun resist through his Wei Qi and periodic surges of Qi. In all of them there were traces of the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Furthermore, this intent was almost always present in his own blood that had received some of those properties as well.


    Finally, after the time of a cup of tea had passed, Cao Yun had reached Huang Liyue''s body.

 Chapter 248: The dragon swims back up

    In the complete darkness of the bottom of this black ocean, Cao Yun could not see a thing. As he approached Huang Liyue''s body while bearing the entire weight of the column of water above him, his Drop of Wrath allowed him to perceive her shape. He did not sense her Qi, he only sensed the Evil Qi around her slowly corroding her Wei Qi. Hopefully, she was still alive and her Wei Qi had endured long enough.


    When finally Cao Yun reached the poor woman, he put his hands on her and at last, he could feel her Qi. It was incredibly faint. Her Wei Qi had greatly retracted itself to protect her vital organs. Outside of her body, it was almost gone. If she stayed a few more hours inside this black water, she would be completely consumed by this Evil Qi. Even her Soul Embryo may not be able to survive. As he wasn''t a Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun was not able to get inside Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness so he couldn''t know her real condition.


    Within her sea of consciousness, everything had turned black. Her Soul Embryo had completely ruptured. As of now, she had truly lost her cultivation. And no one had ever been able to form a second Soul Embryo, even in the Legendary Era. For now though, Cao Yun could know none of that.


    Instead of worrying about what would happen to her, he only worried about bringing her back to the ''Feng Soaring Junk''. With his Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was able to clearly feel the currents of Evil Qi around him and would be able to find his way back without any problem.


    When he grabbed Huang Liyue''s body and brought her close to him, he felt that she was completely cold. If he couldn''t feel faint traces of Qi in her, he would have thought she was already dead. Thus, it pushed him to move even faster than before. He activated all of his movement techniques.


    Even with everything he had, it still took him almost as long to come back. And the worst part was to get back onto the deck. Climbing the ship with the entire pressure of the ocean on his shoulders, while holding the body of Huang Liyue was way more strenuous than he had thought. However, he pushed through and was finally able to get back inside the Wei Qi of the ship. After taking a deep breath, he didn''t lower his efforts. Fighting against the pressure of the Wei Qi caused by the ocean pressing down on it, Cao Yun bulged his muscles and opened the door to the sealed room once more.


    Finally, Cao Yun and Huang Liyue were both back inside the sealed room. Only then did Cao Yun collapse on the floor. The strain on his body had been immense. On the other hand, a large portion of the cells in his muscles and tendons had been greatly nourished by his blood. And many of them had naturally become transparent to Qi. Of course, considering the colossal amount of cells he had to cultivate, it was really a drop of water in the ocean. But anything was good to take.


    Cao Yun allowed himself a few minutes of rest. Anyway, if he tried to help Huang Liyue without being rested, he would do way more damage than good.


    After his well deserved rest, Cao Yun stood up and froze. Finally he had laid eyes on Huang Liyue. Earlier he had not realized this but since Huang Liyue''s Wei Qi had retracted within her body, it meant that her skin had been unprotected. Not only were her clothes completely gone, her skin had been badly burned by the Evil Qi almost everywhere. Huang Liyue was absolutely impossible to recognize. Seeing her like that, barely breathing and completely disfigured, Cao Yun''s rage swelled up. Now that he did not need to control his emotions to soothe the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun let this rage go rampant in him.


    And intense heat spread throughout his entire body. He could almost taste the rage in his mouth. And he realized that he had clenched his teeth, and hands also for that matter, so hard that he was bleeding. This rage was not just for Huang Liyue, but for all who had risked and given their lives for him.


    There were medicine that could heal most of her injuries, but this didn''t make the scene in front of him any better. Hopefully, as a noble member of the main branch of the Huang family, it wouldn''t be too hard for Huang Liyue to get those medicines. And even if that weren''t the case for any reason, Cao Yun could directly ask Xiao Xuefeng.


    Although he intellectually knew that those injuries meant almost nothing to a Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun made the vow to not only kill Can Mouye but to make him pay dearly before that. When finally Cao Yun and Huang Liyue would leave this world, Can Mouye would be absolutely and completely dead. With these thoughts, the Drop of Wrath seemed to get somewhat joyous. It was just an illusion though. What happened was that the rage of the Drop of Wrath was in harmony with Cao Yun''s.


    Vengeance would be for later though. Right now, he had to help her once more. In her damaged skin and even a little in her body, there were traces of Evil Qi. But luckily, Cao Yun was now different. Not only did he have more experience with Evil Qi, he could now almost control it as though he was an early Mortal Warrior. And thankfully, Huang Liyue''s remaining Wei Qi had protected her in a good measure. As such, there was not that much Evil Qi in her. In total, it didn''t even take one hour for Cao Yun to completely purge her of this corrosive energy.


    But even after that, she was in a deep slumber and would not wake up for a very long time.


    Another thing that made Cao Yun mad was that she still had her spatial ring. Right in there, there were maybe some pills that could help her, or at the very least stabilize her, but he could not use it...


    As it was the only thing he could do, Cao Yun used some of the water in the room to wash her. Then he used some drapes that were laid down to try and bandage her as best as he could.


    -


    Now that Huang Liyue was not in immediate danger though, he had to think of a way to get out of this situation. Right now, they were both stuck at the bottom of the black ocean. Even an early Spirit Warrior would have a hard time moving the ship to the surface. Besides, Cao Yun could not control Qi, thus he could not control the ship, let alone make it float.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Array formations were also a no-go for two reasons. The first one was that he could only make 5-star Earth array formations and none of them would be useful in that situation. But the second reason was even more straightforward. Cao Yun had no material on him to make an array formation. Everything was probably in Huang Liyue''s spatial ring that he could not activate.


    Since he needed to think, Cao Yun used his mind cultivation to completely erase his emotions. And he immersed himself in his sea of consciousness to try and think of a solution.


    Even though the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' was a ship built to fly in the sky, it was still a ship. And apart from the position of the masts, it almost had the same structure as any floating boat. Thus, it was also meant to float on water. The problem though was that it had been pierced through and through and the black water had completely flooded the lower decks of the ship. Now, the ship was weighted with so much water that it was impossible for it to float.


    Cao Yun could maybe try to use his Drop of Wrath to push this black water away. But his recent experience told him that it would be almost impossible. Even if he had perfect control over the Drop of Wrath and was a Mortal Warrior, he still wouldn''t have the strength to push that entire volume out, and keep it out until the ship reached the surface.


    But then, he thought some more about it. While pondering over the matter, he remembered the high density of this black water. He couldn''t measure it but it was way denser than just water. Since this ship had been built according to an architecture allowing it to float on normal water, it would float even more in this denser liquid. Indeed, the denser the liquid, the better the buoyancy was.


    However, the problem was the same, he still needed to lighten the ship by getting rid of the black water.


    Suddenly a thought came to his mind!


    He didn''t need to get rid of the water to lighten up the ship. In fact, he didn''t need the ship at all, he only needed the sealed room to float. This sudden realization finally gave him a plan to act upon. He only needed to break the deck around the sealed room and let it slowly float to the surface. Now that he had this idea in mind, the problem was different.


    Cao Yun looked back at the door. The array formation keeping it perfectly sealed had been broken... by him. The only thing preventing the black water from entering the room was the Wei Qi all around the ship. And Cao Yun had no idea how much of this Wei Qi would remain if he were to liberate the room from the rest of the ship. Thus, he had to try and keep as much of the Enlightened Sandalwood intact as possible. This wood was the ideal conduit for Wei Qi.


    Hopefully, the room would be able to stay sealed long enough for it to go back to the surface. It probably wouldn''t be very stable, but that was a minor inconvenience when compared with the alternative. Thus, once more, Cao Yun left the room.


    Thanks to the Drop of Wrath, he knew exactly where the black water was. Unfortunately, it had completely invaded the lower decks and almost nothing could be salvaged. There were but a few spaces that were still sealed and protected from the intrusion of the liquid. With his spear in hand this time, Cao Yun chose very carefully where to strike. Ironically, the Wei Qi he was trying to preserve as much as possible was now preventing him from breaking the ship. Any normal strike would have no impact of the Enlightened Sandalwood full of the last strength of Huang Liyue.


    For Cao Yun, this was a bit difficult to do because he literally had to destroy parts of the last bits of Qi Huang Liyue had poured out of her. But it was necessary to keep her, and him for that matter, alive.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    ...


    Cao Yun let out many of his most powerful attacks again and again. But this was taking way too much time. Since he had to preserve as much Wei Qi as possible, time was of the essence. He had no way to calculate how long it would take for the room and the parts of the ship he could salvage to go back to the surface. So he could not waste any time at all. After all, under this pressure Wei Qi was slowly being corroded as well. In theory, it could still stay intact for a long time, but Cao Yun could not know how much of it would remain once he would have destroyed more than half of the ship.


    Getting off the ship, Cao Yun decided to go for more drastic moves.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''!


    This was the latest move of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' he had learned. Cao Yun focused everything on it, just as if it was ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. He also activated his entire mind cultivation, the Drop of Wrath and his blood. This technique was a powerful sweeping attack and he intended to quite literally cut the ship in half to separate the deck from the hull. Of course, he was still aiming lower than the cabin not to destroy it. In fact, he only needed the hull to be completely open so that it may not keep being weighted down by the black water within.


    Even with his strength to the extreme and all his cards used, the strike did not do much damage to the ship because of the Wei Qi. Still, some wood cracked and several big shards exploded. However, this was clearly not enough. Destroying the ship like that would take way too long. What Cao Yun was trying to do was almost similar to a Mortal attempting to kill a Mortal Warrior. Around them, they had a denser Wei Qi and pure physical attacks were almost unable to penetrate their bodies.


    But then, while visualizing this analogy, Cao Yun got another idea. If he could use Qi Manifestation, he could damage the ship. But he could not manifest his own Qi. On the other hand, the Drop of Wrath allowed him to partially manipulate Evil Qi. He had realized that even more while getting it out of Huang Liyue''s body. And if he could manipulate Evil Qi, there was a possibility that he might be able to manifest it as well.


    The idea was a bit crazy. A 9th-grade Mortal should not be able to manifest any Qi at all. But the Drop of Wrath came from someone who had way exceeded the level of Mortal. Even if it was barely a fragment of his destroyed soul, it still retained some of his strength.


    Focusing on that, Cao Yun tried to gather Evil Qi around his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. As he did, he felt the dragon scale in his spear get agitated. At the same moment as Cao Yun was gathering Evil Qi around it, he was circulating his Qi and his blood to perform his attack. Slowly, a shape appeared around his spear. At first it was very faint but it became a bit more material.


    But just keeping it active required a lot of mental strength. Cao Yun was once more thankful for his improved will and the Chamber of Government. His lack of experience with Qi Manifestation made everything way more difficult. Right now, he was just trying to circulate the Evil Qi in the exact same way his martial art taught.


    After several seconds without much progress, Cao Yun decided he had reached the maximum of what he could currently achieve.


    Then, he unleashed everything!


    As he swept his spear, not only did it produce a shock wave, there was a literal tail from the Azure Dragon that appeared. And it collided with the ''Feng Soaring Junk''. For the very first time, Cao Yun had manifested Qi, even though it wasn''t his. But this simple success had opened his eyes to the way it was done. Another world had opened before his eyes. And at the same time, the boat got split in half.

 Chapter 249: Drifting into the underworld

    Cao Yun was still dumbfounded by what he had accomplished. Thanks to his Drop of Wrath, he had been able to take over the Evil Qi around him and use it to manifest his martial arts in the real world. Of course, he was a 9th-grade Mortal so he was very close to becoming a true Mortal Warrior. But what he had just done was unheard of. If Huang Liyue had been conscious, she could have seen something else in that move from Cao Yun.


    In reality, it was not just Evil Qi that had gotten manifested. Somehow, his blood had participated as well. In some way, this was similar to what Huang Cixi had done. This Qi Manifestation was a mix between a true Qi Manifestation and the way powerful demonic beasts attained such a result as well. Through the Qi in their blood, they could somehow materialize strange phenomena, just like human cultivators. But even among the Huang family, reaching a purity of blood high enough to do so before becoming a Mortal Warrior was almost impossible.


    Moreover, Cao Yun had never really practiced any form of blood cultivation. However, the Drop of Wrath had completely transfigured his blood. Right now, his bloodline was superior to even those of 9-core demonic beasts. But because Cao Yun was not that knowledgeable about either blood cultivation and beast taming, he did not realize it. The result was beyond his expectation for he was convinced that he had done so solely through the Evil Qi around him. Still, such an experience would be very beneficial for him. Once he finally became a Mortal Warrior, he would already have some understanding of Qi Manifestation.


    While he was transfixed by the situation, the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' started to rise from the sea floor. Cao Yun''s attack had not completely broken the hull but it caused even more infiltration from the black water. And in a matter of second, even the Enlightened Sandalwood protected by Wei Qi could not resist both the intense pressure and the violent corrosion. Thus, the hull got dislocated and the deck with the sealed cabin on it started to rise slowly.


    Before it could rise too high, Cao Yun was able to jump back on it. Once more, he forced the door and then closed it with as much strength as he could. After that, he only had to wait and hope that everything would end up fine. Just to be safe, he kept on using his Drop of Wrath to feel what was going on around the ship.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun and Huang Liyue were safe. The wreck rose from the black water and somehow floated on the surface of the Ocean of Turbid Anguish. Although the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' had been savagely destroyed, it still kept some kind of aura around itself. Most it was due to the Wei Qi of Huang Liyue''s last Qi Manifestation protecting it. When it emerged from the water, it looked like a wounded but still magnificent bird leaping from an ocean of darkness and death. The black water flowed from all around it as the Wei Qi was forming some kind of invisible bubble over the entire ship.


    From within the sealed room, Cao Yun was able to feel that Evil Qi had disappeared from atop the ship. His Drop of Wrath only allowed him to feel Evil Qi, and perhaps Death Energy. But since this world had almost no trace of pure Qi and only Evil Qi and Death Energy, this was perfect. In a sense, this intent of the Drop of Wrath was currently more useful than spiritual senses. However, outside of this world, this was almost useless, except for one purpose. Indeed, he may be able to detect demonic cultivators with more ease. Of course, he would most likely not be as competent as Xiao Xuefeng in the matter, but he would be able to feel any trace of Evil Qi within someone who wouldn''t be strong enough to hide it from him. As such, he wouldn''t need a Spirit Warrior with him to sense that.


    With tragedy and danger often came many opportunities and even benefits. But it also meant that he had to survive to profit from them. And the people around him could also pay the price.


    Talking about that, Huang Liyue was still in a comatose state.


    Now that they were out of the most immediate danger, the young man tried to care some more for the burned woman. Her wounds were absolutely hideous. Even her face had been attacked by the Evil Qi. The scar she had on her right eye had been completely covered by even more scars. Thankfully her eyes had been protected by her Wei Qi but her skin had not. With his lackluster medical knowledge, Cao Yun could almost do nothing to even alleviate her pain. Hopefully, they would find some medicine to help her. As a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, this kind of wound was not that dangerous after all.


    In theory, she could even heal most of them. That was the reason why the scar on her face made many people think. Even without medicines, through her own vitality, she should have been able to heal it very fast. If she had kept it, it was because it had meant something to her. Unless she lost a limb, she could probably heal from almost any wound on her own. But right now, Huang Liyue was so weak that she had lost all traces of consciousness. Hence, those wounds were way more dangerous than they should have been.


    Besides, Cao Yun had no way of knowing the actual condition of either her Soul Embryo or her soul. The only thing that was sure was that they had been severely wounded. But Cao Yun still remained hopeful. Unfortunately he was wrong to be. Huang Liyue''s Soul Embryo had completely ruptured. Just like Saint Xun Ke, she would never be able to recover from it and would end her life as a mortal. No one had ever recovered from having his Soul Embryo destroyed. Not even an Immortal would be able to come back from such an injury. The first two realms of cultivation consisted in forming this Soul Embryo. There was only one chance to do so in a lifetime. Losing a Soul Embryo was so traumatic that trying to form another one was impossible.


    Yet, as he could not know that, Cao Yun decided to keep hope. Even if he had known, she could still live a fulfilling life as a mortal. Saint Xun Ke''s last years had been even more important than his entire life, despite his lack of Soul Embryo. In addition, Huang Liyue was an important member of the Huang family so she would live her remaining years without any problem.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    After spending a lot of time on Huang Liyue, cleaning her wounds some more and changing her bandages, Cao Yun turned toward the Mountain Fenghuang egg. Thankfully, it had stayed within the cabin and had been protected all the time they had been attacked and they had been underwater.


    Touching it to check on its state, Cao Yun felt that the chick inside was shivering. Subtle tremors could be felt. No matter how much they had tried to protect it, the egg was in a serious state of distress. In order to appease it, Cao Yun took the 6-demonic core he had received from Huang Liyue and put it against the egg. Then, he got an even better idea. Cao Yun literally placed the egg against Huang Liyue. And almost instantly, it stopped to shiver. The True Fiery Fenghuang bloodline in the woman''s blood was able to soothe this poor chick.


    Once Cao Yun was satisfied that everyone on board was relatively safe, he decided to get out to see what was going on outside.


    He was very cautious and used the Drop of Wrath to feel the current level of the black water. Thankfully, enough of the boat had been preserved. Although what remained of the hull was way deeper in the black water than it should have been, this water had not submerged the deck. So Cao Yun could open the door without risking sinking the boat once more.


    After getting out, Cao Yun left the door open long enough for new air to come inside before closing it again, just to be safe. He himself breathed in. Being trapped in a perfectly opaque black water with an immense pressure crushing his body while holding his breath had taken a small toll on him. Finally he could breathe.


    But what he saw did not make the situation any easier.


    In the distance, he saw the Bridges of the Three Blind Ghosts. They were three gigantic bridges. But all of them seemed in terrible state. While he looked at them, he had the impression that he had crossed over some kind of boundary. Although there was no difference in appearance, the black water from his side of those bridges seemed even stranger. In one word, that black water seemed to be more dead, if that meant something.


    Maybe it was because of the Drop of Wrath and his new relation with it but Cao Yun was having intense sensations. In his heart, it felt like this place was somehow sacred. That feeling was very ethereal but it felt as though he had entered into a graveyard, with all the solemnity required of it. Now that he was way more attuned to the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun explored this feeling. He could feel that it was hiding something more profound. And since he was lost at sea with an injured expert, any clue as to where he was or what he could do was good to take. After all, he had no idea about the potential threats around this place.


    Cao Yun had not personally witnessed the last parts of the fight against Can Mouye. But this man had followed him through the veil of darkness. And even in this world he had kept on pursuing him. Cao Yun could not believe for an instant that he would simply abandon his task just because he had fallen into this black ocean. Although the Evil Qi was so concentrated that even a demonic cultivator would have been assaulted, he should have been able to dive long enough to retrieve the ship and make sure that Cao Yun was dead.


    But he had decided to not only stop his pursuit but even leave. Most likely, Huang Liyue''s attack had played a role, but Cao Yun was also convinced that there was something around him that had deterred him. Since he probably knew nothing about this world before coming here, the answer lied in his so-called new master. For now, Cao Yun was still not absolutely convinced that this new master was really Cleansed Asura. However, he clearly knew a lot about him. That meant that he probably also knew a lot about this place since it seemed to be related to Cleansed Asura as well. Thus, Can Mouye had likely received his information from this mysterious source.


    Finally Cao Yun felt something more concrete from the Drop of Wrath. There was some sensation of familiarity that truly felt like what Cao Yun had perceived in the woods when he had fled toward the gate of this world. Either this sensation was related to Cleansed Asura, or better, to a gate out of this world. If that were the case, Cao Yun could leave with Huang Liyue. Then he could find Matriarch Huang Yufeng and save her former bodyguard''s life. Besides, they could even go back in this world and capture Can Mouye. Apparently, all his seals had been erased. This meant that for once they could interrogate a demonic cultivator without him burning away.


    Of course, this was the hopeful side of Cao Yun that was speaking. But considering the current situation, he had to be hopeful.


    But no matter what this feeling was, the young man had no real choice. If he tried to go back, he would ultimately be faced with Can Mouye again. Furthermore, the only leads he had concerning a potential exit were either the Desolate Palaces or Can Mouye''s master. The Desolate Palaces were high in the sky. And even if he was able to somehow get there, there were Bone Kings in them. Even Huang Liyue with her full strength had a hard time against them. On the other hand, Can Mouye''s master was also a no go because he literally wanted to capture him, probably to extract the Drop of Wrath.


    Considering and weighing down all his options, Cao Yun decided to try and go forward in the direction the Drop of Wrath was indirectly showing to him. In order to do that, Cao Yun broke off some planks from the ''Feng Soaring Junk''. Just for that, he exerted all of his strength. But he had now improvised oars to row the boat.


    For several days, Cao Yun exerted his strength to move the boat toward the right direction. He only stopped a handful of times to eat and drink. And each one of these times, he made sure to check on Huang Liyue and on the egg. The poor woman remained in her comatose state while the egg was slowly stabilizing. The 6-demonic core allowed it to absorb some Qi. Besides, the bloodline of Huang Liyue was having a positive effect on the egg as well.


    Only after several days did the Bridges of the Three Blind Ghosts disappear on the horizon. They were so gigantic that they could be seen from a very long distance. The mere fact that they had finally disappeared meant that this world was also curved. In fact, it was possible that this was even a planet like the Piaolu planet. In which case, Cao Yun could imagine how vast this Yellow Death World would be.


    Right now, he was forced to row the boat with his bare muscles. Moreover, the black water was extremely dense. It had been a tremendous help to float back up, but it was a terrible inconvenience to row. As such, the boat was moving at a slow pace. But Cao Yun kept it steady. Thanks to his Drop of Wrath, he was capable of feeling the currents in the Evil Qi below. Thus he was able to optimize his rowing as much as possible.


    -


    After ten days in total, Cao Yun finally saw what seemed to be the origin of the Drop of Wrath''s feeling. On the horizon, there was a small black metallic rod risen to the sky. At first, it was very clear but it looked like the finial of a pagoda. Indeed, as Cao Yun was getting closer to it, he saw the rest of the building. That metallic rod was really the ultimate extremity of the finial.


    But as he was getting close, Cao Yun saw something else. From his right side, there was a tiny white stain on the horizon, very vivid on this black ocean.

 Chapter 250: The paper boats

    This very tiny white hue in the distance began to take shape as it got closer. Seeing its true form, Cao Yun was completely stunned.


    On the horizon, a couple of white boats were slowly coming his way. What was really surprising about them was the fact that they were made of paper. Indeed, those two boats were small paper boats. With the distance it was hard to make them out perfectly but they seemed to be just large enough for one man to board them. And although they were made of perfectly white paper, they floated on the surface of the black water without being affected by its corrosion in the least.


    Even the Wei Qi resulting of Huang Liyue''s sacrifice was currently being slowly corroded by the Ocean of Turbid Anguish. But those paper boats were completely fine. Of course this sight stunned and amazed Cao Yun. They appeared to be the kind of boats children would play with, just a bit bigger.


    And on top of those paper boats, there was something else. Shining right in the middle of each boat, there was a little lantern. The moment Cao Yun laid eyes on one of those lanterns, he immediately thought of the Yellow Sorrows Water. Indeed, those lanterns shined a strange yellow light, very dim and yet hypnotic. After watching that lantern for a mere instant, Cao Yun realized that his ship had drifted away quite a lot and that the paper boats were way closer. Although it had felt like a single breath, he had been admiring the lantern''s light for several minutes. Even with his powerful mind cultivation, he had been somewhat hypnotized by this strange light.


    Thus, the first thing he did was to steel his will. Thanks to the Chamber of Government, his Zhi the Water Will had become way stronger than before. Just to be safe, Cao Yun decided not to look directly at those paper boats. Apparently they were just drifting along the current but they still seemed quite ominous and thus dangerous.


    Using his Drop of Wrath, the young man tried to feel them. But the moment the intent of the Drop of Wrath came in contact with the paper boats, it completely disappeared. No matter what Cao Yun did, his Drop of Wrath was unable to pierce through the mystery of those boats. Yet, they kept on floating seemingly aimlessly. Still, Cao Yun had a terrible feeling about those. Although they did not appear to target the ship, he felt like they were a threat to him, and specifically to his soul.


    When he had been dazed for several minutes earlier, he had felt some pull on his Po character. It had been very faint but he was absolutely sure that it had been there. Thus, he had become extremely wary of those simple looking paper boats.


    Since he couldn''t feel them with his Drop of Wrath and that he didn''t want to look at them directly, Cao Yun used the current of Evil Qi to sense their trajectory. Through the intent of the Drop of Wrath, he was able to get a perfect map of those currents and could know the trajectory of those boats with this indirect information. The young man stayed tense and alert as the paper boats slowly drifting behind the ship. Then, they remained on their way and seemed to completely ignore the ship while they were disappearing on the other side of the horizon.


    For a short instant, Cao Yun felt relieved. But it did not last very long as he perceived strange currents in the black water.


    Suddenly, and yet very calmly, several similar paper boats emerged from the black water. There were four of them and they were absolutely identical. Not only had they the perfect same shape and size, they even had the same lantern and the same light shining from it. Each one had appeared on a side of the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' which was now completely surrounded.


    Seeing them appear before him, the young man immediately closed his eyes and even sealed his senses. He went to the extreme of using ''Ashen Feather Seal''. But instead of using the ashes to seal his presence, he tried to protect the seven apertures of his head, mixing ''Ashen Feather Seal'' with ''Locking the Seven''. However, as soon as he closed his eyes, the scenery around him changed.


    He was now in his sea of consciousness!


    And the four paper boats were there as well. Instead of floating on the black water of the Ocean of Turbid Anguish, they were peacefully drifting on the clear waters of Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Each one came from a cardinal direction. And all were going toward the center of his sea of consciousness where both the Drop of Wrath and the Five Agents were located, floating above the water. Instinctively, Cao Yun circulated his mind cultivation as much as he could. And he especially focused on his will.


    The Shen character began to float higher as its fires spread all around the Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath in the center of them. Zhi began to turn into a liquid metal flowing according to the shape of the character itself, as though the heat from the fire had melted it. Yi shined a golden light all around itself. From it, several rays of pure gold went straight for Cao Yun''s other characters, protecting them and focusing his attention on them. For example, Hun which was a jade sculpture reverberated this light with a green hue added to it.


    Finally, the Po character resonated with the other one embedded inside the Drop of Wrath. Both of them turned from ivory characters to bones. In that instant, they both truly looked like perfect bone sculptures, nothing like the sordid bones of the Bone Demons. Most likely, this was due to the purified Death Energy in them.


    But at the same time, Cao Yun could feel a pull on those two Po characters. The yellow light from the paper boat was slowly getting focused on the Po character outside of the Drop of Wrath. And Cao Yun could feel a strong force trying to pull it apart. Those boats were literally trying to extract his very soul, albeit his corporeal one. And no matter how resistant his mind was, the pull was getting stronger and stronger with no way to stop the slow progress of the boats.


    Cao Yun had worked on his mind cultivation, but unlike Mei Hua, he knew of no technique to protect his mind. The young alchemist had learned ''Otherworldly White Crane'' from her direct master, Xiao Xuefeng. But even through all the books he had read, Cao Yun had not come across any technique or martial art that could protect his mind. If his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' reached Perfection, he would literally have the soul of an Azure Dragon in his own mind. But he was a tremendous way away from getting there.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Without fighting off those boats though, Cao Yun would not resist eternally. At some point, they would be close enough to destroy his corporeal soul and consume it.


    But the fact that he had no technique to fight in his own mind did not worry Cao Yun in the slightest. Although he had no specific art for that, he had the Drop of Wrath. This drop of blood had already protected his mind several times. And now, he had some more control over it. It was thus the perfect moment to try it out.


    The Five Agents changed their very configuration. The Shen character stayed above to spread his fires around the characters below. But the Yi changed and only shined its golden light on the Po and the Shen. Resulting from this, the fires from Shen intensified and became golden as well. Those fires attacked Zhi and this will turned completely liquid, floating around the Drop of Wrath in myriad of droplets, each one looking similar to the complete character. On the other hand, Hun ascended even higher than Shen. The light from the stars above shined on it and were then spread across the entire sea of consciousness.


    Finally, the Po character got so close to the Drop of Wrath that they almost touched. As a result, the Po inside the Drop of Wrath got more and more agitated. From inside the drop, some blood droplets fell into the clear water below.


    Very soon, the entire water had turned as red as blood.


    The fires from Shen increased in heat and brightness, the red light from the Heart Star also intensified. In a matter of seconds, the entire sea of consciousness of Cao Yun had turned completely red. Even the golden light from Yi had also turned golden red. Slowly, from within the Drop of Wrath, a figure started to emerge.


    It was the figure of Axiu Qian in his dying form. That man was of course entirely red with golden lines here and there. On his head, there were three faces exuding pure rage. But instead of having three pairs of arms, he only had one pair. Moreover, he was way smaller than what Cao Yun had already witnessed in his own sea of consciousness. But there was an even bigger difference, Cao Yun was controlling this figure.


    In fact, it felt as though he was this very figure.


    Despite all this chaos, the paper bloat had kept on drifting as though nothing in any world could deter them. No matter what could happen around them, they simply floated peacefully. But they had clearly a nefarious purpose.


    The first face of this giant demon opened its eyes. Immediately, golden rays of light went straight for the first boat. As soon as the light shone on it, the yellow lantern began to dim down even more. For the first time, Cao Yun felt what this was. This yellow light seemed to be made of Death Energy. Thus, he understood, those boats were trying to extract his Po to turn it into more Death Energy. Cao Yun''s current sensitivity toward both Po and Death Energy allowed him to feel that those lanterns had been made by an amalgamation of many souls.


    For now, Cao Yun felt that he could not yet open the eyes of the other two faces. But this was enough.


    With his giant clawed hand, the red demon grabbed the boat whose lantern had dimmed down because of his sight. In an instant, he crushed it without any resistance. In his hand, this boat truly felt like paper. And as soon as it got crushed, it began to burn with a yellow flame. In fact, this small flame tried to also burn away the hand of the red manifestation of the Drop of Wrath. But it completely failed. Just by laying his eyes on his hand, the golden light from earlier put out the fire. From the boat, nothing remained though.


    Despite what had happened to the first boat, the other three were still going straight from Cao Yun''s Po, which happened to be exactly where the red giant was.


    With a single move, he grabbed both boats on his sides with one hand each. Once more, he completely crushed them and watched them burn away. Of course, the last boat had no more luck. Very soon, all four of the paper boats had turned into white ashes. Then, those white ashes flew and stuck to the red demon''s skin. Slowly, they sank deep into his body. As they got deeper and deeper, the heat from both the red demon himself and the fires from the Shen character purified them. They were changed in the same way the Death Energy absorbed by Cao Yun had been purified by the Drop of Wrath.


    In the end, those white ashes also became pure Death Energy and fused with both Po characters, inside and outside of the Drop of Wrath. And once more, this caused the link between Cao Yun and the Drop of Wrath to strengthen.


    When he finally opened his eyes, Cao Yun saw that the paper boats were being consumed by the black water as their yellow lanterns had all been taken out. Since they were literally made of paper, the boats did not last a mere second. All of them were devoured by the corrosive black water.


    Those boats had scared Cao Yun but faced with even a fraction of the power from the Drop of Wrath, they had been useless. Without it however, Cao Yun would have probably lost his soul, which was not a good prospect. Besides, those boats had very dim lanterns and were small. In the young man''s head, he could not stop himself from thinking of what would happen if he encountered paper boats as large as the ''Feng Soaring Junk''. If such boats existed and had several powerful lanterns, wouldn''t both his soul and the Drop of Wrath itself be absorbed and turned into more yellow light?


    And another thing crossed his mind. If that yellow light was Death Energy produced by absorbing souls, that meant that the Yellow Sorrows Water was most likely also made up of corporeal souls. And there was an obvious relation between those boats, this yellow water and the Bone Demons. All of those things were not only in the same Yellow Death World, but they were all related to Death Energy in some way.


    Anyway, Cao Yun kept on rowing. The pagoda he had caught a glimpse of was now revealing itself more and more.


    -


    It took Cao Yun several hours, but he finally reached this black pagoda, except that it wasn''t really black. That pagoda seemed to have been corroded by either flames or most likely by the black water below. Beneath this corrosion, it was clear that the pagoda had been red and golden. It had nine stories and was absolutely majestic. But like the Merciful Deity Temples in the Plagued Plains, the architecture of this pagoda was completely different from what Cao Yun knew. Of course, it was similar enough so that Cao Yun recognized what it was, but it seemed to come from a completely different civilization.


    Although most of the Legendary Era was unknown, Cao Yun was convinced that it didn''t come from that period. Most likely, it was from another world.


    And the moment Cao Yun laid eyes on the full pagoda, he had a feeling of familiarity. This building was closely related to Cleansed Asura. As though confirming it, the Drop of Wrath seemed to recognize this as its former master. But if it was related to Cleansed Asura, could it also be dangerous? After all, Can Mouye''s new master had claimed to be Cleansed Asura...

 Chapter 251: The black pagoda

    As the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' was getting closer to the black pagoda, Cao Yun could clearly see similarities with the Merciful Deity Temples. Apparently, they all shared the same architectural style.


    And just like those temples, the black pagoda was in a pitiful state. First of all, it had been blackened by corrosion. Here and there, Cao Yun could see vestiges of its past glory, but even the few parts that still shined through were in horrendous condition. But more apparent was the fact that the entire pagoda was slightly slanted. There were also many holes in the structure itself. Some doors or windows had been completely destroyed. And as the ship got close enough, Cao Yun could see that the black water had almost submerged the first floor.


    On this first floor, Cao Yun tied the ship with what he could.


    After an instant of hesitation, Cao Yun decided to leave Huang Liyue and the egg on board while he would explore the black pagoda alone. But before leaving, he once again changed Huang Liyue''s bandages and made sure that she was still stable. Each time he attended to her, he was deeply hurt to see how weak she had become. Even now, she had not regained any bit of consciousness. If that black pagoda was related to Cleansed Asura as he was convinced it was, there may be ways to either leave this place or save Huang Liyue. After all, Cleansed Asura had been able to save his life as he had been almost sliced in two.


    Of course, he had given him the Drop of Wrath for that, but there could be other ways. For a God-Monarch, saving someone''s Soul Embryo could even be possible. No one was known to have reached such a realm in the entire history of the Hongchen Kingdom. Indeed, every cultivator had left this world when they had reached either the Monarch or Immortal realm. That was referred to as a cultivator ascending. And once they had ascended, none of them ever came back.


    For example, Emperor Nuwa had waited until she had become a full-fledged Immortal. Even then, she stayed on the Piaolu planet a few more centuries before finally leaving. Many people were convinced that she had risen even higher than the Immortal realm. Maybe she had become a God, or even a God-Monarch. Some even believed that she had transcended all the realms of cultivation. But there was no way of knowing any of that.


    Right now, Cao Yun walked into the first floor of the black pagoda. Once he entered, he was surprised. The black water from outside had turned into normal water inside. Just like with the Merciful Deity Temples, Evil Qi, and probably Death Energy as well, were unable to penetrate this tower. Spreading the intent of his Drop of Wrath all around, Cao Yun felt that there was indeed no trace of either of them. And even outside, the black water had way less concentration of Evil Qi within it.


    This was a good sign. Can Mouye''s new master seemed like the type who would use Evil Qi. If this black pagoda which appeared related to Cleansed Asura prevented Evil Qi from entering it, it could mean that this master was really not Cleansed Asura.


    Still, Cao Yun was full of doubts concerning this matter. After all, he knew close to nothing about Cleansed Asura apart from the fact that he had saved his life and he had accepted him as his master. The idea that he would have the same master as that despicable Can Mouye was quite irritating. Maybe it was the reason why he was so against the possibility that this was in fact true and that Cleansed Asura had allied himself with a demonic cultivator. Remembering the case of Lu Meihan, there was indeed a possibility that upon facing death, he had chosen such a path...


    For now, the young man pushed all those ideas aside. As long as he had no clue at all, thinking about it would only confuse him more. And this black pagoda may contain some clues.


    On the first floor, there was nothing of note. Even if the water inside did not contain any trace of Evil Qi, it had still damaged the inside of the pagoda. But it didn''t seem like there had ever been anything of importance on this first floor. Thus, Cao Yun climbed the stairs partially destroyed and reached the second floor. On this floor, everything changed. It was as though he had entered another world.


    The floor spread as far the eye could see. There was a luscious grassland. And in the middle of it, a gigantic tree whose branches all reached toward the sky and disappeared into the clouds. Unable to believe what he was seeing, Cao Yun looked down and confirmed that the stairs toward the first floor were still there.


    For an instant, Cao Yun wondered if he had crossed into yet another dimension, just like he had done by coming into this Yellow Death World. But he had not. Indeed, there had been no strange sensation and he could still go back down the stairs.


    With utmost caution, Cao Yun decided to explore this green floor. It brought a lot of solace to his mind. Since he had come into this dead world, he had never seen any other color than gray, black and dim yellow from this place. Right now, he was in a paradise of greenery. But as he explored, he realized more and more how strange this floor was. First of all, there was natural light inside while there was no sun or heavenly bodies of any kind. But even stranger was the complete absence of any body of water. The entire floor was covered in soft grass, full of life and water, but there was no stream, no river, nothing.


    Thus, even the presence of clouds was strange. Besides, there was no wind either. And obviously, there was no animal. Thus, there was no sound of any kind except from Cao Yun''s own steps.


    The only real thing of interest in this floor was the gigantic tree right in the middle of it. Of course, the notion of middle was difficult to grasp because this world seemed to spread as far as the eye could see. But this tree truly looked like it was in the middle of this floor. In a way, this entire world revolved around that tree.


    Walking further inside that world, Cao Yun slowly felt more and more Qi around him. He had almost not reacted at first, but he suddenly realized it. For the first time ever since entering this world, there was pure Qi. During his time in this world, he had been so used to absorbing Evil Qi and purifying it through the Drop of Wrath and his own mind cultivation, he had almost forgotten the sensation of absorbing Qi without any pain. Unfortunately, it wasn''t as dense as within the Hongchen Kingdom, but there was undoubtedly Qi in here.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Immediately, Cao Yun thought about bringing Huang Liyue and the egg in here. Such an environment would be great for both of them. Even though the egg had a 6-demonic core from which it could absorb Qi, it wasn''t able to extract it as well as just breathing in the Qi in the air. And Huang Liyue may even be able to alleviate her wounds. There was no way for her to be completely healed, but this was better than nothing.


    Still, the young man hesitated for some time. Just to be safe, he explored that floor some more. When he was finally satisfied that there was no threat, he decided to act on his idea.


    Quickly, he went back to the ship and brought Huang Liyue, the egg and even the 6-demonic core used by it up to the second floor. When he was outside of the pagoda, he also tried to look at that second floor. Although there were some holes in the black pagoda and even several windows on that floor, he could see nothing at all. It was as though the world inside was isolated. After all, it was way bigger than the actual size of the pagoda itself. The central tree itself was slightly taller than the entire pagoda it was in. Such a manipulation of space was extremely advanced.


    Cao Yun had read about legends concerning such abilities. In a way, this was similar to what spatial rings were. But spatial rings could not take in anything that was alive. If someone tried to forcefully pull a living being inside a spatial ring, that living being would just die. But its corpse would then be preserved in the spatial ring. Since Cao Yun knew almost nothing of the laws of space, he did not know the reasons behind it.


    Because he could not answer any of those questions, the young man ignored them but still made sure to remember every single thing. Later in his cultivation or when he would learn new things, everything he had lived here would be useful.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun brought Huang Liyue and the egg in the second floor of the black pagoda. And as soon as he entered with them, he felt more life coming into the egg. It seemed to be quite excited.


    As he had felt that there was more Qi the closer he was to the central tree, Cao Yun brought them very close to it.


    Its trunk was so big that it would have required more than ten men to hug such a tree. Moreover, it appeared to be as tall as the entire black pagoda. But it was probably even taller because its branches were lost in the clouds themselves. Strangely, it looked as though the branches were giving birth to the clouds. But since everything was unknown, maybe it was possible.


    After looking after Huang Liyue and the egg for a few hours, the 9th-grade Mortal decided to cultivate a little. It had been so long since he had been in such a welcoming environment. He just couldn''t stop himself from wanting to try out his cultivation.


    Right now, he needed to make every single cell in his body transparent to Qi. Obviously, it would be easier to do so in an environment rich in Qi. And Evil Qi, no matter how much control Cao Yun could get over it, was always a dangerous thing to manipulate. Even the demonic cultivators themselves were not at ease while using it. They were always standing on the edge. Just like Luduo Bu, any demonic cultivator could get consumed by his own demonic arts at any moment. Thus, even if he had the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun did not feel comfortable using Evil Qi. Besides, it was literally made up of the resentment from the dead. To Cao Yun, it always felt as though he was using the very pain and suffering of others for his own benefits. In a way, he was putting it to good use, but it still didn''t feel right. Of course, if it was necessary he would use it, but he didn''t have to like it one bit.


    For the first time ever, the young man felt what it was like to be a 9th-grade Mortal. In such an environment, his acupoints were all absorbing tiny strands of Qi. And he felt as though his skin almost disappeared. Any barrier between him and the outside world was nearly gone. He could experience the world around him directly. The sensation was absolutely magical. It felt so good that he lost himself in it for several more hours before actually trying to cultivate.


    All the fatigue he had suffered from simply vanished.


    Then, Cao Yun used his mind cultivation to focus on his cells. Just like for his acupoints, he had realized that the first step was to perfectly feel those cells in his body and how they interacted with one another. He could then identify which ones were ready to be tempered. Unfortunately, Cao Yun did not know all the techniques from ''Coiling Turtle''. But he would follow the same logic Chief Instructor Peng had taught him. First, he would try to temper the cells that were the most difficult to work with. The easier cells could be used to try out his ideas when he would get stuck. In such a way, he could avoid a bottleneck.


    The number of cells was just beyond imagination. There were even more cells in the human body than there were demonic beasts, humans and demons on the Piaolu planet. Such a notion was just impossible to imagine. Yet, Cao Yun was currently experiencing it. Right now, he was able to feel each one of his cells and how they all interacted with one another. Then, he focused on how Qi could flow through them.


    Beside his meridians, there were tiny streams of Qi everywhere in his body. When he would finally reach the Mortal Warrior realm, all of those streams would be as powerful as torrents. And his body would be completely transparent to Qi. Not only would he be able to absorb Qi from his acupoints, he would be able to do so through every cell in his body. Right now, he was just unable to imagine what that sensation would feel like. Even though he had opened many cells to the full flow of Qi, he could not imagine how that would be when all of them would reach such a state.


    Just like when he had opened his acupoints, only after opening the very last one, did he feel how extraordinary this was.


    Although Cao Yun felt so good during his cultivation, he knew that he couldn''t stay there forever. It was urgent to save Huang Liyue and bring news to the outside world. If Can Mouye was able to exit this world, the Bone Demons might also and his new master as well. Each one was dangerous in itself, so all of them together...


    Right now, Cao Yun could only see one way to get out of this place. He had to try and explore the black pagoda some more. If there could be such a fantastical place as this green scenery, there could be a way to get out of this world in the pagoda. But for that, he had to reach the next floor, the third one. And the only way he could imagine to do so was to climb up that gigantic tree.


    After all, the first floor was really below this green world and the stairs were visible. As such, there was probably an opening to get to the third floor. And it made sense for it to be up in the air. No matter how much Cao Yun had looked, there was nothing on the ground, so it had to be higher than the clouds, where he could not see.


    Since he couldn''t fly, Cao Yun had to climb the tree and see what was up there. Hopefully, he would find the exit he was looking for and a way to leave this world so that he could save Huang Liyue.

 Chapter 252: The tree at the center of the world

    As he got close to the tree, Cao Yun could feel the powerful life force that emanated from it. Clearly, the entire Qi he could feel in this floor was due to this tree. In fact, it was more than likely that everything strange in this floor had this tree as its source. Even the grass on the ground was probably related to it and so were the clouds.


    At first, Cao Yun was a bit hesitant but he still tried to attack the trunk of the tree. Even after using his entire strength, there was no trace at all on the tree. Not even a piece of bark could be removed with his spear. However, Cao Yun could distinctly sense an intimacy between the tree and the Drop of Wrath. Moreover, this sensation spread through his entire body thanks to the new blood in his veins. Thus, there was no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind. This giant tree was somehow related to Cleansed Asura as was this entire black pagoda and the whole world he was in right now.


    But if something so full of life was related to Cleansed Asura, this raised many questions. For example, Cao Yun''s doubts became much more certain. In his mind, it proved that Can Mouye''s new master could not be Cleansed Asura. Either that master was a complete fraud or he was related to Cleansed Asura in some other way. Many possibilities existed but Cao Yun could not decided which one was correct. But by climbing this tree and learning more about this black pagoda, he might find the answers he was looking for.


    One last time, he looked at Huang Liyue and the egg. Both of them seemed to be calm and peaceful. Although the wounds on Huang Liyue were still extremely severe, so much so that she was completely bandaged, her breathing had gotten more regular and serene. After all, this place was full of life, even though the Qi density was not as great as in the Hongchen Kingdom. But the Qi seemed to be brimming with even more life. Its quality was different. Still, Cao Yun could not pinpoint exactly what was different.


    Satisfied that everything was going well on the ground, Cao Yun put down his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' and started to climb the tree. He had been reluctant to leave his weapon but even holding the spear on his back would have slowed him down. It wouldn''t be very convenient to climb a giant tree with a spear even taller than he was. Hopefully though, there would not be any threat.


    Ready, Cao Yun gathered his strength in his legs. And with one powerful leap, he tried to jump as high as he could. Considering his current strength, he was fairly confident that he would be able to reach incredibly high. Maybe he couldn''t go all the way to the clouds, but he would at least get halfway there.


    Unfortunately, reality turned out to be very different. Although Cao Yun had not used all of his strength, so that he wouldn''t injure his legs which had taken quite a punishment already, he had still used a rather great amount of it. Yet, he had barely jumped a distance equal to twice his height. The surprise was great, because he had clearly felt that he had crossed a great distance. Contrary to his perception though, he had barely climbed the tree at all.


    Once more, Cao Yun tried to jump. Since he was now holding on the tree, he could not develop that much strength in his jump. But once more, he realized that he had almost not moved at all. There was something strange with space in this floor. This was apparent by the fact that it seemed to stretch beyond the horizons even though it was inside a black pagoda that wasn''t nearly that big. But now space also seemed to be stretched in height. Thus, there was no way for Cao Yun to know how long it would take him to reach the summit. In fact, it was absolutely possible that he could never reach the clouds. Indeed, he had no way of knowing how space worked in this floor and he was only a Mortal. Maybe, if he could fly, he would have been able to get there faster.


    But it did not deter Cao Yun at all. He had no other lead to follow other than this black pagoda. And he was quite determined to get to the bottom of it, figuratively speaking.


    Instead of wasting his energy with jumps that did not make him progress very fast, Cao Yun decided to climb in a more conventional manner. And he got quite surprised by the fact that he was crossing much more distance that way. Apparently, there was something preventing someone from climbing the tree by jumping. Likely, there was some kind of force preventing cultivators from flying up in the sky. And this also prevented cultivators from jumping in the sky. So even if Cao Yun had been a Spirit Warrior, he still couldn''t have flown up there.


    But considering that his physique was almost as powerful as a middle Mortal Warrior''s, Cao Yun was not slow at all. With his own perception, he was extremely fast. But for someone who would have watched him from the ground below, he would have appeared to not be faster than a mere mortal.


    -


    After several hours, Cao Yun reached the very first branch of the tree. This one was very short compared to the other ones. Besides, it was extremely low as well. Cao Yun was not even a third of the way to the clouds.


    Because he had been exhausted by the climbing, the young man decided to rest a little on the branch. He had realized that the Qi was getting denser as the air was getting thinner. And since he was literally touching the tree, the source of Qi in this place, Cao Yun was able to restore most of his strength fairly quickly.


    Thus, he sat cross-legged on the branch. As small as it was compared with the rest of the tree, the branch was still several times thicker than Cao Yun''s body.


    The moment Cao Yun began to meditate, he saw visions.


    In an instant, he found himself in a world of pure green. Everything around him was covered in vegetation, grass, bushes, flowers. The entire world was a meadow. And just like the floor he was currently in, there was not a single trace of water although the vegetation seemed glistening with dew. Then, Cao Yun saw the same clouds he had seen in this floor. Those clouds were being supported by a titanic tree. It was way more impressive than this one. Indeed, this tree was almost as big as the very planet it was on.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    In his vision, Cao Yun was the tree itself. He could feel his roots that spread throughout the core of the planet. Every bit of vegetation was an extension of the tree. In fact, it seemed as though the planet itself was part of the tree and not the other way around. Finally, the clouds were like leaves on the tree. And even above the clouds, there was a giant dome of branches that separated this world from the void around. Seeing the planet from the outside, it looked like a wooden ball floating adrift in the void.


    For what seemed like millenniums, Cao Yun was just a tree. He enjoyed the warmth from eight suns revolving around the wooden dome. He could feel every vegetation. It was reminiscent of his current cultivation realm while he was trying to feel and open all of his cells to Qi. But this tree had clearly reached a realm way beyond this one. In fact, this tree also seemed to have embarked on a cultivation journey. But since it was so different from a human, Cao Yun was unable to tell what cultivation realm it had reached. However, this world-tree should have been way more powerful than a Spirit Warrior.


    As Cao Yun was feeling all of that, he also started to feel something else. Time had lost all meaning to the young man who was dreaming of being a tree. So he could not tell how long it had been. But in front of him, there was now a man. And he recognized this man right away. He had already seen him in a vision created by the Drop of Wrath. This man was Cleansed Asura. However, in that past vision, Cleansed Asura had only been a young man. Right now, he was a man.


    Cleansed Asura had black hair floating in the void. Behind him, there was a wheel of gold and fire with many details engraved here and there. Cao Yun could see many faces of demons and gods on it. But there were also humans, animals and even plants. This wheel seemed to always rotate behind Cleansed Asura. All around the cultivator, there was an aura of divinity and serenity. Although he was in the void, he was not affected by it at all. Most likely, he had already reached the Immortal realm, or even higher. Cao Yun was experiencing all of this through the lens of the tree and he could not distinguish the man''s cultivation.


    Between his eyebrows, Cleansed Asura had a strange mark that reminded Cao Yun of Insight Writings. But he could not understand what it meant at all. Despite his lack of understanding, he made sure to commit it to memory.


    By waving his hand, Cleansed Asura delicately pushed the branches aside and flew inside the wooden dome. Unlike Cao Yun, he was not disturbed by the strange space within. In fact, if Cao Yun had not known that space was distorted within, he would not have guessed so by watching his master. He flew as if everything was normal and arrived in front of the titanic tree. Putting a hand on the trunk, he tried to feel the tree''s life force.


    By doing so, the tree and by extension Cao Yun were able to also feel Cleansed Asura''s life force. As such, their bodies resonated with one another.


    Deep within Cao Yun''s heart, the Drop of Wrath reacted. And deep within Cleansed Asura''s heart, his Drop of Wrath reacted. For an instant, Cleansed Asura frowned. Then, Cao Yun heard a voice in his head. Although he could not understand the language at all, he was able to perceive the meaning behind them. As the tree could not understand human speech, Cleansed Asura had tried to convey his intentions as well.


    "Venerable World-Tree, this humble one has a selfish request. Please, give me one of your seeds. I do not know what may please you, but I am ready to cross the ocean of stars to find it and bring it back to you, if you only listen to my wish."


    Then, he stopped talking and kept his hands on the world-tree for many years. Cleansed Asura showed no sign of irritation or frustration. Right now, he was trying to convey his sincerity. As he was one with the tree, Cao Yun could feel that that human was way more powerful than itself. If he had wanted to, he could have destroyed the tree and stolen its seeds. Yet, he was there, humbling himself, so that the tree would listen to his request.


    Once again, time meant almost nothing to the majestic tree. As such, even Cao Yun did not know how long Cleansed Asura stayed immobile, his hands on the trunk of the world-tree. But it shouldn''t have been less than two decades.


    In the end, a branch started to sprout between Cleansed Asura''s hands. Just like everything else, it took a very long time. But ultimately, the branch produced a fruit. It was just as big as Cleansed Asura''s hand. That fruit was completely green and there was almost no flesh on it. Within it though, there was a big seed ready to be planted and grow into another tree.


    The sensation was very clear. This seed was the giant tree Cao Yun was currently climbing.


    His visions continued a little bit. Cao Yun saw Cleansed Asura plant this seed in the second floor of a majestic golden pagoda. And he cared for it during several centuries until it sprouted its first shoot. Then, the vision became much more blurry. In the end, Cao Yun simply woke up without seeing anything more.


    But now, he was absolutely certain of himself. Obviously, this tree was related to Cleansed Asura as was this black pagoda. But more than that, Cao Yun was now sure that Can Mouye''s new master was not Cleansed Asura. Someone who humbled himself so much in front of that tree could not suddenly turn into a man helping a demonic cultivator. However, there was always a possibility that seeing his own death coming had changed his self. Still, what seemed more likely to Cao Yun was that someone or something was impersonating him. Maybe it was something that had come from him, but it couldn''t be him. Right now, Cao Yun refused to believe it.


    Once he was fully awake, the young 9th-grade Mortal realized that he had an even deeper connection to his own cells. His experience with the world-tree had given him some hints as to how to better perceive his body.


    And he had also gained something else. He had heard the language of Cleansed Asura for the very first time. Thanks to the Merciful Deity Temples'' scriptures and the engravings seen by Huang Liyue, Cao Yun had been able to receive bits and pieces of his language. But he had no way of knowing how it sounded. With this new knowledge, Cao Yun could at least identify a few things. This language was very different from his own, but hopefully, he would be able to decipher it one day. After all, he had received a treasure trove of knowledge he simply couldn''t read.


    Now, he was also certain of his hypothesis. Cleansed Asura had tried to convert all of his knowledge into Nuhua. But only the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' had been correctly translated. Most of the other documents had only been transcribed using various similar sonorities, or similar looking characters. In one word, this was a mess. Even someone knowing both languages would have had a very hard time converting all those texts into actual meaning.


    But right now, Cao Yun had the key to finally start to learn Cleansed Asura''s language. No matter how long it would take, one day, he would understand all of this knowledge. Cleansed Asura had given him all he had ever known with his dying breath. So Cao Yun wanted to understand it, not just because it was probably incredible, but also to protect his master''s legacy. With that same goal in mind, he would also make sure that whoever was using and soiling his name would meet his end.

 Chapter 253: The soul-seed at the top of the world

    For several days, Cao Yun kept on climbing the world-tree. As he ascended, the young boy focused on many things.


    His mind cultivation was still slowly condensing the next Five Echoes Pearl. However, it was way slower than usual as Cao Yun had already opened more than half of the chambers of his Upper Dantian. With each chamber he had energized, condensing those pearls had been harder and harder. But since his mind evolved as well, the time did not increase by much. But now, he could feel that extracting the essence from the Five Agents would require at least four months. Of course, if he decided to focus entirely on that without doing anything else, it would go way faster. But that really wasn''t an option.


    Through the Qi brimming with life that surrounded him, Cao Yun also tried to get a better sensation of all of his cells. Now that he had caught a glimpse of what this tree''s progenitor was feeling, the young cultivator realized that he could also use this ascension to develop his own sensation. This would not directly increase his cultivation, but he would get better results later on, and way faster.


    Finally, he dedicated a great part of his mind to studying the language of Cleansed Asura. He wasn''t entirely sure, but he thought that he had been able to identify its name. If he tried to pronounce it in his own tongue, that language would be called Antique Sixian. As of now, he still wasn''t sure how it should be written for sure, but he was rather certain that this was Cleansed Asura''s mother tongue.


    Within the incredible treasure trove of knowledge the God-Monarch had given to the boy, he had found several documents with other languages. Most likely, they were dictionaries of some kind. It wasn''t surprising that such a master who had traveled for so long had also gained knowledge of other languages. Of course, Cao Yun was unable to understand any of those other languages. But the fact that he had several new sources to compare was a good thing. From everything that he had gathered right now, he was a bit closer to understanding very rudimentary Antique Sixian. Unfortunately, it would still require a very long time. Besides, even after understanding the fundamental of this language, he still wouldn''t get all of the cultural references.


    So just being able to read did not mean he would be able to understand the contents of all the books he had deep in his mind. Yes, this was the first step and it was necessary. But this was nowhere near being sufficient.


    Although he was performing those tasks, Cao Yun was still slowly climbing the tree. He was putting in a lot of efforts but he was still rather slow. However, it did not dishearten him in the slightest. Here and there, he was able to get other visions of the world-tree that Cleansed Asura had visited. Each time, he was able to get new sensations. But it also messed up with his sensation of time. In each vision, he was able to live several millenniums. But in reality merely hours had passed. This was very disturbing. Yet, Cao Yun was always looking for more visions. With each one, his body became more and more transparent to his own intent.


    By the time he finally reached the clouds, the young man could vividly feel each cell in his entire body. Of course, he wasn''t yet able to completely open them to Qi, but this would be way easier. Now, it was certain that Cao Yun would become a Mortal Warrior before coming out of the Ancient Ruins next year. In fact, he could maybe even reach 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior by then. That was under the assumption that he was able to get out of this place alive of course.


    At last, Cao Yun saw the clouds up close. They were like he had imagined. Those clouds looked like leaves on the giant branches of the world-tree.


    Even though Cao Yun had still some water, he took the gourd with the Clouds in the Lake array formation he had carried on his waist. Then he simply put it on some branch, right in the midst of the clouds. Slowly, it would condense the water from those clouds into the gourd. Even if this floor had some water in suspension in the air, those clouds were clearly different. Just like that black water had been infused with Evil Qi, those clouds were almost pure Qi. And this was the kind of Qi that was everywhere in this room, full of life and vigor.


    Without knowing exactly what kind of water this was, the alchemist in Cao Yun could tell with a glance that it was a precious treasure. Maybe he could use this water to try and help soothe Huang Liyue''s injuries. He wasn''t too hopeful about waking her up, but just attending to her wounds was still good enough.


    While the gourd was slowly condensing the water from those clouds, Cao Yun decided to keep on climbing. He would retrieve his gourd later on.


    -


    After finally going through the white clouds, the young man saw the branches forming some kind of intertwined sculpture. It was rather difficult to describe, but through the lens of an alchemist, Cao Yun had the impression that this was the ovary of a flower. Considering the size of the tree, obviously this ovary was gigantic. Several elephants could have fitted in there. And from this wooden ovary, a familiar sensation could be felt. From deep within his heart, Cao Yun sensed the Drop of Wrath getting agitated in a good way.


    This was what the Drop of Wrath had been looking for since even before going into this world. It had reacted to it when it had brought Cao Yun in front of the veil of darkness that was in the woods between Baziyun City and Yinmen City.


    But the Drop of Wrath was not the only one who sensed a familiar presence. The young man himself was able to feel it, even without the Drop of Wrath in his heart. Indeed, he had already felt this presence when he had been sliced in half. There was no mistaking it. Right there in front of him, this was the same presence he had felt within his own soul when Cleansed Asura had sifted through his memories. In the middle of this ovary, Cleansed Asura was in a deep slumber. Maybe, Cao Yun could finally get some answers.


    But just like Huang Liyue down below, Cleansed Asura''s soul was probably in a state in which it was impossible to communicate with him. Anyway, the young cultivator had to try and get in touch with him. Any piece of information was crucial. This entire world seemed to be related to this master he had only met a few minutes.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Cao Yun was a bit ashamed. Cleansed Asura had almost given his life to save his. And yet, before even repaying his debts, Cao Yun was back for more help. What Cleansed Asura had asked him was just to give him a proper burial. Still, he had failed. Of course, even an early to middle Spirit Warrior would have probably been unable to honor such a request. So Cao Yun didn''t feel like he had betrayed his trust. However, that didn''t mean that he wasn''t feeling shameless right now. But he had no other choice.


    He couldn''t just wait for death simply because he did not want to be shameless. Besides, he had two lives to take care of right now. And he also had his friends he needed to warn and the demonic cultivators to take care of. Right now, Cao Yun could not just think about himself. Even if he had to be shameless, he would. After all, it wasn''t as though he didn''t want to honor Cleansed Asura''s request. And if he died in this world, he would never be able to do so anyway.


    After successfully convincing himself, the young man decided to throw away his face for once. He would just need to make up for it later. This was like going to ask for more money to someone who had already lent him some and that he hadn''t repaid back yet. This was not a nice feeling for someone like Cao Yun. There were probably very shameless persons who would not mind though...


    The fact that he had made his mind did not mean that this was a done deal. First of all, he needed to get inside this wooden ovary. Then, he wasn''t sure in which state Cleansed Asura''s soul would be, or if it could help him at all.


    Pushing all those negative thoughts aside, the young cultivator knew that he had no other clue right now. If it failed, he would try to think of something else. If he could translate enough documents from Cleansed Asura''s memories, maybe he would find other leads. Maybe there were even ways to help Huang Liyue and to get out of this place. However, he would need an incredible amount of time to translate all the documents. And if he just tried to make a shot in the dark and choose some documents at random, he would not find anything useful. There were just too many things in those memories. After all, Cleansed Asura had most likely lived at least a millennium, and maybe much longer than that. Right now, Cao Yun was unsure of how long a God-Monarch could live, or how long it could take to reach such a realm.


    -


    Now that he was above the clouds, Cao Yun realized that space had changed once more. This was now almost the same space he had known all of his life. As such, it only took him a few minutes to get close to the wooden ovary. Up close, this was a giant pod with almost no opening in it. He circled it several times and tried to use all of his knowledge of alchemy to try and find anything useful. Unfortunately, what he could piece together was not really helpful in this situation.


    He could tell that this was truly similar to the ovary of a flower in its function. It had a slightly different structure because it was made of several branches intertwined together. But it probably contained some kind of ovule and seeds. By knocking on it several times, the young 5-star Earth alchemist had been able to hear how it was structured inside. He wasn''t absolutely sure but it looked like there was one single seed in there. This was probably the same size as the seed Cleansed Asura had received in his visions.


    But there was something slightly different. However, from the outside, Cao Yun had no way to be clear on what this difference really was. And he did not seem to be able to get inside either.


    After a long time of failing to find a solution, the martial artist in him decided to try force as an option. He had no desire to harm the world-tree, but he sincerely wished to get inside this wooden ovary and to see the seed for himself. The familiar sensation of Cleansed Asura was coming right from this seed.


    At first, Cao Yun only used a tiny fraction of his strength. It was both to test whether or not this tree had any defense mechanisms, and to judge its durability. Although it was hollow, contrary to the rest of the tree, the pod made of those branches was almost as resistant as the trunk of the world-tree. Even without trying any more powerful attacks, Cao Yun knew there was nothing he could do to force his entry within.


    But then, he tried to remember what Cleansed Asura had done.


    Back then, in those visions, Cleansed Asura had probably had enough strength to destroy an entire planet. No matter how powerful that world-tree had been, the God-Monarch should have been able to at least take a seed by force. Yet, he had chosen another way. Although he had no spiritual senses of any kind, maybe Cao Yun could try and connect with this tree in a similar way. After all, he had been able to send the intent from the Drop of Wrath outside of his body. Instead of using force, he could try and establish some kind of communication with this gigantic tree.


    With that goal in mind, Cao Yun kowtowed in front of the pod.


    "Great Lord, this lowly one apologizes if he disrespected you. I can assure you that my intent here is not ill."


    Whether the tree could even hear him, Cao Yun did not know. But he wanted to show his sincerity. And he was sincere. he had absolutely no ill will against the world-tree. As an alchemist, getting some materials from it would have been fine of course, but it wasn''t on his mind. And even then, he would try to do so without endangering the tree itself. Alchemists knew how to gather ingredients without harming the environment around them. Otherwise, they would have already annihilated many species. Apart from a few demonic cultivators, alchemists knew how to be proper. They would never take more than what nature could reproduce.


    After showing his sincerity, Cao Yun imitated what he had seen Cleansed Asura do. His hand slowly touched upon the surface of the wooden pod. For a while, he stayed there without doing anything. He was just trying to feel the world-tree. Thanks to all the visions he had seen, he had a good understanding of how the tree itself was feeling. But now, he was trying to establish some kind of bond between them. At first, he let the Wei Qi surrounding the plant flow through him. With this warm flow of life within himself, the young man tried to harmonize his own breathing with it. He even tried to harmonize his own flow of Qi and his own thoughts with it.


    Only after he felt as though he was almost one with the plant, did Cao Yun try to instill bits of the intent of the Drop of Wrath inside. And with this intent, he was attempting to convey a simple thought.


    "I wish to see the seed within yourself."


    In total, it took him almost an entire day. But he finally felt some movements. With extreme delicacy, the branch he was touching started to shift a little. And to the left of Cao Yun, a tiny gap was now opened between two branches, just big enough for him to pass through.


    Before going inside though, Cao Yun stayed a couple of hours there to thank the tree that had replied to his request in such a manner.


    Then, he got inside the ovary, passing through the small gaps between the branches.

 Chapter 254: Death Yellow Worlds fall

    When Cao Yun finally walked inside the wooden ovary, the branches closed behind him. And in front of him, he saw a singular seed attached in the air by two long vertical vines. One was coming from the branches intertwined among each other above in the form of a long style. The other vine came from down below.


    The interior of this ovary looked like a grassland with myriads of flowers. Every imaginable color was represented among the flowers. Moreover, they seemed to be aligned according to some plan. Although Cao Yun was certain that this was natural, it really felt man-made. As a 5-star Earth array formation master, he could somewhat see a pattern within those flowers. But this didn''t feel like an array formation.


    Then, as he walked forward, he understood. This place was brimming with Qi. Of course, this place was equivalent to a Dantian. In fact, this was equivalent to his Upper Dantian. Through the flowers, what he had sensed was the same kind of organization his own Upper Dantian had with those nine chambers he was energizing one by one. And if the analogy was extended, this seed should be akin to some kind of Soul Embryo.


    But while this entire place had the exact same vibe as the tree from the outside, albeit with way more strength and potency, that seed was different.


    As soon as Cao Yun had laid eyes on it, he had felt the presence of his master. Thus, he kept on walking forward. Of course, he was extremely respectful and did not damage any flower. In fact, he even went to the effort of circulating his stealth technique to be as quiet and discreet as possible. He wasn''t afraid to be detected because he had obviously been since the tree had literally opened the door for him. However, he felt as though he had to be extremely respectful in this place. In a sense, he imagined if someone tried to penetrate his own Upper Dantian. He couldn''t just do anything he wanted in that place.


    It felt as though he was in the den of an extraordinary legendary beast. After all, he had felt like he was the world-tree in those recent visions. And he could feel what kind of existence it had been. This tree seemed to be way younger although Cao Yun could not determine how old it was. It was probably already beyond what a Spirit Warrior could achieve in terms of cultivation. And given enough centuries or millenniums, this tree could probably transcend the equivalent of the Immortal realm. Obviously, the cultivation of that tree was different from what humans did.


    Disturbing what seemed like its Upper Dantian was not something Cao Yun wanted to do. But he wanted to get to that seed. Although it was held in the air, it was relatively close to the ground. In fact, the cavity Cao Yun was now in was at least a hundred chi tall. Yet, that seed was literally at the level of his own head. Contrary to the fruit he had seen in his visions, that seed was the size of his own torso. From it, both Cao Yun and the Drop of Wrath were able to feel a familiarity. There was no doubt about the fact that this seed was related to Cleansed Asura.


    Several possibilities crossed Cao Yun''s mind. However, he did not know enough about that world-tree he had seen to come to any conclusion. He had felt its existence, but he had not witnessed its growth. On the other hand, this tree was still in the midst of its growth, despite its gigantic stature. After all, its progenitor had been able to completely recover an entire planet.


    As cautiously as possible, Cao Yun walked closer to the seed.


    Finally, he was close enough to touch it. And he did.


    The very moment his hand came into contact with the seed, the world around him changed. He was now in a sea of consciousness that wasn''t his. Looking all around, this sea of consciousness was bleak. Darkness hid most of the horizon. Even the sky was dull. And so was the ocean below Cao Yun''s feet. The only trace of color was a tiny red dot right in front of the young man''s hands that were still extended upward. The seed in the real world had turned into this red dot in this sea of consciousness.


    Seeing this red dot, Cao Yun remembered that this was the very dot that had entered his soul to sift through his memories when he had met Cleansed Asura. This red dot was the last vestige of his master''s soul. And right now, it was flickering in and out of existence. At any moment, it could get completely extinguished.


    This apparent weakness moved Cao Yun, because he knew the real reason behind it. Yes Cleansed Asura had been lethally wounded. But the truth was that the current state of his soul was due to his kindness toward him. If he had done nothing and had let Cao Yun die, Cleansed Asura could have still lived a very long time. Yet, he had chosen to help this young man after witnessing his entire life through his memories.


    How could he have doubted whether his master had allied himself with a demonic cultivator? Of course he had not! Back then in that crevasse, if Cleansed Asura had wanted to prolong his life, he could have simply devoured Cao Yun''s soul. He was defenseless. But instead, his master had shortened the time he had left to live so that he could survive. There was no way someone like that would ever join hands with a demonic cultivator. Thus, it meant that someone had usurped his name and was soiling it.


    The more Cao Yun knew about Can Mouye, the more he was seething with rage. For once, it wasn''t due to his own actions, but it was because of his so-called new master.


    Using this rage, Cao Yun tried to amplify it as much as possible. Unlike all the previous times, he was trying to voluntarily excite the Drop of Wrath. And he clearly succeeded. Besides his now more masterful control over it, this rage also activated it. Since Cleansed Asura had fallen into this deep slumber after gifting the Drop of Wrath to someone else, maybe it could be used to try and wake him up. Instead of burying him, Cao Yun could maybe try to save his life.


    Cao Yun kowtowed in front of the red dot and presented his salutations to his master as was the convention in the Hongchen Kingdom. Although his master had probably other traditions, since he had seen his memories, he should know what this meant.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "This unfilial disciple salutes Master Cleansed Asura. Although you sacrificed yourself for my sake, I could not repay my debt. Yet, here I am asking for more... Please, forgive this unfilial disciple. But I do need to stay alive. I need to get out of here. And I need to protect the people I care about."


    While he spoke, Cao Yun focused everything on the Drop of Wrath to try and draw out as much of its power as he could. A powerful vitality was permeating through his body. And in this sea of consciousness, Cao Yun''s body began to shine red as blood. Both the ocean and the sky turned somewhat red as well. Although the darkness stayed deep, some life seemed to have come back to the world.


    Then a voice resounded.


    "Unfilial?"


    As soon as he heard that voice, Cao Yun raised his head. Although he had heard it only briefly the first time, he had recognized the voice because that could have been no one else. This was the voice of his master, Cleansed Asura''s voice.


    "My memories... in shambles but... when asked you...  bury me... knew too weak yet... Even Spirit Warrior... could not..."


    "Master..."


    Not only was the voice breaking up and weak, Cao Yun could clearly hear pain in it. And since Cleansed Asura had no more body, that meant that this pain was from his very soul, what remained of his soul at least.


    "Please, Master, stop."


    "Important things to say... This place... ... Inner World... Zhaoluyou jianghe... ..."


    Cleansed Asura''s strained voice was still trying to convey some meanings but some of his words were now spoken in his mother tongue. Since Cao Yun had barely started to make sense of this language, he was just able to recognize that these words were indeed spoken in Antique Sixian. Apart from that though, he had no way of understanding his master.


    "Master, please save your strength. I can''t even understand you anymore."


    Then silence ensued. It did not last very long but that seemed like an eternity to the young disciple. Here he was in front of his master but he had no way to communicate with him. Worse, if his master tried to speak, he would quickly lose his consciousness and drift into an even deeper slumber, or even death.


    Cao Yun had to communicate with him though. Otherwise, he had no way of getting out of this place. Many people needed his help right now. There was Huang Liyue down there of course, with the Mountain Fenghuang egg as well. But he also thought about his friends. It was possible that they were already fighting off a demonic beast stampede in Yinmen City. But they did not know that there was a traitor among their rank. He had to warn them before something terrible could happen.


    But just as much as Cao Yun wanted to ask all sorts of questions to Cleansed Asura. His master also desired to talk with his disciple. Without the information he had, he may never get out of this world alive. Not only would his legacy die down with this young man, but it would be tarnished and perverted by the one who would claim his name. He needed to make Cao Yun understand. But now he could not even find the right words in Nuhua. His soul had been way too damaged. He could feel that he was at the end of his existence. Just staying conscious was painful. But if he let go for one instant, he would never wake up.


    Considering how damaged his soul had been, Cleansed Asura was almost certain that his very soul would soon dissipate. After his death, he would never reach the cycle of reincarnation. Everything that he was would disappear with him. In fact, the only chance he had to leave any positive trace of his life behind was through the young disciple he had chosen by chance.


    The more Cleansed Asura tried to gather his thoughts, the more clouded they became. He had to find a way to tell what he needed to the young boy in front of him. There was a way for him to survive. He had to tell him!


    ...


    But he did not need to use words to tell him...


    As the thought emerged in the weakened Cleansed Asura, an image appeared in Cao Yun''s mind.


    Suddenly, he saw the sea of consciousness he had right before his eyes change. This time, it was full of life. There were billions of golden characters flying in the sky and reflecting in the ocean below. Both the sky and the ocean were so pure that the boundary between them was almost nonexistent. The only way for Cao Yun to see it was thanks to the Drop of Wrath. Indeed, just like it was now in his sea of consciousness, in that one it was floating above the ocean. Due to its reflection, it was possible to make out where the ocean ended and where the sky started.


    Looking all around himself, Cao Yun saw many strange things and phenomena. In the sky, the golden characters seemed to form wind and fire wheels. But there were also more intricate wheels with spikes on them. And they seemed to rotate like stars in the firmament. Most likely, all of those things were related to Cleansed Asura''s martial art, just like what ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' could produce in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. What the young man did not know was that he also had some golden characters deep in his inner ocean. However, they were currently too deep for him to even feel their existence.


    Then, the scenery changed. From the ocean, a giant red and golden pagoda began to emerge. At first, there was only one floor, but quickly more and more appeared. It was as though that pagoda was being built right in front of him. The more floor the pagoda was forming, the more the sea of consciousness changed. Before long, nine floors were built in total. Thus, the entire world had changed.


    Cao Yun''s view had also completely changed. He was now seeing everything from above. Under his eyes, the world kept on changing again and again. All of a sudden, the pagoda exploded. The entire world trembled but endured and the pagoda got reformed as fast as it had been destroyed. And after that, the world seemed to be even more active than before. Many lands appeared everywhere.


    The seed from the world-tree appeared and a giant tree began to grow from the water below. Mountains protruded from the ground as more and more lands were getting rid of the ocean below. Slowly, the waters formed into a powerful stream descending from the mountains. As such, a great river and a giant lake appeared slowly.


    Cao Yun could feel that hundreds if not thousands of years had passed as all those changes took place. And just as it had appeared, this nature began to die. But each time, it reappeared even stronger and grander. Many more cycles occurred.


    Finally, the young man started to see what he had guessed. This world''s structure was extremely similar to the map Huang Liyue had showed him. The mountains were almost identical to the black mountains they had taken refuge into.


    Just as the world was fully formed, from the waters that remained all around it, nine palaces rose. With great power they emerged from the ocean and began to float in the sky, higher and higher.


    With time, more and more phenomena happened as the entire world seemed to grow and spread. In more than thousands of years, this world became an entire planet. But suddenly, everything changed!


    A giant scar lacerated the clean skies. It was a somber purple scar that crisscrossed the entire world. One of the palaces was even struck down and fell down with intense power right into the mountains. Due to this fall, a gigantic cataclysm engulfed the entire world. All light seemed to disappear and violent winds swept the entire world.

 Chapter 255: Death Verses

    Cao Yun could not see what was going on outside of this world, but he could surmise it. Since this entire planet had appeared through the sea of consciousness of Cleansed Asura, it was obvious what this world was. This ''Inner World'' was quite literally within his master. Just like the six stars of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' that Cao Yun had in his very mind, or the Five Agents as well, it was a physical representation of Cleansed Asura''s achievements.


    And this place had evolved with him and his cultivation. So of course, this purple wounds in the sky had been caused either by a mistake during his cultivation or an attack. Considering Cleansed Asura''s strength, Cao Yun had a hard time believing he could have made such a terrible mistake. Thus, this wound had most likely been inflicted on him by someone else.


    Although he could not see what was going on outside of Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun was able to feel a very faint presence in this wound. For a split second, he even saw two pupils looking through his soul. But they disappeared as fast as they had come, just like the presence itself. Cleansed Asura''s Inner World was suffering a lot because of the terrifying shockwave caused by the main palace''s fall. In addition, more and more wounds were inflicted in the sky. None were as terrible as the first one and no other palace fell from the sky. However, they all suffered some degree of destruction nonetheless.


    Without understanding what had actually happened, the young witness could guess that a terrible battle had broken out between his master and another expert. He probably was as powerful as Cleansed Asura to inflict such wounds. Thus, it was likely that he was a God-Monarch as well.


    Inside Cleansed Asura''s Inner World, much destruction occurred. Paradoxically, most of the destruction had been caused by the chaos within, due to the fall of the first palace. None of the other attacks had been powerful enough to really shake the world. That meant that Cleansed Asura''s enemy was surely weaker than him but had used the element of surprise to strike a decisive blow.


    After that, Cleansed Asura had probably fled and that was when he had reached the Piaolu planet. Hence, those events had happened more than 50,000 years ago. It was even before the enslavement of humans by the demons. Everything Cao Yun had just witnessed had happened during the Legendary Era, the period in which the Piaolu planet was still ruled by humans.


    As time was passing by, the images Cao Yun was seeing were becoming more and more blurry and enigmatic. Until now, he had been able to see everything with clear eyes, but the weakness of his master was starting to alter the visions. As such, everything sped up. Although he had no real sense of time, Cao Yun felt as though thousands of years were passing. The world became more and more somber as life was slowly slipping through Cleansed Asura''s fingers. His body had definitely died. But his Po was kept trapped in his own Inner World. Cleansed Asura had tried to hang on life as much as possible. As such, his soul had survived but parts of it, namely his Po, had started to decay with his body.


    Little by little, the clear water became black with Death Energy. However, there was no trace of Evil Qi at all yet. Indeed, Cleansed Asura had been able to preserve his rationality and his Hun. So Cao Yun was left with the question of how this Evil Qi had been generated. And the only answer he had in mind was this fake Cleansed Asura Can Mouye had mentioned. Indeed, there was now no doubt in his mind. A fake Cleansed Asura was usurping his name.


    The very moment this idea popped up in his mind, the scenery changed. He was now over the black mountains and descended into their depths. There, hidden under the rocks, the main palace that had fallen during the attack was rotting away. Unfortunately the image was very unclear but Cao Yun saw a face clad in darkness. Once more, he was watching at the face of his master. But unlike the vision he had had of him, this face was deformed by madness. Besides, the symbol between his eyebrows was now different. Even then, Cao Yun could not understand its meaning, but it almost looked like a third eye. Moreover, this simple symbol was seething with evil intents.


    That was when Cao Yun noticed that the darkness around him was Evil Qi. Maybe that fake Cleansed Asura was an inner demon. Still, the young man could not believe that someone as powerful as a God-Monarch could easily develop an inner demon. Of course, there were possible explanations. It was possible that Cleansed Asura had formed this inner demon early on but had been able to keep him in check until his lethal wound. In fact, it was even possible that giving his Drop of Wrath away had lessened his ability to control this inner demon. However, it could also be something slightly different than an inner demon.


    Unfortunately, Cleansed Asura, the only one who could dispel those doubts, could not really talk with Cao Yun anymore.


    Finally, the vision completely disappeared and Cao Yun was back in the obscure sea of consciousness where he was still kneeling in front of the red dot that was Cleansed Asura''s soul. Compared with some instants ago, the red dot was even tinier and dimmer. Just sending those visions had considerably weakened it. Immediately, Cao Yun tried to push his Drop of Wrath to the limit of what he could do. In his own sea of consciousness, the form of a giant red demon appeared once more. And even in the dark sea of consciousness, Cao Yun''s skin began to turn red as well. However, the red dot barely got better. It did. But it was so insignificant that it was obvious nothing could be done to try and help him.


    Cao Yun had come all the way here in the hope of saving Huang Liyue. And now he was faced with yet another expert who had sacrificed his life to help him. Why did anyone who tried to help him had to die? His master could have probably lived for hundreds of years but he had given his Drop of Wrath to him. And now, before Cao Yun could repay him, he had once more shortened his lifespan just to show him some images. Despite his troubled emotions, Cao Yun committed every detail he had seen to memory. Those images were a mix of reality and imagery. Since Cleansed Asura could not speak in Nuhua anymore, he had engineered those visions.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    But those visions were not enough. Now, Cao Yun had a vague idea of what was going on, but he had no way of leaving this world. Even if he had that knowledge, he would be too weak to use it anyway. Without at least a Spirit Warrior, there was no way for him to survive this Yellow Death World, as Huang Liyue had named it. Now, this wasn''t Cleansed Asura''s Inner World. Apart from this pagoda, this place was even hostile to Cleansed Asura. And he could not leave this tree anymore.


    His soul was so weak that without the support of this world-tree, Cleansed Asura would collapse in a matter of minutes. Knowing that, the master wanted to give his disciple the means to survive and let his legacy prosper. Even though he had chosen this boy by a turn of luck, he had been satisfied with his character. And right now, he was also satisfied with his talent. Compared to the boy he had met, Cao Yun, in less than two years, had achieved way better results than he had thought possible.


    And many were due to his mind cultivation. Even Cleansed Asura had been surprised by the potency of this mind cultivation. Behind it, he could see some mysteries and he had a vague idea of who had written it and why. But right now, it was not important at all. However, thinking about this mind cultivation, Cleansed Asura thought of a possibility. There was a way for Cao Yun who was still only a Mortal to turn this situation around. And the crux of the solution was Huang Liyue.


    No matter how much Cleansed Asura thought about it, he first had to find a way to awaken that woman. Considering how weak he was, he could barely think straight. Yet, he searched for a solution and he found one. The feeling of frustration was unbearable. Even though he knew that this solution was suboptimal and that he had better ways to achieve the same results, and even better ones, Cleansed Asura could not think of them. They were there somewhere in his memory but he could not access them. Every time he touched upon them, they slipped from his mind.


    Then, he had to resort to this inferior solution. Hopefully it would work out just fine. But his disciple had to understand what he wanted to say...


    As Cao Yun was turning red, letting the Drop of Wrath run amok in order to try and restore some of his master''s strength, new visions appeared in his mind. All of a sudden, he was back in the main palace that had fallen down. Hidden in the center of the destroyed palace, he saw a yellow rock oozing. From this rock, a tiny stream was penetrating the cavern below and was permeating through the mountains, creating an underground current. In this vision, Cao Yun''s viewpoint crossed through the rocks and reached a small lake. This was from this lake that all the Yellow Sorrows Water he had seen had come from.


    Then, he saw Huang Liyue''s body besides the yellow water. And on the other shore, there were four characters etched into the rocky bank. Those four characters were written in Antique Sixian, not in Nuhua. And Cao Yun could only understand one of them because he had seen it several times in the documents found in the Merciful Deity Temples and the engravings discovered by Huang Liyue alike. This character meant ''Death''. Of course this word had been present a lot in the texts Cao Yun had seen because this entire place was brimming with Death Energy.


    If his master was risking his last strength to show those characters to Cao Yun, there had to be a reason behind it. Immediately, Cao Yun tried to look within his memories for these exact four characters. Considering the amount of information he had received from his master, it took a lot of time, but he finally found something. There was a scripture written by Cleansed Asura himself and its name was precisely those four characters. Unfortunately, Cao Yun was unable to read the text, but there were some Insight Writings as well. Maybe he could use them to try and decipher the rest. Of course, he first had to get an understanding of the concepts behind those Insight Writings.


    Just like with his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', it was necessary to get a bit of understanding of a concept in order to be able to read an Insight Writing based around this concept. Unlike any other language, Insight Writings were literally the very essence of a concept taken form. As such, anyone who could catch a glimpse of the concept could read those characters.


    To his surprise, Cao Yun was able to understand a few characters. This text was talking about Death Energy and Po as well as the soul in general. Thanks to his achievements in his mind cultivation and his recent dealings with Death Energy, Cao Yun knew just enough to get a general sense of what was discussed in this text. Although he could not read its real title, Cao Yun decided to name it ''Death Verses''. Indeed, the text was separated into several verses. But Cao Yun could barely make out each one. Among the six verses Cao Yun could see, the last one was barely complete. It was clear that this text had been written by Cleansed Asura but he had never been able to conclude it.


    In total, Cao Yun was able to understand the general meaning of the first three verses through the few Insight Writings in them.


    They all heavily revolved around the concept of Death Energy. Apparently, the first verse explained how to increase one''s perception of Death Energy. Thus, it was the one Cao Yun was able to understand the most. Then, the second one further explained how one could use this new perception to control and manipulate Death Energy as though it was Qi. Finally, the very last verse Cao Yun was able to understand a little seemed to refer to a way to produce Death Energy through one''s own body, without dying of course. But this last verse was still way to complex and obscure for him. The young disciple had only been able to get the general goal of it.


    But if his master had shown him this ''Death Verses'', then it had to be important. And it even seemed to be related to the Yellow Sorrows Water and to a way of saving Huang Liyue. However, everything was still too unclear.


    "Master, this unworthy disciple is still lacking. I did not understand enough. Is this a way to save Huang Liyue''s life?"


    As he said those words, he saw a vision of himself manipulating the yellow water and extracting a single drop of it. Then, he injected it within Huang Liyue''s Soul Embryo. After that, a powerful light eclipsed everything else and Cao Yun found himself on the cliff in the woods between Baziyun City and Yinmen City.


    Although he could not understand everything, the young man was intelligent enough to get a general idea of what his master wanted him to do. But this yellow water had been terrifying enough to chase away Bone Generals. Not only was he unsure of being able to control it, he could not imagine what effects it would have on Huang Liyue. Wouldn''t it just kill her faster? But then again, if he did nothing, she would die anyway. Maybe he had to try that. Another problem was the fact that this yellow lake was right under the fallen palace. And according to what he had seen, the fake Cleansed Asura was in that palace. And so was Can Mouye, probably.


    Moreover, Cao Yun had to find a way to get back there. He wasn''t sure that the remnants of the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' would be able to resist another crossing of the black ocean. All those problems flooded Cao Yun''s mind. But suddenly, he felt something else. He got expelled from the obscure sea of consciousness and found himself in front of the seed in the real world.

 Chapter 256: Cleansed Asuras sacrifice

    For an instant, Cao Yun was destabilized. He had been successively sent into the current sea of consciousness of Cleansed Asura''s soul. Then, he had seen various visions of how it had evolved over centuries. And now, out of the blue, he had been pulled away back into the ovary of the world-tree. Thus, it took him a little while to get his bearings. But with his mind cultivation, it wasn''t that long either.


    Once he was fully back to reality though, he felt that the seed had lost almost all of the presence he had felt from Cleansed Asura''s soul. Both vines that were supporting the seed were also way thinner than before. And all around Cao Yun, the flowers were all starting to wither. Panicked, Cao Yun tried to get in contact with Cleansed Asura''s soul by touching the seed. The first thing that came to his mind was that his master had used too much strength and that his soul''s condition had further deteriorated. Maybe he could once again use the Drop of Wrath to try and bring him back.


    As he touched the seed, the vine connecting it to the summit of the wooden style ruptured. Immediately, the seed fell back unto the ground. Before it could touch the ground, Cao Yun caught it. Ready to try and infuse the intent from the Drop of Wrath within, Cao Yun had to stop himself.


    Indeed, after the vine, it was the turn of the branches forming the pod around this place to wither. Crackling noises spread throughout the structure. Watching intently, the young alchemist saw the first signs of cracks in the branches. Even with all of his strength, Cao Yun had been unable to merely scratch the bark from the tree. Yet, entire branches were now full of cracks everywhere. As soon as small cracks appeared, they spread like wildfire. In a very short amount of time, all the branches were ready to fall down.


    Without thinking, the young boy grabbed the seed and ran toward the nearest exit, exactly where he had come from. In his run, Cao Yun was almost crushed by a piece of a branch that had fallen from above. Thankfully, he was able to dodge. And even though the branches were incredibly tough, they were still falling down at a reasonable speed. As such, even if he got crushed under one, he would probably be perfectly fine. However, he wasn''t very eager to try it out.


    As chaos was taking over this previously serene place, Cao Yun was still holding the seed and making a break for the spot through which he had gone inside this ovary. With his speed, it didn''t take long at all. And once he was out, he took some more distance. Then, he examined the branches he was on. Fortunately, only the wooden pod was falling apart, not the entire tree. Thus, the most probable cause was the complete lethargy of Cleansed Asura''s soul.


    After making sure that he was safe, Cao Yun tried once more to get in contact with the soul of his master inside the seed. But this time it was worse. Now, there was no more sign of it at all. Just a few instants ago, he was able to somewhat feel a vague trace of his master within. However, everything had disappeared. No matter how much he was trying to circulate his mind cultivation or to use the Drop of Wrath. There was no reaction at all. The only thing he could feel was the life force of the tree still within the seed.


    -


    Determined to try and communicate with his master, Cao Yun stayed several hours meditating on those branches. He was literally in the midst of clouds. But try as he might, the seed stayed without any response.


    Looking around himself, the young man searched for any sign of anything. Right now, he was rather depressed and desperate. Thankfully, his mind cultivation was able to keep him rather level-headed. Since this pagoda was related to Cleansed Asura''s cultivation, there could be something helpful either in this floor or on upper floors as well. However, what he saw was even more disheartening. Above the clouds, there were hundreds of thousands of branches and no trace at all of any opening. The sky was literally made of wood. Since he was unable to break through even the bark of a single branch, he had no way to go higher. Besides, there really was no gap at all.


    As he was processing all that had just happened and was trying to figure out his next move, Cao Yun felt something. Then he heard a very faint noise coming from the ground.


    Because he was right above the clouds, the young man just had to lower his head to see what was going on below. Although space was strange when he had climbed at the tree, his field of vision seemed to not be affected at all. And with his senses, he was able to clearly see what was going on even on the ground.


    Beside the world-tree, the grass was growing and slowly binding down Huang Liyue''s body. It did not seem aggressive at all, but it still worried Cao Yun. Quickly, he took the gourd he had left on the branches. Now it was completely full of whatever water was present in those clouds. Then, he simply jumped down toward the trunk of the tree. And unlike what had happened during his climb, the fall was as fast as it should have been. Apparently space only got altered when someone tried to get up, not down. In other words, it took way longer to climb up than to fall down. Thankfully, Cao Yun had never fallen during his previous climb.


    Considering the distance between the clouds and the ground, Cao Yun still preferred to be safe and reached the lowest branch first before jumping all the way down.


    When he finally arrived, Huang Liyue''s body was almost entirely covered in thick grass. But when Cao Yun went to try and get her out, he felt that something was off. In those blades of grass, he could feel the presence of his master. Could he have simply left the seed? By why?


    Anyway, if that really were Cleansed Asura, the young disciple was mostly convinced that nothing bad would happen to his temporary bodyguard. Still, the idea that maybe his master was trying to regain some strength by draining her, considering she was dying anyway, crossed his mind. However, it didn''t feel like it. In fact, it even started to feel the opposite. Indeed, although Cao Yun could not feel souls since he was not a Spirit Warrior, he was able to feel his master''s presence. It was mostly due to the Drop of Wrath in his heart.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    What he could feel was that the last remnants of Cleansed Asura''s soul were slowly being sent into Huang Liyue''s body. And as they were slowly imbuing her body, Cao Yun was able to sense her regaining more and more vitality. Under the grass, it was hard to make it out but her breathing got better and better.


    It dawned on him. Cleansed Asura was once more sacrificing himself. After gifting his Drop of Wrath to his disciple, he was now using his very soul as fuel to wake up Huang Liyue. Clearly, he had completely given up any hope of surviving. Before doing that though, he had tried to give his disciple all the cards he could think of to survive. Of course, Cao Yun was torn.


    On one side, he didn''t want his master to die. He had never even had a proper conversation with him. The only time he actually talked with him was when he had almost gotten killed. And he knew nearly nothing of his master. However, he was thoroughly convinced that he was a good man. His renewed sacrifice was a new proof of that. Seeing him give his very soul away for someone else, his disciple''s rage against whoever would dare sully his name grew. Cleansed Asura had asked him to bury him and to preserve his legacy. Nothing would ever prevent Cao Yun from doing both of those things. And that meant killing the fraud who had become the demonic cultivator''s new master. Anyway, he already wanted to kill that demonic cultivator with everything he had.


    On the other side, Cao Yun did not want to see Huang Liyue die as well. She too had sacrificed her life to protect him. Maybe it had only been a sense of obligation due to him saving her. But that didn''t matter. Because she had risked her life for his, he didn''t want to let her die. Even though he still believed that protecting Feng Yingyue and killing Huang Lixin and Huang Longwei was the right thing to do, he still did feel bad. The moment he had killed Huang Lixin, what he had in mind was not altruistic, he was thinking of protecting himself. And all the rage, sadness and fear he had kept repressed had surged forth through the Drop of Wrath. Even without this, he would have probably killed the young boy anyway to protect the innocent girl.


    But the way he had felt on the moment seemed relevant to him. He had attacked Huang Lixin for the right reasons. But at the moment of killing him, it was for the wrong ones. And no matter how much he could claim that the Drop of Wrath had controlled him, deep down he knew that this was not absolutely accurate. It had merely enhanced his existing feelings at the time.


    With those conflicting views in him, Cao Yun did not know how to react, whether to stop what was going on or not. Cleansed Asura had already lived a very long life. In addition, his body was already dead. There was sadly almost nothing to do for him. But Huang Liyue on the other hand was still young. The concept of being young or old was really dependent on one''s cultivation. For Cao Yun, Huang Liyue was indeed old, but for Cleansed Asura, even her entire lifespan was nothing impressive. He had indeed lived for almost two million years.


    Sincerely, Cao Yun''s master would have liked to live even longer. Even in his long life, there were still many mysteries he had been unable to solve. But he had known for a long time now that he was at the end of the line. That was the reason that pushed him to gift the Drop of Wrath to Cao Yun. But it had sped up his decline even more so than he had initially thought. Unfortunately, there were many things he wished to pass on his only disciple. However, right now he was unable to even send images in his mind.


    Until the end, he had consumed every ounce of stamina he had left. In fact, he had kept just enough to be sure that what he was attempting would work.


    Even with the strength he had had left when Cao Yun received his Drop of Wrath, he would not have been strong enough to fully heal Huang Liyue. How the mighty had fallen. Fifty thousand years ago, healing a Soul Embryo would have been child''s play for him. But now, he could not even fully restore Huang Liyue''s. It was not completely destroyed thankfully. But it had been thoroughly damaged. It had even been pierced through and torn apart. However, the Soul Embryo had managed to maintain most of its structure.


    Although Cleansed Asura could not restore it completely, he could heal those injuries. As such, Huang Liyue''s condition would stay stable long enough for his disciple to find a way. If he could extract enough Yellow Sorrows Water from the lake formed under the Yellow Sorrows Stone, that Soul Embryo would be fully restored. For that, he theoretically needed to master the first levels of ''Death Verses'', but with the help of the Drop of Wrath, it should be easy enough to perform this simple task even without a full mastery of this concept. The Drop of Wrath could do most of the heavy lifting in a sense.


    The real problem was that this yellow lake was precisely under the Yellow Sorrows Stone. And it was exactly where the fake Cleansed Asura was, right in the center of the main palace that had fallen from the sky.


    If Cao Yun was discovered, he would have no hope of surviving. Cleansed Asura did not know about the Mortal Warrior demonic cultivator. But even without him, the impostor would be powerful enough to kill the boy. Unfortunately, there was no other way. If he did not attempt it, Huang Liyue would die and then Cao Yun would really be lost. Without her, he had no chance of ever getting out of this place. And once his soul would be gone, the Inner World would not be long either.


    Finally, all of Cleansed Asura''s soul had entered Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness. A myriad of tiny red dots spread throughout the dark sky, like fireflies. As though guided by an invisible hand, they all landed on the poor woman''s Soul Embryo. Then, they shined as much as they could and light somewhat returned to the sea of consciousness. At the same time, the wounds around the Soul Embryo began to slowly mend themselves. It was as though filaments of light were sewing it back together.


    While all of that was going on, Cao Yun felt the tree shake a little. And outside, it was worse. The entire Yellow Death World was shaken by a terrifying tremor.


    -


    In the fallen palace, deep under the mountains, Can Mouye was meditating when he felt the tremor. For an instant, he thought that the mountain was going to collapse, but it did not.


    At the exact same time, in the center of the fallen palace behind Can Mouye, his master was woken up. Under the rubbles of the palace, there was only one room that had stayed rather intact. In the middle of that room was a giant black metallic coffin, big enough for at least ten men. Above that open casket, the body of Gui Bei was suspended through metallic chains imbued with Death Energy and Evil Qi.


    Just like the ravine which both Cao Yun and Can Mouye had jumped into, the coffin was completely filled with an impenetrable darkness. However, within this deep void, something was sleeping. An instant before the tremor though, it had woken up. And now he was able to clearly feel it.


    Cleansed Asura''s soul had finally died. But with his death, this entire Inner World would slowly collapse. It was now a matter of months, if not weeks, for the Yellow Death World to crumble. And with it, the fake Cleansed Asura would fall into oblivion as well. He had to speed up all of his plans.


    Not an instant later, Can Mouye heard the voice of his new master echoing in his head.


    "Come, quickly!"

 Chapter 257: Preparing oneself for the end of the world

    Cao Yun was also impressed by the tremor that had shaken the entire world. But more than shock, there was fear in his eyes. Did this mean what he thought it did? This world was intrinsically linked with his master. So if it reacted in such a way, could it mean that Cleansed Asura was finally dead?


    Using all of his mind cultivation, Cao Yun tried to activate the Drop of Wrath to its fullest and even sent its intent through Huang Liyue''s body. But he felt nothing at all. However, he could clearly see that her condition was improving by leaps and bounds. Although her body stayed covered in burned tissues, her face seemed to regain a bit of colors. Also, her breathing was getting more and more powerful. Before long, she really sounded like someone who was peacefully sleeping. Obviously, the burns all over her gave away that her condition was not that great. Still, the improvement was incredible.


    In Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness that Cao Yun could not see, her Soul Embryo had been completely restored. But the light was still mostly absent from her mind. After the wounds she had suffered from, Huang Liyue stayed in a lethargic state. Death Energy and Evil Qi had been completely purged from her system by Cao Yun and now, even the spiritual wounds they had caused had been eradicated. However, her physical wounds were still very well present. Cao Yun could only perceive what his physical senses told him. And with the little pieces of knowledge he had about medicine, he knew she was in a terrible state. But considering her high cultivation, if she could regain enough strength, she would be able to heal almost all of it with enough time and the right pills.


    The problem was to wake up her soul. Indeed, even though her Soul Embryo had been healed by Cleansed Asura, the shock had been so intense, her soul was in a deep slumber. It could not wake up by itself.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun did not know much about souls. And even if he had, he could not use spiritual senses to understand her soul''s condition.


    Thus, he decided to trust in his master. Cleansed Asura had literally used his very soul to try and save Huang Liyue. Of course, he would have not done so if there was no way for Cao Yun to wake her up. Then came the Yellow Sorrows Water. From the visions he had had, Cao Yun knew what he had to do. Although he did not know how it would work, he knew that he would have to control that yellow water and to infuse it into Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness.


    In a way, it would be similar to how he had absorbed and purified the Death Energy to strengthen his Po character and his Drop of Wrath.


    However, even with the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was not confident enough to control this yellow water. And he was even less so when it came to infusing it into Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness. When he had fought against the Bone Demons, he had seen what the yellow water could do to their bones. Thus, he had a very good idea of what it would do to flesh. If he were to lose control for just an instant, he could end up killing the poor woman.


    -


    Cao Yun sat down and meditated for a while. He had to clear his head. For now, he was still hung up on the sacrifice of his master. No matter how many times he resolved himself to try and protect the people close to him, they always seemed to risk and even give away their lives for his own survival. Of course, Cleansed Asura had been lethally wounded a long time ago so ultimately his death was not the fault of Cao Yun. But still, he felt guilty. Like Xiao Xuefeng had told him, he should not bear the guilt of the entire world on his shoulder. Although he wanted to be a virtuous man, he really didn''t want to become a saint. Helping humanity would not mean helping every single person. No matter how profound his mind cultivation was, that would be a way too heavy burden on his shoulders. He was not cut out for this kind of heroic duty.


    That said, he truly wanted to save Huang Liyue. Irrespective of the past history between the Huang family and him, or between the Huang family and his great-grandfather, he sincerely wished to help that woman. Although she had probably done so due to a sense of obligation, she had given her life for him, fully prepared to die, expecting it even. Besides, she was related to Huang Cixi. He had killed her brothers and he did not wish to kill her bodyguard now.


    Disregarding the moral reasons, saving Huang Liyue was also good for him. It was a first step to mend his relation with the Huang family. Obviously, Cao Yun did not know that he had already done so by saving Huang Cixi''s Lower Dantian. Besides, she had even ordered her bodyguard to protect him. And that had played a great part in the reason why she had risked her life for him. That wasn''t the only one, or the most important one either though.


    In his mind, Cao Yun tried to piece together all the visions he had had about this inner world. He was unsure of what this was exactly but it seemed to be an advanced form of sea of consciousness. Moreover, this Yellow Death World as Huang Liyue had baptized it seemed to have been none other than Cleansed Asura''s sea of consciousness. As such, Cao Yun was not entirely sure of the consequences of his death on the world. However, considering the tremor that had even shaken this strange floor where space was altered, the consequences were going to be dire. Hopefully, all the Evil Qi and Death Energy would not spill out into the Hongchen Kingdom. If all of those, including the Bone Kings high in the celestial palaces, were to spread through the human world, humanity would be in a desperate scenario.


    Not only would they have to fight off the demons at their borders, the demonic cultivators among their ranks, but also an invasion from the very bosom of their kingdom by creatures able to rival a late Spirit Warrior.


    For now though, Cao Yun had no way to either know anything about what would happen, or even act on it in any way.


    Thus, he focused on his next plan. Right now, the only clue he had and the only thing he could do was to try and wake up Huang Liyue. For that, he recreated an entire map of this Inner World within his own mind. Using his advanced visualization technique, there literally was a small planet floating in his thoughts. Thanks to the visions from Cleansed Asura, he had a very good understanding of the geography of this place. As such, he would be able to travel way faster. Apparently, they had almost chosen the longest way possible between the Plagued Plains and this black pagoda.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    With the new map he had in mind, Cao Yun could take another path and cut the time in more than half. Besides, he would be able to reach the land in a very remote place, hidden by the mountains and some steep rocky cliffs. From there, he would probably be able to reach the yellow lake he had seen in less than a week. All things considered, his travel was almost entirely planned already. Once there, he would just have to actualize his understanding of the tunnels under the mountains. Indeed, they would probably be slightly different from those in Cleansed Asura''s visions. Thanks to his Drop of Wrath though, he would probably be able to use its intent to explore it, like he had explored the bottom of the ocean.


    On that note, Cao Yun needed to get better at controlling his Drop of Wrath for what he had to master. For the success of his plan, Cao Yun needed to master two things, stealth and Death Energy.


    As for the matter of stealth, thankfully Huang Liyue had provided him with a great technique, ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Cao Yun had already reached a pretty good level in it. Moreover, in this dead world, his Drop of Wrath would grant him a perception as large as a Spirit Warrior''s, even larger yet. Unfortunately, this wouldn''t work as well in the outside world. But still, he would be able to detect demonic cultivators with way more ease by focusing on his Drop of Wrath. Unlike real spiritual senses though, he could only sense what was around him, not really interact with it in any substantial way. And it required more concentration and energy. True spiritual senses were quite literally the ability of Spirit Warriors to spread not only their Qi but their very soul or Soul Embryo out of their body.


    Thanks to this ability, they could even see through material objects, interact with the minds and souls of others, or with said material objects as well. Moreover, the formation of a Soul Embryo gave the ability to float and even fly in the sky.


    With a few days of practice and thanks to his past experience in stealth, Cao Yun was convinced that he could reach at least True Success with this ''Ashen Feather Seal''. And ironically, the terrible condition of Huang Liyue would be helpful. Since she was in that very state, she would be harder to perceive. Although she was now stabilized, her bodily functions were slowed down to an extreme and her soul was in a deep slumber. Unless someone was very attentive, she would be difficult to spot. And Cao Yun could make sure that they always kept their distance with the enemy.


    On the subject of Death Energy, Cao Yun needed to understand the first verses of the text he had dubbed as ''Death Verses''. The first two levels were the ones he really needed to practice for what he had to do. In order to extract some of the yellow water and use it to help Huang Liyue, he had to be able to perceive Death Energy and control it freely.


    Until now, he had mostly used his Drop of Wrath to control Evil Qi. And it so happened to be that some Death Energy was sometimes intertwined with this Evil Qi. But thankfully, recently he had absorbed pure Death Energy after his Drop of Wrath had destroyed the paper boats. And this pure Death Energy was still in his sea of consciousness. It had strengthened his Po character.


    Thanks to that, he should be able to train.


    Unfortunately, the so-called ''Death Verses'' were extremely incomplete. Well, they were probably very thorough and complete, but Cao Yun was unable to translate them. In the entire text, he was able to understand only four Antique Sixian characters. The only reason why he could get the general sense of the text was because of the Insight Writings.


    The first verse was called something like ''See Through the Mud''. From the young disciple''s understanding, ''Mud'' referred to the body and maybe the physical world in general. This first verse was supposed to explain how to improve one''s perception of Death Energy. The first part seemed to refer to one''s Po and Cao Yun could get most of it because of his own mind cultivation. Apparently, he had to first increase his sensation of his own Po to then find it in the world around him. After all, Death Energy was a form of Po as well.


    However, the other parts of this first verse were way more cryptic. Indeed, the young man could not understand a fourth of them. So of course, everything seemed cryptic.


    Then the second verse could have been translated as something like ''Death Reeling''. At one point, it seemed to compare Death Energy with silk. Strangely enough, Cao Yun understood what it meant. When he had used his Drop of Wrath, he had perceived that both Evil Qi and Death Energy were made of myriads of filaments intertwined around each other. From what the young man could understand, he probably had to be able to separate each strand consciously without breaking them, just like reeling the silk from a silk worm''s cocoon.


    For now though, everything was still pretty obscure in Cao Yun''s head. But since those two verses were essential to what he had to do, he would need to start working on them as soon as possible.


    -


    In the fallen palace, Can Mouye was kneeling in front of the giant metallic coffin. The voice of his new master was resounding from the pits of the coffin. It almost felt like he was way deeper underground and this coffin was just a well leading to the surface. But Can Mouye knew for a fact that it was not so because he had seen what was directly under this room.


    "As I suspected this world is about to crumble. Once that happens, everything in it will be completely crushed into oblivion. In a way, this is exactly what happens to a spatial ring that gets destroyed, all that it contained is destroyed and lost in the nooks of space."


    Can Mouye had indeed thought about this possibility after sensing the tremor earlier. After all, he had already heard about this from his new master. That was the reason why he had Gui Bei trapped and suspended in chains above his coffin.


    "Since time is of the essence, I''ll have to trust you. For the foreseeable future, I will be completely focused on possessing this boy''s body. Remember, I am the only way for you to leave this world. So if anything happens to me, we will all die together. But if we do get out of this world, the benefits I will give you are way beyond your imagination. Not only will the demonic cultivators bow to you, the entire Piaolu planet will be yours. I don''t need such a small place after all."


    "I understand, Master. As inept as I may be, I will protect you with my life."


    "To protect me efficiently, you should reach the Spirit Warrior realm fast. If you use the Yellow Sorrows Water, you should be able to get there in less than a month."


    Deep down, Can Mouye recognized his former master in those words. Xiong Nixie loved to perform experiments on his disciples. And this new master of his seemed to possess such a tendency as well. No matter how well he tried to hide it, this Cleansed Asura was clearly trying to use Can Mouye as a guinea pig. Maybe he wanted to make him pay his inability to bring back Cao Yun''s body as well.


    But it didn''t matter to Can Mouye. As always, he would do everything to survive. After all, he had no more desire and aspirations apart from this one.

 Chapter 258: Doubts and decision

    After thinking about everything he had gathered, Cao Yun had a pretty good grasp on the situation. Many things were mere conjectures, but it made sense. This world was going to collapse. And if what he knew about spatial tools such as the spatial pouch he had previously used could apply to this world, it meant that everything inside was going to be destroyed. In part, this could explain Cleansed Asura''s rush.


    But this was not the only reason for this rush. If consuming his own soul could destroy this place, it would also kill the fake Cleansed Asura. The most probable hypothesis right now was that this fake Cleansed Asura was some kind of inner demon or some manifestation from his master''s mind. Well, it could also have been some form of parasite as well. His master had traveled through many words. Hence, it was impossible to be sure of what was possible or not. However, after seeing his eyes in the visions, Cao Yun knew for sure that there was some kind of connection. And it seemed to be deep.


    Considering all of that, if Cleansed Asura had been sure that destroying this world would kill this impostor, he would have probably done so earlier. Of course, a God-Monarch would balk at the idea of ending his own existence. It wasn''t even about extinguishing his life, but about annihilating his very soul. Yet his master had seemed to have accepted his sad fate.


    And Cao Yun had clearly felt that protecting his legacy was something very important for his master. As such, he was convinced that Cleansed Asura would have gladly shortened his already short remaining time in order to get rid of this fake one. If he had not done so earlier, maybe it was because there were ways for the fake to survive. In other words, he might have a way out of this place.


    But that didn''t explain why he had not left already. If Cao Yun had known about Huang Liyue''s pursuit of Gui Bei, he might have been able to even piece it together a bit more. But even with all the information, he probably would not have found the entire truth of the matter.


    Still, he had guessed mostly right. Based on the information he had and the feelings he had experienced through Cleansed Asura''s visions, his logic was very sound. Despite that, he had in fact no way of knowing whether his guesses were right or wrong. The only thing he decided to trust wholeheartedly was that this yellow lake he had seen could be a way to wake up Huang Liyue. On everything else, he decided to stay skeptic and to assume the worst case scenario, just in case.


    Thus, his plan was now clear. He had to get to this yellow lake as fast as possible while having mastered the two first levels of ''Death Verses'' and enough of ''Ashen Feather Seal'' so that he wouldn''t get detected. Then, he had to control some of the yellow water that was able to terrify the weaker Bone Demons, that were still stronger than he was. And he had to somehow guide it into Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness, even though he had no spiritual senses.


    The plan was clear.


    But it was not very realistic...


    That being said, there didn''t seem to be any other alternative. As Cao Yun had been thinking and meditating, other tremors had shaken the entire world. It was obvious that Cleansed Asura''s inner world was going to collapse now that his soul had dissipated. Cao Yun had to act and he had to act soon.


    The more he thought about everything he had to take into consideration, the more and more doubts he had. After all, most of what he knew about the situation had been guessed from the visions he had received. Not only could he be mistaken, there was also a possibility that Cleansed Asura had failed to give him important pieces of information. Considering how weak he had become by the end, this was a real possibility.


    Besides, Cao Yun would not gamble only his life. Since Huang Liyue remained unconscious and since the egg was... an egg precisely, none of them could fend for themselves. That also meant that Cao Yun would have to bring them with him. Indeed, if he were to find a way to leave but he had to come back in the black pagoda to fetch them, he might be too late. Even without thinking about that, he would never be able to control even a single drop of yellow water all the way to the black pagoda. That meant that he had to bring Huang Liyue with him and hope that they would not be discovered at any point. Moreover, he could not know how effective the Yellow Sorrows Water would be. What if Huang Liyue stayed unconscious for hours or even days? What if he had to use that yellow lake for several weeks straight?


    As Cao Yun was pondering over the many issues, doubts were slowly invading his mind. He was not afraid per se. After all, if he did nothing he would die anyway. But he just couldn''t decide on what the best course of action should be. Most of what he had surmised was fragmented. Yet, he had to take a decision and fast.


    Faced with this dilemma, what had troubled him recently came back to haunt his thoughts. When he had been just a boy, he had merely followed the flow. Most of his life was eventless. Because he just loved to read and practiced new martial arts, he had stayed within the confines of his residence. Ironically, that had served him right for almost no one was able to recognize him. Only a few people in Baziyun City would maybe be able to. But in less than a year, he had still changed significantly.


    After the death of his family, he had not done anything very different in fact. Because he had no real lead on the assassins he wanted to eradicate, he had also let himself be carried by the flow of the events. The important decisions he had taken had been very few indeed. Besides, they were all quite obvious. Going back into the tunnels to save his friends was not a difficult choice. And back then, he had almost all the relevant information.


    But now, he had to make a life-and-death decision that would impact others, with lacking and unconfirmed intel no less.


    The yellow lake was very close to the fallen palace so he would most likely meet Can Mouye, and maybe the fake Cleansed Asura as well. Against a mere Mortal Warrior demonic cultivator, Cao Yun would barely be able to flee. But against an unknown entity like the fake Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun had no idea whether he would die instantly or not. Maybe that impostor had spiritual senses. Even ''Ashen Feather Seal'' might prove ineffective against him.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    More and more doubts piled on. With his ''Shen Visualization'', Cao Yun tried to imagine many scenarios. He was quite literally imagining every possible outcomes. However, he got hung up on the worst ones. In those, he was annihilated, then Huang Liyue and the Mountain Fenghuang egg were also destroyed. After that, he could imagine what would happen to the Hongchen Kingdom. Immediately, this thought reminded him that the fake Cleansed Asura knew about his Drop of Wrath. That was most likely what Can Mouye had wanted to get from him when he had pursued them over the Ocean of Turbid Anguish.


    With the Drop of Wrath in the hands of the usurper, the young man could only imagine what amount of destructions would ensue. As a mere Mortal, Cao Yun had already reached great heights thanks to his mind cultivation and to this Drop of Wrath. If it were to fall in the hands of someone who was already a master in terms of Evil Qi, his power would probably skyrocket. Since no one on the entire Piaolu planet had crossed over the boundary of the Spirit Warrior realm, this fake Cleansed Asura might become invincible. In the end, he would be the greatest threat to humanity, not the demons, nor the demonic cultivators, but the entity pretending to be Cao Yun''s master.


    The idea that mankind could fall if he were to fail began to torment Cao Yun. Maybe the right thing to do was to disappear with the Drop of Wrath. He had no idea how to either get rid of it or destroy it. But if he were to sink down to the bottom of the black ocean, that should do it.


    Many more dark ideas came to Cao Yun.


    At any moment, he could use his mind cultivation to get rid of those, but he stubbornly didn''t. Right now, Cao Yun was convinced that if he did not face those somber thoughts, he would never grow. Relying on the Chamber of Heavenly Court to make him more decisive was not the way to go. For quite some time, Cao Yun was dissatisfied with himself. And looking for an easy answer was not the solution. He had to face his current doubts and put en end to them himself, without any help from a cultivation method. That was the only way he would really grow as not only a cultivator, but as a man as well.


    In his mind, only a handful of things were certain. First of all, he didn''t want to die. The last words of his parents had marked him deeply, he had to live. But more than that, he had to not waste his life. On that note, he obviously wanted to avenge the parents who had told him that. But he also wanted to avenge his entire family and everyone who had died for him, like Huang''er and Feng''er. More than that, he wanted to protect and support humanity against both demons and demonic cultivators alike. Thus, protecting Huang Liyue and the egg left behind by the two Mountain Fenghuangs was an obvious decision.


    What he lacked right now was not a clear goal. Before, he was indecisive because he had no lead on his family''s assassins. Everything was vague. But now he knew precisely what he had to do. The problem was not the goal but the means. No matter how much he thought about it, he was unsure how to reach his goal.


    But since his time as a little boy protected in the Cao residence, Cao Yun had grown quite a lot. He was not a powerless kid right now. Although he had not all the answers, he had many means to protect himself. As a 5-star Earth alchemist and 5-star Earth array formation master, he wouldn''t pale in comparison with even some Mortal Warriors. Besides, he was very close to reaching this realm. In fact, he had even almost performed a Qi Manifestation. And he was in a world full of Evil Qi and Death Energy. With the Drop of Wrath, he could control incredible amounts of Evil Qi.


    Besides, why wouldn''t he be able to master ''Death Verses''? After all, he had mastered many things in a short amount of time. His mind cultivation was also very advanced. Cao Yun had to be sure of himself!


    Cao Yun put all of his emotions aside. And he watched without any passion how he had lived his recent life. He had indeed accomplished a lot. As of now, he wasn''t even eighteen and yet he was close to becoming a Mortal Warrior. An eighteen-year old 1st-grade Mortal Warrior was exceptional. Even his father Cao Guang had not performed such a feat.


    Nothing was ever certain in life. To get where he was now, the young man had taken some risks. Usually, he preferred to have a well-thought plan in mind before acting though. When he had invaded the Silk Coiling Faction residence, he had prepared for a very long time beforehand. But right now, time was of the essence.


    Doing nothing while planning ahead would not improve his situation. Instead, everything would become more and more uncertain. Although he had not all the cards in hand, Cao Yun had to act.


    Slowly, his negative thoughts were replaced with a sense of certainty. His decision was clear. Although his plan was not perfect and relied on unconfirmed intel, the young man would implement it. If something went wrong, he just needed to act accordingly and take care of it. He was not a helpless kid anymore. In a sense, he could even call himself a half-step Mortal Warrior. There was no problem in his cultivation. With only a bit of time, he would naturally reach this realm.


    It was time he started to act like one. Facing unknown odds in an hostile environment? Why not?


    No matter what happened once he was there, Cao Yun would face everything fate threw in his face.


    Even without advancing his mind cultivation, Cao Yun had increased his decisiveness. In that moment, he felt as though a terrible burden got lifted from his chest. He had gone through an ordeal that he had unwillingly inflicted upon himself. Self-doubt was now absent of his mind. That didn''t mean that he had turned reckless though. But he was now capable to accept some higher levels of uncertainty in his planning. After all, even if he knew everything and had planned for years, things could still go south.


    His best bet was to get back to the continent as soon as possible. Instead of staying here to try and improve his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' and his understanding of ''Death Verses'', going there first was the right move. During the travel he could still think about those and even cultivate them in his mind. Then, once there, he still would have some time. After all, the continent was vast. And in that fashion, he would save some time. Of course, he also had to take Huang Liyue and the egg with him.


    Even if he wasn''t entirely sure of himself, he had to try.


    Besides, now that his mind was clearer, many things appeared obvious to him.


    -


    Quickly, Cao Yun got the remains of the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' ready. They would probably only be able to sustain one short travel. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s new map would avoid a great waste of that precious time.


    Once he took the egg and the wounded woman out of the second floor, they visibly changed. This environment was so good while the outside world was so hostile... But he had to do it. There was no way to keep the effects of the world-tree. However, he still kept the seed with him. The black pagoda was probably about to crumble with this entire world. Hopefully, he would be able to save that seed and allow that tree to have a successor.

 Chapter 259: Crossing to the other side

    Although he still had plenty of questions in mind and plethora of terrible scenarios in his imagination, Cao Yun was as determined as he could be. After running away and hiding for several months, either from Can Mouye or the Bone Demons, he was tired. Just as he was tired of grasping at straws when it came to finding clues about his family''s massacre. What he had tried to do in the Lunar Marsh, he would do this time to Can Mouye. He was going to bring the fight to his enemies instead of waiting for them to act first.


    Hopefully, that would become a habit...


    In a very short time, he would finally reach the Mortal Warrior realm. Then, his possibilities would increase considerably. Not only would he be able to manifest his Qi and practice more powerful martial arts, he would also develop his other occupations through the control of Qi. And most importantly, he would finally be able to use a spatial ring.


    But for now, Cao Yun was focused on the present. Dreaming about the future was a luxury he had not for the time being. The path he had chosen thanks to his mental map would take around two weeks or even less. And although he had to row the partially destroyed ship, Cao Yun could still focus most of his mind on other tasks. Fortunately, the main two things he needed to work on did not require him to use his body much.


    In order to increase his performance, Cao Yun had also focused all of his mind cultivation. His Chamber of Government allowed him to stay focused way longer on a single task. And he also noticed that it was able to reduce his mental fatigue. Incidentally, he also realized that he required half as much sleep as before. Then, his Chamber of Ultimate Truth and his Chamber of Jade were still as useful as ever to improve both his understanding and his intuition. Not only could he get most of what he had read, he was also able to make connections with many other things he had already assimilated. And besides that, his mind was full of more novel ideas. Of course it was difficult to quantify, but he was convinced that he had more now. Again, that could have been just an illusion.


    The two tasks he had to perform both consisted in understanding a manual.


    First of all, ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was about focusing one''s Qi within to hide his presence. This was the easy task. Indeed, Cao Yun had received it directly from Huang Liyue. The manual was not finished because Huang Liyue was still literally creating this technique. And she had even given Cao Yun an altered version to try and preserve some of the secrets of her family. Namely, she had subtracted some parts concerning blood cultivation. But this was still a superior stealth technique compared to what Cao Yun already knew.


    For the time being, Cao Yun put the first chapter, ''Burning the Cinders of the Six Openings'', aside. It could improve his senses. Later on, that would be useful. But right now, this was of no use to him. Thanks to his Drop of Wrath, he was able to feel Evil Qi as well as if he had spiritual senses. And since his enemies were using Evil Qi, he would have no problem detecting them from afar. That in itself would increase his stealth. But he had to get close to them because the yellow lake was quite literally under their feet.


    Hence, he had to work on his stealth as much as possible. For that purpose, he focused on ''New Life Through Ashes'' and ''Covering the Mud with Cinders''. After touching upon the sensation of Qi Manifestation for a mere instant at the bottom of the ocean, Cao Yun realized that he had improved his ability to produce the strange ashes of this technique. This was a kind of internal Qi Manifestation, turning Qi into ashes to then seal certain acupoints. The more he would be able to produce those ashes, the better his stealth would be. Then, he simply needed to send them at specific locations and keep them there.


    Of course, this wasn''t as easy as that because the natural flow of Qi would always collide with them. So it was necessary to protect them and guide them constantly. Mentally, this task was rather exhausting, even with his mind cultivation. For a Spirit Warrior like Huang Liyue though, it should have been relatively easy thanks to her Soul Embryo.


    Cao Yun would obviously not reach Huang Liyue''s level before a long time. That said, he could still be able to hide from Can Mouye''s senses. On the other hand, he had no idea about possible spiritual senses from the fake Cleansed Asura. In the time he had, he would try to improve as much as possible. Apparently, the last chapter could greatly increase his stealthiness, ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes''. But this was the one that had been the most altered by Huang Liyue. Indeed, as the name suggested, it related a lot to blood cultivation. And she had taken many inspirations from ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire''.


    Thanks to his own blood transformed by the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was able to catch a glimpse of some concepts hidden within though. Maybe he could use his new blood to somehow imitate this chapter. Thus, he tried to pour the intent from the Drop of Wrath into the ashes manifested through his Qi. For now, that wasn''t very good, but he felt as though he was close to understanding something important. Maybe he could even somewhat improve Huang Liyue''s technique by adapting it to his own blood.


    Apart from his stealth, the second thing he required was the ability to manipulate Death Energy. For that, he only had the untranslated ''Death Verses'' with only a handful of Insight Writings he was able to understand, but also his own experience.


    During his time in this world, Cao Yun had already absorbed a certain amount of Death Energy, now agglutinated around both of his Po characters, the one within his Drop of Wrath and the one outside of it. Hopefully, he could use this to try and improve his training. Right now, what he needed was not something fancy. Being able to freely control Death Energy would be nice. But this was impossible in such a short period of time.


    Thus, he focused on performing what he would have to. Following Cleansed Asura''s visions, Cao Yun knew that he would need to extract and condense a drop from the Yellow Sorrows Water. So the very first thing he needed was the ability to sense what was going on inside this yellow lake. Unfortunately, he had no yellow water on hands. For now, he decided to stick to trying to feel the Death Energy already within his sea of consciousness. In order to do so, Cao Yun circulated his Po characters, looking for any sign of the Death Energy''s presence. Moreover, he also focused on the Insight Writings from ''Death Verses''.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Such a training was very frustrating. Even with the intent from the Drop of Wrath, the sensations were few and very elusive. As soon as he was able to feel a strand of Death Energy, it almost disappeared. In a sense, it was like trying to catch a fish with his bare hands.


    But there was another part to this training, to extract a drop of the Yellow Sorrows Water, just sensing it was not sufficient. After that, he needed to be able to control it. Cao Yun had no spiritual senses and could not control his Qi outside. But he had his Drop of Wrath. When it came to Evil Qi and Death Energy, this drop of blood was incredibly useful. By infusing it around him, Cao Yun could detect Evil Qi and even control it to some extent. Hopefully, he would be able to duplicate the prowess with Death Energy.


    Once more, he had no Death Energy on hands. But he still had the Death Energy within his sea of consciousness. Thus, he mainly focused on his Po characters to familiarize himself with the sensations of Death Energy. Even manipulating Evil Qi was easier. After all, Evil Qi was just Qi intertwined with something else. In the end, it wasn''t that different from Qi. On the other hand, Death Energy was not only related to souls which were more difficult concepts, but it was a degenerate form of soul.


    Using his mind to the best of his abilities, Cao Yun spent the two weeks of travel juggling both activities. On one hand, he was familiarizing himself with Death Energy, trying to feel every sensation from it. On the other hand, he was learning to control the ashes in his body while attempting to form more and more of them.


    -


    This time, Cao Yun was able to avoid the paper boats. Several times, he was able to sense them approaching and avoided them. Most likely, it was a good sign. Not only was he feeling the currents through the Evil Qi in the black water, but he was also getting a bit more sensitive toward Death Energy. Indeed, those paper boats had Death Energy in them. At one point, the idea even popped in his mind to maybe use them in order to advance his mastery of Death Energy. But he had no idea what they were exactly. Maybe there were paper boats way larger or with strange abilities, just like the Bone Kings compared to the Bone Warriors.


    During the travel, Cao Yun decided to stay cautious. Besides, he knew precisely where to find Death Energy to train. The best way to understand the Death Energy within the yellow water was with the same yellow water.


    Until he reached the shore, Cao Yun focused mainly on his stealth, knowing that he would switch his priority once he would be back on the continent.


    And after an uneventful crossing, the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' hit the shore. To be more accurate, it hit the foot of a cliff. Since Cao Yun had no idea whether the Bone Demons would be awake or not by the time he reached the continent, he had chosen to go through a path that was rather isolated. Thus, in front of him was a giant cliff against which the ''Feng Soaring Junk'' had collided into. Although the shock was not that intense, the boat had already suffered a lot of damage. Besides, most of the Wei Qi produced by Huang Liyue''s final attack had dispersed by now, under the effect of the corrosive black water.


    Anyway, Cao Yun did not intend to use the ship again. Either he would succeed and Huang Liyue would wake up, or he would die trying. But of course, he did not plan on dying any time soon. Instead, he was absolutely determined to kill Can Mouye, take care of the fake Cleansed Asura and get back to the Hongchen Kingdom with Huang Liyue in perfect health.


    With this determination in mind, Cao Yun pierced through the cliff and climbed into the mountains. From what he had seen in Cleansed Asura''s visions, those mountains were riddled with tunnels. And because the very rocks had been imbued with Death Energy and Evil Qi, Cao Yun was able to use his Drop of Wrath to get a perfect picture of this underground maze.


    For the time being though, he decided to stay here a little while longer.


    From his understanding of the geography, in a single week he could get to the yellow lake. Of course, he would probably need to slow down once he got too close to the fallen palace above. But he could allow himself to take a few hours to get ready.


    Since he was now faced with a cliff made of rocks contaminated with Death Energy, he would be stupid not to try his understanding of ''Death Verses'' on those.


    Thus, he sat cross-legged while the dust was settling down all around and over him. Opening all of his acupoints, he used the Drop of Wrath to get rid of most of the Evil Qi while he was focusing on Death Energy. For that, he wasn''t using the intent of the Drop of Wrath at all. What he wanted was to improve his understanding of ''Death Verses''. Right now, he was quite literally covered in Death Energy. By climbing into the mountains, his spear had reduced many rocks into dust indeed. But what would have worried him some time ago was now absolutely voluntary and even planned.


    An intense sensation of cold took over his entire body. This was not really due to the temperature but to the nature of Death Energy.


    Using Po the Metal Corporeal Soul, Cao Yun focused on the Insight Writings from ''Death Verses''. The intent from the Drop of Wrath was protecting his body as the Death Energy was slowly trying to get inside his system. At the same time, Cao Yun was completely focused on perceiving all the subtleties of this corrupted Po. For that, he was also very focused on sensing his own Po. The character in his sea of consciousness was the mental representation of his Po. As such, by putting his focus on it, he was more closely connected to his corporeal soul. Besides there was already Death Energy around this character.


    In the end, it didn''t take long for Cao Yun to be able to feel Death Energy as well as he had been able to feel Qi when he had first reached 3rd-grade Mortal. He wasn''t hoping to become as proficient in it without more training. But hopefully, that would be enough while coupled with the intent of the Drop of Wrath and his mind cultivation. After all, when he had first become a 3rd-grade Mortal, his mind was way less developed and he had not had all this experience. Using his past experience with mastering both the sensation and the manipulation of Qi, he would be able to learn faster with Death Energy.


    If he could read the ''Death Verses'', he would probably be even faster though. That was quite annoying to think about. And in a corner of his mind, the idea of finally translating everything was still present. For the foreseeable future, he would focus his efforts on understanding this very text. As he would get more proficient, he would also be able to understand the context with more ease and that would help with the overall translation.


    Because Cao Yun didn''t want to waste too much time, he decided to try and control of few strands of Death Energy. Even though the path he had chosen was rather fast, he had no idea how long this inner world could endure. After all, many more tremors had shaken his crossing already.

 Chapter 260: Progressing in the entrails of the world

    After a few hours training at the same spot, Cao Yun decided to move forward. According to his plan, this would take him a week to get to the yellow lake. Thus, he still had the time to train on the way there. Besides, he may be lucky enough to encounter small puddles of yellow water along the road.


    Now that he was decided, he took Huang Liyue and the egg with him. Like before, he put the egg in his robe, close to his chest, and with the last remnants of a 6-demonic core. Thanks to their time in the second floor of the black pagoda, the egg had been able to absorb the Qi from the world-tree. So the 6-demonic core had not been completely consumed yet, but it was getting close to it. Yet, the egg had still not hatched. Hopefully, it would not hatch in the middle of a crucial moment. If this egg were to hatch right under the fallen palace, Cao Yun would be unable to hide it at all. As long as the chick stayed within the egg, it was difficult to detect because, like Huang Liyue, its vital signs were really low.


    Regarding Huang Liyue, Cao Yun decided to carry her on his back. With the few clothes he had, he had made many bandages for her to protect her skin as much as possible. As they were in tunnels full of rocks and dust containing both Evil Qi and Death Energy, he had to try and cover her entirely. And with the few pieces of clothes he had left, Cao Yun tied her to his own back. As such, he was moving slowly so as to not shake her up too much. Although she had recovered a little, her condition was still critical.


    His work on the bandages proved essential as many tremors shook the entire mountains. And because of those tremors, a lot of Death Energy and Evil Qi fell on Cao Yun and Huang Liyue in the form of dust and small rubbles. Thankfully, no tunnel caved in while the young man was walking in them. But traveling through those galleries reminded some memories to Cao Yun. Namely, he remembered what had happened in the Lunar Marsh. There, he had been forced to abandon a companion. And then he had to risk not only his life but the lives of his friends as well to go get her back.


    The situation was a bit different. But he had once again fled in front of a threat. Huang''er and also Feng''er had both been killed. And in order to protect him, Huang Liyue, who had many reasons to hate his guts, had kept her word and given her life.


    Along with the bad memories, Cao Yun''s determination became more and more firm. If he could, he would kill Can Mouye to make him pay for everyone he had killed. But the priority was to help Huang Liyue.


    Although he was still far from the fallen palace, Cao Yun used both his senses and the intent from the Drop of Wrath to scout out. In order to be sure that he would not be discovered, Cao Yun also circulated ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to the best of his abilities. Moreover, he did not try to project his Drop of Wrath too far ahead.


    Since he was not a Spirit Warrior, the only way he had to extend the intent outside of his body was through his Qi. But he wasn''t a Mortal Warrior either. Thankfully, he had found a work-around. Instead of using his own Qi, Cao Yun decided to try and use the Evil Qi that was all around him. To do so, he simply used the Drop of Wrath and his mind cultivation to suck in a bit of Evil Qi and then control it like it was his own to send the intent outward. In that way, it would be improbable that someone would assume he was responsible for that. Ironically, the tremors were also helping him do so.


    Each time the earth was shaking, dust flew everywhere and thus Evil Qi with it. Using that as a cover, Cao Yun could send the intent of the Drop of Wrath way farther without too many risks.


    On the way, he also focused on ''Death Verses''. As he was slowly working on his ability to master the Drop of Wrath and to control Evil Qi, almost as a side effect of his attempt to detect enemies, he also put a lot of emphasis on Death Energy. While his Drop of Wrath was fully focused on the first task, Cao Yun dedicated a huge part of his mind to be able to feel and manipulate Death Energy. Once more, he didn''t need to become a master. He just needed to be able to perform the task he had seen in Cleansed Asura''s memories.


    Since he had to send Death Energy into Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness, he decided to try that by sending Death Energy into his own sea of consciousness. It had already happened when the paper boats had tried to tear his corporeal soul away from his body. Then, he had been able to protect himself thanks to his control over the Drop of Wrath. Thus, Cao Yun was not too afraid of things getting out of hands. Each time, he was absorbing less Death Energy compared with that previous invasion of his mind. So if things escaped his control, he could always summon the giant red demon from his Drop of Wrath and contain the Death Energy.


    As Cao Yun was trying to control Death Energy, he kept on thinking about ''Death Verses''. To be more precise, he was writing the first two verses in his mind over and over again. Although he was unable to understand the characters, he tried his best to derive meaning from them through his own experience. It was only thanks to the few Insight Writings that Cao Yun was able to get what the verses were hinting at.


    And he realized that as he was getting better and better at sensing and controlling Death Energy, his understanding of the Insight Writings were also getting better. Of course, it would take him a lot more time to really understand this text. And the improvements were extremely small. But they were there nonetheless. As long as he was able to make even the tiniest bit of progress, Cao Yun would not be discouraged.


    Slowly, Cao Yun was also able to see a small white dot appear around his Po character. At first, it looked like dust. But as he immersed himself in ''Death Verses'', it became bigger and bigger. By the time Cao Yun had almost reached the end of his path, this small particle of white dust had formed a tiny bone. It wasn''t bigger than a single phalanx of his little finger. And it appeared to be somewhat flat. But its shape was always changing. For now, it was not very firm. However, the young man could tell that it was also a form of representation of the technique he was working on. In a way, it was similar to the six stars high in the sky. But since his understanding was very shallow, the manifestation of his knowledge and mastery was unstable and tiny.Stolen story; please report.


    In a sense, it was reassuring because it proved that he was indeed progressing. But on another hand, it also proved that he had understood almost nothing. Hopefully, he had just understood enough to perform what he had seen from his master.


    -


    A day before reaching his destination, Cao Yun became way more wary of his surroundings. Most of his travel had been uneventful. But he would not lower his guard. With each passing moment, the chances of being discovered were increasing, especially now that he was getting near the fallen palace.


    Now, he was able to feel Death Energy around him as well as he was able to feel Qi. Thus, he gradually used that to his advantage. Thanks to this, he was using not only Evil Qi with the intent of the Drop of Wrath but also Death Energy. Besides, it had also allowed him to blend a bit more with the energies around him. Even his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' had benefited from it. Obviously, getting a better understanding of how to control a completely different form of energy also helped him to develop his ability to control Qi and the ashes manifested in his Qi by the technique.


    Although the changes to his mastery of Qi were almost insignificant because he had already a great sensibility toward it, his mastery over those ashes increased quite a lot. Indeed, he had close to no experience with them so his progress could be impressive in a short amount of time. But even in a week, he had reached a plateau. Without using his blood, he would probably not be able to improve his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' before becoming a Mortal Warrior. However, the ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes'' chapter was way too cryptic for him. Because of the changes made by Huang Liyue, it was too hard to comprehend and put in practice. Besides, he had already too many new things to juggle with.


    Pushing his stealth to the limit of what he was capable of and still using his Drop of Wrath as a form of sonar, Cao Yun kept on advancing forward.


    He was now inside galleries almost an entire li under the fallen palace. Because of the tremors and most likely the intervention of other things, the tunnels were a bit different from what Cao Yun had in mind. But he had been ready for that. And thanks to his perception, he was able to literally sense the rocks that were imbued with Evil Qi. Thus, he knew exactly what road to take.


    In the tunnels, he also felt the presence of a few Bone Warriors that he was able to avoid. Although they were not a threat to him, it was best not to fight at all. Anything could alert his enemies.


    At last, Cao Yun saw a few glimmers of yellow coming from a tunnel. With even more caution, he got closer and closer to the room in which the yellow lake had been formed. And for the first time since his return on the continent, the 9th-grade Mortal sensed a familiar presence.


    Sitting cross-legged near the yellow lake, Can Mouye was meditating. Laying at his feet, there was a skeleton that Cao Yun recognized immediately. It was the corpse of Huang''er that that demonic cultivator had bent to his will. And right now, it was guarding its master. Although it was only bones, Cao Yun could tell that it was fully awake and ready to act.


    For now, the skeleton had not sensed the young man''s arrival. However, Cao Yun on the other hand was able to clearly see everything from his position. Thankfully, that defiled corpse was not as sensitive as he was. And Can Mouye seemed to be in a sort of trance. Watching him for a few minutes, Cao Yun was able to identify what was going on. The current situation of Can Mouye was well-known to him. He had seen it once before, when his father had attempted to finally cross over the Lesser Tribulation to become a Spirit Warrior.


    If he were to succeed, that would be a disaster for Cao Yun. Not only would he get way more powerful, but his senses would also increase because he would develop spiritual senses. Right now, Can Mouye was so absorbed in his meditation that he was not perceiving the world around him, hence why he was being protected by Huang''er''s skeleton. Although that skeleton was guarding the yellow lake, this was the best opportunity for Cao Yun. His enemy was right in front of him, powerless.


    During the Lesser Tribulation, a cultivator''s body was at its weakest. Contrary to the tribulation to become a Sage, this one was self-inflicted in the sense that it was happening within one''s body. That Lesser Tribulation would prevent the cultivator from using his Qi. And more than that, it would cause powerful shock waves through one''s body. Those were powerful enough to sometimes literally kill the cultivator from within, completely destroying his very organs. But once the Lesser Tribulation was crossed, the cultivator would exhibit the whole might of a Spirit Warrior. That was, if the breakthrough was a success of course.


    That Lesser Tribulation was so dangerous that even Cao Yun''s father had failed once. Seeing someone who was at least ten years younger than his father attempt such a tribulation annoyed Cao Yun. Of course, demonic cultivators tended to be faster at cultivating. But in return, they were susceptible to many more dangers, such as inner demons. Most demonic cultivators died or went insane way before reaching the Spirit Warrior realm. Another Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator was not a good news at all.


    Since that man was right in front of Cao Yun and at a clear disadvantage, this was the perfect moment to strike him down. Considering his strength, Cao Yun could probably not inflict very severe wounds under normal circumstances, but by using this Lesser Tribulation, there was a way.


    Still, he refrained from doing so yet.


    Although he desired to kill him with every fiber of his being, Cao Yun had his priorities straight. Right now, he needed to attempt to save Huang Liyue''s life. And to do so, he had to somehow get close enough to the yellow lake without being detected.


    For a while, he observed the situation without doing anything. Especially, he observed the engravings that had been made in Huang''er''s bones. In his mind, it was clear that they were somehow used to both let them move as though they were still alive and control them. Can Mouye was a beast tamer but this kind of technique to raise the dead should not be something he knew. So his master had to be the one who had given him this knowledge, the fake Cleansed Asura. After all, the engravings were pretty similar to what he had seen in ''Death Verses'', but somewhat different.


    Looking at the engravings more closely, Cao Yun recognized some he had seen from Huang Liyue''s findings. On stone tablets and in some tunnels, she had seen them. Someone had been researching the Bone Demons and the Yellow Sorrows Water. For some time now, Cao Yun had had his suspicions, but now it was apparent. That researcher had been the fake Cleansed Asura for sure.


    ''Death Verses'' had probably been a basis considering how the characters looked. They were not identical but they were similar to both some Insight Writings and some Antique Sixian characters. All of that was interesting but it did not provide him with a great way to extract some of the yellow water for Huang Liyue.


    Right now, he had only one chance. He would have to count on his stealth to disappear from the perception of this skeleton. Since it was just bones, it had no eyes, no ears, not even skin. Hence, its perception was probably due to something similar to spiritual senses in a way. Cao Yun would have to be able to blend perfectly with his environment if he wanted to stay hidden.

 Chapter 261: First attempt to tame Death

    For a very long while, Cao Yun observed intently what was going on in this cave. Can mouye was attempting to break through the Lesser Tribulation in order to become a Spirit Warrior. And Huang''er''s skeleton stayed perfectly still at his feet, as a bodyguard. But that wasn''t all. Although Cao Yun had no spiritual senses, he was now extremely sensitive to Evil Qi and a little bit to Death Energy. With his Drop of Wrath, he had almost reached the level of sensibility of a middle Mortal Warrior toward Evil Qi. And ''Death Verses'' was just barely mastered so that he could sense Death Energy a little. However, he could still not sense Qi as a Mortal Warrior, just what was directly around him.


    Thankfully, this world revolved around Evil Qi and Death Energy. Consequently, Cao Yun was almost comparable to a Mortal Warrior while he was here.


    Thanks to those senses, the young 9th-grade Mortal finally felt something underground. Just below the surface of the ground, there were at least a hundred small bones buried in various places. Obviously, Can Mouye had not attempted such a breakthrough without several layers of protection. The Huang''er''s skeleton was most likely a misdirection. After all, it was barely strong enough to rival an early Mortal Warrior. But it could push someone to lower their guard and go forward. Then, several array formations would activate.


    The strongest array formation in the cave was a 5-star Human one. And the weakest just barely reached the 2-star Human rank. In theory, they were not array formations Cao Yun could contend with. But he was now able to sense them almost perfectly. Although he was not able to physically see the Evil Qi circulating through them, he was able to feel it through his Drop of Wrath. Then, he just had to use his ''Shen Visualization'' and the entire array formations appeared in his mind.


    Unfortunately, he knew none of them. Of course, Cao Yun knew of no array formation that was able to manipulate Evil Qi. And those array formations had been formed through the use of bones and even some organs. Here and there, Cao Yun realized that there were demonic beast and human organs. Clearly, such array formations were not taught in the Wubei Sect. Hopefully, no one taught those in the Hongchen Kingdom apart from demonic cultivators.


    But that didn''t mean that Cao Yun could not go through those. In his mind, he analyzed them as much as he could and was able to slightly understand their inner workings. They were both illusory and attack array formations. The illusions would render an intruder powerless while the attacks from the other array formations would kill or maim them. Can Mouye would not even have to wake up. In fact, there were smaller array formations directly around Can Mouye. One was meant to create some kind of barrier to protect him from both attacks and even any form of disturbance, noise included. Others were probably here to try and help him. Among them, Cao Yun even identified one that was drawing energy from the very yellow lake he was after.


    For some time, Cao Yun studied this last one in details. Ironically, it could provide him with a better way to extract what he needed from the lake. But most of his efforts were still focused on finding a path through the several layers of array formations so that he could reach the yellow lake. With his ability to feel and manipulate Evil Qi to an extent, those array formations, although powerful, were not impenetrable. As a matter of fact, it took him less than three hours to find what looked like a secure route.


    The main problem was Huang Liyue and the egg. He could easily take them with him, but they would reduce his stealth. On the other hand, he wasn''t sure whether he would be able to carry the drop of Yellow Sorrows Water with him all the way back to Huang Liyue if he were to leave her there. And leaving the egg alone was not a good idea either. After all, Cao Yun had crossed paths with several Bone Warriors on his way there. He had been able to avoid them. But if some of them came into this cave, the egg, and Huang Liyue for that matter, would be completely powerless.


    Thus, the young array formation master decided to use the array formations to his advantage. His stealth wasn''t perfect and he couldn''t hide someone else''s presence either. But because he could manipulate Evil Qi, he would be able to influence the flow of Evil Qi within the array formations themselves. And if he was doing it in the right way, he would be able to completely erase their presence. Of course, such a process was not easy at all. The slightest mistake would expose them. Worse, it could trigger the array formations. While Cao Yun was not that afraid of illusory formations thanks to his Drop of Wrath, the attack arrays were a real threat. Even with his advantages in this place, triggering a 5-star Human attack array formation would most likely mean instant death for him.


    Even then, Cao Yun had not all the time in the world with him. Not only was this very world about to crumble, Can Mouye would end up breaking through at one point. Cao Yun was not ready to wait for him to maybe fail. What if he happened to succeed instead?


    Because he had been able to decide himself earlier, Cao Yun used this determination to stop his hesitations. He had a clear goal in mind and he was going to see it through, no matter what! Although he wasn''t ready to die yet, it didn''t mean he wasn''t ready to take risks. After all, doing nothing was probably even more risky than acting with an intelligent plan. And his plan was intelligent indeed. After many observations, he was very sure of himself in that regard.


    Cao Yun waited for the flow of the array formations to be in a certain configuration. He had realized that all the array formations were harmonized with each other and cycled through a certain flow of the Evil Qi within. Whoever had set them up, whether it be Can Mouye or his master, had done an excellent job. But ironically, it allowed Cao Yun to better see the patterns within and use them at his advantage. And he realized that an array formation that was too perfect was also too predictable. When he would create new array formations, he should introduce some chaos, some randomness in them.


    As soon as the right configuration was reached, Cao Yun walked forward with Huang Liyue and the Mountain Fenghuang egg with him. Each one of his steps was meticulously calculated and chosen. Within himself, he circulated ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to the best of his ability, while using a bit of ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' with it. None of his steps produced any sound. They didn''t even disturb the dust on the ground. In his chest, his heart had stopped beating and his breathing had ceased. Of course, he couldn''t stay in such a state very long, but long enough to cross over the cave. His goal was the opposite point of the yellow lake, the farthest place from Can Mouye still close to the Yellow Sorrows Water.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Most of Cao Yun''s attention was on the array formations themselves. But he still split a tiny fraction of his intent on the corpse of Huang''er. For now, he had repressed his anger. But one way or another, he would free the poor mother from this fate. She had already died and he couldn''t bear to imagine her serving her murderer forever. Well, hopefully, Can Mouye''s life would be very short as well. But, still, the idea of her serving him for even one more second was painful for Cao Yun. He could not accept that she remained in such a state. When the egg finally hatched, both of his parents would be free to rest in peace!


    Nothing unexpected happened. Cao Yun''s understanding of array formations had not failed him there. With his new sensibility toward Evil Qi, he was able to navigate those array formations with even more ease than before. If they had been circulating Qi, he would never have been able to perform such a trick. Once more, the irony of his situation was very apparent to him. Although this world was hostile to life, Cao Yun was way more powerful in here than in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    While he was circling around the yellow lake, Cao Yun also used his meager understanding of ''Death Verses'' to try and sense the Yellow Sorrows Water. He knew that the kind of drop he had to extract from the lake was not just any drop. Like what he was doing with his mind cultivation, he had to extract the very essence of this lake condensed in a single drop, just like the Five Echoes Pearl. In fact, it was also exactly what ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire'' was about. But Cao Yun knew nothing about this blood cultivation reserved to the Huang family, even if it could have been useful right now.


    With the help of the first chapter, ''See Through the Mud'', Cao Yun was able to sense some things. But as a late Mortal, his sensibility was not that high. Even by boosting it with the Drop of Wrath thanks to the Evil Qi all around him, Cao Yun could only scratch the surface. However, he was able to recognize that this Yellow Sorrows Water was different from the small streams he had seen at the surface. It was way more concentrated in Death Energy. And the yellow water itself was as heavy as mercury, or even more. Extracting a single drop would be difficult in itself. But Cao Yun had to extract the very essence of this lake condensed within a drop. Bringing Huang Liyue with him had been the right decision. There was no way Cao Yun could carry this drop with him. In fact, as soon as he would extract it, he would need to let go of it.


    Before even realizing it, Cao Yun had reached the place he wanted to go to. He was literally in several gates of the array formations overlapping each other. However, they happened to be moving around. According to his calculations, he had four hours before this particular spot became dangerous. Before that could happen, he had to extract the drop of Death Energy thanks to the second chapter of ''Death Verses'', ''Death Reeling''.


    The idea was simple enough while being incredibly difficult to perform in practice. Just like Qi or Evil Qi, Death Energy was made up of countless filaments weaved together to form strands. What Cao Yun had to do was to slowly unravel those strands and extract very specific filaments of Death Energy from this yellow water. And the first step was of course to identify them.


    Using his Drop of wrath and what little he had been able to understand from the ''Death Verses'', Cao Yun was able to feel the Death Energy in the yellow lake. However, he could not perceive it very far. And even the intent of the Drop of Wrath was slowly being corroded by the Death Energy within. It was even more concentrated than the Evil Qi in the Ocean of Turbid Anguish.


    So that he could succeed, Cao Yun pushed his mind cultivation to the limit. In particular, he put a lot of emphasis on both the Chamber of Government to increase his will, and the Chamber of Medicine Field to control the Death Energy.


    Bit by bit, Cao Yun was able to attract the filaments of Death Energy he needed. Unfortunately, he was not good enough to control them with his mind yet. If he had been a Mortal Warrior, he could have probably done so to some extent. Right now, he was only able to slowly influence the Death Energy, making it drift closer to him. Then, he used the intent of the Drop of Wrath to try and absorb it within itself. Of course, he stopped before it could enter his body.


    The process was incredibly frustrating. But at the same time, Cao Yun was able to see great progresses in a matter of minutes. Everything else around him had disappeared. In fact, even his stealth began to subside. And as the process was going on, his mind got more and more absorbed by the yellow lake, to the point that his Qi started to leave his body a little.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun had created the drop of Yellow Sorrows Water he required, according to the visions he had seen from Cleansed Asura. Now, he had to control it in such a way as to send it in Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness. To be honest, he had no idea of what would happen after that. But he had decided to trust his master completely. After all, he had sacrificed the last remnants of his soul to improve Huang Liyue''s state. It wasn''t to just make Cao Yun kill her a few days later.


    What Cao Yun was worried about the most was a mistake on his part. As a matter of fact, he wasn''t sure how he should proceed to send this drop of Yellow Sorrows Water into Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness. Because he was not a Spirit Warrior, he could not enter someone else''s sea of consciousness. However, he had been able to enter his own. Maybe he could use this as an example to try and send the drop into Huang Liyue''s soul.


    To do so, he channeled every sensation he had felt when the Death Energy had entered his sea of consciousness. And using the intent from the Drop of Wrath, he tried to replicate the feeling within the drop of Death Energy itself. In a way, he was doing what he had done to enter his sea of consciousness the second time. By focusing on the same sensations, he hoped to achieve the same results. Hopefully, the Death Energy itself would try to penetrate Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness, as it had done when Cao Yun had seen the paper boats.


    Using everything he had, Cao Yun was able to extract the heavy drop from the lake using the Evil Qi around controlled by his Drop of Wrath. It floated very close to the ground while Cao Yun''s face was crimson with blood. Slowly, it drifted toward Huang Liyue''s head. That drop was not bigger than a tear. Yet, it was heavier than Cao Yun and his spear together. Just keeping it above the ground required insane amounts of efforts. Now, he had to let it go as smoothly as possible.

 Chapter 262: Rebirth through death

    In a universe of darkness and cold where every sensation was dull, a consciousness was drifting away. Taken by invisible hands, it was subjecting to a forceful slumber. None of its senses could get into contact with reality anymore. Even its own interior life was lost to its experience. Not even the darkness and the cold of that infinite expanse could reach this consciousness. It was lost in an eternity without any form of experience. Time itself had been rendered obsolete in the absence of thoughts and sensations.


    Through the darkness and the cold, an exterior force started to manifest itself. Gradually, without any star, a light began to shine. At first, a mere hue, through countless eons, it pierced through the veil of this infinite world. At last, beyond space and time, there was now a red star shining for all eternity. And like wildfire, this red star spread throughout all of space. Although it was infinite, space got overtaken by the crimson light.


    Then, time began to move again as the star and the light itself started to beat to the rhythm of a heart.


    All of those changes jolted the consciousness back to its most fundamental state. It was now able to experience things. Time and space regained their meaning. And slowly, above those experiences, thoughts arose. Then, it was only a matter of time for conscious thoughts to emerge as well.


    After what felt like another eternity, the consciousness remembered something. It remembered that it used to be human. It used to be a powerful woman in the Hongchen Kingdom. But she had fallen into a world of darkness and death. In that world, she had lost her life to protect a boy she would have many reasons to hate otherwise. Yet, here she was. Was it the end of existence? Was she on her way to the Heavenly Court where she would await her next incarnation? Had her soul endured?


    She had thought that her soul would disappear. But there she was. And gradually, she recovered more and more of her consciousness. All her memories came back to her. All of her thought processes were back as well. Thanks to those, she realized that she was not dead, not yet. Very faintly, she could still feel the Soul Embryo around her very soul. It was so weak that it felt as though it didn''t exist. But it was there.


    And what shocked Huang Liyue was the fact that it was slowly reforming itself. There was no other explanation other than this red light all around that space. Indeed, she was still in that infinite vastness. Time had come back but it was very strange. Some of her thoughts felt like they took a mere instant to form while others seemed to last for millenniums. From this mere fact, she knew that her soul and her mind had both been damaged beyond repair. Although her Soul Embryo was reforming, it would never allow her to come back to consciousness. And even then, she would never regain all of it. Even if she came back to the real world, her life would soon be over anyway.


    "Is that so?"


    From the red light, a voice shook her depressed beliefs. Full of hesitation, she decided to try and respond. Although she had no body and her thoughts were chaotic, she still tried to speak. No sound could be heard, not even by herself, but the voice heard her question. She had asked "Who are you?".


    "I am known as Cleansed Asura. Though my name won''t tell you much, know that I am Chen Guo''s master."


    "Why are you inside my soul?"


    "Isn''t it obvious? I am trying to save you."


    "Even if you were a Sage, there would be nothing to do for me. And although I can''t sense anything about your cultivation, I can feel that you are not that better off than me. If you try to help me, we''ll just die together. Instead, go and protect Chen Guo. You should be able to endure some decades in his sea of consciousness, right?"


    "No matter what happens, my death is certain, but yours is not. Yes, I am now even weaker than a Sage. But you should trust my disciple, as I do. I gave him all the cards to allow your soul to recover. Better yet, if he is successful, your Soul Embryo will completely fuse with your soul. It turns out that your Soul Embryo and your soul were already very close to merging. You were probably near a breakthrough to 7th-grade Spirit Warrior. And a hundred years or so down the line, you would have reached 8th-grade Spirit Warrior without too much problem. Thus, I instructed my disciple to give a form of catalyst to your Soul Embryo.


    "But that alone won''t save you. However, if you follow the process I will impart to you, not only will you be able to use this catalyst to recover your consciousness, you will soar all the way to 8th-grade Spirit Warrior in a matter of hours. The only question seems to be whether you want to live or not. In my eyes, you seem to only be awaiting your death..."


    Hearing this, hope got reignited in Huang Liyue. For a long while, parts of her life flashed before her eyes. She saw her brother again. Huang L¨¹feng was laying in a pool of his own blood. Even his white hair were covered with his thick blood. Riddled with wounds, Huang L¨¹feng had endured many torments to protect his younger sister from demonic beasts. Although he had been a late Mortal Warrior, the only thing he had been able to do in order to protect his sister had been to die. By his side, holding his hand, Huang Liyue was bawling, her sweet face deformed by pain and sadness. Everything had been her fault. If only she had not been that stupid... If only she had listened to her mother...


    Then, she saw the figure of a woman floating in the sky. The very sky turned into a sea of fires as the earth below was crackling under the heat. All around the two siblings, the carcasses of the demonic beasts caught on fire and got reduced to ashes in a mere instant. Her mother had come as fast as she could, but she had been too late...


    With this memory in mind, Huang Liyue remembered what it was that she had to say. She had still things in her heart she had to convey. Time was not ripe for her to die, not yet.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Besides, she had promised to protect Huang Cixi and to support her as the next matriarch. And she had promised her to also protect ''Chen Guo'', at least for a time. No matter what pain he had inflicted on the Huang family, he had also risked his life to save her and he had saved Huang Cixi as well. Could she really blame him for his actions in Yinmen City? She would have probably done the same. Suddenly she realized that she had seen herself and her own plights in Huang Cixi''s story. This was why she had been interested in her. And this was why she was irrationally angry at Cao Yun. Through his actions, he was clearly an orthodox cultivator of the highest standard.


    "Venerable Cleansed Asura, I am ready to listen to your words."


    "Good. I won''t ask you to recognize me as your master. But as I''m going to be your teacher, I only ask for one thing. Help my disciple get out of this world. And protect him. Although he needs some adversity to grow, he is the only one who can make my legacy endure, I do not want him to meet the same fate as I did. I already destroyed everything I cared about with my bare hands. This is not the legacy I want to leave behind..."


    "Venerable Cleansed Asura, I already promised to him, and I already promised to my young mistress to protect him for some time. With you today, I can promise to protect him until he does not need my help anymore."


    "This is enough. Then listen close. Even now, I am near the end. Soon, a drop of pure Death Energy will penetrate your soul. I will ultimately be the one to guide it within. Once it is inside your sea of consciousness, you will need to take charge of it. The slightest mistake will destroy your soul as the Death Energy will corrode everything. At the precise moment that drop will touch upon your Soul Embryo, it will jolt back your soul within your body. You won''t even have an instant to think. Any delay will spell annihilation, do you hear me?"


    "I do, Venerable Cleansed Asura. And I am ready to be imparted with this knowledge. I have reasons to stay alive. I swear that I won''t waste your sacrifice!"


    "Good."


    Then, Cleansed Asura proceeded to give Huang Liyue all the instructions. Most of them had been somewhat derived from ''Death Verses''. Of course, Huang Liyue knew nothing about this text. Cleansed Asura had kept just enough strength to bring back consciousness within Huang Liyue''s sleeping soul and give her this knowledge. That was the reason why he had even been unable to talk with Cao Yun. Even then, he had still wasted a bit too much energy giving visions to his disciple.


    In the end, he was unable to give her every single detail of the process. Hopefully, she would be able to understand enough so that she could survive or his sacrifice would be too tragic. Back in his life he had been able to shake his entire universe. And now he was trying to conserve every tiny bit of strength to prolong his life long enough so that he could save a Spirit Warrior and a Mortal. How the mighty had fallen...


    The red light converged on Huang Liyue. From it, golden characters formed. Each one was an Insight Writing. Now, Huang Liyue had to use the last stretches of her consciousness to study those. Indeed, if she were to die anyway after all the efforts and sacrifice of Cleansed Asura, his last moments would have really been tragic.


    -


    The notion of time for such a weak consciousness had almost dissolved. In a sense, it had become insignificant. As such, Huang Liyue felt like several centuries had gone by. But every moment, she focused on her will to get ready. She knew that at any moment, she would feel a pull. Then, if she did not act fast enough, the darkness would claim her once more.


    And precisely, a force pulled her soul from this formless darkness.


    As soon as she was back in her sea of consciousness, she saw the Soul Embryo around her soul. It had been pieced back together with red strings. Clearly, it had been the work of Cleansed Asura.


    At the very surface of her Soul Embryo, a yellow hue was spreading, dissolving everything on its way. It was the moment of truth. Whether she would die or survive was unknown. But she was ready for it. No matter what the outcome would be, she would fight until the bitter end. She would live!


    From her soul, myriads of characters flew out toward the yellow hue. They crossed the boundary of the Soul Embryo and surrounded this intruder. Within those characters, the yellow hue took on a corporeal form. It was a skull with many eye sockets, horns and fangs. There were even a few vertebrae below the skull itself. Everything was perfectly white with a yellow glint inside the eye sockets. It felt as though this yellow light was the soul of that creature. Huang Liyue knew that this was just Death Energy. But then again, Death Energy was also a form of soul. Deep down, she was convinced that what she was seeing was the real form of some ancient species that had eventually become this yellow water. But this was beyond every living thing she had ever encountered, not a demon, not a beast and certainly not a human, something else entirely.


    However, she could not contemplate, she had to act fast!


    Enraged, the skull tried to break the encirclement of the golden characters to no avail. Bit by bit, its very essence was extracted from it. Each character acted like some sort of magnet, pulling the skull apart. Then, each tiny particle from it was sent toward Huang Liyue''s Soul Embryo.


    With each one of those, a yellow light spread through her entire Soul Embryo. She even felt it through her soul as well. And she was able to feel that the connection between her soul and her Soul Embryo was getting stronger and stronger. Putting in practice what Cleansed Asura had showed her, everything made sense. Yes, if she was able to control it, she would clearly be able to break through at least twice. Then, she would not only regain her full consciousness, but she would recover from all her wounds as well.


    However, she had to stay in control until the very end. And no matter what happened, she could not be distracted. The problem was that she had absolutely no idea of what was going on outside right now. Maybe everything was fine, but maybe it wasn''t.


    Anyway, since she had no real choice, her best option was to try and act as fast as possible while being cautious nonetheless. Hopefully, once she came back to reality, she could make sure that everything was fine.


    -


    In the outside world, precisely, Cao Yun had just let go of the Yellow Sorrows Water. The tiny drop had fallen exactly between Huang Liyue''s eyebrows. It had fallen on her bandages and had corroded them. But the moment it had touched Huang Liyue''s burnt skin, it had not corroded it at all. Instead, the drop had gently penetrated her skin, and most likely her sea of consciousness as well. Even though it only lasted for an instant, Cao Yun had been able to see one of the characters from ''Death Verses'' flash between her eyebrows. His master had still protected Huang Liyue once more.


    However, what Cao Yun had been fearing had happened. Not only had he let out too much Qi when he was solely focused on manipulating the drop of Death Energy, but the drop itself had caused some stirs. And Cao Yun had nowhere near enough mastery of ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to hide any of this. Now, from the other side of the cave, the skeleton of Huang''er had risen. Although it had no eyes, Cao Yun could tell with certainty that it was looking right at him.


    The young man was its next prey!

 Chapter 263: The first step of the vengeance

    Obviously, Cao Yun was worried whether or not what he had done was working. Thus, he threw a glance at Huang Liyue on the ground. The poor woman was still covered in bandages but her face was more or less apparent because the drop of Yellow Sorrows Water had burned off some of the tissue. And the rest had come undone as a result. So Cao Yun was able to see her face completely covered with scar tissues. It was impossible to see whether she was getting better. However, he was able to see her muscles twitch a little. And it didn''t feel like it was due to pain but rather, it looked like someone waking up from a long slumber.


    Still, she stayed immobile. Consequently, Cao Yun could not be sure if that had worked but he chose to believe that it had. After all, he had no real other choice. Right now, he was faced with the skeleton of Huang''er and Can Mouye behind it. Thus, he could not try again to condense another drop of Death Energy for her. While the demonic cultivator remained perfectly still, surrounded by array formations to protect him, the skeleton was raising in the air.


    The array formations on the ground could not cover the entire height of the cave. By rising high enough, the skeleton could avoid them and go directly toward Cao Yun.


    Although the young man did not want to cause any commotion, it was too late for that. He could not allow the creature to hurt Huang Liyue. And even if he did not cause a ruckus, the skeleton would anyway. Thus, he grabbed his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' and activated his ''Dragon''s Heart''. For an opponent like this one, he only needed a tiny proportion of this technique.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    Cao Yun stabbed toward the ceiling in order to strike down Huang''er. The former demonic beast had no more semblance of its past life. Right now it was a white skeleton covered in engravings and runes. When he was looking at it, Cao Yun could only feel sorrow and anger. No matter what, he would allow Huang''er to rest in peace. For that, he needed to destroy this mockery Can Mouye had made of her corpse.


    Now that Huang''er was dead however, her corpse was able to channel the Evil Qi of this place. The undead creature was now at least as strong as a 4-core demonic beast and it was probably faster than a 5 or even 6-core flying demonic beast. Thankfully it was nowhere near the speed of a Blue Mane Falcon. But Huang''er was able to dodge Cao Yun''s attack without much problem. The cone of wind generated by his spear collided with the ceiling and made the entire cave shake. Dust fell, bringing with it even more Evil Qi.


    After that, Huang''er dived down toward the young man. And he used the same strategy he had used against the Bone Demons. With his spear, he created a shockwave at the surface of the yellow lake. Then, he used the last technique he had learned. But this time, he used more of his ''Dragon''s Heart''.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''!


    Sweeping the air in front of him, Cao Yun did not inject an ounce of Qi in his attack. Indeed, his goal was to project the yellow water, not his own Qi. And it worked. A wall of yellow water rose toward the diving Huang''er. And just like the Bone Demons, the skeleton did everything to avoid it. It changed its trajectory and even went straight against a wall as it was unable to control its own momentum. Once more the cave shook. And just after that, another tremor shook the entire world.


    This time, the tremor was incredibly more powerful. Apparently, the world had lost even more of its stability. Some rocks fell from the ceiling. A few dropped into the yellow lake and were completely corroded by the Yellow Sorrows Water, while others landed on the ground. A few array formations collapsed as their foundations were crushed by those rocks. However, all of the array formations around Can Mouye sustained the shock. A few rocks fell on him but there was like a dome of Evil Qi protecting him.


    Cao Yun took Huang Liyue and avoided a few other rocks. While he had her in his arms, he felt that her vitality was coming back to her. For an instant, joy spread through his mind. But he quickly pushed it aside. Right now, he had to stay focused. Any distraction could lead to catastrophe. Still, a thought crossed his mind. If the disaggregation of this world had sped up just now, could it have a link with what he had just done to Huang Liyue? Maybe Cleansed Asura''s soul had still endured in her until this very moment... The idea saddened the young disciple, but like his joy, he pushed it aside for now.


    Although it had no flesh of any kind, the skeleton of Huang''er produced a powerful shriek of rage toward Cao Yun. Evil Qi coalesced around its wings and black feathers appeared before flying straight for him. Most of the array formations were now gone so both Cao Yun and the skeleton could fight more freely.


    ''Imperial Throne''.


    A wall of wind rose all around Cao Yun as he swept his spear. In this wind, Cao Yun had injected his Qi. Although he was still unable to control it outside of his body, he could inject it in his attacks. Thanks to the wind produced by his technique, the Qi was forced to follow the same path. Besides, the same thing that had happened under the ocean occurred again.


    In the wall of wind, Cao Yun was able to see some scales of the Azure Dragon. And he realized he was getting closer and closer to actual Qi Manifestation. it wasn''t because he had controlled over Evil Qi, but because his Qi cultivation was now extremely close to the Mortal Warrior realm.


    Through this wall of winds, no feather was able to pass. Some were purely destroyed while others were just sent away by the rotation of the wind. However, Cao Yun could still feel Huang''er''s presence even through this wall. Indeed, he was now very sensible to Evil Qi. Thus, he activated his Drop of Wrath and used ''Dragon''s Heart'' to the maximum. His blood flowed like crazy in his veins. More and more Qi was coursing through his meridians, eight times faster than before. And even his blood which had been transformed by the Drop of Wrath was bringing more and more Qi.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''!


    Cao Yun stabbed thirty times. Each time, a powerful gust of wind was sent in the shape of a cone toward his enemy. The first ones were just made up of wind. But as he was pouring more and more Qi while using the intent of the Drop of Wrath, they started to change.


    The very last of his strikes even surprised him. From his spear, a literal dragon horn appeared. It was not completely corporeal but it was visible to the naked eye. As weak as it was, this was still Qi Manifestation for sure. No matter how powerful he was, Cao Yun should not have been able to perform such an attack for now. Of course, he wanted to understand it to reproduce this attack, but he was still in a complicated situation.


    Huang''er was able to avoid almost all of the ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''. However, the last one was way faster than the other ones. And worse than its speed, it literally changed its course to strike the skeleton in its skull. The attack pierced through the skull and made it explode into thousands of fragments.


    But that thing was not alive to begin with. Destroying its skull would be useless. Thankfully, this wasn''t Cao Yun''s goal. And now that he had seen how effective his attacks could be if he poured everything he had in them, he had to begin his assault.


    Before he could though, the skeleton rose higher and higher and gathered more and more momentum. As it was circling the room, the skeleton threw black feathers now and then. Added with its own speed, the speed of those feathers was lethal for Cao Yun. But he just had to make sure not to be hit by them. The only problem was Huang Liyue. Thankfully, Huang''er''s skeleton lacked intelligence. Thus, it only aimed at Cao Yun. If it had had intelligence, it could have used Huang Liyue to distract him.


    ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''.


    Cao Yun assumed his posture and his speed increased immediately. With his mind cultivation and his senses, further improved by ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he was able to dodge every single feather. Then, he simply waited for the right opportunity that came rather quickly. When Huang''er was close enough for him to achieve what he wanted to do, Cao Yun went to work.


    ''Crafty Harassment''.


    Suddenly, he moved all over the place with incredible speed while sending ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' toward Huang''er. In theory, this technique was meant to seal an opponent''s movements. But right now, Cao Yun had a better idea. Instead of aiming toward the articulations of his enemy, or rather its wings right now, he was aiming at particular engravings on the bones. Thanks to ''Death Verses'', he had been able to understand some of those runes. There were too many to destroy them all though. That would have come down to breaking every single bone several times.


    Thankfully, he had a fairly good idea of the most important runes. Although he wasn''t absolutely sure of their functions, he knew that they were necessary to control the skeleton itself. Thus, by destroying them, he could impede its movements, or even put an end to the artificial life infused in the bones.


    In his attacks, Cao Yun was unable to reproduce the same level of Qi Manifestation, but he still saw strange phenomena appear. All over the place, there were scales in suspension in the air along the trajectory of his own movements. And in his cones of wind, parts of dragon horns were visible here and there. Even if only a fraction of his attacks connected, his targets were all hit.


    With each new rune destroyed, the skeleton was flying slower and even lower. Thus, even more attacks connected. And before long, the skeleton fell to the ground. It was still moving around but Cao Yun was able to feel that most of the Evil Qi had now gone out of control within the bones themselves. Without the runes to control its flow, the Evil Qi was even corroding the very bones it had allowed to bring back to life.


    Finally, Cao Yun was ready to give the coup de grace. But he was stopped by a powerful boom echoing throughout the cave. Turning around, the young man realized that this boom had originated from Can Mouye''s body. It was the result of his Lesser Tribulation. Then, another boom, even more brutal, erupted from his Huang Ting, the Yellow Court, an acupoint near his stomach. That boom was so brutal that the room itself began to cave in. There were array formations to protect the surroundings from Can Mouye''s Lesser Tribulation, but they had all collapsed earlier because of the tremor.


    That boom also sent everyone in the room flying away. Cao Yun was the only one who was conscious enough to protect himself. He stabbed his spear in the rock below and stood his ground. After all, he was used to resisting against powerful gusts of wind. On the other hand, Huang Liyue and Huang''er were both sent flying toward the walls of the cave. Cao Yun was only worried about his bodyguard. The woman was clearly in the process of recovering, so she was still rather weak. And she struck the wall with full force.


    On another side of the room, Huang''er''s skeleton broke into thousands of pieces. Now that the most important runes had been destroyed, it was unable to even maintain its form. But Cao Yun could still feel some activities from it. He still needed to give the finishing blow.


    Once again though, he had a far more pressing problem. Can Mouye could destroy the cave and kill everyone by accident. But worse than that, he might be able to pull off his breakthrough. In which case, Cao Yun would be faced with a Spirit Warrior. Against such an opponent, there was absolutely nothing he could do. Even against a powerful Mortal Warrior, he was convinced he had at least a chance to run away. But a Spirit Warrior was on another level entirely.


    All of that was predicated on the fact that Can Mouye would not die before his breakthrough though. And it happened to be that a cultivator was at his weakest when he tried to cross over a tribulation. In particular, the Lesser Tribulation was famous for being incredibly dangerous. If Cao Yun was able to strike him with enough strength at the right moment, he might not be able to kill him straight away, but he would at least injure him. The injury could be so deep that Can Mouye would lose his cultivation, or even his life in the best case scenarios.


    Although Cao Yun had not specifically studied this part of the Qi cultivation, he was familiar with the Lesser Tribulation thanks to his father. He had failed once before finally succeeding. But just after his success, he had been killed by the demonic cultivators. Right now, Cao Yun intended to finally begin his real vengeance. Both to avenge his family, but also to get humanity rid of this thorn in its side, Cao Yun would eradicate all the demonic cultivators. And he would start by the one right in front of him. In the past few months, this man had killed some of his allies in the woods between Yinmen city and Baziyun City. He had of course tried to kill him several times. In the process, he had killed Feng''er and Huang''er. And he even went as far as desecrating Huang''er''s corpse to create this skeleton servant.


    Once in this dead world, he had allied himself with someone soiling the name of his master. And he had almost killed Huang Liyue who had tried to protect Cao Yun.


    Toward this man, Cao Yun''s rage was as profound as the rage he was feeling against the one who had murdered his family, his parents, his little sister. Although it wasn''t the man he wanted to kill the most, Can Mouye would be the one he would really begin his revenge with. With this rage and determination, Cao Yun fed the Drop of Wrath and prepared himself.

 Chapter 264: Disrupting the tribulation

    Cao Yun knew just enough to have a vague understanding of what was going on inside Can Mouye''s body right now. The Lesser Tribulation consisted in crossing over the last three grades of the Mortal Warrior realm. Someone who had achieved the goal of the 6th-grade stage without attempting the breakthrough yet was sometimes called a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior. But technically, a cultivator really became one only after beginning the Lesser Tribulation.


    The 7th-grade Mortal Warrior stage was also known as the Crystallization of the Dantian. During this stage, the cultivator would completely turn the Qi within both his Lower Dantian and his Middle Dantian into solid crystals. The Lower Dantian was supposed to be rich in Water Qi while the Middle Dantian was rich in Fire Qi. Thus it would create two opposed crystals. And in this stage, it was completely impossible to use Qi because everything had turned solid.


    During this stage, even the Wei Qi around someone would slowly disappear. And in that state, almost anything could kill the cultivator. Thus, one would usually either use array formations or bodyguards, or both at the same time. For example, his father had been in seclusion within the family residence, where he should have been perfectly fine.


    Then, there was the 8th-grade Mortal Warrior stage. In that stage, the cultivator would need to literally collide both of those crystals in the area exactly between the two Dantian. This area, containing the stomach for example, was known as Huang Ting, the Yellow Court. This was the place where both crystals would collide to then form the Soul Embryo. As such, this stage was referred to as the Qi Impact. By colliding the two crystals, one had to be careful. If they were collided with too low of a force, they would not be able to perform whatever it was they were supposed to do. But if they collided with too much strength, they could literally rupture the organs of the cultivator and kill him.


    Although Cao Yun did not know and understand all the details, he knew enough to craft a strategy. It was clear that Can Mouye was in the middle of this stage. In fact, the booms echoing from his body were proof of that. Right now, he was colliding his two crystallized ball of Qi from both Dantian. If he were to succeed, he would immediately reach the 9th-grade Mortal Warrior which was the complete fusion of the two Qi to finally form the Soul Embryo. From what Cao Yun understood, this stage was in fact the easiest as the cultivator just had to let the Qi do its own thing. It solely depended on the 8th-grade stage.


    Even though there was no danger associated with the 9th-grade, it was the moment of truth. If the cultivator had been able to collide his two crystals of Qi in the proper way, the Soul Embryo would be created. Otherwise, the breakthrough would be a failure. According to Cao Guang, that was what had happened to him. He had had no problem during the Lesser Tribulation but in the end his Soul Embryo had not been formed because he had been too afraid to produce the right kind of collision.


    From everything he knew, Cao Yun had devised a perfect plan. He had to strike Can Mouye at the very moment of a boom, or just after. It was in this moment that his body was hurt from the inside. If he were also struck from the outside, the shock would be far greater. The best thing would have been to strike him just before the collision to distract him, but Cao Yun could neither see nor feel what was going on inside his body. However, considering the violence of the booms, he was convinced that his plan would leave Can Mouye in a very precarious situation.


    Taking his spear in hand, the young man pushed everything to the limit. In his sea of consciousness, he even used the Drop of Wrath to the point where it turned back into the giant red demon looking like Axiu Qian with fewer limbs.


    ''Dragon''s Heart'' was used to its upper limit of an eightfold increase in speed. Now, he was just waiting for the right moment.


    And it came. As soon as he heard the slightest noise coming from within Can Mouye''s abdomen, Cao Yun disappeared.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    The ground around him turned into a small fuming crater. The next moment, his spear was almost touching Can Mouye. Around Cao Yun, the vague image of a dragon had began to form. Now, even a mortal would be able to see some scales around the young man and his spear. But right before the moment of impact, Cao Yun''s spear collided with an invisible wall. Then, all of his strength was completely dispersed in every direction. One of which was Cao Yun himself.


    Receiving around a tenth of his own attack as a backlash, the young man was sent flying toward a wall of the cave. He literally flew over the yellow lake. And at the very last moment, he was able to shift his weight around. Instead of colliding against the wall, he stabbed his spear in the ground. A great force was exerted on his arms as he was trying to stop his momentum. Thankfully, he had only received a small portion of ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. If he had received everything, his arms would have at best been hurt, or even ripped apart.


    Even this attack of his was not powerful enough to pierce through the array formations around Can Mouye. And he was sadly not knowledgeable enough to know how to break this formation. In fact, he was just competent enough to know that there was an array formation before triggering it. However, he had not expected such a powerful protection.


    Apart from ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry'', Cao Yun had no attack that was stronger. Should he just keep going at it until the array formation was done for? That wouldn''t be very effective. From what he could see, the array formation had deflected his attack. According to his limited knowledge, that most likely meant that it would be able to sustain many attacks as long as none of them were powerful enough. If he kept on attacking with ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry'', he would maybe need to strike hundreds if not thousands of time. The attack was just not powerful enough to go through the barrier. So it would just be deflected again and again. Only a tiny portion of the attack would truly damage the structure of the array formation.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    His only hope was to use an attack that was powerful enough to break through the array formation with just one strike. Since it was a 5-star Human array formation, it probably wasn''t that resistant after all. Most likely, he wasn''t missing much. But crossing that boundary would be extremely difficult. But then, maybe he had another choice.


    He could use the Yellow Sorrows Water. Such a water was able to corrode almost anything. Why couldn''t it corrode the array formation itself?


    He couldn''t just simply launch himself in the middle of the yellow water. And just sending some of it on the array formation would not work either. Indeed, during his fight against the skeleton, a large amount of yellow water had been splashed unto the barrier without doing anything. Cao Yun''s best bet was to strike the barrier with the yellow water. Hopefully, some of it would be able to get inside the barrier and corrode it enough for the attack to pierce through.


    Of course, ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky'' was a great candidate. But it wasn''t powerful enough. In fact, the technique itself was a bit more powerful than ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. But its strength was completely diffuse by its very nature. Indeed, it was a sweeping attack.


    Thinking about the problem, Cao Yun got an illumination. He would have to combine both techniques. That was when his Tail Star shined brightly in his inner sky. And the name of a new technique emerged in his mind.


    Then, he assumed the same position as ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. But in his body, his Qi was circulating as though he was about to use ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''.


    Just before performing his attack, the young man swept the surface of the yellow lake. A small wall of yellow water rose in the air. Just then, Cao Yun ran forward to gain some momentum. The very ground under his feet was ripped apart. And as his right foot was almost touching the yellow lake, it sank deep in the ground. At the exact same moment, Cao Yun threw his spear with as much strength as he could. And this time, he also infused it with as much Qi as possible. This was the variation of the Tail Star.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    With incredible speed, the spear broke the sound barrier at least twice. Just before Can Mouye''s boom could reverberate through the cave, it was completely shaken by the sound induced by the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''.


    As it passed through the yellow water, Cao Yun had the impression that he was seeing a giant dragon swimming like a fish in the celestial water. At first, the yellow water was pushed by the shock. But then it created some kind of void behind it and as the air was filling it, it attracted a lot of the yellow water. Behind the spear, there was literally a small tornado of Yellow Sorrows Water.


    And suddenly, it struck the barrier around Can Mouye. Although the cave was rather large, the speed of the spear was such that everything happened in the blink of an eye. One moment the spear was in Cao Yun''s hand, the next one, it was against the barrier around Can Mouye. The spear itself was spinning.


    Because it had been stopped by the barrier, the yellow tornado behind it caught up with it. And a torrent of Yellow Sorrows Water collided with both the spear and the barrier. Cao Yun had been worried for his spear. If the yellow water was able to corrode almost everything, it obviously meant it was able to corrode the spear itself. However, he had seen no other option. If he were to wait too long, Can Mouye might have a chance of becoming a Spirit Warrior. In that case, he would die instantly. Clearly, Can Mouye was not playing around when it came to killing his targets.


    Thankfully, just as Cao Yun had planned, the Yellow Sorrows Water was finally affecting the barrier. As his spear was slightly hurting it, the yellow water was able to infiltrate the barrier itself. Then, it spread quickly because of the impact of ''Fish in the Galaxy'' against the barrier. In a matter of mere instants, the barrier collapsed and the last bits of momentum from the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' sent it flying forward in the direction of Can Mouye.


    At this very moment, within his body, the two crystallized Qi from his Dantian had collided. And it was the final collision. At last, both his Water Qi and his Fire Qi had been able to merge perfectly. It was now only a matter of hours, if not minutes, before his Soul Embryo was formed. But that impact had also been the most brutal one. And his organs were in turmoil. This was the perfect moment to inflict incredible pain and damage to his body.


    And that was precisely at this very moment that Cao Yun''s spear stabbed him right in the Huang Ting.


    As a powerful Mortal Warrior, even without Wei Qi, his body was resistant enough that not even this attack could pierce his skin. After all, most of the attack had been stopped by the barrier anyway. However, there was still some Qi within the spear. And although the shock was not lethal, it was enough to hurt him. Just as the spear collided with his back, surges of Qi and Evil Qi went deep within his Huang Ting. And at the same moment, some Yellow Sorrows Water fell down on him. Some splashed him from behind with the spear, but some also fell from above.


    The very moment he was celebrating his success, he found himself in incredible pain. His skin began to burn. But what was happening inside was even worse. The Qi from Cao Yun penetrated his body and disrupted his Water Qi and Fire Qi which were finally fusing with one another to produce his Soul Embryo. Combined with the pain that completely distracted him, this turned into a nightmare for him. Although he was able to ignore pain fast, it was too late. Too much damage had already been caused. Both of his Qi refused to mix with each other again. And after causing much more havoc in his Huang Ting, Can Mouye was forced to take over and send them back in his Lower Dantian and Middle Dantian.


    He had been so close to finally reach Spirit Warrior. But in an instant everything had been shattered in front of his very eyes. Moreover, his body had already suffered a lot of damage. Most likely, he would not be able to attempt such a breakthrough before a few years. Not only that, he had used the environment of this place to help his breakthrough. That was why he was so close to this yellow lake. Some of the array formations around him were literally using the Death Energy from it. Since this world was about to collapse, he would never get this chance again.


    Now that there was no hope for a breakthrough, Can Mouye quickly turned his mind to the pain. Soon, he was able to cleanse himself from the yellow water still attacking his flesh. Both in his back and on his face, he had terrible scars, similar to the ones Huang Liyue had on all her body.


    Then, he saw the black spear on the ground and he understood everything in a split second.


    Suddenly, he turned his gaze toward Cao Yun. All around him, the air turned black and viscous. Apparently, he had still enough strength to manifest his Qi. In his body, there was internal chaos. But luckily for him, he had been able to keep most of his calm. Otherwise, this would have been much worse. Right now, he was still unsure of how strong he was. And, he was unsure of how much of his strength he could exert without worsening his wounds. But there was no doubt in his mind. His first action had to be to kill Cao Yun.

 Chapter 265: Palm Aura

    Can Mouye''s face was completely devoid of any emotion. For the very first time, Cao Yun saw him without his smile. That smile was a mask on his face. But beyond the mask, there was nothing. For as long as he could remember, Can Mouye had only been worried about his survival. And to achieve this goal, he had dulled down all his emotions. He was ready to do anything just to stay alive. But he had no other purpose. All the atrocities he had seen and committed himself had ended up eradicating the last vestiges of his humanity.


    On his face, Cao Yun only saw one thing. In the eyes of Can Mouye, the young man in front of him was already dead. There was not even a tinge of rage. Even faced with other demonic cultivators, Cao Yun had always seen them as humans who had followed the wrong path. Some were deranged and did not care for others. But they all had human emotions. In fact, those very emotions were the cause of their insanity. However, Can Mouye was completely empty inside.


    His true face was only visible an instant. Just as soon, his fake smile returned.


    "Cao Yun."


    Immediately, Cao Yun''s eyes bulged. That demonic cultivator knew his name. That was to be expected since he was the disciple of the fake Cleansed Asura. But still, hearing his enemy utter his real name had a great impact on him.


    "If only you had accepted your death back then... Because you tried to run, both those Mountain Fenghuangs are dead now." Can Mouye looked at the destroyed skeleton of Huang''er. "Then, you even implicated that poor Huang Liyue. Without you, she might have had a chance of surviving this place. And because you chose to come to Yinmen City, all your friends are going to die there. I have to tell you something. All of this is your fault. Yinmen City was not even supposed to be hit by the demonic beasts stampede. But we knew that you would come to protect this small city that no one else would care about.


    "So in a sense, all the people who are going to die are on you. Because you opposed our plan in the Wubei Sect, your friends will be devoured alive. So why do you keep resisting? Just accept your fate and no one else has to suffer. As a beast tamer, I can make sure that the stampede won''t affect Yinmen City. And I can even guarantee that your death will be painless. Please, stop being so stubborn."


    "You always seem so polite and composed... But I will have to decline your ''generous'' effort!"


    There was obviously no way to know whether Can Mouye could really stop the stampede or if he would respect his word. Besides, it was possible that the stampede had already began, or had even already ended.


    Strangely enough, these words from Can Mouye made Cao Yun happy. That meant several things. The first one was the most obvious. Cao Yun had hindered the demonic cultivators in the Wubei Sect so much that they had crafted this plan just to kill him. They were ready to annihilate a city and probably divert some of the stampede just for him. Although it wasn''t a good thing per se, it meant that he had truly made a difference. He had made them worry enough to risk the life of a demonic cultivator about to reach Spirit Warrior. Even for orthodox cultivators, Spirit Warriors were important. But for demonic cultivators, they had to be extremely rare. Yet, they had sent Can Mouye in person to kill Cao Yun. Thinking about the fact that he had become a thorn in their side made him feel good.


    He didn''t feel so good about the fact that he had put his friends in harm''s way though. Until now he had hidden his name so that the demonic cultivators would not know he had survived, for fear that they would go after him with all their might. Well, it turned out that his fear had come true even without exposing his secret. So in the end, did he really need to keep it a secret any longer? After all, he had the support of the Wubei Sect and Xiao Xuefeng with him. Those considerations would have to wait for the time being though.


    The fact that Can Mouye was trying to intimidate him meant something else. Although he was making a lot of efforts to hide it, Cao Yun''s attack should have had a huge impact on his body. If it had been enough to take him out of the Lesser Tribulation, even his internal organs should be in a dire condition. Without spiritual senses, Cao Yun could not be sure but he was able to get a few hints from what he was seeing right now. Can Mouye''s control over his emotions, or his lack of emotions altogether, made him difficult to read. As a 5-star Earth alchemist, Cao Yun still had very faint notions of medicine. Thanks to them, he was able to detect some clear marks of pain.


    And the mere fact that the demonic cultivator had not attacked him already was a testimony to his current weakness. As they were speaking, Can Mouye was probably even trying to get his chaotic Qi under control, especially his Evil Qi. Thanks to his sensitivity to it, Cao Yun was able to feel that the Evil Qi around Can Mouye was indeed behaving in erratic manners, even more so than it was supposed to.


    There was no doubt in his mind that Can Mouye had almost died just now. But that didn''t mean that Cao Yun had a chance of winning. After all, the difference between a 9th-grade Mortal and a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior amounted to almost an entire realm! No matter how talented Cao Yun was, he had no way to contend seriously with such an opponent by himself. However, depending on the severity of his wounds, he might have some opportunities. Moreover, Can Mouye did not know that Cao Yun could almost resist Evil Qi as well as pure Qi. The very corrosion of Evil Qi that could terrorize even demonic cultivators was not a problem for him with his control of the Drop of Wrath.


    In a few breaths, Cao Yun analyzed the entirety of the situation. He had to be quick. For every moment passing by, Can Mouye was slowly recovering from his internal chaos. And because he wasn''t sure how much damage he had sustained, Cao Yun could not allow him to get any better. Right now, he truly didn''t have the luxury of being undecided. Thankfully, he wasn''t!


    Huang Liyue''s body had been blown away earlier. With as much discretion as he could, Cao Yun tried to see how she was doing. Without spiritual senses, it was difficult to be sure. But she seemed to slowly regain her strength. At least, her breathing had clearly improved. Even her skin was getting better. A mortal could have seen it with the naked eye. Still, Cao Yun had no way to be sure how soon she would wake up and how much strength she would be able to muster. Right now, he had to gain as much time as possible. Hopefully, he would even be able to beat Can Mouye, but that was very unlikely.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He didn''t want to kill him though as he probably knew a lot of things concerning the demonic cultivators. And from what he had said, all of his seals had been destroyed by his new master. For once, Cao Yun had a real chance of interrogating a demonic cultivator who had valuable information. He could not let this opportunity pass him by.


    "You know my name, but I still don''t know yours."


    "Indeed, please excuse me. I am called Can Mouye. Now, can you die in peace?"


    "Unfortunately, I don''t think I can. But since you''re so adamant about taking my life, may I suggest you something?"


    "Of course, go ahead."


    While discussing so cordially, Cao Yun took out the egg still in his robe and sent it toward Huang Liyue farther behind him. It really was difficult for him to part with it, but he couldn''t fight while protecting it. Thankfully, Huang Liyue was in a spot where no rock had fallen. Hopefully, it would stay that way long enough. After all, a fight between Cao Yun and Can Mouye should be real fast...


    "Let''s fight fair and square."


    After saying that, Cao Yun cupped his fists and bowed to his opponent. Deep in his heart, he had no respect for his opponent, but he was trying to direct his attention toward him alone.


    Of course, Can Mouye was not an idiot. But since his sole goal was to kill Cao Yun, he didn''t mind. No matter how injured he was, this boy should not be a threat. The only thing he was worried was that he would flee again. With Huang Liyue and the egg safe in the cave, there was no way he would flee. That boy was a bit too sentimental after all. Attacking or even killing them would maybe enrage him, but it would also get rid of the only reasons he had to stay and fight. Thus, those were not viable options right now.


    With this train of thought, Can Mouye reciprocated the salute.


    "I am fine with this."


    Looking down, Can Mouye saw ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' stabbed in the ground. The shaft of the spear had partially been corroded by the Yellow Sorrows Water. For now, the weapon itself was still intact but it had clearly been weakened by the corrosion. With his eyes, Cao Yun was also able to see the damage. However, he had not seen the damage to the blade yet. And he suspected that it was way worse... The shaft had been forged using a scale of an Ebony Snake Dragon. Although it wasn''t a very powerful demonic beast, it was known to have durable scales. If the shaft had endured that amount of damage, one could imagine the condition of the blade itself. But it was still stabbed in the ground for now.


    "Since you don''t have a weapon, we''ll both fight bare handed."


    That gave the full advantage to Can Mouye. His best martial art was ''Tianfomo''s Compassion'' which was a palm art. Besides, as a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior, his physique was way more developed than Cao Yun''s. Without a weapon, Cao Yun would be hard pressed to cross that gap. Furthermore, unlike Can Mouye, the boy''s martial arts required a weapon. In the absence of his spear, his might would be greatly diminished. Finally, the cave was now full of dust due to the tremors and the intermittent fall of rocks. Hence, there was a lot of Evil Qi in the air. Not only would it further weaken the orthodox cultivator, it would strengthen Can Mouye. And because he was injured, he would prefer to not use his own Evil Qi. The situation was perfect for him.


    ''Three Steps to Cross the World''.


    ''Dragon''s Heart''. ''Cutting the Retreat''.


    In an instant, Can Mouye appeared behind Cao Yun. But he was alert enough to notice his movement and reacted immediately. This move from ''Dance of Slaughter'' was not as good, but it turned out to be way better than it used to. With Cao Yun''s new control over the Drop of Wrath, his mastery over this punching routine had greatly increased, and so did its effects. Unfortunately, it still wasn''t enough to surpass Can Mouye.


    It was sufficient however for Cao Yun to position himself for what was to come.


    ''Shadow Heart Palm''.


    In front of his eyes, there was now a palm as wide as a wall. It was not Qi Manifestation though, but merely the intimidating aura of Can Mouye himself. Seeing it, the young boy remembered the words of Chief Elder Baishen.


    Martial artists could develop different states relative to their techniques, and their weapons in particular. The lowest states were collectively known as Martial Aura. When a martial artist reached such a state, his moves, even without Qi Manifestation, would be imbued with an aura. It was not physical but psychological. Every technique would be way more intimidating and also more destructive. This aura was the sign of someone who had reached a very high level of proficiency in his weapon. Right now, Cao Yun was witnessing the Palm Aura of Can Mouye. Because he was trying to save his energy, he had decided to rely on his Palm Aura.


    Although such an aura was not made up of Qi, it could be as destructive as Qi Manifestation. In a sense, this technique was a form of manifestation of both the martial artist''s understanding of his art, but also his very soul.


    Faced with this giant palm coming straight for him, Cao Yun was unable to see any way to escape or dodge. For an instant, he even lost all hope of blocking the attack. Such despair was due to the Palm Aura affecting his mind. Thankfully though, his mind cultivation was powerful enough to pierce through this despair. But it was too late to dodge or even block.


    ''Cutting the Retreat''. ''Pushing the Sky''. ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''.


    Cao Yun angled his body with his movement technique. Then, he was barely able to deflect the giant palm. At first, it was aimed directly at his head. Even with his physique, he was not sure whether he would survive that or not. Thus, he used his own palm to change the trajectory of the attack. Since he had not enough time to completely get out of the way, he was barely able to direct the palm toward his right shoulder. In fact, the palm struck a bit too close to his heart.


    At the last moment, he activated ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. It was a technique he could use even without the spear in hand. In his body, he was able to divert the energy produced by the attack. And instead of directing it in his spear, he changed the technique and sent all the energy he could in his legs.


    Thanks to that, he was able to propel himself toward the opposite side of the yellow lake. His goal was evident, his weapon.


    Fighting Can Mouye without his spear was suicidal. But he was not fast enough to get to his weapon before his opponent. That was why he made full use of his attack to get a boost of speed. Although he was a bit worried about Huang Liyue and the egg, Cao Yun was also convinced that his opponent would focus all of his strength on him. After all, in that short exchange, he had felt that he was indeed extremely weak. If he had been even as strong as a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun would have been killed, or at least gravely injured, by the attack just now.

 Chapter 266: Cave in

    Now, Cao Yun had his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' back in hand. The moment he grabbed the shaft, he felt the Death Energy that had infiltrated it. With the little knowledge he had from ''Death Verses'', he was able to extract all of it. But his weapon had suffered a lot of damage. Not only was it visible externally, but inside it was even worse.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no time to think about it. As soon as he got the blade out of the ground, Can Mouye was upon him with another palm.


    ''Surrender to Compassion''.


    Holding one of his palm in a strange position, Can Mouye struck with the other one right in front of him. This time, Cao Yun felt that he was completely surrounded by this palm. Not only was he able to see it in front of him, palms as huge as his chest were attacking him from all around. Once again, this was a manifestation of Can Mouye''s Palm Aura.


    Without flinching, Cao Yun tightened his grip around ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. This wasn''t Qi Manifestation. Only one palm was real while the others were the product of the intimidating aura produced by Can Mouye. Despite his mind cultivation, Cao Yun was unable to completely see through it. But he decided to trust his instinct.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    Cao Yun stabbed in the direction where he felt the most Evil Qi. And he was right. At the moment of impact, all the other palms disappeared. But now, Cao Yun''s spear was colliding with Can Mouye''s right palm. It was as huge as Cao Yun''s chest and was slowly moving forward. Even the collision with his spear did not stop it, it merely slowed it down. And now, this was a contest of strength between a 9th-grade Mortal and a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior.


    Despite his wounds, Can Mouye was able to exert almost the full might of his body. For him, it meant that he was reaching very close to a hundred thousand dan. It was largely enough to reduce a mortal to a pulp without any effort. At first, he only used a fraction of his strength. But soon enough, he realized that Cao Yun was way stronger than he had imagined. Slowly he put more and more strength in his palm. But Cao Yun did not stay idle by either. He had already used ''Dragon''s Heart'' but pushed it again and again, until finally hitting the limit. In his meridians, his Qi was going eight times faster than usual.


    But even that wasn''t enough to resist the strength of Can Mouye. His feet were sinking deeper and deeper into the ground while his arms produced cracking sounds. As pain shot through his articulations, Cao Yun mobilized all of his blood. In his sea of consciousness, the Drop of Wrath turned into a giant red demon while the ocean itself was red under the gigantic Heart Star. With the intent of the Drop of Wrath coursing through his veins, his blood became hotter and hotter.


    All happened in a matter of a few seconds. Can Mouye and Cao Yun were locked in a contest of pure strength. Both of them were able to rival the raw strength of the other. If either of them let go now, they would receive the full force behind their attack. But none of them could last very long either. Cao Yun had used absolutely all of his cards and his body kept on emitting worrisome noises. But on the other hand, Can Mouye was gravely wounded. That was apparent by the fact that he had not used any Qi Manifestation yet.


    The situation was not completely locked though. Despite his weakened state, Can Mouye had still the upper hand. Cao Yun was slowly being pushed back. And he was painfully aware of it. Right now, he was clearly pushing his body beyond its limits. Even though he was able to enhance his strength, it didn''t mean that his muscles, bones and articulations were ready for that. Even with all the tempering he had gone through, this was too much for him right now.


    But there was a silver lining to it. As he was feeling incredible pain in his arms, he was also feeling his cells slowly opening in full to his Qi. Under the intense pressure, his Qi cultivation was progressing by itself. Thanks to that, it alleviated the pain a little. Still, he would not be able to last very long in the current situation.


    Suddenly, a new tremor shook the entire cave. Ironically, because Cao Yun had his feet buried in the ground, he did not flinch at all. On the other hand, Can Mouye was not expecting such a powerful tremor and lost his balance. After all, the tremors had increased in intensity after Cao Yun had sent the drop of Death Energy in Huang Liyue''s sea of consciousness. But at the time, Can Mouye was fully absorbed in his failed Lesser Tribulation.


    Using this perfect opportunity, Cao Yun pressed on with his attack.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''.


    Retracting his spear a tiny bit, he found a new momentum and was able to stab through the palm. The blade tore apart Can Mouye''s hand, almost cutting off his thumb. Then, it reached for his throat.


    ''Everlasting Salvation''!


    For an instant, thousands of palms appeared between Can Mouye and the spear. They were all rotating at an incredible speed. Once more, he had used his Palm Aura rather than any form of Qi Manifestation. In Cao Yun''s mind, it was clear. He just couldn''t manifest his Qi at all. The wounds he had sustained were even worse than he had thought. And indeed, he was right. The Evil Qi within Can Mouye was completely chaotic. If he tried to manifest his Qi, he would definitely lose control of it and he would literally consume his own flesh. After everything he had done to stay alive all those years, he was not going to kill himself right now.


    Those thousands of palms did not stop the spear but they redirected its trajectory.


    At the last moment, Cao Yun dispersed all of his technique.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''.


    Suddenly, he pulled back his spear and swept low, toward Can Mouye''s legs. Injecting his Qi in the technique, he became fast enough that not even his opponent was able to react in time. With a powerful and violent noise, Can Mouye''s left leg got cleanly broken in half. But Cao Yun''s attack had not enough strength to go further. Ignoring the pain, Can Mouye attacked again with his bloody palm.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Both men exchanged hundreds of moves in a few instants. ''Shadow Heart Palm''. ''Scales Under the Waterfall''. ''Mercy From Heaven''. ''Mountain Under Thunder''...


    At the end of the exchange, the two men were covered in their own blood. Yet, they kept on attacking, blocking, parrying. Near the end, there was almost no more technique. Can Mouye was just striking with his palms using the full might of his Palm Aura. But the same was true of Cao Yun. All the useless movements in his techniques disappeared as he had no more strength to produce them. For a brief moment, Cao Yun even forgot that he was fighting a mortal enemy. Similarly, Can Mouye also lost himself in the fight. Gradually, he found himself even enjoying the exchange. The pain and the fatigue were producing strange results in their minds. But more than that, they were pushing the boundary of their arts.


    Can Mouye was refining his Palm Aura with every move as he was confronting them to Cao Yun. But the same was true for the young man as well. In his sea of consciousness, the Insight Writings at the bottom of the ocean were getting more and more agitated.


    When finally, one of those Insight Writings emerged. It began to hover above the surface of the ocean and the character appeared to Cao Yun''s mind. Although he had heard about this from Chief Elder Baishen, he had not expected to reach this state so soon. Indeed, he had just reached the state of Spear Aura. This was the first step on the road to achieve Spear Heart.


    In the middle of the intense fight of attrition, Can Mouye bore witness to the change in his opponent. His spear that had looked ready to collapse was now without any damage whatsoever. Besides that, the spear itself seemed to be even bigger. Slowly, it even gained in size. By the end, it almost looked to be as wide as Cao Yun''s trunk. The vision was very strange as Can Mouye could clearly see the young man holding the spear without any problem and yet it looked like it was way too big for him at the same time. Apart from this optical illusion, Cao Yun''s strikes became more and more powerful. But at the same time, both Can Mouye and Cao Yun were losing their strength slowly. It was just that Cao Yun was losing it more slowly now.


    With each of Cao Yun''s strikes, Can Mouye had the impression that he was wielding a dozen of spears. But of course, just like his palms, only one was real. And unlike Cao Yun, Can Mouye was able to see through the Spear Aura without any problem at all. After all, his cultivation was way higher and he had also more experience with Martial Auras.


    -


    After several minutes of a destructive and bloody fight, another tremor changed everything. It happened at the worst possible time for Can Mouye. Losing his balance once again, he was able to quickly recover. In the middle of such an intense fight though, even blinking could be lethal. By using this lapse in Can Mouye''s concentration, Cao Yun was able to pierce through his chest. Feeling the blade getting dangerously close to his heart, Can Mouye found that he had no choice. He was about to die so he decided to throw caution to the wind. Being killed by a mere Mortal after all the sufferings and sacrifices he had endured was not acceptable. Dying, period, was not acceptable.


    ''Three Steps to Cross the World''. ''Infinite Wisdom''.


    The fleeting image of Tianfomo, the Evil Heavenly Buddha appeared behind Can Mouye. The next moment, he found himself farther behind Cao Yun''s back, ready to kill the young man. And Cao Yun was unable to move. There was a powerful force keeping him in place. Underneath his feet, he was able to perceive a giant palm of the Evil Heavenly Buddha. But it was way less corporeal than when Can Mouye had chased Huang Liyue.


    ''Mercy From Heaven''!


    From the ceiling, a black palm with a strange character engraved in its center fell toward Cao Yun.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    Unable to move around, Cao Yun was still able to stab toward the palm with his spear. For a brief instant, his Spear Aura got altered by the Qi he put inside the attack. Can Mouye saw a giant pillar of light going straight for his palm. And around the pillar, there was the figure of a terrifying azure dragon. it just blinked into existence before being replaced with Cao Yun''s giant spear. The spear itself looked like the pillar of an imperial palace.


    With everything he had left, Cao Yun put all his strength and a huge deal of Qi in his attack. On the receiving end, Can Mouye felt that pressure on himself. To push through, he was forced to mobilize more and more Qi, and Evil Qi in particular. But because his internal Qi was still so chaotic, it had an effect on his body.


    In the middle of the attack, the black palm dissipated and Cao Yun was freed. Can Mouye fell to the ground while spitting blood. There was no doubt to be had, he was dying. At first, he had thought that he would be able to contain the problem. Unfortunately for him, he had to fight against Cao Yun at the same time. And now, he had definitely lost control of his Evil Qi. In his chest, he could feel his lungs being corroded by it as they were slowly getting filled with his own blood. Despite everything he had done to avoid this fate, he would die today. There was nothing to do about it. Sadly, he was knowledgeable enough to understand that point. Not even his new master could save him. Well, he probably wouldn''t either since he had failed to bring him Cao Yun and what he had inside of him.


    Wait! Maybe he could use what Cao Yun had inside of him! Although he didn''t know what it was, he knew that it had saved his life once. And because Cleansed Asura wanted it, it was most likely related to either Evil Qi or Death Energy, or both. Yes, he just had to put his hands on this.


    He had no idea what it was or where it was within Cao Yun. So he would need to dissect him thoroughly. Maybe he would even vivisect him. First of all, he had to make sure he could not defend himself. If everything was lost anyway, Can Mouye was ready to use his trump card. First, he would pin him down and get rid of his limbs. Then, he could get to work and find the secret he had in him. And even if he couldn''t find anything, at least he would take the boy down with him!


    ''Reverberation of Peace in the Universe''!


    Can Mouye directly used his ultimate technique. Tianfomo, the Evil Heavenly Buddha appeared in full behind him, blossoming with his ten thousand arms. And as one, all of his hands clapped. In front of him, there were now five thousands pairs of clapped hands as though each pair was praying.


    Of course, this produced a titanic shockwave throughout the cave, and the entire tunnels as a matter of fact. Cao Yun was hit by the wave. Unable to dodge something that literally covered everything, the young man still had enough acuity to protect Huang Liyue and the egg. They were on the opposite side of the room. Thus, he put himself between the shockwave and them. Because sound was nothing more than moving air, Cao Yun had an idea.


    Just like he had done in the Howling Crane Gorges, he used his spear to stab through the wind coming his way. ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. In the sound though, there was also Evil Qi. But he also had a way to deal with it thanks to his Drop of Wrath.


    As Cao Yun was trying to protect himself, the cave was unable to endure the attack. Many tiny cracks had already crisscrossed the ceiling. And with this powerful shockwave, it could not support its own weight anymore. Muffled by the noise of ''Reverberation of Peace in the Universe'', the entire room caved in.

 Chapter 267: The fallen palace

    As Cao Yun was still piercing through the shockwave of Can Mouye''s attack, he was unable to move in time. In an instant, the ceiling fell down on everyone''s head. What already was a scene of war turned into a pure apocalypse. Outside, one could see the peak above the cave they were in caving in. Then, a chain reaction caused the entire mountain range to collapse. And high in the sky, the purple scars became brighter and brighter as they were expanding in all eight directions. Soon the whole world would crumble and everything in it would be crushed into nothingness.


    In the cave, Cao Yun had only one thought and this wasn''t his own survival. Instead, he thought about Huang Liyue and also the egg. The woman was still recovering while being unconscious. As such she was defenseless. And of course, so was the egg. However, he truly had no way of helping them right now. He himself was under the rumbles. His body had been able to survive the depths of the Ocean of Turbid Anguish. Not even a total collapse of the mountains above him was enough to kill him. That said, it hadn''t been good for his body either.


    Suddenly receiving the weight of the world on his shoulders could cause a lot of damage. As soon as he could, Cao Yun had mobilized his whole cultivation and circulated his Qi to perform ''Dragon''s Chest'' on his entire body. Like that, he was able to sustain very few injuries. That being said, he felt an intense pain all over his body. As the mountain had collapsed, the Evil Qi within the dust was now everywhere. And some had obviously started to infiltrate all his wounds. Because he was focused on something else, he failed to prevent the intrusion. But he quickly recovered from the shock and took care of the Evil Qi in him afterward. Thankfully, it wasn''t bad enough that he couldn''t control that amount of Evil Qi and Death Energy.


    Right now, he was buried under a literal mountain. His main goal was to get to Huang Liyue. Since he had completely lost all sense of orientation, Cao Yun used his Drop of Wrath and his understanding of ''Death Verses'' to use both the Evil Qi and the Death Energy around him to orientate himself. Because the rubbles were still moving around, it was difficult. Right now, he had no real control over his Qi outside of his body. And in such a chaotic environment, it was even harder to use his abilities than in the depths of the ocean which was rather stable.


    That being said, he truly hoped to find a pocket of pure Qi in this chaotic Evil Qi. But he was almost certain that he would be unable to detect his enemy. And that was a real problem. Although Can Mouye had pushed his body very far, Cao Yun was convinced that he would not die right away. Besides, such a collapse would have very little effect on him. Ironically, Cao Yun even hoped that he was fine for he needed him to get information. He was his first real lead, he couldn''t accept to lose him before extracting what he needed from him.


    Still, his first goal was to protect Huang Liyue, not to find Can Mouye. Helping the person who had saved his life took precedence over his revenge.


    Mobilizing his mind cultivation, Cao Yun tried to clearly analyze the rocks and boulders all around him. He was in perfect darkness so he could not use his eyes. But all his other senses were also heightened. With utmost caution, Cao Yun started to clear the rocks around him. This was a very meticulous and long process. If he chose the wrong rocks or moved them the wrong way or even the right way but too fast, he could cause further collapse. If Huang Liyue and the egg had not been crushed, by being imprudent, he could put them in harm''s way. Even if Huang Liyue was unconscious and injured, her body should still be resistant enough to survive the collapse. But Cao Yun was not entirely sure... The egg on the other hand had very little hope of survival. After losing both its parents, Cao Yun didn''t want it to die too.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun felt a big pocket without much Evil Qi in it. It was probably completely filled with air, which would explain the low density of Evil Qi within.


    Digging a bit more, Cao Yun was able to see some light. But that wasn''t the light of day. No, this was a yellow light, of the exact same color as the Yellow Sorrows Water. Hopefully, this was the yellow lake Cao Yun had been close to. Maybe, Huang Liyue was there!


    When his hands pushed the last boulder out of the way, Cao Yun realized that he had been mistaken. What he found in front of him were wooden planks. He had not reached the yellow lake, he had reached the fallen palace that had appeared in his vision. And in the middle of the room in front of him, there was indeed the yellow stone from which the yellow lake had emerged. Looking all around, Cao Yun saw a staircase leading above. Apparently, the palace had not been further damaged by the collapse. Even in its state, it had been able to sustain the shock.


    As he was hesitating on what to do, Cao Yun heard a voice in his head. He immediately recognized the voice which sounded familiar. This was Cleansed Asura''s voice.


    "So you''re the disciple he has chosen... Come on in."


    With that voice, a pull began to affect the Drop of Wrath in his heart. Cao Yun literally went through the boulders and the wooden planks in front of him. When he found himself in the yellow lit room, he understood what had happened. Using the cover of the darkness and the boulders, some black chains had coiled themselves around him waist. And now, they were slowly going around his limbs as well.


    Even with what was left of his strength, Cao Yun was unable to break free from their constraint. As he was struggling against the black and cold metal, the young man was sent through the ceiling and found himself on the upper floor. In front of him was a giant metallic coffin that was perfectly black as well. From this coffin, there was an evil atmosphere leaking out. With his sensitivity, Cao Yun was able to clearly discern Evil Qi and Death Energy. This Evil Qi was the one that had permeated the entire Yellow Death World. In contact with the Death Energy, it had transformed and infected everything. But now that he was close to the original source of it, Cao Yun also realized that it was extremely similar to Cleansed Asura''s Qi.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Boy, I am Cleansed Asura. And you have something that belongs to me."


    Once more, Cao Yun felt a powerful pull on his Drop of Wrath. For the first time ever, he felt that the Drop of Wrath was ready to betray him. Until now, it had acted by instinct. When it had tried to take over, it was just a side effect of it being agitated. But now, there was truly some intent to betray him in order to go back to its rightful master. Most likely, this was due to some remnants of Cleansed Asura''s intent in it and not the Drop of Wrath itself.


    "You dare slander my master by usurping his name?!"


    "Oh? Boy, let me ask you. Why do you think your ''master'' is the real Cleansed Asura and I am the fake one? What proof do you have of that? After all, you''ve only met this fake master what, one hour? Even less than that? Yet, you claim that he was the real Cleansed Asura. Let me tell you boy, I am the real one. This fake tried to take over my body when I was mortally wounded while getting into your world. He''s just a parasite who used this opportunity to try and become the real thing.


    "But I am the real Cleansed Asura! Me and no one else!"


    In his last words, Cao Yun felt a deep hatred and an immeasurable rage. Apparently, this was a very sensitive point for him.


    "Yet, when my master sacrificed himself, this Inner World started to fall down. Isn''t that proof enough that he was the master of this place?"


    "Of course he was, he stole that from me. Just like he stole my body and my precious legacy. This Drop of Wrath in your chest is rightfully mine. And after ripping it out of your lifeless body, I will finally regain all of my strength!"


    From the coffin, a young man appeared. Cao Yun had never met him so he didn''t recognize him, but if Huang Liyue had been there, she would have. He was Gui Bei.


    "Look at me! I had to slowly cultivate a soul seed within this stupid boy just so I could endure. But now that his body is perfectly harmonized with my soul, I will finally be able to get out of this dying carcass of a world."


    Finding out someone''s cultivation without using spiritual senses was rather difficult. Watching the young man in front of him, Cao Yun could tell that there was not a great difference between the both of them. He should not have been stronger than a 2nd or 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. Yet, he was able to control those black chains to trap him. Most likely, this was the ancient soul in his body that was channeling enough strength to completely trap Cao Yun.


    "Indeed, you''ve guessed right. This boy is rather weak. I was deeply hesitant with him, but not that many people crossed into this world after all. And I just couldn''t wait any longer. I tried to make him as powerful as possible, but that was the extent his soul was able to endure."


    Gui Bei walked a bit closer and extended his arm toward Cao Yun''s chest.


    "However, once I regain my Drop of Wrath, my cultivation will soar beyond your imagination. In a few years I will completely crush all boundaries. Your entire kingdom will kneel before me or die. And once I have conquered your world, I will plan my revenge against the man who assaulted me. This entire universe will be covered in blood. I will burn down the very cosmos to get my hands on this bastard. And he will end up begging me to put an end to his misery.


    "He will rue the day he thought he could beat Cleansed Asura!"


    "Oh? So you intend on keeping slandering my master by usurping his name?"


    A wave of black energy erupted from Gui Bei.


    "I AM CLEANSED ASURA!!!"


    "You do not sound that convinced."


    Absolute rage was written all over Gui Bei''s face. His face was barely human at the moment.


    "If you want my opinion, you should just rename yourself Old Demon. After all, aren''t you just some kind of inner demon of my master Cleansed Asura?"


    "YOU!!! YOU!!!! I swear that you will beg me for the sweet release of death! I intended to just kill you and be done with you, but no! You had to insult me! Well, I will extract every tiny drop of blood from you. Then, when your body is dead, I will keep your soul with me and make sure to keep your mind alive and intact for as long as I can!"


    As he was getting more and more agitated, Cao Yun could feel his Evil Qi through the black chains. He was rather certain that he could have slowed it down but he could never have stopped it completely. However, he did not even try. Indeed, that was part of his plan. To be honest, he didn''t find that his plan was very smart, but he had to try something. This ''Old Demon'' was ready to kill him at any moment to get the Drop of Wrath. By enraging him he had been able to buy some time. But that wasn''t all. He was also hoping for something that was happening.


    Now, this would be a contest of wills. And with his mind cultivation and his new control over the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was way more confident in beating Old Demon in terms of will and mind rather than physically. In the outside world, he had no chance against him. Although his vessel was not that strong, the simple fact that he was able to control those black chains made him a real threat to him. Most likely, his power came from this very world. In the Hongchen Kingdom, Cao Yun would not have had to fear him that much. But here, he was dangerous.


    To be honest, Cao Yun had really no way of knowing for sure whether his master or this Old Demon was the real Cleansed Asura. But the name was not relevant, he had chosen his master. Even if he was a fake, that would not change his view of him at all.


    Finally, what Cao Yun was looking for happened. The Evil Qi seeped through his body. Once more, he made no effort to try and stop it. He didn''t want to alert his enemy. Consequently, his pain was incredible. Old Demon tortured him using the Evil Qi. Under this torment, Cao Yun writhed in agony. At any moment, he could stop it by using his mind cultivation but he couldn''t reveal his hand for now. Thus, he had to endure. The only part of his mind he used was his will. Thankfully, it had been enhanced by the Chamber of Government.


    "Are you ready to beg yet? I sure hope not! Let me enjoy it a bit longer..."


    The pain then focused on his head. For several long minutes, Cao Yun felt as though someone was splitting his skull with a cleaver. Such a pain was beyond what a mortal could endure. Even a middle Mortal would have at least fainted or maybe even died from the pain. But it was not enough to kill a late Mortal like Cao Yun. Old Demon truly wanted to keep him alive. Cao Yun also felt some Evil Qi around his Lower Dantian. He was certain that it was there to prevent him from attempting suicide. Indeed, he could have detonated his Lower Dantian.


    But Cao Yun had made sure to show no sign of that. After all, Old Demon could probably destroy his cultivation. And if he tried that, Cao Yun would be forced to reveal that he wasn''t so powerless against Evil Qi, thwarting his own plan.


    After what felt like an eternity of pain, Cao Yun finally felt what he had been looking for. The pain spread to his mind and soul. What should have horrified him made him feel intense joy instead. He had been right to enrage Old Demon and he had not endured the pain for nothing. At last, Old Demon was invading his sea of consciousness to try and torture his soul and probably to wrestle the control of the Drop of Wrath out of his mind.

 Chapter 268: Old Demon

    Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness had changed quite a lot during his stay in the Yellow Death World. But even very recently, more changes had happened still.


    In the sky, there were six stars forming most of the Azure Dragon constellation. The Horn Star, the Neck Star, the Root Star, the Room Star, the Heart Star and finally the Tail Star were shining brightly in the clear sky. Blue, orange, white and red were moving through the firmament. As of now, only the Winnowing Basket Star was missing, the seventh and final star of the Azure Dragon Constellation. This one was very different from the others in the fact that according to what Cao Yun had read, it should refer to attacks with the bottom half of the spear. In the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' manual, the moves associated with this star were very similar to moves with a weighted staff.


    All the stars were perfectly formed and looked absolutely identical to real ones.


    Beneath them, there were the Five Agents. Each one had the appearance of a statue made in a different matter. The Shen character was above the other four as it was spreading a veil of faint flames around its brethren. Among them, the Po character was the strangest one. At first, it used to look like an ivory statue of the character. But now, it almost looked like a bone that had been carved. There was also a light cloud of white dust around it. All these tiny particles were in fact Death Energy.


    In the middle of the Five Agents, there were two things. The first one was the forming Five Echoes Pearl. Now and then, some faint filaments of energy shot out from the characters and mixed together within the pearl. And it was a pearl. Right now, it was still tiny but it would grow until Cao Yun could finally energize the next chamber of his Upper Dantian, hopefully the Chamber of Heavenly Court this time around.


    Beneath that pearl was the Drop of Wrath. Even that drop of blood had changed. Its shape and color were identical. But inside there was something new now. Indeed, there was a Po character perfectly identical to the one outside of it. The only difference resided in the absence of the cloud of Death Energy around it, not the character itself. The Drop of Wrath had devoured all the Death Energy sent in it.


    Finally, at the very surface of the ocean below, there was a golden character floating. It was trying to float away from the water. But each time it really tried to get up there, it fell back down again almost immediately. Cao Yun could still not see too deep beneath the ocean, but there were many more such characters in the depth of his ocean. However, he now was conscious of that. Even though he couldn''t know how many there were, he knew what they were. Those were Insight Writings born from his own understanding of his martial art and of the spear. In fact, there could also be other Insight Writings from other understandings of his.


    In this sea of consciousness, an intruder appeared. This was an intruder Cao Yun had been expecting, and even hoping for. From the horizon, a black wave was disturbing the tranquil ocean. Obviously, this black wave had been caused by the Evil Qi sent by Old Demon. Not only did he want to get the full control of the Drop of Wrath, but he also wanted to torture Cao Yun''s very soul.


    What he was not expecting though was that Cao Yun was ready to receive him. Even with the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun should not have been able to enter his sea of consciousness. So he should have been confused and unprepared. However, it was the absolute opposite.


    Still, Cao Yun waited for the Evil Qi to get as close as possible. He wanted to strike a powerful blow to Old Demon. And the best way to do so was to let him invest as much energy in this endeavor as possible. The moment he would realize this was a trap would be too late to pull back. Unfortunately, Old Demon did not send his own soul within Cao Yun. But he had sent a part of his intent to seize control of the Drop of Wrath.


    In theory, this was a good plan. Indeed, the Drop of Wrath had still some intent from Cleansed Asura in it and he was able to resonate with it. Maybe he was indeed the real Cleansed Asura and Cao Yun''s master had been fake. But that really didn''t matter in the least. What Cao Yun knew was that his master was a noble cultivator and that this Old Demon was obscene. Because of the image of his master being attached to the name Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun was refusing to use it for his current enemy. Even if he learned that he was indeed the real one, he would never call him that. Besides, it infuriated him, so Cao Yun quite liked it.


    A whirlwind of black energy began to surround the Drop of Wrath. Suddenly it got inside of it. That was when Cao Yun closed the trap. High in the sky, the Heart Star expanded all of a sudden. In an instant, it became as vast as the entire sky and everything turned bright red, even the ocean below. From the outside world, no more Evil Qi could penetrate Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. And Old Demon felt an ominous sensation in the back of his mind.


    The Shen character started to rotate on itself, producing a wall of fire around both the Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath. By its sheer rotation, the tornado of flames sucked in more and more of the Evil Qi inside the young man''s sea of consciousness.


    Within the Drop of Wrath, something also happened. Using the influence of Old Demon on it, Cao Yun had been able to detect exactly where the intent of Cleansed Asura still resided inside. Using his Po character, he took control of the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Then, he guided tongues of fire inside. In a matter of several seconds, he purged all this former influence. And the Evil Qi of Old Demon was now trapped within the Drop of Wrath without any anchor in it to try and influence its actions. As such, the Drop of Wrath naturally started to digest this intruder. Cao Yun had worked hard on his connection with this blood. He would not let anyone take it from him now.


    Outside of the inferno, the black energy coalesced into a face. This was Cleansed Asura''s face but with a different character on his forehead.


    "You think you can contend with me, boy? I have crossed the veil of thousands of universes! I traveled through the void! I even transcended godhood! And you think you pathetic efforts will do anything except crumble before my might?!"


    "If you are so mighty, why do you feel the need to boast about it? Show me that you are just that powerful. Come and take it!"This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "You...!"


    On the forehead of that figure, the character began to shine with golden lights. Gradually, the inferno surrounded Cao Yun''s Five Agents slowed down more and more, until it simply stopped. Then, vortexes of black energy attacked it on all eight directions.


    It was only a matter of seconds before the wall of fire would fall. But Cao Yun had not even used his most powerful means yet. For now, he was still busy controlling the Po character within the Drop of Wrath. He had methodically chased down and purged all traces of any former influence in the Drop of Wrath. And then, he had stimulated it to consume the Evil Qi sent by Old Demon inside. As most of his mind cultivation was focused on this process and not what was happening around the Five Agents, it had allowed Old Demon''s partial intent to deal a great blow to the protection of Shen the Fire Spirit.


    But now, it was finally done! There was no more trace of anything foreign within the Drop of Wrath. Unfortunately, that didn''t mean that Cao Yun had the full control or authority over it. But it was now obeying him with far more ease. And the first thing he did was to test it out full-scale.


    Once more, a red giant began to emerge from the Drop of Wrath. It towered over the vast ocean and was almost tall enough to touch the Heart Star with the summit of his head. As it grew, the wall of fire surrounding the Five Agents disappeared in its body. In all eight directions, the Evil Qi sent by Old Demon was pushed back no matter how much strength he was putting in that attack. And before long, the figure was fully manifested. It had still only one face and one pair of arms. But its body was now a bit different.


    Obviously, he was completely crimson red, the color of Cao Yun''s blood now. All over his body, there were golden lines forming complex engravings as though he was literally a statue. But now, there were also a few jewelries on him as well as a golden clothe around his hips.


    When he opened his eyes, this demon let out an aura so powerful that even Old Demon''s face flickered. His eyes shined on the face of his enemy. And in the middle of his eyebrows there was now a character as well. This character was very familiar to Cao Yun, for this was the Po character he had engraved in the Drop of Wrath.


    Old Demon''s intent focused all of his energy on a single point. From all the black energy, an arrow condensed above the reddened ocean. As the golden character on his forehead shined, the arrow was hurtled toward the red giant. Immediately, he caught the arrow with his right hand. While yelling, the demon crushed the golden arrow that dispersed into a cloud of black dust. Then, that black cloud simply fused with his red skin. In no time, all of the black energy had been completely absorbed by the manifestation of the Drop of Wrath. Then, it was Old Demon''s intent''s turn.


    Using both of his arms, the demon grabbed the face that had appeared in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. With all of his might, the red demon tore it apart. He even brought it to his mouth and sank his teeth in it. Amidst the screams of agony and anger of Old Demon, the red giant devoured the entire face.


    -


    In the real world, Cao Yun woke up. Everything had happened so fast that Old Demon was still confused. All of a sudden, his connection with a huge part of his intent had been cut off and he found himself unable to send more Evil Qi in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. In his pride, he did not even think that Cao Yun could cause such a problem. Thus, his first idea was that the Drop of Wrath had escaped the young man''s control as he was trying to seize it. He wasn''t entirely wrong on the fact that the Drop of Wrath was partially responsible. But his analysis was truly lacking.


    By sending a part of his intent into Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Old Demon had weakened himself. Thanks to that, Cao Yun was able to activate ''Dragon''s Heart'' and broke the restriction of the black chains on his body.


    "You! What did you do?! What trap was that?! What did that old bastard give you?!"


    "This wasn''t my master''s doing right now. You''re just not as powerful and mighty as you thought you were."


    "Die!"


    As one, thousands of chains went straight for Cao Yun''s chest, ready to gouge out his heart.


    ''Dragon''s Chest''.


    Circulating his blood and the intent from the Drop of Wrath in his chest, a new result happened with his technique. All around his chest, dragon scales appeared on the surface of his clothes. All the chains struck him but none were able to pierce his flesh. However, Cao Yun was violently thrown against a wall.


    "What?! Qi Manifestation...?!"


    Old Demon stepped backward. A Mortal should not be able to do so. No matter how powerful he was, Cao Yun should not be able to manifest his Qi. This was just impossible. But then, Old Demon noticed the reason behind the phenomenon. This wasn''t real Qi Manifestation. Just like Huang Cixi, this wasn''t his Qi that had manifested these scales, this was his own blood. By a process similar to demonic beasts, his blood rich in both Qi and the intent of the Drop of Wrath had called forth this manifestation.


    Then, that meant that this boy had almost a full control on the Drop of Wrath... This was not acceptable! Even Old Demon wasn''t sure whether he could control the Drop of Wrath. Yet, in front of him a boy who had not even reached twenty had done so! No matter what it took, he would kill him and take out his very heart!


    "I''ll open your chest, drink your blood and devour your heart!"


    "New idle threats..."


    Without flinching, the young man grabbed his spear. To be honest, he did not know whether he could fight indefinitely against this opponent. With his cultivation, he was very sensitive to every cell in his body and he could hear all of his bones and muscles screaming in agony. Just now, his spine had almost be ruptured by the shock. But it wasn''t as though he had any choice. Right now, he was completely trapped in this fallen palace. If he tried to flee, the black chains would attack him from everywhere all at once.


    After his bloody fight against Can Mouye, his body was at the point of rupture and so was his spear. Thanks to the attempt by Old Demon to invade his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun had restored some of his mental strength and some of his Qi as well. But despite the show he was putting on, he was incredibly weak. The mere fact that Old Demon was unable to see through his bluff proved to him that he too was weaker than he was letting on.


    From his own words, he had captured this Gui Bei to put his soul in it so that he could survive. If Cao Yun had to guess, he had rushed the process because the entire place was about to go down on him as well. Apparently, he was right. And that explained why he was still alive right now. If Old Demon had been at full strength, Cao Yun would probably already be dead. The fact that he was so adamant to get the Drop of Wrath was another proof that he was probably extremely weak. In fact, he might even be weaker than a Mortal Warrior.


    The problem was that within this dying world, Old Demon could control those chains. Even if he was weak, those chains contained a lot of Evil Qi. Cao Yun had resisted them just now, but he probably wouldn''t be able to last very long either. As soon as Old Demon would call out his bluff, he would be dead.


    While Gui Bei''s face was distorted by rage, another tremor shook everything. But this one was different from the previous ones. It had come from deep below.

 Chapter 269: The rising phoenix

    Buried under the rubbles, Can Mouye''s Evil Qi had completely gone out of control. Due to the dust entering his lungs, his entire body was now in chaos. Immediately, he released his Qi Manifestation to save his strength. The collapse itself could not kill him but the invasion of Evil Qi and Death Energy in his already broken body could.


    Unlike, Cao Yun, he was a Mortal Warrior and he was able to feel the Qi all around him. Although he wasn''t as sensitive to Evil Qi and Death Energy as the Drop of Wrath and ''Death Verses'' had allowed Cao Yun to become, he could sense all the particles of energy around him. Thanks to that, he quickly found a pathway through the rubbles to get to safety. Ultimately, he had to go back to the fallen palace. Without his master''s help, he had no way of leaving this world. And if this world collapsed on him, he would be annihilated body and soul.


    That being said, he wasn''t sure what would be the reaction of his master after this new failure. Not only had he failed to kill Cao Yun over the Ocean of Turbid Anguish, but he had even failed right now. Besides, Cao Yun had even thwarted his attempted breakthrough. Right now, he was unable to find any redeeming element to try and defend himself in the eyes of his new master. From the very beginning, he had not trusted this entity. He knew that he would probably get rid of him at some point. But he didn''t really have a choice if he wanted to survive and leave this place.


    Digging toward this pocket of air he had found, Can Mouye finally reached a small part of the yellow lake that had stayed mostly intact. By falling, the rocks had literally formed a small room. Many of those rocks had probably been dissolved by the Yellow Sorrows Water and that had probably helped forming this cavity.


    Beside the yellow lake, Can Mouye noticed the shape of a woman. Huang Liyue was laying down, very close to the yellow water.


    Focusing his senses on her, he noticed that her state was slowly improving. Still, she was not in a very good condition. And an idea popped up in his mind. If he killed a Spirit Warrior as renown as a daughter of the Huang family, he might be able to redeem himself in the eyes of his master and maybe even save his life. By offering her True Fiery Fenghuang blood to his master, he could see an opportunity to protect himself. Right now, his master was the only one who could offer him a way out of this world. Without him, he would die very soon.


    Focusing all of his senses over Huang Liyue''s body, Can Mouye made sure that she was powerless. She had been lucky enough to not get hit by a single rock. Even the egg beside her was perfectly fine. While both he and Cao Yun had met with misfortune, the sleeping beauty had been protected by the heavens.


    Her fate was to end here and now though. Despite her cultivation, Can Mouye could tell that she was too weak to even move her own body. He could kill her without even mobilizing his strength. In addition to appeasing his master, killing her would have another purpose. She had a spatial ring on her finger. Hopefully, she had not already consumed all of her pills and treasures. As long as there was the tiniest bit of hope, Can Mouye would hang on to his life. This was his only goal and the only thing keeping him going forward. The decades of training he had suffered at the hands of the demonic cultivators had erased all other thoughts and desires. But he had sworn to never let go of his life, no matter what he had to do to achieve such a purpose. He was ready to commit any atrocity and to degrade himself to any length.


    From his own spatial ring, Can Mouye took out a small dagger he was keeping as a beast tamer in order to cut open demonic beasts. Walking closer to Huang Liyue, he would not use his Qi. He would just gut her like an animal.


    But as soon as he was within arm''s reach, he stopped. All around him, there was an intense spiritual pressure. His body was completely frozen in place. The sensation was terrifying. Within his body, there was a cold and a fear like he had never felt before, the pure instinctive terror of an animal faced with an existence beyond his understanding. But outside, his skin was starting to heat up. Some of his hair even caught on fire and burned up. There was no doubt, he was in the presence of a True Fiery Fenghuang.


    Finally, he heard someone speaking in his head and he recognized the voice of Huang Liyue.


    "Thank you for bringing this gift to me."


    Suddenly, his finger with the spatial ring on it broke by itself. And the ring flew up in the air toward Huang Liyue''s immobile body. The woman was still perfectly still as though she was sleeping. Through the bandages, her skin had remained completely burned and yet there was some exceptional vitality radiating from her with each one of her breaths.


    The spatial ring was floating over her. A blue light escaped from it and several demonic cores appeared all over the place. Very quickly, they crumbled into dust one after the other. None of the demonic cores were beyond a 4-core. For a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, they were nothing much. But they shouldn''t have been so easily consumed either. All of the Qi that had been extracted from the cores engulfed Huang Liyue. In fact, her body began to levitate in the air.


    Can Mouye knew he had hit an iron wall. His life was completely at the mercy of that woman. Even if those demonic cores could not completely restore her health, her soul was powerful enough to obliterate his sea of consciousness with a mere thought. Right now, many possibilities were going through his head. Thankfully, his new master had erased all of his seals. Thus, he could negotiate. With the seals in place, he could never divulge any secret of his former master. But now he could. As a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, Huang Liyue was probably not that experienced with Soul Memory Search. Furthermore, no matter how much she could recover, she would still need his new master''s help to get out of this world. Yes, he still had some room to negotiate.


    Can Mouye was beyond surprised when he saw what happened next. Huang Liyue''s body in levitation in the air went toward the yellow lake. And all of sudden, she fell into it. Even though the lake wasn''t as big or as deep as before, this Yellow Sorrows Water was corrosive enough for a mere drop to be a threat to a Spirit Warrior. And she had literally thrown herself into it.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    What truly astonished Can Mouye even more was the fact that her spiritual pressure did not diminish. That meant that she was still alive.


    And indeed she was. In her sea of consciousness, the last remnants of Cleansed Asura had been completely consumed. With his very last moments, the God-Monarch had used the Death Energy contained in the drop produced by Cao Yun to restore her Soul Embryo. At that moment, she had also received some of his memories. Among them, she had mainly seen how to use this Yellow Sorrows Water. Apparently, it came from a yellow stone Cleansed Asura had found in a dead world. After studying it for centuries, he had pierced through only a few of its secrets. Among them, Huang Liyue was given instructions on how to restore herself to perfect health and even cross over two stages.


    As a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, Huang Liyue was in the middle of fusing her soul with her Soul Embryo. Thanks to this Yellow Sorrows Water, she had the means to do so in a matter of minutes. Of course, the risks were high, but given her situation, this was acceptable. After replenishing a fraction of her Qi, she was now ready.


    Huang Liyue''s body was protected by her Wei Qi as she guided the Death Energy contained in the yellow water toward her sea of consciousness. Drop by drop, it came into contact with her Soul Embryo. Each drop created a wave through her entire Soul Embryo. With them, she felt her soul getting more intimate with her Soul Embryo. Both of them were fusing faster than ever before. After all, Death Energy was fundamentally a remnant of souls. This was the perfect energy to temper one''s soul and one''s Soul Embryo, as long as the cultivator knew what he was doing of course. Because on the other hand, it was also the perfect means to corrupt and destroy one''s soul.


    Indeed, in the Death Energy, just like in Evil Qi, there could remain thoughts and desires from the dead. Contrary to Evil Qi though, Death Energy was not necessarily full of negative emotions.


    What Huang Liyue had been given was a tiny portion of ''Death Verses''. Apparently it was called ''Life Through Death''. In theory it was supposed to allow someone to recreate life after his own death by using Death Energy. Unfortunately, it was way too advanced even for Huang Liyue. But she had been given a watered down version. After all, she had not died. So she didn''t need to completely rebuild life, she needed to restore her strength, both the strength of her soul and of her body.


    With the very last bits of Cleansed Asura in her Soul Embryo, she was able to guide the yellow water to do exactly that.


    Outside, Can Mouye quite literally saw the yellow lake dry up. After the collapse of the cave, this yellow lake was just a tiny portion of what it used to be. Most likely, it had been split into different smaller lakes here and there. But still, drying up such a lake was impressive beyond measures.


    As the lake was disappearing, Huang Liyue''s body became more and more visible. Even with her Wei Qi, her bandages had been almost devoured by the corrosion. Even her body was more damaged than before. Here and there, her bones were literally visible. Strangely though, she seemed to be even more alive than before. Despite the condition of her flesh, her general state seemed to have improved considerably.


    Finally, she opened her eyes.


    Inside her pupils, there were now six flames dancing around. Deep in her heart, Huang Liyue had condensed her sixth True Fiery Fenghuang Drop. And she was very close to forming a seventh one. Besides those six flames, her pupils were extremely profound. When those magnificent eyes glanced at Can Mouye, his heart stopped beating.


    Because he was very close to reaching the Spirit Warrior realm, Can Mouye was more sensitive than other Mortal Warriors. Even without spiritual senses, he was able to understand that a change had occurred in her cultivation. But she had not just reached the 7th-grade Spirit Warrior grade. No, she had gone even one rank higher. And he could almost feel like she had touched upon the gate of the 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Of course, she would not reach that incredible level just yet. But not that many people in the Hongchen Kingdom could boast that they had caught a glimpse of this rank.


    With the naked eye, Can Mouye could see the skin grow back on her body. But then, he got blinded by a powerful light. Her entire body got engulfed in powerful flames.


    Suddenly, her roar made the world shake. Then, an explosion echoed through the rubbles as Huang Liyue launched herself upward. She burned through the rocks and boulders without any problem. In her wake, Can Mouye found himself pulled upward by an invisible force. And so was the egg. In a mere instant, Huang Liyue pierced through the entire mountain and found herself floating beneath purple scars.


    Over her head, the sky seemed to have been lacerated by millions of blades. Compared to what she had seen when she had arrived in this dead world, the sky was very close to a full collapse. Through the purple scars, she could feel the void. Space itself was ready to crumble. And when it would, everything within the Yellow Death World would disappear without leaving any trace behind.


    With her powerful spiritual senses, she was able to clearly feel everything going on beneath her. The Bone Demons were waging a terrifying war. Maybe they hoped to achieve another breakthrough to escape this world. Even the Bone Kings had left their floating palaces to devour as much of their brethren as they could. Among the eight palaces, two had already fallen to the ground and the other six palaces did not seem to be in a good condition either.


    But what Huang Liyue was after was completely different. Her spiritual senses burrowed underground until she found the object of her search.


    Another powerful tremor shook the mountains. But this one was very different. It didn''t come from the disaster happening to this world. No, it came from Huang Liyue herself. As she had just broken through, she was still full of energy and she had even absorbed more Death Energy than she could use. Right now, she focused all of her energy to achieve a single goal.


    Her senses pierced through several li of rocks. Deep within the mountains, she felt the fallen palace and she even saw Cao Yun trying to survive against the black chains hurtled toward him. Facing him was Gui Bei''s body. But this wasn''t Gui Bei in it, this was the thing using the name of Cleansed Asura.


    The tremor intensified until the mountain literally exploded upward. From the bosom of the earth, Huang Liyue used her spiritual senses to pull the fallen palace to the surface. With a brutal jerk, it was now out of the darkness.


    Both Cao Yun and Old Demon were shocked when they saw the purple sky above their heads as the ceiling of the palace had been completely ripped apart. And between them and the sky, they saw the figure of a blazing bird.


    Slowly, the light diminished and Cao Yun was able to see the figure of Huang Liyue. All her flesh had been regrown. Almost naked, her toned muscles were visible to the eye. She had the body of a true warrior. With a few bandages still fluttering to the wind as they were literally in flames, Huang Liyue appeared like a goddess of war.

 Chapter 270: Escaping death

    High in the sky, Huang Liyue was literally producing her own light. As the sky was completely riddled with purple scars, her fiery light fell upon the dead world. All the colors that had disappeared from Cleansed Asura''s inner world came back. On the ground, the Bone Demons went into a frenzy and ran as fast and as far as they could. They seemed to have even forgotten about the end of the world. This light full of life was a worse threat to them than the end of space itself.


    In the sky, the Bone Kings who had been devouring the lesser Bone Demons also got terrified by this light. However, they did not flee like the rest. As they saw the figure in the sky, they recognized the human who had intruded on their palaces before. Maybe she was the key to their survival. In her, they were able to sense a lot of Death Energy that she was still digesting. However, they were not as mindless as their brethren and they could clearly feel her power.


    The beautiful woman had a perfect and chiseled body. Engulfed in the fire and the bright colored light, she truly looked out of this world. Behind her, the figure of the True Fiery Fenghuang also appeared and soared in the sky forming yet another sun.


    In her eyes, even with the distance, Cao Yun and Old Demon could distinctly see six flames. All her True Fiery Drops were activated to their full potential. And she was even sensing the Death Energy still in her body slowly pushing her bloodline into forming a seventh drop. Now that her Qi cultivation had slowed down, all this energy was strengthening other parts of her being.


    Finally, her voice fell on the world.


    "Chen Guo, thank you."


    As he heard her, Cao Yun felt his body becoming lighter and lighter and he rose into the air. On the ground, Gui Bei''s face was distorted by rage. He couldn''t let the Drop of Wrath escape from his reach, but he was almost sure that he wasn''t Huang Liyue''s opponent. Even with his control over a part of this world, such a fight would be lost. If only he had the Drop of Wrath, he knew could have killed her. However, he had the feeling that even if he killed Cao Yun, he would not get the Drop of Wrath, the boy''s influence would remain inside of it.


    Still, his greed was not easily contained. Thus, hundreds of black chains darted from the open metallic coffin and went straight for Cao Yun, coiling around him once more.


    "Miss, this boy stole something from me."


    "Humph!"


    With a mere sound, all the chains around the young man exploded and melted right away into a rain of liquid metal.


    "Miss, we have no enmity. But if you try to steal my legacy, I will have no choice but to risk my life against you." Understanding that such a fight was extremely uncertain, and certainly very unfavorable to him, Old Demon added the carrot to the stick. "Miss, no matter how powerful you are, even you cannot survive the collapse of this world, right?"


    Huang Liyue''s eyes focused on Gui Bei. She had obviously recognized the boy she had been sent to kill. But she also recognized that he was not himself at all. His mind had been overtaken by this Old Demon who was presenting himself as Cleansed Asura. She was not even sure whether Gui Bei''s soul was still intact or not.


    "And you know how to leave this place before that happens, don''t you?"


    "Yes, Miss. If only you let me get my legacy back, I will show you." In Huang Liyue''s eyes, Old Demon began to feel a hope for his case. "After all, even if you save this boy''s life, he will die nonetheless with the collapse of space. And you with him afterward... Why should you waste your life for this boy? I did hear from my disciple that he had slaughtered some members of your family.


    "But do you also know that he let his own family die? This boy who calls himself Chen Guo is a liar, a coward, a thief, and a murderer! His entire persona is a lie. This boy does not come from a humble family, he is the heir of the Cao family from your Baziyun City." Old Demon could use both the knowledge he had from Cleansed Asura and the information he had received from Can Mouye. "He escaped when his family was being slaughtered. He even abandoned his own parents to torture and death."


    Hearing Old Demon''s recount of the events, Cao Yun was filled with an untold rage. In his heart, the Drop of Wrath was still fully activated and the red demon''s face in his sea of consciousness turned more and more hideous. If he could, he would have charged toward his enemy to tear him apart. Thankfully, Huang Liyue''s spiritual senses were still controlling his body, making him float in the air toward her.


    "In the end, he begged for his life and gave his little sister to his pursuer in a desperate attempt to stay alive one more second. As his little sister was massacred before him, he was secretly happy to be alive still. But his cowardice did not stop there..."


    "Silence!"


    Huang Liyue''s voice became as devastating as her flames. After hearing him mock Cao Yun''s tragedy, she could not take it any longer.


    "I did not claw my way back from the dead to hear your pathetic attempts to rattle me! It happens that I was able to talk with Cleansed Asura, the real Cleansed Asura! Not only do I know what consequences lead the boy to him, I also know what you are and what you are desiring."


    "I am the real Cleansed Asura!"


    "Scream it as much as you like, you won''t turn a lie into a truth. No matter how powerful you might become, you won''t be able to rewrite your own past. You are just the scraps Cleansed Asura rejected from his own character. You are everything he despised and loathed about himself and his own past. You are what he discarded to become cleansed. That boy did find a good name for you, Old Demon."


    Huang Liyue''s relentless exposure of the truth enraged Old Demon, but there was nothing he could retort back. Indeed, she was right. Cleansed Asura had been a very different man early in his life. For several centuries, he had been a violent tyrant. Hundreds of worlds had submitted to his bloody reign. After a war that had shaken his very universe, Cleansed Asura had found his redemption. Realizing all the horrors and atrocities he had visited upon others, he tried to forge a new path for his ambitions. In the end, he found only one way to be freed from his lust for power and conquest. He quite literally carved out parts of himself from his own soul. With those parts he had come to hate about himself, he also threw away his real name, never to be remembered. That day, he had taken the title of Cleansed Asura.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    He went as far as to abandon his cultivation. For several more centuries, he became an itinerant monk trying to repair what he could. After a great pilgrimage, he had found a new ambition and a new path in life. Only then did he go back to cultivating the Way. Sadly though, his travel ended when he came to this universe. Just after breaking through the veil of this world, he was sucker-punched by an unknown assailant. Fleeing, he found this world and fell literally in its entrails. He had lost the strength to leave and was just waiting his inevitable death. And after all, he wasn''t worthy of surviving, not after all he had done to others...


    Maybe another life could have been a salvation. Unfortunately, even his soul had been damaged. He would not be able to go into the cycle of reincarnation. Everything that he was would slowly disappear.


    When he had met Cao Yun, he found a way to do a bit more good in the world and to hopefully leave a good legacy behind him. But that also spelled his doom. By giving the Drop of Wrath away, the scraps he had discarded from his own soul were able to take over. And that had lead to today''s situation.


    "No wonder you could harmonize with this Gui Bei. Just like him you are full of self-hatred. Because you hate yourself and your very condition, you despise everything and everyone else. Old Demon, what do you know about family? What do you know of the pain of seeing the ones you love and hold dear die before your eyes? Although the boy has caused some pain in my family, I do know what he went through... And I won''t let you mock him for it!"


    With those words, Cao Yun remembered the red fan she had given him. There were two names on it and one of them was hers. The other one was Huang L¨¹feng. For now, Cao Yun was unable to determine whether this was her brother, her son, her lover... But clearly, he had been an important man in her life. And he could imagine some of the rest. While he was thinking about this, he saw her bring her hand to her face. As usual, she tried to caress her scar. However, it had been healed with the rest of her body.


    Obviously, considering the severity of her wounds, her original scar had been consumed by the corrosion. So when she healed, her scar had also completely healed. Where many would have been happy to lose a lifelong scar on their face, Huang Liyue was sad. In her eyes, Cao Yun discerned some melancholy. It felt as though she had lost an important memory with this scar. Although he had absolutely no proof, Cao Yun was certain that this scar was related to this Huang L¨¹feng. After all, he was the object of her last words when she had thought that she could die.


    ''Feng and Huang Dominate All Under the Sky''!


    Despite this moment of sadness, Huang Liyue did not hesitate at all. Now that she had broken through both in her Qi cultivation and her blood cultivation, she could use the ultimate arcane of ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel'', the most powerful technique of the Huang family. In her entire life, she had only seen it twice. And both times, it had been performed by her own mother.


    In the sky, a mountain range appeared. It was lost in ethereal clouds. No matter from where you were watching it, it always seemed to be far beyond your reach, just like a rainbow. And it was also full of colors and of life. Even with the distance, one could hear the many birds singing all over those mountains. But there was something very peculiar about those, the mountains were not made of rocks. Instead, they were made of literal flames. Then, the shrieks, chirps and songs from the myriad of birds intensified and could be heard throughout the continent.


    Although this sound was beautiful, there was also something terrifying in it. Soon enough, the figures of those birds appeared. From everywhere within the mountains, thousands upon thousands of birds of fire flew away toward Huang Liyue. And the mountains began to shake. To be more precise, two of the peaks were shaking. They were not peaks, no. They were two giant birds. Like their brethren, they took off and flew above them. Those two fiery birds were two True Fiery Fenghuang fully materialized.


    Seeing this beautiful spectacle, Gui Bei knew without any doubt that his end was near. With his current strength, he could put up a bit of a fight, but he would lose. Even if he was able to fend off her attack for some time, he could not win. And in the end he would die with the collapse of this world anyway. He had to find a way!


    And he only saw one...


    ''Nine Cycle Pagoda''!


    Around Gui Bei, a giant black pagoda rose. It was purely made of Evil Qi and Death Energy. Compared to the black pagoda Gui Bei had been able to summon before, it was at least three times bigger. And it also encompassed the black coffin behind Old Demon.


    ''Samsara Calamity''!


    From the pagoda''s doors and windows all opened and thousands of black chains rushed outwards. Huang Liyue was ready to take the attack head-on, only to realize she was not the target of the attack at all. In the distance, the Bone Kings were still full of hesitation. Those black chains targeted them. Just like whips, those chains attacked the Bone Kings. As they were made of Evil Qi, they were able to inflict some damage on them. But more than that, they made them taste pain. Jolted back to reality, all the Bone Kings decided to charge forward to devour Huang Liyue. After using her technique, she had lost a bit of her energy. And as she was distracted, this was the perfect moment for them to strike.


    Thankfully though, they were now way too weak to be a real threat against her, especially once her ultimate technique had fully unfolded.


    All the fiery birds flew toward the Bone Kings and reduced them into ashes in a matter of seconds. When she was still a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, she had been able to kill one of them while fleeing the others. Now that she had crossed two grades and had generated another True Fiery Drop, they had absolutely no chance at all. Besides, she knew exactly how they moved and reacted this time around. Controlling her technique with both her mind and her hands, she annihilated all the Bone Kings and completely incinerated their Death Energy.


    In the fallen palace, Gui Bei was still protected by his black pagoda. He just needed to buy some time for his goal.


    Without knowing precisely what he was trying to do, Huang Liyue had still a good enough idea. Thus, she tried to stop him. While all the small birds were burning away the Bone Kings, the two giant True Fiery Fenghuang dived down toward Gui Bei.


    ''Lotus Stupa Overtakes All Births''!


    Suddenly, the black pagoda turned into a giant dome, a stupa. When it received the two attacks, its surface began to crack and it almost collapsed. However, it just had to resist one more attack before Gui Bei was done.


    And it did!


    When the stupa collapsed, the metallic coffin was emitting a golden light. Not willing to wait for yet another attack from Huang Liyue, Gui Bei dived into the coffin.


    "You''ll both die here!"


    Forced to leave the Drop of Wrath behind, Old Demon was enraged but he had no other choice. Just after diving into the golden light, thousands of black chains appeared from the ground and pierced through the coffin, reducing it to dust. And just like that, Gui Bei disappeared but so did the golden light.

 Chapter 271: The red gate

    Still floating in the sky, Cao Yun saw the gate to the outside world explode before his eyes. Not only that, but Old Demon had fled in the body of Gui Bei. And now, he was stuck in this dying world with Huang Liyue. His first thought was not for himself but for the woman who had once again saved her life. Without him, she would have probably been able to flee. But because she had to take care of him, she had not been able to. He had to find another way out!


    Before he could come up with any kind of solution, a voice resounded in his mind.


    "Cao Yun, do not worry. That door was not our exit."


    Once again, hearing his real name was jarring and he hated that feeling. It was the name he had inherited from his parents and yet it had become estranged. However, the fact finally settled down in his conscious mind. Huang Liyue knew everything about him. At least, she knew who he was and that he had obtained the legacy of a dying God-Monarch. That being said, he did not feel threatened by her in the least.


    First of all, they were now both in a huge crisis. And more than that, she could literally crush him like an insect and take whatever she wanted from him. Yet, she was still helping him now that she knew the whole truth.


    The young man looked up at her. She was both beautiful and terrifying. While he was admiring her, she felt like a weapon that was both an impressive craftsmanship and yet also a tool of death and destruction. There was that same kind of feeling. Her body had been tempered and toned by hundreds of years of fighting and killing both demonic beasts, demons and humans alike. Now that her scar had healed, her face looked a bit less stern, but there was an immense pride in her eyes. It was as though she was completely indifferent to the chaos and destruction all around her, as though it did not concern her in the slightest.


    But even with her strength, she could not survive this disaster. If space were to crumble down, nothing would survive. Cao Yun did not even know whether the Drop of Wrath itself could survive. After all, it had been able to endure the death of its owner, but now it was way weaker than Axiu Qian had been.


    "Senior, I''m sorry. This is my fault! If my master had not given me his legacy, he would have kept this Old Demon at bay..."


    "He made his choice. If it had been someone else than you, he would not have even spoken with him. Do not feel guilty for the actions of your master. Instead, make sure to make him proud. This Old Demon will soil the name of Cleansed Asura if he is left to his own devices. Besides, your family will never be avenged and the demonic cultivators will remain an existential threat. You are the key to most of our problems. Not only were you the one who helped Spirit Master Xiao find out about their infiltration, you even hindered some of their plans even though you''re still just a Mortal. And the tragedy of your family may contain clues that could be essential to understanding what is really going on in this kingdom.


    "So, unless you want to give up, we should get out of here soon."


    Her last words made Cao Yun realize that there was still hope. If Cleansed Asura had been able to convey some of his memories to her, then she might indeed have a way out.


    Without dispelling her Qi Manifestation, Huang Liyue looked behind her in the direction of the celestial palaces. As of now, only five were still floating in the sky while all the others had fallen down to the ground. From the purple sky, literal pieces of the firmament plummeted toward the ground. Suddenly, the destruction sped up. The departure of Old Demon had been the last straw. Because he had still some connection with both Cleansed Asura and this inner world, his presence had been all that had kept enough balance. Now that he was gone, a chain reaction was caused. The very sky began to crack up.


    The new cracks were not purple, they were a window into nothingness. Just by looking at it, Cao Yun felt a powerful sensation of despair. This was not the void of space. Even in the void, there were energies and light moving around. What was beyond the cracks was just the total absence of existence itself. Thus, a metaphysical terror overtook him. Such a thing was impossible to comprehend. In his eyes, this nothingness was just pitch black but in his Dao Heart, it was the end of all things. Cao Yun was even forced to circulate his mind cultivation just to protect his sanity.


    On the other hand, Huang Liyue was sending her spiritual senses all over the celestial palaces. She was looking for one particular thing.


    Down below, the earth split open and the black ocean began to boil. Gigantic hurricanes began to form while powerful winds were generated by the collapsing sky. Even the Yellow Sorrows Water here and there reacted strangely. Columns of pure yellow rose in the sky, as though the water was sucked into pure nothingness. Unraveling under the two humans'' eyes, this was the end of a world. Space would soon crumble completely and all traces that this world had ever existed would be gone forever. And right now, they were still within the world.


    "There!"


    Suddenly, Cao Yun was pulled by Huang Liyue''s energy. Just like the True Fiery Fenghuang she had manifested, she soared through the sky at an incredible speed. As she broke through the sound barrier several times, the air pressure caused even more chaos down below and even up in the sky. But the destruction of this world was now certain and imminent. Many Bone Demons were crushed by the sonic boom itself while they were all running away from the disaster that was all over the place.


    Huang Liyue had finally found what she had been looking for and went straight for one of the celestial palaces.


    It was one of those that had crashed to the ground. It had been completely destroyed by its violent fall. A piece of the literal sky had torn it apart. In this gutted palace, it was difficult to find anything. But thanks to her spiritual senses, Huang Liyue had discovered what Cleansed Asura had shown to her. In the ruins, there was a door of some kind. This door was made of red cinnabar. Even though the building was completely destroyed, that simple gate had endured. With a wave of her hand, Huang Liyue got rid of all the rubbles covering it up.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    When Cao Yun could see the gate in its entirety, he understood why Huang Liyue had been looking for it. In the middle of the cinnabar gate, there was a strange fluctuation of black energy. All his senses told him that this wasn''t Evil Qi or Death Energy. No, this was something way more subtle, something he couldn''t comprehend. However, that resembled in nature both the darkness Cao Yun had dived into to enter this world and even the golden light from the coffin. Clearly, this was related to space.


    After getting rid of the rubbles, Huang Liyue made the gate levitate in the air. All her spiritual senses were now focused on the gate. She just kept enough of it on Cao Yun and the egg so they wouldn''t fall down from the air. Thanks to Cleansed Asura''s soul, she had a rough idea on how to use this gate. Apparently, it was the tool he had used to understand how to cross through the veil between universes. Thus, she could use it to go back to the Hongchen Kingdom. But she had absolutely no idea how space worked. Unfortunately, this was part of the knowledge that had mostly disappeared.


    Only a handful of experts had still some ideas about this mystery. And even them were just able to barely scratch the surface. So she was forced to let her instincts take over. In her Soul Embryo, there were still a few pieces of memories from Cleansed Asura. Even when he had been completely consumed, he had tried to keep them intact for this very purpose. But even they were slowly fading away.


    Because Huang Liyue could not control the gate itself, she had to be attentive to find the right time to cross over. Indeed, the fluctuations of space were completely chaotic. Although the gate would bring them back to their world, if they went in at the wrong time, they would simply get crushed and reduced to nothing.


    Cao Yun was also focused on the gate when he felt some Evil Qi he recognized getting closer and closer. In the sky, he saw one of the fiery birds with someone in its claws. This was Can Mouye. Although he was quite literally surrounded by flames, he wasn''t burning at all. Most likely, Huang Liyue had sent this Qi Manifestation to retrieve him. That meant that she had reached such a mastery that her Qi Manifestation was able to act upon her wishes without a direct intervention.


    Can Mouye was in a terrible condition. Even though Cao Yun could not use any spiritual senses or even sense the Qi within his body, the intent from the Drop of Wrath and his meager knowledge of ''Death Verses'' had improved his sensitivity to Evil Qi and Death Energy. As such, he was still able to feel that there was something really wrong in his body. Well, even without those, that was pretty obvious.


    First of all, he wasn''t moving at all and his eyes were not responsive either. From Cao Yun''s point of view, he was completely catatonic. But from what he could feel inside him, this was an entirely different story. Within his body, a war was being waged. Cao Yun could only feel the Evil Qi so he wasn''t sure what was really going on. But many strands of Evil Qi were running amok in him. Most of his body was infested with it, but not his vital organs. Each time the Evil Qi tried to go in them, it was extinguished by an unknown force. One thing was certain, this wasn''t Can Mouye''s doing. Indeed, Cao Yun had been able to detect that the Evil Qi had completely destroyed his meridians and even his Lower Dantian. Right now, only his Middle Dantian and his Upper Dantian were intact. Most likely, it was because they contained the heart and the brain.


    It was just a guess, but Cao Yun was convinced that Huang Liyue had put something in him to block the Evil Qi and keep him alive. After all, he was a great source of information. Capturing a demonic cultivator who had no seal risking to blow him up if he talked was great. In addition, she had broken through all the way to 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even if she wasn''t as proficient as Xiao Xuefeng, she could probably perform a Soul Memory Search on him.


    Right now wasn''t the time to do such a thing though. And maybe she had a better suited person in mind to do so. Anyway, for the time being Cao Yun decided to help keep Can Mouye alive. Huang Liyue was clearly busy with finding a way to get out of this doomed world. It was best not to disturb her in any way. As such, the young man used his Drop of Wrath to try and extract some of the Evil Qi from Can Mouye.


    As he was himself exhausted, he stayed very cautious. After all, he didn''t care about the well-being of Can Mouye. He just wanted to keep him from dying right away. As soon as he had the information in his mind, he would gladly put an end to his miserable existence. Besides, his cultivation days were now over. Without his Lower Dantian and most of his meridians, he would not be able to ever reach the Spirit Warrior realm. In fact, his cultivation was probably mostly gone by now. And without functional meridians, even his life expectancy would plummet down. In the best case scenario, he would live to reach fifty, maybe sixty. And his health would slowly deteriorate. Not only would he become a mortal, but a very weak and sickly one at that.


    Well, he wasn''t going to live that long anyway...


    For a few minutes, Cao Yun kept his focus on maintaining Can Mouye alive while Huang Liyue was absorbed by the fluctuations of the dark energy of the gate. All around them, the world was literally falling apart. Pieces of land even went hurtling toward the sky. At some point, a peak of the mountain got ripped from the ground and got sucked into the sky. It even broke apart the firmament as it went into pure nothingness. Thanks to Huang Liyue''s flames, the only place that was preserved was this particular fallen palace. But nothing else was safe from harm. And even the Qi Manifestation of Huang Liyue was starting to falter. Against a storm of that magnitude, not even a Sage could have resisted, let alone a late Spirit Warrior.


    She had just been pushing back the inevitable in the hope of finding a solution. And the solution was right in front of her, staring her in the face. But she had to be patient. If she were to choose the wrong moment, they would all get crushed by the gate itself. They had to cross when the fluctuations were not too violent. If she had some understanding of the laws of space, she could have forced the gate open, but she hadn''t. As such, she was forced to bid her time while being fully aware of the catastrophic situation.


    After almost half an hour trapped in this hellish storm, Huang Liyue felt something familiar. From the gate, she was able to sense some Qi from the Hongchen Kingdom. This was it! If the passage was stable enough for her to feel that, she was almost certain she could pass through.


    Without any warning, her Qi Manifestation disappeared almost completely. Cao Yun and Can Mouye were pushed toward her and enveloped in her Wei Qi. Then, she flew inside the gate with the both of them, and the egg as well of course.


    Just like what had happened when Cao Yun had entered this world, space became nonsensical. The group was maneuvered by Huang Liyue but all notions of space seemed to have disappeared. Around her Wei Qi, Cao Yun could clearly feel extreme forces trying to tear them apart. Even with her Wei Qi, the influence of these forces was high enough for him to feel them. Without this layer of protection, they would have died instantly.

 Chapter 272: Back with the livings

    Cao Yun and Huang Liyue found themselves in a complete maelstrom. Unlike their first entry into the Yellow Death World, their exit was not as smooth. When they entered the portal, some rubbles from the ruins around them fell into it as well. And as soon as they were inside, they saw those very rubbles explode and be reduced to powder then scattered everywhere. Space itself was a threat in this portal.


    Since Huang Liyue had also no knowledge of space, she was forced to use brute strength to try and make it out of there. Because the portal was connecting a dying world to the Piaolu planet, it was very unstable right now. Even in the best conditions possible, using such a portal would have been a challenge for Huang Liyue, but she was now faced with the worst conditions she could imagine.


    All around Cao Yun and herself, she extended her full spiritual senses. And she also injected her Wei Qi and even her Qi Manifestation of the True Fiery Fenghuang using her seven True Fiery Drops. In her arms, Huang Liyue was holding the Mountain Fenghuang egg while Cao Yun was still working on stabilizing the unconscious Can Mouye.


    As they were adrift within the portal, they saw it fall apart before their very eyes. Most likely, the Yellow Death World had finally fallen for good. Both of their emotions were complicated. Indeed, the two of them had received a great deal of benefits from Cleansed Asura and the last traces of his soul had now been crushed into oblivion. On the other side, they also felt a bit guilty because they had lost so many treasures that were probably in this place and they were thinking about them despite what had happened to Cleansed Asura. The yellow stone alone should have been a great treasure, and every celestial palace had probably one, at least. No matter how emotional they were, there was still a bit of greed in their heart.


    But after all they had gained from Cleansed Asura, it wasn''t the main thing on their mind. But as he thought about all that had been lost, Cao Yun remembered that he had gained a seed from the world-tree in the black pagoda.


    As the portal was collapsing behind them, Huang Liyue used all of her strength to try and speed up. The back part of her Wei Qi was getting ferociously assaulted by space itself. Under this assault, it got deformed more and more and put the entire structure at risk. They had to get out of there as fast as possible. But sadly, they had no other way than to follow the natural current of the portal and they could not know how long it would take, or if they would even be able to get out where they wanted to.


    -


    At last, Huang Liyue felt some pure Qi. They were getting closer to their goal. With her new cultivation, she was even able to perceive small details. Thanks to them, she was absolutely certain that this Qi came from the Hongchen Kingdom. They were finally going back home. With her hope renewed, Huang Liyue pushed even further. The shriek of the True Fiery Fenghuang made the entire portal vibrate.


    Finally, everything calmed down. For an instant, there was no sensation at all, no sound, no light, nothing. The next moment, Cao Yun felt the Qi of the Hongchen Kingdom around him.


    They had emerged somewhere else, in yet another small cave.


    But Huang Liyue really wanted to breathe some fresh air after everything that had happened. Using her spiritual senses, she made sure that they were safe without anything around them. After all, there was a risk of demonic beast stampede. And they couldn''t know whether it had already occurred or not. It was possible that it was literally happening right now. However, she found no sign of anything worrisome. The only demonic beasts around were not even 3-core ones. And they were quite a distance away.


    Behind her, she felt the portal close completely. Most likely, there had been a number of portals linking the Hongchen Kingdom with the Yellow Death world. Since Cleansed Asura''s body was embedded deep into the ground, his energy had probably infused the entire region. Thus Gui Bei had found one of those portals while looking for something else when he was out with other hunters. But now Gui Bei was gone, replaced by an even bigger threat. The only good news was that Old Demon had no direct grudge with the Huang family. And from what she had understood from Cleansed Asura, he would probably not emerge in the Hongchen Kingdom either. Now that he had no more support from Cleansed Asura''s inner world, he should be quite weak compared to her. So until he was able to open a portal by himself, they were safe. His coffin was opened on another world and even Cleansed Asura was not sure what it was. Or maybe he had just been unable to tell. He had prioritized useful information.


    For now though, she had no time to worry about this future threat that may or may not exist. Although it had to be taken care of at some point, her mind focused on her environment.


    After making sure that the cave they were in was safe and that Cao Yun was alive as well as the egg, she focused on Can Mouye. Capturing a demonic cultivator alive was very rare. In fact, it had never happened once. Indeed, even if they wanted to surrender and save their life, the seals put on them prevented them from doing so. Surrendering was akin to dying for them. As such, they always fought till the bitter end. And even when an orthodox cultivator was able to subdue them without killing them in the process, the seals would kill them anyway.


    A long time ago someone had tried to get into the sea of consciousness of a Mortal Warrior demonic cultivator. His own mind had been obliterated with the demonic cultivator''s when some strange seal in his soul got activated by the intrusion. Since they were living in hiding, they had become extremely proficient in the art of hiding their secrets through death.


    "Chen Guo, how is he?"


    Before she even ended her question, she was already scanning Can Mouye''s entire body. But because she knew Cao Yun had a great affinity with Evil Qi, he may offer her an interesting perspective as well.


    Hearing his fake name once more, Cao Yun realized that he was finally back in the Hongchen Kingdom. Huang Liyue was probably using this name just in case someone could overhear them.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Senior, his Lower and Upper Dantian have been completely destroyed and most of his meridians are gone. However, I''ve been able to control what Evil Qi had remained in his body. I think that he''s going to live."


    Both of them wanted the same thing. Can Mouye was the best lead they had ever obtained. Through him they would be able to answer so many questions. The first part of Cao Yun''s answer did not surprise Huang Liyue at all. In fact, she was even more aware than him of the situation of his meridians. She was the one who had destroyed them along with his Lower and Upper Dantian. After carefully selecting which ones were essential for him to survive, she had burned everything else within his own body. This was also the reason why he was unconscious. The pain itself had made him faint.


    Destroying his cultivation base was essential, both to subdue him, but mainly to prevent him from killing himself. At any moment, he could have detonated his Lower Dantian. In fact, he could even have attempted another breakthrough just to make both his crystallized Dantian explode. This kind of shock was way more powerful than a mere Dantian detonation. Of course, Huang Liyue could never get hurt by that, but Cao Yun maybe, if he were taken by surprise. Anyway, the point was to prevent him from dying as she wasn''t too worried about anyone else being hurt in her presence.


    "Good."


    The next words she spoke went directly into his mind through her spiritual senses.


    "Cao Yun, I saw most of what happened with Cleansed Asura. Although I have not all the details about what he has given you, you should keep it a secret. More than that even, you should keep your affinity with Evil Qi as secret as possible. Even if it isn''t demonic per se, it really wouldn''t look good.


    "There are many things we should discuss as well. Until then, keep your true identity hidden, just in case."


    Now was not the time to talk. They first had to find out where they were exactly and what had happened in their absence. Cao Yun and Huang Liyue knew for a fact that time had been flowing at the same rate in both the Hongchen Kingdom and the Yellow Death World. Indeed, they had merely compared the time Huang Liyue had gotten inside with the duration she had felt inside. And that duration was exactly the same as the difference between the date of her getting inside and of Cao Yun getting inside later.


    So it should have been around seven to eight months Cao Yun had spent inside the Yellow Death World, and a few more months for Huang Liyue. She had probably spent nearly a year in there. Even though she had almost died, she had now completely exceeded her wildest expectations in terms of both Qi and blood cultivation.


    Since the situation within the cave was absolutely calm, Huang Liyue began to expand her spiritual senses around. Slowly, they went all the way to the surface. Even she was surprised by the difference she was feeling. Her breakthrough had been so sudden, she had had no time to really savor it. But now, she was. Not only could she expand her soul farther than ever before, her sensitivity was greatly enhanced. Through her spiritual senses, she could notice every dust in suspension in the air. All the way to the vibrating filaments of Qi forming the strands of Qi in the air, in the soil, in small animals and insects all around.


    The world had truly metamorphosed in her eyes. And she realized that this was how Matriarch Huang Yufeng was seeing the world and herself. In fact, her senses were probably even more subtle since she had broken through to 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Thinking about this, Huang Liyue could not stop herself from imagining what a Sage was able to see and feel. The main difference between a Spirit Warrior and a Sage was that a Sage could see the world through the Third Eye in his Soul Embryo directly. This Third Eye was a sense that completely transcended all others. Unless someone had opened it, they could not even begin to imagine what it was like. It would be like explaining colors to someone who had been blind since birth. In that moment, Huang Liyue fully realized that she was the blind one. Although she had little hope of ever becoming a Sage, she was now dreaming about it. Doing so, she understood why her matriarch had risked so much to try to get a glimpse of this realm.


    Slowly, her spiritual senses expanded until they reached the sky outside of the cave.


    Outside, there was almost no sign of demonic beasts. Apparently, the only ones that were still around were those underground that she had felt not too far from the cave they were in. From that information, she could imagine that the stampede had already happened, or was happening right now. Indeed, she quickly recognized the place. They were very close to Baziyun City and she knew those mountains very well. In theory, this place should have been swarming with weak demonic beasts. If none were there, then they had probably been displaced by the stampede.


    During a stampede, weaker demonic beasts were scared off by more powerful ones. And a chain reaction caused a giant herd of beasts to attack human settlements and even large cities like Baziyun City.


    As she was exploring the vicinity with her spiritual senses, Huang Liyue found out the cause of the absence of weak demonic beasts.


    In the sky, two giant figures were fighting each other. Immediately she recognized the first one because that figure was exactly what she was able to manifest with her Qi. Indeed, high in the sky, a giant True Fiery Fenghuang was fighting against another giant bird. There was no doubt that this True Fiery Fenghuang was in fact a Qi Manifestation from a late Spirit Warrior. There weren''t that many in the Huang family. Moreover, Huang Liyue was able to sense that this Qi Manifestation was at least as powerful as hers. However, it was not winning.


    It wasn''t losing either though. But the fight was incredibly hard. Most likely, the other bird was a 9-core demonic beast.


    Immediately, Huang Liyue wanted to act and to protect her family member fighting against the giant bird. But she had to think about both Cao Yun and Can Mouye. Can Mouye was essential for mankind because he was a source of information. In the worst case, she could literally extract his soul. As a matter of fact, this was her plan, but she would prefer someone more competent than her to do so. With her cultivation, the matriarch would be better suited than her to extract his soul intact and then search through it. But if the situation called for it, Huang Liyue could attempt it. Hopefully, they wouldn''t lose too much.


    Concerning Cao Yun, her emotions were now more clear. Looking at him, she wasn''t seeing someone with her own family blood on his hands. She could relate a lot to his situation. Like her, he had suffered the death of someone very close to him before his own eyes. Moreover, he had saved her life several times at the peril of his own. It could be argued that he had needed her to stay alive, but she knew that it wasn''t just that. In addition, her own young mistress had asked her to protect him. If she had not been willing at first, now she fully understood the order and wanted to comply with it.


    Even without spiritual senses, Cao Yun saw that there was some conflict within Huang Liyue''s eyes. The woman had lowered her guard and Cao Yun was learning how to read her mood.


    "Senior, what''s going on?"


    "Someone from the Huang family is fighting a 9-core demonic beast over our heads..."


    "If you want to go, go! I can take care of myself. Do not worry about me!"

 Chapter 273: Nine heads and thousands of skulls

    Huang Liyue was more than professional when it came to being a bodyguard and the idea of leaving Cao Yun down in the cave while she went to fight some 9-core demonic beast did not feel right. But on the other hand, whoever was fighting that creature probably required her help. And if the creature won, it would ultimately find the humans below. Then, Huang Liyue would find herself having to protect Cao Yun from the demonic beast alone. Besides, as much as she felt responsible for protecting Cao Yun, she also felt extremely responsible for the well-being of her entire family.


    If an expert from the Huang family was badly hurt or even killed, this would be bad for all of them. After balancing her priorities for an instant or two, Huang Liyue sent a surge of Qi around Cao Yun, Can Mouye and the egg. All of them were now in a ball of translucent flames. Contrary to the flames Huang Liyue used during a fight, those flames were warm and nice. Cao Yun felt as though he was in a comfortable blanket.


    "Stay there! I''ll help them deal with the beast. Then we''ll think about our next move."


    After saying that, Huang Liyue took out an iron fan from her spatial ring. All her spiritual senses condensed into a column encompassing herself and the two fighters high in the sky. Until now she had not been able to get a very clear picture of them. But now that her senses were more focused she was able to see them as though they were right before her naked eyes.


    The 9-core demonic beast was a gigantic monster. It was as big as the Bone Kings she had battled in the Yellow Death World, except that it had flesh and skin over its bones. With the shape of a bird, the creature also had dark red feathers all over its body. At the end of its legs, it had impressive claws still slick with blood. As a tail, it had three thick feathers almost as long as its entire body. In a sense, it looked like a peacock wheel that had lost all of its feathers but three.


    Aside from the giant stature of the beast, what really set it apart from other birds was its head, or rather, its heads. Indeed, the creature had nine heads. All of them were attached to its own rather long neck. Then, all nine of those necks fused into one thick neck just over its wings.


    Huang Liyue recognized that bird very easily thanks to this feature. It was the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu. According to the texts, this creature was able to devour someone''s soul. In fact, it was very fond of humans'' Hun. Huang Liyue remembered a story in which a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior had encountered such a demonic beast. He had survived but his Soul Embryo had been sucked out of his body and devoured whole.


    After fighting creatures who were quite literally born from Po, she would be faced with one who devoured Hun. Thankfully, her Soul Embryo was now way more powerful. In fact, it was probably even more resilient than the matriarch''s Soul Embryo, albeit not as powerful. With the Yellow Sorrows Water absorbed in her Soul Embryo under the advice of Cleansed Asura, Huang Liyue had full confidence in its ability to resist powerful attacks. It didn''t mean that she wanted to test it out though.


    However, now that she had identified the demonic beast, she felt a bit more at ease. She was fairly confident in her ability to kill that giant bird with a bit of help from an expert of her family, thanks to her improved Soul Embryo. Thankfully, the demonic beast did not seem to have noticed her probing. She had been very careful with her spiritual senses, even adding a bit of ''Ashen Feather Seal'' with her soul. Besides, it was in the middle of a fight. Thus, its attention was almost entirely focused on its enemy who was rather powerful.


    That was when Huang Liyue was finally able to identify the expert from the Huang family.


    The person fighting the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu was none other than Matriarch Huang Yufeng. As she had not been able to see her fight for a very long time, she had not recognized her technique at first. Although every member of the Huang family was well versed in ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel'', each one had a unique touch. Indeed, they all had different other martial arts with them. So even though they were often trained by only a handful of different trainers, in the end they all developed their own signature. And in the middle of the fight, from a distant position, Huang Liyue had not even recognized her Qi, maybe because of her recent breakthrough as well. She was not used to seeing her as a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    As soon as she had identified her though, Huang Liyue blasted through the ceiling of the cave and emerged in the outside world. Now that Cao Yun was protected by her surge of Qi, she wasn''t worried at all. Even a 6th-grade demonic beast would have a hard time breaking through it in less than a day or two.


    The moment she tore apart the ground to get back to the surface, both fresh air and natural light flooded the cave Cao Yun was in. For the first time in a bit less than a year, he was feeling really alive. Being trapped in a world without any vivid color, without Qi in the air and full of the stench of death had not been the most pleasant thing in his life...


    Sensing the turmoil on the surface, Huang Yufeng did not even turn her gaze toward it. Just like the demonic beast, she had not first noticed Huang Liyue down below. But just as she broke through the ground, she heard her voice in her head.


    "Matriarch, let me assist you."


    "Liyue?! What are you doing here...?! Never mind that! This thing attacked our residence. All the other beasts are already dead. Although I''m confident, I have to admit that my soul did not fully recover from the tribulation... Apparently, I''m even older than I was feeling myself..."


    Even after a year, and with the help of various pills and means, Huang Yufeng had not entirely soothed her Soul Embryo. Attempting the breakthrough to become a Sage had really taken a toll on her. And fighting a demonic beast that was specialized in attacking the soul was a real mismatch.


    Looking at the matriarch in the sky, Huang Liyue could imagine what had happened. The old woman seemed extremely tired. She had some blood stains here and there, but it wasn''t human blood. Even her hair was disheveled. The poor woman had probably fought against a stampede to protect Baziyun City. As the only 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, she had most likely lead the charge, especially if there had been more than one 9-core demonic beasts. Apart from her, there were not that many experts who could fight off against such powerful monsters.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Huang Liyue and Huang Yufeng had both lived through an exhausting situation. Arguably, Huang Liyue had had it worse, but now was not the time to compare their ordeals.


    Although Huang Yufeng did not directly look at Huang Liyue, she was able to immediately feel that she had broken through to the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior stage. Such an increase in her cultivation was absolutely unheard of. As such, the matriarch could not stop from being amazed, and proud.


    With them fighting alongside each other, the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu had absolutely no chance at all.


    Just like its human opponent, the giant bird was surprised by the explosion down below. Thanks to its many heads, it was able to look at both Huang Yufeng and the situation on the ground at the same time. Fortunately, Huang Liyue was way faster than the demonic beast. Before it could fully register what was going on, an iron fan had literally pierced it through and through. Just after that, flames poured into the wound. The moment they entered the wound though, they got extinguished.


    Moreover, the wound was not as wide as what Huang Liyue had been hoping for. A 9-core demonic beast could not be underestimated. Although the giant bird was specialized in souls and had not a body as sturdy as a Star Mole Dragon, it was still very resilient. In less than a second, the wound was already closed. Only some oozing black blood was left around the former wound to show that it had ever existed.


    Letting out a deafening shriek, the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu activated its pseudo-Qi Manifestation. From the cave that had had its ceiling annihilated, Cao Yun was watching with a lot of attention. Not only was this fight extraordinary for a Mortal to watch, but the demonic beast was dealing with souls. This could be a great opportunity to broaden his horizons even more.


    All around the demonic beast, the image of chains binding thousands and thousands of skulls to its body slowly appeared. Witnessing all that, Cao Yun had an epiphany. This kind of technique was similar to the Qi Manifestation he had performed. Not through Qi, but through blood, one could summon such phenomena without fully controlling their Qi yet. Since Cao Yun would soon cross over to the Mortal Warrior realm, this wasn''t as mind blowing that it should have been. But it gave him many ideas. By using both kinds of Qi Manifestation, he would become even stronger than a regular Mortal Warrior. The day he would finally break through, he would have to try it out.


    Seeing all those skulls around the demonic beast, Huang Liyue let out a sigh of exasperation. Usually, she never let out her emotions, but she was mentally exhausted. And more than that...


    "I am tired of bones!"


    From her spatial ring, all the iron fans she had left appeared. The same happened from Huang Yufeng''s spatial ring. Before long, the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu was surrounded by iron fans. Immediately, it tried to flee. Against a single human being, it was too proud to escape, especially if the human was a wounded old lady. But against two of them, it was not suicidal. However, as soon as it tried to move out of the encirclement, it realized that there was a thin layer of flames all around the iron fans. Up in the sky, there was an invisible bubble keeping it trapped.


    Of course, it could have easily broken it, but it was just meant as a means to buy some time. And it had worked perfectly.


    Huang Liyue and Huang Yufeng both launched themselves toward the creature. With iron fans fully opened and covered in flames in hands, they danced around the beast. While flying around all the chains and the skulls trying to bite them, they lacerated the bird all over its massive body.


    From down below, the show was incredible. The two women were synchronized beyond belief. This was even beyond the level of what martial artists could attain after decades or even centuries of training together. The way they were able to move around their enemy with such grace, elegance and harmony felt as though they were one and the same.


    Another painful shriek echoed throughout the sky. This time, both Huang Yufeng and Huang Liyue felt a great pressure over their Soul Embryo. However, only Huang Yufeng was disturbed by it. Because she had been fighting for several weeks now and that her Soul Embryo had not even fully recovered yet, she was affected by this soul attack. Ironically, because Huang Liyue was not, it completely threw off their attack. Since they were not in harmony anymore, the momentum of their attack was broken and the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu was able to get out of the encirclement, ready to fly away.


    Without any hesitation, Huang Liyue used one of her ultimate attacks.


    ''Fenghuang Soars From Kunlun''!


    A True Fiery Fenghuang materialized through her Qi. The fiery bird took the giant creature in its claws, trying to pin it down.


    "Matriarch! Now!"


    Following Huang Liyue''s actions, Huang Yufeng knew exactly what she was waiting for. In the matriarch''s eyes, eight balls of fire shined.


    ''Feng and Huang Dominate All Under the Sky''.


    Behind her, the vague silhouette of a prodigious mountain appeared. And immediately, two broad wings erupted from it as it blinked out of existence. As a giant wave, the two wings spread forward toward the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu.


    Unlike most demonic beasts, its cores were not in its center. In fact, after becoming a 9-demonic beast, this particular creature had its demonic cores relocated toward its heads. And with one swift move, the two wings cut off all of the nine heads as though they were only one.


    The two most powerful techniques of ''Ten Thousands Fiery Wheel'' had been largely enough to kill the enemy.


    Suddenly, its pseudo-Qi Manifestation dissipated and the giant body of the now headless Bird of Chu fell down. Because it was dead, its Wei Qi had also began to dissipate. As such, Huang Yufeng was able to spread the influence of her spatial ring through her spiritual senses all around the demonic beast. In an instant, the giant corpse disappeared into the separate space inside her ring.


    Since that 9-core demonic beast was fond of devouring souls, its parts were used in a number of pills that could help souls and Soul Embryos. It just happened to be that Huang Yufeng was in need of pills to help her recover faster. The sooner she could recover, the sooner she could attempt another breakthrough. Besides, she would also have a clearer mind to analyze her previous failure. In one word, this corpse would be extremely useful and beneficial to her.


    Now that the fight was over, everything went back to an eerie calm. All the usual sounds of nature were gone. Compared with the dead world they had just fled from though, it felt extremely lively to both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue.


    Speaking of the young man, Huang Yufeng finally noticed him through the hole in the ground. For an instant, the old lady and the young man''s eyes crossed. Despite the distance, their senses were good enough to almost see each other as though they were up-close. And Cao Yun saw something in Huang Yufeng''s eyes. He wasn''t sure what it was though.

 Chapter 274: Matriarch and mother

    Now that the fight was over, Huang Yufeng and Huang Liyue both went back to the ground below. Immediately after, Huang Liyue kowtowed to her matriarch.


    "Matriarch, please accept this unfilial one''s deepest apologies. I was not there when the family needed me most. What is the current situation?"


    "No need for your apologies. I know you well enough to be sure that you were otherwise busy. If there had been any way for you to come to our help, you would have. Luckily, this demonic beast was the last real threat. Our city suffered dire consequences but all things considered, this went fairly well for us."


    While she was speaking, Huang Yufeng''s eyes gradually went from Huang Liyue to Cao Yun. While they were coming down, he had left the cave and was now also kneeling in front of the matriarch.


    "Unfortunately, the same can''t be said for our neighbor cities. Many small villages were completely destroyed. It''s still too early to make good estimates but tens of thousands of people were probably killed and ten times more displaced."


    This time, Huang Yufeng''s eyes were fully focused on Cao Yun. Even Huang Liyue could feel some kind of embarrassment. After all, Cao Yun was her benefactor more than she had been his, all things considered. And now he was put on the spot by the matriarch. Not only had he saved Huang Liyue, he had also saved Huang Cixi who was to be the next matriarch. Simply put, he was the benefactor of the entire Huang family.


    At first, she was too bitter to accept that truth. In her mind, anyone who had harmed her family was unforgivable, especially when it came to brothers and sisters. Due to her past, she had a soft spot for a sister losing her brothers. Yet, she had to admit that Cao Yun had not been in the wrong. The Huang family was not made of saints, but planning an assassination on a little girl for such ridiculous reasons was not something that could be accepted. In fact, such an action would warrant death according to the laws of the family. For the grandchildren of the family head, they would have probably been more lenient. And in a way, maybe that had empowered the stupid Huang Longwei to go forward with his plan.


    But as much as she had had a hard time accepting the whole truth of the matter, Huang Liyue was now worried that the matriarch would be even less forgiving. She wasn''t a violent or cruel woman, but she was a real ruler. At no point in her life had she been afraid to use violent and cruel means if it was necessary. Being a good ruler was knowing when to use such means and when they were not entirely necessary. This was a fine line between a moral ruler and a despicable tyrant sometimes. Each time Huang Yufeng had been faced with this decision, she had chosen wisely. But still, Huang Liyue was a bit unsteady because deep down she knew her matriarch also had the same soft spot as her.


    Her actions shocked her for another reason though. Suddenly, she expanded her spiritual senses all around the three of them. Of course, Can Mouye was also included, as well as the egg, but none of them were conscious.


    All around the group, a ball of colorful flames entrapped them. Nothing could go in or out. As such, Huang Liyue was even more worried. But if her matriarch wanted to kill someone, such a show was clearly not necessary, so what did she want to do? Before Huang Liyue could interrupt Huang Yufeng, she finally spoke directly at the young man still kneeling. In his head, many scenarios were going on, but once again, there was nothing he could do. His only way to survive was to trust in Huang Liyue. Although he had not known her for very long, because she had been unconscious a long while, he had a good grasp of her character. She wasn''t one to let him die just like that.


    That being said, the matriarch''s next words shocked everyone even more so than her earlier action.


    "You have your grandfather''s eyes."


    For a few moments, there was complete silence within the ball of flames.


    "Do not worry. No one can hear us within this barrier. I wasn''t sure earlier but you truly have the eyes of Cao Wen. You must be Cao Yun, right?" Then, she turned toward Huang Liyue. "And you seem to know about it, too..."


    "Matriarch, I just learned about it. I didn''t try to conceal it."


    "It''s not important. However, I suspect that the little Cixi also knows..."


    Hearing the name of Huang Cixi, Cao Yun was even more perplexed. He had never met her, or least he thought he hadn''t. Yet, she seemed to know a lot about him. But again, he had slaughtered her brothers with his bare hands. Of course, she would try to learn everything she could about him. However, she had not acted against him. And from what he had heard from Huang Liyue, she had even decided not to pursue the matter any longer. One day, he would have to meet with her and make things right. But for now, Huang Yufeng did not seem to be an enemy.


    "Matriarch Huang Yufeng, this one expresses his sincere sadness for the loss of Huang Longwei and Huang Lixin. I never meant to hurt your family, I swear."


    "Do not fret about this. I heard all about it. This is our family who should ask for your forgiveness, not the other way around. The Cao family has always been a great friend of our Huang family. And not only could we not help you in your time of need, you even encountered more difficulties because of our side branch."


    This time, Matriarch Huang Yufeng bent forward to take Cao Yun''s arms and stand him up.


    "Boy, your great-grandfather, your grandfather and your father were all great men. And it seems that their successor is cut out of the same cloth. If only I had not been in seclusion, I swear that your family would have not met with such misfortune." As she was speaking, Huang Yufeng kept on staring directly in his eyes. "I am sorry, but you truly have his eyes, this is uncanny... Despite our difference in seniority, Cao Wen was a close friend of mine. I have never met someone as learned as him in both art and philosophy. It is such a shame that he never got to see his grandson. He has especially been a huge help for dealing with the death of my son.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "Although it had happened such a long time ago, your grandfather was the first man who was able to find the right words to soothe the pain. He truly was an extraordinary man indeed. And I swore to him that I would protect his bloodline so that he may never have to go through the loss I had endured. Yet, he died and there was nothing I could do to help him. And after this unfortunate accident, this happened to your family... And once again, I wasn''t there to help you at all. Worse, my own blood conspired against you.


    "Cao Yun, I am the one who has to apologize to you. Although my word may not mean much after so many failures, I swear that my family will protect you! We may not be as powerful as the Wubei Sect, but we are still one of the most powerful families in the Hongchen Kingdom."


    Hearing the matriarch being so sincere moved both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue. Huang Liyue was especially moved by her reminiscing the death of her son, her only son, but not in a good way...


    "Matriarch Huang, your words touch me. I sincerely would like to hear more about my grandfather, but there is a matter that worries me even more..."


    "I know! Your friends were in Yinmen City." There was a complicated look on Huang Yufeng''s face.


    "Matriarch Huang, what is it? What happened to Yinmen City?"


    Cao Yun was completely panicked. Even with his mind cultivation, he could not suppress his worry. From his encounter with Can Mouye, he knew that there was a traitor amidst his friends, Zeng Minghe. Alone, he wouldn''t be able to make much damage, but if he could give some indications to the demonic beasts during a stampede, he would be able to weaken the city''s defenses.


    "The stampede hit us not too long ago, around a month ago as it stands. Yet, Yinmen City was faced with it first. It happened a few months ago. And they were not prepared to deal with it."


    "What happened?!"


    "The city fell. Almost everyone is dead... When we heard the news of the attack, it was already too late. Only a handful of survivors were found."


    "Sun Liao, Ren Chao, Yun Ping, what about them?"


    The matriarch thought for an instant and remembered the names.


    "They are among the survivors."


    "And Zeng Minghe? If I''m right, he was..."


    "A demonic cultivator, yes. He''s been killed during the fight."


    For an instant, Cao Yun heaved a sigh of relief. Then, he thought of someone else he cared about in Yinmen City. His name hadn''t come to mind because his survival seemed obvious, but...


    "What about City Lord Dun Mofan?"


    Looking down, the matriarch answered with a bit of emotion.


    "He died while protecting his city. When our men reached Yinmen City, they found him dead, still standing with his weapons tightly held. It was as though he was still fighting for his people, even in death. Without him, no one would have survived at all. However, most of the vagrant cultivators were still slain or gravely injured. Some will never be able to cultivate anymore."


    All those declarations shocked Cao Yun. Right now, he had only one wish. He wanted to get to his friends as fast and as soon as possible.


    "Cao Yun, I can swear that we are taking great care of your friends. And of all the survivors for that matter. However, after the most recent attack, we have also have been forced to deal with our own injured. The entire Baziyun City is in turmoil. That being said, if you wish to meet your friends, I will bring you to them straight away."


    "Thank you, Matriarch. I wish that."


    "Fine. We''ll depart immediately." Then she turned to Huang Liyue. "On the way, you''ll tell me everything that has happened."


    "Of course, Matriarch."


    Through telepathy, they could quickly share a lot of information. Just like what Cleansed Asura had done, Huang Liyue could literally send images of what she had lived through. It would be way faster than words and was often more faithful to reality. Besides, now that Huang Yufeng had discovered who Cao Yun truly was, Huang Liyue had absolutely nothing to hide. Even talking about Cleansed Asura would not be a problem. She knew her matriarch well enough to be sure that she wouldn''t try to steal Cao Yun''s Drop of Wrath, especially not after what she had just told.


    In fact, Huang Liyue had never heard that Huang Yufeng had been good friends with Cao Wen. But she did recall that the man had come to the Huang residence quite a lot at a certain period. Maybe Huang Yufeng had invited him. But she had hidden it from her own bodyguard. The only explanation Huang Liyue could think about was that they had been talking about the matriarch''s son. And she didn''t want to expose her feelings in front of her. She would have to look into it, but there was an ominous feeling in her chest.


    Just as they were about to leave, Cao Yun thought of something.


    In his robe, he still had the fan that Huang Liyue had given him when she thought she was dying. Before he forgot again, he decided to give it back to her.


    "Senior Huang Liyue, please take it back with you."


    As soon as he revealed the fan, Huang Yufeng turned her eyes toward her former bodyguard.


    "You still had it?"


    "... Yes... I..."


    "Your brother would have been proud of you. You should know that he would never have resented you or blamed you. As I should have... None of what happened to him was your fault, Lili."


    As those words left her mouth, Huang Yufeng finally noticed the change on Huang Liyue''s face. The stoic woman let out a single tear and it showcased that her eyes had been healed. There was no scar on her face anymore.


    The matriarch took the fan from Cao Yun''s hands and opened it. In front of her, the two names of Huang Liyue and Huang L¨¹feng appeared. They had both been written by the same hand. And seeing this calligraphy again brought many memories back. After reminiscing for a while, Huang Yufeng closed it and gave it back to Huang Liyue.


    "Your brother would have been happy to know that you still cherish it. If I remember correctly, you didn''t like this gift when he first gave it to you... You were always bickering with one another. You were always getting yourself in trouble and he had to get you out of it every time."


    "This was my fault. It was always my fault. Yet, until the end, I brought him down with me..."


    "Don''t talk like that! I admit that I... I did not handle it well. But..."


    Suddenly, Matriarch Huang Yufeng realized that they were both talking in front of Cao Yun who was getting embarrassed.


    "Lili... I mean, Huang Liyue, we''ll talk about this later. For now, let''s just focus on the fact that we''re alive and fine. Sadly, many people can''t say the same in the current crisis."


    Finally, Huang Liyue took back the fan and composed herself. The two women held the fan a bit longer while looking at each other, until Huang Yufeng finally let go.


    After all this, Huang Yufeng noticed the unconscious Can Mouye. For all intents and purposes, he now looked like a simple mortal who had been wounded. There was indeed no more any trace of him being a demonic cultivator.


    "Who is this man?"


    "Matriarch, this man is a demonic cultivator working directly for those responsible for this stampede. Many things happened and his seals were all erased."


    "Are you sure?!"


    "Yes! I wasn''t confident enough to extract his soul myself, but with you here..."


    Huang Yufeng''s eyes shined with eight flames when she turned her furious gaze toward Can Mouye.

 Chapter 275: Soul Memory Search

    Despite all his injuries, Can Mouye''s Upper Dantian was perfectly fine. Since he hadn''t been able to reach the Spirit Warrior realm, it was no threat at all. Well, even if he had barely crossed the boundary, his Upper Dantian would not have been a threat right away anyway. But preserving it had been vital. Indeed, the Upper Dantian was the dwelling of the sea of consciousness. In it were both the mind and spirit of an individual. And with them, the memories of course.


    Although Can Mouye was unconscious, there was still a shred of consciousness inside his Upper Dantian. In fact, unless someone was dead, they always had a form of consciousness. It was just altered and more or less active depending on their physical, emotional and mental state.


    Right now, Can Mouye was barely aware of his own existence. The intense pain had completely shut down his spirit and mind.


    All of a sudden, it was jolted back to awareness. And Can Mouye found himself inside his sea of consciousness. As he had never reached the Spirit Warrior realm, he had never lived through that experience before. But there he was standing over an infinite body of water gray and muddy. It wasn''t perfectly black like the water in the Ocean of Turbid Anguish. Instead, this water just seemed to be from a particularly dark and dirty swamp.


    Above his head was a sky as infinite as the ocean under his feet. And in the sky, he was able to see a mantra written with Insight Writings. The moment he tried to read the mantra, the smiling face of the Evil Heavenly Buddha, Tianfomo, appeared. Despite his joyous smile, there was an ominous feeling behind it. Even with his eyes closed, Can Mouye knew what was in them. For this heavenly being, all of creation was a mistake. It was a terrible joke and conscious beings were the butt of it. Just by being aware of the world around them, they would suffer. Instead of searching for spiritual enlightenment through faith or piety, or even instead of fighting against the Heavens through cultivation, the best option for all sentient life was to die out. There would finally be a universe without pain and torment.


    Dying wasn''t a pleasant thought to Can Mouye. But on all other accounts, he fully agreed with this view of the world. Infinite silence and darkness was better to this world. Yet, he was still trying to survive. And he was ready to do everything in his power to survive. Even if he had to crawl and lick someone else''s shoes, he would do it. His dignity had already been long gone. For all time, he would keep his meek smile and try to please those who had power over his life and death, no matter what.


    As he thought about that, his sea of consciousness began to change.


    The first thing concerned the mantra in the sky. The sky simply ceased to be, suddenly. In its stead there was now a giant wheel of fire forever turning. Under its heat and pressure, the very water under his feet started to boil. At first, he felt an intense pain as his feet were literally in a boiling water. But soon he got used to it. This wasn''t physical pain. And he wasn''t in his physical form. Even though he had never experienced it, he knew what a sea of consciousness was. Just by focusing his mind, he could quickly make the pain go away.


    But the changes didn''t stop there. And Can Mouye was truly terrified of them because he had recognized this wheel of fire. He had seen it when Huang Liyue had wielded the martial art of her family. Yet it seemed to be somewhat different and it wasn''t just because it was more powerful. No, this wheel seemed to be more dangerous and merciless.


    In all eight directions, giant peaks emerged from the muddy water. At first, they looked like real mountains but before long they literally caught on fire. From the firmament, the wheel of fire had made the rock turn into magma and then pure fire without any fuel. Moreover, this fire seemed to be cold and almost solid.


    Only then did Can Mouye see the eight figures towering over each peak. There were eight True Fiery Fenghuang. Each one was nested on the highest point of its own peak. When he had first seen the mountain, he had not even realized they were there because they fully complemented each peak. But now that he had, he had the feeling that they were way bigger all of a sudden. As much as he wanted to, he couldn''t take his eyes off of them. In his field of vision, he could really only see three of them distinctly while two others were to his sides and the last ones behind him.


    Can Mouye was right in the middle of the mountains, just under the axis of the wheel of fire above.


    Finally, he heard a voice. In fact, this wasn''t a voice at all. Somehow it sounded human, but it was the shriek of the eight True Fiery Fenghuang together in unison. He felt as though his skull was being split open.


    "Stop! I''ll tell you all I know! Please, just let me live! I have trained under Xiong Nixie. He''s directly under the Demon King. Just let me live and everything I know is yours. Better! I could even help you infiltrate the demonic cultivators'' ranks. You could get a spy in me."


    "How would that work out? Your cultivation is completely gone, never to be regained again. And all the seals put on you by your masters have been erased. They would know right away what you are. And about what you know, do you think I need your cooperation?"


    The voice he heard was coming from all around all at once. And with the reverberation off the mountains, it sounded like several different voices speaking at once. Besides, he didn''t recognize the voice at all. It was Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s voice. So of course, he had never heard her. But he could still make a guess. That woman was necessarily one of the most powerful members of the Huang family. He wasn''t sure whether she was the matriarch or not, but it didn''t really matter right now.


    "Please!" Can Mouye fell to his knees in a random direction and tried to plead some more. "Even with a Soul Memory Search, you may not be able to get everything inside my mind."


    "Oh? And you know that how exactly? How many Soul Memory Searches did you witness? How many innocent people were slaughtered and tortured for your sport?"If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Venerable One, I swear that I never enjoyed any of those sordid acts. I was forced to play along. I never had any choice! They abducted me as a child after slaughtering my family. I just tried to survive. Please, believe me!"


    "Oh, I do believe your sob story. But you did have a choice! Maybe not as a child, but you are not a child anymore. How many people did you kill? Why was your life so much more important than theirs?"


    "Please! I just wanted to survive. How is that such a bad thing?"


    "Surviving is not a bad thing. But it depends on the means to achieve said survival. However, let me ask you something else. Why do you want to survive? Why do you want with life?"


    Ready to answer, Can Mouye found himself speechless. All his life, he had done everything to survive, no matter what it was. But then when confronted with the simple question of the reason behind this need, he was unable to name a single one of them. Yet, at some point in time he was certain that he had had an answer. Yes, he had an answer at first. Where did that answer go?


    Trying to remember, Can Mouye stayed silent. Even before the Soul Memory Search, he began to sift through his memories. Right now, he was reliving his entire life backward. Every single detail came back to him.


    First of all, he saw what had transpired in the Yellow Death World. After getting into the world, he had met with the fake Cleansed Asura. Using the Yellow Sorrows Water, he had burned away the seals in his flesh and in his soul. The process had been hell but it had worked perfectly well. Now freed from the seals, he still chose to side with this Cleansed Asura because he was his only way out. Even though he knew that his new master would probably betray him at some point, it didn''t matter at the moment.


    His mind wandered further back. Through various encounters between his former master Xiong Nixie and Mo Tian, he had overheard many things about the demonic cultivators. But at no point did he really get interested in their plan. Even while putting in place this entire stampede across the whole kingdom, he didn''t care why he was doing it. He had just been obeying orders. Apparently, the Demon King needed something in both the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and the Wubei Sect. While Mo Tian was in charge of taking care of the Wubei Sect, the Institute was a problem. Although their agent in Yinmen City had to be discovered to get rid of Xiao Xuefeng, they had been unable to infiltrate the Institute because he had been discovered a bit too soon and they got more alert.


    But this was just a minor setback. The stampede had always been meant as a distraction first. And if they could destabilize the Hongchen Kingdom in the process, it would just be icing on the cake. The real goal of this stampede was just to get one thing from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. All those dead, just for that. And Can Mouye had not cared in the least.


    Apart from the title of Demon King, he knew nothing about that figure. The only information he had about him was that everything had changed very recently. After the Demon King had found some ancient knowledge, he had completely changed. The demonic cultivators who were rather calm had suddenly turned more active. All of a sudden, they had gone from wanting to be as discreet as possible to desiring more and more power.


    Apparently, the Demon King was looking for something specific and he needed both the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and the Wubei Sect. That being said, Can Mouye had no idea what he was looking for exactly, nor why. In fact, he did not even know Mo Tian''s face or real name, the one who had infiltrated the Wubei Sect. He didn''t know a single thing about him, neither his age, his sex, his cultivation level, nothing.


    As all his memories were revisited backward, Can Mouye finally found himself back as a young boy. He was barely five and had a mace in hand. At his feet laid another young child. The poor child was so badly hurt that his face was unrecognizable. Yet, he was still breathing. Each time he drew breath, some bubbles of blood foamed from what used to be his mouth. The young Can Mouye could not hear or feel anything except for the warm blood flowing down onto his shaking hands. Who had done that? Who could have done such a terrible thing to a child? In his young mind, he wasn''t prepared to face that both answers were him.


    He needed to stop thinking about it. He had to survive! No matter what!


    There! There lied his answer! He was certain that at that time he had a reason. What was the reason? Why did he want to survive so bad?


    Someday, I''ll escape! Until I escape, until I don''t have to do such horrible things, I will survive. Mom, Dad, I will give you a proper burial. And I will make you proud of me. But until I can escape, please don''t judge me.


    Yes, it had been the reason. This was simple but he had always wanted to leave. He had always hated whatever he had been asked to do. Yet, those feelings had dimmed down and disappeared with time. He had buried them so deep that he had forgotten he had ever had them. Even now that he remembered the truth, he couldn''t find the feelings anymore.


    What was so horrible about killing humans? What had made him so disgusted with himself? That night, after putting this child out of his misery, he had thrown up and had shivered, unable to sleep for three nights. But there was nothing wrong. If he hadn''t killed him, he would have died instead. No, he couldn''t remember why he had thought this was ever bad to do so. Yet, at the back of his mind, he felt as though he had lost something essential.


    Without this thing, maybe surviving wasn''t so important. After all, he would just go on suffering again and again. Even if he did survive now, he had no goal, nowhere to even go. He would become a prisoner for the rest of his short life. Now that he could never reach Spirit Warrior, his lifespan had plummeted down anyway. Maybe surviving was pointless. Maybe Tianfomo was right to see all creation as a sick joke directed against sentience.


    In a moment of pure despair, Can Mouye looked toward the spinning wheel of fire.


    "I have no answer for you. I think I will just let go. Do whatever you want with me... Perform your Soul Memory Search."


    "I already did. Unlike your masters, I do not need to torture you to get your memories out of your soul."


    As Can Mouye had been looking for an answer in his own past, Huang Yufeng had seen every single moment of his life. She now knew everything about him. And her anger and rage against this demonic cultivator had thus been mixed with pity. That poor child had been broken and corrupted. At which point he had turned from victim to monster wasn''t an easy answer. But one thing was sure, he had not always been that monster. If the kingdom had been able to rescue him, he would have been perfectly fine.


    Still, this didn''t change what she had to do. No matter how much he had been perverted by others, this man had to pay for his actions. Besides, his life was now meaningless. Apart from desperately trying to survive, he had nothing.


    Still confused, Can Mouye felt extremely cold despite the fire all around him. Looking down, he witnessed that the entire ocean beneath his feet had turned to ice. The cold dumbed down all his sensations and emotions. Then, the ice suddenly cracked. Can Mouye fell into an intense darkness and cold. Everything that made him him slowly dispersed and he ceased to be.

 Chapter 276: Demonic cultivators?

    For only a few seconds, Huang Yufeng focused her intent around Can Mouye. At the time he was still unconscious. But all of a sudden, he just stopped to breathe and all of his muscles relaxed. Obviously, both Cao Yun and Huang Liyue knew what this meant. The matriarch had invaded his soul and extracted all of his memories. Technically, this technique known as Soul Memory Search could be performed without harming the person. But this was so complex and the soul so delicate that there was still a high risk of damaging or even killing the person. As such, it was rarely used. In fact, according to the laws of the Hongchen Kingdom, it could only be performed on demonic cultivators or the most heinous of criminals. A mere suspicion was hardly enough. That was why Chief Elder Bian''s proposal had been so crazy back then.


    Seeing Can Mouye die before them, Cao Yun and Huang Liyue were both worried that the Soul Memory Search had failed. Hopefully, the matriarch had retrieved enough information for it to be worthwhile. Capturing a demonic cultivator alive and without seals on him was so rare, losing him now would be a disaster.


    "Matriarch, how much did you see?"


    "Everything."


    "But... then..."


    "Yes, I killed him afterward. First of all, for all the crimes he had committed, he deserved death. Well, death may even have been too nice for him, but I admit I took a bit of pity on him. And even if his cultivation was gone, he was still a threat. This Old Demon you talked about had told him way too much. Keeping him alive would have been a huge mistake. But do not worry. I am certain that I got absolutely everything from his soul. Even with my soul still injured, this really wasn''t difficult. Although I''m not as skilled as Spirit Master Xiao, I dare say that I am very close when it comes to Soul Memory Search. Unlike her, I performed it several times on the battlefield. And it turns out that extracting the soul of a demon is way more difficult than the soul of a human, especially if you don''t care whether the person survives or not."


    Of course, none of the three had really been worried about Can Mouye''s death. After all, he had partaken in creating the stampede that had killed so many people. And he had probably tortured and killed many more himself. The only thing they had been worried was whether Matriarch Huang Yufeng had been able to extract all important information. There could always be memories buried deep within. Even if you were convinced that you had gotten everything, sometimes you could be wrong.


    On the other hand, Matriarch Huang Yufeng truly was skilled when it came to this kind of technique. And that was why Huang Liyue had kept Can Mouye with her, alive. She wasn''t that confident in her own ability but didn''t doubt her matriarch''s. If she was certain that she had gotten everything, then she had.


    Suddenly, it hit Cao Yun that Matriarch Huang Yufeng now knew almost everything about him. With what Old Demon had told to Can Mouye, she even knew about Cleansed Asura and the Drop of Wrath. Well, she probably didn''t know precisely what the Drop of Wrath was. But Old Demon had told his disciple that Cao Yun had received the legacy of Cleansed Asura. And she should also know that he was able to manipulate both Evil Qi and Death Energy. The good news was that she also had to know that none of it made him related to the demonic cultivators in any way.


    The rest of the conversation happened in Cao Yun''s head. Even with the barrier around them, Matriarch Huang Yufeng became even more cautious.


    "Cao Yun, no matter what, you must never reveal your ability to manipulate Death Energy or even Evil Qi. If you do, not only all the demonic cultivators would abandon whatever they''re doing to abduct you and extract everything from your very soul, but the Imperial City may also condemn you. And even my Huang family might not be up to the task of protecting you. This last century, the Imperial City has become more and more enshrouded in darkness. It has been more than seventy years since I last saw the Emperor.


    "Although he should only be around 1,500 years old, some rumors had started to spread that he was in a terrible condition. Some even gossiped that he had died without naming a successor. I do not believe such baseless rumors. Emperor Weide is the only 9th-grade Spirit Warrior of his generation. In the older generation, only Sect Leader Xuan can measure to him. Well, he''s probably a bit stronger, but he''s also getting too old...


    "That being said, there is something strange going on in the Imperial City. Officially, the Emperor is just too busy dealing with the increasing threat of the demons. And now that there are demonic cultivators spreading chaos within our borders, the situation is a huge mess.


    "Moreover, there was something else I wanted to tell you. You have to keep your fake identity, no matter what! As I said, the Imperial City is becoming increasingly unfathomable. And there is another matter in which they acted with utmost suspicion."


    Matriarch Huang paused for a while to let it sink in. Then she dropped a question that was unexpected.


    "Before going on, Cao Yun, answer this question of mine. Why do you think demonic cultivators killed your family?"


    Hearing the matriarch''s question, Cao Yun was shocked. It was obvious that demonic cultivators were the ones who had attacked. But then, he thought more about it. What was the absolute proof he had? After reading the reports received by City Lord Dun Mofan, he had accepted this truth. In fact, the only concrete element he had was rather tenuous.


    "The leader of the group was wielding a strange weapon. It seemed to always be slick with blood, even without any trace of it on the blade. But... I mean, I heard that everyone was suspecting a demonic sect, so..."


    "Well, the Imperial City has suspected a demonic sect. Before my family could even begin the investigation, they had appeared. Governor Leng is quick to act, but even by his standards, that''s a little fast in my opinion. Moreover, all of this has happened while I was in seclusion. It seems to me as though the attackers were using my absence to attack your family. If I had been there, only another 8th-grade Spirit Warrior could have acted. And even then, he would have probably not been able to evade my detection.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "And the Imperial City would have never wrestled this case from my hands. But as much as Huang Yi is competent, he doesn''t have the same leverages I do. Against a direct order from the Imperial City, there was nothing he could do.


    "Your only real proof is a weapon. But even if the weapon was demonic in nature, there is no way to know whether its wielder was or not. I''m not saying that those who attacked were not demonic cultivators, but even if they were, we can''t be sure that they acted on their own. As much as it pains me to admit it, I do believe that the Imperial City knows more than they are letting on. In this case, nothing makes sense. After all, the Wolf Head Sect was found guilty in less than a week. And before the end of the month, their headquarters had been found, raided and destroyed.


    "I won''t attempt to take any guesses, but it seems to me like they merely used them as a scapegoat, either to hide something else, or because they didn''t want to seem incompetent. Maybe they just needed someone to take the fall so that people would keep their trust in the Emperor. Those times are trying after all. But until we can know for sure what is going on behind the scene, I do believe that it is better for Cao Yun to remain dead."


    That was a lot to take in for Cao Yun. But this was also very good. Although Matriarch Huang Yufeng had way more questions than answers, it still shined some lights on possible leads. Whether demonic cultivators were involved or not, trying to investigate the Wolf Head Sect and why it had been accused still remained a good idea. Then, the only next logical step would be the Imperial City. And as it turned out, as an alchemist, he might have a very good way to get inside the Imperial City, and more.


    It highlighted how naive he had been though. Why had he just accepted this report as true? Even in the Hongchen Kingdom where the fate of humanity as a whole was of utmost importance, there were still internal struggles. It was perfectly possible for someone else to have commissioned the demonic cultivators, or even just a bunch of criminals with some demonic cultivators or not in their rank. Everything was possible. And the Imperial City had either been trying to suppress the truth, whatever it was, or just trying to calm down the citizens and keep its face.


    Paradoxically, having his only certitude on the massacre broken apart before his very eyes turned out to be a good thing. More possibilities also meant more leads. In addition, he seemed to have gained a support with Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Deep down, she was probably helping him for other reasons than just a past friendship between their families. But still, having a bit of support was nice. While he was thinking about this, Cao Yun suddenly realized something else.


    If the report had been wrong, other things could also be wrong. Maybe...


    "No!" Seeing Cao Yun''s eyes lit up, Matriarch Huang Yufeng knew what he was thinking about. "Although identifying all the victims have been difficult, especially the ones in the woods who had been partially eaten, I am confident that everyone from your family has been decimated. I do not mean to be cruel, but you should abandon the hope that they have survived somehow."


    Although only Cao Yun had spoken out loud, Huang Liyue had also received the thoughts of her matriarch. Otherwise the situation would have been very awkward for her. All this reminded her of Huang Cixi. She too had been very intrigued by what had happened to the Cao family. Now that she knew Chen Guo was Cao Yun, it made more sense. And the fact that even Hall Master Fang was interested in it as well. If the Imperial City was somehow involved with it, everything was way more complicated than she had thought. But she was just a bodyguard. Despite her power, she was really not suited for political intrigues. It was better to let everything in the hands of more competent persons than her.


    "Well, there is much more we need to discuss. But for now, you should follow Huang Liyue back to Baziyun City."


    As she spoke, a small flame left Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s finger and Can Mouye was completely consumed by it in less than a breath. Then, the ball of fires around them disappeared.


    "Matriarch, you''re not coming?"


    "I have another matter to attend to. I''ll go check out the entry of this inner world. In theory, it should have collapsed but let''s be sure of that. Besides, there may be things who were able to get out. Just tell me where it is."


    Huang Liyue thought about the place and sent a mental picture of it to the matriarch. Because Baziyun City was so close to those mountains, both women knew the place. As such, with just a single mental image, Huang Yufeng knew exactly where it was.


    "Huang Liyue, take Chen Guo to the Governor''s residence. The wounded cultivators from Yinmen City have been brought there. You''ll see that the city has changed quite a lot since last you were there. Governor Leng should be attending to the repairs already. But there are some elders from our family who are with the wounded, they''ll let you in without any problem."


    Then, a blue light erupted from her spatial ring and went into the one of Huang Liyue.


    "Give them the corpse of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu. Hopefully, they have already taken care of all the remaining demonic beasts and this was the last one."


    "I understand."


    "Chen Guo, about your master. From what I understand, I am not sure that I would be able to extract his corpse from the earth. But I will still try. After all, he also saved my own blood. And when I come back, we''ll talk some more."


    "Thank you, Matriarch. Your family already gave me a lot. I understand that Family Head Huang Yi was the grandfather of Huang Lixin and Huang Longwei..."


    "Indeed he was..."


    "I know that he might not want to talk with me, but I would like to. Also, if possible, I would like to be able to meditate on their memorial tablets."


    Such a demand paused the matriarch. But she saw that Cao Yun was sincere.


    "Although we were enemies, I bear no hatred or ill intent toward them both. I sincerely hope that they may find a better life. If possible, I would like to be able to purge the karma I have formed with them."


    "Since Huang Cixi is not there, I am not sure whether she would approve or not. I will leave this decision to Huang Yi. Chen Guo, your attitude is admirable, but you should not worry that much about the dead. Life is very fragile and the living need your attention much more than the dead. Believe me. Focusing on the dead and on how you could have prevented their deaths will only make you forget about those who are still alive around you."


    As she said that, Matriarch Huang Yufeng watched at Huang Liyue intently.


    "I have learned it with my children..."


    "I understand, Matriarch. But I swear that I am not letting the dead bother my life. To the contrary, I am thinking about Huang Cixin and Huang Yi. I have no ill will toward them."


    "I won''t meddle with your affair. Huang Cixi may be able to forgive you one day, but I doubt that Huang Yi could. He loved his grandchildren beyond reason. That being said, I swear on my family name that no harm will come to you by the hands of our members."


    Then, Huang Liyue took Cao Yun with her while Huang Yufeng went toward the ravine.

 Chapter 277: The stampedes aftermath

    Huang Liyue was taking Cao Yun to go see his friends in the residence of Governor Leng. The Huang residence and the Governor''s residence were the two largest estates in the capital, even in the whole Wu Province as a matter of fact. Even the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall''s Major Hall was not as large. After all, it was meant to do business while both residences had to house entire families and also host official events. On the other hand, the Major Hall was the tallest building in the city.


    While both families had given their residences for the effort against the stampede, only the Governor''s residence was sheltering the wounded. And most of the physicians had been brought by the Myriad Cherry Blossom. There was also a number of monks who had come to give their help. During such a disaster, humanity was able to really come together and help one another, especially under the supervision of the Imperial City.


    But as they were on their way, Huang Liyue heard the voice of the Matriarch in her mind.


    "No matter what happens, make sure that neither Hall Master Fang nor Governor Leng see Cao Yun. If I were able to recognize who he was, it''s possible that they might as well. Let''s not take any risk. The most worrisome would be Governor Leng for political reasons. But I sense that Hall Master Fang also has some kind of history with the Cao family. Until we know more, letting them know that a boy from the Cao family has survived would be a terrible mistake."


    "Yes, Matriarch. Both of them should be way too busy anyway... However, I''d like to speak with you when you come back."


    "Of course... Once I''m done, I''ll get back to my Phoenix Hall. I will be waiting for you and Cao Yun to talk some more."


    As Huang Liyue was getting better now that she was finally breathing fresh air, she was able to hide her conflicting emotions way better than before. And because Cao Yun was too worried about his friends, he did not notice a light tension in her jaw and fists. She had clearly something to say to Matriarch Yufeng. But it could wait. Right now, she put her focus on controlling the sword on which Cao Yun was floating in the air beside her. Because she had lost her ''Feng Soaring Junk'', she had no other means of transportation but weapons. Most of her fans were also in a terrible condition so she had chosen a sword.


    -


    Huang Liyue was the first one to see Baziyun City. Even though she had left less than a year, it had completely changed. There were fortifications everywhere. All around the cities, there were still hundreds of corpses from lesser demonic beasts. She could see some cultivators and even several mortals who were taking care of the remaining carcasses. Most likely, the higher demonic beasts had already been disposed of. Each body could fetch a substantial amount of money. In fact, some cultivators would probably try and keep some parts for themselves. But since the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had a Major Hall in the capital, they would probably sell most of the parts to them, even the demonic cores.


    Unfortunately, vagrant cultivators often had to sell even precious treasures. Most of the time, they simply couldn''t get all the benefits from them, and they would even put them in danger. It was more prudent to sell them and buy more reasonable artifacts, like pills or spirit stones.


    As such, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall would be extremely busy and Fang Shaolong should not have any time to wander around.


    There was another thing that made Huang Liyue sure of that, it was the pain she was feeling in her heart. Indeed, the city was partially destroyed. Thankfully, the Huang residence had been mostly spared but even it had suffered some damage. From her point of view, she could see a few walls around the residence that had been destroyed and others who were covered in blood, both from demonic beasts and from human cultivators. Governor Leng''s residence had even more damages while many buildings all around the city were partially destroyed and still unstable. From time to time, a wall or even an entire house came crumbling down. This was a scene of pure chaos.


    Baziyun City which was so pretty was now looking a lot like the destroyed temples Huang Liyue had seen during her absence. Instead of the joyous sight she was wishing for, reality was more cruel. Thankfully, she could see that there weren''t that many victims among her own family. As soon as she was close enough, she had used her spiritual senses to connect with Family Head Huang Yi. He was quite busy for now but he gave her the initial reports.


    During the battle, two 9-core demonic beasts had attacked Baziyun City. It was unheard of during a stampede. And if they counted the Star Mole Dragon Elder Ying had killed, the city had been attacked by three 9-core demonic beasts in total. In the history of the Hongchen Kingdom, it had never happened since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. After all, even the demonic beasts had suffered from a cultivation plague. Just like humans and demons could not cross over the fourth realm of cultivation, the demonic beasts were barely able to form nine demonic cores. Being a 9-core demonic beasts was not as hard as being a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, but it was damn close.


    What was even more frightening was the fact that the demonic cultivators had been able to manipulate that many 9-core demonic beasts. If they had focused all their strength at a single point, they could have wiped out Baziyun City. But apparently, they didn''t want that. All this chaos and destruction had just been a diversion. What would happen when they would attack for real? How many would die? They had to root them out and exterminate them all.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun also saw the same sights when the two of them reached the city. The streets were busy with people running all over the place. Everyone was busy either trying to consolidate buildings before their collapse, transporting some injured people, some food and water, or some resources. Here and there, several people from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and the Governor''s office were also assessing the damage and trying to make a list of everyone who had survived or had died. This was chaos indeed.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Now that they were in the city, they were walking. And with each step, Cao Yun was more and more afraid of seeing his friends. From what he had heard, Yinmen City had been completely wiped out. In his head, he was creating many scenarios in which his friend had sustained incredible injuries. Even though he wanted to get to them as soon as possible, he was also terribly anxious of confirming his fear.


    On the other hand, he was now more determined than ever. Doubting and hesitating all the time had to stop. Fearing for his brothers was natural but delaying meeting them because of that was plain ridiculous. His fear would increase over time if he couldn''t see them. Moreover, they probably needed to see him as well. Maybe he could bring them a bit of joy. After all, just like him, they should also be afraid for him and his safety.


    Before entering in the Governor''s residence, Huang Liyue scanned the insides with her spiritual senses to make sure that Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang were nowhere to be seen. With her new cultivation, this was an easy feat. Besides, everybody was more worried about taking care of the wounded than to keep watch for spiritual senses. After all, demonic beasts had no spiritual senses.


    What she saw inside also troubled Cao Yun. There were screaming cultivators everywhere. On hundreds of beds more or less improvised, many bloodied cultivators were writhing in pain as a handful of physicians were trying to care for them. Here and there, several mortals and other cultivators were also attending to the wounded. Some were lacking a limb, or several, others were bleeding from the head, the chest, or the abdomen. Right in front of Cao Yun, a man had lost both of his legs and was howling like a dying animal. Then, he stopped. Just under Cao Yun''s nose, this man had died.


    Without hesitation, Cao Yun grabbed a physician who was running around. At first, the physician tried to make him let go, but he felt the strength of the grip on his bloodied robe. The young man was a late Mortal, maybe even an early Mortal Warrior.


    "Sir, tell me what I can do to help."


    As he spoke, Cao Yun took out both his emblems of 5-star alchemist and 5-star array formation master. Coupled with the sincerity in the boy''s eyes, the physician did not waste any time. Immediately, he gave several tasks to Cao Yun. Huang Liyue also joined him. With her spiritual senses, she could also be of tremendous help.


    For several hours, Cao Yun completely forgot about his friends. As much as he wanted to go to them, he could not let that many people suffer without doing anything.


    As he was running around the place to help the few physicians treat the wounded, Cao Yun finally saw Sun Liao. Because he was an array formation master, some physician had asked Cao Yun to help set up an array formation for soothing the pain of the wounded. At least, it could help those who had no chance of survival to die in peace. And it would also help the other wounded who had been more lucky.


    When he went to the place chosen for this array formation, he immediately recognized Sun Liao. His brother was completely exhausted. His face was somber. For a middle Mortal, getting that tired meant that he had not slept for at least two weeks. Clearly, Sun Liao was getting close to his breaking point.


    "Brother!"


    Hearing this familiar voice, Sun Liao who was in the middle of giving out instructions got completely silent and turned around.


    "Brother Chen! You''re alive! And well!"


    Immediately, both men ran toward each other and examined one another as though they were physicians themselves.


    "I''m sorry, Brother... I got attacked in the woods and I wasn''t able to help you."


    "Zeng Minghe!"


    On Sun Liao''s face, there was pure hatred when he said that name. That meant that Cao Yun had been right and that his brothers had also found out. Zeng Minghe had betrayed mankind.


    "Indeed. He sent an assassin after me. It wasn''t easy but I survived thanks to Senior Huang Liyue as well. But, Brother, what happened to Yinmen City? I heard terrible things... I heard that City Lord Dun Mofan had died. What about Brother Ren? And the others?"


    Sun Liao''s face became even darker.


    "Brother Ren is alive. He only has broken bones. Some of our fellow disciples died while protecting the city. Only Yun Ping survived, with serious injuries, thanks to City Lord Dun Mofan. Without him, we would have all died... But right now is not the moment. Help me get this array formation set up first, we''ll talk later."


    In his voice, Cao Yun could tell that Sun Liao was both trying to delay this conversation but also to sincerely set up this array formation in order to help the wounded. What he had lived through in Yinmen City had probably been traumatic. As long as Sun Liao was saying that Ren Chao was alive, it meant that Cao Yun had no reason to get worried for him. With his physique, no broken bone could take care of Ren Chao. He was the strongest and most resilient man Cao Yun knew, after himself.


    For now, the young man pushed all those thoughts aside and helped his brother. After that, they still stayed busy for several more hours. During this time, Cao Yun saw many wounded die. And more of them were brought in. While taking care of the demonic beasts corpses outside the city or even while looking through the collapsed buildings, many more wounded were found all the time. Among them, there were also a number of mortals, women, children as well. As much as the city had tried to protect them, there had been a lot of casualties among the mortals.


    And Cao Yun could imagine what had happened to smaller cities who had suffered from the stampede as well. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people had suffered, been killed or maimed. It would take several months to be sure of the exact number. But this was one of the greatest tragedy of mankind for a very long time. All that suffering just to create a diversion! That thought kept on echoing in Cao Yun''s mind. Demonic cultivators had to be exterminated to the last one. Even the demonic beasts were not really at fault. They had been manipulated as well.


    As his hands were deep in blood and guts, trying to help a physician stop the bleeding of a seven or eight-year-old girl, Cao Yun''s resolve got intensified. One day, he would parade the cold body of the Demon King, leader of the demonic cultivators, from every corner of the Hongchen Kingdom. With his hands, he would end the demonic cultivators once and for all. Not only for his family, not only for those people right here, but for all of mankind, Cao Yun would dedicate his life to destroying this perverted view of cultivation. The point of cultivating was to understand the world around oneself, it was to become better, not to fall into depravity and violence. Those demonic cultivators had become even worse than beasts!


    That being said, Cao Yun also remembered the words of Matriarch Huang, maybe those who had killed his family were not demonic cultivators... Never mind that! Even if that were to be the case, this would not change his mind. All demonic cultivators had to be eradicated. Their very legacy had to be rooted out. And if someone else was responsible for his family''s massacre, they would pay as well.


    At this moment, Cao Yun was feeling a visceral hatred as he could sense the life leaving the small body of the girl.

 Chapter 278: Yinmen Citys fall

    Cao Yun kept helping the wounded for a few days with his sworn brother Sun Liao. Thankfully, there were fewer and fewer wounded. Sadly, this was because the rescuers were only finding corpses now. A few miracles happened and some mortals were found alive and safe under rubbles even after several weeks had passed. However, those were really miracles, in the sense that they were excessively rare.


    Right now, most of the mortals or cultivators discovered were directly sent to a giant open cemetery. There, some officials would try to identify them if possible. And if a body was not identified fast enough, it would be buried in a nameless hole. This was an effort to preserve the city from diseases. Another way would have been to burn off the bodies but everyone had different views on death and the proper way to take care of the bodies. The main belief in the Hongchen Kingdom was to indeed bury the body underground. But another huge part of the population preferred cremation. Because it was impossible to un-cremate a body, it was thus decided to bury them as long as they were intact enough.


    Even though there was less and less work for Cao Yun and the other physicians, the new wounded were now in far worse conditions. Thus, they had way more deaths now. As the physical fatigue had been lessened, the psychological impact had worsened.


    At some point, Sun Liao literally fell to the ground. Hearing the commotion, Cao Yun quickly went to him and tried to help him up.


    "Brother, you should get some rest."


    "No... No, I... I can still..."


    "No, you can''t! If you push yourself, you''ll cause more harm than good. The physicians will be forced to take care of you instead of the wounded. Not only will you hurt yourself but you''ll achieve the opposite of what you want!"


    As they were arguing, an old man, the chief physician, came to them. He was only a middle Mortal Warrior, but he had proved that he was almost as good as a 1-star Heaven physician. Only a Spirit Warrior could really reach this realm thanks to his spiritual senses, but this old man''s intuition was so good that he was almost able to see through flesh and bone. The only thing he was missing was the ability to see someone''s sea of consciousness and to heal their mind and soul.


    He was rather short and extremely old. Despite his unimpressive physique and his small bald head, this Qiren Liu had a natural authority to him. Each time he spoke, everyone listened to him. This natural aura of him was moreover amplified by the extreme amount of blood everywhere on him. He had been taking care of the worst wounded for several weeks now. And before that, he had been operating on the battlefield to try and save as many people as he could. Qiren Liu was truly a hero. Even though he was not a fighter, everyone was admiring him.


    "Your friend is correct. Your health is the priority. An exhausted man will only bring harm to the people he tries to save. But that is also true for you, young man." As he spoke, Qiren Liu turned his gaze from Sun Liao to Cao Yun. "The pressure is something we can cope with right now. Go rest, both of you."


    In his tone, there was no room for any discussion. And just as he was done speaking, he went back to take care of even more wounded.


    Sun Liao completely let go of his arrogance and obeyed the old man. All of a sudden, he completely collapsed in his brother''s arm. A single moment of calm had made him fall asleep. After all, he had been trying to stay awake for almost three weeks now. For a middle Mortal, that was clearly pushing it way too far. Hence, Cao Yun brought him in a calmer area where there were still some vacant beds. Unfortunately, it meant that more people had died.


    As he put his brother to rest, Cao Yun also found a bed and lied down. He only wanted to get some rest, but he fell in a deep sleep.


    -


    Two days later, Cao Yun woke up. Still in a daze, he didn''t understand where he was until he saw Sun Liao''s face. His brother had also woken up. Looking at each other, they both remembered what had happened and where they were.


    "Brother Sun, how are you?"


    "... Good."


    "By the way, Brother, you told me that Brother Ren was alive. But we couldn''t really speak... Please, tell me what happened."


    Pain could be seen on Sun Liao''s face.


    "Of course, you don''t know..."


    With some efforts, Sun Liao sat up and then stood from his bed.


    "Come with me, Brother, let''s go visit our brother. I''ll tell you everything on the way."


    Of course, Cao Yun did not hesitate. He could see that Sun Liao had lived through something awful and he could also imagine that Ren Chao''s injuries were serious. Since Sun Liao had told him he was alive, he had to be. But he hadn''t told him how severely he had been injured. Besides Ren Chao, Cao Yun also wanted to know what had happened to City Lord Dun Mofan and to Yun Ping, as well as all the others.


    "Yinmen City was hit by the stampede almost as soon as the hunters came back from Zeng Minghe''s mission. We had not even enough time to wonder what had happened to you and to the other two hunters who exchanged places with you.


    "Less than two days after the return of the last team, we saw many movements in the mountains. And before we could fully understand the situation, chaos had erupted everywhere. Apparently, this stampede was way too early. After all, it didn''t happen to Baziyun City before several more months after it happened to us. Immediately, we sent some birds to all potential allies. But it was useless. We were already under attack.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "At first, we were able to take care of the situation thanks to our defense. The array formations and even some battle formations of Brother Yun Ping were enough to keep the weaker demonic beasts at bay. None were stronger than 2-core demonic beasts. And with City Lord Dun Mofan powering up some killing array formations, there was no problem at all. However, then a new wave attacked. There were 3-core demonic beasts like Two-Tailed Eluding Foxes, Silver Tailed Wolves, even a Muddy Bashe. But that wasn''t even all. A few 4-core demonic beasts were also part of the fray. There were a couple of Stone-Carved Lions and one Ivory Hide Rhinoceros.


    "For the first time, our defenses were not enough and City Lord Dun Mofan had to take action. That''s when Zeng Minghe revealed his nature! Because he had helped us create the defenses, he knew exactly their weaknesses. In fact, he had quite literally built up some weaknesses in our defense. Before I could understand what was going on, he had taken down two key array formations. And he joined the demonic beasts.


    "He seemed to have tamed those three 4-core demonic beasts. And when they were working together, they were almost able to rival City Lord Dun Mofan who was also swarmed by other 3-core demonic beasts. All hell broke loose at that point. Our defenses were almost destroyed and all the hunters were forced to join the fight. This was a massacre. Yet, we were winning.


    "City Lord Dun Mofan took some serious hits but thankfully his cultivation was stable enough to resist those three coordinated beasts and the swarm of weaker ones helping them. When it mattered, Brother Ren even stopped the Ivory Hide Rhinoceros with his bare hands. Both his arms got broken in three or four, but he stopped the mad beast. Thanks to his efforts, he created an opening in Zeng Minghe''s defense and I put an arrow through that bastard''s heart. Without him, it wasn''t that difficult to kill the three 4-core demonic beasts. In the absence of their coordination, City Lord Dun Mofan was able to pick them up one by one.


    "However, the nightmare was not over. It had just begun. We were already exhausted by the fight when the cause of this early stampede appeared. This was a Infernal Camel Scolopendra, a 6-core demonic beast!"


    Hearing the name, Cao Yun stopped walking for an instant. It took a few instants for Sun Liao to realize that he was walking alone. Worried, he turned back and saw an intense look in his brother''s eyes.


    "Brother Sun, describe that beast, please."


    According to Sun Liao''s description, there was no possible doubt, this Infernal Camel Scolopendra was the evolved form of the Red Flesh Camel Spider Can Mouye had used against him in the woods. Cao Yun had not seen the beast form a sixth demonic core and evolve. But because it had left Can Mouye''s sides, he had suspected that something like that had happened to it. This meant that not only had Can Mouye killed both Mountain Fenghuangs, but he was also the cause of the destruction of Yinmen City. For an instant, Cao Yun regretted that this bastard had only one life to give. Otherwise, he would have enjoyed killing him again.


    That was the perfect moment for Cao Yun to explain what had happened to him to his brother. Obviously, he left out some minor details. It wasn''t particularly because he didn''t trust his brother, but they were still surrounded by many people. Even if they were mostly unconscious or sleeping, this wasn''t prudent to speak some secrets out loud. Cao Yun would confide in his friends later when they would be back in the Wubei Sect. Moreover, they would also be rejoined by Mei Hua. This would also spare him from repeating everything twice.


    "I see... Well, you also had it rough, it seems. I knew that if you had known what was happening, you would have come right away...


    "Anyway, like I was saying, this creature was beyond what we could deal with. Only City Lord Dun Mofan was equipped to take care of it. However, the 6-core demonic beast had recently broken through and was full of vitality while the old man was wounded and tired. As such, both Yun Ping, Brother Ren, and even several hunters tried to help him. Even I tried to help with my meager archery.


    "But against a 6-core demonic beast who could easily kill a middle Mortal Warrior, we were just insects disturbing it a little... Brother Yun Ping got his arm ripped away and devoured by the beast while many of our comrades fell to its vicious attacks. In a last effort, Brother Ren tried to immobilize it and every bone in his body was broken."


    Once again, Cao Yun stopped in his track.


    "Every bone?! Are you exaggerating?" Sun Liao shook his head and his eyes were dead serious. That worried Cao Yun even more. "How is he now?"


    "Do not worry too much about him, you''ll see. He''s mostly fine."


    How could he be fine if every bone in his body had been broken? Even with Heaven medicines, that would take a lot of time to heal, and there would still be trauma. As a Mortal, he really needed his physical body to advance his cultivation. It wasn''t that important for a Mortal Warrior, and even less so for a Spirit Warrior, but in the first stages, the body was primordial. If Ren Chao had too many injuries, in the worst case scenario, that would prevent him from breaking through. But until he reached his friend, he would stay calm. After all, he fully trusted Sun Liao. Maybe they had been able to take care of his injuries.


    Sadly, Yun Ping''s injury was definitive. Reattaching an arm was feasible but recreating it from scratch was the domain of the Spirit medicines and pills. It would be almost impossible to forge one for him. Besides, he was fighting with a spear, he needed both arms. With one less arm, he would need to change his weapon and that would delay him in his progress. Thankfully, as a Mortal Warrior, his body was not as important anymore. That being said, missing an arm would still have some consequences on his future cultivation. Although that moved Cao Yun, he wasn''t as attached to Yun Ping, so it lessened the blow.


    "In the end, City Lord Dun Mofan gave everything he had. He fought the creature completely alone while we were taking care of the remaining demonic beasts. Almost everyone was killed. Despite all the preparations I had made, this was useless. Without City Lord Dun Mofan, I was unable to protect my own array formations and the fight was bloody. Even though I didn''t receive any injury that was too dangerous, I was almost the only survivor thanks to my archery.


    "When finally I could breathe, I saw it. City Lord Dun Mofan was standing in the middle of his own residence in ruins. He was covered in sweat and blood, the corpse of the Infernal Camel Scolopendra at his feet. At first, I didn''t realize. But after getting close to him, I saw that he was dead. Yet, he was still standing, both of his arms were grabbing his halberd. In order to protect his city, he had literally died standing. But everything around had been destroyed and almost everyone was dead, because my defenses did not hold."


    "Brother, you''re not responsible, Zeng Minghe is."


    "I was the one who had to take care of the array formations. I should have realized the weaknesses that bastard had introduced in our defenses and I should have prepared for them! If I had been stronger, I know that my archery could have saved many more people. In the end, City Lord Dun Mofan sacrificed himself for almost nothing."


    "Brother! You lived! Brother Ren lived and Yun Ping lived! No matter how many lives he saved, his death wasn''t in vain! I will not let you say such a thing!"


    Sun Liao cast his eyes downward. Clearly, this carnage had been a terrible blow to his ego. But in his despair, Cao Yun was able to see a fire he was familiar with now. There was a fiery resolve in his pupils. Until now, Sun Liao had only cared about array formations as a hobby and a future job. But now, there was something more to it. In the upcoming months and years, he would become even more serious both in array formations and in his cultivation.

 Chapter 279: A broken body and a vanished corpse

    At last, both men reached their brother Ren Chao. The massive young man looked like he was having a peaceful sleep. But Cao Yun was able to determine right away that he was in some kind of coma. However, what he also realized was that Ren Chao''s bones were almost not broken at all. In fact, there was no trace of any injury at all.


    After observing his body for a long while, Cao Yun turned toward his brother with a confused look on his face.


    "You''re wondering why I told you that all his bones had been broken? The answer is simple. They were." Sun Liao got closer to his lying friend. He pushed the sheet that was covering his chest. "When I found him after the battle, his sternum was sunk into his chest. All of his ribs had exploded into large fragments that were literally visible through his skin." As he kept talking, he uncovered more and more of Ren Chao''s body. "All four of his limbs were bent to grotesque angles. His spine was fractured in nine different locations. And even his skull had been deformed. If you could have seen him back there, you would not have recognized him at all... This was a nightmare."


    Clearly, Sun Liao had still this image vividly in his mind. For the first time, Cao Yun even saw him hold back some tears as his eyes were becoming watery.


    "For a moment, I even wondered whether I should put an end to his suffering... But he was still drawing breath. And he was conscious, Brother. Despite all that, he even asked me if I was fine, if everyone was fine. And... I lied. Back there, I was certain he was going to die.


    "But then, help came. Apparently Xiao Xuefeng had felt that something was wrong with you and had asked the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to try and find you. Instead, they found us. But they were too late. Some monks were also with them. And among those monks, there was an old lady who recognized that Brother Ren was not dead at all. In fact, she was adamant on the fact that he would heal completely, and even stronger than before. I sincerely wanted to believe her, but... I couldn''t..."


    Sun Liao turned toward Cao Yun.


    "I gave up on him."


    "Brother, you couldn''t know. I mean, with the injuries you''ve described, no one could have thought that..."


    "I should have known! I should have known that Brother Ren would not give up that easily. And if it had been me, he wouldn''t have given up either."


    "Brother, you''re still shocked by what happened. When your mind is clear, think back on it and talk with Brother Ren. You''ll see that you''re not to blame."


    In order to comfort his friend who was at the limit of a mental breakdown, worsened by both the fatigue and the stress, Cao Yun put his hand on his shoulder. Then, he looked him right in the eyes with a determined look.


    "Instead of blaming yourself for what happened, prepare to be better next time. Sulking over something that is done won''t bring anything good. But understanding what you can do to prevent it from ever happening again is the way to go. You know that Brother Ren will never blame you. I won''t blame you. No one will blame you but yourself. And what good will that bring anyone?"


    "You''re right..."


    "But, I''m curious. How did he heal? Did those monks have some secret medicine? I know of no pill or plant that could heal that many broken bones."


    "No, they only used very classic medicine to help him a little. Apparently, he has what''s called a Golden Silk Body."


    "A Golden Silk Body? I never heard the term. Is it some kind of special physique?"


    "Indeed. Even I have barely heard about it, but that monk lady had. It seems to come from traces of demon blood. After millenniums under the tyrannical rule of the demons, it''s not surprising that some traces of their blood has found itself in our own veins. And sometimes, just like the bloodline of demonic beasts within humans, it can awaken dormant abilities."


    Many humans had indeed some traces of demon blood in them. In particular, this was very true for the people in the provinces bordering the demon territories. For example, Yun Ping''s dark and reddish skin was due to the demon blood in him. Of course, this blood was very very thin in humans. Yet, sometimes, it could still awaken strange physiques, extremely similar to the True Fiery Fenghuang blood within the Huang family. But unlike this bloodline, the demon blood in humans was too thin to really be passed on from generation to generation. After all, it had been millenniums since humans and demons had not mixed together.


    So producing a physique thanks to some diluted demon blood was extremely rare. It was more common for some demonic beast blood to appear in humans than for demon blood to awaken human physiques.


    "This Golden Silk Body is related to the marrow in one''s bones. From what the old lady said, it would explain Ren Chao''s strength, but also why he was so slow in his Qi cultivation. Most of his Qi was going in his marrow to nourish his physical strength. But under the shock, his physique has been fully awakened. And his marrow have completely rebuilt his bones. If all of that is true, Brother Ren should become way stronger and sturdier. But his Qi cultivation should also get back to a normal speed. In order to heal him, we used many pills and array formations so that his marrow could absorb great quantities of Qi.


    "With all the Qi accumulated in him, he should almost be an 8th-grade Mortal when he wakes up. Of course, he''ll need some time to stabilize his cultivation, but it''s not impossible for him to become a Mortal Warrior in two to three years."


    In Sun Liao''s words, there was a strange mixture of joy and frustration. On one hand, he was happy for his friend. But on the other hand, he was finding himself lacking. Considering his cultivation speed, Sun Liao would still be faster than Ren Chao, especially thanks to his occupation and his mind cultivation that was higher than his. But when thinking about the Mortal Warrior realm, Sun Liao wanted to reach it even faster than before. It wasn''t to compete with anyone. It was because he wanted to be useful. Ren Chao with his increased strength would become even more useful. But if Sun Liao had no array formation on hands, he would be useless to his friends.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    In Sun Liao''s mind, there was a great way to reach Mortal Warrior. In a couple of months, he would be sent to the Ancient Ruins with all the third-years. If he had been able to advance his cultivation enough, he might find a way to become a Mortal Warrior there. With his mind cultivation and his knowledge of array formations, Sun Liao knew he could advance his cultivation faster than he had done until now, but it was dangerous. Beforehand, he had no reason to put himself at risk, but now he had.


    The two men stayed by Ren Chao''s side for several hours. Sun Liao explained that he had been in and out of this coma for a few months now. He should have fully recovered by the time the third year of the Wubei Sect would be upon them. But until then, Sun Liao preferred to let him rest in peace. He excluded using pills to try and wake him up faster.


    -


    Finally, Matriarch Huang Yufeng was back. After searching the woods, she had come back to Baziyun City. Like everyone here, she was very busy. But now, the calm was coming back as the time for mourning was now upon everyone. All the wounded who could be saved had been found. Hundreds of people were still missing, but they had most likely been eaten and digested by the demonic beasts. Later would come the time to repair the city. But before that, they had to mourn their dead.


    Everyone in the city was now wearing white. Even the Huang family, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, and the Governor''s office changed their clothes. Instead of their characteristic colors, they were all wearing simple white robes. The number of funeral services was so high that the smell of incense was everywhere in the street. It really felt like a war had happened.


    With this strange atmosphere in the air, Matriarch Huang Yufeng asked to see Huang Liyue. She received her in her Phoenix Hall. But she had extended her spiritual senses around the entire hall to make sure that no one could get a glimpse of what was going on inside.


    "Huang Liyue, I searched the woods extensively and I found where the boy met Cleansed Asura for the first time. However, I''ve been unable to detect any trace of his presence at all. There was absolutely nothing..."


    "What?!"


    "Either the body is gone or it is so deep that even my spiritual senses can''t get to it. Besides, if the body has been dead for millenniums, it is also highly possible that there is no trace to be felt around it, especially if his soul is now gone. I do believe however that the body is down there. Otherwise, I would have found traces of someone else taking it. It should just be way too deep for even a Spirit Warrior to sense it. After all, it stayed hidden all this time. I''m not sure even a Sage could get to it..."


    "If you''re telling me this alone, is it because you do not want to let Cao Yun know?"


    Unlike how she was usually speaking with the matriarch, right now, Huang Liyue had a very severe tone. It was as though she had a lot of rage against this woman in front of her, although she had been her bodyguard almost her entire life. However, Matriarch Yufeng did not mind at all. That was also why she had put up a barrier around the Phoenix Hall.


    "Indeed. He already has too many things to take care of for the time being. I''ll just tell him that I found the corpse but couldn''t extract it. If a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior could not, it means that he''ll have to wait many years before doing it himself. In fact, it could maybe even push him to try and cultivate faster."


    On Huang Liyue''s face, there was a clear look of disapproval.


    "Huang Liyue, I can see that there is something on your mind. Please, feel free to talk. No one can hear us, so there is no need to adhere to decorum anymore."


    "Matriarch, I do not recall us being that close with the Cao family. And I do not recall you being that intimate with Cao Wen either. If my memory serves me right, he''s only ever been in your room twice. Why did you lie to Cao Yun? Was there really a need for that?"


    "Yes, there was. You should know I never do anything without a good reason. This Cao Yun boy is absolutely useful to our family. Forming solid bonds with him is essential. And it will not only serve me but your next mistress as well. We both know that Huang Cixi cares about him. The closer he feels to our Huang family, the better it will be for her as well."


    "And all this talk about the Imperial City, is it true?"


    "I may have embellished a little. After all, I have also no proof at all. But there are really strange happenings in the Imperial City and around the Emperor himself. I don''t know if they are just covering a mistake, trying to avoid panic or plotting something nefarious. It''s become more and more difficult to read that brat. But if such a talented young man doubts the Emperor, it''s beneficial for our family and for Huang Cixi. I already have a rough idea of what that little girl plans to do. And like you, I want to support her. However, I feel like this is something else that is troubling your mind..."


    "Cao Wen! Have you really talked about Huang L¨¹feng with him?! Or did you use my brother to manipulate Cao Yun?"


    For a few seconds, Huang Yufeng remained silent.


    "You should know that I would never ''use'' him."


    Although her face expressed pain, as though the idea that she could use the poor boy''s death was appalling to her, Huang Liyue could see something else, guilt.


    "Mother, you''ve always been a very good liar. But I know you as much as you know me! How could you use him in your deception?!"


    "... This... I wanted to... You should know that I''ve never been good for that sort of things, but... I hoped it would help you."


    "Help me?!"


    "Lili, all those years, you thought that I blamed you for his death. However, this is in the past. I know that I have not been there for you like I should have, but I had my duties as a matriarch."


    "This wasn''t all. Admit it! You would have preferred he had lived and I had died in his stead."


    "What?! No!"


    For the first time, Matriarch Huang Yufeng stood up and showed a lot of emotions on her face. Her anger at the moment was not fake and Huang Liyue felt it in her flesh and soul as she lost the control of her spiritual senses for an instant. Immediately, she sat down again, and calmed her mind. Both women were staring at each other'' eyes. Their expressions were extremely complex. Many things had been left unsaid and it was too late to say them now. For several minutes, they stayed immobile without saying anything. Then, they broke contact. Huang Liyue bowed.


    "Matriarch, excuse me, I spoke out of turn."


    The matriarch wanted to add something but she couldn''t find the right words.


    "Matriarch, I only have one request. I gave Cao Yun a part of my ''Ashen Feather Seal''. But without a blood cultivation, it cannot reach the apex."


    "Fine, I understand your request." From her spatial ring, a scroll appeared. "I received this blood cultivation during my birthday. Since we can''t give out our blood cultivation, I allow you to give him this one. There is really nothing very impressive with it, but it should help him nonetheless."


    "Thank you, Matriarch."


    Huang Liyue took the scroll and walked out of the room.


    "I am sorry, Lili. I never realized that you had felt this way about me... A great matriarch can turn out to be a poor mother in the end."


    Although they were very quiet, Huang Liyue still heard those words as the matriarch had collapsed her protections.

 Chapter 280: Homage to the dead

    Cao Yun was bowing in front of Family Head Huang Yi right in the middle of the garden in Huang Cixi''s chambers. He had asked permission to pay homage to the memorial tablets of Huang Mingze and his sons. And now, here he was, faced with their grandfather.


    The old man, who still looked rather young, had a fierce glare in his eyes as he looked upon the young man. Even if no one had told him, he would have known right away that this young man was Cao Yun. After all, he was the boy who had killed his two grandsons. And under other circumstances, he would have killed him as soon as he would have felt his presence.


    The orders from the matriarch had been crystal clear though. In fact, more than these, those were his granddaughter''s words that had really stayed his hand. After her stay in the Wubei Sect, she had asked him not to try and kill ''Chen Guo''. Besides, he had also saved her life. That wouldn''t tip the balance in his favor in Huang Yi''s eyes, but that still counted for something. Without those words of the girl he loved the most, Huang Yi would have forsaken reason. Indeed, killing the brilliant disciple of the Wubei Sect was a terrible move to make. Besides, Huang Liyue was probably watching over him and he would not have been able to injure him. But he would have probably tried anyway if not for his granddaughter''s words.


    "What do you want? Why did you come here? To seek forgiveness?"


    Cao Yun raised his head. And Huang Yi saw that his eyes were also very fierce. But they were not full of anger like his. No, they were just determined. This boy had really thought before coming here. Moreover, Huang Yi could tell that he wasn''t here to seek forgiveness. He wasn''t a hypocrite.


    "Family Head Huang, I never meant for any of this to happen. I never meant to hurt Sir Huang Mingze, Miss Huang Cixi or you. However, I do not think that my actions were wrong either."


    Rage was starting to bubble up inside Huang Yi because he was starting to get where this was going.


    "Indeed, there may have been better ways for me to handle the situation... But Family Head, if an innocent girl was being chased and threatened by several men who calmly discussed her death, wouldn''t you do anything to help her?"


    Yes, this was exactly what Huang Yi thought he would say. And he hated it, because he was right. In fact, if he had been in Yinmen City at the time, and if he had caught his grandson doing that, he would have probably broken some of his bones as a lesson. After all, the bones of a cultivator could heal fast. But of course, in his eyes, all the blame was on Huang Mingze, the bastard who had corrupted his daughter and doomed his grandchildren.


    "Family Head, although I do not think my actions wrong, I cannot say that they were right either. As such, I pondered over it a lot... And I came to a conclusion. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it in the same fashion!"


    After a hint of hesitation, Cao Yun''s eyes became even more resolute.


    "However, I have no hatred toward those I killed that day. And I know that I have hurt you who are innocent in the matter. Thus, I am here to apologize for that."


    "You think this is that easy?! That I''m just going to pat you on the back and say ''no bad blood''?!"


    "Family Head, please instruct me. What could I have done differently? What would you have done in my stead?"


    "You...!"


    All around Huang Yi, some flames were dancing in the air. While he was yelling, his breath was also becoming erratic.


    "What I would have done...? What I would have done...? I would have..."


    Every traits on Huang Yi was screaming in rage and agony. All the emotions he had bottled up inside him were getting out right now.


    "I would have done the exact same thing!"


    As those words finally got out of his mouth, he swung his arms in the air and caused two whips of flames to hit the ground in order to vent his anger.


    "Hell, I would have completely wiped out all the criminals from the beginning! But those were my grandchildren! Do you think I''m happy with what they did?! No matter how much I blame others, they made their choice! They were old enough to know what it meant and yet they went with it! Do you think I like the fact that they died like common criminals?! Hell, like petty and pathetic would-be assassins!


    "I know all of that. But it doesn''t mean I can accept it either! They were my grandchildren! My flesh and my blood! And now they''re gone!"


    A few tears welled up in Huang Yi''s eyes and got instantly vaporized by the heat his own skin was emitting.


    Seeing no more rage but pain and sadness in the grandfather''s eyes, Cao Yun kowtowed on the ground.


    "Family Head, I do not regret my actions that day. But I sincerely regret the pain it has caused you. I know that you have served the Baziyun Province and mankind for centuries now. For such a man as you, I have nothing but respect. However, I cannot give you my life for something that I do not think was wrong. But if you truly believe me to have been in the wrong, I await your judgment on the matter."


    Cao Yun had absolutely no intention of being killed. That being said, he was absolutely sincere. Because, after reading about Huang Yi, he knew him to be an honorable man. He was certain that he would make the right choice.


    "Damn you! I see why she couldn''t blame you any longer..." Those last words were barely audible, but Cao Yun picked up on them. "If you want my forgiveness, you won''t get it! However, I won''t hold you responsible for the actions of my own grandchildren any longer. That being said, I ask one thing in return. I want you to make an oath!"Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    As he spoke, Huang Yi''s screams slowly faded away and he began to speak normally again. Hearing his last sentence, Cao Yun looked up. Right now, he had many important things to do and couldn''t be bound by just any oath.


    "Family Head, it will depend on the content of the oath."


    "I see... What a pity that we met under such circumstances... You will surely be a great hero of mankind, and my grandchildren were your stepping stones. My oath is not something that you will refuse. If my granddaughter Huang Cixi is ever in a dire situation, I want you to help her as though she were your sister."


    Immediately, Cao Yun stood up in shock. In other words, Huang Yi wanted Cao Yun to accept Huang Cixi as his sworn sister of sorts. This wasn''t an oath he was prepared to bind himself with so easily, even if it could help soothe the situation with the Huang family. If he were to accept, he would almost become a distant member of the family in fact.


    "Do not misunderstand me! I do not ask you to accept her as your sworn sister. I only ask that you help her as one if need be. Hell, I''ll even settle for a one-time deal. One time, if Huang Cixi is in danger, I want you to help her as you would help your true sister. Can you make such an oath or not?"


    For long minutes, both men stayed completely still. This was a difficult decision for Cao Yun. On one hand, he had come to try and make amends with Huang Yi because he had never wished to inflict any pain on him. On the other hand, he knew almost nothing of this Huang Cixi and any oath of his was very serious. If he made the oath, he would go through with it.


    "Family Head, one time I agree to help Miss Huang Cixi. But depending on the circumstances, I may just save her life and nothing more."


    "Fine. I am sure you will change your mind once you actually know her."


    Huang Yi had wanted to tell Cao Yun that this granddaughter of his was his former servant. But he knew that she wanted to do so herself, and this was important for her.


    "From this day onward, I will not hold any grudge against you. However, do not expect me to forget what happened."


    As soon as he was done, Huang Yi disappeared. Even with his senses and his full focus, Cao Yun was unable to follow him. After that, he still payed his homage to the memorial tablets for some time and then left the Huang residence. He had asked some servants for some specific directions and he went there.


    -


    In the outskirts of the city, there was a rather big cemetery. Sadly, many people were currently working, digging new tombs for recently deceased cultivators and mortals. The stampede had caused a lot of damage. Some were just destroyed buildings, some were wounds, and others were deaths.


    With all the activity, Cao Yun was completely unseen. And he went to an area where there was mostly nobody. There, he found a stone monument with many names on it. Each and every last one of these names was a stabbing knife to the heart for him, especially a few of them. Cao Beiwen. Cao Shui. Cao Guang. Cao Sheng. Cao Huiying...


    As emotions were swirling inside his chest, the young man hesitated to use his mind cultivation to control all of it. But it didn''t feel right. He didn''t want to control those emotions. No, he wanted to fully express them, even though it could be painful. Otherwise, it would be as though he were a stranger to them. He had already almost forsaken the Cao name. He had neglected the Cao sword art. He could not go all the way to ease the pain. Right now, he wanted that pain!


    Then he heard a voice in his head. This was Huang Liyue talking to him. Of course, she had been following him all this time. After all, she had sworn to protect him in the Yellow Death World. Yet, since they had gotten out, she had still kept protecting him.


    "Do not worry. With me here, no one will even be able to see or hear you. Express yourself to your heart''s content."


    Those were the last words he needed to completely let go of any form of control. Suddenly, Cao Yun fell to the grounds in tears.


    Huang Liyue did not try to eavesdrop, but she still heard a few words. However, nothing was intelligible with his tears. Mostly, he was saying sorry to all of his family.


    "Father, Mother, Brother, I failed you. I could not protect Little Huiying... I could not do anything at all. Even now... But I swear that the Cao family will be avenged. I swear that our name won''t disappear! Those who tried to eradicate us will taste your wrath through me. No matter how long or how painful it will be, I will eradicate those who are responsible, whether they be demonic cultivators or corrupt officials. But I also swear that I will make your name a source of pride and glory for all of mankind.


    "And Father, I will always listen to your last words. I will find my way. I will not live for others, but for myself. I won''t waste the life for which your sacrificed yours. When all of this is settled, I will explore the world and find what it is I truly want. By following the Way and the great path of cultivation, I will create my own goal in life."


    After several hours of howling and crying, Cao Yun ended with clear words. Finally, he wiped his face and stood up.


    "I''m sorry to have shown you such an ugly face. Whether you have reincarnated already or not, whether there is such a thing or not, I hope that I will make your proud. That''s my only wish..."


    Then, Cao Yun still stayed some time to clean the monuments. He also adhered to the rituals more closely, by burning some incense for example.


    -


    Some time after Cao Yun''s departure, another man came to visit this particular monument, Fang Shaolong. Immediately, he saw that the monument had been attended to and that incense had been burned. Moreover, this wasn''t just any kind of incense. He was able to recognize the smell of Blue Cedarwood. This smell was particular to him because his sister had always loved that one. And in his hands right now, he had such an incense stick as well.


    Without attending to the monument, Fang Shaolong ran toward the nearest group. Although they were busy with their own mourning, they recognized the Hall Master of the Major Hall and did not dare send him away. No matter how many people he asked, no one knew who had attended to this monument. The best reply he got was that there had indeed been a lone boy who had walked through this place, but no one had paid much attention to him.


    -


    For a long time, Cao Yun had been indecisive and this had started to become a problem. But through the Yellow Death World and this farewell to his family, he was finally past it. Maybe he had needed some kind of closure. After all, he was not going to get justice for his family in a matter of months. But this visit, as painful as it had been, had been very good for Cao Yun. Now, he felt lighter and he had an even clearer goal in mind. Besides, this goal was not self-destructive.


    And now, he had more clues and more leads, thanks to Can Mouye and Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Speaking of her, he had to meet with the matriarch in order to get as much information as he could. What she had already told him had made him think but this wasn''t all, he was sure of it. However, would she tell him absolutely everything? No matter how much she claimed to have been friends with the Cao family, there was politic involved. That would especially be the case if either the Imperial City or the Emperor himself were involved somehow.


    That being said, he was ready to accept any piece of information. He knew that she would probably not tell him everything, but that was fine as well. Right now, he had almost nothing to go forward with. His only clue was the Wolf Head Sect and it was certainly a red herring.


    Thus, Cao Yun asked Huang Liyue for an audience with the matriarch. After her last conversation with her, the woman was not too keen to be faced with her again, but she was very professional. Even with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun was unable to detect anything wrong in her voice. Since the matriarch was waiting for Cao Yun, there was no need to delay their meeting. So Huang Liyue brought him to her immediately, before other duties could take her time.

 Chapter 281: Spoils go to the victor

    Once again Huang Liyue went into the Phoenix Hall where Matriarch Huang Yufeng was. For several days now, she had had many meetings and audiences mostly concerning the memorial services and a few about the upcoming reconstruction. Now was still a moment of mourning for many. That being said, loss and tragedy were not that uncommon for cultivators who had lived hundreds, if not thousands of years like Governor Leng or Matriarch Huang Yufeng. As such, they were a bit more preoccupied with what was coming next. However, they still had to take care of the mortals and the younger cultivators who had been shaken by what had happened.


    What was immaterial often turned out to be more important than even the most expensive building. Taking care of the needs of the citizens was thus essential to maintain order and improve the upcoming reconstruction.


    And as she had been waiting for it, Matriarch Huang Yufeng immediately accepted the audience with Cao Yun. There were still some tensions between the two women, but both of them stayed very professional. They could maintain the decorum no matter what. In fact, apart from the elders, almost no one had discovered that Huang Liyue was the only daughter of the matriarch. Even Huang Cixi had taken a lot of time to see through this. But Huang Liyue had always felt estranged from her mother. And Huang Yufeng had to admit she was to blame for most of it. Paradoxically, being her bodyguard had maybe even worsened the situation because she felt her relation with her was more professional than anything else.


    Then, Cao Yun was called into the Phoenix Hall where he met with the Matriarch. Unlike some of her other audiences, Matriarch Huang Yufeng did not use her spiritual senses to protect their conversation. If she had, it would have raised some suspicions. They would just need to be careful about their words. And with her spiritual senses, she could still send a lot of information directly into Cao Yun''s mind while talking about anything else.


    In fact, while they were exchanging the formal greetings between a junior and a senior, she used the opportunity to tell him about Cleansed Asura. As she had discussed with Huang Liyue, she only told him that she had failed to find the body. But she had been able to sense a bit of his lingering aura. So if she could become a Sage, she would be able to find him. That also meant that the same was true for Cao Yun. In fact, with the Drop of Wrath, he could maybe be able to find him and retrieve the body only as a late Spirit Warrior.


    Instead of creating another worry for the young man, it produced a new incentive to become stronger faster. On the side, Huang Liyue had a look of disapproval but thanks to her stealth, she was perfectly invisible to Cao Yun''s eyes. As a bodyguard, she almost always stayed very discreet to the point of being barely present. Everyone would forget about her existence just after she had entered the room.


    "The reason I asked to see you is to talk about what you''ll do next. From Can Mouye''s mind, I discovered many interesting things. Although he didn''t know everything, he still knew many things about what is happening in the Wubei Sect. Apparently, a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator named Mo Tian is infiltrated among the elders of the Wubei sect. From what Can Mouye knew, this demonic cultivator is directly under the orders of the Demon King. This Demon King seems to be the current leader of the demonic cultivators.


    "A few decades ago, he was able to unite all demonic cultivators and found strange ruins from the time when the demons still ruled over us. This is why they have become so more dangerous. The demonic cultivators have many new toys to play with. And I am almost certain that this also explains why they have become more active and aggressive. They must have a clear goal in mind thanks to those discoveries.


    "I have not yet heard everything that had happened in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, but it seems like that stampede did exactly what they wanted. It created enough diversion for them to get their hands on something that was in the institute. Spirit Master Xiao will soon cross our city to go back to the Wubei Sect with her disciple. I suggest that you wait for her for the time being. She''ll be able to give you more details considering the relationship between you two.


    "What I can tell you is that they also have something in preparation for the upcoming year in the Wubei Sect. Apparently, there is something important in the Ancient Ruins. And it can only get accessed once every seven years. So I doubt that they will change their plan to wait an additional seven years. This is precisely why they wanted to kill you. They have identified you as a threat for their plan because you will be inside the Ancient Ruins when that happens. So Mo Tian would be rather safe than sorry. He went to the extent of altering this stampede plan just so he could integrate Yinmen City and attract you there."


    "So I really was the cause of all this? Yinmen City would have been spared if I had never set foot there in my life..."


    "Chen Guo, many other cities were eradicated without any relation to you. The only ones at fault are the demonic cultivators, the Demon King and Mo Tian in particular. I already sent everything I learned to both the Wubei Sect and the Imperial City. I do not doubt that the Imperial City will send some men to examine all the locations Can Mouye had in his mind. But I also have no doubt that they will all be empty. This Can Mouye mostly knew about temporary camps. Since he disappeared a very long time, they will have most likely left already.


    "Sadly, there is almost nothing else I can tell you. Despite his cultivation, and even with all the seals in him, Can Mouye was kept mostly in the dark. Apparently, this Mo Tian is incredibly secretive. He''s been planning for at least a century. Now, his plan seems to be close to fruition. As such, next year will be very dangerous for you in the Ancient Ruins."


    For quite some time, Huang Yufeng went over many insignificant things and all she had already talked about when she had first met Cao Yun. At the same time, she was talking to him through telepathy to give him more details. However, she never once revealed to him that his servant had been Huang Cixi. And she insisted on the fact that maybe the Imperial City was involved in some capacity with the death of his family and how much the Huang and the Cao families had been close. Until they knew more, Cao Yun should keep his identity secret, not so much for the demonic cultivators who already wanted him dead, but because of the Imperial City. Matriarch Huang insisted on the fact that they couldn''t know whether the Emperor was really in control, or even alive. Indeed, it had been almost a century since anyone had seen him in public.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Then, after more good words, she stopped sending things in Cao Yun''s mind.


    "I am sure that Spirit Warrior Xiao will be able to give more information on what has happened in her Golden Flowery Fragrant Institute. You should wait here and go back to the Wubei Sect with her and her disciple. She should reach us in less than a month. In the meantime, I have some gifts for you. After all, you saved Miss Huang Liyue''s life and you helped capture this Can Mouye."


    Immediately, a spatial ring appeared from Matriarch Huang Yufeng''s own spatial ring. And he recognized it as soon as he saw it. This ring was Can Mouye''s.


    "Considering your cultivation, you should break through to the Mortal Warrior in the early days of your third-year, or even before that. As such, you''ll be able to use a spatial ring. Our family really doesn''t have an additional spatial tool to gift to you. However, since the great help you''ve been against Can Mouye, I think it proper that you get his ring. Of course, we already took several important resources from the spatial ring, but it should still be useful to you. And..."


    As she spoke, the spatial ring reached Cao Yun. The moment he took it, several documents appeared from the spatial ring in front of Cao Yun.


    "This ring also had some interesting papers in it."


    In front of Cao Yun, there were various texts about demonic beasts, insects, poisons, Evil Qi. There was also a rudimentary dictionary of Moshenhua, the ancient language of the demons. It had some similarities with the Nuhua and was very close to the Primitive Nuhua. After all, the tongues of the demons were a major influence for the current language used by the humans. This could be very useful. Until now, Cao Yun had never seen this language but if the demonic cultivators had found ruins of the demon era, this could be useful. Moshenhua was the most ancient language spoken by the demons. Most likely, they were using a different language now, but that wasn''t the point.


    Among those documents, Cao Yun found two texts that were particularly interesting to him. The first one was ''Compassion to all the Universe''. Described in it, was the martial art used by Can Mouye, ''Tianfomo''s Compassion''. Cao Yun did not really care about the martial art, even if it could be interesting to try and learn it now that he was able to manipulate Evil Qi. No, what was interesting was the fact that this text talked about Evil Qi and how to use it.


    The other document was ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''. It was really different from everything else. In fact, it almost looked like it belonged to someone else. Maybe it was the case. Can Mouye had maybe killed the previous owner of this manuscript before stealing it. This was some kind of blood cultivation. As such it piqued Cao Yun''s interest. As he was reading it, he heard the voice of Huang Liyue in his mind.


    "This last one is a gift from the Matriarch. She knows that I gave you a simplified version of ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Without a blood cultivation, you won''t be able to reach the highest level in this art. Thus, she agreed to let me gift this blood cultivation to you."


    It made more sense. Can Mouye had not shown any trace of blood cultivation during their fight. However, the Huang family was renown for their particular bloodline and their great art related to the True Fiery Fenghuang.


    After reading through the texts in a few seconds, Cao Yun knew that they would all be useful for him. Later, he would memorize them in great details. For now, he took them, as well as the spatial ring, and put them in his robe. Then he bowed down.


    "Thank you, Matriarch."


    "Chen Guo, I have one last question. What do you intend to do with the Mountain Fenghuang egg you protected? Since its parents are dead, we can''t really release it in the wild."


    "I thought a lot about this. And in the end, I do believe that the Huang family is the best suited to take care of a bird from the fenghuang lineage."


    "Chen Guo, are you familiar with the concept of imprinting?"


    "Of course. I read about this. A young chick will create stronger bonds with the first person it sees."


    "Well, this is not entirely accurate. It turns out that demonic beasts are also sensitive to the Qi surrounding them when they are incubating. And the chick will be very close to the ones who share the same kind of Qi. As such, it is likely that this young fenghuang will get attached to you. That being said, we are indeed the best suited to take care of the bird for you. From what our beast tamers said, it should hatch in the following months. Until you exit the Ancient Ruins, we can take care of this fenghuang for you. But I suggest that you come back to see how it is faring after that. It is possible that the fenghuang would agree to serve you.


    "Since you''re a long way from becoming a Spirit Warrior, having a flying demonic beast with you would be very beneficial. Besides, you already have a history with this egg and its family. Can you really abandon it to strangers? What do you say?"


    On the side, Huang Liyue felt like this was another way for the Matriarch to form bonds with Cao Yun. But it was also entirely true. And Cao Yun was fully aware of it as well.


    "You are indeed correct, Matriarch. Please, take care of it until my return."


    "Of course. After what you did for Miss Huang Liyue, this is natural. Now, please, excuse me. There are still many matters I must attend to."


    "Yes, Matriarch Huang."


    Cao Yun thus left the Phoenix Hall with Huang Liyue and went back to some improvised chamber.


    Immediately he proceeded to memorize every single character in the documents he had received. Apart from the dictionary, everything was written in Nuhua so he did not even need the physical manuscripts anymore. The Huang family had probably made copies already. So he could gift them to Xiao Xuefeng so that both the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and the Wubei sect got them.


    Most of the documents were not suited for orthodox cultivators, but they could still give some information, even if only on how to fight demonic cultivators. The texts concerning poisons were especially useful to protect oneself against them. But the other documents all had nasty methods. For example, ''Tianfomo''s Compassion'' could only be mastered by absorbing Evil Qi from living humans. As such, it was necessary to physiologically and physically torture mortals to extract Evil Qi from them. And the various ways to do so were very clearly explained.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun did not want to master this technique. What he was interested in was how the technique was manipulating Evil Qi. And it was indeed instructive. The properties of Evil Qi in comparison with Qi were very detailed. And with his improved sensations, Cao Yun was able to understand most of it. This was not surprising that Can Mouye had been able to manipulate Evil Qi within his own body so well, unlike Luduo Bu.

 Chapter 282: The Heavenly Court is in session

    The calm was slowly coming back to Baziyun City. Unfortunately, all rescues had been over. There were still many missing persons, but they were most likely dead by now. After the fights had been over, many Spirit Warriors had used their spiritual senses to locate as many people as possible. Under the rubbles, some corpses had remained and they got extracted. Thanks to spiritual senses, getting rid of the rubbles was fairly easy. However, rebuilding was another thing entirely.


    Spiritual senses could be used with Qi to manipulate even heavy objects with someone''s mind, but that didn''t make them architects. Moreover, many array formations also needed to be repaired. Governor Leng had sent a lot people to oversee the damage and according to them, it would take less than two months to rebuild the city if every Spirit Warrior helped. But they still required some materials. Transporting the necessary materials would in fact be the most lengthy phase of the reconstruction.


    Moreover, nine provinces had been attacked. Apparently, the Wubei Sect''s defenses had been sturdy enough to avoid almost any problem. After all, they were literally at the summit of a mountain. It was easier to defend. But the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had suffered from several breaches in its wall. In itself, this was very impressive. Even a 9-core demonic beast shouldn''t have been able to achieve such a result. But two of them had attacked and they seemed to have been incredibly well coordinated. There was no doubt that someone had trained them together.


    Cao Yun spent a lot of time with Sun Liao and the unconscious Ren Chao. He only woke up once and went back into a coma after seeing Cao Yun''s face. The young man also went to pay homage to City Lord Dun Mofan. His corpse had been brought to Baziyun City, but they intended to bury him in Yinmen City. In fact, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had commanded a statue in memory of his incredible feats. Hopefully, they could rebuild the small city. Although it wasn''t very large, it was still an important hub for the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, reason why they had a small branch there. This small city was a perfect location to connect the Wu Province to the Meifen Province.


    The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had nothing of great value there, but they had still paid some vagrant cultivators to protect it. However, no one had expected such a result, after all Dun Mofan was a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. The presence of a 6-core demonic beast had not been enough for the city to fall. It was also the work of a traitor amidst its defenders.


    The young man visited Yun Ping as well. During the fight, he had lost his left arm. So of course, he was completely dispirited. But this wasn''t due to the injury alone, it was also the fact that almost everyone around him had died. Despite his battle formations, they had failed. As the son of a general, Yun Ping had learned to care for the men serving under him. Right now, he was still mourning them. If he had been able to give his other arm to bring them back, he would have. In fact, the idea that losing an arm may impede his spearmanship did not occur to him for one instant.


    Yun Ping had no intention whatsoever to change his weapon. Even with one arm, he would keep fighting with his trusted ''Eternal Rampart'', the treasure of his family.


    -


    Everything felt gloomy and melancholic. There had been a lot of losses and anyone could smell it in the air. Literally, the air still had the lingering smell of a handful of incenses all used during funeral ceremonies.


    Not wanting to dwell on those emotions for too long, Cao Yun focused on his cultivation.


    His Qi cultivation was progressing without any problem as it turned out. All the pressure he had suffered from, especially in the depths of the Ocean of Turbid Anguish, had helped him advance it in fact. Now that he was calm, he realized that he was extracting even more benefits. The cells he had already tempered were pushed further and further. More and more Qi could flow through his body and he was already able to sense it strengthen his Wei Qi. In fact, instead of rushing to temper all of his cells, he focused on strengthening those he deemed most important.


    After all, he was not in a rush. He still had around two months before entering the Ancient Ruins. And Cao Yun thought that it would be wise to seek Chief Instructor Peng''s advice before breaking through to the Mortal Warrior realm. The Mortal realm was also called the Foundation Realm. It would be wise to do everything he could to ensure that his next cultivation realm was as smooth as this one. There were some mistakes one could not compensate for in other realms.


    It didn''t mean that Cao Yun was not progressing fast at all. He just made it so that he wouldn''t break through yet. That being said, he was certain that he could break through at any moment now, just by applying a bit more pressure. In fact, he could almost feel a physical veil between him and the Mortal Warrior realm. With a single push, the veil would tear and he would enter a new world.


    Then, he also focused on the six stars of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' and even more so on the first Insight Writing he had extracted from his sea of consciousness. This single Insight Writing contained many secrets of his spearmanship. As it had been produced by his own mind, it was almost a crystallization of his own understanding of the way of the spear. As such, it contained knowledge that was in him but not yet fully in his conscious mind. This was what had allowed him to enter the state of Spear Aura.


    According to what Chief Elder Baishen had told him, the next state he would reach would be the state of Spear Intent. Only then could he hope to fully enter the state of Spear Heart. For now, everything was still a bit blurry for him as not that many books talked about those concepts. Hopefully, Chief Elder Baishen would help him make more sense of it. That being said, he studied this Insight Writing as much as possible while the seventh star was very slowly forming itself in his sea of consciousness.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    From his own experience, this Winnowing Basket Star would be the hardest to condense yet. Because, once he would have this final star, he would have completed the very first layer of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Many people stopped even before completing this first layer, but there were still two other layers. After forming the seven stars, they would be turned into constellations and finally into mansions. If one was able to achieve seven mansions, then the spirit of the Azure Dragon would be formed in his mind. Cao Yun was not even certain whether the creator of this technique had achieved such a result. But since he had been able to observe a true Azure Dragon, it was a real possibility.


    As he was working on his martial arts, Cao Yun realized how much his spear had been damaged. ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' had suffered a lot during his stay in that Yellow Death World. Thankfully, it was not destroyed. But Cao Yun was able to feel the scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon within. It was as though he could hear a howling animal. On one hand, he may need to change his spear in a very near future. On the other hand, he felt attached to this one because of the connection of this scale with his own martial art.


    Apart from those cultivations, Cao Yun also worked on his mind cultivation. And before the end of the month, he was able to fully condense a new Five Echoes Pearl. Finally, he was able to energize his sixth chamber, the Chamber of Heavenly Court. This chamber was in the anterior upper part of the Upper Dantian. According to what ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' stated, it could improve decisiveness and reactivity.


    Now that he was used to it, Cao Yun had absolutely no problem energizing this new chamber. At first the changes were not apparent. But when he went back to his martial art training, he realized that he was able to slow down time a little. Rather, he was able to think faster. If he thought fast enough, the world around him seemed to go a bit slower. Of course, the difference was not gigantic and it was only his mind, not his body that was faster. However, during a fight, that would be a great help for him. That being said, he did not feel much change concerning his decisiveness.


    After having overcome his indecisive nature by himself, this Chamber of Heavenly Court did not bring him that many benefits in terms of personality. Yet, he found another use for this faster thoughts. Now he could read way faster than before and memorize entire books in a few minutes. Almost as soon as he had turned a page, he had had enough time to read it. As long as he wasn''t too fast, he just had to flip the pages of a book to memorize its entire content. Then, he could read it more carefully once memorized and try to fully understand it.


    Speaking of memorizing books, Cao Yun also went through the documents of Can Mouye he had been given. They were absolutely disgusting. Some detailed how poisonous insects could be birthed within living humans. Each volume contained more perverse ways to acquire power of any kind. Still, it was useful to know one''s enemies. And the more Cao Yun learned about them, the more he wanted to put an end to their entire existence. If he could, he would wipe out all of their heritage as well. As passionate as he was about learning new things, there were also things that should never been studied.


    Almost none of the documents concerning beast taming were useful for Cao Yun as they all involved pain and torture. Some explained how to prepare the victims to feed particular demonic beasts in order to maximize their growth. The more Cao Yun read, the more he was nauseous. The worst thing was that all those methods had been used. Worse even, they were still being used right now by demonic cultivators...


    There was a document that was really useful though, the dictionary of Moshenhua. What Cao Yun was really looking forward to would be a dictionary Nuhua-Antique Sixian. Indeed, he had the entire knowledge from Cleansed Asura in his mind and just couldn''t read it at all. Amidst this knowledge, there was ''Death Verses'' and he could only understand the first two chapters ''See Through the Mud'' and ''Death Reeling''. But those two chapters were only useful with Death Energy around. In the Hongchen Kingdom, there was none. And Cao Yun was convinced that the other chapters were talking about how to use this Death Energy or even create it from his own Po. With the Drop of Wrath, this would be the kind of knowledge that would be useful.


    For now, he focused on trying to understand the Antique Sixian. But he got the idea that learning another language for which he had more learning materials first would be a good thing. Learning Moshenhua would also be useful because this was the basis of the current demon languages. If the demonic cultivators had found ruins from the era where the demons ruled, understanding this speech would be incredibly important as well. What if he found documents from those demonic cultivators and was unable to read them? Besides, learning a new language would help his mind learn yet another one more easily in the future. So, while a part of him was still analyzing the Antique Sixian, Cao Yun put a lot of effort into understanding this Moshenhua.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun decided to bring his attention to both the ''Ashen Feather Seal'' and the blood cultivation he had received, ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''.


    Although Huang Liyue had given a simplified version of her technique to Cao Yun, he had mostly understood every concept. Now, he only needed to work on those in order to improve and slowly erase his presence completely. Using his achievement in ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'' that was graded 4-star Earth, he had already a small advantage when working on this other stealth technique. Right now, he was essentially trying to wrap his head around the concept of the last chapter, ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes''.


    Clearly, this was related to blood. But this technique had been invented by Huang Liyue who had the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang. And there were many words clearly referencing the Huang family secret techniques which Cao Yun had no way of knowing. Hopefully, if he had been given a blood cultivation method, this was for that purpose.


    And this ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' was crazy!


    It was very simple in principle. In order to improve the quality of blood, Cao Yun had to gather all of his blood into his heart and then use Fire Qi to turn his heart into some kind of furnace. That meant that not only would he have no more blood in his body for several seconds, or even minutes. But he would also subject his heart to intense pressure both from outside and within. Damn, there was literally a sentence warning that this could kill a lesser cultivator. Who had come up with this cultivation method?!


    The more Cao Yun read though, the more he realized that it was sound. Indeed, this technique could bring great results. And with the Drop of Wrath residing in his Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, right in the middle of his heart, this was even more certain to work. Moreover, the technique was not as insane as he had thought. There were several stages. In each one, more blood was brought to the heart to build resistance.


    Seeing this method, the young man got several ideas. Considering that his blood had changed thanks to the Drop of Wrath, he could maybe improve the effects by putting all of his blood in contact with the drop in a sealed furnace before tempering it with his Qi. Slowly, the idea became more and more enticing.

 Chapter 283: Stoking the fires of the heart

    As Cao Yun was thinking about the method explained in ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', he became more intrigued and less worried. As of now, he had never really practiced any blood cultivation. Yet, thanks to the intent of the Drop of Wrath, he had already learned how to manipulate his blood early on. And with his stronger mind cultivation he could literally control the flow of his blood. Even if his heart were to stop beating, he could still make his blood go through his usual circulation. In fact, this was more or less the idea behind ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. Cao Yun could slow down his heart and even stop it altogether, as long as he controlled his blood and Qi to nourish his tissues.


    After practicing it many times, he was able to make his blood behave naturally without thinking too much about it. As such, he was rather confident in his ability to send a huge part of his blood into his heart to get into contact with the Drop of Wrath, while keeping his tissues nourished. Moreover, as he was progressing toward a true Transparent Body - that is to say a body where every cell was transparent to the flow of Qi - he could also nourish his body with pure Qi for a while. Even without an active bloodstream, he was fairly confident in being able to maintain his physical body alive for several hours.


    And now that he truly thought about it, Cao Yun realized how much he had changed. In fact, he was even a bit worried about having such an abnormal body. But again, this was normal for a cultivator. Spirit Warriors had even stranger bodies and souls. And this bit of worry was completely silenced by both pride and excitement.


    The only thing he was not entirely sure about was whether his heart would be able to take the full pressure of all his blood in one place.


    According to ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', at first, it was necessary to control small quantities of blood. Slowly, the cultivator would learn to control his blood with more and more precision. And at the same time, his heart would adapt to the pressure. The muscles making the organ beat would get stronger over time. In a sense, this was a form of bodybuilding exercise, like those he had been doing with Chief Instructor Peng. That part of the training was called ''Expanding the Master''.


    But the end goal was not to strengthen the heart, even though it was interesting in itself. The ultimate goal of ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' was to completely condense the entirety of the blood within the cultivator''s body into a single drop. This method was called ''Reducing the Five Sheng'' because there was around five liters of blood in a human body. Bit by bit, the cultivator would be able to condense more and more of his blood in one go. And each new liter condensed was another landmark.


    Once again, this was not the point of the training, but just a means to achieve the true blood cultivation. After that, this drop of blood was so condensed that one would be able to extract blood essence from it, that was to say blood with almost pure Jing within, instead of Qi. That way, even when the blood would be sent back to the body, most of the blood essence would still reside within the heart. Slowly, this blood essence would then be worked on through Fire Qi in the Middle Dantian to excite the Jing and create more of it to send through the rest of the blood. This was ''Stoking the Human Flames''.


    Finally, condensing the blood again around this drop of blood essence and activating the Fire Qi would enable the cultivator to produce even more Jing and to send it directly into all of the blood. And before long, another drop of blood essence could be extracted. This stage was what ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' was really about.


    As he studied this method, Cao Yun realized that he had more or less already completed most of those stages. The Drop of Wrath was not a drop of pure blood essence. But it was still made of Jing, albeit corrupted and fragmented. Thus, he probably didn''t need to condense a drop of blood essence to directly perform the last step of ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''. First of all, he would focus on controlling his blood and activate the Fire Qi around his heart.


    In a way, this was also similar to what he had done when he had been a 6th-grade Mortal. In that stage, he had to accumulate Water Qi in his Lower Dantian. And Cao Yun knew that at some point during the Mortal Warrior realm, he would have to gather Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, around the heart. In fact, those two antagonistic Qi were the key to form the Soul Embryo in the final stages of the Mortal Warrior realm.


    Of course, Qi always had the five elements in it. When someone talked about Fire Qi or Water Qi, they just meant to say that this particular element was more present in it. As such, Cao Yun could still try to activate this element within the Qi already in his Middle Dantian. While working on his blood cultivation, this would also help him prepare for the Mortal Warrior realm, which was very close for him.


    After a moment of doubt when seeing how this technique worked, Cao Yun was now determined. For an instant he wondered whether this was due to his own change of attitude or to the recently energized Chamber of Heavenly Court. Maybe it had really changed his personality a little... He knew that he wasn''t being reckless because he intended to proceed with extreme caution, but this thought still crossed his mind. Was he really the same Cao Yun he had been before his family got killed? But the question was ridiculous. After all, the event in itself had changed him. Furthermore, he was soon to be eighteen. Thus he would still change quite a lot in the years to come. Of course, he wasn''t that Cao Yun anymore.


    Listening to his cautious side, Cao Yun began by stopping his heart. At first, he controlled his bloodstream to be sure that everything was going fine. Then, he condensed a few drops of blood in his heart. With utmost caution, the young man proceeded at a steady pace. As he was putting more and more blood into his heart, Cao Yun could feel that it was getting a bit bloated. Thus, he increased his attention to the delicate organ. It was just like slowly putting more and more strain on a muscle. Cao Yun wanted to make sure that this particular muscle did not give way. When it reached its maximum capacity, the pressure within increased but Cao Yun was able to control the muscles around the heart to keep it intact.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Before one hour had passed, he had condensed a full liter of blood in his heart. The pressure was clearly important but his heart could still take it without too much problem. The influence of the Drop of Wrath had probably played a part in strengthening his heart.


    For several days, Cao Yun mainly focused on pouring more and more blood into his heart during each session. For now, he had never exceeded two hours by session. But he felt that his progress was very fast.


    When finally he felt that he had not enough blood in the rest of his body, he simply used his Qi and realized that the cells, deprived of blood, were even more hungry for Qi. As a by-product of his blood cultivation, he would probably increase his tempering of the cells. Not only were the cells he had already tempered more welcoming to the Qi, even the ones he had not fully tempered yet were more transparent to the flow of Qi. In a sense, it was like giving food to a starving man. If he was really starving, he wouldn''t mind a different food than what he was used to.


    After making sure that there was no problem with nourishing his cells in the absence of his blood, Cao Yun kept on going. In less than a week, he had already condensed all five liters of his blood within his heart. And the bloated sensation was mostly gone. Now he only had to activate as much Fire Qi as possible to try and activate his Drop of Wrath so that its properties would flow through his blood.


    That would take a lot more time, but thanks to his control over his own Qi, this was not such a problem. Cao Yun activated his Po to increase his control over Qi. But extracting just the Fire Qi was a bit tricky, especially around the heart. The Fire Qi could easily excite the heart a bit too much, so it was necessary to keep it in check. An excited heart that was full of pressurized blood was not a good idea. But now that Cao Yun knew for a fact that he could practice this blood cultivation without any major incident, he was not in a rush.


    Now that he was on his way to mastering the blood cultivation, he thought back on ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Because his blood was not the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang, he could not really practice the last chapter in the same way. But he could still think of ways to use the intent of the Drop of Wrath to help him. The general idea was to use the mystical properties of the True Fiery Fenghuang bloodline to strengthen the Qi manifested ashes. Only then was it possible to literally erase one''s presence completely. The properties of the Drop of Wrath were probably way different, at least Cao Yun thought so because he didn''t know much about the bloodline of the Huang family. This wasn''t something they were too keen on sharing with outsiders.


    But Cao Yun was certain that the Drop of Wrath was in no way inferior to the blood of the True Fiery Fenghuang. Moreover, he had a full drop while the members of the Huang family only had traces of this bloodline in their own blood. By mastering this last chapter of ''Ashen Feather Seal'' with his Drop of Wrath, he might even develop a better stealth. Besides, as he was getting closer to the Mortal Warrior stage, Cao Yun was also getting more and more familiar with the sensation of Qi Manifestation within his own body.


    Right now, he could form at least a hundred particles of ashes to hide his Qi. Complemented with ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'', he was fairly confident that only a Mortal Warrior on the verge of going through the Lesser Tribulation could sense him. And when he would finally break through himself, only a Spirit Warrior could detect his presence. Even then, thanks to his mind cultivation, he might find ways to prevent it. The ''Ashen Feather Seal'' could achieve that by sending ashes into the Upper Dantian. Even without being a Spirit Warrior, it was possible to work on one''s Upper Dantian. After all, Cao Yun had already done so thanks to his mind cultivation. Indeed, he was energizing the very chambers of his Upper Dantian.


    Cao Yun did not want to get too excited, fearing that the results would not be as incredible as he imagined. At any moment he could hit a bottleneck. But now he had realized something that seemed obvious. He found himself naive to have never thought about this in fact. As his Qi cultivation was advancing, it would necessarily become slower. In that case, he just had to complement his Qi cultivation with other types of cultivation. Physique, blood, mind, soul, almost everything in the human body could be cultivated. If he worked on all of these aspects, the risk of hitting a bottleneck in all of them at the same moment was minimal. And each aspect of his cultivation would improve the others as well.


    Besides, he was now actively trying to gain full control of the Drop of Wrath. Blood cultivation seemed like a great way to achieve this end result.


    Thus, Cao Yun decided to work on his blood cultivation just like he was working on his mind cultivation. Every day he would condense his blood to get more and more of the properties of the Drop of Wrath in his bloodstream. And each time, he could feel that he was able to mobilize a tiny bit more of Fire Qi around his heart.


    -


    After a month had passed by, Cao Yun was finally notified that Spirit Master Xiao was reaching Baziyun City. As such, he reunited with Sun Liao. Yun Ping was also at their sides. He had decided not to sew his robe so his left sleeve was empty and fluttering with the wind. While waiting in an open field, they saw the form of a majestic crane flying in the sky. At first, it almost looked like a giant cloud being blown by the wind. But soon they saw the head of the crane that was covered in red feathers and a black beak. Even after they had seen this, they were still barely able to differentiate the white feathers of the crane with the other clouds around it.


    This was a Cloud-Drifting Crane, an 8-core demonic beast. Seeing it, this clearly wasn''t the kind of beast that could fight off against a stampede, it seemed a bit too serene. But this was wrong. Although this demonic beast loved peace and tranquility, it was as deadly as any other 8-core demonic beasts. Just like Xiao Xuefeng, it could produce music with its shrieks. In fact, in one book, Cao Yun had read that a Cloud-Drifting Crane could literally make the organs of lesser beasts and cultivators explode in their body just by singing. All its enemies would just drop dead without any visible violence. And it was also able to create illusions.


    Having such a demonic beast with them had probably helped the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute go through the stampede. After all, they had no 9th-grade Spirit Warriors and yet had been attacked by two 9-core demonic beasts. Thanks to their defenses and their knowledge of alchemy, they had been able to survive, but they had still suffered some casualties.


    When the Cloud-Drifting Crane was close enough, Cao Yun heard Xiao Xuefeng''s voice in his head.


    "Cao Yun, do not worry. Feng Yingyue is safe and sound. In fact, she even gained some insights during the fight. And your sister Mei Hua has also been lucky that way. She''s with me right now. Also, she heard about Ren Chao and she insisted that I brought some pills to help him."

 Chapter 284: Reunion of the sworn brothers

    The Cloud-Drifting Crane landed outside of the city where Cao Yun was waiting with Sun Liao and Yun Ping. Almost immediately, an emotional Mei Hua jumped from the crane and ran toward the two young men. None of them had ever seen her so full of life. And she almost looked completely different because she was wearing the uniform of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, even though she had never been enrolled in the institute.


    "Brothers, you''re not hurt?" Using all of her expertise as an alchemist, she scanned the two young men. Sensing that there was nothing wrong with them, she calmed down.


    "Excuse me. It''s just that... I heard about the casualties in Yinmen City and Baziyun City... Thankfully, we didn''t get as many in our Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, but I got worried. Especially after hearing about Brother Ren." Suddenly, she remembered the reports she had read about him.


    She had left the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute with Xiao Xuefeng several weeks ago. It had almost been a month. So of course, her information was a bit outdated. There were array formations to talk between their institute and Baziyun City, but no one could send a quick message to Xiao Xuefeng during her travel. As such, Mei Hua was still under the assumption that Ren Chao was in a critical condition. Right then, both men understood why she was so agitated compared with her usual self. Truth be told, they had completely neglected the fact that she had not been made aware of his recovery.


    Thus, they immediately recounted everything that had happened. On her side, Mei Hua also explained the events that had occurred in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. As she was a Mortal and the precious disciple of Xiao Xuefeng, she had not seen much fighting. That being said, she had witnessed a breach in one of the walls by a 9-core demonic beast. Several array formations protecting the institute had even been destroyed. Thankfully, Hua Fenfei, Xiao Xuefeng and Director Ge Ling had fought side by side. They were respectively 6th-grade, 7th-grade and 8th-grade Spirit Warriors. Moreover Ge Ling had taught both Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng. When fighting together, they were incredible.


    The way Mei Hua described the fight, it almost made both men wished they had been there in the chaos of battle. Of course, the two of them had had enough battles with demonic beasts for now. On the other hand, Mei Hua had been impressed by the level of alchemy she had seen in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Now, she realized fully why people claimed this was the best place to learn the craft. The Wubei Sect wasn''t so bad but without Xiao Xuefeng there, her evaluation would drop several levels.


    The young woman had gone from worried and sad to excited beyond belief. Once again, the two young men were rather surprised. The usual reserved and cool-headed Mei Hua had drastically changed. In part, it was due to the emotion. In part, it was due to the fact that she was now more open around her sworn brothers. But to tell the truth as it stood, she was gushing with excitement after witnessing another world of alchemy. She had been able to witness 5-star Heaven alchemists perform various refinements to prepare for the stampede and the aftermath. Indeed, the alchemists had forged many pills to send through the entire Hongchen Kingdom.


    While the young people were catching up, Xiao Xuefeng went to see Governor Leng in order to give him pills for the wounded. For many it was too late. If she had been able to arrive sooner, a lot of people would have survived. But still, many would be alive thanks to her arrival now. For a long time now, she had accepted that she couldn''t save everyone. As long as she saved those she could, it was enough for her. But that didn''t stop her from trying to get better. Since she had forged the Life Boiling Cradle pill, Xiao Xuefeng had real hopes of becoming a true 1-star Spirit alchemist. Damn, with her cultivation, she might have a chance of upsetting the current fate of mankind and breaking through to the Sage realm. This was a wild dream of course. But she was a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior and she hadn''t even turned 200.


    Cao Yun, Ren Chao and Sun Liao kept on talking. On the side, Yun Ping felt a bit strange as he was completely excluded from the conversation. Thus, he decided to accompany Spirit Master Xiao. After all, he had had some contacts with the physicians and the wounded so he could be of use to her. Besides, he was used to dealing with this kind of tragedy due to his military upbringing.


    -


    Soon, the trio found themselves in front of Ren Chao''s bed. The two young men let Mei Hua do her thing. Although she wasn''t a physician, she still had a bit of practice thanks to her alchemy. In fact, since her alchemy had been stuck to a standstill because of her low cultivation, she had studied other fields. And medicine had been one of them due to its obvious link with alchemy and pills. If she were to take a test, she would probably be considered a 4-star Earth physician. Of course, if she were more serious, she could excel in this field as well. But alchemy was where her heart resided, especially after her stay in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    It didn''t take a lot of time for Mei Hua to establish that Ren Chao was physically fine. Hearing all the injuries he had sustained, she was stunned by how his bones were perfectly repaired. Even for cultivators, this was an abnormal recovery speed. But now knowing about his special physique, this made much more sense. Furthermore, this explained why he had not waken up yet.


    If his physique had been fully awakened by the need to heal his injuries, it had both consumed a huge amount of Qi and exerted an incredible toll on the rest of his body. In a sense, his marrows had stolen all the energy from his body that wasn''t vital. It happened to be that being conscious was not a vital process of the body. And this mostly explained why Ren Chao was still comatose. Now that the problem was known, it wouldn''t be difficult to do something about it. For the physicians on site this was impossible because they lacked the resources.


    Obviously, they had understood the problem, but they had not the pills Mei Hua had with her. From a small pouch, she took out a wooden box. Once she opened it, there was a silver hue emanating from it and a deep fragrance. Being well versed in alchemy, Cao Yun tried to guess what pill this was. He wasn''t too sure on the aspect alone but considering Ren Chao''s problem, he was fairly certain that this was a 4-star Heaven pill known as Gushing Argent Well. And he was right.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    With the help of a physician who was a Mortal Warrior, Mei Hua made Ren Chao consume the pill. As a Mortal Warrior, the physician was able to control the medicinal essence within the young man without any problem. On the side, Mei Hua gave him a few instructions on how to circulate the medicinal essence of this particular pill. The results were impressive.


    As the name suggested, Qi flew in Ren Chao''s body as though he was lying on a gushing well of pure energy. But most of it went straight into his bones that seemed to still be hungry. Thankfully, the pill was powerful enough that the bones finally appeared satiated and the Qi went into Ren Chao''s meridians and Dantian.


    After a comatose state that had lasted several months, Ren Chao came to. Although he had slipped in and out of this coma several times during this period, now was different. His mind was still a bit clouded but he was definitely conscious, with no sign of withdrawal.


    Seeing all his sworn brothers and sister reunited in front of him, Ren Chao almost erupted from his bed. The physician used all of his strength to keep him down. Now that his physique was fully awake, even this instinctive act was supported by a tremendous strength and only a middle Mortal Warrior was able to restrain him. That being said, if he had been in perfect condition and had wanted to fight off the physician, the old man would have stood no chance.


    "Brothers, Sister, you''re all fine! Brother Sun, what happened in Yinmen City after I... well, you know...."


    Once again, Sun Liao recounted everything that had happened, the death of the traitor, the heroic sacrifice of City Lord Dun Mofan, the massacre of almost everyone and also the terrible injury of Yun Ping.


    And the result was what was expected. Ren Chao felt terrible. As always, he wondered what would have happened if he had been stronger. Despite his physical strength that was way beyond what other Mortals could do, except Cao Yun, he was still too weak. Like what had happened in the Lunar Marsh, he had not been able to protect the people around him. City Lord Dun Mofan had sacrificed his life for that. But this time, he didn''t feel as bad. Indeed, if even a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior had been unable to protect his own city, Ren Chao had no chance to begin with.


    Instead of making him despair, it motivated him to get stronger faster. And more than that, he was now fully aware that the best thing for him to help others was to be the greatest blacksmith possible. If he had had a Heaven weapon or even better, a Spirit weapon, City Lord Dun Mofan might have survived. After all, he had been strong enough to kill his opponents. So with a little bit more help, he should have been able to survive the fight as well.


    The atmosphere was a bit too gloomy because Sun Liao also found himself inadequate. Not only had he failed to realize that Zeng Minghe was a traitor, his array formations had collapsed. Of course, most of them had been set up by City Lord Dun Mofan under his command, so they weren''t as good as he could have done himself. But the mere fact that his cultivation didn''t allow him to create such array formations was a problem. The frustration of having the knowledge but lacking the strength to apply it in the real world had reached its peak.


    Both Sun Liao and Ren Chao wanted to get stronger and also better at their craft. In the upcoming weeks, Ren Chao would realize that his wounds were a blessing in disguise. Now that his physique was fully awaken, his bones were not sucking his Qi dry anymore. Thus, his cultivation went back to a normal speed. As a 5th-grade Mortal, he was the lowest of all second-years even though he was the strongest, apart from Cao Yun.


    On the other hand, Sun Liao also realized something. He had been too caught up in his own head to see this at first.


    "Sister Mei, you''ve become an 8th-grade Mortal already?"


    "Oh? Yes, I completely forgot to tell you. Thanks to my master, I had already tempered my meridians and vessel a great deal already. And with some pills I was able to easily accumulate enough Water Qi to cross into 7th-grade Mortal. Then, it really wasn''t long before I became an 8th-grade one. But that''s not all, my master has gifted me a Transparent Celestial Key pill. So I should be a 9th-grade Mortal in nearly two months."


    Ren Chao was completely stunned, while Sun Liao and Cao Yun were not that surprised. Alchemists always had faster cultivations than everyone else. The one that was truly abnormal was Cao Yun. Even without the use of pills, he was very close to becoming a Mortal Warrior. Thus Sun Liao felt urged to progress faster. Just like alchemists, array formation masters also had ways to cultivate faster. But even then, this would take some time. And he wasn''t sure whether he could catch up with his brother and his sister. Right now, he was just as fast, or as slow, as Ren Chao. Soon, the both of them would be eclipsed by Mei Hua and Cao Yun. In fact, Ren Chao had an advantage with his physique.


    As Sun Liao had many things going through his head, Mei Hua looked at Cao Yun and kept on talking.


    "Since you''ve already crossed that realm, you don''t need it at all. And I''m pretty sure you wouldn''t have agreed to take it. But I asked my master if she could give me some pill for you as well."


    Cultivation through pills could be faster, but it often lacked something. For example, opening the acupoints with the Transparent Celestial Key pill prevented the acquisition of a profound feeling of each acupoint as they were opening very fast. And for a fighter, having a subtle understanding of his own body and his acupoints was essential. In Mei Hua''s case this wasn''t a problem thanks to her powerful mind, she already had great sensations in her acupoints.


    "Anyway, she only had one more pill. So, Brother Ren, Brother Sun, you don''t have to tell me right away, but this pill could help one of you."


    "Well, it''s obvious that it should go to Brother Sun. After all, his cultivation is already more advanced than mine."


    Sun Liao''s mind was in disarray. Maybe if he pushed everything else aside, he would be able to progress faster in his Qi cultivation. Using the mind cultivation his brother had gifted him was also a great way to advance faster. He had already completed the first layer and was very close to energizing his first chamber. He would need to think carefully on the order in which he would do so to improve his cultivation speed as much as possible. He was certain that he would become a 7th-grade Mortal before they would get back to the Wubei Sect.


    Then, he would have to circulate his Qi to temper his meridians and vessels, open his 361 acupoints and finally make every cell in his body transparent to Qi. The first step was easier for an array formation master who always worked on different ways to circulate Qi in the world around them. But opening all the acupoints was a challenge. Maybe if he took that pill...


    No! Faced with this proposal, Sun Liao realized something about himself. Deep down, the reason why he wanted to get stronger fast was to be equal to Mei Hua and Cao Yun. It was his pride that was urging him. And this pride wouldn''t allow him to accept such a gift. He wasn''t a beggar.

 Chapter 285: Flight back to the Wubei Sect

    "Thank you, Sister. But my cultivation is not a problem. On the other hand, Brother Ren, even with his physique fully revealed, will still be the slowest of us. As a blacksmith, he has no reason not to take such a pill when the time comes for it. After all, he only needs big arms to strike with his hammer, not the subtle control of each one of his acupoints."


    "Hey!"


    This little quip and the over-exaggerated response of Ren Chao finally brought back an atmosphere the four of them were more familiar with. All of them began to laugh. And more banters between Sun Liao and Ren Chao ensued. However, in Sun Liao''s mind, there was a seed now. He would completely focus on his cultivation. With enough efforts, he was certain that he could catch up with Mei Hua. After all, he was truly a genius! Cao Yun was an abnormal case, but Mei Hua was not that much more talented than him. There was no way he could lose by a lot.


    Thankfully, Sun Liao wasn''t as arrogant as before. As such, he had no hard feeling against Mei Hua. But her sudden progress had completely motivated him to soar higher and faster.


    While the four friends were laughing among each other, Mei Hua being very enthusiastic for once, Xiao Xuefeng was talking with Matriarch Huang.


    Mostly, their conversation was about Matriarch Huang explaining clearly what she had gotten out of Can Mouye while Xiao Xuefeng reported on the events that had happened in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Although both women were very cordial, there was still some tension between them. One had to read between the lines to understand what was going on. Despite being allies, there were things that just couldn''t be told to outsiders. Yet, they needed to share information about demonic cultivators. Where the subject was more delicate was about suspicions concerning the involvement of the Imperial City. And Xiao Xuefeng could not reveal all the secrets of Director Ge Ling either. However, she did reveal what had been stolen during the stampede, the real goal of the demonic cultivators.


    Even Huang Liyue was not authorized to be present. Against Xiao Xuefeng, she knew that even her stealth would not keep her hidden. In fact, she would have probably been able to detect her even if she were weaker. After all, Xiao Xuefeng had the most sensitive spiritual senses. Now that she was in front of Matriarch Huang, even she had to admit that despite her attempted breakthrough, she was still not up to a challenge with her spiritual senses. This woman was just too good with her soul.


    After the conversation, Matriarch Huang Yufeng even believed that Xiao Xuefeng would maybe be the first one to finally step into the Sage realm since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. Indeed, she had been the first one to forge a Spirit pill successfully. And her control over her soul and Soul Embryo were beyond imagination. The only real dream of Matriarch Huang Yufeng, besides seeing her family prosper of course, was to reach this legendary realm even if she were to die of old age soon after. Before breathing her last breath, she wanted to feel this realm in her flesh and in her soul. The idea that a junior could maybe break through was even more fuel to push her toward this goal. In fact, if someone were to break through before her, she could maybe get some pointers.


    Matriarch Huang Yufeng was not ready to humble herself in front of anyone. But if she could finally step into the Sage realm, she would seek the advice of Xiao Xuefeng without any arrogance or pride.


    -


    Finally, a few days passed and Xiao Xuefeng decided to bring everyone back to the Wubei Sect. The only one who refused her offer was Yun Ping. His cheerful nature had been ripped away from him with his left arm. Understanding what was going on in his mind, Xiao Xuefeng decided to give him some time. As a fourth-year, he had no real reason to go back immediately. On the other hand, she couldn''t wait too long to bring Cao Yun and his friends back. In a month or so, they would become third-years and the Ancient Ruins would be open to them. However, if they missed the opening, they could never enter it. Losing such an opportunity would be a serious mistake.


    Thus, Cao Yun, Ren Chao, Sun Liao and Mei Hua all followed Xiao Xuefeng and rode on the Cloud-Drifting Crane. That 8-core demonic beast was not as fast as Elder Ying, a Blue Mane Falcon, but it was still very impressive nonetheless. One last time before leaving, Cao Yun visited the Mountain Fenghuang egg to make sure that everything was fine. He even touched it and felt that the chick inside was full of life. Now that it was in an environment naturally brimming with Qi, it was better.


    Xiao Xuefeng used this travel as a good occasion to share important information with the four of them. Although only Cao Yun and Mei Hua had a close relationship with her, she knew that all four of them had sworn a brotherhood oath. And she knew them well enough because of her investigations to be certain of their loyalty. As such, she decided to share what she knew with them all. Because it also concerned the Ancient Ruins, this was important.


    Through telepathy, she told them that the demonic cultivators would probably try and execute their plan inside the Ancient Ruins. Everything seemed to point in that direction. All they had planned up until now would culminate there. They had already gotten what they wanted from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and now they only lacked something in the Wubei Sect. She stayed very vague on what had been stolen in her institute. Then she confessed that no one had any idea on what they were looking for in the Ancient Ruins. But this wasn''t up to her to explain this place, the Wubei Sect would soon do it. However, she insisted on the fact that they had to be cautious.


    Although she had done everything to check all the soon-to-be third-years, she had found no demonic cultivator. That being said, she had not been able to detect neither Luduo Bu nor Lu Meihan. Maybe some orthodox cultivators had already turned traitors. Unless she violated their souls, she couldn''t know as she couldn''t just watch their memories like a God-Monarch could.


    The Wubei Sect had thought about closing the Ancient Ruins this year, but this would be a real blow to the disciples as those Ancient Ruins could bring great benefits. Moreover, the demonic cultivators would just have to wait. With more time, they might even get stronger while Sect Leader Xuan was getting older and older, and consequently weaker and weaker. After many discussions within the Wubei Sect, the decision was made. It was better to burst the abscess now than to wait for an hypothetic better chance later. In fact, Cao Yun''s presence played a huge role in that decision.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    This generation of outer disciples was less numerous but more talented. They had Mei Hua, Sun Liao and Cao Yun. Even Ren Chao was a special case thanks to his physique. And now that it had fully awakened, he would probably be able to resist against a Mortal Warrior in a pure physical fight. Damn, he might even be able to stand his ground against weak Qi Manifestations. There would never be a better batch of disciples. As such they needed to go through the Ancient Ruins as their benefits may be way higher than usual. And they were also a great deterrent against demonic cultivators. The fact that they had tried to assassinate Cao Yun beforehand was another proof of the matter.


    Spirit Master Xiao kept none of that secret so that they all fully understood the situation. On the other hand, she only told Cao Yun what had been stolen from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    Deep within the institute, protected by even sturdier walls, there was a very small tree. Almost no leaf was present on this tree whose branches were incredibly thin and brittle. Anyone watching it would think that a wind a bit too strong could uproot this tree. Yet, there was a sense of majesty to it. Under the light of the sun, it appeared to be made of pure silver. That frail tree was one of the great treasures of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, the Heavenly Silver Peach Tree.


    This Heavenly Silver Peach Tree was considered as a 3-star Spirit plant. Although it had almost no leaf, it was able to produce a handful of fruits every century. It wasn''t very regular but one could hope to get one peach every thirty or forty years. Each fruit was also rather small, but they had great properties. In theory such a tree should have had a bit of awareness but it was so old that it had completely dulled down. According to some experts, the tree itself should have died a long time ago. Only by the efforts of the various directors of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute was this Heavenly Silver Peach Tree saved.


    After explaining what the tree was, Xiao Xuefeng went on to speak about the theft.


    "During the stampede, someone was able to get inside the room of the Heavenly Silver Peach Tree and plucked the fruit it had formed. This implies that they knew the fruit had matured. If they had come the following year, we would have already harvested it. Thus, they had very good information. And I can''t shake off the feeling that the demonic cultivators used the boy in Yinmen City to make me go investigate the Wubei Sect. Maybe it had helped them prepare their theft, but since there is indeed a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator in the Wubei Sect, he has been able to observe me. During the stampede, I am certain that the 9-core demonic beasts had targeted me in particular. Someone had trained them explicitly to stall for time while their operative was stealing from us."


    Before Cao Yun asked the question, Xiao Xuefeng answered.


    "The peaches from the Heavenly Silver Peach Tree can strengthen someone''s soul, cure souls, but also, among other things, erase soul seals. Considering a demonic cultivator stole it, I would imagine that this is either to heal his injured soul or Soul Embryo, or to erase a seal that was forced on him. Since this tree has such a high grade, this is really not an ordinary medicine anyone can use. Only a late Spirit Warrior can really benefit from this treatment.


    "And yes, we also know who the thief is, Gu Song, a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. There is no way he practiced any form of demonic cultivation, I am certain of it. So, he has either been threatened in some way, or more likely, he decided to betray us. Unfortunately I don''t know him enough to know the reasons behind his betrayal. But we''re going to find him one way or another. And I can tell you that I will get my answers. Next year I will remain in the Wubei Sect to oversee what happens around the Ancient Ruins. But then, I will help my sister Hua Fenfei with chasing after this traitor."


    -


    The flight back to the Wubei Sect was uneventful. Everyone was busy cultivating in some capacity. But from time to time, Xiao Xuefeng took some time so that they could rest. Each time, the four young disciples could freely talk among each other and relax, catching up a little and even giving each other advice.


    "By the way, Brother Chen, I''ve met with Miss Feng Yingyue..." There was a bit of amusement in Mei Hua''s eyes when she asked Cao Yun. "She told me how much she was missing you. Then, we talked about many things. Apparently, you''re a very good Dao companion."


    Immediately, Cao Yun coughed up the tea he was drinking while Ren Chao and Sun Liao were smiling to his face. For the first time, Mei Hua actively took part in their banter. And she found it quite pleasing. Of course, she had never talked about such intimate subjects with Feng Yingyue, especially not under the circumstances, with a stampede looming over their heads.


    "Sister, I don''t think appropriate to talk about this."


    "Why is that, Brother? Aren''t we from the same family now? I want to know how it goes between you and your lady." Ren Chao was the first one to press his brother, but everyone was amused by Cao Yun''s reaction. Although he was the most powerful of the group, he was acting very shy right now.


    "Maybe Brother Ren just wants some advice for his reunion with Miss Wang Mei."


    "Hey!"


    "Oh sorry. I know nothing will happen for two more years, that''s right..."


    "Yeah... And don''t you need some advice with Long Huafang? After you leave the Ancient Ruins, there''s no reason for you both to restrain yourself, right? Won''t you officially become Dao companions?" Ren Chao and Sun Liao were now used to this little game.


    "What the hell are you talking about?!"


    "Oh? So you just want to play with Sister Long Huafang without taking responsibility? I should just warn her against a wolf in sheep''s clothing like you." Now that Mei Hua was also taking part in their banter, she knew where to push.


    "I never said that! What I meant was... Damn! But we''re only talking among us brothers, what about you, Sister? Don''t you have any interest in some young cultivator?"


    As a boomerang, her little provocation had gone back to bite her. And now all the guys were staring at Mei Hua who was becoming a bit red in the face. Previously, they would have never thought about teasing her, but she had clearly warmed up to the group. After all, she had sworn brotherhood with them. As her relation with her little sister attested, she took this kind of relation seriously. Besides, she had never had any brother, so she was very pleased with these three she had found.


    "Well... I''m not thinking about those things yet. I''m still too young."


    "What?! Brother Chen is younger than you, right?! At least, tell us your type. We''ll find a suitable candidate."


    Sensing her disciple''s plight, Xiao Xuefeng chuckled a little and went to the four of them. It was time to resume the journey back home.

 Chapter 286: 1st-grade Mortal Warrior

    Finally, the group reached the Wubei Sect a couple of weeks before the official end of their second year. Just as Cao Yun had thought, no one had dared challenge him so he had not lost his rank in the fighting scroll. But he didn''t really care about that. Right now, he only cared about his cultivation.


    During the travel he had advanced his blood cultivation and had slowly made his blood richer and richer both in Qi and in the properties of the Drop of Wrath. Among the advantages he gained were an even stronger body, more circulation of Qi in his cells which improved his Qi cultivation and a greater control of the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Slowly, the second Po character within the Drop of Wrath had become closer to the real Po character. Of course, Cao Yun would not gain full control of the Drop of Wrath so fast, but he was getting extremely close.


    As of now, he was not afraid of getting taken over by it, he could use it to defend his mind and use its intent to even detect Evil Qi around him as though he were a Mortal Warrior. In fact, the only thing he was still not fully in control of was its ability to digest Evil Qi. Cao Yun had been able to limit it sometimes, but he had never actively used it. In order to fight demonic cultivators, being able to fully manipulate Evil Qi could be a great help. Besides, with his mind cultivation he was also getting close to this goal. With a bit more push, he knew that he would get there.


    After gaining full control of the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun had another step in mind. He would reform the entirety of the Po within the Drop of Wrath but by putting his own Po inside. Although the idea seemed really interesting, Cao Yun had to admit that he wasn''t really sure how to proceed. If he succeeded though, the Drop of Wrath wouldn''t be a foreign object he had put a leash on but a real part of himself.


    Apart from that, his mind cultivation was going nicely. By the end of the year, he would have completed the second layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. He also had to consider his martial arts and wanted to train a bit with Chief Elder Baishen now that he had formed his Spear Aura. Unfortunately, he didn''t really know what to do with it. For now, he had used it instinctively without knowing much. Concerning his martial art, he was also rather confident about forging the seventh star by the end of the year. Each star had been a bit more difficult, but at the same time, his mind and his intimacy with ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' had both progressed. Without being overly confident, Cao Yun was certain that he would reach the real Small Success.


    Forging the seven stars of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was graded as Perfection for some, but because they had discarded the idea of ever reaching the real pinnacle of this art, turning the stars into constellations and the constellations into mansions. Seven stars was Small Success, seven constellations True Success, and only seven mansions was really Perfection. That was Cao Yun''s goal.


    For now though, Cao Yun was interested in advancing his Qi cultivation. Everything else could wait because becoming a Mortal Warrior would give so many benefits. But Cao Yun did not want to get impatient. Thinking about all he could achieve once a Mortal Warrior, he wanted to be one already, but not at the price of his future achievements. A Mortal Warrior could feel Qi all around him while a Mortal could only sense what was directly in his vicinity. He could also control and manifest his Qi. Of course, this would allow Cao Yun to progress in all his occupations, in his martial arts, but also, he could finally use a spatial ring. And he had the ring of Can Mouye on him.


    After being lost almost a full year in an unfriendly environment, the idea of having several years of food and water in a tiny ring was enticing. From what he had heard, this ring should have the same capacity as a storehouse from the Huang family residence.


    For a Mortal Warrior who had fewer needs than mortals, that space was largely enough to store all the food and water needed for more than a year, and more things. But until he had fully broken through, Cao Yun could not use it at all, although it was already on his finger.


    With that in mind, Cao Yun naturally chose to visit Chief Instructor Peng.


    Thankfully, the Wubei Sect had been mostly preserved from the stampede. No damage had been done beyond the Heart Gate. All the demonic beasts had been stopped before they could damage anything too important.


    Chief Instructor Peng was the man who had helped him through the ''Coiling Turtle'' method. As such, Cao Yun was certain that he had ideas to make a perfect breakthrough into the Mortal Warrior realm so that his progress would not slow down by much after. The Mortal realm, also known as Foundation Realm, could take from ten to fifteen years for an average cultivator. Some, like alchemists, were faster. But if Cao Yun counted all his training before he had encountered Cleansed Asura, he was well within this range, as he was now eighteen. On the other hand, an average cultivator would take around thirty years to go from Mortal Warrior to Spirit Warrior. Some were faster, like Cao Yun''s father. But others just never broke through and stayed Mortal Warriors all their life.


    The Mortal Warrior realm was also known as the Forge Realm. In this realm, the cultivator would slowly forge his insides to prepare for the creation of a Soul Embryo. Inside a Mortal, both meridians and Dantian were still ethereal, they were not physical objects. For a Mortal Warrior, they were. Grade by grade, a Mortal Warrior would slowly strengthen them and prepare them for the next phase of cultivation.


    Cao Yun knew the general idea and he had both the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' and the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' talking about this. But for now, he had not gotten into the details. Sometimes, it wasn''t a good thing to know too much. In cultivation, one had to think about the current stage, not what he would do thousands of years later. The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' explained how to use the intent of the Drop of Wrath to unify all the cells and facilitate the breakthrough. The goal was very close to the one explained in ''Universal Law of Immortality''. To achieve a perfect breakthrough, it was necessary that the flow of Qi through all the cells was harmonious. And for that, the idea was mainly to temper the last cells while sending a uniform amount of Qi in the entire body. If everything was synchronous, all the cells would resonate with one another and the breakthrough would be perfect.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Otherwise, the cultivator would still need several weeks or months to harmonize the flow of Qi through all his cells. By achieving such a breakthrough, Cao Yun would save a lot of time.


    In all the volumes he had read about Qi cultivation, there were many methods involving certain postures, mantras, visualizations. Some even consisted in breaking through at certain moment of the year to take advantage of the nature around. He had also read several ways to do so with dual cultivation. Two cultivators had to make their two bodies one and at the apex of their pleasure, they would circulate their entire Qi within their two bodies, each one helping the other open every cell. This also gave Cao Yun the idea that not only his cells, but also his mind, his emotion, his very soul, had to be in unison for the breakthrough to be perfect.


    Before realizing it, Cao Yun was in front of Chief Instructor Peng''s door. Then, he saw the shabby man opening the door. Chief Instructor Peng was even more unkempt than usual. His beard had always been badly shaved but now it was pure chaos. Even his robe was not properly put. It almost looked like he had just been sleeping for several days as his eyes were blinking furiously under the light of the sun. However, he quickly regained his senses and recognized Cao Yun.


    Immediately, he went outside and closed the door behind him.


    "Oh?! Chen Guo! That''s good to see you there! Fine! And ready to come inside!"


    Every syllable of Chief Instructor Peng was stressed and he was speaking with his head slightly turned toward the door. Within, Cao Yun could hear the sound of several people moving around. With his hearing, it was easy to pick up the breathing of three young women. He could even recognize them. Cao Yun stopped himself. He would rather not know who they were...


    Then, he heard three people jumping from a window and running away.


    "I probably shouldn''t talk about that."


    For once, Cao Yun stole his teacher''s line.


    "Ha ha ha... Indeed."


    Chief Instructor Peng opened the door again. The windows were all open now and the room was thus full of light.


    "Chief Instructor, I''m happy that you survived. I''ve heard that you had gone to the front lines."


    "No worries. If you think I''m afraid of a few demonic beasts. Hell, I''m more afraid of jealous hus... I probably shouldn''t... Well, you know... I guess you''re here because you''re about to break through. Congratulations!"


    As he walked into the room, Cao Yun saw a piece of intimate clothing belonging to a lady.


    "Congratulations to you..."


    Quickly, Chief Instructor Peng hid it. He combed his beard and remade his robe to get a more suited appearance. After all, they were about to talk about some important stuff.


    "May I...?"


    "Of course."


    Chief Instructor Peng sent some surges of Qi within his pupil to get a better understanding of his current state.


    "Great, great! Your Qi is plentiful, your blood is powerful and your cells are all ready. Our ''Coiling Turtle'' has indeed several ways to help our disciples break through harmoniously but they won''t really be useful to you. Indeed they mostly consist in some elder or instructor sending Qi into a disciple to harmonize all his cells during the breakthrough. But it''s possible because we all practice the same art and our Qi is thus extremely similar. If I were to help you in such a way, that would just create problems. The best way to break through to the Mortal Warrior realm is for your Qi to be perfectly uniform and harmonious through your body. Your breathing, your mind, your Qi, your blood, everything in you must be in unison.


    "But there are a few things you can learn from ''Coiling Turtle'' still. You must imagine your body as a giant lake and your Qi must be a perfectly still water that will slowly spread throughout your entire body. Visualize the clear surface of the lake. Then, imagine a new drop of water falling into the lake without disturbing its surface. This drop will be the last ounce of Qi needed to open your cells. Do you understand what I mean?"


    "I think I do. I must first harmonize my Qi in all my cells and then try to open the last ones without disturbing what I already made."


    "Indeed. If you can do that, in the worst case scenario, only those last cells won''t be harmonized. But it would be better to get them all. Work on achieving this harmony for a few hours. I''ll monitor you and when I think you''re ready, just add this single little drop without disturbing the surface. Keeping the image in mind can also help you to stay harmonize. And of course, stay focused on the global sensation of your body. Do not fixate your intent on anything, not even those last cells. It is important so that you can feel your body as a whole and not as just an amalgam of different parts working together."


    "I believe I understand. Thank you, Chief Instructor."


    "Good. Follow me, we wouldn''t want you causing a scene here."


    Without losing any time, Chief Instructor Peng brought Cao Yun in a secluded room of the nearby martial art pavilion. There were rooms designed to rein in Qi so that breaking through would not cause too much trouble. Even breaking through to the Mortal Warrior realm could generate some phenomena.


    What Chief Instructor Peng had just told him seemed very close to what he was doing when he was energizing the chambers of his Upper Dantian. Usually he was trying to dissolve the Five Echoes Pearl in the ocean of his sea of consciousness. So first, he imagined that his Qi was the ocean itself and it had to spread through his entire body. At first, he could still feel every individual cell but he soon realized that trying to distribute his Qi evenly like that was impossible. Even for his mind, it was impossible to focus on every cell at once and his intent was always spread too thin. He even used the intent of the Drop of Wrath, but that didn''t do the job either.


    No, he had to think of his body as only one, not a myriad of elements. The Qi had to naturally spread through his body, he couldn''t force it. The more he was trying to constrain it, the more his intent focused on a single part and he was losing the full picture. With the image Chief Instructor Peng had pictured for him, he truly saw his body as a giant lake and let his Qi flow naturally. One by one, he let go of any blockage. He even stopped the flow of blood and let it spread in his bloodstream, guided by both his Qi and the Drop of Wrath.


    Cao Yun began to forget the boundaries within his own body. Everything felt the same with as much Qi and blood everywhere. Not a single part of his body was privileged. They were all as important.


    Finally, he received the signal of Chief Instructor Peng and imagined the last surge of Qi as another drop falling into his lake of Qi.


    A single ripple spread through his entire body. Even in his sea of consciousness, he felt it both through the ocean and the sky, all the way to the surface of the Drop of Wrath. With it was a single note that kept echoing in his mind. Then, the lake overflowed.


    All of a sudden, Cao Yun lost the sensation of his own body completely. It was as though he was a single dot in an ocean of energy. And from this dot, a giant tide was spreading outward. He was officially a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior.

 Chapter 287: Forge Realm

    Cao Yun had just broken through and Chief Instructor Peng was happy he had thought about bringing him in a secluded chamber. From his body, impressive gushes of Qi were sent against the walls. It was almost as strong as the Qi of a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. During the breakthrough, the Qi unleashed could get very violent while the Wei Qi was slowly building up. But this was clearly in the upper range of what was possible. If Cao Yun had broken through in his room, everything would have been blown away.


    But thanks to this chamber, no one was the wiser but one person. In the upper floors of the martial art pavilion, Chief Elder Baishen was bored with even more paperwork. And in her boredom, her dulled senses caught the scent of excitement. Someone was breaking through! Immediately she went to check who had gone into the secluded chambers and seeing the name ''Peng Mo'', she understood.


    Like Chief Instructor Peng had said, Cao Yun tried to detach himself from any specific sensation. Instead, he was letting his mind experience the entirety of his body at once without fixating on any particular feeling. He felt as though he was a single dot but without clear boundaries with the outside world. Slowly though, this sensation expanded. Not only could he feel the flow of Qi through his entire being as though his flesh was nonexistent, he was even able to feel the Qi in the room, in the walls, even in his teacher. For an instant, it was as though Cao Yun had lost his skin, his body had no more limit. He was one with the environment around him. His Qi and the Qi of the environment were the same but flowing in different ways and patterns.


    Cao Yun tried to keep this sensation for as long as possible. He knew this was due to the harmonization of every single one of his cells. Within them his Qi was vibrating in the exact same way. He was truly one. And in this sensation was the secret to both Qi control and Qi Manifestation. Because he had almost reached Qi Manifestation through his blood, he felt some familiarity with it.


    Little by little, he felt a new boundary form itself. But it wasn''t his body as it was still vaporous in his mind. No, this was his Wei Qi. It was getting both denser and larger. Before long, it was three times larger than it had ever been before. Almost no physical attack from a Mortal could penetrate it considering its density and its volume. But more than that, Cao Yun knew that he was now able to shape it and even strengthen it momentarily. When using ''Dragon''s Heart'', he could imagine what kind of defense this would create for him.


    These fantastical feelings didn''t leave Cao Yun when he regained the sensation of his flesh. His Wei Qi had finally settled down. And now, Cao Yun was also able to sense the Qi everywhere in the room, not just what was close to him. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he could literally see it. It was still gaseous because he was not used to it. But here and there, he saw tiny strands of Qi dancing through the air.


    If he was really a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, he should also be able to control his Qi outside of his own body now. Immediately, a few surges of Qi left the two acupoints situated in the middle of his palms. With his mind, Cao Yun was able to manipulate them and make them dance around him as if they were still within his own body. He had no control over the Qi that wasn''t his and he couldn''t go too far, but he had definitely broken through. It had been much more simple than he had imagined, but it was because he had prepared for it during the entire 8th-grade and 9th-grade of the Mortal realm.


    Chief Instructor Peng was also impressed, but not by the breakthrough itself. He was impressed about his control over his Qi. Usually, early Mortal Warriors needed several days or even weeks to get used to it. But then, Cao Yun was an alchemist so it wasn''t that surprising that he could control his Qi so well already. What Chief Instructor Peng didn''t know was that Cao Yun had used his Po to increase his hold over his own Qi. With his mind cultivation, it really was easy to control the Qi that he had accumulated in his own body himself.


    After a period of exhilaration, Cao Yun finally went back to reality. He had been reborn by the experience. One moment he was just a mortal with an incredible body, but now it was as though he had walked into another world. Of course, he had always known that this world was around him but it was invisible until then. Even when he had absorbed Qi before, it was always a sensation that felt distant from his everyday life. Now he could literally see Qi floating around, entering and exiting his body. And if he focused hard enough, he could materialize it for mere mortals to also see with the naked eye.


    Finally, Cao Yun bowed before his teacher.


    "Thank you, Chief Instructor."


    "What are you saying? You did all the heavy lifting! Congratulations! You''re officially a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior! It''s been a long time since someone broke through even before entering the Ancient Ruins, when the news spreads..."


    "It won''t!"


    Suddenly, they heard the voice of Chief Elder Baishen. Then, the door opened and she entered. As soon as she was in, not only did she close the door, but she also spread her spiritual senses through the room to try and hide it a little bit more.


    "Peng Mo, no one will hear of this. Otherwise, many husbands will also learn terrible things about their wives. Am I being clear?"


    Chief Instructor Peng''s face turned pale. And he also realized that despite his efforts, his appearance was still a bit rough, too rough to be in the presence of a chief elder. Thus, he kowtowed in front of her.


    "This unworthy one fully understands the Chief Elder. Please forgive this shameful one."


    "If I cared about your shenanigans, you would have known by now. But you''re an excellent instructor." She looked at Cao Yun. "Point proven. Although, Chen Guo could have probably reached this stage alone, albeit with a lot more time. So do not worry, you will be rewarded. However, no one will learn that Chen Guo had broken through to the Mortal Warrior realm until after his third year."Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    In her eyes, Cao Yun had fully understood her intent. She was talking about demonic cultivators. It would indeed be for the best if they didn''t know. The difference between a 9th-grade Mortal and a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior was big enough that it could make them even more anxious. Anxious enemies were not necessarily a good thing. Of course, it could push them to make mistakes, but it could also force them to take desperate measures. In the Wu Province, they had sent a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, that was already extreme for just a late Mortal. But what if they had risked sending a Spirit Warrior? Clearly, this would have put their plans in jeopardy as well. But then Cao Yun would undoubtedly be dead. He would have died without knowing what had happened.


    "Peng Mo, go fetch Chen Guo''s spear."


    "Of course."


    Without protesting, he ran as fast as he could to get the spear Cao Yun had left in his own chambers.


    In the meantime, Chief Elder Baishen examined the young man and was extremely pleased with his breakthrough. It had not been rushed at all. A breakthrough could always be better but his had almost reached perfection. In all her time as a teacher, she could only remember two breakthroughs that had been better. But the cultivators she was thinking about had been several years older and had had more time to get ready.


    "Chen Guo, I heard from Guest Elder Xiao that you had developed your Spear Aura. I want to see it for myself. But in the meantime, let me explain the Forge Realm, or the Mortal Warrior realm if you prefer.


    "In the Foundation Realm, you essentially prepared your meridians and your vessels, as well as your flesh, to gather and circulate more and more Qi. In this new realm, you will prepare your body for the Lesser Tribulation that will form your Soul Embryo.


    "Just like the Mortal realm, it is divided into nine grades, but in reality only the six first grades are really part of this realm while the last three are the Lesser Tribulation itself. I am pretty sure that you already know all that, but it''s important that you keep the end goal in mind. Now let me delve a bit deeper in the first grades.


    "I don''t want to give you too much too fast, so I''ll focus on the first three grades. They are extremely similar, as all three of them have to do with the Five Prodigious Gates. Considering your knowledge of the acupoints, you should already be familiar with those. Two are on the soles of your feet, the two Earthly Springs, or Yong Quan. Then you have two in the palms of your hands, the two Labor Palaces or Lao Gong. Finally, the fifth one is the most difficult to activate, at the top of the skull, the Gate of the Hundred Convergences, the Bai Hui point.


    "Those five acupoints are the main doors between your body and the outside Qi. In the first stage, you will focus on the four in your soles and palms as they are easier to manipulate. By training them, you will make them stronger and sturdier. The stronger they are, the more and the denser Qi will you be able to absorb. This also means that your Qi Manifestation will get more and more corporeal. Only when you feel the Qi almost solidify those four gates can you begin the second grade.


    "Just like during the previous one, you will train the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. As it is at the top of the skull, it is more difficult to train and to get clear sensations. But the process is basically the same. And finally, the third stage has also no great mystery. You will simply strengthen the Five Prodigious Gates and especially train on making them work together as one. Once you have achieved the goal of the 3rd-grade, your Qi Manifestation will be fully corporeal.


    "The other three grades mainly consist in accumulating Fire Qi and forging your meridians and vessels in preparation for the Lesser Tribulation. If they aren''t sturdy enough, they might literally explode during the tribulation either injuring or even killing you. But I won''t drown you under a flow of information. The first three grades are relatively easy after you''ve already gotten used to your acupoints. But you should still take your time so as to not injure yourself or your Five Prodigious Gates. Do you have any question on those three grades?"


    "No, thank you, Master. I''ll keep your advice in mind."


    "Good. Then let''s talk about your Spear Aura. Get in position. I''ll send you a palm without any Qi, any strength nor any speed. Your goal is to simply dodge. Are you ready?"


    Cao Yun did not really understand the purpose of that. If there was neither speed nor strength behind an attack, he could easily dodge it. But he knew that his master wouldn''t do that for nothing. Thus he took it seriously and went into position. And soon after, he understood.


    In front of him, Chief Elder Baishen''s palm was indeed slow. She was very slowly extending her arm toward him and he could feel no strength or Qi at all. However, the palm in front of his eyes was now twice his own size, and his body simply couldn''t move. He was quite literally stuck, as if he was deep in an ocean of ice. This was almost what he had felt with the Palm Aura of Can Mouye, but way stronger, and without any intent to kill this time.


    Before he could move, Chief Elder Baishen''s palm touched his chest. Thankfully, she had put no strength behind it at all. Otherwise, Cao Yun would be paste right now.


    "I think you understand. My palm never actually changed size. It was your perception of it that made it look like that. In other words, your primal fear of my technique is what caused this. And as you saw, I needed neither Qi nor strength. In theory even a mere mortal could master a Martial Aura. This is a mental state depending on your comprehension of a martial art or a specific weapon. But even then, this is just the first step. After your Spear Aura, you''ll learn to master the Spear Intent and then the Spear Heart. With my Palm Heart I could kill you without actually executing any technique.


    "But reaching the Spear Intent is already a very difficult challenge. So for now, don''t mind the Spear Heart. In fact, don''t even think about the Spear Intent. The best way to never achieve it is to actively seek it out. This is not a goal, this is the culmination of your own understanding of your art. Instead of trying to achieve a specific result, try to lose yourself in your weapon. Your spear should be as natural for you as though it were another one of your limbs.


    "You have less than two weeks before the Ancient Ruins open. In the meantime, I''ll work with you on both your Spear Aura and your Qi Manifestation."


    "Thank you, Master."


    Finally, Chief Instructor Peng came back with ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. It was visible that the spear was damaged but it seemed to still be fine.


    "Good. Chen Guo, we''ll take another room that is better isolated. Peng Mo, I still have a lot of paperwork to do for the end of the year. Do you think you could maybe take care of it for me? I can''t order you to do so, but that would be very nice..."


    Chief Instructor Peng was not an idiot and he knew when he was being threatened. Chief Elder Baishen had found a new toy to play with. There was no way she could go back to doing administrative work for the time being. Officially, this was her work and her responsibility but as long as everything was in order, she knew that the new chief elder of the disciplinary pavilion, Chief Elder Luoming wouldn''t mind. Unlike former Chief Elder Bian, he was not a stickler to the rules. He was more about efficiency.


    "Of course, Chief Elder. I''ll let you train with Chen Guo."

 Chapter 288: Ancient Ruins

    Finally the time had come for the Ancient Ruins to open once more. Every year, all the outer disciples who had just become third-years were gathered to prepare for the occasion. Although many rumors had spread throughout the disciples, no one really knew what those Ancient Ruins were. However, they were all aware that those would give great benefits to them if they were able to catch them. It wasn''t rare for a disciple to go up an entire grade in his cultivation. At this moment, the lowest cultivation of the third-years was late 5th-grade Mortal.


    Unfortunately, that cultivator was Ren Chao. Apart from him everyone had put at least one foot in the 6th-grade Mortal stage. That being said, now that he had awakened his Golden Silk Body, Ren Chao had sought advice from his master. And he was certain that his cultivation would finally be able to keep up with the others. For a cultivator, he wasn''t late. But the Wubei Sect was home to many talented young cultivators, nobles and commoners alike.


    Indeed, the average cultivator would become a 5th-grade Mortal at around twenty-two. And Ren Chao was soon to be twenty-one. Hopefully, he would be able to break through two grades while inside those famous Ancient Ruins. In fact, if he could reach the 8th-grade Mortal stage, he might be able to ask Mei Hua for her Transparent Celestial Key pill. As of now, Sun Liao had still refused the pill. And Mei Hua knew that it was pointless to propose him again. His pride just wouldn''t let him use that pill, unless he had obtained it himself. But he wouldn''t take it as a gift.


    Deep down, Sun Liao knew that he was being a bit ridiculous. He had sworn to share life and death with Mei Hua as a sister. Yet, he couldn''t accept her generosity. However, despite the evolution of his character, he still had a great sense of pride. Unlike before joining the sect though, he knew that his sister had only good intentions and that he was being too stubborn. Still, he would try to achieve his goals through his own efforts. Compared with Ren Chao, he was only one grade higher.


    Apart from alchemy, array formations could also help a cultivator progress very fast. After talking with Chief Elder Suxian for some time, Sun Liao was confident. During those Ancient Ruins, he would push himself to the limit. His brother Cao Yun was ready to cross into the Mortal Warrior realm and Mei Hua would at least be a 9th-grade Mortal or even a Mortal Warrior before leaving the Ancient Ruins. Although he wasn''t confident in imitating their speed, he was still their senior. As such, he couldn''t lose to the both of them and had to at least equal them.


    -


    Elder Tang sent orders to the servants to gather all the second-years in the courtyard of their residence. Immediately, the four sworn brothers and sister met. In the short time they had been back to the Wubei Sect, they had all been too busy with their respective cultivation and training to see each other. But they had spent a very good time while traveling with Xiao Xuefeng.


    "Silence! This year, I will be in charge of explaining the Ancient Ruins you have probably all heard about. But first, I need you to make an oath. Those so-called Ancient Ruins are one of the greatest treasures of the Wubei Sect. As such, they are shrouded in absolute secrecy. Thus, you all have to swear to never divulge anything about what I''m about to tell as well as anything that you will see within those ruins. You have to swear on your Dao Heart."


    Hearing the last sentence, a small uproar spread through the crowd. Swearing on one''s Dao Heart was extremely strong for a cultivator. In short terms, the Dao Heart was the pride and will of the cultivator. It wasn''t a physical object, but an abstract concept. However, if someone were to break such an oath, it would always leave traces in his soul and mind. Sometimes, it could even create an inner demon. Not only were orthodox cultivators subject to those risks, even the demonic cultivators could not escape from them.


    Of course, in theory, it was always possible to renege on such an oath. But almost no human had ever been able to survive it. The trauma was too great, even though it was self-inflicted. Someone who had broken this oath just wasn''t the same anymore. And he lacked the determination to further his cultivation or even to resist his inner demons.


    Considering how binding this kind of oath was, it wasn''t surprising that the disciples were a bit hesitant about it. That being said, it was the Wubei Sect they were talking about. Many cultivators of the Hongchen Kingdom, often the most talented ones, had gone through the training of the Wubei Sect. And not one had a single bad word to speak about their practices. Instead, it had an impeccable reputation. And now, the disciples fully understood why no one had ever spoken about those Ancient Ruins prior to their arrival inside the sect. Apart from the name, they knew nothing. And in fact, they didn''t really know the name. Ancient Ruins was not a real name, right?


    Amongst the crowd, several disciples had no hesitation whatsoever though. They were Cao Yun and his brothers of course, but also a few of the highest disciples, like Zhao Qing, Tian Lan, Xin Chen and others. In all, thirteen disciples had immediately knelt on the ground and made the vow without thinking twice about it. Seeing that the most powerful among the second-years had shown no hesitation, all the others followed. And before long, all fifty-seven outer disciples had sworn on their Dao Heart.


    "Good. Stand up, now. I will explain all that you need to know.


    "First off, remember that those Ancient Ruins are the greatest opportunity you will get in our Wubei Sect. But it is for you to seize this chance, no one can do it for you. And no one will hold your hand to help you. Once you are inside, you will be entirely alone. So listen and listen close!"


    After those words, there was absolute silence among the outer disciples. They would not miss a single word of what Elder Tang was about to say. Any insignificant detail might prove useful since they knew nothing at all.


    Before continuing his explanations, Elder Tang spread his spiritual senses. All around the disciples, an array formation got activated. In the middle of the courtyard, the big bodhi tree, similar to the one that was in the first-years residence, began to grow. In a few seconds, its branches formed a giant dome around the disciples and Elder Tang. Then, they all felt as though the world outside was moving. A powerful sense of disorientation overtook them completely. Some of the weakest disciples were even victims to vertigo and fell to the ground.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Finally, the sensation stopped, but some of the symptoms endured. Then the dome of branches gradually dispersed as the bodhi tree was shrinking back to its original size.


    When the disciples saw the outside world, they could see the Heidai Peak in the distance. They were still in the mountains, but on a nearby peak. Since they could see the sect from here, it wasn''t that far, but still, they shouldn''t have been able to cross such a distance in an instant.


    Among the disciples, the ones who were the most shocked were Sun Liao and the other array formation masters. This array formation had to at least be Heaven rank. Although they had lived in that particular residence for an entire year, they had not even noticed it. The only reason why they didn''t think about a Spirit array formation was that not a single expert would pretend being able to set one up in this era. There was no equivalent to Spirit Master Xiao and Spirit Master Hua for array formation masters.


    When finally they had regained their composure, the outer disciples saw that they were in front of a small building. There was nothing impressive about it and it almost looked like the hut of some vagrant hunter. Despite its humble appearance, all the disciples could tell that it wasn''t that simple. Sun Liao, Cao Yun and Mei Hua with their mind cultivation were able to soon detect what was wrong with this picture. Clearly, this was an illusion. This hut was not a simple hut at all, it was hiding the real thing. And even space seemed to be distorted around this hut.


    Considering his experience this year, Cao Yun was also convinced that this was yet another entrance to a different world. Of course, there was nothing as ominous as with the Yellow Death World, but the feeling that this was foreign to this world was the same.


    "What you see before your eyes is just the projection of what our disciples call the Ancient Ruins. To tell you the truth, we don''t know what this place is exactly either. Apparently, that place has been built by the humans during the Legendary Era, before the demons came and enslaved our kind. Even they were not able to pervert and destroy this place. In fact, according to the records, the demons themselves decided to use it as a training ground.


    "This modest hut hides a gigantic palace, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. As I said, no one remembers who built it, but it contains a 5-Spirit array formation. We do believe that at some point in time, it used to be a 1-God array formation or higher. But unfortunately, the spirit within has faded with the past eras. Despite its lack of consciousness, it remains aware of its surrounding and keeps on doing its task. And its task is to train the younger generation.


    "That is why our Wubei Sect has a limit on the age of the recruits. Because this array formation has been created with a limit on the age of the people it accepts within. No one over twenty-two can enter this array formation. This was probably some significant age during the Legendary Era. Many have speculated on it, but no one knows anything about that time. What''s important is that this Palace of Supreme Wisdom has been built to train humans.


    "When you enter, you will be stuck inside for an entire year. No one can get you out or get in to help you. Thankfully, the array formation itself will give you water and food if you need it."


    Immediately, Elder Tang sent small emblems with the character for supreme on them. Each disciple received one. Since he was a Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was the only one who understood what they were. Deep within the emblem, there was a small array formation.


    "If you need to eat or drink, just tighten your grip around those and think about it. They are connected with the main array formation. Not only will they allow you to get what you need, they will also be used by the array formation to transport you inside.


    "And once inside, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom will create unique worlds for each one of you. Every single world will contain a particular test specifically designed for you and what you need. It will be up to you to understand what is expected of you though. But if you''re able to complete the test, this emblem will activate and send you to the next world tailored for another one of your needs. As I said, no world will be identical. In the past, people have tried to guess which worlds would appear but although some may have some similarities, they are always different because they depend on you, your body, your mind, your soul, your martial arts, your cultivation, everything that makes you a cultivator.


    "Each test can be passed through various means. And the array formation will adapt to your performances. Some disciples have even obtained various treasures while passing the tests of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. It is very rare, but some of you might be able to get a weapon or an ancient art of some kind. As I said, always remember that those tests have been designed for you in particular. All the answers will lie in you, you can''t count on external help."


    In Elder Tang''s eyes, Cao Yun saw something. He wanted to add some more words but stopped himself. Sensing the fear and doubt in Elder Tang''s gaze, Cao Yun knew. He had been informed about the demonic cultivators preparing something in the Ancient Ruins this year. But he had also probably been told to keep quiet about it. After all, it was highly probable that some of the disciples around the small hut had been converted. Xiao Xuefeng had felt nothing unusual but she was not omniscient. In fact, now that he was able to feel the Qi in his environment, Cao Yun did not feel anything unusual either, and he was very sensitive to Evil Qi thanks to the Drop of Wrath.


    Unfortunately, that only meant that no one had practiced a demonic cultivation method long enough to develop signs of it. That didn''t mean that they had not joined their ranks. Maybe they were just waiting for truly practicing those techniques. But the higher-ups probably didn''t want the disciples to doubt each other, especially not during such an important moment. And after all, each one would be sent to a different world, so they were not at risk.


    "Although the benefits are great, there are still some dangers. If your life were to be threatened by a test, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom will automatically send you to another world. There will be less danger but you will also get fewer benefits. But I remind you, those emblems are the way by which the array formation is able to transport you. If you lose them, we will lose you as well. In our more than ten thousand years of history, we only lost three disciples, I do not wish to be the idiot who loses a fourth one. Keep your emblems with you at all times. And only take them out when you need to drink or eat, and not in the middle of a fight or above a giant hole.


    "Do you have any question?"


    All the disciples answered Elder Tang at once. No one had anything more to ask.


    "Good. Soon your fellow outer disciples will exit the Palace of Supreme Wisdom."


    What no one saw was that all the chief elders of the outer sect were floating above the clouds, watching every detail of what was happening. It was rare for them all to be reunited. But they were afraid of what the demonic cultivators might do.

 Chapter 289: Entering the ruins world

    Xiao Xuefeng was also among the chief elders overseeing the situation. All had received the information extracted from Can Mouye by Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Even if they couldn''t be sure that she had told the Wubei Sect everything, they trusted the Huang family enough to consider her information with the utmost importance. However, no one knew what was planned by the demonic cultivators. Maybe they would do something when the Palace of Supreme Wisdom would open. Maybe they had something planned sometime during the year. Or it would happen at the end of the year when the Palace of Supreme Wisdom would open once more to let everyone out. Worse yet, they might have already acted.


    With so many unknowns, some voices had wanted to convince Sect Leader Xuan to postpone this year. After all, it was possible to ask this year''s disciples to enter the Palace of Supreme Wisdom only next year. But the problem remained the same. From what they knew, the demonic cultivators were waiting for a certain opportunity that only happened every seven year. Would they close off the Palace of Supreme Wisdom every seven years? Even then, it was entirely possible that the demonic cultivators had other contingency plans in place. Right now, the only thing they were sure about was that they would strike this year.


    In the end, Sect Leader Xuan, supported by more than half of the chief elders, had decided to do everything as usual. But he had of course increased security to the maximum. At all times, a chief elder would oversee the situation, not just an elder. And during the two most critical moments when the Palace of Supreme Wisdom would open, all chief elders would be there. In fact, even Sect Leader Xuan in person was watching from his palace on top of the Heidai Peak.


    "Miss Xiao, do you sense anything strange with those disciples? Anything at all?"


    "I''ve been spreading my spiritual senses over each one of them. I went all the way to their very cells. Short from entering their souls, I saw everything that was possible. Not one of them has either any seal or any trace of ever practicing a demonic art."


    "But they could have a seal planted in their souls..."


    "After what happened to Lu Meihan in front of everyone, I don''t even think a seal is necessary to threaten them."


    This reminder embarrassed Xiao Xuefeng. The poor girl had died in front of her and she had even been forced to put an end to her suffering. In the end, Lu Meihan had never harmed anyone. Although she had intended to do so, she was stopped beforehand. And many people had understood where she was coming from. Such a brutal and painful death was too harsh a punishment for her. Despite her fame as the cultivator with the most perceptive spiritual senses, Xiao Xuefeng was as blind as everyone else. And she wasn''t going to imitate Elder Bian and try to pierce through the souls of young disciples though.


    As such, the chief elders had no other option except to wait and see. They were all ready for battle, just in case. After all, there was a Spirit Warrior with the demonic cultivators. Apparently, it was someone named Mo Tian. But of course, he would not use his real name. They did not even know whether he was a man or a woman. They did not know his cultivation level either. But they knew he was working directly under the Demon King. So he had to be a late Spirit Warrior at least. Of course, they had no way of knowing for sure. But it made sense, especially since his seal had bested Xiao Xuefeng and he was still hiding from her senses.


    This Mo Tian had necessarily practiced demonic arts and yet Xiao Xuefeng was still blind to his presence. So this demonic cultivator had to have an impressive mind cultivation. Even an early Spirit Warrior would have no way to hide his use of demonic arts to Xiao Xuefeng. A late Spirit Warrior on the other hand had his chances. Xiao Xuefeng could not believe that someone who had a lesser cultivation than her could exceed her senses. Not even her own master, Director Ge, could do so. So this Mo Tian had to at least be a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior, which meant he was a terrible threat. Most likely, he was not an elder, but a chief elder.


    And everyone was well aware of that fact. Some were secretly hoping that Chief Elder Bian was the traitor. Otherwise, yet another chief elder would disgrace the Wubei Sect. But no one truly believed it. Chief Elder Bian''s problem was that he stuck to the rules so much that he lost sight of the facts and let pride and arrogance dictate his actions. This really wasn''t what this hidden mastermind was doing. And some suspicions also went to Xiao Xuefeng. After all, being the most perceptive, she was also the best at hiding. Paranoia was becoming more and more powerful among the chief elders, either from the outer sect or the inner sect.


    -


    In the meantime, the outer disciples were getting ready to finally step inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. All around the small hut, there were one hundred and eight stone pedestals. Only fifty-seven disciples would enter the Palace of Supreme Wisdom this time around, but more were getting out.


    Ren Chao, Mei Hua and Sun Liao joined with Cao Yun.


    "It seems like we''re going to be separate once more... Brother Ren, with your physique finally awaken, you should be able to grow faster than before. Brother Chen and Sister Mei have almost left us in the dust. I do not intend to let them. So you must also catch up!"


    "Do not worry about that. Although my cultivation is not as fast as yours, I already felt that it was way better. My master also helped me a lot. I have no chance of becoming a Mortal Warrior in a year, but I aim for 8th-grade Mortal."


    "That''s almost three grades! Are you sure about this?"


    "Yes, Sister. And even if I fail, I''ll still be a 7th-grade Mortal. Ha ha ha!"


    "You''re certain of crossing two grades in a year? I think this physique messed with your head a little..."


    "Yeah?! Well, let''s see if you can even equal my speed! Brother, if my cultivation is higher than yours when we exit the palace, you''ll have to admit I''m the senior brother! And you''ll always call me ''Senior Brother''!"If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Once again, Ren Chao was pushing Sun Liao into a bet. As he was about to accept, he immediately remembered how much he had suffered when he had first entered the Wubei Sect. His master''s ''training'' came back to his mind and he stopped himself.


    "Brother, seniority cannot be decided by a bet. Only competence is a real proof of seniority. But I am not against a friendly competition. Brother, I got some exquisite wine thanks to my family. If you win, you''ll get a full bottle of it. I can swear that you won''t regret it. But if I win, you''ll owe me a weapon. Of course, I''ll wait until you actually become a great blacksmith."


    "Wait?! I''m already a great blacksmith! And I will only get better and better. Fine! If you win I swear that the moment I become a Human ranked blacksmith, I''ll make you the greatest weapon you''ve ever seen! Hell, I''ll even make you a new one when I become a Heaven blacksmith."


    Both brothers kept on bantering for some time while Mei Hua and Cao Yun decided to talk about alchemy and what would await them once they would become Mortal Warriors. Until now, Cao Yun had still hidden his recent breakthrough to everyone. Following both Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder Baishen''s advice, he had even used his new ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to hide it. From the sky, Xiao Xuefeng was truly impressed with this technique. But in the end, it wasn''t that difficult to hide his cultivation level. Cao Yun had reined in his Wei Qi as much as possible and had used a few ashes to conceal some of his cells. As such, he appeared as though he was ready to break through at any moment but still not quite there yet.


    Of course, if she looked carefully, Xiao Xuefeng was able to see some discrepancies. Such a seal could not work on her, but she hoped that it was sufficient to dupe Mo Tian, whoever he was. The fact that he was able to hide from her did not mean he had great perception. After all, Cao Yun could almost hide from her and he had no spiritual senses. This ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was just a very good technique. No wonder it came from a genius of the Huang family.


    Just before the time came, everyone got their weapons ready. And Ren Chao finally saw ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Immediately, he stopped his brother''s hand. His eyes were fixated on the shaft of the spear. To a blacksmith''s eyes, this spear was in a really bad condition. After all, it had taken a lot of abuse in the Yellow Death World. And it had been partially consumed by the Yellow Sorrows Water.


    "Brother?"


    "Your spear... It seems to be... ready to die."


    "What do you mean? Check your eyes, Brother. It sure is in a poor state, but not that bad."


    Sun Liao was still in the mood of teasing Ren Chao, but the blacksmith was way more serious than usual.


    "That''s not what I meant! It feels like it... resolved itself to go to the death."


    "Nonsense! That''s not even a Human weapon, it doesn''t have a spirit, it doesn''t even have any form of awareness."


    "Ah! Never mind, you just don''t get it!"


    "By the way, Brother, you really should have changed your weapon. When you become a Mortal Warrior, it won''t be useful at all."


    Cao Yun barely answered as he was still intrigued by Ren Chao''s reaction. For a while, Cao Yun tried to focus on the spear. Because he wanted to conceal his cultivation as much as possible, he didn''t send any Qi in it. But he still tried to feel the scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon. It had resonated with the stars of the Azure Dragon in his sea of consciousness several times. Although his weapon shouldn''t have had any awareness, Cao Yun could still feel a sense of familiarity from that scale. It probably was just something related to the bloodline of a dragon though.


    It was very faint, but Cao Yun did feel a great resolve, and then, a deep shame. It wasn''t clear at all, but it felt real.


    -


    Finally, eighty-four of the stone pedestals began to shine. That was exactly the number of third-years. And suddenly, all of them appeared. Amongst them, Cao Yun recognized of course Zhi Yin, Ling Hui, the Zhao twins, but also Long Huafang and Wang Mei among others. Immediately, he realized that not a single disciple had become a Mortal Warrior. Some were very close like Long Huafang or Wang Mei. But there was a single exception, Zhi Yin.


    Cao Yun could not know her exact cultivation, but the aura around her was unmistakably the Wei Qi of a Mortal Warrior. Most likely, she was only a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. Before entering the Ancient Ruins, she had been an 8th-grade Mortal who was able to inject Qi in her attacks. Maybe she had even gone beyond the first grade. And indeed, from the sky, the chief elders were all really pleased with the results of this year. All had also realized that Zhi Yin was almost a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior. She really needed just a little push. A nineteen-year-old Mortal Warrior was something to be proud of. What they didn''t knwo was that Cao Yun was even one year younger than her and he had broken through without the assistance of this place.


    Sun Liao hid it but Mei Hua was sensitive enough to see that his eyes were always going back to Long Huafang. On the other hand, Ren Chao did not hide anything at all. In front of everyone, he literally ran toward Wang Mei. But halfway through, he realized that many people were watching him and he froze. He had been too lost in his joy and now he was too lost in his embarrassment. Seeing his reddening face, Wang Mei chuckled and went to him instead.


    "Brother, you''ve become even sturdier than before. Impressive!"


    "And... you''re even... prettier..."


    Even Elder Tang could not bear that scene. Seeing Ren Chao so embarrassed was just too much. He was the tallest and the biggest, also the oldest, of the outer disciples. Yet, he was absolutely clueless in front of this young woman.


    "Silence! You all did great inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. But do not disturb your juniors. You should know how important this opportunity is. Second-years, you''re all officially third-years now. The portal will soon close. First of all, take off your second-year emblems. Once you get out of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, you''ll get new fourth-year emblems. And never forget your Supreme emblem, without it you''ll be lost. I am not kidding! Now get on the pedestals on the ground."


    Without losing any time, the outer disciples all obeyed Elder Tang. As soon as they took off their emblems, they floated in the air and reached Elder Tang''s hand. Most likely, those emblems would be reused for the first-years becoming second-years.


    Everyone put their Supreme emblem somewhere safe and walked to the closest shining pedestal. Since the array formation would create worlds specific to them, there was no point in choosing a specific one. All would do the same.


    Elder tang lost no time at all. After all, the window of opportunity for opening the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was short. Those who had built it were probably able to control it, but the Wubei Sect had always failed. Thus, they were completely subjected to the current cycle of opening. Every year, it would only open for less than an hour. Everyone was sent out and then, every person standing on a pedestal was sucked in. That also meant that they couldn''t send more than one hundred and eight disciples at once. They had never tried putting two disciples on the same pedestal and they were not too keen to try it out, just in case.


    Before long, a powerful light enveloped every disciple and they all disappeared. Then, the pedestals around the hut dimmed down and their light extinguished. The door to the small hut also shut close.

 Chapter 290: Mirror of infinities

    Outside of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, the chief elders were all tense until the last circle of light disappeared. If the demonic cultivators had wanted to attack during the opening of the array formation, that would have been the moment. Some stayed ready just in case this was a tactic to let them relax and then attack. But in the end, nothing happened. All the new fourth-years were back in the Wubei Sect and everything was fine.


    The chief elders still waited the entire day. Then, they literally played rock paper scissors to decide who would be the first one to guard this place. It fell upon Chief Elder Tingyu, Chen Rao''s master. Obviously he wasn''t pleased as he had a lot of work to do in his forge. But the game had been fair. Each chief elder would guard the array formation for ten days before another one would take his place. Once more, rock paper scissors would decide on the order of the guards.


    That was rather funny to see these Spirit Warriors hiding above the clouds and playing rock paper scissors. Moreover, each result made them very excited...


    -


    When he opened his eyes, Cao Yun was in a perfectly white space. The first thing he did was obviously to look around him. Beneath his feet, above his head, all around him, there was only a white empty space. In fact, he couldn''t even feel a ground under his feet. But there was air all around. No wind was moving the air though. Without Cao Yun''s presence, it would have been perfectly still. But because he was breathing, there was a subtle movement in the air around him.


    In the same way, this empty space was permeated with Qi, but way thinner than in the Hongchen Kingdom. In fact, it was completely negligible. But just like the air, by his mere presence Cao Yun was causing it to move around. Without him in this place, the world would be perfectly uniform. There was no way to indicate a direction. In fact, there was no way to even get a sense of what space or time were because absolutely everything was perfectly uniform in all the directions as far as Cao Yun''s eyes and senses could perceive.


    Sensing no threat at all, Cao Yun put his spear back in his spatial ring. Until now, he had kept his spear in hand to keep the facade. But within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he knew for a fact that no one was able to monitor him. As such, he had no reason to keep hiding his cultivation. And now that he was comfortable using a spatial ring, taking the spear out of it was as simple as thinking about it. There was thus no reason for him to keep it in hand.


    For several minutes, Cao Yun tried many things. He tried to rotate on himself and realized that there truly wasn''t any sense of up and down. When he stopped rotating, he even wondered whether he was still moving without being able to notice it himself. By screaming or sending surges of Qi, he was able to disturb this place but it quickly came back to normal.


    Even the light was uniform. As far as he knew, there was no source of light, everything was just lit with a white hue from nowhere.


    According to Elder Tang, each world was created specifically for the needs of the person within. But it was up to everyone to understand what the world truly was and what was expected of them.


    Thinking about it, this place was clearly not meant for anything physical or related to Qi. Quickly, Cao Yun wondered whether it was some kind of illusion. Maybe this place was supposed to test his perception or his mind, maybe even his soul. In any case, he was failing to see what it could be otherwise. Even with all the knowledge he had, he had no idea what was going on around him.


    The young man was not comfortable delving directly into his sea of consciousness, in case something happened outside. At all times, he kept his focus on his environment. That being said, he started to revolve his mind cultivation. At first, he only activated his Five Agents to increase his own senses.


    Suddenly, something changed. There was someone in front of him and he could feel someone else behind him. But that wasn''t right. Because both the man he was seeing right in front of him and the one he could feel both the Qi and the breath of were just too familiar. They were him. And each one was also looking at another Cao Yun in front of him and feeling another one behind him.


    In front of him, the other Cao Yun slowly turned his head and looked at him in shock. Farther ahead, another Cao Yun turned his head all of a sudden and yelled. Another one even took out his spear. Then, more and more screams could be heard. Some were yells of surprise while others were full of anger and even pain.


    Looking above him, Cao Yun saw an infinite column of Cao Yun. In fact, above and below each one in his row, a similar column had appeared. And it still did not stop. Each Cao Yun in his row saw another row appear on their sides. Soon, the entire space was full of Cao Yun. And each one was behaving slightly different. But Cao Yun stayed calm and observed.


    Was he the real Cao Yun though? How could he be sure? Wouldn''t all the other Cao Yun think the same?


    "I''m the real one!"


    A panicked voice echoed. Then, thousands of small echoes with slightly different tones reverberated from everywhere. Some distance away, a Cao Yun let his Qi run wild. The yell of a dragon erupted as he took his spear out.


    "You''re all fakes! What do you want? Answer me!"


    Yet another one was sitting cross-legged meditating, while a Cao Yun above had changed. His eyes were completely red with blood. Suddenly, he began to attack all the other Cao Yun around. But they wouldn''t go down without a fight.


    The one with the blood injected eyes had lost all rationality. That meant that he also had the Drop of Wrath. Although Cao Yun had never seen himself lose control from the outside, he was able to understand it immediately with one look. Many more Cao Yun had also lost control. Some had given in to the Drop of Wrath. Others had taken out their spears, ready to defend themselves. Less patient ones had decided to attack first.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    This quiet world had turned into a complete mess. Most of the Cao Yun were calm and composed, although troubled. But the sheer number of them made it so that the small fraction that had turned aggressive was enough to disturb everything. If all had started with his mind cultivation, just stopping it might solve the problem.


    "Why isn''t it working?! Am I not the real one?! No! I am! I am!"


    "I''m a fake! I don''t want to disappear!"


    "If I kill you all, I''ll become the real one!"


    More and more Cao Yun were panicking. And all of a sudden, every Cao Yun disappeared but one. Cao Yun had finally stopped his mind cultivation altogether. He had not just stopped his Five Agents. Just to be sure, he had forced all his thoughts to be silent. Each and every one of those Cao Yun were questions he was asking himself, behaviors he was thinking. They had all been possible Cao Yun. Just thinking about different possibilities had created them and from them even more had appeared until all the possible actions he might have taken were indeed taken by an infinity of Cao Yun.


    Now, he had understood what this place was. But what was the goal?


    Just as he thought about the questions, new Cao Yun appeared once more. This time it was even faster than the first time. As he had asked himself a single question, the entire white space was filled with Cao Yun. Each one had a slightly different answer or reflection. At least, it answered a part of his question. This splitting of himself was not dependent on his use of his mind cultivation. Just thinking in itself could cause this to happen. In fact, each time he could have different thoughts or reactions, all of them happened all at once, quickly causing a domino effect producing always more versions of who he was. There was no reason for it to stop, so this space had to be infinite in all directions.


    Now that that was resolved, it still didn''t tell him anything about what he had to do.


    Very quickly, he heard infinite Cao Yun asking billions of slightly different questions while others were giving different answers, contradicting each other. And inevitably, at some point arose conflicts of any kind. Now Cao Yun wished there had been no air in this place. It would have been better to hold his breath rather than to hear all of his copies. The very moment he thought that, he heard many Cao Yun claim that they were the original. To be fair, he had no way of knowing that for sure. Yes he remembered having been the original but most likely every other Cao Yun also remembered the same thing. And this space was so uniform it was impossible to be sure he was even at the same spot he had been before.


    No matter what he would do, he would always believe himself to be the original. For now, the only thing to do was to quieten down all of his thoughts. That way, all the copies would disappear. But if he was a copy he would disappear as well. Maybe he had been the original but he was now an independent Cao Yun and he would be gone when the real one decided to suppress his thoughts. Was it what happened to all the thoughts he suppressed every day? Were they conscious in some way? At least, they were the potential for a different him who would never exist?


    "Enough with the existential questions!"


    "No! We''re all real! We can all survive together!"


    "Put an end to it! I need to know if I''m real or not!"


    "If you stop thinking, I''ll cease to be. Please, don''t!"


    Then, everyone disappeared once more.


    Because thinking created infinite versions of himself, Cao Yun was now certain that this place was about his mind cultivation. But what was the goal?


    And once again, the cycle began anew. With each possible answer to this question, a slightly different Cao Yun appeared. Some fell into despair almost immediately while others degenerated into violence faster than ever before. Clearly, the situation was exerting a toll on Cao Yun and he was able to see it as an outside observer. But again, he might not even be Cao Yun at all.


    Besides the uniform space destroying all sense of physical orientation, only his hunger and thirst could tell him how long had passed. But because he was a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, he could go several weeks without eating or drinking, or sleeping for that matter. Still, he had largely enough resources in his spatial ring. Even with the Supreme emblem on him, he had taken no chance at all. He had thought about putting his emblem within the spatial ring, but then he wasn''t sure whether that would allow the Palace of Supreme Wisdom to transport him, or if it would only transport the ring.


    As he had those random thoughts in his mind, even more Cao Yun appeared. And utter chaos emerged as each one had thoughts about anything. Some had thoughts about Feng Yingyue, about his brothers, about his family, about anything. Some were coherent and others absolutely absurd. But all thoughts were there.


    He had to discover the goal of this place before being driven mad. And it could take a lot of time before he lost it, thanks to his mind cultivation.


    Violence didn''t seem to be the solution. He had thought about fighting himself but just stopping his thoughts made everyone disappear. So they were not really physically there. They were just reflections of himself in slightly different mirrors. His best bet was that he had to think without causing any new emergence of himself. However, that was basically impossible. As much as he could control his conscious reflection, he simply could not control random thoughts appearing in the back of his mind. And as soon as he would start pondering over the situation, he was certain that he would have conflicting thoughts on the matter.


    The only way to control his thoughts was either to quiet down completely or to try and think about them. But thinking about his thoughts was also thinking...


    Because the noise was getting too out of hands, Cao Yun decided to take refuge in his sea of consciousness. In theory he could still keep his attention on the outside world at least a little bit. But no, he had decided to completely immerse himself in his sea of consciousness.


    Finally he had peace and quiet. But outside, it had to be even more chaotic. Some Cao Yun were now as lethargic as he was, lost in their own sea of consciousness while others were shouting, crying, laughing, attacking.


    Protected in his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun started to think about what this place was expecting of him. Was it that he had to accept the reality of all those thoughts? That every single one of those Cao Yun was indeed the real one, or at least a possibility? Would the test be deemed passed once he had accepted that truth? No, because he had. Of course, those were all possible thoughts that could have come to his mind. He had already accepted them. But then, what made him him?


    If he could behave so differently based on so few thoughts that in a matter of seconds he could go from peaceful to depressed or violent, then what did it mean to be the real Cao Yun?


    Doubts began to emerge in his mind as he thought about the situation. And he recognized the doubt and indecisiveness he had thought he had gotten rid of. Even with the Chamber of Heavenly Court, there was still room for doubt in his mind. And now the doubt was not about his actions but about his very existence. Realizing that fact gave a blow to his confidence. He had been convinced that he had gotten rid of his self-doubts without external help.


    By using the Chamber of Heavenly Court, it was however possible to extinguish this doubt. Was it the right answer though?

 Chapter 291: Maddening mirrors

    Cao Yun was now fully immersed in his sea of consciousness. All the copies of himself outside, all his doubts and vagabond thoughts were muted and invisible. Yet he began to feel a strange and ominous sensation behind him.


    When he turned back, there was another Cao Yun. He was looking at him with incredulous eyes.


    "Who are you?! How did you get inside my soul?!"


    "I''m the original!"


    Once again, many Cao Yun had appeared all over the place. But this time, he could actually check whether he was the original or not. Indeed, he had been right under the Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath. He just had to look up and he would see. But the moment he looked up, Cao Yun saw that the Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath were now so high in the sky it was impossible to determine above who they were.


    If even his sea of consciousness was invaded and he couldn''t know for sure whether he was true or not, he just had to erase his thoughts once more.


    So he did. Cao Yun got rid of all his thoughts. And when he opened his eyes, they were still here, in his sea of consciousness, still arguing. Some were now lying on the surface of the ocean full of despair.


    "Am I not the real one?"


    "It should have worked!"


    "Make it stop!"


    "I''ll turn insane!"


    More and more sounds were invading Cao Yun''s mind and he could not take refuge in his sea of consciousness because that was where he was. Despite everything he was feeling, he had to keep a hold on his sense of self. No matter if clearing his thoughts had not worked, he was the real Cao Yun. But then again, all the others thought the same thing as well. Was it even important whether he was true or not? Even if he wasn''t, he had no way of knowing. Even if he was, he had no way of knowing.


    This place was not trying to threaten him, it was supposed to help him. He had to remember Elder Tang''s words. The Palace of Supreme Wisdom was supposed to create worlds suited to what they needed. But how could an array formation know what they needed? Of course, it was because it could analyze their bodies, their minds, their very souls.


    There lied the explanation to this world. It had to somehow be useful to Cao Yun. He was the disciple with the most powerful mind cultivation. So it wasn''t a surprise that one of the tests would target that. Elder Tang had said it, there would be different ways to pass each test. Maybe Cao Yun could pass the test just by ignoring it. If he could shut down his thoughts long enough, maybe the test would be passed, but he would gain almost nothing from this place. Learning to keep one''s mind blank was difficult but he could not really see many benefits of that kind of discipline. To be honest, he was certain that that was something he could do for several months thanks to his mind cultivation.


    No, there was something way better to do. All of his thoughts, all of his doubts were laid bare in front of him, literally screaming in his ears. For a long time, he had been plagued by doubt and by uncertainty about his future and even his desires. Right now, he could listen to them all. What he had to do was to take it all in. There was no real Cao Yun. Each one was just a fragment of a whole. Some were very close to what he actually thought. Others were dark pieces lost deep in the recesses of his mind. But they were all him.


    Thus, Cao Yun decided to not eradicate his thoughts but to listen to them one by one. Right now, everything was chaos. But he had to start somewhere. One of the Cao Yun had taken his spear out and was killing others all around the place. He would start with this one. Cao Yun began to focus all of his intent on this particularly violent Cao Yun.


    -


    Sun Liao found himself in a room. There was nothing particular about this room. It was a square with four doors, one on each wall. After examining the room for some time, Sun Liao found that there was nothing strange at all. Even with his best compass which he had taken with him, he found nothing unusual. Thus, he decided to try and open all the doors to find what was behind them. And he did. But each door was leading to the exact same room, with no indication on which one he had to take. Thus, Sun Liao took an arrow and made a small mark on a wall before taking the door that was on it.


    Right now, this place seemed like a maze. For an array formation master, this wouldn''t be hard to get out of.


    He began to change his mind though when he crossed the threshold of the door. All of a sudden, he found himself in the middle of the room and all the doors were closed. The first thing he did was to look for the mark and it wasn''t there. At least he had changed room. Or maybe the room itself had changed.


    Once again, he opened all the doors to try and find the room from where he had come from. Unfortunately, the mark was on the wall beside the door so he couldn''t see it without getting at least his head inside. And as soon as he did, he found himself in the middle of the room once more. But he had to be sure whether he was traveling through contingent rooms or if they were not linked at all. Thus, he made a mark on the ground this time, indicating his next direction.


    After changing room again, he opened all the doors and found the exact same rooms, none with any mark at all.


    This was an interesting puzzle for an array formation master. But this wasn''t what he wanted. Right now, he needed to increase his cultivation, not his comprehension of array formations. He was going to pass this test as fast as possible to find a better suited one regarding his main objective.


    -This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Ren Chao was in a small cave whose ceiling had been completely blown to smithereens. Holding a giant hammer three times as long as Ren Chao was tall and with a head at least as big as his own torso. Just lifting it took all of his strength, despite his physique. Moreover, each time he lifted it, thunderbolts from the sky lashed directly toward the hammer. And as the thunder was penetrating Ren Chao''s flesh, he used all of his strength to strike a perfectly round rock that was as tall as his waist and four times as large as him.


    Even with his strength and the lightning still coursing through the hammer, not a single dent was visible on the rock. It did not even move at all. Ren Chao had already tried to move it with his bare hands but had not succeeded. His usual weapon was put in a corner of the cave. Although he still claimed that this was a mace, no one could see anything but a hammer when looking at this weapon. However, just by striking the metal with it once, Ren Chao had realized that his weapon would break if he tried to use it.


    Because there was already a giant hammer in that cave, the test seemed very straightforward to Ren Chao. He would need to break this rock. With each attempt, the thunder striking him was becoming stronger and stronger. Most of it was going through his bones and did not cause much pain. But even the remnant that was going through his flesh was enough to inflict incredible pain. Thankfully, Ren Chao''s mind cultivation was weak in everything but will. That was the only aspect of his mind cultivation in which he could boast his superiority. Even Cao Yun might not have such a powerful will.


    Thus, Ren Chao would continue relentlessly. Right now, he didn''t care about the Palace of Supreme Wisdom anymore. As a blacksmith, he refused to admit that a rock could best him.


    -


    Mei Hua found herself in a colorful jungle. There didn''t seem to be any beast. However, the entire vegetation was trying to kill her. At her feet, there was a permanent poisonous haze. Even the air she was breathing was full of poison. Since she had come into this place, she had been trying to control several poisons in her. As an alchemist, this wasn''t too difficult. Thankfully, those were not powerful poisons, but she knew none of them.


    Because she had no knowledge about any of the species around her, Mei Hua was completely lost. In the sky, the stars were different and they even seemed to be moving around. She had soon understood the concept of this test. The only way for her to leave this jungle was to understand its ecology. Only after gaining a substantial understanding of the different plants and poisons could she really orientate herself and find clues.


    Maybe it was because she was an alchemist that this kind of test had appeared. But deep down, she wondered whether this was linked to what had happened in the beginning of her second year. To this day, she was still frustrated by not having been able to detect the Burrowing Deadly Typha. Since then, she had studied poisons a bit more in depth. After all, her alchemy had been stagnant because her cultivation could not keep up with her progress in the occupation.


    -


    Cao Yun completely lost himself in his observations. Every one of his senses was focused on that other Cao Yun. And everything about this other Cao Yun seemed real. In other circumstances, he could have been that other Cao Yun. Then, was he really the original Cao Yun? Was there even such a thing as the real Cao Yun? If he couldn''t control his thoughts, wasn''t he just a slave to something else? Wasn''t he just deluded into thinking he was an individual with any semblance of control?


    Cao Yun did not try to control his thoughts at all. The more he was suppressing them, the stronger they came back each time. Thus, he simply focused on that other Cao Yun and let his thoughts wander wherever they wanted to go.


    Slowly, he realized that he had fewer and fewer thoughts. Even without actively trying to suppress them, they were disappearing and the noise around him was lessening. After some time, the other Cao Yun even disappeared. The thoughts and doubts that had led to him were now fully understood by Cao Yun. By understanding his own doubts and his own thoughts, he had realized that he was not defined by them. They were just passing through his mind.


    Several more times, Cao Yun focused all his attention on other Cao Yun. Each time, it took a lot of time, but ultimately the other Cao Yun disappeared. Some Cao Yun were almost identical to him. So understanding them was easy and they disappeared faster. But others were so foreign that he himself wondered how they could have diverged from him so quickly.


    All things considered, getting rid of them one by one was not a really good strategy. Although they didn''t seem to be infinite in his sea of consciousness, there were thousands of Cao Yun. He couldn''t spend all his time in this first test. Besides the demonic cultivators had to try something at some point.


    Now that he had understood what was going on, he didn''t need to be so slow. Since he was still in his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was literally walking on the surface of the ocean below. Suddenly, he got sucked into the depths of the ocean. Soon after, the water level rose and all the other Cao Yun were also drawn into the water. This water was part of Cao Yun''s mind. And now that all the other Cao Yun were with him inside, he simply spread his intent and his will through this ocean. However, he had decided not to activate his mind cultivation at first.


    After assessing that his ideas were correct as many Cao Yun very similar to him had already disappeared in the water, he finally activated his Five Agents. Zhi the Water Will and Yi the Earth Intent were greatly amplified by Shen the Fire Spirit. On the other hand, Po the Metal Corporeal Soul and Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul were not pushed to their maximum.


    Thanks to that, Cao Yun was able to focus on almost all of the Cao Yun. Because there was still a bit too much noise, he also activated all the chambers of his Upper Dantian he had already energized. In particular the Chamber of Moving Pearls allowed him to remain perfectly neutral while hearing sometimes horrendous thoughts. And the Chamber of Heavenly Court was somehow slowing time around him. In reality, it was speeding his thought processes to the point where time seemed to freeze.


    Using every advantage he had with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun soon got rid of every other copy in his own mind. Even disgusting thoughts were not representative of who he was. No amount of thoughts, doubts or desires could define him. What would define Cao Yun would be his actions on those thoughts. But he had to admit that those thoughts had indeed gone through his mind. In other circumstances he could have turned into a really different man. However, he had not. Other men would have held on his hatred and would have been devoured by the Drop of Wrath. Others would have abused his newfound strength and indulged in many desires.


    All those possibilities were part of him. But they could not define him as a cultivator. Cultivation was going against fate, and the entire Dao of the world. Cao Yun would let his actions speak for him. He was not afraid to face the darkest parts of his mind.


    Thus, he exited his sea of consciousness and was now ready to confront the infinity of Cao Yun. Thankfully, he didn''t have to get rid of them all alone. When he opened his eyes, many other Cao Yun were already starting to erase the other ones. Just by focusing on those thoughts, meditating on them and accepting them, the copy would disappear. More and more Cao Yun were now focusing on the others. One by one, the other Cao Yun disappeared until only the meditating ones remained. And even they started to fade away.


    In the end, only one Cao Yun was remaining. And when thoughts entered his mind, it caused no ripple on the world around him. Each thought could pass through him without disturbing his mind. His sense of self had increased. It was now rooted in something more solid and robust, his Dao heart.

 Chapter 292: First rewards

    Cao Yun was now alone again. But this time, no other copy of himself appeared. No matter what he could think, nothing would happen. Looking at his mind cultivation, he saw that his Hun was a bit more brilliant than before. Also, he sensed a profound tranquility. His mind was akin to the ocean below the Five Agents, and each thought going through it emerged from the unknown depths of the ocean below. Now, each time it happened, they did not even make a single ripple on the surface of Cao Yun''s mind. They were just fleeting images while he was permanent.


    Deep down, Cao Yun had been able to perceive something that transcended the superficiality of what some weaker cultivators could think was their self. His Dao Heart was now more firm than ever and it was reflected in his Hun. The spiritual soul was connected to the aspirations to something bigger than oneself, either in connecting with the others, with the Dao, or even with oneself. And that was what had happened, Cao Yun had connected with a very fundamental part of his being.


    Suddenly, Cao Yun felt a warmth sensation emanating from the Supreme emblem in his robe. It immediately entered his soul, it was so fast that Cao Yun did not even feel it in his body. Then, it penetrated his sea of consciousness. A tiny ball of light was now rotating in the center of his Five Agents. As it rotated, it extracted energy from each character. Of course, Cao Yun understood what it was. This thing was literally creating a Five Echoes Pearl.


    But when it would take him two to three months to extract a single Five Echoes Pearl, in less than a minute, it was done. Unfortunately, the small ball of light disappeared as soon as the Five Echoes Pearl was done forming. If only he could have kept it... But clearly, this was part of the array formations making the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And if he wasn''t wrong, this was his reward for clearing the first test.


    Surprisingly, he felt no response from the Supreme emblem. Wondering about it, he came to the conclusion that he had to use his reward right away. This place was extremely peaceful since it was absolutely empty. However, the next world he would be sent into could be completely different. As such, it was better to immediately improve his mind cultivation, just in case.


    Like always, using the Five Echoes Pearl was as easy as thinking about it for Cao Yun now. His only problem was to determine which chamber of his Upper Dantian he would energize next. In the second layer, ''Climb the Nine Peaks'', he had only one order to respect, the last chamber had to be the Chamber of Mysterious Elixir. It was similar to the Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir in the Middle Dantian in the sense that it was central to the Upper Dantian. It wasn''t really in the exact center of it, but its role was central. As such, it had to be energized last. That way, it would complete the entire Upper Dantian and harmonize every chamber together.


    Thus, he only had two chambers left, the Chamber of Bright Spirit and the the Chamber of Splendor. None seemed particularly interesting. The first one dealt with empathy and compassion while the other one with artistic sense. Maybe the first one could be useful to further develop his Hun. That being said, Cao Yun had no real incentive to do so quickly. After all, he would probably form another Five Echoes Pearl in two to three months. By the time he was out of this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he would have completed the second layer.


    So the question was to know which chamber was the most useful for the upcoming tests. And upon further considerations, the Chamber of Splendor seemed the best bet. Although he could appreciate art, Cao Yun was not a connoisseur at all. Apart from poetry, Cao Yun had no inclination toward art in general. However, he had an idea that maybe the word art could be taken in all its acceptations. In particular, Cao Yun was thinking about martial arts. Although it could be considered as a tool of death and destruction, this was also a form of art. Maybe this chamber would help him expand his comprehension of martial art.


    And after the short training he had had with Chief Elder Baishen, Cao Yun had become impatient to reach the state of Spear Heart. He had not even fully mastered the Spear Aura yet and he still needed to form the seventh star of his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Hopefully, this Chamber of Splendor would increase his development speed in martial arts.


    Without any problem, Cao Yun focused on the upper back of his Upper Dantian. The Chamber of Splendor turned out to be rich in Wood element, the same element his martial art was related to. Nourishing Wood element with Water element was extremely easy. Cao Yun simply guided it and it just happened. A bright flash radiated through his sea of consciousness for an instant. As his mind cultivation was improving, Cao Yun was barely feeling any impact now, but he was certain that it had one.


    Now that he had finally used his reward, the young man felt the Supreme emblem once more. He got completely enveloped by light and all his senses got dulled down until nothing existed anymore except himself.


    -


    Sun Liao was still in the same room that was repeating itself indefinitely in all directions. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, he was surrounded by flags arranged everywhere around him and his compass right in front of him.


    Suddenly, a thunderous sound spread through the room and the walls began to crumble. Then, they were completely wiped out. And now Sun Liao was sitting in a gigantic room with five pillars of stone all around him. Each one was as tall as the Heidai Peak itself and Sun Liao was at their feet. But there was something else in the center of the room, a small altar with a single scroll on it.


    Before standing up, Sun Liao analyzed his compass for several minutes to be sure that this wasn''t another trick. No, he had gotten rid of the maze.


    "Hmph! Such a simple trick. And you thought this could trap me?! Hell, you thought it could even be worthy of being called a test for me?!"


    Holding the Supreme emblem in his hand, Sun Liao talked as though the array formation of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom could hear him.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "I don''t care about improving my array formations! Until I finally become a Mortal Warrior, there is no point to it. What I want is to increase my cultivation fast. Put me through your worst tests, I don''t care. But you''re supposed to give me what I need! And I need to become a Mortal Warrior, no matter what it takes!"


    With a disdainful look on his face, Sun Liao still walked toward the scroll to inspect it. It would probably be some array formation art of some kind, maybe the same array formation that had trapped him. Ridiculous!


    When he read the scroll though, Sun Liao was surprised as he read the title. ''Crossing the Three Chasms in the Eight Directions''. This was not directly an array formation. Instead, it was presenting how to use array formations to cultivate each realm, from the Mortal realm to the Spirit Warrior realm. But more than that, it explained in details what to do for each small grade of every realm. And Sun Liao had never heard of any of the array formations mentioned in the treatise he was now reading avidly.


    Moreover, those array formations all had different aspects. Each one had an external but also an internal aspect. Apart from setting it up around the cultivator, the cultivator could also manipulate his Qi according to specific paths to produce similar effects within or amplify the effects from the external array formation.


    According to the treatise, if he was good enough, Sun Liao could become a Mortal Warrior in less than twenty months. But he was still not out of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Once he was done reading, Sun Liao found himself engulfed in light as well.


    -


    Finally, Ren Chao had broken his rock. Within, there was an ore he had never seen before. Still, his instinct as a blacksmith told him that this was the most precious metal he had ever laid eyes on in his entire life. With this, he could forge an incredible weapon. Besides, there was enough ore for way more than a single weapon. If he was using it with reason, he would probably be able to make five or six weapons, depending on which ones of course.


    In his bones, Ren Chao could still feel the thunder. It had completely activated his marrow and great quantities of Qi as well as particles of Jing were flowing from them toward both his bloodstream and his meridians. The thunder had also tempered his meridians. Clearly, he was on his way to becoming a 6th-grade Mortal and not even a month had passed by. Thus, he basked in this sensation for some time.


    As soon as Ren Chao took the strange metal though, his Supreme emblem activated.


    -


    Finally, Mei Hua was now faced with a giant tree. All around its circumference, there were vines, pulsating like veins. Everything in this jungle was linked to this tree. By analyzing the ecosystem, she had tracked the very center of this world. Just by getting there, she had gained a lot of knowledge. Although those species did not exist in the Hongchen Kingdom, just training herself to observe and understand had been beneficial. Moreover, she had become way more competent in manipulating poison. That also meant that her medicinal essence control should have improved as well. Even she had thought it impossible before breaking through further.


    And she still had a few poisons in her. She had been able to turn them into small balls of essences she was keeping in her Lower Dantian, trapped in several layers of Qi.


    Looking directly at the tree, Mei Hua was still wondering what she had to do precisely to pass the trial. She had found the tree at the center of everything. Maybe that was it...


    When Mei Hua put her hand on the tree, she felt its life. Then, the sensation spread without her having any control over it. She was able to feel every plant in the jungle as though her own intent had fused with the intent of the giant tree. Then, this sensation seemed to be reversed. Everything went back to her sea of consciousness. And on the surface of the water, a seed formed. Mei Hua had no way of knowing what it was, but she could see it, thanks to what had happened in the Lunar Marsh.


    Mei Hua took some time to examine it but she didn''t know what this seed was. As she was doing that, her Supreme emblem got activated as well.


    -


    Outside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, at the summit of the Heidai Peak, Xiao Xuefeng was talking with Sect Leader Xuan. The old man was still behind some kind of curtain while he addressed her.


    "Spirit Master Xiao, I received word from Director Ge. The walls of your Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute have been repaired. Soon it will be back to its former glory. Sadly, I fear that we may need alchemy now more than ever with all the tensions I see on the horizon."


    "Sect Leader, you''re not talking only about the demonic cultivators, are you?"


    Suddenly, both of them started to speak in their minds. Sect Leader Xuan was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior and Xioa Xuefeng boasted the most powerful spiritual senses. No one in the Hongchen Kingdom could hear them when they used telepathy.


    "Although our Heidai Peak has been preserved for ten thousand years, I do hear calls for war on the side of the demons. In the border provinces, those calls have been more and more powerful recently. The Sunmen and Subei provinces are especially threatened. War is upon us. If they hear that we''ve been weakened, they will strike even sooner. Yet we still haven''t dealt with the demonic cultivators. While we are betrayed from within, our enemies get stronger. I got words about a new ruler among the demons, unifying several kingdoms against us.


    "But I only see dissension among our ranks. The Imperial City is now full of secrets and shrouded in darkness. Even the Emperor may not be the young man I remember. From Director Ge and even Matriarch Huang, the news that come to me are all alarming. It is even possible that the Imperial City had a hand in the matter of the Cao family. Nothing is clear. Either they partook in it, ordered it, covered it up or simply knew without doing anything to prevent it. The least paranoid theory would be that they used the incident after it had happened to blame it on some demonic sect they wanted to get rid of quickly.


    "I thought that your little friend ''Chen Guo'' might appreciate some of it."


    It was no surprise to Xiao Xuefeng that Sect Leader Xuan knew about Cao Yun. Probably from the very start, he had not been blind to his identity. But if Sect Leader Xuan wanted someone dead, they had no way of hiding from him anyway. Despite his old age, some still thought he was the strongest fighter in the entire Hongchen Kingdom, superior even to Emperor Weide.


    "But I did not call you to talk about this. If I called you today, it is for this."


    The Seal of Authority appeared before Xiao Xuefeng. Although it had been entrusted to her once, she had returned it when she had left the sect for her Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    "We have no idea what the demonic cultivators plan to do this year. Even what we know is subject to caution. However, I fully trust you. Until this crisis is resolved, you have full authority over the entire sect. Many of our array formations had been depleted or damaged because of the stampede. I suspect that our traitor has guided this stampede to target the array formations themselves. Their goal wasn''t to destroy us but to weaken us for what''s to come.


    "While I try to repair our defenses, I will give you all my authority. I know you will use it wisely."


    "Thank you, Sect Leader."

 Chapter 293: Spear graveyard

    The next time Cao Yun opened his eyes, he was in a completely different place. Disoriented, he fell forward and found himself prostrated on the ground. Below his hands, the ground was metallic. In fact, it seemed to be an amalgam of thousands of pieces of armor, broken hilts, fragments of swords. Standing up, Cao Yun looked all around the place and only saw remnants of weapons and armors everywhere. But there was no sign of any corpse.


    Here and there, there were plates of armor, helmets, both for humans, but also for horses and even demonic beasts of all kinds. As such, there were also many weapons and armors he had never seen before. Apart from the Eighteen Classical Weapons, there existed a myriad of other kinds of weapons. Around Cao Yun, every weapon and every piece of armor, although broken, seemed to have been unique. A mortal would probably not have enough time in his entire life to collect them all.


    Moreover, Cao Yun could not tell how deep this pile of metal was. This was so compact it truly felt like a solid ground, but it was not.


    The surface was completely flat except for a few rods stabbed into the ground. Just after looking at them, Cao Yun knew. Those were all spears. A large forest of spears was planted all over the place. And from the looks of it, they were intact. In fact, those were the only intact weapons. Each one was also unique. Some were as large as a real tree while others were as short as Cao Yun himself. Their blades were also all different.


    But they all were reflecting a deep blue light. Looking up, Cao Yun saw the origin of this blue light. High in the sky, there was no star of any kind, no satellite to admire. But there was one celestial body. Cao Yun had never seen such a thing. The sky was perfectly black but in its center, some kind of whirlwind was rotating at an incredible speed. In complete silence, it was rotating on itself so fast that it almost looked immobile but Cao Yun''s eyes were able to see through that. As it was spinning, it was also producing a great source of light that was extremely deep. It was difficult to describe, but this light was a deep blue. Although its color was a bit obscure, it was so powerful that it could lit the entire world.


    Considering the place, the test seemed clearly related to his mastering of the spear. However, he wasn''t sure in what way exactly.


    Before taking his spear out, Cao Yun decided to try and probe this place with his Qi. Now that he was a Mortal Warrior, he could easily send his Qi outside and control it enough to perceive things, even underground. As such, he sent surges of Qi beneath his feet to see how deep this pile of metal was. However, as soon as he did, his Qi got torn away from his control and sucked into the air.


    Although he had lost control of it, his sensitivity allowed Cao Yun to sense it as it was swirling upward until it disappeared. His Qi had joined the great vortex above his head. Just to be sure, he tried to send surges of Qi outside of his body again but each one was completely absorbed by the vortex. Even when he tried to use all of his mind cultivation and exert as much control on his Qi as possible, the same thing happened.


    It always got sucked into the vortex right away. The only Qi that didn''t meet this fate was his own Wei Qi. A bit worried about something, Cao Yun sent a surge of Qi in his spatial ring. Immediately, he could sense what was within and could extract anything he desired without any problem. Thus, he took out his spear. Thankfully, this great vortex did not try to suck this surge of Qi. Unless it was leaving his Wei Qi, Cao Yun could use his energy freely.


    In other words, this giant vortex was preventing him from using any form of Qi Manifestation. So whatever test was going to happen had been designed to test his mastery of the spear but not his Qi Manifestation. To be sure, he sent another wave of Qi in his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' and it did not get affected. However, he was able to feel the scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon within. Like Ren Chao had told him, he could feel both shame and determination in it.


    Although his spear was supposed to be a 5-star Earth one, Cao Yun knew that it was closer to a Human grade weapon thanks to this scale and its connection with his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. That being said, it had no real awareness or spirit. It was just the remnant of the demonic beast whose bloodline was related to dragons. Cao Yun had understood what the spear was feeling. It was ashamed of being unable to showcase the full might of this martial art, yet Cao Yun had not even formed the seven stars yet. But it was ready to die to try. If it could show the full glory of the Azure Dragon at least once, the Ebony Snake Dragon would be happy to have been slain to forge this weapon.


    Soon after Cao yun had taken his spear out, something happened. Right now, he was in an area that was completely flat and formed some kind of circle surrounded by thousands of spears stabbed in the ground. In other words, he was in a ring. And on the other extremity of this ring, the ground began to shake. From the pile of metal, many pieces of metal flew into the air and began to melt.


    All of a sudden, there was a tornado of melting metal spiraling above the ground. And inside of it, Cao Yun was able to see a shape. It looked like a man but he knew this was impossible. Rather, this was an empty armor. When the tempest of molten metal stopped, the armor was still red. As it was bathed in the blue light of the vortex, the armor quickly cooled down to show its true form. All kinds of pieces of metal had fused together to create an armor that looked almost like a real human being wearing a war armor. Beneath its helmet, it had a face that was obviously perfectly still as it was made of metal.


    The armor raised its right arm and one of the spears that was stabbed into the ground flew directly in its hand. Now it was facing Cao Yun with a spear in hand. Apparently the test would be to beat this armor without using his Qi Manifestation. But was the test that simple?


    Before Cao Yun could think further, the armor had already disappeared. In an instant, its spear was right in front of Cao Yun''s eyes. There was nothing special about its technique, it was just stabbing straight forward. But not only was its speed beyond Cao Yun''s capability, even its technique had him beaten. Although he had looked at it only an instant, this technique appeared to be flawless. Obviously, there had to be tiny flaws but he had had no time to see any.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Thanks to his Chamber of Heavenly Court, time seemed to freeze as the spear was about to pierce through his skull. Thankfully, his Wei Qi had not been dispelled by the giant vortex spiraling above his head. But considering the mere wind pressure of the blade, it would still do a lot of damage. Because the armor was not using any Qi at all, it would be hard pressed to kill a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. That being said, the fight wouldn''t be easy at all.


    Analyzing the armor''s spear, that was just a mediocre weapon. Although Cao Yun was no blacksmith, it appeared to only be a 2-star Earth spear, nothing compared with his. In fact, the spear had already been full of small cracks even before entering the armor''s hands. And under the strain it was putting on its weapon, the armor would soon destroy it. However, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of spears all around them. There would be no shortage of weapons. Besides, some were clearly way beyond the Earth grade. Although all weapons were on the brink of destruction, some were real treasures. Could the test be to fight the armor until it had exhausted all the spears?


    If that were the case, this test would have no end. Maybe, it would be easier to destroy the armor first.


    With his faster thought process, Cao Yun had mostly analyzed what was going on and had prepared himself for what was to come.


    After several days training with Chief Elder Baishen, Cao Yun had gotten the knack of Spear Aura. He was nowhere as good as she was with virtually any kind of aura, but he was slowly getting there. Martial Aura was born from someone''s understanding of martial arts. Of course, someone who was already proficient in a weapon could develop another Martial Aura more easily. So it wasn''t incredible for Chief Elder Baishen to have several Martial Auras.


    That being said, her most powerful remained the Palm Aura. Clearly, she had been a bare-handed fighter first. Only after mastering hand-to-hand combat did she embark on a journey to master all of the Eighteen Classical Weapons, and some more.


    Because Spear Aura was the emanation of someone''s understanding in the spear arts, it did not require any Qi, or even any cultivation level at all. In theory, even a mortal could use a Martial Aura. But it was dependent on the cultivator''s mental fortitude.


    As one slowly mastered his martial art, his sea of consciousness would naturally produce Insight Writings depending on his proficiency. In a sense, those were the intuitive understandings of the cultivator. Even if he wasn''t aware of it himself, those Insight Writings, no matter how crude or rudimentary they were, would be deep in his sea of consciousness. Spear Aura was developed when the cultivator finally began to sense those intuitions. And to develop the Spear Aura even further, it was necessary to study the Insight Writings which were visible on the surface.


    Without the ability to enter one''s sea of consciousness, one had to meditate and try to connect with his intuition, producing the same movements again and again, both in reality and in his mind. Hence, most people who had mastered a Martial Aura were either cultivators with a powerful mind cultivation or Spirit Warriors who could visit their own sea of consciousness. Because Cao Yun had this ability, he could also improve his Spear Aura faster.


    But at the end of the day, the best way to improve oneself was to fight and gain more and more intuition. Each fighter was different, each martial art was different. Cao Yun had to confront many different opponents to push his Spear Aura to the extreme. Only then could he have hopes to form the next stage, the Spear Intent. According to Chief Elder Baishen, it would happen when he would be able to feel every Insight Writing in his sea of consciousness. But for now, he could only see one while he could vaguely sense the presence of a dozen more.


    This test was a great opportunity. Because he could not manifest his Qi in this place, he would have to rely on his pure understanding of the spear and of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Hopefully, he could maybe even forge the final and seventh star of his martial art, the Winnowing Basket Star. That way he would officially have reached Small Success in ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''.


    Anyway, for now, he just had to fight the armor and try to improve his technique as much as he could. Unless he had any reason to believe otherwise, this test seemed to be pretty straightforward, and yet very effective. Fighting a powerful opponent was the fastest way to progress as he had been able to experience for himself with Chief Elder Baishen.


    Without using any major technique from his art, Cao Yun put his left foot backward. As he got a little bit more of distance with the tip of the armor''s spear, he rotated and completely dodged the attack. At the very same time, he unleashed a sweeping attack toward the armor''s waist, ''Scales Under the Waterfall''. This was just a lesser technique of his art. But he imbued it with his Spear Aura. With it, the tip of his spear looked like it was the size of the armor itself. Although he was the one responsible, Cao Yun still found this vision weird. He was holding a perfectly normal spear but its tip had become extremely large. Of course, this was just a visual phenomenon and not the actual size of the spear though.


    As he didn''t want to burn himself out, Cao Yun had not mobilized his Qi or his blood, or anything else other than his physical strength and his mind. As soon as Cao Yun had dodged the armor''s attack, it had completely changed its attitude. With his Chamber of Heavenly Court, Cao Yun was able to see clearly every tiny detail as though the time was slowed down. Of course, it didn''t mean that his body was able to react fast enough, but he could analyze everything before deciding on the correct action.


    Contrary to what he had been expecting, the armor did not try to block the incoming spear directed straight to its waist. Although Cao Yun did not know what metal was composing this armor, he knew that his current attack was enough to cut a late Mortal in half. Yet the armor had done no effort to try to block or even dodge.


    Instead, it pushed its own spear forward, only keeping one hand holding the very butt of the spear. And with its other arm, it created some momentum. The armor literally jumped over Cao Yun''s ''Scales Under the Waterfall''. In his jump, its spear stayed perfectly still. It was as if the spear was stabbed in a wall and was used by the armor to help him jump. Of course, it was just holding it in place while jumping. That amount of agility for a metallic armor impressed Cao Yun.


    But he had no time to be impressed right now, as the armor was not done with its attack. Because of the strength Cao Yun had put into his own spear, it took him a bit too much time to stop it. Even though he was not unbalanced by it, it still delayed him enough to put him in danger. As the armor was coming back toward the ground, it used its momentum to try and slash down toward Cao Yun. Right now, its spear was almost used like a staff.

 Chapter 294: Relentless spear-wielding armor

    Cao Yun could clearly see the shaft of the spear falling straight down toward his skull. With almost no time to dodge, he had to block or deviate the trajectory. But the entire weight of the armor with a lot of momentum was behind this attack. Keeping in mind the current state of his spear, he was even afraid that it would break in half under the attack. But as soon as this thought crossed his mind, he felt a burning sensation in his palm. Within the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'', the scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon was screaming in frustration.


    It was ready to risk it. No matter what, it didn''t want to make the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' look bad. Maybe because of the dragon bloodline, but Cao Yun was convinced that there was a remnant of the dragon''s pride within his weapon and it didn''t want to disgrace the name of the Azure Dragon. As a spear, it wanted to be able to showcase the full might of this martial art, even if it were to cause its own destruction.


    Once again, to win a bit more time, Cao Yun crouched down. Putting one knee on the ground, he raised his spear horizontally above his head. ''Mountain Under Thunder''. Yet another lesser move of his martial art. To lessen the blow of the falling attack, the main point was to synchronize the defense with it. He couldn''t just keep his spear immobile waiting for the attack to fall down. Instead, he pushed his spear so that the shaft would meet the falling spear as soon as possible. The longer he would wait, the more powerful the blow was. Any advantage was good to take at this point.


    Finally, his spear struck the armor''s spear. Cao Yun''s position was extremely stable while the armor was literally falling from its own jump. Thus, the armor was a bit unbalanced. On the other hand, Cao Yun had just enough time to activate ''Dragon''s Heart''. Under the shock of the impact, his right knee got pressed against the metallic ground and left a deep impression. Even with his current physique, he felt the pain in his bones. Thankfully, ''Dragon''s Heart'' allowed his muscles to be powerful enough to bear the full attack directed against him. His position was perfectly still.


    Immediately after, Cao Yun tried to use the armor''s unbalance to his advantage and pressed on with an attack. Thanks to his posture, he redirected the force sent through his body by using his muscles as springs. The spear of the armor which had lost its momentum got bounced back from his spear as Cao Yun inclined it. When bouncing, the armor''s spear was sent to the side with an angle, making it more difficult to move it back in position.


    As the armor was not even fully on the ground, Cao Yun moved forward. With a knee still on the ground, he quickly advanced and swept with the full length of his spear toward his opponent. This time, he had finally used a main technique of his martial art. ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''. It was a variant of the move as he was kneeling down. But it was just as effective.


    Instinctively, Cao Yun still poured Qi in his attack as he had used it that way many times. Moreover, with the ''Dragon''s Heart'' activated, it felt natural to discharge the high-velocity Qi in his body. His attack collided with the armor at full speed. But all the Qi he had put into the technique got completely sucked into the air before it could even leave his spear. It did not affect the quality of his technique but he had just wasted energy for nothing.


    In Cao Yun''s mind, everything was going rather slowly. But in reality, the tip of his spear had broken the speed of sound. Before it could hit the armor though, it was able to twist its body and get its spear right in the trajectory of Cao Yun''s. Both shafts collided with each other sending vibrations through the two of them. While the armor did not shake in the least, Cao Yun tensed his muscles and circulated ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield'' to redirect the entire force of the impact. He felt the shock circulate through his bones and flesh as it was sent toward his legs.


    With all this, he kicked up and went backward, taking a lot of distance with the armor. Contrary to a human fighter, the armor showed no emotion at all. Because Cao Yun didn''t even understand how it was animated since he couldn''t feel any Qi in it, he had no way of knowing if it even got tired or not. Maybe it could fight for years without interruption. Even months would be a problem for Cao Yun. Despite his current cultivation, he still needed to take some breaks to sleep, drink and eat from time to time. Besides he was also using a lot of Qi and there was no energy around him to replenish his reserves.


    Hell, he wasn''t even sure whether he could use a spirit stone or if he would be forced to gulp down a pill. Thankfully, he had taken a few pills in his spatial ring. After what had happened to him in the Death Yellow World, he had learned his lesson. Besides food and water, he had also taken many pills to quench both his thirst, his hunger and even his sleep. Of course, taking too many pills was not a good thing and pushing his limits in such a way was unhealthy. But if he had to keep fighting for a long time...


    For now, he still decided to try and save as much Qi as possible. Besides, he wanted to train his martial art and his Spear Aura right now, not his Qi Manifestation or his cultivation. And just this short fight had ignited his desire to see more. Contrary to his opponent''s appearance, the armor was extremely agile and fast. Moreover, he had never seen the kind of martial art it was using right now. Although Cao Yun was not as addicted to fighting as Long Huafang, he loved a good fight because he loved martial arts and discovering more about them.


    Well, he had what he wanted. At least, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was true to both its name and its reputation. It had found exactly what he wanted and needed.


    Barely had he taken a breath, the armor was already up and going straight for Cao Yun. For several minutes, the fight became more and more intense. Each one of their strikes was breaking the sound barrier. When their spears collided, this created shockwaves powerful enough to bend and almost break some of the spears around them.


    They kept on attacking, blocking, evading. And Cao Yun''s blood was boiling more and more. He was really enjoying himself and had almost forgotten about where he was. Because his goal was to improve his martial art, he was pouring everything in this fight. In the back of his head, he could feel the recently energized Chamber of Splendor. As he was lost in his fight, it was hard to tell, but Cao Yun had the sensation that he was getting more inspirations than usual. Maybe it was due to the techniques of the armor, or to the Chamber of Splendor. Maybe it was the both of them combined.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    With normal eyes, it was almost impossible to see their spears. Moreover, they were also moving extremely fast all over the place. Spear against spear. One would stab, the other would deflect and counter only for the first one to dodge and send a faint to manipulate his opponent. Right now, Cao Yun could tell for sure that this armor was a bit stronger and faster than he was. He could compensate with ''Dragon''s Heart'', however that needed to be activated for the entire fight.


    As he was losing a lot of energy because of that, Cao Yun slowly learned to activate it faster and faster and only when he needed to. The difference was not yet prodigious, but he had realized that he had not yet fully mastered this technique. In fact, Cao Yun was realizing that although he had understood the gist and the fundamentals of his techniques, he was nowhere close to what the armor was doing.


    Even in very simple moves like a straightforward stab, it had more comprehension of the way of the spear than Cao Yun did. Each move had been refined almost to the point where there were no more imperfections. Of course, there had to be some as nothing was perfect, but Cao Yun was just not good enough to see through its flaws. If he had been fighting a human being bent on killing him, Cao Yun would have been dead in less than ten moves. And if his opponent had a higher cultivation than him, or even equal, he would have barely survived one move.


    In spite of that, or maybe because of that, Cao Yun was thoroughly enjoying himself. It was as though he was being taught. However, he had no idea whether the armor would stop if he were to be hit. Apparently, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom would teleport him elsewhere if he were about to die. But if he had his arms and legs broken or even cut off, would it? Those ideas had gone through his head but he had preferred to push them aside for now. He had to be fully focused on this fight. All of his mind cultivation was on this fight.


    After several hundreds of moves exchanged, Cao Yun heard a crack. Afraid, he tightened his grip on his spear. His ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' had been badly damaged and he was afraid of seeing it being destroyed. In his spatial ring, he had taken another spear just in case, but he was attached to this one. Besides, his other spear was not as good because it didn''t have any connection with the dragon bloodline. This black spear was perfect for his current level and considering his martial art.


    Thankfully though, it wasn''t his spear that had creaked. The armor''s spear had lost a small piece of its shaft. When Cao Yun''s spear collided with it again, the rusted spear literally blew up in all directions. Small shards were sent toward both the armor and Cao Yun. Of course, the armor did not mind, but Cao Yun was forced to circulate ''Dragon''s Chest'' to protect himself. Putting a sleeve in front of his face, no shard penetrated his skin. Still, some flew into his robe. Although they were not able to pierce through this robe, they still marked Cao Yun''s skin underneath.


    But now, his opponent had lost its weapon. Without any hesitation, Cao Yun decided to press forward. ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''! This was his most powerful technique yet as all of his strength was focused on a single point. And this point happened to be the armor''s waist. Because he had no idea how that thing was moving, he had decided not to target the neck. Even without a head, there was no reason for it to not keep moving. For the same reason, hitting the chest was probably not a good idea. On the other hand, if he could take its legs out, it just couldn''t fight anymore.


    And if it could reform itself, then no area was a good choice anyway. Hopefully he would had least buy some time.


    Unfortunately, it didn''t happen as he had envisioned. He knew that the armor was strong but he had still not realized how durable it was. With a perfect ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry'', Cao Yun''s spear hit the armor right in its right hip articulation. Although he had not used any Qi Manifestation, for obvious reasons, this attack could have cleaved the leg right off of an early Mortal Warrior. And yet, there was only a small dent with a bit of smoke coming out of the armor''s hip.


    The only thing Cao Yun truly achieved was to push the armor further back. Under the shock, Cao Yun took some distance. Even with his most powerful technique, except the use of Qi Manifestation, the armor had taken almost no damage at all. If he were to chip away at it like that, he would have spent all his Qi and its limbs would still be attached to its body. Even the loss of its weapon was nothing. There were hundreds of other weapons all around, some even better than that rusted spear that had just exploded.


    But if it was a test by the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, there had to be a way to pass it. And brute force was not the way. Somehow, it had to be related to martial arts and the way of the spear. Maybe he had to defeat not the armor but the vortex overhead. Maybe the goal was to strengthen his Qi Manifestation by forcing him to resist the pull from the vortex, but that seemed almost impossible. The suction force was just beyond his imagination. Besides, it was targeting the Qi he could use in the fight but not his Wei Qi. No, that was so specific that it was clearly here to prevent Qi Manifestation. Thus, he had to pass this test without it, that had to be the point of it.


    Maybe he had to beat the armor in a certain manner. Maybe he had to destroy all the spears he could use, one by one. Looking around he realized that that would take at least several months, if not years. After all, he couldn''t see the entire place. But what he could see was filled with hundreds of spears. Besides, some might even appear in their stead. Or worse, the ones he would destroy could reform, just as the armor had formed itself from scraps.


    Anyway, for now, Cao Yun decided to still go forward and attack the armor again. There was still the possibility that it had a weakness and the test was to find it.


    At the last moment though, Cao Yun stayed his hand. The armor had completely stopped fighting. Now, it was kneeling on the other extremity of the ring as though it was recovering. But it wasn''t at all. It didn''t need to.


    The only explanation that made sense was that the armor was not taking some time to recover, but to let Cao Yun recover. This had to be part of the test. Maybe the test was simply to best the armor''s martial art in some way. Cao Yun had not bested his technique, he had only succeeded in breaking its rusted spear. Ending a fight like that would be too disappointing. Even Cao Yun had to admit that this wasn''t an end he would be happy with.


    With the fight, he had become more used to the armor''s fighting style, but he was still a lot of steps behind. Still a bit suspicious, Cao Yun decided to copy his opponent. He knelt down on the metallic ground and began meditating.

 Chapter 295: Preparing the attack

    From Can Mouye''s former spatial ring, Cao Yun took out a high spirit stone. Given his current cultivation, only that kind of spirit stone could be useful to him, the other ones were just too low in both density and quality. A bit afraid that the Qi extracted could be absorbed by the vortex in the sky, Cao Yun still gave it a try. Recovering his energy through absorption was always a better option than with pills. Granted, pills could be very useful as they could fully recharge someone in a few minutes. But they always had some form of toxins, even in the most perfect pills.


    Overtime, those toxins could lead to more and more problems. There were always ways to mediate that, but this was really not the optimal approach. Moreover, working on absorbing Qi was also a form a cultivation. Besides, it also allowed the body to adapt itself to the changes and grow stronger with the process. On the other hand, a pill would force the body to recover faster and could also prevent growth. This would be like healing all the stress put on muscles after a workout session. Pain and stress would disappear but so would the benefits of them.


    In the spatial ring, Matriarch Huang Yufeng had left many gifts for Cao Yun. But she had probably taken much more. For example, there were not that many demonic beast parts. For a beast tamer like Can Mouye, that was not very likely. Hence, the Huang family had probably taken them for themselves. But that didn''t really disturb Cao Yun. After all, he had not survived alone. Without Huang Liyue''s assistance he would have died. And what he had received was significant for a Mortal Warrior.


    By sending a surge of Qi in the spatial ring, he could see the general shape of what was within. It almost looked like a shadow of the real world. And just by focusing his intent on specific items, they would appear and he just had to control the Qi around to put them where he wanted. Thankfully, the vortex did not prevent him from doing so. And it did not prevent him from absorbing the Qi from the high spirit stone.


    Apparently, it was only preventing him from manifesting his Qi. Before, he had only guesses, but now he was sure. This test was clearly designed to force him to develop his understanding of the spear, his martial arts and maybe his Martial Aura. The armor was faster and stronger than him. Those were not things he could exceed in a short amount of time. Even if he were to break through two grades, he wasn''t sure whether he would be able to best it. So in a year, this was impossible. However, he could improve his technique. The armor was not so strong and fast that he was powerless against it.


    For example, against a Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun would be reduced to dust before he could even react. He had literally seen it happen when his father had broken through. With a single palm, he had killed several Mortal Warriors in a cloud of blood. So long as the difference of power was not overwhelming, technique could help a weaker cultivator prevail though. Hence, this was the only logical conclusion. That being said, Cao Yun was still unsure of what was the best way to pass this test, or even any way for that matter. Did he have to destroy the armor? Did he have to destroy the spears around them one by one? Did he just have to best it in a duel?


    For the time being though, Cao Yun decided to take advantage of the breather he had been given. While a small part of his mind was still focused on his surroundings, waiting for the armor to act, he absorbed the Qi from the high spirit stone.


    In the fight, he had tried to save up as much Qi as possible, and because he could not even use Qi Manifestation, his loss was minimal. While the armor was sitting with his rear on its heels, Cao Yun sat cross-legged. His soles and his palms were both facing upward. And in front of his chest, he was holding the high spirit stone. It was floating in the air by the effect of his Wei Qi, not disrupted by the blue vortex. That way, he could not only recover but also work on his cultivation.


    His main goal right now was to solidify his Five Prodigious Gates, starting with the two Earthly Springs and the two Labor Palaces. Sending surges of Qi through those four gates was a great way to temper them. At the same time, Cao Yun was focusing his full intent on them, including the intent from the Drop of Wrath. Ever so slightly, he could feel his acupoints get a bit sturdier. Being able to literally feel the cells around the acupoints and the cell forming these acupoints was of course incredibly useful.


    When he was done recovering, he decided not to cultivate his Qi. This wasn''t the moment. What he needed to cultivate was his martial arts. As such, using the respite offered to him, he sent a part of his mind into his sea of consciousness. Although it would lessen his focus, Cao Yun still kept a small part of his attention outside to monitor the armor that had still not moved for now.


    While in his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun replayed the entire fight using his ''Shen Visualization''. Then, he could identify everything he should have done better. Thanks to the attacks and defenses of his opponent, he could clearly see the flaws in his techniques. Sadly, some were already known to him but just difficult to palliate. But others were completely new to the young man. This fight was really eye-opening. Each time, Cao Yun tried to infer new ways to best every move from the armor while imagining what it could have done to counter it itself.


    After some time, he stopped and put his mind to other uses. Mulling over the same fight over and over again would not be very useful. With each modification, the new fight he would imagine would deviate from what would happen more and more. It was better to not let himself imagine too many things that may not turn out that way at all in reality. At the end of the day, Cao Yun could only imagine what a spearman like himself would do, not how the armor or a better fighter than him would act. Maybe his new alternatives were in fact worse than the moves he had used. Unless he tried it, he could never be sure.


    Thus, Cao Yun decided to focus on two things, the six stars in the sky and the only Insight Writing he had. His Spear Aura came entirely from this single Insight Writing. In it was not a specific technique but a part of his own intuition about the spear that he wasn''t even aware of yet. The only way to make this intuition really his was to study it and try to apply it in real life. That way, he could compare his intuition with his experience and he would not be lead astray.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    In the sky, the first six stars were fully formed. And the seventh one was the Winnowing Basket Star. For now, he had no real idea of what it would look like, but he could vaguely see a strange orange cloud where it was supposed to shine. With his energized Chamber of Splendor, he had an even better intuition when it came to this constellation. Even without the last star, he could almost picture the full shape of the Azure Dragon. And he still had to turn the stars into constellations and the constellations into mansions to admire the full glory of the legendary beast.


    This star was related to blunt attacks with the butt or the shaft of the spear instead of the blade. It wasn''t that different from the Tail Star which consisted of sweeping attacks. But this seventh star seemed to focus on using the end part of the spear in order to increase the focus of the force in a single point, like ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. In a way, that would be like using the spear like a staff or even a light mace.


    As Cao Yun was absorbed in his meditation, he completely forgot the flow of time but there was still a small part of him ready to act when the armor would move, or something else would happen.


    -


    In the same dim-lit room they were always meeting, Mo Tian was talking with Mo Zi, also known as Meng Hanyi who was now a fourth-year. When he had left the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he had been a 9th-grade Mortal. But now, he had clearly been able to break through to become a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior.


    "Is everything ready?"


    "Yes, Master. We''ve been able to set up all the array formations you''ve requested. We''ll be able to put our plans in action as soon as you order it."


    "We''ll wait for now. The old fool is repairing his defenses, unaware that the real threat is already within. It has always been within his sect without none of those so-called experts being able to see through it. In fact, the only real problem for us would be Xiao Xuefeng. That woman has always been annoying. But I''ve been able to observe her during her long stay with us. I know how to deal with her. Still, it would have been better if we hadn''t have been forced to bring her attention to the Wubei Sect..."


    "Was it really necessary?"


    "Are you questioning my decisions?"


    Mo Zi immediately understood he had been too brazen. His recent breakthrough had made him a bit too complacent.


    "Master, please forgive my insolence."


    "Tsk... We needed to get her away from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute so that we could get a fruit of the Heavenly Silver Peach Tree. Besides, it was better for her to be close to me so that I could observe her weaknesses. She''s always been our most dangerous opponents. In a fight she''s nowhere near the old fool, but her senses are always a danger to our plans. As long as we''re not ready for open war, she''s our worst enemy. Then, we''ll kill her without any problem.


    "We''ll wait some more for the chief elders to lower their guards. After all, we don''t need to act right away. Gu Song is already preparing the peach for the Demon King. In the worst case scenario, we could still postpone our operation to seven years later. But from what we''ve seen, the demons are almost ready to wage war. Although this could be a great diversion, this would also be one more threat to deal with. Fighting both the Emperor and the Empyrean Asura at the same time would be almost impossible.


    "If worse comes to worst, we could still navigate the situation. But our best bet is to succeed this year. All of the Hongchen Kingdom will realize that our means are the way to become stronger and vanquish the demons. After those millenniums of oppression, the Demon King will dominate all under the sky, and beyond. That means that if you fail, your crime shall be unimaginable."


    In the last sentence, Mo Zi felt a powerful killing intent converge on him. Because of him, his master had already been forced to alter his plans once. This year, he could not fail at all.


    "Thanks to this pathetic Luduo Bu, we''ve learned a bit about the ''Blood Runes'' method. Here are some more tips that should be of use to you."


    As jade slip flew toward Mo Zi.


    "Thank you, Master."


    "Get as strong as possible, as fast as possible. When you all enter the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, nothing can get in your way. But do not underestimate Chen Guo. This brat has survived Can Mouye. Even I have to admit that he was the best - maybe the only - achievement of that Xiong Nixie. Yes, the Huang family helped him, but there is something I don''t like about this boy. If you encounter him, don''t forget that he''s somehow been able to erase the blood runes from Luduo Bu. Remember, your goal is not to kill those disciples. You must focus on getting the key. If Chen Guo is an obstacle, try to buy some time and avoid him. As soon as you''ve got it, we''ll be able to throw away all pretenses and reveal our true strength to the world. After we''ve killed the old fool and the hypocritical Emperor, the entire Hongchen Kingdom will be forced to accept us and our new ways."


    "I understand, Master."


    "Good, do not disappoint me in this mission. After more than a hundred years of planning, I''ll finally be able to draw my weapon. And the Wubei Sect itself will shake in fear and awe."


    Mo Tian''s voice disappeared and Mo Zi found himself alone in the room. Without hesitation, he sent his Qi in the jade slip. By following the lines carved inside of it with his own Qi, Mo Zi was able to read the content of it. And he was astonished. If that jade slip was to be trusted, he could improve his cultivation at an alarming rate. But he would be completely discovered as a demonic cultivator. Anyway, this was the last year of hiding for them.


    Once this mission was a success, they would be able to be proud of their achievements. Sacrificing weak humans to get a strength allowing humanity to prosper was a small price to pay. The whole kingdom would understand it once humans would dominate the entire Piaolu planet.


    But the face of Cao Yun was very vivid in Mo Zi''s mind. This brat had turned out to be a real problem. He had not yet become a Mortal Warrior but he was getting very close. Maybe he would already be a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior by the time they would activate their plan. For now, Mo Zi had to increase his strength as much as possible. Many mortals would die in the process, but it was worth it. And with the recent stampede, it would almost go unnoticed.


    -


    Back in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Cao Yun had spent several hours meditating when finally he heard a sound.


    The armor rose once more. It stood up and raised its hand. Just like before, one of the spears stabbed in the ground flew straight into its hand. But this time it was not an old rusted spear. There was rust on it alright, but its blade was completely spared from such a fate. And gold was still shining through all over the shaft. That spear was very long, with some red clothe at both ends. And it seemed to be extremely supple.

 Chapter 296: Hard spear vs supple spear

    With this new spear in hand, the armor seemed completely different. Even though it hadn''t moved yet, there was a completely different atmosphere around it. Partly it was due to the fact that Cao Yun now knew what it was capable of, but the weapon in itself had also something to do with it.


    Just like before, the armor rushed toward Cao Yun. This time though, he was fully prepared. He wouldn''t get surprised like last time and all of his mind cultivation was already ready to help him both fight and analyze the fight at the same time. Grabbing ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'', Cao Yun assumed his position and immediately unleashed a few ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' toward his opponent. As he couldn''t pour his Qi within, the attacks themselves were rather weak but they were only supposed to disorient the armor and to throw off its rhythm.


    While the cones of wind were racing toward the armor, Cao Yun activated ''Crafty Harassment''. His speed increased greatly and he began to move around the entire ring throwing other wind cones toward the armor''s articulations. That technique was meant to completely suppress an opponent as it was a sort of array formation. Hopefully, it would weaken it a little.


    The armor had completely changed its way of fighting though. As soon as the cones of wind got close to it, its spear whipped the air and completely dispelled them without any problem. Then, even ''Crafty Harassment'' became useless as not a single attack landed on it. In addition, the armor was faster than Cao Yun even while performing this technique. In an instant, it appeared right on his trajectory.


    Because of its longer spear, the armor wasn''t as close as before when it attacked. Thankfully, Cao Yun had taken that into consideration. This spear was almost twice as long as his own. That was why he had tried to keep his distance with ''Crafty Harassment'', but that had failed very early. And now he was faced with the incoming tip of the spear. The staff was literally undulating in the armor''s hands. This wave went all the way to the tip of the spear that now looked like a snake baring its fangs toward Cao Yun.


    When the attack came, all of a sudden, Cao Yun saw several hundreds of blades coming for him. His entire field of vision was fully saturated with the blade at the extremity of this spear. There was no doubt about that, this was Spear Aura. Something that was related to one''s understanding of the spear was now being demonstrated by what looked like an armor without any intelligence. In Cao Yun''s eyes, it had been like the puppet he had faced in the Wubei Sect, the Eighteen Weapons Mechanical Puppet. Such a puppet could show incredible skills, but it didn''t understand anything, it was just mimicking.


    Could a puppet mimic so well that it truly developed Spear Aura? Or maybe, was the Spear Aura the remnant of whoever had used the spear it was currently wielding?


    Anyway, now was not the time to overthink things. As he was simply unable to see which blade was the real one, Cao Yun decided to try and block them all. Even dodging would have been pointless as he could see all his exits blocked by the trajectory of the blades. Unless he wanted to test his luck, blocking was the right move now. Despite the danger, he got excited. If his opponent was using Spear Aura, he could probably understand more of it and potentially be able to see through it. During his short training with Chief Elder Baishen, he had only scraped the surface.


    ''Imperial Throne''!


    His spear rotated all around Cao Yun and created a powerful wall of wind to block all the blades. And without wasting any time, Cao Yun went forward with his full power ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. But this time instead of using his ''Dragon''s Heart'' or his Qi, or anything else to amplify his attack, he completely focused on his Spear Aura. If his opponent wanted to play that game, Cao Yun was more than delighted to play as well.


    Contrary to the armor''s spear, Cao Yun''s did not duplicate, it just became as large as the armor itself. And completely went through the wall of wind. Although it had no physical reality, this enlarged blade split the wind open with a hole as large as it looked like. The mere pressure from the spear was just that powerful. Although he had been convinced to have been the fastest of the two, the armor was already dodging his attack.


    Its spear had been sent backward and the armor turned using its momentum. Still taking advantage of Cao Yun''s own ''Imperial Throne'', the armor spun around and found itself on the other side of his spear. Then, its long spear went directly toward Cao Yun''s head in a sweeping motion. Lost in his own attack, there was not much he could do to dodge it. Even blocking it would be difficult, but he had to at least try something. Raising his back arm, he was trying to take the blow with the butt of the spear instead of his head.


    The armor''s spear collided with ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'', pushing Cao Yun, whose feet were still above the ground, backward. With no grip on the ground, he was completely thrown toward the other end of the ring. Thankfully, he was able to control his body and landed on both feet. But his arms were shaking under the impact and he could hear a low creak coming from his weapon. The spear of the armor was probably a 4 or even 5-star Earth weapon. It was almost as good as his. And despite the few patches of rust on it, it was still in a pretty good condition. There was also a huge difference with Cao Yun, the armor was not afraid to destroy its weapon if it needed to.


    Another bout occurred right away. The young man had barely enough time to circulate his Qi in order to stop the shaking of his limbs that he had to block again.


    The armor''s attack did not change much, it was stabbing with incredible speed toward Cao Yun from a long distance. In a second, it could strike several dozens of times. In addition, each stabbing attack was not just performed with one spear. Now Cao yun could see hundreds of them each time. Of course, only one was real, but the combination of extremely rapid attacks, Spear Aura and the constant undulation of the spear itself, made it impossible to follow.


    Using all of his mind cultivation, Cao Yun truly wanted to see through this Spear Aura. It wasn''t even for the purpose of winning the fight. No, he was just completely transfixed by it. While training with Chief Elder Baishen, he had wanted more but time had been too short. To better understand his own Spear Aura, he had to understand others''. Because his martial art was rather hard, his Spear Aura had manifested as an incredibly large spear. But faced with a spear that was agile and swift, its aura was multiplying it to cut off all exits.Stolen story; please report.


    The only defense that could protect Cao Yun from such an encompassing attack was ''Imperial Throne''. The fight kept on going for a while as Cao Yun and the armor were now engaged in a dance. Thanks to his mind cultivation, Cao Yun was able to read almost all the movements of his opponent, but he still couldn''t see through the spear itself and that was both infuriating and exciting.


    -


    The fight kept on going for two days. This time, the armor had not stopped once. Even with his stamina, Cao Yun was getting mentally exhausted. But he was very close to his goal.


    Once more, they found themselves in the same situation, the armor stabbing Cao Yun with hundreds of spears. But this time, Cao Yun was able to vaguely see that most of the spears were indeed incorporeal. Discerning the true spear among this wall of Spear Aura was almost impossible because it was always moving around. But with the Chamber of Heavenly Court, time was slowed down in Cao Yun''s eyes. He just had to find the real spear in time to block or dodge. Instead of trying to follow it, he was just trying to find it at any given moment.


    And there he got lucky. At some point, he saw it and took the opportunity. Fearing that he might lose its sight again, he immediately sent his spear forward to block it.


    He had been right! Finally, he had seen through the Spear Aura, albeit for a mere instant. As he was about to press forward, he felt that something was wrong. Even after blocking the shaft of the incoming spear, Cao Yun felt danger. That was just a feeling in the back of his head, in the Chamber of Splendor. Instead of doubting it, he acted upon it.


    ''Dragon''s Chest''!


    As soon as he sent Qi in his skull, a powerful blow hit him from behind and threw him to the ground. The shaft of the armor''s spear had been so supple that it had bent all the way around Cao Yun, hitting him directly in the nape. Even with his Wei Qi, such a shock would have been almost lethal. The Palace of Supreme Wisdom was supposed to save him if he were about to die, but what if he died with a single blow? Could the palace react fast enough?


    Thankfully, Cao Yun did not find out the answer to this question because he had activated ''Dragon''s Chest'' soon enough. But now, he was completely down on the ground. Without any hesitation, he rolled away as the armor was now stabbing toward the ground with abandon. Even this metallic ground was now riddled with small craters.


    Finally, Cao Yun stood up by sending a sudden knee strike toward the ground. He spun in the air and found himself backed against the spears circling the ring. With the armor rushing toward him, Cao Yun moved quickly. ''Crafty Harassment''.


    Several ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' were sent toward the armor to try and buy some time. It was barely efficient, but just enough for Cao Yun to leave his current spot. However, the armor was not done. It grabbed its spear by its farthest extremity and spun it around in the air. The rotation was so fast that a mortal would have only seen a shadow of a spear. But in Cao Yun''s eyes, he could discern the spear clearly. However, another phenomenon appeared. Instead of producing hundreds of spear, its Spear Aura made the spear elongate. With the armor at the center of the ring, its spear was able to completely envelop the entirety of that circle.


    Then, the armor lowered the weapon almost at the level of the ground. With its current speed, it could potentially break Cao Yun''s legs. Before he could find out, Cao Yun jumped. Immediately after, the armor raised the spear once more with the same rotation and attacked at his chest level. If he were struck midair with that spear, Cao Yun would have broken bones for sure. Thus, he once again circulated ''Dragon''s Chest'' just in case. But each time, he was losing some Qi to protect his flesh.


    At the same time, he tried to rotate his body in the air by using his limbs. Just in time, he was able to put himself parallel to the ground and the spear barely grazed the Wei Qi in his back. While in midair, he chained up with another attack. ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. Trying to use his momentum to launch himself toward his opponent, Cao Yun attacked. But the armor reacted fast enough. It took some more distance and stabbed straightforward with his spear.


    The tips of both spears struck each other. Under the force of Cao Yun''s attack, the armor''s spear bent, almost to the point of breaking. But at the very last moment, the armor shook its hands and the vibration traveled all the way back toward Cao Yun''s spear. He was completely thrown away and collided against the spears circling the ring, breaking several dozens of them with his momentum. At least, those were spears his opponent could not use, so that was a win in a way. However, his back begged to differ. Even with ''Dragon''s Chest'' and his Wei Qi, his spine had taken a lot of damage. Nothing was broken, but his body was bruised.


    Once again, he was too far from his enemy to do anything but dodge and block, hoping to get closer at some point. His only attacks to strike at a distance were ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' and his recently acquired ''Fish in the Galaxy''. Until now, he had been anxious about using it. Now that he could control Qi, he could in theory throw his spear and get it back as long as he sent his Qi with the spear. The problem was that the blue vortex was preventing him from doing so. Because of that, if he threw his weapon, he had to go get it back himself.


    Even though he had other spears in his spatial ring, he didn''t want to part with ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. But he couldn''t see any other solution right now. After Cao Yun had just seen through his Spear Aura, the armor had decided to stay as far away as possible while using the long range of its weapon against Cao Yun.


    ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted''!


    Cao Yun was trying to control his opponent movements with many ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' while moving all around the ring, confusing it even more.


    ''Imperial Throne''!


    A powerful wall of wind appeared around Cao Yun. He activated it several times while moving around.


    From one of the walls of wind, a hole suddenly formed. The sound of a spear going through the air was only heard later.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    The spear had broken the sound barrier several times as it was now going straight for the armor''s upper torso. Cao Yun''s goal was to rip apart its arms, and maybe even its head at the same time. As it was flying, Cao Yun''s spear appeared to be three times a large as usual. With this recent move, Cao Yun had not been able to use his Spear Aura as much, but it was still somewhat present.


    But once again, the armor stabbed with its spear and the two tips collided. The supple spear bent and bent and bent. When the armor sent a vibration through it, instead of undulating, it finally snapped. ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' completely ripped through the supple spear and struck the armor right in the upper part of its sternum, between where the clavicles would be for a human. Under the force, the armor was sent backward and fell to the ground.

 Chapter 297: Spear Auras Insight Writings

    The armor''s supple spear had exploded into countless pieces that were flying everywhere. However, the armor seemed to still be holding the bottom part of the shaft. And the armor itself was now lying back on the ground with ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' buried in its upper chest. For a few instants, Cao Yun stayed very cautious. If he could have extended his Qi outside of his body, he would have retrieved his spear but the blue vortex was preventing him from doing so. As such, he had to physically go toward his spear.


    Finally the dust settled and the armor was still unresponsive. Before Cao Yun decided to go to it though, something happened to all the pieces of the broken spear. Unlike the first spear the armor had used, this one produced something after its destruction. All the pieces began to levitate above the ground. Even the part of the shaft in the armor''s hands also started to crumble as small fragments flew into the air. In a way, it was similar to how the armor had been formed with many fragments agglutinating around each other, but in reverse.


    Those fragments were now shining and rotating around the entire ring. Many were simply burning away, until mere sparks remained of them. And those sparks were getting closer and closer to each other. This spectacle almost looked like the formation of a celestial body all around the ring. Briefly, Cao Yun threw a glance at the blue vortex above. This was almost the same thing that was happening in the ring. However, Cao Yun found himself right in the middle of it and didn''t know how to react.


    Slowly though, he understood what was going on. As they were colliding with each other, the sparks were also fusing. Despite their rotation, Cao Yun was able to see that their shape was very familiar. They looked like strokes from a written character that was slowly writing itself. But more than that, Cao Yun was able to vaguely get its meaning. This was not just any character, this was an Insight Writing. Although Cao Yun could not make out the complete meaning of this forming character, it was clearly related to Spear Aura, more specifically to the Spear Aura of this particular spear. After studying his opponent to understand its style, Cao Yun had already gotten a tiny portion of understanding toward this Insight Writing.


    That being said, it didn''t answer his question. He still didn''t know what to do. Should he just study this Insight Writing?


    As though to answer his question, the Insight Writing was now fully formed and floated toward him. At the last moment though, it sped up immensely and literally entered his skull through his glabella. At first a little afraid of it, once the Insight Writing found its way into his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was not worried anymore. Even if this was somehow dangerous, he had a very powerful mind cultivation and was slowly gaining more control over the Drop of Wrath. With that alone, he was not even too afraid of Spirit Warriors invading his mind, let alone a single Insight Writing.


    But it wasn''t even aggressive. Slowly, it joined with the Insight Writing Cao Yun already possessed that was floating at the surface of the ocean. However, it didn''t stay solid at all. As soon as it touched the surface of the water, it began to melt. Tiny particles of golden light sunk into the deep ocean. Following them with his intent, Cao Yun was able to feel the presence of a few Insight Writings that were still below the surface. Those tiny particles seemed to go toward them. As they did, Cao Yun was able to feel those Insight Writings of his rise. This wasn''t by much, but they had definitely been deeper before, so deep that he had been unable to even feel their presence even while knowing they were there. But now, he could vaguely sense them. There had to be seven or maybe eight of them.


    Just like the Insight Writing that was at the surface of the water, those deep in it had been formed by his own intuition of the spear. But it was still in the back of his mind. Only by training and fighting with his spear could he gain access to them. At least, he had been certain of that until a moment ago. If those spears around him contained traces of the Spear Aura of their former owners, he had a chance of getting other Insight Writings out of the ocean of his mind. Of course, he couldn''t be sure that every broken spear would have this result, but this was worth a try.


    Suddenly, Cao Yun hoped that the armor was not destroyed. No matter what was the reward for this test, Cao Yun was not in a hurry to get it. After all, if he could fight against several more spears, he would also gain a lot of benefits. As Elder Tang had said, there were different ways to pass a test and some were superior to others. Clearly, fighting more and more spears and winning against even more powerful styles and Spear Auras was a better way to win.


    As if to answer Cao Yun''s questions, the armor finally moved once the golden particles had all been absorbed by Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Slowly, its arms grabbed Cao Yun''s spear and pulled it out before standing up. There was indeed a gaping hole in the armor. But it had not lost neither its head nor its arms. Moreover, the hole had not pierced through the entire armor. As it was filled with more metal, the armor had stopped the thrown spear halfway through. From the ground, pieces of metal got ripped apart by an invisible hand. As they began to melt in the air, the liquid metal filled the hole and the armor was whole again.


    Then, it slowly walked toward Cao Yun with his spear in hand. The young man sensed no ill will in its movements and was fairly certain of what was to come. Indeed, the armor simply gave him back his weapon. Then, it went back on the other side of this arena and simply knelt down. Like before, the armor gave some time for Cao Yun to regain his strength.


    Although the young man had no idea what other challenges and other rewards would await him in this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, the one in front of him was the most enticing. Since he had been a kid, Cao Yun had always loved martial arts and cultivation techniques. In fact, he loved learning more and more techniques. His father had even warned him that learning too many without mastering them was bad. And as he grew older, he fully understood it. As such, Cao Yun had mainly focused on his family martial art, ''Three Storms''. Sadly, this art was a bit too recognizable, and it was a sword art, so Cao Yun had been forced to put it aside for now. However, he had always read books on various techniques. Although he did not practice them, he was always astonished by the inventiveness of the human mind.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    And with each technique he had read about, he had always found a tiny thing that could be of help if used in another context. Now, he was literally surrounded by spears containing the martial arts and maybe even the intuitions of former masters. There was no way he could forsake it. Maybe other challenges could be better for his overall Qi cultivation, but his martial arts were just as important. And as he had recently broken through, another breakthrough was not that essential. Considering his mind cultivation and his blood cultivation, Cao Yun was very content with his current strength.


    After all, he could probably resist soul and mind attacks from Spirit Warriors. As long as they were to invade his sea of consciousness, he was not afraid of anyone in the Hongchen Kingdom. Of course, they could attack from the outside and then, he would have no way of resisting a Spirit Warrior. But his blood cultivation had also gifted him with an extremely powerful body. In terms of raw strength, he would not even lose to a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior. Most cultivator simply did not pay enough attention to their body. But even those who did not could reach a hundred thousand dan of strength as a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. That was already a strength Cao Yun knew he could reach with all of his trump cards.


    In other words, Cao Yun did not fear any Mortal Warrior on the basis of their cultivation alone. But if they had a better understanding of their martial arts, they could be a problem to him. Pure strength was not all that could determine a victor, ability and experience were paramount. Moreover, he would still need several years, even maybe decades, before finally reaching the Spirit Warrior realm. Until then, fighting a Spirit Warrior was almost impossible. He could hide with his stealth, maybe run away thanks to it, but not fight directly, even as a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior.


    Thus, Cao Yun was not in a hurry to advance his Qi cultivation. His blood cultivation would also be difficult to advance further because his Drop of Wrath had already pushed it forward a lot. Thanks to ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', he would probably be able to go even beyond that. But in the end, it was only a question of time. Finally, his mind cultivation was progressing smoothly and no matter what happened, he would have finished the second layer by the end of the year. Then, he could finally work on his Seven Turbid Demons and use it to gain even more control over the Drop of Wrath. By trying to reconstruct its Po with his own, Cao Yun could maybe unlock more of its strength and promote his blood cultivation as well.


    With all that in mind, Cao Yun decided to stay in this world for now. From what he had perceived, the test was simple. By using Spear Aura, he could damage the armor. So if his Spear Aura was powerful enough, he would be able to destroy it and advance further. However, Cao Yun was not in a hurry to do so. Indeed, during each fight, the armor used a different spear, with different martial arts, a different way of fighting and even a different Spear Aura.


    After each fight, the armor also gave enough time for its opponent to recover fully. Considering the resources in his spatial ring, Cao Yun could stay here all year. Of course, he would not do such a thing. But as long as this training was fulfilling, he would keep on fighting without destroying the armor.


    And in the coming weeks, he realized how right he had been. He fought against so many styles that he did not even imagine prior to this test. Through them, he saw completely new ways of using his own spear. Each time he destroyed a spear that was imbued with Spear Aura, he received golden particles made of the Insight Writings perceived by its previous owner. And they gathered around his own in his sea of consciousness. One by one, the Insight Writings he had developed by instinct came floating up at the surface of the ocean. Some were still hidden in the depths of it, but soon he would finally be able to see them all.


    Then, he would only have to study them to become more and more proficient. And in time, he would finally be able to produce his Spear Intent, until he could at last give birth to his Spear Heart as Chief Elder Baishen had explained to him.


    Some Spear Auras were really strange. At some point in time, the armor''s spear seemed to be living and breathing. As a snake, it was able to coil around Cao Yun''s own spear and avoid any kind of defense. Another spear seemed to have always been stabbed into him before any attack. At all times, he could feel it sunken into his own flesh and feasting on his blood. Yet another spear had transcended time. Cao Yun was only able to see its movement after it had indeed moved.


    All those Spear Auras were really just illusions born from the understanding of their former owners. As such, they were impossible to really control. And Cao Yun could not mimic them. But witnessing and experiencing them opened his eyes to what Spear Aura could do. Slowly, the door to Spear Intent was opening ever so slightly. Spear Aura was raw aura dispersed and uncontrolled. Yes, Cao Yun could rein it in or let it run wild, but he couldn''t shape it or condense it. On the other hand, Spear Intent was the Spear Aura once it was fully under the control of the cultivator.


    It would take a lot of time and a tedious study of the Insight Writings within himself, but Cao Yun had made the first step toward really mastering his Spear Aura by sensing its true nature. Besides, his Insight Writings were now vibrant. There were nine of them, rotating in the sky, zigzagging around the seven stars of the Azure Dragon as golden comets. Not only could Cao Yun study them, he could also study their interaction with those seven stars.


    Moreover, he had fully formed his last and seventh star, the Winnowing Basket Star, an orange star three times bigger than the Tail Star. However, he was not yet fully sure of its moves. He had good ideas though. But because he had been so focused on mastering his Spear Aura and his overall ability with a spear, he had not pursued this very diligently. Before coming out of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he would have reached Small Success and he could finally try to turn his stars into entire constellations. Although he would not learn new moves, each one would become more and more refined. As no contemporary cultivator had pushed this martial art that far, he had no idea how powerful it would get, but he was looking forward to it.


    Cao Yun had no real notion of how much time had passed until he realized that his sixth Five Echoes Pearl had been condensed. All things considered, it should have taken somewhere between three to four months. With the fact that the last one had been drawn by force thanks to the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, it probably meant that it had taken four months, maybe even a bit more. Indeed, Cao Yun had been in there for almost six months now. And outside, things were about to change.

 Chapter 298: Bright Spirit

    Around half of the year had passed by since Cao Yun and his fellow third-years had entered the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. At first, a tense atmosphere had permeated through the Wubei Sect. Even the disciples who had no idea of what was going on had been able to feel it in the air. Indeed, the chief elders, the elders and even the instructors were all aware of the looming threat from the demonic cultivators, albeit with varying precision. Moreover, they had just come out of a demonic beasts stampede. Although it had been protected by its defenses, the sect was still licking its wounds as Sect Leader Xuan was busy rebuilding the most intricate array formations. Some were so old and powerful that only a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior had any chance of doing anything.


    But as the attack did not come, the atmosphere became stranger and stranger. It felt as though everyone had been waiting for a war that had not come. With time, some became less vigilant. In their view, the demonic cultivators had renounced. Since their plans had been known, they had probably tucked their tail and ran. Others were not so optimistic, but they still had to attend to everyday life.


    Within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Cao Yun had almost forgotten about the threat of the demonic cultivators. It was still there in the back of his mind. But he was fully focused on the test he was facing right now. After several months of perpetual fighting against the armor, Cao Yun had inflicted incredible damage to it. And now, he was certain he could destroy it with a single move.


    Slowly, he had realized that mastering martial arts was maybe even more important than cultivation itself. The Mortal Warrior realm was not a very complicated realm. The Mortal realm was also known as the Foundation Realm and it was difficult for some because it literally consisted in creating the foundation for cultivation. But once those foundations had been built, the next realm was the Forge Realm. It consisted in using those foundations to finally forge the Soul Embryo. Apart from that final step that was the first real tribulation, the Lesser Tribulation, this realm had nothing really difficult in it. One simply had to strengthen and fully open the Five Prodigious Gates, accumulate Fire Qi in the Middle Dantian and then prepare the meridians and vessels for the birth of the Soul Embryo.


    There was really nothing new. In the previous realm, every cultivator had already worked on their meridians and vessels, on accumulating Qi and on opening and controlling their acupoints. As such, apart from the Lesser Tribulation, progressing within this realm was only a question of time. Most cultivators who had been able to become a Mortal Warrior ended up being stuck either at the Qi accumulating phase or just before the Lesser Tribulation. Some were too afraid to go forward while others had not prepared enough for it. However, going back to prepare better was extremely difficult.


    Each grade of the Mortal Warrior realm was stronger than the previous one, but the greatest difference was between the Mortal Warrior realm and the Spirit Warrior realm. There was almost no way of bridging that gap because it was the equivalent of three entire grades. Moreover, Spirit Warriors could invade someone''s soul. Against that, few Mortal Warriors could resist. However, Cao Yun could, thanks to his Drop of Wrath. Now that he had some control over it, he could use it to destroy any threat within his sea of consciousness. Although he didn''t know the full extent of its power, he knew that even Xiao Xuefeng could not resist it. After all, she was not even able to sense it.


    Of course, Spirit Warriors could also attack from the outside. But against that, Cao Yun had no way to resist even if he were to become a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior right away. In the best case scenario, he could take one hit, maybe two, before dying.


    Thus, Cao Yun had decided to focus his attention on his martial arts. And the results he had reaped were plentiful. Even though he had not yet mastered the first variation of the Winnowing Basket Star, he had formed all seven stars of the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Besides, his Spear Aura had been considerably improved. He was not at the stage of Spear Intent yet, but he could discern some of its subtleties. Now, he had realized that if he could fully master his martial art and develop his Spear Heart, he may in fact have a chance against a Spirit Warrior.


    He was fighting against the armor without the use of Qi Manifestation because of the blue vortex above their heads, but he could still use the Qi within his own body. However, gradually, Cao Yun realized that it wasn''t even necessary. Just like someone with poor technique could still win a fight with brute strength, Cao Yun was doing so with his own Qi. After realizing that, he began to decrease his use of Qi to focus more and more on his technique alone.


    Now, Cao Yun did not even control his Qi when he was fighting, he let his body work on its own without any conscious interference. Instead, he was fully focused on his martial art. At first, he had been at a clear disadvantage against the armor, but now he was even stronger than before. Martial arts were meant to transcend the difference of strength to fight. If one only relied on their raw strength, they did not need any martial art to begin with. Of course, there were gaps almost impossible to bridge. But now, Cao Yun was confident in fighting anyone under the Spirit Warrior realm. And he could even fight against Spirit Warriors if they tried to invade his mind and soul.


    After gaining all of those benefits from the test, Cao Yun was now at a standstill. No matter which spear it was using, the armor was not giving him any challenge at all. At a glance, he could see through both his techniques and his Spear Aura. He had hoped that the armor would maybe conjure up some Spear Intent, but it had not. Another spear was destroyed by ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' and the armor knelt down to leave Cao Yun some time to recover.


    Now, Cao Yun did not need it at all. In less than a day, he had destroyed ten spears. Clearly, time had come for him to put an end to the test. He had already decided on it a few days prior, but he had waited for his next Five Echoes Pearl to be fully ready. Using the time he had been given, Cao Yun decided to advance his mind cultivation once more.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    The process was now very familiar to the young man. All his focus gathered on the front of his Upper Dantian, in the Chamber of Bright Spirit. This chamber was right behind the eyes and the glabella, at the point known as the Third Eye. It was rich in Earth element and was related to empathy, compassion, but also self-awareness. After what he had lived in the very first test, Cao Yun had now a better understanding of his own self. He was able to differentiate between his thoughts and what he would sincerely call his self. Thus, he wasn''t really expecting much from this new chamber, but it was a necessary step. Only after energizing the first eight chambers could he finally take care of the Chamber of Mysterious Elixir. Then, he would at last enter the third layer where he could maybe try out his ideas regarding the Drop of Wrath''s Po.


    Like always, the Five Echoes Pearl fell into his ocean and dispersed in a bright light. At the same moment, he felt his mind becoming even more clear than before. The change was very small indeed but Cao Yun being very focused and perceptive was still able to sense it. If he hadn''t gone through the first stage, certainly this Chamber of Bright Light would have been an eye-opener. It was unfortunate that it wasn''t but the sensation was still very good.


    The next and final Five Echoes Pearl would take a lot more time to condense. Indeed, that one would me made of the very last energies it could extract from the Five Agents. Unlike the other ones, it had to be bigger and denser. But the process had been so smooth until now, Cao Yun was not worried. Instead of taking three to four months, it would maybe take five or six. No matter what would happen, he was certain that his mind cultivation would progress before he became a fourth-year.


    Now was the time to end this little test who had taught him so much but had nothing more to give him.


    Finally, the armor stood up and another spear flew into its hand. It got into position. As it was about to move, a tip of a spear as big as the armor itself appeared in front of it. At the very same moment, the armor found itself unable to move at all as though it was frozen in place. Then, Cao Yun''s spear pierced through the armor''s chest. A vibration spread through the shaft of ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' and the entirety of the armor literally exploded into tiny fragments. Even the spear it was holding got completely destroyed.


    This time, the armor did not reform itself. Instead, the fragments scattered everywhere began to melt and fused back with the metallic ground below. From the destroyed spear, golden characters appeared and exploded into golden particles which entered Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Like many others before them, they had almost no effect on Cao Yun''s Insight Writings. His understanding of the spear had exceeded what those past intuitions could teach him. Unless it was the spear of someone who had understood Spear Intent, their Insight Writings were useless to him now.


    From the Supreme emblem, Cao Yun felt heat. He took it in hand and he was ready to receive his reward. It happened exactly as it had during his first test. But the result was different because the reward was different. A light emerged from the emblem and struck the blue vortex above. For the first time ever, it stopped spinning on itself. And suddenly, instead of trapping Qi, it released all of it.


    In an instant, Cao Yun found himself in an environment ten times richer in Qi than the Hongchen Kingdom. As his body was fully transparent to it as a Mortal Warrior, he felt a powerful wave go through him. All his Dantian, meridians, vessels and even acupoints got filled with Qi. But it did not exceed what his body could bear. As such, the sensation was exquisite, it felt as though he was tucked in a warm blanket during a cold winter morning. This sweet and warm sensation was everywhere in his body but even in his mind and soul.


    Instead of getting lost in it, Cao Yun decided to use it to advance his Qi cultivation. Although he was in no hurry to break through, he was not against the idea at all, quite the contrary in fact. As a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, his goal was to open his Five Prodigious Gates, starting with the two Earthly Springs and the two Labor Palaces. Sitting cross-legged, Cao Yun exposed both his palms and his soles upward to the Qi around him. With his full intent, he tried to focus as much Qi as possible around those four points. And very quickly, he could feel a powerful sensation.


    At first, his gates reacted by closing themselves under the pressure. But as the young man relaxed more and more, so did the gates. Instead of forcing them open with his intent, Cao Yun was only observing them, focusing fully on the sensation, not causing it. With the training he had already done, it didn''t take long for the four gates to be fully open once more. Incredible amounts of Qi were now circulating. Qi was coming in through one gate and could exit from another. A very complex circulation began to take place. Once more, Cao Yun let his body do what it wanted, what it needed.


    Slowly, the four gates became sturdier and sturdier, until at last something new happened. Determining the exact moment that something happened was almost impossible. But at some point, all four gates began to resonate with one another. Qi was flowing through the four gates at the exact same rate both in and out at the same time. Right then, Cao Yun felt as though he was made of pure energy. He could only feel four gates connecting him to the outside world. The outside world was flowing through him and he was flowing through the outside world. Those four gates were fully connecting the two.


    He could now feel Qi in an even larger area.


    Cao Yun had finally broken through to 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior. After that, the next step would be to open the last of the Five Prodigious Gates, the Bai Hui, the Gate of the Hundred Convergences at the summit of the skull. Because it was connected to the Upper Dantian, Cao Yun was not worried at all about it. Thanks to his mind cultivation, it should be fairly easy to open. Usually it took two to three years to an average cultivator, alchemists were faster in general and only took somewhere between ten to sixteen months. Right now, Cao Yun could not be sure how long it would take him but he was certain that a year was too long.


    Once his breakthrough complete, the Supreme emblem got activated once again. Just like it had happened last time, Cao Yun got transported in yet another world for his third test.


    This time, he found himself in a more familiar environment. Instead of being in a pure void or in a world of metal with a blue vortex above, he was in a jungle. Moreover, when he looked around, he realized that he knew every single plant and tree around him. However, there was no real reasoning behind their presence. This jungle felt completely artificial. There were species of plants that could simply not survive under the same conditions and yet they were living next to each other.


    Besides, Cao Yun was soon marked by another fact. There was no sound of animals, only the sound of the wind through the vegetation. Apart from him and the plants, there didn''t seem to be any other living thing.

 Chapter 299: Savage alchemy fields

    The first thing Cao Yun did was to breathe in the fresh air full of life of this new world. After being trapped in the mind bending void and the heavy metallic arena, being in the middle of nature was very welcome. However, he didn''t let this moment of relaxation be a moment of carelessness. A part of his mind was always alert to any potential danger.


    Once he was done relaxing a bit, Cao Yun began to really study the plants and the general environment he was in. The jungle was relatively sparse, so Cao Yun could see the sky above. It was perfectly blue and calm, but from time to time, he could see powerful gusts of wind crisscrossing the clouds. On the ground though, the winds were rather calm and whistled through the vegetation all around.


    In his immediate vicinity, Cao Yun recognized every single plant, Charred Cow''s Knees Roots, Sorrowful Dew Pearl Flowers, Eternal Purifying Ginsengs, Weeping Eucalyptus, and many more. Some were a bit less common like the Jade Serpent Ivy or the Silver Moon Fern. There was even a very rare Star Fall Willow that Cao Yun had only ever seen in books. Some of those plants had simply no business being close to each other. For example, the Silver Moon Fern, as the name suggested, required the subtle light of the moon to grow. On the other hand, the Radiant Orchid Blossom only grew under an arid sun. And the Moon Shadow Thistle would be severely damaged even by the light of the moon.


    Seeing all of those plants in the same place would have not been a problem for most. But an alchemist was extremely weirded out by such an arrangement of plants. There was simply no sense to it. Not only could it not be natural, no herbalist would have ever created such a garden. Yet here it was. Looking even more closely, this garden would have weirded out anyone as the vegetation was placed in very strange ways. It was both as though it was random and yet with some form of pattern impossible to decipher. Randomness would not create something like that, but intent would create something way more ordered.


    In some way, this strange arrangement had to be part of the test. And the test had to be related to alchemy. Because each world was modeled after what the cultivators needed, it was clear as day for Cao Yun that this one would test his understanding of alchemy. And he was ready for it. After all the time spent fighting the armor, doing some alchemy would be a nice change of pace. Besides, he needed time to digest both his new understanding of martial arts and his earlier breakthrough.


    And this test was exactly what he needed. Now that he was a Mortal Warrior, he could finally use his Qi to both control the flames of his furnace and the medicinal essence within his cauldron. Until now, he had barely any time to really delve into it. But doing alchemy would allow him to gain even more control over his Qi Manipulation and thus his Qi Manifestation as well. Besides, he had thought about bringing his furnace and his cauldron with him. They were the most simple ones the Wubei Sect had, but it was enough for the young alchemist.


    Before doing any alchemy though, he had to gain a better understanding of this place. Using his wider perception of Qi, Cao Yun was able to feel the life that was flowing through the plants around him. Thanks to his mind cultivation, he was able to expand his sensation rather far. Finally, he reached the extent of his ability, but he had a rather clear image of the jungle thanks to all the life that was within. Without any spiritual senses, he was forced to imagine what was actually there. But thanks to his knowledge of plants, just sensing the flow of Qi through the vegetation, he could guess their shape. As such, he had a good picture of the jungle in head.


    All the plants were different but Cao Yun was able to somehow see a pattern within. It was more a hunch than anything else, but he felt that there was a deeper reason behind the way they were arranged. Right now, he still couldn''t figure it out exactly, but he was getting there. Maybe the test was to use those plants in a very specific manner to refine a certain pill. There was no dangerous plant and nothing that seemed like danger at all. And all the plants, without any exception, were used in alchemy. Even in the most flourishing fields, it was hard not to find some plants which had no role in alchemy.


    So clearly, the goal of this test was to refine a pill using those plants, but Cao Yun could still not figure out which one.


    For now, he simply took out his furnace and his cauldron. After that, Cao Yun began to work on his cauldron. Using his Qi Manipulation, Cao Yun took out some leaves and some grass from around here. With his current control of Qi outside of his body, he could only carry less than a jin*. For alchemy, this was more than enough, but for anything else, this was still lacking. For example, he could not control weapons in a fight. Any shock or force exerted on the weapon would break his control over it. However, Cao Yun could still grab weapons through his Qi thanks to that, which was a good thing if he threw his spear.


    By burning those leaves and grass, Cao Yun was now purifying his cauldron. Cauldron Maintenance was the first of the Five Golden Elixir Principles. Once satisfied that his cauldron was perfectly clean and ready for refinement, Cao Yun had to decide on a pill to forge. Because he had never refined a Human pill before, Cao Yun decided to go with one of the easy pills, a 1-star Human one. And since he had already used several spirit stones to restore his Qi, he chose to forge a pill to gather and restore Qi in the human body. Ultimately, he chose the Torrent Gathering pill, a higher version of the Qi Gathering pill he had made when he had become an alchemist.


    All the ingredients required for the pill were around Cao Yun. And it was simple enough that it did not require him to prepare his cauldron beforehand. Some pills sometimes needed a very specific environment within the cauldron. For example, one had to burn certain ingredients inside their cauldron before refining the pill. Thus, Cao Yun only had to prepare the ingredients and then he could get right to it.


    With his Qi Manipulation, he easily extracted everything he needed from around him and got started. For the first time, he was refining without touching anything directly. He still needed to use his hands to get a better sensation through his two Labor Palaces. But even the powders he sent through the fire were controlled by his Qi. And he could clearly feel their effect in the flames. In fact, he was now able to separate the properties within the flame and focus them on different parts of the cauldron.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Now Cao Yun was able to feel the medicinal essence within the cauldron. Coupled with his ''Shen Visualization'', Cao Yun was now seeing through the cauldron without any problem, as though he was a Spirit Warrior. This was the true ''Spiritual Sea Refinement'' method and he didn''t even know it. Only after speaking with Xiao Xuefeng would Cao Yun learn of it. In theory only a Spirit Warrior could do it. Indeed, to practice ''Spiritual Sea Refinement'', one had to be able to feel what was going on within the cauldron and then get within their own sea of consciousness to create a perfect image of it. With spiritual senses, Spirit Warriors could directly see what was happening in the cauldron while Cao Yun had to infer it from what his Qi perception was feeling.


    Right now, Cao Yun had no spiritual senses but he could almost see what was happening in the cauldron. As such, he could in fact even try to refine Heaven pills. They often required much more mental strength, but with his mind cultivation, it would be in theory possible.


    For now though, Cao Yun was fully focused on his Torrent Gathering pill. Thanks to his senses, controlling the flames to maintain the balance of Yin and Yang as well as the wheel of the five elements was quite easy. Still, the very first result was not that good with a pill that only retained around 71% of medicinal essence and more than 12% of the toxins. But with a bit more practice, Cao Yun was able to make a few Perfect Torrent Gathering pills but not a single Pure pill.


    Right now, he really didn''t need those so he put them away in his spatial ring. He also used the opportunity to gather some more plants in his spatial ring. Not many plants around here were rare, and even the ones that were were not that rare, so he only took a few pieces of each. After all, his spatial ring was not extremely big and he had already put many things in it.


    Cao Yun was now close to being a 1-star Human alchemist. Clearly he could go beyond that, but he would need some time with his teacher. Hopefully Instructor Meng Jia would soon get out of seclusion as a Spirit Warrior. Although Cao Yun had the theoretical ability to forge even Heaven pills, he still lacked in experience. No amount of reading could compensate that. And training with a master was the most effective way to get better faster. Even if he were to follow some advice from a book, the book could not adapt to the student, only a teacher could.


    After his successful alchemy, Cao Yun waited for a few seconds with the Supreme emblem in hand. Apparently the test was not as easy as forging a pill. Maybe he simply needed to forge a higher pill... Or maybe he had to forge a very specific one, or at least one among a select few... Clearly, there was some kind of mystery to be solved in this jungle. Cao Yun''s hypothesis was simple. He had to find out some kind of deeper meaning from those plants and derive a pill from them. Maybe the pill was not even known to him. First of all, he had not read all the books in the world. But even then, it was possible that this pill belonged to an ancient era and no book contained any information on it.


    But there were just too many different plants for a single pill. No pill required several dozens of different ingredients. Then, maybe he needed to forge several pills. Maybe there was a way to put those ingredients together to refine a very specific set of pills. For now, Cao Yun dived into his sea of consciousness. There, he had a picture of his surroundings. It had a radius of more than ten li. In fact, he could go beyond that limit, but then, it slowly became too blurry and fuzzy to make out exactly what was going on.


    After making a complete list of all the different plants around, Cao Yun tried to find some kind of pattern in their distribution over the area. And his hunch had been right. The plants were not spread the same way everywhere, but their ratio to one another was always the same. To sort through many pill recipes, knowing the ratio of every ingredient was important. Now Cao Yun had a really good foundation to try and solve this puzzle.


    -


    Mo Tian had once more summoned his disciple Mo Ti.


    "Are you ready?"


    "Yes, Master. I have completed the 108 Blood Runes. If I use all of their power inside me, I could reach the strength of a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior, and even beyond."


    "Good. But be careful! Chen Guo has already shown us he has some way of dealing with blood runes. Luduo Bu should have been able to kill him in his rage. Yet, all his blood runes were gone after his death. And no one other than Chen Guo could have done it before the chief elders appeared."


    "I will remember your words, Master. If I have the opportunity to kill Chen Guo, I''ll do so swiftly. But otherwise, I will avoid him. I''m even ready to throw my dignity away and crawl away if need be. But no matter what, I will give you what you need."


    "Perfect! Are all your brothers ready as well?"


    "Indeed, Master. The different generals have sent their best. As soon as you give the order, we''ll force entry into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. My array formations are all ready to be activated. Just give the order and it shall be done."


    "Do no be too hasty! Chief Elder Suxian is not a complete fool. With Sect Leader Xuan rebuilding the defenses, he''s the most dangerous man for this part of the operation. No matter what, he must not be able to notice the activation of the array formation we built within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thus, we''ll have to wait for the right opportunity. For now, Chief Elder Suxian is the one in charge of guarding that place. I think our best option is to wait for him to be relieved of his duty. We''ll use this momentary lapse in focus to send you within."


    Indeed, Mo Ti had been inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom the year before. And inside, he had been able to set up new array formations to allow someone from the outside to get into it.


    "Master, you''re always much more alert than I am."


    "It took us more than a century to put this plan in order, I won''t leave anything to chance. The moment I get the key I need, the Wubei Sect will fall and then the Emperor. Finally, the entire Hongchen Kingdom will be ours for the taking. Even the demons will worship us as gods once we control theirs. If only I could get inside this Palace of Supreme Wisdom myself..."


    "Master, even with the array formations you''ve discovered, we could not breach the age limitation set by its original maker. But do not be too worried. All the disciples I''ll take inside have already reached the Mortal Warrior realm. Besides, they all have practiced our best demonic methods. Apart from Chen Guo, I do not think anyone could be a problem for us. We''ll reunite as fast as possible. Once the main array formation is stopped, we should be able to gain access to the real Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And then, we''ll find the key that you need. I swear not only my life, but my very soul on it."


    "No matter what happens, do not underestimate your opponents. If you can crush them, use everything you''ve got and do so. Otherwise, run and stay focused on our goal!"


    "Yes, Master."


    * Approximately 1 jin = 500 g

 Chapter 300: Forced entry

    The Palace of Supreme Wisdom was being guarded by several elders and instructors. And at all times, a chief elder was also present. They were the most powerful cultivators within the Wubei Sect. But because they were essential to the inner workings of the sect, they couldn''t stand guard all year long. Thus, it had been decided by a rock paper scissors game who would guard it at a given time. That way, all the chief elders would cycle through.


    At the moment, Chief Elder Suxian was in charge of guarding what the other disciples referred to as the Ancient Ruins. Only those who were given entry knew the real name of the place. And since they were forbidden from talking about anything related to this great place, no one else was supposed to know the name.


    It had been almost twenty days since Chief Elder Suxian had been guarding the place and his shift was soon to be ended.


    Finally, his replacement arrived more than thirty hours late. He was Chief Elder Luoming, the new chief elder of the disciplinary pavilion. He and Chief Elder Suxian were close friends, but they also loved to tease one another and to argue, or even fight.


    "Brother, you''re late!"


    "Sorry, sorry. But my pavilion is always hard at work, you know how... Well, I guess you don''t."


    With a smirk on his face, Chief Elder Luoming jested a bit. And as he did, his friend''s face became red.


    "What?! Are you saying I do nothing?!"


    Before smoke could arise from Chief Elder Suxian''s head, his friend calmed him down.


    "Sorry, Brother. This wasn''t my intent to belittle what you do. I know that you''re always working on new studies. In fact, I''ve had time to read your latest document on the array formations of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Truly inspiring. I wish I had a better understanding of array formations. But with all the work my pavilion has to do just to make sure the Wubei Sect doesn''t collapse... I mean, no chief elder has any idea how much work this is. Although I''ve simplified the procedures as much as I could, that inept Bian Gui really did a number on this poor pavilion. It''s a wonder our sect didn''t crumble beforehand. This disciplinary pavilion was a temple of foolish administration and stupid rulings."


    As he spoke, Chief Elder Luoming''s face became a bit more dark. Immediately, Chief Elder Suxian changed his attitude and got closer to him. The two of them were hovering over the Palace of Supreme Wisdom where the elders and instructors were keeping watch.


    "Brother, you should get out more often. You would see that everyone is incredibly grateful to your recent reforms. Not only do we have way less paperwork to do, but everything is much more efficient and fast. To get an emblem for a new disciple, sometimes it had taken me weeks. Now in less than a day, I literally have it between my fingers."


    "I''m glad that everything is going smoothly. But you all have no idea how much pressure this is. If I was in charge of the arts pavilion, this was for the peace and tranquility. I have none of those now. And to be honest, I don''t know how long it will be before I can finally take some rest. Hundreds of years of boorish procedures won''t be solved in a matter of a few years..."


    "Well... I know that this isn''t my domain of expertise, but if you ever need some help, I''m here." Chief Elder Suxian paused for an instant. "What about this? When your shift is over, we''ll take a single day off. We''ll drink some wine and I''ll set up an array formation for you to be able to relax. I''m sure we can also ask the Coiling Silk Faction to bring us some entertainment. I hear that their new faction leader, Wang Mei, excels in painting, calligraphy, dance, music. Name an art, she''s probably very proficient in it. In fact, she got even better thanks to her stay in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom last year. I''m sure she would be delighted to show her prowess to the former chief elder of the arts pavilion. And this would be a great change of pace for you. What say you?"


    Chief Elder Luoming was a bit hesitant to take even one day off, especially after twenty days standing guard over the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. But his friend''s face was hard to say no to.


    "Come on. At some point, you also have to trust in the work you''ve done. You''ve rearranged the personnel within your pavilion. I''m sure you didn''t choose them at random. Trust them to take care of things. What''s one more day away? Besides, you''re almost two days late, so you owe me at least one day, even more!"


    "Fine, fine. I''ll go with you when my shift is done."


    "Great! I swear you won''t regret anything!"


    Finally, Chief Elder Suxian left as his friend was now focusing his spiritual senses all over the Ancient Ruins. Not a single detail was able to escape his senses.


    -


    Within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom itself, many disciples had already crossed at least two tests. Some were still stuck at the second one, either because they had not fully understood what it entailed or because they wanted to get a perfect reward. Others had failed several tests and were sent into easier realms, but with way fewer rewards.


    Among those disciples, Sun Liao had crossed over six tests until now. The first one had not been to his liking at all, but the other ones had done everything he had hoped for. From a 6th-grade Mortal, Sun Liao had risen all the way to the 8th-grade Mortal stage. If he had used the pill from Mei Hua, he would be able to become a 9th-grade Mortal. But his pride simply couldn''t allow him to accept that kind of gift. But considering his current cultivation speed, he was fairly certain that he could reach his goal. He would not let his brother and sister leave him in the dirt.


    As an array formation master, opening his acupoints was not a difficult task. First of all, his mind cultivation had progressed far as well. Not only had he finished the first layer, he had also energized the first chamber of his Upper Dantian. Although he had not talked with him, he had chosen the same one as Cao Yun, the Chamber of Jade, to increase his intuition and wisdom. Unlike him though, he was unable to enter his own sea of consciousness so producing the Five Echoes Pearl had taken him almost a year. And the next ones would probably be even harder to produce. Even Mei Hua who was able to enter her sea of consciousness was taking way more time than Cao Yun.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Most likely, his great speed had been thanks to the Drop of Wrath within him.


    Anyway, combining his new intuition with his knowledge of array formations, Sun Liao knew the perfect order for him to temper his own acupoints. With a bit of help from this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he would maybe even reach the Mortal Warrior realm.


    Once again, Sun Liao appeared in a completely different environment. By habit, the first thing he did was to make a mental Bamboo Map of the place. As an array formation master, this was done in a matter of seconds and this could be extremely useful. At first, it was just a way to train himself. Each time he went to a new place, he created a Bamboo Map to force himself to think like that and see every possibility in a given location. Now it was instinctive in him and that had helped him a lot in some of the previous tests.


    This place seemed to be a giant temple without a roof. Everything was made of splendid rocks with some constructs made out of gold here and there, similar to altars. But none of the architecture was familiar to Sun Liao. Right in front of him though was something very familiar. There was a huge well with a narrow platform leading to its center. On that platform, in the exact center of the well''s surface, there was a bow that looked like it was made of rock.


    First, Sun Liao kept on analyzing the place. The well was full of a water so crystalline it almost looked like a mirror. Seeing that, it made him change his view of the place. Suddenly, he looked up and realized that what he had thought was a sky was not. This was this same water. In fact, right in the middle of this overhead lake, there was also some kind of mirror reflecting the surface of the well. Once he had noticed that, Sun Liao realized that there was a tiny shadow swimming in that celestial mirror. It was impossible to really make out because it was even smaller than a grain of salt. Without his trained eyes, Sun Liao would have missed it completely. And even with his eyes, he had almost missed it anyway.


    But one thing was not reflected in the mirror, the bow and the platform themselves. Thus, Sun Liao became doubtful but he soon concluded that they were real. Those were not illusions. The most likely hypothesis was that the mirror in the sky and the surface of the well were connected somehow. Maybe the mirror was able to show things in the well that were not visible, or the other way around. With his knowledge, Sun Liao was well armed to decipher the tests he was put into. And this one revolved around this bow.


    Walking up to it, Sun Liao was now in the middle of the well, at the center of the mirror and his image was not reflected in the mirror above.


    The bow in front of him was incredible. This was certainly one of the most detailed sculptures he had ever seen. It was covered with engravings of birds and celestial bodies. Although he didn''t know the name of the bow, he was certain that it was made for him. The only problem was that there was no arrow. Because he was not a Mortal Warrior, Sun Liao could not create arrows from his Qi. And he had only taken a few with him. Right now, he had eleven arrows left. Without a spatial ring, he couldn''t take too many items with him.


    Before worrying about the arrows though, he took the bow in hand. When he tried to draw the bow, he realized that it required an incredible strength. Using all of his physique, he was only able to draw it halfway. It was simply impossible to do more than that, no matter how much he tried, no matter how much Qi he was pouring in his muscles. And the answer was obvious for him, without the ability to send Qi within the bow itself, he would be unable to completely draw it. Thus, he would be unable to use it.


    But if he could open certain of his acupoints, he could imitate what he had seen Zhi Yin do. Like his brother Cao Yun, Sun Liao had seen Zhi Yin pour Qi in her attacks and it had worked. Even though he couldn''t control his Qi outside of his body yet, if Sun Liao was able to let some of his Qi out, some of it may naturally flow through the bow and the string. Maybe it would loosen it enough for him to finally draw it.


    He had already understood most of the test. He had to shoot down the fish that was in the well. But the fish only appeared as a shadow in the mirror above. So he had to understand exactly what the mirror was showing and shoot without looking at his target directly. Maybe the mirror was inverted in many ways and he had to figure out how it really worked.


    -


    For several days, Sun Liao had worked on his acupoints and had opened some of them, just enough to be able to send a few surges of Qi outside. Then, he took the bow again and was able to draw it by using all of his strength and infusing some Qi in it. Just drawing it took almost all of his stamina. He would probably be able to only shoot once a day. So he had to make that shot count.


    After many tries, Sun Liao had mostly understood how it all worked. The mirror was not only warping space, it was also messing with time. To reach his target, Sun Liao had to plan his shot in advance and try to convert the shadow he was seeing with what was really going on in the well. He was so close to finally touching his target but he had only three arrows left.


    As he was about to try another shot, Sun Liao sensed a disturbance around him. Although he could not really sense Qi in his distant environment, Sun Liao had very acute senses as an array formation master. And Cao Yun''s mind cultivation had pushed those senses even further.


    Behind him, in the distance, Sun Liao saw traces of an array formation being activated. But there was nothing in this world. Many possibilities went through his mind, but the most likely was that someone from the outside was activating an array formation to get inside. But for that, they would have had to place some artifact in this place, something to act as a tether. That meant that this was an act of the demonic cultivators who had infiltrated the Wubei Sect. However, that meant that they had a great understanding of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom.


    For Sun Liao, it was clear that this was the work of the Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator hiding within the sect. Somehow he had discovered a way to at least interfere with the array formations of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He was unable to say clearly what this array formation was, but he could make guesses. And none of them were good for him.


    He had absolutely no time to analyze the array formation. And even if he could, it didn''t mean he knew how to stop it since it had been activated from somewhere else. He would have to create another array formation around this disturbance in a matter of minutes or seconds. If a Spirit Warrior was really behind this, none of what Sun Liao could do would be enough anyway. He was extremely good, but there was still a limit to his talent.


    Thankfully, he had the Bamboo Map in head. Thus Sun Liao decided on another plan. Instead of trying to stop the activation, he focused on protecting himself. In a record time, he set up two array formations. One to conceal his presence and the other one to create a protection around him. Against a Spirit Warrior, it would do nothing. But against a Mortal Warrior, it would last long enough for what he had in mind.


    -


    In the jungle where Cao Yun was, he felt a disturbance in the Qi around him too. Something had trespassed into this realm.

 Chapter 301: A turbulent travel

    The Palace of Supreme Wisdom was both a real palace from the ancient times and an array formation. No one really knew how old it was, but it had probably been erected way before the enslavement of mankind by the demon race. As such, it dated from the Legendary Era. From that era, almost nothing remained but ruins. Even the language spoken at that time was unknown. Many historians postulated that some traces of the first languages might still be present in the current Nuhua. However, even by comparing the Nuhua, both recent and ancient, with the Primitive Nuhua or even the Moshenhua, the language of the demons, it was impossible to reconstruct the languages spoken before.


    The most likely hypothesis was that humans were speaking several different languages but the demons had subdued the entire species and had forced their own language on them all.


    Because of all that mystery, it was impossible to know anything about that period at all. But many assumed that cultivation had been superior than during the current era while being inferior to the cultivation of the demons themselves. There were other hypotheses and historians often argued among themselves. Most likely, the civilization or civilizations prior to the enslavement had still been in the process of discovering the complete way to immortality. However, they had achieved great things in various domains. As such, there were relics that had been studied even during the Founding Era or the Seven Treaties Era that no one could replicate.


    Some of the knowledge of that time had been lost forever. And this was also the case for the array formations of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Even the demons had studied them without being able to pierce all their secrets. However, they had been able to understand enough to manipulate this palace and even use it for their own purposes.


    When the demonic cultivators had found documents belonging to the demons who had enslaved humanity, they had also found ways to manipulate the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And now, the time had come to put them to use. Within the palace was something they needed, something that was related to a terrible secret buried under the Wubei Sect that even Sect Leader Xuan could not fully suspect. Once the secret was unearthed, all would kneel before the Demon King.


    Mo Zi was standing in a remote region with nineteen others. All were Mortal Warriors and all were under twenty-two. No matter how much they could manipulate the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, they could not circumvent its fundamental rules. There had to be a way for its creators to get within, but even the demons had failed to discover it. But that also meant that this place was a perfect place to hide treasures. Indeed, it was easy to protect something from the hands of children and young men. Even in the old times, no one could become a Spirit Warrior at the age of twenty-two. No one knew why that limit had been chosen though.


    In the Hongchen Kingdom, a boy was considered an adult when he turned twenty. Maybe the adult age had been different back then, or maybe there were different symbolic ages. Anyway, that was the limit of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And all had to abide by that rule. Thus, the demonic cultivators had chosen their best disciples who were both under twenty-two and Mortal Warriors.


    This mission was maybe the most important one but it wouldn''t take long. They had to infiltrate the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, somehow get to the real palace within and get the key out. Without this key component, nothing else could go on. And Mo Zi was in charge of the mission. With his 108 blood runes, he had the strength of a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. Right now, he was the strongest of the group and he was also an array formation master.


    Finally, Mo Zi activated the array formation he was in. It had been set up by his own master, Mo Tian. During the previous year, Mo Zi had implanted special crafted tools inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom that would act as a form of anchor. And with this array formation, they would get transported directly to them. However, they had no way of knowing where they would arrive. Most likely, they would appear within the test of some unfortunate disciple. Hopefully, they would not appear right under Cao Yun''s nose, but this was a risk that was worth taking. After all, even Cao Yun could not take twenty Mortal Warriors alone.


    Besides, they knew techniques from the era of the demons. Some of those techniques had been lost to time and no one was ready for them.


    When the array formation got activated, a membrane of light appeared on the ground. There were rocks and trees around and this membrane spread as though it was the web of a spider. Then, it began to rise chaotically, as if it was a tide rising high. Before long, the entire group was engulfed in the light and disappeared completely. All of their senses failed them. They were unable to even feel their own body. Any indication of up, down, left or right disappeared and they felt as though they were leaves caught inside a hurricane.


    But suddenly, something even more violent happened. Mo Zi felt that the array formation had been disrupted and it was rapidly falling apart. If he did not act, not only would they not reach their destination, they might even suffer a terrible backlash. This array formation was dealing with space and Mo Zi had no real idea of what would happen if it were to stop in the middle of their transport. Maybe they would find themselves back from whence they came, or somewhere along the way. Or they could simply just be crushed by space itself. Thus, he acted as fast as possible and he tried to salvage this array formation.


    Unfortunately, he wasn''t an expert in space and this array formation was a 5-star Heaven one, almost a 1-star Spirit one. Even his master had spent several decades working on this single array formation to finally be able to set it up. Mo Zi could not simply improvise something on the spur of the moment. However, he had to do something anyway, or die. With all his efforts, the array formation was able to endure long enough to complete the transport.


    But when the demonic cultivators opened their eyes, they were not twenty. In fact, Mo Zi was alone with one of his sisters.


    "What happened?!"


    Panicked, the young woman asked her brother who was the specialist in array formations.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Our array formation almost collapsed when it pierced through the veil of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. We knew the risks, after all... But we''ve reached our destination nonetheless."


    "And the others? Are they all...?"


    "No! We''ve just been separated! Most likely, we''ve all been sent into several realms within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom."


    "But, with just the two of us, we won''t be able to..."


    "I know! We at least need to find some others to open the way to the true palace! Let me think!"


    "Wait, Brother. If we''re inside one of the realms of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, shouldn''t there be a Wubei disciple with us?"


    Hearing his sister''s remark, Mo Zi immediately looked around. The only thing he saw was the strange building on which the bow taken by Sun Liao used to be. But there was no one anywhere. However, it was clear that the test of this place was related to this rocky thing. Looking even more clearly, Mo Zi was able to sense something but he wasn''t completely sure.


    -


    On the other hand, Sun Liao was able to distinctively see Mo Zi and his sister. As much as he couldn''t recognize the woman, he had recognized Mo Zi instantly. But he knew him as Meng Hanyi. Two years ago, when he had investigated what had happened in the Wubei Sect, he had found two suspicious individuals, L¨¹ Bai and Meng Hanyi. The former had died and thus the latter had seemed innocent. Clearly, he wasn''t.


    In fact, now that he thought about this, L¨¹ Bai had died when there had been an illusion array activated. Maybe they had orchestrated his death. It was not impossible that L¨¹ Bai had been innocent and Meng Hanyi the true culprit. But such a thing would have been seen through by his master. If that were true, it would mean that either his master was the demonic cultivator infiltrated in the sect, or that someone even better than him in array formations was. Both hypotheses seemed ludicrous to Sun Liao.


    That being said, he had no time to lose. If they discovered him, everything would be over. He had to try out the only method he had been able to think of to survive. Usually, the only way to leave a realm was to succeed the test. And only the one who had a Supreme emblem would be transported. If Sun Liao was right, everything and everyone else within the realm would be crushed when the realm itself would collapse.


    Even the Palace of Supreme Wisdom could not maintain hundreds of realms. As such, it would simply destroy them to create new ones each time it was necessary.


    Thankfully, Sun Liao knew how to succeed the test that was in front of him. But he was running low on time and he only had three arrows left. Besides, Mo Zi had finally figured out what was going on. From his spatial ring, he took out a compass and began to decipher the world around him. More than the presence of an array formation, Mo Zi had also guessed who was with him.


    "Brother Sun, there is no need to fear us. Instead of dying in here, you could still join us. I am certain that our master would be delighted to have you among us. You should think about it, Brother. If I break down your array formation before you answer, my proposal will be retracted."


    -


    In another realm, Cao Yun had finally solved the problem of the jungle around him. He now knew exactly which pills he had to refine to succeed this test. As he was working on the very first pill, his attention was distracted. This single instant of distraction almost caused his cauldron to explode. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s mind was stronger than that and very quickly, he regained full control over the cauldron. But the time for alchemy was over. Instead of pursuing the refinement process, he stopped.


    Both the furnace and the cauldron were absorbed in a blue light. Cao Yun extended his Qi over them and focused on the spatial ring. Then, they both went back in his ring with the ingredients he had already prepared.


    That disturbance was not something small. Although it was rather far, Cao Yun had clearly felt the presence of human beings. If someone had suddenly appeared within his own realm, that could only mean one thing. The demonic cultivators had put their plan into action. Thus, he had to act as well.


    Without waiting a second more, Cao Yun circulated ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Thanks to his new blood cultivation, Cao Yun had been able to push this stealth art even further than before. Sadly, he wasn''t at the level of Huang Liyue where she could literally become invisible in the eyes of others. But thanks to this jungle, he had many places to hide. Unless there was a Spirit Warrior in that group, they had absolutely no chance of finding him if he didn''t want to be found. And for now, he didn''t!


    Stealthily, Cao Yun got as close as possible to the disturbance he had felt.


    There were three young men who were clearly disorientated. Just by looking at their faces, Cao Yun knew they were demonic cultivators, for the simple reason that he had never seen them in the Wubei Sect. Outsiders could never get inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thus, someone had helped them. But he had an even better way to know. As a Mortal Warrior, he could now feel Qi all around him. But that was not all. Although he had no spiritual senses, he had the Drop of Wrath. And it was especially sensitive to Evil Qi. Each one of those three men had traces of Evil Qi in them.


    Not only had they practiced some demonic method, Cao Yun was clearly able to feel several seals in each one of their Dantian. The strongest of the men was a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior and the other two were 2nd-grade Mortal Warriors. Right now, Cao Yun had almost no doubt he could kill them. The only problem was that he wanted to learn as much as possible from the trio. If he attacked right away, their seals would be a problem. Usually, before a demonic cultivator could talk, the seals within him would destroy him, all the way to his very soul, just to be sure no secret was spilled.


    For some time, Cao Yun had had some ideas about those seals, but he wasn''t completely sure of himself. For now, he would try to listen to them. Maybe they would reveal some crucial information if they thought they were alone.


    After the three young men got their heads straight, they started to talk among themselves. The two weaker ones were clearly afraid. But they were afraid that they would fail and of what their master would do to them. However, their conversation was just too vague to get anything out of it. Cao Yun just understood that they had used an array formation made by Mo Zi to get inside and that they were looking for something. Right now, they had no idea what to do but wait for this Mo Zi.


    As he was still pondering on how he should handle the situation, Cao Yun got surprised.


    The 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior had been meditating for a few minutes when he stood up. Then, he shouted as loudly as he could.


    "Are you going to spy on us all day long?! Get out!"


    Could he have found him out?! Impossible! Cao Yun was certain that only a Spirit Warrior could discover his presence... Yet an early Mortal Warrior had?


    But if he had been discovered, he had to act now! Unlike his previous self, he was not hesitant anymore!


    Abandoning ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun took out his spear and leapt in front of the trio, weapon in hand.

 Chapter 302: The fish pierces through the shadow

    "Oh?! You''re Chen Guo, right?"


    As soon as the older man of the group saw Cao Yun, he recognized him. Hearing the name, the two other Mortal Warriors were a bit surprised. In fact, Cao Yun saw a glint of fear in their eyes. And then, disdain. Although Cao Yun had revealed himself, he was still using ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to cover his current cultivation. Besides, Mortal Warriors were not as perceptive as Spirit Warriors so they had no way of seeing through the Qi Manifested ashes that were concealing his real strength.


    At first, Cao Yun would have loved to hear more about their plan. But clearly, his opponents were not going to literally talk about every detail of their operation for no reason at all. That being said, he had understood that things hadn''t been as smooth as they should have been for them and that made him happy. From what he had heard, they should have entered the Palace of Supreme Wisdom together but got separated when something went wrong, but he had no idea what. And he also had no idea how many were inside. Hopefully, some had died or been unable to enter because of this something that went wrong.


    But right now, Cao Yun had a completely different question in mind. Thanks to Huang Liyue, he had obtained an incredible stealth technique. And he hoped to be able to use it for his future endeavors. With it, he wasn''t afraid of being found, even by Spirit Warriors. That way, he would be able to investigate all he wanted alone. Yet, a mere 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior had seen through him.


    "Indeed I am. How did you find me?"


    "Ha ha ha! I didn''t..."


    Damn! Cao Yun had been stupid! Of course, in each realm there had to be a disciple. If that man had been unable to detect one, it meant that he was using some stealth technique to hide his presence. Thus, it meant that he had discovered the three demonic cultivators and had to be close by. The man had not found out Cao Yun, he had just deceived him into revealing himself.


    If he had just stopped to think for an instant, Cao Yun would have rapidly realized that the man had literally sent his voice all around him, not in a specific direction. But in the end, it was pointless. At some point, Cao Yun would have had to attack them anyway. And since they were not keen to talk about their plans out loud, he would have to try out his ideas concerning demonic cultivators.


    As he had already retracted his tools and weapon into his spatial ring, Cao Yun did not take them out. Until it was necessary, he didn''t want to reveal his cultivation, just in case. Besides, he might still get some information out of those three. The man who was leading the group was clearly smart enough not to spill anything easily. On the other hand, the two others seemed to be a bit slower than he was. But maybe they had less information than him because of it.


    "You''ve entered this place to kill me?"


    "Tsk... Don''t kid yourself! You think you''re worthy of our attention?! We''re here for..."


    Before he could finish, a powerful slap sent the young man to the ground.


    "Moron!"


    At first, defiance was seen in the boy''s eyes. But upon fully realizing that he was about to tell something he shouldn''t have, he calmed down. Then, his eyes turned toward Cao Yun, full of hatred.


    "Chen Guo, we have no quarrel with you. We just got lost in this place and we do intend to leave as fast as possible. Fighting would be beneficial for none of us, especially not you. Let''s both mind our own business and no one has to die. What do you say?"


    The other two young men darted shocked gazes toward their senior. They had not realized how cowardly he was. If they killed Cao Yun, they would get a lot of rewards from their masters. After all, he had been a thorn in their side for some time and had even caused them to change some of their plans. And yet their brother was ready to let him go scot-free because he was afraid of a fight. That boy was not even a Mortal Warrior. What could a 9th-grade Mortal do against three early Mortal Warriors?


    On the other hand, Cao Yun realized that this man knew a lot. With his Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was able to sense that each one of those demonic cultivators had blood runes in them. He was very familiar with them thanks to Luduo Bu. Most likely, that man was afraid that he would be able to extract them from their bodies. The demonic cultivators should know that he had taken them from Luduo Bu, but they couldn''t know how.


    Unfortunately, unless they took them out of their bodies themselves, Cao Yun would be powerless to capture them. Even with the Drop of Wrath, he would have to be able to pierce their Wei Qi himself to take them. But he could use that worry to his advantage. Fighting against each one of them one on one would not be a problem. But Cao Yun had no idea what their abilities were and how well they could fight together. Judging by the attitude of the two younger ones, they were not used to working as a team with that other man. However, the two 2nd-grade Mortal Warriors seemed to know each other very well through the sneaky gazes they exchanged.


    Suddenly, they leapt forward, disregarding the warnings of their senior. Blue lights emerged from their ring finger and two weapons appeared. The first one had a sword breaker, a copper rod that had the exact same handle as a sword. And the other one had a monk''s spade. On one end of this pole, their was a spade-shaped blade, while the other end was adorned with a small crescent blade. Without wasting any time, the two of them rushed toward Cao Yun with the clear intention of killing him.


    Although they were brazen, they were still careful. In their body, Cao Yun felt the blood runes circulate as though they were their own blood. With them, they brought a lot of vitality and Qi. Even as 2nd-grade Mortal Warriors, their strength had risen by one or two small grades.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Void Cruncher Bell"!


    Above the monk''s spade, a giant bell appeared with thousands of paper talismans pasted on it. It almost looked like a robe that was floating in the sky. When the man attacked with the monk''s spade, the bell chimed. Its note was echoing through Cao Yun''s bones. If he had been weaker, his bones would have ruptured right away. Thankfully, his bones were way more resistant than that. And by activating his blood, they became tough enough to almost stop vibrating.


    "Shadow Tearing Claws"!


    Before the monk''s spade could reach him, the other man slashed toward Cao Yun''s legs with his sword breaker. Around the man, there was now a cape of darkness that was extended into a giant hand with four claws falling down toward the young man.


    Finally, the third demonic cultivator decided to fall back. As soon as his juniors decided to disregard his advice, he had leapt backward and hid himself in the trees. Just like Cao Yun, he activated some kind of stealth technique and completely disappeared within the vegetation. Unfortunately for him, this was not enough to conceal his presence from the alchemist''s eyes. Now, he had a full image of that jungle in head, there was no way he wouldn''t be able to see that man within.


    While both attacks were falling on him, Cao Yun did not move. He waited until the very last moments. For a brief instant, he used ''Crafty Harassment'' to increase his speed. In the blink of an eye, he was behind the second man who was holding the sword breaker. Without even taking his weapon out, Cao Yun used his bare hand to strike toward him. Although it was a hand attack, in the eyes of the demonic cultivators it looked like Cao Yun was using a spear. Despite his speed, the sword breaker guy was able to react in time. Using the momentum of his failed attack, he rotated his entire body. The shadow cape placed itself between him and Cao Yun''s hand. When the spear hand tore through it as though it was paper, it finally encountered the sword breaker.


    The shock was so intense that the vibration of the weapon reverberated through its owner''s entire skeleton. Taking several steps back, he then coughed up some blood. Cao Yun had used his ''Dance of Slaughter'' to add this vibration to his attack.


    Cao Yun''s technique had left a deep impression, but he himself wasn''t happy. He had hoped to be able to kill them without drawing his weapon and without using Qi Manifestation. But he had been a bit too optimistic. Even with his new understanding of martial arts, he was still unable to kill three Mortal Warriors like that. In a one-on-one battle though, he would have probably needed less than ten moves each.


    Despite this small disappointment, Cao Yun''s attack had caused some real fear in his opponents. This was the perfect moment to strike with all his might. His goal was not to kill them but to neutralize them to then try and extract some information. For that, he needed to be swift. At any moment, they could detonate their Lower Dantian to kill themselves. After all, dying from that was better than having a seal burn away your very soul.


    As he was about to take out his spear, Cao Yun moved out of the way. Thankfully, he had kept a part of his mind on the third guy. That man was wielding a bow made of several bones he could not clearly identify right now. Without any sound or any disturbance in the surrounding Qi, he had shot an arrow made of bone as well. Even with Cao Yun''s speed, if he had sensed the projectile an instant later, he would have been dead. Indeed, the speed of the arrow was way beyond what even his body could resist. Besides, it was covered in Evil Qi. It could probably tear through his Wei Qi and his flesh without losing all of its momentum.


    Although the first two demonic cultivators had been cocky at first, they were fully committed now. The cloak of shadow spread all around the place while the bell was making extremely weird noises, animating the air around it. No light was able to go through the cloak. But apparently, the archer was still able to see through it in order to shoot as Cao Yun was forced to dodge several more arrows.


    Forced to move all over the place to avoid the barrage of arrows, Cao Yun finally took out his spear from his spatial ring. Immediately, they all realized that he had broken through. If he was a Mortal Warrior, he was an even bigger threat. Although chances had always been slim, both men on the ground fully regretted their disregard for their senior. If they had tried to negotiate, maybe they could have lowered this man''s vigilance. Just by buying a bit of time, maybe they could have even been joined by others, or transported away again. They had been way too rash and arrogant. But there was no point blaming themselves now.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    Cao Yun did not hesitate a single instant. For the very first time, he would show his real Qi Manifestation in public. Pouring everything in his spear, it became as large as a tree in the eyes of his opponents. Then, he threw it in the direction of the archer. After each shot, the senior was always moving around with his stealth. As such, it was difficult to follow him. Unfortunately for him, Cao Yun had his mind cultivation and ''Ashen Feather Seal'' had ''Burning the Cinders of the Six Openings'', a set of techniques to improve perception. In Cao Yun''s eyes, the position of the third man was rather clear. Besides, with this attack, he didn''t need to be precise.


    Qi coalesced around his spear as it flew in the air. It took the form of a dragon with fins. In fact, it almost looked like a snake coiled around the spear. But the spear itself turned into a small lake of stars. For a mortal, it would have looked like a dragon infant crossing across the constellations in the sky. As though the cloak of shadow did not exist, it went through it and destroyed several trees when it struck the archer. At the moment of impact, a rib cage appeared out of thin air. The ribs were shattered in an instant and the several pieces scattered everywhere. With his perception, Cao Yun was certain that the archer was still alive. But his bow had been broken, and maybe his arms as well.


    Since he had thrown his weapon, the two other demonic cultivators decided to seize this opportunity to attack once more. This time, the bell fell directly toward Cao Yun. And from everywhere in the darkness, claws appeared. They were able to get out of the shadows everywhere. If Cao Yun was trapped under the bell, he would have no place to run and he would get ripped to shreds by those.


    When he had thrown his spear, Cao Yun was aware that he would be in a pinch. Although he could now call it back to him with his Qi, it would still take some time. As the bell fell over him, Cao Yun did not try to dodge it in the slightest. Both his opponents were ready to use their weapons in order to seal his movements. Yet, it had been useless. It was as though Cao Yun had let himself get trapped. And as soon as he was under the bell, the sword breaker guy used another one of his techniques. The cloak of shadow completely disappeared under the bell as well. Thousands of claws would occupy the same space as Cao Yun.


    But someone who knew Cao Yun would have realized something. The spear he had thrown was not ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. From his spatial ring, his true spear appeared. And from within the bell, he struck with his latest technique.


    ''The Dragon''s Body Hits the Earth''!


    Using the butt of his spear, Cao Yun completely destroyed the walls of the bell. With the shockwave caused, the shadows were dispersed long enough for him to emerge from them. Behind him, the broken bell fell pitifully to the ground.

 Chapter 303: Extracting a seal

    Both demonic cultivators did not stay idle by while Cao Yun was getting out of their trap. Immediately, the monk''s spade went for his head. There were metallic rings at the base of the spade shaped blade. The weapon truly looked like a mix between a real monk''s spade and a pewter staff. As it was whistling through the air, the sound from the metallic rings was creating an enticing melody. Closing his senses with ''Ashen Feather Seal'', the young man escaped from most of its effects. But the world around him was still being bent in strange ways.


    The sword breaker seemed to be far from him but he had a very bad feeling about this. When he tried to move, he realized that he had lost his sense of orientation. It wasn''t too difficult for him to overcome it, but it would still take some precious instants.


    ''Dragon''s Chest''!


    Even though the weapons seemed far from him, Cao Yun focused on his defense while he was dealing with his degraded senses. It was a good thing that he had had that presence of mind. Indeed, the two weapons were not as far as he had thought. In fact, both of them struck him with full force. The monk''s spade went straight for his neck, trying to behead him, while the sword breaker had been stabbed toward his sternum, ready to crush his heart.


    Both weapons were completely surrounded by Evil Qi. It was corrosive enough to go through the Wei Qi of an early Mortal Warrior. But the moment they struck Cao Yun''s Wei Qi, it turned into an armor of dragon scales. Small cracks appeared on its surface and both attackers tried to force their way through as Cao Yun was still disorientated. Although he could not trust his senses right now, Cao Yun had something he could trust against Evil Qi. Without any hesitation, he unleashed the intent of the Drop of Wrath.


    Suddenly, both demonic cultivators felt a pull on their very Evil Qi. A force coming from Cao Yun was trying to wrestle control over it. That was at that moment they finally remembered why their senior had tried to negotiate. They had indeed heard that Cao Yun had already fought against blood runes and had somehow gotten rid of them. Although this was crucial, they had completely neglected this information. In their minds, they were just way above a pathetic little orthodox Mortal. And yet, here they were, in a very precarious situation against a powerful early Mortal Warrior.


    The two of them circulated their blood runes as much as they could within their own body, too afraid to let them out for now. But slowly, they were clearly feeling that they were losing against the force pulling on their Evil Qi. If they remained stubborn, their energy would be sucked away and their attacks would fail anyway. Thus, they retracted their weapons, just in time for Cao Yun to fully recover. He had been subjugated by the melody of this monk''s spade once, not twice.


    Using the confusion of the two, Cao Yun rushed toward the one with the monk''s spade. He was clearly the most dangerous after the archer. The man stabbed his weapon in the ground and a temple bell formed around him.


    ''The Dragon''s Body Hits the Earth''!


    Once more, the Winnowing Basket Star served Cao Yun. it was related to blunt attacks with the butt of the spear. ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' collided with the bell. Immediately, it began to resonate. The vibrations got spread through Cao Yun''s own weapon and he used his understanding of ''Dance of Slaughter'' to counter it while pouring his Qi in his technique. Another shock caused the bell to crack.


    Finally, the third strike made it collapse entirely. When it dissipated, the young man inside was kneeling on the ground. His own melody had made him dizzy inside his Qi Manifestation.


    As Cao Yun was ready to give him the coup de grace, the sword breaker struck him from behind.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''!


    Of course, Cao Yun had noticed him. The archer could not escape his senses, this young man had no hope of doing so. When the sword breaker struck Cao Yun''s nape, a shield made out of scales formed in front of the weapon. As Cao Yun was using the butt of his spear to attack in front of him, the tip was directed behind him. In an instant, the shield collapsed and turned into a spear made of scales around Cao Yun''s real spear. Without even looking behind him, he struck toward his opponent. Part of the demonic cultivator''s Qi was within the attack itself. It was so powerful that it ripped through his Wei Qi without any problem.


    For the first time, the man tried to use his blood runes outside. But he was too slow and the spear plunged into his shoulder. His right arm was completely severed in the most brutal way. And before the man could try to move away, Cao Yun made his spear vibrate. The shaft bent and hit the man right in the face, sending him rolling away.


    At that moment, the spear he had thrown away in the beginning came back in his hand. Without any hesitation, he stabbed the man with the monk''s spade on the ground. His spear went through his Wei Qi and pierced his Lower Dantian through and through, pinning him down to the ground. Like that, he could not detonate his Lower Dantian. Middle Mortal Warriors could also detonate their Middle Dantian, but thankfully, this man was only a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior. Destroying the Middle Dantian without killing someone was rather difficult and could not be done with brute force alone. But as an alchemist, Cao Yun could probably do so as well.


    For the time being though, that man was not a threat anymore. Still, Cao Yun decided to be cautious. From his spatial ring, he took out a Purple Fragrant Door pill. This 5-star Earth pill was supposed to be used by physicians to put their patients to sleep. But Cao Yun had thought of other ways to use it. The main ingredient was the 5-star Earth Fading Lila Powder, that was often considered as a poison. Indeed, it could cause paralysis and even stop the breathing or the heart of a mere mortal. Those effects were usually less dangerous in Mortals, but at high dosage it could still kill.


    Since Cao Yun had mastered the Minor Principle of Silver that was toxins minimization, he could in theory create a pill with a very tiny bit of this poison. But instead, he had tried to create a pill with as much toxin as possible without reducing the quality of the product. As such, his Purple Fragrant Door pills did not just put the patient to sleep, it completely paralyzed his muscles as well.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    The pill flew from Cao Yun''s palm and forced itself through the man''s mouth. Cao Yun only controlled the pill long enough for its medicinal essence to spread by itself. In a few breaths, the man would be totally unconscious and paralyzed.


    Finally, the sword breaker man had lost his weapon that had been ripped away with his arm. Now, he was crawling away as his arm was bleeding profusely. Thankfully, Cao Yun had a furnace to cauterize the wound if need be and pills to replenish parts of his blood if he were to become too weak.


    Even a single year back, Cao Yun would have been hesitant to inflict such pain on his enemies, even demonic cultivators. Maybe they had been coerced, threatened or manipulated to join those savages. But Cao Yun was not so soft anymore. Besides, they all had blood runes in their bodies. From what he had read, blood runes could only be used by the one who had created them. And they could only be created by killing people in the most horrible ways possible. During the demonic beast stampede, many small villages had fallen victim to slaughters. It seemed difficult to imagine that only beasts had been responsible.


    Those demonic cultivators had probably used the chaos to massacre as much as they desired. There was no mercy for those criminals.


    Now that he was in such a terrible state, the sword breaker man could not resist Cao Yun at all. But he had to be sure.


    ''The Dragon''s Body Hits the Earth''!


    The butt of his spear went for his pelvis. In an instant, it got crushed and reduced into powder. As the young man screamed to death, Cao Yun felt something underground and leapt away. An instant after his reaction, a bone came out of the ground, impaling the screaming demonic cultivator. As his entrails were scattered on the ground, he died in agony.


    Cao Yun had recognized this bone, it looked exactly like the arrows used by the last demonic cultivator. In the jungle, the young man had stabbed the ground with one of the halves of his broken bow. The other half was in his other hand, ready to be used as a dagger.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    Knowing that his opponent could take the abuse, Cao Yun did not hesitate on using one of his most powerful techniques. When using his ''Fish in the Galaxy'', he had tried not to pour everything in it, but now he was. The ground below him was pulverized and a sonic boom made many trees collapse. Cao Yun and his spear looked like a strange animal between a dragon and a horse with eight legs. Two radiant eyes were shining at the tip of his spear. At the last moment, the archer tried to use his broken bow to protect himself. This time, hundreds of ribs appeared all around him and intertwined in front of him.


    Cao Yun''s spear pierced through them and stopped right in front of the man''s throat. Just then, Cao Yun kicked him in the abdomen, sending a vibration through his Lower Dantian and meridians. Finally, he struck his legs with the shaft of the spear and crushed him to the ground before forcing the same pill in his throat.


    -


    One of the three was dead but the other two were only unconscious. Now Cao Yun could finally try out his idea. The main problem with demonic cultivators was that they had seals on them placed by their masters. If they disobeyed, the seals would activate and either kill them or even destroy their souls. Of course, one of the orders was always to never reveal anything. Sometimes, the mere fact that they were discovered could trigger the seals. Since the mission of those three was to get inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, they had to be discovered at some point. But Cao Yun was convinced that if they tried to speak, they would die. And he wanted some answers.


    Since the archer was the smartest and oldest, he had probably more information than the other one still alive. As such, Cao Yun would try out his theory with the first guy. His idea was rather simple. Seals were made of Evil Qi in most cases. And he had the means to extract Evil Qi from someone. Thus, he might be able to extract the seals from a demonic cultivator by using the Drop of Wrath. That wouldn''t be easy, but he had no alternative. The only other way would be for Xiao Xuefeng to do it herself, but Cao Yun had no way to keep those two captive and alive.


    If he took them in his spatial ring, they would die instantly as spatial rings could not harbor life. And the next time he would be transported by the Supreme emblem, he would most likely lose them both. Thus, he had to try to do what he could right now.


    The demonic cultivator with a spear through his abdomen was still unconscious. Cao Yun did not even try to stop the bleeding. The man would stay alive long enough for him to try his ideas and play around with the seals.


    Slowly, he injected his Qi within the guy. The first thing he did was to absorb all the blood runes to nourish the Drop of Wrath. But even the 108 of them were not nearly enough for it. It had already absorbed so much Evil Qi and Death Energy that they were meaningless to it. However, this woke it up.


    Then, using his mind cultivation, Cao Yun poured the intent of the Drop of wrath within his own Qi. It then spread through the demonic cultivator''s body. Without any problem, Cao Yun was able to detect the seals now that that man''s Wei Qi was almost gone. He had twelve of them everywhere in his body. Cao Yun realized that he had even seals in his sea of consciousness. Getting them out would be way more challenging than he had thought. Only a Spirit Warrior could enter someone else''s soul.


    The very first thing was to make sure that they wouldn''t get triggered by him tampering with them. For that, he also had an idea. But he was not sure at all about this one. He decided to use the ashes from ''Ash Feather Seal''. If they could completely isolate him and conceal his Qi and even his soul, maybe they could also isolate the seals within this demonic cultivator to make them blind to what was going on around them.


    With the greatest care possible, Cao Yun manifested ashes with his Qi infused with the intent of the Drop of Wrath. For the first seal, he chose one that was in the heart of the demonic cultivator. The one in his sea of consciousness would be the most difficult to extract, if not impossible to. But in his flesh, it would be easier.


    After successfully isolating the seal, Cao Yun used the Drop of Wrath to slowly attract it outside of the young man''s body. The process was very exhausting for him because he was trying to keep the young man alive through it all. As such, he was forced to also control the appetite of the Drop Wrath. Because the blood runes had not satisfied it, it was frustrated and Cao Yun could feel it as though he was the one being frustrated. Thankfully, his control over the Drop of Wrath was very good now. And keeping it from going berserk was a piece of cake. Performing a very minute procedure was not on the other hand. After all, Cao Yun was not a physician.


    In the end though, he finally took the seal out and was even able to give it to the Drop of Wrath. Alas, just like the blood runes before, the seal was nowhere near enough to satiate the Drop of Wrath now.


    Still, this one success filled Cao Yun with excitement. If he could really erase the seals within demonic cultivators, not only could he interrogate them, he would also never be threatened by a seal that could be forced on him.

 Chapter 304: Violent interrogation

    Mo Zi had mostly deciphered the array formations of Sun Liao. Even if he was only a Mortal, Sun Liao was extremely talented. As much as it pained Mo Zi to admit it, he was clearly better than him despite their difference in cultivation. Moreover, if Sun Liao were to practice the ''Blood Runes'' method, he would soon become as powerful as him. Thus Mo Zi was happy that Sun Liao would never betray the orthodox cultivators. Otherwise, he would obtain a dangerous rival.


    The woman who was by his side was watching without saying anything. In terms of array formations, she knew little and did not want to disturb Mo Zi. He was the favorite of Mo Tian and the only one in this operation who was essential.


    All the demonic cultivators had received the order to sacrifice their own life to protect him. The only thing that mattered was to find the key. And if they were to fail, death would be a sweet mercy compared with what their masters would unleash upon them. Like many others, Wang Jinhua had witnessed so many atrocities that she was numb to them. At the same time, the idea that those tortures could be inflicted on her froze her blood. Her motto was to inflict all those sufferings on others to prevent them to inflict anything on her.


    Finally, Mo Zi was done!


    All of a sudden, the world seemed to be like a veil that was blown by the wind. Beneath that veil, they both saw Sun Liao. He was holding a strange bow and was aiming at the sky while looking down below.


    Wang Jinhua did not understand right away but Mo Zi did. He was taken by panic when he saw Sun Liao.


    "Kill him!"


    Without hesitation, Mo Zi took out all his blood runes. His compass rose in the air and his blood runes rotated around it. Shocked, Wang Jinhua knew Mo Zi well enough to understand something bad was going to happen. This mission had started poorly...


    "Farewell, traitor!"


    "Stop him!"


    "From the East, the Vault rises".


    Sun Liao released his arrow. It whistled through the air. Up in the sky, it pierced the shadow and fell back toward the ground. When finally it touched the water, a quiet ripple was sent all around. And it caused a peculiar note that resounded in the air.


    At the same moment, Mo Zi''s blood runes had turned into small wheels. He hurtled them toward Sun Liao but they all got stopped by some kind of barrier. He had destroyed the concealment array formation but even he had not noticed the protective one beneath. Sun Liao''s talent was way beyond his!


    "The emblem! We have to take his emblem or we''re screwed!"


    Wang Jinhua had finally understood. Sun Liao had just passed the test and he was going to be taken away. But she failed to realize the full extent of what would consequently happen.


    From her spatial ring, she took out a Guandao, a form of halberd with a curved blade at its extremity. All her Qi and blood runes got condensed around her weapon.


    ''Slashing Through the Mountains and Rivers''


    The air around her began to swirl around the tip of the halberd. All the water in the air condensed into a powerful stream. Even the surface of the well began to stir. And a giant blade of water cut toward Sun Liao. It pierced through his protection as if it weren''t there and was going for his neck. She would behead him in an instant.


    "Too late..."


    Just as he was about to be killed, his Supreme emblem shined and blinded Wang Jinhua and Mo Zi. Sun Liao was gone and the world around them was starting to unravel.


    -


    In the alchemy jungle, Cao Yun was ready to interrogate the demonic cultivator who seemed to have been the senior of the other two. After he had been done with the other survivor, Cao Yun was almost certain of his plan to get some information out of this man. The idea of torturing someone was not very enticing, even if that someone was a demonic cultivator, but he had to get as much out of him as possible and he couldn''t yet search his soul. If Xiao Xuefeng had been there, she would already be sifting through his memories inside his sea of consciousness. But even with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun was just a Mortal Warrior. Hence, he couldn''t use his soul or mind out of his body yet.


    He could use his Qi though. And as an alchemist, he had a very good control over it, especially with the chambers of his Upper Dantian almost all energized. Thus, he sent surges of Qi within the archer''s body. The first thing he did was to cut off every tendon and ligament that would allow him to move his limbs. Then, he even destroyed his meridians and some of his acupoints. The man was completely crippled for life now. Apart from a legendary medicine, there was no coming back from those injuries.


    Because he was still under the effect of the Purple Fragrant Door pill, he was completely paralyzed and unconscious. So Cao Yun had no problem doing this dirty work. Then, he also used his Drop of Wrath to extract all of his blood runes. Although they had been produced through the pain and torment of many innocent people, Cao Yun could put them to good use. The Drop of Wrath digested all of them without any problem. Alas, it barely improved Cao Yun''s blood. Now, ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' would probably be more efficient to cultivate his blood than those. Only if he could get his hands on Evil Qi or Death Energy way more condensed, or of a completely different quality, would his Drop of Wrath be satiated.


    Then, Cao Yun took his time to thoroughly destroy his Lower Dantian and his Middle Dantian, without killing him.


    Finally, he took care of the several seals within his body. Unlike the other demonic cultivator, he had three seals in his sea of consciousness. In Cao Yun''s eyes, this was a clear indication that this man knew enough to be interesting. With the experience he had accumulated on the first guy, Cao Yun was able to extract and digest the seals on his body through the Drop of Wrath. But those in his sea of consciousness were different. In fact, the first guy''s soul had been destroyed when Cao Yun had tried to extract the seal. So this time, Cao Yun tried something completely new.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    His Qi, turned into ashes, got imbued with the intent of the Drop of Wrath and penetrated his Upper Dantian. With extreme caution, those ashes coated the three seals entirely, cutting them off from the outside world. Hopefully this would prevent them from getting activated. Since he couldn''t enter his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun relied on the Drop of Wrath. It had been attracted to the other seals, so he thought that this would work.


    After examining the archer''s body several times, Cao Yun was satisfied with his work. The man would have no way to resist at all. However, Cao Yun had never interrogated anyone. Besides, this man was clearly smart and he wouldn''t fall for stupid tricks. That being said, he had no other choice. From his spatial ring, he took out another pill and controlled its medicinal essence to cancel the effects of the Purple Fragrant Door pill.


    Slowly, the archer regained consciousness. Everything was a bit fuzzy and he stayed in a haze for some time. The moment he realized that he couldn''t move his limbs, the demonic cultivator began to panic and looked around him. Suddenly, seeing the face of Cao Yun, all his memories came back to him and he became extremely alert. But no matter how much he tried, he was thoroughly paralyzed. He couldn''t even feel what was going on in his body. All of his cultivation had been dispersed and his body was not responding to his commands.


    Instead of panicking, the young man looked at Cao Yun right in the eyes. He was trying to gauge him.


    "I think you understand your situation. You have no way of moving or protecting yourself. Moreover, I took care of all the seals in your body. So you can talk of any matter without risking the torment your masters imagined for you. What is your name?"


    The archer kept his gaze on Cao Yun for some time. Through his mind cultivation, the young man was able to exude a powerful aura of determination. When he coupled that with the intent of the Drop of Wrath, his eyes looked as though he was the greatest tormentor under Heaven. Even the young demonic cultivator had never seen such a look in his worst master.


    "My name is Yang Tianyi."


    "Who do you serve?"


    "My current master is Mo Tian."


    "Is it his real name? Is he known under any other name?"


    "It''s probably not, but I don''t know anything about him. I couldn''t even describe him to you."


    For every question, Cao Yun was using his mind cultivation to see whether Yang Tianyi was truthful. And for now, he had been.


    "How many of you are there in the Wubei Sect?"


    "I do not know."


    "How many of you are there in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom?"


    "There are six of us."


    Although he tried to conceal his lie, it did not escape Cao Yun''s eyes.


    "Unfortunately, it seems like you do not take me seriously..."


    Cao Yun was still hesitant to really torture someone who was completely defenseless. But he had a way to get rid of this hesitation through his mind cultivation. However, he also had another way to make up his mind.


    "Tell me, how many people did you slaughter to get the complete 108 blood runes that I extracted from your body? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?"


    "Hmph! We used the cover of the demonic beasts stampede. Many villages were destroyed. No one cares if thousands of commoners and mortals died. The Imperial City has not even been able to count them to this day. Do you think I took the time to count them?"


    "Indeed, human life has no value for you beyond what you can extract from it... Thank you, you dispelled my last doubts."


    Then, Yang Tianyi felt an intense pain travel through all of his nervous system. Cao Yun could control Qi, but thanks to his Chamber of Medicine Field and the Drop of Wrath, he had learned to control Evil Qi as well. Unlike Qi, it was extremely corrosive. Besides, a good part of the Evil Qi Cao Yun was using right now came from Yang Tianyi''s own blood runes. In a sense, he was literally using the suffering he had inflected on innocent people to punish him.


    "Do not worry, I can stop before you die or you get into shock. You will suffer as long and as much as I wish so. Thus, I would advise you not to lie to me. Say anything unnecessary and you suffer. Refuse to answer and you suffer. Lie and you suffer. You should be able to understand those rules, right?"


    At that moment, Cao Yun discovered a side to him that he never knew existed. But he could only think of the desolation he had seen in Baziyun City, and also in Fulao in the wake of Luduo Bu. In his eyes, he was seeing thousands of people being tortured and killed in horrendous fashions just to extract tiny fragments of the blood runes. Although he could have dispelled those images and feelings with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun needed that kind of emotional drive right now. If he was cool-headed, he wasn''t sure whether he could go through the interrogation or not.


    Cao Yun stopped the pain to let Yang Tianyi speak.


    "You think... I''m afraid of..."


    "You do not seem to have understood the rules of our game!"


    Once more, pain shot through Yang Tianyi''s entire body.


    "Let''s wait a little while. I''m sure you''ll soon be quite happy to play along with me."


    In Yang Tianyi''s eyes, Cao Yun was able to see that he was ready to speak. Yet, he continued to manipulate the Evil Qi to torment him some more. With his recent energized Chamber of Bright Spirit, Cao Yun realized that he could completely understand the feelings of Yang Tianyi, just by looking at him. It made him sick to realize how much the young man was now seized by fear. In the eyes of a demonic cultivator, he had become a monster. But Cao Yun had long thrown away the idea of being a saint or a hero. Doing the right thing sometimes required doing terrible acts. What relieved Cao Yun was that he was not taking any pleasure in seeing the pain in his victim''s eyes. He could only think of his thousands of victims, and of the thousands more he was sparing right now.


    "I will ask again. How many of you are there in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom?"


    "... We are a group of twenty."


    Yang Tianyi''s words were rather slow and each syllable showed how much he was suffering and how much terror Cao Yun had put in him. The only thing worse would be the seals of his masters.


    "Under whose command?"


    "Mo Zi."


    "His real name?"


    "I... I don''t know..."


    His voice shook as he was terrified Cao Yun would get angry by the answer. He knew that the young man could tell whether he was lying as he had seen through his best lie before. But if he didn''t like the answer, he could still punish him for it.


    "What is your mission?"


    "We''ve been sent to retrieve some kind of key from the palace. Our masters need it to awaken something that will make them more powerful than anyone on the Piaolu planet. Demons and humans alike will be forced to kneel before us. If you join us..."


    Once again, pain shot through Yang Tianyi''s body.


    "I would never join you! Do you have any more detail on your mission?"


    "No, only Mo Zi knows. His master Mo Tian is the one who planned everything."


    "Then, you''ll tell me everything you know on each one of your comrades, their cultivation, their techniques, their weapons, their description, their personality, absolutely everything. Then, you''ll tell me all you know on every single demonic cultivator you''ve met, as extensively as possible. If you dare try to hide anything at all, you know what happens..."


    -


    Yang Tianyi did give everything he knew to Cao Yun. As he was speaking, Cao Yun was slowly building a giant chart of the demonic cultivators in his mind. At the same time, he was feeling the seals he had contained. They were always trying to burn through his ashes. Apparently, he had not been good enough to completely stop them. But he just had to keep them under control until Yang Tianyi was done.

 Chapter 305: The stair to Wisdom

    Cao Yun was seeing himself as though he was outside of his own body. For several hours, he had tortured Yang Tianyi. From an outside point of view, there was nothing to indicate it as he was literally using Evil Qi within Yang Tianyi''s nervous system. Although he wasn''t a physician, after activating all his cells in the 9th-grade Mortal stage, Cao Yun had a good understanding of the human body.


    Yang Tianyi could not even scream while pain was inflicted on him because his jaws were clenched shut by the spasms of his muscles.


    Although there was no exterior signs to show how terrible the pain was, Cao Yun could read it in his eyes. Now that he had energized the Chamber of Bright Spirit, he had an increased empathy. Just with a glimpse, he could imagine what Yang Tianyi was going through. However, he was unable to think about him as deserving of compassion. The only people he could think about were those who had suffered and died to form the blood runes he was now using as an instrument of torture.


    But during the interrogation, Cao Yun realized that he was almost a spectator of his own body. And he wondered how he had come to do such things. Two years ago, this would have never even crossed his mind. The tragedy of his family had changed him. But there was also something else at work here. Yes, he was way more decisive. This time, he had not hesitated at all to cripple an unconscious man for life. Damn, he had even experimented on another man beforehand. Those were what demonic cultivators did regularly. For them, humans were expendable, mere tools or resources to use as they saw fit.


    Of course, Cao Yun''s goal and mindset was completely different. But at that moment he became cautious of himself. His mind cultivation was powerful but it could also be dangerous. After all, he could literally shut down his own emotions if need be. He had never done it except to stay calm during a crisis. And at this very moment, he swore to never do it. He had to face his emotions, not bury them, unless the situation was critical and he needed to keep his calm.


    He had realized that his thoughts were not defining him. After all, everyone had thousands of strange thoughts, and dark thoughts on which they would never act. Then, he was wondering what could define him. His actions? His intentions? Like anyone else, he could do something wrong for the right reason, or even something right for the wrong reason. He could even change his appreciation of what was good and wrong from one day to the next. Right now, he thought it was right to torture Yang Tianyi because of what he had already inflicted on others and because getting the information he had was beneficial to the entire human race.


    Could he really be defined at all? Could anyone really be reduced to a small definition? Cao Yun was not the same man he had been two years ago. And he had no idea of who he would be two years from now. Not only was he young and prone to change, but he was also actively cultivating his body and his mind. Everything about him would change with time. At some point, his very soul would fuse with a Soul Embryo, his body would not be made of flesh and bone anymore. For the first time, Cao Yun was wondering at which point would he cease to be him.


    And it hit him! He was not the Cao Yun his parents had known. This Cao Yun was already gone. The worry he had completely dissolved as though he had found an answer to his interrogation. He didn''t know what could define a human being completely. But he knew that his identity was not dependent on the things he was worried about. There was something deeper, a sense of continuation. With time a seed would cease to be a seed and turn into a tree. Just like that, Cao Yun would keep evolving and changing. This wasn''t a bad thing. But like a tree, he had to nurture his changes to become what he really wanted to become, so that would not wake up some day hating the man he had turned into.


    In his sea of consciousness, his Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul shined more brightly. For an instant, his entire sea of consciousness even radiated with three slightly different green lights. At a very unexpected moment, Cao Yun had gained some kind of illumination about the nature of one''s character and identity.


    As Cao Yun was having all those thoughts, he was also mechanically creating a mental map of all the names Yang Tiany was mentioning. Most of them had to be fake, but among them there also had to be true names. Once he would come out, this would be an excellent way for Xiao Xuefeng to root out the demonic cultivators all over the kingdom. She would probably get a lot of work. Hopefully, with what she had already gathered, this would allow the orthodox cultivators to completely destroy this infestation among their ranks. As the tensions with the demons were growing, they really didn''t need an internal strife.


    Finally, Yang Tianyi was done. He collapsed on his side, sobbing uncontrollably. For the first time ever, Cao Yun felt a bit of pity for him. He had no idea what had lead him to become a demonic cultivator. However, there was nothing to do for him now. No matter how much he had tried, Cao Yun had not been able to extract the seals implanted in his sea of consciousness. If he had been able to enter his soul, he might have had a chance, but he still wasn''t a Spirit Warrior.


    The moment Cao Yun would relinquish his ashes, the seals would completely consume the poor man. Although Cao Yun had tortured him, he thought more pain was not necessary. Since the man he was becoming was being modeled right now, Cao Yun decided that he didn''t want to be cruel for the sake of cruelty. Even to his most terrible enemies, Cao Yun could be merciful.


    Thus, he helped Yang Tianyi up and sat him up against a tree that had survived the earlier fight.


    "Soon, the seals in your soul will completely eradicate you, robbing you of even the possibility of reincarnation. If you ask me to, I can kill you before this happens. To be honest, I do not know what will happen to those seals. But if I can hold them long enough for your ethereal soul to leave your body, you should find your way to the Heavenly Court. Although I do not know of your circumstances, I hope you''ll be able to resolve this karma in your next life. This is more mercy than you gave to your own victims, what do you think?"Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Yang Tianyi''s eyes were vague and unresponsive. Yet, Cao Yun was able to discern a tiny nod of approval.


    Without losing any second, Cao Yun tightened his grip over the seals still trapped by his ashes. Then, he plunged his spear in Yang Tianyi''s heart. Sending a bit of Qi with it, all of his organs exploded within his chest. Although Cao Yun had not a complete understanding of the soul, he knew that it was made up of several parts. For some, there was one soul that was acting in different ways while others believed there were several souls working together. But they still called their collective action as a singular soul. No matter what was correct, the fact remained that only the ethereal soul could leave the body upon death while the corporeal soul returned to the ground after the decomposition of the body.


    And at that moment, Cao Yun was able to feel the three seals he had captive trying to also leave the body of Yang Tianyi. It was very strange because Cao Yun could not feel anything different in his Upper Dantian. It was as though a foreign force was attracting them but everything else remained the same. Without those three seals, Cao Yun would have even doubted whether Yang Tianyi''s ethereal soul had left or not.


    At the same time, Cao Yun realized that this was also a good opportunity to test out his ''Death Verses''. In death, Po would slowly turn into Death Energy. Usually it was dispersed in the earth before it could fully become Death Energy. But as he was witnessing the process before his own eyes, Cao Yun tried to feel the slow transformation of the Po. Maybe he could gain some insight from it. This was called ''See Through the Mud'', the ability to sense Death Energy. Although there was very little of it, Cao Yun was still able to get a vague feeling. From time to time it disappeared as though it was eluding his senses, but there was indeed something going on with Yang Tianyi''s Po.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun would not make an habit out of killing people to observe the formation of Death Energy. So he would not get many occasions to practice his ''Death Verses''. Maybe if he got more control over the Drop of Wrath, he could somehow find another way. After all, it was made of corrupted Po.


    Despite this distraction, Cao Yun never let go of the three seals. However, with Yang Tianyi''s death, they became more and more violent. They really wanted to follow his soul and destroy it. Cao Yun had no idea how long he should keep them under his tight leash. Indeed, he had no way of feeling Yang Tianyi''s soul and could thus not know whether it was safe for him or not. Just like Cao Yun was able to change along his life, Yang Tianyi had been a completely different man at some point and in another life, he would also be someone else entirely. Robbing him of this chance didn''t sit well with Cao Yun, there was really no reason at all to do such a thing, except cruelty and self-satisfaction.


    But what Cao Yun had not thought about was that as soon as Yang Tianyi''s soul was truly gone, the seals would find another target. Those seals were not smart at all. They had been created with a single purpose. Although Cao Yun did not know exactly how they had been created, he knew that they were meant to extinguish someone''s soul completely if a certain condition was met. Now that they had been prevented from doing their task, they turned their attention toward Cao Yun.


    All of a sudden, the three seals burned through the ashes. By fusing together, they became much more powerful and Cao Yun lost control for an instant. The next moment, the new seal left through Yang Tianyi''s glabella and tried to penetrate Cao Yun''s body. Quickly, he tried to retreat and increase his Wei Qi around his Upper Dantian. But the seal was just too fast.


    In a flash, it was already within his sea of consciousness.


    Ironically, this was the best scenario for Cao Yun. He had been worried that the seal would damage his physical body, but it was only attacking his sea of consciousness. Its goal was probably to destroy his soul. But now, the seal was doomed.


    In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun saw a giant wolf with an emaciated body. Its head was very long and full of fangs, and the rest of its body was thin and slender as though it was famished.


    Without any delay, Cao Yun activated his Drop of Wrath to the maximum. He would not take any risk with the seal created by a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator. Immediately, the Drop of Wrath turned into the figure of Axiu Qian. It still only had two arms though.


    The wolf was not a threat at all against this red demon. Both the sky and the ocean had also turned red. The Heart Star was filling the infinity of the sky and was being reflecting in the water below. The seal could not even react in time. With just one hand, the red demon grabbed and shut its mouth. Some of its fangs broke under the violence of this grip. Just after that, the other hand landed on the slender body of the creature. Without any hesitation, the red demon lifted the seal in the air and tore it apart. His mouth opened and he drank from the blood flowing out of the two halves of the strange wolf.


    -


    Somewhere in the Wubei Sect, a Spirit Warrior felt as though someone had assaulted his Soul Embryo. This man was Mo Tian. Just in case, he had personally engraved several seals in the disciples sent into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Although he could not feel what was going on inside of it, the violence that had destroyed some of his seals had been so intense, that even through space he was able to feel it.


    What was going on? Could some of those idiots have angered the spirit of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom? No, he had been clear with Mo Zi. But then, who else could destroy his seals? A very bad feeling began to rise within him. This plan had to work no matter what! Mo Tian was ready to risk it all. After more than a century of waiting, he would finally get everything he had ever wanted. Nothing could stop him this time. If need be, he had even prepared several over contingencies.


    -


    Just as Mo Tian was alerted by the brutal destruction of his seals, the Supreme emblem in Cao Yun''s clothes began to react as well. Surprised, he took the emblem in hand. For the first time since he had entered this place, he felt something ominous from this emblem. It only lasted a brief moment but he felt as though a pair of eyes was fixating upon him. And they were looking right through him, trying to see deep within his soul.


    But even that piercing gaze could not see his Drop of Wrath. However, he felt that gaze on his blood and deep into his heart. These eyes were trying to gauge out his blood cultivation.


    Then, the Supreme emblem got activated. Although he had not finished the current test, Cao Yun felt the familiar sensation he had felt before every teleportation. Somehow, someone had forced his emblem to activate. And Cao Yun could not suppress a foreboding premonition in his heart. However, he used his mind cultivation to remain as calm as possible. Without any hesitation, he took back his spear within his spatial ring and he even extended the blue light to the corpses of the demonic cultivators and a few plants. He took as many as he could before the scenery disappeared in front of him.


    The next moment, he woke up in a giant palace. He was right in front of the entrance, on a tall stair. The palace was floating in the void. And then he heard a voice in another language. It had spoken in Moshenhua, the language of the demons.

 Chapter 306: The Palace Spirit

    Cao Yun had not particularly been following the evolution of the demon culture, but he knew that Moshenhua was the ancient language of the demons. After enslaving the humans, the different languages spoken by the slaves began to interfere with the Moshenhua and slowly created many new dialects. In the end, it even produced new languages, among which the Primitive Nuhua who would later be the Nuhua, the official language of the Hongchen Kingdom. Literally, it was the language of Nuwa, the first emperor.


    The tones of the Moshenhua were extremely different from the tones of the Nuhua. Even the sounds were more guttural as well. In a way, this language felt extremely ancient, very primitive. And to human ears, it sounded brutal and bloody.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had gotten his hands on a dictionary of Moshenhua when he had sifted through Can Mouye''s belongings. And he had completely memorized it. Besides, since he wanted to decipher the Antique Sixian of his master, Cao Yun had decided to begin by learning another language. If he accumulated enough experience in learning new languages, this would make the process easier. At least, it was his idea. Just like mastering a weapon would make learning a completely different one easier. Indeed, you would already know many things about how to use your body and you would also know how you learn best, what really works for you.


    Thus, Cao Yun was able to understand the voice that was speaking to him right now. But it wasn''t that difficult because the sentence was short and straightforward.


    "Come in!"


    The young man was on the last step on a huge stair. All around him was pure darkness. Just like in the Yellow Death World, Cao Yun was surrounded by darkness and yet there was light somehow. Even without his eyes, he could have seen through his other senses. But fortunately, his eyes worked perfectly well in this place, although there was no direct source of light. It seemed as though the darkness itself was the source of light.


    In front of him, the stair was so huge that a single step was literally twice as tall as he was. It was as if he was faced with a wall. But he could still see the enormous structure in the distance. Although he couldn''t count them, there were several dozens of steps leading to a giant palace.


    This palace had an architecture that wasn''t too different from what one could see in the Hongchen Kingdom. The main difference was the sheer enormity of this palace. Indeed, the ratio between the steps and the palace was kept. As such, Cao Yun was able to see this giant roof spreading on both sides. There was nothing particular about this roof except for its dimension. Above it, was another, smaller floor with an even taller roof. And on both extremities of the rooftop, there were two statues facing each other. Cao Yun could not clearly see them, but they looked like two giant men. Most likely, they were either deities of the past or legendary heroes, like Emperor Nuwa was for the Hongchen Kingdom.


    The palace was entirely resting on monumental columns. Without examining them, Cao Yun could still feel their grandeur. And if the palace was symmetrical, which seemed to be the case, there were one hundred and eight columns all around the structure.


    From the echo of the voice, it had clearly come from inside the palace. Although Cao Yun was reluctant, he had nowhere else to go. Besides, if that voice was the one who had activated the Supreme emblem, it would be futile to try and run. Thus, Cao Yun proceeded forward. Jumping each step, he also counted one hundred and eight of them. This number had several meanings and symbols attached to it in the Hongchen Kingdom. But he couldn''t know what a previous civilization would have put behind it. Maybe it had historical relevance, or maybe it was just superstition.


    Anyway, Cao Yun finally saw the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He was now sure that this was the real palace because its name was written on it, engraved with golden characters. Although he couldn''t read those characters individually, he was able to read the name. But those were clearly not Insight Writings. In fact, Cao Yun recognized a character that he had seen in a history book. This was one of the languages of the men during the Legendary Era. With his shallow understanding of calligraphy, Cao Yun still knew that some masters were so talented that they could engrave the meaning of their writings in their art. As such, even without being able to read at all, you would still understand the words.


    "Do not be afraid, come inside. It''s been a long time since I''ve had a visitor."


    Before entering, Cao Yun kowtowed in front of the palace. Because the voice was the using the language of the demons, Cao Yun decided that it would be best to consider it as one. And in front of a demon, he had to be extremely careful, without being impolite. Maybe he had to enter the palace for the voice to do whatever it was that it wanted to do to him.


    Cao Yun''s Moshenhua was good enough for him to read and listen, but he had never actually tried to speak it. Thankfully, he now had a model of what the language truly sounded like. Indeed, reading how a sound was pronounced was not the same thing as hearing it firsthand. With a very bad accent, Cao Yun tried to speak in Moshenhua. Apart from his accent and how slow he was, Cao Yun''s grammar and vocabulary were spot-on.


    "Venerable, please excuse the way I speak. The Moshenhua has been long forgotten by my people. This lowly one is named Chen Guo. Might the Venerable give me the honor of hearing his illustrious name?"


    "Ha ha ha. Good kid! I have no name. You can just call me Palace Spirit. Although you''ve probably not heard of me, you have certainly heard of my master, the Demon God Da Mo. Oh?! I know! Call me Dian Mo*. But please come inside, young Chen."


    The voice was hearty, but Cao Yun could still hear malice within. However, he had to find a nice way to disregard his instructions as long as he didn''t know what kind of creature he was faced with. The name Da Mo didn''t ring any bell in Cao Yun''s mind. But the title of Demon God did. This was the title of the enemy, the one Emperor Nuwa had fought her entire life. He was the one who had enslaved the entire human race to serve his selfish purposes. If Da Mo had really created this Palace Spirit, then he had to be extremely dangerous.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Cao Yun got an idea. The Palace Spirit had summoned him after he had used his Drop of Wrath to the extreme in order to destroy the combined seals. Most likely, it had felt something in his blood and had gotten curious. Thousands of different ideas and hypotheses were racing through Cao Yun''s mind. With his Chamber of Heavenly Court, he was able to analyze them all in an instant. But he was still lacking information. Until then, he would have to be very careful. Thus, he pushed his mind cultivation to the limit in order to hide his lies as much as possible. He also began to circulate his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' in order to hide his very meridians and Dantian. On the other hand, he pushed his blood cultivation as much as he could to increase the properties of the Drop of Wrath in his blood.


    "Venerable Palace Spirit, this humble demon has indeed heard of the great Demon God Da Mo. Unfortunately, the vermin leagued with one another and were able to best him. And now, our race is under their yoke. This pathetic one has been sent here to try and find a past relic said to be able to bring forth a terrible power. Hopefully, our kind might restore its strength and put the vermin back into shackles."


    The voice stayed silent some time. And Cao Yun felt another piercing gaze directly from the darkness encompassing the interior of the palace. Indeed, nothing could be seen from the exterior although there were no doors to keep it shut. And that was giving Cao Yun even more reasons not to enter this place unless he had no other choice. This gaze was the same he had felt from the Supreme emblem, but it was even more powerful.


    "Young one, from which clan do you come from?"


    "I am sorry, Venerable Palace Spirit. This one has no clan. Most of our history has been destroyed by the filthy humans. Until you spoke the name of our Demon God, I did not even know of it. We only know of the name of the traitor, Emperor Nuwa as the humans glorify her."


    "Emperor?! That wench?! Hmph! That explains why my palace has been infested by humans since that time... And now look at you, you''re not even a Golden Blood Child despite your age. How the mighty have fallen!"


    Dian Mo kept on insulting Emperor Nuwa and the humans for some time. But Cao Yun could guess his goal. He was trying to determine whether Cao Yun was really a demon or not. Unfortunately, he did not know enough about demons to fully pass as one. The less he would say, the better it was. But apparently, it was working enough to make the spirit doubt itself. Most likely, it had felt Cao Yun''s meridians earlier. And Cao Yun knew that demons, just like demonic beasts, had no meridian, vessel or Dantian. They were cultivating the Qi in their blood. Golden Blood Child was probably referring to some cultivation level Cao Yun had no way of knowing. The best lie was the one covered by truth.


    "Venerable, this lowly one is undeserving of entering your palace. Even our cultivation methods have been lost. This pathetic one does not even understand the terms that you use. This is why we have infiltrated the humans. Passing as one, I was able to enter this place. Other humans seemed to have discovered a great secret they intend to use to fully subjugate all the rest of my kind who is still fighting. And we thought that if we could get to it first, we might be able to revert our fate."


    "Little one, my master would weep tears of blood if he could see how low your race has fallen. Impersonating a pathetic human and groveling at my feet. How unsightly! In memory of my master, I will still deign help you. The secret you''ve spoken of is indeed real."


    "Then, Venerable..."


    Cao Yun lifted his head and showed a genuine smile. Now, he was fully in his role.


    "But you are just too weak to wield it. Its power would destroy you! However, I have a way, do not despair. Come, enter my palace and I''ll help you get strong enough to take my treasure. Then, you''ll be powerful enough to exterminate the vermin. Keeping them in chains was too soft a fate for those primitives. We should cover their planet with their blood."


    Clearly, the Palace Spirit desperately wanted Cao Yun to enter into its palace. But Cao Yun was desperately trying not to. It was obvious that once inside, he might never get out. However, he had no idea of how powerful the spirit was outside of the palace. So he had to find some excuse to test him.


    "Venerable Dian Mo, this lowly one is too unworthy. But if you were to take actions, I''m certain those humans would cower in fear. As I said, some humans have entered this Palace of Supreme Wisdom to rob you of your treasure. Surely, your wrath can fall upon them."


    All those years, the Palace Spirit had never hurt a human being. Most likely, he simply couldn''t intervene too much within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom despite his self-proclaimed name. But he had still been able to teleport Cao Yun here. That could merely be an extremely draining ability he had used in desperation because of Cao Yun''s blood. If he had been created by a demon, Cao Yun could understand the interest for his Drop of Wrath.


    "If only I was freed from this palace, I could surely annihilate all the humans on this pathetic planet. But unfortunately, my master made me bound to this Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And I have to abide by its rules. Outside of this place, my powers are very limited. But if you get inside, you''ll see that I have much to give you."


    This was really turning into a stalemate. And if Cao Yun kept on refusing, Dian Mo would understand his deception. The problem was that he had maybe already seen through him. And worse than that, even if he believed him, he could still attack a fellow demon. The demons were not known for their trustworthiness after all. Although he was a spirit created by a demon, that was the same. From what Cao Yun had gathered, this Dian Mo had been created by the Demon God to try and take over this array formation. But clearly, it had not worked as well as he had hoped. After all, this was supposed to be a 1-God array formation. This meant that at some point in time, it had had a spirit of its own.


    Maybe Da Mo had tried to replace it but he had only partially succeeded. And the so-called treasure was something the Demon God Da Mo had hidden himself. It was no wonder the demonic cultivators wanted it so bad. The good news was that this Dian Mo was probably powerless outside of his palace. The bad news was that Cao Yun would have to enter at some point if he wanted to prevent the demonic cultivators from taking that treasure. Another good news was that a spirit would most likely attack his soul and mind and Cao Yun was not afraid of that in the least.


    On the other hand, even if it cost him much, the spirit might still be able to activate the Supreme emblem and send him in a deadly realm. If he had never done so before, it meant that the cost of doing so was terrible even for him. But he might still be able to do it.


    Many thoughts went through Cao Yun''s mind. In the end, he took his decision. He wasn''t sure whether it was because the Gate of Heavenly Court was influencing him but he decided to risk it. He stood up and entered into the palace. In front of him was pure darkness but he walked forward.


    * Dian µî = Palace Hall

 Chapter 307: The realm of the beasts

    As Cao Yun was lost in a world of pure darkness, Mo Zi and Wang Jinhua were surrounded by the void. It was impossible to describe this feeling. What their eyes could see was only darkness because it was devoid of anything and did not even reflect light. But their Mortal Warrior senses were telling them that this darkness was the most terrible thing ever. If they were to touch it, they would be utterly destroyed all the way to their souls.


    Both of them had pushed their Wei Qi to the limit and all their blood runes were spiraling around them to provide some form of cover as well. They knew that this wouldn''t last very long, if at all. But they were truly desperate.


    "Brother, can''t you think of something?!"


    "Let me concentrate! My master knew that this kind of accident could happen."


    From his spatial ring, Mo Zi took a metallic plate. Immediately, Wang Jinhua recognized what this was. Such an object was an array formation plate. A master could inscribe an array formation on it and then anyone would be able to activate it by injecting some Qi inside. Although she had no idea what kind of array formation this was, she knew that it had to be powerful because it had been gifted to Mo Zi by his master.


    "Keep up your Wei Qi!"


    As he spoke, Mo Zi retracted all his Wei Qi and his blood runes to pour every bit of strength he had in the plate. Although she had been warned, Wang Jinhua only had an instant to react and was almost crushed when the pressure increased. Several of her blood runes got swallowed by the void around them. But she still pushed through and squeezed as much energy as she could from herself.


    She went so far that some of her own Evil Qi began to spread through her flesh. Thankfully, it was nothing too serious for now. But she wouldn''t last long. Right now, she had not even enough strength to look toward her brother or talk. Hopefully, he would be done soon.


    And he was!


    From the plate, a giant lotus began to bloom. It was ethereal and completely surrounded Wang Jinhua and Mo Zi. As soon as the pressure was lifted, the young woman collapsed on the ground. Everything around them was gone. Thankfully, they had been able to trap some air around them. So they could still live some time. But if Mo Zi did not find a way out, they would ultimately die in there. Then, the mission would be a total failure. Mo Zi was the only one who could truly accomplish it. Everyone could be replaced but him. That was even why his master had protected him so much the previous year.


    Looking around, Mo Zi saw Wang Jinhua who was completely spent. The poor woman was now trying to get her Evil Qi under control. If she were to fail, she would die a miserable death. But even if she succeeded, she had little hope to survive. She could not just try to survive alone, because if Mo Zi died and the mission failed, her masters would kill her in the most horrendous ways. As such, she had to prioritize Mo Zi''s life even before hers. In fact, Mo Tian had placed seals in the nineteen cultivators so that they would suffer and ultimately die if they went against Mo Zi''s orders.


    Unfortunately she had no way of helping at all. Everything was in the hands of Mo Zi right now. He was the only one who could come up with something to get them out of this situation.


    "I have an idea but it has very few chances of success..."


    Looking down toward Wang Jinhua, Mo Zi''s face was truly desperate. For the first time, he was faced with complete death. In the void, even their souls would be extinguished. Well, at least it would be faster than being killed by their masters.


    "If I can create some connection with our brothers and sisters, I should be able to stir us in the right direction. This place is kind of like an ocean in which each realm is drifting around. If I can establish a link, it can act as an tether. Hopefully, we can then ride this tether and enter their own realms. After that, we just have to make sure the Wubei disciple in that realm is dealt with and we can proceed forward.


    "Of course, it''s not as easy as that. Moving around in the void doesn''t even make sense to begin with. The void is deprived of the very concept of space itself. But as long as the Absolute Haven Lotus array formation endures, space inside and around still holds meaning. Hopefully, it will be good enough.


    "But then, we''ll also have to pierce through the veil encapsulating the realm we find. And I don''t know what would happen with the void all around it... Besides, we''ll need to push our blood runes to their limits to try and establish a connection with our brethren."


    Hearing the last part, Wang Jinhua''s heart skipped a beat. If she pushed her blood runes to the limit, she might very well die. Even if she didn''t, she would end up extremely wounded. And she wasn''t certain what kind of sympathy she would get from her brothers and sisters. However, she had no alternative. Either she would die here, or she would risk it to maybe be betrayed by her own. Hopefully, Mo Zi would remember her dedication and would protect her despite her critical condition...


    "Sister, are you ready?"


    Mo Zi had obviously taken her help for granted. After all, if she didn''t help, she would die. In fact, her seals would activate and she would die right away, in agonizing pain. Moreover, Mo Zi would still be able to use her blood runes without her. That would put more strain on him but he could probably bear it.


    Without any real choice, she barely nodded. Then, Mo Zi''s blood runes flew all over the place to form some kind of array formation. And Wang Jinhua followed the instructions from her senior to complete this complex formation.


    -


    Cao Yun had now fully entered the Palace of Supreme Wisdom Mo Zi was desperate to get into. On the other hand, Cao Yun had been extremely reluctant to enter this place. However, he had deduced that his options were too limited.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    He could not be sure whether Dian Mo had truly believed his story. And even if he had, this wouldn''t prevent him from killing him anyway.


    Within the palace, everything was plunged into deep darkness. Even inside, Cao Yun was unable to sense anything. The only thing he could perceive was the voice of the Palace Spirit.


    "Young Chen, as I said, you''re still way too weak to receive my treasure. But I can palliate this. However, contrary to the tests conjured up for the other humans, the realms I have in mind for you may truly kill you. Please, do not disappoint me. If you survive those tests, you''ll be strong enough to wield my treasures. And if you do, there is no human on this miserable world that won''t kneel before you. Everything will be under your command. I hope you are ready. But for those tests, it''s better if your belongings stay in here."


    Before he could answer, Cao Yun felt a strong force all around his body. It was very similar to what the Supreme emblem could do, but it was not coming from it. In fact, it was coming from the darkness around him. This answered Cao Yun''s question. If he had stayed outside, the Palace Spirit would have been unable to transport him. He had probably altered the Supreme emblem a little to get him in front of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. But this wasn''t something he could easily replicate.


    With his powerful mind, Cao Yun was gathering any piece of information that may later prove useful. Even the words and the intonations of Dian Mo were full of small details awaiting to be exploited.


    When Cao Yun finally appeared in another realm, he realized that he had nothing on him, not even his clothes. The Palace Spirit had only transported his body, nothing else. Thus he had no weapon of any kind, no pill and no spirit stone. Everything was probably back inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thus, one way or another he would have to get back inside.


    And this realm was also very different from the realms Cao Yun had been to before. The air itself seemed to be brutal. And he quickly understood why. There was the taste of iron and the thick odor of blood in it. When he looked down, it became quite obvious. Cao Yun was knee deep in a pool of blood. This entire realm was covered in blood and corpses. The sky itself was orange because of all the blood in the air.


    "You have to survive two months in this realm. Here blood reigns supreme. You have no weapon and no tool. Use your own strength. Unleash your savagery. No matter what happens, I will not take you out before two months are gone. And the beasts will never tire. Prove yourself!"


    Once the Palace Spirit was done speaking, Cao Yun heard a great commotion in the distance. Looking toward it, he saw thousands upon thousands of beasts wrestling. It was almost impossible to distinguish them all. Fur, scales, feathers, all were intertwined in a savage and bloody brawl. Every beast was covered in blood as they were slaughtering the others. Despite everything he had read, Cao Yun was unable to recognize a single creature. There were things looking like giant black wolves with blood-injected eyes and terrifying fangs and claws. In the sky, there were also horrifying eagles and vultures. Sometimes they would come down to partake in the massacre. While at other times, they would just scavenge what flesh remained on the corpses.


    This place was truly hell. It was pure savagery never ending. Moreover, the sheer amount of beasts was incredible. And from what Cao Yun could see, they were all as strong as a late Mortal. Individually, they were thus all weaker than Cao Yun. The only problem was that there were thousands and thousands of beasts. And somehow, he had to face them all and survive for two whole months.


    But after thinking about it, this was perfect for his ''Cultivation of Wrath''. It had been a very long time since he had bathed in the blood of demonic beasts. Right now, he wasn''t even sure whether those beasts were really demonic beasts or something else entirely. But he was certain that their blood would be very beneficial to his cultivation. He had recently crossed into the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior realm and he still wanted to strengthen his two Earthly Springs and his two Labor Palaces. Furthermore, he had to begin the tempering of the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. Once all Five Prodigious Gates would be open, he would have to temper them even more in the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior stage.


    With this blood, he could begin to temper the first four gates while trying to open the fifth one. However, he could not overdo it. Indeed, the main goal of the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior was to harmonize all five gates and make them act as one. If he tempered the four lower gates too much without the Bai Hui, it would become a problem in the near future.


    That being said, he could also use the blood to strengthen his overall body and maybe even his blood cultivation. Besides, if his blood cultivation improved, it would be also a good way to deceive the Palace Spirit. Cao Yun was still unsure of what his goal was, but he had a hard time believing an entity created by the Demon God Da Mo would just help someone else, even a fellow demon, out of the goodness of his heart. And he had many ideas on what its ulterior motives were. However, Cao Yun''s goal was clear. He had to get this treasure and, more than everything else, prevent the demonic cultivators from taking it.


    Thus, he could use this place to become even stronger for his upcoming fight. As he was thinking of a plan, the beasts were now all around him. Even though they were not targeting him in particular, he was still in danger. All of them were feral and tried to kill everything and everyone around them.


    Taking a deep breath, Cao Yun pushed everything else aside. In his sea of cultivation, the figure of the red demon appeared again and everything turned red. Then, he began to chant the mantra of the ''Cultivation of Wrath'' and focused his intent on the ''Dance of Slaughter''. Before being a martial art, this was a punching routine meant to cultivate the body through blood. It was perfect for this place.


    With this mindset, Cao Yun discarded every other thought, he turned into a beast himself. Faced with so much savagery, a civilized man could not do anything. To survive, Cao Yun had to kill the beasts. He could not wait idly by for them to kill each other and thin their own ranks. Willing or not, ready or not, he had to fight to survive.


    With no time to waste, Cao Yun became one of the beasts. Pushing his determination and will to fight to the paroxysm, he ran straight into the melee. The other beasts were already so enthralled in their massacre that they did not even notice the coming of the little human. Those creatures were all four or five times taller than Cao Yun, so in their eyes he was nothing.


    As soon as he got close enough, he began to act.


    ''Cutting the Retreat''!


    His speed suddenly increased and he found himself between two giant black wolves.


    ''Annihilating the Horses''!


    With a kick, he broke the front leg of one of them. Immediately, the other wolf pounced on the weakened opponent and tore apart his throat with his fangs. Below the two of them, Cao Yun was already covered in thick blood. Immediately, he could feel a powerful heat seeping through his muscles. Their blood was beyond anything he had encountered until now.


    ''Dyeing the Ground''!


    As the two wolves were killing each other, Cao Yun stabbed toward the heart of the one who was devouring the other''s throat. He pierced through him all the way to his own shoulder. Finally, he reached his heart and crushed it inside his chest.

 Chapter 308: Uncontrolled bloodlust

    Unarmed and naked, Cao Yun was now completely submerged by a powerful rage. All those thoughts about who he truly was had been very frustrating and now he could completely let it all out. Knee deep in blood, he was surrounded by feral beasts with blood injected eyes. Around him, there was only fur, scales, claws, fangs, screams, flesh, bones, guts...


    Every thought and every doubt in Cao Yun''s mind was gone. The ''Cultivation of Wrath'' was the only thing on his mind. And now he fully understood where the name ''Dance of Slaughter'' came from. With each strike, Cao Yun literally went through the bodies of the beasts around him. His hands, arms, knees, feet, even his head could be used to break the bones, tear the flesh and massacre his enemies.


    Of course, Cao Yun would have never fought with such a bloody style in the Hongchen Kingdom. But the blood in the air had woken up something in him. Maybe it was the same thing for those beasts. Everything in this place was permeated with blood and it had a strong effect on minds. It was sending everyone into a killing frenzy. And Cao Yun could feel it. Even his sea of consciousness had begun to turn red. He could have stopped it all by focusing on his mind cultivation, but he didn''t want to.


    First of all, he did not want to give away that his mind was that powerful to the Palace Spirit. As a spirit, his main attacks were probably targeted toward the mind and soul. But if he knew those kinds of attacks would be pointless against Cao Yun, he might decide to strike him in a different manner. And Cao Yun was almost certain that at some point, the Palace Spirit would attack him, whether he believed his story or not.


    But there was something else. Amidst this killing frenzy, Cao Yun was able to perceive something within his own mind. Paradoxically, his mind was clear. As everything in him was focused on a singular purpose, to kill, there was no interference from anything else. And he wished to bathe in that feeling. Moreover, the blood around him already proved useful.


    At the same time as he was using ''Dance of Slaughter'' to massacre the hellish beasts all around him, it acted as a cultivation method as well. Indeed, this wasn''t a martial art but a punching routine to begin with. It was meant to help the cultivator absorb blood inside his body to advance his cultivation through the use of the intent from the Drop of Wrath. However, there was something very different with Cao Yun now. The Drop of Wrath had slowly changed his own blood to the point that its intent was diluted in every cell of Cao Yun.


    As such, ''Dance of Slaughter'' was incredibly more efficient. With his body fully transparent to Qi, most of the blood that was running all over his skin seeped through his most profound tissues. With each passing moment, Cao Yun could feel his strength grow again and again. Mortal Warriors often neglected to train their physical body, but Cao Yun had not. And now he was pushing it even further. Recently, he had reached some kind of plateau with his blood cultivation, but in this situation, he knew he would push through it without any problem.


    Looking at himself from within, Cao Yun almost saw the image of Axiu Qian. Just like him, Axiu Qian could go into killing frenzies. His rage was out of control and he could paint the entire world red with blood. The difference was that Cao Yun knew he could stop it at any moment. No matter what was in the air, he knew he could fight it off in an instant. But he didn''t know exactly what it was. In a way, it reminded him of the aphrodisiac Lu Meihan had tried to use on him during their first encounter.


    -


    The Palace Spirit Dian Mo was constantly watching over Cao Yun. His story about being a demon sent under cover among humans was not impossible, but he couldn''t understand how a demon would fake the existence of meridians and Dantian within him. Anyway, whether he was a human, a demon, or something else, the Palace Spirit really didn''t care. But he had seen something in him. And hopefully, putting him in a world saturated with killing intent would force him to reveal all his cards.


    Thus, Dian Mo was observing how he was fighting. And even he got cold shivers down his nonexistent spine. The young demon was covered in blood from head to toe. In fact, this wasn''t just blood. He had some fragments of bones piercing his flesh here and there. During the fights, he also took some damage. But as he was absorbing the blood, his gaping wounds were rapidly healing as well. At some point, Cao Yun even jumped through the skull of a giant eagle who had flown too close to the ground. Many pieces of brain were now stuck to him. And they washed away with even more blood.


    Usually a bodiless spirit would not be afraid of such a scene, because he did not even know what it was like to be made of flesh and blood. But this time, Dian Mo could feel fear in him. Of course, it wasn''t to the level of what Demon God Da Mo had inspired in him. However, the mere fact that this young demon could cause such a stir in his emotions was worthy of note.


    Watching this god of destruction, this pure incarnation of wrath, Dian Mo knew that he had made the right decision. Manipulating the Palace of Supreme Wisdom to bring even a single person in here had almost drained him of all energy. It would take him hundreds if not thousands of years to recover from that loss. But with this scene in front of his eyes, he knew he had made the right call. This young demon, or young human, or whatever, was exactly what he had been looking for.


    -


    After several days lost in the entrails of the beasts, Cao Yun also began to eat their flesh and drink their blood. As an early Mortal Warrior, he could go longer without eating or drinking, but the fight was exhausting and he had to take everything he could when there was tiny moments of calm. But no matter how many beasts he killed, they kept on coming. There was not a single moment when there wasn''t any danger around him. Thus, each time he could take a bite, he did. And he kept on fighting.


    Within his own sea of consciousness, Cao Yun could feel the Drop of Wrath react to all this slaughter as well. It was now within his control. Now, he had to discover all it could do and push it even further. At the same time as the Drop of Wrath was brimming with joy and his body overtaken by rage, Cao Yun strangely felt peaceful. He had nothing to think about at all. And he could solely focus on himself.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    With his experience in the first test and his recent display of cruelty against his enemy, Cao Yun was a bit confused about himself. He didn''t want to be a saint or a monk. But he wanted to do the right thing. Trying to find the virtuous path was not the same thing as being virtuous though. At first, the reason why he had wanted to eradicate the demonic cultivators was purely for revenge. Then he had realized that this was a goal that could help all of mankind, not just satisfy him. Later he even learned that the demonic cultivators were maybe not behind the massacre of his family. Yet, he had kept this goal. Yes, he truly wanted to help mankind. But that didn''t mean he had no desire to avenge his dead family.


    Since he was inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he had nothing to investigate. But once he would get out, he would find out the truth. As a Mortal Warrior, he had way more options now. And thanks to the tests he was now faced with, he would become even stronger than before. Besides, his mind cultivation could protect his mind and soul against attacks from Spirit Warriors. Still, he would probably have to ask Xiao Xuefeng to test that theory, just in case.


    Cao Yun''s mind was floating in his own sea of consciousness. He was aware of what his body was doing, but for him it was as though another man was doing those things. That played even more on his interrogations on what was his true identity, his real self. For now, he had no answer to that. His thoughts were just waves on the ocean that was his mind. His actions were mere consequences of those thoughts. But why were some thoughts turn into action while others were discarded? Slowly, Cao Yun was beginning to realize that trying to define who he was was an fool''s errand. There was nothing to define to begin with. His notion of being had been wrong from the start.


    Instead of trying to define something that would always elude him, he should just experience it. Everything was not some kind of problem to be solved. Some things just had to be felt deep down. Although he could not explain or define who he was, he had still this feeling of being. And now, it became even stronger. Strangely, the rage and heat that was coursing through his entire body made him feel even more alive than ever.


    And he remembered something. To learn the Dao, one had to feel it first, it wasn''t something that could be reasoned or explained. It had always been the same thing with cultivation. No matter how much someone could explain it to you, you had to do it yourself to understand. If someone were to explain to you how each of your muscle fibers had to move in order to perform a movement, it wouldn''t be useful at all. You just had to perform the movement and be corrected until you got it right. Then, you had to do it again and again until it was within you and you could perform it without thinking.


    Thinking was good, but overthinking was the door to self-doubt. Cao Yun realized that he had to find a balance. And at this moment, he was almost convinced he had found one. Maybe it wouldn''t last very long. But for now, he had found an answer that could satisfy his interrogations.


    Now that that was out of the way, Cao Yun decided to go back to his cultivation.


    With all the blood he had absorbed, his own blood had become between ten to fifteen percent richer. The Drop of Wrath had already improved his blood so much, it was difficult to go beyond. But now, Cao Yun had ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''. By performing ''Reducing the Five Sheng'', Cao Yun was condensing some of his blood inside his heart. It could allow him to both extract blood essence and diffuse the properties of his Drop of Wrath to all of his blood.


    The goal was to condense all of his blood at the same time within his heart. But as he was absorbing more and more blood, Cao Yun''s blood was becoming denser and richer. As such, condensing it was even more difficult. But the benefits were obvious. His entire body was brimming with life. His Wei Qi had increased in density and size as well. And his meridians and vessels were overflowing with Qi.


    As he was working on his blood cultivation, Cao Yun did not forget about his Qi cultivation. Because the Palace Spirit was probably watching him, he tried to be as covert as possible though. Right now, he had to open his Bai Hui. With all this blood around him, he could probably strengthen his four lower gates, but then it would cause too much of a disparity between the Five Prodigious Gates. Thus, he decided to focus on first becoming a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior.


    For an instant, Cao Yun thought his cultivation was progressing a bit too fast. And he was right in the fact that it was indeed faster than anyone before. But on the other hand, his cultivation was very firm and stable. There was no real reason to delay it any longer. Besides, as he had energized his Upper Dantian, Cao Yun had been able to feel his Bai Hui even more. Indeed, it was the acupoint at the summit of the skull. This point was a vital gate to give the Soul Embryo access to the outside world during the Spirit Warrior realm.


    This was a very important point, but also a very subtle one. As it turned out, this was the most Yang point in the human body and many of the meridians were connected to it, hence its name, the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. Opening it fully was not that easy in theory because it was hard to get a very good sensation for it. But with his Upper Dantian almost completely energized, Cao Yun was able to feel it deeply. He was already connected to it. As such, the most difficult part of the work was already done. But that didn''t mean he could open it with a single thought. Even two months would probably not be enough.


    If his energizing of the Upper Dantian had helped him, then he could maybe energize it completely to amplify the sensation even more. Cao Yun was convinced that if he were able to energize the ninth and final chamber of his Upper Dantian, opening the Bai Hui would become incredibly easy. That being said, he still needed some time to fully form the ninth and final Five Echoes Pearl.


    That wouldn''t prevent him from trying to open the Bai Hui point from the outside however. While he was continuing to push his blood cultivation forward, Cao Yun was diverting some of his Qi, blood and intent toward the Bai Hui to begin its tempering.


    The Palace Spirit had given two months to Cao Yun. But as he was thinking of many different things, the young man failed to realize that the number of beasts was slowly declining. In less than two weeks, he had already turned this world into a giant graveyard. Although the beasts had already been killing each other, now more than half of the corpses had been made by Cao Yun himself. And he still wasn''t done. His body, which was acting on instinct alone, was still slaughtering all the beasts around him without any hesitation or mercy.


    For the Palace Spirit, the show was incredible and reinforced that he had been right. Now that he was certain of his decision, he had to prepare the young demon accordingly. After blood would come fire. After fire would come death. And after death would finally come a new life baptized in blood and fire!

 Chapter 309: A beacon in the void

    Sun Liao was now in another test but he kept thinking about Meng Hanyi, who now seemed to call himself Mo Zi. Although Sun Liao had been able to run away, he wasn''t certain that Mo Zi and his sister had been killed. And even then, he couldn''t be certain that they were alone. In fact, he was quite certain of the opposite. That meant that several demonic cultivators had infiltrated this Palace of Supreme Wisdom and no one outside had noticed anything.


    He was absolutely sure that his master would have been able to detect small variations within the array formations. Even if the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was extremely complex, his master had studied it for a very long time. If he had not noticed anything, there were not that many explanations. Maybe it was indeed a mistake. His master was still human after all... Maybe someone had waited for him to not pay attention. But worse possibilities came to mind. Sun Liao immediately got rid of the stupid idea that his own master might have been a traitor. But then, he realized that there was also another possibility. His master might be dead by now.


    As he was trapped in this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Sun Liao could not be sure of anything. And then it dawned on him. It was also possible that his other friends could be in danger. He had no idea how many demonic cultivators were present in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thus, he had no way to be sure whether his friends would be fine or not. Cao Yun was not a problem considering his current strength and cultivation level. He had survived a world of death last year.


    But Sun Liao was not so sure about Mei Hua and Ren Chao. Although they had both great achievements in specific domains, they were still Mortals. Even with his strength, Ren Chao would probably not be able to survive against several Mortal Warriors acting together. Mei Hua was also not specialized in fighting at all.


    Sun Liao was soon submerged by this anxiety. But he wouldn''t let it win. In order to navigate this perilous situation, he had to be clear-minded. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s mind cultivation came in handy. Moreover, the various tests had given him a great gift that both his sister and brother had. Now he could enter his sea of consciousness.


    In it, he could see the Five Agents floating above his ocean. And high in the sky, he had nine suns emitting a scorching heat. The first time he saw them, Sun Liao was terribly dissatisfied. Although his martial art was called ''Houyi''s Nine Suns'', it in fact consisted of ten suns. Once the tenth sun was formed, all the nine others would join with it. There would be a single sun containing nine others.


    Right now, he was still only at the Small Success stage. Even though his martial art was inferior to Cao Yun''s, it was still a 1-star Human art. But in the hands of an array formation master, it could be so much more. By combining array formations and arrows, Sun Liao was certain he could create powerful new techniques. In fact, he could imbue almost any array formation in his attacks if he was good enough.


    There was something new in his sea of consciousness though, and he only realized that when he tried to calm himself to think more clearly. Hovering in the air, in the center of the nine suns, there was the bow he had used. The sculptures on this bow were now more obvious for him to see. They were showing the story of nine hellish birds who had covered the world in flames by shining as bright as the sun. But one archer had drawn his bow. Without even shooting a single arrow, he took down all the nine suns.


    The story was rather peculiar both in its content and in its visualization. Many things were rather abstract and could not be understood. But now Sun Liao was able to get it as though it had literally been written with words. After the previous test, Sun Liao had been rewarded with this bow. And he could feel a powerful connection with it. However, since it was in his sea of consciousness, he had no way to take it out as a Mortal. Even a Mortal Warrior could not open his sea of consciousness to the outside world. Only advanced Spirit Warriors were able of such a feat.


    But still, Sun Liao tried to touch the bow with his mind and soul. And suddenly, the bow materialized in his hand in the real world. Surprised, Sun Liao almost dropped it. But he understood. He had heard of such a weapon before. At least, he had heard what he thought were legends about such weapons. Since the Legendary Era, no one had been able to craft such an object.


    This ''Heavenly Mirror Longbow'' was a spiritual weapon. It wasn''t a weapon that could be classified with the usual ranks. Indeed, such a weapon would bond with the soul of its owner for life. Then, it would evolve as the owner would. Not only that, but it would literally become a part of both the body and the soul of the owner. As such, it entailed many things. But one of them had to be tested right away. Sun Liao completely forgot his worry because he had to test it out.


    If this weapon was truly part of his body and soul, that meant he could control Qi within it even without being a Mortal Warrior. What an 8th-grade Mortal like him could do was to send Qi in his weapon but he couldn''t control it, it would just be raw power that would slowly disperse away.


    Sun Liao focused and sent Qi in his weapon while visualizing the result he wanted. At first, it was very faint, but there was clearly something between the riser of the bow and the string. An ethereal arrow was nocked on the string. From now on, Sun Liao could create his own arrows. But more than that, he had full control over his Qi inside the arrow. This meant that he could create many more array formations with his arrows. He did not need to engrave anything in them anymore. That was something he would have been able to do as soon as he had reached Mortal Warrior. But he could now do it sooner. And the situation clearly called for it. This was a gift sent by the Heavens. Truly, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom knew what the cultivators within it needed.


    -


    In another realm, a burly woman had appeared on the surface of an asteroid lost in the void of space. The sky above her was pitch-black and many celestial bodies were flying all around. At first she was a bit disorientated and looked around her to find that none of what she was expecting was there.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Who are you?"


    The voice of a young man disturbed her thoughts. Turning around, she immediately recognized him, Zhao Qing, one of the top ten candidates who had enrolled with Cao Yun in the Wubei Sect.


    "How did you...?!"


    His words got stuck in his throat as a powerful pressure encased his body. From her spatial ring, the woman retrieved a curved knife and got closer to the paralyzed young man.


    "Usually, I would really take my time with such a fine body. But we''re in a hurry."


    For several minutes, she engraved various runes in the young man''s flesh. As much as he wanted to scream, he could not because of the pressure exerted on him by her Qi. Moreover, the knife was clearly laced with some poison. It was seeping through his flesh and even crawling up his spine. Before long, he could feel it in his very soul. That woman was a demonic cultivator and she wanted to use him as a reserve of Evil Qi. As soon as he understood that, he tried to detonate his Lower Dantian but it was too late.


    The poison and the runes in his flesh were acting in harmony. He now had no more control over his Qi. It was literally turning into Evil Qi as he was still alive and kicking. His meridians were being corroded by the Evil Qi. Then, his flesh began to dissolve from within. The pain was absolutely unbearable and yet the poison prevented him from falling unconscious. Until the very end, she would squeeze every bit of pain and resentment from him to power up the Evil Qi. Although he knew her plan, how could he not be resentful? He wanted to thwart her plan by calming his soul in order to create less Evil Qi, but he simply couldn''t under the pain he was in.


    During his atrocious end, the burly woman licked her lips and enjoyed every instant of his agony. She did not try to understand the test they were in at all. That was of no importance to her. But she needed the Evil Qi. She was the only one in the group to not have her full blood runes. Because they had been pressed with time, she had been forced to embark on this mission without those and felt inferior and looked down upon by the others. But from now on, this would change.


    Only after getting the full set would she try and find her brothers and sisters. Anyway, she had no way of doing so, hence she had no reason to really worry about that. She had not been brought for her array formation knowledge, this was Mo Tian''s prot¨¦g¨¦''s job. And if he were to fail at that job, she would enjoy watching what Mo Tian would do to him. But then, he would also do it to her and all the others who had failed as well. All of a sudden, the idea began to lose its charm.


    Just as Zhao Qing was breathing his last, she took the Supreme emblem he had on him. She had been briefed on the rules of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And she didn''t want it to teleport her victim away in order to save his life. Besides, maybe she could somehow use the emblem for something.


    Zhao Qing''s mutilated body fell to the ground and one last and perfect blood rune rose from his lifeless carcass. Slowly it flew toward the burly woman. Then, it penetrated her chest at the level of her heart. Controlling it, she pushed the blood rune extremely slowly so that she could feel every instant of it cutting through her flesh and closing the wound behind, kissing her flesh with Evil Qi. Finally, her last blood rune had been created. She now had a hundred and eight blood runes like everyone else.


    Satisfied, she was on the verge of taking a break to feel all the new sensations of those blood runes when something happened. An incredibly weak force was trying to pull on her blood runes. At first, she believed that something had gone wrong or that someone was attacking her. But she was alone and there was no way she had carved this blood rune wrong. The force was very light and she could probably disregard it without any problem. However she was not stupid. There was clearly something at work here and she had to understand it.


    The ''Blood Runes'' cultivation method had been recently found by the demonic cultivators with many other archaic artifacts and manuscripts. If there was something new about those blood runes that she could discover, it would be a very impressive finding for her masters. Maybe she could even balance out the upcoming failure of this crucial mission. After all, she was not the one who had screwed up. The array formation meant to transport her had failed. So it was either Mo Tian or Mo Zi''s fault. And most likely, the fault would fall on Mo Zi anyway.


    Thinking about Mo Zi, the burly woman realized something. The pull on those blood runes felt familiar. They were resonating with the seal Mo Tian had placed on her to obey his disciple.


    Then...?!


    Yes, this sensation in her blood runes was from Mo Zi. Somehow he was trying to contact her. Maybe this mission was not a failure after all. And if she was the one who salvaged it by helping Mo Zi out, she would become a true hero!


    As she didn''t know what to do exactly, she decided to completely expel the blood runes from her body. The moment she did, the sensation became even stronger as her Wei Qi was not getting in the way.


    -


    Still inside the Absolute Haven Lotus, Mo Zi was using his blood runes and Wang Jinhua''s blood runes to establish a connection with the blood runes of his brothers and sisters. But this connection had to literally cross over the void that was slowly swallowing everything. It wasn''t the void of space, but the real void, the absence of all things. Even for Mo Zi, it was hard to wrap his head around the concept. But he decided not to think about it. His understanding of space was as empty as this void for now. But in the future, being witness to such an event would probably reap many benefits for him in understanding the Dao.


    Finally, he felt something. At first there was some obstacle but it also began to disperse. Yes, one of his brethren had probably understood what was going on.


    Using the array formation plate from his master, Mo Zi took full control of the Absolute Haven Lotus and tried to direct it toward the sensation.


    It took a very long time. On the ground, Wang Jinhua was still in a terrible condition. But Mo Zi was helping her out so that the Evil Qi in her would not wreak havoc. Indeed, he needed her for this operation. Without her blood runes, he would never get enough pull on his comrades'' runes. But Wang Jinhua was worried of what he would do with her once they would be safe. Hopefully, he would be in dire need of comrades. But she was deeply wounded...


    Finally, their giant lotus reached some kind of membrane lost in the void. It was a strange object with very complicated geometrical topology. And it was floating in nothing. It wasn''t the void of space, it was pure nothingness. Before going crazy, Mo Zi ignored it all. He didn''t try to understand what was going on. Instead, he focused on the strange membrane. This was clearly the boundary of one of the realms. And one of his comrades was in there. Hopefully they had killed the Wubei disciple inside and they would all be safe.


    But to open the boundary, Mo Zi knew of no other way than to pierce through it with the Absolute Haven Lotus. This was a 3-star Heaven array formation. As such, Mo Zi was certain it could damage the boundary. And he was hoping that it would be enough for him to get inside. Maybe Wang Jinhua could get inside as well...

 Chapter 310: Dissolved in the void

    Inside a formless void there was only one thing keeping reality together, a brilliant lotus in which two young cultivators were focusing their energy. Both of them were trying to move this Absolute Haven Lotus. Without it, they would have already ceased to exist altogether. The only reason why they could even perceive that nothingness that was trying to destroy them was thanks to this Absolute Haven lotus. Its mere presence had corrupted the perfect nothingness making it something in-between, neither substance nor void.


    But they were now closing in on this incomprehensible geometric structure. it was curved in all manners that seemed foreign to those young cultivators. Neither of them had any understanding of the laws of space. In fact, they had never gone into another dimension apart from Mo Zi in that exact same place last year. As such, seeing what was going on outside of those realms was beyond their understanding. Thankfully, Mo Zi didn''t need to understand anything as long as he could control the Absolute Haven Lotus from his master.


    As the name suggested, this was the most powerful protection his master could imbue in an array formation plate. Although it wasn''t as powerful as some other Heaven array formations in any specific domain, it was better in average overall. Instead of specializing in a specific kind of defense, it could protect against anything with very good performances. And right now, it was even defending them against the absence of space itself.


    Finally, the lotus touched the strange membrane that was adrift like them. At that moment, they began to see something beyond this membrane, as though it was a veil covering up a small world. Inside were several asteroids drifting in the void of space. This kind of void was better than the void they were trying to run from. To be honest, none of them really understood the difference beforehand. For them, void was void. But now they had touched upon the fact that this wasn''t as simple as that. In the void of space, there was still space and time. In the void around them, there was absolutely nothing at all. It was true nothingness.


    Mo Zi was able to feel a great resistance. This membrane had an intense pressure sent outward. The more they pressed against it, the more they were pushed back. But because he had finally reached another realm, Mo Zi did not need to use the blood runes to locate his brethren anymore. Instead, he could use them all to try and weaken the membrane. On the ground, Wang Jinhua tried to resist the pain. But it became too much for her and she lost consciousness. In her last moment of clarity, she pleaded her brother. She knew how little it would have been effective toward her, but she hoped that her brother would be more grateful than her.


    With her out cold, Mo Zi was forced to take full control of her blood runes. The reason why no one had pushed the blood runes beyond a hundred and eight was not just because the method said so. It was also because their bodies could simply not resist more than that. There was a perfect balance between all the runes. Each one had slightly different roles. Even the Evil Qi within was distributed in a specific manner. But if the balance was broken, the Evil Qi could erupt within the body and cause unimaginable damage. However, now he had no time to worry about this. Piercing this membrane and entering this realm was his only chance of survival and then completing this mission. After that, the demonic cultivators would become living gods on the Piaolu planet. Neither humans nor demons would be threats anymore.


    He had to succeed! No matter what!


    The plate in his hands started to break apart. But the blood runes were now rotating in the petal of the lotus in contact with the membrane. At last, the membrane got penetrated. Suddenly, everything around Mo Zi changed. He was now standing in the same Absolute Haven Lotus but on the surface of the asteroid where Neng Lue was standing. The mutilated corpse of Zhao Qing was still there at her feet and she was watching Mo Zi with a bit of astonishment.


    He had appeared out of thin air all of a sudden. Even she had not been able to detect anything. Yet, she boasted to be the strongest Mortal Warrior demonic cultivator. Some were not agreeing with her but no one had survived trying to contest her this title. Despite that, she was still under Mo Zi''s command. After all, she had literally a seal to prevent her from disobeying him. But she had no intention to do so to begin with. Although she didn''t know every single detail, she knew enough to want this mission to be a complete success.


    "Sister Neng?"


    Looking around, Mo Zi saw the corpse and understood. She had probably forged her last blood rune recently and it had helped him establish a connection with her. When her set was completed, it had radiated so much that it had been easier for him to detect, similarly to what could happen during a breakthrough. Sometimes it caused a wave of pure energy to be sent all around.


    As the Absolute Haven Lotus faded away, Mo Zi was all smiles.


    -


    Cao Yun was still knee deep in blood and flesh. Although it had been less than a month, he had completely exceeded everything the Palace Spirit had hoped for.


    During his first test, Cao Yun had experienced what he believed to be some kind of enlightenment. He had realized a truth about himself and about every single being under the Heavens. The thoughts, desires, even intentions of someone could not define him. Indeed, even then, Cao Yun was unable to say for sure where each one of his thoughts was coming from. It meant that there was something deeper in his mind that those thoughts. They were just an emanation of several conflicting parts of his own mind and soul. The more he thought about it, the more he tended to agree with the idea that the soul was indeed separated in several independent parts.


    But now, as he was in a world of blood, flesh and violence, the furthest world he could imagine from spiritual enlightenment, Cao Yun had just had another one. Maybe it was partly due to his Drop of Wrath.


    Now his connection with this drop of blood was extremely strong; He could feel that he would soon make it his fully. Although he could control it almost as he wished, this was still something that did not completely belong to him. In other words, this was a foreign object in his body. Soon enough though, it would be an integral part of both his body and soul. Now he was certain that his mind cultivation would allow him to do so.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    In the realm he was currently fighting, Cao Yun had finally understood what this bloodlust that had overtaken him was. This was pure killing intent mixed with blood. Even from Can Mouye, he had never felt such raw killing intent. In a way, it was very similar to the Drop of Wrath. The main difference was that there was no emotion in this killing intent, just the intense desire to kill. This was why Cao Yun had lost himself in it without his emotions going awry.


    With this knowledge, he could dissipate it at any moment, but he didn''t want to. First of all, it had pushed his blood cultivation to the paroxysm of what he could currently do. Even without ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', Cao Yun could now feel his blood nourishing every single cell in his body. His blood was so rich, it could seep through his deepest tissues. In a sense, Cao Yun''s body had become as transparent to blood as he was to Qi. Of course, his blood was still flowing through his veins, but much more than that now.


    Beyond this, Cao Yun had also been able to finally condense all of his blood into his heart. Right now, it was still extremely painful as he could feel an intense pressure in his chest each time he did so. As such, he couldn''t maintain this state for very long. But with time and effort, he would be able to keep it up long enough to perform the second part of ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''. After ''Reducing the Five Sheng'', there was ''Stoking the Human Flames''. He had to activate Fire Qi around his heart. And it was perfect because soon enough he would need to accumulate Fire Qi in his body in order to cultivate.


    Indeed, right now Cao Yun was still working on opening his last of the Five Prodigious Gates. After that, he would need to forge them so that they could resist more and more Qi, and in particular, concentrated Fire Qi. Then, he would need to accumulate it in his Middle Dantian as he had accumulated Water Qi in his Lower Dantian.


    It was however such a pity that he had not opened his last gate now. With all this blood around him, he could have forged his gates with extreme ease. Right now, Cao Yun was hoping to achieve even further breakthroughs. In a year, he could accomplish what average cultivators did in a decade. On the other hand, he could have died several times.


    Indeed, Cao Yun had had his bones shattered several times. Even some of his organs had been pierced. His neck had been chewed on. But with the thick blood and the Drop of Wrath in him, Cao Yun could regenerate almost anything. And with this vast reserve of blood all around him, he could do so in record time and as many times as he wished for. However, until now, he had never had his limbs severed. Even he was not so sure he could repair such damage. Recreating tissues that had been damaged was not the same thing as recreating lost limbs or organs. At worst, he was confident in being able to reattach a lost limb, but not recreating it from scratch.


    Seeing his current form, even the Palace Spirit was in awe. This boy''s body was incredible. To be honest, Dian Mo had not really believed his story. But he could still not determine whether he was human or not. After all, he could barely feel meridians in him, maybe it had indeed been part of a disguise. And the spirit could not imagine a human being able to survive such wounds at that rate. Although human cultivators could improve their recovery, only demons could so completely heal thanks to their blood. Maybe a Spirit Warrior could have achieved such a feat, but the boy was way too young to be one. And if he were, he would have no need to lie at all.


    Anyway, Dian Mo had already been interested in the boy. But now he was absolutely certain. Then he truly needed to prepare this body. Two months would not be necessary. As soon as the boy would seem to stagnate, he would send him in the second world. But the boy had not yet fully realized the terror of this realm of beasts.


    -


    Wang Jinhua finally woke up. In all honesty, she had been convinced that she would never do so again in this life. But apparently, Mo Zi had set up an array formation around her to help her recovery. At first, she was surprised. But then, she understood. There were only three of them including Neng Lue. Mo Zi probably needed all the help he could get.


    Neng Lue was the first one to see Wang Jinhua wake up. Both women did not like each other very much. To be fair, no demonic cultivator harbored any meaningful feeling to one another. Because they were used to using humans as objects, they could only see human relationships as means to an end. As such they evaluated others according to what they could get out of them.


    "Sister Wang."


    "Sister Neng."


    Although they were smiling to one another, they both had killing intents in their eyes.


    "Girls! There is no time for your petty quarrels! Look there, Sister Wang."


    The young woman wanted to rebuke Mo Zi''s arrogance, but she stopped herself. Instead, she did look in the direction he was pointing. In the vacuum of space, there was a giant laceration.


    "Apparently, by piercing this realm, you''ve let the void come inside of it. We don''t know how long it will take but this very realm will collapse."


    "Not only this realm... You see, my master has studied this Palace of Supreme Wisdom long enough to get a good understanding of its inner workings."


    "It still didn''t allow us to get inside without any problem."


    Both women thought the same thing but only Neng Lue dared to speak, or rather, was reckless enough to do so. Of course, Mo Zi was not very pleased with her remark, mainly because she was right.


    "This place is made of so many array formations woven together, we knew there were risks involved. Apart from my master though, no one could have even entertained the idea of sending us through. Anyway! All the realms are connected. And because we had to break the membrane protecting this one, not only will it collapse, it will probably influence the other ones. I can''t be sure of what''s going to happen, but all the borders of those realms will weaken. And that''s our chance."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Instead of trying to establish connections with our brethren, we''ll attack the very frontiers between the realms. Hence, we''ll bring every single person in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom in one unique realm. We''ll just have to find one another. In fact, it will be even easier for us to create a passageway toward the true palace."


    "But we''ll also have to face all the Wubei disciples."


    "Hopefully our brothers and sisters did as Sister Neng and killed the Wubei disciples they met. As long as we''re together, I do not think we''re in any danger. However, you should remember two things. First of all, our mission is the priority! Killing the disciples will only be done if necessary. And even more importantly, Chen Guo is dangerous. If you meet him, do not engage alone. Hell, do not engage at all. Instead, try and lure him as far away as possible. If he could be in a completely different realm, this would be perfect for us."

 Chapter 311: Bleeding reality

    Still captive inside the world of blood and savagery, Cao Yun was now surrounded by corpses. At first, he had been completely overrun by feral beasts. There had been so many that he had not even been able to correctly see them. But now, all around him, they were dead. Finally he would get some peace. Even if his mind was rather peaceful, his body was completely exhausted. As much as he could heal himself with his blood cultivation, it didn''t prevent him from getting tired.


    Everything in his body was screaming in agony. Strangely enough though, this instant of quiet threw him into chaos. Indeed, during the fight, he was completely immersed in his own savagery and his mind was tranquil because of it. But now every signal in his body was sent into his mind. All of a sudden he felt all the pain and fatigue he had accumulated for almost a month.


    Thankfully, his mind cultivation was still powerful enough to keep it quiet. Despite the feelings, his body was in an incredible condition. Right now, Cao Yun knew he was as strong, if not stronger than a late Mortal Warrior. And it wasn''t just physical strength. Considering that his blood was extremely rich in Qi now, his own reserves were three times superior to what they would be if he only had his Qi cultivation. And even his Qi cultivation was more stable and firm than for most cultivators, thanks to the training of Chief Instructor Peng.


    Now, Cao Yun could finally try to stabilize what he had gained. The first thing he wanted to do was to try and condense all of his blood into his heart for longer periods of time. That way he could harmonize all of his blood. Indeed, he had absorbed more and more blood from every part of his body so it was still a bit chaotic inside of him. Now that he wasn''t using his body, this would maybe cause a backlash. During the fight, it wasn''t a problem because he was burning most of what he absorbed. Because it was circulating so fast, it couldn''t cause too much of an unbalance in him.


    Soon the young man heard some noises that were not very reassuring. This was a disgusting sound of liquid being sucked into something.


    All around him, Cao Yun watched in disbelief. The corpses were sucking up the blood as their wounds were rapidly healing, just like him. If he could heal his wounds with blood, there was no reason for creatures bathing in a constant pool of blood to not be able to.


    Unlike the other realms he had been to, this place was not really a test created by the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. There was no test at all in fact. This was a hell manufactured by the Palace Spirit Dian Mo. Cao Yun knew exactly what he was. This palace had been created by humans before the Demon God Da Mo enslaved the planet. Even the demons could not control this place and ended up using it just like the Wubei Sect to train their young ones. But that had not prevented them from trying to control this place. And Dian Mo was an attempt to control the Palace of Supreme Wisdom.


    If what he had said was true, Dian Mo had been created by Da Mo himself. Even he could not fully control the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Most likely, he had just been able to change it enough for it to be beneficial to demons instead of humans. In fact, this realm was probably one of the training grounds crafted for the demons. But Cao Yun was unable to determine how far the influence of Dian Mo could reach. As a matter of fact, it was certain that he could not kill everyone in the realms otherwise he would have done so already after all those years. But maybe there were terrible things he could still do that would require such a sacrifice that he had never done it before.


    As such, it was prudent to play it safe. Although Cao Yun knew that his lies were not necessarily very convincing, they could instill enough doubts to buy him some time. But apparently, the Palace Spirit had decided to treat him as a real demon. And he had to go through the same kind of training they had several millenniums ago.


    Pushing aside the idea of resting or cultivating, Cao Yun was forced to fight again. As long as there would be blood in this world, the corpses would rise again and again. But Cao Yun could not just absorb everything in his own body.


    Once more, the young man circulated the intent of the Drop of Wrath in his entire body. Now it was literally part of every fiber of his being as the blood had gained the attributes of the Drop of Wrath. And it had spread it throughout his entire system.


    ''Dance of Slaughter''.


    Cao Yun mixed his punching routine with several other martial arts he knew to keep on fighting. As he went back into the melee, Cao Yun forgot both the pain and the fatigue. They just vanished as though they had never existed. Before the beasts could fully regenerate, Cao Yun struck them with all his might, trying to destroy their bodies as much as he could. Hopefully, by tearing them apart limb by limb, he would be able to either prevent them from rising back or at least slow it down. He himself was not convinced he could recover from a severed limb. But those things were not human at all. And they were neither demonic beasts nor demons. They were completely different.


    As such, Cao Yun had no idea what rules would apply to them in this realm. But since the spirit had asked him to survive two months, the assault of the beasts was probably never ending.


    That didn''t prevent him from trying something anyway.


    -


    Mo Zi was sitting cross-legged with more than three hundred blood runes levitating all around him. On both his sides, Neng Lue and Wang Jinhua were standing guard. Although this world was devoid of threat right now, there could still be dangers due to what he was attempting right now.


    Mo Zi had planted strange flags all over the place. Those were made from bones. It was difficult to tell for sure, but some were clearly from demonic beasts while others could come from humans. Each one had many engravings and they were perfectly well preserved, just as well as Can Mouye had done with Huang''er''s bones. Between each flag, there were occasional surges of energies of various colors. Some particular flags were even shining a strange color that almost seemed alive. Everything was under Mo Zi''s control. Among the Mortal Warriors, he was clearly the strongest array formation master.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    In fact, he could probably kill an early Spirit Warrior if he could prepare the right array formation beforehand. But even in an actual fight, he was still rather good. Of course, in a fair fight, he was not a match for Neng Lue, and not even for Wang Jinhua. But he had no fear of them attacking or even slightly disobeying him. If they entertained that thought, his master''s seal would torture them right away and eventually kill them. Even if he were to ask them to lay down their life for him, they would have almost no choice. The seal would not just kill their flesh, but their soul as well.


    Finally, Mo Zi was done. In front of him were the remaining pieces of the Absolute Haven Lotus array formation plate. Lightning bolts pierced them and turned them into dust. Then a delicate wind scattered them in a very particular manner. The preparation was done.


    "Get ready! I''ll try to break down all the boundaries between the realms. As soon as I do, all kinds of worlds will bleed into one another. To be absolutely honest, I have no clear idea of what will happen exactly. But within this array formation we''ll be protected by the remnants of Master Mo Tian''s masterpiece. No matter what happens around us, if you value your lives, you will not leave my sides."


    Mo Zi did not wait for any confirmation. Those two women were not stupid. They knew he knew his craft.


    Suddenly, the flags began to glow. Powerful bursts of light erupted from them in all directions. With the naked eye it was difficult to make out but these pillars of light were made of lotus petals. Each one was so incandescent that they all appeared to meld together in one coherent beam of light. All around the realm they were in, the demonic cultivators saw those beams strike something that wasn''t there. It was as though there were invisible walls around them.


    Neng Lue and Wang Jinhua were surprised and Mo Zi sensed it.


    "My master studied this Palace of Supreme Wisdom for a very long time. Although the space we''re in appears as vast as our world, it is not. In fact, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom uses a mixture of space control and illusions. We''re really inside a closed dimension, but we''re also under several illusions to make us perceive it way larger than it actually is. After all, even this complex mosaic of array formations could not handle the creation of hundreds of realms every year. Thus, whoever built it got very imaginative to save as much energy as possible. Only what is necessary is created, everything else is an illusion. This is the reason why there is a need for a complex spirit to manage everything."


    "And do you believe this Palace Spirit will see our mission with a good eye?"


    "It''s hard to tell. On one hand, it will rise his master from the dead. On the other, it will enslave him to our will."


    Both women were quite shocked when they heard him. Indeed, they knew how important this mission was but they had no real detail. Were they going to bring some demon back from the dead? Were they just going to get one of his weapons? But they knew better than to ask. However, there was still one question that bothered Wang Jinhua.


    "Couldn''t this spirit destroy us if we''re inside the array formation he controls?"


    "Ha ha ha. No. From what we discovered, this Palace Spirit was created to replace the former spirit that was loyal to the humans. And it succeeded, that spirit is gone. However, the new one was unable to gain any substantial control over the array formation, no matter how long he tried. To perform even simple tasks, it requires great amounts of energy from him and he could even destroy himself. In a way, he''s still fighting the ghost of the previous owner. Not only couldn''t he hurt us, but I am fairly confident he will welcome us. After all, we can offer him freedom from this place. Still, a spirit created by demons should never be trus..."


    Suddenly, Mo Zi shut up. And both women followed suit. Seeing a frown on his face, they knew something had happened.


    Looking in the distance, they were able to see various sceneries in the void of space. Each pillar of light had opened what appeared to be windows toward other realms. Some were giant architectures, others were great sceneries of nature, desert, jungle, strange places they could not even start to describe. There was no mistake, Mo Zi had unlocked all the other realms. Now he just had to break the veil between them.


    "Get ready! Do not move!"


    All the blood runes he had around him began to scatter. They went inside the pillars of light. As projectiles, they were shot toward each window at the same time. More and more cracks appeared in the fabric of reality itself. It was as though the void of space was a giant dome of glass that was being destroyed from the inside.


    -


    Similar scenes were happening everywhere at once.


    For example, Sun Liao who was still thinking about what had happened to him was now seeing the void of space high in the blue sky he was under. Although his understanding of the laws of space was limited, he knew enough to get what this was. Someone was trying to breach into this world. But he couldn''t be sure of their goal. Maybe the demonic cultivators were after him because he had seen them. That didn''t make sense though. Indeed, he could not navigate those realms as he wished so he was trapped and not a threat to them. Clearly, they were after something else. Something he had?


    Looking more intently through this window made of cracks in the veil between realms, Sun Liao saw other such windows. And he understood. They were collapsing all the realms into one. Although he had no idea of what would happen, Sun Liao decided to be pro-active. Just in case, he gripped his Supreme emblem. Hopefully, it would protect him of whatever was going to happen. There were protective array formations within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Sun Liao was hoping they would still help him.


    And he was not alone with this hope. All the Wubei disciples who were still alive gripped their Supreme emblem even if they were in the middle of something. Others did as well, demonic cultivators. They had all been scattered into different realms. They had emerged in small groups and had killed whoever was with them. Thankfully for them, they had remembered what their masters had told them. Before killing any Wubei disciple, they had taken their Supreme emblem to ensure that they would not be transported elsewhere.


    Thus, they all had Supreme emblems and they gripped them as well. Some accepted to share while others decided that it was a good opportunity to slaughter their allies. They were not certain whether several people could be protected by one Supreme emblem. So they had to be sure...


    -


    Finally, the veils completely collapsed. As much as the cracks had been spreading gradually, the collapse happened in an instant. As soon as the damage was too much to bear, every boundary exploded into tiny pieces. Then, everyone was blinded by a powerful light. And all the Supreme emblems emitted heat that spread all around them. Everyone that was holding one of those felt as though they were inside a warm cocoon. Some demonic cultivators realized that they had no reason to kill their allies because the emblem was acting on an area large enough for several people.


    Deep in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, someone was shocked by the events, Dian Mo.

 Chapter 312: On the brink of collapse

    Dian Mo had been created to overtake the Palace of Supreme Wisdom as Mo Zi had told his comrades. But even Demon God Da Mo was not powerful enough to completely take over this ancient array formation. As such, Dian Mo only got a very light control over it. In fact, he was more akin to a prisoner than a guard. But he was able to vaguely feel what was happening within the different realms. That was thanks to that that he had been able to detect the intent from the Drop of Wrath when Cao Yun pushed it far enough.


    Right now, he was observing Cao Yun who was slaughtering the blood beasts in the realm he had sent him. Thanks to the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, the demons had built several specific realms to train themselves. The humans had never discovered how to access them though. And Dian Mo could only force someone in them if they physically entered the true palace, where he was at his strongest. The stairs leading to his Demon Palace only opened every seven years.


    The carnage unleashed by Cao Yun was very impressive. Because he had been mostly isolated and unable to see the various tests around him, Dian Mo was bored beyond measure. Watching such a show was incredible. Even back in the days, he did not remember any demon being that powerful at this age. Because Dian Mo had not much confidence in Cao Yun, he had chosen a two months period, but this was both too long and too short for him right now. Cao Yun had almost reached a stage in which this battle was not interesting anymore. But Dian Mo wanted to see more.


    Maybe he was simply going to advance his plans and activate the end of the test right now. There was no way this boy would not survive. And he needed him to survive and become stronger and stronger. Even though he wasn''t sure about his story, Dian Mo had great plans for the young demon.


    His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a powerful commotion within the array formations holding this place together. Immediately, he tried to assess the situation because his life was directly bound to this place. If something were to happen, he could simply cease to be. And he was so close to his goal... There was no way he was going to let himself die just as he could finally see the object of his desires in front of him. Until a few weeks ago, he had abandoned all hope. But fate seemed to be on his side now. This young demon had appeared just as he had come out of his cycle of slumber.


    Every seven years, his own palace was opened, the Demon Palace. This was precisely where he had taken Cao Yun. The tests created by the demons were all stored there. Because of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, even Da Mo had been unable to make them accessible all the time. They had been forced to settle for one year every seven years.


    Dian Mo would not be robbed of this fateful encounter. No matter what!


    He could feel the array formations literally unravel before him. Someone had messed up with the veils between the realms and had caused all of them to bleed into one another. Right now the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was desperately trying to prevent his inhabitants from dying. Thankfully Cao Yun was in a realm that was isolated from the others because it was confined within the Demon Palace. But this chaos would ineluctably spread to the entire structure. Indeed, it was a complex tapestry of meticulously woven formations. Although it had many protections within, if the wrong array formations were damaged, the entire structure could collapse with them.


    With despair, Dian Mo tried to think of many ways to prevent the complete collapse. But in the end, he only had one way. He was going to have to use his own spiritual energy to try and keep it together. After millenniums without a single demon to replenish him, Dian Mo was already reaching his limit and yet here he was forced to consume his own strength just to survive. But it was worth it. A few weeks ago, he might even have welcomed death as this place had become his prison. But after meeting Cao Yun, he had found hope again. And he was ready to do whatever was necessary to live long enough to see his dream come true.


    -


    Outside of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, this was Xiao Xuefeng''s turn to watch over the place.


    Although she wasn''t very well versed in array formations, she clearly felt something unusual happening within. For an instant, she felt as though the entire thing was about to explode. Then, more Qi got sucked into it and it stabilized. This Palace of Supreme Wisdom had been built in an area where Qi was naturally abundant. Some called such a place a Dragon Vein. Directly beneath this area, there was a natural reservoir of Qi that could accumulate over time. As such, it was almost impossible to completely drain it, even with the consumption of all those array formations. In fact, the Wubei Sect was even able to use some of it for themselves as well.


    Sometimes Dragon Veins ended up crystallized and formed mines for spirit stones. But the ancient humans had found a way to preserve it and avoid any form of crystallization. The Qi was able to roam free all around and was essentially channeled into their construction.


    As she was about to investigate further, another man appeared, Chief Elder Suxian.


    "Brother Suxian?"


    "I''ve felt something ominous..."


    Holding a hand out, he signaled Xiao Xuefeng to stay quiet. Although it wasn''t very courteous, Xiao Xuefeng was an alchemist and she knew when a master needed to think without any distraction. Chief Elder Suxian was the greatest array formation master she knew, and probably the greatest in the current Hongchen Kingdom. As such, she did not find his behavior rude. Moreover, his own disciple was within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He had to be as worried as she was.


    Chief Elder Suxian took out several compasses and compared all of them. Nothing escaped his scrutiny and his face became more and more somber.


    "This can''t be..."


    "Brother?"The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Excuse me, Sister Xiao. Someone was able to get inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom."


    "What? How many people?"


    "I don''t know. I don''t even know how they did it. But the structure is slowly collapsing. Someone was able to stabilize it, probably the spirit managing the array formation."


    "I thought there was no spirit in it anymore..."


    "So did I. But... I don''t see any other explanation. We need to bring everyone here. This place could crumble at any time. And if that happens... Apart from Sect Leader Xuan, I don''t see who could save our disciples. Warn everyone, I''ll try to stabilize it further."


    Chief Elder Suxian was the one who had studied this place the most. As such, Xiao Xuefeng trusted him completely with this task. Using her spiritual senses, she was able to contact all the chief elders and even the Sect Leader. The situation was critical.


    -


    Finally Sun Liao was able to see again. This time, the teleportation had lasted at least ten times longer. As Chief Elder Suxian''s direct disciple, he could not ignore what it meant.


    But first, he looked around him. He was now in a frozen desert with tall frozen cliffs all around him. Without losing any time, he jumped and reached the top of those cliffs fairly easily. The temperature was so cold that a mortal would have died in less than a minute. For Sun Liao, this was painful but bearable. He had no way to warm himself anyway. And right now his mind was on something else.


    Looking from this height, he was able to see that the world had gone insane. It wasn''t a single coherent realm any longer. All around him were various pieces of very different lands patched together. It didn''t make any sense at all. And their environments were clearly clashing with each other. For example, Sun Liao was able to see a terrible tempest slowly forming all around the place he was currently in. Indeed, this extreme cold was clashing with the normal temperature around it.


    But more than that, Sun Liao was able to see tears in the sky. It was like a piece of tissue that had been stretched too far and was about to break apart. This Palace of Supreme Wisdom was not made to harbor such a large realm. Because his master had studied this place extensively, Sun Liao also knew many things. Each realm was rather small contrary to what one could perceive. And there was a reason for it. The strain put on the array formations depended not only on the volume but also on the surface of the realms that were created. As such, the ones who had built this place had found clever ruses. Sun Liao did not understand everything but apparently, each realm was folded into itself in a very specific matter to reduce the strain.


    But right now, someone had put all the realms together. And apparently all the folds had been straightened out. In other words, the array formation could not resist this pressure for very long.


    If Mo Zi was really the one who had done so, he was either stupid, suicidal or desperate. And Sun Liao was right, Mo Zi had been desperate to accomplish his mission, just like Mo Tian.


    For now though, Sun Liao could not think about that. He would first find his brothers and sister. Since he didn''t know how many demonic cultivators were within and what they were after, he would need all the strength he could get. Once that would be secure, he could maybe try to think of a way to stop this madness or at least survive it. He had no way of reverting the realms back to what they used to be, but he was certain that his master would be working on it from the outside.


    -


    While all this chaos was unraveling, Cao Yun was still deep in blood and flesh. To stop the feral beasts all around him from regenerating and attacking again, Cao Yun had been breaking their limbs apart. And because it was still not enough, he had resorted to an even more violent and brutal way. He was tearing them into pieces, throwing their organs in different directions as well. Although it was way bloodier, it had proven very effective.


    The blood entering their dead flesh was able to restore even their organs but it was taking more and more time.


    In this mess, Cao Yun''s skin had began to turn reddish. It wasn''t to the level of Axiu Qian''s skin, but he was now looking a bit like Yun Ping. People living near the border usually had a bit of demon blood in them and their skin were naturally tainted by it. Although Cao Yun had never seen a demon, he knew some had crimson blood skins while others had skin very similar to humans. But if they went all out, their skins turned back to the color of blood, because unlike humans, they had no meridian, they could only control the Qi in their blood, like demonic beasts. In fact, that was why they had been called demonic beasts, because they were similar to demons on that point.


    But Cao Yun was mostly oblivious to all that. First of all, he was always covered in blood so he couldn''t see a difference, especially in a world tainted by the red color of blood everywhere. But more importantly, Cao Yun was fully focused on tearing the beasts apart. He wasn''t just mindlessly leaving his savagery out. In fact, he was conscientiously training.


    Sadly, he could not begin to activate his Fire Qi right now. Otherwise he would completely unbalance his Qi cultivation. The system used by humans was important because it prepared the body, the soul and the mind step by step for what was to come next. As such, it was always a bad idea to try and cultivate a stage too soon. And Cao Yun was not ready to accumulate Fire Qi yet. First he had to fully open his Five Prodigious Gates and temper them completely. Otherwise, he could damage them by accumulating Fire Qi in his body. But that also meant that his blood cultivation was stuck for now. Although he could condense his blood, he could not use his own fire on it. Still, just putting his blood in contact with the Drop of Wrath had been very beneficial.


    There was no doubt in his mind that this test was not a danger for him anymore. But it wasn''t helping him progress any longer either...


    With his blood cultivation at a bottleneck and without his spear, Cao Yun could either work on his mind cultivation or on his Qi cultivation. Although he could feel his Bai Hui ready to be fully opened, he was not completely there yet.


    Thus, Cao Yun decided to focus on his mind cultivation. In fact, he decided to focus on the Drop of Wrath and the Po character in it. There was now a powerful connection between his Po character and this one. Thanks to ''Death Verses'', Cao Yun could feel the Death Energy still present in the Po within the drop of blood. And he could try to move it around.


    When his mind cultivation would finally break into the third layer, Cao Yun could fully focus on the Seven Turbid Demons emerging from the Po. At that stage, he had several ideas on how he wanted to proceed to try and both improve the Drop of Wrath and fully integrate it into his own body. With time, he was confident that he could erase its last master and become its new one.


    Besides, this day was not that far because Cao Yun could clearly see the last Five Echoes Pearl ready to be completed. Apparently, his rage and his use of the Drop of Wrath had helped him squeeze even more energy from his Five Agents. Very soon, he could finally energize his last chamber and enter the third layer he was impatient to test.


    As he had the situation under control, something disturbed Cao Yun. From above came a voice. This was Dian Mo''s voice but it was a bit dim.


    "Young demon, I think you''re just too good. There is no need to wait two whole months. Just prove to me how good your control of blood is right now and you pass."

 Chapter 313: Axiu Qians Blood Wrath

    Suddenly, all the blood around Cao Yun began to flow toward the same place. Instead of reanimating the corpses, it began to solidify into a huge creature. The blood even began to turn into various tissues. And before long, the shape of a gigantic fox with several tails made of blood started to take form.


    Cao Yun decided not to wait and to attack right away. Using the modified version of ''Dance of Slaughter'', Cao Yun disappeared and reappeared just beside the forming creature. It was towering several meters above him and yet it was not done growing.


    During his previous fight, Cao Yun had slowly began to incorporate elements of various martial arts into his ''Dance of Slaughter''. Each time he did, he could feel the Drop of Wrath reacting to his movements. Thanks to it, he created an art that was optimal to use with it. Unlike before, it wasn''t just several moves of different arts put together in a new way. No, Cao Yun had truly created a martial art. He had used all the knowledge he had absorbed and had modeled it around both the ''Dance of Slaughter'' and the Drop of Wrath.


    As such, he had no idea how powerful this art was or to which degree he could push it. However, he could clearly feel that he was close to forming Palm Aura. After mastering Spear Aura to a good extent, displaying other auras was not rare. Usually it still took some time, but Cao Yun had been training with Chief Elder Baishen who only used her palms against him and he had now been fighting almost a month with his bare hands. In total, he had probably fought longer with his palms and fists than with his spear or his sword.


    This new martial art had no name yet. Quite frankly, this wasn''t a concern of Cao Yun right now.


    His palm pressed against the flank of the beast. It felt like jelly. The sensation was not really pleasant as it was truly coagulated blood. And the smell was also atrocious. Of course, after almost a month in this blood world, Cao Yun was completely desensitized to that stench.


    A powerful vibration spread into the creature and its entire flank exploded toward Cao Yun. Once again he was covered in blood. But this time was different. As it was on him, the blood was still wriggling. It was alive. Several drops began to agglutinate and formed thick filaments. Without hesitation, Cao Yun began to tear them apart. Some were trying to burrow into his skin. All over his body, his Wei Qi intensified. Most of the blood was blown away. Some filaments had been able to pierce his skin here and there, but they were completely crushed by his Wei Qi. They wriggled as though they were in pain and imploded.


    All the blood on the ground went back into the fox figure. Now, it had hundreds of tails made of thousands of filaments of blood. The face of the fox was completely deformed, way too elongated with a huge grin and going all the way to its ears. However, it had no eye at all. Its very body was in constant flux as it was made of living blood.


    The monstrous beast jumped around. It was a bit faster than Cao Yun at the peak of his speed. Of course, if he had his spear and could use his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'', he could exceed that by a margin. But right now, he was not proficient enough to do so without his spear. Anyway, despite its speed, Cao Yun was able to follow it without any problem. Not only had he developed his perception through the ''Ashen Feather Seal'', but also thanks to the Chamber of Heavenly Court which allowed him to think faster.


    The Palace Spirit was not trying to kill him. And he had told him that this creature was meant to test his control over blood. But right now, he did not see how it would do such a thing. That was when even he got surprised. He was expecting the attack to come from the blood fox, but it came from below.


    As it had been moving all over the place, the fox had sent his tails into the ground. He had so many of them, and they were moving so fast, that even Cao Yun had not been able to follow them all. And now, several filaments of blood were getting inside his body. They were so thin that they entered his skin without piercing it. And no amount of Wei Qi was able to protect him. Those filaments were just too thin to be crushed. He had to either cut them off or rip them away.


    The filaments were now in his bloodstream. In a record time, they completely invaded his veins and arteries. Then they even went through all his capillaries. And the blood in his vein reacted violently to those intruders. Within Cao Yun''s body, a battle was raging between the two clashing bloods. At least, he knew what the Palace Spirit was talking about.


    The fox got closer to Cao Yun who was now completely entangled in its tails. They looked like real tails but completely soaked in blood. Strangely, they looked warm and fuzzy as though they were extremely comfortable. Anyone would have loved to sleep in them, but they would have never woken up from such a nap. Right now, the victim got raised through the air and approached the fox''s terrible grin. From the blood, hundreds of fangs appeared, ready to devour the prey.


    As he was completely paralyzed, Cao Yun only saw one option. He began to circulate his blood cultivation since it was the purpose of this test. In an instant, all of his blood got condensed into his heart. The moment his veins got empty, it caused some kind of suction that attracted the filaments into Cao Yun''s heart. Under the pressure of his own blood, it created some kind of ball of threads into his heart. Inside the organ, the Drop of Wrath was radiating its anger and rage, transmitting it into Cao Yun''s blood.


    When it touched the intruding filaments, the reaction was brutal. They immediately writhed as though in pain. On the other hand, the Drop of Wrath was not happy at all. Cao Yun was deeply connected to it and could feel its anger rising and rising. It did not take well the prospect of someone trying to still its blood. For the Drop of Wrath, all of Cao Yun''s blood seemed to be its now. And it was ready to go to great lengths to protect its blood. The Po character in it shined an ominous color and rage spread into all of Cao Yun''s body. He could feel that he had the power to stop it at any moment but he didn''t. Right now, he needed this rage. He had used it for several weeks now against the other feral beasts. There was no reason for him to stop now. Although this rage was in him, it wasn''t from him and it wasn''t him. Cao Yun was still perfectly calm and in control within. Or at least, that was how he was feeling.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    From the outside, the situation seemed completely different. Cao Yun was being constricted by the fox''s tails when he suddenly began to scream as loudly as possible. His skin almost turned crimson red. Watching the transformation, Dian Mo was a bit reassured. This boy truly was a demon. To be honest his plan would have also worked with a human, but he would rather have a demon. In his view, humans were just too weak compared to demons. But of course he was biased by the origin of his birth. Demon God Da Mo had created him. He had even modeled his name to mimic his.


    Moreover, this young man was not only a demon, he had a quality of blood that Dian Mo had rarely seen. It was impossible that someone who was so young could have such potent and pure blood. The only explanation was that Dian Mo had been right. This boy had some kind of treasure on him and he wanted to find it. Imagining this kind of power in his own hands, Dian Mo was ecstatic. In his mind, Cao Yun''s treasure was as good as his already.


    But this wasn''t just Cao Yun''s blood that changed. Even his Wei Qi got transformed as well. It began to heat up and solidify here and there. Over Cao Yun''s naked skin, another red skin began to form. This was a form of Qi Manifestation through his bloodline. The heat got so intense that even the fox could not stand it. It was forced to retract its tails and hissed toward Cao Yun. Even without eyes, Cao Yun could see the hate on its strange face.


    Behind Cao Yun, the ethereal figure of Axiu Qian started to manifest itself. Cao Yun''s new martial art had reached the level of Qi Manifestation. Although it was difficult to rank a new martial art, Cao Yun would have probably said it was a 2-star Human art for now. But it was nowhere near finished. That being said, a name finally came to him. In his mind, he saw some images of Axiu Qian in his giant red demon shape. And with it, came several names. Among those, Cao Yun chose the name of this new art, ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''.


    Now that he was free, Cao Yun fell back to the ground. But even in his fall, he decided to attack. Despite a lack of good grounding, he sent a direct palm toward the fox''s face. No Palm Aura appeared but Qi Manifestation did. This Qi Manifestation was caused by both the Qi in his meridians and in his blood. The figure of Axiu Qian also sent its palm forward and both the real one and that one merged at the impact. Only one of those palms stopped though.


    Cao Yun''s face hurt the beast but did not push it away. On the other hand, the second palm that followed literally split it in two. Moreover, there was clearly heat and flames at the moment of impact. Until now, although he was an alchemist, Cao Yun had never practiced an art that was rich in Fire element. That was a nice surprise to say the least. If he could burn off all this blood, that creature would be done.


    The figure of Axiu Qian was exactly the same as the one in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. For now, it only had one face and two arms. But Cao Yun knew that with time, it would revert back to the complete form he had seen in his visions, in Axiu Qian''s old memories. And he was counting on completing the Drop of Wrath while making it in his image. As Axiu qian was outside, his Drop of Wrath had also morphed into him. In his body, Cao Yun''s blood was now circulating in a specific pattern defined by his new martial art. It was happening instinctively, just like his Qi.


    The fox tried to run away but Axiu Qian''s palm was still within its fuming body. On the ground there were scorched marks. Axiu Qian''s palm began to squeeze the fox by its split head. His other palm went toward the hind legs. In an instant, the fox was now held by the giant red demon. While screaming to the point where the very ground shook, Axiu Qian lifted the fox into the air until it was directly above his head.


    If blood could reform that creature, he just had to destroy the blood. Axiu Qian looked toward the fox and the sky behind it. Then, with incredible strength, he tore it apart into two halves. All the blood started to gush out. And all of it fell into Axiu Qian''s gaping mouth. Even Cao Yun did not know what the fox had seen when it had looked into the abyss. But he could imagine. Indeed, even as it was flooding Axiu Qian''s mouth, each half of the fox was trying to flee. Its tails were spiraling across Axiu Qian''s body, trying to reach Cao Yun to choke him to death. But they were literally burning just by touching the Qi Manifestation of the Drop of Wrath.


    Because the Drop of Wrath had absorbed Evil Qi, it retained some of its properties. In this occasion, it was corrosive enough to burn away the aggressor. The fox was just powerless in front of so much hatred, wrath and rage melded in one entity. Such a creature had probably the strength of a late Mortal Warrior but in this situation, it was unable to do anything. A real Mortal Warrior could have used his own Qi to protect himself, but that beast was completely feral and only thought about attacking and destroying.


    In the end, it was the beast that got destroyed, completely annihilated and devoured by the image of Axiu Qian. On the ground, Cao Yun''s eyes were full of blood and his skin had turned crimson red as well. Anyone else watching him would have mistaken him for a full-fledged demon. But despite appearances, he was still fully aware. And he knew that he had to hide this power. No matter what he could explain, everyone would believe he was either a real demon infiltrating the Hongchen Kingdom or a demonic cultivator, that was certain. Maybe his close friends and Xiao Xuefeng would believe him of course. But it was better to never use this kind of power unless there was really no other choice.


    Finally the fox stopped moving as Axiu Qian was still gulping down its running blood.


    "Perfect! You''ve truly shown your competence. I admit that I was wrong about you. Although the demon kind has clearly fallen from grace, you can absolutely compete with even the geniuses of old. Even Demon God Da Mo would have been impressed by such a performance."


    "Venerable, this is too much praise coming from you. This unworthy one is undeserving."


    "But I am left wondering... Who is your master?"


    "Venerable, sadly, I was forced to learn mostly alone. Recently, I''ve been lucky to find ruins that I believe are related to Demon God Da Mo. In there, I''ve found many manuals. One of them was named ''Blood Runes''. And among them, I discovered many secrets we had forgotten. For example, I found many things about this place as well as the treasure that is held in your Demon Palace."


    Cao Yun knew that this was more or less what had happened with the demonic cultivators and it saved him from trying to make up a complete story. What he said was mostly right but it had happened to someone else. Now that Dian Mo had seen him with the skin of a demon, although it had been a Qi Manifestation, it was easier to make him believe his lies. Hopefully, he would get to see this so-called treasure soon enough.


    "Yes... I remember that old manual. But ''Blood Runes'' is just the technique that those who can''t read between the lines learn. The real technique lies hidden beneath it all. What a pity that you don''t have a powerful master to guide and protect you."


    Although the spirit could not really smile as he had no body, his voice was full of smiles.

 Chapter 314: Lava Pool

    Hearing the voice of the Palace Spirit full of joy was extremely creepy. Cao Yun knew that this Dian Mo was preparing something. After seeing his transformation caused by the blood now flowing through his veins, it was certain he believed his story. And that had just made him more dangerous in Cao Yun''s eyes. This Palace Spirit wanted something from Cao Yun. But he still didn''t know what it was. Anyway, he had no way of resisting being transported elsewhere. But until the end, he would try to hide his mind cultivation. Against a spirit, a powerful body meant nothing, but his mind was an incredible tool. As such, he could flaunt his physical and martial prowess all he wanted. In fact, that would make the spirit even more comfortable.


    As long as Dian Mo was convinced that Cao Yun''s trump cards were mostly physical, he might become careless. Cao Yun needed all the edge he could get against that kind of enemy. If Xiao Xuefeng herself had not even been able to detect the Drop of Wrath and if she had praised his mind cultivation, the two of them combined would be quite enough to deal with that spirit. Cao Yun was certain of that and he was ready.


    Just like what had happened when Cao Yun was still within the real tests of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, a powerful light enveloped him. Before he could open his eyes next, he felt that warm heat turn into a scorching inferno. The first sense that came back to Cao Yun was his ability to sense Qi around him. There was nothing but Fire Qi all around him. Even his soul was feeling the heat. It went all the way to his mind. In his very sea of consciousness, the air was getting blurry because of the temperature. The surface of the water also started to boil.


    Without thinking about it, as an innate reflex, Cao Yun''s Wei Qi contracted and intensified. Moreover, it began to change its nature, pouring more and more Water Qi within itself. Qi was always composed of the five elements, like most things in the Universe. But each aspect could be heightened or lessened. It was the ratio difference in each element that gave properties to objects, and to Qi as well. Although those elements had been chosen for spiritual and psychological reasons, they were still connected to the natural elements. For example, the Fire element represented ardor and heat both in the figurative and literal sense. And the Water element was soothing and calm like water.


    Cao Yun''s skin began to lower its temperature thanks to this layer of Wei Qi. Most of Cao Yun''s heat focused inside as he was literally moving his blood to keep his body from heating up.


    Indeed, he had finally realized where he was. All around him was molten lava. If he had been plunged in here before becoming a Mortal Warrior, his Wei Qi would have never been strong enough to resist at all. Maybe his body would have survived some time, but he would have died a terrible death in a very short amount of time.


    Thanks to his denser Wei Qi, he could now savor his tortuous death for as long as he could produce Qi. Really, this was a step up...


    One thing was sure though, Dian Mo would have not sent him in here just to die and be consumed by flames. After all, everything he was would be destroyed. Cao Yun was not even sure whether the Drop of Wrath would survive or not. And more importantly, Dian Mo had no way of knowing what kind of treasures Cao Yun had on him. Thus he had no reason to kill him in such a manner as to annihilate everything he was and had on him. So the only logical conclusion was that this was really another test and not an attempt on his life.


    Fire was related to blood. For example, Cao Yun''s blood cultivation made use of Fire Qi to temper blood essence. Given that the previous test was about blood, this new one didn''t seem absurd to Cao Yun. However, he didn''t want to try and absorb too much Fire Qi before becoming a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior. Indeed, until his Five Prodigious Gates were fully opened and then tempered, sending too much Fire Qi in his body was dangerous for his acupoints. Cao Yun was not about to risk his entire cultivation without any reason.


    After the initial shock of the situation, Cao Yun began to think about more practical things. As much as he could breathe underwater, he had absolutely no way of breathing inside this lava. Even if there had been enough oxygen inside this lava, Cao Yun could simply not take it into his lungs. His flesh would be destroyed before the lava could even reach his lungs.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun was now a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior. According to the physicians, oxygen was essential to produce energy within the human body. But a cultivator could compensate the lack of oxygen through the use of Qi. The downside would be that Qi would be consumed faster. And in this environment, Cao Yun was not ready to absorb the Fire Qi all around him. Fortunately, he could still absorb small quantities, but he would be forced to limit himself so as to not burn his own acupoints. That being said, that would allow him to stop breathing for an extended period of time without consequences for his health. In the end though, he would really die of asphyxiation. Even with Qi, everything was not possible. Only a true Immortal could completely transcend the needs of a physical body. Even a Sage would need to eat, drink and breathe from time to time...


    With all that in mind, Cao Yun focused on his cells and guided his Qi as well as tiny surges from the outside to try and keep his body alive for as long as possible. To be honest, even he didn''t know how long he could go on. But that allowed him to relax a little and focus on what this test was supposed to be. He had not heard Dian Mo''s voice, so he had no idea. Maybe it was just a way for him to improve his blood cultivation through the use of Fire Qi. But despite the blood in his veins, Cao Yun was a human, not a demon. As such, he had no real idea of how demons cultivated their blood. And right now, he could not perform ''Stoking the Human Flames''.


    Despite that, Cao Yun had an idea. He could not absorb this Fire Qi because he had not tempered his Five Prodigious Gates yet. Then, he just had to temper his gates right now. Alchemy and blacksmithing had in common the use of fire to forge. An alchemist was using medicinal essences to forge a pill while a blacksmith would use metal to forge any artifact he could imagine.


    When Cao Yun had been helping Ren Chao with his blacksmith slump, he had read a lot about blacksmithing. In the end, he had found it interesting but he had not been hooked up on the profession itself. He clearly preferred alchemy. However, both occupations shared a lot of things in common. And blacksmithing had helped him improve his alchemy. But it had also given him some ideas on how to temper his meridians and vessels. That was something that would happen very soon in his cultivation. If the Mortal Warrior realm was known as the Forge Realm, there were reasons for it.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    In that realm, one would ultimately forge his meridians and vessels to resist the shock between Water and Fire Qi that would eventually produce the Soul Embryo. As such, Cao Yun had always kept the principles of blacksmithing in a corner of his mind. Those were the Seven Iron Transformations. Drawing the Palace and Fetching the Iron were useless to him. But Burning the Three Fires, Shaping the Earth, Freezing the Sky and Suffering the Seasons were very important. Finally, Unifying the World turned out to be essential. In theory, it only pertained to putting together all the different pieces of a weapon together. But upon reading more about it, Cao Yun had realized that it was about harmonizing all the different parts that had been worked on together.


    For example, Cao Yun would temper each one of his Five Prodigious Gates separately. Even if he tried to do everything in the exact same manner, there would necessarily be differences. Those slight disparities could then cause harm to his body. Thus, he had to make sure to harmonize them all together. As such, this last principle would be very important.


    Combining all the principles of alchemy, blacksmithing and array formations together, Cao Yun was hoping to achieve the best form of breakthrough.


    -


    Outside of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, all the chief elders were now gathered. After hearing the conclusions of Chief Elder Suxian, Spirit Master Xiao Xuefeng had asked for everyone''s presence.


    Chief Elder Yisheng was the first one to talk.


    "Are you sure about this, Brother Suxian?"


    "There is no way I was mistaken. I checked several times and someone has clearly broken through the veil of the realms within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. I do not know how they did it, but they did. And almost two months ago..."


    "What?! Two months?! And you only noticed just now?! What happened?!"


    "I do not know... But someone within has been messing with the array formations. It almost collapsed for an instant. If I had to make a bet, I would say that a remnant of the array formation spirit protected it. Otherwise, it would have crumbled already."


    "Is this a joke?! You were the one who should have sensed that, right?! You''re the best array formation master and yet..."


    "Sister!" Chief Elder Luoming raised his voice.


    Everyone was surprised because Chief Elder Luoming, even after becoming in charge of the disciplinary pavilion, had always been really laid-back. But in his voice just now, everyone heard more than just irritation.


    "No one here was able to detect anything. Do not try to blame it on my brother!"


    "It''s fine... I did fail you all. Considering all the time I spent studying this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, I should have been able to sense any difference and I failed. I am sorry."


    "There''s no time for self-flagellation, Brother Suxian."


    As she spoke, Xiao Xuefeng took out the Seal of Authority.


    "Sect Leader Xuan is still busy repairing the damage caused by the recent stampede. As such, he put me in charge of everything here. In a sense, I''m the one responsible. But in a broader sense, we are all responsible. So instead of losing our time pointing fingers, we should find a way to solve the problem. Brother Suxian, do you have any ideas?"


    Chief Elder Yisheng stopped talking the moment she saw the Seal of Authority. But others were not so easily convinced.


    "But what if you''re really a demonic cultivator? After all, you''re the only outsider among us! We''ve all demonstrated our competence and fidelity to the Wubei Sect to reach our current position. But you''re not even from our Wubei Sect!"


    "Fighting between us won''t solve anything!"


    "And following the orders of a demonic cultivator would doom us all!"


    "Sect Leader Xuan put her in charge. If he trusts her, I do too!"


    "Come on! We all know the old man is slowly starting to lose it."


    As Chief Elder Liu spoke, Chief Elder Baishen slapped her in the face.


    "How dare you speak like that of our Sect Leader?!"


    "You...!"


    "If you keep distilling doubt and fear, your head will be put in front of my pavilion as a cautionary tale. Even if you''re not a demonic cultivator yourself, you''re clearly making their life easier by sawing discord between us. And if I have to be the voice of reason, there''s something very wrong here!"


    "This is quite enough!"


    Xiao Xuefeng took over. Strangely, Chief Elder Baishen''s words had calmed down the situation.


    "My fellow cultivators, the skepticism of some of you is understandable. After all, we all know that a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator is within our ranks. Although he could be a mere elder, there''s also the possibility that he is a chief elder. And this is why Sect Leader Xuan put me in charge. Sister Liu, I do own the Seal of Authority. You do realize that with it, I could activate all the defenses of the Wubei Sect against you all. Although I wasn''t here when the stampede occurred, I know that you saw some of those defenses. How long do you think you would survive if I were to activate them?"


    Everyone stayed silent. Even Sect Leader Xuan would probably not fare well against all the defenses of the Wubei Sect. And with the Seal of Authority, she could indeed activate them all in an instant. With a mere thought, she could almost kill everyone here. Besides, she was also the expert in terms of spiritual senses. That also meant that she could attack their minds and souls without breaking a sweat.


    If Xiao Xuefeng truly was a traitor, they would probably all be dead or worse by now.


    "Whether you trust me or not is of no importance. Sect Leader Xuan put me in charge. If that is not enough for you, you have no reason to remain in the Wubei Sect! I already demoted one chief elder who could not control himself, do not think I would shy away from doing it twice! The demonic cultivators are ahead of us. We do not even know what they want. In fact, we know so little it is pathetic. But right now, our disciples are in danger. This is not the time to quarrel among each other. Unless you have any kind of proof, you will not accuse anyone of being a traitor, and you will follow my orders!"


    As she spoke, the Seal of Authority in her hand began to shine brightly.


    All the chief elders bowed. Even Chief Elder Liu calmed down and bowed.


    "Brother Suxian, what do you need?"


    "I just need some time. I''ll go look at it from up close."

 Chapter 315: Infernal pressure

    As Chief Elder Suxian got closer to the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he took out many instruments from his spatial ring. Besides his compasses, flags, plates and other array formation tools, he also had many documents. For centuries now, he had studied this Palace of Supreme Wisdom. After all, it was a cornerstone of the Wubei Sect. If a disciple was good enough, he could absolutely soar through this test. In only one year, some had gathered nearly a decade of training outside. Moreover, there was almost no danger. Sometimes disciples could develop psychological traumas or even have their cultivation go berserk because of what they had experienced. But this was very rare because they had been trained by the sect beforehand. In fact, this was the reason why they waited for them to reach the third year so that they would be better prepared.


    At the same time, Xiao Xuefeng was using her authority as acting Sect Leader to prepare a line of defense. Although they had no idea what the demonic cultivators really wanted, it was clear that it was within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. As such, they would have to take that thing out one way or another. Despite all her efforts, Xiao Xuefeng was still not sure who the traitor was. In fact, there could even be multiple traitors. Chief Elder Liu''s outburst could be a ploy to hide her intentions. By acting as though she suspected Xiao Xuefeng herself, she could lower the suspicions on her.


    For almost three years, Xiao Xuefeng had used all her contacts to get as much information as possible. Thanks to her good relation with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, she was probably the person with the most knowledge of everything that was going on in the Hongchen Kingdom. And as a result, she was also the most confused. It seemed as though many parties were waging a secret war under everyone''s nose but no one was the wiser.


    Emperor Weide had not appeared in public for several decades. Demonic cultivators had infiltrated many different organizations. A demonic beast stampede had occurred, probably caused by them. The Cao family was slaughtered in a single night while Matriarch Huang was in seclusion. The Wolf Head Sect had been blamed almost instantly when the Imperial City took over the investigation. And they were exterminated without any problem in a single night as well. The Demon King had apparently found past knowledge from the demons. And he was targeting something from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute that could be used to destroy seals while also targeting something within the Wubei Sect. At the same time, the demons were becoming more and more aggressive. From what she had heard, some powerful Accomplished Demon had risen to the rank of Emperor. It was difficult to get accurate information from the demon kingdoms but he had apparently taken over several kingdoms under his rule. Most likely, a great war was brewing between humans and demons, not just violent skirmishes like they were used to.


    Xiao Xuefeng could literally see the Hongchen Kingdom fall apart before her eyes. But she was unable to find a single source of this chaos. Maybe there was none. Maybe this was just a terrible conjunction of catastrophes. Maybe the Hongchen Kingdom had just weakened to the point where it was just crumbling under its own weight. But if it fell, mankind would be either slaughtered or enslaved by the demons. After catching a glimpse of hope through Cao Yun and her own refinement of a Spirit pill, she could not accept this. Besides, she had also put some of her hope in Huang Cixi. Many of the most promising young cultivators had found themselves all around Cao Yun. Even her sister Hua Fenfei had taken Feng Yingyue as a direct disciple, the very Dao companion of Cao Yun. And all this also revolved partly around Cao Yun because of his family.


    The young boy, for better or for worse, was deeply involved with what was going on. Deep down, Xiao Xuefeng could not stop herself from putting a lot of hope and aspiration in this young man. Officially he wasn''t even a man yet because he was still nineteen. However, the fate of the entire human race might very well rest in his hands.


    -


    At that moment, Cao Yun was meditating in a pool of lava. He had sent his senses as far as they could, even using the Drop of Wrath to strengthen them. Despite his wishes, this lava extended way farther than he had hoped. There was absolutely no way to get out of it. The only way for him was to be able to resist the heat. Unfortunately he was not quite there yet. With the blood in his veins, he was confident in not dying immediately, but he would not risk being exposed directly to this molten lava. For now, his Wei Qi was powerful enough to protect him but the heat was still unbearable.


    Any trace of blood that had remained on him had been reduced to ashes by that inferno around him.


    Now, Cao Yun had completely retreated into his own sea of consciousness. All of his focus was put on his Bai Hui, the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. In his mind cultivation, he had energized the Chamber of Ultimate Truth that was right under this focal point. With his current Upper Dantian, Cao Yun had a real advantage on many other cultivators but that didn''t mean he could simply open this gate.


    The reason why an entire grade of the cultivation was devoted to this acupoint was because it was primordial in the next realm of cultivation. The Bai Hui was the point through which the Soul Embryo would be able to interact with the outside world. To become a Sage, one had to fully open his Bai Hui to allow his Soul Embryo to see the physical world directly. That way, the cultivator would become able to see through the Dao and amass more and more knowledge of the workings of this world.


    As such, if this point was damaged, one would never be able to reach the Sage realm. But even if it had become a dream since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era, reaching the Sage realm would not be the only impossible feat. The more damaged the Bai Hui was, the more difficult it would be to progress through the Spirit Warrior realm because it would also negatively impact the soul and the Soul Embryo.


    With all that in mind, Cao Yun had no desire to act in haste. However, now was the perfect opportunity. His mind cultivation was almost in the third layer and his blood cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. If he had come into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, this was for this very opportunity. He had already crossed one grade. Now he could maybe cross another. Hopefully, it would be sufficient to convince the Palace Spirit that he had passed this new test.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    With his mind, Cao Yun extracted almost pure Fire Qi from the lava. In order to preserve his meridians, he kept it out within his Wei Qi. And he weaved another surge of Qi around it. From his Lower Dantian, he took out pure Water Qi. The fusion between Water and Fire Qi was supposed to create the Soul Embryo. Of course, those two surges were way too thin to do such a thing. It required years, sometimes decades, of accumulation to get enough of those for a Soul Embryo. But still, associating the two of them together made them very interesting.


    Once he was satisfied that his construct was stable, Cao Yun tried to open his Bai Hui. Slowly he circulated this surge of Fire and Water Qi around the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. From the inside, he also activated the Chamber of Ultimate Truth that was right under the Bai Hui and rich in Fire element. But he also adjoined it the Chamber of Jade, rich in Water element. Even in his sea of consciousness, he was balancing Water and Fire. In a sense, it was a small rehearsal of what forming the Soul Embryo would be.


    Because he was extremely careful, it took him several hours to fully absorb this single surge of Qi. At some point, he had almost lost the balance. No matter which element took over, it was a terrible experience. If Fire was too strong, his mind was full of rage and hate. If Water was too strong, it was full of anguish and sorrow. And the effect on his body was also extreme, causing incredible pain. Furthermore, his Wei Qi was starting to become too weak. Or maybe the lava was getting stronger.


    Being able to absorb this special strand of Qi was impressive in itself. Sadly, it was greatly insufficient. Cao Yun could feel that at this speed, it would take him several months to fully open his Bai Hui. The only way to fully open it was to take many risks. In fact, Cao Yun already had an idea in mind. He could use a technique he had seen in blacksmithing. But the tiniest mistake would create devastating results. Cao Yun was uncertain of many things about his future. Among them, two were very clear. He wanted to help mankind survive the demonic cultivators and the demons. And he also wanted to explore the highest summits of the cultivation world. Damaging his Bai Hui would be a catastrophe for him. Even the tiny chance he had of becoming a Sage would disappear.


    As the heat intensified, Cao Yun was forced to retract his Wei Qi completely. Instead, he circulated his Qi and blood under his skin to dissipate the heat. At the same time, he was also circulating his Qi into his every cell to stop them from dying of asphyxiation. And while doing all that, he was still attempting to open his Bai Hui. If only he could break through, this test would become way easier.


    Then it finally dawned on him. If he died while trying to be safe, it would be pointless. The Palace Spirit was still quiet. Right now, the only thing Cao Yun could think about in order to resist this test was to break through. That way, he would be able to absorb a bit more of Fire Qi in him without fearing for his Five Prodigious Gates. After all, the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior stage consisted in forging the five gates through the use of Water and Fire Qi. However, one could only begin the process once all five gates were really opened.


    Left with no choice, Cao Yun would take this risk. Once he could safely take in Fire Qi, he could pass this test.


    -


    In a frozen land, three men were walking. They were covered in blood and holding a Supreme emblem each. All three had the stench of death on them. They were clearly demonic cultivators. In the distance, one could see a giant storm starting to form. When all the realms had collided, they found themselves here. Now, they had to leave before the storm really started or they would get stuck in this frozen wasteland. As Mortal Warriors, they could feel the Qi around them. And with the Blood Runes they had formed, they could also sense Mo Zi calling for them.


    Finally, their mission could start again. After being stranded in a realm isolated from their brethren, they had feared that they had failed. Thankfully, Mo Zi had found a way. Otherwise, they would rather die than get back to their masters. But even in death, the seals in their souls would maybe have some effect. In fact, none of them were knowledgeable enough to be certain of that, and superstitious enough to be terrified by the idea.


    "Three Lights in Its Claws".


    As they were walking in the ice, they heard a screech. Looking behind them, they saw a golden bird flying toward them. But watching even more closely, they saw that there were three arrows within the bird. This wasn''t a bird, this was a Qi Manifestation.


    "One Sun from Tang valley".


    Before they could react, they were blinded by two small suns that suddenly appeared on either sides. Instinctively, they put their Blood Runes between them and the golden bird. However, the shock they were expecting never occurred.


    "From the East, the Vault rises"!


    From above though, the one who appeared to be their leader was pierced by an arrow. It was so fast that he was only able to sense it at the very last moment. In his attempt to dodge, the arrow pierced his left shoulder and went through and through. His Wei Qi seemed to be completely useless. In fact, he suddenly realized that he had no more Wei Qi although he was still feeling it around himself. What the hell was going on here?!


    Just before the bloody arrow touched the ground, it expanded into another small sun. The leader realized the problem and tried to run away. On the other hand, the other two tried to activate their Wei Qi to the maximum. The morons had not realized it yet! Thinking that, the leader remembered that without this arrow piercing through him as though he was a mortal, he would have failed to see through it as well.


    They had fallen into an illusory array formation. Although they were convinced that they had Wei Qi around them, they had dissipated it. In fact, the more they were trying to strengthen their Wei Qi, the more they were retracting it. So by trying to improve their defense, the two of them had completely exposed themselves.


    The only good news was that the attack was not at a level that was lethal for them. Whoever had attacked them had not crossed the threshold of Mortal Warrior. Yet, they had been able to manifest their Qi. Thus, they had probably acquired some treasure from the previous tests. This prospect made the leader greedy. As long as he was careful about array formations, he could probably kill the attacker without too much problem. The moment he thought that though, he felt an intense pain in his very soul.


    Indeed, his mission was a priority. He had to obey Mo Zi''s orders, no matter what. Until after they had found whatever Mo Tian was looking for, could he go hunt the person who had attacked him. For now though, he couldn''t do so. After all, they had probably fled right after initiating the attack if they were smart. Still full of rage, the man looked at his bloody arm. Behind him, his two companions were now also covered with a bit of their own blood and some scorched marks. All three of them wanted to find the attacker and skin them but they could not. Instead, they focused their blood runes to escape the array formation.

 Chapter 316: Preparing to ride the storm

    Outside of the frozen land, the storms were now powerful enough to rip apart the fabric of space. After all, this new patchwork of realms was extremely unstable. Even a late Spirit Warrior could probably tear apart the fabric of this space. For now it still was strong enough to resist but small tears were starting to appear high in the sky. The sky itself seemed strange. The colors were not natural. It looked like a drape that had been stretched too thin. And light from somewhere else was breaking through it.


    All around the sky, there were red auroras lighting up the place. And now, giant pillars of stormy clouds were rising higher and higher.


    On the ground, Sun Liao could understand what was going on although he was no expert in space. Thanks to his master''s work on the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he had even a better comprehension of what was going on in front of his eyes. As such, he was getting more and more worried. If that space were to really collapse, all the people inside would probably die. Considering what had happened, he wasn''t even sure whether the Supreme emblems would protect them or not.


    Besides this looming threat, there were demonic cultivators all over the place. Even in the frozen land he had woken up in, he had found a group of three of them. Despite the traps he had set up, he had only been able to delay them. His ''Heavenly Mirror Longbow'' had allowed him to finally manifest his Qi with ''Houyi''s Nine Suns''. But it still wasn''t powerful enough to kill middle Mortal Warriors. However, he had been able to inflict some wounds on them. Without his bow, that would have been impossible. If they had been early Mortal Warriors, they might have been severely maimed or even killed.


    Weighing all of his alternatives, Sun Liao had decided to make a break for it. First he would need to cross through those storms as soon as possible before they became too destructive. Then he would need to find his friends. The best outcome would be to find every Wubei disciple, but to be honest, he trusted no one but his sworn brothers and sister. Also, he knew that they were both very powerful. All of them combined would probably be enough to kill even a late Mortal Warrior.


    After they had gone through several tests, it was highly possible that Cao Yun had reached 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior and Mei Hua 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. About Ren Chao, he wasn''t too sure about his Qi cultivation, but his physical strength had probably increased even more. Since he had discovered his special physique, Sun Liao had read a lot about Golden Silk Body. This was an incredible physique that could develop an insane amount of pure strength, powerful enough to even tear apart Wei Qi.


    Not for one instant did Sun Liao imagine that they had failed any test. As such, they had probably gained a lot from this Palace of Supreme Wisdom. The problem was to find them.


    First though, he had still to go through the storm walls.


    After fleeing from his little ambush, Sun Liao went straight for the storm wall that seemed the least dangerous. With his new bow, he could only manifest Qi until the third verse of ''Houyi''s Nine Suns''. Although he had learned all nine verses, he still hadn''t mastered them to that level yet. Unfortunately, none of those three verses would be powerful enough to go through the storm. He needed something to make a hole in it, large enough for him to pass. For that, the fourth verse would be very useful as it focused on penetrating force.


    Sun Liao assumed the position of the fourth verse from ''Houyi''s Nine Suns", "The winged Longma pulls". This verse was a reference to the legend of the sun being carried on a celestial cart by the divine beast Longma. A Longma was a burly horse with dragon scales over his body that could ride in the sky.


    With the image firmly in mind, Sun Liao circulated this verse in his body again and again. He knew perfectly well what pathways his Qi was supposed to follow. When he was satisfied enough with his concentration, he summoned his ''Heavenly Mirror Longbow''. The sculpture appeared in his hands as though it had always been there. The engravings on it began to shine as Sun Liao was pouring his Qi within. Quickly, an arrow started to form.


    In an instant, Sun Liao let go of everything. The arrow whistled through the air. After a few meters, it started to morph into an ethereal figure. If one didn''t know what they were looking at, they would never be able to guess what it was. But in Sun Liao''s eyes, it was clearly a celestial horse pulling a cart behind him. Unfortunately, it collided with the storm wall. The horse was able to pierce through it a little but the cart exploded against its surface.


    It would require a bit more time for Sun Liao to go through this wall...


    -


    Outside of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Xiao Xuefeng had organized everyone. She had even mobilized almost all the elders. The Wubei Sect had still not fully recovered from the stampede. Luckily though, its defenses had been powerful enough so that almost no one had suffered serious injuries during the fight. On the other hand, Sect Leader Xuan was still tending to the repairs. Other elders would have probably been able to do so, but they would have needed to be numerous and it would have taken way longer than a year.


    Right now, Sect Leader Xuan was almost finished. Xiao Xuefeng had been able to report the situation. Yet, he still decided to let her lead the situation and handle it as she saw fit. Unlike some chief elders, he had blind trust in her. It filled her with both pride and nervousness. For an instant she even doubted him. If Sect Leader Xuan was a demonic cultivator, even she was not sure whether she could see through him. But if he were, Cao Yun would have been dead a long time ago.


    One point Xiao Xuefeng was very anxious about was his health. She had probably been the one who had spent the most time with the old man recently. Although she had never seen him directly, she could notice some signs. He was approaching the end of his natural life. For a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, it could take a lot of time. But it could also happen faster than one expected, especially with all this stress. Losing Sect Leader Xuan would be a terrible blow for all of mankind.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    While Xiao Xuefeng was making sure that everything was ready for any eventuality, Chief Elder Suxian was working on the Palace of Supreme Wisdom.


    Among all the chief elders and elders, he had been the one who had studied it the most. And he couldn''t find out how he had not felt the demonic cultivators penetrating the array formations. His own master had studied these array formations all his life. With the combined knowledge of many experts before him, Chief Elder Suxian was certain he should have felt something. Clearly someone had made sure that he could not and this was worrying him.


    After investigating, Chief Elder Suxian was now convinced that whoever had done it had taken him into account. He could see traces of what had happened a couple of months ago. It was difficult to be sure but it had probably happened either when he was watching the place or just after. Then it dawned on him, they had waited for him to be distracted when his shift ended.


    By studying the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Chief Elder Suxian was even able to recognize bits and pieces of what had been used. Although he didn''t really know this array formation, he still recognized some things. The array formation used to penetrate the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was completely unknown but he could still see marks of a certain array formation master, his own master. And in it, he also saw signs of someone trying to cover it up. Someone had really had him in mind when setting up this array formation. Whoever had done it had tried to make it so Chief Elder Suxian would never see through it when it was activated.


    Thankfully, it had malfunctioned. Otherwise, Chief Elder Suxian was fairly certain he would have never been the wiser.


    The real problem was that his master''s array formations were very characteristic. Besides, his master had only had two disciples in his entire life. And the other one was dead. There was absolutely no doubt about that. So either someone had intentionally tried to frame Chief Elder Suxian, or something else...


    As he was toying with this idea, Chief Elder Suxian looked in the direction of his friend, Chief Elder Luoming. His master had been Luoming He, Luoming Tian''s father. However, he could not believe that his best friend could be involved in this. Maybe someone was messing with him to create more discord. Chief Elder Suxian knew he was grasping at straws there but he had known Luoming Tian since they were both boys, several centuries ago. They had both enrolled into the Wubei Sect together and had been loyal to it since then.


    There had to be another explanation! He owed it to his friend to look for it.


    Chief Elder Suxian sent a telepathic message to Xiao Xuefeng. Then he asked her for some time. She agreed without any problem. Instead of leaving right away though, Suxian Zheng asked his friend Luoming Tian to come with him. He was a bit surprised at first but agreed.


    -


    Within the lava pool, Cao Yun was now determined to open his fifth Prodigious Gate. The risks were high but he could see no other alternative. If he just waited around, the lava would ultimately attack his flesh. Once dead, worrying about a potential damage to his Bai Hui would be pointless.


    Since the operation was extremely delicate, Cao Yun did not pull any punches. Now that he had a good grasp on the Drop of Wrath, he fully activated it. His skin was turning red but not because of the blood this time. The heat was slowly scorching his flesh. He even activated ''Dragon''s Heart'' to increase the flow of his Qi under his skin. His goal was to protect his internal organs from the heat. In pursuing that goal, he also created a thick layer of Wei Qi around his head, in particular at the summit. Most of his Water Qi was focused there.


    His goal was simple. He was going to try and absorb as much Fire Qi as possible, fuse it with his Water Qi while avoiding a violent clash. Then he would only need to temper his Bai Hui using the knowledge of alchemy and blacksmithing he knew.


    Although it was very straightforward, it was probably the most complicated thing Cao Yun had ever done since he had practiced cultivation for the very first time. Not only could he fail and damage his Bai Hui, he could also kill himself. His meridians were not yet ready to absorb huge quantities of Fire Qi. Besides if he could not balance the mixture of Water and Fire Qi, it could literally explode either outside or within his body. And considering that he was going to absorb it, the balance could break as the Qi was going into his acupoint.


    With all of that in mind, Cao Yun pushed his mind cultivation to the limit so that his mind was peaceful. The pain from the heat disappeared from his mind. Then, he started to visualize the process. Slowly, every ounce of his body disappeared. Then even his mind and soul were gone. In his consciousness, there was now only a small lotus flower. It was extremely tiny, not bigger than a rice seed. But Cao Yun could clearly distinguish a hundred petals closed on one another.


    Each petal was white. They were so thin that they were a bit translucent.


    This small lotus seed was his visualization of the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. This image had come from the mainstream ''Universal Law of Immortality''. According to ''Cultivation of Wrath'', it was useful to imagine the lotus being bathed in the blood from the Drop of Wrath. But Cao Yun could do way better now. His entire bloodstream had the properties from this Drop of Wrath.


    With his ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', Cao Yun focused his intent in the very center of this lotus flower to bloom. Within his body, his blood started to reach the summit of his skull. Most of his blood was condensed so tightly it formed a single tear of blood that was at the very top of his skull. Inside his body, it almost looked like a small lens.


    In Cao Yun''s mind, there was nothing but the tiny seed. Slowly, it was now absorbing a red liquid that had come from nowhere. Even Cao Yun did not know where it had come from because his entire mind was focused on it. He had even forgotten that he had a physical body or that he was literally being cooked by a pool of lava at that very instant.


    At that exact moment, his entire being was reduced to this tiny lotus seed now imbued with blood.


    In the physical world, strange phenomena were happening over Cao Yun''s head. The lava and Qi around him were being extremely chaotic as though there was some kind of vortex trying to swallow them whole.


    Finally, Cao Yun went forward with his idea. From the lava, several strands of Qi were torn away and sucked in by the invisible vortex. As they spiraled down toward Cao Yun''s Bai Hui, they became almost visible. By going through Cao Yun''s Wei Qi, they were melded with Water Qi and it turned them into visible gray smoke. As they were cooling down, the strands became more and more transparent.


    At last, some strands entered Cao Yun''s Bai Hui.


    The moment they did, an intense pain spread through his entire being. Thankfully, he focused everything he had on this tiny lotus seed. The petals were shaking as though someone was blowing on them. But they were also getting hotter and hotter. If Cao Yun was not careful, they would either burn or been torn apart.


    If he had had any other choice, Cao Yun would have never done something so risky. Although he wanted to get powerful fast, he was not suicidal yet.

 Chapter 317: Failed breakthrough

    With everything prepared, Cao Yun was ready to attempt the complete breakthrough. It would take him several hours or even days. Although he was in a hurry not to die in this place, he was trying to be as careful as possible. To reach the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior stage, he needed this small lotus to fully bloom without a single tear on any of the petals.


    This image of a hundred petaled lotus was entirely in his mind. But in the physical world, it was perfectly linked to his real Bai Hui. The Bai Hui was called the Gate of the Hundred Convergences because many meridians and vessels were joined there. It also had many purposes during Qi cultivation. But the number hundred was a figure of speech. In fact, there were probably fewer meridians even if one counted every single little meridians joining with the Bai Hui.


    Considering how delicate it was, damaging this Bai Hui was unfortunately very easy. Thankfully, Cao Yun had a very firm basis for his cultivation. He had an incredible sensation in all of his acupoints and his every cells. However, success was everything but assured. And even then, he wouldn''t be out of the woods yet. After breaking through, he would need to start absorbing Fire Qi even if just to keep up appearances with Dian Mo. For now, he was certain that the Palace Spirit maybe didn''t think of him as a demon but at least had doubts. And he could also explain any similarity with human cultivation because he had been disguised as one. That wasn''t very convincing to be honest. But now Cao Yun was confident Dian Mo had something nefarious in mind for him.


    For the time being, Cao Yun was just trying to stall in order to find out the treasure the demonic cultivators were after. Thanks to his mind cultivation, Cao Yun was hoping he could surprise Dian Mo when he would do whatever it was he had in mind. All of those thoughts were in the back of his mind. But right now, Cao Yun was not even aware of them. As a matter of fact, he did not even remember Dian Mo. He did not even remember his own name.


    In order to increase his chances of success, his entire mind was focused on this singular task. There was room for nothing else. Thanks to his recent enlightenments about the nature of one''s self, his mind had become stronger. Without his mind cultivation, he could have suffered a terrible blow. And to be honest, he was still processing what it meant to be his own self. But for now, it had only been positive. Anyway, he had not the luxury of pondering about this for now. He was trying not to burn off his Upper Dantian while trying to dupe a several millenniums old array formation spirit created by Demon God Da Mo, the one who had enslaved mankind. It was nothing much...


    Slowly, the petals were opening up. Each one had been imbued with blood. More than half of Cao Yun''s blood had been condensed at the summit of his skull. The rest of his blood was protecting him from the heat with his Qi accelerated by ''Dragon''s Heart''.


    As the process was happening, Cao Yun could feel that his very soul was scared. It was cowering away from the intense heat. Because his mind was so sensitive, he was able to feel it and tried to slow down as much as possible while keeping the balance of Water and Fire Qi. If his soul was afraid, it was clearly a bad sign. Each time a petal was shaking, Cao Yun had the feeling it was about to tear. Even while doing alchemy, he had never had anything so delicate between his hands.


    This Bai Hui was not so delicate, but the method used to open it was incredibly forceful. Sadly, Cao Yun had no time to think of a better solution. Thus, he tried to make it as easy as possible on his own Bai Hui. In that moment, he was even disconnected from the feeling that this was his. It was as though he was forging a pill. Otherwise, he would have become too worried. And he had completely pushed all those feelings aside to stay perfectly focused. Usually he wouldn''t have but it was an emergency.


    For now, only seven petals had been opened. The process was excruciatingly painful. If he hadn''t taken all those precautions, Cao Yun would have had no chance of completing it. He had broken through around three months ago. For an average cultivator, finally opening the Bai Hui could take from two to three years. Even for an alchemist, it was generally around a year or two. Maybe Mei Hua could do so in less than ten months thanks to pills and to her master''s help. But doing so in three months was very reckless. The Bai Hui was extremely sensitive and absolutely essential for the rest of one''s journey through cultivation.


    -


    Sun Liao was also attempting something very delicate. He had set up flags all around himself to increase his martial arts. It was a new form of the Sun Blazing Cannon array formation he had already used. Even with his new ''Heavenly Mirror Longbow'', he could not create array formations of the Human rank yet. However, he had almost reached this grade by improving his Sun Blazing Cannon. After using it in the Lunar Marsh, he had gotten enough experience to make it more powerful. Right now, he was trying to focus the entirety of this power in a single arrow. His goal was just to create a hole in the storm wall in front of him. Considering his speed, he really only needed a second or two to cross through the complete storm.


    As he was setting everything up, he thought back to those Mortal Warriors. Even with their injuries, they had probably been able to go through this wall without too much problem. Now, they had certainly regrouped with their comrades and his own friends were in danger. In fact, Cao Yun was mostly worried about Ren Chao. And it wasn''t because he thought he was the weakest of the group. Yes his cultivation was weak but his physique was just out of this world. If he had improved even a tiny bit, he was probably able to rip apart Qi Manifestation with his bare hands. Thinking about his brother, he remembered how he had fought in Yinmen City. Ren Chao would fight until every bone in his body was broken, and some more.


    Thankfully, his bones were now way sturdier. However, it wouldn''t amount too much against several Mortal Warriors at the same time. Besides, they were using Evil Qi that could corrode his flesh, his Qi and even his soul. No matter how resistant his will was, his body would give in. In fact, Sun Liao was convinced his friend would keep fighting even if his body had fallen apart. But he didn''t want to see it happen.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Finally, the array formation was done. Sun Liao waited for a moment of weakness in the storm wall. As soon as it occurred, he shot his arrow without any hesitation. Once again it took the form of a Longma carrying a cart. But it was way more vivid now. Someone who didn''t know what it was would have not guessed right away, but it did look like a burly horse pulling something.


    This time, the Qi Manifestation did not collapse upon colliding with the storm wall. From the flags all around Sun Liao, lightning bolts emerged. Slowly, a small ball of fire was created above the vague cart. The Longma was desperately trying to go through the storm wall. His ethereal muscles were literally tearing apart. Then, Cao Yun fired a second arrow. It collided with the first one and the storm wall gave way.


    For an instant, Sun Liao saw the outside of the storm wall. Immediately, he activated his movement technique.


    "Seven points passed".


    Although he could only manifest Qi with the first three verses, he could use all nine verses from the ''Houyi''s Nine Suns''. There was also a tenth verse, contrary to the name of the martial art. But he still hadn''t mastered it yet.


    Sun Liao disappeared from where he was, leaving the flags behind him. His figure went through the storm wall. Just as he was about to emerge from the other side, the storm wall closed up once more. As it did, Sun Liao''s right leg was crushed under an intense pressure. The wind almost tore his limb apart. Then, he felt lightning course through his muscles and nerves. Sun Liao was almost swallowed up by the storm. Pushing his cultivation to the limit, he tried shooting at the wall behind him as he was being dragged all over the place.


    "Three Lights in Its Claws"!


    Three arrows exploded upon contact with the wall. The shockwave barely produced any vibration on this wall of wind and thunder. On the other hand, Sun Liao was projected way beyond the distance he would have been comfortable with.


    His body fell down to the ground. As much as he tried, several of his articulations were broken. Thankfully, he had the presence of mind of retracting his bow within his own sea of consciousness. Thus it wasn''t broken. Although a spiritual weapon was a powerful tool, it was also incredibly difficult to repair. It was like repairing one''s soul in fact.


    Ignoring the pain, Sun Liao sat up. Searching through his robe, he found with pleasure that his compass had not been broken. He needed it to locate his friends. For that, he had two trump cards. The first one was that he remembered their Qi. Each individual had a unique Qi signature. Although he wasn''t very sensitive to Qi because he wasn''t a Mortal Warrior yet, Sun Liao was an array formation master. As such, he was very attuned to all the subtleties of Qi, even though his perception was limited in scope. The other tool was the Supreme emblem.


    Just like Mo Zi who was using the blood runes to find the other demonic cultivators, Sun Liao was using his memories of his friends as well as the Supreme emblem to find Ren Chao, Mei Hua and Cao Yun. The Supreme emblem could help him take it toward anyone who had one, but with the particular Qi signatures he had in mind, he would be able to get a rough idea of whether the person found was one of his friends or not. It wouldn''t be one hundred percent accurate, but he had no other choice right now.


    -


    In the lava pool, Cao Yun had finally opened ninety-eight petals. He was exhausted but he couldn''t stop now. If he did, he would have to start all over again. Because he had forced the opening of the petals, this wouldn''t be very stable. Along the process he had realized that all of his efforts would be fruitless if he were to stop before the end. But as long as he could fully open it, it would stay open. In a sense, it was like a door pushed by an intense pressure. If he stopped trying to open it before it was fully open, the pressure would close it completely again.


    On the outside, his skin had begun to burn. The pain would have killed a mere mortal. Even a late Mortal would have had a hard time resisting it. he wouldn''t have died right away but he would have been unable to focus on anything else. As a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was way more resistant, especially with his special blood and his physique cultivation. But that didn''t mean he was invulnerable.


    The heat and the pain were really starting to weigh him down. But he was still able to slowly open the ninety-ninth petal. Right now, there was still one petal standing toward the sky. All the others had been delicately opened. The hundred-petaled lotus was almost complete. It was now imbued with blood and flames. In each petal one could see the flow of the blood with tiny fires here and there. If Cao Yun were to lose control over the Fire Qi, the lotus could completely burn away.


    Thankfully, he was still in control. But his breathing was now rugged. The Qi and blood protecting him were concentrated around his vitals organs and in his limbs. He was instinctively protecting everything he couldn''t heal. Losing a limb was not something even a Spirit Warrior could heal easily. However, repairing skin and even a bit of muscles or bones were all feasible. They were not easy or painless, but Cao Yun had realized himself that the Drop of Wrath had also impressive regenerative powers. After all, it had preserved even the degraded Po of Axiu Qian and was now trying to reform it. If it could regrow a corporeal soul, it could certainly help regrow a body. But Cao Yun was not in a hurry to try and see whether it could regrow limbs...


    It was the last bit of effort before his breakthrough. Slowly, Cao yun tried to bend this last petal. At first it went well. But at the moment where he was the most vulnerable, the current of the lava suddenly shifted. It was the worst timing possible. In the physical world, it was as though the lava was lashing out toward Cao Yun. Within the lava pool itself, there were tongues of fires licking his burned flesh.


    With his body in turmoil, his mind also got weakened. Suddenly, the last petal was ripped in two. And immediately after, flames started to grow from this petal. They were going to spread to all the other petals if Cao yun did not take actions right away.


    The only solution he found out was probably the worst but he had no time to philosophize about this. Inaction would mean death. Thus, he completely extinguished the fire by ripping away the last petal. The feeling was like tearing apart one''s own limb. Although he should have been full of regret, Cao Yun had pushed all his emotions aside for this breakthrough.


    Unfortunately, all his efforts were now fruitless. Worse than that, he had damaged his physical body beyond repair. The Bai Hui had suffered great damage. Now, his cultivation would be slowed down. In fact, he could even be blocked at the Mortal Warrior realm if it was worse than what he was seeing right now. Thankfully, because his emotions were in check, he kept calm and the damage did not spread. The fire was under control and all the ninety-nine other petals were safe. However, missing even one petal meant total failure.

 Chapter 318: Forged in hells fires

    After just losing his chance of becoming a Sage in the future, Cao Yun remained unnaturally calm. Indeed, he had shoved all his emotions aside to concentrate on that task that had been a complete failure at the very last step. And it had been the right call. Otherwise his disappointment would have washed over everything else and he couldn''t have kept the rest of the Bai Hui from sustaining major damage. At the very least he had not completely screwed things up.


    Even if he could not fully open it anymore, it was still technically open. In the technical sense, he had indeed broken through. But of course, there was none of the excitement because this was a breakthrough that was condemning him to a very slow cultivation progress with very few hopes of even becoming a Spirit Warrior. Handling Fire Qi before officially becoming a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior had been a mistake. Unfortunately, he had no real alternatives.


    Right now, the lava around him was already killing him slowly. If he found no way to contain the Fire Qi around him, this test would end up with him dead.


    Now that he thought about it, maybe that was the point of the test. After all, Dian Mo had told him nothing at all. Even in the previous test, he had received some brief words to explain the situation. It didn''t make sense for the Palace Spirit to try and annihilate Cao Yun. But maybe he just wanted to kill him or at least weaken him enough so he would be easier to kill.


    Thinking about that, Cao Yun lost his concentration. All the pain, the strain on his mind and his emotions acting out against his intent trying to repress them even more, all of that had finally broken his focus.


    He was now back in his sea of consciousness. And the blood lotus with ninety-nine petal was right above the Drop of Wrath.


    As soon as Cao Yun realized where he was, he felt a wave of emotions going through him and really lost all control. If he did not gain it back, the blood lotus would be completely destroyed and his Bai Hui with it. But he had tried to repress it so much and for so long that even his mind cultivation had a hard time succeeding. Cao Yun was really at the brink of collapse both physically, mentally and emotionally.


    Strangely enough though, the blood lotus did not collapse. However, it began to descend until it touched the surface of the Drop of Wrath. Before Cao Yun could react, the blood inside the lotus and inside the Drop of Wrath began to mix with one another. And the lotus even entered into the Drop of Wrath.


    At first worried, Cao Yun was now completely transfixed. He had a good connection with the Drop of Wrath. He could feel that it was not being aggressive. In fact, he could even feel a warm and soothing sensation in his Bai Hui. The Po character within the Drop of Wrath also began to move around. And it called the one outside of it into action. All Five Agents started to move around without Cao Yun''s action. At any moment he could stop it but he felt as though he shouldn''t. Besides he had to deal with an extreme fatigue on all levels.


    For the time being, Cao Yun needed to rest and his mind was acting on its own for purposes yet unknown. But Cao Yun was certain that it was for the better.


    -


    Sun Liao finally found some traces of Qi that were familiar to him. It was very close by and it looked like Ren Chao''s Qi. Slowly, Sun Liao stood up. Before he could get fully standing though, some of his tendons in his leg ruptured. As he was about to fall back down, his bow appeared and he used it as a walking stick. Using a spiritual weapon in such a way was not very glorious. But right now, the most important thing was to get to Ren Chao. He could not stay sitting down with demonic cultivators all around as the space they were in was on the verge of collapsing, potentially killing them all. With his understanding of both array formations and this Palace of Supreme Wisdom thanks to his master''s work, Cao Yun was probably the most suited cultivator to help in this crisis. But he could not really fight anymore and he needed help. Moreover, his friends might also need help.


    Sun Liao was not worried for Cao Yun, but he would really like having him by his side right now. Ren Chao would do just fine as well. Deep down, Sun Liao cared a lot more about Ren Chao but he was just too stubborn and arrogant to admit it. Still, he had made some progress because he was aware of it.


    Walking toward the direction shown by his compass, Sun Liao heard noises from a fight. Immediately, he looked back at his compass. There were two other Supreme emblems around the presence who was probably his brother. Even with his compass, Sun Liao was unable to determine whether they were using Evil Qi or not. The only problem was that he didn''t recognize their Qi, but he hadn''t remembered the Qi signature of every disciple. Maybe he should work on that when he became a Mortal Warrior, it would be easier.


    Although he wasn''t very competent in stealth, and he could not use any array formation to hide his presence right now, Sun Liao tried to be as discreet as possible. Thankfully, he soon heard something that made all his worries go away. Even he had not realized that this voice had this kind of power over him.


    "Hmph! And you thought you could best me?! Die!"


    This was Ren Chao''s voice. Just after it echoed through that desolate place Sun Liao had landed in, the sound of a fist going through flesh was heard as well.


    Immediately after, Sun Liao saw a head fly to his side and explode against a tree. In the direction it had flown from, Sun Liao saw his friend, his brother. Ren Chao was covered in wounds that were slowly healing. His upper body was completely exposed. And his muscles were not really bigger but still much more impressive than before. He truly looked like he had been sculpted in metal. There was even an odd aura of gold around him. Although extremely faint, Sun Liao was able to perceive him thanks to his training as an array formation master.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Despite this great appearance, the colossus was visibly exhausted. On the ground beside him was another young man. Sun Liao recognized him immediately. He was Xin Xiong, one of the ten disciples who had been at the top during the entrance examination. His face was bruised and pale. He had clearly lost a lot of blood. All around his chest and waist, there were makeshift bandages. Without an alchemist or a physician, Xin Xiong would not last very long. But Ren Chao did not seem to fare that much better. Of course he was still strong enough to fight though. The woman he had just killed had been a middle Mortal Warrior. No matter how much he had progressed, Ren Chao should not have been able to beat her, let alone kill her with a single punch.


    Suddenly, Ren Chao''s face turned toward Sun Liao. And all his anger and fear melted away into a huge grin.


    "Brother Sun?!"


    "Keep it down! We don''t want others to find us."


    As soon as he heard his brother calling for him, Sun Liao felt at peace. But he immediately started to take an annoyed tone to speak with him.


    Seeing that Sun Liao was walking with much pain, Ren Chao went to help him. Because he was so much taller, he lowered himself and helped his friend toward Xin Xiong. The poor man was sitting against a tree, barely conscious of what was going on around him. He was just awake enough to know he was among allies.


    "What happened?"


    "I don''t have all the details. But demonic cultivators infiltrated the Palace of Supreme Wisdom and apparently collapsed all the realms into a single one. But as you can see." Sun Liao showed the sky full of red auroras and small tears where the storm walls were violent. "Such a vast realm is too much for the array formations. One way or another, they won''t be able to keep it together for very long. And since I don''t see how we could put the realms back to the way they were, this one will probably crumble. Then, it''s everyone''s guess. Considering what happened, I can''t be sure whether we''ll die or whether the Palace of Supreme Wisdom will have enough power to keep us safe. Hopefully my master is working on that and he will get us out."


    "In other words, we''re screwed!"


    "Pretty much, yes."


    "Do you have any ideas?"


    "I can use my compass to try and locate Mei Hua and Chen Guo. If you can help me, we can join with them. Then, I would advise gathering all our fellow disciples, but some might have turned traitors. Finally, I would suggest finding the demonic cultivators responsible for this. I don''t know if that situation was planned. Probably not... But they should have a way to get out of here. Apparently, they found a way in. And they did not come to all this trouble just to die."


    "... Sounds like a plan."


    -


    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the blood lotus was now in the very center of the Drop of Wrath. Even he had no idea what was going to happen next.


    From Shen the Fire Spirit, tongues of fires formed and went all around the Drop of Wrath. It was as though the blood was attracting them. And it probably was because it had taken control over the Five Agents. From the Po character, some tiny fragments of bones started to detach themselves under the heat. In a sense, it looked like the Po character was being dissolved, but only a tiny part of it.


    Then, those bones that were clearly refined Death Energy as Cao Yun could feel with his ''Death Verses'', went toward the lotus. There was still a small remaining part of the hundredth petal that had been destroyed. The Death Energy gathered around it and the blood from the Drop of Wrath began to coagulate around those fragments of bones. Amazed, Cao Yun barely understood what was going on. But his Drop of Wrath was repairing his Bai Hui. Although it was just a visualization of his mind, he could also feel the blood condensed at the summit of his skull. It was becoming warmer and warmer without burning.


    Before long, the hundredth petal had been rebuilt with the blood of the Drop of Wrath. In the physical world, Cao Yun could also sense that his blood had seeped through some of his tiniest meridians to repair them. Even he had not realized the Drop of Wrath was able to do such a thing. Until now, he thought his blood could only help wounds of the flesh. But clearly, they could even heal meridians. In fact, they might be able to heal Dantian as well. If his servant had had this blood, she might have been able to heal without the legendary Life Boiling Cradle pill.


    Very slowly, the lotus left the Drop of Wrath. When it emerged, some blood dripped down from it back into the Drop of Wrath below. And as the blood was still flowing on its surface, the blood lotus finally bloomed completely. It was as though all the petals were now heavier with blood and had naturally opened.


    At that very moment, Cao Yun felt a powerful suction force from his Upper Dantian. Suddenly, his Bai Hui opened completely. In harmony all of his Five Prodigious Gates opened as one. The feeling was incredible, but Cao Yun was terrified. After opening, they naturally drew in all the Qi they could around them. But that Qi was almost pure Fire Qi. Cao Yun could already see his meridians melting under the heat. Not even the Drop of Wrath could save him then.


    Despite his expectations, the Fire Qi did not burn at all, it was surrounded by the intent from the Drop of Wrath. And it gathered all of its intent around this Fire Qi. It even formed some kind of wall with its intent to protect Cao Yun''s heart from the heat.


    Now, Cao Yun was beginning to understand. The Drop of Wrath used to act on instinct alone to accomplish Axiu Qian''s last will, reforming his soul. But now that Cao Yun had bonded with it, it was starting to act out his will. Not only had it saved his cultivation, it had even only taken in Fire Qi in an amount that would not endanger Cao Yun. His efforts to tame this Drop of Wrath had been highly successful and he wasn''t even done with it yet.


    At this very moment, Cao Yun had truly entered the realm of 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. His next step would be to strengthen all five of his doors. Although the drop of Wrath had healed his Bai Hui, Cao Yun could still feel some weakness from it. Some of it was probably psychological but it was also physical. As such, even if his cultivation had not been doomed, it would slow down significantly in the next level. He would need some time to be sure that his Bai Hui was fine. It was especially true considering that the realm after that consisted in taking in huge amounts of Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian. And he was not going to risk it right away.


    After his breakthrough, Cao Yun felt an intense energy wanting to go out. It wanted to fill the void of his collapsing Wei Qi. However, Cao Yun controlled himself. Maybe he had to play in Dian Mo''s hand. If he believed that he was on the brink of death, maybe he would finally do whatever he was wanting to do to the young demon he believed Cao Yun was.


    Thus, Cao Yun strengthened his Wei Qi beneath his skin and focused it on vital parts. Then, using ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he hid most of his vitals. He was very steady with it to give the impression that he was slowly dying.


    It worked like a charm. Indeed Dian Mo had sent Cao Yun into this lava pool with nefarious intents in mind. He didn''t want to kill him or incinerate him. No, he just wanted to weaken him while preparing him for the final tempering. After blood was fire and after fire was death. Only then could he finally accomplish his ultimate goal.

 Chapter 319: Chamber of Mysterious Elixir

    Dian Mo was trapped within his Demon Palace. Since Da Mo had tried to eradicate the true spirit of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Dian Mo had been there. The attempt had failed but the spirit had lost any form of consciousness. Thus, Dian Mo was the only one who could really be called a spirit. However, he had almost no control over what was going on inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. The same could not be said about his own Demon Palace. After tricking the young demon he thought Cao Yun was into getting inside, he had been able to send him into tests created by Dian Mo himself.


    Those tests were not just meant to train young demons, Dian Mo had found innovative ways of using them. And soon he would finally test his hypothesis. Cao Yun had fared way better than he had thought against the blood beasts but this was a good thing. After all, it showed him that he was indeed a demon although he had used some strange method to imitate the cultivation of humans. No human would have survived the bloodline of a true demon coursing through their veins. In fact, seeing that Cao Yun had what looked like a perfect imitation of the Qi system of a human was a nice surprise as well. This body was great! And after seeing him deal with the beasts, Dian Mo realized he had not even needed to try and purify his bloodline.


    The realm of the beasts was supposed to help a young demon develop the purity of his blood rather than advance his cultivation. But Cao Yun already had an impressive bloodline. Dian Mo himself was in awe. It pained him to admit that it was almost as pure as Da Mo''s bloodline. At least, the Palace Spirit had never seen any other demon with such a powerful bloodline. This was good news for him but it could also be a complication.


    Thankfully, the pool of lava was there to make sure this wouldn''t be a problem. Dian Mo didn''t want to kill Cao Yun just yet. And he certainly did not want to incinerate him whole. After all, he really desired his body. Besides, he clearly had several treasures on him.


    Just as he had not really trusted Cao Yun, Dian Mo knew the young demon would not trust him. In fact, it was obvious that he was hiding things from him. And Dian Mo would not let go of his greatest treasure even for someone who could go through all the tests. Thankfully, those tests specially created by Da Mo were completely under his control. As such, he could even intensify the heat from the lava at a crucial moment. Although he could not see through Cao Yun''s body and soul, Dian Mo had been able to find the perfect moment to strike.


    Then, he could see Cao Yun slowly losing consciousness as the lava was burning his body layer by layer.


    Just before Cao Yun was about to die, Dian Mo decided to transport him elsewhere. In fact, he brought him back into the Demon Palace.


    Right now, Cao Yun''s charred body was in suspension in the air. After his experience in the lava pool, Dian Mo was convinced that this boy was on the verge of death and had lost consciousness. But he was still not ready to take any risk, not when he was so close to his goal. There would never be a second chance like this one.


    "Boy, I do not know if you can hear me. But I assure you I have no enmity against you. You see, the problem is that I was trapped in here since I was born. You can imagine how frustrating it is. Besides I have almost no power. And since the demons stopped using this facility, I am truly alone and forgotten. If you could just put yourself in my place, you would realize that you would have done the same thing as I''m about to do. It is a pity that it happened to such a nice young demon, but I can''t really use a human body...


    "However, I swear that when I take over your body and destroy your soul, I will make your dreams come true. The humans will bow down before the might of the demons once more. But this time they will not beg Demon God Da Mo but Demon Spirit Dian Mo. And I''ll learn from the mistakes of my creator. I won''t show any bit of leniency to the humans. Only the Mortals and mere mortals will survive my cleansing. Then I''ll just need to destroy the Five Prodigious Gates of any newborn. Mankind will be our slaves for all eternity. So you see, at least your dream will come true. And in a sense, it will really be thanks to you. You should feel honored."


    Dian Mo was mostly talking to himself, perhaps because of the time he had spent in isolation.


    "I''d really like to keep your soul intact, but I don''t think that that''s such a good idea. Firstly you would suffer the same fate I did. But more importantly, I do not wish to have an enemy within myself. Once again, I am very sorry it had to come down to this. Well... I''m not really sorry, but... well, you can''t hear me anyway. So let''s get started.


    "If by any chance you can understand what''s going on around you however, I''m about to purge your soul from your body. No hard feeling, right?"


    Then, several torches began to burn all over the Demon Palace. Now that Dian Mo was not hiding anything, the architecture had reverted to one that was closer to what humans knew. Like many things in the current human culture, architecture had also been inspired by what demons had done and not the other way around. So it wasn''t a surprise that this palace resembled the palaces of humans.


    Apart from torches and Cao Yun, the palace was completely empty. However, a shadow was moving around between the flames. It was clearly unnatural. But it wasn''t the Palace Spirit just yet. Dian Mo was so paranoid that he was still staying hidden. Using ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun had been able to hide that he was perfectly fine. Although his skin and some of his tissues had been burned to an alarming degree, those were wounds he knew he could heal thanks to his new blood and some alchemy. At least, he was now certain of Dian Mo''s plan. From the very start, he had been going after his body. As a spirit he was bound to this place and could not leave, no matter what. But if he were to possess a body, he could.


    The main problem was that as he had been created by a demon, Dian Mo was unable to possess a human body for long. Thankfully for Cao Yun, he was now utterly convinced he was a demon. Otherwise, he would have probably killed him earlier. To be honest, Cao Yun did not know whether Dian Mo could survive inside his body or not. He was not a demon but his blood was now very close to the blood of a demon. In fact, Cao Yun was wondering whether Da Mo and Axiu Qian were maybe from the same species. Unfortunately he didn''t know enough about demons to be definitive. Maybe their bloodlines were just similar.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Suddenly, the shadow that was dancing around the flames started to go toward Cao Yun. Using his recently opened Bai Hui, it got inside his Upper Dantian.


    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the shadow parasite was spreading. A huge cloud of black dust rose on the horizon, all around his sea of consciousness. His very mind was being besieged. That being said, this was really not a problem for Cao Yun. However, he wanted to make Dian Mo believe his soul had truly been destroyed. Only if Dian Mo entered his sea of consciousness himself could he truly vanquish him. If he were to see through Cao Yun''s deception, he could probably do much worse. For now, he didn''t want to hurt him too much because he was hoping to possess his body. But he could probably try and kill him before taking over. That would be dangerous in itself as well though. So as long as everything seemed to go according to plan, Dian Mo would probably not do that.


    Toward this black cloud, Cao Yun had no fear. With his Drop of Wrath, he could get rid of it without any problem. But if he did that, Dian Mo would feel it. Thankfully, this black cloud was made of pure Evil Qi. And Cao Yun had learned to control it to a great extent. Now that he was a Mortal Warrior, he was confident that apart from a very powerful Spirit Warrior, no demonic cultivator could control Evil Qi as well as he could. The trick would be to control this black cloud in such a way as to make Dian Mo believe everything had been going well.


    For that, he would also need to use ''Ashen Feather Seal'' on his own mind and soul. This was something he had never done before. In theory, before becoming a Spirit Warrior, it was almost impossible to enter one''s own sea of consciousness. But because he had, maybe Cao Yun could manifest those ashes within his own mind. In fact, he was now faced with a great amount of Evil Qi. Maybe he could use it to create some of those ashes and hide the fact that his soul had not been destroyed.


    This would be very delicate. And to be honest, Cao Yun was still hurt by his previous botched breakthrough. Right now, he really wanted to take some time to investigate his own body. He would need a few weeks, or even months, to make sure that no damage remained before going forward. Although he didn''t like using pills to advance his cultivation, Cao Yun would really like to take some right now. Because he was not entirely sure what had happened to his Bai Hui, he was worried about it.


    That being said, he had no time to do any of it right now. For the time being, he needed to dupe a several millenniums old spirit that had been created by the Demon God Da Mo, nothing difficult...


    The moment the Evil Qi entered his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun had felt his Drop of Wrath. It wanted to devour it whole. But he couldn''t let it do so or he would be exposed. Right now, he needed to make a spectacle out of it. If his soul got destroyed without any resistance, it might appear suspect. Instead, he would make it look like he had fought to the bitter end with everything he had and then died.


    As soon as the Evil Qi reached a certain distance, Cao Yun used the intent from the Drop of Wrath to take control over it. Because Dian Mo had refrained from getting into Cao Yun''s mind, he was not able to fully sense what was going on. He had probably a very vague impression that his Evil Qi had weakened a bit, but nothing major.


    Some of the Evil Qi got immediately turned into strange ashes that flew all over the place. They formed some kind of rotating dome around the Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath. It wasn''t perfect but hopefully it would deceive Dian Mo long enough to make him enter Cao Yun''s mind. Once he did, this would be over. Cao Yun could not imagine anything that could rival his Drop of Wrath. In fact, he was convinced that if Xiao Xuefeng herself tried to impede into his mind, she would get hurt.


    As Cao Yun was focusing on this trap, he realized that his final Five Echoes Drop had been completed. Because he had almost died inside the lava, he had not really noticed. But it was floating at the center of his Five Agents. Maybe some of the Fire Qi absorbed by the Drop of Wrath had helped it form a bit faster. Or maybe it was due to his breakthrough although it had been difficult.


    Seeing it floating with majesty above the ocean below, Cao Yun got an idea.


    Firstly, he focused on the ashes to form an opaque dome around his Five Agents. He also used the Drop of Wrath to slow down the Evil Qi. It was now slowly spinning. His sea of consciousness was a giant black ball of rotating ashes surrounded by a storm of Evil Qi caught in its momentum.


    Cao Yun could not even see the seven stars above right now. For any other cultivator, they would have been writhing in agony as of now. Thankfully, Evil Qi''s corrosion had almost no hold on Cao Yun anymore. There was almost no difference for him between Qi and Evil Qi. Of course, that didn''t mean that he was comfortable dealing with Evil Qi. As long as it wasn''t necessary he would stay as far away as possible. He was always feeling like he was exploiting the pain and misery of his fellow cultivators. Indeed, this Evil Qi had probably come from humans, mostly, humans who had been exploited and tortured both in life and then, even in death.


    Pushing those feelings aside for now, Cao Yun slowly lowered the last Five Echoes Pearl. He would have preferred to do it under other circumstances. This was supposed to be a great moment for him as he was about to finally complete the second layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. But there was no reason to wait. This was a great way for him to deceive the Palace Spirit and it was going to make his mind and soul stronger.


    The last chamber to energize was the Chamber of Mysterious Elixir. It was a chamber that was present in every Dantian as it was the name given to the core chamber of a Dantian. The Dantian were called Fields of Cinnabar because this was where the elixir of immortality was believed to be created. Each one was essential for the cultivation of immortality. Usually, the Upper Dantian would not be cultivated before the Spirit Warrior realm. In the Mortal Warrior realm, it was the Middle Dantian that was mainly used. But there was no reason not to train one''s Upper Dantian, it was just too difficult to do so for young cultivators.


    With his powerful mind cultivation though, this was not a problem anymore. And Cao Yun was about to energize the last chamber of his Upper Dantian. In theory, all of his nine chambers would then vibrate in harmony. And his entire Upper Dantian would become way more powerful. As such, his sea of consciousness might also evolve in some way.


    Right now, Cao Yun was going into the unknown but he had prepared for it for a long time. Although some peace and quiet would have been lovely, they were not necessary for him right now.


    At last, a powerful white light spread through his entire sea of consciousness. Even the Evil Qi was pierced by that light. If he had wanted to, he could have vaporized it right then. But he had to make Dian Mo fall into his trap.

 Chapter 320: The Nine Peaks emerge

    From an outside perspective, Cao Yun''s body was on the verge of death when the Evil Qi crept its way up his Bai Hui. Although demons had no meridians nor Dantian, they had acupoints. Although their position was often different, the Bai Hui also existed in demon physiology. Indeed, it was connected to their sea of consciousness, their soul and their mind, just like humans.


    As such, Dian Mo was not surprised when the Evil Qi tried to get in Cao Yun''s soul through this point. However, he was able to sense that there was something strange. Although that boy had used some peculiar mean to pass off as human, there was clearly more to the story than that. But for now, Dian Mo was unable to see through him and that just amped up both his excitement and his worry. He desperately wanted to possess a physical body so that he could finally leave this prison. But on the other hand, he was terrified by the idea of getting out. It was very strange, but in this place he was perfectly safe.


    Although he had no real control over the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he didn''t really mind. In fact, if he could just see and everything that was going on and interact with people, he would be happy. After all those millenniums trapped in here, Dian Mo had become attached to this prison in some perverse way. This was both the reason of his suffering and a safe haven. Even a pure spirit could develop inner demons. Luckily for him, it had not yet reached this stage, but he could feel that it was getting there. And that made him want to leave even more while also feeding his anxiety and terror.


    Dian Mo was currently a ball of anxiety and hope, an embodiment of an oxymoron.


    Watching Cao Yun very closely, he could feel subtle changes. The young demon was fighting off the Evil Qi. He was way more powerful than Dian Mo had imagined. At first, he had only been impressed by his physique and his blood. But now even his will seemed tenacious. However, he could feel no attempt at countering the invasion. Cao Yun was barely steeling his resolve and his will to try and fend off the attacker. Ultimately, it would fail.


    Dian Mo did not know Cao Yun''s cultivation, but he had not reached the Accomplished Demon realm yet. That was for sure! And because of that, he had no way of resisting him. Yet, Dian Mo stayed extremely cautious, maybe too cautious in fact. However, getting a new body was not a small thing. If he did things right, his life would then get tied to the body. Yes his mind and soul would be more powerful than those of an ordinary demon, but he would become as mortal as a demon. Anyway, even as a spirit, he wasn''t technically immortal. His lifespan was extremely long but it was tied to the array formation that would ultimately vanish with time. And if he couldn''t cultivate, he would never be able to prolong his lifespan past this.


    That was the reason why Dian Mo had put Cao Yun through those tests. He wanted to make sure his body was top-notch and potentially improve it a little before taking over. Even he was beyond impressed by what he had seen. Besides, he still had some of the treasures left behind by Demon God Da Mo. And he had his greatest treasure. With that in hands, even Spirit Warriors would have to be careful around him. Although he probably couldn''t take the entire Piaolu planet alone, he was fairly confident in eradicating the humans with time. Indeed, Dian Mo was certain he could improve Cao Yun''s body even beyond Demon God Da Mo.


    All of a sudden, he sensed a powerful aura from the young demon''s soul. Then, it completely disappeared. In fact, the Evil Qi was now stronger than ever. Some Evil Qi was even leaving some of Cao Yun''s acupoints.


    Finally! Cao Yun''s soul had put up a very good fight. But in the end, it had crumbled. Now Cao Yun''s body was ripe for the taking. He was about to go in there right away but he got worried. Maybe it was a ruse... Paranoia was slowly taking over. Now that he was really about to leave this place, a huge wave of anxiety washed over Dian Mo. He felt very strange, and extremely weak. It was as though something had poisoned him but it was his own mind playing tricks on him.


    This place was not some safe haven. It was a prison from which he could barely catch a glimpse of what was happening outside. Only one year every seven years did his leash loosen up a little. The other six years, he was in total darkness and isolation. It had been almost forty thousand years now. Anyone would have slowly gone insane. The mere fact that Dian Mo could retain his memories and his sanity was incredible. It showed how determined he was. But now that he was just about to step outside of his prison, anguish was taking a hold of him.


    Maybe the outside world was nothing at all like what Cao Yun had described. Maybe humans would end up winning. Demon God Da Mo had been invincible in his eyes and yet he had passed away. Apparently, Nuwa had done so. Even Dian Mo could remember the small slave. She had been a personal maid of Demon God Da Mo. In his memories, the image of a young, shy and weak young girl was vividly engraved. He could not imagine her defeating his master. But his master had really died, it was undeniable.


    If even Demon God Da Mo had been slain by such a weak and meek girl, he could also be killed. After all, according to Cao Yun, the humans were ruling right now. But again, he could have been lying to get his hands on the treasure.


    Many conflicting thoughts and emotions were going through Dian Mo''s mind and he got paralyzed just in front of the goal he had been desiring all this time.


    -


    Sun Liao and Ren Chao had found their sister Mei Hua as well as twenty other Wubei disciples. It was difficult to say whether the others had been killed, were hiding, or had even betrayed mankind. In fact, it was impossible to be sure whether the disciples around them right now were loyal or not. Even if they used to be, maybe a demonic cultivator had put a seal in them to blackmail them.


    No need to say it, but the atmosphere was particularly tense. Thankfully, Sun Liao, Mei Hua and Ren Chao had a certain aura to them. It wasn''t just because they were each the direct disciple of a chief elder, but also because they were very close to Cao Yun. In the disciples'' mind, he was the least suspicious of being a demonic cultivator because of the incident with Lu Meihan two years ago.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Many of them were wounded. Those wounds had not been caused by demonic cultivators but by the chaos both of the last transportation and also of this current patchwork of a world. Many realms with conflicting rules had been smashed together and it had produced a very unwelcoming environment. They had even found two Wubei disciples who had been transported literally within rocks. Now, Sun Liao was absolutely certain that the Palace of Supreme Wisdom would be unable to get them out safely. Apart from waiting for his master outside to figure something out, the only thing to do was to try and confront the demonic cultivators.


    For now, Sun Liao had only shared his opinions with his brother and sister. After all, morale was already low. And although some were suspecting that truth, they had not yet accepted it. In their minds, it was still just a possibility, an unlikely possibility.


    Morale was already very low, but if this possibility became a reality, some might break. After all, the sky was now completely red with ominous tears everywhere. Moreover, the storms had spread in the sky. Yellow thunderbolts were crisscrossing the crimson sky. The colors were so vivid that they were completely unnatural. But there was nothing to be done about that.


    Besides, even if they had the numerical advantage, all the demonic cultivators were Mortal Warriors. In the group, only Mei Hua had reached that stage. And she was not a fighter. But she had put her competence to good use, healing the people around her. Sun Liao could use his new ''Heavenly Mirror Longbow'' to fight off early Mortal Warriors and Ren Chao was strong enough to fight hand-to-hand with them. But against middle Mortal Warriors, they would have no chance. From what they could know, the demonic cultivators had to be at least around ten and were very strong. Besides, they had the blood runes Cao Yun had talked about after his fight against Luduo Bu. That moron had obviously been a test run for this new technique they had discovered.


    With a plan that had been prepared so long ago, they were all ill-equipped to stop them.


    Instead, Sun Liao decided to focus on finding a way to survive the collapse of this space. Hopefully, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom would not collapse entirely. Thus, they had to find a way to get deeper within the array formations. Indeed, they were surrounding the physical Palace of Supreme Wisdom. If they could get in there, they would probably be safe until the realms collapsed. Once this space was gone, there were high chances that the Palace of Supreme Wisdom would be able to recover.


    The plan was anything but perfect. But this was the only plan that made sense, gave them a chance to survive and did not completely crush the morale of everyone present.


    The biggest problem was that Sun Liao needed to find out what the demonic cultivators were doing. They had clearly a deeper understanding of this place. Just by watching them set up their array formations, it could give him some ideas on how this place truly worked. For that mission, he chose only Ren Chao and Mei Hua. Ren Chao would stay behind to only act as reinforcement if a fight was inevitable. With Mei Hua''s perception, they would hopefully not be detected at all.


    -


    Outside of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, the chief elders were all being busy. Now they could all feel that the array formations were in a very tight spot.


    To their surprise, Chief Elder Suxian left his position. He was the only one who could figure something out in time and yet he had more important things to deal with. Some almost raised their protests to Xiao Xuefeng. But they stopped themselves. She had given her permission for this little talk. Indeed, Chief Elder Suxian had also asked his friend Chief Elder Luoming to go with him. Among the chief elders, they all knew Suxian Zheng enough to know he wasn''t abandoning them. But some elders were not that charitable with his intentions.


    -


    In the Demon Palace, Cao Yun had lived through an incredible experience. After energizing his ninth and final chamber, his Upper Dantian felt as if it was an infinite ocean within his own body. It transcended everything Cao Yun had ever felt. For an instant, he had even felt as though he was one with the Universe, that he was even bigger than the Universe itself. But the feeling only lasted an instant. However, even after the breakthrough, the sensation in his Upper Dantian was still incredible.


    Furthermore, his sea of consciousness had indeed changed. From the ocean below, nine rocky peaks had just surfaced. They had come out of nowhere and simply emerged from the water. Each one was rather thin but very tall. They looked like fingers pointed to the sky. In fact, all of them together resembled a hand trying to grab the Five Agents and the Drop of Wrath. Shen the Fire Spirit rose above them while Po the Metal Corporeal Soul was now rotating around them as a moon.


    Those were the Nine Peaks representing the nine chambers of his Upper Dantian. Although they were truly looked real, they were just physical representations of his Upper Dantian inside his sea of consciousness. Thanks to their presence, his mind had become powerful enough to use ''Ashen Feather Seal'' on his very soul.


    From an outside point of view, Cao Yun''s soul had been consumed by the Evil Qi. However, Dian Mo had not attacked yet...


    This gave Cao Yun even more time to prepare himself. According to ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', the third layer of his mind cultivation would be ''Subdue the Seven Demons''. In that layer, Cao Yun would need to subdue the Seven Turbid Demons, the different aspects of his Po, his corporeal soul. This was what he had been waiting for since he had formulated a plan to get the Drop of Wrath fully under his control. It wanted to reform its complete Po and Cao Yun had to get his under full control. Instead, he was thinking about reconstructing the Drop of Wrath''s Po in his image while he was putting his own Po under his control.


    If he was successful, not only would the Drop of Wrath be a true component of his being, but it would also become much more powerful.


    As he was thinking about it, Cao Yun sensed something in his Upper Dantian. From the Chamber of Mysterious Elixir, a powerful warmth spread toward the top of his skull. Slowly, he could feel that his new mind cultivation was soothing his own Bai Hui. Although his Drop of Wrath had tried to repair it, the acupoint had been damaged and had suffered intense stress. But his mind cultivation was now dealing with it on its own. Unfortunately, he had to restrain it to keep up the appearance of weakness.


    For an instant, he saw an image. His Drop of Wrath seemed to have sent him something. It was only a flash but he saw the world-tree he had approached in the Yellow Death World and from which he had obtained a seed. As it was alive, he couldn''t take it in his spatial ring but he still had the seed in the Wubei Sect.


    Despite all his efforts, Dian Mo had still not attacked Cao Yun. The young man now knew perfectly well what the Palace Spirit wanted. And for one, he couldn''t wait for him to try it out. With the Drop of Wrath he was already certain of the outcome but with his new breakthrough into ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', there would not be any suspense at all. This wouldn''t even be a challenge. The challenge would be to lure him in and to not kill him.


    Indeed, Dian Mo was a well of knowledge about the demons. There was no way Cao Yun was going to kill him without getting all the answers he wanted and needed.

 Chapter 321: Breaking through ones prison

    Mo Zi had gathered around him eight demonic cultivators. When they had come into this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, they had been twenty, now they were only nine. Some had been killed when the realm they had been sent into had collapsed. Others had died before even reaching the realms in question. Fortunately, Mo Zi had survived and there were enough of them to complete the mission.


    The main problem was that this space they were in was extremely unstable. It could collapse just by their action. But if they didn''t try to complete their missions, their seals would kill them. Besides, the space was about to collapse anyway. Mo Zi was now in the middle of the eight. He could not spare a single person if he wanted to be successful.


    Their goal had not changed. They had to open the way into the Demon Palace. From what their masters had discovered, there was a secondary palace hidden within the array formations. It was only accessible one year every seven years. The previous year, Mo Zi had put in place several artifacts to allow them to infiltrate the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. But he had also laid down the groundwork for them to open the way into the Demon Palace.


    In that Demon Palace was the treasure they were after. However, getting to it was incredibly difficult. If Mo Zi had not been a Mortal Warrior, he could never have succeeded. And even with all the demonic cultivators around him being Mortal Warriors with one hundred and eight blood runes each, he still wasn''t absolutely sure of his success. But he couldn''t fail! No matter what it took, he was going to open an access into this Demon Palace.


    All of the demonic cultivators had called forth their blood runes. They were now under Mo Zi''s control. With faint surges of Qi, he was guiding them. In his hands, Mo Zi also had an array formation plate. It had taken his master around seventy years to engrave it. Even then, he wasn''t sure it would work as planned. They had prepared many contingencies for this plan. But hopefully, the first approach would work right away. After all, space had been completely distorted so it would be weakened.


    In order to open the access to the Demon Palace, they had to break through the veil protecting the realms. Then they had to cross the void in the right direction. Both operations were incredibly delicate. By breaking the veil they could make the realm collapse on itself and die. And by trying to cross the void, they could lose themselves as the notion of space meant nothing in the true void. Recently, Mo Zi had made the experience of the true void. Although he wasn''t in a hurry to do that again, he had no choice.


    Once he felt as though the preparations were done, Mo Zi finally activated the array formation plate. Suddenly the blood runes shined with a new glimmer in them. They perfectly aligned with the Qi released from the plate. Within the group, there was now some kind of needle with a very peculiar form. It was made of blood and Evil Qi. Moreover, it was vibrating like crazy. And a strident sound echoed throughout the land. Even the Wubei disciples who had stayed far away were assaulted by this terrible sound.


    Watching the group closely were Sun Liao and Mei Hua, while Ren Chao was behind, ready to act as a human shield for his friends. Mei Hua was not sure what she was looking at. But Sun Liao was. This array formation was unknown to him. However, he was perplexed because it had traces of his master''s handiwork in it. To be more accurate, it looked like a style close to his but a bit different. Either it had been done by his master or someone who had studied under the same grand-master.


    At the tip of the needle, space began to spin with the blood and Evil Qi. Slowly, a tear appeared right in front of the group. Transfixed, Sun Liao had stopped breathing. This kind of array formation was beyond what the current Hongchen Kingdom could achieve during the Forsaken Dao Era. Whoever had made this array formation had almost reached the level of Spirit array formation master. However, Sun Liao could also detect signs of demonic aura in this plate. Although he did not know much about the art of array formations practiced by the demonic cultivators, Sun Liao could guess that it was incredibly perverse just by the sensation in his spine.


    Sun Liao was not the only one transfixed by the scene, Mo Zi was too. He had never controlled such an array formation before. Of course, it had been created by his master and he had very little control over it. But still, he had been the one to call it forth. And he was the one powering it up. He realized that the blood runes from nine demonic cultivators were barely enough to use this array formation.


    As much as he could, he tried to stabilize it. It was working, but it was also slowly falling apart. If there had been twelve of them, they would have succeeded without any problem. But they were nine and some were injured. This really wasn''t ideal...


    At last, Mo Zi felt that the array formation was about to collapse. Although he had other plans, none were better than this one. As such, he was ready to go to great lengths to make sure that this attempt would work. Right now, he simply needed more energy. Looking around, he saw Wang Jinhua who was still heavily injured.


    They both locked eyes with one another. In the young woman''s eyes, there was a sudden realization. Mo Zi was ready to suck her dry of energy in order to power up the array formation. But there was nothing she could do. Since the plate had been activated, she and all her comrades were stuck in place. And with the seals in their body and soul, Mo Zi could literally order them to die for the cause without them being able to refuse.


    Wang Jinhua saw her last breath draw near. However, it didn''t come to be. In a last moment, Mo Zi changed his target. Wang Jinhua had helped him a lot. If it was necessary, he would drain her as well, but there were other possibilities right now.


    One of the demonic cultivators began to wail. His body shriveled with monstrous sounds. The others could not even look at him as they were not able to move even their neck. However, their senses were still sharp. As such, they were able to feel his Qi and blood being mixed together as he was still alive. The seals in him activated and consumed him to his very soul in order to produce a great amount of Evil Qi. Even for them, this was a gruesome death. His soul had been ground as he was still alive and conscious.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    From his body, only a disgusting gray mass remained. Everything that had an ounce of life in him had been extracted. Then the blood needle became much more stable. It even seemed to be sharper and to be rotating faster and faster. The tear in front of the needle turned bigger and bigger. Although the needle was not moving, its simple rotation was tearing apart the fabric of space in front of it.


    After the first victim, two more were necessary for Mo Zi to complete the mission. But even then, it wouldn''t be nearly enough. Space had been pierced but they still needed to travel through the void. However, the needle had been mostly spent. Unfortunately for his comrades, Mo Zi was ready to use them to the last one in order to accomplish his mission.


    Sun Liao had finally understood what their plan was. At first he had thought that maybe they were trying to escape but it didn''t make sense for them to go to all the effort of breaking in to then just leave.


    They were obviously looking for something hidden outside of the realms produced by the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Maybe they were going for the palace itself. According to what his master had discovered, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was a treasure trove. After all, everything they received in the tests came from the palace itself. And for millenniums it had still not given out all of its treasures. It was akin to a gigantic spatial ring with a spirit that could decide who was worthy of which treasure.


    The real problem right now was that this realm was already very unstable. If they pierced through it, it could collapse. They would all die. But since the plate had been activated, Sun Liao had no way of stopping it. This was literally a Spirit array formation. It was beyond even what his own master could produce. And Sun Liao was not a Mortal Warrior yet. He couldn''t even create Human array formations, let alone interrupting a Spirit one.


    Quickly, Sun Liao had to think of a solution. But he could see none. Either they would wait and hope for the best. Maybe the Palace of Supreme Wisdom would be strong enough to resist and send them back home. Either, he could risk it all. If they followed the demonic cultivators, they had a small chance of going where they wanted, escaping the collapse of this unstable realm. However, they would then be faced with those demonic cultivators.


    Since they were already rather weak, maybe they had a chance after all. But this was a very difficult decision to make. Sun Liao could not take this decision alone but he had not a very long time to make it. Right now, he could only confer with Mei Hua.


    As soon as he looked at her, she nodded. He did not even need to speak. Although she was not very familiar with array formations, Mei Hua had guessed that this space was about to collapse and Sun Liao had a dangerous idea to try and survive. She did not need to know all the details. She trusted her brother with her life.


    Seeing that trust in her eyes, Sun Liao made up his mind. As the only one who could act in this situation, he had no choice. He could not let his fellow disciples die crushed by an unstable space. From his robe, he took out the Supreme emblem. Thanks to his master, Sun Liao knew more about the Palace of Supreme Wisdom than most of the instructors and even elders. If his master had been there, he would have found a way to get everyone to safety. But even without him, he would find a way!


    If that group was really going into the true palace, he might find a way there... But the space his fellow disciples were in could crumble at any minute, they would have no time to spare.


    "Brother Ren, when I tell you, take us both and run toward that rift in space."


    Ren Chao was the strongest of the group and thus the fastest on foot. Although Sun Liao didn''t like the idea of being carried, this was the right call for the situation. If he had been faced with only his death, Sun Liao could have put pride and ego before life, but when his brother and sister, as well as his fellow disciples, were concerned, he was ready to throw away any bit of dignity.


    Understanding his brother''s personality, Ren Chao also understood how delicate and dangerous the situation really was.


    From the group of demonic cultivators, only Mo Zi, Wang Jinhua, Neng Lue and another man were spared. All the others were used as fuel for the plate. The needle now looked like the needle of a compass. Space had already been ripped apart. But now they were looking for a direction through the void.


    Suddenly, it completely halted. This was it!


    Mo Zi activated the last part of the plate. And immediately, Sun Liao signaled his brother. Almost at the same time, the needle with the demonic cultivators around as well as Ren Chao carrying his brother and sister leapt into the tear in space.


    Ren Chao was so fast and Mo Zi so busy that he failed to see the three orthodox cultivators before it was too late. Right now, they were all standing in front of the palace Cao Yun had been imprisoned into, the Demon Palace.


    -


    Within the Demon Palace, Dian Mo was still very anxious. He was battling his own inner demons. Maybe it was just too good to be true. Maybe he could not trust this young demon. Even if this was not a trap, he would lose the protection of this place. His prison had become the only certainty in Dian Mo''s life. Without it, he would be free, but he would also be lost.


    That was right in the middle of this mental battle that everything changed. Suddenly, he felt something ripping through the fabric of space in the void around the Demon Palace. The void they were referring to was not the void of space but the primordial void, in which time and space lost any kind of meaning.


    Dian Mo had recognized that it had been ripped open by a Spirit array formation. It was greatly inferior to the Palace of Supreme Wisdom''s array formations, but it was still worrisome. Right then, the safety of his prison had been compromised. Even if he didn''t take over Cao Yun''s body, he would be faced with danger. If someone had gone to the trouble of breaking through space and void, they were clearly targeting his palace, or even him.


    Then, Dian Mo recalled what Cao Yun had told him. Maybe the humans had figured out what Cao Yun had. And now they were coming to take his treasure and destroy him along with it. Those puny humans had been able to kill Demon God Da Mo after all. The day he had died, despite his isolation, Dian Mo had felt it. But he had refused to accept it. Now he had even learned that Nuwa had done it herself. He only remembered her as a tiny and frail girl. The humans were more dangerous than what he wanted to admit to himself.


    Sensing his own death looming over him, Dian Mo found himself with no other escape than Cao Yun''s body. The young demon had been able to pass off as human. This was the perfect body for him. Not only was he a powerful young demon, he could also hide among the sheep.


    Pushed by desperation, the Palace Spirit vanquished all his other worries and doubts. A small ball of light suddenly flew from one of the statues from the Demon Palace and entered Cao Yun''s Bai Hui. It did not encounter any resistance when it penetrated into his sea of consciousness. Inside everything was black and dead. If he could have smiled, Dian Mo would have.


    He had done it! He had finally done it! He was free from this prison!

 Chapter 322: Trapping a demon in the Nine Peaks

    As soon as he entered the young demon''s sea of consciousness, Dian Mo realized he had been successful. There was a thick odor of death. His Evil Qi had consumed everything. Now, he just had to fuse himself with this sea of consciousness and he would completely control his body. But he had to be quick because others were clearly on their way. He did not know who they were. But he could feel that some of them were using Evil Qi as well. Perhaps they were just like this young demon. It was possible they were allies of this Cao Yun.


    Anyway, as long as he could take over this body, he could kill them without any problem. Although their cultivation seemed to be stronger at first glance, they were all very exhausted. And this young demon''s body was just incredible. His bloodline was almost as pure as Da Mo''s and his physique had almost exceeded what a Golden Blood Child could do. At the same time, he had been able to mimic the cultivation of a human. Dian Mo was really curious as to how he had done so and where he had found this bloodline. Because, for sure, it had not appeared out of nowhere.


    If he had kept the boy''s soul to extract all of those, it would have been easier. But since he had many weird things in him, Dian Mo had preferred to be extremely cautious. Losing a bit of time was not a problem, but falling into a trap would be.


    After killing the intruders with this new body, Dian Mo could stay cooped up in his Demon Palace. For another seven years, it would be inaccessible. And in that time, he would be able to train. There were a few other realms created by Da Mo and his servants in the Demon Palace. And he knew exactly how to get the best out of each one of them. In a mere seven years, he would reach the Accomplished Demon realm. In fact, because he was a spirit and this realm consisted in training one''s soul, he would easily get through it and would reach the Exalted Demon realm. Even with all his treasures, he would probably be unable to get all the way through to the last grade, but he would at least become a middle Exalted Demon. With such a cultivation, this Piaolu planet would tremble in front of him. At least, it would be the case if what this young boy had told him was true.


    Just to be sure, he could stay in seclusion for several cycles of seven years. As he was thinking about that, he realized that even after finding a way out of his prison, he was just going to stay inside of it for decades. But then, how powerful should he get before he would feel alright leaving this prison? It really was a safe haven, but it undoubtedly was a prison as well.


    At last, Dian Mo felt he had found the center of the destroyed sea of consciousness. He just had to spread his soul all around and take over. Rebuilding it would take some time but it was no problem at all.


    When he tried to take over though, something completely outside of his expectations happened. The aura of death all over the place completely disappeared. He saw that the world around him had been covered in thick layers of ashes. They also started to dissolve. Dian Mo was a large ball of light. Above him appeared the Drop of Wrath and around it the Five Agents. Before the seven stars could appear in the sky, Dian Mo tried to run away.


    Although he was confident in destroying a junior''s soul, this sudden change had startled him. If Cao Yun had been able to hide his entire soul to his senses, he was not a normal demon at all. Demons were usually rather weak when it came to soul and mind. They could have terrifying wills yes, but they were usually unable to use their souls as well as humans did. Demons excelled in physical traits while humans were average in terms of both physique and soul.


    It dawned on Dian Mo that this boy had been able to imitate a human cultivation. Maybe he had also trained his soul with some unique technique.


    Before he could escape though, Dian Mo collided with some strange invisible wall. Looking around, he saw several needle-like peaks. They had emerged from the water down below. And they were raised toward the sky as pillars or as fingers. Yes, it seemed to be a strange hand with nine fingers made of black rock. Each one was a different size. And they also had particular engravings in them.


    Dian Mo tried to read them but he was unable to do so. Those were Insight Writings but even Dian Mo could not decipher because they were not yet complete. And even then, they were referring to Cao Yun''s own soul. Apart from him, no one on the Piaolu planet would be able to read those strange engravings. For most people, they would just look like random furrows in the rock. For soul experts, they would indeed look like very bizarre characters. But Cao Yun could change their aspect at will. No one, not even after invading his sea of consciousness, could read them without his permission.


    Those were the results of his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' cultivation. The second layer, ''Climb the Nine Peaks'', consisted in energizing the nine chambers of the Upper Dantian to then seal the Seven Turbid Demons in them. As soon as Cao Yun had energized his Chamber of Mysterious Elixir, his entire Upper Dantian had materialized in his own sea of consciousness in the form of those pillars. As such, each one was a representation of a part of his psyche. His mind and his soul had been through a lot recently. Maybe it would be time for him to slow down a little. After all, the next phase of his mind cultivation would take between two to three years by Turbid Demon. He would need to subdue the seven of them, so it would take anywhere between ten to twenty years to finally accomplish the third layer, ''Subdue the Seven Demons''.


    For now though, Cao Yun was going to try this new mind cultivation on Dian Mo. As a last resort, he could always use the Drop of Wrath. If he did, Dian Mo would be crushed in an instant. But Cao Yun wanted to see how far he could go without using it. Because he wanted to keep Dian Mo alive to get information, he would rather not show all his cards right now.


    "You...! You dare try and trap me?!"


    "Since you dared invade my soul to destroy it so that you could take over my body... yes, I dare."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "Little boy, you don''t know who you''re dealing with. I tried to give you a painless death, but you''re forcing my hand!"


    "A painless death?! Being devoured by Evil Qi from within one''s soul doesn''t strike me as being painless... But be my guest since you''ve invited yourself without my permission. Try your worst!"


    "You...!"


    The ball of light changed. It took on the form of the Demon Palace itself. It grew and grew and grew again. In Dian Mo''s eyes, he was as big as a real palace. However, in Cao Yun''s eyes, he was still just as small, forever trapped inside his Nine Soul Peaks. Finally, Dian Mo realized that himself. No matter how large he thought he was becoming, it was as though the world around him was increasing in size as well, just to match him. Of course, they were in a world of soul, so all of that was mere perception. However, that meant that Cao Yun''s soul, or rather his mind cultivation, was powerful enough to suppress Dian Mo.


    As a pure spirit, the idea of being subdued by a junior who had not even formed his Demon Soul seemed ridiculous. He could sense an ominous power from the drop of blood towering above him. Yet, the boy had not used it and he was still being suppressed. That wasn''t something he could easily accept.


    From his entrance, thousands of weapons leapt out. Each one was stranger than the next. Even Cao Yun saw weapons he had never even thought could exist. Many did not seem practical at all. Most likely, they were either ceremonial weapons, or just mental representations. All of them went toward a singular pillar. When they collided with it, Cao Yun felt a sharp pain in his head. It was as though someone had stabbed him right in the back of his skull. It came from his Chamber of Jade. Indeed, the pillar struck by Dian Mo was linked to his Chamber of Jade.


    Activating his mind cultivation, his Zhi the Water Will in particular, Cao Yun tried to resist. The flames from his Shen turned Zhi into liquid metal that went around the pillar under attack. However, it didn''t really slow down the attack. It only slightly reduced the pain. But it was propagating, albeit with less intensity.


    "Boy, you''re no match for a pure spirit. I have to admit your mind is indeed impressive for a youngling. But you just tried to reach higher than you could. In front of me, all your tricks are meaningless. If you submit to me right now, I can find it in me to let you live. I''ll keep you as a pet once I''ve devoured your sea of consciousness. And maybe I won''t torture you too often. What say you?"


    "It pains me to admit that you are indeed right..."


    "What?!"


    Even Dian Mo was surprised. Was this going to be this easy?


    Suddenly, he understood that this momentary naivet¨¦ would be crushed. The Drop of Wrath woke up. Cao Yun had kept some ashes in it to hide some of its most terrifying powers. But clearly, his mind cultivation was still too weak to fight against an invading spirit. For Cao Yun, it was hard to say for sure, but Dian Mo''s spirit seemed to be on par with Xiao Xuefeng''s Soul Embryo. Because she knew more techniques and had been practicing in real life for a long time, she was probably better. But Dian Mo had more raw power. If he had had more practice instead of being trapped in this array formation, he would have exceeded her by a large margin. But even then, against the Drop of Wrath, he had no chance.


    From the Drop of Wrath, a giant red arm appeared. It descended toward Dian Mo. This was Axiu Qian''s arm. From Dian Mo''s point of view, it looked as though the sky was crashing down on him. He was still trapped within the Nine Soul Peaks and this red hand was falling down from above, covering the entire surface of his new prison. Down below, the water was also reflecting this giant hand. For Dian Mo there was nowhere to run. At first, he tried to direct his weapons toward the hand but they were all burned to cinders before they could even touch the red skin.


    Then, Dian Mo focused on trying to destroy the peaks. If he could, he still had a chance of escaping. Although he could not fight that thing, he could run away. The boy''s mind was not powerful enough to trap him. Only this thing had this kind of strength. And it was likely that the boy would be unable to let that thing out of his own body. As long as Dian Mo could escape from his sea of consciousness, he could attack Cao Yun''s soul again. This time, he would risk damaging his body some more. He had several ways to heal the injuries even on a corpse. There would be some risks for him later on, but fewer than right now.


    At worst, he could let go of this body and try to possess one of the intruders. There was no way they were as dangerous as the boy. But they wouldn''t be as interesting to possess either. Hopefully, those who were using Evil Qi were really demons in disguise like Cao Yun. Dian Mo had still not discovered that the young demon was in fact a young human using this drop of blood to pass off as a demon, and not the other way around.


    It became a race against time.


    The Drop of Wrath had evolved since Cao Yun had gotten it and it was almost totally under his control. Soon, it would really be. But for now, this level of control was enough for his purposes. The hand closed itself around Dian Mo and squeezed. The Demon Palace started to catch on fire. Screeches of pain echoed throughout Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. In a matter of seconds, Dian Mo reverted to a ball of light. Then, Axiu Qian''s hand slammed it against one of the pillars, the one representing the Chamber of Heavenly Court. This chamber had amplified Cao Yun''s will and it would do so once again.


    The liquid metal from Zhi the Water Will slowly encircled both the dot of light and the pillar of rock. It turned into chains. From Axiu Qian''s hand, flames and blood erupted and reinforced the iron of the chain. For Dian Mo, this was incredibly painful. This new prison would not be as enjoyable as the last one. And there was no doubt about this, this was his new prison. Against the boy''s will, he could do something, but with the strange drop of blood added into the mix, he was unable to get out of this.


    This blood belonged to someone who had at least become an Immortal Demon. Besides, the chain that was keeping him captive was akin to the chains used to trap a Demon Soul. However, this boy had probably not the slightest idea what those were since his cultivation was so weak. That being said, now Dian Mo understood where his bloodline was coming from. Even Da Mo had not reached the stage of Immortal Demon. If this boy had found the legacy of such a character, even a tiny fraction of his blood would have been incredible for him.


    Even trapped under those conditions, Dian Mo was salivating. If only he could get some of that blood, with time, he might even be able to create his own body. But he could not win in a direct confrontation. His only hope was that Cao Yun was not fully in control of that blood and that he would be naive enough to trust him. Dian Mo had a lot of information that could be useful. And he was still the master of the Demon Palace.


    Although the situation was delicate, he could still try and finesse his way out. But he would need to think about the long term. After trying to break free for some time, Dian Mo fully realized this new idea was the way to go and he stopped moving around, wasting his efforts. Instead, he used his efforts on something else.

 Chapter 323: The Demon Gods blood

    Dian Mo adapted quickly to the situation. Cao Yun had come here to find the treasure he was guarding. Thus, he had leverage on him. Besides this blood appeared to not be fully under Cao Yun''s control. Moreover, it was just raw power. There was no way this young demon could extract any kind of information from him through any mind or soul technique. After all, he was even too weak to contain him without this blood. Hence, Cao Yun would either need to torture him or get him to cooperate. And Dian Mo was quite resistant to torture. Even several centuries of pain did not frighten him too much after living several millenniums in isolation.


    For now though, it was not the right time to act. The young demon was in control of the situation. Just like Cao Yun had done, Dian Mo would first try to lure him into a sense of security before striking back. Although Dian Mo had changed his prison, his life was not really different. In fact, it had even maybe gotten better. Because the young demon was not competent enough, Dian Mo was able to see through his senses. Right now, he could not feel everything Cao Yun could, but he was able to hear and see what was happening outside through his ears and eyes. In fact, he could probably go further than that but he didn''t want to bring any unwarranted attention to him.


    Finally, Cao Yun spoke again.


    "Dian Mo, you''re now my prisoner. I know that you''re already thinking of ways to get out of this and get back at me. But although I do need to know everything you know, I will not hesitate to get rid of you if need be. And you know I''m not kidding!"


    The chains constricted a little bit tighter as more blood and flames coursed through it. As a consequence, the pain increased. Although it was still bearable, Dian Mo made a great show of his suffering. He even made it look like he was trying to restrain himself because of some pride he had.


    "Tell me. What is the treasure Da Mo left with you?"


    Hearing the question, Dian Mo was perplexed. Didn''t he know? Shouldn''t he know? Could he be...? Finally, it clicked. Cao Yun had no more reason to hide what he was. For the first time, Dian Mo realized that this young demon was in fact human. Otherwise, he would have known what the treasure was. He could have felt it as soon as he had set foot in the Demon Palace even if he had not seen what it was beforehand. This was something that was in any demon''s blood on the Piaolu planet.


    If Cao Yun was human, this changed things quite a bit. He wasn''t a demon passing off as a human through some strange technique. No, he was a human who had obtained a bloodline so powerful that he had rivaled the cultivation of demons. But he didn''t know the first thing about blood cultivation. Right now, Dian Mo realized that he had even more leverage than he had originally thought. And much of what he could tell Cao Yun was not even sensitive information, just common knowledge unknown amongst humans. After all, the demons themselves didn''t really care about human cultivation. They only cared about ways to use it against them, but they ignored most of what was related to practicing it. And the same was true for humans when it came to the cultivation of demons.


    Paradoxically, finding out that Cao Yun was a human was a very good surprise. But he would need to think carefully before giving him any piece of information. For now, he didn''t know how astute that human was. Lying right to his face was probably a bad idea. Besides, his mind would grow stronger and stronger. His mind cultivation was already very impressive for his age. However, there were ways to give half-truths. Those wouldn''t be lies. Thus he could better hide his deceit.


    Of course, right now was not the good moment to put together a long term strategy. But strangely enough, the idea that he was now going to be trapped in this place with an extremely powerful bloodline above him, relieved him of his anxiety. It was in fact a better outcome than leaving his Demon Palace. Dian Mo could understand that this fear of leaving had become a huge problem but he couldn''t help it. And now he realized that he was in fact afraid of being free. The prospect of getting what he had thought he had always wanted had filled him with fright. And losing it had soothed him in a strange manner.


    Before the human could speak again, something happened outside. Dian Mo had almost forgotten about the intruders.


    Mo Zi and three other demonic cultivators were now standing in front of the burned body of Cao Yun. Right now, he was still covered in scar tissues and floating in the middle of the Demon Palace.


    Even Mo Zi could not recognize Cao Yun but he didn''t care. His master had engraved in his mind that his only concern should be the treasure, the key to his plan, the key to open the Devil''s Jail. Thus, he completely disregarded the floating corpse who seemed dead anyway. From his spatial ring, he took out a small bottle of porcelain. When he opened it, a thick odor of blood spread throughout the entire Demon Palace. The torches burned with even more intensity. And on an altar in the back of the Demon Palace, a tiny drop of black blood shined with a crimson glint.


    Even in his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun sensed what had happened outside. He was not in any condition to recover from his injuries straight away. But from this blood he sensed something so ominous and powerful, it was almost on par with the Drop of Wrath he had received from Cleansed Asura. Besides, he immediately recognized Mo Zi as well as the technique he was using. The blood runes were still floating around the group. However, he realized that they were different. Now that they had formed all of them, the blood runes formed a way more powerful set compared to those Luduo Bu had. Even with his current Drop of Wrath, he would not be able to absorb them without weakening the demonic cultivators first. Indeed, there was a very strong connection between the runes now. Furthermore, he still wasn''t sure how much of the Drop of Wrath he could divert without setting Dian Mo free. And he wasn''t even sure his body was in any condition to fight right now. Luckily, they had completely ignored him to go straight for the drop of blood.


    "Stop them! This blood is sacred! No human should touch it!"


    "This blood... this is Da Mo''s blood, right?"This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Demon God Da Mo, human!"


    "Even if I could stop them, then I''d be the one who would take this blood. Would you be okay with that?"


    "... At least I could stay close to it. Keeping guard over this blood is my duty."


    "I see... You wanted to take it for yourself once you had my body, right?"


    Hearing such an accusation, Dian Mo did not retort. The truth was that he had indeed planned this. In fact, this was the reason why he had strengthened Cao Yun''s body before taking him over.


    Before Dian Mo could say anything, Cao Yun had sensed three familiar presences. Sun Liao, Mei Hua and Ren Chao had followed the group. Using the very array formation activated by Mo Zi, Sun Liao had been able to find a path into the Demon Palace. Thankfully, Ren Chao had been as fast as Sun Liao had calculated and they had crossed through the void following the trail of the blood needle. However, they were now faced with four demonic cultivators. Although they were exhausted, they were all powerful Mortal Warriors. Sun Liao was very close to being an early Mortal Warrior, Mei Hua had recently become one and Ren Chao was rather far from it, but he had an exceptional physique.


    That plan wasn''t really good. Sun Liao had mostly improvised, hoping for the best. But the lives of all the other disciples were in the balance. After all, if he didn''t act, they had a high risk of dying anyway with the collapse of the unstable realm they were in right now. However, if he could get to the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he might find a way to activate the Supreme emblems and get everyone out. This was very far-fetched but he had nothing else. To be perfectly honest, he was desperate right now.


    Among the group of three, the first one to react was Mei Hua. As she was a Mortal Warrior, her senses were now way better and she could feel the Qi all around her. Besides, the Qi she felt belonged to someone she was very close with, it was Cao Yun''s. Even before laying eyes on Cao Yun''s body, she had realized how hurt he had been. His life seemed to be hanging by a thread and all of his skin had been burned off. She was ready to run forward when she sensed something else.


    Cao Yun had also sensed Mei Hua''s presence and he knew she was both a Mortal Warrior and an alchemist, she would know what to do. Using ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he concealed a surge of Qi he sent into Mei Hua. Unfortunately, Cao Yun could not send his thoughts, but this was enough to make her understand that he was still conscious and alive. Conveying messages in such a way was very difficult. Cao Yun knew there were techniques that could allow someone to vibrate the air with his Qi, thus producing sounds. With those techniques, one could speak to someone''s ear at a distance. Unfortunately, he had never taken the time to learn them. To be fair, he had many things to work on at the same time. He had literally four sets of cultivation at once, body, Qi, mind and blood. And he was also working on martial arts, array formation, alchemy and also translating an unknown language. It was a miracle he had achieved such high degrees of proficiency in any of them.


    As an alchemist, he had the same references as Mei Hua though. And by manipulating his Qi in the right way, sending it to her toward the right acupoints, he was able to get some ideas across. Although the demonic cultivators were four, they were all exhausted. Some were very wounded and would probably be unable to fight even against a late Mortal. With Ren Chao''s physique, he could get rid of one of them easily while Sun Liao could take out another. Although Cao Yun was in a critical condition, he hoped that Mei Hua might have something to help him.


    Thankfully, she had been provident enough to take a spatial ring with her. It had been gifted to her by her master. Knowing that she would certainly break through while inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, she had taken pills with her both outside of the spatial ring as well as within. Her master had put many other artifacts and pills inside of it too. After she had finally become a Mortal Warrior, Mei Hua had put all the pills and artifacts inside her spatial ring.


    Among those pills, there were some who could help Cao Yun recover. Even with his own pills, Cao Yun would never be able to recover in less than a week. But with hers, there was a way. The prize of her current collection was the Divine Lotus Ointment pill. Once ingested, most wounds would be healed. But it also exhausted the patient. Cao Yun would recover but he would operate with a fraction of his strength. The Gushing Argent Well pill was probably the only pill Mei Hua could think of that could counter it, but this was even rarer as it was a 4-star Heaven pill. And unfortunately, she had none on her.


    Cao Yun had no way of knowing what she had on her. However, he was clearly asking her to help him recover quickly. And this was an emergency.


    Without much time to think about it, Mei Hua whispered to her brothers to explain what was going on. Immediately after that, she took a pill out of her spatial ring and sent it directly into Cao Yun''s mouth. At that moment, the demonic cultivators finally discovered the intruders. They had been so exhausted that they had not even sensed them yet.


    Wang Jinhua tried to intercept the pill but she was the weakest of the group. Although Mo Zi had not drained her, she was in no condition to fight at all. Seeing that, Neng Lue leapt toward Cao Yun to make sure he was dead before the pill could take effect. At the same moment, Ren Chao ran inside the Demon Palace while Sun Liao was summoning his ''Heavenly Mirror Longbow'' and Mei Hua also took out a new weapon. She had not obtained it inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom but from her master.


    Until now she had used a rope dart. However, this wasn''t her favorite weapon. She had been forced to this choice because she was a Mortal. But now that she was a Mortal Warrior, she could finally use the weapon she preferred, a guqin, some kind of zither, like her master.


    While Sun Liao shot arrows toward the demonic cultivators, Mei Hua began to play some soothing music. She had warned her brothers. Right now, she was not taking part in the fight. Instead, she was trying to help Cao Yun. As soon as the music got to him, he felt the vibrations all around his body. They literally traversed through his flesh. And he felt that they were acting in harmony with the Divine Lotus Ointment pill. It was improving the effects while reducing the amount of strength it was draining from him. This pill could not make flesh appear out of nowhere. To heal the wounds, it was drawing energy from the patient''s body. In fact, if he was too weak, the pill could kill the patient. Thankfully, Cao Yun had conserved a lot of his energy to play dead in front of Dian Mo.


    Ren Chao and Neng Lue were evenly matched and the burly woman was incredulous. She was a late Mortal Warrior, close to the prized Spirit Warrior realm. She had all the blood runes. And yet a junior who was still a Mortal could best her.


    Facing her, Ren Chao cracked his knuckles and thunder resounded. Besides his Golden Silk Body, the blacksmith had obtained something in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom which he was dying to test out right now. A huge surge of energy traveled through all of his bones. The sound of a hammer hitting against heated metal resounded through the entire Demon Palace. Ren Chao had attacked with his bare fists before, but he was now holding his ''Lion''s Roar''. He pounced toward the woman facing him.


    When it came to protecting his friends, Ren Chao showed no sign of hesitation. Even now, he was the one with the strongest will. It was maybe due to his special physique, or to his innate nature.


    ''Earth Crushing Charge''!

 Chapter 324: The traitor

    Thankfully, all the demonic cultivators were exhausted. Opening the way into the Demon Palace had robbed them of their blood runes. Thus, most of them had now a strength equal to an early Mortal Warrior. Even then, they were rather weakened. Demonic cultivators were generally stronger than orthodox cultivators but the risks were higher and they often burned themselves before reaching very high. However, they had all gone extremely fast, way too fast. Without the blood runes, their strength had plummeted down and their fatigue was showing. This mission should have lasted several days but it had gone on for a few months.


    While Ren Chao was keeping Neng Lue busy, Sun Liao was barraging the other demonic cultivators with his arrows. The Demon Palace was littered with arrows made from his own Qi.


    "One Sun from Tang valley".


    Wang Jinhua was already exhausted because of her wounds but she paired up with the last demonic cultivator to protect Mo Zi. The arrow shot by Sun Liao exploded before it reached its target. Even though he didn''t know everything that was going on here, Sun Liao had immediately understood that letting Mo Zi get close to that ominous drop of blood was a bad idea. However, he was well protected. Even if his comrades had not intervened, the last remnants of the blood needle was around him.


    At the same time, Mei Hua was playing her zither. In the middle of the room, Cao Yun was still partially within his sea of consciousness. There were many things he wanted to ask Dian Mo but right now was not a good time. Instead, he made sure to consolidate his prison. He was probably going to need to call forth the power of the Drop of Wrath and he didn''t want Dian Mo to run havoc in his own soul. Maybe if he developed his mind cultivation further, he might find a way to contain him without the Drop of Wrath. But hopefully, he would not need to. As soon as he was out of this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he would go to Xiao Xuefeng.


    Considering how talented she was with her spiritual senses, she would certainly be able to get this spirit out of his mind. Then, she could extract everything she needed from him. In fact, he also wanted to talk to her about the Drop of Wrath. Now that he was near absolute control, he was not worried about it anymore.


    Contrary to his expectations, Dian Mo was very docile. In fact, he found that he was way too docile. Clearly he was planning. There was no way he was just going to accept the situation without fighting back. But he was a very old spirit, he could wait for decades or even centuries to act. One thing Cao Yun was sure about was that he would strike back at one point. The sooner he could get what he wanted from him and dispose of him, the better.


    Finally, Cao Yun could divert most of his attention into his healing. Thanks to the Divine Lotus Ointment pill and Mei Hua''s melody, his flesh was reforming at a steady pace. Most of his muscles had been reconstructed and his skin was slowly taking form. But even with Mei Hua''s effort to lessen the side effects, this Divine Lotus Ointment was draining Cao Yun of his energy. In order to compensate, the young man activated his Heart Star and pushed the Drop of Wrath. But he still kept some reserve, in case Dian Mo were to act out during the fight.


    Although he wasn''t fully healed yet, Cao Yun took out a robe from his spatial ring. Even the lava pool had not been able to destroy his ring, luckily. Since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era no one had been able to replicate such an artifact. But that also meant that they had been created by experts even higher than a Spirit Warrior. As such, they were usually very sturdy. The robe covered him before his skin was fully back. Focusing on his blood, his skin began to form very fast. Even his hair grew impressively fast as well.


    In a matter of minutes, Cao Yun was back.


    Apart from Mei Hua, no one was really paying him any mind. But when his aura was stable, Mo Zi finally noticed him. He had been so absorbed in his task that he had completely focused his senses on the drop of blood, Da Mo''s blood. This was a drop of blood essence from the Demon God Da Mo in person. He was the demon who had invaded the Piaolu planet and enslaved all of mankind. He had gone toe to toe against Emperor Nuwa and ultimately had died.


    According to what the demonic cultivators had found, he had been a Reborn Demon. Mo Zi had no profound understanding of the cultivation of demons but he knew that this realm was the fifth one. Compared with humans, this was the realm before Immortal, even beyond the Sage realm.


    The records had shown that Da Mo''s body had completely disappeared after his fight against Emperor Nuwa. No one ever found any trace of his body, his blood, his soul, nothing. And Emperor Nuwa herself never spoke about it. She wanted everything that was Demon God Da Mo to disappear forever. But in the documents found by Mo Tian, they had discovered that there had been something left behind by Da Mo. And the key was his blood essence. Sensing his upcoming doom, he had hidden a condensed drop of blood essence inside the Demon Palace. They needed it.


    And now, Mo Zi had it. Despite the distraction around him, Mo Zi had finally gotten the drop of blood. His master would be pleased. Mo Tian had planned for this for a century. And Mo Zi had heard about it almost all his life. Just like Can Mouye, he had been abducted as a child after his family was massacred. But now he didn''t care about it. Without this tragedy, he would only have been a weak mortal as his family was nothing impressive. But because Mo Tian had taken an interest in him, he might one day transcend both humans and demons. The legendary realms beyond Spirit Warrior would soon be accessible.


    If he could also kill Cao Yun, this would be perfect. As soon as he thought about it, Mo Zi remembered his master''s words. They were now so close to their goal. Although Mo Zi was convinced he could kill Cao Yun in his current state, there was no reason to play with fire. Maybe he would lose too much time and something terrible would happen. No matter what, he had to get this drop of blood to his master as soon as possible. At last, he activated the last part of the array formation plate. The blood needle that was now tiny and spinning around him halted all of a sudden. Then, it darted in a random direction.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    -


    Chief Elder Suxian was alone in a room with his friend Luoming Tian.


    "Brother, I... I detected something in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. There are traces that the array formation has been tampered with. And they look like what my master, your father, used to do. Please, help me make sense of this."


    Chief Elder Luoming had seen this coming. He sighed deeply and looked down.


    "Friend, I really hoped I would not have to do this. At least, not so soon..."


    "What do you..."


    Before he could end his question, Chief Elder Suxian felt a pain in his heart. His friend had just shoved his right hand directly into his chest. From the wound, Chief Elder Suxian felt an extreme cold spread through his body. This was clearly poison but he had no idea what kind of poison. In his eyes, there was still disbelief. He could not imagine any situation in which his friend would try to kill him. Maybe someone had taken his appearance. Maybe this was an illusory array formation. But no, although there were array formations that could deceive Chief Elder Suxian, they were so powerful that no one was able to set them up in the current era. This was really his friend and he had just killed him.


    Usually even losing one''s heart was not enough to kill a Spirit Warrior but the poison unleashed by the attack was strange. It had completely congealed the Qi in his meridians. In an instant, it had spread throughout all his acupoints. Now Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo could not even exit his body, both his Qi and his spiritual senses were trapped in his flesh. And his body was paralyzed.


    "I am sincerely sorry. I hoped you would live long enough to see that I was right. I hoped that one day you would be by my side like a brother. But do not worry too much. I''ll try not to hurt your disciple. Regarding his friend though..."


    -


    All the elders and chief elders were preparing many layers of defense around both the Palace of Supreme Wisdom and the Wubei Sect as a whole. Sect Leader Xuan was also still repairing the damage alone. Some were even wondering if the rumors about him being too weak with old age were right. During the stampede, he had not appeared either, he had only used the Seal of Authority to activate the array formations. Although there had been almost no casualty, the damage to the defensive array formations had been extensive. But a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior should have been able to deal with most of the demonic beasts without those external means. Thus, rumors were spreading. Maybe he really was too old.


    The fact that he had given the Seal of Authority to Xiao Xuefeng was also a bad point for him in the eyes of many. Although she was renowned and praised, she was still an outsider. And now she had the full authority of the sect leader. She was even the one who was commanding the elders and chief elders right now.


    As she was giving more orders, Xiao Xuefeng suddenly halted. She looked in some direction and disappeared in front of everyone. Most elders could not see her move but the chief elders who were around did. And when they tried to sense what was going on in the direction she was flying toward, they realized that there was some kind of void. There was a room in which they were unable to pry. Apart from very specific buildings such as the Sect Palace which had many array formations and had been built with a lot of Void Nurtured Platinum, nothing should escape their gaze.


    In fact, they knew that this room was nothing special. It was just an old room they had forgotten about. Yet someone had made it impervious to their senses. But of course, Xiao Xuefeng was the greatest master of spiritual senses. If someone could feel what was happening in that room, it was her. And if she was rushing toward it. This was an emergency!


    Although she had received no such order, Chief Elder Baishen abandoned her post as well and followed behind Xiao Xuefeng. The two women together were powerful enough to deal with almost any threat. As such, the other chief elders were not worried at all about them. Besides, Xiao Xuefeng had still the Seal of Authority. As long as she was within the walls of the Wubei Sect, she was a goddess.


    When Xiao Xuefeng was close enough, she literally ripped apart the walls. Several buildings around the room she was aiming for were also damaged but she did not care in the slightest. The scene she saw enraged her. Although she had been here only three years, she had developed a nice relationship with Chief Elder Suxian. He had even helped her refine the Life Boiling Cradle pill. And here he was with Chief Elder Luoming''s arm through his chest.


    "Miss Xiao. I was excepting you. Apparently my disciples took a little too long and I was discovered ahead of schedule. At this point in time, you were supposed to be lying in your own blood. But we can still remedy that."


    In an instant, Chief Elder Luoming let go of his former friend and appeared in front of Xiao Xuefeng. Even with her senses, he had been too fast for her. But worse than that, she now realized he had been hiding his cultivation. The most frightening part was that she had been deceived. Chief Elder Luoming was supposed to be an early 8th-grade Spirit Warrior, just a little above her own cultivation. But he was in fact a late 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Moreover, he was ready to finally break through to the Sage realm. In other words, he was at the same level as Sect Leader Xuan.


    With no time to take out her weapon, Xiao Xuefeng relied on the Seal of Authority. With it, she could control everything within the Wubei Sect. Even a real Sage would have a hard time fighting against the entire Wubei Sect.


    From the Seal of Authority, a single character appeared, ''Traitor''. All of a sudden, a powerful shockwave erupted from the seal and pushed Luoming Tian far away.


    "Break!"


    Without even taking out any weapon, he put his palm in front of him, still covered in his friend''s blood. In a very short amount of time, he slowed down his movement as the shockwave became weaker and weaker.


    On the ground, Chief Elder Baishen finally saw Chief Elder Suxian''s body. He was not dead yet but he had lost almost all of his blood and it was black. She didn''t need to be a physician to know that he had been poisoned.


    "Take him to Chief Elder Qinghe."


    "But..."


    The old woman looked in the direction of Luoming Tian. Although Xiao Xuefeng was powerful, she was not a fighter. But on the other hand, Chief Elder Baishen was only a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior herself. Without the help of the Seal of Authority, she would be hard pressed to fight against a late 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Besides, she also realized that Chief Elder Suxian''s condition was terrible.


    Before Xiao Xuefeng could repeat her command, Chief Elder Baishen obeyed. Using everything she got, she activated several movement arts at the same time. The building around her got vaporized in an instant as she flew toward the physician pavilion. Her speed was so great that everyone in the Wubei Sect heard the echo of the vibrations she caused in the air.

 Chapter 325: Getting the blood of a Demon God

    Chief Elder Baishen took Chief Elder Suxian''s body directly toward the physician pavilion. At the same time she sent all her spiritual senses in direction of Chief Elder Qinghe. Since Xiao Xuefeng had organized the elders herself, Chief Elder Baishen knew exactly where the physicians were. She had posted them at various key locations in case of emergency and Chief Elder Qinghe was still in the physician pavilion so he would be easy to contact if someone required more advanced care.


    As it turned out, Chief Elder Suxian required extremely specific cares. The moment Chief Elder Qinghe heard about his conditions, he began to send several elders look for various materials and for books. Even for him, this kind of poison was very unfamiliar. It reminded him of many different poisons he had heard about but the effects were all wrong.


    Most likely, this poison had been crafted by the demonic cultivators. In fact, Luoming Tian had found it where he had found the ''Blood Runes'' cultivation method and most of the information he had been using. This had come directly from Demon God Da Mo himself. Even the greatest physician on the Piaolu planet would be powerless against this poison. Despite his strength, even he couldn''t kill a late Spirit Warrior with one blow. But the poison would. According to what Luoming Tian had found, this poison was known as the Black Death Prison. This wasn''t even the full version. Right now, he had only been able to produce a watered-down version that was only a 5-star Heaven poison. But the real deal was supposed to be a 3-star Spirit poison. If he had succeeded in synthesizing it, Chief Elder Suxian would have been dead already and even his soul would have turned to black goo.


    Once Chief Elder Qinghe finally received the body of Chief Elder Suxian, he really understood the severity of the situation. His blood had been completely replaced by the poison, entirely corrupted. Then, it had attacked his acupoints, trapping his Qi and turning it into Evil Qi while he was still alive. Finally, because his acupoints had been sealed, his Soul Embryo got trapped inside his Upper Dantian. As a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior, his soul and his Soul Embryo had almost fused together. This meant that his Soul Embryo could live a few centuries outside of his body.


    Since his body was dead anyway, Chief Elder Qinghe decided to try and save his Soul Embryo at the very least. Losing no time to try and explain the situation, the physician got to work immediately. Thousands of silver needles left from his cabinet. From Chief Elder Qinghe''s fingers, flames of different colors appeared and engulfed some of the needles as they were flying toward Chief Elder Suxian. Each one reached a peculiar acupoint. Some even went to the same acupoints. Chief Elder Suxian''s body got contorted by pain but he was completely silent. The spectacle was terrifying. And Chief Elder Baishen had had enough.


    Now that her friend was in the hands of the best physicians they knew, she could leave him. In her eyes, there was only hatred. Those last few years, she had gotten closer to Chief Elders Suxian and Luoming. Even then, she didn''t know what made her the most furious, that one of her friends was dying or that another one had betrayed not only the Wubei Sect but all of mankind. Anyway, she had no time to ponder over her feelings.


    Leaving the physician work in peace, Chief Elder Baishen leapt toward the sounds of battle.


    Despite possessing the Seal of Authority, Xiao Xuefeng was still only a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior. Chief Elder Luoming had been in charge of the disciplinary pavilion and apparently he had a good knowledge of array formations. In fact, concerning the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he had exceeded his former friend. In truth, he had specifically studied the array formations of the Wubei Sect.


    Because Xiao Xuefeng was still reluctant to activate all the array formations as there were still some damages being repaired, she had a hard time fighting against Chief Elder Luoming.


    From his spatial ring, he took out a huge painting. There were many creatures painted on the canvas. All of them jumped out of it. They were literally made of black ink and were now racing through the air toward Xiao Xuefeng. Each one represented a different animal but they were moving so fast that the ink was in constant flux and their shapes ever changing. This time, Xiao Xuefeng had enough time to counter him. Instead of using the Seal of Authority, she took out her ''Crane Dancing on the Pillars of Heaven and Earth'' guqin.


    With only a few notes, hundreds of cranes appeared in the sky and dove down toward the ink creatures. They were perfectly white with red beaks. Every one of their movements was in harmony with the melody played by Xiao Xuefeng. As the former chief elder of the arts pavilion, Luoming Tian was also in expert in music, as well as in most arts. From his own spatial ring, he took out a very long dizi, a kind of transverse flute. It was carved in some sort of ivory tusk with many golden characters engraved on it. At a glance, Xiao Xuefeng recognized that this craftsmanship belonged to Luoming Tian himself.


    She was a 4-star Heaven musician but she had heard Luoming Tian play before and he was almost as good as her if not more. But today she realized he had been hiding his real talent. With the very first note, her soul began to waver. Luoming Tian was almost a 1-star Spirit musician. Steeling her resolve, Xiao Xuefeng easily broke the spell Luoming Tian was trying to put her under. But it distracted her long enough for the ink animals to get close to her. Before she could retaliate, a powerful wave cut the air in front of her. A mighty torrent was rising from the ground.


    When she looked down, Xiao Xuefeng saw Chief Elder Baishen. Both Xiao Xuefeng and Luoming Tian were flying very high in the sky. And now the chief elder of the martial arts pavilion was joining them.


    "You despicable vermin! I''ll rip you apart piece by piece!"


    As soon as he heard Chief Elder Baishen''s voice, Luoming Tian felt as though someone had just squeezed his heart. Despite his cultivation he had to admit that those two women were impressive. Xiao Xuefeng had spiritual senses even beyond his and Baishen Du had almost reached the level of Martial Spirit. Beyond the Martial Aura Cao Yun had discovered, there were Martial Intent, Martial Heart, and then Martial Spirit. Right now, Chief Elder Baishen was demonstrating her Palm Heart. Her mastery of martial arts was so deep Luoming Tian was sincerely afraid of her despite their disparity in strength.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Sister Baishen, I would rather not have to kill you if possible."


    "Oh, be assured you won''t!"


    ''Crossing the Mighty Sea''!


    With the edge of her hand, she struck forward. In an instant, she was close to Luoming Tian. All around him, the water in suspension in the air gathered and formed a blade going straight for his neck. He had no need to move at all. He blew in his dizi. The air around him pulsated and the water exploded and dispersed.


    Before he could attack though, a giant crane was rushing toward him from above. At the same moment, Chief Elder Baishen kept on attacking. Each one of her palms seemed to be as vast as the sky itself. However, Luoming only seemed to be playing with those attacks. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that he was dancing to the rhythm of his own music.


    "Sister Baishen, after Miss Xiao, I have to admit you were the one I feared the most. While you''re really not as smart as any other chief elder... well, you''re smarter than this Bian Gui. He was so dumb after all..."


    Each of his words was obviously infuriating the old woman. But she also knew he was probably trying to provoke her so she would lose herself. Although she was not specialized in soul attacks, she could feel his music trying to rattle her mind. If she lost her calm, he would win this fight without even attacking her once.


    "Miss Xiao, I knew you were the one I had to be most wary about. But it is also why I made sure that you would be close to me. Since you came in our Wubei Sect, I''ve been observing you. I am sad to inform you that there is nothing you can do that could really hurt me. Even if you were to use the full might of the Seal of Authority, which we both know you can''t right now, I would still find a way to leave this place unharmed and with everything I desire."


    None of the women fell for it. They stayed silent and kept on attacking.


    ''Ten Thousands Hands of Submission''!


    Thousands of hands appeared in the sky. They all folded upon one another, forming a complex maze. Within the maze was Luoming Tian.


    It was at that moment that all the other chief elders arrived. During the fight, Xiao Xuefeng had been able to send new orders to everyone. She had rearranged the protection of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom while preparing a counter-attack against Luoming Tian. Although he was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, they were all late Spirit Warriors who knew battle formations and could use all the array formations of the Wubei Sect. There was no way Luoming could win. In fact, he had probably no chance of escaping either. Sect Leader Xuan himself would be in a dire situation if he were in his stead right now. But deep down, Xiao Xuefeng knew he could somehow get out of this, so Luoming might be able to as well.


    Every sound got quiet. There was a perfect silence in the world as a terrible battle was happening just above the Wubei Sect. Then, a single sound broke this silence and seemed to encompass the entire world. It came from a very simple bell. The moment it chimed, all the hands that had appeared dissipated. They were obviously Qi Manifestations and they had been dispelled. In the center of it was Luoming Tian. He had even changed his clothes. At last, he had discarded the symbol of the Wubei Sect. Now he was wearing a pure white robe without any insignia. Also, he appeared a few decades younger.


    Until now he had been suppressing his cultivation so much that even Xiao Xuefeng had not seen through it. As such, his physical appearance had been affected. But now he looked as though he was in his thirties. In his left hand was his dizi and in his right a small copper bell. There was nothing impressive about this bell but everyone was afraid of it. It had been able to dispel a powerful Qi Manifestation by Chief Elder Baishen. There was clearly nothing simple about it apart from its appearance.


    "It is really too bad you found me out earlier than I had planned. Well, in fact, it''s my disciple who''s just late. By this time, you should have all been dead. But do not worry, I will make it all better in a few seconds."


    Despite the battle formation of the chief elders all around him, Luoming disappeared in an instant.


    No one moved because no one had been able to follow his movement. Thus all the pressure fell upon Xiao Xuefeng. She was the one with the best perception. And indeed, she had been able to get a vague sense of his direction. But even she was surprised by his speed. Besides, she had finally detected traces of something wicked in his cultivation but this wasn''t Evil Qi. No, Luoming Tian was manipulating something that was more pure and raw. He was using Death Energy.


    "He''s going for his pavilion!"


    Xiao Xuefeng organized the troops. She also used the Seal of Authority to activate enough array formations to trap Luoming Tian inside the Wubei Sect. From the outside, the Wubei Sect was now impossible to see through. Anyone who would try would see no sign of life at all. They would only see the buildings but nothing else. And she also tried to contact Sect Leader Xuan but he did not answer her for now.


    The chase ended with the chief elders besieging the disciplinary pavilion. Everyone had in mind the scene when Xiao Xuefeng had used the Seal of Authority to summon Ancestor Wu''s words. Fleeing toward this pavilion was a mistake! But Luoming also knew about this and yet here he was. So, they were all very uneasy. And when they saw the look of satisfaction on the traitor''s face, they became even more worried.


    "How is my friend, Sister Baishen?"


    "You''ll die before he does, be sure of it!"


    "I sincerely hope his soul survives. Like that he''ll be able to see what I''ll achieve. Once he does, he''ll be able to die in peace knowing his death was not in vain."


    "I''ll rip out your very soul. Once Spirit Master Xiao is done with it, I''ll grind it into dust myself. I swear that your death will be final and as painful and slow as I can make it."


    "Sister, do you think I work alone?"


    The chief elders all had the same idea. If Luoming had betrayed them, their other brothers and sisters could have as well. A wave of paranoia spread through the crowd. But then, music dispelled it completely.


    "Do not fall for his words. He''s trying to hypnotize you. He''s just stalling. Get him!"


    Xiao Xuefeng would have preferred capturing him alive but as long as she could get his Soul Embryo, she could extract almost all of his memories with sufficient time.


    "You''re indeed right. But I bought all the time I needed it seems."


    From the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, a crimson red needle pierced through the array formations. Then, it flew toward Luoming Tian. It was so fast that even Xiao Xuefeng only detected it when it was already within Luoming Tian''s reach. Immediately, she activated the Seal of Authority to mobilize all the rules written by Ancestor Wu. But at the same time, Luoming Tian threw this blood needle toward the Devil''s Jail.


    When it burrowed underground, the entire Wubei Sect began to shake.

 Chapter 326: Chaos in the Demon Palace

    In the Demon Palace, all hell broke loose. When Mo Zi sent his blood needle away, it pierced through the roof and even through the void around it. Once he was done, he could finally join the battle. All the blood runes returned to the demonic cultivators.


    Mo Zi was both the most powerful and the most vigorous right now. From his spatial ring, he took out another array formation plate. Sun Liao did not see right away what this was but he knew that this was bad news. As such, he immediately directed all of his arrows toward Mo Zi. Unfortunately, his blood runes were now operating under his control again. Since he didn''t need to control the blood needle, he could use all his blood runes to stop any incoming attack.


    Several birds of fire exploded against his defense without any effect at all. Even their light was devoured by the red blood.


    From the plate, a powerful energy erupted. Then, Sun Liao recognized what this array formation was. This wasn''t as bad as he had thought because it was a 2-star Human array formation. But it was still rather bad. Indeed, it was the Eightfold Torrents array formation. Anyone within this array formation who wasn''t chosen by its maker would be tormented by increasingly more devastating waves of energy.


    It was not considered too powerful because it needed time to gain momentum. But once it had, it could kill anyone under Spirit Warrior. Right now, not even Ren Chao or Cao Yun would be able to survive this. And Sun Liao was not sure he could break it once fully activated. Thus, he had to break it before it came down to that.


    Luckily, the activation of an array formation plate did take some time. However, disturbing it enough to destroy the array formation was anything but easy. Without any time to use a compass, Sun Liao used his mind cultivation to imagine many scenarios in his sea of consciousness. Unfortunately, he had not energized the Chamber of Heavenly Court and he could not think as fast as Cao Yun. But he remained a genius of array formations, trained by Chief Elder Suxian himself.


    Now that his pride as an array formation master was on the line, as well as the lives of his friends of course, he was fired up.


    Several arrows went toward specific locations as the array formation was spreading around Mo Zi. In theory, an array formation consisted in placing peculiar objects, often flags, to control the flow of what was often referred to as Wandering Qi. But a plate was a bit different. It contained the pattern of the array and was trying to force it on the world around. As such, it was less stable, but almost anyone could activate it without too much knowledge.


    And Sun Liao had just targeted every weakness he had identified. Even with his degree of mastery, he had not identified them all but he knew this Eightfold Torrents enough to make its activation a challenge.


    Indeed, Mo Zi immediately felt that someone was messing with his array formation. Unfortunately, he was also a master, and he was a Mortal Warrior. So he felt how the Qi around him was reacting. Thus he began to alter the plate as he was still attempting to activate it. This was incredibly difficult but he was doing it. And worse than that, he was succeeding. But he was now fully focused on this task.


    In fact, Mo Zi and Sun Liao got locked into a fight of array formations. The world around them turned into a Go board. And they were now putting their stones at the same time to try and block their opponent. Each move of Sun Liao was countered by Mo Zi. But by the time he countered it, other areas had been destabilized.


    Amidst this violent but invisible battle of wits, Ren Chao was still fighting Neng Lue. Now that she had recovered her blood runes, she had regained some of her stamina. The two of them were evenly matched in terms of strength. But this infuriated the burly woman. Indeed, she was a Mortal Warrior while the boy in front of her was barely a late Mortal. He had only reached the 7th-grade Mortal stage very recently. Still, this was impressive considering that he had been a 5th-grade Mortal before entering the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. On the other hand, Neng Lue was convinced she could become a Spirit Warrior in less than ten years.


    Despite this disparity in cultivation, Ren Chao had an insane amount of pure physical strength. In fact, he had even beaten Cao Yun before he had become a Mortal Warrior, even while he was using ''Dragon''s Heart''. His physique was really showing all its potential.


    Their respective martial arts were very rudimentary. In fact, they were literally wrestling right now. Ren Chao''s hammer was stuck in the ground after a powerful attack. And Neng Lue was currently trying to strangulate him with her large arms. Since she was behind him, he struck her with his elbows again and again. Neng Lue was trying to control her Qi but each strike was so powerful they went right through her Wei Qi and disturbed the flow of Qi within her. She could barely circulate the blood runes within to increase her strength.


    While those two duos were stuck in battle, Mei Hua had been able to fully help Cao Yun heal. It was time because the last demonic cultivator and Wang Jinhua were now free to act since Sun Liao was focusing his arrows on Mo Zi''s array formation and they had gotten their blood runes back. To be honest, Wang Jinhua was not a threat at all for Cao Yun because she was still extremely weak. However, he would never underestimate a demonic cultivator. She could have strange techniques or she could dabble in poisons. Even though he was an alchemist and he had the talented Mei Hua on his side, he would not be reckless with his enemies.


    Cao Yun had just recovered. And as soon as he tried to use his senses, he felt an intense pain in his very soul. His Bai Hui was acting up. No matter what his Drop of Wrath had done to it, it had not fully recovered. Besides, Dian Mo had also gone through it to invade his sea of consciousness. As such, it had been damaged even further. But Cao Yun could not dwell on his worries right now. Whether his Bai Hui would be healed or not, he had to fight and survive to find out later.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Thanks to the time he had spent inside the tests, Cao Yun had developed his martial arts and his Martial Aura. Even without taking his spear out, an oppressive atmosphere surrounded him. He had toned it down a little but this was the killing intent he had acquired while slaughtering all those blood beasts. Even if he had pushed it to the maximum, it would not have been as powerful and oppressive as in that realm. After all, it had been born by the fury and blood-thirst of billions of never-ending blood beasts massacring each other for eons. But Cao Yun had been able to duplicate a small part of it by plunging into the massacres himself.


    Before, he was a martial artist, now he was truly a killer. In less than two months, he had killed more than even all the demonic cultivators in front of him during all their life. Of course the beasts he had killed always came back to life just for him to kill them again and again. So he had an advantage on them. Also, he didn''t torture them for unholy purposes. He had learned to kill with the necessary violence and brutality, nothing more.


    With the intent of the Drop of Wrath added to the mix, his aura was indeed terrifying for his enemies. Wang Jinhua who was still rather weak literally fell to the ground, her knees giving way below her. The other man though used his blood runes to strengthen his resolve. A few of them entered his body and protected some acupoints to seal his perception. In a sense, he was making himself blind to this killing aura. Hopefully, it wouldn''t help him against Cao Yun''s improved Spear Aura. Thus, Cao Yun got his weapon out and took his stance. It appeared as though he was holding a giant spear made of dragon scales.


    From his spatial ring, that pale man took out a spear. It was completely dark, as though it was charred. But it remained incredibly sturdy and vibrant. There were also red lines forming ominous patterns all over the shaft. They went all the way to the spearhead. There, those lines looked like fresh blood. It was as though this spear was always covered in the blood of those it had killed. Also, that spear was even a bit taller than Cao Yun''s ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. It had to be between ten to eleven chi tall.


    More than all that, Cao Yun felt his own spear react. To be more accurate, the scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon was reacting to this spear. It was both fearful and hateful toward it. As he felt his spear starting to shake, Cao Yun circulated all his seven stars. He had finally formed them all and only needed a tiny bit of push to perform the very last move of the Winnowing Basket Star. Once he had done that, he would officially enter the second layer of his martial art, turning each star into its own constellation.


    With the stars activated, the shape of a blurry Azure Dragon appeared in the sky within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Below it, Dian Mo was still chained down to one of the Nine Soul Peaks. And he was admiring the show. Contrary to Cao Yun, he had understood what was going on with his spear and why it had reacted that way to the enemy''s weapon. But he had no reason to say anything for now. Dian Mo had been able to resist millenniums of isolation that would have driven many insane. Right now, he was biding his time. After seeing Mo Zi send the drop of Demon God Da Mo''s blood away, he had almost understood what was going on. And if he was right, this Cao Yun would be forced to make a pact with him or everyone he knew would die in agony.


    For now though, he wanted Cao Yun to suffer a little. A bit of pain and anguish would serve him right. As long as Cao Yun did not die, Dian Mo didn''t really care for him. Strangely though, he didn''t hate him, because in a sense, without Cao Yun, Dian Mo would have had no chance of leaving his prison. The other demonic cultivators were clearly only humans. Their blood runes were a modified version of a more powerful blood cultivation used by demons. Although it wasn''t great, Dian Mo was still impressed that a human had been able to adapt this method for other humans to use. But it was still paling in comparison with the real method. And those humans were barely able to use those blood runes. If they had known what they were doing, Cao Yun''s friends would have been dead already. That was really pathetic...


    Cao Yun was now fully prepared. Although he had reached the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior stage, he had just sealed his own Bai Hui with ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Right now, it was too fragile for him to use in battle. Only if he had no other choice would he do it. Besides, it could give an opportunity to Dian Mo. He couldn''t wait for Xiao Xuefeng to rip him away from his soul and get all of his secrets out.


    In the current situation however, Cao Yun was forced to focus most of his attention on the man in front of him. He was pale with dark green eyes. Despite his disheveled clothes, he had no visible muscle to speak of. That man seemed so frail a strong wind could have pushed him down. However, with his spear in hand, he gave off a completely different impression. And considering Cao Yun''s current mastery, he could tell that this man had almost reached the level of Spear Intent, but wasn''t quite there yet.


    ''Mingshe Sings in the Mine''.


    All of a sudden, his spear moved. It slithered toward Cao Yun as a snake. And behind the pale man, four wings made of scales appeared. Each scale was made of precious ores, there was gold, copper, bronze, platinum, silver, even jade. Despite the wings behind him, the pale man could not fly yet as he was not a Spirit Warrior. But right now, Cao Yun realized that he was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior. Because his Bai Hui was damaged, he had not been able to correctly identify his cultivation. He was three grades above him. And although he was tired, the man was not as wounded as Cao Yun was. This fight would not go in his favor.


    From the very movement of the spear, a strong whistle echoed. The moment Cao Yun heard it, his body began to shake uncontrollably. Before he could try to regain his ability to move, another melody cut through this whistle. Mei Hua was still helping Cao Yun.


    Just as he had regained the ability to move freely, Cao Yun saw the spear in front of his throat. The spearhead now looked like the head of a giant snake that was covered in both fresh and coagulated blood, both from recent and past victims.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''!


    His Wei Qi gathered at the point of impact. It turned into a dragon scale. All the force of the impact went through it. And as the scale was vibrating, Cao Yun span around. The pale man''s spear grazed his neck. Then, the Azure Dragon''s scale went toward Cao Yun''s spear. Using both his own momentum and the force of his opponent''s attack, Cao Yun struck toward him.


    The scale went toward ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''''s spearhead. With Cao Yun''s Spear Aura, the spear also looked like it was as long as the entire Demon Palace. The pale man felt as though it had already stabbed through his heart.


    ''Coiled in Gold''.


    One of his four wings folded. Despite all the strength behind Cao Yun''s attack who had even used ''Dragon''s Heart'' at the last moment, it got completely blocked by the golden scales of this wing. His attack only cracked a few scales on this precious wing.


    Behind him, Cao Yun felt the bloody spear come back for more. It was exactly as though it was a snake. In reality, the spear itself was not contorting but the mix of Qi Manifestation and Spear Aura was producing very strange phenomena. As such, although the shaft of the spear was still next to Cao Yun, the spearhead was going straight for the back of his head.

 Chapter 327: Earth vs Wind

    Cao Yun was almost fighting with a real snake. The movements of his enemy''s spear were so unpredictable and sleek that it was very hard even for him to fight against him. Thankfully, his own mastery of martial arts was on point.


    This had not been any accident if Mo Zi had kept this particular demonic cultivator alive. All the other ones had served as fuel apart from Neng Lue who was the muscles and Wang Jinhua who had helped him before. Mo Zi wasn''t very sentimental or loyal, but he had been reluctant in draining the power from her. Besides, she was so weakened that her death would have not made much difference in the end.


    Both spears collided with each other.


    ''Terran Serpent''!


    ''Dragon''s Chest''!


    With this shock, Cao Yun felt how powerful his enemy''s spear was. In fact, the scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon had gone completely silent now. Even with his seven stars active, the bloody spear had suppressed his own weapon. This spear had to be either a 5-star Human weapon, or it had even crossed into the rank of Heaven weaponry. For now, Cao Yun was not too sure. Ren Chao would have been able to dispel his doubts but he was otherwise occupied.


    Indeed, Neng Lue had released her grip on him but they were still fighting. Neng Lue was very tall and incredibly muscular. Cultivators tended to not have huge muscles because they didn''t need them in order to produce strength. For most cultivators, this was an aesthetic choice. In the Hongchen Kingdom toned muscles were preferred to bulging mass. But some cultivators were heavily relying on physique cultivation. Neng Lue was one of those. She had been practicing the ''Hell Devouring Body''. According to this method, one would be able to absorb the fires of Hell in order to improve their physique.


    With this physique cultivation, Neng Lue had a physical strength that had no rival in her entire cultivation realm. Yet, here she was, bested by a young man who was still only a Mortal. What she did not know was that he had a Golden Silk Body. Even without any physique cultivation method, his body was incredibly powerful. But while he had been inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he had found one cultivation technique, ''Golden Saint Bones''. Thanks to his physique, he had been given incredible marrow in his bones. And with this technique, he had been able to use them to improve his physique even further.


    Until now, his physique had been expressed without his direct intervention. It had simply permeated through his body but through no conscious effort of his own. Of course, as a poor blacksmith, he had harshly trained his body without any fancy method or miraculous pill. Despite that, this very harsh training had still partially activated his physique. But because he didn''t even know it was there, it had been minimal. Now, he was voluntarily pushing it to become stronger and stronger.


    Faced with Neng Lue, he was still at a huge disadvantage because he could not manifest his Qi. Thus, he got an idea, a very simple and yet effective idea. He didn''t give her any chance to manifest it.


    Ren Chao was constantly attacking, giving her no room to breathe. Neng Lue and Ren Chao had stopped wrestling but they were now fighting hand-to-hand up close. All their attacks were so powerful that they were echoing throughout the entire Demon Palace for everyone else to be deafened by. The mere wind pressure was enough to even crack the walls and pillars.


    When Neng Lue was hitting Ren Chao, her attacks damaged his soft tissues but his bones were impervious. For her, it was like striking against a Spirit weapon. Ren Chao''s entire skeleton had been broken during the stampede, but it had healed even stronger than before. And with his ''Golden Saint Bones'', his bones were now as enduring as ever. In fact, Neng Lue was more hurt by her own attacks than Ren Chao actually was.


    On the other hand, Ren Chao kept on attacking again and again. He only blocked her attacks when they were too dangerous. The rest of the time, he was happy to let her strike his ribs or his skull. He knew that his bones were just too strong for her to break them in a short amount of time. With Qi Manifestation, she would have probably been able to. But this was why he kept on attacking, disregarding the pain. His strikes were so powerful that they were sending her Wei Qi and even her Qi into turmoil. As such, she was unable to keep enough control over it to manifest it outside. Right now, she was barely maintaining her own Wei Qi. Besides, she had to rebuild it often because of those very attacks.


    At the same time, Sun Liao and Mo Zi were still locked in a battle of wits to see which one would prevail. Mo Zi was trying to set up the Eightfold Torrents array formation. But if he succeeded, the group would probably lose. Thus, Sun Liao kept on trying to disturb him. The best thing would be to destroy the array formation plate altogether but this wasn''t easily done. Indeed, it was within Mo Zi''s grasp who had a higher cultivation than him. In fact, if they engaged in a real battle, Sun Liao would die very fast. Thankfully though, they were a distance away from each other. To get to him, Mo Zi would have to go through all of his friends. That included Cao Yun and Ren Chao, who were both rather worrisome.


    Unfortunately, although Sun Liao was a genius when it came to array formations, his cultivation was still a little bit behind. As such, Mo Zi would ultimately get the upper hand. And he was already trying to press forward. At the same time he was fighting against Sun Liao''s relentless sabotage, he was using his own Qi to set up another kind of array formation. He couldn''t go all out for the simple reason that he was otherwise busy. Thus the array formation was only an Earth one. But it would be enough as a distraction.


    Sun Liao could sense the Qi around him moving in a known pattern. Mo Zi was trying to build a Mind Muddy Bog array formation. It wasn''t particularly dangerous for someone like Sun Liao who had mastered Lifting the Fog of a Dream. But this illusory array formation would be enough to distract him. In order to protect himself from that, he was now focusing a tiny bit of his attention to taking it down. The fight of the two men kept on escalating. Unfortunately Sun Liao was constantly on the defense because of the disparity between the two of them.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    At some point though, he tried to be pro-active. Although his cultivation did not allow him to create an array formation with his mind alone, he had now formed a perfect Bamboo Map of the Demon Palace. He had also noticed the void that had started to devour the roof they were under. If that were to spread, everyone would be consumed and would die. But for now, he had to deal with Mo Zi. He was convinced that he had a way of getting out of here. And hopefully Sun Liao could also find a way to activate the Supreme emblems of all the disciples to save them from the upcoming collapse of the unstable realm. Thus, he decided to take some risks. With his arrows, he did not just try to disturb Mo Zi''s array formation plate, he was also striking less significant places in order to set up his own array formation.


    At first Mo Zi did not see through it because he was busy trying to do the same with his own Qi. But then he realized what his opponent was doing. Such a battle between array formation masters was rare. But for an expert, this was a sight to behold. Usually, even in duels, each array formation master was given some time to set up an array formation and then each one had to try and break it down. But now they were doing it at the same time. Each one was trying to trap the opponent in an array formation while destroying the ones created by the other.


    Although the fight was not very impressive as Sun Liao''s arrows were all aimed around Mo Zi without ever striking him directly and Mo Zi''s Qi was invisible to the naked eye, it was indeed fierce. Both men were drenched in sweat. Strangely enough, despite the very serious stakes at play, both men were enjoying themselves. It had been a very long time since they had been challenged to such an extent. But Mo Zi could see that if Sun Liao reached the Mortal Warrior realm, he would immediately soar to the rank of 5-star Human array formation master. And in that case, he would have no chance of ever beating him without heavily relying on Mo Tian''s array formation plates, even if he was at full power.


    Mei Hua stopped assisting only Cao Yun. Her melody was spreading to all her brothers. They all felt their fatigue slowly vanish. Now that she was a Mortal Warrior, she could fully show her competence. Like Sun Liao, her mastery of her craft was so great that upon breaking through she had become a 5-star Human alchemist. The only thing missing was for her to pass the test. But she was absolutely certain that she would, with flying colors.


    During the fight, she also noticed Wang Jinhua. The injured woman could not do anything at all. Ren Chao and Neng Lue''s fight was so brutal that even getting close to them was difficult. There were constant shockwaves caused by their respective attacks. Just getting near them was sending her Qi into a frenzy, and her injuries didn''t need that. Cao Yun and the pale man''s fight was also way too intense for her. And finally, Mo Zi and Sun Liao were both very distant from one another and were displaying all their knowledge of array formations which she had almost none of.


    Thus, Wang Jinhua had nothing of importance to do apart from trying to recover. Just to be sure that she was not a threat, Mei Hua used her previous weapon. Her old rope dart, ''Ten Thousand Thorns'', flew toward her and bound her completely. The bondage was so intricate that each time she tried to wrestle against it, it was biting into her flesh more and more. It really was like having ten thousand thorns on her skin. And the pain inflicted depended solely on how much she was trying to break free. Hence, she had a huge incentive not to move around.


    Helped with Mei Hua''s melody which was soothing his soul, Cao Yun kept on fighting. Just like Sun Liao, he surprised himself enjoying the fight. Indeed, his opponent was vicious but his mastery of martial arts was on point. Apart from Chief Elder Baishen, he had never fought against someone like that. And the difference was that he was actively trying to kill him.


    ''Pierce to Earth''s Core''!


    From under Cao Yun, a column of rock stabbed toward the roof.


    ''The Dragon''s Body Hits the Earth''!


    He had barely enough time to dodge. Instead, he jumped backward while striking with the butt of his spear. The earth column exploded into tiny fragments. But from the section of the column, another extended toward Cao Yun. It was as though he had cut off the head of a snake only to see another one grow from its amputated neck.


    Unfortunately, the pale man''s martial art was the ''Winged Entombed Minghse''. The Wingshe was a terrible snake with four wings which was known to appreciate gold and jade. As such he was often coveting mines or tombs of powerful rulers. And this martial art was extremely rich in Earth element. In particular, the pale man''s art was using the Mountain trigram. Just like Wind was one of the Eight Trigrams associated with the Wood element, Mountain was another of the Eight Trigrams, associated with the Earth element. And Earth was able to rot Wood. Thus Cao Yun was at a slight disadvantage. Of course, the Five Transformations and the Eight Trigrams were not absolute. Even in alchemy there were caveats. And in a fight where everything was always changing, any element could take over the element that was weakening it.


    It was just that Cao Yun was both weaker than his opponent and using an element that had a slight disadvantage. As such, everything was against him. Even his weapon was inferior, and already damaged. Furthermore, Cao Yun''s Qi Manifestation were weaker because he was still reluctant to risk using his Bai Hui. On the other hand, Cao Yun''s mastery of the Spear Aura was much better than his opponent. Even though it was impressive in itself that he had understood it, this pale man had not such a thorough understanding of Spear Aura.


    From Cao Yun''s spatial ring, another spear appeared.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    With all of his strength, he threw the spear toward his opponent. In the air, the image of a fish covered with dragon scales vaguely appeared. It seemed to swim across the air. Each movement of its fins caused small stars to appear for a fraction of a second. The tip of the spear had also turned into a tiny star.


    The speed was so high that the pale man was surprised. He had not expected his opponent to throw away his weapon and he had not expected him to take another one out for that specific purpose.


    ''Fours Wings to Cover All Riches''!


    The four wings he had manifested overlapped in front of him in order to stop the projectile. This time, it was stronger than Cao Yun''s first attempt against his defense. One wing was almost entirely pierced through and the one behind it also began to crack.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''!


    Not wasting any opportunity, Cao Yun unleashed another attack with ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Dragon scales appeared on his spear and he swept the air in front of him. A tail made of dragon scales struck the pale man on his flank. From the four wings, the two which were still intact were able to move fast enough to block the attack. As it was not a piercing blow, it had less impact. But as he was blocking the attack, the pale man failed to sense Cao Yun''s movement.


    He had used ''Ashen Feather Seal'' in the middle of the fight to hide his presence. And he was now directly behind his opponent, ready to strike.

 Chapter 328: The last pride of the dragon

    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    Cao Yun unleashed his most powerful and concentrated attack. Absolutely everything he had was focused on a single point. For an instant, Cao Yun even let go of his constraints on Dian Mo. It only lasted for an instant. But after witnessing the prowess of his opponent, he decided to risk it. Maybe it was the excitement or the Chamber of Heavenly Court who was pushing him to be a little bit reckless.


    Thankfully, Dian Mo did not take advantage of it. He knew that his chances of getting out of it were slim. At best, he would have distracted Cao Yun. The problem was that if Cao Yun were to be killed, Dian Mo would surely die as well. He wasn''t absolutely certain of it. But with the Drop of Wrath above him, he would probably be unable to leave his sea of consciousness. Besides, without Cao Yun putting a leash on this Drop of Wrath, it would devour and digest Dian Mo in no time. Even at that very moment, he could feel a subtle pull that was being stopped by Cao Yun.


    For now, Dian Mo was analyzing the situation. And if he was correct, he would soon be able to make a deal that would improve his current situation beyond what Cao Yun could imagine. At that very moment, he was just like a fish on a cutting board. To be fair, Dian Mo had seen Cao Yun as a pig ready for slaughter whom he was just fattening a bit beforehand. As such, he did not find that the young demon had really wronged him much. The boy had just been better. Besides, the tables would soon turn for the better.


    Anyway, Cao Yun even used ''Dragon''s Heart'' and his blood cultivation to condense a drop of blood that was spinning like crazy. As soon as the pale man realized where his opponent was, Cao Yun unleashed everything at once.


    The full might of his martial arts were displayed for all to see. All around Cao Yun, a vibrant armor made of dragon scales fluttered. His spear turned into the horn of the mighty Azure Dragon. And it didn''t stop there. Cao Yun''s Spear Aura also got added to the mix. His spear and himself were now giants compared to the pale man. Cao Yun and his weapon looked like they were covered in the blood of billions of battle. All around them, there was an ominous aura that Cao Yun had picked up when he had slaughtered all those blood beasts. In fact, a tiny bit of both Evil Qi and Death Energy were also vibrating around him. Apart from the pale man, no one was able to feel it because it disappeared as fast as it had come. But right now, he felt as though he was facing the most dreadful killer he had ever met.


    At last, the attack went toward him. He had barely enough time to put up his defense. All four of his wings exploded into many small scales made of various precious ores. Instead of scattering, they all went in front of him to form some kind of new complex shield. However, its form could not even be completed before the attack struck, but it still looked like the stylized head of a snake formed by the mosaic of ores.


    When Cao Yun''s attack struck, many scales were blown away instantly. A powerful gust of wind completed assaulted the shield. Many tiles from the Demon Palace also got unsealed and flew away into the void that was slowly consuming the roof.


    No matter how much Cao Yun was pushing forward with all of his will and intent, his attack could not pierce through. In his sea of consciousness, there was now a giant storm. The Heart Star was encompassing the entire sky, making everything red. The ocean below had turned into blood. For a brief instant, Cao Yun''s Wei Qi also took on a reddish tint. And his eyes were fully injected with crimson blood while his spear was vibrating under the effects of ''Dance of Slaughter'' which he was circulating beside his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''.


    Still, his attack could not penetrate the shield. It was damaged yes, but it remained firm between the two men. Then, Cao Yun heard it. From his ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'', there was a scream of frustration and pain. The scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon was full of indignation. Despite the suppression of the enemy''s spear, it couldn''t just stay quiet. The shaft of the spear was being put under a lot of strain, so much so that several cracking noises erupted from it. But it didn''t want to abandon just yet. In fact, Cao Yun was able to feel its pride. Instead of submitting to its enemy, the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' wanted to take it down with it.


    Although he was no expert in weapons, Cao Yun knew that in theory his weapon was not supposed to have any form of awareness. Only a Spirit weapon could have that. Apparently though, his martial art had awaken the remnant of the Ebony Snake Dragon''s soul nonetheless. Both Cao Yun and the scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon had understood that the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' was about to become useless very soon. After all, Cao Yun had even taken other spears in his spatial ring. He was aware of the damages already suffered by his weapon when he had been inside the Yellow Death World. Since then, it had only gotten worse.


    But even if it was the last thing it did, the Ebony Snake Dragon wanted to take his revenge on the spear that had humiliated him.


    As the scale was resonating with Cao Yun''s martial art, he suddenly got an image in mind. He saw the Azure Dragon distinctly. His body was made of seven shining stars and each one of his scales was an undiscovered galaxy with billions of stars. The main seven stars were shining so much that they eclipsed everything else. The Azure Dragon was large beyond imagination and could encompass an entire universe. But right now, he was just as big as a star system. And he was coiled around several planets that he had taken into his claws. In front of his gigantic head, there was a world as big as the Piaolu planet. The Azure Dragon opened his mouth and screamed. Although there was nothing to spread the sound, it still resounded. The atmosphere of the planet caught on fire and the surface began to crack.


    Finally, the Azure Dragon tensed his body and launched himself toward the dying planet. It exploded into fine dust. With his momentum, the Azure Dragon even took several planets with him. Some were moved so fast that they burned away. Others were sent out of the star system.


    A phrase had now appeared in Cao Yun''s mind, ''Cracking the World''. This was the last move he had yet to master, the first variation of the Winnowing Basket Star. However, it had not fully come from him or his own understanding. He could feel that the seven stars in his sea of consciousness had answered the call of the Ebony Snake Dragon. Now that he had this move in mind, Cao Yun realized that his spear would never survive it, it was just too brutal.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    The moment he thought about that though, he heard the plea of the Ebony Snake Dragon. Once again, the spear was not conscious per se, but it was reacting. In a sense, it was like a plant reacting to the stimuli around it. It was like the Life Boiling Cradle pill. A Spirit rank pill had awareness although it lacked consciousness. In the same way, the scale of the Ebony Snake Dragon seemed to imitate the pride of its owner. But it had no personal thought. If Cao Yun did not heed its call, it would not be angry or anything. However, Cao Yun would not feel well about it.


    On the other hand, the idea of losing his spear was not comforting either. However, he felt like he had no choice. In the future, this spear would not be able to resist his techniques. In fact, even if it had been in a perfect condition, Cao Yun was not sure it could perform ''Cracking the World'' without suffering intensely.


    Maybe it was time to send his spear away with panache.


    Although it was risky, Cao Yun even decided to open his Bai Hui. His Qi melted away the ''Ashen Feather Seal''''s ashes he had used to block it. If he died in this fight, it wouldn''t matter whether his Bai Hui was protected or not. Once again, it was a problem he would have to deal with later. Hopefully, Xiao Xuefeng would be able to help him. But the more damage he would do, the more complicated it would be to heal.


    The moment Cao Yun sent Qi in his Bai Hui, he felt a familair feeling. It was not coming from his body but from the Drop of Wrath. It seemed to be trying to convey a message to him. However, he couldn''t understand it. The only thing he could make out was the feeling of green vegetation around him. Then, his Bai Hui got rid of all the ashes.


    Now that his Five Prodigious Gates were fully open, Cao Yun''s Qi Manifestation became much more refined. He was entirely covered with an armor made of dragon scales.


    After activating ''Cracking the World'', the armor exploded. All the scales scattered backward. The fabric of reality was broken as though it were glass when the scales of the armor raced through it. Behind Cao Yun was now a hole in the glass that used to be space. Looking into the broken glass, there were seven shining dots. Right behind Cao Yun''s back, there was an entire universe and those seven stars were exactly the same stars he had formed inside his sea of consciousness.


    At the same time, the image of the Azure Dragon appeared clearly in the sky of his sea of consciousness. Each star was a part of its body and it was calmly flying in the sky, full of arrogance and disdain for the world.


    This ''Cracking the World'' move was very different from ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. Instead of being a penetrating stab, it was a devastating blow performed with the butt of the spear. The point of this attack was not to focus the strength on a tiny point, but to spread the impact far in order to break even the deepest fortification. Thus, Cao Yun changed his stance as well as his grip. While his opponent was still on the defense, he struck again.


    This time, Cao Yun had opened all his Five Prodigious Gates. Due to that, his Qi Manifestation reached the highest level it could. From behind him, the seven stars leapt forward. And they formed the shape of the Azure Dragon. Its body was made of the void of space with the seven stars on it giving life to the noble beast. It was as though the dragon had broken through the looking glass that was reality.


    Its image followed Cao Yun''s attack. When ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' collided with the shield in front of it, the massive body of the Azure Dragon did the same. At that moment, everything crumbled. Cao Yun''s spear exploded into tiny fragments. The pale man''s shield was so thoroughly destroyed that each scale forming it had also been destroyed. Even the image of the Azure Dragon had exploded. But from this gigantic catastrophe, all the fragments from both Cao Yun''s spear, the pale man''s shield and the stars forming the Azure Dragon as well as the fragments of glass that had been behind Cao Yun, all of them flew toward Cao Yun''s enemy. It was as though a meteor shower was targeting him.


    Surprised by the intensity of the attack, he was blown away. The blow was so violent, he was sent across the Demon Palace and let go of his bloody spear. Before he finally stopped, he went through several pillars. At the end, he had almost destroyed the wall he was now stuck into. However, he was still alive. Under the shock, he had lost consciousness for an instant and his body was covered in blood and dirt. But he was still alive. On the other hand, the Demon Palace had already been under a lot of stress with the void slowly consuming its roof. And without Dian Mo''s presence to keep it together, it had become way too weak. This shock was enough for the wall to start to collapse.


    Behind the wall, the absolute void started to spread as well. The pale man had no time to realize what was going on. He was already being consumed by the void. Not even his spatial ring could resist.


    Due to the commotion, everyone looked at the scene. Cao Yun was standing in the middle of rubles. Before him, there was a long path of destruction that culminated with a hole in the Demon Palace from which the void was invading.


    In front of him, Cao Yun saw some pieces from his spear. Most importantly, he saw a small part of the scale from the Ebony Snake Dragon used to forge his spear. But he also saw the weapon of his enemy. Without any hesitation, he retrieved both the scale fragment and the bloody spear. When he took it, he heard Dian Mo''s voice.


    "''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. This spear was forged by a servant of Demon God Da Mo. According to your ranking system, it should be a 2-star Heaven weapon. But without a bloodline powerful enough to activate it, it''s barely a 4-star Human one. From what I heard, this weapon was forged with Burning Soul Fire. It''s said that hundreds of souls have to be burned away as fuel to start this fire. Then, it was quenched in the blood of several beasts. One of which was a real Devouring Storm Dragon. Even at the peak of our civilization, this wasn''t the kind of demonic beast you could find easily. I don''t think more than three of them ever appeared. This was a 3-pearl Immortal Beast."


    Dian Mo spoke without thinking. Even he was admiring this spear. But Cao Yun who had it in hand was beyond amazed. However, this momentary lapse in Dian Mo''s attitude revealed way more than he had wanted. Cao Yun now knew he was able to see outside his sea of consciousness. At the very moment he had spoken, Dian Mo also realized that. He blamed his talkativeness on his long seclusion. But he would have to watch out for it in the future. Because he counted on having a future, and a very bright one.


    Cao Yun had barely enough time to enjoy his victory and his spoils. His Bai Hui began to pulsate. From it, an infernal pain spread to his entire Upper Dantian. It almost split his skull in two. If he had not fully energized his Upper Dantian, he might even have fainted or died because of this pain. His Bai Hui had been damaged and he had still pushed it beyond its limits. Now, it was completely torn apart. At that moment, he clearly saw a picture sent by his Drop of Wrath. And he got an idea...


    Another man was in a difficult position. Mo Zi could see that the Demon Palace was about to completely collapse on itself. He had to do something about it soon.

 Chapter 329: Demon God Da Mo

    While the fight was still raging inside the Demon Palace within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, the Wubei Sect was not in any less of an uproar.


    All the chief elders, both from the outer and inner sect, had cornered Luoming Tian. They had completely surrounded the disciplinary pavilion. Although he turned out to be a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, even he would have a hard time fighting all the chief elders at once. Four or five of them, if they had good teamwork, would probably be enough to cause him a major problem. Of course, they wouldn''t be able to kill him. But now, there were almost twenty of them facing him. Besides, among them was Xiao Xuefeng. Not only had she spiritual senses even he was envious of, but she also possessed the Seal of Authority. She could not use it with as much expertise as Sect Leader Xuan, but as an alchemist she was talented enough to make it extremely dangerous.


    If one 9th-grade Spirit Warrior had been sufficient to destroy the Wubei Sect, Luoming Tian would not have had to go to such lengths.


    He had been forced to reveal himself earlier because his friend had found him out. Right now, Luoming Tian could still feel that Chief Elder Qinghe was trying to save the life Chief Elder Suxian was stubbornly holding onto. But Luoming Tian let none of that appear on his face. He had the same carefree appearance as ever, assuming the role of an aloof artist who wasn''t bothered by the mundane world.


    "Traitor Luoming, you''ve not only tried to kill your own friend, you also turned your back on your own sect, on your own kingdom, and on your own kind! Surrender and cease this abomination!"


    "Miss Xiao, I am afraid that we are well past that."


    After being chased all the way to the disciplinary pavilion, Luoming Tian had received some sort of blood needle from the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Even Xiao Xuefeng had not been able to see through it. But as soon as he got it, he plunged it into the depths of the earth. And with his current attitude, Xiao Xuefeng was really not serene. She knew this was part of his master plan. But she simply couldn''t figure out what he was after. However, he had risked revealing himself for it. Thus, she decided that capturing or killing him quickly, if possible, was the best course of action.


    In fact, although she really wanted to be able to interrogate him, if she had to kill him, she would. Letting him live was way too dangerous. It was even possible that Luoming Tian was himself the Demon King. According to the information they had gathered, Luoming Tian was certainly Mo Tian. He was supposedly a different man from the Demon King. But this might have been a ruse. Indeed, no one had ever seen the Demon King and he seemed to communicate through Mo Tian. Besides, she had a hard time imagining that two demonic cultivators had reached the stage of 9th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    If he really was the Demon King, killing him was the best option. But if he wasn''t, he was the only way for them to get to the real Demon King. However, Xiao Xuefeng was just feeling that something was wrong. He had gone to the place where the Seal of Authority was the most powerful and he knew it since he had lead the disciplinary pavilion himself. There had to be a reason!


    Anyway, she immediately activated the Seal of Authority to the maximum of her ability. In the sky, a giant character appeared, ''Execution''.


    "Surrender or die! Choose!"


    Luoming Tian only chuckled. All the chief elders were looking at him with rage, scorn and even hatred in their eyes. If Luoming Tian''s cultivation had been beneath early Spirit Warrior, their mere gazes would have killed him. And besides their gazes, they had also all spread their spiritual senses.


    All around the disciplinary pavilion, elders were organizing instructors. They had made sure to evacuate everyone. Among them were Elder Tian from the library and the armory, Elder Tang whom Cao Yun and his friends were familiar with, as well as many others. All the instructors were also helping out. More than during the stampede, the Wubei Sect was in a state of siege. But this time the safe place was outside of the sect. This was the worst crisis they had ever lived through, for no one had ever attacked the sect from within.


    Some people were sincerely doubting Sect Leader Xuan right now. Maybe the rumors were true and he had grown weak and senile. But in the sky, Xiao Xuefeng was imposing her presence. With the ''Execution'' character high in the sky, she had brought some peace to the disciples. With a bit more calm, the instructors and elders were able to get them to safety with more ease.


    "Miss Xiao, do you really think I can''t do anything against you all? Do you really think this piece of rock will save you?" He then turned toward the other chief elders. "Brothers, Sisters, listen to me. Do not throw your life away. Look at me, in less than a century I''ve been able to cross the final two grades of the Spirit Warrior realm. Soon, I will be the first man to become a Sage since the Forsaken Dao Era. If you follow me, as some of you already do, you will be the forefront of an all-new era where mankind doesn''t have to cower in front of neither demons nor beasts."


    His words shook the assembly, but not because of his offer, because he implied that some of them were already traitors.


    "Don''t listen to those treacherous words. He''s just stalling and sowing discord among us. If you refuse to listen to reason, die!"


    On the building of the disciplinary pavilion, all the characters engraved by Ancestor Wu started to shine. Just like when she had admonished former Chief Elder Bian, the rules of the Wubei Sect were used as a weapon. But this time the weapon would be deadly. The very characters formed a sword in the air. Everyone could feel that this sword was beyond their ability. Each one of them would have been killed by it with a single swing. Worse than that, they would have no way to evade such a blade. Only a Sage would have had a chance against such a weapon. And even then, they were not completely sure of his survival.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Xiao Xuefeng did not hesitate at all. Feeling that the man in front of her was too dangerous to be kept alive, she activated the Seal of Authority. The ''Execution'' character completed the death blade. And it fell. In an instant, it was at Luoming Tian''s throat. However, at the moment of impact, the blade went right through him. Even Xiao Xuefeng was shocked. She should have been able to see through any illusion.


    No, this wasn''t an illusion at all...


    "I''ve taken a lot of time rebuilding this disciplinary pavilion and I was even helped by my dear friend Suxian Zheng."


    "Don''t you dare utter his name, vermin!"


    Chief Elder Baishen''s blood was still hot. She could not wait to rip Luoming apart limb by limb. Because Xiao Xuefeng could not kill him right away, she was happy to oblige. But despite her rage, she was still following orders. She knew that an unruly mob would not achieve anything. Although she had to admit that she wasn''t as smart as some other chief elders and too hot-headed, she was not stupid.


    Xiao Xuefeng and a few others had seen through Luoming Tian. He was in an array formation that was altering space. Although he was right in front of them, he was in a different space and could not be affected by their space. This array formation was very useful. But now that they had seen through it, it would quickly collapse in front of the Seal of Authority.


    "Miss Xiao, you claimed that I was sowing discord, but I''m not. I already sowed. Now, I''m just reaping."


    The moment he said that, several array formations got activated all around the Wubei Sect. As the chief elder in charge of the disciplinary pavilion, Luoming Tian had simplified the paperwork. But this had given him way more power. He had seen absolutely every document and using the restructuring of his pavilion, he had changed many things. In the chaos caused by Chief Elder Bian''s departure, he had even begun many projects. The stampede had also been a good opportunity for him to implement new array formations. Chief Elder Suxian had even helped him for most of them.


    And now Xiao Xuefeng realized that she could not control them. But that also meant something else. Alone, Luoming Tian would have not been able to do all of that. He had to have had many helpers, and not just in the disciplinary pavilion.


    As she was thinking that, the noises of battle started to echo everywhere. Flames ascended all the way to the residence of the first-years. Finally, Luoming Tian showed his hand. Some elders took to the air as they were chased by other elders. A fratricide war was happening across the entire Wubei Sect. Right now, it seemed as though the demonic cultivators had infiltrated everything. In truth, it was probably not that widespread. But they had all stayed within the sect while the orthodox students were away on missions for most of them.


    Despite the distraction, Xiao Xuefeng had not lost sight of her true target, Luoming Tian''s head. The second time the blade fell toward him, the array formation exploded. The disciplinary pavilion itself shook. All the way to the foot of the mountain, a small tremor could be felt.


    "Die!"


    "Not today. Rise!"


    Before the blade could strike down Luoming Tian, something beyond imagination happened. The entire disciplinary pavilion exploded. Thousands of pieces of rock flew in all directions like small meteors, destroying even more buildings and killing some disciples and some instructors. Even a few elders who were flying around got hurt. This wasn''t what horrified the chief elders though. What completely froze their blood was what had come out of the pavilion.


    Beneath the disciplinary pavilion, there was the Devil''s Jail. According to the legend, it had been there way before the Wubei Sect itself. In fact, it was similar to the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. But many historians thought that it had been built, or at least rebuilt by the demons. They had been unable to deeply alter the Palace of Supreme Wisdom but they had taken over several other buildings, the Devil''s Jail was one of them. According to the same legend, it had imprisoned powerful demons in the past. In fact, the ninth level could even hold 9th-grade Spirit Warriors.


    What many ignored was that there were more than nine levels. Even Luoming Tian had ignored that fact until he had found the secret library of Demon God Da Mo. In it, he had found everything that had served him for this century-old plan, like the ''Blood Runes'' method. He had altered everything to help him and serve his purpose. But the crux of his plan was the thing lying beneath the ninth level of the Devil''s Jail.


    After Emperor Nuwa had killed Demon God Da Mo, his followers had not surrendered right away. And some of them had even prepared a plan to bring back their Demon God. Da Mo had reached the stage of Reborn Demon, which was similar to the stage above Sage and below Immortal for humans. None of the followers were certain whether Emperor Nuwa had completely killed him body and soul. But they had been able to retrieve some blood from his body. In theory, only an Immortal Demon could be revived through a single drop of blood, but they tried anyway.


    Emperor Nuwa had burned the body of Demon God Da Mo to a crisp and had even scattered his ashes into the void. But they realized that they could use the Devil''s Jail to rebuild his body. They waited centuries, or even millenniums. Some of them were even captured on purpose to be sent in the lowest levels of the Devil''s Jail. There, they planted the blood of Demon God Da Mo as a seed. Since then, it had absorbed the life energy of every prisoner. And slowly, it had begun to rebuild Demon God Da Mo''s body.


    This wasn''t all! This body would have no soul and no mind. But thankfully, Demon God Da Mo had been smart. In life, he had put a drop of his blood essence inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, guarded by the Palace Spirit he had created himself. After his death, the spirit should have felt that he had indeed died but he was unable to see what was going on outside. With this drop of blood essence though, there was a tiny hope that Demon God Da Mo could be revived.


    After careful analysis, Luoming Tian concluded that they had been deluded. Demon God Da Mo could never be revived in such a way simply because he had not reached the level of Immortal Demon. He was simply unable to preserve his soul and mind in his own blood. However, if Luoming Tian played it right, he could take over the new body. And he could in fact do so much more than that.


    Thus, he had prepared everything so that he could awaken Demon God Da Mo''s body. After becoming the chief elder of the disciplinary pavilion, he had confirmed that the body was mostly complete. And most importantly, it currently had the strength of a middle to late Exalted Demon, the equivalent of a Sage for humans. With this body under his control, in addition to his own strength, no one on the Piaolu planet could oppose him.


    The culmination of a century of planning was right in front of his eyes. From the ground below, an arm as large as a tower had emerged. It had broken through all of the nine levels of the Devil''s Jail and had even reduced the disciplinary pavilion created by Ancestor Wu to dust. No one could stop him now.


    The arm was bulging and was the color of blood. As soon as it appeared, it grabbed the blade made of Ancestor Wu''s calligraphy and of the ''Execution'' character from the Seal of Authority. With a single movement, its hand completely crushed it.

 Chapter 330: Purging the Wubei Sect

    Chaos was spreading throughout the entire Wubei Sect. Most of the traitors had come from the Hidden Orchids Faction. Almost no one knew exactly what this faction was about. But apparently, they were full of traitors and demonic cultivators.


    Most of them had never really practiced any kind of demonic cultivation thanks to Xiao Xuefeng''s presence. She would have been able to detect anyone who had. No matter what kind of demonic art they would have practiced, those arts had effects on the soul. Even if they had not an ounce of Evil Qi in them, anyone who was using those techniques long enough would have an unbalanced soul. For most Spirit Warriors this could be difficult to identify easily. But for Xiao Xuefeng, this was not a problem at all.


    For that very reason, Luoming Tian had made sure that no demonic cultivator in the Wubei Sect had ever practiced those arts. Along the years, he had recruited many traitors just like Lu Meihan. And he had attracted Xiao Xuefeng in the Wubei Sect with the incident in Yinmen City when Cao Yun had uncovered a demonic cultivator. According to his original plan, Luo Jiang should have caused some mayhem in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and should have paved the way for their theft during the stampede. Originally, he was supposed to be discovered by Xiao Xuefeng herself. But the plan had failed. Thankfully, this had not disturbed his overall plan, and in the end everything had worked out just fine. However, this had created another problem, the young Cao Yun.


    Now that he had awakened Demon God Da Mo''s body, Luoming Tian had no more worries of any kind. With such a powerful puppet beneath his fingers, he could do everything he ever wanted to do. But first, he would kill Xiao Xuefeng, Sect Leader Xuan, and also Cao Yun who had been a thorn in his side. Because of that young brat, he had been forced to alter his plans several times. Since he had the favors of many, it was better to eliminate him right now while he was still powerless.


    Hopefully, he could also exterminate everyone in the Wubei sect who would not see eye-to-eye with him. Paradoxically, because Xiao Xuefeng had activated the defenses, that meant that what Luoming Tian was doing was being concealed. If no one could escape from his slaughter, it would give him even more time to prepare for the next phase, marching on the Imperial City and deposing Emperor Weide.


    The giant red arm had completely crushed the character from the Seal of Authority but Xiao Xuefeng still controlled the seal. Since she could do nothing against such a threat with her own strength, and since the chief elders could not either, she sent them to take care of the chaos all around. Meanwhile, she was focusing all her strength on the Seal of Authority in order to contain the Demon God.


    From the Seal of Authority, many characters appeared. All around the Wubei sect, every single array formation got activated. Golden chains rose from the ground and crisscrossed the sky as a dome. From above, thousands of those golden chains rained down toward Demon God Da Mo and Luoming Tian. For an instant, the arm was completely sealed as well as his master.


    "Really?! You think those gimmicks will stop an Exalted Demon?! Even if the old geezer were to come and help you, there is nothing he could do. And look! He''s hiding, still letting you do his bidding. With age, he''s grown pathetic and senile. This is the fate of us all. Listen to me, listen to reason. Miss Xiao, you are the woman who has the brightest future ahead of her. But you''ll never be able to become a Sage. I can find a way! You have always discarded demonic methods. But someone with your mind cultivation, you could practice any demonic art without being affected by it. No inner demon could disturb you. And we''re not even forced to use humans. Demons enslaved us for generations, we could use them as resources. What do you say?"


    "You won''t make me waver. I know your ways and I know how many people you''ve sacrificed. Power obtained by giving up on your humanity is no power I want."


    "I knew that this would be your answer, that''s such a waste... My own father chose a debilitating death rather than to try this out. You think there is honor in your choice, but at the end, you''ll be a mess. You''ll end up like mortals, unable to care for yourself, pathetic and old. Your life will have been extraordinary and your death will be a disgusting tragedy."


    Da Mo''s arm closed its fist and all the golden chains binding him exploded, even those around Luoming Tian.


    Then, blood spread from the arm. It flowed like ink in water, but it was flowing as well on the ground as in the air. The arm extended itself and the palm brutally smashed against the ground. The entire Heidai Peak trembled at that moment. From the ground, it took a handful of blood that slowly solidified into a small javelin.


    As soon as the weapon was ready, it threw it in the distance. Xiao Xuefeng was ready to defend herself but she was not the target, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was.


    "Sorry, Miss Xiao. I had to take care of my disciple first. I won''t let anyone say that I am ungrateful... Hopefully your disciple as well as this Chen Guo boy are already dead or will be soon enough. You see, my disciple was a bit desperate and I suspect he caused the collapse of the inner realms within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. But you should not be too worried. Just like them, I''ll make sure that you won''t ever join the cycle of reincarnation. I will free you from the burden of suffering through new lives again.


    "Since you wanted to bind me, my turn!"


    From Da Mo''s arm, rusty and bloody chains began to spurt forth. Xiao Xuefeng had still been unsure of Luoming Tian''s words about the cultivation level of this arm. Even she didn''t know enough about demon cultivation to be certain. But she knew what those chains were. They were formed just before a demon broke through to the Exalted Demon realm. Just like humans, this was the highest level of cultivation for demons right now. Not a single one had been able to cross over to the Exalted Demon realm. And yet there was now one right in front of her.


    Even with the Seal of Authority, she wasn''t sure she could win. Not only was it the body of an Exalted demon, but he was also accompanied and controlled by a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior who knew his stuff. Xiao Xuefeng was not even certain whether Sect Leader Xuan, Matriarch Huang and Emperor Weide would have been enough to take on this arm. And they only had Sect Leader Xuan at the moment. Although there were many rumors about him, Xiao Xuefeng knew perfectly well what to think of them.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    The rusty and bloody chains were stylized and full of ominous ornaments as well as many pikes all over them. This was really an instrument of torture rather than mere chains. Now their target were Xiao Xuefeng.


    From the Seal of Authority, another character appeared, ''Absolution''. Several array formations also got activated and Xiao Xuefeng took out her guqin, ''Crane Dancing on the Pillars of Heaven and Earth''.


    She started to play a melody and a giant white crane with a red beak appeared in the sky above. It was right under the dome made of golden chains.


    Below the sky, all the rusty chains went straight for the musician. They collided against ''Absolution''. Around it, an invisible wall had been formed that could protect her.


    "Break!"


    As she was playing her instrument, Luoming Tian began playing his. With the rhythm of his dizi, the chains were moving around, trying to find any weakness in the defense. At the same time, the red arm gathered even more blood in its hand. Another javelin appeared and it threw it toward the white crane above. Following its master''s melody, the Qi Manifestation evaded the assault. With a powerful movement of wings, it created a terrifying gust of wind. Several buildings were blown away despite the array formations supposed to protect them. Xiao Xuefeng was using the Seal of Authority to drain all of these array formations in order to fortify her own defense.


    Even with all of that, she could feel the ''Absolution'' character weakening. The seal was connected to her soul, so she was able to feel it in her very being. The sensation was not pleasant at all. It was as though she was being ripped apart by those chains herself. Such chains were not physical. They were made to chain down souls. For demons, they were used to submit the Demon Soul which was sometimes compared to the Soul Embryo. But they were two completely different things though. The Soul Embryo was blank and had to be harmonized with the soul, while the Demon Soul was full of all the perversions possible and had to be tamed.


    Even if she went all out, Xiao Xuefeng knew she would ultimately lose. But she just had to wait long enough for...


    Way sooner than she had thought, her defense broke. In a fit of rage, Da Mo''s arm had punched the wall preventing it from killing its target. It had completely shattered. Even the physical Seal of Authority had been damaged in the process. Xiao Xuefeng barely kept a hold on it.


    Now, there was nothing to protect her and the chains were all coming for her. No matter how powerful her Soul Embryo was, it was going to be ripped away from her flesh and tortured to death with her soul. Now she was ready to use her last card, but she had maybe waited too long. However, she stayed calm and kept on playing her guqin. The white crane in the sky screeched. In theory, it should have halted the chains for a little while. But Luoming Tian was also playing his dizi. The two melodies were colliding. And it turned out that Luoming Tian''s was stronger, thanks to his cultivation.


    As she was about to be destroyed, Xiao Xuefeng heard the voice she had been waiting for. All the chains coming for her got smashed toward the ground as if gravity had been increased a hundred times over.


    "Miss Xiao, please excuse my tardiness."


    The voice was calm and melodious. Although he wasn''t speaking very loud, the man she had been waiting for could be heard distinctly by all. Towering above the entire Wubei Sect, there was a man who looked like he was in his thirties. He was wearing the uniform of the Wubei Sect and had a noble and dignified air as though he was completely detached from what was going on below him. Despite his appearance, his eyes betrayed his age, and he had several gray hair here and there. Everyone stopped for an instant as they could recognize their sect leader. For some, this was a gift sent by the heavens. For others, this was retribution.


    "It seems like some young people thought my Wubei Sect could be easily bullied... It seems like I will have no choice but to show the world why the Heidai Peak has never been invaded in all its glorious history."


    Each and every one of his words created an immense weight in the hearts of the demonic cultivators while it lightened those of the orthodox disciples. The morale skyrocketed.


    "You old geezer. You think I don''t see through you?! You''re just putting up a front! You''re around a thousand and nine hundred fifty. And even if you were in your prime, there is no way for a Spirit Warrior to fight against an Exalted Demon!"


    "Little Tian, I''m sincerely sorry that you chose to go down that path. If I had realized how much seeing your father in such a state had pained you, we could have found a way to appease your mind."


    "You cling to old ways! But I found a way for mankind to be free of our shackles. Finally, we''ll transcend the Spirit Warrior realm and take everything that we''ve lost."


    "How many will be tortured and killed by your way? How about your friend Zheng?"


    "As many as necessary. You do remember our rules. "Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!" Even if I have to sacrifice millions of humans, if I save mankind in the process, ain''t I adhering to the rule? And once this period of massacre and savagery is done, all the humans who will be born will be able to reach the Sage realm and beyond."


    "Little Tian, you still think I didn''t see through your way?! You intend to try and fuse a human body with demon blood. Qi cultivation and blood cultivation have both failed our species during this Forsaken Dao Era. But if you could somehow cultivate both of them and create both a Demon Soul and a Soul Embryo, you believe that you could finally break through the treacherous Heavens and complete the tribulation to the Sage realm."


    Hearing this, Xiao Xuefeng was shocked as she had not even entertained the possibility. Although some humans could cultivate blood, taking in demon blood in too large quantity would mean death. Demon blood would destroy both Dantian and meridians since they were not supposed to exist within a demon. Even the humans who had a bit of demon blood only had a tiny fraction of it. Luoming Tian was shocked for another reason. He thought that no one else but him would have imagined such a solution. He would have to experiment on many demons and humans and a tremendous amount of them would die in abject pain. But in the end, he was certain to succeed. And after that, mankind could finally practice the real cultivation of immortality instead of being stuck at the third realm.


    "Your plan is madness, Little Tian. And I am sorry for not seeing through you earlier. Now only death can redeem you..."


    There was sadness in Sect Leader Xuan''s voice.


    "You talk as if you could do anything...!"


    Da Mo''s arm suddenly extended toward Sect Leader Xuan. But as much as it tried to reach him, it seemed like space itself was being extended. Luckily, Luoming Tian was still inferior to Sect Leader Xuan and he was the one controlling the arm.


    The Seal of Authority disappeared from Xiao Xuefeng''s hands and appeared in front of Sect Leader Xuan. In the sky, another character appeared from the seal, ''Purge''.

 Chapter 331: Leaving through blood

    As chaos and fire were spreading across the entire Wubei Sect, Cao Yun had just killed the pale man and taken his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Right now he could not take pride in his victory or investigate this new weapon. In fact, he could not even mourn his past weapon. ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'' had no conscious but Cao Yun had gotten attached to it nonetheless. And it somehow reacted to his martial art. Although that wasn''t a conscious weapon per se, it still felt very similar, especially for Cao Yun who had a powerful mind cultivation increasing his sensations.


    At that very moment, Cao Yun was way more busy with trying not to die. Because of the infernal realms in which Dian Mo had sent him, Cao Yun had been forced to advance his Qi cultivation earlier than he should have. Only a few months would have suffice for him to safely open his Bai Hui. But he had done so recklessly because of the emergency. As such, it had been damaged. Apparently the Drop of Wrath and his improved mind cultivation had both tried to do something about it. But even Cao Yun was not entirely sure what they had done.


    Since then, he had barely had enough time to breathe. Just after this wound, Dian Mo tried to take over his soul and once again passed through his Bai Hui. When he should have had some time to meditate while he was healing, Mo Zi barged into the Demon Palace with his brothers chasing after him. Once more, he had been forced to focus his strength in order to heal his flesh and not his Bai Hui. During the ensuing fight, against his better judgment, Cao Yun found no other solution than abusing his Bai Hui to amplify his Qi Manifestation and win.


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, there was chaos right now. Thankfully, his mind cultivation was extremely stable. Although the ocean was in a storm, the Nine Soul Peaks were standing firm. Cao Yun was not even sure something could take them down apart from a Sage or an even higher cultivator who would attack his very soul. In the sky above, the Azure Dragon was now fully formed. Of course, this was only a silhouette formed by the seven stars, but it was there. And the Drop of Wrath was calm. A part of it was still binding Dian Mo to one of the Nine Soul Peaks.


    In fact, Cao Yun had been worried about Dian Mo trying to take advantage of his moment of weakness. But Dian Mo was eerily calm as well. And Cao Yun could not imagine for one second that he had forgone his ambition of taking over his body. Although Cao Yun was human, he had a bloodline that even demons would envy. Indeed, Dian Mo wanted his body even more than before. But thanks to what he had seen outside, he knew exactly what the demonic cultivators were doing and he knew how to get out of this situation. At one point, Cao Yun would be forced to make a deal with him. Until then, he just had to make sure that Cao Yun was hurt but alive.


    His current agony was a very good news for Dian Mo as it would limit his options. And he preferred not to add anything to the mix. He was a very patient spirit.


    Sensing the death of their comrade, the other demonic cultivators all reacted differently. Neng Lue became even more aggressive against Ren Chao. Despite all her frustration and rage though, this simple Mortal''s physical strength was just beyond her abilities. And she still couldn''t keep her Qi calm enough to even manifest it. The blows from Ren Chao were so fierce, they vibrated through all her bones and meridians. With each one of them, her Qi was sent into turmoil.


    On the other hand, Wang Jinhua had accepted her fate. She was too weak to even get out of the ''Ten Thousand Thorns''. Either Mo Zi would save her or her seals would activate and she would die in horrifying agony. Now, even her spirit had been broken.


    Finally, Mo Zi was more worried by the wall being destroyed during the fight. The true void outside of the Demon Palace was consuming it faster and faster. Before long, everything and everyone within the Demon Palace would cease to be. It wouldn''t be very different from being destroyed by the seals planted by his master. Hopefully, it would be faster and less painful, but his very soul would also be destroyed. Even space and time could not survive in the true void. This wasn''t the mere vacuum of space.


    Unfortunately, he was at the end of his rope there. To complete his mission, he had used every card his master had given him. Even now, he was trying to use his last array formation plate to set up the Eightfold Torrents array formation. But Sun Liao was thwarting his plans. Although he was weaker, Sun Liao was annoyingly smarter. Chief Elder Suxian had prepared him to becoming a 5-star Human array formation. The only thing he was missing was the cultivation. In less than a year, he would get there. And with Cao Yun''s mind cultivation and his new ability of getting inside his sea of consciousness, he might even be able to imitate a Heaven array formation master to some degree.


    Just like Sun Liao, Mei Hua was also an exceptional genius. Since she had broken through to the Mortal Warrior realm, she was now, for all intents and purposes, equal to a 5-star Human alchemist. And if she pushed it a bit, she would indeed be a 1-star Heaven alchemist. Right now, she was still playing her guqin. But her goal had changed. She was now focusing some of her music on Cao Yun while giving support to Ren Chao and Sun Liao. Her melody was harmonious and could appease the mind. As such, it helped all of them keep their head cool. Thanks to her, they had a huge advantage on the demonic cultivators who were exhausted physically and mentally.


    On the other hand, Mei Hua had been able to identify Cao Yun''s problem. With her perception, it wasn''t hard for her to sense that his Bai Hui had been completely destabilized. Because she wasn''t a physician, she couldn''t be sure of the actual damage, but she knew it was critical. If he kept on forcing on it, it might never heal properly or at all. However, she was also optimistic because she could sense a powerful vitality emanating from Cao Yun. She wasn''t sure what it was, but his blood had changed a lot.


    Mo Zi was about to try one final idea when he halted everything. A devious smile appeared on his face.


    "It seems like my master is happy with me."


    A blood javelin pierced through the void and went straight into the Demon Palace. The entire roof exploded and the void began to invade the whole palace. Right now, the javelin was stuck in the floor as though it was waiting for something. Without any hesitation, Mo Zi ran toward the blood javelin with all of his strength, even pulling the blood runes back into his body to increase the strength of his legs.Stolen novel; please report.


    "Stop him! Don''t let him touch it!"


    Sun Liao had understood right away. And he screamed as much as he could. At the same time, he changed his strategy.


    "Diri and Chunsheng."


    For now, he still couldn''t manifest his Qi with the mantras of his ''Houyi''s Nine Suns'' beyond the three first ones. However, that didn''t stop him from using any other mantra. From the arrow he shot, many small arrows pierced the air. They were directed at specific positions to try and impede Mo Zi''s movements. It was effective but not nearly enough. Mo Zi just accepted to receive several arrows if it meant getting to the javelin fast enough.


    Ren Chao was too busy with Neng Lue, but Mei Hua was completely free. And she had understood what her brother was hinting at. Suddenly, her melody changed completely. It became faster and more aggressive.


    ''Worldly Crane''s Nest''!


    All of a sudden, Mo Zi found himself in a nest. He was surrounded by small twigs, weeds, grasses and various plants. The nest didn''t seem very vast and all around it, there was something that was impossible to understand. This was either water or air, even Mo Zi could not see through it. Around the nest was a vast expense of pure azure. But it wasn''t very important, because no matter how long he was running, he was unable to exit the nest. In the real world, he was simply moving in a circle. This was an illusion caused by Mei Hua''s attacks. Usually only Spirit Warriors could attack the soul. But ''Otherworldly White Crane'' was a martial art practiced by her master. It required a very profound mind cultivation, but as long as one was able to send Qi into the melody, it could induce many mental effects. In fact, it was theoretically possible to even impact the soul.


    Unfortunately, Mo Zi was an array formation expert so this kind of illusion would not keep him distracted for very long.


    Both Sun Liao, Mei Hua and Cao Yun knew that. Ren Chao was keeping Neng Lue busy. Seeing Mo Zi running around, she had become much more anxious to end the fight but she still couldn''t find any opening to use her Qi Manifestation and be done with this annoying brute.


    Although Cao Yun should not have been moving around right now, he had no other choice because the Demon Palace was being destroyed and he had to help his brothers or die with them. Sun Liao immediately took out his compass and examined the blood javelin. He had been right, this contained some kind of array formation that would allow the group to exit the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He had recognized it quickly because it was similar to what the demonic cultivators had been using to pierce through the void and enter the Demon Palace.


    From what he could see, the key to activate this array formation were the blood runes. And as much as he was trying to, there was no clue to save his fellow disciples still trapped in an unstable realm. If he couldn''t get them out, all of them would die crushed when the realm would ultimately collapse. However, he was forced to make a decision. The only solution he could think of required for him the leave as fast as possible. If he stayed there trying to figure out something else, he might just die with the others without being able to help at all.


    The problem was that he had no way of using the blood runes. They were pure Evil Qi and they were under Mo Zi''s control. Maybe they could use the blood runes from Wang Jinhua but Mo Zi had the ability to take over as he had already done to create the blood needle.


    With no time to think, Sun Liao exposed his problem to his brothers.


    "This javelin can take us out. But I need to control the blood runes to activate this thing. Any ideas?"


    "Let me do it!"


    Cao Yun was decisive. Despite his current condition, he was the only one who could control blood runes. As soon as he spoke, Mei Hua and Sun Liao looked at him. Although Sun Liao was still a Mortal, he could tell that there was something wrong with Cao Yun. On the other hand, Mei Hua knew exactly what was the problem.


    "Brother Chen, your Bai Hui will..."


    Because she had been distracted for an instant, Mo Zi broke Mei Hua''s ''Worldly Crane''s Nest''. He did not even try to boast or anything. His life was hanging in the balance and he ran toward the bloody javelin. In his hand, a blood rune appeared. He was going to activate the array formation and exit alone.


    At that moment, Cao Yun activated his blood and his ''Dragon''s Heart''. Then he used ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted''. Trying to mobilize as little Qi as possible, along Cao Yun''s movements, a long Azure Dragon manifested itself. It was constricting all around Mo Zi in order to seal his path.


    Before he could try and break the technique, Mo Zi was met with the ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Now in Cao Yun''s hands, the spear appeared to be even bloodier than before. It was a weapon of slaughter and massacre.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    Using ''Dragon''s Heart'' at the same time, this simple stab became way more dangerous in Mo Zi''s eyes. He had no time to think and Mo Zi conjured up some of his blood runes. The only thing he had in mind was to get to the bloody javelin. All around him, he could see the Demon Palace being consumed. As long as he got there, he would be taken to safety and all his enemies would die a miserable death.


    At the moment his blood runes appeared, Cao Yun ceased his attack. He had used his Spear Aura to induce more fear into Mo Zi who had already been shaken by Mei Hua''s technique. His mind was still unstable right now. In fact, he had even forgotten what his master had told him about Cao Yun. But when he saw his hand grab one of his blood runes, he remembered all of it. Cao Yun had somehow consumed Luduo Bu''s blood runes. Although Mo Zi thought Luduo Bu was a brute and an idiot just good enough to experiment on, he knew that not anyone could have taken his blood runes.


    Right now, Cao Yun was trying to do the same to him.


    The worse part was that it worked. Mo Zi had not enough time to retract his blood rune. As soon as Cao Yun touched it, all the blood runes inside Mo Zi''s body started to react as well. It was as though they had met their worst enemy and were cowering in fear. That enemy was the Drop of Wrath within Cao Yun''s heart.


    This time, Cao Yun spared his Bai Hui. He could still feel the worst pain he had ever felt stabbing the summit of his skull and even reaching into his Upper Dantian. But he focused only on his blood and the Drop of Wrath. He could immediately feel all the blood runes connected to the one he had. With a sudden jerk, he pulled on it. All the blood runes within Mo Zi exited his body. They left his body causing intense pain but they created no wound whatsoever.


    Feeling almost all of his strength exiting his body, Mo Zi fell to the ground in despair.


    "Brother, tell me what to do with them!"


    Everyone was dumbfounded, not just the demonic cultivators. Cao Yun was holding Evil Qi with his bare hand and seemed to have more control on it than their own master.

 Chapter 332: Sun Liaos plea

    Around the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, there was almost no line of defense anymore. Instead, there were several instructors and elders trying to figure out how to retrieve all the disciples inside. Indeed, even without Chief Elder Suxian, they had understood that the realms within were about to collapse. They had already tried to use the Supreme emblems but for some reason, they were not responding at all.


    While they were still working on the matter, all hell was breaking loose in the Wubei Sect. Because the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was isolated and well protected, there was no fight there at the moment. But everyone was thinking about it. In fact, there was also an atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia in the air. Although many demonic cultivators had attacked, no one could know for sure whether the person next to them was a traitor who would strike at the worst possible moment or a sincere fellow disciple.


    Suddenly, they all felt a powerful energy coming toward the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. The blood javelin thrown by Luoming Tian had just pierced through the array formations. It had been so fast that no one had been able to see it, they had just perceived the perturbations in the Qi left behind. Everyone was a Mortal Warrior down there and most of them were array formation experts.


    Not long after that, another surge of energy worried everyone as it was coming from the Palace of Supreme Wisdom itself. Many were afraid that the realms within were giving way. If that were the case, all the current third-years would die. In itself, this would be a huge blow to the Wubei Sect. This wasn''t necessarily a catastrophe to lose less than a hundred inner disciples. But outer disciples were used to advertise the prestige of the sect since they often left after their five years.


    On the other hand, this batch of disciples was particular because there were four direct disciples of chief elders.


    Thankfully, the fear everyone had did not come to pass. Space broke open and Cao Yun walked forward with Ren Chao, Sun Liao and Mei Hua. They also had a woman tied up with them. As soon as they appeared, another part of space close to them broke open. From it, Mo Zi jumped toward freedom.


    "Seize him!"


    Sun Liao was the first to speak. He knew several of the instructors here. Thus, they did not hesitate at all. Although their cultivation was around Mo Zi''s, he had just lost all his blood runes and was beyond exhausted. But more than Sun Liao''s words, the mere fact that a fourth-year had been inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was proof enough that he was a demonic cultivator.


    "Elder Zheng!"


    Sun Liao had no time for any pleasantries. Several elders were dying to ask questions to the group. But as soon as they realized their condition, a few physicians came to them directly. Cao Yun was the one who worried them the most because they could clearly feel his Bai Hui being damaged. Such an injury was probably the worst thing that could happen to a young Mortal Warrior. This acupoint was essential to becoming a Spirit Warrior and healing it was incredibly difficult. However, it was still less difficult than to heal a Dantian. That being said, even with the best treatments, it would take some time and would impede Cao Yun in his cultivation. In fact, it was possible that he might never fully recover and be stuck in his cultivation.


    The physicians also sensed many internal injuries in Ren Chao. But despite the damage, his bones were perfectly fine. Some of his muscles had ruptured and some of his nerves and tendons had also been destroyed and ripped apart. The pain had to be unbearable and yet there was not a trace of it on his face. Ren Chao was indeed the Mortal with the most powerful will. Cao Yun''s mind cultivation was too complicated to him. Thus, he had solely focused on anything that could improve the point he was already good at, his indomitable will.


    With this powerful will, Ren Chao had been able to understand everything the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' was talking about concerning Zhi and how to train it. Besides, he had gained some new things in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. His bones had also become even more resistant as his physique had been further improved by ''Golden Saint Bones''.


    Finally, Mei Hua was in a very good condition. And she asked the physicians to take care of the woman they had captured. Cao Yun really wanted to extract the seals from her and Mo Zi to make sure that they would be able to be interrogated and have their souls searched. But right now, he was not in any condition to do so. He had pushed way too far what his soul could sustain.


    While the physicians were taking care of the group, Sun Liao got approached by the old man he had called forth. He was an elder he had frequently spoken with in the array formation pavilion.


    "Elder Zheng, all our fellow disciples are trapped in there. Those bastards have collapsed all the realms in one so it''s extremely unstable. I hoped to use my Supreme emblem to try and do something, but I''ve failed. This Meng Hanyi is a demonic cultivator calling himself Mo Zi. His master has given him a lot of knowledge about this place. Hopefully Spirit Master Xiao might find something useful before his master gets rid of him. And Master Suxian might be able to do something about our Wubei disciples."


    Hearing Sun Liao''s words, Elder Zheng had many expressions. One of which was hatred when he looked at Meng Hanyi. He had known the boy since he had entered into the Wubei Sect. Despite everything the sect had done for him, he was ready to kill their future... But when he heard the name of Chief Elder Suxian, he became pale. Of course, Sun Liao didn''t know. He had no way of knowing...


    The moment Sun Liao saw Elder Zheng''s face turn pale, he understood something was not right.


    Only then did it dawn on him that the sky was strange. Above them, there was a huge dome made of golden chains. And the light was also strange. It was as though the entire Wubei Sect was on fire. Unfortunately, it wasn''t very far from the truth. A small percentage of the sect had revealed that they were traitors. Now that Demon God Da Mo''s body had been brought back into the world, they did not fear being discovered anymore. Everyone else had to fear them now!If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Finally, Sun Liao saw the giant red arm in the middle of the sect. What the hell had happened around here?! Were the demons attacking?! Were the demonic cultivators working with the demons to begin with?!


    The scene Sun Liao and his friends were contemplating reminded them of the paintings they had seen of Ancestor Wu when he had battled the last invasion attempt by the demons. Since then, no demon had ever dared to dream about invading from the Heidai Peak. But today the Heidai Peak was on fire...


    With the urgency, Elder Zheng briefly explained that Luoming Tian, who had lost the right to be called chief elder, had betrayed the sect. He had mortally wounded Chief Elder Suxian and was now fighting both Xiao Xuefeng and Sect Leader Xuan.


    The moment he heard about his master, Sun Liao went into a frenzy.


    "What did he do?!" "Coward!" "What kind of poison?!" "Traitor!" "Where is my master?!"


    Elder Zheng was taking aback by the light in Sun Liao''s eyes and answered everything briefly. When he got the answers he needed, Sun Liao turned toward his brothers and sister. There was something he had seen in that Demon Palace that had given him a bit of hope. He wasn''t sure he should discuss it here though. Thus, he stayed quiet and went in front of Cao Yun before putting his hands on his shoulders.


    "Brother Chen, please come with me."


    Several physicians were already taking care of him. They all started to protest but Cao Yun stood up. Even Mei Hua and Ren Chao came to stop him.


    "Brother, you''re insane. Your Bai Hui is damaged! It''s maybe already beyond repair. If you don''t rest, you might not only destroy your future, but also your very life."


    "Brother Sun, I know you''re in shock, but you''re putting Brother Chen in danger! You''re supposed to be the reasonable one!"


    "Brother Chen." Sun Liao completely ignored everyone else. "My master''s body has been overtaken by a poison that is related to demonic cultivators and their ways. Do you think that you could..."


    Ren Chao was still in the dark, but Mei Hua had understood the idea behind Sun Liao''s actions. Cao Yun had been able to take over all the blood runes from Mortal Warriors. His mastery over Evil Qi was extraordinary. In his hands, it appeared as though it was only pure Qi. Even her master, Xiao Xuefeng, was unable to do such a thing. Although she could also manipulate Evil Qi to an extent, she had to be careful with it. In fact, even demonic cultivators were being careful with it. For example, the blood runes were made of Evil Qi but contained within blood to protect the bodies of the practitioners.


    Although she had understood, she still found it too dangerous to ask this of Cao Yun right now. He had to rest if he wanted to heal someday.


    "Brother, I beg you!"


    "Brother Sun...!"


    Mei Hua was a bit enraged because Sun Liao was asking Cao Yun to risk his life. She understood the desire to save his master. Deep down, she was wondering if she would go to such lengths to protect her own master. And the truth was that she would. Sun Liao had completely abandoned his arrogance. This wasn''t only because of his love and admiration for his master, but also out of respect for his brother. He knew precisely what he was asking him. Even if Cao Yun risked his life, there was no guarantee that he could save Chief Elder Suxian.


    All the other physicians were in the dark. They were just trying to get Cao Yun to sit down. But he would not.


    "Brother Sun, I''ll do it!"


    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was full of joy. First of all, he had recognized the red arm in the distance. When his master had died, he had felt it in the drop of blood essence left behind. But when someone tried to revive his body, he had also felt it. Unfortunately, he knew that this would never bear fruit. Not only was his drop of blood essence trapped inside the Demon Palace, it was even lacking a soul. Demon God Da Mo had only left it behind in order to help his potential successor in case he would die. Neither Demon God Da Mo nor Dian Mo had had any illusion on him being revived through this blood. At best, it could have helped him get over a terrible injury, but not death. Only an Immortal Demon could pull off something like that.


    Secondly, Cao Yun was ready to go risk his life once more. From what this Sun Liao kid had said, Dian Mo was certain he knew what kind of poison had been used. And if he was right, which he was, then apart from him, there was no one among the humans who could save his life. Well, the man who had found about this poison might be able to, but he was too busy controlling Da Mo''s body. To be honest, Dian Mo didn''t like that idea. Although he was just a spirit and not a real demon, Da Mo was his creator and seeing a copy of his body being defiled by a human was a bit painful.


    Unaware of Dian Mo''s machinations, Cao Yun accepted Sun Liao''s plea. The physicians tried to dissuade the group but they asked Elder Zheng to lead them toward Chief Elders Qinghe and Suxian. Seeing the determination in their eyes, Elder Zheng agreed. The problem was that the physician pavilion was a bit too close to the fight. However, they had no choice. Chief Elder Suxian had to be treated with the best resources so he had to stay inside the physician pavilion. Besides, this pavilion was the most guarded one because it would serve to treat the wounded in case of emergency. Unless Luoming Tian targeted it specifically, it would not fall.


    Hearing that the group wanted to go to the physician pavilion, the physicians who had been ordering them to stay put changed their attitude. Bringing them to Chief Elder Qinghe would solve the problem. If they refused to be treated, Chief Elder Qinghe would simply put them to sleep in an instant. And there, they could treat them with even more attention and care. Moreover, none of them were afraid of the nearby fight. Not only did they trust Sect Leader Xuan, but they had also taken an oath. Even in the worst crisis, they would risk their lives to save others.


    -


    Finally, the group reached the physician pavilion. There was utter chaos there. The third-years saw many faces they were familiar with. Cao Yun even saw Liu Ang and Ling Hui. They recognized him of course, but they were too busy to talk to them. Everyone was working to fortify the physician pavilion. All the disciples helping out were Mortals. All the Mortal Warriors had been sent to fight against the traitors. Through the whispers, they heard that Zhi Yin was leading a group into battle. They had already killed half a dozen of traitors.


    Chief Instructor Peng had also been sent to the battlefield. Because this was soon the end of the year, many disciples had come back to get ready but not all of them were here either, especially among the older ones.


    Mei Hua tried to get some news about the servants. Liu Ang was able to tell her that Mei Ying and all the servants had been accounted for. They had all been brought to safety.


    Ren Chao and Sun Liao also heard about Wang Mei and Long Huafang. Both women were also fighting like furies against the traitors. Wang Mei had a revenge to take on those who had perverted her former mistress and her best friend. On the other hand, Long Huafang had been raised in a military family so she was no stranger to battles. And the idea of having shared her life with traitors of the human race made her sick. One of the first rules in the army was to always protect your brothers in arms. Treason was deserving of the worst possible death!

 Chapter 333: Black Death Prison

    Everything was chaotic. Cao Yun was in pain so he didn''t really pay attention to anything around him. Even now, he was trying to stabilize his Bai Hui. On the way, the physicians had examined him but they were at a loss. The Drop of Wrath had done something to his Bai Hui. Since Cao Yun had triggered it unconsciously, the Drop of Wrath had tried to heal the acupoint so that his breakthrough could happen without any problem. However, the Drop of Wrath belonged to Axiu Qian who was not human. As such, it didn''t know how to repair Cao Yun''s Bai Hui.


    Even with Cao Yun''s unconscious effort, it had done a job that was close to what the acupoint was supposed to be, but not close enough. So, first, the physicians would have to get rid of those alterations. But they had to find a way to do so without destroying Cao Yun''s Bai Hui and his Upper Dantian. Indeed, his Upper Dantian had also partook in the attempt. Right now, his Gate of the Hundred Convergences was a complete mess. It was a miracle it had not collapsed yet. And it was only thanks to the powerful vitality in Cao Yun''s blood.


    At any moment though, Cao Yun''s Bai Hui could collapse. If it did, it would affect both his cultivation but also his mind.


    Although Dian Mo was happy to see Cao Yun suffer, he needed his body to be in a suitable condition. Indeed, he still wanted to take it over. And if such a wound were to plague Cao Yun, even he wasn''t sure what would happen. In fact, the Bai Hui could even take down parts of his Upper Dantian and Dian Mo could suffer from it right away.


    Finally, the group reached the physician pavilion through the chaos. The scene there was reminiscent of what Cao Yun had seen in Baziyun City. Many physicians and even instructors without much medical knowledge were helping several wounded disciples. Cao Yun did not recognize everyone. The chaos and the fights had not been contained to the outer sect, even the inner sect had been sent into turmoil. In fact, the inner sect had also been plagued with traitors.


    While walking in the corridors, Cao Yun recognized a plump man he had done business with, Brother L¨¹. He had been the first one to buy his pills. Since then, he had broken through and was a Mortal warrior. But today, he was dead. Only one of his friends was here because he was still too weak to join the fights. And he was still holding his lifeless hand.


    The physician pavilion was sadly full of such tragedies. Several cultivators had also lost limbs or organs. Most of the wounds had been caused not by the fights but when Luoming Tian had summoned Da Mo''s arm. The buildings it had destroyed had created a lot of pain and suffering.


    As soon as the group was safe, the physicians who had been accompanying them split up and went to help everyone they could. Meanwhile, Cao Yun and his friends were climbing to the top of the physician pavilion where Chief Elder Suxian was being treated.


    When they reached the door, Cao Yun felt a powerful vitality and recognized the Qi right away. After they had opened the door, he had confirmation. With Chief Elder Qinghe, Instructor Meng was present. He had finally come out of seclusion while Cao Yun had been in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Indeed, he was now a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. And he had been officially given the title of Elder.


    Just as Cao Yun had recognized his familiar aura, so did Elder Meng. However, he had also felt the wound inflicted on Cao Yun''s Bai Hui. Unfortunately, he was now in the process of helping Chief Elder Qinghe treat Chief Elder Suxian. So he had no time to spare for his student.


    "Chief Elder Qinghe, Instructor Meng, this humble one dares suggest something to you."


    Chief Elder Qinghe''s first impulse was to get irritated and angry. But he also knew that Sun Liao would not do anything to distract him while he was helping his own master. Thus, he deigned give them some time.


    "Chief Elder, although I do not know much about medicine, I happened to find a technique that could allow me to control and even purify Evil Qi in some cases. After hearing about the symptoms, I thought that I might assist you."


    "What did you just say?!"


    Chief Elder Qinghe was the best physician in the Hongchen Kingdom, and he was currently the oldest living man as well. As such, he could boast about his vast experience. Yet, he had never heard about such a technique. Apart from a Spirit Warrior, no one could purify Evil Qi. And even then, only a powerful Spirit Warrior who had a great mind cultivation could do so through brute force. In fact, Chief Elder Qinghe could only think of a handful of people who could perform such a feat, him included.


    After many attempts though, the Evil Qi that was plaguing Chief Elder Suxian was just too powerful. That was why he had called Elder Meng. With his alchemy, he might be able to do something. After all, he had been very close with Xiao Xuefeng and was extremely talented. And although it was rarely mentioned, Chief Elder Qinghe remembered his past with poisons.


    At first, Chief Elder Qinghe almost threw Cao Yun out but he remembered that Elder Meng had been his instructor. Elder Meng had taken no one else but him, and only because Xiao Xuefeng had forced him to accept him. Maybe Xiao Xuefeng had such a technique which she had taught the young man, but then her direct disciple should also have been able to perform it. Anyway, he had nothing much to lose. Right now, Chief Elder Suxian was dying. There was no reason not to try something else. However, Cao Yun might injure himself while doing it...


    "Chief Elder, I vouch for my student. If he says there is a possibility, there is one. He is not reckless or rash."


    "Fine. But I''ll be supervising everything. If you seem to be in danger or nothing happens, I''ll get you out of there. Begin."


    Cao Yun bowed down and then got closer to Chief Elder Suxian. He looked back and saw Sun Liao''s eyes. Even without words, he was pleading his friend to save his master.


    Avoiding the use of his Bai Hui, Cao Yun let a tiny portion of Qi out. With it, he mixed in the intent of the Drop of Wrath. As soon as it got close to Chief Elder Suxian, Cao Yun could feel how desperate the situation was. His entire body had been consumed by Evil Qi. All his organs had been contaminated. There was not an ounce of life left in his body. However, Cao Yun was still able to feel some form of vibrancy in his Upper Dantian. Although he was not a Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun could feel what this was, this was Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    It was completely trapped in his own body. Usually Evil Qi was created by the resentment at the time of death. But this poison had turned Chief Elder Suxian''s Qi into Evil Qi while consuming his living flesh. At the same time, this Evil Qi had blocked all of his acupoints. In fact, even Chief Elder Qinghe had trouble sensing what was happening within because he had to go through a layer of Evil Qi just to inject his intent. On the other hand, Cao Yun had no such problem thanks to his Drop of Wrath. For him, Evil Qi was no different from pure Qi. Even then, the Evil Qi in Chief Elder Suxian was actively trying to obstruct Cao Yun.


    With his damaged Bai Hui, it was difficult to proceed. But he had to try something or Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo, and then his very soul, would be consumed as well.


    "So you''ve finally realized how serious his condition is?"


    In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun heard a voice. Dian Mo was speaking to him.


    "Leave me alone, demon."


    "Come on. You should have realized by now that you will never be able to help this poor man. But you are lucky to have me by your side."


    "You know this poison?!"


    "Of course I do. It''s called the Black Death Prison because of the way it acts. It turns the victim''s Qi into Evil Qi and then traps their soul to slowly consume it. This is meant as an extreme form of torture. But you are very lucky indeed, for, whoever made it, made it poorly. It''s supposed to reach the rank of 1-star Spirit poison. If it had, even you and your strange blood could do nothing. But because it''s only a 5-star Heaven poison, there is hope yet."


    "And you''ll help me out of the goodness of your heart?"


    "Of course not. But for now, I won''t ask for much. We both know you intend to have one of your masters take my spirit out of your sea of consciousness so they can search my memories and kill me afterward. But if I help you save the soul of your friend''s master, I ask that you promise not to have me killed. This is fair, isn''t it? A life for a life..."


    Cao Yun knew that he couldn''t trust that spirit, but he had clearly detected that he would never be able to save Chief Elder Suxian. Even with the Drop of Wrath, the Evil Qi within his body was completely hostile toward him. He and his own Qi could travel through Chief Elder Suxian''s body but he would never be able to protect his Soul Embryo while taking it out. First of all, he wasn''t even sure how to move his Soul Embryo. Chief Elder Qinghe might help him with that. But there were many other obstacles.


    Fully aware of the impossible task ahead of him, Cao Yun saw Sun Liao''s eyes once again. Although Chief Elder Suxian was not his blood, he was his master. In fact, the relationship between disciple and master was sometimes stronger than the one between child and parent. In the Hongchen Kingdom, a teacher or a master was often called a second parent. In Sun Liao''s eyes, there was not a trace of arrogance anymore. Cao Yun had seen something he was familiar with though, he had seen despair. It was the same look in his own eyes when his young sister was being taken from him.


    Unwilling, Cao Yun still decided to make a deal with Dian Mo.


    "Spirit, if you dare lie to me, I swear that your death will be the most miserable possible. But if you truly help me saving his Soul Embryo, I swear that no harm will come to you, so long as you cooperate with us."


    Dian Mo thought for a while. He wasn''t really happy with this kind of agreement. Even if Cao Yun swore something, his masters might not be so inclined to respect that. However, he had other cards up his sleeve. And for now, he could live with this deal. His goal right now was to open the door to future negotiations not to gain anything of great importance.


    "Fine, I''ll help you out. The Black Death Prison is forged through the blood and souls of many mortals and cultivators. The most painful both physically and emotionally their death is, the better the poison gets. In fact, there is a set number of ways to kill them in order to enhance the poison. Then, several herbs rich in Yin are used to bond all those souls together while the blood becomes a substrate for it to act in the physical realm.


    "Right now, the chaos you feel in the Evil Qi is due to this poison. It contains thousands upon thousands of souls screaming in agony. In fact, the victim should already been hearing their screams and sharing their pain. Before he can die, his soul will be driven insane. In order to calm the Evil Qi and be able to get rid of it, you first need to separate those dead souls. For that, I know exactly which ingredients to use.


    "I will give you the list of ingredients and how to prepare them. I am sure this Elder Meng can get them and prepare them. You''ll only need to act after the Evil Qi will be calm. As long as you can control a fraction of the Evil Qi, you''ll be able to open some sort of exit for the Soul Embryo trapped within. Then, he''ll get out by himself.


    "But I have one more demand. If you tell about my existence to the people around you, they''ll immediately try to destroy me. For now, I will only help you if you promise to keep my existence a secret until the current crisis is over."


    Cao Yun thought about every word. What Dian Mo had said made sense according to what he had perceived in Chief Elder Suxian''s body. And unfortunately, the last part made sense as well. They were in the middle of a fratricide war. If he just told them he had the Palace Spirit created by Demon God Da Mo in him, not only would Dian Mo be attacked, Cao Yun would even be suspected of something. The only one he could trust fully was Xiao Xuefeng. Besides, she was the one he trusted to get Dian Mo out of his sea of consciousness without causing any problem.


    "Fine, I accept. Tell me the ingredients. But they''d better be obtainable."


    "Do not worry. As I said, you''re lucky this poison has been botched. Otherwise, the ingredients would be almost impossible to gather. Just repeat my list to your elders, they''ll know what to do."


    "Elder Meng, I''ll need your help."


    Cao Yun repeated the explanation from Dian Mo. Everyone in the room was shocked by how detailed his understanding of the poison was. If they had not known better, they would have thought he had been the one who had poisoned Chief Elder Suxian.


    Thankfully, the ingredients were all present in the physician pavilion. Chief Elder Qinghe sent Elder Meng fetch them all. Although he had never heard about a Black Death Prison poison, the list made sense to him. The boy in front of him was definitely not normal. But for now, Chief Elder Qinghe kept his doubts for himself. Cao Yun was very close with Xiao Xuefeng and he was certain that he was not a demonic cultivator. In fact, even Sect Leader Xuan was interested in the boy. He was special and Chief Elder Qinghe knew better than to meddle in it. He would leave Sect Leader Xuan decide what to do after reporting everything to him.


    In less than the time to drink a cup of tea, Elder Meng had come back with all the ingredients and they began to treat Chief Elder Suxian. It didn''t take long for signs of appeasement to be seen. Sun Liao''s face regained a lot of colors. And he looked at his brother with new eyes.


    Then came the most difficult part, Cao Yun had to push away Evil Qi to create a path for Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo to leave his dead body. Although his body was dead, as a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior, Chief Elder Suxian could live at least a couple of centuries as a disembodied soul.

 Chapter 334: The darkest night of the Wubei Sect

    Within Chief Elder Suxian''s sea of consciousness, this was hell. Thankfully, his soul was still being protected by his Soul Embryo, but the pain was absolutely horrendous. Besides, he could hear the despair of all the souls used to create the Black Death Prison. Although he didn''t know what poison had been used, he knew very well what his purpose was. But more than all this anguish and pain, what hurt him the most was the betrayal.


    Suxian Zheng and Luoming Tian had been friends since even before enrolling into the Wubei Sect. Luoming Tian''s father had been Suxian Zheng''s master in array formations while his son was busy pursuing art. In his youth, Luoming Tian had been a free spirit. He had had many romantic affairs and traveled through the entire Hongchen Kingdom. On the other hand, Suxian Zheng had mostly stayed within the Wubei Sect to work on array formations. One was more like an itinerant artist while the other loved doing research cooped up in his laboratory.


    Luoming Tian''s father was such a talented cultivator, he had almost been chosen as sect leader. But his close friend, Xuan Mu, got chosen instead. Although Luoming Ran was talented in many domains, Xuan Mu was the best fighter and his achievement in ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain'' had reached an historical level. This was the martial art that had been created personally by Ancestor Wu after watching a Xuanwu, a giant black tortoise. Xuan Mu passed all the tests and became the new sect leader.


    In order to fully become the sect leader, Xuan Mu went into seclusion for the famous ''Nine Years Staring at the Void''. During this meditation, Luoming Ran sadly passed away. Although they were the same age, Luoming Ran had not been able to break through to 7th-grade Spirit Warrior realm. As such, his lifespan had only been of around a millennium and a half, while Xuan Mu could reach two millenniums, and he was currently very close to this age. Luoming Tian had come back to the sect after hearing about his father''s death around four centuries ago. And without any hesitation, Xuan Mu had given him a position. Suxian Zheng had even insisted so that his friend could become a chief elder.


    Apparently, the death of his father had caused a much greater pain than even Suxian Zheng had thought. However, he would have never imagined being betrayed by the man he deemed as his best friend. Although they had never pledged brotherhood together, he was like a brother in his eyes. And now, not only was he trying to kill him, he had resorted to one of the worst ways possible. Obviously, this was also the easiest way to get rid of a Spirit Warrior quickly, with poison. Even a sneak attack couldn''t kill a powerful Spirit Warrior unless the difference in strength was great.


    Through the pain, Suxian Zheng could not even feel the desperate efforts of Chief Elder Qinghe and Elder Meng to save his soul. His body had been completely consumed, there was nothing to be done about this. But he could still survive a couple of centuries. As long as his soul and his Soul Embryo survived, he might be able to reincarnate in another life later.


    If his soul was consumed by the Evil Qi and the poison though, his death would be absolutely definitive and apart from memories, nothing would remain of him.


    As he was trapped in this despair, Chief Elder Suxian felt something. It was very faint, but the screams of agony had diminished. Until now, they had been so powerful that they had even drowned his own thoughts. Somehow, the voices began to become more distinct. They had been a chaotic mess of entangled screams and yells. Now, he could identify different voices in the chaos. And then, it got even better, they began to become more and more distant. Suddenly, he felt a path open up in front of him. Knowing that his body was already dead, Chief Elder Suxian had no problem trying to leave it.


    Usually, Spirit Warriors could not fully leave their own body with their Soul Embryo. Spiritual senses were the extension of the Soul Embryo and the soul outside of the body but the Soul Embryo and the soul always remained within the Upper Dantian. Only some part of them could leave the body. If the Soul Embryo containing the soul were to completely leave, this was death. No one had even attempted such a feat unless they had been desperate. Indeed, the body would never survive the full departure of the soul. But in this case, his body was already dead. Chief Elder Suxian had even felt his corporeal soul begin the process of decomposition.


    The corporeal soul was the primary force behind the development of the body and its life, but it was also the reason for its death and decomposition at the end.


    Thankfully, Chief Elder Suxian had made sure that his soul would not degenerate into Death Energy despite the Evil Qi all around and his own pain and regret. However, that didn''t mean he had accepted death or that he didn''t want to get any answer from his former friend. It was just that he didn''t want to create more trouble for the living. After all, they were already faced with a great threat. He knew Luoming Tian enough to know that he wouldn''t do what he did if he had not thought of a plan. Although he was an artist, spontaneity was very foreign to him. Even in art, he had to lay down a plan.


    Chief Elder Suxian remembered a time when Luoming Tian had planned for twenty-seven years before starting a painting, just to be sure it would be perfect. Such a man would not reveal himself if his plan had not been ironed out.


    -


    While Cao Yun was attempting to save Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo, the fights within the Wubei Sect were continuing.


    Sect Leader Xuan was facing Demon God Da Mo''s arm while most of the chief elders were being lead by Spirit Master Xiao and Chief Elder Baishen. There were fifteen chief elders fighting against Luoming Tian now. Despite Sect Leader Xuan''s presence, Da Mo''s arm had a strength on par with a Sage. The only thing that had kept it from killing everyone in an instant was the fact that Luoming Tian was the one in control of it. As such, every distraction the chief elders could cause was welcome.


    Chief Elder Baishen had activated many of her martial arts. Chief Elder Yimeng had even brought three 8-core demonic beasts. One of them had almost broken through during the stampede after feeding on the corpses of 9-core demonic beasts. Others like Chief Elder L¨¹mian were assisting Spirit Master Xiao. L¨¹mian Lin was in charge of the soul and mind pavilion. With her expertise, she was able to launch devastating attacks on Luoming Tian''s soul. Unfortunately, his mind was extremely resilient.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    At one point, Chief Elder L¨¹mian also got trapped in his mind. She had been able to invade his sea of consciousness but she was faced with a single eye without any eyelids. It was made of blood and was floating in an ocean of dark flames. As soon as she had entered Luoming Tian''s sea of consciousness, she realized she was in fact within the body of Demon God Da Mo who had no soul at all. At that moment, she felt her own Soul Embryo being devoured. Without any hesitation, she fully expanded her spiritual senses. Billions of golden hymns and sutras flooded the black fiery ocean. However, try as she might, she could not stop staring at the blood eye. It was being etched in her mind. She knew that if she didn''t stop looking at it, she would be consumed by it but she had no control over her own senses.


    Finally, she heard a melody. It was trying to penetrate her soul and she let it. She had recognized Xiao Xuefeng''s music. As soon as she let herself go, the melody shut down her senses and brought her soul back in her body. One more breath and her soul would have completely left her Upper Dantian to be absorbed into Da Mo''s body.


    Hundreds of different weapons were striking Luoming Tian at each instant. But he was surrounded by powerful array formations made with the blood and the chains that had left Da Mo''s body. The chains seemed to act on their own and were preventing any attack from reaching Luoming Tian. At the same time, they also attacked all the chief elders who were too close to him. Despite the real nuisance of the chief elders, Luoming Tian was more concerned about Sect Leader Xuan. Although the chief elders could combine their efforts and create devastating battle formations, he knew deep down that Sect Leader Xuan was the most dangerous of the group.


    Sect Leader Xuan had lead this sect for several centuries now. Even before that, he had learned many of its secrets. Even if Xiao Xuefeng had the Seal of Authority, Sect Leader Xuan was the true master of the array formations. Moreover, he had just rebuilt most of them. And Luoming Tian was certain that he had improved them as well. As such, he had to kill Xuan Mu as soon as possible. Then the morale of the chief elders would plummet down. Hopefully this would disturb their ability to work together. If they truly combined their efforts with Spirit Master Xiao to guide them, they might be a real problem. For now, thankfully, Demon God Da Mo''s body was not completely out of the Devil''s Jail.


    Once that happened, even if Emperor Weide, Matriarch Huang and Sect Leader Xuan combined their efforts, they would not be able to resist. After all, Da Mo''s true strength exceeded the Sage realm. And even against a middle Sage, three 9th-grade Spirit Warriors would be like children before a war veteran. But for now, Da Mo only had one arm out and he was struggling to get the other out thanks to the array formations of the Wubei Sect.


    "Little Tian, if you think your grotesque creature will be able to vanquish my noble Wubei sect, you are mistaken. I sincerely hope your father has already been reincarnated and is no longer in the Heavenly Court, because if he could see the sort of man you have become, he would be ashamed."


    "You think you can infuriate me into making a mistake?! This is pathetic... I was expecting much more from the great Xuan Mu. My father had told me great things about you. But it seems that old age has dulled you. You''ve just proven my point. The most important thing right now is to find a way to regain our cultivation. As long as we''re stuck at the Spirit Warrior realm, our lives are meaningless. Although Spirit Warriors are impressive to mortals, we have not even begun to pursue the true Dao. In fact, we barely even started our cultivation.


    "In the past, it took between two and three hundred years to reach the Sage realm. The first three realms were even shorter than the Sage realm in itself. As long as we can''t reach the Sage realm, all our efforts are useless. Why can''t you see that?! Many will suffer and die, but I will bring forth the most prosperous era for mankind! How many died in the war against the demons?! And yet those sacrifices are celebrated!


    "How is that any different?! Instead of fighting demons who enslaved us, our kind will be fighting the fate that is oppressing us right now. For very long I tried to find the cause of the Forsaken Dao Era, but I''ve failed. Now, I can only resort to more extreme measures. But once I am done, mankind will rise higher than it ever has."


    "You claim that you are noble. Yet, you want to experiment on others because you are too afraid to do so on yourself. You are a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, which means you could try the Greater Tribulation. What you want is to find a way for you to break through without too many risks. And for that you are ready to sacrifice untold millions. In fact, you would exterminate everyone on this planet if it meant you could become a Sage. Isn''t it right?"


    "You''re wrong! I am doing this for the benefit of the greater good!"


    "Try and justify your actions all you like, you have become an enemy of all mankind. And I will either kill you or die trying."


    "That''s exactly what I''m hoping for!"


    The bloody chains darted toward Sect Leader Xuan. From the sky, the golden chains created by the Wubei Sect''s array formations formed a wall to block them. But the golden chains barely resisted more than an incense stick.


    Protected by the chains, Sect Leader Xuan made several mudras. All around the Wubei Sect, amplified by the array formations he had just created, Sect Leader Xuan manifested his Qi. Above the golden chains about to break, there were now thirteen tortoise shell scutes. Each one was engraved with several characters and were all perfectly black. Even the light of the sun could not pierce through this enormous shell. Beyond the Heidai Peak, many villages and cities were able to vaguely see the shape of a giant turtle on top of the Nine Peaks. In their eyes, it was made of fog, but to the people inside the Wubei Sect, it seemed absolutely real.


    ''The Shell Encompasses the World''!


    This was the final move of the ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain'' martial art. Everything under this shell was being suppressed by Sect Leader Xuan. Of course, his own chief elders and disciples were not but every demonic cultivator was. Even the blood runes used by many of them were now incredibly slow and heavy. It also impacted Luoming Tian and the arm of Demon God Da Mo. It was as though they were both in a thick liquid preventing them to move as they pleased. Furthermore, Luoming Tian''s Qi had become so heavy he needed to use all of his mental strength to control it.


    As a defense mechanism, the bloody chains spread in all directions to try and break through the shell. At the same time, the fifteen chief elders were acting in harmony. Their moves were guided by Xiao Xuefeng''s melody. And Luoming Tian even sensed something different within Xiao Xuefeng. She wasn''t a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior! No, her cultivation had exceeded this grade. She had fully stepped into the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior stage. And this wasn''t something that had happened just now. She should have broken through one or two years ago. Yet, she had kept it a secret until now.

 Chapter 335: A domain of darkness and space

    The fight was absolutely chaotic. Fifteen chief elders were fighting alongside Sect Leader Xuan against a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator assisted by the giant red arm of Demon God Da Mo''s resurrected body. In the air, there were all sorts of Qi Manifestation. Each time Chief Elder Baishen attacked, her palms seemed to be large enough to encompass the entire Wubei Sect. Besides, several chief elders were also attacking Luoming Tian''s soul.


    Unfortunately, no attack was able to reach him. Although the red arm was dealing with Sect Leader Xuan, the chains were still under Luoming Tian''s control. And they were absolutely unbreakable. Furthermore, they were not physical but spiritual, thus even soul attacks could not go through them.


    Even Luoming Tian was surprised by the strength of the arm. And he hadn''t even gotten the whole body out yet. Fully opening the array formations of the Devil''s Jail was easier said than done. Despite all his preparations, he had only been able to weaken them enough for one arm to appear. Most of the strength of Da Mo''s body was still sealed away. If he had had all of it at his disposal, the entire Wubei Sect would be long gone.


    As much as the strength of the arm astonished him, Luoming Tian was forced to admit that the chief elders were incredibly dangerous as well. They were being lead by Xiao Xuefeng whom he had always deemed the most dangerous for his plan because of her spiritual senses. Thankfully, he had been able to deceive her and even study her. In the end, it had been Chief Elder Suxian who had discovered him first. That had been such a shame to kill him. But his slow and agonizing death would keep Chief Elder Qinghe occupied. With such a physician out of the battle, those he had betrayed would be easier to kill.


    Sensing that the group was getting better and better, Luoming Tian had to change his plans. Not only were they growing quickly as a team, they were also adapting to his attacks, and even to the bloody chains themselves. This was mainly due to Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder Baishen. The first one was able to harmonize all their thoughts without any problem while analyzing the entire situation. With Chief Elder L¨¹mian to bring her expertise on soul and mind attacks to the mix, the two women were able to see through many flaws that even Luoming Tian was unable to notice. Right now, they were not fighting Demon God Da Mo, merely his body used as a puppet. And fortunately, a puppet was just as good as its puppeteer. Although Luoming Tian had studied many texts on Da Mo''s powers and abilities, he had never witnessed him fight in real life. As such, even he was only using a fraction of his true power. Besides, he couldn''t use techniques he did not understand, or did not even know existed.


    On the other hand, Chief Elder Baishen had an unnatural sense of fighting. In a very short time, she had adapted her moves. That woman was probably the person in the Hongchen Kingdom who knew the most martial arts. As such, she could easily change her way of fighting as she saw fit. Most of her techniques were based around the Water element. Like water, she could adapt to anything and go with the flow to overtake her opponents. The worst part was that thanks to Xiao Xuefeng''s spiritual senses, Chief Elder Baishen was able to communicate everything to all the chief elders without any distractions. She barely had to use her own spiritual senses. Xiao Xuefeng was doing all the heavy lifting for her while she kept on fighting.


    Although the fight was becoming increasingly difficult, Luoming Tian had no real worry. Indeed, the forces were just way too unbalanced. Even Sect Leader Xuan could not win this fight. But Luoming Tian could not suppress a strange feeling in the back on his spine. For now, he should focus solely on getting Da Mo''s body out of the Devil''s Jail completely.


    Finally, he gave the bloody chains the command to protect himself rather than to attack. Then, he turned toward the Devil''s Jail and began to use his spiritual senses to decipher the array formations. Only then did his expression change. The array formations had been strengthened and modified. Others had even been added on top of those. But they were not array formations from the Legendary Era or even the Great Sorrow Era. All of those were from the Forsaken Dao Era. Looking up, Luoming Tian saw Sect Leader Xuan. He had been working on the sect''s array formations lately. Could he have guessed his plan?


    No! If he had, he would have attacked him and killed him beforehand. The mere fact that Luoming Tian was alive was proof that no one had found him out. Then...


    "You finally understood?! Matriarch Huang helped us. Even Director Ge gave her support. Thanks to Chen Guo, we''ve searched the soul of a demonic cultivator named Can Mouye. And then, we''ve found out where his master was. Miss Xiao did not spend the entire duration of the stampede in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Neither did I. Despite the attacks, no one saw me, didn''t you think that was strange? Or did you perhaps assume the rumors about my old age getting to me were right?"


    "Xiong Nixie!"


    For the first time, Luoming Tian showed rage.


    "Indeed! Miss Xiao cracked his soul open without any problem. After your stunt with Miss Lu, she had studied your seals with a lot of zeal. And getting to study Can Mouye''s broken soul had been enough to give her the ability to stall your abominations. Combined with the strength of two 9th-grade Spirit Warriors, even you did not see through it, right?"


    Thankfully, Xiong Nixie had not been very far from Baziyun City and the Wubei Sect. Both Matriarch Huang and Sect Leader Xuan were 9th-grade Spirit Warriors. Thus, it wasn''t difficult for them to get to him in a matter of weeks. Using her bloodline and Sect Leader Xuan''s martial art, they completely sealed the space around Xiong Nixie and let Xiao Xuefeng use her talents. Unfortunately, Xiong Nixie did not know who Mo Tian really was. But he had pieced together enough information for them to get a general idea of the plan from their enemies.


    Thanks to his soul, they had found out that the plan of Mo Tian revolved around both the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, but also heavily around the Devil''s Jail. With that knowledge, they were prepared.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "You worked with the Huang family and the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute?!"


    "There are more pressing matters than rivalry and reputation at work here. And although it might break your pride, you''re not even the most worrisome matter we have to deal with. But I must say I am truly disappointed in you. You claim to do all that to advance mankind, but the truth is that the death of your dad just made you fear death. And to avoid that fate, you''re ready to go to all kinds of perversions. Worse than that, you''re now using my friend as an excuse to justify your depravity. If your father were alive, he would end you with his own hands before taking his own life because of the shame.


    "If you think you''re the only one who desperately wants to become a Sage, you''re even more stupid than I thought. Matriarch Huang also wishes to break through the barrier that traps and condemns us to stay Spirit Warriors. But unlike you, she risked her own life. I myself attempted the breakthrough in seclusion several times. And I have also searched many other ways. Although I have been unable to reach the legendary Sage realm, you will soon find out that my time spent in seclusion has not been in vain!"


    Luoming Tian''s carefree looks had completely disappeared.


    "With Miss Xiao''s help, we''ve been able to reduce the list of suspects to four. I was certain that Chief Elder Suxian was not the traitor despite his deep understanding of array formations. But I was also certain that you were not... This was probably my love for your father that spoke. I sincerely believed that someone sharing his blood would never do such disgusting things. In order to protect his name, I will kill Mo Tian today, the man who murdered and impersonated Luoming Tian."


    Suddenly, Luoming Tian started to laugh like a madman.


    "And you think you can achieve such a feat?! Even with only one arm, Da Mo''s body is strong enough to obliterate you all. Hell! He could annihilate the entire Hongchen Kingdom. And as long as he''s there, you can''t get to me! I am young and you''re old, you''ll tire before I do. I only wonder whether your chief elders will be exhausted before or after your death, old man!"


    "Indeed, Da Mo''s body is not something I can deal with. But I don''t need to kill it, I just need to kill you!"


    In the sky, Sect Leader Xuan performed several mudras. The thirteen scutes forming the giant turtle shell all around the sect emitted a powerful light as several strange runes appeared in them. Then, they shrank down. The great shell remained all around the Wubei Sect while a smaller shell formed just around Sect Leader Xuan, Da Mo''s arm and Luoming Tian.


    As soon as he saw that, Luoming Tian started to feel space around him get viscous. Then he felt it being compressed against his body. It was as though something was pressing against space itself, not just the air. Several buildings simply imploded under the pressure. But everything was focused on Luoming Tian as a focal point. Even his bloody chains could not protect him against that, because it was not an attack per se. The chains could do nothing against space itself.


    "You... you''ve caught a glimpse of the Dao of Space?!"


    The realization struck not only Luoming Tian but all the chief elders, except for Xiao Xuefeng. She had already seen his achievement against Xiong Nixie. Back then, he had distorted space so that the seals within the demonic cultivator would be completely cut off from the outside world. It was not something that could last forever, but it had been amplified with Matriarch Huang''s fire who had also altered space around it. In the end, it had given her enough time to search the soul of the beast tamer without revealing his death to Mo Tian or the Demon King.


    Even now, they were not certain whether Mo Tian and the Demon King were the same person. Xiong Nixie had been convinced that they were two different men, but they had no proof. And it was hard to imagine that two demonic cultivators had been able to reach 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Indeed, there was no doubt in their minds that the Demon King had to be at least a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. But maybe he had been the one who had helped Luoming Tian reach such a level without exposing it.


    For now, the important thing was to get rid of Luoming Tian. Searching his soul would be great, but the priority was to prevent him from killing any more disciples. And to be honest, they had no guarantee that they could even search his soul. After all, he was way more powerful than they had thought. It would take several years or decades just to take down his mental defenses. Even then, he would probably be powerful enough to destroy his own soul before they could do anything to it.


    "Only a Sage should be able to see through the Dao!"


    Sect Leader Xuan had made his decision. He would not try to capture Luoming Tian. He was just too dangerous. Thus, he would do everything to stop him. And if ever he got the opportunity, he would try to catch a glimpse of his mind. But the priority was to help his Wubei Sect. He had never believed that such chaos would befall his sect. They had prepared as much as they could but in the end, he had failed his disciples. Many young cultivators had died and were still dying. But he couldn''t help them because he had to deal with this filth, this disgrace both to the name of his friend and his sect. There was no way he would allow him to continue to draw breath!


    "I told you! I''ve been in seclusion to try and break through to the Sage realm. Although I''ve failed several times, I''ve caught tiny glimpses of the Dao. Besides I''ve realized that Ancestor Wu had done the same. In his notes and in his very martial art were hints toward the Dao of Space. Like Luoming Ran, he died too soon to become a Sage. But generation after generation, all the sect leaders have tried to improve upon what he had discovered."


    At that moment, Mo Tian felt it. Space had been completely sealed around him. As much as he was trying to move, space itself was being dilated. No matter how fast he tried to act, he was moving even slower than a mortal. This wasn''t something that Sect Leader Xuan could maintain for a very long time. But within his own sect, with all the array formations activated, he could almost completely seal a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior for many minutes.


    Unfortunately, it couldn''t seal his thoughts. It was space that was being altered, not time. Yet, there was a tiny effect on Da Mo''s arm. Indeed, Mo Tian''s thoughts still had to travel toward the demon. Although it was extremely fast, it was still taking place in space. And Da Mo''s body itself was subjected to the dilatation of space. However, it was way more powerful than Mo Tian and it had almost no impact on its movements.


    Besides this dilatation, Mo Tian was also feeling his body being torn apart. It was as though every part of his body was being attracted away from the others. And finally it dawned on him. This wasn''t just the Dao of Space, this was something he had heard of in the legends.


    This was a Domain!


    Even a Sage should not be able to create a Domain, only a Monarch could do so, the realm beyond Sage. Yet, Sect Leader Xuan was using such a Domain as a half-step Sage. Something was wrong! This couldn''t be! Mo Tian could not accept such a reality! After everything he had sacrificed and all the atrocities he had committed, an orthodox cultivator had advanced way further than he had...

 Chapter 336: The Dao and Domain Realms

    "It''s impossible! No one under Sage can create a Domain! How did you do it?!"


    "Mo Tian, with your understanding of space and your current cultivation, you could have achieved such a result as well. But instead of working on a solution, you tried to take a shortcut because you were too afraid to fail! This Domain is the result of the hard work of generations of sect leaders working on the ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain''. Thanks to all their insights, I''ve been able to produce some result.


    "Contrary to you who wants to get results as fast as possible because you fear your own death despite your young age, I am standing on the shoulders of giants. I might never be able to break through to the Sage realm. And even if I did, I am already too old to prolong my lifespan any further. But I will pave the way for my successors to reclaim our cultivation of immortality. Mankind will break through the Forsaken Dao Era without having to resort to such abject methods as those you would have imposed upon us. The ideals of Emperor Nuwa will not die with my generation, young boy!"


    The black tortoise shell around Mo Tian was now fully closed. The traitor was feeling as though he was in the deepest abyss imaginable. But he wasn''t being pressured by water. Instead, it was space itself that had become as dense as a liquid. And it was applying a pressure beyond Mo Tian''s resistance. Right now, he was forced to use all of his Qi and spiritual senses just to survive the pressure alone. Furthermore, besides the pressure, his body was also being pulled away in all directions by space. Both forces should have opposed each other. Instead, they were complementing one another. There was no escape.


    Finally, Mo Tian realized. This wasn''t really a Domain. If it had been, he would be dead already. A Domain was attained only upon reaching the Monarch realm, the last realm before becoming an Immortal. Within one''s Domain, the cultivator who had unleashed it was all-powerful. Even a cultivator of the same strength would be suppressed as though he were a mortal unless he could activate his own Domain and rival his opponent''s.


    Thus, it was impossible for anyone under Monarch to fight against a Monarch. Even a late Sage would be easily suppressed by an early Monarch. However, that didn''t mean there was no way to fight. In a sense, a Domain was a form of array formation. In a localized area of the universe, the Monarch would summon his inner world of which he was both creator and master.


    Thinking about this, Mo Tian had pierced the secret of this so-called Domain. ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain''''s last move, ''The Shell Encompasses the World'', could create something akin to an array formation by manifesting the thirteen tortoise shell scutes produced by this art. But this wasn''t enough to form such a powerful prison. No, Sect Leader Xuan had added his comprehension of the Dao of Space.


    Once again, a Spirit Warrior, no matter how powerful, should be unable to understand any form of Dao. The Dao itself was the truth behind all truths, the principle that was at the root of everything in existence. Understanding the Dao was simply impossible for a mortal. Only by transcending both one''s mortality and one''s universe, could the Dao become comprehensible. But before that, one could still perceive glimpses of the Dao. Those were minor laws and principles referred to as Dao as well. But unlike the Dao that was one, those Dao were many. And each cultivator could see different things in them.


    The Dao of Space was one of the most complex Dao, but also one of the most important. Understanding the nature of space was essential to one day break through the veil of one''s universe to get a chance of studying the one Dao. But only after becoming a Sage one could study those Dao. Indeed, the tribulation to become a Sage consisted in seeing the world directly through the Soul Embryo. This was the only way to discern any part of the Dao, as small as it might be.


    Apparently, Sect Leader Xuan and all the past sect leaders all the way from Ancestor Wu himself had found a work-around. During the tribulation, one would try to see through the Dao and all sorts of phenomena would try to oppose them as the Dao was jealous of its secrets. But even if they were to fail, which had happened every single time, this didn''t mean that they had been unable to see anything at all. Each time, they were in fact able to see a bit more. And because they all knew what they were looking for, they had been able to gather more and more understanding of the Dao of Space.


    Comprehension of a Dao was not something that could be passed on. It had to be experienced for oneself. However, it was still possible to give hints. From generation to generation, the sect leaders had slowly helped their successors. And now, Sect Leader Xuan had almost formed the equivalent of a real Domain by using the array formations of the Wubei Sect and his own martial art.


    Now that Mo Tian knew what this was, he also knew he had a chance. Against a realm Domain, he would die in despair. But against such a replica, he could fight his way out. After all, this was just a very powerful and complicated array formation. If he had to rank it, it had to be similar to a 2-star Spirit array formation. It was powerful indeed but he had studied the array formations of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom for quite some time. Besides, he had the arm of Da Mo with him right now. There had to be a way to destroy this pseudo-Domain!


    -


    Outside of the tortoise shell, the fifteen chief elders were ready to act. Even Sect Leader Xuan was uncertain how long he could contain Mo Tian and the arm of Da Mo. The best outcome would be for Mo Tian to die. Then, they would only have to try and contain the arm of a dead body without any master. But none of the chief elders, nor the sect leader, were too hopeful. Mo Tian was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior and he could control that arm after all. Thus, although the sect was in turmoil and fire, they had to stay right there to deal with Mo Tian.


    They were not waiting idle by though. Sect Leader Xuan was fully focused on his pseudo-Domain while Spirit Master Xiao and Chief Elder Baishen were organizing the chief elders. With the presence of the sect leader, they were certain that they could have a chance. He would buy some time with the giant arm while they would deal with Mo Tian if necessary. Killing him was the priority. Even Spirit Master Xiao who wanted to gather more evidence about the demonic cultivators had to agree with that. They simply could not let him live. Unless she saw the greatest opportunity to cripple him and capture him, she would aim for the kill.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    As they were all getting organized, Cao Yun had finished his work. Sun Liao was staring at his master''s body. It was literally rotting away. The Evil Qi within had already killed most of his tissues and organs. Now that Cao Yun had gotten rid of most of the Black Death Prison, the flesh was starting to rot. Chief Elder Qinghe was amazed because he could vaguely perceive what was going on within. Although he could not extend his spiritual senses into Chief Elder Suxian''s body, he could sense the perturbations caused by his Soul Embryo trying to exit his body turned into a rotting prison.


    Even Elder Meng was surprised by his young student. The last time he had seen him, he had still been a Mortal. Right now, he was a Mortal Warrior with the ability of a 5-star Human alchemist. What Elder Meng did not realize at the time was that Cao Yun had a great advantage when it came to Evil Qi or Death Energy thanks to his Drop of Wrath. His time in the Yellow Death World and his meager understanding of ''Death Verses'' also helped quite a lot even when it came to Evil Qi.


    Unfortunately, no matter how much Chief Elder Suxian had controlled his soul, tiny parts of his Po had started to turn into Death Energy. Thankfully, most of his Po was still pure. And thanks to Cao Yun, the parts that had been soiled by the poison were now purified.


    Finally, Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo exited his body. Unfortunately, Chief Elder Suxian had only been a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior. That meant that his soul was contained within his Soul Embryo but it was not perfectly harmonized yet. Once outside of the body, the Soul Embryo was thus condemned to never progress again. Indeed, cultivation relied heavily on the Upper Dantian, even in the Sage and Monarch realms. Only an Immortal could discard his physical body.


    In fact, this was the reason why the lifespan of a cultivator would not increase before he became an Immortal. The physical body could only live two thousand years. For mortals, this was a lot, but for someone trying to reach the Immortal realm, this was short. Even during the most prosperous era of mankind, an average Immortal would have taken around a millennium and a half to reach such a realm, three quarters of his lifespan. But an Immortal could easily double his lifespan after that. In fact, some legends claimed that a late Immortal could live for several dozens of millenniums. Indeed, Immortals developed something called an Immortal Body, beyond what the physical body could do.


    Many details had been lost and some even thought that those were mere legends. With an entire era of no cultivator being able to become a Sage, despair had taken a hold of many. But many others still retained hope. Cao Yun was now one of those. He had decided that he would climb the cultivation world as high as he could. With his Drop of Wrath, he wasn''t worried about stagnating. In fact, he had too many things to cultivate at once. However, he also had a huge problem now, his Bai Hui was almost ruined. For now though, this worry was very vague because the current crisis was incredible in proportion. The Wubei Sect, the most powerful sect of mankind, was on fire and a giant red arm had destroyed a huge part of it.


    Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo appeared in front of everyone. It had the same appearance as he used to have before being poisoned. But it was blurry, as though there were two Chief Elder Suxian superimposed on one another. Even his voice was causing an echo.


    "Chen Guo, you saved my soul... I don''t know how I could ever repay you..."


    Sun Liao''s face was complicated. He had known that his master''s body was condemned but seeing his soul safe and sound outside of his body made it real all of a sudden. He was happy that his soul was safe but also tormented by his physical death. In a century or two, Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo would cease to be, slowly being consumed by the Qi around him. Because a Soul Embryo had no meridians nor Dantian, there was no Qi in it. This also meant that it had no Wei Qi. Thus, it was exposed to all the outside influences. The Soul Embryo could resist it for some time but it could never replenish itself without the Upper Dantian.


    Chief Elder Suxian was now condemned to never progress and to slowly die out. But at least, he was still alive for now. With array formations, they could even be able to protect his Soul Embryo a bit longer. Maybe they could stretch his lifespan to three or four centuries. In the end, he would die almost as old as he would have in his physical body.


    Chief Elder Qinghe was very perplexed. He had been the one who had felt what Cao Yun had done the most clearly. And it was obvious that he had some extraordinary control over Evil Qi. Even a demonic cultivator would not have had such an expertise. But it was also crystal clear that he was not a demonic cultivator. With his old age, he knew when to keep quiet. Both Spirit Master Xiao and Sect Leader Xuan had an interest in the boy. They had to be aware of his abilities. Thus, he would only speak of what he had seen with the Sect Leader.


    "Brother Chen, thank you!"


    For the first time ever, Sun Liao was almost crying. His pride and arrogance were the last things preventing him from bawling out. On the side, Ren Chao was shocked to see his brother in such a state. He had not realized how much Chief Elder Suxian meant for him. He was not just a teacher or a master, he was closer to a father to him. Indeed, Sun Liao had trained under him almost all his life. Although his family was renown when it came to array formations, most of what he had learned had been through Chief Elder Suxian. He had visited his family after hearing about a young prodigy and had started his training early on.


    For Sun Liao, Suxian Zheng was his second father. His first father was too busy with the family business and he had barely seen him while growing up. Although he loved his real father, most of his affection was for his master.


    "Master, I..."


    "I know. There are many things we should discuss, but I fear that we may not have the time. Luoming Tian has betrayed us all!"


    Sun Liao had never seen such hatred and rage in his master''s eyes. He quickly regained his composure. His master was unaware of what had happened in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Although there were many things Sun Liao wanted to say, he had to first help his fellow disciples. Chief Elder Suxian was the only one he could think of who could potentially save them. He had to tell him everything.


    "Master, all the third-years are still trapped within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. The demonic cultivators collapsed all the realms into one and it''s too unstable. When we left it was already about to crumble. I fear that everyone is soon going to die..."


    "What?!"


    Elder Meng, Chief Elder Qinghe and Chief Elder Suxian all reacted as one. Sun Liao explained everything that had happened, everything. After an instant of reflection, Chief Elder Suxian reacted.


    "I need to get there as soon as possible. There may be a way, but unless I examine it myself, I can''t be sure."

 Chapter 337: A lifelong pact

    As Chief Elder Suxian had just taken the decision to leave for the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, a terrible noise echoed throughout the Wubei Sect. The sound reverberated through the bones and flesh of everyone present under the dome created by both the golden chains and the manifestation of ''The Shell Encompasses the World'' from Sect Leader Xuan. This sound wasn''t spread through air alone. In fact, it was spread through space itself. The cultivators with good senses, like Cao Yun, were even able to see the very fluctuations of space. For an instant, it was as though all the proportions changed, just as if a wave had passed through everything deforming space as it moved.


    For Cao Yun, Mei Hua and Sun Liao, it was very faint. Ren Chao did not even sense anything unusual apart from the abominable noise. On the other hand, Chief Elders Suxian and Qinghe, as well as Elder Meng, felt everything clearly. They did not know enough about Sect Leader Xuan to fully realize what had happened, but they still had a fairly good idea of the situation.


    Besides, after the initial noise, another one erupted. The battle between the chief elders and Mo Tian had resumed. Then, another tremor shook the Wubei Sect. The physician pavilion was a bit too close to the fight, but this allowed everyone to see what was going on. Da Mo''s arm had risen even more. Almost all of its shoulder was now above ground. In fact, it was even possible to catch a glimpse of his neck. The skin of Da Mo''s body was crimson red with bulging muscles and pulsating veins. All over his red flesh, there were also faint golden lines.


    As soon as he saw that part of Da Mo''s body, Cao Yun recognized Axiu Qian''s kind. He had had his doubts for a long time, but now they were confirmed. Axiu Qian was of the same species as Da Mo. Demon God Da Mo had come from another world when he had invaded the Piaolu planet. According to the dates Cao Yun had in mind, Cleansed Asura''s dying body had crashed on the planet before Da Mo arrived. Hence, Cao Yun wondered whether there was a connection of some kind. Maybe Da Mo had somewhat perceived something. But Cleansed Asura had tried to conceal everything about him so hard that no one ever noticed him. After all, he had been a God-Monarch.


    Cleansed Asura came from another universe though. And the Drop of Wrath had belonged to Axiu Qian who was from yet another universe. If Axiu Qian and Demon God were from the same universe, that would be a bit far-fetched. Besides, Demon God Da Mo had no way to cross over to another universe. Maybe someone had helped him. But the most likely explanation was that Da Mo came from this very universe. After all, Cleansed Asura was perfectly identical to a human even though he was from another universe. Maybe Axiu Qian and Da Mo were just two members of the same species from two different universes.


    Anyway, it wasn''t really important right now. But Cao Yun was interested in the origin of Da Mo because he wanted to know more about the Drop of Wrath, Axiu Qian and Cleansed Asura. However, to learn more, he would first need to survive. And the fight didn''t seem to be in favor of the orthodox cultivators.


    Mo Tian was covered with perspiration and he had even used some of his blood essence to break some array formations holding Da Mo''s body captive under the Devil''s Jail. But no matter how weak he was, as long as his mind was clear, he could control Da Mo''s body. Thanks to the blood retrieved in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Mo Tian had full authority on the regrown body of the Demon God.


    ''The Breeze Takes Away the Shell''!


    From the thirteen scutes all over the sky, new scutes appeared and dived toward Mo Tian. However, the bloody chains were even faster than before. Mo Tian was now perfectly immobile in the air. All his focus was on the giant arm. Thanks to that, his control over its powers had grown. More bloody chains appeared and went for the other chief elders. Blood also spurted from the demon''s body. Turning into various weapons, the blood flew toward the orthodox cultivators as well.


    Thanks to Chief Elder Baishen and Spirit Master Xiao, they were perfectly coordinated. They had assumed a battle formation. Each of their movements were meant to increase the power of the entire group. All around them, Spirit Master Xiao had used the Seal of Authority to gather all the characters from Ancestor Wu that had been engraved in the disciplinary pavilion. They were now forming a small legions of golden soldiers. Each one was clad in complete armor. And they all had a different weapon, but none were part of the Eighteen Classical Weapons. In fact, they looked more like ritualistic or ceremonial weapons.


    Indeed, each soldier was in fact one of the rules engraved by Ancestor Wu. And the general was the very first rule "Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!". With every movement from the chief elders, those golden soldiers were attacking the blood weapons and bloody chains. But the chief elders were also attacking in person. Stallions made of water were trying to stampede on the ground. A giant bell appeared above the arm. With each ringing of the bell, shockwaves caved in the ground. The arm even flinched as a few meters of it went back underground at some point.


    Then, the arm extended through blood and grabbed the bell, completely crushing it. Chief Elder Xiaoci spurted a mouthful of blood and Chief Elder Mingren supported him before he could fall to the ground.


    From Xiao Xuefeng''s melody, myriads of white cranes also appeared. Combined with hundreds of other Qi Manifestations, it looked as though an entire army was fighting against Mo Tian and the arm.


    And the greatest attack had not even begun yet. After his failure, Sect Leader Xuan was gathering his strength. Right now, he was deemed as the most powerful cultivator in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Rumors about his old age had been spread. But now that Cao Yun could see him, despite his old age and his gentle traits, he looked incredibly fierce. This was a man who had been hardened on many battlefields. There was no way he would lose so easily, especially against a traitor. Besides, Cao Yun could feel something being slowly awaken within him. He was biding his time to unleash an attack even more powerful than before.


    Something strange was also happening with Mo Tian. It felt as though his soul was slowly leaving his body.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun heard a hissing sound. This was Dian Mo.


    "Despicable vermin!"


    "What is it?"


    "Oh? Are you interested in what''s going on with the pathetic human and Demon God Da Mo''s body? Let me tell you a secret, all your friends are soon going to die. I have to admit that that geezer seems powerful. And for a Spirit Warrior, he truly is. My master would have needed two or three seconds to crush him. That''s very impressive indeed. But he''s going to die very soon."


    "If you spoke, it''s because you want something. You know of a way to prevent that, don''t you?"


    "I''m not too sure about that, but it would improve your chances, yes! However, why should I help you at all?"


    "It''s simple. If I die, you will surely die with me. You should have noticed. Your spirit has been tied by my Drop of Wrath and my mind cultivation. Those Nine Soul Peaks are a representation of my Upper Dantian. If it''s destroyed, you will be killed as well."


    "But if I help you, I will be killed too. For now, you''ve agreed to keep me a secret to help your friend''s master. But after this giant crisis, you''ll give me to one of your elders to be searched, tortured and killed. We both know that my days are counted. So, why shouldn''t I let my former master''s body kill you all? Dying by his hands wouldn''t be so bad for me..."


    "I know that you''re lying! A human is controlling your master''s body. I guess that you hate it beyond measure. If Emperor Nuwa''s body was defiled in such a way by a demon, all of mankind would gladly sacrifice their life to stop it. So stop trying to play with me, what do you want in exchange for your help?"


    "It''s easy. What I want has not changed. I want your body! If you surrender your body to me, I''ll help you out."


    "And you should know that I''ll never agree to such terms. If I do that, in time, you will become a threat as great as Mo Tian is right now, even greater maybe. We both know that this is not something that I can accept. But I have other terms for you. I can guarantee that you will not be harmed if you give me information that allows me to help vanquish Mo Tian."


    "Humph! What guarantees can you give me? Even if you swear, you can''t make a promise for your elders..."


    Cao Yun knew where Dian Mo was trying to bring the conversation. This negotiation had been a fool''s game since the beginning. Both knew what the other wanted and what he could not give. But Dian Mo was trying to pressure Cao Yun to get as much as he could. None knew exactly where the red line was. What would Cao Yun be ready to give? What would Dian Mo accept in exchange for his help?


    "Fine. I will swear that if you help us and we survive, I will hide your existence to everyone else. That way, no one will be able to harm you. You should know that no one, not even you, is able to detect the Drop of Wrath. As long as I will it, your existence will stay a secret. I can swear to that. What say you?"


    "But I will always be your prisoner... I also want you to promise that you will never hurt me. More than that, you will swear to risk your own life to save mine if need be. And you will swear to find me a body before ten years."


    "You''re insane! I will never risk my life for you. However, I can swear to never willingly harm you. And if ever I find a body for you to inhabit, I swear to give it to you in one hundred years."


    "Even the body of Demon God Da Mo?"


    "If I don''t find another body before one hundred years, yes."


    Because Cao Yun was an orthodox cultivator, a promise made with his Dao Heart was as good as gold. Indeed, breaking such a promise could create a powerful inner demon and kill him. Unless the promise was too unacceptable, he would never break it.


    Dian Mo reflected a long time on those terms. They were not perfect. But as long as he assured his survival, he would get new opportunities to negotiate with the young human. Unfortunately, he had not all the time he would have wished for. He could sense that Da Mo''s body was growing stronger. And he knew what the demonic cultivator was trying to do. He had to prevent it even more than what Cao Yun thought. If Mo Tian succeeded, demons would become slaves to humans. Although he wasn''t a demon himself, Dian Mo had been created by the Demon God. And he could not bear to see his body defiled and his successors enslaved. That was ironic considering what they had done to mankind for millenniums.


    "I only have one other condition. You will do nothing to stop me from sensing what is going on outside. I have been a prisoner of darkness for a long time. I want to see the outside world, now."


    Indeed, Cao Yun had discovered that Dian Mo could see through his physical senses. And with his mind cultivation, it was only a matter of time for him to find a way to block him.


    "Everyday, I can block your senses for two full double hours. You will get way more freedom than what you had when you were in the Demon Palace."


    Dian Mo thought about it. The main reason he had made this request was because he had almost gone insane in the Demon Palace. And he was forced to admit that he had grown accustomed to his prison. Right now, he was strangely feeling safe. He hated that feeling but he had to admit that it was true. For now, he didn''t really want to leave. Seeing the world through the eyes of this human would be a good way for him to slowly taste freedom once more. Hopefully, it would vanquish his anxiety and he would be ready to leave his sea of consciousness. One hundred years was a short span of time for Dian Mo who had been captive several millenniums.


    He had guaranteed himself safety, entertainment and even the possibility of release, although it wasn''t certain considering the phrasing of Cao Yun. He could work with that. Pressuring Cao Yun right now was not the right move. He could wait a hundred years or even more before making other requests. He wasn''t too hopeful about finding another body for himself. Besides, he knew that Da Mo''s body would not be a good option, because it was sealed under the Wubei Sect. Since there was no way for the current humans to destroy it, it would stay sealed. Dian Mo didn''t want to be trapped in yet another seal.


    "Fine, I''ll help you out. Swear on your Dao Heart and I will explain what''s going on and how to stop it."


    Cao Yun repeated the terms and swore. He would not willingly harm Dian Mo. He would keep his existence an absolute secret to prevent others from harming him. He would allow him twenty hours per day to see the world through his senses freely. And if he could find him a suitable body, he would let him take it in one hundred years. Of course, he added that those conditions were only valid if Dian Mo truly helped.


    "Great. Then, I''ll tell you what''s going on. This Mo Tian used the blood essence to awaken Da Mo''s body. But that''s not his main goal. Right now, he''s trying to relocate his own soul into Da Mo''s body. My guess is that he wants to transcend the Spirit Warrior realm by taking over a body that has already exceeded it by a large margin. He used a bit of his own blood essence to mix it with Da Mo''s blood. If he''s successful, he might even be able to grow meridians and Dantian in Da Mo''s body.


    "In other words, if you don''t stop him now, he will be way beyond your reach."

 Chapter 338: A suicidal plan

    "Well, I agreed to your conditions. Now, it''s time for you to help me out."


    "Of course, of course. This Da Mo''s body is just another one grown from a drop of his blood and the life of every demon who got imprisoned in the Devil''s Jail. As all the array formations of the Wubei Sect are connected, I know quite a lot about this Devil''s Jail. And I can tell you that in order to get Da Mo''s body out of the Devil''s Jail completely, this Mo Tian will need to merge with it and forsake his own flesh. Until then, there is no way for the body to escape.


    "And as long as it''s still somewhat trapped in the Devil''s Jail, there is one easy way to put an end to this."


    "You want to activate the array formations of the Devil''s Jail? Do you know how?"


    "As a matter of fact I do. And the best part is that only you can do it and this Mo Tian probably has no idea it is even possible."


    "What do you mean? He studied it for years maybe even decades."


    "It doesn''t matter. I studied it for several centuries. Trapped in the Demon Palace, I took every opportunity I had to see anything else. Since I could feel a connection with the Devil''s Jail, I studied it until I got bored with it. There is no one else who knows it better than I do. And there are array formations in place in case of emergency. The demons who tried to resurrect Demon God Da Mo were completely unaware of those. In fact, I think that apart from the humans who built this array formation long before even Da Mo reached your little planet, no one ever knew about them.


    "Then, the demons came and played around with this Devil''s Jail. After them, other humans did. It''s been trifled with by many. And it created many layers of array formations almost impossible to decipher. Only someone with nothing better to do for centuries could see through it. In fact, I''ve watched it at different points in time so I do claim that I am the best source of knowledge about this array formation.


    "It turns out that to activate the one I have in mind, one requires a very powerful demon bloodline. That''s when you come in!"


    Cao Yun did not even try to refute that his blood was similar to a demon''s. In fact, he was rather convinced that Axiu Qian was related to the demons in some capacity. Maybe he was just a very similar species, or maybe they shared a blood connection. Anyway, the provenance of his blood was not important. Just like demonic arts, what mattered was the usage, not the arts in themselves. Orthodox cultivators could use demonic weapons and demonic arts. What they couldn''t do was use other human beings as resources for them.


    For example, using ''Blood Runes'' with demonic beast blood was perfectly fine. But using it with human blood was another matter entirely. In fact, Cao Yun had literally recovered a demonic weapon, his new ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Many lives had been extinguished in extreme agonies for the weapon to be created. But that didn''t mean that the weapon was evil. It meant that its creators were.


    "So, just to be clear, to activate this array formation that will miraculously trap Da Mo''s body under the Devil''s Jail, my blood is needed. And thus, you expect me to go there and spill my blood right under the giant red arm that can fight off Sect Leader Xuan and all the chief elders at once. That''s the gist of it?"


    "More or less, yes."


    "Maybe you just want me to get there so that you can enter Da Mo''s body instead of Mo Tian."


    "Oh, I would love that, but if I try to leave your sea of consciousness, I''m dead."


    Indeed, Dian Mo was still chained with the Drop of Wrath''s blood to the Nine Soul Peaks. There was no escape for him. If he did anything suspicious, Cao Yun would annihilate him in an instant.


    "To show my sincerity, I know that an oath won''t cut it. So what about some pieces of information. If you just open your mind, I can show it to you."


    That was a lot to ask. To be fair, Cao Yun was rather certain he could keep Dian Mo under control at all times. But that didn''t mean he wanted to take any chances. On the other hand, this giant arm would probably soon get free. If it did, it was obvious that no one would be able to stop it. Cao Yun hated that he had not all the facts in hands. He was forced to trust Dian Mo to an extent. And that was the one thing he couldn''t do. Usually, Cao Yun liked to have as much information as possible to try and craft the best plan he could think of. Finding the right move for the right situation was great.


    Right now, even though he was doubting Dian Mo''s words, he was making preparations in his mind. With his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he could be almost invisible to all. But he had never tested it against a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Thankfully, Mo Tian was distracted, but that didn''t mean it would work perfectly. However, if he could ask for Sect Leader Xuan''s help, the chief elders could create a distraction at the perfect moment. Even Spirit Master Xiao could help out. She would be the best person for the job.


    But he wasn''t convinced himself. Besides, he had promised to never divulge Dian Mo''s existence. So they would have to trust him at the very moment a traitor was threatening everything. Cao Yun could see Xiao Xuefeng trust him but he knew almost nothing about Sect Leader Xuan. Hopefully, Xiao Xuefeng could convince him.


    Finally, Cao Yun let the chains loose a little bit, just enough for Dian Mo to send out some thoughts into his sea of consciousness. The entire Devil''s Jail appeared. Each level was incredibly detailed. And all the array formations were also there. In fact, several Devil''s Jails appeared. They were all the modifications introduced into the array formations over the centuries.


    Despite his attainment in array formations, Cao Yun barely understood them. In fact, even Sun Liao would not have been able to. Apart from a select few, almost no array formation master could understand anything about them.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Then, Dian Mo showed exactly how Cao Yun had to activate the array formations to trap Da Mo''s body in there.


    "But this won''t trap him all of a sudden. Your elders will still need to force it back. Most of its powers will be greatly reduced. However, it will still be powerful enough to kill a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior who''s not careful."


    Now that he had everything in mind, Cao Yun could see a way to do things. Although he could not talk about Dian Mo, he could still reveal what he had just told him. And it happened to be that a great array formation master was right in front of him. First, he would have to make sure that everything made sense.


    "Chief Elder Suxian, please wait. I need your advice."


    Considering the circumstances, Chief Elder Suxian almost disregarded Cao Yun''s words. But he had just saved his life and Chief Elder Suxian knew he wouldn''t delay him from helping the third-years without good reasons.


    Cao Yun lost no time at all and explained everything about the Devil''s Jail and how to activate the array formations to seal Da Mo''s body back again. He even used his Qi to draw the schematics in the air. For a moment, Chief Elder Suxian forgot that he was just a Soul Embryo now. Everyone around was speechless when they heard that Mo Tian was trying to fuse with this abomination and that Cao Yun had a way of sealing it. Sun Liao also looked at the schematics but didn''t understand anything at all.


    Then he looked at his master. Chief Elder Suxian''s face had a complicated look on it. Even he was struggling with deciphering the array formations even though he had also studied the Devil''s Jail quite a lot. Those were the most complete schematics he had ever seen. In fact, he would have loved to study them for decades or even centuries. He would have died happy if he had been able to study them until his death.


    There was no time though. He couldn''t be sure but what Cao Yun had said made sense. As soon as he confirmed Dian Mo''s words, this caused Cao Yun to think seriously about the plan. And he asked for his elders'' help.


    "Chief Elder Qinghe, can you contact Spirit Master Xiao for me?"


    "This will be difficult since she''s in the middle of a fight, but I can try."


    "No need, Chief Elder."


    Mei Hua took out a small talisman.


    "My master gave me this artifact. If I inject my Qi in it, it will warn her that I am in danger. This should draw her attention, then, you should be able to speak with her without any problem, right?"


    -


    Xiao Xuefeng was indeed a bit overwhelmed by the battle. She had to coordinate the fifteen chief elders while keeping in touch with Sect Leader Xuan, using her martial arts, controlling the Seal of Authority, attacking Mo Tian''s soul and defending against attacks toward her soul and mind. Her sea of consciousness was in complete turmoil right now.


    Contrary to Chief Elder Suxian, she had reached the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. Thus, her Soul Embryo and her soul were perfectly harmonized. She had only recently broken through. And it was a great advantage. Even before, her spiritual senses were the most powerful. But now they were even stronger. All those tasks could be performed without much problem. However, that didn''t mean that it was easy. She had to stay focused at every second. There was no way of knowing whether she would have heard Chief Elder Qinghe''s call. The man was very old and his own spiritual senses were not that developed. Or rather, he had focused on other aspects of his spiritual senses.


    In the middle of the fight, Xiao Xuefeng heard an ominous note being played in her mind. She recognized it right away. This was a sign that her direct disciple was in danger. Immediately, she was able to locate her in the physician pavilion. It was rather close to the danger so Xiao Xuefeng was particularly alarmed. Given the circumstances, she could not do much to help her young disciple. Hopefully, this was something that could easily be dealt with. She might be able to find someone else to help her, an instructor or an elder maybe. In fact, she might even send Cao Yun to her. He would do everything to save his sister.


    The moment she saw Mei Hua though, she realized that she was not in any danger at all. But she was not stupid. If Mei Hua had called for her attention in such a situation, it meant that it was an emergency. Besides, Cao Yun was there as well. The young boy heard a voice in his head.


    "What''s going on? If you can talk, just do it and I''ll hear you. But if you can''t..."


    Before she could finish, Cao Yun recounted everything he had already told the group in front of him. Only then did Xiao Xuefeng realized that Chief Elder Suxian was freed from his rotting body. Like for Sun Liao, this was a nice and terrible news at once for the alchemist. It meant that his Soul Embryo had survived but also that he would never be able to go back within his body. His cultivation days were over. But that didn''t mean he was going to be useless. Anyway, now was not the time to think about this.


    "I understand the situation. I''ll talk with Sect Leader Xuan."


    Only an instant after her last message, the whole group heard Sect Leader Xuan in their heads.


    "I heard everything. There is no time to lose. Chief Elder Suxian, I am deeply hurt by what happened to you. But we need you to go save the third-years. Chen Guo, if you had information on the Devil''s Jail, maybe you might have some about the Palace of Supreme Wisdom that could help us. I won''t ask you where those came from. Right now, we have other priorities.


    "Chief Elder Suxian, leave at once to save those disciples and if anyone has any good idea, I''ll send it to you. As long as you''re within the Wubei Sect, Spirit Master Xiao and I can send you our thoughts without any problem.


    "Chief Elder Qinghe and Elder Meng, keep up the good work. Unfortunately, we''ll have many more wounded before this crisis is over. Spirit Master Xiao is also trying to coordinate the ground forces but doing so while fighting off the traitor is extremely hard. We''ll try to send you reinforcements as soon as possible. I know that the physician pavilion is close to the fight but it''s the best place to treat the wounded. Relocating the physician pavilion would take too much time and manpower that we don''t have. My incompetence caused such a large revolt within our ranks...


    "Chen Guo, I know that you''re the one who suggested this plan, but it is extremely dangerous. No matter what level of stealth you have, we have no way of knowing whether the traitor will detect you by using Da Mo''s body. If his soul is really fusing with it, his spiritual senses could get amplified as a result. We can''t know that in advance. But without your help, we have no chance at all. I am ready to die to protect my sect, but even my sacrifice might not be enough. Please, help this old man."


    "Of course, Sect Leader. I won''t surrender in front of such a traitorous bastard. And he already tried to kill me many times. It''s only natural that I return the favor."


    Then, only Cao Yun heard the last words of Sect Leader Xuan.


    "Boy, as soon as you are ready, we''ll launch everything we have at Mo Tian. I''ve personally known your great-grandfather and I''ve met your father once. The Cao family truly produced many heroes. But we lost too many of them already. No matter what happens, value your own life. We old geezers can be replaced, not the young generation."


    For an instant, Cao Yun was stunned. He knew that Xiao Xuefeng would never have revealed his identity. But Cao Yun wondered how long Sect Leader Xuan had known who he was? However, that didn''t change a thing at all. Right now, everyone was threatened with death and Cao Yun had a plan and the help of all the Wubei Sect. For the moment, he would only focus on his mission and he would seal Da Mo''s body and hopefully kill Mo Tian.

 Chapter 339: Healing before the final assault

    Just before leaving the physician pavilion, Cao Yun had to get ready. He could still feel his Bai Hui that had been severely damaged. Hopefully, this wouldn''t cause too much of a problem for him. In order to activate the Devil''s Jail''s ultimate array formation, he had to get close to it and then use his blood. But for that, he had to stay undetected by Mo Tian who was slowly fusing with Da Mo''s body. No one could know for sure what the result of this operation would be. Maybe his perception would be reduced while he was focusing on the process. Or maybe it would be increased by Da Mo''s body. After all, he was currently an Exalted Demon.


    Thankfully, Da Mo''s body had not yet reached the stage of Reborn Demon the real Da Mo had reached in his life. Otherwise, they would have probably all been killed fairly quickly, even with the suppression of the Devil''s Jail.


    Right now, Mo Tian had focused all his efforts on fusing with Da Mo''s body so that he could get him out of the Devil''s Jail as soon as possible. And the chief elders had momentarily reduced their efforts. It was obvious for everyone that they were getting ready for one final assault. But they had to focus their strength before that.


    Just as Cao Yun was about to leave the room in order to find some place to meditate, Sect Leader Xuan''s voice resounded once more.


    "If everything works as intended, no one will ever know that Chen Guo was involved in Mo Tian''s demise. And I ask of you that this holds true. If he fails, we won''t be alive to tell the tale. But if he succeeds, no one can know that a Mortal helped take down a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior and the body of an Exalted Demon. We still don''t know whether Mo Tian is the Demon King or his subordinate. If demonic cultivators were to learn of that, they would surely focus all their efforts on killing Chen Guo. And a young cultivator would never live up to his potential if he stays cooped up in a sect with no chance to train outside."


    "Of course, Sect Leader."


    Obviously, Cao Yun''s brothers and sister agreed without any problem. Elder Meng was also very proud of his student and didn''t need Sect Leader Xuan''s words to know what shouldn''t be told. Although he would have loved for Cao Yun to receive many praises, he knew that Sect Leader Xuan would reward him the same. Finally, Chief Elder Qinghe had already decided that he would not talk about anything concerning Cao Yun with anyone else other than Sect Leader Xuan.


    "Then, there is the problem of the third-years. Chief Elder Suxian, are you certain that you can help them out?"


    "Yes, as long as I can get to the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, I am confident in my ability to do so."


    "Fine. Thankfully, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom has been deserted by the traitors. If you need anyone with you, tell me. For now, Sun Liao will accompany you." In Sect Leader Xuan''s voice, one could sense some emotion. He had a vague idea of what Chief Elder Suxian was preparing to do and thought it a good idea for his disciple to be by his side at that moment. "Ren Chao, we need all the hands we can spare. You''ll join Chief Instructor Peng in the defense of the physician pavilion. Mei Hua, you will assist Elder Meng and Chief Elder Qinghe in treating the wounded."


    "This humble one accepts Sect Leader Xuan''s orders."


    "This humble one accepts Sect Leader Xuan''s orders."


    As everyone had something to do in that crisis, Cao Yun finally left the room and found a small chamber in which he could meditate. He had very little time, but he absolutely had to calm down his Bai Hui. The pain was so intense, his head kept on vibrating. The sensation of pain was not just in his flesh or he could have used his mind cultivation to completely push it aside, although it wasn''t very healthy. However, the pain was in his very soul as well. Forcing the opening of his Bai Hui had been the worst decision he had ever made, but he had had no choice in the matter. Had he done otherwise, he would be dead, and Dian Mo would certainly be possessing his body.


    Unfortunately, even Chief Elder Qinghe had no way of soothing his pain. Besides, they had no time either way. No one could predict when Mo Tian would be done. However, once he was, everything would be over. If Da Mo''s body were to completely escape form the Devil''s Jail, even all the 9th-grade Spirit Warriors of the Hongchen Kingdom would be powerless against him.


    While he was meditating, Cao Yun felt something. His Bai Hui had been somewhat repaired by his Drop of Wrath. But the repair was very rustic. It had only allowed him not to die back then. However, it couldn''t maintain the acupoint functional. In fact, it had even caused numerous other problems. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no idea how to deal with it. That being said, he sensed something familiar. The Drop of Wrath had been trying to tell him something. And his mind cultivation was giving him a strange impression. He knew that he was forgetting something. He knew that he had the solution. This was more like an intuition, but it was extremely powerful.


    Then, it finally clicked. In the Death Yellow World, he had found something that could potentially help him now. It had saved Huang Liyue''s life and could help him out in his plight. But he wasn''t sure how to use it or what to do with it. Since it had some connection with Cleansed Asura, his Drop of Wrath apparently had some relation with it as well. And because it was alive, Cao Yun had not been able to put it in his spatial ring. Right now, it was in the alchemy pavilion. Indeed, as a third-year, he had no personal quarter this yer. He could have left it in the Heavenly Swallow Faction but he had preferred the safety of the alchemy pavilion, knowing Xiao Xuefeng was in charge.


    Although he wasn''t sure of its effects, he was convinced that it would help him restore his Bai Hui at least partially. He couldn''t be sure whether that would be enough or not. Anyway, he decided to listen to his intuition. Thankfully, the alchemy pavilion was close to the physician pavilion. In fact, it was literally on the way to the Devil''s Jail. Thus, it wouldn''t take him much time. However, on the way, there was much chaos. Thankfully, most of the fights were around the physician pavilion. Indeed, after Da Mo''s body got out of the Devil''s Jail, a huge portion of this part of the Wubei Sect had been destroyed. And now the traitors were targeting the physician pavilion in order to prevent the orthodox cultivators from being treated.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Hopefully, Cao Yun could leave undetected, pass by the alchemy pavilion, retrieve what he needed, repair as much of his Bai Hui as possible in a short amount of time and then finally get to the Devil''s Jail. The plan was very clear in his head. But he still didn''t really know what he would do precisely while inside the alchemy pavilion or while inside the Devil''s Jail. He would burn those bridges when he got to them.


    Cao Yun activated his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to the maximum and set out toward the alchemy pavilion.


    When he left, he saw dozens of disciples and instructors defending the physician pavilion. Leading them was Chief Instructor Peng. The middle-aged man was covered in blood, most of it belonging to others. But he still had some impressive wounds on his flesh. From them, black veins were spreading while some physicians were working on antidotes behind him. All around him, there was a set of the Eighteen Classical Weapons flying all over the place. He was moving alongside them. Each time, he would appear beside a weapon and then immediately in front of one of the traitors while brandishing this weapon. Chief Instructor Peng had mastered them all to the level of Martial Intent. Even if he wasn''t using any martial art, he would be deadly. But he was using martial arts and even Qi Manifestations at the same time.


    Alone, he was a one man army. Yet, he still had the help of several other cultivators. Among them was Ren Chao. He had been able to wrestle against a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior. He would never lose a contest of strength with any of the traitors besieging the physician pavilion. From time to time, they had to clear a way for some wounded disciple to get in. But most of the time, they were just defending. Thus, Ren Chao''s presence was a huge help in that situation. Although he could not beat the traitors, they would have a hard time passing him.


    While he was leaving, Cao Yun was cautious. No one seemed to notice him. But for a split second, he felt Chief Instructor Peng''s eyes on him. He was too familiar with the man not to recognize it. That meant that his stealth was not good enough. And Cao Yun could tell that it was inferior to what he had been able to do beforehand. It was not that different, but his injury had clearly reduced his ability to control the technique. According to logic, he should have been more proficient with time, not less. Indeed, not only had his Qi cultivation progress, his mind cultivation had too. However, the injury was just too severe. Trying to take care of it was the right decision. Otherwise, the plan would never work out.


    At the same moment, Sun Liao also left the physician pavilion with Chief Elder Suxian. The Soul Embryo could use his own spiritual senses to try and hide Sun Liao. Against a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior like Mo Tian, this wouldn''t have worked but against the traitors down below, this was easy. Chief Elder Suxian''s stealth was not on par with Huang Liyue''s personal achievement. But it wasn''t necessary for what he was doing right now.


    Sun Liao and Chief Elder Suxian easily went in the direction of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. The young disciple could imagine what his master had in mind, but there was no other choice...


    -


    Cao Yun crossed a lot of rubble. The sect he had spent several years in was now in ruins. Most of the damage was concentrated around the Devil''s Jail but the radius was rather large. And even in the periphery, the demonic cultivators were causing a lot of destruction as well. Once Mo Tian was dealt with, Sect Leader Xuan and the chief elders would easily get things under control though. Although the situation was critical, at least all the traitors had revealed themselves. This was their master plan after all. No one would remain hidden for this part of their scheme.


    If the Wubei Sect could survive, they would root out every single traitor. And they could even find more about the demonic cultivators and the Demon King.


    For now though, Cao Yun was fully focused on his mission. And without any problem at all, he was able to enter the alchemy pavilion. Almost everything was destroyed. And he even saw several corpses. Some disciples had been within the pavilion when pieces of the Devil''s Jail had taken it down. Cao Yun had no time to lose but he still tried to check whether they were all really dead. He recognized many faces, including Guo L¨¹ye. She was a fourth-year now and had reached the stage of 1-star Human alchemist. He remembered the first time they had met, she had almost thrown him out of the alchemy pavilion. But since then, she had always been pleasant and helpful, and not just to compensate for this first impression.


    The poor woman had her hair dyed in blood. Some part of the building had crushed her abdomen. She was utterly dead. Cao Yun could still see a look of incomprehension on her face. Passing by her, he closed her eyes and said a few words. Dying in such a way was an indignity for a cultivator. She was literally just collateral damage. Cao Yun''s rage peaked. Mo Tian had been behind a lot of what had happened to him. Although it was possible that demonic cultivators had nothing to do with his family''s massacre, they had committed many atrocities nonetheless. Once again, Cao Yun''s determination to get rid of their filth had been renewed.


    Walking through the rubble, Cao Yun found the safe he had used to protect his possession. Spatial rings could only hold dead or inanimate things. If one were to try and put a living organism inside, it would simply die. And what Cao Yun wanted to retrieve was alive.


    Thankfully, the metallic safe had survived the collapse of the alchemy pavilion. Cao Yun finally got what he had been looking for. There was a tiny seed. This was the seed from the world tree where Cleansed Asura had hidden his soul for a while. Cao Yun had lived through a huge part of the world tree''s existence by experimenting his memories. And the world tree was also connected to both Cleansed Asura and his Drop of Wrath because it had been within Cleansed Asura''s sea of consciousness.


    The moment he touched the seed, Cao Yun sensed his Drop of Wrath react. It was trying to pull the seed toward itself. The young cultivator had heard that some powerful cultivators could integrate physical objects inside their sea of consciousness, but he had never thought it would happen to him. And he was a bit apprehensive.


    "Let it work its magic!" Dian Mo''s voice resounded. "If you die, you''re useless to me. Hell, I''ll probably die with you. So you can trust me when I tell you that you have to let this blood absorb the seed you hold. It should be able to fully heal your Bai Hui. Trust me!"


    "Trust you?!" Cao Yun almost laughed out loud.


    But what Dian Mo said was true. He still wanted a new body. At worst, Dian Mo would try to overtake Cao Yun''s body. But he wouldn''t try to get him killed.


    Besides, Cao Yun had a certain level of trust in the Drop of Wrath. And he had established a powerful connection with it. Thus, he decided to keep trusting it. He completely let go of his defense. All of a sudden, the seed disappeared and entered his sea of consciousness. This was very strange. His sea of consciousness was acting as though it were a spatial ring, but the seed was alive and had stayed alive. As soon as it entered, the seed went toward the Drop of Wrath. It was full of vitality.

 Chapter 340: Sprout of the world tree

    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the small seed of the world tree was floating in the air, going toward the Drop of Wrath. Although the Drop of Wrath was actively attracting it, Cao Yun stayed in control of the situation. Unlike the first time the Drop of Wrath had healed his Bai Hui, he wanted to feel everything.


    Below the Drop of Wrath, Dian Mo was still trapped with blood and chains on the Nine Soul Peaks. He didn''t want to disturb Cao Yun because he didn''t want him to die. In fact, he wished for his Bai Hui to be repaired as well because he was still convinced that at some point in time the boy''s body would be his. However, he couldn''t let him become too powerful. Dian Mo had a small window of opportunity. He would need to try and strengthen his blood without strengthening his mind too much. Thankfully, improving one''s mind was always harder than cultivating one''s blood.


    In the coming years, he would have to push Cao Yun toward blood cultivation. And slowly, he would try to understand his mind cultivation. Even now, he had been studying his Nine Soul Peaks. It was rather strange, but he felt as though it was very similar to the cultivation of demons. Although they focused heavily on the body and the blood, they also had to train their minds and souls.


    The chains trapping him were very close to the chains Mo Tian was using right now from Da Mo''s body. But Dian Mo had never seen those chains in humans. However, it was possible that it was the result of his strange blood. That being said, he felt as though it was more closely related to his mind cultivation. This method was beyond what even he could understand. For now, he would study his prey. And hopefully, he would also fight his own demons. By being confronted to the outside world through Cao Yun''s eyes, he hoped to get rid of his anxiety.


    When finally the seed touched the Drop of Wrath, it sank in it. Cao Yun kept controlling it by using his two Po characters. The Death Energy from the Po character inside the Drop of Wrath began to activate. It flew all around and some tiny particles of bones entered into the seed. Even though it was fully inside the Drop of Wrath, the seed stayed perfectly green. It was full of life.


    As the tiny particles of Death Energy entered the seed, it started to slowly vibrate. Then, a minuscule sprout appeared from it. The sprout was incredibly small even compared with the seed. It started to grow in height while it stayed narrow and thin. It looked like a thin vine rising toward the firmament. When it left the Drop of Wrath, the vine remained green with a faint layer of blood on it. Just as the vine grew toward the sky, another tiny vine also went into the ocean. The seed remained inside the Drop of Wrath while it was extending at both sides.


    Cao Yun could feel a powerful vitality emanating from the tiny vine. It wasn''t as intense as the world tree back in the Yellow Death World. But it was clearly the same kind of vitality. Just like what he had seen while climbing the world tree, Cao Yun had visions of the original world tree as this new one was being born. Then, he saw time flow in reverse. From the giant tree who encompassed an entire world, he saw a tiny sprout. It had one single vine toward the heavens and many roots shallow into the ground. Although it was small, it was destined to rule the world.


    Then, time flowed backward even more until Cao Yun saw the seed. He even saw the seed travel through the vacuum of space. Finally, he saw that this seed had come from another world tree, several galaxies away. This tiny seed had traveled for many millenniums before reaching a world. And it completely took it over. There could be thousands if not millions of other world trees everywhere in the universe. In fact, the world tree who had given its seed to Cleansed Asura was probably still alive. But Cao Yun was not sure if he existed in this universe or another. After all, Cleansed Asura had crossed the veil between the worlds several times.


    While lost in his thoughts, Cao Yun could still feel the tiny sprout growing though. The Drop of Wrath could still nourish it but it finally stopped growing nonetheless. Just like Cao Yun who didn''t want to cultivate too fast in order to keep a steady base, the seed was also protecting itself. It had no consciousness but had an awareness of its surroundings.


    The roots were getting lost in the ocean deep below, where the Insight Writings of his spear art had been born. And in the sky, the vine gave birth to a tiny bulb. From it, a small flower emerged delicately. When Cao Yun saw this flower, he immediately felt his Bai Hui react. On each petal of the flower, there was a thin layer of blood from the Drop of Wrath. This layer was almost invisible but it was there. And from the ocean below, a thin layer of golden water was also covering the entire plant.


    Cao Yun could feel a powerful connection between this flower and his Bai Hui. In fact, there were as many petals as there had been in his mental image of the Bai Hui, the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. Suddenly, he knew what to do. It had appeared in his mind. He wasn''t sure at first but it seemed to come from Dian Mo. Indeed, his Drop of Wrath was way more familiar with the cultivation of a demon. But Dian Mo had studied everything he could find to try and get rid of his boredom. As such, he had also studied the cultivation of humans.


    At first skeptical, Cao Yun was forced to admit that it made sense. It was clear to him that Dian Mo was raising him in order to steal his body later on. He had no reason to try to harm him, but he would always try to leave openings for him to possess him. Thus, Cao Yun checked several times the flower and the vine, just to be sure that Dian Mo was not doing anything he shouldn''t be doing.


    When he was satisfied that everything seemed fine, Cao Yun began the process he had seen, still a bit suspicious.


    The golden Insight Writings of his spear art rose in the sky. They reached the summit of the vine where the flower had bloomed. With an extreme precision developed thanks to his study of alchemy, Cao Yun cut the flower from the vine. The golden characters acted as small blades. Then, Cao Yun used his mind to control the flower that was now levitating in his sea of consciousness. Slowly, he guided it upward, toward the stars and beyond.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    After a while, the flower went above all the seven stars of the Azure Dragon. Finally, it became more and more vague in Cao Yun''s mind. Then, it crossed some kind of boundary and it disappeared. But at the same time, Cao Yun felt his Bai Hui being revitalized. The vitality from the seed was being transferred to his Bai Hui. The petal that had been replaced by the blood from the Drop of Wrath withered and died. In its stead, a green petal appeared, full of life.


    Immediately after that, Cao Yun felt a powerful resonance between his Five Prodigious Gates. All of them started to vibrate at the same time. Both internally and through his Wei Qi, there was a powerful stream of Qi going from one gate to another. They were now all connected. Right now, Cao Yun had really entered the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior.


    Technically, he had done so after opening his Bai Hui. But as long as it was damaged, it was useless to him.


    The 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior stage consisted in forging and tempering the Five Prodigious Gates. The stronger and sturdier the gates, the more Qi one could both emanate and absorb. As they would grow more powerful, the gates would allow the cultivator to create more physical and corporeal Qi Manifestation. At the same time, it would allow them to use more Qi outside and to expand their senses while being able to control heavier objects with it. In terms of cultivation, it would prepare them for the accumulation of Fire Qi.


    Fire Qi was dangerous, as Cao Yun had witnessed firsthand. It wasn''t as dangerous as Evil Qi of course. But it could easily damage acupoints and meridians. The meridians and vessels had been strengthened during the Mortal realm, the Foundation Realm. During this Forge Realm, the Mortal Warrior realm, one had to strengthen his acupoints. Then, Cao Yun would have to prepare his body for the Lesser Tribulation when Fire Qi and Water Qi would collide and merge into the Soul Embryo.


    Breaking through to the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior stage would take at least a couple of years. Besides, Cao Yun was still worried about his Bai Hui. After all, he had been forced to resort to an external help. He had to make sure that it really was resistant enough. And maybe he would not be able to temper it as much as the other gates. It was essential for a cultivator to keep his Five Prodigious Gates in harmony. That was why they would not be tempered before all five of them were fully opened.


    Any disharmony between the gates would cause problems with Qi Manifestation, Qi sensitivity and even with absorbing Fire Qi. Keeping a perfectly balanced body was always important, as was keeping a balanced mind, or a balanced soul...


    Now officially a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun reveled in the moment. Unlike what he had suffered in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, this sensation was divine. He felt as though he was all-powerful and all the Qi was revolving around him. Of course, it wasn''t really the case, but the feeling was exhilarating.


    As he was coming down from his excitement, Cao Yun saw that the seed was still within his Drop of Wrath. However, the vine had withered. There were now only tiny roots. They had gotten intertwined around the Nine Soul Peaks. In fact, some roots had even climbed down on Dian Mo''s spirit. Using the Drop of Wrath as nourishment and the Nine Soul Peaks as a tutor, the roots had gone to the ocean below. Those were different roots from before. The seed had produced one flower under the effect of the Drop of Wrath. Now that its first task was done, the seed had received its reward. It had been nourished enough to start to grow.


    After regaining his composure, Cao Yun did not lose any second. Immediately, he tried to circulate his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. In his entire body, his Qi started to turn into tiny particles of ash. Usually those ashes could not enter his sea of consciousness because he was only a Mortal Warrior. But because he had learned to enter his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun simply created them within as well. Everything turned gray.


    Outside, his very presence began to disappear. Cao Yun had used all his understanding of stealth to improve Huang Liyue''s method. It was already very powerful but it was meant to be used by someone with the bloodline of a True Fiery Fenghuang. As such, Cao Yun had been forced to adapt it to his own blood. And his blood had evolved once more so the effects increased as well.


    Now that his Bai Hui, and thus his Five Prodigious Gates were fully opened, those ashes were covering his entire Wei Qi.


    If a Mortal were to look in Cao Yun''s direction, he would not be able to notice him. He wasn''t invisible per se. But it would just be impossible for the Mortal to register him although he was right under his nose. As long as Cao Yun did not enter in contact with him, that was.


    For a Mortal Warrior, the results wouldn''t be so great but they would be unable to detect anything from Cao Yun apart from his shape.


    Finally, concerning a Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun was unsure. Most of them would be unable to detect his Qi, but their spiritual senses would allow them to get a feeling that something was strange. Hopefully, as the fight was extremely fierce and with the help of Spirit Master Xiao Xuefeng attacking Mo Tian''s soul, Cao Yun would be able to go into the Devil''s Jail undetected.


    -


    It was now time for him to put his plan into action. Cao Yun left the alchemy pavilion invigorated. Although the task ahead was perilous, he was the only one who could do it and he intended to bring it to fruition. Although he could kill Mo Tian directly, by activating the ultimate seal of the Devil''s Jail, he would be the one behind his demise.


    Mei Hua had given her talisman to Cao Yun. Now that he was ready, he activated it. Spirit Master Xiao felt it and knew that this was time.


    At the same moment, she sent instructions to all the chief elders and even to Sect Leader Xuan. They had prepared for it for some time now. Only Sect Leader Xuan and Spirit Master Xiao knew that Cao Yun was the one who would put the plan in action. The others only knew that someone was going to try and seal Da Mo''s body. In fact, many imagined that this was Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo.


    Anyway, they were not told so they did not ask. They only focused on their task. They had to create a diversion to distract Mo Tian''s attention from the Devil''s Jail.


    The first one to act was Sect Leader Xuan. He had prepared his ultimate move. Even his pseudo-Domain was not the most powerful technique he knew, this was certainly the most complex and impressive. But he had many other things still hidden, especially while in the Wubei Sect. Even now he had not used all his cards. Unless he had really no other choice, Sect Leader Xuan would always hide a part of his powers. Although the Hongchen Kingdom was rather peaceful, without taking into account the demonic cultivators, no faction wanted to reveal everything to the others, just like the Huang family who was keeping their blood cultivation method secret.


    Behind Sect Leader Xuan, space broke. It was similar to what had happened behind Cao Yun after mastering his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. But instead of stars, this broken space opened on two yellow eyes. Their light got focused on Mo Tian''s body directly. Despite his deep concentration, he felt it. It was as if a terrifying demonic beast had taken him as prey. And he felt incredibly tiny in front of this presence that was beyond space.

 Chapter 341: The black turtle covers the world

    All the defensive array formations of the Wubei Sect were active. Xiao Xuefeng was still controlling the Seal of Authority despite Sect leader Xuan''s presence. And Sect Leader Xuan had just activated his most powerful technique yet.


    Behind him, space had opened up. All the disciples and the traitors within the Wubei Sect felt a powerful tremor. It wasn''t the mountain that was shaking. No, this time it was space itself. They also all felt their souls shake. Something had been unleashed, something ancient and powerful.


    All the chief elders recognized the two yellow eyes that had pierced through the veil of space. Those were the eyes of a particular Immortal Beast. All Immortal Beasts had gone extinct just like all cultivators beyond the Spirit Warrior realm. But according to the legends of the Wubei Sect, Ancestor Wu had been friends with one. This Immortal Beast had even almost reached the stage of Godly Beast. For most citizens of the Hongchen Kingdom, those words were devoid of meaning but for Chief Elder Yisheng who was the head of the demonic beast pavilion, it made perfect sense.


    Demonic beasts were cultivating instinctively by devouring other beasts and cultivators. They could also naturally absorb the Qi in the environment or even cultivate plants rich in Qi. But at the end of the day, their cultivation consisted in absorbing Qi in their blood and slowly forming demonic cores. When they reached nine demonic cores, then they could try and enter into the legendary realm of Immortal Beast. In order to do so, they had to use those nine demonic cores as a foundation in order to cultivate their body into something new.


    Each demonic core contained the potential for growth. By using them, they could develop new organs similar to humans in the sense that they were comparable to Dantian or meridians. But they were completely unique to each family of demonic beasts. Besides, those changes could also awaken their bloodline. Along with those changes, the demonic cores would also evolve into demonic pearls. Only when all the nine demonic cores had become demonic pearls would their bloodline have been fully opened. At that point, the Immortal Beast would be as powerful as a late Immortal, hence the name. But just like humans, there were even further realms for an Immortal Beast to develop.


    And just like humans and demons alike, demonic beasts had been unable to cross over to this realm since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. This era had struck everyone on the Piaolu planet, bringing an end to a prosperous era of cultivation.


    Ancestor Wu had been the last human recorded in history to be associated with an Immortal Beast. Some even thought that this legend had been made up to increase the status of the Wubei Sect. But they could now all feel something in their souls. It was as though an Immortal was rejoicing and weeping at the same time. The sensation was hard to pinpoint but the entire Wubei Sect was encompassed by it. In fact, even Sect Leader Xuan was shaken by this sensation. He was the only one who knew where it came from, but that meant that he was also the only one to know what it meant.


    Even Xiao Xuefeng was not entirely sure of what was going on. But she could clearly feel that this sensation emanated from a dying or even dead soul.


    Once the sensation was gone, it was replaced by something else. From behind Sect Leader Xuan, a titanic creature emerged. It was almost corporeal but it was clearly a form of Qi Manifestation. However, it seemed to contain some kind of intelligence in its eyes. The creature was in the image of the legendary World Black Tortoise, the companion of Ancestor Wu. It was a turtle with golden marks on its face. In its eyes, stars could be seen. Although its face seemed very young, the turtle had a dignified and wise air around it.


    On its shells were thirteen scutes made of precious onyx and gold. Each one of its legs was as tall as a building of the Wubei Sect while its body was larger than the Sect Palace high on the Heidai Peak. All around its legs and its shell, there was also a vicious snake coiled. The more one would try to see where it was coming from, the more the line between the snake and the turtle would be blurred. It seemed to be fused with it and its tail was elusive to the eye.


    Although the creature was gigantic, it left no trace on the ground. Indeed, it was a Qi Manifestation entirely controlled by Sect Leader Xuan. He had used everything he could from the Wubei Sect and he had called forth the ultimate technique of Ancestor Wu''s ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain''. Just like ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' that was supposed to be able to form the spirit of an Azure Dragon within the cultivator who would push it to the extreme, ''Black Tortoise Under the Rain'' could produce the spirit of a Black Tortoise. And here it was, manifested in the physical world.


    The entire Wubei Sect turned into a giant lake. It seemed to be formed by the vacuum of space and not water, but the World Black Tortoise could swim in it. Every time its limbs moved in this starless lake, space was disturbed all around.


    Every disciple in the Wubei Sect felt invigorated as they were able to sense the immeasurable strength of their sect leader. Some even imagined that he had surpassed Ancestor Wu and was maybe close to breaking the curse of this era and to sail into the Sage realm. Of course, this was wishful thinking. But his strength had indeed greatly surpassed Ancestor Wu''s. However, he had used the array formations of the Wubei Sect. Although he was a bit more powerful than Ancestor Wu at his peak, and the strongest fighter in the current Hongchen Kingdom, he wouldn''t be able to pull off such a move outside of his sect.


    And this wasn''t over! All the chief elders flew and gathered on the shell of the World Black Tortoise. Xiao Xuefeng was leading them with Chief Elder Baishen by her side. Sect Leader Xuan''s martial art was known by all thus it made things easier for them to harmonize with it. They all used their own technique and their own strength to support the Qi Manifestation. Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder L¨¹mian could feel the spirit of the Black Tortoise within the Qi Manifestation. Sect Leader Xuan had clearly reached True Success but he was still a ways away from Perfection.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Faced with such a creature though, even Mo Tian began to panic. He could feel that space around him had become so viscous that even his soul could barely move around. And he was trying to send it inside Da Mo''s body to gain full control over it.


    ''Black Snake Darts Out its Tongue''!


    Before Mo Tian could wrap his head around everything that was going on, the snake attacked. Although it had only one head, the moment the attack reached Mo Tian, he sensed as though eight maws were coming for him. The bloody chains tore through the starless lake. They completely disregarded the strange nature of space in this place as the blood glistening on them started to burn more and more intensely. Several chains went for each head. They were fighting off the snake that was relentless in its assault.


    ''The Snake Leaves the Shell''!


    All eight heads turned into a giant snake whose body was so entangled that it was impossible to discern where the heads were coming from. Even if one were to try and follow the body from one of the heads, he would always get lost and confused. The giant body was coiled several times all around Mo Tian and the giant red arm. Since it had formed, the water in its embrace had turned even more viscous. With it, space had also become more difficult to control and resist. Mo Tian felt as though he was in the middle of a storm. He had to actively use his Wei Qi to avoid being blown away and ripped to shreds.


    He was no fool though. This technique was way too powerful for a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. It was comparable to what an early Sage could pull off. Although Sect Leader Xuan had the support of all the array formations of the Wubei Sect and of fifteen chief elders, he wouldn''t be able to maintain such a technique for a very long time. And the fact that he had unleashed powerful attacks right away was proof of that. However, he had not used all of his techniques yet.


    In fact, Mo Tian felt as though he only used a different technique each time he had been able to adapt to one. Yes, Sect Leader Xuan was just trying to keep him off balance. He was just trying to buy some time. That meant that he had a plan in mind. Although Mo Tian was certain of his success, he was no fool. No matter how short lived this newfound power would be for Sect Leader Xuan, Mo Tian didn''t want to lose a single instant. Instead, he was hellbent on fusing with Da Mo as soon as possible.


    Thinking in such a way, Mo Tian pushed the red arm further than before.


    Da Mo''s arm finally attacked. When it moved, the starless lake was blown away. Just like water, it reformed behind but it was unable to stop or even hinder the red arm. The blood inside the arm was boiling and the air touching the skin sizzling. The moment it moved, the arm had caught one of the eight heads. Without any hesitation, it crushed it into a bloody pulp. Several chief elders threw up blood at that moment but they stayed strong. Xiao Xuefeng''s melody was supporting them and preventing them from losing consciousness.


    Since the beginning of the fight, Xiao Xuefeng had been warding off powerful soul attacks. When Da Mo''s arm had crushed that snake''s head, she had felt a huge wave of killing intent wash over her. Despite all her spiritual senses, she had barely been able to contain it. Everyone was really reaching their breaking point. But Mo Tian did not press on the attack. Instead, he used this distraction to get closer to the red arm. Although it was risky, Mo Tian wanted to send his Soul Embryo directly into the new body of Demon God Da Mo.


    ''The Snake Sinks its Fangs''!


    The starless lake suddenly rose. Millions of tiny snakes emerged from the coiled body of the giant seven-headed monster. They were all swimming and creating powerful currents in space. Mo Tian was attacked by thousands of them while millions were biting into Da Mo''s flesh. Each snake that got close to Da Mo''s body began to burn instantly. Those who managed to bite into its flesh simply turned into ashes right away. On the other hand, Mo Tian conjured some painting. Eagles flew out of the painting. They were made of black ink and their form was ever changing. They got hurtled around in the maelstrom of space. But their claws and beaks were able to find many of the snakes to destroy them.


    Then, Mo Tian rang a small bell. Every Qi Manifestation around him ceased to be for an instant. Using this opportunity, he got closer and closer to Da Mo''s body. He couldn''t think of a single plan that could stop his ambitions. But something in the back of his head was telling him he had to fuse with Da Mo''s body right now or he would never get another chance. Although he couldn''t rationalize it, he accepted this intuition as truth. Of course, he was right.


    -


    At the same time as all this madness, on the ground, Cao Yun was making his way into the Devil''s Jail.


    Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng had made sure that the Qi Manifestation would not materialize directly on the ground. This fight was happening above it. And the chaos was so total that even without his stealth technique, it would have been difficult to spot him for an early Spirit Warrior. However, with his stealth technique, even Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng did not know where he was, even though they knew he was down there. Both were very impressed, but this was natural from a technique created by a genius of the Huang family.


    Fully healed and a full-fledged 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun''s mastery over ''Ashen Feather Seal'' had greatly improved. Under normal circumstances, he was certain he could fool even a middle Spirit Warrior. But with the mayhem above his head, only a Sage would be able to locate him. Unfortunately, Da Mo''s body had largely crossed that boundary. So he had to be quick about it. If Mo Tian really did fuse with the body, he might be discovered.


    Because he was using his stealth, Cao Yun could not move as fast as usual. That didn''t stop him from being incredibly fast though. His physique had improved by leaps and bounds thanks to his blood. It had reached a bottleneck for now, but it was on par with a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior, and even a bit more. Apart from Ren Chao''s improved physique, Cao Yun had no rival among the Mortal Warrior realm.


    Following the directions of the Palace Spirit Dian Mo, Cao Yun quickly reached the Devil''s Jail. It was now a giant hole in the ground. And the hole was completely blocked by the giant red arm. As he was getting close to it, Cao Yun could feel its wrath, its fury and its heat. The blood within its body was boiling like crazy. In fact, around the arm, the heat was so intense that the air had been burned off. The arm was literally surrounded by a layer of vacuum that could never be filled. As such, there was some kind of suction force attracting everything toward the arm to be destroyed.


    Now that he was close enough, Cao Yun could feel something in his Drop of Wrath. No matter what Da Mo and Axiu Qian had been, now Cao Yun was certain that they were related in some capacity. But he could also feel that the Drop of Wrath was a tiny bit superior to the blood coursing through that giant arm. It wasn''t the real Da Mo though. And even the cultivation of this body was inferior to the real Da Mo.


    In fact, Axiu Qian had been way more powerful than Da Mo but this Drop of Wrath was the last vestige of him. It had almost been destroyed by an entity beyond what Cao Yun could comprehend. Yet, it was still more powerful than an Exalted Demon.

 Chapter 342: Sealing the jail

    Using his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun had surrounded his Drop of Wrath with ashes. Those ashes were made from Qi Manifestation. That meant that he could literally dissolve them at any time. Thus, unless he wanted to, nothing from his body or his soul could be detected outside. That was obviously also true for his Drop of Wrath. On the other hand, the influences from the outside world could still go through him. Otherwise, it would be possible to detect him because there would be a vacuum. However, the ashes were able to trouble most senses. In a sense, this was like being engulfed in a mist.


    And in this mist of ashes, Cao Yun was able to feel the vitality of Da Mo''s blood. Dian Mo could also feel it. In him, a deep feeling of nostalgia emerged. Da Mo had given him life. Although demons were known to be violent and cruel toward humans and sometimes each other, they were not mindless monsters. Loyalty was just as prevalent within demons as it was within humans. Demons were not that different from humans all things considered. They were however, more violent and their emotions were much more flamboyant.


    As such, Dian Mo who had been birthed by a demon had kept those characteristics. And he was still thankful to Demon God Da Mo. He had literally chosen his own name so that it would reflect his lineage with the Demon God. Although helping a human seal this familiar body was appalling, the idea of a human taking over this body grown from Da Mo''s blood was just impossible to entertain. Besides, there was no way to destroy this body for now. He would just help the humans seal it to earn Cao Yun''s trust. Dian Mo was ready to play the long game. But in the end, he would come back here and free Da Mo.


    Maybe there was a way to get his soul back in his body somehow. Maybe Demon God Da Mo had other contingencies. In the worst case scenario, Dian Mo could also take this body for himself.


    Cao Yun was not a fool. He knew that Dian Mo was helping him for his own interests foremost. But right now, he was convinced that Dian Mo truly wanted this body sealed. And he was right. As such, he decided to listen to him.


    "What should I do now?"


    "You must go in the last level of the Devil''s Jail."


    Suddenly, Cao Yun stopped in his tracks. The Devil''s Jail was known to possess a lot of array formations to subdue powerful cultivators. In the last level, even late Spirit Warriors would be suppressed. This was why this was a great prison. Since no one in the Hongchen Kingdom was above 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, no one could escape this last level. However, a Mortal Warrior who would go down would probably be crushed by those array formations.


    "Do not worry. I don''t intend for you to die. When this mockery of Da Mo got out, the array formations were all stopped. Most of them are probably destroyed already. Besides, as soon as you reach the last level, you''ll be able to activate the ultimate seal. Then, with a little help from your elders, that thing will be trapped underground once more."


    "Did you just forget that this demon is blocking the path, and is probably completely congesting the entire Devil''s Jail?"


    "Of course not. But the main access is not the only one. Otherwise it would be impossible to repair the array formations. There are other tunnels hidden to get to the bottom of this Devil''s Jail. You just need to know how to open them. And luckily, I know how to do that. Just listen to me and follow my instructions."


    Without any better option, Cao Yun did just that. Thankfully, the destruction had not completely broken everything around the Devil''s Jail. The disciplinary pavilion had been blown away, but its rubles had flown away during Da Mo''s exit. Then, the fight with Sect Leader Xuan and the chief elders against Mo Tian and Da Mo''s arm had finished to scatter them. There was almost no rubble here. Thus, Cao Yun could easily find what Dian Mo was referring to. Fairly easily, he opened some secret passage that had probably been under the walls of the disciplinary pavilion. No one had ever noticed it.


    Finally, he quietly entered into the passage. It went deep underground and was only large enough for one man. Since Cao Yun had put away all his belongings in his spatial ring, he was not hindered by his weapon and was able to go through it without any problem.


    After running for a few minutes, he finally reached a wall. Once more, Dian Mo explained to him how to open it. There were secret passages and tunnels everywhere down there and Dian Mo knew precisely which one was the one they needed to go through. When the wall opened, Cao Yun was faced with the cave under the Devil''s Jail. Right above his head, he could see the legs of Da Mo. His entire body was literally inside the Devil''s Jail. For now though, only his arm and a part of his shoulder had been able to get out. After that, the Devil''s Jail would probably be unusable for a very long time.


    Even in the Forsaken Dao Era, people knew how to build array formations to suppress Spirit Warriors. But it took an awful lot of time to set them up. In fact, it could take several generations of Spirit Warriors for the sect to be able to repair all the damages done to the lowest levels. Thankfully, they were rarely used. To be honest, there were high chances that the sect would not even try to rebuild it at all. It would be a huge loss of resources for something that didn''t seem that important right now with the demons and the demonic cultivators threatening mankind. Imprisonment was meant for times of peace. During war, it was best to kill one''s opponents or at least destroy their cultivation.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was not worried about those matters right now. He walked forward a little and then realized something. The Devil''s Jail was not just a building. Its exterior walls had all withstood Da Mo''s onslaught. Although the interior was destroyed, there was a huge cylinder still intact around the giant body of the red demon. There was no light at all where Cao Yun was but he could still perceive clearly thanks to his heightened senses. This cylinder was not simple. He could not even make out in what material it had been built.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "This is the Devil''s Jail. You used it as a prison while, in fact, it is one giant seal. And it has been created to crush down on an enemy and keep him trapped for millenniums. Even I don''t know who was originally trapped under this seal but they died with enough time. When it was found again, it was assumed to be some kind of building and because of the properties of the seal still within, it was used as an underground prison.


    "Today, you and I will reactivate the original seal that still exists within the structure. From what I could sense in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, this seal was called the Imperial Defamation Stamp. I do not know who it was used against but that person had to be at least as strong as an early Immortal. Yet, this seal worked and totally trapped them, slowly draining their vitality until death. They remained trapped for several millenniums before the fall of the humans to the hands of my master.


    "You should rejoice. Today, you will see the past glory of your species. But remember that they were all subjugated by Demon God Da Mo in the end."


    "I could do without your taunts. That doesn''t really prove your superiority as much as you would think. Just tell me how to activate it."


    "It''s simple enough with your blood. This seal has been completely drained by the first Immortal it trapped. Since then, it has slowly decayed to a point where even a Sage could get free from its influence. If it was still as powerful as it was before, Da Mo''s body would have had no chance of escaping. And to replenish its vitality, only your blood is potent enough. If I were to use other humans, it would take thousands of them to reach the same result. This isn''t really a practical solution given the time we have been allotted."


    "Then, you just want me to give my blood to the seal in order to rejuvenate it?!"


    "Precisely! But don''t worry, you won''t have to give all of your blood. Only three or four sheng will be enough."


    The human body contained roughly five sheng of blood. Although Cao Yun''s blood was denser and richer, he had the same amount as everybody else. It was just heavier and way more condensed. After using almost all of his blood, he would be extremely weak. And it would take him several weeks or even months to replenish it despite his blood cultivation and his Drop of Wrath. Maybe with a powerful pill, he could go faster. But after the damage he had sustained to his Bai Hui, Cao Yun was not ready to try and take any shortcut.


    It could be a blessing in disguise though. Now that he had a better understanding of blood cultivation, it would allow him to build a sturdier base. However, he knew that Dian Mo would try to use this opportunity to take over.


    "I know what you''re thinking... Of course, I want to take your body. And of course I would like to use a moment of weakness to do so. But think about it. If I do that, I will still be as weak as you will be. And I will be in the midst of powerful Spirit Warriors watching over you. Do you think they won''t see something strange and different with you?


    "First of all, just wrestling control of your body from you will create disturbances that they could pick on. Then, I won''t necessarily be able to steal all your memories. Lastly, I won''t master all your techniques. If I steal your body right now, I will doom myself right away. And even if it''s weakened, I''m not sure whether I can take care of this Drop of Wrath as you call it.


    "For now, I''ll just observe the situation. After all, you promised to let me get a new body in a hundred years if you find one suitable. I can wait until then before betraying you."


    Of course, Cao Yun did not believe Dian Mo. But it was true that he had no incentive to try and take over his body right now. As long as he was within the Wubei Sect, and even the Hongchen Kingdom, there would be people to see through the change. Unless Dian Mo could be sure to be powerful enough to protect himself, he had all the reasons in the world not to try and overtake Cao Yun. Instead, he would probably try to manipulate him and earn his trust.


    As long as he knew what he was up against, Cao Yun wasn''t too worried. And he had also detected some weaknesses in Dian Mo. It wasn''t clear yet who would be manipulating who. Dian Mo was a treasure trove of secrets. Because he had sworn not to harm or expose him, Cao Yun could only get access to what he knew through verbal exchanges. Any form of Soul Memory Search would entail a form of danger. As such, it would fall under acts that would willingly harm Dian Mo.


    Both Dian Mo and Cao Yun were planning their next move. But first they had to take care of the threat right in front of them.


    From above, they could hear the fight getting more and more intense.


    Without losing much more time, Cao Yun activated first his blood cultivation, ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''. With ''Reducing the Five Sheng'', he condensed all of his blood in his heart, in contact with the physical Drop of Wrath. This was an attempt to strengthen his blood one last time in order to reduce the volume needed for the ritual.


    Then, he followed the instructions of Dian Mo to the letter. However, he made sure to understand what he was doing to discern any potential trap. There didn''t seem to be any. His blood was taken out of his body. With his Qi, he controlled the blood to form very specific characters and send them into the Devil''s Jail. The exterior walls began to glimmer with crimson light. It was a huge cylinder and some parts began to move. It seemed to be in fact made of twelve cylinders stacked up. In their center was a longer cylinder forming the outermost inner wall of the Devil''s Jail.


    When the blood characters permeated the seal, the cylinders began to rotate with increasing speed.


    Above, Mo Tian did not perceive that at first as the wall in contact with Da Mo''s body was still immobile. But as the first cylinders on the top started to move around, even with the chaos of the battle, he felt it.


    Immediately, Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng also understood that Cao Yun had succeeded. The ultimate seal of the Devil''s Jail had just been activated. Now it was time for them to force Da Mo''s body down into the lowest levels of the Devil''s Jail to make sure he was trapped. Once Da Mo was taken care of, Mo Tian could be dealt with more easily. He had already expended a lot of his strength and he had gone all-out on this plan. Alone against fifteen chief elders and Sect Leader Xuan, he would have no chance at all.


    Right now, Mo Tian was painfully aware of that fact. And he didn''t want to lose the trump card that was Da Mo''s body. Although he didn''t know exactly what was going on, he could hazard a guess. The Devil''s Jail had trapped the regrown body of Da Mo. And he was certain someone was trying to duplicate the result. He had to get out of the Devil''s Jail right away. Although it could kill him, his best chance was to directly jump with his Soul Embryo into Da Mo''s body. His physical body would die immediately. But if he could take over Da Mo''s body, he would transcend the limit imposed on humans. He would show everyone he was right.


    More than anything else, he would get a shot at being a true immortal. He wouldn''t have to die of old age like a common mortal.

 Chapter 343: The last stand of the chief elders

    In Mo Tian''s sea of consciousness, everything was dichotomous. There were great paintings of landscapes and peaceful animals, birds made of ink flying around while their wings created beautiful melodies. But on the other side, the sea was stormy and black as ink. In the sky, there were ominous clouds and bloody thunderbolts with vortexes of black and white energies. But there were also calm and soothing clouds floating right under this maelstrom.


    Right in the center, the same spot Cao Yun had his Drop of Wrath in his, Mo Tian was slowly condensing blood as well. When he received the blood essence of Da Mo, he had kept a tiny portion of it. His goal had always been to combine human and demon physiology. His reasoning was simple. Cultivating only one aspect of the body was now insufficient to break through. But if he could cultivate several of them at the same time, he would have a chance. Unfortunately, the ''Blood Runes'' method could not be really mastered by a human.


    Mo Tian had experimented on it. That was why he had used Luduo Bu. He had also hoped to use Lu Meihan for some of his experiments on dual cultivation. But both of them had been killed due to Cao Yun. Of course, he had other test subjects, but they were not as interesting to him. In the end, he was forced to admit that he would have to change his own physiology so that he could really cultivate his blood like a demon.


    At first, he did not want to fuse his very soul with Da Mo''s body. He thought he could just use the body to take over the Hongchen Kingdom and even subdue the demons. However, he had an ominous feeling right now. If he didn''t get Da Mo''s body out from the Devil''s Jail, he would fail. Although he had no idea where this intuition was coming from, he was certain that this was right. Maybe it had come from Da Mo''s blood essence. His body was feeling things, and he knew things that Mo Tian did not.


    Thus, he felt compelled to fuse his Soul Embryo and by extension his soul within Da Mo''s body. He had prepared for that. So it wasn''t a far-fetched idea. But it was still a bit premature. His Soul Embryo was ready though. Only the blood essence was lacking a little. He would have loved to have more time to really work with it.


    Since he had no time, Mo Tian would have loved to absorb a lot of blood runes to increase his chances. Unfortunately, the space around him was completely sealed by Sect Leader Xuan''s technique. Although it was not as impressive as a Domain, this technique would allow a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior to kill an early Sage. In fact, if Matriarch Huang and Emperor Weide had been there, with this technique and their power, even a middle Sage would have faced real trouble. The realms were never impossible to breach after all. It was just extraordinarily difficult to fight over your own realm. Jumping a few grades to fight was normal, but the realms were exponentially distant from one another. A Monarch was way above a Sage thanks to their Domain. And an Immortal was leagues above a Monarch because their body had changed in nature.


    As much as he searched, Mo Tian was unable to establish any contact with the blood runes of other demonic cultivators. However, he had something else in mind. He had planted seals in the demonic cultivators sent into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Most of the problems right now stemmed from them in his view. If they had been faster, Mo Tian would already be in control of Da Mo. But they had been discovered. Granted, it was partly due to the fact that his array formation had malfunctioned when they crossed over to the inside of the Ancient Ruins. But in his mind, his disciple should have been able to deal with it with more efficiency. He had failed him!


    His plan was perfect! He had spent over a century inside the Wubei Sect without raising any suspicion. This ''Chen Guo'' had been a problem, but his own subordinates had been incompetent as well. He had already been forced to get Mo Zi out of trouble once. Well, Mo Zi had outlived his usefulness. Now, he needed something back for all the efforts he had invested in him. He needed blood runes.


    Thanks to his personal seal in Mo Zi, Mo Tian was able to get into contact with him. However, he immediately realized that his blood runes were gone. Indeed, Cao Yun had used them and they had all been absorbed by the Drop of Wrath. Of course, Mo Tian understood who was responsible for he knew something similar had happened with Luduo Bu. Enraged, Mo Tian found another use for his disciple. Although he was under arrest, Mo Zi was not heavily guarded because of his sorry state. Had he been more guarded, nothing would have changed anyway.


    All of a sudden, several seals got activated within all the survivors of the infiltration. Mo Zi tried to plead but his body was completely frozen. He could not utter a single word. And when he tried to think, hoping that his master would hear his thoughts, his sea of consciousness turned completely dark. The last seal created by his master had just been activated. His Upper Dantian had been destroyed. All of his soul was now being burned away in black flames to nourish his blood. Fragments of the seal seeped into his Extraordinary Vessels and tainted his Qi. His body began to combust into flames as both his Qi turned Evil Qi and his blackened blood was getting agitated.


    Wang Jinhua and Neng Lue saw that scene and knew what was about to happen. Their own seals also got activated. As all the prisoners were burning in eerie flames, the guards could only back away. All of their Evil Qi and blood gathered into a small ball in the air. Suddenly, it flew toward Mo Tian.


    All the chief elders felt it. Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng tried to stop it. A white crane dove right toward the black ball to try and stop it. Its beak and the ball collided fiercely. But the beak of the crane got covered in cracks. It tried to resist while Sect Leader Xuan sent a shell scute in that direction. The black ball maneuvered out of the way. It was so tiny that its speed exceeded most of their attacks. Besides, it was made of Evil Qi. Thus, it was highly corrosive.


    As it was about to go past the coiling seven-headed snake, Da Mo''s arm sent several blood javelins to weaken to Qi Manifestation.


    In the end, Mo Tian was able to obtain this black ball of blood and Evil Qi. It entered his sea of consciousness and started to fuse with the blood essence of Da Mo that Mo Tian had absorbed. All around the drop of blood, Mo Tian''s sea of consciousness was getting narrower and narrower. He was actively contracting his sea of consciousness. His Soul Embryo had been perfectly fused with his soul. As such, his sea of consciousness was now within his Soul Embryo and not the other way around.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Then, as soon as he felt ready, Mo Tian''s Soul Embryo exited his body.


    Xiao Xuefeng was able to sense it right away. She sent a signal to everyone else. This was the perfect moment to attack. As a Soul Embryo, Mo Tian was extremely weak. All the chief elders and even Sect Leader Xuan poured their energy into the Seal of Authority. Xiao Xuefeng was still controlling it because she was the reference when it came to soul and Soul Embryo. She was the best suited to attack and destroy one.


    All over the sky, the golden chains that had formed some time ago descended toward Mo Tian''s Soul Embryo. But at the same time, the bloody chains of Da Mo''s body rose into the air, ready to intercept the enemy.


    The two different kinds of chains collided with tremendous violence. Even the technique of Sect Leader Xuan was shaken by the force of the impact. Without the array formations, all the buildings of the Wubei Sect would have been blown away. Behind this shock was the might of a middle Sage. All the chief elders had exhausted their strength. Even Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng were at the end of their rope. After this attack, they would not be able to fight. In fact, all the chief elders were even wondering whether they should burn their blood essence. Essence was the basis of a cultivator''s longevity. It was extremely arduous and long to restore it.


    Given their age, most of the chief elders would die before they could replenish their Jing. But if they were to die in battle anyway, this wouldn''t mean much. Sect Leader Xuan was already very close to his 2,000th birthday. He still hoped to protect his sect. In fact, he had not chosen a successor yet. The chief elders could discuss and vote for a new sect leader. But it was tradition for the current sect leader to choose a direct disciple to eventually replace him. Unfortunately, Sect Leader Xuan had never found anyone he thought truly had the talent and the inclination for it. Instead, he thought the chief elders'' judgment would be better.


    Faced with the very real possibility of his own death, he now regretted that decision. He should have been more involved with the future after him. After all, he had to choose someone who would be able to further advance the comprehension that his predecessors had left behind. The chief elders could choose a great sect leader, he was sure of it. But they would not be the best suited to choose someone who could understand the Dao of Space. Only someone who had studied it could discern the necessary qualities.


    -


    While the final fight for the Wubei Sect and all of humanity was taking place, Sun Liao was bidding farewell to his master.


    They had finally reached the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And Sun Liao was smart enough to understand his master''s plan. He was an array formation master too after all. And the only way to save the third-years still trapped in the collapsing realm was to take over the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. The real Palace Spirit had dissipated a long time ago and Dian Mo had taken its place long ago. But now Dian Mo was gone too. Right now, no one knew it was within Cao Yun. However, it was clear that it was gone. Maybe it had been gone for several years in fact. They had no way of knowing for sure.


    "Master, this was a privilege to learn under you. This unfilial disciple could not prevent the disaster from within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom and is forced to ask for your help."


    "You''re way too harsh with yourself. I should have detected that someone had pierced through the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. I should have sensed the malicious intentions of my friend. You juniors have been implicated because of us old geezers. If we had been better, Luoming Tian would already be in the last level of the Devil''s Jail, not trying to break out that abomination.


    "Although I won''t be able to be your master anymore, I''ll still be right here in the Wubei Sect. I guess my Soul Embryo can endure two to three hundred years. As long as I stay awake, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom will keep functioning and our Wubei Sect will have a bright future ahead. This isn''t such a bad way to go. My last centuries will serve the sect that gave me so much.


    "Here, take this. Although you might not understand everything now, I am sure you will surpass me one day."


    From Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo, a small blue character flew out and entered Sun Liao''s glabella. It penetrated his Upper Dantian and went into his sea of consciousness. Under the nine suns in the sky, it slowly fell toward the water. As it touched the surface, it dissolved. This was an Insight Writing. When it had dissolved, a huge part of Chief Elder Suxian''s knowledge got into Sun Liao''s mind. But he could indeed not understand it at once. He would have to study it at length if he wanted to get something out of it. But his master had shown such confidence in him that Sun Liao didn''t want to disappoint him.


    They both knew that Chief Elder Suxian would have to play the role of the Palace Spirit. As such, he would be trapped inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He wouldn''t die but he would be completely cut off from the outside world. However, they had no other way of preventing the complete collapse of the realm within.


    After a warm farewell, Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo entered into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thanks to Sun Liao''s detailed explanation, he found the ruins of the Demon Palace straight away. And it didn''t take him a lot of efforts to fuse with it, replacing Dian Mo. Indeed, although he didn''t know the Palace of Supreme Wisdom as well as Dian Mo or even Luoming Tian, Chief Elder Suxian had studied it for a very long time. And he had also notes from his master and his predecessors.


    Now that he was in charge of the Demon Palace, he had a tiny bit of influence on the real Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thus, he was able to activate the Supreme emblems to get everyone out. Stopping the realm from collapsing was impossible at this point. But he could save the disciples and prevent the entire array formation from being destroyed in the collapse.


    Indeed, instead of waiting for the realm to collapse, Chief Elder Suxian planned on forcing it to collapse. As soon as the Supreme emblems got activated, the array formations did their work. They destroyed the past realm to make another one. But because there were no more disciples within, no new realm would be created. Hopefully, it would give Chief Elder Suxian a bit of time to try and fix the array formation. Maybe it wouldn''t be ready for a few months or even years. But Chief Elder Suxian knew he could keep it running for at least two centuries before his Soul Embryo would dissipate.


    Once his Soul Embryo would be gone, then his soul would enter the cycle of reincarnation. At least, that was the belief of the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Sun Liao had known that since before Cao Yun tried to save his master''s life. He had known that this was the only way but he refused to admit it. As he saw all the third-years appear before him, Sun Liao let out some tears. The fatigue and sadness had won over his arrogance and pride.

 Chapter 344: Empyrean Human Emperor Seal

    Although Sun Liao had suspected what his master would do from the beginning, he had still harbored hope that he could find a better way. In fact, he had even believed that his brother could also find a better way. But in the end, there were no alternatives. His master''s Soul Embryo would replace the missing spirit of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Only through this sacrifice could he resolve the issue.


    Inside, the unstable realm had completely collapsed and all the third-years were now out and safe, albeit disoriented and weak.


    Facing the Palace of Supreme Wisdom whose array formations were all in the process of shutting down right now, Sun Liao kowtowed. He wasn''t even sure whether his master could see or hear him. As his Soul Embryo had become the new spirit of the array formation, he would be sealed in it and trapped for as long as his soul could endure. In fact, because no one had been able to make a Spirit or even a God array formation since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era, he had no way of knowing what it was like. Maybe his master''s Soul Embryo had already been crushed. Maybe its lifespan would be reduced, or enhanced.


    There was one thing he was sure though. His master had been a great cultivator. And he would make sure that everyone knew of his sacrifice. But that wasn''t all. He would search the deepest truths of array formations in order to find a way to help him. Sun Liao had already vowed to become a 5-star Heaven array formation master. But to save Chief Elder Suxian, he would do everything to surpass everyone and reclaim the forgotten knowledge of mankind.


    "Master, this unfilial disciple has been unable to do anything on his own. And you''ve been forced to sacrifice yourself to make up for my incompetence. No matter what happens, I swear that I will discover all the secrets of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Even if I can''t get you out of this, I will help the Wubei Sect uphold its name. And I swear that every single demonic cultivator who was associated with this treachery dies."


    Sun Liao''s goal had always been to spend five years in the Wubei Sect before going back to his family and to become an array formation master. He had planned to take the familial business. He had siblings and cousins who could take over, but he was clearly the most talented. However, Chief Elder Suxian''s death had caused a huge blow to his ambitions. Even if his Soul Embryo had endured for now, it was a fact that he had died. Even if he could get his soul out of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he would still live with a death sentence. In a couple of centuries, Chief Elder Suxian would be thoroughly dead. It changed Sun Liao''s outlook on his own future.


    Unlike Luoming Tian, Sun Liao had not become scared of his own mortality. Instead, he had been disgusted by his abilities. Until now, he had always prided himself with his outstanding talent. But they were nothing. Even if he could become a 5-star Heaven array formation master, he would not reach the apex. And becoming just a businessman selling his mediocre array formations to make a living had just lost all of its charm. It would be a huge blow for his father, but Sun Liao had changed his trajectory in life drastically.


    "Master, I will join the Wubei Sect and I will dedicate my life to the pursuit of the highest array formations possible. I solemnly vow to you in this day that I will reach the Spirit rank of old and even soar all the way to the God rank of array formation master. I will become the next array formation god of mankind. Even Saint Duan Huang will be forgotten behind my name. And you will have become the first historical master of the array formation god."


    Around Sun Liao, all the third-years were confused. But they quickly saw him kneeling in front of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. They couldn''t know everything that had transpired yet. But they could still piece things together. Sun Liao had somehow helped them and he was now crying. Seeing such an arrogant man cry meant that something terrible had happened. When they looked toward the rest of the Wubei Sect, they also saw the fires, the giant red arm, the World Black Tortoise as well as golden and bloody chains colliding against each other.


    -


    On the main plaza of the Wubei Sect, the chief elders and Sect Leader Xuan were reaching the last of their reserves. They had used absolutely every card in their possession. To speak the truth, Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng still had a few techniques they had not shown but they would be useless in this context. Maybe they could use them to save a few disciples. But if Mo Tian were to really fuse with Da Mo''s body, he would ultimately overtake the entire Piaolu planet and no one would be safe anyway. As such, they had completely discarded these possibilities in order to pour all their strength in the battle.


    Despite their best efforts, they could feel that Da Mo''s body was winning the exchange. The giant Qi Manifestation of Sect Leader Xuan was slowly fading away. He was pouring more and more of his own energy in the golden chains. It had reached a point where he was almost ready to burn his very essence. Before he could do such a foolish thing though, many chief elders started to do so first.


    Wasting the essence of their best fighter had to be avoided as much as possible. Besides, Sect Leader Xuan was very old. Losing essence could kill him right away. A young man who would burn his essence would greatly affect his talent and his progress. But he had slim hopes of being able to recover with time, even though it was difficult and medicines for it were as rare as 9th-grade Spirit Warriors. However, an old man would just welcome death to his doorstep. Even if he didn''t die right away, he would have destroyed the rest of his lifespan and would die in a matter of years or even months.


    The chief elders, helped by Spirit Master Xiao, were doing everything they could to protect their sect leader. And he could obviously tell. Hopefully, Cao Yun''s plan was going to work out in the end. They had to believe in it or there was no hope at all.


    -


    Cao Yun had used his blood with the properties of the Drop of Wrath to activate the seal. But it was extremely slow. Cao Yun had already used a lot of his blood. If he were to go further, he would really risk his future. Even Dian Mo began to tell him to stop.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "I thought the Devil''s Jail would react more strongly to your blood. Unfortunately your blood cultivation is still a little bit lacking. If you had fully taken this Drop of Wrath as yours and transformed all of your blood, it would already be activated."


    "Then I just need to pour in more blood."


    "Stop it! Even if you were to give all of your blood, the seal would not get activated any faster, you would just waste your life away."


    "Still... every instant matters. If I can buy two or three seconds tops, that''s still some time the Wubei Sect can resist. Maybe a bit more disciples will survive."


    "You''re insane?!"


    Dian Mo felt that Cao Yun was really going to use all of his blood just to give a few more seconds for weak humans to flee. They would be ruled by Mo Tian anyway. That was ridiculous!


    "What are you trying to pull?! Instead of throwing away your life, and mine, survive! Live to fight another day. With this Drop of Wrath, I''m sure you can even surpass the ranks of Exalted Demon and Sage. Think before you do something so rash. Your death won''t help anyone but your survival will!"


    Deep down, Cao Yun was sensing that his Qi cultivation would be halted for a while. Despite his recovery thanks to the seed of the world tree, he had pushed too far too fast. He would need several months to progress again. Maybe he would even become a Spirit Warrior older than his own father because of that. Until now he had been steady and fast without losing his stability. But he had just lost it. Although he didn''t want to die and he didn''t want to be some kind of savior, Cao Yun refused to run away once more. He felt that if he were to run now, he would run all of his life. His Dao Heart would never survive this. Hell, he might even create an inner demon.


    In fact, maybe Dian Mo wanted that because he could feel that Cao Yun''s resolve would shatter if he ran today. Then, it would be easier for him to take over his body.


    Right now, Dian Mo was not thinking that at all though. He was thinking that this boy was crazy and he was going to get himself killed. After millenniums trapped inside the Demon Palace, Dian Mo had accumulated a lot of trauma. He was terrorized by death now. The Demon Palace had become his prison but also his haven. Now, this young boy''s sea of consciousness had replaced it. Although he was chained down to one of the Nine Soul Peaks, he felt protected. But once again, something from the outside world had come to threaten him. The outside world was scary. Observing it was fine but living in it was terrifying.


    Inadvertently, Cao Yun had reinforced Dian Mo''s trauma and phobia. He yearned for freedom but was terrorized by the outside world.


    Cao Yun pushed his blood cultivation to the limit. Unfortunately, he had still no idea on how to practice ''Stoking the Human Flames'' to cultivate his blood essence. With it, his blood might have worked better on the seal. He was ready to sacrifice his life but he didn''t want to do it if it wasn''t necessary. First, he would use every card he had to try and activate the seal.


    He pushed his mind cultivation to the limit as well and focused the intent from the Drop of Wrath. He was getting increasingly close to fully own it. Soon it would have become a real part of himself. After all, he just needed to get to the third layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' to work on his Seven Turbid Demons. Through that, he could rebuild them inside the Drop of Wrath using his own soul. The Drop of Wrath would be fully integrated in his body, in his blood and in his soul. But right now, he could do no such thing. It would take at least a decade, if not longer.


    -


    Suddenly, everyone sensed a presence underground, even Cao Yun. Mo Tian''s attention was attracted to it. And he was even able to finally feel Cao Yun under the Devil''s Jail. He had no idea what that presence had been but he could guess what Cao Yun was doing down there. That little bastard had always caused him troubles. He was not going to let him ruin his greatest plan. After an entire century, he could finally see his triumph.


    Mo Tian diverted a bit of his attention underground. Although Da Mo''s body was still trapped, he could act underground. He could simply not leave the Devil''s Jail. Because he split his attention, the golden chains began to gain ground against his blood chains. But Mo Tian could feel this was their last stand. However, he had no idea what Cao Yun was doing and felt he was the real threat in that situation. Although he was still weak, he had always been strange. He was the one factor Mo Tian could not predict in his plan. Even Xiao Xuefeng, he had accounted for.


    When he diverted his attention, he finally understood what that presence underground had been. It was very familiar. And it was within the very array formations of the Wubei Sect. That presence was so familiar, Mo Tian felt as though he was seeing a ghost.


    From inside the Demon Palace, Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo had been integrated into the array formations that predated the Wubei Sect. Every seven years, the Demon Palace was accessible and was synchronized with the rest of the array formations. Just like Dian Mo, the former Palace Spirit, Chief Elder Suxian had accessed to all of them. But unlike Dian Mo, Chief Elder Suxian realized that the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was not rejecting him. Thus, he could act and not just observe.


    Of course, his actions were limited. But right now, he did not need to do a lot. His disciple''s brother had already done most of the heavy lifting. Chief Elder Suxian was absolutely in the dark when it came to what the Devil''s Jail was. But he could clearly see that Cao Yun was trying to activate it and that Sect Leader Xuan and all the chief elders were buying him time. However, he could also see that this wouldn''t be enough...


    The Devil''s Jail was being activated but it was too slow. Thus, Chief Elder Suxian tried to find a way to speed things up and he had just found it. He sacrificed most of his entire Soul Embryo. Now his soul would almost be bare in the Demon Palace. As such, he would only survive a few decades before fading away.


    Right now, he really didn''t care. If he didn''t act, the Wubei Sect would fall. His disciple would die. His friends would die. All of mankind would become slaves to his former friend.


    As his Soul Embryo was pouring into the Devil''s Jail, he got a flash in his mind. This structure was called the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal. The Devil''s Jail itself was a seal created by one of the legendary emperors of mankind before the arrival of Demon God Da Mo on the Piaolu planet. Chief Elder Suxian saw the image of an old and dignified man clad in gold and silver. With this seal, this Empyrean Human Emperor had protected his entire planet against an enemy so terrifying mankind had almost died.


    After this titanic battle through the stars, most of the empire of mankind had been killed. Several humans had stayed on various planets, cut off from the ruins of the empire. And the wounded heart of the empire had been trapped on the Piaolu planet. In this state of weakness, Demon God Da Mo had invaded them. Chief Elder Suxian could not see who that terrifying enemy had been but even Demon God Da Mo had feared him. But this Empyrean Human Emperor Seal had been powerful enough to trap him until even his power dissipated. No one could escape time.


    But Chief Elder Suxian had no time for this story. Right now, the most dangerous threat was Mo Tian and Da Mo''s body.


    Cao Yun and Dian Mo were both astonished when they saw the seal of the Devil''s Jail activate itself.

 Chapter 345: Mo Tian and Suxian Zheng

    "Run away! The seal is active now. If you stay under it, you''ll be crushed in an instant."


    This time, Cao Yun obeyed Dian Mo without any question asked. He had felt the power behind this seal. But he had also felt a familiar presence as well. Being so close to the array formation, he could have sworn that Chief Elder Suxian was by his side. Unfortunately, Chief Elder Suxian''s soul was now trapped in the Demon Palace. Although he had more freedom than Dian Mo, he was still a prisoner nonetheless.


    Dian Mo, on the other hand, was able to clearly understand what was going on. Although he could not get all those sensations from Cao Yun, the only logical conclusion was that someone had put their soul in the Demon Palace and had somehow established a connection with the Devil''s Jail. Even Dian Mo did not know the real name of the Devil''s Jail or who had built it and for what purpose. Right now, he was envious of the human. Maybe because the Palace of Supreme Wisdom had been built by humans, this human soul had been accepted by the true palace. Unlike him, he would be able to observe and even control the array formations to a larger extent.


    To control this Devil''s Jail though, he had most likely used a lot of energy. He would not last very long. Human souls usually couldn''t live very long anyway. A spirit on the other hand was meant to exist without a body. That didn''t mean that they were eternal, but they could live extremely long lives even without cultivating any form of immortality. However, they were stagnant. They had no cultivation to speak of. Maybe it was because they were so few, none of them had found a way, or because they had no real incentive to search for immortality, unlike mortals who died very young.


    No matter what the reason why, the only way for a spirit to cultivate would be to steal the body of a species that could do it. And Dian Mo had this planned out. He would slowly help Cao Yun build the body he wished for while getting accustomed to the outside world. Then, he would find the right opportunity and take over the young man''s body. He might even keep him alive as a prisoner to make him taste what this was like.


    -


    Outside of the Devil''s Jail, the Wubei Sect''s chief elders had poured everything into the golden chains. Now that the Devil''s Jail had been activated, they had to send Da Mo''s body back inside. Then, it would be sealed once more. But of course, he wasn''t being very cooperative...


    Mo Tian had clearly sensed the Soul Embryo of his friend. He even had traces of his own father in him. After all, he had been his direct disciple. Mo Tian would have wished for Chief Elder Suxian to live longer. But his own life was just more important. The chance to transcend mankind and become superior to a Sage was just too enticing. And he kept convincing himself that this was for the greater good. Once he was in control of Da Mo, he would help mankind fight off the demons. And he would even bring mankind the secret to cultivate real immortality once more, by fusing Qi cultivation and blood cultivation. Even if millions were to die in the experiments, in the long run, this was worth it. This wasn''t just for him!


    In his desperation, Mo Tian had separated his Soul Embryo from his body. In a sense, he was just like Chief Elder Suxian right now, a bodiless soul. But Chief Elder Suxian was literally fueling the Devil''s Jail with his own Soul Embryo. Soon, he would only be a simple mortal soul without any form of cultivation. But he was fine with it because he was fighting for all of mankind.


    Mo Tian, who pretended the same, was trying to preserve his Soul Embryo until the very last moment. If he could just enter Da Mo''s body, he was certain he could break the seal. He had studied the Devil''s Jail for a very long time. As chief leader of the disciplinary pavilion, he had even been able to confirm many theories he had on it. But he had mostly been interested in the demon body beneath it. He had never really cared for its history. Even if he had, he would never have found anything about it.


    Chief Elder Suxian could now see that the Empyrean Human Emperor was on the verge of breaking through beyond the God realm, stepping into the God-Monarch realm. And this sparked a war throughout the cosmos. Many empires fought in this war. Entire galaxies were reduced to nothingness. Even today, there were scars in the night sky. Now Chief Elder Suxian was able to see them. What seemed like faraway stars were sometimes traces of a battle so great even those who had fought in it could not believe it.


    In a last effort, Empyrean Human Emperor created this Empyrean Human Emperor Seal. He was able to only use it once on a terrifying enemy. However, the human empire lost the war, like many other empires. Only one empire was able to be victorious. And the wounds it had suffered from were so terrible that it could not benefit from the spoils of the war it had won. If Empyrean Human Emperor had had enough time to build a better weapon, he might have won the war instead. But even weakened and incomplete, this seal was enough to strike down a Monarch or a Reborn Demon.


    Now that he was in control of it, Chief Elder Suxian burned all of his Soul Embryo. Helped with Cao Yun''s powerful blood, the seal was active enough to be used at a hundredth of its real power. They only needed so much to take care of Da Mo''s body. Right now, it was still partially sealed anyway.


    In the sky, a giant red circle appeared. It was extremely intricate with many symbols. No one recognized them, but they could all see that they were similar to a few characters they had found from the Legendary Era. All the languages of the first humans were gone and only a handful of characters had been found, too few to recreate their writing system. This was another proof that the ancient ruins all over the Wubei Sect truly belonged to the humans before the enslavement by Demon God Da Mo. Right now, Chief Elder Suxian was the one man with the most knowledge on that period. Many historians would have been ready to give their own life for that knowledge. But Chief Elder Suxian was trapped and could not share it with anyone. What good was a knowledge he could not reveal?If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Sensing that Cao Yun''s plan had worked, Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng ordered everyone in the sect to unleash everything toward the golden chains. They were pushing the bloody chains and the giant red arm down into what remained of the Devil''s Jail. Of course, they didn''t know that Chief Elder Suxian had helped them, but they could also feel a familiar presence. With all the chaos, even Xiao Xuefeng was not entirely sure what this presence was. But it did feel familiar and on their side. They would not punch a gift horse in the mouth considering the current situation.


    -


    The golden chains were finally winning and were pushing the red arm down. Mo Tian''s body had fallen to the ground while his Soul Embryo was flying toward the red arm. The chief elders saw him and acted accordingly.


    Xiao Xuefeng diverted a fraction of the golden chains to try and skewer his Soul Embryo. She also used her melody. Chief Elder L¨¹mian helped as well. They all knew that letting Mo Tian enter Da Mo''s body would be a serious mistake. From Mo Tian''s Soul Embryo, many phenomena appeared. Ink creatures emerged with solemn hymns and poetry. They all protected him, staving off the soul attacks from Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder L¨¹mian while acting as shields against the golden chains.


    Finally, Mo Tian''s Soul Embryo touched Da Mo. All of a sudden, Mo Tian found himself in another space. Everything around him was made of boiling blood and bloody chains. He was now within Da Mo''s sea of consciousness. What had been resurrected was Da Mo''s body, nothing else. It had no martial art, no technique, nothing. For Mo Tian, this was a blank canvas he could use to create anything. And right now, he wanted to fill the canvas with his own soul. As a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, his soul and his Soul Embryo were perfectly synchronized. He just had to expand his Soul Embryo all over the place and take it over for his soul to be in control as well.


    This body would listen to him as well as his former human body. Inside his Soul Embryo, he had prepared the blood essence of Da Mo to make sure that the transition would be perfect. And he could feel the boiling blood all around him resonate with this blood essence. Without this element, he would have never been able to take control of such a powerful body.


    Before he could even try anything, he felt a terrible tremor. It coursed through Da Mo''s sea of consciousness and spread into Mo Tian''s Soul Embryo. The golden chains were not powerful enough to cause such a shock. But something else was.


    Contrary to the chief elders, Chief Elder Suxian had been waited for his friend to try and possess Da Mo. The moment he did, Chief Elder Suxian began to move the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal. He had only enough juice for one small scale activation. But with all the knowledge he had obtained about this seal, Chief Elder Suxian was going to make it count. He was not just going to trap Da Mo''s body, he would also condemn his former friend to the same kind of life he was having. In a few decades, Chief Elder Suxian''s soul would disperse. At that time, they would need another spirit to take care of the Demon Palace. Once fused with Da Mo''s body, Mo Tian''s Soul Embryo could endure several millenniums.


    Chief Elder Suxian was thinking about giving a second chance to his friend. No one could kill Da Mo''s body right now anyway. And he was certain that the seal would work for many generations. At some point, mankind would be able to recover from the Forsaken Dao Era. Chief Elder Suxian had already seen signs of it in his own disciple and his brothers, but also when he had gone to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Mankind was on the right track. Even if Mo Tian were to find a way out of this seal, he would be faced with an improved mankind. Chief Elder Suxian sincerely believed this.


    In the sky, the red symbol got narrower and tighter. It was slowly being reduced to the area of the Devil''s Jail. Then, it suddenly slammed down toward the ground. Both golden chains and bloody chains were blown to pieces. Everything, even the Qi Manifestation of the chief elders and Sect Leader Xuan were trampled by the symbol. This was the personal seal of Empyrean Human Emperor. No one below Immortal could resist it at all if it was at full power. Even reduced to a hundredth of its true strength, late Sages would have been crushed to a paste as well.


    It violently slammed the ground and went through the entire Devil''s Jail. Every array formation in it got activated as Da Mo''s body was also being pushed further down. Once again, it crossed the entire Devil''s Jail but in the opposite direction. The body found itself trapped under the Devil''s Jail. On its palm, the seal of Empyrean Human Emperor had been branded in its flesh.


    Mo Tian had finally gotten what he wanted. He was now in control of Da Mo''s body. He could feel an energy and a vitality like nothing he had ever experienced before coursing through his soul and his new flesh. However, at the same time, he realized that he was trapped. Even the light could not reach beneath the Devil''s Jail. The seal had completely restored the entire structure as if Da Mo had never even tried to get out. Besides, his body was completely paralyzed. Not only his palm that had reached the outside, but also his glabella, his other palm, his soles and several of his acupoints, they had all been branded.


    Right now, Da Mo''s body and Mo Tian''s Soul Embryo within had been thoroughly trapped with no hope of exit. The only thing Mo Tian could feel was what was going on in his own body. But the outside world was completely off-limits. Then, he felt something else. Just like before, he felt a familiar presence. Chief Elder Suxian was behind this. Although he had killed him with the worst poison he could think of, Chief Elder Suxian had still been able to best him and trap him.


    When they were children, Suxian Zheng had always been better than him. Although he was not the sharpest, he always seemed to be better than Luoming Tian was. Chief Elder Suxian had failed to see through his treachery. Yet, he had won. He had died, and yet, he had bested Luoming Tian once more.


    Luoming Tian had always been jealous of his relationship with his father. It was as though his father had always trusted Suxian Zheng more than his own son. Even on his deathbed, he had cared more for his disciple than for his son.


    What was worse was that Luoming Tian did not feel hatred or disgust in Chief Elder Suxian''s presence, he only felt sorrow and disappointment. For Luoming Tian, it reminded him of the stares his father gave him frequently. He had reached the highest height of cultivation. Hell, he had even surpassed it now. He had gone back to the cultivation of old now that he was possessing an Exalted Demon with his 9th-grade Spirit Warrior Soul Embryo. He was certain that he could use this body to push his Soul Embryo all the way to the Sage realm. Yet, he still felt like a failure of a son.


    No matter what, he would prove to everyone that he was right! His way might be bloody and cruel, but it was the only possible path. If mankind followed him, they would transcend mortality and rival the immortals of the legends. Why couldn''t they see that he was right?! He would make them see! He would outlive every single one of these ignorant weaklings! Mankind would soar thanks to him. Even the Legendary Era would pale in comparison. Why didn''t they want to understand this?!

 Chapter 346: After the battle

    Once Mo Tian was sealed within Da Mo''s body, the chief elders could finally go fight all the traitors who were attacking the Wubei Sect. They did not allow themselves to rest.


    This was a bloody day indeed. Although they had been greatly weakened, Spirit Warriors were vastly superior to Mortals and even Mortal Warriors. No traitor stood a chance against their combined efforts. Besides, each time they slaughtered a group of traitors, they freed more forces to fight by their side. Elders and instructors quickly formed a true battalion.


    Some traitors tried to hide or even run away. Unfortunately, the array formations of the Wubei Sect had fallen. Those who were far enough were able to disappear in the woods. For several days, expeditions were sent into the woods all over the mountains. A few demonic cultivators were found. Most died upon being captured. The seals in them got activated as soon as they tried to plead. Others fought till the bitter end. In fact, a couple of disciples were even killed in the process.


    Alas, many traitors had disappeared from the Heidai Peak. It took more than three weeks to get their names. Identifying all the corpses had been difficult. Some were in terrible conditions. Some cultivators had been crushed by buildings, burned, dismembered, or even corroded by Evil Qi. Even the demonic beasts had not done so much damage in Baziyun City.


    Once more, Cao Yun was met with a vision of horror. Although they had ultimately won, they had paid an incredibly large tribute. And their victory had only been obtained thanks to chance. Without Dian Mo, Cao Yun would have never been able to even imagine that the Devil''s Jail could be used in such a way. And without Chief Elder Suxian''s ultimate sacrifice, even his own death might not have activated it fully. Worse, no one would have been able to use it to seal Da Mo''s body.


    Sect Leader Xuan decided to hide the truth of many matters. Xiao Xuefeng agreed with all of it, except one thing but he was able to convince her. First of all, Cao Yun''s involvement was completely hidden, as well as his ability to somehow control Evil Qi as well, and even better than demonic cultivators. The total number of casualties was greatly reduced in the official reports to the Imperial City.


    More than that, the very nature of the attack was altered. The demonic cultivators had attacked after the sect had identified the leader of the traitors. They all tried to free him, resulting in the damage around the Devil''s Jail. At least, that was what the reports claimed. Indeed, thanks to the array formations, no one outside of the Wubei Sect had been able to see or even perceive anything. Even oracles would not be able to divine anything that had transpired during the attack. The giant red arm was deemed a Qi Manifestation from a half-step Sage, a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior who had already attempted to cross the Greater Tribulation.


    There were many holes in the reports but the goal was to make sure that no one in the Imperial City could discover that the body of an Exalted Demon with the Soul Embryo of a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior was sealed beneath the Wubei Sect. As it turned out, Sect Leader Xuan did not trust the Imperial City and neither did Xiao Xuefeng. At least, she did not anymore, not after talking with Director Ge recently. There were too many strange things happening in the Hongchen Kingdom and around it. The mere fact that no one had seen the Emperor for a very long time was worrisome in itself. But there were rumors of disappearance within the Imperial City. It was possible that paranoia about the demonic cultivators had spread that far. Or maybe it was some form of political cleansing before the war.


    It seemed inevitable that a huge war between humans and demons would soon break out. All the major powers of the Hongchen Kingdom had been made aware of various incursions of demons on the border provinces. Obtaining intel on what was happening on the other side of the border was hard. But apparently, a new demon had been uniting various kingdoms. One of the biggest advantages of humans was the chaos and disorder among demons. Without Demon God Da Mo, they were all fighting each other, vying for power. There were way more internal wars than attempted assaults on the humans. But if they were to get united, they would become a huge problem. After all, the Hongchen Kingdom was literally surrounded on all sides.


    Some demon nations had honored their pact with the humans since the day of the Seven Treaties Era. It was a testimony to Saint Xun Ke''s efforts who had worked until his last breath to try and make that peace last as long as possible. Since that period, no war had truly happened, only skirmishes and raids. But the Forsaken Dao Era had everyone on edge. Humans and demons had been weakened. Without one supreme powerhouse to deter the enemies, stopping wars had become more difficult. Thankfully, the demons had kept their words and honored their treaties. However, this new demon had no respect for those, just dried ink on paper. After all, they had been passed by other nations than his own. He had no such treaty to adhere to.


    Among all those reports, there was one lie Xiao Xuefeng was not comfortable with. The names of the first two victims were Chief Elder Suxian who had died a hero, and Chief Elder Luoming who was killed in a sneak attack on the disciplinary pavilion in order to free the leader imprisoned in the Devil''s Jail. The leader was the treacherous Mo Tian. Indeed, Sect Leader had been friends with Luoming Ran and he did not want his friend''s name to be soiled by the actions of his only son. It took a lot of convincing, but Xiao Xuefeng accepted to keep quiet about this. They made it so that Chief Elder Luoming had not died a hero. He had died almost immediately, killed by a treacherous attack. He had no time to either distinguish himself or dishonor himself.


    It took the last weeks of the year to get the Wubei Sect in order. The Imperial City also sent delegates to witness the damage. Obviously, they would also try to spy. Even in times of peace, the Imperial City was always trying to balance all the different influences within the Hongchen Kingdom. Cordiality and smiles were not to be confused for true friendship. The Imperial City would always remain the strongest force. Although it wanted powerful sects and families to support the human race, they could never be outpowered.


    -Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    In that period, Cao Yun mostly kept to himself in his room of the Heavenly Swallow Faction. Zhi Yin was back and, thankfully, no member of the faction had died. Zhao Fei and Zhao Lin had been greatly hurt though. Even Ling Hui was not in the mood to be a little brat. Cao Yun was not sure whether she had calmed down recently or if the events had just caused this temporary respite. At least, she still seemed to idolize Zhi Yin but she was not that vocal about it anymore. Maybe she was finally growing up.


    "What are you looking at?! You''re not the Faction Leader anymore, Fairy Zhi is! So stop putting on airs!"


    Or maybe she had not... That little girl was very annoying, but she was loyal and, at the very least, Cao Yun knew how to deal with her. You simply had to ignore almost everything she said about Zhi Yin. That was almost everything she talked about in fact. So you had to ignore almost every single word coming out of her mouth. Then, she was very manageable...


    Mei Ying was safe. Both her sister and Liu Ang were staying at her side. Liu Ang and Mei Ying had developed a very deep relationship apparently. Mei Hua did not seem to mind at all. After all, Liu Ang was a very fine young man. He was around two years older than Mei Ying. But for now, their relationship did not seem to be romantic in nature. They were both very young still. Liu Ang had not even reached sixteen yet.


    Sun Liao had left the Heavenly Swallow Faction to give all his support to the array formation pavilion. There was a lot of work to do, both to repair the pavilion but also to help rebuild all the array formations. They had been used almost to the point of rupture. Also, he finally went over his pride and asked Mei Hua for some pill in order to quickly become a Mortal Warrior. Within four months tops, he would be one.


    Finally, Ren Chao was spending his time in the Coiling Silk Faction with Wang Mei. The following year would be her fifth one. After that, she would cease to be the faction leader of the Coiling Silk Faction. That meant that she could then engage in physical relationships with a man, namely Ren Chao. Strangely, he did not seem to be particularly looking forward to it. He had little to no experience with ladies and was afraid that someone like Wang Mei would find him dull. Although he was able to hide it very well, he had confided his fears in Cao Yun. After all, Cao Yun had a Dao companion. Of course, Cao Yun had not that much experience either, but he still tried to comfort his brother without becoming too personal.


    During these weeks, Sect Leader Xuan and Spirit Master Xiao were obviously extremely busy. And they had asked Cao Yun to take care of himself and to be forgotten. The delegates from the Imperial City were present. They didn''t want them to snoop around the young boy.


    Incidentally, this was exactly what Cao Yun desired too. He had to absorb everything he had learned in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He had to make sure his Bai Hui had healed nicely. And he also had to talk with Dian Mo.


    The physicians were busy but Chief Elder Qinghe looked at Cao Yun''s wound himself. Even he was not sure how his Bai Hui had been repaired. Some exterior force had used a powerful vitality to revive the acupoint. However, it had also changed a bit. It was very difficult to be sure how it would affect Cao Yun though. At the same time, his Bai Hui had more vitality but it was also more fragile. In a sense, it was still convalescent. Until the acupoint had fully healed, it was best not to use it. That also meant that Cao Yun was stuck in his Qi cultivation. Indeed, as a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, he had to temper his Five Prodigious Gates together.


    According to both the ''Cultivation of Wrath'', the ''Universal Law of Immortality'', and even the ''Coiling Turtle'', all Five Prodigious Gates had to be tempered in harmony. Until his Bai Hui was safe to cultivate, Cao Yun could not begin tempering his other four Prodigious Gates. Otherwise, he would create a lot of unbalance. After what had already happened, that was the last thing he wanted to do.


    Thankfully, he had many other domains he could cultivate, his martial arts and Spear Aura, his mind, his blood and even his body. Moreover, he had gained another weapon. He had to grow accustomed to it, it was way larger and heavier than ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. In his spatial ring, as a keepsake, Cao Yun had kept a part of the Ebony Snake Dragon''s scale used to make his former spear.


    Right now, the first thing he wanted to work on was his mind cultivation, but it would take a lot of time to advance. He had reached a very high level already. However, with Dian Mo inside his sea of consciousness, this seemed even more urgent than before. Now that he had most of the control over the Drop of Wrath, he had another dangerous and volatile element inside of his mind to worry about.


    Very close to this priority, Cao Yun wanted to improve his blood cultivation. It happened to be that Dian Mo also agreed with that. Of course, his goal was to improve the body he was certain he would inherit. But that worked out for both of them. That period of calm after the storm was the perfect moment to talk things out with the intruder. For now, Dian Mo was still chained down to one of the Nine Soul Peaks. So they had to talk about their agreement.


    "Dian Mo, you''ve helped me deal with Mo Tian and Da Mo''s body. You have thus fully fulfilled your end of the bargain. As such, I will also keep my word. No one will ever know that you reside within my sea of consciousness, and I will never willingly hurt you. In fact, I will actively hide you. However, if you show any sign of betraying me, I will expose you. If I''m too weak to search your memories myself, I will ask Spirit Master Xiao to do so. But if I am strong enough, I will inflict that torture on you myself. Are we clear?"


    "Of course, young boy. I gave you my word. If in one hundred years you didn''t find me a suitable body, then we''ll have to review our terms. But until then, I will not try to overtake your body."


    Cao Yun was obviously not credulous enough to trust Dian Mo. But he had gained a bit of understanding about the spirit. As much as he claimed he wanted to be free, he also seemed incredibly afraid of the prospect of freedom. In fact, Cao Yun had been able to perceive a tinge of his emotions thanks to his proximity with the Nine Soul Peaks. Dian Mo felt safe when he was trapped. And freedom was a great unknown. Although he fantasized about it, it was scaring the hell out of him. In fact, it wasn''t that different from Ren Chao and the idea of becoming intimate with Wang Mei.


    Although both parties were going to keep their words, that would not stop them from planning against each other. Cao Yun could not break his word without risking the creation of an inner demon. In fact, he would damage his Dao Heart by doing so. Even if that didn''t create an inner demon thanks to his mind cultivation, it would always leave a mark in his mind. His cultivation would always be in danger because of it as this would stay within his very soul.


    In that situation, Cao Yun could still try to make the best out of things. Dian Mo had a lot of knowledge about demons. Thus, he had to know an awful lot about demonic cultivators as well. And he also had to know a lot about blood cultivation. Since he wanted this body and he wanted it to be as demon-like as possible, helping Cao Yun cultivate his blood would go according to his plans. Cao Yun just had to be cautious not to take everything he said at face value.

 Chapter 347: Crimson Inferno Road

    "Developing your blood cultivation only has benefits. It would allow you to fully integrate this Drop of Wrath with your body. And it might even prove useful in healing your Bai Hui. After all, blood cultivation gives great abilities in terms of regeneration. This is a huge advantage demons have on humans."


    "And it would also give you great benefits as well. The closer I am to a demon the easier it would be for you to control my body, right?"


    "Oh, of course. I won''t hide that I greatly desire your body. But you also promised me to give me another one if you find a suitable body within a century. If you keep your word, I won''t need to take yours."


    That did not mean that Dian Mo would not try to do so anyway. Both knew that this promise was just a promise, there was nothing truly binding about that as it wasn''t very precise. In fact, Dian Mo might even accept to take another body only to try and kill Cao Yun for the Drop of Wrath he had within. Yes cultivating his blood would probably help him develop his affinity with the Drop of Wrath and it was the right move. But Cao Yun would not forget that he also had to develop his mind cultivation to control his Drop of Wrath. He was finally at the stage where he could make this foreign blood his. But if it grew in strength faster than Cao Yun could submit it to his will, it would not be ideal.


    The young man was able to clearly see through Dian Mo. But to be fair, he wasn''t really trying to hide anything. Cao Yun had made a vow he could not break. As long as Dian Mo adhered to his word as well, Cao Yun could do nothing against him even if he admitted to wanting him dead after the end of the century. However, that didn''t mean that Cao Yun would trust Dian Mo or allow him to see too many of his secrets. He had negotiated to have two full double hours every day during which Dian Mo was completely in the dark. This was perfect for his designs.


    In fact, Cao Yun was even thinking about turning Dian Mo. He still seemed loyal to Demon God Da Mo and dismissive of humans. But he had also a heavy psychological trauma due to his entrapment in the Demon Palace. In a way, it had been Demon God Da Mo''s fault. He had literally created him inside the Demon Palace knowing he might never be able to gain control over the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And it turned out that he had indeed never been able to. The array formation had probably tried to isolate what it had sensed as being an enemy. On the other hand, Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo had been accepted right away as he was human.


    "Dian Mo, you probably know about the blood cultivation used by demons. Since it would serve us both, why don''t you give it to me?"


    "Of course, it might be useful to the two of us in the long run. But right now, I have nothing to gain by giving it for free. I will expect something in return."


    "You still wish to negotiate? Fine, what is it that you want?"


    Cao Yun had not been stupid enough to think Dian Mo would just give the blood cultivation of the demons to him. But he was not entirely sure what Dian Mo thought he could obtain and what he really wanted.


    "My desire is very simple. Although we made a deal, I am still chained down to this rock. I wish for you to free me. In exchange I swear never to leave the confines of those Nine Soul Peaks. In fact, if I try to leave from their encirclement without your permission, I give you full authority to strike me down. I think that this is very reasonable."


    Cao Yun had promised not to willingly harm him. But they could alter their deal at any given time. With this new version of the agreement, Cao Yun could destroy him if he tried to roam through his sea of consciousness. However, Dian Mo would earn a lot more freedom. That new agreement was very enticing. After all, Cao Yun was forced to keep a part of his mind and of the Drop of Wrath focused on Dian Mo to make sure he was trapped. But if he were to accept this change, he would not be forced to keep him trapped, he just had to monitor him.


    On the other hand, Dian Mo would be free to launch an attack on his sea of consciousness. For now, Cao Yun was certain that his Drop of Wrath and his mind cultivation were enough to protect him. But in Dian Mo''s mind he probably thought that at some point Cao Yun would show signs of weakness. Or maybe Dian Mo was sincere and truly wanted to be freed from this bloody chain and nothing else.


    Of course, Cao Yun did not believe in Dian Mo''s sincerity. But he did not see anything strange with this new deal.


    "Fine. I''ll let go of the chains. But if I detect an ounce of your presence outside of the Nine Soul Peaks, I will destroy it right away and have the Drop of Wrath devour and digest you whole. Do you agree?"


    "Yes, I do."


    Then, the bloody chains keeping Dian Mo trapped disappeared back into the Drop of Wrath. Dian Mo took on the shape of a small gate. It looked very similar to the gate in front of the Demon Palace but it was obviously way smaller. That ominous gate floated to the middle of the Nine Soul Peaks and lowered toward the ocean below. As soon as it touched the surface, it stopped moving.


    "Here is the tome you want."


    From the gate appeared a small book. It was written in Moshenhua. Thankfully, Cao Yun knew enough about the language to decipher everything. He was still actively trying to decipher the Antique Sixian of Cleansed Asura. Working with another language was a good thing for him. The more familiar he was with different languages, the easier it would be to understand another one.


    That tome was named ''Crimson Inferno Road''. It was very short and without any complicated technique. In fact, it was very similar to the ''Universal Law of Immortality''.


    "This is the most basic tome talking about the blood cultivation of the asura."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Asura?"


    "Yes, what you all call demons are in fact bastards between asura and humans. My master used his blood and the blood of his people, the asura, to try and create another breed of cultivators. But he never quite succeeded. Either the asura blood took over and they ended up being demons, or the human blood took over and they were just humans. In reality, what Demon God Da Mo tried to accomplish was akin to what this Mo Tian has been doing. And it is what you have accomplished without even trying to do so...


    "You see, according to the legends, at the origin of reality, there was a species both favored by the Dao and envied by the Heavens. This species is only known as the Three Jade Saints. They had three great treasures allowing them to cultivate immortality as easily as they could breathe. They had Jin Xue, the Golden Blood, Tian Qi, the Heaven Qi and Hun Po, the Perfect Soul.


    "But as they were so terrifying for the Heavens, they tried to strike them down. No one knows what happened or even if it really happened at all. The Three Jade Saints were spread throughout all the worlds of all the universes. But a huge calamity befell them. As I said, no record of this exists. There are only legends here and there. Some claims that ruins from that time have been discovered and pillaged, leaving no proof behind. But it is as though those Three Jade Saints have been erased from reality itself. Some believe this story is just a pure fiction. But Demon God Da Mo firmly believed in it and was convinced that recreating the body of the Three Jade Saints was the secret to true immortality.


    "So when he conquered this planet, he got excited about it, trying to fuse together humans and asura. You see, according to the legends, the Three Jade Saints have been split into three different species, the humans, the asura and the deva. Those three species are the most common ones in all universes. The only explanation for the fact that humans exist on different worlds that never interacted with each other is that someone brought them there. Thus, some believe that humans, asura and deva are mere remnants of the past empires of the Three Jade Saints.


    "The humans would have inherited their Qi. That is why humans have meridians and vessels which no other species has, at least not in this form. The asura would have inherited their blood. Once again, it would explain their powerful blood cultivation that even demonic beasts can''t equal. Finally, the deva would have inherited their souls. Although I have never met a deva, they are renown for their soul cultivation."


    "So Demon God Da Mo has not only been using us as slaves but also as guinea pigs..."


    "Precisely. This is why many humans have asura blood in their veins and why all demons have human blood in theirs. But it never worked, one blood was always taking over the other one. I''m not even sure whether this Mo Tian could have succeeded. His plan was not stupid, but I don''t think his soul and the body of Da Mo would have been ever able to be in harmony. Even if he had advanced his cultivation, I think this would have created more and more unbalance. He might have reached a higher level than other humans and demons but he would never have reached the apex. You, on the other hand, have this ability thanks to this Drop of Wrath."


    After hearing Dian Mo''s little history lesson, Cao Yun began to read the ''Crimson Inferno Road''.


    Just like humans, the asura had divided their cultivation into nine realms. The first three were Blood Child, Golden Blood Child and Accomplished Demon. Exalted Demon was the equivalent of Sage, the realm no one had reached since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era.


    The first realm was known as ''Making the Blood Flow''. Its main concern was in circulating the blood and making the entire body transparent to the flow of blood. Because asura had neither meridians nor vessels unlike humans, they could only transport their Qi through their blood. In that aspect, they were similar to demonic beasts. However, they could freely control their blood and had no demonic cores. Thus, they were using their blood as though it was Qi. In the Foundation Realm, Mortals were trying to make their body transparent to Qi. Well, asura were doing the same thing but with blood. There were also many similarities with his own blood cultivation, ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''.


    The second realm was called ''Forging the Marrow''. From the control of blood, the asura would switch to the control of marrow. Slowly, they would turn their marrow into a golden marrow that they would spread all the way to their skull where humans had their Upper Dantian. By doing so they could open the way to cultivating their mind and soul. But unlike humans they could not develop their Soul Embryo at that level. In fact, the development of their soul was slower compared with humans. This realm reminded Cao Yun of Ren Chao''s physique. His marrow had been greatly enhanced giving him regenerative abilities beyond normal humans and a strength that even early Spirit Warriors would be envious of.


    Finally the third realm was the one that truly astonished Cao Yun. It was known as ''Conquering the Seven Demons''. Even without reading it in detail, he immediately saw the resemblance with his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. In this realm, an asura would cultivate his soul. He would work with each one of his Seven Turbid Demons in order to fuse them into a Demon Soul. Then they would trap this Demon Soul in their heart using blood chains. Not only was it reminiscent of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', but it also reminded him of what he was planning to do with the Drop of Wrath. But it was very difficult to understand without performing the first two realms first. The further he was trying to read, the more Insight Writings there were.


    Unless he had become a Golden Blood Child, he would have no way of understanding the Accomplished Demon realm.


    Thus, Cao Yun began to read the first realm, the Blood Child realm. Just like for humans, this realm was subdivided into nine grades. Reading them, Cao Yun realized that he had mostly cultivated this realm already. But he had done so in a very different manner. If he wanted to go far with this blood cultivation, Cao Yun would need to start from scratch. Of course, he would not need to lose all the benefits he had already gained. However, he would start from the basis and only advance when his cultivation was firm and solid.


    After what had happened with his Bai Hui, Cao Yun had decided not to take any shortcut.


    The very first step of the Blood Child realm was named ''Heart Beats''. As the name would suggest, it was revolving around the heart. Humans and asura both believed that the heart was the source of the blood. In order to increase the quality of one''s blood, it was necessary to work on the heart. More and more blood would flow through the veins and it would also be richer in Qi.


    According to this first grade, it was necessary to be able to control the heart to the point of either stopping it or accelerating it at will. But this training could cause various health issues as well as excite the passions. The heart was often associated with many emotions. Working with it for a young asura would awaken many passions and desires that could lead the cultivator astray. To begin with, demons and asura were way more emotional than humans. And humans could be very emotional. But again, some demons could also be very rational as well. There was no absolute.


    Although Cao Yun had already a good control over his heart and even his blood flow in general, he decided to practice this cultivation method from the very first grade. It would not take him more than a few weeks. Without using his mind cultivation or the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun decided to work on controlling his own heart consciously. He had already done so with ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. But he was also paying close attention to his blood now.

 Chapter 348: 2nd-grade Blood Child

    In Cao Yun''s heart was the physical Drop of Wrath. What he had in his sea of consciousness was the manifestation of the remnant of the corporeal soul in it. To be more accurate, it had been the Flying Poison, the corrupted version of the Po of Jing of Axiu Qian. But with time, Cao Yun had also engraved his Five Agents in it. Currently, he had a full version of his Po character. As such, his connection with the Drop of Wrath was extremely deep. However, it was still only a foreign object in his body.


    In a sense, it was another being on which he had imposed a bridle. As long as the Drop of Wrath was not too powerful or too agitated, the bridle would stay on. But if it were to reform its full Po, it would not stay under Cao Yun''s control. And even without talking about such an extreme situation, Cao Yun could not use all the powers of the Drop of Wrath. But his plan was sound. Now that he had seen how asura could cultivate their blood, he was even more assured that his plan was going to work.


    After hearing Dian Mo''s history lesson, he had realized that Axiu Qian and Da Mo were both asura. Knowing that humans, asura and deva were everywhere in countless universes, it made sense. And that also meant that Axiu Qian had practiced this cultivation. Maybe his cultivation method was different, but the concepts would be the same.


    Just as Emperor Nuwa had derived the Qi cultivation from the Dao, no species truly invented their cultivation system. Just like medicine, cultivation was based on the body, the soul and their relation to one another as well as with the rest of the cosmos. Thus, many methods and systems would be slightly different but they all had huge similarities. Even the way they were divided in realms and grades seemed to be very similar.


    Emperor Nuwa might have been influenced by the blood cultivation of Da Mo to divide her ''Universal Law of Immortality''. And maybe everyone had been influenced by the first cultivators. If the Three Jade Saints had truly existed, even though nothing remained of them, maybe they had left some influence behind them.


    While Cao Yun would advance his blood cultivation, he had to be prudent. His mind cultivation should progress as well. Cao Yun was not an idiot. He knew that Dian Mo was counting on an unbalance between his mind and the Drop of Wrath. But Cao Yun had worked too hard to get it under control to let everything be ruined so easily. Even if he had to slow down his blood cultivation, he would always put his mind cultivation first.


    According to the ''Crimson Inferno Road'', asura would develop a Demon Soul composed of all Seven Turbid Demons. In a sense, they would alter their own corporeal soul to create a new soul similar to the Soul Embryo used by humans. Since their cultivation was based on blood and heavily relied on their bodies, it made sense. Humans used Qi to create their Soul Embryo, asura used their corporeal souls to produce their Demon Soul. But this Demon Soul was way more violent and dangerous.


    After creating the Soul Embryo at the end of the second realm, humans had to awaken it and harmonize it with their own soul. Indeed, it was born absolutely blank. On the other hand, asura would spend several realms just to keep their Demon Soul under control. That meant that asura were weaker when it came to soul attacks. Their bodies were way superior to humans, but their souls and their spiritual senses were  inferior. However, just like Ren Chao, their will would be resilient beyond measure. Indeed, breaking the Demon Soul was almost impossible for someone who wasn''t vastly more powerful. As proof of that, Axiu Qian''s Po had survived despite everything it had gone through. Even if most of it had been destroyed, there still remained something in the end.


    -


    While Cao Yun was cultivating, the year ended. The Wubei Sect was in chaos and a lot of work was necessary. They had just survived a demonic beast stampede followed by a giant mutiny. A large part of the central plaza where many pavilions were had been destroyed. It would take months if not years to repair everything. As such, Sun Liao and Ren Chao were helping like crazy. As a blacksmith, Ren Chao was useful. But he also was useful when it came to moving the rubble.


    Every surviving disciple under the debris had been saved. With Spirit Master Xiao there, no sign of life could be missed. Unfortunately, many had already been dead like Guo L¨¹ye, the receptionist of the alchemy pavilion. Usually, inner disciples almost never went into the outer sect. But right now, they were helping as well. The inner sect had been mostly spared. Even though Mo Tian had been able to send more traitors in there, the fights had focused around the Devil''s Jail. However, there was still a great tension in the air.


    Although many were convinced that all the traitors had been eliminated, there were still suspicions. Maybe some of them had stayed dormant. That way, they would be very well placed. After all, after this large attack, they would be more easily trusted, especially if they were to capture or kill other demonic cultivators. Paranoia was weak but it was still there in the mind of many.


    Moreover, the disciplinary pavilion had lost its chief elder. They needed someone to take charge of it in order to make sure that order reigned in the Wubei Sect.


    Sect Leader Xuan was busier than he had ever been in his life. Although the rumors about his senility had been wrong, he was still extremely old. Besides, he had used most of his strength during the fight. In fact, he had even pushed beyond thanks to the array formations of the Wubei Sect, the Seal of Authority and Xiao Xuefeng''s support. Right now, he was barely in any condition to move around. That was good because he was forced to do a lot of paperwork. Paperwork and administration seemed to be the doom of most cultivators. Chief Elder Luoming had been a great help when it came to those monstrosities. And they could not imagine anyone who could replace him easily.


    There was also the problem of Xiao Xuefeng. Now that the demonic cultivators had been found, she had no more reason to stay with the sect. That meant that they would need to find her a replacement as chief elder of the alchemy pavilion. The former one had sadly passed away recently. But for the time being, Xiao Xuefeng would stay to keep an eye on her direct disciple Mei Hua. However, Mei Hua would not stick around after her five years, she would probably join the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But then again, she had her little sister who would join very soon. She was a lover of martial arts so she had no reason to join any other sect than the Wubei Sect.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    That way, the Wubei Sect would establish strong ties with the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Mei Hua, one of their future geniuses would have studied under them. Her sister would join the Wubei Sect. And their current genius, Feng Yingyue, was the Dao companion of Cao Yun. As long as they could strengthen their link with Cao Yun, their alliance with the Golden Flowery Fragrance was a done deal.


    Sect Leader Xuan was not just the best fighter, he was also a politician. Even if he wasn''t as good or as crafty as Matriarch Huang or even Director Ge, he was still good enough to ensure the survival of his own sect.


    He would need to receive Cao Yun. But for now, he had too many things on his plate. It could wait until the official end of the year. Hopefully, there would be enough candidates the following year...


    -


    Cao Yun was meditating in an isolated chamber of the Heavenly Swallow Faction. From time to time, he left to help around. But since he had saved the day and that he had been hurt in his Bai Hui, no one asked him to help more. Even if the story was hidden, it was said that Cao Yun had been essential in getting the third-years out of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. No one would give him a hard time for resting instead of helping around. Even then, he still helped as much as possible. But despite his higher cultivation, Cao Yun had still not become a Human alchemist or array formation master yet. He would need to work on that.


    Mei Hua was a better alchemist and she was helping the physicians refine the required pills for their patients. And Sun Liao was a better array formation master, helping the reconstruction of many array formations. Most of them had just been pushed a bit too far and were just exhausted. But there were also signs of fatigue on the materials themselves.


    Putting everything aside, Cao Yun acted as though he had never cultivated before. His cultivation was still there of course, but he faced this blood cultivation as a mere mortal.


    The 1st-grade Blood Child realm consisted in gaining control over one''s heart to improve both the quantity and quality of blood. With the Drop of Wrath in his heart, Cao Yun could practice this cultivation method just like an asura.


    Following ''Crimson Inferno Road'', Cao Yun focused on his heart. In his mind, he imagined his heart as a powerful drum. At first, he simply tried to get used to the music and the rhythm of the drum. In his mind, it was even producing some kind of melody. Dian Mo was very attentive because he wanted to know everything about the body that would be his in the end. Even if he couldn''t get the whole body, he would at least get the Drop of Wrath for himself. By spending a lot of time around it, he could get the Drop of Wrath used to his presence. Hopefully, he would even influence it enough for it to betray this human one day.


    It barely took four days for Cao Yun to be perfectly attuned to his heartbeat and his heart in general. Then, he controlled it to send more and more blood in his bloodstream. The volume was always identical of course, but the density was higher and higher. Each time Cao Yun meditated, he could feel the Drop of Wrath producing a tiny bit more blood though. With it, there was also more Qi in his blood. Despite his impression that his blood had reached a plateau, he realized that he could push it a bit further.


    In the end, the difference was very faint because Cao Yun had already improved his blood greatly. The remnant of the blood beasts he had killed and absorbed had probably played a part as well.


    Only when Cao Yun felt his blood cultivation extremely solid did he consider breaking through. For that, there was nothing to do really. In fact, Cao Yun had already reached the requirement of a 2nd-grade Blood Child, and even higher, a long time ago. Right now, he was just going back to the fundamentals to make sure that his blood cultivation was solid, like his Qi cultivation. ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' was just not the best blood cultivation he could use right now, especially with the Drop of Wrath in his possession. Training like a real asura was the way to go.


    The next step, the 2nd-grade Blood Child stage was also called ''Nourishing the Heart''. It was very similar to ''Expanding the Master'' and ''Reducing the Five Sheng'' in the sense that he needed to fill his heart with his blood in order to temper it. In fact, most of the Blood Child realm consisted in using the blood to temper every part of the body, from the muscles to the bones, and even to the deepest organs. The only part that might be challenging for Cao Yun was the part concerning the bones. Otherwise, his blood cultivation was already very good.


    -


    Before starting the 2nd-grade Blood Child realm, Cao Yun decided to focus a bit of his time on his mind cultivation. He had finally reached the third layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', ''Subdue the Seven Demons''. It was very similar to the Accomplished Demon realm within the asura cultivation. But Cao Yun could not wait to be an Accomplished Demon to begin cultivating it.


    The soul was separated in several parts. Some considered that the soul was one and it was characterized as plural in order to make sense of it while others truly believed there were many souls within one body. Both theses could be defended. After all, all the souls seemed very similar which seemed to indicate they were one. But humans could literally create a Soul Embryo, yet another soul, which could prove there truly were several of them to begin with.


    The corporeal soul, Po, was said to be composed of seven souls itself. Collectively, they were called the Seven Turbid Demons. The reason for that was that they were heavily linked to emotions and desires. Each one could easily turn for the worst. For example, the Po of Jing was essential because it was related to the Jing, the essence keeping the cultivator alive. In a sense, the Jing was the lifespan of a cultivator. It was very difficult to replenish but it could more easily be tempered and improved in quality if not in quantity. This Po of Jing was influenced by anger and rage. And if it went too far, it could become what was within the Drop of Wrath, the Flying Poison.


    According to ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', there was absolutely no order in which working on each Turbid Demon. Contrary to the chambers of the Upper Dantian, they could all be worked on at any time. In fact, it was possible to even work on several Turbid Demons at once. However, it would ultimately take more time. It was better to stick to one and work on it. The goal was to submit each Turbid Demon to one''s will and intent. That way, they would never turn and the cultivator would stay perfectly balanced and in control.


    At the same time Cao Yun would be working on his Seven Turbid Demons, he intended to use it to gain more and more control over the Drop of Wrath. His idea was to rebuild its Po with his own Seven Turbid Demons.

 Chapter 349: Audience with the sect leader

    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was studying avidly what he was doing. As he was circulating the ''Crimson Inferno Road'', his skin turned a bit red as more blood was pumped in his veins. But most of it was localized around his chest that was getting hotter and hotter. But both Cao Yun and Dian Mo could feel it.


    Cao Yun had never seen a real demon in his life but as a child he had always imagined them to have red skin the color of blood. In fact, this wasn''t strictly speaking true. His father had told him that most demons looked exactly like humans. Sometimes their skin truly was a bit darker and red, just like Yun Ping. However, their cultivation would create strange phenomena around them. One of the most common phenomena was a red skin indeed. In that aspect, they were different from asura. An asura always had red skin with golden lines.


    Since demons were a breed of human and asura blood, it wasn''t surprising that those asura characteristics would reappear during cultivation. Changing the color of one''s skin was however very easy for powerful cultivators. In fact, an asura could easily pass off as human if he was advanced enough. Just like a human could pass off as an asura. What truly differentiated the two species was the presence of Dantian and meridians.


    Cao Yun could have probably progressed extremely quickly through the Blood Child realm. In fact, in a matter of three to four months, he could have completed it. But he was not looking to go too fast. Right now, he was still a bit convalescent and was worried about his Bai Hui. Although the world tree seed seemed to have healed it, he wasn''t sure how safe it was to use it.


    Every so often, Cao Yun would try out a few Qi Manifestations. He would also work on his alchemy to play with his mastery of Qi. Now that he could control his Qi outside of his body, he could also easily manipulate small objects with it. Thus, he could now prepare ingredients without even touching them. Some were still too sensitive and fragile to be handled with Qi as the alchemist needed very minute control over his Qi. Unfortunately, Cao Yun was not there yet. But with his mind cultivation, it wouldn''t be long before he gained an impressive control.


    In fact, it would take him a few weeks to be able to control each strand of his Qi independently. From there, he could inject his Qi in the fire and mixing it with various powders, Cao Yun was able to turn a single flame into several different flames. Each one had a specific combination of elements and a very precise temperature. He could even use each flame to burn a localized area of the cauldron.


    Cao Yun was still using his first furnace and his first cauldron. At some point he would probably need to take tools of a higher grade. But since he was still only experimenting, this wasn''t urgent at all. Right now, he wasn''t even working on his alchemy, he was using it to work on his Qi control to see if his Five Prodigious Gates were working well.


    Everything really seemed fine. But Cao Yun could still feel that his Bai Hui was febrile. It felt as if it could break at any given time. And Cao Yun was unable to determine whether this was the case or just some unnecessary worry.


    As he was continuing to train his Qi control, Cao Yun had completely pushed aside his Qi cultivation for now. He would need to work on it at some point but he had decided to take things slow until he was confident enough. Besides, his martial arts, his mind, his blood, his alchemy and his array formations all required his attention. Because the martial arts pavilion had been destroyed, Cao Yun decided to train in the Heavenly Swallow Faction. During the past year, Zhi Yin and the new recruits had done a very impressive work with the facilities. Given that there were more recruits, they had received more resources. Besides, other factions had finally decided to help them.


    Of course, the Coiling Silk Faction had helped as Wang Mei was leading it. But the Dragon''s Fire Faction had also helped a lot, probably to curry favor with Mei Hua and Cao Yun. By extension, they could forge a good relationship with Xiao Xuefeng as well.


    Anyway, Cao Yun dedicated most of his time to his spearmanship. After losing the ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'', he needed to get more familiar with his new ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. The spear was even taller that his last one. There was also an ominous aura around this spear. But Cao Yun''s mastery over Evil Qi and his meager understanding of Death Energy were able to completely get rid of it. The way this spear had been forged was horrendous. Hundreds if not thousands of people had been used, blood and souls. However, that didn''t mean that Cao Yun could not use it for good now. The orthodox way did not reject everything made through the demonic ways. What it rejected was the means themselves. Creating the weapon was evil, not using it.


    Still, Cao Yun preferred to keep this sinister aura under control.


    The rest of the time, Cao Yun worked on his blood cultivation, and spent at least as much time on his mind cultivation, so that it would always be more advanced. Finally, he played around with both alchemy and array formations to test out his Qi control.


    -


    After a few weeks, the official end of the year was upon the Wubei Sect. This year, every event had been canceled. There would be no ranked duels either. Even now, the Wubei Sect was licking its wounds. What was most important was to get back up for the future candidates who would soon arrive. Most of the disaster had been kept secret. It had been less than two months since the attack. Sect Leader Xuan had used array formations to convey the news to the main powers of the Hongchen Kingdom. But for normal cultivators, this was not something they could do. The news would take some time to travel around.


    Besides, no one was eager to share that their most powerful sect had almost fallen. Worse, if it had, all of the Hongchen Kingdom would have fallen. Even if Sect Leader Xuan had silenced the truth behind the giant red arm, the Wubei Sect was a strategic point. If it were to fail, the demons would get a perfect opportunity to attack the humans. In the last centuries, no demon had tried to attack thanks to the reputation of the Wubei Sect. All their efforts had been diverted to a few points in the defense of the Hongchen Kingdom. The Sunmen Province and the Subei Province were the most critical areas. The majority of the attacks was happening there. As such, these were the most militarized provinces. Even the Imperial City had fewer soldiers and weapons.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    In particular, the Sunmen Province was seen as the bastion protecting mankind. It wasn''t surprising that both Long Jian and Chan Weifeng had both grown up in that province. It had created a lot of great warriors. Unfortunately, the weak soldiers were quickly killed. Only the strong ones were able to survive long enough to reach adulthood.


    As the preparations were almost complete for the new year, Cao Yun received an invitation. His servant Kang Cai brought him a letter from her master Xiao Xuefeng. She had received orders from Sect Leader Xuan to invite him for a conversation.


    During the chaos of the battle, Sect Leader Xuan had called Cao Yun by his real name. Since then, nothing had been said about it. Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng hadn''t talked about how Cao Yun was able to manipulate Evil Qi and save Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo, nor about how he knew so much concerning the Devil''s Jail. Clearly, that discussion would go over these subjects and some more. Because Cao Yun did not know about Sect Leader Xuan''s character he was a bit apprehensive, but he trusted Xiao Xuefeng completely. And both of them had risked their lives for the sect and mankind. However that was during the crisis and now was another time.


    -


    Cao Yun was walking up the Heidai Peak. In front of him, he finally saw the Meridian Gate. This was the only gate leading to the Sect Palace where Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng had summoned him. Usually, only chief elders or more rarely elders could have access to this Sect Palace. An outer disciple had almost never been called into it. But outer disciples didn''t need to speak with the sect leader in person. Even among the inner disciples, only a handful who were exceptional could get this honor. And most of the times, it was through a proxy holding the Seal of Authority.


    The difference today was that Sect Leader Xuan could not let anyone else hear this conversation.


    When Cao Yun reached the Meridian Gate, an elder was waiting for him.


    "Your spatial ring, please."


    Cao Yun bowed, saluted the elder and gave him his spatial ring. He had no doubt that no one would even look inside. Anyway, if they wanted to steal from him, they could do so without any stratagem. In their eyes, Cao Yun was still just a child. As a matter of fact, Cao Yun had not officially become a man yet. Indeed, in the Hongchen Kingdom, a boy became a man when he turned twenty. Cao Yun was still short a couple of months.


    The Meridian Gate opened without anyone pushing it, and a gong echoed throughout the Sect Palace. The elder showed the way to Cao Yun but stayed outside. With a bit of apprehension, the boy walked forward only to have the Meridian Gate close itself behind him. Naturally, he walked forward and up the stairs directly in front of him.


    Then he found himself in the room where Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng were waiting. Sect Leader Xuan was not hidden behind a curtain, but he was sitting down. His posture was not very good and it was clear that he was tired. For a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior to show signs of fatigue indicated how exhausted he truly was. Even Xiao Xuefeng seemed in a better condition despite everything she had done during the previous battle and since then.


    Cao Yun knew the protocol. He walked until the authorized limit and kowtowed.


    "This humble one salutes Sect Leader Xuan. This humble one salutes Spirit Master Xiao."


    As he was done speaking, Cao Yun felt a powerful wave pass through him. All around the Sect Palace, an array formation had just been activated. But this wasn''t all, Cao Yun could also feel the Qi of Sect Leader Xuan. He had first sensed it during the previous battle. It was so powerful and mysterious that there was no way to be mistaken about it. Sect Leader Xuan was altering space all around the Sect Palace.


    "From now on, no word spoken here will ever leave those walls, Cao Yun."


    There was no surprise per se because the boy knew his real name had been found out already. But it was still strange for him to be called that way, especially in such an official place. He quickly looked at Xiao Xuefeng who was not reacting either.


    "Spirit Master Xiao has not betrayed your trust."


    "I never doubted that, Sect Leader."


    "Cao Yun, I heard a lot about you. And I had also heard a lot about your family. As a matter of fact, I even met your great-grandfather when he was a child. What has happened to your family is a tragedy. And you have been wise to keep your name a secret. You probably already spoke with Matriarch Huang on that matter, right?"


    "Indeed, Sect Leader. She recognized me easily."


    "Of course, she did. And she probably told you how close she was to your family. Let me tell you something. Huang Yufeng is a noble woman and a very powerful cultivator. However she is also crafty and cunning. Her main concern will always be the survival of her family. Thankfully, it passes through the survival of mankind and the Hongchen Kingdom. But you shouldn''t trust her every word. Even if the gist of what she told you is probably true, it should also be full of tiny lies to gain your trust and make you a useful tool for her family.


    "But do not get me wrong, I too want to make you a useful tool for my Wubei Sect. However, I will be direct with you. There are more and more doubts about the ones responsible behind the massacre of the Cao family. It is best that the Imperial City does not learn of your survival. If you wish to know the truth, you will be forced to operate in the shadows for quite some time.


    "The Hongchen Kingdom is under a lot of pressure, both from the outside and from within. Even if Mo Tian was the Demon King, which is still unclear right now, demonic cultivators are still a threat. But the Imperial City is also a threat. Despite how unified our kingdom may appear to its citizens, there are always struggles for power. Most of the times they are bloodless, but this should not make you believe that they are peaceful.


    "The truth is that there are many strange things happening all over the Hongchen Kingdom. Even the Imperial City is affected. It''s been several decades that the Emperor did not appear in public and no announce of his seclusion has been made. Some even fear whether he is still alive or not... For one, I do not believe in his death. Although I am still more powerful than he is, he is younger than me by at least four centuries. There is no way he would go down without a fight. And if he were to fight, we would all know about it.


    "Unfortunately, we won''t be able to learn more about the situation anytime soon. With the demons at our borders and the internal threats, almost no one has enough manpower to act. Our Wubei Sect was the last power that could manage to spread its forces, but this is over. We will be forced to focus our efforts on the sect for a while. An attack from the demon kingdoms is imminent. This intelligence is true, no matter how we look at it.


    "Then the question is, are you ready to try and uncover the truth by yourself?"

 Chapter 350: Young Sect Master

    "The betrayal of Mo Tian has cost us a lot. And we will need several years to go back to the situation we were in beforehand. Right now, we''re still tracking down a few demonic cultivators who had infiltrated our Wubei Sect. Some were even able to take hostages with them. There are also possible demonic cultivators who tried to hide in the sect. We''re still reconstructing all the events of the battle to account for everyone. When we''ll know precisely who did what and when, we''ll be able to eliminate even more demonic cultivators."


    After the Sect Leader, Xiao Xuefeng spoke directly to Cao Yun.


    "A handful of juniors already came to me in secrecy. With Mo Tian''s defeat, they thought that the seals in them would be weak enough for them to find ways to talk. Unfortunately, they have been wrong. Yes, the seals are weaker now that Mo Tian is trapped under the Devil''s Jail, because he can''t activate them or amplify their power. However, they are still active nonetheless. As soon as they start to even imagine betraying the demonic cultivators, the seals in their soul begins to activate and if they go on with their idea, their sea of consciousness is destroyed. I''ve tried to help a few of them, but it''s very difficult. Since you seem to have a good control over Evil Qi, you might be able to help me with that. A few of them are not dead yet and might even be saved."


    Although Spirit Master Xiao had the most powerful spiritual senses, Cao Yun had demonstrated a talent for controlling Evil Qi that even she found fascinating. With her cultivation, she would probably be able to be as competent. However, she would need to use way more time and energy. Saving Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo as he had done was something she would have not been able to pull off if she had even been an early Spirit Warrior. And Cao Yun was only an early Mortal Warrior.


    "I can try, Spirit Master. During the events in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, I''ve been successful in destroying some of the seals within the bodies of the demonic cultivators. But others, namely those in their souls, were still too complicated for me to get rid of them. But if you need my help, I can be of assistance."


    "Good."


    Observing how Cao Yun was able to do it would also help Xiao Xuefeng. Although she had no Drop of Wrath, she could probably discern many things that she would be able to emulate in her own way. Unfortunately, orthodox cultivators did not know an awful lot about the seals used by demonic cultivators. Indeed, it was unheard of to have a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior as a demonic cultivator. Most of the times, the seals they were using were very rudimentary. Mo Tian had completely changed it. Not only had their strategy evolved, but their ways had changed beyond recognition. Most likely, it was due to whatever Mo Tian had found.


    Among his discovery, he had gotten the ''Blood Runes'' method, some documents on the Demon Palace and probably much more, like soul seals and other abominations. They were still trying to look for what Mo Tian had discovered. All of his spatial rings had been retrieved. Several elders were also trying to find out every place he could have visited.


    For the moment, there was also a doubt on his level in the hierarchy. Some believed that he was maybe the real Demon King. It was possible that he had tried to hide it even to other demonic cultivators. The idea of having several 9th-grade Spirit Warriors among the demonic cultivators was not very promising. But it was also possible that the Demon King was not even a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. If he was only an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior, as long as he placed some contingency in Mo Tian''s soul, he could have made sure that he stayed docile. Maybe Mo Tian was even sincerely behind him.


    In the aftermath of the tragedy, the fog of war was still thick. Moreover, the Wubei Sect was not very trusting of the Imperial City. On the other hand, Xiao Xuefeng had been able to bring forth the help of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.


    "Cao Yun, I summoned you here to talk about your future, the future of our Wubei Sect and even the future of the human race. After everything is dealt with, after those responsible for your family''s death are found and killed, after the internal threat of the demonic cultivators is eliminated, what will you do? Will you try to rebuild the Cao family in Baziyun City? Will you marry Feng Yingyue? Will you become a vagrant cultivator? Will you join an organization? The army?"


    To be honest, Cao Yun had not really thought an awful lot about his future. He was still focused on his current objectives. But to be fair, they would all take a very long time to be accomplished.


    "Sect Leader, my only desire after all of that is done is to keep cultivating. I want to explore the cultivation world and rise higher and higher. I do not know whether I''ll be able to break the terrible fate of the Forsaken Dao Era, but my wish is to try. On all other matters, my mind is not made."


    He quickly looked at Xiao Xuefeng, knowing she was a high member of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Despite his hesitation to mention the matter, Cao Yun kept on talking.


    "I am not even sure about Feng Yingyue. Our letters have become more sporadic recently with all the terrible events. We met when we were both young and traumatized. And... I changed a lot in the past three years. We were supposed to meet again in two years during the Alchemy Conference. Once I see her again, I think I''ll be able to know about my real feelings. Concerning my Cao family, I want our name to be remembered. As soon as I can, I intend to reclaim it. But I''ve never thought about reviving the entire family by myself."


    "You''re still very young, it''s not a problem if you haven''t thought about every single detail. On the matter of your Dao companion, it is not good for young people to be apart for so long. You should indeed wait for you two to meet again before taking any decision, this is wise."


    For a few moments, there was silence in the Sect Palace. Clearly, Xiao Xuefeng and Sect leader Xuan had something in mind and Cao Yun was waiting for them to say it out loud.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "I have a proposition for you. What would you say about becoming my direct disciple?"


    Cao Yun was ready for many things. He thought that Sect Leader might ask him to join the Wubei Sect, or something similar. But becoming the direct disciple of the Sect Leader was well beyond what he had thought possible.


    "That would make you the Young Sect Master. After my passing, you would be recognized as the natural Sect Leader."


    The sudden proposition shook Cao Yun. He did not wish to be tied down to a sect, because he was dreaming of the worlds he had seen through Cleansed Asura and Axiu Qian''s memories. However, becoming the sect leader was another story altogether. As a sect leader, he could literally use all the resources of the sect if he wanted. Of course, there were also obligations, but he could even choose another sect leader after a few decades or centuries and leave. He would still remain an honorary ancestor of the sect with many privileges.


    Since its creation, the Wubei Sect had no living ancestor because no cultivator had become older than two millenniums. But in the past, sects could have many ancestors, cultivators who had decided to leave the mundane world but were still attached to the sect. They were great powerhouses who could protect their sect in case of emergency while roaming free the rest of the time.


    "I am not asking for an immediate answer, but I do think this will be beneficial to you. After all, I am the most powerful cultivator on the Piaolu planet. Not even Emperor Weide is beyond me. Moreover, I know a lot about the Dao of Space, and about the next realms of cultivation. After hearing what happened to you near Baziyun City, I think this knowledge might be of interest to you. That doesn''t mean that I wouldn''t help you otherwise. But the help I''ll give my own direct disciple is obviously more important."


    "Sect Leader!"


    Cao Yun kowtowed once more. With his Chamber of Heavenly Court, his ability to make decisions had been increased. Not only could his mind get so fast that time seemed to freeze, but he was also more decisive overall.


    "This humble one accepts your most gracious offer."


    This time, Sect Leader Xuan and Spirit Master Xiao were the ones being surprised. They both thought that Cao Yun would ultimately accept, but they also thought he would need some time to think about it.


    "... Good, good. However, I''ll need you to do something before your title is recognized. For now, I will accept you as a direct disciple without divulging it to anyone. The new year is very close. Then, the first ranking duels will take place. Right now, Zhi Yin is ranked first with Long Huafang right behind her. Fairy Zhi has already surpassed both Long Jian and Chan Weifeng. Your name is well-known in the outer sect, but if you beat her and show your talent, even the inner sect will be forced to admit your superiority. Thus, I will ask you to compete in the ranking duels. You will challenge Zhi Yin and win. Do you agree with that?"


    Cao Yun was still a bit worried about his Bai Hui. But his recent training with his new spear and his martial arts had proved to him how much he had grown. Although he couldn''t be sure whether he could beat Zhi Yin, he was confident in himself.


    "Yes, Sect Leader."


    "Great! Now I will bring you other news. To be honest, I thought I would have to convince you a bit more. Thanks to Spirit Master Xiao, our Wubei Sect has established powerful ties with the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. And thanks to you, our relationship with the Huang family has also improved a lot. Several other sects, and even a few temples have associated with us all. There is a growing concern about what is going on both within and outside. As I said, Emperor Weide has not appeared for a long time.


    "You talked about the Alchemy Conference in two years. I do think that he will be forced to show himself. If he still doesn''t appear in public, the confidence in the Imperial City will fall. They can''t allow such a thing to happen. Thus, I think it would be a very good idea for you to take part in this Alchemy Conference.


    "But there are also many more matters to speak about. We''ve investigated different leads to make sense of what''s going on in our kingdom. We still need some pieces of information, but by the time of the ranking duels, we will know more about the demonic cultivators, which might interest you. The most important thing I wanted to discuss is an old matter that''s been silenced by the Imperial City in the name of preserving the peace. Your Cao family is not the first family to have been slaughtered in such a manner."


    When he heard Sect Leader Xuan''s last words, Cao Yun became way more attentive. Until recently, he had been convinced that his family had been slaughtered by demonic cultivators without knowing the reason why. It seemed though that the truth was way more complex than that.


    "The Shui family was eradicated around thirty to forty years ago. No survivor was ever found. It happened in a recluse city. Unlike Baziyun City, this was a tiny city. And the Shui family was the only prominent name in the city. They were leaving in seclusion and were not well-known at all. In fact, it''s even difficult to know precisely where they came from. But in a single night, the entire city was razed and everyone killed. The Shui family lived to the south of the Wu Province, closer to the Wang Province and the Imperial City.


    "Just like with the Cao family, the Imperial City took care of the investigation. Instead of demonic cultivators, they accused a group of rebels who were against the Emperor. To this day, no evidence of their involvement has ever been produced. In fact, the Imperial City decided to silence the matter in order to maintain the unity of the human race against the demons. Their justification was that knowing of such violence between humans would be bad for our unity. In fact, even until recently, I had not heard of this story. This is Spirit Master Xiao who is to be thanked for this news."


    "My contacts within the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall have found out about this because someone within has been investigating these kinds of incidents. I don''t have a name yet, but this is someone from Baziyun City. There is a possibility that the person looking into these affairs is a member of the Huang family. Huang Cixi is in seclusion, but she might have ordered to look into it. After all, she is very interested in you and what happened to the Cao family."


    Of course, Xiao Xuefeng knew who Huang Cixi was. But she still didn''t reveal it to Cao Yun. The boy had heard from Huang Liyue that Huang Cixi had forgiven him. The fact that she was interested in the Cao family''s massacre was logical. It had happened near her own family mansion.


    "Cao Yun, I''ll be direct. Almost no one can help you. But the stealth you showed us proves that you can take care of yourself. The war with the demons will probably erupt in less than a decade. At that time, investigating those matters will be almost impossible. If we want to get to the bottom of what''s really going on, we need you to act now. This will be dangerous and you will need to hide your identity. Since your brothers and sister don''t have your abilities, you will probably be forced to act alone. Are you ready to take such risks?"


    "Yes! I already intended to do so beforehand. First, I will try to find evidence in the former Wolf Head Sect. Since it''s in the same direction, I will then visit Baziyun City and the Huang family. Maybe I can also investigate the local Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall."

 Chapter 351: Healing the Seven Demons

    For Cao Yun, his future plans were clear. Right now, he would stay in the Wubei Sect to stabilize his cultivation and prepare himself. After becoming the direct disciple of Sect Leader Xuan, he had access to many more resources and books. However, he still needed to perform well during the ranking duel to be accepted by everyone. In theory, the Sect Leader could impose anyone he wanted. But to avoid any opposition and make things smoother, it would be better for Cao Yun to show everyone his competence.


    Besides, he was going to fight against Zhi Yin. She was calm and respectful, unlike her first supporter Ling Hui. In fact, the little brat would probably be the most problematic factor. As such, Cao Yun would wait for Zhi Yin to be alone to talk to her. He had no intention of ambushing her with a last minute duel. No, he would warn her as soon as he could so that no one could imagine there had be any foul play. People could imagine he had trained with her in secret to steal all her moves and be ready for the fight.


    Just as he didn''t know how much she had progressed, she had no idea how far he had gone either. This duel was not about life and death. Even if he were to lose, as long as he could show how powerful he was, this would be a success. Furthermore, he had really loved fighting against her during his entrance examination. Since then, they had sparred some times and each time had been interesting and challenging. For someone who loved martial arts, fighting her was a great occasion.


    Once he was officially the Young Sect Master, Cao Yun could freely go in the library to parse through all the books without any restriction. In fact, he could probably do so right now in secret. Sect Leader Xuan just wanted to avoid having to deal with an opposition or having inner disciples challenge Cao Yun repeatedly to prove he was unworthy. With such a show of strength, he would silence everyone before they could even speak. As such, they still needed to be discreet for now, and Cao Yun didn''t want that kind of attention either.


    After this first task was done, he knew exactly what he was going to do. The map of the Hongchen Kingdom appeared in his mind. On his path, the first stop would be the former lair of the Wolf Head Sect. It had been investigated again and again. But no one had his sensitivity toward Evil Qi. He also had another secret, Dian Mo. Maybe he could find something no one else could. Even if he didn''t find anything, it was on the way to Baziyun City anyway.


    Indeed, after that, he would go to Baziyun City. He would probably get some news on the Mountain Fenghuang egg. And he would investigate the different leads he had gotten. Someone was using the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to find information about past massacres. In the end, it had helped him because he had learned about the Shui family. Unfortunately, it was old enough that no trace would remain. In fact, Cao Yun had thought about going where the Shui family lived and died as well but there would be nothing at all. However, the name Shui was staying in his mind. It was very similar to his mother''s name, Cao Shui. This wasn''t the same character, but he couldn''t stop himself from sensing a relation.


    After all, the Shui family had been killed near the Wu Province. And the time was within the time frame when his mother and his father had met. Furthermore, Cao Yun had never heard anything about her family. It was as though she had appeared out of thin air. This thought caused many more doubts in Cao Yun. For now, he had no certainty. Before investigating, it was best to keep an open mind and not narrow down his vision.


    While dealing with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Cao Yun could also get some things in order. He would need another identity for his investigation. Xiao Xuefeng had many contacts in the Main Hall. She was positive she could obtain a credible identity for him. In order to uphold this identity, Cao Yun would need to train his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Although he couldn''t completely erase his presence in front of a late Spirit Warrior, he could alter it. Thanks to that, he would be able to create the illusion of a different aura. But he had to work on it so that this aura was stable and always the same. The ashes acted as a form of mist, warping the perception of others.


    Thankfully, his face was not very well-known. Besides, he could easily use the ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to also make his features less noticeable. His face would not change but unless someone studied his face for a long time, his features would appear very ordinary.


    Finally, he would need to get ready for the Alchemy Conference. Hopefully, he would have found interesting leads to explore by then. Otherwise, he would have to rely on his presence in the Imperial City to learn more. Maybe he would explore the kingdom or simply partake in the cleansing of the demonic cultivators. After all, it wasn''t clear whether the Demon King was still alive or not. They had still not figured out why they had stolen from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Maybe Cao Yun could go there to know more. The idea of seeing Feng Yingyue caused him to pause. He wanted to see her but he was also afraid. He was afraid that if he saw her, he would realize that he had fallen for her in a moment of despair and didn''t really care for her. But worse than that, she might realize that of herself.


    Cao Yun had little to no experience with women. At the time, becoming Dao companion with her seemed natural and even wonderful. But now he had many doubts. The fact that they had not seen each other for a long time and that their letters had even stopped did not help at all. Xiao Xuefeng even told him that Feng Yingyue would stay in seclusion until the Alchemy Conference. Her talent was impressive so Hua Fenfei and Director Ge had authorized her to practice in the legendary Hall of Poison and Cure. This was a secret in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Training there was dangerous but one''s alchemy would skyrocket. It was said that a Mortal Warrior could become as masterful as a 1-star Heaven alchemist without breaking through to Spirit Warrior, if he survived.


    Considering that she had the same mind cultivation as Cao Yun, he was not too worried about her. In fact, he was way more worried about his emotions. Despite his mind cultivation, he was not certain of what they were. But by seeing her, he knew that all his doubts would dispel. The problem was that he could not know in which way...Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    -


    Since he had nothing more to do than to train, that was what Cao Yun did. He also helped out Xiao Xuefeng with the seals of the few demonic cultivators. He worked secretly with her and Chief Elder L¨¹mian. Both women were interested by the way he could handle the seals. Of course, Cao Yun could not share his Drop of Wrath, and he could not either share his ''Death Verses''. That being said, those women were geniuses when it came to mind and soul. Just by watching attentively when he preformed his art several times, they were able to determine many things on the seals themselves. Very quickly, they became even more competent than Cao Yun, which helped him also understand a few things. But in the end, their knowledge eclipsed his.


    Just like him though, they would still have a hard time getting rid of a powerful seal, especially one in someone''s soul. But maybe there was hope for these few disciples yet. That meant that there was hope to save other demonic cultivators. They were known to force and coerce cultivators into this life. Once they had agreed to a small thing, they were trapped because they had seals in them. But if they could find a way to protect people from those seals, or simply eradicate them before they could kill the victim, they might be able to convert back some demonic cultivators. Of course, they would be judged and sentenced according to what atrocities they had already committed, but this would not necessarily mean death.


    Apart from this help, Cao Yun trained with Chief Elder Baishen. She was still shaken by Chief Elder Suxian''s death. Although she was excited by Cao Yun''s prowess, he could feel that there was something somber in her now. With the prospect of a huge war in the near future, Cao Yun would probably be confronted to this depressing aura more and more. The Hongchen Kingdom had been struck by a demonic beast stampede recently and the fallout of it was still echoing throughout the provinces. The rumors of a war were also spreading. Many were imagining that the human race would soon either be enslaved or completely annihilated.


    Cao Yun did not only train his martial arts, he cultivated his blood as well. In a month, he was able to fully fill his heart with all his blood. At some point, he felt a powerful tremor in all his bloodstream as his heart pumped like crazy without sending a drop of blood. This form of spasm was the sign of a breakthrough to the 3rd-grade Blood Child. After that, Cao Yun would need to use his blood rich in Qi to nourish his muscles and superficial tissues first and then his organs. All of that was not new to him, but he wanted to do it slow in order to create a very stable base.


    Because he had cultivated his blood through various methods, he now wanted to adhere to this ''Crimson Inferno Road'' as closely as possible. He would avoid any deviation in his training.


    The last part of his training consisted in cultivating his mind. Now that he had completed the second layer, Cao Yun had to practice ''Subdue the Seven Demons''. Another reason why he was taking his time with the blood cultivation, besides the trauma of his Bai Hui, was that he wanted his mind to stay more powerful than his blood. Even now, he could feel that his emotions were deeper. He could get excited way more easily, and by any emotion, anger, sadness, love, anything. Thankfully, his mind cultivation was strong enough that those mood swings had no impact on him, for now. If his blood cultivation went too far too fast, he might be in trouble.


    After all his efforts to calm down the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun didn''t want to have to start all over again but with his very blood now.


    ''Subdue the Seven Demons'' was the third layer of the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. After this one, there was one final layer during which Cao Yun would use those Seven Turbid Demons and seal them in his Nine Soul Peaks.


    In this third layer, the training was rather straight forward. The Po, the corporeal soul, was made of seven smaller souls called the Seven Turbid Demons. In fact, this name referred more specifically to what they could turn into. Each Po could be perverted into being a demon. In a way, this was the origin of most inner demons who were more often than not a combination of several Po. Thanks to the Po character, it was possible to examine the corporeal soul in detail. And the Chamber of Mysterious Elixir was necessary to have a powerful perception of one''s own soul.


    The cultivator had to examine his Po in order to clearly identify each smaller Po inside. Then, he had to extract each one and subdue it so that it would never be corrupted by emotions. From Dian Mo''s perspective, this was incredibly similar to what demons did in order to create their Demon Soul. But in a sense, it was the opposite. Indeed, demons would corrupt each Po in order to turn them into the Seven Turbid Demons. They would become way more powerful but they would also require to be tamed. The more Dian Mo learned about this mind cultivation, the more doubts he had concerning its origin. In fact, he was almost certain about it. But he had no reason to tell anything to Cao Yun.


    The young man began with the Flying Poison, the Turbid Demon associated with the Po of Jing. This was the last part of Axiu Qian''s corporeal soul still present in the Drop of Wrath. His goal was clear. He didn''t want to just study and strengthen each one of his seven Po. No, Cao Yun wanted to use this third layer in order to implant them into the Drop of Wrath.


    As it was trying to repair itself, it would probably be very receptive to it. Cao Yun just had to be careful to always stay in control. But if he could recreate the entirety of the Drop of Wrath''s corporeal soul, its power would be increased beyond measure. Besides, he would be fully in charge of it. Even now that he was able to contain it effortlessly, it was still a foreign object under his control, not a true part of him yet.


    The young man started the third layer by focusing all of his senses on the Po character outside of the Drop of Wrath. It was still surrounded by a small cloud of bones. This was Death Energy. Maybe he could learn more about Death Energy and the ''Death Verses'' by doing this. It would kill two birds with one stone.


    His Po character was now made of billions of intertwined filaments. This was like a true bone. Observed closely, it was similar to a giant network of small white filaments, like a spider''s web. According to his mind cultivation, Cao Yun had to map out the entire character in order to recognize the parts that were related to the Po of Jing. Without any surprise, its Turbid Demon, the Flying Poison, was related to rage and wrath. This was the main root of the Drop of Wrath.


    As he was studying his Po character, he could feel the Drop of Wrath react at the same time. It could feel the presence of the Flying Poison within its host. And it didn''t seem happy about it, like two feral animals on the same territory. For now, Cao Yun was able to keep the Drop of Wrath under control. But if he tried to complement the current Flying Poison with his own, the Drop of Wrath would not react very well to what it would perceive as an aggression.


    Anyway, in order to really extract and subdue this part of his Po, Cao Yun estimated that he would need somewhere between two to three years. This was the hardest layer yet.

 Chapter 352: The origin of Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks

    Cao Yun began to unravel the filaments of his Po character. At first, it looked like a real statue carved into a single bone. But just like bones, it was in fact made of a myriad of filaments intertwined with each other. Those filaments were all part of the representation of Cao Yun''s corporeal soul. They were not directly his soul, but they were some kind of gateway to it.


    Their organization was rather chaotic. All around the Po character was also a cloud of bone particles. This cloud was entirely comprised of Death Energy Cao Yun had absorbed. But it didn''t stop there. Even inside the Po character, there were traces of Death Energy. This Death Energy was purified. In a sense, it was to raw Death Energy what pure Qi was to Evil Qi. Indeed, Evil Qi was infested with negative emotions, and in the wild, Death Energy was also often corrupted with either Evil Qi or remnants of negative emotions as well. After all, death seldom was a joyous occasion.


    Cao Yun''s Drop of Wrath had already purified this Death Energy. As such, this was a great way for Cao Yun to test another one of his cultivation methods, the ''Death Verses''. Even now, he could only understand the first two verses, ''See Through the Mud'' and ''Death Reeling''. The first one consisted in sensing Death Energy while the other one was about controlling it as easily as Qi.


    Since there was almost no Death Energy in the Hongchen Kingdom, it would be difficult for Cao Yun to work on this. But his master had given him the opportunity to study it. As such, he was certain that this was extremely powerful and profound. Even if Cleansed Asura had only given it to him in order for him to save Huang Liyue''s life, Cao Yun wanted to cultivate it to a higher level. No matter how useful it would be to him, in the end it would also help him decipher the other pieces of knowledge left behind by Cleansed Asura. They were a strange mixture of Antique Sixian written in Nuhua characters. Sometimes the characters were real translation, sometimes they just looked similar, and some other times, they were purely phonetic.


    Even for a great scholar, piecing everything together would take a lot of time, longer than a mortal''s life. And Cao Yun did not even know the Antique Sixian language. He could use some Insight Writings to help him but that wouldn''t bring him very far since Cleansed Asura''s comprehension of the world was way beyond Cao Yun''s. Besides, Death Energy was related to the Po. And right now he was working on his own Po. Furthermore, the Drop of Wrath was also a corrupted form of Po. All things considered, being more knowledgeable about Death Energy would probably be useful. Anyway, he was forced to work with it now that his Po character was partly made of it.


    Just as Cao Yun was working with his Po, he was also activating the one in the Drop of Wrath. Both of them appeared identical at first glance, but internally, they were very different indeed.


    Cao Yun''s idea was to try and create a perfect copy of his own Seven Turbid Demons inside the Drop of Wrath. With them, he was convinced that he could alter the Drop of Wrath so that it would fuse with him, body and soul. But to be honest, he wasn''t absolutely certain what he should do. As a first attempt, Cao Yun tried to map out both Po characters. But he soon realized that this was doomed to fail. They were always changing. After all, he was alive so there was no reason for his corporeal soul to be static. Even in death, the corporeal soul would change in order to decompose the body. As long as the body was changing, so was the corporeal soul.


    The seven souls were all related to various emotions. Thus, Cao Yun got an idea. He used his mind cultivation to shut down most of his emotions. In a few minutes, Cao Yun was perfectly calm with no thought and no emotion in his mind. Then, he tried again. The Po characters were still changing but it was incredibly slow now.


    According to the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual, Cao Yun had to focus on specific images and specific emotions to bring out the parts of each Po to the surface. Then, he would slowly extract them as though reeling silk. Of course, he immediately thought of ''Reeling Death''. The idea behind was also very similar.


    Despite his absence of emotions, Cao Yun focused on memories full of rage. It wasn''t that difficult at all. Until now, he had a lot of rage and anger in him. Although his mind cultivation and his recent experiences in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom had made him wiser than a boy his age, this wrath was still in him. Cao Yun was still a human being. But he didn''t just focus on anger. His mind also focused on his kidneys. This was where prenatal Jing was stored in the human body. Since the corporeal soul was responsible for the growth of the body, it was deeply connected with it.


    What Cao Yun was trying to work on was the Flying Poison. This Turbid Demon was also known as the Po of Jing in its healthy version. Of course, Cao Yun''s Po of Jing was not corrupted but the Drop of Wrath''s had already turned into a Flying Poison. However, only a part of it had survived Axiu Qian''s death.


    Finally, Cao Yun tried to imagine a physical form for this Flying Poison. As he was working on it, the Drop of Wrath got agitated. It had been some time since it had happened. But the Flying Poison within seemed to answer to Cao Yun''s call and it wasn''t happy about it in the slightest.


    Below the Drop of Wrath, Dian Mo was fascinated. Cao Yun had committed a mistake when making a deal with him. Every day, he could hide the outside world to his senses for two double hours. For example, he had hidden the entire conversation with Sect Leader Xuan and Spirit Master Xiao. he was also hiding out when he worked on techniques he wanted kept secret. However, he could not hide what was going on in his sea of consciousness. Maybe he could have used the ''Ashen Feather Seal'' but that would take part of his concentration and he had no certainty on the result. But as much as Dian Mo could see, he could not feel what Cao Yun was feeling.


    That being said, he was completely transfixed by what he was seeing. The Drop of Wrath was being slightly deformed. It surface also changed and became as smooth as a mirror. Soon, images began to appear on the surface of the Drop of Wrath. It was relatively peaceful but completely random. At first, Dian Mo saw scenes he could not understand. They belonged to Axiu Qian''s past. But there were also other images.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    In the beginning, those images were blurry, but they were slowly becoming clearer. It didn''t take long for Dian Mo to recognize Cao Yun''s face. Everything else was a bit too obscure, but it was obvious that there was a massacre. One image appeared vividly. A young girl was bawling her eyes out while trying to cling to Cao Yun. At the same time, a man whose face he couldn''t really see was taking her away. Then, a red flash ended the scene. Dian Mo didn''t know what he was seeing but he memorized everything.


    As Cao Yun was working on both the Po characters, he was getting memories from the Drop of Wrath, memories related to Axiu Qian''s rage. He saw him kill his friends as a slave. He saw him watch civilians, children, women, elders, being put to the sword. Most of the times, his masters were ordering him to commit atrocities beyond imagination. Even Cao Yun had not imagined how depraved those masters of his had been. No defilement was too abhorrent for them. They could turn any disgusting act into a spectacle they would enjoy.


    Then, he saw how Axiu Qian had slaughtered them all. But he also saw how rage had overtaken him. Entire galaxies were set ablaze by his rage. In the end, most of his allies turned against him. His masters had made him a monster. Even freed, he had learned their lessons well. Although his cause seemed just each and every time, his methods were so brutal that only a madman would have sided with him. As such, he made more and more enemies, even of his own allies.


    With this mind cultivation, Cao Yun''s memories and emotions were affecting the Drop of Wrath and the Drop of Wrath was affecting Cao Yun. He could clearly feel the Flying Poison trying to insinuate itself into his very soul. It was doing so out of instinct. If he was not careful, Cao Yun''s personality would be subverted by this Flying Poison. He had to take over and impose his own soul on it, not the other way around.


    This process was thus rather dangerous. But it was also a proof that it was working as intended. With this method, Cao Yun could finally overwrite the Flying Poison in the Drop of Wrath and turn it into an extension of his own soul instead. Then, he could rebuild the entire Po inside of it. Each time, the Drop of Wrath would become both more powerful and more intimate with him. When the entire Po would be rebuilt, Cao Yun and the Drop of Wrath would be one. The young man simply had to be careful that his personality remained at the end. His soul had to fend off the corruption of the Flying Poison.


    Thankfully, his mind cultivation was strong. In fact, Cao Yun could sense his Chamber of Mysterious Elixir. It seemed to be protecting him. A warm and bright light was emanating from it. In his sea of consciousness, it manifested as a reflection on the surface of the ocean. The water had almost turned white, as though it was reflecting a sun that was nonexistent. And the light was all over the Drop of Wrath, as though it was trying to appease it.


    With each strand Cao Yun was taking out of the Po character, he was reliving his past memories and his rage. Against it, his mind cultivation could do nothing. He had to go through this process to make sense of his own soul. He couldn''t remain an unperturbed observer of his life. Those feelings were amplified by the Drop of Wrath as well. It would be incredibly easy for Cao Yun to give in to rage and anger.


    After the cultivation of the second layer that had been quite easy, this new mind cultivation layer was very intense. Without any assistance, he had to fight his own emotions. But he couldn''t fight them head-on. Indeed, the goal was not to beat an enemy but to understand the truth of oneself behind those emotions without being overtaken by the emotions. His experience in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was helpful beyond imagination. Cao Yun had already realized that he was not defined by his own thoughts. And he was not defined by his emotions either, no matter how deep or powerful. They were a part of him but they were not him.


    After several hours, Cao Yun stopped. When he woke up from his trance, the young man was covered in sweat. Now that he was a Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun could control his Wei Qi. He changed the Qi around him to increase the temperature. In a matter of minutes, all the sweat evaporated and his clothes were dry. He could have simply taken a bath of course. But this small exercise allowed him to work on his Qi control and also to transition peacefully from an intense mind cultivation to everyday life.


    When he was finally done, Dian Mo talked to him. He had respected his practice and had not disturbed him at all. However, he could not keep his curiosity for himself any longer.


    "What was that technique? Who made it? Where did you get it?"


    Dian Mo''s voice was way faster than usual. He was always a bit too talkative, probably because of his time spent in the Demon Palace, alone for entire millenniums. This curiosity also made Cao yun curious. Demons were not very interested in mind or soul cultivation. Yet, Dian Mo seemed to crave knowledge. In itself, this was interesting.


    "This is just a small manual I found, nothing important. Why would a great spirit created by Demon God Da Mo be interested in the meager mind cultivation of a junior such as me?"


    "I have no interest in your mind cultivation! But maybe you might be interested in what I know about it..."


    "Are you trying to bait me into giving you knowledge that is beyond your understanding?"


    "Nothing is beyond my understanding! But you seem to be ignorant of its real origin, when I am not."


    "Well, if you know so much, then there is no reason for me to tell you anything, right? So, please, teach me, great spirit!"


    "You...!"


    "Well, if you don''t want to talk..."


    "Wait! This mind cultivation has probably been created by a demon. And not any demon! If I had to bet, I would say that it was an Accomplished Demon bordering on the Exalted Demon realm."


    This was a suspicion that Cao Yun had but could never confirm. If a human had created this method, there was no reason for them to hide it. Besides, the text had been entirely written in Insight Writings. Maybe this was a way to hide that whoever had written it knew only the Moshenhua and not the Nuhua. But then, it was hard to know why he would leave the manual to humans. Well, all demons had not been faithful to Demon God Da Mo to the end. Some had negotiated with the humans, even before Demon God Da Mo''s death at the hands of Emperor Nuwa.


    "You see, this mind cultivation is very similar to what the Accomplished Demon realm looks like. My guess is that this demon was trying to find another way to cultivate his soul that would allow for the Demon Soul to be more docile. In fact, he might even have looked for a way to create a blank soul just like the Soul Embryo of humans. If demons could practice such an art, they might become as proficient in the mastery of soul as humans. Do you imagine? Demons already have way more powerful bodies than humans. What they lack is spiritual strength. Although they have strong wills, they can''t really perform any form of soul or mind attack."


    Cao Yun realized that his mind cultivation might be even more dangerous than he had initially thought. In the hands of humans, it would help them become stronger way faster. But in the hands of demons, it could become a plague on humans.

 Chapter 353: Nasty rumors

    Several days passed. The new year of the Wubei Sect arrived at last. All the bodies and all the rubble had been evacuated. However, the buildings had not all been repaired yet. Indeed, they couldn''t just rebuild the structure, many array formations also had to be inserted in them. The alchemy pavilion for example wasn''t just a large building, there were many special rooms to isolate an alchemist during his work.


    The array formation masters were essential for the reconstruction. Sadly, their chief elder had died during the fights and his Soul Embryo was now trapped inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Since all this was kept secret no one could talk about it but his sacrifice was known to the public, although all the details were unknown. Despite the time that had passed, no one had been chosen to take his place as chief elder.


    The array formation masters got an unexpected help however. Sun Liao had finally broken through to Mortal Warrior. After using Mei Hua''s pill, his progress had improved exponentially. He was trying to stabilize his cultivation right now in order to safely open his Five Prodigious Gates later on. Besides, he had heard about Cao Yun''s injury and didn''t want to suffer the same fate. His brother was able to work miracles. But Sun Liao was not sure whether he would be able to get over this kind of injury if it happened to him.


    As soon as he became a Mortal Warrior, Sun Liao found an elder to take the exam in order to officially become a Human array formation master. He had passed with flying colors. Just as Mei Hua had become a 5-star Human alchemist, he was also a 5-star Human array formation master. Chief Elder Suxian would have been proud of him. Hopefully, he might be able to see what was going on in the Wubei Sect. From time to time, Sun Liao even went in front of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom to talk to him even though he could not know whether he was heard or not.


    With Sun Liao as a great addition, the array formation masters became much faster in their work. Sun Liao was fully dedicated to this task. Mei Hua was also dedicated to her craft and to helping the physicians deal with those who were still injured. Evil Qi had left many injuries in a lot of disciples. Some had their cultivation impaired while others were still threatened by an early death.


    Finally, Ren Chao who was the last one of the group still to be a late Mortal, was helping with the physical aspect of the repairs. His strength was absolutely phenomenal. Not only had his Golden Silk Body been fully awaken, but his new cultivation, ''Golden Saint Bones'', had pushed it further and further. Right now, he could rival in strength a late Mortal Warrior. Even with Qi Manifestation, most Mortal Warriors would not be able to restrain him. Unfortunately, that didn''t mean they would not be able to kill him. But if they were to fight him at close quarters, they would probably be pummeled to near death before the end of the fight.


    All Cao Yun''s brothers were busy with the sect''s repair in some way while also dedicating some of their time to some form of cultivation. He, on the other hand, was keeping to himself in the Heavenly Swallow Faction. Since most of what he did during the crisis was kept a secret and that no one had seen him, there were many rumors. He soon started to understand the point of Sect Leader Xuan. If he were to be named Young Sect Master right now, there would probably be a large opposition. As much as he wanted to get out and help since he was a good alchemist and a good array formation master, as well as very strong, he felt compelled to cultivate.


    What he had heard had changed his way of seeing things. Since talking with Matriarch Huang, he had started to question who had really massacred his family. But now it was clear that it was highly possible that orthodox cultivators had done it. Worse than that, they could be in the Imperial City, or even the Imperial City itself. Maybe the Emperor knew about it or ordered it. Another family had been killed. Cao Yun knew that Sect Leader Xuan had the same doubts as he had right now. Was it possible that his own mother had been part of this family? Was her mother the real target?


    Maybe the massacre was a cover-up for the Shui massacre. They had slaughtered everyone to hide what they had done by the past. But if that was the case, Cao Yun had to know why the Shui family had been massacred. Or maybe they were after something that had belonged to the Shui family. If they hadn''t found it, they might have thought that Cao Shui had it.


    After speaking with Xiao Xuefeng in more details, Cao Yun learned that her mother''s identity was clad in many mysteries. Thanks to her connections in the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, she had been able to determine that someone had done everything possible to hide her past. She had been given a complete backstory, not dissimilar to what Chen Guo had. An entire fake life had been invented for her. And it would have fooled her, and even her contacts, if they had not been carefully looking. Only someone within the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall could have done such a thing. Unfortunately, they had found nothing at all. Someone had hidden all possible traces.


    In fact, it felt as though someone had deliberately left a trail for them to uncover the massacre of the Shui family and the possible connection to Cao Shui. This trail was leading back to Baziyun City. Someone was clearly trying to attract Cao Yun there. And he was eager to respond to this strange invitation.


    Since it would be vital, Cao Yun spent a lot of time on ''Ashen Feather Seal''. It had fooled a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, but Mo Tian had been in the middle of battle. Against a late Spirit Warrior who would be calm and actively looking, hiding his very existence would be tough. But he knew he could hide his identity at least. Right now, he was thinking about what he would do. He still had not all the facts but he had good leads. At last, he would stop reacting and finally go on the offense.


    The only problem right now was the injury to his Bai Hui. Although it seemed to be healed, he was still feeling some discomfort around it, as though it was weak. As such, he was a bit afraid of using his Qi Manifestation. But the physicians had examined him and found nothing. Even Chief Elder Qinghe confirmed he was fine. His Bai Hui was a bit weaker than his other Prodigious Gates so it would delay his cultivation, but it could be used in a fight without any problem. The issue was psychological, not physical. Although Cao Yun knew it, he had not used his Bai Hui fully yet.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    -


    Xiao Xuefeng was speaking with Sect Leader Xuan. There were many reports to deal with.


    "Right now, the total death toll is two hundred fifty-seven cultivators killed in the initial strike by Mo Tian. Eight hundred forty-one were then killed during the fights. Finally, there are ninety-six cultivators still missing. We believe that a third of them are demonic cultivators while the others might be either dead or kept as hostages. Thankfully, the outer sect was spared. Less than ten percent of the outer disciples have been killed."


    The outer sect was a way for the Wubei Sect to make bonds with the influential families of the Hongchen Kingdom. It was also a way to maintain its prestige. Although the inner sect was the true core of the Wubei Sect, losing too many outer disciples would have been a disaster. It could have even created deep grudges with some families. After all, the Wubei Sect was in charge of protecting its own disciples within the walls of the sect. A disciple killed outside was another matter entirely.


    "Many operations are being lead right now to try and find them. We''ll attempt to rescue as many hostages as possible."


    "Your priority is to kill the demonic cultivators! We can''t afford such a threat while the demons are getting restless. Otherwise, many more will die."


    Xiao Xuefeng could sense that that decision was really heavy for Sect Leader Xuan. He firmly believed that mankind had to be protected. That obviously included all of his disciples. But they would never be able to be sure whether those ''hostages'' were not sleeper agents in disguise. After all, the Demon King was maybe still alive. Nothing was certain about Mo Tian''s real standing among the demonic cultivators. Maybe he was the Demon king and had hidden it, or maybe he was really working under him.


    Sect Leader Xuan had to think about protecting his Wubei Sect as well as all of mankind. The Wubei Sect was the greatest rampart against the demons. It could not afford to appear weak. Although they had not attacked the Heidai Peak for a very long time, the demons might get some ideas if they were to learn what had happened.


    "I understand, Sect Leader. There are also news about some of the other demonic cultivators. Director Ge found out who Mo Tian sent into our institute. His demonic name is Gu Song. We believe he was a teacher of Mo Zi. In fact, it''s highly possible that Gu Song was his first master before Mo Tian took him in. Indeed, they both hail from the Subei Province near the Sunmen Province."


    "We can''t intervene there... This is too close to the border, the Imperial City has many eyes there. But I think your young prot¨¦g¨¦ might be interested."


    "Sect Leader, are you really serious about Chen Guo being your direct disciple or are you just using him?"


    "If I wanted to use him, I would have many other ways. Miss Xiao, you misunderstand my character. I am not like your Director Ge or like Matriarch Huang. The Wubei Sect stands above all. Even the Imperial City would think twice before antagonizing us. I would not stoop so low as to manipulate a junior. And I am too old for that anyway. My intentions toward this kid are sincere! This boy''s talent is truly prodigious, and we both know he also got an incredible gift from some expert. I suspect that this expert was way beyond the Sage realm. Although he might be bored of being a sect leader in a century or two, I know he won''t ever forget my Wubei Sect. And I''m sure he''ll find a competent replacement when he gets bored of the position.


    "But more than all that, I do wish to see how far he can go. Without him, you would not have tried to make a Spirit pill. And he also befriended the most extraordinary young people of our Hongchen Kingdom. Besides, I''ve seen his mind cultivation. Everything around him is impressive. He might be the first one for generations to break the cycle of the Forsaken Dao Era. And I am sure he will open it for everyone else. His character is good. He won''t forget about his fellow humans."


    "But why did you want him to fight with Zhi Yin? You''re not worried about any opposition and Chen Guo would probably not care about it either. After all, we''re all going to be very busy in the years to come."


    "It''s still good to create a strong image in the eyes of his fellow cultivators. But this is just a side effect. My goal is to help him overcome his Bai Hui. Chief Elder Qinghe is categorical. It''s been healed. Yet he''s afraid to use it to its fullest. I know that Zhi Yin will fight with all her ardor. She''s a great fighter and an honorable woman. She''s really the best opponent for Chen Guo to reclaim his vigor."


    "I see... You might be right."


    "About Gu Song, keep it quite for now. Make it so that no one can know of it. We''ll send Chen Guo there. I am certain he''ll be eager to learn more about the matter. And it might even help him prepare for the Alchemy Conference."


    "You''re certain he''ll participate?"


    "I''m not, but this is a great opportunity to get close to the Imperial City and maybe the Emperor himself. Besides, he''ll go there anyway, even if only to meet his Dao companion."


    -


    In the Heavenly Swallow Faction, Cao Yun finally went to Zhi Yin. The duels were in one month from now. Since he didn''t want any surprise, he talked to her about his challenge. He had chosen a moment where Ling Hui wasn''t there because he didn''t want to deal with the little brat. However, she heard about it. In fact, everyone heard about it. It wasn''t easy to hide such an intense fight.


    Zhi Yin was now a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, just like Cao Yun. There would be no advantage of cultivation in the fight. While Cao Yun was in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Zhi Yin had fought in the ranked duels. She had become the first fighter in the entire outer Wubei Sect. Since then, she had been challenged by Long Huafang who had become a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior and had placed second in the duels. Even this incredible fighter had lost against Zhi Yin''s sword mastery.


    Many rumors spread through the Wubei Sect about this fight. There were also many people sneering at Cao Yun. Although Sun Liao, Mei Hua and Ren Chao claimed to have seen him protect everyone in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, they were sworn brothers so people started to think they were covering for him. After all, no one had seen him in the Demon Palace. There were nasty rumors going around in the Wubei Sect about Cao Yun. Some even went as far as claiming he had run away from the crisis.


    Cao Yun was completely unaware of these baseless rumors as he was training in the Heavenly Swallow Faction. Contrary to his expectations, Ling Hui did not assault him with her words. She was way more calm and composed now. But they barely saw each other during that period and every time, she had a frown on her face. For once though, she kept whatever was annoying her to herself. He also barely saw Zhi Yin or any of his brothers. He was solely focused on his cultivation while everyone else was busy with the fallout of Mo Tian''s attack, which didn''t improve his reputation.

 Chapter 354: Last preparations before the great duel

    There were a couple of weeks before the duel between Zhi Yin and Cao Yun. Each one was training and anticipating the fight while the entire Wubei Sect was in uproar. Everyone was waiting for this fight. Many had thought that this would only happen at the end of the year, but it was during the first duels of the year. Even the first-years who didn''t know who Cao Yun and Zhi Yin were started to get excited when they heard all their achievements.


    With each passing day though, more and more rumors spread about Cao Yun. The first-years were especially receptive to them. During the crisis, Cao Yun''s brothers had been seen fighting but he had simply disappeared. People had seen him get into the physician pavilion but no one had seen him fight. Some disciples even claimed they had seen Cao Yun run away or hide in some place. Each time, they were soon found out by older disciples, and sometimes even members of the disciplinary pavilion. Spreading falsehood about a fellow disciple was not taken lightly, especially given the nature of those lies. They could claim that they had just mistaken someone else for him but they were still harshly punished.


    Thankfully, most disciples did not believe that he had acted like a coward. However, they didn''t know what he had done. And what they heard from the sect didn''t make sense. Other rumors began to spread. Luduo Bu had tried to kill him. Lu Meihan had tried to kill him. L¨¹ Bai had tried to kill him. All had been either demonic cultivators or manipulated by them. There was maybe some deeper secret behind all this. It was possible that the sect was hiding something in order to protect Cao Yun from the demonic cultivators. Then, rumors accusing Cao Yun of being a coward and rumors claiming he had acted in the shadows to save the Wubei Sect began to clash.


    Meanwhile, Cao Yun was unbothered by all this. In fact, he didn''t even know that a war of rumors was being waged. His duel would silence all of them anyway.


    Since the duel was soon, Cao Yun had focused on his martial arts and his blood cultivation. From time to time he did work on his mind cultivation, but he spent most of his free time on his alchemy. Right now, he didn''t care about improving his alchemy though. He was working on it in order to improve his control over Qi.


    As a 3rd-grade Blood Child, Cao Yun was now working on using his blood to nourish and strengthen his superficial tissues. Because he had also gone through the 9th-grade Mortal stage, he could feel every single one of his cells. Instead of nourish his muscles, tendons and even skin, he worked on each individual cell. He was increasing his control over his blood and Qi. At first, he sent his blood into his cells, a single drop went into each cell in his muscles. At some point, all of his blood was literally inside his muscles all over his body.


    Then, he got a better idea. Instead of using his blood alone, he also sent his Qi. Although there was already Qi in blood, this wasn''t as pure or concentrated. With the intent from the Drop of Wrath, the results were impressive. Since he had already forged a powerful body, his strength did not increase by much, but the increase was real. However, Cao Yun could feel his body in a completely different light now. At the same time, he could indeed feel much more excitement. Demons were always more emotional than humans, but cultivating blood could heighten it. And it was working on Cao Yun.


    The young man could feel his emotions become stronger and wilder. Thankfully, his mind cultivation was strong enough to resist it. But it still felt different. A year ago, Cao Yun would have been afraid to lose himself, to change beyond recognition. But now, he was not at all worried by these things. He had found out that his true self was not bound by his emotions or his random thoughts. It was deeper than all of that. Although he had still not quite figured out who he was, he certainly knew who he wasn''t.


    Soon, he would officially be a man since he would soon be twenty. This number seemed arbitrary, and it was. But somehow, it still had an impact on Cao Yun. When a boy turned twenty, there would be a ceremony with the entire family, as a form of rite of passage to adulthood. Everyone in his family was dead...


    Anyway, Cao Yun wondered if something would change for him. But it was unlikely. Another day would pass and he would realize he was the same person, still looking for answers both on the world and on himself.


    One week before the duel, Cao Yun felt a powerful tremor in all his muscles. Even his tendons shook like crazy. Goosebumps were all over his skin as well. This sensation lasted for several hours. It was as though he was in a trance. According to ''Crimson Inferno Road'', this was the sign of a breakthrough into the 4th-grade Child Blood stage. Usually, it could take half a year or even a full year to reach this level from the 3rd-grade Blood Child. Cao Yun had done so in around two months. But again, he had already cultivated his Qi to the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior and his mind cultivation was strong. It wasn''t such a surprise, not even to Dian Mo. What would have been a surprise would be that he had failed.


    Once again, the changes were not very noticeable. Still, Cao Yun could clearly feel them. As he had a great understanding of his own body, he could sense how much stronger he had become and how precise his control over his muscles had become. His physical strength had increased by around five percent. This wasn''t much, but considering how strong he had already been, this was a great progress. But what was really important was his better control over his own flesh and blood. Besides his control over Qi, he was now able to activate every part of his muscles independently.


    The next level of the Blood Child realm would be to now nourish his internal organs with blood. Those two grades were very similar. But of course, the effects of this new grade would be stronger on the psyche. After that, Cao Yun would need to make his entire being transparent to blood, just as he had done with Qi. Such a body was known as being a Blood Body. Even now, in Cao Yun''s body, the boundary between blood and Qi was getting blurry. But with each grade in his blood cultivation, the two of them would slowly become one and the same. His blood would turn into a liquefied Qi.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    As he was practicing his blood cultivation, Cao Yun decided to stop his Qi cultivation. He wanted to make sure that his Bai Hui was strong enough to endure. Although it was full of vitality now, it was still weaker than his other Prodigious Gates. In a sense, it was like a newborn. His Bai Hui had a great potential but it was frail right now. In order to help it grow, Cao Yun used his richer blood to try and sustain it. And it worked. His Bai Hui took in the blood and grew stronger and stronger. However, Cao Yun still felt as though it was too weak compared to his other Prodigious Gates. Besides, he had to admit that he was anxious about using it too much.


    As such, even when Cao Yun was working on his martial arts, he limited his own Qi Manifestations. During the fight against Zhi Yin, he would probably have no other choice than to push his limits. But he was still a bit apprehensive. That being said, he had fully realized that this was part of Sect Leader Xuan''s plan. He was clearly trying to force him to use his Bai Hui. After all, even Chief Elder Qinghe had said that this was perfectly fine. Cao Yun knew he had to overcome this trauma. Maybe he could have used his mind cultivation to do so, but he wanted a more permanent solution. After he had been forced to take a shortcut which had almost cost him his cultivation, Cao Yun did not intend to do so ever again.


    The upcoming duel would be a great way to deal with his apprehension though. In the middle of an epic fight with a powerful martial artist, his instincts would take over. He was fairly certain she would be able to push him beyond his comfort zone. Moreover, she was not an enemy. Even if they were going to fight against each other, Zhi Yin was an honorable opponent and maybe even a friend.


    Speaking of martial arts, Cao Yun had also solidified his stars. In his sea of consciousness, the seven stars were now forming the shape of the Azure Dragon. For some, this would be considered Perfection, but Cao Yun intended to practice the full ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Thus, it was only Small Success. Now, he had to turn each star into a full constellation. The manual was not very helpful on the matter. This was also one of the reasons why everyone had forgotten about this part. There was only one double page on True Success and one single page on Perfection.


    In order to turn a star into a constellation, it was necessary to have reached a high level of mastery over the techniques related to this star. There was also some cryptic allusion to Spear Intent. Now that Cao Yun knew what it was, this passage had become way clearer. For the moment, Cao Yun had only reached Spear Aura, but he had some sensation of what Spear Intent was. The difference was simply on the control over it. Spear Aura was spread everywhere. The martial artist could unleash it but not really control or focus it. Spear Intent was the level above. A martial artist who could control his Spear Aura and focus it all on a single point had reached Spear Intent. Even beyond that was the state of Spear Heart.


    The first star he had to turn into a constellation was the Horn Star. It was related to the simplest of techniques with the spear, a stabbing motion. During each one of his training sessions, Cao Yun dedicated at least an entire hour to working on his stabbing motion. Instead of practicing some fancy form, he was simply assuming a fighting stance and he would stab thousands of times in the air. Although each attack seemed similar, it wasn''t.


    His Yi was fully active and Cao Yun was attentive to every single variation in his attack, in his mind, in his breathing, in his body, in his Qi, even in the Insight Writings in his sea of consciousness. Since he was working on reaching Spear Intent, he only used his Spear Aura without any form of Qi Manifestation. Many cultivators would have been bored simply doing the same motion hundreds or thousands of times over a couple of months. But Cao Yun was interested in learning martial arts since he was a very young boy. In fact, this form of training was almost as enticing as a fight for him.


    He never let it become a routine. In every single movement he was making, he was able to find something new to work on and improve. From the outside, it seemed tedious and as though Cao Yun was not progressing at all. But within, it had a real impact on him. He was polishing his technique as a painter was polishing a painting. It might seem already perfect for a neophyte but in the eye of the expert, it was pathetic and inelegant.


    As he was training, Ling Hui sometimes saw him in passing. She still had that frown on her face each time, but Cao Yun was too engrossed in his practice to pay her any mind. Despite the look on her face, her eyes had no enmity toward Cao Yun. Maybe she had been annoyed by something else. Since he had last met her, she had truly changed. To be honest, after seeing that he was truly capable, her attitude toward him had slowly shifted. Although she was idolizing Zhi Yin, she was not that antipathetic toward everyone else anymore, especially toward Cao Yun.


    Finally, after his blood cultivation, his attempt at restoring his Bai Hui and his martial art training, Cao Yun also trained his mind cultivation and his Qi control through alchemy.


    In terms of alchemy, Cao Yun would take the exam to become a 1-star Human alchemist after his duel. He still wasn''t sure whether he would participate in the Alchemy Conference though. Anyway, he was going to be present if only to meet Feng Yingyue. Mei Hua would also probably take part in it. Although he liked alchemy, and although he was good, he was nowhere as good as Mei Hua. If he wanted to be, he would have to dedicate a lot more time to the study of alchemy. But he had already so many things to work on and alchemy was more like a hobby to him. He knew this was important, but not as important as his own cultivation, his mind or his martial arts. He also had to investigate so his stealth technique was more important than alchemy too, in his eyes at least.


    That being said, he sincerely liked alchemy now. And he was really good at it. With his current cultivation, he was able to activate his furnace without moving a muscle. Through his Qi, he worked on flame control alone. Later, he would also need to work on the other four Golden Elixir Principles. Yin-Yang Balance and Five Elements Wheel were indeed highly important and they were in accordance with what Cao Yun was trying to achieve. Right now, he was using alchemy as a means to work on his Qi control. As such, Cauldron Maintenance and Ingredients Preservation seemed irrelevant. Those two principles were essential for a great alchemist though.


    Some alchemist masters claimed that the refinement of a pill was decided before the flame was even lit up. If the cauldron was not maintained properly or if the ingredients were neglected, no level of mastery would be able to produce a great pill. The quality would always be poor. In fact, there were more books and treatises on Cauldron Maintenance and Ingredients Preservation than all the other Golden Elixir Principles combined.


    The last weeks before the duel passed quickly as Cao Yun was always busy with something. The entire Wubei Sect was brimming with excitement. Finally, everyone was now waiting around the platform where the duel would take place today.

 Chapter 355: Clash of Martial Auras

    The first-years had heard about the achievements of both Zhi Yin and Cao Yun but they had never even seen them in person. A handful of disciples had joined the Heavenly Swallow Faction but Zhao Fei and Zhao Lin had been responsible of the recruitment. Liu Ang also got a very good reputation. He was now the first ranked within the second-years. During the entrance examination, he had displayed a powerful ''Dance of the Jingwei Talons'' to all the new disciples.


    Although they had never seen them, they had heard all the stories from their senior brothers. Liu Ang had been especially vocal about his senior brother. Right now, Liu Ang was going into the Ancient Ruins. Since the crisis, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom had been slowly repaired. Apparently, the presence of Chief Elder Suxian''s Soul Embryo had greatly helped. However, it had been forced to stay closed for some time. As such, the current third-years had had to wait for several weeks before being able to go in. Many were displeased but they fully understood the situation. After all, they had all lived through the crisis. Hopefully, they would still be able to get a lot of benefits within.


    In the end, Liu Ang was almost sad when he finally got to enter the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He would miss the fight between Faction Leader Zhi and Cao Yun. There was no doubt in his mind that this was going to be the greatest fight of the younger generation. He wasn''t sure whether he would be able to witness such an event ever again. On the other hand, the Ancient Ruins were a great opportunity that he would only get once in a lifetime. Although he didn''t know much about it now, he had seen the effects on his senior brothers.


    After the third-years were finally sent into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, the ranking duels started. Like always, they were spread on a few days with the fights between the youngest disciples first. As Zhi Yin was a fifth-year, her duels would be fought at the end. In fact, her duel with Cao Yun was scheduled on an entire day. No one was sure how long it would take but everyone wanted to see it to the end. Chief Elder Baishen, although she was still a bit troubled by what had happened, had insisted upon it. She was ready to let the fight last several days if necessary. As such, they had made sure to put this fight at the very end of the ranking duels.


    This was Zhi Yin''s last year in the outer Wubei Sect. For now, no one knew what she intended to do after that. Zhi Yin was completely unknown outside of the Wubei Sect. Several families and influential authorities of the Hongchen Kingdom had searched her past. She came from a tiny city that had recently been destroyed by the demonic beast stampede. But even before that, it had not produced a single significant cultivator in the past. Many people were thus convinced that Zhi Yin would stay in the Wubei Sect and become an inner disciple. However, to this day, she had still not given an answer to the elders and even chief elders who had asked her. In theory, she could make her choice at the very last moment. After all, considering her talent, the Wubei Sect would not refuse. But it was strange that she had not agreed yet. Maybe she had other plans, but which ones?


    -


    The fights were not bad, especially among the fourth-years and fifth-years. But it all felt small. Anticipation had built up within the crowd. The rumors about Cao Yun being a coward during the crisis had thankfully been crushed by his past exploits and by rumors about a secret mission he had done during said crisis. Of course this was the truth but whoever had spread the rumors didn''t know that to be true. Sect Leader Xuan, the chief elders and everyone who knew about Cao Yun''s real involvement had stayed perfectly silent about it, despite the unsavory rumors they had heard. After all, this fight would end them all.


    There was one girl though who had not liked it at all, Ling Hui. And even now as she was waiting for the appearance of her idol, she heard things she didn''t like.


    "I heard that this Chen Guo tucked tail and ran away in front of danger. He might be strong but a duel in which his life is not at risk is nothing compared to the real deal. No matter how much you train, if you crumble when you stare at death, you''re not fit to be called a martial artist or a cultivator."


    "Shh. You should know Spirit Master Xiao and Chief Elder Baishen are fond of him!"


    "My point precisely! They pander him. He got too many good things for him and that made him weak. The most important thing is the Dao Heart, no matter how powerful you are. If an inner demon is formed because you''re weak minded, all the strength or knowledge or influence in the world won''t save you."


    "And what would you know about Dao Heart?!"


    Ling Hui could not contain herself any longer.


    "Our Heavenly Swallow Faction has no weak minded cultivator! Fairy Zhi chose Chen Guo herself! An insult on him is an insult on her and on all the Heavenly Swallow Faction! But if you''re so brazen then you won''t mind telling it to his face, right?!"


    At first, the man was ready to retort violently. But then he saw the emblem on her chest. Ling Hui was wearing proudly the colors of the Heavenly Swallow Faction with the number five written on it. On the other hand, the man who had spoken was just a Mortal who had entered the Wubei Sect two months ago. Some scars on his forearms and a small wound on his face showed that he was probably a soldier.


    When he looked at Ling Hui''s eyes, all of his bravado dissipated.


    "Now be a good boy, watch the fight and imagine what Chen Guo and Fairy Zhi could do to you if you insult them again. But please, don''t wet yourself..."


    As she said her last line, the man turned back and saw two disciples walking on the platform. They were obviously Zhi Yin and Cao Yun.


    Each one was wearing a handmade robe. Chief Elder Baishen had made sure that they were both wearing very sturdy robes. They were as resistant as Heaven-ranked armors. However, they had kept the colors of the Wubei Sect on them, as well as their emblem of the Heavenly Swallow Faction. That being said, their robes had been tailored to their own martial arts. Cao Yun had the colors of the Azure Dragon while Zhi Yin''s robe evoked the Kun Peng.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    As soon as they got on the platform, they bowed and saluted each other.


    "Fairy Zhi, thank you for taking me in your Heavenly Swallow Faction. This has been an honor to join you."


    "No need to thank me, Brother Chen. You''ve repaid me plenty already. Without you my Heavenly Swallow Faction would have disappeared while I was in the Ancient Ruins. Moreover, your presence and the presence of your brothers and sister has helped develop the name of our faction. Thanks to you, it will live on a long time after I''ve left the Wubei Sect."


    Her words alarmed several elders. Was she saying that she was going to leave the sect after this fifth year of hers? She had spent so much effort on her faction. There was no reason for her to leave it behind. As an inner disciple, she couldn''t be part of the Heavenly Swallow Faction, but she could create an extension of it and still keep close ties with the original one.


    "Fairy Zhi, do you intend to leave?"


    "I did intend to stay at first but things have changed recently and I might have to change my plans. No matter what happens, I will always remember what the Wubei Sect has done for me and what you have done for me as well."


    In the audience, only Ling Hui was not surprised by this conversation. She had a rough idea of what Zhi Yin intended to do. And she was right, Cao Yun had helped them both a lot. They might be able to be ready sooner than anticipated. Then, they wouldn''t have to stay in this place any longer. Still, both of them had to admit they had grown attached to it, and to the people in it, more than they had thought they would.


    As many whispers were echoing throughout the plaza, Chief Elder Baishen rose in the air and spoke.


    "Today, we will all witness a spectacular fight. Fairy Zhi Yin and Chen Guo are both extraordinary disciples of our Wubei Sect. As Chief Elder of the martial art pavilion, I will make sure that the fight is fair and that both disciple is not injured beyond what is reasonable. If at any moment the life of a fighter is in danger, that fighter will be deemed defeated. However, any attempt to willingly maim or kill will be met with harsh punishment. I know that reminding you of the rules is unnecessary because you will be honorable. Let the fight begin!"


    -


    From their spatial rings, Cao Yun and Zhi Yin took their weapons out.


    Cao Yun had his new spear, ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' while Zhi Yin took her sword out. This was a sword no one had seen before. In the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, she had obtained a weapon but this one was completely new. When he saw it, Ren Chao was immediately charmed. This weapon was a spiritual weapon, just like Sun Liao''s ''Heavenly Mirror Longbow''. Sun Liao had of course refused Ren Chao''s supplications to let him take it apart for studying how it had been made. But he had still agreed to show it to him on many occasions.


    Ren Chao had become obsessed with the idea that he might be able to forge a spiritual weapon. In his mind, this was the only weapon that would be worthy of Cao Yun. And he had promised him to forge the best weapon he could. However, it required to be at least a Spirit Warrior. In fact, no one under Sage had ever been able to forge such a weapon. And even then, the failure rate was colossal. Besides, it was necessary to have a powerful mind and soul. Thus, Ren Chao had started to take ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' very seriously even though he had no real talent for it. He had a steel will though.


    Zhi Yin''s sword was called ''Shadow Over the World''. It was made of a very light blue metal that sometimes appeared white under the sun. Ren Chao had recognized the Divine Ice Steel. It was a metal that was extremely cold. In fact, it was said that it could barely be heated even by plunging it into a burning star. This might be exaggerated but this metal was one of the most difficult to work with because the temperature needed to melt it was absolutely insane. Ren Chao was not even sure if there was a single individual who could do it in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. It was necessary to either use array formations or several experts working together.


    From the sword, there was indeed a terrifying cold spreading all around. It was not dangerous for life, but it felt as though no fire could exist around the Divine Ice Steel.


    Now that they had their weapons in hands, their aura changed drastically. The public was not seeing two disciples anymore. They were looking at two ferocious beasts ready to fight each other. If it had not been a friendly fight, they would have felt a suffocating killing intent. But no one intended to kill their opponent today. It was the contrary, they wanted this fight to last as long as possible because they wanted to see what the other one had to offer. And they were both convinced they could be pushed further and further. This duel was a great opportunity for both of them to progress even more.


    For several minutes none of them moved. Several of the first-years, second-years and even a few fourth-years became restless. On the other hand, all the Mortal Warriors were completely transfixed. The Mortals thought that there had to be something they were missing. When they looked at the chief elders, the Mortals could also see that they were engrossed in the fight.


    Swallowing his pride, the man who had spoken ill of Cao Yun asked Ling Hui what was going on.


    "Humph, ignoramus! They are both projecting their Wei Qi. You can''t see it but they''re already waging a war against each other. If you were to walk between them right now, your body would literally be ripped apart. There are intense currents of Qi all around. In other words, they are probing each other''s defenses."


    Indeed, on the platform, there was an invisible war taking place at the moment. Cao Yun and Zhi Yin had expanded their Wei Qi beyond their body. It was as though two large balls of energy, with them at the center, were trying to expand against one another. Cao Yun''s Wei Qi was pushing against Zhi Yin''s while hers was deforming and trying to invade his by any weakness possible. It was similar to two fighters walking around each other and sending feints to gauge their opponent.


    From time to time, Zhi Yin or Cao Yun would increase the strength of their Wei Qi to see how the other would react. Thus, at the junction where their Wei Qi met, a mere mortal would have been killed straight away. Even an early or middle Mortal would probably be killed or least injured for life.


    All of a sudden, they both retracted their Wei Qi. The real fight could begin!


    Cao Yun''s spear stabbed toward Zhi Yin. Hundreds of bloody spears appeared all around. They looked as though they had just been plunged into the breast of some demonic beast and were covered in its blood.


    On the other side, Zhi Yin also stabbed with her sword. Appeared all around her ''Shadow Over the World'' hundreds of other swords. Each one seemed to be covered in ice. In fact, the air around Zhi Yin seemed to be congealed during her attack. The disciples felt as though they would be reduced to statues of ice if they were just touched by this sword.


    Chief Elder Baishen and many chief elders and elders were surprised.


    "They''ve both mastered their Martial Aura. Chen Guo has progressed even further than I thought. He might be on his way to learn Spear Intent before he even turns twenty-five..."

 Chapter 356: Kun Peng vs Azure Dragon

    On the platform, thousands of collisions occurred between spear and sword. A bloody spear that had killed untold thousands of enemies was clashing with a piece of ice able to turn a volcano into an frozen peak. For many Mortals, it was simply impossible to even see the movements of Cao Yun and Zhi Yin. They were completely swallowed by all the weapons striking each other on the platform.


    A Martial Aura was a form of intimidation rather than a Qi Manifestation. By the mere aura exuded by someone, they would strike the very mind of their opponent. But unlike Martial Intent, it was impossible to focus. As such, even the public fell victim to it. That also meant that using Martial Aura was more tiresome and less powerful than Martial Intent. Most of it was simply lost.


    For Cao Yun and Zhi Yin, this was merely a warm-up. Yet, they had already exceeded many of the young cultivators. In fact, apart from Long Huafang, no one in the audience had even developed any form of Martial Aura. Long Huafang was precisely watching this fight with fiery determination in her eyes. She had only recently been able to forge her Sword Aura. On one hand, she felt terrible because she was not on a level at which she could fight Cao Yun or Zhi Yin as an equal. But on the other hand, this was a great opportunity for her. She knew that Cao Yun would push Zhi Yin to her limits, and beyond. During this fight, she might win a lot of insights if she paid close enough attention. Right now, all her mind was focused solely on the fight.


    Among the elders and chief elders, they were also all paying close attention to this fight. The chief elders knew that Sect Leader Xuan had asked Cao Yun to become his direct disciple and then the Young Sect Master. They had no issue with that since they knew what he had done for the Wubei Sect. Without him, they would probably be dead. Seeing him today made them feel at ease. This boy truly was exceptional. With him, the future of the Wubei Sect was certain.


    It was unfortunate that Zhi Yin would leave the sect, but it was her prerogative. However, she would always be linked to the Wubei Sect if only by her Heavenly Swallow Faction. If she was able to accomplish great things, it would also partially be the Wubei Sect''s achievement.


    Chief Elder Baishen and Spirit Master Xiao talked together to make sure that all the array formations protecting the audience were working properly. There still wasn''t a chief elder of the array formation pavilion. In fact, Sun Liao had taken charge of many duties of his master. Although he had become a Mortal Warrior, he still had a long way to go before being qualified to become the new head of the array formation pavilion. Without the defenses around the platform, the audience would have suffered some consequences. Those Martial Auras would have made them feel as though they were being assaulted themselves.


    The first-years would have probably even felt as though they were being stabbed and sliced by those weapons. Of course, as the attacks were not directed at them, they wouldn''t have inflicted any physical injury, but this could have lasting consequences on the mind and will of young cultivators.


    Slowly, Cao Yun and Zhi Yin were building momentum. All around them, their Wei Qi got infused with more and more Qi.


    All of a sudden, their attacks ceased. They finally appeared clearly to the weakest cultivators. Martial Aura alone would not be enough in this fight. However, they had now a good idea of their opponent''s strength. Neither of them had held back at all. Zhi Yin had to admit that Cao Yun''s strength was even beyond what she could imagine. And he had not used his ''Dragon''s Heart'' for now. Once he activated this technique, he might really go toe-to-toe with an early Spirit Warrior. Besides he had a powerful mind cultivation so he had a real chance of winning such a confrontation, albeit tiny.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun had been surprised by Zhi Yin''s speed and agility. Her speed alone could not explain how she was holding her own against him though. No matter how powerful his attacks were, she was able to find exactly where to strike to deflect most of the strength. Her sense of fighting and her agility were impressive. But she wasn''t weak either. Even for a 3rd-grade Mortal warrior, she was strong. In fact, she was strong enough to fight Cao Yun head-on as long as he didn''t use ''Dragon''s Heart''. In order not to be surprised by a sudden outburst of pure physical strength though, she had preferred not to engage in such a confrontation. Besides, she had also saved more energy than Cao Yun.


    On the platform, a thin layer of water appeared. And in the sky some large white clouds began to condense right over the platform as well. This was a high Qi Manifestation of her ''Peng''s Journey to Heaven''. In theory, this was only a 3-star Human art, but Zhi Yin had pushed it even beyond that. Right now, Chief Elder Baishen had to admit that her martial art was probably equivalent to a 5-star Human art. In Zhi Yin''s eyes, there was now a vast sea perfectly serene and clear.


    At the same moment, in Cao Yun''s eyes, there were seven stars shining in the night sky. Behind him, the world broke as though it was made of glass. Now there were those same seven stars in his back. They appeared to form the shape of a large dragon.


    The advantage of a spear was the distance. ''Ninety Thousand Li''! Zhi Yin seemed to disappear. For Long Huafang, she simply moved fast. It was as though she was gliding on the surface of the thin layer of water.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''!


    With a sweeping motion, the tail of a giant azure dragon swept the entire platform. When it connected with Zhi Yin, she was close enough to skewer Cao Yun. But she was forced to block the attack. At first, she took the hit head-on with her sword. But as the ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' was about to push her, she used the force sent into her own sword to jump away. ''Peng Goes Back to Sea''. With incredible grace, she almost flew in the air.


    But she was now vulnerable as she couldn''t move freely in the sky yet.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Although this was the very first move of the first star, Cao Yun had been working on it for a very long time. Even this simple move was now incredible. When they saw it, both Chief Elder Baishen and Long Huafang were amazed. He had been able to shave off a lot of small mistakes. There was still room for improvement, but this was the technique of a true spear expert. Zhi Yin had no time to be amazed as she was facing this technique herself.


    ''Black Wings Cover the Sky''!


    In the sky, one of the clouds turned gray as though something had passed over it and had cast a giant shadow. Cao Yun''s ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' had created a narrow tornado aimed at Zhi Yin. Inside there also seemed to be some kind of shadow. The moment Zhi Yin''s sword collided with the spear, the cloud above her head burst open. A giant wing covered in scales appeared and blocked the column of wind sent by Cao Yun. The shock was so intense though that many scales were blown away. As the wind slowly dissipated, the shadow within appeared for a brief moment. It was difficult to tell clearly what it was. It looked like a dragon''s horn and a pillar at the same time.


    Zhi Yin was once again blown away. This time, she fell head first toward the ground. Many in the audience were worried for her. Even with her Wei Qi, this fall would not be pleasant at all. Furthermore, Cao Yun would attack her right away.


    ''Journey to the Southern Darkness''.


    But at the moment she touched the platform, she kept falling until she was gone. Where she had disappeared, a drop of water splashed. It was as though she had dived down into a large body of water. There was a ripple through the entire platform, within the thin layer of water.


    ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''.


    Behind Cao Yun, two eyes shined with two distinct colors. His posture changed and he was ready to react at a moment''s notice. Immediately, he disappeared from view as a column of water gushed from the platform itself.


    ''Mount Tai Fills the Sky''!


    Everywhere Cao Yun was moving, another column of water appeared forth. In the sky, the clouds had all come back as well. Now, there were shadows moving on them all the time.


    ''Cracking the World''!


    As he didn''t want to be chased anymore, Cao Yun stood his ground. His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' struck down toward the platform. With his Spear Aura and his Qi Manifestation, it looked as though a pillar had really fallen from the sky, tearing through the clouds. The platform shook. Cao Yun''s attack was so strong that it even reverberated through the entire plaza. Chief Elder Baishen herself had to intervene to make sure that the platform did not give way. Despite the array formations, Cao Yun had come close to destroying it. The Wubei Sect really needed someone like Chief Elder Suxian...


    Although it was liquid, cracks appeared in the very layer of water. It wasn''t the water that had been cracked but the Qi manifestation itself. Zhi Yin appeared back on the platform. Her face was clearly red and she was exhausted. This technique had caused a rebound of her own move. Her Qi was probably in turmoil right now.


    Seeing her tired, Cao Yun did not hesitate one instant. He couldn''t let her catch her breath.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    The stars behind Cao Yun shined brightly. Above the clouds, the Heart Star also appeared. It was a giant red star illuminating the entire world. Around Cao Yun, the shape of an armor made of dragon scales appeared. His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' was surrounded by the horn of a dragon held by this armor. Below the armor, some scales were also visible as if a dragon was hiding under Cao Yun''s feet as its mount.


    The light from the red giant was shining on the tip of Cao Yun''s spear.


    Before Zhi Yin was fully ready, Cao Yun''s attack got unleashed. This was probably his most destructive technique. Everything was focused on a single point.


    ''Splashing the Lake of Heaven''!


    Zhi Yin responded by stabbing right in front of her as well. The tips of the two weapons were about to collide. No one was able to know the result in advance. Each technique seemed as powerful as the other one. Around Zhi Yin, the air literally turned to ice. A powerful ripple shot toward Cao Yun as if the air was an ocean. The shockwave even torn apart pieces of his armor of scales.


    When the two techniques finally collided, the array formations of the platform got activated to the limit. Such a destructive force would have killed almost any Mortal Warrior. In fact, if Cao Yun and Zhi Yin had unleashed their technique in harmony against a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, he really might have died if he hadn''t been careful. Yet they were both 3rd-grade Mortal Warriors. If they learned a battle formation together, they would become as fierce as a 7-core demonic beast.


    The thin layer of water had come back under Zhi Yin''s feet. The ripples in the air were also present in the water below. But in that water, there were also the scales of a dragon coming for her.


    ''Kun Turns to Peng''!


    Suddenly, a giant wall of water emerged from down below. A creature from the depths had emerged from its slumber. Its surface was so large that no one was able to see its true form. Even with Zhi Yin''s Qi Manifestation, only a tiny portion of this creature had appeared. This was Kun Peng. Peng was a giant bird larger than anyone could believe while Kun was a colossal fish at the bottom of the sea. Both of those creatures were one and the same as it could turn from bird to fish and from fish to bird.


    Right now, the fish was turning into a terrifying bird. The large fish sustained Cao Yun''s attack as it disappeared into the clouds to form a shadow that even hid the Heart Star. The entire platform was now in the dark. Cao Yun and Zhi Yin were facing each other with nothing between them.


    ''Drowning in the Lake of Heaven''.


    Long Huafang reacted immediately. She had suffered from this technique during her fight against Zhi Yin. But this technique was supposed to only be a method by which one was able to protect their mind and soul. In fact, at first, it was only supposed to allow one to enter their own sea of consciousness. But now, Long Huafang had recognized something else in Zhi Yin''s eyes. It appeared to contain a tinge of her ''The Moon in the Eye''. With this technique, she could inflict a mind attack.


    In theory, only a Spirit Warrior could attack the mind or the soul. Indeed, only a Spirit Warrior could expand their soul outside of their body to even enter someone else''s sea of consciousness. However, there were techniques such as Martial Aura that could cause some mental attacks as well. Unlike a real mind or soul attack though, no part of the soul entered the enemy. However, some Qi infused with intent caused an instinctive reaction. This was both weaker and safer than a real mind or soul attack because the soul of the user was not threatened. On the other hand, it was merely an intimidating tactic.


    In a fight though, buying even an instant could mean the difference between life and death.


    Despite his mind cultivation, Cao Yun was shocked to realize that this had worked on him. Instinctively, he activated his ''Dragon''s Chest''. Thankfully, his body got entirely covered in scales the very moment Cao Yun entered his sea of consciousness. It felt as though he had fallen into the thin layer of water on the platform and was now drowning in it.

 Chapter 357: Pushing through the trauma

    As soon as Cao Yun saw Zhi Yin''s eyes, he fell into the layer of water on the surface of the platform. The sensation of water filling his lungs coursed through his body. For a Mortal Warrior, this was nothing at all. He could easily breathe even through the water. In fact, Cao Yun had done so when he was still a Mortal. But this wasn''t real. What Cao Yun was experiencing right now was the sensation of a mere mortal drowning.


    Thanks to his mind cultivation and also to Sun Liao''s teachings, Cao Yun saw through the illusion right away. Indeed, his brother had helped him master ''Lifting the Fog of a Dream''. This technique consisted in training his subconscious to always question the reality around him. As such, it was harder for Cao Yun to fall victim to illusions. If he were in one, he would be able to know it even if he could not necessarily get out of it. Of course, some were powerful enough to still affect him though. However, this one was not of that sort.


    In fact, this wasn''t a real illusion either. In a sense, it was Cao Yun''s mind that had produced the illusion. Zhi Yin had simply induced a powerful emotional response in him. This was closer to an intimidation than to an actual illusion.


    Instinctively, Cao Yun had activated his ''Dragon''s Chest'' so his body was safe. But at the same time, he had also activated his Chamber of Heavenly Court. His mind began to act faster and faster. Unfortunately, the illusion he was in was produced by his own mind so it did not go away.


    Right now, Cao Yun was trapped in his sea of consciousness. He had taken refuge in it to purge his mind from whatever technique Zhi Yin had used. In his sea of consciousness, he could easily use the Drop of Wrath to tear apart anything. However, Cao Yun didn''t want to use it. It was a golden opportunity for him to fight against some form of mind attack. Since his life was not in any danger, he had no reason to resort to the Drop of Wrath right away. Not only was his body still protected by ''Dragon''s Chest'', his mind was going faster, which meant that he had way more time to deal with it than Zhi Yin had to attack him in the physical world.


    High in the infinite sky, the seven stars were fading as large clouds formed between them and the ocean below. Cao Yun lowered the Drop of Wrath down toward the Nine Soul Peaks so it would not interfere at all. To begin with, he did not activate his Five Agents. Instead, he tried to focus on the seven stars to pierce through the clouds, especially the Heart Star.


    No matter how much he was struggling, no light was able to go through this thick layer of clouds. However, a terrifying shadow was passing over the clouds. It was also reflected in the water below. More and more powerful ripples disturbed the peaceful surface of the ocean. Dian Mo was watching what was going on without interfering either. This wasn''t a threat to him at all. But he had become curious. After watching Cao Yun train, he had some form of interest in the boy now.


    Most Mortal Warriors would be hard pressed to deal with such a mind attack because they could not even enter their own sea of consciousness. Alchemists and array formation masters would probably be able to resist it through clever schemes. Maybe a few cultivators, like Ren Chao, could resist that through sheer willpower. But Cao Yun wanted something else.


    At any moment, he could use the Drop of Wrath and annihilate the technique completely. What he wanted to do was to use it in order to improve his martial art. This was also a way to show respect toward Zhi Yin. Unless he was forced to, he would not use the Drop of Wrath which was still an exterior help for now. He wanted to win this duel with his own strength. Until he had fully tamed the Drop of Wrath by creating his own Po inside, it was not really his.


    From the water below, a giant fin emerged. Its mere presence caused a tsunami that reached even higher than the clouds. It was going to fall down on the Five Agents and the center of Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. But from the wall of water, several golden characters appeared. Cao Yun arranged them in a particular formation. They erupted from the water causing the giant wave to fall apart before it could get to his Five Agents.


    The golden characters did not stop there. They reached for the sky and pierced through the clouds. Finally a tiny ray of red light appeared. It slowly ate away at the clouds as the golden characters kept on tearing apart the clouds.


    Cao Yun''s Shen got completely covered in flames and a pillar of fire erupted toward the heavens.


    In the water, the ripples became more and more violent. Something beyond measure was moving in the depths. Even if Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness seemed infinite, this entity appeared to be even larger than it was. In a sense, it was bigger than any world or any realm. And as it was moving through the water, its shadow was in the clouds at the same time. For this beast, it seemed as though the laws of any world were altered.


    That being said, it was not a real creature. Thankfully, this was just the form taken by Zhi Yin''s mind attack. In a sense, this was a form of hypnosis. Cao Yun would not lose against such a thing. He had cultivated his mind to a point where he would probably be able to resist a soul attack from an early Spirit Warrior. But seeing this technique, Cao Yun began to wonder about this. Right now, he had no way to attack one''s mind or soul. He had been able to use ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to have some influence even on seals inside someone''s soul. But it might be useful to develop real mind attacks.


    Although he couldn''t send his soul outside of his body, the intent from the Drop of Wrath was very powerful and he could extend it outside. Thus, he might be able to produce devastating mind attacks. All techniques pertaining to minds and souls were reserved for Spirit Warriors as it was almost impossible to use for anyone under that realm. But as the Young Sect Master, he should be authorized access even to those documents.


    Anyway, for now, he was only thinking about the fight. The golden characters kept gnawing away at the clouds and the few waves caused by the giant presence. In the sky, the lights from the seven stars were also attacking the clouds and shining on the water below. Those characters were the Insight Writings of Cao Yun''s understanding of the art of spear. In fact, Cao Yun was quite literally fighting this technique with his understanding and mastery of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t nearly good enough. Cao Yun was evenly matched by Zhi Yin''s technique. The clouds were reforming just as fast as they were pierced through. This battle would not be won easily. And no matter how much his mind was sped up, Cao Yun had not all the time in the world. He had to end this mental attack as soon as possible. If it took too long, he could still use the Drop of Wrath, but he didn''t want to. Instead, he focused on another star, the Horn Star. He had already worked on it for quite some time in an attempt to produce an entire constellation.


    Such a breakthrough was still far away, but he had polished this Horn Star to an impressive level. The two stars forming this binary Horn Star span around each other faster and faster. Despite the clouds, they became very visible. There was a faint hue all around them. This was the very premise of a constellation. For now, there was no sign of any other star yet. But Cao Yun was walking on the right path toward True Success.


    All of a sudden, they stopped rotating and a pillar of light erupted from them. It made a huge hole in the clouds. Then, the red light from the Heart Star used this as an opportunity. Since the clouds were reforming as fast as they were destroyed, being able to annihilate a huge chunk of them gave Cao Yun the advantage. They were not able to close that hole and more and more red light was coming out from it. When it touched the water down below, it got reflected and assaulted the clouds even more.


    The entire sea of consciousness of Cao Yun was red and it wasn''t due to the Drop of Wrath. At some point, Cao Yun even heard the screech of a dragon in the distance. In the sky, he could see the shape of that Azure Dragon in the stars. The closer he would be to actual constellations and then mansions, the more real this Azure Dragon would get.


    Finally, Cao Yun completely got rid of the influence of Zhi Yin''s technique on him.


    In the physical world, his eyes were shining with the seven stars of the Azure Dragon. Just in front of him, Zhi Yin was slashing toward his head. Although they could not intentionally kill each other, the opponents had no reason to pull their punches. Besides, Cao Yun was still covered in both Wei Qi and the Qi Manifestation of ''Dragon''s Chest''. His body was literally covered in dragon scales. Even with Zhi Yin''s full power, she probably wouldn''t be able to cut his head off. But if she could destroy his Wei Qi, the fight would be hers. Chief Elder Baishen would stop it and declare her the winner.


    When Cao Yun regained control of his body, it was already too late. The sword was upon him and if he did nothing, he would probably lose. The sword was touching his Wei Qi. An intense cold was spreading from this blade to the extent that even his Wei Qi seemed to slow down and congeal. It became brittle and easier to break. Cao Yun saw only one way to get out of this situation. He let go of his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' and focused on his blood and Qi. Pushing ''Dragon''s Heart'' to the limit, he sent almost all of his strength in his forearm.


    With a speed that almost tore his own muscles apart, Cao Yun''s forearm rose and stopped the blade right before it could touch his neck. Thanks to his blood cultivation, his physique had been further improved. When Zhi Yin''s ''Shadow Over the World'' collided with his flesh, he felt a biting cold but his skin was not even perforated. His muscles turned as hard as Bin Iron. Zhi Yin felt the shock in her own arm. Using Qi, she negated it easily, but it was beyond what she thought Cao Yun capable of.


    The young man did not waste any time. Now that he was close to Zhi Yin, his spear was not very useful. But he could fight even without it. He got closer to her and sent a direct punch to her face. As she was trying to move away, Cao Yun''s foot landed on hers almost breaking her bones. Then, his knee attacked her leg. Her kneecap almost broke as it collided with Cao Yun''s.


    Understanding that she would not be able to get out of it right now, she sent her own sword into her spatial ring to be sure to have it at the ready when she needed. Then, the both of them began a brutal fist fight. They were now so close that they were sending elbows and shoulders. Cao Yun was using his ''Dance of Slaughter'' as well as the experience he had obtained against the blood beasts. On the other hand, Zhi Yin focused on deflecting and trying to move around. Even small punches from Cao Yun were strong enough to almost break her ribs. As such, she was using her wrists and forearms to deflect them as much as she could.


    Lower, their legs were moving as fast as their arms. Cao Yun even went for a headbutt, or a shoulder attack. The fight had become much more savage and fast. Since they were so close to each other, each technique was almost instantly connecting with the opponent. Soon, they were acting on instinct alone. They had no time to think before acting. Zhi Yin was still trying to get out of this as she was clearly outmatched by Cao Yun''s physical strength.


    -


    "They''re a bit too young..."


    "Indeed, they''ve wasted too much Qi in Qi Manifestations that were not necessary. This fight was good but a too flashy for my tastes."


    "They''re still kids. They have plenty of time to learn how to use their Qi Manifestation properly. Chen Guo was still a Mortal almost a year ago. We shouldn''t blame him for dispersing his Qi like that. Instead, it demonstrates that our teaching has been lacking."


    "Indeed. But don''t worry, I''ll take care of it."


    Chief Elder Baishen never stopped watching the fight but she had indeed some opinions on it. Although it had been enjoyable, they had used too much Qi Manifestation. Young cultivators loved using them because they created incredible and impressive phenomena but in her opinion, Spear Aura was much more valuable. Qi Manifestation should not be used on such large areas if it wasn''t necessary. Since both of them had mastered a form of Martial Aura, they should have used it more while relying on Qi Manifestation less. But again, they were young. Hopefully, this fight would open their eyes.


    Indeed, they finally realized that they were almost out of Qi.


    An early Mortal Warrior''s main reservoir of Qi was his Lower Dantian. Cao Yun could also use his blood as a source of Qi, but his blood cultivation was not very high yet. They had used too much Qi in their fight. And now they were mostly relying on their physique like Mortals.


    They stayed locked in a close quarter fight for almost an hour. Each strike was powerful enough to send ripples through the air. But no one seemed to have an advantage. At some point, they would need to break up and they had only enough energy for one final assault.


    In order to win, Cao Yun had no other choice than to use his full might. For that, he would need to completely open his Bai Hui to create an even more powerful Qi Manifestation. Now that he was fully engulfed by the heat of the fight, he did not even think about his previous injury. He was ready to make full use of his Five Prodigious Gates and so was Zhi Yin.


    Finally, Zhi Yin was able to get a bit of distance. Immediately, she jumped backward and took her sword out.

 Chapter 358: Last technique of the duel

    In the audience, several juniors realized they had been holding their breath for a while now. The fight between the two geniuses was intense beyond words. Although they were both 3rd-grade Mortal Warriors, they were clearly on par with middle Mortal Warriors, or even half-step Spirit Warriors. Right now, the only real difference was their reserve of Qi. As they had not yet begun to gather Fire Qi in their Middle Dantian, they could only use the Qi within their Lower Dantian. Thus, their capacity and consequently their stamina was lower.


    That was the reason why the elders thought they had used their Qi Manifestation too much. Just like Martial Aura, they had let it disperse too much. Since they had a limit to how much energy they could use, it was best to only focus it where it was necessary. For Mortal Warriors and even Spirit Warriors for the most part, Qi Manifestation was not fully under control. It was a result of how their Qi was used in their martial art. In a sense, it was similar to an array formation.


    Only someone who had a very profound understanding of his martial art could truly control his Qi Manifestation. It would have been best for the both of them to use their Martial Aura more than their Qi Manifestation in order to preserve Qi. But they had probably wanted to fight all-out and enjoy themselves. After all, they were young and this was a friendly duel. This was not a life or death situation where being exhausted could lead to further troubles.


    Right now, everyone could see that they had used most of their stamina already. They could still fight but after an entire day, they were running on fumes. In fact, they both had just enough for the final assault. This one last move would decide the duel.


    No matter what the result would be, Cao Yun''s reputation was restored. The first-years who had believed that maybe he had run away from the crisis knew better now. There was simply no reason for him to run away. Apart from Spirit Warriors, no one could take him down. The other rumor stating that he had helped for some secret mission began to spread like wildfire. It was now way more believable. Even the disciples who had seen him fight before were shocked. He had improved beyond their wildest dreams.


    In a few decades when he would become a Spirit Warrior, they could not imagine how powerful he would be. As of now, he could fight three or four grades above his own cultivation. But as a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, could he fight a 3rd-grade Spirit Warrior?


    The difference between the grades of the Mortal Warrior realm after opening all the Five Prodigious Gates was essentially the quantity of Qi and how much of it one could use at any given time. Depending on the strength of those Five Prodigious Gates, a cultivator could use way denser Qi which would increase the strength of the Qi Manifestation exponentially.


    For Spirit Warriors though, the difference was related to one''s soul. As such the disparity between grades was wider, but never equal between two given grades. For example the difference between a 1st-grade and a 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior was smaller than between an 8th-grade and a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even a half-step Sage was way beyond a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. That didn''t mean that they were invincible but they had a clear advantages over lesser cultivators.


    Ling Hui was a bit vexed that most people only talked about Cao Yun''s future. Zhi Yin was not that much older than he was. She was just a year older than him actually. Her future would be just as bright, if not brighter in fact. Contrary to Cao Yun, she had not received the help of Spirit Master Xiao. Of course, considering her talent, many elders and chief elders had helped her. But in the end, she had always preferred cultivating alone. Zhi Yin did not want to rely on others too much. That was one of the main reasons behind her founding of the Heavenly Swallow Faction.


    There were other reasons but they were mostly moot now.


    Before she could get jealous and angry, Ling Hui heard people talk about her idol.


    "Chen Guo is impressive but Fairy Zhi is even better, don''t you think?"


    "Well, she''s older. She''s almost out of the Wubei Sect in fact."


    "What are you spewing? She''s only one year older! Besides, Cao Yun has clearly an advantage in term of raw physical strength. Yet, even at close quarters, she was not beaten at all. She had a slight disadvantage, but she got out of it."


    "Yeah! I thought she was done for when he trapped her in such a fight. But she fared way better than expected."


    "They''re both awesome. I heard that Fairy Zhi was really going to leave our Wubei Sect, that''s such a loss. Having her as an inner disciple would have been great!"


    As everyone was anticipating the last assault, they were talking while staring at the platform. Not a single spectator took their eyes off of the two fighters.


    Right now, they were both catching their breath. The mind attack and the hour-long close quarter fight had taken a toll on them both. And they wanted their last technique to be perfect. In their minds, the two of them were imagining many scenarios. Just like Cao Yun, Zhi Yin was able to enter her sea of consciousness. Although she had not his mind cultivation, she had a powerful mind nonetheless. Right now, there was one technique she had not tried yet. It was risky but no matter what she imagined, the fight ended either in a draw or a defeat for her. Only this technique had a real chance to bring her the victory.


    In all honesty, she didn''t really care about winning. But she thought that Cao Yun was the perfect opponent against whom she could test her technique.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun could use several techniques he had not yet showcased. He was certain he could not beat Zhi Yin directly without using his Drop of Wrath though. His only hope of winning the fight without this outside help was not to win the martial art fight but the duel. Indeed, there were rules to the duel that didn''t exist in a real fight. He could count on them to win. Otherwise, he only saw the possibility of a draw. Zhi Yin was just too resourceful and he had already used too much Qi. By refusing to fully use his Bai Hui until now, his Qi Manifestation had wasted more Qi because he needed to compensate for its instability all the time.Stolen novel; please report.


    The two fighters took their weapons in hand. Suddenly, a silence fell upon the entire plaza. Everyone, even the elders and chief elders, were waiting for the final move. Chief Elder Baishen and Spirit Master Xiao were ready to act if either of them was in danger. Although they were not trying to harm each other, it could happen. There were even high risks that it would happen considering the determination in their eyes.


    The two of them restricted their Wei Qi around them to increase its density. Instead of Qi Manifestation, they used Martial Aura this time. Their weapons seemed to change in nature. Cao Yun was holding a giant pillar covered in blood while Zhi Yin had a piece of eternal ice in her hands. On one side, there was a veteran who had bathed in the blood of thousands of war. On the other side of the platform, there was a cold tyrant who had no emotion and looked upon the world with disdain. Their weapons were affecting how they appeared to everyone else.


    Then, all hell broke loose as they unleashed their techniques. Zhi Yin used all the Qi she had left to focus it around the blade of her sword.


    ''Mount Tai Parts the Lake of Heaven''.


    A thin layer of icy water appeared along the movement of the blade in the air. It almost cut through the array formations around the platform. Such an attack was clearly able to cut Cao Yun in half in his current condition. Even with his entire Wei Qi, he would have sustained an injury. But with the fatigue, he would be split in two.


    At the same moment, Cao Yun had simply stabbed in front of him using his loyal ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. He had only used his Spear Aura with no form of Qi Manifestation within the attack. But within his body, he had activated ''Dragon''s Heart'' and had used his blood cultivation to increase the strength of his upper body. Thus, he caused a pseudo-Qi Manifestation through his blood. For almost everyone, there was no difference at all.


    For Chief Elder Baishen and a few others though, the difference was clear. Many of the chief elders did not see anything unusual. But the ones who did could not necessarily figure it out. Then Spirit Master Xiao''s voice resounded in their minds.


    "He caused a Qi Manifestation through his blood. I''ve already seen that from high members of the Huang family. With a powerful bloodline, they can recreate the phenomenon that only demonic beasts can produce. The advantage is that it uses the Qi within the blood so even if Chen Guo''s Lower Dantian is empty, he can use it. And according to some, it might even be more powerful than traditional Qi Manifestation depending on the purity of one''s blood. Right now, I would say that Chen Guo''s blood is incredibly pure but I do not know which bloodline he has in his veins."


    Cao Yun''s blood came from the Drop of Wrath. In a way, his bloodline was Axiu Qian''s, an asura who had almost reached the highest levels of cultivation. Of course, it was powerful even if it was only a fraction of his true bloodline. Once the Po of the Drop of Wrath was fully repaired by his own Po, Cao Yun would be able to unleash even more of its power.


    With the combined effects of his Spear Aura and his bloodline, ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' turned into the bloody horn of a dragon. Behind Cao Yun, the two eyes of the Azure Dragon appeared briefly. Zhi Yin had the vision of a primordial beast facing her. With a single move, it could kill her without any hesitation. There was nothing to do to resist such a force of nature. Even her own determination wavered for an instant. The Qi Manifestation of ''Mount Tai Parts the Lake of Heaven'' flickered.


    Both attacks were close to striking the other opponent. Each one of them was fully committed in their own technique. They would not bulge and were ready to take the hit head-on. But at the last moment, Zhi Yin tried to protect herself.


    ''Peng Turns to Kun''!


    Her sword moved in front of her to block the spear long enough for her to move out of the way. Contrary to her own technique, the spear was targeting a precise point. Even with her last movement of the sword, her previous technique''s Qi Manifestation was still going toward Cao Yun. She had retracted her blade at the very last moment.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''!


    Cao Yun did not retract his spear at all. Instead, he strengthened his defense. The full might of Zhi Yin''s technique struck his neck. His Wei Qi tried to resist. All of a sudden, an intense cold spread to his skin and his Wei Qi got crushed. Then, he felt the cold touch of the blade on his skin. Chief Elder Baishen was ready to intervene as she wasn''t sure how resistant Cao Yun''s body was. However, she didn''t have to find out it. Before the layer of icy water could try to cut Cao Yun''s head, an armor of dragon scales appeared just on the side of his neck. All the scales were blown away but Cao Yun''s neck was safe.


    The blown scales flew in the air and went around Cao Yun''s spear.


    Just as Zhi Yin had stopped the spear, Cao Yun retracted it and surprised everyone with a technique he had never shown until now. He took his spear as a javelin and threw it away with all of his strength. The scales from ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield'' which had absorbed a part of Zhi Yin''s ''Mount Tai Parts the Lake of Heaven'' were also used in his legs and arms.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    The space between Cao Yun and Zhi Yin turned into a starry galaxy. It was an illusion created by Cao Yun''s Qi Manifestation. The spear looked as though it was a creature made of stars that was swimming in the void of space. In an instant, it could cross an entire galaxy. And then, it reached Zhi Yin. ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'' had been so powerful that she had not been able to dodge yet. Even with ''Peng Turns to Kun'', she had been stunned for a breath or two.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun had finally used his Bai Hui completely. This was the only way for his ultimate move to work. If it wasn''t fast enough, Zhi Yin would dodge and he would not recover his spear fast enough. Thankfully, he realized that his perceived frailty had really been psychological. Yes, his Bai Hui was weaker than his other Prodigious Gates, but it was still powerful enough to resist him using it to its fullest.


    Unable to adapt in time, Zhi Yin received the full force of the spear thrown by Cao Yun. She was completely blown away from the platform. All her stamina had already been used in her last attack that had failed. Cao Yun had kept all his remaining Qi in reserve for the defense and then the throw. During his ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky'', he had used no Qi at all, which Zhi Yin could not do because she had no special blood cultivation.


    She thought she could have used this! But then, this wasn''t a life or death fight... She wasn''t going to expose that trump card just for this kind of duel. Losing to someone like Cao Yun was perfectly acceptable. Her fighting determination disappeared from her eyes as she was falling to the ground below. For a Mortal Warrior, such a fall was not a problem at all.


    After sending Zhi Yin away, ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' kept its course. It literally tore through the array formations protecting the platform. Most of its force had been dissipated but it could still hurt someone in the audience. However, Cao Yun had no more energy to call it back. As such, Chief Elder Baishen appeared in mid-air and grabbed the weapon.


    Zhi Yin graciously landed on the ground while Cao Yun was still standing on the platform.

 Chapter 359: Young Sect Master

    The crowd did not react right away. Fairy Zhi had just been sent flying from the platform. She had literally landed in the middle of the spectators as a feather fluttering down toward the ground. Even in defeat, she had been agile and graceful.


    On the platform, Cao Yun was now alone. Every trace of Qi Manifestation had disappeared. By his side, Chief Elder Baishen appeared with ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' in hand. Before anyone could react, she began to speak.


    "Fair Zhi Yin was sent out of the platform. Chen Guo is declared the winner! This was a great fight that we all witnessed today, the kind we can''t often see. Both fighters proved their worth and showed the fruit of their arduous work. The two of them are the pride of our Wubei Sect. During these trying times, knowing that such brilliant young people are among us should bring us all comfort and pride. Many forces are conspiring against the Wubei Sect, the Hongchen Kingdom and even the human race as a whole. But in the end, mankind will always stand proud and strong.


    "Emperor Nuwa fought against millenniums of servitude and oppression. Everything seemed hopeless back then, way more than it is today. Yet, mankind prevailed. Our enemies should shake with fear, not the other way around. Although we have suffered greatly by the coward acts of the demonic cultivators and although demons are getting more and more active, vowing our death or enslavement, they should be the one to fear us. We have survived and we will continue. Let those who would harm our Wubei Sect tremble and cower before our might!"


    Using this spectacular fight, Chief Elder Baishen galvanized the crowd. Those who had been silent erupted in a huge clamor. Around Zhi Yin, many were looking at her with admiration. Even Ling Hui had not regret in her eyes. She was not satisfied by the result of the fight, but even she was forced to admit that Cao Yun was a worthy opponent. This time, he had bested her idol thanks to the rules of the duel. But in an actual fight, he might not have had this chance. Although he had grown fast, Fair Zhi could also grow fast. In fact, she had voluntarily slowed down her cultivation to avoid any form of Qi deviation. She had done what Cao Yun should have done before hurting himself.


    Now that the crowd was brimming with joy and excitement, Chief Elder Baishen knew that the time had come. She gave the spear back to Cao Yun who stored it in his spatial ring. Then, a shadow appeared above the sky. From the beginning of the duel, he had been there without no one noticing him. But this time, everyone recognized his face.


    Sect Leader Xuan was towering above the plaza. His expression was calm but it was awe-inspiring, and even intimidating for some. Sect Leader Xuan was known as the strongest cultivator of the Hongchen Kingdom. And the way he had fought during the recent crisis had proved it to everyone. Even the first-years who had not witnessed any of that felt suppressed by this serene man who seemed to be walking on thin air.


    "Disciples of my Wubei Sect, instructors, elders, chief elders. As Chief Elder Baishen just stated, we have been through a lot already. I would like to tell you that our pain is over. However, this would be a lie. The demons are gathering at our borders. All the armies of our Hongchen Kingdom are on alert. Soon, a full-out war with some of the demon kingdoms might unleash its ferocity upon us. But mark my words! Mankind will always prevail against such reckless hate.


    "Some thought that abandoning our humanity to turn to the demonic arts might have been the solution. It is not! It never was. And it never will be. The proof of the matter is that they failed before our unity. Emperor Nuwa brought all of mankind together to fight a common enemy. If we have to fight again for our survival, we will do so united!


    "Many rumors concerning my health have spread. It is true that I am old. But you''ve all seen that my strength didn''t leave me!"


    As he spoke those words, his spiritual senses manifested around him. For the disciples gathered in the plaza, he looked like a god in the sky. Even Cao Yun was impressed by this display of might. Sect Leader Xuan seemed invincible right now.


    "Nonetheless, I am getting old. There would be no sense in denying it. As such, I am concerned about the future of the Wubei Sect. We will go through this crisis but in a hundred years or even two hundred years, I might not be here anymore. Thus, I will now solemnly nominate my direct disciple, the one who will take my seat when the time will come. The one I chose for this heavy burden is Chen Guo. Young Sect Master Chen Guo!"


    People did not even question Sect Leader Xuan''s words. After seeing the fight just now, they were already impressed by Cao Yun''s talent. With the words spoken and the aura of Chief Elder Baishen and Sect Leader Xuan, no one would ever question his decision. In fact, it seemed like the natural course of things. Cao Yun was the only one who could become Sect Leader Xuan''s successor. Even among the inner disciples, no one was as talented as he was. Apart from Zhi Yin, there was probably not a single Mortal Warrior who could rival him. Unfortunately though, Fairy Zhi Yin did not intend to stay within the Wubei sect.


    Besides all that, Cao Yun was also known as an alchemist and an array formation master. He was a member of Zhi Yin''s faction and his sworn brothers were all direct disciples of chief elders. He already had ties with the chief elders and the strength to back up this decision. Now, the crowd could not accept anyone else as the Young Sect Master. If someone were to bring up another name, the entire Wubei Sect would be against him. This was perfect!


    Sect Leader Xuan let the crowd acclaim Cao Yun''s name. Although the name was fake, Cao Yun still felt something when he heard the entire plaza packed with people shout his name.


    "Young Sect Master Chen Guo! Young Sect Master Chen Guo!"


    After a few moments, Cao Yun felt his body slowly float up in the air. Sect Leader Xuan was using his spiritual senses to control him. He could have done so way faster, but he was putting on a show for the crowd and everyone else. They both disappeared in the clouds, in the direction of the Sect Palace.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    On the ground, Ling Hui had gone to Zhi Yin''s side.


    "What a showoff!"


    Zhi Yin sent her an amused gaze.


    "You seem to have warmed up to him..."


    "Well... He''s not just talk. But Fairy Zhi is still the greatest! The next time you''ll fight, he''ll definitely lose!"


    "The ''next time''..."


    There was melancholy in Zhi Yin''s words. Immediately, Ling Hui looked up at her in a panic.


    "Fairy..."


    Ling Hui realized she might have misspoken. She knew what awaited in Zhi Yin''s future. They might never meet again. In fact, Zhi Yin might never even see the Hongchen Kingdom ever again.


    With all the people and all the joy around them, the two women decided not to dwell on the topic. On the contrary, they fully joined the crowd and embraced the euphoria.


    -


    When Cao Yun touched the ground, he was in the Sect Palace once more. This time, he was alone with Sect Leader Xuan. Almost immediately, several array formations activated and Sect Leader Xuan even spread his spiritual senses all over Cao Yun and himself. He went to the extent of using his martial arts as Cao Yun could feel the space around him vibrate.


    "We are now completely isolated from the outside world. Even I would need a few hours to get through this kind of barrier. We can speak freely and others will just think I am giving you special information on our Wubei Sect. The truth of the matter is that I have many things to discuss with you. I already learned a lot by talking with Xiao Xuefeng and Matriarch Huang. I won''t need you to divulge anything. On the contrary, I am the one who has many things to divulge to you.


    "Let''s begin with the state of our investigation into the demonic cultivators.


    "We have found out that Mo Zi and the man who infiltrated the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, Gu Song, both originated from the Subei Province near the Sunmen Province. Besides, even Luo Jiang, whom you''ve met in Yinmen City three years ago, seems to have learned his craft there. We believe Luo Jiang had always been a way to attract Spirit Master Xiao into our Wubei Sect so that Mo Tian could observe her and free the path for Gu Song. What he stole in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute is a very potent ingredient in alchemy.


    "The Heavenly Silver Peach Tree seldom bears fruits and each one is beyond precious. We can''t be sure of what they want to do with it. But if my guess is correct, they used it to get rid of a seal. Either Mo Tian used it to purge an hypothetical seal the Demon King put on him or the Demon King was Mo Tian all along and he used it to erase a seal that had been put on him by someone else. There''s also the possibility that they intended to use it in order to get rid of a seal within Da Mo''s body. At this stage, we can''t really know why they stole it. But it was almost as important as Da Mo''s body for them, if not more. From that, we can assume that their plan is not yet over. Until we''ve found and killed all of them, we won''t be safe."


    Sect Leader Xuan kept on going about what they had discovered. Many demonic cultivators had been able to flee from the Wubei Sect. It was also difficult to account for every single disciple, instructor and even elder. The list of the dead during the stampede was still not definitive. Surely, some members of the Wubei Sect had been taken hostage by fleeing demonic cultivators while others were demonic cultivators themselves.


    Cao Yun listened to all the reports of demonic cultivators sightings. There didn''t seem to be a pattern in the way they were moving around. Clearly, they were in a panic and fleeing where they could. Besides, the Wubei Sect had formed a strong alliance with both the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and the Huang family to hunt down those threats. They had found many places where the demonic cultivators had created temporary camps and were targeting them.


    In that endeavor, Cao Yun wouldn''t add much help. However, there were other things he could investigate. When he was done stating the facts, Sect Leader Xuan looked directly in Cao Yun''s eyes. He could clearly see his determination.


    "I do realize that you want to do something, that you can''t sit idly by. But with everything that''s going on, we won''t be able to help you at all if you leave the Wubei Sect. On the other hand, if you wait and the war erupts with the demons, chaos will engulf the entire Hongchen Kingdom. At that point, it will become impossible to follow any kind of lead."


    "Sect Leader Xuan, do not worry. I already have plans in mind. I''ll first go to the ruins of the Wolf Head Sect. Then I''ll get back to Baziyun City and investigate what the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall knows and talk with Matriarch Huang. There, I will be as safe as in the Wubei Sect. Matriarch Huang and Huang Liyue themselves have guaranteed my safety. With such experts giving me their words, I am certain that nothing bad will happen to me. And the Wolf Head Sect should be completely abandoned.


    "But I also have a way to protect myself, the ''Ashen Feather Seal''. On that matter, I also intend to get a few words with Huang Liyue to improve my technique. And I also hoped to get access to materials concerning seals. It might help me both with my stealth and my investigation. To tell the truth, I''ve been able to get rid of a few seals in demonic cultivators, but I can''t do anything other than temporarily disrupt the most powerful ones, those in their sea of consciousness. Since Spirit Master Xiao has a hard time doing so herself, I don''t hope to achieve great proficiency, but knowing more about them might be useful."


    Sect Leader Xuan already knew what ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was and he had seen Cao Yun use it during the rebellion. As such, he had to admit that it would indeed be a powerful way to protect himself. Even if he couldn''t completely conceal himself in front of a late Spirit Warriors, he could at least alter his perception and hide his real identity. Furthermore, Xiao Xuefeng had confirmed that his mind cultivation allowed him to lie even to her. No one in the Hongchen Kingdom would be able to tell that Cao Yun was lying just by listening to his voice or watching his behavior.


    "Of course. As the Young Sect Master, short of a few forbidden tomes, you have access to every single book and manual in the Wubei Sect. Seals are a specialty of the soul and mind pavilion. Chief Elder L¨¹mian will be able to help and guide you on that matter. Although her spiritual senses are not as developed as Spirit Master Xiao''s, she is the most competent seal master we have.


    "Concerning your intentions, I do think inspecting the Wolf Head Sect won''t bring you anything. The Imperial City completely razed it to the grounds. But you might be able to find something, who knows... The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall might be able to provide you with some information that will help you find a better lead. But I have an idea for you, the Alchemy Conference.


    "It happens only once by generation and everyone under Spirit Warrior can participate. The last time the Emperor was seen by all was during the previous Alchemy Conference. Since then, he barely appeared. And no one saw him for seventy years, apart from the ministers of the Imperial City. But I''m not sure if we can trust them. If Emperor Weide does not appear during this Alchemy Conference, especially with everything that happened and the threat of a war, many will have a lot of questions. As such, I think it important that you are there. And being a participant will give you more leeway to act as you see fit."

 Chapter 360: Dao and Domain

    "Until then, you should hide your identity. Thankfully, not that many people could recognize you. Besides you''ve grown quite a lot since you''ve joined our Wubei Sect. We will announce that you have entered seclusion in order to absorb the teachings I''ve given you. As the new Young Sect Master, that is not weird at all. In fact, it''s exactly what I would suggest you do if we were not pressed for time. With Spirit Master Xiao''s connection inside the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, we can make sure that everyone believes that you are indeed still within our Wubei Sect, especially if we make a huge spectacle out of your nomination. I''m rather certain that part is already a success..."


    Cao Yun was in perfect agreement with Sect Leader Xuan. As Chen Guo, he would probably be in as much danger as if he took back his real name. Since Spirit Master Xiao had been able to create a fake identity for him, she could do it again.


    "Sect Leader, I do think that this is a good idea. I still have a few things to learn before I depart though. But after I''m done, I''ll bid farewell to my friends since they all have their own venues to pursue. After that, I''ll set toward Baziyun City, visit the ruins of the Wolf Head Sect on the way. And once I''m done, I will consider participating in the Alchemy Conference."


    "Good. Hiding your identity is essential. Thus, Spirit Master Xiao created a fake persona for you yet again."


    Documents appeared in mid-air. Cao Yun took them and saw the biography of an alchemist. He was almost five years older than Cao Yun and was named Guai Mo. His past was a bit dark as he had dabbled with poison and had even killed a few people who had threatened him. But he had been able to stay free thanks to his status as a 5-star Earth alchemist. Since then, he had broken through and was a 1-star Human alchemist. He had been stuck at this grade for at least two years despite his cultivation which had been going nicely as he was a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior.


    Everything seemed absolutely legit. There were many names, locations and dates to remember. If he had not known better, Cao Yun might have thought that this Guai Mo had truly existed. He wasn''t a vicious character, but he could be deadly if threatened.


    "This Guai Mo will be you for the foreseeable future. But we still have a lot to discuss. Namely, I''d like to talk about the Sage realm. There is little known about the realms beyond the first three. Although the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' talks about them all, only the light version of this manual is now known throughout the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, it has been fourteen thousand years since anyone has been able to cross over the Greater Tribulation and break through to the Sage realm."


    As he spoke, a manuscript appeared from Sect Leader Xuan''s spatial ring. At first glance, Cao Yun recognized the ''Universal Law of Immortality''. It was probably the most renown literary work in the Hongchen Kingdom. This was one of the sacred treasures left behind by Emperor Nuwa before she ascended. Thanks to this manual, mankind had been able to cultivate immortality once more.


    This was thanks to this manual that mankind had been able to revolt against their oppressors and topple Demon God Da Mo. In the manual, the human cultivation system was divided into nine realms. According to the legends, Emperor Nuwa had studied the Dao and derived how mankind could achieve true immortality from it. But nowadays, only the first three realms were talked about.


    With time, even the new copies of the ''Universal Law of Immortality'' manual only had the first three realms. Apart from very old versions of the manual, the last six realms were not discussed at all. Of course, the Wubei Sect had copies of the original manual. Although the other realms were now unreachable, mankind would have never forsaken the original work of Emperor Nuwa. Often, full copies were still made to ensure that the original content was not lost. However, no one taught it anymore because it was useless except for someone who had become a late Spirit Warrior.


    The manuscript that was now flying toward Cao Yun was thicker than the one he knew about. He could imagine that it was the full copy of the ''Universal Law of Immortality''.


    "According to Emperor Nuwa, the nine realms of cultivation can be grouped in three separate categories. Mortal, Mortal Warrior and Spirit Warrior are only the initial stages of cultivation during which a cultivator can''t even study the Dao. Those three realms are just the prerequisite to then learn the mysteries of the Dao during the Sage, Monarch and Immortal realms. And only after breaking through those six first realms, one would reach the transcendental stages, God, God-Monarch and Dao.


    "Even my achievement which is seen as absolutely supreme by some cultivators is only considered the last step in the initial stages. Back in the Founding Era, I would have only been a very advanced beginner. Indeed, even as a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, I cannot study the Dao. I''ve only been able to get a glimpse of a tiny part of it thanks to the accumulated efforts of all the past sect leaders. Without them, I would have no idea what the Dao of Space even was.


    "You see, the Greater Tribulation at the end of the Spirit Warrior realm consists in finally seeing the world through the Third Eye of the Spirit Embryo. Even now, my Spirit Embryo sees the world through my physical body and as such, its vision is blurred. Only after crossing over this tribulation one can see the Dao. The Dao is the fundamental principle behind and before everything else. It is from the Dao that everything exists and operates.


    "Of course, even a Sage can''t directly understand the Dao, that is why they study fragments of it. For example, the Dao of Space is a very important Dao that needs to be studied at some point by any cultivator. What I know of it is just the most fundamental aspect of it. Even with all the knowledge from the past and all the experiences of my predecessors, I barely grasp what this Dao is truly about. Indeed, it''s impossible to teach a Dao to someone else. To understand it, you have to feel it yourself. The only thing you can do is describe your sensations and explain your understandings. It can help to a certain extent..."Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    This reminded Cao Yun of ''Death Verses''. From Sect Leader Xuan''s explanations, Cao Yun slowly realized that this text was not a real method, it was more of a journal in which Cleansed Asura had explained how he had felt while manipulating Death Energy. He had written it in several verses, but those were not the same chapters as a martial art manual. Maybe he had thought about it wrong. This wasn''t a technique at all, this was the perception of a Dao Cleansed Asura had been pursuing, the Dao of Death.


    "For now, I''d like to talk to you about Domains. Domains can, in theory, only been achieved by a Monarch. What you''ve seen me use can be called a pseudo-Domain, but only during our Forsaken Dao Era. A real Domain is something way beyond that. During the Sage realm, the cultivator''s sea of consciousness would evolve into an entire world called an inner world. Then, after becoming a Monarch, one would be able to manifest parts of this inner world in the physical world around him. That is what is called a Domain. Within a Domain, the one who manifested it is absolute.


    "Contrary to my meager pseudo-Domain, there is no way to break a Domain except through the use of another Domain. A Monarch is absolutely more powerful than any cultivator beneath that realm. Indeed, even the weakest of Domains cannot be broken by anything else than another Domain. And within a Domain, the one who manifested it is invincible. When facing a Monarch, even a Sage cannot put up a fight. The only real strategy is to stay far enough so as to not enter their Domain.


    "The reason why I tell you all that is because I truly believe that you have what it takes to finally break the curse of our Forsaken Dao Era. There are many things around you that are intriguing. And I know Matriarch Huang well enough to see through her lies and half-truths. I know you obtained a legacy from a cultivator way beyond the Sage realm, maybe even a God or higher. Do not worry, I won''t ask you to reveal it to me. I imagine that you won''t stay bound to our Wubei Sect for more than a few centuries.


    "That being said, I hope that you will always remember our Wubei Sect and the Hongchen Kingdom. I do not know how far you''ll be able to go, but you are the only hope I see of breaking through the Sage realm in the foreseeable future."


    After hearing all that from Sect Leader Xuan, Cao Yun finally responded.


    "Sect Leader, I am not ingrate. Even if you had not taken me in as the Young Sect Master, I would have repaid the Wubei Sect for what it gave me. As the Young Sect Master, I do not know whether I will fulfill your aspirations. But I can swear that I will always cherish the Wubei Sect. Besides, the first rule of Ancestor Wu will always be dear to me as well. No matter what caused my family''s death, I will not forsake the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Even if the Emperor in person is behind it, I will protect the legacy of Emperor Nuwa."


    "Good. Then, you should study the real ''Universal Law of Immortality''. Unfortunately, the text becomes too cryptic for us to understand beyond the Sage realm. But you should also visit Chief Elder L¨¹mian. I am sure she can help you concerning your interest in seals. And here is my personal library, read it as much as you want."


    From Sect Leader Xuan''s spatial ring, entire bookshelves appeared. There were thousands of books and manuals. After he was done, Sect Leader Xuan kept the array formations active but he disappeared behind a curtain, leaving Cao Yun to study.


    Without waiting, Cao Yun read the title of every manual and book. They were all very interesting although they did not cover Cao Yun''s interests. There was no specialized book on alchemy or array formations. Of course, many would talk about it but it was not their main topic. In terms of martial arts, there was nothing about spearmanship. However, there were general books on Martial Aura, Martial Intent and Martial Heart. There were also various books discussing philosophy, poetry, politics and history.


    Using his mind cultivation, Cao Yun proceeded to memorizing the contents of all the books he found somewhat interesting. Memorizing was not the same thing as understanding though. But with his powerful mind cultivation, Cao Yun was able to get a good grasp on what he was reading. And he was also reading extremely fast. It would be way easier to study it further later on.


    One of the manuals reminded him of ''Death Verses''. It was very vague but he felt as though they were closely related. This was called ''Daydreams on the Heidai Peak''. At first, it looked like a poetry anthology. When he saw the names of the authors, Cao Yun understood that every single sect leader of the Wubei sect since Ancestor Wu had written in it. This wasn''t just poetry, this was their understanding of the Dao of Space.


    Some passages were very clear while others felt like fever dreams. They had written what they had experienced when they tried to cross over the Greater Tribulation. Each one had tried to see through the Dao, the Dao of Space in particular. Not every passage was as inspired and useful as the others but they all had pieces of the puzzle that was the Dao of Space.


    Anyway, for now, Cao Yun had almost no way of understanding what those poems were referring to. As Sect Leader Xuan had just told him, it was necessary to feel a certain Dao, to experience it, in order to understand even a tiny fraction of it. Those poems might help him, but for now they were just strange aphorisms. However, it opened his eyes as to how to practice ''Death Verses''.


    Right now, Cao Yun had no real way of feeling the Dao of Space. However, he had Death Energy within himself. Maybe he could find a way to work on the Dao of Death somehow. He would not reach a high level of proficiency. But as everything else, having a bit of experience in sensing any form of Dao would help him while trying to explore other Daos. Besides, ''Death Verses'' was the only text apart from ''Cultivation of Wrath'' he could read from Cleansed Asura''s memories.


    Cao Yun could not be sure whether he had only helped him decipher it to save Huang Liyue''s life or if there was something deeper. Anyway, he would try to develop it if only to improve his understanding of the Antique Sixian. He was still convinced that it was his best bet to understand this language.


    While he was reading, Cao Yun felt Dian Mo who was avidly reading as well. At any moment, he could have forbidden him to see through his physical senses, but he did not. After talking with him a bit more, the young man had realized that Dian Mo was extremely curious and talkative. After being imprisoned for several millenniums, this wasn''t surprising at all. But Cao Yun was certain he could use it against him.


    Although he had been created by Demon God Da Mo, Dian Mo was not a demon, he was a spirit. And he had helped Cao Yun to get rid of Mo Tian and Da Mo''s body. Of course, he had acted out of self-interest as well, but this wasn''t necessarily a bad thing. For some time, their lives would be linked. If Cao Yun were to die, Dian Mo would die as well. As such, Dian Mo had a huge incentive to keep Cao Yun alive and well.


    Coupled with his curiosity and his loose tongue, Cao Yun was convinced that having him in his sea of consciousness was not such a bad thing after all...

 Chapter 361: Sage and Monarch

    The text that marked Cao Yun the most was indeed the ''Universal Law of Immortality''. In the complete version, the first three realms were unchanged. Cao Yun read nothing new. But then, there were other entries.


    The Sage realm was also known as the Dao Realm. During this realm, the cultivator would slowly transform his sea of consciousness into an inner world. Each grade consisted in furthering this transformation. At first, a pagoda would appear and it would gain one floor by grade. The more he read about this realm, the more Cao Yun thought about the Yellow Death World. That dimension had literally been the sea of consciousness of Cleansed Asura. As a God-Monarch, he had of course gone through those nine grades and beyond.


    Within this realm, it was possible to absorb treasures from the physical world in order to help strengthen one''s inner world. That was probably why Cleansed Asura had taken the seed of the world tree. But then, Cao Yun also had a small seed of the world tree in him. A part of it had been used to help heal his Bai Hui, but he could still feel the seed asleep in his sea of consciousness. Maybe it would be useful to him once he became a Sage. For Cao Yun, there was no doubt that he would become a Sage in the future.


    Mo Tian''s goal had been to merge human cultivation and demon cultivation. Ironically, Cao Yun who had helped thwart his plan had achieved this without even trying to. Thanks to the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun could practice the blood cultivation of demons while keeping a human body.


    During the Sage realm, one would finally be able to see through the Dao. Thus, a Sage would try to learn as many smaller Dao as possible. Although it was technically possible to break through without ever studying the Dao, it would then prevent the cultivator from reaching the highest realms of cultivation. The Sage realm was the perfect realm to study the Dao. As such, it was advised to not rush it at all. However, the Sage realm did not offer any gain in longevity. And it could take a couple of centuries to go through it, even for someone who was rushing it and didn''t care about having a firm and stable cultivation.


    Then, the Monarch realm, also known as the Domain Realm, consisted in tempering this inner world into a Domain that could be manifested in the physical world. It was way more dangerous. Just like the Sage realm, it did not offer any gain in longevity. And as it was dangerous, it was advised not to rush it either. Besides, once a Domain was forged, it was almost impossible to change it. Considering how powerful and important a Domain was, it was better to forge the best Domain possible.


    After those two realms was finally the Immortal realm, also known as the Fusion Realm. In this realm, the physical body and the Soul Embryo would slowly fuse. Once again, it was a very dangerous realm as both the physical body and the Soul Embryo could be damaged by a careless cultivator. However, each grade offered great gains in longevity. Instead of living two millenniums, a 1st-grade Immortal could leave five millenniums. And a 9th-grade Immortal could even reach the age of fifty thousand years. By fusing the physical body and the Soul Embryo, an Immortal would develop an Immortal Body that would not need any form of sustenance apart from pure energy.


    Concerning the later realms of God, God-Monarch and Dao, there was almost nothing. Cao Yun only understood that a God had to harmonize with his universe. Then, a God-Monarch would have to leave his universe, to cross the veil between the worlds and explore other universes. That was what Cleansed Asura had done. Finally, the Dao realm was clouded in mystery. But the end goal was to go back to the origin of all things, the Dao itself.


    Of course, Emperor Nuwa had written this ''Universal Law of Immortality'' before ascending. As such, she had been a Sage or an early Monarch at the time. Thus, her understanding of the higher realms was shallow at best. The mere fact that she had been able to get a sense of what they were was impressive in itself.


    Despite his speed, it took Cao Yun a couple of days to read everything. As per their agreement, he couldn''t have hidden everything from Dian Mo. Indeed, he could only block his senses during two double hours every day. In fact, recently, he had barely used this. But according to their agreement, he couldn''t accumulate those hours. If he didn''t block his senses in a day, those two double hours were lost forever.


    Cao Yun had decided to be way more selective with what he hid from Dian Mo. Despite the threat he was posing, Dian Mo was also a great source of information. Although he was not willing to divulge everything, he was also unable to control his mouth. Dian Mo had to talk to someone about almost anything. Most of the times though, it was to complain that the current era sucked and that humans and demons alike were pathetic. He could go on a rant for days if no one stopped him. Sometimes Cao Yun let him speak alone until he was satisfied.


    Although he couldn''t cut off Dian Mo''s perception of the outside world, he could cut off his own perception of Dian Mo. Since he was in his sea of consciousness, this was just like a voice in his head. Because he could control his thoughts, he could also control Dian Mo''s voice and make it so quiet he couldn''t hear it, just know that it was there, still speaking.


    Dian Mo had read the integral ''Universal Law of Immortality''. Since it had been written by Emperor Nuwa after the defeat of Demon God Da Mo, he had had no way of knowing about it before.


    "That Nuwa brat... Even as a slave, she was impressive... I hate to admit it but she was probably smarter than Demon God Da Mo..."


    This was the first time Dian Mo acknowledged a human. Even though he wanted Cao Yun''s body, he had never praised him. Because he had been created by Demon God Da Mo, of course he had a prejudice against humans. But demons didn''t fare any better in his views. Only Demon God Da Mo was above everyone else, and Dian Mo thought himself superior to them as well. Even defeated by Cao Yun, he put the blame on the Drop of Wrath that was abnormal, not on Cao Yun himself. As such, he could keep his pride.


    But now that he was looking at what Emperor Nuwa had written, he was forced to admit that she was talented. Even using the word ''brat'' was an improvement for him.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Of course, she probably swarmed Demon God Da Mo with numbers to win against him. But she was not as bad as I thought she was. When you look at this cultivation though, there are some similarities with the cultivation of asura. They''re not obvious at first, but they are here, just like your mind cultivation is similar to the Accomplished Demon realm. Most likely, it stems from the fact that asura and humans share a common ancestor. I''m sure that deva cultivation would also have some similarities.


    "Look, for example, humans create a Soul Embryo while asura forge a Demon Soul. Since each one is different, they require different forms of cultivation of course, but the general idea is the same. You need this new form of soul to reach immortality afterward. And during the Immortal Demon realm, the equivalent of the Immortal realm, the asura merges his spirit with the Demon Soul in every drop of his own blood. This is very similar to what humans do by merging their physical body with their Soul Embryo.


    "Even a Domain is not unlike the True Fire of asura. An Exalted Demon can''t fight a Reborn Demon because they control the True Fire that can burn through everything. The very blood of a Reborn Demon is so potent and powerful that it''s almost impossible for someone under this realm to fight them. I''ve never heard of a Monarch fighting a Reborn Demon, but I suspect that a Domain and the True Fire are somewhat on the same level."


    Dian Mo gave a lot of information concerning the blood cultivation of asura and demons. But Cao Yun had already read about it in the ''Crimson Inferno Road''. Unlike the ''Universal Law of Cultivation'', it had been complete from the beginning. However, the last realms were also really cryptic, probably because Demon God Da Mo himself wasn''t too sure about those either. After all, not many cultivators could have reached such realms.


    Since Dian Mo was in a talking mood, which happened very often to be honest, Cao Yun decided to entertain him. And he began to talk in depths about the human cultivation and the asura cultivation.


    At first, Dian Mo was not impressed by Cao Yun''s conversation. But as he listened to the boy, he realized that he had a more thorough comprehension than what he had believed. In fact, both Dian Mo and Cao Yun got really into the conversation. They also discussed about the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' and ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' manuals.


    The first one was probably the work of a demon trying to imitate humans in order to produce something closer to a Soul Embryo, instead of a normal Demon Soul. On the other hand, the blood cultivation he had received from Matriarch Huang, was the attempt at copying the demons'' blood cultivation. Apparently, whoever had created this method had also observed demonic beasts to fill some holes in his understanding.


    As they were talking, Cao Yun learned a lot about blood cultivation that might help him in the future. Although Dian Mo was not willing to help Cao Yun without any compensation, he was just too engrossed in the conversation. Of course, he was not stupid and knew that Cao Yun was getting more out of it than he was. But he couldn''t deny that he loved talking. And as a matter of fact, he loved talking with such an interesting boy.


    Similarly, Cao Yun who was passionate about discovering new martial arts and new cultivation methods, found their discussion entertaining and captivating. Not only was it helpful for his future, it was also a delight in itself.


    "I''m pleased to see that blood cultivation fascinates you so much, but I have a question for you."


    "Go ahead, you''ve never asked my permission before."


    "What about your Qi cultivation? Although I can''t sense it well enough, your Bai Hui should be mostly healed by now. No one seems to know exactly what happened, but my guess is that you have some idea about it... I won''t ask you what healed your Bai Hui but I know this wasn''t the Drop of Wrath or your blood and I have no idea what that seed or that vine were. That being said, that physician told you that it was fine to use your Bai Hui now. Even during the fight with that girl, you used it at full capacity.


    "Yet, you''ve not once worked on your Qi cultivation, as though you were afraid of damaging your Bai Hui once again. At your level, the blood cultivation won''t let you become stronger fast. After all, your current blood cultivation is already very advanced. Of course, it''s unstable and starting from scratch is a good idea indeed. Practicing from the Blood Child realm will stabilize your blood cultivation and allow you to go to higher peaks later. However, it won''t replace your Qi cultivation for a long time."


    That was a question that had plagued Cao Yun as well.


    "If my Bai Hui is damaged, it''s because of you!"


    "Oh...? Yes, I''m truly sorry about that... It''s not as though I had paid for it by being trapped and tortured into your mind."


    Cao Yun disregarded the clear mockery in Dian Mo''s words. However, he was really struggling with that question. And since he had been talking with Dian Mo for so long, it now felt natural to discuss his problems as well. Dian Mo was not the only one who was too talkative apparently.


    "The truth is that I''m not too sure what happened to my Bai Hui either. Right now, it seems weaker than my other Prodigious Gates, but it is also full of vitality. When I first used the Drop of Wrath, I had no idea what it was but I was following a manual that made sense. Now, I know what this seed was but I have no idea what I should do with it. Even now, I can feel that it''s still asleep within my sea of consciousness even if I can''t see it directly.


    "To be honest, I''m afraid of hurting myself even more. For now, the wound seems healed, but it could come back with a vengeance if I do whatever with my Bai Hui. I know that I should get back to cultivating my Qi, but I feel anxious about it. Yes, I could use my mind cultivation to push it aside. But that could also cause me to be too reckless. I need to have a clear mind without worry when I cultivate, especially after what happened to my Bai Hui because of YOU."


    "Come on... I was trying to deceive you, you were trying to deceive me. And you won at the end. I should be the one being angry with you. But look at me, I''m being the bigger spirit here."


    After that witticism by Dian Mo, there was an awkward pause.


    "About your Bai Hui, boy, the more you wait before cultivating it again, the harder it will get. In fact, you might even develop an inner demon because of it. I know your mind cultivation is powerful, but you have to be proactive as well."


    "And why do you care so much about my well-being?"


    "Simple. If you die, I die. And you''re going to go against people who could kill you just with a slap of their hand. Against Mortal Warriors, I don''t think you can lose unless they''re too many. However, the weakest of Spirit Warriors could eliminate you with a thought. Unless you trap them by luring them into your mind like you did to me, you can''t win, you can just run away."


    "I know... But I also know that Sect Leader Xuan will never let me leave without some form of protection. But if you really want to help keep me alive, you might talk about the seals used by demonic cultivators."

 Chapter 362: Seals and soul

    During his time in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Cao Yun had been able to experiment with seals on demonic cultivators. By using his knowledge of ''Blood Runes'' he had obtained after fighting Luduo Bu, of Evil Qi, and of Death Energy, he had deciphered a few of those seals. However, it had been rather instinctive. As such, this was still very unstable and very unclear in his mind. Despite all the books he had just read, he could not immediately formulate a perfect vision of what seals were.


    Some seals were made with blood and were literally physical. In fact, even artifacts could be sealed or used as seals. For example, the Devil''s Jail in itself was also a form of seal. Other seals were made of energy, like Qi, Evil Qi or Death Energy. There were probably other kinds of seals as well. In fact, Cao Yun knew that array formations could also be used to seal things. And the Devil''s Jail had array formations on and in it, thus it combined different forms of seals. His ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was also a form of seal made from energy.


    Those seals were immaterial but could be felt and were somewhere in the physical body of the sealed demonic cultivator. However, there were also seals that could be placed in their minds or their very souls. Against those seals, Cao Yun had only been able to use his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to hide it from whoever had created it. Thanks to that and the intent from the Drop of Wrath, he had been able to cancel their effect for a little time. But in the end, they got activated anyway. After all, even Xiao Xuefeng had a hard time dealing with them, so it was not surprising that Cao Yun had been unable to completely wipe them out.


    Dian Mo was not very useful on that matter but he did speak about ''Blood Runes''.


    "While humans use array formations a lot, demons mainly rely on blood runes. The method used by those demonic cultivators is a very crude adaptation of this concept for humans. Demons can model their own blood but also the blood of others. As Qi circulates strongly in their blood, altering the blood itself by giving it a shape will create various effects. This is the same principle behind array formations. But the effects will also vary depending on the blood itself.


    "And unlike array formations, you don''t need to take the environment into consideration at all. Of course, it can also help you create better blood runes, but usually it''s not that useful. The main difference with array formations is that those blood runes can be kept on hands and used when you need you. Once they''re created, you don''t need to set up a complex array formation. In fact, they could be compared with array formation plates in that regard.


    "Their effects are very numerous. For example, they can just be used to strengthen your muscles, your flesh. They can be used to create powerful attacks. I remember a demon who used blood runes to cause explosions in the middle of a fight. Each time a drop of blood left his body, his opponent could not know whether this blood was going to explode to his face or not. Even without actually detonating his blood runes, he could get an advantage on his opponent."


    The subject really interested Cao Yun, but it was not really helpful for his current problem. Demonic cultivators were not that good with blood runes. Their ''Blood Runes'' method was a pale imitation of that as those blood runes were very limited. It had been created to allow humans to produce blood runes without the blood cultivation of demons. But as it was still young, this method didn''t allow a wide variety of blood runes and it even limited to number of blood runes one could forge and use.


    Against the blood runes produced by demonic cultivators, Cao Yun had no problem at all. Maybe he might face some hardships against the blood runes of a real demon though. For now, it was part of his considerations, even though the demons were getting more and more dangerous at the borders.


    Since he was done reading the books of Sect Leader Xuan, he bade him farewell. As soon as he bowed and announced he was leaving, Sect Leader Xuan appeared in front of Cao Yun. His entire library returned into his spatial ring. In its stead, Cao Yun saw a tiny sphere he recognized immediately. It was a Spirit Condensation Barrier, the same shielding charm Xiao Xuefeng had given him. Without it, he would have been killed by Can Mouye several times.


    "You already know this artifact. What you probably do not know is that this Spirit Condensation Barrier requires one to split a tiny part of his soul to make it. This is the reason why it''s so rare and can''t be produced often. Spirit Master Xiao is still young, her soul will recover over time. But if she were to create more than one every other century, it would have a dire impact on her cultivation. This Spirit Condensation Barrier is mine. I already created it a few decades ago in case I took in a disciple. Well, I did.


    "Thus, this Spirit Condensation Barrier is yours. I put a larger part of my soul inside because, let''s be honest, I''m old. I have very little hope of breaking through. And I''ll probably be dead before I can even make another one, so this Spirit Condensation Barrier is the most powerful you can possess. Only use it if your life is in absolute danger. This is not something that can be wasted. Once you use it, you probably won''t ever get another protection as powerful."


    A Spirit Condensation Barrier was a very rare object indeed and Cao Yun had never read anything about it. When he had used it, he had not been able to sense what it was. But now he realized how precious it was. Xiao Xuefeng had ripped away a part of her soul to make it. Yet, she had given it to him. That showed how much she valued him. And now, that showed how much Sect Leader Xuan valued him.


    His first instinct was to refuse the gift once more. This bad habit of his was still present. Xiao Xuefeng had told him never to punch a gift horse in the mouth. And she was absolutely right. Although his stealth could protect him to some extent, this Spirit Condensation Barrier was an absolute defense. Since it came from the strongest cultivator in the Hongchen Kingdom, almost no one would be able to destroy this barrier. Even Emperor Weide would probably take a few minutes, or even hours, to break it down.


    "Thank you, Sect Leader. This humble disciple will make sure to use it wisely. You won''t regret it."The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    -


    After leaving the Sect Palace, Cao Yun went directly to the soul and mind pavilion to learn more about seals. He was also interested in mental attacks as the ones he had seen Zhi Yin and Long Huafang use.


    His goals were many. Getting a form of mental attack would be useful in itself and would also help him defend against them without relying too much on his Drop of Wrath. But to be honest, he was mostly curious. His other goals were to to improve his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' and to find ways to neutralize or even get rid of seals created by demonic cultivators.


    As soon as he got to the pavilion, everyone recognized him. A servant immediately went to the chief elder in charge of the soul and mind pavilion, Chief Elder L¨¹mian.


    Like all the other chief elders, she knew what Cao Yun had done during the battle against Mo Tian and Da Mo''s body. As such, she was very respectful. Without this young man, the Wubei Sect might have really fallen. At least, she was certain that she would have died. Thus, she lead him into her private study. Sect Leader Xuan had already told her what Cao Yun was here for. With his spiritual senses, he could cover the entire Wubei Sect from his Sect Palace and the array formations within.


    "Chen Guo, read this first."


    Cao Yun received a few pages handwritten by Chief Elder L¨¹mian.


    "Unlike alchemist or array formation master, seal master is not an official occupation. As such, it''s not as codified. There are no official grades and no official principles. The main problem is that seals can be almost anything. Personally, I specialize in seals to the soul and mind. I heard that those are specifically the seals that cause you trouble. And that''s understandable. Although I''ve spent a long time working on them, I would never say that I could destroy one of them without any consequences to the person afflicted with it.


    "Those seals can have various degrees of potency and many usages. For example, some seals are meant to completely erase the sea of consciousness if it feels like the cultivator is about to betray the creator of the seal. But then, how does the seal know? Once again, there are many answers and varying degrees of seals. A seal can literally have a tiny part of the creator''s soul in it. Of course, those seals are exceedingly rare and can''t be put into everyone.


    "A lesser form of such a seal would be to inject one''s intent into the seal. Let''s take an example. If I want you to never expose my identity, I could use my intent to focus on this thought and integrate it inside your own mind. That way, it would be your own thoughts that would trigger the seal based on my strong intent. It''s less damaging than literally ripping away a part of your soul, but that still takes a toll to create such a seal.


    "Apparently, most demonic cultivators have a seal I had never seen before in them. By using Evil Qi, they created something inside their sea of consciousness. As soon as they feel like they are betraying the demonic cultivators, the disciples unknowingly trigger this. Then, Evil Qi seeps through their entire sea of consciousness and destroys everything. With Spirit Master Xiao, we''ve analyzed it. It seems like they are literally using the regret and the negative emotions intertwined with the Qi as though it was a form of intent.


    "In a sense, it could be seen as possessing their disciple with the regret and resentment of the dead. It is as though there were a ghost in them that would only awaken if the disciple feels guilty or even afraid enough that it would activate. It''s ingenious. But it also means that the only way to get rid of this seal is to either make sure that the disciple completely forgets about it, or to completely unravel the complex structure of the Evil Qi."


    Those explanations made sense to Cao Yun. But more than that, they gave him ideas on how to deal with it. Since his control over Evil Qi was so good, he might be able to pull it off. The only problem was that he could not enter someone else''s sea of consciousness. Indeed, within his own body and mind, that was not a problem at all because he could use the Drop of Wrath. But outside, even by projecting its intent, it couldn''t enter someone else''s mind, only spiritual senses could.


    Cao Yun got a strange idea though. He could work on it in his own mind. He could absorb Evil Qi and let Dian Mo mess around with it before trying to unravel it safely. Of course, this was a wild idea because Dian Mo could take advantage of it to create a trap for him. But if he caused harm to Cao Yun, it would ultimately affect Dian Mo as well. And Cao Yun could not yet manipulate Evil Qi to the point of forming a seal. His Drop of Wrath could just get rid of the regret and resentment, not model it. However, he had started to work on manipulating Evil Qi thanks to the Chamber of Medicine Field.


    For now, the young man did not talk about this to Dian Mo, but he got the exact same idea.


    As he was still in Chief Elder L¨¹mian''s private study, he talked with her about doubts he had while reading her personal notes. And she was impressed by how fast he had understood what she had written down. There was no surprise Xiao Xuefeng had favored that boy. He wasn''t just powerful, he was curious and smart. In fact, he was probably powerful because he was curious and smart.


    She had heard that he was interested in mental attacks and she had thought of a good technique for him. Until now though, she had been hesitant to give it to him but he might actually be able to use it even though he wasn''t a Spirit Warrior yet. If that were the case, it would be very useful to him.


    "Here, take this."


    Before he realized it, there was a small jade slip levitating before his eyes. He touched it and injected his Qi within. With the Qi, he was able to read the content of the jade slip by following the carvings within. It contained a technique known as ''Weeping Demon''. This was a form of mental and spiritual attack. Since his fight with Zhi Yin, Cao Yun had been curious about those and he intended to ask for such a technique. However, Chief Elder L¨¹mian had been faster than he was.


    "It seems like you don''t really need my help. But if you ever have any question, do not hesitate to ask me or Spirit Master Xiao. We would both be delighted to discuss this topic with you."


    As she was done speaking, she left, leaving Cao Yun alone in her private study.


    Looking through this ''Weeping Demon'', Cao Yun was surprised as it seemed to be perfect to go along his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. But he was certain that Chief Elder L¨¹mian had no idea what his mind cultivation was. Of course, she had talked to Xiao Xuefeng beforehand. Although she did not know the specifics of Cao Yun''s mind cultivation, it was obvious that it was powerful. She had to admit that she was incredibly curious about it, but she had controlled herself. After all, he was the new Young Sect Master.


    This ''Weeping Demon'' was able to use one''s own Po against an opponent. By using one''s own emotions in relation with his Po, a cultivator could induce terrible emotional sways in his enemies. There were several layers to this technique. And the first one could be practiced, in theory at least, by a Mortal Warrior. It was called ''Bleeding Eyes''. Just like Zhi Yin''s new ''Drowning in the Lake of Heaven'' or Long Huafang''s ''The Moon in the Eye'', it was a technique that would attack someone''s mind. But it didn''t require the user to send his own soul or mind into the opponent''s sea of consciousness. It was more like an intimidating aura.

 Chapter 363: The game of evil seals

    Cao Yun spent a few days getting ready for his departure. Since the Wubei Sect had been gravely wounded, they had almost no resource to help him. Even Xiao Xuefeng could not help him out by giving him a mount.


    Thankfully, he had heard that the Huang family might be able to provide him with a flying demonic beast. The Matriarch had not been more clear than that. But since they were known for their beast tamers, Cao Yun was confident. However, he would still need to plan his trip to Baziyun City. The former lair of the Wolf Head Sect was on the way. Since he would be on foot, he chose his path very carefully to get there as soon as possible.


    After that, he also thought about all possible paths he could follow. Right now, his mind was set on going to the Subei Province because Gu Song and Mo Zi were both from that province. Since it was a province that bordered on the demon territory, those provinces were always watched attentively by the Imperial City. But he was confident in his ability to conceal himself.


    Talking with Xiao Xuefeng who wanted to find Gu Song, Cao Yun learned that she had thought about going there as well. However, the damage to the Hongchen Kingdom was worse than she had thought. Almost everyone was forced to help both repair the damage and prepare for a potential demon invasion. Right now, she was not completely free of her movements. Thankfully, she could still help the Wubei Sect hunt down demonic cultivators. Concerning the border provinces though, high cultivators were forbidden to go there without a direct permission from the Imperial City.


    Indeed, the mere presence of a late Spirit Warrior would cause some reaction by the demons. Although the tensions were worse and worse, and many skirmishes occurred regularly, it wasn''t yet a full-out war. As long as the Imperial City was not ready, they wanted to prevent the war from breaking out. And it could be imagined that the demons had the exact same idea. Late Spirit Warriors were just too powerful for any side to ignore them. If one were to go to the Subei Province, the demons would react immediately.


    Right now, Xiao Xuefeng was an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. Her sister Hua Fenfei who was only a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior might have been able to go there but she was working on preparing the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute for the upcoming Alchemy Conference. Despite the current crisis, this conference was of paramount importance.


    Depending on what he would learn from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Cao Yun would change his plans. But for now, he intended to go to the Subei Province just after Baziyun City.


    With that in mind, Cao Yun decided to use those few days to work on his mind and on his stealth. ''Weeping Demon'' didn''t seem that complicated to master. At least, it wouldn''t be difficult for him to do so. Indeed, the first prerequisite to use this technique was to have a strong affinity with one''s corporeal soul. Since Cao Yun was literally working on his Po character to subdue the Seven Turbid Demons, he was very close to his corporeal soul.


    Then, to practice ''Bleeding Eyes'', the first chapter, Cao Yun would need to find strong feelings inside his own soul. Just by crossing eyes with someone, he would then be able to send those feelings and even sensations directly into their mind. The technique depended heavily on the imagery used. Considering the goal of ''Bleeding Eyes'', Cao Yun knew exactly what he was going to use. Thanks to Dian Mo, he had lived the most brutal fight of his entire life when he had been slaughtering the blood beasts. He could simply recall those fights to send it into his enemies'' mind.


    Cao Yun worked on creating a powerful mental image of this terrible battle. He was able to feel the blood flowing all over his body. He could remember the iron smell of blood invading both his nose and his mouth. His own blood was mixed with the blood of the beasts. His eardrums and his very skull were vibrating through the screams of the blood beasts. Every ounce of his body was full of rage, fatigue and pain. When he was done imagining this scene, Cao Yun opened his eyes while focusing on his Po character.


    Anyone who would have looked at his eyes at that instant would have seen an ocean of blood under a storm of death. Weaker cultivators would simply collapse on the ground, losing their will to fight while stronger ones would be halted for an instant. Mortal Warriors would probably not be delayed for long, but even an instant could mean death during a fight. This could also allow Cao Yun to disturb a battle formation.


    Three Mortal Warriors working independently were no threat to him. But if they were working together with a good battle formation, they might be bale to put up a fight or even kill him. However, if he disturbed the formation long enough to wound or even kill one of them, their fighting ability would collapse immediately. Using such mental attacks was always a way to surprise the enemy and try to gain a bit of advantage. If unleashed at the right moment, it could completely turn the tables on a fight.


    Since he was working on his Po character, he also focused on his mind cultivation. To subdue the Flying Poison, he first had to extract every filament of the Po of Jing from his Po character. Each time he was reeling the filaments of Death Energy and of his own corporeal soul, he was reliving moments of his life. Since he had to feel everything, he couldn''t use his mind cultivation to calm them down or he would delay his progress. However, his mind cultivation had deeply changed him and so had what he had lived in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom.


    Although it was long and strenuous, Cao Yun was progressing steadily. It was hard to be sure of it, but he felt that in a couple of years, he would have completely subdued the Flying Poison and his Po of Jing. At the same time, he was working on the Drop of Wrath to reconstruct the Flying Poison with his own. For now, there was almost no progress at all, but he could still feel that the Drop of Wrath was responding to his efforts.


    Finally, he had to work on seals. As he had read more and more of the documents he had memorized, Cao Yun realized that the way to unravel the soul seals used by demonic cultivators was identical to what he was doing with his own corporeal soul. According to Chief Elder L¨¹mian and Xiao Xuefeng''s observations, demonic cultivators were using Evil Qi to create a complex network of resentment and regrets within their disciples'' soul.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Evil Qi was made of pure Qi intertwined with the negative emotions of the dead. In those seals, the Qi was used as a support, as both a foundation and a nourishment, while the negative emotions were the trigger. Instead of using a part of their souls or of their intents, the demonic cultivators were manipulating this Evil Qi to act like them. This really was a smart way of doing things. But the demonic cultivators should not have had such knowledge. Most likely, it came from whatever they had found from the Great Sorrow Era when demons ruled.


    Dian Mo himself was very impressed. Indeed, it was an ingenuous way of mixing together the arts of humans and of demons. In fact, he got as passionate as Cao Yun about this. Indeed, Cao Yun required this knowledge to get rid of the seals used by demonic cultivators, or even protect himself from them if need be. But he was also fascinated as it could help him develop his mind cultivation faster. Thus, both of them discussed those seals as Cao Yun was working with them. They even forgot that they were enemies at some point and got completely immersed in those conversations.


    "Dian Mo, could you try and make such a seal to see if I can unravel it without using the Drop of Wrath?"


    Even Dian Mo was surprised. This was dangerous as he could turn this seal against the boy. Of course, the mention of the Drop of Wrath reminded him that at any moment, Cao Yun could get rid of it. But this seemed like a huge leap of faith anyway. Pushing those thoughts aside, Dian Mo decided to help him by creating such a seal. After all he was curious about those too. As he had only just learned of the way demonic cultivators could make them, his first seal was not that good.


    Cao Yun felt something dark and cold invade his mind. It caused a great sensation of fear and sadness at the same time. If he wasn''t sure that his mind was protected, Cao Yun would have fallen into despair and anguish. He could understand what demonic cultivators could feel when they were marked by their masters.


    If he focused on the Evil Qi, he was able to catch glimpses of memories. But they were completely erratic. Indeed, Evil Qi was created by violent and painful deaths. Then, Evil Qi like Qi was flowing all around and mixed with one another. As such, Evil Qi was almost never the result of only one person. And even in that case, all the memories of the dead would be in utter chaos. Thus, the memories were incomprehensible. However, they were all brutal, violent and painful.


    Just by seeing them, deep emotions were birthed in Cao Yun''s mind. They shook him to his very soul. Thankfully, he had learned to be detached from both his emotions and his thoughts if need be. Right now, he really needed to be detached.


    At first, he didn''t use the intent from the Drop of Wrath but he did use his mind cultivation. In particular, he activated his Chamber of Medicine Field. That chamber was meant to cultivate positive emotions and reject negative ones. In order to purify Evil Qi, this was the best thing Cao Yun had after the Drop of Wrath. At that moment, he was able to see and feel every single strand of resentment and regret coiled around the pure Qi of the seal.


    Then, Cao Yun got to work. Sadly what he was doing now could not be replicated outside of his body because he could not expand his mind or soul outside yet. However, he had an idea in mind. With his Qi, he could inject the intent from the Drop of Wrath outside of himself. So if he learned to duplicate the process, even partly, with his intent alone, he might be able to pull it off somehow. But first he had to learn how to do it at all.


    As Cao Yun was working on unraveling the seal created by Dian Mo, the spirit was carefully watching to see how he was doing it. At the same time as Cao Yun was learning the weaknesses of the seal and how to exploit them, Dian Mo was learning of them too in order to strengthen them. The two of them did this several times. Each seal Dian Mo created was a bit superior to the last one. But Cao Yun was also better at getting rid of them. One was developing his seals while the other was developing his defenses to them.


    Just like martial arts, learning with someone was way more efficient than working alone. Besides, Dian Mo was able to see everything Cao Yun was doing to then adapt to him. Of course, the problem could be that they would both get too used to one another at some point. It was best to train with different partners. Thus, both Cao Yun and Dian Mo always tried to imagine new ways to improve their methods that were not predictable. In fact, it even became a kind of game that Dian Mo was very fond of as he had been trapped for millenniums.


    -


    The time was coming for Cao Yun to leave the Wubei Sect. All his brothers and sister were now extremely busy. And they were not going to leave the Wubei Sect for some time. After everything that had happened, they were all busy on improving themselves. Still, Cao Yun decided to go to all of them to bid them farewell.


    Considering that going from the Wubei Sect to the Subei Province would take him around six months even with a flying demonic beast, Cao Yun would probably not come back to the Wubei Sect. In fact, he might even directly go to the Alchemy Conference in two years. Only after that would he have time to come back. But it was impossible to know what would happen in two to three years. After all, in a mere three years, the Hongchen Kingdom had suffered the worst demonic beast stampede of this current era, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had been breached for the first time and the Wubei Sect had almost fallen because of traitors.


    Since he was decided on improving his alchemy in order to participate in the Alchemy Conference, Cao Yun decided to get a new and better cauldron, as well as a furnace. Until now, he had always used the cauldron and furnace he had obtained from Zhong Ling. Going to the alchemy pavilion, Cao Yun was sad to learn that Zhong Ling had left the Wubei Sect. She had become an inner disciple last year and yet she had decided to leave because of familial reasons. Many of the familiar faces he knew were gone too. Most of them had simply moved on as Cao Yun had met them when he was a first-year, but some had been killed in the collapse of the pavilion.


    Thankfully, Meng Jia was out of seclusion. In fact, he had come out when Cao Yun was inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And since the end of the battle, he was helping to rebuild the alchemy pavilion.


    That being said, he was always trying to find some secret place to sneak to and take a nap. Since he was so useful the rest of the time, no one annoyed him about this. But knowing that a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior spent almost half his days sleeping was very strange for everyone. A Spirit Warrior could go on weeks with only a few hours of sleep. For most alchemists, this was a dream as they could spend their time studying their craft. For Meng Jia, this was a nightmare though, as he seemed to love sleeping.

 Chapter 364: Farewell to the bronze cauldron

    When Cao Yun went to the reception desk, the man behind it recognized him immediately. On his chest, he still had the colors of his Heavenly Swallow Faction as well as his 5-star Earth alchemist emblem. The Young Sect Master had decided to wait after his duel to take his 1-star Human alchemist test. Just like any other alchemy test, he had to forge a pill of the corresponding rank with a Pure quality at least. This was the highest quality one could achieve without luck.


    Indeed, unless the alchemist was forging a pill way beneath his own level, producing a True Essence pill was up to fate. Of course, it wasn''t the case with Cao Yun thanks to his mind cultivation. But even he could not guarantee a True Essence pill even when making low level pills. For a 1-star Human pill, he had no confidence in refining a True Essence pill yet. However, he was certain he could pass the test. In fact, he had already chosen his pill, the Burning Gate Flood pill.


    During his time outside of the sect, he had used one to help Huang''er survive her wounds. Unfortunately, it had not saved her from Can Mouye in the end. However, after seeing its effects, he was absolutely certain he could refine it without any problem. The main ingredients for the Burning Gate Flood pill were Golden Thread Rhizome, Blood Clot Enoki and Phoenix Tear Resin. Each one was considered a 1-star Human ingredient.


    Golden Thread Rhizome was a root that was extremely rich in Earth element and in Yin. Blood Clot Enoki was a tiny mushroom that was mostly found in extreme Yang environments. Most of the times, it could be found in extremely arid forests hidden beneath the bark of dying trees. Finally, Phoenix Tear Resin was a coagulation of various fluids from several plants. It was very difficult to find it in nature but it could be produced in gardens by placing the right plants close to one another. While Blood Clot Enoki was rich in Wood element, Phoenix Tear Resin was almost entirely Water element.


    Phoenix Tear Resin could only be used at very high temperatures when it became liquid. And it was the main ingredient to replenish the blood in a human body. On the other hand, Golden Thread Rhizome was full of vitality and was used to prevent the person taking the pill from dying of exhaustion. Indeed, the Phoenix Tear Resin would promote blood production by literally using the vitality of the body. Thus, it could be fatal to take it alone. And finally, Blood Clot Enoki was used to prevent hemorrhage during the process as it was known to promote coagulation.


    The main difficulty with this pill was to harmonize three different elements. Indeed, Water could nourish and promote Wood but also weaken Earth. Earth could regulate or block Water while destroying Wood. And finally Wood could consume Water, deplete Earth or be nourished by Water and rotten by Earth. The dynamic between those three elements was very subtle and had to be balanced out. Besides, the refinement process had to be done under very high temperature so that the Phoenix Tear Resin stayed liquid at all times. That meant that Fire element would also enter in the mix to destabilize everything.


    The goal was to enhance the Phoenix Tear Resin''s properties with Golden Thread Rhizome while keeping them in check with Blood Clot Enoki. In other words, Earth had to absorb Water and Wood had to make it stable. The image Cao Yun had in mind was the rain absorbed in the ground and the roots of trees keeping the soil firm, preventing any erosion. And all that had to happen at high temperature.


    This pill would mainly test Flame Control and Five Elements Wheel from the Five Golden Elixir Principles. Of course, Cauldron Maintenance and Ingredients Preservation would also intervene but Cao Yun had trained on those. He had prepared his ingredients several times without any problem at all. However, he was precisely there to get a new cauldron before he could take, and pass, the test.


    The receptionist lead Cao Yun into a corridor. He opened several doors before finding where Meng Jia had hidden. Right now, he was laying behind a bookshelf in a completely dark room. Just like Zhong Ling, the receptionist had no patience for Meng Jia. Most likely, Zhong Ling had briefed him on how to act with this alchemist. As soon as he heard Meng Jia snore, he entered the room without any sound. From the shelf, he took a dozen of heavy books. Then, he quickly opened the curtains while dropping all the books beside Meng Jia''s head.


    Immediately, the newly appointed elder jumped. As soon as he opened his eyes, he closed them and put his arm before his face while moaning in pain.


    "Elder Meng, the Young Sect Master is here to see you. I''ll get your personal study ready for the 1-star Human alchemy test."


    Without waiting for an answer, the receptionist left. Cao Yun was still at the door when Meng Jia turned around. Only one of his eyes opened. Apparently breaking through had made him even more sleepy as his eye was barely open at all. In fact, without his senses, Cao Yun would have not even seen it beneath his eyelids.


    "Ah, Chen Guo! I heard about your exploits against Zhi Yin. Who would have thought that even Sect Leader Xuan would take such an interest in you?! However, you''ve neglected your alchemy recently. I guess that you want to participate in the Alchemy Conference. But the Human rank is way more complicated than you think. Even Mei Hua who''s a true genius has studied all her life to be ready for this level. No matter how talented you are, I don''t think you''ve exceeded the 2-star Human rank despite your current cultivation."


    Meng Jia stretched a bit as Cao Yun could hear his bones crack. Then he dusted off his robe. The elder had literally been sleeping behind a bookshelf and was covered in dust. But with his spiritual senses and his Wei Qi, he completely got rid of it all. No one would be able to guess where he had been just an instant ago. However, his demeanor had not changed that much. Although his looks were dignified, his posture wasn''t, as both his eyes were closed.


    Yes, a Spirit Warrior did not need his eyes to see, but it looked like Meng Jia was sleeping while standing up. The truth was that he was probably still partially asleep indeed. But Cao Yun was used to his antics by now. And he knew that his teacher was attentive when it counted. He fully trusted him and not just when it came to alchemy.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Have you gotten a real cauldron by now?"


    "No, Elder. I''m still using the basic bronze cauldron I received from Zhong Ling."


    Hearing Zhong Ling''s name, Meng Jia''s expression changed for an instant. It was brief but long enough for Cao Yun to notice both sadness and disappointment.


    "It''s truly a shame that this girl left our Wubei Sect. She wasn''t very talented but she truly loved alchemy and it was showing..."


    Zhong Ling had probably been the woman who had spent the most time with Meng Jia apart from Cao Yun. In fact, she seemed to always know where he was hiding for his naps and often scolded him about neglecting his work. When Meng Jia was forced to take care of the alchemy pavilion during Xiao Xuefeng''s absence, he had chosen Zhong Ling as his assistant.


    "Teacher, what happened to her? I just heard that there was some family matters..."


    "I''m not too sure either. She left when I was still in seclusion. Since there has been so much chaos, I haven''t had a lot of time but I still tried to contact her. I''ve reached her family but I haven''t received an answer from them or her yet. Anyway, let''s not talk about this right now. If you wish to take the 1-star Human test, your mind must be clear and composed. Your bronze cauldron won''t cut it as a Human alchemist. Well, it was probably not good enough to be a real 5-star Earth alchemist either anyway. Thankfully, I knew you would not have a real cauldron on hands so I had one made just for you. I asked a favor from Chief Elder Tingyu and I gave him very specific instructions after witnessing your way of alchemy."


    From Elder Meng Jia''s spatial ring, a new cauldron appeared. It was twice the size of Cao Yun''s bronze cauldron. At first glance, it looked like several tree trunks intertwined with each other in the shape of a semi-sphere. But those trunks were coated in metal as well. Although the metal was clearly visible, the trees seemed to still be alive. At least, they had kept their full vitality. That wasn''t necessarily a good thing as it would push the cauldron toward the Wood element. Cao Yun would have to be very careful what he was making with such a cauldron.


    There were ways to modify the elements within a cauldron though. This was the whole point of Cauldron Maintenance. Not only was it referring to keeping the cauldron clean and make sure that there was no damage on it, it was also about preparing it. Just like powders were used to change the nature of flames, powder or ingredients could be used to nourish a cauldron and slowly change its properties.


    "Do not worry, I''ve personally treated this cauldron. You''ll need to watch it of course, but it is perfectly balanced in all Five Elements right now. However, the vitality of the trees will help you create more stable pills while giving you even more control over the heat distribution. This cauldron is called the ''Aureate Grove Crucible''. And to go with it, I''ve also commanded a furnace. Here it is."


    The ''Aureate Grove Crucible'' rose in the air as a furnace appeared above it. Under the cauldron, the trees formed what looked like hundreds of roots. They were very stylized as many tendrils forming a complex maze and finally created half a dozen of legs for the ''Aureate Grove Crucible''. Beneath this cauldron, the furnace was also extremely stylized. The theme of the woods and the trees was maintained here as well. As soon as he saw it, Cao Yun even thought that it was made of wood but it wasn''t at all. There were many compartments to store ingredients, tools and powders. On the furnace itself, there was of course the place to start a fire under the cauldron, but there was also enough space to prepare ingredients and to place powders close-by during a refinement.


    Both of these had to be at least 2-star Heaven artifacts.


    "This furnace is named ''Aureate Grove Blaze''. This set has been thought together and they will perfectly complement one another. With those, your control over the flame should be improved vastly. Although it might seem as if the Wood element would take over, I can assure you that it won''t. Chief Elder Tingyu made sure of it by using an alloy of Celestial Inborn Bronze and Divine Ice Steel. Of course, both metals are rare so they''re not very present, but enough to be useful. You''ll just have to inject the right type of Qi within to change the balance of the entire set, harmonizing cauldron and furnace."


    Cao Yun had to admit that those were impressive and he couldn''t wait to work on them.


    "Let''s not delay your test any further!"


    -


    Both men went to Meng Jia''s personal study. Everything was ready for the test as the receptionist had cleared a part of the room for Cao Yun''s furnace.


    Without waiting any longer, Cao Yun took out the ''Aureate Grove'', the set of the cauldron and the furnace. In front, of Meng Jia, he prepared his ingredients expertly. Then, he began to use his ''Shen Visualization'' to imagine the entire process in his mind. Soon, he was ready. Without moving, he activated the fire by using his Qi.


    As a Mortal Warrior, he now could use his Qi to move around light objects as long as they were close enough to him. For example, martial artists could use their Qi to control light flying swords but they were limited in their range. And alchemists could control most of their ingredients, powders and even tools without touching them. Since preparing the ingredients was very delicate, many alchemists still used their body even after reaching the Spirit Warrior realm.


    For the same reason, many alchemists handled the ingredients and the powders with their hands instead of their Qi because they didn''t want to disturb the balance within them. In fact, some alchemists even went to the extent of lessening their Wei Qi to the minimum so that it wouldn''t disturb their refinement process.


    That being said, Cao Yun was very confident in his ability. He wasn''t trying to boast in front of Meng Jia. No, he was taking it very seriously. And he was so focused on his mind that he had simply forgotten to use his body. His Qi and his intent were completely enveloping the cauldron and the furnace. Whatever he was feeling was feeding his ''Shen Visualization''. And whatever he was visualizing was becoming reality through his Qi manipulation.


    The cauldron was indeed perfectly neutral. Cao Yun could separate the flames into several tendrils. Each one had slightly different properties and even different temperatures. Right now, he was making sure that the Phoenix Tear Resin was completely molten and perfectly homogeneous. Then, he began to introduce the other ingredients piece by piece. Both the Blood Clot Enoki and the Golden Thread Rhizome had been minced beforehand.


    During the process Cao Yun realized that he could indeed insinuate his Qi within the cauldron. That way he would be able to control the elements and the Yin-Yang balance more minutely. But for now, he had not time to test it out. He was focused on his refinement.


    Before two hours had passed, Cao Yun was done. The lid opened by itself as the flames were extinguished. The pill went to Meng Jia. He examined it briefly. Because he had been focused the entire time, Cao Yun knew the result, this pill had kept 98% of the medicinal essence and only 3% of toxins. This was very good.


    Without any more ceremony, the 1-star Human alchemist emblem flew from Meng Jia''s hands and replaced Cao Yun''s emblem on his chest.

 Chapter 365: Following the wolfs head

    Cao Yun had done everything he had thought about in the Wubei Sect. One last time, he visited all of his brothers and sister, he went to his instructors, teachers and elders. Everything was done under the guise of going into seclusion for a few years in order to really become the Young Sect Master. Everyone believed this because this was indeed the custom.


    Of course, every new young sect master in history had not gone into seclusion right away but since the Alchemy Conference was so close, it made sense. The news of Cao Yun passing the test to become a 1-star Human alchemist had spread. He would probably enter the Alchemy Conference. That meant that he only had around one year and a half to get ready. And he would need to both improve his alchemy and digest whatever it was that Sect leader Xuan had taught him.


    Only Xiao Xuefeng knew the truth, apart from Sect Leader Xuan of course. After all, she had literally prepared his new identity of Guai Mo. Xiao Xuefeng, as a powerful alchemist, had many ties with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, some more intimate than others. The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, like everything in the Hongchen Kingdom, was under the authority of the Imperial City. However, they were also the largest company and the most powerful economic force. As such, they had many operations even the Imperial City knew nothing about.


    Although the Emperor was always respected and highly regarded by everyone in the Hongchen Kingdom, this didn''t silence ambitions. Moreover, Emperor Weide had not appeared in public for seventy years now. And with the difficulties encountered by the kingdom recently, his prestige was rapidly falling. This had caused the Huang family to form a secret alliance with the Wubei Sect and the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. This was not strictly speaking forbidden. But it could be seen as seditious by some.


    The Imperial City was always trying to balance out the influence of every major player in the Hongchen Kingdom. Their main tool was the threat of the demons at the border but also the memory of Emperor Nuwa to unify mankind around their rule. But Emperor Nuwa had always advocated for merit. The position of emperor could not be given according to blood ties but had to be given depending on the merit of the individual. That also meant that every great family hoped to one day join the Imperial City. Emperor Weide was around 1,500 years old now so in half a millennium, he would need to be replaced.


    For mortals, this was an eternity but for cultivators it was between half or a fourth of their life. They could wait that long...


    Once he was done, Cao Yun made sure to pack everything he needed in his spatial ring. He had literally taken enough to eat and drink for five years, just in case. After his time in the Yellow Death World, he was now ready. And he would preserve his reserves as much as possible every time he had the possibility. Just to be sure, he went to the demonic beast pavilion. It had been partially destroyed during the stampede and there had been no time to fully repair it yet. After all, they needed very specific materials in order to take care of demonic beasts.


    Unfortunately, they had none to give to Cao Yun. To be more precise, the only demonic beasts that they could have lent to him were unable to fly. And considering his cultivation, he had more endurance and was faster than them so they would be useless.


    Since everything was ready, Cao Yun left through the Shell Gate. One last time he looked at this gate. With his current senses, he was able to almost see the entire Wubei Sect from this point. He could even discern the shape of the Sect Palace behind the clouds. At that moment, he got the foreboding that he would not see this place before a long time. Even he could not tell where this was coming from but it was clear in his mind. It wasn''t just anxiety. Maybe his mind cultivation had advanced enough for him to sense something his conscious mind was unable to notice. Anyway, a feeling was just a feeling.


    This time, Cao Yun was determined to act. He was not waiting for the demonic cultivators or whoever to execute their plans. Now, he had leads and he was going to explore them all. Whether demonic cultivators were behind the massacre of his family or not, he would purge them from the Hongchen Kingdom. And he would also use this opportunity to uncover the ones behind that horrendous crime. Now he also knew about the Shui family. This crime would also be solved.


    The first stop on his travel was the Wolf Head Sect.


    When he had first reached the Lunar Marsh, Cao Yun had been met with fugitives from that same Wolf Head Sect. Unfortunately, he had already gone back to the Lunar Marsh two years ago to get information and had found nothing except for a trap prepared against him and his brothers and sister.


    This time, when Cao Yun crossed the Lunar Marsh, no demonic beast got even remotely close to him. After the stampede, many had died, but those who had survived were more violent because they were still terrified. However, none dared getting close to the young man. All around him, Cao Yun had combined the intent from the Drop of Wrath with his Wei Qi. But more than that, there was a fire in his eyes that would deter even a Mirror Back Ancient Alligator.


    Even if Cao Yun had completely concealed his cultivation, his eyes alone would have made them run away from him. He was working on his ''Bleeding Eyes'' from ''Weeping Demons''. The demonic beasts were seeing a world of blood and violence when they looked at the young man''s pupil. There was a domineering atmosphere all around him. He wasn''t the child he had been three years ago. Now he was officially a man. Although this was just a social norm of the Hongchen Kingdom, this had also a psychological impact on Cao Yun.


    When he had reached 20, he should have had a banquet and a whole ceremony with his family. This thought renewed the rage he was feeling. Thankfully, it was tempered by reason. With his mind cultivation, Cao Yun was able to feel the rage without being influenced by it too much unless he wanted to.


    On his path, Cao Yun encountered an Icy-Scaled Lizard. This was a 3-core demonic beast. Usually, such a demonic beast was able to contend against a 9th-grade Mortal or even a weak 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. That Icy-Scaled Lizard had lost one eye and seemed absolutely desperate. It tried to hide by lowering the temperature of the air around him in order to create some mist. Of course, Cao Yun was able to sense it without any problem. He could feel the fear of the demonic beast. With its current wounds, it was going to die anyway, but if he could devour such a cultivator, he might have a chance to develop another demonic core.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Not only would he survive, he would even become stronger than ever. But the Icy-Scaled Lizard was not stupid at all. It could feel that Cao Yun was way above him in the food chain. Without its current desperation, it would have fled immediately. That being said, it was not rash at all. Patiently, it was waiting for even the tiniest breach in Cao Yun''s focus to attack him.


    The young man did not even take his spear out. He locked his senses on the Icy-Scaled Lizard. The demonic beast felt its blood congeal in its veins. All three of his cores had been targeted by Cao Yun''s intent. At that moment, it knew it had been foolish to have any ill intent toward that human, but it was too late.


    ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''!


    In an instant, Cao Yun moved and dashed through the Icy-Scaled Lizard''s body. Blood erupted everywhere but Cao Yun was perfectly clean as his Wei Qi was protecting him. In his right hand, he was now holding one of the 3-demonic cores while the Icy-Scaled Lizard was split in two. Tendrils of Qi entered its convulsing body and relieved it of the other two. The shock and the violence of the attack had completely stunned the demonic beast. Despite the brutality, it died almost instantly.


    All around, several weaker demonic beasts had observed the scene. Some had been waiting to see if they could maybe use the opportunity. Maybe the Icy-Scaled Lizard could injure the human enough for them to kill him and devour his flesh. Right now, they were happy that they had listened to their fear rather than to their desperation. The corpse of the Icy-Scaled Lizard, even without his cores, was enticing. Yet, they all waited for Cao Yun to be far enough. Even then, they were strangely civilized. No fight broke out and they shared the feast, terrified at the idea of annoying the beast in human form.


    -


    It would take three to four weeks for Cao Yun to reach the Wolf Head Sect, then it would take one more month to Baziyun City. Without the ability to fly, his travel would take a very long time. He only had two years before the Alchemy Conference and he truly intended to go there. Everything he had heard made him think that there was indeed a connection between the Imperial City and his Cao family. Entering into the Imperial City was not that easy, even with ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Thus, the Alchemy Conference was his best opportunity.


    After some research, Cao Yun had found out that every province would choose an alchemist to represent them at the conference. A huge part of this conference was in fact a competition to develop the young prodigies of alchemy. As such, this Alchemy Conference happened every century and allowed every alchemist under the Spirit Warrior realm to compete.


    The easiest way to enter was to be chosen by a province. Some schools had the ability to take one or several spots for themselves. For example, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had three spots. However, the Wubei Sect was a martial sect so it had no spot. Since Cao Yun was the Young Sect Master, he couldn''t really enroll into the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, neither did he want to. Alchemy was interesting but it was still a side occupation for him.


    Then, the best thing for him would be to be chosen by a province. But his alchemy was probably not on par right now. There was also a harder way. Just before the Alchemy Conference, there was a tournament designed to find young prodigies. Everyone could take part in it but the number of spots offered was limited and decided just before the Alchemy Conference. It could be one spot, it could be ten spots. This would be Cao Yun''s last chance.


    To improve his alchemy, Cao Yun used his travel to find more and more ingredients. It reminded him of his first travel through the woods with Feng Yingyue. But this time, instead of speaking with a charming young lady, he was discussing with an incorporeal spirit trapped in his sea of consciousness. However, it turned out to be very pleasant anyway. Dian Mo knew a lot about alchemical ingredients, but his knowledge was purely academical since he had never left the Demon Palace before. This was an entirely new world in front of his eyes, well, he was seeing through Cao Yun''s eyes.


    Anyway, Dian Mo was so excited he simply couldn''t contain himself and spoke with Cao Yun almost every single minute of every single day. Luckily, Cao Yun could spend almost an entire month without sleeping now. Thus, they kept on traveling like that. All the tension and the danger surrounding the entire Hongchen Kingdom seemed to disappear.


    From time to time, Cao Yun stopped to refine a few pills of varying qualities. He also worked on understanding his ''Aureate Grove'' better by injecting his Qi within.


    He also played around with Dian Mo. Dian Mo would create different seals. Each time he was trying to be more imaginative and he was really good at that. After all, he was extremely old and had a lot of knowledge. Cao Yun would then try and unravel them while using as little of his mind cultivation as possible.


    After that, he often worked on his mind cultivation. The more he worked with seals, the more he realized how closely they were related to ''Subdue the Seven Demons''. Dian Mo was convinced that a demon had written this manual and Cao Yun was inclined to believe him.


    Apart from his mind cultivation, Cao Yun also worked on his blood cultivation while walking. Right now, he was a 4th-grade Blood Child. That meant that he was nourishing his organs with his own blood. Of course, it was more delicate than nourishing his muscles and superficial flesh. However, he could feel the properties of the Drop of Wrath become more and more ingrained in his body. It wasn''t just in his blood now, it was even in his flesh. The Drop of Wrath had made him able to heal faster and to develop a tremendous strength. Although it wasn''t progressing by much, Cao Yun could still feel the difference.


    The rest of the time, he was thinking about his martial art, observing the seven stars in his sea of consciousness while focusing both on the Horn Star and the Insight Writings floating all around. Just like Chief Elder Baishen had told him, he should not try to force his Spear Aura to turn into Spear Intent. It would naturally evolve as his understanding of the spear would deepen. As such, he was focusing on it while training with his ''Tainted Heavenly Spear''. As his blood cultivation and his mind were developing, he felt closer and closer to the spear.


    Finally, when he had some time, he tried to read the many books he had memorized. And he was focusing most of his efforts on alchemy. The sooner he would understand all the books, the sooner he could try it out and improve his craft. Then, he would have more time to study other things.


    -


    After those three weeks, Cao Yun sensed death lingering in the air. According to his map, he was one day away from the Wolf Head Sect. Yet, the air was already polluted by death and evil.

 Chapter 366: Path to desolation

    Cao Yun''s meager understanding of ''Death Verses'' made him way more sensitive to death itself. Right now, he could feel it around him. It was still faint but it was there. From what he had heard, the Wolf Sect Head had been completely wiped out by the Imperial City. They had sent their most elite force, the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards. According to their reputation, even the soil died after they had walked upon it.


    They were rarely seen as they mostly served as guards to the Emperor. But they could be mobilized to exterminate any threat to the Hongchen Kingdom. In theory, exterminating demonic cultivators would be in their prerogative indeed. However, this did seem a bit extreme, especially considering that the Huang family was very close and could intervene faster than them.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was able to already feel the death and desolation they had left behind them. Since their intervention three years ago, almost no one had come to this place apart from a very few prominent cultivators looking for clues. As such, this land was still plagued with death. There was surely a lot of Evil Qi lingering around and maybe even ghosts. Ghosts were rather rare in the Hongchen Kingdom, so was Death Energy. Indeed, orthodox cultivators took care of it fairly fast. However, there had been many problems recently and this place had kept on accumulating Evil Qi for some time now.


    Thankfully, this wasn''t a problem for Cao Yun at all. While working on seals as well as on his mind cultivation, he had gotten way more proficient when it came to unraveling the strands of negative emotions around Qi. Even without his Drop of Wrath, he was confident in being able to handle large amounts of Evil Qi as though it was mere Qi.


    Now that he was close to the Wolf Head Sect, Cao Yun decided to activate his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. He had worked on it intermittently during his travel. For example, he had worked on quickly activating and dissolving it. Getting rid of it was easier than putting it up. Indeed, he had to manifest his Qi within his own body while injecting the intent of the Drop of Wrath inside his Qi. Then, this mixture would turn into pure ashes that could be used to coat his body and even his sea of consciousness. By doing so, he could completely hide his cultivation and even his very presence.


    For now, he was still visible if someone was to look directly at him. But otherwise, no one would detect his presence at all. And even when they could see him, they would barely notice him, as though he was just an insignificant passerby. Of course, if he was right in front of them or too remarkable, this wouldn''t work. But he was still able to lightly alter his features. As such, no one would be able to see his real face. It was not very different, but unless he met someone who knew his face perfectly, they would have a hard time recognizing him. Even his brothers and sister had told him that they were forced to focus to recognize him. But no one could put their finger on what was different.


    Cao Yun walked with more caution now, despite his stealth technique. This was useful against humans and even demonic beasts, but he was not sure what could await him in the Wolf Head Sect. He had never seen a ghost but he knew they were real because he had heard other disciples talk about them. Of course, after fighting Bone Demons, he was not too afraid of ghosts, but still, he would be cautious. Bone Demons were made from corrupted Po while ghosts were born from corrupted Hun.


    When a human died, his Po would take care of decomposing his body and would slowly go back into the ground. Sometimes it was stuck in the rotting body and would become Death Energy. On the other hand, Hun was the ethereal soul, the part of the soul believed to go through the cycle of reincarnation. According to the beliefs of the Hongchen Kingdom, the Hun would linger on Earth some time. Some believed a burial, a cremation, or even any form of funeral ceremony was necessary to appease the soul.


    Then, it was supposed to stay in the Heavenly Court, awaiting for its next reincarnation. All memories would slowly fade away and the Hun would revert back to a purer form of soul before coming back into the physical world to live a new life.


    There were various versions of the same beliefs. For example, the Sutra Faith believed that men could become free of the cycle of reincarnation through the wisdom and virtue of Buddha Cangjing. But this faith was just one among many other beliefs accepted in the Hongchen Kingdom. Despite the different religious views, they could all coexist as they all believed more or less the same thing. Most of all, they were unified in their protection of mankind against the demons all around them as well as in their praise of Emperor Nuwa. Some had even gone to the point of believing her to be a real goddess from birth.


    All those religious debates were not very interesting for Cao Yun in general. And right now, he absolutely didn''t care about them at all.


    As he was getting closer and closer to the Wolf Head Sect, Cao Yun could feel more and more death. The very air was being saturated with Evil Qi. This wasn''t as bad as during his stay in the Yellow Death World because there was still a lot of pure Qi around. But this pure Qi was being corroded and engulfed by the Evil Qi in permanence. It would take several centuries for all the Evil Qi to be dissipated if no expert came before that.


    Despite all this Evil Qi, there was no trace of Death Energy. After all, this was extremely rare in the Hongchen Kingdom. Most likely, the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards had completely destroyed the bodies so their corporeal souls had already returned to the earth.


    Instead of a day, Cao Yun spent two days before getting to the lair of the Wolf Head Sect because he was trying to be cautious. On the way, he encountered only a handful of demonic beasts. All of them were deformed, partially corroded by the Evil Qi in the air. Unlike humans, demonic beasts were cultivating by instinct, absorbing the Qi around them and devouring it from their victims without thinking. Then, it would naturally integrate with their demonic cores to form new ones.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Contrary to humans, they had almost no control over their cultivation apart from what they decided to eat or not. As such, those demonic beasts had absorbed too much Evil Qi and their very flesh was being corrupted by it. Now, they could no longer go back in the wild as they would be slaughtered by other demonic beasts so that they would not pollute their own cores.


    Seeing them in such sorry states, Cao Yun was merciful. They would probably suffer for months or even years for the strongest of them. Thus, he put an end to their misery. Each time, it took him only one strike to kill the demonic beast he had encountered. Thankfully, they were few and they were isolated. Then, he took their demonic cores. Those that had no trace of Evil Qi went immediately in his spatial ring. The others, he would have to work on them to try and get rid of the Evil Qi. However, he did keep them. They might become a good way to exercise his ability to unravel seals.  For now, he had only trained within his own sea of consciousness.


    If he was right, Cao Yun could do the same with just the intent of the Drop of Wrath mixed with his Qi. Of course, he wouldn''t have as much control as within his own mind. And he couldn''t use all his mind cultivation. But to get rid of a seal within someone else''s sea of consciousness, he would need to be at least able to purify Evil Qi within a demonic core.


    One of the demonic beasts turned out to be more dangerous. When Cao Yun was close to the Wolf Head Sect, he discovered a Crystal-Horned Goat. Despite its name, that demonic beast was not as inoffensive as it seemed. A quick look at it would have convinced anyone. Its fur was covered in dirt and dried blood. That goat''s head had a huge gaping mouth with terrifying razor teeth all around. In fact, there were several rows of teeth in its mouth. Its hooves and its horns were made of a dark red crystal which looked like coagulated blood. When the light passed through those crystals, they shined with a bloody glint.


    A Crystal-Horned Goat was a 6-core demonic beast. As such, it was as strong as a late Mortal Warrior. In fact, it was as strong or even stronger than a Mortal Warrior ready to break through into the Spirit Warrior realm. However, that didn''t impress Cao Yun very much. With his current strength, apart from an actual Spirit Warrior, he was afraid of no enemy alone. If he were to fight several powerful enemies, he would not be arrogant enough to think he could take them all on though.


    Moreover, this Crystal-Horned Goat was in a very terrible state. One of its eyes had rotten in its skull and the infection was spreading through its entire face. Even its mouth was now somewhere between white and yellow. Since it was so close to the Wolf Head Sect, the Crystal-Horned Goat had been infected by the Evil Qi way more than the other demonic beasts.


    From the various wounds Cao Yun could see on it, it had probably attacked some humans during the stampede but it had been forced to flee. Most likely, he had fought against other demonic beasts and maybe a few cultivators. In its retreat, it reached this place but it had just exchanged a direct threat for a more insidious one. Now, it was doomed to die. All over its fur, Cao Yun could smell the odor of death. Its wounds had not been healed properly and Evil Qi had seeped through it.


    Cao Yun could feel that five out of six of his cores were corrupted. This Crystal-Horned Goat was already dead. Although that creature was brutal and had slaughtered many humans, Cao Yun knew it wasn''t evil. There was no reason to let it suffer for no reason. A year ago, he would have run away because he was too weak. But now, he was finally powerful enough to act on his thoughts.


    Contrary to the other times, Cao Yun did not attack right away. Such a demonic beast, no matter how weakened it was, was still dangerous. Despite his stealth, he was not sure at which point the Crystal-Horned Goat would be able to detect him. When killing a Thundering Bear earlier, which was only a 4-core demonic beast, it had smelled Cao Yun''s scent just before the attack. At the last moment, it had tried to dodge. Luckily, Cao Yun had been able to adapt his trajectory and had killed it in one blow. Faced with a 6-core demonic beast, it might be able to detect him as soon as he would begin his attack.


    Thinking about this, Cao Yun decided to slightly release his stealth, just enough for the Crystal-Horned Goat to smell his presence. Immediately, it turned toward the young human. It didn''t feel any strength from the human. It was a weak prey who had walked all the way here just to die. Blinded by its pain and despair, the Crystal-Horned Goat rushed toward Cao Yun.


    At the very last moment, a blue light emerged from his finger. Unable to control its momentum, the Crystal-Horned Goat literally ran into the ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    Cao Yun''s spear turned into a giant horn still slick with blood. He had used only a tiny bit of Qi Manifestation and mostly relied on his Spear Aura. With great accuracy, Cao Yun pierced through the main organs of the Crystal-Horned Goat. Its body exploded all over the place. It had barely been able to understand what had happened and it was now dead. Quickly, Cao Yun collected the six cores and proceeded to explore the area, just in case.


    His Qi spread far and there was nothing alive around here.


    He was now at the entrance of the Wolf Head Sect. According to his information, the sect was buried underground. Now, he was in a prairie where all the grass was dead and covered in fresh blood. The soil was already redder than usual. From all around him, Cao Yun could smell the odor of dried blood. There had been so much carnage here that the very soil had been gorged with blood.


    Here and there, Cao Yun could see traces of very old fires as well as some ashes scattered all over the place. Those were clearly human ashes. The 5th Imperial Brocade Guards had burned all the bodies they had retrieved in order to prevent any form of Death Energy to infect this place, just in case. Unfortunately, it didn''t work like that with Evil Qi, but no one had come back to get rid of it. After all, it wasn''t such an easy process for anyone. Even Cao Yun, without the Drop of Wrath, could not do so when there was so much Evil Qi all over the place.


    Since there was nothing on the surface, Cao Yun decided to go underground. For that, he had to find an entrance first. The 5th Imperial Brocade Guards had been thorough and they had completely destroyed every known entrance. With his current cultivation, Cao Yun could send his Qi with the intent of the Drop of Wrath, using it as a form of sonar, despite not having spiritual senses. With his ''Shen Visualization'', he was able to form some kind of image of what was underground. He couldn''t usually do so, but the presence of Evil Qi helped him. This was almost the same thing he had done under the mountain of the Yellow Death World. Indeed, his Drop of Wrath was responding to Evil Qi.


    Finally, he was able to find some tunnels that were not too deep and did not seem to be easy to collapse. With some care, he took his spear and began to strike the ground beneath his feet. Using the butt of the spear so as to not damage the blade, he executed a controlled ''Cracking the World''. With a blow, he could have probably destroyed the tunnel but he didn''t want to, he wanted to create an opening in the ground.

 Chapter 367: Soul Embryo possession

    Because he was extremely careful, it took Cao Yun around an hour to dig deep enough to get to the tunnels under the bloody prairie. However, what he found was a rock he recognized quickly. This was Muddy Granite, a stone that was often used to build sturdy buildings. It was very expensive but it had a high durability. Of course, with Cao Yun''s strength, it would be easy to simply pierce through it.


    What stayed Cao Yun''s hand was just the structure itself. He wanted to get inside those tunnels, not collapse them. Instead of forcing his way through, he put both his hands on the Muddy Granite and sent his Qi within. There were more layers of rock than he had first imagined. Those demonic cultivators had probably spent centuries slowly building these tunnels without being noticed. In a sense, Cao Yun admired their perseverance. Many generations of disciples had died before they could see it complete.


    But he had no pity for demonic cultivators in him. He would destroy it himself if he was certain there was nothing to be found within those tunnels.


    Finally, he got a clear idea of the general structure of those tunnels. Although he wasn''t an architect, he had read books on it. Thankfully, these tunnels were not highly complex. After all, they had been forced to dig them and consolidate them in secret so they didn''t use fancy techniques. They tried to make something that was solid and durable, that was it. And they had succeeded so well that Cao Yun could break through the stones here without worry.


    Thus he did!


    With a single strike from his spear, he destroyed several layers of rocks and jumped down below. He was now in tunnels that were completely dark. Although he could use his Qi to orientate himself, he had no spiritual senses. A Spirit Warrior could see in the dark through his soul. For example, Xiao Xuefeng did not need to use her eyes to see. But Cao Yun had also thought about that after being forced to travel under the mountain in the Yellow Death World.


    From his spatial ring, he took out a small rock that was luminescent. The light was very faint and it would not have helped a mere mortal. For Cao Yun though, this was enough to make him see as though in daylight. The tunnels around him were rather spacious compared with what he had imagined at first. Three men could have walked side by side and he still had a bit of space above his head. Even Ren Chao could have walked through there without crouching.


    From what he had sensed, this part was only a corridor leading deeper underground. So he simply walked forward, hoping to find a few rooms at some point. Soon, he saw that there were engravings on the walls here and there, probably marks to orientate themselves. At first he wasn''t sure how to use them, but he suddenly understood what they were. They were characters combining Nuhua and Moshenhua. Ironically, it reminded him of his problem with Cleansed Asura''s documents mixing two languages together.


    This time though, Cao Yun was able to speak both Nuhua and Moshenhua. If worse came to worst, Dian Mo was also very well versed in Moshenhua. Of course, Cao Yun was not sure if he would help. But his curiosity would probably get the better of him yet once again.


    "Have you understood those characters yet?"


    "What?"


    Dian Mo had not been observing for quite some time. Watching Cao Yun dig a hole had been extremely boring. And he didn''t really like narrow spaces. Instead of looking at walls, Dian Mo had been watching Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. He had almost seen everything now but he had nothing better to do.


    "On these walls, you still haven''t understood what those strange runes mean? I thought you would have solved them way ahead of me..."


    "No need to try and manipulate me. This is childish..." Dian Mo paused for a bit. "Let me see!"


    Suddenly he used Cao Yun''s eyes to see the runes on the walls.


    "Of course, those are directions to know where the rooms are. Just looking at them is enough to understand them, there''s nothing to boast about. You should go to the left there. I think the chambers of the sect leader are on that side. But the general library should be on the right. However, I doubt demonic cultivators let their disciples have access to a lot of interesting books..."


    "Indeed, my thoughts exactly."


    Cao Yun followed the instructions on the walls to advance through the tunnels that turned into some kind of labyrinth. Even with spiritual senses, it would be easy to get lost down here. At some point, Cao Yun took out his compass because he had a bad feeling. And he was right, there were array formations here and there. Some were indicated by the runes but others were completely hidden. Thankfully, Cao Yun was able to feel any trace of Evil Qi.


    Even Spirit Warriors would be careful not to expand their spiritual senses too far with Evil Qi in the air. So that was a good way to hide array formations. But this wasn''t a problem at all for Cao Yun and the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Both Dian Mo and Cao Yun found this expedition boring. These tunnels had been made to be welcoming to demonic cultivators and hostile to orthodox ones. Given Cao Yun''s ability, those tunnels turned out to be very friendly to him.


    He was forced to find new paths though. The 5th Imperial Brocade Guards had collapsed some tunnels all over the place. However, there were no corpses at all. They had probably taken all the corpses out to burn them at one go. According to what he had heard from Xiao Xuefeng, the Wolf Head Sect''s Sect Leader had been a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. Compared with Cao Yun, this was extremely high, but overall, considering the major powers of the Hongchen Kingdom, this was nothing impressive. Even Cao Beiwen had reached 6th-grade Spirit Warrior and he was only 213 years old.


    Besides, demonic cultivators were supposed to be faster than orthodox cultivators. Either this one had been stuck for a long time or he was younger than 200 years old. There was no way he was the one who had lead the attack on the Cao family. But he might have had some useful information anyway. Unfortunately he had been killed. The next best thing would be to investigate his chambers and his study.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    At last, Cao Yun reached the room he had been looking for. Before entering, he studied the door and the vicinity of it. There might be traps either to kill intruders or even to take care of other disciples. Demonic cultivators were not very trustworthy in general. The Sect Leader would have probably been paranoid about his own disciples, and he would have been right to be.


    Just as he thought, Cao Yun discovered a few traps as well as some array formations all around the door and inside the room itself. Taking out his compass, he began to solve them. In his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was getting more and more bored.


    After two hours, Dian Mo reached the end of his patience. One could have thought that such an old spirit who had lived millenniums in seclusion would be more patient, but it was the opposite. Dian Mo had consumed all of his patience already.


    "Do what I say. Those array formations are really rudimentary. Not one of them can reach the apex. And yet, here you are taking your sweet time with them. If I don''t act now, we''ll be there for weeks..."


    Cao Yun did not try to argue. He knew this wasn''t a trap coming from Dian Mo. The more time he was spending with him, the more he realized that he might be able to find some common ground with him. Although he had been created by Demon God Da Mo, he didn''t seem to be as violent and tyrannical as his master. Of course, he had no body for now. If he were to become a powerful cultivator, he might show his true colors. So Cao Yun could not trust him completely. However, he could trust his sincere curiosity with everything around him.


    Finally, all the traps were disposed of and Cao Yun entered the room.


    As soon as he did, he felt a cold feeling in his spine. It was very faint, so faint that no one would have noticed it but him. However, Cao Yun had worked on Death Energy, on ''Death Verses'' and on his own soul. This wasn''t Death Energy, nor was it related to Evil Qi or to Po. No, this time, he felt a sensation that reminded him of his Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul. Thus, the very first thought that came to Cao Yun''s mind was the presence of a ghost.


    His very first instinct was to immediately dash out of the room but he controlled himself. This sensation had been so tame that it was clearly not an attack. Apart from a middle to late Spirit Warrior, no cultivator should have been able to sense it. After all, Mortals and Mortal Warriors were not supposed to be able to enter their sea of consciousness and feel their very soul. Even if they had felt that cold, they would not have made any connection between this and a possible ghost.


    Cao Yun wasn''t absolutely sure but there was a ghost or something similar in this room. For now, it was studying Cao Yun. On the other hand, Cao Yun had no way of studying the ghost. Although he had felt that, he had no way of sending his soul outside to try and track the source of this sensation. Only a Spirit Warrior could do something like that. This was one of the reasons why ghosts were so terrifying. They could attack someone''s soul and only a Spirit Warrior could protect against that.


    Thankfully, ghosts were weak to Yang. Sometimes, the sun itself was enough to destroy them if they were weak enough.


    Using his Chamber of Heavenly Court to think about it a long time, Cao Yun decided to act as if he had felt nothing. He had no fear of a ghost trying to attack his soul. Besides his Drop of Wrath, he knew that even Dian Mo would defend him because he couldn''t afford to lose his body to someone else. Thus, Cao Yun adopted the same attitude he had used against Dian Mo, he would bait this ghost.


    With this train of thought, Cao Yun began to observe the room. There were a few books but not many. The most likely hypothesis was that the Sect Leader had kept most of his important documents inside his spatial ring. That meant that it had probably been taken away by the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards. In that case, that would really be a loss for Cao Yun. The books he found were absolutely not interesting at all. Most of them were not even demonic arts. One of the books was literally a book about architecture. Another one was talking about the general politics of a martial sect.


    Still, this room made Cao Yun doubtful. There had been too many traps just for that. Even if the Sect Leader was paranoid about being betrayed and killed, this was too much. As a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, he barely had to sleep, eat or drink. It was almost impossible to attack him by surprise in this room which was deep within the tunnels. So Cao Yun was forced to believe that there was something more to find.


    Expanding his Qi outward, he found that there was Evil Qi in the walls to try and prevent people to send their spiritual senses beyond. Of course, that did not apply to Cao Yun who had no spiritual senses. But he had the Drop of Wrath. And it proved him right, there was another room hidden beneath this one. As it was rather small, it certainly only contained the important documents. With just his Qi, Cao Yun could not know. He could only sense that there was an empty space there thanks to the Evil Qi around the place. But he had no spiritual senses to really see what was beyond that wall.


    Sifting through the room, he finally found some mechanism to open a trap. He could have burst it open but he didn''t want to give away that he had felt this space to the ghost observing him.


    In that tiny space, there were indeed many documents, all handwritten. But the writings were different. Several people had written those various texts. And they were all written in that strange language he had seen on the walls, mixing Nuhua and Moshenhua. Even without Dian Mo''s help, Cao Yun could read them, but his help would make the process smoother and faster.


    When Cao Yun took the documents and put them on the desk, only then, did the ghost attack.


    All of a sudden, Cao Yun felt a deep cold envelop his entire body. It lasted only an instant. Then, some outside force tried to penetrate his Bai Hui. Panicked, Cao Yun tried to flail about. Absolute horror was filling his eyes. The young man had no idea what was going on!


    The ghost who had attacked him was very pleased with this reaction. He had been quite worried after seeing the boy take care of his array formations so easily. But he was just a kid after all. Some higher demonic cultivator had probably told him how to get in there. Now that his body was dead, it seemed that everybody had forsaken him...


    This ghost wasn''t a ghost yet, he was Lang Shou, the Wolf Head Sect''s Sect Leader. During the raid of the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards, his body had been killed. They had even attacked his Soul Embryo and had thought they had killed it too. Thankfully, Lang Shou had been able to extract the soul of one of his disciples. He had used it as a decoy to make them believe in his death. Since then though, he had been confined in this place.


    With the wounds he had sustained and without his body, Lang Shou''s Soul Embryo was slowly dying out. As a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, his soul had not even been inside his Soul Embryo to begin with. At the very last moment, he had forced his soul inside. He knew that this would cause great damage to his Soul Embryo, but it was the only way to avoid death back then.


    Hopefully, he might be able to use this boy''s body to get to the Demon King. He might have a way to help him. Or he might just kill him. Lang Shou had no other choice anyway.

 Chapter 368: Lang Shous ghost

    Cao Yun knew that this was dangerous but he was purposefully letting the ghost enter his body and then his sea of consciousness. For Dian Mo who was watching from within, this reminded him of what had happened to him in the Demon Palace. The boy looked completely powerless and terrified. But if the ghost had been smart, he would have realized that a terrified boy would not have become a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior so young. A terrified boy would not have been able to even enter those tunnels and find this room.


    After all, there was Evil Qi almost everywhere. Even someone who was not sensitive to it could feel it. That Evil Qi had permeated through the demonic beasts around. That was also the reason why no hunter came around here. But that ghost was desperate and confused.


    As soon as he had sensed Cao Yun''s presence, he had planned his attack. Now that his Soul Embryo was separate from his body, Lang Shou was doomed. But still, he hoped to maybe prolong his life even a tiny bit. Hopefully, he could join the Demon King. The Demon King was so powerful that he might have a solution. Otherwise, he would just kill Lang Shou. But he was dead anyway...


    Lang Shou''s Soul Embryo finally entered through Cao Yun''s Bai Hui. Both of them felt a strange sensation from the acupoint. This time, Cao Yun was really worried because this point was probably his greatest weakness right now. Although he could feel a magnificent vitality radiating from this point, Cao Yun always felt as though it was on the brink of collapse. Even he knew that this sensation was purely psychological, like someone who had broken his arm and was now anxious to exert too much strength with it despite it being healed perfectly. After all, during his fight against Zhi Yin, he had used almost all his strength through this Bai Hui without any problem.


    Although Cao Yun knew that this wouldn''t cause the creation of an inner demon, it could still have a negative impact on his Dao Heart. Maybe he could use his mind cultivation to silence those feelings but he would always know what had happened. This wasn''t the way to get rid of this weakness. The best thing for him was to overcome it on his own, like a mortal man.


    Within this weakness, Cao Yun could still feel the powerful vitality of the world tree. Although he didn''t know what it had done, the seed had added something to his body. Lang Shou himself felt it. When he went through the Bai Hui of this boy, he felt an intense pain. As a soul, he was naturally very Yin. Usually, a Soul Embryo out of the body could still resist sunlight that was extremely Yang. But it was for living cultivators who kept a huge part of their Soul Embryo inside, only stretching a fraction of their soul to produce spiritual senses.


    First of all, Lang Shou had only been a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. Although his Soul Embryo was awaken, it had not entered his Upper Dantian yet. Just before dying, he had been forced to cram it into his Upper Dantian, inject his soul inside and even use the soul of another disciple to make the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards believe he was thoroughly dead. Of course, all of that had caused great damage to his Soul Embryo and his soul. Since he had never tried to penetrate someone''s sea of consciousness and considering his condition, he attributed the pain to this. But the reality was that the essence of the world tree was attacking him.


    Cao Yun was even forced to rein in it. Indeed, he didn''t want to destroy this ghost, he wanted to lure him in, just like he had lured Dian Mo in as well. Of course, Dian Mo was not very pleased with that situation. That reminded him what had happened to him. In fact, he felt stupid and humiliated. He was probably the oldest being on the entire Piaolu planet. Yet, he had been deceived by a young boy. Worse than that, he had been as stupid as a simpleton like this ghost. This really hurt his self-esteem.


    Finally, Lang Shou entered the sea of consciousness he wanted to overtake. Cao Yun waited for his entire soul to enter. Then, he closed the trap on him. Since Cao Yun had never fought against a ghost, he was happy that the fight would happen within his sea of consciousness. For most cultivators, even early Spirit Warriors, this would be a nightmare. But not only had Cao Yun a powerful mind cultivation, he also had the Drop of Wrath. He feared absolutely no one in his sea of consciousness. On the other hand, he had no idea how he would fight a ghost in the physical world.


    When Lang Shou entered, he saw the seven stars forming the shape of an Azure Dragon high in the sky. Flying peacefully all around were the golden Insight Writings making up Cao Yun''s Spear Aura. Beneath those stars were the Five Agents covered in the flames of Shen the Fire Spirit. Po the Metal Corporeal Soul was also surrounded by a mist of bone dust, this was soon to be the Flying Poison Cao Yun was working on. In the middle of those Five Agents was the Drop of Wrath. Below those things Lang Shou understood nothing about, there were nine large pillar of stones, looking like a claw that was coming out of the tranquil, almost transparent, infinite water. Those were the Nine Soul Peaks.


    Finally, he saw a small palace floating on the surface of the water, trapped inside this stone claw.


    As a Spirit Warrior, Lang Shou had been able to explore his own sea of consciousness. Yet, he had no idea what those things were. The stars were clearly the manifestation of some martial art. The golden Insight Writings also shocked him. There were many for a simple early Mortal Warrior. But that just meant this boy was a martial art genius. It didn''t mean he could resist his invasion. However, those incomprehensible things were clearly a threat to him. That was when he felt it.


    Although he was inside Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, he was still aware of the outside world to some degree. But suddenly, all connections to the physical world were cut off. He was now completely trapped in there. Without thinking, he tried to escape. His soul had taken on the shape of his physical body. He was a bald middle-aged man with a frail body. Lang Shou had never been much of a fighter. His main competence had always been administrative in nature. That was why he had been chosen to lead the Wolf Head Sect. But, that also meant that his death had not caused any major problem in the organization.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    In fact, Mo Tian had been warned of the attack way before it happened. Yet, he had kept quiet. And so had the Demon King. Lang Shou''s demise had been a good way to divert the attention of everyone. Although many people believed the Wolf Head Sect had not been responsible for the Cao massacre, or at least, not alone, they could blame it all on them. That way, they could keep the people happy, they would feel safe.


    When Lang Shou tried to fly away, a giant hand grabbed him. Looking behind him, he saw a vision of hell. The water had turned to blood. Where the Drop of Wrath used to be, there was now a red demon ten times larger than he was. He had three faces on his head but only the front face had its eyes open. There were also golden lines everywhere on his body. From the piercing eyes Lang Shou was staring at, there was a terrifying light. Lang Shou even saw the vision of a world covered in corpses and blood. The very air tasted like iron even though he had no mouth and no nose.


    Cao Yun had not only used his Drop of Wrath, he had also performed his newly acquired ''Bleeding Eyes''. This was terribly efficient when coupled with the transformation of the Drop of Wrath into this figure similar to Axiu Qian. Lang Shou was completely traumatized.


    Then Dian Mo spoke.


    "You idiot! You''ve crammed your soul into an unprepared Soul Embryo... You think you''ve survived?! You literally killed yourself by doing so. At the moment of death, the Hun slowly leaves the body. Although many people believe it goes into the cycle of reincarnation, no one really knows that for a fact, it just disappears. Even my master had tried to follow the traces of a dissipating Hun, but it just simply vanished without leaving anything behind. But if the Hun is damaged, it doesn''t dissipate completely and it can create a ghost which can linger for quite some time. Eventually the ghost will also dissipate of course."


    Once again, Dian Mo''s talkative nature appeared. But this wasn''t displeasing Cao Yun. Dian Mo was way more knowledgeable than him on many subjects. In fact, the young man was interested in hearing about this.


    "You wanted to safeguard your soul, but you literally broke it. Right now, your soul is in shambles within your Soul Embryo. You''re not a soul inside of Soul Embryo, you''re a ghost trapped in it."


    "No! I remember who I am! I am Lang Shou, Sect Leader of the Wolf Head Sect!"


    "Oh, yeah? Then, tell me ''Lang Shou, Sect Leader of the Wolf Head Sect'', can you remember any specific event prior to your death? I''m not talking about vague information. No, I''m talking about actual events, actual faces, actual people. Can you remember anything at all?"


    "I..."


    Lang Shou''s shape began to waver as he was trying to recall anything at all. Try as he might, he was only able to pull off general information about his life. He remembered that he was working for the Demon King and that he was in charge of the Wolf Head Sect. But there was nothing else. In fact, he even realized that he could not remember his own death in details. He knew what he had done, but he didn''t remember what had actually happened. He couldn''t remember the faces of the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards or the disciples around him.


    "You see? You''re just a pitiful ghost who thought he was a man."


    Lang Shou was of course mortified. But Cao Yun was not better off. From what he knew about ghosts, they retained no memory from their life. Some might imitate who they were before death but they had no actual memory, just vague impressions. Some could not even speak and had no intelligence at all, not very different from mindless beasts. Ghosts were extremely rare on the Piaolu planet, just like Death Energy was. In a way, ghosts were similar to Bone Demons. Bone Demons were born from corrupted Po, ghosts were born from corrupted Hun. Some even called this corrupted form of Hun Ghost Energy.


    That meant that Cao Yun could not get any information out of this thing. However, he could still make this encounter useful. Cao Yun was working on his soul. Although there was no trace of Po within this creature, he might still analyze it to get a better understanding of souls in general. Besides, he was able to sense Evil Qi within. Even though Lang Shou''s soul had ruptured under his attempt to force it inside his Soul Embryo, some seal left by his master had endured. It had not activated yet but it was clearly there. And now, Cao Yun could work on it without any problem.


    Outside, he couldn''t expand his mind and soul and was forced to rely on his intent alone, mixed with his Qi. Of course, the intent from the Drop of Wrath was more powerful than pure intent, and it was efficient on Evil Qi. But right now, he could work on a seal within his own sea of consciousness. This was an opportunity he could not pass on. Thus, he began by activating his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to the maximum. A literal tempest of ashes emerged from the water below. The Nine Soul Peaks were in the eye of the tempest.


    Cao Yun had isolated himself from the outside world as much as he could. The main goal was to prevent the seal from being activated by someone else or from sending any kind of information out, just in case.


    "What are you doing?!"


    Without any mercy, Cao Yun tore apart the Soul Embryo of his captive. He ripped Lang Shou''s form to pieces. With his senses, he could literally see the filaments of Evil Qi within the fragments of his soul. The Soul Embryo itself was absorbed by the Drop of Wrath. Axiu Qian opened his mouth and devoured them all as Lang Shou was screaming. He wasn''t feeling pain but anguish. Till the very end, he had wanted to refute Dian Mo''s words, but as he was seeing his Soul Embryo get devoured, he was forced to admit it. Lang Shou had been dead for more than three years now. What had lingered behind was just an empty shell.


    Lang Shou had completely lost any will to survive. His very mind collapsed and he even forgot his own name. Without the Soul Embryo to prevent a total fragmentation, his corrupted Hun fell apart even more. Now, he was truly what a ghost looked like for most people.


    Considering what he had been in life, Cao Yun had no mercy or pity for the man. Although he wasn''t sure whether the Wolf Head Sect had truly slaughtered his family or not, he knew what atrocities they had committed. Because he could not get answers from this thing, hopefully, he might get some from the documents he had uncovered.


    For now though, he focused on unraveling all the filaments of Evil Qi. Dian Mo also watched as he was doing so. But unlike Cao Yun, Dian Mo was more interested in observing how this seal had been crafted. In it, he saw many signs of what this technique originated from. Clearly, someone had adapted some sealing technique from his master. Humans could not use the seals of Da Mo as they required the cultivation of the demons. However, they had been able to emulate it by using Evil Qi. Dian Mo was forced to admit that they had been very imaginative and intelligent.


    But that also gave him more ideas on how to create seals. He had some nefarious ideas in mind, but he also surprised himself. Indeed, for an instant, he thought that this would make his sessions with Cao Yun more pleasant now that he had new ideas. Quickly, he dispersed those thoughts. He was just slowly lowering the boy''s vigilance. He wasn''t really playing with him!

 Chapter 369: Reports from the Wolf Head

    Cao Yun was now working on the seal within Lang Shou''s ghost. His will had been completely broken after realizing what he really was. However, the seal was still well ingrained in his soul, no matter how fragmented it was. With his recent experience with soul seals, Cao Yun was able to discern many things. This Evil Qi had been conscientiously woven into a giant web. Getting rid of it without hurting the soul was as difficult as extracting the nerves of a human body without causing pain.


    This Evil Qi had been created artificially. Indeed, Evil Qi was made of two things, pure Qi and remnants of lingering negative emotions, resentment, hatred, fear, pain, and many others. When it was formed naturally, there was still more Qi than emotions. Cao Yun wasn''t too sure but those emotions seemed to also be some kind of deformation of the soul. Maybe they were just tiny fragments of the soul mixed with Qi. He was starting to understand that everything was made of the same substance but slightly different.


    Qi was a form of this universal substance, but the souls were too. No one really agreed on the souls. Some thought that human beings only had one soul but that it was artificially subdivided into different roles, hence birthing the concepts of Hun and Po. Others believed that there were indeed different kinds of souls acting together, and communicating with one another. They were like organs. But then the first ones would claim that the organs were all contained within a body. If the souls were like organs, what was the equivalent of the body for the souls? The body itself did not seem to be an answer because the Po was responsible for the creation and growth of said body.


    Those questions were not really useful in the end. Cao Yun needed to understand how they worked, not what they were, not for now at least.


    Right now, he could feel that there was indeed both a difference and a similitude between Hun and Po though. But not just between them, Qi also felt similar in some more distant manner. Slowly, Cao Yun was getting convinced that everything was in fact made of the very same elusive substance. Somehow, it had gained different properties through ways Cao Yun knew nothing about. Now that he was facing a corrupted Hun, he could compare it with the corrupted Po that was the Drop of Wrath. They were closely related but also strangers to one another. The Drop of Wrath had digested the Soul Embryo of Lang Shou while Cao Yun was working on the seal within the remnants of his ghost.


    This Evil Qi was special because there was almost no Qi at all. In fact, there was just enough of it to keep it from collapsing. Those lingering emotions needed Qi to endure, they were neither Death Energy nor Ghost Energy, but something in-between Qi, thoughts and soul fragments. To unravel the seal, Cao Yun had to reel the myriad of strands away from the actual Qi. But they were anchored into the soul as well.


    It was just like working on his own Po of Jing. When he was working on his very soul, he could relive the moments associated with his emotions. But this Evil Qi was a mixture of thousands of fragmented emotions. There were no memories attached to those, just raw emotions. And each one was absolutely devastating. Just by feeling the strands around, Cao Yun was flooded with pain, terror, misery. Without his mind cultivation, he would have been overwhelmed very easily. Thankfully his Chamber of Medicine Field was protecting him by promoting positive emotions and rejecting negative ones.


    Cao Yun spent several hours that turned into days while working on this seal. In the end, he was unsuccessful. At some point, he lost control over a single strand of Evil Qi and it sent some kind of stimulus into the entire tapestry of misery. Lang Shou''s last soul fragments were completely annihilated in an instant. However, Cao Yun was not too frustrated. He had learned a lot from the experience. Besides, Lang Shou would not have been able to help him at all since he had been dead for three years already.


    -


    Now that the ghost matter had been resolved, Cao Yun decided to focus his attention on the documents he had found in the secret trap. They were all papers of average quality. Some were in very poor condition. When he began to read, Cao Yun realized that they were all using the same kind of code the symbols in the tunnels were. Dian Mo could help him out, but even without him, Cao Yun could decipher most of what was written.


    Those were mostly written reports from the disciples of the Wolf Head Sect. But there were also documents which had been written with much more care. They had probably been written by Lang Shou himself to send to his superiors, namely the Demon King. Cao Yun was convinced that Mo Tian had not been the Demon King, just a powerful member of his organization. The real Demon King was probably still out there, planning something else.


    Anyway, Cao Yun began to read. Almost immediately, he was immersed in the reports. They were almost all about Baziyun City. The most ancient ones were from five years ago. More than that, they were all describing the women of Baziyun City in great details. The Wolf Head Sect had been monitoring the city for a long time, right under Matriarch Huang and Governor Leng''s noses. Among the reports, mortal women and cultivators were both monitored. They were clearly searching for very distinctive traits. Most of the reports concluded that this wasn''t the woman they were looking for.


    The more he was reading, the tighter Cao Yun''s heart was becoming.


    Then he found another report that was several decades old. He had not seen it at first as it was buried lower in the pile of papers. This one had a different handwriting.


    "The Traitor made his move! He''s attacked tonight. At first glance, everyone got killed. But the Traitor''s forces missed an essential point. Two young children were able to run away, a boy and a girl."


    If someone had read this to him, he would have thought about his own tragedy, but this report was way older than that.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "The Shui family is gone and the Traitor did not find what he was looking for. Most likely, the girl is the key he was after. But we''ve failed to locate her as well. We''ve barely seen her or the boy who took her with him."


    Then, Cao Yun read a description that completely froze his blood. He had known as soon as he had begun reading, but as he was deciphering the text, the realization was dawning on him. The description of the girl was very poor, however there were a few signs as the color of her eyes, of her hair, or even a birthmark on one of her shoulders, that were clear. This woman was his mother, Cao Shui.


    Like he had thought, she had escaped the massacre of her own family. Someone had been after her then and he had come back for her now. Amidst this turmoil, there was a piece of good news for Cao Yun, two actually. The first one was that he might have a relative living in peace somewhere. That boy, whoever he was, might have survived to this day. But then, the second one was that they wanted to capture his mother. There was a possibility that she was still alive. Although all the corpses had been found, he had not identified them himself. Cao Yun wanted to cling to the possibility that she had survived.


    The report kept on talking about the Traitor and how he would ultimately be annihilated by the Demon King.


    "Mankind will see the truth of the Demon. The Traitor failed tonight and he will fail tomorrow. The Piaolu planet will submit before the Demon King!"


    Reading other reports, Cao Yun did not find any description of his mother, but she was mentioned by name. She had been on the list of potential targets. There were also a few other women with the name Shui or even the surname Shui all around the Hongchen Kingdom. Cao Yun did not know how they had pinpointed her presence in Baziyun City. Apparently, they had looked at the movements of the Traitor. So this Traitor, whoever he was, had been able to find his mother. The demonic cultivators had just been following him to prevent him from getting to her. But why? Why was he after his mother?


    Finally, Cao Yun read the letter that Lang Shou had written. It was addressed to the Demon King.


    "Venerable King, the Traitor has raided the household of the target. Our operatives have been found and put to the sword. We do not know whether he got the woman or not. We know that we have failed you, Venerable King. Please be magnanimous. We are ready to give our lives to fight the Traitor. Our allegiance will always be to you. Only the Venerable King can bring our human race out of the darkness of this Forsaken Dao Era.


    "The Traitor did not come in person. We think that he is still weak from the great battle with the Venerable King. Although we have failed, we can confirm that Luo Jiang is in position in Yinmen City. Gu Song has already departed back for the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. They will be able to bring the Venerable King the treatment he needs. As our forces are regenerating, the Traitor''s power is only fading away.


    "Victory will be ours. Mankind will prevail!"


    The Wolf Head Sect had truly been acting for the Demon King and had been behind some of the schemes of the demonic cultivators. However, it was clear that they were not behind the death of the Cao family. In fact, they were not even responsible for the death of the Shui family. But more than that, the Demon King was not behind it either. From the beginning, Cao Yun had been fighting the wrong enemy. Still, the demonic cultivators under the Demon King were an existential threat to mankind.


    They wanted to finally break out of the Forsaken Dao Era by any means possible. Maybe they could indeed produce a new Sage, but the cost would be too high to imagine. How many humans would have to die agonizing deaths in order for their experiments to bring fruition?


    What questioned Cao Yun now was the identity of this so-called Traitor. Was he another demonic cultivator on par with the Demon King? They had clearly fought against each other several decades ago and they still had stigmata from the fight. That almost meant that Mo Tian was really different from the Demon King. Mo Tian had not been injured at all. Otherwise, Xiao Xuefeng would have felt it right away. She would have clearly felt that he was hurt. But more than that, if he had consumed the fruit of the Heavenly Silver Peach Tree, she would have noticed right away. After all, the Heavenly Silver Peach Tree was a sacred tree of her Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    Although he didn''t have a lot of information, this helped Cao Yun a lot. He now knew what the murderers were after. They had always been after his mother. And they had eradicated his entire family just to get to her. When he was back in Baziyun City, he would try to be certain about the body. But he couldn''t even be sure whether they had wanted her dead or alive... According to what the reports said, she had always been the target, not the Shui family. Thus, they were not trying to silence her during the assault, they truly wanted her.


    This news reignited a dead hope in Cao Yun. Maybe others from his family had been captured. Some bodies had been devoured by wild and demonic beasts. There was still a possibility that some corpses had been wrongly identified. As much as he didn''t want to cling to false hopes, Cao Yun needed to believe that he wasn''t the last one of his family. And there was maybe yet another one, that boy who had fled with his young mother.


    Cao Yun would do everything he could to try and find anyone from his family, no matter how distant they were. If that boy had been as young as his mother back then, he should be around forty to fifty years old today.


    As Cao Yun was reading those documents, Dian Mo was doing it too. He didn''t know everything about Cao Yun, but he had seen glimpses of his memories. Indeed, each time he was working on his mind cultivation, his Po of Jing would cause memories related to anger to appear. Of course, the massacre of his family had created a lot of wrath in him. Thus, Dian Mo had seen this happen again and again before his eyes. Thus, he knew that Cao Yun''s family had been completely wiped out except for him. And by reading those documents, he also recognized a few details about the woman who had given her life to allow Cao Yun to run away. It was obvious for Dian Mo that this woman had been his mother.


    Since this Gu Song was also mentioned, he might have more information on all of this. Finding him and making him talk was important. From what Cao Yun knew, he originated from the Subei Province. He would need to check with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall first, but this destination seemed to be the right one for his investigation.


    Finally, there was the question of who this Traitor was. Considering the name, it would make sense for him to be a former demonic cultivator who had betrayed the Demon King. But Cao Yun had doubts in his heart. Those doubts were very dark. When he thought about a powerful cultivator who could go toe-to-toe with a late Spirit Warrior - which was probably the Demon King''s cultivation level - Cao Yun had only a handful of names in head. Matriarch Huang and Sect Leader Xuan were not injured at all. Thus, he only had one possibility left. Of course, maybe another late Spirit Warrior was hidden. After all, both Mo Tian and the Demon King were late Spirit Warriors who had hidden themselves from the public.


    When he read those reports though, Cao Yun was forced to entertain the possibility. Could this Traitor be Emperor Weide himself?

 Chapter 370: Back after the stampede

    Although he didn''t have all the pieces of the puzzle yet, Cao Yun had a greater understanding of what had happened that fateful night. But he was also seeing his family under a completely new light. Since he had been a child, his father had always been working hard on his cultivation. Even that night, he had attempted to cross over the Lesser Tribulation. Many people in the Cao family had told him to wait. Even for his first attempt, many had pleaded with him to wait. After all, he was already considered a genius and waiting a bit more would not have had too much an impact on his progress. However, he had tried to break through as soon as possible.


    Cao Yun was forced to consider that his father knew about his wife''s past. It made sense.


    His own mother had suffered through the same experience Cao Yun had, seeing her entire family die in front of her while she was forced to flee. She had probably been even younger than he was at the time. And she had never gotten any justice for it. Now, Cao Yun had a new family for which he had to find justice. Indeed, the Shui family was also his. And that boy she had fled with might still be alive.


    His mother had suffered in silence all her life. And when she had finally recreated a family for herself, she saw it being destroyed in front of her very eyes. Her children died all around her. Although she had given her life, Cao Sheng and Cao Huiying had both died. If Cao Shui was somehow still alive, captured by that so-called Traitor, she would have no way of knowing whether her children had survived or not, but she would live with that pain. Moreover, she might even blame herself for their deaths. Cao Yun could not be sure whether she was alive or not as he didn''t even know if that Traitor wanted her alive or dead. However, this ignited his feelings once more. In his heart, all the feelings from that night were renewed with a vengeance. But now he was powerful enough to do something about it.


    Although Cao Yun was not a Spirit Warrior and only an early Mortal Warrior, he had reached a pinnacle most Mortal Warriors would never reach before the Lesser Tribulation. He was not the weak boy he had been back then. Besides, he had ways of protecting himself, his stealth was one, and the Spirit Condensation Barrier was another one.


    Then Cao Yun thought about the fact that Xiao Xuefeng believed someone had purposefully let the information about the Shui family be known. Either this had been orchestrated by the culprits, by the Demon King''s men, or by this boy who had fled with Cao Shui.


    Right now, Cao Yun''s plans had not changed. He would first go to Baziyun City, but he had one more thing to do there. The chances were slim but he would try to find out whether the corpses buried under the Cao monument really included his mother. He had to be sure or he would always be tormented by this doubt.


    He had already wasted almost a week down there so he was impatient to leave. That being said, he still explored the tunnels. He found nothing worthy of his attention. Almost everything had been either destroyed or stolen. The 5th Imperial Brocade Guards had probably not searched very thoroughly the tunnels. They had just made sure that everyone was dead, ravaged a bit and then left as fast as they could. Most likely, they didn''t want anyone to observe what they were doing here so they were a bit careless. But considering their reputation, they had truly been ruthless and no one in those tunnels had survived the assault. Only a few young cultivators had been able to escape at the beginning of the carnage.


    Once he was sure that there was nothing more to find, Cao Yun destroyed all the documents he had found. After all, he had memorized them and could literally rewrite them with the exact same handwriting if need be. Then, he also wanted to destroy those tunnels. Unfortunately, he was still a bit too weak for that. Still, he found some important walls in the tunnels and broke them down. The tunnels did not cave in instantly but major parts of them were now buried. With time, the entire land would slowly fill in the tunnels. Later on, it would however be necessary to get rid of the Evil Qi lingering in the area. If left unchecked, it could last several centuries by feeding off of the demonic beasts who came too close to it.


    -


    On the way to Baziyun City, Dian Mo was very silent at first. But he was unable to control himself. In the end, he decided to talk about the seal inside Lang Shou''s soul. Once again, he found himself playing around with Cao Yun. This was a form of training for the young man, but Dian Mo was forced to admit that this was really an entertainment for him. As much as he was taking great pleasure in this game, he was feeling indignant about this. He felt as though he was a pet his master would play with, and the worst part was that he was looking forward to it. But then, it clearly beat being trapped in the Demon Palace...


    -


    On the way to Baziyun City, Cao Yun kept on training his mind cultivation, his blood cultivation, his martial arts, his Spear Aura, his alchemy and his stealth. The young man had many things to work on recently. However, he did not really work on his Qi cultivation.


    Several times, he did try to feel the presence of the world tree within his sea of consciousness to no avail. However, he could feel it distinctly in his Bai Hui. In fact, he was also sensing that this was spreading around his Bai Hui through his other acupoints. At some point, he would have to work on it, but he wasn''t feeling any ill will within. For the time being, he was just watching how it was evolving. Nonetheless, he was remaining hesitant to really focus on his Qi cultivation. As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, he had to temper his Five Prodigious Gates so that they could act in harmony. That also meant that they had to be perfectly synchronized. Right now, his Bai Hui was still weaker than the other four. And most importantly, it had a foreign element and a vitality that the other gates had not.


    Thus, it would be difficult for Cao Yun to progress, even if he could overcome his worries about his Bai Hui. During a fight he could use it without too much problem. During a cultivation session though, he always felt like he was holding himself back. So, for now, he would just observe. After all, he had already too many things to work on. It was a good thing cultivators could live longer than mere mortals. As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun''s lifespan had reached half a millennium. But when he looked at all the things he had to work on and study, it felt like it was still not enough time. Even beings who could live millions of years still felt like this was not enough.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Some mortals claimed that living too long would be boring. But no matter how long one lived, they would always find out that this was too short in the end.


    His mind cultivation was going smoothly. Since his time in the Wolf Head Sect though, his Po of Jing was full of memories about his mother. He had a lot of rage now that he knew what she had suffered. Strangely, it helped him focus on it more. He was able to clearly feel the distinction between this part of his Po and the other six Turbid Demons. However, this part of his cultivation would still take at least two years.


    His blood cultivation was also progressing fast. After all, he had almost practiced it before with his Drop of Wrath. But it had been all over the place. Although practicing the blood cultivation of asura from the beginning would not increase his strength by much, it would solidify and stabilize his cultivation. After what had happened with his Bai Hui, he was actively searching for stability. Almost half of his organs were full of blood now. There were two steps in his current realm.


    The first step consisted in feeding the five Yin organs, the Zang organs. Those were responsible for creating, transforming, regulating and storing the vital substances. Although humans and demons had different bodies, they had the same organs. The main difference was really limited to the quality of their blood and to the presence of meridians and Dantian. Those zang organs were the liver, the heart, the spleen, the lungs and the kidneys. They were reigning over Jing, Qi, blood and many other substances and fluids the body needed to function.


    Because they were Yin, they could easily be nourished by the blood that was also partly Yin, in opposition to the Qi that was Yang. However, the step was still delicate because those organs were essential for life.


    Then, the second step consisted in nourishing the six Yang organs, the Fu organs. Those organs were responsible for digestion, to turn food into Qi. For a cultivator those would slowly become less and less important. But in theory, a 4th-grade Blood Child had to eat almost as much as a mere mortal. Although this step was more difficult because those organs were Yang and the blood Yin, Cao Yun could easily get it done. He was not in a hurry though and wanted his Zang organs to be perfectly nourished by his blood. In a month or two, he would be done. In fact, when leaving Baziyun City, he should be a 5th-grade Blood Child.


    On the other hand, his alchemy was slowly approaching a bottleneck. He needed a quiet place to really work. Some pills could take weeks to be refined to perfection. Just trying one refinement process once in a while was not enough. He had to work on the same process dozens if not hundreds of times in a row to see all the subtle changes and get better. While running around, he could not really master this craft. However, he had mostly mastered his cauldron and his use of Qi to control the flames. In fact, Cao Yun decided to mostly work on his Flame Control and Cauldron Maintenance.


    To train his stealth, he was trying to keep it active as much as possible. He was getting very used to it to the point where he could consume less Qi than he was absorbing from his environment. After all, for his mission, he didn''t need to be absolutely invisible, he only needed to hide his identity. But each time he crossed path with a demonic beast, he pushed it to the extreme to see how long he was able to hide himself. In fact, he even went as close as possible. 1 or 2-core demonic beasts could only sense his presence if he was directly touching them now. However, stronger or more perceptive demonic beasts could sense him when he was in their vicinity.


    Finally, his martial arts and his Spear Aura were stagnating because he had no one to really fight him on his level. In his mind, he was trying to fight against imaginary opponents but this was a far cry from the real thing. At some point Dian Mo tried to play along but he was not much of a fighter so it was useless. In fact, Cao Yun taught him more than Dian Mo could teach him. That being said, Dian Mo found it rather refreshing.


    Hence, Cao Yun was mostly confined to watching his stars and his Insight Writings to meditate on them. This wasn''t optimal at all.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun reached Baziyun City after a month of running through the Hongchen Kingdom. His schedule had been mostly respected.


    The first thing he did was to simply walk through the streets to see how well the city had been repaired. Since last time he had come, it was a completely different city. If he had not been there a year ago, he would not have believed that such a disaster had struck Baziyun City. However, he could still see the signs of the catastrophe in the eyes of some people. Here and there, he also found altars that had been placed in memory of the fallen. There was also a great sculpture honoring the names of those who had fought and died against the stampede. Even some mortals were named as they had helped others evacuate. Despite not having any form of cultivation, they had risked and given their life to save others.


    If they had not been in the Forsaken Dao Era, more humans could cultivate and that crisis would have been dealt with with more ease. But this showed that humans did not need cultivation to prove their worth. The Hongchen Kingdom, contrary to the demons, did not judge people on their strength alone, their strength of character, their Dao Heart as cultivators said, was more important. Saint Xun Ke had proved that a long time ago. Since then, many had proved it again and again. In the future, mankind would keep proving it. Demonic cultivators wanted to increase the strength of mankind but they were ready to discard what made them humans. If they followed them, men would only become wild beasts, even beneath the demons. Surviving at such a cost was not worth it.


    Cao Yun stayed a few moments to admire this monument and see the resilience of mankind. Then, he hesitated but he decided to first go to the cemetery where his family was buried. As a Mortal Warrior, he had no spiritual senses so he would not be able to discern the corpses below. He still wanted to go there anyway. Only the Huang family could help him put his concerns to rest.


    Using his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun was altering his cultivation and his appearance just enough to not be recognized. For all intents and purposes, he was Guai Mo. He had even changed his clothes. Right now, he was wearing a black Daoist robe with the emblem of a 1-star Human alchemist embroidered in it. Anyone who would see his face would be almost unable to describe it even while looking at it intently. It had not changed, but it was just difficult for people to focus on his traits. The description would always be very vague and different from one person to the next. However, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.


    Guai Mo just had a very forgettable face, extremely banal, nothing strange about it.

 Chapter 371: Awakening the birds bloodline

    Cao Yun paid his homage to the burial monument where the names of his entire family were engraved. Looking at each name, he thought back about every member of his family. The Cao family was not huge, especially compared with the Huang family. After all, Cao Beiwen, the patriarch, was the man who had built this family. He came from a poor household but had been able to enter into a martial sect and had proven his worth. As he had been 213 years old, his own parents were both dead. They had stayed mortals until the very end and even he could not find the resources to help them progress in their cultivation. Both his mother and his father''s body had been just too exhausted to even survive taking in powerful pills.


    On the other hand, they had no other child. Thus, Cao Beiwen was alone. But his talent made him relatively famous in his area. At around ninety, Cao Beiwen had become a Spirit Warrior. Slowly, he built up his reputation and founded the Cao family. His son, Cao Wen died rather young, but he was also an impressive cultivator. Thankfully, he had gotten one grandchild, Cao Guang, Cao Yun''s father. He too was a genius. The Cao family had birthed many great men but all have had tragic lives. Apparently, the more talented they were the younger they were fated to die and the more they would suffer.


    Cao Yun had almost suffered the same curse, but he would not let such a tragedy decide his future. He was hell-bent on finding out what had happened to his family and have justice for them.


    When he saw the name of Cao Shui, his mother, Cao Yun''s heart skipped a beat. He hoped that his mother was still alive. She too had had a terrible life. And she had finally found happiness, it had been taken from her in the most horrendous way. If she was dead, maybe she at least believed that her children were safe. But she knew better. Cao Guang and Cao Shui had bought almost no time at all when faced with a late Spirit Warrior who had killed Cao Beiwen. And if she was still alive, she was probably tormented by those thoughts.


    Although he knew this was a far shot, Cao Yun tried to inject his Qi into the earth. Through his two Earthly Springs, Qi mixed with the intent of the Drop of Wrath seeped into the ground below. The bodies of his entire family had been buried there. Some had been partially devoured by wild beasts while others had been burned to a crisp. Just retrieving the corpses had been difficult. So Cao Yun hoped that the identification had been sloppy. As long as he couldn''t see by himself, he would not be serene. He had to know whether his mother was alive or not.


    Strangely, he surprised himself hoping she was dead. Otherwise, that meant that she had suffered for more than three years while he was doing his own thing. That would be a terrible blow to his confidence.


    Unfortunately, happened what had to happen. Although Cao Yun could expand his Qi, he had no spiritual senses. With his Qi, he could feel the Qi and other energies in the air but that was it. Only through spiritual senses could he get a clear picture of what was going on underground. He was only able to detect several holes below his feet. But as the bodies had died a long time ago, he wasn''t able to detect anything else. Thankfully, there was no form of neither Death Energy nor Evil Qi.


    Considering how they had died, they had probably produced a lot of Evil Qi but the Huang family had purified their remains before burying them. In fact, holding any form of funeral ceremony was already a first step in getting rid of Evil Qi or other morbid lingering energies. Since they were related to human souls and to emotions, ceremonies that had an importance for those humans could appease them in some way. It wasn''t sufficient, but this was a good start most of the times.


    As he was concentrating above the remains of his kind, Cao Yun felt a presence that was familiar. Huang Liyue had covered him in her spiritual senses. Considering her stealth technique, she could easily have done so without him noticing. This was a way to greet him without disturbing him too much. And indeed, she let him finish whatever he had to finish. Since he couldn''t sense what was down below with clarity, he decided to perform the usual rites in front of the memorial tablets. When doing so, he realized that the tablets had been cleaned recently. However, the tablet of his mother seemed to have been handled with even more care than the other ones. This was subtle, but Cao Yun could feel something around it.


    Maybe because he was working on souls so much recently, he had picked up on something others would have failed to notice. This seemed to be the opposite of Evil Qi in a sense. Although very vague and fleeting, Cao Yun was certain that he had felt this sensation.


    Finally, Cao Yun was done. Then he heard the voice of Huang Liyue resonate in his mind.


    "Cao Yun, your mastery of ''Ashen Feather Seal'' is really impressive. I did not even feel your return in Baziyun City. But we can''t talk here. Come back to the Huang residence. There will be someone waiting for you. Keep using the name Guai Mo until I tell you otherwise."


    Then, the presence disappeared and Cao Yun was intrigued. If Huang Liyue herself had not felt his return, was it Matriarch Huang who had? Although he had no answer, he was happy that Huang Liyue had not sensed him. Of course, he had not gone close to the Huang family. But without his stealth, she would have probably sensed his Qi right away, especially with her new cultivation and her improved Soul Embryo. That didn''t mean that she wouldn''t be able to recognize him if he was literally in front of her. Not only was she powerful, ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was literally her own creation.


    After he was completely done, Cao Yun left the cemetery and walked around for some time before going to the Huang family.


    No one in the cemetery seemed to mind him. No one except one old man. He was the caretaker. And as soon as Cao Yun left, he activated some kind of pendant.


    "Hall Master, someone just visited the Cao family''s tomb. He was a very banal young man, or maybe a middle-aged man. Honestly his appearance was absolutely banal. However, he had one remarkable thing, he had a 1-star Human alchemist emblem on his chest."This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    The old man was speaking alone as though he was reporting to someone who wasn''t here. As much as he tried to describe Cao Yun, his words were always technically right but too vague to pinpoint how he really looked like.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun went toward the Huang residence.


    With his emblem, people knew right away that he was an alchemist. The sentence for wearing a fake alchemist emblem was extremely harsh. In some cases, it could even be death if that person had actively tried to impersonate an alchemist and had defamed the occupation. After all, alchemists were favored by the Hongchen Kingdom. Even blacksmiths and array formation masters were not to be impersonated but the punishment would almost never be death. On the other hand, impersonating a physician could also mean death but only because it was dangerous to patients, not just to uphold the name of the physicians.


    The man who welcomed Cao Yun was Bao Zhong. Since Huang Cixi was still in seclusion at the Gate of Heaven and Hell, he had no one to serve. Thus, he was now helping the Huang family for various tasks under the supervision of Huang Liyue. She trusted him because he was loyal to Huang Cixi to a fault.


    "Alchemist Guai Mo, please follow me. Mistress Huang Liyue is waiting for you in her chambers."


    Cao Yun followed the middle-aged man toward Huang Liyue''s door. It opened even before Bao Zhong could knock. Thus, he politely took his leave as Cao Yun was entering the room. As soon as he was inside, the door closed. The room was almost the same as Huang Cixi''s room. That meant that the center of the room, where the study was, was isolated.


    Beckoned by Huang Liyue, he entered the study. The small room closed itself immediately and she spread her senses all over the place to make sure that no one could eavesdrop.


    "Your new persona is very impressive. When an alchemist enters a city, we are immediately alarmed. Even after checking with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, no one found anything suspicious about this Guai Mo. If I had not seen you face to face, I would have not recognized you at all."


    "Miss Huang Liyue, this is a pleasure to see you well. But, I''m curious. How did you know who I was before I contacted you?"


    "Well, let me first tell you that it is also a pleasure to see you. I knew that the Wubei Sect had those strange Ancient Ruins that could help someone gain power in a year. But you''ve exceeded all my expectations. You''re almost half-way through to the Spirit Warrior realm already!"


    The Mortal Warrior realm had nine grades like all other realm, but the last three were in fact the Lesser Tribulation. They had to be broken through one after the other without any pause. That meant that in practice, the Mortal Warrior realm really only had six grades. Of course, they would take longer than just a couple of years to cross each. An average cultivator usually became a Spirit Warrior by the time they were 60, around thirty years after breaking through the Mortal Warrior realm in the first place. Although Cao Yun was confident in his talent, he would not claim he could become a Spirit Warrior before twenty years.


    His own father had broken through at 45, Cao Yun could probably break through somewhere between 35 and 40. That was if his cultivation was going smoothly, which wasn''t really the case after what had happened to his Bai Hui.


    "Anyway, you''ve asked about how we''ve detected you... Well, we didn''t. Someone else did..."


    Of course, Cao Yun was intrigued and a bit worried. If his cover had been blown already, he would have a hard time investigating the demonic cultivators elsewhere.


    "Earlier today, one of our demonic beasts got very agitated. This is how I''ve come to know you were probably in town."


    Could a demonic beast really detect him? And why him specifically?


    Suddenly, Cao Yun realized something and Huang Liyue nodded.


    "Indeed, this was the Mountain Fenghuang whose egg you''ve protected."


    "It hatched?! Is it fine?"


    Huang Liyue was a bit embarrassed about the question.


    "It''s a bit complicated. Let me explain while we walk toward the stables."


    And so they began to walk. Huang Liyue explained what had happened with the egg. From time to time, she sent words directly into Cao Yun''s mind to be sure that no one else could listen to them. He didn''t have to answer, just to listen.


    -


    A few months after Cao Yun''s departure back to the Wubei Sect, the egg had hatched. However, the chick had been incredibly sickly. Despite all of Cao Yun''s efforts, it had absorbed the Evil Qi and the Death Energy of the Yellow Death World. Even its appearance had been strange. It had been way too small for such a demonic beast and its skin had been dark with strange patterns that looked like bleeding wounds.


    But despite the Evil Qi within, that small bird demonstrated a great vitality. It was trying to survive more than anyone else. With such a will, the Evil Qi was pushed back. In the end, it literally condensed into a demonic core. Demonic beasts were always born with only one demonic core, no matter the number of cores of their parents. There were even some species in which the young children would devour one or several cores from their parents to increase their cultivation quickly.


    This core made of Evil Qi made the chick break through even though it wasn''t even a month old. But signs of this Evil Qi within kept showing on its body. Although it was gaining in strength quickly, it was also sick and tired all the time. Only its powerful will was keeping it alive. All the other demonic beasts were hating his presence as they could feel the Evil Qi in it. However, Elder Ying, the Blue Mane Falcon, took a liking to the chick as it was struggling to survive every single day.


    Huang Liyue was not sure what had happened to this egg in the Yellow Death World, maybe it was due to the presence of Cao Yun and the legacy he had received from Cleansed Asura. Maybe, the word tree had also given something to the egg when Huang Liyue had received the help of Cleansed Asura''s soul. Or maybe it was Cao Yun''s will to see this demonic beast survive after its parents'' death that had seeped into the egg.


    Whatever the reason was, Huang Liyue could not just let it die without doing anything. Thus, she was even ready to give it one of her True Fiery Drops. As it had the dormant bloodline of a fenghuang, it would have probably been very helpful. However, Matriarch Huang forbade it. In exchange, she gave one of her own pills. During her birthday celebration, she had received three great pills from Huang Si. Thus, she gave one of them to the young bird, one Golden Blood Essence pill.


    Those pills could awaken bloodlines and help generate blood essence as well. It was very helpful to cultivate ''Nine Chambers of Life Fire''. Instead of using it to produce another True Fiery Drop that was very uncertain, she used it to awaken the young bird''s bloodline.


    In the year Cao Yun had been away, the young bird had thus developed two more demonic cores. It now had three demonic cores and another one made of almost pure Evil Qi. Although it was still there, the Evil Qi had been calmed down by the sheer strength of the bird''s blood.


    -


    Hearing all of that, Cao Yun was surprised, thankful to Matriarch Huang and also happy for Huang''er and Feng''er.

 Chapter 372: Red Feather

    Finally, Huang Liyue and Cao Yun reached the stables of the Huang family. They were rather vast but there were not that many demonic beasts. Although the Huang estate had been rather preserved by the stampede, they had used a lot of their forces to protect the city. As such, many of the demonic beasts had been used to fight off the assault of the enraged beasts. Unfortunately, more than half of them had died.


    As beast taming was not a very popular occupation, the Huang family could not replace the few beast tamers who had also died on the battlefield. Thankfully, the family still had somewhat of an heritage when it came to beast taming, albeit not very profound. Before giving the documents of Can Mouye to Cao Yun, they had also copied everything that could be useful as he was a beast tamer himself. And apparently, they had gotten a few more documents during the hunt against the other demonic cultivators.


    From Xiong Nixie, they had found many things that pertained to beast taming as well as other disgusting things. Although the means by which that knowledge had been obtained was horrendous and immoral, they could use that knowledge for better purposes now. Once evil had been done, it would be stupid to throw away knowledge that could help. Everything that required torture and slaughter was useless. But Xiong Nixie had been able to discover many interesting things about various demonic beasts and their behavior. He had also intensely studied their blood which could be useful to the Huang family for their blood cultivation.


    Thanks to that, they would probably be able to restore their supremacy in the domain of beast taming in a few years instead of a few decades. With the war with the demons on the horizon, this was great news.


    When Cao Yun got close to the stables, he finally felt it. He had not felt it when entering the city but he could sense that his own Qi was within this place. And after tracing it back to its owner, he saw a magnificent bird lying down on the dirt.


    The demonic beast was rather small, not bigger than a horse, and a small one at that. It was clearly related to the fenghuang family because it had a peacock tail behind it. However, it was rather different from the Mountain Fanghuang Cao Yun remembered. In fact, he couldn''t make out what kind of demonic beast she was. Now that he was looking more closely, the bird was indeed a female. As his intent was becoming more and more focused, Cao Yun sensed many things.


    She had indeed four demonic cores in her. But the fourth one was almost made entirely out of Evil Qi with tiny traces of Death Energy within. And what no one had sensed but him was the thing that was keeping this core from destroying her from within. He could feel the same sensation as the Drop of Wrath. In fact, Cao Yun was able to feel it in all her blood. When they had been in the Yellow Death World, Cao Yun had kept the egg within his Wei Qi as much as possible while using the Drop of Wrath to try and fend off Evil Qi.


    Evidently, he had not entirely succeeded. However, the Drop of Wrath had had an influence on the egg. Cao Yun''s own Qi had probably entered the egg and because he had been using the Drop of Wrath so much, it had altered her very essence. If it had only affected her blood, it would have passed. But her very essence had been changed. Indeed, the Drop of Wrath was a degenerated version of Axiu Qian''s Po of Jing. So of course, it could have an impact on Jing, the essence. This was the energy from which everything in the body originated. Since her prenatal Jing had been altered, this would stay with her forever. But this wasn''t such a bad thing given that it had saved her life. However, Cao Yun wondered if it had also altered her character, made her more violent.


    From what Huang Liyue had told him, she had only developed a stronger will. She had not shown any sign of great aggressiveness.


    While looking at her, Cao Yun remembered her parents who had died for her. No matter what would happen, Cao Yun had to protect this demonic beast. They were now forever linked through Qi and blood.


    The bird was very elegant, even in the dirt. Her feathers were red and all shades of red. At certain points, they looked like flames that were coming out her body. While at other parts, those feathers seemed to be covered in fresh blood. She was truly magnificent. Her beak was black with shining reflections. In general, her face gave off an air of nobility and showed her strong will, even as she was lying down.


    On the other hand, her peacock tail was rather dark for a fenghuang. It was small even considering her own size, and the colors lacked the brightness of Mountain Fenghuang. Their tails were often thought of as ways to showcase their vitality, attract mates and sometimes intimidate enemies. Just by looking at her tail, Cao Yun felt as though this bird was sickly. But when he looked at her face, he saw a firm determination to stay alive.


    "We named her Hongyu."


    "Hongyu*? The Red Feather?" Cao Yun looked back at Hongyu. "That''s a fitting name I think."


    As they were getting closer to Hongyu, a gust of wind stopped them in their tracks. Above them was Elder Ying, the Blue Mane Falcon. He was the most powerful and the fastest demonic beast of the Huang family. Apparently, he had taken a liking to this Hongyu and was being very protective, as though she was his own child. If Elder Ying had not recognized Huang Liyue, he would have probably blown Cao Yun away when he was getting too close to her.


    "Elder Ying, calm down. This is the boy that Hongyu requested."


    Elder Ying landed before the two humans and examined Cao Yun. At first, it was perplexed. This human was nothing particular. Hongyu had no reason to want to see him. Then, Huang Liyue got closer to Elder Ying. Because he was smart enough, Huang Liyue could also send mental images to the Blue Mane Falcon. She explained to him that Cao Yun was concealing himself. Elder Ying had no understanding of martial arts but he knew that Huang Liyue had the strange ability to hide her scent and even her Qi and presence.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    When he looked back at Cao Yun, he saw it in him. This was faint but he had the same kind of aura Huang Liyue had when hiding. Now that he was more receptive, Huang Liyue told him Cao Yun had risked his life to save the egg of Hongyu. Thus, he accepted to move out of the way. However, he kept on staring at Cao Yun. If he didn''t like anything he was doing, the young man would be thrown into the air.


    Sensing this intense stare on his back, Cao Yun got closer to Hongyu.


    Finally, Hongyu seemed to react. A few hours ago, she had been very lively. But as usual, she was often tired several times a month. Since she had four demonic cores, she should be full of strength and vigor. Her cultivation was the equal of Cao Yun. So she should be able to fly around for weeks without need for sleep or even pause. However, she was completely exhausted. And Cao Yun knew why. There were two things happening at the same time.


    First of all, she had to constantly use the intent of the Drop of Wrath in her veins to keep the Evil Qi condensed into a core. Without this intent, the core would dissolve and would corrode her own body.


    But then, she also had to replenish the intent of the Drop of Wrath in her blood. For Cao Yun, this wasn''t a problem because he had literally the Drop of Wrath in his heart. But for Hongyu, this was a dire challenge. Her prenatal Jing had been imbued with it. So her only hope to make more of this intent was to consume this prenatal Jing. The problem was that prenatal Jing was literally the foundation of one''s lifespan. Just to stay alive, Hongyu was burning her own lifespan and vitality away. As time would pass, she would be more and more tired until one day, she would not wake up at all.


    There were two kinds of essence, prenatal Jing and postnatal Jing. The first kind came from the parents and was extremely difficult to replenish, but it could be refined. Its properties could change. As it became purer and purer, less of it was necessary to keep the body alive and so lifespan could be stabilized or even expanded. The other kind was obtained by absorbing it through food, air, the environment, just like Qi. It was in fewer quantities though. Prenatal Jing was stored in the kidneys in humans. It was used to create Qi from postnatal Jing in the Lower Dantian. In a sense, it was used as a fuel for that cauldron of life.


    Even now that Cao Yun had understood the problem, the solution was not easy to find. Cao Yun could not give the Drop of Wrath to Hongyu. Perhaps, he could give her a bit of his blood but it would only be very temporary. First, he tried out his theory, just to be sure. Extending his arm, Cao Yun touched the forehead of Hongyu. Elder Ying was incredibly tense as he was waiting to see what would happen.


    From Cao Yun''s Labor Palaces, Qi containing a huge amount of intent from the Drop of Wrath left and entered Hongyu''s body. For a split second, Hongyu''s Wei Qi opposed this external force. But as though it had recognized a dear friend or even a family member, it subsided. Then, Cao Yun''s Qi made its way toward the Evil Qi core. When he finally got to it, it was beyond everything he had ever felt before. The Evil Qi had become so compact that even Cao Yun could not pierce it completely. And all around this evil core, there was a complex web of Hongyu''s own blood around it. Demonic beasts had no meridians and Dantian contrary to humans. As such, their Qi was entirely contained in their blood.


    Hongyu was using her very blood essence to keep the evil core under control. Slowly, Cao Yun used his own Qi to send the intent of the Drop of Wrath within.


    From the outside, Hongyu''s complexion changed rather quickly. Her vitality came back to her as her body was shaking uncontrollably. Elder Ying''s hostility toward Cao Yun disappeared immediately. With their senses, Huang Liyue and Elder Ying could clearly sense that Hongyu was getting better under Cao Yun''s care.


    In the end, Cao Yun was forced to stop as it was using a lot of concentration to do so. He had to channel the Drop of Wrath, inject its intent in his Qi and then in Hongyu''s blood. What took a lot of effort was to send this intent in the right place. Indeed, what Hongyu had created instinctively was very similar to the seals Cao Yun had worked on. Seals could be made from very different things. There, Hongyu had made one with blood essence as well as the Qi, the Jing and intent within.


    Cao Yun had mostly worked on unraveling seals but he could also make them. Besides, this one was not directly related to souls, it was made of things Cao Yun was familiar with, blood, Qi, Jing and the intent of the Drop of Wrath. But that seal was way more complex that what he had worked with. Moreover, it was always assaulted by Evil Qi. If even a surge of it was leaving, it could injure Hongyu severely. It was more difficult to work on this seal without damaging it than to unravel a seal without damaging what was around.


    The only way to really solve the problem would be to slowly get rid of the Evil Qi within to replace it with pure Qi. However, this would be a very lengthy process. Until that happened, only Cao Yun could alleviate Hongyu''s fatigue. Sadly though, it would only be temporary.


    That being said, the effects were prodigious.


    As soon as Cao Yun was done, Hongyu woke up and stood up straight. Standing, her head was at the level of Cao Yun''s head. Now he could see her legs. They were thin and rather long with powerful claws at the end. Entirely black, the claws were tainted with the color of blood. With her full vitality, Hongyu was intimidating. Several weaker demonic beasts around cowered in deference. In Hongyu''s eyes, Cao Yun saw a glint of gratitude and of excitement. Hongyu bowed toward the young man. Then, she unceremoniously stroked her head against his chest and shoulder.


    Even Elder Ying had never seen Hongyu being so affectionate.


    Just as Matriarch Huang had told him, the egg had sensed his Qi. Young birds could sometimes be imprinted by the person they saw at birth. But fenghuang were sensitive to Qi before anything else. As such, this chick, even while it was inside her egg, had felt Cao Yun''s Qi. Now, she considered him a part of her family. And in a sense, she was right. Her blood was containing traces of Cao Yun''s own blood thanks to the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Besides, Cao Yun had fought to save the egg by risking his life till the end.


    For long minutes, Hongyu showed its affection toward her parent. Cao Yun let it happen as it felt very warm. After what had happened in his head, it was soothing. The idea that his mother had been tortured for years and was being tortured right now finally left his mind. Whether this was true or not, he could do nothing about it. And maybe he was just creating fantastical scenarios while the truth was simpler. Maybe she was merely dead like everyone else.


    While in Hongyu''s embrace, Cao Yun forgot about all that. Elder Ying and Huang Liyue left them in peace. Both of them needed to get a few happy moments. Hongyu''s life until now had been mostly pain. With their senses, they could see through Hongyu''s facade. No matter how much she was trying to hide it, she was almost always in pain and exhausted. But now, finally, she was calm and full of life.


    As she was playing around with Cao Yun, Hongyu took the young man on her back. Flapping her beautiful wings, she took off while blowing away the dirt around her. She was faster than Cao Yun thought. Even Elder Ying was surprised as she was faster than most 5-core demonic beasts and as fast as a few 6-core demonic beasts. Of course, she wasn''t as fast as he was. But she was probably not giving it her all.


    * Hongyu (ºìÓð) = Red Feather

 Chapter 373: Soaring through the skies

    Right now, Cao Yun was grabbing on Hongyu''s feathers as she was flying through the sky. She was so fast, she had almost broken through the sound barrier. As such, the impact of the wind on both Hongyu and Cao Yun was absolutely insane. With their Wei Qi combined though, they were barely feeling it. Moreover, their bodies were clearly strong enough to resist such an impact. The winds were just as powerful as the eighth and last li of the Howling Crane Gorges.


    Although the impact wasn''t a problem, Cao Yun was still forced to grab onto Hongyu with a lot of force so that he wouldn''t fall off. However, that didn''t really bother her in the slightest.


    That being said, the sensation was incredible for the both of them. Hongyu had never flown with such speed before because of her condition. And although Cao Yun had flown before, he had always been under someone else''s control. Right now, he was able to lead his mount. It took a bit of time to get used to it, but by indicating to Hongyu where he wanted to go, she obeyed. In both of their veins, the intent of the Drop of Wrath was present. As such, they already had some kind of connection. And mere moments ago, Cao Yun had literally injected his own Qi into Hongyu''s body to stabilize her.


    Even now, he was injecting a bit of Qi in her body to monitor the evil core and see how it was reacting. Hongyu was letting Cao Yun''s Qi enter her body without any resistance at all. The young man was neither a physician nor a beast tamer but he could tell that Hongyu was only using her three other demonic cores. The evil core was completely passive. Unlike Cao Yun, Hongyu could not learn complex techniques to control her own Qi. Indeed, demonic beasts were acting more on instinct. Contrary to humans, their cultivation was rather passive and even their form of Qi Manifestation was instinctive.


    Despite Hongyu''s clear intelligence, she was not to the level of complex and abstract thoughts that humans could have. But she was incredibly smart, especially for a 4-core demonic beast. She was probably not as smart as Elder Ying, but she was still young. With a few more years and maybe another core, she would reach that level of intelligence.


    As they were flying through the sky, Cao Yun and Hongyu became more and more intimate between each other. They could sense the circulation of Qi between them. But their bodies were also close to one another. Hongyu was considering Cao Yun like a member of her family, maybe not her mother or father, but something like an older brother. And slowly, Cao Yun was also feeling the same thing. He had seen Huang''er and Feng''er die for that egg. He had already helped protect it with Feng Yingyue and, later, he had risked his life in the Yellow Death World to keep it safe. The egg, and now Hongyu, was a symbol of many things.


    He was seeing some kind of connection to Feng Yingyue in her. Since he was harboring doubts over his real feelings, Hongyu''s presence was appeasing as he remembered the good times he had spent with the young lady. He clearly had feelings for the alchemist. He just wasn''t sure what they were exactly. After all, they had met in very particular circumstances. In fact, he wasn''t sure what she was feeling toward him either. Maybe she had also been enthralled by the fact he had saved her life and was now regretting her impulsive actions.


    Hongyu was also the symbol of something else. Cao Yun was seeing himself in her. Both her parents had given their lives to let her live. And they had died because of Cao Yun, because Can Mouye had been after him. Thus, he felt responsible for Hongyu as well. He had to keep her safe.


    Now that he was analyzing the evil core while Hongyu was moving, he was certain of himself. Without regular surges of intent from the Drop of Wrath, she would slowly die away. Just to control the evil core, she would have to burn her prenatal Jing. Although he couldn''t be sure of the time it would take, in a matter of years, if not months, she would have burned all her vitality and longevity away. However, Cao Yun knew of no method to duplicate the Drop of Wrath. He could send its intent in Hongyu but without the source of the intent, it would slowly fade away.


    The only definitive solution would be to replace the entirety of the Evil Qi by pure Qi. However, this wasn''t an easy process. Even a Spirit Warrior would have not been able to do such a thing. Cao Yun was not sure even Xiao Xuefeng would be able to do so. Only Cao Yun had such a good control over Evil Qi thanks to the Drop of Wrath. Without it, he was still rather good, and he was getting better. Thus, there was only one solution.


    Cao Yun would have to stay rather close to Hongyu to keep supplying her with the intent of the Drop of Wrath while searching for ways to make it more permanent. At the same time, he would have to keep thinking of ways to get this evil core under control for good. If he could not replace it, maybe he could find a way to seal the Evil Qi. After all, the blood runes he had faced were ways to trap Evil Qi within blood to use it for various things. Maybe he could try to emulate it somehow. This would take some time but Cao Yun had already been working on seals, and what he was thinking about was also a form of seal.


    While they were slowly getting to know each other better, Cao Yun and Hongyu were joined by Elder Ying and Huang Liyue. Elder Ying was currently the fastest demonic beast in the Hongchen Kingdom and Huang Liyue was an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even if Hongyu was indeed fast, she was nowhere near their limit. Following her was very easy for them. In fact, Elder Ying began to match her speed and was flying right beside her. On the other hand, Huang Liyue was flying just above Cao Yun at all times.


    After a bit of time, Hongyu began to copy Elder Ying''s movements. The 9-core demonic beast was teaching her how to fly properly. Since then, she had never once reached such a speed. Thus, she had to adapt her flight. Obviously, she could have learned by practicing. But because she had no parents and because Elder Ying quite liked her, he decided to help her learn faster.


    The group went toward the mountains so that they would not disturb anyone. For a few hours, Cao Yun was able to completely forget about his problems. He was soaring through the sky with Hongyu. They were completely free. Such a sensation was exhilarating. At the top of her speed, Hongyu was even able to break the speed barrier. A sonic boom echoed throughout the mountains. With Elder Ying present, no demonic beast would have dared to complain about it even though a few 6-core demonic beasts were not happy about the disturbance.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    -


    When finally they got back to the stables, Cao Yun and Hongyu were literally moving as one. The two of them were able to anticipate what the other would do or wish. Even Huang Liyue was surprised by their symbiosis. Of course, she had to remember that Cao Yun had kept the egg in his own Wei Qi for almost an entire year.


    "Well, it seems that you found a means of transportation. To be honest, we were not certain whether it would be a good idea to let Hongyu go with you considering her condition. But it looks like this is the opposite. She has to go with you."


    "Indeed..."


    Cao Yun was still stroking Hongyu''s neck. Deep down though, he wasn''t too thrilled about this. Because of him, both her parents had died, so he didn''t want to put her in any more danger. On the other hand, Hongyu clearly wanted to stay with him. And more than that, he would have to stay with her to protect her health. With that in mind, he couldn''t stay in the Huang residence until he found a solution for her. Considering the activity of the demons, war could erupt at any time, the Demon King could also act and the Imperial city as well. Time was not on Cao Yun''s side. Thus, he had to go investigate and he would be forced to take Hongyu with him. Moreover, she would be a great help. It was just that Cao Yun was worried for her.


    Feeling Cao Yun''s concern for Hongyu, Elder Ying was now fully convinced he was worthy of having Hongyu with him. Otherwise, he would have done everything in his power to prevent Hongyu from leaving. Although he was not human, the Huang family really treated him as an elder. After all, he had grown up with Huang Yi.


    After some moments though, Cao Yun was forced to leave Hongyu because Matriarch Huang was free to receive him.


    -


    The Matriarch received Cao Yun as she would have received some important alchemist. Although Guai Mo was a young alchemist, maybe a bit impulsive since he had killed some people with poison, he was still a 1-star Human alchemist which was rather impressive for his age. With the Alchemy Conference on the horizon, it was obvious that such alchemists had to be treated well. Thanks to that treatment, Matriarch Huang was able to consolidate Cao Yun''s secret identity. As soon as he would be out of the Huang residence, Cao Yun would receive several invitations from various families.


    He would politely decline them all except a couple. Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang had invited him as well. Since he needed information for his investigation, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall would be a great ally. On the other hand, getting a bit closer to the Imperial City was also a very good idea. Each governor was chosen by the Imperial City. Thus, Governor Leng had necessarily some influence there and he might even know a few things. This visit would mostly be out of politeness because Cao Yun knew he would not get anything out of Governor Leng. However, he could plant some seeds for the future. Even if he might never use it, it was still some time well spent.


    Matriarch Huang used her own spiritual senses to isolate herself with Cao Yun. She had recovered a bit from her recent failed breakthrough. Although she had not all her strength, she was still more powerful than anyone in Baziyun City and even the entire Wu Province. No one would be able to perceive anything she didn''t want them to. In fact, she would be able to detect anyone who would try to eavesdrop on their conversation. And no one was stupid enough to do that...


    "Matriarch, thank you for the pill you''ve given to Hongyu. You''ve saved her life."


    "No need to thank me. You risked your life to protect her as you did to help Miss Huang Liyue. Besides, our Huang family could not let a fenghuang die. This would be an insult to our progenitor Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng and her True Fiery Fenghuang. Our very blood would have not accepted it. And Elder Ying would have probably resented us as well... But you''re not here to thank me. You''ve come because you want to ask me something."


    "Indeed, Matriarch. I have come across some information that might shed light on what happened to my family. I still need to investigate a few things, but this information has to be verified and shared. Since Sect Leader Xuan formed an alliance with you, I thought you might also send it to him as well."


    Cao Yun revealed most of what he had discovered. He had no real reason to hide anything to Matriarch Huang. He didn''t trust her fully as he knew she would put her own family first. But there was nothing in there that he thought shouldn''t be shared. Then, he came to the point he wanted to confirm.


    "In light of those documents, there''s a possibility that my mother might still be alive. So I wanted you to confirm it. With your spiritual senses, you could easy analyze the content of their tomb to be sure."


    Huang Liyue and Huang Yufeng understood Cao Yun''s desire to imagine that his mother was still alive. However, they had already analyzed each body. Yes, there were some bodies that were difficult to identify. In fact, Cao Yun was almost identified within the victims at some point. Sadly, Cao Shui''s corpse was very clearly hers. She had been beheaded with a single move.


    Matriarch Huang hesitated for an instant but then she resolved herself and asked Huang Liyue to do what had to be done. In Cao Yun''s mind, the images of the corpses laid on the ground were sent. Huang Liyue had been there when the corpses had been retrieved. It took several days to be sure that everything was found. Some parts of the bodies had been devoured, so they couldn''t be retrieved. But everything else was now under Cao Yun''s eyes. He recognized his older brother Cao Sheng, his great-grandfather Cao Beiwen, his parents Cao Guang and Cao Shui as well as many others. More than half of the Cao family members were not recognizable though. That being said, the count was correct. All the people present at Cao Beiwen''s birthday celebration were there except for him.


    He couldn''t recognize them all though, some had even lost their heads and huge chunks of their torsos. However, he forced himself to watch in order to try and find anything that could create a doubt in his mind. In particular, he spent some time on Cao Huiying''s body. She had been slashed in several pieces and a few of them were missing. She had no head, but Cao Yun was almost certain he had recognized her hand. Most injuries had thankfully been post-mortem.


    Of course, this vision took a huge toll on Cao Yun. But this was necessary. Matriarch Huang knew that seeing was believing. If she had not seen her son''s body, she would never have fully believed he was dead. Although she had sensed his death before she had seen him, she only believed he was dead afterward. In fact, it took a few days for her to fully accept it.


    Since they would not dig up the corpses, the next best thing was for Huang Liyue to share her memories with Cao Yun. This was brutal but in the long run, this was the best thing to do for the young man.

 Chapter 374: Fang Shaolong

    Matriarch Huang gave some time to Cao Yun. She knew exactly what he had seen. Although the young man had lived through several hardships, seeing the corpses of his own family was hard. Since he was seeing them through Huang Liyue''s memories, it was as though he had seen them with his own eyes.


    "Thank you for treating them with respect."


    "Of course. Although it was young, the Cao family had still helped our Wu Province a lot. Cao Wen had even given his life for us. After failing to protect them, giving them a proper burial was the right thing to do, and the least thing we could do for them...


    "I imagine that you''re going to the Subei Province, right?"


    "Indeed." Cao Yun was not surprised since Matriarch Huang had the same information he had.


    "Unfortunately, we won''t be able to send anyone to help you. Just like the Wubei Sect, we have too much to do. Thankfully, your mastery over ''Ashen Feather Seal'' is very good. Unless you meet a powerful late Spirit Warrior, no one should be able to see through your disguise. In fact, even late Spirit Warriors might not necessarily be able to do so if they''re not looking out for it.


    "That being said, we have a local branch both in the Sunmen Province and in the Subei Province. In the Sunmen Province, Huang Jian and Miss Huang L¨¹ will probably be too busy fighting off skirmishes with the demons. But in the Subei Province, Miss Huang Si seems to have some venture to take care of."


    Matriarch Huang''s eyes laid on Huang Liyue when she said that. Indeed, Huang Liyue had hidden the real reason of Huang Si''s presence there. Huang Cixi had found out that she was exploring some new mines in the Subei Province. No one had found that out for now. Hiding such a large mine would be increasingly difficult. But they had to make sure that the entire mine belonged to them. And that meant buying off some lands. That was the reason why Huang Si had gone there. Now that she had stopped fighting for the role of matriarch, she was set on fighting for her money.


    Sooner or later she would become the first elder as per her agreement with Huang Cixi. At that moment she intended to be the richest woman in the Hongchen Kingdom. Of course, most of the benefits would go to the Huang family. But as first elder, she would still have a huge control over these funds.


    Huang Liyue was not sure whether Matriarch Huang knew. She was fairly certain she did, but even if she didn''t, at the very least she suspected. However, she would never say anything as she wanted to let the younger generation free. Besides, this was very beneficial to their family. And as long as she did not officially know, she could still lie to the Imperial City without any problem. After all, they would probably not be happy to learn that someone had found such a large mining vein without noticing them. With the war coming, they might even start throwing around accusations of treason. Of course, against the Huang family, they would be useless as it was the most powerful family of the Hongchen Kingdom. Even the Imperial City had to tread carefully with them. It was especially true now that they had a new 8th-grade Spirit Warrior and that Matriarch Huang was considered as a half-step Sage.


    "Those branches are rather small so they probably won''t be of much help, but I will send word to them to treat the alchemist Guai Mo as an esteemed friend of our family. That way, we won''t cause another incident between us."


    Cao Yun and the Matriarch kept talking about minor details on how to organize Cao Yun''s travel. Since he was not a beast tamer, he had many things to take into consideration when it came to Hongyu.


    Then, Huang Liyue spent some time with him to examine his mastery of ''Ashen Feather Seal''. She was intrigued on how he had been able to mimic the effects of ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes''. Indeed, she had created this specifically to be used with the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang. Since she already knew about Cleansed Asura, explaining how he had done it was not such a problem. If she had wanted to steal Cleansed Asura''s legacy from him, she would have done so a long time ago. As they discussed, this gave Huang Liyue more ideas.


    Even now, she felt as though her ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was not finished. And the fact that it required a strong bloodline had always seemed like a flaw to her. Although she did not intend to spread it outside of her own family, there was a requirement on the purity of one''s blood to use it. As such, not everyone in the Huang family could study and master it. But while talking with Cao Yun, she got a few inspirations. And as it turned out, Cao Yun got a few of his own too. It wouldn''t be much, but he might be able to improve his technique even more.


    The part he had a hard time understanding was how to protect one''s soul. ''Covering the Mud with Cinders'' was explaining how to send the ashes everywhere to hide one''s cultivation and presence. But the parts concerning the soul and sea of consciousness were extremely vague. In fact, Huang Liyue was also vague on that. Doing it and explaining it were two separate issues. But now that Cao Yun had really started to work on his soul, and after his encounter with a ghost, he was starting to understand more and more about the subject.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun left the Huang family.


    He first went to Governor Leng. Nothing major happened there. He was briefly received by the Governor. As a 1-star Human alchemist, he wasn''t that important. But he was still precious enough that Governor Leng found a few minutes to talk to him in person. He was extremely polite but Cao Yun could tell that he was never showing his true emotions. This man was truly a politician. But Cao Yun found him a bit less competent than Matriarch Huang. With her, sometimes he couldn''t tell whether she was genuine or not. On the other hand, Governor Leng was not genuine at all. As soon as he had saluted Cao Yun, he wanted to leave.


    Then, Cao Yun went to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Immediately after his entrance, a young woman absolutely charming went toward him. At the very same time, he heard several people leaving the main room to inform others of his presence. Under other circumstances, Cao Yun would have thought that this was some kind of trap. But they were just anxious to inform their master that an alchemist was there.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "Senior Guai, please follow me. We''ve prepared some wine for you, Elusive Peach Wine."


    According to what Cao Yun had read, Elusive Peach Wine was supposed to be Guai Mo''s favorite drink. This wasn''t Cao Yun''s, but it was still a great delicacy. So he would drink with pleasure. Contrary to some wines for cultivators, its effects were nonexistent. But the taste was extremely sweet and favored by many. Moreover, it was rare and incredibly expensive. For mortals though, a glass would probably send them into a profound stupor, or even kill them if it was too concentrated.


    When Cao Yun entered the room the charming lady lead him into, he was welcomed by two more girls who were pouring the delicious Elusive Peach Wine into his cup. Assuming his role, Cao Yun did not say a thing and sat in front of the cup. Guai Mo was known to be a bit arrogant and impulsive. But he was reasonable nonetheless. In other words, he was a young genius. In fact, he was probably more tamed than other young geniuses.


    Taking the cup, Cao Yun smelled the fragrance and smiled as he drank.


    "Excellent!"


    From his spatial ring, he took out three taels of gold and gave them to each of the young women. For some mortals, this was literally what they could earn in a month. Of course, those women were serving the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall so they were not poor. But it was still two weeks of income for them, in a single day. Of course, they were extremely pleased and they would be grateful to Hall Master Fang for choosing them. They had been afraid to welcome a young alchemist. After all, alchemists had a lot of influence and authority in the Hongchen Kingdom. But this Guai Mo didn''t seem so bad.


    "How long will your Hall Master be? I have important things to do."


    Cao Yun''s tone was very different from his usual demeanor. He was not insulting but he talked with arrogance. To Sun Liao''s dismay, if he were to meet him, Cao Yun was imitating his demeanor when he had first met him in the entrance examination of the Wubei Sect. Sun Liao had not been a bad guy then, but he was way too conceited.


    "I''m sorry if the wait is too long for you, Senior. But we might be able to entertain you in the meantime."


    "I do not require entertainment! Do not waste my time. I''m sure your Hall Master knew I was coming at least an hour ago. Tell him that if he''s trying my patience, I can go do business with another Major Hall. I do not intend to stay in the Wu Province very long."


    As Hall Master, Fang Shaolong obviously received commissions on every transaction in his Major Hall. Besides, it was also a way to be promoted. Well, Fang Shaolong did not care about being promoted any higher since he wanted to stay in Baziyun City. However, he wanted to keep his current function.


    As Cao Yun was feigning impatience, a man entered the room. He was Ye Zhiyun. Because Cao Yun had never met him, he did not recognize him at all. Ye Zhiyun would have recognized Cao Yun as Chen Guo. However, he did not recognize Guai Mo at all either. As soon as he entered the room, the three women retreated respectfully.


    "You''re not the Hall Master. Who are you?"


    "I am sorry, Senior. Hall Master does indeed know that you are here. But he is currently busy with a most important task. Believe me when I say that he is absolutely mortified not to be able to receive you. If the wait is too unbearable, I might be able to manage whatever business you would have with us. But if Senior finds me too incompetent, I would urge him to wait for our Hall Master."


    "Humph. Fine, I''ll wait a bit for my matters. I will only speak to the Hall Master about those. However, you might still be helpful. You look like you have half a brain..." Maybe Cao Yun was doing a bit too much. He was still trying to find his character from what he had read. Maybe he would make him evolve over time. After all, he didn''t want to cause trouble everywhere he went.


    "Forgive my impatience. The last couple of years have been really trying..."


    "For us all, Senior. As an esteemed alchemist, I imagine that you''ve had a lot of work helping out all the wounded."


    Guai Mo had indeed sold his services to the wounded. Although he had increased the prices a bit, he had not gone overboard like a few alchemists. In fact, the Imperial City had even been forced to impose some restriction on what alchemist could bill to people to make sure that they would sincerely help the Hongchen Kingdom and not use the situation to get rich. After all, alchemists were already rich. Fortunately though, most alchemists had stayed reasonable. After witnessing all the destruction and suffering, their solidarity for mankind had taken over their thoughts about profit.


    From Cao Yun''s spatial ring, two 4-demonic cores appeared.


    "I need you to buy those from me. And no need to auction them off. I''ll just take the money straight away. Sadly, I don''t have time to stay in this city for long."


    Auctioning off demonic cores would clearly increase their price. By buying them at the market price, the Major Hall would make a lot of profit. This was a great transaction for them.


    "Thank you, Senior. This is a very gracious offer. I''ll get the money for you right away."


    Ye Zhiyun left the room in a hurry. Guai Mo was clearly an impatient man but he wasn''t a bad guy. Ye Zhiyun was used to insufferable nobles and this man was not one of them. Considering his talent as an alchemist, it was understandable that he was a bit arrogant. But Ye Zhiyun had seen hope for him yet. Hopefully he would turn out to be level-headed when he would get older.


    As Cao Yun was waiting for Ye Zhiyun, he could sense Fang Shaolong''s presence. A 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior was observing him from another room. Of course, he was none other than the Hall Master. However, Cao Yun did not reveal his presence at all. To the contrary, he acted as though Fang Shaolong was absolutely invisible. At the same time, he was also observing him. Fang Shaolong was truly trying to pierce through him. For a moment there, Cao Yun was afraid he had seen through his disguise. In itself, it wouldn''t be such a problem. But if a mere early Mortal Warrior was able to do so, his plans would be in danger.


    Ye Zhiyun really hurried and quickly brought the money to Cao Yun. In his hand, he had a small bag.


    "Senior, please count. My estimation for your 4-demonic cores is 106 taels and 357 coins."


    In the bag, Cao Yun immediately saw three strings of a hundred coins as well as fifty-seven other coins. Then, there were two Yuanbao and 6 ingots of gold.


    "For your service."


    A hundred ingots flew out of the bag and they immediately entered Cao Yun''s spatial ring. Then, the bag with all the coins and six ingots went back to Ye Zhiyun.


    "Thank you, Senior."


    "How long will your Hall Master be?"


    As he asked the question, Fang Shaolong finally appeared.


    "Excuse me, Senior."


    The plump and short man entered the room. He was bowing and was unimpressive but Cao Yun could still feel an aura around him. After entering a room, everyone would notice his presence. Although his cultivation was lacking for his position, he had the charisma for it, that was for certain. But Cao Yun could also sense something else, something oddly familiar.

 Chapter 375: Maternal uncle

    Cao Yun was able to sense a very familiar aura. And when he inspected the man closer, he soon understood what it was. Everything came from his eyes. They were deep and looked way older than he was. In those eyes, Cao Yun was able to sense a great sorrow and a powerful rage combined. He knew what those meant better than most.


    "Senior Guai, I am sorry to have kept you waiting. As Hall Master, I have so many matters to attend to. Of course, as soon as I heard about your arrival, I did everything I could to come as soon as possible. I hope that my subordinates have treated you well..."


    "Of course. They did a good enough job. But they couldn''t replace you for the matters that truly interest me. I would talk with you alone if possible."


    Cao Yun did not even look at Ye Zhiyun. It was as though the young man was not even in the room. For Guai Mo, such a man was insignificant. In fact, Hall Master Fang was only worthy of Guai Mo''s time because he was a representative of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Otherwise, Fang Shaolong was just a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior and was older than him by a couple of decades. This wasn''t too bad for a cultivator but it wasn''t very good either.


    In Cao Yun''s mind, many things were coming together. This man had the same age the boy who had helped his mother should have. In fact, he also somewhat looked like his mother on certain tiny aspects. Almost no one would have noticed as his physique was rather different. But Cao Yun could tell that there was something in his mannerism and in his way of speaking. Although it wasn''t obvious, it was still there. However, Cao Yun could also tell that he was trying to hide it as much as possible which made it paradoxically more apparent to someone who was looking for it.


    Of course, Cao Yun could not be sure of what he was thinking. Thus, he could not just ask straight away whether he knew Cao Shui. But this was the only question he had in mind now. From Huang Liyue, he had heard that this Fang Shaolong had also intrigued Huang Cixi because of his past. Indeed, Fang Shaolong had no past at all prior to his arrival in Baziyun City.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had other questions to ask him as he wasn''t ready to ask this one yet.


    "Hall Master, I intend to participate in the Alchemy Conference."


    "And I am sure that you will fare very well from what I''ve heard about you. However I am sorry. Our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall has already chosen a candidate and we cannot interfere with Governor Leng''s decision in that matter."


    "Do not worry about those things. I have no intention to enter as the Wu Province''s candidate. In fact, I am soon going to the Subei Province for personnel reasons. And I hope to use my time there in order to develop my alchemy and be chosen as the next candidate. Thus, I''d like to buy whatever you know about the Subei Province, the great families there, the officials, anything weird that I should be wary of, especially with those demonic cultivators and the demons at the border. Besides, I am particularly interested in the alchemists there. A friend of mine told me that some Spirit Warrior alchemist might even be there."


    "Senior, our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall cannot sell information so freely. Of course, we could reveal some known information. But I am afraid that it wouldn''t be as good as what the Huang family or Governor Leng can do."


    Cao Yu chuckled a bit. From his spatial ring, a card appeared. It was black with four cherry petals on it. In Yinmen City, Cao Yun had received a similar card but this one had come from Xiao Xuefeng herself. Using her contacts in the Main Hall, she had obtained this card. In simple terms, this was proof that Cao Yun was a good and trusted patron of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.


    Although the Hall was known to also deal in information, they would not sell it to just anyone. And the more the customer was trusted by the Hall, the more he could know and buy.


    Fang Shaolong was surprised by this card as this was almost the highest level of trust from the Hall to an individual. This meant that this young man could definitely buy anything he wanted in the Major Hall. As such, Fang Shaolong had no reason to hide anything from him.


    "Forgive me, esteemed client, I didn''t know of your status."


    "I don''t like to flaunt too much."


    Everything he had seen and heard about Guai Mo was contrary to what he just said but Fang Shaolong did not point it out.


    "However, what you asked for will require a bit of time. And I''m worried about the price as well..."


    Interrupting him, Cao Yun activated his spatial ring once more. This time, a Yuanbao came out of it. This was a small boat made out of gold. Such a statue was worth fifty taels of gold. Many mortals would need to work at least five years to earn a Yuanbao. Of course, by subtracting their spending, they would need somewhere between ten to twenty years to get that amount of money. For a powerful cultivator, this time was not very long, but for a mortal, this was a substantial fraction of their life.


    For Fang Shaolong, this wasn''t necessarily a lot of money, but it proved that Cao Yun truly had the ability to buy the information he was after. In his spatial ring, Cao Yun had the equivalent of ten Yuanbao given to him by Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng. As an alchemist, Xiao Xuefeng was extremely wealthy and obviously, a sect leader was filthy rich as well.


    Considering that Cao Yun''s cover was the one of an alchemist, he had to own some wealth too. Besides, alchemists had received a lot of work recently with the stampede. And the manner in which Cao Yun was taking out such a large sum of money as though it was nothing added to his character. He truly was behaving like an arrogant brat, like a nouveau riche. Fang Shaolong was used to deal with those kinds of characters. But he was acting differently today as though he was trying to figure out something about this Guai Mo.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Both men were in fact gauging each other.


    "If you just give me a few hours, I will compile everything we know about the Subei Province. And I can guarantee you that our information is always accurate. We do not claim to know everything, but what we know is certain or we wouldn''t sell it to anyone."


    "While your subordinates prepare that, I''d like to talk to you for a bit if it''s fine."


    "Of course, esteemed guest. Ye Zhiyun is very competent, he''ll be able to handle the work without any problem at all."


    "Good."


    Fang Shaolong gave orders to Ye Zhiyun who immediately got to work. Although Cao Yun had shown a 4-petal card, that didn''t give him access to everything. A 4-petal cards was almost the highest level for a patron, five petals being the limit. For example, Xiao Xuefeng had a 5-petal card. However, there were also cards for organizations and for personnel of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall as well. The highest card was the 8-petal cards. Only the Myriad Master, the one who was behind the entire Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, could issue this card to anyone. To this day, the only other man who had one was Emperor Weide.


    Each card had benefits and privileges attached to it. The first levels were given to customers and only gave them privileges when it came to buying, selling and participating in the auctions. At the 4-petal cards, the Hall recognized the individual as an important patron. As such, this gave the individual access to rare resources and important information no one else could buy. With a 5-petal card, Xiao Xuefeng was recognized as an essential part of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. She was treated as royalty by anyone who valued their position in the Hall.


    Then, the higher cards were giving privileges within the institution itself and were mostly reserved to powerful families, influential organizations and of course the members of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall itself.


    While Ye Zhiyun was compiling the information asked, he made sure to check what was the degree of certainty as well as the importance of the information. Even a 4-petal card did not give access to everything. He was also evaluating the price of the information he was handling. This was a very difficult task to give a fair price on something that was so immaterial but Ye Zhiyun was very gifted and Fang Shaolong trusted him fully on this kind of task. Even though he was still feeling betrayed by the young man, he was forced to admit that his work was always impeccable.


    -


    At the same time, Cao Yun and Fang Shaolong were discussing various things. Slowly, Cao Yun was trying to veer the conversation toward Baziyun City. Of course, Fang Shaolong saw that but he wanted to see where his guest was going with this.


    "The demonic beasts stampede seems to have left some stigmata behind. However, the Huang family and Governor Leng both told me that the damage had been mostly dealt with."


    "Indeed, esteemed guest. Unfortunately, or not, we do not require the services of such a great alchemist right now."


    "Do not flatter me too much. I''m still only a 1-star Human alchemist."


    "Given your age and what you''ve already accomplished, I am certain that you will distinguish yourself in the upcoming Alchemy Conference. Before long you''ll be a pillar of alchemy in our kingdom. I am certain of that."


    "Well, flattery is not displeasing. But I do not need it to show my worth to everyone else. I am aware of my own talent. And although your words may not be entirely sincere, I will prove you right nonetheless. But I was speaking with various people and I heard that your city had also met with disaster even before the stampede. I heard about this Cao family. They were slaughtered by some demonic cultivators as I heard..."


    "Indeed, it happened a few years ago. Everyone was massacred. This was a true disaster. After all, that family had a good reputation. Some believed that with time it would surpass the Huang family. In fact, there were some baseless rumors stating that the Huang family had had a hand in that carnage."


    "Did you know the Cao family?"


    "Not that much, no. But everything I heard about them was very flattering."


    "And what about Cao Guang? I heard that he was on the brink of breaking through to Spirit Warrior at 45, that''s impressive."


    "Indeed, nothing for you to feel envious about though. I only saw him in passing. But he was a true hero of mankind. I wonder though. Why are you interested in what happened to the Cao family?"


    "Well, I happened to learn of something recently and it seems awfully similar to what transpired here."


    "Oh? Do tell."


    As they were speaking, each man was evaluating the other. And slowly, tension was building up between them. In fact, Cao Yun was ready to take out his weapon at any moment. His intent was focused on his spatial ring just in case. Fang Shaolong was not any less stressed. Both of them knew more or less where this conversation was going. But they didn''t know the intent of the other one and they didn''t know how far the other one was willing to go.


    "Recently, I''ve heard that a family named Shui had met the same fate. But apparently, two young kids had survived. I wonder whether your Hall would be able to confirm that or not."


    For a split second, Cao Yun saw raw rage in Fang Shaolong''s eyes.


    "If you want to buy that information, we can check once Ye Zhiyun is back. Unfortunately, I do not know either."


    "I see. Too bad..."


    "But tell me, why would you care so much about the Cao family and this Cao Shui?"


    "Well, why would you care so much about people going to their tomb?"


    When he had entered the city, Cao Yun had immediately gone to the tomb of his family. Despite the emotions, he had clearly noticed that someone was observing him. And Huang Liyue had confirmed that that someone was reporting directly to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Now that Fang Shaolong was controlled by Huang Cixi, he couldn''t hide anything at all. From that moment, Cao Yun had been in doubts. There were several possibilities. But after seeing Fang Shaolong, he was almost certain of himself. His eyes were slightly different but he had recognized something more than emotions in them. The aura he had felt right away was clear in his mind.


    For just an instant, Cao Yun let go of his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. He controlled it perfectly so that only his eyes would appear clear. For someone like Fang Shaolong, just a glimpse was enough. In that moment, he saw Cao Yun''s eyes and jumped from his seat.


    "I brought Blue Cedarwood because it was Cao Huiying''s favorite scent, but Cao Shui also loved it."


    "You... You''re..."


    Seeing Fang Shaolong''s emotion, Cao Yun knew he was right. However, Fang Shaolong calmed himself very fast.


    "We shouldn''t talk here... Come with me!"


    Hall Master Fang lead Cao Yun in another chamber that was beneath the Major Hall. In there, Cao Yun could tell that the walls were lined with Void Nurtured Platinum as well as several isolating array formations. Apart from Matriarch Huang, no one could pierce through this chamber. Even Matriarch Huang would only be able to perceive a tiny bit of what was going on inside, and only if she used all of her spiritual senses focused on this single point.


    For all intents and purposes, Cao Yun and Fang Shaolong were completely isolated from the outside world.

 Chapter 376: The Shui family

    "Are you insane?!"


    As Cao Yun had been following Fang Shaolong, Dian Mo''s voice kept on reverberating in his mind.


    "I know what I''m doing."


    "If you die, I die! You know nothing about this man! Are you really going to trust him with your identity?! He might just sell it!"


    "Although the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall is hiding my identity, this is thanks to Xiao Xuefeng''s relation with some of the higher-ups. I would not just trust anyone within the organization, especially not in a local branch which has no connection with either me or Xiao Xuefeng. But this man is special. When I came in here, I still wasn''t absolutely sure. But after seeing his eyes, I am sure of what I do."


    "Anyway, I can''t stop you... But what if you''re wrong? No one will be able to come and save you!"


    In Dian Mo''s tone, Cao Yun could hear true terror. Clearly, his long sojourn in the Demon Palace had truly traumatized him. He was fearful of the world outside.


    "Do not worry. I still have the Soul Barrier Protection of Sect Leader Xuan. Not even the Emperor himself could kill me easily. I already took everything into consideration. And if worse comes to worst, you should be able to help me deal with the array formations around us, right?"


    "So you would count on me once again...?"


    "You just told me that if I die, you die. So if my life is really threatened, you''d better know how to escape those array formations. But do not worry too much, I''m not insane at all and I know precisely what I''m doing and, more than that, I know precisely who I''m talking to right now."


    Still pissed off, Dian Mo kept quiet and began to analyze everything he could see through Cao Yun''s eyes. Having his survival entirely in the hands of a human was not pleasant at all. However, in Cao Yun''s voice, he had found a great confidence. By giving Dian Mo some goal, Cao Yun was also giving him more power over the situation. At least, Dian Mo felt like that and this helped calm him down. Now, he wasn''t powerless. He might be able to do something. After all, he was an expert in array formations. Besides, Cao Yun would not blindly go to his death and he wasn''t stupid. Even in the Wolf Head Sect''s tunnels, he had been careful against the ghost of Lang Shou. To calm himself, Dian Mo focused on the array formations around the young man. The room they were in was almost as isolated as the rooms of the Huang family. Apart from a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior using her spiritual senses to make it absolute, the isolation was the highest the Major Hall could achieve.


    It wasn''t rare for the Major Hall to have secret deals. So it wasn''t surprising at all for them to have such places. After all, they couldn''t just borrow a room from the Governor or from Matriarch Huang. Besides, they were the richest private organization in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Not every hall had such places but every Major Hall had. Those were the halls present in almost every capital of the provinces.


    Fang Shaolong had activated everything he could and he was alone with Cao Yun. When they had been walking, Cao Yun had felt the presence of a couple of Spirit Warriors. Although he couldn''t be entirely sure, he was convinced that they were both middle Spirit Warriors. Fang Shaolong was weaker than he was and he was not threatened by him at all. And Cao Yun had even prepared a plan to exit the Major Hall, just in case. With his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he could easily hide from those middle Spirit Warriors and disappear back into the Huang estate. But he was certain that this wouldn''t be necessary because he was convinced that the man in front of him was who he thought he was. After seeing his eyes, he had been convinced.


    The Hall Master''s countenance had changed. Although he was rather small and plump, he was always very elegant without flaunting his wealth. All around him, there was a special aura, a profound presence. Even with a weak cultivation for his position, he was respected by all. But in this room, faced with Cao Yun, he was shocked and maybe even a bit timid and uncertain.


    "Are you really...?"


    His words were very faint and a mere mortal would not have been able to hear him even while standing next to him. It was almost as though he was talking to himself.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun was full of confidence. He had let go of the affected arrogance Guai Mo had to have at all times. This facade was not necessary. At that moment, Cao Yun let go of all facade. Even his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was completely abandoned. Inside his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was tense because he now knew about the Cao family and he didn''t want Cao Yun to be found out and killed by those who had slaughtered his family. The main reason was because Cao Yun''s death would mean his as well. But he was forced to admit that he had grown attached to the boy as well. Losing him in such a stupid manner would be too bad. Even after taking over his body, Dian Mo intended to keep him as a pet to entertain himself. But could he really take over?


    "I am Cao Yun, Cao Shui''s son."


    Finally seeing Cao Yun without any technique to hide his presence, Fang Shaolong had no need for any kind of proof. He immediately recognized him. At that very moment, his eyes swelled up with tears. Beneath him, his legs were shaking.


    "I thought she was completely...I thought that no one had survived... Although we never found your body, I had just assumed... I swear I tried to look everywhere. I used all the resources of my Major Hall. Hell, I even stole from the Huang family to expand my researches but I found nothing at all... I was certain that my sister and her children were all dead, that fate had decided to torture us once more."


    Fang Shaolong''s words were difficult to understand as he was full of emotion.


    "Then I was right... You are my uncle."


    "Of course, of course. You wouldn''t have known."


    Despite the emotion, Fang Shaolong was able to regain a semblance of composure.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Yes, I am your uncle. Cao Shui was my sister. And I am also the one who made sure that the story of the Shui family was leaked. Last year, I saw Blue Cedarwood incense on the tomb of my sister. It''s not a common incense and this was her favorite. So of course, I immediately imagined that someone who knew her had come to visit her. I didn''t dare to imagine that... well, I hoped but I didn''t want to have hopes... Not after everything."


    Even though Cao Yun believed every single word of Fang Shaolong, he didn''t know how to react. He should have been elated to finally see another member of his family alive, no matter how distant. But he had never met this uncle of his. Worse, he had not even known about his existence a few months ago. After reading the documents of Lang Shou, he had a suspicion that the young boy who had escaped the Shui massacre with his mother was indeed his uncle. But that boy could have been anyone else from the family, even just a servant.


    There was not as much emotion in him as what Cao Yun would have thought. This man in front of him was still a stranger, no matter how much he really believed him. And he did believe him. He could see something in his eyes. As soon as he had seen him, he knew that he was related to his mother. This glint, he had been able to see it in his younger sister too and a bit in his older brother.


    "I imagine that this is sudden to you. After what happened to the Shui family, your mother and I had decided to keep it a secret. Only Cao Guang and Cao Beiwen knew of my sister''s story and of my existence. I imagine that you don''t remember but when you were born, I''ve seen you. And I''ve kept tabs on you and your siblings."


    As Cao Guang often went to hunt, he also frequented the Major Hall a lot. Indeed, Cao Yun had almost forgotten but the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had sent representatives within the Cao family several times. Although he couldn''t remember because he had not cared at the time, Fang Shaolong had maybe been among them. Thinking back to this period of happiness and blessed naivete, Cao Yun''s emotions were slowly beginning to rise within him.


    "Hall Mas..."


    Cao Yun stopped himself and forced himself to pronounce a word that felt very strange to his ears.


    "Uncle, can you tell me what happened to the Shui family? And what do you know about the night of the massacre in Baziyun City?"


    "Unfortunately, I know very little about what has transpired in Baziyun City. But I suspect that this was done by the same culprits who have annihilated my parents and my relatives."


    This time, there was rage in Fang Shaolong''s eyes.


    "To this day I still don''t know what they were after but I am now sure of something, the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards was behind both massacres."


    Such an accusation was serious. For many people in the Hongchen Kingdom, this would just be absurd to imagine that the elite force of the Emperor would slaughter an entire family, not once but twice. However, Cao Yun was not disturbed at all. In his eyes, Fang Shaolong saw that he was aware that this was a possibility. Thus, he kept talking.


    "When the Shui family was slaughtered, I was only seven and my sister five. Without the help of our parents, we would have died as well. Out of the blue, our family was attacked by many men clad in black. Their leader had a sword with a bloody red blade, it seemed to always be covered in blood that shined under the moon. At the time, as an impressionable young boy, I had been convinced that he was a demonic cultivator."


    That description was exactly what Cao Yun had seen. This man with the bloody sword was the one who had killed Cao Beiwen. Apart from him, only a handful of people had heard about this man. There was no way for Fang Shaolong to invent it.


    "Our family was just too small and weak. Our patriarch was only a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior and he was more than 300 years old. He would never had been able to contend with the force that attacked us. At first, he tried to reason but the man killed him right away and ordered his men to kill all the adults and all the boys. All our parents tried to fight but it was useless. I''ll be honest, I don''t know what my mother did exactly. She had some kind of pendant that she used. By putting it around her neck, we were able to disappear completely and we ran away as fast as we could. The next thing I remember is that we were lost in the wild. We were not going to survive alone. Thankfully, we were able to find Baziyun City and Cao Wen took us in.


    "For some reason, I trusted him. I had no alternative anyway... After hearing our story, he warned his own father and they protected us. In order to keep our identity a secret, I''ve left the Cao family almost immediately to join the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall."


    So Cao Yun''s father, grandfather and great-grandfather all knew about this story...


    "For decades, I''ve dedicated my life to finding who had attacked us and why. Although the latter eluded me, even to this day, the former has already been answered. Thanks to the network of the Myriad Cherry Blossom, I am absolutely certain that the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards was indeed behind the attack. And when the Cao family was slaughtered as well, the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards was responsible too. They were just too quick to come here.


    "In less than a month, they were already here and they took over the investigation. Then, in less than a day, they had found the ''culprit'' and went to exterminate the Wolf Head Sect. They claimed that the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards had been close and when they had heard about the disaster, they had decided to help out. But everything had been planned beforehand. After studying the reports, the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards had no reason to be the one chosen for the task that brought them close to Baziyun City. This was just a cover-up to justify their presence. I imagine that after letting us escape from the Shui family, they have become more careful."


    Now that Cao Yun had a bigger picture of what had happened, he decided to also share what he knew thanks to Lang Shou''s reports.


    -


    "That is what I feared. My sister had always been the target... But why? We were just a small family without any significance! Besides, during the Cao massacre, they just killed her and left her body behind. I''ve made sure that her body was the real deal, and sadly, this is really her. My sister is truly dead. And I still don''t know why..."


    Fang Shaolong took his time to calm himself. On the other side of the room, Cao Yun was slowly being affected by all this reminiscence. Moreover, now that Fang Shaolong was not hiding behind a professional front, Cao Yun could see and hear his own mother in him. He was moving like her and talking like her at many moments. His words, his enunciation, his mannerism, they were all slightly different and yet almost identical to his mother''s. The more he was talking with him, the more emotional he was becoming.


    "Uncle, I swore to find whoever had killed my family and bring them to justice. Even if the Emperor himself is behind this, I swear to you that he will pay."


    Although the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards was under the direct orders of the Imperial City, Emperor Weide had not appeared in public for seventy years now. There was still a possibility that someone else was controlling the Imperial City and the guards.


    "I know that you''re powerful, but..."


    "I am also Chen Guo."


    Suddenly, Fang Shaolong was bewildered. Even now, he had not realized that his nephew was the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect. This changed everything.


    "I see... Great! Great!"


    "I came here to learn more about the Subei Province because I suspect demonic cultivators of being there. And I am certain that they have the key to this conspiracy. They have to know why our family was targeted, what is so damn important that so many of our lives had to be sacrificed. I swore to myself and I swear to you now that I will find out the truth, no matter how long it takes me and no matter how difficult it is. Everyone who was responsible for those crimes will pay!"

 Chapter 377: Fang Shaolongs allegiance

    "Cao Yun, I know exactly how you feel as it happened to me too. And just like you, I swore to myself that I would find the culprits and that justice would be done. However, I can see in your eyes that you have more resolution than I had back then. And you have much more strength as well. Even after forty years, I still know close to nothing. I''ve not only failed to find the culprits, I let them strike again. I spent most of my life climbing to the top of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to amass more power and influence. And it brought nothing!"


    As Cao Yun was seeing the desperation and the frustration in Fang Shaolong''s eyes, he could physically feel how much he had held his sister dear. Although Fang Shaolong had felt like a stranger at first, he was almost seeing his own mother in him now. And seeing him like that was just too painful.


    "Uncle, I was lucky to meet powerful allies. Even though I was young, I was still twice your age and I was raised to know how to fight. Please, I thought I would never find anyone related to me by blood any longer. Let''s not turn what should be a warm reunion into such a sad moment."


    "You''re right. You''re right... Let me look at you."


    Fang Shaolong was a bit smaller than Cao Yun. He got very close to him and observed him intently. As an early Mortal Warrior, he even used his Qi to probe his body and get a good look at his cultivation.


    "You''re even more powerful than the reports I''ve read. And you''re my sister''s son. She would have been so proud of you as I''m sure she was already before all that happened. I''d really like to introduce you to my wife but you should keep your identity a secret as much as you can. Who knows?"


    "Sect Leader Xuan, Spirit Master Xiao, Matriarch Huang and Miss Huang Liyue know for sure."


    When he heard about the Huang family, Fang Shaolong''s face became somber.


    "I see... The Huang family is dangerous. Although they are virtuous, you should never forget that no one becomes or stays as powerful as they are by being nice. The Matriarch would do anything to protect her family and make sure to keep her influence. Of course, they have a bottom line and they would never resort to such vile massacres. However, you should not trust her words too easily. If she wants to help you, it is certainly because of some ploy she has against the Imperial City.


    "I''ve met the future matriarch myself, Huang Cixi. That girl is impressive. When you meet her, it feels as though she sees right through you. She didn''t stay in town long and yet she had uncovered almost everything about me. As much as I fear the little girl, I do think that she might be able to pull off what I couldn''t do. It is obvious in her eyes that she has lofty ambitions. If I was brazen, I would say that she intends to replace the Emperor himself. Despite how dangerous she is and how terrified of her I am, I think that she might be able to do so.


    "And I feel like I should follow her. Well, to be honest, I don''t really have a choice right now. She could destroy me if she wanted to."


    That name, Huang Cixi, seemed to follow Cao Yun. His fate had become entangled with hers when he had met and killed her brothers. Since then, it felt as though her shadow had been there without him even knowing about it. Even now, she had gotten close to his own family before he had. And she seemed to want the same thing he was after. Although Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether the Emperor was directly responsible, he was the ruler of the Imperial City. Either through his orders, his disregard or his incompetence, he had let all of that happen. Cao Yun had a hard time imagining that a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior would not be able to stop his own armies from slaughtering innocent families.


    There were other possibilities though. Maybe he had truly been usurped or even killed. Anyway, Cao Yun had even more reasons to want to be chosen for the Alchemy Conference. But that Huang Cixi was a variable he could not account for. Considering how his uncle was talking about her, she seemed to be both prodigious and incredibly dangerous.


    "Nephew, I''ve made up my mind! Your determination to bring the culprits to justice is admirable. I cannot go with you, and to be honest, you''re way above me now. However, I can help you with everything I''ve got. Ask anything of my Major Hall and you shall have it. And I will also serve Huang Cixi. If she can take over the Hongchen Kingdom, we will have what we want. Maybe I can even get some information for you or even just influence her a little. If there is a possibility for you two to work together, you might do what I''ve been unable to accomplish all my life."


    "I understand... But you should know what I did in Yinmen City, right?"


    "Of course, I do. But Huang Cixi has already forgiven this. She has admitted that her brothers were in the wrong. Obviously, she might still not like working with you, but I know that she won''t be your enemy for this. In fact, I am certain that if she had wanted to kill you, you would be dead already. Do not ask me how, but I am certain that she could have killed you and she didn''t. You do not realize who this little girl is. She might even be more dangerous than the cunning Matriarch Huang Yufeng. And that''s saying a lot."


    As soon as he spoke about Huang Yufeng, Fang Shaolong still paused and looked around. Although they were isolated, he was still afraid that that half-step Sage could hear them. He felt like he had misspoken. But being with his nephew had disturbed his usual composure.


    The two of them decided to talk some more.


    -


    After a few hours, they finally left. Ye Zhiyun had prepared all the documents about the Subei Province, and the Sunmen Province. Fang Shaolong let Cao Yun, who had reverted back to his Guai Mo persona, read them in peace.


    Apparently, the Sunmen Province which was the homeland of Long Jian and Long Huafang was under more and more pressure from the demons. Even before the stampede, there had been an intensification of the raids. For now, the defenses had been able to protect the Hongchen Kingdom, but many soldiers had already given their life in the conflict. With the rise of this new demon force on the other side of the border, the situation was critical. Moreover, the demons were focusing their strength on the Sunmen Province. It was the only one which suffered as many attacks.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    There were still some isolated incidents here and there, especially to keep the entire army from mobilizing at the Sunmen Province''s border. But the brunt of the attack was on that specific border. Indeed the Nine Peaks was forming a natural border on the north, all the way to the Wubei Sect. To the south, there was a huge desert that was mostly empty. And to the west of those provinces, there was a large river very difficult to cross. The best place to cross that river was the Sunmen Province.


    Reports concerning the demons were rare and Guai Mo, even with his 4-petal card, would not have access to those. However, Fang Shaolong had. Thus, Cao Yun would later receive them. A powerful demon was slowly unifying several kingdoms in bloody internal wars. Many demons had already died by his own hands and in the strife he had caused. But in the end, he had been successful in his campaign. He had given himself the title of Empyrean Asura and his new unified kingdom was the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. It existed with the sole purpose of exterminating mankind.


    This theocracy believed that they could bring forth the return of Demon God Da Mo by dying the Piaolu planet red with the blood of all humans. This Empyrean Asura was really a terrible news for the Hongchen Kingdom. One of the strengths of the humans was their unity against many isolated warring demon kingdoms. If demons were unified, humans would be in extreme danger especially in the Forsaken Dao Era. No one could transcend the Spirit Warrior realm. Having a Sage would clearly tip the balance of the war, even if only one would not bring that many advantages...


    Besides, this Empyrean Asura Theocracy was absolutely impossible to reason with. Against demons, it was usually possible to negotiate. After all, humans had drafted several peace treaties during the Seven Treaties Era. The name was not literal. It came from the fact that there were seven treaties that were fundamental but many more had been signed over time. Demons were not evil by nature. Contrary to humans, they were more emotional, more volatile and, yes, more violent. But it didn''t mean that they were all bloodthirsty monsters. Demon God Da Mo had been like that, literally making tapestry with the skin of human slaves.


    Thankfully, other demons were more receptive to negotiations, especially when humans had just killed their living god. But with time, several kingdoms had slowly reverted back to their more primitive and violent ways. After all, they were more violent than humans. With the Forsaken Dao Era tensing everyone, some demons had decided that this aggression was best turned against humans rather than fellow demons. Moreover, many had started to claim that this Forsaken Dao Era was a punishment because they had not avenged Demon God Da Mo.


    Unfortunately, the reports on the demon side were very few. In fact, almost nothing was known of the kingdoms beyond those directly bordering the Hongchen Kingdom. The Piaolu planet was way bigger than that and those kingdoms were completely unknown. There were many demons, way more than there were humans. And only a fraction of those demons lived in the kingdoms bordering the Hongchen Kingdom. Nothing was known of the other ones.


    Cao Yun went to the reports on the Sunmen Province. They were mostly war reports. Governor Long Cheng, Long Jian''s father, was also the greatest general of the province, the Silver Wolf General. He often went to battle himself. And his son, since his return from the Wubei Sect, was following in his steps. Father and son were extremely powerful. General Long was also a governor. That meant that he was linked with the Imperial City. This province was special though. Because of the perpetual battles, the Imperial City had chosen a military governor while all the other provinces were governed by civil officials. In fact, Governor Long wanted to be called General Long most of the times. He was not interested in politics at all. His only goal was to protect his province. Cao Yun found him a bit naive for that. But that might show that he was a good man.


    Then, he read about the Subei Province, directly to the south of the Sunmen Province. This was where Yun Ping had been born and raised. His dad, General Yun was a powerful soldier as well. But the Subei Province was rather preserved as the demons were targeting the north. Of course, there were still some battles now and then so that humans were forced to keep their army mobilized everywhere, just in case. This general also had a very good reputation, but he was less powerful and famous than General Long.


    In the Subei Province, there were two main families, the Yun family and the Xue family. He immediately remembered the Xue name. The young master of the Xue family was Xue Rui, a man who had been annoying Zhong Ling for quite some time in the Wubei Sect. He had a high status because his older brother was in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, Xue Gulin. That family had a somewhat bad reputation but they were very influential and were helping against the demons. As long as they didn''t go overboard, they were tolerated.


    The two families were also fighting about the upcoming Alchemy Conference because they could send only one alchemist for the entire Subei Province. As such, Governor Jiahe was trying to make them compete in harmony. Unlike General Long, he was a true politician. He didn''t want either family to be too strong but he still wanted them to be strong enough to be useful. The best thing was to make them compete with each other without violence so that the governor would always keep his power and influence over them as a mitigating force.


    The entire Subei Province would soon organize an alchemy battle to determine the best suited alchemist. The victor would be chosen as the representative of the province to the Alchemy Conference. Of course, one of the two families would surely get this spot. But this was also a good way to showcase one''s talent to the entire province and maybe even gain a bit of recognition from the Governor and the Imperial City through him.


    There were other things in the report. But he found nothing about Gu Song. In fact, there was absolutely nothing on any demonic cultivator activity. However, there was something that attracted Cao Yun''s attention. Many mortals had disappeared. In itself, it wasn''t that strange. After all, the exact number of victims of the stampede was still unknown and the east of the Subei Province had been hit. But that in itself was strange. The stampede had been controlled by the demonic cultivators. They had not struck the Sunmen Province that was yet weakened by the demons, however they had attacked the Subei Province. That showed that they had wanted something there.


    And the reports of the disappearance were just too strange. Even compared with other provinces, there were too many disappearances compared to the deaths. When he tried to find more information, Cao Yun realized that there had been an small increase in unresolved disappearances a few decades ago. Mere mortals were not considered as important as cultivators by the Imperial City. Thus, the census was done only once every decade. On the other hand, powerful cultivators were monitored way more closely. But to be fair, there were a lot of mere mortals and in many small cities. It was hard to keep track of them all.


    That being said, Cao Yun was convinced that there was something wrong there. It wasn''t extremely apparent but now that he had seen it, it was obvious. Too many people had simply vanished in very specific places. Although there was some randomness to the killings, the disappearances appeared planned. Someone had used the stampede to try to hide that they had captured many mortals. And Cao Yun immediately thought about demonic cultivators as they often needed humans for their disgusting ways, especially an alchemist.

 Chapter 378: Cao Shuis memories

    Cao Yun and Fang Shaolong kept talking about various things. As he was the Hall Master of this Major Hall, Fang Shaolong had obviously heard of ''Chen Guo''. Besides, considering his relationship with Huang Cixi, he had of course studied him attentively. As such, he knew most of what had happened to him but he didn''t know how it had been like to live through it. He was both happy and horrified. Cao Yun had suffered a lot since that night but that had also brought him many benefits he would probably have never had otherwise.


    Tragedy could hide many opportunities. They were a curse and a blessing for those who knew how to use them. Even Fang Shaolong had risen to a position he would have otherwise never dreamed of. Although his cultivation was not that great, he was one of the most important men in the Wu Province and the third greatest influence in Baziyun City. Furthermore, he was now working under Huang Cixi and Cao Yun was connected to the Huang family. That meant that Baziyun City was more controlled by them than by the Imperial City as of now.


    What tormented Fang Shaolong was that he had failed to uphold his promise. He had sworn to his sister that he would protect her and find the culprit behind the massacre of their family. Not only had he failed, he had let the tragedy happen once more and now, faced with Cao Yun, he had no word to express his pain. Deep down, he wanted to give words of support, he even caught himself about to swear that whoever had really ordered the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards would face justice. But then he remembered the promise he had already failed. This was why he was ready to completely submit to Huang Cixi. Even though Cao Yun was strong, Huang Cixi was a political genius. If there was a conspiracy, and it seemed to be the case, Fang Shaolong thought that she would be able to unravel it.


    Then, Cao Yun would be able to deal with it. With his current cultivation, the speed at which he had developed it, and all his allies, he would have the power to do so. However, to act against the Imperial City, they needed more than raw strength, they had to get some proof. Otherwise, all of the Hongchen Kingdom would turn on them. Even if the Wubei Sect, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and the Huang family were powerful, the Emperor had ways to eradicate them if need be. Of course, the kingdom would be greatly diminished after such a civil war but the Emperor would survive, if he was still alive.


    On the other hand, if the Emperor had been usurped, the situation would be easier. Getting rid of an usurper was easier than taking down a rightful ruler. Until now, no Emperor had ever been deposed. Contrary to the demon kingdoms, law and legitimacy were very important for humans. After all, each emperor was chosen by his predecessor since Emperor Nuwa herself. In other words, even the current Emperor was endorsed by the past legitimacy of Emperor Nuwa. It was as though he was representing her.


    After a while, Fang Shaolong finally thought of something.


    "Wait for me here."


    He quickly left the room and went to fetch a small treasure box before quickly coming back. When he got back, he was out of breath. For an early Mortal Warrior, that meant something. Fang Shaolong had ran faster than he had ever ran in his entire life. But when he had thought about that box, he wanted Cao Yun to get it as soon as possible. In fact, he found himself stupid not to have thought about it any sooner.


    When Cao Yun received the box, he instinctively sent his Qi inside of it. There were many mechanisms preventing to open it without breaking it. Besides, it was made with very resistant materials. In there, there was even Silk Gold, Ageless Marble and Void Nurtured Platinum. An early Spirit Warrior would have not been able to see through it. Even a late Spirit Warrior would have needed some time to do so. Apart from breaking the box, Cao Yun saw no way of opening it. But the box was incredibly sturdy.


    As he was trying to find a way, Fang Shaolong manipulated the box in Cao Yun''s hands. All of a sudden, he heard a click, the mechanisms had been disarmed and the box could be opened even by a mortal.


    Finally, he opened it. He had no fear that Fang Shaolong would try to harm him. Since the beginning, he had used his perception to make sure that he had been telling the truth. Although he was family, Cao Yun barely knew him. But Fang Shaolong had been very truthful to the point that his own emotions had moved the young man.


    Once the box was opened, Cao Yun saw a necklace and several papers. Immediately he recognized the writings on those papers. They had been written by his mother. Those were letters sent from her to Fang Shaolong. With shaking hands, Cao Yun took the first one. This letter announced the birth of Cao Sheng, his older brother. With his mind cultivation, Cao Yun could have read it just by laying his eyes on it, but he didn''t want to. He wanted to take all the time in the world to read it. While stopping on each character, he also took the time to analyze each stroke and he could even imagine his mother writing it down as he was reading it.


    In his mind, he was seeing her sitting at her desk and handling the brush with grace. Cao Shui had been a 4-star Human calligraphist as well as a 5-star Human painter. Unlike Cao Guang who was a hunter foremost, Cao Shui was an artist at core. Both of them were complementing each other and even teaching each other. Many times, Cao Shui had forced Cao Guang to sit down and practice his calligraphy to the point where he had gotten almost as good as her. But he was always lacking her grace. His strokes were more direct and fierce. Hers were like water, soft, gentle but hiding a terrible force. In the last night, she had shown this force to all when she had given her life for her family.


    On the side, Fang Shaolong was completely silent. He was watching all the expressions on Cao Yun''s face. Even when he had seen death, Cao Yun had not been that moved. Since he had fled his residence in a hurry, he had nothing to remind him of his family. Even after coming back, the estate had been destroyed and nothing remained at all. Apart from his memories, he had nothing to prove that his family had even existed, albeit their very corpses that were rotting already.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    In the letters, Cao Shui was almost always talking about her children, lamenting that they could barely see their uncle. But she was happy and had almost forgotten what her young mind had suffered through. She had been five at the time of her family''s massacre so she barely remembered anything. However, it had still left deep scars in her.


    Then, Cao Yun reached the bottom of the box. Beneath all the letters, there were a few scrolls. As his hands were still shaking from the emotion, Cao Yun took the first scroll and unrolled it. When he saw what was on it, he almost let the box drop to the ground. In fact, he almost dropped to the ground as well. This was a painting of himself when he was a bit younger. On the bottom, there was a short poem to Fang Shaolong expressing how she wanted him to be able to see his nephews as much as he wanted through this humble painting. Of course, Cao Shui was the one who was humble. The painting was extremely well done. Cao Yun''s eyes were so lifelike that he felt like he was looking at a mirror when he was staring in them. Then, that meant that all the other scrolls...


    Indeed, Cao Yun had been right. All the scrolls contained painting of her children, but also of her husband and herself. Once again, with his mind cultivation, he could have memorized them in an instant but he was studying every single stroke of the paintings. He wanted to lose himself in them. Not only were they the work of his mother, they were the only representation of his family members left in the world. For Cao Yun, that made them impossible to replace.


    Fang Shaolong waited for Cao Yun to put them back in the box to break the silence.


    "Take them with you."


    "What?!"


    Suddenly, Cao Yun turned toward him.


    "They mean a lot to me. But I think you need them more than I do."


    "Uncle, they''re just too precious for me to..."


    Cao Yun''s voice was shaking at that point. Although he could regain his composure any time he wanted, he didn''t want to dispel those emotions yet. In fact, he wanted to revel in them for a while. But he suddenly remembered the words Xiao Xuefeng had spoken to him when they had first met. He should never punch a gift horse in the mouth. This phrasing had stayed with him. But from time to time he kept on refusing gifts that he truly wanted or even needed. That was a bad habit that died hard.


    For the first time ever, Cao Yun really saw Fang Shaolong as his kin. He got down on his knees and bowed to him.


    "Uncle, this unfilial nephew has never greeted you properly. You too have suffered a lot. I will never forget the kindness you showed to my mother and I will repay your loyalty to our family as best as I can. This gift is extremely precious and I swear that I will hold it dear and protect it as my most treasured possession."


    Fang Shaolong helped Cao Yun up.


    "Nephew, no need for so much ceremony. It is I who was unworthy. All those years, I''ve almost never visited you. You thought that you were the last of our blood and you suffered alone as you believed that all your family was gone. Although we will part soon, I want you to know that your family will always be there for you. If there is anything I can do to help you in any way, shape or form, I will gladly throw away everything that I have, even my own life, to be of assistance."


    Both men stayed very emotional for some time.


    At last, they exited the room under the Major Hall. To Ye Zhiyun''s surprise, Fang Shaolong gifted a lot of money to Cao Yun. All those years, Fang Shaolong had been stealing money from the Huang family but most of it had gone into his investigation. He had been trying to track down those who had had a hand in the Shui family''s massacre. In fact, he had even been able to discreetly have a few of them assassinated. As long as they were still in the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards, they were very difficult to touch. But thankfully, a few of them had been either transferred or had even left on their own. As soon as one of them was a target and Fang Shaolong was sure they had been there during the massacre, he made sure they would end up dead. Assassinating early Spirit Warriors had required a tremendous amount of money, especially to make sure no one could trace it.


    Fang Shaolong suspected that Huang Cixi knew but she had never told him.


    After the massacre of the Cao family, Fang Shaolong had been looking for Cao Yun but to no avail. Thus, there was no money left from his theft. However, his lifestyle was very austere, even with his wife. So Fang Shaolong had still a lot of money as the Hall Master of the Major Hall. And he could easily get even more by either selling a few things or even borrowing from some people. Of course, this was nowhere what he had gotten out of the Xiliang Mines.


    That being said, he was able to give a few Yuanbao to Cao Yun. The young man now had fourteen Yuanbao worth of money in his spatial ring. Fang Shaolong even made sure he had access to the best ingredients, the best pills, the best medicine and the best tools he could find. Because he didn''t need much, Cao Yun did not abuse Fang Shaolong''s generosity. However, he was deeply moved by his actions.


    There was one thing he was glad to get help with though. After meeting Hongyu, Cao Yun was worried for her. Her evil core was a constant threat and he wasn''t sure he could find a definitive way to help her. As long as she was with him, she would be mostly fine, but he wanted to find a way to deal with the problem for good. Even the Huang family who had many beast tamers had found no solution. However, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had many contacts.


    Cao Yun hoped that Fang Shaolong might be able to find beast tamers who could help. Sadly, he couldn''t divulge everything to just any beast tamer as he couldn''t really explain how the Evil Qi absorbed by Hongyu was kept in check. But he still asked his uncle to try and find someone who could help out. Unfortunately, demonic cultivators seemed like the best option. Fang Shaolong still promised to try but even several months after Cao Yun''s departure, he would have found no one at all.


    Indeed, Cao Yun only stayed a few more days in Baziyun City.


    He now was determined to go to the Subei Province in order to flush out some demonic cultivators. There was a high possibility that Gu Song was there. Although they were not directly responsible for his family''s demise, they knew something about why the Imperial City had targeted his mother so intently in the first place.


    After finding Gu Song, he would need to be able to make him talk, so Cao Yun also decided to focus a lot of his time on manipulating seals. He also used those few days to train with Hongyu and Elder Ying. Flying on the back of a demonic beast was a very intense experience. And although Cao Yun and Hongyu had a deep connection, Cao Yun still needed to learn how to fly properly with her. He had to keep in mind that she might also be forced to escape from a powerful cultivator. This time, Cao Yun wanted to be ready in case this happened once more.


    But he was also determined not to run away or be on the defensive this time. He was now on the offensive!

 Chapter 379: Red Feather to the West

    After making sure that he was well prepared and informed, Cao Yun finally decided to leave for the Subei Province. He bade farewell to Governor Leng as Guai Mo, and to Hall Master Fang as Cao Yun. Then he obviously bade farewell to the Huang family since Hongyu was being kept within their stables. The valiant bird thanked Huang Liyue. She was smart enough to understand that that woman had saved her life. Besides, she had also a strong affinity with her both because of her True Fiery Fenghuang bloodline but also because she had been in the Yellow Death World with her. Her Qi had also entered her egg.


    When they left, Elder Ying accompanied them for some time. He almost seemed like a father who was reluctant to let his daughter leave the nest. But he had to and knew that this was the right decision since only Cao Yun was able to control her condition.


    Regularly, Cao Yun had to inject his Qi within Hongyu in order to make sure that the seal around her evil core was strong enough. Without his help, she would consume her prenatal Jing and slowly wither away. However, Cao Yun had no way of restoring what essence she had already burned away. As an alchemist, he knew how difficult it could be to do so, but he was not hopeless. After all, she was still very young. Now that she didn''t need to burn her own blood essence, she was full of vitality. In the long run, this shouldn''t affect her too much. And he might even be able to find a way to help her permanently, given enough time.


    The Subei Province was the neighbor of the Sunmen Province, the most western province of the entire Hongchen Kingdom. The Nine Peaks were forming some form of natural border to the north of the kingdom. However, to the west, it was open albeit for a large river. The Sunmen Province was the most exposed province but also the most militarized. Indeed, the governor was literally a war general. That was the only province in the entire Hongchen Kingdom in this situation. But considering how often it was attacked, the Imperial City did not fear a struggle for power within the province. They were only afraid that it might fall. As such, they were ready to give all the power to the army there in order to protect it against the demons. Sometimes, this Sunmen Province was called the Demon Gate.


    General Long Cheng was indeed a very powerful man. Although his cultivation had only reached 7th-grade Spirit Warrior, he was probably the greatest general of the entire Hongchen Kingdom. His knowledge in terms of strategy and tactics was unparalleled. Sect Leader Xuan could have bested him in combat but it wasn''t sure whether the Wubei Sect would be able to resist against his army on the battlefield. Having one extremely powerful warrior was not a viable strategy in the long run. But of course, the Wubei Sect was also protected by the very terrain and by many array formations. Moreover, they had no reason to fight each other.


    On the other hand, the Subei Province was somewhat safe from the demons. General Long was acting like a lightning rod for their aggression. In the Subei Province, the power and influence were shared between Governor Jiahe, the Xue family and the Yun family. General Yun was known as a great warrior as well, but his merits were eclipsed by the prodigious General Long. Both men were however friends. That was the reason why Governor Jiahe was almost always favoring the Xue family. As any other governor, he was trying to keep a form of balance so that he would always stay on top, and the Imperial City with him.


    The Subei Province had a tiny branch of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Since those provinces were exposed to the threat of the demons all year long, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had not invested a lot of funds in this part of the Hongchen Kingdom. But they still had a branch because fighting demons allowed warriors and sometimes mercenaries to sell a few weapons and artifacts. The rest of the year, they had to resort to hunting and they needed to have some form of income. As such, the Imperial City itself had financed the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to open branches there. Otherwise, the mercenaries and even soldiers might become restless and this was not a good thing for anyone.


    Finally, the Huang family had started to implant itself there. Huang Jian and Huang L¨¹ had gone to the Sunmen Province in order to help in the war effort. Matriarch Huang had been able to sell it easily as some form of abnegation on their part. In truth, it was not. They really wanted to expand and she had used the opportunity. Besides, it would be good for them as Huang L¨¹ was an illegitimate daughter of Huang Jian and she wanted to fight and improve herself. To the south, in the Subei Province, Huang Si had also some forces because she had an ambitious project.


    For now, Cao Yun did not know that Huang Si had found some very interesting mines that were larger than even the Xiliang Mines which had made the Huang family filthy rich. But he knew that she was not there without any good reason. However, it didn''t really concern him much. Matriarch Huang had told him the local branch would be made aware of his arrival. If he needed them, he might get their help. However, the local branch was very tiny and had little influence. The day they would expose their new mine, they would suddenly become the most powerful family in the Subei Province though. Until then, they had to proceed carefully, buying all the land they had to in order to make sure that those mines were legally theirs.


    -


    Hongyu was a 4-core demonic beast. She was not from any species Cao Yun or even the Huang family knew about. However, she looked very similar to a Blood Boiling Fenghuang. The evil core in her had probably had some impact on her biology. And indeed, it had made her incredibly fast. Just like Elder Ying, she could have outbursts of speed close to the speed of sound or even exceeding it. But this was not a speed she could sustain. Besides, they could be attacked by demonic beasts if they disturbed them too much. With her current speed, she and Cao Yun would need a bit more than two months to get to the Subei Province. That was around half of the time Cao Yun had estimated. This was a lucky break for him.


    In theory, Hongyu could cross the entire Hongchen Kingdom in less than a day. However, there were many array formations and protections against flying demonic beasts as well as flying cultivators. With the demonic beasts stampede and the threat of demons, those defenses were at their highest. And there were still defenses left from the Legendary Era no one knew how to control. In fact, there were even damages in the very structure of space itself that dated from the great wars between demons and humans. As such, even a 9-core demonic beast could not travel as they pleased. Moreover, Cao Yun didn''t want to appear suspicious. He was now fully playing the role of Guai Mo. Thus, he needed to go through the official proceedings.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    From Matriarch Huang and Governor Leng, he had received every document necessary to cross the borders while flying on Hongyu. Everything in the sky was monitored by many experts. And not just anyone could go around that way as they pleased. Cao Yun would need to stop at several outposts to prove his identity and provide those documents. But it would still be two or even three times faster than if he had gone by foot.


    During the travel, Cao Yun often used his Qi to check on Hongyu''s seal. He also got some ideas on how to find a more definitive solution. Although he was nowhere close to a real solution, he might find ways for her to be fine for longer periods of time without him around. As he was constantly examining her seal, he was getting more and more knowledge on it. The progress was slow but there was some.


    Of course, he also worked on his own cultivation. In two months or so, he would be able to break through to 5th-grade Blood Child. On the other hand, he was ever so cautious about his Bai Hui. From time to time he was working on his Five Prodigious Gates. But he quickly noticed something very strange and fascinating. The vitality and vibrancy of the world tree in his Bai Hui was slowly moving toward his two Labor Palaces that were in his palms. Instead of being afraid, Cao Yun was rather excited. This vitality didn''t seem to be a threat at all, quite the contrary in fact.


    Besides, it might solve his problem, at least a part of it. His Five Prodigious Gates had to be perfectly synchronized for him to break through to 4th-grade Mortal Warrior. Indeed, as a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, he had to temper and forge those gates now that they were open. But he had first to make sure that they were all working in harmony. Right now they were not. Part of it was psychological because Cao Yun did not dare put too much strain on his Bai Hui, but a huge part was also physical. His Bai Hui had truly been damaged and the repairs had made it different from the other gates. Hopefully, it would help solve the latter problem.


    From time to time, Hongyu would land in order to recuperate. Flying with a demonic beast was a great sensation. It had saved Cao Yun a lot of time and Hongyu was still just a very young bird. Once she was older, or had developed another demonic core, she would be even faster.


    As they were resting, Cao Yun went to hunt down some demonic beasts. With his current strength, he could easily kill any demonic beast with less than six cores. Killing 6-core demonic beasts depended on their actual strength, some were stronger than others. But they were not a mortal threat to him anymore. However, if he sensed one, he would rather use his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to conceal his presence and disappear. Thankfully, he only crossed path with two of them overall, and no demonic beast who had more than six cores.


    Around Hongyu, he also set up array formations to protect her. Cao Yun had modified some concealment array formation with his understanding of ''Ashen Feather Seal'' in order to hide her as best as he could. Since her bloodline was related to the True Fiery Fenghuang, it had even more effect than he had hoped. Indeed, Huang Liyue had created this technique while thinking of her own family first. Cao Yun had called this array formation Scorched Earth Embers. It was close to a 2-star Human array formation and it had been invented by Cao Yun with the help of Sun Liao using a 3-star Human array formation as a basis.


    After hunting down some demonic beasts, he would feed them to Hongyu in order to keep her strong. Slowly, she was forming her fifth core but it would take years for it to be fully developed. Demonic beasts could only cultivate as fast as their biology allowed them to. You could not force feed them into breaking through faster. However, they had to feed in order to cultivate, so this was necessary.


    Besides, Cao Yun also worked on his alchemy and he got some ideas after working on Hongyu''s seal for so long. She needed the intent of the Drop of Wrath to preserve her blood essence. It turned out that ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' allowed Cao Yun to create some blood essence from the Drop of Wrath. Using it would stall his progress in ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' but right now he was focusing his blood cultivation around ''Crimson Inferno Road''.


    By using ''Reducing the Five Sheng'', Cao Yun was sending all his blood around the Drop of Wrath in his heart to slowly extract its essence into his blood. With this process he was not extracting prenatal Jing but postnatal Jing. It was way easier to recover. Compared with Qi, it was still a bit more difficult, but this wasn''t an impossible task like prenatal Jing. In fact, it would naturally recover.


    After practicing his blood cultivation, Cao Yun guided a few drops of his blood essence, blood rich in Jing, outside of his body. Then he used his ''Aureate Grove'' to combine it with the blood of a few demonic beasts as well as parts of their demonic cores. He had also found several plants and ingredients. At first, he tried with very tiny portions of his blood because he knew that the first tries would be failures. And he was right.


    In fact, his cauldron almost exploded a couple of times. If he had worked on his old bronze cauldron, it would have detonated for sure. Thankfully, this ''Aureate Grove Crucible'' was sturdier than that.


    After many failed attempts, Cao Yun finally refined a pill that contained traces of his own blood essence with the intent of the Drop of Wrath within. Hongyu tested it and it had the desired effect. It was able to replace her own prenatal Jing to preserve the seal around her evil core. The problems were however numerous.


    First of all, any alchemy pill contained toxins. As much as Cao Yun had tried to limit them, they were there. Over time, they would accumulate and cause problems, especially since Hongyu would need to take these pills often. However, it could temporarily replace Cao Yun if he was not close by.


    Another problem was that it solved nothing at all. It was just a way to buy some time for Cao Yun. He would still need to find a way to deal with the evil core directly and not just the symptoms.


    Finally, he could not make too many of those pills. Indeed, he was literally using his blood essence to make them. For the experiments, he had already used a lot of that. The Drop of Wrath was very powerful but it could not produce infinite quantities of postnatal Jing. Even if it could, Cao Yun was still very limited in what he was able to extract from it. Hopefully, as his control over the Drop of Wrath would improve, he would extract more and more until his entire blood was similar to the Drop of Wrath.


    After less than two months of travel, they were finally close to the Subei Province. After crossing the border, Cao Yun had to check at the nearest outpost first.

 Chapter 380: Yunling City

    Qingyun City was the capital of the Subei Province. And it was rather close to the western border, near the lands of the demons. To cross the entirety of the Subei Province, according to the maps and Hongyu''s speed, it would take her around two weeks. If Hongyu pushed herself to the limit of her speed, she might be able to do so in less than three or four days but she would need to rest for a few weeks before flying at full speed again.


    Since this province was very close to the borders of the Hongchen Kingdom, it was heavily guarded. Of course, Cao Yun could not go flying into the capital like that. There were even more array formations in place to avoid that compared with the rest of the kingdom. At the exception of the Imperial City, the provinces at the borders were the most heavily guarded. That was also why there had been so few attacks of demonic beasts during the stampede. Despite that, the casualties among mortals and commoner cultivators were just way too high and the explanations didn''t make much sense to Cao Yun.


    There had even been reports of small settlements being completely wiped out. According to Cao Yun''s estimation, there were at least a thousand people who had died without a good explanation. Thus, he wanted to start his investigation as soon as possible. But first, he had to go to the first outpost, even if only to register his presence. As an alchemist it wasn''t a big deal as they were favored by the Imperial City, but since he was flying around with a demonic beast, he had to. Spirit Warriors and any kind of human who could fly, by any means possible, had to register themselves, no matter who they were.


    Attacking from the air was such an advantage in warfare that it was heavily monitored. Thankfully Cao Yun, as Guai Mo, was a competent alchemist and had received all the documents he needed for Hongyu from the Huang family who had raised her when he was still in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Hongyu was officially his demonic beast and as such would not be treated as a savage creature. Besides, any demonic beast related to the fenghuang family was seen as a good omen. Few hunters would ever try to kill such a demonic beast if they were not forced to.


    A fenghuang would never be perceived as a threat unless it started to attack. However, if Hongyu came too close to a city, she might still be attacked or even captured. After a demonic beasts stampede, people would probably be very nervous to see such a demonic beast near their home. As such, Cao Yun would still have to be careful. Around the cities, he would probably move on foot, just to be safe.


    Right now, Cao Yun was looking at the map of the Subei Province within his sea of consciousness. On it, he had marked every report he had read about it. In his head, he had already planned a huge part of his investigation. However he knew that he would need to get some help first. Thankfully, he knew some people in Qingyun City, and the Huang family was close by. That would probably take some time but in the long run, this would help him a lot if he could forge deep ties with the Subei Province.


    For now though, he had to get to the outpost. It was located in a tiny city very similar to what Fulao had been. Even compared with Yinmen City, this town was small. Indeed, it was mostly used by hunters. Some were even mere mortals. Although everyone could in theory cultivate immortality, for various reasons, some people could not even fully enter the 1st-grade Mortal stage. One of the most recurrent reason was just that some people had to work in order to live. Thus, they had very little time to do so. Even entering the very first grade of cultivation demanded a lot of time and efforts. Some people could simply not find several hours every day to work their body besides their actual work.


    Another common reason was an injury. Sometimes, cultivators were heavily injured and their cultivation slowly went away. Over time, without Qi to sustain them, even bones and muscles would slowly wither and go back to what they were before. Age was also a factor in the equation.


    According to the documents of the Seven Treaties Era, almost every human, albeit some who had some diseases or incurable injuries, was at least a late Mortal. Going through the very last stage to become a Mortal Warrior was rather complicated for some but the real obstacle was the Lesser Tribulation. The general cultivation of the population had plummeted and no one really knew why. Some thought that maybe the quantity and quality of Qi in the air had been reduced as people had cultivated. Over time, it would have reached a threshold from which it couldn''t recover, like a resource that nature could not regenerate. But this hypothesis was not proven.


    Thankfully though, the demons had also been affected. Some saw this as an opposition to the aforementioned hypothesis but many had claimed that although demons cultivated blood, what they really cultivated was the Qi in their blood, like demonic beasts. Even today, this issue was not resolved. But hope had been reignited thanks to Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei who had refined a Spirit pill.


    Yunling City was a small town that had grown from being just a hunters'' settlement to being a real town. It was well located. Indeed, it was very close to the Yunling Forest, hence the name. Surrounded by the Deep Cloud Ridge, the Yunling Forest was rich in resources and had developed a somewhat isolated biome. All around this forest, there were stone formations that looked like strange clouds on the ground and created some form of depression.


    Despite all those merits, the Yunling City had never been considered by the Governor as very important. However, they had dignified it with a real name and had added an outpost right there. Thus Yunling City was the last place Cao Yun had to cross before officially entering the Subei Province. Although he had to wait to really investigate, he might be able to find some clues around here.


    When he arrived, he saw that the city was better than he had thought initially. It wasn''t rich per say, but it had certainly been improved if he trusted the reports he had read, and he did. That meant that in a few months, someone had invested a substantial amount of money and work in this city. And he knew who, the Huang family.


    As soon as Cao Yun saw Yunling City, he decided to land with Hongyu. He didn''t want a nervous hunter to start something. After all, he had all the official documents so he really didn''t need that kind of problem. On foot, he walked toward the main gate with Hongyu in tow. Even on the ground, Hongyu was extremely elegant. Now that she had been helped by Cao Yun a number of times, she was even more vibrant than ever. And she had also grown a lot in only a matter of months. But she was still just a child.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "Halt!"


    Hidden near the main gate, some guards stopped Cao Yun. They were not too threatening but they still had their weapons at the ready. In their eyes, Cao Yun could see fear though. Even if they couldn''t feel Cao Yun''s cultivation, they knew that such a flying demonic beast was way more powerful than they were. Cao Yun could feel that no one was above the Mortal Warrior realm in this town. And those two guards were just 6th-grade Mortals. If she wanted, Hongyu could slaughter the entire town. As so could Cao Yun, especially with his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Their greatest fighter was very close to 7th-grade Mortal Warrior. But he still had a ways to go before officially breaking through.


    As soon as his mind began to make plans on his own on how to best attack this place, Cao Yun caught himself. He might have become a bit too ready for violence recently. Even before he could reason with himself, he had already several plans in place in case he had to be violent in the city. Hopefully, he wouldn''t need to. But even then, he would not need a plan to kill everyone. Cao Yun realized that he had been working on the Flying Poison a bit too much, wrath and rage were seeping through his unconscious mind.


    His mind cultivation was however protecting his conscious mind. This was the reason why it was vital to first develop the Upper Dantian in order to resist the Seven Turbid Demons later on. And the Five Agents were a prerequisite to energizing the Upper Dantian.


    Besides his mind cultivation, Cao Yun could feel that his very blood was also more agitated. The blood cultivation of the demons was also altering his perception but it was under check for now. And he would have to be careful for his mind cultivation to always stay ahead of his blood cultivation. Now, it made sense to Cao Yun why demons were more emotional, and often more violent than humans with such blood in their veins. And it also made sense for a demon to try and craft such a mind cultivation as ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Although it could empower demons, it might also make them more tame. This was an idea Cao Yun would have to ponder over.


    For now, Cao Yun played the part of an arrogant young alchemist. He didn''t bow at all, but he didn''t pressure the guards with his Wei Qi either. After some consideration, Guai Mo would be arrogant and prideful but would not seek out problems and enemies. Cao Yun had no time and patience for those.


    "I am Guai Mo, 1-star Human alchemist." As he spoke, he flaunted the emblem on his chest.


    "The Huang family vouches for me."


    As he said the last part, a document appeared from his spatial ring and flew toward one of the guards. Both of them were speechless. The one closer to the document read it quickly. Matriarch Huang had signed it in person and had used the seal of the Huang family. Forging such a seal was difficult and it would expose the culprit to a death sentence. As such, they immediately believed that Cao Yun was the real deal. A talented alchemist would have absolutely no reason to risk his life like that as he could easily obtain the permission to cross this outpost.


    There was something more in their eyes though. As much as they tried to hide it, the name ''Huang'' had had an impact on them. Then, Cao Yun remembered that the Huang family was indeed pouring a lot of money around here. Although he didn''t know their exact plans, he wasn''t too curious. Besides, he might soon find out.


    After recovering from the shock, the two guards withdrew their weapons and lead Cao Yun inside the city. Once inside, Cao Yun could confirm what he had seen from above. Life in Yunling City had improved vastly. There were even busy shops along the road, selling food, materials, tools, weapons, clothes and even art. Huang Si was slowly making it into a fine city that could rival with Yinmen City in the Meifen Province. And maybe in time, it could even rival Qingyun City, the capital.


    Without losing any time, Cao Yun quickly made his way into the home of the city lord. She was a burly woman with several scars on her naked arms and shoulders. Behind her, she had black and gray hair cascading along her back. Over her clothes she was also wearing the pelt of some demonic beast. Cao Yun couldn''t be absolutely sure but this was probably from a Moon Devouring Gray Wolf, a 6-core demonic beast. In theory, they could contend with late Mortal Warriors. But there was no late Mortal Warrior because the last three stages were the Lesser Tribulation. As such, only 1st-grade Spirit Warrior could contend against such a demonic beast alone.


    Of course, hunters rarely hunted alone. And that pelt was a symbol of that woman''s strength. No matter if she had fought with five, ten or even twenty other hunters, killing a 6-core demonic beast was a great accomplishment considering that she was still a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior.


    When she saw Cao Yun, she bowed and surprised the guards. Despite her status in this city, she knew that her standing was inferior to this young man. She had lived for around three centuries and was close to breaking through thanks to someone else''s help recently. Alchemy had helped her take this step forward. Although she had always known that alchemy was powerful, she had never known it in her flesh. And such a young alchemist was a future talent of the Hongchen Kingdom. The Imperial City would be interested in him too.


    Although she had little hope to form a relationship between her city and this young man, being courteous was a must.


    "I am Zeng Bei, the leader of this modest settlement. Let me tell you that this is a pleasure to receive such an esteemed alchemist among us."


    "Not too bad... I heard that your Yunling City was doing well lately. And I see that those rumors were true. Your city is lively and prosperous. I might even come back here in the future."


    Although Cao Yun''s words were nice, he was using a tone that clearly showed he was just being polite. In his eyes, this city didn''t amount to much. The guards were neither pleased nor angry. Then, from Cao Yun''s finger, the official documents appeared.


    "For now, I just want to be officially registered with my mount. Please, check that everything is in order and send it to the capital. In time, I will go there."


    "Of course, esteemed guest."


    This was according to what Zeng Bei thought would happen. Their city would never catch the eye of such a young and talented alchemist. But the kind words he had spoken were not lost on her. Although he had demonstrated his superiority with his initial statement, their encounter wasn''t too bad. However, it was too bad that he would leave so soon.


    "Esteemed alchemist, if I might be so bold, Miss Huang Si told us that you might come. And she said that you might be interested in our Yunling Forest..."


    "Oh?"

 Chapter 381: A prized dragon fruit

    Despite her boorish appearance, Zeng Bei had lived through many political intrigues. She had worked as a hunter, as a bodyguard, even as an assassin from time to time. For several decades, she had even been hired as a martial instructor by a young noble family. As such, she had more political sense than some of the other hunters.


    Guai Mo was a young alchemist with a lot of talent. Besides, he was also a talented cultivator. Not a single cultivator had exceeded the Mortal Warrior realm in Yunling City. Cao Yun was a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior who was not even thirty and had passed the 1-star Human alchemist examination. No one could rival him. Although he didn''t look like it, Zeng Bei knew he could probably beat her in a fight. Worse, he would certainly be able to kill her if he wanted to. Beating a fighter and killing one were two different things. Zeng Bei was convinced that even if she risked everything she had, Cao Yun would ultimately win. Besides, he had probably ways to protect his life she had no way of destroying.


    Although the chances were low, she knew that she had to curry favors from Guai Mo. From what she had heard he wasn''t so bad. She had already met young alchemists who were insufferable, Guai Mo was not one of them. His youth could forgive a lot of his remarks.


    "Esteemed alchemist, I imagine that your mount must be exhausted since you''ve traveled from Baziyun City to our humble province in such a short time. Also I think it would be a good idea to rest. Miss Huang Si told us in advance that you would come and to warn her as she would like to entertain you for a while. I humbly suggest that you accept her offer. Our Yunling Forest is humble in front of such a noble alchemist. But I can brazenly claim that there are a few ingredients that you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. In fact, there is one in particular that would really interest you. Deep in the forest, our scouts have established that there was a ripe Hellish Dragon Fruit. Miss Huang Si would like to talk about it with you."


    Hearing the name, Cao Yun''s interest was piqued. Indeed, that name reminded him of something in the back of his mind. Even now, he had not fully assimilated all the knowledge he had read but he could easily access it at any time. Immediately, he retrieved the information he needed.


    The Hellish Dragon Fruit was a very rare fruit. Most of it was in fact made of red scales while its flesh was very limited inside. In fact, the flesh was almost useless. What was important in this fruit was the scales. Year after year, they would develop while using the flesh within as nourishment. It would take between a century or two for the fruit to reach its full maturity. As such, this fruit was indeed rare and not everyone could find it. Besides, from what Cao Yun knew, it was almost exclusive to the territories occupied by the demons. In the Hongchen Kingdom, only a handful of apothecaries could produce one of those. That being said, this fruit was very interesting for Cao Yun for two things.


    Considering its name, it was obvious that this fruit was rich in Fire element. As such, it could be very useful for a Mortal Warrior who was trying to accumulate Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian. Once his current cultivation stage was stabilized, that was exactly what Cao Yun would have to work with Fire Qi more and more. For that, the scales of the fruit would be a huge help for the young man. In fact, Cao Yun literally began to read documents on how best to pluck the fruit, store it, prepare it and use it as he heard Zeng Bei.


    More than this cultivation usage, the fruit was also intimately related to the Vermilion Bird. This was a legendary beast that was extremely similar to the fenghuang family. Reading more about the fruit and the Vermilion Bird, Cao Yun also saw that this fruit could help Hongyu stabilize her strength and maybe even help her improve her prenatal Jing both in quality and even a tiny bit in quantity. This wouldn''t solve all her problems. But if Cao Yun could use this fruit to make her essence stronger, it would reduce her needs of his frequent treatments. As such, she would be able to survive without him for longer periods of time.


    Of course, all those decoctions were not easy to make. In fact, the pill Cao Yun had in mind to relieve Hongyu was a 5-star Human pill. Although he was only a 1-star Human alchemist, this didn''t mean that he couldn''t refine it. It only meant that, to this day, he had not refined a Pure 5-star Human pill. But Cao Yun was convinced that he had the potential to do so. Indeed, although he had no spiritual senses, his mind cultivation and his senses were so developed that he could almost see inside a cauldron without spiritual senses. And during his travel, he had worked a lot on assimilating the knowledge about alchemy, in preparation for the Alchemy Conference.


    What didn''t sit well with Cao Yun was Huang Si. Zeng Bei had been prepared for Cao Yun''s arrival. That meant that Huang Si had studied Guai Mo very carefully in order to find the best bait for him. However, he could tell that Zeng Bei wasn''t lying about the Hellish Dragon Fruit. Besides, Huang Si had most likely received words from the main branch of the Huang family telling her to treat Guai Mo well. The only issue to deal with was what she wanted in return. Huang Si had almost been chosen as the next matriarch, Cao Yun couldn''t believe that she would just tell him that without expecting anything in return.


    "City Lord Zeng is very astute. This fruit does indeed hold my interest. And Hongyu would benefit from a period of rest. So I will take your advice. Please, show me to the Huang residence."


    "Thank you, Alchemist Guai, this will be my honor to be your guide. The Huang residence is a bit farther than our city. It will take an hour to get there. If you have anything else to do..."


    "I don''t, City Lord. Please, show me the way."


    Cao Yun''s tone was firm but not insulting. Clearly, he didn''t really care about Yunling City. But the Huang name was holding a lot of value, even in the Subei Province. The guards beside Zeng Bei weren''t too happy. However, they could indeed understand that a 1-star Human alchemist found their city too poor for his tastes. Although he was too arrogant, at least, he had saved them some face by not saying it out loud.


    "Of course. We''ll depart right away."The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Quickly, Zeng Bei delegated her authority to some man who was close by and she proceeded to guide Cao yun toward the Huang residence. They left the city and ventured into some fields that were manned by mere mortals and even a few Mortals. This was probably their main source of food. Apparently, they had deviated the flow of a nearby river to irrigate their fields. Cao Yun could clearly see that there had been recent works on the installations. The efficiency of those fields would slowly increase. It was obvious that the Huang family was trying to improve this village and they were the only noble family in there. Most likely, they had found something interesting and had decided to be the first one to get access to it.


    Zeng Bei and Cao Yun were walking fast but they were not running. If they had wanted to, they could have crossed the distance between the entrance of the village and the Huang estate in less than ten minutes. Yet, they took a full hour. Cao Yun was also aware that this was giving them enough time to be ready for his arrival.


    Finally, they reached the estate. It wasn''t too shabby but the residence was nowhere close to what Cao Yun had seen in Baziyun City. In fact, it looked more like the residence of Huang Cixi in Yinmen City. No one would say that the owners were poor, but no one would claim that they rich either. Moreover, once again, Cao Yun could see that there were older buildings who were even more modest. And around them, recent buildings and walls had been built in a hurry. Even now, he could tell that some array formations were not done. But he could see that there was a stable, almost empty right now. This was probably the reason why it had been built outside of the official Yunling City. But there were probably other reasons related to the laws of the Hongchen Kingdom.


    As soon as they arrived, they were greeted by a stunning woman. Immediately Cao Yun recognized Huang Si even though he had never met her. First of all, her hair was pure white, the symbol of the Huang bloodline. From the distance, Cao Yun could also see that her eyes were light gray and in them, he could vaguely see two flames. Since he knew a bit more about the techniques of the Huang family, he knew that those were two True Fiery Drops. Her dress and her dignified stature made her look like an empress who would have lost herself in a humble town. All of a sudden, the entire Yunling City looked way poorer than before in comparison.


    Upon their arrival, Zeng Bei bowed before her and stood to the side, leaving Huang Si and Cao Yun talk to each other.


    "Thank you, City Lord Zeng. Alchemist Guai, I heard a lot about you. And I am not disappointed now that I meet you."


    "The feeling is mutual, Miss Huang."


    "Great. Let''s drink while we talk."


    They entered the residence and a table had been prepared. Cao Yun and Huang Si sat down as servants brought two cups of wine. It wasn''t an exceptional wine but this still seemed a bit extravagant for a small city like Yunling City.


    "City Lord Zeng told me about this Hellish Dragon Fruit and this piqued my interest. But I am left wondering. Why wouldn''t you take it for yourselves? After all, such a fruit would be very beneficial to your True Fiery Fenghuang bloodline, right?"


    "Indeed. However, this isn''t as simple as taking it. You see, the Yunling Forest is kept in peace by a trinity of 6-core demonic beasts. They all balance each other out, and this ensures that the entire forest stays rather peaceful. There are no territorial disputes between the demonic beasts, thanks to those three. Unfortunately, such a balance cannot be eternal. And one of them has been found to nurture this Hellish Dragon Fruit for himself, the Five Bloods Pheasant."


    "So you don''t want it to have the Hellish Dragon Fruit because it would disrupt the balance, but you can''t attack him upfront because you don''t want to upset the balance either."


    "You are very quick. This was precisely our first concern. But as the fruit will soon be mature, we have to prevent the Five Bloods Pheasant from harvesting it. However, he is always watching over it. Since we don''t have any Spirit Warrior, we''ll be forced to resort to trickery in order to get the fruit out of his claws. Hopefully, he won''t go completely berserk once the fruit is gone. In fact, we just want to buy some time. In less than a century, I am confident that at least one Spirit Warrior will join our ranks."


    Spirit Warriors were monitored, especially near the borders. For example, late Spirit Warriors were strictly forbidden to travel in the Sunmen Province and the Subei Province. The Imperial City didn''t want them to cause an incident with the demons. After all, they were the biggest weapons of mankind, so they had to be used with caution. There were late Spirit Warriors among the military but adding another one without taking precautions could lead to violent incidents as the demons would respond in kind. And things could escalate quickly.


    Thus, the Huang family had not been able to send a Spirit Warrior in the Subei Province. Besides, they had already sent Huang Jian in the Sunmen Province, along with Huang L¨¹. Even though he wasn''t a late Spirit Warrior, the Imperial City had not agreed to another Spirit Warrior from the Huang family settling down in the neighboring province.


    "Then, what do you expect of me? I can''t take on a 6-core demonic beast all on my own."


    To be fair, Cao Yun probably could, but Guai Mo was another thing. In fact, with the art of poison, he might be able to take down a 6-core demonic beast. Indeed, they were not as crafty as humans so they were even weaker when it came to poison.


    "We do have a plan that will require stealth. At first, another hunter from Yunling City was going to do it. But when I heard about you, I thought you would be perfect. Moreover, the Hellish Dragon Fruit would be great for your mount, Hongyu."


    Beneath Huang Si''s words, Cao Yun could sense that she knew a lot more about him than she should have had. Guai Mo''s stealth had never been the matter of any report whatsoever. Although he couldn''t be sure, Cao Yun was almost certain she was talking about ''Ashen Feather Seal''. But he was also certain that Huang Liyue would not have talked about it with just anyone.


    Sensing some tension, Huang Si kept on drinking while smiling without a care in the world. She truly was beautiful. In fact, sensing this danger behind her smile made her even more beautiful, like a flower with thorns. This woman was the real deal, not just some useless noble. Everything that was going on around her was her doing. And Cao Yun was even certain she had been planning for his arrival for at least a month. As soon as he had left Baziyun City, she had known everything about what had happened there.


    "So, Guai Mo, what do you think about our plan?"


    "I would like a map of that forest as well as the spot where this Hellish Dragon Fruit has been found. I want everything you know about what is going on. Then, if I agree with your plan, I will take half the scales of the Hellish Dragon Fruit."


    "This isn''t a problem. The fruit is not our goal. We want the balance between the demonic beasts to stay stable. Even without the fruit, we can pay the hunters. You might even keep the whole thing."


    "You''re too generous... But I still need to think about it. In the meantime, I do believe that you will take care of my mount. Although she doesn''t look like it, Hongyu is exhausted."


    "Of course."

 Chapter 382: Tree of Death

    Although Cao Yun had plans, he was looking for information and allies could be useful since he was new to this Subei Province. Before going to the capital, he intended to gather as much information as possible. Befriending Huang Si would help him do that. And having strong ties with local hunters would also be very useful.


    One of his main ideas was to investigate the villages that had completely disappeared. Even though a full year had passed, almost no one had really investigated. They were not very important after all. And the Hongchen Kingdom was under a lot of threats. Saving the living had seemed more pressing for everyone. Governor Jiahe also didn''t seem to care too much about the civilians in the east of his own province. He was solely focused on the capital and the border. From what Cao Yun had read about the man, he didn''t really like him. Politicians valued their position a lot, but this one was trying to keep his status no matter what.


    During the stampede, he had decided not to mobilize his own army, unlike General Long to the north. In order to protect the population, General Yun had been forced to mobilize his own troops. As such he had suffered a lot and the Xue family was quite happy about that. However, General Yun''s reputation had increased significantly among the civilians. And in turn, this had made Governor Jiahe upset. During the crisis, he had been terrible and some were even doubting his aptitude to lead if an open conflict were to break out between humans and demons.


    Anyway, Cao Yun would have some time to deal with all that. For now, he was examining Huang Si''s plan. This Hellish Dragon Fruit was indeed very enticing. It would help his cultivation and it could even stabilize Hongyu''s condition. However, Cao Yun was faced with a conundrum. With his full might, he would probably be able to kill this Five Bloods Pheasant. But he couldn''t use his full might in front of others. He was supposed to be Guai Mo, not Chen Guo. That meant that he couldn''t show his spearmanship in public.


    Although the plan seemed good, there were many opportunities for it to go wrong. The main idea was simple. A group of Mortal Warrior hunters would attract the Five Bloods Pheasant away from his nest. Using this distraction, Cao Yun would sneak into it and pluck the Hellish Dragon Fruit. As an alchemist, plucking such an ingredient would be way easier for him. Besides, he had an impressive perception and a good cultivation. The hunters would agree without any problem, especially considering that Zeng Bei would lead them and no one would ever question her decisions.


    The problem was that there was no guarantee that the Five Bloods Pheasant would not go on a rampage. Huang Si was counting on the threat of the other two demonic beasts, the Golden Plumed Jackal and the Flame-Tailed Wolf. But the reaction of that 6-core demonic beast was unpredictable. And in case things went bad, Cao Yun had to be prepared to act without using his spear. Of course, if his life was in danger, he would fight, but he had to keep his spearmanship hidden so that his enemies wouldn''t easily associate him with Cao Yun. If he was discovered, he might not be able to find what he was looking for, or he might even get killed. He wasn''t too afraid of that because he had the Spirit Condensation Barrier of Sect Leader Xuan. But he wanted to know the truth behind why his mother had been targeted.


    As such, Cao Yun had to get ready for this expedition. He wouldn''t just entrust his life in Huang Si''s plan. Furthermore, he was certain that she had other plans she wasn''t telling him. In fact, she had made little effort to show that she was just using him. However, since he was also getting a lot out of it, he didn''t mind as long as she didn''t betray him. Despite the fact that he didn''t know her, he had decided to trust Huang Liyue. If Huang Si was untrustworthy, she would have told him so. To the contrary, she told him he could rely on her as she had made a deal with Huang Cixi.


    While having these thoughts, Cao Yun was lead to the guest room by a small servant named Di Xihe. The girl was very small and extremely shy. In fact, she barely talked to Cao Yun. It was hard to gauge someone''s cultivation but this girl had none whatsoever. Clearly she was just a commoner whom the Huang family had hired. Indeed, there were many commoners since the members of the Huang family were few in this residence. Apart from Huang Si, Cao Yun only saw four people who had pure white hair.


    Di Xihe lead Cao Yun to his room and asked him if he wanted anything. The alchemist kept acting arrogant without being disrespectful, even to a servant. And he only asked to be left alone as he had to ponder over some matters.


    In his mind, there was only one thing. He had to work on a solution to take down a 6-core demonic beast without revealing he was Chen Guo. And for that, poison might be a good idea. He couldn''t increase neither his blood cultivation nor his Qi cultivation in less than two weeks. And those wouldn''t be very helpful for his goal. However, Guai Mo was known to have used poison against some of his enemies. In fact, he had almost been arrested but his talent, and the fact that the victims were indeed criminals, had saved him. So if he were to use poison again, this would appear natural.


    To that effect, Xiao Xuefeng had given him a manual about poisons. Of course, he had read other books, but this one was way superior. It had no name apart from the name of the author, Tree of Death. In the manual, there were no fancy names or techniques. It was simply and coldly stating how to best use poisons. This book was almost written as a journal. Tree of Death was explaining how he had killed many people and what had worked or not. More than the art of poison, this manual was explaining the art of assassination. However, there were also many notes on other uses of poisons.


    They could be used to kill with more or less pain, but they could also be used to paralyze, to maim, to alter one''s senses or one''s consciousness. An entire chapter was dedicated to the uses of poisons to escape from one or many pursuers without necessarily killing them. Cao Yun even read some paragraphs about the use of poisons on specific demonic beasts. Of course, they wouldn''t react like humans because their bodies were bigger and they had no meridians. Moreover, they might also have completely different organs in some cases.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Xiao Xuefeng had kept the only original of this manual. Apparently, there had been no copy and Cao Yun could understand why. In the hands of a competent alchemist, this knowledge was absolutely dreadful. On one page, he read about a poison that would kill someone in ten weeks. The person would suffer every single day worse and worse pain until the pain itself would kill them. This poison wasn''t even the most brutal of them all. Within his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was also admiring this book. Whoever had written it had been a master assassin. The two of them could imagine many scenes of horror he had caused.


    A huge portion of the book was also about killing demons which didn''t please Dian Mo. But he didn''t really mind either. After all, he wasn''t neither human nor demon. He had just been created by a demon, this wasn''t the same thing as being one himself.


    "So you intend to grab this Hellish Dragon Fruit?"


    "Yes. It will be very beneficial to my cultivation. I''m not sure but I feel like it could help me harmonize my Five Prodigious Gates."


    "Really?"


    "Well, I''m basing that on my knowledge of alchemy, but I am confident. You''ll see for yourself once I''m done with it."


    "Fine, stay mysterious! But are you sure about this? You''ll waste some time on this and you might even expose yourself..."


    "Well, if I didn''t know better, I would think that you care about me."


    "What?! Not one second! But if you die, I die. And if I fear that talking to other humans wouldn''t be as fruitful as talking to you. Your body is very interesting and all the books you''ve read made you an somewhat pleasant conversationalist. I can''t have a stupid bird kill you for a meager fruit, now, can I?"


    "I guess not... But I assure you that I''m not stupid. If worse comes to worst, I''ll use my full strength. I don''t think a single 6-core demonic beast would be able to beat me. And since the Five Bloods Pheasant won''t cooperate with the other two demonic beasts, I''m safe."


    Dian Mo stopped talking about this subject. Instead, they began to talk about the poisons described in the book and which ones would be interesting to use.


    For ten days, Cao Yun stayed cooped up in his room using his cauldron to refine several poison. Unlike pills, poisons could come with many forms and shapes. For example, some were indeed pills, while others were liquids, powders or even gases. By now, Cao Yun had three spatial rings. He used one to put all his poisons and his weapons. Another one was used for his money, his food, and various materials he might need out in the field. Finally, the last one was the smallest and he simply put his books and manuals in it. With them he also put his personal effects that would be useless but have a huge value in his eyes. He wouldn''t take this ring with him, leaving it with Huang Si.


    During this time, he asked Di Xihe to send a message to her mistress. He had agreed to help her steal the Hellish Dragon Fruit from the Five Bloods Pheasant''s nest. Now that he had thought of several contingencies, he was ready to act.


    -


    The day finally came. Huang Si had gathered more than twelve hunters. Leading them was Zeng Bei. For Yunling City, this was the biggest force they had assembled since the stampede that they had thankfully been able to repel. The demonic beasts had avoided the Deep Cloud Ridge and the Yunling Forest that it surrounded. Most likely, they had been deterred by those three demonic beasts. But Cao Yun believed that the explanation was different. Someone had chosen the targets and Yunling City was simply not one of them.


    Some of the hunters were not too pleased to be used as a simple distraction. Considering how much they were getting paid though, they had agreed. Upon seeing the Guai Mo they had heard about, they became a bit more assured. The 1-star Human alchemist insignia on his chest was real. And more than that, they could tell that he was used to violence. He wasn''t just a noble who had worked in a safe room all his life. Guai Mo had killed before and he wasn''t afraid to risk his life and to kill if necessary. Hunters could clearly feel the killing intent around him.


    To make a good impression, Cao Yun had reined in his killing intent but he was letting enough of it out to impress battle-hardened hunters.


    "This operation should take between eight to ten days. Guai Mo will first get in position near the nest. In four days when the sun is setting, you all will attack the nest on the opposite side, near the Silan lake. He will be reluctant to leave his nest so you''ll need to cause a huge commotion. The lake is rather Yin and will protect you against his most ferocious attacks. Besides, it''s close to the territory of the Golden Plumed Jackal so he will have to behave himself. However, he will do everything to keep you from getting close to his nest. Don''t think he''s stupid though. You must make enough of show to convince him that you are the real deal, not just a diversion."


    This mission was full of risks. Unfortunately, hunters had to take such risks if they wanted to earn enough. Maybe they could finally improve their cultivation. Zeng Bei even hoped to become a Spirit Warrior before ten years thanks to Huang Si. On Huang Si''s end, it was also a good move to help hunters improve their cultivation as they would become more powerful and would be indebted to her at the same time.


    Cao Yun decided to add a few words.


    "I prepared a few pills for you. They''re not much but they might be able to prevent too many injuries."


    He threw a pouch to Zeng Bei. In it, she saw twelve pills. Among them were Burning Gate Flood pills, Torrent Gathering pills, Autumn and Springs Reviving pills and even a Golden Threads Salvation pill. Those were all Human pills. Some were only Perfect while others had almost reached True Essence. Of course, Zeng Bei couldn''t tell their quality at a glance but she could tell that they were very impressive only by their fragrance. The other hunters also smelled that great perfume and were astonished. Some of them had never even seen a 3-star Human pill before. They truly had made the right decision when they had accepted this mission!


    Without adding any other words, Cao Yun left and immediately went to Hongyu. From his spatial ring, he gave her one of the pills he had refined earlier. Since he wouldn''t be back before at least ten days, he made sure that she would be safe until then. Before leaving, he whispered something in her ear. The poor Hongyu looked dejected because she wanted to go with Cao Yun. She was smart enough to know he would be in danger. But he didn''t want her to risk her life for him like her parents had done. Watching him leave, Hongyu looked like she was being abandoned.


    "I won''t be long. And Miss Huang Si will take good care of you, so don''t cause her any trouble, right?"


    As he was done, Cao Yun left toward the Yunling Forest right away. When he began to run, even the hunters were surprised. He was faster than Zeng Bei herself. With such a speed, he would indeed be able to get to the location of the Hellish Dragon Fruit in less than four days. But they were afraid about his stealth. This worry disappeared as soon as he disappeared behind a tree. Suddenly, even Zeng Bei had lost his track.

 Chapter 383: A scorched territory

    Quickly, Cao Yun reached the denser part of the Yunling Forest. As soon as he entered, he smelled a rich scent of plants and flowers. This forest was lush and very different from all the forests of the Hongchen Kingdom. It almost looked like a tropical forest with a lot of colors everywhere. There were red, blue, purple, yellow and green plants and flowers all over the place. The flowers were particularly colorful.


    As soon as he was distant enough from the Huang estate, Cao Yun activated his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' fully. He didn''t want the hunters and Huang Si to know how good he could really be. After all, this was his trump card to investigate on both the demonic cultivators and the Imperial City, he didn''t want it to be known.


    Even with his stealth, Cao Yun was able to make his way toward the location that had been indicated by the reports in less than three days. The scouts had not discovered the exact location of the Hellish Dragon Fruit, but they were sure that it was ripe thanks to the aura rich in Fire all over the place. However, they knew the general position of the Five Bloods Pheasant''s nest where the Hellish Dragon Fruit was being nurtured.


    While walking through the thick and lush forest, Cao Yun was rather impressed. All around him were very rare species. With the Deep Cloud Ridge serving as a form of natural barrier, this Yunling Forest was almost isolated from the outside world. As such, there were species that couldn''t be found anywhere else in the Hongchen Kingdom. Maybe it was a remnant of the time demons still ruled those lands. After all, they were close to the border. The mere presence of demons could alter the environment as their Qi, like the Qi of human cultivators, would seep into the air around them.


    As he was making his way toward the Hellish Dragon Fruit, Cao Yun heard Dian Mo''s voice in his mind.


    "If this Hellish Dragon Fruit is fully mature, this isn''t something you can easily get your hands on. After all, even those three 6-core demonic beasts don''t dare be careless around it. And this isn''t just because they are all eyeing it. The Five Bloods Pheasant has been nurturing it for decades. But even he would be careful while plucking it. Even a 6-core demonic beast could end up heavily injured or killed if he wasn''t careful. It occurred to me that the Five Bloods Pheasant may not intend to pluck it, instead he might just keep it in his nest to help his cultivation. After all it''s insanely rich in both Fire element and Qi. Just being close to it could help him develop a seventh core in a matter of months."


    "Yet the other two demonic beasts didn''t make a move toward the fruit..."


    "Indeed. Getting too close to the fruit if it is mature is too dangerous. You humans would probably class it as a 5-star Heaven or even half-step Spirit fruit. Although it has no conscience of its own, the high concentration of Fire Qi in it can cause the emergence of a pseudo-will. It will instinctively try to incinerate anyone who gets too close to it. Since it''s acting on instinct alone, it won''t be smart. Apart from the Five Bloods Pheasant who''s been nurturing it, it won''t let anyone else get too close."


    "I was expecting that. Although this endeavor is dangerous, I do not think that a mere fruit can see through my ''Ashen Feather Seal''. What I''m more worried about is how to pluck it in the best way."


    "Well, for that, you should synchronize your Wei Qi with the fruit itself in order to prevent other elements from interfering with the Fire element."


    "Yes, that would be an application of the Golden Elixir Principle of Five Elements Wheel."


    "But it will be completely different because the Hellish Dragon Fruit, unlike your ingredients and pills within a cauldron, will actively try to mess up the process. It won''t want to be plucked from its root. So not only will you have to balance the five elements, you will also have to clash with the fruit itself without endangering the balance too much. I can assure you that this won''t be easy at all."


    "Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. However, it might help me and Hongyu a great deal. Besides, it''s also a good test for me on many levels. In the worst case scenario, I could still leave. The Hellish Dragon Fruit won''t chase after me, after all."


    "The Five Bloods Pheasant would..."


    Dian Mo was right. Besides, Cao Yun had to be discreet or very fast while plucking the fruit so that the demonic beast wouldn''t come back to the nest too soon.


    Cao Yun was pondering on how to approach the Hellish Dragon Fruit and was already using his ''Shen Visualization'' to imagine how to pluck it. In the back of his mind, he was even already imagining how he would then use it in his alchemy to help himself and Hongyu. But it didn''t make him complacent at all. Cao Yun was well aware that snatching this fruit would be a difficult thing. Although he could easily sneak inside the nest, in order to pluck it, he would be forced to reveal himself at least partially. And obviously, the demonic beast would sense that the fruit was gone. Hopefully, with his stealth, Cao Yun could leave once again without being threatened.


    The plan was not perfect but it still had high chances of succeeding. After weighing the pros and cons, Cao Yun had deemed it worthwhile. Even Xiao Xuefeng could not easily obtain this kind of fruit. And he couldn''t ask her to come here to pluck the tree for him. First of all, he didn''t have the time. But she was also busy and it would be difficult to be allowed so close to the border for such a high character. He couldn''t just wait for an expert to help him out. That was why he had agreed to help Huang Si.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun entered the territory of the Five Bloods Pheasant, heading toward his nest. In the Yunling Forest, there were several territories divided between a handful of demonic beasts. The big leaders were three 6-core demonic beasts. Hunters were making sure that no demonic beast could ever exceed six cores. But the demonic beasts themselves were also keeping each other in check. If one was on the verge of breaking through, the other 6-core demonic beasts would league against it to keep their own little dominion. Thankfully, the demonic beasts here were lacking the temperament to work together.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The Hellish Dragon Fruit had emerged in the territory of the Five Bloods Pheasant. And around it, the Golden Plumed Jackal and the Flame-Tailed Wolf had both been alerted to this news. As such, the two of them had gone to the very edge of their territory to watch on this fruit. Each one was gauging the other two. It wasn''t in their interest to fight but they couldn''t let the Five Bloods Pheasant form another core. If that were to happen, there would be a large dispute between them and Yunling City might suffer from that as hunters couldn''t hunt in peace.


    Besides, the three 6-core demonic beasts were related to the Fire element in some way so this Hellish Dragon Fruit would be perfect for them. In fact, it was best suited for the Five Bloods Pheasant. After all, that demonic beast was loosely related to the Vermilion Bird. His blood was said to be as hot as fire. By absorbing the properties of the Hellish Dragon Fruit, the Five Bloods Pheasant could hope to awaken the bloodline of the Vermilion Bird in him by atavism.


    As soon as Cao Yun entered his territory, he felt an intense pressure all around him. He felt as though he had just dived into a pool of boiling blood. A lesser cultivator would have simply collapsed on the spot. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s blood was very resilient. Even without altering his Wei Qi and compromising his stealth, his body could resist the scorching heat and the suffocating pressure.


    All around him, he saw many plants who had dried up and died. Entire patches of the forest were gone under the Five Bloods Pheasant''s influence. Just to be safe and to prevent anyone from getting to the Hellish Dragon Fruit before him, he had preferred devastating his own territory.


    The Five Bloods Pheasant was now perched on a dried and bent tree. It was covered in black traces of burns but it had endured. Among the brittle branches, only one had really survived and was staying strong as the big demonic beast was towering over it. As a bird, the Five Bloods Pheasant had an impressive plumage that made him look like two or even three times larger than he actually was.


    And this plumage was absolutely beautiful. Any enemy would be transfixed by this beauty and in this instant of hesitation would die. His head was covered with golden feathers. They were cascading down his back where orange feathers turned to sapphire ones before golden feathers once again completed his back. On his belly, his feathers were red as blood and as lava while dark blue feathers were decorating the upper part of his legs. In his eyes, Cao Yun could see a great fire. His gaze was fixated on the horizon but he was still alert to everything around him.


    Thankfully though, he couldn''t pierce through Cao Yun''s ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Even now, the young man was walking right under him and the bird could not sense his presence at all. Ever so slowly, Cao Yun was making his way toward the edge of the place scrutinized by the Five Bloods Pheasant. There was now no doubt that the Hellish Dragon Fruit was in that direction. Just under that tree was the Five Bloods Pheasant''s nest. As he was walking forward, Cao Yun was also memorizing everything about this place in case he had to make a run for it. He was brave but he was not stupid. Although he was convinced that the plan could work - otherwise he would not be here - he couldn''t be absolutely sure so he had to think about other alternatives.


    For now though, Cao Yun decided to stop moving. It had taken him three days to get there. So he had to wait almost an entire day before walking forward. All around him he could feel the Fire element of the Hellish Dragon Fruit. But he couldn''t really bask in it. The Five Bloods Pheasant would notice anyone trying to absorb this energy and Cao Yun had to stay hidden for the time being. He was trusting the hunters.


    -


    When the sun finally began to set, Cao Yun''s trust was rewarded. In the distance, even he felt a huge amount of Qi. Zeng Bei''s group was fighting against several demonic beasts near the Silan lake. Those demonic beasts had been coerced by the Five Bloods Pheasant to guard his territory against both humans and other demonic beasts. Right now, they were being slaughtered. After all, the hunters knew each other and could easily work as a team. One time, Zeng Bei and her men had been able to kill a 6-core demonic beast, the Moon Devouring Gray Wolf. This had been a terrible battle and many had died but they had won.


    Of course, they didn''t want such a battle anymore, but they were ready to keep the Five Bloods Pheasant busy for a while. And his current guards were just too weak for them as a team.


    Cao Yun could feel the heat increasing around him. Some bushes to his right began to burn all of a sudden. The Five Bloods Pheasant was furious that those humans dared to enter his territory. As his eyes were burning with hatred, he looked down below for quite some time. Then, as the Qi Cao Yun could feel in the direction of the Silan lake was becoming more and more violent, the demonic beast flapped his wings. Some of his feathers let out a few sparks and he rose in the air before diving toward the lake, in the opposite direction of Cao Yun.


    This was the moment!


    At last, Cao Yun left his hiding spot and quickly headed toward the nest. He reached a very different part of the forest. Similarly to the Five Bloods Pheasant''s territory, everything looked like it had been burned to a crisp. But this time, the soil itself appeared to have been burned down. It was as if nothing would ever grow around here. Even the plants had left no mark on this land after their deaths. This was a complete desolation.


    As Cao Yun had already felt the oppressive aura of the Five Bloods Pheasant, he was not disturbed by the air around him. Indeed, it was hot enough to make a mere mortal boil from within. However, Cao Yun''s blood was already hotter than the blood of a mortal. If it could sustain the oppressive might of the Drop of Wrath, it could withstand this kind of heat too. Slowly though, the heat began to go into his very mind. Thankfully, his mind cultivation preserved him from madness.


    The heat was so intense though that the air around him was moving in strange ways. There were many illusions. At some point, he saw plants made out of fire that were dancing under the dying sun. Even Cao Yun could not decide whether they were true or not. This entire place was truly looking like a fiery hell. Besides the visions, Cao Yun could also hear ominous whispers in the air. Despite his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun was still using his Wei Qi. It had been reduced to a thin membrane all around his body. This could compromise his stealth a little so he had used many of the ashes from his technique within. But he was glad he had done so. Without this Wei Qi, his clothes and his skin would have began to melt and to merge together.


    Thanks to his powerful blood cultivation, he could heal from those injuries easily and his mind would reduce the pain. But this wasn''t the kind of experience he wanted to go through. Thus, as he was advancing toward the Hellish Dragon Fruit, Cao Yun was increasing his Wei Qi again and again. At one point, he would necessarily be detected by the distant demonic beast. Indeed, he had to increase his Wei Qi as it truly looked like Cao Yun was about to die. He was a pebble being washed over by a torrent of fire.

 Chapter 384: Plucking a fiery fruit

    The very air around the tree on which the Five Bloods Pheasant had been perched was turning reddish as Cao Yun was getting closer.


    Finally, Cao Yun was able to see the full tree with his own eyes. The bottom part of the it was completely calcined, yet it was standing. It was the only thing still standing in fact. All around it, there was a terrifying aura that made his heart skip several beats. If Cao Yun had not already been faced with many mental attacks by the past, he might have lost his will. A lesser cultivator would have let go of his defenses because of that and the heat and flames would have consumed his flesh.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun was ready for that. He circulated ''Bleeding Eyes'' and clashed with the disheartening aura head-on. This was a battle of will between a cultivator and a mindless plant. But the clash was still extremely intense. In Cao Yun''s eyes, there were oceans of blood that were boiling under the aura of the Hellish Dragon Fruit.


    The tree itself was a rather thick root that exited from the ground. Coiling around it, there were many vines that had fused with it under the extreme it. Thus, it formed some kind of natural cage around the trunk of the tree. Among all these dark, burnt colors, there was only one glint of life. At the very center of the trunk, Cao Yun saw the fruit. It was a mix of dark green and orange, full of tiny thorns that were red hot. Despite its powerful aura, that fruit was not larger than Cao Yun''s head. All over that red fruit, there were thorny scales that evoked real dragon scales. When he saw them, Cao Yun even thought about the Azure Dragon and the Ebony Snake Dragon''s scale he had still in his spatial ring.


    The Hellish Dragon Fruit had been growing on a healthy tree. But the moment it started to ripen, all those phenomena had appeared, until the tree itself was literally killed by them. The only reason why it was still standing was because of the vitality of the parasitic fruit that had killed it. Because other dragon fruits that were not mature enough could not survive either, there was always only one Hellish Dragon Fruit by tree. Besides, unless the fruit was harvested and some seeds obtained from it, it was impossible to make another tree.


    On the bark, Cao Yun saw what appeared to be dried blood. Most likely, the Five Bloods Pheasant had given his own blood to nurture the fruit. It had probably cost him a lot. So Cao Yun was starting to doubt how he would react once it would be stolen from him. Besides, it would know that humans had taken it from him. Although it wouldn''t grow too powerful, it would still be a huge threat. Huang Si''s plan on that part was rather weak. Or maybe she was expecting to draw the ire of the beast toward Cao Yun. After all, he would be forced to reveal a small part of his Qi to pluck the fruit. That way, the demonic beast might be after him. But this would be a big gamble.


    Or maybe she was just thinking of that demonic beast as a human. Huang Si was too accustomed to dealing with humans and had thought that the same rationality could be applied to a 6-core demonic beast. They were smart yes, but they were not necessarily rational. Besides, humans could also be very irrational without the threat of the law.


    Anyway, Cao Yun had been lucky to find a ripe Hellish Dragon Fruit. The risks were well worth it. For now though, he still had to pluck the Hellish Dragon Fruit without damaging it. Thankfully, he was an alchemist and had worked a lot on his Flame Control. Right in front of him was a test of his actual control over fire.


    Just as he was about to start the procedure, Cao Yun heard Dian Mo''s voice in his head.


    "Look out!"


    Immediately, Cao Yun dodged. A column of fire erupted from the ground where he had been standing.


    "This fruit won''t let you pluck it that easily. That damned thing has almost gained wisdom. Look at that scale in the middle!"


    Right in the middle of the fruit, there was a burning rune on one of the scales. Immediately, Cao Yun recognized what this was. This was an Insight Writing, most likely related to the Dao of Fire.


    "Your luck is both good and bad! It''s incomplete, but this Hellish Dragon Fruit has a fragment of the Dao of Fire, a Rune of Fire. That makes it even more precious. But that also means that it won''t be easy to take it. And of course, it will quickly attract the Five Bloods Pheasant''s attention."


    From what Cao Yun had heard from Sect Leader Xuan, the Dao was the law that governed absolutely everything even before anything else existed. This was a principle that was out of reach for mere mortals. Even Mortal Warriors and Spirit Warriors were unable to get close to it. Only after becoming a Sage could one really begin to study the Dao. But even then, the Dao was beyond one''s abilities. First, cultivators had to study fragments of the Dao, minor laws of nature that were also called Dao. For example, Sect Leader Xuan had some understandings of the Dao of Space. Even for a half-step Sage, this was incredible.


    Right in front of him, there was a fragment of the Dao of Fire. For an alchemist, this Dao was extremely useful. But more than that, Cao Yun was also cultivating his blood and the cultivation of the demons. After the first three realms, asura stopped working on their blood to pour their effort into forming the True Fire which could be considered the equivalent of a Domain for humans. Besides, Cao Yun''s Qi cultivation was in need of Fire Qi. Although Fire Qi was not directly related to actual fire, understanding even a tiny bit of the Dao of Fire would be useful.


    The Hellish Dragon Fruit was often considered as a half-step Spirit fruit because it had a high intuition despite having no real conscious or will. Just like any plant, it was reacting to its environment without being aware of it. But it was extremely close to forging a real spirit of its own. This had allowed this particular fruit to develop a small connection with the Dao of Fire. Of course, this was exceedingly rare and a great chance for Cao Yun.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    But that also meant something else. Zeng Bei''s scouts had failed to notice it, otherwise the agreement Huang Si had made with Guai Mo would be a real loss for her. And Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether all three demonic beasts were aware of this. But the Five Bloods Pheasant was for sure. After all, he had nurtured this Hellish Dragon Fruit. Faced with such a prize, he would not give up so easily. Losing a Hellish Dragon Fruit was not such a huge loss as he could just wait to get another one. However, this fragment of the Dao of Fire was something that could not be replaced. The Five Bloods Pheasant would probably risk his life to get his claws on it.


    If the Five Bloods Pheasant couldn''t find his Rune of Fire, he would probably attack the nearby city, risking his very life. Maybe, without this Rune of Fire, he would have hated the humans but wouldn''t have dared to venture in their territory. Furthermore, the other two demonic beasts were preventing him from going in a large portion of the forest so the hunters could have still operated undisturbed. With this discovery though, Cao Yun knew that Huang Si''s plan was truly doomed. Then, Cao Yun had to rethink his strategy but he was still confident.


    Moreover, Cao Yun had to take this fruit for his own cultivation. It was already enticing before. But now that he knew what was in it, he could not let it go either. For now though, he still had to pluck it. Since it had a fragment of the Dao of Fire, getting it would be even more difficult than what Cao Yun had thought. Until now, he had only been confronted to a Dao once, when Sect Leader Xuan had fought against Mo Tian. But he also had the ''Death Verses'' which was clearly Cleansed Asura''s understanding of the Dao of Death. As such, Cao Yun had unknowingly worked on a Dao before. That explained why he had not been able to advance ''Death Verses'' for quite some time now.


    Even after getting this Hellish Dragon Fruit, Cao Yun would not understand anything about the Dao of Fire. But he would have the first piece of the puzzle. There were a few Dao that were essential as they could be used during cultivation. The Dao of Fire and the Dao of Space were two of them. Besides they were also useful for alchemy and array formations respectively. Similarly, the Dao of Death was also useful for cultivating one''s soul as Cao Yun had realized. Indeed, the Dao of Death was related to Po, the corporeal soul that caused all the processes of death at the end.


    In order to get the Hellish Dragon Fruit, Cao Yun got as close as possible. Immediately, the tree itself caught on fire. Tongues of flames erupted and assaulted Cao Yun where he was standing. Instead of dodging, he focused his Wei Qi and even used his ''Dragon''s Chest''. All around him, scales of the Azure Dragon appeared to form an armor. Cao Yun was forced to activate it on his entire body. Thankfully he was still alone so no one could recognize his art. His Qi was condensed at the surface of his skin. At the same time, he had to keep all of his concentration for the process to come.


    In all the books he had read, he had found out the perfect technique to pluck this blazing fruit. It was simply called ''Ethereal Scissors of Tranquility''. In theory, it was a very simple alchemical technique. By focusing one''s Qi around one''s fingers, a Human alchemist could control the elements around his palm. That way, he could avoid any potential clash with the environment and the ingredient. Such a method was not difficult to grasp but was incredibly difficult to master.


    Shortly after reading it, Cao Yun had been able to use his Qi in such a way. But what he was lacking was the ability to perfectly match the environment around the Hellish Dragon Fruit. Furthermore, he would need to be able to do so while the fruit was trying to burn him to cinders. This wasn''t the best circumstances. However, he had no choice. If he left right now, he would probably never get another chance like this one. The Five Bloods Pheasant would certainly act after he had felt that someone had gotten so close to his treasure. Considering the rune of the Dao of Fire, Cao Yun was now convinced that the Five Bloods Pheasant would never let go of this fruit, even if he had to die in the process.


    Cao Yun could imagine the wrath of the Five Bloods Pheasant if the Hellish Dragon Fruit were to be stolen. And he was literally about to steal it from under his nose.


    In the distance, the Five Bloods Pheasant was fighting against Zeng Bei''s group. It was so enraged that the group had already used most of the pills given by Cao Yun. Without them, there would have been at least a couple of deaths already. Thankfully, Huang Si''s plan was working better on their ends. The Silan lake was known to be very cold and extremely rich in Water element as well as Earth element. The two of them were strong against the Fire element. In an actual fight, this wasn''t too useful. But they were still able to use it to their advantage. They had used a small array formation to lower the temperature around them and to humidify the air.


    Thanks to that, the attacks from the Five Bloods Pheasant were a bit weaker. The difference wasn''t much, but it was still there. Considering how dangerous their prey was, they put every advantage they could get on their side.


    In the distance, however, the Five Bloods Pheasant finally saw that something had happened near his nest. Despite the confusion of the battle, he had understood what was going on. These humans had attracted it while their comrade was stealing his fruit. Suddenly, a powerful screech resounded throughout all the Yunling Forest. Even Huang Si was able to hear a small echo of this rage.


    On the other hand, the Golden Plumed Jackal and the Flame-Tailed Wolf were watching from afar. They couldn''t see the tree per se but they could feel its heat and they could also physically feel the rage of the Five Bloods Pheasant. Although they too desired this blazing fruit, they especially didn''t want the Five Bloods Pheasant to have it. Even though it might not allow him to forge another core right away, it would open the way for that to happen in the near future. They had to stop him from acquiring it. And they couldn''t let the other one get it either. The best outcome would be to get it for them alone, but they would both settle for no one getting it.


    In a direct confrontation, they were evenly matched but the Five Bloods Pheasant had a significant advantage. Contrary to them, he could fly. And unlike him, they didn''t want to upset the balance of things. In a way, they were like the hunters. They liked how things were right now and didn''t want it to change. If they could avoid this whole situation without fighting, they would be glad. With six demonic cores, they had began to become wiser and more prudent. But that didn''t mean that they wouldn''t take advantage of the situation if they could.


    While under the full might of the Hellish Dragon Fruit, Cao Yun felt as though he was being cooked alive. His Wei Qi was protecting his flesh while the blood within his veins was protecting his organs. During this ordeal, Cao Yun had a good idea. He decided to try and harmonize the Qi around his hand with the fires outside. Since they were coming from the Hellish Dragon Fruit, they were perfect to cut it without damaging it.


    First, he had to lower his Wei Qi around his right hand. Immediately, his skin began to sizzle. Under those conditions, Cao Yun''s hand would soon be burned to a crisp. Thankfully, his flesh had been nourished by his own blood when he had been a 3rd-grade Blood Child. With the flames all around him, Cao Yun''s blood was also being stimulated more than ever. Before he could even realize what was going on, he felt a huge change within his body.

 Chapter 385: Hiding a dragon in a storm

    All of a sudden Cao Yun could hear his heart beat in all of his cells. As he was cultivating both the asura and the human systems, Cao Yun had already opened all his cells to his Qi and was about to do the same with his blood. This powerful rhythm was vibrating through his entire body. For a few moments, all of his tissues shook. Cao Yun had finally stepped into the 5th-grade Blood Child stage. All his organs had been imbued with his blood. Every part of his body had thus been changed by his blood cultivation. Both his superficial and internal tissues were new. What remained to work on were his bones.


    The intense pressure and heat of the Hellish Dragon Fruit had forced him to use his blood to protect his internal organs. By doing so, Cao Yun had pushed his blood cultivation to the next level. Breaking through without meaning to wasn''t such a good sensation for Cao Yun as he wanted to make sure that his cultivation was very stable. But thankfully, it was the case. This breakthrough had been made possible because Cao Yun had already worked on his blood before.


    As a 5th-grade Blood Child, Cao Yun would need to learn how to circulate his blood in order to make it plentiful everywhere. This would be a very easy step for him as he could already control his blood without any problem. Then, the three next steps would be related to his bones and his marrow. After working on one''s blood, asura refined the marrow within their bones. As such, the last stages of the Blood Child realm were preparing the scene for that cultivation. It was in principle very similar to what had happened to Ren Chao.


    For now, it didn''t really interest Cao Yun. He was focused on his ''Ethereal Scissors of Tranquility''. But this increase in his blood cultivation was still appreciated. In fact, it had allowed him to resist the flames a bit more.


    When he was finally ready, Cao Yun suddenly moved. In an instant he was close to the Hellish Dragon Fruit. This time, he literally felt his Wei Qi begin to evaporate under the intense heat. But in an instant, he had his right hand above the fruit. His Qi turned into a thin blade and cut off the fruit from its vine. The moment it got plucked, the fruit lost its sustenance. The tree was making it more powerful as it was connected to the ground and it could extract the Qi from both the air and the soil. Besides, there were still traces of the Five Bloods Pheasant''s blood on the bark.


    With this sudden separation, the fruit became weak enough for Cao Yun to envelop it in several layers of Qi. All of its heat was contained and then, it turned into a blue light and entered Cao Yun''s spatial ring.


    Because he knew that the Five Bloods Pheasant would notice right away, Cao Yun immediately hid his presence and ran toward the territories of the Flame-Tailed Wolf and the Golden Plumed Jackal. However, he was careful to make a sloppy job. He used his own Qi to leave a track behind, just noticeable enough to make the Five Bloods Pheasant believe it was a mistake. And he had chosen a road leading toward the Golden Plumed Jackal.


    Since he had already thought about what would happen were Huang Si''s plan to fail, he knew what to do. The first thing he had to do was to attract the Five Bloods Pheasant away from Zeng Bei''s team. If all else failed, he would be forced to use his martial arts and he didn''t want to, not yet.


    As soon as the Five Bloods Pheasant felt the absence of the Hellish Dragon Fruit, he screeched to the skies. Black clouds appeared over his dominion as his scream was echoing through a burned area. Opening his wings, the Five Bloods Pheasant rose into the air. Beneath him, a small firestorm hit the ground and Zeng Bei''s team. All around the demonic beast, there were chains meant to trap him. In an instant, they all melted. Zeng Bei''s team was forced to use their last card. In order to survive the enraged onslaught of the beast, they dived into the Silan lake.


    The Five Bloods Pheasant didn''t care about those humans at all. His goal was to get his fruit back. Without any ounce of rationality in his eyes, he rushed toward his nest. From his very feathers, tongues of fire licked the ground as he was flying over his land. There was fury and rage in the air. At that moment, Cao Yun completely hid his presence and the fake track stopped. He quickly found a spot to hide and let the bird continue onward.


    Having lost all reason, the Five Bloods Pheasant was about to enter the territory of the Golden Plumed Jackal. But at the last moment, he stopped himself. Those humans had tricked him earlier to steal his Hellish Dragon Fruit. He knew that the Golden Plumed Jackal would never ally himself with humans. Clearly this was another trick. And if humans were behind this... The Five Bloods Pheasant turned his eyes toward Yunling City.


    Damn it!


    Cao Yun''s plan had failed. But he had other contingencies. Seeing the Five Bloods Pheasant fly in the other direction, he was forced to resort to someone else''s help. Unfortunately, Cao Yun couldn''t fly. Thus, he took out a spear and sent a powerful blow toward the sky. Where he was standing, he pillar of light rose in the air. Of course, the demonic beasts all saw it as well.


    Sensing a terrible battle about to begin, Cao Yun got ready. He literally went back from whence he had come and stood near the Five Bloods Pheasant''s nest. He had also taken the Hellish Dragon Fruit out to force him to come to him.


    Even if he could deal with the Five Bloods Pheasant, Cao Yun would then need to deal with the other two 6-core demonic beasts. And he was truly wondering whether Huang Si had set him up for that. If he got rid of all three of them, she would probably be quite happy and carefree. Although he wasn''t sure, this was a possibility. Most likely, she had already seen through his fake identity. As the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun could indeed strike down 6-core demonic beasts.


    One thing was certain though, Cao Yun wouldn''t leave Yunling City be destroyed by the demonic beast he had infuriated himself. Once he was done with it, he might ask Huang Si for compensation though...Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    In his fury, the Five Bloods Pheasant would probably be extremely dangerous but not too smart. After sensing the Hellish Dragon Fruit, he changed his course once more. Cao Yun had waited just long enough to show himself so that he had some time to get ready. Thankfully, the Five Bloods Pheasant wasn''t too fast compared to the flying demonic beasts Cao Yun was used to.


    Blindly going toward his target, he was killing everything he could feel moving around. A few weak demonic beasts had dared to show themselves on his path and had immediately been reduced to ashes. Even their cores had been destroyed. Right now, the Five Bloods Pheasant was completely insane. Almost a century of work had disappeared in front of him. And he intended to get it back!


    Above the Five Bloods Pheasant''s territory, black clouds with red embers within started to form. The demonic beast was above them. Although he couldn''t see it right away, Cao Yun was able to sense the killing intent of the Five Bloods Pheasant. It was mixed with an incredible heat that would make any mortal suffocate in a few instants. Even the water in the air had been vaporized. Usually the Five Bloods Pheasant was reining in this heat but now, everything was off. He was completely devoured by rage.


    This time, Cao Yun had deliberately stopped his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' because he was trying to attract the demonic beast. Hopefully, he had gained enough time for his plan to succeed.


    The moment Cao Yun had decided to steal this Hellish Dragon Fruit, he had been ready to fight this 6-core demonic beast. Of course, he would have preferred not to. But now that he was that pissed off, he was probably going to attack Yunling City too just to take out his anger on humans. Thus, Cao Yun would have to take care of him here and now. But it would not be enough. He also had to make sure that the Golden Plumed Jackal and the Flame-Tailed Wolf would not cause any ruckus. At the same time, he also had to do all that without showing his best martial art and his true strength. Unfortunately, he had only found one way for that and he wasn''t too pleased with it. Clearly, Huang Si would have to make it up to him after that!


    Finally, the Five Bloods Pheasant appeared within the black clouds. He was covered in sizzling flames all over his colorful and magnificent plumage. His eyes were injected with blood as black flames were dancing in them. Apart from those terrifying balls of pure hatred, almost nothing could be seen of his real body as both the clouds and the flames were hiding it. Above Cao Yun, there was a living inferno. But he had literally been bathed in a pool of magma. This kind of heat wasn''t a problem for Cao Yun.


    Deep within his mind though, it was acting on Cao Yun''s recent trauma. Even now, he had not completely got over it.


    When he saw Cao Yun still standing proud while the heat was so intense, the Five Bloods Pheasant knew that this opponent was not a small fry. He still couldn''t tell whether this specific human was the one who had stolen from him but he saw the spatial ring on his finger. After getting the flying beast''s attention, Cao Yun had put the Hellish Dragon Fruit back in his spatial ring. Although he couldn''t use a spatial ring, the Five Bloods Pheasant was smart enough to understand what it was used for. Even if he had not stolen his fruit, this human should have killed several demonic beasts and taken their cores. That alone was worthy of death.


    Of course, the Five Bloods Pheasant had killed and devoured many demonic beasts in order to form his six demonic cores. However, the idea that a human had killed his preys instead of him was infuriating. Demonic beasts were very territorial and the Five Bloods Pheasant didn''t appreciate that a human was so close to his territory. Just for that offense he could have killed him.


    The furious beast had a problem though. If the human had put the fruit into that ring, a demonic beast didn''t know how to retrieve it. Only a human could do that. Cao Yun hoped that it would buy him some time as the Five Bloods Pheasant would hesitate and it worked.


    In that moment of hesitation, Cao Yun launched his assault. All around him, blue sparks emerged. In the sky above even the flying bird, a large whirlwind began to form. And in Cao Yun''s hands, his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' had appeared. Sensing danger for the first time, the Five Bloods Pheasant stopped hesitating right away. After all, if he took the spatial ring, other humans could open it for him. He didn''t need this specific human to do so.


    What the Five Bloods Pheasant ignored was that Cao Yun had worked on seals for quite some time. And he had worked on putting a seal on his spatial rings. They were not too strong yet, but not anyone could access his property from now on.


    Now that he was decided, the Five Bloods Pheasant decided to immediately use all his strength. He was indeed smart. Even a lion would use all his strength to hunt down a rabbit. And considering that he had no way of estimating the strength of this human, the Five Bloods Pheasant would go with everything he had. Besides, he had recognized an array formation around him. Usually, he would have probably fled but he was in his own nest, facing the human who had stolen from him. There was no way he wasn''t going to kill him, even by putting his own life on the line.


    Flapping his battered wings, two small tornadoes of heated wind went directly toward Cao Yun.


    The young martial artist scoffed at the attack. It clearly had enough strength to tear apart a middle Mortal Warrior. But Cao Yun''s ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was based around the concept of Wind from the Eight Trigrams, related to the Wood element. And now that his array formation was activated, he was completely concealed from prying eyes. Indeed, the array formation used by Cao Yun was the Scorched Earth Embers. This 2-star Human array formation was employed for concealment.


    By using the principle behind ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun had made sure to conceal his own martial art. And to hide it less conspicuously, he had even created the illusion of a whirlwind all around them. From the outside, it would look like they were fighting in a tornado.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' became as large as the pillar of a temple under his Spear Aura. Now that he could manifest his Qi, Cao Yun could literally rotate his Qi within his own weapon to create a powerful spiral of wind around his weapon. When it got discharged, two dragon horns pierced through the couple of tornadoes from the Five Bloods Pheasant. Between the two fighters, a hurricane uprooted many trees who fell back toward the ground. When they struck the ground, they crumbled to cinders as the heat was still unbearable. Despite this intense heat, Cao Yun was not even sweating one bit.


    Even more pissed off, the Five Bloods Pheasant screeched with all of his rage. This created a shockwave that shook the entire area. Some weaker demonic beasts who had been hiding fainted. Some young ones even died under the shock. But this mental attack had no impact on Cao Yun whatsoever. In fact, he countered it with his ''Bleeding Eyes'' from ''Weeping Demon''.


    His stare met the Five Bloods Pheasant''s. Both of their eyes were full of blood and fire. Not one of them could break the will of the other. And the fight kept on going!

 Chapter 386: Two fiery birds

    The fiery bird stayed high in the sky and spat some of his own blood. A literal rain of boiling blood poured over Cao Yun. This blood was almost like acid. But Cao Yun did not wait to be struck by it.


    ''Crafty Harassment''.


    Cao Yun''s figure faltered and he slithered around the blazing drops of blood. A blue aura reminiscent of the Azure Dragon was all over the place. From the sky, the Five Bloods Pheasant was able to vaguely see the shape of the Azure Dragon''s constellation in Cao Yun''s movement. But it was always shifting and moving around. Instead of stars though, this constellation was formed with attacks.


    Each time Cao Yun stopped for even an instant, he threw several ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' toward his enemy. They were not powerful enough to injure him too much, but they were still assaulting his weak spots. As such, the Five Bloods Pheasant was forced to move around as well, disrupting his own attack.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun understood that he could not beat this opponent in such a way. Even with the concealment, he couldn''t show his full might. The array formation was just too weak to resist the onslaught of both Cao Yun and the beast''s attacks. Cao Yun had been ready on the ground with some array formations and even a bit of poison. But the Five Bloods Pheasant was not stupid, he was staying high in the sky. As such Cao Yun''s attacks were either unable to reach him or not powerful enough to kill him straight away.


    Because he was the one who had caused his ire, Cao Yun had to be the one to put an end to it. However, even if he jumped toward him, Cao Yun could not control his movements in the air. The Five Bloods Pheasant would just move out of the way and Cao Yun''s attack would be useless. But it was too soon to give up right now. Hopefully, the fiery bird would waste his strength and give Cao Yun the opportunity he was waiting for.


    As the human had understood the situation, the Five Bloods Pheasant had too. He could see that his opponent had no way of reaching him that could truly put him in danger. Thus, he could just stay at a safe distance and bombard him with powerful attacks. The rage was blinding the Five Bloods Pheasant who had already wasted some of his blood for nothing, just to make Cao Yun move around.


    Around the Five Bloods Pheasant''s body, flames appeared. All of his feathers seemed to come to life. Each one looked like a tongue of fire. But each one had a slightly different color. In this colorful inferno, the Five Bloods Pheasant was opening fully opening his huge wings. Then, he suddenly tensed up and closed himself up. As he did, all the flames rained down toward the ground.


    This time, Cao Yun had no time to dodge as the area was just too large for him to get out of harm''s way.


    ''Imperial Throne''!


    Spinning his spear around, a small vortex was formed around Cao Yun. The flames falling toward him were sucked into this vortex. However, they were not dispersed at all. To the contrary, they began to force this vortex to close toward Cao Yun himself who was at its center.


    ''Dragon''s Chest''!


    Stabbing his spear into the ground, Cao Yun intensified his Wei Qi. An armor made of blue dragon scales manifested around the young man. In particular, Cao Yun protected his Bai Hui. In the sky, the Five Bloods Pheasant could feel that Cao Yun was putting more emphasis on the summit of his skull. Although he was not as knowledgeable as humans, he could instinctively feel that Cao Yun had an old injury there. This was the perfect spot to attack!


    The truth was that Cao Yun''s Bai Hui was in theory completely healed. But the young man was still a bit afraid. Almost losing his ability to progress his cultivation had taken a toll on him. Although his mind cultivation had prevented the creation of an inner demon, Cao Yun was close to such a state. There was still a psychological trauma. During his meditation, he could forget it with his mind cultivation, but it really wasn''t a good thing to do. He had to get over it himself if he wanted his cultivation to be stable. That was one of the reasons why he had devoted most of his cultivation time to the ''Crimson Inferno Road''.


    As he was trapped into the flames, Cao Yun saw a flashback of the lava ocean he had been in when his Bai Hui was hurt. Despite the fight around him, Cao Yun was thus forced to activate his mind cultivation just to fend off his past trauma.


    Cao Yun was almost certain he could end this fight fairly quickly if he used a full Qi Manifestation. Besides, he had prepared a few array formations and some poisons on the ground. If the Five Bloods Pheasant got too close to it, he would have absolutely no chance. But he was probably going to try to kill Cao Yun before doing that. Despite his rage, he had not gone blind.


    The Five Bloods Pheasant saw that his attack was having some effect as Cao Yun had stopped moving around and was focusing on defense. Thus, he pressed on and increased the flames. Of course, Cao Yun could persevere a long time, but it wasn''t optimal for him. He had to snap out of it right away!


    The very moment he thought that, Cao Yun heard a familiar screech in the distance. He didn''t even have to look to know that it had come from Hongyu. The two of them were connected. And before leaving, he had told her something. As much as he didn''t want to involve her in his fight, it would also be a good opportunity for her. Hopefully, Cao Yun could take care of the Five Bloods Pheasant and also keep the other two 6-core demonic beasts calm.


    The Blood Boiling Fenghuang was flying with all her speed toward Cao Yun. She was even faster than the Five Bloods Pheasant. Although she was flying high in the sky, the shockwave was still affecting the forest below. Thankfully, she wasn''t destroying everything on her path, but many small animals died in her wake. Right now, she was only focused on getting to Cao Yun in time. What would have taken the young man several hours to cross on foot took her a handful of minutes.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Unfortunately, she was only a 4-core demonic beast and was no threat at all for a 6-core one like the Five Bloods Pheasant. However, Cao Yun knew that he was going to kill his opponent thanks to her!


    As soon as Cao Yun saw Hongyu, obviously the Five Bloods Pheasant did too. When they crossed eyes, something happened within them. Both were from two different lineages but they were related to legendary fiery birds, the True Fiery Fenghuang and the Dawn Vermilion Bird. As such, there was some form of bond between them. However, it was akin to an eternal rivalry as the True Fiery Fenghuang was known as the ruler of all birds while the Dawn Vermilion Bird boasted to be superior even to him.


    Now, Hongyu was right in front of the fiery bird she had sensed. His rage was almost palpable around him as he was still covered in flames that were pouring down toward Cao Yun. On the ground, there was a literal tornado of fire, a firestorm that was focusing on Cao Yun and slowly constricting him. From afar, it looked almost like a tornado made of thousands of multi-colored feathers. It was very gorgeous. But upon seeing it, one would sense the unbearable heat. Despite that, Cao Yun was still fine under the dragon scale armor manifested around him.


    His Scorched Earth Embers had been completely destroyed by the raging inferno. Luckily, it was also hiding Cao Yun''s martial arts.


    The two birds were rather similar considering their lineage. But they were two worlds apart as Hongyu only had four cores, one of which was tainted with Evil Qi, while the Five Bloods Pheasant had six of them and was almost ready to form a seventh one. That was the difference between an early Mortal Warrior and a half-step Spirit Warrior. Hongyu was indeed theoretically on Cao Yun''s level, but she had no martial art and no weapon, just her bloodline and her cores. Even then, she couldn''t use her fourth core without risking her life. Anyway, Cao Yun would have never risked her life for nothing and she knew it. She trusted him completely.


    The bond between the two demonic beasts was not a good thing in this context. In fact, this seemed to fuel the rage of the Five Bloods Pheasant even more. Maybe he felt threatened by Hongyu somehow. No matter what the reason was, he immediately turned hostile toward her. After all, Hongyu had clearly the stench of humans. And the Five Bloods Pheasant even sensed the touch of the human down below. So of course, he was not very pleased with her arrival. In fact, he believed that the human had stolen his Hellish Dragon Fruit for her.


    All the flames he was directed toward Cao Yun ceased to pour down. Instead, the Five Bloods Pheasant flapped his wings and the firestorm around the young man rose into the air. Then, he hurtled it toward Hongyu without any hesitation.


    Cao Yun had been able to resist the flames thanks to his cultivation and his martial arts but he wasn''t sure whether Hongyu could withstand it at all. Even if she could, it might upset the evil core within her which would be very bad for her health even if she survived. Hopefully, Cao Yun''s makeshift seal would endure.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''!


    With his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'', Cao Yun swept in the direction of the air between the two birds. He tried to time it so that his attack would disrupt the firestorm. His spear turned into a river of stars in his very hands. When he swept with it, it was as if the river had overflown and splashed toward the empty space he was targeting. At the very moment it reached the target, the firestorm passed at that spot. A large portion of the fire was put out right then. Unfortunately, a still relatively large portion of it passed through. Besides, the Five Bloods Pheasant even added his own fires to it as a second wave.


    Hongyu was incredibly fast but she had just come here with all her speed. She reacted a bit too late and it was difficult for her to change her course so suddenly. As such, she was engulfed in the firestorm. All the fiery feathers struck her directly and the heat increased so fast that the air all around her distorted. It even caused some form of vacuum and Hongyu could not breathe air any longer.


    Despite Cao Yun''s worries, he couldn''t sense any danger on Hongyu. The heat itself did not affect her at all and she kept flying through the shock of the firestorm. Although the winds were trying to threw her off, she was able to keep going forward. She closed off her wings completely and flew toward Cao Yun like she was an arrow shot out of the firestorm. This time, she was fast enough so that the Five Bloods Pheasant''s second wave barely touched her.


    As Hongyu got closer to Cao Yun, he understood what she wanted to do. Since he was stuck on the ground, Cao Yun could not beat this demonic beast. But if he was riding Hongyu, he had a very good chance of taking him down for good. Without any hesitation, Cao Yun jumped toward Hongyu and got on her back.


    As soon as he was on her back, Cao Yun decided to feel her evil core to make sure everything was safe. What he felt was that Hongyu was using all of her cores except the evil one. It was still well under control. However, he could also feel that it was trying to get more and more active.


    Now that he was on Hongyu''s back, Cao Yun could finally launch a real counter-offensive against the Five Bloods Pheasant. He didn''t like putting Hongyu in danger as he had been the cause of her parents'' death. But she was his only chance to resolve this conflict without exposing himself. Besides, she would also gain a lot from it.


    Without even talking or directing Hongyu, she did exactly as Cao Yun wished. Indeed, she could sense the flow of Qi in him and knew what he was about to do. After all, they had shared their Qi for a very long time considering that Cao Yun had been operating on her evil core. By now, they were almost like brother and sister, adding to it the fact that Hongyu felt as though Cao Yun was part of her family and Cao Yun was feeling guilty for her parents'' death.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    Before the Five Bloods Pheasant could react, Cao Yun had thrown his spear toward him. When it crossed the space between them, there were ripples in the air. Although there was no water at all, the air itself behaved as though it were. As if a giant serpent with a few fins were swimming in the air, ripples spread throughout the sky. Finally, when the spear reached its destination, ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' pierced through the fiery bird''s left wing as it was trying to dodge.


    Despite a scream of pain, the fiery bird was not disheartened. Now, the human had lost his weapon and the female bird was fast but not strong enough to fight against him. He just had to get to them quickly.


    Another scream echoed from the Five Bloods Pheasant. All of his feathers began to shake and tremble under the vibration of his throat. Behind him, his tail separated into five large streams of what looked like blood but was in fact liquid fire. Those five tails went all around Hongyu in order to trap her. Although she was fast, those tails were so long that they were able to block her path before she even attempted to move around. By the time she got where she wanted to go, it would be too late.


    At the same time, Cao Yun was controlling his Qi to get his weapon back. Unfortunately, as he wasn''t using his entire Bai Hui yet, his control was not strong enough. His spear had halted its course but it would take too long for it to come back to him. There was a thin string of Qi linking him to his weapon. If only he could use his Bai Hui fully, he could tense this string even more and get his weapon faster.


    This wasn''t necessary though, Cao Yun was now certain that he had won this fight after injuring the Five Bloods Pheasant.

 Chapter 387: Black Feathers

    Before the fight, Cao Yun had decided to use every card he had to kill the fiery beast without exposing himself. Although it might not be entirely necessary in that situation, with the assistance of the Huang family, he still didn''t want to risk it. After all, he could never be sure who might be able to see him. And some hunter might be tempted to sell the information. As Chen Guo, he couldn''t do what he wanted to do in Qingyun City. Ironically though, the black clouds conjured by the Five Bloods Pheasant would help him in that regard.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun wouldn''t have to put Hongyu in danger. Indeed, his spear had been covered with some Salt of the White Turtle. This was a potent poison described in ''Tree of Death''. According to the author, it could be considered a 4-star Human poison if prepared correctly. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had probably only made a 3-star or even 2-star Human version of it. Anyway, he had tested the effects and they were almost as terrifying as what Tree of Death had written. In a matter of seconds, it had been able to completely enter the bloodstream of some 3-core demonic beast. Then, its blood cells got destroyed and the poor beast died very quickly.


    Honestly, Cao Yun didn''t like using poison at all. He was a true martial artist and winning a fight like that seemed wrong on many levels. On the other hand, knowing about poison was good to survive. And he was not so upright that he would never resort to it in a life-or-death situation, especially if it concerned someone else''s life. However, he would still not rely on poison too much. In fact, it could even lead him to neglect his other strengths and push him to try to take the easy way instead. Poisons were not evil in nature, but they were still used more often by demonic cultivators than orthodox ones.


    Against a 6-core demonic beast, Cao Yun was aware that the poison would take a lot more time to cause serious injuries. In fact, it might not be able to kill him. But he was probably not be knowledgeable enough to know what to do against poison. A human cultivator would have immediately tried to expel it by now. Unfortunately for him, the bird didn''t know how to do it. Even if the poison itself would not kill him, it would at least weaken him enough for Cao Yun and Hongyu to kill him easily.


    Of course, the Five Bloods Pheasant would not die just like that. All of a sudden, the black clouds all around got more and more intense. Instead of lightning, there were tongues of fire crackling within them. In no time, the entire territory of the Five Bloods Pheasant was engulfed in darkness. No ray from the sun was able to pierce through. Once again, it would provide Cao Yun with the perfect cover. But this time, he wasn''t happy at all as he was sensing something terrible. Maybe he had misjudged the Five Bloods Pheasant''s strength.


    From the black clouds, shadows fell upon the Five Bloods Pheasant as the flames were also engulfing his body. The beast before them was now made of shadow and fire. In the air, there was a pulse as though they could hear his heart beating all around them. This sound was coming from the rumbling of the flames within the darkness, like thunder. Behind the Five Bloods Pheasant, its five tails made of liquid fire were also whipping the air and creating vacuum everywhere they went. It was as though they were in another world.


    "This is bad!"


    "What?"


    Cao Yun got distracted by Dian Mo''s words.


    "This beast must have absorbed some tiny fraction of the Dao of Fire from the Hellish Dragon Fruit. Maybe the same phenomenon that allowed the fruit to have a Rune of Fire also gave him something. This isn''t much, but this is still terrible. Hopefully, the Dao of Fire will destroy him before he can obliterate you..."


    As Cao Yun was talking with Dian Mo, even it took less than an instant, Hongyu acted. She could feel that her brother was having some doubts, but she could feel the new deadly aura around her enemy too. Besides, Cao Yun had not recovered his spear yet. This time, she activated all of her cores. From the evil core, Cao Yun felt strands of Evil Qi erupt all around her body. However, they were still under her control thanks to the properties of the Drop of Wrath within her. That being said, there was no way of knowing how long she could control them and what damage she may inflict upon herself unknowingly. Indeed, she was using the evil core with pure instinct. Unlike humans, she didn''t really know what she was doing with her own Qi.


    Many of her brilliant red feathers turned black all across her plumage. Then, she exhaled and black flames left her beak. Cao Yun immediately thought about the black flames used by Can Mouye which had hurt and killed her mother. Those flame were just as corrosive as Evil Qi since they had originated from it. When they touched one of the five streams of liquid fire, the black flames contaminated it. Like a shadow, the fire went upstream toward the Five Bloods Pheasant''s tail. Even he was alarmed, unable to understand what was going on. A demonic beast had no protection against Evil Qi as he didn''t even know what it was in the first place.


    Some demonic beast was just powerful enough to disregard it. In fact, some demonic beast were also able to instinctively use it, but those were powerful beasts and more often than not, they were full of Yin and rather macabre. A Five Bloods Pheasant was not in this category. What truly terrified him though was that he could not control this fire despite the little bit of Dao of Fire he had acquired.


    Afraid, he literally stopped the fire of that tail. From his body, a radiant fire broke out, entangled with shadow, it flew toward the black flames still in the air. Darkness met darkness and both got snuffed out. Unfortunately, the Five Bloods Pheasant had a greater vitality than Hongyu. However, something really wasn''t right with him.


    His left wing was damaged and he was getting exhausted as the poison was spreading. Unfortunately, the young human had grabbed his weapon back. And if that damn cursed bird were to use her black flames again, he would be in danger. Could he really be killed by those two weaklings?! Unfortunately, he realized how desperate he was right now. All that had been planned by this irritating human! No matter what, he would have to kill him!If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Although he had stolen the Hellish Dragon Fruit, the Five Bloods Pheasant knew that killing the human would not bring it back. By now, it was probably in that magical ring he had on his finger. He had taken a couple of those strange rings but had never been able to open them. Humans had ways that beasts could not emulate...


    Damn! Even if he couldn''t get the Hellish Dragon Fruit, he would at least take that human down. And that devil bird as well!


    Within the Five Bloods Pheasant, all six of his cores began to vibrate. From his bloodstream, several beads of heavy blood were condensed and went toward those cores. It was instinctive but the Five Bloods Pheasant had decided to burn all bridges. With this attack he would die. But hopefully, he would take the human down with him. That black bird was fast but not nearly fast enough to escape the blast.


    Those drops of blood were blood essence. Ordinary blood was full of Qi, but blood essence was characterized by the presence of Jing, the essence of life. Right now, the Five Bloods Pheasant had not burned away just any kind of blood essence, he had literally used his prenatal Jing. That meant that he was quite literally burning his own lifespan. But with his rage he wasn''t thinking straight. His injuries were not heavy enough that he couldn''t recover from them. In fact, he might even have obtained another chance to break through at some point. However, he had gone berserk after seeing Hongyu. He felt as though he had to kill her. That and his blind rage against Cao Yun had won over his last shreds of rationality.


    Although he had six cores, the Five Bloods Pheasant could not think and behave like a human yet. Right now, he was unable to rule over his rage. In a sense, he was very close to what demons and asura were, blinded and overtaken by emotions. Maybe the poison was also affecting his mind, this was hard to tell.


    All the feathers of his body began to ignite. His entire plumage turned into a living firestorm. Beneath his feathers, his very flesh was being cooked as he was still drawing breath. The pain was intense but he didn''t care. His very cores were burning inside his entrails and were fueling his rage.


    Immediately, the heat got so intense that the very air was starting to vibrate. Of course, this drew Cao Yun and Hongyu''s attention. When they saw the two blazing orbs that had replaced the Five Bloods Pheasant''s eyes, they knew what was going on. The bird was now made of more flames than flesh. Then, he dove toward them with his wings fully opened and his four remaining tails whipping the air all around him. Many fires broke out all around the forest as blazes were hurtled through the air. Even out of the cloud of darkness, there were sparks that ignited many fires.


    A terrifying screech echoed throughout the entire Yunling Forest, warning all weaker demonic beasts to stay hidden. Even the Golden Plumed Jackal and the Flame-Tailed Wolf heard this. Both of them knew that this meant their rival was going down. That also meant that he had met a powerful adversary. Hopefully, they were all dying together...


    The Five Bloods Pheasant had burned almost everything he was. Right now, he was a pure embodiment of fires barely contained by his own demonic cores that were acting as catalysts. High in the sky, he was a ghastly shape of colorful flames enveloping a body of shadow and blood. From his tail, five powerful whips were lacerating the air leaving blazing traces in the sky.


    His screech was permanent as the very heat from the fire was vibrating the air around him. Cao Yun was forced to activate his mind cultivation to the limit not to lose consciousness. Even the Drop of Wrath had been activated. And it was resonating with Hongyu''s evil core. Right now, the Five Bloods Pheasant was almost on the level of a real 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. In theory, this wasn''t a fight Cao Yun could win. Thankfully, the demonic beast had no spiritual senses whatsoever. This was the privilege of humans in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Thanks to this absence, Cao Yun was not immediately crushed. However, his strength was still inferior to his enemy. Even with Hongyu''s help, he would barely be able to survive. Unfortunately, the Five Bloods Pheasant had forsaken everything in order to kill Cao Yun. The young man had made sure to spare the tree of the Hellish Dragon Fruit so that the Five Bloods Pheasant was not pushed too far. If he had cut his losses, he could have matured another fruit in a century or so maybe. What neither Cao Yun nor Huang Si had not planned was that he would utterly lose it. Unfortunately, he was still a demonic beast and was not able to reason like a human. They had thought too much like rational orthodox cultivators.


    If Cao Yun were to die because of some stupid chicken, Dian Mo''s fate would be just too shameful. After everything he had suffered, he refused to die like that but he couldn''t intervene at all. Deep down, Dian Mo was looking for ways to help Cao Yun stay alive. No matter how injured he would be, Dian Mo had to keep his host alive if he wanted to survive too. During a fight, he was pretty much useless. If he wanted to help Cao Yun, he realized that he had to do it outside of those fights. He had to help him grow stronger. But Dian Mo''s knowledge wasn''t about fighting. His strongest suit was array formations.


    The Five Bloods Pheasant did not leave his enemies any time to prepare themselves. He was already diving toward Hongyu and Cao Yun on his back.


    Seeing the deadly attack reaching her, Hongyu pushed herself even further. Using all of her speed, she ascended as fast as possible. In an instant, she broke the wall of sound. The area was already a disaster but it was further blown away by this sudden acceleration. After playing around with Elder Ying, Hongyu had grown accustomed to being chased in the air. Right now, she was pushing herself beyond all her limits, even using the evil core. All her red feathers were slowly turning black.


    Inside her entrails, Cao Yun could feel the Evil Qi seeping away from the evil core. She was pushing it too much too fast and even her blood essence could not contain it. Without waiting, Cao Yun who was grabbing onto her with all his strength infused her body with his own Qi mixed with the intent of the Drop of Wrath. He was literally trying to control the Evil Qi she was using. He had brought her here and was responsible for her health.


    As fast as Hongyu was, the Five Bloods Pheasant was now made of living fire. A fragment of the Dao of Fire was within him. he had reached a strength equal to a 7-core demonic beast. As such, he had become even faster than she was while using all her strength and risking her life. The Five Bloods Pheasant was upon Hongyu and Cao Yun, ready to obliterate them with his last attack. And it would indeed be his ultimate attack. All his flesh had already been consumed and only his last grudge toward those two was keeping him together.


    Both Hongyu and Cao Yun knew what was coming. Circulating his martial arts, Cao Yun activated ''Dragon''s Heart'' and ''Dragon''s Chest'' at the same time. Around Cao Yun and Hongyu, a pulsating ball of dragon scales appeared. From Hongyu, black flames also erupted end engulfed them both, concealing Cao Yun''s Qi Manifestation.


    In his last breath, the Five Bloods Pheasant completely exploded. There was a firestorm of myriad of colors. Even from Yunling City people could see it. That power was equal to an early Spirit Warrior who made all of his Dantian blow up. In a fraction of a second, all of his energy was released at once.

 Chapter 388: The last fires of the pheasant

    Almost all of the Five Bloods Pheasant''s cores were destroyed by the explosion. It was so devastating that even the air was vaporized in an instant. When the explosion was done, there was a powerful suction. Air from all around got sucked into the vacuum. This caused some small trees to be uprooted. But more than that, a sudden influx of oxygen caused fires to break out everywhere around the area. The Yunling Forest had lost a rather large area. Even the Silan lake where Zeng Bei''s team had been received some damage.


    It would take a few years for nature to restore itself completely. Some trees had been there for hundreds of years. In a matter of minutes, they had burned away into ashes and dust.


    Apart from an early Spirit Warrior, no cultivator could have survived such an attack. However, Cao Yun had a trump card. Sect Leader Xuan had given him a Spirit Condensation Barrier. In order to produce such an artifact, one had to literally take a part of his soul. Thus, Cao Yun would never use it unless he was in a situation he was certain he could not survive. Thankfully, it hadn''t been the case.


    In the smoking crater down below, Hongyu was laying down with Cao Yun unconscious in her feathers. His Qi Manifestation had been completely blown away and neither Cao Yun nor Hongyu had any form of Wei Qi left. Right now, even an early Mortal could have slain Hongyu. Cao Yun''s skin was maybe a bit tougher to penetrate thanks to his blood cultivation and the training of Chief Instructor Peng. But a middle Mortal could kill him if he really wanted to.


    That meant that many demonic beasts around those parts could slaughter them both without any problem at all. But thankfully, the devastation had chased away all the demonic beasts that had not already been killed during the clash. And right now, they were not in a hurry to go toward the crater. After all, they were mostly certain that the self-detonation of the Five Bloods Pheasant had obliterated everything. Even his demonic cores had not survived such a destruction.


    And they were mostly right. His cores had mostly turned into powder. Only a few fragments had survived, scattered over the ground. They had lost all of their luster and were almost like normal rocks now. Most of the energy within them had been used as a catalyst to cause this gigantic explosion brought by the Five Bloods Pheasant''s rage.


    As Cao Yun was unconscious, the evil core within Hongyu was running out of control. Thankfully, the blast from the explosion had blown away the black flames so she was not burning like the Five Bloods Pheasant. But her only choice to keep the evil core from damaging her was to use her prenatal Jing in order to try and keep it in check. Otherwise, she would die in a matter of hours as her own organs would be corroded by the Evil Qi within it.


    At the same moment, Cao Yun was lost in his sea of consciousness. A voice brought him back.


    "Boy, you''re crazy! You almost killed me! Do you realize that?! If you don''t value your life, at least value mine!"


    Dian Mo was rather furious about what had just happened. But Cao Yun could sense both sincere worry and deep relief. Dian Mo had really been anxious about Cao Yun''s survival and not just because he would have died too.


    "You could have easily flown away before it came down to such a self-destructive fight!"


    "But he would have attacked the city then... I took the fruit. I couldn''t let those people suffer for my actions. But do not worry, I''m not suicidal. If I had thought that I couldn''t survive, I would have used the Spirit Condensation Barrier although it would have cost me. To be honest, I didn''t think this stupid chicken would blow himself up. He could have lived and harvested another Hellish Dragon Fruit. Sure, it wouldn''t have been as good as this one, but still... It would have been better than to kill himself, right?"


    "You clearly know nothing about how demonic beasts think. They don''t reason like humans. In that aspect, they might even be closer to actual demons if I say so myself."


    "That would be an interesting topic but we''ll have to postpone this conversation."


    Cao Yun was obviously worried about Hongyu and he was right to be. Forcing his mind to wake up, he came back to the physical world. The poor Hongyu was in incredible pain beneath him. Forgetting all the pain in his sore body and the few burns here and there, Cao Yun felt terrible. He had thought that his preparation was enough to take care of the Five Bloods Pheasant. Hell, he had even thought this would be a good opportunity for Hongyu as she could have absorbed his demonic cores. But he had miscalculated the demonic beast''s rage and power.


    Without wasting any more time, Cao Yun began to meditate. Instead of cultivating, he was using all of his Five Prodigious Gates to send Qi within her body. This time, he did not even think about the damage to his Bai Hui. And as he didn''t think about it, it stopped to exist in that moment. Indeed, the damage was in fact gone. There was just a trauma in Cao Yun''s mind about it. Each time he thought about pushing his Bai Hui a bit too much, he became self-conscious about it. Right now, he was only thinking about saving Hongyu''s life, nothing else.


    Quickly, Cao Yun realized that he could calm the Evil Qi but it had already damaged her flesh. Hongyu''s wounds were too severe to be healed in a short amount of time. But thankfully, Cao Yun had the perfect ingredient to help her out.


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun first gulped down a pill to restore some of his Qi. Then the Hellish Dragon Fruit appeared. As soon as it was out, it tried to fly away. Although the fruit had no consciousness, it was aware of its surrounding just like plants which were attracted to the light of the sun. It was just acting on impulses, without any ability to think, feel or reason. However, it was powerful. Thankfully, Cao Yun knew about this and was ready. He trapped the Hellish Dragon Fruit with the little strength he had regained.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Using his ''Ethereal Scissors of Tranquility'', Cao Yun took out one scale of the fruit and sent the rest back within his spatial ring before it could break free from him. Considering Hongyu''s current condition, Cao Yun extracted the medicinal essence from the scale himself. With it, he absorbed a lot of Fire Qi. For a brief moment, he tensed up, remembering what had happened in the lava ocean. But he had to save Hongyu who had risked her life for him, just like her parents.


    As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was supposed to use Fire Qi and Water Qi to temper his Five Prodigious Gates and slowly make them able to resist more and more powerful Fire Qi. Indeed, a Mortal Warrior had to accumulate large quantities of Fire Qi and then prepare his body for the clash between this Fire Qi and the Water Qi already gathered before. Such a clash would create the Soul Embryo. But it could as easily destroy one''s body and soul.


    Right now, Cao Yun was not thinking about this, but he was still inadvertently tempering his Five Prodigious Gates. As he was doing so, he felt the influence of the world tree within his Five Prodigious Gates. It was obviously rich in Wood element. And Wood element was destroyed by Fire as it was feeding it. As such, the Fire Qi extracted from the Hellish Dragon Fruit grew stronger but Cao Yun''s Prodigious Gates were under a lot of pressure.


    In order to soothe them, Cao Yun controlled his Water Qi deep in his Lower Dantian. Instead of clashing directly with the Fire Qi, Cao Yun decided to nourish the Wood element in his Five Prodigious Gates. Just as Fire Qi was burning it to nourish itself, the Water Qi was rejuvenating it. Although it wasn''t his main goal, Cao Yun was indeed cultivating. Later he would need to meditate on that. This was very similar to alchemy so he could surely find better ways to make it efficient.


    For now though, he was worried about Hongyu''s health. As he was extracting and even nourishing the Fire Qi from the scale of the Hellish Dragon Fruit, Cao Yun was then circulating it in Hongyu''s body. Considering her bloodline, Hongyu had a high affinity with Fire Qi. This would help her stabilize her condition. And indeed, it did. After a few hours, Hongyu was breathing peacefully. Most of her injuries were gone.


    Of course, she was still exhausted, but her life was not in danger any longer. Cao Yun also worked on her evil core to strengthen the intent of the Drop of Wrath within her blood around it.


    -


    When Hongyu finally woke up, she felt the warm sensation of the Fire Qi seeping through her body. Immediately, she recognized the touch of her brother in it. She knew that he had saved her life and was now doing so again. Comfortable, she enjoyed the sensation. After the deadly touch of the Evil Qi within her, it was more than welcome. Although this evil core could make her powerful beyond her current strength, it was also killing her very slowly. In fact, without Cao Yun, it would have been killing her very fast.


    After a while, she opened her eyes and saw the desolation around her. Then, she saw the fragments of the demonic cores of the Five Bloods Pheasant. Although they were mostly depleted, they were still pieces of 6-demonic cores that had belonged to a species very close to her. As such, she couldn''t disregard them. Even though they would not be enough for her to form a fifth core, they were still a good source of nutrients for her cultivation. However, Cao Yun was forced to stop her.


    Originally, he was ready to feed her the demonic cores, but he might be in need of them now. Indeed, they had almost been completely destroyed so for his purposes, he might be forced to use everything that remained, even some pieces of the Five Bloods Pheasant''s body.


    Cao Yun knew that for his trick to work, he had to act fast. His goal was to deceive the Golden Plumed Jackal and the Flame-Tailed Wolf. After his fight with a powerful 6-core demonic beast, he didn''t want to relive the experience. Thankfully, he had had several ideas on how to deal with them. Right now, he simply needed to keep them to their respective territories. The Five Bloods Pheasant was the only one who was dangerously close to forming a seventh core. The other two would not be a problem before at least a decade. In the meantime, mankind would be faced with worse threats to be honest.


    Following his idea, Cao Yun gathered everything he could find that had belonged to the Five Bloods Pheasant. Since he was completely exhausted, it took a bit more time. He couldn''t even use his Qi to lift heavy bones.


    "What are you trying to do?"


    "The other two beasts can''t know for sure whether their rival is dead or not. But as long as they believe he still draws breath and he''s licking his wounds, they would probably keep him in peace. Even if they think he''s seriously injured, they wouldn''t open themselves to an attack by their other rival. And from everything I''ve read about them, there''s no way they can team up together to take care of a beast that isn''t a threat anymore."


    "So you want to make them believe the Five Bloods Pheasant was terribly injured but survived?"


    "Exactly! That way, they won''t be afraid of him so the tensions within the Yunling Forest will slowly decrease. By the time they realize the deception, the Huang family should be settled in this place so they won''t dare attack them either."


    "I see... And you want to create an array formation to do so..."


    Of course, Dian Mo was an expert when it came to array formations so he could immediately think of many possibilities. In fact, there was probably not a living being on the surface of the Piaolu planet who knew more about array formations than Dian Mo. Besides spending millenniums studying the complex array formations of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he had also read almost every manual within the treasury of that place. That included the ''Crossing the Three Chasms in the Eight Directions'' which Sun Liao had received. That manual explained how to best use array formations to cultivate faster.


    "Show me what you want to use."


    At first surprised, Cao Yun did show him his blueprint. To be honest, he wasn''t absolutely confident about his array formations as he had worked on his alchemy more recently, with the Alchemy Conference that was coming. With a single glance, Dian Mo understood the array formation.


    "You tried to put together the ''Scorched Earth Embers'', the ''Roaring Heart Waves'', and I even see a glimpse of ''Universe Engulfing Sparrow'' that you clearly didn''t understand. This is a botched job... Really, what were you thinking?! Let me rework that..."


    It took Dian Mo less than ten minutes to have a working array formation.


    "I''m not sure whether there are still enough parts left of the Five Bloods Pheasant. But this array formation should give off a faint trace of his bloodline. Over time, it will even increase slightly, giving off the impression that he''s slowly recuperating. Of course, a Spirit Warrior would see right through it, but demonic beasts wouldn''t. They could only see through it if they physically come there."


    "Well, I already had an idea for that. Hongyu has a similar bloodline. I intend to make her appear as the Five Bloods Pheasant. The two rivals will just see him leave the battlefield hurt and go into seclusion. This should cement the illusion of the array formation in their mind."


    "A dead pheasant will scare a wolf and jackal away..."

 Chapter 389: Celestial Stems and Branches

    Cao Yun and Hongyu were both exhausted. But as Hongyu was resting after gulping down a few pills given to her by Cao Yun, the young man was walking all over the place. The Five Bloods Pheasant''s nest had already been barren, but now it was a scene of pure desolation. Indeed, many pieces of wood and burnt plants had flown all over the place. There were all ashes from small animals and demonic beasts as well as parts of corpses that had resisted. Among them were the parts of the Five Bloods Pheasant himself. Although his cores had exploded, Cao Yun was able to find a few fragments in the carnage.


    Most of them were in terrible condition. Some were still fuming. And yet, Cao Yun worked on getting as much as he could out of the chaos. Every single piece of the demonic beast could help him set up the array formation he had in mind. And while he was doing so, Dian Mo was criticizing his original blueprint for the array formation. At the same time, he was explaining how he had improved upon it. The worst part though was that everything he was saying was making a lot of sense.


    Cao Yun could understand his reasoning behind the Eight Trigrams and the Five Transformations. Both were related to Yin and Yang as well as the five elements. They were principles that explained how Wandering Qi was flowing in nature. And the purpose of an array formation was to manipulate the flow of this Wandering Qi to affect the physical world. Unfortunately, Cao Yun''s understanding was not as profound as he had initially thought.


    With alchemy, he had understood how to make the five elements work together to produce an internal effect. But with this array formation, he wanted the illusion of the Five Bloods Pheasant''s vitality to be spread outward. However, his array formation would have had little influence on a wide area and this would have caused the other two 6-core demonic beasts to sense the deception sooner rather than later.


    "You see, your problem is that you got too caught up in the Anterior Heaven Trigrams. There are tens of thousands of variant of those trigrams in the way they are ordered to one another. Not each variant is interesting. However, they have very different effects and they react differently to the five elements. The first step should be first to see which order of the eight trigrams is best suited for the place you''re working with. That is an improvement of your Bamboo Maps.


    "But then, you''re not done. You have to understand which ordering is best suited for the effects you want to produce. Only after that can you work to make them align with each other. A great array formation master is able to change the very nature of the place he''s working with. It''s not unheard of that some master could turn an active volcano into a frozen tundra. Just like cultivation or martial arts, array formations are a way of going against the Heavens.


    "Of course, you must understand nature and respect it. But you also have to be able to change it to go with your will. It''s just like with a teacher. You listen and you respect your teacher, but you also create your own understanding of his teachings. And with time, you can eve produce your very own school. Right now, you''re just like a child in awe of nature. Unless you understand that you can alter it and that you have to respect it, not worship it, then you won''t go beyond the Human rank."


    Although he was busy sifting through the debris, Cao Yun listened attentively to Dian Mo. Everything he was saying made sense to him. And he was a great array formation master. So Cao Yun would indeed listen to his every word on the subject. Even id he didn''t, he would still hear them. Usually, Dian Mo liked to talk, but today it was his favorite subject. There was no way for Cao Yun to make him shut up.


    Soon though, the thought occurred to Cao Yun to question him on the principles among the Eight Directions that he had not understood at all. What he was talking about was interesting and it could even help him improve both his alchemy and his martial arts. But he suspected that it was a bit too advanced right now. However, there were some basic stuff he had still trouble with. Maybe shedding some light on those might even help him understand the Azure Dragon constellation in his sea of consciousness.


    "While you''re in the mood, I wanted to ask your opinion about some things. I fear that my martial arts are being slowed down by my lack of understanding of Sixty Rotations and Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems. Both of these principles have to do with the passing of time and its relation to celestial bodies. Since you''re so knowledgeable, I thought you might have some idea about those."


    "Are you stupid?!"


    At first, Cao Yun thought Dian Mo would go back to a rant against Cao Yun''s lack of talent. But his mood didn''t change. Instead of talking about his "great" array formation, he went directly to the subject that interested Cao Yun.


    "Those are very simple principles. It barely took me two centuries to understand those."


    Dian Mo spoke as if two centuries to learn those was a short span of time. Of course, for a spirit that was virtually immortal as long as his array formation had enough fuel, this was a short span of time. But for Cao Yun, this was way too long. Who was the idiot here? Anyway, since he wanted to learn, he didn''t add any remark and waited for Dian Mo''s wisdom.


    "First of all, Sixty Rotations is the lesser principle there. If you understand Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems, you''ll have almost understood everything about Sixty Rotations. I mean, this one is more like a special case of the overall principle. What you need to understand is that all celestial bodies have an influence on everything around them, absolutely all of them. Of course, those influences can be so insignificant that they don''t matter. However, if you want to create sturdy array formations, you have to take into account that those celestial bodies move around all the time as well. For example, if your array formation has to endure several millenniums, the very stars in the sky will have changed between the moment you set it up and the moment it would theoretically stop being used.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "In other words, you have to set it up so that it can not only withstand the geological changes around, but also the movement of the celestial bodies. Some masters say that your array formations have to stand even if the earth shatters and the sky ruptures. One of the most difficult points is that those celestial bodies are not always visible. But since they all have some influence on one another, observing the behaviors of those you see can give you hints as to those you cannot see.


    "Look at those Azure Dragon stars above your head for example. You only see seven of them, but if you watch carefully, you''ll see that they don''t exactly move as if there were only seven of them. Yes, the difference is tiny, but if you really pay close attention to them, you''ll see that they are all influenced by each other, but also by other stars you simply can''t see. Those principles dictate that you have to observe the celestial trajectories of not only the visible stars but also all the invisible ones as well. Imagine that a star is the center of a tree trunk and that the trajectories of the invisible stars around are pulling its branches and its roots in all kinds of directions. Soon, you will realize that all of the cosmos is a giant network of branches always growing.


    "Then you will be able not only to envision the movements of the stars, but the movements of entire galaxies. In order to set up array formations that last long enough, you have to find the branches and the stems within the starry sky. The stems are more static and central but it doesn''t mean they don''t move either. On the other hand, the branches are more dynamic and prompt to break or divide themselves in several directions. But that doesn''t mean that there isn''t a static element to them either.


    "Everything often depends on your viewpoint and on your timetable. Things that are static around your planet for a millennium might become extremely dynamic if you observe your entire region of the galaxy for a million year. But the principles stay the same. They originate from the very first observations of the Three Jade Saints and they kept the names. But if you really understand them, then you''ll be able to set up array formations on other worlds, under other stars and even in other realms."


    Dian Mo''s explanation was very good in fact. As much as Cao Yun had read about the subject, the explanations were always a bit too convoluted. Right now, he was certain that he had understood the gist of it. Now, he simply had to make a bit of research in his memory. But before that, he took some time to observe the stars in the infinite sky above him. As he was still working on his Horn Star, some vague hues had begun to appear. Indeed, he was trying to turn his Horn Star into its very own constellation. But it was true that he had never considered how the stars moved in relation to one another.


    Until now, he had mostly considered each one separately. But it was now obvious that this was a mistake. After all, they were all part of the Azure Dragon''s body. There was no sense in studying them apart. Although Cao Yun couldn''t perform all the moves at the same time, he had already used several of them in coordination with one another. When the constellations were to be formed, they would slowly mingle with each other. After all, the separation between constellations had been invented by the observer. There was no natural distinction between them as they were all part of the Azure Dragon.


    With this new outlook on things, Cao Yun was able to see that the stars had indeed tiny variations. Their movement wasn''t perfectly cyclic. Or rather, Cao Yun was able to see several cycles that were almost identical but with slight variations. That showed that there was a general movement that was indeed cyclic, but it was mixed in with some other influences, other cycles of varying duration that were thus creating all these variations.


    Now that he had made this discovery, he could observe the stars for entire hours to discover new mysteries. And with his ability to speed up his thought processes, he could really save a lot of time like that. Of course, without practicing his actual martial art, he wouldn''t progress that much. But he knew that he was on the right track. Not only was he able to understand his martial art better, he would also be able to develop his array formation skills faster as well. Indeed, Dian Mo was useful!


    Of course, Cao Yun didn''t have the time right now. But while a part of himself was busy with that, he heard someone getting close. He wasn''t too worried because he had recognized their Wei Qi and even heard their breathing. They were Zeng Bei''s group. Although Cao Yun was still quite weak, he was confident that they wouldn''t take advantage of this. However, he had still a lot of poisons at the ready if need be. As much as he despised the use of poisons in a fight, he wouldn''t let himself get killed because of that. Thankfully though, they truly were trustworthy.


    "Senior Guai, do you need our help?"


    "I do. Quickly gather everything you can from the Five Bloods Pheasant. I need them to set up an array formation. If we fail, the Golden Plumed Jackal and the Flame-Tailed Wolf will become threats."


    Since they were living in Yunling City, they knew just how dangerous a territory dispute between two 6-core demonic beasts could be. Besides, they had just witnessed how terrifying the Five Bloods Pheasant had been. Immediately, they began to help Cao Yun. Even though they were hunters, they decided not to try to take anything for themselves. Not only were they being generously paid by Huang Si, but they were also loyal to Zeng Bei who was loyal to Huang Si.


    Thanks to their help, Cao Yun gathered everything. With each piece of the Five Bloods Pheasant''s corpse or demonic cores, Dian Mo was altering his blueprint to adapt the array formation. Finally, he decided that this was it. His array formation was good enough for their purposes. After all, they were just deceiving two demonic beasts who would not come too close to this place. And it wasn''t supposed to endure for too long, less than a decade was acceptable. Once the Huang family was well established, they would clearly have ways to deal with those 6-core demonic beasts.


    Most likely though, the chaos both within and without the Hongchen Kingdom would become a threat before that. Hopefully, Huang Si would be able to adapt to those circumstances too.


    Cao Yun asked the hunters to step aside and he took out his very classical compass. Even though they were not too knowledgeable, they could tell that it wasn''t the tool of a great master. After all, Cao Yun wasn''t one. He had not even officially become a 1-star Human array formation master. Technically, he clearly had the ability but he had focused on alchemy as it was necessary to get information about the Imperial City. However, he had also realized that array formations could be a tremendous help to improve his martial arts and even his cultivation.


    Under Dian Mo''s advice, he worked for several hours while the hunters were standing guard around the nest to make sure that no demonic beast got too close. They were simply too terrorized to do so. Even after his death, the shadow of the Five Bloods Pheasant was still present in their hearts.


    At last, Cao Yun was done and he put the last piece of a demonic core literally within the trunk of the tree that had harbored the Hellish Dragon Fruit.

 Chapter 390: Using the dead to scare the living

    As soon as Cao Yun was done, the tree where the Hellish Dragon Fruit had grown began to take on a new shade. Until now, it had been completely darkened by burns. But slowly, there was a new life that was being infused into it. Along the burnt bark, cracks appeared. Within those fissures, there was a red hue that looked both like blood and fire. It was very faint and yet, it gave off an impression of life despite the fact that the tree itself appeared to have been dead for some time.


    Like Cao Yun, the hunters were Mortal Warriors, albeit less powerful. All of them immediately had the sensation that the Five Bloods Pheasant was back to life. If they had not been present to see Cao Yun work on this array formation, they would have been convinced that the demonic beast had been able to reform himself. Of course, it was impossible since Cao Yun had used pieces of his corpse while Hongyu was now chewing on everything he had discarded.


    Apart from the hunters, all the demonic beasts around the nest were also able to feel it. The Five Bloods Pheasant''s presence was faint but it was there. He had survived the fight and was weakened. But he was alive. In the distance, his two rivals had been full of hesitation. Now, they were faced with the fact that he had endured. As such, they began to wait to see whether the other one would act or not. Neither of them wanted a conflict right now as they were years or even decades from forming a seventh core. What they wanted was stability.


    If either one of them were to attack though, they all had to react. Thankfully, the Five Bloods Pheasant would not attack for a very long time. In fact, he might never get the opportunity in the future. Thus, the Golden Plumed Jackal and the Flame-Tailed Wolf were now the main demonic beasts in the Yunling Forest.


    Cao Yun waited for some time as Hongyu was restoring herself. Like the hunters, he was observing the situation. Without spiritual senses, he was forced to analyze the flow of Qi around them. Apparently, the two other 6-core demonic beasts retreated deeper into their own territory. There would be no crisis. After taking many risks, Cao Yun had triumphed. However, he was still a bit sour about Huang Si. By now, he was almost certain that she had adapted her plans for him knowing full well that he was Chen Guo. Most likely, she had counted on him to get rid of the triple threat of those beasts. Yes, he had obtained the Hellish Dragon Fruit, but he still felt used and wronged.


    In fact, this feeling came from watching Hongyu. She had suffered very serious injuries. And to be honest, it was his fault. In the fight, he had miscalculated the rage and the strength of the Five Bloods Pheasant. If he had known that he would be ready to kill himself to destroy his enemies and that he had a fragment of the Dao of Fire, he would have rather risked exposing his martial arts. After all, he could use Huang Si''s influence to silence the hunters to a degree. But what was done was done. Now he could only try and make it up to her. Thankfully, he had the Hellish Dragon Fruit with him.


    "City Lord, tell Miss Huang that I will come back shortly. But for now my mount needs some rest. I''ll take her away in some cave."


    In the distance, the Deep Cloud Ridge was visible as large walls enclosing the Yunling Forest. At first, Zeng Bei was about to protest as Huang Si had asked her to bring Guai Mo back. But she saw that there was no room to negotiate with him. Huang Si would have to wait.


    "Of course, Alchemist Guai. I would recommend going to the northwest. This is the most peaceful area in my opinion."


    "Thank you."


    Cao Yun went to Hongyu. She was still weak but she had regained enough strength to stand up and even fly a little. The young man touched her neck and stroked her feathers with affection. And she raised her head to let him get access to her neck while showing her pleasure with quiet noises.


    "I''m sorry, but we have to travel a little. Then I''ll help you get better."


    There was no hesitation in Hongyu''s response, she lowered herself to let him on her back. And immediately, she flew in the direction he had chosen, to the northwest of the Deep Cloud Ridge.


    -


    Cao Yun and Hongyu were both exhausted and hurt. Her feathers had mostly gone back to red but they were still darker than usual. Also, her pupils were injected with dark blood. Overall, she was fine, but her condition was not ideal. For now, the most important thing was to recover. Hongyu was clearly not in any condition to fly around so Cao Yun had chosen a very nearby spot he had already identified on some maps. By his analysis, this had to be a great place to recover. In fact, this Deep Cloud Ridge seemed very interesting as it was almost isolated from everything else.


    Dian Mo had also discovered something that Cao Yun had found interesting. The subsoil was extremely rich in Qi, way more than what anyone could suspect. Most likely there was something very special right under their feet and no one had ever imagined it. Of course, Cao Yun had immediately thought that this was the reason why the Huang family had began to show interest in this place. And he was right.


    Once Cao Yun found the right spot within the mountains of the Deep Cloud Ridge, he took out another spear he had in his spatial ring and began to alter the cave. Not only did he expand it a little, carving two rooms in the back, he also engraved a few array formations.


    Most of them were very simple ones to make sure that the cave was stable and that the flow of Qi was harmonious within. Indeed, he wanted to both improve their recovery and work on his cultivation. In the entrance of the cave, he also set up four array formations in order to hide it, filter the flow of Qi from the outside while preventing the Qi inside from leaking out, and detect any intruder. Along with those, he also added an array formation to kill any intruder as well. It was not permanently activated but he just had to send a surge of Qi to do so, just in case. Any demonic beast with fewer than four cores and any human within the Mortal realm would be killed for sure by this. The others would be weakened and would become easy pickings.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Now that all the preparations were done, Cao Yun had several things he wanted to do. The first and most important action was to take care of Hongyu. Right now, she was digesting the few remains of the Five Bloods Pheasant. But that was barely enough to heal her from her internal injuries.


    Of course, Cao Yun felt guilty. If he had known that the Five Bloods Pheasant would go so crazy after losing the Hellish Dragon Fruit, he might have reconsidered. He had not imagined that the Hellish Dragon Fruit had obtained a fragment of the Dao of Fire. It was no wonder the Five Bloods Pheasant had flown into such a rage. Now that he was calm, Cao Yun realized that his actions had been too rash. He was still a bit too weak and should have prepared even more. This was mistake he would not repeat. When he would take down Gu Song, there wouldn''t be any way for him to escape his fate!


    Revisiting what had happened, Cao Yun had many ideas but he would explore them later. This would teach him a lot indeed.


    Right now though, Cao Yun took one pill from his spatial ring. He had already prepared some pills for Hongyu by using his own blood with the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Each one could help provide her with enough energy to keep the Evil Qi under control. As she was digesting the pill, Cao Yun helped her guide the medicinal essence through her body. Using this as an opportunity, he also helped her strengthen the seal around the evil core. At some point, she might be able to use it freely, but for now, this evil core was more damaging to her than her enemies.


    Once she was finally in a better condition, Cao Yun lead her into one of the rooms he had carved. With the Hellish Dragon Fruit in mind, Cao Yun had set up an array formation within. From the fruit, he took yet another scale off and used it as a foundation for the room. Slowly, the room became richer and richer in Fire Qi. The properties of the scale were slowly getting extracted. Although it would be a bit much for Cao Yun, this level of Fire Qi was good for Hongyu. After all, she had the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang.


    Under the effect of the Hellish Dragon Fruit''s Fire Qi, Hongyu immediately felt comfortable. She felt as though she was back in her warm egg. The sensation was heavenly after the cold touch of the Evil Qi. Visible to the naked eyes, her feathers regained their red color from which her name had originated.


    After making sure that Hongyu was fine, Cao Yun went into the other room.


    There were two things he needed to do and others he would like to ponder over.


    His first order of business was to take care of his Bai Hui and his Five Prodigious Gates in general. He had had enough! Cao Yun was now confident that his Bai Hui was healed but each time he tried to use it, he recoiled in fear. Although he could fight this fright off with his mind cultivation, he wanted a more permanent and stable solution. After what had happened to him in the Demon Palace, Cao Yun would put more emphasis on stability. But he didn''t want to slow down too much either.


    This weakness had cost him several months without much progress in his Qi cultivation. Although his blood cultivation was advancing, it wasn''t very useful to him for now. Indeed, he had already reached a strength equivalent to a Golden Blood Child. Currently, he was just going through the proper path of the demon cultivation in order to stabilize his blood cultivation and ensure his future progress. As such, it wasn''t very useful in the present but would help him a lot in the future.


    Considering that tempering the Five Prodigious Gates could take two to three years to average cultivators, Cao Yun didn''t want to slack off. The best thing for him would be to have reached 4th-grade Mortal Warrior before the Alchemy Conference in less than two years. In fact, he could even start to work on Fire Qi before reaching this stage. Now that he had such a source of Fire Qi, he really wanted to use it. Besides, Fire Qi was very useful for alchemists.


    Of course, Cao Yun would not try to gather Fire Qi within his Middle Dantian before officially becoming a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior. That meant that he had to get to it as soon as possible.


    After what had happened, Cao Yun had realized that he had a good way to temper his Five Prodigious Gates. Since his Bai Hui had been repaired by the seed of the world tree, his Five Prodigious Gates seemed to have become richer in Wood element. Wood was nourished by Water and was fuel for Fire. As an alchemist, Cao Yun knew how to balance those elements out. In fact, this would also be a very good test of his abilities as an alchemist.


    In the room he had made for himself, Cao Yun was ready to set up an array formation.


    "Are you sure you don''t want my help?"


    "I appreciate your concerns, although I''m surprised by your eagerness to help him..."


    "Don''t take it the wrong way! If you''re too weak and you die, I''ll die too."


    "I understand. And I am grateful for your help, no matter how selfish your goals might have been. That being said, I already have my own ideas on the array formation I''m going to use. I am thinking about using the Center of All Things."


    "Oh? It isn''t a bad idea... That wouldn''t have been my first choice, but it''s not too difficult to set it up."


    Despite the name that could seem grand, the Center of All Things was only a 5-star Human array formation. Its goal was to neutralize any variation of the elements and create a perfectly balanced environment. As such, Cao Yun would be completely isolated from the turbulence of the outside world. He would be especially protected from the Fire Qi concentrated in Hongyu''s room. Indeed, there was some leakage, albeit very little of it.


    Contrary to his previous work in the Five Bloods Pheasant''s nest, Cao Yun did not get precise instructions from Dian Mo. However, he asked some advice on certain points. Cao Yun didn''t want to become reliant on Dian Mo. As much as the spirit was useful, Cao Yun still didn''t trust him fully, to the point where Dian Mo was still trapped in his Nine Soul Peaks. Working with him was very useful for his understanding of array formations though. Furthermore, it could also be a tremendous help to turn the Horn Star into a constellation.


    Sitting cross-legged, Cao Yun focused his intent and all of his mind in his Five Prodigious Gates. It didn''t take him long to feel like his entire body was a single dot surrounded by five wells of energy. Those wells were made of wood. And from them, there were roots intertwining among each other. When he followed them, they were all leading inwards, completely surrounding the dot of light that was his body.


    Those wells seemed to be both within and without his body at the same time. Indeed, those were the Five Prodigious Gates, linking the human body to the outside world.


    By now, all of his Five Prodigious Gates had been affected by the seed of the world tree. Cao Yun observed as the process was still going. And he focused on it, nourishing the wells with the Water Qi he had gathered in his Lower Dantian when he had been a 6th-grade Mortal. Replenishing it was now easy for him. As such, he could use it without too much care.


    And it worked exactly as he had thought. The wells became more and more resplendent as the Wood element within was fed by Water Qi. However, as his Bai Hui was getting more vibrant, a sudden terror entered Cao Yun''s mind. His psyche faltered and he almost lost his focus. The image of the pool of lava in which he had almost lost his cultivation for good surfaced in Cao Yun''s mind. Even his sea of consciousness began to turn into lava while Dian Mo was spectating.

 Chapter 391: The burning cave

    Cao Yun would have been able to completely eradicate this illusion by using his Five Agents but this wasn''t his goal. During this session, what he wanted to do was both to really start his 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior cultivation and to get rid of his trauma for good. In order to do so, he had planned for a strategy. And even though getting his mind excited wasn''t part of it, he could deal with that.


    Deep within his very soul, he could feel an instinctive fear of fire. In fact, it was more frustrating than anything else. Intellectually he knew that there was no danger and he didn''t want to be afraid but his body and even his mind were not listening. His only way to get them under control was to force them by applying his Five Agents. But this wasn''t a long term solution. For that, he had to make them feel that this was over.


    Cao Yun waited a few minutes to get his mind in the right state. In order to put this trauma behind him, Cao Yun had thought about a good solution that would be rather brutal though.


    From his spatial ring, he took out the Hellish Dragon Fruit. Just like before, he carefully took out one of the scales. He was careful not to touch the scale that was engraved with the Rune of Fire. However, he also chose a scale that seemed to be even hotter than others. From the scale he was hoping to extract as much heat and Fire as possible.


    Then, he activated a smaller array formation within the Center of All Things. He had prepared it using array formations he had studied with Sun Liao, the Sun Blazing Cannon. In a matter of minutes, every ounce of Fire energy he could extract from the scale gathered at the very center of the array formation. The very scale turned to dust and crumbled as it got completelt sucked dry.


    Now, above Cao Yun, was a drop of liquid fire. Around it the air was turbid and the heat scorching. Below it, Cao Yun''s body was reacting as he was beginning to sweat a lot. The heat was almost as intense as what he had suffered through in the Demon Palace. Of course, it was way more concentrated but this caused his mind to respond.


    Cao Yun focused on his Po. By following ''Subdue the Seven Demons'', Cao Yun had become way more sensitive to his own corporeal soul. Now he was going to use it to calm down his soul. Instead of working on his anger and his Flying Poison, he began to work on his Corpse Dog. This Turbid Demon was the Po of Yin and it was related to fear and self-depreciation. Within it, there was the feeling of never being good enough, the fear of being inferior. And it was rich in Water element.


    Right now, Cao Yun wasn''t trying to work on his Corpse Dog, he was just trying to soothe his mind and soul in order to resolve his trauma. Even with his mind cultivation, he might suffer from an inner demon if he was too impetuous and careless. Before it could fester, Cao Yun would kill it in the bud.


    He was literally using fire to fight fire. Since his trauma had come by putting too much Fire Qi through his Bai Hui, he was about to do the same thing again, but in a controlled environment.


    The Five Prodigious Gates were all related to one element. His Lao Gong, the Labor Palaces in his palms, were related to Water and Fire while his Yong Quan, the Earthly Springs in his soles, were related to Metal and Earth. Finally, his Bai Hui, at the summit of his head, was related to Wood. Of course, each gate had the five elements, but the balance was slightly different for each one.


    Thanks to his alchemy study, Cao Yun was very familiar with those five elements. This would be very useful for his cultivation.


    For a time, he observed and felt the changes within hits five gates. The seed of the world tree had completely turned all five of them. There was a powerful Wood element in all of them. Wood was weakened by both Fire and Metal and could be strengthened by both Water and Earth. By using the liquid fire, Cao Yun would cause trouble for the Wood. In order to balance it, he would have to use his own Water Qi.


    Thus, Cao Yun finally began to work. From his Lower Dantian, he mobilized as much Water Qi as he deemed necessary. Then, he sent it directly in his Bai Hui where the Wood was the strongest. From above, he used his Qi to lower the liquid fire. He decided to use the entirety of the Fire element extracted from that one scale.


    Once again, he felt a terrifying sensation as the flames were entering his Bai Hui. They were sucked in within the vortex of energy that was his Bai Hui. Before long, all of the Fire energy was attacking the roots of the world tree. Despite its vitality, it was burning and black smoke was rising. But it soon got stopped by Cao Yun''s Water Qi. Of course, this black smoke and those roots were all in Cao Yun''s visualization.


    In reality, it was just a transformation of energy. But as Cao Yun''s visualization was getting stronger and stronger, those images started to be manifested through Qi.


    The Water Qi caused the black smoke to be condensed back into a heavy rain. Cao Yun felt his Bai Hui being soothed by the Water Qi at the same time it was being attacked by the Fire energy. Finally, the heavy rain nourished it once more. The roots of the world tree that were surrounding the well spread far. They went to all of Cao Yun''s Five Prodigious Gates.


    It took around a double hour, but Cao Yun''s Five Prodigious Gates, which were all facing toward the sky, were reached. Both within and without, there was no a strong connection between all five of them. As a result, his Wei Qi became even denser and more vibrant. This was what being a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior supposed to feel like. Cao Yun felt invincible as though he was within a cocoon of pure energy. Now, a Mortal would be hard-pressed to get within 10 chi of him without his agreement.


    And now, Cao Yun could truly start to temper his Five Prodigious Gates. This was the real star of his 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior cultivation. From what he had read and heard, Cao Yun knew that reaching the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior could take up to 5 years to an average cultivator. For an alchemist, it would be around 2 to 3 years. And to Cao Yun, it would probably take less than 2 years. In fact, he might reach 4th-grade Mortal Warrior by the time of the Alchemy Conference. And he would probably have become a Golden Blood Child by then too.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    As long as he wasn''t a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun would not try to gather Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian. But he could still absorb it in his blood. Indeed, his blood had the properties of the Drop of Wrath so it could deal with it without any problem. Not only would it be beneficial to his blood cultivation, it would also help him both with his alchemy and even his Qi cultivation. By using Fire Qi and Water Qi together, he could speed up the process of tempering his Five Prodigious Gates.


    After cultivating through the ''Crimson Inferno Road'', Cao Yun had done as though his blood cultivation was starting from scratch but it wasn''t. As a 5th-grade Blood Child, he had to learn how to send his blood everywhere to nourish all his tissues and to obtain what was called a Body of Blood. This was similar to the so-called Transparent Body. But the truth was that Cao Yun had already achieved this thanks to his blood cultivation. However, he had yet to do the same thing with his new and improved blood. Although he could do so at any given time, he had been patient in order to forge a strong foundation.


    As the fire was melting his blood even more, it became richer and richer but also much more fluid. Even without thinking too much about it, his bloodstream flew all across his body. In fact, the only places his blood didn''t get to were his very bones. And that was indeed the point of the 6th-grade Blood Child, which Cao Yun had just reached. In the last grades of the Blood Child realm, Cao Yun would have to send his blood within his very bones, all the way into his marrow. When he thought about this, it reminded him of what Ren Chao had gone through. As a matter of fact, this cultivation was very reminiscent of what his Golden Silk Body was. After all, his physique was probably due to some of the demon bloodline still in him. Every human in the Hongchen Kingdom had traces of Da Mo''s bloodline because of his long rule over them.


    Maybe Cao Yun would literally develop a Golden Silk Body himself through this cultivation. The next stage, Golden Blood Child, was precisely about cultivating one''s marrow.


    By the time Cao Yun had absorbed all of the Fire energy from the scale, he had become a true 6th-grade Blood Child. The next part of his training would be to work on his rigid bones. But for now, he had other plans. His blood cultivation wasn''t the most urgent matter after all. Instead, he decided to work on the Rune of Fire.


    Once again, he took out the Hellish Dragon Fruit and stared at the Rune of Fire. This was literally a part of the Dao, or rather of a smaller Dao. The Dao of Fire was one of the most important Dao for human cultivators, and even more so for alchemists. In nature, all Dao were equal, but they were not as important for sentient beings.


    Now that he was still feeling the Fire energy around him, Cao Yun decided to focus on the Rune of Fire. Since he had never really studied a Dao, he didn''t know what to do. But he decided to follow his instincts.


    At first, he tried to trace the rune in his own mind. Try as he might, he was unable to get it right. This wasn''t like tracing the characters of the Five Agents. But this didn''t discourage Cao Yun. Studying a Dao was impossible under the Sage realm so he knew he wasn''t going to achieve much right away.


    Contrary to other cultivators, Cao Yun had something that belonged to a God-Monarch, the Drop of Wrath. Then, instead of trying to trace it himself, Cao Yun activated his Po. As a consequence, it put the Po within the Drop of Wrath in motion. Along his own Po, the Flying Poison began to really trace the Rune of Fire. Both Cleansed Asura and Axiu Qian had probably understood a lot from the Dao of Fire.


    Without much effort, the Flying Poison within the Drop of Wrath traced the Rune of Fire. Outside, Cao Yun''s Po character was tracing the Rune of Fire as well, but it was way more approximate. However, something happened.


    In the Hellish Dragon Fruit, the Rune of Fire rose in the air and suddenly went straight for Cao Yun''s glabella. In an instant, it was inside his sea of consciousness. The Rune of Fire pierced through Cao Yun''s soul and he could feel the painful heat from it. If he hadn''t worked on his soul, Cao Yun could have lost consciousness here and there.


    Thankfully, it didn''t last long as the Rune of Fire dived into the Drop of Wrath. As soon as it entered it, it became tame and stopped moving. The Drop of Wrath did not react at all to this intrusion. For it, it was as though it had welcome back an old friend. Like Cao Yun had surmised, the Drop of Wrath was used to the Dao of Fire both through Axiu Qian and Cleansed Asura.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun had gained almost no knowledge of the Dao of Fire, but he had now a tiny part of this Dao within his very soul. Surely, this would be a good thing to develop his alchemy, and later on, his understanding of the Dao.


    -


    While Cao Yun was cultivating, Hongyu was also working. She had absorbed all of the Fire energy within the scale Cao Yun had given to her. Within her body, she had started to develop her fifth core. It would take a few years to fully form this fifth core but it was very stable.


    By devouring some of the Five Bloods Pheasant''s blood, her own bloodline had been purified a bit. And this had also helped her purify her prenatal essence. In turn, this had replenished her vitality. It wasn''t enough to fight off the Evil Qi without using the properties of the Drop of Wrath. But it was still alleviating the pain and strain.


    Contrary to humans, demonic beasts cultivated by pure instinct. As such, they had no control over how their cores were formed. However, this changed when Cao Yun decided to butt in.


    Now that he was done with what he had planned, he helped Hongyu out. His idea was simple. She need the Drop of Wrath to balance the Evil Qi. But she couldn''t replenish it since she didn''t have the Drop of Wrath and he couldn''t give it to her.


    What he decided to do was to use his mastery over Qi and over the Fire energy to try and create some form of seal within this fifth core as well as within the evil core. After working a very long time with Dian Mo, Cao Yun had become quite good at creating seals. Besides, Hongyu was letting him do without trying to impede his energy within her own body.


    It wasn''t perfect, but with this seal, the Evil Qi within her core would stay condensed in its center.


    From it, Cao Yun extracted a tiny strand of it and even started to work on separating the Qi and the lingering emotions. Within someone else''s body, it wasn''t too easy, but he had worked on it in order to get rid of demonic cultivators'' seals. It would probably take Cao Yun several years to get rid of all the Evil Qi. And he would need to refine a powerful pill to make sure that Hongyu''s evil core wouldn''t collapse in the process.


    After working several hours in the cave, Cao Yun had used a few scales from the Hellish Dragon Fruit. His cultivation had progressed and Hongyu''s state was now stable.


    Finally, it was time for him to leave. He had to talk to Huang Si. After his time in the cave, he had felt something beneath him. He understood why Huang Si had used him instead of asking the help of a Spirit Warrior. She didn''t want an outsider to get too close to the Deep Cloud Ridge for now. That meant that Cao Yun would get a fair compensation for the way he had been used.

 Chapter 392: Touching ones reverse scale

    While he was flying back toward the Huang estate, Cao Yun made sure that Hongyu''s condition was indeed alright. As it turned out, he had been right and her bloodline had been enhanced by the Five Bloods Pheasant''s blood. And with a bit of the Fire energy contained within the Hellish Dragon Fruit, she was in perfect health. Besides, he could feel that he was even closer to her than before. Most likely, it was due to the Rune of Fire that was now within his Drop of Wrath. As she was a bird of fire, it made sense that getting more intimate with fire would also bring him closer to her.


    Maybe, over time, he might even be able to resolve the Evil Qi within her without any external means. The problem was that this Evil Qi was inextricably linked to her fourth core, but even to her overall body. It wasn''t just a seal forced upon her by someone else, like it was the case for demonic cultivators. No, this Evil Qi was a true part of her so Cao Yun would have to find a way to separate it from her without destroying her very foundation.


    For now though, he wasn''t too worried. As long as she didn''t use it, she would not be tormented for a long time. Her slowly forming fifth core had been infused with some of the properties of the Drop of Wrath thanks to Cao Yun''s blood pills. That way it would balance out her fourth core, unless she was trying to use too much strength. As she was a demonic beast, she couldn''t control her use of Qi like humans. If she tried to use too much of it, she would ultimately draw some power from even her evil core.


    It didn''t take Cao Yun and Hongyu too long to come back.


    As soon as Cao Yun felt the Fenghuang bloodline, he stood up on Hongyu''s back. In front of the stables, Huang Si was waiting. Since Cao Yun had made no effort to be stealthy, it wasn''t surprising. But he still was surprised that she had been waiting in person. Somehow, he was ready for her to not pay him too much mind. Apparently, he had been wrong. However, he knew he was right about one thing. She had clearly used him to get rid of her own problems and he had helped her. No matter how much he had gained from it, he didn''t like it at all. What truly stroked him the wrong way was what it implied. Most likely, she knew who he was.


    Despite the proximity of their bloodline, Hongyu wasn''t too pleased with Huang Si. Although she couldn''t understand what had happened, she knew that woman had been responsible for the danger she and Cao Yun had faced. Moreover, Cao Yun didn''t like her, so Hongyu imitated him. That being said, she wasn''t being hostile either, she just showed how irritated she was when she heavily landed in front of the woman.


    Huang Si barely showed any sign of being bothered as her expensive clothes were being covered in dust and even ripped here and there. Despite her Wei Qi, her hair was also disheveled.


    "Miss Huang, I''d like to have a few words with you!"


    "Of course. I have gotten a room ready. Just follow me."


    Without any hesitation, Cao Yun followed her. They went underground a bit and she lead him into a room with incredibly thick walls. There was no doubt that this room had been built so that no one could sense what was happening inside. For a family that had so many secrets, it wasn''t surprising at all.


    "Mister Guai, please take a sit."


    "I don''t care for such formalities, Miss Huang. You knew that that Five Bloods Pheasant would rather die than give up his Hellish Dragon Fruit. Yet, you didn''t tell me anything! Your plan was suspiciously light on that part."


    "Indeed, I have no reason to hide it now that you''ve been successful. I had other plans to get rid of the nuisance, but when I got words that you were coming here, I had to change them. However, isn''t it true that you benefited a lot from that hunt? After all, the Hellish Dragon Fruit had a Rune of Fire on it, didn''t it?"


    "You even knew of that and you didn''t try to claim it for yourself?"


    "Well, I don''t really care about that. I am in here for a very specific goal and with the war getting closer and closer, I don''t have time to be greedy for even more. Besides, you''re an alchemist and a close friend of our family, so there''s no harm."


    "A ''friend''? That still remains to be proved..."


    "Come one... We both know that there is no such man as Guai Mo, right, Young Sect Master?"


    By coming back, Cao Yun wasn''t expecting Huang Si to just admit to everything. Thankfully, she didn''t seem to know about his real identity. But he was very impressed by her ability to lie. He had not sensed a single thing from her behavior. Either she was lacking any form of conscious, or she had trained herself extensively in her ability to show absolutely no emotion. For a woman who had wanted to become the next matriarch, this seemed normal.


    "You shouldn''t be too amazed. After all, my former rival seems to find you extremely interesting and impressive. I wanted to judge for myself. And I have to admit that your prowess is great. Even without showing your martial art to the world, you''ve subdued that almost 7-core demonic beast. If you had been free to act as you wished, it would have died without being able to put up any kind of fight."


    "Miss Huang, people are not toys you can just manipulate as you see fit for your amusement!"


    Hongyu had almost got severely injured by using her evil core and Huang Si was still acting as though everything was just a game that didn''t concern her.


    "Please, calm down."


    "I know why you chose this place! While I was meditating in the Deep Cloud Ridge, I sensed it beneath my feet. There is a Dragon Vein coursing through this place. And you hope to develop a mine that would make the Xiliang Mines look ridiculous in comparison."If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Oh? So you''ve also figured that out... Most impressive indeed. But I intended to talk to you about it too. This is the reason why I couldn''t call for a Spirit Warrior. For now, I can''t afford to bring too much scrutiny to my discovery. Apart from Huang Cixi, I don''t anyone could figure it out. I made a very fortuitous encounter when I discovered this place. Alas, I can''t take care of everything myself."


    "You still want my help after just using me?"


    "Lord, I am ready to offer a lot to you. I know that you''re at the stage of your cultivation when you need Fire Qi. Within the mines, we have found many ores. And among them, we found high spirit stones. Some of them were even full of Fire element. They could be very beneficial both to you and to Hongyu."


    "And what would you like in exchange?"


    "Nothing. I always intended to give them to you in order to apologize for testing you. But I would like to form an alliance with you."


    "I already have a good relationship with your family."


    "That''s my point. I want to form an alliance between you and me. Of course, I won''t ask you to interfere with my family matters. However, there are some personal affairs for which I might ask your help. Governor Jiahe is a direct threat to my project. And my family can''t get involved, not in this Subei Province."


    "So what do you want from me?"


    "As you''re going to be a very powerful alchemist in this province, you''ll obviously get a lot of influence. I just need your help to buy some lands here and there. With your name, it will be easier. And this would help me tremendously with almost no effort of your part."


    "... I''ll have to think about it. But if I do buy some lands, I will ask for a percentage of your future mines."


    "Of course. I was ready for this. I can give you 5% of any ore found in the plots of land you''ll buy for me."


    "I demand 10% of those and a minimum guarantee of sixty Yuanbao every year for two centuries."


    Thanks to what he had sensed underground, Cao Yun had been able to understand that those new mines would be ridiculously profitable. The Xiliang Mines were producing three or four thousand Yuanbao worth of ores every single year. But this figure would probably be produced in a month or even a week by these new mines. So he had a lot of room to negotiate. As much as he didn''t care too much about money, Cao Yun knew it was important for almost any project.


    He had an even more important plan in mind however. After negotiating a few hours with Huang Si, he obtained a detailed map of what they had already explored. Getting a good understanding of the subsoil of this province might help him a lot, especially when it came to setting up array formations.


    -


    When they were done negotiating, both Huang Si and Cao Yun had obtained what they really cared about. Cao Yun now had a steady income, even though it wouldn''t start right away. And Huang Si was certain he would help her get her operation started as soon as possible as he needed it to in order to get his money.


    They were still negotiating minor details when someone interrupted them. A servant almost barged in the room, she was Cai Ying, Huang Si''s most loyal servant. At first, her mistress almost burned the air around her because of her anger. However, she knew Cai Ying better than that. If she had been so disrespectful, then the matter was serious.


    "Young Mistress, esteemed guest, forgive this impolite one. There has been a terrible theft."


    "A theft?! What''s been stolen?"


    "The young mistress'' personal chambers were robed of many jewelries and important documents. And the esteemed alchemist''s room was robed of the spatial ring he left behind."


    Huang Si was much more troubled by the documents. Although they were encrypted, they contained some sensitive information. But soon, she forgot everything about them as she felt an intense pressure all around her. In an instant, she spread her Wei Qi around Cai Ying or the poor girl would have fainted. In Cao Yun''s eyes, she could see a fury like she had never seen before.


    "My ring?! Someone stole my ring, in your own house?!"


    "Please, sir, calm down. I can compensate..."


    "There is no amount of wealth on this planet that can compensate this!"


    After working on his Flying Poison for some months now, Cao Yun''s anger was much more formidable. Without realizing it, he had even used a bit of ''Bleeding Eyes''. Bored by this conversation, Cao Yun rushed through the door and reached his guest room in a matter of seconds. Several guards were alerted by his outbursts, especially after a theft had just been perpetrated.


    Thankfully, Huang Si was fast enough to tell all the guards not to do anything to disturb Cao Yun. She had seen something dangerous in his eyes. No matter who had stolen from him, they were going to regret it very soon. In fact, it was good for her as she would probably get her things back as well, if there was anything else to recover.


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Dian Mo could see the Drop of Wrath getting agitated. Unlike Huang Si, he knew why. Cao Yun''s stolen spatial ring had nothing of real value. However, it contained the paintings of his family by his mother. He had been worried about taking them with him. Thus, he had left them behind. And he had been so protective of them that he had even placed several seals on his spatial ring. Apart from a late Spirit Warrior, any cultivator would need several weeks at the minimum to open the spatial ring. Maybe the thief had thought it meant the content was precious. It was, but only to Cao Yun.


    "Hey, boy, calm down! With the excitement of your recent cultivation session, you''re letting your anger take over. Think with your rational mind. You should have found the solution already!"


    "Of course!"


    Hearing Dian Mo''s words, Cao Yun did calm down. He was right. Cao Yun had placed several seals on his spatial ring. With his understanding of array formations, he could trace it without any major problem. Hence, he immediately took out his compass. The artifact flew in the air in front of Cao Yun and he injected his own Qi within the object. Then, he carefully aligned several points with his perception of Qi.


    It didn''t take him long to get a reading. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Huang Si behind him.


    "Sir, my apologies. We called everyone. Only Di Xihe is missing. We still can''t be sure, but either she is the culprit or the culprit took her with them."


    It made sense. Cao Yun was unable to feel any unfamiliar Qi in his room. Most likely, the young servant that had been assigned to him was to blame. As furious as he was, he hadn''t lost any common sense. Right now, he didn''t want to kill anyone, he simply wanted his possession back. But if that girl didn''t know what was good for her, then she couldn''t blame him for being ruthless.


    "I have a rough idea of where she is. I will bring back what she stole from you. Don''t let anyone interfere with me!"


    "Yes."


    Huang Si had been close to enough powerful seniors to know when to shut up. Cao Yun was not in the mood to speak right now. He had lost the murdering glint he had earlier. Somehow, he had calmed down. But now, he had the eyes of a hunter. That young servant was as good as captured already.


    Without any delay, Cao Yun jumped out of the residence and immediately found himself on Hongyu''s back. She had felt his anger without any need for words. They were as intimate as a brother and his sister now, as if they had been raised together. Hongyu quickly flew in the direction showed by the compass.

 Chapter 393: Accused by a thief

    As he was flying on Hongyu''s back, Cao Yun had enough time to calm down. Thankfully, he had a better control over the Drop of Wrath so it had not gone berserk. However, he had to admit that he had almost lost control of his temper. For now, he couldn''t be sure whether it was due to his working on the Flying Poison or to his blood cultivation. Most likely, it was a bit of everything.


    There was also some frustration hidden within this anger. Indeed, he was getting closer to his goal and finally he would be proactive. But all the frustration he had gathered until now was ready to explode. Hopefully, it would explode on Gu Song when he would find him. Maybe the fact that his goal was so close had amplified these feelings. And his blood cultivation had the same effect on him as it had on demons, it would enhance all his emotions.


    If his mind cultivation had been imagined any other way, Cao Yun would hardly be able to control himself. But he still had to be careful not to lose himself or he could easily suffer Qi deviation.


    As he was flying, he was also using his compass to detect the seal of his spatial ring. It wasn''t extremely precise, but it would be enough for him to detect the presence of the young thief. And indeed, it worked as intended. It didn''t take Cao yun more than half an hour to get close to his spatial ring.


    The very moment he could feel his own Qi in the spatial ring, he jumped from Hongyu''s back and asked her to stay away. Once on the ground, he used his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' and completely erased his presence. However, he was astonished by the fact that he could barely feel the young girl. Her stealth wasn''t as good as his, but it was impressive nonetheless. Without ''Burning the Cinders of the Six Openings'' which only insisted on improving one''s perception, he might have missed her even knowing her general location.


    The part of the woods they were in were completely covered in mist. It was a rather hollow ground within the Yunling Forest and it was almost always filled with a heavy fog. Although the sun was high in the sky, Cao Yun couldn''t see anything at all. The rays of the sun were just making everything blurry around him. Thankfully, he had other senses and he could perceive Qi. As much as she was trying to contain her Qi, Di Xihe was unable to completely conceal herself from Cao Yun''s senses.


    As he was getting closer to her, he realized though that she was concealing her real identity. Right now, she didn''t have the same aura she had when she was acting as his servant. Back there, he had not pried too much and had missed it. That only showed how gifted she was when it came to concealing herself. Her arts had to be crafted for either thieves of assassins.


    Unfortunately for her, she had stolen from Cao Yun. She might have escaped the Huang family, but not him, and not considering what she had stolen.


    "Show yourself!"


    At first, she didn''t move. She was probably hoping that Cao Yun was bluffing and that he couldn''t find her exact location. Cao Yun himself had fallen for such a bluff in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. However, this wasn''t a bluff at all. Without moving or adding any other word, Cao Yun used his ''Bleeding Eyes'' and sent a powerful killing intent exactly where Di Xihe was hiding.


    When it touched her, she finally revealed her presence.


    "Senior, please excuse this humble junior. I was just hunting..."


    "No need to lie! I know exactly who you are! You''ve stolen something of great importance to me. The question is whether you will give it back to me willingly or whether I''ll have to take it from you. You should choose wisely."


    "Senior, I really don''t..."


    Once again, there was no hesitation in Cao Yun''s answer. Another wave of killing intent washed over Di Xihe. Although her deception was perfect, she could not deceive Cao Yun. After all, she was literally holding his spatial ring. In this spatial ring, Cao Yun and put a seal with his own Qi. As such, it was very difficult to hide it from him. If he had not thought about doing so, she would have been able to escape. And he would have lost his mother''s paintings for ever.


    That was also playing on Cao Yun''s temper. Because he wanted to protect them, he had almost lost his most precious belongings. No matter what would happen, he would always keep those paintings by his side.


    "I have no time to lose with you. I don''t intend to hurt you. Just give back what you''ve stolen. Don''t make me take it back by force!"


    For a moment, there was no sound and no reaction from Di Xihe. Suddenly, Cao Yun felt three presences split up from Di Xihe''s position. She stopped hiding her cultivation and revealed that she was a late Mortal. Her speed however was way beyond what a Mortal could achieve. Cao Yun could tell that she was weak but her arts focused on stealth and speed. In other word, she truly was an expert thief.


    Unfortunately for the young girl, she could duplicate her presence but she couldn''t hide the seal of Cao Yun. In an instant, he determined which Di Xihe was the real one thanks to his compass. As fast as she was, she was no match for a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior.


    Without drawing his weapon, Cao Yun activated ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' in order to ground his position and improve his speed. Like a gust of wind, he left the deep fog and chased after Di Xihe. For the first time ever, he felt that her Wei Qi was wavering. Until now she had stayed perfectly calm but she was starting to panic as Cao Yun was right behind her. She had probably never thought that he would be able to choose the right one without thinking one second.


    Of course, she couldn''t know that there was a seal on the spatial ring she had stolen. But she was starting to understand that Cao Yun had some way of tracking her.


    It didn''t take long for Cao Yun to catch up to the young girl. Knowing that there was no point in trying to escape from him, she decided not to waste her stamina. As such, she chose a nearby spot where there was almost no tree. Although there was no place to hide herself, she knew that this was useless.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Cao Yun didn''t think much about this. No matter what she had up her sleeve, it would be useless. Still, he quickly made a Bamboo Map of the place in order to decipher any array formation, just in case. Indeed, that was a good place to set up a few array formations he was familiar with. As such, he was cautious when he approached her. But she didn''t activate any kind of trap.


    "Senior, I''m very sorry about stealing from you."


    "That, I can believe."


    "I''m sure we can find some kind of agreement."


    As she was trying to seduce him, she exposed her shoulders. At first, Cao Yun thought she was just trying to make him lower his guard. But then, he sensed something else. Her words were hiding a strange rhythm. It was as though she was singing her syllables. And within those rhythms, there was a subtle attack against his mind.


    Of course, Cao Yun had developed his mind enough to resist such an attack. But an unsuspecting Mortal Warrior could have fallen prey to such an attempt. That young girl was dangerous.


    "Your tricks have no sway over my mood. You''re just fanning the flames of my anger. Once again, I have nothing against you, but if you keep playing around with me, don''t blame me for being ruthless!"


    One last time, Cao Yun used his ''Bleeding Eyes''. Now that he was staring directly at her, his mental attack was at its strongest. Yet, she almost didn''t falter. Cao Yun was only able to see a small glint of fear that disappeared straight away. That young girl was very good at controlling her emotions. After all, she was extremely gifted when it came to stealth. Against anyone else from the Huang estate, she would have been able to escape with her booty. However, she had foolishly targeted Cao Yun.


    "I lost my patience! I will take what everything you''ve stolen. If you try and resist, don''t blame me for any injury you might sustain."


    As Cao Yun was getting closer to the young girl, she started to panic. In an instant, she turned from a very assertive young woman to a trembling mess. As she was shaking, she also ripped apart her clothes. Taken aback, Cao Yun stopped his movement for an instant. Then, Di Xihe screamed at the top of her lungs.


    "Help! Save me!"


    At that moment, Cao Yun sensed another presence he had neglected. There was someone nearby. And that person intervened.


    "You fiend!"


    Before he could react, Cao Yun felt a blade on his neck. He was forced to move away from Di Xihe in order to avoid being beheaded. By focusing his Qi in his arm, he manifested ''Dragon''s Chest'' and he blocked the blade. However, he still felt a biting cold. The blade had almost pierced through his Wei Qi.


    There was no doubt. This blade had been made with Divine Ice Steel. It could congeal almost anything, including Cao Yun''s Wei Qi.


    Between him and Di Xihe, there was now another young woman.


    Her figure was elegant and rather small. Even without seeing her face, Cao Yun could tell that she was very young, probably three or four years younger than he was. However, he couldn''t see her face at all. She was wearing a large hat with a long veil falling over both her shoulders. With his senses, Cao Yun should have been able to see through it, but he couldn''t at all. In fact, he couldn''t even tell her cultivation at all. If she hadn''t expanded her own Qi during her previous attack, he would never have been able to tell she was a Mortal Warrior. That young woman was perfectly protected from any prying eyes.


    After blocking her attack, Cao Yun could roughly tell that she was a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior like he was. Besides, her Qi was full of Water element and incredibly cold. All around her, Cao Yun could feel an icy temperature that was even able to stop any attacking Qi.


    "How dare you attack such a young lady out in the woods?! Are you just a beast in human clothes?!"


    "You are mistaken, Miss. This young lady stole from me and she''s just trying to deceive you into protecting her."


    For a moment, the new woman didn''t react. Although he couldn''t see her face, Cao Yun knew that he had sowed some doubt in her mind. After all, he was speaking the truth and she could tell. But he might have been a good liar too.


    Behind the young woman, Di Xihe had ripped apart a small part of her robe to make it look like Cao Yun had really attacked her. There was even a bruise on her fair skin. Her figure didn''t give off the impression of a martial artist. Most likely, she had only trained on her stealth and her speed in order to reach a great proficiency. As a result, her strength was ridiculous, but this also played in her favor as it showed her as a fragile little thing.


    "Miss, don''t be deceived. He attacked me out of the blue and threatened to rip my clothes to shreds if I didn''t give him everything in my possession."


    The woman was now in a conundrum. Indeed, both Cao Yun and Di Xihe''s words sounded true. As a result, she knew that one of them was a very good liar but she couldn''t tell whose story was true. In fact, the two of them could be lying too. Maybe this was an elaborate trap.


    "Miss, I have no time to lose. She stole something from me. Ask her to show the spatial rings she has and you''ll quickly realize that one of them is mine. The other one belongs to the Huang family."


    The name of the Huang family had the impact Cao Yun was looking for.


    "What would a young lady who don''t seem to be able to protect herself be doing alone in those woods? If you think about it, her story doesn''t make sense at all."


    Slowly, Cao Yun was winning. The uncontrollable sobs of Di Xihe were not working on the elegant woman. After all, she had probably seen many young women who were able to kill very powerful enemies. She would not be deceived by appearances alone.


    "Young lady, if I might be impolite, I''d like to see the spatial rings that you have on yourself..."


    "Miss...?!"


    Dejected, Di Xihe let her head fall. She seemed completely defeated as she was taking out a spatial ring from her robe. Both Cao Yun and the young lady were careful. The two of them were cautious of everyone around them. After all, no one among the three of them trusted the other two.


    As she took out a spatial ring, Cao Yun recognized the spatial ring that contained his family paintings. He had to control himself not to pounce forward and rip it away from her hands. But he had been able to convince the elegant young woman. He was certain that she was not an ally of Di Xihe and had just been lured by her call for help. He had no reason to complicate the situation. Thanks to the seal he had placed in his spatial ring, he could easily prove that it was his.


    When she was about to open her hands, a tiny pearl fell from Di Xihe''s hands. The moment it touched the ground, a powerful light and a shrill sound spread throughout the area. Even prepared, Cao Yun was taken aback long enough for Di Xihe to disappear.


    Instead of trying to use his senses, Cao Yun tried to follow his own seal. However, it had not moved at all. When his senses came back, Cao Yun saw that Di Xihe had left all her belongings behind her. Her robe had fallen on the ground and Cao Yun could see two spatial rings within.


    Most likely, she had figured out that Cao Yun was tracking her somehow. Since she didn''t know exactly how he was doing so, she had preferred to abandon everything in order to escape. This had been the right decision. Now, Cao Yun had no way of tracking her.


    The elegant young woman also looked at the robe and identified the spatial ring Cao Yun had talked about. However, she didn''t move and let Cao Yun get close to it. She was still a bit suspicious, but Cao Yun''s story had convinced her.

 Chapter 394: The ghost town

    Cao Yun grabbed the spatial ring and also recovered what had been stolen from the Huang family. As the young woman was still studying his behavior, Cao Yun sent his Qi within the spatial ring. Someone had clearly tried to break his seal but it had endured thanks to his training with Dian Mo. Inside the ring, the materials he had left behind and the paintings were still there, intact. He heaved a sigh of relief. Then, he strengthened the seal and hid the ring in his clothes.


    "Miss, I''m sorry you were involved in this matter. Thank you for seeing through the lies of that thief."


    "Sir, I am the one who''s sorry for attacking you."


    In her previous attack, Cao Yun could tell that she had no intention of actually killing him. However, she had been serious enough to warn him. With her strength, she definitely could injure him. But he wasn''t so sure whether she would be able to actually beat him in a fair fight. Of course, she could also attack him by surprise and the damage would be immense. In fact, she might be able to incapacitate him in one powerful blow. That being said, she could not imagine his overall strength and she had no way of knowing how fast he could recover thanks to his blood cultivation.


    For now though, Cao Yun was happy that she wasn''t an enemy. And he had no reason to make her one. However, he was curious as to why such a powerful cultivator was in the area. They were close to the Huang family so maybe she was related to their presence. After all, she was hiding her identity so thoroughly that Cao Yun couldn''t tell a single thing for certain about her apart from her height. Even her voice was probably altered by her veil.


    In Cao Yun''s mind, this created a huge suspicion. Maybe he was still being affected by his mood, but he was feeling something strangely familiar from that young woman. Perhaps, she was connected to demonic cultivators as he couldn''t sense whether she had any form of Evil Qi within her.


    "Miss, I am Guai Mo, an alchemist and a guest of the Huang family. Might I be presumptuous enough to ask your name?"


    "Of course, Sir Guai. My name is Yong Ke. I can understand that you''re a bit suspicious of my presence in those woods. But I have no ill will toward either you or the Huang family."


    "Then, Miss Yong, maybe I could help you. And I am sure the Huang family would be happy to be of assistance as well..."


    For some time, the young woman didn''t speak as she was gauging Cao Yun. In the end, she decided to talk.


    "Sir, my presence here should remain a secret. I heard about the small town of Luozhi. Since even Governor Jiahe doesn''t seem to care about the well-being of his own citizens, I decided to take it upon myself to investigate. Please, Sir, I do not wish for my presence here to be known by anyone."


    The name of Luozhi had an impact on Cao Yun. This was a nearby settlement he had been meaning to visit. Indeed, it was one of the most recent sites where everyone had disappeared. Inspecting that village was one of the reasons why he had gone to Yunling City in the first place. Visiting the Huang family was important too. But getting clues as to what had happened was way more important for him.


    Most likely, it had been done by Gu Song one way or another. He had probably not been directly involved, but Cao Yun might find clues about him there. Maybe this was a great occasion for him. If that woman was investigating this small village, she might have more information than Cao Yun. It might not be a bad idea to join her in her investigation.


    "I heard about Luozhi indeed. As an alchemist, it piqued my interest. Apparently the entire population disappeared without even leaving a single body behind them. I was wondering whether some kind of poison had been used. Miss Yong, would you mind my accompanying you there? I know you probably don''t have a lot of reasons to trust me. If you let me accompany you, I will swear never to say a word about encountering you in those woods."


    Once again, Yong Ke stayed silent for a while. Considering her clothes and the beautiful weapon she had showed, she hailed from an incredibly rich family for sure. Or maybe she had inherited it and was from a powerful lineage. Anyway, Cao Yun was certain that she had a strong backer behind her. In fact, it was highly possible that she had some ties with the Imperial City. As such, Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether she would accept his offer.


    What Cao Yun didn''t know was that the familiar feeling he had from her, she had from him too. Since she had seen him, she felt like she had known him before without being able to place either his face or his name. At first, she even feared that he was using some kind of technique to manipulate her. But her veil should have been able to protect her from any mental attack. Not even a middle Spirit Warrior could influence her mind or her soul without taking off her hat, her weimao.


    "You''ve come in the Subei Province to earn a spot in the upcoming Alchemy Conference I imagine."


    "Indeed. I thought about having the Huang family support me, but they''re not that well established here yet. I will probably leave for the capital very soon. However, now that you mentioned Luozhi, it made me curious. I heard about that place and was wondering what could have happened there. If I find some clue, it could help me improve my standing when I go to Qingyun City."


    "I doubt that... But I have no reason to stop you from going there. We might as well go there together. Having an alchemist by my side might prove useful."


    Although they were talking with warmth, both of them were suspicious of the other. Yong Ke was probably the most suspicious. Indeed, she had met Cao Yun by chance and all of a sudden he wanted to accompany her to a city whose inhabitants had all disappeared without leaving any trace. Cao Yun himself could understand how strange it might look. On the other hand, he found her strange for accepting that. But she might have the same kind of logic he had. If he was interested in Luozhi, he might have some information she could try to pry away from him.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Miss Ke, do you have a way of transportation?"


    "I propose we embark on your mount. This should be the fenghuang beast I''ve seen in the distance. I imagine that the Huang family lent it to you."


    "Miss Yong, you are mistaken. Hongyu is mine, she doesn''t belong to the Huang family. But you are right that she is my mount. Let''s see if she accepts to fly you as well."


    Cao Yun barely had to wait for Hongyu to come to him. The two of them were deeply connected. As the distance was short, she felt his call in an instant and landed in that sparse wood. When she saw Yong Ke, Hongyu was not too pleased because she imagined what Cao Yun was about to ask her. Just by looking in his eyes, she could tell he was about to ask her a favor and she knew what it was.


    Before Cao Yun could ask her anything though, Yong Ke drew closer to Hongyu. She stopped just before it got Hongyu upset. Then, she bowed slightly.


    "Miss Hongyu, please pardon this unworthy one. Might I inconvenience you for a while?"


    The attitude of that young human pleased Hongyu immensely. But there was also something else. Somehow, she also felt close to this young woman. Still with a glint of arrogance in her eyes, Hongyu let out a small screech to show her approval. Cao Yun was quite surprised that she had accepted so easily. Apart from Huang Liyue and Elder Ying, she had never let anyone get close to her in Baziyun City. Well, Elder Ying would have never let anyone else get close to her anyway.


    Anyway, this would speed things up. With Hongyu''s help, Cao Yun and Yong Ke reached Luozhi in a matter of hours instead of days of walking through the woods.


    -


    When they finally reached Luozhi, the place was completely empty. With all of his senses, Cao Yun could detect that there was no form of life at all, anywhere. Stranger than that was the fact that almost everything seemed to be intact. There had been no disaster and no panic, all the people had just vanished. According to the reports, Yunling City had lost all contact with the city a few months ago. It was the last city that had disappeared in such a way since then. However, Cao Yun had discovered other cases of strange disappearance. Most of them were about very small villages like this one. In fact, it was more of a small settlement rather than a true village. But some disappearances also involved individuals.


    Cao Yun and Yong Ke jumped down from Hongyu who kept her distance with the settlement. She stayed close but she went hunting around.


    For some time, Cao Yun kept inspecting the houses, using his senses to their fullest. Almost nothing could escape his notice. As he was going from house to house, he discovered that everything was as if all the people had been living their life and they had just vanished out of nowhere all of a sudden. There was absolutely no trace of violence or of Evil Qi of any kind for that matter. But in each house, he was able to smell the same kind of odor. Outside, it had almost disappeared but the sand was humid and it had captured a faint trace of that smell. Cao Yun took a handful of sand and was able to clearly get that smell.


    As an alchemist, he immediately thought about a poison, or some kind of incense to hypnotize or put to sleep the entire village. However, he had to be careful before jumping to conclusions. Considering that Gu Song wanted test subjects for something Cao Yun could only make guesses about, he had no way of knowing whether the use of poison or incense would be allowed for the abductors. It was also possible that Gu Song had tasked some beast tamer with that and they were simply using the natural means of some demonic beast. But it was also possible that this had nothing to do with Gu Song at all. Maybe it was even related to demons or maybe just standard criminals. Although crimes were few, bandits and murderers still existed at all times within mankind. However, emptying an entire village would be strange for them.


    Anyway, there were many possibilities. But Cao Yun was quite happy about his finding. Even though he didn''t know what kind of odor this was precisely, it was now engraved in his mind and he could find it. A lead, as faint as it might be, was a lead nonetheless. From this sand, he might also be able to extract some of the substance from which the odor originated. If his nose couldn''t identify it, his alchemy might. And it would also be helpful in order to produce an antidote of some kind.


    After exploring the village as much as he could, Cao Yun stopped to think over it. He went to the central plaza where a tiny shrine had been erected. It was rather simple but the name of Emperor Weide was inscribed on it. Above it, there was the name of Emperor Nuwa overseeing it, as well as a figurative representation of that woman. Most likely, that village had adhered to the School of the Celestial Goddess. It was an important sect within the School of Ren Dao. For them, Emperor Nuwa was a goddess who had incarnated in human form. And since her departure, her godly essence had been transferred from emperor to emperor. As much as it was flattering for the emperors, it wasn''t the official position of the School of Ren Dao recognized by the Hongchen Kingdom. That being said, it was accepted as one of the 108 Noble Words.


    Of course, Cao Yun didn''t care about that at all at the moment. He was just trying to organize his thoughts. As such, he entered his sea of consciousness and began to look through some of the books he had memorized.


    Before long, Yong Ke joined him. She looked at the inscription for a while and didn''t disturb Cao Yun''s concentration before it looked like he was done.


    "Sir, did you identify this strange fragrance?"


    "I''m not entirely sure yet. It''s a bit old so most of its potency is gone. However, the humid sand captured some of that substance. I might be able to identify it with alchemy, but I can''t guarantee that, nor can I know how long it might take me."


    "Then, it would be better to follow the lead rather than wait for it to completely disappear."


    "Then, you sensed it too?"


    "Of course, there is a clear trail going underground. I heard that there were many tunnels under the Deep Cloud Ridge. I always thought it might have been a great way for whoever was responsible to carry the abductees."


    Even Cao Yun had not known about those tunnels until he had understood what the Huang family was doing in this area. Yet, Yong Ke truly spoke as if she had known all along. Her information was not coming from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. She had a better source of information than them?!


    After warning Hongyu that they were leaving, Cao Yun followed Yong Ke''s lead. There was indeed a trail left behind by that strange fragrance. To be fair to the hunters who had investigated already, it was so faint that it was almost impossible to detect it. If Governor Jiahe had sent in alchemists or even array formation masters or Spirit Warriors, they might have been able to detect it. But Mortal hunters had absolutely no chance of sniffing it out.


    On the other hand, both Cao Yun and Yong Ke were able to follow it without much problem. The trail was going underground in the humid sand. This wasn''t very pleasant, but they both started to dig in order to follow that trail.

 Chapter 395: Underground Nian Fish

    Using his competence in array formations, Cao Yun was trying to follow the trail of that faint smell. It was going underground but there was no form of tunnel at all. Without spiritual senses, it was difficult to probe the ground. In fact, with his senses, Cao Yun could only detect if there were holes of Qi within the ground. It could prove useful sometimes. But in this situation, it was rather useless. Since there was no Evil Qi he couldn''t use it either to detect anything. Unfortunately, this was also the case for Yong Ke who wasn''t a Spirit Warrior either.


    Her clothes and her weimao in particular were protecting her from mental attacks but it didn''t enhance her senses at all. As such, the both of them were forced to dig the ground themselves. Indeed, the fragrance was stronger as they were going deeper.


    As he had the spatial ring of the Huang family, Cao Yun decided to take a look at the documents within. Since Huang Si had found appropriate to use Cao Yun for her own ends, he figured that he had no reason to respect her secrets. Besides, the spatial ring was not protected at all. Indeed, seals were not something easy to use. In fact, demonic cultivators were probably the most talented when it came to this domain. Unlike Cao Yun, very few cultivators spent a lot of time working on those. In the past, only Sages were working on seals as they required a lot of time and mental strength to really master.


    Within the documents, Cao Yun found many maps showing all the tunnels the Huang family had explored. The Deep Cloud Ridge was literally riddled with holes. The mountains that were visible on the surface also extended underground and even formed a complex maze under a large part of the Subei Province. Now that he was looking at the maps, Cao Yun realized that the Subei Province might even be a real threat for the Hongchen Kingdom.


    If the demons were able to map those tunnels, they might be able to literally cross the entire province and get deeper within the Hongchen Kingdom without being stopped. Yes there were array formations at the frontier of the Subei province. But if they were able to get in, they might be able to find a fast way to travel behind the defensive lines of mankind.


    At first, Cao Yun thought that Di Xihe, which was probably a fake name, had stolen the documents to sell them. But she might have been hired by someone else. In that case, either she was working for people worried about the Huang family who was starting their business in the Subei Province, or someone who had more nefarious intents. If she hadn''t left the Subei Province, Cao Yun might find her again. If that were to happen, he had to be prepared this time around as she might have some useful information for him. Even if she was indeed working alone, she might have stolen other things to other people. Or she might even help him infiltrate some of the noble families of the Subei Province. After all, he was soon going to be rich thanks to Huang Si, and with his alchemy he had plans to be even richer.


    For now, Cao Yun put all those thoughts to sleep. He was helping Yong Ke getting deeper underground. After a few long minutes, they finally reached a solid rock under Luozhi. Unfortunately, the fragrance almost disappeared within the rock. It had remained that long thanks to the humidity in the soil that had trapped it. But in the rock, there was nothing to trap this smell. However, this wasn''t the end.


    When they reached the rock, Cao Yun was able to feel that it was hollow. With his usual senses, he shouldn''t have been able to sense it at all. But he used his knowledge of ''Death Verses''. Indeed, there was a faint trace of Death Energy below the rocky surface they had hit. It was also mixed with a tinge of Ghost Energy. Both of those were caused by the souls of humans after their death. However, Cao Yun detected no sign of Evil Qi. Evil Qi was created by a brutal death during which the emotions of the dead were intertwined with his own Qi.


    If there was no Evil Qi but traces of corrupted souls, that could mean that the people in that village had been killed so instantaneously that they had no time to regret their deaths. On the other hand, it could also mean that their deaths had been extremely traumatic as to affect their very souls.


    Unlike Cao Yun, Yong Ke was unable to sense those energies. Even a Spirit Warrior would have had a hard time detecting them. But Cao Yun had been faced with Death Energy for a very long time and had even worked on ''Death Verses'' as well as his own soul. Although it might be affecting his mood a little, his work on his Po of Jing had increased his sensitivity to everything related to souls. Thankfully, he had a good cover to explain how he was able to follow the tracks even though they were gone.


    For some time, Cao Yun meddled with his compass. He had read enough books to put up a very convincing show.


    "I feel like whoever left that strange smell behind went this way. But I fear that all the people in Luozhi were killed in a very fast and yet brutal fashion. Of course I can''t be sure, but my guess would be that someone or something attacked their very souls. Back in Luozhi, I was unable to detect any trace of array formations. Thus, I think it rather plausible that a demonic beast did so, maybe under the orders of a beast tamer."


    "Do you think that demonic cultivators could be behind it? From what I know, they were behind the stampede that touched a huge part of our kingdom. Apart from them, the only ones I could think of who would attack such a village would be demons. But if demons had crossed the border, everyone in the Hongchen Kingdom would know of it. Besides, they would have most likely attacked a more strategic target."


    "So you suspect demonic cultivators of having invaded the Subei Province?"


    "To tell you the truth, this is what I''ve come here to investigate. After the disaster that was the stampede, I tried to find clues as to what the demonic cultivators were trying to achieve in our Hongchen Kingdom. And if I am not mistaken, there is a dangerous Spirit Warrior who''s hiding in Qingyun City."If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "And you think he''s the one behind those disappearances?"


    "Of course! He''s an alchemist. So you should understand what an alchemist might want with mere mortals..."


    Cao Yun was a bit surprised that Yong Ke seemed to know so much about Gu Song he was chasing himself. But what surprised him more was the fact that she was willing to tell him so much. In fact, he even wondered whether he should trust her because of that. Maybe she didn''t intend to let him live through this so it didn''t matter if he knew too much. Or perhaps she was testing him. After all, they had met by pure chance and Cao Yun had somehow decided to tag along her investigation. He wouldn''t have trusted himself either. However, the two of them had the same strange feeling that the other one was somehow familiar and trustworthy.


    They kept on talking and shared some theories as to what had happened in Luozhi. There were not that many demonic beasts who could attack an entire village without leaving any trace behind. Indeed, this demonic beast had to have some form of mental attack. As they were walking through the tunnels, Cao Yun also started to examine the samples he had gathered earlier. He used many ways to try and distill the substance within the sand without altering it too much. In it was lying the definitive clue to know what had happened. Identifying the demonic beast before coming face to face with it would be a very good thing. Unfortunately, it was taking way too long.


    The tunnels were rather shallow. In fact, Cao Yun and Yong Ke could barely walk side to side. And they were also very humid as though they had been filled with water not too long ago.


    Down there, there was no light at all and it was hard to know where one was going. Thanks to Cao Yun''s compass though, they were able to perfectly locate themselves in regards to the surface. It took them several hours before the scenery around them changed. They were clearly going out of the Deep Cloud Ridge and toward the border of the Subei Province. Of course, the tunnels were not straight but they were going in the general direction of Qingyun City. Maybe they had been right about Gu Song''s involvement...


    For now, it was still too soon to be certain of anything. But as they were following the Death Energy and the Ghost Energy, Cao Yun was feeling them increasing. They were always very faint but there was a clear increase in their amount and concentration as they were progressing through the tunnels.


    At some point, the tunnels also started to change. The roof was getting lower but the tunnels themselves were getting larger. Cao Yun''s head was almost touching the ceiling. On the other hand, Cao Yun and Yong Ke could easily walk side by side with a lot of room still. In fact, it was an improvement as they would be able to use their weapons with way more ease.


    Suddenly, Cao Yun stopped Yong Ke. Since he had shown himself to be a good array formation master with his compass, she didn''t protest at all and waited for him to talk. He was looking at his compass and trying to align different circles on it. This time though, he was not putting up a show to explain his senses. No, he was sincerely using his knowledge of array formations. Without talking, he stepped forward and waited. Then he looked back to his compass.


    After signaling Yong Ke to stay quiet, he made her understand she had to follow in his steps. Yong Ke was not a stranger to array formations. If Cao Yun was acting in such a way, it was highly likely that there was some form of array formation around here. In order not to trigger it, she obeyed his orders without questioning him at all. His first encounter with her had showed that she was a smart young woman. Although she was not as knowledgeable as Cao Yun, she was able to assess the situation very fast and take the right decision.


    As they were walking forward, the two of them knew they had officially left the Deep Cloud Ridge. But the mountains and the tunnels were still spreading all around the official borders of that place. Soon, they heard a slow breathing. It was echoing inside the tunnels as though a giant monster was sleeping in front of them. Of course, the noise was deformed by the tunnels but it was obvious that it wasn''t human in origin.


    The two humans looked at each other. Cao Yun couldn''t really see Yong Ke''s eyes behind her weimao. Even in that situation, she had kept her concealing hat and her veil. It wasn''t optimal but since they were going after something that had probably powerful mental attacks, Cao Yun could understand her. However, he could tell that she was also hiding her true identity. With the way she was talking, he was certain that she was some kind of noble for sure. Besides, her accent showed that she was not from the Subei Province or even the west of the Hongchen Kingdom. In fact, she was speaking like someone from the center of the Hongchen Kingdom, where the Wang Province was, whose capital was the Imperial City.


    Her accent was well concealed, but she had some phrases that reminded Cao Yun of the Wang Province. Although he had never been there, he had heard a few disciples of the Wubei Sect who had been born and raised there. Besides, he had read enough to know some patterns in the way people spoke in the Imperial City. But he still wasn''t too sure about her identity. However, he was really starting to stop doubting her. She seemed sincere enough in her desire to get to the bottom of things. And she also seemed to genuinely care about the common people of the Hongchen Kingdom, unlike Governor Jiahe.


    As they were advancing, their eyes picked up on some faint rays of light. It was hard to know for sure how deep they were. However, it was certain that the sun could not reach them at all. And indeed, the light was not coming from the sun.


    They found themselves in front of a large underground lake. All around the lake, there were shining rocks. Those were clearly spirit stones. Spirit stones were specific rocks that were able to absorb the surrounding Qi. As such they were very useful for cultivators. But their value depended on how much Qi they had absorbed and how dense it was. The quality of Qi was also important but the overall quantity was a good indicator of the quality itself.


    Those spirit stones were a bit strange. And Cao Yun could immediately tell why. They had not only absorbed Qi, but also Death Energy and even Ghost Energy. This entire place was incredibly Yin. In fact, Cao Yun felt as though he was back in the Yellow Death World. For a moment he even wondered whether they had crossed into the land of the dead. But there was still pure Qi all over the lake so Cao Yun was certain that they were still in the world of the living, beneath the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Without the sun to purify this place, those tunnels had gathered more and more morbid energy.


    What stopped Cao Yun and Yong Ke though was a large shadow within the lake. That underground lake was shallow but it was extremely large. Under the serene surface of the turbid water, there was a black shadow. It was from that thing that the breathing was echoing through the tunnels. Now that he was seeing the demonic beast with his own eyes, Cao Yun could determine what it was in an instant.


    All the clues pointed him in the right direction. This was a Soul Obsidian Nian Fish, also called the Soul-Sucking Catfish.

 Chapter 396: Swallowed by the shadows

    A Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was a 7-core demonic beast. Although its cultivation was higher that the Five Bloods Pheasant, it wasn''t as powerful. However, it was way more dangerous. Indeed, as its nickname suggested, the Soul-Sucking Catfish could literally extract the soul out of someone''s body.


    As such, even a powerful Mortal Warrior had almost no way of fighting against that creature. Only a Spirit Warrior could face it head-on. Even then, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was extremely talented when it came to soul attacks. Thus even an early Spirit Warrior could have their soul sucked out of their body. Even though an early Spirit Warrior had a Soul Embryo, it wasn''t fully awaken at first and then they had to strengthen their Upper Dantian.


    Cao Yun had realized what kind of demonic beast it was thanks to the substance left behind and the shape he was seeing in the underground lake. Indeed, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was using a strange substance secreted by its body to lower the resistance of its victims. Most likely, the mortals who had inhabited Luozhi had been killed in an instant. Before they could realize what was going on, their souls, both Po and Hun, had been ripped away from their bodies.


    But then, what had happened to their souls? The Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was known to rip out the souls. But its goal was to devour the flesh. So it explained what had happened to the bodies of the mortal. Once their souls had been extracted, the demonic beast had probably swallowed them whole. By now, their flesh had obviously been digested. But the traces of Death Energy and Ghost Energy suggested that the beast had taken the souls as well. However, it didn''t make sense for that beast.


    Then, Cao Yun was certain that someone was behind that demonic beast. First of all, its mere presence here didn''t make sense. Such a powerful demonic beast should have been detected fairly easily. Even the three 6-core demonic beasts in the Yunling Forest had not felt its presence. However, Cao Yun had detected several array formations all over the place. Some of the luminescent crystals on the walls had clearly been positioned by someone. They were forming a great array formation that was concealing the very existence of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish.


    There was another reason for Cao Yun to deduce that the beast wasn''t acting on its own. In all the books he had read about that demonic beast, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was not taking the souls with it. As such, it was obvious to know that someone had specifically ordered it to do so.


    Thinking about that, Cao Yun was wondering whether he should really kill this demonic beast or not. Another question was whether he could kill it or not. Most likely, he wouldn''t be able to slay him with a single strike, even by using all of his strength. But once awaken, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish would unleash its soul attack. Despite his mind cultivation, Cao Yun couldn''t be sure whether he would resist his attacks or not.


    Then, he had to think about Yong Ke. First of all, he didn''t know her actual strength. And fighting together would be difficult as they didn''t know how each other fought. Besides, as much as he was confident in his mind cultivation, he didn''t know how Yong Ke would fare with her weimao. No matter how resistant it was, there had to be weaknesses to it. And if it was blown away, she would be defenseless against the demonic beast.


    As he was thinking about all the possible outcomes, Cao Yun was also planning ahead. If he were to kill that demonic beast, Gu Song would probably know about it as it was most likely obeying his orders. Did he really want to warn Gu Song of his presence right away? But then again, Cao Yun wanted to be more decisive now. As soon as he could take down Gu Song, he would. He merely had to find out the best way to take him out while obtaining the information he wanted from him.


    Before Cao Yun could make a final decision, Yong Ke touched his shoulder. Although he couldn''t see her face, he sensed a strong killing intent from her. There was no emotion behind it, she simply wanted to kill the beast. And Cao Yun had to admit that he was feeling the same way. If left unchecked, that demonic beast could kill many people. Until now, it was being kept under check by Gu Song who didn''t want it to be discovered.


    But that meant that if Cao Yun killed Gu Song, the beast would be unleashed. But even worse, Gu Song might have a way of controlling the beast to try and defend himself. Cao Yun knew that Gu Song was an alchemist, but he wasn''t sure whether he was a beast tamer too. Maybe he had been using another beast tamer to help him control the beast, or maybe another way altogether. Now that he was thinking about it, Cao Yun was feeling like he knew the answer but he wasn''t positive yet.


    All of Cao Yun''s thoughts took only an instant as he was using his mind cultivation. Now he was ready to fight alongside Yong Ke.


    Cao Yun circulated all of his mind cultivation, ready to face the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish''s soul attack. His Five Agents were engulfed in the flames of Shen the Fire Spirit and the bones around his Po character were spinning intensely around the character. Finally, his seven stars shined through the infinite sky and reverberated on the surface of the clear ocean. Dian Mo was watching as the Drop of Wrath was slowly turning to flames. The blood was now liquid fire and there was a black character engraved in it. It looked similar to the Flying Poison characters mixed together. But it now was closer to the Nuhua language. Cao Yun was slowly getting full control over the Drop of Wrath but it had an impact on his impulses as well.


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. On the other hand, Yong Ke took out a long sword. The blade was as thin as a blade of grass and it was so long that it was even a tiny bit longer than his spear. No one could sheathe that sword unless they had someone''s help or could use Qi to move objects through the air. In fact, Yong Ke was never sheathing her sword. It was always stored in her spatial ring. Although Cao Yun did not recognize the amalgam used, the metal of the blade seemed dangerous and there was undoubtedly Divine Ice Steel within.


    The moment she took out her sword, the temperature around Yong Ke lowered. Cao Yun could also feel that she had reached the level of Sword Aura. In fact, by her disposition, she even looked like she was close to forming Sword Intent. Just by watching her with a sword in hand, Yong Ke was giving off a tyrannical air. At that moment, Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether he could win or not against her.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Until now he had been convinced that he was invincible within the Mortal Warrior realm, but this girl would be able to push him past his limits. As much as he didn''t think he would lose, he might be forced to really go further than ever before. Fighting her would be like fighting an early Spirit Warrior. Yet, he wasn''t afraid or wary of her at all. Right now, he was feeling something even more familiar from her stance. Maybe he had seen her martial arts before...


    Without speaking or even looking at each other, Cao Yun and Yong Ke instinctively went to either side of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. Cao Yun had given a quick map to Yong Ke to show her where the array formations were. He had also added a few points to it in order to prepare for the fight. Since they had never seen the other one fight before, fighting side by side could prove a real challenge. In fact, it might even reduce their overall strength instead of being an advantage. Still, they were both certain of the course of action they were taking. That demonic beast had to be killed to protect the people.


    Cao Yun was ready to attack. Behind him, reality broke into glass. There were seven shining stars in his back that were forming the ethereal shape of a large dragon. Although he didn''t want to reveal his identity in public, he didn''t think much about showing it to Yong Ke. Within his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was surprised by so much trust. But he had to admit that taking on a 7-core demonic beast without unleashing all of his strength would be suicidal.


    In his sea of consciousness, several small shining dots appeared around the Horn Star. They were still very vague but Dian Mo could clearly see them. Cao Yun was slowly forming the constellation around the Horn Star.


    On the other side of the cave, Yong Ke was completely surrounded by a mist of frost. The very blade of her sword had been covered by a thin layer of blue ice. Over her arms, there was now a thin veil falling in her back. She looked like the statue of a goddess with ethereal silk around her figure. Despite all the books he had read, Cao Yun could not recognize this art. However, he was feeling something very familiar from her posture. It wasn''t her martial art though. Despite his mind cultivation, he couldn''t put his finger on what it was.


    That piece of silk behind her seemed to contain dim stars. In fact, Cao Yun was also feeling a strong presence within this silk. Both extremities were as sharp as Yong Ke''s blade but they were not covered in ice at all.


    As though they had always trained together, they attacked at the exact same moment. Both of them knew the target, the catfish''s heart. Cao Yun knew enough about the anatomy of the demonic beast to discern precisely where they had to strike to target the place where he was most vulnerable. On the map, he had showed it to Yong Ke as well. And she was targeted the same spot on the other side of the demonic beast.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    ''The Goddess Splits the Water''!


    Using both Qi Manifestation and Martial Aura, the two of them attacked with their full strength. Behind Cao Yun, the shape of the Azure Dragon coiled itself around his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. It turned into a literal firestorm and pierced through the heart of the catfish.


    On the other side of the cave, the exact opposite was happening. Yong Ke''s silk that was levitating on her arms and in her back spread forward. Yong Ke jumped forward as the surface of the lake was turning to ice under her. She then plunged her sword forward. The silk also coiled around her sword as it pierced through the flesh of the demonic beast. The wound around the weapon got frozen.


    On one side, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was being burned while he was being frozen on the other side. Instead of clashing with one another, the two extremes were assaulting the demonic beast and strengthening the damage caused by one another.


    Of course, the demonic beast finally woke up in horrendous pain. Its very heart was being attacked on both sides. The two weapons had stabbed through gaps in its scales and had targeted between its ribs. They had almost only pierced through fleshy parts of the demonic beast. Unfortunately, there were powerful muscles around its heart and it didn''t go down so easily.


    As soon as it woke up, the catfish splashed the lake. All the ice created by Yong Ke was blown apart and a huge wave went toward her. On the other side of the cave, there was a wall of hot steam going straight for Cao Yun. The two of them were forced backward. But they were pleased to smell a thick odor of blood. Their target had been hurt deeply. And they could feel in his attack that it was both weakened and desperate. That was a dangerous combination.


    Still confused, the beast might not be able to unleash her most powerful attack straight away. At least, that was what Cao Yun was counting on.


    Unfortunately, he was proven wrong immediately. The vast shadow of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish spread farther and farther. It even spread beyond the lake. The entire floor of the cave was now made of shadow. The moment Cao Yun and Yong Ke touched the ground, as they couldn''t fly, they felt a powerful suction. Each one was being swallowed by the shadow beneath their feet. If they didn''t react they would be devoured by this intangible maw. But worse than that, this suction was affecting their souls way more than their bodies.


    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the Flying Poison he was working on was spinning like crazy around his Po character. Under the effect of this suction, its rotation sped up and it was slowly getting away from the Po character''s influence. Immediately, Cao Yun activated the Po character within the Drop of Wrath to try and grab on it. As the two characters were connecting, the force that was pulling on Cao Yun''s Po of Jing was now applied on the Drop of Wrath too.


    Of course, it wasn''t powerful enough to budge the Drop of Wrath. However, the Flying Poison wasn''t too pleased by the attempt. Cao Yun could feel his rage increase within himself. This time, it wasn''t his anger that was activating the Flying Poison but his Flying Poison that was stimulating his anger.


    The bones forming the Po of Jing Cao Yun was working on were changing in front of Cao Yun. They were looking more and more like Bone Demons. Some green patches of moss were appearing, like green rotten hair. Without any delay, Cao Yun activated his Shen more and more. The flames it was producing were mixed with the blood of the Drop of Wrath. The Rune of Fire also got activated and poured its heat toward the green bone fragments.


    Finally, Cao Yun was able to get his anger under control. When he came back to reality, he saw that Yong Ke was also getting sucked in the shadow below. Her clothes were fluttering but her face was still hidden and she didn''t seem to be particularly shaken by the soul attack. For now, she was probably protected by her clothes but it wouldn''t last too long.


    Cao Yun had to find a way to disrupt the soul attack. Luckily, he had been smart enough to think of it before attacking.

 Chapter 397: Fishing in ones mind

    Cao Yun immediately entered into his sea of consciousness and pushed his mind cultivation to its limit. All of his mind was focused on anger and rage. In his mind, images of everything that had tormented him were coming in spades. As a result, the bone fragments rotating around his Po character were accelerating more and more. And it turned out that more fragments were being expelled from the Po character itself that was being heated by Shen the Fire Spirit.


    This way of cultivating his mind was extremely aggressive but incredibly effective. As the fragments connected to the Po of Jing, the sane version of the Flying Poison, were being accelerated by Cao Yun''s focus on his anger, they were being separated from the rest. This was a technique he had imagined after reading the third layer of ''Crimson Inferno Road''. After all, his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' had most likely been imagined by a demon. And Cao Yun was certain it was true as it was complementing ''Crimson Inferno Road'' so well.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t Cao Yun''s goal to achieve a breakthrough. It would still require a few months. However, he was well on his way there. Although his blood cultivation was still in the first realm, his mind cultivation was closer to that of an Accomplished Demon. Usually, it would be suicidal as a Blood Child didn''t have the tools to subdue a Turbid Demon. However, with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun had everything he needed. Besides, he also had the Drop of Wrath that could help him. But first, he had to completely subdue it. He was close but not quite there yet. Before taming it fully, he had to tame its Flying Poison. And for that, he had to tame his Flying Poison.


    The reason behind Cao Yun''s actions were not just to test his theories, which would influence his course of actions. He also had another card to play. While inside his sea of consciousness, he saw the attack of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish.


    Beneath the surface of the clear water, there was a huge shadow. It was very close to the surface and didn''t appear to be very thick but it was spread over a large area. Clearly, it was the shape of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. Although Cao Yun couldn''t see it too well, the giant fish seemed to have its mouth open. And from its face, eight long tentacles were moving under the water. Those were barbels.


    Abruptly, they leapt out of the water and went toward the center of Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Against another Mortal Warrior, such an attack would have meant their death. Indeed, the 7-core demonic beast would have simply ripped out their very soul from their body. Unfortunately for the fish, Cao Yun had the ability to enter his sea of consciousness. Moreover, he had learned several ways to deal with such attacks.


    Of course, he wasn''t on the level of Xiao Xuefeng, but neither was his enemy. No matter how powerful it was, a demonic beast would never had the same skill as a Spirit Warrior. Even if it could attack one''s soul, it was doing so out of instinct. Unlike humans, that fish could not learn martial arts or soul techniques. And this was why Cao Yun was confident fighting against it. If it had been any other 7-core demonic beast, he would have refused to engage. And he was convinced that Yong Ke had the same kind of confidence thanks to the clothes protecting her.


    This Soul-Sucking Catfish was indeed powerful due to his soul attacks. But if one could overcome this, he wasn''t more dangerous than a weak 6-core demonic beast in fact. And Cao Yun was almost certain he could deal with it alone. Since he had Yong Ke by his sides, he was thus certain that he could kill it. His main concern was whether or not he should kill it. But for now, he didn''t have to think about it.


    As the barbels were getting closer to Cao Yun''s Nine Soul Peaks, he activated his Horn Star. Tiny shining dots appeared all around the star as though a constellation was trying to get out of the void, as it was indeed trying to do. Beneath their light, golden characters flew all over the place. Those were Cao Yun''s Insight Writings about the Dao of the Spear. They relentlessly attacked the barbels and cut them into tiny pieces.


    Sensing his target retaliating against it, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was shaken to its core. It had never suffered so as it had always attacked weaker preys. One of its preys was resisting it and even inflicting pain on its very soul. On the other hand, the concealed woman was not being affected as much as he wanted. Her physical body had been partially swallowed by the shadow and yet the fish had no access to her sea of consciousness at all.


    Then something worse happened. The shadows around Yong Ke turned to ice around her. Several pieces of blue transparent silk appeared around her and lashed out all over the place. From the shadows, stalagmites or ice pierced through. Under the water, the black fish began to shake more and more violently. Water was going sent toward both Cao Yun and Yong Ke. The young woman turned everything to ice by sending a few strikes with her sword.


    ''The Goddess Freezes the Heavens''!


    On the other hand, even though Cao Yun was within his sea of consciousness, he was still circulating his blood. In fact, after testing out his idea on his Flying Poison, his blood had been excited. His skin was extremely red as though he had a high fever. All the water coming toward him was turned to steam as soon as it almost touched his skin. But he still felt a bit of acidity within. As an alchemist who had read the book of Tree of Death, Cao Yun knew what this feeling was. He had been right!


    The Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was swimming in an underground lake that was filled with poison. Most likely, this was the way Gu Song was forcing it to obey his orders. Now that Cao Yun had gathered all the pieces of the puzzle, he knew how to deal with that beast in order to optimize his chances of getting to Gu Song. He had assumed a fake identity just so he could get near him without alerting him. It would be most unwise to alert him by killing his beast slave right now.


    In his sea of consciousness, the fight was completely one-sided. After all, Cao Yun had the Drop of Wrath. He would have loved to use his personal strength in order to temper his mind, but he had no time to lose right now. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had to focus almost all of his mind within his sea of consciousness to resist the soul attack. On the other hand, the demonic beast was free to act in the physical world. However, Cao Yun''s mind was extremely faster than the fish.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    As a few breaths passed in the physical world, several minutes had gone by in Cao Yun''s mind. The golden characters had severed the fish''s barbels and they were now attacking its main body. Just like in the real world, it was getting agitated and splashed water all over the place. The flames from Shen the Fire Spirit intensified. As they did, the Rune of Fire within the Drop of Wrath also shined with a tyrannic glow.


    Then, Cao Yun activated his Drop of Wrath. A gigantic red demon made out of blood and liquid fire appeared like it had done before. With its powerful arms, it caught the tail of the catfish under water and extracted it. Once out of the water, Cao Yun could see its real form. However, Cao Yun had no intention of killing or destroying it. As a Mortal Warrior, he couldn''t attack someone''s soul as his own soul couldn''t leave his body. On the other hand, he could very well attack a soul that had wandered into his sea of consciousness on its own. Dian Mo was living proof of that.


    Understanding what Cao Yun had in mind, Dian Mo was a bit worried about what was going on outside. After working with Cao Yun for some time, he knew that he could do what he was setting out to do. But he was still afraid of what might happen to his physical body in the meantime. It turned out that he was absolutely right to be afraid.


    Instinctively, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish felt that the true threat wasn''t the icy woman, it was the immobile man. It seemed counter-intuitive. But as much as Yong Ke could inflict physical wounds, the fish was sensing that the human boy was doing something to the part of its soul it had sent inside of him. Immediately, it tried to reclaim it. The shadows let go of Cao Yun and retracted but it was too late. The part of its soulw as still within Cao Yun, unable to escape the grip of the Drop of Wrath.


    Thus, the 7-core demonic beast emerged from the water. It jumped as high as it could in the glowing cave. As the water flowed off its back, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was floating in the air. Suddenly, it opened its gaping mouth and tried to suck in Cao Yun. Since it couldn''t destroy his soul, it would digest his flesh.


    ''Sailing Through the Starry Void''.


    Without any hesitation, Yong Ke dashed toward Cao Yun. In an instant, the silk around her turned into an image of the cosmos. The stars were like icy dots in an ocean of blackness. Those strips of silk stretched toward Cao Yun and space seemed to shrink. It was as though the silk wasn''t stretching but space itself was shrinking. Yong Ke appeared in front of the young man just as the fish was trying to swallow him.


    ''Worshiping the Ancestral Might''!


    Yong Ke''s long blade slashed toward the catfish''s gaping maw. The moment it fell, the icy blade ripped away one of the beast''s eyes. And it continued its course as the beast was convulsing in pain. Unfortunately, its skin was dense and slick enough that the trajectory of her attack was altered. Despite her best effort, she was unable to cut its head. Instead, her blade slashed toward some barbels that were on the side. In the end, her blade got stuck as it cut one of its barbels off but only penetrated a second one.


    Because of the erratic movements of the wounded beast, Yong Ke''s arm was being torn apart as she was trying to hold on to her weapon. Sensing that she didn''t have the strength to hold on to it, she decided to retract her weapon within her spatial ring. During a fight, it was a very dangerous move. Indeed, she was forced to send Qi all around her weapon to send it back into her spatial ring. She even clashed with the Wei Qi of the beast that was around the tip of her blade. However, she was able to retract her weapon, leaving herself open to an attack before she could get it out again.


    Although it didn''t know all the subtleties about spatial rings, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish could obviously tell that the young woman had lost her weapon. It was the perfect moment to attack. And so, it ceased the opportunity. Several barbels went toward her to ensnare her. Like six tentacles, they were coming for her.


    Since she had lost her weapon, even for an instant, Yong Ke''s Qi Manifestation had weakened and she could use her Sword Intent no more. However, she also knew how to protect herself with her fists.


    Before the barbels could touch her, she sent a few palms toward them. Right now, Yong Ke was acting on instinct alone. Despite her skill, those barbels were so slick that they were hard to deflect. Thankfully, she didn''t try to catch on to them or she would have been surprised. The catfish was able to control them with incredible accuracy and speed. In a few breaths, Yong Ke and the dark tentacles had already exchanged several dozens of moves. In another circumstance, Yong Ke would have tried to get away from them in order to have enough time to take her weapon out. However, if she moved too far, Cao Yun would become the target of the beast once again.


    Even if she had met this young man for a very short amount of time, she knew that he was doing something important. After all, the catfish had retracted his shadow completely and was desperately trying to kill him. She had to protect him until he was done and this fight would surely be won. Without him, she wasn''t sure she could kill the beast. If her clothes were damaged enough, she wouldn''t be able to resist his soul attacks. Then, she would be forced to use her trump card and to call for help. But she really didn''t want to do that. If she were to call for help, she wouldn''t be able to continue her investigation. But if she died, she wouldn''t either...


    During the chaos, one of the barbels was able to go behind Yong Ke''s back and caught on her leg. Immediately, it grabbed on to her. Small pikes were biting into her clothes. Despite the quality of her protection, she could feel them through the fabric even though they didn''t pierce all the way through. Still, they were constricting her muscles and bones. The pressure was intense.


    Without thinking, she sent a palm toward the barbel. Even she was surprised by her own move. A powerful gust of wind sliced through the tentacle that was cut in half in an instant. Yong Ke was astonished as she didn''t recognize this move. Surely, she had learned it in her past life and couldn''t remember it. By accident, she had found a piece of her lost past. Maybe she had to be grateful to this beast.


    Unfortunately, she had unleashed this move by pure instinct. She would need some time to recall it and work on it. But maybe this simple palm could be a doorway to her forgotten past.


    Anyway, the fight wasn''t over yet. The pain inflicted on the demonic beast gave Yong Ke enough respite to fetch her long sword from her spatial ring. Once again, her attitude changed completely. Her Sword Intent and her Qi were fully manifested around her. As the temperature lowered around her, the surface of the barbels began to freeze a little. This wouldn''t stop them, but it would make them less slippery and even a bit slower.

 Chapter 398: Letting go of the caught fish

    Instead of pressing on with the attack, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish retracted its barbels. Then, Yong Ke was ready to advance. But she had to think about Cao Yun behind her. Right now he was clearly fighting an inner battle. And she was absolutely certain that this battle would be decisive for the physical fight she was facing. Thus, she also decided not to push forward any further. Besides, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish didn''t seem to wish to fight any longer either.


    That being said, it made her very uneasy. In her eyes, it proved that the demonic beast didn''t think she was much threat. It was probably thinking that once the young man was dead, she would be next. However, she could see some traces of fear in the Wei Qi around the beast. As much as she wasn''t taken very seriously by the giant fish, Cao Yun was. Even now, it was afraid of what the young man was doing. It was all the more reason to protect him.


    At the same time, a terrible battle was being waged within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. However, it was incredibly one-sided. The shadow of the Soul-Sucking Catfish couldn''t do a single thing against the fiery arms of the bloody demon. After all, it was the fragment of the soul of a God-Monarch. Even weakened, few souls would have been able to rival with the Drop of Wrath. In fact, Cao Yun was almost certain that only a late Sage or maybe even an early Monarch could do so. Since he had never met anyone who had reached neither of those realms, he couldn''t be sure. But no Spirit Warrior and thus no demonic beast could fight this within the realm of the soul.


    The Soul Obsidian Nian Fish''s mistake had been to try and attack Cao Yun within his sea of consciousness. But then again, it had no way of knowing about this. Almost any other Mortal Warrior would have been killed, having their soul ripped apart from their living flesh. Apart from a select few like Mei Hua, no one else could have resister this attack without external help like Yong Ke''s clothes and weimao.


    Now that Cao Yun was holding on to a part of the beast''s soul, he would never let go. In fact, it was very similar to what Mei Hua had lived through with the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora who had tried to devour her soul. However, Cao Yun didn''t intend to kill the demonic beast or even to destroy this part of its soul. Indeed, he didn''t know whether this would alert Gu Song. Now he was absolutely certain that Gu Song was controlling this demonic beast thanks to a poison and to array formations created with the spirit stones within this cave. Most likely, a beast tamer had helped him set it all up. But since Gu Song was using poison, Cao Yun was almost certain that that beast tamer was no longer in the picture.


    After all, the Wubei Sect, the Huang family and the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had gathered a lot of information. And they were still waging a powerful purge of all demonic cultivators. It was highly probable that that beast tamer had been used for other purposes and had been found out and killed. Indeed, beast tamers were few so it was unlikely for even Gu Song to keep a beast tamer all to himself. Of course, it was still possible for the beast tamer to have escaped the purge for now. In fact, it was possible that he would come back to Gu Song for help.


    Right now though, Cao Yun had to assume that this wasn''t the case. And hopefully, he would be done with Gu Song before such a potential return could occur. Although he had assumed another identity, Cao Yun didn''t intend to keep it for long. His goal was to get rid of Gu Song. But he didn''t just want to kill him. He wanted to extract as much information out of him as possible. Killing a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior would be difficult enough. But extracting anything out of his soul was insane.


    Furthermore, extracting anything out of a demonic cultivator was a huge ordeal. Even Xiao Xuefeng had a hard time doing so against lower demonic cultivators. That being said, Cao Yun had thought a long time over this. And with this new demonic beast in front of him, he was more confident than ever. The slightest mistake could cost him his life. But he didn''t plan to make any mistake. He would first gather as much intelligence as possible. Then, he already had several plans in mind to take care of Gu Song.


    As long as he could confront him in a battle of souls, Cao Yun was certain he could win. There was still some danger, and he might not be able to extract everything he wanted. But at the very least, he knew he could destroy Gu Song''s soul. The main problem was to force Gu Song to let his soul out. If he were to attack Cao Yun''s body with his spiritual senses and his Spirit Warrior cultivation, Cao Yun would be killed almost instantly. Thankfully, he had the Spirit Condensation Barrier made by Sect Leader Xuan. Obviously, he didn''t want to waste if he could avoid it. But this was an important element in his plan as it was a way for him to ensure his survival if things went south. He had other means to his disposal, but right now was not the time to think too much about them.


    Right now, Cao Yun was meaning to create another trump card he could use. Since the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish could extract someone''s soul from their living and conscious body, it might be a good thing for Cao Yun''s purposes. Although Gu Song was more powerful than this 7-core demonic beast, there were ways for Cao Yun to make it useful. And for that, he needed to keep it alive. The first reason was to avoid Gu Song from detecting anything strange. But the other reason was because this demonic beast would be useful to Cao Yun. His plan had been to heavily injure it first, but it had failed as it was too tough.


    Thankfully though, the demonic beast had been overconfident in its ability, which was a reminded for Cao Yun to avoid this kind of mistake against a powerful enemy like Gu Song.


    Within Cao Yun''s mind, Dian Mo knew exactly what the young man was doing. They had worked on seals for a long time, and Cao Yun was clearly trying to create such a seal within the soul fragment he had trapped. The demon of blood and liquid fire had now six arms like Axiu Qian when he had been using his full strength. However, it still only had one face with the eyes open. The other two faces were there but they looked like they were asleep.


    As two arms were holding on to the tail and to the mouth of the catfish, Insight Writings were relentlessly attacking the shadow so that it was weakened more and more. At the same time, the other four arms were forming all kinds of mudra. Most of them had been taught to Cao Yun by Dian Mo himself. As much as he couldn''t help Cao Yun when it came to human cultivation, the arts of the demons were very familiar to him as were array formations. As such, Cao Yun''s knowledge about seals was probably above the knowledge of even demonic cultivators. In fact, he might be on par with powerful demons who had had accessed to the books and manuals left behind by Demon God Da Mo and his dynasty.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Yong Ke could feel it, but the Death Energy and the Ghost Energy that were stagnant in the cave were being focused on Cao Yun. On the other hand, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was feeling it very strongly. After all, it was sensitive when it came to souls and those two energies were corrupted forms of the souls he had ripped apart from the humans he had been ordered to kill.


    Through ''Death Reeling'' of the ''Death Verses'', Cao Yun could control Death Energy. And since he had advanced his cultivation of the Seven Turbid Demons, related to his Po and thus to Death Energy, he was getting better and better at it. As the Death Energy was gathered within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, he began to create a complex rune above the shadow of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. Before long, he began to engrave this rune within the soul fragment itself. As he was working on it, the Rune of Fire was also shining with a terrifying light and the seal formed by Cao Yun was like a brand burning the soul fragment.


    Although it had failed to retract this part of its soul, the demonic beast was still connected to it and it could feel an intense pain. After feeling the morbid energies being sucked by Cao Yun''s Bai Hui and this pain, the demonic beast couldn''t stay passive any longer. Once more, it had been overconfident, thinking the young man would ultimately fail to overcome its soul fragment. Now, it was determined to kill the young man. Even if the woman were to injure it, it had to kill this existential threat!


    With this primordial thought in mind, the Soul-Sucking Catfish let itself fall into the water. A powerful wave immediately drowned the cave. By reflex, Yong Ke manifested her Qi and froze everything around her and Cao Yun. Her long sword drew a large circle around them as she was lacerating the air. Everywhere her sword was passing, the very air turned so cold that it became visible for an instant and the water was instantly turned to ice.


    ''The Goddess Freezes the Heavens''!


    Now, they were imprisoned in an ice sphere while the sound of the waves crashing against it echoed within. Then, a gigantic shadow engulfed the entire sphere of ice that cracked everywhere at once. Thousands of sharp shards flew toward the two humans. Yong Ke''s defense had been turned against her. However, she had been training in ''Nuwa''s Celestial Silk'' long enough to know of those weaknesses.


    According to what she had heard, this martial art had been created not by Emperor Nuwa but by some of her followers. They had admired statues and pictures of her and had been struck by inspiration. Of course, they attributed this inspiration to her as she had already ascended at that time. Despite her efforts, Yong Ke had not found too much about them, but they were probably members of the School of the Celestial Goddess, like the people from Luozhi who had been devoured by this beast. There was a form of irony that wasn''t lost on Yong Ke. The demonic beast who had killed followers of the School of the Celestial Goddess would be killed by one of the most powerful martial arts created by this very school. ''Nuwa''s Celestial Silk'' was a 5-star Heaven martial art or above.


    ''Covering the World With Silk''!


    Large strips of silk appeared all around Yong Ke''s sword''s hilt. Then, Yong Ke stabbed frenetically all around herself. With her Sword Intent, her own weapon was multiplied. It was like she was wielding several dozens of swords at the same time. Most of the ice shards falling toward her and Cao Yun were destroyed. But even with her speed, she wasn''t fast enough, a few shards passed through. Even then, she took most of them. Her body was covered in an armor of silk made of Qi Manifestation while she was still stabbing all around herself. The rate at which she was using her own Qi was alarming. In fact, she was pushing her limits so much that her clothes were torn apart here and there. No injury was too serious, but nothing was over.


    Furthermore, she was using a lot of energy to push back against an attack that had cost the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish almost nothing. Thanks to her efforts though, Cao Yun suffered from almost no ice shards. Only a couple of them hit him. His Wei Qi was not enough to stop them as they had been infused with the Qi of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. But no shard was able to penetrate his skin too deep. Even the shallow injuries he suffered from quickly healed themselves.


    In his blood though, there was now the same poison that was forcing the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish to obey its master. In fact, Yong Ke was starting to feel this poison. An intense pain radiated from all her injuries and was starting to even affect her mind. Her sight was getting blurry as she was fighting against such an intense pain. That being said, it was nothing compared to the anguish she was feeling about her forgotten past. There was no way she was going to die against a mere fish in an underground cave!


    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the scene was now infinitely calmer. The soul fragment had resigned itself to its fate. The seal crafted by Cao Yun had been branded in its core. Now, there was nothing left for it to do. If Cao Yun wanted to, he could kill it with a single thought. Besides, each time it was trying to muster its will in order to resist Cao Yun, its very soul suffered immensely. The mere attempt to resist was being punished. This would be a terrifying seal if a demonic cultivator could master it. Ironically, Cao Yun would be a better demonic cultivator than the demonic cultivators if he wanted to. However, the idea of using innocent people as resources was disgusting to him.


    Even if he could become stronger faster, he wouldn''t resort to such means. However, inflicting those methods on those who deserved it or were trying to kill him didn''t bother him at all. The methods used by the demonic cultivators were not necessarily evil. The problem was always how those methods were used, against whom and for what purpose.


    Now that the seal was well in place, there was only one thing left to do. Cao Yun had to put the fish back into the water. And he did.


    Since Cao Yun had grabbed onto that soul fragment, the Soul-Sucking Catfish had been trying to pull it back within itself. If Cao Yun had been fighting a Spirit Warrior, he wouldn''t have made this mistake as he would have known what kind of methods other humans had. Unfortunately, the Soul-Sucking Catfish was ignorant of them. After all, it had been subdued by a beast tamer and by poison, not by a soul seal, unlike human demonic cultivators.


    The moment it felt this fragment of its soul going back to it, the fish was overjoyed and even ceased its attack. It was now certain the humans were about to die.

 Chapter 399: Heart poison

    The very moment the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish reunited with the fragment of its soul, it felt the trap. However it was too late. The seal that Cao Yun had implanted within this fragment naturally fused with the entire soul now that they were brought back together. In that instant, a powerful surge of Fire energy submerged the enormous fish. A spasm of pure pain spread through its body and it fell back toward the underground lake.


    For a few breaths, it distorted in agony, sending water all over the place. But now that Cao Yun was back in the physical world, he could easily use his Qi Manifestation to protect himself, and Yong Ke, from the poisoned water.


    In the end, the fish was forced to calm itself. It had been subjugated by a poison forcing him to serve Gu Song. And now a new master was trying to dominate it. Since those two masters might clash with each other, the fish was starting to see the end of its life. If it displeased either of those masters, it would be killed. Then, its only choice would be to die through an insidious poison or by having its very soul eradicated. It had given up its pride to submit and survive. But now, even that sacrifice had been worthless. He had lost its pride and dignity and it would still lose its life.


    In its remaining eye, Cao Yun could sense a complete resignation to its fate. Luckily for the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish, Cao Yun didn''t want to kill it. In fact, he had great plans for that demonic beast. Of course it had killed humans, but under the orders of a demonic cultivator. Well, it had probably killed humans beforehand to form seven demonic cores. But Cao Yun had no hatred for this beast. In his eyes, it was just a wild animal. Maybe it was his intimacy with Hongyu, but he couldn''t hate this demonic beast wholeheartedly.


    Cao Yun quickly analyzed the situation. With a single glance, he was able to understand everything that had happened. Yong Ke had truly risked her life to protect him. Obviously, she had also done so because she knew his actions were important. Still, he felt grateful to her. Without her intervention, he might have sustained heavy injuries, even though he was certain he would have come to same result at the end.


    Although his wounds inflicted by the ice shards were completely healed, Cao Yun could feel the poison within his flesh. He knew that the same poison was coursing through Yong Ke and the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish''s bodies. First of all, he had to find out what poison this was and get rid of it. Then, he would purge Yong Ke and Soul Obsidian Nian Fish as well. For the young woman, this was a show of gratitude as they had fought side by side. But for the demonic beast it was to ensure it would stay alive and would be loyal to him. Instead of using only fear like demonic beast tamers, Cao Yun was convinced that both stick and carrot were useful together. To be honest, Cao Yun wasn''t sure what he would do with this beast once Gu Song would be killed. After all, it was dangerous for humans.


    But right now, seeing a completely defeated air in its eyes, he couldn''t imagine killing it. Of course, he had needs of it. But even later, he wasn''t sure he really wanted to kill that beast. Besides, it wasn''t forced to devour human souls to survive or even cultivate. It was possible for Cao Yun to teach it other ways. Hongyu and most fenghuang didn''t attack human cultivators to develop their demonic cores. Of course, it was different for each species. But for now, Cao Yun put these thoughts aside.


    "Miss Yong, we''ve both been poisoner by this water. The Soul Obsidian Nian Fish won''t attack us now, so there is no need to provoke it either. I''ll identify the poison and then try to detoxify it. I''m sorry but time is of the essence, so I''ll get right to it."


    Before Yong Ke could even answer, he sat cross-legged and began to meditate. Since the poison was literally within his body, it wouldn''t be too hard for him to get a sample. Thanks to his knowledge of alchemy, he was able to easily control the medicinal essence of pills. And now, he was controlling the toxins within the poison. In fact, his blood had already begun to attack the intruder. The poison was being contained in Cao Yun''s blood. It was as though he had a small vial containing all of the poison that had been gathered there. Despite his blood cultivation though, the blood in contact with the poison had turned black. And slowly, it was trying to insinuate itself through this barrier of blood.


    Now that he was fully aware of the physical world, it wasn''t hard for Cao Yun to take control of this poison. He lead it toward a part of his shoulder, away from his vital organs, just in case. Then, using some Spear Intent, he focused his intent in his fingers and slashed toward the skin. A black ball of blood emerged from the wound just as it was healing itself. Slowly, the ball floated toward Cao Yun.


    Now that it was outside of his body, there was way less risk for him to suffer anything. But it wasn''t over yet. Indeed, Cao Yun could sense that this poison was literally attacking his Wei Qi. In fact, it might even attack his soul. Against such a demonic beast as a Soul-Sucking Catfish, it would be an ingenious poison.


    Seeing how the poison was reacting, Cao Yun was trying to find out possible poisons it could be. If it had been found out by the demonic cultivators in the documents of Demon God Da Mo, only Dian Mo would be useful. Thankfully, Dian Mo had been more and more cooperative lately. In fact, at this very moment, he was observing the poison through Cao Yun''s senses and was trying to figure out the exact same thing as the young man. However, nothing came to his mind and this frustrated him.


    "You should separate it in several small drops of poison so we can run some tests on it. It would be interesting to see how it reacts to Death Energy or Ghost Energy. Maybe even try to feed it some of the blood of that beast to see how to differs in its reaction compared with human blood."


    Dian Mo''s advice wasn''t absurd. But Cao Yun didn''t need to do all that. Indeed, he had already found out only two possible poisons. Both of them came from the book of Tree of Death. And by considering the location they were in, Cao Yun was almost certain of the kind of poison this was. Indeed, one of the two was sensitive to Yin so it would have been useless in this place. Then, there was only one poison that fitted the one Cao Yun was examining. In addition, the description was absolutely spot-on. There were even some details Cao Yun had not yet figured out.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    That poison was a 2-star Heaven poison. According to Tree of Death, its most common name was Heart Reversing Tormentor. The way it would act would be to insinuate itself within all the tissues of the physical body. Slowly it would make its way within all three Dantian. But where it was most effective was the Upper Dantian. There, it would cause great anguish and despair. That poison would lower one''s will and was perfect to break one''s enemies rather than kill them. However, it didn''t mean it wasn''t deadly.


    Depending on the dosage, this poison could corrode the heart and kill someone very easily. In fact, at high doses, the poison would annihilate one''s Upper Dantian. The book described how that poison could be used to make someone submit. Tree of Death explained that he had personally used it to torture some prisoners in order to get information. But he also explained some of the diverging effects on demonic beasts. Like many products, this poison had been tested on them before humans.


    Unlike humans, demonic beasts didn''t have Upper Dantian. However, they still had souls. There was a lot of discussion over where their souls were stored precisely. But just as Prenatal Jing was stored within the kidneys, many believed that the varying souls of the demonic beasts were stored in their organs. Some even thought that each organ had one specific aspect of their souls. That also meant that every single species of demonic beast had their souls in different parts and maybe even separated in different ways.


    As such, the poison could more easily affect their souls. And indeed, the soul of the Soul-Sucking Catfish had been heavily injured by that Heart Reversing Tormentor. To be fair, even at full strength, the demonic beast could have never rivaled with Cao Yun''s mind. But it had probably made the process faster that its soul had been injured. This also meant something else. The Heart Reversing Tormentor had an antidote that could be given to alleviate the suffering. Most of the pain was not from the flesh but from the very soul. As such, it was harder to resist and almost impossible to get used to it. Clearly, this was the way Gu Song was controlling the beast. He had fed it the poison and as long as it was docile, he was providing the antidote once in a while.


    Since Tree of Death had mentioned the antidote, he also explained how to refine it. As the poison was a 2-star Heaven one, the antidote wasn''t easy to refine at all. In fact, it was a 1-star Heaven medicine. In theory, only a 1-star Heaven alchemist could refine it. However, this wasn''t necessarily the case for Cao Yun. Indeed, the main difference between a Human alchemist and a Heaven alchemist was the ability to see what was going on in the cauldron through spiritual senses. Luckily, Cao Yun could mostly guess what was going on.


    Evidently, it wasn''t as good as true spiritual senses. But maybe it would be enough for Cao Yun to create the antidote. After all, he didn''t need to make a very potent version of the antidote. The poison itself wasn''t so well refined. According to the book of Tree of Death, it had barely reached the prerequisite to be called a success. Besides, the antidote was very well described in the book. Tree of Death had a way writing that was getting straight to the point while explaining the most obscure details as well.


    Without saying anything, Cao Yun took out his ''Aureate Grove''. Both Yong Ke and the demonic beast had observed him analyze the poison in his black blood. As Yong Ke was calm, the catfish wasn''t at all. There was hope in its eye. Maybe the poison that had plagued him for several years could truly be purged. But then, it would still suffer from the seal. However, the seal was only painful when the beast was thinking about attacking Cao Yun. This new master might be an improvement...


    Some techniques were still far too complicated for Cao Yun or required abilities he had not yet. However, he was convinced that with his mind cultivation he refine a 1-star Heaven antidote before becoming a Spirit Warrior. Indeed, he had been working on his ''Shen Visualization''. Recently, he had discovered by reading that this method had a real name, the ''Spiritual Sea Refinement''. And it had been very well refined by many generations of alchemists. Most alchemists could only practice it after becoming a Spirit Warrior, but the only real requirement was to be able to enter one''s sea of consciousness. As it turned out, Cao Yun had discovered that Mei Hua was also practicing this technique and learned a few tricks from her. Hence, his ''Spiritual Sea Refinement'' was very good now.


    While he was preparing the ingredients he had in his spatial rings, he had almost a complete image of every fluctuation of medicinal essence within. And as he was preparing them, he could even plan how a refinement would proceed with each processed part. That way, he could adapt his preparation to the upcoming refinement process. This was the true nature of Ingredients Preservation. Not only was Cao Yun thinking about preserving the ingredients during the preparation but also during the subsequent refinement. In fact, he even began to apply the Five Elements Wheel to his very preparation. Just during this phase, Cao Yun''s alchemy was gradually improving.


    Then, he started the fire by sending a surge of Qi into the ''Aureate Grove Blaze''. This was the occasion to work on his Flame Control. As soon as the fire took, Cao Yun realized that he had become much more sensitive to its properties. In fact, he was able to feel every minute fluctuation within. The fire was truly alive in his eyes. Most likely, this was due to the Rune of Fire that was heating up within the Drop of Wrath. Below it, Dian Mo was very impressed. Although Cao Yun had not understood the Dao of Fire yet, just obtaining this meager rune was impressive for a Mortal Warrior.


    In fact, Dian Mo was unable to take his eyes off of Cao Yun''s imaginary refinement. In his sea of consciousness, there were now hundreds of cauldrons and furnaces. In each one, there was a different refinement of the same ingredients. Right now, since Cao Yun was not sure how to refine the antidote, he had to try out what would happen. Although he couldn''t imagine every single scenario, he was playing around with as many possibilities as he could. In less than an hour, it was as though he had practiced the refinement thousands of times under different conditions.


    Cao Yun was aware of Dian Mo''s interest. But it didn''t disturb him at all. To the contrary, he knew that Dian Mo still had many things to teach him about demons and asura. Although he couldn''t trust him completely yet, Cao Yun wanted to establish ties with him. Considering the agreement he had made with him, he had to be subtle to get what he wanted from him. And maybe, there was a way for him to resolve the situation without any conflict. Cao Yun had enough enemies as it was. Even if Dian Mo could not become a friend, he might be able to stop him from being an enemy. Dian Mo seemed to admire Demon God Da Mo. But in the end, Da Mo was the one who had caused him to be trapped in the Demon Palace all his life. And Dian Mo was not a demon. He had no reason to be loyal to them.

 Chapter 400: A deal with a catfish

    Finally, after a full hour, Cao Yun began to refine in real life. Yong Ke and the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish were both strangely tense and relieved. Indeed, they were seeing real hope of Cao Yun healing the poison coursing through their veins. But they were still faced with a dangerous opponent. Yong Ke had however relaxed a little in order to focus on controlling the poison in her bloodstream. Although she wasn''t as good as Cao Yun, she was competent enough to slow the poison before it could reach her organs. In fact, she had even gulped down a pill to help her.


    With his newly acquired Rune of Fire, Cao Yun realized how easier it was to manipulate the flame of his furnace. His Qi was completely ingrained within the flames and they were obeying his every thought. Of course, this was a normal flame that wasn''t too powerful. But still, his control had greatly improved. Now, he could determine without even thinking which powder and what amount were necessary to change its properties. He was also able to control seven tongues of fire at the same time. Each one could have completely different properties and temperatures without clashing between one another. Still, he had to be cautious not to let them touch each other on the surface of the cauldron. But this was very good.


    According to many texts, a 1-star Human alchemists could control only between three to four tongues of fire. Cao Yun had almost double that. Each star was adding around four to six tongues of fire each time. That meant that a 5-star Human alchemist could control at least twenty of them. Right now, controlling seven was not difficult at all for Cao Yun. To the contrary, it felt as natural as moving his arms around. Thus, he would quickly gain the level of Flame Control a 5-star Human alchemist had, or even a 1-star Heaven alchemist. By that time, the number of tongues of fire wasn''t a very good indication anymore as it was still deemed a rather basic technique for an alchemist.


    The main problem for Cao Yun was both the Yin-Yang Balance and the Five Elements Wheel within his cauldron. Obviously, those were the most difficult steps with such a high pill. He had tried the refinement process thousands of times in his mind. Unfortunately he didn''t have enough ingredients and enough time to do so in the real world. The demonic beast wouldn''t suffer from the poison as it was used to it. But the concentration of the Heart Reversing Tormentor was just way too high for a Mortal Warrior. As such, Yong Ke was really in danger. After all, Cao Yun had already gotten rid of his poison. If worse came to worst, he could still try to get the poison out of her system. But doing so within someone else would be difficult and would also reveal some of his trump cards. Still, he wasn''t going to let her die after she had been hurt protecting him.


    Unlike the simulations, if he made a mistake with the real thing, everything in the cauldron would be destroyed, incinerated. Worse, his cauldron could even explode...


    Thus, the young alchemist had to find a way to keep the balance without sacrificing the potency of the pill too much. Without further ado, he fully immersed himself in the refinement process. The ingredients flew one by one inside the cauldron. Each time, the lid was open for only an instant and yet Yong Ke could smell the deep fragrance of the mixture within. On the surface of his ''Aureate Grove Crucible'', the flames were dancing with several colors. The more Cao Yun was working with them, the more he realized how deep his Flame Control had gotten. Most of it was due to his own training, but the Rune of Fire was clearly helping him.


    At that moment, he realized how powerful his alchemy could become if he were to master the Dao of Fire. Right now, it was just the passive influence of the Rune of Fire through his Drop of Wrath that was taming the flames, making them obey Cao Yun more easily. But with a mastery of the Dao of Fire, he would be the ultimate master of such weak flames.


    Yong Ke was mesmerized by Cao Yun''s alchemy and that was understandable. The flames themselves were as elegant as seven dancers. But the way he was expertly sending the ingredients one by one in the cauldron was exceptional. Yong Ke wasn''t an alchemist but she had seen a fair share of alchemist masters. She had even seen a few Heaven alchemists refine lower pills. Right now, Cao Yun was almost comparable to them.


    And before the time of a cup of tea had passed, Cao Yun''s refinement was close to its end.


    Suddenly, his cauldron started to shake violently. Rattling noises echoed throughout the cave as the cauldron was hitting the furnace below it. This was the most critical moment in this refinement. According to what Cao Yun had smelled and felt, the pill wouldn''t be over three quarters of medicinal essence retained. This wasn''t much, but for a 1-star Heaven pill refined by a 1-star Human alchemist, this was a lot. The mere fact that it might not be a failure proved that Cao Yun was closer to being a 5-star Human alchemist than the meager 1-star he had right now. After all, he had not taken any higher test. But it wasn''t that rare for alchemists.


    In fact, many alchemists didn''t take each and every single test. The most important ranks were obviously the first rank of every realm as well as the last ones. Of course, alchemists also liked the fame and prestige like any other cultivator or mortal, and sometimes even more than others. As such, some alchemists tried to take any test they could to advance their rank. But in general, those weren''t the greatest alchemists. Those were the alchemists who weren''t very confident in their future achievement and wanted to at least secure a high level before their talent peaked.


    For alchemists who were certain they would become a Heaven alchemist one day, taking every test wasn''t very interesting. Most of them only did so when they were staying with their master. Indeed, those tests could also be used by a master in order to motivate and above all monitor their disciples. Those created very simple steps to overcome. But Cao Yun had already left his master. So it wasn''t surprising that he hadn''t passed the tests. Right now, Cao Yun should have been close to a 3-star Human alchemist. With his mastery of the flames though, it was certain that he would grow quickly. In fact, it wouldn''t be a surprise if he was able to become a 5-star Human alchemist by the time of the Alchemy Conference.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    To become a Heaven alchemist however, it would still require for him to become a Spirit Warrior. No matter how good his ''Spiritual Sea Refinement'' was, it would never be able to rival actual spirit senses. With them, he might be able to refine Heaven pills, but refining a Pure pill would be as hard as turning the Heavens upside down.


    As the cauldron was getting more and more violent, Cao Yun was using the flames to try and contain the Fire element within. Indeed, it was clashing with other elements and making the entire process unstable. Right now, he had to lower the temperature progressively to avoid another element from completely extinguishing the Fire while preventing the Fire from burning everything else. It was really the most delicate phase of this refinement and he had known it from the start. But that also meant that this was the part that would diverge from his simulations the most.


    Even now, Cao Yun was using his ''Spiritual Sea Refinement'' as much as he could while increasing the speed of his thoughts with his mind cultivation. He had to push his mind even further than what he had done to put a seal in the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish''s soul. But to be fair, he had also used the help of the Drop of Wrath. Right now, the Drop of Wrath was useless as he didn''t require brute force in the least.


    At last, Cao Yun deemed that he was done. The flames slowly died down and immediately, Cao Yun opened the lid and poured a liquid. This was a vial of Starry Boiled Milk, a very precious liquid considered as a 2-star Heaven ingredient. Cao Yun had obtained some precious ingredients from Xiao Xuefeng. And he intended to buy even more as he could never predict what would be useful. It would always be smart to have varying ingredients on him at all times. Even if he didn''t have the right ones, he might still be able to make something useful if he had enough variety.


    After letting the cauldron cool down, Cao Yun finally opened the lid. A deep fragrance filled the bright cave. Even the Soul-Sucking Catfish was transfixed by it. Everyone in the cave felt their symptoms diminish right away. Of course, they would need to consume the pill in order to get rid of the poison. But they were now certain that this would be effective.


    Considering the urgency of Yong Ke''s poison, Cao Yun didn''t want to wait. But he still took some time to examine the pills he had refined. There were only two of them. He didn''t require one himself as he had gotten rid of the poison thanks to his blood cultivation. However, Yong Ke was in need of it much more than the demonic beast. As such, Cao Yun examined them closely. One had reached 73% of medicinal essence with 12% of toxins. The other one had barely succeeded with 62% of medicinal essence and 19% of toxins. If they had been Human pills, Cao Yun would have been very dissatisfied with the results. But the mere success of a 1-star Heaven pill was impressive.


    Without thinking, Cao Yun gave the best pill to Yong Ke. And without hesitating at all, she gulped it down and sat cross-legged. While she was meditating, Cao Yun gave her instruction as to how circulate the medicinal essence. With his knowledge of the Heart Reversing Tormentor, it would improve the effects of the pill. In his book, Tree of Death had named it Heart Reversing Tormentor Reversing pill. To be honest, the original names invented by Tree of Death were not very good, but they were very factual. After all, the book itself didn''t really have a name except for the name of the author.


    Yong Ke was rather impressed by the effect of the pill. It was perfectly targeting the poison in her blood. The pill she had gulped down before was a general detoxifying pill. Although it had been very powerful, it wasn''t meant specially for this poison so it hadn''t been as efficient. Furthermore, Cao Yun''s guidance was perfect. It didn''t take her more than two incense sticks to get rid of most of the poison. Then, she simply had to take care of the poison near her wounds but it wasn''t too dangerous as it was far from her organs and Dantian.


    As Yong Ke took care of those last vestiges of the poison, Cao Yun got closer to the demonic beast. It was still distrustful of the human, but it knew that he had no reason to kill him after going to such an extent to put a seal in it and refine a pill. Indeed, the beast was convinced that this second pill was for it. And it was right.


    "I can help you get rid of the poison within you. But I have two conditions. The first one is that you need to swear your loyalty to me and obey me as long as I don''t send you to your death. The second one is that you''ll need to send as much as your soul as you can in my sea of consciousness. The poison also got in there and I can''t enter your soul, so you''ll have to enter mine. If you accept my offer, I won''t mistreat you. My goal is to kill the man who used this poison against you. There is no reason for us to be enemies. But if you don''t, I will be forced to coerce you into obeying."


    The demonic beast wasn''t too stupid. If the human wanted to, he could use the seal to completely subdue it through pain. But he was trying to give him a choice. The demonic beast was smart enough to know that he was trying to optimize his use. Indeed, a servant with gratitude would be more useful than one with hatred and a burning desire for revenge. Even now, its hatred for the demonic cultivators who had tortured it into submission was playing against them. Even without any threat, if someone could free him, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish would be ready to help them as long as he could see Gu Song dead. And Cao Yun was offering it freedom from the pain and its vengeance. Why would it refuse?


    Getting its head out of the water, the fish looked at Cao Yun with its only remaining eye. Cao Yun was now used to communicating with demonic beasts without talking. He had understood that the catfish was agreeing.


    Without any delay, he threw the pill in its mouth. And the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish spread its darkness toward Cao Yun alone. In an instant, more than two thirds of its soul had entered Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. But this time, it wasn''t looking to attack the young human at all. In fact, even if it had wanted to, it couldn''t. The seal was now engraved deep in its soul, so deep that the seal was both in the soul within Cao Yun and the soul still within the catfish.


    "I''ll get rid of the poison within your soul. But in exchange, I need you to show me all the memories you have of the humans you''ve met and what they asked of you precisely. I don''t care how people you''ve killed, so show me everything. I promise not to make you pay for what they forced you to do. But if I learn that you dared hide anything from me, then you will suffer the consequences. There is no reason for us to be enemies as I said. So don''t create any!"


    Of course, the demonic beast was a bit reluctant to show how it had killed thousands of humans. It knew how furious it would be if a human had killed many of its kind. But the severity of Cao Yun''s voice made sure that it would comply. And before it even began to do so, the catfish felt Cao Yun''s touch on its soul. The poison was being sucked out of its soul.

 Chapter 401: Reminiscing in the pond

    Now that most of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish''s soul was within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, it was easy for him to extract the Heart Reversing Tormentor. Indeed, although he was a Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun''s soul and mind cultivation was at the level of a Spirit Warrior. Besides, he had the help of the Drop of Wrath and the very seal he had engraved into the soul of the 7-core demonic beast.


    Before doing anything, Cao Yun had made sure that there was no way for Gu Song to feel what he was doing. Thankfully, he had neglected to put a seal in the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. Most likely, it had seemed superfluous to him. And since doing so would have required a lot of stamina considering the demonic beast''s proficiency when it came to soul attacks, he had probably relied on his alchemy instead. But he had still used array formations. Maybe someone else had set them up. However, there were array formations all around the underground lake made with spirit stones.


    Apparently, the demonic cultivators had failed to discover the mines Huang Si had found further down the tunnels. After all, this wasn''t their goal and even Huang Si had been alerted by chance of those. In the maps Cao Yun had gotten from the stolen documents, the lake he was facing didn''t exist. But to be fair, the tunnels were extremely complex, and there was nothing to indicate that the vein of spirit stones continued all the way here. In fact, it didn''t. The demonic cultivators had found some to use for their array formations but that was it.


    At first, Cao Yun wasn''t too sure what those array formations were. Thanks to Dian Mo''s help though, he quickly understood. Some were used to conceal the presence of the demonic beast, others were there to prevent it from leaving without orders. There were also some to detect intruders but Cao Yun had already avoided them as they were near the entrance. And finally, there were array formations to monitor the demonic beast. With Dian Mo''s guidance, Cao Yun knew how to alter them in order to send fake information. That way, he could do whatever he wanted with the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. But first, he wanted information. This was the most important thing for him.


    Sensing that the human, its new master, could really deliver it from the poison, the fish decided to obey him. As most of its soul was within Cao Yun''s mind, the beast could directly show him its memories. Thus, Cao Yun saw what had happened.


    The Soul Obsidian Nian Fish had been caught in a completely different province. Although it shared its memories, the demonic beast didn''t show anything that had happened prior to its capture. Cao Yun could imagine that it had killed many cultivators and demonic beasts to get to its current strength. But right now, it didn''t matter. Dealing with the threat of the demonic cultivators was way more important than meting out justice to a demonic beast.


    The Soul Obsidian Nian Fish had only been a 5-core demonic beast at that time. But the demonic cultivators did many experiments on it and even fed it with souls. Furthermore, they tried to directly feed it Evil Qi, Death Energy and Ghost Energy. Most of the times, the demonic beast was literally being tortured by those energies. Thanks to its tenacity and its will, it survived and grew year after year. In a record time, it formed two more cores and fully became a Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. It had developed a taste for human souls.


    Cao Yun was interested because he discovered that the two last demonic cores of that beast were somewhat similar to the evil core of Hongyu. They weren''t made of Evil Qi but they contained small traces of it as well as traces of Qi corrupted by Death Energy and Ghost Energy. By studying them closer, he might be able to understand how to help Hongyu control her evil core. Unfortunately, the fish didn''t know how it had done so. It had just survived the experiments and instinctively learned to do so. The beasts who weren''t able to adapt simply died or were horribly mutated.


    Behind all of these cruelties was Xiong Nixie, the master of Can Mouye who had been responsible for the death of Hongyu''s parents. After the demonic beasts stampede, a punitive expedition had taken care of Xiong Nixie. But they hadn''t been able to discover all of his secrets. In particular, they hadn''t located all of the demonic beast he had trained. This Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was one of them.


    After his time in Xiong Nixie''s hands, it was decided that the Soul-Sucking Catfish would be given to Gu Song. For the first time ever, Cao Yun saw Gu Song''s face. He had already received a description by Xiao Xuefeng as he was a traitor from her Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But through the memories, it was as though he was seeing him in real life. He was a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. It meant that his Upper Dantian had been strengthened and his Soul Embryo was fully awake. As a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, he was slowly sending his Soul Embryo from the Huang Ting between the Lower Dantian and the Middle Dantian to the Upper Dantian.


    Of course Gu Song didn''t appear with his robe of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. However, he had his 4-star Heaven alchemist emblem. Gu Song had gray hair and a thick beard, yet his face was full of vigor. Only the color of his hair and the light in his eyes were betraying his old age. Of course, it was almost impossible to guess the actual age of a cultivator. But the institute knew that Gu Song was around a thousand years old. And he had been stuck as a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior and a 4-star Heaven alchemist for several centuries now. Apparently, his Soul Embryo had suffered during its awakening and he was having a hard time sending it into his Upper Dantian without causing any more damage.


    It seemed obvious that it had been the main reason why he had joined the ranks of the demonic cultivators. Although he had studied and experimented for such a long time, he had failed to find a way to progress any further. Unfortunately, the pills that could have helped him were impossible to refine during the current Forsaken Dao Era.


    In a matter of minutes, Cao Yun lived through several years of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish''s life. Unfortunately, he didn''t learn anything about his family. But he discovered what Gu Song had been ordering the demonic beast to do. Apparently, it was the only beast he had under his control which was a good thing. And he wasn''t using it very often recently. Since the failure of Mo Tian, he had tried to keep a low profile. But he had still required the services of the Soul-Sucking Catfish.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Contrary to what Cao Yun had thought, he wasn''t working on fusing the blood of humans and demons like Mo Tian had been doing. No, Gu Song was working on the souls. Most likely, it was a way for him to try and heal his own Soul Embryo. As such, he had tasked the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish with the retrieval of human souls for his experiments. Instead of devouring the souls, the catfish was just swallowing them to then deliver them to its former master.


    It was difficult to have a precise number given how many victims he had made. But there had to have been thousands of humans, men, women, elderly, children. Everyone was fair game. Even if their souls were not too useful, they were witnesses and had to be killed. In fact, Gu Song even gave some of the useless souls to the beast. Worse than that, Cao Yun saw many deformed souls being fed to the catfish. After Gu Song had failed some experiments on the souls, having them devoured by the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was a good way to get rid of them as though they were garbage.


    Obviously, Cao Yun was full of anger and rage when he thought about Gu Song. He had already planned to extract everything he could from his very soul. But now, he intended to make him pay for what he had done to the souls of those people. Besides the pain and cruelty he had visited upon them, there was something even worse. Most people in the Hongchen Kingdom believed in the cycle of reincarnation. By destroying one''s soul, Gu Song had robbed them of any possibility of ever being reincarnated. To be honest, Cao Yun wasn''t completely sure whether reincarnation was real or not, or even how it truly worked if it existed. But like almost everyone, he did believe in it.


    Having one''s soul tortured and destroyed was worse than dying without a corpse. Even turning into a ghost might not be as terrible a fate. Indeed, in that situation, a small part of the soul was at least remaining.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun didn''t discover too much about Gu Song. Indeed, he was always visiting the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish far from any city as to stay hidden. However, Cao Yun had now a perfect vision of who Gu Song was. Besides his appearance, he had also heard his voice and even felt his Wei Qi. There was no way for him to hide from Cao Yun. More than that, Cao Yun had even felt a few weaknesses in his Wei Qi which had probably come from his damaged Soul Embryo. This would increase his chances of attacking his soul.


    When he was done sifting through the memories, Cao Yun had already purified almost all the poison within the catfish. However, he decided not to extract the rest. Since he had already created a seal in the demonic beast''s soul, he made another one. This new seal was now holding the rest of the Heart Reversing Tormentor. That way, the demonic beast was not being tortured by the poison anymore. At the same time though, Cao Yun could unleash it at a moment''s notice. He had truly learned the meaning of carrot and stick.


    Despite this looming threat, the giant fish was grateful to Cao Yun. Although he was its new master, serving under him seemed way more pleasant than being oppressed by the old man.


    Finally, Cao Yun went to Yong Ke. The young woman was still meditating in order to fully recover from her fatigue and the poison. He had not realized before, but her clothes were revealing some of her skin here and there because of the fight. In fact, even her veil was a tiny bit ripped. Behind those clothes, Cao Yun didn''t see what he was expecting. Everything he was looking, there were scar tissues. Some were almost healed, but clearly, this young woman had suffered a lot. He couldn''t see her face, but he could see a part of her neck. There was a huge laceration on it with traces of burns around it.


    Maybe she wasn''t only hiding her identity, but her scars. Besides, if someone had caused such injuries, she might just be trying to hide from some pursuers. Because of her way of speaking, Cao Yun was convinced that she was somehow related to the Imperial City. Thus, he was very interested in her. After all, ''the Traitor'' the demonic cultivators were referring to in the reports he had read was probably either the Emperor himself or someone close to him. Otherwise, he couldn''t understand the role of the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards.


    As much as they had fought side by side, and despite this strange feeling of familiarity, Cao Yun and Yong Ke were still strangers to one another. In fact, he was even hiding his real name from her. Even if he had shown her his true martial arts, he wasn''t trusting her completely. And the opposite was true as well. But somehow, they both felt that the other would not betray their secret.


    "Miss Yong, you should take care of your clothes."


    Yong Ke wasn''t flustered by Cao Yun''s remark. Of course, her clothes were not revealing much. But she just wasn''t scared that Cao Yun might talk about her condition. Like he had surmised, she was hiding both her identity and her injuries. Fortunately, she wasn''t covered in scars, but she had suffered a few terrible injuries that were still marking her flesh. Even through the consumption of powerful pills, they had not disappeared completely. But she simply couldn''t remember how she had suffered from them. Her past had been so traumatic that she had forgotten almost everything.


    Since her family wouldn''t let her risk herself, she had been forced to steal some things and run away from home. Just like Cao Yun, she was looking for answers and she was convinced that demonic cultivators were the right people to ask for those answers. Of course, asking nicely wouldn''t do. But alone, she wasn''t sure what she could do to extract the information she wanted.


    Thankfully, she had met Cao Yun who had showed his proficiency in the soul arts. If she stayed by his side, she might be able to get exactly what she wanted. And the best thing was that she was certain that he wanted the same thing.


    "Sir Guai..."


    "Please, Miss Yong, let go of those formalities."


    "Of course, then I''ll ask Brother Guai to do the same. I might be presumption, but I suspect that we are after the same thing. If you had just been curious about what had happened to Luozhi, you wouldn''t have risked your life to attack the demonic beast behind it. Besides, you wouldn''t have tried to capture it alive. Although I can''t feel it, I imagine that you put a seal in that creature."


    "And aren''t you afraid that I might be a demonic cultivator if I know how to use seals?"


    "If you were, you had many opportunities to slay me. In themselves, seals are not evil. Binding a criminal is not the same thing as binding an innocent woman for example. Few demonic techniques are inherently evil. And I don''t think you are. However, I do believe that you are looking for something. And if I may be presumptuous, I do believe I know who it is..."


    "Sister Yong, you might be right. But then, what do you suggest?"


    "We could form an alliance."

 Chapter 402: Alliance toward Qingyun City

    "What are you suggesting exactly? We barely know each other."


    "I know, and yet you were ready to put your life in my hands and I was ready to risk mine for you. In this place no one will hear us, so let''s be honest. It was obvious to me that you lied about your name. And you should guess that mine is also a fabrication. However, I won''t ask you to reveal yourself because I don''t intend to do the same. There are many reasons why I can''t show my face to you or anyone else. That being said, I am absolutely sincere when it comes to protecting the people of our Hongchen Kingdom. If you are not convinced, I am ready to swear on my Dao Heart."


    Strangely, Cao Yun had felt a familiarity with Yong Ke since the start. Even Hongyu had acted differently with her than with everyone else. And considering how she was talking, he was certain that the feeling was mutual. Besides, she did risk her life to protect him. Of course, he had been confident he could survive the fight and subdue the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish even without her help. But that counted for something.


    To be fair, the main problem wasn''t to form some kind of alliance against Gu Song with her. His main concern was that he wanted to get information about his real family from him. And he didn''t want anyone else to know it, especially not someone who was related to the Imperial City.


    "Sister Yong, let''s drop the charade and let''s be honest. I too have reasons not to tell my real identity and my real motive. However, I can tell you that I am the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect. But I do believe you discovered that from seeing my martial arts. And the reasons why I am after the demonic cultivator who hides in this Subei Province is very personal. There are things I wish to learn from him that I wouldn''t like to be known by others."


    Yong Ke stopped for a little while. She clearly noticed that Cao Yun wasn''t lying when he said he was the Wubei Sect''s Young Sect Master. But at the same time, he had told her he wouldn''t give his real identity. Then it was obvious to her that Chen Guo wasn''t his real name either. The mere fact that Cao Yun was letting her know of that meant that there was some level of trust there. Even with that knowledge, she would not be able to find out exactly who he was anyway.


    "I indeed deduced who you were. If my guess is correct, you hid your identity in order to get closer to the alchemist who hides in Qingyun City. Unfortunately, I probably have less intel than you do. But what you just told isn''t an issue. My priority is to get rid of the demonic cultivators. Besides, there is nothing he could tell that would be useful to me. I simply have a grudge with the Demon King and his subordinates. Unless you can get information on the Demon King that would help get rid of him, I don''t care what you learn from the demonic cultivators in this province."


    "Why are you so adamant about helping me?"


    "The truth is that I won''t be able to get rid of a Spirit Warrior by myself. My plan was to find as much as I could. Then, I wasn''t entirely sure what my next move would be. But you clearly thought about it more than I did..."


    For some moments, the both of them were silent.


    Yong Ke had been impulsive in her decision to come to the Subei Province. But as soon as she had seen the opportunity to escape her bodyguards and chase the demonic cultivators, she had taken it. Now, she didn''t want to go back without doing something about the situation. And she knew that if she called for help, she wouldn''t be able to act on her own. But with Cao Yun, she might be able to make a difference.


    "What''s your current cultivation?"


    "I reached 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior a few months ago. But my cultivation is still a bit shaking as I was forced to consume a lot of pills in order to heal from very serious injuries. In fact, even my mind suffered from injuries. Without my father, I would have died a few years back."


    "The demonic cultivators attacked you?"


    "They did... In an attempt to get to my father, they tried to kill me. I almost died and was terribly mutilated. With the care of my family, I''ve been able to heal from the most severe wounds. However, I still have stigmas of those attacks. Even now, I barely remember anything from my childhood because they tried to extract my very soul."


    Then, it made sense for her to never let go of her weimao. Not only was it concealing her identity, it was also hiding her scars. More than that, she was probably still traumatized by someone invading her very soul and this weimao was protecting her from that, to an extent.


    Despite the concealing power of her clothes, Yong Ke''s voice contained a sincerity that was convincing to Cao Yun. That being said, it wasn''t the same thing to believe her story and to trust her with the task ahead. Moreover, she was also related to the Imperial City so she could create more problems. And to be honest, Cao Yun was convinced his plan was good enough to take care of Gu Song and he seemed to know more about him than her. However, there was something in her story he couldn''t ignore. Furthermore, any plan had to be adjusted. No matter how good his preparation was, he knew he would face unknown changes during the real application. Maybe unforeseen complications would arise...


    "Sister Yong, I accept. I just need to give those documents back to the Huang family. Then, we will go to Qingyun City together. I have a friend there whom I trust with my life. Right now, I can''t be certain, but under a few months, all my preparations should be ready. After that, I intend to confront Gu Song, the 4th-grade Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator I was after. He''s the one who stole from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Although I am confident in my plans, taking on a Spirit Warrior is no easy task. Having the help of one more good fighter won''t be a luxury."


    "Brother Guai, you have my word. I swear on my Dao Heart that I will you support you in your campaign against the demonic cultivators!"The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Then, Yong Ke turned toward the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. And so did Cao Yun.


    "Beast, I intend to slay the man who subjected you to those tortures. However, I will ask of you two things. The first one is that you don''t leave this cave before I come back. It will be less than a year. That shouldn''t be a problem. I will even arrange for someone to give you some food from time to time. And during that period, I will need to borrow some of your power. The array formations around here were already altered to hide your new allegiance. Your former master will be blind to the situation and he won''t come for you before I am through with him, I am certain. In addition to them, I added several other array formations I will use in order to extract some of your strength. When the time comes, I only ask that you unleash all of your strength. Extend your shadow as much as you can and I will do the rest. If you can agree to those conditions, I will overlook all the people you''ve killed."


    None of those conditions were a problem for the Soul-Sucking Catfish. Besides, it had already resigned itself to its fate. This new master seemed much more pleasant. And the prospect of killing its former master was making the demonic beast overjoyed. Of course, it was lacking the common sense of humans. However, it would have realized that Cao Yun was only a Mortal Warrior. Against a Spirit Warrior, he had almost no chance. But what the beast had lived in his sea of consciousness had also terrified it and convinced it that Cao Yun could.


    -


    Cao Yun did as he had told Yong Ke. He went back to the Huang family and gave Huang Si the documents that had been stolen by Di Xihe.


    "Miss Huang, excuse my earlier outburst. The content of my spatial ring was extremely precious to me, on a sentimental level. I have wronged you. Soon, I will leave for the capital in order to pursue the goal I am set on. Although I might need the support of the Huang family from the shadows, I don''t want anyone to know that I am actually affiliated with you. After all, once my identity is revealed, I don''t want the Imperial City to know that the Huang family and the Wubei Sect are working so closely. And I do believe that the same is true of you and your matriarch."


    "Of course. But Matriarch Huang Yufeng expressly asked me to be of help to your task. As much as we''ll try to hide our involvement with you, if you need any help at all, we will be at your service."


    Cao Yun had a hard time completely believing her. But she knew that she would indeed help him to an extent. However, Huang Si seemed to be a women who was just like Matriarch Huang Yufeng. She was serving her interests foremost. To be fair, Cao Yun couldn''t blame her with that, as long as she was still honorable. He had not liked the fact that she had used him. But he could forget it if she could make up for it. A small part of the profits of the future mines would go directly to Cao Yun, and by extension to the Wubei Sect. This was also a way for the Young Sect Master to tighten the links between them.


    Despite this new income, Cao Yun needed money right now. And he would soon run out of the money given to him by Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng. Even Hall Master Fang had given him money. His expenditures were just too high. And he had many more things to buy in order to create array formations and pills. Thankfully, he already had some ideas on how to gain enough money to cover all of his expenses.


    After putting some order in his affairs with the Huang family, Cao Yun left with Yong Ke toward Qingyun City.


    -


    After her stay in the cave, nourished by the Hellish Dragon Fruit, Hongyu was now perfectly fine. Cao Yun still gave her another of his pills to make sure she wouldn''t get weak on the way toward the capital of the Subei Province. During the flight, he would also check on her evil core from time to time. Obviously, he was also feeling what was going on in her slowly forming fifth core. Since it contained a lot of influence from the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun felt even more intimate with Hongyu. When they were flying, he almost had no order to give to direct her.


    Even before getting inside the Subei Province, flying wasn''t easy. There were many array formations in place in strategic places to prevent any random beast or cultivator from roaming freely. But as they got closer to the capital, the restrictions were stricter and stricter. As such, the journey was longer than what a demonic beast could really do. Most likely, these restrictions had been the doing of either humans from the Legendary Era or the demons who had conquered them, or maybe the two of them.


    Indeed, controlling the air was primordial. However, getting rid of those restrictions was almost impossible during the Forsaken Dao Era. As such, everyone was subjected to them. And on top of those, even the current humans had placed Heaven array formations in key points of the Hongchen Kingdom. Obviously, it was to fight against the demons. If they could just fly above the kingdom when they wanted, it would be difficult to fight against them. And those array formations could only be bypassed by those who were allowed. Other array formations required the person to come down and ask for permission.


    In the Subei Province, since it was so close to the border, the conditions were way more strict. And soon, Cao Yun would reach a purely no-fly zone. Even wild demonic beasts would be shot down from here on out. This area was the region around the capital. Because it needed to be protected by powerful array formations, most of the military strength of the Subei Province was concentrated in here. This wasn''t optimal but building powerful and large array formations was not easy. As such, they couldn''t build military bases everywhere.


    Of course, there were other cities and other hidden bases, especially along the border. But the bulk of their military strength was gathered in a few strategic and heavily protected areas.


    As an array formation master himself, Cao Yun was able to feel the pressure even before Hongyu. Looking from afar, he couldn''t discern the entire array formation, but he could still see a few things. As of now, he remained a 5-star Earth array formation master. He could easily pass the test to officially become a Human array formation master, but he felt as though he had not advanced as much as in his alchemy. And when he looked at the area in front of him, he was convinced that he needed to study more. Although he had learned a lot from Dian Mo, some concepts were still abstruse.


    Cao Yun looked at the area and tried to study as it might prove useful. In his mind, several Bamboo Maps were quickly formed. Some were only schematizing the mountains, the rivers and the trees. Others were giving more importance to the geological properties of the ground, studying the distribution of the plants for example. Some were very detailed and others much more simplistic. There was no right way to make a Bamboo Map, it depended on what one was looking for. For some array formations, the flow of water was the most important thing while others required to take into account the mountains above all else. Others required a more general approach as well.


    By comparing all those Bamboo Maps, Cao Yun began to see how the array formation had been set up. Some mountains were being used instead of flags. Rivers had clearly been diverted to also be used in the array formation. In fact, many of the elements that appeared natural had been modified by man''s hand to handcraft a very powerful and resilient array formation. It was no wonder they couldn''t make too many of them all over the place...

 Chapter 403: Qingyun City

    From his current position, Cao Yun could not see any city yet. However, he was able to see a small outpost with only one building. There were clearly other structures hidden around him. In fact, Cao Yun perceived some killing intent. It had been very well hidden but he was just too perceptive for him to miss it. Those killing intents came from early to middle Mortal Warriors. They had to be at least six. Most likely, they knew how to use battle formations and they could contend with a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior until some reinforcement showed up.


    Of course, Cao Yun had no reason to be hostile toward them. Before anyone could order him to, Cao Yun decided to land on the ground. He chose a spot that was close to the structure and outside of the array formation. From there, he would have to walk on foot. According to his map, he would need a day or two to get to the capital. With Yong Ke always following behind him like a servant, Cao Yun went toward the structure. It was some small tower used to watch out for intruders, both from the sky and on the ground. Cao Yun got closer very carefully so as not to be perceived as a threat. He made sure that his alchemist insignia was very visible as well.


    "I am Guai Mo, 1-star Human alchemist. I have business in Qingyun City."


    Then, he took out some documents he had received. And he even added the 4-petal card from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Technically, it had no relevance here as they were men of the Hongchen Kingdom, most likely under the Governor''s authority. But it still had an impact on them. If the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall was valuing him so much, they would not make things difficult for him. Besides, he was an alchemist, so he would be treated very well. And indeed, from the tower, Cao Yun heard a voice. The man didn''t shout but Cao Yun''s ears were able to hear him as though he was close by.


    "Venerable alchemist, you may go forward. However, any kind of flight is forbidden in this area. Unfortunately, you''ll have to walk. Your mount may follow you but it won''t be allowed within the city itself. You''ll have to find some stables around the city."


    "I already know where she will stay."


    Cao Yun''s voice was full of arrogance but still respectful. He had to play the part of a proud alchemist. On the other hand, Yong Ke was completely silent. Seeing that she was a mere servant with no cultivation whatsoever, the guards didn''t even look at her and didn''t ask her to reveal her face.


    "Then everything is in order. We won''t delay you any further, Venerable alchemist."


    Without adding another word, Cao Yun walked forward and completely ignored the man in the tower. Although he could still feel the killing intents locking onto him, it was less than before. They were vigilant but they had been convinced. Although his identity was fake, his documents were absolutely legitimate after all.


    After that, Cao Yun walked without any pause. Hongyu was also forced to walk on the ground, unable to fly as she wanted to. Thus, she slowed him down. Instead of taking less than a day, it took him two whole days and one night. In the end, he arrived at Qingyun City. Clearly, it was a military place. All around it, there were guards patrolling. He could also see Three Bow Ballistae here and there. There were probably other weapons of siege at the ready.


    As he had studied the map beforehand, Cao Yun knew where the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall was in that city. They had a stable where he would be able to leave Hongyu. He didn''t like treating her like a common animal, but he simply couldn''t just walk around the city with a demonic beast. So he went to the stables first. Just by flaunting his 4-petal cherry card, Cao Yun was received as though he were royalty. The workers there also handled Hongyu with the greatest care. She was clearly sad to see Cao Yun leave but she was smart enough to understand that she couldn''t enter a human city as large as this one.


    The stables were rather large. And the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had the authorization to let their demonic beasts fly and roam around at specific times of the day. This would be a way better place to be for Hongyu than to follow Cao Yun on foot. At least, she would have a bit of freedom.


    Before leaving, Cao Yun talked to her.


    "Thank you for your help. You should rest and enjoy some calm for now. Do not worry, I''ll come by as often as I can, but I might be very busy."


    She answered with a peaceful shriek. Then, Cao Yun turned toward the workers manning the stables.


    "If anything happens to her, you shall answer to me directly."


    As he said that, he used a small part of ''Bleeding Eyes''. Of course, he wasn''t threatening them directly, but he was intimidating them nonetheless. To be honest, he wasn''t doing that without any reason. He wanted his reputation to spread in Qingyun City. Although they were working for the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, they would speak. They knew what to tell and what to keep silent though.


    Once Cao Yun was done, he really left Hongyu behind. His next destination was the Major Hall. Right now, he needed to be sure of his information. Then, he could either alter his plans or keep them as he had them in mind. Once again, the Major Hall received him with great honor and answered his every questions. There, he also played the arrogant alchemist part without doing too much. He didn''t want to get into any unnecessary conflict, but he had to establish his character and make sure that many people knew of his presence as Guai Mo. That also served to clearly differentiate him from Chen Guo. Before a month was passed, everyone in town would know of his presence and no one would suspect him of being the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect.


    Incidentally, the presence of a silent servant helped reinforce the fact that he was indeed Guai Mo. There was one man who would know though. And Cao Yun was about to go meet him right away. What he had learned about him from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall made Cao Yun even more certain of his plan.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    From the Myriad Cherry Blossom, he got some confirmations and gained a better view of what was going on. Apparently both Fang Shaolong and Xiao Xuefeng had made sure that he would be considered with the highest regards. With his 4-petal cherry card, Cao Yun was already deemed as a very important patron of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. But with this kind of support in the shadows, his treatment was almost at the level of a 5-petal cherry card. Even for a 1-star Human alchemist, this was extravagant. Even the lowest Heaven alchemists were not treated in such a way.


    Cao Yun also used the opportunity to sell what he had no need for in his spatial ring like a few demonic cores he had obtained on the way. He also tried to get some information on Di Xihe but it was impossible. However, he asked for every rumor of theft either against hunters out in the wild or even within cities. Considering the recent chaos, the reports were not complete and accurate but still Cao Yun was able to find out a few instances in which he was certain that mischievous girl had acted. Apparently, she had begun to steal after the demonic beasts stampede. Although she had been good at deception, Cao Yun was certain that she had never killed anyone in cold-blood.


    Those were interesting, but what Cao Yun truly wanted to know concerned the current affairs of the Subei Province and the Qingyun City in particular. On that front, he was also lucky.


    Thankfully, the capital had been preserved from the stampede that had sadly also hit the Subei Province. Of course, the array formations used to deter any invasion by the demons had also stopped the demonic beasts. However, many small cities and towns had suffered. The Governor had almost sent no help at all. On the other hand, General Yun had decided to mobilize his own troops to protect a few large cities. And in that endeavor, the Huang family also helped them, prompting many other families to help as well.


    In the end, the Governor had been forced to give a few men and so did the Xue family. The Yun and the Xue families were at odds with each other as they were both lead by a highly decorated general of the Hongchen Kingdom. Of course, Governor Jiahe was also pitting them against one another in order to keep his stature. But to be honest, he had little to do as both men hated each other with a passion. General Yun was known to be a virtuous general but also a ruthless warrior who took personally part in most battles. On the other hand, General Xue was more of a strategist who didn''t like to be on the battlefields. However, he was also illustrious and wasn''t callous with the lives of his troops.


    That being said, their ambitions had been at odds several times. Even their own parents had been in conflict. If there was not the threat of the demons at the border, both families might well have ended up at war. Governor Jiahe was trying to vent the flames in order to prevent any kind of alliance between them while also playing the mediator so that they could still fight side by side against the demons. It really wasn''t easy, but Governor Jiahe seemed to be very adept at that, if anything else. Currently, he was favoring the Xue family but it was circumstantial.


    Indeed, the Yun family had gained popular support during the stampede. At the same time, they had suffered quite a lot. They were not as rich as the Xue family who had two alchemists among their ranks, Xue Rui and Xue Gulin. Xue Gulin was still in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But Xue Rui, who was officially a disciple of the Wubei Sect, was about to come back to Qingyun City. Most likely, he wanted to be chosen as the representative of the province in the upcoming Alchemy Conference.


    After reading about all the bad blood between the two families, Cao Yun was even surprised that they hadn''t killed each other yet. It was a good thing, but it was surprising. General Yun had even accused General Xue to have knowingly risked the lives of men from the Yun family in some recent skirmishes in order to protect his own troops and win the day and the honors. Of course, General Xue had done everything according to the rules. That old fox was a shrewd strategist for sure while General Yun was a bit too straightforward.


    Among those news, Cao Yun found many interesting things. But he found nothing about some Heaven alchemists. He also wasn''t able to find anything linking Governor Jiahe or anyone else to demonic cultivators in any way, shape, or form.


    Among all those reports, Cao Yun studied everything but there were many details that even he couldn''t ingest all at once. After all, those reports told the entire story of the Subei Province and its capital.


    When he was done, Cao Yun also asked the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to find two ingredients, the Universal Spanning Frost and the Eternal Frostfire Fir. As both ingredients were 5-star Heaven ones, finding them would be very difficult. And buying them would be almost impossible for a single alchemist. Only a Heaven alchemist or a great family could buy those ingredients. For now though, Cao Yun was not too worried about that as he knew that finding them would take a lot of time in itself. Even if the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had some, it would be in one of the major branches, maybe even in the Imperial City itself, and they wouldn''t sell them easily. Since he needed those ingredients, he would need the means to buy them.


    Before doing anything else, Cao Yun asked to speak directly to the Hall Master. The man was only an early Mortal Warrior by the name of Qinghe Ming. His cultivation was not impressive at all but his physique was. Even compared with both Yun Ping and Ren Chao, he was a tall man. In itself, it was impressive, but his musculature was just as impressive. Qinghe Ming had clearly the body of a hunter.


    Since the Major Hall in the Subei Province had been paid by the Imperial City in order to help their war effort, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had decided to hire their personnel on site. After all, very few people had wanted the position. But some hunters who knew the province and were able to quickly appraise the value of almost anything had proposed themselves. Qinghe Ming had been the best one and his loyalty had been tested many times in other venues, proving him to be a trustworthy man. For the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, this was almost more important than his own capabilities. But this didn''t mean he was not capable, far from it.


    Despite his impressive physique and history, Qinghe Ming was very subservient to Guai Mo. After all, he had rarely seen someone holding a 4-petal card. Thus he couldn''t afford to offend him in any way. Qinghe Ming had no hope of getting higher in the organization, but his ambitions were already accomplished so he didn''t mind. However, he could easily fall down... He had to admit that this was more stressful than hunting, but the reward was also much better.


    "Hall Master, I will need the assistance of your Major Hall to sell some pills I will refine."


    "This is not a problem at all. I even thought that you might ask this of us so I took the liberty of preparing everything if need be."


    "Good. I have some top quality pills I want you to auction off, but without revealing the alchemist behind them. As such, I''d like you to sell them throughout the Subei Province. In fact, if you could contact other branches of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to sell them in other provinces, this would be better."


    "Well... This might be a bit problematic. Of course, we can vouch for the products, but people might be reluctant to bid on them."


    "Do not worry about that. I can assure you the quality will be top-notch. In fact, I''ll only auction off True Essence pills."


    "True Essence pills?!"

 Chapter 404: New business plan

    Even for a master alchemist, being sure of producing a True Essence pill was impossible, except if he was refining a very low level pill. Thus Qinghe Ming immediately thought Guai Mo didn''t want his name attached because the pills would be 1 or 2-star Earth pills. However, his opinion changed when Cao Yun took out a pill from his spatial ring. Just by looking at it, he recognized a Torrent Gathering pill, a 2-star Human pill. But it was way more vibrant than any pill he had ever seen before. Indeed, it truly was a True Essence pill. Of course, Qinghe Ming would need to have alchemists analyze it to be absolutely sure, but it seemed like the real deal.


    "I will have a variety of Human pills, all True Essence pills. As long as you appraise them, this should quickly convince people to bid a lot on each one. But I can''t just flood the market with True Essence pills. In fact, I''d like people not to notice that the same alchemist refined those pills. And your Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall will be essential for that. Besides, you have the know-how when it comes to raising the bids during an auction. I want to profit as much as possible for those pills."


    Even Qinghe Ming did not believe it. Unless Guai Mo was a Heaven alchemist, he couldn''t be sure that he would refine True Essence Human pills. In fact, even a 1 or 2-star Heaven alchemist could not be certain of that. Of course, Cao Yun had the ability to perfectly guess and imagine the process within the cauldron inside his sea of consciousness. And coupled with his powerful senses and control over both Qi and fire, it wasn''t difficult at all to be sure to have one True Essence pill in every batch he refined. Still, he wasn''t able to make sure that every single pill was a True Essence one.


    "How many True Essence pills are we talking about?"


    "I can guarantee you one True Essence pill per week for the next four months."


    In fact, he could guarantee more than that but this amount was already hard to believe so he didn''t want to sound too ridiculous. In Qinghe Ming''s eyes, he could see that he sincerely wasn''t believing him. But at the same time, he didn''t think that Cao Yun was lying either. As such, he began to think that he was a bit delusional. Or maybe he already had a stock of True Essence pills but that wouldn''t last too long either.


    "Hall Master Fang vouched for you. Otherwise, I wouldn''t even talk to you about this. I hope I can count on both your cooperation and your discretion."


    Indeed, Hall Master Fang had told Cao Yun that Qinghe Ming, as a former hunter, was a man of his word. Besides, Fang Shaolong had helped him get to where he was today. Just by using his name, Cao Yun had convinced the Hall Master to help him. Despite his modest past, Qinghe Ming was still a high member of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. As such, he would try and negotiate about the money.


    "Fine, our standard cut for such operations is fifteen percent of the auction. But we''ll also need to pay for the appraisal. Since you don''t want to attach your name to those pills, we''ll have to choose very famous appraisers, probably renown alchemists at that. All things considered, twenty percent of the sell seems like a good deal."


    "Ten percent!"


    "Esteemed guest..."


    "A single True Essence pill will make more than some of the auctions you hold in Qingyun City. Besides, you have nothing to lose in this endeavor. But I can understand your reluctance. I will bring you the first batch of pills in five days. Then you''ll tell me whether you accept my deal or not."


    Qinghe Ming pondered over this offer. To tell the truth, if what Guai Mo was saying was true, Qinghe Ming could barely imagine how much they could win. After all, True Essence pills were not something that could usually be bought by money. It was a happenstance. Even a famous alchemist could never promise to make such a pill. But although Guai Mo had produced one such pill, he might fail at any moment. As such, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall could not advertise it too much or they would risk hurting their reputation. However, if he was able to produce one each week with a few already in stock, it was another story. Even ten percent of the profits, if it were true, would be way more than what Qinghe Ming could imagine. After all, their Major Hall wasn''t earning too much in the Subei Province.


    Cao Yun had many ideas on how to optimize the profit but he had no time to work on this. He was certain that the Major Hall would know how to handle it. But he had a clear plan as to which pills he would refine so that people would go crazy about them. In order to keep the interest alive, he had to make sure that the True Essence pills stayed scarce. As such, he would produce different pills each time. This would also force the rich families to always pay attention to those auctions or they would risk missing out on some essential pill for them. Just like in the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun was not displeased by the idea of running a business. But as much entertainment as it could be for him, it was secondary.


    Then, Cao Yun asked Qinghe Ming to send a letter to Fang Shaolong. He might be able to help him find his ingredients faster. Cao Yun was in need of many other materials, but only those two ingredients were truly rare. Everything else, he knew he could buy in a reasonable time frame. But he still gave Qinghe Ming a list of new ingredients. They were what he needed for the future pills as well as other things. It was always a good idea to have many pills on him. With the entire list, Qinghe Ming would be unable to discern which pill Cao Yun wanted to refine and it was better for him.


    In the following days, instead of visiting the man he had in mind, Cao Yun decided to refine in secret for his True Essence pills. Securing his funds was essential for everything else. Even the array formations he had in mind were terribly expensive. In the five days he had asked of Qinghe Ming, he had already refined ten True Essence pills. But he had to admit that it was exhausting even for him. A few batches ended up devoid of True Essence pills so he had to refine new ones. But in the end, he always succeeded in producing at least one such pill out of fifty for the most difficult ones. With those, he would make a killing.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    As Cao Yun was working in a secluded room beneath the Major Hall, his ''servant'' Yong Ke was otherwise busy. Considering that her clothes were concealing most of her presence, Cao Yun had asked her to monitor the city and gather as much information as she could.


    Yong Ke got as close as she could to the Governor''s residence, the Xue family estate and even the mansion of the Yun family. Those were the three major players of Qingyun City and the Subei Province as a whole. Unfortunately, she didn''t uncover anything new. However, she was able to confirm many things. And she was able to draw perfect maps for Cao Yun. From them, he would be able to draw Bamboo Maps to align his array formations with those places. Sadly, unlike Cao Yun, she couldn''t sense Evil Qi at all. He would need to personally get there in order to try and find traces of Gu Song.


    Besides, refining that many pills, Cao Yun was also working his alchemy a lot as well as his perception. From time to time, Dian Mo even gave him some advice. Although he had never practiced alchemy, he had read as much as he could on the subject. And after watching Cao Yun, he was beginning to get the hang of it. After all, some principles were common with array formations. Even Cao Yun was surprised because Dian Mo was a very quick learner. Although he wasn''t directly taught, he had used every opportunity to get an education. Boredom could cause someone to turn to wrong decisions but it could also awake new interests.


    During those five days, Cao Yun also focused on his Qi cultivation. In fact, besides alchemy and Qi cultivation, he did almost nothing.


    "Aren''t you going to work on your blood cultivation, or even your mind cultivation?"


    "I already have ideas on how to progress my mind cultivation faster. Right now, only my Qi cultivation is lagging behind because of my period of doubts. Now that I can use the Hellish Dragon Fruit to temper my Five Prodigious Gates, I intend to progress as fast as I can without risking my stability. After all, this is the cultivation that will improve my strength the faster. The sooner I can become a Spirit Warrior the better it will be. Even with an incredible mind cultivation, if I can''t expand my soul outward, I wouldn''t be able to protect myself against spiritual senses.


    "In addition to that, my blood cultivation is not giving me too many benefits as I''m just revisiting and improving what I already did with my blood. Of course, the last steps about working on my marrow will indeed be important to me. But I fear that this blood cultivation went a little too fast for my mind. The fact that I lot control of my temper is a proof of that. It won''t take too long for me to get my Po of Jing and the Flying Poison of the Drop of Wrath under control. Once I do, I will be more at ease with developing my blood cultivation."


    "Well, it''s not completely absurd... I do believe that becoming a Golden Blood Child would be useful to you. But considering how you already tempered your blood and if you fully control the Drop of Wrath, it wouldn''t take you more than all a year to get there, maybe even less. And I did see some worrisome signs in your Po of Jing. It could easily turn into an inner demon if you''re not careful. Most likely, it''s due to the bridge you created between your own Po and the Drop of Wrath. But your blood cultivation could indeed make things worse. After all, demons are known for their impetuous moods. Of course there are exceptions, but they have a harder time controlling their emotions and their feelings. That can be a good thing sometimes though..."


    Using the Hellish Dragon Fruit, Cao Yun could easily create an environment rich in Fire Qi. His knowledge of alchemy allowed him to easily use it in combination with the Water Qi of his Lower Dantian and even the Fire element in his blood in order to temper his Five Prodigious Gates now flooded with Wood element thanks to the seed of the world tree. Now that he had gone over his trauma, using Fire Qi to temper his gates wasn''t a big deal at all. And his Qi cultivation was progressing faster. He might not become a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior by the time he would have to perform his plans against Gu Song. But he was certain that he would be one before the Alchemy Conference.


    By tempering his Five Prodigious Gates, he would improve his Qi Manifestation as he would be able to send more and more Qi outside. His sensitivity toward Qi would also improve as so would the density and strength of his Wei Qi. At the same time, by doing it the way he was doing it, he would also gain experience for the Lesser Tribulation. Indeed, it consisted in fusing Water Qi and Fire Qi between the Lower and Middle Dantian. And the grades before that seemed very easy to Cao Yun. They would take some time, but he was almost certain he could reach the door of the 7th-grade Mortal Warrior in less than two decades.


    That would make him ten years younger than his father when he first attempted this Lesser Tribulation. A 30-year-old Spirit Warrior wasn''t unheard of, but it was extremely young, especially during the Forsaken Dao Era.


    -


    Once Cao Yun brought his pills to Qinghe Ming, he simply couldn''t believe his eyes. He had ten True Essence pills right in front of him. Those were not impossible to obtain but they were still very rare. Even for very basic pills, only one out of a hundred or two was a True Essence pill. This wasn''t something easy to obtain. And some of the pills in front of him were 3-star Human pills. For an average alchemist, a True Essence pill would be produced only once in a thousand refinements. One could be lucky but not that lucky with so many different pills.


    Qinghe Ming stopped himself from asking Cao Yun whether he had some secret technique to produce those. Of course, he would never answer. And just asking the question was rude in itself. Moreover, Cao Yun was about to make him absolutely rich. There was no way in hell he would start to antagonize him. Instead, he bowed as low as his standing in the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall allowed him so as to not humiliate its reputation.


    "Venerable alchemist, I will be candid. I did not believe you. Please, excuse my incredulity. For such high-quality pills and as a form of apology, I''ll go as low as eight percent for the first auction. Then, I will agree with the ten percent commission."


    Seeing Cao Yun''s pills, Qinghe Ming could easily understand why a young alchemist like him had obtained a 4-petal card. In fact, it might even be a little bit too low-tier for him. Perhaps had he never shown his true talent before. Otherwise, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall would have given him a 5-petal card at least, or even a 6-petal card. Maybe he should ask for one for him. But he didn''t want to do anything without his agreement. Besides, he seemed to already be close with Hall Master Fang. For now, he would work on building good personal relationship with him.


    Unfortunately, Qinghe Ming wasn''t very good with nobles. As a former hunter, he was more at ease with other hunters. Of course, he was also forced to deal with nobles on a daily basis, but dealing with a family was a bit different than dealing with a single individual. Anyway, he would try to build a trusting relationship first. At the very least, he had to stay on friendly terms with Cao Yun. Although he had never hoped to climb higher in the organization, it didn''t mean he would let go of such an opportunity for himself.*

 Chapter 405: One-armed spearman

    Before leaving the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Cao Yun still had to finalize his deal with Qinghe Ming. If Cao Yun kept his business rolling, according to Hall Master Qinghe''s predictions, he would probably earn close to five hundred Yuanbao in around four months. As a comparison, the biggest income of the Huang family was the ore extracted from the Xiliang Mines. Each year, they produced around three to four thousand Yuanbao, that was a bit less than ten times what Cao Yun could hope to gain. So this amount of money was absolutely incredible for a single cultivator. Of course, the Huang family also had many more assets and combined they could profit way more than that. Besides, Cao Yun could sustain his model as long as the True Essence pills were not flooding the market. To ensure that this wouldn''t happen, he had decided to never sell twice the same kind of pill. Every one of True Essence pills would be different, no matter in what province it was sold.


    Although Cao Yun wasn''t a businessman, he liked dealing with this sort of things to an extent, maybe it had been his time holding a small shop in the Wubei Sect. Now that money wasn''t a problem, he didn''t really care but was still somewhat interested in it. Most likely, he would get some figures from Qinghe Ming to be sure that everything was going well and that there was no way to improve on what they were doing. For him, just like was the case for most cultivators, money was just a means to an end, not an end in itself. Indeed, cultivators often required very costly materials.


    Moreover, Cao Yun didn''t need to keep it up very long to get rich. Indeed, soon he would get an income from the new mines of the Huang family. So there was absolutely no problem. In the months and years to come, Cao Yun would have all the money he could ask for. In fact, he might even become one of the wealthiest cultivators of his generation. Maybe Huang Cixi would beat him as she would become the next matriarch of the Huang family. As such, a part of the family''s wealth would technically be hers, but it wouldn''t be money that she had earned. Cao Yun was certainly the Human alchemist who would earn the most money in such a short time with his alchemy alone.


    For an instant, Qinghe Ming hesitated but he still decided to add some words. The sudden possibility for him to climb the organization even more had awakened his dormant ambition.


    "I might be bold to ask this, but would sir be interested in getting a 5-petal cherry card? The benefits in themselves might not be that great, but there are still some. Usually, only organizations can ask for them. But if you were to formally set up a shop, even if only on paper, then you could claim one for sure. Although I will keep your involvement in the auctions of the True Essence pills a secret, the higher-ups of our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall will surely know anyway. Thus, they would agree to a 5-petal cherry card."


    Indeed, as much as Qinghe Ming could try and hide the truth, even with Fang Shaolong and Xiao Xuefeng''s influence, he wouldn''t be able to hide it from the Main Hall. But they had no reason to make this known to anyone else. After all, they were also making a substantial profits off of his pills. Besides, the Subei branch was in the red. Thanks to Cao Yun, they might be able to balance the accounts.


    Moreover, the mystery of the alchemist behind the True Essence pills would also be alluring to the buyers. In fact, the auctions would become events and that could increase the price of everything else. All the bad events that had happened had had a negative impact on transactions, but it was getting a bit better lately. The rumors of True Essence pills appearing randomly would stir some rich cultivators. Revealing everything would be bad for business. What if someone was able to convince Guai Mo to work for them instead? Besides, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall wouldn''t want to have bad blood with this Guai Mo.


    "What kind of benefits does this card provide?"


    "Well, first of all, it allows for various advantages with credits and payments. But it can also help you be prioritized when trying to obtain ingredients. There are also various advantages that really only concern larger organizations or families. But the gist of it is that dealing with our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall will be easier for you. It could also help you get the Universal Spanning Frost and the Eternal Frostfire Fir faster. Of course, I''m not saying that we won''t help you get it otherwise. But it would speed things up for sure."


    "I guess that there are financial counterparts, right?"


    "Indeed, you have to pay the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall ten Yuanbao each year. If you fail to make the payment, then your 5-petal card will be invalidated. But you will still keep the 4-petal card. In fact, they are two separate systems of cards. From the 5-petal card to the 8-petal cards, they are reserved to organizations, families or some exceptional characters, most of the times members of those organizations and families, or members of our own Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall."


    "Ten Yuanbao? That is acceptable. But if I have to officially open my shop, I will ask your Major Hall to take care of all the administrative part of things. And just like with those auctions and sales, you''ll take care of all the taxes for me as well. I don''t have time to deal with it. If you have to hire someone to take care of it all, I''ll even pay for it... as long as the price is within reason, of course."


    "Great, esteemed patron! I will take care of everything. You''ll just have to put your personal seal on the final documents and everything will be done by the time of the first auction."


    Qinghe Ming did take care of everything. Since the first auction would be very soon, he worked as fast as he could. After carefully reading the papers, Cao Yun was satisfied. The only problem was that he was still using a fake name. Of course, he didn''t intend to enter the Alchemy Conference with this Guai Mo identity. He was just using it to hide from Gu Song and deceive him. In the Imperial City, he would be protected by the Wubei Sect, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and even the Huang family. Of course, he would hide his real identity but he wouldn''t conceal his title of Young Sect Master.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had ties with Hall Master Fang Shaolong and Xiao Xuefeng was in relation with some of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall''s higher-ups. Thus, they would make sure that those documents would cover both Guai Mo and then later Chen Guo.


    When everything was settled, Cao Yun decided to visit his friend in Qingyun City. By now, his cultivation of 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior was perfectly stable and had progressed a lot. It was hard to tell exactly when he would break through but the Hellish Dragon Fruit was incredibly useful. And it was so rich in Fire element that it would probably last Cao Yun a year or two. That meant that he would probably be able to use it as a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior to accumulate Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian.


    After asking Yong Ke to keep an eye on things in Qingyun City, Cao Yun went toward the Yun residence. It was easy enough to find as the Xue residence, Governor Jiahe''s residence and the Yun residence were all in the same area. There were also the residences of a few big families, but only the Xue and the Yun families were the major players apart from the representative of the Imperial City who was the Governor. This was also a way to keep all the families in line with the Governor. Since the Hongchen Kingdom was so vast, it was necessary to be sure that everyone would respect the authority of the Emperor. But this was even more true when it came to such a militarized province. Most of the major families had personal armies. Obviously, the Hongchen Kingdom would fear a rebellion.


    With his alchemist insignia, Cao Yun could easily walk through the streets without being accosted by any guard. But they were still watching him closely. It wasn''t just because they were protecting the city, but also because he was a man of interest. All alchemists were viewed with great respect as they were most useful to the kingdom. Soldiers knew that even more than other cultivators. On a battlefield, physicians were important and could save many lives, but pills were absolutely necessary. Even a great physician without the proper pills and medicines couldn''t do much. There were also pills that could help a soldier save his own life by becoming stronger for a time, always with a price though.


    Despite that, Cao Yun chose another approach. It wasn''t that he wanted to sneak into the Yun family''s mansion. But he didn''t want others to know that he had visited them first.


    A few days earlier, he had sent a missive to the Yun family. Hopefully it had reached his friend and he was expecting his visit.


    He got as close as the residence as possible and activated his full ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Then, he waited for the night and came out. With the Yun residence in view, he slowly progressed toward it. He had no problem avoiding the guards who were all Mortals. Within the residence, there were Mortal Warriors but they were unable to detect Cao Yun either. His skill with ''Ashen Feather Seal'' had become so good that not even middle Spirit Warriors could see through his Guai Mo facade. In fact, Xiao Xuefeng was certain that almost no one in the entire Hongchen Kingdom could find him out if they didn''t know what they were looking for.


    Of course, this didn''t mean that his stealth was perfect, especially when he was moving around, but it was still good enough to deceive most early to middle Spirit Warriors. And it proved to be true as not a single guard was able to discover Cao Yun.


    Although it was the night, Mortal Warriors didn''t need to sleep as much as Mortals. As such, the Yun residence was almost as active during the night as it was during the day. Still, for psychological reasons, cultivators were following the cycle of the sun and their nocturnal activities were different. That meant that there was almost no one in the gardens. Most people were inside doing various things. In fact, Cao Yun could hear some soldiers who were training in a large facility. Outside though, Cao Yun only saw a handful of members of the Yun family. He saw a couple of them who were admiring the stars while having some fancy dinner.


    Finally, Cao Yun reached the chambers he had been slowly progressing toward. Those were Yun Ping''s chambers, the friend he had met in the Wubei Sect. They had fought against one another on the duel platform, and Yun Ping had also fought with his friends in Yinmen City. Back then, he had sacrificed his left arm to help protect the city and its people. Cao Yun was absolutely certain that this man was trustworthy.


    What really marked Cao Yun was that the Yun family seemed to be rather frugal. Although their residence was almost as large as that of the Xue family, they were clearly not as rich as them. Indeed, the Yun family had gained most of their real estate thanks to their military successes, and they had few other venues. Besides, they had a large force and they had spent a lot during the stampede. Even though their reputation had improved, their treasury had decreased. That also explained why Yun Ping had been rather poor in the Wubei Sect. The Yun family was mostly made of soldiers. They had no alchemist and some expensive physicians in their ranks. They had even been forced to borrow money as of late. Some of their debt was owned by Governor Jiahe. This was also a way for the Governor to control this family.


    On the other hand, the Xue family was doing much better. They were not rich like the Huang family of course, but they were way above the Yun family. Of course, General Xue didn''t miss an opportunity to flaunt his wealth.


    When he got closer to Yun Ping''s chambers, Cao Yun heard him train. He was wearing a normal robe. That meant that his left sleeve was fluttering as he was moving around. Although he had lost his left arm, Yun Ping was still wielding a spear. In fact, he was still wielding ''Eternal Rampart''. This monstrosity was longer than Cao Yun''s ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Now that he was wielding it with a single arm, the weapon seemed even larger than before. And this wasn''t a good thing at all.


    Observing Yun Ping for quite some time, Cao Yun saw how slow he was compared to their last fight. Instead of improving, Yun Ping had clearly become worse over time. Maybe he had improved since his injury, but what was certain was that he was not at the level he had been before. Of course, Cao Yun felt some pain in his heart when he saw it. Even a great alchemist could not easily reform an arm. Reattaching a lost limb was easier, but Yun Ping''s arm had been devoured and digested. Regrowing limbs or organs was something else entirely. Even with his improved blood, Cao Yun was certain that he couldn''t fully regenerate a lost limb or a missing organ. He could only regenerate wounds in his flesh, not large missing parts.


    Before revealing himself to Yun Ping, Cao Yun made sure that no one was around. Then, he jumped into the private garden of Yun Ping. He was in his blind spot. Since he didn''t want anyone to know he was there, Cao Yun used a technique he had learned from Sect Leader Xuan''s library. It was extremely useful as it allowed for someone to send their voice in a very specific direction by using Qi to control the wind. Furthermore, Cao Yun was familiar with controlling wind thanks to his martial art.


    But the very moment Yun Ping heard a voice in his ear, his ''Eternal Rampart'' was sent toward Cao Yun. Under this pressure, the young man did not move at all and simply waited. When Yun Ping finally realized whose voice it was, he suddenly halted his movement and paused.

 Chapter 406: General Yun

    Cao Yun didn''t have to completely release his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. After all, it wasn''t making him invisible. With it active, it was just difficult to recognize his presence. But after directly addressing Yun Ping, that was taken care of. Then, he simply reduced the effects of his concealing technique so Yun ping could recognize his face.


    It still took him some time to realize. Then, a bright smile lit up his face. For an instant, he almost blurted out. Thankfully, he had received Cao Yun''s message. Although it had been rather cryptic so no one else could read it but him, Yun Ping had understood the meaning behind it. Cao Yun wanted to be discreet.


    Although he trusted Yun Ping, he didn''t know his family. Yes, General Yun, Yun Ping''s father, seemed to be a trustworthy man. But as long as he wasn''t sure of his character, he wouldn''t like to meet him in person.


    Realizing that he was about to shout his friend''s name, Yun Ping controlled himself. Just like his father, he was rather straightforward. But that didn''t mean that he was an idiot. Deep down, Cao Yun was thankful that Yun Ping wasn''t Ren Chao. But then he stopped his train of thoughts. They weren''t very nice to his brother...


    Cao Yun was about to use his technique to speak to Yun Ping. By manipulating the air around him, he could send his voice directly to someone without being heard by anyone else. But he could also form some kind of barrier around him in order to cancel any voice, not just his own. As long as Yun Ping came close enough, Cao Yun could do so.


    Before he had any time to speak with Yun Ping, Cao Yun sensed a powerful presence. Suddenly, he pushed his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to the limit and hid inside Yun Ping''s chambers. As the young man was training in his private courtyard, his doors were open.


    Even Yun Ping did not react in time. Before him, a giant who was at least three heads taller than Yun Ping, who was already very tall for a human, had appeared. He was clad in a dark armor. Cao Yun immediately recognized an amalgamation of Bin Iron. This metal was extremely durable but highly difficult to forge due to its resistance to heat. However, this amalgamation was not pure Bin Iron. Because he wasn''t a blacksmith, Cao Yun could not identify every single metal used in it. One thing was certain though, this armor was intimidating and could clearly resist many of his own attacks.


    But just by sensing the aura of that powerful man, Cao Yun knew he would never be able to land a single strike anyway. Hell, he wouldn''t even be able to move if he didn''t want him to. This man was at least a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. But contrary to Xiao Xuefeng, and even Chief Elder Baishen, he was a soldier. He wasn''t just a martial artist. All his life, he had fought on the battlefields, killing countless demons. Of course he had also killed humans, demonic cultivators most of the time.


    Thanks to his time in the Demon Palace against the blood beasts, Cao Yun was very sensitive to killing intent. In that moment, this man seemed to be full of anger, to the point that even his Drop of Wrath reacted a little.


    At the moment, the entire courtyard was completely surrounded by his domineering aura. Cao Yun even stopped breathing so that he didn''t detect him. Compared to the blood beasts he had fought or even the Drop of Wrath itself, this aura was nothing much so his mind was clear. But his body was frozen in place. Unless he decided to expose his Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun wouldn''t be able to get free of this. Besides, as soon as he did anything somewhat hostile, this man would probably kill him without asking any question. That would be dramatic considering that he had recognized this man.


    Yun Ping had also recognized him. This was his father, General Yun Po.


    "Father..."


    "What happened? I sensed something from your courtyard."


    Despite the urgency in his voice and his overall demeanor, General Yun was perfectly calm. His mood had been tempered on battlefields. As such, he was always ready to react to unforeseen events.


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Dian Mo even hid himself, fearing that he might get discovered. Although his spiritual senses were not as good as Xiao Xuefeng''s, General Yun had an authority that even she did not have. Mixed in with his spiritual senses, there was pure killing intent, devoid of any sentiment.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had not been discovered. Most likely, Yun Po had only sensed the disturbance in his son''s Qi. When Cao Yun had revealed himself, Yun Ping first thought that he was attacked and reacted to it. The fact that General Yun had reacted to it so promptly meant that he had been monitoring his son closely, too closely.


    "Father, nothing happened."


    "Then, why did I sense killing intent from you?"


    No matter what his son could say, Yun Po was still actively using his spiritual senses to search the surroundings. Soon enough, he would find Cao Yun. Indeed, his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was great but Cao Yun wasn''t on par with Huang Liyue yet.


    Obviously, Yun Ping was aware that his friend wouldn''t be able to conceal his presence forever, even if he didn''t know his technique. Thus, he had to convince his father that there was nothing wrong. He didn''t like lying to his own family, but he trusted Cao Yun enough to follow his lead. Of course, he understood that Cao Yun was lacking trust in his family. As much as it pained him, he knew that his friend had no reason to trust them.


    "It''s... I was just frustrated..."


    Both Yun Ping and Yun Po looked at his missing left arm. All of a sudden, the tyrannical aura of Yun Po dissolved. He walked to his son and put his hand on his right shoulder. Then, he felt his arm.


    "That wound is a token of your courage and strength. I would love to be able to rebuild your arm. I tried to petition the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and even the Imperial City, but only a Spirit medicine could do such a miracle. But son, don''t lose hope. Don''t think about your family, only think of yourself. Take as much time as you need, everyone understands this."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Hiding, Cao Yun was a bit flustered, Yun Po was clearly speaking from his heart and there he was, hiding and listening in on this intimate conversation. But he simply couldn''t leave right now.


    Through the robe, Yun Po could feel his son''s muscles. His right arm had almost doubled in volume. Although muscles weren''t a great sign of strength for cultivators, it showed how much stress Yun Ping had put on his arm and thus on his training. Even now, he was wielding ''Eternal Rampart''. The fact that it was so long wasn''t a good thing for someone with only one arm. However, Yun Ping had decided to keep using it as it was a family heirloom.


    Yun Po looked at the weapon for some time.


    "You should think about taking another spear. There many short spears that would be ideal to you."


    "Is this what the family wants? Do they think the ''Eternal Rampart'' is wasted on me? Do they want to give it to..."


    "Stop this! You''re my son! Everyone knows that you suffered in order to protect the people and your friends. If someone even suggests that you''re unworthy of your grandfather''s weapon, they will not speak another word."


    For the first time, Yun Po truly raised his voice. In Cao Yun''s eyes, it meant that someone had certainly hinted at the subject. Although they were a family of soldiers who wouldn''t abandon someone who had been injured on the battlefield, they were also pragmatic. If Yun Ping couldn''t fight anymore, letting him wield such an important weapon for them was a waste. Of course, with Yun Po as his father, the critics would be done in a very roundabout way. But both Cao Yun and Yun Ping were sure that those critics were shared by many within the Yun family.


    Cao Yun and Yun Po also knew that Yun Ping was painfully aware of it. This could be seen in his fatigue. Although he was a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, he showed clear signs of exhaustion because of his training. That showed how much effort he had poured into it. But this wasn''t necessarily a good thing. There was desperation in this way of doing things. And it could lead to even more injuries. In Yun Ping, Cao Yun saw the threat of what he had been afraid for himself.


    As the two men were talking, Yun Po was still touching his son''s arm. But his face was full of anger as he was thinking about what he had heard among his family.


    Suddenly a very young girl barged into the room where Cao Yun was hiding. She couldn''t have been more than five. That young girl was extremely cute and her fluffy clothes accentuated that even more. Just by looking at her, almost any adult would have wanted to dot on her. And she knew it!


    Her face was almost still asleep but she was running. She jumped into the courtyard and dashed toward Yun Po and Yun Ping. As soon as she got close to the armor clad general, she started hurtling her small fists around and struck his leg. Beside her, General Yun looked like a true giant.


    "Meanie! Tyrant! Depost! Leave Brother alone!"


    She barged into the room and ran toward Yun Ping before hugging him. She screamed with tears of indignation in her eyes. The way she was talking was strange as she was clearly still learning, but that was also very charming.


    "Despot?"


    The atmosphere around Yun Ping and Yun Po changed immediately. All the tension and sadness disappeared. Yun Ping even tried to correct his little sister''s pronunciation.


    "Yes, that too!"


    The cute little thing was flailing her arms around. She was exaggerating her anger, but Cao Yun could tell that she really cared for Yun Ping. Apparently, she was his little sister. And of course, he immediately remembered his own little sister, Cao Huiying. Today, she would have been almost three times that young girl''s age as she had died when she was only twelve. Although the memory was ancient for Cao Yun, the pain was still present and vivid. He would never use his mind cultivation to erase this pain as it would feel like an act of disrespect for his family.


    Seeing that little thing angry toward the giant Yun Po was not very impressive. But it was very cute. And it had a real impact on Cao Yun. She reminded him a lot of Mei Ying. At least, she had as much energy. But instead of telling her older sibling off, this young girl was supporting him a lot, just like Cao Huiying had been worshiping her older brothers when she was younger, and alive.


    "I am sorry, Hua''er. I didn''t raise my voice against your brother, we were just talking about..."


    "About those mean baldies? They think we don''t hear them, but we do. They''re all mean to Brother...!"


    Yun Ping squatted down to his sister''s level and began to stroke her hair.


    "I don''t mind them. And they''re just worried about our family... I''m happy you get angry on behalf, but I will show them all that I can still be a great warrior."


    "Of course you can! You''re my son! But just don''t exhaust yourself doing so. You should take some time for yourself. Hua''er, if anyone dares to be mean to either of you, they''ll know my wrath!"


    In Yun Po''s voice, there was a laughing tone as he was trying to reassure his children. But Cao Yun could also sense that his emotions were a bit all over the place. He had to think of his entire family as he was the current patriarch. But he couldn''t forsake his own children either. Yun Hua was very young and Yun Ping was wounded so badly he might never become a Spirit Warrior. Hell, he might stay stuck as a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior.


    After all, by losing his left arm, he had lost one of his Five Prodigious Gates. They were essential for one''s cultivation during the Mortal Warrior realm. Of course, the Bai Hui was the most important acupoint, but the others were necessary too.


    Then, Yun Po picked the small girl up and put her on his shoulders.


    "Your clothes are hard and cold..."


    Yun Po ignored her comment and went through Yun Ping''s room.


    "I''ll put you back in your bed. You better sleep tight now."


    Cao Yun stayed silent as the giant man walked right in front of him. Thankfully, his alertness was mostly gone now that he was taking car of his daughter. The poor thing was clearly sleepy. After hearing the voice of Yun Po, she had gone to her brother''s rescue but she needed to sleep. Given her age, she had probably not even started cultivating. Right now, she was just a normal 5-year-old girl.


    In Yun Ping''s face, Cao Yun saw that he had a lot on his mind. Since his friend had lost his left arm while protecting Yinmen City and his brothers, Cao Yun felt responsible. Besides, he also recognized the fear of being stuck in his cultivation. After his sojourn in the Demon Palace, he had tasted that same fear.


    When he was confident that Yun Po had left, Cao Yun exited the room and walked toward Yun Ping. Then, he controlled his voice and sent him a message.


    "This isn''t the best place to speak. I have many matters to tell you about and there are some things I''ll need your help with as well. Right now, I''m staying in the Major Hall under the name of Guai Mo. This cover is necessary, but I''ll tell you everything tomorrow. As soon as you can, find an excuse to go to the Major Hall. Ask for Guai Mo and they will lead you to my room. There, we''ll be able to talk more freely."


    Since his father was so close, Yun Ping preferred not to talk at all. Instead, he nodded and looked at Cao Yun directly in his eyes. They both understood each other.


    Then, Cao Yun simply left the Yun residence. With his concealing technique, no one was able to detect him and he snooped around the area before leaving.

 Chapter 407: Yun Pings family feud

    Yun Ping, Yong Ke and Cao Yun met under the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. There were few rooms that were insulated from prying eyes and ears. Despite that, Cao Yun had been given one to himself. He could stay in there as long as he wanted. To be fair, he was about to help the Major Hall earn more in a few months than they had in a decade.


    In that room, Cao Yun explained almost everything to Yun Ping, but also added things he hadn''t told Yong Ke yet. Of course, he hid his real name but he did tell them that his family had been massacred by demonic cultivators and he was looking for answers in order to make them face justice. Since Chen Guo was supposed to be a commoner, they didn''t even think about the Cao massacre. Besides, the recent stampede had shaken everyone. And the tensions with the demons, especially so close to the border, had also rattled everyone''s minds. On the other hand, the massacre of the Cao family had not been a very important news outside of the Wu Province. And by now, it had completely quieted down since the ''culprits'' had been eradicated.


    Hearing that some demonic cultivator might be hiding in his own city, Yun Ping was furious.


    "We should tell my father! I know none of you know him very well. But I can assure you that you can trust him. And with my word, he will listen to you."


    "I don''t have that much evidence. In fact, most of what I rely on is my own senses and I can''t share them."


    Cao Yun also had some documents from the Wolf Head Sect. However, they didn''t really tell anything about Gu Song''s whereabouts. Moreover, they were talking about the ''Traitor''. Since that person was either the Emperor himself or someone very close to him, that wasn''t the kind of thing he was ready to share. Not only was this dangerous to him, but this could also bring a disaster upon whoever knew about this. First of all, he had to find real and concrete evidence. From Gu Song''s mind, he was certain that he would find more tangible things. That being said, he had already hinted at it in a letter sent to Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng.


    General Yun Po was officially under the command of the Imperial City. Although he had some freedom to act, he couldn''t disobey a direct order from the Imperial City without risking death. Telling him that his superiors might have organized the massacre of a family would put him in a difficult position. Besides, Cao Yun wasn''t after the Imperial City right now. His presence in Qingyun City was solely about Gu Song and the demonic cultivators.


    After seeing Yun Po in person, Cao Yun was now convinced that he would prove useful in this endeavor. The main problem was that he might not agree with his entire plan. Weighing the pros and the cons, Cao Yun still deemed that getting a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior behind his cause was the good call.


    "Friend, I''ll believe you. You can tell your father about me and about everything I''ve told you. However, try and convince him to let me do my own thing. If I fail and all goes south, he should be powerful enough to take care of things, right? Besides, it might look bad if he acted first."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Before coming back here last night, I walked through the residential area and I went as close as I could to both the Governor''s residence and the Xue family estate. The two of them were reeking of Evil Qi. Even now, I''m not sure what it means exactly. The fact that there is Evil Qi doesn''t necessarily means that they work with the demonic cultivators, but it is proof that he went there very recently, or is still there to this day."


    Even Xiao Xuefeng would not have been able to feel anything like that. However, Cao Yun''s senses when it came to Evil Qi were just stronger. In addition, he had Dian Mo to help him. With the two of them, hiding one''s Evil Qi was almost impossible, at least not for a Spirit Warrior. Thus, Cao Yun had been able to feel those traces. That didn''t mean though that he was able to pinpoint it perfectly as there were many array formations in place.


    Hearing this, Yun Ping began to think a lot. Outside of a fight, this was an odd occurrence. But for Yun Ping, this was a fight. This was politics. And he would use his knowledge of battle formations.


    "This is indeed a bad thing. If Governor Jiahe is implicated with the demonic cultivators, it is obvious what kind of problems would arise. But if the Xue family is involved with them, then it might even be worse. Our Yun family and them have been at each other''s throats for a very long time. Even recently, they almost cost us several lives. During the stampede, they almost made sure that we were risking our lives in the riskiest battles while they tried to hoard all the honors in more prestigious fights. This is an open secret. If my father goes after them publicly, everyone will think that this just a personal vendetta and it won''t be taken seriously."


    "But until we know anything for certain, there shouldn''t be any public condemnation. My friend, trust me. I know what I''m doing. Prepare your father and talk with him. If I fail, I will be the only one implicated in this matter. But if I succeed, I might need his help to save me from troubles."


    By the side, Yong Ke listened without interrupting.


    "What is your plan?"


    For a few hours, Cao Yun explained the gist of what he had in mind. Both listeners were quite stunned as it was extremely dangerous. Going up against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior was almost suicide for even a half-step Spirit Warrior. Right now, Cao Yun was just a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. Yes, his Qi cultivation had sped up and he had advanced far. But at the end of the day, he was no match for such an opponent. Despite that, they had to agree that he might be able to it off considering his vast knowledge of both alchemy and array formations.


    Of course, Cao Yun couldn''t tell them absolutely everything for the simple reason that some of his plans required his special cultivation and even Dian Mo''s help. He had made an oath not to reveal Dian Mo''s existence and he couldn''t openly talk about his blood cultivation or his mind cultivation. That being said, he told them enough to make them believe there was a chance. Then, he also showed his Spirit Condensation Barrier. With that in hand, he would be able to escape from a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior''s clutches. And if Gu Song went out against Cao Yun publicly, it would be as good as revealing himself. Then, General Yun could strike him down as the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had officially denounced him.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    After his theft, Gu Song had been labeled a traitor of mankind. Anyone was free to kill him in any way they saw fit. Of course, that meant that Gu Song would be careful not to appear in public. But whether he was hiding in the Governor''s residence or within the Xue family, getting to him there without evidence would be impossible for General Yun.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had other means and Yun Ping just accepted that.


    "Count on me. I''ll convince my father to help you. But as much as he is righteous, he won''t risk our entire family without any assurance. First of all, he will want to speak with you of course. But I fear that if helping you jeopardize our standing, he won''t lift a finger. Worse, he will probably stop me beforehand to make sure I don''t do anything reckless. Recently, he''s been more and more protective of me and my sister."


    Yun Ping looked at his left arm. But Cao Yun knew that there was something else. Yun Ping''s mother had died from a rare disease four years ago. Soon after giving birth to her daughter, the poor woman had begun to cough up blood. As warriors, the Yun family had a few talented physicians in their ranks despite having no alchemist. However, none of them were able to save her life. So General Yun humbled himself and petitioned the Governor himself. The Governor did try to help while the Xue family just used this opportunity to humiliate General Yun even more. Obviously, their grudge had grown deeper at that moment.


    As it turned out, Yun Ping''s mother''s disease was incurable. The physician Governor Jiahe found was a 4-star Heaven physician. Such a gesture had greatly moved General Yun. In the end though, his wife had died after several months of agony. She was barely able to enjoy the birth of her daughter. The only consolation was that she had at least been able to see her face.


    Since that time, General Yun had been less present on the battlefields. But recently, he had been forced to go a lot. As such, Yun Hua had become restless. Most likely, she was trying to catch his attention each time he was present. Almost every day, she tried to run away from her teacher. But she was still working a lot to balance out her absences. Although there was tragedy and sadness, this household was bursting with life. And after learning all this, Cao Yun had understood General Yun a bit better. He would do everything in his power to protect his children. But that might backfire if he thought Cao Yun''s plan was too dangerous.


    Since his wife had died, General Yun would probably not remarry, or maybe in a very long time. As such, he would not have any more children. Besides, Yun Hua was literally the last gift from his wife. He wouldn''t father another child before a very long time, if ever.


    "Besides, my father can''t act as freely as some people might think. No family is ever of one mind. Even now, there is dissent. And the fact that I might never be able to break through in my cultivation is not helping. If my father does something that could hurt our name, he might even be stopped before he could act. Unfortunately, our situation is complicated. But I''ll try to talk things out with my father for you. At the very least, I can assure you that he won''t interfere with your plans. And if you''re able to smoke out Gu Song, he will be there to deal the finishing blow."


    "Thank you, my friend. Speaking about your cultivation though, I might have a solution."


    "What?!"


    "The reason you''re not progressing is because you need a good harmony between the first four Prodigious Gates before attempting to open your fifth gate, the Bai Hui. And sadly, you''ve lost your left Labor Palace. As such, trying to find balance became much more difficult. But no one ever said that only the Labor Palaces could be used as a Prodigious Gate."


    At first Yun Ping had been excited but this excitement was now gone from his face.


    "I already tried replacing my lost Labor Palace with other acupoints. But there is no acupoint that can do the same kind of work. I would only hurt myself even more if I tried to force this role on a weaker acupoint."


    "Oh, I agree with you. But once again, no one ever said that a Prodigious Gate had to be a single acupoint. Since no one acupoint can do the job, then you just have to use several of them in unison. Yes, it will be harder to control as you will need to learn to make them work together. But I am certain that it can work."


    Indeed, Cao Yun had used his knowledge of array formations to try and find a way to mimic the Five Prodigious Gates. First of all, Yun Ping had been injured because he had protected Yinmen City and his brothers. On a more practical note, helping his friends gain power was a good thing when he was about to engage in such a dangerous plan. He hadn''t thought of it before, but this might even smooth things over with Yun Po. And it would also be helpful for Cao Yun as it would improve his understanding of the Five Prodigious Gates he was tempering right now.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no way of using the world tree''s seed to help his friend. But he had found a way. As an array formation master and an alchemist, Cao Yun had been able to find the most suited acupoints to replace his lost left Labor Palace. He chose four points on his left side that were connected to the same meridians and vessels. However, Yun Ping would also be forced to alter the circulation of his Qi within his body. With Cao Yun''s help though, it would be easier. If he followed Cao Yun''s advice, Yun Ping would have completely replaced his Labor Palace in around ten months.


    That was a no-brainer for Yun Ping. Unlike Cao Yun, he didn''t reject such a great gift before accepting it. He obviously knew that Cao Yun was acting partly out of guilt, so he did tell him that it was not his fault. Yun Ping had made his choice and was comfortable leaving with the consequences. However, he accepted that gift with great hurry.


    Then, he spent several hours with Cao Yun working on his ideas. Immediately, Yun Ping understood that it could work. The flow of Qi through those acupoints reminded him of the sensation of his lost Labor Palace. More than that, he could feel the other ones react to this.


    No matter how talented Cao Yun or Yun Ping were though, this process was delicate. In a sense, it was just like learning to walk again. Yun Ping was going to have to teach his body and his mind to work his Qi in a completely new way in order to compensate the loss of his left limb. At first, it would always be a conscious effort. But with time, it would become automatic until it was as natural as breathing. One could alter one''s breathing voluntarily but one didn''t need to think about breathing to do it.


    After the day was over, Yun Ping left with a precise idea of what he had to do in order to replace his Labor Palace. He was overjoyed and eager to help Cao Yun get his father''s help.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun was ready to visit the two places he had staked out. Whether with Yun Po''s help or not, he would act.

 Chapter 408: Underground sparring session

    While Yun Ping was working on his cultivation so was Cao Yun. Unlike before, he had shifted his focus on Qi cultivation instead of blood cultivation. But he was also working on his mind. Indeed, a huge part of his plan was resting on his mind as he wanted to extract things from Gu Song''s memories.


    Once again, he was reeling the filaments of his own corporeal soul. With each one, he was facing visions of rage and anger. Most were from his own memories, but there were also images from Axiu Qian''s life. As he was working on subduing his own Flying Poison, he was apparently also subduing the Flying Poison within the Drop of Wrath. His idea of completely replacing the Po within the Drop of Wrath seemed to be giving him some results. Of course, it would require some more time. And the Drop of Wrath seemed to be affecting his own mood. Maybe it was its way of trying to resist his influence. But hopefully, Cao Yun would be able to gain the full control of the Drop of Wrath before the Alchemy Conference.


    Although he could sense more and more resistance as he was gaining progressively more control, he had a great, albeit risky, idea in mind. After what had happened in the Demon Palace, Cao Yun had decided to be more careful with his cultivation. But that didn''t mean he wouldn''t take any risk. After all, simply attempting to challenge the Lesser Tribulation was a risk. But there was a difference between being impulsive and preparing for such events. What Cao Yun had in mind would happen in a few months. Until then, he had enough time to get ready.


    After taking control of that foreign blood, he would slowly rebuild the Seven Turbid Demons within the Drop of Wrath with his own. The Flying Poison was enough to make the Drop of Wrath completely his instead of a foreign force he had put shackles on. But each additional piece of Po he could reconstruct would probably mean more strength for the Drop of Wrath and thus himself as well.


    In fact, Dian Mo had already told him that this mind cultivation was very reminiscent of the Accomplished Demon realm, the equivalent of the Spirit Warrior realm. The similarity between ''Crimson Inferno Road'' and ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' was so strong that this realm was called ''Conquering the Seven Demons''. Once again, this was proof that this mind cultivation had been written by a demon. During this realm, one would turn each part of their Po into a real demon in order to dominate it in order to then produce a Demon Soul. Of course, such a Demon Soul was very dangerous. In a sense, it was like an amalgamation of seven inner demons chained down together.


    Instead of turning them into inner demons, Cao Yun was trying to calm down his Seven Turbid Demons. Clearly, this was a way of making this stage of the demon cultivation easier. If the Seven Turbid Demons were already contained, their danger would be greatly reduced when the cultivator would begin the Accomplished Demon realm.


    Cao Yun''s cultivation was going at a steady pace and he had no obstacle on his path. Right now, this was the cultivation he was the most comfortable with. But he obviously didn''t neglect his Qi cultivation either. Even if he had many other things to consider, like improving his alchemy and planning, he didn''t slack off in his training.


    As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was working on tempering his Five Prodigious Gates. For that very purpose, he had discovered a very neat way to do things. From what he had read in ''Cultivation of Wrath'', his idea was in line with it. By using his blood and the Fire Qi within to attack the Five Prodigious Gates, Cao Yun was putting strain on them and on the world tree''s influence inside them. Then, he used his Water Qi to soothe them and make them grow stronger than before. In a way, it was similar to putting tension on one''s body before resting to let it grow stronger.


    But it wasn''t just that. Throughout the process, Cao Yun was also using the intent from the Drop of Wrath that was permeating his blood. As such, the Fire Qi was both straining but also nourishing the Five Prodigious Gates at the same time. In fact, Cao Yun also sensed the impact of the Rune of Fire within his Drop of Wrath. The Fire Qi in his blood had become stronger without becoming unruly. He had almost no effort to make to control it. Indeed, this Fire Qi was under the control of his Drop of Wrath as was his blood. Thus, it was under the control of the Rune of Fire. And this Fire Qi would never dare to rebel against it. Although Cao Yun had not understood any of it, this fragment of a rune was still a piece of the Dao of Fire.


    As he was doing that, he could envision a future in which gathering Fire Qi would be much easier for him thanks to this simple tiny fragment of the Dao of Fire. That wouldn''t be heaven defying, but instead of spending four to five years gathering Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, he might be able to get it done in a bit more than three years. In fact, since he was an alchemist, he might even be able to get it down to around three years or less. Better yet, the next two grades before the Lesser Cultivation literally consisted in strengthening and tempering one''s meridians and vessels through the use of the Water Qi and the Fire Qi that had been accumulated beforehand. Thus, he might speed up those grades as well.


    For now, he wasn''t sure how fast he might go without risking going haywire. However, he was seeing a bright future for his Qi cultivation. After the doubt he had suffered from because of the trauma inflicted to his Bai Hui, this was a nice change. Besides, he was also taking control of events instead of reacting to them and it felt great as well. Overall, despite the risks, Cao Yun was probably in his best condition. In fact, the risks themselves might even have been stimulating him.


    Yun Ping, Cao Yun and Yong Ke also trained together quite a bit. All of them had very good background in martial arts, although very different. Sadly, Yun Ping was always inferior to either of them. And Cao Yun could tell that his overall strength had fallen down since he had fought him on the duel platform of the Wubei Sect. At the same time, he was clearly improving day by day, albeit slowly. However, he was also getting used to the new acupoints. Instead of using only one, his left Lao Gong, he had to make four of them work together while fighting in order to sustain his Qi Manifestations so they could compare with Cao Yun''s and Yong Ke''s.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Since Cao Yun couldn''t show his spearmanship outside for now, he was quite happy with the possibility to spare with two opponents. Yong Ke''s sword had reached the Sword Aura state. Thus Yun Ping was the only one who had not developed a Martial Aura. However, both of his sparring partners could tell that he was getting closer and closer to that. A sword would have been easier to control with only one arm. But the characteristic weapon of the Yun family, because it was heavily used on the battlefields, was the spear. No matter what, Yun Ping couldn''t resign himself to using a sword as his primary weapon. Thus, he had relentlessly trained with his spear, so much so in fact that Yun Ping had grow even closer to his weapon.


    It was only a 4-star Human weapon so it didn''t have a spirit or even any form of instinct. However, Yun Ping''s attachment to his weapon had pushed them both closer and closer to each other. Now, it truly was an extension of his body. And he had fully learned how to optimize every part of his body. The lack of an arm wasn''t so much a problem of strength, but it had altered all of his technique and the balance of his weapon. Thus, he had been forced to find new ways to perform the same things he could do before. His resilience greatly impressed Cao Yun.


    Of course, Cao Yun had not witnessed the months of despair and doubt Yun Ping had crossed. Similarly to Cao Yun with his Qi cultivation, Yun Ping had overcome quite a lot recently. But because he had triumphed, he was now stronger mentally and his potential was clearly there. Even if he had not regained all his strength, Cao Yun knew he could do so.


    While they were training, Yong Ke almost never spoke. In fact, Cao Yun found out she was quite shy. Somehow, she felt close to him so she had no problem interacting with him. And she had no problem fighting either. It was only when it came to truly talking with someone else on a personal level that she was a bit shy. Of course, with the scars he had seen on her concealed skin, he could imagine that she didn''t like to open up too much.


    Even without speaking though, she was getting closer to Yun Ping by sparring with him. Even when Cao Yun was too busy to spar, she would. And the two of them had the same idea about Yun Ping''s training. They were pushing him to use more and more Qi Manifestation. Their pretext was to help him develop his compound Labor Palace on his left side. This was true, but the truth was also a bit different. During most sessions, he had almost no Qi to pour out in his techniques at some point and they still pressed on the attack.


    This was precisely what they were waiting for. Their goal was to force Yun Ping to use Spear Aura. After fighting him, seeing him fight, and mastering Martial Aura themselves, they were convinced that Yun Ping had the potential to learn it very soon. Sparring with Yun Ping might help him advance his martial art, but above else, they were hoping to improve his Spear Aura by confronting the Martial Aura of someone else.


    Although Yun Ping was completely exhausted, he never asked to stop training, he didn''t ask for a rest, not once. On his end, Cao Yun was adapting his techniques to him. The goal was not to win a fight but to train each other. If Yun Ping couldn''t follow, it would be useless. The benefit for Cao Yun was not marginal either, as he was developing his Horn Constellation, albeit rather slowly. However, Yun Ping saw a great benefit for him. Of course, he knew what Spear Aura was because his own father had mastered the Spear Heart. But he had rarely fought against someone who was using it.


    Cao Yun and Yong Ke were targeting any weakness in his technique, quickly improving Yun Ping''s ''Thunder Breaking Wall''. Since he couldn''t rely on neither strength nor Qi to compensate his bad technique, Yun Ping was beginning to find a better balance. In less than ten days, he would almost regain his past talent and some more.


    -


    During that period, Cao Yun didn''t spend all his time training and sparring with his friend. He had a very clear plan in mind. For now, he wasn''t sure where Gu Song was hiding, but everything clearly indicated that he was in town. Even the memories he had obtained from the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish were positive about that. Unfortunately, Cao Yun needed more than a vague location. In order to confront a Spirit Warrior, he had to be extremely well prepared. For that, he had to know where the confrontation would take place.


    Of course, the best thing would have been to bring Gu Song on his own battlefield, but Gu Song would not expose himself that easily. As such, Cao Yun had decided to give him a false sense of security in order to improve his chances.


    Because he had felt Evil Qi in two places, he had to find a reason to inspect them. And because Gu Song might be present there, he decided not to try and sneak in. After all, he had almost been discovered by Yun Po. And he didn''t want Gu Song to imagine that anyone was after him until the very end. Otherwise, he was almost certain that he would be powerless against him. In fact, Gu Song could certainly kill him with a thought if he truly wanted to. For that very reason, Cao Yun was always ready to activate his Spirit Condensation Barrier, just in case.


    Thankfully, he had good reasons to go both to Governor Jiahe and to the Xue family later.


    Indeed, the Subei Province was about to organize an alchemy battle to choose its representative for the Alchemy Conference. As Guai Mo, a 1-star Human alchemist, Cao Yun had every reason to seek out Governor Jiahe in order to ask to be a part of it. But he already knew the answer. That didn''t prevent him from asking though. Furthermore, alchemists were held in high regards. With Guai Mo''s background, Governor Jiahe even accepted to receive him in person, although he didn''t have much time to give to him.


    Thus, Cao Yun was invited in Governor Jiahe''s residence. Around the residence, there were many array formations. Compared with most cities he had been too, the level of the defenses was crazy. This was mainly due to the proximity with the border. Although the Sunmen Province to the north was the province under the most stress, the Subei Province was also a strategic location that was heavily guarded.


    The guards around the residence were either late Mortals or early Mortal Warriors. And inside the residence, Cao Yun even felt the spiritual senses of an early Spirit Warrior. According to Dian Mo, a few of them were hiding here and there, ready to act. Of course, as one got closer to the Governor, the defenses would be stricter and the cultivation of the guards would become higher.


    After entering the Governor''s residence, Cao Yun immediately felt a tinge of Evil Qi he wasn''t sure about. Indeed, he didn''t feel anything too ominous about it. However, it was clearly coming from the innermost part of the residence, close to the Governor himself.


    Some servant was leading Cao Yun inside. It didn''t take too long and finally, Cao Yun came face to face with Governor Jiahe Lan.

 Chapter 409: The Governors dilemma

    Cao Yun also visited Governor Jiahe in order to introduce himself. As an alchemist, it was a formal visit to announce that he would stay in this city for some time. In fact, Cao Yun''s presence had been known as soon as he had entered the city. But for now, he had officially stayed confined in the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Indeed, he had not visited anyone of importance and no one had tried to get in contact with him. Most likely, they were all waiting for him to make a move. Although he was an alchemist, he was only a 1-star Human alchemist. Thus, no influential person wanted to make the first move and they were waiting for him to come to them.


    Furthermore, they were all aware that he was probably here regarding the Alchemy Conference. This was no secret that the Governor would soon organize a small competition to determine the best alchemist in the Subei Province. The Yun family had no one to represent them, but the Xue family had chosen Xue Rui who was on his way back from the Wubei Sect. His older brother was staying in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute where he also hoped to gain a spot. Unlike the Subei Province who only had one slot, the greatest alchemy institute in the Hongchen Kingdom had three of them. Cao Yun was certain that Feng Yingyue would get one, not because of his attachment to her, but because Xiao Xuefeng was positive about it.


    Still, alchemists were highly regarded. Thus, Cao Yun was received by the Governor in person. Since he was busy with other matters, he couldn''t afford to give too much time to Cao Yun but he would probably still try to rope him in. In the room, there was no one else but Cao Yun, a servant and Jiahe Lan. Of course, there were probably bodyguards hidden around. Even though Cao Yun couldn''t sense them completely, he was able to feel fluctuations around him. His sensitivity toward souls made him aware that spiritual senses were directed against him, but there was no killing intent in them.


    If he had wanted to, he could have traced them back to the Spirit Warriors responsible. He didn''t want to risk exposing all his cards though. Within his sea of consciousness however, Dian Mo was most attentive to them. Jiahe Lan was probably a 5th-grade Spirit Warrior as he could sense that his Soul Embryo was within his Upper Dantian. On the other hand, the bodyguards were probably 2nd-grade or 3rd-grade Spirit Warriors. However, they were trained to fight and kill. Most likely, Jiahe Lan''s cultivation had been promoted by many means such as pills. As such, he would be weaker than most 5th-grade Spirit Warriors and couldn''t fight too well. In a fight, he would probably rely on raw strength to try and win.


    Jiahe Lan was a very charming man, with dark red hair, reddish brown eyes and a skin almost as red as Yun Ping''s. Such a skin was just slightly darker than other humans in the center of the Hongchen Kingdom. Those were clearly traces of demon blood in him. In the Subei Province, this was a given. After all, they were very close to the demons. Thankfully though, there was no stigma attached to that. Indeed, all humans had demon blood in them in some capacity since their kind had been dominated for so long.


    "Governor, this humble one presents his greetings."


    "Welcome in our Qingyun City, Alchemist Guai Mo. I heard a lot about your talents. Apparently, this 1-star Human emblem is outdated. If you wish, I could have one of our Heaven alchemists give you a test. But I''m not sure which star he should try to test you on."


    With this first statement, Cao Yun immediately saw through Jiahe Lan''s agreeable attitude. He was flaunting that he had several Heaven alchemists with him and was fishing for information on Guai Mo''s talent.


    "Thank you, Governor. If I have some time, I''ll think about it. To be honest, I don''t care much about the stars of the Human grade. My true goal is the Heaven grade. I know that I still lack the talent and the experience. However, I would like the opportunity to prove myself indeed."


    "This is good for young people to have lofty aspirations. With the dark times we''re going through, we do need all the fire we can get from people''s hearts. Please, if I can help you in any way, this would be my pleasure to try and do so."


    "This humble one seeks to prove himself by entering the Alchemy Conference. Thus, this humble one would like to earn the Subei Province''s spot by entering the upcoming competition."


    As he spoke, Cao Yun made sure to affect some kind of embarrassment. Guai Mo was supposed to be arrogant. Right now, he was looking as though he was struggling to lower himself in front of the Governor. His acting was subtle but loud enough so that Jiahe Lan could see it as plain as day. This boy was indeed arrogant but he was ready to humble himself to get this spot.


    "It is truly a pleasure to have a promising young alchemist enter our competition. However, we are trying to find a representative for our Subei Province. Unfortunately, you don''t have any attachment to this province. Why wouldn''t you try and become a representative of your own Shuangli Province? Maybe I can try and give a letter of recommendation to your Governor..."


    "Unfortunately I am on bad terms with the Governor of the Shuangli Province. As such, I was looking for a province which I could move to. After the stampede, I earned a lot of money going from town to town. As the dust is settling down, so are the payments. Thus I will need a more stable place. And I hoped to become an alchemist of your Subei Province. With the demons so close, I guess my talents could be of use. Besides, I learned that the Yun family had no alchemist at all. If you can''t find any use for my skills, I might try and sell my talents to them."


    In that instant, Cao Yun saw something in the Governor''s eyes, he truly didn''t want him to join the Yun family. Strengthening any family wouldn''t necessarily be a bad thing for the Governor. Of course, he was forced to try and balance out the different influences, but he had no reason to try and keep the families down. In fact, strengthening the Yun family could push the Xue family to do the same and this would keep their rivalry alive, thus the Governor would profit. So it struck Cao Yun as somewhat strange.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "We would welcome you of course. Sadly, the Yun family might be a bit too poor to hire your services. Recently, they were forced to go into debt. Although they had great military strength, they are lacking when it comes to economics. But we would be happy to hire you to serve the Imperial City through us. However, it might take some time to make everything official. And the competition will have gone by by that time."


    "Governor, I know that Xue Rui is the favorite of this competition. But I suspect that he won''t go too far during the Alchemy Conference. Let me prove to you that I will do better. Even if Xue Rui earns some honors, most of them will go to the Xue family. But if you send me and make me an official alchemist of the Subei Province, all the honors will go to you who had such a good insight. Besides, the Xue family should be able to send their other son, Xue Gulin to the Alchemy Conference. It wouldn''t be a huge loss for them. As Xue Gulin studied in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, he will surely go higher than both me and his younger brother. Please, Governor, I only ask that you give me a chance to prove myself and I swear that I won''t disappoint you."


    Beneath Jiahe Lan''s traits, Cao Yun could see that he was now full of doubts. On the outside, he was trying to keep a stoic face. On the inside however, he had absolutely no idea what he should do. Cao Yun''s arguments were very good. Although he didn''t want to penalize the Xue family, this wouldn''t affect them much thanks to Xue Gulin''s existence. From what Jiahe Lan had heard, he would indeed become one of the three representatives from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But now, the Governor was faced with some dilemma.


    Officially, Guai Mo could not enter his competition because he wasn''t a citizen of the Subei Province. But Jiahe Lan could appoint him as an alchemist of his province. Of course, this would be viewed as an endorsement of his candidacy. Thus, it would cause some problem with the Xue family as Xue Rui was the favorite in the upcoming competition. On the other hand, if he didn''t, Guai Mo could freely join the Yun family. They were not the only ones without an alchemist in the competition, but they were the most influential family without one. Besides, their rivalry with the Xue family was well known so they would help Guai Mo just to spite Xue Rui and Patriarch Xue.


    "Dear guest, we will need some time to come to a decision. You must understand that a lot will be influenced by whoever is chosen as our representative in the Alchemy Conference. Unfortunately, this isn''t a decision we can make in an instant. However, our residence will welcome you with open arms and we hope that your sojourn will be most pleasant."


    "Thank you, Governor. I fully understand that it is a heavy decision. But I can assure you that I wouldn''t make you regret it, ever. I will gladly accept your generosity but I won''t take advantage of you either."


    Indeed, Cao Yun was quite pleased to be able to stay here for a few days. But he had other things to do. And subtly, he clearly showed Governor Jiahe that he was ready to go to the Yun family. Of course, he had already done so but he had not asked them to endorse him. In fact, he had let Yun Ping prepare his father to what he had to tell him and ask of him. But to this day, he had not directly spoken with him yet.


    As he was within the Governor''s residence, Cao Yun tried to remember as much as he could. He also used his senses to the extent where no one could detect him doing so. There were obviously several Spirit Warriors who were guarding the residence so Cao Yun couldn''t do too much. However, he was able to sense something odd about this place. Unfortunately he couldn''t put his finger on what it was. Once again, he was feeling traces of Evil Qi but they were very faint. In the end, he concluded that Gu Song had come by this place recently. If he had been staying here, then there would be a greater presence.


    With that in mind, Gu Song was probably staying with the Xue family. But the Xue residence was also vast and Cao Yun needed a better precision for his plan. Indeed, he had to prepare array formations. The more accurate he was, the stronger his array formations would be. Against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, he would need all the strength he could get, that was for sure.


    Whether Jiahe Lan accepted his offer or not was of little consequence to Cao Yun. Yes he wanted to take part in the Alchemy Conference, but as Chen Guo, things would be easier for him. In fact, he could easily become the representative of several provinces around him. Of course, if he could become the Subei Province''s representative, things would be even easier. But at the end of the day, it wasn''t the most important thing. What was important was to get to Gu Song and to find his secrets.


    For a few days, Cao Yun would stay in the Governor''s residence. Instead of focusing on his Qi cultivation like he had been doing in the Major Hall, Cao Yun put most of his efforts in his alchemy. Since he was being watched all the time, he was obviously trying to act as Guai Mo. And Guai Mo wanted to impress Jiahe Lan in order to be chosen for the Alchemy Conference, or at least to have the chance to fight for a slot.


    During that time, Cao Yun stayed mostly confined in his chambers. He had the right to move around and he did so a few times in order to get a full look at everything he could. With his memory, a simple glance was enough to remember anything. Right now, in his mind, he had Bamboo Maps of the Governor''s residence as well as of Qingyun City and even the Subei Province. Thanks to Dian Mo, he had also understood that creating star charts was also essential. Thus, he had created connections between the stars and his Bamboo Maps. Although he wasn''t a Heaven array formation master, Cao Yun, with Dian Mo''s help, was certain he could create incredibly powerful array formations if he had enough time and resources.


    For the resources, he had his agreement with both the Major Hall and the Huang family. Until now he had no need for Huang Si''s help, but he could probably ask her for an advance on what he was going to earn thanks to the mines.


    For the time, Cao Yun was a bit more pressed since the competition would take place in a few months and then the Alchemy Conference would happen. Furthermore, he couldn''t let Gu Song find out about the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. However, he still had a lot of time and he wouldn''t be too hasty as his very life depended on it.


    While he was occupied in the Governor''s residence, Yong Ke was still moving around Qingyun City and also sending letters through the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. On the other hand, Yun Ping was training as much as he could. When he wasn''t, he was talking to his father about various things. His main goal was to give him a good idea of who Chen Guo, his friend, was. He knew his father and he wanted to prepare him for the time when Cao Yun would ask for his help.


    At the same moment, Governor Jiahe Lan was full of doubts and required the help of his entire Cabinet.

 Chapter 410: The War Cabinet

    Governor Jiahe was discussing the current affairs of the Subei Province with his Cabinet. There was a dozen of men and women all wearing small black hats with different golden lines and symbols on them. Each one also had the emblem of the Subei Province on their robe. As he was representing the Imperial City in the Subei Province, Governor Jiahe had many aides to assist him in his decisions and report them to the Imperial City afterward. Besides, this Subei Province was vital for the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Although it wasn''t as important as the Sunmen Province to the north, it was still bordering the demon territories. As such, the Subei Province was monitored by the Imperial City a lot. In fact, there had been an inspection by an Imperial Investigator recently. Like any other governor, Jiahe Lan''s authority was given to him by the Emperor. In practice, it came from the Imperial City. As such, they could easily take it away if he was doing a poor job. His Cabinet though was appointed by him, so they all wanted him to stay Governor. In the worst case, they might even be executed if Governor Jiahe was called back to the Imperial City and their work was found lacking.


    The Governor had several children but they all lived in the Imperial City. It was customary for the families of the officials to live in the Imperial City, at least during a huge part of their mandate. Sometimes, they could get special permissions, but it was rare. Indeed, it was a way for the Imperial City to keep their officials in check. If they were to commit a big transgression, they could easily punish their families. But they could also influence the families and thus the officials. Using violence and intimidation was not the right way to ensure a kingdom''s stability.


    Although it was essential that this threat stayed present in their minds, it was even more important to cultivate gratitude. As such, the families of officials were very well treated in the Imperial City. In particular, they had access to education. And obviously, this education was stressing out loyalty toward the Hongchen Kingdom. Their main tool was the School of Ren Dao, the Human Way. Technically, there was no compulsory faith, but the School of Ren Dao was seen as a philosophy rather than a religion. Some sects of the School of Ren Dao were worshiping Emperor Nuwa as a goddess, like the School of the Celestial Goddess. But the School of Ren Dao in itself was essentially a philosophical school of thought. Since the Founding Era, it had been the official philosophy of the state. Its main doctrine was teaching that humanity and the Hongchen Kingdom were of the utmost importance. To ensure their survival, unity and morale were imperative.


    Its second most important doctrine was to teach that cultivating immortality was the greatest goal one could pursue. But it also taught that cultivating without any morale was the worse thing one could do. This School of Ren Dao had almost single-handedly created the concepts of orthodox and demonic cultivators. Just like Emperor Nuwa, cultivation was essential to have the strength to preserve one''s ideals. But at the same time, this very strength could be used to do terrible and evil deeds, just like Demon God Da Mo had done. Power was necessary, but so was a good morale compass. Morale without strength was just like a tiger without teeth and claws. But power without morale would be like a ferocious beast unleashed on the lambs.


    Among Governor Jiahe''s three children, only one was by his side in Qingyun City. Governors were appointed by the Imperial City. This meant that it was impossible to inherit one''s position. However, it wasn''t rare that the Imperial City would choose the new Governors among the family of the previous ones, unless there had been a problem with this Governor of course. Indeed, they could easily take over the connections woven by the previous Governor and it would be easier for them to work with the local population. However, there was no reason to choose a Governor''s child.


    An official could also be punished if any member of his direct family was found lacking. In the worst cases, the Imperial City often punished an entire family, either by banishing them from any official position for several generations or sometimes, even by killing a certain number of them. To prevent that, they had to weave complex connections between families in order to protect themselves from the action of another family member. That way, it was possible for some to completely reject a family connection and save their skin.


    All this political stuff was rather complex. But the families within the Imperial City were both very close to power and in perpetual danger. As such, they were always conniving to ensure their safety and that they would keep their influence and power. Even if the officials were not in the Imperial City right now, they still had this mentality.


    Of course, no one in the Cabinet wanted the Governor to lose his position. But Governor Jiahe''s suppression of General Yun had started to be noticed by some Imperial Inspector. Thanks to his connections in the Imperial City and in the Subei Province, Governor Jiahe had saved his place for now but he could not take too many risks.


    Right now, Guai Mo''s proposition was giving Governor Jiahe a headache. He couldn''t completely side with him. But even allowing him to participate in the upcoming competition would be poorly received by the Xue family. On the other hand, letting the Yun family have him would be terrible as well. Thus, he intended to ask his Cabinet for a plan.


    To the right of Governor Jiahe, a man spoke first. He was the Minister of the Subei Province, Minister Yong. After the Governor, he was the most important man of the administration in Qingyun City. In the hierarchy, there were then the eleven counselors who were present in the room. Each counselor also had secretaries. Every single official was receiving their authority and legitimacy from the Emperor himself and through him from Emperor Nuwa. To this day, the line of transmission had not been broken. Every single Emperor had nominated their successor.


    "Governor, Counselors, I have news from scouts about the demons. Apparently, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy is getting more and more active. After examining our reports and the reports of the Sunmen Province, it appears clear that they are still consolidating their power. But there is no doubt at all that they mean to attack us with their full might."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The Empyrean Asura Theocracy was probably trying to solidify itself as the Empyrean Asura had very recently gathered several kingdoms under his banner. Besides, he was also purging some elements from his kingdoms. As the name suggested, this Empyrean Asura Theocracy was based around a powerful religion. Although it was complex on certain matters, the core belief of this religion was simple enough. All humans had to be eradicated so that the Demon God would come back from the dead. Thus, it was impossible to have peace with them. But that didn''t mean that the Hongchen Kingdom wanted war either. The strength of the humans against the demons was their unity while demons had several kingdoms, some of which at war with each other. As such, the worst scenario would be for the other kingdoms to rally the Empyrean Asura Theocracy against the humans. However, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was not necessarily appreciated by all.


    "Minister Yong, I do believe you exaggerate tings. The Empyrean Asura Theocracy never broke the Seven Treaties. Of course, the Empyrean Asura has a very violent discourse, but it''s just a way to improve morale. He knows that he couldn''t break our array formations."


    "I do not think that this new theocracy will respect our treaties. For the current Empyrean Asura, those treaties are not binding. In his views, they were made by lesser demons than he is and his Empyrean Asura Theocracy has no reason to respect them. The only reason why he hasn''t attacked yet is because of our strength. But as he builds his empire, he will soon be powerful enough to even take down our array formations on the border."


    "Anyway, if worse comes to worst, they will not attack our Subei Province but the Silver Wolf General''s province. In the worst scenario, we will only have to back them up. And with him leading our forces, no demon army will penetrate our territory. Instead of losing too much time on this issue, we should focus on stabilizing the noble families. There has been more and more tension since the demonic beast stampede. The Yun family gained a lot of traction within the people and some lesser nobles."


    "Indeed, I understand and share the worries of Minister Yong. But the best thing we can do to be ready against such a possibility is to get our own house in order."


    Frustrated, Minister Yong was about to talk when Governor Jiahe took over.


    "Thank you, Minister. Your fears have been listened. Today, we have another topic to discuss though. As you may know, a 1-star Human alchemist visited our Subei Province recently. We have been observing him and he should at least have the qualification of a 4 or even 5-star Human alchemist. And he made us a proposition regarding the Alchemy Conference."


    Cao Yun''s mastery over his flame had indeed helped him flaunt his talent to the spies watching his chambers. Governor Jiahe retold Guai Mo''s words to his Cabinet.


    "Governor, I don''t think we should allow him to join the competition at all. Although the Yun family seems weak on the surface, they are probably more influential than the Xue family right now."


    "But if he joins the Yun family, there is nothing we can do to prevent his participation. Other families have also called alchemists from neighboring provinces. We would have no ground to forbid his participation. Thus, he will participate anyway."


    "Supporting him directly will put us at odds with the Xue family and denying him will send him to the Yun family, strengthening them. Why don''t we find a balance? Why don''t we have another noble family endorse him in our stead?"


    "Then, the Xue family wouldn''t find any fault in our behavior."


    "But what if he wins, everything he achieves in the Alchemy Conference and even later in life will be attributed to that family..."


    "Can he really win?"


    "It''s hard to say. If the reports are accurate, he''s probably on par with Xue Rui."


    As the discussion was going on, Minister Yong''s face became livid. He could see that the counselors wanted to avoid the topic of war. It wasn''t out of the question to sacrifice a few officials before a war. In that way, all the problems that had caused this war would be blamed on them and they would ask for the blessing of the ancestors by getting rid of those errors alongside their own heads. Certainly, no one wanted to assume the responsibility of starting the war even though they knew it was coming. The best solution was to stall as long as they could in the hope that the problem would fall on someone else''s shoulders. After all, the Subei Province was not the only one under constant aggression by the demons. Hopefully someone else than them would screw up at some point.


    Unfortunately, the most important task of those politicians was to safeguard their interests. Apparently, the corruption of the officials had spread far if even in such a province under siege by the hereditary enemies of mankind, common good was not thought of with much regard. Lesser men had succeeded Emperor Nuwa and her descendants. If General Yun, or worse the Silver Wolf General, had heard those discussions, they would have lost all rationality. Unlike them, they knew the battlefield.


    Even Patriarch Xue seemed to have higher moral values that those small officials. Although he was crafty and sometimes disloyal, he was still thinking about the good of mankind. Of course, the good of his lineage was always considered more important than anything else. Luckily, protecting mankind was necessary in order for his family to strive.


    On the other hand, those politicians were thinking about their personal matter first. Everything else was secondary. In fact, they never even thought for one instant that they could be killed by the demons. Even if the border was close to them, this simple idea never made its way into their narrow minds. They always thought of themselves as safe from the danger. Only soldiers and officers were faced with that kind of danger. What they were risking was only their position and maybe their life, but because of the Imperial City, not because of some invasion or war.


    "Endorsing this Guai Mo might not be a bad idea at all..."


    The discussion lasted a few hours so that all the details could be worked out. But not a single time did Governor Jiahe talk at all. In fact, he simply watched as his aides were throwing ideas. By the end of the reunion, they had a clear plan in mind. Thus, they all turned toward Governor Jiahe and asked for his opinion on the matter. Their idea was simply to allow Guai Mo to participate but to send a representative to the Xue family to smooth things over. Governor Jiahe could claim that he had done so to prevent their rival from getting a talented alchemist.


    Besides, this could be an opportunity to talk about the Yun family. And then, he would go to the Yun family to also smooth things over as well. This, it would show that the Governor cared about the unity of the Subei Province. That could be a good point to raise if the Imperial City inquired about it.

 Chapter 411: Meeting the Governors entourage

    While the Governor''s Cabinet was busy with the essential question of whether they should allow an alchemist into an alchemy competition, Cao Yun was staying in the Governor''s residence. Using this opportunity, he had now a full layout of the entire place. Since he didn''t have spiritual senses, he was forced to imagine what was going on inside the buildings. But even from the outside, he was able to draw a comprehensive map anyway.


    One day, he crossed paths with a young man. This man was not very impressive at all, but his clothes were extremely expensive and were a clear attempt to draw attention to him and his status. The emblems of the city were plastered on his robe. On both his sides, there was a bodyguard. One was an elegant and charming woman. Although Cao Yun had met even prettier women, she was indeed very beautiful and had an air of maturity as well. It was hard to be sure, but she was probably a half-step Spirit Warrior. This meant that she was ready to confront the Lesser Tribulation but was holding out in order to be sure of her success. The other bodyguard was an old man with white hair, thick eyebrows and a thin but long beard. He, on the other hand, was probably already a 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior.


    Discerning someone''s cultivation was difficult for a cultivator under the Spirit Warrior realm. Even with Cao Yun''s perception, he was forced to try and find visual cues to help him. Just feeling their Wei Qi was not enough. After all, it was possible to conceal it. Unless someone had spiritual senses, directly seeing through someone''s cultivation was almost impossible. It could only be deduced from observation. And even with spiritual senses, your target might not want to reveal their exact cultivation, so you could only get a rough estimate. Based on his perception and experience, this was Cao Yun''s analysis and, as it turned out, it was spot-on.


    Besides, Cao Yun had immediately recognized this self-important man. He was Jiahe Ruo, Governor Jiahe''s son. He was also a half-step Spirit Warrior. But unlike his bodyguard, his cultivation had been helped by the consumption of many pills. As such, it was way less stable, like his father. Thus, he was a lot more afraid of attempting the Lesser Tribulation. After all, it wasn''t that rare for cultivators to die during this tribulation. To be fair, it wasn''t rare for political figures to have shaky cultivations since they were busy with other matters. As such, the alchemists were extremely important.


    Right now, this Jiahe Ruo had to be somewhere between fifty to seventy years old. Once again, it was hard to say for sure. When they crossed paths though, Jiahe Ruo seemed to have some things on his mind and didn''t even notice Cao Yun. If he had seen his 1-star Human alchemist emblem, he would have at least greeted him. But he was lost in his thought. And since it was his own residence, he was not paying too much attention to those around him.


    Cao Yun had read a lot about the Jiahe family. Only Jiahe Lan and Jiahe Ruo were present in Qingyun City. All the other family members were hostages in the Imperial City. Governor Jiahe had not such a good reputation. Many found him to be too pusillanimous. Although he was pitting the noble families against each other, he was always trying to keep everyone happy with his decisions. As a consequence, people were rarely happy and it was almost impossible to know what he really wanted for sure. So some of his decisions seemed to come out of nowhere. If he did something with one hand, he had to do the opposite with the other so that people wouldn''t get upset. In fact, most people thought that Minister Yong was the man who was holding things together and it was getting exhausted.


    Jiahe Ruo was always acting as though he had an official position. Being the son of a Governor was not an official position at all. But it did indeed bring some advantages along with many inconveniences. One of those benefits was the ability to get a very good administrative education. Even if he didn''t become Governor, Jiahe Ruo would probably land a position within the administration of the Hongchen Kingdom, maybe even in the Imperial City. But, he could also be punished alongside his father if he failed too much. Considering that an Imperial Investigator had been displeased recently, Jiahe Ruo was subtly trying to distance himself from his father''s administration. Thanks to his connections in the Imperial City and in the Subei Province, Governor Jiahe had saved his place for now but it was uncertain.


    Just like Jiahe Lan, his son had a reddish skin as well as vibrant red hair and red eyes. The demon blood in his veins was very obvious. Of course, everyone with shades of red in their hair didn''t necessarily have a lot of demon blood in their lineage. But the combination of hair, eyes and skin which were all tainted with red, was a good indicator of that. Thankfully though, it wasn''t frowned upon in the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, the School of Ren Dao advocated the unity of mankind. And the demon blood in human veins was a testimony of the violence and domination inflicted upon humans by the demons.


    As such, any movement that had talked about purity of blood had been purged from the Hongchen Kingdom before they could take root. Blood purity was a problem demons were talking about, not humans. Moreover, they couldn''t afford to care about that. And every single human on the Piaolu planet had demon blood in their veins. If they were starting to talk about purity of blood, no one would win at this sordid game. Still, in the Imperial City, it made Jiahe Ruo a novelty for some young women... Sadly, he had been forced to leave the Imperial City to get back to his father. Indeed, the family members of the officials in the Imperial City were often switched around.


    Cao Yun assumed he was lost in his thoughts because of his father. He had to find ways to form enough connections so he could protect himself if things went south. From the reports, Jiahe Ruo didn''t seem like a bad fellow, but Cao Yun had no real reason to interact with him. So both men ignored one another.


    -


    In his strolls, Cao Yun met several servants. One in particular caught his eye. With his blood cultivation and Dian Mo''s insight, Cao Yun was almost as sensitive as demons when it came to bloodline. This was the reason why they were so important for them. Like humans, they could feel Qi, but they were inferior at that. On the other hand, they had a great sense to recognize someone''s blood and lineage. And among the servants, Cao Yun had felt a familiar presence that had driven him mad the last time he had met her.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Indeed, he had recognized Di Xihe. However, what truly astonished him was that she had completely changed. She wasn''t even a woman anymore. Right now, the sensation came from a young man named Ming Huo. He was just a servant like any other with nothing standing out. In fact, he had almost no cultivation to speak of. Everything about him was different from what Cao Yun had felt around Di Xihe, apart from the blood.


    For some time, Cao Yun was not sure if Ming Huo was indeed Di Xihe or if they were simply related.


    "There is no doubt at all."


    "What?"


    Dian Mo began to talk to Cao Yun. Even when they were not working on an academic subject, Dian Mo was more and more talkative on all kinds of occasions. And most of the time, he was helping Cao Yun a great deal. So it was natural for Cao Yun to listen to him with attention.


    "That girl is just too good for a human. The day we met her I wasn''t sure but now I think my guess was right."


    "What do you mean? She''s not human?! It''s impossible! No demon can enter the Hongchen Kingdom without being detected by the array formations."


    "No, she''s human, but barely. Her blood is almost pure enough to corrode her meridians and Dantian. That should make her Qi cultivation that much harder. Besides, I don''t feel any form of blood cultivation so she probably doesn''t even have the basics of ''Crimson Inferno Road''. And if she were to try and cultivate her blood, it would slowly eat away at her meridians, probably killing her in the process anyway. Usually this happens in utero when the child doesn''t even have organs yet, the demon blood from the parents already alter the biology of the child and when they grow, they don''t rely on meridians but on blood to transport Qi. Once out of the uterus though, getting rid of one''s meridians is a brutal thing. Even if it doesn''t kill her, the process would be traumatic."


    "Wait... Do you mean what I think you mean?"


    "Yes, at least one of her parents was a demon. And if my guess is right, the mother was. That would explain how strange her physique is. She''s something at the very frontier between human and demon. As such she''s able to manipulate both her Qi and her blood together to completely alter her form, but she can''t create flesh from thin air. So no matter what, her mass will stay the same, she can compress or extend her flesh a little, but there are still beings she won''t be able to mimic."


    "Well, that explains how easy it has been for me to spot her. My own blood is highly influenced by the Drop of Wrath and thus by Axiu Qian''s blood."


    "Indeed. In fact, as your blood cultivation progresses, your blood will become as pure as Demon God Da Mo. Your meridians are already relatively sturdy for now, but when cultivation reaches the Lesser Tribulation, your meridians and Dantian will be strong enough to resist even this blood."


    "Another good reason for me to slow down the blood cultivation so that it doesn''t get out of hands."


    Now that Cao Yun was certain that this Ming Huo was just another shape of Di Xihe, he decided to confront her. To be honest, he couldn''t be sure whether she was a woman or a man. But he had met her as Di Xihe first.


    "Young lady, you thought you could escape my sight?"


    Although Ming Huo was flustered, he didn''t let it show on his face. However, he clearly showed signs of doubts. Cao Yun had used his technique to send his voice using Qi. By adding a bit of ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to it, he had hidden it even from the spies looking at him all the time. Only Ming Huo had heard it.


    "If you don''t want me to tear apart your disguise in front of everyone here, you will keep on doing your thing. After I leave this residence, you will come to me. If you agree, just continue on with your day. If you don''t, well... We both know you won''t."


    Ming Huo had an instant of hesitation. He briefly looked around him and finally saw Cao Yun''s figure in the distance. Although he was using his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to alter the way people were seeing his face, he was recognizable as Guai Mo. People were just unable to see Chen Guo in him. Their eyes locked for a mere instant and they were both convinced. Ming Huo knew that Cao Yun was not kidding at all and Cao Yun knew he had accepted.


    "Do you think you can use her? She''s probably just a thief."


    "My plans do not require her, but she might be very useful nonetheless. However, are you certain that her technique depends on her bloodline?"


    "Yes, there is no way for you to learn it unfortunately. Her body was bathed with the bloodline of her mother and gained this strange ability. Even among demons, this ability is rare before reaching higher levels of cultivation. Even if they can control their body with much more ease than humans, they can''t just change their complete appearance on a whim."


    "I see, too bad. But if I truly master Huang Liyue''s technique, I could become invisible even to late Spirit Warriors..."


    -


    As his Cabinet was over, Governor Jiahe stood up and left. They had ended up finding a consensus about the Guai Mo situation. On the other hand, Minister Yong was completely frustrated. During the session, they had only talked about domestic issues, disregarding the problem of the demons as though they were at peace. He was wondering whether he was the only man realizing that war was brewing beyond the borders.


    The counselors were convinced that their natural borders and the array formations would protect them. The Silver Wolf General would be the one to deal with those problems. However, this didn''t sit well with Minister Yong. After all, attacking the Sunmen Province was as difficult as crossing the natural borders of the Subei Province. Then, it would be a good strategy for demons to do just that.


    Until now, the Subei Province simply had to prevent some skirmishes at the frontier. Despite the array formations, there was a gray area. It was a large corridor all around the Hongchen Kingdom. According to the Seven Treaties, this area was a no man''s land that didn''t belong to either humans nor demons. Thus, this was the only place humans and demons truly fought since the end of the Great War.


    There were many reasons for that. Among them, there was a need to gauge each other''s strength. Strangely enough, this was the only way humans and demons were able to communicate.


    Despite the period of exchange that had resulted from the Seven Treaties signed by Saint Xun Ke, every communication canal had broken down. Because of that, humans had almost no idea what was going on beyond their borders. But the same held true for the demons.


    Seeing the frustration on Minister Yong, Governor Jiahe avoided him. He knew what he wanted to talk about but he truly wasn''t in the mood. Minister Yong was worried about the wrong thing.

 Chapter 412: Xue Ruis face slapped

    After a few days spent in the Governor''s residence, Cao Yun finally met with Jiahe Lan once more. He received the news that he would be officially recognized as an alchemist of the Subei Province for the competition to come. However, he wasn''t yet accepted as an alchemist of the Governor. Indeed, Governor Jiahe didn''t want to burn all bridges with the Xue family. Unless Cao Yun showed great talent in the competition, he wouldn''t risk that.


    In the following days, Governor Jiahe would visit both the Xue family and the Yun family to try and smooth things over. He would claim to Patriarch Xue that he was doing them a favor by allowing Guai Mo''s participation. Otherwise, he would have joined the Yun family. And then he tried to convince General Yun Po that they shouldn''t worry about the alchemy competition. The situation with the demons was just too important right now. And that he would reward them for their services.


    Cao Yun could tell that Governor Jiahe was a timid politician. He was mainly worried about his own fate. Obviously, this wasn''t to his liking but he put up with it. His main goal was to be recognized as a rival to the Xue family. Right now, he was almost certain that Gu Song was somehow related to them and probably hiding within their midst. Unfortunately, he needed to be way more accurate than that. In fact, it was possible that he was hiding elsewhere and had just gone to the Xue family for some time. Anyway, for his plans, he needed to catch Gu Song''s attention, but in a certain manner.


    Since Cao Yun was not the Governor''s alchemist, he couldn''t stay too long in the Governor''s residence. Before leaving, he gave a clear meeting location to Ming Huo and asked the servant to meet with him under the guise of Di Xihe. Then, he left.


    -


    Cao Yun ended his day in the most expensive restaurant of Qingyun City, the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall. When they saw him, the servers were very pleased as rumors about a new alchemist in town had spread. Surely, he would have a lot of money to spend there. And if they did a good enough job, they could increase their salary by quite a lot. Cao Yun asked for a quiet table where he could wait for Di Xihe. Since she could alter her appearance, being seen with her would not be a problem at all.


    He had given her instructions so she wouldn''t arrive right away. Thus, he began to eat first. Despite the price, he had to admit that this restaurant was very good. As he had literally known hunger and had been forced to eat dried rations on some of his journeys, Cao Yun was grateful about eating delicious food. However, his mood was spoiled when he heard a voice call out for him.


    "Fellow alchemist!"


    A man shouted through the restaurant and even disturbed other customers but no one complained because they knew him. And as it turned out, Cao Yun also knew him. Just after hearing his voice, he had remembered the man. Coming toward their table were a few young people. One of them was wearing a red robe with golden embroideries. Among those was one that was similar to Cao Yun''s, a 4-star Human alchemist insignia. Just by his voice, Cao Yun had remembered this man he had however barely met. He was Xue Rui.


    In fact, Cao Yun had really met him once at the alchemy pavilion in the Wubei Sect. He had been annoying Zhong Ling. From what he had heard, Xue Rui was indeed talented but he had joined the Red Cliff Faction. Instead of being a good alchemist in the Dragon''s Fire Faction, he had preferred to be an excellent alchemist in the Red Cliff Faction. Indeed, there were fewer alchemists there so even less talented ones shined brighter. This mere fact told Cao Yun enough about his character and he had never wanted to cross paths with him.


    Technically, Xue Rui was still a disciple of the Wubei Sect but this was his fifth year. He had been absent during the attack of Mo Tian though. And now he had left the Wubei Sect to go back home for the Alchemy Conference. Although he was a fifth-year, he would probably not return to the Wubei Sect since he would be too busy with this Alchemy Conference. Maybe because he had stayed in the Governor''s residence, Cao Yun had not heard about Xue Rui''s return, but he knew he was on his way.


    Of course, Cao Yun had suspected him of having connections with Gu Song since he was an alchemist. But there was no proof at all until now. One way or another, he would have to deal with him. Even if he had not prepared this encounter right now, Cao Yun intended to use it.


    "Fellow alchemist, I am sorry, I did not get your name."


    Obviously, Cao Yun had recognized Xue Rui but he still asked his name. Clearly, Xue Rui was a bit annoyed by this answer. But he remembered that Guai Mo had arrived in Qingyun City not long ago. Maybe he simply hadn''t heard of his return yet. Although it rubbed him the wrong way, Xue Rui had decided to be civil with Guai Mo. After all, he had a very clear purpose in mind. Even if Xue Rui had crossed into the Mortal Warrior realm, his senses were not good enough to perceive anything wrong with Cao Yun''s identity. For him he was Guai Mo, not Chen Guo.


    "Friend, my name is Xue Rui. I am the Young Master of the Xue family."


    As he spoke, Xue Rui stuck out his chest to show his insignia. Not only was there an embroidery of his 4-star Human alchemist status but also of his Xue family. There was no way this Guai Mo would not recognize them, right?


    "Oh?! Of course, sorry about that. I didn''t see your family crest right away. What brings you here to my table?"


    Xue Rui did not catch the derision in Cao Yun''s remark. Of course he had seen his family crest and had known who he was. Xue Rui raised his hand and a servant brought a chair for him. Without asking Cao Yun, he sat at his table.


    "Friend, I heard that a like-minded alchemist had come in town. Naturally I wanted to meet you. The rumors I heard told that you wanted to participate in the upcoming competition. But you are probably just unaware of their circumstances. So I came to prevent my fellow alchemist from committing a serious mistake. With your talent, my family could use your services."


    "And I imagine that you have a good proposition for me..."


    Seeing ambition in Guai Mo''s eyes, Xue Rui was pleased. He even chuckled and shot a quick glance toward his servant.Stolen novel; please report.


    "Of course, friend. I knew you would be smart when I heard about you. My Xue family can give you unimaginable wealth, and more than that."


    Xue Rui snapped his fingers and two women servants walked forward. Both of them were dressed quite provocatively without being obscene. Xue Rui was still aware of the place he was in after all. The two of them were all smiles but Cao Yun could see something else in their eyes.


    "Xue Rui, I have to admit that your servants are absolutely gorgeous."


    "Good, good! Then we can settle it quickly."


    Xue Rui almost leapt from his chair as he was overjoyed. This Guai Mo was really a sucker. Xue Rui was ready to offer a lot but he had taken the bait just after seeing those two servants. They weren''t even the most beautiful of his servants...


    "Unfortunately...!"


    Hearing Guai Mo''s tone, Xue Rui''s smile froze. That bastard had been playing with him. Of course he was going to try and negotiate. But this was still within his expectations.


    "Unlike you, I do not like to force my women. I prefer them entirely willing. And I certainly don''t need anyone to ''gift'' me with any woman, no matter how gorgeous she might be."


    Now, there was contempt in Guai Mo''s tone and eyes. No, he wasn''t going to negotiate!


    "Brother, be careful. I came to see you in good faith! You don''t want to have me as an enemy. Learn to take the extended arm that is given to you."


    "An enemy?! You overestimate yourself... But fine, let''s talk about your extended arm. The only reason you came to me was to get me to withdraw from the upcoming competition. And that tells me enough. You''re just afraid that I will beat you. I imagine that you intend to pay the other candidates that you think may best you. With such a pathetic attitude, you won''t achieve anything in the Alchemy Conference even if you get a spot, which you won''t!"


    "You...!"


    This time, Xue Rui was seething with rage. All of a sudden, he stood up from his chair and it almost broke down. Guai Mo had just declared that he wanted to steal his spot in public.


    "Guai Mo, this spot will be mine! No matter who stands in my way, I will win this!"


    "Then, you have nothing to offer. But I''ll be magnanimous. If you change your mind and are sincere enough, I will deign listen to you again."


    "You... !" Xue Rui calmed himself before speaking again. "You forget that I am a 4-star Human alchemist. I simply tried to help you out because you''re overreaching by trying to steal my spot. But no, you had to act all proud. I will make you regret this insult!"


    "Xue Rui, it seems like our ambitions clash with each other. I will get this spot no matter what happens. There is no way such a boy like you can ever defeat me in alchemy."


    "Guai Mo, do not push me! You don''t want to make an enemy out of my family!"


    "Are you threatening me?"


    This time, Guai Mo''s eyes went from amused to furious. Before Xue Rui could add anything else, he suddenly fell backward. His entire face was twitching and his lips quivering. For an instant, he even believed he was about to wet himself. Thankfully, he controlled his bladder but he could feel wet all over. Indeed, he was sweating profusely from every pore of his skin.


    Cao Yun had only used it for a brief instant. But he had unleashed ''Bleeding Eyes''. Even Xue Rui had not been able to detect it. For him and everyone else, Xue Rui had just been terrified by Guai Mo''s glaring eyes. Of course, Cao Yun had struck his very soul even if only for a split second. As he was not expecting that at all, it got a huge impact on him.


    "Boy, you can''t even stand on your own two legs and you think you can best me?! Do that during the competition and your spot will be mine straight away."


    "Young Master?"


    One of the two ladies bent down to try and help Xue Rui up. Instead of taking her hand, Xue Rui felt humiliated so he slapped it away. Surprised, the poor servant jumped backward, afraid of being hit again. With his cultivation, Xue Rui had almost broken her hand just now.


    "And you''re taking out your anger on your poor servant... Truly pathetic. Maybe I''ll buy your women after we''re done. I''m sure they''ll prefer serving me than you anyway. Unlike you, I won''t have to threaten them to have my way with them."


    "You...!"


    Xue Rui was almost about to take out his weapon. But shreds of rationality stopped his hand. No matter who he was, attacking an alchemist was a serious crime punishable by death. The Hongchen Kingdom was protecting its alchemists as much as it could. Even death matches between alchemists were forbidden. There were some exceptions but they were extremely rare. Usually, a duel between alchemists could have very serious stakes but not life or death.


    That being said, Xue Rui had no reason to challenge Guai Mo because they were going to face one another in a few months. Although his rank was inferior, Guai Mo seemed absolutely certain of himself. And now, Xue Rui believed him. After all, he had heard rumors claiming that he was as good as a 5-star Human alchemist. Hopefully he thought he could buy him but it seemed like he couldn''t. What he had seen in his eyes had completely shaken him.


    "Guai Mo, I gave you my hand and you spat in it. Do not be surprised when you get struck down! No one in this city will ever help you. You put yourself against my Xue family, that was a very stupid mistake. Not a single shop will ever do business with you throughout the entire Subei Province. When you get tired of this, come crawling back to me."


    At this moment, Cao Yun burst out in laughter.


    "It seems like you know nothing about me..."


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out the 4-petal cherry card. Xue Rui only had a 2-petal cherry card. Even the Xue family''s Family Head only had a 3-petal cherry card. He had just threatened Cao Yun''s business as an alchemist. In itself, it was a very serious act. But he had done so against someone who could literally shut him down.


    The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall would probably not do anything against the Xue family because the Governor wouldn''t approve of that as it would disturb the balance of power in his province. However, they could impede Xue Rui''s personal business. And between him and Guai Mo, they would obviously choose Guai Mo.


    "Go ahead, try and impede me. Let''s see who those shops fear more, your Xue family or the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. But, Xue Rui, I must say that you truly amused me today. If you ever want me to slap your face again, feel free to come to me in the future."


    Now that he had no way of intimidating Guai Mo, Xue Rui shut his mouth. He knew that if he kept spewing nonsense, things would end up badly for him. After all, he couldn''t start a feud with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and he couldn''t publicly attack an alchemist. Besides, Guai Mo was certainly stronger than he was. Unless he had a late Mortal Warrior or even an early Spirit Warrior with him, Xue Rui would do nothing. Unfortunately, he knew that the Family Head would never allow him to assault an alchemist with such a powerhouse, especially not in the Qingyun City.


    Then, Xue Rui would have to champ at the bit while waiting for the competition. After humiliating Guai Mo, he would campaign against him. The Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall would recognize him as better. In fact, Xue Rui might gain many benefits from his victory. Maybe it was a fortuitous encounter in disguise.


    Anyway, he couldn''t stay in this restaurant any longer.


    "Guai Mo, we''ll take care of this like fellow alchemists. We''ll see if your craft is as astute as your tongue. Don''t blame me for being ruthless with you then!"

 Chapter 413: Xue Ruis bad temper

    Without adding anything else or waiting for any kind of answer, Xue Rui left the restaurant in a hurry. Just as he walked out, a servant came to Cao Yun''s table. Everyone in the restaurant had heard the grudge begin formed between the two alchemists. No one had dared come close to them.


    Now that this was over though, the servants had waited for Xue Rui to completely walk out before going to Guai Mo. They couldn''t take sides as they didn''t know who would win in the end. Their best strategy was to not antagonize anyone. Even if Xue Rui came on top during the competition, Guai Mo might overcome him in the future. The opposite could happen as well. This restaurant was prestigious, but not as much as alchemists... In fact, they were acting a bit like Governor Jiahe in the matter, the main difference being that they were running a restaurant not a province.


    While the atmosphere was still awkward, Cao Yun ordered many of the most expensive dishes he could see on the menu. With such a patron, the restaurant was quite happy. But they couldn''t imagine that Cao Yun would eat so much. Cao Yun kept the servant busy for some time. He seemed to be particularly interested in all the various dishes and how they were being prepared. Many of them made use of alchemical ingredients. So it didn''t appear odd for an alchemist to be interested in them. But maybe he was a bit too interested, and also a bit too gluttonous.


    Cultivators didn''t eat that often. So when they did, they liked to have very refined dishes. Or it was because they were starving out in the wild...


    As Cao Yun was enjoying his meal, many rumors were being spread throughout Qingyun City. Cao Yun had not chosen that restaurant out of the blue. He knew that Xue Rui was a regular there. Since he had come into town, Cao Yun had already planned many things. Of course, he couldn''t have planned for everything because he was still investigating. But he had prepared in advance. After all, it was more his style. Instead of waiting for events to unfold and reacting to them, Cao Yun wanted to be ready and cause the events he wanted to happen.


    "Are you sure this was a good idea to antagonize him?"


    "Well, I had several possibilities but after seeing him, it seemed like the best one... dare I say, the right one. If my deductions are correct, I know precisely where Gu Song is right now and I just need a bit more to take him down. I know Xue Rui''s type, he won''t be able to stand such an humiliation. Being thin-skinned is not a good thing."


    In Cao Yun''s mind, Dian Mo''s voice resounded.


    "Then, you felt it?"


    "Of course I did. After all this time working with your seals, such a toy wouldn''t escape my vigilance."


    Even before seeing Xue Rui, Cao Yun had felt something. But when the alchemist had come closer, he had found out what it was. Xue Rui had a Heart Locking Fire Pact. This was the same kind of seal used on Luo Jiang in Yinmen City. With his new control over Evil Qi, detecting that seal had been rather easy. Even Xiao Xuefeng would have had a very hard time seeing through this. But to Cao Yun, it was as apparent as Qi. Even without spiritual senses, he could feel this ominous presence. For Dian Mo, it was even more obvious.


    Although he had no reference to compare it to because he had not really felt Luo Jiang''s Heart Locking Fire Pact back then, Cao Yun could not shake off the feeling that the same man had made both seals. And it was aligning with the facts. Gu Song had infiltrated the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and it had been Luo Jiang''s goal as well.


    The moment Cao Yun had felt the Heart Locking Fire Pact within Xue Rui, he had decided on his course of actions. For now though, he still couldn''t be sure whether Xue Rui was truly a demonic cultivator. Clearly he was working under one. But with such a seal on him, he might just be forced to. Anyway, it didn''t really matter to Cao Yun right now. Even if Xue Rui didn''t know that his master was a demonic cultivator for sure, he had to at least suspect it. He couldn''t be that oblivious to things.


    Dian Mo was a bit impressed by Cao Yun''s progress. His ability to control and sense seals had greatly improved. Recently, he had even put an end to his trauma concerning his Bai Hui. Furthermore, he was steadily advancing his mind and Qi cultivation. But he wasn''t letting his martial arts, his alchemy or his array formations lag behind. The only part of his strength that was maybe lacking a bit was his blood cultivation. But this was probably because Dian Mo was used to demons so it felt odd to him.


    Of course, Dian Mo would never say that to the young man. But to be honest, it was rather transparent during their many conversations. In fact, talking with Dian Mo had also been very beneficial to Cao Yun. Although he had lived cooped up in his Demon Palace, Dian Mo had read everything he could. And he had thought about it a lot. As such, it turned out that Dian Mo was a great conversationalist. Besides, Cao Yun also had read quite a lot and had more modern knowledge. When it came to certain topics, Cao Yun was far more advanced than Dian Mo. So discussing was very pleasant for the both of them.


    Moreover, Cao Yun could be completely open with Dian Mo. No matter how much he trusted others, there were things he had to hide. For example, if he even talked about the possible involvement of the Imperial City to Yun Ping, he might be considered a traitor by not denouncing his friend. Besides, although the idea wasn''t pleasant, it was possible that a demonic cultivator, or even any Spirit Warrior might perform a Soul Memory Search on his friends. But there were also other ways to get information out of someone.


    For now, Cao Yun enjoyed his large meal as he was waiting for someone else.


    -


    At the same moment, Xue Rui was back in his personal chambers, much more spacious and luxurious than the secluded room of the Major Hall. Right now, he was in a fit of rage, breaking things here and there. Unfortunately, his servants were used to this kind of behavior. It wasn''t rare that he would take out his frustration on them.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    This time around, he had even hurt his servant''s hand. Even now, she was feeling the pain. After all, she was only an early Mortal and he was a Mortal Warrior. Under the frustration, he had smacked her hand way too hard. If she had not removed her hand quickly enough, he would have broken her bones. And she was painfully aware of that. So were the other servants. They had never really liked working for him. But recently, it was getting worse. Thankfully for them, he had found another servant to vent all his anger on.


    A few months ago, he had found a way to make the woman he was obsessed about his servant. He had thought that humiliating her would be enough to heal his bruised ego, but it wasn''t. In fact, the more he was humiliating and punishing her, the less satisfied he was as he could see the contempt in her eyes. She was resilient and could take any punishment Xue Rui could think of. However, this just pushed him to become more and more vicious until he began to beat on her regularly.


    After his discussion with Cao Yun, he was mad, completely enraged. In his heart, there was a fire burning his innards. As he couldn''t take his anger out on Guai Mo, he decided to focus on the poor Zhong Ling. Indeed, that servant he was obsessed with was Zhong Ling, the receptionist who had left the Wubei Sect.


    Unlike other times, he didn''t even accuse her of any transgression, he simply took a bamboo stick and began to strike her back. His strikes were so powerful that her cheap clothes were ripped apart.


    Of course, Zhong Ling was a Mortal Warrior so she could take it. In fact, she could probably fight off Xue Rui. Unfortunately, she had other things to consider. She was not free to act as she wished. Knowing that she was resistant, Xue Rui used all of his strength and broke three bamboo sticks on her bare back. In the end, there were barely any marks and it made him even more furious. He wanted her to suffer!


    As he was about to use a metal rod, he decided to put it into the fire. Maybe a burning metal against her flesh would finally make her scream in pain. Around him the servants were nervous. Most likely, this wouldn''t cause Zhong Ling too much damage. Despite knowing that, they were still seeing a man wielding a blazing rod to strike down a kneeling woman.


    Fortunately, before he could strike her with this red rod, salvation came walking through the door. A gorgeous woman entered the chaotic room as Xue Rui''s hand was about to fall. She had porcelain-like skin and black hair. With her make-up, it was hard to say whether her skin was that pure. Said make-up was perfect and elegant. Her forehead was decorated with a complicated red shape made of different shades and shadows. That bright red was also accentuating her lips and the corners of her eyes. Finally, her eyebrows were clearly traced with black make-up, a bit higher than her natural eyebrows should have been.


    Besides this fine make-up, she was also wearing a sumptuous red and golden robe matching Xue Rui''s now disheveled robe. On her head, her hair was very long and complicated as many golden pins and jewels were keeping it up. Some jewelries were looking like flowers made out of gold and precious ores.


    Apart from all that ornament, this woman was very gracious and slender. Her forms were not very striking, but she had a natural elegance to her. Anyone would have been struck by her beauty. However, it was clear that she was making a lot of efforts in that direction. Thus, she was extremely proud of the effect she had on others, both men who desired her, and women who were envious.


    "Husband?!"


    That woman was Qiang Zilan, Xue Rui''s first concubine. Although he loved her and knew how delicate she could be, Xue Rui also knew that she was capable of being fierce as well. She was only a middle Mortal as cultivation was not her strong suit. Yet, in that moment, she inspired fear in Xue Rui''s heart. It was the fear of disappointing someone he cared about.


    Hearing her call him out like that, Xue Rui let go of the metal rod that started to sizzle on the floor. All of a sudden, he was back to his senses. Although Xue Rui had always been petty, he didn''t recognize himself from time to time. Until now, he put everything on stress but he was starting to fear something else. Maybe he had gone wrong with his cultivation, maybe he was losing it for real. And that made him terrified. His master had warned him and he knew the risks. But he never thought that he would succumb to them. He wasn''t as talented as his brother, so when a shortcut appeared in front of him, he didn''t hesitate. Now he was regretting it but it was too late.


    Xue Rui went limp on the ground, not knowing what to do. Immediately, Qiang Zilan went to him in order to comfort him. On the other hand, Zhong Ling did not move at all. The punishment had barely hurt her at all but this didn''t change much to how she was feeling. Deep down, she was repressing her true feelings as she had to submit to this crazy man. Right now, she had no choice. But as much as she despised Xue Rui, she had to admit that Qiang Zilan was a sweet girl. The two of them were not that different. For similar reasons, they had been forced to make a choice.


    While Zhong Ling had been forced to become Xue Rui''s servant, Qiang Zilan had been forced to link her fate with someone else''s. For reasons unknown to Zhong Ling, she had chosen that disgusting Xue Rui. Apparently, she had found some qualities in him. But try as she might, Zhong Ling was blind to them.


    As Xue Rui was still in a strange state, Qiang Zilan asked Zhong Ling to leave the room. Although she said nothing, her eyes told the poor servant that she was sorry about what she had to suffer through. And Zhong Ling knew that she was sincere.


    "Husband, I heard what happened."


    When Xue Rui heard her clear voice, he froze. In her tone, it was evident she wasn''t pleased at all. At the moment she began to speak, she made a gesture. All the servants left the room and closed the door. Before they were far enough, Qiang Zilan began to shout at Xue Rui.


    "How could you be so stupid?! Not only did you humiliate yourself in public, you also gave a terrible image of your Xue family. Don''t you think people will talk? Soon, the entire Subei Province will know that you were ready to soil the honor of your servants to buy an alchemist. And despite this pathetic attempt, you got slapped in the face. What happened to you?! Recently, you''ve become more and more rash and irrational! I tied my fate to yours, doesn''t that mean anything to you?!"


    As though he coming out of a dream, Xue Rui finally regained his composure and his sanity.


    "I''m sorry. I thought that he would accept... I was stupid, I admit. But that bastard...! How dare he...?! He... He... He tried to make a fool out of me!"


    "And he did an excellent job. You maybe shouldn''t have made it so easy for him."


    When she spoke, there was no softness in Qiang Zilan''s voice. Unfortunately, this was the voice she was forced to take more and more often with her husband. But it worked. Hearing this tone from the woman he thought was so gentle startled Xue Rui back to his senses.


    "Husband, this Guai Mo got under your skin. He''s clearly trying to make you lose your temper so you fail in your alchemy. If you can''t control your emotions, your state of mind will be affected even before the competition. Your very training will be altered and he will have an edge the day of the real competition. Think about it!"


    "You... You''re right... I lost it, I''m sorry."

 Chapter 414: Crossing the moral threshold

    "Husband, I put up with too much recently. But if you embarrass yourself in public, I won''t be able to protect you anymore. You have to get your head on straight."


    "I... yes. Once again..."


    "''You''re sorry.'' I know! Don''t be sorry, be better than that. I called your master. Hopefully he''ll be more successful than me."


    Xue Rui did not even dare respond this time. But seeing him so hurt, Qiang Zilan also felt hurt inside. She had become his concubine for several reasons, but she had to admit that she had grown attached to this silly man. Sadly, she wouldn''t go as far as to say that she loved him, but she sincerely cared about him. Considering her economic situation, this was good enough. However, he had become more and more on edge with each passing day.


    She knew that forcing Zhong Ling to be his servant in order to humiliate her was a terrible idea. But he had also known she would stop him. Thus, he had done so while Qiang Zilan wasn''t with him. Obviously, she was furious with him despite her frail aspect. She almost looked like a fragile doll and yet she was as terrifying as a dragon if she wanted to be. Seeing him so defeated though, she got close to him and hugged him gently.


    "I know that you''re under a lot of stress. But you have to keep it together. You promised me that you would bring me to the Imperial City. And I know you won''t break this promise. From now on, I think you should try to rest. And maybe... maybe you should not act before talking to me about it beforehand."


    Xue Rui didn''t answer at all. Instead, he lost himself in her warm embrace. For a moment, he forgot about the burning sensation in his heart and the dread he had felt when she talked about his master. As much as he didn''t want to go to him, he knew he probably should. But for now, he didn''t want to leave the comfort of his concubine''s embrace.


    -


    After a few hours, Xue Rui left his chambers and went toward an isolated building of the residence. This was called the Howling Wind Pavilion for very unsavory reasons. Indeed, at some point in time, it had been used as a form of prison as well as an execution ground. But now, it had become some form of laboratory for alchemists. And in this pavilion, the largest room was occupied by a hermit who never left and always worked, Xue Rui''s master, Gu Song.


    Like Cao Yun had surmised, he didn''t want anyone to see his face. Until very recently, he had been staying at the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. When he fled, he returned here. No one knew that Xue Rui was his student. In fact, Gu Song had created a network of students without necessarily turning them into demonic cultivators, just to protect himself in case he needed some help. And as it turned out, he had required Xue Rui''s help.


    Now, Xue Rui was requiring Gu Song''s help in turn. As such, he walked to his laboratory which was kept as far away from everything else as possible, he kowtowed and waited. When Gu Song finally felt Xue Rui''s posture in front of his chambers, he smiled and sent him a telepathic message. Immediately, he rose and followed his master in his laboratory.


    In the laboratory, Xue Rui saw many things that should have terrified him. However, he was now dull to those views. There were a couple of human carcasses on a table and all over the place, there were vials with blood and jars with organs which appeared to come both from demonic beasts and from humans. In fact, some organs had come from demons as well. Living demons couldn''t cross the borders, but dead ones could. And Gu Song had found a great way of obtaining demon corpses.


    Xue Rui wasn''t entirely sure what Gu Song was researching but he didn''t want to know either.


    "Young student, I feel like you have been avoiding me for the past few months."


    Once more, Xue Rui prostrated himself in front of his teacher and master. Since he had realized his error, he was trying to show how repentant he was. In front of him, Gu Song was quite amused but it didn''t affect him much more than that. He had other matters to attend to right now.


    "Master, this stupid disciple is sorry. I have misjudged you, but Qiang Zilan helped me see clearly."


    "Oh? What have you misjudged? I am curious."


    "I... I''m sorry, this was disrespectful of me."


    "No, quite the contrary in fact. There might be hope for you yet if you''re not as stupid as that little girl. But what you have misjudged is not me, no. What you have misjudged is yourself."


    The moment Gu Song insulted Qiang Zilan, Xue Rui stood up. In his heart, the black flame was acting up. A powerful sensation of rage seethed through his body.


    "And there is your problem... You can''t control the Heart Locking Fire Pact I improved. I told you it would be hard to do so, but you also soared all the way to 4-star Human alchemist in less than a year. Such an improvement couldn''t come cost free. Despite all the good I did for you, you thought you could just ignore my existence and go on with your life..."


    "No! I..."


    "You know precisely why you''ve been losing your temper recently, right? I mean... You can''t possibly be that stupid as to ignore that flame that is burning within your very heart, right? You know what this is. And you know how I made it. When I proposed it to you, you wanted to prove that you were the best alchemist and anything was fair game. You didn''t want to know more. You thought ignorance could be mistaken for innocence. But deep down, you know what you have to do to keep this black flame under control. In fact, this is also why you brought that Zhong Ling in, not just to satisfy your ego."


    "... Indeed."This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    The flame Gu Song had put in his heart was clearly fueled by living corporeal souls ripped away from humans. They had been fused using demon blood. And together, they were a great fuel to this black flame. Just like the Rune of Fire for Cao Yun, this black flame had drastically improved Xue Rui''s control over his flame. But the hatred and rage from those burning souls were starting to affect his psyche. There were several ways to try and appease them.


    Bringing Zhong Ling in was opening possibilities for him to do so. Technically, until now, Xue Rui could claim he wasn''t a demonic cultivator. Indeed, he had merely accepted the gift of his master. But if he did what he wanted to do, things would change. His master was not going to do it for him, and even then, he would know anyway.


    "By the way, that was a stupid thing to do. You''ve risked bringing the Wubei Sect''s attention on us all, I''ll have to punish you for that. Hopefully they''re too busy chasing my decoys."


    Gu Song had had several demonic cultivators within the Wubei Sect. Now that they were useless to him, he had no problem using them to buy some time for himself.


    "The Demon King has recovered most of his strength. And now that we have a better understanding of what the Traitor wants to do, we''ll strike during the Alchemy Conference. And for that, we need you! Well... we don''t exactly need you, right? We simply need a talented alchemist to enter the Alchemy Conference. Maybe this Guai Mo could be a great candidate too."


    Xue Rui was almost shaking with anger after hearing his master but he was still able to control himself thanks to the words of Qiang Zilan. Right now, he was imagining Guai Mo''s bloodied corpse trampled under his foot. He could imagine the screams of agony he would be unable to suppress before his death. Damn, Xue Rui could even try and refine his very soul to add it to his Heart Locking Fire Pact.


    In Xue Rui''s mind, there was only one goal. He had to be the best alchemist to prove his worth to everyone else. In fact, this would also raise Qiang Zilan''s status. That woman had chosen him. Despite her economic circumstances, she could have married another man but she had married him. That idiot had been blind. Instead of taking her as a concubine, he should have taken her as wife. Maybe he was still infatuated with Zhong Ling back then, but it was over.


    Yes, he would do what was necessary in order to control his Heart Locking Fire Pact.


    "Master, you''re wrong! I will surpass this arrogant brat! I will literally extract and refine his soul. Hell, I''ll refine his entire flesh and bone to use for my alchemy. His very blood will be the fuel of my furnace."


    "Good. Then, you know what needs to be done to stabilize this black flame. It can give you the victory you so desire on this Guai Mo, and on everyone else. I can teach you how to cultivate this fire in your heart, how to feed it and how to shape it. With this, your mastery of the flame will skyrocket and so will your alchemy. But are you truly ready? The process will be long and painful, can you stomach it?"


    Xue Rui''s legs were shaking. But his face wasn''t showing fear. Instead, it was showing rage, but also excitement at the prospect of getting yet stronger. Xue Rui''s new resolution, and even the reassuring words of Qiang Zilan, disappeared in that moment. For the first time in a long while, his mind was perfectly clear. Xue Rui had one goal and one goal only. He wanted to be the best alchemist in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. In that moment, there was nothing else that mattered.


    Gu Song didn''t wait for any response, his eyes were answer enough.


    "Good. Finally, we''ll be able to get somewhere. When I''m done with you, you might even be able to refine a Heaven pill. You see, I''ve been experimenting on many things in the past years. And I''ve gotten better and better subjects recently."


    As he was speaking, there was a strange ethereal shape floating around his fingers. Cao Yun would have recognized it right away. This was the fragment of a corporeal soul. Most likely, it had come from the souls ripped away by the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. Unlike Mo Tian, Gu Song was experimenting on souls way more than on blood.


    Obviously, Xue Rui was just another one of his subjects and he knew it, but the young man didn''t care as long as he could grow more proficient. Only as a talented alchemist did Xue Rui have any worth? He simply couldn''t lose that. He could throw everything out, even his conscience and his humanity, but he couldn''t lose that. Otherwise, Qiang Zilan would also lose everything along with him.


    From his spatial ring, Gu Song took out a scroll. Without any hesitation, Xue Rui took it. It was a cultivation method aimed at improving one''s control over the flame. The name he read on that scroll was the ''Blackened Heart Flame''. Most of the techniques required a ''partner'', a victim to be more accurate. One had to use the fire from the black flame Xue Rui had in his heart to torment the soul of another. Only by experimenting with a living corporeal soul one could improve. And there were even ways to keep the poor victim alive as long as necessary.


    Besides, there was also a dual cultivation technique with very graphic poses. By performing them while torturing the soul of the victim, the cultivator could increase the results significantly. And ironically, they would also share some of their strength with the poor victim so that they could live longer, suffer longer and serve longer.


    Finally, there was another dual cultivation, a bit more classic.


    "This dual cultivation is known to temper a man''s anger. However, it can exert a heavy toll on a woman. You''ll need to take some pills I''ll give you and so will she. If you both practice it regularly, you should be able to keep your temper under check. You have some time before the competition. This method will tremendously improve your alchemy but the danger is almost as high as the reward. I hope you live... Well, if you don''t, it won''t be difficult for me to find a replacement. I got interested in this Guai Mo quite a lot indeed."


    Obviously, Gu Song''s last comment was a jab at Xue Rui. Demonic cultivators were rarely nice people to be honest.


    -


    While Xue Rui completely abandoned himself to the demonic way, Cao Yun was still enjoying his meal.


    Finally, the person he had been waiting for arrived. Di Xihe crossed the threshold of the restaurant. And before the servants could ask her anything, Cao Yun made a gesture to tell them she was with him. Since he had been so generous with his tips, they were obeying his every command. It was as though he owned the restaurant by now. To be fair, he probably could have bought it if he wanted to.


    "Liu Jiang, ask the head waiter for a bit more privacy, please."


    "Of course, esteemed guest."


    For some time, he had drunk and dined along with the beautiful Liu Jiang at his side. The head waiter had chosen her for Guai Mo and he had been pleased by her. She wasn''t just beautiful, she was also very well versed in poetry, a subject that Cao Yun adored. She was extremely well dressed. Her make-up was accentuating her beauty without being too much, and her hair was splendid. Dining with such a classy woman would entice many men. But Cao Yun barely looked at her. However, this didn''t disturb her in the slightest. In fact, she preferred men who were indifferent to her rather than the opposite.


    The head waiter was a bit old with gray hair and a dignified gray and white beard. As he was a mortal, he was probably around sixty or seventy. No matter what was happening around him, he was always calm and professional. Part of his job was also to guess what his guests wanted before they could even ask for it. As Liu Jiang came to him, he already figured out what he wanted.


    Without delay, he had a private room prepared for Guai Mo and Di Xihe.

 Chapter 415: A thiefs allegiance

    Cao Yun and Di Xihe entered the room. Of course, it wasn''t as protected as the secluded room of the Major Hall, but it was isolated nonetheless. With Dian Mo and his own acute senses, Cao Yun would feel if someone were to try using spiritual senses to eavesdrop. Besides, he also used his Qi and his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to envelop himself and Di Xihe in a pseudo-array formation. No sound would leave this room.


    Someone like Xiao Xuefeng or a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior might have been able to spy on them. But there was no such character in Qingyun City. Thus, they could speak freely.


    "Show your real form!"


    Di Xihe had no idea what Cao Yun wanted, but she knew he could somehow recognize her as Ming Huo. No one, not even a late Spirit Warrior had ever been able to do so. Of course, she was very wary of the young alchemist. But on the other hand, she didn''t have much of a choice.


    "Fine, I am Cang Yin. What do you want?"


    The girl suddenly turned in front of Cao Yun. Her face subtly changed and so did her body. In reality, her true form wasn''t so different from Di Xihe''s appearance. However, she was a bit older. Like many people in the Subei Province, she had reddish hair but her skin was rather light. Her figure was slender with somewhat generous forms.


    "What are you doing in the Governor''s residence? Do you intend to steal from him?"


    "This isn''t any of your business. If you want some compensation because I stole from you, I''m sure we can work out something..."


    As she spoke Cang Yin let one of her shoulders appear from under her robe. However, Cao Yun didn''t seem to be interested.


    "You''ve escaped from me once. I don''t intend for that to happen again. Keep your tricks for a weaker man. But do not worry, I am not here to threaten you. In fact, I am here to make you a generous offer."


    "I don''t need your generosity. No matter what I want, I can take it for me!"


    "Well, you couldn''t take anything you wanted from the Huang family... And if your identity were to be discovered, I am certain there are other thefts we could pin on you. I wonder what would happen to you if the Governor were to learn that a thief was among his rank..."


    "What do you want?!"


    "Well, you''ve been able to deceive powerful cultivators, but not me... As it turns out, I am in need of a competent spy. And I happened to stumble upon you. You could say that this is fate. Moreover, I know that you won''t leave this city until you''ve gotten whatever it is you want from the Governor and his family."


    "You want me to spy on the Governor?!"


    "No, I want you to infiltrate the Xue family. There are many things I need of you. If you do a good job, I am ready to reward you generously."


    "As I said, money is not a problem to me!"


    "I am not just talking about money. After all, I have ties with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. There are probably things that I could find which you cannot."


    Cang Yin was at a loss. Although Cao Yun had not threatened her to do so, she knew that he could expose her at any moment. She had already had a run-in with him and she now was certain that she couldn''t escape from his clutches. In her eyes, he was her worst nightmare. She was completely playing in his hand right now. But she had to admit that having him owe her a favor was a good thing indeed.


    The main problem was that she didn''t trust him at all. In fact, she absolutely wanted to get as far away from him as possible. All her tricks would be useless in front of this man and it made her anxious beyond belief. However, she couldn''t leave Qingyun City if she wanted to find the answers she was looking for. The war with the demons would probably break out very soon. In a few years, she could imagine that this land would be burning under the fires of war. The Empyrean Asura Theocracy would declare his holy war against all of humanity soon enough.


    Since she couldn''t leave this city and Cao Yun would not leave this city either, she had to find some way for the both of them to coexist. Maybe making him indebted to her was the right move. After all, even as a servant in the Governor''s residence, she had failed to find what she wanted. Infiltrating the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had been on her mind, but it was more difficult. She could be hired as a clerk easily, but in order to go higher, it would take years and more and more strenuous investigations of her background. As a lowly servant, it had been easier to enter the Governor''s residence.


    Unfortunately, she could only eavesdrop on some conversations. Even with her technique, sneaking away to try and gather information within the actual buildings was almost impossible. For weeks, she had been trying to devise plans but she had no idea what she should do.


    If this Cao Yun was proposing her to infiltrate the Xue residence, he probably had some more clear idea in mind. The more she was thinking about it, the more enticing it seemed. However, she really didn''t like that she was playing by Cao Yun''s rules. The young man was not pressing her for an answer because he already knew her answer. And the more she thought about it, the fewer reasons she had to refuse, and the more upset and frustrated she was becoming.


    As he had already seen her technique once, Cao Yun was now able to unveil her true form no matter what she could do. Besides, his cultivation was higher than her in all domains. There was no way for her to hide from his eyes. But he had to admit that if he had never seen her technique, he might have been fooled. In fact, he was confident that her ability to change her appearance was top-notch. With just his physical senses, he couldn''t detect her. But because he was able to feel her Qi and even something peculiar in her blood, he could recognize her.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Were she to use even an altered form of ''Ashen Feather Seal'', she might become the stealthiest person in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. As it happened, Cao Yun intended to give her a decent stealth technique. Of course, he would never share the ''Ashen Feather Seal''. First of all, he wouldn''t because it was a gift of Huang Liyue, but also because it was way too dangerous. Stealth techniques were not the most destructive of techniques, but they were probably the scariest. With this technique in hands, combined with her ability to change her appearance so thoroughly, Cang Yin could become the most terrible assassin or spy on the planet.


    If she worked for Cao Yun, this would be a good news. But he had no way to ensure that she would always work for him. Hopefully, she would stay in his service even after they were done with the current situation. But Cao Yun had no way of knowing for sure. When in doubts, he would make sure to always be able to detect her. Thus, he had already thought a long time about the stealth technique he would give her and how to alter it for his own use.


    Finally, in her defying eyes, Cao Yun saw that she had come to a decision.


    "Young miss, what say you?"


    "... I''ll do it. I''ll work for you. But I hope that you at least have a good plan. As soon as my life is in danger, I''m out. After all, you''ll only stay here until the Alchemy Conference. I could just disappear for a few months and come back."


    "Of course, you could, but then, you would lose the opportunity to use my connections. Instead of infiltrating the Governor''s residence, using the network of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to find out whatever it is you are after will be faster and safer. But do not worry. I do have a good plan in mind. And I don''t ask a lot of you. I just need to have a detailed map of the Xue estate. When I say detailed I truly mean it. You will report everything to the point that I can picture every single leave on every single tree in their courtyard. It should be as though I was the one walking through their estate."


    "Well, that is easy enough, but sneaking into some of the buildings might be difficult."


    "I don''t expect you to inspect all the buildings. However, I want you to find a specific one. I suspect that there is a powerful alchemist hiding there. He never leaves. What I expect of you is to find out in which building he resides. The best thing would be if you could even tell me in which room he stays, where his laboratory is."


    "That... that can be done."


    "Good. You only have a month to do so. After that, my offer is off the table. But in a month, if you''ve succeeded, I will give you all the information you want on the Governor''s family."


    "... Fine."


    Strangely, she suspected that Cao Yun knew something about her that even she ignored. And she was right. Since she had not be raised by demons, she knew none of their technique except for this strange ability to change her own shape. As such, she couldn''t sense that her own blood was so rich in demon blood to the point where it was clear that at least one of her parents, probably her mother, was a demon. Thanks to the information network of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Cao Yun had found some interesting things when he knew where to look. Most likely, Cang Yin was looking for answers about her own lineage and he knew he could provide some.


    Obviously, he didn''t trust her. She was a thief. But as long as there was something for her, he could trust on her ability to secure her interests. For some time, Cao Yun gave all the details Cang Yin would need to succeed in her mission. His goal was clear. Now that he was almost certain that Gu Song was within the Xue estate, he needed to find his precise location. Once that was taken care of, he could finalize his plan. For now, everything seemed to go well.


    Because he couldn''t attack a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior from the front, he needed to manipulate him. And for that, he had several ways. The most important thing was that Gu Song had to imagine that Guai Mo was the kind of alchemist who could be swayed to become a demonic cultivator. With that in mind, Cao Yun knew precisely what he had to do. His plan wasn''t perfect but as he had the Spirit Condensation Barrier, he felt safe enough to try it.


    After he was done with Cang Yin and the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall, Cao Yun left and went back to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.


    -


    By now, the rumors about Guai Mo and Xue Rui''s grudge had reached the entire city. Absolutely everyone knew about it. This had caused some excitement. Until then, the alchemy competition was almost decided before it even happened. Xue Rui was the most talented alchemist among all the representatives. Unless there was a huge surprise, he would win. But now that Guai Mo had entered into the mix, this wasn''t so sure. Many were not too convinced since no one had really witnessed his alchemy. But the fact that Governor Jiahe had accepted for him to participate and the fact that Xue Rui had directly gone to him seemed to suggest he could potentially win.


    This prompted all the families to talk about it. Among them was the Yun family of course.


    General Yun Po was sitting with the elders of his family. Although he was the patriarch, it didn''t mean that he had absolute authority in all manners. When it came to war, he could make all the decisions and everyone always followed him. But when it came to politics, he was not as highly regarded. Recently, there had been more and more tension within the Yun family. As much as Yun Ping was respected for his valiance during the demonic beast stampede, it was obvious that he wasn''t fit to be holding ''Eternal Rampart'' any longer.


    Officially, no one had asked General Yun to take away the weapon, but it was clear that most of the elders wanted that. They wanted for someone else to be chosen. As was the tradition in the Hongchen Kingdom, competence had to be the main factor when considering who should be the next leader. General Yun was still young for a cultivator. But he was a soldier so he could die on the battlefield. If that happened, it would be better to ready have a successor in mind. Right now, his own son was the successor. And until now, everyone was pleased with that decision. After all, Yun Ping had been accepted in the Wubei Sect, the most powerful martial sect in the kingdom.


    "General, we should at least try to rope this Guai Mo in. Since he''s an enemy of the Xue family, that would be a good thing."


    "But we don''t have much to offer him. Although he only has a 1-star Human alchemist emblem, his actual talent is probably way higher than that. Otherwise, neither Governor Jiahe nor Xue Rui would have acted in such a manner."


    "The good news is that he won''t ever work for the old fox. Whether we rope him in or not is uncertain. But at the very least, we should order everyone not to cause trouble with him. Let him focus his grudge on the Xue family. If they lose during the competition, it would be a good thing for us. They can''t best us on the battlefield, and now their pride, their alchemy, might be tarnished in public."


    "Elders, your opinions are noted."


    General Yun knew from his son that Guai Mo was in fact Chen Guo. As such, he knew that he would never officially join them in order to keep up appearances. Trusting his son, he wanted to make things easier for Cao Yun, but he would have to meet him in person first.


    "I will personally send an invitation to Guai Mo. In two weeks, we will hold a martial art exhibition. This will be the perfect opportunity to invite many people, including Guai Mo himself."


    "A martial art exhibition?"


    All the elders were confused. Was General Yun trying to find someone else to replace his son?

 Chapter 416: Preparing a kingly gift

    Yun Ping had already told Cao Yun about this martial art exhibition. General Yun Po had thought about it for several reasons. But the most important one was to help raise the reputation of the Yun family in those trying times. Of course, he had other things in mind. As much as it would be a show of strength for the outsiders, it would also serve to reinforce his and his son''s positions within the family. And it would also be a good opportunity to invite Guai Mo.


    Cao Yun had thought about it and had decided that this would also be a great opportunity for him to show off. Right now, he wanted to get as much of Gu Song''s attention as possible. Since he was certain that he was in the Xue family, he had to following what was going on in the capital as well, especially when it came to alchemy. Besides, Xue Rui was his disciple. Surely, Guai Mo had already grabbed his attention.


    "Are you sure about this girl?"


    Once again, Cao Yun was back in the secluded room of the Major Hall. Yun Ping had just left and he was alone speaking with Yong Ke.


    "Of course I''m not. She''s a thief and we can''t trust her at all. But it''s the safest way to get a complete map of the estate. And I''ll need it. As long as I have the information she''s looking for, she will do her work."


    "But if she gets discovered, she won''t bat an eye before betraying you."


    "Obviously. It''s a good thing she doesn''t know much. In fact, most of what I told her was a lie. Although she didn''t blindly believe me, I am certain that she did believe the gist of it. The best outcome would be to obtain a good map of the layout. But even if she gets captured, the lies I fed her might be useful. Hopefully it won''t come down to this though."


    "And you''re sure about going up against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior? Even if his cultivation has been helped by alchemy and demonic ways, he should be powerful enough to crush you in an instant."


    "That is why I need General Yun Po''s support. But as long as we don''t have any proof, it would be almost impossible to bring any late Spirit Warrior here. The Imperial City would take that as a sign of treason."


    What Cao Yun didn''t add, because Yong Ke was coming from the Imperial City, was that he didn''t trust the Imperial City at all. For all he knew, they might have tried to get rid of Gu Song in order to silence him. And if any other Spirit Warrior but those he trusted took care of him, he would not get his answers. However, considering the proximity of the demon territory, no late or even middle Spirit Warrior could move freely toward the Subei Province. Their mere presence could be seen as an act of war by the demons and no one wanted this war to start too soon.


    Right now, both the humans and the demons were preparing themselves for it. The humans were in a very precarious situation as they didn''t want to be the ones to cause the hostilities but they didn''t want to give too much time to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy to get more powerful. Unfortunately, if they attacked first, this could unite even more demon kingdoms to the Empyrean Asura. For the time being, many demon kingdoms were opposed to both his tyranny and his cult. So humans had to keep up appearances and respect the Seven Treaties. Even among the humans, the Seven Treaties were deemed as sacred so no emperor would willingly disrespect them.


    Since Cao Yun had no proof, he didn''t have many options. However, he was still convinced that his ideas would work. Just in case though, he prepared several contingencies. Yong Ke was one of them, but she might also be his way to more information on the Imperial City. Clearly, she was worried about the fate of the people so he knew that she had nothing to do with whatever conspiracy was going on. And overall, he had learn to know and trust her. Although she was very open with him, it took a long time for her to speak with Yun Ping with the same ease. She was incredibly shy.


    "I have two weeks to get ready now. So I''ll have to trust you with my other preparations."


    "What do you intend to do?"


    "I have to catch Gu Song''s eye and what better way than to use the gift I''m going to make to General Yun Po for his invitation? I''ll refine a pill in such a way as to ignite Gu Song''s curiosity and envy. He''ll want to get me alive just for that if nothing else. Hopefully he''ll even try to make me his new disciple if everything works fine."


    "And do you really trust me with your other preparations?"


    "Yes. Although there are some secrets between us, I know that our opinions are the same about this demonic cultivator. And I know I can trust you in that cause."


    "Thank you."


    Just like that, Yong Ke left the Major Hall and even Qingyun City. Cao Yun had given her a task to help him set up some of his array formations around the Xue residence as well as other ones.


    -


    Cao Yun decided to go back to his alchemy. He didn''t have a lot of time before General Yun''s martial art exhibition. However, Cao Yun wanted to take this as an opportunity to further his plans. Cang Yin had accepted his offer and was slowly getting infiltrated within the Xue family. So he had to wait for her reports and her map to finalize his array formations. Thankfully, Cao Yun had observed this household for quite some time and had a rough idea of things within. But he had no idea where Gu Song was precisely and he needed that information.


    When this was taken care of, Cao Yun''s plan would almost be complete. He still had to prepare contingencies just in case though, but his boat was sailing smoothly with no storm to be seen. That didn''t mean that he wouldn''t do anything more just to be sure. Moreover, he was only trying to get closer to this Gu Song that was most likely hidden behind Xue Rui. But it wasn''t his only goal by coming in the Subei Province. He also wanted to try and learn more about the Governors. After all, the disappearances that had made him suspicious of the province had not been dealt with by the Governor. Either he truly was a base and utterly incompetent politician trying to safeguard his post no matter what, or there was something more to the story. Anyway, this was something that would worry him later.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Right now, Cao Yun had to refine a pill as a present to General Yun that would also attract Gu Song''s attention. Of course, there were many such pills, but Cao Yun took it as a challenge. Maybe he could kill two or even three birds with the same stone, while having a lot of fun. Although he was still technically a 1-star Human alchemist, Cao Yun''s proficiency was way closer to the 5-star rank now. Maybe he wasn''t quite there yet but he was getting closer. Thus, he got the idea of trying to refine a higher grade of pill.


    His main goal wasn''t just to refine a pill but to showcase his talent and competence. Like that, he would get more support for the upcoming competition against Xue Rui, he would make Xue Rui madder and he would attract Gu Song''s attention. So he decided to refine a pill with a different, way cheaper, recipe.


    Instead of crafting the pill with the usual recipe, he might think of substitutes. After all, what mattered was the interaction of the various properties of the ingredients. Cao Yun''s understanding of the Five Golden Elixir Principles had reached great heights. In particular, his Flame Control had been boosted by the incomplete Rune of Fire. Even without understanding the Dao of Fire one iota, there had been a change. Most likely, it had interacted with his Drop of Wrath and it was obvious that both Cleansed Asura and Axiu Qian had understood the Dao of Fire. Maybe it had awakened a deep memory within the Flying Poison that was now almost Cao Yun''s.


    At the same time, his understanding of Yin-Yang Balance and Five Elements Wheel had also progressed a lot thanks to all the books he had read. In fact, he had spent most of his time studying alchemy on those two subjects. They would not only help his alchemy but also his array formations and even his overall comprehension of the world. After all, the five elements were also involved in cultivation itself as he had experienced. By using the interactions between the Fire, Wood and Water elements, Cao Yun had restored his Bai Hui and was tempering his Five Prodigious Gates.


    To prepare himself for the Alchemy Conference, Cao Yun had decided to study a bit more of the Minor Principles of Silver. Contrary to the Five Golden Elixir Principles, they were not essential to refine a pill, but to advance in one''s alchemy, they had to be studied. There was no official list and some authors even disagreed on what could constitute a minor principle. In fact, some authors even disregarded this concept in itself, claiming that they were not principles at all. They preferred to talk about tools or specialties. Anyway, Cao Yun had already worked a lot on Toxins Minimization under Instructor Meng. Now, he was working on the Treasures in Mud.


    That principle was somewhat simple to understand but incredibly difficult to master. It simply stated that any ingredient could be replaced by one or several others as long as the sum of all the interactions between the ingredients stayed exactly the same. That also meant that it was possible to introduce ingredients that would cause further interactions as long as those new ones were perfectly countered and balanced by yet other interactions. Of course, the downside was that refining the same pill with those new ingredients would become exponentially more difficult.


    After reading entire books on this principle, Cao Yun had become quite familiar with it. In practice, this principle wasn''t very useful but it was almost essential in research. After all, alchemy was a living discipline. Even today, many alchemists were working on old recipe in order to make them cheaper and more efficient. Alchemists were also working on creating new pills with better effects and fewer toxins, as well as refining forgotten pills. Maybe it could be possible to refine a Heaven pill with almost the same effects as a Spirit pill.


    Since Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei had refined the Life Boiling Cradle pill, there had been a boom in research as more and more alchemists wanted to replicate this great triumph. Even if they could replicate just a fraction of this achievement, their names would be remembered for generations. Unfortunately, they would not be achieving that any time soon.


    First, Cao Yun sifted through his mind to try and identify the pills that interested him and might also get the desired outcome. He wanted this pill to be useful to him as well, if not directly, at least to help him temper his alchemy. Finally, Cao Yun had decided to opt for a pill connected to his blood cultivation. Since his blood had to slowly enter his marrow deep within his bones to then connect it throughout his skeleton, pills could be useful. Besides, getting some experience on that point could help him develop the right pills for Hongyu who was still getting afflicted by her evil core.


    Until now, he had focused more on his Qi cultivation which was coming along just fine. His Five Prodigious Gates were stronger than ever and almost perfectly unified. It wouldn''t be long before he felt the sign of a breakthrough. Then it would be time for him to accumulate Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian. And for that, his blood cultivation would help him a lot, as well as the Rune of Fire. Indeed, the Middle Dantian was situated around the heart, and his blood was full of Fire element. Cao Yun could then both siphon Fire Qi from his environment and also extract it from his very blood.


    Although he let his blood cultivation lag behind, he had not decided to completely disregard it. Since he could think of no other pill that would be useful to him right now, he decided he might as well improve his blood cultivation. Right now, he was very close to reaching the 7th-grade Blood Child stage after helping his blood enter his bones.


    With his mind set on this objective, Cao Yun found the perfect pill, the Merging Minerals and Seas pill. This was a 5-star Human pill that seemed rather difficult to make. If he added the cost of every single ingredient, one pill would cost around one Yuanbao to make. One Yuanbao being equivalent to fifty taels of gold. In other words, Cao Yun would invest a lot of money in the research even if he used cheaper ingredients. In the worst case scenario, Cao Yun still had several other pills he was certain he could alter without any problem, but they wouldn''t have the same effect. After all, demonic cultivators would be interested in pill related to blood since Mo Tian had been working on merging human and demon blood.


    In fact, Cao Yun could also make a True Essence 4 or 3-star Human pill. But he would try not to showcase it as it might be suspicious with the recent True Essence pills sold by the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Obviously, several people had seen that something fishy was going on there. Thankfully, Fang Shaolong seemed to have helped Hall Master Qinghe conceal it better. No doubt, Xiao Xuefeng had had a hand in it too.


    After a bit more consideration, Cao Yun was certain that this was the pill he wanted to work on. If he could rewrite the recipe of such a pill and make it cheaper, it would impress almost everyone. Besides, this pill was useful for him but also for soldiers. Indeed, this pill could help promote the production of blood, of marrow and could even strengthen the bones. If the quality was high enough, it might even have a small impact of Jing. It was no wonder this pill was deemed a 5-star Human pill.

 Chapter 417: Substituting mud for gold

    First, Cao Yun began to work in his sea of consciousness, imagining several different ways to refine this pill. With his Chamber of Heavenly Court, he was able to accelerate his thoughts and could thus spend several days worth of work in his mind in a single double hour. On the side, Dian Mo was observing him and was quite impressed by Cao Yun''s obstinacy. No matter how many times it failed, Cao Yun would try something new. Of course, he was just imagining the process so he could be wrong, but it seemed right to Dian Mo.


    Cao Yun was working with more than eighty cauldrons at the same time while imagining all kinds of possible ingredients and methods. Even for him, this was terribly exhausting. Just to support this effort, he had set an array formation and was using high spirit stones. This was saturating his surroundings with raw Qi. As such, his vitality had improved. But the strain on his mind was hard to handle nonetheless. However, this was also a way to temper his mind. Soon he knew that he would face a terrible trial as he would face a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior''s Soul Embryo.


    Even with his Drop of Wrath and a bit of Dian Mo''s help, this was going to be difficult. Besides, he might even be forced to fight something else that was lurking in the back of his mind. So he could use this opportunity to also improve his mind. In particular, he was working on his will. Zhi the Water Will was looking like a liquid metal under the effects of Shen the Fire Spirit.


    After more than a thousand failures, Dian Mo began to give some pointers to Cao Yun. Although he wasn''t an alchemist at all, Dian Mo knew more than just a bit about the five elements as well as Yin and Yang. After all, he had resided within a complex array formation for most of his life. Of course, he had a lot of expertise when it came to those subjects. Then, both of them spent a lot of time discussing and brainstorming about the creation of a new recipe for this pill. Before long, they almost forgot everything else. Dian Mo was probably one of the few who could follow Cao Yun''s speed of thought since he was a bodiless spirit himself.


    In the end, they spent at least eight days working on this. In Cao Yun''s mind, this had been almost two months of reflection. Obviously, even with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun had been forced to rest from time to time. He couldn''t keep his Chamber of Heavenly Court fully activated all the time. Furthermore, taking a break was also good for his creativity. The Chamber of Splendor was very effective in that regard too and so was his Chamber of Government to stay focused despite the fatigue.


    From time to time, Cao Yun tried to refine a pill with what he had come up with at the moment. It never was perfectly what he had imagined, but it was uncannily close. However, these real attempts were essential for his mind not to stray too far away from reality. Sometimes he even only needed to make sure that some ingredients interacted the way he thought they would. Thankfully, Cao Yun was right beneath the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and had a lot of money. That way, he could easily get access to all the ingredients he needed to test out his theories.


    By doing this work, Cao Yun''s understanding of alchemy had improved even more. His ''Spiritual Sea Refinement'' was now more accurate than before thanks to all the tests he had performed. If he tried to refine a Heaven pill, it would be easier for him. Of course, he still wasn''t sure he could actually reach the requirement to be called a Heaven alchemist, but he was getting closer and closer. Most likely, he would become one before becoming a Spirit Warrior. That was unheard of in the history of the Hongchen Kingdom. But to be fair, his mind cultivation was also unheard of. Once again, he realized how dangerous it was.


    After the end of the first week, Cao Yun was ready to test out a pill recipe for the Merging Minerals and Seas pill that only cost ten taels of gold. That was five time less than the original cost of the pill. But then, he had to make sure that the refinement process was a success as well, that the pill had the same effects and that the quality was good.


    Instead of using seven ingredients, Cao Yun would be using twenty-one ingredients. Each one was way cheaper than any of the original ones. In fact none of the original ones remained. But the refinement process would be almost four times longer and it was impossible to tell how complicated and difficult it would be. But in Cao Yun''s mind, it was possible to achieve the results he wanted. So he got to work and refined many batches of this revised Merging Minerals and Seas pill. At first, he barely made it, with a very pitiful quality as a result. But with time, he got better and better.


    Each refinement brought him some insights he then used in his mind to improve the recipe. Just knowing the right ingredients wasn''t enough, he also had to find the best way to use them so that the refinement in itself wasn''t too hard. Right now, the pill had to be as difficult to refine as a 3-star Heaven pill. Gaining money but requiring a Heaven alchemist instead of a Human alchemist wasn''t much improvement. Thankfully, it didn''t take too long to Cao Yun to figure out a better approach. In fact, he even used a strange technique he had read about once.


    Among all the books he had read, Cao Yun had accumulated a lot of knowledge. However, he had not been able to digest everything yet. First of all, the sheer amount of information contained within the libraries of the Wubei Sect was insane. Even with his mind cultivation, he simply couldn''t be aware of everything at once. For now, he had just remembered every single word. Every time he could, he was trying to piece things together. Knowledge was not just about understanding and remembering, it was also about making connections between things and applying them in real life. Without experience, knowledge was not that useful. It would be like a man who had learned every martial move but was unable to perform them well even though he knew the correct form. And even if could perform them well, he still had to use them at the right moment during a fight.


    The technique he thought about came from an obscure manual called ''Dragon Devours Dirt''. With this technique, an alchemist had to finalize the refinement process through the use of the naked flames. Of course, this was a risky process, but it just required a bit of training to perform it well. Depending on the control over the flame, it could boost the quality of a pill by a substantial margin. The principle was quite simple, by burning the pill just after opening the lid of the cauldron at the end of the refinement process, the heat could bond medicinal essence in the air with the pill. But at the same time, it could also burn the pill. That being said, it wasn''t necessarily a bad thing as it could potentially burn some of the toxins with it.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    With Cao Yun''s control over his flame, this was very easy for him. And it wouldn''t be that much more difficult for a Human alchemist. But this added a variable as now Cao Yun had to rethink the process to also control the concentration and the nature of the medicinal essences in the cauldron by the end of the process. Since the lid had to be opened several times, some of the medicinal essences would escape. So Cao Yun had to create the right mix in his cauldron.


    In the end, Cao Yun reached a good balance. His Merging Minerals and Seas pill was complete. Although the pill itself cost less than ten taels of gold, it took Cao Yun more than twenty Yuanbao to get to this point. It was almost the price of one of his cheapest True Essence pills...


    Finally, he decided to refine a final batch in order to get the best Merging Minerals and Seas pill he could. The flames below his cauldron were dancing with several colors, heating up different portion of the cauldron. Some of the tongues of fire even formed loops in the air. This was a true show of art. The ingredients were flying in the air before falling into the cauldron at very specific moments. Even the trajectory of the ingredients was calculated with extreme minutia. At some point, the cauldron began to shake violently. For several minutes that turned to almost an entire hour, it seemed as though the cauldron was about to explode. However, Cao Yun was aware of what was going on. He injected his Qi within the cauldron in order to improve the quality of the refinement.


    In the end, the cauldron did not explode. Instead, it slowly calmed down as the flames were dying out as well. By now the refinement process should have been over, but Cao Yun could tell that the pills weren''t done. However, he had created a highly pressurized environment in the cauldron. It was full of medicinal essence as well as toxins. He took a deep breath and began the last step. The moment he opened the cauldron, a thick aroma escaped from it as several pills were floating in the air.


    From the dying flames, two tongues of fire erupted toward the pills. Without the protection of a cauldron, burning a pill was usually a terrible idea. It needed to be heated up in the right environment, not burned to a crisp. Only a handful of alchemists could bake a pill without a cauldron. And they were all doing so by using their very Qi as a replacement for the cauldron. But at this moment, Cao Yun used naked fire to provide the finishing touch to that pill. ''Dragon Devours Dirt'' was not strictly speaking meant as a refining technique, but as a last help to improve a pill.


    When the fire touched the pill, it lasted just an instant. The flame was intense but short-lived. The goal was to condense as much medicinal essence in the air as possible in the pill before letting it cool. Some of the medicinal essence that was still lingering in the air got suddenly fused to the pill. On the surface of the pill, there were tiny burns here and there, but they were full of medicinal essence.


    In the end, the best pill had reached the Pure grade. Technically, Cao Yun was thus a 5-star Human alchemist. It had retained more than 96% of the medicinal essence. Cao Yun''s mastery of the fire was absolutely on point. But he was now certain that any Human alchemist could do this refinement. Of course, their result wouldn''t necessarily be as good, but the techniques used were all accessible.


    Once the refinement was over, Cao Yun was more than satisfied but he had a strange idea as well.


    In terms of blood cultivation, Cao Yun was a 6th-grade Blood Child. As such, he was sending his blood within his bones in order to nourish them. For him that wasn''t difficult at all. After all, even before starting the ''Crimson Inferno Road'', Cao Yun had made his body as transparent to blood as it was to Qi. Right now, he was just consolidating his cultivation to go higher later on. However, he had not forgotten about ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', the manual he had obtained from Matriarch Huang. For now, he was still stuck at ''Stoking the Human Flames'' since he couldn''t use Fire Qi within his own heart. But he had a few good ideas that could even help him during the next grade of the Mortal Warrior realm.


    One of those ideas seemed a bit reckless but after succeeding in using ''Dragon Devours Dirt'', Cao Yun decided to test it out. And he might even use it to help out Hongyu. He only kept his ''Aureate Grove Blaze'' and restarted the fire without any cauldron.


    Within his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo himself was intrigued. Everything this boy did was always intriguing. To be fair, he had been stuck in the Demon Palace for millenniums, he would have been amused by pretty much anything. But this boy always had imaginative ideas. Even his plans in Qingyun City were original in Dian Mo''s eyes, albeit reckless. But this time was a bit different because Dian Mo knew a lot about blood cultivation, yet he had never imagined to do what Cao Yun was doing.


    From his own bloodstream, Cao Yun took out a condensed drop of blood. Using ''Reducing the Five Sheng'', Cao Yun had only condensed a hundredth of his overall blood within this drop. Despite the Fire Qi in his blood, this was nowhere near what was necessary for ''Stoking the Human Flames''. And since Cao Yun didn''t want to risk absorbing too much Fire Qi, he had to resort to another means. Instead of using Fire Qi, Cao Yun would use literal fire, but outside of his body.


    In the flame, Cao Yun had used various powders and was controlling several tongues of fire. Slowly, he made his drop of blood float above the furnace. Then, he manipulated each spark of the fire to touch the drop of blood with extreme care. Because he was careful, it took him a long time. But in the end, he put back the blood in his body. The drop of blood touched his chest and seeped through his skin to join his bloodstream.


    Then, he analyzed it with a lot of care. Dian Mo was also trying to feel any difference. And the two of them were very pleased to notice that Cao Yun''s blood was now even more profound. The properties of the Drop of Wrath were more powerful. The difference wasn''t that big but it was clearly there. Besides, it seemed a bit more vibrant and healthy. However, it was also heavier. If Cao Yun made his blood too heavy before his body could deal with it, it would be a problem. Besides, by refining his blood outside of his body, it couldn''t adapt to the changes. Thus Cao Yun would need to be careful, even if the results were interesting.


    The main thing Cao Yun took out of this experiment though was that he might have a way of helping Hongyu. If Cao Yun could help her refine her blood outside of her body to make it more and more resistant to Evil Qi, her flesh would then slowly gain this property as well. In fact, Hongyu might even become able to use this evil core as she saw fit once her fifth core was fully formed.

 Chapter 418: Bones sucking ones blood

    Those last few weeks, Cao Yun had mostly abandoned his blood cultivation for several reasons. He had just too many things to take care of. In fact, he had even been forced to neglect his martial arts to some extent. Yes, he had trained with Yun Ping and Yong Ke, but to be honest, it had mostly been directed as a training of Yun Ping''s Spear Aura. Then, he had to focus on his alchemy in order to be ready for the Alchemy Conference. Although he could refine a Heaven pill to some degree, it didn''t mean he was the best alchemist in the younger generation. First of all, he suspected that Feng Yingyue was better since she had the same mind cultivation. But there were probably other alchemists who could rival with him in many other areas of the craft. It wasn''t just about refining pills after all, even if it was essential.


    When it came to his Qi cultivation, by combining Water Qi, Fire Qi and the Wood element now present in his Five Prodigious Gates, he had advanced very fast. He would still need some months before officially becoming a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior, but he was getting closer to that point. It would have been nice to be one before facing Gu Song, but to be fair, it wouldn''t have changed things by much. An early or middle Mortal Warrior fighting a middle Spirit Warrior was just impossible, even surviving a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior would be difficult. Without his Spirit Condensation Barrier, Cao Yun would have probably been forced to run away. But the idea of losing all the information Gu Song might have, and the frustration of not being able to do anything had compelled Cao Yun to stand his ground. Besides, his plan might just work.


    Finally, he had his mind cultivation. Everything was also going at a steady pace. There was no real way to speed things up as Cao Yun was waiting for something. Besides he wanted a stable and deep cultivation, especially when it came to his mind. Bit by bit, he was taking out every ounce of the Flying Poison out of his Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. As he was doing so, there were now pure white filaments coiling around each other that were floating around his Po. They looked like a small bone being formed. Of course, this forming bone was Cao Yun''s Po of Jing. But here and there, there were still green traces, like moss. It truly looked like the Bone Demons he had met.


    Every single time he practiced his meditation on the Flying Poison, he was getting closer and closer to his goal. From his Po character, he was extracting every ounce of this Po of Jing. Having control over it would have beneficial consequences on not only his postnatal Jing but maybe even his prenatal Jing as well. However, at the same time, the Flying Poison of the Drop of Wrath was getting agitated. Although it was devoid of consciousness, it reacted instinctively to a threat. Indeed, Cao Yun''s Po of Jing was trying to replace this Flying Poison which was a corrupted version of the remnants of Axiu Qian''s Po.


    During the sessions, Cao Yun had to relive his past memories. But there were also other memories, memories from Axiu Qian and Cleansed Asura because of the Drop of Wrath that had resided in both of their bodies. Besides them, there were also memories of things that had never happened. They truly felt like memories but were just inventions of his mind and it was difficult to differentiate them from one another. In fact, without Cao Yun''s prior experience in mind cultivation, he might have been fooled. And what is true and false would have become confused in his mind. Whoever had created this ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' had really thought it through.


    By creating a firm foundation first, that writer had made sure that every step of the process was easier to climb. Of course, it totally spoke to Cao Yun who now wanted a very firm base with all of his cultivation. After the disaster of his Bai Hui in the Demon Palace, he was maybe even a bit too careful. But he was slowly finding the right compromise between being daring and being overcautious. Staying secluded and progressing too slow was not a good thing for cultivation. In fact, in itself, it could create inner demons and Qi deviation. Moreover, Cao Yun knew that he had to get stronger if he had any hope of finding justice.


    Unfortunately, although it had helped him a lot, the Drop of Wrath had made his mind cultivation more difficult. During ''Subdue the Seven Demons'', he was supposed to take control of the seven souls of his Po. Most likely, it was a way to make the Accomplished Demon realm easier for demons. In that realm, the demons would turn each Po into a Turbid Demon, so this was very risky. If they could obtain more control over their Po first, this realm would become that much easier. But his Drop of Wrath already contained a Turbid Demon. As Cao Yun had been trying to replace it with his Po of Jing, he had understood that he would need to form a Turbid Demon to do so. The problem was whether or not he could subdue a Turbid Demon. Thankfully, he had found a way, but it would have to wait the right opportunity.


    As all of that was a lot, Cao Yun had neglected his blood cultivation. In addition, his blood cultivation was affecting the Drop of Wrath and the Flying Poison, so he was reluctant to go too fast for now. Besides, it wasn''t that useful to him right now as he was still only a 6th-grade Blood Child. But according to the cultivation manual he had, he was soon to start tempering his marrow. That would make things more interesting.


    Now that he had forged his pill though, it would be a waste not to try and advance his blood cultivation. Cao Yun ingested the best Merging Minerals and Seas pill he had refined. In it, there was 97% of the medicinal essence from the ingredients and only 4% of the toxins. Refining a better pill was almost impossible for him right now so he didn''t hesitate at all before eating the pill. And as soon as it dissolved in his body, he began to direct the medicinal essence where he needed it. At the same time, he contained most of the toxins. Sadly, it was impossible to get rid of all toxins as some were just intertwined with medicinal essence. But his ability to control Qi had evolved a lot.


    That way, he pushed the efficiency of the pill to its upper limit. The medicinal essence merged with his blood that he had focused around his bones. As a matter of fact, the Merging Minerals and Seas pill was used to strengthen the bones by opening them to absorb more fluids. They were used to fuse back broken bones or to help cultivators grow stronger bones even richer in Qi. It could have have a tiny effect on Jing. The marrow indeed contained most of the postnatal Jing in the human body. Postnatal Jing was produced either by consumption of Jing, or by transfiguration within the Lower Dantian through the use of the prenatal Jing stored in one''s kidneys.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Obviously, a 5-star Human pill wouldn''t increase the amount of Jing by much at all. However, it allowed the bones to store a bit more of it. As such, the body would gather more of the postnatal Jing it was absorbing, thus preserving the prenatal Jing more than it would have been otherwise. Hence, this pill was very useful and Cao Yun was certain he would make a great impression with his new recipe. But he was hoping to attract the attention of someone in particular, knowing that Mo Tian had been working on blood and Jing.


    As the medicinal essence merged with his blood, Cao Yun directed it toward his bones. Then, he began to cultivate his blood while the medicinal was working on his bones. Sending blood to strengthen his bones became much easier all of a sudden. In a few days, he had the equivalent of a few weeks of cultivation. His bones were fully opened to his blood, namely his ribs and his sacrum. Tempering all his spine would take more time as it was more delicate. But most of his rib cage had already reached the 7th-grade Blood Child stage. The fact that his heart and the Drop of Wrath were so close helped a lot of course.


    As the medicinal essence was still within his body, he would naturally reach the 7th-grade Blood Child stage in a matter of weeks. Then, Cao Yun would have to ''open the floodgates''. Simply put, this stage consisted in sending his blood through very specific pores in his bones so that the blood would overflow within the marrow in the core of each bone. The last Blood Child stages were very similar as they focused on the bones and sending blood in them. Dian Mo explained them to Cao Yun as he was working on his blood cultivation again.


    "Those stages don''t really have names but my master had found nicknames for them: ''The Rigid Drinks Up'', ''Knocking at the Palace''s Door'', ''Bursting the Palaces Open'' and ''Freeing the Blood''. In the 6th-grade, you just pour your blood within the inner structure of your bones to temper and nourish them. In itself, it''s useful as your bones become sturdier, denser, but also more flexible and bendable. Not only will they resist higher constraints, they will also be more difficult to break and will heal faster. The advantage demons have over humans is their physique after all.


    "But this is also a way to prepare for the next grade of the Blood Child realm. From there, you''ll need to help your blood seep through the innermost part of your bones, the marrow. The main sites where there is marrow is within your pelvis, your rib cage and above all else, your spine, all the way to the brain. It depends on the physicians but the brain itself is often considered as a marrow as much as a separate organ. To tell the truth, the brain is the most complicated thing in the body, be it human or demon. After all, it also harbors the Upper Dantian and the sea of consciousness. Those are very complicated and delicate things.


    "Although the heart is sometimes considered as the sea of blood, this is not the origin of the blood within one''s body. No, the origin of blood comes from the marrow. Thus, you will use your blood to slowly enter this marrow in order to transform it. In turn, the marrow will completely transform your blood as well. In fact, in the higher stages of the demon cultivation system, your blood and your marrow will melt into one another to turn into something completely new, sometimes referred to as the Golden Blood, hence the name Golden Blood Child.


    "As a 7th-grade Blood Child, your goal will be to slowly pour your blood through your outer bones inside their innermost parts. The bones where marrow is plentiful are seen as palaces full of this golden treasure. But to get to this wealth, you must slowly knock at the doors. Slowly, your blood will enter your bones. As they''re more resistant, they won''t explode because of the increase in pressure. In fact, this pressure and heat from within will temper them even more. But of course, this is predicated on the assumption you won''t destroy your bones to enter into the marrow. In order to avoid that, you must choose the right doors. Although there are books on this, they completely depend on your own bones. You should feel your own body and choose wisely. But I''m not too concerned for that...


    "Then, in the 8th-grade Blood Child stage, you will completely open those palaces that are your bones from within. Your blood will connect all the marrow in your body in a complex system through various door in each bone. At that stage, your blood will be able to navigate through all your marrow as if it was your natural bloodstream. And then you''ll finally be able to reach the true height of the Blood Child realm when your body will truly become transparent to blood. Although you had the impression that you had reached this stage before, this was just an illusion. Yes, your blood could flow through your entire body and nourish all your cells. But some deep parts of your organs and especially of your marrow were still unreachable.


    "I must say that starting your blood cultivation from scratch was a good idea. Your patience will be rewarded. But you shouldn''t rush things. The next realm, the Golden Blood Child realm, will require you to have a great control over your marrow. Besides, you will start to activate the fires of your body. It would be best to start this phase after you''ve already begun to accumulate Fire Qi. In other words, you shouldn''t try to progress within the Golden Blood Child realm before you''ve entered the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior stage.


    "The Blood Child realm is also known as ''Making the Blood Flow'' while the Golden Blood Child realm is called ''Forging the Marrow''."


    Of course Cao Yun could read it in ''Crimson Inferno Road''. However, presenting it in such a way was very efficient. Rather than watching each grade separately, it was good to have an overview of the entire cultivation system. Sometimes, there were stages that seemed disconnected from the others. In fact, some realms also seemed to not be directly related to what had been done before. But in the end, everything was meant to work together in harmony. As there were many things to work within one''s being, everything could not be done at the same time. And some things had to be prepared before beginning to temper more difficult or dangerous aspects of one''s being.


    It also reminded Cao Yun that he should really see his cultivation as a whole, not just as separate things. Even his alchemy and his array formations were helping him in his Qi cultivation and his blood cultivation. His mind cultivation was also essential to everything else. And his martial arts were heavily dependent on his overall cultivation. Since he was working on so many things at the same time, it could be easy for him to forget that they were all working toward the same goal, the Dao. As such, he had to always try to draw connections between everything he was doing.

 Chapter 419: Meeting the Governors son

    Once he was done, Cao Yun realized he still had a few days before the martial art exhibition in the Yun residence. Thus, he could walk around the city and use this time to get other things ready. It had been a while since he had gone to see Hongyu and he wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Besides, Yong Ke was out of town and would probably only be back by the time Cao Yun was ready to act. And Yun Ping was obviously busy with his family.


    Apart from cultivating, Cao Yun had almost nothing to do. Right now, his preparations had to wait until he could figure out precisely where Gu Song''s laboratory was. Despite his best efforts, there were array formations preventing him from clearly isolating either Xue Rui or Gu Song''s presence. He could feel faint traces of Evil Qi that were seeping through those array formations as Evil Qi was corrosive and hard to contain or control. However, he could not tell exactly where they were. Of course, with Dian Mo''s help and knowledge, he could take down some of those array formations. But that would defeat his purpose since his goal was to be discreet about it.


    In fact, he had thought about it as a last resort. Maybe if he broke down every single array formation around the Xue estate, this would reveal Gu Song''s presence. At the very least, it would give a reason for others to intervene. General Yun might even pretend that he thought this was an attack on the city, hence justifying his intervention. But then Cao Yun was faced with the same problem. If Gu Song was killed or captured, he would lose his source of information.


    If the Imperial City got to him, Cao Yun would never obtain his answers. But even if someone else captured him, Gu Song probably had seals in him like many demonic cultivators and everything he was looking for would be consumed. Apart from Cao Yun, no one in Qingyun City could unravel those seals. But Cao Yun would have a hard time explaining how he could do it. Anyway, this would be a last resort indeed.


    Cao Yun was thinking about that while he was walking toward the outskirt of the city. He directly went to the stables where Hongyu was.


    Hongyu was very happy where she was as she could roam freely most of the times. She even could go hunting whenever she wanted to. Slowly, her fifth core was also taking form. Of course, it would be months or even years before it was fully developed and it could completely balance out the evil core. But it was slowly putting it under check. Thanks to Cao Yun''s attention and this fifth core, her evil core was now very calm. The fact that she had no reason to use it was also helping a lot.


    In a situation of crisis, if she had to try and use the Evil Qi in her evil core, she would suffer the consequences. But as long as she was letting it rest, it was not a danger for her anymore. It had been a long time since she had been forced to consume her own blood essence to keep it from harming her. However this was still a dormant threat in her body and it weighed on her mind as much as it did Cao Yun.


    When the young man came to visit her, she was overjoyed and accepted everything he did to her for she knew it was for her own good. Extracting some tiny drops of blood from her, Cao Yun tried to meddle with it using his newly acquired expertise. As his blood cultivation was progressing, he had a deeper knowledge of demonic beasts as well. After all, their cultivation was closer to the demon cultivation rather than the human one. Using his fire and his Rune of Fire in combination with the intent of the Drop of Wrath, he tried to refine those drops of blood. In the end, he realized that the effect was limited but Hongyu''s blood was a bit more resilient and could resist the flow of Evil Qi around her evil core. In other words, he was on the right track.


    After spending some more time with Hongyu to make sure that everything was fine with her, he even flew on her back for some leisure. For now, everything he had put in motion seemed to go well. But soon, he would have to go faster. Until now, he had just made sure that all the information he had gotten was true and accurate and that all the pieces were in place. The main point of his current actions was to attract Gu Song''s attention in a specific way. There was also the matter of discovering exactly where he was of course. Cang Yin might be useful for that even though he didn''t entirely trust her. In fact, he barely trusted her but she had a good incentive to help him right now. However, he had to think of other means to get that piece of intel.


    In order to think, Cao Yun decided to take some time for himself and went back to the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall.


    -


    As was his habit, Cao Yun walked into the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall with his head high. Unlike what he could look like as Cao Yun, as Guai Mo, he truly looked like a haughty alchemist. Some of the servers were even a bit afraid of him. Offending such a character was a death sentence of sorts for them. Even the slightest remark from him and nobody would ever hire them anywhere. Since they were servers, it meant that their cultivation was weak or nonexistent. Sadly, not everyone could become a great cultivator. Many simply didn''t get the resources or the time. And others were wounded, or had bodies that were harder to cultivate. For example, Ren Chao''s physique had made his cultivation slower all his life.


    The paradox was that the servers working here to gain enough resources to cultivate couldn''t find the time to do so because they had to keep working. In the end, it became easier to just ignore their aspirations and live their everyday life to the fullest. With some pills and enough funds, they might even live almost two centuries. This wasn''t bad. For young people, this was plenty of time after all.


    The head waiter immediately recognized Guai Mo and bowed toward him.


    "Venerable alchemist, your usual table is ready. I''ll call for Liu Jiang to serve you right away."


    With just a small nod of his head, Cao Yun answered and kept walking toward his table. Since the incident with Xue Rui, no one dared to cause a scene with Guai Mo. The feud between the two was a bit too much for just anyone to interfere. Even those who wanted to have good relations with the Xue family didn''t want to antagonize a Human alchemist either.


    For a few minutes, he drank with the beautiful Liu Jiang at his side. She was delighted by his visit. Not only could she earn a lot with this customer, she wasn''t afraid that he would make a move on her. As he was enjoying his liquor, the beautiful server began to detail the new dishes the cooks had imagined since his last visit. Before he could place an order though, someone entered the restaurant and caught Cao Yun''s attention. This man was Jiahe Ruo, accompanied by the same two bodyguards he had seen him with in the Governor''s residence.


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    As noble families within the Imperial City were both very close to power and in perpetual danger, they were always conniving to ensure their safety and that they would keep their influence and power. Even if Jiahe Ruo was not in the Imperial City right now, he still had this mentality and Cao Yun could see it in his eyes right away. He hadn''t come in the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall just to dine, he had come for him. As soon as their gazes met, Jiahe Ruo walked toward Cao Yun without paying any mind to everything else. The head waiter who was about to welcome him understood this very quickly and bowed politely without speaking a word.


    "Fellow cultivator, my name is Jiahe Ruo. This is an honor to meet you. I''ve heard so much about your greatness. You will surely become a king among alchemists of your generation. You might even open a new page of the history of alchemy in the Hongchen Kingdom. After Spirit Masters Xiao and Hua, there will be Spirit Master Guai."


    "Mister Jiahe, you praise me a bit too much. For now, I am but a Human alchemist. It will still take me a few years before becoming a Heaven alchemist. But, please, take a seat, I was about to order some delicacies."


    Jiahe Ruo was a bit astonished. The way Cao Yun was speaking, it was already a matter of fact that he would become a Heaven alchemist. And it almost sounded like he was going to go even higher after that. Although his words were not too overbearing, Jiahe Ruo understood immediately why people claimed that he was a bit too arrogant. Thankfully, he seemed to know what he could say and what he should keep quiet. This was a good quality to have, especially when engaged in politics. And whether Guai Mo knew it or not, he had been engaged in a political game since the day he had stepped foot in this city.


    "Oh, Brother Guai, thank you for your generous offer. But since I disturb you, it is only natural for me to invite you. Order whatever you desire."


    "Are you sure about this, Mister Jiahe? I wouldn''t want to cost you too much..."


    "Don''t worry, Brother. I can stomach a lot!"


    Cao Yun had the air of someone trying to be considerate but Jiahe Ruo almost took that as an insult. Of course, as an alchemist, Cao Yun had a lot of money, but surely the Governor''s son could also pay for a single diner. Well, Cao Yun had learned to never refuse a gift. He had no qualm with Jiahe Ruo, so he had offered him an opportunity to rescind his so generous offer. Since he had decided otherwise, Cao Yun would not hold back at all. Besides, he could somewhat guess what this self-important character was after. Because Cao Yun had a poor image of his father, he had to admit that it was also tainting his son. But he had never heard anything too negative about him. From what he had discovered, Jiahe Ruo was not a particularly distasteful fellow at all.


    "Well, since Mister Jiahe is so generous, it would be insulting to reject your kind offer. Miss Liu, all your suggestions were very enticing I must say. In order to celebrate my first meeting Mister Jiahe, I will order every dish you suggested."


    Jiahe Ruo was quite pleased with this answer. In fact, he was even proud of himself at the moment. Of course, he was playing a long political game but everyone in his position was. After all, Cao Yun knew that both Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang were also playing politics with him. But he could still tell that Sect Leader Xuan had more sincerity. Right now, Jiahe Ruo had very little sincerity. To be fair, they had just met. Maybe this meal would be the occasion to test his sincerity.


    "Are you sure, esteemed guest?"


    Liu Jiang was a bit hesitant, but she also had a favorable opinion of Jiahe Ruo and she tried to spare him.


    "What are you talking about?! My friend finds your suggestions appetizing, what more do you need?"


    Jiahe Ruo was in a good mood so he only teased the young waiter jokingly. But she knew better than to make him repeat himself. As such, she quickly stopped protesting. But she knew that poor Jiahe Ruo was in for a surprise. As the son of the Governor, he had some funds, but he was nowhere as rich as that prodigal Guai Mo. The alchemist had already thrown away a string of a thousand coins, the equivalent of an entire tael of gold, just for her because she had waited on him.


    No one knew that the True Essence pills rumors were talking about had all been refined and sold by Cao Yun. Since he had already refined a few of them, he was set for a long time. Even if he stopped producing them, and he had little to no reason to do so as long as he didn''t flood the market, he would still receive a huge amount of money. A single tael of gold was nothing. Before the Alchemy Conference, he was certain he could win dozens of Yuanbao, if not hundreds of them. For Cao Yun, money was not a problem any longer.


    Besides, he had to admit that he had grown fond of the dishes served in that restaurant. Maybe he should also visit the restaurants of the Imperial City when he went for the Alchemy Conference. Because he was used to traveling a lot and being trapped in other worlds, Cao Yun was also used to eating unsavory food. At first, he had come to this restaurant for other purposes, but in the end, delicacies were such a treat, he simply could not pass on them now that he had some free time.


    Even the kitchen was surprised by the order. He had decided to take every single item she had suggested, that would be a lot. All of a sudden, the kitchen got even busier than usual. Guai Mo was known by all and they certainly didn''t want to disappoint him. While the kitchen personnel was working with all the might they could muster, Jiahe Ruo was discussing some matters with Cao Yun.


    "Brother Guai, I heard that you''ve had some trouble with Brother Xue. Listen, I know that he can be a bit difficult to reason with. But I implore Brother to be patient with him. Recently, he''s been under a lot of stress. I''m convinced that if we put you two together in the same room, I could help you mend your relation. There is no reason for any grudge or enmity. You are both alchemists of our great Hongchen Kingdom. And the upcoming competition will determine who the better alchemist is. There is no need to blow this competition out of proportion, right? I''m sure Brother Guai is certain of his victory, so forming a grudge with Brother Xue is ridiculous, right?"


    "Mister Jiahe, this is a rare occurrence for me, but I will prevent you from being ridiculed. I have no intention of mending my relationship with Xue Rui. There is no relationship between me and him. He is just a stepping stone on my path, nothing more. Since you''re being so generous with me today, I''ll do you a huge favor. No matter what benefits you think you might gain from Xue Rui, you won''t. Cut him loose as soon as you can if you know what''s good for you."

 Chapter 420: Eating someones money

    Obviously, Jiahe was quite shocked by this response. Over the years, he had formed a good relationship with Xue Rui as he was the most prominent alchemist in the Subei Province. And he had been right to do so. After all, he had even become a disciple of the famous Wubei Sect, the greatest martial sect of the entire Hongchen Kingdom. But when he heard Guai Mo''s words, he felt an absolute sincerity behind them. There was no hatred for Xue Rui or irrational grudge of any kind in those particular words. His interlocutor seemed to only be stating facts. Although he was not a genius, Jiahe Ruo was not an idiot at all. He had been through enough political intrigue to perceive something behind Cao Yun''s words. Maybe trying to politely distance himself from Xue Rui would be a good idea. But what if he were the one who won the competition?


    Since Xue Rui''s return in Qingyun City, Jiahe Ruo had had not time to talk with him. First of all, he would begin by that.


    Right now, Jiahe Ruo was in a pinch though. He had wanted to bring the conversation toward a favorable place but things seemed rather cold. Apparently, he couldn''t help Guai Mo and Xue Rui find common grounds. Hopefully, he could still prevent them from tearing each other apart. As long as their grudge didn''t reach a life or death situation, he might be able to mediate at least a little. If Xue Rui were to lose the competition, it might fall either way but maybe Jiahe Ruo could salvage the situation and reason with him.


    Anyway, he knew that further talking about Xue Rui would be a mistake now.


    "Brother, let''s talk about more interesting matters. Did you hear that at least seven True Essence pills were auctioned off by the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall?"


    "I heard some rumors from the Major Hall indeed."


    "Of course, of course. But you might not have heard the news I just got wind of."


    Gradually, Jiahe Ruo lowered his voice and tried to direct it toward Cao Yun alone. Sadly, he wasn''t as good as Cao Yun himself. It was even a bit comedic to see him try. But to try and save some face, the Spirit Warrior behind him used his spiritual senses to help him out. Of course, it didn''t escape Cao Yun''s senses. But he had no reason to point it out at all. Besides, he couldn''t imagine what kind of information could be so important about those pills. He was the one who had made them after all.


    "Oh? Do tell."


    "I heard that the Major Hall of our Qingyun City plans to have an auction very soon. And there will be such a True Essence pill. Unfortunately, I couldn''t determine which pill it was, but my informant is very trustworthy. I don''t know who''ll be able to afford it, but I sure would like to see it up close. A Human pill that reached the True Essence quality has to be extraordinary. Hopefully, this will be a 3-star or even 4-star Human pill."


    Cao Yun smiled a little. Of course, he knew that this was fake. He had asked the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to sell his pills for him so he was kept in the loop. Qinghe Ming had given him the places and dates of those auctions and nothing was planned for Qingyun City for now. But maybe it could be a good idea. Cao Yun would have to think about it some more. All of a sudden, many ideas crossed his mind to solve some of his problems.


    If Cao Yun were to ask Hall Master Qinghe to organize an auction in Qingyun City, that fake rumor would attract wealthy characters. Although Jiahe Ruo wasn''t really the wealthy type, he seemed to be the talkative type. In order to curry favor with his ''friends'', Jiahe Ruo was going to spread this rumor all over the city. In particular, Xue Rui would be sure to come. It would be perfect for Cao Yun. Apparently, this Jiahe Ruo was really a good guy in the end.


    "You know, I''ve dabbled a bit in alchemy. Of course, it is nothing worth bragging about. I would feel silly to even flaunt my meager knowledge in front of such a master. But I must say that I found it fascinating. In my eyes, it seemed like a game, trying to find the right combination of ingredients while adjusting the fire accordingly... If only I had more time, I would love to pursue this occupation. But it helped me gain even more admiration for you alchemists."


    As they were talking, the first dishes finally arrived. Even Jiahe Ruo was surprised by the rapidity. Usually he had to wait a bit longer for a single dish. Anyway, maybe he had just been too engrossed in their conversation.


    When he saw the very first dish, Jiahe Ruo didn''t think much about it. It seemed expensive but not that much. It was an Imperial Lotus Blossom Salad. Then, came the Pearl of the Golden Serpent Boiled in its Sea of Profound Essence, the Golden Blossom Rice Nectar with Celestial Truffle Delight, the Ivory Lotus Soup Infused with Moonlight Dew, the Braised Imperial Pork from Chingtian, ... Many more dishes flowed from the kitchen to Cao Yun''s table.


    Before long, there were a dozen of sumptuous plates on the table between the two men. Each plate seemed to be enough to feed a small family. Besides, Jiahe Ruo could recognize some of the ingredients. For example, he had heard about the Celestial Truffles. This wasn''t an easy ingredient to find and the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall would never renege on quality. Their reputation would be on the line otherwise. So those Celestial Truffles had to be the real deal. A single Celestial Truffle could be sold half a tael for a jin. Of course there wasn''t an entire jin of Celestial Truffles in that dish but he could still see large enough pieces of it. In his eyes, each ingredient he was recognizing was not food but gold he was throwing away.


    Then, he saw Cao Yun begin to eat. He simply went from plate to plate, tasting a bit of everything.


    "Mister Jiahe, please, go ahead and eat as well. I can guarantee you that those dishes are rather good."


    ''Rather good?!'' I hope they are for what they cost! Jiahe Ruo kept a cordial smile but he was making a lot of computations in his mind right now. Hell, this entire meal might cost him a month worth of money. Although he had some investments here and there, he was not filthy rich like some kid from impressive lineages. For sure, he wasn''t on equal footing with the Huang family. Damn, he might even be forced to ask his father for some help to pay for all that. He was mortified within. If only he had listened to Guai Mo and that waiter. They had tried to warn him but he didn''t listen...Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "I don''t think we''ll be able to finish with just the two of us... Maybe your bodyguards could help us as well."


    Was that a joke?! But when he saw Cao Yun''s face, he realized it wasn''t. For him this amount of money seemed to be nothing. And the truth was that it was indeed nothing at all. With a single hour of work, he could make a hundred times the cost of all the food in front of him.


    Jiahe Ruo decided to accept his losses. He couldn''t very well send the dishes back. And he certainly wouldn''t ask Guai Mo to pay after what he had told him. After accepting that he had tripped over himself, he didn''t blame Guai Mo who had tried to warn him. He blamed himself. But hopefully, he might still benefit from this situation.


    "Sir Lie, Miss Lie, Brother Guai is right. You won''t be able to enjoy such a meal very often." That was for sure! "So you should take advantage of the occasion. Come on, help us finish it all."


    With this single gesture, Cao Yun''s esteem for Jiahe Ruo increased slightly. He had not been part of his plan, but maybe he might find use for him yet. Right now, Cao Yun was focused on the Xue family and Gu Song. But he was also interested in the Governor. After all, he might also help him unravel some secrets of the Imperial City. The 5th Imperial Brocade Guards was of special interest to him. A province that was so militaristic might know a bit about them. And Governor Jiahe might know even more. Although Cao Yun''s priority was the Xue family, he could still prepare the ground for gaining information on the Governor and the central administration.


    Besides, he was certain that there was a link between the Governor and Cang Yin. And he had to be sure to control her until it was time. The thief knew that he was tight with the Huang family. Unlike her, he couldn''t change his face at leisure, he was just able to alter the vibe he was giving off enough so no one could recognize he was Chen Guo even if they knew him. They were still seeing Chen Guo''s face but they simply couldn''t place him. Of course, he could kill the thief. But as annoying as she seemed, she didn''t seem like she was evil. Anyway, he was still thinking about maybe simply capturing her and keeping her locked down until he was done... But the situation might help him secure her for the long run. After all, she might be extremely useful as a spy in the near future.


    After the plates, incredible wines began to appear on the table. Before he could lose all rationality, Jiahe Ruo decided that what was done was done. Instead of lamenting on the poor decision he had made, he decided to enjoy the moment.


    In the end, his two bodyguards also did. And Jiahe Ruo was forced to admit that what he was eating was worth the price...


    Thanks to his attitude, Jiahe Ruo was also able to have a more enjoyable conversation with Cao Yun. But they didn''t talk about anything of importance at all. After almost blowing it with the mention of Xue Rui''s name, Jiahe Ruo was just going for a civil and friendly conversation. Maybe he would get to more difficult subjects later, but not today...


    In the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall, Cao Yun and Jiahe Ruo were savoring the feast that was laid before their eyes. Jiahe Ruo had completely forgotten about how much this would cost him as he was even sucking the juice of some caramelized pork from his fingers. He was forced to admit that this restaurant was living up to its reputation. Thankfully, when he often visited this place, he wasn''t ordering as much food all the time. Contrary to the appearances, Jiahe Ruo had no lofty ambitions. As long as he could keep enjoying his life, he was happy. He didn''t even care about being governor, but he wanted his life to sail smoothly. The best job for him would be a quiet administrative role near a capital, maybe even in the Imperial City itself.


    And with the war brewing, he really wanted to get away from any potential fight before he could get drafted in one. His cultivation was essentially the result of pills, to the point where he was terrified by the idea of attempting the Lesser Tribulation. He was almost certain he would not survive it. At the very least, he would be terribly injured. As a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, he could live for several centuries. In fact, he might even keep looking young for the two or three centuries to come. Maybe he would just slowly work on mustering the courage and the confidence. Hopefully, he might even be able to get his hands on some legendary pill. After all, Spirit Masters Xiao and Hua had refined a Spirit pill recently.


    This was a small part of the reason why he was befriending alchemists. But the major reason was to make sure to always have some friends in high places. And the best way to do so was to befriend them before they could get to those higher places. As such, some of them would remember him fondly. Even those who would not pay him back would still not have any grudge against him. Thus, Jiahe Ruo was trying to sail through the world while making friends any chance he could. The problem was to deal with two alchemists he wanted to befriend but who seemed to be set on killing each other.


    After much consideration, Jiahe Ruo decided that the wisest move would be to keep cordial relations with the two of them without taking sides. During the upcoming months, he would try to keep his distances under the guise of letting them get ready for the competition. Once a winner was announced, it would be easier to see things clearly. But he would still need to maintain a certain level of social etiquette with the two of them. Since he had talked about the auction to Cao Yun, he would have to do the same with Xue Rui. Making friends wasn''t as easy as it looked. Every time, it was a balancing act between several people. He had to try to offend as few people as he could and he had to choose who to offend very carefully.


    On the other side of the table, Cao Yun was also savoring his meal. He was picking pieces of food in every plate and was tasting different wines as well. In his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was salivating even without a mouth. As he could experience the outside world through Cao Yun''s senses, he was able to taste the food and the wine as well. At any moment, Cao Yun could simply cut off his perception from Dian Mo. Indeed, they had negotiated that much. But he wouldn''t do so for two main reasons.


    The first one was that he intended to keep the time he had to conceal some important information, not the taste of meat. And the second one was that it was giving him a way of pressuring Dian Mo, just in case. At any moment, he could take this pleasure away. Dian Mo had most of the cards in hand as he had a lot of knowledge Cao Yun might like to learn. Since Cao Yun had already promised to keep his existence a secret and even to protect him if need be, he had very few bargaining chips. However, he had realized how much Dian Mo craved some sensations.


    In Cao Yun''s eyes, Dian Mo was some kind of hermit who wanted to experience the outside world without being confronted by it. As such, living vicariously through the young human might in fact be a blessing in disguise, no matter how much he would deny it.

 Chapter 421: Rehearsed humility

    Finally, Cao Yun and Jiahe Ruo were done eating. After some more niceties, they also parted ways.


    Cao Yun left first. Jiahe Ruo was then handed the full bill by the head waiter. When he saw how much this meal had cost, Jiahe Ruo almost fainted and fell backward. Thankfully, his bodyguard, Miss Jie, supported him. Of course, the head waiter had known that this would be a huge amount of money for Jiahe Ruo so he kept completely quiet. He didn''t want to upset him any more than he was. Besides, he knew that he would be good for it anyway.


    "My servants will bring you the money by the end of the week."


    "Thank you, esteemed guest."


    While Jiahe Ruo had been enjoying the meal he spent most of his monthly income in, his father had been busy as well. He would use the martial exhibition of General Yun in order to talk with him. But for now, he had gone to Patriarch Xue Liu. The simple fact that he was personally visiting the Xue family had to be noted. As the Governor, he was more used to calling people to his residence. Right now, he was trying to show his sincerity considering that he was clearly making up excuses and lying.


    Xue Liu was way older than Yun Po but like him he was a 6th-Spirit Warrior. He had had two sons and a single daughter. Since then, at least four generations had gone by. Right now, the younger generation was as estranged to him as if they were not from his own blood. This was the strange thing about living old enough, even your descendants felt like strangers at some point. And yet, he had not even lived for a millennium. Xue Liu could imagine what someone who had lived for several millennia could feel about their descendants. There would be such a divide between them that they would barely recognize them as theirs.


    With his great age, Patriarch Xue had formed a few friendship in the Imperial City. As such, Governor Jiahe didn''t want to upset him too much. However, he had to admit that the Yun family was getting more and more influential. He had even been scolded by an Imperial Inspector because of his lack of support to the Yun family. Since then, he had been afraid of his power slipping through his fingers.


    As Counselor Huotu had noted during a session of his Cabinet, they had to ensure a minimum of military strength to appease the Imperial City. But they shouldn''t do too much so as to not anger the Xue family. Otherwise, the same thing that had happened to the Sunmen Province might happen to them. The Imperial City had decided to appoint a general as a governor there, the renown Silver Wolf General. Unfortunately, General Yun was starting to look like a new Silver Wolf General. But even without him, Jiahe Lan had heard words about officials wanting to appoint the Silver Wolf General as the Special Administrator of the entire Western Hongchen. Such a move would improve the coordination of all forces against the demons. But he was certain that he would lose his seat as the general wouldn''t approve of his political schemes.


    Thus, Jiahe Lan was pressed on all fronts. He had to manage the two families so they didn''t grow too powerful to overthrow his authority. For that, he had to pit them against one another, which wasn''t too hard to be honest as they already hated each other''s guts. But at the same time, he had to try and make them work together to save face with the Imperial City.


    Governor Jiahe had pondered over the matter for some time, alone in his chambers. There, he had even had a small room build with as much Void Nurtured Platinum as possible in order to be perfectly isolated. Each time he had a big decision to make, he liked to seclude himself. Sometimes it could take him days mulling over the matter. He had so many political matters to consider that it was difficult. Because he didn''t want to upset anyone, making a decision was a terrible headache every single time. Luckily, for now, he had been able to preserve his interests. However, the Yun family who was protecting the border with their life would get the short end of the stick. The main reason was simple. Although the Xue family was stronger, it had been stagnant for decades. On the other hand, the Yun family was growing in power. He couldn''t accept that!


    "Patriarch Xue, this unworthy one has failed you. This Guai Mo asked us to participate in the upcoming competition and we were forced to accept. Otherwise, he might have gone to another family, maybe even directly to General Yun. But Xue Rui still has all of our support. Having a true son of our Subei Province enter the Alchemy Conference would be a great honor for us all."


    Patriarch Xue was very familiar with Governor Jiahe''s methods. As such, he knew exactly what game he was playing. And he intended to play along with him in order to get the best outcome he could. Jiahe Lan was indeed always trying to please everyone. In front of him, he would acclaim his prowess and depreciate General Yun. In front of General Yun though, he would do the opposite. Having a straight answer from this man was almost impossible. And even when you did, you couldn''t trust his words to be put into action. Although he was a politician even Xue Liu despised, he could be useful. The truth was that Patriarch Xue had always supported him so he could keep his seat, because he was easy to work with.


    "Governor, please, raise your head. I did overhear of this matter. It is I who is ashamed to keep my head high in your presence. Your trouble was caused by one of my young descendants. If Xue Rui had been able to build a good relation with this Guai Mo, the matter would be over by now. I can assure you that he will be reprimanded for his stupidity. And this will serve him well when he gets to the Alchemy Conference. Young people can be cocky, it''s normal. But it''s our role as elders to teach them the right way."


    "Indeed you are a great man, Patriarch Xue. Did you also hear of the martial art exhibition planned by General Yun?"


    "Of course I did. I will send someone on my behalf. I do not care much about some show of strength. However, it proves how fragile General Yun''s power is. I never needed to show the strength of my family in public. I let our successes talk for us."


    "Indeed, Patriarch Xue. The Yun family is still a bit immature. But this will be a good occasion as all the families will be there. Unfortunately, I will probably be forced to attend. After all, I have to spare the Yun''s face."Stolen story; please report.


    Jiahe Lan was shrewd but he was absolutely transparent as well. Maybe he could have been a good governor of a more peaceful province. But as war was brewing, he was probably the worst official to run things. In fact, Xue Liu had been thinking about replacing him for quite some time. And he might be able to find a reason very soon. After all, he had heard about the Imperial Inspector''s anger of his treatment of the Yun family. Thanks to his position, Xue Liu could put pressure on him so he did the same to General Yun. That way, he would weaken the Yun family and lower the Governor''s status as well, while keeping his hands clean.


    "I imagine that Guai Mo will also be present. This might be a good opportunity to try and make him see things more clearly. Maybe you could even try to take him in. He should understand that Xue Rui will win the competition. It will be a great honor for our Qingyun City and the entire Subei Province when he takes part in the Alchemy Conference. No matter how talented he is, this Guai Mo is a stranger. He wasn''t born or even raised in our Subei Province. Instead of being humiliated by my descendant, it might be better for him to accept a good position within the Governor''s residence."


    "Do not worry, Patriarch Xue. I hear you loud and clear. I will personally make sure that he hears all that. But I fear that he won''t listen. Anyway, if he doesn''t know what''s good for him, Xue Rui will put things straight in his mind. And I will personally make sure that the competition is absolutely fair from start to finish. You have my word. I can''t wait to see Xue Rui represent us in the Alchemy Conference. I am sure he will be bring our Subei Province great honor."


    "Thank you, Governor."


    "Thank you, Patriarch."


    Governor Jiahe bade farewell to Patriarch Xue and left the residence to go back to his own. Just after his return, he called a meeting of his entire Cabinet. For several hours, they would analyze every word of Patriarch Xue. Like always, they were gathered in a special room that was made specifically to ward off spiritual senses so that no one could listen in on them. Although nothing was perfect, it was still very efficient. Besides, there were no Spirit Warriors above the seventh grade in town, so no one should be able to eavesdrop unless they were literally standing outside the room and using their full spiritual senses. Obviously, they would be discovered.


    Minister Yong was dismayed by Governor Jiahe''s priorities. Instead of talking about very important policies, he was obsessed by those trivial political intrigues...


    -


    After his time spent with Cao Yun, Jiahe Ruo began to ponder about what he had told him about Xue Rui. Jiahe Ruo had had the foresight of befriending Xue Rui as soon as he started to touch upon alchemy. Even before that, he had been careful to have a few meetings by chance with the young Xue Rui so that he would leave a good impression. Always keeping some form of contact with the young people of all important families was a good strategy to find out some talented cultivators before they came to prominence. That way they wouldn''t feel like they had been approached just for their talent.


    But when Xue Rui really began to show a knack for alchemy, of course, Jiahe Ruo got more and more friendly with him over time. The point was to make sure that it wasn''t too obvious. Although Jiahe Ruo had no particular talent, he knew how to work people. In the circles he was living, it was maybe the most important skill of all. Maybe he would never amount to much in the administration of the Hongchen Kingdom. But at least, he could get a comfortable position and leave peacefully.


    In fact, Jiahe Ruo even helped Xue Rui obtain a few ingredients and some tools at the beginning. Since he was living in the shadow of his brother, Xue Rui had been lacking some things that Jiahe Ruo provided. And he had been repaid a lot when Xue Rui refined his first pills. He was even able to introduce him to other alchemists he knew before his family could. Of course, the Xue family had even more contacts, but what mattered was that Jiahe Ruo had helped him first. This left a deep impression in the young boy he was back there.


    When Xue Rui joined the Wubei Sect, Jiahe Ruo was obviously bursting with joy... for his friend of course...


    But he had to admit that Xue Rui wasn''t too likable, but he didn''t seem too awful either. However Jiahe Ruo had not met him since his return. Thus, he decided to visit Xue Rui before rumors could spread about him meeting with Guai Mo. Xue Rui seemed to be really paranoid about this Guai Mo, so it was better for him to learn of this meeting from Jiahe Ruo''s lips.


    Obviously, Jiahe Ruo was known by all the servants of the Xue family so he was quickly lead to Xue Rui''s chambers even though he had not warned anyone of his visit.


    Before he entered the room though, he heard some noises he did quite like. Clearly, someone was being beaten in there. Immediately, he sent a glance at his bodyguards. Mister Lie used his spiritual senses and described what was going on to his young master.


    In the middle of the room, a servant was kneeling on the ground. And Xue Rui was beating her up with abandon. Thankfully, she was a Mortal Warrior so she could take that kind of punishment. A mere mortal or even an early Mortal would have died after a handful of strikes, their flesh completely reduced to mush. Although it was legal to punish one''s servant as long as nothing too extreme was done, this kind of behavior was unbecoming of a gentleman.


    Besides, from Mister Lie''s description, Xue Rui was just venting his anger. There was no point behind this beating except to inflict pain and humiliation on someone else. Considering the bruises on the poor servant''s skin and her cultivation, it had lasted at least an hour and yet, Xue Rui was still striking.


    For a moment, Jiahe Ruo wanted to leave. But the servants had seen him come in, he couldn''t just leave without an explanation as to his visit. So he would have to get inside this room and try to act civil while a young woman was kneeling on the ground, her clothes torn and her skin red, purple and blue under the assault of her master...


    Thankfully, he heard a nice voice behind him. Another young woman had just saved him.


    "Mister Jiahe? What a nice surprise to see you today. If I had known that you were coming, I would have prepared something for you. Do you want our cooks to..."


    "No thank you."


    Jiahe was a bit disgusted by food for the time being. Yes, what he had feasted upon had been absolutely extraordinary, but its cost was eating away at his sanity. For the foreseeable future, he would not have anything to do with food. Besides, this feast had ruined him. Even the food of his residence wasn''t that good... But he couldn''t eat at the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall too often either.


    "Oh?"


    "I''m sorry, Miss Qiang. But I don''t have that much time. I was on my way back when I suddenly remembered that I had something important to tell your husband."


    Qiang Zilan had not been too careful, but her senses were not as good as a half-step Spirit Warrior. Now that she was so close to the door, she could clearly hear a familiar sound. Her husband was beating on Zhong Ling once more...

 Chapter 422: Zhong Lings torment

    When Qiang Zilan had met Xue Rui a couple of years ago, he wasn''t the kind of man who would do such a thing. Xue Rui had first returned from the Wubei Sect around two years ago after the demonic beast stampede. Since then, the master he had brought home had stayed here while Xue Rui had gone back. And because of the Alchemy Conference and the competition to get a spot for this national event, he had come back once again. But this time, he had promised to take Qiang Zilan with him to the Imperial City. Soon, he would graduate from the Wubei Sect and he would be free to act as he pleased.


    For the Wubei Sect, his absence wasn''t a problem at all. During the fourth and fifth years, students were completely free. And if they didn''t take advantage of the facilities of the Wubei Sect, this wasn''t a loss for the sect at all. In fact, it was even better for them as they could focus their efforts on other disciples who might become inner disciples. Besides, it had been clear from the beginning that Xue Rui would never become one. Otherwise, they might have tried to keep him, just like Sect Leader Xuan had done everything he could to keep Cao Yun.


    That being said, Qiang Zilan thought it would have been better for him to be within the Wubei Sect. Maybe they could have helped him more. Within his family, no one was telling him anything. In the Wubei Sect, his outbursts would have been dealt with accordingly. On the other hand, she was convinced that she could be helpful into controlling his impulses. She also strangely trusted his master Gu Song. But maybe Xue Rui was just a lost cause... However, she had chosen this life and she would not go back on her decision. For better or for worse, her fate was linked with Xue Rui''s.


    Qiang Zilan asked Jiahe Ruo to wait an instant as she entered the room first. Behind her, her small servant was cowering in fear. The poor child had always been impressed by Xue Rui. Qiang Zilan had chosen her as a servant when she had entered the Xue family because she was very young and extremely cute. That little girl seemed completely lost in this new world and this reminded Qiang Zilan of herself. She too had been thrown in an unknown world. And right now, she felt like she was drowning in it. Although she had other, more practical reasons, to marry Xue Rui, she still had a lot of affection for him.


    Recently though, she could feel that he was slipping away. The stress, if it was what was responsible, had changed him completely. Every day, he was being more violent and unrestrained. Although she didn''t know too much about cultivation, she feared that he had strayed and was suffering from Qi deviation or worse, an inner demon. Since Gu Song was a 4-star Heaven alchemist, she was certain he could help him, without realizing he was the main cause behind this behavior.


    Her family had been a small noble household with almost no wealth to speak of. His father had been able to survive as a merchant of luxuries. But he had been killed by bandits and the family had lost everything in the following years. Nowadays, she could not even remember the face of her father. Because of the misfortune of her family, Qiang Zilan had to be married as she had no great talent for cultivation or for any important occupation. Sadly, she wasn''t a very good merchant either and she couldn''t save the family business. The poor Qiang Zilan was very average except for her looks that made her quite charming. As such, she was able to find several suitors. In the end, she had decided to become Xue Rui''s concubine due to his talent in alchemy. But, to be honest, she had found him quite interesting as well. However, he was slowly changing in front of her very eyes.


    When she entered the chambers of her husband, Qiang Zilan was horrified. On the bed lay the beaten, bruised, broken and naked body of Zhong Ling. Thankfully, she was still breathing. But that vision would never leave Qiang Zilan. From this day forward, she would never be able to look at Xue Rui without seeing this. Behind her, the small servant was cowering in fear, paralyzed by terror.


    "Oh...?"


    Xue Rui had failed to notice her at first.


    "Good. Ask your servant to send that away. I won''t need her for a while."


    Almost petrified, Qiang Zilan took some time to answer. She took a deep breathe and walked toward her husband.


    "What... What..."


    Now that he was done, Xue Rui was putting his robe back on. It had been a long time since he had a clear mind. However, he was completely oblivious to the terror in his concubine''s eyes. Instead, he was overjoyed that that dual cultivation had worked. His Heart Locking Fire Pact was now calmer than ever. Qiang Zilan''s servant couldn''t take her eyes off Zhong Ling''s body. She had lost consciousness. Most likely, Xue Rui had drugged first before abusing her.


    The poor little girl was pleading her mistress without uttering a word.


    "What''s wrong?"


    With innocent eyes, Xue Rui asked his wife. That was when she realized something about her husband. For him, Zhong Ling was barely human, she was just something he could use. Then, something clicked in her mind. Her husband was a demonic cultivator and so was Gu Song. She realized how stupid she had been all this time. She had been begging the man responsible for her husband''s condition to help him. However, now that she knew, she could do nothing. Even if she was ready to abandon him, she might still be accused of his crimes. After all, she had helped him get Zhong Ling.


    At that moment, she steeled her heart. Although she looked like a fragile doll, she was everything but fragile. That facade had been created so she could find the right suitor.


    "My servant is too weak for such a task."


    "Oh? Yes, you''re right..."


    With a flick of the finger, he sent a jolt of Qi in Zhong Ling''s acupoints. With a spasm of pain, she was brought back to her senses. First disoriented, she then saw the three people looking at her naked body and she quickly grabbed her clothes to hide herself.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Now, she can help her out. Get out of there! And don''t think about doing anything stupid or you know what will happen to your parents!"


    Zhong Ling didn''t make a sound. She simply stood up, tried to keep her clothes together and left the room. Shaking and sobbing, Zhong Ling was taken away by the young servant who was barely able to understand what was going on around her. Since Jiahe Ruo was behind the door, the servant took another path. However, Jiahe Ruo had heard most of what had happened thanks to his bodyguard. Unlike Xue Rui''s wife though, he had not pieced everything together. After all, she knew him better than anyone. Most of all, she knew his eyes.


    Jiahe Ruo also didn''t know how to act. Guai Mo had been more right than he had thought, he had to distance himself from such a ''friend''...


    "Husband, Mister Jiahe is here to see you. If you want to, I can ask him to come back later..."


    "Mister Jiahe...? No... No. Let him in."


    In a hurry, Xue Rui tried to tidy his clothes to appear in a better light. Still blemish, Qiang Zilan opened the door once more and let them in. Xue Rui didn''t speak much and Jiahe Ruo wanted to leave as soon as possible. Thus, their conversation was very short indeed. He simply stated that he had heard a rumor about a great auction in the Major Hall in the upcoming days. Maybe it would be a good idea to get away from all the stress of the competition by attending this auction. Even if he couldn''t buy anything, he would still see great products. Then, he alluded to his meeting Guai Mo. But considering Xue Rui''s previous outburst, he stayed very vague. Jiahe Ruo was clear enough so that Xue Rui would not be too surprised to hear the news later, but he never mentioned Guai Mo by name once.


    In fact, only Qiang Zilan understood who he was referring to. And unlike Xue Rui who was still a bit lost, she could feel that Jiahe Ruo was distancing himself from her husband. Hell, he might even decide to closer to this Guai Mo. This was bad... Her husband was already losing it but if he lost a very old friend, this might get worse even faster. But it was a good thing that Jiahe Ruo had not seen that spark in her husband''s wife. He was just convinced that Xue Rui was a cruel and sadistic man. To be fair, if she was in Jiahe''s shoes, she would have done everything to get away from Xue Rui in a very public manner. However, she was his wife.


    Even now, Qiang Zilan was trying to rationalize that Gu Song was responsible for all of this. If she could get him away from him, she might be able to save her husband. But then Zhong Ling would be a witness... Slowly, strange ideas began to emerge in Qiang Zilan''s mind, ideas that disgusted her. She felt as though she was infected by the evil of her husband. But after the Alchemy Conference, everything would be fine. Once it was over, they would escape Gu Song''s influence. She had to hold him together until then. She had to believe that!


    "Mister Jiahe. My husband is indeed under a lot of pressure. Maybe attending the auction with you might soothe his nerves. In fact, I am sure that spending a day or two in your company would take his mind off of alchemy. I know that you are a busy man, but could you please help my husband out?"


    With such a request, Jiahe Ruo had a hard time saying no, even though he greatly desired to do so. In the end, he smiled and accepted her proposal. Before long, the Governor''s son finally left.


    When facing Jiahe Ruo, Qiang Zilan was quite ashamed. Not only had her husband beaten up a young woman, but she knew what he had done beforehand. It was obvious after entering the room. Thankfully, Jiahe Ruo had not known for sure. Of course, he might think about it. But he would never believe it to be true...


    "Mister Jiahe, please let me see if my husband is ready to receive any visitors."


    Both Jiahe Ruo and Qiang Zilan feigned as though they didn''t know what was going on behind this closed door. None of them wanted to talk about such a matter. Instead, they acted as though nothing was going on at all. And Qiang Zilan went back to her husband with a red face.


    ''Poor girl...''


    Although Jiahe Ruo felt for Qiang Zilan, in the end, he cared more about his future and his reputation. He would do everything to lead a happy and peaceful life. That meant that he couldn''t help that girl get away from her husband. She had probably made the worst mistake of her life without even realizing it. Even now she didn''t seem to have realized it yet. But when she did, it would be too late...


    Of course, Jiahe Ruo was also worried about the servant Xue Rui had been beating up. However, he couldn''t think of a good way to help her either. His best bet was to wait for a while and try to petition either his father or Patriarch Xue. In fact, he might petition both. But the result would be highly dependent on whether he had won the competition or not. If the two of them wanted to cover for him, Jiahe Ruo would not be able to do anything. And as much as what he had witnessed was disgusting him, he would not stick his neck out for someone he didn''t know, especially if he had almost no chance to help her anyway.


    -


    During the period before the Yun''s martial art exhibition, many other families had been holding meetings. There were obvious political aftermath to consider as they all had to position themselves in regards with the conflict between the Yun family and the Xue family. Some families were fully endorsing the Xue as they were still greatly influential. In fact, Patriarch Xue even had some influence in the Imperial City. Contrary to General Yun, he wasn''t just competent on a battlefield, he was also a crafty old fox who had a network all over the Hongchen Kingdom. Although he was not at the level of some great families like the Huang family, he could still hold his head high almost everywhere.


    On the other hand, some families thought that supporting General Yun was a better idea. After all, war was upon them. The Yun family would surely gain in prestige and in strength in the coming years. If they were among the first supporters, they could reap many benefits. There were still a few families who thought about the greater good and also decided to side with the Yun because they were the best suited to protect the borders.


    One family everyone was interested in was the Huang family. Even if they were still weak in the Subei Province, they were renown throughout the entire Hongchen Kingdom. If Huang Si were to pick a side, this would completely change things. Thankfully for the Governor, she had mostly kept to herself. It was obvious she was here with a specific purpose and didn''t want to show herself too much before it was accomplished. From what Governor Jiahe had gathered, she had lost the battle for succession in her own family. As such, it was possible that she had come here to hide for a time. But deep down, he was feeling like there was more to this story.


    Anyway, Governor Jiahe had too many things to consider. For several weeks, he sent representatives to many family heads. In fact, he even sent a few secretaries or better yet, counselors. His own minister visited the few high families apart from the Yun and the Xue. Right now, he was trying to ensure the support of everyone. As much as he didn''t want to lower himself to going directly to them, it was the best option for him. After all, he had to preserve his province or the Imperial City could have his head. The Imperial Inspector had already claimed that he was not putting the safety of the borders as his top priority. At least, he had to make it look like he cared...

 Chapter 423: Father and son ready to fight

    As Governor Jiahe Lan was trying to make himself look good, the martial art exhibition of the Yun family had arrived. Every major family was represented by their respective family head apart from the Xue family of course. Even the families who had sided with Patriarch Xue Liu were here. After all, they didn''t have the same influence and power as the Xue family. Besides, the Governor had also insinuated that this would be a good thing if the event was well attended.


    Although the Yun family had had some economic problems, and had even been forced to get into debt, they were not poor. That debt had been forced on them because there was urgency during the demonic beast stampede. Hopefully, it would soon be paid in full. That being said, they didn''t go overboard with the exhibition. General Yun''s goal was rather clear, he wanted to show the military might of his family. Everyone had understood that and they had come with that in mind. Even if the wine and the food weren''t as good as those of the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall, at the very least, they would see a great show.


    Jiahe Ruo was also present. Of course, Xue Rui wasn''t. Seeing the tables with wine and food made him think back about his money. During the entire event, he couldn''t swallow anything.


    Even now, Yun Ping was still training alone in his private courtyard. Although the Yun estate wasn''t grandiose, it had much room to train. After all, the entire household was known for its military prowess.


    Often Cao Yun had trained with Yun Ping under the Major Hall. But recently, he had been busier and busier. Every single time they had trained together, Yun Ping had felt like he was holding his friend back. But it was mostly in his head really. Indeed, Yun Ping had progressed a lot and progressively both Cao Yun and Yong Ke found the sparring sessions more challenging. Besides, Cao Yun was only training one move, ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. From the time he had come to Qingyun City, Cao Yun had probably performed this move thousands of times.


    If Cao Yun had been keeping a count, he would have reached almost ten thousand repetitions of the same move. But every single time, it was different. Cao Yun was focusing on all the small subtleties in his technique. Yun Ping''s technique had considerably improved. It was just his physical strength that wasn''t on par with his previous ability. Otherwise, his father would have never thought about holding this exhibition. Anyway, sparring with Yun Ping had allowed Cao Yun to understand many things about his own technique.


    In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun could sometimes perceive ghostly figures in the sky all around the Horn Star. Those were the manifestations of the Horn Constellation. At the same time, the golden Insight Writings flying around in the air and floating in the ocean were shining brightly and acting with more and more life. However, they were also gaining the colors of the stars themselves here and there. Clearly, Cao Yun''s understanding of the spear was getting better every time. As such, he also needed to meditate over it and not train all the time.


    As much as training with Yun Ping had been useful, Cao Yun had to admit that sparring with the same partners every time was not the best option. Indeed, they would become too used to one another and their progress would slow down. In fact, this could even develop bad habits within them. Unfortunately, they were lacking other training partners right now. Cao Yun could not show his spearmanship in public as Guai Mo.


    In the main courtyard, General Yun was welcoming his guests. Around him were all the other elders. Although Yun Po wasn''t the oldest, he was the strongest and so were his cultivation and his martial arts. No one would contest that. Even Xue Liu was forced to admit that Yun Po was probably stronger than him. If they were to fight fair and square, Patriarch Xue would likely lose. That wasn''t something he would admit in public though.


    "Esteemed guests, thank you for accepting our invitation on such short notice. I know that things are getting darker and darker. Many rumors about a coming war with the demons are being spread. The great Wubei Sect almost fell because of insidious traitors and a large part of our Hongchen Kingdom suffered under the teeth and claws of unleashed demonic beasts. However, what is important to note is that we withstood all of that!


    "Emperor Nuwa fought in a world where humans were considered as lowly as animals. Our ancestors were treated as cattle and slaves. Despite all the odds against her, Emperor Nuwa vanquished Demon God Da Mo. If our ancestors could survive such tyranny and debasement, then how could we fall so easily? How could we tarnish their name? Today, my family will show its might for all to see. And I invite each and every one of you to do the same. You can challenge anyone with the same cultivation as you, or lower yours to do so. Today, we want to showcase and share our martial arts. So don''t fight to destroy your opponent, fight to learn from them."


    The crowd cheered. And for several hours, there were many fights. Of course, the fights between Mortals started first. And slowly, more and more powerful fighters participated. Jiahe Lan also tried to insert himself in the speech of General Yun. After all, he was supposed to be the protector of the Subei Province, not the Yun family.


    Finally, most of the day had gone by. It was time for General Yun''s involvement. There was another reason for this exhibition. Within the Yun family, there had been more and more rumors about Yun Ping. Although everyone had found admirable his courage during the demonic beast stampede, the truth was that his strength had been greatly diminished. Thus, a majority of the elders now wanted to give his ''Eternal Rampart'' to another young cultivator. This wasn''t the best weapon of their family as a 4-star Human spear. But it was still very good for a Mortal Warrior and it was a family heirloom with an emotional history behind. Indeed, it had been the first spear used by their progenitor, the woman who had founded the Yun family a few centuries ago.


    Today, General Yun intended to silence all those voices who didn''t even dare be heard by him directly. Since Yun Ping was his son, he had grown irritated by those opinions. However, he could understand them and they were not directed against his son, they were aiming for the good of the Yun family. Knowing all that, he also knew the best way to silence them all.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Esteemed guests, everything we saw was indeed great. But let''s not forget that our old bones will be replaced by our young blood. Thus, I propose to you a fight between me and my successor, my son, Yun Ping."


    Everyone was surprised, even the elders. If Yun Ping performed poorly in front of such an audience, this would be a slap to their face. And if General Yun Po lowered his strength too much to make him look good, it would immediately be seen through. What was he thinking?! However, they couldn''t voice their concerns in front of outsiders. Now, they could only hope that Yun Ping had not grown too weak recently...


    After he was done speaking, General Yun disappeared. The next instant, Yun Ping was standing on a wide platform that was a tiny bit above the ground. As his left sleeve was fluttering to the wind, he was holding the ''Eternal Rampart'' and there was a terrifying aura all around him. Some elders finally understood that they had been mistaken to some extent. But still, this fight couldn''t end well for them...


    On the other side of the platform was General Yun without his armor. That was a sight to see. Almost no one among the other families had seen him in normal clothes. In fact, some even didn''t recognize him even though they had seen him all day long.


    General Yun drew out his own weapon. It was a spear even taller that ''Eternal Rampart'', but it was extremely thin and elongated. At first glance, there was nothing impressive about it. But just being near this spear was enough to make everyone gasp for air. Even for Yun Ping who knew this weapon, it was hard to stand straight and to breathe. With this simple spear, General Yun had killed thousands upon thousands of demons. Their very blood had tempered this spear. Somehow, their killing intent was now melted within the weapon along with General Yun''s.


    As such, General Yun had named it ''Demon''s Bane''. Originally, it was a 1-star Heaven weapon. But now it had turned into a 5-star Heaven weapon, the greatest weapon of the Yun family. Contrary to Human weapons, Heaven weapons could indeed progress in ranks. Human weapons were powerful because Qi could be injected in them. And their ranks depended mainly on how much Qi they could receive before they shattered.


    Heaven weapons were different. They would absorb the Qi of their environment to nourish themselves. In a fight, this could allow a cultivator to spare his own Qi. But it also meant that by pouring Qi in their weapon, they would also increase their intimacy with it and change the very weapon. As such, their martial arts would become more and more powerful as the weapon would adapt to them. The grade then referred to how much Qi the weapon could absorb and how much of it was staying within. ''Demon''s Bane'' had reached the highest grade it could right now. In order to reach the Spirit grade, a 1-star Spirit blacksmith was required. But just like alchemy and array formations, no one was able to reach such a grade any longer.


    A Spirit weapon could slowly form a consciousness within itself. Technically, it would begin during the Heaven stage. But in order for that spirit to form, the weapon had to be modified. Only a spiritual weapon could evolve on its own without a blacksmith. For normal weapons, it could take millenniums for a spirit to naturally form. So it wasn''t strictly speaking impossible. However, most weapons simply never lasted that long without a good blacksmith to take care of them.


    Anyway, when faced with his father holding his most terrible and powerful weapon, Yun Ping grabbed ''Eternal Rampart'' and assumed a fighting stance. He could see in his father''s eyes that he was serious. As such, Yun Ping was ready to show him to full extent of his might. He would prove that all his efforts had paid off. Of course, his father already knew that or he wouldn''t have acted this way. But now, Yun Ping wanted to show everyone in the family. Not only would it improve their view of him, but it would also help his father''s position.


    Before the fight could even start, Yun Ping decided to show off a little. After all this was the entire point of this event.


    After working several weeks on his acupoints, Yun Ping had developed a replacement for his left Lao Gong, but he had not stopped there. Indeed, he had already been close to a breakthrough. And thanks to his rigorous training, his three other Prodigious Gates had been opened. With Cao Yun''s help, his new Lao Gong which was an amalgam of several acupoints could also be considered open. As such, Yun Ping had been able to break through to the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior stage.


    In front of everyone present, he fully opened all his Prodigious Gates except his Bai Hui. As his Wei Qi became denser and denser, they could all see that he had indeed broken through despite his injury. Beside, this breakthrough had been extremely stable. He hadn''t used some pill to advance. If he had been able to replace his missing Lao Gong, it meant that he might very well continue his Qi cultivation in the future. If Yun Ping wasn''t stuck at the 1st-grade Mortal Warrior stage, it changed everything for the elders and the entire Yun family.


    Despite the rumors and the opinions of the elders, they truly liked Yun Ping and sincerely believed he had been a hero during the demonic beast stampede. However, they were also practical and had to think about the Yun family and the fate of the Subei Province before their emotional attachment. That being said, if Yun Ping could prove he was up to the task, they would be happy to keep him as the successor. Besides, General Yun Po had already suffered through the death of his wife and they wanted him to be as happy as possible. He had helped the Yun family and mankind as whole so much, he deserved some good things in life.


    Both General Yun Po and his son Yun Ping were using the martial art of their ancestor, ''Thunder Breaking Wall''. This martial art had been created by the progenitor of the Yun lineage a few centuries ago. Although it wasn''t very old when compared with other martial arts, it had been tempered on the battlefields. And it was absolutely terrifying when used by an entire battalion. The true strength behind this art could only shine through during a real battle between two factions.


    That didn''t mean that this art was useless when used by a lonely fighter. Cao Yun could testify to that as he had fought against Yun Ping in the Wubei Sect.


    But this technique had several layers to it. Yun Ping had only mastered the first part of this martial art, ''Echoes of the Storm''. This part of the martial art could be taught to almost everyone who wanted to join the Yun family''s forces. In other words, this was the simplest part of the martial art and no secret was in there. However, it also contained many techniques specifically designed to be easy to master. Those techniques were meant to be used by several soldiers at the same time with more or less complex battle formations.


    Of course, Yun Ping had used this very martial art in Yinmen City to form the hunters. With his help, they had resisted much better than if he hadn''t been there. Sadly, this hadn''t been sufficient. But if he had had more time, they could have triumphed, he was sure of it.

 Chapter 424: Two thunderstorms clash

    Right now, Yun Ping facing his own father, he had no use for battle formations. However, he could still apply the concepts of the Six Stratagems to a duel. Some called this ''When Your Horse Is Slain''. That being said, he knew that his father had mastered those concepts before him and he had more secret and complex techniques.


    ''Thunder Breaking Wall'' was a martial art revolving around the concept of lightning and thunder. According to the legends, their progenitor had fought against a Blue Ravenous Bat, a powerful 9-core demonic beast. During their fight, all his companions were killed and he almost died himself as he was struck by lightning with each attack from the terrible beast. At some point, the demonic beast even took him in its claws and brought him higher than he had ever been able to fly before. In the moment just before he was going to die, he suddenly got enlightened. All his movements got imbued by the very lightning that was destroying him from within.


    Although he survived the fight and created this martial art, this encounter took a huge toll on him. And he died a few years later despite being relatively young for a Spirit Warrior. Thankfully though, most of his techniques were passed down from generation to generation. They were even improved upon and slowly refined on the battlefields, adding more and more to it and turning it into a complete system for the soldiers of the Yun family. Almost every technique one could require during war was present in this ''Thunder Breaking Wall''.


    Yun Ping and Yun Po both stood with the usual ''Silent Thunder'' stance. With ''Demon''s Bane'' in hand, Yun Po attacked first.


    ''Flashing Thunder''!


    In an instant, he was to the left of his son. Although Yun Po had restricted his own cultivation to only be as strong as a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior, he had decided not to pull any punches. Since Yun Ping''s left arm was missing, his left side was clearly weaker. It would necessarily take him longer to defend against any attack coming from this side. Of course, during a war, his opponents would try and target his weaknesses. Yun Po had to show the audience that his son wasn''t weak and couldn''t still fight on real battlefields.


    ''Impassable Fortress''!


    As he had no time to dodge the incoming attack, Yun Ping resolved himself to block it with everything he had. Using his only arm, he raised his spear as his muscles were bulging. Both of his foot sank into the ground and his articulations got locked into position. When the stabbing spear of his father reached him, Yun Ping quickly moved his own spear to block ''Demon''s Bane''. ''Eternal Rampart'' and ''Demon''s Bane'' collided with a roaring thunder. Even the sky above began to be disturbed. Thankfully, Yun Ping was strong enough to deviate the attack but it still grazed his flank.


    Now that his father''s spear was out of the way, Yun Ping tried to counter. ''Falling Mountain''! His spear moved in a large circle and fell with all its weight added to Yun Ping''s strength toward Yun Po''s skull.


    ''Roaring Tempest''!


    Without any hesitation, as soon as his attack failed to connect, Yun Po changed his strategy. ''Demon''s Bane'' swirled in the air. Small sparks appeared all over the weapon and even crackled over Yun Po''s hands. With this rotation, ''Eternal Rampart'' was thrown to the side. Unable to fully control the momentum, Yun Ping decided to go with the flow. This way, he was able to get away from his father before he could press on with another attack.


    Before Yun Ping could come to his senses, he heard many echoes all around him.


    ''Thunderous Echo''.


    By stabbing repeatedly with ''Demon''s Bane'', Yun Po had drown the entire courtyard in a perpetual sound attacking the internal ear of his opponent. Combined with the sudden movement of Yun Ping earlier, his son was completely disorientated. Some young cultivators around the platform even got dizzy despite not being the target.


    ''Impaling Lightning''!


    From ''Demon''s Bane'', several bolts of lightning were sent toward Yun Ping. Unable to defend in time, he received four of them directly in his torso. Thankfully, his ''Impassable Fortress'' was still active and the lightning was barely able to penetrate his flesh. If his father had used his full cultivation though, Yun Ping would have been dead at that moment. But he would have been unable to do anything from the start anyway...


    In order to lessen the blow, Yun Ping still tried to stop the other bolts of lightning with ''Halting Thunder''. His spear stabbed toward some of the bolts of lightning he couldn''t dodge. However, the lightning coiled around his spear like a snake and tried to enter his body nonetheless. His father''s mastery of ''Thunder Breaking Wall'' was just way above his even if he restricted his cultivation.


    ''Tempest Guard''!


    Finally Yun Ping fully manifested his Qi with this technique. All around him, powerful winds and crackling thunderous bolts of lightning appeared in a swirling motion. Through their force, the lightning bolts sent by his father got sucked into a small tornado and disappeared within Yun Ping''s own technique. Right now, his entire body was enveloped with raging thunderous winds.


    Watching the mighty figure of his son, Yun Po had a strong feeling of pride swell within his chest. Since the beginning, he had truly gone all out. Yet, his son had valiantly resisted. Although he had barely been able to retaliate, it seemed like he was about to and Yun Po couldn''t wait to see that for himself. And he was proud that everyone could see the result of his son''s relentless efforts. Since his injury, he had suffered to regain his strength and he had never lost his will.


    ''Ethereal Bolt''!


    Yun Ping combined the raging winds around him with his own spear and stabbed in the air. The clouds above the Yun residence were beginning to turn black. No one in Qingyun City was worried as they knew about the martial art exhibition. Every time the Yun family showcased their techniques to the fullest, the clouds would show the sign of an incoming storm. But within the residence, everyone was stunned by that show.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Among the crowd, Cao Yun was the only one without any surprise. After all, he had trained with Yun Ping already and he knew how far he had progressed. However, the elders were amazed as they had been convinced Yun Ping would never break through again and that he would stay crippled all his life. That amazement soon turned into joy, with a tinge of shame. The future of their family was ensured but they had slandered such a valiant boy...


    Behind Yun Ping''s back, a dozen spears made of lightning materialized. They all flew through the air. Following different trajectories, they all went toward Yun Po. At first, he intended to dodge but he saw something in Yun Ping''s spear that changed his mind. There wasn''t just Qi Manifestation in this technique. Right now, he wasn''t absolutely certain but he could feel a trace of Spear Aura. As such, he decided to face it head-on just to be sure.


    ''Halting Thunder''!


    Contrary to his son, his stabbing motions all aimed at the critical points of every single lightning spear. Although he stopped them all, Yun Po could feel their residual strength still trying to attack him as electricity was coursing through his ''Demon''s Bane''. Damn, he could even feel it in the air all around him. And he was now certain, his son was close to forming his Spear Aura but he wasn''t quite there yet.


    Of course, Yun Po had known that his son had been spending a lot of time training beneath the Major Hall. He had had his suspicions but now he was certain of it, Guai Mo had helped train his son and it had been greatly effective. With that in mind, Yun Po''s doubts concerning Guai Mo quickly evolved as well as his very perception of his own son. For weeks now his son had talked about what Cao Yun had told him. General Yun wasn''t an idiot. Although he had a hard time believing some things, he had decided to trust his son anyway. But he had yet to talk to Guai Mo directly. Today, he would correct that.


    ''Quaking Spear''!


    Yun Ping used all of his strength and smashed ''Eternal Rampart'' in the ground. Throughout the courtyard, arcs of electricity coursed toward Yun Po. The very ground was shaking as though a cavalry was charging. And the electricity itself sometimes looked like many ferocious beasts unleashed toward their enemy. High in the sky, electricity was also coursing through the clouds. Now, the sky right above the platform was completely black as if night had fallen. But the sun was still very high and bright in the sky.


    ''Walls of the High Palace in the Sky''!


    All around Yun Po, golden walls were erected. They formed a complete palace that almost hid his figure. But they were made of electricity and lightning so they were translucent enough to see him despite their thickness. All of Yun Ping''s electric arcs came crashing down on the walls. Small tears appeared here and there but nothing was strong or powerful enough to completely take down this palace.


    ''Rumbling Skies''!


    While protected within his lightning palace, Yun Po swirled his ''Demon''s Bane'' around. Some of the layers of his own palace got swallowed by his motion. Before long, the interior of the palace was crumbling and all the Qi Manifestation was being turned into a raging vortex of lightning. As it rose in the sky, the clouds also struck down. Several bolts of lightning fell down toward Yun Po and fed his spear. Even his arms were now imbued with electricity as his flesh was slowly burning but he didn''t mind at all. With his cultivation, his skin was able to heal almost as fast as it was burned. With his proficiency in ''Thunder Breaking Wall'', lightning wasn''t scary at all. Besides, the Yun family had a bit of demon blood coursing through their veins, like their skin showed. As such, they healed a bit faster than other humans.


    Of course, no one was able to heal as fast as Cao Yun with his special blood. But even for a Spirit Warrior, Yun Po was healing fast. Unfortunately, demons could heal even faster on a battlefield.


    As his father was getting ready for his most powerful attack yet, Yun Ping decided to brace himself for what was to come. Yun Po was using the golden palace to protect himself while he was slowly turning it into a terrifying storm that would come crashing down on Yun Ping. Thus, his son had no way of stopping him. His attacks would never be able to destroy the golden palace before his father was ready. Instead, he decided to prepare himself. This was a technique he still wasn''t too sure about but he did not doubt. In fact, he wasn''t even thinking. Right now, he was completely focused on this fight. This was the opportunity to show his valor to his entire family. And he was going to do so no matter how much pain he had to endure in the process. He would show her strength and resilience, and he would also uphold the honor of his father.


    On the other hand, his father was also fully engrossed in this fight and wanted to test his son to the limit. In fact, he had almost forgotten about the bewitched audience. Now that he had sensed traces of Spear Aura in his son, he was trying to push him further and further. Maybe he could really manifest it during this fight. Even a glimpse of Spear Aura would astonish everyone. And they were already engrossed in the fight.


    ''Crimson Lightning''!


    Some of the lightning from the dark clouds above fell down toward Yun Ping. His very Wei Qi got charged in electricity as it began to curse and crackle all over his body. It wasn''t so powerful that it was burning his skin or his flesh, but enough that he could feel his muscles spasm under its effect. Then, his Wei Qi slowly sent that electricity coursing throughout his very body. In particular, it went into his bloodstream. Before long, his very blood was charged in lightning and more Qi. A golden and crimson hue was enveloping Yun Ping.


    Unbeknownst to him, his left arm even began to appear in the form of red and golden lightning. It was extremely faint but Yun Po saw it. This was a mixture of Spear Aura and Qi Manifestation. But for a split second, he clearly saw his son''s left arm blink into existence before disappearing again. Most of the audience didn''t catch it but the elders did. The family heads also saw it as well as Governor Jiahe and Cao Yun. Although it had been short-lived, in that moment Yun Ping had used Spear Aura for sure.


    With this surge of electricity, Yun Ping''s strength was heightened like never before.


    All the Yun family was fully absorbed in the fight. Everyone in the residence had stopped moving, knowing that the storm was coming down. One final move would decide the fate of this fight. The elders could see every subtleties of the battle distinctly while the younger generation had to use all their senses not to miss any major move. Even some middle Mortal Warriors had a hard time following everything.


    In that moment, the opinion of everyone on Yun Ping had changed for the better. His character and courage had never been doubted. But because of his injury, some thought he was now unfit to someday lead their family. Now they were feeling guilty. Considering his current strength, they could imagine how much effort he had spent to recover his full vigor. Instead of forsaking him, they should have helped him.


    Anyway, Yun Po''s final attack was ready as a small storm was now above his head. His ''Demon''s Bane''''s rotation was about to end, and his attack would be unleashed.


    On the other hand, Yun Ping was also ready to face it with his full might.

 Chapter 425: A general felled by a little girl

    In the courtyards of the Yun estate, everyone was completely entranced by what was going on. No one dared to breathe too loud as they didn''t want to disturb them. They were either looking at the dark clouds in the sky, using their spiritual senses to see what was going on, or relying on others to describe it to them through telepathic messages. Hopefully, the elders would be able to give a detailed recount of the entire fight later. And as a matter of fact, all the Spirit Warriors, no matter how green they were, were etching everything in their minds.


    In the upcoming days, every single breath of this fight would be discussed among the members of the Yun residence. And Yun Ping''s fame would skyrocket. Despite his injury, his character was already admired as he had been ready to die fighting. However, if his strength matched his courage, then they had found the successor of General Yun Po for sure. No one would dare belittle him any longer. Some had suggested he should just be a strategist behind the actual fights rather than a soldier or a general. But he had just demonstrated he could be both.


    During the fight, Cao Yun had been spotted by Jiahe Ruo. Of course, he didn''t want to disturb him while he watching the show. However, he still asked his bodyguard to send him a message. This Spirit Warrior told him he had been right about Xue Rui and that his master was hoping for his success. However, he didn''t detail what he had seen in the Xue residence to make him change his mind as fast. Cao Yun could imagine that Xue Rui had lost his nerves. Considering the black flame that was burning in his heart, this wasn''t unexpected. Besides, Cao Yun had fanned it and intended to fan it some more. He had to ruin Xue Rui as much as he could to facilitate Gu Song''s decision.


    For now though, Cao Yun was focused on the fight. It put a sincere smile on Cao Yun''s face. Indeed, it reminded him of his own family. It had been during such an event that they had all been slaughtered. But now, Cao Yun had more cards in hand. Finally, he had a real hope of finding out why her mother had been targeted, why they all had to die.


    During this fight, General Yun was sure to understand that Guai Mo had helped his son in training his spearmanship. Then, he might be able to piece other things together. But the main point was that he would trust Guai Mo a bit more. Although Cao Yun wasn''t sure he would need his help, having him on his side just in case would be nice. After all, his plan was extremely risky. In fact, he was not sure whether it was really a good idea, but for now, everything was going well.


    Before the audience''s eyes, Yun Ping was gathering electricity and lightning in his very blood and flesh. His Wei Qi had turned into a golden and crimson hue under the effects of ''Crimson Lightning''. It seemed as though he was surrounded by bleeding lightning.


    On the other side of the low platform, the golden palace had completely crumbled in on itself. Above General Yun, ''Demon''s Bane'' was rotating and forming a big thundercloud that was almost reaching the sky. It was obsidian dark with many streaks of lightning coloring it.


    Both men were about to collide.


    In the audience, Cao Yun saw Yun Hua who was hiding between a woodshed. Her clothes were dirty and even torn apart here and there. Clearly, she had been playing around a lot while the event had been taking place. She was used to playing around all the time. And this was driving her literature tutor crazy. Almost every single day, he had to chase after her just so she could study. And this also infuriated General Yun to no end. However, he could never really chastise her. He knew it was a bad thing for his daughter, but she reminded him of his late wife...


    Yun Hua was poorly hidden. After all, she had no tutoring today thanks to this exhibition. However, unlike others, she was not amazed by the fight. As she was still young, she was truly scared by such raw power. Moreover, she was seeing her father and her brother fight with such violence that it looked like a real fight in her young eyes.


    While the fight was about to reach its climax, Cao Yun went to the young girl.


    "Hua''er, don''t worry. Your father and your brother are just playing around."


    Startled, the young lady fell on her bottom while letting out a small shriek.


    "You meanie! You did that on purpot! Who are you?"


    "On purpose, young lady. I''m a friend of your brother. Come with me."


    With a small smile on his face, Cao Yun helped her stand up. Then he also helped her take off most of the dirt off her clothes.


    "Just come with me and don''t say a word."


    Still a bit flabbergasted, the young lady took Cao Yun''s hand and walked by his side. Apart from young children like Yun Hua, everyone was aware of what was going on right now in the courtyard. While holding her hand, he brought her closer to the platform. At the same time, he was keeping her enveloped in his Wei Qi so she felt comfortable. Even the terrifying storm on the platform didn''t affect her. As such, it looked a bit more unreal and so less serious.


    Although Yun Hua didn''t know much about martial art, she knew that this was their ultimate move. Even if she had not promised Cao Yun not to speak, she wouldn''t have been able to. For a young girl like her, this was a scene of doomsday in front of her eyes. It felt as though the entire world was about to explode and something new would be born.


    Finally, both fighters reached their apex!


    ''Shattered Sky Cowers From the Tiger''!


    Yun Po leapt into the skies with his spear engulfed in pure darkness and lightning. High in the air, the sky itself was torn apart as the dark clouds ruptured. Hundreds of small lightning bolts struck the ground all around the courtyard. Just to be safe, Cao Yun was strengthened his Wei Qi around Yun Hua to protect her of any possible danger. But the attack was very accurate and only targeted Yun Ping''s general position.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Finally, a powerful flash blinded the young girl. Then, the loudest thunder anyone had ever heard resounded throughout the Yun residence and the earth itself shook.


    General Yun''s spear had struck down. Right now, it was embedded within Yun Ping''s Wei Qi. Indeed, at the same moment his father had attacked, he had completed his defense. Since he had not mastered all the moves from the ''Thunder Breaking Wall'', Yun Ping had to improvise. ''Wall of Eternal Thunder'' was supposed to create a wall of pikes to skewer the charging enemy. But Yun Ping had altered it to make it into a raw defense. There was now a wall made of lightning spears all around Yun Ping.


    Of course, it wasn''t as powerful or as prestigious as ''Walls of the High Palace in the Sky'', but it was still a very good defense. And as he was protecting himself from his father''s most powerful attack yet, Yun Ping''s understanding of the spear was evolving.


    During this fight, his father had indeed only used techniques from the Yun family, but they were all different from what Yun Ping knew. Indeed, his father had altered them to his own body and his own preferences. Since he had lost his left arm, Yun Ping had stubbornly tried to keep fighting like before. He felt like he had to uphold the style of the Yun family. Cao Yun could understand that as he was still hoping to pursue the sword and to develop his family''s ''Three Storms''. But at the same time, he had tried to convince his friend to adapt the moves to his new situation. Until now, Cao Yun had failed to convince him. Paradoxically, the fact that his training was efficient played against him in that regard. Yun Ping didn''t need to change as he had regained most of his strength.


    But in that fight, Yun Ping had realized that his friend had been right all along. More than that, he could adapt ''Thunder Breaking Wall'' without losing the heart of his family''s martial art. After all, his father, the current family head, was using his own version of this art. Most likely, the art practiced by the progenitor was also very different from the one practiced today by anyone else.


    With that in mind, Yun Ping changed his movements. Now, he would use every joint he could in order to optimize his technique. Instead of very unmovable techniques, he would adapt it into something else.


    As hundreds of lightning bolts were coming toward him, Yun Ping practiced his ''Thunderclap Dance''. This was a routine within ''Thunder Breaking Wall'', generally used to train young kids. But now, Yun Ping was altering it to strengthen his Qi Manifestation of ''Wall of Eternal Thunder''. ''Eternal Rampart'' was whirling and spinning all around Yun Ping. He was using his hips to strike the shaft of the spear and help it gain momentum while sparing his stamina. But he was also using his feet to kick it, his shoulders, his elbows even his neck by spinning the spear around it.


    As it moved, the spear was accumulating electricity in the air, strengthening his defense. Here and there, it was also directly clashing with the lightning bolts that were able to pierce through his defense. Despite the collisions, ''Eternal Rampart'' did not lose its momentum. This time even all everyone saw it. Yun Ping had finally achieved his Spear Aura. From time to time his left arm appeared as bloody lightning but it quickly disappeared each time. Maybe with Spear Intent he could stabilize it and create an arm made out of pure Spear Aura.


    As the clash was continuing, it was hard to tell who would be the winner. But Cao Yun was certain that Yun Ping would end up losing. Indeed, there was a huge difference between the two fights. General Yun had never used any form of Spear Aura in the fight. Even if he had fought with all his strength, he had limited himself to Qi Manifestation. Considering how powerful he seemed, Cao Yun was convinced that General Yun had reached the state of Spear Intent, and maybe even Spear Heart.


    Obviously, if he had wanted to win this fight, he could have done so at any moment even while restraining his cultivation. But this wasn''t his goal. He was trying to push his son, to make him stronger. When Cao Yun caught a glimpse of Yun Po''s eyes, he saw the same pride he had seen in his own father''s eyes. This wasn''t just to test his son or even to help him. No, he also wanted to witness the full might of his son.


    As their techniques were clashing with one another, the very platform was falling victim to their violence. Everything around them was being struck by lightning. As it fell on the ground, the lightning burned the wood and slowly a small fire broke out. Thankfully, array formations were protecting the crowd and their techniques were accurate enough that they didn''t endanger the audience. Because the two men were busy though, they failed to realize the damage to the platform.


    As the clash between the two men was getting more and more intense, Cao Yun felt Yun Hua''s hand in his. The young lady had regained her senses and was clearly shaken up by what she was witnessing. All of a sudden, she ran toward the two men. For an instant, Cao Yun thought about stopping her. In the end, he let her go but still covered her with his Wei Qi as protection. As long as Yun Po was restraining himself, the level of destruction on the platform was something Cao Yun could easily deal with. And he didn''t want to interrupt this family matter. This might be interesting, and most of all, funny.


    General Yun had completely fallen back to the ground now while his spear was still trying to pierce through Yun Ping''s defenses. Since he was restraining his cultivation, he couldn''t fly. From behind him came an assault he had not imagined or prepared for though. He felt a small feet kicking the back of his leg. Looking down, he saw his own daughter. Suddenly, both Yun Po and Yun Ping relinquished their Qi Manifestation.


    "You big meanie! Stop bullying Big Brother! Tyrannipal Father!"


    Yun Hua was really letting her father have it. She was pouring all of her strength in her small foot and kicking away. Obviously, it didn''t hurt General Yun at all. In fact, it was starting to hurt Yun Hua but she kept on going while screaming and admonishing her father.


    For a moment, time stopped. Yun Po and Yun Ping looked at each other, dumbfounded. Suddenly, they both burst out laughing. The entire courtyard burst out laughing with them. General Yun grabbed his tiny daughter and raised her in his arms. However, she was still kicking and punching while telling him how horrible he was being with her beloved big brother. Then, Yun Ping got closer and talked to her.


    "Sis, we were just playing around. Father would never bully me."


    "But, he... he..."


    "I''m sorry if we worried you. I''m glad that you defend your big brother, but he won''t ever need protecting from me, you silly girl."


    Both father and son stroked her head. Before long, she was annoyed by them both and was flailing her limbs around trying to get away from their affection. From an intense fight, the atmosphere had switched to a comedic family reunion. As most of the audience was made of members of the Yun family or soldiers enrolled in their army, they were all pleased by that.


    Of course, they would have loved to see the end of the fight. But to be honest, the end result was obvious. General Yun Po''s attack was about to crumble Yun Ping''s entire defense. Instead of seeing Yun Ping beaten in front of outsiders, it was better to have such an interruption after he had been able to prove his worth. And that was precisely Cao Yun''s opinion as well.


    Despite the warm atmosphere, Cao Yun sensed General Yun Po''s senses lock on him.

 Chapter 426: Exposing ones own recipe

    The poor Yun Hua was being tormented by her older brother and her father, desperately trying to avoid their hands stroking her small head. Of course, she had no way of getting away from the grip of her father. But they were just joking around and his father let her go. Sensing his grip weakening, she jumped and ran away, hiding behind Cao Yun.


    "They both went inane! Mean daddy turned Big Brother inane! Save me!"


    For a moment, the little girl wondered whether the Heavens had not struck them down with magical lightning that had fried their brains. This time, all three men looked at each other. Cao Yun had to control himself not to laugh out loud when he saw the dejected look in the eyes of General Yun. Even Yun Ping seemed a bit hurt by the poor pronounced words of his little sister.


    As the crowd was laughing even more, General Yun got closer to his son and put his arm on his left shoulder.


    "This injury is a symbol of your honor. With the blood that courses through your veins, you''ll overcome it easily. In fact, you might even become a better fighter than I am. You probably don''t even realize it yet but you''ve entered the state of Spear Aura during our fight. With a bit more training and honing, you might reach the Spear Intent before you turn thirty. That would be quite an achievement!"


    For an instant, General Yun paused. His words were meant for his son but they were loud enough so that everyone could hear them. Then, he specifically turned toward the crowd.


    "Thank you all for your visit. I hope that our exhibition was entertaining. As you know, we are living through trying times. And as you just saw our young generation won''t be any less than us. Now that all the fights are over, let''s enjoy the end of the day with some wine and some meat!"


    As he spoke, a few servants brought the food and the wine for all to enjoy. Obviously, the crowd cheered. They had a lot to discuss. Although the Yun family wasn''t rich and had even gone through a rough period, they had tried to go all out. However, Cao Yun could tell that the meat and the wine weren''t as good as in the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall.


    Although the event was held by the Yun family, Guai Mo received more praises than anyone else except Yun Ping. Indeed, the relations between the various families and the Yun family were already established and even this show of strength wouldn''t change them too much. At best, it would just make some people be more careful. Maybe the families that were rather neutral would distance themselves even more from the Xue family. However, few families had formed good a relation with Guai Mo yet. Of course, those who sided with the Xue family just politely talked to him, but others were trying to curry favors already.


    Among the people who came to him, Cao Yun saw Jiahe Ruo. He joked a bit about the great meal they had had together and noted that he had not touched a single peace of meat nor a single cup of wine.


    "This might be considered impolite by our hosts..."


    "Brother Guai, please stop teasing me."


    All the time, the little Yun Hua had stayed behind Cao Yun''s leg. Around her family she was very expansive. Around strangers though, she was as shy as Cao Huiying had been. Thus, Cao Yun knew exactly how to take care of her. From a distance, he could feel General Yun''s gaze on him. But there was nothing menacing. He could simply sense that he was interested in him. According to Yun Ping, his father had been told almost everything and he seemed to at least be ready to listen to Cao Yun directly. This was a good thing.


    Finally, the sun was about to set. At that moment, many guests began to give small gifts of appreciation to General Yun Po. And soon, it was Cao Yun''s turn. Everyone wanted their gift to be known as they were used to somewhat indicate their stance between the different influences of Qingyun City. Cao Yun had another idea. His gift was essentially a way to showcase his prowess and to get the right kind of attention.


    "General Yun, this Guai Mo presents to you a Merging Minerals and Seas pill. Although it is a mere 5-star Human pill, it has reached the threshold of a Pure pill. I imagine that it could be very useful for someone still recovering from a grievous injury."


    Obviously, General Yun wasn''t an alchemist but he had learned to discern the quality of a pill. It was a useful skill for a general to have. After all, on the battlefields, using the right pills could save many lives. As soon as he opened the small box Cao Yun had given him, General Yun indeed recognized the scent of a Pure pill. But, as he had never seen this particular pill, he didn''t note anything unusual.


    This wasn''t the case of Jiahe Ruo though. The young man had lived in the Imperial City for quite some time. Despite his absence of talent in alchemy, he was a very good appraiser of art. Thanks to that, he had developed excellent senses. Just by smelling the fragrance of the pill, he noted a small difference with the one he had already experienced before. He had no time to talk though. Another alchemist in the crowd exclaimed first.


    "Wait! This isn''t a Merging Minerals and Seas pill!"


    Suddenly, all the eyes went to Cao Yun.


    "Oh? I didn''t think any alchemist here would see the difference. You truly have good senses, miss. This Merging Minerals and Seas pill is my creation. I found that the old recipe was just too expensive for most people. You see, I think about the common alchemist we can''t afford such ingredients. My version only requires a bit of talent instead of pure money. In fact, the price shouldn''t exceed ten taels of gold."


    "What?!"


    Cao Yun had both complimented and insulted all the alchemists present. However, that wasn''t what made them tick. Altering a recipe wasn''t that rare, but Guai Mo was still very young. Furthermore, this was a 5-star Human pill and the price had been divided by five. After a moment of shock, most alchemists thought that he had sacrificed the quality of the pill for that. Surely that new pill was less efficient than a true Merging Minerals and Seas pill. It shouldn''t even be a 5-star Human pill any longer.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Would someone doubt the effects of my new recipe? Here, take a look!"


    Before anyone could voice their concerns, Cao Yun retrieved a piece of parchment and sent it toward the first woman who had spoken. At first, she read in her head and was immediately silenced. Even though she was a 2-star Heaven alchemist, she had to think over this matter for a long time to determine whether or not that pill would be as effective. However, she could immediately tell that this recipe was the real deal. It wasn''t just some random idea by an ambitious alchemist.


    Needless to say, the few alchemists present at the event all wanted to see the recipe. Before long, they were all mulling over it, unable to decided whether the recipe was effective or not. That in itself was prove enough to all non-alchemists that this pill was the real deal. Maybe it wasn''t as effective as the true Merging Minerals and Seas pill. But since it had reached the grade of Pure pill, it was certainly better than the average Merging Minerals and Seas pill most of the lower families could afford.


    In order to settle the matter, Yun Po acted.


    "Master Guai, we thank you for your generous gift. We do believe it will be best used by Yun Ping. What do you think, son?"


    "Certainly, father."


    Without thinking twice, Yun Ping took the box and opened it. Then, in front of everyone, he sat cross-legged and meditated for some time. The crowd knew he was preparing himself to better digest the medicinal essence of the pill so they stayed quiet. After the uproar of the alchemists, they all wanted to see how effective this pill truly was.


    When he was ready, Yun Ping gulped down the pill without any hesitation. To be honest, Cao Yun had already told him what the gift would be. If he had wanted, Yun Po could have examined the content of the box without opening it. Clearly, he had meant to show everyone what was within the box. If that alchemist had not reacted first, someone else was ready to do so. Thus, Yun Ping was fully prepared to control the medicinal essence of the Merging Minerals and Seas pill. Otherwise, he would have never done so in front of everyone. Taking a 5-star Human pill wasn''t a trivial matter. Unless there was an emergency, no one would do so lightly.


    All the eyes were still on Yun Ping. Usually, it was impolite to use one''s spiritual senses to observe someone. But this time, General Yun allowed them all to do so as long as they didn''t disturb his son. It would also be good for his own purposes.


    During several minutes, Yun Ping controlled the medicinal essence and directed it to his bones first. They grew sturdier and sturdier. At the same time, he felt that his own blood was getting a tiny bit richer. Then, he directed a part of the essence in the acupoints that had replaced his left Lao Gong. As he was doing so, he sensed his Five Prodigious Gates react to it. Unconsciously, he was cultivating. In fact, his Bai Hui also sucked in some of the medicinal essence.


    Even the Mortal Warriors could feel his Wei Qi becoming denser and stronger. On the other hand, the alchemists saw more than that. He had gained in vitality. It was very faint, but they were certain that his prenatal Jing had improved in quality within his kidneys. They could tell because he had a bit more postnatal Jing right now. His body was able to absorb the Jing in the environment with more ease. Even though the air was poor in Jing, Yun Ping had been able to absorb some of it as well.


    Just by slightly improving the quality of one''s prenatal Jing, even without increasing the quantity which was even more difficult, one''s talent would improve. Not only would Yun Ping''s natural lifespan increase by a few years, his cultivation would also be slightly faster. None of those effects would be prodigious. But the mere fact that they existed was wonderful. Many people would kill to improve their talent even a tiny bit. The worst enemy of any cultivator was time.


    Besides, alchemists were using pills a lot to improve quickly. If they could increase their talent, they might make do with fewer pills and thus fewer toxins in them.


    Since Cao Yun had made his recipe public, every alchemist was eager to try it out. In the coming days, they would realize that even though the pill was cheaper, it was as hard to refine as the real one. Furthermore, the recipe was using some techniques which were not too common and required a great control of the flame. Because the Merging Minerals and Seas pill was a difficult pill to refine already, this new recipe seldom produced Pure pills. Unfortunately, even Perfect pills didn''t bear the same results as that Pure pill he had given Yun Ping. Moreover, Cao Yun had clearly told him the best way to use it since he knew a lot about blood cultivation.


    Anyway, Cao Yun''s goal had been reached and so had Yun Po''s. Now, not only the strength of his son but also his potential had been recognized by all!


    -


    Once the event was over, Governor Jiahe went to talk to General Yun in private. Once again, he tried to be a smooth talker. But General Yun was now used to this little Governor. Even the Imperial City was doubting his quality. As loyal as General Yun was, he had no patience for this kind of character. He tried to be as polite as he could knowing that Governor Jiahe''s words didn''t amount to much. He was just trying to secure his seat.


    That idiot had felt threatened by the Yun family. But General Yun had never wanted to go into politics. On the other hand, the Xue were ready to take his position at a moment''s notice. By thinking that everyone was as ambitious as he was, Jiahe Lan had made a terrible decision. If he had sided with the Yun family, he would have secured his seat and a lifelong ally.


    When this was over as well, General Yun invited Guai Mo in his personal chambers. As soon as he entered, Cao Yun felt several array formations activate all around the room. They weren''t as good as the ones beneath the Major Hall. Clearly, they were array formations meant to isolate them so no one could eavesdrop. Since General Yun was a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior and that no one exceeded that grade in Qingyun City, he wasn''t too afraid of being spied on. But he was still cautious anyway.


    "My son talked a lot about you. Let''s cut to the chase! Do you truly think that a demonic cultivator lives in the Xue residence?"


    "I am now certain of that, General. There is no doubt in my mind, but I have no tangible proof..."


    "What makes you so certain?"


    "Xue Rui has a seal in his heart, it was put there by a demonic cultivator. And I have someone on the inside."


    "Do you trust me?"


    "I trust Yun Ping. And I know that you care deeply about your son and that you are no demonic cultivator."


    "Are you Chen Guo, the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect? My son didn''t tell, but this is the only thing that makes sense to me."


    "Indeed, General. I am sorry for deceiving you. But I can''t have this demonic cultivator know about my real identity."


    "That person you have on the inside, do you trust them?"


    "I don''t. Not yet anyway. But soon I will know for sure. Either they are my agent within the Xue family or they are my poison in their midst."


    General Yun was not losing any time in his questions. He had fired them rather quickly, but then he paused for some time.

 Chapter 427: General Yuns word

    "That night when you first came into our residence, I couldn''t even feel your presence. Your technique is most impressive. On the battlefield, I have been faced with many stealth techniques. Not a single one reached the level you''ve come to. In fact, I can think of a single technique I''ve witnessed once, but it belongs to the Huang family. And I also heard that Spirit Master Xiao is fond of you. I imagine that Chief Elder Baishen went crazy when she saw your martial arts."


    "Indeed, General."


    Just like his son, General Yun had entered the Wubei Sect some decades ago. From everything Cao Yun had heard about him, he was confident he could trust him. However, he didn''t know to which extent he would accept to help him. What Cao Yun really didn''t want was Gu Song to learn his real identity. His plan was going well for now and he certainly didn''t want to ruin it. Considering the tensions between the Yun family and the Xue family, there was no way General Yun would let them know anyway.


    "My son also told me about this Yong Ke. You''ve only just met her recently, yet you trust her enough to give her an important task in your plans..."


    "Yes I have met her on the way to Qingyun City. But we fought side by side and she risked her life to protect mine. Besides, I feel like there is something familiar about her. And I am certain that she wants the good of the people. As long as we''re facing a demonic cultivator, I assure you that she will do everything she can to take him down."


    "What are you expecting from me? You know I can''t just barge into the Xue residence with my army, for the same reason you can''t call your masters. And I imagine that you have absolutely no proof..."


    "Unfortunately, this is accurate. However I can assure you that Gu Song does hide within the Xue residence and that Xue Rui is his disciple."


    "No need to try to convince me, I already trust your words. If Sect Leader Xuan chose you, I can say confidently that you are destined to be a great figure of our Hongchen Kingdom. Technically, I am still attached to the Wubei Sect. So in a sense, you might even be considered as my senior. Moreover, your talents are great and I see no reason for you to risk everything just to conspire against either my family or the Xue family."


    "Thank you, General."


    "But then, once again, what do you expect of me?"


    "If my plan goes well, Gu Song should take me to him of his own free will. And if I''m successful, I''ll be able to both kill him and extract everything he knows."


    Hearing that, even General Yun was surprised. Cao Yun was talking about killing a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even he as a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior would have a hard time doing so. But somehow, he believed that Cao Yun could do it. Of course, in a fight he would be destroyed in an instant. But as a general he understood that the preparation before the fight was oftentimes more important that the fight itself. Choosing the place of the battle with great care was essential. Even a great army could be decimated by a weaker force if they were able to bring them where they wanted them.


    It had been months since Cao Yun had begun to plot against Gu Song. Although he was way stronger than Cao Yun, Gu Song was oblivious to this threat. Thus, General Yun wasn''t completely thrown off by Cao Yun''s confidence.


    "However, there is still a chance of failure. I have means to protect my life, but having your support would be a good thing. If I''m able to bring Gu Song out in the open, I would need you to do everything you can to subdue him. If you''re the one who captures him, then I can still have a chance of extracting what I want from him."


    "In other words, I should prevent anyone else from capturing him, not even the Governor''s forces."


    "Yes."


    "Well, I don''t trust this Jiahe Lan, but don''t you trust the Imperial City?"


    That was a point Cao Yun was not too comfortable with. Until now, General Yun and his family were not implicated in anything. But if Cao Yun were to talk about his defiance of the Imperial City and if General Yun didn''t denounce him, it could be construed as him conspiring against the Emperor himself.


    Instead of answering, Cao Yun stayed silent. And this silence was mirrored by another silence from General Yun. But this silence was loud enough that both men understood the meaning behind it. Recently, there was a growing mistrust of the Imperial City among many. After all, even during the demonic beast stampede, the Subei Province had not been helped at all. The Yun family had been forced to act on their own and gather support to protect the common people.


    Fine, Young Sect Master Chen. As soon as there is unrest in the Xue residence, I will act.


    "There is another matter."


    "Do tell."


    "If I am successful, I will most likely be discovered by the Xue family. Right now, I still don''t know if Xue Liu is even aware that Gu Song is a demonic cultivator. Apart from Xue Rui, I can''t tell if anyone else knows. It is likely that they will attack me as soon as I''m done. If they do know about Gu Song''s identity, they might kill me right away. And even if they don''t, they could still try to kill me to save some face. No matter what happens, I might need your assistance. As long as I am captured alive, I will have all the evidence I need to proof what I claim."


    "This is no problem at all. In fact, I will also contact an old friend of mine. If he is present, I can assure you that no harm will come to you."


    "Thank you, General."


    "When do you intend to act?"Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Before the end of the month. Almost everything is already set. In a day or two, I should have the last piece of the puzzle. Then, I will be ready."


    "Are you sure this is everything you need from me? Facing such an opponent for you..."


    "This is all, General. By protecting Yinmen City, your son lost an arm because I was the target of those demonic cultivators. I already caused enough damage to your family. And I don''t intend to put you in a difficult position."


    -


    Once everything was over, Cao Yun returned to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.


    As everything seemed to go well for Cao Yun''s preparations, he decided to confer with Dian Mo. Although their relationship had evolved, Dian Mo was still technically Cao Yun''s prisoner. Even now, he was still trapped within the Nine Soul Peaks. Although Cao Yun had relinquished the chains from the Drop of Wrath, Dian Mo''s spirit which had assumed the shape of the Demon Palace could not leave the confines of those nine rock pillars. Each one was associated with one of the nine chambers of Cao Yun''s Upper Dantian. And since the Drop of Wrath had absorbed the seed of the world tree, vines and thin roots of the world tree were entangled all around them.


    Despite his status, Dian Mo didn''t really feel like a prisoner at all. In fact, he had come to like his current situation. Because of his time trapped in the Demon Palace, he had never known true freedom. The mere fact that he was able to see the outside world and converse with Cao Yun about various subjects had completely changed his life. That didn''t mean that he was fulfilled by their current arrangement either though. However, he could be very patient. In the back of his mind, he still had the idea of stealing the Drop of Wrath. Even if Cao Yun found him a new body, this Drop of Wrath was just too tempting. Alas, Cao Yun would control it fully by the time Dian Mo had a new body.


    For the time being, Dian Mo didn''t show any sign of rebellion at all. In fact, he was rather docile and even obedient. After all, he was helping Cao Yun improve his control of seals. As a spirit who had been created by Demon God Da Mo, he was very powerful when it came to mind and soul techniques. Slowly, Cao Yun had become much more proficient when it came to soul seals. And with the experience he had with the blood runes, he was certain that no physical seal crafted by a demonic cultivator of the Hongchen Kingdom could resist him. However, he probably would have a hard time getting rid of a seal within one''s soul or mind. In theory, he could take care of them, but he simply couldn''t enter someone else''s sea of consciousness.


    Dian Mo was also very useful when it came to array formations. Without his help, Cao Yun''s plan would have simply never existed.


    "Do you think I have a real chance against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior?"


    "Well, your plans are interesting. Your use of array formations is quite imaginative if I say so myself. Besides, he won''t expect your ability to control Evil Qi as you do. I am confident that none of the seal he could try to put on you will be efficient. However, even with the Drop of Wrath, subduing the Soul Embryo of such a cultivator will be difficult, especially if you intend to extract something from it. Destroying it would be easier, but it would defeat your purpose."


    "Well, I don''t care about just killing him. For now everything is falling into place perfectly, maybe even a bit too well. I am sure that not everything will go as well when the time comes. And by the way, this is why I wanted to talk to you today."


    "Oh? So you only chatted with me to make me let my guard down? I don''t care whether you get the answers you so desire or not. Why would I help you?"


    "Well, to begin with, you''re lying. Yo do care about those answers because curiosity is eating you up. I understand you better now, after your anxiety, curiosity is your biggest flaw. To be fair, I also have a bit of this flaw in me as well."


    "Humph... Let''s say you''re right... This wouldn''t be reason enough for me to help you out."


    "But I have another reason for you to help me. I won''t ask you to fight his Soul Embryo, but I might need your expertise when it comes to extracting memories from his soul."


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun wasn''t a Spirit Warrior. As much as he had developed his mind and his soul, he couldn''t perform a Soul Memory Search, even within his own sea of consciousness. On the other hand, Dian Mo could do so.


    "There would be very little risk for you but much to gain. Right now, you are trapped within my Nine Soul Peaks. If you agree to help me, I will allow you to roam free within my sea of consciousness. In fact, I might even accept to lend you books and manuals than I''ve mastered. I know that boredom almost killed you. What I can offer you is entertainment. There are many poems, history books and epic novels, even philosophy treatises and personal diaries I could allow you to read. Of course, I''ll limit what you can learn to things that I deem not dangerous to me. But there is an entire realm of entertainment to fight your boredom."


    Although it might not have seemed enticing to others, Dian Mo was completely hooked by the offer. In fact, he even had a hard time not showing his excitement as the Demon Palace he was shaped as began to shine a little.


    Although he could see what Cao Yun was seeing, Cao Yun had the power to block him for two double hours each day. And he was obviously using it to prevent him from obtaining too much information. In particular, Cao Yun was almost systematically blocking any book he was reading. He only allowed Dian Mo to see them when he needed his input. But when it came to poetry and literature, Cao Yun had many many books in his memory that Dian Mo had never seen before. Besides, he could read even more, as Cao Yun could remember the books just by looking at the pages for an instant. Right now, just by casually flipping the pages of a tome he could remember the entire content to the punctuation used.


    Of course, Dian Mo was able to memorize things fast as well, but even he was astonished by Cao Yun''s speed. Besides, when he was reading, Dian Mo wanted to enjoy himself. So those books could keep him busy for years, or even decades.


    "I''ll only agree if you promise to regularly memorize new books and give me access to them in your memory."


    If Dian Mo had a body, he would almost be salivating right now.


    "We have a deal then!"


    -


    During the following days, Cao Yun kept doing his thing but he traveled a bit more than usual. He visited many shops and got to know a lot of people. With his reputation, many sycophants wanted to get close to him. And he kept acting in a very arrogant manner claiming that he was just here to win the spot for the Alchemy Conference. Besides, he was going to shine during this Alchemy Conference and eclipse all other alchemists in his generation. Unfortunately for those who were displeased with him, he also showed off his skill and proved that he was not just talking out of his ass.


    Cao Yun was also invited by many families who wanted to have ties with him. He rejected some offers but still went to many invitations.


    At the same time, his True Essence pills were being sold all over the Hongchen Kingdom by the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. A few connoisseurs even realized that something fishy was going on but they would never be able to imagine that a single alchemist could refine so many True Essence pills so fast. In fact, they suspected that the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had been collecting them for a few decades and was selling them. Maybe it was related to the upcoming war.


    Thanks to the auctions, some of the pills sold with an extraordinary price. One was even sold for 37 Yuanbao. This was more than twice what he had had in his spatial ring when he left for the Subei Province. Even with the commission of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, this was an insane amount of money.

 Chapter 428: Spy or poison

    The very day after the exhibition, almost everything that had happened in the courtyard of the Yun estate was known by all. What truly interested Cao Yun was that his gift had had a huge impact indeed. Although the pill he had refined wasn''t extraordinary, the fact that he had achieved such a quality with a reformed refine was. As such, all the alchemists were talking about it.


    In fact, the coming days, they would speak about it more and more as they were trying to replicate the pill using the same recipe. They kept on failing at first as they were learning the obscure technique of fire control used within it. Even when they finally succeeded, they couldn''t reach such a quality of pill.


    Among the alchemists interested in the pill was Gu Song. As a demonic cultivator the study of blood was of great interest to him. Right now, he was in his laboratory working on some pill. The old man was standing above a large metallic furnace. All over it were traces of dried blood as several parts from either beasts, humans or demons were placed on it. Besides those, there was a golden cauldron with thick scorched marks under it.


    All the time he had been forced to stay cooped up inside this laboratory, Gu Song had always been working on new pills. But he was also interested in other matters. In fact, his most intense topic of research was the soul. However, it didn''t mean that he wasn''t passionate about blood. After all Mo Tian himself had been trying to fuse human and demon blood. Even though Gu Song thought that the best strategy was to work on the soul first, he wasn''t oblivious to the positive points of Mo Tian''s method. Unfortunately, each time he had tried to fuse demon blood within a human body, the subject had died in agony as all their meridians were dissolved within their flesh.


    With Mo Tian, they had tried different methods on cultivators at various levels. Sadly, the result was always the same even if they attempted to strengthen the meridians beforehand. No human meridian or Dantian could survive the potency of demon blood. They had also tried with demonic beast blood as well. The success rate was higher but they couldn''t replicate the strength of the demons. Thus, Gu Song began to research the soul instead. Maybe if they could emulate the soul cultivation of the demons, they could find something.


    That was why he had started to work on the Heart Locking Fire Pact. Along the decades he had refined his technique. Even Xiao Xuefeng would have a hard time seeing through his seal now. He was convinced that this black flame he had created could evolve into something resembling a Demon Soul. In theory, a Demon Soul was a higher form of inner demon that demons could control after subduing it with chains of blood. To improve on his black flame, he had been forced to accumulate many souls. In fact, in his laboratory Ghost Energy and Death Energy were lingering around. Indeed, there were fragments of souls being used by his alchemy all the time.


    When he heard about Guai Mo''s new recipe, he was intrigued. But after seeing it, he was hooked. This wasn''t just the recipe, but the quality of the pill refined by Guai Mo. There was no doubt in Gu Song''s mind that Guai Mo''s flame control had reached a new height. Clearly he was way more talented than his current disciple Xue Rui.


    Speaking of Xue Rui, he was currently with his master.


    "Master, your dual cultivation is very efficient. I have put the black flame under control. But I''m not sure how long Zhong Ling''s soul will endure. Each time, I can feel her life being burned away. If only she could last longer, I might be able to help you improve the black flame."


    "No need to try and convince me. I won''t forsake you, for now. As long as you''re useful, I will keep supporting you. But this Guai Mo really intrigues me I have to admit. I need to know whether I can have him as a disciple too."


    "Master, this Guai Mo only cares about his fame. Unless he can compete in the Alchemy Conference, he won''t accept!"


    When he spoke those words, Xue Rui was suddenly scared. Could his master decide to replace him? If Guai Mo would only follow him if he could participate in the Alchemy Conference, the easiest way to convince him was to get rid of Xue Rui...


    "Do not worry too much. I have other ways to convince people. But I need to be sure of this boy. Maybe it would be easier to just kill him and sift through his soul myself. We''ll see about that... However, for your problem, there are several solutions. If you leave enough time to your pet to recover, you''ll be able to use her a bit more before her soul completely burns away. But you won''t do that because the black flame is devouring you even faster than you''re consuming her soul. Then, you could try and help her recover with some pills. Unfortunately, pills working on the soul are just too advanced for you to refine them. A True Essence 5-star Human pill might do the trick but it won''t last long either. Then, you have the last solution. Find another human crucible."


    "Another one?"


    "Yes, find yourself another girl to dual cultivate. After all this Long Yin..."


    "Zhong Ling."


    "Whatever! That girl wasn''t the best choice for this dual cultivation."


    "Then, how should I choose another one?"


    "Well, there is a perfect candidate. I''ve even been feeding her some pills to make her that much more useful to you."


    Before his master could finish his thought, Xue Rui had understood his meaning. He was asking him to consume Qiang Zilan''s soul instead of Xue Rui''s.


    "Come on. Don''t tell me that you''ve grown to care for her. I told you to take her as a concubine for a reason. She''s not even your official wife, you can have other concubines in the future. That girl was desperate to save her family''s finances. And she was perfect for you to dual cultivate. With a tiny help from my pills, I do believe that she is ripe for the taking. Besides, she''s not too stupid, I''m sure she''s figured out that there''s something wrong with you and what''s her face."If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I..."


    "What? You do realize that if you keep switching between the two of them, you could make them last longer. Your servant''s soul should be completely destroyed by the end of the month at this rate. But if you throw in your little concubine, you might be able to make them last for four or even five months. I mean, you could try to find another candidate, but you don''t have much time and the conditions are rather strict. You don''t want to end up like my previous disciple, do you?"


    Although Xue Rui had never met Luo Jiang, he knew what had ultimately happened to him. And yes, he didn''t want to be next. However, he couldn''t imagine inflicting the torment he was putting Zhong Ling through to his concubine. She had been very supportive and recently, he had even thought about officially making her his true wife. But then, if he didn''t do as his master instructed, his black flame would start to consume him again.


    Immediately after dual cultivating with Zhong Ling, Xue Rui had recovered most of his mind. He wasn''t as enraged as before and his alchemy was progressing faster and faster. During the sessions, he was quite literally ripping off parts of Zhong Ling''s soul to fuel his Heart Locking Fire Pact. By sending a small piece of the black flame within his partner, he could devour her soul as fuel. At the same time, it was also soothing the black flame and protecting Xue Rui''s state of mind.


    Could he really do such a thing to Qiang Zilan? But if he didn''t...


    "I know you''ll make the right choice. For now leave, I have someone else to talk to."


    Still confused, Xue Rui left the laboratory of his master just as a small servant entered it. He didn''t remember the face of the boy he saw. In fact, he was certain that this wasn''t a servant of his family. But Xue Rui knew better than to ask any question. Instead, he walked back to his own chambers.


    There, he saw Qiang Zilan who was working on some painting. Without disturbing her, he looked at her craft. In his mind, everything was blank just like the canvas she was painting on. And as she was filling the canvas with paint, Xue Rui was calm. For the time being, he put all those thoughts to the back of his mind. But it didn''t take long for a small voice coming from his heart to whisper in his ear. He wanted to take Zhong Ling again. The more he was practicing the demonic arts, the more he wanted to. Although his rage was under control, his appetite had grown out of control in its stead.


    At first, he had wanted to become a better alchemist to surpass his older brother. Now he truly wanted to progress in order to make Qiang Zilan happy. She had tied her life to his fate and he didn''t want to let her go. But to progress, he might have to destroy her very soul. Then, what would be the point?


    But the mere fact that he was sincerely thinking about it told him something. Hadn''t he been deceiving himself about caring or even loving Qiang Zilan? Had she just been a good excuse to fall into depravity? By consuming her, he would be forced to admit that he simply cared about power and fame more than he cared about anything or anyone else. And the worst part was that he was slowly beginning to realize that this was the case...


    -


    After giving Dian Mo a few poem anthologies among his favorite ones, poems written by Saint Dashan in particular, Cao Yun headed toward Red Realm''s Banquet Hall. During his stay in Qingyun City, Cao Yun had visited this great restaurant several times. In fact, a lot of his money had been wasted there. Even for prodigal cultivators, this was a bit too much. Each time, he was ordering very expensive and rare dishes. Some were starting to think that he might be some kind of gourmet. Being an alchemist he had of course a palate much more sensitive than others.


    The reason why he was going to that restaurant wasn''t to have a great meal though. Of course, he would still take advantage of the situation to order a great meal anyway. But he had come in order to meet someone he had already met there. Like the previous time, he asked the head waiter for an isolated room. And it didn''t take long for Di Xihe to join him. She had yet another appearance today. As she was hiding in the room, she heard Cao Yun''s voice in her ear.


    No matter how she was trying to hide herself, it was impossible. Since the first time he had been duped by her, Cao Yun had never been deceived by her art ever again. That was both intriguing and frustrating her at the same time.


    "So, have you discovered where the alchemist I''m looking for is?"


    "I know in which building he lives, but getting to him directly will take a bit more time. Recently, Xue Rui comes and goes from that place more often. I feel like he''s worried about you."


    "Of course he is, I''m way better than he is and I will take his spot to the Alchemy Conference. This isn''t good enough though. I need to know exactly where his master resides."


    "Well, I won''t risk my life. I have an ominous feeling about that place. Even though I believe in my skills, I have the sensation I would die without even understanding how. Besides, there are powerful array formations. Let''s say that I was ready to risk my life there, even following Xue Rui inside to see where he goes would be highly difficult. If I''m discovered by the Xue family, my fate won''t be much better."


    Cao Yun could tell that Di Xihe was just trying to extort him by saying how difficult it would be. However, she had learned. She didn''t try to seduce him this time as she had seen how inefficient it had been twice already.


    "Come on, what do you want? I don''t have much patience for your shenanigans."


    "You promised that you could find what I''m looking for. Prove me that you can deliver and I will risk my skin for your precious information."


    "Fair enough. I know that you''re looking for your father here in Qingyun City. I''ve been able to track down the location of almost every man in the city during the time of your conception. It will take a bit more time to know for sure who was your father, but it should drastically reduce the scope."


    "Good, good. Give me the files."


    From Cao Yun''s spatial ring, several documents appeared and flew into Di Xihe''s hands. She was visibly excited and began to read them straight away. It didn''t take her too long to remember all the names and locations at the time. Some of the men had died since then, but she was certain that her father was in the list. Like Cao Yun and Dian Mo had surmised, she had been born from a demon mother, but her father had been human.


    "Those are accurate?"


    "Absolutely! Then...?"


    "I''ll do it. In two weeks, I''ll tell you precisely where Gu Song is."


    "Thank you. We''ll meet back here in two weeks'' time then.You may leave for now."


    When Di Xihe left the room, another voice resounded in Cao Yun''s ear.


    "Then we have our answer, don''t we?"


    "Yes, we do. Everything will happen in a week."


    "Don''t you want to wait for Yong Ke''s return?"


    "It won''t be necessary. I already confirmed that she did everything I asked of her. Almost all my preparations are done. I''ll just have to adjust my array formations accordingly and everything will be set to go. Now I''m confident that Gu Song will try to make me his disciple. This will be the time we strike. We''ll only have one shot, but he won''t ever stand up from it."

 Chapter 429: Last auction before the competition

    Now that everything was coming together, Cao Yun decided to focus on his mental preparation. Unfortunately, he had not yet formed the Horn Constellation, but he had had very few opportunities to have a real fight with his spear. Hopefully, he would have some time to spar with General Yun once everything was over. Whether he was successful or not, Cao Yun would have no reason to hide that he was Chen Guo anymore. His Qi cultivation was extremely stable and his Five Prodigious Gates were almost on the verge of reaching their full potential, but he wasn''t fully there yet. Anyway, it wouldn''t make much of a difference.


    In fact, Cao Yun had essentially advanced his understanding of alchemy, of array formations and his mind cultivation. Indeed, the aspect he had spent the most time was his mind cultivation as it was the crux of all his plans.


    After getting inside the secluded room of the Major Hall, Cao Yun immediately activated some array formation he had already set up. Since he had come to Qingyun City, this room had been exclusively his. Thus, he had many things prepared in there. Among them were array formations meant to help him cultivate. And this one was Center of All Things. Inside this array formation, all the elements were perfectly balanced and Cao Yun was isolated from any turbulence outside. This was a very good array formation to focus on his mind and soul. Right now, he was completely absorbed in his sea of consciousness.


    As soon as he got within, he saw that around his Po character the bone-like fragments were spinning faster than ever. Those fragments were the Po of Jing he had extracted from his very corporeal soul. Inside his Drop of Wrath, the same phenomenon could be witnessed as well. And beneath it all, Dian Mo was observing. As a matter of fact, he was absolutely amazed by this mind cultivation Cao Yun was practicing. Coupled with the Drop of Wrath, it was extremely powerful. But even without it, it was insanely smart. Whoever had written it had been some kind of genius. Dian Mo could not stop himself from imagining what would have happened if the demons had had this mind cultivation back then...


    From his mind cultivation, Cao Yun activated everything. His Five Agents were surrounded by the flames of Shen the Fire Spirit and it made Yi the Earth Intent shine brighter. A golden light came out of it and was focused on Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. But this wasn''t all. Even the Nine Soul Peaks began to shine as well. They became bright as though a silver light was shining on them. All around them, the roots of the world tree also seemed to let out a peaceful green hue full of vitality.


    With all this light, Dian Mo decided to move to another spot in order to see everything in details. After leaving from the enclosure of the Nine Soul Peaks, Dian Mo saw that the Drop of Wrath was at the very center of all those lights. It was as though it was bending space and making everything go to it. Right now, it was the absolute center of Cao Yun''s soul.


    Before long, the Po characters began to unravel. Piece by piece, filament by filament, Cao Yun was extracting small parts of his Po of Jing. And at the same time, the Po character within the Drop of Wrath was reacting accordingly. But the filaments were always a bit different. With each once of them, Cao Yun was feeling a powerful anger course through his veins. Along with those filaments were both feelings and memories attached to them.


    As the two Po characters were more connected than ever, Cao Yun could feel some of Axiu Qian''s anger and wrath. It was way beyond everything Cao Yun could imagine. And these were just remnants of broken memories. If Cao Yun had had to feel the raw fury of Axiu Qian, he would have gone insane with blood lust and killing intent. Even the blood beasts he had fought seemed more tame and docile in comparison. Although he didn''t know everything, Cao Yun had seen that Axiu Qian''s life had begun as a slave and later on, everything he had ever known was taken from him. He could imagine the level of wrath he had reached. In his last moments, he had forgone any kind of rationality. Maybe it was why his Flying Poison had been able to endure despite all the other parts of his soul being burned away.


    Dian Mo was quite amazed with the process because it was similar to things he knew but still very different at the same time. Right now, he was dying to grill Cao Yun for more details, but he didn''t want to disturb him. Then he realized his thought. Yes, he sincerely didn''t want to disturb the young man and he had no ulterior motive behind it. Hell, was he really growing too fond of this human brat?!


    As the sensations were very profound, Cao Yun took all the time he could to experience them. After more than three days, he finally left his meditation. He had quickly progressed in his mind cultivation as the cloud of bone surrounded his Po character was beginning to condense. It looked like the beginning of a solar system with the Po character as the star. Slowly, a new character was being produced, this would be Cao Yun''s Po of Jing, the sane version of the Flying Poison.


    "Hey boy, your mind cultivation is almost identical to the Accomplished Demon realm, the equivalent of the Spirit Warrior realm. Some call it ''Conquering the Seven Demons''. But unlike yours, the point is to allow the Po to degenerate. By cultivating the bad aspects of those souls, the demons form some kind of strange inner demon they have to keep under check. During the process, each Turbid Demon is chained down. In the end, they are fused together. Of course, they fight it till the end and the demon cultivator has to use all of their will to force them into one singular soul, the Demon Soul. And finally, they completely trap it within their own heart."


    "Interesting. So this ''Subdue the Seven Demons'' seems to be a more peaceful way of forming one''s Demon Soul. But would it really work? What makes the Demon Soul powerful seems to be its savage nature."


    "Probably not, indeed. However, it could allow a demon to keep his Po under control with a lot more ease. By getting to know your own soul, creating inner demons and chaining them down would be way easier. Just like humans, some demons can spend a century in this realm. But if their soul had already been trained like that, I could see it being done in a third or even a fourth of the time. Instead of using brute will, one could use their very soul to tame the inner demons. Not only would it be easier and faster, it would also be more durable. Demons have to be careful all the time that their own inner demons don''t rebel against them. Besides, they influence their mood a lot."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I see..."


    That also meant that Cao Yun would probably be able to progress in his asura cultivation faster than most other demons. That was very useful information. According to his plans, Cao Yun would get a great opportunity very soon. He might research the ''Crimson Inferno Road'' a bit more first. And since his relation with Dian Mo seemed to progress nicely, he could simply ask him to give him some books on the matter.


    -


    Later, Qinghe Ming came to visit Cao Yun. He had a bright smile on his face.


    "Esteemed patron, I have great news for you!"


    "If it is about the sales of my pills, I don''t mind. I have other pills I''d like your Major Hall to appraise and sell for me. I don''t need them all to be auctioned. You can sell the low quality pills and try to increase the price on the others through small auctions. I don''t really care one way or the other as long as I make at least a hundred taels of gold of profit with them. Instead of giving me the money, just pay for the ingredients I bought and the ones I will buy in the future."


    As he spoke, Cao Yun showed around twenty pills of varying quality. Cao Yun had only kept a handful for his own usage. Of course, Qinghe Ming took his words very seriously but Cao Yun could tell that he truly had some great news as his smile had not left his face. Thus, he began to grow curious.


    "Sorry to have interrupted you, what is it?"


    "Venerable alchemist, it was difficult but I''ve been able to locate an Eternal Frostfire Fir. It should be on its way to our Major Hall right now. Thanks to the auctions you''ve tasked me to perform, my influence grew a bit and I''ve been able to ask some favors from a few branches of our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. However, the buyer does want to auction it off. The first price should be around twelve taels but I still need to have the Eternal Frostfire Fir appraised to be sure. The buyer assures me though that it is of utmost quality so it should be very useful to you, whatever it is you want it for."


    As soon as he said that, Qinghe Ming heard that it could be misconstrued so he tried to backpedal a little.


    "Not that you have to tell us what you want to do with it of course. Our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall is very happy with your patronage, we wouldn''t dare..."


    "Thank you for your service. You''ve expertly handled everything I asked of you and every piece of information I got from you turned out to be exact. You don''t have to act so subservient with me. If I am offended, I will not hold back to tell you firsthand."


    "Of course, esteemed patron. It might have been bold of me, but I already asked for the Eternal Frostfire Fir to be delivered to our Major Hall. We should be able to auction it off during the next session."


    This immediately reminded Cao Yun of the rumors about the True Essence pill Jiahe Ruo had been spreading. Maybe it could serve a purpose. Cao Yun needed the Eternal Frostfire Fir for some powerful pill he had in mind. It might even help Hongyu, but to be honest, it was for him first. After all, Hongyu seemed to be just fine for now. Thanks to his understanding of both Evil Qi and seals, Cao Yun was confident he would be able to deal with her evil core in a matter of years. Until then, she simply had to abstain from using it too much. And her forming fifth core would even balance it out thanks to the influence of the Drop of Wrath within.


    "By the way, I failed to ask. But did you hear the rumors about one of my pills being auctioned off in the coming week?"


    "Esteemed guest, I can assure you that we had nothing to do with it. I don''t even know this rumor came to be..."


    "No need to panic. I heard it from Jiahe Ruo. But I thought that it could be a good idea to make the rumor a fact. I know that this province isn''t as rich as others."


    From Cao Yun''s spatial ring, another pill appeared and went toward Hall Master Qinghe. This was a 2-star Human True Essence pill, an Autumn and Springs Reviving pill. Such a pill was useful for alleviating mental fatigue. In fact, Cao Yun intended to use it himself to improve his mind cultivation. But it would be a good bait as well. Considering the Heart Locking Fire Pact within Xue Rui''s heart, he might want this pill an awful lot. Even if Cao Yun''s plan was reaching fruition, he would do everything he could to improve his chances to the very end.


    "Changing our auction so late will be a bit difficult, but if this is your desire, this can be done."


    "I want you to auction it off indeed. But I''ll be the one to buy it."


    "What?!"


    Buying off his own pill might be a bit absurd. However, Cao Yun didn''t care about money at all. No matter what he paid, he would have to give a small percentage to the Major Hall but he would receive the rest back. Thus it wouldn''t cost him much. Through this trick, he would however gain something money couldn''t buy...


    Sensing that his guest was absolutely serious, Hall Master Qinghe decided not to press him on the matter.


    "Sir, everything will be done according to your will. In the next auction, you''ll be able to obtain the Eternal Frostfire Fir, and we''ll auction off this pill."


    Qinghe Ming did take care of everything. In his mind, there was no doubt that Cao Yun would buy everything he wanted during the auction. The Major Hall had decided on the date because it was soon before the competition announced by Governor Jiahe. As such, there would be more people than usual in town. But it wasn''t too soon that all the alchemists were not cooped up preparing for it.


    Instead of staying in the Major Hall, Cao Yun left one last time in order to complete his array formations. If he wasn''t wrong, Di Xihe would give her the location of Gu Song''s laboratory. However, he wouldn''t be able to use her as a spy later on. That was a shame. Her technique was very interesting and useful, but he was certain that he couldn''t learn it. Otherwise, he would have done so before the end.


    Using his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun got very close to the Xue residence. In fact, he even walked through several array formations. Some were too old for him to completely bind them to his will in a short amount of time, even with Dian Mo''s assistance. But he had still been able to mess around with them. In time, the defenses of the Xue family would all be used by him, just like Mo Tian had tried to use the array formations of the Wubei Sect against its own disciples.


    Marching in, he saw the building Di Xihe had pointed to him. With his senses, he could detect traces of Evil Qi. It was obvious that there were protections to prevent people to detect Gu Song''s presence. Even as he was so close to it, Cao Yun couldn''t pinpoint where his enemy was. He was so close and yet Cao Yun knew he couldn''t attack now. A single misstep would cause his death. In another building, Cao Yun could feel Xue Rui''s presence because of the black flame within him. The alchemist was clearly cultivating some form of demonic method.

 Chapter 430: Auction in Qingyun City

    Cao Yun didn''t stay long once his preparations were done. Soon, he would come back here. But now was not the time. If he tried to attack Gu Song, he would most likely be thwarted. With the Spirit Condensation Barrier, he would be able to escape but he would have lost his chance of stealing his memories, and of killing him.


    A few hours before the auction, Hall Master Qinghe Ming came to his room to inform him that the first bidders had arrived. Among them were Xue Rui and Jiahe Ruo. After some time, Cao Yun decided to also join the auction room. The Major Hall of the Subei Province wasn''t as prestigious as other Major Halls Cao Yun had seen. Of course, it was better than the one in Yinmen City, but that wasn''t saying much. In fact, Cao Yun had not really participated in an auction since he had bid against Luo Jiang. As it turned out, Luo Jiang was probably an alchemist under Gu Song too. At the very least, he had his Heart Locking Fire Pact in him as well. And today, Cao Yun was going to bid against Xue Rui. Hopefully, he would only be interested in the True Essence pill and wouldn''t rack up the price of the Eternal Frostfire Fir. Well, Cao Yun didn''t care about the price at this point, but he didn''t want to show too much of his wealth either.


    As he entered the antechamber of the auction room, he saw many people he recognized. Most of them came to greet him. On the side, Xue Rui was bitter but he knew he couldn''t do a thing within the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. If only he could be isolated alone with this Guai Mo, he would kill him. No, he had to suffer first. Guai Mo had to be humiliated and then tortured to death. He had slapped Xue Rui''s face and wanted to steal his spot for the Alchemy Conference. And because of him, Xue Rui might be forced to go after the only woman who seemed to care about him.


    As Xue Rui had those distorted thoughts, bending the events to fit his narrative, Jiahe Ruo was torn apart. He knew that going to Guai Mo now would clearly be spitting in Xue Rui''s face. But then, he remembered what his bodyguard had seen in his chambers. Finally, he decided to walk toward Guai Mo and greeted him. In return, Cao Yun showed him more consideration than others. This wasn''t just because he was the Governor''s son, but because his character seemed quite good.


    Being so close to Xue Rui though, Cao Yun could sense something ominous. So could Dian Mo.


    "His Heart Locking Fire Pact has evolved. My guess is that he used someone''s soul to strengthen it and put it under control. But that''s a fool''s errand. Although the black flame seems to be more docile, it''s quite the opposite. As long as he feeds it, it will grow stronger and be appeased, just like your Drop of Wrath at first. But since it''s stronger, it will in fact be more and more difficult to control it. So if he stops feeding it or lose control for even one instant, it will destroy him completely. Only a fool would use such a method."


    "Or a master cultivating a black flame in another''s body..."


    "Yes, it makes sense. Your trap seems to have worked. Gu Song has clearly forsaken this disciple and is just using him as a human crucible to develop this black flame."


    "Then, what I felt last night in his residence..."


    "Most likely, he was consuming someone''s soul."


    Hearing what he had feared, Cao Yun became somber.


    "Come one. You can''t save everyone. Neither should you, by the way. Unless you want to become a saint..."


    "I know all that. But letting innocent people be tortured and killed while I''m nearby doesn''t really feel good. There is a large gap between being a saint trying to bring salvation to all and being completely indifferent to the suffering under your own eyes. However, you are right on that point. I can''t save everyone and I made my peace with that. By getting rid of Gu Song, and Xue Rui of course, I''ll do a lot of good. But if I act harshly to save only a few, many more will suffer."


    As much as he was trying to rationalize it, Dian Mo could sense that Cao Yun was still affected. In his eyes, the boy was still too young. Despite the horrors he had already seen, he was a bit too sentimental. Cultivators who could live thousands of years or even more saw much more suffering and death than anyone else. At some time, this sentimentality in Cao Yun would go away and he could see the big picture more clearly.


    As he was thinking about what Xue Rui had probably done to improve the black flame in his heart, the Flying Poison within his Drop of Wrath seemed to move around. Ever so slowly, it was coiling itself around the Po character inside the Drop of Wrath. But this was also affecting Cao Yun''s Po character and his very mental stability as well. At the moment though, he wasn''t aware of that. Still, he suppressed his anger so that there was nothing suspicious about him. Then, he reasoned, he rationalized, and he hated himself for that.


    While Cao Yun was reining in his anger, Xue Rui was trying to do the same. Just seeing that face was making him furious. Since he couldn''t blame himself, he had shifted all of it on Cao Yun, this was convenient. Right now, he could feel the black flame getting agitated in his very heart. Thankfully, he had dual cultivated just before coming to this auction. Recently, he was doing it more and more often. Each time, he reasoned that he truly needed it to stay in control. But deep down, what he refused to admit even to himself, was that he loved hurting Zhong Ling. Even though her soul was already in shambles, he just couldn''t refrain himself. Seeing the look in her eyes was just priceless.


    All the changes within the black flame were seen through by Cao Yun. Despite Xue Rui''s Wei Qi concealing it, Cao Yun''s knowledge of both Evil Qi and Death Energy made him the greatest expert in those domains on the entire Piaolu planet. No one could fully hide those from him. And even other experts in those sinister energies would be able to blind him completely to their nature.


    After accepting the greetings from everyone, Cao Yun went to Xue Rui. At first Jiahe Ruo tried to dissuade him.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "Brother Guai, I know that you and Xue Rui had some tensions. Although I fear that you won''t be good friends, I do not think there are any reason for you to hold a grudge. When the competition held by my father is over, only one of you will be the representative of our Subei Province in the Alchemy Conference. But surely, both of you will have demonstrated exceptional alchemy. Please, do not let your rivalry turn into a deeper grudge. Our Hongchen Kingdom needs all its alchemists. The fate of our very kind may depend on you someday. Since you can''t make peace, at least, avoid war."


    This time, Cao Yun could sense a true sincerity in Jiahe Ruo''s words. Even though he wasn''t a governor, or didn''t even have any official office now, Jiahe Ruo was still thinking of the good of the kingdom. A feud between powerful alchemists was a terrible thing for all. But of course, Cao Yun knew that this war was unavoidable and that Xue Rui would die anyway.


    Hearing those words from the other side of the room, Xue Rui was quite upset. But at least, his former friend had tried to save his face as much as possible. However, Cao Yun had another idea. This auction was meant for him to push Xue Rui to the edge, as far as he could. After feeling the state of his Heart Locking Fire Pact, this invigorated him to go forward with his plans.


    "Xue Rui, I have no grudge against you as the boot has no grudge with the ant. In that competition, I will slap your face in front of everyone and you won''t dare show it again in public. Be a good dog and get out of my way!"


    "You...!"


    A flare of the black flame hurt Xue Rui as his anger erupted. He even had to control himself not to spew out blood. Everyone in the antechamber didn''t know how to react. This was truly a declaration of war against Xue Rui. This could even be seen as a declaration of war against the entire Xue family. Guai Mo was just too arrogant. No matter how talented he was, he had to be more restrained. Even if he had to compete against Xue Rui, he could more civil about it. Some, like Jiahe Ruo, discerned something else though. Surely Guai Mo had his reasons to be so opposed to Xue Rui. But they simply couldn''t figure it out.


    Hall Master Qinghe also heard the dispute. He made a mental note to always treat Xue Rui with the minimum respect he could so that he wouldn''t annoy Cao Yun. Right now, Qinghe Ming''s reputation was skyrocketing among the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and everything was thanks to Cao Yun. If that Xue Rui was seen as an enemy by Cao Yun, it would be best to avid developing relations with him, he would stick to a strictly professional attitude toward him. In fact, he was even rethinking his attitude toward the entire Xue family.


    Since the atmosphere had changed for the worse, Qinghe Ming decided that it was best to start the auction early. There were a few good items but two of them were of utmost importance, the True Essence pill sold by Cao Yun and the Eternal Frostfire Fir he wanted to buy. After thinking a lot about it, Qinghe Ming had decided to sell the True Essence pill a bit earlier than the Eternal Frostfire Fir. Usually, the best item was kept for last, but he thought it would be good to Cao Yun. Indeed, many would have already spent a lot of money on other items and the True Essence pill would have certainly cost a lot as well. The bidding for the Eternal Frostfire Fir would thus be easier.


    Although he knew that Cao Yun could afford it, he also knew that he didn''t want to show all his money in public.


    For now, he entered the antechamber before things could escalate further. The guards of the Major Hall were also put on high alert. They even decided to move around the seats to make sure that Guai Mo and Xue Rui would interact as little as possible. Breaking the awkward atmosphere, Hall Master Qinghe announced the beginning of the auction.


    "Esteemed customers, this humble servant welcomes you all in our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. We hope that the meager items that we will auction today will catch your eyes. And we hope that you will leave our establishment with satisfaction. Although we are certain that no such outburst could happen, remember that our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall is the guarantor of this auction. In other words, we will tolerate no violence or threat in our establishment or near it. The items sold are under the protection of our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall for as long as you are within the perimeter of our Major Hall."


    Usually, no hall master would remind people of this as this was clearly a form of veiled threat. But after the harsh words between Cao Yun and Xue Rui, no one seemed to mind. Of course, Xue Rui wasn''t pleased. Everyone knew the rules of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. It was obvious that violence or even threats were forbidden within the auction hall. But it was also forbidden to try and steal from a buyer after the auction. Although the official rule stated that it was only around the auction hall, stealing an auctioned item would be an insult to the reputation of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Not only the hall, but even the Governor would punish such an offense. Although there was no powerhouse in the Major Hall of Qingyun City, the Governor would make sure that everyone abided by the rules. After all, the Imperial City had petitioned the Main Hall to obtain such a local branch. They had to respect them now. Indeed, Qingyun City needed the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall more than they needed them.


    Several servants wearing the color of the Major Hall lead the influential people to their respective lodges. The rest of the potential buyers were lead to the main room. Cao Yun was obviously lead to such a lodge. It was a tiny room with a balcony open on the auction room itself. They also had curtains in case someone wanted more privacy or even to hide their identity. But no one did. After all, they were all members of prominent families. If they had wanted to hide their identity, they wouldn''t have come into the antechamber to begin with.


    In the main room, a few men and women were standing on a stage where a few items were already visible. For now, nothing caught Cao Yun''s eyes. There were a couple of weapons, three pills, a scroll and a painting. Although that painting was incredible, Cao Yun didn''t care much. On the other hand, Jiahe Ruo was immediately hooked. This man was a huge patron of arts and a great connoisseur as well. After seeing this painting, he already knew everything about it. Right now, it was the most expensive item in the auction.


    Unfortunately, Jiahe Ruo had already spent most of his money to pay for Cao Yun''s expensive banquet. With a complicated look, he turned his head toward him. If he had known, he wouldn''t have proposed to pay for his dinner. He could have just bought a good wine instead... But at the very least, it seemed as though he had made a good impression on the alchemist. And something was telling him that it had been the right decision. However, not being able to obtain this painting was a huge blow to him. Although he had come to this auction, it was just a show for him since he didn''t have much money.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, let''s begin with this Gorilla Fleeting pill. As you already know, this is a 5-star Earth pill that can greatly increase one''s strength for a short amount of time. Although it''s not very impressive for some of you, let me tell you that this pill reached the Pure grade with 96% of the medicinal essence within. Besides there is less than 10% of the toxins. It could help a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior reach the strength of a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior for more than ten breaths. The first price is fifteen taels of gold."


    "Sixteen taels."


    "Eighteen taels and five hundred coins."


    ...

 Chapter 431: Beating an alchemist with money

    The items were sold one by one without attracting much attention. Finally, the painting that had attracted Jiahe Ruo''s attention was sold to someone from a noble family for forty-two taels of gold, almost one Yuanbao. The young man was very good at hiding his frustration. But luckily, he knew the woman who had bought the painting. At the very least, he was certain he could go admire it. In fact, he might even be good enough to seduce her and take it back for around the same price. Damn, if he was good enough, he might get it for free... All kinds of ideas popped in his mind. But this painting was just too important for him. Apparently no one had recognized the real painter behind it, not even the Major Hall. If they had been in the Imperial City, everyone would have and it could have been sold for several hundred Yuanbao.


    For several months, Jiahe Ruo would try and befriend this woman. Although no romance emerged, a good friendship was born. As a matter of fact, that woman had also recognized the painter. He was indeed a very famous painter in the Imperial City but he was only known in very few circles. Sadly, Jiahe Ruo never recovered his painting, but he found a companion with whom he could share his love of art.


    Then, many other items were auctioned off. Although some of the important people in the lodges bought a few items, Xue Rui and Cao Yun were not moved by anything at all. They were probably the people with the most money as they were alchemists. So no one was very surprised by the fact that they seemed picky. In fact, everyone was convinced that the huge battle would be for the True Essence pill. Indeed, almost everyone knew about this open secret already.


    After two hours, the auction was almost over.


    Then, the item everyone had been waiting for appeared on the stage. A small box was put on a pedestal. Even before opening it, a sweet fragrance filled the entire auction hall. No matter whether they were knowledgeable in alchemy or not, they all knew that this was a great pill with an impressive quality. And the Major Hall knew how to make a show of things. A beautiful woman slowly went toward the box and delicately opened it in front of everyone.


    When the box was finally opened and the pill inside revealed, many people were incredulous. Inside the box, on a red silk sheet, there was a tiny pill with orange and brown colors moving on its surface. There was also a faint hue all around it that was the color of dying leaves. The alchemists immediately recognized the pill. But they had never seen one so vibrant and with so many lines.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, this pill is a True Essence Autumn and Springs Reviving pill. As many know it is a 2-star Human pill that is able to soothe the mind. Although it couldn''t heal an injured Soul Embryo, it might help a human soul endure. For someone who cultivates either their soul or mind, such a pill is a game changer. As such, we will start the auction with one Yuanbao."


    "1 Yuanbao and five taels."


    "1 Yuanbao and thirteen taels."


    ...


    Only the noble families could afford this pill. If Cao Yun had not been the one who had refined it, he would have wanted to buy it too. Even for him, refining such a True Essence pill had been difficult. He had failed three times before succeeding. Of course, that meant that he had around twelve other Autumn and Springs Reviving pills in his spatial ring. Besides, he also had a few Pure ones among them. The difference between a Pure pill and a True Essence one was the difference between Heaven and Earth. Although it was only a 2-Human pill, a True Essence pill was almost as miraculous as a 1-star Heaven one.


    Considering that the main point of this pill was to heal one''s soul, Cao Yun was absolutely certain that Xue Rui would want to get it. At first, Cao Yun''s plan had been to humiliate Xue Rui in order to distort his black flame even more. Now he was hesitant because he knew that some poor victim''s soul would be used by him to stabilize himself. But then, he might have other ways...


    For a few minutes, the price kept increasing. When it finally reached fifty Yuanbao, Xue Rui began to bid as well.


    "Fifty-two Yuanbao."


    Everyone was impressed. Even Cao Yun didn''t think that this little alchemist had that much money. Maybe he had saved it over time, or maybe his master had given it to him. Right now, Cao Yun wasn''t too sure as Cang Yin had not been able to report on his financial status. Moreover, Cao Yun didn''t really care about his finances, even though it could be interesting to know about them.


    "Sixty Yuanbao!"


    No one but Cao Yun could outbid him with such a price. Of course, Qinghe Ming was convinced that Cao Yun was going to do so. However, it never came.


    "Sixty Yuanbao, going once. Sixty Yuanbao, going twice. Sold! Congratulations to Sir Xue."


    On Xue Rui''s face, there was a deep smirk directed at Cao Yun.


    "It seems like you''re too poor to even try to bid for such a precious treasure. Or maybe you''re just too blind to recognize Mount Tai when it''s right in front of you. Tsk..."


    "Is flaunting your money so impressive? I have no need for such a pill. Unlike like my mind is not deficient. Besides, if I wanted a certain pill, I could simply refine it!"


    "What?! You think you could refine a True Essence pill?! If I can''t do it, then obviously you can''t!"


    "Oh, really?! And could you refine an Autumn and Springs Reviving pill with 98% medicinal essence and only 2% toxins?"


    "Tsk... Refining an Autumn and Springs Reviving pill isn''t that difficult but your numbers are simply ridiculous."


    Before Xue Rui could add any other insult, Cao Yun took out such a pill from his spatial ring. He still didn''t want anyone to know that all the True Essence pills around the kingdom recently were his doing. After all, soon everyone would learn that Guai Mo and Chen Guo was one and the same. However, he had other high quality pills in his spatial ring.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "You...!"


    "Oh? You''re not able to refine such a pill...?"


    "Boast all you want, this True Essence pill is mine!"


    Now that they saw the pill in Cao Yun''s hands, all the alchemists understood why he had not bidden on the True Essence pill. Although it was more potent, the gain would probably not be worth sixty Yuanbao. Besides, if he had refined such a pill, he clearly had others as well. Even if their quality wasn''t as high, they would still be incredible for a Human alchemist. This Autumn and Springs Reviving pill wasn''t so easy to improve.


    Since the pill had been sold, many were about to leave already, Xue Rui first.


    "Esteemed guest, we have one final item. It is sadly not as exciting as this incredible pill, but it might still catch the eyes of some of you. We were forced to put it last because it just reached our Major Hall today and we had to appraise it to be sure of its quality."


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Dian Mo could feel the killing intent of the young man. He was able to suppress it in the real world but it was quite apparent in his own mind and soul.


    "That''s more like it, boy. Instead of complicated plans, just kill this bastard."


    Faced with Dian Mo''s suggestion, Cao Yun seriously considered it for a moment, but he decided against it. He had to be smart and he couldn''t give in to his raw emotions.


    "I''m very tempted to do so. But I just have to wait a little bit. Besides, before the Major Hall gives him the pill, there is something I must do."


    "Oh? I see... Good idea!"


    A servant closed the box and took it away while another man placed a fir cone on the pedestal. This cone was the size of an adult''s forearm. On its surface, there was a thin layer of ice and it was almost frozen inside. In fact, some of the scales seemed to literally be made of ice. However, all around the fir cone, the air was blurry as though the temperature was quite intense. This was the Eternal Frostfire Fir.


    That Eternal Frostfire Fir was exactly the item Cao Yun needed for the pill he had in mind. Combined with the Hellish Dragon Fruit, this could have a great effect. It might even help Hongyu as well. This ingredient contained both a powerful Fire element and was lowering the temperature all around it. By using it in his pill, Cao Yun would be able to contain the extreme heat of the Hellish Dragon Fruit and it would be easier to mix it with other ingredients, namely the Universe Spanning Frost. Putting the two in contact without this Eternal Frostfire Fir would result in an explosion, no matter how great Cao Yun''s control over the flames was.


    "Although this item is not as useful as the Autumn and Springs Reviving pill, it is a great ingredient for alchemy. Our Major Hall spent a lot of time tracking this ingredient to add it to our auction. That is the reason why it appears as the last item after such a rare pill. The first price will also be 1 Yuanbao."


    The first price surprised some people. But then, they thought more about it. Such an ingredient was indeed ranked 5-star Heaven. A pill might be more precious for some as even if they could buy the ingredients, they couldn''t necessarily refine it, especially a True Essence one. But they had to admit that this ingredient was rare and valuable as well. Besides, the phenomena around it proved its great quality.


    "2 Yuanbao."


    With no hesitation at all, Xue Rui began to bid. And immediately, everyone turned toward him. He had just spent more than anyone else in the entire auction with a single bidding. And now, he wanted to bid again. Since he had not bought a single item in the entire auction until then, it was clear to everyone that he had come specifically for the previous pill. Indeed, no one knew about this last item.


    "2 Yuanbao, going once."


    "4 Yuanbao."


    Finally, Cao Yun was forced to outbid Xue Rui. And suddenly, all the heads turned toward his balcony. After his own humiliation, Xue Rui was happy that this Guai Mo was trying to bid against him. Soon, his face would be slapped so hard it would make people forget about that little exchange.


    "It seems like you truly want this Eternal Frostfire Fir. Let''s see if your money can match your mouth!"


    With a smirk on his face, Xue Rui kept on bidding.


    "5 Yuanbao."


    "6 Yuanbao."


    ...


    They kept outbidding one another. No one else was trying to buy the Eternal Frostfire Fir apart from them. As the price was rising, many were wondering how rich the Xue family really was. After all, Xue Rui had just bought a True Essence pill for sixty Yuanbao. As a comparison, the Xiliang Mines which were the most prosperous mines in the Hongchen Kingdom were able to produce less than five thousand Yuanbao a year. With the benefits of the Xiliang Mines, it would be possible to buy less than a hundred of those pills at that price. No one could take out that amount of money so easily.


    While he was bidding for the ingredient, Cao Yun wrote down some messages. Then, he tasked a servant to send them to Qinghe Ming. He wasn''t asking to manipulate the auction. No, he was just asking to get the Autumn and Springs Reviving pill to him before delivering it to Xue Rui. Usually, it wouldn''t be done, but Cao Yun was literally the owner of the pill until it was formally sold. Technically, Xue Rui had not given the money yet. And Qinghe Ming was sure that Cao Yun wasn''t going to destroy the pill.


    "39 Yuanbao, going once. 39 Yuanbao, going twice."


    "40 Yuanbao."


    "40 Yuanbao, going once. 40 Yuanbao, going twice."


    Everyone looked at Xue Rui''s balcony. If he decided to bid again, he would have spent a hundred Yuanbao, this was a big sum that most people had never seen in their entire life. In fact, it was dubious whether or not he had that kind of money. Most likely, he would have to use the funds of his own family to do such a foolish thing.


    "45 Yuanbao!"


    Once again, everyone turned toward Xue Rui. Jiahe Ruo was dismayed. He had never realized how much of a fool Xue Rui was. It was clear to everyone that he had bid in order to spit in Cao Yun''s face. It had been clear for him from the start that Guai Mo had been playing with him. In fact, many others had the same idea. They all thought he was just trying to push Xue Rui to spend as much as he could.


    "46 Yuanbao. I didn''t know that ''Brother'' Xue wanted this Eternal Frostfire Fir so bad..."


    Cao Yun''s intonation on the word ''Brother'' would have been sensed as an insult by the most oblivious man on the planet.


    "50 Yuanbao. Guai Mo, It seems like you''re not as poor as I imagined... But do you truly have the capacity to pay?"


    "55 Yuanbao. Xue Rui, unlike you I won''t use my family''s money to pay. Maybe your alchemy is not good enough for that, but I earned everything. You can ask the Major Hall since they sold my pills for me."


    Apart from his True Essen pills, the Major Hall had indeed sold other pills, but the revenue hadn''t gone too such heights yet. Of course, the Major Hall would not make it public. But since Qinghe Ming stayed silent, it proved that Guai Mo did have that much money.


    "You...! 60 Yuanbao!"


    Xue Rui had really gone all out once more. What he didn''t know was that he had already given this amount to Cao Yun, minus the Major Hall''s expenses. So he had no problem raising the bar.


    "80 Yuanbao!"

 Chapter 432: Dealing with anger

    Xue Rui really didn''t want to lose. He was ready to even get in debts just to spit in Cao Yun''s face. Deep in his heart, there was a fiery ball that was amplifying all his emotions. If he had been alone with Cao Yun, he would have pounced on him to kill him with his bare hands. As it turned out, Cao Yun would maybe have liked that as he could have destroyed him right here and there. But he had to hold on for some time. Besides, with his latest idea, Xue Rui would not be a problem. In fact, with a bit of luck, Gu Song might even become easier to deal with.


    As Xue Rui was ready to bid even more, he heard a voice.


    "Stop this foolishness!"


    Xue Rui''s blood froze as this was Patriarch Xue''s voice.


    "80 Yuanbao, going once. 80 Yuanbao, going twice. Sold!"


    "Thank you for letting me win, ''Brother'' Xue. I hope you will have the same strength and conviction when it comes to our alchemy competition in a few months."


    As much as Cao Yun didn''t like useless conflicts when he could form friendship, that boat had sailed and burned a long time ago when it came to Xue Rui. From what he could see of Jiahe Ruo though, his warning had been heard loud and clear. But Cao Yun was also afraid of any retaliation against whoever Xue Rui was using in his obscene cultivation. Most likely, Xue Rui would use them to vent his anger. Hopefully, Cao Yun would find a way to help them before Xue Rui could destroy them body and soul. Right now, he couldn''t do anything though, and this frustration was eating at him.


    Unfortunately, he lacked the strength to act directly against Gu Song. And he had no proof of what was going on behind closed doors. In fact, Cao Yun preferred to keep quiet about that. If General Yun Po or even Yun ping knew about this, this would weigh on them. General Yun was used to battlefields so he would understand that some sacrifices are necessary to win a war. However, it would still have an impact on his decisions.


    Of course, Cao Yun had been able to sense the spiritual senses of Patriarch Xue Liu. Usually, a Mortal Warrior wasn''t so sensitive to those. Of course, an alchemist was more sensitive than someone else, as was an array formation master. But, above all else, Cao Yun had also begun to work on his very soul, and his training with seals and with the ''Ashen Feather Seal'', had made him even more sensitive to spiritual senses. If he wanted to, he could hide himself from them but he didn''t want to appear suspicious.


    For a moment, they stayed too long on him. But the Spirit Warriors from the Major Hall acted and he retracted his senses. In the distance, Cao Yun was certain that General Yun was also there. Patriarch Xue was mortified by what had just happened, but he was happy that he had stopped this stupid descendant from wasting his family''s wealth. Patriarch Xue was shrewd enough that he could distinguish things about Guai Mo and the Major Hall. He wouldn''t lose that auction, no matter what. Thus, he made sure that his junior stopped this stupidity. In addition to losing the family''s money, he was also losing their face.


    Although he had won the auction, Cao Yun wasn''t satisfied at all. Maybe because he was working on his Flying Poison, he could physically feel his anger in every cell of his body. Thanks to his mind cultivation, he was repressing it but it wasn''t a good solution. In fact, it might even be able to help him deal with this part of ''Subdue the Seven Demons''. Instead of working with memories, he could work directly with his raw emotions.


    This anger was directed both toward Xue Rui and also toward himself. Even though he had no relation with Xue Rui''s victim, the idea that it was happening right in front of him infuriated him to no limit. At first, he hadn''t been sure whether Xue Rui was willingly acting for Gu Song. Even if he had been tricked, it didn''t matter in the end. After all, even Lu Meihan had been tricked, but she had to assume the responsibility or her acts. However, now it was clear that he had fully embraced the demonic arts. So Cao Yun would have absolutely no mercy when dealing with this bastard.


    Right now, Cao Yun exchanged very few words with anyone else. Cao Yun didn''t even collect his item. After all, Hall Master Qinghe Ming would do so for him. And Cao Yun wasn''t going very far. Indeed, he immediately went into his secluded room. All the way down the Major Hall, Cao Yun could feel the spiritual senses of two Spirit Warrior on him. Usually, a Mortal Warrior wasn''t so sensitive to those. Of course, an alchemist was more sensitive than someone else, as was an array formation master. But Cao Yun had also begun to work on his very soul, and his training with seals and with the ''Ashen Feather Seal'', had made him even more sensitive to them. If he wanted to, he could hide himself from them but he didn''t want to appear suspicious. Thus, he quickly went into the secluded room.


    There, he dealt with the Autumn and Springs Reviving pill that Xue Rui had bought. It didn''t take him too long. In the meantime, Qinghe Ming simply stalled for time thanks to a lot of paperwork. When he was done, Cao Yun let them give the pill to Xue Rui. No one would notice anything until it was too late. With Dian Mo''s expertise to confirm, Cao Yun was sure that even Gu Song wouldn''t see through his little trick. First of all, he would have to be suspicious enough to look for it. But even then, he wouldn''t find anything at all.


    -


    Before his grand finale, Cao Yun decided to work on his soul once more. He had to get it ready for what was to come. This time, his Po of Jing seemed to resonate with the Flying Poison a bit more than usual. Indeed, his anger was now more vivid. Thus, Cao Yun realized that what he had suspected was true. In order to develop his Po of Jing faster, it would be easier to cultivate anger. As a matter of fact, this was what demons would do. Instead of cultivating their Po directly, they turned it into the Seven Turbid Demons that were easier to feel and perceive. This was the concept of the Accomplished Demon realm, the equivalent of the Spirit Warrior realm for humans. But it was a double-edged weapon.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Indeed, if Cao Yun let anger fester in his mind, it could overtake him. As much as he was confident in his mind cultivation, he didn''t want to risk anger alter his plans. In order to succeed, he had to be level-headed. By focusing on the process right now, Cao Yun hoped to find ways to ensure that he could cultivate his soul faster without risking his sanity one iota. And it was working. He had to keep the last phase for later, but he was getting there. It would be risky, but if he did what he had in mind and succeeded, his soul cultivation would soar. Even he didn''t know what extent he would reach...


    -


    At the same time, Xue Rui was back in his personal chambers. And as it had become his habit, he was beating Zhong Ling. Each time, he seemed to grow stronger and stronger. In the poor girl''s eyes, there was no life at all. She even looked like a puppet. Xue Rui could tell that most of her soul had been burned away by his dual cultivation. Even using the Autumn and Springs Reviving pill on her would be useless. Instead, he intended to use it on him to control the black flame in his heart.


    In his frustration, Xue Rui beat Zhong Ling with more violence and abandon than ever before. Some of the strikes even reached her face. If she had not been a Mortal Warrior, she would have died several times. And if her cultivation had been weaker, her face would have been disfigured completely. But when he looked at her face, he saw Qiang Zilan''s. Suddenly, he recoiled and almost fell from the bed.


    Would he really have to sacrifice that woman to satisfy his ambitions? If he could become a Spirit Warrior, he would live thousands of years. Then, he would have all the time to find a worthier woman! After all, that wench had become his just for his money and his status. As much as she claimed to, she didn''t give a damn about him! She only wanted him to maintain his status so she could leech off of him. Yes! He had no reason to worry about her. It would even be an honor for her to serve him.


    Xue Rui was now unable to make any difference between the voice in his head and the voice in his heart. A deep hunger had been awakened. This time, for sure, an inner demon had been created within the young man.


    As Xue Rui was ingesting the pill, Qiang Zilan was in her room. Now she knew what was happening in her husband''s chambers each time he isolated himself with Zhong Ling. The poor girl had slowly become a mere echo of herself. It was as though he had stolen her very soul. And he had.


    "Mistress, I''m worried for you..."


    "..."


    Her small servant barely spoke so directly. Usually, she kept her talking to a minimum and always talked about her duties. Hearing her timid servant asking about her well-being, Qiang Zilan realized how pathetic she had to look.


    "Yu''er, everything''s fine..."


    No one would have been convinced by her tone. But as much as she wanted to put up a front, she wasn''t able to find the strength to do so.


    "Mistress, may I speak my mind?"


    Despite Cheng Yu''s meek voice and all the hesitation in her tone, Qiang Zilan was able to hear something important and even urgent in her question.


    "Go ahead, we''re alone. I don''t mind."


    "I wonder if getting Zhong Ling away from Young Master Xue might not be a good idea. I mean... He started to really change when she entered the residence. I don''t want to intrude, but... But I think that having her by his side might keep some dark feelings alive inside of him."


    Qiang Zilan was surprised by Cheng Yu''s analysis. She didn''t except such a young girl to have any idea about the matter. In her mind, Cheng Yu was a timid and scary kitten. She was following her around all the time but was barely speaking outside of what was necessary for her duties. Apparently, she was at least a good observer.


    "You are indeed right. But I fear it would be very difficult for me to do so. In fact, I''ve been meaning to do so for quite some time now. But... I... I fear my husband''s response. To be honest, I never thought he was going to treat her like that. At first, I only thought he wanted her as a servant to humiliate her because she had rejected him. At some point, I was even jealous as I thought he was trying to convince her to marry him. But I can see it clearly now. She loathes him completely and there was no changing that since the get-go. Now, she''s just a tool for him to vent his anger. As much as I hate that, I..."


    Zhong Ling had come from a small family of apothecaries. She wasn''t that different from Qiang Zilan in that aspect. When it was discovered that Zhong Ling had a good talent for alchemy, this was the most joyful moment for the entire household and they did everything they could to help her join a prestigious institute. Unfortunately, she wasn''t able to do so. However, she was still talented enough to join the Wubei Sect, the best martial art sect in the Hongchen Kingdom. Of course, between a subpar institute of alchemy and the Wubei Sect, there had been no discussion.


    Although she met Cao Yun and had a good relationship with Elder Meng Jia there, she also crossed paths with Xue Rui. He became obsessed by her and kept harassing her. At some point, she was forced to use Meng Jia''s position to deter him away.


    She had graduated as Cao Yun had entered the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And soon after, Xue Rui who was now a fifth-year had decided to get back at her for rejecting his many attempts to court her. He used the influence of the Xue family to torment her family, almost destroying their business. Because of the chaos and most likely because Chief Elder Luoming was in charge of the disciplinary pavilion, she couldn''t get help. Besides, both Elder Meng and Cao Yun were unavailable. Thus, she was forced to resign although she had meant to become an inner disciple. In exchange for leaving her family''s business in peace, she had to become Xue Rui''s servant. And since then, he had stopped using the Xue family to disrupt their business. Her parents probably didn''t even know the reason why she had joined him.


    "You''re afraid that without her, he might turn to you?"


    "You..."


    Tears began to well up in Qiang Zilan''s eyes and her words were choked as a tremor shook her throat. Cheng Yu had just found the crux of the matter. Qiang Zilan was terrified by her own husband. Although they had not known each other for very long before she became his concubine, she had never been afraid of him one instant. And even if he had not hurt her yet, she could see that he was losing his temper more and more. Now that she knew that Gu Song would never help her because he was the origin of what was ailing Xue Rui. She feared that going to Patriarch Xue directly wouldn''t do any good. She couldn''t tell him that Xue Rui was probably a demonic cultivator.


    In fact, if it was revealed that she had been wedded to a demonic cultivator, it might endanger her family''s business. They were already on the verge of bankruptcy. For weeks now, she had been tormented by many thoughts. Should she denounce her husband? Should she help in his evil ways? Should she try and bring him back to the orthodox path?


    As she couldn''t control herself any longer, Qiang Zilan was about to burst into tears. The small Cheng Yu got closer and hugged her like a child would hug her older sister. Then, Qiang Zilan let all her emotions out and cried in her warm embrace.

 Chapter 433: Kindred poets

    After being comforted by her small servant, Qiang Zilan steeled her heart. For better or for worse, she had chosen Xue Rui as her husband. Since she had figured out what was wrong with him, she had been hesitant. But now she had found a new resolve. Unfortunately, she couldn''t think about just herself, she had to think about her family as well. If she outed Xue Rui as a demonic cultivator, she would obviously be freed of her links with him but also with the Xue family. And she knew that they wouldn''t take kindly to her after that. After all, she would be the only one they could turn their anger toward.


    Besides, she remembered a soft Xue Rui. She knew that he was never a true gentleman but he wasn''t a monster either. Maybe she could reason with him. Thus, she went to his chambers. She found him prostrated in his bed, alone. He had his head in his hands and didn''t move at all. When she saw him and the emptiness in his eyes, her heart was pained.


    "Husband, we need to talk. Please, don''t be angry, but... I know everything..."


    "And what are you referring to?"


    The moment Xue Rui came back to reality, his eyes went from empty to terrifying.


    "Please, you know what I''m talking about. I really tried to avoid the subject, but you do realize you have some... issues?"


    Xue Rui''s first reaction was to brutally stand up. As he did, he saw Qiang Zilan flinch as though she was expecting him to hit her. Seeing himself in her eyes, he froze and his head fell forward. All strength abandoned him for an instant.


    "I... I know... I''ve been trying to control myself, but I can''t. Maybe... Maybe I really suffered from Qi deviation, but I can''t sense anything wrong. I even tried to refine some pills to keep my temper in check but nothing worked... Believe me, I did try everything before I... But I have to be the best alchemist possible. I can''t humiliate my family''s name. Patriarch Xue would discard me completely. I suspect he never really liked me much. They''ve all always preferred my brother. I just can''t stop. As much as I hate it, I can''t. If I''m not the best, I will lose everything. I know you married me out of necessity, but I couldn''t bare to see you suffer because of me. And I know that you... And I..."


    In his eyes, Qiang Zilan could see that Xue Rui was reaching his breaking point.


    "Maybe if you give your master Gu, this could save us all. You can tell everyone that you were tricked."


    "My master?!"


    Once more, his eyes changed. Qiang Zilan had the feeling she was speaking to different men at the same time. Those eyes completely froze her blood in her veins. Contrary to Xue Rui, she wasn''t even a Mortal Warrior. With a single move, he could do anything he wanted to her. Until now, she had never been afraid he would hurt her, but in that moment, she knew he would if she said the wrong thing.


    "You would turn me against my master?! He''s the only one who ever helped me! I knew what you were... Despite all your tricks, I''ve seen through your deception! You''ve only become mine so you could leech off of my success. And now, you want to sell me and my master to gain fame and fortune, isn''t that right?"


    Before she could answer, Xue Rui had his hands around her throat. Considering his strength, he could literally behead her with one hand if he wanted to. For now, he was just choking her. The poor Qiang Zilan was helpless and no sound was leaving her mouth. With her eyes alone, she tried to plead. But the only thing she saw were eyes turned black. Deep in them, she could see flames. It felt as though those flames would devour her soul. Whoever this man was, he wasn''t the Xue Rui she had known.


    As she was losing consciousness, her eyes darted all over the place as though she was looking for help. That was when she saw it. She should have seen it before, but somehow she had missed it. Behind the bed, she saw two feet. Indeed, Zhong Ling''s body had been thrown to the ground. She couldn''t tell whether the poor girl was dead or alive. And in that moment, she knew that she was going to live through the same torments. If she had tried to help Zhong Ling earlier instead of looking away, she might have escaped such a fate. Maybe it was fate, a punishment from the heavens...


    Everything went dark.


    -


    Several days passed and nothing happened. Finally, the moment Cao Yun had been waiting for came though. He had focused on his soul all this time and had completed all his preparations. He was ready for it, but there was still a bit of fear in his heart. After all, he knew what he was up against. But both the anger and the desire to know more about his family were stronger. He would not run away. Finally, he was acting and not reacting! And he had prepared everything. In the worst case, he could still escape, but he wouldn''t, because he was going to win this!


    He received a message from Cang Yin. Tomorrow she would go back to the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall with the information he needed to end it all. Now, he knew whether he could trust her or not.


    With the anticipation building up in him, Cao Yun decided to clear his head completely and to forget about his cultivation. He had to be perfectly ready for it. Even Dian Mo was oddly quiet.


    As it turned out, he had received an invitation from Jiahe Ruo. Knowing that the man was a connoisseur of art, he decided that this might be a good idea to visit him. The two men admired Jiahe Ruo''s collection together. It was indeed very nice and Cao Yun was enjoying his stay. As a matter of fact, Jiahe Ruo did have an impressive collection of poetry in his study, not just paintings and sculptures. But he also had many other books. Some were classics while others were unknown even to Cao Yun who could remember everything he read. Indeed, there were books that were clearly modern. Most likely, Jiahe Ruo had found them in the Imperial City the last time he was there.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "I think you might enjoy this little novel. Its author is only a mortal and when you read it you really find the hardships that mortals live through, but you can also taste a simple and yet fulfilling life. At times, I truly felt like I was working in some field. I''d say that it''s a bittersweet read. However, I often find myself attracted to it."


    "Do you personally know the author?"


    "Indeed, I''ve been his benefactor so he could publish his books. Unfortunately, making copies is still very costly and no one really works on that. The copyists prefer working on manuals. I am certain that there are many masterpieces that are still unknown. But worse than that, countless great works will disappear with time because of the lack of copies and their poor quality. This is truly a shame. So I try to conserve as much as I can."


    "This is a noble sentiment. In fact, this is also the case for martial arts and even some cultivation manuals. When they stop being used for a few generations, they tend to disappear. Apart from the most important ones such as the ''Universal Law of Immortality'', we believe that we lost many manuals and books. Of course, some are still hidden within the collections of some old experts, but this is knowledge that will be lost to us all with time. Some weep on what mankind lost from the Legendary Era. But the truth is that we also lost from our own era without us even realizing it."


    "You are indeed right, Brother. Maybe I could extend my venture to more than just literary works. In fact, I could probably find even more money to help in that endeavor. Hell, I could get a sponsorship by the Imperial City itself as a way to preserve the strength of mankind... You''ve given me a great idea Brother! It''s even a wonder that I never thought of that any sooner."


    "Well, sometimes, you''re just stuck on a way of thinking and you can''t get out of it. This is when you have to pull back a little and ask people who don''t necessarily do what you do or even understand it for that matter. Even in alchemy this has happened to me. Getting inspiration from other domains can be a great thing. Not only will it help you develop your current field, but it will also open yourself to new possibilities. And soon you''ll realize that everything is linked in some manner, sometimes more closely than others of course. But finding similarities between very different fields is more useful than you can imagine."


    "Very insightful. By the way, do you have a favorite writer?"


    "Well, I won''t be very original with my answer I fear. But I am partial to Saint Dashan. And ''Dying Poems Under the Mirage Pavilion'' is probably my favorite poetry among everything I''ve read. Imagining that things experienced more than fifty thousand years ago are still relevant today and still, to this day, shape our destinies, is just incredible. Despite their age, I always find some form of connection with my own life, and more and more everyday. Although I know all the poems by heart, I often revisit them on paper."


    "It seems like we have more in common than I thought. Recently, I''ve rediscovered his sixteenth overture. The entire poem is meant as a glorious melody. As you read it, the words create a vivid atmosphere of epic and grandiose. And yet, you also feel sadness and pain through it. The victory itself feels like a defeat at the end. There is something extremely beautiful in all of that."


    For several hours, Cao Yun and Jiahe Ruo ended up discussing many topics. And now that the topic of Xue Rui was definitely done between the two men, they realized that they had very similar tastes when it came to art. Jiahe Ruo had seemed too scheming to Cao Yun at first as he was always trying to create connections with everyone without offending anyone. But he could understand his position. And with Xue Rui, he had proved that he had ethics as well. Even he wouldn''t befriend just anyone, he had standards as well.


    While he was within the Governor''s residence, Cao Yun tried to discreetly examine everything and even extend his Wei Qi with ''Ashen Feather Seal'' as far as he could to try and detect things. When he had first come into tow, he had felt Evil Qi around here. But now he couldn''t feel it at all. Maybe it had been something else. Since he was very sensitive to Evil Qi and Death Energy and that they were related to demonic cultivators, he could still find clues even without spiritual senses. However, he couldn''t find anything any longer, any trace of Evil Qi had disappeared. At the same time, he asked very innocent questions to Jiahe Ruo to get a better idea of the layout of this place. After all, they could easily go from art to architecture.


    At the end of their discussion, they even went to the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall. This time though, Cao Yun invited Jiahe Ruo. The last time, he had played a little prank on him knowing full well that paying the bill would be a huge loss for him. But this time, Cao Yun decided to pay for everything. To be fair, he was now insanely rich and he was going to get richer and richer. The sales of the True Essence pills weren''t over at all. Besides, he had not refined any Heaven pill yet. As soon as he would be able to do so, he might clearly become richer than some noble families.


    In the restaurant, they also met with Minister Yong who didn''t stay long. Cao Yun''s impression of the man was rather good. He was a pure scholar. As such, he was a bit insipid but Cao Yun at least felt that he was earnest and hard-working. This man seemed to have been born to work in an office doing paperwork. When he thought about the chief elders of the Wubei Sect, he knew they would kill to have such a man by their help. Apparently, paperwork and administration truly were the doom of most cultivators. That truth stayed true even at the scale of the Hongchen Kingdom if Cao Yun were to judge by the dark rings under Minister Yong''s eyes. He was a Mortal Warrior and was that exhausted nonetheless. One could imagine how much work he was doing. And Governor Jiahe wasn''t really appreciative of that.


    "By the way Brother, do you have a lady in your life?"


    "Well, it''s complicated. You''ve not seen each other in a long time. And even before that, we''ve only just met a few weeks.At that time, I was certain that she would be my Dao companion for life. However, with so much time away, I''m doubting myself. Maybe it was just because we were young and in very special circumstances her and me..."


    "I''m sure you''ll sort it out if you see her again. When I was young I also got carried away some times. But you never know if this is the real deal or not. I''m sure that with a cool head, you''ll see things more clearly when you meet her again."


    "And you and miss Liang?"


    "Oh, she''s just a very good friend. You would appreciate her as well. Her collection isn''t as vast as mine, but she is even more particular than I am when it comes to art."


    They enjoyed themselves for some time. Cao Yun almost forgot about his upcoming plan. But then, he felt the presence of Di Xihe in the distance. This time, she appeared as an old woman who entered the restaurant. Since he had warned the head waiter, he knew exactly what to do and lead her to a secluded room like always.


    "I''m sorry, but something has come up. You can enjoy the rest of the meal. This time, I''ll pay for everything."


    "Thank you, Brother. I won''t take any more of your time. When you came to visit, I could see that there was something on your mind. I don''t know what''s going on, but I hope that everything is fine."


    "Yes, do not worry. There is a difficult refinement process that I''ve been waiting to perform. And all the ingredients just turned up."

 Chapter 434: Closing trap

    Cao Yun met with Cang Yin who took her real form once more to talk with him.


    "I''ve found out where Gu Song is. If you want to get to him, I can even help you make your way toward him. I know exactly how the guards do their rounds and I''ve figured out a few weaknesses within the array formations. If that is your wish, I can take you to Gu Song without anyone suspecting anything."


    "Good, just give me all the details. I still have a few things to deal with and I''ll be on my way. As for your payment, you will wait for my return to get it. Thanks to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, I''ve uncovered almost everything you wanted to know."


    "Thank you. I''ll be waiting for your return then."


    Then, they both left. Cao Yun bade farewell to his friend and went back to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Once there, he got ready. The trap had been set and everything was in place. Just to be safe, he sent word to General Yun. Just like Cao Yun, he had kept himself prepared for the occasion. Unless there was some problem, he wasn''t supposed to intervene until the very end, after Gu Song was taken care of.


    "Are you sure about all this? This man could kill you with a thought. No matter how powerful you are compared to your own generation, you''ll face a real Spirit Warrior? And if you die, I''ll dissipate too."


    Despite what he was saying, Dian Mo seemed genuinely worried for Cao Yun, not just his own preservation.


    "I know exactly what I''m doing. You''ve seen how well I''ve prepared myself. Do you think there is no chance my plan can work?"


    "Indeed it can work. But it can fail just as well. Isn''t that just the frustration and resentment that are making you act rashly?"


    "Of course, I''m frustrated and resentful! But that doesn''t mean those emotions are controlling me. Unfortunately, I have no other means to confront him while ensuring that I get a look at his memories. And I need them to piece things together about my family. If I wait to become a Spirit Warrior, it''ll take decades during which I will have no answer at all. Dian Mo, if I had no chance or little chance of success, I wouldn''t sacrifice my life for that. But you must know, just as well as I, that my chances are real. In fact, as long as he doesn''t attack me straight away, I should be able to deal with him. And if he does, I can still escape. If that moron is stupid enough to follow me then, General Yun will take care of the rest. So I may lose my leads if I can''t get into his memories, but I don''t think that my life is really at risk."


    "Most dead people thought that too. But I can''t do anything to stop you. If you don''t value your self-preservation, at least value mine. It would be such a loss for everyone if such an old spirit were to disappear because of your little feud..."


    "Why don''t you try to take over Gu Song''s body if I die then?"


    "You''re kidding right? He''s a demonic cultivator! If he kills you, the entire Hongchen Kingdom will go after him. I wouldn''t survive long against Sect Leader Xuan with only a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior''s body..."


    "Anyway, get ready because we''re venturing into the tiger''s den!"


    -


    Cao Yun would have preferred to wait for Yong Ke''s return, but things had happened in a different manner once he had understood who Cang Yin really was. Thankfully though, Yong Ke had done what was necessary. Cao Yun''s array formations just needed a slight adjustment near the cave of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish and she had taken care of things. Besides, he needed to approach Gu Song alone for him no to have his guard up.


    At night, Cao Yun didn''t use his full ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Instead, he decided to use an inferior stealth technique he had read about. Although he had not mastered it completely, that technique was very similar to ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves''. Besides, his stealth technique came from Huang Liyue and it was better than any other stealth technique currently practiced in the Hongchen Kingdom. As such, it was easy for Cao Yun to look as though he had mastered another lesser stealth art. However, penetrating the Xue residence would take a bit longer.


    For the same reason he wasn''t using ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he couldn''t use his full knowledge of array formations. As such, he was forced to follow Cang Yin''s written instructions to go through several of the gates. Some of those gates were overlapping. There were even palaces and gates from different array formations working together to complement each other''s weaknesses. As he was crossing over those protections, Cao Yun could clearly see that someone had made it so that those array formations were easier to bypass. Even if he hadn''t noticed, Dian Mo would have made several remarks about that.


    It was obvious that someone was letting him enter along a very specific road so that no one else could know of his presence. At that moment, if he hadn''t known about the situation beforehand, he would have thought that someone was trying to entrap him. But then again, it could have been Cang Yin''s handiwork.


    As he was progressing toward the building where Gu Song was supposed to stay, Cao Yun felt a great presence not too far away. With his perception of Evil Qi and Death Energy, he immediately recognized Xue Rui. Right now, he had not been fully overtaken by an inner demon, but he was very close to it. Moreover, Cao Yun felt that his Heart Locking Fire Heart had evolved once more. Now, he was certain that he had used his Autumn and Springs Reviving pill. However, he was also sure that he had at least devoured another soul. After tonight though, Xue Rui would become history.


    Focusing his mind and intention on Gu Song, Cao Yun disregarded the tragedy he knew so little about. Before long, he reached the building and was able to enter through a small window. Then, it didn''t take him long to find Gu Song''s laboratory and he entered directly through the main door, without trying to hide himself.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    As soon as he entered, he felt the array formations close themselves behind him. For all intents and purposes, he was completely trapped. Immediately, he started to look panic. His eyes darted everywhere and he took out a strange compass to try and deduce what kind of array formation was behind, and in fact, all around him. Unfortunately, he had no time to do so.


    In an instant, he felt a powerful force blocking his movements. Even by focusing on his Wei Qi, this force penetrated his entire body as if he was defenseless. And in fact, he was defenseless.


    "So you''re the little boy I''ve been hearing about for quite some time? I must say that I am rather disappointed... I hoped for you to be smart enough to recognize a trap when you saw one. Or maybe, did you truly think that your traitorous spy would work for you when she could work for me?"


    Gu Song left just enough freedom to Cao Yun so he could speak. Otherwise, he was forced into a kneeling position on the ground.


    "Oh, I knew that she had betrayed me almost as soon as she contacted me again after entering the Xue residence. I had hoped at first that I might be able to use her some more in the future, but some things are not meant to be."


    "Then, why did you still walk into a trap?"


    "Because of Xue Rui! Such an incompetent alchemist was able to rise so fast to the rank of 5-star Human alchemist thanks to you. I want that too! Unlike your pathetic disciple, I would make your proud. That idiot is probably already being devoured by an inner demon. I imagine that you chose him to experiment on some theory, but he could never have become the disciple of a 4-star Heaven alchemist such as you!"


    As he was speaking, Cao Yun could see the interest in Gu Song''s eyes.


    "So that was your idea?! You tried to enter my laboratory in the middle of the night to become my disciple? You shouldn''t lie to me little boy!"


    Suddenly, a jolt of pain coursed through Cao Yun''s entire body. Despite all the spiritual senses around him, Gu Song had still not felt his Drop of Wrath. In fact, he had even failed to notice his true face. Right now, Cao Yun was using ''Ashen Feather Seal'' as little as he could, just enough so his face was hard to place. After all, he wasn''t sure whether Gu Song had seen Chen Guo''s face. Worse, he might have seen him when he was still only Cao Yun...


    For now though, he had not realized a thing. As much as Cao Yun was confident about his Drop of Wrath, he wasn''t so sure about his stealth technique. However, he was absolutely certain when it came to his acting ability. With his mind cultivation, he had a perfect control on the emotions he was showing. As such, he had voluntarily shown Gu Song that he was lying. A demonic cultivator wouldn''t believe that someone could be fully honest from the get-go. If he wanted Gu Song to lower his guard, he had to play it right. Thankfully, he had played it thousands of times in his mind. Now, he just had to follow Gu Song''s cues.


    "No... I... I wanted to steal your research... My control of the flame is great, but sadly, it''s reached a plateau. Since I won''t become a Spirit Warrior before a few decades, I thought that whatever had helped Xue Rui rise so fast could be found in your laboratory..."


    "But you knew what I was, right? You knew both Xue Rui and I are demonic cultivators."


    "Of course! As I said, your disciple is a moron. Through his inability to control his temper, it was obvious what he was. But then, if he wasn''t worthy of your attention, maybe I could be."


    "You intended to kill him after stealing from me... all in the hope that I would take you in in his stead... You certainly are interesting. Besides, I have to admit that your alchemist is impressive. In particular, I was quite surprised by your Merging Minerals and Seas pill. Have you been working on blood for some time?"


    He had him, he had sunk the hook. The only thing he needed was for Gu Song not to kill him straight away. That was done. Now, it was only a matter of time before Gu Song acted as Cao Yun wanted him to.


    "Yes, that''s why I''ve been able to detect that spy you turned against me. I always thought that blood could get me the piece I was missing to improve my cultivation. I refuse to stay confined in the three lesser realms. But the orthodox cultivators are just too tame to try and resort to the real means that could give us that knowledge. One day, I''ve discovered some library left behind by the demons. There were many books on blood cultivation and even soul cultivation. However, I couldn''t understand most of it. I swear that if you keep me alive and accept me as your disciple, I will tell you everything I know. I can even give you the books I found."


    Gu Song''s eyes turned into the eyes of a predator. Less than a century ago, the demonic cultivators had found a small collection of texts left behind by Demon God Da Mo himself. With those texts, their power had soared. Most demonic cultivators until then had never been able to even reach the Spirit Warrior realm as they were found out, hunted down and executed. But thanks to those texts, their power had risen high enough that even the Emperor had felt threatened. If that boy had somehow found a similar library, this knowledge alone could make him more powerful than the Demon King.


    Furthermore, he was able to see some deception in Guai Mo''s words. He had not just found some books. No, he had found much more. Most likely, he had found an entire heritage, maybe not from Demon God Da Mo but from a powerful demon of the past nonetheless. The blood aspect was interesting but the soul aspect was just too good for him to pass on.


    "You talked about soul cultivation?"


    "Indeed, it wasn''t much, but there were a few incomplete manuals. With your expertise, you might be able to do something with those..."


    "You shouldn''t have lied to me little boy. I was ready to keep you as a breathing crucible like that stupid Xue Rui. Like that you would have lived a bit longer. But it seems like I''ll have to get the information I need directly to the source. Do not worry too much though, I will try to save as much of your soul as I can. After all, it might be used to fuel another Heart Locking Fire Heart. That stupid Xue Rui has already killed the woman I had prepared to stabilize his black flame. And it still needs some time for it to be ripe for the picking."


    Hearing Gu Song''s words, Cao Yun''s eyes were filled with terror. Although he was still paralyzed, he tried to plead as much as he could. If he could have moved freely, he would have kowtowed until his forehead bled.


    "No, wait! I''ll tell you everything! Please... I can..."


    "Silence! At least, die with some dignity!"


    Gu Song''s spiritual senses became denser around Cao Yun''s glabella. Then, the 4th-grade Spirit Warrior made several hand gestures, a few mudras were used and part of his Soul Embryo left his own Upper Dantian. Considering his current cultivation, all of his Soul Embryo wasn''t in his Upper Dantian, but most of it was. As such, he wasn''t too far from becoming a 5th-grade Spirit Warrior. Paradoxically, Cao Yun would have preferred him to be one already, but he would do with what he had.


    Now it was clear that he had succeeded. Suddenly, Gu Song''s Soul Embryo entered into Cao Yun''s head through his Bai Hui. Thankfully, he had tempered it enough so it could resist such a violation. If he had not been able to resolve his trauma, it would have been difficult. But now, the easiest part of his plan was over. Gu Song had entered his sea of consciousness with a large part of his own Soul Embryo.

 Chapter 435: Soul plagued in all directions

    Gu Song was quite satisfied. His prey had not resisted at all. In fact, it was extremely easy to penetrate his mind. Some victims tried to close off their Bai Hui to prevent any intrusion. That was useless of course. Even an early Spirit Warrior wouldn''t be able to stop him from invading their sea of consciousness, they could just slow down the process. Soon, Gu Song would rip every single memory from Guai Mo''s very soul. Hopefully he wouldn''t be too stubborn. If Gu Song could safeguard most of his soul, he would be more useful to fuel the black flames within his disciple.


    In a single night, he might be able to discover new texts about the soul left behind by a demon of the past. And at the same time cultivate the Black Heart Flame that was still in Xue Rui. He had failed with Luo Jiang and some others. But finally, the flame had almost reached full maturity. With that, his alchemy would finally reach the 5-star Heaven grade. In fact, he was hoping to become at least a half-step Spirit alchemist. He might be able to become more talented than Xiao Xuefeng herself. And all he had to do was to rip apart two boys'' souls.


    At first, Gu Song didn''t realize the situation he was in. To accelerate the Soul Memory Search he had used a large part of his Soul Embryo. As such, he was able to distinctly see what was within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. In front of him, he could see nine large pillars covered in thin vines and pointing to the sky. Above his head were the seven stars of the Azure Dragon as well as many Insight Writings flying around. And between the two were Cao Yun''s Five Agents as well as the Drop of Wrath.


    Although he didn''t recognize the five characters, the Drop of Wrath terrified him. There was something primal about it. And he was able to somewhat recognize the engraved rune in it, it was a tiny part of the Dao of Fire. That boy''s soul was a real treasure trove! No wonder he was so talented in alchemy!


    Finally, the trap closed itself around Gu Song.


    All of a sudden, several array formations activated themselves all around the Xue residence. The very array formations meant to protect the residence had been hijacked thanks to Dian Mo''s knowledge. Unfortunately, even with his help, Cao Yun had had no time to completely submit them to his will. Thankfully, he didn''t need a lot of time. Instead of protecting the residence, the array formations closed it off. Each part of the residence was isolated. Even for Spirit Warriors, breaking down those defenses would take some time. Besides, those were their own defenses so they would be reluctant to do so in the first place.


    Since he had entered the residence, Cao Yun had put his plan in motion. The moment his Bai Hui was violated, all the array formations were activated. But he wasn''t just using the ones in the Xue residence. Thanks to Yong Ke, the array formations he had set up near the Deep Cloud Ridge also got activated. She had connected them all. And now the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was linked to the Xue residence as well. Cao Yun had promised the beast that it could get its revenge on the one who had submitted it and tortured it.


    All around the building Gu Song was in, a deep shadow appeared on the ground. Everyone present in there felt as though something was trying to suck their souls out of their body. But the suction wasn''t strong enough to do so. Indeed, Cao Yun wanted all of it to be focused on Gu Song.


    Sensing the danger, Gu Song tried to bring back his Soul Embryo in his body so it could be full again. That boy had deceived him, everything was clear now! He had meant for him to invade his sea of consciousness. Instead of lashing out toward his soul, Gu Song preferred to be cautious. He would first return in his body and use his full spiritual senses to kill the boy. Then, he would try to salvage what he could from his dead soul. However, it didn''t work as he had intended.


    The very moment he tried to escape, the Drop of Wrath activated itself. Chains of blood appeared and crisscrossed the space, trapping Gu Song''s Soul Embryo with the center of Cao Yun''s soul.


    "Why would you want to leave so soon? We''ve barely begun!"


    "You...! I''ll burn your soul for centuries. I''ll inflict upon your wretched soul every torture imaginable until you go insane and forget to your very name. I will find everyone you ever cared about and I will annihilate them all. I''ll make you watch as they gargle their own blood. Even in death, they will suffer for your insolence!"


    "Too many promises... But your anger is quite pleasing I must say. However, we''re still waiting for more guests before I can really get to work."


    "Vermin!"


    Even though Gu Song had only sent a part of his Soul Embryo, it was still powerful enough to obliterate the soul of a Mortal Warrior. His Soul Embryo had taken the form of Gu Song himself. Before him, a giant cauldron appeared. It was made out of many howling human skulls. Indeed, this cauldron had literally been formed by and tempered with human souls. Their agony had fueled the fire and he had every intention of adding Guai Mo''s soul to the mix.


    On the outside, the shadow got more and more focused on Gu Song''s body. There was also another kind of array formation that was interfering with his weakened spiritual senses. Either he tried to keep Guai Mo under his control or he poured everything to fight off the shadow of the Soul Sucking Catfish. Thus, he decided to try and safeguard his soul, which was the worst choice he could make. Cao Yun had used Dian Mo''s faint knowledge of the Devil''s Prison, the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal.


    Thanks to the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal, the Devil''s Jail lowest level could completely prevent even a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior from using either their Qi or their spiritual senses. Of course, the array formations Cao Yun had built were not powerful enough to reach such an extreme. However, against an already weakened Gu Song who was fighting to keep his soul in his body, they were both terrifying and effective.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Now that he had a bit more freedom, Cao Yun activated his spatial ring. From it, a thick purple smoke appeared. Although he was focused on protecting his soul, Gu Song recognized it. This was the Heart Reversing Tormentor poison, the very 2-star Heaven poison he had used to subdue the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish to his will. Now, not only was his slave used against him, even his own poison. In itself, it wouldn''t be too effective, but Gu Song was fighting many things at the same time while being weakened. Hopefully though, those array formations would collapse before long.


    In times of crisis, the Xue family would sustain the array formations with high spirit stones. Right now, there was no one to feed the array formations used by Cao Yun. What Gu Song was unaware of was that thanks to Yong Ke who had gone back to the Huang family, he had had an advance on his agreement. Right now, his array formations were connected all the way to the new mines of the Huang family. Obviously, his array formations could keep working a long time unless someone was to break the connection. And since he had General Yun''s support, he was certain this wouldn''t happen before some time.


    With all those assaults at the same time, Gu Song''s Soul Embryo was desperately trying to protect his soul. As a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, his Soul Embryo was fully awake but it had not fused with his own soul for now. If his soul and Soul Embryo left his body, he would die. Even if his soul could survive as long as he protected it inside his Soul Embryo, his physical body would be dead and his lifespan would be less than two centuries. In fact, as he was working with Evil Qi, Death Energy and Ghost Energy, his Soul Embryo would be weaker than average and it would probably only endure half a dozen decades.


    No matter what happened, he had to fight this off. Even if he could kill Guai Mo in the end and maybe even steal his body, it would be useless if his soul died soon after...


    Unfortunately for Gu Song, Cao Yun was not even done. Thanks to Xue Rui, he had thought about another weapon to use against Gu Song. And since Xue Rui had taken Cao Yun''s True Essence Autumn and Springs Reviving pill, that last minute idea had born fruit. The distance between Cao Yun and Xue Rui was too vast for the former to use his Qi against him. However, he could use his array formations. Obviously, knowing that Xue Rui was a demonic cultivator, Cao Yun had already plotted against him too. Around his chamber, a bright light blinded Xue Rui who, like everyone in his family, was confused by what had just happened.


    Then, he felt something move in his heart. The black flame that had been calmed by yet another soul suddenly turned violent. Try as he might, Xue Rui couldn''t do anything to calm it, it was as though someone else was controlling it. Indeed, in the pill he had so avidly gulped down, Cao Yun had added a tinge of the intent of his Drop of Wrath. By working on seals with Dian Mo and on controlling his intent in others thanks to Hongyu, Cao Yun had created this seal in his own pill. Now that Xue Rui had ingested it, the seal had fused with the black flames. Unless Xue Rui''s control over Evil Qi was superior to Cao Yun''s, he had no chance at all.


    Even Gu Song''s control over Evil Qi wasn''t as good as Cao Yun''s. For a demonic cultivator who had already developed an inner demon and had let it pervert his own mind, there was no way of resisting. Since Cao Yun was in a hurry, he decided not to play around with Xue Rui. It was obvious that the fool knew nothing, only his master was of interest. Besides, by killing him that way, the blame would fall either on him or on his master, most likely both. Indeed, Cao Yun pushed the black flames within Xue Rui to their limit.


    In a matter of seconds, the flames erupted from his heart. They even pierced his flesh and skin. It didn''t take long for the dying screams of Xue Rui to echo throughout the Xue residence. By now, everyone was on high alert. Patriarch Xue Liu heard the screams of his junior. Because of the array formations, he was unable to see through what was going on. But there was no mistaking those. Xue Rui had died in horrifying agony. All of his body and even his very soul had been devoured by the black flames. No one could imagine what kind of pain this was. Later on when the few ashes remaining of his being would be found, even those who hated the man would have horror in their eyes, except for Cao Yun. Maybe it was his cultivation, or maybe it had always been his true nature. But he had no mercy for the likes of Xue Rui.


    From his chambers, the black flames within Xue Rui''s heart flew toward Gu Song''s laboratory. Unlike Xue Rui, Cao Yun had full control over those flames. They burrowed underground and erupted under Gu Song''s feet. In an instant, he had a new threat to fight. At first, he laughed.


    "You think you can use my own creation against me?! I imposed my very own seal on this black flames! By bringing it to me, you''ve just brought your demise."


    The moment he tried to control the flames, he became even more ecstatic.


    "By devouring that fool, my flames have finally become the Black Heart Flame! You idiot! Die!"


    The black flames flickered, but nothing happened. Instead of going engulf Cao Yun, they stayed under Gu Song. Maybe he could have wrestled the control of the flames back from Cao Yun under normal circumstances. Indeed, although Cao Yun had added his seal, Gu Song had still his in it. And although Cao Yun''s mind and soul were stronger, they couldn''t act outside of his own body, unlike a Spirit Warrior. But the flames had evolved so Gu Song''s control over them had lessened. Furthermore, the Black Heart Flame was made of both Evil Qi and Death Energy.


    Cao Yun''s control over Evil Qi was beyond Gu Song''s. More than that, Cao Yun had caught a glimpse of the Dao of Death with the ''Death Verses''. Controlling Death Energy was also easier for it. As such, he could easy tramp Gu Song''s seal and control the Black Heart Flame himself. Unlike Xue Rui though, Gu Song was stronger and his Wei Qi was protecting him. But Cao Yun didn''t want to burn him to nothingness. He just needed one more distraction. Right now, Gu Song was fighting the Soul Sucking Catfish, the Heart Reversing Tormentor, the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal, the Black Heart Flame and most of his Soul Embryo was still trapped within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness.


    Even for a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, this was way too much. But this wasn''t over. Indeed, Gu Song had completely let go of Cao Yun. As such, he was free to act. In his sea of consciousness, he had let Dian Mo and the Drop of Wrath prevent Gu Song''s Soul Embryo from leaving. Before going there himself, he had to make sure that Gu Song''s body wasn''t a problem anymore. And he intended to trap the full soul of Gu Song in him. From the ghost of Lang Shou, he had not been able to see every memory. And from Gu Song, he wanted everything.


    From his spatial ring, he took out his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Several array formations activated all around the Xue residence to condense more and more energy around Cao Yun''s spear. He fully mobilized his Spear Aura and focused all of his concentration on the Horn Star. In his sea of consciousnesses, even through the blood chains, Gu Song'' Soul Embryo could see the star shine brightly. All around it, tiny dots of light appeared. Cao Yun was very close of forming the Horn Constellation. All this time, he had worked on a single move.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    Cao Yun''s spear pierced toward Gu Song''s Upper Dantian.

 Chapter 436: Freeing ones inner demon

    Behind Cao Yun, the head of the Azure Dragon appeared as his spear was sent toward Gu Song''s head. For that attack, he used everything he could. His blood was almost boiling in his veins and all of his Five Prodigious Gates were opened to their limit. Most of his Qi was being used. Even with all this strength, he wasn''t sure he could injure the body of a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, no matter how weakened he was.


    Since Gu Song''s Soul Embryo was within his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun had to be swift. If he was able to escape, then everything would be over. He asked taken a lot of risks by coming here. But they had been worth it considering Gu Song''s current state. Now, he just had to be up to the task and he would get the answers he had been looking for, hopefully.


    With his Spear Aura, the ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' seemed to be covered in blood. With Cao Yun''s Qi Manifestation, there was now scales appearing here and there on its surface. When finally it reached Gu Song''s head, there was a powerful wind all around the tip of the spear. Engulfed in those winds, the Black Heart Flame began to spin in the air. In the Drop of Wrath, the Rune of Fire turned black as coal. By combining his mastery over Evil Qi, his knowledge of ''Death Verses'' and his control over the flame, Cao Yun could direct the flame fairly easily.


    Finally, the weapon pierced through Gu Song''s Wei Qi. In that moment, even he was horrified. There was no way this attack could kill him, but given his current condition, a mere injury could be a problem. All around him, the Heart Reversing Tormentor was still saturating the air. For now, he had staved it off, but he was just too weak. Gu Song couldn''t imagine that such a young boy could be his demise. Bloody hell, he had stolen from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute without any problem. Even a 5th-grade Spirit Warrior would be hard-pressed killing him. And yet, here he was, bested by a mere 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior.


    In that moment though, he finally recognized the Azure Dragon behind Guai Mo. This boy had never been Guai Mo to begin with. Yes, he was Chen Guo, the Wubei Sect''s new Young Sect Master. He had heard of him, of course. Mo Tian had meant to kill him but had failed. Could Mo Tian''s ultimate demise have been his fault as well? What was wrong with this kid?!


    As the spear touched Gu Song''s skin, the Azure Dragon roared. All of the Black Heart Flame condensed at the tip of the spear and a powerful gust of wind assaulted Gu Song''s head. It looked as though a dragon made out of wind was biting off his head. His teeth were made of black flames that were drawing blood. There was also a faint red hue around them. Despite all his efforts, Cao Yun''s attack had not been able to kill Gu Song. In fact, the injury was rather mild. But this was enough.


    Indeed, now that he was bleeding and that his Wei Qi was pierced through, the Heart Reversing Tormentor penetrated his bloodstream. Worse than that, it penetrated his head, where his Upper Dantian was. That very poison had plagued a 7-core demonic best. Even against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, it was potent. As it was spreading throughout his body, invading his Upper Dantian, Gu Song felt that this poison had been altered. He couldn''t exactly tell what had been done to it, but it was faster than before. Gu Song had used it to torture the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish, so he needed it to act slowly.


    By using the book of Tree of Death, Cao Yun had indeed refined the Heart Reversing Tormentor. Instead of diluting it like Gu Song had done, he had condensed it, increasing its lethality. Besides, he had also added a bit of the intent of the Drop of Wrath to improve his control over it so that Gu Song would have a hard time manipulating it. As he was an alchemist too, he was well versed in the art of directing medicinal essence and also poisons. But with his current state and the transformation of the Heart Reversing Tormentor, he couldn''t do much against his own creation.


    His plight wasn''t over as the Black Heart Flame also entered through his light wounds. Some tongues of fire became thin enough that they were almost invisible. However, Gu Song could clearly feel their bite. They were insinuating themselves throughout his Upper Dantian. Acting alongside the poison, they were complementing each other. Right now, Gu Song''s body became a prison in which his soul was being trapped and assaulted from every direction. Within his flesh, there was no respite from this torment. If Cao Yun could keep it up long enough, his soul and Soul Embryo would be destroyed even if he couldn''t break his flesh. Gu Song''s only salvation was to destroy Cao Yun''s soul from within like he was trying to do.


    Gu Song could tell that something was wrong as he had been unable to recover the large part of his Soul Embryo he had sent into Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. In the panic though, he sent even more of his Soul Embryo and soul into Cao Yun''s mind. Once again, he didn''t do anything to stop him. In fact, Cao Yun was welcoming it, opening his Bai Hui in full to allow him entry. As easy as it was to enter Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Gu Song would never be able to leave.


    Within the dome made out of bloody chains, Gu Song''s Weeping Demons Trove was starting its assault. From the ethereal cauldron formed by tortured human souls, there was a sinister blue light coming out. This wasn''t strictly speaking a fire, but it looked like a dancing light moving around. It was going straight toward Cao Yun''s Five Agents and Nine Soul Peaks. Although Gu Song had no idea what those were, he was smart enough to guess that they were important.


    The blue light wasn''t being reverberated by the clear water below. This was a condensed form of Ghost Energy. Unfortunately for Gu Song, Cao Yun had met Death Energy quite a lot so he was familiar with corrupted souls. Even if they were different in nature, Ghost Energy and Death Energy were still close enough that Cao Yun was not powerless against it.


    From his Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul, a hymn echoed within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Neither Gu Song nor Dian Mo recognized the language as it was Antique Sixian, Cleansed Asura''s mother tongue. Those words came from ''Death Verses'', they were from ''Death Reeling'', the verse about controlling Death Energy. As it was facing that melody, the blue light began to flicker. It wouldn''t die down, but it was clearly weakened. Then, the vines from the Nine Soul Peaks extended. Full of vitality, they went toward the blue light and shined a bright green. Most of the sinister light was drowned in this vitality.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "It seems you''re more talented than I thought... But every treasure and secret you have will be mine, boy!"


    All the skulls around the Weeping Demons Trove opened their mouths. Blue flames began to spew out of all their cavities as the cauldron itself was starting to burn with a cold blue fire.


    "Gu Song, you won''t get anything today. But what I reap from you will be plentiful. Since your kind slaughtered my family, I have been ready. Deep within, I bottled up all the rage I felt against you all. Today, you will feel it in your very soul."


    "Your family? Boy, we''ve killed so many, I don''t even remember them. But like all the others, your soul will join my cauldron. I will use it for fuel for as long as I can, making sure you torment never ends as long as I draw breath."


    "I imagine that killing innocent people is quite usual for you. However, do you remember the Cao family?"


    "The Cao...? Oh, yes, I do remember. Unfortunately boy, we weren''t behind that one."


    "Who killed them? And why?"


    "This is none of your business, boy. How I wished I had taken their souls, I would make them howl in agony before you. But rejoice, if we are successful, the man who ordered the murder of your kind will die as well. This is all the comfort you will get though..."


    Right there, Cao Yun had his confirmation. His family had not been slaughtered by the demonic cultivators but by this ''Traitor''. More than that, Gu Song seemed to know about him. It reignited Cao Yun''s desire to rip apart his soul in order to get to his memories.


    Now he could execute his plan as he had meant to. Even with his mind cultivation, he wasn''t sure he could deal with the Soul Embryo of a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. Of course, he could use his Drop of Wrath to destroy it, but he wanted to preserve it as much as possible so that Dian Mo could perform a Soul Memory Search. Thus his goal was to weaken his soul enough for the Demon Palace''s former spirit to get right to it. For weeks if not months now, Cao Yun had thought about it. By using this opportunity, he might also advance his mind cultivation and even take full control over the Drop of Wrath.


    Right now, his Po of Jing was almost perfectly synchronized with the Drop of Wrath, but there was one final bit of resistance. It wasn''t too powerful but it was highly dangerous, like a feral beast trapped into a corner. The last vestiges of Axiu Qian''s Flying Poison were still within the Drop of Wrath. And the more Cao Yun was trying to take over, the more threatening it was becoming. Even if it had lost most of its control over the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun wasn''t sure how to deal with it. For all intents and purposes, this was an inner demon within his sea of consciousness. Even great cultivators were afraid of inner demons.


    With Gu Song in front of him though, Cao Yun''s plan could come to fruition.


    "You''ve played with corrupted souls for quite some time apparently... I''d like to see how you deal with this one."


    Cao Yun''s Po the Metal Corporeal Soul got engulfed in the flames of Shen the Fire Spirit. The fragments of white bones around it spun like crazy. The young man focused all his thoughts on the rage and pain he had felt when his family had been killed. Along with those memories, he saw images of Axiu Qian''s past as a slave, how he had watched his friends die, sometimes by his own hand, how everyone he had ever known and loved had been slaughtered like animals. This time, he wasn''t being careful at all, he was pouring all of those feelings directly into the Po character within the Drop of Wrath. The surface of the Drop of Wrath became tumultuous as a sea attacked by a hurricane.


    Gu Song didn''t understand what Cao Yun was trying to do. From his point of view, he saw that the young man was losing control of that heavy drop of blood in the middle of his sea of consciousness. Thus, he prepared his attack with the Weeping Demons Trove. However, that was when he felt a cold sensation all over himself. As he was literally a Soul Embryo right now, this was terrifying. He had no idea what manner of creature could induce such a phenomenon. Because he had been working with the soul a lot, he could vaguely sense that something monstrous was coming his way.


    Within the Drop of Wrath, the Po character got covered in fissures. Out of them, thick green bushes started to spring forth. But that green was a sickly green, completely different from the vitality of the vines around the Nine Soul Peaks. The Po character completely exploded with pieces of white bones all around the drop of blood. In its stead, there was now a disfigured creature. It was also made of blood but its blood was blackened as though it had coagulated a long time ago. Across this figure, shadows were moving around. It had three tails and many bony spikes all over its surface.


    Although it had no real head, there was something resembling a neck sticking out of its strange body. From it, a hole opened and bony teeth appeared. Slowly, the blood condensed into a thick skin. And here and there on that reddish skin, patches of green hair began to grow. There was nothing good about that thing. It was pure rage and blind hatred made form. Even Cao Yun was terrified by that monstrosity. Thankfully, he wasn''t the one who would face it. If he had tried to really take over the Drop of Wrath, he would have been force to confront that thing as it was the last trace of Axiu Qian''s Flying Poison.


    Once that inner demon was subdued, Cao Yun would fully control the Drop of Wrath. But if he played his cards right, he might even reap way more than just that.


    Within the Drop of Wrath, the Flying Poison roared. Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness was altered by its fury. The skies and the sea turned red. Although there was no real air, the atmosphere became saturated with the thick odor of blood. Cao Yun''s mind had become hell. It greatly resembled what he had lived while fighting the blood beasts in the Demon Palace. With an incredible brutality, the Flying Poison punched through the surface of the Drop of Wrath. It was about to attack Cao Yun''s Po character.


    Thankfully, Gu Song reacted exactly like Cao Yun had anticipated. Of course, he had thought of other ways to unleash the Flying Poison on Gu Song, but the easiest part was for that ignorant alchemist to do as he was doing. Indeed, terrified by the vision of horror in front of him, Gu Song activated his Weeping Demons Trove. From his cauldron, a giant skull emerged. It was made of blue Ghost Energy. In one swift move, he sent it against the abominable creature. Even a demonic cultivator was horrified by this vision. Maybe it was even worse for demonic cultivators as they were more prompt to develop inner demons. Thus, deep down, Gu Song was more afraid of an inner demon than anything else.


    As the skull came hurtling toward the Flying Poison, Cao Yun did nothing to try and stop it. It was what he wanted.

 Chapter 437: Using a soul as an anvil

    The strange creature made of blood and shadow was now covered with a few bony parts here and there. On its reddish skin, there was sickly green hair that were growing. From its strange neck, a head was slowly being formed. And right now, it was clawing its way out of the Drop of Wrath. Cao Yun could feel its wrath. Even now, he had to use all of his mind cultivation not to be washed away by those impulses.


    In the physical realm, Cao Yun''s eyes were injected with blood and his entire body was coursing with adrenaline. His limbs were shaking. Because of those signs, the weakened Gu Song was convinced that his offensive was successful. However, those signs were in fact showing the absolute opposite. The young man had unleashed the most ferocious thing hidden within the Drop of Wrath. If he had tried to slowly take over the Drop of Wrath, it would have taken him decades to get rid of that inner demon without taking any risk. On the other hand, by trying to replace it with his own Po of Jing, he had made the thing mad.


    As Axiu Qian had been completely obliterated, that thing had no intelligence and was acting on instinct alone. As such, it would have lashed out against Cao Yun if it had felt threatened by him too much. For months, he had felt it grow more and more restless. He knew that he had to choose between being slower with his mind cultivation or confronting that abomination. Thankfully, Gu Song had given him another option. If he had to face that thing to rule the Drop of Wrath, he might just as well have someone else weaken it first.


    Gu Song was obviously unaware of all of that. In his eyes, Cao Yun was unleashing a powerful attack against him. Thus, he retaliated in kind. From his cauldron, the giant skull made of Ghost Energy flew directly toward the Flying Poison as it was still partially within the Drop of Wrath. Cao Yun''s Five Agents were now all lowered, protected by the thick base of the Nine Soul Peaks.


    Gu Song''s skull tried to bite into the Flying Poison. Once again, a monstrous scream echoed throughout Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. No matter how hard the skull was trying to bite into his enemy, the Flying Poison was too resistant for it. From the inner demon''s back, a new pair of arms spurted out. With claws made of bones, they grabbed the skull. The Ghost Energy had taken the form of a faint and sinister blue flame. As that flame was consuming the bony claws of the Flying Poison, the inner demon had caused many cracks to appear within the giant skull.


    Now that it was almost out, the Flying Poison used the Drop of Wrath to give itself the impulse it needed. It jumped high in the sky and the teeth of the skull were reduced into fine powders as it escaped its maw. Then, the three tails of the demon went toward the skull, whipping it away, far away from the Drop of Wrath. On the abomination''s back, there was now a long red fur. The hair were growing again and again. And now, it had a real head, but with no eyes and no ears. It was just a giant mouth with strange and deformed teeth.


    Once again, its back became agitated and two new limbs appeared, wings as wide as the creature itself. The sea of consciousness around the inner demon was being corrupted, Death Energy was spread all around it. Cao Yun saw that thing as a mixture of Bone Demons and the bloody beasts he had thought in the Demon Palace. It had no intelligence whatsoever and was just animated by anger, fury and rage. Thankfully, Gu Song was its only target right now.


    The solemn hymn of the ''Death Verses'' were not permeating that space any longer. Instead, Cao Yun was just chanting them around his Five Agents.


    "Boy, be careful. I''m not sure that even this Gu Song can fight that thing. Hell, not even that Xiao Xuefeng could fend too well against it."


    "He studied Ghost Energy and Death Energy quite a lot. I''m sure he can endure long enough. But I just need him to weaken it. Then, I''ll take over."


    "But if Gu Song''s Soul Embryo is destroyed, not even me will be able to read his memories."


    "I know. I am ready to intervene when it becomes necessary. But for now, I''ll use his soul for my own purposes just like he used the souls of so many people for his devices."


    Gu Song''s Soul Embryo contained a small part of his own soul, otherwise Gu Song couldn''t control it as he was still only a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. And faced with that thing, his very soul was shaking in fear. Usually, he was the one inflicting fear into the souls of his victims. His very first instinct was to run away. Unfortunately, Cao Yun''s bloody chains were still trapping him. Besides, if he tried to attack the bloody chains right now, the feral beast would dismember him. He could imagine what it was like to be devoured by that thing. Gu Song could clearly feel a thick Death Energy, it was a corrupted Po in front of him.


    Even knowing that, fighting that creature seemed perilous. For once, he wasn''t sure whether or not he could survive. His only chance might be for his full Soul Embryo to enter the fight. Even then, he wasn''t sure he could fight. And in the physical realm, the last part of Gu Song''s Soul Embryo was protecting his own soul. Because of the Heart Reversing Tormentor and the Black Heart Flame, he had been forced to push the rest of his Soul Embryo into his Upper Dantian. Technically, he could be considered to have become a 5th-grade Spirit Warrior. Indeed, the point of the 4th-grade Spirit Warrior stage was to send one''s entire Soul Embryo to reside within the Upper Dantian, in contact with the soul.


    Of course, Gu Song had been forced to do so to answer the emergency. As such, it had damaged his Soul Embryo and his soul just as they were assaulted on all fronts. However, he had none of the benefits. Even if he survived this encounter, he might never be able to progress any further in his cultivation. Indeed, repairing a soul and a Soul Embryo was a long and arduous process. Besides, his Upper Dantian that had been strengthened in the previous grade of his cultivation was now partially damaged as well. This was a huge setback, all because of a stupid kid!The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The kid was thankfully about to die. He could see that his sea of consciousness was in turmoil. His body was shaking and blood had filled his eyes. However, Gu Song''s joy was short-lived. Instead of seeing Cao Yun fall to the ground, he felt an intense pain in his very soul. Despite the bloody chains trapping its other half, Gu Song''s Soul Embryo was still connected to it. Thus, the pain and anguish traveled back to him. Right now, Cao Yun was doing to him what Mei Hua had done to the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora who had tried to devour her soul.


    As Gu Song''s soul was being weakened, the shadow of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was pulling on it stronger and stronger. With this new pain within, it had become almost impossible to resist. Because Cao Yun could not take Gu Song''s soul himself as he didn''t have any spiritual senses, he had found another way. In the physical realm, he had no chance in a direct confrontation. However, within his sea of consciousness, he had no doubt that the middle Spirit Warrior would meet his demise. And until now, he seemed to be right.


    Since the beginning of the assault, the time of only two incense sticks had passed. In that time though, Gu Song had almost been destroyed. He had assassinated early Spirit Warriors and even a few middle ones with his poisons and some trickery. But now, he would be obliterated by some junior. At that moment, he firmly believed that Mo Tian had failed because of that boy. He was just too strange. Even if his Qi cultivation was strong, it wasn''t heaven-defying. On the other hand, what was going on in his sea of consciousness was just beyond Gu Song''s understanding. He knew though that if the part of his Soul Embryo in there was destroyed, he would follow. He would never be able to resist the suction force and all of his soul would meet the same fate.


    Gu Song even found himself hoping for the Xue family to intervene. He would certainly be discovered, but he might be able to shift the blame on Cao Yun, accusing him of being a demonic cultivator. In the confusion, he might even be able to escape. After all, he had some contingencies just in case.


    -


    Speaking of them, the Xue family was still in a great confusion. However, Patriarch Xue Liu decided that the scream of Xue Rui was reason enough for him to throw away a huge fortune. The array formations now used to entrap them had cost their family around a thousand Yuanbao if he added all the expenses to set them up and maintain them. But if an enemy had seized his own weapon, then it wasn''t his anymore. He would prefer to see them destroyed than being used against him.


    Since Cao Yun didn''t have all the time in the world, the array formations had barely changed. In fact, he had just altered the pathway of the defenses. That meant that instead of forming a impregnable wall outside of the Xue residence, it had formed this wall within, in a certain way Cao Yun had designed. In fact, it wouldn''t be too difficult to alter it or even stop it. But the surprise had overtaken everyone. Besides, the only experts of those array formations were separated. They would need several more minutes to get to where they had to go in order to stop this array formation and regain full control.


    Although he wasn''t an array formation expert, Xue Liu knew enough to understand that. However, he felt as though there was simply no time. Thus, he begun to use all of his strength to break the wall blocking his path. Other elders felt it and understood what he was trying to do. Since they knew this barrier, they also knew where its weaknesses were even with the few modifications. Following the example of their patriarch, they began to attack the wall. The array formation would be damaged, but they could still rebuild and find out how someone had altered it. In the future, their defenses would be even better.


    Of course, both the Governor and General Yun were warned of the incident. General Yun had been ready to act right away. As such, his army was mobilized all around the Xue residence. When the Governor''s forces appeared, he had already the control of the area and claimed that he was protecting the place. Maybe it was an offensive by the demons. After all demons had indeed tried to play around with the outside array formations on the border. But none had ever directly attacked the Subei Province. However, General Yun was just stalling for time.


    Even during a crisis, he knew that Governor Jiahe would take way too long to take any decision. By the time he had made up his mind, the crisis would be over. Whether Cao Yun''s plan had worked or not was not certain though.


    -


    Inside Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the Flying Poison was flying straight toward the cauldron made out of Ghost Energy. Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether it had felt that this was the origin of the attack or if it was just attracted by the Ghost Energy itself. The next action of the inner demon seemed to answer his question.


    The Flying Poison''s muscles bulged as he ripped apart some of the skulls forming the cauldron itself. One by one, he was taking them and crushing them in his bony claws. Each time, the blue flame within flowed directly into its makeshift body. As the beast was enraged and feeding off of that Ghost Energy, its green hair was still growing all over, it felt as though it was sick.


    Gu Song''s Soul Embryo distanced itself from the cauldron. Still controlling the skull though, he sent it against his enemy. From the cauldron even more flames erupted. Flying Poison was covered in blue flames that were burning away its green hair just as fast as it was growing. But the bloody beast became more and more enraged. From its shoulders, yet another pair of arms appeared. It had now six arms, two wings and three tails. With its fists, the creature was punching through the skulls, reducing them to dust, clawing at them, ripping them apart.


    In Cao Yun''s eyes, it felt as though he was destroying real human skulls as though they were just made out of chalk. Nothing Cao Yun had ever seen was as violent and brutal as that thing. After all, it was pure rage. In fact, it was probably how Cao Yun had looked when the Drop of Wrath had taken over his body.


    Seeing that the blue flames were barely slowing down the creature but fueling its rage instead, Gu Song changed his approach. They all converged into the giant skull. Then, the skull was completed by a full skeleton, mimicking a human skeleton. The proportions weren''t perfect and some bones were looking very strange, but it was humanoid at the very least, contrary to the Flying Poison. Besides, the skull alone was the size of the bloody demon itself. And the rest of the body was proportionate.


    Contrary to the Bone Demons, that skeleton was made out of Ghost Energy, not Death Energy. It was the Flying Poison who was Death Energy.


    Just as Flying Poison was punching, clawing, ripping apart the cauldron, it felt the presence of that towering skeleton. By instinct, it flew upward, avoiding a hand that was trying to grab and crush it. In the air, its wings grew. Then, the rest of its body became half as large as the skeleton. Since they were both spiritual entities, they were not made of material stuff. As such, the very notion of size wasn''t particularly important. They could condense or expand their energy. What really mattered was the energy itself. And Cao Yun could sense that Gu Song had already lost a lot of his Ghost Energy and he was reluctant to use Death Energy against the Flying Poison. He was right...

 Chapter 438: Killing a Spirit Warrior

    Just as the Xue residence was in turmoil with many great experts striking their own protective array formations, chaos was happening within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. The Flying Poison of the Drop of Wrath was brutally attacking the giant skeleton. As it was devoid of intelligence, it couldn''t figure out that Gu Song''s Soul Embryo was really behind this. However, Gu Song might soon realize that the beast was just mindless. If that were to happen, this would be a problem. Right now, the Drop of Wrath was very difficult to control because a part of it was precisely the Flying Poison.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had prepared for that possibility. His goal was to weaken both the Flying Poison and Gu Song''s soul so he could take care of them himself. Whether the other part of Gu Song''s soul was absorbed in his sea of consciousness or not, he could get to it in the end.


    In the physical realm, Gu Song was absolutely overrun by everything Cao Yun had thrown at him. Although he had had a mere few months to get ready, he had prepared judiciously. And now Gu Song could feel that his Soul Embryo who had penetrated his opponent''s soul was in danger. With each passing moment, his soul and Soul Embryo were being assaulted and sucked out of his own flesh and blood. Now that he had injured his Upper Dantian himself, the strength of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was enough to attract his soul outside of his body. Beneath his feet, the shadow of the giant fish had never disappeared.


    Thankfully, he had his spatial ring, he simply had to take a few pills to restore himself. Thus, he activated it, but nothing happened. As he was in such a chaotic situation, he couldn''t figure out what was going on. In his spatial ring, there were enough pills to help him deal with everything that was going on around him. Cao Yun had been able to use his spatial ring to take out his spear, then he couldn''t understand why he was unable to use his.


    The truth was that Cao Yun had also prepared for that. He had used Gu Song''s confusion to place a seal on his spatial ring. It wasn''t so strong that Gu Song couldn''t do anything about it. But he was panicking and wasn''t thinking clearly. Besides, Cao Yun still had other ways to ensure that Gu Song wouldn''t use his spatial ring. As soon as Gu Song tried to use it, Cao Yun felt the seal on the verge of being broken. Even without thinking straight, Gu Song was just too powerful and the seal couldn''t take it.


    Although Cao Yun had other ways he had prepared, he decided to improvise. Indeed, he was literally in a room filled with both Ghost Energy and Death Energy. From the ''Death Verses'', he had learned very little. For now, he had only been able to read ''See Through the Mud'' and ''Death Reeling'' that were allowing him to sense Death Energy and harness it as he would Qi. However, he had also learned of a minor technique of ''Death Reeling'', it was a simple palm technique. Now was the right moment to use it. His goal was indeed to weaken Gu Song''s soul as much as possible. In addition to getting his answers and putting a leash on the Flying Poison, Cao Yun might as well try to develop his understanding of Death Energy.


    In his sea of consciousness, the hymns that were protecting his Five Agents slightly changed. Cao Yun''s mind came back to the physical realm for this attack while the Flying Poison was fighting like crazy against the giant skeleton. He let go of his spear and made several mudras while chanting a mantra in Antique Sixian. Then, the Death Energy around the room began to condense around his hands. He was channeling the corrupted souls of Gu Song''s victims. As he was the man who had murdered and tortured those souls, this technique would be even more efficient against him. Even in the Black Heart Flame, the fuel had been Gu Song''s victims, apart from the two women tortured by Xue Rui, who was his disciple.


    As he was focusing the Death Energy around his palms, Cao Yun could feel the rage of the dead, they wanted retribution. Although they would not be able to destroy Gu Song as he was too powerful, they would still wound him as much as they could. Of course, those weren''t coherent thoughts but raw emotions. Even in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, those emotions affected the Flying Poison. This was a welcomed surprise. With all those emotions going through Cao Yun, the Flying Poison''s wrath began to focus on Gu Song as well. Even if he was fighting the giant skeleton now, it was starting to shift its focus onto Gu Song''s Soul Embryo.


    ''Death Splintering Palm''!


    Cao Yun''s hand now looked as though all of his flesh had disappeared. It was strange as one could see his hand but at the same time, it was the hand of a white skeleton. The two realities seemed to exist at the same time. Of course, this phenomenon was the Death Energy condensed around his palm, just like a form of Qi Manifestation. However, the image was more visible as it was literally striking the soul.


    At the very same moment Cao Yun''s palm struck Gu Song''s chest, Cao Yun''s bloody eyes sent a shivering sensation throughout the Spirit Warrior''s body.


    ''Bleeding Eyes''!


    All of a sudden, a cold feeling engulfed Gu Song entirely. Usually, it wouldn''t have been so efficient, but this attack had affected him a lot. Then, the hatred came rushing in. All the souls he had tortured and experimented on where assaulting his physical body. A small part of his corporeal soul, his Po, had even been ripped apart by Cao Yun''s technique. Although he wasn''t a Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun''s technique had been able to injure his very soul. Indeed, he was using a technique that was related to the Dao of Death. Now that he had used his first attack from ''Death Verses'', he fully realized how powerful this was.


    If Cao Yun could understand the Dao of Death, he might be able to control the corporeal soul of someone while they were still alive. And of course, it would also give him a lot of benefits regarding his own corporeal soul.


    While Gu Song was fighting against those he had himself tormented, the poison and the black flames were still attacking him. Instead of getting in each other''s ways, all those attacks were coordinated. Indeed, even without Cao Yun''s guidance, they all wanted to kill Gu Song because of his past actions. It seemed like his karma had come to bite him. And since he was so busy dealing with those, Cao Yun was able to steal his spatial ring without too much effort.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Right now, Cao Yun was completely spent. He had used most of his Qi already and his mind was under a lot of pressure. Of course he had pills for that, but he still looked through Gu Song''s spatial ring. There he found it. He took out a small pill and gulped it down immediately. It was a Gushing Argent Well pill. Such a pill could restore some of the Qi of a Spirit Warrior. For a Mortal Warrior, the effects would restore all of their Qi and some more. Indeed, that was exactly what happened.


    Cao Yun could feel all of his strength coming back to him. The medicinal essence of the pill was so potent that even his blood and his flesh absorbed some of the Qi as well. All around him, his Wei Qi was fully restored, more vibrant than ever. Without even trying to seek it out, his blood cultivation finally crossed the threshold as his blood seeped into his bones. He had already been so close to it but now he was officially a 7th-grade Blood Child. There wasn''t much improvement in his strength of course. In fact, his blood even began to pour into the marrow within his bones. This was the goal of this 7th-grade Blood Child stage. From then on, he would slowly shift from cultivating blood to cultivating marrow, and then fusing them together.


    At that moment though, he didn''t really care. However, he planned ahead and kept some of the medicinal essence within himself. That pill was just too rich for a Mortal Warrior. But maybe he would need it again during this confrontation since he had no idea how everything was going to turn out.


    Without his spatial ring and assaulted from every possible angle, Gu Song was truly in a hell of his own making. Everyone he had killed and had the Soul Sucking Catfish kill while in the Subei Province was coming for him. In his very sea of consciousness, Gu Song''s sea had turned black. There were thousands of hands emerging from this rotten water, reaching for the sky. Howling screams were echoing throughout this space. In the sky, clouds of blood had formed, hiding everything above them. They were the only color in this world as everything else was either gray or black. Powerful winds were also moving both the water and the clouds. This was a true vision of horror. Gu Song could not even see the manifestation of his own techniques anymore.


    Just like Cao Yun had the seven stars of the Azure Dragon, Gu Song had a few manifestations of his knowledge. But now they were all blocked out by this. As the sea of consciousness was a manifestation of one''s psyche, this chaos was caused by the primeval fear that was growing in him. He had never fought against such odds, and all of that was due to a mere 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, this was unthinkable. And indeed it was.


    Gu Song was not just fighting a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, he was also fighting a 7-core demonic beast, a 2-star Heaven poison, thousands upon thousands of tormented souls and even the remnants of a demon''s rage. Cao Yun had no real idea how powerful Axiu Qian had been when he had died, but he was surely as strong as a God, or even a God-Monarch like Cleansed Asura. His rage was strong enough that Sages would be careful against it.


    In other words, Gu Song was fighting alone while Cao Yun had assembled all the forces he could think of. Besides, if things went south, he could still use Sect Leader Xuan''s Spirit Condensation Barrier. And he also knew he could count on General Yun as well.


    Indeed, General Yun''s forces were now controlling the exterior of the Xue residence. The Governor had acted too late and his own officers were trying to negotiate with General Yun. The chain of command wasn''t too clear right now as no one apart from General Yun knew what was going on. Considering how slow Governor Jiahe was to take any decision, General Yun knew he had at least one or two hours. Way before then, the Xue family would have broken down their own defenses anyway. Obviously, General Yun wasn''t letting anyone on his side try to break them down. He was trying to buy as much time as he could allow to Cao Yun.


    Sensing that the array formations were falling, Cao Yun used his last array formation. From the ground, golden chains pierced through Gu Song''s Lower Dantian. Of course, his body was still powerful enough that they were stopped. Then, they also assaulted his Middle Dantian with the same result. However, within, all the forces attacking him were also getting to those Dantian instead of focusing on his soul. A loud explosion reverberated throughout the Xue residence. Gu Song''s Lower Dantian had been ruptured.


    Under the pain, Gu Song''s body wasn''t able to resist the golden chains any longer. They perforated his abdomen and completely destroyed his Lower Dantian. Besides everything else, Gu Song felt that his cultivation was slowly leaving his body. Although the Upper Dantian was the only essential Dantian for a Spirit Warrior, that didn''t mean that the others were useless. His body had been ruined and his soul was not faring that much better.


    Patriarch Xue realized that one of the strongest offensive array formations had been activated. Despite his preparations, Cao Yun had not been able to use it to its full potential, but it was strong enough to injure an early Spirit Warrior. In his current condition, Gu Song could do nothing. Thus, he finally took the most difficult and the worst decision of his entire existence. He decided to abandon his own body. Even if his soul couldn''t survive for more than a century outside of his body, he could still imagine ways to palliate this.


    With the energy of despair, his soul hid in the recesses of his Soul Embryo. Both of them erupted and went toward Cao Yun''s Bai Hui. At the very least, he would kill the young man. Surely, he had many secrets he could use. Maybe he might even try to take over his body.


    -


    Now, all the fight would happen in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. No matter what happened, Cao Yun had just killed a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. Such a feat had never happened. But to be fair, Cao Yun had been helped by many others and his enemy had more or less killed himself to run away from his maimed body.


    Anyway, such a deed would bring a lot of attention on Cao Yun and the Wubei Sect. The Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect was able to kill a middle Spirit Warrior by himself. The story would become more and more ridiculous. Some would even claim that he had killed him with a single strike of his spear. Then, others would say he had simply struck him with a palm to take him down.


    At that moment though, Cao Yun''s fight was not over. The battleground was now his sea of consciousness. And he had two enemies, Gu Song''s full Soul Embryo and the Flying Poison. Hopefully, they would slaughter each other and Cao Yun would just get the spoils of their fight. Thankfully, the Flying Poison was still under the effect of the Death Energy Cao Yun had gathered. After sensing how it had moved the Flying Poison, Cao Yun had decided to absorb some of it in his own body.


    The bloody chains did not prevent the other part of Gu Song''s Soul Embryo from merging with the one inside. They were just preventing anyone from leaving. Now, Gu Song was trapped with an enraged demon.

 Chapter 439: A mere spectator of desolation

    "You''re quite lucky, boy."


    "This isn''t just luck. But you''re right. I had other ideas, but it seems that everything worked out just fine. Hopefully, the array formations of the Xue family can endure long enough for me to be done with this one. At worst, General Yun should already be there."


    "Now you just have to watch the two of them fight each other. But as I said, if Gu Song''s soul is too damaged, I won''t be able to extract anything out of it. This will just be another Lang Shou. Besides, that Flying Poison could also become too strong if it devours his Soul Embryo."


    "I''m aware of that. I always knew that there were risks. I have to wait for the perfect moment when the two of them are too weak to resist me. Otherwise, I''ll be in danger."


    As he said that, Cao Yun had another idea in mind. Right now, he could barely use the Drop of Wrath because of the Flying Poison''s fury. First of all, the Flying Poison''s connection with the Drop of Wrath was almost as strong as Cao Yun''s. But more than that, if he used it, he was convinced that all of its rage and hatred would shift again. Thanks to the Death Energy he had absorbed, the Flying Poison had been affected and truly wanted to annihilate Gu Song. But it could change just as fast. Thus, Cao Yun was trying to be as discreet as possible.


    While Gu Song''s Soul Embryo and the Flying Poison were fighting within his own sea of consciousness, he didn''t want to attract their attention. He would just need to ride the storm. At the same time, he had to be perfectly prepared to act as soon as the opportunity was there. But that meant he had to recognize the opportunity.


    At his side was another threat though. Since he had to be as discreet as possible and couldn''t use his strongest weapon right now, Dian Mo could take advantage of the situation. But then, he would have the same problems. After all, he had been unable to resist in front of the Drop of Wrath. He certainly wouldn''t want to fight its enraged version. That being said, he could also wait the perfect opportunity when Cao Yun would be busy attacking the two behemoths.


    From the beginning Cao Yun had accepted the risk. Despite his trauma in the Demon Palace''s lava, he knew that risks were unavoidable. What he had promised himself was that he wouldn''t act rashly without any preparation. This was true for his actions and for his cultivation. For months, he had prepared that. If he succeeded, his soul cultivation would improve, he would control the Drop of Wrath and he would gain the information from Gu Song''s mind. Apparently, Gu Song even knew about the ''Traitor'' and he seemed to have at least known about the massacre of the Cao family. Soon, he might finally find out why his mother had been targeted and why two entire families had been eradicated.


    "Boy, you''re worried about me, right now, aren''t you?"


    "Well, you do want my body, don''t want? In addition, if I''m successful, it will be almost impossible for you to obtain the Drop of Wrath."


    "Strangely I suspect that even if I tried to take your body, you would have some card up your sleeve. Even if I was successful, I fear that I might not enjoy my success long enough to brag about it..."


    During his preparations, Cao Yun did block out Dian Mo''s perception of the outside world several times. Of course, Dian Mo couldn''t know whether he had used those moments to plot against him or not. But somehow, he had a feeling it was better to not upset the young man. Moreover, Dian Mo had started to changed his mind about Cao Yun. If even a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior couldn''t face him and survive, he had no intention of doing the same thing. Unless he was absolutely certain of himself, he wouldn''t betray the young man. Furthermore, he had no real reason to do so in fact. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his current situation wasn''t so bad. And with all the books he had now access to, Dian Mo was quite happy in his golden cage.


    Still, there existed some tension between the two of them. As much as they seemed to get along just fine, they were still suspicious of the other''s real intentions. For now though, Dian Mo and Cao Yun focused on watching the fight. Besides waiting for the right opportunity, they were also admiring the fight. Maybe Cao Yun could even get new ideas about soul and mind attacks. Since Flying Poison was mostly made of Death Energy, the corrupted version of the Po of Jing, watching it fight might also improve his understanding of ''Death Verses''.


    Currently, Cao Yun was only able to read the two first verses. Even if he had been able to develop the first martial technique, most of what he could read were general principles. For now, he simply knew the name of the third principle exposed in the next verse, ''Living Death''. Cao Yun was barely able to read the Antique Sixian but he had a harder time reading the Insight Writings. Apparently, it had to do with some way to produce Death Energy while still alive. Hopefully, it had nothing to do with using someone else because Cao Yun would not practice this kind of technique. Using another''s soul to fuel one''s art was the demonic way. As long as he couldn''t be sure of what that technique truly was though, he would keep an open mind. Cao Yun couldn''t believe that Cleansed Asura would have given him such a technique.


    -


    Flying Poison was still struggling with the giant skeleton covered in blue sinister flames. Each time Flying Poison touched it, its green hair and red skin were being burned, even its bony spikes and claws were being eroded by the fire. However, completely blinded by rage, it kept on attacking. With its razor-sharp teeth, Flying Poison bit off a part of the skeleton''s arm. Then, it completely ripped it apart. Suddenly, Flying Poison threw the arm toward Gu Song''s Soul Embryo. The alchemist had taken a familiar form, his form.


    Seeing the arm going for him, Gu Song avoided it. At that moment, Flying Poison had reverted to a smaller form and came straight for Gu Song. Before he could understand what was going on, Gu Song sensed two hands whose claws had sunk into his Soul Embryo. As his soul was within, his Soul Embryo was very sensitive. From his forehead, a strange rune appeared.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ''Torrential Flow of Life''!


    A large river appeared beneath Gu Song, it even pushed Cao Yun''s calm sea as it manifested itself. The one who suffered from this wasn''t the Flying Poison but Cao Yun himself. He felt as though someone was stabbing his head. Along with this physical pain, he had also a vast feeling of nothingness, as though his existence was devoid of meaning. Although he was a spectator, the fight was taking place in his sea of consciousness, the manifestation of everything that was going on in his mind. Obviously, he would suffer if that place was altered.


    From the river, a powerful torrent rose in the air, washing over the Flying Poison. Surprised by the pressure, it was sent flying away from Gu Song. The attack didn''t stop there as the water kept on chasing after Flying Poison. Before it could come back to its senses, it was attacked from behind by the skeleton. All around the Flying Poison, there were blue flames, in front of him, there was the water with the same kind of hue around it, and behind it, there was the skeleton.


    Its three tails whipped the air around it to fan out some of the flames. It seemed to completely ignore the threats around it, the Flying Poison solely wanted to rip apart Gu Song. The pure hatred and rage from the Death Energy gathered by Cao Yun had overtaken its instincts. As another yell escaped its terrifying maw, black flames erupted from it. They began to fight off the blue flames of the skeleton.


    Without any hesitation, Flying Poison literally flew through the torrential waters sent against it. As it was flying in a straight line, its green hair were being washed away, but they were growing just as fast. Its bones were being eroded but they were reforming even faster. And its very skin was being turned back to liquid blood, but it was coagulating just as fast. Even through the flow of life and death, the Flying Poison was mostly unaffected.


    ''Depths of Oblivion''!


    The water suddenly turned gray. Above them, the sky also began to turn grayish and Cao Yun''s mind was full of confusion and uncertainties. His very mind was in a deep fog. His Shen''s fire burned brighter and brighter. The green vines around the Nine Soul Peaks also shined with a bright green full of vitality. Hidden at the center of those nine pillars, Cao Yun''s consciousness was safe, but he could still feel this despair in the back of his mind. By distracting himself by watching the fight, he could forget those thoughts, but they were there. They were thoughts about the uselessness of life itself. Maybe it was best to just let himself be killed...


    Another cultivator faced with those attacks would have simply lost the will to live and their mind would have been obliterated by Gu Song. But he had still failed to understand that he wasn''t fighting Cao Yun, he was fighting the inner demon of a past demon who had transcended everything anyone on the Piaolu planet knew. Even if it was a mere fragment of his wrath, it was still too powerful for Gu Song.


    Within the torrent of gray water, the Flying Poison opened its wings in full. The flow got interrupted. In an instant, the bloody demon was on Gu Song''s Soul Embryo. With a single bite, it ripped apart a huge chunk of Gu Song. Since it was just a shape his Soul Embryo had taken, there was no blood. However, Gu Song felt that his very soul was now exposed. Terrified, he condensed the giant skeleton into a single weapon. All its bones were deformed as if a powerful force was pressing on them. They got crushed by this immense force. At the end, there was just a blue scythe. Its bony structure had many small cavities, as though they were eye sockets. In them, the blue flames were bright. The very blade of the scythe was made of this blue flame.


    A part of Gu Song''s Soul Embryo had already been devoured by the Flying Poison. And the two parts that had been separated by it joined back together. Immediately, he went to grab the scythe that was also coming directly for him. Before the Flying Poison could attack again, Gu Song had his scythe in hand. The blue flames within it engulfed his entire Soul Embryo and formed many runes in the air. Those were clearly Insight Writings.


    "Boy, you''re way more dangerous than I thought! But now, that game is over! I will annihilate everything that you are!"


    ''Sufferings of Life Flow With Despair of Death''!


    The water down below turned into giant whirlwinds. Most of it was now a strange mix between sinister blue and dead gray. As the sea was becoming more and more violent, the water was splashing against the Nine Soul Peaks. As they were the manifestation of the nine chambers of Cao Yun''s Upper Dantian, he could feel an incredible anguish and a deep despair within his own mind. Cao Yun was forced to push his Chamber of Mysterious Elixir to the limit so it could energize everything else and fight off this wave of negativity. Some of his darkest memories also surfaced in his mind. He could see himself being killed before he could do anything. He saw the entire Hongchen Kingdom turned into a giant graveyard. Then, he even saw the Piaolu planet crumble into dust as time was destroying all.


    From the whirlwinds, giant towers of water emerged and from the sky, powerful hurricanes descended.


    The Flying Poison was unaffected by all of this. All around it, there was a thick smell of blood and now sparks of black fire were also present. Without any hesitation, it flew right into one of those pillars of water and wind. It exploded and both water and wind turned into blood. As the bloody water fell back, the sea below began to turn red. In the sky, the red light from above was trying to pierce through the gray of Gu Song''s technique.


    Realizing that even his greatest technique could not deal with that beast right away, Gu Song was ready to use all of his strength against that abomination. He sliced with his scythe. All sounds got muted for an instant. It was as though the world had stopped. Then, suddenly, a large slash appeared across the entire space. Although it was infinite, there was now a black scar along the trajectory of Gu Song''s scythe. And that black scar had completely sliced the Flying Poison in two. However, it didn''t stop it at all.


    Pushing its claws into the black scar, the beast made it explode into a myriad of fragments. Some fell to the water below, others rose into the sky while some stayed in levitation in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Moving his scythe around, Gu Song controlled some of those fragments. Like thousands of pieces of glass, they went toward the Flying Poison. But it didn''t faze the creature at all. With its tails and its wings as well as the arms on its back, it was blocking the largest fragments, but the beast itself kept on going for Gu Song.


    Before reaching the alchemist, the Flying Poison once again spew out some black fire. Already traumatized by the Black Heart Flame, Gu Song tried to avoid it. As soon as he did, several bones came hurtling toward him. The Flying Poison had sent its very claws in the air. As he had done so, they were already growing back on its fingers, emerging from the blood that was its body.


    Trying to stop them with his scythe, the claws stabbed into the weapon and cracks appeared everywhere around it, the blue flames even faltered a bit. Then, before Gu Song could understand what was going on, the Flying Poison had stabbed its claws in his back. In front of Gu Song''s face, there was the gaping maw of the inner demon.

 Chapter 440: Chaining down wrath

    Amidst this chaotic scenery where hurricanes and whirlwinds were scarring Cao Yun''s bloodied sea of consciousness, the Flying Poison had two of its claws deep in Gu Song''s back. They had sunk into his Soul Embryo, the outer shell in which he was protecting his very soul. Without any delay, Gu Song''s scythe sliced the beast in two. The weapon went through its body. When it came out, it was covered in blood that was quickly vaporized by the blue flame, same blue flame that was now devouring the Flying Poison from within.


    As if the wound didn''t exist, the Flying Poison kept on attacking, its four other arms were ripping, tearing, slashing, gouging. Although there was no blood as Gu Song was just a soul now, the scene was extremely brutal. At the same time, Gu Song wouldn''t go down without a fight. As his Soul Embryo protecting his soul was so attacked, he kept on slashing the beast, hoping to cut it down. But no matter how much he struck, the creature''s blood would reform its shape.


    All over the Flying Poison, there were now blue flames slowly devouring it. Yet, it kept on unleashing its wrath on Gu Song. There would be no respite. Because they were locked in such a close-quarters combat, there was no fancy move and no technique. The Flying Poison was mindless and Gu Song had not even one breath to think. This would be a battle of attrition and a test for their wills.


    Down below, Cao Yun was observing as they were butchering each other. Even Dian Mo was captivated by that scene. The brute strength and raw hatred of the Flying Poison was laid bare for all to see. Against that, Gu Song seemed to have almost no chance at all. He had to put some distance between them. But even now, he had failed to realize that the bloody creature in front of him was not Cao Yun at all. But then again, he would have never imagined that Cao Yun had the remnants of a past demon within his sea of consciousness...


    As the two of them were destroying each other, Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness had also become absolutely chaotic. Even with his mind cultivation, it would take some time to calm everything down. Thankfully, his Nine Soul Peaks had stood firm. And his greatest weapon was unaffected, the Drop of Wrath. Right now, the young man was waiting for the perfect moment to act. Until now, Gu Song''s soul had not been directly injured. In fact, it had only been exposed once as it was deep within his Soul Embryo. Cao Yun had to wait for his Soul Embryo to be so heavily damaged that he couldn''t resist at all.


    On the other hand, he had to be careful so that the Flying Poison wasn''t too strong either. Although it didn''t react to its own injuries, Cao Yun could feel that it was indeed getting weaker. After all, Cao Yun was linked to the Drop of Wrath and was slowly taking it over. With each injury the Flying Poison sustained, Cao Yun felt its grip on Axiu Qian''s blood lessen. Of course, the beast would not go down fighting Gu Song. That would just be too sad for the very last vestige of Axiu Qian''s soul to end in such a manner. Besides, Cao Yun had another plan for it.


    -


    Outside of Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, his body was now sitting cross-legged in Gu Song''s laboratory. The body of Gu Song was still covered in the Black Heart Flame with golden chains stabbed deep in his Lower Dantian, Middle Dantian and now even Upper Dantian. Without his soul in it, the body was dead but it was still incredibly sturdy as it was the body of a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. The shadow of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was now gone as there was no more soul to extract from him.


    In the room, the lingering Death Energy was spiraling around Cao Yun. Even if he was not trying to attract it, his use of ''Death Verses'' to protect his Five Agents was naturally doing it for him. On the other hand, the Ghost Energy was barely moving. Those two energies were quite similar but still different, just like the corporeal soul and the ethereal soul. Anyone seeing this would naturally think that Cao Yun was a demonic cultivator. He had unleashed poison, black flames fueled by tortured souls, and was now sucking in Death Energy while being unaffected by Ghost Energy as well.


    General Yun could see that the Xue family had almost taken down the array formations trapping them in their own residence. Hopefully Cao Yun was almost done. Knowing that the boy had an incredible stealth technique, the best outcome would be for him to escape without being detected. Amidst all the confusion, it was absolutely possible. But he was still ready for the worst possible outcome. He had promised Cao Yun to at least prevent his death. Even if he was captured, he had to make sure he would have enough time to explain himself. If everything he had told him was true, he should now have the means to prove it. After all, if he had attacked the Xue residence in such a manner, it was to take down Gu Song.


    Unsure whether Cao Yun had succeeded or not, General Yun was also ready to fight against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior if need be. Demonic cultivators could be difficult to deal with as they could use Evil Qi that was so corrosive. Besides, as an alchemist, Gu Song could certainly unleash terrifying poisons. Deep down, General Yun didn''t know how a boy like Cao Yun could defeat him, but seeing that he had indeed taken over the Xue family''s array formations, he had way more confidence in him now.


    Besides the forces of General Yun and the men of the Governor, almost all the other families were now surrounding the residence. General Yun had made sure that his men and the families who had joined him were the closest to it. Once the barriers would fall, the Xue family would react fast. Without the array formations to protect him, Cao Yun''s position would be easily found out if he had not ended Gu Song yet.


    The invisible walls of the array formations faltered. For mere mortals, the walls were indeed invisible, but for Mortal Warriors and anyone who could see Qi, they were made of vibrant light. But cracks had appeared in very specific places. Suddenly, the cracks spread everywhere all at once. In an instant, a loud boom resounded throughout the capital and the dome of Qi came crashing down. Before it could reach the ground, the Qi simply dispersed in the air. All the soldiers around the residence felt a wave of raw energy pass through them. As they were ready for it, they didn''t budge though.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    In the Xue residence, a few pillars were split apart. Some might have thought those were just decorations, but they were in fact cornerstones of their main defensive array formation. As the array formation had fallen, so had the pillars. At that moment, General Yun''s grip on his spear got firmer. Knowing where Cao Yun was supposed to be, he sent his spiritual senses in that very direction, trying to avoid being detected by the strongest Spirit Warriors. On the other hand, Xue Liu spread his own spiritual senses in the direction of Xue Rui''s chambers where he had heard his scream.


    Xue Liu only found two corpses, Xue Rui''s servant Zhong Ling and his concubine Qiang Zilan. No, the servant wasn''t quite dead yet, she was still breathing but her eyes were open and devoid of life. Then, he felt a somber energy in the room. In the middle of the room, there was some scorched marks and they were radiating Death Energy. This kind of energy was extremely rare in the Hongchen Kingdom. But Xue Liu was now certain that a demonic cultivator was behind all of it. Even if his junior had not been a member of the Wubei Sect, he would have heard about what had happened there. If the Wubei Sect had been infiltrated by demonic cultivator, Xue Liu was not arrogant enough to pretend his own house was safe.


    Although Xue Rui was not as talented as his older brother, he was still an important member of their younger generation. Hopefully he wasn''t dead already. Xue Liu lost no time and tried to track the lingering Death Energy. It lead him directly to the alchemy pavilion where Xue Rui''s master was staying. Suddenly, an ominous feeling overtook the patriarch. And in that moment, he finally sensed his rival''s spiritual senses.


    On his end, General Yun had immediately found where Cao Yun was. As the main array formation had collapsed, the shockwave had made all the other ones very unstable. Thus, he was able to see through the protections of Gu Song''s laboratory. There was an abundance of Death Energy and Ghost Energy. Those could not naturally appear in this environment. As such, it was clear that Gu Song had specifically cultivated them. In fact, now that the protections were gone, the Ghost Energy was slowly being purified by the surrounding world. The very light and warmth of the sun were enough to purify this amount of Ghost Energy. On the other hand, General Yun sensed that Death Energy was being coalesced around Cao Yun.


    If he had not been in the know, General Yun would have thought Cao Yun was the demonic cultivator. Thankfully, he knew better. Now, he had to make sure that Cao Yun was safe and that Xue Liu didn''t see him like that. He had to stall for time just as he felt the spiritual senses of his great rival.


    -


    Finally the moment had come, Cao Yun could feel that the Flying Poison was at its weakest and Gu Song''s soul was completely exposed. Most of his Soul Embryo had been destroyed or even devoured by the enraged creature. Although he couldn''t see what was happening outside, Cao Yun knew he had to be as fast as possible. Even General Yun would not be able to keep Patriarch Xue in check for long. First of all, they had the same cultivation even if General Yun had more experience actually fighting battles. But more than that, Patriarch Xue would be enraged. There was no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind that he would try to kill him on sight. After all, his junior had been burned body and soul.


    "Now, boy! What are you waiting for?!"


    Dian Mo was just as anxious as Cao Yun, but he was a bit more vocal about it. However, Cao Yun still didn''t act. The two desperate fighters were still engaged in their mutual destruction. Now, Cao Yun was mostly focused on the Drop of Wrath. He could feel things that Dian Mo couldn''t. And right now, he was waiting for the perfect moment to take care of the Flying Poison.


    His mind cultivation circulated to its fullest. All of his nine Upper Dantian chambers were pushed to the limit as his Chamber of Mysterious Elixir was energized. His Five Agents were also activated. And so were the Nine Soul Peaks. Even the green vines on those stone pillars were emitting a bright green light. Everything was ready for Cao Yun''s next move. His fight against Gu Song had been difficult and he could have died several times, but now, it was the last step. If he failed now, everything would have been for naught. However, his enemy was not Gu Song anymore, it was the remnant of Axiu Qiang''s wrath.


    The surface of the Drop of Wrath began to vibrate, some ripples appeared on it. Cao Yun''s influence over the drop of blood had reached its highest point as the Flying Poison had exhausted a large part of its strength.


    Gu Song''s Soul Embryo was too weak to protect his soul within. It was bare, exposed to the claws and teeth of the beast''s primeval rage. With the energy of despair, Gu Song stabbed his scythe in the creature''s back, aiming for the place where its heart would have been, had it been human. At the same moment, the Flying Poison was about to sink its teeth in Gu Song''s very soul. Gu Song''s current shape looked as if his body had been ripped apart, but there was no blood and no organs, just a ball of faint light. This was his bare soul.


    "If you don''t act now, his soul will be damaged. I don''t know if even I could salvage..."


    "Now!"


    Without listening to Dian Mo''s frantic words, Cao Yun unleashed his attack. The bloody chains that had come out of the Drop of Wrath to prevent Gu Song from leaving turned inward. Suddenly, they went toward both Gu Song and the Flying Poison. The chains tore through Gu Song''s Soul Embryo and grabbed his soul. More of his ethereal body was blown apart. Then, the Flying Poison''s teeth bit into what remained of his Soul Embryo, destroying it even further.


    At the same moment, the chains stabbed through its wings, its arms, its tails and everywhere on its body. Cao Yun was as thorough as possible. He didn''t want to leave a single chance to this inner demon.


    Looking at the scene, Dian Mo felt as though he was looking at the breakthrough of a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon. This was the third realm of the asura cultivation, just after Blood Child and Golden Blood Child. Similarly to ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', demons were cultivating the seven aspects of their Po. But unlike this more peaceful method, they were turning them into their Turbid Demon version before subduing them with chains made out of the blood they had cultivated prior to this realm.


    Even if Cao Yun''s blood was not powerful enough to trap a Turbid Demon yet, the Drop of Wrath''s blood was. The problem was that the Turbid Demon itself had a deeper connection with this blood. At that very moment, it wasn''t the case though. Cao Yun''s influence over the Drop of Wrath exceeded the Flying Poison''s. This was the perfect moment to try to trap it, just like Cao Yun had initially trapped Dian Mo.


    But this wouldn''t be so easily done. Of course, the beast was not going down without all the fight it could muster.


    On the other hand, Gu Song''s soul had no fight left in it. Only his Soul Embryo could try and protect it. Thankfully, Cao Yun had one last thing to do to completely get rid of it.

 Chapter 441: Pseudo-Accomplished Demon

    From Gu Song''s laboratory, the Death Energy circling Cao Yun, the Black Heart Flame still corroding Gu Song''s body and even the Heart Reversing Tormentor all went toward Cao Yun''s Bai Hui. The Gate of the Hundred Convergences opened as much as it could and swallowed in everything. All of those entered Cao Yun''s Upper Dantian. Then, they were quickly pulled in into his sea of consciousness as they were all forms of energy related one way or another to the soul.


    As mush as Cao Yun had control over them when they were outside, once inside, they were completely under his command. In fact, controlling them felt as natural as controlling his own Qi. And with a mere thought, they began to attack Gu Song''s Soul Embryo. The demonic cultivator had forsaken his flesh and steeled his resolve to accept a shorter lifespan. And yet what had tormented him earlier was back with a vengeance. With his soul extracted from it, his Soul Embryo was barely able to put up a fight. Although it was fully awaken, it had not been synchronized with Gu Song''s soul. Right now, it was still like a newborn.


    There was still one thing to deal with when it came to Gu Song, but it would be for later. Cao Yun''s main concern at the moment was the Flying Poison. Even with dozens of chains stabbed in it, the inner demon was still dangerous. After all, it had been able to heavily injure a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior during a soul battle. Without his Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun had no way of even fighting a soul battle. Besides, he was forced to use all his influence on the Drop of Wrath to prevent the Flying Poison to take over and to keep the chains under his control. And his soul and mind were both weakened because of the terrible fight.


    Even now, the sea and the skies were in turmoil. In the infinite space, there were still scars left behind by Gu Song''s scythe. They were forming giant thin walls of black glass in suspension in the air. Without the Drop of Wrath''s help, Cao Yun was sure he could deal with them. Anyway, either he would subdue the Flying Poison or he would die. So once everything was over, all those scars would be dealt with.


    If that was absolutely necessary, he still had some Autumn and Springs Reviving pills. But he already had remnants of the medicinal essence from the Gushing Argent Well pill he had stolen from Gu Song. Unfortunately, this pill could only restore the Qi and the physical body. Against mental fatigue or a depleted soul, it was powerless. However, like any other pill, it had some toxins now in Cao Yun''s system. Unlike other alchemists, Cao Yun was very reluctant to add any more toxins in his body, even if it helped his cultivation. He had always thought like that, but his master Meng Jia had engraved it even more in his mind.


    The Flying Poison was struggling as much as it could. Without any regard for its shape, it literally ripped apart its own limbs in order to escape the bloody chains. Unfortunately, the bloody chains were always restricting him. By struggling, the enraged creature completely tore apart one of its shoulders. Before it could reform another arm though, the bloody chains penetrated its shoulder and its severed arm. Along the entire chain, there were small spikes. If the Flying Poison had been made of flesh and real blood, Cao Yun could imagine the horrible spectacle that would have been. The mangled body of the demon was only being kept together by the chains, preventing it from reforming itself without the chains stabbed in it.


    Seeing that, Cao Yun couldn''t stop himself from imagining Axiu Qian''s last moments. He had been stabbed and held in place by chains made of gold, silver and jade. Ironically, the chains Cao Yun was using right now came from Cao Yun''s own blood. They were the very chains used by an Accomplished Demon to keep their Demon Soul under control. Thus, they were particularly efficient against the Flying Poison since it was a fragment of Axiu Qian''s Demon Soul.


    Slowly, the chains pulled the Flying Poison toward the Nine Soul Peaks. As it was being pulled closer and closer to the Drop of Wrath, it was getting more and more violent. Along the chains, its rotten green hair was trying to grow. It looked like moss and rust eating up at the bloody chain. The moment the Flying Poison finally crossed the threshold of the Nine Soul Peaks, the vibrant green light from the vines of the world tree shined on the chains. All that rot was dissipated. In fact, even the green hair covering the Flying Poison started to disappear as well.


    More frantically than ever, the Flying Poison was trying to get away from the Nine Soul Peaks. But the chains were getting stronger as they were closer to the Drop of Wrath which had birthed them. Cao Yun''s influence on them also grew. At the same time the Flying Poison was being weakened, Cao Yun''s influence within the Drop of Wrath was growing. The Po character within the blood was shining and the bright red of Axiu Qian''s blood was radiating on the Five Agents and the Nine Soul Peaks. Helped with the vines of the world tree, a great vitality was spreading through Cao Yun''s mind.


    This place was the very center of his sea of consciousness, although it was infinite. This contradiction was not a problem for a land that wasn''t physical and only existed within Cao Yun''s Upper Dantian.


    Just like Dian Mo before, the Flying Poison found itself chained down to one of the nine pillars. This time around, Cao Yun had chosen the pillar related to the Chamber of Moving Pearls. This particular chamber''s role was to keep the mind balanced. When dealing with such raw anger, the young alchemist had thought it appropriate. And indeed, it was working as the Flying Poison was getting weaker and weaker.


    Besides the chains, the vines themselves also began to grow over the Flying Poison''s struggling body. Now that it was weakened and completely at Cao Yun''s mercy, he had to subdue it for good so he could control the Drop of Wrath. Although the chains were able to keep it trapped for now, he wanted a more permanent solution. In the fourth layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', ''Seal the Seven Demons'', one could use the Nine Soul Peaks to seal the seven parts of the Po. Most likely, it was a way for the author to make forming the Demon Soul easier. If the seven parts of the Po had already been subdued and trapped, turning them into Turbid Demons to then merge them together would be less risky and even faster.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    According to the cultivation of demons, one of the ways to subdue those Seven Turbid Demons would be to apply powerful and complex Blood Runes within them. After all, demons and asura alike had no meridian or Dantian, their Qi was circulating in their blood. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had not formed the Golden Blood yet as he was still a middle Blood Child. However, he had many other things he could use. First of all, he had the blood from the Drop of Wrath, he had also the Death Energy and the Black Heart Flame now. Besides, he had trained a very long time with Dian Mo to master the art of seals. Although he wasn''t as good as Dian Mo who had had thousands of years to train, he was still good enough to beat Gu Song''s seals.


    As the Flying Poison was weakened to such an extent, it was the perfect moment to apply a seal to it. The Five Agents rose back into the air now that the fight was over, except for Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. Shen the Fire Spirit sent its flames all around the Five Agents. Yi the Earth Intent''s golden light was focused on the Po. Zhi the Water Will let out several heavy drop of a liquid metal that went orbiting around the Po. And finally, Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul was pulsating with green light along with the vines of the world tree.


    Po the Metal Corporeal Soul looked like a polished bone that had now a golden aura around it. The onyx drops of Zhi the Water Will stopped moving and went straight for the Flying Poison. The Po character that was within the Drop of Wrath was moving exactly like the other one. No matter how much it was trying to move around, the Flying Poison could not escape. Then, the Black Heart Flame began to attack its chest. As it screamed, the drops of Zhi sizzled when they touched its skin. From the Drop of Wrath itself, Evil Qi and blood went down to help the process.


    On the inner demon''s chest, Cao Yun''s will was branding it with a seal looking exactly like his Po character. At the same time, the bone fragments surrounding this very Po character began to fuse together. Finally, Cao Yun was about to accomplish the first step of ''Subdue the Seven Demons'', the third layer of his mind cultivation. Every piece of his Po of Jing had been extracted from his Po character. And now, it was orbiting it as a planet would orbit a star.


    Powerless against Cao Yun''s will, the Flying Poison was branded for good. Some of the bloody chains dissolved themselves within the creature. It was now being contained from the inside. And finally, the young cultivator sensed that the Flying Poison''s connection with the Drop of Wrath was completely gone. For the first time, Cao Yun was controlling it fully. His Po of Jing had replaced the Flying Poison of Axiu Qian. However, Cao Yun had no intention of annihilating the Flying Poison.


    Right now, this was a unique situation. Even Dian Mo was curious. To become an Accomplished Demon, one had to turn their Po of Jing into a Turbid Demon to then subdue it. However Cao Yun had not subdued his own Turbid Demon, but the one of someone else. So they were both curious as to what it would mean for Cao Yun''s blood cultivation.


    In his body, he felt the full vigor of the Drop of Wrath. Now, he could even move it around in his body instead of leaving it in his heart. Of course, he had no reason to do so right now, but it would be very helpful for his blood cultivation. Instead of just sending its intent, he could send the drop of blood itself.


    Within his sea of consciousness, the Flying Poison disappeared within the stone pillar. The only proof that he was ever there was the very seal Cao Yun had planted within it. But now, he could feel its presence at all times and he knew he had some control over it. Then it hit him. He had developed some form of spiritual senses. Those senses were reserved to either Spirit Warriors or Accomplished Demons. By sending a part of their soul outside, they could sense things no mortal could. This was only possible because Spirit Warriors had formed a Soul Embryo and because Accomplished Demons had started to form their Demon Soul.


    Even if Cao Yun was not able to send his own soul outside as it wouldn''t survive the process, he could send the Flying Poison. After all, it was still a part of Axiu Qian''s soul even though it was corrupted and fragmented. Until that moment, he had often used the intent of the Drop of Wrath mixed in his Qi to improve his senses. But now, he could literally use the Flying Poison. Unfortunately, it was indeed corrupted so it wouldn''t be as good as true spiritual senses and since he had the creature on a leash, he couldn''t send it too far. Anyway, having even partial spiritual senses as an early Mortal Warrior was just insane.


    Now that he had subdued the Flying Poison, Cao Yun had another matter to deal with, Gu Song''s soul. His Soul Embryo had been completely destroyed by the onslaught of the Flying Poison and then the somber energies Cao Yun had used against it.


    The Black Heart Flame was way more effective now that it was within his sea of consciousness. Apparently, it was reacting to the Rune of Fire. Later, he would have to study them together. But for now, he was ready to follow Dian Mo''s instructions. Indeed, he was the most suited to extract all of Gu Song''s memories without destroying them. First of all though, they had to eradicate the seals within his soul before they could consume him entirely. Like almost all demonic cultivators, even Gu Song had those kinds of seals within his soul.


    "Dian Mo, this is your time to shine."


    The Palace Spirit was brought back to reality by Cao Yun''s words. The scene he had just witnessed had left him a bit stunned indeed. Now, the Drop of Wrath belonged to Cao Yun. And after seeing it in all of its glory, Dian Mo had to admit he truly desired it. Maybe he didn''t have to take over Cao Yun''s body, besides he liked the boy now, but his greed for Axiu Qian''s blood grew.


    For now though, he decided to do as he had promised. He and Cao Yun had made a deal and he intended to keep his word. Dian Mo''s spirit was in the shape of the Demon Palace. From its entrance, only darkness was visible. Like a black hole, this darkness began to suck in the soul of Gu Song. No matter what he tried to do, he couldn''t protect himself. After all, his Soul Embryo had just been destroyed. Technically Gu Song was now a mere mortal as even his Dantian had been ruptured. All his cultivation was gone and soon his very soul would be annihilated as well.


    Knowing that there was no hope, Gu Song decided to activate the seal in his soul before any memory could be extracted from him. However, it was too late, Dian Mo had already sent his intent within the soul. Expertly, he got rid of any trace of the seal. Then, he simply had to perform of Soul Memory Search. For a spirit like himself, there was nothing easier to do to a soul. In fact, when he was doing so, the risks of the soul being heavily injured were extremely low. However, he didn''t really care right now. Instead of being careful, he was quick.


    In one move, he took out all of Gu song''s memory and completely ripped apart his very soul before digesting it.

 Chapter 442: The Traitor

    For an instant, Cao Yun finally looked outside. For the entire fight between the two souls, he had been in his sea of consciousness. Indeed, he had to be prepared at all times. But now that the most difficult part was over, he made sure that everything was going well. When he got aware of the world around him once again, he sensed that all the array formations had been either destroyed or deactivated. And outside the building, he could distinctly sense General Yun''s powerful Qi. However, he could also feel something around him. Two spiritual senses were already all over the place. The first one was General Yun''s and the second one had to be Patriarch Xue Liu. Despite those, Cao Yun was confident he could escape, but then General Yun would most likely suffer from this decision. Indeed, he would be accused of letting a demonic cultivator escape.


    Since it had come to this, Cao Yun had to resort to his last plan. It would have been better to just escape unnoticed. But because it wasn''t possible anymore, Cao Yun had still a way out. He simply had to tell the truth about Gu Song. Of course, he couldn''t tell everything and he would have to polish the truth a little. But he had just killed a dangerous demonic cultivator. If he was good enough, he might even turn all the scrutiny away from him and onto the Xue family.


    That being said, and despite the urgency of the situation, Cao Yun simply couldn''t take his mind off Gu Song''s memories. With his Chamber of Heavenly Court, he could think faster. In an instant, he could spend several minutes in his own mind. Thus, he could easily access the memories extracted by Dian Mo. Besides, having the memories of those past few months would be useful. After all, if Cao Yun found proof that the Xue family or even members of them were involved with Gu Song, things would be smoother.


    "Are you ready, boy?"


    "After everything I did and risked to get there, yes, I most certainly am."


    "Then, enjoy."


    Suddenly, Cao Yun saw visions of Gu Song''s life. He saw him as a little boy. Like many others he was an orphan taken in by demonic cultivators. His younger life was incredibly painful but Cao Yun had no mercy for this man. As a boy he would have tried to save him but at some point that boy had died and someone else was born in his stead. Gu Song had experimented on demonic beasts and on humans. He mastered the art of keeping them alive for as long as he needed them.


    Slowly, he became more and more interested in the soul, thinking it to be the key to become a Sage. As such, his experiments became less bloody but more painful. But they did reap results here and there. Maybe he had to kill a thousand people just to advance his knowledge. But Mo Tian didn''t care about this, he got interested in Gu Song. Eighty years ago, Gu Song was chosen by Mo Tian to become one of the advisers to the Demon King. There was no image of the Demon King in Gu Song''s memory though. However, there was a certainty now, Mo Tian was the right-hand man of the Demon King. Thus, Mo Tian had not been the Demon King.


    A few years later, Gu Song learned the truth. The demonic cultivators were all under the yoke of the Demon King, but the Demon King himself was serving someone else. Through Gu Song''s work and the work of a couple of others like Mo Tian himself, the Demon King was trying to find a way to free himself from that influence. Like all the other demonic cultivators, he had a seal implanted in his very soul. However, he had been powerful enough to protect a small part of his mind, which allowed him to keep planning against his master.


    From what Cao Yun could gather, the Demon King had to be at least a late Spirit Warrior on par with Mo Tian. Thus he was either an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior, or worse, a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. If the latter was true, that meant that the Demon King was on the level of the three powerhouses of the Hongchen Kingdom, Sect Leader Xuan Mu, Matriarch Huang Yufeng and Emperor Weide. Against such an opponent, Cao Yun''s tricks would mean nothing at all. Besides, the fight between two 9th-grade Spirit Warriors would cause incredible damage around them. Cao Yun remembered what had happened in the Wubei Sect.


    As they were looking for a solution, they discovered the ruins from the time the demons still ruled the humans. They were in fact ruins from the time of Demon God Da Mo. In them, they uncovered many secrets that were now partially Cao Yun''s. Dian Mo had also been interested in what they had found, but there was nothing too new for him. However, the way they mixed this knowledge with their own human cultivation was fascinating for the Palace Spirit. For Cao Yun, those memories were a new weapon he could use against them. Now, he knew a lot of their secrets. Gu Song didn''t know as much as Mo Tian, but he had been experimenting a lot.


    Among this treasure trove of past forbidden knowledge, the Demon King found the key to his salvation. Indeed, he found a way to isolate completely the seal within his soul. And better than that, he was able to send a powerful backlash to the one who had put it there. All that happened around seventy years ago, the same time Emperor Weide appeared in public for the last time. The man Lang Shou had referred to as ''the Traitor'' had been struck down by the Demon King''s soul attack. All demonic cultivator Spirit Warriors partook in this battle to strengthen the Demon King. A few of them were literally burned alive during the clash. After all, Emperor Weide was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    Yes, now Cao Yun was sure of that. Emperor Weide had been using the demonic cultivators. By controlling the Demon King, he was controlling everyone else. This explained how they had been able to grow in strength. By the past, demonic cultivators almost never reached the Spirit Warrior realm. Indeed, they were found out and killed way before that. But under his protection, they had grown stronger and stronger. And he had put all their efforts on one thing. He wanted to become a Sage. No matter the means, he had to break through and couldn''t stay a half-step Sage, he wanted to make this last step. For that, he had even disregarded many massacres the demonic cultivators had perpetrated to get more test subjects.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    That day seventy years ago though, Emperor Weide''s very soul was heavily injured. The Demon King didn''t get out unscathed either. But at the very least, he was mostly freed from the one they called the Traitor. That name was fitting as he had betrayed all of mankind for his ambitions. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had absolutely no proof except for those memories. Trying to convince the people of the Hongchen Kingdom, so close to a war against the demons, would be impossible. Besides, just giving this information to someone was putting them at risk of death. The only ones Cao Yun could tell were his master, Sect Leader Xuan, and Spirit Master Xiao Xuefeng.


    Since that day, seventy years ago, the Demon King had still a remnant of the seal stuck in his soul. That was why they had infiltrated the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Cao Yun saw how Gu Song had spent several decades to enter the institute. He had been a perfect alchemist. Thanks to those memories, Cao Yun found quite a few demonic cultivators hidden throughout the institute. If Director Ge Ling had not found them all, this would be very useful. But then, Gu Song had tried to have his latest disciple in, Luo Jiang. That was the moment Cao Yun had met Hua Fenfei in Yinmen City.


    During the demonic beasts stampede, Gu Song had plucked a peach from the Heavenly Silver Peach Tree. This was the last ingredient needed to refine a pill used by the Demon King in order to annihilate the seal he had been suppressing all those years. That meant that the Demon King was back at full strength. In other words, there was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior who was controlling all the demonic cultivators, with a grudge against Emperor Weide and the entire Hongchen Kingdom. This wasn''t good news at all...


    All that was interesting and very important of course. But what truly interested Cao Yun was something else. Around forty years ago, the news of the massacre of the Shui family reached Gu Song. And he knew what this was about. This slaughter had been pinned on some demonic cultivators as well, even back then. Knowing who was the real culprit, the Demon King was obviously interested in unraveling the truth. By studying the corpses and thanks to the library of Demon God Da Mo, they found the answer.


    Within the blood of the Shui family, there was a unique trait. It was extremely rare. Originally, there was only one species who ruled over all of reality, the Three Jade Saints. In their bodies, they had the Three Heavenly Treasures, Jin Xue, the Golden Blood, Tian Qi, the Heaven Qi and Hun Po, the Perfect Soul. But a tragedy befell them. No one was clear on the matter but some claimed that the Heavens themselves became jealous of them and struck them down. Those Three Heavenly Treasures were split and formed three species, the descendants of those Three Jade Saints, the humans with a most profound Qi system, the asura with an incredibly potent blood, and the deva gifted with a flawless soul. But all three of those attributes existed in all three of the species in varying degrees.


    The Shui bloodline revealed that they had a tinge of the deva''s soul hidden in there. Although it was dormant, it might be able to become active within their Soul Embryo. However, this was only the case for the women of the family. In fact, they found out that even most of the women had too little of this blood. The only one who seemed to have a significant amount of this was Cao Shui, Cao Yun''s mother. According to Gu Song who was the expert on the subject of souls, if someone were to devour the Soul Embryo of someone who had awaken this flawless soul, they might finally transcend the 9th-grade Spirit Warrior stage to enter the Sage realm.


    When he reached the Shui family to study their corpses, Gu Song found out that all the women had had their souls ripped away from their bodies. But he knew that they had not found what they had been looking for thanks to what he saw in the souls of the men. Just like Emperor Weide, the Demon King kept on searching for survivors to this family, the only two children who had escaped. One was a boy, useless, but the other one was a young girl. She might be the answer.


    Finally, they discovered Cao Shui in Baziyun City. Unfortunately, so did the Emperor.


    Now Cao Yun knew the truth. His mother had been targeted so that Emperor Weide could make her form a Soul Embryo he could then devour. All of that carnage was in the far-fetched hope that he might become a Sage. Obviously Cao Yun was furious. But another thought crossed his mind. If Emperor Weide had wanted his mother''s Soul Embryo, he might have settled for her soul. Until now, he had not even thought about that, but he wasn''t sure whether the souls of his family members had not been stolen. During the attack, Cao Beiwen''s Soul Embryo had been destroyed, but it was still possible that they had extracted the souls of all the women of his family. After all, this explained why his sister had been taken alive from his arms.


    It was likely that they had taken her soul from her before throwing her dead body with the others. If that were true, his family was maybe still suffering untold pain and torment right now. However, his enemy wasn''t a demonic cultivator against whom all of mankind could unite. No, his enemy was literally the Emperor. Most people were taking the Emperor as the direct descendant of Emperor Nuwa. Although he had not her blood, there was a long line of succession that had never been broken between all the emperors, all the way to Emperor Nuwa herself.


    With that in mind, turning the people against Emperor Weide would be almost impossible. Thankfully, several people had discovered that there was something strange within the Imperial City. However, none of them imagined how corrupted Emperor Weide himself had become. As a lowly 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun could do nothing. Against a mere 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, he had risked everything and had been victorious because his opponent had not tried to kill him right away. In a fair fight, without tricks, Gu Song would have obliterated Cao Yun. Emperor Weide could reduce him to dust with a single thought. Even as an early Spirit Warrior, fighting such a monster would be almost impossible.


    Right now, his only choice would be to have Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang to unite against him. But they couldn''t just attack him like that, the entire Hongchen Kingdom would turn against them. Then, the demons would use the opportunity, mankind would be absolutely annihilated, either slaughtered by fanatics of reduced to slavery once again.


    Anyway, Cao Yun''s rage was now focused on Emperor Weide. That Alchemy Conference in the Imperial City would be the perfect moment to get closer to him. Even if he could not strike him down now, he could prepare himself for that. If he could find some proof against him, there might still be a way. Otherwise, he would have to grow strong enough to deal with him himself. By combining human and asura cultivation, he was convinced he could become stronger than even a half-step 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Hell, he might even be able to finally break through to the Sage realm without devouring someone''s soul. Or maybe, he would devour Emperor Weide''s Soul Embryo like he had meant to do to his own mother!

 Chapter 443: Testimony under scrutiny

    "Yun Po, what are you doing?! Is this treason?!"


    "Calm down, old man. My men are here to help your Xue family. When our Qingyun City is in danger, isn''t it natural for us to help each other?"


    "Then, why didn''t you try to destroy the barriers blocking us?! And why are you now putting yourself between me and the culprit?!"


    "Old man, surely you''re jesting. We couldn''t attack the expensive and precious array formations of your noble lineage. Besides, how could we have even assumed that someone had turned them against you all?! No, we thought that you were using them to protect yourselves from some terrible threat within. So naturally, as soon as they collapsed, I assumed the worst. What wasn''t my surprise when I discovered that the young alchemist Guai Mo was held in your residence..."


    "Held?! Are you accusing us of something?! One my juniors just died! This really isn''t the time to be playing games with me, boy!"


    Although General Yun and Patriarch Xue had the same cultivation the latter had more than two centuries of seniority over the former. Obviously, General Yun knew perfectly well what was going on. In fact, he knew it better than Xue Liu himself. Thus, he was prepared and knew exactly what to say. For once, it was the old man who was more aggressive and he who was plotting. This was a nice change of pace for the battle-hardened general. However, he could see that he shouldn''t push it too far. After all, he didn''t want a real fight against Xue Liu. Such a battle could lead to a full-out war between the forces around the Xue residence.


    There had been so much tension recently, that everyone was on edge. Moreover, Xue Liu had indeed lost a precious junior moments ago and was ready for blood. General Yun''s goal was to calm everything down so Guai Mo wasn''t killed without being able to explain himself. If Xie Liu were to kill the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect, things could get even worse within the Hongchen Kingdom. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had not been able to escape in time. Right now wasn''t the moment to leave either or General Yun would be in a difficult position as well.


    Hopefully the young man knew what he was doing. Anyway, General Yun was loyal to the Wubei Sect even though he had never been an inner disciple. In addition, his own son trusted Chen Guo with his life.


    "Please, calm yourself. Believe it or not, I''m here to stop you from making a huge mistake. Don''t you think there would be consequences if you were to kill a 1-star Human alchemist out of the blue. That junior even has ties with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Such a rash judgment would affect us all in our relation with the Hall. You do know how difficult it had been for the Imperial City to convince them to build a Major Hall in our city."


    "Just because of that, I won''t excuse someone from trespassing in my residence, making a mockery out of all of us and killing my own blood!"


    "Think, old man. How could a mere 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior do all of that?! There is another body in that room. Right now, we simply don''t know what happened. With so many soldiers surrounding your residence, do you think there is any chance for that junior to escape? I understand your desire to kill him, but you don''t know everything, unless you have some information I''m not privy to. Let the justice be dealt by the Governor in our presence."


    "The Governor?! Your words would sound like reason if I didn''t know you better than that! Is this your doing?!"


    From Xue Liu''s spatial ring, a large broadsword appeared.


    "Old man, you would strike me down just because I''m trying to uphold the law?! You would betray the law of Emperor Nuwa?! You would turn on mankind?! I don''t know what happened here, and I don''t care whether your family suffer the consequences of your folly or not. But your anger is blinding you and we will all suffer from it. If you want to destroy your own lineage, please feel free to do so but do not implicate our Subei Province with your stupidity!"


    General Yun already had his ''Demon''s Bane'' in hand. Technically, this was forbidden to draw one''s weapon outside of their own residence or some training grounds. But right now, this was a special circumstance. General Yun could argue that he sincerely believed in a threat within their own city. Thus, his drawing of his weapon was natural and legal. On the other hand, Patriarch Xue had drawn his weapon on a general of the army. The two of them had the same official rank. Such an action could indeed be taken as an act of revolt against the Emperor, while General Yun''s actions were all justified.


    "Fine! But if you let that vermin escape...!"


    "Come on, there is no way for a Mortal Warrior to escape us all. After all, aren''t you already trying to kill him with your soul since we began talking?"


    Indeed, Patriarch Xue''s spiritual senses had been trying to crush Guai Mo as soon as he had been close enough. On the other hand, General Yun was protecting him. Technically, they had been fighting while they were talking. Since no one was around they could keep it a secret, but this was against the laws of the kingdom. Just by using that, General Yun could ask retribution from the Xue family. Of course, this wouldn''t amount to much thanks to Governor Jiahe.


    During their conversation, Guai Mo opened his eyes and looked around. At that moment, he let go of his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' completely and bowed toward the two generals.


    "Venerable generals, this humble one is Young Sect Master Chen from the Wubei Sect. Please listen to my words before doing anything rash."


    "Chen...? Chen Guo?!"


    General Yun didn''t act quite that well, but Xue Liu was so enraged and surprised that he completely missed it.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "Boy, you invaded my house, took command of my own defenses against me, killed my own blood and my guest, and now you talk about being ''rash''?! What audacity! What insolence! If you think that your sect can defend you against my wrath, you are sorely mistaken!"


    "Please, General Xue, let me explain. All those accusations are false. I am as much a victim as you are. If not for a gift of my master Sect Leader Xuan, I would have died today as well. The true culprit is the corpse behind me. Unfortunately, your house suffered the same fate that befell our modest sect. A demonic cultivator infiltrated it!"


    "What?!"


    "Patriarch, you see that this situation is too serious to come to a conclusion right here and now. Please, listen to reason. Or do you seriously want to kill Sect Leader Xuan''s direct disciple?! Do you think that even you could survive such an offense?! Governor Jiahe would gladly offer your head to the Wubei Sect in order to preserve his seat and you know it. Well, maybe I would be the one chosen to lob off your head... That wouldn''t be so bad then."


    "Silence, boy! Fine! I demand that this Chen Guo or whatever his true name is be arrested. After all, what proof do we have that he is who he says he is. He presented himself as Guai Mo, didn''t he? In order to enter our Subei Province, he had to give his name. Lying on official documents is fine now?!"


    "Great general, I am giving myself in. I only ask that you let me explain what happened. And if my identity is in question..."


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun retrieved a small jade sculpture. It was the personal seal of Sect Leader Xuan. By pouring some of his own Qi within, Cao Yun activated it. Suddenly, the aura of Sect Leader Xuan permeated the entire area. Even beyond the limits of the Xue residence, every cultivator felt as though a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior had descended from above. Such a phenomenon calmed absolutely everyone. Of course, the seal couldn''t replicate the strength of Sect Leader Xuan. But his prestige was enough so that no one would dare do anything to his disciple. And now Cao Yun''s identity was confirmed.


    If Xue Liu tried to do anything against him, General Yun was justified in taking him down. Besides, without any array formation to protect them, all the cultivators had heard the conversation. As much as Xue Liu had tried to conceal their voices with his spiritual senses, General Yun had made sure that they were heard.


    Now that the news was known, Governor Jiahe was warned in an instant. Xue Rui had been killed and the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect was being accused of it. The mere fact that he was present was a huge event. But if Sect Leader Xuan''s direct disciple was found guilty, the only sentence would be death. No matter, Governor Jiahe didn''t want to be the one to hand out such a sentence. On the other hand, he could imagine that anything short from death wouldn''t satisfy Patriarch Xue. Hopefully, Cao Yun could indeed prove that he was innocent.


    "Minister Yong, go to the Xue residence immediately. We''ll need your wisdom to deal with it."


    Minister Yong accepted the order. For once, Governor Jiahe seemed to be able to act quickly, even though the act was to put all the responsibility on someone else''s shoulders. At least, Minister Yong believed more in himself to avoid a crisis than in his own governor. Thus, he arrived to the Xue residence and asked Chen Guo to surrender to him. The young man agreed and even gave his spatial ring to Minister Yong under the watchful eye of General Yun.


    "Fine. Young Sect Master, you claim that you can explain what happened. I am ready to listen to your explanations. What happened this day is very serious, I hope that you can convince Patriarch Xue of your innocence. Otherwise, we might be forced to hold a proper trial to determine everyone''s responsibilities in the matter."


    "I understand, Minister Yong. The truth is that I entered the Subei Province and even Qingyun City because I was after a demonic cultivator. The man I was chasing was the one who had violated the sanctity of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and had collaborated with those who tried to take down my Wubei Sect. Unfortunately, we had almost nothing on him except that he had had a disciple in that province. With so little, no official investigation could have been held. As such, I took it upon myself to come here under the guise of seeking a spot in the Alchemy Conference, which I do by the way."


    "Then, you admit that you lied on official documents in order to sneak into our Subei Province!"


    "Please, Patriarch Xue. If you have any question, you can tell me through telepathy and I will consider them. But right now, we just want to hear what Young Sect Master Chen has to say. Continue."


    "Of course. Passing off as Guai Mo, I tried to put myself out there as some arrogant alchemist who was walking close to the line of the demonic path. That is why I was forced to antagonize Xue Rui so much. Please, Patriarch Xue, forgive my insults toward your junior. My hope was that Gu Song would be watching the alchemists competing for the Alchemy Conference spot. Even if I didn''t bait him, at least I would have won a spot, that wouldn''t be so bad. But my bait did work better than I thought. A young girl approached me. I knew right away that she was working for Gu Song and was trying to lure me to her master so he could do with me what he wanted. Unfortunately, I had no time to warn anyone as she demanded an answer right away. Had I refused, Gu Song might have escaped again or even killed me on the spot. Thus, I followed her and she brought me to the Xue residence. Of course I couldn''t believe that the Xue family would knowingly harbor a known demonic cultivator. But here he was."


    As he spoke, Cao Yun turned around to show the corpse of Gu Song. The Heart Reversing Tormentor poison, the Black Heart Flame, the Death Energy, the Ghost Energy and even the golden chains from the array formations were all gone. Now, his mangled corpse was bare for all to see. Each of his Dantian had been perforated and had then been completely ruptured. His flesh had been scorched here and there. In other words, he was in a sorry state. No one could have imagined that he was a former 4th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    "Are you claiming that you killed a middle Spirit Warrior by yourself?! Preposterous!"


    "Patriarch Xue, please! What happened when you met with this Gu Song?"


    "He immediately tried to put a seal in my mind. Thankfully, Spirit Master Xiao had left her own protection in my soul. By attacking me, his Soul Embryo was wounded. Then, he completely lost it. I was quick enough to use a Spirit Condensation Barrier given to me by my master."


    To support his testimony, Cao Yun asked to have access to his spatial ring and produced the spent Spirit Condensation Barrier he had used to survive Can Mouye. Since it had been used to the limit, it was almost impossible to tell who had created it. However, they could feel that a late Spirit Warrior''s soul had indeed imbued this artifact with power by the past.


    "I''m not entirely sure what happened next. Maybe because of the injury to his Soul Embryo, Gu Song became erratic. I saw all the array formations get activated around him. Then, he called a strange black flame to him and swore that he would kill everyone in this city. He seemed to be fighting himself for some time. In the end, the black flames turned on him and began to burn his own body. I could feel an intense pressure in my very soul despite the Spirit Condensation Barrier. Thus, I decided to meditate in order to alleviate the pain. My guess would be that Gu Song developed an inner demon and was killed, or that another demonic cultivator activated a seal in him to get rid of him before he could be captured. I''m not too sure on that point."

 Chapter 444: A fellow disciples fury

    "And you''re going to just believe him?!"


    "Patriarch Xue, no one is believing anything right now. We''re only trying to understand what happened. And for that, we need to hear for the only person who may actually know. Of course, we''ll check everything. I understand your frustration and your anger, but this is important. Your family is not the only one affected by this. If a demonic cultivator did infiltrate your residence..."


    "And what if he is the demonic cultivator?! After all, the Wubei Sect was attacked from within!"


    "Old man, are you suggesting that Sect Leader Xuan is so inept that he chose a demonic cultivator as his direct disciple. Or are suggesting that the greatest warrior of our Hongchen Kingdom turned to the demonic path himself?"


    "Yun, I never said that!"


    "It certainly sounded like you were putting some doubt on the Wubei Sect. The fact that the snakes within them revealed themselves should make us trust them more. After all, since then, they went on a crusade to get rid of them all wherever they could have run to. It makes sense for their Young Sect Master to have come here if he thought this Gu Song was hiding in our Subei Province."


    As the two generals were arguing, Minister Yong started to examine Gu Song''s body as well as his study.


    "The corpse is too damaged for me to notice anything, we''ll have physicians examine it further. However, I''m not sure we''ll be able to establish whether he used Evil Qi or not. On the other hand, this laboratory does corroborate Chen Guo''s testimony."


    To be honest, Minister Yong didn''t really believe everything Cao Yun had said. A 4th-grade Spirit Warrior had just died in front of him for no apparent reason?! That was highly suspicious. In addition, he didn''t believe that Cao Yun had just come here with little evidence and miraculously stumbled upon this Gu Song many others had been looking for. There were many other ways to deal with such a situation. However, all those ways would have required someone official to be involved. Either Cao Yun was truly paranoid and didn''t want anyone else involved, or he was hiding something that Gu Song knew.


    It was possible that Gu Song had found some secret of the Wubei Sect or the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. A powerful poison given to Cao Yun by Director Ge Ling or even Spirit Master Xiao might have caused the demise of Gu Song. Since a Spirit Warrior could not easily travel all the way to the borders, sending an early Mortal Warrior could be a possibility for them. Even as he was trying to understand what had happened in the Xue residence, Minister Yong was already thinking of all the possible ramifications. Among them, there were some he didn''t want to think about...


    "Generals, look at this laboratory."


    Looking around, they saw the handiwork of Gu Song. There were organs, blood vials and other bodily fluids kept in jars. Some were from demonic beasts and this was normal for alchemists. However, some were clearly human. Sometimes even orthodox alchemists worked with human body parts taken from the dead. It was rather rare but it happened. However the sheer amount of them in this single room was worrisome.


    "Patriarch Xue, who was the alchemist using this room? Do you have any record of the experiments he was doing in there?"


    While asking those questions, Minister Yong was also searching for every piece of paper he could find in this room. Unfortunately, most of them were written in a strange language. Most likely, this was a form of encryption so that only the alchemist who had written those words could read them. Once again, some alchemists did that in order to protect their research. But this wasn''t that usual either. The more they were looking into this, the more the corpse was looking guilty. Besides, Cao Yun''s Qi was barely present in the room. That meant that he had just recently came in. There was another kind of Qi in there and it belonged to the cadaver Cao Yun had identified as Gu Song.


    "I don''t take care of everything myself. This should be Steward Xue Mingyu''s work."


    "Then, ask him to come here as soon as possible."


    Slowly, Patriarch Xue was calming himself. Although Cao Yun''s words were hard to believe, he had felt that the boy was truthful. But if he had learned under Xiao Xuefeng, his mind could be developed enough for him to lie even in front of late Spirit Warriors. On the other hand, looking at the laboratory, it was indeed quite ominous. At the very least, it didn''t look like the workplace of any orthodox alchemists. If Xue Liu had seen the place when there was still Death Energy and Ghost Energy, he would have immediately though that this was a room for torture.


    An emaciated woman arrived soon. She was Steward Xue Mingyu. When she saw Patriarch Xue, she kowtowed.


    "Patriarch, please pardon this one. The room you talked about was supposed to be empty. Xue Rui had requested to have it for himself and that no one should be allowed within. This incompetent one doesn''t know who occupied it."


    "Xue Rui?!"


    "Patriarch Xue, we should go examine your junior''s room."


    Gradually, Patriarch Xue Liu could feel that this investigation could turn against him and his family. Thinking back on Xue Rui''s behavior, he tried to find out if there was any credence to Cao Yun''s words. If that bastard had dabbled into the demonic arts, the entire Xue family could be implicated. Maybe he had to get ahead of the curve. Thus, he sent a few commands to his own men through telepathy. Before they could go to Xue Rui''s room, he had to know as much as possible. Could he have been so busy with politics and with his grudge against General Yun that he had failed to see what was happening right under his nose?Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "Patriarch?"


    "Of course, Minister. But I do not think it is appropriate for outsiders to visit my residence. Now that the crisis is over, General Yun should leave and this Young Sect Master should probably be escorted to the Governor''s residence to check his dubious claims."


    "Old man, we don''t know if other traitors aren''t still in here. I couldn''t leave Minister Yong without any protection. And concerning Chen Guo, he might have some information that could help us make sense of what we find. Not only is he the only witness, he is also a great alchemist. Even as Guai Mo, he was certainly as competent as a 5-star Human alchemist. His insights could be precious."


    "But we can''t trust anything he says precisely because he''s the only witness! And are you insinuating that my residence is full of traitors? Or are you accusing my Xue family of something?"


    "Generals, please! We''ll all go examine Xue Rui''s room. There is no time for your rivalry right now. Our Subei Province might still be in danger. Instead of fighting each other, reserve your strength to kill our enemies."


    Unlike Governor Jiahe, Minister Yong was respected by both parties. They both new that being a competent minister of the province under this specific governor was difficult. But Minister Yong had always acted in the best interest of the Subei Province.


    Thus, they reached the chambers of Xue Rui. Many servants were already busy within. The body of Qiang Zilan had been lay down on the bed, but there was no trace of Xue Rui apart from a scorch mark on the ground. Everything that he was had been consumed by the nascent Black Heart Flame. Unlike in the laboratory, there were traces of Evil Qi around. And it was quite apparent that Xue Rui had been killed by some demonic art. In fact, Cao Yun had literally the Black Heart Flame within himself right now. Later, he would work on it by using his Rune of Fire. But for now, not even Spirit Warrior Xiao could determine that he had this unless she invaded his sea of consciousness and was very aggressive. Short of a full Soul Memory Search, it would be impossible to sense it.


    As the Wubei Sect''s Young Sect Master, they couldn''t order such a barbaric method to be used unless they had very good evidence. However, as flawed as it was, Cao Yun''s story could still make sense.


    When he entered the room, Cao Yun didn''t pay much attention to what had happened within. He knew the young woman on the bed as Xue Rui''s first concubine. Most likely he had either used her for his demonic art or he had killed her in a fit of rage. To be honest, Cao Yun felt a bit guilty. He had pushed Xue Rui to the brink in order to weaken his position in his master''s eyes and ensure that he could more easily approach him. Maybe if he hadn''t, he wouldn''t have resorted to such means. On the other hand, if Cao Yun had not acted, many more people would have suffered and died. And Xue Rui would have ultimately used his own concubine.


    Every demonic cultivator would eventually lose it and harm those close to them in order to progress in their ways. Although those arts could make them powerful faster, the price to pay was oftentimes their own sanity. Before long, human beings looked like resources, no better than beasts or even inanimate objects.


    The three Spirit Warriors examined the room and Qiang Zilan''s body.


    "This woman had her soul taken out of her body by someone. What about the other one? Who is she?"


    "She''s just some servant my junior brought home. I don''t know the specifics."


    "It seems like there are many thing sin your household you claim not to know..."


    "Yun, do you have something to say?"


    "I think I just said it, didn''t I? You don''t know who resided in that sinister room. You don''t know who your junior''s servants are. Is there a single thing you do know?"


    "Do you really think this to be the right time to insult me?!"


    "The truth is no insult, old man. Unlike you I know the name and face of all my servants. Though I would not claim to know everything that happens in my residence, I wouldn''t allow such disarray."


    "Stop it, you two! Have some respect for the dead, would you!"


    Delicately, Minister Yong took the other woman''s body and put her on the bed close to Qiang Zilan.


    "Would you call the servants who visited Xue Rui''s chambers?"


    "I''ll call Qiang Zilan''s young servant, she should know better than most."


    The very moment Zhong Ling''s body was revealed, Cao Yun''s temperament changed suddenly. He clenched his fists and his jaw. All around him, a thick killing intent began to spread. Now that he had subdued the Flying Poison, he had way more control over the Drop of Wrath. As a result, his blood had improved a bit. Above all else, the Drop of Wrath was entirely connected to his Po through his Po of Jing. And this part of his corporeal soul could turn into a Turbid Demon through anger. Right now, Cao Yun was full of righteous anger.


    Obviously he could have controlled himself, but he didn''t want to. As much as he had felt guilty for Qiang Zilan, it was just a faint feeling. At the end of the day, she had been killed by Xue Rui, he was not responsible for that and he barely even knew she existed in the first place. The woman in front of him though was different. She was the one who had helped him by giving him his first furnace and his first cauldron. Although this wasn''t much, Cao Yun still remembered that gesture. And she was also very close to Meng Jia.


    "Patriarch Xue, what is the meaning of this?!"


    Cao Yun''s thunderous words echoed throughout the Xue residence.


    "You...!"


    "Why is my fellow disciple laying dead in your residence?!"


    "What?!"


    Minister Yong, General Yun and even Patriarch Xue were all surprised. It was clear Cao Yun was talking about the servant. As he was furious, Cao Yun let out his killing intent and his Wei Qi. The battle-hardened generals felt something others would not have easily discerned. As they were used to battlefields, they had killed many demons and sometimes even humans themselves. Cao Yun''s current killing intent was on par with theirs, even maybe a bit higher. That meant that he had probably killed way more than them. However, he was only a young man. That scared them a little. When he would be a Spirit Warrior, they could imagine his strength and ruthlessness.


    "That woman the Xue family left lying on the ground is Zhong Ling. She''s an outer disciple of my Wubei Sect and a prot¨¦g¨¦ of Chief Elder Meng Jia. I demand an explanation on her presence as a servant! Besides, look at her body."


    Examining her body with their spiritual senses, all three men realized what Cao yun was referring to. All over herself, she had scars who had clearly been caused by being beaten and abused in other ways. If that woman truly was a fellow disciple of the Wubei Sect, they thought that Cao Yun''s anger was perfectly justified. In fact, even if she wasn''t, treating a servant in such a way was appalling. This was the way demons had treated humans for more than twenty millenniums.


    "I demand an explanation!"


    As he spoke, Cao Yun used the personal seal of Sect Leader Xuan. For all intents and purposes, it was as if Sect Leader Xuan, the strongest cultivator of the entire Hongchen Kingdom himself, was demanding an explanation from the Xue family. Amplified by the seal, Cao Yun''s righteous fury spread beyond the limits of the Xue residence. Although Cao Yun''s action right now wasn''t purely emotional, it wasn''t too calculated either. He did want an explanation. Since he had left the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Zhong Ling had disappeared. She had left the Wubei Sect and no one knew why.

 Chapter 445: Chasing after a demon lead

    In that moment, the entire Xue residence and even the soldiers surrounding it were in awe. Of course, Cao Yun''s strength was nowhere close to the Spirit Warriors present around him. However, he had the full backing of Sect Leader Xuan. Right now, it truly was as if he was in front of them. Even Patriarch Xue didn''t casually dismiss him. Acting like he had now would be insulting the entire Wubei Sect.


    Considering the bodies of the two women who were both showing signs that someone had forcefully extracted their souls, it was obvious that some demonic arts had been used. Although there were holes in Cao Yun''s story, it seemed true that his own residence had been infiltrated. And as much as he wanted to deny it, even the prestigious Wubei Sect and the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had been infiltrated. Claiming that his household was impervious to such a threat would be a slap to their faces.


    Patriarch Xue was confident when it came to dealing with the families within the Subei Province thanks to his few friends in the Imperial City. But against the influence of such behemoths, the strongest martial sect and the greatest alchemy institute, he was next to nothing. In fact, he wasn''t even the most powerful military might in the Subei Province, the Tun family had surpassed them. However, he couldn''t just say nothing when his name was in danger. His only moves now were to try to discredit Cao Yun''s allegations by attacking him and putting as much blame as possible on the dead.


    Xue Liu had a problem though. Despite Xue Rui''s death, his brother, Xue Gulin was attending the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Although he was only in his twenties, he had already become a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior and was very close to attempting the Lesser Tribulation. Of course, he had almost no chance of succeeding before at least two decades. Indeed, he had advanced his cultivation through alchemy pills so it was very shaky. However, he was a 5-star Human alchemist and would certainly be chosen for the Alchemy Conference. That was why Xue Liu had given so many liberties to his younger brother who seemed to also follow in his footsteps. At the very least, he had to protect Xue Gulin and for that he would need to try and salvage Xue Rui''s reputation as much as he could.


    "There is no proof that Xue Rui did any of that."


    As soon as he spoke, Xue Liu felt two piercing bloody eyes stab his soul. Cao Yun had the ''Bleeding Eyes'' fully activated right now. Even if it couldn''t hurt such a powerful Spirit Warrior, what Cao Yun represented right now could frighten him. Maybe if they had been alone, he could have silenced him. But even then, he wouldn''t have dared. After all, he had had a Spirit Condensation Barrier to protect him against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior and he could have other life saving artifacts.


    "Young Sect Master, when I found you in Gu Song''s laboratory, I jumped to conclusions. I was wrong back there. Can''t you at least allow our family to try and figure out what happened to our junior? Maybe those victims were caused by another demonic cultivator... Didn''t you talk about a young woman who brought you to Gu Song? She might have something to do with this."


    Everyone could see what Xue Liu was trying to do. Even though Cao Yun was enraged, he could see in his eyes that he had absolutely no idea what Xue Rui truly was. But now he knew and wanted to protect his family name. Honestly, Cao Yun didn''t give a damn about them. Whether they wanted to save their reputation or not, he had no care in the world. Right now, he wanted to know why Zhong Ling had been here and who was responsible for this.


    "Patriarch, in the name of my Wubei Sect, we demand an explanation as to how our disciple became a servant in your household. Even the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had no record of her whereabouts. Not only was she a friend of mine, she was also under Chief Elder Meng Jia''s protection, and a 1-star Human alchemist at that. She was meant to be an inner disciple and a great talent of our Wubei Sect. And now here I found her, battered, beaten, abused by some feral beast, and left to die on the floor without anyone picking up her corpse, as though she was just trash. How would you react if that had happened to your own flesh and blood?!"


    Before Patriarch Xue could respond, Minister Yong took over.


    "Young Sect Master, I understand your anger. And the way Miss Zhong''s body was handled was clearly lacking. But please, at least, allow us to investigate. Since there is so much tension between you and the Xue family already, I think it would be better to have the Governor handle this situation. I swear that I will take care of the investigation myself. I hope that this is agreeable to all parties. However, we should keep things as secret as possible until we know for sure what happened. People are already on edge after the recent crises and the prospect of a war with the demons is driving everyone paranoid and afraid. They don''t need that right now."


    With great restraint, Cao Yun retracted most of his aura as well as the aura of Sect Leader Xuan. However, he kept the seal in hand. As long as he was using it, Cao Yun was legally the representative of the Wubei Sect as though he literally was Sect Leader Xuan in person. That way, even late Spirit Warriors had to show him respect.


    Despite his failure to escape before being discovered, Cao Yun had obtained almost everything he wanted, and even a bit more. Right now, he had a few things to deal with about his several cultivation methods. However, Patriarch Xue Liu had indeed made sense about something.


    "Patriarch, I am sure you can understand my outburst when I saw my fellow cultivator''s body as surely as I can understand yours when you learned of Xue Rui''s fate. I accept to wait a few days to get the answers and I will of course respond to everything Minister Yong has to ask of me. But I will first begin with the point you so rightly raised. The woman who brought me here was a young servant of your residence."


    At that moment, Cao Yun began to speak using his technique to send his voice in a very specific direction. Sensing that there was some secrecy in his words, all three of the Spirit Warriors decided to use their spiritual senses to isolate themselves as much as possible.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "This is just a wild guess, but I felt something strange in her. I suspect that she might be related to a demon. Even though I never met a demon in my life, there was something really powerful in her veins, much more than in any other human I''ve met in the Subei Province. Of course, I don''t think she''s a demon, but one of her parents might be..."


    Hearing those words, they were all incredulous. How could a Mortal Warrior sense something like that if no one else had?! But then again, he seemed to have sensed the presence of demonic cultivator. In fact, they began to suspect that he was using some secret technique taught to him either by Sect Leader Xuan or more likely by Spirit Master Xiao. After all, that woman had refined a 1-star Spirit pill, a miracle never produced before since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. Thinking that, they wouldn''t dare question him too much, especially not with Sect Leader Xuan''s personal seal in hand.


    "Thankfully, she can''t escape us! I am absolutely confident I can track her with my compass. Using the art of poison, I marked her."


    "The art of poison?!"


    "Wait...! Chief Elder Meng Jia? Are you talking about the Meng Jia who... Never mind. If Tree of Death was your teacher, I can understand many things indeed..."


    At that moment, Cao Yun realized that Tree of Death was Meng Jia. To be fair, he had never really tried to figure out who the author was. Xiao Xuefeng had given him the book and it was enough for him. Now that he knew, he had a hard time associating the teacher who was always wasting his time away by sleeping all day and the cultivator who only thought about destroying and killing. Clearly, Meng Jia had changed a lot since his younger days. Apparently, he was well known in the Subei Province at least.


    Later on, Cao Yun would learn that for seventeen years, Meng Jia went on a crusade to kill dozens of demons. Since he was still only a Mortal Warrior back then, he had been forced to rely heavily on poison. He was never discovered but he assassinated many high-ranking demons. In fact, he had probably and inadvertently helped speed up the rise of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Even through the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Cao Yun was unable to learn much more. Indeed, Xiao Xuefeng had made sure that his past was buried. Maybe there was some deeper connection between the two because of that period. Anyway, Cao Yun wasn''t too curious about this as he sincerely trusted them both.


    What he told about using a poison was absolutely wrong though. In fact, he had used a seal taught to him by Dian Mo. Even if she were to change her appearance, he would be able to find her again. The first time he had chased her by using the spatial ring she had stolen. But this time, he could track her using her very blood. Unless she was way too far, protected by some powerful defense, or if she bled herself dry, he could find her with his compass.


    "I can lead you to her if you wish. But you should be ready. She might have some seal to destroy her memories if she gets caught."


    "Indeed, this is a problem... But we can deal with it later. First of all, we''ll capture her, there are dungeons in which even such a seal couldn''t be activated at a distance."


    Soul seals could be either activated by someone else away from the victim, or they could get activated by the victim''s thoughts. For example, a seal could be triggered by the fact of speaking about a certain subject. As soon as the victim thought about doing that action, the seal would be triggered immediately without any external action. Thus, by putting her in a place where not even a seal cold be triggered from outside could give them enough time to find a way around. It was possible that there was no seal in the first place as well, or lesser ones. After all, she may not be important enough. But if what Cao Yun suspected was true, she was a spy. Maybe it meant that demonic cultivators and demons were working together. Even Cao Yun was wondering about that.


    "I''ll warn the Governor and prepare a few men to accompany you."


    "No need for that!"


    The two generals spoke with one voice. Suddenly, they looked at each other.


    "Old man, your family is in disarray, you should stay there and take care of them."


    "Brute, I don''t trust you to catch someone alive. This requires a bit of finesse."


    "And this requires to work with Young Sect Master Chen Guo whom you were ready to flay alive a few minutes ago."


    "Ahem! This was a sincere mistake. This demon girl invaded my residence, it is natural that I am involved to teach her a lesson, isn''t that right?"


    "Please, you two. Young Sect Master, would you agree to guide those two generals toward the woman you mentioned? I understand that everything is going pretty fast, but you should understand that time is of the essence. If she does have ties with demons, she might go straight for the barrier. Going after her in demon territory will be much more difficult."


    "I understand, Minister Yong. To be honest, just like Patriarch Xue, I have some anger to vent. It''s a good thing that General Yun will be with us to keep her alive. But I would ask that you let me try to extract some information out of her first. Spirit Master Xiao taught me some techniques that might be useful. I swear that I will be careful so as not to let her take her secret to the grave. And the two generals could listen in on everything. Like that, I might be able to prove to Patriarch Xue that my recollection of the facts was true and sincere."


    "Fine, I''ll warn the Governor."


    Thus, this unexpected trio went toward the direction of Cang Yin. Obviously, she had escaped as soon as she had brought Cao Yun in. At first, the young man had thought he might use her in the future. Thanks to her ability to alter her appearance, she might be a huge help. However, he had been in doubt regarding her allegiance. By now, he was almost convinced that she was indeed working for the demons.


    A demon couldn''t cross the array formations protecting the Wubei Sect without revealing it. Immediately, the Governor and the major families would be warned of the strength and number of any demon invader. But there was a weakness in that system, it only worked on demons. So if they had kids with humans, they might produce an offspring that was human enough but still loyal to the demons. Most likely, Cang Yin was such a case.


    This was further proved by what she had been trying to learn from Cao Yun. She had been looking for who her human dad had been.


    Still, for now, all those were just assumptions on Cao Yun''s part. Maybe she was helping the demonic cultivators or just going after money. At the end of the day, she might only be a thief who had been paid enough by Gu Song to betray her first employer, Guai Mo. No matter what, Cao Yun had to deal with her right now. Her ability to change her appearance was a real problem for later. Besides, he had the assistance of two 6th-grade Spirit Warriors. As long as he could find her, she was dead for sure.


    Last time she had escaped because she had thrown everything she had on her as she didn''t know for sure what allowed Cao Yun to track her. Now, it was her very blood.

 Chapter 446: Demon spy

    Using his compass, Cao Yun quickly found the direction in which Cang Yin had escaped. Considering the commotion, she had simply left town. Since she could change her appearance, she might simply hide for a time before coming back. But apparently, she was going to the north, toward the Sunmen Province. It wasn''t clear why, but they could ask her nicely when they found her again.


    This was truly unfortunate, Cao Yun had hoped he could use her. After talking with Dian Mo, he knew that he could not learn her technique as it was related to her bloodline. Absorbing the bloodline of someone was not an easy task even for demons who cultivated blood. Indeed, those powers would not necessarily activate for everyone and they required blood essence, not just blood. Even if someone had demonstrated the bloodline''s powers, it didn''t mean for sure that by extracting all of their blood essence, the same powers would activate in someone else. For example, if someone wanted to steal the True Fiery Fenghuang bloodline from the Huang family, it would be almost impossible. The dying beast had given this power to the blood of Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng, having her blood was thus necessary.


    Since he didn''t know whether he could rely on the thief, Cao Yun had used her to convince Gu Song that he was trying to steal his secrets. And it had worked just fine. Now that she had served her purpose and because he could not trust her at all, it would be better to get rid of her. Besides, now he had real reasons to believe that she was working against mankind. Thankfully, he had not sensed a single seal in her. Thus, they might actually get answers.


    Cang Yin was trying to run back to the demon territory. But because of the natural borders of the Subei Province, going through the Sunmen province would be easier. Hopefully Gu Song would get rid of the man who could detect her. Thanks to him, she had found out a few things but she didn''t find her answer. However, she had discovered what she had been tasked to find. As soon as she saw the chaos around the Xue residence, Cang Yin had a bad feeling. Thus she didn''t stay to see the outcome. And because Cao Yun had the strange ability of detecting her, she decided to leave straight away. Of course, she would lose the opportunity to find more, but it was better than to stay, be discovered and be unable to transmit her findings.


    As she was drawing near the border, she suddenly halted. Cang Yin had taken the appearance of a young man with long dark reddish hair. She was wearing commoner clothes, but she was hiding a spatial ring on her as well. No commoner could afford such an artifact.


    In front of her, a young man had appeared. He was Cao Yun. Although he had revealed his true face to the two Spirit Warriors accompanying him, he decided to use ''Ashen Feather Seal'' before the thief, just in case. Even if he was convinced that he was going to take her down today, he didn''t want to be careless.


    "Excuse me sir, but..."


    "No need for games! I already told you that I could see through your disguises. You just tried to have me killed, didn''t you?"


    Since she was discovered, Cang Yin decided to revert to her original form. As a woman, she was quite stunning. Because she kept on the clothes she had on her, they became a bit too narrow for her but this accentuated her charm. However, she had clearly understood that those charms would have no effect on the young man in front of her. At some point, she had even tried to use incense to corrode his vigilance. But he had stayed cold in front of her warmth. In his eyes, she could see that he was ready to strike her down if she acted in the wrong manner.


    "Sir, you wanted to confer with Master Gu, right? Unfortunately I was discovered while in his employ and I had no other way to save my life than to give him something. Thus, I gave you. After all, I knew you would triumph over this monster."


    "If your words are true, why would you run away?"


    "Well, I was afraid to be discovered by the Governor''s forces. After all this chaos, they would probably improve their security. So I decided to leave before that. But look, I was right, you did kill that monster and you probably got what you wanted, right?"


    "You were in the service of the Xue family for some time, what do you know about Xue Rui, his concubine and his servant Zhong Ling?"


    Hiding, Xue Liu was very interested in Cao Yun''s line of questioning. However, he could tell that there was more to the story than what he had said. Clearly, the servant who had brought him to Gu Song and he knew each other. In fact, Xue Liu suspected that he had been using her as a spy. Even after seeing her transform before him, he could not find a fault with her disguise, such an ability was more terrifying than the strongest of cultivators, especially for a military man. If there were more like her, they could reveal all the plans of mankind to the demons.


    Cang Yin answered truthfully. After all, she had no reason to lie on those matters. Thus, Xue Liu and Yun Po discovered that Xue Rui had practiced demonic arts and had forcibly dual cultivated with Zhong Ling, slowly devouring her soul. They heard details of her torments. But they also heard that Qiang Zilan had known about it and had kept quiet. As much as she seemed to be sorry for Zhong Ling, she didn''t denounce her husband.


    "I see... And who else in the Xue family knows about this?"


    This time, Yun Po was more attentive than Xue Liu. Indeed, even now he wasn''t sure whether Xue Liu was informed of this. To be honest, he hated Xue Liu but he didn''t think he could betray mankind. But he didn''t know for sure. Right now, they were rather isolated, so if Xue Liu wanted to bury the truth, he could try to kill them right here. In case that happened, Yun Po was perfectly ready. Thankfully, Xue Liu did nothing. In fact, he was also interested in that conversation.


    "No one. At least, not to my knowledge."


    The one who was the most relieved was Xue Liu. At the very least, the infection was limited to those who were already dead. He could salvage that. Besides, he was now convinced that Cao Yun didn''t want the whole story to be made public either. In fact, it wasn''t in the interest of anyone to reveal everything. He could still navigate the situation and protect his family. Patriarch Xue was a shrewd man and Xue Liu was merely his junior, he wasn''t his son or even grandson. In fact, there were five generations between the two of them. Although he was his blood, he almost felt like a stranger.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    This was what happened to cultivators who lived too long. At some point, their attachment to the younger generations would decrease. In the end, they were just distant relatives who were more or less useful to the family. Xue Rui was important because of his alchemy. But now that he thought about it, it was better for him to be exposed the way he was rather than that happening during the Alchemy Conference in public. He could still protect his family''s reputation and save Xue Rui''s older brother.


    "Good. Then let''s talk more about you. Your mother is a demon, right?"


    Cang Yin was speechless and this was answer enough for the two Spirit Warriors.


    "No need to answer, I know I''m right. After all, you were looking for your human father in Qingyun City. If my guess is correct, a demon used a human to conceive a child who was close enough to the demons without being one. Thanks to that, you can cross the array formations without being detected. That explains why you tried to steal information from the Huang family. Their documents have detailed maps of the tunnels under the Subei Province. These would be very useful for an invading force."


    "No, wait! You''re right that my mother was a demon, but she''s dead now. And I refused to serve the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. After all, they are fanatics who believe all humans should be sacrificed to bring about the second coming. They believe that they have to feed all of the human blood to the planet so it births Demon God Da Mo again. He will rise and bring demonkind to the pinnacle. With his return, they will cover the entire galaxy in blood and reign over an empire that will last billions of years. Even if I served them, they would still sacrifice me in the end."


    "So you''re claiming that you were just after the name of your father? Then why are you going to the Sunmen Province? Isn''t it easier to go back to the demon territory from there? Do you take me for a fool?"


    Unfortunately, it was rather difficult to know whether Cang Yin was lying or not. Even the two hiding Spirit Warriors were not sure. But her words made sense. No matter how much demon blood she had in her veins, she would still be considered a human by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Thus, she was doomed to be killed by them. However, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy wasn''t the only demon kingdom. She may be working as a spy for another power. Anyway, Xue Liu and Yun Po were both ready to capture her at a moment''s notice.


    "I... I can give you arcane knowledge of some demon arts that even Gu Song couldn''t possibly know."


    "And what you would know about Gu Song''s knowledge? Do you know anything about the Demon King or the other demonic cultivators? I''m really trying to find some use to your life right now. Help me a little."


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out his spear and let out some of his Spear Aura. Now, Cang Yin was certain that her life depended on her words.


    "Before leaving, I saw some reports Gu Song had. I memorized all of them before he could destroy them. If you want to meet the demonic cultivators, they will prepare something during the Alchemy Conference. If you let me leave I can make copies of those."


    "And how would I know those are exact?"


    "If I just give them to you, you''ll kill me before I can escape..."


    By now, Cang Yon was truly afraid. Discreetly, she decided to activate her concealed spatial ring. Of course, the two Spirit Warriors clearly saw it. But so did Cao Yun. In front of him, her tricks were almost useless. Her blood that was her strength against others had become her weakness in front of Cao Yun, especially now that he fully owned the Drop of Wrath.


    From her ring, a thick smoke emerged. All the grass around her died in an instant as the gas spread toward Cao Yun. Seeing this, Xue Liu and Yun Po intervened right away. General Yun went to protect Cao Yun while Patriarch Xue wasn''t no second to try to catch the young girl. However, his senses were affected by the smoke and she completely disappeared. General Yun had had the right attitude. Even though the gas would probably not be lethal against Cao Yun''s alchemy, the young man was their ace. Only with him could they hope to trace Cang Yin again.


    And they did. It didn''t take long for them to find her again. Two spiritual senses locked on her. Now she knew she was in deep trouble. During their first encounter, she was convinced that Cao Yun had followed her thanks to the spatial ring she had stolen. Back then, she had abandoned all her possessions that might be traced. But now it was clear that he could not only see through her disguises but also find her anywhere she would go. Unless she killed him, she would never be able to escape. However, he was protected by two middle Spirit Warriors. She had no hope of escaping unscathed.


    Very quickly, she analyzed the situation. Most likely, they had heard their conversation. Maybe she could try to turn them against Cao Yun. In the worst case, she might still be able to negotiate. Even a Soul Memory Search was not perfect as she could try and destroy her own soul in order to hide what she knew.


    Knowing that running was useless, she stopped and even let go of her spatial ring to show she was no threat. At that very moment, she lost all control over her body and found herself kneeling on the ground. In front of her were the two Spirit Warriors floating in the air as well as Cao Yun still concealing his true face.


    "You will come with us and reveal everything you know on both demons and demonic cultivators."


    "Wait! I have a secret art that would completely consume my soul. Even if you destroy my meridians you can''t stop it as it''s in my blood."


    Cao Yun immediately asked Dian Mo if this was true.


    "Such techniques exist but whether or not she knows of one, I can''t tell. You could probably stop it by using your blood cultivation. But it would be hard to explain it away..."


    "I can tell you everything you need to know if you swear to let me go."


    "You''re just too dangerous for that!"


    "If you try to extract any information out of me, you will gain nothing. I''m ready to even make a blood oath with you. I won''t do anything to bring harm to the Hongchen Kingdom if you just let me go."


    That was a true conundrum even for Cao Yun. There was no doubt that she was too much of a threat with her technique. But she might know some important information both about the demons and about the demonic cultivators who were planning something during the Alchemy Conference. Cao Yun might be able to get what he needed out of her but only by exposing he was practicing the cultivation of the demons. Right now, he didn''t see any winning scenario. Besides, the decision would come from the two Spirit Warriors.


    For them, this was also a tough decision. But they knew what a blood oath was as they were used to dealing with demons. Their main problem was that they didn''t know how much Cang Yin knew. Could the risk be worth it?

 Chapter 447: Writing the truth

    Dian Mo explained to Cao Yun what a blood oath really was.


    "Just like when a cultivator swears on their Dao Heart, a blood oath is nothing like a seal. It won''t prevent her from doing anything. However, if she does, she will suffer a backlash from her own blood. In other words, she might just decided to break her oath anyway. Besides, I''m almost certain she already made an oath with whoever she works for be it Empyrean Asura Theocracy or not."


    "I know. No matter what, we can''t trust her. General Yun and Patriarch Xue both know that too. But she might have some useful information. Are you absolutely sure that she can destroy her own mind?"


    "Well, I can''t be sure of that. There are some techniques to do that. Now if you ask me whether she knows them or not, I can''t say."


    "It''s possible to prevent a cultivator from detonating their Dantian by destroying them, is there such a thing I could do against her?"


    "Since I don''t sense a powerful soul cultivation in her, if she indeed knows such a technique, it should be related to blood. So in theory, a seal in her blood could prevent that. Or you could extract her soul before she could do anything. Once her soul is out of her body, she won''t be able to do anything to it, but her soul wouldn''t survive very long after all."


    "Wait! If she needs to actively use her blood to use her technique, I know what to do."


    As the two Spirit Warriors were also discussing what to do through telepathy, Cao Yun acted. Surprised, they couldn''t react in time. Cao Yun palm had already struck Cang Yin''s chest. His Wei Qi entered her body and in less than a breath, her meridians were ruptured, then her Lower and Middle Dantian collapsed. But Cao Yun controlled the energy within to prevent any lasting damage to her flesh. All that happened so fast that no one was able to comprehend the situation. Cang Yin lost consciousness and fell on the ground, alive.


    Then, Cao Yun felt spiritual senses all around him.


    "I knew you were a traitor! You were just trying to silence your accomplice!"


    "Old man, don''t be too rash!"


    Although General Yun wanted to defend Cao Yun, it was hard to do so under those circumstances. If Cang Yin was a spy sent by demons, keeping her alive to extract as much as they could from her was essential. And trying to kill her could indeed be considered as an act of treason. On the other hand, it was clear that Cao Yun had not killed her. However, he had completely crippled her. The moment she would wake up, she could still use her blood to destroy her own soul and erase all her memories. The two Spirit Warriors also knew that some strange techniques like that existed. Thankfully they were rare so taking prisoners was still possible, but that was a huge risk to take right now.


    "Seniors, this humble one is sorry. I had to act as fast as I could, and if I had tried to warn you, she would also have been warned. I couldn''t risk her acting before I knocked her unconscious. We all know that all the blood oaths she could make wouldn''t assure us of anything. Most likely, she already made a blood oath with her master anyway. If she accepts to suffer the consequences of breaking her oaths, they mean nothing. But since she needs to control her blood to activate whatever technique she threatened us with, we can simply deal with it while she''s unconscious."


    "Deal with it?! If it were that easy..."


    "Patriarch Xue, you forget that I''m an alchemist and I have Tree of Death''s knowledge of poisons. I already came up with something. Unfortunately it won''t be perfect, but it will be good enough to wait for an expert to perform a deep Soul Memory Search. With your testimonies, I think it''s safe to assume that such a procedure will be not only permeated but encouraged or even ordered."


    "Young Sect Master, are you sure your poisons can prevent her from using whatever blood technique she had in mind?"


    "Nothing is ever certain, but it will buy us a lot more time to extract her memories."


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out two powders and began to mix them. He was very careful with the quantity. At some point, he took Cang Yin''s wrist to feel her pulse. Of course, he also used the opportunity to spread a bit of his Qi and intent in her veins. Now that he controlled the Drop of Wrath, his intent and the intent of that drop of blood were one and the same. If his concoction didn''t work, he could still make do with some subterfuge that wouldn''t reveal everything.


    By inspecting her blood, he couldn''t detect any seal of any kind. At the very least, that wouldn''t be a problem. But if her master had sent her in enemy territory without such a seal, then it was likely that her claim wasn''t a bluff. She had some way to prevent others from getting anything out of her mind.


    Using the knowledge from the book written by Tree of Death, Cao Yun mixed together some fen of Fading Lila Powder and a tinge of Salt of the White Turtle. Fading Lila Powder was only a 3-star Earth poison that could cause paralysis or sleep depending on the dosage. On the other hand, Salt of the White Turtle was a potent 4-star Human poison that could bind with blood cells to destroy them. Such a poison would cause incredible pain before killing the victim. But like any other poison, the dosage meant everything. In fact, some physician even used this Salt of the White Turtle in a few treatments as it could also stop bleeding and promote coagulation.


    Right now, Cao Yun wanted to keep Cang Yin knocked out while preventing her blood from acting up. In an instant, he had already tested many combinations in his mind. But if he failed in his dosage, he could kill her which would be a problem of course. Besides, by destroying her meridians, he had weakened her body a lot. But without that, knocking her unconscious would have been harder. And she would have still been able to threaten them of detonating her Dantian. At least, she was now a mere mortal with a somewhat powerful and strange blood.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Finally, Cao Yun was confident about his mixture. Using his ''Aureate Grove'' he put that powder into a pill. Instead of manipulating medicinal essence, he manipulated the toxins to refine a poison pill. There wasn''t really a name to it and Cao Yun didn''t care about naming it either. That poison would be considered a 5-star Earth poison. If she had been awake, Cang Yin might have tried to resist it and even activate her suicide technique. But she was out cold and Cao Yun forced the pill in her throat.


    With his Qi he monitored her and directed the poison throughout her system. Thanks to his knowledge of blood cultivation, he was able to target the right places in order to weaken her bloodstream. Even if she wanted to activate her technique, she would be unable to do so. In fact, she would be weakened for several months until the poison was completely detoxified by her own body. In that time, he was certain that someone could look through her soul to know everything that she knew. Hopefully, that person would be Xiao Xuefeng. But Cao Yun simply couldn''t take Cang Yin directly to her. Right now, he would be forced to give her to the Governor. Thus, the Imperial City would decide on her fate.


    At the very least, Cao Yun had proved his innocence for the time being. And he could justify his actions toward Cang Yin as a way to deceive a demonic cultivator, Gu Song. Thankfully, he had been careful around her and had not given her anything that could be used against him now.


    "Generals, this Cang Yin will stay unconscious for several more days. After that, I can assure you that she won''t be able to use any blood technique at all. We just need to make sure that someone extracts her memories in a reasonable delay."


    After that, the three men came back to Qingyun City with their captive. Patriarch Xue quickly went to check on his residence. Even now, the elders were examining the damage to the array formations. There were also public servants from the Governor''s residence who were there to note everything as well. Maybe the Governor would be forced to lend some money or some workforce to help them. After all, he couldn''t leave the Xue family in such a state.


    Now, Cao Yun would have to explain why he had lied to the Governor and by extension to the Imperial City. Unfortunately, he might be forced to rely on the prestige of the Wubei Sect and this could hurt Sect Leader Xuan a little. Now that he knew who Emperor Weide really was, he didn''t want to help strengthen him and weaken his opponents. Hopefully he was still injured by the Demon King''s attack seventy years ago. But politically, he was still the most influential and powerful man in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    -


    "Governor, this humble one asks your forgiveness. In order to deceive our enemy, I was forced to deceive my allies."


    "Young Sect Master, I already heard everything. Your intentions were good and I understand why you acted in such a manner. However, you did lie on official records and you didn''t warn any officials of the matter. Worse, you''ve even implicated the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall in your lies as well as your Wubei Sect. Without them, it''s obvious that your little stunt wouldn''t have worked. Although you did catch a dangerous demonic cultivator, his body and soul were destroyed so we won''t be able to get anything at all from him. Besides, the Xue family suffered greatly from that and the reputation of our Qingyun City was tarnished."


    For some reason, the three men, even Patriarch Xue, felt as though Governor Jiahe was more upset about the very last part. His main concern was that a demonic cultivator had been right under his nose. Of course, such news would be a problem if the Imperial Inspector knew about it. That alone could be cause enough to take his position from him. In fact, Cao Yun''s fake identity would be too. If it was that easy to infiltrate his capital, he couldn''t be trusted to lead men into battle.


    Worse than that, there was a demon spy who had worked as his servant, Ming Huo. Absolutely no one could know of that outside this room or he was certain that he would be called back to the Imperial City. Thus, Governor Jiahe was acting as though Cao Yun''s actions were the worst offense possible. That way he might be able to shift some blame onto others. In fact, he might try to shift some of the blame on Patriarch Xue and General Yun as well. If everyone was to blame, he might keep as much of what had happened as possible secret.


    "Governor, someone demands an audience."


    Interrupting the discussion, Minister Yong entered the room. If it had been a servant, Governor Jiahe would have been furious. But if his own minister was interrupting then something really serious was happening. Behind Minister Yong, Cao Yun recognized a woman he had worked with, Yong Ke. Her figure was still completely hidden under the veil of her weimao. But just by the way she was moving around, he had recognized her.


    Before he could ask anything, Governor Jiahe received a message from Minister Yong. Technically, it was forbidden to use spiritual senses while in an official hearing as everything had to be recorded. But that meeting was quite informal. In fact, there was no one to record anything at all. After hearing what Minister Yong had told him, Governor Jiahe almost knelt. It was very quick but everyone sensed that he stopped himself at the very last moment. Who was really Yong Ke?!


    Cao Yun had known that she had some ties with the Imperial City, at least he had guessed it. And the current situation confirmed his guess. Otherwise, Governor Jiahe would have acted in a completely different manner.


    Although Yong Ke seemed to be really shy when it came to informal or intimate conversations, she was overbearing when it came to more official discussions. Even with her clothes hiding completely her identity, everyone in the room could feel her presence. When her voice resounded, no one had the idea of cutting her off.


    "Governor, I reviewed the way you''ve handled the government of this province. It is seriously lacking. So much so that General Yun was forced to take the lead during the demonic beasts stampede. Then, there was a series of strange disappearances and you did absolutely nothing. This is why I''ve come to this province. And this is why I enlisted Chen Guo''s help. I am the one who authorized him to lie on official documents. Of course, I forbid him from revealing anything without my permission. So if you have any question about the way he acted, then you should direct them at me!"


    "No, of course not, Firs... I mean, Miss. I wouldn''t dare question you."


    "Good. But I have questions of my own though. And I will demand some explanations from you, ''Governor''. In the meantime, we should resolve the current crisis. Many people are wondering what happened and it is necessary to give them an answer that will preserve the unity of our kingdom. Patriarch Xue!"


    Although he didn''t know who that woman was, Patriarch Xue was smart enough to know that he was highly outranked right now. Thus, he showed no arrogance and bowed toward the concealed woman.


    "The treason and death of your junior is indeed a tragedy for your family. There is no need for anyone to know about it. Xue Rui was assassinated by a demonic cultivator because he had found him out. Then, discovered, he tried to save his life by attacking your residence and you''ve killed him yourself with General Yun''s help. That is what happened in your residence and that is what everyone from your residence will claim whether they''ve seen otherwise or not."

 Chapter 448: The Emperors envoy

    Yong Ke quickly took several decisions on how to handle the situation. Xue Rui''s involvement would be hidden. Several formal investigations would however be launched on matters of great importance. For example, there would be an investigation to determine exactly what had happened to Zhong Ling and who was involved in this. An inner disciple of the Wubei Sect couldn''t end like that. Even if Xue Rui could not answer to those crimes, he probably hadn''t acted alone. Besides, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had been blind to this so they would also be interested in knowing more.


    There would also be investigations on the affairs of Governor Jiahe and the way he had handled a few crises recently. Although his authority was contested in front of him, Governor Jiahe did not dare retort anything at all.


    When she made those announcements, Yong Ke took out a small wooden sculpture. This was the seal of Emperor Weide. In other words, it was as if her orders were given by Emperor Weide in person. If she so wanted, she could have demoted Governor Jiahe right here and then. At least, he could keep his seat for a bit more time. But he was aware that this wouldn''t last long. Thus, Patriarch Xue was very interested. If a new governor was appointed, he would have to make sure to act as soon as possible to get close to him.


    Once she was done, Yong Ke left the room without further ceremonial. The atmosphere had completely changed. Governor Jiahe knew that his time as governor would soon come to an end. But at the very least, he could try to save some face. If he handled the last missions he had just received well enough, he might still receive some reward. Maybe he would obtain some official role in the Imperial City. Even if he wasn''t a very good governor, he was talented in other matters such as handling complicated paperwork and rhetoric. Besides, he had a vast knowledge of the classics and of philosophy. With his son who was a connoisseur of art, they might still be able to salvage the situation somewhat.


    There was not a single doubt about Cao Yun anymore. After all, the Emperor, through Yong Ke, had declared that he had been working with her blessing. Doubting him now would be akin to doubting the Emperor himself. Of course, General Yun and Patriarch Xue knew that this was probably false, but it didn''t matter. Cao Yun had taken many risks but they had paid off. Even if he had not acted according to the rules and probably had some secret agenda for doing so, he was in the clear. Besides, he had even helped them capture a demon spy.


    After everything was over, Cao Yun decided to go talk to Yong Ke. Thanks to her his involvement would be mostly hidden. In fact, it would later be revealed that Guai Mo had been killed by Gu Song, just like Xue Rui. It would take some time for Cao Yun to alter the shop he had formally opened with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Through the help of Hall Master Fang Shaolong, this would be faster than usual. Cao Yun would keep all of his money, but Guai Mo was gone. Thus, he stopped using his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' and now walked through the city with his own face. Yong Ke had made sure that he was registered at the border. Even though he was the Wubei Sect''s Young Sect Master, he was also a 1-star alchemist and had to register if he wanted to travel. In fact, as a Mortal Warrior, it was also recommended to register himself. Only Spirit Warriors had to obtain a permission to go to the border provinces.


    "Miss Yong?"


    They were back in the secluded room under the Major Hall. In this, they could talk without any worry of being overheard.


    "I''m sorry for concealing my identity."


    "Didn''t I do the same? This isn''t a problem at all. Thank you for your support. Without you, I wouldn''t have been able to subdue the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish with such ease. You also set up the array formations like I told you to, and now you''ve helped me out of a delicate situation. So please don''t take as a sign of ingratitude. But who are you really?"


    "I... I am forbidden from telling anyone. However, I''ll trust you. I am Emperor Weide''s only daughter."


    "What?!"


    With what he had just learned about Emperor Weide, this was indeed quite a shock. He had been helped by the daughter of the man who had massacred his family and his mother''s family. Emperor Weide was now the man Cao Yun wanted to see dead the most. He wanted to snuff the life out of his body with his bare hands and parade his broken corpse throughout the Hongchen Kingdom for everyone to know of his cruelty. And now he was, thankful in front of his daughter. But he had no wife, no concubine and no child. Of course, it could happen for an emperor to have children with some women, but they wouldn''t have a seal of the Emperor then.


    "I know... No one in the Hongchen Kingdom knows about this. When I was but a child, people tried to assassinate me. I don''t even remember, but my injuries were so severe that I almost die. Instead, I fell into a coma that lasted several years. My mother was dead and my father took me in even though she wasn''t even his official concubine. Many physicians tried to save my life. And it is only recently that I regained consciousness. However, despite all their efforts, they weren''t able to heal my scars yet."


    Yong Ke rolled up her sleeve. Just as Cao Yun had seen, she had many scars. But they were worse than he had thought. It was as though someone had hacked her arm and it had been put together. There were also burn scars here and there. If she had similar injuries all over her body, Cao Yun could understand why she always tried to hide herself. Besides, they were still painful to think about as they reminded her of what had happened.


    "Those injuries were so serious that I forgot almost everything of my prior life. According to my father, demonic cultivators who wanted to make him suffer are responsible for that. Since they couldn''t get to him directly, they tried to affect him through me. Unfortunately, my father himself has been injured by their treachery. Thankfully though, his health has taken a turn for the better. He''s almost back at full strength already."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    What was good news for her was terrible news for Cao Yun.


    "Because he''s afraid for me, he''s asked me not to leave the Imperial City. He''s given me the best instructors possible so I can become stronger as fast as possible. But I simply couldn''t stay put knowing that demonic cultivators were roaming free. That is why I came here. I know that you''ve killed Gu Song yourself although I don''t know the means you''ve used. But I can imagine that the Soul Sucking Catfish was used for something. Please, if you''ve discovered anything about my father and the demonic cultivators who tried to harm him, tell me."


    Although her voice was still altered by her veil, Cao Yun could hear the sincerity in her tone. Hearing her pleading like that made his heart ache. But he couldn''t simply tell her that her father had been attacked because he had been ruling over the demonic cultivators to use them and they had revolted. Maybe he could though... But would she trust him?


    As Cao Yun was wondering about that, someone disturbed them. Before Cao Yun could get the door, it was opened. The person who had barged into the secluded room was a tall woman wearing the emblem of the Imperial City. On her head were black hair intertwined in a very complex manner. Everything about her was elegant and dignified. Clearly, she was some official envoy. Looking at her robe, Cao Yun figured out who she was, she was the Imperial Inspector.


    "Young lady, when I heard that you were in this town, I made haste. You shouldn''t be here! Do you realize how dangerous this province is for you?! Do you even realize how worried your father is?! He asked me to bring you back immediately and I won''t suffer any refusal! Come with me right away, young lady!"


    Yong Ke hesitated for a time and looked at Cao Yun.


    "I''m sorry but I have to leave. You''ll soon go to the Imperial City for the Alchemy Conference. Hopefully we will be able to continue our conversation there."


    Just like that, Yong Ke left. The Imperial Inspector examined Cao Yun and he felt her spiritual senses all over him. It only lasted an instant but he heard her voice in his head.


    "Talking about Miss Yong in any way will be considered a treasonous act and will be punished by death."


    Then they both left. It was very abrupt as the Imperial Inspector didn''t even stay a single day in Qingyun City. However, everyone kept respecting Yong Ke''s orders. And no one ever talked about her anymore. That stern woman had made sure that everyone who had seen Yong Ke would never speak about it at all.


    In the following days, Cao Yun was indeed chosen as the Subei Province''s representative. Since Yun Ping was a friend of his, it was easy to explain why Cao Yun had decided to come here to get this spot. He even decided to take the test to be officially recognized as a 5-star Human alchemist. After all, he had the talent necessary for that. And he passed without any problem.


    Once everything was in order, Cao Yun had no time to travel to the Wubei Sect before the Alchemy Conference. Thus, he decided to send a message through the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Of course, it was encrypted so no one but Sect Leader Xuan and Spirit Master Xiao could read it. During the Alchemy Conference, Xiao Xuefeng should be in the Imperial City. He would be able to talk to her there and explain absolutely everything he had discovered. Now that he had found out who Emperor Weide truly was, he wouldn''t be able to do anything against him alone.


    Before leaving Qingyun City though, Cao Yun decided to work on his Qi cultivation. Even if he could do so on Hongyu''s back, he would not try a breakthrough out in the wild if he could avoid it. Besides, such a breakthrough could also have some impact around him. The best solution was to break through in the secluded room he was in.


    First of all, Cao Yun examined everything about him now that there had been some changes. Before looking at his body, he entered his sea of consciousness.


    The stars around the Horn Star were almost material. In other words, Cao Yun was very close to forming his first constellation. And in the air, the Insight Writings of his Spear Aura were also moving like golden birds. He could sens that they were excited. Reaching the state of Spear Intent was difficult, but Cao Yun was on the right track. Although he couldn''t tell how long it would take him to achieve such a result, he was certain that he was making progress. Like Chief Elder Baishen had told him, it was necessary not to worry about it. Just by earnestly practicing his spear would he progress naturally. Besides, he had almost not fought a single real battle, he had trained with Yong Ke and Yun Ping and delivered a single blow to Gu Song. Before leaving, he would also spar with Yun Po a little and he would progress even more.


    The Flying Poison''s mark was visible on his Nine Soul Peaks. He could clearly feel it. More than that, he could control it. Thus he tried it out. By focusing his intent which was now the intent of the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was able to extract a small part of Flying Poison. Then, he tried to send it outward and it worked. Although he couldn''t send it very far - in fact his Wei Qi could go way farther - Cao Yun definitely had makeshift spiritual senses. They wouldn''t be useful in a fight or even in any dangerous situation. However, they would be useful when refining a pill. Indeed, the cauldron was right under his nose. Thus, he would be able to advance beyond the Human rank.


    His excitement didn''t stop here. Now, Cao Yun was able to control the Drop of Wrath. It wasn''t an external help anymore. All this time, although it had been in his heart, it wasn''t really his. But from this day forward, the Drop of Wrath was just like his own blood. He could move it around in his body as he saw fit. As a 7th-grade Blood Child, he was practicing ''Knocking at the Palace''s Door''. That meant that he had to send his blood deep inside his bones, all the way to the marrow. The bones were considered as palaces concealing a golden treasure and it was necessary to slowly open the door, hence the name. Trying to forcefully do so could injure the body.


    Now that he had full control over the Drop of Wrath, he simply directed it toward a bone and tried to mobilize his blood around it. With the direct influence of Axiu Qian''s blood, his blood cultivation would progress faster than before. As his travel to the Imperial City would take around three to four months, he would have probably reached the 9th-grade BLood Child stage. After opening the palaces, he would practice ''Bursting the Palaces Open'' in which all the bones in his body and by consequence all the marrow would become fully connected. Any kind of blockage would be eliminated and his blood would flow as harmoniously in his bones as it did in his bloodstream. With this, his physical strength would also improve slightly more even though it was already incredible.


    By the time he would reach the Imperial City, Cao Yun would be a 9th-grade Blood Child. In that stage, one had to practice ''Freeing the Blood''. As the name suggested, the goal was for the blood to be able to flow freely throughout the entire body, the superficial flesh, the bones, the organs, through everything. It was similar to the notion of Transparent Body. A Transparent Body allowed the Qi to flow everywhere and it would be the same with the blood once Cao Yun would be a Golden Blood Child. Then, he would start working on his marrow way more, something he had never done before.

 Chapter 449: Middle Mortal Warrior

    The days prior to his departure, Cao Yun focused heavily on his cultivation and on everything he had obtained. Although it had been risky, fighting Gu Song had allowed him to reap a lot of benefits. And the best of them wasn''t even those weak spiritual senses. In Cao Yun''s eyes, the fact that the Drop of Wrath was now fully integrated in his body was certainly the best thing. Even if his mind cultivation was impressive, that single drop of blood had belonged to two existences who had transcended everything known in the Hongchen Kingdom. From what he knew both Axiu Qian and Cleansed Asura had lived in other universes.


    There was nothing left to do for Cao Yun. With Yong Ke''s intervention, no one dared question him on what had exactly happened. Besides, he had to go to the Imperial City right after leaving in order to participate in the Alchemy Conference as the Yun family''s representative. There he might see Yong Ke again. With what he had learned, there were many thoughts in his mind.


    He couldn''t stop himself from hoping that some of his family members might still be alive. If Emperor Weide had been after his mother''s Soul Embryo, maybe her soul had been captured and was still trapped. Although souls couldn''t survive very long outside of the body, there were ways to preserve them. It was possible that some of his family members'' souls were being tortured right now. Or they could have already been turned into ghosts. Besides, he now had some doubts about Yong Ke herself. The feeling he had from her and the fact that she had awaken from her coma not long ago. A terrible thought crossed his mind.


    It was possible that Emperor Weide had not been looking for his mother''s soul for his sole benefits. Maybe he had used it in order to heal his daughter. That would explain why she seemed so familiar and why he trusted her almost immediately. Of course, there were other possibilities. Some of them were just too good to be true. But then again, no one had seen Yong Ke''s face and no one even knew she existed. She had claimed that she remembered nothing about what had happened to her. Yong Ke might be a victim of the Shui family who had been kept captive.


    Because of the veil on her face, Cao Yun had no idea about her age. In fact, she might even be way younger than he thought. If she truly had no recollection of the attack, then she wasn''t a very reliable source of information. Since he didn''t trust a single word out of Emperor Weide''s mouth, Cao Yun decided not to disregard any hypothesis. Recently, he had found out he had an uncle. As long as there was a sliver or hope, he would entertain it. That woman may be of his blood. If that were the case, Emperor Weide would indeed be training her as fast as he could in order to make her a Spirit Warrior. In that case, she was just a pig for slaughter.


    Anyway, it was useless to torment himself. Soon, he would enter the Imperial City. Now he had all the answers about who had killed his family and why. The remaining ordeal would be to avenge them. He was way too weak to take down the Emperor. Even if he wasn''t, he would probably not do so. And so wouldn''t neither Sect Leader Xuan nor Matriarch Huang. First of all, he was considered as the direct descendant of Emperor Nuwa. In order to take him down, it would be necessary to prove beyond a doubt what he had done. But more than that, war was near. Killing Emperor Weide right now would be a disaster for mankind.


    No matter what he had done, he was essential for the morale and the strength of mankind. Indeed, the greatest advantage of humans over demons was their cohesion. Since the Founding Era twenty millenniums ago, there was a direct line of transmission between each emperor. And mankind had stayed united despite some tension now and then. Emperor Nuwa was the reason behind this, and Emperor Weide was a symbol representing her.


    Apart from all those thoughts, Cao Yun decided to focus on the Flying Poison. Right now it was being kept trapped in his Nine Soul Peaks. Although he had subdued it for good, the Flying Poison still contained some of Axiu Qian''s memories. They had been corrupted and deformed but they were in there. Hopefully, he might be able to extract something useful out of those. Thus, he used his mind cultivation to activate his Chamber of Moving Pearls. Then he saw many images from Axiu Qian.


    They were fractured and didn''t make much sense. This wasn''t helped by the fact that Cao Yun didn''t speak the language. Bits and pieces became transparent to him though. That language was very different from everything he had ever studied. After all, it had been created in another universe by asura. Asura and demons were almost the same thing. Demons were asura who had mixed their blood with humans and it was a name invented by Demon God Da Mo on the Piaolu planet. The general term was indeed asura, Demon God Da Mo''s species.


    Although he couldn''t speak whatever language Axiu Qian had spoken during his life, he had a few notions and a bit of vocabulary now. In fact, he didn''t even know what this language was called. Looking through Cleansed Asura''s memory, he discovered that there was sadly nothing written in this language. However, Cao Yun thought that learning fragments of yet another language was getting him closer to finally read the Ancient Sixian used by Cleansed Asura. By now, he was able to decipher a few hundred characters here and there. This was nowhere enough to read the manuals left behind by his master. Besides, he would have to possess a great knowledge of both languages in order to decipher them since Nuhua and Ancient Sixian had been mixed together in various ways.


    Before working on something else, Cao Yun decided to try out his knowledge on ''Death Verses''. This particular manual had been pointed out to him by Cleansed Asura himself before his ultimate death. During his fight, he had used Death Energy. Better yet, he had absorbed Death Energy in the form of the Black Heart Flame. While he was reading ''Death Verses'' once more, Cao Yun manipulated the obsidian flame within his sea of consciousness. He even tried to replicate the Insight Writings from ''Death Verses'' with the fire itself.


    ''See Through the Mud'' allowed Cao Yun to sense Death Energy as he would sense Qi. Right now, he had a rather great proficiency in it. To be honest, it wasn''t too difficult to master, especially in the Yellow Death World which had had a lot of Death Energy in it. ''Death Reeling'' was the art of controlling said Death Energy. Once again, by working with Death Energy directly, with Evil Qi and even with his own Po, Cao Yun had more or less mastered it. His control over Death Energy wasn''t as good as his control over Qi yet, but it was still impressive. In fact, the Black Heart Flame was particularly easy to control thanks to his incomplete Rune of Fire.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Right now, Cao Yun was interested by ''Living Death''. Thanks to his new experience, he was able to understand the Insight Writings better. And with that, it allowed him to guess the meaning behind the Ancient Sixian with more ease. He would still need to spend a few weeks on it to really get it. But he knew that he would be able to do so. During his travel on Hongyu''s back, he would focus on that as much as he could. From what he could understand, ''Living Death'' was the art of using one''s own Po to create Death Energy from within. Obviously there was a risk of harming one''s soul. Thus, he wouldn''t test it out without having a good understanding of it. Besides, he had Death Energy under his control right now, he didn''t necessarily needed more. But being more knowledgeable about the soul and its corrupted versions was always a good thing.


    Before his departure, Cao Yun trained with Yun Po to improve his spearmanship. Unfortunately, he wouldn''t have the opportunity to use it during the Alchemy Conference. However, improving his cultivation would always be helpful. So he spent his last days in Qingyun City to finally break through. He would have spent less than two years as a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. This was rather fast, especially after considering the time wasted because of his injury in the Demon Palace.


    The breakthrough to the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior had nothing really extraordinary. The entire point of this grade was to temper the Five Prodigious Gates. After that, they would be strong enough to absorb Fire Qi in great amount and this would drastically improve one''s Qi Manifestations as well as one''s Wei Qi.


    In his secluded room, Cao Yun had set up several array formations both to protect him and to focus all of the energies around him. Indeed, during such a breakthrough, his Wei Qi would expand quite a lot and he might lose a great amount of Qi. If he could prevent this loss, he could gain a few weeks in his cultivation journey. This wasn''t much but as each grade tended to be longer than the previous one, a few weeks now could mean years later on.


    Circulating his mind cultivation, he particularly focused on the Nine Soul Peaks. The vines coiled around them were the same vines that had connected his Five Prodigious Gates. In the center of his array formations, Cao Yun was sitting so his palms and his soles were all facing upward, just like his Bai Hui, the summit of his skull. Using his newfound control of it, Cao Yun split the Drop of Wrath into five drops. According to ''Cultivation of Wrath'', the blood of certain demonic beasts could be used to make the breakthrough smoother.


    Each Prodigious Gate was associated to a specific element. Of course, they had all five, but the balance between them made it so that they were stronger in a specific element. As an alchemist, maintaining such a balance was easier for Cao Yun. He had chosen the blood of five different demonic beasts that would complement each other and go well with his Five Prodigious Gates. Since he was in the Major Hall, obtaining said blood was extremely easy even though the chosen beasts had been at least 7-core demonic beasts. There was even an 8-core among them, the Stormy-Feathered Phoenix that was rich in Fire element. Its blood had gone on his right Lao Gong. The left one was the gate who had the strongest connection with the heart and was thus rich in Fire element as well. So it was necessary to balance it out with this blood on the other point.


    Once everything was ready, Cao Yun sent his vibrant blood and plentiful Qi into those Five Prodigious Gates. Before long, he felt them pulsate under those assaults. His blood was incredibly rich in Fire Qi compared to the blood of any other human. At the same time, the gates themselves were surrounded and imbued with Wood element due to the vines of the world tree. Finally, he had used most of the Water Qi from his Lower Dantian. Earth and Metal were the only elements that weren''t too present in his body. In terms of gates, they were strong in the two Earthly Springs, or Yong Quan, located on his soles. For those, he had chosen the blood of a Bronze Cliff Eagle and a Bark Mauling Boar.


    As he was cultivating, he could feel the blood seeping in his skin and permeating the Five Prodigious Gates. At the same time, he chanted a mantra from the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. In resonance with it, the Drop of Wrath began to act out. Within each of his gate, the full intent of those five small drops of blood was altering everything around them. Even Cao Yun''s Wei Qi was changing as well, becoming both denser and fiercer as his killing intent was mixed with it.


    Outside of his body, his Wei Qi was not pierced by five small vortexes. More and more Qi from the outside was being absorbed as his Five Prodigious Gates were being tempered. Within his body, it was as if he could hear the sound of five hammers striking at the same time. And he had to control each one of them so they had the same strength and the same rhythm. At the same time he had to balance out the five elements within each of the gates and between themselves. For someone who hadn''t studied alchemy a lot, this would be very difficult. As a result, they had to spend much more time preparing their Five Prodigious Gates so such subtlety wasn''t necessary to succeed.


    Finally, a powerful boom erupted, it was even heard reverberating in the secluded room. All five of his Prodigious Gate vibrated as though his muscles had spasms. Suddenly, a large amount of Qi was sent in all directions by those Five Prodigious Gates. Now that they had been perfectly tempered, they opened in full for an instant. Thankfully, Cao Yun had been ready for that. All of this Qi was stopped by his array formations and sent back to him.


    Absorbing a large amount of Qi was difficult than simply releasing it. However, he had prepared for that and it didn''t cause him any major trouble. By preventing this great loss of energy, Cao Yun had indeed reduced the time he would need to reach the next stage of his cultivation.


    Indeed, at that very moment, Cao Yun was officially a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior.


    Now, he would need to gather Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian just as he gathered Water Qi in his Lower Dantian. And for that, he already was a bit ahead of things thanks to the Fire Qi present in his own blood. Moreover, he had the perfect idea to improve the amount of Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, the Hellish Dragon Fruit he had stolen from the Five Bloods Pheasant.


    The moment he had heard about this fruit, he had thought about the perfect pill to help him in his Qi cultivation. And the fruit might also help him deal with Hongyu''s problem in a permanent way. In fact, he realized that the Black Heart Flame and his newfound spiritual senses might also be able to help him quite a lot with this endeavor.

 Chapter 450: Developing the corruption of ones soul

    Now that he was with his breakthrough, Cao Yun could focus on gathering Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian to prepare it for the Lesser Tribulation. After that, he would need to temper his meridians then his extraordinary vessels to prepare them for the impact of Water Qi and Fire Qi that would give birth to his Soul Embryo. Those two grades were quite similar to what he had already done with his Five Prodigious Gates. Once his Middle Dantian would be filled with Fire Qi, it would naturally overflow and circulate in his body.


    Through the use of different Qi, Cao Yun would then temper his meridians as a blacksmith would temper a weapon. In fact, he had already done this with his Five Prodigious Gates. In theory, as a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, he shouldn''t have had Fire Qi in great quantity. But thanks to his blood cultivation, he now had a lot of it in his blood.


    Thanks to his experience, his Rune of Fire and his blood, those last three grades would become easier to practice. Accumulating Fire Qi in the Middle Dantian could require up to ten years even to talented cultivators. Through the consumption of pills, alchemists could speed the process but hurting the Middle Dantian was always a risk. Since this Dantian was literally centered around the heart, few tried to take any chances. Some were able to break through this grade in four to five years though.


    Then, the two grades before the Lesser Tribulation could take around five years each. And they were more difficult to shorten through alchemy. Indeed, the pills that could temper and strengthen meridians were all very rare and difficult to refine. As such, even talented alchemists couldn''t cut it in half like some other grades. Usually, those three grades would thus take somewhere between ten to twenty years for talented alchemists. For an average cultivator, it could require several decades. In fact, some never even reached the Lesser Tribulation. And some had too fragile a cultivation to attempt such a dangerous step.


    Obviously, Cao Yun was not too worried. Right now, he had a very stable foundation to progress forward. His mind cultivation was almost on part with a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior thanks to the Flying Poison. His blood was brimming with Fire Qi. And he had already got the hang of tempering his acupoints with different Qi within his body. Even if he wouldn''t be able to become a Spirit Warrior in the next ten years, he was confident in his ability to do so in less than twenty years. In other words, he would certainly beat his father''s speed. Cao Guang had indeed become a Spirit Warrior at 45. And Cao Yun would become one before he even turned 40.


    Ironically, Cao Yun''s blood cultivation might be way faster than that. By the time of the Alchemy Conference, he would become a Golden Blood Child. From there, he would nourish his marrow and create the Golden Blood, a form of blood mixed with the marrow and extremely rich in Jing. After enhancing his entire body with that, he would reach the Accomplished Demon realm. As it happened to be, he had more or less already performed the first grade of the Accomplished Demon realm as he had subdued Axiu Qian''s Flying Poison. Subduing his own now would become easier, especially with his mind cultivation.


    Obviously, Cao Yun couldn''t reveal his blood cultivation in public. But it might be faster to him to surpass Emperor Weide through this path rather than through his Qi cultivation. The Drop of Wrath and ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' would greatly increase his speed.


    For now, Cao Yun decided to keep working on all three of those cultivation methods. In a sense, he was following a completely new path as his mind would complement his blood and his blood would complement his Qi. Maybe it was closer to what the Three Jade Saints had been cultivating in the distant past, before the humans even existed.


    After subduing his Po of Jing, Cao Yun decided to follow the cultivation of the demons from the Accomplished Demon realm. He would work on his Po of Qi. This part of his Po was related to shame and disgrace and as a Turbid Demon, it was called the Unclean Evil. Those parts of his Po also had another name. The Po of Jing was referred to as the Soul of Earth and the Po of Qi as the Soul of Wood. Of course, those were the elements from the Five Elements Wheel of alchemy.


    Cao Yun didn''t have a lot of shame or dishonor. In fact, he really only had two memories of shame. The first one was when he had let his younger sister be captured. As much as he tried to tell himself that he was simply too young and too weak to do anything, it didn''t take away his feelings about it. He had seen his sister taken from him while he survived. And the next he saw her, there were only a few pieces of her body that had been recovered by the Huang family.


    His only other shame was very recent. It was the fact that he had left Zhong Ling to die. Of course, he hadn''t known about her presence by Xue Rui''s side. But it was certainly because he had pushed him too far that he had killed her. Besides, she wasn''t just dead. Just like Qiang Zilang, her very soul had been consumed. Everything that she had been was now gone. There was no hope for any form of reincarnation.


    Now that he had the hang of it, Cao Yun tried to focus on those shameful moments. He also tried to extend the scope to think about any single thing that could cause him shame in some sense. Ironically, because he had little experience with this feeling, it would probably be a bit more difficult. But thanks to his experience with the Flying Poison, it wouldn''t be too hard either. In a year or two, he would have extracted every ounce of the Unclean Evil from his Po.


    In fact, every single aspect of his Po would take him somewhere between one to two year. In other words, he would have accomplished the entirety of the third layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' in the following decade.


    -


    Now that he was ready to go, he asked Hall Master Qinghe Ming if he had some important news. Unfortunately, he had nothing more to reveal Cao Yun. The Hongchen Kingdom had been rather calm this past year, for change. But that was hiding two great threats. First of all, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was getting ready for war and it would erupt in less than ten years. In fact, it could start at any time now. A single incident could be the ignition needed. For now, both sides were trying to get as prepared as possible. No one knew when things would really escalate.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Speaking of threats, the second one remained the demonic cultivators. Indeed, from what Cang Yin had said, they were simply biding their time until the Alchemy Conference. Striking down the most talented of the young alchemists would indeed be a terrible wound for the Hongchen Kingdom. But with what he knew, Cao Yun figured that the real target had to be Emperor Weide. The Alchemy Conference was probably a mere distraction.


    As the security would be strengthened around the alchemists, the Emperor would be less protected. Although Yong Ke had told him that he had mostly recovered, the Demon King was also a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even if Cao Yun was certain that the Emperor wouldn''t be killed that easily, he hoped for him to get heavily injured once more. In that case, the people would turn toward Matriarch Huang and Sect Leader Xuan.


    Since Matriarch Huang had great ambitions, Cao Yun might even be able to use her to take down the Emperor. Of course, this wouldn''t be that easy. But Cao Yun didn''t want to destroy the Hongchen Kingdom. Even if he had to postpone his vengeance, he couldn''t risk sacrificing the fate of mankind to meet out justice for his family. Hopefully, his parents would understand him.


    Unfortunately, Cang Yin''s fate was still unknown. The Imperial City would decide on it. And with Governor Jiahe''s indecisive nature, he wouldn''t do anything without a direct order. In fact, by the time they would extract any useful information out of her, the threat would have already become reality. It would have been way better for Cao Yun to try and extract her soul himself. After all, in theory, he had now the ability to do so with his Flying Poison. But of course, he couldn''t have done so in front of the two Spirit Warriors...


    Politics was quite a shame. If they had let Cang Yin cross into the Sunmen Province, they could have legitimately delivered her to the Silver Wolf General. Considering his reputation, he would have dealt with the situation already. But Cao Yun had been almost certain that Patriarch Xue would have objected to that. After all, he needed someone still alive to blame as all the others were dead.


    For now, Cao Yun had no time to get back to the Wubei Sect before the Alchemy Conference. As such, he quickly bid farewell to the Yun family. Since he was their official representative to the Alchemy Conference, he added their emblem to his alchemist robe. He now had the emblem of the Wubei Sect, the 5-star Human alchemist emblem and the crest of the Yun family along with the emblem of the Subei Province as a whole. His robe was starting to look a bit crowded.


    Unfortunately, the Major Hall had not found the last ingredient Cao Yun needed for his pill, the Universe Spanning Frost. To be fair, this was a 5-star Heaven ingredient. It was even one the ingredients of the Life Boiling Cradle pill, the 1-star Spirit pill refined by Spirit Masters Xiao and Hua.


    -


    Riding on Hongyu, Cao Yun flew toward the Imperial City. Once again, he could have reached his destination faster, but space itself was difficult to navigate because of past scars due to the Great War against the demons. There were also array formations blocking him here and there. And he also had to justify his identity at several outposts. Of course, the closer he was getting to the Imperial City, the stricter the controls were. In fact, just like in Qingyun City, he could fly near the Imperial City itself.


    The flight took around three months, but he would arrive before the first day of the Alchemy Conference.


    Using this time, Cao Yun tried to alter Hongyu''s evil core. Now that he had improved a little his understanding of ''Death Verses'' and of seals, he tried to manipulate the evil core to form of stronger seal in it. Quickly he realized that this was way easier than before.


    In fact, his seal would keep Hongyu safe for quite some time. Besides, the Drop of Wrath was now under his full control so his blood had improved again. And Cao Yun''s intent was literally the intent of the Drop of Wrath. As such, he was able to replenish the intent within Hongyu''s blood. Maybe he might even be able to improve her blood overall through his own cultivation. As long as her body could resist the Evil Qi she had within, there wouldn''t be any problem anymore for her.


    As he was doing so, he also decided to work on his new Black Heart Flame. Thanks to the Rune of Fire, he was able to control it with great ease. And he went back to trying to decipher ''Death Verses''. The more he worked with Death Energy, the more he would understand the Insight Writings within.


    Slowly, he was able to discern more and more of ''Living Death''. Since Death Energy was a corrupted form of Po, it was possible to use one''s Po in order to create Death Energy. But it was also possible to momentarily turn one''s Po into Death Energy. In fact, the opposite was also true. It was possible to turn Death Energy into pure Po in order to replenish one''s soul or even improve one''s soul cultivation. Live could become death and death could become life.


    Obviously, both of those transformations were difficult and dangerous. If one used all of their Po, their body would die. And if one lost control of Death Energy while supplementing their Po, it could corrupt it entirely.


    With that in mind, Cao Yun decided to not work right away on this. However, he had Death Energy at his disposal, so he could still try to turn it into Po and back. This Black Heart Flame could help him develop even more spiritual senses. Indeed, if he could turn a significant part of it into a soul, he could then send it outward and use it as spiritual senses, just like Flying Poison. In fact, he might be able to improve Flying Poison even more.


    Instead of risking his own Po, he would start with the Black Heart Flame. Then, he could still train with Flying Poison. And only after he had mastered all those steps would he risk, or not, working with his very soul.


    Besides, he also trained on his ''Death Splintering Palm''. This was the only attack he had derived from ''Death Verses''. With a physical attack, he could strike the Po of someone else. Of course, with the Black Heart Flame and the Flying Poison, he could improve this technique. In fact, he could send a part of the entire Flying Poison within someone''s body through his palm attack.


    After the first three verses, ''Death Verses'' still had seven more for him to master.


    Finally, he also tried to understand the next stage of ''Weeping Demon''. ''Bleeding Eyes'' was a technique that could assault one''s mind without the use of spiritual senses. However, there were other moves that would require the use of spiritual senses. The easiest of those moves was ''Sea of Blood''. Through this technique, one could turn the sea of consciousness of someone else into a bloody battlefield.


    Now that he had could send a soul outside of his body, Cao Yun could work on this move. Besides, it was working very well with his Drop of Wrath. If he sent the fury of Flying Poison into someone''s sea of consciousness, that could do a lot of damage without him even acting.


    As he worked intensely during the entire travel, Cao Yun didn''t even realize that he had finally crossed the borders of the Wang Province, where the Imperial City was.

 Chapter 451: A frozen man

    Just like in the Subei Province, flying was strictly supervised. Even as a 5-star Human alchemist or as the Wubei Sect''s Young Sect Master, Cao Yun couldn''t fly everywhere. Thus, he would need to walk most of the way to the Imperial City. Thus, he registered himself to the first outpost of Xiaowu City, a small town near the border. From there, there was obviously a tiny hall of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.


    Cao Yun showed his 5-petal card and asked to send a message to Xiao Xuefeng who would most likely reach the Imperial City before him. Once again, he asked about the Universe Spanning Frost. Unfortunately, they had no information on it. Apparently, Xiao Xuefeng had used all of it during her refinement of a Spirit pill. Of course, there had to be some left in the storage of several noble families.


    The Universe Spanning Frost was not easy to produce. Indeed, it was a kind of ice that had come from the skies. From time to time, small meteorites hit the Piaolu planet. Most of them were burned away by the atmosphere itself and others were shattered by the array formations protecting the Hongchen Kingdom. In some of those were precious ores so the sky was always carefully watched. Unfortunately, this specific type of ice was extremely rare. And sadly for Cao Yun, he had found no combination of any ingredient to replace it in the pill he had in mind.


    By using the Eternal Frostfire Fir, Cao Yun could bond together the Hellish Dragon Fruit and the Universe Spanning Frost. In fact, it would be quite similar to what he was doing in his cultivation to temper his body. The Eternal Frostfire Fir was rich in Wood element but it also contained a strange mixture of heat and cold. It was the perfect ingredient to work with both extremes. The Universe Spanning Frost could only be liquefied at high temperatures that could usually only be produced by blacksmiths. Cao Yun''s plan was to produce a pill rich in Fire Qi but that wouldn''t burn the person using it. Such a pill was simply called the Frozen Fire pill.


    By using it, the Fire Qi would slowly be released in one''s body so it could absorb it for several weeks or eve months depending on the quantity and quality. Since his Hellish Dragon Fruit had literally harbored a Rune of Fire, its Fire element was of great quality. Besides, because Cao Yun had the Rune of Fire in him now, this fruit would be more easily absorbed.


    From the hall master, he also learned that he had become even richer than before his departure thanks to his True Essence pills. But he had sold all of them already. Instead of producing more of them, he decided to sell something else, Heaven pills.


    For now, even with his weak spiritual senses, he couldn''t refine any Perfect 1-star Heaven pill. It was simply a bit too difficult as he was still adjusting himself with those strange senses. Besides, they were not directly his, he was feeling things through either the Flying Poison or the Black Heart Flame. However, he had a great idea for his alchemy. He would directly inject this black flame in the cauldron. Of course, he couldn''t do so in public just yet. Any Spirit Warrior would sense what this horrid thing was.


    Anyway, in private, he tried several refinements and realized that the results were really good. Once he had reached the capital, he would have the time to refine a bit more. In fact, this would be useful as a way of training himself. But for now, he was in a hurry to get to the Imperial City since he didn''t want to miss the Alchemy Conference.


    Cao Yun decided to take some time to rest however. In fact, he was worried about Hongyu''s health although she seemed to be doing great. He couldn''t stop himself from seeing her weak self when he had first met her. But she was now extremely healthy and full of vitality. Her fifth core was on the verge of being fully formed. And Cao Yun''s presence for several months had filled her blood with the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Soon, she would be able to balance out the evil core without even using her blood essence.


    -


    As he was waiting, Cao Yun went in town to grab something to eat. In fact, after his stay in the Red Realm''s Banquet Hall, Cao Yun was now quite fond of food. During most of his travels, he couldn''t eat very well. Maybe he would need to learn to cook at some point. But he simply had no time to spare. Even practicing everything he was currently doing, Cao Yun had almost no time. Since he was in another province, the food should be quite different.


    Walking through the streets, Cao Yun was able to hear and feel almost everything. This was also a form of training as he tried to focus on everything even though he could hear dozens of conversations at the same time. Understanding what everything was said was difficult. While he was doing so, he was also working on his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Most people were either Mortals or early Mortal Warriors. The most powerful cultivators tried to get closer to the capital.


    In fact, Cao Yun was probably the strongest man in Xiaowu City right now. By using his stealth technique, almost no one was able to notice his presence but they were all strangely walking by avoiding him. It was as though he was walking through a crowd and everyone would step to the side without seeing him though.


    Then, he felt something peculiar that attracted his attention. Focusing in that direction, he heard a man pleading and another one reprimanding him.


    "Master, please, do not forsake me!"


    "You useless worm! You can''t even open your Du Mai. What do you want me to do with you?! Wasn''t I patient enough already?! Twelve years I tried to help you and you made no progress at all! Hell, I wasted a damn Lava Gathering Lotus pill on you parasite! My patience reached its limit! Abandon that way and live as a mortal!"


    Cao Yun saw a large man throw another man who seemed to be in his forties. That flying man was wearing cheap clothes that were already in tatters. He had nothing special about him, at all. In fact, he was a bit plump without it being too noticeable. And he was clearly a 4th-grade Mortal. Considering that he was more than forty years old, his cultivation was incredibly weak.


    It could happen a lot for various reasons. But Cao Yun had a good idea on the reason why this man could not progress.


    As the door of the small martial sect closed on him, the middle-aged man crawled back to it. He kowtowed and literally struck his head on the pavement to show his resolve.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Master, please, take me back! Master! This insignificant one pleads you!"


    From everyone around, Cao Yun heard the derision and scorn with which this spectacle was seeing. And he also heard the name of that man, Jie Yuan. He had worked almost all his youth. When finally he had a struck of luck. Somehow, he made a lot of money by selling ores he had found by chance. Since then, he was able to enter into a martial sect. His cultivation rose quickly at first, in less than two years he had reached his current cultivation. He had even started as a lowly 1st-grade Mortal.


    Such a speed was indeed impressive and he surprised even his master who had only taken him in for the money. Unfortunately, his progress stopped abruptly. For twelve years he got stuck at his current level. From that moment, he had squandered all the money he had made just to stay in this tiny sect. But in the end, his master had lost his patience, after receiving all of his money of course...


    Usually, Cao Yun wouldn''t care too much about such a scene. After all, he couldn''t help every single individual or he would be submerged by misery on a daily basis. Hopefully he might be able to overturn the fate of mankind. If more alchemists could produce Spirit pills, more people would get a chance at cultivation. By raising the sea, he would also rise all the ships.


    That being said, this Jie Yuan''s condition was peculiar enough that Cao Yun got interested in him. He even spoke with Dian Mo about the man.


    "What do you think? Am I right?"


    "Without sending your Qi or your spiritual senses in him, it''s hard to tell. But you might just be that lucky indeed."


    Thus, Cao Yun walked toward the middle-aged man. His forehead was literally bleeding from him striking the pavement with his head. No matter how much he plead though, his former master had abandoned him alright.


    "Jie Yuan, is it?"


    "Silence, I have to show my sincerity to my master. Go bother someone else, you..."


    In the middle of his sentence, he became quiet as Cao Yun revealed his cultivation to him by enveloping him in Wei Qi. ALl of a sudden, he felt an incredible pressure and Jie Yun understood that he had kicked an iron pot. Just as suddenly, he changed his behavior.


    "High Lord, forgive this insignificant vermin. I had eyes and yet I failed to see Mount Tai. Ask me to strike me as an apology and I will."


    What was this man babbling about?


    Jie Yuan''s attitude was simply too subservient to Cao Yun''s taste. However, he had something that could help him a lot. So he disregarded that appalling personality and kept on talking.


    "I heard about your plight. As an alchemist I got interested. Maybe I could help you. What about walking with me?"


    "Of course, venerable alchemist!"


    Jie Yuan''s face was deformed by a huge smile showing all of his teeth. This didn''t improve his banal face at all though. Somehow, Cao Yun had the urge to slap him around. Strangely, he could now understand his former master. That Jie Yuan had not an ounce of sincerity in him. However, he seemed to be able to take a beating to try and show it anyway.


    Cao Yun took Jie Yuan to the restaurant he had wanted to visit already. On the way, Jie Yuan kept being the worst sycophant Cao Yun had ever met. Although he warned him several times to stop acting in such a manner, this had become Jie Yuan''s second nature. He simply couldn''t help himself.


    But it became worse as now he apologized each time for the way he had spoken. Then, he apologized for his apology. Cao Yun''s head was hurting already...


    As he was close to the pathetic man, Cao Yun could feel that he had been right. Jie Yuan''s meridians were completely frozen. Most likely his master had felt it as well. This frost was vibrant. As such, it was probably the reason why his body had first improved fast. But then, it was almost impossible for him to cultivate his meridians. The mere fact that he had been able to tempered his Lower Dantian was impressive in itself.


    No matter how irritating Jie Yuan was, he was tenacious for sure. Unfortunately, he was tenacious in everything, including his subservience.


    Now that he was sure of it, Cao Yun also knew that his master had been rather cruel with him. Although he knew that Jie Yuan would never reach the 5th-grade Mortal stage, he had kept it in order to slowly take all of his money. But if Cao Yun was right about everything, he would reward this Jie Yuan enough to compensate even that.


    Before long, they reached the restaurant. Seeing Jie Yuan, the head waiter tried to stop them. However, he also quickly saw the emblems on Cao Yun''s robe. Thus, he immediately changed his attitude and even his posture changed. With a very solemn tone, he welcomed the two men inside and showed them to the best table they had. He even sent them the most beautiful waiters he had. Then, he heaved a sigh. Thankfully, he had seen Cao Yun''s emblems before speaking. Otherwise, he would surely have been at least fired considering how he would have treated Jie Yuan.


    For the life of him, the head waited couldn''t understand what such a character was doing alongside Jie Yuan.


    In fact, Jie Yuan was starting to wonder the same thing. He was even worried that he had done something wrong and that this great alchemist was there to punish him. Or maybe he wanted to use him as a test subject. Although he had nothing left to steal, he still had a body that could be used...


    Many strange thoughts went through Jie Yuan''s head. However, they quickly disappeared when the food reached the table. For a few years now he had eaten rice and roots every single day with a few vegetables and some pieces of fruits here and there. Thus he devoured as much as he could without even tasting he food.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun was acting as a gourmet, enjoying every single dish in front of him. His appetite was almost cut short by Jie Yuan''s spectacle. But he could understand his pathetic friend''s attitude. After all, he had also spent several months without being able to it tasty food. This could be a lot...


    After some time, Cao Yun used his full cultivation to conceal their conversation as he didn''t want anyone else to hear about what he had discovered.


    "Jie Yuan, if I am not mistaken, you found your treasure in some cave, right?"


    "Huh?! ... yes, indeed.. But I..."


    "Oh? Are you going to say that you forgot where it was? Because this would be a lie... Lying to me isn''t such a good idea."


    "I''m sorry, venerable one. But this cave is a lowly place. This isn''t fit for someone of your standing."


    "I will be the judge of that. However, I have something to confide in you. The reason why you can''t progress at all is because of this very cave."


    "What?!"


    "If I''m correct, you went to train there quite a lot at first and you''ve progressed so fast it impressed you. However, that speed had been at the cost of your future. What helped you has also doomed you."


    Suddenly, Jie Yuan threw himself to the ground. Despite Cao Yun''s concealment, everyone was attracted to that sight.


    "Please, venerable, save this stupid one. I will give everything to my savior! Please!"


    For several minutes, Jie Yuan kept howling and weeping. Without Cao Yun, the head waiter would have thrown him out.


    "Fine, fine. Just tell me everything and I''ll help you."


    "Thank you, venerable. I know that a man such as you would never renege on a promise."


    Jie Yuan''s bright smile made Cao Yun want to slap him until he had no teeth left.

 Chapter 452: Frozen meteorite

    Jie Yuan told his story to Cao Yun. Twelve years he had discovered a cave just outside on the Wang Province. As he was hunting with a party, he got left behind. Honestly, Cao Yun could understand the reason why. The more Jie Yuan tried to explain how they had all been so horrible to him, the more he understood them in fact. After all, if they had been so horrible with him, they would have killed him. They had been in the wild and no one would have cared for a 1st-grade Mortal.


    "I tell you, they were just ruffians with no manner. A great alchemist, a powerful and magnanimous expert like you would never had done such foul actions. If only I could have met a man of your stature back then, a man who would always uphold his word. But which man could compare to your greatness?"


    Anyway, Cao Yun had to interrupt Jie Yuan several times as he was always trying to flatter him. No matter how many times he told him to stop doing that, he kept on and on. If Cao Yun didn''t have good morals, he would have probably tried to extract the information from his soul directly. That man was just infuriating, but Cao Yun could tell that he wasn''t a bad man either, which made dealing with him a bit more difficult.


    "I only want to know what you found in this cave and where it is."


    "Of course, please, pardon my zeal. Rarely a man of my low stature can meet such a great hero of mankind. The cave... Yes, the cave! After those miserable men left me to fend for myself for no reason at all, I was only trying to survive. Suddenly, I fell into a deep hole in the ground. For sure, I thought I was going to die down there. But even the Heavens are not cruel enough to torture a man who already suffered so much pain. Down there, I found great ores that could be sold for quite a lot. Hell, I even found high spirit stones. And since the energy there was powerful, I felt like cultivating. Suddenly, I was full of vigor and ready to travel far and fast. Thanks to that, I valiantly joined Xiaowu City.


    "On the road, I met the group who had forsaken me. Seeing my greatness, they fell to their knees and apologized for their disgusting manners. Humph! As if I could forgive such traitors?! Only a holy man or a saint like you, great venerable master, could have had the heart big enough to accept their apology. A man like you could forgive anyone as long as they are truly repentant. But this lowly one couldn''t. Thus, I didn''t tell them anything about my great discovery and was able to sell most of what I had found to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Honestly, their reputation is deserved. They didn''t try to steal from me or even cheat me in any ways."


    Strangely, Cao Yun was convinced that the hunters had left him on the side of the road to have some peace. Then, they had come back to get him back to the city. After all, a 1st-grade Mortal would have died alone in the wild. Around the Imperial City, the demonic beasts were killed regularly to protect the cities. But outside of the Wang Province, there could be 6 or even 7-cores demonic beasts. As such, Mortals who went hunting were very careful. Even Mortal Warriors wouldn''t be too daring either. They had certainly deemed that Jie Yuan was a nuisance and thus a threat. But they hadn''t had the heart to let him die.


    No matter what the truth was, Cao Yun asked in details what had been in the cave. According to the description of Jie Yuan, that cave was clearly the past crater of a meteorite. And from the frost in his meridians, everything was now crystal clear. In that cave, there had been Universe Spanning Frost, probably buried deeper underground where the meteorite had struck the ground. Jie Yuan had absorbed most of the medicinal essence that had made its way to the surface and had then thought it was spent. But it couldn''t be. Indeed, if a 1st-grade Mortal had absorbed all the medicinal essence of a 5-star Heaven ingredient, he would have simply burst. Jie Yuan seemed to have some luck. The energy had been strong enough to help him cultivate faster but not enough to kill him. However, his cultivation had then stagnated for more than a decade.


    "And you never went back?"


    "Unfortunately, men are not as magnanimous and virtuous as you are, great lord. This lowly one couldn''t just ask any random cultivator to take me back there. Besides, no hunter party seemed to want me with them. Most likely, those evil hunters who had left me to die had spread many rumors about me. Incidentally, great generous lord, if you hear anything about me, know that all of those are lies spread by jealous and lesser men. Such a powerful alchemist like you probably don''t know how low men can fall..."


    "Jie Yuan, don''t you think that I''ve been quite patient?"


    "Without a doubt. You have all the qualities of a prodigious man, a true living saint if I say so myself."


    "Then, do not test my patience any longer. Just tell me where the cave is before I lose my composure with you."


    "Of course, great alchemist. However... The thing is... I''m not too sure about the exact location. After all, it was twelve years ago... But if you take me there, I might be able to find it back. I swear!"


    Once again, Jie Yuan finished his plead with a giant grin on his face that didn''t suit him at all. The more he was speaking with that man, the more Cao Yun''s Flying Poison was getting active. Unfortunately, Jie Yuan was neither a demonic cultivator nor a criminal, he was just pathetic and groveling all the time.


    "Fine, I''ll take you there."


    As long as he could get close enough, Cao Yun could use his knowledge of array formations to detect the presence of Universe Spanning Frost. However, he didn''t want anyone else to know about this. Such an ingredient was extremely valuable and he didn''t want the fact that he had found it to be known. Indeed, he didn''t want to have to fight for it. Thus, he decided to leave Xiaowu City in secret. In fact, he even left the Wang Province in secret. As long as he came back in without raising any alarm, no one would be the wiser.Stolen novel; please report.


    Since only Jie Yuan knew the general location of that meteorite, he was forced to take him with him.


    -


    For three days, they walked through the wilderness. With Cao Yun''s ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he could conceal both his presence and Jie Yuan''s. After all, Jie Yuan was only a weak Mortal, it wasn''t hard at all to hide him. However, Cao Yun was in a hurry. Indeed, he had to join the Alchemy Conference soon after. He couldn''t spend several weeks looking for Universe Spanning Frost. But he simply couldn''t ignore it either. According to Jie Yuan''s recollection, they were getting close to it. But it had been several hours now that he had been repeating the same thing over and over again.


    Cao Yun had taken out his compass to try and sense any trace of the medicinal essence. Most likely, it was buried deep, otherwise someone else would have found it by now. Jie Yuan''s luck seemed to be quite good indeed. Even if he had been thrown out by his master, he had been found out by Cao Yun. As much as the man irritated him, Cao Yun was ready to reward him a lot if he did find the Universe Spanning Frost he needed for his pill.


    Finally, Cao Yun detected something with his compass. Thus he became faster and Jie Yuan had a hard time following him. In fact, Cao Yun went almost full speed when he was convinced he had found the place. Jie Yuan was left behind once more. Of course, Cao Yun had made sure that there were no demonic beasts nearby. As long as Jie Yuan didn''t wander too far away, he was safe. And Cao Yun didn''t intend to be too long either.


    Now that he was finally freed from the sycophant, Cao Yun found the entrance of the cave. It had been covered in mud and some vegetation had taken over. But he could clearly sense something beneath it. Without any effort, he dug the ground and entered the cave Jie Yuan had encountered. Within, he even saw the traces of Jie Yuan''s presence. Some spirit stones had been badly extracted. There were even traces of precious ore yet. Undoubtedly, Jie Yuan had done a terrible job taking out the resources he had found in here. However, those were of no importance for Cao Yun. Luckily, he was now quite rich and didn''t care about such resources.


    What attracted Cao Yun''s attention was the faint trace of medicinal essence. In twelve years, the Universe Spanning Frost had released more of its essence in the environment and the cave was slowly being filled once again. Now, there was absolutely no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind. Down below was the ingredient he had been looking for. As much as Jie Yuan was lucky, Cao Yun felt like he was way luckier than him.


    It really didn''t take long for Cao Yun to dig the cave even though he was being careful not to damage his prize. In a few minutes, he reached the meteorite. From it, there was an intense cold. A mere mortal would have died in a few breaths down there. For Cao Yun, it was not even painful at all. Even without his Wei Qi, his blood contained enough Fire Qi to protect him from such a cold without any effort at all.


    In front of him was the Universe Spanning Frost, still trapped in the meteorite that had brought it here. Using his spatial ring, Cao Yun covered the entire rock with his Qi and sent it inside his storage. Later he would take the time to carefully carve the ice out of the rock. Now he had nothing more to do in Xiaowu City. After rewarding Jie Yuan, he would directly go to the Imperial City before the Alchemy Conference could officially begin.


    Xiao Xuefenge would probably be there already. Maybe he could even get her help to refine the Frozen Fire pill. Although he could refine a Heaven pill, that one was a 3-star Heaven pill. As talented as he was right now, he wasn''t too confident in his ability to refine such a pill with a good quality. And he certainly didn''t want to waste his ingredients. The main three ingredients were so rare that he probably wouldn''t find them again before a very long time.


    Once he was done, Cao Yun decided to look for Jie Yuan. And he found him in a delicate situation...


    That moron had wandered too much, even in the few minutes he had been left alone. Right now, he was surrounded by five middle Mortal Warriors.


    "How did you get here?!"


    "Hey, I recognize him! He''s that Jie... Jie Xuan."


    "Jie Yuan!"


    "Yes, thanks for confirming it yourself. Didn''t I hear that you found some treasure a decade ago?"


    "Indeed, that''s what I heard brother."


    "Great. Then, you''ll tell us more about this, right, ''friend''?"


    Faced with the oppressive auras of those Mortal Warriors, Jie Yuan was almost tongue-tied. To be honest, Cao Yun hesitated an instant before saving him. It wasn''t that he wanted him to be killed or maimed. But he had to admit it was pleasant to see him silent for once. However, it didn''t last long. Quickly, he kowtowed to the ground.


    "Great hunters, I am but a lowly insect. There is no way for such a vermin to hold a candle to any of you. After being expelled by my master, I tried to prove myself and I hired a group to help me hunt down a powerful demonic beast. However, a Moon Chasing Wolf went after us. Those great hunters sacrificed their lives for a lowly man such as me. And I was fortunate enough to escape with my life..."


    Suddenly, the hunters became wary. A Moon Chasing Wolf was a 7-core demonic beast. It was on par with an early Spirit Warrior. Even for five middle Mortal Warriors like them, such a beast could be lethal. Fighting against a 6-core demonic beast was difficult but with battle formations, they could win unscathed. Against a 7-core demonic beast, they would at the very least suffer heavy injuries. Some of them might even die. Thus, they became a bit more fearful. In fact, their vigilance around Jie Yuan lessened quite a lot.


    At first, Cao Yun had thought he would give him out. But as annoying as he was, Jie Yuan seemed to have some backbone after all. Anyway, despite his silver tongue, Jie Yuan would never be able to get out of this alone. Thus, Cao Yun stepped in. Despite their vigilance, the hunters didn''t feel his arrival. When they noticed Cao Yun, he was literally standing between them and Jie Yuan.


    "Great master! Please, save this lowly one''s life! Those insignificant peasants are nothing compared to you!"


    All the good impression Jie Yuan had made dissipated in an instant.


    "Fellow cultivators, there is no need for blood to be shed today. Just let us leave in peace."


    Cao Yun used his 5-star Human alchemist emblem to try to pressure them. After all, killing an alchemist was a serious offense. But he didn''t stop there, he also used his Wei Qi to intimidate them. The five hunters were not idiot and they could see that Cao Yun was a dangerous man. However, their greed took the better of them. Instead of trying to talk with Cao Yun, they immediately attacked. Alchemists were dangerous targets, but they were often quite rich. The spatial ring on Cao Yun''s finger was proof of that.


    The five hunters were not stupid though, they had already put themselves into a formation. Their strength was comparable to a half-step Spirit Warrior. Even a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior would be a bit wary of them, but unlike them, he could have flown. On the other hand, Cao Yun was stuck on the ground for this fight.


    Without any hesitation, he took out his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Unlike who he was as a kid, Cao Yun was way more decisive. The moment the hunters had chosen him as a target, they were dead.

 Chapter 453: Killing bandits

    "Remember that you chose this path for yourself. Do not blame me for being ruthless."


    Although Cao Yun was not bloodthirsty, he wasn''t a pacifist either. If he had been able to resolve the situation without killing anyone, this would have been better. However, those five hunters turned bandits had made their decision. And they had chosen poorly.


    Even if Cao Yun was unrivaled among the Mortal Warrior grade, he was still fighting five middle Mortal Warrior. The weakest of the group was a middle-aged woman who had recently reached the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior stage, just like Cao Yun. And the strongest fighters were a couple who were both ready to face the Lesser Tribulation. Since they were not affiliated with any major sect, they were probably anxious about that idea. If they could find a way to ensure that the tribulation ended well, they were prepared to do anything.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun was not arrogant and didn''t think that five bandits had no chance against him. They knew each other very well and their battle formations would be a real problem. Even a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior might not leave unscathed. In that situation, his best hope was to disrupt their battle formation first. In a fair duel against each one of them, he could kill them rather easily, even the two 6th-grade Mortal Warriors. However, he would never get a fair duel. At the very least, he had to make it a bit more fair for him.


    ''Sea of Blood''!


    Cao Yun''s iris turned completely red with blood with many small capillaries appearing all around them. The five bandits were suddenly seized with an intense fear. It was as though they had walked on a battlefield covered in blood and dismembered corpses. The images in their minds were extremely vivid and grotesque. If they had not seen their fair share of devoured carcasses, they might have even thrown up at that sight.


    Although it wouldn''t keep them distracted too long, it was long enough for Cao Yun to act. Since killing the strongest bandits would take him some time, he decided to focus on the weakest first. With one less enemy, their battle formations would be disrupted for good. They might have others of course, but they would be unable to use some of them with one less fighter.


    The black-haired middle-aged woman was wielding a dagger-axe. It was similar to a spear so Cao Yun felt at ease with this weapon. There was no hesitation in his attack. He unleashed everything he had in the first move to kill her straight away. His Spear Aura coalesced around ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. All over the weapon, there was thick blood and the movement of the wind reminded the bandits of the howls and lamentations of the dead. Combined with his ''Sea of Blood'', this struck a terrifying picture in their minds.


    Behind Cao Yun, a single star shined, the Horn Star. In his sea of consciousness, that star was now surrounded by many other small bright dots. At that moment, Cao Yun could have seen the entire Horn Constellation. It wasn''t completely formed yet as it would disappear once his attack was over. For now, it wasn''t permanent but Cao Yun was getting really close to officially be the first one in generations to form a constellation of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    With bloody fangs, the shape of the azure dragon appeared as the winds around the spear had formed its body. The Horn Star rose in the air and shined over the battlefield. It was resonating with the body of the azure dragon. The winds had made its body and the spear had made its bloody teeth. The dagger-axe wielding woman still had enough will to try and protect herself in front of this powerful attack. Now that Cao Yun had tempered his Five Prodigious Gates, his Qi Manifestations had become much more powerful and condensed. It was almost as if a real dragon had appeared and it was as wide as the woman''s trunk. With a single bite, it would tear her in half.


    Using her dagger-axe, she tried to block the attack by striking the spear down with the dagger blade at the end of the pole. A fresh odor of grass surrounded her as she manifested her own martial art.


    ''Crouching Mantis in the Fields''!


    Her dagger-axe fell on Cao Yun''s spear. Unfortunately, she didn''t have all of her strength because of his mental attack. The powerful winds around the spear deviated her attack and it hit the ground. Under the shock, a big piece of soil was sent flying in all directions. Then, blood dyed the ground around the small crater. Cao Yun''s spear had gone through and through the woman''s body. He had aimed for her Middle Dantian, where he heart was. With the strength of the blow, her chest had completely exploded, her arms and head fell to the ground soon followed by her lower half.


    Instead of causing more terror for the bandits, this sight brought them back to reality. The thick odor of blood in the air woke up their instincts.


    "Four Stars in the South!"


    The 6th-grade Mortal Warrior man yelled out a command. Although Cao Yun didn''t know this name, he could surmise what it meant. This was a command for a new battle formation. Those bandits were not idiot. With this first exchange, they had realized that they had bitten more than they could chew. However, they were also clear on the fact that it was too late. If they got distracted or even tried to run away, Cao Yun would slaughter them all. And they were right. Cao Yun had absolutely no mercy for bandits. Despite his fair warning, they had chosen war and war they would have.


    Obviously, this name was not the real name of the battle formation. On the battlefield, Mortal Warriors could not talk telepathically. Thus, they chose different names for the battle formations so that the enemy couldn''t discern what they were talking about. In fact, there were often several names for the same battle formation or combinations of names that would mean something entirely different. Like that, the enemy could never predict their next move. And indeed, Cao Yun was unable to know in advance what they would do. However, he had one important piece of information. That man seemed to be in charge of the battle formations, he was the one he had to kill first.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The bandits were now three men and one woman. The two weakest men were both recent 5th-grade Mortal Warriors and they looked almost the same. Clearly they were brothers or maybe even twins. On one hand, Cao Yun was facing close brothers and on the other a couple. Both of them would work very well together. And unfortunately, their battle formations were also excellent with all four combined.


    One of the brothers had a shield and a pike while his brother had a trident. The battle formation man, their strategist, was wielding a bow while his lover had two meteor hammers. With their new formation, the archer was in the back, while the shield was blocking Cao Yun. Just behind the shield, the meteor hammers could still reach Cao Yun and the trident was at the ready to block the spearman if he tried to move to the sides.


    All around the three fighters in front of Cao Yun, there was a Qi Manifestation that had appeared. They were surrounded by thousands of pikes and they almost looked like a metallic echidna standing in Cao Yun''s way. Some of its pikes flew toward the young man as the strategist was firing his arrows. And in combination with them, the meteor hammers were striking the ground. As they were a couple, the attacks of the arrows and the hammers were timed perfectly well and aimed at the perfect spot to try and trap Cao Yun.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''!


    Since his movements were impaired by this battle formation, Cao Yun simply stopped moving altogether. Thinking of a ruse, the attacks stopped for less than a breath and then intensified. Several arrows flew toward him, as they whistled in the wind, they sounded like magpies. And the meteor hammers looked like boulders. All around Cao Yun, the scales of the Azure Dragon appeared. Two arrows were able to pierce through, slivering into the small cracks between the scales. However, they were not able to penetrate deep into Cao Yun''s flesh. His muscles had been tempered with the Drop of Wrath after all. On the other hand, the boulders exploded on his scales. The ground beneath his feet was full of cracks.


    Just after the attack, the scales moved along his spear and he released all the energy he had just received into a single attack. A terrifying tornado was thrown toward the makeshift echidna in front of him. Some of the tree behind them were even broken by the blow. However, the defense didn''t break.


    This wasn''t Cao Yun''s goal though. Now that they were distracted, he used ''Ashen Feather Seal''. His presence completely disappeared in the middle of the fight.


    The archer who was farther in the back was the first one to notice that. Despite his best efforts, he couldn''t find Cao Yun. There was only Jie Yuan cowering in fear and no trace of Cao Yun. The strategist refused to believe he had simply run away. Unfortunately, he was absolutely right. Usually, the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior woman would have completed the battle formation and ensured that the arched was safe. Now she was dead.


    The next moment the arched felt Cao Yun''s presence, it was too late. He saw the head of the spear covered in blood sticking out of his own neck. With a swift move, his head then fell to the ground. The poor man was not even able to scream. Thus, the rest of the group did not react fast enough. The spearman was already behind them. Right now, he had to choose his target well. And the next logical choice was to take down the man with the shield. Even one of his most powerful attacks had not been able to pierce through it. By keeping him alive, the fight would last longer, giving them more opportunities. Besides, he would have disrupted all their formations. The two brothers were probably working better together than the woman and only one of the brothers.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    The seven stars of the Azure Dragon appeared behind Cao Yun. Right now, it was as though he was in the blackness of space. He threw his spear toward his enemy. As the spear flew through the air, it looked as though a giant fish swimming in the path formed by the light of the stars.


    Sensing this attack, the woman sent her meteor hammers, the first brother tried to skewer the fish with his trident and the last bandit was moving his shield in the right direction. However, no attack seemed to be able to reach the fish. The distance between the attacks and the flying spear seemed to be way too great for them to achieve anything. Indeed, it was swimming in the stars. And when it reached the ground, the shield was not yet ready for it. However, it was still able to deviate its trajectory a little. The man behind the shield got his other shoulder completely torn apart and lost his pike. But he had still his shield even with one arm.


    Now, Cao Yun had lost his weapon. This was the perfect moment to attack!


    Although it was dangerous to leave the protection of the shield, they knew that waiting for their enemy''s next move was worse. There was no doubt that he was way more powerful than they had initially thought. But he was no Spirit Warrior, so they still had a chance.


    Contrary to them though, Cao Yun had a spatial ring. That had escaped their vigilance during the fight. After all, they were used to fighting demonic beasts and commoners. They rarely engaged any noble in battle so they were not used to fighting someone with a spatial ring. Even if Cao Yun had lost his spear, he could recall it to him easily. In the meantime though, he could simply take out another spear. And he did.


    That spear was ''Mount Xuanwu Crushes All''. Such a spear was very basic apart from its weight. According to the blacksmith who had forged it, it weighed around a hundred thousand dan*. Even with Cao Yun''s muscles, this was a lot and without the use of his Wei Qi, he would have probably sunk into the very ground. However, he knew exactly what to do with this spear. This was only a 2-star Human weapon, nothing much.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    Using all of his strength, Cao Yun circulated his full blood cultivation and even a bit of ''Dragon''s Heart''. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to perform this attack with such a spear. The wind created by this attack was stronger than before. And the spear itself was covered in cracks. When finally Cao Yun reached the full speed of his movement, the spear literally exploded into several fragments. Each one was incredibly heavy and uncannily fast. Some even looked like falling stars going toward the remaining bandits.


    A piece of ''Mount Xuanwu Crushes All'' hit the shield. Its bearer didn''t resist the shock. Even the shield itself was dented. And the man behind had the bones in his arm crushed. Then he let go of the shield that was sent toward him because of the collision. The man was literally crushed by his own shield. On the other hand, the woman was able to avoid all the projectiles while the trident wielding man rushed toward Cao Yun, trying to use this opportunity to kill him.


    The trident reached Cao Yun''s throat. At the very last moment, he moved away. The weapon was still able to draw some blood, but it didn''t penetrate deep enough. Just like the wounds by the arrows, Cao Yun''s injuries healed in an instant thanks to his blood cultivation.


    Now that he was only facing two fighters with no defense, Cao Yun was more at ease. Those two would die in a matter of seconds.


    * Approximately, 100k dan = 5,000 tons

 Chapter 454: Observing death

    Since the fight had begun, less than a minute had gone by. Mortal Warriors were just too powerful compared with Mortals even late Mortals. Watching this incredible fight, Jie Yuan was completely frozen. If he was facing them, he would be like a toddler fighting a lion. Clearly, he had made the right decision when he had chosen never to come back to the cave. And he had also made the right decision to follow this alchemist. Even though he couldn''t sense his cultivation, he could still guess. And in his modest opinion, Cao Yun wasn''t even a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. However, he was a great fighter and a smart man as well. After all, he was a 5-star alchemist.


    Cao Yun had studied a bit of battle formations with Yun Ping. Although he wasn''t as talented as he was, Cao Yun didn''t need to be. Unlike his friend, he didn''t intend to lead an army into battle. Thus, he only needed to be talented enough to recognize a battle formation and analyze its flaws. With his knowledge of array formations and his understanding of the Six Stratagems, analyzing the battle formation of those bandits had been rather easy.


    Among the Six Stratagems many could be used by a lone fighter. Letting the Deceptions of Gold and Mud Flow taught how to observe the battlefield and how to look at victory and defeat with the same coldness. The prospect of defeat or victory should not influence one''s mind and they could make terrible decisions. In the same vein, Order in Chaos taught how to keep the mind perfectly clear, but it was related more directly to how to keep the heads of the other fighters cool and how to boost the overall morale. Besides, Cao Yun had his mind cultivation so it was very easy for him stay perfectly calm even under stress.


    Subduing Rivers and Mountains was all about controlling space and time. It taught how to best use the terrain and to manipulate the rhythm of a battle. It was probably the principle that was the most closely related to array formations.


    Mundane General Enters the Hut was a principle that Cao Yun liked particularly because it was in accordance with what his masters had taught him as well in martial arts. It consisted in cutting down any fancy move or tactic. Using only the most basic of techniques, one could excel and take down any enemy. What mattered wasn''t the complexity of one''s technique but their proficiency in it and in using it at the right moment. Of course, in a battlefield using difficult techniques with thousands of soldiers would make everything much more complicated to lead for any strategist. But this was also true for a duel. If one simple move could end a fight, it was better than ten incredible moves.


    Painting with Lies and Truth and Breathing as One were two principles that were difficult to apply to a single fighter as they were about combining several battle formations together and harmonizing many fighters respectively.


    Now that there were only two of them in front of him, he was certain of his victory. To be fair, he had not doubted that for even an instant. But the possibility of defeat was always present in any fight. Cao Yun was not arrogant enough to believe he was invincible yet. Against Mortals, it would have been a different story though. Unless more than a hundred Mortals leagued against him, he was certain he would win.


    The man with the trident and the woman with the meteor hammers didn''t lose their composure. Cao Yun could tell they had been in other life-or-death battles. And they had seen their friends die in front of them already. Even if they had just witnessed their brother and their lover die, they had not lost their calm, for they knew that it would mean death as well. Unfortunately, despite knowing each other''s moves very well, they were not the best coordinated. Besides, their weapons did not complement each other as well. Still, the woman could stay in the back with her meteor hammers while the man tried to force Cao Yun to keep his distance with his trident.


    After witnessing his ability to conceal his presence, they couldn''t lose him for even an instant. At all times, they kept their eyes on him. Like that, even if they couldn''t feel his presence, they could see him. If he had fully mastered Huang Liyue''s stealth technique, that wouldn''t even have been true. Unfortunately, he hadn''t yet. Right now, he could use ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to make himself difficult to notice, but this wouldn''t work against someone actively looking at him, especially not in the middle of a fight.


    ''Frozen Caves and Burning Mountains''!


    As the man struck the ground with his foot, it shook. He stabbed his trident toward Cao Yun. Under him, he could feel running water just as the air around him became hotter and hotter. In fact, the trident literally caught on fire as it was about to pierce Cao Yun''s chest. All of a sudden, its speed increased and Cao Yun could feel tremors from underground as well.


    ''The Dragon''s Body Hits the Earth''!


    Before the trident could reach him though, Cao Yun used the butt of his spear to strike it down. Immediately after that, he moved just as a column of ice emerged from the ground almost stabbing through him. As soon as he moved, a giant boulder almost looking like the peak of a true mountain went straight for his head. At the very least, those bandits had a great sense of fighting, they could read Cao Yun''s moves very well. However, he could also see through them easily. They were used to fighting demonic beasts, not martial art experts.


    ''Cracking the World''!


    Cao Yun''s spear collided with the meteor hammer and it exploded in the air. Still, the chains coiled itself around his weapon and the woman tried to take it away. Even though she was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was way stronger than she was. Of course, he wasn''t on the level of Ren Chao, but still, he was strong enough to contend with an early Spirit Warrior. That woman had no chance to begin with. Instead of losing his weapon, Cao Yun took hers. With a powerful movement, he brought the woman close to him as she wouldn''t let go of her weapon.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    The poor fighter literally flew in the air toward Cao Yun. On the ground, the man was able to control his weapon just in time to see Cao Yun''s right arm go through the woman''s chest. As he had pierced her, he sent his Wei Qi in all her meridians. Blood erupted from everywhere as even some of her large muscles exploded. Even at that moment, even as despair was taking a hold of him, even as he knew he had no chance and was going to die, the last bandit kept his calm. If there was any tiny chance he could survive, it wasn''t by panicking.


    Unfortunately, there was no chance at all for him. He had made his decision like the others and he would have to die for it. Still covered in blood, Cao Yun unleashed one last attack with all of his strength.


    ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''!


    On the other hand, the trident of the last man standing went to meet ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Unlike the bandit, Cao Yun was able to use Spear Aura and it truly looked like the trident was going straight toward a giant obsidian pillar entirely covered in fresh blood. His weapon was swept away but the man used all of his strength to try and control its direction anyway. However, it was useless as Cao Yun''s spear went through it. The weapon was completely torn apart. Then, the last bandit''s head exploded and his body fell heavily on the ground.


    The fight was over. Cao Yun had just killed five middle Mortal Warriors with almost no injury. He had still a couple of arrows sticking out of him though. They had been broken during the fight, but they were still in his flesh. Without any hesitation, he took them out and his blood cultivation took care of the wounds.


    Looking at the corpses, Cao Yun sighed. They could have chosen another path and survived. But he would not show any mercy to someone who wanted to kill him. That was a serious mistake he would not make anymore. Even if they were weaker than him now, he had no idea how strong they could become or who could be behind them. Of course, he had checked and they were not demonic cultivators, just regular bandits. That was sad to see orthodox cultivators attack other humans while so many crises were going on.


    As he looked at their corpses, Cao Yun had an awful idea he pushed aside. For an instant, he thought about taking their souls. After all he was working on ''Death Verses'' so they could have been useful. And they could also have been fuel for his Black Heart Flame. However, Cao Yun was not a demonic cultivator. He would not use humans as resources. Even if those hunters had turned bandits, he would not torture their souls, killing them was good enough. Besides, he had no real enmity toward them. He had simply killed them to protect his life and Jie Yuan''s life.


    That being said, Cao Yun was interested in observing the way their souls would act upon death. As such, he used ''See Through the Mud'' from ''Death Verses''. Although it was meant to feel Death Energy, it also allowed to perceive Po as well as a tinge of Hun. In addition, Cao Yun used his meager spiritual senses with the Flying Poison who left his body. For now, it couldn''t stray too far from Cao Yun, but it might help him discern more things.


    As he watched, he felt different energies leave their bodies. One was almost certainly their Hun as he could feel three contrasting shapes in it. Moreover, it was the most elusive part of their soul, he could barely make out what it was. Suddenly, it dissipated in the air, just like that. According to their beliefs, humans were convinced that this Hun was the part of the soul that would reincarnate. It was supposed to go to the Heavenly Court while they awaited their next life.


    On the other hand, the Po, the corporeal soul, was the soul that formed the body, maintained it, and then killed it. Thus, it was closely related to Jing and resided in several key organs. The origin of this soul was thought to be from the parents. Then the interactions between the corporeal soul and the ethereal soul would shape the individual. In fact, one''s mind was the perpetual discussion between the ten souls, the seven Po and the three Hun. While the seven Po were focused on staying alive and on worldly desires, the three Hun were turned toward more glorious aspirations. However, all ten of them were necessary to life.


    If the Hun took over, one would simply lose interest in the physical world and their body would slowly wither as they would even frown upon eating. On the other hand, if the Po took over, one would only be interested in physical pleasures and they would waste their life, burning even their own vitality to enjoy more pleasures. Some observed that the corporeal soul was divided into seven parts while the ethereal soul only had three. From that, some though that it showed that illumination was difficult to attain. Others simply believed that it demonstrated how difficult life was. Staying alive required so much strength that three souls would not have been enough.


    As he watched the ethereal soul disappear, Cao Yun saw no great secret. Although he believed in reincarnation too, he had not been able to witness anything to prove it yet apart from the disappearance of those souls. But he quickly turned toward their mangled bodies. Indeed, he was most interested in observing the last moments of their Po. The corporeal soul was supposed to help the death of the physical body before returning to the ground. For several hours, Cao Yun meditated while surrounded by the corpses.


    Jie Yuan had just witnessed the most brutal fight of his entire life. And now the god of war he had witnessed was simply sitting cross-legged amid the carnage. The poor man didn''t know what Cao Yun was doing but he decided not to interrupt him. All around the place, he could feel the gazes of some demonic beasts who were lusting for the corpses. However, they were too terrified of Cao Yun''s presence to get closer.


    Finally, Cao Yun stood up. He had observed how the Po had acted within their bodies. As such, his understanding of that corporeal soul had improved a bit. In fact, he had felt some tiny parts of their Po start to turn into Death Energy. Thankfully though, it had quickly been destroyed. Although their deaths had been brutal, they had been quick and almost no Evil Qi was formed. The small quantities of Evil Qi and Death Energy would be naturally dissolved by the environment.


    By watching this process, Cao Yun had understood ''Living Death'' a bit more. He still wasn''t ready to work with it with his own soul, but he could see how one''s Po could turn to Death Energy. The opposite seemed much more complicated. After all, Cao Yun was trying to perceive a Dao, the Dao of Death. Despite all his cultivation methods and his Drop of Wrath, this wasn''t something accessible to a Mortal Warrior. Only a Sage could see through minor Daos.


    Anyway, as long as he could read more of ''Death Verses'', it would also help him decipher the Antique Sixian faster. For that, he had to be able to read the Insight Writings so he could have more context to then read the Antique Sixian characters around.


    Finally, he was done and stood up. Sensing the demonic beasts all around, Cao Yun used his spatial ring and took all the corpses into it. No living being could be stored into it as they would die instantly, but dead bodies were not a problem at all. Jie Yuan was quite surprised. If Cao Yun had stolen from their bodies, he would have understood, but he literally stole their very bodies.


    "Did you know them?"

 Chapter 455: Entering the Imperial City

    "I... No, I..."


    Jie Yuan was a bit disconcerted by Cao Yun''s sudden question. After seeing Cao Yun fight, he certainly didn''t want to offend him, especially not in the middle of nowhere. But then he remembered when he had seen one of the men from that group.


    "I think they hail from Mingyue. It''s just a small settlement near the border of the Wang Province. Yes! This humble one remembers, most powerful lord, they were hunters from Mingyue. Most likely, they hoped to break through to the Spirit Warrior realm so they could make a name for themselves in the capital. Commoners like us have few opportunities in life. So sometimes we can be foolish when we think those opportunities are in front of us."


    "Well, those cultivators died for nothing... But they did make their choice. I''ll have the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall take care of their bodies."


    "My lord?"


    "Even though they acted as thieves and murderers, they probably have families as well. I''ll have the Hall clean them up as much as they can and send them back."


    Cao Yun had absolutely no problem revealing the fact that he had killed five people. After all, he acted in pure self-defense and he had a witness to that. Even if he hadn''t, he had enough support to back up his story if need be. Although his little adventure outside of the Wang Province was a secret, he could still claim that it had happened beforehand. To be honest, this wouldn''t be a big problem. Anyway, he would ask the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to take of that after the Alchemy Conference and he would also ask them to keep his name out of any official record, just in case. With Xiao Xuefeng backing him up, he was certain there would be no problem.


    "My lord is indeed generous. Such a lowly servant like myself wouldn''t be able to comprehend your greatness."


    "Jie Yuan, I already told you to stop talking like that many times. Your attempts at flattery are ridiculous at best, annoying and insulting at worst. However, you''ve big a big help for me. Thus, I will reward you for this service. Is there anything that you truly desire? If I can do something about it, I will ponder over the matter. Otherwise, I''ll just pay you. Decide."


    Indeed, Cao Yun had finally obtained the last ingredient he was missing for his Frozen Fire pill. With that, he might be able to advance his cultivation even faster than he had thought. Although Jie Yuan had been annoying the entire way, he had been incredibly helpful. Cao Yun was not one to renege on his word and he would reward anyone who was useful to him. On the other hand, he had shown that he would chastise those who meant him harm.


    Jie Yuan literally fell to the ground, kowtowing to the alchemist. Truly, he felt as though he was the luckiest man in the world. And all of that was thanks to the cave he had found.


    "Great master, my greatest desire has always been to improve my cultivation."


    "Then, you wish for a pill to help you advance?"


    This was the moment Jie Yuan had to grab. Such a fortuitous encounter was rare and he simply couldn''t let it go just like that. A pill would only help him once and it could only bring his cultivation so far. Even if he became a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, the Lesser Tribulation would still be a problem, even reaching it might be a problem in fact. After all, Jie Yuan was rather old for his current cultivation. And he had accumulated many problems already.


    "If I may be so bold, I would like you to take me in as a disciple. A prodigious master like you would have no problem making me into a great cultivator. I understand that this lowly one is unworthy of your attention, but..."


    "I hear you. And I understand your point. If you truly wish to work on your cultivation, and if you are serious enough, I can help you."


    "Really, great master?"


    "Of course. However, I won''t take you in as a disciple. I have a better idea in mind. As Wubei Sect''s Young Sect Master, I will refer you to a more competent master than I am."


    "Great lord, no one is more competent than you in the entire Hongchen Kingdom."


    Jie Yuan''s words seemed even more false than before. He had a hard time hiding his joy. If Cao Yun himself talked about a greater master, Jie Yuan could barely imagine how formidable he would be. Maybe he might even become a great hero of mankind in the future. As long as he became a Mortal Warrior, his lifespan would triple at the very least. Then, he might reach the Spirit Warrior realm and live for thousands of years. Suddenly, Jie Yuan was dreaming of a great future and all because of a small cave he had fallen into.


    In Cao Yun''s head, there was a completely different scenario Jie Yuan would soon discover. Indeed, this little man was simply too annoying. And Cao Yun had decided to shape him into something else. The master he had in mind was Chief Instructor Peng. The Wubei Sect would know how to deal with his frozen meridians, but the process and the training would be incredibly difficult and even painful. Cao Yun had in mind of making Jie Yuan Peng Mo''s student and personal servant. All day long, he would train him. Although it would be harsh, if Jie Yuan didn''t give up he might indeed become a Spirit Warrior one day. Damn, he might even try to become an official inner disciple.


    And if Jie Yuan gave up, then Cao Yun would have still repaid him for the ingredient. What he had decided to do would just open the opportunity to this Jie Yuan, whether he was able to grab it was up to him in the end. Too few cultivators were able to actually do what was necessary to progress.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    In the following months, Jie Yuan would reach the Wubei Sect and Peng Mo would indeed take him in as a disciple. For several more months, he would everything to make him quit to the point where Jie Yuan only knew pain every single day. With his monstrous training regime, Peng Mo would make sure that Jie Yuan was always hurting somewhere while other parts of his body were healing. He would train him until his bones broke. Then, he would have physicians take care of him. Getting rid of the frost in his meridians would be the most painful process. For that, he would simply send his own Qi in his meridians along with some medicinal balms. Then, he would burn it all away bit by bit while trying to preserve them as much as he could. There would be lasting damage, no matter how cautious Peng Mo was.


    Even if Jie Yuan became a Spirit Warrior one day, he would never be able to reach the pinnacle of that realm. But living a thousand years and being able to fly were already good rewards... Anyway, despite everything Jie Yuan would suffer through, he would persevere until the point where Peng Mo would even take a liking to the little man. However, Jie Yuan would never stop to try to flatter everyone a bit stronger than himself. Luckily for him though, he wasn''t stupid enough to look down upon those weaker than him because he remembered what it was like. And if he had, Peng Mo would have taught him life...


    In the present, Cao Yun went back to Xiaowu City with Jie Yuan. He made sure that there was a way for him to go to the Wubei Sect safely and parted from him as soon as he could. he was worried that he might end up striking him down in exasperation. That was when he received messages from the Imperial City. There were two of them.


    The first one was from Xiao Xuefeng to tell him that they had reached the Imperial City safely. She was with Spirit Master Hua Fenfei, Song Guixiang, Mei Hua, Xue Gulin and Feng Yingyue. They had also a room prepared for him and she was looking forward to talking with him again. Of course, she didn''t say anything too concrete in the message, but he knew that she was referring to what he had discovered in the Subei Province. Xiao Xuefeng was probably the woman he was the most honest with. However, he wasn''t looking forward to that. It had already been five years since he had last met Feng Yingyue. Even their epistolary conversations had stopped over time. After all, they were both quite busy with their training and the events. Feng Yingyue had also dealt with the demonic beasts stampede and the demonic cultivators.


    From what he had heard, she was now a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. Even for an alchemist, this was a fast progress. Besides, she had also gotten her 5-star Human alchemist emblem. Just like Cao Yun, she had not slacked off at all. However, the young man was incredibly anxious about meeting her once more. After all, he was even starting to doubt about his true feelings. When they had met he had indeed fallen for her. But the truth was that the circumstances were very special. Back then, he was still under the shock of what had happened. And he had saved her life. Maybe her feelings were also different now.


    To be honest, Cao Yun had also other problems right now than romance. This wasn''t always on his mind. Maybe he was a bit like his brother Ren Chao. Although he wasn''t as shy and inexperienced, apart from Feng Yingyue whom he had called his Dao companion, he had no experience at all. Thus, when he started to think about this, he felt his heart speed up a little and his blood become agitated. Even Dian Mo was chuckling when he saw how a young romance could trouble such a man.


    The second message was from Huang Liyue. She too had come to the Imperial City. She had received orders from the Matriarch to guard their representative to the Alchemy Conference, Huang Yiren. In the message, Huang Liyue asked the young man if he could meet with her. Most likely, the Huang family had also heard about what had happened. But he wasn''t sure exactly what Sect Leader Xuan had told them. As much as he had a good relation with Huang Liyue, he wasn''t too trusting of the Matriarch. As long as it served her family, she would work with them. But in the end, she would only serve her own blood. To be fair, Cao Yun could perfectly understand that. At the end of the day, he was the same.


    With two invitations, Cao Yun decided to answer to the second one first.


    -


    After a few days, Cao Yun finally reached the Imperial City. Even from a distance he could see it. That city was the biggest of the entire Hongchen Kingdom. And there were several artifacts left by Emperor Nuwa herself. Of course, she had left behind a few sacred treasures of mankind, like the Piaolu map or the ''Universal Law of Immortality''. Of course, there were copies of those in all the provinces. But the originals were guarded in the Imperial City. For several school of thoughts and even a few religious sects, the Imperial City was a place of pilgrimage.


    From afar, it was possible to see the Imperial Palace. It was so huge that it looked like a small city within the Imperial City. And for all intents and purposes it was. Only officials could live there. The families of the governors of all provinces were also there. Like that they could form networks and receive a great education. At the same time, they were also hostages of sorts. If the Imperial City couldn''t punish a governor for some reason, they would always be able to punish their family at the very least.


    The main building was a very tall pavilion. There was also a nine-story pagoda that was even taller that this pavilion. Indeed, that pagoda was an homage to Emperor Nuwa so it was even more majestic than the palace of the current emperor, Emperor Weide. Obviously, there was a wall surrounding the Imperial Palace. Entering this place was completely forbidden and anyone attempting to do so without permission could be punished by death.


    All around the Imperial Palace, the Imperial City was also majestic with the Main Hall of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall being the most beautiful building of the entire city. There were also headquarters for alchemists, for array formation masters, for physicians, and for all sorts of occupations.


    After registering at the first outpost he saw, Cao Yun went toward the restaurant Huang Liyue had mentioned in her message. He was perfectly in time, so he simply went to the meeting he had arranged with her. Later, he would need to go to Xiao Xuefeng but he dreaded his reunion with Feng Yingyue as much as he was looking forward to it.


    With that in mind, he found Huang Liyue rather easily. They had a friendly conversation over a sumptuous meal. Clearly, this was the best restaurant Cao Yun had ever been to and he enjoyed his meeting with Huang Liyue quite a lot. Later, he accompanied her back to her residence and they talked about ''Ashen Feather Seal'' as well as other things. Huang Liyue told him that Huang Cixi had still not left the Gate of Heaven and Hell. Although no one really knew what was beyond apart from the Matriarch, she might die in there. But if she came out, she would be officially chosen as the next matriarch of the Huang family. Huang Liyue still didn''t tell him that he knew her more intimately than he thought, but she still kept him informed about her situation.


    When he left, he briefly saw the white hair of Huang Yiren, their alchemist. He knew little about her except for the fact that she had been a student of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. She had then left a few years ago to go back to her family but she had not been in Baziyun City when Cao Yun was there. She was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, ready to become a Spirit Warrior, and of course a 5-star Human alchemist. From what he had read about her, she would probably be a fierce opponent during the Alchemy Conference.


    Now, Cao Yun had to go meet an even fiercer opponent, Feng Yingyue.

 Chapter 456: Talking about treason

    The competitors in the Alchemy Conference had a residence specially prepared for them. But the governors who had chosen them as representatives had prepared their own lodgings. And most of them were living with them until the start of the Alchemy Conference. The Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute had a building specifically designed for that purpose. After all they were the biggest alchemy institute in the Hongchen Kingdom. This was also why they had three spots while all the other provinces only had one. In fact, their spots didn''t even count for the Daye Province they were in. So there was a representative of the Daye Province.


    No province had failed to find a representative in fact. This had happened some year but it was still very rare. So there twenty-four contestants in total, one for each of the twenty-one provinces, and three for the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    Cao Yun headed toward Xiao Xuefeng''s residence. She was waiting for him. There, he met back with Kang Hai and Kang Cai who were still serving Xiao Xuefeng. Of course, they had gotten stronger. When he had first met them, they had been mere mortals but now they had finally begun their cultivation.


    "Young Master Chen, our master is ready to receive you. Unfortunately, Miss Mei and Miss Feng are not here at the moment. They had some business to take care of with Spirit Master Hua."


    "Brother!"


    Interrupting the composed Kang Hai, a fat man walked down some stairs that were leading further in. Opening his arms in full, he welcomed Cao Yun. This was Song Guixiang, Hua Fenfei''s disciple. Cao Yun remembered meeting him in Yinmen City. He was living life to the fullest, with food, wind and women. Right now, Song Guixiang even had a cup of wine in hand.


    "What a pleasure to see you again! Sister Feng will be quite happy too, I imagine. Just try not to make too much noise. Ha ha ha!"


    Song Guixiang was only a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. He was not even in his thirties yet so it wasn''t that bad but couldn''t hold a candle to Cao Yun''s current cultivation. The young man remembered that that disciple had also been teasing him and Feng Yingyue when they were in Yinmen City. But he also remembered that his master didn''t like it.


    "Brother Song, should I report your words to Spirit Master Hua? It would be such a shame if you couldn''t enjoy neither food nor wine during your stay in the Imperial City..."


    "Brother, brother! I was just kidding. Come on, don''t be so uptight! I''ll tell you where the best restaurants are in the city. And I can guarantee you that my advice is gold. However, I''m also right about Sister Feng. She was very nervous to meet you again. And from the fact that you first visited Huang Liyue, I imagine that you are nervous too. Such a joyous occasion shouldn''t be filled with so much tension. Relax a little. I know what you''re both thinking, but just stop! Stop trying to think things through too much. First meet and then you''ll see what happens."


    "And you''re such an expert in those matters...?"


    Kang Cai who was usually as composed as her sister glared at Song Guixiang. Clearly, there was some history between the two.


    "Hey, I already told you that I was sorry. I didn''t know that she... I mean, we should talk about that in private... or not at all..."


    "Please, Young Master Chen, our mistress is expecting you."


    While Kang Cai and Song Guixiang were bickering, Kang Hai lead Cao Yun toward Xiao Xuefeng''s chambers. The 8th-grade Spirit Warrior was meditating. Her current cultivation stage required her to try and open her Third Eye. This point would later allow her Soul Embryo to communicate directly with the world and to see through the Dao. As such it was a very important step if one wanted to one day become a Sage. Even though no one had been able to do so for millenniums, there was still hope, especially with Matriarch Huang''s recent attempt and the refinement of a Spirit pill.


    When Cao Yun entered the room, he felt her soul all over the place. Now, he was very sensitive to those energies. In fact, he was almost able to see her Soul Embryo. Although she wasn''t trying to conceal it, only a Spirit Warrior should have been able to see her soul. As Cao Yun was impressed by her cultivation, Xiao Xuefeng was also impressed by the young man. He had become even more mysterious than before.


    "This humble one presents his greetings."


    "You''ve obtained some form of spiritual senses?!"


    "Indeed. I''ve completed the first part of ''Subdue the Seven Demons'' and was able to subdue my Po of Jing. Thanks to some fortuitous encounter, I''ve been able to trap another''s Flying Poison in my sea of consciousness. And I can use it as a form of spiritual senses."


    "I see. Your friend has already subdued three out of her seven Po aspects. It seems like her mind cultivation is even more advanced than yours."


    Cao Yun was quite surprised. Feng Yingyue had almost reached the halfway point of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''''s third layer. But she had mostly focused on her mind cultivation, alchemy and her Qi cultivation. Unlike Cao Yun, she had spent very little time on martial arts and she had not been faced with the same problems he had had to deal with. In fact, she was also helped by the advice he sent her through his letters. Still, that speed was impressive indeed.


    "I''ve read what you wrote about the Subei Province. But I would like to hear things directly from you."


    As she spoke, her Soul Embryo completely confined the room. The use of spiritual senses outside of one''s residence was monitored in the Imperial City. It wasn''t as forbidden as flying. But one couldn''t simply use their spiritual senses to spy on others. And with many Spirit Warriors, one could easily be detected. Within one''s residence though, it was obviously permitted. Despite the interdiction on others to spy, Xiao Xuefeng was feeling better with a layer of protection around them.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "In fact, this could be a nice opportunity to teach you some things. Can you get your Flying Poison out?"


    Xiao Xuefeng knew that there was more to Cao Yun''s story that just capturing someone else''s Flying Poison, but she didn''t press him on the matter. After all, she knew he had obtained some great treasure at some point. Maybe it was related to it or maybe to another treasure he had found. In fact, it might also be some terrible thing created by demonic cultivators he was now using. No matter the origin of something, what mattered was what was done with it. This was the orthodox way in the Hongchen Kingdom. Actions were always the most important means to judge someone or something.


    Since he trusted her and could feel that this room was isolated from the outside world, Cao Yun took out part of the Flying Poison. There was always a tiny part of it that remained anchored into his Nine Soul Peaks. And with it, he also took out the Black Heart Flame.


    "That flame is interesting for your alchemy... But first I would like to focus on your spiritual senses. With them you can sense things around you but also interact with souls and minds. They are still quite weak and you can''t send them very far. You can''t fly either. Only when your Soul Embryo gets birthed will you be able to do so. But for now, you might still be able to improve your spiritual senses if you learn how to better control this Flying Poison. In fact, you could be able to send directed telepathic messages to a single person who''s not too far from you. Imagine that this Flying Poison becomes a needle, a very thin needle, almost invisible. This needle should stick out from your forehead and aim directly at mine, focus on my Yintang, the Third Eye. You should barely see a fluctuation of the air between our two Yintang."


    Without hesitation, Cao Yun imagined exactly what Xiao Xuefeng told him. Before long, he had indeed formed a thin needle between his glabella and hers. Although his eyes were closed, he could vaguely see a form of vibration in the air between them. He was seeing with his Qi and his soul at that point.


    "Good. Now, focus on a single thought, a phrase or an idea that you want to send directly into my mind. Let it fill your mind and your soul. But do not get too tense. Focus on this thought but then let it have its own momentum. Don''t try to control it, let it flow in your mind as you watch it. When you feel that it''s become strong enough and that your entire mind and soul are filled with it, imagine that the needle pierces through your glabella. It enters into your sea of consciousness and touches upon this idea. At the same moment, picture this needle piercing through my own forehead and into a vast empty sea. Then let the idea flow through the needle as a river into an ocean."


    Cao Yun tried to do exactly as Xiao Xuefeng told him to do. To be honest, despite his mind cultivation, it was extremely strenuous on him. Maintaining his Flying Poison in this state while focusing on a single thought was incredibly difficult, much more than he had imagined. But he still endured and persevered until he succeeded. And he did succeed. Before long, he was able to send a single thought into Xiao Xuefeng''s mind. To be fair, she was opening her mind to him to make things easier. If he tried to send a message to someone who wasn''t actively trying to listen to him, it would be much more difficult. His spiritual senses were just too weak for now. But at the very least, he knew how telepathy worked now.


    Through the use of spiritual senses, which are simply the use of one''s soul outside of their body, it was indeed possible to send messages into someone else''s mind. However, reading someone''s thoughts was much more complicated. Even a late Spirit Warrior would not attempt it frivolously. Any technique to see through someone''s mind or memories was dangerous for that person and the success rate was not necessarily very high. As one''s cultivation would develop, seeing through the mind of weaker cultivators would become easier and easier though.


    "Good! I''ve heard your message. It was still a bit weak and vague, but I certainly got your intention. With a bit more practice, you should be able to send your voice not through wind but through soul. However, you''re not quite there yet. And to be honest, you should focus on your Qi cultivation foremost. As long as you form your Soul Embryo, you''ll be able to do so. Do not let yourself focus too much on improving those meager spiritual senses. They''ll naturally grow with your Soul Embryo."


    "I understand, Spirit Master."


    Then, Cao Yun and Xiao Xuefeng talked about what he had discovered within Gu Song''s mind. While Xiao Xuefeng talked through her soul, Cao Yun was using his Qi to control the flow of his voice so it only reached her ears. With her spiritual senses protecting the room, it was almost impossible for anyone else to eavesdrop on their conversation. Considering the nature of it, it was vital. Indeed, Cao Yun talked about Emperor Weide, his affiliation with the demonic cultivators and his plans to kill his family in order to get his mother''s Soul Embryo.


    "You say you''ve met his daughter?! I''ve never heard anything about Emperor Weide having a lover, let alone a daughter. It''s not impossible of course, but this is quite surprising. Yong Ke...? We''ll have to look into that a bit more. If what you say is true, our Emperor used the demonic cultivators for centuries in an attempt to increase his own power. Because of that they''ve grown stronger and stronger while we were blind to them. That would indeed explain why there are so many Spirit Warriors among them. In all recorded history, the demonic cultivators had never been able to reach this cultivation realm as they were found out and executed before that.


    "That is a very serious crime. In itself, if proven true, it could justify to depose our Emperor... However, this is a very delicate matter. Even if we do believe you, and I do, we can''t act upon it just yet. First of all, we need absolute proof to bring before everyone. But even then, some will protect the Emperor anyway. No matter what happens, if we go down that road, there will be a fight. After all, Emperor Weide won''t go down without fighting. A battle between 9th-grade Spirit Warriors is something that could devastate the Wang Province and even more. With the threat of the demons and the Demon King still planning against us, this is not something that we can afford. For the time being, we can''t pursue the matter.


    "Cao Yun, I understand that you want to take him down. But we simply cannot do so right now. However, now that Matriarch Huang knows about that, you can be sure that Emperor Weide will eventually fall. That woman wants power for her family more than anything else. There is absolutely no way she will let go of such an opportunity. But it could take us decades if not centuries."


    A political struggle between late Spirit Warriors could indeed last extremely long. However, there was also an urgency in Xiao Xuefeng''s voice. Indeed, they both knew that Emperor Weide was at least five centuries younger than Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang. The two of them were sadly close to the end of their lifespan. In other words, they didn''t have that long.


    That being said, Cao Yun was aware that the situation was delicate. However, he had something else in mind. He absolutely wanted to know who Yong Ke truly was. He had to see her face at least once to confirm his worries. She might be someone who shared his blood. Or she might have been saved by using the deaths of his family members.

 Chapter 457: Reunion

    As they were discussing that important issue, Hua Fenfei came back with Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua. The two of them were respectively the direct disciples of Spirit Master Hua and Spirit Master Xiao. As such, they were obviously among the representatives of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Xue Gulin, the third and last one, was not in the residence right now.


    Talking about Xue Gulin, Xiao Xuefeng had a few words of warning for Cao Yun about him. As she felt the return of his sister and his Dao companion, she decided to cut the conversation short and to warn him right now.


    "You should know that Xue Gulin is Xue Rui''s older brother. When he learned the news about his brother''s demise, he was devastated. As much as he tried to deny it, I''m convinced that he holds you responsible somehow. He heard enough from his family to know that you were involved. And he doesn''t seem to accept the fact that his brother was under the influence of a demonic cultivator. Besides, the investigation around Zhong Ling''s torment has raised many problems within the Xue family. In order to protect their name, they had no problem putting as much blame as possible on the dead, Xue Rui included.


    "Besides, this Xue Gulin used to court Feng Yingyue. As he wouldn''t stop by himself, Feng Yingyue was forced to make it crystal clear to him that she wasn''t interested. My sister even personally made sure that he had fully understood her message. Since then he calmed down of course. However, I do not think he changed his views on Feng Yingyue, not even knowing that she had an affair with the current Wubei Sect''s Young Sect Master. Although I would have liked to choose someone else, he was indeed the most talented alchemist after Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua. Since he never disobeyed our orders, we couldn''t punish him for no reason. That being said, you should be careful around that man. I don''t trust him at all."


    "I understand. And I appreciate your advice, Spirit Master."


    "Good. Now get out there and meet with your sister and your woman."


    Of course, Xiao Xuefeng could see the tension in Cao Yun when Feng Yingyue had been mentioned. It was quite obvious that he was nervous about seeing her again. However, he had to see her at some point. Finally, he would have his answer. Walking out of Xiao Xuefeng''s chambers, he went toward the main lobby where the two women were.


    The first thing he saw was Feng Yingyue''s fiery hair. She was taller than in his memories. Her clothes were thin enough that he could imagine her muscles underneath. Although she had spent most of her time on alchemy, he could tell she had still trained and tempered her body as well. His knowledge of martial arts told him that she was very well trained but lacked actual combat experience. Apart from the practical aspect, those toned muscles made her look even more elegant. She wasn''t too muscular since she had devoted most of her time to alchemy, but it made her shape breathtaking.


    And when she sensed Cao Yun''s gaze on her back, she turned toward him. Then, he saw the two emeralds shining in her eyes. With a bit more maturity, her face looked ever more splendid. By looking at her, Cao Yun could still see the young shy girl he had met, but she had turned into a resplendent young woman. In her eyes, there was now a certainty and a deep resolve. However, he could only see the eyes of the young girl he had saved in the woods. His heart began to beat faster as the images of their first and last night together resurfaced in his mind. Dian Mo was also looking at the scene and was amused by all the emotions going through Cao Yun''s mind at the moment.


    Now he was certain. His feelings toward Feng Yingyue had not been mere infatuation caused by the extreme emotions of the moment. Just by looking at her eyes, he couldn''t bare to stay away from her for an instant more. He needed to hold her, to feel her. And in those eyes, he saw the same thing from Feng Yingyue.


    She too had been in doubts. After all, she had met Cao Yun while her life had been in danger and he had saved her. They had shared one night together before not seeing each other for five whole years. Of course she doubted whether they would still feel the same thing toward one another. For no moment did she doubt that Cao Yun would stay faithful, but she had doubts about his true feelings and hers. Now the two of them seemed to have found their answer even without speaking a single word.


    Mei Hua, Kang Cai, Kang Hai and Hua Fenfei were all watching the scene without knowing what to say. Mei Hua wanted to talk with her brother but didn''t dare disturb the reunion between her senior sister and her sworn brother. On the other hand, Hua Fenfei had some things to say to Mei Hua, but she knew it wasn''t the right moment. Besides, if Cao Yun was here, he had probably talked with her sister. Instead of waiting for Feng Yingyue to come back to reality, she should go to Xiao Xuefeng to converse about Cao Yun''s information.


    As all the women were deciding on what to do next and didn''t want to disturb Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue''s moment, another voice disagreed. Once again, it was Song Guixiang. The fat alchemist cleared his throat and talked toward Cao Yun.


    "Brother, I am sure that sister Feng would love to ''chat'' with you about what you both experienced during the five years you were away. I would advise you to go to the last room in the pavilion. It''s isolated enough that no one will hear your ''conversation''."


    As he spoke, Hua Fenfei''s eyes were shooting daggers at her plump disciple. But she knew him enough to know that he meant no harm. In fact, he was certain that he was helping out. As it turned out, Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue actually listened to his advice and went toward the most isolated room of the pavilion. Everyone was a bit embarrassed because they could imagine what their ''conversation'' would be. In fact, Song Guixiang was quite proud of himself and had a large grin on his face.


    "Way to go, brother!"


    That was when he saw his master''s glare.


    "Couldn''t you be any less subtle next time?!"Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "Master, there''s nothing wrong about what I said. Isn''t it normal for Dao companion who were separated for so long to want to retire into a room alone?!"


    "And isn''t it normal not to try to embarrass everyone around you when you speak?!"


    "What do you mean? I only told them to have a deep conversation. What did you imagine, Master?"


    The more he spoke, the more Kang Cai and Kang Hai''s faces turned red.


    "Enough of you! I forbid you from leaving your chambers for the entire week, and no more wine."


    "But... Master, I didn''t do anything wrong..."


    "You should learn propriety. Some matters are better left to imagination than so brazenly talked about. Learn to mind your words with more tact."


    -


    While all the women imagined the passion between Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue, they actually did talk. But Song Guixiang had made some modifications in this room. There was no furniture but a large bed. As such, they were sitting on the side of the bed with a bit of space between them.


    "I''m sorry I couldn''t send more letters in the previous years."


    "I was actually training in seclusion anyway. I''ve spent twenty months in the Hall of Poison and Cure before being chosen as the first representative of my Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute."


    "Did you receive my letter about City Lord Dun Mofan? I know he was good to you..."


    "Yes, I did. And it did affect me a little. But I also heard that you risked quite a lot to protect Yinmen City. In your letter, you blamed yourself as that demonic beast had attacked Yinmen City because of your presence. However, I fail to see how it is your fault. Demonic cultivators attacked everywhere. Without you and your brothers there, it is impossible to know how many victims there would have been. You shouldn''t blame yourself for the actions of your enemies."


    ...


    "I can see that your mind cultivation has exceeded mine."


    "Indeed, but I''ve focused much more time on it than you did."


    "Even sister Mei didn''t reach such a level. In fact, she didn''t even subdued the first aspect of her Po."


    "Well, to be honest, sister Mei has more trauma than even you do. You''re not the only one with a difficult past. But unlike her, your family loved you and tried to protect you. Mei Hua was forced to turn against her own flesh and blood to save her sister, this is not an easy thing to get over. But I do think that she should be able to overcome this pain in the foreseeable future. In fact, it''s turning into more of a strength than a weakness recently. As her younger daughter grows up, she''s also able to detach herself from her worries. And it''s partly thanks to you, Mei Ying has become quite proficient with the spear. But her sister will talk better about that. Besides, I''d like to focus about us right now."


    As they kept talking, they were getting closer to each other, close enough to feel the breathe of the other on their skin.


    "Us? Indeed, I want to hear more about what happened to you in those five years."


    "Very little, in fact. After all, I''ve mostly studied in seclusion. Even when the demonic beasts attacked, I didn''t see much action. For a time I tried to work hard on martial arts but to be honest, this isn''t my thing at all."


    "I can see that you didn''t neglect your body though."


    Slowly, Cao Yun began to touch Feng Yingyue''s arm. Her muscles twitched a little and her skin shivered. Through his enhanced senses, Cao Yun could feel all of Feng Yingyue''s reactions and so could she. Her muscles were not too visible but they were perfect. If she had wanted to be a fighter, she could have. However, she was only interested in alchemy. As such, she was probably even better than Cao Yun right now. He had almost no doubt that she could win the Alchemy Conference even though he had not met all the other contestants. To be fair, she had been chosen as the first representative of the biggest alchemy institute of the entire Hongchen Kingdom.


    "And you seemed to have reached new heights in many domains. I believe that even my master can''t see through all your secrets."


    Feng Yingyue kissed Cao Yun and the two of them lost themselves in their embrace. Their passion took over. Cao Yun had one last ounce of self-control. Within his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo could see and feel everything the young man could. However, he simply couldn''t accept to share those intimate moments. They were solely between him and his companion. Thus, Cao Yun used his two double hours to block Dian Mo''s window on the outside world. When he thought about it, two double hours might not be sufficient. Thankfully though, Dian Mo decided to be correct and simply didn''t look even when the time was up. Instead, he read some poems Cao Yun had given him.


    Qi, Shen and Jing circulated between the two of them. What began out of pure impulses slowly turned into a form of dual cultivation. Nothing was planned or thought beforehand, it just happened. As their bodies melded into one, so did their senses and their minds. Their very souls were acting together with one another. And with all of that, their beings seemed to form one whole. Between them, many things circulated as they were lost in their emotions and sensations.


    Such passion was very positive for Qi cultivation but also blood cultivation and even mind cultivation. That was why dual cultivation was seen as a noble activity, increasing the importance that cultivators placed on Dao companions. Being someone''s Dao companion was sometimes viewed as even stronger as being someone''s spouse. Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue had used the term when they were younger and didn''t necessarily understood everything it entailed. But in that moment where they were one, they truly desired the level of intimacy that was hidden behind this term.


    Cao Yun couldn''t imagine himself with another woman as he was with Feng Yingyue at that moment.


    Slowly, they started to practice the ''Dance of the White Mountains''. This was a very sensual dual cultivation that was best practiced between two partners of the same cultivation level. Right now, Cao Yun was a bit stronger than her, but not by much. As such, she would probably gain more than him, but they would both earn a lot of benefits anyway. Besides, they clearly had no intention of only cultivating together once. They would cultivate as much as they could...


    Their first reunion literally lasted three days. If there was no Alchemy Conference, they could have continued on and on. After all, cultivators of their level could refrain from drinking, eating and sleeping for extended periods of time. Besides, they had impressive stamina that no mortal could rival.


    During those three days, Song Guixiang controlled himself but he had many things he wanted to say. Unfortunately for him, he was surrounded by women. Maybe he would ask some details to his brother Chen Guo once he was done. He might even give him some advice. But he knew better than to go to Feng Yingyue with them. Otherwise, their mutual master would learn of it and punish him again. According to her, he had to learn to respect a young lady''s privacy.


    Apart from dual cultivating, Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue also talked a lot about what had happened to them. Cao Yun even wrote a poem to his lover and their embrace became even more ardent.

 Chapter 458: Deep-seated hatred

    Three days had passed and the Alchemy Conference was getting closer and closer. During that time, the fifth year of Cao Yun''s time in the Wubei Sect had gone by. Now, he was officially an inner disciple of the sect. Even though he had been named the Young Sect Master, technically he had still been an outer disciple until the end of this fifth year. Mei Hua told him that she had decided to stay with her master and to join the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. On the other hand, Ren Chao had also become an inner disciple. And Sun Liao who had had other plans finally became an inner disciple as well in order to stay close to his master.


    Since the attack on the Wubei Sect, Sun Liao kept on trying to get into contact with his master in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Cao Yun had obtained much information from Dian Mo along the months they had spent together and had sent everything to Sun Liao. However, it was still impossible to contact Chief Elder Suxian. Many thought him to be either dead or so weak that his soul was dormant, only waking up to take in disciples. Anyway, this had boosted Sun Liao''s thirst for knowledge. Every occasion he had, he tried to improve his understanding of array formations.


    Since his cultivation was simply too weak for now, he couldn''t become a Heaven array formation master. Thus, he was focusing on his Qi cultivation with the manual he had received in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, ''Crossing the Three Chasms in the Eight Directions''. This manual was very detailed and explained how to use array formations to improve one''s cultivation. Besides that, he also practiced Cao Yun''s mind cultivation. Of course, he also gave his brothers and sister the knowledge he had obtained from his manual. Although it was rather useless for Ren Chao and Mei Hua, Cao Yun had been very interested. In fact the Center of All Things array formation he had used had been from this very manual.


    On his end, Ren Chao was working on his blacksmithing while enjoying life along Wang Mei. Apparently the two of them were complementing each other very well. Ren Chao was raw strength while Wang Mei was an expert of arts. What he lacked in finesse, she could make up for. Their dual cultivation seemed to be very efficient indeed. Sun Liao didn''t miss an opportunity to tease his friend about that every chance he got. Slowly, the tragedy of his master''s demise had healed enough for him to enjoy life without thinking about it every single instant. However, even if he hadn''t met him in a long time, Cao Yun suspected that Sun Liao was hiding his culpability. A genius like him probably felt like it was his fault if he couldn''t help his master trapped in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom.


    Unfortunately, his brothers would not be present during the Alchemy Conference. But they had left a message to Mei Hua. They were both looking forward to seeing him back. In their minds, there was no doubt that Mei Hua and Cao Yun would be among the first places in that competition. Of course, Cao Yun was rather convinced that the first place would be Feng Yingyue, but then he was confident about his getting a high rank as well.


    During the few days before the official start of the Alchemy Conference, the Imperial City became more and more agitated. Every commerce would be trying to rope in as many customers as they could. Apart from the alchemists, nobles from all over the Hongchen Kingdom would be present, both to admire the competition and to try to form relationship with the alchemists themselves. Even if they didn''t win, or worse if they ended up last, those alchemists would be renowned throughout the kingdom. Absolutely every family wold want to befriend them. For that, they had to show sincerity from the get-go and not wait until the very end.


    As a matter of fact, Cao Yun, Mei Hua and Feng Yingyue would receive a ton of gifts. Thankfully, Kang Cai and Kang Hai were able to deal with them easily as their master had given them clear instructions. The three alchemists would be kept away from the circus so they could focus on the competition. Well, Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue were focused on something else.


    Still, they remembered the competition and ended their dual cultivation after only three days. To be honest, they could have kept on going for more than a week. But it was time to get to work.


    Cao Yun could feel a powerful fire in his chest already. During his ardent embrace of Feng Yingyue, his cultivation had progressed by leaps and bounds. Dual cultivation was truly impressive. Besides, since he was supposed to gather Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, such a fiery dance was ideal for him. On the other hand, Feng Yingyue''s cultivation had also improved a lot. In fact, they could have both gained even more if her cultivation had been on Cao Yun''s level. However, she had focused her efforts not on her Qi cultivation but on her mind. Right now, she was trying to subdue her fourth Po, the Po of Yin, related to fear.


    They talked for some time and compared how they had been cultivated. Cao Yun was very surprised by his Dao companion''s understanding of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Clearly she seemed to be much more connected to her soul than he had been. According to the manual, subduing each aspect of the Po could take up to two years and Cao Yun was not progressing that much faster. On the other hand, Feng Yingyue seemed to only need around a year to subdue hers. Maybe it would take more time for the next ones, but still, her progress was extremely impressive. So they spoke and were both able to get new ideas on their cultivation.


    Cao Yun''s way of tempering his Five Prodigious Gates gave many good ideas to the young woman. After all, she was an alchemist so she immediately thought of several pills that could have similar effects. In fact, she might also use some specific incenses to entice similar reactions in her body, thus limiting the toxins. As they spoke, the two of them were formulating plans to improve their cultivation. However, cultivating the soul was an even more personal matter than cultivating one''s Qi. Thus Cao Yun gained less than his Dao companion. That being said, she gave him very interesting images to work on the aspects of his Po. Visualization was very important indeed, the young man had been convinced of it.


    Ironically, Cao Yun who had been nervous to meet with Feng Yingyue again was now wanting for the Alchemy Conference to never come. Although he had not talked about martial arts for quite some time, those moments spent with that lovely woman were precious to him. He enjoyed every word they exchanged. Instead of martial arts, they talked about Qi cultivation, mind cultivation and a little bit of alchemy. Those were also subjects Cao Yun was passionate about.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "When this competition is over, I''d like to exchange a few moves with you. Even if I didn''t train my martial arts very much, I still have some things I''d like your opinion about."


    "Of course, it would be my pleasure."


    "Don''t mock me though. Unlike you I am nowhere near forming a Martial Aura. My techniques will look ridiculous in your eyes..."


    Finally, they left their room. In the corridor, they met Song Guixiang who had a large grin on his face.


    "Oh?! So you''re done ''speaking'' with each other?! Ha ha ha!"


    Feng Yingyue who used to be shy was now accustomed to Song Guixiang''s attitude. Most of the time, he was been admonished by their master because he was often getting carried away. However, she also knew, like Spirit Master Hua, that his heart was in the right place. So she didn''t get overly embarrassed. That being said, Cao Yun could see her complexion turning a bit red when she brazenly answered.


    "We would have loved to keep on speaking, but the Alchemy Conference awaits us."


    "I hear you, sister. Sometimes I''m forced to leave a charming company because our master needs me for some task... That''s just the worst. But once you both win the competition, you''ll have a lot more time to ''catch up''. Ha ha ha!"


    Suddenly, Song Guixiang''s attitude changed. Feng Yingyue also got colder. From the entrance, Cao Yun could hear that someone had entered the residence and he was able to recognize him through his Wei Qi. That person was Xue Rui''s older brother, Xue Gulin. Cao Yun had killed his brother very recently. Even if his death had been attributed to Gu Song, he knew that the Xue family resented him. After all, he had asked for a formal investigation to be opened on Zhong Ling and this didn''t look good for the Xue family. Chief Elder Meng had also heard the news and had been furious. He had felt rather close to Zhong Ling as she was the one who always woke him up to get to work.


    Xue Gulin was very tall and handsome. Just by looking at his face, one could see arrogance everywhere. To be fair, he had the right to be arrogant. At 22 years old, he had become a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior, it was five years earlier than Song Guixiang. Of course compare with Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue, this was a bit slow. But compared with the average cultivator, this was still very good as they reached 1st-grade Mortal Warrior in their early thirties. Even Mei Hua who was a talented alchemist had become a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior very recently as she was already 21. Moreover, Xue Gulin was a 5-star Human alchemist already and had been chosen as the third representative of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    In other words, in the Subei Province, he was an absolute genius. His mere existence would help his family rise higher than ever before. But he had two vexations and they were now right in front of him, rubbing it in his face. The first one was Feng Yingyue. Despite his attempts at courting her, he had failed. Over time, he had moved past it. After all, Feng Yingyue was a genius way above himself so he could accept that she didn''t want to be with him. And he had even accepted that she was another man''s Dao companion as that man was literally the Wubei Sect''s future leader.


    But then, this very man had caused his second vexation. His little brother had died in circumstances that weren''t so clear to him. In fact, the more he heard about it, the more he was convinced that Cao Yun had somehow been responsible for it in some way. Or at the very least, he had decided to let him die when he could have helped him. Obviously, Xue Gulin didn''t know the whole truth and even had contradicting reports. But this new vexation had somehow woken up the first one. His hatred for Cao Yun was now firmly set in his heart.


    As much as he tried to hide it, Cao Yun could see it clearly in his eyes.


    "Sister Feng, Brother Song. And you must be Chen Guo. It''s a pleasure to meet you, Young Sect Master. Patriarch Xue told me a lot about your exploits in our Qingyun City."


    "Xue Gulin, all my condolences for your brother. What happened to him was truly tragic. I intend to strike down all those demonic cultivators so that such a tragedy doesn''t happen again. If only I had been able to take Gu Song down earlier..."


    "Do not blame yourself about it. I am certain that you did your best. Besides, my own family didn''t even sense his presence. This was completely our fault. And as the investigation revealed, my brother did wrong your Wubei Sect with this Zhong Ling. Through me, our patriarch sends his sincerest apologies. If the Wubei Sect wants anything from us, we are ready to answer your call."


    "Thank you. I hope that we can put these unfortunate events behind us and move on. Mankind must stay united to face all those threats in front of us."


    "Of course. Brother Chen is magnanimous and wise. No wonder Sister Feng chose him over an insignificant man such as myself. You truly make an exceptional couple. Demons and demonic cultivators alike should cower before you."


    All the nice words of Xue Gulin were filled with poison. Everyone in the room was aware of it and the atmosphere was exceptionally tense. So when Xue Gulin left as abruptly as he had come in, they didn''t mind at all.


    Cao Yun was more sensitive to those things than the other two alchemists. Thus he was the only one who felt the powerful killing intent hidden behind Xue Gulin''s good manners. There was no doubt in his mind, Xue Gulin didn''t just blame or hate him, he wanted his death. As much as Cao Yun simply couldn''t kill someone just because he had bad intentions, at least not in the middle of the Imperial City, he would show no mercy when the time came. In fact, he even thought about assassinating him. Cao Yun had grown from the young boy he was before. It was better to get rid of a threat right now than to let it fester.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t act freely in the Imperial City. There were late Spirit Warriors everywhere and Xue Gulin was literally one of the contestants for the Alchemy Conference. His death definitely wouldn''t go unnoticed. For now, Cao Yun couldn''t know whether Xue Gulin had acted on his desire or intended to do so. Anyway, he was already ready for an attack by demonic cultivators as he had learned from Gu Song. In his mind, he had seen plans for such an attack during the Alchemy Conference. But of course, those plans would be altered now that he was dead.


    In Gu Song''s plans, Xue Rui should have caused a disaster during the competition to serve as a diversion for their real attack. Right now, Cao Yun had made sure that his older brother was not in cahoots with them. Indeed, he had no trace of Evil Qi or any demonic technique. However, they could also use orthodox cultivators. His hatred toward Cao Yun could be weaponized. Spirit Master Xiao was also aware of that, but being in the Imperial City made tailing him much more difficult as spiritual senses were prohibited.

 Chapter 459: The Alchemy Conference opens

    Paradoxically, thanks to the rules of the Imperial City, Xue Gulin was more free than usual. And he had decided not to stay in the same residence as Feng Yingyue. On the other hand, Cao Yun stayed with her until the official start of the Alchemy Conference.


    Xue Gulin found himself in an isolated room with a woman. But this wasn''t a meeting as pleasant as the one between Cao Yun and his Dao companion. Instead, they were talking business. That woman was hiding her face with a metallic black and red mask, and her clothes were large enough to conceal her figure. She probably had other things to hide as well. However, her hair were cascading over her shoulders and her mouth was visible. It would still be difficult for Xue Gulin to recognize her in the streets though.


    Anyway, despite this secrecy, that woman seemed quite charming. She had black hair with a few shades of red in them which was very familiar to Xue Gulin. That woman had more demon blood in her veins than most people. And this was rather common in the Subei Province. Her lips were also a bright red with very light make-up on her face, maybe just enough so that taking it off would change her face once the mask was off. Although Xue Gulin couldn''t know for sure, her mask probably had traces of Void Nurtured Platinum in it as well as other alloys. In other words, even spiritual senses would have a hard time seeing through her mask.


    "You assured me that Chen Guo would be killed! I paid you a lot for that. If you can''t deliver on it..."


    Xue Gulin''s voice was low, in fact he was almost whispering. However, his tone was not pleasant at all. As he spoke, the woman''s lips began to form a smile. Behind this smile, Xue Gulin saw a predator ready to pounce on its prey. Remembering who he had in front of him, he changed his demeanor.


    "Do not worry about that, esteemed customer. But do not threaten me either or you will have something else to worry about."


    As she spoke, Xue Gulin stopped moving. Just over his throat, a blade had appeared in an instant. Even before he could feel it, it had pierced through his Wei Qi. With a single instruction, that woman could slice his throat and be done with him. Of course, he knew that she wouldn''t dare do so right before the Alchemy Conference. At least, he was hoping that was the case.


    "Miss, I meant no disrespect. But we had a contract. I paid good money and I even offered my services for his head. Until now I''ve held my part of the bargain, it is only natural that you uphold yours."


    "The team I sent should have been able to deal even with a half-step Spirit Warrior. I have to admit that this Chen Guo is better than I initially thought. But as you can see, my team was professional. Even after killing them, Chen Guo doesn''t suspect that they were after him. Their act was perfect in that aspect. Now that he is in the Imperial City, killing him will become much more difficult. But it doesn''t mean that this is impossible. Focus on winning the Alchemy Conference and we will find the opportunity to strike down your rival."


    "He''s not my rival! I heard what he''s been able to do in Qingyun City and he''s no threat to me in this competition. I don''t want him dead because I''m afraid of him. In fact, apart from Feng Yingyue I don''t think anyone can best me. She''s my only concern in that competition. But this Chen Guo is an eyesore... Because of him my little brother is dead, I''m sure of it! And my family''s name is tarnished. That bastard could have tried to keep the matter of Gu Song as secret as possible, but he decided to do otherwise. He''ll pay for his insult!"


    After this small conversation, Xue Gulin left quickly. The concealed woman stayed in that isolated room for quite some time though.


    "Dear customer, I must admit that you are quite petty indeed... Sha Diyi!"


    Another figure appeared in front of the woman. It was too dark to make out who it was, or anything about that person.


    "From the information I have received, some demonic cultivators intend to cause mayhem during the Alchemy Conference. The security of the Imperial Palace has been moved accordingly. Analyze it well. As soon as chaos erupts, you will use the opportunity to kill Chen Guo. This mission is vital! Not only will it secure our relationship with this arrogant brat, but it will also weaken the Wubei Sect. Besides, he''s become a thorn in our side with what happened in Qingyun City. We don''t know what he''s learned or who he told it to."


    "What about Cang Yin?"


    "She will probably be brought to the Imperial City in a few months. We''ve been able to stall some time until her official interrogation. But do not worry, I promised that her death would be by your hand and I keep my promises. However, you have to kill Chen Guo before that. And no matter what, you can''t let your soul get captured if things go south."


    "I understand, Mistress. I already consumed the Blood Allegiance Nectar. My fate is success or obliteration."


    "Good."


    -


    Finally, the Alchemy Conference officially began. All the spectators were gathered in the Imperial Palace. A giant square had been specially prepared for the occasion. All over the place, there were platforms with furnaces and cauldrons as well as some furniture and every material the alchemists would need during the Alchemy Conference. That event was as much a competition as a conference between experts. While the young talents would confront their alchemy with each other, there were also more experimented alchemists talking about their research.


    This event served to promote the young talents but also to force the alchemists to work together. Thanks to this conference, alchemy in the Hongchen Kingdom was always progressing. It wasn''t that alchemists were hiding their research to each other the rest of the time, but they simply didn''t have many opportunities to meet. Besides, the periodicity of the event made it so that they had enough time to progress in their research while still putting pressure on them to succeed. Indeed, showing off that they had advanced in their study of alchemist at each Alchemy Conference was a matter of pride for many alchemists.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    During this particular Alchemy Conference though, they knew that they would all pale in comparison to Spirit Masters Hua and Xiao. But at the same time, they would be able to converse with them. Maybe they might gain new insights into ways of refining a Spirit pill. Although all Heaven alchemists had read their detailed report that Director Ge Ling had made public, talking and interacting with the women who had directed the refinement was the best way to learn more, apart from literally living the process of course.


    Today was the opening ceremony. As such, there were many artists on the stage. Apart from alchemists, the Alchemy Conference also tried to spread the cultural influence of the Imperial Palace so it could shine to all the corners of the kingdom. For the entire day, all kinds of artists would show off on scene, painters, poets, singers, dancers. The Five Imperial Arts were represented of course, but they were not the only ones. There was even a play about Emperor Nuwa''s Great War against the demons and Demon God Da Mo''s ultimate demise.


    At last, when the festivities were over, the Alchemy Conference could really begin.


    To the north of the square, there was a tall building. All around the square, there were several rows of elevated seats. Representatives of all the provinces and many officials were sitting at the top of those rows. From there, they could almost everything that was going on in that square. In particular, they would see everything done by the alchemists once the competition would start.


    A loud gong echoed throughout the square and everyone got silent.


    From a balcony of the tall building, a figure appeared. This was a large man with a short beard and a strong jaw. His hair were almost completely black except for one strand that had turned white. His presence alone was enough to get everyone to stay silent. As he walked, the sun shined on his red and golden robe. Atop his head, his hair were put together and surmounted by a tall crown from which several rows of pearl were falling in front of his forehead and the back of his head. That man was Emperor Weide.


    For more than seventy years, he had not appeared in public. The elders all recognized him. Besides, his aura was full of vitality. Even without spiritual senses, they could feel a powerful Wei Qi all around him. From his being, a great strength emanated. All rumors of his weakness would crumble after that. There was one woman who wasn''t convinced though, Xiao Xuefeng. As a great teacher of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, she was obviously among the spectators. Unlike all the others, even her sister Hua Fenfei, Xiao Xuefeng was able to discern something they had all missed. After all, she was an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    With a powerful voice, Emperor Weide addressed the crowd. Without shouting, his voice was loud enough that everyone could hear it distinctly.


    "In our time of doubt, it is important that we remember all we''ve gone through as a species, as a people, as a kingdom. Emperor Nuwa freed us from the yoke of tyranny and slavery. Since then, the demons have always been a looming threat to our peace and freedom. Some among us have sowed dissension. They believe that their violent and immoral ways are the answer to our problems but they only cause more strife and more suffering for our kind. Against the demons, what we need is unity! We need to show them that unlike them we stand together as one, under the name of Emperor Nuwa. And in the upcoming days, we will see this unity. We will witness the talent of our younger generation. Young alchemists from every province of our kingdom. Although they will compete, they will also show us the strength behind our kingdom."


    After his speech, music was played on Emperor Nuwa''s favorite instrument, the guqin. One by one, the alchemists of the entire Hongchen Kingdom were called and went toward a specific platform. Soon, everyone realized that those platforms were in fact forming a map of the Hongchen Kingdom. Of course, they were disposed in a different manner. But now that they saw where each alchemist went, it had become apparent.


    One by one, they went to their platform. Before long, Cao Yun was called as well. And at the very end, the alchemist of the Wang Province was called followed by the three representatives of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Almost all the alchemists had their 5-star Human alchemist emblem. Only a handful had not reached this grade yet, most likely because they had not taken the test. Indeed, they had probably preferred to focus on the upcoming Alchemy Conference instead.


    After the Emperor had finished his speech, he sat down on some kind of throne and he didn''t speak ever again, confirming Xiao Xuefeng''s doubts. That man was not Emperor Weide. Although his presence was strong, she could tell there was no substance behind it. That man was just a body double and they had a late Spirit Warrior help him produce an aura similar to Emperor Weide. She had to admit it was very well done as she was the only one who saw through the deception. However she wasn''t sure what it meant. Of course, maybe Emperor Weide had merely decided this wasn''t worth his time. But it was also possible that there was a very serious threat on the event even Xiao Xuefeng was unaware of. Yes she knew about the demonic cultivators but their threat was known so it wasn''t too worrisome.


    There was still another possibility. Emperor Weide was simply too weak to appear in public, or even worse...


    Anyway, as she couldn''t get her answers right now, she decided to focus on the Alchemy Conference instead. Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua were close to each other while Cao Yun was in the far west as he was the Subei Province''s representative. The elders all remembered the names and faces of every single alchemists. As they were only twenty-four contestants, it wasn''t too difficult. But they would also remember everything else about them. Although he was on the verge of the square, Cao Yun attracted a lot of attention. Indeed, he was the Wubei Sect''s Young Sect Master after all.


    Then, an old man with gray hair and a beard long enough to touch the ground started to speak. He was levitating on a small platform above the square. Since flying was usually forbidden, this was an exception of the Alchemy Conference. He was the arbiter of the Alchemy Conference and wore proudly his 5-star Heaven alchemist emblem.


    "The Alchemy Conference will last several days. Each day, you will all be evaluated. And each day, some of you will be eliminated. For those who are eliminated from the main competition, you will still have a chance to show your talents during exhibitions. For the other you will progress until only one remains. This alchemist will be recognized as the most talented of the younger generation."


    Xiao Xuefeng remembered that very well as she had won the Alchemy Conference when she had been younger.


    "Our first trial will begin now!"


    From the arbiter''s spatial ring, two dozen pills went flying all over the place and reached every single alchemist on the platform. They were all different.


    "Your first task is quite easy. You must identify the pill you have received and ascertain its quality. If you fail to be accurate enough, you will be eliminated right away. I hope that none of you fails so soon."

 Chapter 460: Pill appraisal

    The Alchemy Conference consisted of several trials, which made sense. After all, most alchemists around the platform were clearly no match for either him or Feng Yingyue. There was no need for any kind of competition to know that. But having a competition with only one duel wouldn''t be very entertaining for many. Besides, it was also the occasion to have a social event and to allow each province to show its influence.


    Each contestant received a different pill to analyze. The alchemists were prepared for a difficult trial and they were right. The pills they had in hand were known to no one. Looking around, some alchemists saw the dubious look on their opponents'' faces. It was clear though that those pills were neither Earth nor Human pills. Indeed, they had been given him a Heaven pill to analyze.


    Analyzing a pill was not very complex but it could be very difficult. One had to look at the color, smell the fragrance, sometimes even send Qi in it to decipher its components. For a simple pill, it would be easy to quickly identify the medicinal essence within and link it to known ingredients and recipes. But for complex pills, it could be a maze of intertwined medicinal essences. Right now, Cao Yun was faced with such a maze. Even with his senses, he was unable to decipher every medicinal essence within the pill. Then, he had to perform a more detailed analysis. In fact, no alchemist was able to discern what the pill they had was.


    This first trial would not be easy at all. But no one was expecting for the Alchemy Conference to be easy. Besides, the elders in the public knew that each trial was difficult as they remembered what had happened every time. Of course, the trials were always different so that no one could know beforehand what would be the contents of the trials.


    In order to appraise a pill, the first thing to do was to know the recipe. From that one could deduce the ratio of medicinal essence and toxins left in it. Even without knowing the recipe though, the concentration of medicinal essence alone could give some hints. Right now, Cao Yun could determine that this will was a Pure pill. Thus, it had at least 95% of medicinal essence. The rank of the pill itself was harder to determine but Cao Yun guessed that it was either a 4-star or a 5-star Heaven pill. Indeed, he was able to smell many different fragrances.


    Among them, he recognized a few ingredients. However, some others were harder to make out. And everyone had the same problem. Even after guessing half of the ingredients, it was difficult to know which pill this was. But then, Cao Yun imagined that the crux of the problem wasn''t the pill itself but the recipe. Maybe the pill was known by him but not the recipe.


    Anyway, he would have to try and identify the process by which this pill had been refined if he wanted to know more about it. In fact, many alchemists had this same idea.


    The small pill in front of Cao Yun levitated in the air. He sent his Qi within the pill itself instead of just analyzing the fragrance around it. With his Qi, he was able to follow strands of medicinal essence. They were all intertwined in a complex maze. Besides, there were also strands of toxins all over the place.


    With this more detailed analysis, Cao Yun was able to confirm all the ingredients he had smelled and even found most of the others. Then, there were only a handful of ingredients to discover. By taking the toxins into consideration, Cao Yun was able to slowly form a map of all the interactions within the pill. And from that, he could then begin to imagine the refinement process.


    Such a process was very difficult. Among the contestants, some had decided to take out their cauldron to try out other techniques. A handful of the weaker contestants cut up the pill into several small pieces. Then they used their cauldron to mix each piece with other ingredients. Thanks to that, they could deduce the contents of the pill.


    On the other hand, the favorite of the competition were all like Cao Yun. Feng Yingyue, Mei Hua and Xue Gulin were all meditating with the pill floating in front of them. There was no sound in the square apart from the flames ignited by the alchemists. No one in the audience made a single sound. To be honest, this first trial was not very impressive. Those who didn''t know much about alchemist looked at the cauldrons. In their eyes, this was where something interesting could happen. However, the connoisseurs were all looking at the disciples from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. And a few eyes were also on Cao Yun.


    Finally, Feng Yingyue opened her eyes. The pill fell toward a small wooden box she had taken out of her spatial ring. Then, she walked toward a small platform in the center of the square. It was just below the flying platform of the arbiter.


    "Contestant Feng Yingyue is ready to give her answer."


    Less than an hour had passed by and many alchemists were still full of confusion, yet she appeared perfectly confident. Suddenly, everyone looked at her. They couldn''t imagine that the first representative of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute could lose. Thus, they were looking forward to learning what kind of pills they were dealing with. Even a few alchemists diverted some of their focus to listen to her. Maybe they might find a clue as all the pills had to be as difficult to analyze.


    Feng Yingyue presented the wooden box and it floated all the way to the arbiter.


    "Go ahead. Give your answer. The more detailed it is, the higher your performance will be rated."


    "Mercury Cinnabar Alloy pill, 5-star Heaven pill. Its quality reached the Perfect grade with 93.2% of medicinal essence. On the other hand, 17.8% of the toxins are still within the pill. It was not made by following the standard recipe as taught by Alchemist Duihe. The main ingredient was replaced with Purple Dragon Tendon, thus it increased the amount of Fire element within the pill. Besides, it was refined in a cauldron that was a bit too rich in Metal element. My guess is that it made of Crude Copper. The alchemist who refined it shouldn''t have been more than a 3-star Heaven alchemist himself, on the verge of getting into the 4-star rank. But he made some mistakes, not a few, but enough for the pill not to reach its full potential.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "And I suspect he deliberately tried to keep as much of the toxins as possible. Otherwise the choice of this cauldron with such a recipe would be foolish beyond reason. There was a severe clash between the Fire and the Metal. This clash caused more and more toxins to be gathered in the core of the pill. But the alchemist was able to contain it so as to not reduce the grade of the pill. However, I would advice not to consume this defected product."


    Then, Feng Yingyue began to describe the entire refinement process and even described how the medicinal essence had reacted at every moment. If she had told everyone she had been present during the refinement process, they would have believed her. In fact, she spoke for four incenses sticks as her analysis was just too thorough.


    Finally, she stopped speaking. And the arbiter gave his judgment. The young woman had exposed everything she had discovered about the pill. There were many details that almost seemed like divination for those who didn''t know a single thing about alchemy. In the end, she had aced the trial even though she was the first one to speak.


    "Perfect. There is not a single mistake in everything you''ve said. 100 points."


    From the audience, a round of applause erupted. However it quickly quieted down so as to not disturb the other alchemists. Immediately after Feng Yingyue was done, Mei Hua decided to go on the central platform to expose what she had discovered.


    Her report wasn''t as detailed as Feng Yingyue''s. However, she didn''t make a single mistake either. Her pill was a 4-star Heaven pill with 95.7% medicinal essence and 19.4% toxins. Then, many people realized that the pills probably had a lot of toxins. Because of that, they were more difficult to analyze correctly as the toxins could cause the alchemists to make mistakes. Clearly, this had been done on purpose.


    Mei Hua only obtained 98 points. Of course, this was still very good and the two women were obviously exceptional. But then there remained a single student of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, Xue Gulin. He could accept to be bested by Feng Yingyue, but he refused for anyone else to have a better score than his. Unfortunately, he wasn''t done yet. He looked toward the west and saw that Cao Yun wasn''t done either. However he didn''t heave a sigh of relief just yet.


    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, entire libraries were being explored. Cao Yun had the vague sensation that he had read about this pill at some point. But although he had memorized everything, it didn''t mean that he could easily access all his memories, especially on subjects that he hadn''t fully mastered yet. And Heaven pills weren''t part of what he had mastered. In the back of his mind, what he was feeling on this pill had woken up a memory though. Right now, he was looking for it while a very small part of his intent was still looking at the pill. From the outside, it really looked like he was focused on his pill without moving at all.


    This was a Pure Heaven pill for sure with around 97.9% medicinal essence and 15.8% toxins. Such a pill was rather strange. No Heaven alchemist would have been satisfied with a result as poor as this. Of course, Cao Yun was too focused to hear what had happened around him. But these ratios made sense when he thought about the fact that this was a competition.


    -


    More than an entire double hour had passed now. Xue Gulin had found out what pill he had in front of him but he wasn''t satisfied with just that. Indeed, he wanted to get a perfect score, just like Feng Yingyue. Even if he couldn''t reach it, he at least didn''t want to be any lower than Mei Hua. He could accept to have the same score as her, but no lower. Hopefully, Cao Yun wouldn''t exceed 98 points either. As talented as he was, he was still a martial artist first. Thus, he probably wasn''t as good as Mei Hua.


    In fact, Xue Gulin was right in theory. However, Cao Yun had an unfair advantage, his Flying Poison. At first, he had refused to use it. But finally he went for it. Hiding his spiritual senses with ''Ashen Feather Seal'', only Xiao Xuefeng and Huang Liyue saw that he was doing something a bit strange. Huang Liyue senses that he had used her stealth technique because she was obviously used to it. On the other hand, Spirit Master Xiao had known about his spiritual senses. Otherwise, she wouldn''t had suspected a thing.


    Technically speaking, using one''s spiritual senses during a trial was authorized. That rule was there for the Heaven alchemists who would enter some of the other trials. However, the rule applied to everyone. If a Mortal Warrior could use them, they had the right to do so. It was just that Cao Yun didn''t want anyone to know he had such spiritual senses.


    Cao Yun had already identified the pill thanks to his great memory. Indeed, the recipe had not been respected. But in order to get more details on the entire process, he had no other way than to use his spiritual senses. Then, he focused on his ''Spiritual Sea Refinement'' in order to imagine the entire process. With his Chamber of Heavenly Court, he slowed down time in his mind. Before the Alchemy Conference, Cao Yun had explicitly asked Dian Mo not to help him at all. Indeed, he didn''t want to use anything that wasn''t directly his.


    After several attempts, he was almost certain of what had happened during the refinement process. Thus, he opened his eyes and went toward the central platform. As he did so, Xue Gulin was jolted back to reality. He felt his rival ready to give his response. Even if he was close to being finished himself, he wasn''t quite there yet. Either Cao Yun had already exceeded what Xue Gulin could guess in the same amount of time, or his answer would be inferior to his. Even though he didn''t stop analyzing his pill, Xue Gulin still focused on Cao Yun''s answer.


    When he walked toward the platform, some whispers were heard throughout the square. They were very quiet so as to respect the contestants. However, because no one could use spiritual senses outside of the contestants, they were forced to speak. Of course, they controlled their voice so it only reached a certain area. In a few seconds, everyone knew about Young Sect Master Chen Guo and his accomplishments.


    The Wubei Sect was not known for its alchemists at all. However, they imagined that its Young Sect Master wouldn''t enter the competition just to disgrace the name of his sect.


    "Celestial Autumn Leaf pill. 4-star Heaven pill."


    "Its quality is not too good unfortunately, with only 97.9% of medicinal essence and 15.8% of toxins. Instead of following the traditional recipe as written by Great Master Duren in ''Chronicles of the Seven Seasons'', the alchemist who refined it tried to use Dew Pearling Angelica in order to improve the effects of the pill. But he didn''t take into account that the Lacquered Obsidian would clash with it. It caused an excess of Water element and completely destroyed any semblance of balance in the cauldron. Thankfully, he had used a powerful cauldron and was able to maintain the overall cohesion of the ingredients, but this was a stupid mistake.


    "Every pill crafted by Great Master Duren has to follow the harmony of the nature. That is literally the theme of his most famous treatise. Not just anyone can improve on the recipes of ''Chronicles of the Seven Seasons''. Thankfully, the alchemist who refined this pill wasn''t too foolish and he got a result, but wasting such good ingredients for a meager successful pill..."

 Chapter 461: Hatred or jealousy

    Cao Yun''s judgment on the pill astonished everyone present. He was almost as thorough as Mei Hua and Feng Yingyue. In fact, the arbiter felt like he was even more thorough than Mei Hua in certain aspects. It was as though he had been able to sense the feelings of the alchemist. And the arbiter knew about those because he had been the one to refine that pill. And he had indeed felt bad to do that to those ingredients. However, it was necessary to refine such a pill for the competition.


    Great Master Duren had created many pills and in ''Chronicles of the Seven Seasons'', he had done so following the flow of the seasons. However, he had further divided the seasons according to his own principles and theories about alchemy. Each pill could be refined at its best during the corresponding season.


    When he heard Cao Yun''s assessment, the arbiter was not surprised by his tone. Young alchemists tended to be a bit arrogant. Besides, Cao Yun was probably angry that such a pill had been spoiled for this trial. No, what truly astonished him was that he was absolutely correct. Of course, he had not been as precise as Feng Yingyue on every single detail of the refinement process. But he also knew that this boy and Feng Yingyue were Dao companion. For a Spirit Warrior it wasn''t too hard to guess after watching them as closely as he had. In his views, the three alchemists he had just heard were very close to being 1-star Heaven alchemists.


    In fact, if they had the right cultivation, they would already have exceeded this rank. Clearly, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute was great. Maybe the next generation might even be able to duplicate Spirit Masters Xiao and Hua''s accomplishment. Hell, they might even improve upon it. Although he was the arbiter and needed to be impartial, he couldn''t stop himself from being excited by what the future might hold for alchemy.


    "Great. 98 points."


    As insightful as Cao Yun''s analysis was, there were a few points that were lacking. Indeed, he was very knowledgeable and had a great perception. But it was obvious that he lacked actual practice. In other words, his analysis was a bit too academic on certain points while he had a great understanding of what the alchemist had felt like while refining the pill. With a bit more experience, he could surpass Mei Hua. However, Feng Yingyue was excellent in all aspects. And as Cao Yun could increase his experience, so could she.


    The crowd was ecstatic. After all, the first three contestants had all obtained scores of 98 points or more. While Hua Mei and Feng Yingyue were not too surprising, Cao Yun''s performance was unexpected. Since he was Sect Leader Xuan''s successor, his main talent should be martial arts. Yet, he was also insanely talented in alchemy as well...


    There was one man who really didn''t share this enthusiasm, Xue Gulin. He had been almost certain of at least equaling Mei Hua. But now even if he did, he wouldn''t beat Cao Yun. Besides, no matter what, he would have taken more time than him. Indeed, right now, he wasn''t fully convinced of his analysis. Thus, he spent more and more time to try and discern every single detail. After hearing Cao Yun''s report, he knew what points were lacking in his analysis. So he was trying to best him on those particular points.


    Since he was trying to be perfect, other alchemists went to the central platform before Xue Gulin. A couple of them were able to obtain more than 85 points but the others were around 70 points. This was still very good considering that the pills were all Heaven pills that had at least reached the Perfect grade.


    Xue Gulin was petty but he wasn''t completely conceited. He could see that his attempt at besting Cao Yun was putting him in a bad position. Indeed, the more he was stressing about that, the less focused he was. Thus, he was forced to take some time to erase the negative emotions from his mind. Losing because of his own uncontrolled jealousy would be a problem. That was when he finally realized that he was indeed jealous of Cao Yun. From now on, he couldn''t hide the truth from himself. He wasn''t angry toward Cao Yun just because of his family or because he was inadequate for Feng Yingyue.


    This was the opposite, he hater Cao Yun because he was worthy of Feng Yingyue, much more than Xue Gulin was and would ever be. Even concerning his younger brother. What Xue Gulin truly hated was his own incompetence. He had known that his younger brother was always trying to prove himself over him. That was most likely the reason why he had chosen such a path. And Xue Gulin had failed to reassure him beforehand so he wouldn''t walk that path, and to see through him after that choice.


    What he was seeing in Cao Yun wasn''t a rival, but his own failures and shortcomings. Thinking more about this, his hatred didn''t lessen. In fact, it was amplified.


    At that moment, Cao Yun was able to feel this emotion. From the moment he had met him, Cao Yun knew that this man was a problem.


    "You should just kill him and be done with it!"


    Dian Mo had a very good and definitive solution for the problem.


    "I do agree with you. However, I can''t do so within the Imperial City. But if I have the opportunity, I will kill him. There is clearly killing intent mixed in his gaze. As much as he tries to conceal it, I see through him. I even suspect that he already planned my death. And I won''t make the same mistake several times. All threats should be eliminated as soon as possible."


    "Good."


    For too long Cao Yun had only reacted to the threats. If he had the possibility to do so, he would get rid of them before they could cause any harm to him or his closed ones.


    To be honest, Cao Yun might have tried to find ways to kill Xue Gulin despite being in the Imperial City. However, it would have caused alarm. Indeed, he was one of the contestants of the Alchemy Conference. Even with his means, Cao Yun couldn''t be sure not to be found out in that situation. That being said, he could simply behead him in the wilderness and no one would ever find any clue pointing to him. Worse than that, Cao Yun could probably attack him without killing any of his servants and none would ever be able to identify him thanks to his stealth technique.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    At that moment, Xue Gulin''s fate was sealed. Because he had let out a tinge of killing intent against Cao Yun, he was going to die one day or another. Of course, Xue Gulin was unaware of that. In his mind, it was Cao Yun''s fate that was sealed as he had paid for his death.


    At last, Xue Gulin walked toward the central platform. His pill floated toward the arbiter.


    "Evanescent Jade Pillow pill. 5-star Heaven pill. It reached 91.7% medicinal essence and 19.2% toxins. Although the standard recipe was adhered to, some strange techniques were used to try and make it easier to refine. However, they proved to be ineffectual."


    Xue Gulin tried to be as detailed as possible. In the end, he spoke even longer than Feng Yingyue. However, in his desire to up everyone else, he made a few mistakes that even Cao Yun caught. They were not very important, but still they caused his logic to be flawed. In fact, it was as though he knew the conclusion and had tried to make a guess to justify his conclusion. Although his conclusion was indeed true, the link to reach it was weak.


    "Good. 96 points."


    It wasn''t much but that completely froze Xue Gulin. Not only had he not beaten Cao Yun, he had in fact done worse than him... And for once, he didn''t blame the young man, he blamed himself. Because he had been too focused on Cao Yun, he had lost his calm. That was entirely his fault and he would need to correct it. Besides, with Cao Yun''s death already set in motion, he couldn''t show his enmity toward the young alchemist in public. So he quickly recovered from the shock and bowed toward the arbiter before leaving.


    Despite his loss, Xue Gulin was still the fourth contestant in that competition. Of course, no one was able to get a score higher than 95 points. In fact, only one alchemist was able to reach 92 points. All the others had less than 90 points.


    Unfortunately, one alchemist wasn''t able to obtain 50 points. She was a young girl who came from the Shuangli Province. That was the province where the Wubei Sect was. In other words, she was the representative of the province where Cao Yun lived. But the Wubei Sect attracted all the great talents, even alchemists who couldn''t join other sects. Since the Wubei Sect had decided not to send anyone against their own Young Sect Master, the governor had chosen this poor girl.


    The other 23 participants were qualified for the second trial. Because the day was almost over, that second trial would happen the next day. Even if Human alchemists could work several days in a row, they would obviously get more and more tired. Besides, those trials were anything but easy. As such, it was best for them to have all their strength.


    As such, they were given a banquet to enjoy. Then, they would have some time to meditate and even sleep if they wanted. Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue talked with Mei Hua. A few other alchemists went to present their congratulations. Although they were rivals now, they all knew that the three alchemists from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute as well as Cao Yun would become great masters. It was a good idea to form a friendly relationship with them.


    As a matter of fact, this was also one of the goals of the Alchemy Conference.


    Xue Gulin tried to be as polite and friendly as he could in order to hide his anger. On the other hand, Feng Yingyue, Mei Hua and Cao Yun were talking like very old friends. As a consequence, the alchemists were very short when they talked to them, they didn''t want either to intrude or to disturb them.


    Just when he entered his personal chamber, Cao Yun saw a message on his desk. The chamber was extremely spartan. After all, they were just here for the alchemists to get some rest between two trials. Getting this letter, Cao Yun recognized the name right away, Yong Ke.


    "Sorry for my abrupt departure. My father forbade me from leaving the Imperial Palace. And because I''ve left without his permission, he''s even forbidden me from watching the Alchemy Conference. But your performance was very impressive. I''ll try to sneak out at some point. However, this might be difficult. My father believes that demonic cultivators will use the Alchemy Conference to attack us. And worse than that, he also suspects that the demons have some plans as well.


    "He doesn''t know for sure whether they work together or if most likely, the demons learned of this threat and decided that the ensuing chaos would be the perfect opportunity for their own attack. Although many experts are watching over things, you should be extremely careful. They will all target you since you caused Gu Song''s demise and Cang Yin''s capture.


    "On that note, I did try to pressure my father into speeding things up. Unfortunately, we couldn''t get things done in time. Soon though, Cang Yin will be interrogated by a late Spirit Warrior to get deep into her memories. I''ll try to ask my father to choose Xiao Xuefeng since she''s so close to you. But I can''t promise anything."


    Reading this letter, Cao Yun was very pleased with Yong Ke''s attitude. However, he wanted to get to talk with her in person. He had to know for sure who she was and what had happened to her both during the attack causing all those injuries but also during her recovery. He had to be certain what had been done for her to wake up. Many wild ideas were going through his head. Although he was certain that Yong Ke knew nothing of her father''s actions, she might still be involved without knowing.


    Anyway, he was rather intrigued about the potential action of demons during the Alchemy Conference. With Xiao Xuefeng''s presence, he wasn''t too worried. But the Demon King might appear in person. If a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior attacked the Imperial City, this could be a huge problem, even if killing either Spirit Master Xiao or Emperor Weide would probably be impossible even for him.


    During the night, Cao Yun went into his own sea of consciousness to derive many plans. He had identified most of the array formations of the Imperial City with Dian Mo''s help. There were still a few that were just too big for him to understand. Even Dian Mo would need a few years. After all, they had been set up over centuries by Emperor Nuwa and the Four Saints. This wasn''t something just anyone could see through. That being said, Cao Yun was ready to many potential attacks. After all, he had seen Gu Song''s memories.


    Even if the demonic cultivators wouldn''t use the same strategy, knowing Gu Song had been killed, they would most likely conserved the same logic. After all, they couldn''t completely alter their plans in only a few months. To be honest, Cao Yun''s biggest problem was that he couldn''t use all of his strength in public because he couldn''t explain everything. Thus, he would be forced to fight while concealing his techniques or using other means altogether. That was why he was interested in array formations so much.


    Despite the upcoming second trial, he also decided to refine some pills to get ready for about anything. Of course, he wasn''t the only one with those worries. In fact, Xiao Xuefeng was more vigilant than ever and so were the guards. A few 6th-grade and 7th-grade Spirit Warriors were monitoring the Imperial Palace at all times.


    For now though, Emperor Weide had not appeared in public yet. Xiao Xuefeng couldn''t know how serious his injuries were. Despite what she had learned about him, his presence would be a tremendous help for them.


    Then, the second trial finally began.

 Chapter 462: Mixing powders and ingredients

    "This trial will more classic. We will ask every alchemist to refine the best pill possible. Everyone has the same ingredients in the same quantities. However, the recipe is not given to the alchemists. From the list of ingredients and their respective quantities, they have to refine a pill. This is the same for everyone. It is only a 5-star Human pill. This trial will obviously judge the alchemists'' ability to refine a pill, but also their knowledge and their adaptability. Indeed, they must deduce which pill they have to refine. And they have to make do with the ingredients in front of them. Every contestant has the right to refine three times."


    Cao Yun had already faced an even more difficult trial when he was in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. This time, he had the list of ingredients and even their quantities. Just by looking at them, he knew exactly what he needed to do. It was a Crane Devours the Tiger pill.


    In front of Cao Yun, there was bile from a Frost Shattering Bone Tiger, three bones from a One-Legged Milk Crane, Bark Parasitic Moon Eater, Emerald Catfish Vine, Moon Shadow Thistle, Sleeping Crystalline Tears, ... Among those ingredients, some were relatively rare while others were a bit basic as they were Earth ranked. In theory, preparing those would have been very easy indeed. However, Cao Yun detected several things that were not right. The Frost Shattering Bone Tiger''s bile had been harvested while he was in rut. That meant that his bile was corrupted by a powerful Pure Yang. It would clearly clash with the Moon Shadow Thistle that couldn''t even survive the light of the full moon. Talking about this Moon Shadow Thistle, it wasn''t completely ripe either. The difference was small, but it still was a subpar product.


    Some of his ingredients were perfectly fine. In fact, some were even great. The Emerald Catfish Vine had been harvested at the perfect moment and cut in a fantastic way. But the few deficiencies in his ingredients were severe enough that his pill would probably not reach the Perfect grade. Besides, they were subtle enough that it was difficult to perceive anything for most people. Someone who knew his stuff had planned all this. At first, Cao Yun wasn''t too sure. Thus, he looked around.


    Soon, he understood that this was indeed part of the test. All the other alchemists had the same ingredients but there were different problems with all of them. As he looked around, Cao Yun saw confusion in the eyes of a few alchemists just before they came to the same realization. After all, the arbiter had said that adaptability was being judged as well. None of those ingredients were so lacking that it was impossible to refine. However, the quality of the pill would be severely altered. And that was the crux of the matter. In a way, this trial was putting their mastery of Ingredients Preservation to the test.


    There were cauldrons and furnaces already in place in front of the alchemists. They were of great quality but Cao Yun and some others preferred to use their own material. So he took out his ''Aureate Grove'' from his spatial ring. Since the ingredients were imposed, the only real freedom the contestants had were the tools and the flame powders. Although they were authorized to use any resource from their spatial ring, there were shelves filled with all kinds of flame powders they could use for their refinement.


    While preparing the ingredients, Cao Yun showed all his craftsmanship. The Bark Parasitic Moon Eater was a kind of carnivorous plant. There were also several sacs of poison in this plant. With a thin knife, Cao Yun expertly cut it open with an incision so precise it was invisible. And from within the plant, a few small sacs flew out, directed by his Qi. Not a single drop contaminated the plant. One of the sac was so full that it could have burst open at any moment. As a consequences, Cao Yun needed to waste precious minutes on handling it with care.


    The Emerald Catfish Vine was cut in small pieces that had the exact same size. Then, he crushed them under his blade and extracted the flesh within.


    During almost an hour, the alchemists worked on their ingredients. This time, the show was easier to enjoy. Indeed, the audience could admire the handiwork of the alchemists. Even though the young people in the audience who weren''t knowledgeable preferred to watch their use of the flame, this was also very good. Watching them manipulate their blades to carefully prepare each ingredient was really enticing. For some it was almost hypnotic, especially when it was a beautiful woman like Mei Hua or Feng Yingyue doing the preparation.


    Finally, Cao Yun did something that surprised many. He mixed the bile from the Frost Shattering Bone Tiger with Immovable Mercury. Although it could sometimes be used as an ingredient, this was considered as a flame powder. Contrary to the bile, it was Pure Yin. In theory, the two of them should have clashed. And inside the cauldron, this would have completely broken the balance of everything. After preparing his ingredients with so much care, it seemed completely foolish to do such a thing. Only expert alchemists could understand what he was trying to do. Cao Yun was hoping to balance the Pure Yang in the bile since there was still a light Yang attribute in the Immovable Mercury. But his approach seemed wrong.


    Holding this thought, a few alchemists understood what Cao Yun was aiming at. Instead of refining right away, he opened his cauldron and threw some flame powders in. Cao Yun carefully coated the interior of his cauldron and then poured various liquids within. Then, he even added many other ingredients from his own spatial ring. Since they were not part of the refinement, in theory he couldn''t use them. But he was only using small amounts.


    In the crowd, many were not making any sense of what was going on.


    "Why isn''t anyone stopping him?! He''s obviously cheating!"


    "Idiot! He''s not refining the pill right now, he''s just feeding his cauldron."


    "Feeding his cauldron?"


    "Yes, each cauldron has its own properties, it''s not rare for an alchemist to try and alter those properties before refining a pill. The ingredients he used will be vaporized by his furnace."This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    As that man explained, the scene he had described happened on the stage. Cao Yun activated his furnace and burned everything within his cauldron. A thick black smoke rose in the air as the flames were being controlled by Cao Yun.


    "Since he couldn''t know which pill he had to refine beforehand, he has to adapt his cauldron to the pill. Would you blame a martial artist from choosing his weapon carefully before a fight?! Or would you blame him for training according to his opponent?! This is exactly what Chen Guo is doing right now. It is perfectly accepted in any refinement competition. There is no reason to prevent him from doing so today."


    "In fact, this is even a dangerous process. The safest route is always to keep one''s cauldron as neutral as possible to avoid any clash. However, one can improve the quality of the pill if their cauldron is perfectly in accordance with the ingredients within and their interactions. Since those interactions change all the time and since the ingredients themselves have conflicting properties, preparing one''s cauldron is highly difficult and risky. However, he seems to have carefully planned ahead."


    "Indeed, did you see how he placed the flame powders and the ingredients within. He''s clearly tried to give different properties to different parts of his cauldron. In itself, it is part of both Cauldron Maintenance and Ingredients Preservation. Those two principles come together to form the technique of ''Muddying the Battlefield''. I admit that this is a very advanced technique. It''s no wonder the young ones don''t know of it. But look!"


    Besides Cao Yun, most alchemists had tried to feed their cauldron yet. They had prepared the ingredients with the same expertise and they were now refining the Crane Devours the Tiger pill. Just like Cao Yun, they had all recognized the pill they had to refine. Some had taken a bit too long to do so but in the end, they had found it. After all, this wasn''t the main difficulty of this trial.


    Two other alchemists were at a loss though. They were watching their ingredients again and again, unable to make a clear decision. To be fair, there was a trap in the ingredients as it wasn''t the most known recipe for the Crane Devours the Tiger pill. But the real problem for them was that the ingredients were lacking. Contrary to what the audience might think, they weren''t in doubts about which pill they had to refine, but about how to best refine it. Those two alchemists were Xue Gulin and Mei Hua.


    What the woman from the audience was pointing was another alchemist, the only alchemist who had obtained a perfect score. Feng Yingyue was also coating her cauldron with flame powders. Through the use of her Qi, she was placing tiny amounts of flame powder everywhere within her cauldron. In fact, she even added some powder on the exterior of her cauldron. Then, she directly fed a few ingredients to her furnace to alter the flame in a more lasting fashion. By putting ingredients within the furnace itself, the flame would be altered for a long period of time. After this trial, she would need to carefully clean her furnace and her cauldron for the next trials.


    Just like with Cao Yun, a thick black smoke rose from her cauldron and her furnace as she was burning many things inside. On the central platform, the arbiter had activated some array formations to prevent the smoke and any form of emanation from disturbing the other alchemists on the stage. As such, they were all sent flying toward the sky without spreading around. As a matter of fact, those array formations also lessened the noise around them. Thus, they would never be disturbed by anything except by what they could see, but they had screens they could use if they wanted to.


    Anyway, most alchemists had already refined a first batch. However, the quality really wasn''t good. A few alchemists had not even realized that the ingredients had been tampered with. Thus they were quite flabbergasted when their refinement didn''t bear the results they had hoped for. That was when they realized what Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue had been doing. At that point, they all understood the problem they were facing. Unfortunately, some had wasted one batch and they only had two left. On the other hand, the best alchemists on the stage still had three batches to refine.


    This time, Cao Yun was the first of the four favorites to begin his refinement. Feng Yingyue would start soon after him though. By the time they were refining their pills, Mei Hua and Xue Gulin would also begin working on it. Unlike Cao Yun, Xue Gulin had not used ''Muddying the Battlefield''. Instead, he had coated the ingredients themselves with some flame powders and had also prepared a few of them in strange manners. For example, he had left one poison sac in the Emerald Catfish Vine. Few in the audience were able to understand his logic. Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei had seen right through him though. What he was doing was smart enough. After all, he was a representative of their Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.


    In his refinement, the poison would burn faster that the vine and he would use it as though it were a flame powder. The burning poison would alter the properties of the Emerald Catfish Vine. But the way he had coated it would counterbalance it. As the smoke from the poison and the powders would fill the cauldron, it would act as a catalyst for the refinement process. Such a technique would however be strenuous on his intent and focus.


    Finally, the fireworks started. Cao Yun''s flames were dancing all over his ''Aureate Grove Crucible'' as he was making various strange gestures with his hands and fingers. It was as though he was making the flames dance for him. Besides, they had all kinds of color. Even away from the furnace, one could imagine how high the temperature had to be around Cao Yun but he didn''t seem hot at all. In fact, he seemed quite refreshed.


    Many alchemists, including the arbiter himself, were shocked by Cao Yun''s mastery over his flame. It was akin to what a 5-star Heaven alchemist could do. They had almost never seen a flame as docile as this was. Since he was so close to it and observing everything through his spiritual senses, the arbiter could tell that the temperature was exactly as it needed to be. Indeed, Cao Yun had the Rune of Fire within him. The flames were naturally subservient to it.


    It didn''t take Cao Yun very long to refine his very first pill. Looking dissatisfied, Cao Yun turned toward his second batch. Once again, he repeated the same process and also mixed flame powders with some ingredients, not the bile this time. Putting flame powder with the ingredients could upset the balance and corrupt the pill. Indeed, flame powders had little to no medicinal essence but they did have toxins. They were only supposed to be used within the flames to change their nature.


    Of course, changing the nature of the ingredients was his goal right now. He could accept a bit more toxins if the overall quality was greatly improved. In fact, Xue Gulin had also decided to make that concession himself. Besides, Cao Yun had worked on toxins minimization with Meng Jia. He knew he could account for that in the finished pill.


    Before a double hour had passed, Cao Yun, Feng Yingyue, Mei Hua and Xue Gulin had all refined three batches Crane Devours the Tiger pills. Like the previous time, Feng Yingyue was the first one to go present her pill, the best one from the three batches of course.

 Chapter 463: Refining ones blood under the rising sun

    Once again, Feng Yingyue walked toward the central platform. Among the pills she had refined, she had obviously chosen the best one. Because of the array formations isolating the different contestants, Cao Yun was unable to ascertain the quality of that pill. From its general aspect, it had to have reached a very high level. And of course, since he knew about Feng Yingyue''s talent, he didn''t doubt it at all. However, even he was surprised by the result.


    "Excellent! True Essence!"


    The pill asked of the contestants was a 5-star Human pill, the Crane Devours the Tiger pill. Besides, they had received botched-up ingredients. Yet, despite all those difficulties, Feng Yingyue had been able to produce a True Essence pill. By definition, this pill had the highest level of medicinal essence within. Technically it was 99%, but it was just that obtaining 100% was technically speaking impossible. In other words, 99% was equivalent to 100% in that situation. But the arbiter wasn''t done yet.


    "2.1% of toxins! This pill is an absolute masterpiece! 100 points!"


    Each trial could only give 100 points at best. Thus, even Feng Yingyue could not exceed that amount. However, her success would change the way the other contestants would be evaluated. Now, they would be judged regarding her great result. In fact, even the arbiter himself would not have claimed that he could rival her performance. If that women simply had spiritual senses, she would immediately become a Heaven alchemist. And in a very short amount of time, she would climb all the way to 5-star Heaven alchemist. This was a treasure for the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Moreover, Feng Yingyue was Spirit Master Hua. Since all those women were young, the Hongchen Kingdom was extremely fortunate and blessed. Working together, they might be able to revive even more Spirit pills that just this one Life Boiling Cradle pill. The audience felt like they were witnessing a new chapter of the Hongchen Kingdom unveiling in front of them. Maybe this period would soon give rise to another era. The Forsaken Dao Era might be over. But with the looming threat of the demons, this new chapter might not be as bright as they imagined.


    Anyway, going after Feng Yingyue was obviously difficult. This time, Xue Gulin made sure to go before Cao Yun. In fact, he even went before Mei Hua. His pill had reached 97.6% of medicinal essence and 4.9% of toxins. This was obviously a great achievement and he received 97 points. Without Feng Yingyue''s performance, he might have obtained even more but he wasn''t too upset. At the very least, he had exceeded his previous score. Moreover, this would be difficult if not impossible for Cao Yun to beat him by 2 points like he had done previously.


    After Xue Gulin, Mei Hua was awarded 97 points as well. Unfortunately, although she had kept 98.5% of the medicinal essence, she had had a harder time with the toxins. Her best pill still had 8.8% of toxins. This was a lot considering her fellow students'' performances.


    At last, Cao Yun gave his pill to the arbiter. The audience was looking forward to that. Being able to identify a pill and refining one were two different concepts altogether. As a martial artist, his perception was maybe just prodigious. And as it turned out, the crowd learned that this wasn''t just that. Indeed, the arbiter announced the result.


    "Great. Pure pill! 98.4% of medicinal essence. 1.9% of toxins."


    In that moment, Cao Yun was thankful to his teacher, Chief Elder Meng. He had engraved in his mind how dealing with toxins was important. After all, they were those that would leave traces in the body of the user. And they were the reason why taking too many pills was dangerous and could impede one''s cultivation. Besides, from the book of Tree of Death, who was his master''s pseudonym, he had learned even more about both poisons and toxins.


    The arbiter was silent for quite some time as he was deciding on the score. Unfortunately, he couldn''t give fractions of points. Because of Feng Yingyue''s performance, he hesitated whether Cao Yun deserved more, but in the end he chose to be conservative.


    "98 points."


    Thanks to that, Xue Gulin wasn''t too jealous. In the end, he had lost again but only by one point. In the last trial, he had lost by 2 points. There were still several days of trials. Although he might never surpass Feng Yingyue, he might be able to beat Cao Yun. In fact, the only to beat Feng Yingyue was for her to make a mistake and he knew how rare this was.


    After that, all the other alchemists kept on working on their pills. Some spent almost the entire day on the three refinements. After each refinement, they would mull over it for hours before trying something else. In the end, they all succeeded to refine a Crane Devours the Tiger pill. Unfortunately, some were not able to get rid of much of the toxins. In fact, at least three of them had more than 25% of toxins within their pill. Even if technically the refinement was a success, they were disqualified. After this trial, there would only remain twenty contestants.


    The ones who were disqualified would still partake in other alchemy exhibitions. In fact, they were invited to show off their talent. Even if they had failed at a specific trial, they might still shine in other areas of alchemy. Besides, many wanted to form relationships with them. The mere fact that they had been participants in the Alchemy Conference meant that they were great alchemists. Failing during the Alchemy Conference was not a sign that they would not reach the apex. As a matter of fact, it happened to be that Director Ge Ling had literally been disqualified during the first trial.


    Despite this failure, Director Ge Ling was the head of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. That trial had been a real mismatch with her abilities. After that though, she had shined during the entire Alchemy Conference and had impressed many great alchemists. From one of them, she had then learned and in the end she had become the woman leading the greatest institute of alchemy in the entire kingdom.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    -


    Once the second day was over, the participant were exhausted. Cao Yun and the three others in the lead were quite refreshed though. Indeed, they had finished way before anyone else. In other words, they had already had enough time to rest and recuperate. As such, they would have even more time to prepare for the next trial.


    As he was training on his Rune of Fire, Cao Yun decided to visit Hongyu. With the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall behind it, she had been received in a great establishment just outside of the Imperial City. Cao Yun could get there in less than an hour. Hongyu was even more energetic and lively than before. With Cao Yun''s help, she had gotten much stronger. Soon, he would refine the Frozen Fire pill. For now, he had asked Xiao Xuefeng to help him do so. Since he was busy with the Alchemy Conference, she was working on the pill alone. But he did intend to participate in the refinement process. In fact, he had invited both Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua. Song Guixiang had complained about his lack of invitation to such a refinement.


    In the end, Hua Fenfei had asked Cao Yun. Of course, he couldn''t tell her no while he had asked her help to refine the pill too. Indeed, that pill was a 3-star Heaven pill. Although Cao Yun could probably succeed in refining it, its quality would be poor. Considering how rare the ingredients were, he had asked for the two Spirit Masters'' help. Only Cao Yun could pretend get both of their help at the same. With them, there was a real chance to obtain a Pure pill.


    For the time being, the two women were thinking about the refinement process. As soon as there would be some kind of break during the Alchemy Conference, they would be ready to refine it. Indeed, even during the Alchemy Conference, the younger alchemist would not compete every single day. Not even middle Mortal Warriors could take that kind of rhythm, alchemy was very tiring.


    Anyway, Cao Yun spent some time with Hongyu. There was strangely a form of familial bond between them. The bird actually felt like Cao Yun was from her own lineage. On the other hand, Cao Yun would probably always feel guilty about her parents'' death. But as Hongyu was growing stronger and stronger, he was able to see past this. At first, he was reluctant to bring her with him. Since she was so useful to him, he even felt like he had been using her. And in a sense, he had been. However, it didn''t mean that he didn''t sincerely care about her.


    Soon after, he was joined by Feng Yingyue. Cao Yun had obviously told her about the fate of Feng''er and Huang''er. Indeed, they had met them together. However, Hongyu would have no way of knowing that so Cao Yun had decided to present Feng Yingyue to the demonic beast slowly. At first, Hongyu was a bit apprehensive. The moment she smelled Cao Yun''s odor on the young girl, she let go of most of her defiance. There was no doubt in Hongyu''s mind that Feng Yingyue was her brother''s mate. For a fenghuang, mates were for life. This was an even stronger bond than for humans.


    Thus, Hongyu let Feng Yingyue get close to her. And the young woman was even able to caress her feathers. Then, the couple mounted Hongyu and they flew outside of the Imperial City. Just like Cao Yun, Feng Yingyue had already experimented the sensation of flying while being held by a Spirit Warrior. She had also flown on a sword controlled by her master. But the sensation was completely different while she was on the back of such a majestic bird. The difference was hard to describe and the fact that she was sharing it with Cao Yun also made it something else.


    For several hours, they played around with Hongyu. Even if training was important, getting some rest and getting their heads out of alchemy were also good things.


    That night, they even spent it under the stars with Hongyu beside them. Of course, they did not dual cultivate while there was a demonic beast so close to them as it felt improper. But they laid next to each other, taking in all the sensation of the night in the woods and looking at the stars. None of them needed to sleep.


    -


    In the morning, they both cultivated with the rising sun. This was a very auspicious moment to practice a cultivation based around the Fire element. When the sun was at the zenith was also a great moment for that matter. Of course, they had made sure that they would have enough time to come back before the beginning of the third trial. After this one, there would be a longer pause. A few days would be given to the alchemists who had already been disqualified. Then, there would also be a few conferences with Heaven alchemists. To be honest, neither Cao Yun nor Feng Yingyue were very interested in those. Feng Yingyue was being trained by one of two Spirit Masters after all.


    Feng Yingyue was sitting cross-legged with her Five Prodigious Gates facing toward the sky, taking in the heat of the sun. Her recent dual cultivation with Cao Yun had sent a lot of Fire Qi in her body. And she had taken a Heaven pill to help her temper her Five Prodigious Gates. By using the sun, she was advancing on that. It wouldn''t be long before Feng Yingyue became a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior like Cao Yun.


    The young man, on the other hand, wasn''t training his Qi cultivation. For a few days now, his blood cultivation was on the verge of a breakthrough. He had waited some time, but now was the moment. After sensing Xue Gulin''s bloodlust against him and with the threat of the demonic cultivators and even the demons, he was convinced that the time was ripe. The only reason he had waited was to find the perfect moment for his breakthrough. His dual cultivation with Feng Yingyue had agitated his blood of course. As a consequence, his breakthrough might be even more powerful than before. Thus, he had waited for the effects to reach their maximum. Now, he was almost certain he couldn''t go higher.


    With the Drop of Wrath, he circulated his intent throughout his entire bloodstream. This intent also went through his entire body, every single cell, every single cavity within his organs and his fibers. The entirety of his body was coursed through by Qi and blood. His intent, and thus the intent of the Drop of Wrath, was everywhere. Slowly, he felt his blood becoming richer in Qi and intention and denser too. Soon his blood became heavier and heavier. A mortal''s veins would not have been able to move this kind of blood as it was way too heavy by now.


    From the outside, Feng Yingyue could see that Cao Yun''s skin was turning red with all the blood flowing beneath it. It was as though he was overexerting himself during a physical prowess, his entire skin was red and burning. That was when he finally sensed it. In his kidneys, his prenatal Jing had reacted. This was the most difficult resource to work with as it had come from one''s parents before birth. Replenishing or increasing it was as hard as reaching the heavens. On the other hand, improving its quality was a difficult but worthwhile pursuit that could improve one''s lifespan and vitality in general.


    In his kidneys, Cao Yun could feel a single drop of gold floating in the ocean of his bright red blood. Right now, it wasn''t shining too much, but there was a golden hue within his kidneys.


    Cao Yun had achieved ''Freeing the Blood''. He was now officially a 1st-grade Golden Blood Child. From this moment onward, he would cultivate his marrow and by consequence his Jing. Such a cultivation was truly incredible for a human. On the other hand, cultivating one''s meridians and Dantian was also incredible for a demon. Cao Yun could combine the best of the two species.

 Chapter 464: The third trial begins

    Within Cao Yun''s kidneys, there was now a small golden pellet. It wasn''t even the size of a small finger, but it was clearly there. In other words, he had begun to cultivate his prenatal Jing. By definition it was the essence received even before birth by both parents. As such, it was almost impossible to increase its quantity. There were a few techniques and a handful of extremely wonderful pills that could help it replicate itself. But any other form of essence that would be absorbed would be postnatal Jing.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was clearly altering its quality, not its quantity. And that was good as well. The better its quality, the less prenatal Jing would be wasted in the body. This wasn''t yet what demons called Golden Blood, but it was getting closer to it. Despite the name, Golden Blood wasn''t literally a blood that was gold in color. This was a blood that was full of vitality and especially of marrow, thus of postnatal Jing as well. However, there would be a few golden drops of blood within the demon''s body, this was their essence blood.


    Before Cao Yun could reach the stage of Golden Blood, he would have to reach the 4th-grade Golden Blood Child. In the previous grades, he would first have to produce more postnatal Jing and more marrow. After that, he would need to activate what was called Kidney Fire. Thanks to this special kind of fire, he would increase the production of his kidneys. Indeed, the kidneys were using the prenatal Jing to transform postnatal Jing into Qi. By activating this Kidney Fire, the process would be more efficient and thus less wasteful. Finally, he would need to use this Kidney Fire to merge his blood, his Jing and his marrow into one amalgamation known as Golden Blood. Only after that could he circulate and use it.


    It would take him a few years to achieve such a result. However, his Rune of Fire and his knowledge of alchemy would obviously help him when it would come to activating and using Kidney Fire. In fact, he might even be able to achieve a breakthrough in those early grades in a year each.


    As he had been cultivating next to Feng Yingyue, she had felt his breakthrough in blood cultivation. Blood cultivation wasn''t too common in the Hongchen Kingdom. Indeed, only the humans who had a peculiar bloodline practiced it, like the Huang family. However it wasn''t too rare either. Thus Feng Yingyue was not surprised by Cao Yun''s cultivation. That being said, she could feel that his blood was incredible. After all, he had the Drop of Wrath within.


    Of course, his blood wasn''t to the level of Axiu Qian. But even the strongest Accomplished Demon would have been surprised.


    Apart from Feng Yingyue, Hongyu also felt this change. As a demonic beast, she was very sensitive to blood. Moreover, she was also very familiar with Cao Yun''s blood. As such, this breakthrough had a huge impact on her. Her own blood was moved by this. And her fifth core that was still in the process of forming itself began to vibrate as her blood circulated in her veins. With Cao Yun''s proximity, the intent of the Drop of Wrath was stronger in her veins, nourishing this core.


    Even without the Frozen Fire pill, she was on her way to control the Evil Qi within her evil core. At the very least, she was not in any immediate danger. But she could still suffer from injuries if she tried to use her evil core without being careful.


    Sadly, they had almost no time right now as they had to go back to the Alchemy Conference. Cao Yun had barely enough time to begin his exploration of his new cultivation as a 1st-grade Golden Blood Child. That grade was called ''Nourish the Gold''. With his richer blood, he had to nourish the Jing in his kidneys to make it into a solid piece of gold. Along the way, it would help his body produce more postnatal Jing while using less and less prenatal Jing. At the same time, it would increase the production of marrow to replace the old one. Marrow was responsible for the production of blood, thus it would change the nature of one''s blood, creating the Golden Blood.


    Dian Mo himself was quite impressed with Cao Yun''s blood. If he kept on cultivating like that, he might even form the Golden Blood before three or four years. For a demon, this was incredible. But then again, Axiu Qian had reached the seventh or even eighth realm of asura cultivation. These were equivalent to a God or a God-Monarch. Obviously, even the remnants of his blood would help someone speed up their blood cultivation.


    Even with this Drop of Blood, Cao Yun was very talented. Not just anyone could use it like he had. In fact, his mind cultivation had truly helped him gain full control over it. If he hadn''t, the Drop of Wrath might have taken over his body by this time. Indeed, its intent was now all over Cao Yun''s body. Dian Mo realized that he was truly curious to see just how far and how fast Cao Yun would progress. Slowly, the idea of taking over his body and even stealing the Drop of Wrath were dying down. After all, to get that drop of blood, he would need to kill Cao Yun now.


    Unfortunately, Dian Mo had no time to talk about his blood cultivation with Cao Yun. The young alchemists mounted Hongyu once again and flew toward the Imperial City.


    -


    Before long, they had come back to their residence.


    Xiao Xuefeng was waiting for them.


    "You were almost late... But don''t worry, after today''s trial, you should have a bit more time to yourselves. And this will be the perfect moment to refine the Frozen Fire pill."


    "You''re ready?! Already?!"


    Song Guixiang answered before Hua Fenfei or Xiao Xuefeng could say anything.


    "Who do you think our masters are?! Of course they''re ready! Refining a 5-star Heaven pill is nothing to my mistress. And when she works together with Spirit Master Xiao, this is a piece of cake. Although they can''t be sure to produce a True Essence pill, they can promise you to make a Pure pill."You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Disciple Song! Do not make promises on behalf of others!"


    "Am I wrong though, Mistress?"


    After being yelled at by Hua Fenfei, the fat man made teary eyes like a puppy who had been wronged.


    "No, you''re right. We''ll refine you at least a Pure pill. As payment, we''ll only ask for three pills for our students. With the ingredients you have, we could probably refine a dozen pills. So just tell us how many you want and we''ll get started."


    "Thank you, Spirit Master Hua. Five pills would be enough for me. Two of them will be gifts for my brothers. One will be used by Hongyu and I''ll keep two to myself. I''ll have a third of the ingredients left."


    Even if by now he didn''t know what else to do with those ingredients, they were very rare. So he wouldn''t waste them to make unnecessary pills. In fact, a single one might be enough for him, but with two of them he would be a bit more reassured. Besides, if they were Pure pills, they would be way more efficient than a normal Frozen Fire pill. A single pill wouldn''t push him all the way to the 5th-grade Mortal Warrior stage, but it would help him tremendously. On the other hand, it could complete the formation of Hongyu''s fifth core.


    For now though, they had to go to the Alchemy Conference again. So they did.


    -


    As each trial was taking place, the arbiter was monitoring everything. Since the first trial, he had not changed.


    "Esteemed guests, this has been a wonderful competition during which many juniors had been able to astonish us all. I am glad that our future looks so bright. Our Hongchen Kingdom went through a lot and we are still faced with many hardships even today. But never forget that our kind has been through much worse and we always triumphed in the end. Our children are the hope for the future of our kind."


    No one really paid attention to the arbiter to be honest. They were waiting for the last test. However, he still decided to give a small speech. In truth, he had been waiting for all the participants to enter the stage. Once they did, he finally announced the contents of this day.


    "And now, the trial you have all been waiting for. This one will be a bit special as we will ask our competitors to perform an unusual technique, ''Writing Life With Fire''. This is an odd alchemical technique. It has been invented by an obscure alchemist more than seventeen centuries ago. Almost no one has tried to master it and only a few have even used it. Master Jiangle created it by accident. He wrote it down and gave it a name without knowing how it could really be useful. But it turned out to be a good thing he had written it down. Indeed, another alchemist was inspired by it and created the famous ''Taming the Breathing Heat''. Almost every alchemist has read this book at least once. Nowadays, it is one of the standards to train one''s control over fire."


    Indeed, Cao Yun had read this book too. And it had been quite insightful. However, he had no recollection of a technique named ''Writing Life With Fire'' despite every book he had read. For a moment, he even wondered whether the arbiter was lying or not. But at the very least, he believed what he was saying. Maybe the book was so obscure that almost no one had made any copies. Anyway, it wasn''t very important. But Cao Yun was intrigued by an unknown technique that seemed useless to its own creator but that could have inspired such a great book.


    When he looked around, Cao Yun realized that all the alchemists were just as confused as he was while trying to appear stoic. With his mind cultivation and his knowledge of the corporeal soul, Cao Yun could more easily identify feelings. Of course, he wasn''t always right, but it wasn''t too difficult to see that no one, not even Feng Yingyue, seemed to know of this technique.


    On the stage, the last trial was ready to take place. There were only twenty tables now. And on the tables, there were a few white pellets. They were absolutely blank. Cao Yun tried to inspect them and they had no smell, no color and even no form of energy within them, either Qi or medicinal essence.


    On the side of the tables, there were various ingredients as well. By looking at them Cao Yun realized that they were not very compatible. In fact, he couldn''t determine any pill that would use them all. He could make several pills with some of those ingredients, but all together, it would be almost impossible to refine anything. Maybe this technique was about mixing incompatible ingredients together. But it didn''t make sense. Certainly this technique had something to do with fire since ''Taming the Breathing Heat'' was about Flame Control...


    And it made sense for a competition. The manipulation of fire was always greatly appreciated by any audience. Someone who was a connoisseur of alchemy could see many subtleties within while a neophyte could still enjoy the fireworks. A Human alchemist could manipulate several tongues of fires. Each one could have a specific temperature and specific properties adding a specific color to it. Obviously, they could create beautiful shows.


    On each table, the arbiter sent a manual for the competitors to read. The alchemists took the manual in front of them and began to read. This was clearly a copy of the original manual as it was almost new. Quickly, they all understood the concept behind the technique.


    It was a way to extract medicinal essence to directly put it inside a pill. Indeed, Cao Yun could understand why such a technique had been deemed worthless. Within a cauldron, there was a subtle harmony between the different medicinal essences of all the ingredients. The medicinal essences were even transformed by the process itself. Only through this refinement would the pill gain any property. This method on the other hand was just about extracting the pure medicinal essence from one ingredient to put it into a pellet.


    Apparently, Master Jiangle had discovered this method while studying how to prepare ingredients. Although it was rather useless for alchemists, he had thought it interesting nonetheless and was wondering whether someone might have any use for it. Besides the alchemists, he was also intrigued whether physicians or apothecaries would maybe find some use for this technique. In the end, he had inspired several new techniques in all those fields but his own achievement was forgotten, just a stepping stone used by others.


    Unfortunately this was the fate of many scholars. Finding something new wasn''t enough. It was also necessary to find its proper use. Sometimes, the greatest innovation was not a new technique or a new good, but it was finding another use for something that already existed. Sadly, Master Jiangle had invented his technique but had been unable to alter it enough for it to be of interest. Others had then drawn inspiration from it to create their own techniques.


    As he was reading the manual, Cao Yun realized that this technique, ''Writing Life With Fire'', heavily relied on one''s control over his flames. In fact, Master Jiangle even suggested that this might be a good way to train new alchemists. Once again, there had been better ways to do so since then and his contribution was mostly forgotten.


    The technique in itself was extremely difficult to use and that explained in great part why no one had found it useful. First of all, only a Mortal Warrior could hope to achieve it and even then, it would be very complicated. However, Cao Yun was even more interested in this. Since he had the Rune of Fire, learning new ways to sue the flames was intriguing. Even if he could not access the Dao of Fire just yet, he could get closer and closer, preparing for the day he could finally look at the Dao directly as he was certain he would become a Sage some day.

 Chapter 465: Plots within the Imperial Palace

    An alchemist using this ''Writing Life With Fire'' had to inject their Qi within the ingredient without disturbing it too much. In itself, it was difficult and the correct method depended heavily on the nature of the ingredient. Just putting Qi within some ingredients could destroy them or alter the elements within their medicinal essence which would make them useless. Thus, one had to control the ratio of the five elements within their own Qi in order to preserve the element.


    In other words, this technique also required a great understanding of the ingredient, its actual state, and of Five Elements Wheel. In fact, almost all of the five Golden Elixir Principles would be tested by this technique, apart from Cauldron Maintenance. Within Qi, like within everything, there was a balance of the five elements. Each element was not to be taken literally. They were properties and concepts that were attributed to elements. For example Fire could be literal fire but it could also be the excitement within one''s mind. On the other hand, Water was calmness.


    After injecting it within the ingredient, the alchemist would coil their Qi around the medicinal essence. It was then necessary to burn the outside of the ingredient with the naked flame until only the medicinal essence remained. For that, a powerful flame was required. But that also meant that it could easily destroy the medicinal essence and even the Qi used by the alchemist. At the same time, the alchemist would be forced to control both the flame and the medicinal essence through their Qi. A Spirit Warrior would have an easier time of course, but this wasn''t impossible for a Mortal Warrior.


    One advantage was that all the process happened outside of the cauldron. As such, it was possible to observe everything even without spiritual senses. However, the technique itself was incredibly difficult to pull off. It required an insane control over one''s Qi. Thankfully, Cao Yun was really confident in that, especially with his mind cultivation. After all, he was even able to manipulate Evil Qi better than any demonic cultivator. And for many months, he had worked on unraveling seals with Dian Mo. In a sense, it was a similar process. He would have to separate the medicinal essence and keep it safe while burning the rest of the ingredient. Thus, he wasn''t too worried about this trial.


    The main problem was the time he would need to fully master this method. However, Cao Yun had a good way of dealing with that. Just like before, he could simply rehearse in his own mind while accelerating his thought processes. As a matter of fact, both Feng Yingyue and Hei Mua had the same ability. Not only had they practiced ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', but they were also able to enter their own sea of consciousness. The three of them had a great advantage over the other participants. Even Xue Gulin didn''t have that kind of means.


    After looking a bit around him, Cao Yun saw that the two women were already meditating on what they had just read. On the other hand, some alchemists were reading the same manual several times in a row to be sure they had understood it correctly. A few others were already using their flame in the air to rehearse. Xue Gulin was among them. Right now, he was controlling a dozen tongues of fire. Each one was different and they were forming great shapes in the air. Many people in the audience were in awe. Without the array formations isolating the contestants, they could have felt the temperature reaching them.


    Ignoring what was happening around him, Cao Yun focused solely on mastering this technique. Thanks to his Rune of Fire, his control over fire was as great as a Human alchemist could achieve. In fact, it was really bordering on the Heaven rank. However, he had to admit that Xue Gulin''s mastery over his flame was indeed prodigious. As much as he could feel his desire to kill him, Xue Gulin was an incredible alchemist alright. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had made his mind about killing him. For too long he had been indecisive and only reacting to things. With his senses, he was absolutely certain that Xue Gulin had planned on murdering him.


    What was sad was that Xue Gulin wasn''t a demonic cultivator at all. But despite the philosophies of the Hongchen Kingdom about the unity of mankind, there would always be dissensions and conflicts even among a united kingdom. Before Xue Gulin could become too powerful or too influential, Cao Yun would have to get rid of him. Of course, he couldn''t do so in the middle of the Imperial Palace during the Alchemy Conference. But he already had several ideas on how to do things. After all, he had all the means to make it look like a demonic cultivator had killed him. And if the demonic cultivators intended to attack the Alchemy Conference, he might have the opportunity then.


    After talking about this with both Feng Yingyue and Xiao Xuefeng, they had all agreed. In fact, Xiao Xuefeng had used her influence in the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Although she had found no definite proof as spying within the Imperial City was more difficult than anywhere else in the Hongchen Kingdom, there were troubling things. Most likely, Xue Gulin had come into contact with the Seven-Headed Scorpion.


    The Seven-Headed Scorpion was an organization of criminals. They were also acting as mercenaries from time to time. Unfortunately, the Hongchen Kingdom required their services in many occasions. As long as they were not going too overboard or if there weren''t any evidence against them, they were given a bit of leeway. In fact, they were also close with several temples and sects. Their influence was limited, but they were still strong enough to avoid being eradicated by the Imperial City. Besides, they were also controlling some trades. Getting rid of criminals was impossible. Even if some of their activities were known, proving them was another matter entirely. So long as they didn''t threaten the Imperial City, they were in fact more positive for them than they were detrimental.


    Learning of that, it was almost obvious that Xue Gulin had planned for Cao Yun''s murder. However, the Seven-Headed Scorpion would never agree to murder a 5-star Human alchemist in the Imperial City. In fact, such an act would clearly bring the Imperial City on them. This would be an insult to the Emperor himself. Actually, simply killing a 5-star Human alchemist would be too big of a crime to get out of this unscathed. Most likely, they would refuse. But Xue Gulin might be able to find others ready to do his bidding. After all, he wasn''t as rich as Cao Yun but he still had deep pockets.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Although Cao Yun had already made his decision, those elements came to justify it and cement it even further. Moreover, Xiao Xuefeng totally agreed with him and so did Feng Yingyue. To be fair, she didn''t like the guy at all. He had been way too insistent with his courting her. Xiao Xuefeng didn''t like plotting against a student of her own Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, but she was of the same mind as Cao Yun. Xue Gulin was too dangerous. At any moment, he might even become a demonic cultivator or turn against their institute. Getting rid of a threat before it could fester was a good idea.


    Just as they had planned to get rid of him, Xue Gulin had also planned Cao Yun''s murder. Indeed, the Seven-Headed Scorpion had refused his offer. But he had been found out by someone else who was ready to kill his rival. Even now, they were getting ready. The tension in the Imperial Palace was getting more and more intense. Most guards knew that demonic cultivators were preparing something. But no one knew exactly what or when it would happen.


    -


    From the Imperial Palace''s main building, there was a young woman looking at the Alchemy Conference from afar. She was Yong Ke. Her weimao was off, thus no veil was hiding her face. On her throat, there was a deep laceration as if someone had almost cut off her head. Her right cheek was covered in burn marks as well. Those had not been caused by normal fire but by Evil Qi mixed in the flames. Even magical medicine could barely get rid of them. Regularly, she was taking pills and using balms but the injuries were taking forever to heal. In fact, she could feel the bite of the flames even now.


    All over her bodies, there were scars concealed by her clothes. Just by looking at her face, many people would take pity on her. And she hated that. Her appearance was one thing, but the looks her servants gave her were unbearable. If Cao Yun were here, he would have recognized a face that was very familiar to him. That woman was way younger than he had imagined. She was barely eighteen in fact. No amount of cultivation could make someone look that young without using special techniques. Thus, this was a true age.


    Right now, she was observing the trials taking place between the younger alchemists. In particular, she was observing Cao Yun closely. Her room was protected by many array formations that prevented anyone from seeing inside. Otherwise, her father would have even forbidden her from looking outside. Recently, he had become more and more protective of her. And with her little escapade, he had grounded her for the upcoming years.


    "Young mistress, it is time for your training!"


    "Wait, I just want to watch Chen Guo perform the technique first."


    "Young mistress, your father''s orders are quite clear. You have to cultivate! It is important that you become a Spirit Warrior as soon as possible. We are living in troubling times. You should understand that your father wants to make sure what happened to you can never happen again."


    In her room, Yong Ke knew that there were at least two middle Spirit Warriors protecting her. Unless she became a Spirit Warrior herself, she would never be allowed out ever again. Thankfully though, even her father had not been able to find out how she had been able to leave the first time. As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, it would take her years if not decades to become a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. Right now, her father was forbidding her from leaving, but he couldn''t keep her locked up an entire decade. At some point, he would allow her to leave again. At least, she hoped for it. Otherwise, she would need to escape her guards'' vigilance once again. The very clothes protecting her were also a great way to leave her room unnoticed. But for now, she was very obedient to lower their vigilance.


    "Please, let me just watch until Chen Guo is done. He''s always fast in those trials. And..."


    Before she could finish her sentence, Cao Yun had opened his eyes. This time, he had been faster than even Feng Yingyue.


    -


    Cao Yun ignited his ''Aureate Grove Blaze'' and began to work on his flame. To his right, a young man burned a full stalk of Deep Sea Breathing Kelp by mistake, without extracting anything from it. Mastering this technique was rather difficult indeed. Even though he had focused absolutely all of his mind on this single task, it was still a bit too hard for the man. On the other hand, Cao Yun was expertly handling his ingredients. The same Deep Sea Breathing Kelp was levitating above the fire as Cao Yun was sending his Qi within, coiling around every ounce of medicinal essence.


    Then, the flames began to lick the exterior of the ingredient, dancing all over its surface. The kelp was dancing as though it was back in the depths of the ocean. Instead of bathing in water, it was covered in blue flames though. Bit by bit, the ingredient began to burn away. And from the smoke, small surges of shining blue Qi mixed with medicinal essence and then flew toward the blank pellet right in front of Cao Yun.


    For the people who were watching, this was a great spectacle. Cao Yun''s control over his flame was simply incredible, even superior to Xue Gulin''s. Many in the audience were completely subjugated by those colorful flames dancing along the burning ingredients. Even Yong Ke was lost in those. Right now, she had the sensation of watching a great fireworks show. Moreover, the competition had lasted all day and the sun was setting, shining a bright red on the horizon. That view was mesmerizing.


    Even for Cao Yun and Xue Gulin, using this technique over and over again was tiring for their mind. They had a total of ten pellets to fill with medicinal essence. According to the rules explained by the arbiter, they would be judged on how much medicinal essence they had injected in the ten pellets as well as how many stalks they had needed for that. In theory, there were enough stalks of Deep Sea Breathing Kelp to fill twenty pellets. Considering that many alchemists had burned several stalks while training, it was barely enough.


    As everything was going rather well, Xue Gulin began to falter a little. As fatigue was settling in, he made a mistake and a huge part of the stalk he was working on began to burn way too much. Quickly, he made a decision and cut off this part to protect the rest of the stalk. However, that mistake caused another one as he was stressed. The more anxious he was because of his mistakes, the more mistakes he would make and the more anxious he would get because of them.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun made no mistake at all. It was as if he had practiced this technique all his life. In fact, he had practiced it more than ten thousand times in his own mind. It had taken him a few hours, but it was totally worth it. Now, his control over his flame was even greater than before. In fact, this ''Writing Life With Fire'' technique was a great way to train oneself. Maybe he would use it on other ingredients to improve his alchemy and his understanding of fire.


    For now, Cao Yun kept on going. He had filled all ten pellets before Feng Yingyue opened her eyes.

 Chapter 466: Halfway in the competition

    With all his pellets filled with the medicinal of the stalks of Deep Sea Breathing Kelp, Cao Yun decided not to stop there. He still had half of the stalks in front of him. Thus, he kept on going. The pellets were already full of medicinal essence, but he was now working on his understanding of ''Writing Life With Fire''. Later, he would try to get more works from Master Jiangle. Maybe he could find some hidden gems in his works. Unfortunately, there were few copies of his manuals and treatises.


    That was sadly a fact he had debated with Jiahe Ruo. Copying manuals and even books was not systematic. But through a better process, they might be able to improve the diffusion of knowledge. In fact, this would help all domains. Indeed, there could be thousands if not millions of works that were lost to time. With their enhanced mind, Spirit Warriors could read even a thick book in a matter of minutes. If they had access to more works, they might get new ideas. In time, Cao Yun would think about helping Jiahe Ruo''s pursuit. This would be a good thing for all humans.


    For now though, he was busy focusing on his control of the flames. On the same stage, Feng Yingyue had also begun to extract the medicinal essence from the very first stalk. Contrary to Cao Yun, she didn''t have a fragment of the Dao of Fire in her. Thus, she decided to use another means to help herself. She took out a guqin. Like her sister, Spirit Master Hua Fenfei was using the ''Otherworldly White Crane'' technique. This was both a martial art and a mind cultivation method. Of course, her direct disciple had worked on this technique.


    In theory, it was a technique best suited to Spirit Warriors, but Feng Yingyue had been able to use it very effectively. And right now, she was playing a melody to help control her flames. Unfortunately, the arbiter used the array formations to isolate the sound of her instruments so it didn''t disturb the other contestants. However, he knew that the audience would be disappointed if they couldn''t hear it. The array formations around the stage were meant to control the flow of air in order to isolate the alchemists. As such, he altered it a little so the sound of Feng Yingyue''s music could reach the audience.


    Xiao Xuefeng was pleasantly surprised as Hua Fenfei knew more about the progress of her own disciple than her. This Feng Yingyue seemed to be as talented as Cao Yun. While his talent was still focused on martial arts and cultivation, hers was greater in terms of the mind. In fact, she would probably be done with ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' way before Cao Yun while he would have reached Spirit Warrior before her. The two of them were forming a good pair of Dao companions. To be fair, she still felt they might take it a bit lightly as they were young. But then again, they were indeed very young. For now, she had no reason to interfere with their matters. She felt like they would ultimately choose different paths though.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun presented his pellets first.


    "Perfect. The pills are filled to the brim. 100 points."


    At last, Cao Yun had obtained the perfect score in a trial. This time, Xue Gulin knew he could not best him at all. In fact, he was struggling with his own flames and ingredients. At the very least, he didn''t want to score less than 90 points. Before he could get an assessment on his performance, Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua were both done. Feng Yingyue also obtained 100 points while Mei Hua only got 94 points.


    Cao Yun''s sworn sister had used the same technique as Feng Yingyue. Unfortunately, her mind cultivation was lower and her comprehension of ''Otherworldly White Crane'' was a lacking in comparison. Still, for a Human alchemist, this was a great achievement. On the other hand, Feng Yingyue''s achievement was incredible. They were close to the middle of the Alchemy Conference. And yet, she had always obtained a perfect score. If she kept on going like that, she might set a new, unbeatable, record. Indeed, no one had ever obtained a perfect score to all the trials of the Alchemy Conference, not even Xiao Xuefeng when she was younger.


    A few minutes later, Xue Gulin presented his pills. This particular trial had been more difficult for him as it had required to learn a completely new technique in a short amount of time. To be fair, the other three had had way more time thanks to their mind cultivation. If Xue Gulin had been able to train for as long as they did, he might have had a better result. Anyway, he still received 91 points. At the very least, he had saved his face. In other circumstances, he would have been very proud of his score, but not this time.


    After him, the other alchemists took a lot more time before presenting their pellets to the arbiter. Not a single alchemist reached more than 82 points. And seven of them simply failed to even get 50 points. Worse than that, two alchemists had failed to produce more than two pellets. They had wasted most of the ingredients before they got the hang of the technique. As such, all nine of them were eliminated. There were less than a dozen contestants now. More than half of the alchemists who had entered the Alchemy Conference had already been disqualified. In other words, the halfway-point of the competition had been reached.


    Once again the arbiter talked to the crowd.


    "Thank you to all the alchemists who came from every corner of the Hongchen Kingdom. Your names will be remembered as the most talented alchemists of your generation. Even those who failed today or yesterday or the day before that, will become great pillars of alchemy. The competition will resume in five days. But before that, we will have the great honor of seeing an incredible exhibition! Spirit Masters Hua and Xiao will perform a pill refinement. That incredible sight will happen on this very platform in two days'' time."


    That announcement had a huge impact on the crowd. They all turned toward the two women who were sitting among them. After all, even those who didn''t know too much about alchemy knew that those two women had refined a 1-star Spirit pill. Watching them refine any pill would be a great show for them all. The alchemists, and especially the Heaven alchemists, were even more excited. Just by watching them, they might be able to improve their understanding of alchemy and gain some insights. In fact, they would have killed to watch them refine a Spirit pill if they had failed. And they would do anything to assist them in the process of refining even the simplest of pills.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "The two Spirit Masters will do us the honor to refine a 3-star Heaven pill, the Frozen Fire pill. Emperor Weide will be present in person to admire their work."


    The arbiter had nothing more to say to convince the entire audience to come back in two days. In fact, the word would spread everywhere in the Imperial City. During two days, many servants would work on making the audience area as large as possible as many, many people would be present that day.


    -


    In the distance, Yong Ke had observed the competition until Cao Yun got his score. After that, she was forced to follow her tutor to work on her cultivation. As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, she had to forge her Five Prodigious Gates. They were still not completely tempered and a bit too weak to advance to the next grade. As such, she received a Pure Transparent Celestial Key pill. Such a pill was able to open all the acupoints of someone. With a quality like that, the pill had little to no toxins within. Still, it wasn''t a good idea to eat more than once a year. Two years ago, she had already ate one in order to completely open all her acupoints.


    Consuming this pill, she then was helped by five late Spirit Warriors pouring their Qi in her. This was truly extravagant. Apparently, her father, Emperor Weide, wanted her to cultivate as fast as possible in order for her to become a Spirit Warrior. It wasn''t painful per se but it was still very exhausting and the sensation was strange. It felt as though five horses were pulling on her limbs and head. Yes, it wasn''t to the level of actual pain, but considering her current body, this wasn''t an accomplishment. A mere mortal would have been torn apart by the actions of those Spirit Warriors.


    That technique had no name but Yong Ke had decided to call it ''Five Wild Horses Tear Open the Doors''. This was an accurate description of what was happening to her. Without the effect of the pill, such a cultivation method would have left many injuries. But the medicinal essence was taking care of them while helping the tempering of the Five Prodigious Gates. In other words, this was like a form of intense muscle training. By lightly injuring one''s muscles, they would grow stronger with enough recovery. Of course, acupoints were much more sensitive than muscles, especially the muscles of a Mortal Warrior.


    As much as the technique was violent, it was clearly efficient. Yong Ke could feel her Five Prodigious Gates become stronger and stronger each time. But she needed at least two to three weeks of rest between each session to avoid any lasting injury. Those would defeat the purpose of the training as she would never be able to open her gates fully if they were to happen.


    -


    Back in the residence where Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei were staying, Xue Gulin was also present. He was the only one who had not heard about the upcoming refinement process.


    "Spirit Master Xiao, this is too unfair! Sister Mei, Sister Feng and Brother Song will help you but not me?! I was granted a spot in the Alchemy Conference! I deserve the honor of helping you out! Hell, I would even be content if I could just watch up close!"


    "Then you will have to watch from the audience. We can make sure that you have a front-row seat. However, if you raise your voice against me even once, I will remind you who is the master."


    Xue Gulin had a lot of frustration that had been accumulating inside. After hearing the news, it almost erupted and he took it out on Xiao Xuefeng. Thankfully, he was reasonable enough to know where the limit was. Insulting Spirit Master Xiao would be the last mistake he would make. However, a terrible thought passed through his mind. He turned toward Cao Yun and then back to the two women.


    "Spirit Master Xiao, will Chen Guo help you during the refinement?"


    "Indeed he will. After all, he''s the one who gave us the ingredients. And he''s the one for whom we will refine those pills. As such, this is a completely private matter between him and us. We can refine the pill however we like."


    Hua Fenfei tried to mediate the situation though.


    "Disciple Xue. This is not against you. But we are more familiar with them as they are our direct disciples. Our goal is to obtain the best pills possible. And we took into account all the strengths and weaknesses of our disciples. Incorporating you in the mix would give rise to many problems. We can''t simply change all our plans at the last moment. Besides, you''ve seen that Chen Guo is indeed exceptionally talented. Furthermore, Sister Xiao knows him a lot from her time spent in the Wubei Sect. This is why we accepted to let him assist us. Don''t feel like you''ve been wronged at all. In fact, we thought about awarding you a Frozen Fire pill."


    "Thank you, Spirit Master Hua. This disciple understands."


    Cao Yun could literally feel Xue Gulin''s killing intent intensify. This was a great show of self-control that Xiao Xuefeng couldn''t sense it at all. But Cao Yun was just more sensitive after his time in the Demon Palace against the blood beasts and his blood cultivation. After all, demons were specialized in killing intents contrary to humans.


    -


    After leaving, Xue Gulin almost tried to contact the assassins he had employed. But he controlled his impatience. Soon, Cao Yun would be killed. He simply had to wait a bit longer. Being in a hurry would only make things worse for him. He had to make sure that no one could connect what would happen to Cao Yun to him. Although he had lost any hope of being with Feng Yingyue, he still had a great future among the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. He would not let it go just to kill one man, no matter how much he despised him.


    In fact, Xue Gulin somehow knew that he might be attributing blame to Cao Yun where there was none. But he was a convenient scapegoat. However, he was afraid that Xiao Xuefeng could see through him. Her behavior was showing it. That was why he had decided to stay as far away from their residence as possible. There was also the fact that he couldn''t stand to imagine Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun together in their room.


    Of course, his fears had already become reality. But he had failed to realize that Cao Yun was the one who had sensed his desire for blood and death. The very moment the idea of killing Cao Yun had settled in his mind, Xue Gulin''s death had become a certainty. After everything he had lived, Cao Yun would not allow for such a threat to exist. As an alchemist, he wouldn''t take long before becoming a Spirit Warrior and a true thorn in Cao Yun''s side.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun didn''t know all the details of Xue Gulin''s plan. And following him in the Imperial Palace or even the Imperial City was impossible. He could only rely on the information from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall obtained by Xiao Xuefeng.


    Anyway, the alchemists got ready for the upcoming refinement of the 3-star Heaven pill. This would be a great event and an important step for Cao Yun.

 Chapter 467: Mixing fire and ice

    Refining a 3-star Heaven pill in secret within the Imperial City was next to impossible. And since Cao Yun didn''t want to wait a few months for them to get to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, the best course of action was indeed to perform the refinement in public as part of the Alchemy Conference. Thanks to that, they could make use of all the array formations of the Imperial Palace, and of many other resources.


    For two days, Xiao Xuefeng, Hua Fenfei and their disciples, as well as Cao Yun of course, got ready for the refinement. Even for a late Spirit Warrior, refining such a pill required a thorough preparation. Besides, they didn''t want to refine just any pill, they wanted to reach the highest quality possible. With the help of a few middle Spirit Warriors, they completely transformed the stage where the trials of the younger alchemists had taken place. Everything was ready for a pill refinement. It had been decided that the cauldron used would be Hua Fenfei''s.


    It was a silver cauldron with many sculptures all over it. There were several openings at the top. This cauldron had in fact eight chambers within. In each one, it was possible to refine ingredients separately and there were ways to make the chambers communicate with each other if need be. Only a Heaven alchemist could use this cauldron since it required to fully see what was going on inside, not just vaguely sense the Qi within. Without spiritual senses, this cauldron would be almost impossible to use even for a mere Earth pill. This was the ''Eighth Aerial Heart''. And it had been custom-made for Hua Fenfei. As such, her sister was also rather competent when it came to using it. Since they were going to lead the refinement together, this was a good thing.


    A few hours before the refinement would start, all five people involved meditated to calm their minds. This wasn''t a small thing they were attempting. Even if Spirit Masters hua and Xiao was certain to succeed, they had no guarantee on the quality of the outcome. Of course, they were confident, but they always wanted to reach the best quality possible. With Cao Yun''s ingredients, they could make more pills but they had decided to refine only eight of them. Three of those pills would be payment to Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng. Obviously, they intended to use two of them for their direct disciples.


    Finally, the day of the refinement came. The place was crowded. Even though there were more than three times the audience capacity compared with the previous trials, not everyone had been able to get a seat. Unfortunately, since flying was forbidden, no Spirit Warrior could fly above the crowd to watch the refinement process. Even their spiritual senses were restricted. Anyway, they would never had dared to use their spiritual senses to watch the refinement. Indeed, their souls might disturb the alchemists or even interfere with the process.


    Under Hua Fenfei''s ''Eighth Aerial Heart'', there was a large furnace that was meant to allow several alchemists to use it at the same time. It was highly decorated with many engravings that were absolutely not functional at all. This furnace''s aspect was entirely for show and it was used during ceremonies. However, the innards of the furnace were great. There would be almost no loss of energy while using fire. Everything would be concentrated directly toward the cauldron, letting the alchemists get a better control over the temperature. There were also several openings for the flames. Like that, each alchemist could control their own fire. This allowed for much more minute control over the flames and thus the general refinement process.


    Now that everyone was present, the five persons of the day appeared. Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng took place to the south-east and the north-west of the cauldron. Their direct disciples were close to them. And Cao Yun was standing to the west of it, next to Mei Hua. In front of him was the cauldron and behind it, he could see the top of Feng Yingyue''s head.


    Since they were about to refine a 3-star Heaven pill, Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng had gotten the right to use their spiritual senses to the limit of course. And there were many guards protecting them. A couple of late Spirit Warriors were watching the array formations to avoid any kind of problem. Even for the Imperial Palace, this was a great honor to have the two Spirit Warriors perform that refinement today. Of course, they didn''t want anything to go wrong. But there was another thing on their mind too. This exhibition could be a good moment to attack for the demonic cultivators.


    Indeed, Emperor Weide was present. He was sitting on the balcony of the tall building facing the stage. It was where he had made his first speech. However, Xiao Xuefeng could tell he wasn''t the real Emperor, he was just a body double. As she was about to begin though, she heard the unmistakable voice of Emperor Weide in her mind.


    "Spirit Master Xiao. Forgive me that deception. As you know, there are many threats to our Imperial Palace. These tricks are sadly a necessity. Besides, as you might have guessed, I suffered from serious injuries before. Although I have recovered most of my strength, I do not wish anyone to know. Those who don''t even know of my condition don''t need to learn that I was indeed injured. In those trying times, this would be a disaster for everyone''s morale. And those who caused those injuries absolutely can''t know how well I''ve recovered. But, Spirit Master Xiao, do believe that I am thankful for the opportunity to watch your art. As such, I can confirm that I will not miss a second of your prowess. Although you don''t need my words, I wish that you''re able to produce an incredible pill today."


    It was the first time since at least a century that Xiao Xuefeng had heard Emperor Weide''s voice. As it resounded in her mind, she could feel that he was even more terrifying than before. While Sect Leader Xuan was credited as the best fighter of the Hongchen Kingdom, Emperor Weide was recognized as the strongest cultivator. In that moment, Xiao Xuefeng could tell this reputation was fully deserved. She had met with Matriarch Huang. Even if that woman seemed very close to breaking through to the Sage realm, what she had just felt now eclipsed her completely. His spiritual senses were even stronger than Xiao Xuefeng''s. Still, she could boast that she had a better control and a greater sensitivity.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Anyway, now that she knew what Cao Yun had told her, she was sincerely terrified by it. Emperor Weide was just too powerful. The only way to take him down would be for Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang to work together with a substantial battle formation of Spirit Warriors. Obviously, this wasn''t something easy to do. And they would have to face the entire army of the Hongchen Kingdom. Using force here would not be enough at all. However, they had absolutely no concrete proof against him.


    Since she couldn''t do anything right now, Xiao Xuefeng cleared her mind. Her sea of consciousness was filled with the beautiful and peaceful song of a white crane. Her ocean and her sky were so clear that it was impossible to differentiate them at all. The same thing was true for Hua Fenfei. On the other hand, Cao Yun was using his Drop of Wrath to activate the Rune of Fire. Not only would he gain a Frozen Fire pill today, he would also benefit a lot from being so close to the refinement process itself.


    In the audience, Xue Gulin was observing it as well. Although he was jealous beyond measure, he couldn''t pass on such an opportunity. Even in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, it was a rare sight. Most refinement wasn''t open to the public after all. They couldn''t make a show of everything or this would disturb the institute''s everyday work.


    From Xiao Xuefeng''s spatial ring, two of the main ingredients appeared, the Universe Spanning Frost and the Eternal Frostfire Fir. Both of them were 5-star Heaven ingredients and they had a very high quality. The Eternal Frostfire Fir was covered in a layer of ice while emitting extreme heat around it. On the other hand, the Universe Spanning Frost was still trapped within the meteorite it had come with. Most of the rock had been trimmed away, but the ice itself remained within. And from Hua Fenfei''s spatial ring, several scales of the Hellish Dragon Fruit appeared as well. They had obviously chosen the best ones for this refinement.


    In front of the audience were three 5-star Heaven ingredients. Getting all three of them was not just a matter of money, even though they were indeed expensive beyond belief. Yet, no one felt jealous at all. After all, there was no better choice to handle those precious ingredients than those two women. Furthermore, they had the chance of watching them do. That too was not something one could simply buy, no matter how rich they could be.


    While Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng processed those ingredients, several others appeared from their disciples'' spatial rings. Those were mostly low Heaven materials. For 5-star Human alchemists, they might be a bit difficult to prepare. However, no one doubted the capacities of the two girls, neither did they doubt those of Cao Yun. And they were right. They handled every ingredient expertly. The preparation was perfect on all fronts. It took almost the entire morning. But by the end, everything was ready.


    The crux of that refinement was to fuse extreme heat and absolute cold. This was obviously a contradiction, but the Eternal Frostfire Fir was proof of that concept. Obviously the main concern was for the two extremes to clash with each other. During the process, the Universe Spanning Frost would provide the absolute cold, the Hellish Dragon Fruit the extreme heat. And the Eternal Frostfire Fir was meant as a binder as much as a buffer.


    When the flames began to heat up the ''Eighth Aerial Heart'', the Eternal Frostfire Fir was the very first ingredient introduced within. Xiao Xuefeng coated the interior of the eight chambers with the properties of the fir. Its scales had already been separated during the preparation. Each one contained the two extremes while also being incredibly rich in Wood element. For several long minutes, the five alchemists only focused on coating the ''Eighth Aerial Heart'' with the Wood element of the Eternal Frostfire Fir. As they were doing so, the two extremes of the ingredients were also affecting the cauldron. And they had to keep them both alive at the same time while avoiding any clash.


    In order to do so, traces of both Universe Spanning Frost and Hellish Dragon Fruit were inserted now and then. Only the pieces with the lowest quality were used as their goal was simply to maintain the balance of the two extremes for now. In the previous days, the cauldron had also been nourished by many materials. Some metals had been used to strengthen it against both cold and heat. The first two principles of Five Golden Elixir Principles had been perfectly adhered to.


    When finally the cauldron was ready, Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei put the two main ingredients in together. The two women were perfectly synchronized. Since the ''Eighth Aerial Heart'' cauldron had several openings, they were able to introduce those two opposite ingredients at the same time without any problem. It was within the cauldron that it would become dangerous. While the two women were controlling what was going on inside, the other three alchemists were controlling the flame. In real time, they were receiving the two women''s thoughts to know exactly what was going on in specific parts of the cauldron.


    Thanks to their reports, they could control the flames accordingly. Considering how talented the three of them were, the two women didn''t have to give any command, they simply had to directly send them what they were observing. And as a consequence, it was as though they had all developed spiritual senses. The three of them had a perfect view of what was going on inside the cauldron. Obviously this would benefit them greatly in their alchemy. From this day, they would reap many benefits apart from the pills themselves.


    Cao Yun''s control over his flames was way above what a 5-star Human alchemist could do. In fact, he was closer to a 5-star Heaven alchemist, especially with the reports from the two Spirit Masters. At the same time, Dian Mo was observing the array formations and the fluctuations of energy all around the cauldron.


    At some point, Cao Yun sensed something in his Rune of Fire. He was not just connected to the fire outside of the cauldron, he also had a vague familiarity with the Hellish Dragon Fruit within. After all, his Rune of Fire had appeared on this fruit. Without thinking, he sent a though to Xiao Xuefeng. It was only that vague sensation he had felt. But to the half-step Spirit alchemist, it was a great source of information. Thanks to this connection, she was able to control the medicinal essence to an even greater degree. Of course, she shared this insight with the other alchemists.


    It took several more hours. When the sun was about to hide itself, they were done.


    From the cauldron, eight pills erupted in the air. They were flying with such speed that Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei were forced to use a lot of strength to stop them. Thankfully, they were not Spirit pills so they had no instinct whatsoever. The refinement had just caused them to fly away at the end of it. But the two women could feel that those pills were of higher quality than they should be. What even they couldn''t sense was that a tiny part of the Dao of Fire was at work there.


    Seeing the eight Frozen Fire pills in the alchemists'' hands, the audience cheered. Even Emperor Weide congratulated Xiao Xuefeng.

 Chapter 468: An Imperial invitation

    The eight Frozen Fire pills were emitting a radiant blue light. Although they seemed to be made out of blue ice, they were extremely warm. In fact, if a mere mortal had touched them, they wouldn''t have been able to keep them in hand for too long before it hurt. The cold aspect of the pill was strong enough so the extreme heat within didn''t make it dangerous. But it was not overbearing to the point of negating it. As such, this pill contained a powerful Fire element. For a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior trying to gather Fire Qi within their Middle Dantian, this was the perfect.


    Among the eight pills, not a single one was below Perfect. In fact only three of them had failed to reach the Pure grade. All five others were at the very least Pure pills. From a distance and without spiritual senses no one in the audience could be sure of that, but it seemed like there was a True Essence pill among them. Refining such a pill was truly wonderful. Even with Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng''s talent, obtaining such a result was a matter of luck. Maybe they could be sure to obtain a True Essence pill while refining an Earth pill, but for Heaven pills or even Human pills, this was way more difficult. That was why Cao Yun''s ability to refine them so easily was incredible.


    Of course, Cao Yun had not the level required yet to even refine a Perfect Heaven pill. But when he would reach that king of level, he might probably be sure to get one True Essence pill out of five or six batches of pills. That alone would be almost unthinkable for most alchemists. In fact, even Emperor Weide was astonished.


    Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng had indeed been incredibly lucky. Maybe the Dao of Fire that had touched the Hellish Dragon Fruit had helped with that. Cao Yun wasn''t too sure, but he didn''t think such an event was dumb luck. After all, even with their talents, they would have refined a single True Pill out of at least two dozens batches. But just after refining a single batch of pills, they had produced two True Essence pills, this was just too much.


    What no one knew was that those two True Essence pills would go to Cao Yun. Indeed, they had agreed beforehand that Cao Yun would obtain the five best pills while Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng would keep the other three for their disciples. That meant that Cao Yun would get three Pure Frozen Fire pills and two True Essence ones. Those were 3-star Heaven pills. Even for him and his recently acquired wealth, this was a lot. But now he had a dilemma as to who would get each pill. Two of them were for his brothers, one of them for Hongyu and the last two for him.


    To be honest, he hesitated to keep the two True Essence pills for himself. Then, he thought about giving one of them to Feng Yingyue in exchange for the one she would receive from her master. But he also wasn''t sure what the effect of the pill would be on Hongyu. If he could completely cure her affliction by using a True Essence pill, this would be way more beneficial to her. After all, Feng Yingyue was a powerful alchemist with a half-step Spirit alchemist as a master. She would have no problem improving her cultivation.


    As Cao Yun was thinking about it, the crowd had gone crazy. Indeed, Xiao Xuefeng had officially announced the result of the refinement process. Two True Essence pills had been refined. Despite the rarity of those pills, no one had any ill intent. First of all, they were in the Imperial Palace so stealing from such an important character would mean immediate death for them and maybe their family. Besides, Xiao Xuefeng was an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior, even without the laws of the Hongchen Kingdom, they wouldn''t have dared to have any ill thought against her. To the contrary, this made them want to befriend her even more.


    In the next few months, she and her sister would receive many gifts even from people who weren''t there but had heard the rumors. Actually, some rumors went a bit overboard stating that they had refined eight True Essence pills out of a batch of eight 3-star Heaven pills. At some point, people even talked about 5-star Heaven pills. Of course, the great families of the Hongchen Kingdom knew the truth, but it was still incredible for them.


    Finally, Xiao Xuefeng heard something in her mind that was more than unsettling.


    "Spirit Master Xiao. Congratulations! What you just achieved was indeed prodigious. You and your sister are truly the pride of Director Ge Ling. To be honest with you, I am somewhat interested in your pills. I understand that you might want to gift them to your disciples right away. But from what I understand none of them reached the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior stage yet. I am sure that we can come to some form of agreement. Once you''re done here, I''d like to meet with you to discuss it."


    Although he didn''t state it outright, Emperor Weide had clearly given her an order through his tone. He absolutely wanted at least one of those two True Essence pills. Even after hearing what Cao Yun had to say about Emperor Weide, she had not believed that he would do such a thing. In fact, he could have talked to them before they attempted to refine the pills to try and produce a bit more. But somehow, Xiao Xuefeng felt like the problem was different. Obtaining a Pure Frozen Fire pill wasn''t difficult to Emperor Weide so he didn''t need one. However, now that he had seen those two True Essence pills, he couldn''t disregard them either.


    As it turned out, Xiao Xuefeng was absolutely right. Emperor Weide had already obtained a Pure Frozen Fire pill with more than 98% of medicinal essence. Despite this great quality, a True Essence pill was just in a league of its own. Most of the times, it wasn''t just a quantitative difference but a qualitative one. And he was ready to exchange his Pure pill for one of those two True Essence pills. In his mind, it was already his in fact.


    What Xiao Xuefeng didn''t know for sure was the use of that pill.


    Since she couldn''t complete ignore Emperor Weide, she sent a response.


    "Emperor, unfortunately, the materials didn''t belong to me. I refined those pills for someone else. And I already promised them the five best pills. Those True Essence pills are not mine to give or to sell. This humble one begs for your understanding."Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    For quite some time there was no answer.


    "I fully understand. But Miss Xiao, I would ask of you to give a message to your customer. If they are inclined to exchange this pill, I can offer them a half-step True Essence one instead of it. More than that, the Emperor of the Hongchen Kingdom will owe them. I am certain that they wouldn''t be ignorant enough to pass on such an offer. Please, Miss Xiao, before you allow them to act too rashly, transmit this message."


    A ''half-step True Essence pill'' was not something that existed. It was just a nice way of saying a pill that had fallen short of becoming a real True Essence one. That being said, Xiao Xuefeng could clearly sense the threatening tone in Emperor Weide''s tone. In fact, she wondered about that. If she had not known what Cao Yun had told her, she would have analyzed it differently surely. Yes, she would have never thought that the Emperor could slaughter two families in order to steal a girl''s soul. And she would have never imagined that he had even controlled the demonic cultivators, allowing them to prosper just to find a means to break through to the Sage realm.


    Now that she knew all that though, she couldn''t ignore it while analyzing his words. It seemed as though, he was ready to do anything for the pill he desired.


    "I understand, Emperor. This humble one will transmit your message and urge the customer to contact you as soon as possible."


    "Thank you, Spirit Master Xiao. I knew that the Hongchen Kingdom could count on you. After all, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute is a pillar of our kingdom. I have no doubt that you''ll know how to find the right words. Just tell them that they will d a great service to mankind with that act."


    After refining the pill, they couldn''t just leave. Many alchemists in the audience were looking forward to an opportunity to talk with the alchemists, even the assistants. For several hours, they discussed with everyone around the stage. Thankfully, nothing had happened, the demonic cultivators had not attacked during this refinement process. However, the guards were still actively observing their surroundings. They couldn''t lower their vigilance for that would be when the attack would happen.


    -


    At last, the group of alchemists came back to their residence. Once they were there, Xiao Xuefeng gave the three lowest pills to her sister and isolated herself with Cao Yun. For now though, the disciples wouldn''t take the pills. First of all, their cultivation was still a bit weak to really make good use of those. Even if they could advance their cultivation a little thanks to such a concentrated Fire Qi, it was really useful for the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior stage and onward. Moreover, they had many things to meditate about after today''s refinement process.


    Even Song Guixiang was mostly silent. As much as he loved to eat, drink wine and be surrounded by beautiful women all the time, he also knew when to work and when to play. This was what Hua Fenfei appreciated about him. He might play around a lot but when the time came to be serious, he had never failed her. In fact, he was the one who had helped discover that Luo Jiang was a demonic cultivator back in Yinmen City.


    While the alchemists were meditating on their recent experience, Cao Yun and Xiao Xuefeng were talking through spiritual senses. With her sensitivity, it was impossible for someone else to eavesdrop without her sensing it. Still, she had activated an array formation plate just in case. After all, Emperor Weide might be able to do so, either alone or through the use of some artifact or something. Thus, she had decided to protect herself and Cao Yun as much as possible even if that wasn''t absolutely necessary.


    Then, she obviously told him what Emperor Weide had asked of her. His first thought was Yong Ke. She was still only a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. But soon, this True Essence Frozen Fire pill would be highly beneficial to her. And Cao Yun was absolutely right, Emperor Weide wanted his daughter to cultivate as fast as possible with as few problems as possible. Using that particular pill was the right move for that.


    For Cao Yun though, this pill could be used if Emperor Weide coveted it. Thanks to that pill, he might be able to approach him and even find more about Yong Ke herself. With Xiao Xuefeng, they talked about it a lot. She still thought it was too dangerous to mess around with Emperor Weide. But to be honest, Cao Yun was tired of being kept in the dark. The more he learned about his past, the more he wanted to know everything. There was no doubt anymore on the fact that Emperor Weide had had his family slaughtered in order to find a specific Soul Embryo only some women with this blood could develop.


    Just like his alliance and support to the demonic cultivators, he had done so in the hope of becoming a Sage someday. All of that was not obscure at all. In fact, it was even a bit too simple for Cao Yun. His family, his families, had been massacred like cattle. As much as he would try to deny it, Emperor Weide had truly acted as a demonic cultivator. And most likely, he had made sure that everyone in those families were dead so there would be no witness to his abominations.


    Worse than that, he might have committed more heinous crimes that no one had figured out yet. For example, he was probably using some of the results of his demonic cultivators'' experiments. He could claim that, like Cao Yun, he was just using what they had produced through disgusting means for good instead. However, there was a huge difference between using means created through demonic arts and having an indirect hand in their creation just to claim to have technically clean hands.


    And then there was this Yong Ke. Cao Yun could not chase the feeling that he knew her somehow. There was still the possibility that her family had been used in some horrendous way to heal her injuries. But the more he thought about it, the more Cao Yun thought it was something else. None of the dates seemed to match. But if Yong Ke didn''t remember her attack and if her past was just fog, maybe everything was just wrong. After all, if she had been in a serious coma, she would have no idea of how long had really passed. Emperor Weide could tell her anything at all. At the very least, Cao Yun wanted to see her face.


    Now that they had fought side by side, he knew that she might agree to show it to him. Even if she was terribly injured, this wasn''t a problem. But for that, Cao Yun had to get close to her. And if some of his suspicions were correct, there was no way Emperor Weide would ever let her out, especially not after what had happened in the Subei Province. Besides, there were threats from both demonic cultivators and demons.


    Before doing anything too rash, Cao Yun discussed it a long time with Xiao Xuefeng. In fact, she mostly tried to dissuade him. Unless he became a Spirit Warrior, he shouldn''t get too close to Emperor Weide. There were also deep political implications. Although she wasn''t the current director of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, she would be the next one.


    As much as it pained Cao Yun, he knew she was right. But for the moment, he didn''t really care about politics at all...

 Chapter 469: The cultivation of the Golden Blood

    Going back in his room, Cao Yun was still pondering over his next course of action. Now that he had something Emperor Weide wanted, he might have a chance to get close to him and maybe see Yong Ke again. Despite all his knowledge, there was nothing he could do against a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Killing Gu Song had already required a lot of preparation and some luck. But against a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, all of those would mean nothing. If he was a Spirit Warrior, he might have a tiny bit of chance with enough preparation and trump cards. For now though, he was simply too weak. Against such a cultivator, he would need several hundreds of Mortal Warriors by his side to win in a fight.


    There were other possibilities that came to Cao Yun''s mind, but no matter what he imagined, he didn''t see any hope in a near future. However, he could still get ready for things to come. And at the very least, he could try to find out who Yong Ke really was and what the connection between the two of them was.


    In his mind, Cao Yun made many simulations of what could happen. But in the end, what he was lacking was actual information. Once again, he was in the dark about too many things. Unfortunately, finding anything about the Emperor himself was almost impossible. His only option seemed to enter the tiger''s den. Xiao Xuefeng had argued a lot against even that. Instead, she could have asked the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall to negotiate for him while keeping his real identity secret. With their influence, it would be quite easy to manipulate the information so no one could know Cao Yun had found some of the ingredients. After all, no one knew about the Universe Spanning Frost he had found outside of the Wang Province apart from Jie Yuan.


    As he was planning all of that, he was also using his mind cultivation. He knew that he had the bad habit of thinking too much. At some point he had to make a decision! Because of his doubts, he turned toward training for a while in order to clear his mind.


    His alchemy was progressing smoothly and he had gotten many more insights. Besides everything Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng had sent him during the refinement, he had also used the Flying Poison to perceive some things. Of course, he had not seen anything more than what they had told him but seeing them with his own senses was different. His Rune of Fire was also a bit more vibrant. Unfortunately, he still couldn''t understand the Dao of Fire through it. In theory, only a Sage could see even the tiniest glint of any Dao. Sect Leader Xuan had found a way to do otherwise though, but it still required to be a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior and to attempt the Greater Tribulation. None of those were possible for Cao Yun.


    Instead of his alchemy, Cao Yun wanted to focus on his overall strength. Even his martial arts had been slow to progress recently. He could feel he was on the verge of truly forming the Horn Constellation. Many times already he had been able to see it with his own eyes but it always ended up fading away. At the same time, his Spear Aura was also very close to turning into a Spear Intent. The main difference was one''s ability to truly control and even shape it. Spear Aura was instinctive and Spear Intent was bent to the will of the fighter. From time to time, Cao Yun admired his golden Insight Writings to try and perceive new things. But as Chief Elder Baishen had told him, Spear Intent couldn''t be forced, it was the culmination of one''s efforts that would birth it.


    Then there were his three cultivation methods. Cao Yun was cultivating his mind and soul, his blood and his Qi. In a sense, he was almost doing as the Three Jade Saints of the legends he had heard from Dian Mo. If he could meet some deva, he might even be able to obtain a new soul cultivation that would eclipse his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. For now though, he couldn''t and unfortunately, Dian Mo had no memory concerning any deva. He simply knew that they existed on other planets and other worlds. Unlike asura and humans, their main cultivation was neither blood nor Qi, it was their souls.


    Cao Yun had recently reached the stage of 1st-grade Golden Blood Child. Thus, he began to cultivate that a little. Turning his intent toward his own innards, Cao Yun mobilized his Drop of Wrath to go into his kidneys. There, there was a small golden pellet. For now, there was nothing impressive about it, but Cao Yun could feel a powerful vitality from it. This was a manifestation of his prenatal Jing. Compared with other people, it was a bit small in fact. Dian Mo didn''t say much but Cao Yun had probably lost some of it by facing too many perils. In fact, his mortal wound when he was a child had most likely hurt it a lot. The Drop of Wrath had saved him but it had also taken a toll on him. Regenerating prenatal Jing was almost as hard as reaching the heavens. However, by cultivating it, he would improve its quality and he could conserve it longer and longer instead of wasting too much of it.


    "Boy, you''ll have to practice ''Nourish the Gold''. This first step is rather simple. Some demons can spend somewhere from one to five years on this stage. However, with your Drop of Wrath, it will probably be way faster than that. I suspect than six to eight months will be enough for you, half the time of the most talented demons. Well, to be fair, I think Demon God Da Mo did it in nine months when he was young. Anyway, the main point is to use your own blood to nourish this tiny golden pellet. Slowly, it will condense and become denser and denser, mixing your lacking prenatal Jing with your rich blood. Then, the properties of this gold will slowly diffuse in your entire bloodstream. Finally, it will activate your marrow and produce a new blood, richer and richer.


    "Then, you''re up for the ''Life Gate Reveals the Treasure''. In your back, you have a Mingmen, it is directly behind your Lower Dantian and it is responsible for the Kidney Fire. This Kidney Fire is what turns Jing into Qi to keep your body alive. Since you''ve already opened your acupoints and you''re familiar with even your Five Prodigious Gates, getting this point tempered and fully opened should be rather easy in fact. By focusing on it and even bringing this golden pellet to it, you will strengthen your vitality and activate your Kidney Fire.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "After that comes ''Treasure Covered in Blood'', you''ll use this Kidney Fire to finally produce the Golden Blood. The attributes of the golden pellet will spread through your entire blood, merging it with your marrow. All of your blood will then be replaced by the Golden Blood. This is a tedious process as you have to change all your blood. Of course, your blood won''t really be golden, but this Golden Blood is essential for the rest of your blood cultivation.


    "In fact, the next grade, ''Flows Take the Gold'' consists in being able to fully manipulate this Golden Blood. Indeed, it will be way denser than even your current blood. It will be like circulating mercury instead of blood. In this grade, you will solely circulate the Golden Blood in your bloodstream. But then, you will practice ''Ascend the Cliff'' and go up your spine, nourishing the marrow there in order to enter your heart.


    "After that, it''s up to ''Gold Heats Up Heart''s Passions'' when your Golden Blood will seep into your entire chest, the innermost parts of your rib cage, of your heart. The Golden Blood will fully activate what humans refer to as Middle Dantian. But since you already have a Middle Dantian, it will be interesting to see that. In fact, it''s rather similar to what you''re going to do soon by gathering Fire Qi in your Middle Dantian. But the point is to indeed awaken your passions. This step is necessary to later form the Demon Soul.


    "From your Middle Dantian, your Golden Blood will flood your entire body, reaching the stage of Golden Body. Finally, you will practice ''Overcome the Last Mount'' in which your Golden Blood will go through your neck directly into your brain, in other words, your Upper Dantian. That process is highly dangerous since your Golden Blood is so heavy. In fact, this step could be seen as the Lesser Tribulation demons face. But it''s not quite as dangerous as the true Lesser Tribulation of humans. However, all those processes can overexcite a demon and cause them to go berserk or to fall prey to their inner demons. This is the real tribulation for demons, rather similar to what demonic cultivators have to go through in fact.


    "If you''re able to achieve all that though, you will enter ''Celestial Palace Accepts the Offering''. Your mind will be strengthened by this Golden Blood. It will both get you ready to activate your seven Po and to turn them into Turbid Demons, but it will also make your mind strong enough to resist those Turbid Demons. In order to tame the Flying Poison, you were forced to weaken it through someone else. Once this stage completed, you won''t need it at all. But to be honest, your mind cultivation might be able to help with that."


    As Cao Yun listened to the entire explanation for the Golden Blood Child realm, he made many connections with his other cultivation methods. Cultivating all three treasures at the same time, blood, Qi and soul, seemed to be the best way to progress faster. Within Dian Mo''s explanation, there were many things he had already partially performed. And there were other points that would help and support each other from his blood cultivation and his Qi cultivation. For example, gathering Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian would be helpful for circulating his Golden Blood within his chest. And the opposite would have been true as well.


    Anyway, Cao Yun didn''t spend the entire day on his blood cultivation, he also focused a bit on his mind cultivation. Right now, he was still trying to extract the Unclean Evil from his Po, this was the Po of Qi. Most likely, this aspect of his Po would be helpful for Qi cultivation. After all, the Po of Jing was useful for blood cultivation. The Flying Poison was literally the soul that had remained in the Drop of Wrath. Cao Yun had no real comparison because he had not been cultivating his blood for too long, but now that he had subdued his Po of Jing, his blood cultivation was a bit faster. Saving a few days in the lower stages could mean saving years if not decades in higher realms. The cultivation of demons seemed to take as long as the one of humans.


    Finally, Cao Yun had to make a choice. In order to advance his Qi cultivation, he could consume a True Essence Frozen Fire pill. He only had two of them and he might need one to get closer to Emperor Weide. At that moment, he still wasn''t sure whether he would give it to him or not. However, he had to keep at least one True Essence pill. The problem was that that True Essence pill might be useful to Hongyu. He had caused the death of her parents, and he felt guilty about it. In fact, this was part of the shame he was using to cultivate his Unclean Evil, that along with his inability to protect his family of course, and many other small things he had failed or done in a poor manner along the way.


    So his choice was to either consume one True Essence Frozen Fire pill now and maybe only give the Pure pill to Hongyu if he had to give the other one to the Emperor. But in that case, she might not reap all the benefits that could have taken care of her problems for good. His other option was to let Hongyu consume it first, but then his cultivation would not be as fast as it could have been. And right now, his main concern was that he was too weak. After a lot of reflection, Cao Yun opted to be selfish. His reasoning was that his strength was the most important factor here. With enough strength, he might even be able to refine another True Essence Frozen Fire pill. That decision would feed his guilt a tiny bit which could be used for cultivating his Unclean Evil, even if that wasn''t his goal.


    Moreover, he still wasn''t sure whether or not he was going to give the other True Essence Frozen Fire pill to the Emperor. For now, it was a chess piece on the board. He had to keep it in order to get closer to Emperor Weide and his daughter Yong Ke, but he couldn''t be sure what would happen after that move.


    Anyway, now that he had come to a decision, Cao Yun was ready to consume his pill. In order to optimize the use of this pill, he had a great idea.


    Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue once again dual cultivated. They had at least two days before the competition would resume. The young woman was still working on tempering her Five Prodigious Gates and Cao Yun had them fully open and was gathering Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian. Dual cultivating with his Dao companion was always stimulating the Fire element within him. Thus, it would improve his assimilation of the Frozen Fire pill. On the other hand, the excess of Qi emitted from his body, and his intense heat, would benefit the young woman in her attempt at strengthening her Five Prodigious Gates.


    The two alchemists consumed a pill each. Cao Yun gulped down his Frozen Fire pill, Feng Yingyue took a Pure Transparent Celestial Key pill. The medicinal essences of those two pills traveled through their bodies as they melded into one another. Their embrace was extremely tight, putting as much of their bodies in contact with each other. The Qi and the medicinal essence was flowing through their mouths and their intimate organs, deeply connected. Through their sensual dance, they were circulating them and cultivating as they were enjoying each other''s warmth.

 Chapter 470: Dance of the White Mountains

    As they were lost in their embrace, Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue''s body, mind and Qi melded into each other. They were in perfect unison, practicing the ''Dance of the White Mountains'', a known dual cultivation for Mortal Warriors. The technique wasn''t really about the various positions. In fact, the main point of the technique was rather in the preparation rather than in the execution. But there were still important key points, like which acupoints had to be focused on and in which order. The distribution of the five elements through the body so that the two partners could be perfectly complementary was also important and this balance had to be kept during the entire dual cultivation.


    Their bodies were intertwined and as much in contact with each other as possible. Throughout their torsos, they could feel the body heat of the other as well as the perspiration resulting of their tumultuous dance.


    Within each of them, the medicinal essence of the pill they had consumed was also being controlled by their dual cultivation. Cao Yun first sensed an intense cold coating his Middle Dantian. But this sensation didn''t last long, completely erased by Feng Yingyue''s chest on his skin. The heat melted the first layer of the pill but the cold had still protected his organs from the very first hint of Fire Qi within the pill. The pill itself was quickly dissolved but it contained many layers upon layers. Each layer had a specific amount of Fire Qi. And they were all kept together through an intense cold.


    As this first layer was dissolved, Cao Yun''s chest began to heat up. Since his blood was already full of Fire Qi, his body was already used to this sensation and it didn''t alarm him. At the same moment, he felt a gentle energy going up his Conception Vessel. From his perineum, it climbed his torso, passing by his navel and losing itself into his sternum as it was going deep toward his heart. This gentle energy had come from his physical connection with Feng Yingyue. Thanks to that, the Fire Qi was even easier to tame.


    In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun felt the Rune of Fire heat up a little as well and his Black Heart Flame seemed to be just as happy as he was. The Rune of Fire was literally engraved in his Drop of Wrath. Even if he could move it around, its home was his heart and thus his Middle Dantian. As such, the Fire Qi was directly in contact with the Rune of Fire and the Black Heart Flame. In fact, the Black Heart Flame even consumed a tiny part of this Fire Qi, getting a bit stronger. Cao Yun could have prevented it by controlling the flame, but he certainly didn''t want to. That flame could be very useful. As it was made of Death Energy, few cultivators could resist it unless they were much more powerful than Cao Yun or had an intimate knowledge of the soul.


    The Middle Dantian, just like the Upper Dantian and the Lower Dantian was made up of nine chambers. Cao Yun would have to fill them up with Fire Qi and he began with the most important chamber, the Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, very similar to the one present in his Upper Dantian. This was the very center of his heart and where the Drop of Wrath was. As such, it would be the easiest chamber to heat up. Then, the others would naturally fill up as soon as the Fire Qi couldn''t be contained in this chamber alone. Unlike in his mind cultivation, he didn''t really need to focus on each chamber individually. However, this might make the process even faster if he could really sense every subtlety in his own Middle Dantian.


    While Cao Yun''s cultivation was progressing, Feng Yingyue could feel an intense heat as well as a strange Wood element going down her legs and up her sides before following her arms. This Wood element was associated with the seed of the world tree Cao Yun had in him. It wasn''t directly the seed itself but some radiant energy from it. Since Cao Yun had already explained to her how he had tempered his Five Prodigious Gates and since she was a genius in alchemy, Feng Yingyue quickly used those energies to her advantage. Just as she could feel the heat of Cao Yun''s skin under her hands, her Lao Gong were being tempered. And as her legs were intertwined with Cao Yun''s, her Yong Quan, the two Earthly Springs, were getting more and more agitated. This heat both from within and from without was being soothed by a cold that had come from Cao Yun''s chest.


    There was near perfect harmony between the two of them and within their bodies. As soon as something happened to one of them, the other was able to counter it to keep a balance without losing any benefit. Most of it was instinctive as they weren''t really analytical right now. Indeed, they were completely lost into each other.


    It lasted a very long time once again. Thankfully, the Alchemy Conference didn''t resume right away and they obtained a bit more time. But in the end, they were forced to stop.


    Cao Yun retained the Frozen Fire pill in his Middle Dantian. Before all of the Fire Qi and medicinal essence was absorbed by his body, it would take several weeks if not months. Now, he could cultivate Fire Qi without any problem. Not only had he a lot of Fire Qi in his blood, he even had a new source of pure Fire Qi in his very heart. He simply had to get rid of the current layer of cold to unleash the next layer of Fire Qi and absorb it. Of course, he still had to be cautious as each layer was much more intense than the previous one. Even with his Rune of Fire and his Drop of Wrath, he wouldn''t be in a hurry. Slowly, he would accustom his Middle Dantian to it and unleash the Fire Qi layer by layer.


    Laying next to each other in a luxurious bed, the two Dao companions were still looking at their partner''s face. The two of them were still very young and they could easily lost themselves in their passion. To be honest, they barely spoke. But they knew what the other was feeling. And Feng Yingyue could tell that Cao Yun had a tough decision to make. Of course, she knew everything about his past and he had not kept anything from her about his current plight.


    "You shouldn''t listen to Spirit Master Xiao too much. Although you can trust her wholeheartedly, she has a lot of responsibilities when it comes to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Instead of listening to her every words, try to listen to what you want first. You want to know who that girl is. If someone had any information on your family, you should do anything to get it. Of course, as the Wubei Sect''s Young Sect Master, you also have a duty to them and you can''t antagonize Emperor Weide directly. But I know that if you don''t act now you will regret it later. Most likely, Emperor Weide knew you were with his daughter in the Subei Province. You might even try to use that to get an audience with her."The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Maybe... After all, he most likely wants this pill for his daughter. At least, I don''t see why he would need it otherwise. Maybe I can work with that to get to see her again. But I doubt she would appear with her face revealed and that would be strange to just ask out of the blue..."


    "Then, why don''t you say that you might have an idea about her injuries but you need to see how bad they are first? Even if her face doesn''t remind you of anything, you can examine her and then pretend that the injuries are more serious than you thought. Or even better, maybe you will really think of a pill that could help her. That would be the best outcome after all. Then, you would have secured a connection with Emperor Weide and you could try to earn his trust. The Emperor himself might try to help you cultivate faster to help his daughter, unknowingly bringing closer the moment of your just retribution."


    Feng Yingyue''s words were indeed interesting. Other possibilities were opening in front of Cao Yun. For the time being, he really couldn''t use the Frozen Fire pill for Hongyu...


    The first thing Cao Yun did when he left his chambers was to go to the stables in order to see Hongyu. He then showed her the True Essence Frozen Fire pill. Seeing it, the fenghuang was excited. She could sense the powerful Fire element within. Such a pill might even help her form her fifth core, getting rid of her problem. At the very least, this fifth core would contain the evil core without her using her essence blood for that.


    "Hongyu, I''m sorry. I''ve made this pill for you, but I can''t give it to you now. I hesitated to tell you because I didn''t want to give you hopes and then take them away. However, you do deserve to know. I still need this pill to resolve a problem related to my family. But I swear that as soon as I can, I will give it to you, or even a better one if I can."


    As he was stroking Hongyu''s feathers, she extended her head toward him to give him better access. Although he couldn''t understand her since she couldn''t speak, he knew that she had understood him and didn''t mind. After all, he had used his own blood to help her. And all their time together, he had tried to help her again and again. Even though she was frustrated by that pill she couldn''t consume right away, she didn''t show it at all. Ironically, this made Cao Yun feel even more guilty.


    In a few hours, the Alchemy Conference would resume. But before that, Cao Yun wanted to set up his meeting with Emperor Weide. There was a risk that his body double would take his place of course. But at the very least, Emperor Weide would be close by to observe everything. Talking with his body double would be like talking to him in a sense. Even if his mind was made up, Cao Yun still wanted to talk about it with Xiao Xuefeng to keep her in the loop. Not only was he putting himself on the line there, but also his entire Wubei Sect and he might even implicate the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. However, he had listened to Feng Yingyue''s words. This was his decision and he would live with the consequences.


    -


    In the Sunmen Province, far from the border where skirmishes with the demons were common, there was a small village. Since they were almost out of the Sunmen Province, they didn''t fear the upcoming war. In fact, they were mostly mortals and didn''t really care about politics. Still, they revered Emperor Nuwa as a living god. Thanks to the Silver Wolf General''s army, they had been safe from the demonic beasts stampede, unlike what had happened to the south in the Subei Province. As such, they were very peaceful even though the Hongchen Kingdom overall was experiencing troubling times.


    After the demonic beasts stampede, they had taken in a few refugees from other villages. There was only a handful of them while the village had around four hundred inhabitants. This really wasn''t much. Besides, they had very quickly assimilated. After all, they were coming from the same kingdom. And the Silver Wolf General had been smart enough to send them to a village that had almost the same religious and philosophical views. Like that, he had made sure that there would be almost no problem. And that had been true until now.


    That morning though, something unsettling happened. One of the refugees who was appreciated by all, came in the middle of the open market. There was a statue of Emperor Nuwa there. And in front of everyone, he climbed on top of it. Obviously, everyone turned toward him thinking he had lost his reason. Until now, he had always respected the statue like everyone else. But at this moment, he took out a knife and cut deep into his leg. Slicing his main artery, a thick flow of blood ran across his pants and all the way to the statue. Emperor Nuwa''s face was rapidly covered in blood.


    As the man was becoming white and blemish, he shouted and terrified everyone.


    "May our lord and god rise from the blood of the weak. May the world be covered in his violent blood. May all humans cower in fear. May the progeny of the traitor weep in agony. All hail Empyrean Asura! All hail Demon God Da Mo!"


    Even his dying voice was strong enough to be heard throughout the village. Then, words no one was able to understand were pronounced. If Cao Yun had been there, he would have recognized the Moshenhua. In fact, it was a very ancient tongue of Moshenhua. This was equivalent to the Primitive Nuhua for the current humans. Many demons didn''t even speak this tongue. However, it was often used in rituals and ceremonies for set phrases.


    Dian Mo would have immediately recognized this phrase. This was almost impossible to translate but it was a way of glorifying Demon God Da Mo while insulting all humans as being inferior creatures, almost vermin. Roughly translated, it meant ''From the blood of the disgusting rotting worms, the all-powerful emperor of all eight world will be reborn. May his rule by long and filled with the howls of agony of the rotten pest.''.


    As he spoke, his blood began to become agitated. It was as though it was boiling. Even his body began to spasm. From his chest, his heart literally exploded. Tentacles of blood erupted from this exposed organ while his blood turned into thin threads going everywhere. His five sheng of blood turned into a giant spider''s net that went everywhere. It was so fast almost no one was able to react in time. Everyone present in the market was pierced through the heart. Then, their own blood was added to the mix and the spider''s next expanded.


    Even those who had been in their house were suddenly stabbed in the heart. However, their deaths were not instantaneous. Sadly, despite their heart being pierced through and through, they could feel their blood boiling in them. Even if it lasted only a few seconds, the pain was unbearable. For less than a minute, the village was covered in terrible screams. And then, there was absolute silence.

 Chapter 471: Coordinated attacks

    Just as he was about to leave the stables, Cao Yun felt a tremor in the ground. The stables were on the outskirts of the Imperial City. To Cao Yun''s best knowledge, there was absolutely no risk of earthquake. In fact, there had never been a single natural disaster in the Imperial City. However, looking toward the Imperial Palace, Cao Yun saw a column of black smoke. His first instinct was that the demonic cultivators had attacked. Almost immediately he was ready to jump on Hongyu to go there. Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua were there. Of course, they were protected by Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng.


    The attack was so sudden, it felt unreal. And before Cao Yun could think more about it, he smelled a strange aroma. Without thinking, he closed off his seven apertures. Those were all the openings of the face. From his previous stealth technique ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'', Cao Yun had learned it. But he had also merged it with what he had understood in Tree of Death''s book. In his mind, there was absolutely no doubt. The fragrance he had just smelled was poison. And it was spreading all around him.


    Without any hesitation, he used his Flying Poison to send a feeling into Hongyu''s mind. At the same time, he screamed for her to fly up. Speaking while there was poison around him was foolish. Yet, he did so even though he could send a telepathic message to his mount. Indeed, he knew that he wasn''t alone.


    All around him, the fragrance was replaced by a thick black fog. He had recognized the poison and now he also identified that black gas. The poison was Purple Leafed Belladonna. According to Cao Yun''s knowledge, it could instantaneously kill an early Mortal Warrior if he consumed it directly. By breathing it, the effects were a bit slower. Considering Cao Yun''s current cultivation and the fact that alchemists were more resistant to poison since they could control their essence in their body, he wouldn''t die immediately. However, he would be almost paralyzed, ready for someone else to kill him.


    On the other hand, that black smoke was Blind Serpent Dust. There was no poison within. However, it was used to conceal something from anyone''s senses. In fact, it was often considered a 4-star Heaven substance. Even a middle Spirit Warrior would have a hard time sensing anything within that dust. Inside the cloud of dust though, excepting the sight, physical senses were not altered too much. In other words, this Blind Serpent Dust was meant to prevent outsiders from seeing or sensing what was going on within the cloud. However, it was possible to hear everything.


    Listening to Cao Yun, Hongyu flapped her wings and found herself high in the sky in an instant. Despite her quick reaction, a bit of Purple Leafed Belladonna had entered her system. It would take her several minutes to get rid of it. In the meantime, she couldn''t land or she would be thoroughly poisoned. In fact, on the ground, Cao Yun had collapsed.


    His breathing was rugged and there were a few spasms across his body. Clearly, the poison had worked and the young man was defenseless. That was precisely the moment when the assassin decided to strike. Entirely clad in black, a silhouette appeared at the outskirts of the cloud of dust. She was rather far from Cao Yun. Even if he seemed to be dying, the assassin took every precaution. That assassin was Sha Diyi, the one hired by Xue Gulin.


    There was no hesitation in her strike. Linked to a chain, she sent a knife toward Cao Yun''s throat and another toward Cao Yun''s heart from his back. The chains were obviously there to retrieve her weapons so as to leave no clue at all.


    Unfortunately for the assassin, Cao Yun had been faking it. Even by speaking, he had absorbed almost no poison at all and the little he had absorbed had been burned away by his Black Heart Flame. Thanks to his knowledge from Tree of Death''s book, he had identified the poison in an instant and had known what to do right away. Thus, he was ready for the two knives.


    The one coming for his throat was completely stopped by his Wei Qi. It was as though it had hit a solid wall. Despite Sha Diyi''s strength, the knife had no way of penetrating Cao Yun''s defenses. Just to be sure he had used Dragon''s Chest. On the other hand, he dodged the knife coming for his back.


    Just as he moved, the trajectory of the knife changed. Sha Diyi still tried to kill him in one last attempt. However, she was too slow. Even though she had reacted quickly, she had still been surprised by Cao Yun''s reaction. On the other hand, Cao Yun had already prepared his move. Thus Sha Diyi had a small disadvantage. And this was enough for Cao Yun to be faster than her. He grabbed the knife and pulled on the chain. At the same time, he grabbed the chain linked to the second knife.


    Using all of his physical strength, he tried to pull Sha Diyi toward him. Without any hesitation, she broke the chains. However, she had been a bit too slow even then. Some of the force applied by Cao Yun pushed her forward before she could completely break off the chains. She was now in range of his spear. After all ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' was rather tall.


    From Cao Yun''s spatial ring, the weapon appeared and immediately went for Sha Diyi''s chest. He was trying to pierce her heart just as she tried to pierce his. The moment the weapon hit her chest, a loud sound of metal against metal echoed through the Blind Serpent Dust. Because of the thick fog, the sound was a bit distorted, but Cao Yun and Sha Diyi were so close they heard it perfectly well.


    Beneath Sha Diyi''s black clothes, Cao Yun saw thick chains all around her body. Here and there, he also saw many knives, some were connected to the chains, some were not. Now that he was close enough, he could smell many different poisons on all those knives. The two knives she had sent against him was obviously covered in poisons as well.


    In fact, Cao Yun realized that the knife he had stopped with his Wei Qi had contaminated his Wei Qi. Indeed, there was so kind of corrosive force. Before he could even identify the poison, Cao Yun ejected some Qi in the distance in order to get rid of this corruption.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Sha Diyi had suffered almost no injury as she had been able to rotate her body at the last moment. What remained of the shock was mostly absorbed by her armor made out of chains.


    For a split second, Sha Diyi had hesitated. But in the end, she decided to run away. From what she knew about the young man, a direct fight was impossible. Now that she could see how inefficient even her best poisons were, she had to run away. Accomplishing her mission was important but surviving was essential. Dying to accomplish her mission might be acceptable, but dying for nothing was not.


    Unfortunately for her, her trap had turned against her. Now that they were both concealed from the outside world and with the confusion, Cao Yun could unleash everything. However, he had to make sure that the Blind Serpent Dust remained around them. So he could use his spear to the fullest right now. The winds unleashed by his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' would tear it apart. In fact, this would be his final move. Thankfully, ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' had other moves.


    For example, Cao Yun could use ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted''. With this technique, he moved all around Sha Diyi and set up some kind of array formation using his own spear. Everything in the area was stuck in place for some time. Several ethereal spears looking like the teeth of the Azure Dragon flew all other the place. As they reached the distance Cao Yun wanted, they turned into scales. The two of them were now trapped by those scales, and even the Blind Serpent Dust was unable to pass through them.


    From Sha Diyi''s clothes, several dozens blades flew in the air. Some were connected to her physical chains, but others were connected to chains made out of her Qi Manifestation. They went in every direction. The chains were intertwined with each other in order to make predicting their trajectories almost impossible. However, Cao Yun didn''t care at all about their trajectories. What he cared about was where Sha Diyi was.


    From his palms, a terrifying black flame appeared and covered his entire spear. When Sha Diyi looked at it, the spear seemed to be made of thousands of damned souls. She could even hear their screams and imagine their agony. As that moment, she felt as though she was knee deep in a pool of blood. All around her she could see mangled bodies and beheaded corpses. Behind Cao Yun, she even saw a mountain of severed heads. And Cao Yun''s eyes were full of blood.


    Cao Yun had used his ''Sea of Blood'' from ''Weeping Demon''. This was the evolved version of ''Bleeding Eyes''. Similarly to Long Huafang''s ''The Moon in the Eye'', his new technique didn''t required his opponent to look into his eyes. His very killing intent was enough to cause hallucinations. In fact, if Sha Diyi had directly looked into Cao Yun''s eyes, her legs would have given way. Even as an assassin, the scene she had in front of her was almost unbearable.


    Since she was distracted, Cao Yun directly appeared in front of her and stabbed her with the most natural move, as though it was nothing. But he didn''t stop there. Because she had isolated him from prying eyes, he could now attack her soul without anyone questioning him. Indeed, he simply had to destroy her body afterward so there would be no clue left. In fact, he could even use his Black Heart Flame and accuse her of being a demonic cultivator whose seal had been activated. Since she was clearly an assassin, he didn''t mind at all.


    The firs thing he did was to send his Black Heart Flame throughout her body. Cao Yun destroyed both her Lower and Middle Dantian. After that, he consumed her meridians and her vessels, going toward her Upper Dantian. Finally, Flying Poison left his sea of consciousness and entered Sha Diyi''s soul, extracting it from her Upper Dantian. Claws covered in strange rotting green fur perforated her soul and took it out toward Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness.


    Now that she was trapped in his own mind, Sha Diyi had nothing to do. Indeed, she was only a middle Mortal Warrior, not a Spirit Warrior.


    For now, Cao Yun still couldn''t perform a full Soul Memory Search. Thus, he asked Dian Mo''s help and he accepted without any problem. Sha Diyi''s trapped soul was sucked into the darkness of the Demon Palace floating in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Dian Mo didn''t take more than a few seconds to completely break her soul and extract her memories. They then all flew into his mind. He simply had to send what was interesting to Cao Yun.


    Sha Diyi was indeed an assassin. But what truly amazed Cao Yun was something else entirely. Indeed, that woman wasn''t just a criminal. She wasn''t even a demonic cultivator like the threats he had faced until now. Instead, she was affiliated with Cang Yin. During the fight he had not really noticed it. But now that he paid closer attention, her blood was indeed extremely rich in demon blood, just like Cang Yin''s. That woman had been birthed by a human and a demon. In her memories, Cao Yun saw that she had been born in the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, not in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    In theory, demons couldn''t pass the borders of the Hongchen Kingdom without being detected. Even if humans had demon blood, they could pass through the defenses and this would raise no alarm at all. But there was no human left outside of the Hongchen Kingdom. Unfortunately, the demons found two ways to take care of this problem. The first one was the simplest but also the most difficult to use, they could simply capture humans and bring them back. Considering the defenses of the Hongchen Kingdom, it was almost impossible.


    The other way consisted in merging bloodlines. Indeed, just like humans had demon blood, demons had human blood. Indeed, both humans and demons had had the two blood mixed inside of them since Demon God Da Mo''s era. The real difference was in the quality of each blood and their ratio. Demons had only ever captured a handful of humans. In the end though, they achieved their goal. They produced children that were very close to being demons while still remaining humans.


    After those experiments, the demons had been able to produce several dozen humans. Obviously, they had indoctrinated them into their religion. Those humans were absolutely loyal to the demons. And they were here for a very specific mission, weakening the Hongchen Kingdom from within. Unfortunately, Sha Diyi didn''t know much. Every one of them had a different mission. The information was strictly on a need-to-know basis. Empyrean Asura had made sure to keep everything well compartmentalized.


    With everything in Sha Diyi''s mind, Cao Yun knew that the demons had planned to use the distraction caused by the demonic cultivators. And indeed, the demonic cultivators had attacked the Imperial City. But now, he knew that many attacks by demons were probably going on right now. Even though he was worried for Feng Yingyue who was still within the Imperial Palace, closer to the place attacked by the demons, Cao Yun''s goal shifted. He had to find Xiao Xuefeng as soon as possible to tell her everything he had just learned.


    For the time being, he would have to push everything else aside for the greater good of the Hongchen Kingdom. Xiao Xuefeng had connections within the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and her reputation was high enough that Emperor Weide would listen to her. Besides, she wouldn''t have to explain how she had gotten this information. Since Cao Yun had no idea of the scale of the attack, he had to act as soon as possible so they could prepare a riposte.

 Chapter 472: Burning Imperial Palace

    In half a dozen provinces, villages had been annihilated and covered in a spider''s web made out of pulsating blood tendrils. Those had been nourished by the blood of all the humans inhabiting said villages. Of course, they had been produced by humans like Cang Yin and Sha Diyi, hybrids between demons and humans sent to weaken the Hongchen Kingdom. Even Sha Diyi herself wouldn''t have known what those things were. Each agent had any information besides what they required for their specific mission. Even if they had been found out earlier, this wouldn''t have changed many things.


    Indeed, even if the administration of the Subei Province and the Hongchen Kingdom had been faster in their interrogation of Cang Yin, they wouldn''t have been able to prevent it. However, they would have found out about the infiltration. And they might have taken different actions. Unfortunately, bureaucracy had taken over. And now, many people were going to pay for that. And as always, those who would pay wouldn''t be the one who had made the mistake...


    From each of those bloody webs, a strange pulse was being emitted. Slowly, the web contracted itself more and more. The blood was getting darker and darker. It took several hours. Gradually, the entire web turned into some kind of orb with only a few tendrils keeping it levitating above the ground. And at the very center of the web turned into that orb, an ominous light was shining. Around the orb, there was a strange bloody hue. It was as though there was a blood stain in the air, almost as if space itself was somehow bleeding.


    In the village of the Sunmen Province, something finally happened almost a day after everyone was killed. An arm pierced through the center of the bloody orb. Clad in thick metallic armor, that arm had sharp claws and it was completely covered in the blood that made this orb. With extreme effort, the arm broke the surface of the orb. Then, another one joined it. Those two thick arms were terrifying. Space itself cowered as the air around the orb began to shake and quiver. The metallic claws at the end of those arms grabbed each side of the opened orb. As they pushed them away from each other, the arms caused some kind of rift to appear in the air. They were literally tearing apart space. A lot of blood flowed to the ground as the orb was completely destroyed by now.


    With tremendous force, the armored claws spread the rift open. Finally the shape of the one tearing apart space appeared. It was a demon entirely covered in armor. Although his face was masked by his helmet, he seemed to be a man. And the aura around him was unmistakably the aura of a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. This was the equivalent of a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior. His Demon Soul was almost complete. Indeed, in each grade of the Accomplished Demon realm, one would turn one aspect of one''s Po into a Turbid Demon. Right now, that demon had turned six of his seven Po into Turbid Demon to form his Demon Soul.


    Behind him, there were around a dozen demons. They were all clad in their war armors and each of them was an Accomplished Demon. Thankfully, the one leading them was the strongest of the group, by far. The others were all beneath 5th-grade Accomplished Demon. Even then, and despite their armors, it was clear that they were in horrendous pain. Walking through a rift in space wasn''t something easily done. Besides, they had opened it without much knowledge of the Dao of Space. In itself, it was incredible. But this was also something they wouldn''t be able to do often. For that invasion, they had prepared for decades if not centuries.


    Despite his strength, the 7th-grade Accomplished Demon was barely able to keep the rift open for more than two breaths. In that time, all the other demons ran forward hoping to get out of this rift before it could collapse. When his strength finally gave out, their leader jumped forward. Two Accomplished Demons were literally cut in half when the rift closed on them. But nine middle Accomplished Demons had crossed over into the Hongchen Kingdom. The same thing happened in all the provinces where that bloody network had appeared.


    In one of the provinces though, this didn''t go quite as well. The late Accomplished Demon who tried to open the rift got his first arm in. But when he tried to push his second arm in, the resistance was too much. The orb ended up exploding in a gush of blood. The Accomplished Demon''s arms were completely torn apart as space was deformed. Even the demons behind him were shredded into mangled corpses by the ripples through space. Playing around with the Dao of Space without understanding anything of it wasn''t so easy.


    Still, in total, around fifty Accomplished Demons had crossed over from the Empyrean Asura Theocracy into the Hongchen Kingdom. Although they were clearly outmatched by the Spirit Warriors of humanity, for the time being, no one even knew they had appeared. Indeed, the array formations around the Hongchen Kingdom would warn everyone if a demon tried to cross them. However, they had completely bypassed those defenses by using a strange technique of the ancient time.


    -


    Back in the Imperial City, Cao Yun had taken care of Sha Diyi''s corpse. Just to be safe, he took her corpse in his spatial ring. With Xiao Xuefeng, he could make sure that there was no proof left behind in her body. Indeed, Cao Yun didn''t want to expose himself. Although the situation was critical right now, he had to think about the future. Paradoxically, this could be a very good opportunity. The demons wanted to use the chaos caused by the demonic cultivators. But Cao Yun could also use the chaos caused by both of them. For now, his main goal was to get to Xiao Xuefeng to tell her everything he had just learned. Besides, he now had absolute proof that Xue Gulin had ordered his assassination. He could kill him without any problem if he ever met him.


    After that, his other goal had not changed at all. He wanted to know who Yong Ke really was. Since the demonic cultivators intended to attack the Imperial Palace, he had every legitimate reason to go there and meet her again. Moreover, he might be able to see through her veil during the fights.


    Cao Yun jumped out of the cloud of Blind Serpent Dust. The Purple Leafed Belladonna had not affected him at all. More than his cultivation, it had been thanks to Tree of Death''s book. Chief Elder Meng had been useful once more. Without his knowledge, Cao Yun would have not identified the poison so fast. In fact, he might have failed to realize he was being poisoned before too much of it had entered his bloodstream. Thankfully, his blood was much heavier and well under his control. The poison had barely been able to spread and Cao Yun had burned everything in the end.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    In the air, Hongyu flew right under Cao Yun, taking him on her back. Technically, flying was forbidden, but the situation had changed. In the distance, Cao Yun could already see several fires. There were thick columns of black smoke rising all over the Imperial Palace. With his senses, Cao Yun could see a few cultivators in the street. Just by their clothes and the weapons they were wielding, there was no doubt that they were demonic cultivators. Besides, they were already attacking and killing people all over the place. Thankfully, the guards had been summoned. In the streets, Cao Yun recognized the armors of the 2nd and 3rd Imperial Brocade Guards.


    And in the sky above the Imperial Palace, at least twenty middle to late Spirit Warriors were flying toward the main palace, the Everlasting Earth Palace. It was the palace built by Emperor Nuwa. Across the eras, it had been modified and even rebuilt many times, but some of the core elements of the Everlasting Earth Palace had remained. Among all the buildings of the Hongchen Kingdom, it was probably the most sacred one. No one could have imagined that it would be under attack, and by humans no less.


    Of course, Spirit Warriors from the two Imperial Brocade Guards had soared into the sky to meet the aggressors. On the other hand, the 1st Imperial Brocade Guards were waiting around the Everlasting Earth Palace. They were the last line of defense against any attack on the Imperial Palace. Beyond them, there was only Emperor Weide left. The 1st Imperial Brocade Guards were the most elite fighters in the army of the Imperial City. They were only twelve but they could probably fight even a 1st-grade Sage thanks to their coordination. However, they had almost never been seen in action by anyone. Thankfully, they had never needed to act. Today would be different though.


    Among the flying demonic cultivators, Cao Yun realized that the Demon King was not there. Indeed, he was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun would have been able to spot him in an instant. That meant that this attack was not yet the full might of the demonic cultivators.


    Looking at the absolute chaos, Cao Yun had to make a decision. If he simply flew in there with Hongyu, they would become targets. Worse than that, they would probably be attacked by all. The guards couldn''t be sure who Cao Yun and Hongyu were with while the demonic cultivators would know. Within this chaos, the guards would not ask any question. If they saw a flying demonic beast, they might attack on sight. Thus, Cao Yun decided to use his stealth technique. Since it had been created by Huang Liyue to be used with the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang, it should go well with Hongyu.


    Indeed, as soon as Cao Yun produced the ashes of his technique, they naturally entered Hongyu''s body. Mixed with her blood, the technique became even better than before. Along his travels, Cao Yun had tried it out several times. As long as they didn''t fly to fast, the two of them would not be discovered. However, they would enter a fight between Spirit Warriors. Of course, their senses would be focused. Thus, Cao Yun and Hongyu had only one solution. They flew as low as they could, sometimes even grazing the ground to avoid any detection by the flying cultivators.


    As they were going straight toward Xiao Xuefeng''s residence, Cao Yun killed several demonic cultivators. They had no way to react. In fact, none of them even felt Cao Yun''s presence. From Hongyu''s back, he simply threw some of the knives he had taken from Sha Diyi. They were still covered in poison. And with Cao Yun''s strength, they easily pierced the defenses of any middle Mortal Warrior. But he had a very ominous feeling. The attacks he was seeing seemed too random. He couldn''t see what their plan was. And that worried him a lot.


    Cao Yun even asked Dian Mo what he thought about this. Despite his vast knowledge of array formations, the Palace Spirit couldn''t see any logic behind their actions. That probably meant that all of that was just some form of distraction for them to prepare an even bigger attack. For now, the Imperial Palace had not even activated any defense. In other words, they knew that something else was coming so they decided not to waste too much of their strength against the vanguard.


    While they were flying in the streets, many explosions occurred in the sky above. Each time, powerful shockwave made the buildings below shake. A few structures even collapsed. Some of the attacks crashed against the buildings as well. Under all those shocks, the pavement had been completely wrecked. And Hongyu and Cao Yun were forced to use their Wei Qi in order to resist those shocks. Even mere mortals had been out on the streets, they would most likely have had several broken bones just from the shocks of the fights above them.


    Cao Yun and Hongyu had almost reached Xiao Xuefeng''s residence when they felt an intense pressure on them. Before they could completely react, a powerful palm crushed them to the ground below. In a desperate effort, Cao Yun activated his ''Dragon''s Chest''. All around the two of them, the scales of the Azure Dragon appeared. Above them though, the palm was the size of Hongyu herself. It was made of pure Evil Qi and on its center, there was a character made out of fire, an inferior version of the Black Heart Flame Cao Yun had stolen from Gu Song. That palm belonged to a 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior.


    Despite all of Cao Yun''s strength, his Qi Manifestation collapsed in an instant. Unfortunately, that 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior had not bee fighting in the sky but on the ground. Just as Cao Yun''s defenses exploded, Evil Qi rushed inside his body. If he had been a normal Mortal Warrior, he would have been sentenced to death at that moment. Thankfully, Evil Qi wasn''t a problem at all for him. In fact, it was even quite nourished to his blood. Still, he felt the shock of the Evil Qi forcefully entering his body. If his acupoints and his Five Prodigious Gates had not been adequately tempered, they would have ruptured.


    Cao Yun''s worries went to Hongyu first. She had survived the shock and her body had not been affected too much. However, the Evil Qi was being swallowed by her evil core. This could risk to destroy the balance she had established between her forming fifth core and this evil core. If that were to happen, she might die if too much Evil Qi was released at once. An instant later, her body slammed against the ground below. One of her wings was broken because of the angle of her fall, and she spit out some blood. Unlike Cao Yun, Hongyu had absolutely no chance even against a half-step Spirit Warrior. After all, she was still technically a 4-core demonic beast, her cultivation was as powerful as a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. With her evil core and her forming fifth core, she might fight against a 4th or even 5th-grade Mortal Warrior, but no one stronger than that.

 Chapter 473: A threat among the disciples

    In the Sunmen Province, nine middle Accomplished Demons had suddenly appeared, led by a powerful 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. All were clad in black armors with various engravings on them. Now, those armors were all covered in fresh blood, the blood of the villagers used to form the orb that had allowed them to cross through space. That 7th-grade Accomplished Demon was General Ye. He was one of the generals handpicked by Empyrean Asura, the absolute ruler of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. As the ruler, he was both warlord and high priest.


    Looking around him, General Ye noted who had made it out. On the ground, there were pieces of the two last officers who had failed to completely go through the orb. With his spatial ring, he took their armors. Then, all the demons around them absorbed the blood in their corpses. This wouldn''t make them stronger by much, but it would have been a shame to waste such potent blood. Among their corpses, there were even a drop of pure golden blood. General Ye took it for himself. Those demons were almost like demonic beasts. Moreover, they had not said a single word since their arrival.


    In the distance, General ye felt something. There was a presence nearby. Without any hesitation, General Ye raised in the air and flew straight toward the presence. His officers weren''t far behind him. As soon as he saw who that presence was, General Ye sent his clawed gauntlet forward. In front of him was a mere Mortal Warrior trying to run away. Considering his clothes, he was probably just a hunter who had intended to rest in that village. Unfortunately for him, he had sensed what had happened and was now trying to escape the invaders.


    Around General Ye''s arm, the blood on his armor turned into a giant arm with terrifying claws. This was a form of Qi Manifestation through blood. As he was only a Mortal Warrior, the poor hunter had absolutely no chance of surviving. From General Ye''s arm, those huge blood claws rushed forward and completely skewered the man. In an instant, he turned into a mist of blood that was added to General Ye''s strength right away.


    "General, we found traces of other hunters scattered all around."


    As General Ye had gone after this particular man, his officers had all split up to try and find any other witness.


    "We''re isolated from the other cities. They probably won''t be able to raise any alarm in time. But just in case, go in all the directions they could have run to. Kill everyone, cover their land in their own blood. The Silver Wolf General must not know about our presence until it is too late. We cannot fail! Even if they''re only mortals, eradicate them all with all your strength!"


    "Understood, General!"


    In a flash, the nine Accomplished Demons disappeared in the air. Just like Cao Yun, they were flying very close to the ground so as to avoid being detected by anyone. They had a very clear mission and it needed to be performed with utmost care. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. If they were to succeed, they would cripple the Hongchen Kingdom for generations. Hopefully, they might even be remembered as those who had eradicated mankind from the face of the planet. Demon God Da Mo would reward them immensely once he would return.


    -


    In the Imperial Palace, Cao Yun had just been crushed to the ground. Above him, he saw the figure of a woman. Unlike the flying Spirit Warriors, she had stayed on the ground, ready to attack if need be. And the need had arisen. When she felt Cao Yun''s presence, she knew who he was. Indeed, the demonic cultivators had been briefed about that young man who had disrupted their plans several times. Since he was close to Xiao Xuefeng and her disciple, they knew exactly where he would go, and they had been right. Because their forces were spread a bit too thin, only a few early Spirit Warriors had been mobilized to take him down. This was just a precaution, not the mail goal of their operation.


    The woman was surprised when she noticed that Cao Yun was still drawing breath. His defense had bee incredible to resist had palm. However, he would not survive her second strike. On the ground, Cao Yun''s mind was already on his spatial ring. In it, he had the Spirit Condensation Barrier given to him by Sect Leader Xuan. With it, he would be able to survive a strike by a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, let alone a 2nd-grade one. Fortunately, the need to use it disappeared.


    All around him, he heard a nice melody. And he recognized it right away. It was an hymn of ''Otherworldly White Crane''. When the demonic cultivator''s palm fell upon him, it clashed against the melody. The sound around Cao Yun acted as a shield and the palm simply dispersed without anything flashy. It merely stopped to be, scattered with the music. In the air, the demonic cultivator knew what had happened and tried to escape. But it was to late for her. A small white crane flew directly toward her head. In an instant, it had entered into her sea of consciousness.


    Within, the white crane turned gigantic. It was encompassing all of the sky despite the sea of consciousness being infinite. There were many strange runes in there. In fact, the sky and the ocean were corrupted by blood and bizarre dark energies. In the center of her sea of consciousness, a small black flame suddenly enlarged. The ocean itself turned into flames and the sky was split open. Unfortunately, some seal deep in her soul had been activated so Xiao Xuefeng could not discover any of her secrets.


    On the ground, Cao Yun had recovered and was witnessing the fight taking place above him. It only lasted an instant before Xiao Xuefeng also appeared at his side. Although he didn''t want to distract her, he lost no time at all. Asking Dian Mo''s help, he condensed the memories he had extracted from Sha Diyi and sent them toward the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. At first, Xiao Xuefeng was more surprised by the fact Cao Yun had been able to do so. Indeed, although he could send some thoughts, sending the entire memories of someone''s life was something else. Without Dian Mo''s help, he would have never been able to achieve it. Anyway, Xiao Xuefeng was then much more surprised and shocked by the contents of those memories.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    If they were accurate, and she had no reason to believe otherwise, not only had they been infiltrated by demonic cultivators, but even demons had hidden in their midst. At the moment, they could only see one enemy, but there were others lurking in the shadow. In fact, the demons had probably already put their plan in motion since they knew beforehand when the demonic cultivators would strike. This was certainly the worst day for the Hongchen Kingdom since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. And almost no one knew of this. Xiao Xuefeng had to warn Emperor Weide as well as Sect Leader Xuan as soon as possible.


    "Chen Guo, stay with my sister. Protect Feng Yingyue and your sister! Tell them everything too, I have much work to do."


    Just like that, Xiao Xuefeng disappeared. Considering the direction in which she had gone, Cao Yun could guess where she was going. She hadn''t gone toward the Everlasting Earth Palace. Instead, she had flown toward the Main Hall. This was the headquarters of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. And they were obviously within the Imperial City. Because he knew that she had connections there, it made sense. The Main Hall had array formations meant to communicate instantaneously with their local branches. That way, she would be able to send words of the impending threat of the demons. Of course, the Main Hall could also warn everyone about the attack on the Imperial Palace. Thus, they had probably been attacked first. However, they were almost as well protected as the Everlasting Earth Palace. In fact, Xiao Xuefeng was convinced the Emperor''s palace would fall before the Main Hall.


    The only advantage the Everlasting Earth Palace had over the Main Hall was the presence of Emperor Weide himself. Of course, this was a huge advantage. But Xiao Xuefeng had no idea how well Emperor Weide was going. After all, he had never appeared in public during the Alchemy Conference. It might be because he was too weak, or injured. Or maybe it was a trap to lure in the demonic cultivators by looking like he was weak.


    As Xiao Xuefeng was flying toward the Main Hall, Cao Yun helped Hongyu. Her left wing was clearly broken and she couldn''t fly anymore. However, she was still very fast. She ran along Cao Yun and they both reached Xiao Xuefeng''s residence. Spirit Master Hua was standing guard and her spiritual senses were spread far. Obviously, her sister had told her that Cao Yun was nearby. Although she might have helped fight off the Spirit Warriors, Hua Fenfei was more worried about her disciples. Now that Xiao Xuefeng was gone, she had to stay with them. Although Mei Hua and Feng Yingyue were powerful, they were alchemists, not fighters. On the other hand, Cao Yun was more of a fighter than an alchemist.


    The first thing Cao Yun noticed when he reached them was Xue Gulin. The young man was also surprised to see Cao Yun. To give him credit, Xue Gulin was able to hide his surprise very well. Unfortunately, everyone around him had good senses. More than that, Cao Yun had seen Sha Diyi''s memories. Thus, he knew for a fact that Xue Gulin had paid someone to have him killed. Considering the chaos all over the Imperial City, the usual laws didn''t really apply.


    Without any hesitation, Cao Yun sent Sha Diyi''s memories to Hua Fenfei. The woman immediately understood what was going on. Before she could react though, Cao Yun''s spear had emerged from his spatial ring. And the next instant, it was stabbed through Xue Gulin''s heart. Just like Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua, he was a great alchemist but he wasn''t a warrior. His cultivation had been enhanced by pills and he had only reached the 1st-grade Mortal Warrior stage. Against Cao Yun''s spear, he was almost powerless. Maybe he could have bought some time in a proper fight, but Cao Yun didn''t leave him any opportunity to retaliate or defend. His spear went through his Wei Qi as though it were air.


    Cao Yun''s martial art had greatly improved. Instead of using fancy and complicated moves, the simpler ones were the best. There was no emotion in Cao Yun''s attack. In fact, he had no grudge against Xue Gulin at that moment, he was just taking care of a threat. That was as simple as that.


    Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua didn''t react at all. On the other hand, Song Guixiang was quite surprised by the sudden murder taking place in front of him. Before he could do anything though, Hua Fenfei had sent in his mind what Xue Gulin had done. Suddenly, it all made sense. If his own master was telling him that, this was true beyond a doubt. Thus, he didn''t have any sympathy for Xue Gulin. To be honest, he didn''t like the guy because he had courted Feng Yingyue with much insistence despite knowing she had a Dao companion and wasn''t interested in him. Yes, Song Guixiang loved women more than his fellow man, and yes he had probably done the same kind of thing before, or after, but Feng Yingyue was his sister disciple.


    Just as the light was leaving Xue Gulin''s eyes, Hua Fenfei entered his soul and performed a Soul Memory Search. Unfortunately, he knew nothing. He really was after Cao Yun out of his personal enmity. That was such a waste of a great talent. But Hua Fenfei absolutely agreed with Cao Yun''s actions. They simply couldn''t keep such a man by their side, especially in the current crisis. After everything was over, she would help Cao Yun deal with the consequences of that murder. Since they had all the evidence they needed through that Soul Memory Search and considering what was going on, Cao Yun probably wouldn''t suffer any consequences. Usually, only the Imperial Palace could execute an alchemist, but the circumstances were special right now.


    Hua Fenfei was keeping the four Mortal Warriors under her protection. Feng Yingyue saw Hongyu''s state and immediately went to her. She tried to mend her wounds but her wing would take some time to heal properly even with her powerful bloodline. Now that they had some form of peace, Cao Yun decided to go ahead with his idea. Before, he wanted to keep his True Essence Frozen Fire pill to get closer to Emperor Weide and maybe Yong Ke. But now that Hongyu was wounded, he decided that it was time for him to help her out.


    From his spatial ring, he took out the pill. The others immediately understood what he was trying to do. They all decided to help him help the Blood Boiling Fenghuang, even Song Guixiang. To be fair, there was nothing else to do really.


    After several minutes during which Hongyu calmed herself and got ready for the pill, Cao Yun finally gave it to her. Then, he followed the pill with his own Qi and intent. He could sense the medicinal essence spread around her body. And he guided it as much as he could toward her fifth core, even injecting more of his intent within. With the pill, he had also added a drop of his blood after condensing as much of his intent in it as possible. With his senses, he could clearly feel that her fifth core was being formed at the moment. There was a vortex of energy in her core. It was just beside the evil core. With Cao Yun present, this evil core was no problem at all.


    Since Hongyu wasn''t resisting Cao Yun''s interference at all, he could control the Evil Qi within. Once that fifth core was formed, the evil core would be entirely under control. In fact, Hongyu might even be able to use it freely without fearing the consequences.


    As they were helping Hongyu, the alchemists suddenly heard a loud explosion in the distance.

 Chapter 474: Silver Wolf Generals conundrum

    In Sunmen Province''s capital, Xiguan City, the Silver Wolf General was holding a war meeting. In the room, there were only men and women in full armor except for their helmets. The Silver Wolf General was Long Cheng. That man had hair as black as obsidian but bright silver eyes. Amplifying the glint of his eyes, his armor was also entirely made of a metal looking like silver. It was in fact an amalgamation of several metals with a bit of blood from a Silver Fanged Dragon Wolf. A Silver Fanged Dragon Wolf was a 9-core demonic beast covered in silver scales with a few patches of fur here and there. Like its name suggested, it indeed had powerful silver fangs. Compared with other 9-core demonic beasts, it was rather small, especially since it was referred to as a dragon. However its speed was so impressive it was very difficult to ever see more than just a streak of silver lightning.


    There was an intimidating aura all around Silver Wolf General Long Cheng. Around the table, there was a familiar figure who looked exactly like Long Cheng but younger, his son Long Jian. By now, he had become a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior. When Cao Yun had first met him, he had been a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. In five years, both men had progressed, even though Cao Yun had been way faster. Anyway, Long Cheng was clearly on his way to becoming a Spirit Warrior before turning forty like Cao Yun''s father.


    Long Jian was wearing his ''Nightly Wolf Hide'' and on his waist he had his sword, ''Dragon Wolf Fang''. In the room, everyone had their weapons and their armor. However, they didn''t have their helmets, and no spatial ring except for Long Cheng himself. On the table in front of them, there was a detailed map of the Sunmen Province and the nearby demon kingdoms. Everywhere, there were small tokens to represent the different forces as well as some characters here and there accompanied with flags. Those were the array formations in place.


    Silver Wolf General Long had the responsibility of guarding the frontier of the Hongchen Kingdom. He was acting as governor as well as general. Recently, he had heard from General Yun Po about what had happened to the south, in the Subei Province. Governor Jiahe was really irritating. Unlike Long Cheng, he truly was a politician, in the worst meaning of the word. Along his hundred and fifty years, Long Cheng had met with great politicians, but he had also met many mediocre ones. The very first time he had met Jiahe Lan, he had known what kind of man he was, only interested in keeping his seat, trying to please everyone and disappointing everyone in the process.


    The Imperial City could afford such a governor in the Subei Province because they had Long Cheng in the neighboring Sunmen Province. Indeed, the Sunmen Province was sometimes called the Demon Gate. This was the best place to invade the Hongchen Kingdom from the demon kingdoms. As such, it was the most heavily militarized province on the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Now and then, some demons tried to raid the villages. Most of the ties, they were either brigands, mercenaries or unmarked soldiers. Anyway, the demon kingdoms could always deny their implication some way or another.


    But the defenses left behind by Emperor Nuwa and the Four Saints were still strong. No demon could pass through the border undetected. And the stronger they were, the stronger the barrier would repel them. Powerful Accomplished Demons had almost no way of going through the border without a tremendous effort and years if not decades of preparation. However, Silver Wolf General Long had never once thought of those defenses as unbreakable. Over time, everything could crumble. Unfortunately, many politicians didn''t share his worries. Thus, having Governor Jiahe in the south wasn''t a problem for them.


    "General, the skirmishes intensified for quite some time. However, there has been almost no sign of attack for a few weeks now. I suspect that the demons are preparing something on their end."


    "I concur. It''s been decades since even an early Accomplished Demon tried to attack the border. There is something brewing in the demon kingdoms."


    "It may be because of Empyrean Asura''s conquests. Although the intel is lacking on what''s going on exactly, he probably has still a lot of rivals or even enemies among the other kingdoms. Uniting all the demons is impossible. Since he''s already conquered several kingdoms and annexed them to his theocracy, the others must be wary of him. I don''t think he can spare too much strength attacking us right now."


    "That would be a mistake to think like that!"


    When Long Cheng spoke, everyone turned quiet. Even though he didn''t shout, his voice was thunderous.


    "Empyrean Asura truly desires to see our kind eradicated. I suspect that he is simply gathering his forces before attacking us. The next battle will probably be the fiercest since the Seven Treaties Era."


    Around fifty thousand years ago, Demon God Da Mo had subjugated humans on the Piaolu planet, probably after a great war between humans that had left them too weak to retaliate. This was the Great Sorrow Era. Then, thirty thousand years ago, Emperor Nuwa led a coup against the tyrannic god. It lasted for ten thousand years during which they freed all surviving humans and officially founded the Hongchen Kingdom. This was the Blood and Dirt Era, when the Great War had happened. The day the Hongchen Kingdom was officially founded, after Demon God Da Mo''s demise, was dubbed as the Founding Era. It only lasted two thousand years but it was full of danger. In order to stabilize the Hongchen Kingdom, many treaties were signed with the demons. That led to the Seven Treaties Era eighteen thousand years ago.


    During the Seven Treaties Era, more than seven treaties were signed between the Four Saints and the demons. However, the name came from the seven most important ones. All the demon kingdoms had recognized the Hongchen Kingdom as an independent kingdom. In fact, a few demon kingdoms had even forbidden human slavery. After Demon God Da Mo, the demons had become completely scattered. And many Exalted Demons and Reborn Demons had been killed during the various wars, both against the humans and among themselves. For millenniums, the demons weakened themselves and humans could prosper under Emperor Nuwa and the Four Saints'' guidance. Unfortunately, they eventually either died or ascended, leaving the Piaolu planet.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Finally, fourteen thousand years ago began the current Forsaken Dao Era. For some unknown reason, not a single cultivator was able to become Sage anymore. Even the demons were unable to become Exalted Demons. With time, even those who had already reached those realms were unable to progress. Some even regressed and died sooner than they should have. Many hypotheses had tried to explain it but no one had been able to completely understand the phenomenon. Some theorized that all the wars had hurt the planet so much that it was now lacking the qualities required for that. But they were not very convincing. Some argued that too much Qi had already been consumed by the previous cultivators. Maybe the connection with Dao itself had been exhausted. However, there was a lack of evidence.


    Silver Wolf General Long''s words had caused even his own officers to be silent. They couldn''t outright refute his speculations. Indeed, they were all holding those same worries. Although there was nothing concrete, their instincts told them that something was going on.


    Suddenly, someone interrupted the meeting. It was a young woman, a servant. Just by looking at her and hearing her ragged breathing, it was clear that something major had happened. After all, a servant wouldn''t dare to interrupt a war meeting in such a manner. Immediately, before she could control her breathing, she knelt and presented a piece of parchment.


    "General, this is a most important letter from the Imperial City, directly from the Main Hall."


    Her words were difficult to make out because she couldn''t breathe properly but General Long had understood it the moment he had seen the seal on the parchment. Without any delay, he took it from her hands. It levitated toward and opened in front of his face. He didn''t show much expression, but his son knew him enough to see a glint of surprise and even fear in his eyes. Something terrible had happened.


    "The Imperial Palace is under attack by demonic cultivators. Get our men ready! We might be forced to send reinforcements there as soon as we can."


    "But, General, it would take us months to get to the Imperial City..."


    "Then, we must prepare as soon as we can. If the Imperial Palace falls, we must be there to take it back. And it it stands, we must prevent the demonic cultivators from scattering all over the Hongchen Kingdom."


    The mere fact that he imagined the fall of the Imperial Palace showed how serious the situation was. Everything else was forgotten. They had to prepare for the worst eventuality. At the same time though, they couldn''t leave the border unprotected. For many hours, they talked about their course of action. Indeed, they would need at the very least two to three months to reach the Imperial Palace even by going at full speed. Unlike Cao Yun, they could disregard all the administrative procedures during such a crisis.


    -


    Just as they were discussing their response, another servant arrived with a similar parchment. Of course, they were all hoping that it meant the threat had been neutralized, but they were worried that it meant something else. This time though, there was another seal on the parchment. Xiao Xuefeng had added her own seal. From the Main Hall, she had been able to send words to Sect Leader Xuan. But she didn''t stop at him. Her information was just too important for the security of the entire kingdom. As such, she had sent everything she knew about the demonic cultivators and the demons everywhere.


    Reading the new letter, Long Cheng couldn''t hide his worries from his son.


    "We are under attack by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy!"


    "What?!"


    "I want full reports about our entire Sunmen Province. Find anything suspicious! Anything at all! I want full reports from every small village, be as quick as you can!"


    "Yes, General!"


    Although his officers didn''t really understand what was going on, they knew him well enough. Considering his tone, that was the real deal. Suddenly, he had completely forgotten about the Imperial Palace. And so did his officers. In the next hours, they sent orders to every corner of the Sunmen Province. Considering the area, it could take a lot of time. Unfortunately, they didn''t have luxurious array formations to send messages across large distances like the Main Hall. However, they had many smaller array formations to speed things up. Instead of sending a message over a large distance, they could send many messages across small distances, bridging the gap.


    After several hours, they had an answer. General Long had stayed in his war room with some officers to prepare for many eventualities. On the map in front of them, they were constantly moving the tokens around to imagine all the scenarios. What truly worried the officers were the fact that some of the red tokens, the demons, were now on the other side of the border. Long Cheng was ready for anything. For months now, he had felt something was odd on the border. And after hearing about Cang Yin, he was worried by the idea of having human traitors in his own province. Xiao Xuefeng''s report was trustworthy enough for him to act in such a paranoid manner.


    "General! We lost contact with a few villages in the south-east. We dispatched some men with demonic beasts to investigate further. Apparently, no one got any news from them in more than a week."


    "Ready all our troops! This is the real deal! We are under attack!"


    "General!"


    It would take a day or two for all the troops to be ready. Then, they would need at least one week to get there. In the meantime, the traitors could do whatever they wanted. Thus, Silver Wolf General asked the Major Hall of Xiguan City to relay everything to all the armies throughout the Hongchen Kingdom. They all had to be wary of human traitors among their midst. Not only were demonic cultivators betraying them, now they had insiders loyal to the demon kingdoms. Although Long Cheng didn''t know what they wanted, he was certain that it couldn''t be good.


    Immediately, he sent a few scouts to determine what had happened to those villages. But at the same time, he got his army ready to march there. However, he couldn''t leave the border unprotected. Most likely, the demons would try to weaken them from within in order to launch a massive attack on the border. Thus, Long Cheng had to be ready for the two threats. As such, he had to send some forces to the south-east while retaining enough men to fight on the border. Unfortunately, he had no idea how big the threat to the south-east was yet. Anyway, he decided to get ready before receiving the reports from his scouts. He would have time to decide on how to split up his forces later on.


    Looking to his side, he watched his son Long Jian. After losing his first wife and the children he had had with her, Long Cheng had married another woman who had sadly passed away too. He couldn''t bear to see his two last children die as well. However, they had both chosen a life in the military like he had. As much as he didn''t want to see them die, he couldn''t go against their wishes and he knew it. However, in that moment, he was pondering where to send his son, not to optimize the strength of his army, but to avoid his death...

 Chapter 475: The sun cries on the Imperial Palace

    While many provinces were receiving the information directly from the Main Hall into their own Major Halls in their capitals, the fight was still raging over the Imperial Palace. Cao Yun and the other alchemists heard a loud explosion. Then, they felt the earth shake. The very buildings were shaking as a shockwave traveled through the air. Many small objects and parts of the buildings as well as pavement were blown away by the explosion. Thankfully, it had not happened directly near the Everlasting Earth Palace. In fact, around the palace itself, array formations had been activated immediately. For a split second, there was a dome of condensed water so dense that even the shockwave wasn''t able to go through it completely. Instead, the shock was sent back, amplifying the destruction around it sadly. But even this array formation couldn''t cancel out such an explosion.


    Looking in the sky, there were middle Spirit Warriors fighting the demonic cultivators. Even with his enhanced sight, Cao Yun was barely able to follow them. All around them were various Qi Manifestation. Here and there, Cao Yun also recognized Martial Auras and even Martial Intents.


    One of the demonic cultivators was a slender woman wearing almost no clothes on her limbs apart from strange strips covered in writings. If he had been able to see them clearly, Cao Yun and Dian Mo would have recognized characters similar to the Moshenhua. Those strips seemed to be alive as they were moving all around her as though they were chains protecting her. Just as the characters were shining a bright red, the strips themselves were golden, reflecting the sun above.


    That woman had incredible red hair going all the way to her waist. In her hands, she was wielding a battle axe. Its head was a double blade forming almost a full circle that was as large as her own trunk. When she swung it away, it caused powerful winds to assault her opponents.


    At some point, her axe embedded itself into the chest of one of the guards. Just as he was trying to attack her despite the wound, she rotated the axe and his shoulder and left arm were completely torn apart. Then, the strips of clothe entered his wound while some were trying to choke him. Thankfully, another Spirit Warrior intervened and slashed them away. Even then, the strip pieces within the guard''s wound kept on moving, as though they were living beings. Without much hesitation, that man created fire wit his right hand. In a deafening lion roar, he cauterized the wound and burned away all the foreign invaders inside.


    The battle in the sky was simply incredible. Spirit Warriors were fully using their Qi Manifestation so all kinds of crazy things were fighting each other. Winged horses were trampling on fire snakes while a giant bronze cauldron was emitting a song that could destroy one''s soul. Such a fight could literally level the entire Imperial City and it was going on above the Everlasting Earth Palace, the jewel of the Hongchen Kingdom. But even then, this wasn''t the real fight yet.


    Deep down, Cao Yun was looking for an opening. Despite the chaos, he had a clear goal in mind and he wanted to accomplish it. Amidst this chaos, he might finally have a chance of seeing through Yong Ke''s disguise. But for that, he had to wait for the Everlasting Earth Palace''s defenses to fall. There was no doubt that Emperor Weide and his daughter were both within the palace right now. Paradoxically, Cao Yun wanted the demonic cultivators to break those defenses so he could come in.


    Finally the tide of the fight began to change. Indeed, Xiao Xuefeng was done. Thus, she could join the fray.


    Everyone heard the elegant voice of a Cloud-Drifting Crane that was filling the entire skies above the Imperial Palace. Looking in that direction, Xiao Xuefeng was riding her own Qi Manifestation. Even Cao Yun wouldn''t have been able to tell that it wasn''t a real demonic beast if he hadn''t known about Xiao Xuefeng''s technique. The woman was calmly sitting cross-legged on the back of the 9-core demonic beast while playing her guqin, ''Crane Dancing on the Pillars of Heaven and Earth''.


    Each and every musical note seemed to come from another world, completely separate from this one. In that world, there was only calm and serenity. The music was like ripples in the air but also in the souls of everyone hearing it.


    ''Cranes Travel to Infinite Realms''.


    All the demonic cultivators fell victim to this technique. Since they were not prepared for such an attack, they became powerless for several breaths. Within their sea of consciousness, they could envision thousands of different worlds. They were desperately trying to fly away. But each time they moved, they found themselves in another world. The red-haired woman with the battle axe found herself in a world of pure water. All around her was a gigantic ocean whose water was as transparent as air. At first, she was disorientated and tried to fly upward before realizing that the notions of up and down had disappeared. Suddenly, she found herself in a sublime garden with many flowers and fruit trees.


    By now, she had realized her plight. Someone had trapped her in an illusion within her own sea of consciousness. Without any hesitation, she stopped moving and recited the psalms written on her strip of clothes, her golden ribbons. In the real world, her ribbons were fluttering all around her, protecting her even without her giving them directions. The Spirit Warrior she had maimed and the one who had saved him were unable to get any closer. Even the flames of the first one were not enough to destroy those ribbons. And now that the demonic cultivator was focusing all her strength on them, cutting them was impossible.


    Finally, a few characters flew from the ribbon and penetrated her Upper Dantian. The illusion caused by Xiao Xuefeng''s melody was completely destroyed from within. Since this attack was targeting everyone, it was obviously less powerful than an attack directed to a specific target. Against Xiao Xuefeng''s full might, this 5th-grade Spirit Warrior would have only been able to try to escape.


    Now that Xiao Xuefeng had joined the battle though, morale was up and the guards were getting the upper hand. Ironically, Cao Yun wasn''t too pleased by this development. Well, he was, but he wasn''t at the same time. Feng Yingyue could tell that he was struggling. Of course, he didn''t want the demonic cultivators to win or to destroy the palace created by Emperor Nuwa, but he wanted to get the opportunity to enter it and see Yong Ke.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Just as he was thinking that, it seemed as though the Demon King had heard his wish.


    Suddenly, the sun turned black. There was still light but the sun itself now appeared pitch-black. For mere mortals and even Mortal cultivators, this looked like an act of a god. However, Cao Yun''s group could tell what was going on. This was merely a Qi Manifestation causing this optical effect. Anyway, it was still incredibly powerful. There was no doubt in anyone''s mind, this had been caused by a late Spirit Warrior.


    In the center of this black sun, there were twelve men and women surrounding a single man. His complexion was incredibly pale, almost as if he were dead. But his eyes betrayed that he wasn''t, they were injected with blood. Behind him, there were twelve bat wings. Not a single pair was identical to another. Some were huge while others were shorter than his forearms. And on both of those forearms, he was wearing gauntlet engraved with Moshenhua characters. Those two weapons were completed with claws at their extremity and spikes here and there.


    "Weide! This is the day of reckoning! Today your reign ends! Humanity will strive under my rule!"


    The twelve Spirit Warriors around the Demon King were all late Spirit Warriors below the stage of 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. With their might combined, they definitely could take down even a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Besides, the Demon King himself was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. And from what Cao Yun had learned, he had consumed the peach stolen from the Heavenly Silver Peach Tree. Right now, he should be at his most powerful. Xiao Xuefeng couldn''t do anything against him apart from distracting him some time. Besides, she would have to face the twelve other Spirit Warriors.


    Thankfully, she was not alone in her fight. Hua Fenfei could not stay idle by.


    "Stay back! If this fight turns for the worst, run away as fast as you can. This isn''t a fight you can hope to win!"


    With those words, Hua Fenfei activated some protections around the young alchemists and flew in the sky toward her sister. Although she was only a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, when she was fighting side by side with her sister, their strength didn''t just add to each other. And if they had Director Ge Ling with them, they would have eradicated several early Spirit Warriors with each move of theirs.


    "Sister, you shouldn''t..."


    "If you die, no one will be able to protect those kids, or even me for that matter. So just shut up and accept my help!"


    Hua Fenfei''s voice was way more forceful than usual in her sister''s mind. Even she couldn''t hide her fear. Alas, Xiao Xuefeng knew that she was right to be afraid. She could feel an incredible aura coming from the Demon King. As soon as he had appeared, her music had become dull. She was forced to pour more and more of her Qi within the notes so they had any effect at all. And this was caused by his mere presence, not even an attack. Those twelve late Spirit Warriors around him were also an incredible threat.


    Before the two women could do anything, they acted. Immediately upon their arrival, the 1st Imperial Brocade Guards had been mobilized. They too were twelve fighters. They rose in the sky toward that threat, ready to kill or be killed.


    All of a sudden, the black sky split open, it was like a giant vertical eye that had been opened. Small tears of blood were flowing to the extremities of the eye. And the pupil contracted. If someone could have seen it from afar, they would have seen that this black sun was in fact between the ground and the real sun. And right now, a huge part of the sun''s light and heat directed toward the Imperial City was being focused into that pupil. When it was hot enough, it pierced through the pupil.


    A powerful spear made out of sunlight stabbed toward the Everlasting Earth Palace. At that moment, all the defenses got activated. They had been set up since the era of Emperor Nuwa and strengthened year after year, century after century. Even a Monarch would have had a hard time breaking through it. Right now, the Demon King with his twelve followers had been able to reach the strength of a late Sage, but he was still no match for the array formations. However, even those defenses wouldn''t be able to resist indefinitely to the full might of the sun concentrated on a single point.


    "Will I have to destroy mankind''s heritage for you to come out of your hole?! Are you just a rat?!"


    "Insolence!"


    The 1st Imperial Brocade Guards were finally upon the Demon King and his followers. At the same time, Xiao Xuefeng and her sister were supporting them. Hundreds of white cranes attacked from all the directions as the two sisters were playing their guqin. The two most powerful demonic cultivators raised a barrier around the group. Then, the 1st Imperial Brocade Guards fired several arrows. They turned into lightning bolts and pillars of fire as they reached the demonic cultivators. The barrier collapsed immediately and the cranes invaded the inner circle.


    Another man took out a whip. Striking around him, he cut off the beaks of many cranes in an instant. His whip didn''t have a single thong, there were dozens of them. And they seemed to be able to move independently from one another. Those were lacerating the white cranes. Many were destroyed in an instant but a few still reached some demonic cultivators. They even were able to draw first blood.


    But those white cranes were just a distraction. Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng had clearly identified that the real threat was that black eye in the sky. They had to take it down somehow. Rising in the sky while the 1st Imperial Brocade Guards were still engaging the demonic cultivators, they saw all the light that should have reached the Imperial Palace focused on a single point. The light there would have blinded any mortal and even weak cultivators. Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng didn''t need to use their eyes to see it though, they could use their spiritual senses.


    Unfortunately, amid this new chaos, the other Spirit Warriors who had fallen victim to Xiao Xuefeng''s melody were now free. And they were trying to attack the 1st Imperial Brocade Guards from behind, forming a pincer attack. Of course, they were the elite guards of the Emperor, such a tactic was useless. Assuming a strange formation, a character appeared in the sky with them in key positions. This was the character for ''obliteration''.


    From the ground, the young alchemists could feel the tremor of the Imperial Palace as the pillar of light was striking the protections of the Everlasting Earth Palace. As it was crashing down on the array formations, most of the energy within the pillar were dispersed away, striking down other parts of the Imperial City. Even if the Everlasting Earth Palace endured, everything else would be razed to the ground. In fact, the Everlasting Earth Palace was the only safe place in the Imperial City right now. Thousands upon thousands of people were dying right now, either killed by demonic cultivators or collateral damage of the violent fights.

 Chapter 476: A terrifying Domain

    Just as the Imperial City was being assaulted by the fallout of the giant sun pillar falling on the Everlasting Earth Palace, Cao Yun and the young alchemists were protected beneath the barrier created by Hua Fenfei. However, they could see all the damage. In the distance, clouds of dust and loud explosions were everywhere. Some other array formations were protecting some parts of the Imperial City of course, but they were not enough to completely cancel the violence of the attack. Even if the Everlasting Earth Palace stood firm, this would exert a huge toll on the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Indeed, the families of many officials were living there. This was convenient for the Imperial Palace as they could both use them as hostage and teach them as they saw fit at the same time. Having a way of pressuring the officials while educating the next generation of officials was too convenient to pass on. But that also meant that an attack on the Imperial City could cripple the Hongchen Kingdom. On the other hand, this would unite all the officials in their desire for vengeance. Even the provinces who were far from the borders would want to go to war after such an aggression.


    Cao Yun and the other alchemists were still helping Hongyu absorb the medicinal essence of the Frozen Fire pill. Unlike Cao Yun, she would not keep it inside her to slowly absorb it. Indeed, as a human, Cao Yun couldn''t simply absorb all of the medicinal essence in one go or his Middle Dantian could be damaged. Although he wanted to progress fast and risks were necessary to take from time to time, he wasn''t going to be reckless. The medicinal essence of the Frozen Fire pill was still trapped within his Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir. Along his meditations, he would absorb the Fire Qi within bit by bit, slowly filling his Middle Dantian and breaking through to 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. After that, he would need to use both his Water Qi and his Fire Qi to temper his meridians, just like he had done to his Five Prodigious Gates. Considering his blood and his experience, those grades would be easy. In fact, apart from the Lesser Tribulation, his cultivation would sail smoothly until he became a Spirit Warrior.


    On the other hand, Hongyu had something humans and even demons didn''t have, she had cores. Instead of pouring all of the medicinal essence within her body which couldn''t take it all like Cao Yun, he had decided to help her absorb it in her fifth core. Along the pill he had used his blood and was currently pouring as much of his intent into her fifth core and her blood to help her. This fifth core would be a Wrath Core, containing all the properties of the Drop of Wrath. Since he was fully controlling it, he could perform such a feat. Of course, this Wrath Core wouldn''t be as powerful as the actual Drop of Wrath. However, Cao Yun was focusing on making it able to balance out Evil Qi. Once this Wrath Core was formed, Hongyu would be able to not only resist her evil core, but even use the Evil Qi within without suffering from it.


    Helping with this, the other alchemists had understood Cao Yun''s goal. Obviously, they didn''t know about his Drop of Wrath, but they could see that he was trying to help her form her fifth core. Thus, they were assisting him with that. Right now, they had nothing else to do. Leaving the protection of Hua Fenfei would be way too risky. But at the same time, they were all ready to leave if need be. Indeed, they sadly had to admit that their masters could lose. In that case, the Imperial City might really fall. Then, they would have to escape as fast as they could.


    To be perfectly honest, they were even harboring the hope that Hongyu would become fast enough for them to escape successfully. Of course, they were not helping her just with this ulterior motive in mind. But they did have it in a corner of their thoughts. The only one who wasn''t thinking about this was Cao Yun. Indeed, the only thing on his mind was Yong Ke. He was so close to finally getting all the answers he had always desired. And if the defenses of the Everlasting Earth Palace broke, he might get them all. Thus, he had no intention of leaving. Hopefully, with his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he might be able to go unnoticed amid all this chaos.


    Just as he was thinking about Huang Liyue''s technique, he saw her soar through the sky. She was coming from outside of the Imperial City. Most likely, she had sent her family''s alchemist Huang Yiren away. But she had still decided to take part in the fights. On her way she had been almost invisible. But now that she was ready to attack, she revealed herself fully. Above her, high in the sky was a peacock wheel made out of hundreds of feathers. Each feather was made out of a different flame. Like Xiao Xuefeng, Huang Liyue was a 8th-grade Spirit Warrior and Cao Yun had seen what she could do as a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior.


    ''Wheel of Searing Beauty''!


    From the wheel of fire, many blazing feathers flew toward the weaker Spirit Warriors. Some were disintegrated in an instant as they were just too weak to do anything while others tried to resist. A few middle Spirit Warriors combined their strength to push back against this assault. At the same time, Huang Liyue was more interested in helping the two Spirit Masters take down that black lens in the sky.


    ''Feng and Huang Dominate All Under the Sky''!


    Beneath the clouds, the image of a burning mountain appeared. All of a sudden, the peaks turned into a cloud of fiery birds. They all went straight toward the black lens above the Demon King. With the assault of the 1st Imperial Brocade Brigade, the two Spirit Masters and now Huang Liyue herself, the demonic cultivators seemed to be in a terrible position. The 2nd and 3rd Imperial Brocade Guards were also taking care of many demonic cultivators. Although the Imperial City was a weak point of the Hongchen Kingdom''s administration, it was well protected as well. Huang Liyue''s fiery birds were met with the demonic cultivator wielding whips. Just like with the white cranes, he sent hundreds of whips against them.


    They were covered in black energy. Cao Yun would have immediately recognized Death Energy in this whip. Xiao Xuefeng was too focused on destroying the black eye in the sky to notice. But Huang Liyue had spent enough time in the Yellow Death World to recognize it in an instant.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ''Fenghuang Soars From Kunlun''!


    Her entire body got covered in flames. From her spatial ring, she took out her ''Ironclad Wheel'' iron fans. Throwing them toward the whipping man, they turned into a powerful True Fiery Fenghuang. On the ground, Hongyu was invigorated by this Qi Manifestation. The bloodline within Huang Liyue was resonating with them. And the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior was also feeling it in her veins. Her seven True Fiery Drops were burning with great intensity. Since she had spent some time with Hongyu when she was still very weak, she recognized this sensation. But it was way more intense because Hongyu wasn''t weak at all and was even forming her fifth core right now. Of course, it didn''t improve Huang Liyue''s strength by much, but she was happy to get any advantage she could.


    That was all-out war in the sky and utter chaos on the ground. Finally, something different happened and this gave rise to another opportunity for Cao Yun.


    All around the Everlasting Earth Palace, the defenses began to crack. The pillar of sun was too powerful and there were no late Spirit Warriors left to manage the array formations. Although they were powerful, fighting off such an assault required a lot of energy. Even the Imperial Palace had its limits. If it had been thousands of years ago, they would have resisted longer, but everything was falling apart in the Forsaken Dao Era. Since there was no one who could become a Sage, there was no array formation expert who could completely repair Spirit or even God array formations.


    Saint Duan Huang had personally set up those defenses. If he had been alive and present now, he would have been able to resist this attack. In fact, he would have probably been able to protect the entire Imperial City and use the array formations in it to destroy the Demon King and his forces. Unfortunately, he was no more. And it had been too long since anyone had reached his talent.


    Just as the array formations were crumbling, a powerful aura spread all over the Imperial Palace. Cao Yun was immediately shocked. Just like with Yong Ke, he felt something familiar in this aura. However, it was also very different It was as though something familiar to him had been distorted and perverted. Contrary to what he felt with Yong Ke, this sensation was absolutely appalling and disgusting. But even now, he couldn''t put his finger on what it was.


    All around the Imperial City, a voice resounded as thunder.


    "Traitor who fancies himself a king, all those who forsook mankind for power deserve only death!"


    Before the beam of light could completely pierce through the crumbling defenses, a golden character appeared in the air. It was the character for ''Death''. Everyone in the Imperial City, even the demonic cultivators, felt something deep within their souls. This golden character had been drawn by Emperor Nuwa''s hand. It wasn''t an array formation or a weapon. Just like Cao Yun''s Spirit Condensation Barrier, a tiny part of Emperor Nuwa''s soul was within this seemingly ordinary character. Right now, it was as though Emperor Nuwa was back on the Piaolu planet.


    The mere suppression from the ''Death'' character was enough to disturb the techniques of the demonic cultivators. Even the black eye in the sky was faltering. On the other hand, the orthodox cultivators loyal to Emperor Nuwa''s ideal were invigorated. They had never felt as powerful as that. Xiao Xuefeng could tell that it was an illusion within her soul created by Emperor Nuwa''s aura. However, she didn''t think too much about it and instead reveled in that sensation.


    Finally, the combined assault of all those Spirit Warriors bore fruit. The eye in the sky exploded in fire, shadow and blood. Suddenly, the light of the sky was dispersed in all directions instead of being focused on a single point. There were strange lights in the sky as it happened. It almost looked like a rainbow but diluted over a large area. Such a show was simply incredible. However, the fight wasn''t over at all. The defenses of the Everlasting Earth Palace had fallen and the demonic cultivators were still alive. Fortunately though, the orthodox cultivators were outnumbering them a little. The late Spirit Warriors were twelve among the demonic cultivators while the orthodox had fourteen of them including Huang Liyue and Xiao Xuefeng. Hua Fenfei was still only a middle Spirit Warrior, but her combination with Xiao Xuefeng were making the two of them more powerful.


    On the other hand, there was now a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, even a half-step Sage, ready to fight against the Demon King.


    Indeed, Emperor Weide had appeared in person. He was floating above the Everlasting Earth Palace. Emperor Weide was wearing the same clothes as his body double. However, he was very different. Physically, his face was more wrinkled. Despite being a thousand and five hundred years old, Emperor Weide should have appeared younger than that. That was a clear sign that he had suffered a lot recently. Besides, his hair had many white locks in them. And even his black hair had lost its brilliance. The same was true for his beard. It wasn''t completely white or gray, but several patches of it had changed color already. Clearly, the recent events had taken a toll on him.


    Obviously, Cao Yun and Xiao Xuefeng knew exactly what had happened to him. The Demon King knew as well, but firsthand.


    "I see that you''re still alive, old man! Let''s rectify that! Unlike you, I fully recovered from my injuries. Since you were not able to fully digest that soul, you should have stayed holed up in your little palace. Now, die!"


    The twelve bat wings behind the Demon King fully opened. From them, a rain of blood fell upon Emperor Weide. Without even moving, Emperor Weide swung his sleeve and the bloody rain completely disappeared in the air.


    "Brat, you underestimated me back then, you underestimate me now! Your little assassination failed and now your great betrayal will fail as well! I am the Hongchen Kingdom! Defying me is defying all of mankind as well as Emperor Nuwa herself!"


    The aura of Emperor Nuwa filled the entire Imperial City. It was as though she had fully come back in the flesh. Of course, that aura was way weaker than the real deal, but for the humans who had been under attack, it felt as though their goddess was back to save them. Besides, they could hear Emperor Weide''s thunderous voice. Despite his apparent weakness, he was full of vigor.


    ''Domain of the Three Confluences''!


    All around Emperor Weide, a powerful energy erupted. It felt like space around him had been altered. He was now the omnipotent ruler of that small area of space. Although there was nothing visible, Cao Yun could feel it deep within himself. After witnessing what Sect Leader Xuan had done in the Wubei Sect, there was no doubt in his mind. What Emperor Weide had just unleashed was a form of Domain. Although it wasn''t as powerful as a true Domain, it was still incredible. Most likely, just like Sect Leader Xuan, he could only use it in that particular place.


    Unlike Sect Leader Xuan though, he wasn''t using array formations, he was drawing upon the aura of Emperor Nuwa present in the Imperial Palace. But in the end, the pseudo-Domain came from him. However, Cao Yun was not in awe like other cultivators, he was beyond enraged!

 Chapter 477: Domain of the Three Confluences

    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Dian Mo saw his rage being materialized before him. Even the Flying Poison Cao Yun had subdued was moving around. Thankfully, he was completely chained down to the Nine Soul Peaks. But there was no doubt that Cao Yun was fully enraged. However, in the physical world, he was controlling himself so well that only Feng Yingyue saw something abnormal with his complexion. As soon as this ''Domain of the Three Confluences'' had emerged, he had lost it. Try as she might, she couldn''t tell what had happened because she couldn''t sense anything unusual with this.


    There was another who sensed that change, Hongyu. She was also very close to Cao Yun, and he had literally been using the Drop of Wrath on her at the time. Of course, she was able to feel his powerful emotions. Whoever that man was up in the sky, Hongyu knew that he was an enemy of her brother. But when she tried to look at him, she sensed a form of familiarity between that man and Cao Yun, it was strange and unpleasant though. No, it wasn''t the man himself, it was his Domain.


    According to what Cao Yun knew, a Domain was the physical manifestation of one''s sea of consciousness. In fact, even a Sage couldn''t manifest a Domain, only a Monarch could do so. This was the main difference between the two realms. A Sage would study the Dao and slowly transform their sea of consciousness. Only after it had been fully built and transformed could it be manifested outside in the form of a Domain. Right now, Emperor Weide wasn''t manifesting his sea of consciousness at all. And he wasn''t using array formations like Sect Leader Xuan to mimic the process.


    Others might have thought that he was drawing upon Emperor Nuwa to create this phenomenon. In fact, Xiao Xuefeng and Huang Liyue were convinced it was the case. However, Cao Yun knew the truth because he could feel what that Domain was deep in his soul. Now, he realized what that feeling had been when he had seen Emperor Weide. He had felt like his mother, in a perverted way. And now that his Domain was out, there was absolutely no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind. This Domain wasn''t Emperor Weide''s sea of consciousness, it was his mother''s.


    "Dian Mo! How is it possible?!"


    "I don''t know too much about human cultivation..."


    "But you do have an idea?!"


    In Cao Yun''s tone, there was absolutely no room for any nonsense. Although Dian Mo wasn''t too sure himself, he did have an idea. However, he knew that this wouldn''t be too pleasant to the young man. But then again, the truth rarely was.


    "The only thing that comes to mind is that he used her soul to extract her sea of consciousness. From what I read in the reports and in Gu Song''s memories, some of the women of the Shui family do have something similar to the souls of the deva in them. But in theory, this should only be awakened in their Soul Embryo. Unfortunately, it doesn''t mean that it isn''t present in them even at birth. Of course, extracting their Soul Embryo is the best way to use it. If Emperor Weide had been able to refine her Soul Embryo, he might have become a Sage already.


    "That being said, the most likely scenario here is that your mother died. They probably wanted to capture her alive to force her to cultivate and become a Spirit Warrior. But since she was dead, they still extracted her soul from her corpse before it could depart on its own. There are ways to conserve a soul intact for some time, but they... Well, you probably don''t want to know what they entail... Not right now at the very least... Let''s just say that the agony is so intense that her mind was destroyed. Apparently, your Emperor used her soul to extract her sea of consciousness and add it to his. Even if he can''t manifest his own, he can use hers as he pleases because she''s already dead."


    "Emperor Weide? My Emperor? No! That thing is no Emperor! That thing is a beast in human''s clothing! He killed my own blood, desecrated their bodies, and now he torments their very souls! I will kill that bastard! I will kill humanity''s traitor!"


    "Calm down! You can''t a thing against him right now! If you go after him, you''ll just die, plain and simple! Calm down, boy! If you die, I die. But then think about your brothers and sister, about your Dao companion, about all those who followed you one way or another. And think about Yong Ke."


    "Yong Ke?"


    Suddenly, Cao Yun couldn''t repress his desires any longer. He couldn''t wait for one more second. He had to know who Yong Ke was. After hearing what he had just heard and feeling the Traitor''s Domain, he had an ominous feeling in his heart. Because Hongyu was stable and Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua there to help her, Cao Yun simply left.


    "Brother Chen!"


    Mei Hua tried to stop him but Feng Yingyue grabbed her arm.


    "Sister, let him go."


    Mei Hua saw something in Feng Yingyue''s eyes. It was as though she knew he had to do something but she was also afraid she might never see him again. Looking at Cao Yun''s back, he was clearly going toward the Everlasting Earth Palace, in the very heart of the most terrible fight the Imperial City had ever seen since Emperor Nuwa''s Great War.


    -


    In Sunmen City, General Long had asked his son and his daughter to stay in Xiguan City. Long Jian had protested a lot but he was a soldier and he couldn''t disobey a direct order. However, he knew that his father had made that decision because he was afraid of losing him or his sister.


    "Commandant Zheng, protect Xiguan City while we''re busy dealing with the demons. The threats are not only without but even within. For the time being, we can''t be sure of who''s loyal to mankind and who''s a spy sent by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy."Stolen novel; please report.


    "Yes, General."


    "Commandant Liu, your men must be as discreet as possible. Those spies must not know we are after them until it''s too late. The best outcome would be to capture them alive for interrogation. You will lead a small group toward the south-east, track them and arrest them before they can cause too much damage. Know that sadly getting the spies is the priority. But if you do find civilians, try and help them as long as it doesn''t clash with your primary goal."


    "Yes, General!"


    "Commandant Su, Commandant Yehe, Commandant Liyan, reinforce our positions to the border. Stay behind our own lines. We don''t want the demons to know we''re aware of their plans, but we want to put enough pressure to deter them. Unfortunately, considering how long they must have prepared for this day, they won''t abort, but they might be forced to alter their plans. Altered plans will necessarily be less thought out that their original designs."


    "Yes, General!"


    "You all have a distress stone. Break it if you need immediate reinforcement, I will personally go to you right away. Only use it in case of emergency. Until we have more information, I will stay in the capital to prepare our forces for any kind of attack."


    "Yes, General!"


    Silver Wolf General Long didn''t want to empty his capital, but he had to send almost all his troops on those missions. Only Commandant Zheng would stay by his side. He was the commandant in charge of Long Jian and Long Huafang''s battalions. All the officers could guess that General Long Cheng''s decision had been influenced by their presence, but they didn''t think it was a bad decision either. His men were absolutely loyal to him because they had seen him in battle many many times. And they knew he would never waste a life for no reason. Several times in his long carreer, he had risked his very life to save his own soldiers.


    Before becoming a general, he had had a great reputation. Since then, it had only ever improved. Thus, his orders were obeyed not out of obligation but out of respect. Until now, his strategies had always given them victory with as few deaths as possible. However, they could see that he was anxious. Indeed, the situation was completely different now, he was in uncharted territories. For the time being, he had no idea what the demons were planning. That had never happened before.


    Even if he didn''t know exactly where they would strike, he knew the strategies and tactics employed by the demons. This time around though, everything was new. And he didn''t want to sacrifice his men. But he knew that a large number of them would die just so he could understand what was going on. The biggest problem was that he didn''t know which group would suffer the most... In fact, the capital itself wasn''t the safest place. If the Imperial City was attacked, Xiguan City could also fall. At the very least, he was there with his kids. But then, he might have been more useful near the border...


    Hopefully, Commandant Liu would bring the spies as soon as possible. Although he wasn''t an expert like Xiao Xuefeng, he was confident in his ability to perform Soul Memory Searches, especially on weak cultivators.


    -


    Cao Yun activated his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' as much as he could and went directly toward the Everlasting Earth Palace. There was no hesitation at all in him. Usually he loved to have a plan before acting. But this time he was being a bit too emotional. Of course, his mind cultivation was preventing his mind from being completely clouded by his raw emotions. However, he simply couldn''t wait any longer while the broken soul of his mother was being used in front of him. He remembered her younger sister being dragged away from him. Back then, he had been completely powerless. Today, he refused to remain the same powerless boy.


    In five years, he had accomplished many things. Hell, he had been able to trick and kill a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even if he didn''t have all those tricks at his disposal right now, he had to act. Early Spirit Warriors would be unable to even detect him at the moment and all the powerful Spirit Warriors were up in the skies. Hopefully, he could enter the Everlasting Earth Palace without any obstacle. His only goal right now was to find Yong Ke. Now that he had confirmed what that familiarity with Emperor Weide was, he had strange ideas on Yong Ke. No matter what, he had to confirm his doubts. He wouldn''t be able to stay in the dark on the matter any longer.


    In the sky, the fight was absolutely apocalyptic. It was as violent if not more violent than what had happened in the Wubei Sect.


    Now that Emperor Weide had fully opened his ''Domain of the Three Confluences'', the Demon King himself was trying to fly away. However, to outsiders, he looked like he was not moving forward at all. His wings were moving frantically but he was still as close to the Emperor as before. For him though, it felt as though he had flown far away without any hindrance. When he looked back however, he saw Emperor Weide standing there, floating above the Everlasting Earth Palace.


    "You...!"


    "Did you think you could break out of my Domain? Not even a Sage can manifest a Domain, brat! If you had stayed in your place, you could have benefited so much. A character such as you would have been incredible for my armies. But you let your ambitions take over... This is just too sad."


    "Do you think your kingdom will still praise you when they learn everything you had us do?! Because you used our hands doesn''t mean that yours are not soiled with blood as well!"


    "I am the Emperor. I am the backbone of the Hongchen Kingdom. I made the decisions no one would have been able to make. Thanks to me, our species might find the way to break free from the shackles of the current era. I will always protect the Hongchen Kingdom from ruin, that is my sole purpose. You were useful for a time, but your ambition is much more personal than mine. You could have become a great figure, a legitimate member of the Hongchen Kingdom, but you had to rule, didn''t you?"


    "I would die before remaining your slave, no matter how lofty you could have made my chains!"


    Obviously, Emperor Weide''s Domain was preventing anyone from hearing them talk. For decades if not centuries, Emperor Weide had used the demonic cultivators, allowing them to prosper. His goal had always been to find ways to help mankind grow stronger and fight the demons. However, the current Demon King had betrayed him just as Emperor Weide had found the way to become a Sage. That betrayal had been prompted by the discovery of Demon God Da Mo''s library.


    "Brat, don''t you realize that someone has been pulling at your strings all along?! You did not find those documents by chance! My guess would be that Empyrean Asura is behind all of this. I wouldn''t be too surprised to learn that he has his own spies among your men. Today I will obliterate you all! Try and resist as much as you can, I haven''t been able to use this Domain fully until now. Amuse me!"


    "You...!"


    Demon King''s eyes got filled with blood. Bloody tears flowed over his cheeks. But in the air around him, there were also bloody cracks appearing all over the place. It was as if he was trying to break space itself, or maybe just Emperor Weide''s Domain. His wings also grew and grew until they encompassed a large part of this space. The ''Domain of the Three Confluences'' wasn''t physically visible, but anyone with spiritual senses could clearly feel it in the air. It was a huge sphere above the Everlasting Earth Palace.


    Outside the Domain, the late Spirit Warriors were fighting the demonic cultivators. The fight was extremely violent, but the orthodox cultivators had the upper hand, especially now that the Demon King was busy with Emperor Weide.

 Chapter 478: Seeing beyond the veil

    As vibrant colors were still undulating in the sky, the Spirit Warriors were waging a gigantic war. The Imperial City below was torn apart by their fight. Even if the 1st Imperial Brocade Guards, Hua Fenfei, Xiao Xuefeng and Huang Liyue were trying to take the fight higher and higher, the demonic cultivators wanted to cause as much damage as they could. Unfortunately, many people were going to die. The guards on the ground were also fighting the invaders while trying to get as many people as they could to safety, or even out of the Imperial City.


    From the surrounding cities, reinforcements had been called but they would all come too late. A life-or-death fight between late Spirit Warriors was just too violent.


    Within the ''Domain of the Three Confluences'', Demon King Mo Wang was using all of his blood and all of his cultivation. His bat wings were now covered in red veins, the space around him was also filled with a strange bloody hue. All around him, red cracks had appeared in the very Domain of Emperor Weide. After all, this wasn''t a true Domain. In a Sage''s Domain, a Spirit Warrior would have been powerless to fight back. In that situation, Demon King Mo Wang would have been forced to try to escape. Fortunately for him though, this was only a pseudo-Domain.


    Dian Mo had been absolutely right in his analysis. When Emperor Weide had sent his 5th Imperial Brocade Guards to Baziyun City, he had meant to capture Cao Shui. His goal had always been to restrain her and force her to cultivate through pills and other means until she finally developed a Soul Embryo. Then, he would have extracted and refined it in order to become a Sage. Since he had around five hundred years left to live considering his current cultivation, he had to become a Sage as fast as possible. Indeed, during the Sage and Monarch realms, one''s lifespan would not be prolonged, or only marginally by purifying one''s prenatal Jing.


    Moreover, those two realms could take hundreds of years to go through. In fact, five hundred years would probably not be enough, especially when taking into account Emperor Weide''s age and his current state. The sneak attack launched by Demon King Mo Wang on him had taken a huge toll on his health after all. But if he could break through the Sage realm, the Monarch realm and finally enter the Immortal realm, then his lifespan would skyrocket. A late Immortal could leave for dozens of millenniums. From there, he might even reach the higher realms and ascend like Emperor Nuwa.


    Unfortunately, Cao Shui had died during the attack. But thankfully, his men had had the presence of mind to catch her soul just before it could leave her body and dissipate. Emperor Weide had preserved it with various means he had obtained thanks to the terrible experiments led by Mo Wang and his demonic cultivators. As Dian Mo had figured out, the torments had caused Cao Shui''s mind to break apart. Now the soul was completely blank. Even her memories had been purged. After treating it and refining it completely, Emperor Weide had incorporated this soul in his own sea of consciousness. Now, he could use it not just as spiritual senses, but as a pseudo-Domain. It wasn''t exactly a Domain because it wasn''t Emperor Weide''s sea of consciousness and because it was completely blank.


    ''Domain of the Three Confluences'' was the name of Emperor Nuwa''s Domain. But what Emperor Weide was using was just the simplest of Domains. There was no quality or property to it. It was just putting a lot of pressure on anyone else within it. As such, Demon King Mo Wang had a real chance of breaking free if he exerted enough strength. But then, he would be too weak to fight Emperor Weide. Around him, he could see that his forces were being overwhelmed. It wasn''t one-sided but he could tell where the flow of the battle was going.


    Apart from the late Spirit Warriors fighting, there were still many other weaker demonic cultivators all over the place. Since Emperor Weide''s Domain was so weak compared to the real deal, Demon King Mo was still connected to his forces outside. He could feel the seals he had put within his own soldiers. And he could activate them if he so desired. As it happened to be, he did desire it.


    Dozens of Mortal Warriors and a handful of early Spirit Warriors just stopped moving. A few of them were killed in an instant because of this pause. However, it didn''t matter at all. Their bodies began to convulse, their skin turned completely red. Finally, they exploded into mist of blood. The blood coalesced into runes that flew toward Demon King Mo Wang. With incredible speed they pierced through the surface layer of Emperor Weide''s Domain.


    Obviously, Emperor Weide wasn''t going to let his enemy do as he pleased without reacting. Above him, three golden runes appeared as well. They flew directly toward Demon King Mo Wang. Within the Domain, he was weakened. But he realized something as well. Emperor Weide wasn''t coming for him directly, he was sending attacks at him but he had never moved once from his spot. Many possibilities were emerging in Demon King Mo Wang. On the ground, Cao Yun was running toward the Everlasting Earth Palace but he was still paying attention to the fight above. It was in order to adapt to the circumstances but also to get as much information on Emperor Weide as possible. One day, he would have to fight and kill Humanity''s Traitor.


    The blood runes and the golden characters collided with one another and exploded with sonic booms high in the sky. The shockwave caused by those collisions pushed back Demon King Mo Wang but not Emperor Weide. Thankfully, his Domain was still sturdy enough that those shockwaves didn''t reach the Everlasting Earth Palace below. However, Emperor Weide coughed up some blood. Demon King Mo Wang was still being suppressed but maintaining this pseudo-Domain wasn''t easy for Emperor Weide. He had to finish this fight now.


    Another golden character appeared, ''Subjugation''. His entire Domain got filled with the golden rays emanating from this character. Just by looking at it, Demon King Mo Wang felt as though he had to kowtow and offer his neck. The suppression of the Domain became more and more intense. By that time, Mo Wang couldn''t even move and he was feeling that he was losing control of his body. As a last resort, he took the blood runes in his own body and stimulated his very soul with some of them. At the same time, he was burning his very blood essence in order to get stronger.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The strokes of the golden character started to move around. It turned into a giant golden sword. On the ground, Cao Yun realized what it was because his spear Insight Writings were reacting to it. This was Sword Spirit. After Sword Aura was Sword Intent. After Sword Intent was Sword Heart. And the next stage after Sword Heart was Sword Spirit. Even Emperor Weide was not too deep into this Sword Spirit state, but the mere fact that he had reached it was incredible. The Insight Writings he had developed around the way of the sword had now turned into a form of Spirit weapon.


    As soon as it was ready, his golden ''Subjugation'' sword sliced toward Demon King Mo Wang. Even he could tell that this weapon was enough to kill him. Outside of the Domain, he might have had a chance of surviving but not within. The Domain was amplifying the suppressing power of the sword. When the attack came, Demon King Mo Wang burned a huge part of his blood essence so he could recover the control of his body through brute force. His right wings closed on him. At the very moment the golden sword fell on his wings, he opened up again to deviate the sword.


    It worked, but his right wings were completely cut through. This time, he was the one who was bleeding, quite a lot at that. But he was free from the suppression, more or less. And Emperor Weide had sent his weapon away. He wasn''t powerless by any stretch of the imagination, but he probably couldn''t muster a powerful attack right away. Thus, Demon King Mo Wang flew away toward him. From the blood flowing from his shattered wings, several blood runes appeared. Some began to spin around Demon King Mo Wang while others were going straight for Emperor Weide.


    Behind Demon King Mo Wang however, the golden sword was coming back for another attack. And it was a bit faster than he was. Feeling it, he knew that this Domain would prevent him from reaching Emperor Weide. Just when he had tried to exit, space itself was expanding. The faster he felt he was going, the longer space was stretched. And apparently it didn''t work just at the borders of the Domain, but also at its center. This was maybe the reason why Emperor Weide wasn''t moving around. Demon King Mo and Cao Yun down below were both wondering whether the effect of the Domain on space was also affecting Emperor Weide himself. But it wasn''t affecting the golden runes, nor the blood runes. Most likely, only physical objects, or maybe objects with a specific mass would be subject to that alteration of space.


    Then, Demon King Mo Wang changed its strategy. He stopped moving toward Emperor Weide to focus on evading the golden sword. However, he sent his blood runes. As they hurtled toward Emperor Weide, space was covered in bloody traces. Slowly, Emperor Weide''s Domain was covered in bloody cracks. Down below, Cao Yun was feeling it in his soul. Up in the sky, he could see the soul of his own mother being used as a weapon. And it was now covered in cracks as bloody wounds on her soul. Even if her mind and memories had been wiped clean, this was still incredibly painful for Cao Yun to watch. It was like seeing her corpse behind defiled, cut into pieces in front of him.


    Besides, he now knew that his mother was completely gone. Since he believed in reincarnation like many others in the Hongchen Kingdom, what had happened to her soul meant that she would never reincarnate again. Her soul was just a tool used by Emperor Weide now. No matter what, he had to break her free from his control. But he was still too weak for that.


    Just as the fight was reaching its climax, Cao Yun reached the Everlasting Earth Palace. A fight between 9th-grade Spirit Warriors was incredibly violent but also fast beyond belief. As Cao Yun was moving toward his destination, the blood runes and the golden sword had exchanged thousands of moves all over the bloodied Domain. After this fight, Emperor Weide would need a lot of time to repair his pseudo-Domain. However, he might also gain a lot of insights into this pseudo-Domain as well. Clearly, he would grow stronger if he survived. Strangely though, Cao Yun was hoping for Emperor Weide to survive. if he was weakened enough, he might even have a shot at killing him. Maybe it wouldn''t be straight away, but the weaker he was after this fight, the sooner Cao Yun would be able to take off his head.


    At last, he had reached the entrance of the Everlasting Earth Palace. Unfortunately, he couldn''t feel Yong Ke''s presence within. Most likely, she was protected by many layers of array formations as Emperor Weide''s daughter. Besides, she also had her clothes and her weimao. Finding her wouldn''t be easy at all. At least, that was what Cao Yun thought. Thankfully, reality proved him wrong right away.


    Before he could enter the outer courtyard, he saw a woman wearing a weimao and clothes completely concealing her Wei Qi and everything about her. However, it wasn''t as effective as his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Indeed, Cao Yun could still see her while she couldn''t notice him even though he was right in her field of vision. Taking a deep breath, Cao Yun let go of his stealth. This was a risky move of course, but he wanted to speak with Yong Ke as soon as possible. Surprised, Yong Ke saw the young man appear in front of her. It was as though he had always been there but she simply didn''t notice him. This was a strange sensation, like looking for something everywhere and suddenly realizing it was right in front of her all this time, as though her mind had blocked it.


    "Chen Guo?"


    "Princess Yong Ke!"


    She immediately rushed toward Cao Yun without taking any precaution. Cao Yun could feel that she fully trusted him. And a feeling deep in his blood was telling him he could fully trust her as well. After seeing what Emperor Weide had done to his mother''s soul, Cao Yun was truly terrified or learning the truth. In his mind, there were only two options. Emperor Weide had maybe used the souls of other members of his family. Or this was something else entirely. She claimed that she didn''t remember anything before the attack that had happened a few decades earlier. But if she didn''t remember, she had to trust Emperor Weide when it came to the timetable. Of course, Cao Yun didn''t trust a single word coming out of Emperor Weide, Humanity''s Traitor. Demonic cultivators had called him the Traitor and Cao Yun was agreeing with them for once.


    "I know that I should stay inside, but I can''t ignore our people. That may not be much, but together we could save more people. Please help me!"


    Although he couldn''t recognize her voice, Cao Yun wanted to believe that he was right. He couldn''t hear anything but his heart beating in his temples. Even his rage toward Emperor Weide had subsided. His mind was almost entirely blank despite the chaos within. There was only one thing in it, a face and a body. To be more precise, Cao Yun was seeing pieces of a body, the entire thing had never been found. Although he had recognized her hand back then, this could have been faked...


    With a shaking hand, he extended his arm toward her veil. She didn''t understand what was going on but somehow, Yong Ke decided not to stop Cao Yun when he took her veil off.

 Chapter 479: Huiying

    Five years ago, Yong Ke had waken up from a long coma. Everything was fuzzy and she was completely disoriented. When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by foreign things and two foreign faces. Looking all around her, she was in a beautiful room, extremely rich. And the two faces in front of her belonged to two men clothed in fancy robes. The face that attracted her eye first was a man with many wrinkles and hair and beard partially white and gray here and there. It looked as if he had aged differently on disparate pieces of his face.


    The other man seemed to be a physician of some kind because he was taking her pulse by holding her forearm. As her vision got clearer and clearer, she was trying to remember anything about what had happened. She was half-sitting on her bed, her head against the headboard of that sumptuous bed. Looking down below, she finally saw her arms. There were wounds all over them as if someone had tried to hack her into pieces, but there were also burn scars. Terrified she couldn''t move and her breathing sped up.


    By her side, the physician was oblivious to her state of mind, only focusing on her physical body. However, the other man got closer. Her first instinct had been to move away but she was seized by fear. Then, she heard a very soft voice that soothed her. Emperor Weide had used a mental technique to calm down her emotions. Even to this day, Yong Ke couldn''t remember what he had said but she had fallen asleep again.


    As her consciousness was fading into the realm of dreams, the young woman was looking for any memory of that man. She didn''t even know what his name was. Then it suddenly struck her. She didn''t remember her own name!


    Several days passed when she would wake up not knowing where she was. But over time, she was able to retain some semblance of memory. After two weeks, the room seemed quite familiar. And she had remembered the name of the old man, Emperor Weide. He told her that she was his daughter. And she could indeed feel a familiar sensation from him. It was strange though, but there was clearly some connection between them. Moreover, he was always looking out for her, asking her how she was. On the other hand, the physician barely spoke to her. Each time he talked, it was either to describe his findings to her father or to ask her very precise questions on her physical condition.


    When she finally got access to a mirror, she saw her face. There were also burn marks and small lacerations. Getting completely naked, she spent many hours looking at every area on her body. She had suffered from innumerable wounds. And she could still feel the pain. However, she couldn''t remember what had happened. And strangely, there was a pain in her heart that didn''t come from her physical wounds. In the back of her mind, she felt like she had witnessed something so terrible that she had forgotten everything about it.


    It took her more than a month before daring to speak about it with her father. That was when she learned that her mother had been attacked by demonic cultivators a few decades ago. Everyone had been killed. In fact, the guards and the demonic cultivators had slaughtered each other. For several days, she had been left alone among the corpses until she was found again. She had almost died and had fallen into a deep coma. Emperor Weide had had the best physicians look after her. Thanks to all the medicine and the attention given to her, her condition had gotten better and better. As a welcomed side-effect, she had not aged more than a few days each year. Even now, it seemed as though she was barely thirteen.


    Although his story was unique, Yong Ke believed him immediately. In fact, she would have believed everything he would have said.


    -


    Five years later, Yong Ke was faced with the threat of the demonic cultivators again. This time, they were attacking her home and her father along with it. Because of them, she had lost her mother and had almost lost her life. But for five years, her father had helped her cultivate. She wasn''t a powerless 1st-grade Mortal anymore. Now, she was a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. And she had even helped Chen Guo get rid of a powerful Spirit Warrior in the Subei Province. Of course, her involvement in the actual fight had been limited as she had only helped him set up some array formation. But she still felt like it was an achievement on her part. She wasn''t the scared little girl anymore.


    Decided to help along, Yong Ke left her room. Since the guards were all busy, she was able to use her clothes specially made for her to hide herself. And she used a small passage she had already used to escape from time to time. Even to this day, her father and all his guards had failed to find it. Or if they had, they had done nothing about it, which would surprise her a lot.


    Indeed, Emperor Weide was overprotective. She could tell that he was acting in her best interest but if she listened to him all the time, she would never even leave her room except for training. Sadly, she could understand him since she had almost died and had stayed in a coma for several decades. However, even if she didn''t remember what had happened, she had the sensation that she had something to do outside, something to find. No matter how hard she was trying to remember, she couldn''t.


    Leaving her room, she saw the terrible fight between her father and the Demon King. Once again, she felt this great familiarity with her father, but it was even stranger than before. Despite feeling close to him, she also felt as though he was terrifying. Most likely, it was just his cultivation. He was so powerful and she was just easily scared that was it.


    Since she couldn''t do anything to help her father in this fight, she decided to help the people of the Imperial City. Most Spirit Warriors were fighting in the skies. That meant that there were probably Mortals and Mortal Warriors in the streets. Against them, she knew she could do something. Furthermore, the shockwaves from above were destroying the buildings. Every cultivator who could help should go to try and rescue people. At least, that was Yong Ke''s conviction!This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    When she was about to exit the Everlasting Earth Palace, she suddenly saw Chen Guo. Once again, she felt this deep familiarity with him. It was very similar to what she had felt from her father, but it wasn''t polluted by anything. Maybe she had known this young man before her coma. But it was impossible because Chen Guo was just barely twenty years old. Although she looked like she was no older than eighteen, she knew that it was due to the medicine she had taken and because of her strange coma. There was no way she had ever met him. Maybe she had met someone from his family, or maybe her mother had some connection with him. She couldn''t clearly tell. However, strangely, she had felt like she shouldn''t mention it to anyone.


    There was something in the back of her mind. Every time she tried to focus on it, she simply heard small cries and muffled screams. Anyway, she was certain that she shouldn''t talk about Chen Guo and how he felt to anyone, ever, no matter what.


    When Chen Guo got close to her, she didn''t react. In his eyes, she saw something that stopped her heart. His eyes were empty and his hands were shaking. It was as if he had seen a ghost. Although she hadn''t known him for very long, she could tell right away that he wasn''t in his usual state. And this wasn''t because of the fight above. After all, he had confronted a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior in person and had triumphed. Even if late Spirit Warriors were a completely different story, they wouldn''t have put him in that state. His face was completely pale and his lips quivering.


    For the first time, he reached for her veil. All this time, she had always kept her weimao with the veil down each time she had left the Everlasting Earth Palace. Emperor Weide had asked her to always hid her face. In theory, she was supposed to wear it when she went outside in the courtyards as she wasn''t supposed to leave the Imperial Palace. However, she had kept it when she had left the Imperial City. Since demonic cultivators had already attacked her, she had to protect her identity. Besides, she was extremely shy with people. And to be honest, she was ashamed of her scars. Many physicians had tried to help her. And they had become better over time. But it would still take a lot of time for them to be healed completely.


    In fact, reaching higher grades in her cultivation might help her. But until her scars were less visible, she didn''t want anyone to see her face. During her travel, a few men had tried to take off her veil and she had dealt with them, often breaking off their arm or more depending on their words. However, in that moment, she didn''t sense any ulterior motive behind Chen Guo''s action. Strangely enough, she wanted him to see her. In the back of her mind, that tiny voice was screaming for her to let him see her face. Those weren''t words of course, just a distant feeling.


    Thus, she didn''t move.


    Her veil was attached on the circumference of her hat, her weimao. It wasn''t too long and was just hiding her face. In front of her face, the two extremities of her veil were meeting each other. Cao Yun''s shaking hand delicately grabbed the side of the veil there and pushed it to the side. Then, he finally saw Yong Ke''s face.


    For an instant, everything stopped.


    Cao Yun''s heart even skipped a bit and all his emotions disappeared. He was completely empty. Indeed, he was in shock at the sight in front of him. Being the reason for that shock, Yong Ke first thought about her scars, but she could tell this wasn''t why Chen Guo was acting so strange. Maybe he had recognized her, but it was impossible. A dark thought emerged in her mind. There was still a possibility he had been working with the demonic cultivators who had attacked her. But it didn''t make any sense at all. However, try as she might, she couldn''t figure out where he could have met her.


    Suddenly, she saw tears well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. His chest was vibrating and he could barely speak. However, she saw that he was trying to speak. A word was trying to get out. Everything in her screamed at her that she had to hear this word. She had to hear it!


    Just like Cao Yun, Yong Ke became unable to move. Unknowingly a tear also rolled from her eye down her scarred cheek. What was terrifying was that she didn''t know why, but she was feeling a powerful emotion. Even she didn''t know what it was and where it had come from. She had to know what Chen Guo was saying. Every other sound had disappeared. She even stopped breathing. At that moment, they were the only things in the entire universe. Nothing else mattered or even existed.


    "Hui..."


    -


    Up in the sky, there was a completely different scene. Utter chaos had spread throughout the skies. Demon King Mo Wang was covered in blood. Despite his blood runes, the golden sword of Emperor Weide was too powerful and too fast. Within his ''Domain of the Three Confluences'', Emperor Weide clearly had the advantage. However, he wasn''t in a perfect condition either. It was clear to Demon King Mo Wang that the Traitor was using a strength that wasn''t his and he was paying a toll for that. More and more along the fight, he was coughing up blood.


    If the fight kept on going however, Demon King Mo Wang knew he was going to lose. Besides, his other forces were being decimated outside. Maybe if they regrouped, they could strike a definitive blow to Emperor Weide. Once he was dead, they could pick up their enemies one by one. After killing the 8th-grade Spirit Warriors, all the other cultivators would die or surrender. He really had a chance in this fight. Today, he could become the next Emperor of the Hongchen Kingdom. Then, he would help them become strong enough to fight against the demons. Yes, many would die, but what would emerge would be the most powerful empire on the Piaolu planet.


    Instead of fearing the demons, he could subjugate them all. For a change, he would enslave all the demons so they would serve his purposes. By using demons as resources instead of humans, he wouldn''t be dubbed a demonic cultivator any longer. After what the demons had done to mankind, mankind had the right to use them as they saw fit. Emperor Weide''s words still resounded in his mind though.


    According to him, he was being manipulated by Empyrean Asura to find the library. But he knew that this was impossible. After all, he had had some talks with the crazy prophet of the demons. His goal was to eradicate all of mankind to lead to the second coming of his Demon God. Right away, he had known that Empyrean Asura would try to use him if he could in order to destabilize the Hongchen Kingdom. He was aware of that threat, but he had still worked with some demons to find important information. On the other hand, he had also sent fake intel to disorientate them. Demon King Mo Wang wanted to rule mankind, not destroy it.


    But he couldn''t shake off the feeling that maybe Emperor Weide was right. Maybe someone had indeed helped him find the library of Demon God Da Mo. However, none of that mattered now, he had to strike down his enemy!


    Demon King Mo Wang had not used all of his strength yet. He had hoped to get rid of this Domain first so that his techniques would not be suppressed by it. However, he probably didn''t have the luxury of waiting any longer.


    At that moment, the golden ''Subjugation'' sword pierced through his chest, completely tearing apart his left lung. It had gone for the heart but he had dodged at the last moment.

 Chapter 480: Blood Hole

    Demon King Mo Wang spit out a mouthful of blood as the golden sword had pierced his chest. Thankfully for him, he had protected his heart. Dark blood ran across the immaterial blade. As the blood was spewing out of his wound, the blade itself began to crack. That wasn''t ordinary blood. Suddenly, flames erupted from this dark blood.


    Before Emperor Weide could attack again, Demon King Mo Wang grabbed the tip of the sword and completely ripped it away from his wound. The hilt even went through his chest avoiding his heart once more but tearing through his muscles. This time though, the blade had lost most of its luster. Even Emperor Weide could feel something soiling him. After all, that sword was the manifestation of his Sword Spirit, his understanding of the Dao of Sword.


    Once he was freed, Demon King Mo Wang was still bleeding profusely but the blood was indeed black and covered in flames. It flew in the air and turned into thousands of bloody bats with fangs of fire. With absolutely no doubt, Emperor Weide could tell that each bat had been formed by a dead soul. All those creatures were the defiled souls of Demon King Mo Wang''s victims.


    The cauldron of bats went straight for Emperor Weide, ready to tear him apart. At the same time, Demon King covered himself in this ominous fire. The ''Domain of the Three Confluences'' was being torn apart. Right now, it was entirely covered in bloody cracks and now there were even flames burning space itself. Unfortunately for Emperor Weide, he had not been able to train enough with this pseudo-Domain. In fact, it had only been a few months since he had finally broken Cao Shui''s mind completely. He had barely refined her soul in order to turn it into this Domain. But he had wanted to try it out as soon as possible. That had been a mistake as the toll on him was too big. However, he had still discovered a few insights.


    In a few years, he would fully mastered this Domain. Besides, it would be very compatible with him after absorbing Cao Huiying''s Soul Embryo. According to his estimation, it would take a decade or two, no longer. As soon as she had formed a strong Soul Embryo, he would rip it away from her and refine it. When he would be a Sage, no one could stand in his way. Mankind would prevail!


    Before achieving all that, he still had to survive this fight. But Demon King Mo Wang seemed to be in a worse state than he was right now. There was no doubt in his mind that he was going to die. Thus, he simply had to make sure not to die along with him.


    "Bastard! I''ll rip you apart! I''ll drink your blood and feast on your flesh!"


    Enraged, Demon King Mo Wang saw his bats unable to cover the distance until Emperor Weide, space was stopping them. Although their flames were slowly eating away at the Domain, it wasn''t fast enough. The Demon King could feel his strength leaving him. He had to do something fast.


    Disregarding his survival, he completely unleashed his blood essence. Spitting out some bright blood, it turned into a golden flame. Contrary to all of Demon King Mo Wang''s techniques, this one seemed fully orthodox. But it wasn''t at all. Indeed, his blood essence had been nourished by the blood of many humans in order to become so potent.


    Demon King Mo Wang recited a strange mantra. Even Emperor Weide did not recognize it. But Cao Yun and Dian Mo would have. This was an ancient form of Moshenhua. In fact, it was very similar to what the human spies sent by the demons had used during their suicide attacks in various provinces of the Hongchen Kingdom. Of course, Emperor Weide didn''t know about it yet.


    In fact, even Demon King Mo Wang had no idea of what was going on. However, the demons seemed to know very well what the demonic cultivators had prepared and they were ready for it. In fact, they had even launched their attack a few days prior so that their troops would be ready to act the day it mattered. By now, they were all where they were supposed to be to destabilize the Hongchen Kingdom. Without Cao Yun''s warning, no one would be the wiser.


    Thankfully, Sha Diyi had been sent against him. They had not thought that Cao Yun could either survive or even explore her memories. That was a stupid mistake. By trying to get rid of every potential threat, they had created it instead.


    As he was using his last technique, a powerful use of the blood runes within himself, Demon King Mo Wang felt something strange. For an instant, it was as if someone else had overtaken his blood runes. Although it was very short, it reminded him of what Emperor Weide had told him. Could he really be manipulated by Empyrean Asura, or by someone else entirely?!


    The thought emerged in his mind, but too late. As soon as he had regained control of his blood runes, it was too late. They all got activated at the same time. In every direction, his wings exploded into a mist of blood that spread throughout the ''Domain of the Three Convergences''. That mist of blood was also saturated in Evil Qi and Death Energy. The Domain was a manifestation of Cao Shui''s broken soul. Those energies were able to corrode it. Despite Emperor Weide''s attempt, his Domain was about to crumble.


    Before it could be thoroughly destroyed, Emperor Weide took it back within his own sea of consciousness. If he let it be damaged too much, he wouldn''t be able to use it before a long time. In the worst scenario, he might even lose it completely. But he knew that as soon as he would become a Sage, this Domain would become way more powerful as he would be able to imbue more and more of himself and of his understanding of the Dao within.


    Finally, the ''Domain of the Three Convergences'' was no more. Thus, Demon King Mo Wang was able to see his victory in front of him. Now, he could use his full strength without being suppressed by this pseudo-Domain. However, it was too late for him. Without warning, all of his blood runes erupted out of his body. Before his confused gaze, they formed some kind of sphere around him.


    Around that sphere, space itself began to weaken. From the outside, Demon King Mo Wang''s aspect was constantly changing as though he was in a sphere of moving gas. But it was space itself that was fluctuating because of those blood runes. Demon King Mo Wang finally understood that he had indeed been deceived. In all the manuals he had read, what was transpiring in front of him was never discussed. But he could tell that someone had activated his blood runes for some unknown purpose.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    In Demon King Mo Wang''s mind, many possibilities emerged. It wasn''t Emperor Weide because he seemed to be as surprised and as wary as him. And Mo Wang was absolutely certain it wasn''t Empyrean Asura. But then who?! Who could be powerful enough to manipulate his blood runes?!


    Trying to escape, Mo Wang realized that the same problem he had faced in the Domain was preventing him from escaping. Indeed, as space was being distorted, no matter how much he tried to move, he couldn''t escape. He had the sensation of moving at an incredible speed. But from the outside, he was absolutely immobile.


    Just before the blood runes accomplished their mission, Demon King Mo Wang finally thought of someone who could have manipulated him and his blood runes. After all, they had found the ''Blood Runes'' method in a private library of Demon God Da Mo. But it was impossible! Right?!


    Sensing his death getting closer, Demon King was terrified. It wasn''t death that was terrifying him, but the name he had in mind. Thanks to the library, they had discovered that Demon God Da Mo''s body had been recreated from a drop of blood. And they had tried to get it so they could fuse their own soul with it so in order to become stronger. But this body could also be used by someone else than them... Maybe everything they had done since discovering the library - even discovering the library itself - had been planned by someone else.


    Could Emperor Weide know it as well?! Was he also being manipulated?! Was the Empyrean Asura also following orders or being used by his Demon God?!


    Unfortunately, Demon King Mo Wang would have no time to tell his hypotheses to anyone. The truth would be hidden from him forever. Indeed, the blood runes connected each other through tendrils of blood. Then, they suddenly contracted toward Demon King Mo Wang. Space itself collapsed and a powerful force began to suck in everything toward this single point. In the very structure of space and time, there was now a hole.


    Demon King Mo Wang''s body had been completely crushed. All of his blood and even his very soul had been consumed in order to produce this rift in space. Although Emperor Weide was not an expert in space, he had a feeling he knew what was going on. If he had been present, Sect Leader Xuan would have recognized it. This rift in space was still being formed so it was sucking in all the Qi around it, but also every object in order to feed. Once it would be complete, then someone could go through it and attack the Imperial Palace.


    Unlike the rifts that had appeared all over the Hongchen Kingdom, this one would be permanent. If no one stopped it, there would always be an access to the Hongchen Kingdom right in the Imperial Palace. Only by consuming a late Spirit Warrior could this rift be formed. It stood to reason that it needed to feed on other Spirit Warriors to reach a critical energy enabling it to be stable enough.


    And indeed, the suction force was so strong that every Spirit Warrior around the rift was being sucked in. Even Emperor Weide was subject to this force. Whoever had activated this had waited for all the Spirit Warriors to be exhausted by hteir fights. Although they could resist, they were being slowly sucked in. Unless they combined all their strength, they couldn''t be sure of the outcome. Unfortunately, none of them had any deep knowledge of the Dao of Space. The only one who would know what to do was Sect Leader Xuan but he had remained in the Wubei Sect.


    Thus, their only choice was to use brute force to try and isolate it, hoping it would run out of energy before they did. At that moment, Emperor Weide sent a telepathic message to everyone, even the demonic cultivators. For better or for worse, they had to unite their strength. Besides, Demon King Mo Wang had been killed so the demonic cultivators were still shocked. Since they weren''t thinking straight, they were easily swayed by Emperor Weide''s authority. In his words Xiao Xuefeng sensed a form of mental attack.


    It wasn''t too sophisticated, but it was clearly of form of suggestion. Against a Mortal or a Mortal Warrior, this could force them to do exactly what he wanted for a certain amount of time. Now, he was simply trying to impulse something. Once the demonic cultivators would be working alongside them, they wouldn''t be able to stop or they would be sucked in the rift to feed it further.


    Unfortunately, the suction force was also working on the ground below.


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was very agitated. In that rift, he had recognized something. It had lasted for a very short amount of time, but he was certain of it. For a split second, Demon God Da Mo''s spirit had been there!


    Looking at the rift formed by Demon King Mo Wang''s very being and his blood runes, Dian Mo also recognized a technique his master had been trying to perfect. This was a technique using blood runes in order to pierce through space and time, creating some form of rift in the universe. Through this rift, one could then send armies over vast distances. Even for a Reborn Demon, that technique was too much. In fact, only a cultivator who was about to exit their own universe would be able to pull it off over vast distances. But if someone was trying to do so on a smaller scale, there was a chance of success. However, the cost would be tremendous.


    And indeed, the cost was the blood and soul of several late Spirit Warriors.


    Unlike Dian Mo, Cao Yun was not paying attention to what was going on above him. He was still in shock in front of his younger sister. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind. That young woman Yong Ke was really Cao Huiying. Emperor Weide had captured her, she had been terribly wounded and her mind had been tempered with. After all, she didn''t remember a thing and it wasn''t just because of the violence of her injuries. No, Cao Yun was certain that Emperor Weide had done something to her mind to keep her under his control.


    The reason was obvious. He needed her to cultivate and to become a Spirit Warrior as soon as possible. Indeed, his main goal was to extract and refine her Soul Embryo in order to become a Sage. That meant that his sister was just considered as cattle. He was fattening her up before killing her.


    From shock, Cao Yun''s emotions instantly went to deep rage and hatred. However, before he could tell anything more to his sister, he felt as though he was flying in the air. The bloody rift in the sky was pulling him toward itself. Unlike the Spirit Warriors, he couldn''t fly so he couldn''t resist it at all. Maybe he could try to use his spear. But then, he saw Cao Huiying also being sucked toward that rift. Even if he didn''t know what it was, he knew it was bad news.


    In Xiao Xuefeng''s residence, Hongyu was still in the process of forming her fifth core. There was no doubt that she would succeed, but it was taking some time. All this time, she was looking in the distance. The moment she saw her brother being sucked into that ominous thing, she knew something was wrong.


    Without any hesitation and despite her wounded wing, she flew toward the young man. Feng Yingyue instinctively tried to grab her but Hongyu was too fast even for her. Most array formations on the ground had been destroyed or stopped to save energy for more important ones. Thus, Hongyu was able to fly directly toward Cao Yun.

 Chapter 481: Another bloody rift

    The suction force was so strong that a few weaker Spirit Warriors were sucked into the hole in space. A couple of them felt as though they were being crushed as space was contorted around them. Before they could even enter the rift, their chest had caved in and their blood was being sucked in. By the time the rest of their body followed, it was too late.


    On the other hand, the stronger Spirit Warriors were already organizing a defense. Even the demonic cultivators were helping. Despite the enraged fight that had just happened, they were lucid enough to see that someone else was acting against their Demon King. Besides, Emperor Weide''s suggestion had been enough to convince them to help if only temporarily.


    Xiao Xuefeng was already playing her guqin in order to quarantine that part of the sky. Emperor Weide was still rather weak after using his Domain, but he drew on the aura of Emperor Nuwa. From his spatial ring, he even resorted to take out a brush. There was nothing impressive about it. However, even Xiao Xuefeng felt as though this was a priceless treasure. Indeed, it was the brush used by Emperor Nuwa to draw the first draft of the Hongchen Kingdom''s constitution.


    Just by having the brush, Emperor Weide''s aura changed a bit. Nonetheless, he was still too weak to fully make use of all its powers. However, he knew it well enough. Thus, the brush would still have some effect on the crisis at hand. They had to make sure that the blood hole could not stabilize itself. And for that, it was necessary to starve it. Unfortunately, they didn''t know how long it would take. What they knew was that if the rift got stable, it would become a portal for an impending invasion.


    On the ground, Cao Yun and Yong Ke were both levitating toward the blood rift. Despite Cao Yun''s impressive cultivation and strength, he was no Spirit Warrior so he couldn''t fly. The two of them were being sucked toward the rift faster than any Spirit Warrior and they couldn''t do anything to change their trajectory. From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out his spear. He might have been able to change his trajectory by striking in the opposite direction. However, he wasn''t thinking straight at all.


    Despite his mind cultivation, seeing his younger sister alive had thrown him into sheer chaos. Furthermore, he could imagine all the tortures and brainwashing she had suffered through considering her current state. Instead of trying to save himself, he tried to save her.


    With ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'', Cao Yun mobilized all of his Spear Aura. Under his strong emotion and will, the Horn Constellation appeared once again in his sea of consciousness. But this time, it was more vibrant than ever.


    ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''!


    Powerful cones of wind were sent toward Yong Ke. He knew that it would hurt her a little, but at least, she would be sent back to the ground. It should give her enough time to get to safety inside the Everlasting Earth Palace. On the other hand, Cao Yun was sent backward. Although he had still made sure not to be thrown toward the bloody rift, the distortion of space caused him to go closer and closer to it, faster and faster.


    In the sky above, Emperor Weide and even Xiao Xuefeng''s senses were completely altered by that gigantic force. Unfortunately, no one was too familiar with the Dao of Space. Even Huang Liyue who had gone through the rift leading to Cleansed Asura''s decaying sea of consciousness, the Yellow Death World, couldn''t see through that thing. At that moment she was however the one with the most experience. If only they had had Sect Leader Xuan, he might have been able to help way more. In fact, if he had been able to command all those Spirit Warriors, he might have resolved the problem by now.


    Sadly, Sect Leader Xuan wasn''t here. And without anyone noticing it, Cao Yun was being sucked into the bloody rift. Something happened that changed the situation. Hongyu arrived at full speed. Her feathers had turned completely black and there was an eerie black fire all over her wings. For Cao Yun, there was absolutely no doubt, Hongyu was using her evil core to the limit. Her flames were so corrosive that they were burning through space, allowing her to fly straight toward Cao Yun despite the distortions caused by the bloody rift. Obviously, the experts all noticed that 4-core demonic beast flying toward them. Although she was no threat, it was still very noticeable, and very strange. There was no reason for a demonic beast to kill itself in such a way. In everyone''s mind, this was clearly suicide.


    Among them, Huang Liyue, Xiao Xuefeng and Hua Fenfei recognized the demonic beast. Although she was somewhat different, she was clearly Hongyu, Cao Yun''s mount. Besides, Huang Liyue had spent quite some time with Hongyu back in Baziyun City. There was no way she would not recognize her, even if she were to form other cores and change her physical appearance. She could clearly sense her bloodline. Better than that, Huang Liyue''s blood was resonating with Hongyu''s bloodline. The closer she approached, the more excited Huang Liyue''s True Fiery Drops were getting.


    Although they couldn''t get distracted, they followed Hongyu''s trajectory. That was when they noticed Cao Yun. The young man was being hurtled through the air. On the ground, Emperor Weide also saw his daughter Yong Ke. Her weimao and her veil had been blown away. Even her clothes were partially damaged because of Cao Yun''s attack. However, she was back to the ground. Standing up, her first instinct was to try to help Cao Yun. As soon as she stood up though, she heard Emperor Weide''s voice. He ordered her to go back inside. Immediately after that, she felt a powerful force exerted from behind. A servant had grabbed her and was pulling her inside. As he was a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, she couldn''t do a thing. But she still struggled, unwilling to let go of Cao Yun.


    As she was seeing his figure disappear in the sky, an image flashed in her mind. She saw the same man but younger, maybe five years younger. She was seeing her small arms flailing toward him as a late Spirit Warrior was taking her away. On Cao Yun''s chest, she was seeing a deep laceration. It had been so deep, she could see some of his bones that had been split open and his very heart still beating in his chest. Her vision was blurred by her own tears. As that single memory resurfaced, Yong Ke began to cry as well. She didn''t fully understand what had happened, but she knew that her connection with this Chen Guo was stronger than she had thought.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    On Cao Yun''s side, the situation was critical. Because of the chaotic space he was in, he couldn''t even move his limbs properly. He could feel a powerful force trying to rip him apart. That was when he heard Hongyu''s screech. The Black Heart Flame in him resonated with Hongyu''s flaming wings. Despite her injury, she was flying faster than ever. At last, she reached Cao Yun. As soon as he sensed her presence close to him, Cao Yun focused all of his Qi and blood in his arms. He sent his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' back in his spatial ring and focused solely on grabbing Hongyu''s plumage.


    Amidst all this chaos, he was successful. The very moment Hongyu felt his hand grab onto her, she immediately tried to fly toward the ground and away from the bloody rift. Going in the direction she had come from would take too much time. Instead of that, she was trying to fly in the opposite direction. In other words, she was trying to fly as straight as possible away from the bloody rift. That was the right move. But she had clearly underestimated the suction force of that bloody rift. What she had not taken into account was also the pressure that would be exerted on her entire body.


    Her broken wing was only bearing the cost of her efforts because of her evil core. However, that was the last straw. Under this pressure, her wing completely snapped in two. Then, Hongyu and Cao Yun ended up being sucked into the bloody rift together. Trying to escape from it, Hongyu mobilized all of her energy, her entire body and Cao Yun with it were covered in her black flames. Obviously, they were not hurting Cao Yun too much. And at the same time, the young man was pouring as much energy as she could sustain into Hongyu in order to help her.


    When he finally realized that this was useless, he tried to send a message to Xiao Xuefeng. In that moment, there was one thing on his mind and this wasn''t his own survival. He tried to tell her that Yong Ke was really Cao Huiying. If she stayed with Emperor Weide, he would ultimately rob her of her Soul Embryo. That meant a most sinister death followed by something even worse as he would be refining her very soul into himself.


    Cao Yun had no way of knowing whether Xiao Xuefeng would even receive his message or if someone else might hear it as well. Since space was completely broken, and that Cao Yun had no control over the Dao of Space, he couldn''t be sure of the trajectory of his thoughts. In fact, Xiao Xuefeng might be just too far for him to even reach her in the first place.


    Thinking about the Dao of Space, Cao Yun had an idea. He still have one thing that might help him survive. Hopefully he could also extend it all over Hongyu as well since they were so close to each other. From his spatial ring, he took out Sect Leader Xuan''s Spirit Condensation Barrier. Considering that that artifact had been created by Sect Leader Xuan who had poured a part of his soul in it, it might be helpful against a distortion of space. Maybe he might have a chance....


    At that moment, Cao Yun wasn''t thinking about surviving for himself. He had to survive to defend his younger sister. The words of his parents came back to his mind.


    "Leave with your sister. Protect her! Live! Your mother and I love you! Do not throw away your life. Live!"


    He would not disobey their last command. No matter what, he would save his younger sister, but he wouldn''t throw his life away either. He would find a way to save her and stay alive in the process. The only one who would die for sure was Emperor Weide. All of Cao Yun''s hatred congealed on Emperor Weide. In his mind, he was the worst traitor of human history. Not only would he kill him, he would expose his crimes for all to see!


    Holding on this hatred and this rage, Cao Yun used the Flying Poison he had subdued in order to operate the Spirit Condensation Barrier. Now that he was able to use spiritual senses, he could activate it even more thoroughly and control it a little. Pushing with all his will, the barrier didn''t just surround him, it also surrounded Hongyu''s body. As the barrier was extended around them, they both felt that the immense pressure of space was lessened. But the barrier was already cracking. All around them, Cao Yun saw Insight Writings. Some of them were similar to the ones he had seen in ''Death Verses'' and to the Rune of Fire. Those particular Insight Writings were the understanding of the Dao of Space gathered by all the Wubei Sect''s sect leaders over the generations.


    And in front of that rift in space, they were the ones resisting the most. However, they couldn''t prevent Cao Yun and Hongyu from being sucked into the rift.


    In the end, they both entered the bloody rift in the sky. As they did so, the Insight Writings used by Sect Leader Xuan shined brighter and brighter. On the outside, the Spirit Warriors were all shocked. The bloody rift was starting to close itself. It was as though something from within was pulling on it. Even the suction force diminished greatly. And at the same moment in the Wubei Sect, Sect Leader Xuan was interrupted in his meditation. He had sensed that his Spirit Condensation Barrier had been activated. In fact, he sensed that it had breached through space. Thanks to his low understanding of the Dao of Space, he could tell. And he could also tell that it was being sent somewhere else.


    Later, he would learn everything that had happened and he was certain that Cao Yun had survived. However, he had no way of knowing where he had been sent. In fact, Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng decided to hide the truth. They obviously told his brothers and sister as well as Feng Yingyue. They didn''t want them to think he was dead. Then, they announced that he had returned to his seclusion since the Alchemy Conference had been canceled and that he had been injured during the fights.


    -


    Trapped in the bloody rift, Cao Yun literally saw the space close itself in front of him. He then knew that he wouldn''t be able to go back. Five years ago, he had fallen to his death thinking he would never see his family ever again. This time, he didn''t repeat the same mistake, he clung on the certitude that he would come back. One day, he would come back to make things right. He would come back to this land and save his younger sister. He would slay Emperor Weide, no matter what!


    As the bloody rift was unstable and attacked by Sect Leader Xuan''s partial soul, it was about to collapse completely around Cao Yun. That would mean his utter destruction. But he couldn''t accept that. If someone had tried to open that rift, that meant that there was another opening to go through. He had to find it. Since it was about traveling between worlds, Dian Mo might be useful.


    And indeed, suddenly, Dian Mo saw something and ordered Cao Yun to go in that direction. Without hesitation, without doubting him, Cao Yun used all of his will to try and orientate himself by using his spiritual senses and his Qi. As he wasn''t a Spirit Warrior, he couldn''t fly but he might still be able to alter his trajectory. Sensing what he was trying to do, Hongyu helped him a little. In the end, they did go in that direction and space changed.

 Chapter 482: Blood Maelstrom

    Trapped in the bloody rift, Cao Yun literally saw space close itself in front of him. He then knew that he wouldn''t be able to go back. Five years ago, he had fallen to his death thinking he would never see his family ever again. This time, he didn''t repeat the same mistake, he clung on to the certitude that he would come back. One day, he would come back to make things right for his family. He would come back to the Hongchen Kingdom and save his younger sister. He would slay Emperor Weide - no, Traitor Weide - no matter what!


    The bloody rift had absorbed Demon King Mo Wang''s blood and had fed on the blood of a few Spirit Warriors. But it was still very unstable. After all, even for a Sage, understanding the Dao of Space was difficult. Creating an opening in space was an incredibly arduous task. The Empyrean Asura Theocracy had been able to do so in order to send some soldiers throughout the Hongchen Kingdom, but creating a permanent doorway in the middle of the Imperial City was another story altogether. Even the portals they had built had taken them several centuries of work and decades of preparations. Despite all of that time, those didn''t last even a full minute. Several powerful demons had been killed by those very doors.


    In fact, a few of those portals had been so unstable that all the demons who tried to go through had simply been crushed into nothingness. But now, there were several powerful Accomplished Demons roaming free. The Silver Wolf General''s forces would be the first one to notify the Imperial City. Then, it would take a few weeks to prepare an appropriate response. In the end, several months would pass by before anything was really done against such a threat. Because the Imperial City had been attacked and many officials killed, there was chaos in the administration. Thankfully, the Silver Wolf General had disregarded the official chain of command to act first.


    If he had not done so, it could have taken an entire year before anything was properly done, because the demons would have not been discovered soon enough. However, killing several Accomplished Demons trying to hide within the Hongchen Kingdom while still maintaining a strict security over the border and the Imperial Palace was difficult. Although they had the military strength to get rid of those invaders, they couldn''t mobilize all their troops and abandon the vast borders. After the plague of the demonic cultivators and their demonic beasts stampede, now they were faced with another internal threat. The Hongchen Kingdom was truly in a bad situation through and through.


    Thankfully, Emperor Weide appeared in public again in order to help boost morale. He didn''t hide his injuries. Instead, he used them as a symbol of this war. No matter how much humans would suffer, they would always win and prevail in the end. However, from this day forth, Emperor Weide would always wear his battle armor. He even personally helped in tracking down and killing all the invaders. There was a real atmosphere of paranoia throughout the Hongchen Kingdom. People were worried about demonic cultivators, human traitors who had been sent by the demons, and even the demons themselves.


    -


    While all of that was unveiling in the Hongchen Kingdom, Cao Yun was trapped in the bloody rift.


    As the bloody rift had been unstable and attacked by the fragment Sect Leader Xuan''s soul used to make Cao Yun''s protective charm, it had completely collapsed around Cao Yun. Thanks to this unwilling sacrifice, Cao Yun had closed off the gate. Under other circumstances, that would have meant his utter destruction. Thankfully though, Sect Leader Xuan''s knowledge of the Dao of Space had been enough to keep him alive. Hongyu too was alive.


    Now though, they were trapped in a disturbing place and air would soon be a problem. Indeed, some of the air from the Hongchen Kingdom had been taken with them, but it wouldn''t last forever. The Insight Writings from the Dao of Space were forming some kind of strange bubble around Cao Yun, Hongyu and thus also trapping all this air. It was hard to say how long it could last though, some days, some months... Cao Yun had no way of knowing so he immediately began to restrain his breathing. On the other hand, Hongyu was unconscious. Ironically, this was a good thing as her breathing was very calm. As a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun could slow it down quite a lot, just like he didn''t need as much food, water or sleep. But he was still a mortal and breathing was the most essential process to stay alive.


    Unfortunately, this wasn''t Cao Yun''s most pressing matter.


    The place they were in right now was no place at all. Quite literally, it was a temporary wound in space. In order to simply maintain it open, it had required a great amount of energy. In fact, that was why the bloody rift had been trying to absorb as much blood. Even the full blood and entire body of Demon King Mo Wang, even his very soul, had not been enough. They had been merely sufficient to open it in the first place. But it would have required the blood sacrifice of two or three late Spirit Warriors just to stabilize it.


    And without Cao Yun''s intervention, this might have really happened. Of course, he had not done so intentionally, but by being sucked into it while using Sect Leader Xuan''s Spirit Condensation Barrier, he had put an end to the threat. Indeed, within the soul inside the artifact, Sect Leader Xuan had poured his understanding of space. After all, altering space around his disciple was the best way to protect him from any attack. Of course, the Insight Writings surrounding Cao Yun were not as developed as the ones in Sect Leader Xuan''s sea of consciousness. Indeed, it was like the Insight Writings Cao Yun had read in ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Unless he truly mastered them, he couldn''t reproduce them exactly.


    Sadly, Sect Leader Xuan had not yet mastered the Dao of Space enough for that. However, they were still very powerful. Thus, they instinctively protected Cao Yun from the bloody rift. But as a consequence, it had completely collapsed. And now Cao Yun was trapped inside a fold of space as it was trying to repair itself. Without that barrier around him, Cao Yun would have been crushed in an instant and this bloody corridor would have been closed forever. In the Hongchen Kingdom, Sect Leader Xuan was the only one who knew exactly what had happened to Cao Yun, but even his connection with his soul could not endure such a trial. However, he would tell everything to the ones he truly trusted. In fact, he even had an idea on the place Cao Yun would reach, if he survived the process, which he was confident about.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "Boy, don''t worry about air. You will be crushed by this place way before you run out of fresh air..."


    "That''s very comforting indeed..."


    Cao Yun''s sensation was truly strange. Within this place, there was no light except for the golden hue of the Insight Writings around the young man. Thus, he felt as though he was in a cave filled with blood everywhere and it was contracting around him. It truly felt as if space itself had a body and Cao Yun was swimming in its very bloodstream. Strangely, space seemed to be organic around him, but he knew this wasn''t the case. No, all the blood around him was in fact Demon King Mo Wang''s blood. Of course, there was also some blood from the Spirit Warriors who had been devoured by it. But only Demon King Mo Wang''s blood had endured, probably thanks to the demonic arts he had discovered.


    "Dian Mo, you know way more about space than I do. Could you find us a way out of this place?"


    "I''m trying, boy. If I''m right, we literally left your world. We didn''t quite breached through the veil between worlds of course, even Demon God Da Mo couldn''t do so. But we''re outside of the normal space. We''re in some kind of wounds that''s trying to repair itself. The blood of that Demon King is still feeding that wound. Otherwise, it would have collapsed around you even more. That Sect Leader''s Insight Writings will protect you for a time. But as soon as space closes itself on you, they won''t last more than a few hours. By using your soul to the limit, you could make it endure a bit longer, but you won''t live longer than a week by then. And I can''t know for sure when that blood will be completely spent."


    "Could we make some kind of array formation to pierce through this place? If space is distorted and if that blood is powerful enough to keep it from repairing itself straight away, we might have a way, right? We could use this blood in combination with your knowledge of the Dao of Space from Sect Leader Xuan. What do you think?"


    "Well, it''s not impossible per se. But you don''t realize how difficult it is. The moron who tried to establish a permanent bridge into your Imperial City was insane! Even a Sage specialized in the Dao of Space would have not attempted such a thing. Hell, even Demon God Da Mo wouldn''t have tried something so foolish, unless he was desperate..."


    "I''m sure I can use my Flying Poison to control Sect Leader Xuan''s Insight Writings. Then we just need to get some of Demon King Mo Wang''s blood. Even if our chances are small, we can''t just wait for death! If I die here, you know what this bastard will do to my sister?!"


    "Well, most likely, he will help her become a Spirit Warrior and then tear apart her Soul Embryo in order to refine it so he can become a Sage."


    Dian Mo''s words did not calm down Cao Yun at all. They fueled his rage and his desire to stay alive.


    "I swear that I will feast on that traitor''s blood. I will take his soul and inflict all of my family''s pain tenfold on his tormented mind! Little Huiying, I will save you! Father, Mother, I failed your command once, but I won''t fail it again! The enemies of our blood will all die in agonizing pain. The Hongchen Kingdom will be freed from that stench! I make this solemn vow on my Dao Heart! I won''t die here in the void! I will come back and slaughter my blood''s enemies!"


    "Boy, this is all good, but even if we survive, you might not even be able to go back..."


    "Focus on the task at hand! If I die, you die too, remember. Although I don''t know much about the Dao of Space, you might find some interesting things in there."


    Thanks to his reading of Sect Leader Xuan''s ''Daydreams on the Heidai Peak'', Cao Yun had the bare minimum when it came to knowing the Dao of Space. He simply knew what it was, but he had nowhere near the same understanding as he had about the Dao of Death thanks to Cleansed Asura''s ''Death Verses''. If he couldn''t understand much of it, maybe Dian Mo would get something more from the text. Thus, Cao Yun fully opened it in front of Dian Mo.


    At the same time, Cao Yun tried to look for anything similar to the Insight Writings he was seeing outside within the documents left by Cleansed Asura. The God-Monarch had pierced through the veils between the worlds. Obviously, his knowledge of the Dao of Space was way superior to what anyone on the Piaolu planet could achieve. However, Cao Yun couldn''t read anything. In his mind, he simply thought that it might be somewhat useful to help Dian Mo find a way. Dian Mo couldn''t read the text either, but he might understand the Insight Writings a bit better than Cao Yun. Hell, maybe he might find some array formation in Cleansed Asura''s documents that would give Dian Mo a bit of inspiration.


    At this point, Cao Yun was just using any wild idea he had. In fact, he had several other wild ideas, but he was not yet desperate enough. As long as Demon King Mo Wang''s blood was not fully digested by space itself, he had some time.


    If someone on the Piaolu planet had opened, there had to be a way out. After all, no one could surpass the Spirit Warrior realm or the Accomplished Demon realm. Otherwise, the war between humans and demons would be very different from what it was today. If someone had tried to open that rift, that meant that there was at least another opening to go through. They had to find it. Since it was about traveling through space, Dian Mo might be useful. After all, in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he had been confronted with some alteration of space.


    "Fine, boy, I''ll try to keep us alive. Just show me everything you can."


    Although Cao Yun didn''t fully trust Dian Mo, he needed his help to survive. Of course, the Palace Spirit would probably try to take advantage of the situation to see more than what Cao Yun was willing to show him. But if they were to die, that would be pointless anyway.


    While Dian Mo was working on finding some solution to their current situation, space was contracting again and again. Cao Yun could literally sense the blood around him getting weaker and weaker. With his own blood cultivation, he was now way more sensitive to those things. And since he had nothing better to do, Cao Yun focused on his cultivation. With the Frozen Fire pill''s medicinal essence still within his Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, Cao Yun had a reserve of Fire Qi to advance his Qi cultivation.


    Cao Yun had decided on a method to fill his Middle Dantian that was known as ''Drowning One''s Heart in Blood''. The concept was simple. In order to fill up all nine chambers of his Middle Dantian with Fire Qi, he would only focus on one chamber, the Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir. As it would slowly fill the chamber, the Fire Qi would naturally overflow in the other chambers without any effort on Cao Yun''s end.


    This method was nothing special or fancy. Because it was so simple, everyone knew about it. But it was still the best method known. Sometimes, simplicity was a virtue. Its only default was that it required a huge amount of Fire Qi, which Cao Yun had with this Frozen Fire pill.

 Chapter 483: Burning ones air

    Cao Yun wasn''t really in a good state of mind to cultivate. But right now, he had nothing else to do. Ironically, it was his way of copping with what was going on and what he had just learned. Otherwise, he would have been going crazy. Even with his mind cultivation, suppressing his anger without putting something else in his mind was impossible. Thus, he focused all of those emotions into his heart. His blood was almost boiling within his bloodstream. If his heart had not been tempered by his cultivation, it might have exploded. But this heat was also a good thing to develop his current Qi cultivation.


    Strong emotions were dangerous during cultivation for that very reason. Thankfully though, Cao Yun had a body that could withstand it and he had almost no risk of forming an inner demon. Of course, there was always a possibility, but now he had control over the Drop of Wrath and over its Flying Poison. No inner demon Cao Yun could produce would be able to resist it. Although Cao Yun''s rage was intense, the remnant of wrath and fury from Axiu Qian was still way above that. Cao Yun could barely imagine what he had been feeling when he was still alive...


    The Frozen Fire pill''s medicinal essence was just like an onion. It was made of several layers alternating between some kind of icy energy and a fiery essence. With his current rage, Cao Yun''s blood burned the outermost layer in less than a few breaths. Then, an intense Fire element spread throughout Cao Yun''s chest. Using what he had learned in ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', Cao Yun focused all of his blood and Fire Qi within his chest, pushing everything toward his heart and his Middle Dantian. Once again, the pressure and the heat became extremely intense. The air around him was saturated with heat to the point where the gas even began to become blurry.


    Since there was nothing to conduct heat outside of Cao Yun''s vicinity, the temperature could only rise and rise and rise. At the moment, Cao Yun was not fully aware of it, but soon he would realize. When the heat became too uncomfortable even for him, Cao Yun looked around. He got afraid for Hongyu. Heat was good for her considering her lineage, but it didn''t mean that she could bear just any kind of intense heat. Even a fiery bird could be burned to cinders. Thankfully, what Cao Yun saw was that Hongyu seemed to be regaining her strength. It wasn''t just the heat.


    By cultivating, Cao Yun was necessarily losing a bit of his own Qi and the medicinal of the Frozen Fire pill was also overflowing a little. No matter how talented he was, this kind of loss was almost impossible to prevent. But to be fair, it was in extremely small amounts. Anyway, it had a good impact on Hongyu herself. At the moment, she was still forming her fifth core. Despite her consumption of a Frozen Fire pill, it was difficult to tell how long it would take her to officially become a 5-core demonic beast. It wouldn''t be too long, but it could still take a few days, a few weeks, even a couple of months.


    Just as the heat was helping Hongyu, Cao Yun was also quite glad of his current predicament. Ironically being in a place without any space around him, he was in full isolation. Even what he had lost was still trapped around him. It was as though he was in a perfect array formation. Nothing could leave the confines of Sect Leader Xuan''s Insight Writings. Indeed, there was no space around it. Right now, the only thing around those golden characters was Demon King Mo Wang. Even this blood was starting to boil around the ball of gas Cao Yun was trapped into.


    Since Cao Yun was not a Spirit Warrior, he should not be able to fly. However, he was floating now because there was no planet to attract him. Of course, Cao Yun had not a great comprehension of the Dao of Space or even of gravity. But he could clearly sense that the force pulling him down even when flying on Hongyu''s back didn''t exist in this place because nothing else but his immediate surroundings existed.


    Of course, this was also a terrifying experience. And unfortunately, he could not do a thing. Unless he was a Sage who had understood a bit of the Dao of Space, he was useless. His only hope was indeed Dian Mo. And right now, Dian Mo was still studying all the books Cao Yun had found useful. He had read and read again everything that had a tiny bit of connection with the Dao of Space. He had many ideas to get out of this predicament. Unfortunately, none seemed too feasible. His best guess would be to try and create an opening through space in order to exit back into normal space.


    This bleeding space was an anomaly caused by the failed attempt of someone to open a stable doorway. Maybe the space above the Imperial Palace, or the space that was supposed to be bridged to it, were still weak enough for a hole to be made. But the first hole had required a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior''s blood. Even though the bleeding space they were in was quite wounded, it was still space. A Mortal Warrior would never be able to cause any injury to space itself. Maybe Cao Yun could use the Flying Poison somehow, but this was far-fetched. Then, Dian Mo found only one solution, Demon King Mo Wang''s blood. It was a long shot too, but it had sustained that wound for a few days already.


    "Boy, I have a terrible idea..."


    "Do you have any good ones?"


    "No, only bad and worse... Unless you''re ready to try and project your soul out of your body, the next less dangerous thing would be to try and control all of the blood around us. The main concern is that this is the only thing keeping this space relatively stable. As soon as it''s gone, your Spirit Condensation Barrier will be attacked like never before. I don''t know how long it will last, even with your master''s understanding of the Dao of Space. On the other hand, I can''t be sure whether there is not something in that blood..."


    "Something? Like blood runes? Or like remains of Demon King Mo Wang''s soul?"


    "Indeed. It could retaliate against you by pure instinct. After all, that so-called Demon King was killed in a terrible way. There is a high chance he gave birth to some kind of ghost or ghastly creature of some kind."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Using the ''Death Verses'', Cao Yun tried to perceive traces of Demon King Mo Wang''s Death Energy. There was indeed a high concentration of both Death Energy and Ghost Energy. Demon King Mo Wang''s soul had been partially consumed by the opening of the bloody rift. That didn''t mean that all of his soul had been destroyed. From what Cao Yun could see, his Hun had been mostly consumed but his raw feelings had given birth to a powerful Death Energy from his Po.


    "I should be able to handle it to some extent. Anyway, do you have any other solution?"


    "Unfortunately, I don''t..."


    "And if we wait too long, we''ll die anyway. If you think your plan of action has even the slightest chance of success, I''m up for it. Tell me more about it."


    "Well, it''s quite crude, but I don''t have anything else. Whoever created this rift has used the blood runes inside Mo Wang''s blood. Thus, his blood should be able to open yet another rift. Of course, we can''t control where it will lead us at all. We could emerge in the vacuum of space, in orbit around the Piaolu planet, or in the middle of the core of the planet itself... Hopefully though, since space got wounded near the Imperial Palace, we should reemerge there, if we reemerge at all. The blood alone won''t be enough though. We''ll need something else to act as a catalyst and then we''ll need something to hold the rift open long enough for you to go through."


    "For me and Hongyu!"


    "Of course, of course. But on that point, would you be so inclined as to..."


    "I know what you''re thinking and the answer is no. I won''t use her blood essence!"


    There was no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind that Dian Mo was going to suggest sacrificing Hongyu. As much as the young man wanted to survive, he thought his companion''s family had paid enough for helping him. Even now, Hongyu was in danger because she had tried to save him. There was absolutely no way he would ever sacrifice her life for his own survival.


    "I can use the Insight Writings of my master to hold the rift open. I''m pretty sure that if I focus my soul enough, I''ll be able to use my spiritual senses to control them to some extent. After all, I just need a bit of time to escape this place. But what would be the catalyst you''ve talked about?"


    "I''m not too sure yet. Right now, Mo Wang''s blood is just raw energy. It''s as if we have fire without anything to burn, a cannon without black powder. Even if we have a great amount of energy, we can''t use it."


    "What about the Drop of Wrath? Axiu Qian had reached the level where he could also cross through the veil between the worlds. After all, this drop of his blood did pierce through the veil. By using Flying Poison and the Drop of Wrath, I could be able to put this idea into the blood, maybe even in the ghost of Mo Wang. I mean, wouldn''t he want to get his vengeance on whoever tricked and used him? For that, he needs to exit this place. I''m sure his last thoughts were about escaping this bloody hole and wrapping his hands on his killer''s heart."


    "You want to use his last obsession to try and alter his blood... Well, it could be done. But for that, you''ll have to absorb a huge part of his blood and of his ghost in you. This man was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, on the verge of becoming a Sage at that. Are you sure you''re up to the task? To be honest, I don''t think even I could subdue his soul. He''s not as terrifying as that Xiao Xuefeng when it comes to mind and soul attacks, but he''s incredibly powerful and full of hatred and anger."


    "Am I sure?! Of course I''m not! If you have a better idea, I''m listening. But I won''t die in this place without doing anything. Dying from suffocation after our air is all gone doesn''t seem to be a good either. I can give you a bit of time. But if you don''t find anything less dangerous, I''ll invite the ghost and the blood of a deranged demonic cultivator who became as powerful as he could in the Hongchen Kingdom right into my heart and my sea of consciousness... So, I truly hope that you''ll find a better way. In the meantime, I''ll prepare my mind and try to improve my cultivation a tiny bit."


    Because he was cultivating, Cao Yun''s mind was rather calm. It was as though he was talking about someone else''s fate. For Dian Mo, that was a bit eerie. But he had to admit that it was better than panicking. Besides, Cao Yun was unfortunately right. Between dying from suffocation before being crushed into nothingness by space and trying to fight his way out, Dian Mo could understand Cao Yun''s choice. But deep down, Dian Mo was terrified. He had to admit that he was feeling for Cao Yun as well. But what he was truly afraid was his own death.


    Although he thought he was safe within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness since leaving the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, his previous jail had been infinitely safer. Right now, he regretted ever wishing for freedom. With freedom came danger and he wasn''t ready for it. At the same time, he sincerely didn''t want to lose Cao Yun. After all, their conversations were quite pleasant. Thus, Dian Mo truly racked his brain to try and find a better solution.


    Try as he might though, he only marginally increased their odd of success. He found some manner in which using the blood and Sect Leader''s Insight Writings. With his knowledge of array formations, he found some way of arranging them so they would pierce space with more ease and keep it stable a bit longer. Given their current situation, Dian Mo was happy with any small increase of their survival rate.


    If they survived, Dian Mo''s study of Cleansed Asura''s documents might help Cao Yun understand a bit more about his language. Even if Dian Mo didn''t understand a word, he was able to see through a handful of Insight Writings here and there. By sharing his understanding, Cao Yun would be able to decipher some more characters. There wouldn''t be too much improvement, but anything was good to take at this point.


    "Boy, I can improve our chances of success a bit, but I can''t promise anything... Do you still want to go ahead with this suicide plan?"


    "No, I don''t, but we don''t have much choice in the matter."


    At the moment, the air around Cao Yun was so intense that it had increased the pressure tremendously around the young man and Hongyu. Here and there, Cao Yun could literally see sparks. There was fire around Hongyu. But it wasn''t just because of the extreme heat, her own bloodline was acting up as well. Deep within Cao Yun''s heart, the Rune of Fire was rejoicing, absorbing more and more heat. In turn, it allowed Cao Yun to absorb much more Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian. In fact, if any other cultivator had absorbed as much Fire Qi, they would have broken through right here and there. However, Cao Yun was like a bottomless pit at this point. His Rune of Fire could absorb almost anything.


    In fact, Cao Yun was even reducing its influence because he was afraid that it would suck this entire ball of gas dry. Without air, Cao Yun and Hongyu would both die and Cao Yun wasn''t sure how the Rune of Fire''s suction would affect said air. For now, it was better to be safe than sorry. On the other hand, the Frozen Fire pill''s medicinal essence was almost entirely consumed. Soon, Cao Yun would break through, much sooner than he had first imagined. His blood cultivation had put so much Fire Qi in him, his Qi cultivation was going that much smoother.

 Chapter 484: Breaching space

    "Then we are set. Absorb as much blood as you can. And from this blood, extract the fragments of Mo Wang''s soul. I''ll help you with his ghost, but I''m not too confident in my ability to do anything. Hopefully your Flying Poison will be enough to break his will. With your Drop of Wrath, you could certainly destroy him completely. But we need to conserve him as intact as possible while funneling his last emotions into our plan. We can''t have him form a grudge against you before we open some rift in space. As soon as you have collected enough blood and ghost, I''ll tell you exactly what to do. By using both your master''s runes and blood runes made out of Mo Wang''s blood, we should be able to open a way out. Do not hesitate at all. No matter what happens, you have to go through any opening that appears. We won''t get a second chance!"


    "I understand. And I''m as ready as I will get."


    Cao Yun first used his understanding of the Dao of Death to ''See Through the Mud''. All around the Dao Runes of his master, there was a sphere of blackened blood. That blood was so thick that it felt as though it was almost solid, but it had not coagulated yet. In that blood, Cao Yun could feel the corrupted Po of Mo Wang. Everywhere in that blood, there was a rage and a burning desire for retribution. In the past, Mo Wang had been betrayed by Emperor Weide. And when he was about to get his revenge, he was betrayed by his own demonic arts. Before dying, Mo Wang had heard that traitor tell him that he was being manipulated. The only other name that came to his mind was Empyrean Asura. But somehow, Mo Wang didn''t believe he was behind it.


    Maybe he had been manipulated since the day he had found Demon God Da Mo''s secret library? After all, this was where he had found the ''Blood Runes'' method that had seemingly betrayed him. Within his blood, some of his blood runes got activated by something else and turned him into a doorway to somewhere else. It would have been logical to accuse the Empyrean Asura''s attempt to create a bridge between his territory and the Imperial Palace. By cutting off the head of the Hongchen Kingdom, it would be thrown into disarray and would help his invasion of the land and eradication of all humans. However, Mo Wang didn''t think it was so.


    Indeed, he didn''t believe even Empyrean Asura could do such a thing. After all, he was on the same level as him or Emperor Weide. Even if they all combined their strength with Sect Leader Xuan and even Matriarch Huang, they would not be able to open such a doorway. Yes it had failed, but because of Cao Yun''s intervention. Otherwise, it would have worked. Even if Empyrean Asura was behind it, Mo Wang was absolutely certain that someone else had helped him.


    In his last moments, Mo Wang had desired to slaughter all his enemies, Emperor Weide and whoever had stabbed him in the back. The opening of the rift had consumed his blood, his flesh and even his Soul Embryo. He had completely died. Right now, only his blood and fragments of his soul turned into some ghost had survived. However, his deep-seated hatred had endured. And this was Cao Yun''s ticket out of this place, if he could control it well enough.


    ''Death Reeling'' was the second verse of ''Death Verses''. Through it, Cao Yun was able to control Death Energy as well as he controlled Qi. Circulating his full mind cultivation, Cao Yun poured most of his vitality into his Upper Dantian. In his sea of consciousness, his Nine Soul Peaks were now vibrant. The green vines of the world tree were full of vigor and some golden markings were shining. Those peaks felt as though they were being bathed in the light of the sun in the morning. There was even some mist and dew around them. Such a sight was bewitching. Deep within one of the peaks, the Flying Poison was getting rattled.


    Cao Yun was using the chains holding it down to control it. Since he controlled the Drop of Wrath, there was no problem issuing orders to the Flying Poison. It had become quite docile and had given Cao Yun the ability to use spiritual senses. The second verse of ''Death Verses'' appeared and poured into the head of Flying Poison. On the outside, Cao Yun was expanding his spiritual senses as far as they could get. Before long, he was connected to the Dao Runes of his master. Since his master''s very soul had been used to create the Spirit Condensation Barrier, it recognized Cao Yun''s touch.


    Weakening a little, the Dao Runes allowed Mo Wang''s blood to enter the ball of blazing air Cao Yun was in. Thick black blood spiraled in the air and went straight for Cao Yun. Opening his Five Prodigious Gates to the maximum, Cao Yun sucked in that blood in his own body. In Cao Yun''s veins, as a 1st-grade Golden Blood Child, he had mercury now. The property of the Drop of Wrath was everywhere in his bloodstream, although it stayed stronger in his Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, right in the center of his heart. As soon as Mo Wang''s blood entered his bloodstream, it tried to assault him but the Drop of Wrath was way above what even Mo Wang could achieve in life, let alone in death.


    Besides, Cao Yun seemed to be absolutely immune to the Death Energy spreading with the black blood. After all, he was using a corrupted Po as spiritual senses and was mobilizing parts of the ''Death Verses''. As Death Energy was going directly into his heart, the Black Heart Flame there was becoming agitated. There was no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind that it wanted to devour this Death Energy, so did his Drop of Wrath. Thankfully, Cao Yun had control over those two. He couldn''t devour Mo Wang''s ghost because he needed it to open a breach in space.


    In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, Mo Wang''s ghost was starting to form itself. There were dark clouds forming on the surface of the clean water. Here and there, the ocean below also turned into some kind of putrid swamp. There was nothing pleasant about it. After all, this ghost was full of resentment and hatred. But this was what Cao Yun needed. From everywhere at once, a callous voice echoed in the young man''s mind.


    "Brat, I thank your stupidity for allowing me in. Maybe I won''t torture you for too long..."


    As the rattling voice began to cackle, Flying Poison leapt from the peak it was chained to. Without any hesitation, it went after the biggest cloud and sank its claws into it. From its throat, chants from the ''Death Verses'' echoed around it. As they spread, Cao Yun was slowly controlling the Death Energy. At the same moment, he was controlling the black blood in his veins. More and more blood was pouring into him.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    During the process, Dian Mo was just observing, waiting for the right moment. They had to have enough energy to breach space. But at the same time, if the blood around them was completely sucked into Cao Yun''s body, space would immediately collapse on them. Sect Leader Xuan''s Dao Runes would not resist very long. They had already endured several days, which was quite impressive indeed. There was no doubt that he had used more of his soul than Xiao Xuefeng had when she had created her own Spirit Condensation Barrier. But to be fair, he was closer to his death so he didn''t mind weakening his soul more than a very young alchemy prodigy.


    "You think you can control me?! You think you can enslave me like that bastard?!"


    "Now!"


    Both Cao Yun and Dian Mo completely ignored Mo Wang''s voice. The young man had enough blood to proceed forward.


    "Form the blood runes I described. Then set up the Dao Runes as they should be. As soon as you''re done, we''ll have to use most of that Death Energy to put things in motion."


    "You think I''ll allow such an insult?! Do you know who I am?!"


    As Mo Wang''s remains were getting worked up, Cao Yun felt that he was trying to attack from within. From the swamps formed in his sea of consciousness, bats emerged and went straight for Cao Yun''s Five Agents. Shen the Fire Spirit ignited and flames engulfed Cao Yun''s Five Agents and Nine Soul Peaks. At the same time, Flying Poison''s chains were flailing in the air to take down those strange bats.


    "Boy, forget about his attacks for now. Only focus on your task. I''ll take him on!"


    Dian Mo''s palace form emerged from the Nine Soul Peaks. Many dark clouds were sucked in his darkness. Then, he forced more and more of those bats into his shape. Within the Demon Palace, Dian Mo was battling against Mo Wang''s last shreds of will. On the other hand, Cao Yun was manipulating the Death Energy and his blood to form the Blood Runes Dian Mo had described to him. Some were very close to the Dao Runes he could see around him.


    Because Cao Yun didn''t have a great understanding of the Dao of Space, reproducing those Blood Runes was very difficult. Hopefully, their quality would be balanced out by Sect Leader Xuan''s Dao Runes. Within himself, Cao Yun could sense that Mo Wang''s will was resisting. It had endured much more than both Cao Yun and Dian Mo thought possible. While he was focused on his task, Cao Yun failed to perceive cracks in Dian Mo''s form. The Demon Palace could barely contend with Mo Wang''s last will.


    "Boy, come on!"


    "I''m almost ready. Endure it a bit longer."


    By using the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was convinced he could annihilate Mo Wang''s will, but that wasn''t their goal. They had to use it in order to escape and they couldn''t know beforehand how much of it they would need. Although Mo Wang was attacking them, his hatred was directed toward Emperor Weide and the one who had betrayed him, whoever he was. Cao Yun and Dian Mo were just nuisances in his mind. That was what they were hoping for.


    "I''m ready!"


    As soon as Cao Yun shouted that, several black Blood Runes emerged from his body. They went straight for the golden Dao Runes. Then, Cao Yun focused a huge part of his mind and soul - everything he had left really - into the Dao Runes. The familiarity between him and his master''s soul allowed the young man to control them with more ease. However, he was still only a Mortal Warrior, thus he had to use Flying Poison to the limit just for that. Controlling Dao Runes could not be done with Qi alone, one had to use their very soul. Since he wasn''t a Spirit Warrior, only his Flying Poison could achieve that result.


    Modifying the formation of the Spirit Condensation Barrier was extremely hard. All of Cao Yun''s mind was focused on that while Dian Mo was still entangled with Mo Wang''s will. Around the young man, space was collapsing now that most of the blood had been absorbed by him. The black Blood Runes pushed this nothingness away a little. Such a view was impossible to describe and even impossible to comprehend. There was no space and no time around Cao Yun. He was lost in nothing and only the Dao Runes and that blood were forming a bubble of space and time around him.


    As Cao Yun was sending all those runes in a specific direction, he could feel space disappearing around him. Seeing it with human eyes was impossible. Even the light from his master''s golden characters was not able to go outward. After all, there was no space to move into. But his spiritual senses were able to sense it. With his small understanding of the Dao of Space, he was able to interpret those feelings. If only he had been a Sage, or at the very least a Spirit Warrior, he might have been able to understand something about the Dao of Space there. Since he couldn''t, he still decided to commit everything to memory. Although he was only sensing a tiny bit of what was going on around him, he engraved it in his mind for later.


    Following Dian Mo''s direction, Cao Yun had found a possible way out of this bleeding space. But Dian Mo could not talk any longer. He was fully engrossed in his own battle. As Cao Yun was pushing the runes forward, the Demon Palace was covered in cracks. At last, Cao Yun used his Flying Poison and his ''Death Verses'' to channel all the Death Energy from Mo Wang''s ghost into specific runes.


    Suddenly they burned away and created some kind of chain reaction. Thanks to Dian Mo''s advice, Cao Yun had been able to pierce through space. There was some kind of slit in front of him. Pushing his will and his soul to the limit, he tried to go in that reaction. Thankfully, the remnants of Sect Leader Xuan''s soul helped him and pushed him in that direction by altering space around him. Since Cao Yun couldn''t fly, this was the only way for him to move around. Real space outside was causing some kind of suction, pulling Cao Yun in.


    When he collided with the slit, he felt powerful vibrations all over his body. Without his Spirit Condensation Barrier, Cao Yun would have been crushed once more. But as a consequence, the Dao Runes were almost depleted. Hopefully, he would emerge out of this hellish place before it could happen. Otherwise, Cao Yun was absolutely certain that he would utterly die. Even his soul would not remain. And no matter what, he could not die! Not after what he had learned! Not before saving his sister and torturing Emperor Weide to death!


    In his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was locked in battle with Mo Wang. As much as Cao Yun was channeling his Death Energy, some part of his will tried to resist. It knew that it was going to be used once more and couldn''t accept it. Thus, it clung on to Dian Mo''s palace, worsening the damage while getting weaker itself. But it was difficult to know who would succumb first.


    Before the Spirit Condensation Barrier could give out, Cao Yun finally saw some natural light once more. However, he seemed to have fled one hell to find another...

 Chapter 485: Flying in the sand

    The Spirit Condensation Barrier completely collapsed just as Cao Yun appeared in normal space. Some fragments of the Insight Writings were even hurtled toward him as the golden characters exploded. A few struck both Cao Yun and Hongyu who were thrown in two different directions. However, this wasn''t the worst part and Cao Yun didn''t even notice the pain despite suffering from some cuts. No, the worst part was the place they had emerged in.


    Both Cao Yun and Hongyu were like two leaves entering a raging storm. All around them, there were billions upon billions of grains of sand. They had found themselves in the middle of a sandstorm. Worse than that, Cao Yun could not even know at which altitude he was. Since he had emerged randomly in space, he could be anywhere. Luckily, he had not emerged directly in a solid matter or he might have been crushed upon reentry. In fact, he could have literally reemerged in outer space. All things considered, he was indeed quite lucky. But to be more precise, considering that the bloody rift had not been stable, it couldn''t have lead him too far off in space. Most likely, he was still on the Piaolu planet.


    After what had happened in bleeding space, Cao Yun was completely spent. Thus, he was not even able to fetch his spear in his spatial ring. He had to recover for at least a few minutes. Unfortunately, the sandstorm did not agree with his wishes. He was thrown around as if he weighted nothing. In an instant, he couldn''t see Hongyu anymore as she had been thrown somewhere else. And he had no idea how long this sandstorm would last.


    Cao Yun tried to extend his senses all around him. Right now, he was in no condition to use his spiritual senses. They were too weak anyway to go far enough. But in theory, he should be able to sense Qi. However, there was a lot of Fire Qi in the sand all around him. In fact, the sand was also mixed with a lot of blood accumulated over centuries. Due to his experience in the Demon Palace, Cao Yun also recognized a killing intent very similar to the one given off by the blood beasts he had slaughtered for weeks. Even in his best condition, he would have had a hard time finding anything in this sandstorm. But in his current state, it was absolutely hopeless.


    The sand was hitting him all over his body as he was thrown in every direction possible. All around his flesh, there were more and more shallow cuts. Thanks to his powerful constitution, he should be able to resist such torments even without his Wei Qi. Of course, it was far from being pleasant or painless. Furthermore, alongside the grains of sand, there were a few rocks here and there.


    From his own wounds, Cao Yun felt something seep into his skin. This was the killing intent from this place. SUch a potent killing intent could cause death or insanity in weaker cultivators. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s blood contained the property of the Drop of Wrath and his blood cultivation was firm. Thus, the risks were extremely low if not nonexistent. He had already absorbed the blood and corrupted soul of a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior when he was still in the bleeding space. That level of killing intent was nothing, but it was still burning him when it entered his flesh, adding to his exhaustion.


    Thus it was affecting his mind and forced Cao Yun to mobilize his mind cultivation even though he only wanted to cut loose. For once, he wanted to let his full rage express itself. But even now, he had to keep it contained in order to keep his mind unaffected by this killing intent. At the same time, the sand around him was burning. Of course, he wasn''t in the pool of magma where Dian Mo had once sent him. But he was still feeling the burning bite of the sand all over his body. There was no doubt that this place was rich in Fire element. Everything he knew for now seemed to indicate that he was in some kind of desert.


    Unfortunately, Dian Mo''s knowledge of the Piaolu planet''s geography was as outdated as Emperor Nuwa''s maps. In dozens of thousands of years, the topography and the climate of the planet could change drastically. Where there used to be a lake, there could be a dessert. Thus, Cao Yun was still completely in the dark and so was Dian Mo. Besides, Dian Mo was completely silent. Even now, he seemed to be locked in a fight against Mo Wang''s ghost. Unfortunately, Cao Yun was too busy and exhausted to help him for the time being.


    Instead of panicking, Cao Yun decided that the only thing to do was to stop resisting. Since he had not the strength to fight this sandstorm, he would not try to do so. Even if he had his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' in hand, he had no idea where up and down were right now. And he also thought about Hongyu. If he let the wind currents take him, he might have a chance to stay close to his mount. On the other hand, if he tried to go in an unknown direction, it would be more likely for him to go in the wrong one. Of course, he had no way of knowing if the currents would take him in the same direction as her. But panicking would just lower his chances.


    Now that he was calm, Cao Yun focused on feeling all the sensations around him. All over his body, there were wounds. Some had just been caused by exiting the bleeding space itself. And others were being caused right now by the sand and by rocks of varying size being hurtled around just like Cao Yun was. None of those wounds were too deep and they barely drew blood. In fact, they healed almost as fast as they were caused.


    As a 1st-grade Golden Blood Child, Cao Yun''s blood was now extremely heavy and it was difficult for it to be shed by such shallow cuts. In his veins, he now had mercury-like blood. Moreover, the property of the Drop of Wrath was everywhere in his bloodstream, although it stayed stronger in his Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, right in the center of his heart. But at that moment, Cao Yun was focusing his Drop of Wrath in his kidneys where the golden pellet he had formed with his prenatal Jing was being tempered.


    While he was working on his blood, Cao Yun was still being assaulted by innumerable grains of sands. He had contracted his Wei Qi around his skin to focus it as much as possible. Even his mind had been completely focused in his sea of consciousness. Right now, he was only worried about surviving this ordeal.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The sand''s touch was both painful and hot. All around Cao Yun, the winds were saturated in Fire Qi as well as killing intent. As it turned out, as a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was in the process of gathering Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian. Although he had the last remnants of the Frozen Fire pill still in his heart, he wasn''t against absorbing Fire Qi from his environment.


    Just as the stand was assaulting his skin, Cao Yun was stealing Fire Qi all around him. Despite the violence with which he was thrown all over the place, he was able to keep his composure and even cultivate his Qi at the same time. This was mainly thanks to his mind cultivation. Besides, he was completely exhausted. Absorbing Qi would help him recover faster despite the ordeal he was currently in.


    The Rune of Fire in his Drop of Wrath got excited as the Fire Qi was penetrating through Cao Yun''s acupoints. Through his Five Prodigious Gates, the quantity of Fire Qi was impressive. Indeed, there was Fire Qi all around him so it was entering through everywhere all at once. Some of the Fire Qi helped nourish his blood some more. But for the time being, he had no time to do anything fancy. He was simply trying to recover. Maybe he could use this place to cultivate later though. Hopefully that sandstorm was not eternal. At the very least, it had to calm down at some point.


    As he was slowly recovering, Cao Yun tried to talk with Dian Mo. However, he was answered with only silence. Focusing his will in his sea of consciousness, he saw Dian Mo''s shape. Like always, he had the form of the Demon Palace. But this time, it was covered in fissures all around. A few columns had even exploded and the roof itself was crumbling down. The palace was completely in ruins. Obviously, Cao Yun got worried.


    Not only had he found Dian Mo very useful, he had to admit that he had grown used and maybe even a bit friendly with the spirit. Besides, if he really was in some demon territory as he suspected, Dian Mo would become that much more useful. After all, Cao Yun didn''t know much about the demons and their cultures. Even if Dian Mo had spent the last millenniums trapped in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he had been created by Demon God Da Mo. At the very least, his insights into the demon culture would be much more informed than Cao Yun''s.


    "Dian Mo?! How are you?!"


    As he still didn''t get any answer, Cao Yun tried to send a bit of his will inside the Demon Palace. There, he felt that there were still two souls fighting each other.


    "Boy... This brat is too cunning..."


    Finally, Cao Yun heard Dian Mo''s voice. But it wasn''t exactly his. Intertwined were the two voices of Dian Mo and Demon King Mo Wang. Using his understanding of ''Death Verses'', Cao Yun was able to sense that the ghost had almost merged with Dian Mo''s spirit. Because of that, Cao Yun could not help him. With the Drop of Wrath, he wasn''t sure whether he would be able to crush the soul of a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. But against a mere fragment of a ghost, he had absolutely no doubt.


    Right now though, Mo Wang had been smart enough to got completely entangled with Dian Mo. Unless they were separated, it was impossible for Cao Yun to get rid of the ghost. And trying to extract him as he was moving around all the time would be very difficult. Hopefully, Dian Mo seemed to have been able to suppress it for now.


    "Boy... I will need... some time... I have to... rest..."


    After that, Cao Yun didn''t hear anything. However, he kept feeling Dian Mo fight Mo Wang''s influence. Despite his mind and soul cultivation, Cao Yun didn''t know much about soul attacks. Even his ''Weeping Demon'' was more of a mental attack. Still, he had a bit of knowledge about it because he had been extracting the different aspects of his own Po. However, doing so on his own soul and doing so on a spirit intertwined with a ghost were two very different things. Hopefully, Dian Mo would get rid of Mo Wang. But at the moment, Cao Yun did the only thing he thought about to try and help him.


    Cao Yun used a small part of the Flying Poison with ''Death Verses''. That part of Flying Poison entered within Dian Mo''s palace. Since it was from the Drop of Wrath and not directly his, Cao Yun was not forced to keep his focus on it. He gave him the order to destroy the ghost and Flying Poison got to work. However, Cao Yun didn''t use all his Flying Poison, otherwise he would lose his ability to use spiritual senses. Since he had lost Hongyu, he might need them. And since he didn''t know anything about this place, losing such a trump card would be a mistake even though Dian Mo was useful.


    At one time, the young man collided with what felt like a small cliff flying around and covered in razor-sharp edges. The shock was extremely violent. For the first time, Cao Yun''s blood erupted a little. His body literally flew through the object. It was very voluminous and had probably been ripped apart from a mountain. Or maybe, it had been formed by many rocks colliding with one another. Although he had flew through and through, Cao Yun couldn''t see the full shape of that object.


    By getting out of it, his forearms he had used to protect himself were now covered in his own blood.


    As the sandstorm didn''t seem to calm down at all, Cao Yun decided to be pro-active. Despite being thrown all over the place, his body was strong enough to resist. But even with his cultivation, it was a very dangerous place. If he was thrown into other objects, he might really suffer great injuries. Most of Cao Yun''s awareness was retracted back in his sea of consciousness and within his own body. On the outside, he only maintained a very low awareness of what was going on because his senses simply couldn''t pierce through the sandstorm.


    Although Cao Yun didn''t want to get separated from Hongyu, he had to do something. Considering the violence of the sandstorm and that they had spent more than two incense sticks in there, they were doomed to be separated anyway. Thus, he had to try something. Thankfully, they were connected by their blood since Cao Yun had used the Drop of Wrath to help her. Besides, she also had the Frozen Fire pill''s medicinal essence in her.


    Thanks to the burning sand, Cao Yun was gathering a large amount of Fire Qi. And its quality was also rather good. Of course, if he had been able to set up an array formation, the results would have been even better. But unfortunately, he couldn''t do so while he was lost in the storm. If only he had been able to fly around, he could have tried to orientate himself. Cao Yun truly wanted to become a Spirit Warrior as fast as possible. But his main reason for that was his desire to kill Traitor Weide.


    In order to find Hongyu, Cao Yun tried to spread his senses as far as he could. However, it was still useless. Even by trying to feel the flow of Qi, everything was just too chaotic... Instead of sensing the Qi around him, Cao Yun focused on his blood and on Evil Qi. Despite the killing intent all around him, only Hongyu should have Evil Qi in her. Ironically, because he had almost sealed it, she would be a bit more difficult to find. Besides, he really wasn''t in the best environment to concentrate.


    Using his Fire Qi, Cao Yun excited his Rune of Fire and then focused on his Black Heart Flame. Hopefully, that evil fire would help him locate Hongyu. But in that sandstorm, she probably couldn''t fly at all, if she was conscious in the first place. He would need something else to get to her.

 Chapter 486: Red feathers in the sandstorm

    Cao Yun''s strength was certainly not replenished but he was now a bit better. Considering the sandstorm he was in, if he were to wait, he would surely lose his strength again. For the moment, he was in a somewhat good spot & he took advantage of this. Spreading the property of the Drop of Wrath around, Cao Yun also unleashed some of the Black Heart Flame. It flew through the sandstorm.


    Because it had almost no weight, the flame was not too affected by the violent currents. And it didn''t take Cao Yun too long to sense something familiar. He couldn''t be sure whether it was Hongyu or not. But in the current situation, it was more than likely. The chances for something else containing a familiar Evil Qi being in that sandstorm were ridiculously small.


    Now that he had a general direction, the young man extended his Wei Qi a little bit. From his spatial ring, he took out his compass and tried to find out where Hongyu was more precisely. Since he was completely lost, he didn''t even know where up and down were. Of course, this was making using his compass that much more difficult. But using his Black Heart Flame''s indication, he was able to align the compass with it.


    Thankfully, she had the same blood as his in her veins thanks to the various treatments he had used on her. Using the Drop of Wrath, he might be able to locate her. Thus, he extracted a drop of his own blood and tried to use his compass to find where Hongyu was. The marks he had left in Hongyu''s evil core were also technically seals. As such, he should be able to locate her just as he had located his spatial ring after it had been stolen by Cang Yin. Before long, he did find where Hongyu was. Now, he had to get to her. Like him, she was moving around a lot so he had no time to lose. After his compass, he fetched his ''Tainted Heavenly Spear''.


    Aiming for that direction, Cao Yun focused all of his strength. In his own sky, the Horn Constellation was fully formed by now. Cao Yun had officially mastered the first constellation of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Because of that, he could not wait to see how strong his first technique had become. Thanks to this constellation, he might even be able to reach Spear Intent faster. Focusing on watching the golden Insight Writings of his spear, Cao Yun circulated his Qi through his meridians according to his martial art. The golden hue around those Insight Writings was a bit brighter than before.


    According to what he knew from Chief Elder Baishen, the best way to tell whether he had mastered Spear Intent was his ability to maneuver those Insight Writings. But it was subtle. Indeed, the more he would try to bend them to his will, the more they would resist him. She told him it was like trying to force a memory when you couldn''t remember it. Sometimes, the best way to remember was simply to think of something else and leave your mind alone. It would come back naturally. Of course, that wasn''t exactly the same thing. But Spear Intent was born out of one''s understanding of the spear. Instead of focusing on the Insight Writings themselves, it was best to focus on simply mastering the way of the spear.


    After watching his Insight Writings and the Horn Constellation for some time, Cao Yun unleashed his first move, ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. In this technique, he decided to use everything in order to see how far he had progressed. Because he was being thrown around, he had no footing. Obviously, his technique would be weaker than usual so he had to go all out anyway. In fact, he focused on his Qi Manifestation.


    His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' turned into a giant pillar covered in fresh blood. All around it, there was the shape of a blue dragon. Striking toward the sky, the dragon leapt forward. As its body was sailing through the storm, it created a powerful tornado around itself. As its influence spread, Cao Yun found himself right in the eye of the storm. The winds around him were stopped by this small tornado and he fell to the ground below. It was quite a long way down and pushed by his own attack, Cao Yun was very fast. Thankfully, the still air slowed down his descent.


    In the end, he ended up touching the ground. He landed on his legs as he felt the shock in his entire body. However, his articulations were resistant enough and he had no injury at all, only pain. Just as he had touched the ground, he found himself standing on the slope of a rather large dune. There was no doubt now, he truly was in a desert. At least, it seemed to be in the same world Cao Yun was used to. Apart from that sandstorm, there was nothing strange around. Because he had spent some months in the Yellow Death World, Cao Yun had been worried that he was in yet another strange and unique world. Apparently, he was in the same world. Hopefully, this guess would prove to be correct.


    Looking up in the sky, Cao Yun was finally able to see the stars above him. Although it was daytime, there were two bright stars shining in the distance. At first, he wasn''t too sure, but he recognized them from some star charts he had read. When she had ascended, Emperor Nuwa had left behind a map of the Piaolu planet along with a star chart from both hemispheres.


    Those were the Blind Twins. Then, that meant that this place was literally on the opposite side of the Piaolu planet. Cao Yun was deep in demon territory. But thankfully, he was still on the same planet and in the same dimension. However, he had no idea where he was precisely considering that the maps he had from this hemisphere were antiquated. For the time being, he could only see those two stars.


    The Blind Twins were strange in the fact that they were only visible during daytime. A mortal could barely see them but a Mortal Warrior had more developed senses. During the night though, they were hidden by other stars. Many astronomers had been intrigued by those two stars. But none had been able to come to this part of the Piaolu planet. After all, they would have had to cross many demon kingdoms to get there.


    Anyway, Cao Yun had no time for star gazing right now. Now that he had found his footing, although it was not great in the sand as he wasn''t used to it, he had to act. Since he could unleash his full strength now, he might be able to tear through some of that sandstorm in order to get to Hongyu.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Obviously, Cao Yun''s concern was to avoid striking Hongyu directly. He had to open up some kind of corridor for her to escape the sandstorm without hurting her. Now that he was on the ground, he could use his full strength. First of all, he focused on his Neck Star. Most of his Qi circulated in his legs as he performed ''The Moon Grounds the Sun''. All around him, the faint light of the seven piercing stars appeared. For the time being, he wasn''t being assaulted by the powerful winds but he knew this would happen soon as the sandstorm was rapidly closing itself around him once more.


    Now that he was solidly anchored in the ground, he performed ''Imperial Throne''. The sand around him began to levitate around him as a light breeze was surrounding Cao Yun. Suddenly, he spun his spear all around him and a powerful wall of wind completely encompassed him. Without waiting any longer, he finally struck with ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''. The wind around him began to manifest azure dragon scales. Coiling around the young man, an azure dragon launched itself toward the skies. From a distance, Cao Yun''s spear looked like a real pillar supporting the heavens. But it was covered in blood. The wind around it echoed throughout the sandstorm as though the moaning voices of damned ghosts. And all around that pillar, a majestic dragon was sailing the sky toward the heavens themselves.


    As the technique was reaching the sky above the sandstorm, a powerful tornado was formed in its wake. For an instant, the sandstorm stopped and everything was quiet as though Cao Yun was in the eye of the storm. All around him, the sandstorm was raging and the disturbing howling caused by his own technique was reverberating inside of it. But where Cao Yun was, there was an eerie silence. That was when he finally located Hongyu with his own eyes, not just thanks to his compass. The poor bird looked like she was broken.


    Just like Cao Yun, she had been seriously injured after exiting the bleeding space. But unlike him, she had not been strong enough to bear the violence of the sandstorm. Her body was covered in blood-soaked sand sticking to her feathers. Both of her wings seemed to be broken as they were bent in unnatural positions. Despite that, she was trying to cover her face and her chest with those wings. Indeed, she had tried to bury her head close to her chest, beneath her feathers. Looking at her, Cao Yun''s heart got cold. Once more, she had suffered a great deal in order to protect him. Without any hesitation, she had flown in the middle of a terrifying fight to get him out safely.


    Although Cao Yun was worried a great deal about his younger sister, he was also very attached to this Hongyu. Her parents had died because of him and for him. He would not let her suffer the same fate. Luckily, she had still a lot of the Frozen Fire pill''s medicinal essence in her and he had his spatial ring on him. With the Fire Qi in her, she would be able to rapidly form her fifth core which would help her heal faster. And Cao Yun had several pills and balms that could help her as well. But his first order of business was to bring her back safely to the ground.


    Pushing ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' to the limit, he completely anchored himself in the ground. Then, he suddenly released all of the tension and jumped as high as he could. With his powerful physique, he had no problem reaching the quivering Hongyu. Unfortunately, he couldn''t fly and neither could she at this point. In fact, she was barely conscious. Thus, Cao Yun grabbed her unceremoniously before falling back toward the ground again. This time, he used ''Dragon''s Chest'' to cover the both of them in a layer of dragon scales before they hit the ground. Even though he could survive the fall, the shock of the impact would vibrate through his body. And the sudden stop of the fall might affect Hongyu.


    Even with this layer of protection, Cao Yun did not hesitate to use his understanding of ''Dance of Slaughter'' to try and negate any vibration through his body. This was taxing on his articulations but it preserved Hongyu. This was another use of the martial art he had developed himself, ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''.


    When he reached the ground, he sunk deep in the sand dune. Paradoxically, this was a good thing as this would protect them both from the sandstorm as it came back. It was like a tide closing up a hole in the ocean. For an instant, the sandstorm outside became much more violent as it was closing up that hole. At the same time, it completely buried Cao Yun and Hongyu beneath the sand.


    Although the sand was packed around him, Cao Yun was still strong enough to dig up some kind of bubble around them. Air was rather scarce but it would be enough for quite some time. In his spatial ring, the young man had taken many resources to survive in case he was transported in a strange land. His experience in the Yellow Death World had taught him an invaluable lesson. He didn''t only have food and water, he also had some tools. Among them were a few tents he had prepared. In fact, he could set camp almost anywhere in a few instants. And he did, deep under the burning sand, below the sandstorm.


    Of course, he didn''t intend to stay here for too long. But for the time being, his priority was to help stabilize Hongyu''s condition.


    For the first time since he had left the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Cao Yun could not hear Dian Mo''s voice at all. In fact, he could barely feel his presence in his sea of consciousness. This was something else he would need to worry about. But for now, Hongyu''s condition seemed even worse. Even without speaking of how useful a flying demonic beast could be, Cao Yun was deeply attached to her as well. There was no way he was going to let her die.


    Pushing aside all his thoughts about his little sister, Cao Yun focused on the Blood Boiling Fenghuang. From his spatial ring, he took a Merging Minerals and Seas pill. Such a 5-star Human pill could help replenish blood as it was also tempering one''s bones and marrow. He also used a Pure Golden Threads Salvation pill. Both pills were extremely expensive and he had refined them himself.


    Since she was barely conscious, he helped her direct the medicinal essence through her body. After spending many months helping her deal with her Evil Qi, Cao Yun knew her body as well as he knew his own. Thus, the treatment was very effective and before long she was completely stabilized. In her wings, the broken bones were being mended by the medicinal essence of the Merging Minerals and Seas pill just as it was also entering deep in her bones to promote the production of more and more blood, replenishing her strength.


    Those pills weren''t without any risk as they were pushing Hongyu''s exhausted body to the limit. Indeed, they were using her own body to heal herself. Thankfully, Cao Yun was also sending his own Qi in her and the Fire Qi from the Frozen Fire pill was also acted as an energy source. Thus, she didn''t completely regain consciousness but she didn''t fall any deeper. Her breathing that was too slow started to come back to normal. After several hours, everything seemed fine for her. Cao Yun would stay buried underground for a few days to make sure she was fine.

 Chapter 487: Igniting ones kidneys

    Still buried underground, Cao Yun had finally some time to breathe. Although the air within his sand cave was limited, he could simply dig upward from time to time to allow more air inside. Of course, Cao Yun wanted to leave as soon as possible. He wanted to know where he was and he wanted to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom as soon as he could. But before all of that, he had to make sure that Hongyu was fine. And he also had to take care of Dian Mo.


    Diving into his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun saw the Demon Palace in ruins. It looked as though it was a relic of the distant past tormented by time. Despite all of the damage, the palace itself was still standing. Here and there, there were holes in the roof. Thankfully, Cao Yun could still feel that Dian Mo was present in there. However, he could also feel another presence. Since he had absorbed Demon King Mo Wang''s blood as well as the remnants of his soul, Cao Yun could recognize his presence.


    Indeed, Demon King Mo Wang''s fragmentary soul was entangled with Dian Mo''s spirit. Thanks to his practice of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', Cao Yun was familiar enough with souls to see through it. The third layer, ''Subdue the Seven Demons'', literally consisted in separating the seven Po from one another. As such, he could vaguely feel the different threads of their souls in the palace. The Demon Palace itself was just a physical representation of Dian Mo''s spirit. And the damage showed how weak he had become.


    Against the last will of a powerful 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, even Dian Mo had not been strong enough. Although he was an expert in array formations and had a strong mind, he was no cultivator. Spirits like him could not cultivate at all. That was the reason why he had tried to take over Cao Yun''s body in the first place. Not only could he have left the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he could also have started to cultivate thanks to his body.


    For a long time, Cao Yun tried to communicate with Dian Mo but he couldn''t answer him. However, the young man was able to feel that he was still there. Mo Wang''s soul was incredibly weak but it was also there. Getting rid of the last fragments of his soul would be extremely difficult without damaging Dian Mo''s spirit even more. Thankfully, it seemed like Dian Mo had won the fight, but the price had been very high. For the time being, he needed to rest. Because he truly needed his help, Cao Yun tried to speed up his recovery by using his own strength.


    From his Nine Soul Peaks, the vines of the world tree caught the Demon Palace. Cao Yun''s Shen the Fire Spirit also sent flames along those vines toward the palace in ruins. With his current understanding of the soul and the mind, Cao Yun couldn''t do much more unfortunately. But he also turned to his blood cultivation and extracted a tiny droplet of his Drop of Wrath to send it into the Demon Palace. After all, he had full control over the Drop of Wrath now. At any moment, he could retrieve it but it was very small anyway and he wouldn''t miss it at all.


    Speaking about his blood cultivation, Cao Yun had absorbed Demon King Mo Wang''s blood and blood runes in the bleeding space. The shock of leaving that bleeding space as well as the sand whipping him for quite some time had pushed his blood cultivation further ahead. In fact, he only needed a small push to break through. In his kidney, he had a small golden pellet called the Golden Fate as it was a manifestation of one''s prenatal Jing, one''s essence and thus one''s fate.


    In ''Crimson Inferno Road'', the manual he had obtained from Dian Mo, there was a technique he could use. To be honest, he had refused to use this technique before because it was clearly a technique belonging to the demonic path. Indeed, this technique was known as ''Fate Devouring Gate''. In order to practice it, one required the blood essence of a much stronger cultivator. Hence, it was very rare for one to be able to use it. Although this blood could also be replaced with the blood of a demonic beast, the results would be inferior.


    In his last moments, Demon King Mo Wang had tried to burn his blood essence in order to resist the blood runes who had killed him. However, some of his blood essence had endured and had even been absorbed by Cao Yun himself along with some of his blood runes. With this blood, Cao Yun should be able to extract some of Mo Wang''s prenatal Jing in order to nurture his Golden Fate. Besides, he could also use other methods.


    Indeed, ''Fate Devouring Gate'' seemed quite similar to ''Stoking the Human Flames'' from ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''. Following this technique, one could use his Fire Qi in order to enhance the Jing in his blood essence. Maybe Cao Yun could use a similar method in order to enhance both Mo Wang''s Jing and his own. Like that, he might be able to break through by forming the complete Golden Fate in his kidneys.


    First of all, Cao Yun imagined that his kidneys were one giant golden palace. The right kidney was where his Golden Fate was, it was a golden pellet stored within that palace. And the door to that palace was in his back, right along his Governing Vessel, the Du Mai. It was an acupoint located right behind his Lower Dantian called the Mingmen. Since Cao Yun had already learned to control all his acupoints, focusing on it was extremely easy. Once more, practicing several cultivation methods was very useful.


    Although it could slow him down sometimes, his different cultivation methods were allowing him to advance faster in the long run. Because he could control his Qi and his acupoints without any problem, his blood cultivation was smoother. And by advancing his blood cultivation, it would be easier for him to strengthen his body and advance in his Qi cultivation. Indeed, after accumulating enough Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, he would need to strengthen and temper his meridians and vessels. They had to be sturdy enough for him to attempt the Lesser Tribulation. Even accumulating Fire Qi would be made easier by his blood cultivation.


    The more he was advancing, the more he realized why the Three Jade Saints were thought to be so powerful. According to Dian Mo''s legends, they were the perfect beings that had caused even the Heavens to be jealous to the point where they were destroyed. Right now, Cao Yun had no real soul cultivation system, he simply had the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. Yet, he could already see great results. Just with the cultivation systems of humans and asura, Cao Yun''s cultivation was already much more stable, fast and powerful than others. But even if he had the soul cultivation system of the deva, he would need a soul that could practice it. Anyway, he would not find it on the Piaolu planet. In fact, Cao Yun had never heard about deva before speaking with Dian Mo.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Keeping his mind perfectly focused on his Mingmen, Cao Yun began to feel a warm sensation in his lower back. Then, it spread to his kidneys. At the same time, his Lower Dantian became extremely hot. Since demons had no Dantian, this was not described in ''Crimson Inferno Road''. But Cao Yun could feel that his own prenatal Jing was being activated by this heat. In his golden palace, the Golden Fate was turning a bit liquid as though the gold was being molted. As the temperature was rising, Cao Yun sent all of Mo Wang''s blood and blood runes into his Middle Dantian.


    Using his own body as a furnace and his Middle Dantian as a cauldron, Cao Yun was burning Mo Wang''s blood runes. Following the principles of ''Stoking the Human Flames'' as well as his understanding of alchemy, this was rather easy. The Runes of Fire also acted up and Cao Yun even decided to use his Black Heart Flame.


    As soon as Mo Wang''s essence was distilled through fire, he sent it all in his golden palace to merge with his Golden Fate. In the end, Demon King Mo Wang''s blood essence really wasn''t much. Thankfully though, it was very potent, especially after being burned away by Cao Yun''s Black Heart Flame. As he was still focusing on his Mingmen, he heard a loud bang echoing in both of his kidneys. Then, a strong sensation of warmth and strength spread throughout his entire body. The Drop of Wrath was shining brightly as Cao Yun was finally breaking through.


    His Golden Fate was now a firm stone made out of gold. As of now, he was officially a 2nd-grade Golden Blood Child. There were also some strange carvings in his Golden Fate. For the time being, they didn''t make any sense at all. But Cao Yun was convinced that they did mean something. Maybe they were related to something in Mo Wang''s blood runes, or something else entirely. Most likely, they were also a form of Insight Writings. However, Cao Yun had no way of reading them at all. And no text was talking about such a thing. That comforted Cao Yun in the idea that Mo Wang''s blood runes had caused it.


    A 2nd-grade Golden Blood Child needed to fully open his Mingmen in order to produce the first of the Three Bodily Fires, the Kidney Fire. By using this Kidney Fire, a 2nd-grade Golden Blood Child could then further develop his Golden Fate and fill his lower back with the properties of his marrow. This was called ''Life Gate Reveals the Treasure''. But Cao Yun had already opened his Mingmen and tempered it during his Qi cultivation. Thus, he simply had to stoke his Kidney Fire in order to break through. Instead of spending more than a year on this stage, Cao Yun would probably be able to achieve it in a matter of months. Overall, he really wasn''t far from forming his Golden Blood.


    While he was working on his blood, Cao Yun was still gathering the rich Fire Qi present in the sand all around him. Although he had the remnants of the Frozen Fire pill still in his heart, he wasn''t against absorbing Fire Qi from his environment. By cultivating both his Qi and his blood, he would recover much faster while also becoming stronger at the same time. The Frozen Fire pill''s medicinal essence was finally almost depleted. Unfortunately, there was not enough of it for him to break through so easily. Becoming a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior was a long process, no matter how much Fire Qi one had at his disposal. Although it would be shorter for Cao Yun compared to other cultivators, it would still take some time.


    The Rune of Fire in his Drop of Wrath got excited as the Fire Qi was penetrating through Cao Yun''s acupoints. Through his Five Prodigious Gates, the quantity of Fire Qi was impressive. Indeed, there was Fire Qi all around him so it was entering through everywhere all at once. Some of the Fire Qi helped nourish his blood some more. In fact, he even sent some of it directly into his Mingmen to help him refine Demon king Mo Wang''s blood essence.


    Once the medicinal essence of the Frozen Fire pill was entirely consumed, Cao Yun had filled his Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir. Since he was using ''Drowning One''s Heart in Blood'', his Fire Qi would now overflow in the other chambers, slowly filling his entire Middle Dantian.


    On the other hand, Hongyu''s condition was also improving. With Cao Yun so close to her, his own progress was helping her as she was basking in his Wei Qi and the aura of his blood. All over her body, her feathers were slick with her fresh blood as well as some from Demon King Mo Wang. As the blood was seeping through her skin, she instinctively began to absorb it. Since she was used to Cao Yun sharing his own blood with her to help her condition, this blood was easily refined by her body. Considering how potent it was, it would help her a lot. Of course, it was inferior to Cao Yun''s blood, but it was the next best thing. Strangely though, no matter how much blood she absorbed, her feathers always looked like they were covered in fresh blood.


    At the same time, her feathers seemed to dance as though they were made of living flames. With the air being blurry around her, this created the sensation that her entire body was a breathing fire. Those flames were forming strange patterns all over her as they were blazing with slightly different colors. Apart from those feathers, only her glistening ebony beak and her peacock tail were revealing that she wasn''t actually made out of fire. As she was forming her fifth core, her peacock tail was slowly gaining new colors. From its dark complexion, it began to become full of life with very bright colors. Before long, her tail looked just like the rest of her feathers. It seemed to be made out of tongues of fires but with very exotic colors.


    Apart from those aesthetic changes, Hongyu''s body also began to grow a bit larger. In a few days, she had almost doubled in size. As the medicinal essence and her blood were circulating in her body, her broken wings were also slowly healing. That was very painful but Hongyu was too excited to really care. At the same time, she was thoroughly exhausted. It was very strange as she could feel the excitement coursing through her body but she was emotionally detached from it because of her exhaustion.


    While she was slowly becoming a 5-core demonic beast, she could also feel her brother''s cultivation improving beside her. Just like him, she seemed to be drawing strength from the sand and the Fire Qi in it. This desert was inhospitable. But at the same time, it was very beneficial to the both of them. Beside her evil core, there was now a solid mass. In that moment, her fifth core was officially formed. She had turned into another demonic beast, a stronger fenghuang with a purer bloodline than a Blood Boiling Fenghuang. Looking at her, Cao Yun was unable to find any mention of her species in any book he had read though.

 Chapter 488: Braving the sandstorm

    Now that Hongyu had mostly recovered, Cao Yun had a choice to make. They could either try to dig their way out of this sandstorm or go outside to do the same. Since he knew close to nothing about this place apart from the fact that this seemed to be a dune desert, he couldn''t know for sure which way was safer. Of course, by digging beneath the sand, he might be able to avoid the sandstorm, but he would also maybe miss on key details to orientate himself even with his compass. On the other hand, there could be dangerous demonic beasts in the sand, or in the sandstorm as well.


    Cao Yun had already spent a lot of time in different underground structures. He still remembered what had happened to his friends when they had encountered Soul Weaving Cyrtophora in the Lunar Marsh. To be honest, he didn''t quite like the idea of spending potentially days or even weeks buried underground with no idea what kind of creatures or threats were in this place.


    On the other hand, he was familiar with raging storms. After all, he had walked through the eight li of the Howling Crane Gorges back in the Wubei Sect. Besides, he had just formed the Horn Constellation and his understanding of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was getting better and better. All things considered, he decided to go on foot. After all, if things were too difficult, he could always go hide underground at any point.


    Because he had been trapped in that bleeding space, Cao Yun''s awareness of the time that had passed was confused. As he had literally been in a place without space, he had no idea what impact this would have on the flow of time. Back in the Yellow Death World, time had been synchronous. But from books he had read, he knew that there existed some dimensions where time was different and altering space had the potential to also alter the flow of time. Maybe he had only spent a few days in that bleeding space. Or he might have spent several years in there. His first order of business was to try to figure that out because it would have a huge impact on his course of action.


    In order to achieve that result, he had to first find some people, well, some demons. Indeed, there was no denying that he was deep in demon territory right now. Thankfully though, he wasn''t near the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. In fact, since he was on the opposite of the side of the planet, he was the furthest away from both the Hongchen Kingdom and their neighbors. Unfortunately, that also meant that going back there would be very difficult. Not only would the travel be long, he would also cross many hostile lands. Thus, he had to garner information. For that, he would need to deal with demons.


    Since Dian Mo was still in a state of deep sleep, Cao Yun would be forced to improvise. Without his help, he had no way of performing any kind of Soul Memory Search. Thankfully he knew how to speak Moshenhua and had even learned a few dialects from Dian Mo. On that front he should be fine. However, he had little knowledge of their culture and politics. But to be fair, Dian Mo had been trapped in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom since a period when Demon God Da Mo still ruled the planet. He probably didn''t know much about current demon cultures, especially not the culture of this place.


    Anyway, because he had that in mind, Cao Yun first decided to completely hide his meridians. He would need to showcase his blood cultivation. One thing was certain to him, flaunting one''s blood and bloodline among demons was a good thing. They respected strength even more than humans, and blood in particular. In that matter, they were close to families like the Huang family, but they could push it to an extreme. Thus, the young man used ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to completely coat his meridian and his entire Qi system. Thanks to his rich blood, this wouldn''t be much of a problem for him to still use most of his strength. In fact, he was going to work on that by braving the sandstorm with his spear.


    When he was ready to leave his small cave, Cao Yun focused on his Neck Star. This specific star was related to grounding positions and had two moves, ''The Moon Grounds the Sun'' and ''Imperial Throne''. The former was about grounding oneself firmly to then perform many other techniques and developing great explosive strength. The latter was a defensive technique that could generate a powerful wall of wind all around the user thanks to the rotation of the spear. By using his understanding of those two techniques, Cao Yun did not use Qi Manifestation at all. His mere Spear Aura was enough to make him very dangerous.


    A cone of wind pierced through the packed sand above Cao Yun''s head. It was immediately thrown around by the violent sandstorm. On the other hand, Cao Yun was very stable. With his spear in hand, he looked like a small pillar deeply rooted in the ground. But he didn''t stay immobile. To the contrary, he used his Horn Constellation to unleash a powerful stab in front of him, freeing a small corridor without any violent winds. Before the wind could reform itself, Cao Yun looked at his compass to try and find any indication of where he should go.


    Unfortunately, the young man saw nothing special. Thus, he simply decided that he would follow the same direction all the time. Hopefully it would bring him out of this sandstorm. After all, it couldn''t be raging indefinitely in all directions.


    While Cao Yun was progressing forward, he was holding his spear in order to form some kind of cone around him. From time to time, he unleashed an attack when the winds were too violent. During all this time, Hongyu was following him. Ironically, the fact that she was bigger now was both a benefit and a hindrance. Indeed, she was more resistant to the violent winds and wouldn''t be so easily thrown around this time. But it also meant that she had more surface that the sandstorm could attack. Even behind Cao Yun, she had a hard time hiding herself and was frequently struck by the burning sand and some times some rocks.


    A few times, Cao Yun was forced to deal with large pieces of rock. Once, he hid himself, even going back beneath the sand. But most of the times, he could destroy the piece of rock with ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''.


    As he was walking forward, Cao Yun accumulated even more Fire Qi. He could also feel a strong killing intent all around him, but he wasn''t sure whether this was due to the sandstorm itself. Since he was in demon territory, this might just be because of the demons, he would have to make sure of that. At the same time, he was advancing his understanding of the way of the spear. This really reminded him of what he had faced in the Howling Crane Gorges with a much more violent wind.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    In the back of his mind, there was also a doubt now. This place reminded him of something but he couldn''t quite put the finger on it. Somehow, he felt as though he had already been in a familiar place but this wasn''t because of the place itself. In fact, it was related to the properties of this place that reminded him of something. However, try as he might, he couldn''t figure it out himself. Maybe it was just the winds reminding him of the Howling Crane Gorges precisely. But he felt as though there was something else. Anyway, he had to leave this place before doing anything else. And to be honest, this feeling was the least of his worries right now.


    The reason why he was focusing on it was because he didn''t want to think about his little sister. Hopefully, not a lot of time had passed and she was still just a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. Until she became a Spirit Warrior, she was safe from Traitor Weide. After all, if he wanted to exploit her Soul Embryo, he couldn''t do anything that would impede on her cultivation until then. This was also a way for Cao Yun to reassure himself. Since the properties Traitor Weide was looking for were transmitted from mother to daughter, he could also use Cao Huiying in order to birth other children. Obviously, Cao Yun didn''t want to think about it.


    Thankfully, from his understanding, this could indeed cause some problem with her cultivation, especially if she was forced to carry children. And even if she became a Spirit Warrior, Traitor Weide would probably wait for her Soul Embryo to be powerful enough in order to ensure he would indeed become a Sage. Hopefully, Cao Yun had enough time to come back. In the meantime, he would need to become much stronger. Indeed, if he didn''t become a Spirit Warrior, it would be pointless to come back.


    As he was now, the young man couldn''t stop Traitor Weide. Yes, he might be able to form a coalition against him thanks to his allies now that he had more information. But he didn''t think that Matriarch Huang or the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute would agree to it so easily. Despite their mistrust toward Emperor Weide, they would need strong proof to rebel, especially in the middle of a war. Maybe he could get Sect Leader Xuan''s help, but then he would just put the Wubei Sect in harm''s way. And more than that, he truly wanted to kill Weide himself. However, his sister''s well-being came before anything else, including his satisfaction.


    After several days, Cao Yun finally left the sandstorm. It was extremely strange. All of a sudden, he simply walked out of the storm. It was as if an invisible wall was surrounding that sandstorm. On one side of the wall, there was a storm so violent that one could barely see or hear anything. As soon as one passed through that invisible frontier though, there was a perfect calm.


    When Cao Yun left the sandstorm, it was nighttime. This was a good thing since it allowed Cao Yun to have a good look at the stars. Immediately, he set up a camp close to the sandstorm. In his mind, he surmised that fewer demonic beasts would get close to such a raging storm, so he might be safer around here. Obviously, that didn''t stop him from setting up a few array formations around his camp for protection. But then, he solely focused on the stars.


    Unfortunately, the star charts he had were very old and in around fifteen thousand years, the constellations had changed. However, his understanding of Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems from the Eight Directions, Cao Yun was able to see patterns. Since humans had been enslaved by the demons and the first records were known, the constellations had changed a few times. Thus, array formation masters had found way to predict how they would evolve. By using those principles, Cao Yun was able not only to set up good array formations but also to orientate himself.


    There was now no doubt in his mind. He was indeed almost exactly on the opposite side of the Piaolu planet. And at the very least, he hadn''t spent millenniums in the bleeding space. Of course, this was very improbable, but this was still a good news. However, the current state of the constellations was not enough to tell him how long had passed since the last known star charts he had in mind. After all, stars were moving very slowly in the night sky. For that, he would need to find some demons. However, they might not be aware of what was going on in the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Hopefully though, he might be able to find some way to know for sure by comparing their calendars with main events on this planet, like the signature of the Seven Treaties.


    Anyway, for the time being, Cao Yun decided to explore his surroundings. Flying around with Hongyu might be the easiest way to find the trace of any demons in the area. However, he had no idea of the kind of demonic beast in here. If they were to face a 9-core demonic beast, they would probably die. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had consumed his Spirit Condensation Barrier. Although he still had powerful pills, he had no way of defending himself against such a threat. 6-core demonic beasts were not much of a threat to him. In fact, he was pretty optimistic when facing 7-core demonic beasts, especially if they couldn''t fly since Hongyu would give him a great advantage. But above that, the beasts were just too dangerous for him to face them. Thankfully, his stealth was very good thanks to Huang Liyue.


    Outside of the sandstorm, Cao Yun could still feel the killing intent. In fact, it was even a bit stronger. Maybe he could find the demons by following it but it was all around him without seeming stronger in any specific direction. Since it was nighttime, there was also less Fire Qi around, but the sand was still saturated with it. There was another conundrum for Cao Yun. He had to choose whether to start exploring now or to wait for daytime. Since Hongyu was related to the Fire element, he decided to wait for daytime.


    After making sure that Hongyu was in good shape, Cao Yun used his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' around himself and Hongyu. Then, they both flew higher and higher. At first, they didn''t try to move around, they were just gaining altitude in order to have a better view of the place. No matter how high they were getting, they didn''t seem to find any upper limit to the sandstorm. It was as though it went all the way up to the sky. Even with his senses, Cao Yun couldn''t see its end above. But surely there was an end.


    Then he thought about Cleansed Asura''s inner world. It reminded him of the world tree in his black pagoda. Yes! The feeling he had in the sandstorm was space being distorted. Somehow, space had been damaged and this was what was causing this eternal sandstorm. It would not calm down. In fact, it might even grow worse as space was trying to heal itself.


    In other words, because space was damaged there, it had been easier to pierce through it. At least, that explained why he had left the bleeding space in the middle of that sandstorm. Any kind of force always followed the path of least resistance.

 Chapter 489: Exploring the desert

    Cao Yun couldn''t know for sure why space seemed to be completely broken around here. But the giant sandstorm in front of him was clearly the result of that. From where he was, it was difficult to say for sure but the sandstorm itself seemed to be as large as a small province of the Hongchen Kingdom. In other words, it was absolutely gigantic. With his current understanding of the Dao of Space, he really couldn''t tell much. There were several possible scenarios. From what he could see, it didn''t seem to be the fruit of any array formation. Either someone had deliberately broke space, or more likely, this was the result of some epic battle.


    Although the sandstorm was perfectly contained, space itself wasn''t normal around it. As a consequence, it was almost impossible to fly to the top of the sandstorm. Instead of wasting Hongyu''s strength, Cao Yun decided to give up on that. However, they had still flown high enough to look at the land in front of them. The sandstorm was basically a wall behind them. Considering how vast it seemed, it would probably be way longer to try and circle it. Thus, Cao Yun looked more carefully in the opposite direction.


    With his senses, he could see even farther than Hongyu herself, despite her new cultivation. Thanks to that, he was able to see a few intriguing scenes. There were many demonic beasts, but most of them were hiding in the desert. There was no doubt that this place was very hostile as he saw a lot of deaths in a few instants. Crossing this desert without any knowledge about his fauna or flora was incredibly dangerous. But of course, staying where he was would also be his doom. As such, he tried to take in as much information as he could while he was up there.


    Several times Cao Yun tried to get in contact with Dian Mo but he was in a deep slumber. Apparently, he was slowly devouring the soul of Mo Wang. At the very least, from what Cao Yun could feel, the fight had already been won. It was just that the consequences had been very serious. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had little knowledge about how to heal a pure spirit. In the current era, no one knew how to craft a spirit considering that only a Sage could perform such a thing. For someone who couldn''t perceive the Dao, such a feat was impossible. Hopefully, Dian Mo would be able to recover enough to tell Cao Yun how to help him. His help would be appreciated in the demon territories. Besides, Cao Yun liked his discussions with him.


    Anyway, using his compass and what he had observed himself, Cao Yun decided on a direction. Within his spatial ring, he had enough resources to survive at least a couple of years along Hongyu. According to what he knew about the Piaolu planet, thanks to Emperor Nuwa''s map of it, flying around the entire planet would take less than two years if he was able to fly in straight line. This was an estimate as there were array formations and other space anomalies all over the place from the Great War. In fact, if Hongyu could fly without any obstacle and with full abandon, she could probably circle the planet in a few hours really. This was quite frustrating.


    In order to prevent flying cultivators and demonic beasts from attacking, many defenses had been created over the millenniums. Some had even been crafted by the very first humans, before the invasion by Demon God Da Mo. Since then, many more defenses had been added to the point that, in some area, flying wasn''t that much faster than walking. Of course, flying was still a huge advantage as it would protect the person from many attacks on the ground.


    Unfortunately, this place was not different. Space behind him was completely broken, but space in front of him was also riddled with defenses. Besides, Cao Yun would be forced to use his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' not only on himself but also on Hongyu. As a consequence, they would be forced to slow down even more. But being slow was better than being dead. And to be honest, Cao Yun had no concrete idea where he was going. So he wasn''t in a hurry. Along the way, he would have to glance at any possible clue to find some form of intelligent life. In other words, he was looking for some demon to help him get more information.


    Although he was blocking his negative thoughts and horrible scenarios about his sister, Cao Yun was still thinking about her. He had to find out how much time had passed and how fast he could get back to the Hongchen Kingdom. It would also be a good opportunity to garner information on the demons themselves. To his knowledge, no human had ever been able to infiltrate them. On the other hand, demons had just been able to do precisely that in his own kingdom. Of course, Traitor Weide was his worst enemy. But that didn''t mean that the demons were not a threat either.


    As he was thinking about all that, he realized that he had not thought about Feng Yingyue once. His mind was completely filled with his younger sister. That was understandable of course, but he still felt a bit guilty about that. He truly liked her and their conversations, as well as their other, more intimate, activities together. But as he was growing older, away from her, his views on many things were changing. Romance was one of them. To be honest, he had no time in his life for that, at least, not now. As he was developing his mind cultivation, he was getting a better understanding of his own feelings, sensations, and emotions. But that didn''t mean that he had a perfect understanding of them right now.


    In fact, he would need to start working on Unclean Evil soon, the second part of his corporeal soul, his Po. With that, he would truly start to rebuild the Drop of Wrath. By subduing the Flying Poison, he had put it under his full authority. But it still required all six other Po in order to be complete. From now on, he will need to make it whole again, piece by piece.


    Right now though, he had cultivated enough. And instead of waiting more, he decided to follow a specific direction with his compass. Hopefully, the killing intent in the air would change sufficiently for him to find the demons he was looking for. Until then, he would maintain his trajectory.


    Using his stealth technique, he surrounded Hongyu and himself with several layers of ashes. Even a Spirit Warrior would have a hard time finding them if they stayed perfectly still. Of course, if they were right under his nose, that would be a different story. But to cross this desert, it should protect them from any demonic beast. With his observations, Cao Yun had found many unknown demonic beasts. Although he didn''t know how many cores they had, it was clear to him that some were stronger than Hongyu and even himself. Since he could kill any Mortal Warrior, those demonic beasts had to have at least seven demonic cores. In other words, they were as strong as early Spirit Warriors, or early Accomplished Demons.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    In any way, he had no intention of fighting them. To the contrary, he had prepared many ways for the both of them to escape based on the demonic beasts he had seen. Some were looking very similar to insects. Once again, he had seen a few spiders that didn''t bring back happy memories. There were also feathered beasts, both flying and walking, as well as furry animals on the ground. From what he had seen, they were each predating on each other. Since there was almost no large vegetation around this desert, they were most likely surviving by killing other demonic beasts. Thus, they were probably more ferocious and dangerous than the demonic beasts Cao Yun had met, because they were more desperate. No demonic beast would pass on the meal Cao Yun and Hongyu were.


    As they were flying around, the young man was focusing on two things only. While he was maintaining his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' around the both of them, his senses were completely focused on his surroundings as well as his compass.


    -


    For days, they flew straight forward. Several times, they were forced to stop. Thanks to his compass, Cao Yun was able to detect the presence of the stronger demonic beasts before they could detect them. To be fair, those demonic beasts were not used to a fenghuang and a human. They were used to hunting the demonic beasts living in that desert as well as demons. Thankfully, this allowed Cao Yun''s stealth to be even more effective. However, they still had to hide in the sand now and then.


    Finally, Cao Yun detected a small change in the killing intent around him. It was very faint, but there was clearly a trace of demon blood in the air, and it was fresh. Without too much haste, Cao Yun led Hongyu in that direction. In the distance, he heard something before he could see it as a giant dune was masking the scene. There was no doubt, some demons were fighting a big demonic beast.


    In fact, the young man saw the demonic beast before he could see its opponents. That thing was very strange to his eyes. It was covered in plates that were shining under the sun and looked so hot that flesh would melt upon touching them. It had six legs with many hooks all over them. It head seemed to be crushed at the front of its body and Cao Yun couldn''t get a good look at it. But the rest of its body was a single large ellipse with only a few separations in the plates covering it. The sand around the creature was almost turning to glass as it was standing on it.


    The two most important features of that creature were the large horns on its narrow head and the stinger on its back. In fact, it really looked like a beetle with a scorpion stinger. The two horns were absolutely massive and prevented its opponents from getting to close to it by the front. Thankfully, they were not mobile. On the other hand, its stinger was extremely flexible and nimble, moving all other the place, trying to pierce through the demons facing it.


    At one point, Cao Yun even saw its stinger release some kind of acid toward the demons fighting the demonic beast. The demon who was touched by it was an early Golden Blood Child, yet he died very quickly. The acid touched his chest and pierced through it in seconds. As he was screaming in agony, his comrades had no time to waste on him. Considering the strength of the demons and the resistance of the demonic beast, Cao Yun surmised that it had seven cores, bordering on the eight cores even. In other words, it was as strong as a 3rd or 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. Thankfully though, it didn''t seem like it had any form of spiritual attacks.


    At least a dozen demons were surrounding the demonic beast, using their techniques to put some distance between it and them. Not a single one of them had a cultivation higher than 6th-grade Golden Blood Child. However, they had great teamwork. All over the place, there were corpses. Originally, they had been thirty demons against that creature. But the many sacrifices had not been useless. It was obvious that the 7-core demonic beast was exhausted. On the other hand, the same was true of the surviving demons.


    Cao Yun was now close enough to fully see the fight scene. The demons were going all out and they seemed to be directed by a man they were calling ''Brother Yaxue''. He had a scythe in hand. Although he was giving orders, he was also on the front line. His blood cultivation was on the verge of becoming a 7th-grade Golden Blood Child but he wasn''t quite there yet.


    Behind the demons, there were three caravans. Without any doubt, those were containing other demons, with lesser cultivation. In fact, there was no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind that those demons were slaves as they were all in chains. Apparently, since they had no humans left to enslave, the demons had turned against each other. Watching the massacre, Cao Yun had absolutely no compassion for the demons. However, he needed them to survive in order to gather the information he required. That being said, he didn''t need all of them to survive.


    Instead of risking his life to save them right away, he decided to wait until the 7-core demonic beast was weak enough for him to dispose of it quickly and without any danger. In the meantime, he decided to observe their fight in order to prepare himself. If he needed to kill them at some point, it was a good idea to know about their techniques.


    Most of them had long weapons like spears or halberds. Those were slightly different from the Eighteen Classical Weapons known in the Hongchen Kingdom. The blades were often serrated and had shapes made to cause as much damage as possible both when they entered and even more so when they exited the flesh. In fact, some might even think those were more instruments of torture than weapons of war. Those weapons'' main goal was to cause a lot of bleeding. After all, demons were after blood more than anything else. A few of them also had whips with metal bits along them.


    All around the giant beetle with a scorpion stinger, the sand had truly turned into glass. It was preventing it from burrowing underground, but even from moving at all. With its legs full of hook, it was trying to break the glass. But the demonic beast was surrounded by large red war flags covered. With a glance, Cao Yun could tell they were causing the intense heat around the demonic beast. Somehow, they were concentrating the heat from the sun, burning everything in the center of the circle they were set up in.


    Right now, the most dangerous thing was the scorpion stinger. Not only could it release acid, it was extremely long and agile. Each flag was protected by several demons as the stinger was trying to destroy them. The demonic beast was smart enough to know what those flags were doing to its body even though it didn''t understand how it worked.


    Cao Yun was also a bit surprised as those flags didn''t respect the principles of array formations he knew.

 Chapter 490: Senior Mo Yun

    On those flags however, he was able to sense some of the killing intent exuding from the blood of demons. Looking at them even more carefully, he understood what they were. On the flags, there were runes traced with blood. In other words, they were very similar to the blood runes used by the demonic cultivators. That being said, they were a bit different. After all, the demonic cultivators had found about the blood runes in Demon God Da Mo''s secret library. Most likely, demons had known about them for a longer time. And since they were more proficient in blood techniques, they had obviously developed them further.


    With those blood runes, they were able to emulate the effects of array formations while violating some of the principles. In other words, they had created more powerful array formations thanks to this. Obviously, it intrigued Cao Yun. With his blood, he could clearly make blood runes. And the effects would be even better. He would have to learn what he could. Anything that could give him an edge against Traitor Weide was welcome.


    For the time being, Cao Yun kept on watching the fight without any intention of intervening until it was truly time.


    The beetle''s stinger pierced through the throat of a demon wielding some kind of trident. With a sudden jerk, the woman was sent flying, leaving a flag with only one demon protecting it. But Golden Blood Children were tough to kill. Despite the gaping hole in her throat, the woman had survived. Her bones were strong enough that her spine had not been pierced. Still, her bones were fractured and her nerves had almost been cut off. Manipulating her blood, she would be able to heal fast. However, the fight was still ongoing.


    Without any hesitation, she went back into the fray. If the demonic beast was not killed right now, running away wouldn''t save anyone. Otherwise, all the demons would have escaped and fended for themselves. There was no loyalty between slavers.


    From the sand, two large maws appeared. Those looked like big leeches covered in sand and black blood. In Cao Yun''s eyes, those were clearly Qi Manifestations caused by the flow of blood within the demons. The two of them leapt toward the immobilized 7-core demonic beast. Then, several demons struck with their full strength toward it. Several Qi Manifestations appeared. No demon seemed to even have developed any kind of Martial Aura. They were clearly not proficient fighters. However, they were working well together to make up for it.


    Unfortunately for them, the demonic beast was too resistant for them. When the attacks converged on it, the beast suddenly opened its back in full. Two large wings spread out. With them, a powerful gust of wind pushed back some of the demons. While they were confused, its stinger finally took down the flag with only one defender. After that, the demonic beast was free to move around again. Even though the flags were still causing an intense heat to strike it, the beast was able to break the glass around its own body. Once at least one of its legs was out, it was easy for it to break everything.


    At that point, it could have flown away, but it wanted retribution and a good meal. Before the demons could all regain their composure, the horns of the demonic beast had cut a couple of them in half. Immediately, it rushed on them and devoured them, sucking their body dry in seconds. Then, its powerful shriek resonated all around. Instead of attacking the flags, the demonic beast was attacking the demons directly. Without them, the flags were no threat after all.


    Brother Yaxue was a large man. Although he was a bit plump, he had an impressive stature hidden beneath the fat. Besides, he was almost as tall as Ren Chao. Wielding his scythe in hands, he struck down toward the beetle with all of his strong. His killing intent erupted all over the place. It looked like a praying mantis had appeared and was trying to slice the insect in many parts. Although its shell was impressive, many scars appeared on it. The beetle didn''t take it without fighting back.


    -


    Cao Yun watched the fight unfold for several minutes. More than half of the demons were dead, partially devoured or dismembered. Some had also suffered from the acid ejected by the demonic beast''s stinger. On the other hand, the 7-core demonic beast was covered in wounds and had started to lose some blood as well. Brother Yaxue was still alive and leading the fight. His fighting style was rather upsetting to Cao Yun. Indeed, he was clearly using the others as living shields.


    Although he had no problem striking his enemy directly, he was always retreating after a significant blow in order to not put himself in danger. Each time, he was using the other demons to hide and protect himself. To be honest, his fighting style was rather cunning. And Cao Yun didn''t like it at all. There was no problem with fighting smart and wounding an enemy until it was too tired to fight back. But using his own men as shields was another matter entirely.


    Anyway, Yaxue was a demon after all, and a slaver at that. Cao Yun would not appreciate him no matter how he fought.


    The flow of the battle was not easy to grasp. But at some point, Cao Yun grew convinced that the demons were going to get killed. Maybe they would take the demonic beast down with them. But in the end, they were simply not strong enough to kill it. Around the same time, that realization dawned on Yaxue as well. From this point forward, he was not trying to win, he was just trying to find a way of getting out of this alive, no matter the cost.


    It was when Cao Yun sensed that desperation that he decided to act. Among the demons, only a handful was still alive. If he wanted to kill them himself, it would be easier considering their condition. On the other hand, the 7-core demonic beast was also too exhausted to put up much of a fight against him and Hongyu right now. In fact, Cao Yun was mostly convinced Hongyu didn''t even need to assist him.


    The main question was thus whether to kill the demons or not. Since he was stranded in this desert, he wasn''t sure this was such a good idea. For the time being, what he needed was information. Of course, he could obtain it by torturing the demons. Without Dian Mo to extract memories out of them, this was the only way. But in an unknown land, another option was most likely preferable.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    At last, Cao Yun decided to reveal himself. Of course, his meridians would have to be hidden. But he would have to show his blood cultivation. Technically, he was only a 2nd-grade Golden Blood Child so he should have been weaker than all the demons taken individually. However, he had many trump cards and his cultivation was not limited to his blood cultivation. Besides, more than cultivation, what demons respected was both raw strength and bloodline. With the properties of the Drop of Wrath in his blood, Cao Yun''s bloodline was almost as pure as a true asura. In other words, among demons, he could be considered a noble.


    Still flying on Hongyu''s back, Cao Yun did not let the demonic beast react. Before revealing his presence, he struck.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' left his hand and pierced through the beetle''s head. The weapon was surrounded by Cao Yun''s aura. It appeared as a sharp scale piercing through the firmament. Without any effort, it pierced through the weakened beetle''s defenses. When its head was struck, it exploded everywhere. As the spear landed, it broke the glass all around it and turned it back into sand.


    Cao Yun''s strength was absolutely domineering. In the eyes of the weakened and dying demons, he was like a god. For a moment, some even believed him to be an Accomplished Demon. After all, he could fly. Of course, they quickly realized that he was flying thanks to a mount. But that was still very impressive. Very few demons had a personal flying demonic beast. Besides, it seemed to be relatively strong as Hongyu had five cores.


    In order to appear even more powerful, Cao Yun was also using Flying Poison around himself. Only an Accomplished Demon could do so, just like only Spirit Warriors had spiritual senses. Because the demons were exhausted, even Brother Yaxue was taken aback and didn''t see through Cao Yun''s cultivation. In his mind, he was convinced that Cao Yun was indeed an early Accomplished Demon. As such, he immediately bowed once he was confident the threat was dead. If they were to upset such a character, they would die just as surely.


    "Senior, thank you for saving our miserable existences!"


    "Thank you, Senior!"


    With one voice, all the survivors, no matter how injured they were, kowtowed and thanked Cao Yun.


    Landing, he retrieved his spear in his spatial ring. He had hesitated whether he should hide his spatial ring. But keeping it and even using it would further prove his status in front of the crowd. Although he had no idea how demons really behaved among each other, he decided to play it as an arrogant master.


    "Who are you?"


    His powerful voice was imbued with the will of the Drop of Wrath and a bit of mental attack. In front of such might, the weakened demons would not be able to hide anything to him. Besides, Cao Yun would immediately know if they were lying.


    "Senior, we''re just merchants. We were going back to Yixin City."


    "And what do you sell?"


    Obviously, Yaxue immediately thought that that senior was thinking about robbing them. After all, considering their current state, he could kill them in an instant and take what he wanted. Contrary to a demonic beast though, they could negotiate. Besides, killing them before they could sell their products would be stupid.


    "Senior, we captured those slaves from a nearby tribe hiding in the desert. I am certain that they will fetch a good price. A few of them could even attract Lord Wanghuo''s attention. Even if they''re not chosen, they would be perfect for the Sisters of the Abyss, while the others will fetch a reasonable price in some brothel. Regarding the men, they''ll be great miners, or soldiers for the stronger ones. I am sure that we could get at least two hundreds Heidai. Of course, such a sum is very little for Senior..."


    "My name is Mo Yun."


    Because he had already used many names, Cao Yun decided to stay rather simple and simply used Demon King''s surname instead of his own. Although he was in a land far from the Hongchen Kingdom, he didn''t want his true surname to spread, just in case. Besides, his surname might not be usual in those lands while Demon King Mo Wang had chosen a name common among demons. At least, it was common among the demons around the Hongchen Kingdom. Hopefully, it wasn''t too strange in those parts either.


    "Senior Mo, this lowly one is Yaxue from Yixin City. I swear on my ancestor''s blood that we will repay your great generosity. You can take any of the slaves you fancy and we will sell the rest for you."


    "I have no intention of stealing from you. Otherwise, you''d be dead already."


    As soon as he spoke, Cao Yun felt that some demons were confused. In fact, they were suspecting that something wasn''t right. Indeed, no Accomplished Demon around here would be so altruistic. Thus, Cao Yun had to add more.


    "However, this demonic beast is mine. I''ve killed it and I claim its corpse and its demonic cores."


    "Senior...!"


    Before he could add any word, Yaxue stopped talking. He felt a powerful killing intent all around him.


    "Without me, you''d all be dead and you couldn''t enjoy the spoils of the battle either way. But if you think you can claim the beast, feel free to fight me for it. If you''re able to take a single move without dying, I can give you one of the demonic cores. What say you?"


    Of course, Cao Yun was bluffing by using his mental attack ''Weeping Demon'' and his Flying Poison. But in front of the weakened demons who were convinced he was an Accomplished Demon, it was very effective. Yaxue had to swallow his pride and bowed even lower.


    "This unworthy one thanks Senior Mo for his generosity. But no one would be able to take even a single one of your strikes."


    "What a pity... Then, the spoils come to me."


    In a swift motion, Cao Yun took the entire carcass of the demonic beast in his spatial ring. Even now, he had no idea what that demonic beast was. But he couldn''t just ask the demons in front of him. By traveling with them, he might learn some things. But his best option was to get to a city and find some documents. Thankfully, he could both speak and read Moshenhua. And the demons had found no flaw in his accent or his dialect. That was good news at least.


    "Yaxue, I''ve traveled quite a lot. Since your caravan is heading for Yixin City, I will accompany you on the road. Do you have any objection?"


    "Of course not, Senior Mo. Your presence will be welcome. This will be a great honor for us to have you with us. Feel free to enjoy our slaves if you want to."


    "No need for that. I have found some insights recently. I will be cultivating. Treat my mount with the same respect you would treat me or suffer my wrath. No one is to disturb me!"


    With those words, Cao Yun entered one of the empty caravans. Considering the number of dead demons, all the caravans would not be used. As such, the slavers would leave Cao Yun alone for the entire travel. That being said, he really wasn''t comfortable with the idea that there were slaves. Although they were demons, that didn''t sit well with Cao Yun. All humans had learned of the treatment their kind had suffered in the hands of demons. The mere idea of slavery was absolutely disgusting for everyone in the Hongchen Kingdom. Cao Yun was no exception.


    And after hearing Yaxue talk about those slaves as mere pieces of meat to be used and abused, he was more than upset. Unfortunately, he needed to find more about this place. And since this man was a merchant, he might be useful.

 Chapter 491: Traveling with slaves

    Deep down, Cao Yun wanted to kill those surviving demons. Without Dian Mo, he couldn''t extract their memories from their souls though. Of course that didn''t mean he couldn''t get any information from them. From what he knew, demons had strong wills. However, since he could tell when they were lying, he might still have been able to get something out of them by torturing them. The young man had absolutely no qualm torturing and killing slavers. His problem however was that he had been bluffing earlier.


    He had been able to kill the Tyrant Sun Scarab, as the slavers had called it, only because it had been incredibly weakened by their combined assault and because he had attacked by surprise. In a one-on-one duel, Cao Yun would have had no other choice but to run away. Of course, the mere fact that he would have been able to run away was a great accomplishment in itself. None of the demons around him would have been able to escape that 7-core demonic beast.


    Begrudgingly, Cao Yun had to admit that he wasn''t sure whether he was a match for the combined might of the surviving demons. Although they were also weakened, attacking them directly would probably result in some injuries. The worst case scenario would be if they were able to escape unscathed since Cao Yun knew nothing of this land. Right now, Cao Yun was weighing his options. Maybe the slaves could help him get the information he needed, but they probably knew less than the slavers. After all, they were all Blood Children. Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea of the kind of technique being used around these parts.


    Thanks to Dian Mo, Cao Yun had trained on many seals. There was no doubt in his mind that demons were able to use blood seals as well. Maybe killing the slavers could also kill the slaves. Or maybe the slaves could be tracked due to those seals. After all, Cao Yun had also been able to track his belongings using seals. Even now, Cao Yun had no way of being sure of anything. For the time being, he resigned himself to playing his part while observing and gathering data. In the slavers'' eyes, he was a proud Accomplished Demon. They would never dare to disturb him.


    If they knew he was only a 2nd-grade Golden Blood Child, they would most likely try to kill and rob him.


    Alone in the empty caravan he had chosen, Cao Yun felt the convoy move. During the attack, the demonic beasts used to pull the caravans had been either killed or scared away. Thus, the slavers had decided to use their slaves to pull them. Now and then, Cao Yun could hear the lashes meant to ''encourage'' them. His senses were good enough so he could literally hear the contact of the whips against their flesh. And he could vividly imagine their skin being either marked or even lacerated by those monstrous whips. They were designed to inflict pain and draw blood.


    Only a handful of the men were used. Those were the men meant to be sold as miners. Since they were their property, the slavers would not injure their slaves too much.


    For a long while, the young human was unable to take his mind off of those sounds. Hell, he could even hear the silent screams that the slaves fought not to let out. Obviously, he couldn''t focus. If only he could get Dian Mo''s help, he could kill those slavers and be done with it. The Palace Spirit would be able to devour their souls and extract everything from them. Unfortunately, he was still silent. In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun could tell that the fight against Demon King Mo Wang was clearly won. But the remnants of his soul would not give up even though the situation was desperate.


    Besides the men used as drudges, Cao Yun was also able to overhear the sobbing and moaning of some young women in one of the caravans. They barely dared to speak among themselves. Thankfully, the slavers'' ears were not as good as Cao Yun who had worked on his senses and even had small spiritual senses. They were terrified of what would happen to them. From their conversation, Cao Yun''s anger escalated. But he also discovered some important things.


    Those slaves were from a small tribe hidden in the desert. From what he could gather, the place they were currently in was simply called the Desolate Dune Desert. They talked about some kind of cataclysm named the Desolate Pillar who had given its name to this part of the desert. Apparently, it was sacred in some way. And this Desolate Dune Desert was uninhabited by any demon. However, those slavers had crossed it as a shortcut in order to attack their tribe who lives on the other side, in the Green Star Desert.


    Cao Yun also heard the name ''Boss Gui''. Most likely, she was the one who oversaw slave trading in this region. Her mere name was enough to terrorize even the strongest women of the group. Her nickname was quite friendly indeed, Gui the Smiling Flayer. Amongst their conversations, Cao Yun learned a bit more about the fate they were expecting. They could be sold as prostitutes in some brothel, to some nobles as brides or concubines, to the Sisters of the Abyss as acolytes, or to some wealthy demon for various works. In the worst case scenario, they could also be sacrificed to the gods or even used to breed more slaves for the mines. Obviously, those prospects were not very enticing and they made Cao Yun even more furious.


    But he learned some things from those terrified women. He had to piece things together so it made sense, but from what he understood, they were in the Nalupu Kingdom ruled by Wanghuo. That man had thousands of brides and concubines, if not more. This ''Boss Gui'' was part of the Xinian Confederation, an trading company somewhat similar to the Cherry Blossom Hall. The Nalupu Kingdom was not the only power as there were several city-states all around. But most of them were loyal to the crown. Indeed, Wanghuo was a powerful Accomplished Demon and he had put many of his sons in various positions of power. In fact, becoming his bride seemed to some as a good deal all things considered. But entering his harem was also incredibly dangerous and many of his favorites had been killed when they had lost his favor.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun almost learned nothing about the Sisters of the Abyss apart from the fact that they were some kind of religious order. As the name suggested, they were only women. Apparently, they were in charge of protecting the bloodline of the demons somehow. Although Wanghuo was the absolute ruler of the Nalupu Kingdom, he was still respectful toward the Sisters. That alone showed how much influence they had. Apart from religion, they could also serve as political advisors, spies or even assassins. Of course, their price was incredibly high and they would always serve their own purpose first, refusing any mission that would go against their interest and the general interest they pretended to serve. As such, they were very secretive. In fact, most of what Cao Yun learned was based on his own assumptions.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Finally, the young human decided to close his mind to the sufferings he could hear outside. Convincing himself he had no other choice, he left the slaves to their agony and misery. No matter how much he tried to tell himself they were demons as well, he couldn''t accept their current fate. Humans had been used like that for millenniums, worked to death in some mines or used to entertain the sadism of some powerful demon. Now that it was happening among demons, it didn''t feel any better. However, he tried to rationalize his situation, thinking about his little sister being manipulated by Traitor Weide before being sacrificed to his ambitions. The bitter taste in his mouth didn''t disappear.


    In fact, Emperor Weide had probably rationalized his actions in the same manner. Although Cao Yun was not actively taking part in the pain of those poor demons, he was doing nothing to help them. And as much as he told himself that he was no savior, no saint, there was a difference between being some saint trying to save everyone and ignoring those who suffered under his very nose. To be fair, even after saving those slaves, he didn''t know what they would do. They could be enslaved once more and their fate might even become worse if such a thing was possible.


    In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun planned to help Dian Mo recover as soon as possible so he could get his help. Of course, he was convinced that Dian Mo wouldn''t care at all for those slaves. But he needed his advice on some matters to either take a decision or accept the one he had taken. He had already used a bit of his Drop of Wrath to help Dian Mo, but this wasn''t fast enough. Just as he was about to focus on his Flying Poison, the young man felt something in his Po the Metal Corporeal Soul.


    This was his Po of Qi, the clean version of Unclean Evil. While Flying Poison was related to rage and anger, Unclean Evil was related to shame. Considering the current situation he was in, Cao Yun did feel some shame well up in him. But there was also fear, the fear that one day he would not feel any shame at all. Thus, Cao Yun clung to this shame in order to retain what he deemed to be his moral. In his shame, he could also feel a deeper emotion. Was he using his sister as an excuse?


    That thought obsessed him for some time. From now on, to what lengths would he go? How low would he go in order to go back to the Hongchen Kingdom, all in the name of his sister?


    The more he thought about that, the more he could feel the Unclean Evil. Somehow, this was a good thing. Indeed, feeling this shame was allowing him to develop his second Turbid Demon. With it, he would be able to strengthen his Drop of Wrath. Thanks to that, he would help Dian Mo recover faster than before. Thus, he clung on to that shame. Besides, he wanted to ponder about his decision and his future. There was a line he didn''t want to cross but he couldn''t tell exactly what it was.


    As he was circulating his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', Cao Yun was also using ''Death Verses'' to try and sense everything that was going on. Because it was connected to Death Energy, it was also a great tool to control one''s Po. At that moment, he was precisely using his understanding of ''See Through the Mud'' to see how his Po was reacting. But more than that, he was also trying to understand the cycle of the Po. This was the mystery behind ''Living Death'', how the Po who brought life was able to turn into an instrument of death and Death Energy itself. At birth, the Po was forming the body, helping it grow and mature. Then, it was maintaining it alive. Those were the easiest parts to understand. Indeed, even now, Cao Yun''s Po was keeping him alive and helping him grow and mature even though he had reached adulthood.


    Finally, at the end of one''s life, the Po would turn into a bringer of death. It was helping the body to die and rot. That was a part that was very difficult to understand for many. And it was impossible to experience for oneself. Besides, without a small understanding of the Dao of Death, it was hard to even sense the Po and the Death Energy in someone else''s body. Right now, Cao Yun was trying to do exactly that. After all, he had Death Energy in himself, which was almost impossible for any other Mortal Warrior.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t very fruitful. He could tell that there was something similar between Po and Death Energy but that was it. Several times he had observed the Po of someone else turn into Death Energy but somehow, he was unable to clearly see it. It was as if the Po had suddenly changed. In fact, he had been able to see that there had been a moment during which that energy within their bodies was neither Po nor Death Energy. But he simply couldn''t comprehend what had happened. Piercing the secret of a Dao was truly something only a Sage could do. Anyway, he thought that having the ''Death Verses'' with him would help him. It had to some extent, but it was insufficient.


    On the other hand, he was able to extract his Po of Qi in a swift manner. His experience on the Flying Poison was clearly helping him. As he was extracting this Unclean Evil, Cao Yun was also focusing on the Drop of Wrath. This time, the Po within the Drop of Wrath was missing this specific part of itself. Thus, the young man was trying to rebuild it using his own Po. This was something he had never tried before. Even if he couldn''t fully form this Unclean Evil in a short amount of time, this would still help his Drop of Wrath become stronger. Hopefully this would be enough for him to wake up Dian Mo.


    According to what the slavers had told him, crossing the desert would take at least a few months. In the worst case scenario, it might even take them up to half a year. Indeed, this Desolate Dune Desert was very dangerous. After all, they had almost died because of that Tyrant Sun Scarab. From now on, they would be even more careful. Of course, Cao Yun wished to get to the city as fast as possible, but he also needed to cultivate in order to be strong enough. If he wanted to go back to the Hongchen Kingdom, he had to become stronger. In fact, just to survive in demon territories, he would need to become a real Accomplished Demon.


    By using his Flying Poison, he could somehow reproduce the sensation of an early Accomplished Demon around himself. Developing his other Turbid Demons could help with that. But powerful demons would be able to call his bluff. At the very least, he had to form his Golden Blood. And for that, he had to become a 4th-grade Golden Blood Child. Since he was left alone, he would work on it in the months to come. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be progress swiftly thanks to his overall cultivation. After all, he could already control his Mingmen and he had the Rune of Fire to help him with the Kidney Fire.

 Chapter 492: Cultivating shame

    Since he had nothing better to do, Cao Yun focused almost entirely on two things, his blood cultivation and his mind cultivation. The more urgent matter was in fact his blood cultivation. But extracting his Unclean Evil and improving his Drop of Wrath would have positive outcomes on both his ability to help Dian Mo and his blood cultivation. Indeed, the properties of the Drop of Wrath were spread throughout his entire body already.


    Just as he was cultivating, Hongyu was also growing stronger. Now that she had five demonic cores, she was stabilizing her cultivation. Unlike humans, it was instinctive. But through Cao Yun''s help, her condition got stable earlier than it would have alone in the wild. As such, in less than two months, she was a full-fledged 5-core demonic beast. And since she had finally formed a demonic core full of the properties of the Drop of Wrath, it was able to balance out her evil core. In other words, she could use the Evil Qi to some degree, making her more powerful than an ordinary 5-core demonic beast. Besides, she was able to fly, which would give her an edge in many fights.


    If the two of them worked together, they might kill the slavers. However, if this wasn''t planned properly, they would also be heavily injured. After all, they had fought against a 7-core demonic beast. Although they were not good fighters, they were very competent when it came to working together against a common enemy. Anyway, Cao Yun was already planning their deaths if need be. While they were busy leading the caravan through the Desolate Dune Desert, the fake Accomplished Demon was cultivating and growing stronger.


    By overhearing some conversations, he learned a bit more about the region he was in. In fact, he also heard rumors about the attack prepared by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. If rumors of preparations were reaching this place, there were high chances that almost no time had passed since Cao Yun had gone through the bleeding space. Considering how far they were, Cao Yun was trying to guess how long it would take for news of the actual attack to reach them. Because it had not yet, it meant, at the very least, that Cao Yun had not spent years in the bleeding space. Most likely, he had spent either months, weeks or even days. Of course, time had felt different for him but since space had been completely distorted, this was to be expected.


    Anyway, he also learned that their continent was surrounded by the Divine Blood Ocean. Every time they talked about it, they emphasized how dangerous it was. The few ships sailing on that Divine Blood Ocean were manned by at least one late Accomplished Demon. And the ship itself was also protected by 8 or even 9-core demonic beasts. Although Cao Yun didn''t know of the threats lurking in that Divine Blood Ocean, he could imagine what kind of demonic beast could live in the abyss. That was very bad news for him. If the only way to leave this continent was through that Divine Blood Ocean, he would either need to get a powerful crew to help him or become a late Accomplished Demon himself. None of those options would take him a short time. In other words, he might stay stuck on that continent for years before he could go back.


    The only other alternative would be to pierce through space. But for that, he would literally need to become a Sage or a half-step Sage at the very least. Even the Empyrean Asura had not been able to fully form a door toward the Imperial City. And for that, he had sacrificed a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Thus, Cao Yun had almost no hope of achieving that, no matter how talented he was with array formations and blood runes.


    On their way to Yixin City, the caravan stopped several times. The slavers knew this place enough to avoid most of the powerful demonic beasts. Their encounter with the Tyrant Sun Scarab had truly been bad luck. In the few months Cao Yun spent with them, they were clearly competent. Without them, Cao Yun had to admit that his chances of surviving the Desolate Dune Desert were slim. Even a late Accomplished Demon would not treat this desert lightly. After all, a 9-core demonic beast could attack out of nowhere all of a sudden. Without a deep knowledge of this place, crossing it would be near impossible.


    Even with his compass, Cao Yun would probably need more than a year to find his way out while always being on the lookout for threats. Unfortunately, he had to keep the slavers alive. Because of that, he had to disregard the torment and humiliation visited upon the slaves. Since they needed the men to pull the caravans, the slavers never left any debilitating or lasting damage on them. And because they wanted to sell the other slaves, they didn''t mistreat them too much. However, they were cruel even though the slaves were fellow demons. Since they were merely Blood Children, they needed water and food much more than the slavers. Thus, they often enjoyed tormenting them with those. Several times, they even proposed Cao Yun to play around with one of the women as long as he didn''t damage her. Of course, Cao Yun refused and ordered them to leave him in peace.


    The more he was in contact with them, the more he wanted to exterminate them all and the more he was ashamed of himself for allowing them to persecute their victims. However, he kept telling himself that he no choice. He needed them to get out of this Desolate Dune Desert. If only Dian Mo was fully conscious, he might help him out with that. By performing a Soul Memory Search on them, he wouldn''t need to keep them alive at all and could free the slaves. But then, he had no idea what he would do with those slaves. He couldn''t just leave them alone in the desert.


    After less than two months, Cao Yun finally broke through. His Mingmen vibrated. Visualizing his kidneys as a golden palace, the Golden Fate was pulsating all around. His blood and marrow were rich and plentiful in his Lower Dantian. Naturally, they both overflowed in his entire abdomen. He could feel a powerful vitality. In fact, if his meridians had not been strong enough, they would have been consumed by this new blood mixed with his marrow. But since they were strong enough, his meridians were already being tempered. Usually, it should have been possible only as a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. However, there was already a lot of Fire Qi in his own blood to perform the tempering.


    Thus, Cao Yun was cultivating both the 4th-grade and 5th-grade of the Mortal Warrior realm at the same time. While he was still accumulating Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, his blood was tempering his meridians. However, he still decided to focus on his blood cultivation for the time being. Indeed, he was a bit afraid of showing his meridians. And tempering them while hiding them with ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was difficult. Besides, the slavers were clearly suspicious of him. After all, he had spent the entire time isolated in that empty caravan, even refusing the many offers they had made to him.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Of course, all Accomplished Demons were not depraved to the point they would abuse any slave they could. Still, his behavior felt odd to the slavers. After all, they were used to dealing with Accomplished Demon in their business. But the aura surrounding Cao Yun was clearly the one of a demon who had awakened his Flying Poison. Only a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon could do such a thing.


    After performing ''Life Gate Reveals the Treasure'', Cao Yun could now clearly feel some kind of tiny flame in his kidneys. The next stage would be ''Treasure Covered in Blood''. In simple words, it consisted in using this Kidney Fire to merge both blood and marrow in order to create the Golden Blood. That was a very important step in asura cultivation. After all, once formed, the Golden Blood could only be altered at a high price. Indeed, the blood essence and the marrow would fuse. Separating them afterwards was almost impossible. To put it differently, forming one''s Golden Blood could be fought of as a form of tribulation.


    There was no risk in forming one''s Golden Blood. But its quality would then determine how fast and how far a demon could go. Such a step was a deciding factor on a demon''s future. Thus, Cao Yun had no intention of botching it up. According to the slavers, they had at least three more months before reaching Yixin City. If they had had powerful demonic beasts to pull the caravan, they could have moved a bit faster. At some point, Cao Yun even thought about asking Hongyu, but this would affect the way the slavers saw him. Even secluded, he could tell they were becoming suspicious of him.


    Cao Yun''s Kidney Fire was rather weak at first. But with his knowledge of alchemy and with the Rune of Fire, it wasn''t difficult to improve it. In fact, he literally used his Black Heart Flame to increase both its quality and its strength. Since this Kidney Fire was responsible for turning Jing into Qi, by improving it, it would also improve one''s vitality. Moreover, the Kidney Fire would also alter the quality of the Qi. By now, Cao Yun''s Qi contained traces of the Black Heart Flame in it. That was to say that Cao Yun''s Qi had traces of Death Energy, strangely altered. Death Energy was after all related to Jing as was the Po.


    This was also a good thing for his mind cultivation. And since the Rune of Fire was engraved in the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was focused on strengthening it by developing his Unclean Evil. In order to do that, he concentrated his mind and will on his feeling of shame. Ironically, using his shameful behavior to feel his shame was making him even more ashamed. Deep down, he felt though he was benefiting from abandoning those poor slaves to their fate. Thus, he could clearly feel his Unclean Evil mixed in with his own Po.


    Just like he had done with his Flying Poison, Cao Yun was carefully extracting each strand of Unclean Evil from his Po character. Bit by bit, he was forming a cloud of bone dust around the Po character. But unlike the Flying Poison, nothing was happening in the Drop of Wrath. Indeed, there was no remnant of Unclean Evil in the Drop of Wrath, only Axiu Qian''s Flying Poison had endured. Thus, Cao Yun had to form it again. The Drop of Wrath was trying to repair itself. If he could give her a nudge in the right direction, it would naturally attempt to reform its Unclean Evil. But instead of Axiu Qian''s Unclean Evil, it would be modeled after Cao Yun''s.


    Thanks to ''Death Verses'', controlling his Po was easier for Cao Yun. Thus, he was able to take a small part of his Unclean Evil and sent it into the Drop of Wrath. Trapped in his Soul Nine Peaks, Cao Yun could feel the Flying Poison''s excitement. This process took a while. But bit by bit, Cao Yun was both extracting his own Unclean Evil and reforming the one inside the Drop of Wrath.


    Just as he was doing so, he could feel Dian Mo who was slowly eradicating all traces of Demon King Mo Wang. But even then, he was in some kind of deep sleep. No matter how much Cao Yun tried to talk with Dian Mo, he was unresponsive. After all, that operation was very critical and Dian Mo could very well damage himself beyond repair.


    The third layer of Cao Yun''s mind cultivation, ''Subdue the Seven Demons'', would take around a decade to be done. Each step would most likely take between one to two years. In his current emotional state though, Cao Yun could easily cultivate his shame. In fact, he simply had to think about what he was letting happen around him. Just by overhearing the slaves and what the slavers were doing to them, he got more and more ashamed. At the same time though, his anger was getting stronger. As a consequence, his Flying Poison and his Drop of Wrath were also getting stronger.


    On the other hand, it became more difficult for him to accept this situation. To be honest, Cao Yun was even on the verge of developing an inner demon. If he had to accept such injustice and cruelty in order to reach his goal, maybe he didn''t deserve to do so. Maybe his sister was better off never seeing him again. Cao Yun could also imagine his family watching him from the Heavenly Court before being reincarnated. Not only was he ashamed of himself, he might also be shaming his family.


    For centuries, Emperor Weide had used the demonic cultivators to perform experiments. All this time, Cao Yun was certain that he had claimed to have clean hands. After all, he wasn''t directly doing anything. He had just been allowing the demonic cultivators and Demon King Mo Wang to do their thing. How was it any different from what Cao Yun was doing right now? If he could stay idle by while such cruelty was staring him in the face, how low would he stoop? Would he go to the extent of performing demonic arts in order to save his sister?


    While those thoughts accumulated, Cao Yun slowly planned for the death of the slavers and the liberation of the slaves. As usual, the most important factor was to gather enough information. Since he couldn''t get too much out of the slavers without exposing himself, Cao Yun might be able to get something out of the slaves. Even now, his caravan was close to the one where the women were being held. Thus, he might be able to use his spiritual senses to send his voice in there. He had trained with Xiao Xuefeng and could project his voice in someone else''s mind. But then, he had to find the right candidate.


    If the slave he contacted were to alert the slavers, everything could be ruined. As such, Cao Yun used everything he had learned about the slaves before choosing the candidate. Among the women, there was a young woman named Xixue. The other women seemed to look up to her. Although her cultivation was mediocre as she was in her twenties and was not even a 4th-grade Blood Child, she seemed to have a very strong will. No matter what the slavers had done to her, she had always endured stoically. The young man could tell she was the best candidate.

 Chapter 493: Planning a revolt

    Cao Yun waited for a moment when the slavers were not paying too much attention. To be fair, it wasn''t that difficult. In their minds, the slaves were rather weak as not a single one of them had reached the Golden Blood Child realm. Thus, they were not worried about any of them escaping any time soon. Besides, they were more worried about crossing this desert alive. Although they had Cao Yun with them, whom they believed to be an Accomplished Demon, he didn''t seem to care about helping them out. In itself, it both made him suspicious because he never left his caravan and yet helped his story at the same time. For the slavers, he was just too powerful to lower himself to their level. Most Accomplished Demons were indeed that arrogant.


    For the time being, they had no choice but to let him ride their caravan until Yixin City. Once there, they would regroup with their own company. Of course, there were a few Accomplished Demons working for that company. Thus, they would be able to deal with Cao Yun. Maybe they could recruit him. Or maybe they could sell him too...


    Since they believed him to be a real Accomplished Demon, they were afraid he might overhear them. As a consequence, they didn''t speak. But they were able to get each other''s meaning quite well without talking. Those slavers seemed to use some kind of hand signals to talk with each other. Since they had no spiritual senses, it was their only way of talking without making any sound. Even with his perception, Cao Yun could not understand those signals. Most likely, no outsider could do so, which was why they were using them.


    That being said, Cao Yun was not stupid. He had seen the cruelty of his traveling companions during several months. Because they wanted to sell the slaves, they were never going too overboard. But tormenting and humiliating the slaves seemed to be their only entertainment. Thankfully, even though they had proposed Cao Yun to abuse the women slaves, they never did so themselves. Once again, they wanted to sell them. But they still toyed with them as though they were mere pets. Apparently, the women slavers were even more cruel and imaginative than their men counterparts. Several times Cao Yun wanted to slaughter them all. Unfortunately, he wasn''t ready for it.


    If he were to kill them in this desert with no direction toward Yixin City, it would be a huge problem. That being said, he was certain that if he kept them alive, he could get some information out of their mouths. Without Dian Mo''s Soul Memory Search, this was the only way. But that meant that he had to make sure that at least their leader Yaxue survived. Then, he would have to keep him alive long enough to get all the information he needed. As they were getting closer and closer to Yixin City, Cao Yun was truly musing about this plan. He still needed to iron out some details. Among those details were the fact that he needed more information. In fact, he wanted to know what the slaves could tell him.


    Once the slavers were busy with something else, Cao Yun finally sent his thoughts toward Xixue, the woman slave he had chosen.


    "Don''t be alarmed. Don''t make a sound. I''m a friend. If you can hear me, simply whisper and I shall hear you."


    "Who are you?"


    There was no fear or confusion in her voice. Despite everything that had happened, Xixue was still strong of will. All the other slaves seemed to look up to her for support. But they were always very discreet about that so as to not expose how important she was to them. Since the other slavers looked down on those slaves, they had failed to realize this, but Cao Yun had.


    "My name is Mo Yun. I am the senior residing in the caravan in front of yours."


    "And what do you want?"


    Although she was whispering so low that not even her fellow slaves could hear her, Cao Yun was able to hear her voice very distinctly. And in her voice, there was absolutely no respect even though she thought she was talking to an Accomplished Demon.


    "I need information on this region and those people. You see, I come from another region far from here but got lost in this Desolate Dune Desert. Thus I was forced to travel with those slavers in order to reach the closest city. However, I do not condone their behavior and I do fear that they intend to visit upon me what they did to you."


    Of course, Cao Yun could not outright claim that he cared about the fate of the slaves. Thus, he made it about himself. Like that, the woman would be more keen to believe his story. After all, an Accomplished Demon had no reason to care for lowly slaves. Besides, Cao Yun didn''t know whether slavery was legal in all of the continent. If he claimed to come from a place where slavery was considered as the evil it was, he may lose her trust even before gaining it.


    "And you want me to tell you enough so you can survive even after killing those brutes?"


    "That is my intention."


    "Humph! If I help you, we will all die."


    "I do not intend for any of you to die. I can even swear to you that I will help you cross the desert as best as I can."


    "That isn''t the point. They used the Slavery Brand on us."


    Obviously, Cao Yun had no idea what this ''Slavery Brand'' was. However, he had looked through the slaves'' bodies using his Flying Poison. Thanks to the training he had received from Dian Mo, he had been able to find an intricate seal in their blood. Finding out its function was a bit more complicated. The good news though was that he didn''t need to know what it was for in order to get rid of it.


    "I can get rid of any seal in you without any problem. Do you want me to prove it to you right now?"


    "What?! You can get rid of a Slavery Brand?!"


    For the first time in their conversation, Xixue''s tone changed. She finally became interested in the conversation.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "If you''re not from around here, where are you from?"


    "Far away as I said. I was sent to this continent because of some terrible storm and I intend to leave it as fast as I can. No matter what happens, I do intend to kill those slavers. But if you help me, I can ensure that you and your companions all survive."


    "Where would you take us? If we go to Yixin City, we''ll be trapped once again. They''ll immediately see from which tribe we hail."


    "I don''t know the geography of this continent. Is there another city close by where you could go?"


    Xixue thought for some time.


    "There is one. It''s very small, but we should be able to organize our return to our tribe from there."


    "You would cross the Desolate Dune Desert once more?"


    "Unlike those fools, we know this desert well enough to cross it without any problem. We would have never brought the fury of a Tyrant Sun Scarab upon us. Although they can orientate themselves in the desert, they''re still too ignorant of its ways. But I fear that if you free us, you might not have any use for us. Besides, we will be witnesses to the murder of those brutes. From what I hear, they work for Boss Gui. That woman is absolutely monstrous. If you cross her, death would be a very nice end."


    "The only reason why I haven''t killed those men already was because I needed them to cross that desert. If you can assure me you''re able to help me with that, I will have no qualm about letting you all live."


    To be honest, Cao Yun had also waited because he was maybe a bit too weak to take them all on. But now that he was very familiar with them and that he was ready to form his Golden Blood, things had changed. He had absolutely no intention of attacking them straight on though. Instead, he had already prepared a plan to take them all out in a matter of seconds. Of course, he couldn''t be sure whether this plan would be easy to put into action. But he was confident enough.


    Before acting though, he would have to look careful for any kind of seal or blood runes in their blood and flesh. With his current understanding of the soul and his Flying Poison, he could even get rid of seals within someone''s soul. As such, there was absolutely no seal that could resist him. At least, no Spirit Warrior or Accomplished Demon could craft a seal he couldn''t unravel. Of course, stronger cultivators could probably do so, but no one on the Piaolu planet had exceeded those realms since the Forsaken Dao Era.


    "Do you have any information I would need to know before I strike?"


    "No."


    For the first time in their conversation, Cao Yun detected a lie. There was something Xixue wasn''t telling him. But behind that lie, he also detected hope and fear about that hope. Indeed, Xixue was afraid that what she knew would deter Cao Yun from doing what he had in mind. After all, instead of killing the group, he might as well run away alone just before reaching Yixin City.


    "Hiding anything from me is not the right move, young lady. As I said, I do intend to kill them all no matter what. I swear that I won''t abandon you. To tell you the truth, I cannot stand demons enslaving other demons. In my home, such a crime is punishable by death and worse. So do not worry. Those slavers'' lives are forfeit. They threw them away the moment they decided to enslave another fellow demon."


    "Fine... I heard that Boss Gui has connections with the Sisters of the Abyss. From the rumors, they''re able to track anyone. If you kill her men, Boss Gui might be able to find you out. Although I don''t for sure, the Sisters probably use blood seals. If you kill those slavers, you will be marked and easy to follow."


    Cao Yun had already heard the name of those Sisters of the Abyss. They seemed to be a powerful religious order. Even Lord Wanghuo, the King of the Nalupu Kingdom, was respecting them. All of the city-states were considering them as a great pillar of their culture. As such, not even a king could afford to disrespect them.


    No matter how powerful they were, Cao Yun wasn''t afraid at all. Even if they could somehow track him, he was confident in his stealth technique to thoroughly conceal himself. Maybe Dian Mo would have been able to tell him more. There was a possibility that he knew something important about those Sisters. But if the Sisters used seals, Cao Yun was not afraid of this. Not only could he get rid of the seals within Yaxue and the others, he could get rid of any seal in himself. Besides, he simply had to make it look like a demonic beast had killed them. This wasn''t unusual.


    Thankfully, the fact that Xixue had accepted to tell him about this so easily showed that there was some level of trust. At the very least, she believed he was telling the truth. And on his end, he knew that she was telling the truth. The slaves could help him cross the desert just as fine as the slavers. In the worst case scenario, Cao Yun could even put seals on them so that they could never reveal what had happened. If his plan worked out, apart from Xixue, no one would ever see his face or hear his name. However, he would err on the side of caution in a land he knew nothing about.


    "Tonight, I will slaughter Yaxue''s companions. And I will take care of him myself afterwards. Your job will be to free all your companions. After that, you will help the caravan reach the city you''ve talked about. Once we''re there, you and your friends will be free to go anywhere you want. I ask for nothing more. Since the others seem to trust you, I count on you to convince them to help me. What say you?"


    "I have no reason to refuse. If you free us, we will bring you to the closest city."


    There was now eagerness, and maybe even ambition, in Xixue''s voice. And there was no trace of falsehood. The more he thought about the last few months, the more guilty and ashamed Cao Yun felt. He might have been able to free the slaves earlier. But that girl might have also tried to sell him out to save herself. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no way of knowing it for sure before trying. There was too much risk for himself. As much as he was telling himself it was for his sister, he knew that this was also for his own sake.


    "Xixue, I am sorry about what happened to you all. If I had acted earlier, I could have spared you a lot of humiliation and suffering..."


    This time, Cao Yun felt a true surprise in Xixue''s demeanor. Although what he had already told her had been unexpected, his last words were truly amazing. Since Xixue had never met any Accomplished Demon before, she had a certain vision of who they were in mind. For her, no Accomplished Demon would ever be so compassionate. They were seeing others, even other demons, as insects, especially if they came from another tribe. Xixue didn''t know where Cao Yun had come from, but it was probably a far better place than this blazing hell.


    "Senior, my people has known pain and humiliation for millenniums now. You are not responsible for any of that. Without your help, we would be sold as servants, whores, playthings or even sacrifices. Free us from that terrible fate and we will forgive anything you want."


    There was a bit more respect in Xixue''s words, but none in her tone.


    Now that Cao Yun had made up his mind, there was no going back. His plan was simple. He intended to take down all of Yaxue''s companions as quickly as possible using any means at his disposal. Then he would keep at least Yaxue alive in order to squeeze all the information he needed out of him.


    Before doing all of that though, Cao Yun used his Flying Poison to thoroughly investigate everyone''s bodies, both slaves and slavers. Getting inside their sea of consciousness on the other hand would reveal his actions. Thus, he would wait until later to do that. But already, he had detected a few seals he knew with certainty he could unravel. Everything seemed to be in order for him to attack.

 Chapter 494: Traitorous attack

    As the group was getting closer and closer to Yixin City, Cao Yun could tell that there were new emotions among both slaves and slavers. The slaves were getting more and more anxious as their fates would soon be decided. At the same time though, their fear and anguish was limited by Xixue. Although she didn''t reveal exactly what Cao Yun had told her, she reassured them. That showed Cao Yun that he had made the right choice with her. He didn''t want panic to spread through the slaves when he acted.


    On the other hand, the slavers were anticipating a good payday while also being anxious. For Cao Yun''s senses, their intention was absolutely transparent. They were planning something sinister for him. Most likely, they intended to either pressure him into joining them or even downright enslave him. Although he was an Accomplished Demon in their eyes, they had other Accomplished Demons in their company. Besides, they worked for Boss Gui. Since Cao Yun was not affiliated with any other group, she would probably try to recruit him.


    The only person who was perfectly calm was Cao Yun himself. Thanks to his mind cultivation, he was able to perfectly control his emotions. Right now, he needed to plan. There were seven middle to late Golden Blood Children. Individually, they were theoretically no threat to Cao Yun. But his current situation made it so he couldn''t overtly use his Qi cultivation. Although he didn''t intend to let anyone survive, body and soul, he would still try to fight without revealing he was a human. After all, in the future, he would need to be able to do so. Thus, he would need to use every method he could think of to kill them all before they could unite against him.


    As soon as he would strike, his real blood cultivation would be revealed since he didn''t even have formed his Golden Blood yet. That was a real priority. For the time being, Cao Yun could somewhat use his Flying Poison to pass as an Accomplished Demon but his blood was still lacking the mark of a middle Golden Blood Child. The more he planned, the more ashamed he felt. Indeed, he would have to resort to some means that were clearly part of the demonic cultivators'' arsenal. In fact, he surprised himself thinking more and more like a demonic cultivator. While he was planning the deaths of those slavers, he was also pondering over the best use for them. Because he was still studying the corporeal soul and Death Energy, he sincerely thought about observing their dying moments.


    He could kill them right away though. First of all, he would need information from them. Since Dian Mo was still eerily silent, he would have to use more conventional and brutal methods. Given that he could easily tell whether they were lying or not, torture would be effective. In fact, he had some ideas on the matter by using his understanding of seals developed thanks to Dian Mo.


    Speaking of seals, this was his second worry. In this land, he had no idea what kind of seals could be used. Thus, he was worried that some seal might help their master discover what had happened to them. For Cao Yun''s plans, the best option was for them to look like they had died in the Desolate Dune Desert. From everything he had heard, this wasn''t very rare at all. In fact, this was why many small tribes were scattered across the land. They knew that the cities of the Xinian Confederation all had to cross the Desolate Dune Desert to get to them. Since they were all trading in slaves in some capacity, this was a good way for the small tribes to protect themselves from subjugation.


    The Desolate Dune Desert was a place of both death, worship and adventure. Yaxue''s group had risked their lives to cross it in order to find some demons to enslave. No one would be surprised if they were to simply die in the desert. After all, without Cao Yun''s intervention, this was exactly what would have happened. Besides, they were all Golden Blood Children. No one would make a fuss if they were to disappear in the dunes. After getting what he needed from them, Cao Yun just had to make sure to get rid of any trace of his involvement. Thankfully, he had his spatial ring to do so.


    At last, he decided to act. The more he waited, the closer they were getting to Yixin City. If they were too close, they might be discovered by someone one. According to what he had heard, they were still a few weeks away from the city. With Hongyu, they would be able to get there in less than a week. But with the caravan, it would at least take a couple of weeks if not three of them. Traveling through the Desolate Dune Desert was indeed very difficult and thus took a lot of time unless someone knew how to fly and could account for all the spatial distortions.


    The young man still had a lot of rage in him after learning the truth about his mother''s soul being used as a Domain and his sister being raised by that butcher Weide as a pig for slaughter. Focusing on those, Cao Yun was once again filled with anger. He pushed his Flying Poison to the limit without losing control of it. Then, he immediately attacked without any warning and without any mercy at all. Even if his enemies had been humans, he would have been just as merciless. Thankfully though, they were demons.


    All of a sudden, an Azure Dragon leaped from beneath the sand. It tore apart the entire left side of Yaxue. He had no time to react as it bit through his Wei Qi like it was paper. Cao Yun was strong enough to kill any Mortal Warrior and Golden Blood Children were just as powerful as Mortal Warriors. During the travel, Yaxue had finally broken through to 7th-grade Golden Blood Child. However, he had not been ready for threats coming from below. Yaxue was clearly the biggest threat so Cao Yun took care of him first. Seeing their leader''s left side explode like that, all the demons were shocked. They suddenly saw Cao Yun''s shape.


    Before they could get ready, the weaker demons saw only two shining red eyes. In their mind, they were watching a dragon covered in blood. Around them, the entire desert had turned into a mountain of mangled bodies and they were stuck in them. In fact, the weakest demon of the group stopped breathing altogether, terror had completely seized him. This was ''Weeping Demon'', Cao Yun''s mental attack.


    On the other hand, the stronger demons were able to resist Cao Yun''s mental pressure. However, they would not resist his spear for very long. Before they could organize themselves, Cao Yun had used ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted''. Moving all over the place, he sent a few cones of wind with his spear. There was now a temporary array formation all around his enemies. For them, it felt as though they were being constricted by the Azure Dragon. There was an oppressing force keeping them from moving.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Of course, a few of them were still strong enough to go past that. One of the women sent a knife toward Cao Yun. Even he was surprised by its speed, but he dodged it at the last moment. Immediately, that woman became his next target. In such a fight, he had to deal with the strongest cultivators first. That way, he would prevent the demons from unifying around a powerful fighter. The other ones would be easy pickings after that.


    While the fight was going on, Yaxue was trying to stay alive. He was quite literally spilling all over the sand. In theory, as a 7th-grade Golden Blood Child, he should be able to stop the bleeding easily but he realized that he simply couldn''t. His blood had been corrupted by something, some kind of poison he didn''t know. Even for a slaver, this was a coward tactic. Slavery was considered normal in the Nalupu Kingdom. On the other hand, poison was deemed immoral. The reason was simple enough. Blood was a gift from the brutal gods. Anything that would corrupt blood was an insult to those gods and deserved the most agonizing death. Of course, Cao Yun did not know about that at the moment. Even if he had known, poison was a very good way for him to make sure to win this fight.


    Cao Yun showed no mercy toward his opponents. Above him, the Horn Constellation finally appeared. The Horn Star was shining directly above his head at all times. The demons had also taken out their Qi Manifestations. At the same time, they had pushed their blood cultivation to the limit as well. Their skin had turned more or less red because of the blood beneath. Other than that, they looked exactly like humans. In fact, they were looking like humans who were exerting a great effort and had turned red. A few also had golden lines here and there, materialization of their Golden Blood. Because Cao Yun was pushing his blood cultivation as well, he had turned a bit red on some parts of his body. However, there was no sign of gold. Thus, the demons realized that they had been duped.


    The remaining demons now knew that Cao Yun was way weaker than them. However, they couldn''t seem to easily win the fight. They weren''t even as strong as a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, while Cao Yun could easily kill a half-step Spirit Warrior with his current strength. Of course, Cao Yun was not using his Qi cultivation, but his body had still been improved a lot, his blood had the property of the Drop of Wrath, he had developed his Spear Aura. In other words, he had many advantages apart from his raw cultivation. As long as his enemies were not working together, they were no threat at all.


    Despite the fight, Cao Yun could sense that Yaxue was still trying to regenerate her flesh. He had known that demons were resistant, but not to this extent. After all, that man was a 7th-grade Golden Blood Child. In Cao Yun''s earlier attack, he had been able to preserve both his heart and his brain. So long as he could control his blood, he might be able to survive by circulating it in his remaining organs himself. But he would never be able to recreate his missing organs though. In the end, he would die nonetheless. However, he was clinging to life with all his will. In itself, this was truly impressive. Just like Ren Chao, demons had indeed much more willpower than humans. On the other hand, their mind cultivation wasn''t as good.


    His array formation was still trapping them with him so none could escape. His ''Weeping Demon'' mental attack was still active. Thus, the weaker demons were faltering. Before any of them could attack, he unleashed his Black Heart Flame. This flame made out of burning souls went toward the demon closest to Cao Yun. The fool tried to block it. As soon as it touched his weapon, it spread like wildfire. Being a bit too late, the demon dropped his weapon just after the flame had reached his hands. In an instant, it spread within his body. Although his blood was resistant, it barely inconvenienced the Black Heart Flame that went straight for his soul.


    While that demon was being burned from within, Cao Yun unleashed his ''Dragon''s Twin Horns'' on all the demons at once. A few of them were severely injured, but some were able to defend and prepare a counter-attack. As a demon was throwing a knife toward Cao Yun, it turned into the stinger of a scorpion. Evading it with no problem, Cao Yun quickly jumped upward. A pincer had leapt from the sand down below, trying to cut him in half. With his meager spiritual senses, Cao Yun was able to see everything directly around him. He had no blind spot. Still, he couldn''t see to this extent in a large radius, but his perception of Qi was also very good. However, he had just realized during his travel that the sand was somehow interfering with that. The Fire element was so rich it was able to conceal the Qi moving within the sand. But it wasn''t too hard for him to perceive big changes anyway. After all, he was a very talented alchemist and had a great perception.


    For once, Cao Yun was truly surprised, a golden chain pierced through his left shoulder. It had come out of nowhere. Following the trail, he realized that the chain had appeared from a blood rune hidden in the sand. After further consideration, Cao Yun would have to be more careful about this sand than he initially thought. Dozens of other chains came from several spots all over the place. Without any hesitation, Cao Yun took out the first golden chain by violently twisting his body, ripping apart a bit of his shoulder. Then, he quickly moved all over the place with ''Crafty Harassment''. Striking down with ''Cracking the World'', Cao Yun caused a big vibration to go through the sand. Finally, he unleashed his ''The Pillar Piercing the Sky''.


    Great winds went along his spear and a powerful Azure Dragon was sent toward the strongest demon still able to fight. But because of Cao Yun''s previous strike against the ground, the winds sent a lot of sand all over the place. This wasn''t as bad as the hellish sandstorm he had been thrown into, but it was still a problem for the demons to perceive what was going on. That was a good opportunity for Cao Yun to dispatch more than half of them. Since they had no Dantian, Cao Yun decided to target both the heart and the head, just to be sure. Once they were all on the ground, he could make sure that they were thoroughly dealt with.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''!


    Before the other demons could recover, the body of the Azure Dragon whipped them. A couple of demons were simply cut in half. There was only one woman still standing. On her bloodied skin, she had a few golden chains as well as several blood runes floating behind her. There was no doubt that she was the one who had unleashed the golden chain that had pierced Cao Yun''s shoulder. As the sand flying around was settling down, Cao Yun used ''Ashen Feather Seal''. He quickly went behind the woman. Before she could notice anything unusual, she saw the tip of ''Tainted Heavenly Spear'' going through her chest. Then, the full might of the spear fell on her head. After stabbing her, Cao Yun rotated the spear and used its butt to crush her skull. ''The Dragon''s Body Hits the Earth''! Her body exploded in blood as it was reduced to paste.

 Chapter 495: Shame and torture

    Unfortunately, to be sure that Golden Blood Children were truly incapacitated, Cao Yun had to be incredibly brutal. Even then, he didn''t hesitate for one instant. By then, all the demons were agonizing on the ground. Behind Cao Yun, Yaxue was still struggling to survive like the others. Even though he knew that it was over for him, he was desperately trying to crawl away. Some other demon only had one half of his body left, while another one had the Black Heart Flame still burning through his flesh and soul. The reason why Cao Yun had not yet killed them all wasn''t cruelty.


    With his limited spiritual senses, he had detected an identical seal in all of them. Although he couldn''t tell what it was with certainty, it didn''t appear to be a seal like the one he had seen in demonic cultivators. As such, he was a bit worried of what it could do. Thus, he had used poison in his attacks to contaminate the blood of the demons. It was way more difficult to control their blood now. But he knew that this was only a temporary solution as their vitality would end up purifying their blood of this poison.


    Cao Yun stayed near the last woman he had reduced to paste. Her body was still convulsing but she wasn''t completely dead. Without hesitation, he injected his Qi in her. Using his spiritual senses, he was able to detect the seal deep in her soul. Thus, he immediately surrounded it with his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' technique. Thanks to that, it was completely isolated from the outside world. As he was doing so, Cao Yun felt that the seal instinctively tried to latch on to his own soul. At that moment, he understood what it was. He had been right to be cautious. This seal could mark one''s killer.


    Since he had studied it beforehand, it really wasn''t difficult for Cao Yun to get rid of the seal. Then, he thoroughly killed the woman and all the other demons except for Yaxue. Retrieving his Black Heart Flame from its first victim, Cao Yun controlled it to burn away the corporeal souls of all those demons. He would be merciful enough by leaving their ethereal souls alone. But their corporeal souls would even nourish his flame, not by much, but it was still something. Just as he was doing that, he observed how their Po was slowly turning into Death Energy.


    Because he still wasn''t a Sage, it was almost impossible to observe the Dao. However, he focused on ''Death Verses''. In particular, he focused on the third verse ''Living Death''. From what he had understood, this verse consisted in turning one''s own Po into Death Energy while still alive. If Cao Yun was able to fully understand it, he could turn part of his own soul to create Death Energy. His very soul would become a source of death in his body that he could then manipulate. Of course, the risks were extreme. But Death Energy coming from one''s own soul was much more powerful and easier to control than someone else''s Death Energy like what he was using right now.


    As he was feeding those demons'' Po to his Black Heart Flame, Cao Yun was also using ''Death Verses'' to try and sense everything that was going on. At that moment, he was using his understanding of ''See Through the Mud'' to see how the Po was being turned into Death Energy. This was the mystery behind ''Living Death''. But more than that, he was also trying to understand the cycle of the Po. At birth, it was forming the body, helping it grow and mature. Then, it was maintaining it alive. Those were the easiest parts to understand. Indeed, even now, Cao Yun''s Po was keeping him alive and helping him grow and mature even though he had reached adulthood.


    Finally, at the end of one''s life, Po would turn into a bringer of death. It was helping the body to die and rot. That was a part that was very difficult to understand for many. And it was impossible to experience for oneself. Besides, without a small understanding of the Dao of Death, it was hard to even sense the Po and the Death Energy in someone else''s body. Right now, Cao Yun was doing exactly that.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t very fruitful. He was able to see the Po turn into Death Energy. Somehow though, he was unable to clearly see it. It was as if the Po had suddenly changed. In fact, he was able to see that there had been a moment during which that energy within their bodies was neither Po nor Death Energy. But he simply couldn''t comprehend what had happened. Piercing the secret of a Dao was truly something only a Sage could do. Anyway, he thought that having the ''Death Verses'' with him would help him. It had to some extent, but it was insufficient.


    Unfortunately, he didn''t have a lot of time because he was preoccupied with Yaxue. Indeed, he couldn''t kill him like the others because he needed to get information out of him. For an instant, he also hesitated to steal their Golden Fates to improve his own through ''Fate Devouring Gate''. But that technique required blood essence from a much more powerful cultivator. Those demons'' cultivation wasn''t high enough for it to make a big difference. On the other hand, merging their blood essence with his might leave some trace. Since he had no idea what ways the demons could use to track someone, he decided against it. The risks far outweighed the few benefits.


    While Cao Yun was busy, Yaxue was still spilling all over the ground, desperately crawling away. Due to the poison, Yaxue was unable to really use his blood. However, he was slowly regaining his strength. Before he could do so, Hongyu acted. Her talons pierced his back and nailed him to the ground. At that moment, he felt his flesh melt under her touch. In her flames, there were traces of Evil Qi. Of course, she had understood that her brother didn''t want to kill that man yet. As his fat was burning, Yaxue let out a moan of pain. This torment made the poison spread faster in what remained of his body.


    Hearing his screams, Cao Yun finished his deadly task. Then, he calmly walked toward the tortured demon. Although he was a slaver who took pleasure in the pain he inflicted on others, Cao Yun couldn''t enjoy his agony. He could have ended his sufferings immediately. But unfortunately for him, the young human needed him alive to spill not his blood but everything he knew about this continent. Because he could not ask Dian Mo for help with a Soul Memory Search, he would need to do things in another way. Obviously, that way was pain. Although he had little empathy for a demon who made a living by enslaving his fellow demons and who clearly enjoyed humiliating and torturing them, Cao Yun wasn''t deriving any pleasure from the situation either.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    No matter how he looked at the situation, his methods were a bit too similar to what the demonic cultivators were used to doing. As much as he was trying to rationalize his actions, he knew that demonic cultivators were doing the exact same thing. That was for different purposes of course. However, Emperor Weide had probably rationalized his actions in the same manner Cao Yun was doing right now.


    There was a line Cao Yun was unwilling to cross though. The problem was that he didn''t know exactly where that line was. In his mind, he was only preoccupied about gaining information so he could get to his sister as fast as possible. But he also needed to grow stronger. Mercy would not award him any of those benefits.


    Luckily, Xixue had calmed the slaves. Even the men who were pulling the caravan did not react during the massacre. They simply watched as Cao Yun slaughtered all their tormentors. Unlike Cao Yun, they were quite elated when they saw how horrible their deaths were. At the same time, they were increasingly more afraid of Cao Yun. As they were living in the desert, they were familiar with horrendous scenes like this one. It wasn''t that rare for demonic beasts of other demons to kill in such ways. Unfortunately, because demons had a great vitality, and were thus hard to kill, it often required a lot of brutality to kill someone of equivalent strength.


    There was something that truly marked them though. Cao Yun didn''t take their blood. Blood was truly considered as sacred, especially blood essence. Not only had Cao Yun disregarded it, he had even burned it to nothingness. In Cao Yun''s mind, letting their ethereal soul endure to hopefully reincarnate someday was mercy. But for the demons, the fact that he had completely annihilated their blood essence was worse than destroying their potential reincarnation. Unlike humans, demons put more emphasis on blood than on souls. Dian Mo could have told him so, but at the moment Cao Yun had not yet realized that. In the slaves'' eyes, Cao Yun was an absolute heresy. But at the same time, he was their savior...


    All Cao Yun''s actions were improving his Po of Qi, the clean version of Unclean Evil. While Flying Poison was related to rage and anger, Unclean Evil was related to shame. Seeing himself act as the demonic cultivators he had been condemning, Cao Yun did feel some shame well up in him. But there was also fear, the fear that one day he would not feel any shame at all. Thus, Cao Yun clung to this shame in order to retain what he deemed was his moral although it seemed to become blurry.


    When he got to Yaxue, Cao Yun set up some array formation all around the caravan and another one all around himself and his victim. The two array formations were the strongest illusion array formations Cao Yun could muster in a short amount of time. The slaves could exit it of course but Xixue told them not to do so. While Co Yun was busy, she instructed the men to help her free everyone from their chains. They were all worried because their lives were intertwined with Yaxue''s fate. Thankfully, Xixue had told Cao Yun about the Slavery Brand so she was confident enough that he would be cautious.


    The Slavery Brand was a kind of seal that had two purposes. The first one was to inflict pain whenever their master wanted to. Unlike physical pain, this was a pain targeted at one''s very soul. Obviously, this was worse than anything one could imagine before receiving it themselves. And the second purpose was to simply kill the slave if their master were to die. As soon as Yaxue died, the seal he had in him would activate and cause all the seals in his slaves to activate as well. And they would stop only through death. In other words, their souls would be tortured until the pain caused was enough to kill them. Obviously, they were terrorized by that prospect.


    If Cao Yun wanted to kill Yaxue, there was nothing they could do. Even now that they were freed from their bonds, their lives were still in someone else''s hands. Since they had been captured a few months ago, they were still not too used to such a sensation. Yaxue''s slavers had not been able to break their spirit yet.


    Because he knew that, Cao Yun took care of Yaxue''s seals first. Later he could get rid of the Slavery Brand in all of the slaves. But for now, he simply made sure that Yaxue''s seals would never activate. Once again, he used his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to isolate them and unraveled them. Cao Yun had worked on seals with Dian Mo. He was the one with the most experience on the entire Piaolu planet. After all, he was the oldest sentient being right now, and the only one who had actually met Demon God Da Mo when he was alive.


    Although Dian Mo could not help Cao Yun at all, the young man didn''t need him at the moment. His training had been sufficient enough.


    Once the seals were all taken care of, Cao Yun did something else. Instead of unraveling them, he used one of his own. With Dian Mo, he had not only learned how to unravel but also how to craft seals. Thus, he did so. In fact, he mimicked the Slavery Brand while adding a little twist of his own to it. Now, he could inflict untold pain onto Yaxue without even touching him. Just a thought was enough to torture the fat man.


    Then, he completely cut off his nerves. His entire body was paralyzed apart from his head. Injecting his own Qi through his body, Cao Yun was keeping him alive. Like that, Yaxue had absolutely no way to die. And since the pain would come from his very soul, his body would not be affected. Thus, the young man could keep him alive indefinitely.


    "You will tell me everything I wish to know. No matter what happens, the sweet mercy of death will never come to you."


    "Boss Gui will grind your bones. She will flay you alive and make your skin grow back over and over again. Your blood will be fed to Sanguine Barren Leechers. Your very soul will suffer the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls."


    "Those are very good ideas, but I''ll stick to my plans if you do not mind. However, you''re right, let''s speak about your leader first. Tell me everything you know about this woman, Boss Gui."


    Before Yaxue could speak again, a jolt of pure pain coursed through his sea of consciousness. In there, the infinite ocean had turned into blood while the sky was full of dark clouds. Yaxue''s entire sea of consciousness was crisscrossed with black and crimson lightning while the howling of various monsters could be heard. While he couldn''t enter this place unlike Cao Yun, there was now a creature with green hair all over its body. This was a tiny part of Cao Yun''s chained Flying Poison.


    For several hours, Cao Yun tortured Yaxue in order to get all the answers he needed. Although demons had great willpower, breaking Yaxue didn''t take too long. After all, his current situation was just hopeless. He could only hope for death at that point. And he knew that it would only come when Cao Yun would be satisfied with his answers. A few times he tried to lie, even on some insignificant matters. But each time, Cao Yun had seen through him. So he only had one choice. He told him everything.

 Chapter 496: Interrogation in the desert

    While he was inflicting untold torments on Yaxue, Cao Yun didn''t feel alright. To be honest, he had no qualm and no guilty doing that to such a character. After all, he had seen how he was treating slaves. The mere fact that he had abducted people in order to sell them into slavery was enough for Cao Yun to not care about his fate. However, what he was worried about was himself. Even in that moment, he was thinking about his little sister. And he wasn''t sure to which extent he was ready to go to get back to her.


    This time, he could justify his actions no matter how cruel because of the crimes of his victims. But if those demons had only been ordinary merchants, Cao Yun wondered whether he would have been ready to torture them for information as well. Of course, he wanted to believe that he wouldn''t have, but to be absolutely honest he wasn''t sure of that. That thought was plaguing his mind.


    It took some convincing but Yaxue ended up spilling everything he knew, not just his blood. In a few hours, Cao Yun had a good understanding of this place. This was a large continent surrounded by what was called the Divine Blood Ocean. The reason for that name was simple, this was a hyperbole to claim that even gods would be turned to blood in that ocean. Indeed, there were powerful demonic beasts. Some even claimed that there could still be Immortal Beasts sleeping in its depths. But none had ever seen one since the Forsaken Dao Era had begun. In the past, there were probably Immortal Beasts, but by now they should either have left the planet or died.


    Anyway, the main point was that crossing that ocean was almost impossible alone even for powerful a Accomplished Demons. However, there was trade between the Nalupu Kingdom and the other demon kingdoms on the main continent. No one knew exactly how they operated but the Xinian Confederation had a way to send boats through the Divine Blood Ocean. Even then, in average, one out of three boats was lost at sea. Moreover, there was only one harbor that was able to send boats sailing through that deadly ocean. And that harbor was under the conjoint control of both the Xinian Confederation and Lord Wanghuo himself. There were other small harbors of course but they could not send boats away from the continent.


    In other words, Cao Yun was stuck in that place until he was able to secure a boat toward the main continent. According to the map of the Piaolu planet drawn by Emperor Nuwa, there was indeed a large continent named the Ruptured Land. That name had been given because this continent had literally been created during the Great War. Indeed, the fights had been so terrible that this part of the main continent had been ruptured and separated from the rest of the land. Obviously, the demons had another name for that land, the Desolate Sepulcher. While the main continent was called the God''s Land.


    Obviously, Cao Yun got very interested in Lord Wanghuo, the supreme ruler of the Nalupu Kingdom. Apparently, he was an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon. That meant that he had already turned the seven parts of his Po into Turbid Demons and that he was currently working on merging them together to create a perfect Demon Soul. Unlike the Soul Embryo of humans, demons and asura were building their Demon Soul bit by bit. Just like a Po, a Demon Soul was made of seven parts that were then merged together. Right now, Lord Wanghuo was way above what Cao Yun could deal with even by using all of his cultivation and trump cards.


    Lord Wanghuo was said to have thousands of wives and concubines. Frequently, he received new women in his harem. But most of them didn''t last very long, either because of his attention or because of the other women themselves. Staying alive in there was a never-ending battle. From that harem, he had had thousands of children of course. To this day, Lord Wanghuo had ever only had boys. It wasn''t clear whether he had only produced boys or if the girls had been killed. But even among his children, competition was so terrible that many of them were also dead. To be honest, it wasn''t easy to keep count of all his children. But most people thought that, among the adults, only a dozen of them were still alive to this day. And they were all in positions of power of course. Still, he kept having children.


    Even for demons, this was highly unusual. Unlike the humans who had decided to limit the births in order to avoid conflicts between the different generations, demons did so for a completely different reason. Demons liked to preserve their Jing as much as possible. The prenatal Jing a baby received during his conception came from the essence of both his parents. As such, having too many children would eventually hurt someone''s Jing. For humans, this wasn''t much of a problem. But for demons who put a lot of emphasis on blood and on blood essence in particular, this was an issue. Wasting one''s blood essence was out of question. Thus, they didn''t squander it by having too many kids.


    Yaxue knew almost nothing of the inner workings of Lord Wanghuo''s rule of course. And he also knew very little about the Xinian Confederation. Unfortunately, that was also true of the Sisters of the Abyss. In his mind, they were just an influential religious order that was known to buy a lot of female slaves. From what he knew, there was only two ways the slaves could serve the Sisters of the Abyss, either in death or in life.


    Those who were chosen to become Sisters were trained by the order. Since the training was intense, many didn''t survive it. As a consequence, the Sisters were extremely talented. They could be hired as assassins, spies, advisors, seers and many other occupations. Thanks to those positions, the Sisters always had a grip on the political rulers of the Desolate Sepulcher. On the other hand, those who lacked the talent to become full-fledged Sisters were sacrificed to the brutal gods. No one knew exactly what was going on in the temple of the Sisters. And no one had the courage to try to find out. Lord Wanghuo had been the only man ever to set foot in one of those temples and get out alive.


    Finally, Cao Yun learned about the surrounding city-states. Of course, what Yaxue knew best was Yixin City. That city was ruled by Boss Gui. She was both the representative of the Xinian Confederation and the ruler of that city-state. Like her nickname suggested, the Smiling Flayer, Boss Gui was an incredibly cruel woman. It wasn''t rare for her to torture her own subordinates to death in public. And she had a particular affection for flaying people. For her, this was an art to the point that she boasted to be able to get someone''s skin off his flesh without letting a single drop of blood fall.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Because Yaxue had fallen behind in his quota, he had decided to risk it all by crossing the Desolate Dune Desert. He knew that there were many tribes hiding either in the desert or on the other side. Thankfully, he could capture some slaves to sell for Boss Gui. Otherwise, he knew what would ultimately happen to him and this wasn''t very pleasant. Unfortunately for him, he had crossed Cao Yun''s path. But to be fair, without Cao Yun, he would have died anyway while fighting the Tyrant Sun Scarab.


    Pressing Yaxue a bit more, Cao Yun learned that he did in fact intended to try and enslave Cao Yun himself. Boss Gui was an early Accomplished Demon with at least two Turbid Demons fully formed. As such, he was convinced that she could subdue Cao Yun. With such a slave, Yaxue hoped to be safe from her fury and sadism. Of course, it hadn''t turned exactly as he had planned. Anyway, Cao Yun decided it was safer to avoid that crazy woman. Instead, he tried to inquiry about other city-states.


    They were all further than Yixin City and from Yaxue''s description, their rulers were not any less brutal. Boss Gui was probably the most unhinged of them all. But none of those rulers was really a pacifist. Public torture and executions were common enough all around the city-states. And that was precisely why so many small tribes had decided to go live in the Desolate Dune Desert despite all the danger that came with such a life. Cao Yun could understand that. Unfortunately, he needed to get access to a boat. Thus, he had to find a way to join the Xinian Confederation somehow.


    In the end, his best bet was maybe Boss Gui. From everything he got out of Yaxue, she was the ruler he knew the most things about. Although she was absolutely vicious and barbaric, she wasn''t insane per se. All her actions were very rational. Thus, she might in fact be a safe bet. As long as Cao Yun knew how to handle her, he shouldn''t have to fear her too much. Besides, with his Flying Poison, he could pass off as a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon. And as soon as his Unclean Evil was cultivated, he might even pass off as a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. Right now, he only missed his Golden Blood. Without it, this illusion could easily be seen through. But so long as he had created his Golden Blood, the young human was certain he could fool even a late Accomplished Demon.


    Of course, he wouldn''t really get the strength of an Accomplished Demon just by forming his Turbid Demons. But their distinctive aura would be able to dupe others into thinking he had. And from what he knew of Boss Gui, she wouldn''t fight a demon if she wasn''t sure she could kill him. The fact that demons refused to use poison as they didn''t want to contaminate blood was a good thing for Cao Yun. To be fair, his understanding of poisons was highly developed, but the demons might have had some poisons he knew nothing about. The fact that he had no reason to fear for such an assassination attempt was good.


    After getting as many details as he could out of Yaxue, he decided that it was time for him to die. Even his death would be used though. Indeed, Cao Yun was still trying to figure out the secret of the transmogrification of the Po into Death Energy. Thus, the young man used his entire Flying Poison to observe Yaxue''s soul. He penetrated his sea of consciousness as he was dying. Then, he even sent his Black Heart Flame into his flesh.


    In his own sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was chanting the few lines of ''Death Verses'' he knew how to pronounce. His goal was to understand ''Living Death''. Hopefully, it might even help him form his Turbid Demons faster. After all, they were related to Po and Death Energy. While he was observing Yaxue''s demise, Cao Yun thus focused on his Unclean Evil.


    Once again, it was a failure. Although he could see Yaxue''s Po and the Death Energy resulting from it, he simply couldn''t point out when one had turned into the other. It was as though he had blinked and everything had changed. But the more he thought about it, the more he was about to find the solution. Maybe it was easier than what he thought. Yaxue''s Po had always been Death Energy. What had changed was not his Po but something else that was interacting with it. Some form of balance had been ruptured and this had caused it to change its nature. Either it was an interaction with something outside of his Po of something within his own Po.


    As soon as that balance was ruptured, one''s Po would turn from a bringer of life to a messenger of death. This simple realization allowed Cao Yun to read a bit more of the ''Living Death'' verse. His guess was correct. There was no change in nature between Po and Death Energy. This was just an illusion, just like ice, water and vapor were ultimately the same thing in different states. Within the Po, there were seven aspects always interacting with each other. If those interactions were disturbed, Po could turn into Death Energy. At that point, Cao Yun wasn''t sure what had disturbed that balance. But he had found a great secret.


    ''Living Death'' explained how someone could change the balance in his own Po so it could turn into Death Energy and back without dying. What truly astonished Cao Yun was the implication. If Death Energy could turn back into Po, it should theoretically be possible to restore someone''s corporeal soul. Of course, he had no idea what consequence this would have on the physical body that had started to rot. But the mere fact that it was possible was interesting.


    Unfortunately, this didn''t mean that one could bring the dead back to life because the Hun was gone already. Within the Hun, the ethereal soul, was the part of an individual that would go to the Heavenly Court to later be reincarnated in this world or another.


    Anyway, with his current analysis of the corporeal soul, Cao Yun had gotten a bit closer to understanding the Dao of Death. Even though he had the writings of Cleansed Asura, touching a concept belonging to the Dao was miraculous for someone who wasn''t a Sage.


    As Yaxue was dying, Cao Yun also consumed his Death Energy through his Black Heart Flame. Then, he decided to stay in his isolated array formation for some time. Outside, Xixue was calming and organizing the other slaves. All of a sudden, they saw water and food appear before them. This was a gift from Cao Yun. Even now, he felt a bit guilty for letting them be used as beasts of burden and being humiliated during his entire travel.


    In his array formation, Cao Yun was focusing on his Unclean Evil. At the same time, a part of his will had entered the Drop of Wrath. He was carefully trying to carve out another Unclean Evil in it using his Black Heart Flame. Since it contained a lot of Death Energy, Cao Yun thought it might be possible to create a Turbid Demon with it. After all, the Drop of Wrath had once been inhabited by all seen Turbid Demons. He needed to give it a little push to form them back. All this time, this was what the Drop of Wrath was looking for.

 Chapter 497: Slavery Brands

    After spending a few months secluded in the caravan, Cao Yun had developed his Unclean Evil. In fact, he had mostly put aside his Qi cultivation and his martial arts since he was forced to stay confined. Besides, developing his blood cultivation would help him push his Qi cultivation forward faster. Indeed, his blood was getting richer and richer in Fire element so consequently his Middle Dantian was naturally getting filled with Fire Qi without his needing to do anything more. ''Drowning One''s Heart in Blood'' originally meant to send Qi, the ''energetic blood'' inside one''s Middle Dantian as it was situated in and around the heart and oftentimes the two were considered as one and the same. But Cao Yun had taken it quite literally by using it with the blood cultivation he had learned from the Huang family, ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace''.


    Frequently, he was sending all of his blood, condensed as much as he could, into his heart. This both improved the quality of his blood, of his essence and even his Qi. Indeed, the property of the Drop of Wrath was always improving it. Over time, he had also discovered that using his Black Heart Flame to temper his blood was also very good. The Rune of Fire was helping a lot with that. One thing was in common with all those, his Drop of Wrath was a very important element of his blood cultivation. The stronger it was, the faster and higher Cao Yun would progress. Considering that it had belonged to a demon who had probably transcended the status of god, this wasn''t too surprising.


    Although the Drop of Wrath had been useful in tempering his body and advancing his Qi cultivation a little, it was incredible when it came to blood cultivation. The more he was corking with it, the more Cao Yun realized that he might become an Accomplished Demon before becoming a Spirit Warrior. At the time, he wasn''t sure whether it was the best course of action or not. Although he needed to get stronger as fast as possible, he couldn''t decide whether he should form his Soul Embryo or his Demon Soul first. The two were similar in concept but very different in practice.


    A Demon Soul was more powerful than a Soul Embryo, but it was also volatile and not versatile at all. This was why demons were though to have powerful and obstinate wills. As a consequence, breaking a Demon Soul was difficult. However, it also meant that it wasn''t easily bent to the will of its owner. Thus, it was difficult to really use it to perform minute works.


    For now though, Cao Yun didn''t care too much. Along the way, he would learn more about himself as he would develop his cultivation. Then, he could figure out the best course of action for him. Besides, no one had ever attempted to form both of those so he was truly in uncharted territory. In terms of Qi cultivation, he had three grades to go through and they seemed easy enough thanks to his current blood: filling his Middle Dantian with Fire Qi, strengthening his meridians, and finally his Extraordinary Vessels so they would resist the Lesser Tribulation. On the other hand, he still had to become a full-fledged 4th-grade Golden Blood Child and then cross six more grades. Even if his cultivation was faster than any other demon, it would still take some time. Hopefully, he would be able to get close to the third realm of both cultivation systems around the same time.


    Concerning his next blood breakthrough, he had to form his Golden Blood. Usually, demons could only use their Kidney Fires, which was thus limited to their kidneys. They could only temper their blood within their Lower Dantian, far from the heart. Cao Yun could alter his blood in his heart using both his Black Heart Flame and his Drop of Wrath. But he couldn''t bring his prenatal Jing and his marrow all the way up there. Thus, he would still need to merge marrow and blood in his Lower Dantian. Before that though, he would try to push his blood quality as high as he could.


    Right now though, this wasn''t the best place or time to cultivate. He still had all the slaves around him even though he was hidden within his illusory array formation. Before getting rid of it, he used ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to hide his identity as much as he could. Cao Yun wanted to keep what had happened here as secret as possible. For an instant, the thought of killing the slaves even crossed his mind. The boy heard his own voice telling him that they were just demons after all. Immediately, he silenced it. As his mind cultivation was progressing, he was cultivating his Turbid Demons. Everyone could have strange and sometimes terrifying thoughts. But with his current cultivation, they were becoming quite loud, acting on his anger and his shame. At the same time, his will was stronger than other people.


    Truly, ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' had been very well thought out. Without the first two layers, working on his Turbid Demons would have been very difficult. And he could imagine how the minds of Accomplished Demons could be torn by this inner battle. Cao Yun had learned and fully realized that someone''s personality and even ego was the result of the perpetual dialogue, and sometimes conflict, between his ten souls. The seven Po were pushing one toward survival and earthly desires, while the three Hun were pushing him toward a more fulfilling existence, toward friendship, family and even a greater sense of accomplishment. Some might refer to it as a spiritual pursuit of enlightenment. The truth was that if any of those ten souls took over completely, the person would suffer.


    Completely forgetting earthly desires lead to death since the body needed them to survive. Forsaking greater pursuits would lead to another kind of decay. Just as much as the body needed sustenance, so did someone''s mind. Now that he was experiencing how strong his Turbid Demons could get, Cao Yun was able to appreciate the situation of demons. But unlike humans, they were used to having stronger emotions from infancy. Not only their anger, all their emotions were a bit enhanced. This wasn''t much, so demons and humans were not so different at the individual level. But at a population level, this led to great differences between humans and demons.


    From what Cao Yun knew, asura, and demons as well, had a greater sense of art than humans. To be honest, he was quite curious about that. Apart from martial arts, Cao Yun was also a connoisseur of poetry and he was looking forward to learning more about demonic poetry. Of course, this wasn''t his priority at all. For the foreseeable future, Cao Yun made the choice to put his little sister as his number one priority and lifelong pursuit. In order to rescue her though, he would need to grow stronger enough to at least lead a rebellion against Emperor Weide. And before that, he would also need to find some deal with either the Xinian Confederation or the Nalupu Kingdom. Both organizations that he despised from the bottom of his heart. The mere fact that they were flourishing on slavery was enough to fuel his scorn. But what he had learned from Yaxue added several layers to his view on them.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Finally, he took down his illusory array formation. Suddenly, he was being observed by a bit more than twelve slaves. Xixue had done a very good job and none showed any sign of fear. At the very least, they were hiding it very well. The very first thing they did was to try and find Yaxue. They all knew that if he were to die, their Slavery Brand would activate and they would die in agonizing torments. Unfortunately, they had seen it happen with their own eyes. Yaxue had slaughtered the elderly people when his group had captured those slaves because they had no value on the market. However, he had kept one of them alive just so he could demonstrate that very specific death. It had left a huge impression on them.


    "I killed Yaxue."


    Hearing those words, the slaves were shocked. When they realized that they were still alive after that, they looked at each other in disbelief. Of course, they were happy with this outcome, but they were still unsure of Cao Yun''s next actions.


    "Unlike that beast, I do not dabble in slavery. Although I got rid of his master seal, the Slavery Brands are still in you. If you so wish, I could get rid of them all. As a compensation, I only ask that you swear never to speak of what transpired today. For all intents and purposes, Yaxue and his group was killed by a Tyrant Sun Scarab. No one even needs to know that they had captured any slave. They were all slaughtered before they could get to any of the nomad tribes living in the desert."


    From Yaxue, Cao Yun had learned that there were indeed many nomad tribes. Still a few decades ago, some were almost sedentary, moving only when the season required it. But they had a few villages already prepared beforehand in a few different areas. However, this had changed because of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. As much as they preached hatred toward humans, they were not very lenient toward demons either. And for their wars, they needed a lot of cannon fodder. First, they bought many slaves for their campaigns against other demons. Then, they paid for slaves against the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Ironically, this was somehow good news for Cao Yun. Indeed, this trade had made the Nalupu Kingdom so filthy rich that they had invested a lot in their harbor and their boats. Since Cao Yun wanted to go back, this was a good thing. But this almost meant that the Nalupu Kingdom had subjugated the entire Desolate Sepulcher. In fact, only the Xinian Confederation and the Sisters of the Abyss were officially recognized as independent organizations. On the other hand, everyone else had to bow in front of Lord Wanghuo or suffer for it. The nomad tribes had indeed been suffering from it for a long time.


    That too could help Cao Yun. He had no involvement with either party. The nomad tribes seemed clearly more to his taste. Unfortunately, they had no way to help him cross the Divine Blood Ocean. The Nalupu Kingdom and the Xinian Confederation were both founded on the slave trade. Thus, they were both despicable in his view. He wouldn''t bat an eye f they were reduced to dust blown away by the desert. Concerning the Sisters of the Abyss, he was a bit more torn. Apparently, they were indeed buying slaves but nothing was known about what really happened in their midst. To be honest, Cao Yun was intrigued.


    Anyway, for now, he wanted to maintain a neutral relation with everyone. Thus, no one could know what he had just done to Yaxue''s party. After all, they were under Boss Gui''s command. And she might be the easiest party to deal with. Putting aside her sadism, she was level-headed and very rational. As long as there were benefits to be gained, she could be reasoned with.


    First, some slaves were a bit hesitant. A young woman was the first one to walk forward. With an uncertain confidence, she got closer to Cao Yun.


    "Do you plead never to reveal anything about this day?"


    "I do."


    "Fine, I will get rid of your Slavery Brand now. Do not put up any opposition."


    It was easy enough for Cao Yun to enter into her flesh and mind, especially if she didn''t do anything to stop it. Even if she had done so, she wouldn''t have been able to do anything significant. However, she might have suffered from it. Unfortunately, like in medicine, it was easier to damage than to repair. That being said, it didn''t take long for Cao Yun to get rid of her Slavery Brand. Even the little woman was surprised by it. After all, she had thought that the process would be long and painful and she had steeled herself to it. But in the end, she had only felt a burning sensation enter her head. Then, a small pressure was a bit uncomfortable and everything was done.


    As a Blood Child, she couldn''t see her own sea of consciousness. But she could clearly feel that the anguish of the Slavery Brand was gone. Contrary to some seals, this one was meant to be felt so as to always remind the slaves of their status. This truly was a wicked thing.


    For some time, Cao Yun had hesitated whether he should try to place another seal to ensure no former slave could talk about this day. In the end, he decided against it. Deep down, he knew this was the smart thing to do. But he was still feeling guilty about everything he had let Yaxue''s group do to the slaves while he was accompanying them.


    When the little woman told everyone that it had worked, they were all astonished. After all, only a late Accomplished Demon could forcibly get rid of a Slavery Brand. And even then, there was always a chance of failure. Once again, a Demon Soul was powerful but not easy to control. The Xinian Confederation had mastered the Slavery Brand to the point where they had literally created blood runes destined to put one in someone''s mind. Even Golden Blood Children could use those blood runes. However, to get rid of them, it was necessary to be a talented Accomplished Demon. Obviously, Cao Yun had learned a lot about seals thanks to Dian Mo, who was still silent.


    It didn''t take a lot of time for Cao Yun to get rid of all the Slavery Brands. The only one remaining was Xixue. She had waited for all the other former slaves to pass before her. In their eyes, Cao Yun saw that they could barely believe what had happened. Looking at their eyes, he knew that they would never betray their oath to him. For them, he had to be a powerful Accomplished Demon. Besides, he was also their savior. Contrary to him, they didn''t blame Cao Yun for not rescuing them earlier.

 Chapter 498: A voluntary slave

    Finally it was Xixue''s turn to get her Slavery Brand erased. However, Cao Yun could see in her eyes that she had something else to ask of him. Although she was trying to hide her feelings as best as she could, Cao Yun was able to read her expressions like an open book.


    Contrary to the other slaves, she wasn''t exactly happy to be saved. Still, she seemed happy enough for her companions. But examining them a bit closer, Cao Yun detected some signs in the color of their eyes, their skins and various subtle details. All the other slaves clearly looked like they belonged to a same lineage while Xixue was vaguely distant from that genealogy. Of course, she was very similar to them but there was something else to her. Most likely, she didn''t belong to the same tribe. Maybe she had been staying with them for some reason when the slavers attacked. They seemed to trust her a lot considering what he had observed during his time in the caravan.


    Right now, she seemed to be torn, as though she had to make the most important choice in her life.


    Anyway, he would soon get his answers. But he didn''t want to make obvious to the young woman that he could see through her no matter the efforts wasted to conceal her feelings. Indeed, in this unknown land, he had no reason to reveal any of his real talents. Even in the previous fight, he had concealed his Qi cultivation until the very end. Obviously, he would have used it if he had been in too much difficulty. Thankfully, he hadn''t had to do so. Although the former slaves were grateful, he had no idea how they would respond to a human impersonating an Accomplished Demon.


    Xixue tried to look as subservient as possible, but Cao Yun could see signs of defiance and even disrespect in her. He couldn''t tell for sure why but she had some animosity toward him. Maybe it was just her nature. However, there was no sign that she wished him any harm. Even if she had, she was completely powerless in front of him and she knew it. In fact, that might have been the reason for this animosity. Right now, her life was completely in Cao Yun''s hands, no matter how nice he pretended to be.


    "Noble lord, I have a request to make of you."


    When she said ''Noble lord'', Cao Yun could see that she hated that with a passion. But she was swallowing her pride to talk to him. With those simple words, he saw through her. She didn''t hate him, she hated the noble demons. With his bloodline, Cao Yun did look like a noble-born. Bloodlines were extremely important to demons, along with strength.


    "Oh?! Speak freely."


    "Thank you. But you might not want my companions to hear what I have to reveal to you."


    There was no doubt that Cao Yun was intrigued by this woman. She wasn''t very tall and her blood cultivation was weak. Her hair was red as blood. Contrary to most demons, her skin was also rather pale. In fact, now that he looked closely, all the other slaves were also a bit pale. He hadn''t paid it much attention because those were normal colors for humans. Considering that they were demons, Cao Yun imagined that they were simply avoiding the sun as much as possible. Thus, their skin was less red and dark than for other demons. Besides, he could also sense her blood. Her bloodline was good but nothing to boast about when compared to the demons he had met.


    He did want to know more about her and what she had to say, but not while everyone else was listening to their conversation. Thus, Cao Yun cut them off from the rest of the group. No matter what they would say, no vibration of the air would reach their ears. Besides, not a single one of them could see Xixue''s lips while Cao Yun could talk through telepathy thanks to his Flying Poison. From now on, no one could hear to anything that was said between Cao Yun and Xixue. After all, they were all Blood Children, not a single one of the former slaves was a Golden Blood Child. Anyway, Cao Yun had taken much precaution. He might have become a bit paranoid...


    "The truth is that I got captured on purpose. I knew that those slavers were roaming through the valley where I stayed. Thus, I tried to predict which tribe they would attack first. In the end, I was right and they did capture me with the rest of that tribe."


    Obviously, if the other slaves heard her story, they would be quite upset, understandably. If she had predicted the attack, she could have warned them. And many of their fellow tribesmen could have survived the assault. Thanks to Cao Yun''s presence, they wouldn''t dare to attack her straight away. But if he left her with them knowing that, they would probably kill her as retaliation.


    In her eyes and her words, the young man could see shame. This was a feeling he was very familiar with, especially now that he had developed his Unclean Evil. Beyond shame, he also saw anger directed toward her, and a bit toward him as well. The more he was studying her, the more Cao Yun was interested in the reasons behind her actions. At the same time, he was using his spiritual senses to completely seal them together and analyze everything about her, both without and within.


    "Explain yourself. Why would you get yourself be captured?"


    "Noble lord, the truth is that my little sister was enslaved by men also working under Boss Gui. And I wanted to get closer to her."


    What she just said didn''t seem false at first. But it wasn''t true either. She was speaking in half-truths. What really intrigued Cao Yun though was the fact that she had been able to find out where the slavers would strike. There were several possibilities for that. But one of them was that she might have made sure that they knew where to strike. He would need to make sure of that.


    "Tell me, did you give out the location of their tribe to Yaxue and his men?"


    Hearing those words, he saw a deep pain in her. Her eyes were full of self-loathing and she blamed him for reigniting this pain.


    "Noble lord, I won''t hide it from someone with such a piercing gaze. I did make sure that the information reached them. This wasn''t my first plan, but I had no other choice! Delivering myself to them would have alerted them that something was suspicious about me. And I couldn''t just get enslaved alone, this would have awoken suspicion. I had to look like I was fully part of that tribe. Thus, I gained the trust of this tribe for a few months before leaking anything out. And when the slavers attacked, I tried to convince them to surrender without too much bloodshed."Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Although she was talking about demons, Cao Yun was not too pleased with her actions. Still, he didn''t show it. For now, he wanted to know the whole story. Until then, he would reserve his judgment.


    "Many people still died because of your so-called plan..."


    "Noble lord, you know nothing of life in the desert, it seems. Life is cheap around here. Those who were killed wouldn''t have survived very long anyway."


    Before he could add anything else, Xixue objected. She barked those words, but she wasn''t trying to convince him. She was failing to convince herself. Having no pity on her for this matter, Cao Yun pressed on with his questions.


    "What did you hope to accomplish by becoming a slave? Did you think they would bring you to your little sister? What did those people die for?"


    "... Noble lord, mMy only hope to ever find my little sister was to be captured alongside other slaves. I had to get close to Boss Gui in order to find out to whom she had been sold."


    "First of all, stop calling me ''Noble lord''. Your voice is full of scorn and this burns my ears. Then, if you gained and betrayed this tribe''s trust just to find your sister, how did you plan to free her? This doesn''t make any sense, unless you had someone else to help you."


    There was some silence. In Xixue''s eyes, Cao Yun could finally tell that she was full of self-hatred. She sincerely despised what she had done and herself with it. However, he also saw something he had seen in himself. She was ready to do anything just to get to her little sister. She was desperate enough that she would subject herself to slavery just to find her. But he was also right and this surprised her that he had found her out. Despite her despair, she wasn''t stupid. As a slave, even if she had found info on her sister, she couldn''t have used it in any way.


    Obviously, Cao Yun saw a bit of himself in her. And he wondered whether he would have done the same, whether he would have gone to such extents. Would he have risked the lives of innocent bystanders just to find Cao Huiying? As much as he was trying to refute it, the unfortunate truth was that he might under the proper conditions. However, that didn''t extinguish the scorn he had now for that woman. But maybe it was some of his shame he was projecting on her.


    With his developed mind cultivation and his better understanding of shame and anger, Cao Yun felt like he was a spectator of his conflicting emotions. Of course, he wasn''t some kind of great sage and he was still swayed by them to a degree. However, he also understood that they were not defining him as a whole. And he was able to sense them with much more clarity.


    "I am ready to accept any retribution for my actions. But I need to make sure that my little sister is fine."


    "You didn''t answer my question. I know that you''ve been struggling with something. But in the end, you decided to keep quiet when I talked to you. Clearly, you were hoping for something. Maybe, you were hoping to find someone who would agree to get rid of some Slavery Brand. My guess would be that someone had already proposed that to you but you were not too trusting of that person. And as much as you tried to rationalize the betrayal of that tribe, you couldn''t go all the way through with it. Thus, I appeared as some form of way out of that deal. Tell me, am I too far off?"


    "I..."


    "You acted out of despair and you did things you now regret. But you have to own to them. As you''ve seen, I can get rid of this Slavery Brand as though it were nothing. Saving your little sister wouldn''t be a problem at all."


    Cao Yun got careful. He didn''t want to promise her anything. Right now, he just wanted to know more. Maybe this young woman might be useful to him. Although he had understood the current political and economical situation of the Nalupu Kingdom, he was alone. One way or another, he would need to find supports. Of course, he wasn''t naive to the point where he thought he might get allies. But even temporary supports would do just fine.


    "What would you know about despair?! She''s the only one I have left! I would gladly burn away my very soul just to make sure she didn''t suffer the fate that has been forced upon her!"


    "Stop trying to justify your actions to yourself. Tell me what you already decided to reveal."


    Cao Yun spoke as though he knew all about Xixue. And this infuriated her, because he was mostly right. Indeed, that plan was not really hers, at least, not entirely. And, indeed, she despised herself for going along with it. But deep down, she had felt as though she had had no choice.


    While he was speaking with her, Cao Yun was also looking deep in her body and soul. He ended up finding something. There were well-hidden marks along some of her bones. He had failed to see them at first because he didn''t even think about looking deeply at her bones. Those marks were literally engraved in her bones, very different from any other seal or blood runes he had seen. Either she or someone else had engraved them in her. But he wasn''t entirely sure what they were. One thing was certain though. Engraving those marks had been incredibly painful, especially for a middle Blood Child. That small woman had a lot of determination, he could give her that.


    Now that he had found those marks, he created a perfect copy of Xixue''s body in his mind. He even went to the trouble of analyzing each of her cell. This was a lengthy process but he truly wanted to know what those marks were, and what other secrets she might still hide.


    Defeated, Xixue lowered her head. As soon as he had spoken to her in the caravan, she had been doing some thinking. She could have tried to thwart his plan. Honestly, she wasn''t sure why she had decided against it. Most likely, it was because of her guilt. Those poor men and women had been enslaved because of her. Imagining and preparing her actions was obviously very different from actually witnessing them and their consequences. By gaining their trust, she had also bonded with them.


    On paper, they were complete strangers to her. But now, they were not. Now, she could remember their names, their lives, even some of their dreams.


    Cao Yun had given her a way out and she also hated him for that. If she had met him before, she could have avoided doing all that. Many would not be dead by now and her conscience would be a bit more clear. Of course, she knew she was responsible but she still had to come to grips with him.


    "I will tell you everything... But there are things I can''t... I mean, you should probably get rid of my Slavery Brand first. Maybe, you should also look closely, closer than for the others"


    As she was speaking, she was carefully looking for her words. In Cao Yun''s eyes, everything was clear. There were things she simply couldn''t tell because of some seals. After observing her body and soul, he knew exactly what she was talking about. Apart from the marks in her bones, there were seals very well hidden. In fact, they had almost merged with her Slavery Brand to conceal themselves. Obviously, demons like Yaxue would never have noticed them as they were mere Golden Blood Children.


    And once the Slavery Brand was activated, they hid them so well that Cao Yun himself missed them the first time. Boss Gui would never have seen them, he was almost certain of it.

 Chapter 499: Planning for ones little sister

    Now that he had found and isolated those seals, Cao Yun could get to work. He had to admit that they were very impressive. They reminded him of some seals Dian Mo had created in order to deceive him when they were playing around. There were seals within seals. Some were fake but looked real while others were real but looked fake. Besides, those were completely merged with the Slavery Brand. Whoever had imagined such seals had a very thorough understanding of those Slavery Brands.


    There was absolutely no doubt that those had been created by an Accomplished Demon. Besides, it wasn''t just any other Accomplished Demon. That person had a very good understanding of this craft. Of course, compared with Dian Mo, it was child''s play. Still, it took Cao Yun some time to get rid of all of those seals without doing anything to harm Xixue.


    In the meantime, the former slaves were pillaging the caravans. Unfortunately, Cao Yun couldn''t let them use the caravans because he didn''t want any evidence of what had happened to exist. However, taking the provisions within was not a problem at all. They even took a bit of money, but left most of it for Cao Yun. After all, without him, they would suffer a fate worse than death. All of them highly preferred risking their lives in the desert rather than becoming slaves, especially if they were handled by Boss Gui.


    Her reputation was known throughout the Desolate Sepulcher. Even among demons, that woman was absolutely monstrous. In her eyes, anything was justified by the profit she could make. Thus, she had the image of a pure sadist enjoying inflicting horrendous pain on her slaves, and anyone who got in her way.


    In a mere decade, she had risen to the status of city lord, yet people still called her Boss Gui. After all, she had started as just another thug. But one day, she had usurped the power and killed the previous city lord. Of course, she was a bit paranoid about others attempting the same stunt. But her power seemed very firm thanks to her vast fortune and her strong ties with the Xinian Confederation and Lord Wanghuo.


    It took Cao Yun more than a day to unravel all the seals within Xixue''s soul and flesh. Obviously, this surprised the other demons. After all, he had easily dealt with their Slavery Brand. Thus, they imagined that they were talking about some serious issues. And they were right in some way.


    "This is done. Apart from those marks in your bones, all of your seals are gone. Now, you can speak freely. And don''t worry, whoever put those seals in you will not be informed of their disappearance. I made sure of that. Most likely, they will imagine that you were killed along with those wretched slavers."


    Of course, they could still recognize her face and sense her blood. But as long as they were not actively looking for her, Xixue should be fine. Besides, Cao Yun had also other countermeasures in mind. For now though, he simply wanted to learn more about Xixue. To be honest, he had a soft spot for them, just because she had done terrible things in order to find her little sister. As much as he was condemning her internally, he could see she was coming from. So he kept an open mind, as much as he could.


    After an entire day of feeling Cao Yun''s spiritual senses actively messing with her body and soul, Xixue was exhausted. However, she didn''t rest. Although her feelings were a bit all over the place, she decided to trust Cao Yun. Considering what he had just achieved, he might really be her best and only chance. If only she had met him sooner. But then, she might not have had enough to negotiate with him then. Now, she had.


    "Thank you. I swear that I will repay this kindness you''ve done to me. The truth is that I was working for another City Lord to infiltrate Boss Gui''s forces. I''ve been trained in administration and economics as well as politics. All of this was meant to make me a great asset for Boss Gui. Surely, she would have kept me around instead of selling me. And with time, I would have gained access to more privy information."


    "You wanted to find where your little sister was. And the City Lord whom you served wanted to get more detailed information on Boss Gui''s business, I imagine."


    "Indeed, he is City Lord Sihe. Unlike Boss Gui, he''s ruled his city for more than a century. He is one of the oldest city lords in fact. Originally, he was the richest of them all and had political ties with almost everyone, including of course the Xinian Confederation. Unfortunately for him, the war waged by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy changed everything. At first it was slow, but he can feel his power shake.


    "City Lord Sihe''s main business was slave trading. Because the Empyrean Asura needed many demons for his army, he turned to our Desolate Sepulcher for cannon fodders. At first, City Lord Sihe was his first seller. But then, Boss Gui was able to surpass him. Although she had fewer slaves, she was able to train much better fighters. No one really knows how she achieved it, but instead of counting on quantity, she insisted on quality. Many slaves died during her secret training. But those who survive value way more than any slave City Lord Sihe could provide."


    "So she took his market and rose to prominence. I get the picture."


    The seals he had seen in Xixue made a lot of sense now. This Sihe was obviously well versed in seals, and in particular in that Slavery Brand. He had dealt with slaves for more than a century at this point. Obviously, his knowledge of seals was way better than most.


    Everything he was hearing reminded him of Axiu Qian. He had also been enslaved and turned into a great fighter. In the end, the fighter had killed his own masters and took his freedom. But that had always left some deep scars in him.


    "City Lord Sihe is the one who manufactures almost all Slavery Brands used by other demons. Thanks to that, he kept his business running. After all, people in the Nalupu Kingdom don''t necessarily need warrior slaves. Thus, he still retains the local market. However, he obviously fears that Boss Gui might take it as well since she''s always expanding. The war on the main continent won''t last forever so she needs to ensure her profit will keep coming."Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    "That explains a lot, indeed."


    "I tried to enlist City Lord Sihe''s help because I knew of his rivalry with Boss Gui. Of course, he also knew about my little sister. So he trusted me enough to become a spy for him. Of course, he still put a lot of seals in my body."


    "What about those marks on your bones?"


    "They are meant to improve my blood cultivation. To be honest, it shouldn''t speed it up too much, but I will need that strength if I want to save my little sister. In my opinion, City Lord Sihe was the only one who could get me close to Boss Gui and then erase my sister''s Slavery Brand. That was until I met you of course..."


    As she spoke, Cao Yun reexamined the marks on her bones he had memorized. In his mind, he had a perfect duplicate of her body. Now that he knew what they were meant to be, he could see it a bit more clearly. Yes, those marks would be beneficial for training one''s marrow. But they would also be harmful in the long run. It made a lot of sense in fact. This would allow City Lord Sihe to create a powerful servant while making sure that she would never become too powerful either. The more she would progress, the more those marks would hinder her cultivation.


    To be fair, without them, she might not reach a very high cultivation stage anyway. From his analysis, she had hope of becoming an 1st-grade Accomplished Demon in less than twenty years thanks to those marks. But she would probably not go much farther than that as her very essence would be damaged by the violence of the method. Instinctively, Cao Yun was trying to find ways to fix it.


    In his mind, he wasn''t thinking about Xixue at all. She had made her decision, and becoming an Accomplished Demon was a very good result. No, he was trying to find ways to use it to his advantage. If those marks were helpful to increase one''s blood cultivation, he might try to make use of them somehow. Although he wouldn''t go to the extent of damaging his bones like she had, he might still find interesting things he could incorporate in his own blood cultivation.


    While he was thinking about many things, Cao Yun saw Xixue kowtow in front of him.


    "Lord Mo, I beg you. Please, let me join you. I know tht you''re a stranger to the Xinian Confederation. In fact, I think that you''re a stranger to our Desolate Sepulcher. Without someone who has enough contacts, you won''t easily be accepted in the Nalupu Kingdom. But with my help, I can create a legitimate identity for you to use. What I ask in exchange is that you help me save my little sister. I know this is a lot, but I can assure you that I will prove myself to you. If you do not trust me, feel free to use any kind of seal on me."


    Unfortunately, what she said made a lot of sense to the young man. If he just appeared out of the blue in the Nalupu Kingdom, he would be under a lot of scrutiny. In fact, he might even be attacked. As a Golden Blood Child, he wouldn''t resist long in front of real Accomplished Demons. But he needed to form some kind of connection with this Xinian Confederation in order to use a boat to get back home. For that, having a business would be very useful. This was dangerous, but he couldn''t see another way.


    Since this Xixue legitimately seemed to have some connections, he might use her. Of course, he didn''t trust her at all. She was saying the truth at the moment. But if she thought she had a better way of saving her sister, she would betray him in a heartbeat. Strangely though, he didn''t find that despicable. At least, he knew what her priority was. He could work with that. Now that she had seen how talented he was with his seals, she was obviously enticed to help him.


    Cao Yun''s problem was that he didn''t intend to save her little sister. Right now, he was only thinking about his. And at that moment, he knew what Xixue had been feeling when she had been forced to choose between a chance of saving her kin and betraying strangers. That being said, he could already see ways for their two goals to help each other.


    With her help, he might be able to form some connection with the Xinian Confederation. Despite Boss Gui''s reputation, Cao Yun was relatively certain that she was the right person to approach first. Although she was incredibly vicious and sadistic, she was also level-headed and rational. As long as he knew how to get her interest, this would be easy enough to manipulate her.


    Moreover, she was relatively new in the Xinian Confederation. Thus, he guessed that she might be more open about new business partners. Furthermore, Xixue had specifically trained to get close to her. Instead of becoming Boss Gui''s assistant and advisor, Xixue would become Cao Yun''s.


    For this plan to work though, he first needed to form his Unclean Evil to pass off as a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. And he also needed Golden Blood to keep up appearances. Even with that, he would have a bit of trouble to be recognized by Boss Gui. His blood quality would help, but he also had to be strong enough. At the very least, he had to make sure people thought he was strong enough.


    Becoming a fake 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon would be helpful. But his priority right now was to develop his Golden Blood. That wasn''t something he could fake for too long. Forming one''s Golden Blood would literally change all of that person''s blood. Thus, a single drop of his blood might betray his cultivation level. But if he had that Golden Blood, then no one would be able to see through him, unless they were fighting him of course.


    After all, the aspects of his Po he had trained wre real. They were not his Turbid Demons per se as they were still the uncorrupted version of his Po. But they would look like a Demon Soul to any Accomplished Demon. Of that he was certain. Right now, he was probably the individual with the greatest understanding of the corporeal soul and of Death Energy on the planet.


    "I will make this deal with you. But I am on the verge of a breakthrough so I won''t go to Yixin City straight away. As soon as I am ready for it, I will bring you there with me to find where your little sister was taken. In the meantime, I expect you to obey all my orders and to tell me how you intend for me to join the Xinian Confederation."


    Xixue thought about it for a long time. She wanted to get to her sister as fast as possible. But with Cao Yun''s help, she had many more possibilities. Maybe here mission was not so desperate after all. Since the heavens had given her such a gift, she couldn''t disregard it.


    "Fine, I agree. I already burned my other bridges after all. There is a small city nearby, on the verge of the Xinian Confederation."


    "Ruohe?"


    "Indeed, Ruohe. I know a few people there. This is a good trading hub. This is the place we should go to first. There, you''ll be able to make a small name for yourself. But you will need things to sell. The best idea with your strength would be to hunt demonic beasts. Their blood and their cores can be sold for quite a lot. Considering how you were able to kill Yaxue and his group, becoming a hunter should be easy. This isn''t unusual for nomads to try and make a living through hunting. I have a few contacts who could help you set up a legitimate business. Of course, it will take some time. But in less than half a year, you should be able to have a good reputation."


    "Good... But I have no reason to limit myself to hunting. If Boss Gui is selling warriors to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, the use of alchemy might improve the quality of her slaves. What is the situation of alchemy on this continent?"

 Chapter 500: Leaving the desert

    "I have to admit that alchemy is rather poor compared with the God''s Land. The best alchemists we have can barely produce Hetian grade pills."


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun didn''t know how demons ranked their pills. If only Dian Mo were awake, he would have asked him. Since he could not, he was forced to ask further questions to Xixue. Obviously, it seemed strange to her. But Cao Yun was able to mask his questions well enough so that it didn''t look like he was unaware of the ranking system. After all, he was talented enough in alchemy that Xixue could not see through his questions. Besides, he mainly asked about the quality of pills and of some ingredients he knew were common even among the demons.


    In the end, he was able to determine that pills were ranked in the same manner as in the Hongchen Kingdom. Of course, the names were a little different and the translation in Nuhua was a bit difficult. Thus, Cao Yun decided to translate them in his own way while using the Moshenhua terms when he was speaking. Hetian pills were simply Heaven pills.


    Besides, to make things even more complicated, they ranked them in the opposite order. That was to say that a 1-star Hetian pill was in fact a 5-star Heaven pill. Anyway, Cao Yun would translate everything in order while referring to his familiar system rather than the one used by demons.


    From what he had understood, the best alchemists in the Nalupu Kingdom could barely be called 1-star Heaven alchemist. Thus he would downplay his ability a bit.


    "I am a 5-star Human alchemist. And I already have a few pills at the ready. From what you told me about the market, I should have around a thousand Heidai worth of pills right now."


    From what he had learned, a Heidai was equivalent to twenty taels of gold.


    In fact, Cao Yun had way more than that. But a thousand Heidai was already a lot. After all, the slaves would have been sold for around two hundred Heidai in total. In other words he had way more wealth than what the demons around him were worth on the market. Moreover, he could easily make even more money just be refining some pills.


    No matter where one was, alchemy was always the best way to become rich fast. Besides, he also had in mind to refine a pill to help him form his Golden Blood. Cao Yun was really close to finally becoming a 4th-grade Golden Blood Child. And in less than a few months, he was confident about breaking through once more in his mind cultivation. Then, he would be able to pass off as a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon without any problem at all. However, he would lack the actual strength of that level.


    While he was thinking about all that, he was also planning. Right now, his best bet was to forge a relationship with Boss Gui. Since she was a bit of an outcast among the other city lords, this was the obvious choice. Besides, putting aside her brutality, she was very rational. And Cao Yun had what she desired to spare. Not only would she love to get her hands on his alchemy talent, but she would also give anything to obtain such a talented seal master.


    Of course, Cao Yun was not keen to show all of his talents at once. First of all, he would have to show how good his alchemy was. And he already had some ideas about this. Xixue would act as his proxy though. Although she shouldn''t be too well known in Ruohe, Cao Yun was still careful about that. Thus, he decided to craft some mask using his knowledge of seal. It wouldn''t be as good as the weimao worn by his little sister, but it would still hide her face and blood to most demons. And to complete that, he would also put a seal in her.


    Even though she had been telling the truth, Cao Yun couldn''t trust her. Besides, putting a seal on her was also a way to show other demons that he was a legitimate businessman. No Accomplished Demon would leave their subordinates without any seal in them, just like demonic cultivators.


    "I know exactly who to talk to in Ruohe about alchemy. If the quality of your pills are recognized, this will be even easier to forge your reputation. But there are some things you should know about our culture."


    When Xixue began to explain the way demons greeted each other, the way they sealed their deals and other information that should have been common sense, Cao Yun wondered whether she had guessed more than she should have. But he didn''t perceive anything in her. Most likely, she still believed that he was a demon, but that he absolutely wasn''t from around here. In fact, it felt as though she was taking him from a demon come from another planet. This wasn''t impossible since Demon God Da Mo had done so. But an Accomplished Demon alone would have never been able to accomplish such a feat.


    Anyway, he was happy to learn all of that from her. Yaxue had not been that well informed when it came to the way to do business in the Nalupu Kingdom. After all, he was just a small time slave hunter. Boss Gui was the one who handled everything once he brought her the slaves.


    "If you are certain of your decision, I will now proceed to putting some seals in your blood and soul."


    "I am ready, Lord Mo."


    She bowed and cupped her fists in the manner she had taught him. Unceremoniously, he projected his Flying Poison and his Qi in her body and got to work. Because he didn''t want her to betray him, but also because he didn''t want her to suffer any harm, he was extremely careful with his seals. If she tried to betray him, her sea of consciousness would simply collapse on itself. At the same time, he added seals to protect her from anyone trying to penetrate her soul.


    If someone attempted to get in her sea of consciousness, that person would suffer a terrible backlash. Most early Accomplished Demons would be seriously injured or even killed if they were not careful enough. Besides, the seals would also hide her identity to privy eyes. Combined with the mask he had created, even City Lord Sihe would not recognize her if she didn''t want to be recognized.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    In order to pass as a real alchemist and to do business with Boss Gui, he would need to buy some slaves. According to Xixue, Ruohe was the right place for that. She knew where to find competent slaves to assist both a businessman and an alchemist. Finding servants for a hunter would have been easier. But as an alchemist, Cao Yun''s reputation would be way higher. Alchemists were not as revered as in the Hongchen Kingdom. But their skills were still highly appreciated.


    That being said, alchemists needed to be strong enough to protect themselves. Otherwise, it wasn''t rare for an alchemist with no affiliation to be reduced to slavery. Since Cao Yun had a powerful bloodline and was an Accomplished Demon, Xixue was almost certain this wouldn''t happen though. And considering how well versed he was when it came to seals, no one would ever be able to use a Slavery Brand on him anyway.


    When he was ready, Cao Yun addressed the former slaves.


    "Fellow cultivators, I will go to Ruohe with Miss Xixue. Unfortunately, I can''t let you use those caravans because there can''t be any evidence of what happened here. However, you are all free to take the food, the water and even some money from those. That being said, I have another proposition for you. Until we reach Ruohe, you pretend to be my slaves. And once we reach Ruohe, I will buy you a transport to travel safely in the desert."


    For some time, the former slaves pondered about this. To be honest, they were a bit afraid that this was a trap. But considering Cao Yun''s strength, this was meaningless. He could either slaughter them all or force seals in them. Their souls were blank canvas for him. Not a single one of them had ever met such a dangerous character.


    They were nomads living in the desert. As such, they knew how to take care of themselves. However, they had to admit that traveling on foot from such a distance was a bit suicidal. They probably couldn''t even carry enough provision for the travel. And there were very young demons among the group. The weakest of their tribes had already been executed by their slavers. But they had kept many young demons alive as they would sell well.


    In the end, they had to accept Cao Yun''s proposal. This was the sensible thing to do. Furthermore, they trusted him. As long as he was with them, they were safe. That was for sure!


    Of course, they didn''t know that he was bluffing about his actual cultivation. However, in Ruohe, there was no Accomplished Demon. In a one-on-one, he could kill absolutely everyone in the city. That didn''t mean he could eradicate the entire city though. At the very least, he could escape from there unharmed.


    To ensure that no one could deduce what had transpired here, Cao Yun got rid of the caravans. He simply took them in his spatial ring. Besides, there was some money in the caravans. In total he found around fifty Heidai. Although he tried to insist, the former slaves refused the money. In other words, he had the equivalent of around twenty Yuanbao in his spatial ring. Of course, he wouldn''t be able to use the Hongchen Kingdom currency. Apart from this money, he also had several pills and materials he could sell.


    On the other hand, the slaves gladly accepted the food and water. He kept them in his spatial ring but he always made sure that they had enough at all times.


    The idea of having servants wasn''t a problem. However, Cao Yun didn''t like that he had to pretend they were his slaves. More than that, he didn''t like that he would actually have to buy some slaves. He hid his doubts to Xixue. Yet, the small woman still tried to get rid of his scruples. In her words, he found the same kind of rationalization that he had used. The slaves he would buy would be treated well by him. But if he didn''t buy them, they could be bought by some terrible master.


    -


    Now that the slavers were all dead and that Cao Yun had to destroy the caravan to hide any potential clue, the group was walking through the desert. Unfortunately, Hongyu was not big enough to welcome everyone on her back. And Cao Yun didn''t feel it proper for him to ride with her alone. However, he had another idea. Now that he knew more about this Desolate Dune Desert, he could hunt. Besides, the demons around him also knew a lot about the desert.


    Unlike the slavers, they lived in the desert. Cao Yun had a very good idea of the map of this Desolate Sepulcher. From what he had understood, this place had been called that because of the great battle, the Gods'' End. During that battle, many a Reborn Demon had been killed that day, felled by the "Great Usurper" Emperor Nuwa. Apparently though, the demons of the Desolate Sepulcher were not worshiping Demon God Da Mo. They had some manner of respect for him, but their true respect and for some even worship was for the Weaver of Souls. Weaver of Souls had died on this very continent.


    According to the legends, the battle had been so fierce that this land which used to be attached to the main continent had been ripped away from it and had drifted to the other side of the Piaolu planet. Cao Yun had no real idea of who the demons of that time were. The name was vaguely familiar from things he had read but this wasn''t a very interesting topic for humans. Once Da Mo''s rule and empire had crumbled, the humans didn''t care much about its inner workings. Besides, after the Great War, there had been many civil wars among demons. Emperor Nuwa had kept unity among humans, but Da Mo''s demise ruptured any hope of that among demons.


    Anyway, those demons around Cao Yun were all coming from the same tribe, the Moshu. Like several other tribes, they were not strictly speaking nomadic but semi-nomadic. Indeed, they had several places where they spent their life according to the changes of the desert. But recently, their lives had become much more complicated. Previously, some of them were captured when they ventured alone or by small groups too close to the cities. However, the war waged by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had increased the demand for slaves. They were needed both to build, to mine, to perform miscellaneous tasks but also to fight, most of the time as cannon fodder.


    Of course, the Empyrean Asura had forbidden slavery among those who believed in his faith. But he had no qualms using demons from the Desolate Sepulcher who didn''t worship Demon God Da Mo. In his eyes, they were not true demons, just bastards who were almost humans. Since blood was so important for demons, ''bastard'' was truly a strong insult that could literally warrant death.


    Because of those recent changes, the slavers had become more and more brazen. Thus, the tribes had to become almost nomadic. From what Cao Yun learned from them, there were way more tribes than the Nalupu Kingdom thought. The Desolate Dune Desert was a huge part of the entire Desolate Sepulcher. Because of terrible winds, its topography was always changing. as a result, the tribes were using the stars and had incredible star charts. Although they were relatively weak, the Moshu were expert when it came to the desert. And they were a huge help to Cao Yun. Thanks to them, he was able to avoid any of the natural traps, as well as most demonic beasts.


    That being said, he didn''t avoid all demonic beasts. Indeed, he didn''t want to make them walk all the way to the cities. So Cao Yun captured a couple of Sunscale Sand Tortoises. Those beasts were only 4-core demonic beasts, and although they were very resistant thanks to their carapace, they weren''t too strong. It didn''t take long for Hongyu to subdue them. It was easier for demonic beasts to follow the commands of another beast rather than a human, or a demon.


    Using them as their new caravan thanks to some supplies from Cao Yun''s spatial ring, they marched toward Ruohe with more speed, even though those Sunscale Sand Tortoises were not the fastest demonic beasts.

 Chapter 501: The gates of Ruohe

    The new convoy was walking way faster through the Desolate Dune Desert. If they had had those demonic beasts from the start, and the extensive knowledge of the Moshu, instead of four to five months to leave that desert, the caravan would have only needed a bit longer than a month. And with even faster demonic beasts, they could even have done so in a three weeks. In fact, with the knowledge he had gained and was still gaining about the region, and with Hongyu, Cao Yun could travel that distance in a couple of weeks.


    Obviously, this would be helpful since Cao Yun was preoccupied with saving his little sister as soon as he could. But this time he had spent had cooled down his spirit. Although his emotions were still strong, he had fully realized how foolish going back to the Hongchen Kingdom without a good plan was. He need more strength and a sound strategy. Anyway, just to get there, he would need to cross the Divine Blood Ocean. The idea of trying to be sold as a slave crossed his mind but he quickly discarded it. Even though he could easily break the Slavery Brand and disappear with his stealth, he would then be stuck in the demon territories. What he needed was to gain a status here first.


    Instead of acting rashly, he had to prepare carefully. For too long he had despised the fact that he was too passive and indecisive. But that didn''t mean he had to become rash and impulsive. His little sister was safe as long as she didn''t become a Spirit Warrior. On that front, the young man was absolutely certain that he would become one first. Even as an early Spirit Warrior, he might return to the Hongchen Kingdom.


    What he actually needed wasn''t necessarily the strength to fight Emperor Weide himself, but to organize people around him. Hopefully, if he could get Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang, many others would follow. But strength was still necessary to come back home and convince people, especially during a war. He had to show everyone that following the traitor wasn''t a good option.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was already planning for his next steps. Despite the information he had taken from Yaxue, he still didn''t have all the pieces to fully understand this continent. Thankfully, Xixue brought more light to those. The Desolate Sepulcher was based around three powers that were balancing each other out. This wasn''t a very stable form of government. But to be fair, demons on the main continent had suffered through many civil wars. Because humans felt like they were always surrounded by innumerable enemies, they were very united. Demons, on the other hand, were always plotting against each other. Moreover, the humans had the figure of Emperor Nuwa to give legitimacy to the ruling Emperor. Apart from some religious groups more or less worshiping Demon God Da Mo, no one had real legitimacy. Even Empyrean Asura had used religion to justify his rule.


    The political power was in Lord Wanghuo''s hands. He was trying to name himself Emperor Wanghuo but it was difficult for him. Despite his great power - he was an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon, the highest cultivation in the Desolate Sepulcher - he had not the absolute authority. Indeed, the Nalupu Kingdom was made of many cities. Among them, twenty-one cities were important, three of which belonging to the three main powers. Those were city-states that were always competing with each other. Separated, they were weaker that Lord Wanghuo of course, but united, they could threaten his power.


    The economic power belonged to the Xinian Confederation. This was the largest trading company of the entire Nalupu Kingdom. But the members of that confederation couldn''t be directly involved in the local governments. Of course, the problem was easily circumvented, as corruption seemed to also be very well developed in the continent. Although no official member of the confederation was involved personally, they had family members or close friends in those governments. So long as they didn''t destabilize the Nalupu Kingdom, Lord Wanghuo was forced to turn a blind eye. In fact, they could also be very useful to get intel and keep some City Lords in check. Furthermore, the confederation wanted the Nalupu Kingdom to stay stable to do their business. Overthrowing Lord Wanghuo would be a incredibly risky gamble.


    Finally, the religious power was the sole property of the Sisters of the Abyss. As the name suggested, they were all female demons. Unlike the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, they worshiped this aforementioned Weaver of Souls. In fact, they were in charge of maintaining his blood. To be honest, no one truly knew what it meant. However, they were always looking for more sisters. Those sisters would serve either with their life or their death. That religious order was very secretive about its rituals. That being said, they were respected by all. And they also had incredible members. Sisters could be fighters, spies, assassins, masters of various occupations of arts. In almost every imaginable domain, they had some Sisters who could do a perfect job.


    In fact, the Sisters of the Abyss were probably the most dangerous organization in the entire Desolate Sepulcher. Even Lord Wanghuo himself was fearing them. The fact that so little was known about them added to their legend, but what was known of them was enough to scare everyone nonetheless.


    With all that in mind, Cao Yun had decided to follow Xixue''s advice. But he already had some plans of his own. For the time being though, he was still gathering more information to flesh out his following actions. He simply couldn''t afford to make too many mistakes. And right now, he truly needed to create a somewhat legitimate identity so he could then do everything he needed to do in relative peace.


    -


    Finally, the group left the Desolate Dune Desert. After reaching the summit of some large dune, Cao Yun saw for the first time some green vegetation. The desert still continued for some time but the topography was relatively flat. With his senses, he could already see a vast steppe with many plants and animals he recognized, as well as some he didn''t though. Then, there was a modest city. This was Ruohe. Approaching this city was very important because it would be where he would create his character, Mo Yun.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    From what he had heard, and listening to Xixue''s advice, he decided to assume the same kind of arrogance as Guai Mo, his past persona. With the bloodline he boasted and his fake cultivation, a demon alchemist had to be arrogant. That being said, he didn''t want to start any unnecessary conflicts. However, he knew that the law was way more flexible here. Some violence might be necessary to be recognized as a true demon, and to avoid being used by others.


    As soon as they could be detected by the city, Cao Yun rode proudly on Hongyu''s back. At the same time, he circulated his blood cultivation and let his Flying Poison out a little. He wanted to give a very good first impression. And that worked as well as he had imagined. Among demons, few had demonic beasts as pets or mounts. And among those, very few had flying demonic beasts. Even Accomplished Demons, despite the fact that they could fly, would flaunt if they had a flying demonic beast. This was a good thing as it allowed Cao Yun to keep lying about his cultivation. No one would randomly ask him to fly to prove his cultivation. And each time he really needed to fly, he could use Hongyu without raising any suspicion on his status. In fact, it would cement his strength and status in the other demons'' eyes.


    When he reached the gates of Ruohe, Cao Yun was greeted by an old woman and her servants. With his current cultivation, Cao Yun could tell that she was a half-step Accomplished Demon. Besides, she was proudly showing off her blood and her cultivation. Clearly, she was trying to make a good first impression as well. In fact, Cao Yun could feel a bit of fear and apprehension from her.


    Despite her advanced age, that old woman looked no older than fifty and exuded a great vitality. Of course, it was hard to tell, but Cao Yun surmised that she had to be more than seven hundred years old. Concerning her cultivation, there was no doubt that she was on the verge of breaking through but still lacked something. Unfortunately, old age meant a diminution of prenatal Jing. If she kept on like that, she might truly die of old age before becoming an Accomplished Demon. Just like humans, the fourth and fifth realm of asura cultivation barely prolonged one''s lifespan, if at all. Thus, Accomplished Demons would live around two thousand years, as long as Spirit Warriors.


    Technically, anyone could do what Cao Yun was doing with his mind cultivation and try to work on their Turbid Demons before becoming an Accomplished Demon. But if a demon tried to turn an aspect of their Po into a Turbid Demon without being ready to subdue it, they would simply be devoured by it. In a way, this was like creating an inner demon voluntarily to later chain it down so it would obey. Cao Yun''s mind cultivation was way softer as he was just working on the aspects of his Po but wasn''t turning them into real Turbid Demons. Yet, those aspects of the Po were oftentimes referred to as Turbid Demons as well. Strictly speaking though, only a corrupted version of said aspect was a Turbid Demon. This was confusing but people rarely needed to refer to the separate aspects of Po if they were not Turbid Demons so there was no better term.


    For example, his current Po of Qi was also called Unclean Evil. But strictly speaking, it would only called the Unclean Evil if it got corrupted by shame and turned into an inner demon.


    Cao Yun had learned enough decorum to know how to act. Even if he was an Accomplished Demon in that woman''s eyes, he had to respect the Nalupu Kingdom and its customs since he was going to live in it for some time. Thus, he landed with Hongyu at the appropriate distance. Flying in the cities was forbidden. Although there was no written rule on how far away from the city that restriction applied, there were tacit rules. And they depended on each person''s strength and blood. Cao Yun had chosen a distance a step closer than his blood and strength should allow him. He had done so voluntarily as an alchemist. It was also a way of pressuring them.


    There were many minute details in those protocols. And Cao Yun understood very well their importance. Even how low one bowed could be interpreted. Thus, he adhered to the protocol as much as he needed to while bending it when it suited him to project the right kind of arrogance he wanted. It wasn''t too domineering without being weak at all.


    "Noble lord, our humble city is proud to welcome you. This one is humbly referred as by the great Lord Wanghuo as Lady Gu Xue. How might we address you?"


    In her gestures, Cao Yun sensed that she was respectful but not subservient. Although there was no Accomplished Demon in the entire city - the young man had just checked - they were under the protection of the Xinian Confederation and the Nalupu Kingdom. No one would be insane enough to attack the city. That being said, she didn''t want to give any reason to Cao Yun to become violent. Among demons, even an unintentional insult could justify death under the right conditions. If she offended an Accomplished Demon, he might truly have a case in front of the Xinian Confederation to justify her death, or even to demand her to become his slave.


    "You may refer to me as Lord Mo Yun."


    Cao Yun didn''t bow lower than necessary. Then, he called for his ''slaves''. While the Sunscale Sand Tortoises stayed behind, Xixue came forward. All the time, she kept her head slightly lowered. In her hands, she had a small wooden plank. On it, there were a few characters clearly written with blood.


    Another servant of Gu Xue stepped forward. It took some time for the plank to be given, received and finally transmitted to Gu Xue. There was a name on the plank, Mo Yun. Along with the small plank, there were also a few papers. Those were the local currency. Obviously, the servant gave the money to Gu Xue in full. There was absolutely no doubt that this was a bribe. Although they were technically illegal, they had become a normal part of the protocol. Bribing officials was even an entire science by that point.


    Later on, Xixue would need to give bribes proportionate to what she had given Gu Xue to each of her servants present today. Then, she would even need to bribe the guards at the gates and their superior. By bribing everyone with the proper amount, it ensured that no one could denounce anyone. Once again, there was no written rule on the amounts and yet everyone knew exactly how much was necessary. The amount she had given Gu Xue was so that she would not spread any news about Mo Yun.


    And as soon as she was paid, Lady Gu Xue''s attitude changed. It became warmer all of a sudden, without fear or apprehension. Then, Xixue added a few words.


    "Welcome the great alchemist Lord Mo Yun. He deigned visit your city in order to offer you the chance of purchasing some of his pills. My master requires some estate to reside for the time during which he will honor you with his presence."


    Hearing that he was an alchemist, the excitement in that old woman was obvious. The alchemist could tell that she was hoping to get some pills for herself. Most likely, she had hopes of becoming a full-fledged Accomplished Demon. That was possible with some very high pill of course. But to be honest, Cao Yun had no reason to help her become an Accomplished Demon. In fact, this would be bad for him overall. However, he could sell her some incredible pills nonetheless to cement his position.


    They let Cao Yun and his group in the city.

 Chapter 502: Opening another shop

    Cao Yun was led to a rather large residence. It was adjacent to Lady Gu Xue''s residence. From its aspect and opulence, it was clear that this residence was meant to lodge officials in visit in Ruohe. That alone showed how much Lady Gu Xue valued the young alchemist. On the wooden plank she had received, his rank had been written in blood as well. Thus, she was convinced that Cao Yun was a 5-star Human alchemist. Such a rank was extremely high among demons but not too high that it didn''t seem plausible. Ironically, if Cao Yun had given his real rank, it would have appeared to be a lie. So he had decided to present himself as such.


    There were a few servants taking care of that secondary residence at all times. When Cao Yun took over, Xixue became their head. She rearranged them in order to put the members of the Moshu tribe in various key roles. They had to maintain appearances and they couldn''t have servants snooping around when they shouldn''t. In fact, Cao Yun also set up several array formations all over the residence. At first, they were not very good. This was to lower everyone''s attention.


    When the first layers of array formations were complete, he set up much more intricate and sophisticated array formations. This was also a way of training himself. Since he was under new stars on the opposite side of the Piaolu planet, he had to adapt his array formations to them. Slowly, his understanding of array formations was improving. But once again, he thought about Dian Mo. Now that he had some calm, he would try to do something about him. He had to admit that he felt a bit lonely without their conversations.


    Xixue also organized the bribes. Technically, the servants were working for Lady Gu Xue. But they could talk about Cao Yun if they wanted to. In fact, they could even send word to officials that Lady Gu Xue had been corrupted in order to hide this alchemist''s presence. Like before at the gates, Xixue had thus to bribe everyone according to their station. Really, Cao Yun was realizing how important bribes and corruption were in the Nalupu Kingdom. They had become both a science and an art. Thankfully, Cao Yun had some money from the slavers he had killed. And with his alchemy, he could both bribe with pills or with the money he was soon going to make.


    The first days, everyone was busy preparing everything. Under Cao Yun''s watch, Xixue crafted several documents to allow Cao Yun to do business in the city. At the same time, she also crafted documents that would later serve to prove his identity. Once again, they had to bribe many small officials. But in less than a week, Cao Yun was officially recognized by the Nalupu Kingdom. The fake papers were good because they were official.


    At the same time, Cao Yun refined many pills. He had taken note of the quality of pills and the state of the market. As such, he only refined pills similar to those already sold. In average, they had the same quality as those already sold in Ruohe. Some were even slightly inferior. However, he also refined a few pills that were not sold here and their quality were a bit better. It wasn''t much, but just enough to showcase that those pills were his specialty. And those pills were all related to blood and essence. Indeed, he knew those were the kind of pills demons were looking for.


    After seeing his first products, Lady Gu Xue became even more enthusiastic. Without even bribing her, she made sure that all the administrative part of things were dealt with. Of course, she made sure that both Xixue and Cao Yun knew of her involvement. This was a clear request for pills. For the two of them, the request was obvious and Cao Yun knew precisely what she wanted. But for the time being, he would not give her. No, he would let her wait until the moment was right. Obviously, he had no intention of helping her become an Accomplished Demon as she could develop into a threat for him. However, he could still give her pills to improve her vitality and even purify her blood a little. In fact, he also had a few pills to make her look younger.


    Considering the way she dressed and the opulence of her mansion, Lady Gu Xue attached a lot of importance on aesthetics. With all that in mind, Cao Yun knew how to control her.


    The woman who was more mysterious was Xixue. She was extremely competent. Apparently, she had been chosen because of that. City Lord Sihe was convinced that Boss Gui would see her value and keep her as some form of secretary or assistant. Even before meeting City Lord Sihe, she had been good, but he had trained her to make her perfect. His goal was simple. He wanted a spy at Boss Gui''s sides. That was the reason why they had to hide her face and her bloodline at all times. No matter what, her identity could not be revealed. Thus, she was always wearing her mask. As a servant, she also kept her head lowered most of the time.


    In all her actions, Cao Yun could feel her contempt and even a tinge of anger, or hatred. Clearly, she didn''t like the officials of the Nalupu Kingdom. But she didn''t like Accomplished Demons either. In fact, she hated all those who had power. On the other side, Cao Yun could almost taste her guilt and self-loathing when she was dealing with the Moshu tribe. To this day, they didn''t know that they had been sold by that woman. Without the information she had sent, they would have never been enslaved and they would not have seen their loved ones being tortured and killed in front of them.


    For some time, Xixue seemed worried that Cao Yun would reveal the truth. Because he didn''t, she had even more contempt for him. Cao Yun''s view of the small woman was very paradoxical as well. He could sympathize with her desire to save her little sister, but also despised her methods. At the same time, he had the strength necessary to do things differently. If he had been less powerful or talented, he might have resorted to such vile means as well. So, as much as they were trying to hide it, there was a lot of tension between the two of them.


    -


    For two weeks now, Cao Yun had been refining pills. He had way more pills than he needed to submerge the market in Ruohe. But he was preparing pills for later. This small city was a necessary step to create his persona. But the real challenge would be when he would face Boss Gui. He had no room for failure there. From what he knew, she was specialized in training slaves for war. Her business had flourished thanks to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Thus, he knew the sort of pills she would be interested in. Xixue also gave some advice on them as she had been trained to join Boss Gui.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Boss Gui''s business was flourishing so much, she was becoming a threat to City Lord Sihe. His main venture was blood runes and seals. In fact, most Slavery Brands used today were his doing. Thinking about that, Cao Yun realized that he could easily disrupt his business. Indeed, his knowledge of seals was way superior to his from what he had seen. Besides, if he had Dian Mo''s help, there wouldn''t even be a comparison possible. For now though, he would focus on Boss Gui as he had more information on her and her temperament seemed to be more easily used.


    While he was taking a rest from his alchemy, Cao Yun spoke with Xixue. In fact, Xixue had been meaning to speak with him for some time now. However, he had a feeling she was going to ask something of him he was not ready to hear. Sure enough that was the reason why she was in his chambers. Apart from his laboratory and his cultivation room, this was the most secure room in the entire city. In fact, Cao Yun could probably kill an early Spirit Warrior or an early Accomplished Demon here. Besides, he had also refined some poison. Since demons didn''t use them as corrupting blood was considered an unforgivable crime, they could give him an edge. But he couldn''t overtly use them, only as a last resort.


    "Lord Mo, you need to buy a few slaves to take care of your business. Even though everyone believes the Moshu tribesmen are your slaves, they aren''t nearly enough to operate a legit alchemy shop. You must maintain appearances. And that means owning real slaves. If you have some naive scruples, then you don''t have to mistreat them at all. Besides, since they would be high-value slaves, almost no master would mistreat them."


    From what he had learned, slavery was rather common even before the excessive demands of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Some were forced to slavery to pay off debts while others were condemned to slavery for their crimes. But technically, enslaving someone outside of those causes was forbidden. There were always people being tricked of course. And occasional nomads captured during hunts. But in recent years, as demand had skyrocketed, many hunters had become full-time slavers. As long as their employers could deny any knowledge of their activity, they accepted their slaves.


    For obvious reasons, Cao Yun wasn''t comfortable at the idea of owning another sentient being. Even Hongyu wasn''t his property, she was like a friend or even a sister. He had an emotional connection with her. Having servants and having slaves were two different concepts. The former had a choice while the latter were like pieces of furniture he could sell, buy, exchange or even kill on a whim.


    Sensing his doubts and scruples, Xixue''s contempt for Cao Yun increased. In fact, the more he was trying to be righteous, the more she despised him. Most likely, she was hating that he had the luxury of having those doubts. In order to save her little sister, she had done terrible things and she had to convince herself those had been necessary because of her weakness. Now, she was seeing someone who was strong enough to take charge of his fate and she despised herself through him.


    "Lord Mo, you don''t want to own slaves and yet here I am. What am I if not a slave? Didn''t you plant a seal in my soul to control me, just in case? Some things are necessary. You can''t act all righteous when the blade is licking your neck. If you want to look like a legitimate alchemist, you must have a shop. And apart from buying slaves, I don''t know how you''re going to achieve that."


    In Xixue''s words, Cao Yun sensed that she was also trying to convince herself. But there was some truth in her words. Hiring people would be delicate and would take a lot of time, while he would always fear the presence of spies. The young man had to admit that he was in a hurry. He could wait a few months, but he couldn''t keep patient for years. Then, he had to find a compromise. For all humans, slavery was considered as one of the worst crimes because of their history. Thus, he would never own slaves.


    As much as Xixue claimed the seal in her soul was like a Slavery Brand, it was something else entirely. It was just used to ensure she would keep her word. In Cao Yun''s eyes, he didn''t own her. But she had to keep her promise to him. For her, the difference might not be present, but for Cao Yun it was the difference between someone working under a contract and someone being enslaved to work under constraint.


    "Fine. Choose a few people who will be useful for our shop."


    In Xixue''s eyes, Cao Yun could see scorn. For all his grand and lofty manners, he was like any other demons after all...


    What she didn''t know was the decision Cao Yun had taken. But she would learn of it soon enough. For the time being, she looked for slaves who would be able to take care of an alchemy shop. Thus, she looked for demons who had been condemned for crimes related to businesses and shops. Xixue found a handful of those. Embezzlement, theft, corruption and various other crimes all warranted either violent sentences of slavery. A few demons preferred to become slaves for a few years rather than to suffer their full sentence.


    Slaves who had real skills were not too afraid of their fate as they knew how valuable they were. Anyway, they would not be sold to go to war on the God''s Land, the main continent. So Xixue was able to find those people rather easily. In fact, an old man among them had been arrested for stealing more than a hundred thousands Heidai over a long period of time through tax frauds. Certainly, this man would be a great help for their business, Nie Pian.


    It took a bit more than a week, but their shop was fully operational. Xixue was also forced to bribe many other shops to ensure that there wouldn''t be any problem. In fact, Cao Yun also sent invitations to a few alchemists. As he was pretending to be an Accomplished Demon, he couldn''t visit them himself so many bloody wooden planks were sent to them. In the end, he saw every major alchemist shop owners in Ruohe. Since his pills were not directly competing with theirs, there was no friction. Besides, they wouldn''t dare to offend him. By using his Flying Poison and a bit of his Unclean Evil, he was able to pressure them very easily.


    Ruohe''s main activity was hunting. As such, there were not that many alchemists. And it wasn''t too difficult for Cao Yun to also make some contracts with a few hunter groups in order to buy their materials for his pills.


    Furthermore, Cao Yun had no plan of staying in this city for too long. His true goal was to make a name for himself to later go to Boss Gui. At the end of the day, he only wanted to go back to his land and to save his little sister. However, he had also in mind that he needed to get stronger before that. Thus, he had already many plans in head. Since Boss Gui was training soldiers, she would probably have more information about the current war and she had access to the boats.


    After dealing with his various new partners, Cao Yun was waiting for the slaves Xixue had bought. Using this time of quiet, he entered his sea of consciousness.

 Chapter 503: Resplendent Mercury Breath

    During his travel, Cao Yun had greatly advanced his blood cultivation. Obviously, possessing the Drop of Wrath, the literal blood of a demon who had transcended the very confines of his universe, was helping a lot. Although it had already supported his Qi cultivation, most of the effects had been on his body. When it came to his blood, the effects were way superior to those.


    Currently, he was still a 3rd-grade Golden Blood Child. As such, he was on the verge of forming his Golden Blood by fusing his marrow and his blood. In other words, his blood and his essence, his Jing, would fuse. Having this Golden Blood was essential as it would make sure that his real cultivation was not discovered. Right now, his blood could still betray him despite the Drop of Wrath. However, he was not hasty. In fact, he could have formed his Golden Blood already. But he had been patient because there was no coming back. Once the two substance were merged, separating them was as difficult as separating water from wine.


    As much as he wanted to grow powerful fast, Cao Yun had a clear goal in mind. His goal wasn''t even the Spirit Warrior realm or the Accomplished Demon realm. Even now, he was aiming far higher than that. After seeing parts of the lives of Axiu Qian and Cleansed Asura, he wanted to cross the veil, sail through the void and explore new universes. Of course, his immediate goal was to become strong enough to save his little sister. But in his mind, there was no doubt that he would succeed. He simply couldn''t entertain that idea. Otherwise, he knew that doubt would submerge him.


    Too long during his youth had he been indecisive. Even now, he was afraid of committing the same crime. For, in his eyes, it would be a crime. He had no time to doubt himself all in perpetuity. He had no time at all! From now on, each moment of his life should be aimed at this single objective, becoming stronger in every aspect. In order to accomplish that, his mere cultivation wouldn''t be enough. After all, it would take decades, if not centuries, for him to become as strong as a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Although becoming a Spirit Warrior was very close for him, crossing the nine grades of that realm would take around a hundred years even for a good cultivator. Because of the current era, it was sometimes so difficult that only three humans had reached that stage who were still alive to this day.


    With all that in mind, Cao Yun had made the decision to focus on his blood cultivation. There were several reasons for that. First of all, it would help him improve his overall strength and even speed up his Qi cultivation. But it would also prove very useful in that environment where he would be forced to hide his Qi cultivation to pass off as a demon. And he intended to stay in the Desolate Sepulcher for some time. Since this continent was rather isolated, it would be perfect for him to consolidate his strength. In fact, at that very moment, he had already a plan in mind. But he wasn''t absolutely sure how he would achieve it yet. There were still pieces to the puzzle that were missing.


    Anyway, his first order of business was to form his Golden Blood. As he was waiting for Xixue, one of the Moshu knocked on his door. Immediately, Cao Yun knew who he was. More than that, he knew what he wanted as he could feel it in his hands. Without moving, Cao Yun opened the doors, still working on improving his spiritual senses. Obviously, the burly man was quite impressed. Compared to Cao Yun, he had an incredible physique. Sadly, there were still marks of some of the abuse inflicted upon him. Despite the pills and ointments made by the young alchemist, some wounds were taking their sweet time to heal. In fact, he could have healed them faster, but he couldn''t expose his real level of alchemy.


    This pained Cao Yun a little. By now, those Moshu were not stranger anymore. Although demons had persecuted the human kind for millenniums, those demons had nothing to do with it. Cao Yun would not condemn an entire species based on the behavior of some. Otherwise, he would be forced to condemn every single human being. After all, the Emperor himself was responsible for his family''s massacre and the corruption of his sister''s mind.


    There was a limit Cao Yun was not willing to cross. Even if some, like Xixue, might think of him as a hypocrite, he had taken his decision. He had steeled his resolve. No matter the consequences, there were things he could comprise and others he could not. But he would need to see the slaves bought by Xixue to show her this resolve.


    At the moment, he accepted the ingredients and told the burly man that he would enter seclusion. No one, not even Xixue, might disturb him. Indeed, he was going to enter a profound cultivation state. He couldn''t afford to be disturbed. With the ingredients he had now, he could finally refine the pills he needed to form the perfect Golden Blood.


    Immediately after the burly man''s departure, Cao Yun stood up and went into his laboratory first, not his cultivation room. After closing the door, he immediately checked all the array formations. It took him several hours. All around the room, there were array formations both to help him refine and to prevent any disturbance from the outside world. Even a middle Accomplished Demon would need some hours to break them down, maybe even a couple of days. And an early Accomplished Demon would probably spend an entire week or more on those array formations. In other words, no one in this town would ever be able to take them down in a reasonable amount of time.


    Hopefully, Cao Yun wouldn''t require so much time. And this was the purpose behind the other array formations. They were set to help him refine. Indeed, Cao Yun had already taken out his ''Aureate Grove Crucible'' and his ''Aureate Grove Blaze''. Those 2-star Heaven artifacts would maybe even be too weak for the pill he had in mind. Thus, he needed all the support he could get. In fact, the pill he had in mind was a 4-star Heaven pill. Cao Yun himself wasn''t sure whether he would be able to refine it, but he sure was going to try.


    As it happened to be, the Tyrant Sun Scarab had given him some of the rare ingredients he needed. Apart from its corpse and its demonic cores, he had only required common ingredients, common for him that was. Now that all of them were gathered, he could start the refinement process. The pill Cao Yun had in mind was the 4-star Heaven pill known as the Resplendent Mercury Breath pill. He had obtained that knowledge through the mind of Gu Song. Once again, he thought about Dian Mo who had been a huge help back then. Without him, performing a Soul Memory Search was impossible.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Anyway, that pill would help him to both improve the quality of his postnatal Jing, maybe even his prenatal Jing to some measure, and prepare his marrow for the fusion with his blood. When it came to his blood, he had almost no worry thanks to the Drop of Wrath.


    The problem of course was the grade of that pill. It would take everything he had as an alchemist and some more to refine the most basic Resplendent Mercury Breath pill. But to be fair, even the most basic pill would already be a tremendous help for him. Of course, he would prefer to get the best possible pill. According to the ingredients he had, he would probably be able to try six refinement processes. Some of those would be failure for sure. But he refused to imagine he would fail them all. Then, he would need to select the best pill among them all. In fact, if he had some to spare, he would keep them for later. Even at that point, he had some ideas about what to do with them.


    First of all, Cao Yun decided to prepare the ingredients. This would be the easiest part of the refinement process. And indeed, it didn''t take him too long. In front of him were all the necessary ingredients. Their quality was varying of course, but they were all above the quality he needed. Some were even of very high quality so he would keep them for his last batch, when he would have had more experience. In the first batch, he would use the poorest ingredients.


    That didn''t mean he was ready to waste them anyway. Before even igniting the flame, Cao Yun sat cross-legged and entered his sea of consciousness. Once again, the first thing he did was to try and wake up Dian Mo. Once again, it failed. The young man could feel that Dian Mo had triumphed over Mo Wang''s spirit, but the wounds were serious. Even now, he was in a state of deep sleep to fully recover. However, his condition was better. Indeed, Cao Yun could feel a small part of his own mind helping Dian Mo. By that point, Dian Mo was accepting more help than before. The vine of the world tree was also sharing a bit of vitality with Dian Mo. In Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, it took the form of vines growing all around the Demon Palace representing Dian Mo.


    Then, Cao Yun began his ''Spiritual Sea Refinement''. In his mind, he imagined the entire process over and over again. With his current mind, it took him a few hours to perform hundreds of refinements. Then, he took a few more hours to clear his mind and push his mind cultivation to the limit. Since he felt safe thanks to the array formations around his laboratory, he had no problem focusing everything in his mind. He even retracted the ''Ashen Feather Seal''. At the moment, the demons could have told that he was human as his meridians were not concealed.


    From his Upper Dantian, the Flying Poison permeated toward the Aureate Grove. This was the only way for Cao Yun to have spiritual senses since his own soul couldn''t leave his body. The Flying Poison coalesced around the Aureate Grove. Because he needed his full attention on the cauldron and the flame, the alchemist would use his own hands to deal with the ingredients and the flame powders. When he was happy about his sensations, Cao Yun began the refinement. In his Drop of Wrath, the Rune of Fire seemed to vibrate when he ignited his furnace. As he was controlling and feeling the flames, the Rune of Fire was also instinctively guiding him.


    Cao Yun didn''t hear any advice from the Rune of Fire. But he could clearly feel that it was influencing him in some way. He never tried to stop it of course. At some point, he almost lost his focus because he tried to feel that Rune of Fire. After all, it was a part of the Dao of Fire. But it didn''t accomplish anything. To the contrary, it almost caused him to lose control of his refinement. Instead of blaming himself, he let all those emotions go through him. They felt as though they were consumed by the very flames he was controlling.


    After an entire day, the first batch was ready. Thankfully, nothing disastrous happened. Refining a 4-star Heaven pill could clearly make his cauldron explode. Although it would endure such a shock, Cao Yun would also be blasted away. This wasn''t something he really wanted to experience. So he had tried not to think about it too much.


    When he opened the lid, he could see three small pills. All of his focus dispersed and he let out a deep sigh. Indeed, two of them were completely useless, they had failed utterly. And the last one only had 61% of medicinal essence. In other words, it had barely made the cut to be called a successful product. Of course, as he was trying to refine a 4-star Heaven pill, this was already a very impressive result. But it was far from being enough. Although he would ultimately use such a pill if he had no other choice, Cao Yun was hoping for around 80%. He even dared to hope for a pill between 85% and 90%. But he had no hope of refining a Perfect pill with his current abilities.


    Despite the relative failure of his first batch, Cao Yun was still full of confidence. After all, he had five batches left to improve on this performance. And before refining another batch, Cao Yun spent a lot of time cleaning both his cauldron and his furnace. He even burned a few ingredients in the Aureate Grove Crucible in order to completely purify it for the next batch. On the other hand, he also imagined the refinement he had just done. He replayed it hundreds of times in his mind.


    At some point, his sea of consciousness was full of his cauldron and his furnace. His simulations were so realist, he was able to feel the Rune of Fire being stirred a little. Unless he was working with a real flame though, the Rune of Fire would not act in the same manner. So it gave him a good idea. While he was imagining the process, he worked with a real flame in his furnace, without his cauldron. By focusing on the flame alone, he was able to perceive the Rune of Fire better.


    Finally he was ready again. One by one, Cao Yun refined each batch he could, spending all the rare ingredients he had obtained from the Tyrant Sun Scarab. For other demons, it would have been a waste of course. But Cao Yun didn''t care at all. If that pill could allow him to form a perfect Golden Blood, there was no waste to begin with.


    By the end, he had refined sixteen successful pills. By definition, it was a pill with 60% of medicinal essence or more. Unfortunately, most of the pills were between 60% and 70%. Only a couple of them had reached beyond 80%. And in the end, the best pill he had had 83% of medicinal essence. Obviously, this was an excellent result for most alchemist. This pill was very difficult to refine to begin with. Even an average 4-star Heaven alchemist might not have been able to outperform Cao Yun with this last pill.


    Now that he was done, Cao Yun still took his time to tidy up the laboratory. In particular, he took great care of his cauldron and furnace. Not only were they precious tools, they were gifts from his master.

 Chapter 504: Gold and blood

    Analyzing all the pills he had refined, Cao Yun was both happy about his performance and frustrated by the quality of the pills. He would have preferred to obtain better pills. But all things considered, this was truly a great accomplishment. After all, he wasn''t even a Spirit Warrior, yet he had been able to refine a difficult 4-star Heaven pill to success. That was simply unheard of. At the moment, he thought back about Feng Yingyue and his sister Mei Hua.


    There was no doubt that both women would have been able to refine a Heaven pill even before becoming Spirit Warriors. In fact, he was convinced that even without the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' method he had given them, they would have succeeded. After watching them during the Alchemy Conference, he was certain of it. But even they would have not managed to do such a thing. After all, Cao Yun could project his Flying Poison outside of his body because it belonged to the Drop of Wrath. With the usual ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', he would have never been able to achieve such results.


    Thus, he decided not to complain about the quality of the pills. That would have been a bit too much.


    Anyway, now that he had the pill he needed for his Golden Blood, Cao Yun left his laboratory and entered his cultivation room. For Accomplished Demons and Spirit Warriors, most of their cultivation was purely internal. In fact there were few ways of advancing their cultivation apart from silent meditation. At the very least, nobody knew of many ways, and those were not very useful in the general case. As a Golden Blood Child though, Cao Yun had many physical techniques that could help him circulate his blood and improve his body. This was also the case for his very last grades before attempting the Lesser Tribulation. Unfortunately, he couldn''t train like that out in the open.


    But thankfully, forming one''s Golden Blood didn''t require any external physical stimulus. Indeed, everything was going to happen in his Lower Dantian and his kidneys, the Golden Palace. In fact, it would be like alchemy and like he had proved to himself, Cao Yun was extremely good at alchemy. That didn''t mean that he wasn''t a bit tense though. After all, there was no coming back after forming his Golden Blood. This wasn''t like refining a pill. If he made a mistake, he couldn''t simply refine another batch as he had only one body.


    Although this wasn''t a tribulation per se as his life was not in danger, this was still a very delicate and important moment in one''s blood cultivation. In fact, the inability to form qualitative Golden Blood could prevent someone from ever becoming an Accomplished Demon, no matter their later efforts. Most likely, this was what had happened to Lady Gu Xue. At that point, only precious pills and priceless treasures could give her hopes. Cao Yun could understand why she had had so much excitement after seeing his pills. Indeed, he had made sure that his pills were specialized around blood and essence with a quality slightly superior to what he could see on the market. Like that, there was nothing too extraordinary while still catching the eye of everyone.


    Just like for his refinement, Cao Yun spent a lot of time getting ready for the moment. He circulated his blood cultivation again and again. Following ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', he condensed all of his blood in his heart, around his Drop of Wrath and used his Black Heart Flame to temper it. Eight times. Twenty-four times. Thirty-six times. Sixty-four times. One hundred and eight times. Those numbers were more symbolic than anything else. But they were useful to focus his mind. By that point, his blood was as pure as it could get without forming his Golden Blood.


    Obviously, he also focused on his Jing. Marrow and Jing were not one and the same, just like blood and Qi were different. But one''s marrow contained and transported most of one''s postnatal Jing. Indeed, although ancient cultivators had once believed that the heart was responsible for creating blood, that was the role of one''s marrow. And Jing''s role was to create Qi within the Lower Dantian through the use of prenatal Jing. That prenatal Jing was mostly stored in one''s kidney.


    With his current cultivation, Cao Yun envisioned his kidneys as one big Golden Palace. And within was a golden pellet, the Golden Fate, the representation of his prenatal Jing. Thanks to what blood essence he had extracted from Mo Wang, Cao Yun had already improved his Golden Fate a little. He had also developed his Kidney Fire. Said Kidney Fire was an emanation of his prenatal Jing and thus of his Golden Fate. Indeed, this Kidney Fire was the energy that could turn postnatal Jing into Qi. But it could also deplete one''s prenatal Jing and thus one''s vitality and lifespan. By improving one''s control over their Kidney Fire, it would preserve the Jing.


    Preserving one''s prenatal Jing was also the reason why many demons and humans were careful about not having too many children. Of course, very powerful cultivators or mortals who had no hopes of achieving much could still produce many children, but those were exceptions. And there were also other reasons not to have many children. Human especially were wary of wars and feuds within their own bloodline. Indeed, the Hongchen Kingdom''s survival was based upon its unity.


    The Rune of Fire was helping Cao Yun a lot. Thanks to it, he had a better control over both his Kidney Fire and his Black Heart Flame. Although he couldn''t bring the Kidney Fire in his heart, he could send his Black Heart Flame in his Lower Dantian, fusing both flames. And he could easily control several tongues of fire at the same, with very different properties in them, even mixing the properties of his Drop of Wrath in them too.


    After working on his blood, Cao Yun obviously worked on his Golden Fate. After using his flames on it for a very long time, they were shining so bright that they would have blinded his physical eyes. In fact, the entire Golden Palace was shining as though it were a literal sun in his body. At the same time, the Demon Palace in Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness began to shine a little as well. It was very faint, but there was no doubt about it. However, Cao Yun was just too busy working on his own cultivation. And at that point, he had no fear of Dian mo betraying him anymore.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Finally, the young man was ready.


    In the center of the room surrounded by array formations and incense sticks, Cao Yun was sitting in the lotus position, cross-legged with both soles and palms turned toward the sky. In front of him, there was a small pill. It was reddish with tinges of shiny silver moving across its surface. Obviously, this was the Resplendent Mercury Breath pill. Sitting on a tiny cushion, it began to levitate and entered Cao Yun''s mouth. His body was absolutely still and it was already radiating pure vitality. Without the array formations, everyone in Ruohe would have felt that someone was trying to break through. But they would also have felt that Cao Yun was only a 3rd-grade Golden Blood Child, albeit with an impressive blood.


    At the moment the pill entered his mouth, he swallowed it and it immediately began to melt. It turned into a heavy and viscous liquid that slowly slid down his throat. Before it could move freely, Cao Yun''s mind was all around it, guiding it first in his heart.


    There, the liquid mixed with his blood. Already his blood was heavy and difficult to move. But when the two began to mix together, it created something that was barely liquid anymore. Cao Yun had literally used all of his blood condensed into a single drop. For that first step though, he didn''t use fire at all as he didn''t want the two substances to merge. No, the medicinal essence of the Resplendent Mercury Breath pill was supposed to act as some form of binder for the real fusion between his blood and his essence.


    Thus, the silvery substance and his blood intertwined with each other but without really merging. At any moment, Cao Yun could easily separate them. However, they were easier to move together that way. Slowly, they went into his Lower Dantian. That first step was a success. As soon as they entered his Lower Dantian, he released his control over them. Immediately, as the pressure was released, they filled his entire Lower Dantian and exerted a lot of pressure on all its walls. Physically, Cao Yun could feel an intense pressure almost trying to rupture his abdomen. If his Lower Dantian had not been strengthened before, it would have never been able to support this kind of force. Cao Yun had also moved most of his Water Qi out of his Lower Dantian for the process so as to not deplete it.


    The second phase was now to liquefy his Golden Fate and to send it in his Lower Dantian. For other demons, they would use their own kidneys, their Golden Palace, to form the Golden Blood. But Cao Yun had found out that using his Lower Dantian would be better. It would resist much more than his kidneys and thus, Cao Yun would be able to push the process further and further in order to create the best kind of Golden Blood. In fact, he had hopes of exceeding any other demon before him. By using the best of two cultivation systems at the same time, his results would be twice as good with half the efforts.


    In his lower back, the Kidney Fire and the Black Heart Flame completely engulfed the Golden Palace. Within, there was now a sea of black, red and golden flames twirling around. A mere mortal would have been burned to cinders if an ounce of those flames entered their body. For Cao Yun though, that was no problem at all. Besides, he had an excellent control over those flames. The Golden Palace''s gates were shut completely closed as both pressure and temperature increased. Being careful, Cao Yun took his time.


    His physical body was sweating profusely. There were traces of few impurities in his sweat here and there. The young man''s body had still some toxins from previous pills in it. That process was apparently getting rid of some that his own body had not been able to extract on its own. In fact, some of those were toxins that had been in the Resplendent Mercury Breath pill itself. Because of the extreme temperature within his abdomen and despite the lack of blood, his skin was also turning a bit reddish.


    SLowly but surely, the Golden Fate was dripping drop after drop. It was being melted by the ocean of flames within the Golden Palace. After at least three hours, the entire Golden Fate had been turned into a golden liquid. Then, Cao Yun opened the gates of the Golden Palace. This was a delicate procedure as he guided the golden liquid into his Lower Dantian thanks to his internal flames. There were two crucial points. He couldn''t lose a drop of that golden liquid and he couldn''t allow anything to leave his highly pressurized Lower Dantian while opening it.


    His flames formed some kind of bridge between his Golden Palace and the cauldron that was his Lower Dantian, linking his Mingmen with it. Once the golden liquid was fully aggregated on the surface of that cauldron, Cao Yun''s flames sealed it as he was letting the Golden Fate within. As soon as he opened his Lower Dantian, the pressure tried to let the silvery and bloody mixture out. Thankfully, his flames endured as long as necessary for his golden liquid to enter. As it was lighter, it sank into his Lower Dantian with more ease. And once it was entirely inside, Cao Yun closed it off once more.


    His Kidney Fire and his Black Heart Flame were now completely enveloping his Lower Dantian. Even his own will and intent had a hard time getting inside because of the pressure and the temperature. His awareness was mostly focused on the surface of his Lower Dantian so he could manipulate the flames as was necessary to optimize the result. The medicinal essence of the Resplendent Mercury Breath pill was being completely consumed as both his blood and his liquid Golden Fate were mixing with one another.


    On the outside, his body was starting to shiver. It had been many hours now that he had no blood circulating in his flesh. Although he was making do with his Qi, this wasn''t the same thing. For the time being, his body was still made of flesh. Of course, he didn''t need to eat, drink, sleep or even breathe as much as a mere mortal. But depriving his body of blood completely for so long was a real trial for his flesh. At the same time, there was an intense heat permeated throughout his body and his mind was pushed to the limit. The strain on his entire being was immense. Hopefully, this wouldn''t take too long...


    And it took one more hour.


    The young man was shaking uncontrollably by that time. But finally it was over!


    All of a sudden, he completely released all of his tension and his posture changed, his body slouched. But from within, a new blood flowed through his veins. Leaving his Lower Dantian, there was now a bright red blood with flashes of gold within that entered his bloodstream. As it was filling his empty blood vessels, Cao Yun felt life coming back to him. There was an immense vitality permeating through his entire being. All around him, there was an aura that burst outward. Without the array formations, it might even have damaged the very walls of his cultivation room.


    Cao Yun had never felt so alive. For a few hours his body had almost been stopped and he had been close to death. But suddenly, he was reborn. His breakthrough had clearly been a huge success. No demon or asura had ever had such a resplendent Golden Blood in their veins.


    Then, a voice resounded.


    "Congratulations, boy!"

 Chapter 505: Hiring slaves

    Although it was faint and lacked strength, that voice was undoubtedly Dian Mo''s voice. While still full of exhilaration, Cao Yun turned most of his intent inwards. Of course, a part of his intention was still with his newly formed Golden Blood as it was circulating in his veins, bringing force and vitality everywhere. This was a heavenly pleasure, like a parched man suddenly drinking crystalline water.


    "Boy, I didn''t mean to divert you from enjoying your reward. It seems that I was out for a lot longer than I thought... You''ll have to bring me up to date."


    "Dian Mo? How are you?"


    Just as he was asking, Cao Yun immediately sent his senses all over the Demon Palace. His joy receded when he realized that the last shreds of Mo Wang''s soul and spirit were still there. But they were clearly weaker than before. That being said, the mere fact that Dian Mo had not yet been able to completely get rid of them was worrisome.


    "I don''t know what that bastard found in Da Mo''s library, but it sure helped him put up a good fight. In fact, he might even have found documents related to myself. I can''t explain how much damage he''s been able to do in any other way. I don''t want to brag, but even a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior should have had a harder time doing so. Well... maybe your Xiao Xuefeng might have..."


    The more he spoke, the more Cao Yun realized how weak he was. Even in his sea of consciousness, his voice was weak even though speaking didn''t require to have any form of physical strength. Clearly, his spirit had been greatly damaged. But Dian Mo was a spirit. He had no physical form, so it was his very being that had been damaged. Obviously, Cao Yun could imagine how he had to feel.


    "Is there any way for me to help you recover?"


    "He he he... It seems like you''ve missed me... Well, boy, just by improving your blood, you''ve helped me a great deal. All that vitality woke me up. I should be able to recover naturally over time. To tell the truth, I don''t think that young bastard has any fight left in him. Soon, I should be able to crack his remnants open. Then, I''ll sift through what remains of his memories to know more about what he had discovered. That might even assist you later on. But first, tell me, really, how long was I out for?"


    Thus, Cao Yun began to count everything that had happened. In fact, it was useful for him too. That allowed the young man to clarify his thoughts and his plans. Dian Mo barely reacted but there was no doubt that he was listening closely to every detail. Sometimes, Cao Yun could feel his attention drifting away so he paused for a while. Finally, they reached the end of Cao Yun''s story.


    "Boy, you''re insane! But it might be worth it. In fact, it''s slightly less suicidal than charging straight forward to get your sister back. By the way, you shouldn''t worry too much. That bastard Weide won''t harm her neither physically nor mentally. My guess is that he used some kind of mental block to keep her previous memories, like a form of trauma. Considering what probably happened to her if we look at her scars, it seems to be the case. But now, he won''t do anything that might endanger her cultivation. Besides, he won''t simply harvest her Soul Embryo as a mere 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. He''ll wait for her to be at the very least a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior, maybe even a 5th-grade one. Most likely, he''ll kill her just before she starts to imbue her own soul into it."


    "In other words, it should take several decades."


    "Yes. Even if he has ways to speed things up, he won''t risk the stability of her cultivation. And thankfully, he won''t try to have her produce any offspring. First of all, only the women in her family have this specific Soul Embryo. And even then, he can''t know for sure whether all women will have that, and how pronounced it could be. Look at the Huang family, not every woman in their genealogy has the same degree of True Fiery Fenghuang blood. But carrying a child would obviously slow down her cultivation for some time and might even cause other problems. The first problem would be if he were to force her of course. That would have a huge impact on her mind and thus her cultivation."


    "I''m not too sure whether you''re trying to comfort or worry me by talking about that bastard whom she thinks is her dad abusing her, or having someone else abuse her..."


    "Boy, precisely, I''m telling it won''t happen!"


    Cao Yun had known most of it, but it was nice to have a second opinion who agreed with him. Although Dian Mo wasn''t neutral since he didn''t want Cao Yun to run to his death, which would be his, Cao Yun knew he wasn''t lying. In fact, he wasn''t sure whether he could lie in his current state. That being said, he had now images he had tried to keep out of his mind, both of what Cao Huiying had suffered through when first abducted and of what kind of abuse Weide might inflict upon her to produce an offspring. Even though, he knew this wouldn''t happen, thinking about the possibility had brought forth mental images that were revolting and fed his anger and shame.


    "Boy, I also have to warn you. I''m not sure I''ll be able to stay conscious all the time. Besides, do not count on me for any trick. I can share my knowledge, but that''s more or less it."


    "I understand. And I do need your knowledge."


    Considering Dian Mo''s state, the young man didn''t press too much. He simply asked very simple questions about demons and their culture to get an even better idea of things. Unfortunately, he had never heard of Weaver of Souls. But Demon God Da Mo had many lieutenants and Dian Mo had not be privy to everything that happened during the Great War. Speaking of Demon God Da Mo, Cao Yun also realized that Dian Mo had stopped referring to him as ''Demon God''.


    After that, he enjoyed his new blood cultivation for some time. With this Golden Blood, he would clearly improve his Qi cultivation as well. Tempering both his meridians and his vessels would be much easier. In fact, even as his Golden Blood was coursing through his veins, he could feel some more Fire Qi entering his Middle Dantian. By pushing his flames to the limit, he had created a lot of Fire Qi that had left his blood. There had been so much energy that not all of it fused with his new Golden Blood. Thus, his Middle Dantian was getting closer and closer to being full of Fire Qi. In fact, more than half of his chambers were already brimming with Fire Qi.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Slowly, that Fire Qi would also enter into the rest of the chambers. But with his Golden Blood, he might even try other methods. By altering his ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' blood cultivation, he might be able to speed up the process. Besides, he also knew of several postures and routines that might be helpful. Sensing that his Qi cultivation could advance even faster than he thought, he was looking forward to testing it all. Unfortunately, he had to do it in a remote area where no one could uncover his meridians.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun left his cultivation room as a middle Golden Blood Child. During this new stage of his blood cultivation, he would practice ''Flows Take the Gold''. It was clear enough as it consisted in being able to fully control one''s Golden Blood. It was way heavier than normal blood and incredible rich in Qi and Jing. Obviously Qi was precious, but Jing was much more precious than it. Thus, Cao Yun had to learn to use his Golden Blood without wasting his Jing. Even though they were intertwined, he had to rely more on his Qi, while allowing his Jing to naturally replenish the Qi he was using. Some explained it as circulating mercury in one''s body.


    For that practice, there were also routines and strange postures as well as various exercises to control one''s mind. Most of them consisted in visualizing Golden Blood as different things, like mercury for example. Cao Yun was much more interested by the use of blood runes he had already met several times. But he also had the marks in Xixue''s skeleton in mind. Since he had an exhaustive map of her body, he was thinking of ways to translate those marks into his own practice. For the routine, he would simply work and develop his ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''. This was the martial art he had created himself based on Axiu Qian''s memory and the ''Cultivation of Wrath''''s ''Dance of Slaughter''. Moreover, it would be a perfect art for demons, they would love it and would never suspect Cao Yun of being a human.


    Cao Yun practiced a few moves and quickly changed his clothes that were covered in his sweat and were honestly exuding a foul smell. Thankfully, his spatial ring had many clothes and he could simply wish them to appear while the others disappeared. This was a neat trick he quite liked.


    When he ultimately opened his chambers again, he was met with Xixue. The small woman had been waiting for him for a few days now. She had found the perfect slaves to manage his shop and help him become big fast. With scorn in her eyes, she was still defiant of Cao Yun. The young man had decided that it would stop today, one way or another. He was tired of being looked at in this manner while he had done nothing to deserved it. Furthermore, he knew where that gaze was coming from.


    Reading the reports of the young woman, he realized that she truly was professional. That was no wonder City Lord Sihe wanted her as a spy by Boss Gui''s sides. All the slaves she had chosen were criminals of some kind who had either been enslaved as a sentence or had sold themselves to repay a debt. There was not a single one who wouldn''t be useful in a shop. Although they had no specific knowledge of alchemy, they had knowledge about business and money. Of course, Cao Yun didn''t want to become a criminal as he didn''t care much for money as long as he had enough. He was not greedy at all. And he knew that his competitors would everything to make him fail. He simply had no time to play around. This shop was a means for a goal, nothing more.


    "Bring them in."


    Xixue brought eight slaves. Their clothes were already marked by the emblem of Cao Yun''s shop, the Blazing Swallow. The name was a reference both to his former faction, the Heavenly Swallow as it reminded him of his brothers and sisters as well as the Hongchen Kingdom itself, and to Hongyu of course. For the customers, this would only be a reference to Hongyu. Since the moment of his arrival, Lord Mo Yun had been associated with his mount, a fiery and noble bird. Most demons would only think that the species chosen, the swallow, was either only poetic or had some personal meaning to Lord Mo Yun.


    In fact, Cao Yun had already read a few poem anthologies. Demon poetry was rather good, and sometimes even exceeded human poetry. Although Saint Dashan remained his favorite author, he had found many interesting new authors among the demons. And he had found a particular poem talking about fiery birds and mentioning the swallow as a way of referring to all birds in general. Obviously, he was putting this poem forward to advertise his shop. He was sure that this would add something to its identity in the eyes of the customers.


    Anyway, here they were, eight slaves were facing their new master. While Xixue stayed in the room, he closed the room and made sure that no one was listening. He had accepted to buy slaves as it was easier for the shop but also because it would give the right kind of message to the other demons. He was like all the other businessmen of the Nalupu Kingdom. In fact, he was most worried about the way Boss Gui would see him since she was mainly dealing in slaves. He couldn''t look like someone who had a problem with slavery.


    That being said, he did have a problem with slavery. But he had found a way to compromise with that. After all, he didn''t intend to stay on this continent for too long and he had plans for it. If his plans were successful, slavery would be a barbaric practice of the past. But, to be honest, this wasn''t his main goal, only a very enticing consequence, that would also have positive effects on his future plans for the main continent.


    The slaves were precisely four men and four women. Of course, Xixue had chosen them for their abilities, and their sex had never entered her considerations. As he was inspecting them, he could feel that the women were a bit more nervous than the men. That mere observation irritated him because he knew the reason behind it. He was not some great saint or savior. He couldn''t save everyone or make right every injustice. That being said, he could take care of what he had in front of him. As much as he didn''t want to become a paragon of moral and virtue, he wouldn''t stay blind and deaf to what was happening in front of him.


    "You will all enter my service to take care of my alchemy shop, the Blazing Swallow. From this day onward, you will be treated as though you were legitimate employees. Although you will remain slaves on paper, I do not intend to treat you as such. However, I will punish you harshly, as I would punish any employee. And if you commit any crime or personally cause any trouble of any kind for my shop, you will suffer the consequences of your actions. Other than that, you will be paid as any other employee will be paid. And from a year from now, I will allow you to pay for your own freedom. At that moment, you''ll have a choice to make, either to keep working for me or to go back to the life that brought you here in the first place."


    As he spoke, neither Xixue nor the slaves fully registered what he was saying. According to their slave contracts, they had to stay slaves for twenty to seventy years depending on their crimes. Yes, they had heard of slaves buying their freedom. But those were generally people of rich family paying their way out of situation.

 Chapter 506: Ordering ones thoughts and emotions

    The one who was the most shocked was Xixue because she had never even thought of such a possibility. At first, she wanted to object. If such a thing was known, it might hurt his reputation. But then, she knew better. Her arguing with him in front of those slaves who might be freed in a year''s time was foolish. And at that moment, she also realized that she was only thinking of her mission and those slaves were merely tools. As that thought became vivid to her, she cursed herself and then Cao Yun.


    In her eyes, he had thwarted her first plan. The people who had been tortured and killed by her leaking the location of the Moshu tribe had suffered in vain. But in truth, she was blaming herself. If she had met that man beforehand, those people wouldn''t have had to know such a fate. But if she had been stronger, she would never have had to make that choice. And now, in front of her, Cao Yun was able to do what she had not been able to. As much as he needed those slaves to manage his shop, he would not resort to distasteful ways.


    Many thoughts coursed through her mind and Xixue was at a loss. Obviously, Cao Yun could read her very easily. First of all, she wasn''t making any particular effort to hide it. And even if she had, his mind cultivation was just way above any trick she could use. With his senses, he could see through any subtle change in her posture, in her breathing, in her face. There was no way for her to hide anything from his eyes.


    He also saw that the slaves were in disbelief. None of them had ever heard of such a master before. He could keep them in his service for at least twenty years and work them to exhaustion and beyond without paying them anything. And yet, he had offered them a salary and a way out. The shrewdest one thought it to be some kind of elaborate trap. Instead of getting his hopes up too fast, he would wait and see. But in the following days, seeing his good work conditions, even he would be convinced. There was another man though who had a better idea. By giving them so much, he realized that Cao Yun had in fact ensured their service for life.


    Indeed, after buying their freedom, there was no way they would leave such a benevolent master. Besides, by giving them good work conditions, he was also making sure that they would work themselves to exhaustion without him having to say anything and that was what happened. Slowly, the shop became a part of them. They considered it as their own company and they would do everything to make it fruitful. However, that benevolent master was no fool. As he had said, he was harsh when it came to punishment. And he had a perfect way of punishing his workers, money. Since they had a salary and hoped to pay for their freedom, he could simply take that money away for lesser offenses. Thankfully, none of his employees discovered what would happen if they had committed any crime under his service.


    Cao Yun dismissed his new slaves/employees. Then, he stayed alone with Xixue. Once again, she didn''t know what to do so she simply stayed standing there. She could feel that Cao Yun had something to tell her and that it wouldn''t be pleasant. However, he didn''t talk. His spiritual senses were completely engulfing her and adding to the pressure she could feel from his eyes.


    "Lord Mo, if other shops learn of that, they may not like it. First of all, this might make you look weak in their eyes. And they could even take it as you inciting their own slaves to rebel. Besides, this might also make Boss Gui wary of you."


    "To the contrary, from what I gathered from this Boss Gui, she would most likely approve of my ways. Instead of using the stick alone, I introduced a carrot. Now, they will work harder and will produce better results. When it comes to my competitors, I will let my results speak for me. I do not care what they think of me at this point. But you are right that I cannot appear weak at all. And the fact that you always seem to be questioning my decisions as well as your overtly hostile gaze are not helping for that."


    "Lord..."


    "Silence! I have had enough of your gaze on me. You look at me as though I am responsible for your actions or your situation. You made a terrible decision when you were in a desperate position, own to it! I know what you see when you look at me. You see your own helplessness, your own shortcomings, your own shame. Trust me, I know about shame and about desperate situations. You''ve betrayed an entire tribe who had welcomed you and you offered them to degradation, torture, death and servitude. I am not to blame. The situation is not to blame. You are! You might have had few choices but you chose the worst one. And now that you see me able to choose better than you, you think everything is because of my strength, that if only you had been stronger, you could have chosen differently."


    Cao Yun''s tone was mixed with his ''Weeping Demon''. Thus, his words were reaching deep into Xixue. Furthermore, they were ringing true. All the feelings that she didn''t know how to handle were laid bare in front of her. Suddenly, she understood her hostility toward Cao Yun.


    "You are not the only one who suffered a lot. The people you''ve betrayed also suffered by your actions. Trust me, I understand the desire to save one''s sister, but that doesn''t mean that you can torment people who had nothing to do with it in the first place. I will help you find your sister. But I will not resort to such means. Do not misunderstand me, I am no saint. And I''m not helping you just out of the kindness of my heart. You help me, so I help you, this is that simple. But hear me, I have much more grand projects in mind for the entire continent. And if I have to choose between helping you and forwarding my projects, there won''t be any hesitation. At the end of the day, if you want to save her, you''ll have to rely on yourself. You''ve felt powerless. Well, today I give you the power back. Make your decision now. Either follow me willingly or leave my service. I will still help you find out where your sister has been sold from Boss Gui, but no more than that. Decide."


    To be honest, Cao Yun didn''t care much about moral, at least not in the demon territory. Their views were a bit different from his. But still, that didn''t sit right with him what she had done. And he intended to put her qualities to good work. That might be able to redeem herself a bit. After all, she would help take down the system that was afflicting this society. But she had to choose to do so herself. He couldn''t force her to follow him.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Xixue was quite shocked after hearing Cao Yun''s words. Behind them, she could somehow see what he had in mind. After seeing him promise freedom to his own slaves, she thought she had a very good idea of what he wanted to do. But he was still only a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. In front of the Nalupu Kingdom, he was nothing, just like she had been nothing in front of Boss Gui or City Lord Sihe. To save her sister, she had found no better way than to commit the crimes she had herself been victim of.


    Despite Cao Yun''s cultivation, she was sensing something deep in his words. He was utterly convinced of his success. There was no doubt in it. Even if he were to fail, he would accept it gladly. If she followed him, she would have to accept responsibility for her actions. Until now, she had made herself a tool for City Lord Sihe''s ambitions in exchange for the promise of rescuing her sister. From this day forward, she had the choice to become a demon again, not just a tool.


    For several minutes, Cao Yun waited and waited. His patience was rewarded when Xixue knelt in front of him.


    "Lord Mo Yun, I accept your offer. I will help you achieve your goals."


    "Good. Send for the Moshu tribe. I will have words with them."


    When Xixue left, Dian Mo''s voice resounded in the young man''s mind.


    "Do you really believe everything that you said? To what lengths are you really ready to go to save your little sister? Would you sacrifice the Hongchen Kingdom for her? Would you sacrifice innocent people for her?"


    "The truth is that I don''t know. I hope I won''t. I like to believe I won''t. But if I had been in her shoes, I might have made such a terrible choice as well. The Moshu tribe would blame her if they knew, but I don''t. I blame City Lord Sihe. However, the good she might do by my side will hopefully tip the balance of her conscience."


    "You do know that many people will die if you go forward with your plans."


    "This is war, many people are already die. Besides, their current situation is terrible. I won''t force anyone to follow me. But if they do, I will offer them a chance at something better."


    "But in the end, you''re doing this to impair the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. You don''t really care about the suffering of those demons, right?"


    "While you''re right on your first point, you''re mistaken on that second one. But I already told you before, I have no intention of becoming a saint or a savior, I''m not a fool. That doesn''t mean that I''m blind and deaf to the torment around me. Now, leave me alone for some time, I have to work on my Unclean Evil."


    This Unclean Evil was the Po of Qi. By advancing it, Cao Yun would gain an even better control over his Qi. Besides, the first aspect of his Po he had worked on was the Po of Jing, the Flying Poison. With those two aspects, his control over his Golden Blood would become near perfect. With this mind cultivation, he would speed up his blood cultivation even more. And since the Unclean Evil was related to shame, Cao Yun had some to spare, unfortunately.


    To be honest, he had no grand moral or superior principle to adhere to. Although he followed the School of Ren Dao from the Hongchen Kingdom, he didn''t have all the answers to those questions. Even now, he was more or less finding them as he was going forward. One thing was certain in his mind though, slavery was an evil practice, just like demonic cultivation. In fact, anything that would turn a human, or a demon for that matter, into a tool or an object of some kind was repulsive to him. But at the same time, Dian Mo was somewhat right. With his plans, many people might die. But Cao Yun was not all-powerful. He couldn''t just wave his hands and change the world. Hopefully though, he would be able to limit the deaths so their enemies would suffer much more.


    Just like with the Flying Poison, Cao Yun worked on his Unclean Evil by picking up all the threads of his Po related to his shame. With them, he was reliving his past experiences and his emotions. There was less and less doubt in his actions now. He fully embraced this sensation and wasn''t too worried about being lost in those emotions. Thus, it would take less time than for the Flying Poison. The point he wasn''t too sure about was about the Drop of Wrath.


    Before, the Flying Poison had already been a part of the Drop of Wrath. Now, he was trying to rebuild its Unclean Evil with his own. So he had no past experience of that. Still, he could feel the Drop of Wrath grow stronger as his Unclean Evil was slowly implanted into it.


    -


    Later, Xixue sent the Moshu tribe to Cao Yun''s chambers. Since they had come to Ruohe, they had passed off as his slaves and had worked as servants for the most part. Now was the time to end this temporary situation. Just like Xixue, they had a choice to make. Looking at their eyes, Cao Yun knew they would make the right one. But even if they didn''t, he would not force them.


    "Thank you all for your service until this day. As I promised you, I have bought some caravan for you to go back to the desert. Although your tribe is no more, I imagine that you could still join another one. From what I heard, all your tribes know each other. So I will offer you a choice. All of you who want to go back can. I will give you everything you need. But I will only ask of you that you bring a message to the leaders of the nomad tribes. Your other alternative is to stay by my side. After taking over this city, I intend to go to Duma where Boss Gui rules, the woman who had her men enslave you. I can''t promise you vengeance though. My goals are greater than that. I intend to end the hunt for more slaves in the Desolate Dune Desert."


    Hearing Cao Yun''s words, they were all utterly shocked. First of all, he spoke about taking over this city as though it was a done deal. And of course, his ambition of ending slavery was something unheard of. Only the humans had ever been able to escape slavery. And that had been possible by a Great War that had changed the face of this planet. But somehow, they could tell that he would do as he had said. Some of the Moshu immediately saw images of flames covering the entire Desolate Sepulcher. They could already taste the blood in the air as Cao Yun would wage war to free all slaves.


    There had been a few revolts, but they had all ended up in blood. So they couldn''t imagine any other scene apart from untold violence. Some even cowered in fear as they saw the certainty in Cao Yun''s eyes. What they were afraid of was that they began to believe in his words. They thought that this one might be able to do it. But it was hopeless in the end...


    Most of the Moshu decided to leave back to other tribes. But they also agreed to bring Cao Yun''s message with them. On the other hand, a handful of Moshu chose to stay by his side. In particular, Cao Yun was quite interested in a young boy named Dan Yao. Since his arrival, he had been very interested by alchemy. And Cao Yun was seeing something in him despite his young age. In fact, he was as young as Cao Yun was when he entered the Wubei Sect. He might be able to learn.

 Chapter 507: Life in Ruohe

    "Boy, are you sure about that message you told those Moshu?"


    "Well, my plan is risky to begin with. But if I''m able to reduce the trade of slaves in the entire Desolate Sepulcher, I will hurt the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Boss Gui provides many soldiers, but the crux of the problem is rather the number of workers. After slave soldiers are not necessarily the best fighters on the battlefield. However, they can be used in battle formations as they don''t have any other choice that to obey or die in terrifying agony. That being said, the real threat comes from the Accomplished Demons and I''m not even sure there is a single slave who has reached that stage.


    "On the other hand, stopping their supply of workers will strike a real blow into the theocracy. Obviously, slavery is appalling but I am no savior. I can''t stop an entire system by myself in a few years. However, enslaving people without cause is already deemed illegal. It''s just that the Nalupu Kingdom disregards this law completely. The fact that they didn''t outright legalize it shows that they do care about appearances. Even Boss Gui makes sure that she has plausible deniability. So there is a way for me to get rid of that. Of course, I probably won''t stop slavery completely, but I can live with that. This isn''t my kingdom after all. If they want to get rid of this barbarism, they will have to do it themselves. That being said, I will give them the opportunity to do so."


    "Do you intend to completely overthrow Lord Wanghuo?"


    "I do not yet know. From what I heard, this will be very difficult. But if I want to commandeer a ship to go back to the main land, this might be my only acceptable option. I will not join as neither a slave nor a slaver, that''s for sure."


    "I see... But I still think it was unwise to tell them that you intend to take over this city and to get rid of slave hunters in the desert. What if they spread it?"


    "I do want them to spread it among their tribes. And I can assure you that they will do everything so that no one else learns of that. Convincing tribes that have fled in front of slavers for so long and live rather isolated won''t be easy. First, I need to earn a bit of their trust. By showing them that I am true to my word with Ruohe, this will achieve that. Of course, there are risks. But I could always discard my current identity. I made sure to create several of them thanks to Xixue. And I do intend to create other safeguards once I have more control of this city. By the way, the time has come. I have to go."


    -


    As Cao Yun had almost fully subdued his Unclean Evil, it was easier for him to pass off as a legitimate 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. Besides, he had an incredible Golden Blood by now. With his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' concealing his meridians, even a late Accomplished Demon would think he was what he claimed to be.


    The Blazing Swallow had already opened. The very first day, they made more than any other shop in Ruohe. City Lord Gu Xue personally came to visit the shop. It was obvious that she was after something from Cao Yun. Thus, everyone knew that this alchemist was legit and consequently so was his shop. Moreover, his employees were extremely good and motivated. Even Xixue was more into it than usual. To be honest, Cao Yun truly wanted to manage the shop himself as he had done for his very informal shop in the Wubei Sect.


    But he had to admit that those employees of his were much more competent and invested than he was. For him, this shop was just a means for an end he could discard if need be. For them though, it was the key to their freedom and to a better life. Seeing the success of their master''s pill, not a single one of the current slave had any thought about leaving. They would buy their freedom of course, that was a no-brainer. But they would stay in Lord Mo Yun''s service for as long as they could. Not only were they in a prosperous shop, but they also had access to pills that could push their cultivation forward. Fate had rewarded their crimes apparently.


    Obviously, this caused a bit of unrest. Even some other merchants who didn''t think Cao Yun was a threat were starting to reconsider.


    -


    All of that was already foreseen by Cao Yun. This city was small enough that no defense could stop him. In other words, he knew almost everything that was going on in Ruohe. Besides, he often walked through the city like he had done Qingyun City. And just like he had done back there, Cao Yun set up many array formations all over the place. Now that Dian Mo was conscious again, he was a great help with that. Cao Yun had even set up a few Heaven array formations around his own residence.


    Outside, Cao Yun acted like a normal merchant. He often visited the most famous restaurant of the city, the Silver Conch. The name had struck him as strange as they were closer to the desert than to the ocean. But he had to admit that this was very good. Of course, he had known better, but he still enjoyed a different cuisine than the one he was used to. In less than a week, he had already tasted every dish there. Because they didn''t want to lose his patronage, the restaurant asked the chefs to create new dish regularly for the young man. Everyone knew that Cao Yun dined there every other day. In fact, he even conducted some business meetings there.


    The rest of his time was spent cultivating his mind cultivation as he was very close to forming his Unclean Evil. In fact, he even stopped the rest of his cultivation. With his Unclean Evil, controlling his Golden Blood would be even easier. And with the Golden Blood, his Qi cultivation would also improve faster. In fact, the Unclean Evil would speed up his Qi cultivation by itself since it was the Po of Qi. Thus, his mind cultivation was the best way to cultivate faster right now and he focused on it entirely.


    When he wasn''t cultivating, he was training Dan Yao. The young boy was not that talented. However, he was extremely curious and motivated. Working with him was always pleasant. At first, Dan Yao was completely terrified and petrified when Cao Yun was close to him. But as they developed a proper relation student-teacher, things changed. Dan Yao opened up more. Cao Yun could tell he was training extremely hard, but he truly lacked talent. Thankfully, his tenacity and obstinacy were enough for him to progress at a steady pace.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    In a matter of weeks, he would officially be called an alchemist. And in his future, Cao Yun could see that he would become at least a 5-star Human alchemist. To be fair, as much as he grew to like the boy, he didn''t think he could reach the last rank of Heaven alchemist. But there was no need to tell him that at all. In a decade or two, many things could happen. Maybe by cultivating his blood, he might even improve his alchemy. After all, one''s mind would also improve with cultivation and his main problem was that he had a lot of difficulties when it came to forming link between ideas. He was able to quote almost anything Cao Yun had told him or had him read. But when it came to apply it in real situations, in less academical settings, it was hard for him.


    Maybe experience alone would remedy that. But anyway, Cao Yun knew that this boy would become good over time. That being said, he specifically trained him on a certain number of pills he knew he would need. Like that, Dan Yao might be able to take over the pill production when Cao Yun would be away. In fact, he was starting to wonder whether he should leave him in Ruohe or take him with him to Duma. At first, he only needed someone to replace him in Ruohe, but his plans were always evolving as things changed and new information appeared.


    -


    While things were going well for Cao Yun in Ruohe, the Moshu survivors he had let go found a small tribe they had had some dealings with. They told the men who found them that they had been enslaved and saved by a powerful Accomplished Demon. And that this great demon had a message for their leaders. After verifying that they were no traitor, were not being pursued, and had no seals in them to either track them or cause any damage to their tribe, they brought them to their leaders.


    Those were all Golden Blood Children. Even the oldest of the leaders had not yet reached the Accomplished Demon realm. Obviously, they were shocked when they heard the full story. An early Accomplished Demon could completely erase a Slavery Brand without any consequence and in so little time... Besides, he claimed that he would stop the slave hunts that were plaguing them. For them, it was too good to be true. However, they obviously took note of this. And like Cao Yun had imagined, they decided to hide his real identity as much as possible for the time being.


    Word spread throughout all the tribe, going to the very heart of the Desolate Dune Desert. In half a year, all the tribes of the desert knew about some great Accomplished Demon who was campaigning for them. The reactions were very diverse. But the general attitude was to wait and see. As men who lived in the desert, they were familiar with that attitude and they wouldn''t change easily. But if they had an Accomplished Demon with them, it might indeed change things. Once again though, how much could an early Accomplished Demon alone achieve?


    While the desert tribes heard of Cao Yun, renamed Tie Po to hide his real name, others heard some tales. But they were not about a powerful Accomplished Demon who had freed some slaves. No, they were about an alchemist in a small city. The ones hearing of this tale were all old women.


    If Xixue had been there, she would have immediately recognized the robes of the Sisters of the Abyss. A few old women wearing the same kind of black and red robes were listening to a younger sister. While all those older women were Accomplished Demon, one of them was even a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. She was the High Mother, leader of the Sisters of the Abyss.


    "Sister Xie, are you positive about your report? We summoned you to hear everything from your own lips."


    Although she was from the same order, that Sister Xie was obviously terrified of her current situation. In front of her were the great leaders of her order as well as the supreme leader, the High Mother. She knew that the wrong sound or the wrong intonation could cause problems for her. She had to tell exactly what she had seen without adding anything but without subtracting anything either.


    "High Mother, I swear on my blood that my report was truth. I was positioned in Ruohe recently to observe City Lord Gu Xue. While I was there, a young alchemist entered the city. Even before he entered the city, I could feel something strange, but... Please pardon my inexperience, but I didn''t think too much about it."


    "Speak without fear of sanctions. We know you''re still inexperienced. This is why you were sent to Ruohe and not to a big city. Do not pause, tell us what you felt."


    "For an instant, I thought I felt the holy presence of the Source of Blood. But it was even... it was even purer than the Source itself. Obviously, I didn''t want to believe it as it was also very weak. I simply thought that my training was lacking. However, when I saw this Mo Yun, I changed my mind. For several days I observed him. Although he''s a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon, he almost discovered me so I quickly stopped spying on him before his suspicion could be arisen."


    "What?!"


    An old woman who wasn''t the High Mother could not stop herself.


    "One of our Sisters was discovered by an early Accomplished Demon?! This is impossible. Our blood is distilled and pure, even a middle or a late Accomplished Demon should have trouble sensing your presence from afar. Did you make a mistake during your investigation? Do not hide it from us! If you''ve made a mistake, this is still acceptable."


    "I swear on my blood and my mother''s blood, Mother Superior. He didn''t find me out, of that I am certain. But he was very close to doing it."


    "Please go on. What you wrote in your report, this is what I want to hear about."


    "Of course, High Mother. This man is hiding it for some reason. but his blood is even purer than our Source of Blood. And it is strong and plentiful. I cannot fathom the origin of his bloodline. Even... even High Mother''s bloodline is inferior to his."


    "Blasphemy!"


    "Sisters!"


    The older women were almost ready to tear apart their younger Sister when the High Mother stopped them with a word. The poor Sister Xie was trembling, kowtowing before her superiors.


    "I can tell that your words are true. What you''ve done today is a great deed indeed. You will be rewarded for your caution. Warning us first was the right decision. We will have to think deep on the matter. If such a man exists, we have to get his blood, one way or another. You may leave, Sister Xie."


    Those last words were a bowl of fresh air for Sister Xie. She came back to live when she was finally able to leave this intense room. And just as she left, the High Mother waved her hands. Powerful array formations activated again behind Sister Xie.


    "Sisters, if this man hides his blood, he will not be discovered by others. We have time to act. No one must learn of that fact. I don''t know why he hides his blood but no demon can hide his bloodline from our eyes. The mere fact that he exists proves that he doesn''t come from the Desolate Sepulcher."


    "Do you think he came here with one of the slave boats?"


    "We''ll have to find out. First, we''ll gather as much information on him as possible, then we''ll act."

 Chapter 508: Contract with the hunters

    Following his routine, Cao Yun found himself in the Silver Conch. And this time, he was discussing business with a couple of hunters. Those two were representing a larger union of hunters. They had organized themselves to support the pressure exerted on them by the few alchemy shops.


    There were always hunters outside of this union, but their situation was very precarious. In fact, it wasn''t too rare for a hunter to be enslaved because of some debts he ha accumulated. Indeed, they needed some tools to stay alive. Some alchemy shops liked to provide them with the perfect tools, but then they had to pay with the bounty of their hunt. Obviously, when they couldn''t repay the loan several times, they were in real danger of being enslaved by said shop. Then, they would work for free in difficult conditions for the shop.


    Usually they were able to pay for their freedom in a matter of months, sometimes even weeks if they were lucky. But that didn''t mean that their situation was good. It was just bearable considering the alternatives. In the most extreme cases, an alchemy shop could even buy a hunter turned slave. Of course, this was extremely rare as they did need hunters in order to get the ingredients they needed for their pills and products.


    "Miss Jie, Mister Jie, this is always a pleasure."


    "Lord Mo, the pleasure is ours. Since we all have such busy schedules, please cut to the chase."


    Cao Yun had become rather familiar with this couple. And they had developed a professional relation. Although Cao Yun could collect the ingredients he needed himself, relying on hunters was more efficient. Besides, his goal was to completely insert himself in the business network of Ruohe. Disregarding this hunter union would have been a mistake. In fact, Cao Yun had treated them even more fairly than other shops.


    Over time, Cao Yun had obtained more and more contracts with them. But now, he was hoping for a more permanent relationship. After building up trust between them, Cao Yun could tell that they were ripe for the taking.


    "I understand, Miss Jie. But you should really take some time to savor today''s special. It''s all on me. Anyway, as I already told you, I would like to consolidate our relationship. And for that, my servant drafted a contract that you should study. Basically, I ask that you provide my shop with a certain amount of goods every month, nothing to fancy. This will ensure a steady flow of pills and various products for my clients.


    "Of course, it will still be possible for you to sell other products to my shop, or to any other shop you want. That being said, my Blazing Swallow will pay you a fixed fee every month. Then, all the products required every month will be bought at a rate that will be negotiated every other year. All additional product will however be subject to negotiations like any other sell without said contract.


    "Finally, there is a clause stating that every product in the Heaven rank category will have an option on it. In other words, if you want to sell such a product, you will have to warn us beforehand to let us decided whether we want to buy or not. But nothing forces you to sell it to us if you have a better offer."


    The dark-skinned man was still thinking about what Cao Yun had just said when the contract appeared in front of them. However, it was his wife who took the contract first. Her face was much more serious and she examined the contract in details. There was a frown on her face as she was studying every single line.


    "According to this contract, we''ll have to honor this agreement for a minimum of ten years."


    "We could still lower it a little if you''d like. Although I would prefer stability, I am fairly confident that if you try this arrangement, you won''t regret it at all. This is why my servant found useful to add another clause just below this one."


    "Indeed. We can break the contract during the first ten months without any reason and without paying you anything."


    "Of course, if you decide to break the contract in such a way, we will not pay the fixed fee of the current month."


    "And once this ten months period is over, we would have to pay you three months worth of said fee."


    "This is exact. But we are open to negotiations when it comes to the value of said fee."


    The muscular woman kept studying the contract while her husband began to eat today''s special. With the very first bite, he had to admit that Cao Yun knew his stuff. He truly was a gourmet. Each time he had suggested a dish, it had been exquisite. Although he was a great hunter, Jie L¨¹ was not a businessman at all. In fact, he was often present to support his wife during those meetings, like some kind of bodyguard.


    Of course, she was almost as good a fighter as he was. But if they were attacked by a powerful cultivator, they wouldn''t handle it alone. However, if the two of them combined their strength, they could probably survive an early Accomplished Demon attacking them. Not only their cultivations but also their techniques were in perfect harmony. Watching them, Cao Yun could tell that they were even breathing synchronously. Once he had noticed that, he then noticed many other small details about them.


    Obviously, this reminded him of Feng Yingyue. To be honest, he had realized that he almost ever thought about her when he was doing alchemy. Now that he was away from her once more, he began to doubt his feelings again. When they were close to each other, there was undoubtedly some form of chemistry between them. But the young man was starting to wonder whether it was just physical. Anyway, Cao Yun was not interested in romance at all. However, he would still consider Feng Yingyue as his Dao companion until they had both decided otherwise. He suspected though, that the next time they would meet, they would get both taken over by passion.


    Jie Han spent long minutes studying the contract. But Cao Yun couldn''t blame her, this was a very unique contract. All the shops in Ruohe liked it when the hunters were in a precarious situation. So they would never have proposed them such an arrangement. No matter what happened, they would get paid monthly. And if they failed to reach a month''s quota, this would only either reduce their next salary or increase the next month''s quota.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Besides, the quota seemed very reasonable. And there were clauses to negotiate them every year. After reading everything, Jie Han had perfectly understood Cao Yun''s goal. This contract was balanced for both parties, so much so that Jie Han would be foolish to reject it. Furthermore, she knew that Cao Yun''s Blazing Swallow shop was performing very well.


    There was one party that was at a big disadvantage though, the other shops, and not even just the alchemy shops. The mere fact that there was a quota of ingredients for the Blazing Swallow meant that the hunters would prioritize those ingredients. If there was a shortage of ingredients a month, this would affect the other shops first. And more than that, the Blazing Swallow would be informed of every single Heaven ingredients. They were not too common of course, but there were always a few each year.


    By being informed before anyone else, the Blazing Swallow could either make a good proposition to buy it first, or even adapt to the presence of said ingredient on the market. Either way, this was a huge advantage on all the other shops.


    Right now, Jie Han was more worried about the reaction of the other shops. Without this consideration in mind, she would have signed already.


    On the other side of the table, Cao Yun was well aware of her dilemma. If he had proposed such a contract too early, she would have rejected it and it would have been more difficult to make her reconsider. But by now, she was well aware of Cao Yun''s competence. Thanks to his employees, his shop had a very good reputation. Besides, he had always been fair with the hunters and he didn''t seem to like slavery too much.


    The fact that his employees were receiving a salary and had a chance to buy their freedom was not common knowledge. But almost everyone of importance knew about it. In fact, Cao Yun and Xixue had made sure of that.


    Cao Yun enjoyed his meal without pressuring Jie Han into anything. Sensing him so relaxed, she laughed about her own tension. This contract was perfect for their union. In fact, they might be able to gather more hunters around them. There was even a chance they could expand and form a legitimate business. Although they were good hunters, this was a harsh and dangerous occupations. If they could find a way to reduce the strain on them, she had no reason to refuse.


    Sighing deeply, Jie Han took her decision. Hearing her, Jie L¨¹ glanced at his wife. With a single look, he knew what she had decided. Before she could ask his opinion, he nodded. With determination in her eyes, she put the contract down on the table.


    "We accept. We will come to your residence later today to make everything official."


    "Good."


    What Cao Yun had learned was that the demons loved their rituals. Even signing a contract needed a very specific ceremony. Without said ceremony, no agreement would be officially recognized.


    -


    Later that day, the couple came to Cao Yun''s residence. Obviously Lady Gu Xue was aware of everything since she lived just beside it. Jie Han and Jie L¨¹ had adorned very specific clothes. They saluted with three bows, one before entering the outside courtyard, another one after entering the courtyard and a final bow when they entered the main building. At that stage, only Xixue had welcomed them.


    When they entered Cao Yun''s chambers, they bowed once more and sat on their heels. Cao Yun had prepared a small wooden plank that he gave them through Xixue. He gave it with two hands and she took it with two hands. Then, she did the same ceremonial with Jie Han. Once he had the wooden plank with a few characters written in blood, she spoke.


    "This humble one has recognized the blood of our ancestor."


    Then, Cao Yun took another wooden plank. But this time, it was larger and the main points of the contract were engraved on it. The first plank was simply a way of acknowledging the proposition. This new plank was the proposition itself.


    The ceremony lasted almost a double-hour. Everything was scripted to the minute. And it was impossible to do anything else than what was planned. By the end, Jie L¨¹, Jie Han and Cao Yun mixed their blood into a form of seal on the large wooden plank. This was one of the reasons why Cao Yun had to form his Golden Blood early.


    Blood was a way of signing contracts. In fact, blood was also a way being recognized. As he was passing off as a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon, he had to present his Golden Blood.


    The blood of the three of them combined was so heavy that it could barely be called liquid. Finally, their contract was officially signed. Now, they didn''t even have to warn anyone of its contents. Apparently, Lord Wanghuo relied more on tradition than on laws. In fact, he might simply have been unable to impose his laws over local traditions.


    Despite that, Cao Yun would make sure that Lady Gu Xue heard about it. And in less than a day, every single business in Ruohe heard about this arrangement. Obviously, some of them were more than upset about it. As much as Lady Gu Xue wanted to be on Cao Yun''s good side, she was still ruling the city. So she couldn''t allow Cao Yun to completely dominate the economy. In fact, she even thought that this might be a good opportunity for her.


    If she could help Cao Yun against the combined merchants and businessmen of Ruohe, she might get the pill she wanted from him. To this day, she had bought a few pills from his shop. But he had not yet agreed to refine a pill that would help her break through. And she knew for a fact that he could refine it. After all, he had refined a more complex pill with success.


    In urgency, the wealthiest businessmen of Ruohe gathered.


    "We''ve let this Mo Yun prosper for far too long."


    "Let?! It isn''t as though we had a choice. We can''t really use strength against him and even Lady Gu Xue is protecting him."


    "And some of us were really happy doing business with him, and still are."


    Obviously, everyone looked at the manager of the Silver Conch where Cao Yun was eating every other day. the woman was not just managing a restaurant, she also had interests in other venues.


    "Lord Mo Yun is indeed a very good customer. But I do fear that he''s grown a bit too bold because of the ease with which his shop grew in our city."


    "Miss Ye is absolutely right. It is our fault for not teaching him his place in our ecosystem. It is high time for us to show him how things are done."


    "And what do you suggest?! We can''t really arm-wrestle him into submission. If we insult or offend him in any manner, he would be justified to kill us. Do you really want to fight an Accomplished Demon?"


    "Well, we don''t actually know his real strength... As an alchemist, his cultivation should have been brought by pills. Although his blood seems noble, it''s not too powerful either. In my opinion, a talented late Golden Blood Child should be able to best him in a fair duel."


    "And are you willing to put your own life on the line?"


    "Before talking about a life-and-death duel, there are other ways of pressuring his shop without directly insulting or offending him."


    "Once again, are you willing to do so yourself?"


    "Of course! But I can''t do it alone. I will need all of you to pressure him. We''ll just show this Mo Yun that he does need our cooperation to live peacefully in our Ruohe."


    As a plan was starting to form himself, a man who had never spoken until then decided to do so.


    "My friends, I have some information about Mo Yun''s past that could interest you."

 Chapter 509: Setting up a trap

    In her residence, Lady Gu Xue was speaking with another man. He was her closest advisor. The two of them were sitting leisurely in her private chambers. There were many layers of security to hide themselves. Even a middle Accomplished Demon would barely be able to listen in on them. However, such measures were not enough against a Spirit Warrior. Indeed, Accomplished Demons'' Demon Souls were more powerful than Soul Embryos, but they were not subtle at all. A Spirit Warrior would have been able to get around those measures. But the Desolate Sepulcher had never dealt with a Spirit Warrior before.


    "I do not think it wise to align yourself with this Mo Yun. I know you wish to get your hands on some pill to improve your Jing. And obviously, this would be a great thing. But I do fear he will become a problem. The more I try to dig about his past, the more confused I get. From what I gather, he simply didn''t exist a few weeks ago. Such an alchemist cannot go unnoticed. The only explanation I could get was that he had fled from somewhere. With his cultivation and his alchemy, it''s not out of the question that he was able to alter his own blood to hide his true origins."


    As they were talking, the two were also playing some kind of board game. It looked similar to Go but also very different. Instead of stones with two different colors, there were three colors in total. And the rules seemed to differ a lot as well. Although the board itself looked similar, they were sometimes placing several stones in one move, and even placing stones in strange places. Anyway, they were both focusing on their conversation more than on the game. That being said, their game still required a bit of focus.


    "So you think he actually made some powerful enemies and tried to reach a small city like ours to live peacefully the rest of his days?"


    "I''m not too sure about the peaceful part. But although I have no actual proof, this is what makes the most sense. And since he''s already caused some stir among our own city, I can imagine how he made enemies. In the last few days, almost everyone in Ruohe with a bit of influence lodged complaints about this man. Yes, his trade is very good, but I''m not sure he''s worth the trouble."


    With a small smile, Lady Gu Xue placed a red stone and suddenly took several black and white stones from the board. Suddenly, her advisor was more concerned about the game as he was stroking his large and disheveled beard. Nodding, he told her how good her move was. But he was not done yet.


    "Jia Lao, you are missing the big picture. If this Mo Yun is indeed fleeing form someone, he will have more incentives to help us out. Besides, if we let those nice gentlemen deal with him, we don''t even have to hold the stick. We can simply wave the carrot in front of him. Then, his business will even be ours. I already made sure that some news could reach those people. If they want to antagonize Mo Yun, let them do it. We''ll just reap the benefits of the trouble they''ve sowed for themselves. In fact, the best outcome would be for Mo Yun to get angry and kill one of them without just cause."


    "And what if he tries to attack us? To deal with a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon, we would suffer some losses..."


    "Of course, if we were to fight with him. Don''t misunderstand me though. If we truly need to fight, I am ready for it. I already mobilized a small part of our best soldiers, just in case. But let those idiots fight him head-on. We''ll play the friendly part in this drama. But it would be a good thing if we could actually know who he''s been fleeing from."


    "I understand, my Lady. Apparently, there are some rumors about City Lord Sihe. But I couldn''t find anything to corroborate it."


    As he was speaking, Jia Lao finally made a small comeback in the game as he replaced several black stones with a few red ones. But before he could savor this move, Lady Gu Xue closed a trap around some white stones.


    "If he''s fleeing from City Lord Sihe, that would be very beneficial for us. He''s far enough from our city that he probably won''t find out about this Mo Yun anytime soon. And this alchemist might even have a bit of knowledge about City Lord Sihe''s business. I am sure that Boss Gui would be very interested in knowing more about his seal, in particular his Slavery Brand."


    "Oh... It seems that you have lost, my Lady."


    Jiao Lao''s tone suddenly changed, from serious, he became amused and playful. Between his left index and middle finger, he was holding a golden stone. There was a single golden stone in the small bowl in front of each player. Then, he slowly placed it somewhere on the board. This brought Lady Gu Xue''s full attention on the game. After several minutes, she heaved a deep sigh.


    "It would appear so... Hopefully, our enterprise will be more successful."


    -


    Like he was used to, Cao Yun was walking toward the Silver Conch. However, he was met with some resistance. The head waiter who was usually welcoming him with a large smile had a difficult face today. With his senses, Cao Yun could clearly see through his facade. Although he was affecting a sorrow face, Cao Yun could see that he was terrified. There was no doubt that someone, most likely the owner of the restaurant, was forcing him to play this part. And the poor waiter was terrified that Cao Yun would kill him.


    According to the laws, offending or insulting an Accomplished Demon could warrant death to any Blood Child. For Golden Blood Children, the requisites were a bit higher for such a sentence to be carried out on the spot. But everything was always subject to corruption. It wasn''t too rare for a wealthy demon to kill someone for an insignificant offense and then buy off enough officials for it to be considered lawful. Unfortunately, the Nalupu Kingdom''s administration and its laws were mostly for show. After all, even if it was illegal to enslave the nomad tribes without cause, many were doing so overtly with no repercussion because it was bringing a lot of money to Lord Wanghuo.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Anyway, Cao Yun had no intention of killing this head waiter. However, he still had to play his part. As soon as he got to the door, Cao Yun saw the head waiter kowtow before him.


    "I am terribly sorry, Lord Mo. We can''t accept your patronage today. Trust this poor incompetent old man. Nothing would bring us more joy than to serve you, but we encountered some problems and we can''t do so at the time. Please, understand our difficult situation and visit us at another date."


    "What kind of difficulties would prevent only my visit?!"


    In fact, Cao Yun had already a good idea of what was going on. Although he was acting crossed, he was quite happy at the time. Everything was going very well apparently.


    "Please, this one is full of contrition. Our situation is a bit complicated. If we could welcome you, we would gladly do so. Please, understand our turmoil."


    No matter how much Cao Yun would press, the head waiter would not give out any straight answer.


    "You...!"


    Full of anger on his face, Cao Yun raised his fist as though he wanted to strike the poor head waiter. The old man was literally cowering in fear. But he knew that being beaten up right here would be better than to disobey his master''s orders. Indeed, this waiter was a slave. This was obviously not apparent at all. The Silver Conch was trying to keep up appearances after all.


    When he thought Cao Yun was going to hit him, nothing came. Thus, the old man raised his head.


    "I will come back later. And I certainly hope that you will have a good explanation! Humph!"


    Putting on a show, Cao Yun left in front of everyone. Immediately, many rumors spread like wildfire in the entire Ruohe. Many other shops refused to serve Cao Yun and anyone affiliated to him. Each time, they had either no explanation or ridiculous ones. It was obvious to everyone that this was a coordinated tactic to put pressure on the Blazing Swallow.


    -


    After a few days, Xixue received a letter from the Silver Conch. Without a moment''s delay, she brought it to Cao Yun. The young man who was usually cultivating or refining pills was only reading some books at the moment. Indeed, he was expecting something like that to happen so he stayed free.


    "Lord Mo, they''ve finally made their move. The main merchants and traders of Ruohe ask that you visit them. They''ve privatized the Silver Conch for a meeting with you this very night."


    Cao Yun didn''t even read the letter. Since he had been expecting something like that for some time now, he was ready for it and what was to come. In fact, it was going even better than he had hoped for.


    "I imagined that everything is ready on your side?"


    "Obviously, I made sure of it. You won''t have to worry about that."


    After their lively conversation, Xixue''s attitude toward Cao Yun had changed for the better. She was still harboring some deep emotions, but she treated Cao Yun with much more respect now. Even in her eyes, he couldn''t see the content he had seen before. Although he himself had some doubts about his own actions tonight, he was happy to have laid some things in front of her. Wallowing on her own weakness and use it as an excuse to justify all of her actions was not a good thing. She had to feel like she had a choice in her own fate, because she actually had.


    "Then it won''t be long before this city is fully under our control. This will be a huge help for what we''ll do next. As soon as we''re finished here, we''ll go to Duma and deal with Boss Gui, I can promise you that."


    "Thank you."


    -


    Then, Cao Yun left his residence. Once again, he put up a show for the outsiders. With his senses and his array formations all around his residence, he knew that he was being observed. First of all, he was observed by Lady Gu Xue''s servants, that was a certainty. Even without his senses, he would have deduced as much. After all, in a matter of weeks, he had become a big part of this city''s economy. Obviously, Lady Gu Xue was going to have him monitored. But he didn''t mind. In fact, it had helped him a lot. Having everyone believe that they were watching him without his knowing had allowed his plans to progress even faster than they could have otherwise.


    Although it was nighttime, Cao Yun quickly went to the Silver Conch. This time, the old waiter let him in. Clearly, there was relief on his face. Since he had no part to play in the upcoming events, he was quite happy. But he would still have preferred to be as far away from this place as possible after seeing all the faces of those present.


    When he entered the restaurant, Cao Yun saw that the entire establishment of Ruohe, apart from Lady Gu Xue, was present. The entire Silver Conch had been privatized for this meeting. Cao Yun recognized all the faces. And he could see various emotion son them. Some were delighted and were already savoring their victory. Others were a bit more distorted. They didn''t want to be here or to oppose Cao Yun but they had been strong-armed into joining this association. Although Cao Yun''s business could not be directly attacked, theirs could. And they had way more ties to other shops than Cao Yun. They were not self-relying at all.


    "What is the meaning of this?!"


    Without even saluting anyone, Cao Yun shouted toward the main group at the center of the room. Those were the people who truly ruled Ruohe''s economy. Even Lady Gu Xue would have had a hard time dealing with them. Thankfully though, she had powerful backers in the Nalupu Kingdom. Thus, no one would threaten or attack her. However, she still had to take their opinions into consideration in order to maintain peace and prosperity. If her city''s economy was too unstable, she might lose her backers. Then, she would probably get replaced very soon by someone else. And obviously, her retreat would probably not be too pleasant.


    A bald man with a huge pimple on his forehead talked first.


    "Sir Mo Yun, this is no way to greet your esteemed colleagues. But once again, you don''t seem to be able to play too nice with others. I wonder whether City Lord Sihe would agree with us on the matter..."


    Acting as though his deepest secrets had been exposed, Cao Yun kept quiet as blood drained from his face.


    "You see, my friend, a rising tide should lift all boats, not just yours. If you keep working alone, you might drown yourself in your ambition. You almost suffered a terrible fate because of your arrogance once. Since you''ve exiled yourself to our prosper city, I sure hope you can learn from your mistakes. We''d all be happy to teach you the best way to enjoy life."


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about! But if you think you can teach me anything, think again. Dare to speak to me like that again and I will have you flayed alive."


    The bald man laughed. There was sinister intent in his laugh.


    "My friend, I meant no offense at all. We should all learn from one another. For example, I learned a lot from your contract with Miss Jie. And I would like to give you an opportunity as good as that one. However, if you don''t want to join us in business, we''ll have to turn to other competitors. City Lord Sihe would be a very good prospect for that. But he might require a bit of convincing to come to our humble Ruohe himself..."


    Obviously, those were barely veiled threats. And Cao Yun was making sure that they at least looked like they were working on him. Although he was speaking loudly, he wasn''t acting too much. And this pushed this bald man to become even bolder with his words.

 Chapter 510: Contract under duress

    That bald man with the huge pimple on his forehead was Tu Jianhe. He was probably the richest man in Ruohe as well as a cunning character. Apart from Lady Gu Xue, he was also the strongest demon in Ruohe as he was also a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child. In fact, considering all the bodyguards hidden in this room, even if Cao Yun had been a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon, he would not be able to cause too much trouble. Besides, there were array formations around the place as well as a few blood runes he could feel.


    Although Cao Yun was familiar with seals thanks to Dian Mo, blood runes were still a novelty to him. Even without knowing the array formations, he could rather easily deduce their functions, but he couldn''t do the same for blood runes. Clearly, he needed to work on that if he were to spend some time in demon kingdoms. Anyway, they weren''t looking too dangerous and while the young alchemist was acting as though he was in a bind, his Flying Poison and his almost complete Unclean Evil were analyzing those blood runes. Even though his Unclean Evil was not complete yet, the mere fact that it had begun to be reformed within the Drop of Wrath improved his spiritual senses which he could expand further now.


    Moreover, his Drop of Wrath was instinctively trying to reform itself. As a consequence, Cao Yun realized that imbuing his own Unclean Evil inside of it was easier than he had predicted.


    When it came to the array formations, they were so easy to deal with, Cao Yun felt bad for the demons. It was apparent that they had not pushed this art as far as the humans had done. Cao Yun surmised that it was due to the fact that they were living isolated on this island. Some aspects of their art was indeed impressive, especially when it came to blood. But everything else had lagged behind. If the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had been so behind the Hongchen Kingdom, the demons would be no threat at all. Raw strength was not that effective against a powerful array formations after all.


    And from Tu Jianhe''s acts, the demons in Ruohe were not prepared to deal with aggressive competitions. They were convinced that they were dealing with a demon just like us, a demon who would obey the same logic and the same unspoken rules. They were sorely mistaken. But it was too late for them.


    With an air of triumph, Tu Jianhe got closer to Cao Yun. He even brought forth his blood cultivation as though he was competing with him, just like a mortal man puffing his chest as a show of strength. To be honest, it was quite ridiculous and Cao Yun almost wanted to laugh at the man. But he also had in mind everything this ludicrous man had done. Indeed, Tu Jianhe''s main activity was finance, in simple terms, he was a loan shark. And thanks to his activities, he had enslaved many people. In fact, he had probably produced more slaves than many slavers in this town, playing on their desperation.


    Even the hunters despised him, but they were forced to go through him. Cao Yun''s deal with the Jie couple had the potential to hurt him the most. So obviously, Cao Yun had gathered as much information on that man as possible. In that very room, he had seven of his slaves protecting him. They had been trained by Boss Gui herself and were all late Golden Blood Children. Boss Gui wasn''t just selling to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. She was know to have the strongest slaves below Accomplished Demon. Of course, not that many Accomplished Demon could be enslaved and few slavers were willing to risk their slaves becoming too powerful. After all, an Accomplished Demon had access to some form of control over their soul and mind, just like Spirit Warriors. Thus, there was a risk they could get free on their own if they became too strong. This was a risk many were unwilling to take.


    Anyway, that ridiculous man was grinning so much, Cao Yun thought his muscles were hurting.


    "My friend, doing business without involving the locals is just bad etiquette. But I will help you, we will help you, mend your ways. I imagine how distressful ''working'' from City Lord Sihe must have been. But my friend, you''ll find that working with us will be quite pleasant. Should we discuss our terms?"


    Although his words were never actually going there, Cao Yun was certain he ''knew''. At least, Tu Jianhe thought he knew. He was convinced that Cao Yun had developed some grudge with City Lord Sihe and had been forced to escape his city. Ruohe was very far from City Lord Sihe''s territory. That was precisely the reason why he had tried to have Xixue infiltrate Duma, Boss Gui''s city. Indeed, Ruohe and Duma were literally across the desert. The shortest way was to go through the dangerous Desolate Dune Desert. That was why Cao Yun had chosen this story. Yes, everything Tu Jianhe and his partners thought they knew had been crafted by him.


    "Fine, I will listen to your proposition."


    Then, with a lowered head and dark face, Cao Yun followed Tu Jianhe and two of his main associates. The other members of his little association stayed in the main room of the restaurant. The four men found themselves in a private booth of the Silver Conch. There, the protections were even stronger and Cao Yun could clearly feel the seven slaves'' senses on him.


    "Sir Mo, I am truly sorry about this display of strength. I personally find it distasteful. However, we really took umbrage with the way you were handling things in our city. We don''t want anything too excessive from you. Your alchemy shop is welcome to operate in our Ruohe city."


    The first man to talk was the actual owner of the Silver Conch. Obviously, he had other activities. But he was the public figure of this restaurant and this had allowed him to form a large network of influence all over the city.


    "Indeed, we can''t lose that much profit. That being said, we''ll have to share it with more fairness. What about..."


    That second man was very tall and so thin that he seemed either famished or sick. His head was also rather long and quite strange, without wanting to insult him. Besides, Cao Yun truly didn''t like the way he was looking at him, as though he were a piece of meat on a hook. And his words, unlike the Silver Conch''s owner, were full of ridicule. Although Cao Yun didn''t intend to kill anyone today, he was slowly starting to reconsider things. Maybe killing one of them would be a good thing. But then, it wasn''t his goal. Maybe it was his Flying Poison talking...This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Gentlemen, gentlemen, please. We have to discuss it like civilized men. I do think your contract with Miss and Mister Jie was ingenious, if I say so myself. I draft contracts all the time, and this one was truly unique. However, it was a bit too generous in my opinion. You certainly could have squeezed more out of those fools. But since you were so generous, I decided to repay you in kind. Here, take a look."


    Without any ceremonial, Tu Jianhe gave a contract to Cao Yun. What he didn''t know was that Cao Yun had already seen this contract. Thus, he didn''t even look at it.


    "You want me to pay you all a weekly rent for the very existence of my shop. Furthermore, I will have to pay a small tax on all of my product. I will have to refine a certain amount of pill every year to your benefit. And if I try to leave the city, some nasty documents will make their way to City Lord Sihe. Is that the gist of it?"


    Sensing Cao Yun''s attitude shift so suddenly now that they were alone, cold sweat dripped down Tu Jianhe''s bald head. The Silver Conch''s owner was also rather stunned. Only the third man didn''t seem to realize the shift.


    "Sir Mo, you read my thoughts, it would seem..."


    Tu Jianhe had acted in a ridiculous manner when he had been convinced that he had the upper hand. But now, his tone changed as well. Obviously, he didn''t actually think that Cao Yun had read his thoughts. Even a late Accomplished Demon could not do such a thing. The most likely explanation was that he had read this contract before. But that meant that he had access to Tu Jianhe''s close entourage. So he probably knew about this aggressive move beforehand. In fact, Tu Jianhe wondered whether Lady Gu Xue had maybe intervened. It was possible that she had tried to form a good relationship with this alchemy by warning him. But then, what was Mo Yun''s plan by coming in here? Tu Jianhe wasn''t feeling well at all.


    "Gentlemen, I didn''t think that you would be so easily duped by the rumors surrounding my person. I can assure you that they are absolutely unfounded. However, there is one matter on which you are absolutely correct. It was foolish of me to do business without involving you all. And this is a mistake that needs correcting no later than tonight."


    As he spoke, Cao Yun''s aura spread all around the room. There was a thick killing intent assaulting the three of them. However, none of the seven bodyguards of Tu Jianhe seemed to act at all. That was when he truly started to panic as a foreboding was overwhelming him. His bald head was almost shining with his sweat. As he couldn''t stand this doubt, he made a test. Tu Jianhe activated one of his bodyguards'' Slavery Brand. This should have caused him intense pain. No matter how long he was trying to use this Slavery Brand, nothing happened apart from a smirk by Cao Yun.


    "Sir Tu, this is not an appropriate behavior during a business meeting. Do not worry though, your bodyguards are absolutely safe."


    Obviously, Tu Jianhe was not worried about their safety, he was worried about his. He remembered how Cao Yun had offered his own slaves a way out. And if he truly had connections with City Lord Sihe, it wasn''t out of the question that he could somehow interfere with Slavery Brands. But then, that meant that any of his slaves could be on Cao Yun''s payroll. The implications were just disastrous.


    Seeing the sheer panic in Tu Jianhe, the Silver Conch''s owner knew he had chosen poorly. Opposing Cao Yun had been a terrible mistake. They were now trapped in this room with him. And all the bodyguards directly around them were useless. Worse, they might even be enemies now. Even if their defenses were good, they would not be able to escape unscathed were Cao Yun to decide to attack them. Besides, considering their veiled threats, he would have a case to make it all legal. Hell, Lady Gu Xue might even defend him just to keep him in the city. Their only edge was the fact that he truly seemed to be running from City Lord Sihe. However, killing them would also silence this fact...


    The only one in the room who hadn''t understood what was going on was the tall and thin man. And he spoke again.


    "Mo Yun, you''ll give us what we want or we''ll make sure that you''re skinned alive. I never actually saw an Accomplished Demon be subjected to the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls. But I am sure that City Lord Sihe will make you go through them himself. That would be such a sight."


    His two comrades wanted to dig a hole and hide. Why did they have sided with such a moron? How could he have become so rich with such a rotten brain? Living in a small city where everyone was subservient to him had weakened him too much, or had he always been so stupid?


    "Oh? You''re curious about tortures of the soul? You should have said it sooner."


    Just as he was done speaking, Cao Yun''s eyes turned red. There was a radiant circle of gold around his iris as everything else in his eye turned as red as blood. This was ''Sea of Blood'', the strongest technique of ''Weeping Demon'' Cao Yun currently mastered. In his pupils, an attentive observer could have seen tiny green spots that looked almost like hair. And within that tall man''s sea of consciousness, there was now chaos. Cao Yun''s Flying Poison had invaded his very soul. Some of the former bodyguards'' killing intents converged on the man and he found that his muscles were completely paralyzed. He couldn''t even scream. It was as though he was imprisoned in his own body.


    The pain and torment in his soul were unimaginable. Although he could not move, his two comrades were able to see the excruciating pain in his eyes.


    "Gentlemen, you were absolutely correct, it is time for us to talk about a contract. I will leave you your lives and you will give me everything else. But do not worry too much. My shop itself brings me enough profit that I don''t need yours. However, from this day forward, all of your operations are under my direct supervision. Speaking of which, I intend to have a long talk with you, Sir Tu, about the way you handle your customers. As you can see, enslaving people is not all that reliable. I will show you just how much of a bad business strategy it is, if you allow me."


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took a metallic cylinder. Immediately, Tu Jianhe recognized it as a Slavery Brand. Since forming such a complex seal in someone''s soul was difficult, City Lord Sihe was manufacturing what was very similar to array formation plates. Just by activating this cylinder, one could put a Slavery Brand in a willing demon. Against an unwilling demon, it would be way more difficult though. Of course, the demons Tu Jianhe enslaved had no real other alternatives to pay their debts. To force a demon to subject himself to the Slavery Brand, threats or even tortures could be used.


    In Cao Yun''s hands though, none of that was necessary as he could put a seal in Tu Jianhe''s soul with no problem at all. Even the cylinder was there just for show. After all, Cao Yun didn''t intend to use a real Slavery Brand. He had a much more sophisticated seal in mind. But he found it pleasant to put a slaver through what all his slaves had suffered.

 Chapter 511: Sealing a new alliance

    Seeing the metallic cylinder, Tu Jianhe''s first instinct was to escape. But he could feel the bodyguards'' killing intents on him. Besides, Mo Yun was a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. If he tried to run away, he would be killed on the spot. The same thought went through his comrades'' mind. At least, it went through the Silver Conch''s owner. Indeed, their last comrade was still under the effect of Cao Yun''s mental attack. Because he was only a late Golden Blood Child, he had no way of really defending himself against such an attack. In fact, if Cao Yun had used ''Weeping Demon'' alone, he might have since demons had very powerful will. But by using his Flying Poison, this attack was literally affecting his soul, not just his conscious mind.


    The irony was that if the three men had united against Cao Yun, they might have had a small chance of overpowering him. Although they were not warriors, they were all late Golden Blood Children after all. Of course, in a fight, Cao Yun would have had the advantage but the difference in strength was quite big and even he couldn''t be sure of the outcome. That was why he had set up array formations all around the city and in the Silver Conch in particular. As soon as they had chosen this place for their takeover, this was doomed to fail. Furthermore, Cao Yun had easily convinced the bodyguards to join his ranks after freeing them from the Slavery Brand. However, he still had to keep up the act. He had to look like a legitimate Accomplished Demon.


    Because his enemies were convinced he was one, they had completely discarded the idea of running away or attacking him. With all their forces outside, they would be able to put up a very good fight. Despite all his preparations, Cao Yun probably couldn''t stop an entire city. Of course, he would be able to escape though, especially with his stealth. Indeed, there were no Accomplished Demons in this town as it wasn''t that important. But a fight would clearly reveal his real cultivation. And the time he had already spent trying to build up a legitimate persona would be wasted. Worse than that, it would take him even longer to get something else to work. And living in hiding wouldn''t be good for his cultivation either. Maybe he could join the nomad tribes but he wasn''t sure how they would welcome him.


    His plan for the nomad tribes required them to slowly trust him. Right now, they had no reason to believe his words about stopping slave hunts. After all, even as an Accomplished Demon, he was weak compared with Lord Wanghuo, the Sisters of the Abyss or the Xinian Confederation. And all three were benefiting from the large supply of slaves.


    Anyway, Cao Yun didn''t show any doubt on his face. Instead, he was looking at his would-be blackmailers with ridicule in the eyes. Obviously, they took it as the mark of his superior strength. If they showed any sign of revolt, he would crush them. And as much as they didn''t want to become his slaves, they didn''t want to die either. Hell, he might torture them until they accepted to be branded.


    Tu Jianhe already had vivid images in mind. Because he had done so to many people, he could imagine what Cao Yun was going to do to him. Threatening horrible people was very effective as they had clear pictures of what could be done to them since they had visited those sordid acts on others before.


    Suddenly, Tu Jianhe fell to his knees and literally hit his pimple on the floor, begging for Cao Yun''s mercy.


    "Noble Lord, I was mistaken! I was beguiled by this villain."


    For an instant, the Silver Conch''s owner thought he was being thrown to the wolves. But then, he realized that Tu Jianhe was pointing his finger to the only man who could not defend himself right now. As much as he didn''t want to debase himself in such a way, he decided to follow Tu Jianhe''s example and fell to his knees as well. However, he wasn''t able to show as much ''sincerity'' by hitting his forehead while kowtowing.


    "This stupid, worthless one had eyes but couldn''t see your grandeur. An alchemy genius such as you would never stoop so low as to brand insignificant characters such as us, poor vermin."


    The smug smile of Tu Jianhe had completely disappeared. Even Cao Yun was dumbfounded by the sudden change. This man knew how to adapt to survive. At least, he had to give him that. Pressing his advantage, Cao Yun stood up, intensifying his spiritual pressure on everyone in the room. His array formations were also helping with that. For them, it was obvious that Cao Yun was indeed a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. The current situation had several purposes.


    Cao Yun had completely engineered the story about him running away from City Lord Sihe. By feeding some lies here and there, it had worked very well. His goals were simple in that. City Lord Sihe''s city was very far away from Ruohe so no one could easily check anything about that. But it would cement his mastery of seals in everyone''s mind. After all, City Lord Sihe was known as a seal master. In fact, most of the Slavery Brands came from him.


    There were other uses for that rumor. For example, it gave those people the feeling that they had something over Cao Yun''s head. So they didn''t look for anything else. And by his current actions, Cao Yun was making sure that they all thought this was the secret he was keeping. While, in truth, he was hiding that he simply never existed in the Desolate Sepulcher. If the story was to come out, as it would probably do at some point, everyone would buy it, rather than some tear in space that had brought a human here who could cultivate like a demon. That tale was so outlandish that no one would buy it. The ironic part was that even if City Lord Sihe tried to deny it, people wouldn''t trust him. They would naturally think that he was trying to cover up something.


    That rumor was perfect for Cao Yun. Besides it would also improve his value in the eyes of Boss Gui if she heard about it. Since Cao Yun had no intention of enslaving everyone, or putting soul seals in them, bits and pieces of that rumor would spread to some important characters. Moreover, City Lord Sihe''s city was so far it wouldn''t be a problem in the upcoming year while Cao Yun would slowly build his strength. And he already had plans for this City Lord Sihe. After all, he had hired Xixue. Since he was an expert in seals, despite all his precautions, Cao Yun wasn''t so sure he could hide her. So City Lord Sihe could become a problem anyway.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "Tu Jianhe, I can forgive your attempt to take over my business. After all, I did intend to do the same thing to you tonight. Everything you did, you did because I allowed you. Remember that. But I have no reason to trust you."


    "Noble Lord is speaking the pure truth. You are so majestic that even the sun rises only with your permission. This insignificant one would never dare do anything without your blessing. I can swear on my own blood... Hell, on my own bloodline! I will never betray you, Noble Lord."


    "Then, there is no reason why you should refuse a Slavery Brand, is there?"


    Right now, Tu Jianhe was sweating so much that there was a puddle on blood and sweat under his forehead still crushed to the floor. He truly was trying to pass off as pathetic. And it was working very well. Even his comrade was finding him pathetic. However, Cao Yun wasn''t. Such a man was in fact quite dangerous. He would betray anyone just to save his own hide. Contrary to what he believed, Tu Jianhe wasn''t reassuring Cao Yun, he was giving him reasons to kill him right here and now. But this wasn''t in his plans, yet. Maybe he would have him killed some time later. But tonight, he needed him alive to take over Ruohe''s business and then Ruohe itself.


    On the other hand, the bit of defiance still in the Silver Conch''s owner was to Cao Yun''s liking. For some time, he locked eyes with him. Ultimately, the owner ended up lowering his gaze. But Cao Yun had seen a true fighting spirit. His current''s humiliation was costing him a lot and Cao Yun liked his attitude. The other two though, would have to be taken care of in time.


    While they were speaking, Cao Yun was already planting a seal in the idiot he had attacked first. Dian Mo was also helping him out, but he couldn''t do much in his weakened state.


    "Tu Jianhe, I am convinced."


    His face hidden as he was still kowtowing, Tu Jianhe''s eyes betrayed his relief. In fact, anyone could have seen that he thought this Mo Yun was an idiot if they had been able to see his grin. But Cao Yun''s words were not over.


    "Since you''re ready to swear on your own bloodline, I will help you out with this."


    Still kneeling on the ground, Tu Jianhe felt a powerful and burning presence on his lower back, where his Mingmen was, the door to his Golden Palace and his Golden Fate. Cao Yun''s Unclean Evil entered his body and engraved something in his Golden Fate. The process was so quick, Tu Jianhe barely reacted. When he realized what had happened, it was too late. Taking advantage of his relief, Cao Yun had entered his body and put a seal in his very prenatal Jing.


    "If you think about betraying your oath, your Golden Fate will crumble into dust and so will you."


    This time, Tu Jianhe was shaking uncontrollably. Trying to feel what was going on in his own body, he did see those marks. To be more accurate, he was able to sense them. Since the seal had been engraved in his very essence, he could feel it in his entire being. Although he was no slave, he was completely under Cao Yun''s control. Although he wasn''t too knowledgeable about seals, he had a rough idea of what it was. If he tried to betray Cao Yun, his thoughts themselves would cause the seal to activate and he would die. As such, the young alchemist didn''t have to hold any control over his seal, this would be Tu Jianhe''s own intentions who would trigger it.


    Then, Cao Yun turned toward the Silver Conch''s owner.


    "Because your fine establishment has been so good with me, I propose you to swear your allegiance to my Blazing Swallow. What say you?"


    For a moment, there was doubt in his eyes, but the dignified man saw something in Cao Yun''s face. He bowed deeply.


    "I accept. This unworthy one learned his mistake. My Silver Conch will sign any contract Lord Mo deems necessary. And this unfilial one will swear on his ancestors'' blood."


    Such an oath was almost like swearing on one''s Dao Heart. Breaking a vow like that could cause someone to birth inner demons. Although there was nothing really binding, unlike a seal, almost no one would break such a vow unless it was worth destroying their own future. Still, Cao Yun would never have trusted Tu Jianhe with such a vow, because of his current attitude. He was ready to do anything to survive, even for a single instant more. So he would break any vow no matter the consequences.


    Finally, Cao Yun also left a seal deep in the last man''s soul.


    "I will have my assistant Xixue bring you our contract. But the gist of it is that you all work for my Blazing Swallow now. Most of your business won''t be affected, except for you, Tu Jianhe. From now on, you won''t enslave anyone at all, even if it is legal. I will have Miss Jie visit you shortly so that you free all the hunters you''ve tricked into servitude."


    As he was speaking, Cao Yun could literally feel the delight in the bodyguards around him. He had earned their loyalty. But that didn''t mean he would completely trust them. Indeed, if they learned he was human, he had no idea how they would react. But they would be great security for Ruohe. Apart from Xixue, and maybe Dan Yao, he had no intention of bringing anyone with him to Duma to meet Boss Gui. However, he wanted to make sure that this city would be loyal to him in the events to come. Although he had not all the pieces in mind, he had some plan for the Desolate Sepulcher. Even now, he was wondering if it was worth it as many people might suffer because of it. But he had made up his mind already. Hopefully, he would be able to minimize the damage. By gathering more information, it would be easier.


    "To the outsiders, you will simply act as though you''ve been able to pressure me into your own contract. Like that, you can save some face. And no one needs to know that I actually control this city''s business."


    In fact, Cao Yun didn''t intend to stop himself there, but they didn''t need to know that. It would be better for him to control everything from the shadows. Tu Jianhe was simply too shocked to react. Finally, Cao Yun stopped his mental and soul attack. Their third comrade suddenly collapsed on the floor, lifeless. He was alive alright, but his soul was exhausted. It would take a few days for him to recover. And there would always be some trauma in his sea of consciousness. In fact, he would never be able to become an Accomplished Demon with this trauma. He would die with it.


    After ironing out some details, Cao Yun let the men leave the isolated room. Tu Jianhe and the Silver Conch''s owner acted as though it had been a good success. Their bodyguards were still following them. But they now knew that those were not bodyguards, those former slaves were now their wardens. Explaining the other man''s condition took some convincing, but Tu Jianhe was very persuasive. Soon, everyone was convinced that the Blazing Swallow had been subdued. The truth was that they now all worked for Cao Yun without knowing it.


    Now, Cao Yun had his sight set on Lady Gu Xue. Most of the rumors he had spread, he had done so through her.

 Chapter 512: Worrying about unbalance among ones souls

    Now that all of Ruohe''s economy was secretly controlled by him, Cao Yun was a bit more carefree. But he hadn''t completely relaxed either. Thankfully, the first part of his plan seemed to go very well. What he wanted was to make Ruohe follow his rules because it was a small and yet somewhat important city to the Nalupu Kingdom. Among all the cities that were not officially recognized as states, this Ruohe was probably the most economically important as it was a form of hub between the Desolate Dune Desert and the other cities.


    In other words, many goods sold by the hunters passed through this city. Of course, those were not essential to the general economy. But they were useful to lower the price of many other processed goods, such as pills, or even artifacts.


    Apart from the twenty-one city-states of the Nalupu Kingdom, there were many smaller cities and even towns, sometimes barely settlements. Each one was attached to a city-state either directly or through other alliances. This was a complex network. In fact, even the Xinian Confederation and Lord Wanghuo would be hard-pressed to control everything. There was a lot of freedom. Even the City Lords were given more leeway than the Governors of the Hongchen Kingdom. This Desolate Sepulcher was more difficult to centralize and this gave Cao Yun more room to act.


    He was certain he could subvert this city without letting any outsider know about it. This was why he had made sure that apart from the three men he had threatened and a select few, no one would know about the real contract. For the general population, Mo Yun would have lost this time and would have been forced to cooperate with those three men. But in the following weeks, two of them would die in strange circumstances. At least, this was Cao Yun''s plan.


    "Boy, you clearly dislike slavery, even though you commit arguably worse crimes... But isn''t what you just did a form of enslavement? After all, you put seals in those men to force them to abide by their words. And you''re even planning their murder already."


    "Humph! You would talk of moral with me?! You?! Fine, you can think whatever you want. But the reason why I - all of us humans really - hate this barbaric practice is in the fact that you reduce a man to nothing more than a tool, a means to an end. You devoid them of everything that makes them, of their dignity and even of their humanity. By behaving like that, you slowly stop seeing other humans as individuals. This is exactly what demonic cultivators do. What I did was different. Of course, I won''t say that threatening and killing are moral acts, far from that. But, I told you before and I tell you again. I am not some kind of virtuous warrior. I recognize the world we live in for what it is.


    "Those men would have killed me to make more profit. After all, they had clear nefarious intentions toward me. The first one is an idiot. Such a man is dangerous even if he obeys. Didn''t you see that he put his own comrades in a tight position by misunderstanding the situation back then. I saw it in their eyes, they were ready to kill him themselves so he would stop talking. Death is the only cure I know for such stupidity when it comes to someone his age.


    "Then comes this Tu Jianhe. This sort of man is the most dangerous there is. He really is a cockroach. No matter what happens, he will try to profit and to survive. As soon as he sees a better situation for himself, he will take it while disregarding everything and everyone else. What''s truly dangerous with this kind of man though is that he''s very good at surviving. But now that I can track him easily, he won''t escape and I will kill him in a few weeks when things will be settled."


    "Well, I don''t disagree with you, boy. Honestly, I don''t. Even your assessment of those men seems to be on point. But, don''t you think that you''re a bit different from usual? Maybe your mind cultivation is affecting you? Or maybe it is something else?"


    For an instant, Cao Yun contemplated the idea. Was he really different? He couldn''t quite feel it. Yes, his actions were maybe a bit different. But in the end, he concluded that he had not changed at all. The situation was different. And it wasn''t just that his enemies were demons. He was in a hostile land and he couldn''t count on the law to help him. Maybe in the Hongchen Kingdom, he would have tried to settle things differently, but he had more security there. In this place, trying to be too civilized would probably get him killed. Besides, he already knew that his goal would be difficult and long to reach. While he was working toward it, his little sister was calling the man who had ordered their entire family slaughtered ''Father''. He couldn''t accept that.


    "I understand your worries. In fact, I am quite touched that you worry about me. But I am still the same man I was yesterday. And I will remain the same man tomorrow. This is the world around me that changed and will always change. In order to stay alive, one has to adapt to the ever changing world. I don''t have a lot of principles to be honest. The only thing I truly despise is reducing an individual to a mere tool to be used and discarded. And I truly don''t think this is what I do. Even if it could appear as such to you, I can assure you that this isn''t how I see anyone, even if they''re demons."


    "Well, I hope future will prove you right. Many demons and asura lose themselves on their way to power. Blood cultivation can be trickier than you imagine. After centuries of cultivation, you might some day wake up and realize that the man in your mirror is someone else. This can be way more insidious than inner demons. Just keep that in mind, boy."


    Although he didn''t dignify that with an answer, Cao Yun took those words very seriously. While he was cultivating his mind, he was fully aware of what could go wrong with his blood cultivation. Whoever had written ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' had tried to make blood cultivation easier and less dangerous. Indeed, someone''s personality and actions were the result of a perpetual dialogue between all the aspects of one''s souls. By cultivating those souls, unbalance could happen as they were changing. This could very well turn someone into a monster or a saint. Neither of those was appealing to Cao Yun to be honest.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    -


    When he came back home, Cao Yun went to meditate a few hours. Dian Mo''s words had truly had an impact on him. But Dian Mo stayed silent about it. He didn''t gloat at all. Maybe he was sincerely worried about Cao Yun''s future, just like Cao Yun had been worried about his fight against Demon King Mo Wang.


    The development of his Unclean Evil was going very well. The process was steady and Cao Yun could see that it was starting to appear in the Drop of Wrath itself. It would still take some time of course, but there was no problem at all. Besides, with shame, he couldn''t go berserk as was the case with anger. However, it could have a bad influence on him and his behavior alright, by itself and because it was causing unbalance. Thus, he decided to be very careful when it came to working on his very soul. In a way it was strange, because this prudence and caution all came from the discourse of his souls. Although he couldn''t really experience it, he was aware that his very thoughts all came from there.


    Even when he was convinced that he was the only one to take a decision, intellectually he knew this wasn''t the case. But it sure felt like that though. This was very terrorizing in a way. Several times, he had realized that he was truly separate from his thoughts and emotions. But even now he couldn''t define who he was beyond all of those. And he was even convinced that this need to know more about himself also came from his very souls, most likely his Hun as they were more spiritual. But his Po were always forcing him to care about the material world, the here and now. To be honest, the here and now was also putting a lot of work to force him to stay focused on it, with his current predicaments.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was careful and vigilant, but he wasn''t anxious or worried. After being literally burned by his eagerness to cultivate too fast, he was cautious. On the other hand, he wouldn''t slow down too much either. The answer was moderation and restraint, not fear and stagnation.


    Since he was already cultivating in a safe environment, Cao Yun decided to focus a bit on his Qi cultivation. Every single day, he could feel that he was able to manipulate his blood with more and more ease. Since it was extremely rich in Fire Qi, it was helping the young man a lot. After only a few breaths in his meditation, Cao Yun was able to feel his entire chest as though it was in fire. The sensation was quite pleasant though, there was a bit of discomfort but nothing more than Chief Instructor Peng''s workout sessions. This was a good kind of discomfort.


    By using ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'', he was able to condense all of his Golden Blood in his heart. Then he used the Black Heart Flame and the Rune of Fire. While it was almost impossible to improve his blood at this stage, it allowed him to extract more Fire Qi so that it could fill his Middle Dantian.


    And precisely, at that moment, something happened. On the outside, his chest began to vibrate as it was red hot. Even the air around his torso was turbid because of the heat. Within, it was even worse in a sense. His heart was palpitating like crazy. Since his blood was condensed in it, it should have had almost no effect on his body, but it had. The beats of his heart were so intense that the rhythm spread throughout all his muscles. His entire body was beating with his heart. Although this was good news, it was also dangerous.


    This was a sign that Cao Yun had finally filled his Middle Dantian so much that it was overflowing a little. Once this phenomenon was over, Cao Yun would officially be a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. But the process could also leave lasting scars and wounds. Indeed, his heart was overly excited and if Cao Yun couldn''t keep it and his own mind under control, this could endanger this vital organ.


    The truth was that Cao Yun was excited. He sincerely didn''t believe that he was going to breakthrough tonight. Otherwise he would have prepared differently. But predicting the exact moment when his Middle Dantian would be full wasn''t so easy to begin with. So for someone who was using two different cultivation systems, it was almost impossible since he had no frame of reference.


    Thanks to his mind cultivation he had calmed beforehand, the young man was able to keep his excitement from interfering with his already loud heart.


    Cao Yun completely let go of his control over his blood. Then, his powerful heart sent it all around his body. At that moment, Cao Yun didn''t need to control his Golden Blood at all. His heart was so powerful that it was being sent everywhere without any action on his part. Despite it heaviness, his Golden Blood was flowing as though it was normal, even mortal, blood.


    While it was coursing through his veins, his Golden Blood also had a positive effect on his meridians and even a bit on his Extraordinary Vessels. At the same time, it was endangering the Water Qi in his Lower Dantian. Water and Fire Qi could easily clash. In fact, that was the whole theory behind the Lesser Tribulation. But now, he had to keep a very Fire Dantian and a very Water Dantian close to each other without causing any problem. Obviously, it would be rather hard at first. But he just had to make sure that their Qi would be balanced out by other elements before touching each other. And for that, Cao Yun had the perfect solution, his world tree that was rich in Wood.


    In fact, by sending the Water Qi and the Fire Qi through various acupoints, he could easily control them without causing any clash. This was why controlling one''s acupoints was also very important. Every step in Qi cultivation was meant to make things easier and easier. In theory, some speculated that it would be possible for a human being to reach the very last level of cultivation without any intermediate steps. But the truth was that it was so difficult and dangerous that no real human being could achieve such a feat. It was well and good in theory but simply impossible in the real world. Even becoming a Mortal Warrior without intermediate steps was impossible outside of the theoretical world.


    And as it turned out, blood cultivation was very similar. Each step was meant to allow or make easier the next steps. Cultivation was, in a way, like building a pyramid. Depending on the stability of the inferior levels, the pyramid could get higher or not.


    At last, Cao Yun''s heart calmed down. His body was full of strength and vigor. And he truly needed to fight something. Because he knew that he had a bit of time before Lady Gu Xue would make her move, he decided to leave the city for a few days. All around the city was the desert, he could go fight in the desert to his heart''s content without hiding his real cultivation, his human cultivation.


    Before leaving though, he gave orders to Xixue. He also visited his young student Dan Yao. The young boy was a mere early Blood Child. His eyes were injected with blood and circled like he was a panda. Clearly, he hadn''t slept for too long. Although he had no special talent for alchemy, he was working damn hard on it. It might have been excessive. Cao Yun had even been forced to give him sleeping pills and had crafted a very strict schedule for him to sleep. But it didn''t change his face too much.


    "Student Dan, here is your assignment while I''m away. And don''t overdo things. This is an order!"

 Chapter 513: Storming out of Ruohe

    While he was feeling full of vigor, Cao Yun didn''t let this excitement make him careless. In order to exit the city, he pushed his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to the limit. It was as though he was afraid a late Accomplished Demon might spy on him. A few weeks ago, he had indeed felt the gaze of someone on him. It had been very furtive, to the point where he wasn''t even sure whether someone had truly been observing him. However, Cao Yun decided to be cautious. Since nothing had happened since then, he was a bit more confident but nor over-confident.


    The reason why taking care of this city was so easy was because they were all weak compared with him and thought him even stronger than he was. Besides, their political structure wasn''t too good, full of deceits and veiled ambitions. Maybe overtaking Lord Wanghuo would be easier than he had first thought. But then again, his sheer strength was a problem. With his current cultivation, even with many tricks, Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether he could kill him or even injure him. Thankfully though, his cultivation was progressing fast. Because his Qi cultivation and blood cultivation were almost on par, Cao Yun could display a great deal of his actual strength without revealing he was human. However, he wouldn''t be able to hide that he wasn''t an Accomplished Demon.


    Thus, Cao Yun had decided to hone his skills in the desert for a few days. Thanks to Xixue and the other Moshu tribesmen, he had a very good understanding of the Desolate Dune Desert. Taking Hongyu with him, Cao Yun discreetly left Ruohe before flying away with her. Once again, he enjoyed the sensation of flying while being snuggled into Hongyu''s fiery feathers.


    On his way, he encountered several demonic beasts, but not a single one had more than six demonic cores. By using both his spiritual senses and his compass, it was rather easy for Cao Yun to avoid those demonic beasts. In fact, he even played around with them by letting go of his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' until the very last moment. Using stealth in a fight was such a big advantage, he also wanted to improve his ability to use it. Unfortunately, it wasn''t possible to strike with a lot of force while using this technique. But it could be used to surprise someone during a fight. Even an instant of disorientation could prove fatal.


    Of course, against someone with real spiritual senses, it would be difficult. After all, during a fight, their focus would be on Cao Yun. His mastery of this stealth art would need to be incredible in order to really trick him. The best he could hope for was just an instant of doubt to give him an edge.


    After killing a few demonic beasts with his spear and some with his bare hands, Cao Yun had finally purged most of his excitement. He had never felt so alive in his entire life. Moreover, the next levels of his cultivation would be even more exhilarating. Cultivation was truly addictive in a sense. Although the time between each stage was becoming longer and longer, the rewards were well worth it.


    Now that Cao Yun had formed his Horn Constellation, he was obviously working on his Neck Constellation. At the same time, he was also developing his Spear Intent. While his conscious mind was not focusing too much of it, a part of his intent was always watching the Insight Writings in his sea of consciousness during his training. As he was doing so, he slowly realized some kind of transformation. It wasn''t too obvious at first as the Insight Writings seemed to fly all over the place without much coherence or pattern. But the more he was understanding them, the more he could see reoccurring patterns. It was as though those Insight Writings were forming some kind of time crystal. Instead of having a repetitive structure in space, it was forming one in time.


    Deciphering the meanings behind those patterns was almost impossible. But thinking about them was still useful. It was an impossible riddle, but simply pondering about it was helpful in itself even if the answer was probably non-existent. Cao Yun had heard of those strange philosophical or even esoteric questions when he had read about the School of Ren Dao. Finding an answer wasn''t the point, training the mind to think about it was the point. And indeed, now that he was seeing them in this new light, his Insight Writings were much more useful. They could help a little, but it was his own understanding of the spear that would shape them, not the other way around.


    Maybe he could use the same kind of logic to translate more of Cleansed Asura''s texts. Right now, he was still focusing on ''Death Verses'' since it was the text he understood the most.


    As he had decided to go back, Cao Yun still wanted to test something out. It had been a long time since he had truly been able to use it, but he was looking forward to it. From his spatial ring, he took out a sword. Although it wasn''t very good compared with ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'', it was still a 5-star Human sword. Cao Yun had gotten it from the slavers he had killed when he had first appeared on this continent. That man had named it ''Unrivaled Above the Sand''. While ludicrous, Cao Yun didn''t change the name as he would probably not use that sword very long. It had tasted so much blood and had inflicted so much torment, Cao Yun could almost feel it. Instead of a weapon of death, it had been used as a tool of torture. Somehow, he could feel the sword protesting about it, as though it didn''t want to be used for such tasks that were beneath its quality.


    Well, today, this ''Unrivaled Above the Sand'' would get what it wanted. Hopefully, it would be able to resist. What Cao Yun was in mind was his family''s martial art. Now that he was isolated from the Hongchen Kingdom, he had no reason not to use it. Because he had grown very accustomed to the spear, it would probably remain his main weapon. But maintaining his proficiency in other weapons would also be good. In fact, it might even help him, just like cultivating blood was helping him with Qi cultivation. The problem was always the same though, time. In order not to become a jack of all trades, master of none, Cao Yun would have to make a choice. And he had already chosen. Spear would remain his weapon of choice.


    That being said, he had to maintain his ''Three Storms''. As the martial art literally invented by his great-grandfather Cao Beiwen, he was obviously emotionally attached to it. And he intended to use it when he would come back to the Hongchen Kingdom to cut down the traitor. Fortunately, this art was close to his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' as both were related to Wind. But ''Three Storms'' was also using both Water and Thunder too. According to what Cao Beiwen had counted, he had felt some enlightenment while he was being thrown around by a powerful storm. At that time, he admitted that he had almost died. It was as though the storm was alive and wanted him dead. A few lightning bolts caused severe injuries that had slowed down his cultivation a bit.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    In the end though, Cao Beiwen had endured by letting his Qi follow the fury of the storm. Riding the storm out, he felt like a dead log, powerlessly thrown around by this tumultuous hurricane. And this was the point of this martial art. One had to create such a storm within and let its fury express itself without trying to control it. A phrase Cao Beiwen often used was ''control without control''. Obviously, it had annoyed many members of the younger generation since it was unintelligible. Somehow though, Cao Yun felt like he had understood it a lit. Trying to control everything in the storm was pointless, what he needed to control was only himself and the storm would be naturally responding to him in a way as it was an extension of his sword and of himself.


    Thinking about that, the young man remembered his childhood. For a moment, he was a little by again and he heard the voice of his great-grandfather. He could even sense his loving gaze on his back while he was training under his mother''s supervision. Although he believed in the Heavenly Court, where one''s ethereal soul would await reincarnation, he didn''t know for sure that it was real. Still, he hoped that his family was watching him from that Heavenly Court. A bit of shame coursed through his spine. After all, he had failed to protect his little sister and he had decided to devote a huge part of his life to revenge. In a sense, he had disobeyed both commands his parents had given him with their last words. But he had no intention to fail in any endeavor. In the end, he would make them proud and they could accept a new life in peace, forgetting the torments of this one.


    ''The Wind rises in the East.''


    While brandishing his sword, powerful gusts of wind scattered the burning sand all around Cao Yun. His moves were very precise and they flowed perfectly from one to another. After all, as a child, he had practiced this routine for hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. As much as spear and sword were different, there were still common principles, just like was the case with unarmed martial arts as well. Thus, by improving his spear and almost reaching Spear Intent, Cao Yun had developed his swordsmanship too, albeit indirectly. Here and there, he could sense that his moves were a bit awkward.


    From the outside, it looked extremely good, but Cao Yun could feel small mistakes just as well as Chief Elder Bian would have spotted them. Indeed, some of his moves were too close to his spearmanship and seemed a bit clumsy while wielding a sword. He would need to get rid of them. In fact, for at least four hours, Cao Yun repeated the same two-minute long routine with his sword.


    After more than a hundred repetitions, Cao Yun was still not tired of this routine. In fact, he was used to repeating the very same move again and again. Most cultivators would have been sick of it by that point, wanting a bit of change, but not Cao Yun. With each and every move, he was able to find small subtleties both in his movement, his muscles, his breathing, even his attitude. Focusing on those tiny variations, each move felt different in some way. By analyzing those differences, he was honing his skills.


    ''The Thunder rumbles in the West.''


    Finally going to his next routine, the young man''s body emitted thunderous sounds. His tendons and his muscles were being stretched and contracted like crazy. It was as though his tissues were whips. And their sudden changes caused the sound of thunder to resound around Cao Yun. Thunder wasn''t too uncommon in the desert, especially not the Desolate Dune Desert. Many weaker demonic beasts and almost all animals left the area where Cao Yun was training.


    Before long, there was actual thunder around Cao Yun. His very sword was crackling with electricity. Of course, this was his Qi Manifestation. But he had not consciously used it. Instead, this Qi Manifestation had been caused by his very Golden Blood. Demons and asura could indeed perform Qi Manifestation unconsciously, just like demonic beasts. Since he was going to stay among demons for a few years, the young human had to get rid of his habit of using Qi Manifestation in any other way.


    ''The Ice hails in the South.''


    After almost an entire day focused on those two routines, the swordsman began to work on the third and final aspect of ''Three Storms''. This was an element that was the least familiar to him. Indeed, both Thunder and Wind were aspects of the Wood element. From the five elements, two of them were quite unique, Fire and Water. The other three elements all gave birth to two aspects. Metal gave birth to Heaven and Lake, Earth to Mountain and Field, and Wood to Thunder and Wind.


    When it came to the first two stances of ''Three Storms'', there was no problem at all. But for the third stance that contained the Water element, it was a bit more difficult for the young cultivator. Thankfully, his Lower Dantian was full of Water Qi so he did have some experience with this element. And he had already thought people specialized in that element like Zhi Yin. Hopefully this would help him at least a little.


    Then, he spent almost two days straight executing the very same movements. Besides, since he was in the Desolate Dune Desert that was so rich in Fire element, performing ''The Ice hails in the South.'' became very difficult. But it was a good exercise for him. In fact, he even surmised that it would help his Lesser Tribulation. After all, the point of the Lesser Tribulation was to make Water Qi and Fire Qi clash with each other to give birth to one''s Soul Embryo. Right now, Cao Yun was trying to allow Water to live under Fire. It was also helping his two inferior Dantian work together by sending his Qi through specific pathways.


    Finally, Cao Yun was rather happy with his swordsmanship. ''Unrivaled Above the Sand'' also seemed overjoyed to be finally used for real martial arts. But it was also missing the taste of blood somehow. Of course, the weapon had no consciousness of any kind. But those were the sensations Cao Yun was getting from it. Maybe he had been too influence with ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Even now, he had kept the Ebony Snake Dragon''s scale in his spatial ring. He wanted to use it for a future weapon and he knew exactly which blacksmith would help him with that. But it would take some time for him to reach his brother again.


    After being lost in the first three stances for so long, Cao Yun decided to perform the fourth stances before going back. Maybe he would also fight for real before returning to Ruohe. Within the city, he couldn''t practice his art to his heart''s content and he knew that his plans wouldn''t require too much fighting, at least for now. That was too bad, so he enjoyed his martial arts while he could...

 Chapter 514: Silver Six-Tailed Fox

    ''Three Storms'' had a total of five stances. Cao Yun had a very good grasp on the first three, understood the concept behind the fourth one, but was still in the dark when it came to the fifth one. He barely remembered his great-grandfather''s words on the matter when he discussed it with his father. At the time Cao Yun was so young that the memories were vague and obscure, even to his current mind. Because his mind had not registered them, it was impossible for him to remember them correctly. Sometimes they made sense, but the next instant either their sense had changed or they were utterly nonsensical.


    Anyway, for the time being, Cao Yun focused on the fourth stance ''The Three Storms unite in the North.''. The purpose behind this stance was to merge the three elements together to create the perfect storm, the storm that had almost cost Cao Beiwen his life. Thus, it was much more difficult than the first three stances. However, Cao Yun was eager to master this martial art. In fact, he also wanted to push it further and further.


    At the moment, this art was probably only a 3 or 4-star Human martial art. But with his knowledge, Cao Yun was convinced he could make it into a real Heaven martial art. Indeed, he had already learned a lot about Wind and he could use it to improve this part. Then, he would also elevate all the other stances. For that though, he needed to get a perfect understanding of it first.


    Finally ready, Cao Yun unleashed his best sword move. All around him, there was now a small storm with hail and thunder crisscrossing a tornado with him in its center. The winds were so violent that a lot of burning sand was also sucked into this tornado, adding Fire to the elements. While he was practicing his martial art, Cao Yun was also probing the Qi Manifestation with his own spiritual senses. And he could sense the new element clashing with the other three. By observing this phenomenon, Cao Yun was transfixed. It was as though he was discovering something new. His alchemical training was incredibly useful for that. In fact, if he had been in Cao Beiwen''s storm, he would have been able to discern much more than his great-grandfather.


    Because of the disturbance caused in the desert, a few demonic beasts were alerted to the presence of this young human. Since he wasn''t hiding his cultivation at all, as he was in the middle of the desert, they were attracted by the sweet fragrance of his blood. However, they were also terrified by his strength. Indeed, Cao Yun had made sure that there was no demonic beast with more than six demonic cores. Besides, Hongyu was also close by, far enough so that Cao Yun could train without worrying about injuring her, but close enough to deter some beasts from disturbing him.


    Among those beasts though, one found the courage to show its head. From a nearby dune, a tunnel was being dug out. From that tunnel, the muzzle of a fox appeared. Careful at first, smelling the air around it, its fur slowly became visible. Leaving the burning sand, silver fur appeared. It was absolutely magnificent, shining under the blazing sun. Still being extremely careful, the silver fox let its entire head come out of the dune. The beast was truly beautiful and had a dignified air, full of pride and a bit of blood lust as well.


    The first thing that silver fox saw was the great storm all around Cao Yun. Then, he smelled the young human''s blood. Immediately, the fox could feel its saliva in its mouth. It had to devour this human. Then, he might gain its seventh core, and with it, its seventh tail. But the fact that this human was able to conjure such a storm was worrisome. Besides, the fox also saw Hongyu by his side, that fiery bird was also dangerous. Thankfully though, she only had five demonic cores. She was weaker than the fox was.


    With his six demonic core, that fox was rather smart. First of all, foxes were smart and crafty to begin with. But this particular fox had intelligence that could rival a demon''s or a human''s. To be fair, it wasn''t necessarily that difficult for some of the specimens he had observed. Sometimes, just singing with the right tone was enough to make a demon forget safety and give themselves to its fangs. When it came to that specific human though, the fox knew it wouldn''t work. It couldn''t lure him in so easily.


    After spending a few hours observing the human, the fox had understood what he was doing. That human was obviously training his martial art. Thus, maybe there was a way. Fighting the two of them together, man and bird, would be difficult. But if it could fight only one of them, the fox might win. Since the human was training, there was a chance he would fight alone against the fox in order to hone his skills. In the end, the fox decided to follow this course of actions. There would be no trick!


    Finally coming out of the sand, the silver fox proudly showed his six tails. With sand all over its sublime shining fur, the Silver Six-Tail Fox shook it off. Even though Cao Yun was focused on his martial art, he obviously saw the silvery light reflected from the big silver''s back. Hongyu was also alert to the movement of that demonic beast. The Silver Six-Tailed Fox only gazed at Cao Yun. And the young human saw a challenge in those eyes. Yes, that demonic beast was opening for a fair fight. And Cao Yun was eager to give it what it wanted.


    Suddenly, the storm dissipated in thin air. After all, it was only due to Cao Yun''s Qi Manifestation. The very moment he stopped fueling it, it could not exist by itself.


    Facing the Silver Six-Tailed Fox, Cao Yun obviously recognized the beast from what he had learned about the Desolate Sepulcher. Such a demonic beast had six demonic cores and was very powerful and extremely fast. Quite frankly, that fox was probably a great fighting partner to test his ''Three Storms''. Apparently, it was a young male. Of course, young was relative when it came to such beasts. Most likely, it had lived for less than a century. The fact that he had already formed six demonic cores and was still alive in such a dangerous environment showed that he was indeed powerful. He had hunted enough to form his six demonic cores while avoiding the more dangerous predators.


    Looking at him, Cao Yun wondered whether this day would be the day of the silver''s death. Despite his good instincts, he had made a mistake. Maybe it was because he had seen Cao Yun using ''Three Storms'' and not his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. After all, he was less proficient in sword than in spear. However, Cao Yun decided to use his sword in this fight since he wanted to polish his skills.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Hongyu was ready to intervene but her brother made some gesture to tell her not to. He would fight alone. Sensing that, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox knew he had made the right decision. Now, he would fight and kill this human. If that fiery bird he wasn''t familiar with attacked him after that, she would be easier to kill. But even if she just flew away, he would have a great meal with this man''s blood.


    ''Unrivaled Above the Sand'' in hand, the swordsman could feel his weapon desire to draw blood. Then, Cao Yun mixed his own killing intent within the sword. Although he had no Sword Aura, his Spear Aura was a bit showing through his killing intent. In some moves, it would probably even act up. This time, Cao Yun let everything out, his full strength and his entire cultivation. He had no reason to hide anything and it felt good to let go of all restraints. As soon as he felt that, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox was a bit worried. Although the human was not stronger than he was, the fox could tell that he had indeed misjudged him at first. Anyway, he would still win this fight and feast on his blood. This just meant that his reward would be even better than he had imagined.


    A sudden flash crossed the distance between the two of them. The next instant, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox''s claws were clashing with Cao Yun''s blade. Besides the gust of wind caused by the fox, a powerful wall of wind erupted from their clash, as well as sparks all over the place. Immediately, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox moved again. For a few moves, it attacked the human relentlessly, trying to exhaust him. Despite his incredible speed though, Cao Yun was able to block all of his attacks with his blade.


    Thankfully, ''Unrivaled Above the Sand'' was a 5-star Human sword. So it wasn''t damaged at all despite receiving the sharp claws of the Silver Six-Tailed Fox several times in quick succession. After each attack, the fox was moving around faster than what a mortal eye could follow. In fact, Cao Yun''s eyes could barely follow the Silver Six-Tailed Fox. A few times, the fox altered his speed and became faster for an instant, trying to throw off his opponent. However, Cao Yun had already stopped using his eyes to find him. Instead, he was focusing his spiritual senses all around him.


    Even then, Cao Yun was just fast enough to block the attacks. If he was a bit slower, he would clearly receive the attack. Although it wouldn''t kill him in a single move, it would definitely injure him. After all, even after a few attacks, he could feel his arms becoming numb under the repeated shocks.


    Finally, an opportunity arose when the Silver Six-Tailed Fox slowed down for an instant. Although he was trying to exhaust Cao Yun, he was also using more strength than he had imagined at first.


    At that very moment, Cao Yun seized the opportunity and struck with his sword. Still used to his spear, this became a stabbing motion. ''The Thunder rumbles in the West.'' All across his blade, thunder appeared. But there was also a small cone of wind surrounding it, as though he was still using ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. Moving his slender body around, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox used his tails to obscure Cao Yun''s view. Of course, the beast didn''t realize that his opponent had no need for his eyes in this duel. At the same time, the fox contorted his body in the air to try and avoid the stabbing sword.


    That sword went through the flailing tails. Some of the wind around the blade got dispersed and the static in the fur also got rid of the thunder before it could strike the fox''s main body. However, the tip of the sword still pierced through his flank and drew first blood. As soon as the blade pierced his flesh, the fox contracted his muscles, trapping it. Before Cao Yun could move it either forward or backward, the fox finally regained his bearing on the ground and moved brutally. The unexpected change caught Cao Yun off-guard and he was thrown away with his weapon.


    While still in the air, the young man was attacked by the ferocious fangs of the fox. His eyes could only see silver as the sun was reverberating on the fangs. His nose could only smell blood in the beast''s breath. Being in the air didn''t mean Cao Yun was powerless though. ''The Wind rises in the East.'' A sudden slashing motion with his sword cut through the fox''s face. Although the blade didn''t directly connect, the air pressure left a shallow scar on the demonic beast, just under his left eye. Under the surprise and the pain, the fox''s head moved around. His fangs were not able to close around Cao Yun but he still received a canine in his left forearm.


    The canine didn''t pierce through Cao Yun''s skin. However, it clearly left a serious bruise. As soon as Cao Yun touched the ground, he evaded a hinder leg kicking him. Then, he felt the sand under him shift. All around Cao Yun, several tails made of sand arose from the ground and tried to trap him. Without any hesitation, he cut them down. ''The Ice hails in the South.'' Some of the sand was literally frozen by Cao Yun''s horizontal slash. While the fight was progressing, Cao Yun''s killing intent was getting fiercer. His eyes were full of blood even without using ''Weeping Demon''.


    For several minutes, the fox and the human kept exchanging many moves. Although it was a battle to the death, the fox and the human were both enjoying it. They both had superficial wounds all over, nothing lethal. In fact, with their vitality, all those wounds would be gone by the end of the day. The very first scar left by Cao Yun under the fox''s left eye was already almost gone even though he wasn''t focusing on it.


    Cao Yun''s clothes were a bit tattered but he thankfully had other robes in his spatial ring. By that time, he knew that he could kill the fox if he simply took his spear out. Not only would his martial arts be stronger, he would also surprise his opponent and win the fight. Against an Accomplished Demon, this might be a sound strategy and he would remember it. However, he had no intention of doing so right now. For the moment, he was truly sensing his swordsmanship getting better and better with each move.


    A few more moves later, Cao Yun charged toward the Silver Six-Tailed Fox. All around him, the sand turned into sharp tails trying to cut him into pieces. At the same moment, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox was also charging toward the human. Cao Yun easily dodged and froze a few sand tails. At last, the two opponents met. Cao Yun''s blade was ready to pierce the fox''s heart while his fangs were about to bite off the human''s head. Suddenly shifting his weight, Cao Yun angled his sword. With the butt of it, he struck the bottom of the fox''s maw, closing it violently. Using the shock going through his sword, Cao Yun stabbed the demonic beast lower in its belly, missing any vital organs.


    Now, Cao Yun was standing on the belly of the fox who was lying down in the sand, a bit of blood flowing down his leg. Before Cao Yun could retrieve his sword though, the seven tails coiled around him, trying to strangulate him while restricting his movements.

 Chapter 515: Honor and respect in the desert

    Cao Yun was having a real trouble breathing. Of course, this wouldn''t kill him easily. With his current cultivation, he could control his Golden Blood and his Qi so well that he could spend several hours without any supply of oxygen while keeping his flesh alive. However, the tails were not just cutting off his air supply. They were truly constricting him with incredible strength. Any Mortal or Blood Child would have been crushed into paste in a very short time. Even if Cao Yun could resist longer, he was still feeling his body screaming under such a pressure. He had literally walked on the depths of a dark ocean before, but this pressure was stronger than that.


    At the moment, he could barely move even though he was mustering all of his blood cultivation. In fact, the only way he had to free himself would be to use his ''Dragon''s Heart'', but he didn''t want to resort to his spearmanship in this duel. That being said, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox wasn''t in a better situation either. Cao Yun''s sword was still piercing through his belly. Although he had saved his heart, this meant that Cao Yun could literally assault his innards with his own Qi. Since the Silver Six-Tailed Fox''s Wei Qi had been physically breached, he would have a hard time protecting his organs from within.


    Indeed, demonic beasts had only an intuitive knowledge of the Qi flowing with their blood. Thus, they couldn''t willfully wield it. Even the Qi Manifestation and the strange phenomenons they were conjuring up were all intuitive. Only humans and other intelligent species like demons, asura or deva, could look at their powers and derive entire martial arts from them. Although demonic beasts were intelligent, they lacked the capacity for abstraction that had made other intelligent species so successful. Without this ability, they had no way of ever touching the Dao.


    Right now, the two fighters were in a dead-end. However, Cao Yun had enough cards to get out of it. For example, he had obviously his spear art, but he also had spiritual senses, mental attacks and he even had Hongyu waiting on the side. With any one of those, he would be able to kill the Silver Six-Tailed Fox easily since he wasn''t expecting them, apart from Hongyu''s intervention of course. In fact, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox was clearly afraid of her at the moment. Cao Yun was so close to his face that he could tell everything he was feeling. That Silver Six-Tailed Fox truly regretted his decision.


    Until now, he had survived because he was cunning enough to chose his battles well. But today, Cao Yun''s blood had been so attractive he had misjudged the risks. Outweighing them with the rewards, they had seemed worth it. But now that he was contemplating his death, they were not. After all, once dead, no reward would be worth it...


    There was something the Silver Six-Tailed Fox absolutely didn''t expect. Cao Yun retrieved his sword in his spatial ring. Then, he looked the demonic beast straight in the eyes. After a few breaths, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox understood and began to loosen his grip on the young human. Very slowly, the two of them got away from each other.


    "You fought well. Since there''s no sense killing each other, I suggest that we part ways for this day. I bid you well."


    Even though the Silver Six-Tailed Fox didn''t understand human speech as well as Hongyu, he was still able to get the general meaning. When Cao Yun bowed, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox also did the same. Thankfully, the sword had not caused too much damage to the demonic beast. It would only take a few days to heal completely with his bloodline. However, the psychological effect of that encounter would stay with him for decades if not centuries. For sure, he would not attack a prey so recklessly again. But he had also developed new considerations. That human had showed him respect and horror and that intrigued him quite a lot as he was slowly advancing his cultivation.


    According to the ancient texts, demonic beasts who had developed nine demonic cores could then hope to become immortal beasts. Such beasts were as intelligent as humans with deep abstract thoughts. In fact, most of them were even capable of speech. As they were getting closer to that stage, many beasts began to develop a real form of complex personality, sometimes even with moral dilemmas they had never envisioned before. In a sense, it was truly like a child growing up to be an adult. And a new world had just opened today for that Silver Six-Tailed Fox.


    When it was far enough from Cao Yun, the fox suddenly ran away with grace. Watching his figure disappear between the dunes, Cao Yun was admiring his elegance. Then he turned to Hongyu. It was time to leave now. He had worked on his sword art for quite some time and there were matters to attend to in Ruohe. By that time, Lady Gu Xue should have already tried to contact him. But since the situation was apparently so bad for him, it wasn''t unexpected that he would take some time to respond to her requests. Anyway, he was convinced of his victory.


    -


    While he was flying back to town, Dian Mo talked with Cao Yun.


    "Boy, I''ve looked at the body of this Xixue. You were mostly right but you''ve also missed something big."


    Since Dian Mo was an expert when it came to seals, Cao Yun was certain of his analysis. And because those seals engraved in her bones could help her cultivation, he was also very interested in understanding them better. Besides, they might have other effects he had not yet imagined. Unfortunately, he wasn''t such an expert in seals that he could tell just by looking at them. Indeed, Cao Yun had mostly trained his ability to unravel seals and to forge very specific ones. Thus, when it came to analyzing them, he was mostly relying on his knowledge of array formations.


    As a first approach it wasn''t too bad as there were similarities. But seals were often much more linked with their direct environment. In this case, this was Xixue''s own body. As such, Cao Yun couldn''t understand everything. He might need Dian Mo to teach him more about seals. Gaining a more detailed understanding of them was necessary now as he was among demons. Even though he had been curious before, Cao Yun was forced to focus on what seemed truly important for him in the immediate future. Unfortunately, he was lacking time and his current routine was already hardly fitting in a single day.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "This will indeed help her improve her blood cultivation. Of course, this will cause it to be more and more unstable until she won''t be able to progress at all. Besides, her bones will also become weaker and weaker over time. Even with a great cultivation, her health will end up suffering from this. But the most important part is elsewhere. First of all, I am forced to admit that this is a very smart and cunning use of seals. To be honest, I probably wouldn''t have had this idea. From what you know, either this City Lord Sihe is incredibly talented or he found some ancient legacy. And to be honest, I do think he is incredibly talented. Those seals don''t remind me of any old tradition. Clearly, they are quite modern with principles developed recently.


    "At their core though, the principles always remain the same. Those seals can also act as a form of explosive. Xixue''s very bones would detonate by using the Jing stored within. In other words, as soon as her cultivation reaches a certain point, she will literally blow up, killing anyone around her. My guess is thus that she wasn''t meant to simply by Boss Gui''s secretary. Boss Gui would have realized her worth and kept her closer and closer. After all, you''re realizing yourself how helpful she is with your current situation. But at some point in the near future, she would have exploded and killed Boss Gui."


    "But how could he time the moment precisely?"


    "Well, that''s the beauty of it... Hidden in the seals, there was also some trace of it in her Slavery Brand. Thankfully, you''ve kept a vivid image of it in your mind. There was a slight variation, a seal concealed behind another seal. By erasing her Slavery Brand, you''ve activated it. Now, if another Slavery Brand is used on her, this seal will coil around it and whoever has put that Slavery Brand on her will be the target. Her body won''t explode unless her mind knows that she''s close to her target and that her cultivation is high enough to kill her for sure."


    It was a good thing Cao Yun had not used a Slavery Brand on her. But that didn''t change the crux of the problem. At some point, her cultivation could literally cause her to explode even without the right target near her.


    "In other words, City Lord Sihe was counting on Boss Gui putting her own Slavery Brand on Xixue... Of course! If Sihe is behind most Slavery Brands, she would use a different one on a slave she keeps close, just in case. This Sihe is truly cunning."


    "Worse than that, he''s probably better at seals than you are. Maybe when it comes to getting rid of them, you might be superior since I don''t have any way of comparing that. But if we''re only speaking about crafting seals, he''s your superior, there is absolutely no comparison to be honest. Hopefully, he spent most of his time training on the art of sealing, not of unraveling seals. Then, you might have an edge in that domain, but you should still work under the assumption that his seals are way more advanced than you think."


    "Do you have a way of preventing Xixue''s demise?"


    "Better than that boy. I know how to reproduce the effects of those seals with blood runes. Now that I''ve watched the principles behind them, it won''t be difficult to imitate some of the effects. To say things more clearly, I can teach you how to use blood seals to speed up your blood cultivation a little. Hell, it might even help your Qi cultivation as well. And instead of engraving your bones and damaging your body, those will be blood runes and seals made of blood and Qi. All things you can discard anytime you want."


    Honestly, Cao Yun wasn''t too confident putting seals in his own body like that. But he was still intrigued by Dian Mo''s proposition. Since his cultivation was already extremely fast, it wouldn''t improve it by much. On the other hand, it might help him get a cultivation even more firm and stable without having to spend more time on each stage.


    While he was coming back to his residence, Cao Yun carefully listened to Dian Mo as though he was his teacher. And in fact, he was his teacher. There was no denying it. As much as Cao Yun had still in mind the possibility that Dian Mo might steal his body one day, he had to admit that he trusted him to a large degree. Apparently, Dian Mo too had gotten attached to Cao Yun.


    Getting rid of the seals endangering Xixue would be difficult for two main reasons. The first was obvious, the seals were literally engraved in her bones so altering them would require to also alter her bones. The other reason though was that the seals were extremely intricate. Because Dian Mo was still weakened, he couldn''t work outside of Cao Yun''s body. In fact, he might not even be able to do anything within Cao Yun''s body for the moment. Anyway, Cao Yun would need to alter the seals himself while under Dian Mo''s guidance. Before that, Cao Yun decided to repeat the procedure several times in his sea of consciousness since he literally had created a perfect copy of Xixue''s body.


    Finally, he got back to his residence under the secrecy of his ''Ashen Feather Seals''. As soon as he arrived, he went to his cultivation room where he had supposedly stayed for several days.


    Without further delay, he left his room and found Xixue sitting cross-legged in front of his personal chambers. She had probably been waiting for some time already. Since their conversation and Cao Yun''s admonishment, she seemed a bit different but he couldn''t tell whether it was good or bad. As much as she didn''t look at him with disdain, she seemed to be completely separate from her emotions, as though she was an automaton. The more he was staying with her in that state, the more she felt like a real slave and that was leaving a sour taste in Cao Yun''s mouth. Maybe he had been wrong with his words.


    In fact, Cao Yun had not been convinced at all by his own words. And this was a true problem, Cao Yun had never really thought about morality too much, he had mostly obeyed his parents and the laws of his Hongchen Kingdom. Until now, he had never even been confronted with another set of laws and morals. Thus, as much as he was developing his mind, he didn''t have any grand idea about values, morality, legality and all of those philosophical or even esoteric things. But since he was closer to his feelings, he could tell without a doubt that slavery was appalling and he wanted it to stop. At the very least, hunting slaves had to stop. Cao Yun wasn''t arrogant enough yet to think he could stop the entire practice. Even the nomad tribes had laws about slavery, but slaves had to sell themselves willfully or to be condemned for some crime to a certain period of slavery.


    Anyway, he had not the time to think about those things. Right now, he was just thinking about his ultimate goal. He wanted to get stronger, to come back to his land and to set things right with Emperor Weide and his little sister. All of that stuff about morality was beyond him at this point. He didn''t want to be some saint or some political leader. But if he could make things a bit better, he would. And ending this barbaric practice certainly felt like a step in the right direction.


    As he was about to talk with Xixue, a loud explosion shook the residence.

 Chapter 516: Inviting Lady Gu Xue

    One could think that such an explosion would worry Cao Yun and Xixue. However, it did no such thing. In fact, even the servants were not alarmed at all. Indeed, that loud explosion had come from the quarters of Dan Yao. Unfortunately, they had become used to his shenanigans. Even Lady Gu Xue''s residence had received word of his activities.


    Because the boy was a bit too eager to make his teacher proud, he was always pushing himself too far. Thankfully, he was only working with inferior pills and always with very simple bronze cauldrons. By now, he had caused several dozens such explosions. And in total, he had lost around twenty cauldrons that had been thoroughly destroyed.


    As he left his study, Dan Yao was covered in black residues caused by the explosion. A trained nose could smell the faint fragrance of medicinal essence amidst the black smoke erupting from said study. The poor boy was trying to ventilate the smoke with his arms as he was coughing a lot. Suddenly, he stopped moving altogether and froze. In front of him was his teacher and master, Cao Yun.


    Before leaving, his master had asked him not to overdo it. Worse, he had ordered him not to overdo it. And here he was, standing in front of him just as he had let yet another cauldron explode. Even worse than that, Dan Yao had not accomplished his assignment.


    Suddenly, he dropped to his knees and kowtowed to his master. Parts of his robe were still fuming and there was a thick odor of burned clothes all around him. Besides the recent traces, his clothes had suffered a lot without being washed at all. Cao Yun could imagine how long he had spent locked up in his study trying to finish his assignment.


    "Please, Venerable master, don''t forsake him! This useless trash will do everything I can to make you proud. Please, keep teaching this worthless insect despite his rotten brain."


    For a few minutes, Dan Yao cried a river at Cao Yun''s feet. In fact, Cao Yun was so stunned by his actions, he didn''t know how to react. Even Xixue wasn''t too sure how to handle the situation.


    "Student Dan, stop groveling at my feet. I have no intention of forsaking you. And if I did, your current behavior would not change my mind. In fact, it might even succeed to convince me that this would be the best solution."


    Hearing Cao Yun''s cold words, Dan Yao stood up all of a sudden. It was as though he had been submerged in freezing water and had regained his sanity. Clearly Dan Yao had not slept for a few days now and it was having some effect on his mood. It was no wonder he wasn''t able to do anything right in his study. Without enough sleep, he couldn''t progress at all. Thinking about it, Cao Yun remembered his own teacher. Sleeping all the time like Chief Elder Meng wasn''t a good thing, but fighting to always stay awake wasn''t any better.


    "I will examine your work in a few hours. For the time being, clean yourself and rest. This is an order! If you''re not asleep when I come to fetch you, then I will forsake you! Is that clear?"


    "Yes, teacher, perfectly clear."


    Now completely livid, Dan Yao ran toward his own chambers to clean himself. Looking at him running through the residence, Cao Yun shook his head in frustration. That boy had no talent but he was hard-working. However, he was way too hard on himself because of his lack of talent. That being said, he was quite pleasant to be around. Cao Yun was rather good with children apparently. And having his own student, even though he was a demon, felt really good.


    Maybe it wasn''t Dan Yao''s talent that was to blame. The boy was so eager to learn that Cao Yun felt guilty for his slow progress. He would have to think seriously on how to improve his own teaching. With such a student, there was no reason Dan Yao couldn''t improve. First of all, Cao Yun would need to establish precisely what his talents were. It was impossible for him to lack talent in all the domains of alchemy.


    From there, he would try to think of a good way for him to improve. As he was using different cultivation systems to speed up his overall cultivation, Cao Yun thought about doing the same thing with Dan Yao. After all, he had entire libraries in his mind. He had to find a way of teaching him efficiently. From this point onward, Cao Yun became engrossed in how to craft perfect lessons for his disciple. Besides, it would also be helpful for his plan.


    While he was already thinking of a study plan, Cao Yun''s thoughts were interrupted by Xixue. As she had been for some time, she was very formal and completely detached.


    "Lord Mo, Lady Gu Xue has shown interest in meeting with me at the earliest. Apparently, she heard about your ''misfortune''. And she extended her help to you."


    Since his residence wasn''t perfectly safe, Cao Yun answered Xixue both physically and telepathically.


    "How much does she know about what happened?"


    There was a tiny bit of panic in his voice. It was incredibly subtle, but loud enough that someone like Lady Gu Xue could detect it while sincerely believing he was trying to hide it. In Xixue''s mind, the conversation was totally different.


    "Of course, she did... She''ll come in person in my chambers. I need everything to be ready for her arrival. I guess that the documents are all ready."


    Xixue nodded while keeping up with Cao Yun''s fake conversation. At the same time, there were two different conversations but Xixue couldn''t answer to the one in her mind. However, she had a few gestures to answer Cao Yun. Just like the slavers, Xixue had developed a partial language with her hands and facial expression. Just by looking at her, Cao Yun could know what she was saying but no one else but him could.


    "By the way, I''ve also analyzed the seals in your bones. They were even more dangerous than I initially thought. Yes they will help you cultivate faster for a time, until they push you to a bottleneck of course. But worse than that, they were also meant to kill Boss Gui."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    For a split second, intense surprise colored Xixue''s face. Then, Cao Yun saw doubt.


    "I don''t care whether you believe me or not. But this City Lord Sihe meant for you to get close to Boss Gui until your cultivation was strong enough that your self-detonation could kill her. In my estimates, you would have blown up along with her in two to three years tops. Not only does it show that this Sihe is truly capable of everything to kill Boss Gui, but this also shows that he''s a patient man."


    Boss Gui seemed like the right choice for Cao Yun''s plan. Indeed, although she was capable of great cruelty, she seemed to be very straightforward and rational. Dealing with someone like City Lord Sihe might be more troublesome. Even if he didn''t exhibit great cruelty, he would plan and plot behind his allies'' back. With this kind of man, one would not even see the knife stabbed in their own back.


    Cao Yun could see that Xixue was shook once more. Her emotions were all over the place. Clearly, he had to speak with her to calm her down. Right now, she was absolutely crushed. The reality of her powerlessness hit her harder than before. She had thought that she had a bit of control thanks to her alliance with City Lord Sihe. After all, he had spent a few months training her for this mission. But she was just a pawn he had already decided to discard. And the worst part was she would have been happy to do his bidding until her death. In the end, she would have died without realizing the truth.


    As much as she wanted to doubt Cao Yun''s words, they were clearly true.


    At first, she despised him because of his strength when she was powerless. While he could choose his own fate, she had been forced to lower herself to the status of slave. Moreover, she had been forced to commit a heinous treason just to be enslaved and brought to her target, Boss Gui. The fact that Cao Yun could do whatever he wanted without sacrificing his moral didn''t sit well with her. But when he acted all good, that infuriated her.


    Until now, all the Accomplished Demons she had met were working for their own self interests. Not a single one would do anything for another demon without a reason. Since Cao Yun seemed to do just that, he appeared like a hypocrite in her eyes, deepening her despise. However, she had finally realized that Cao Yun was sincerely trying to do what he thought was the right thing. Besides, he was literally going up against other City Lords.


    Despite his cultivation, opposing the Nalupu Kingdom was insane. After all Lord Wanghuo was a late Accomplished Demon.


    What truly marked Xixue though was the fact that Cao Yun didn''t seem to know for sure what was right or wrong. He didn''t have great ideals of morality. He was just trying to act on what was in front of him as fairly as possible. This was reassuring her. He wasn''t a fool or a saint.


    While she was still trying to sort out her feelings, she kept her distance with Cao Yun. Emotionally, she didn''t want to get too involved. Her main goal was to find her sister and Cao Yun was certainly the best man to help her.


    When their conversation was done, Xixue left to send an invitation to Lady Gu Xue. As was the custom, she sent a gift with the invitation. The value of the gift showed how much one hoped for a visit. Taking Lady Gu Xue''s position into consideration, Xixue sent a gift to show that Cao Yun was desperate but was still trying to hide it as much as he could.


    -


    Receiving the gift, a pill, Lady Gu Xue was quite pleased. If she maneuvered right, she could not only take over Cao Yun''s business but even improve her influence on the other businessmen of Ruohe. In fact, by using Cao Yun''s alchemy, she could even hope to become a City Lord of a real city-state herself. Ruohe could become a city-state, the twenty-second city-state of the Nalupu Kingdom. Of course, this would take some time, but it was possible.


    While she was ecstatic, Jia Lao wasn''t. He kept examining the invitation and the gift. Although he couldn''t find out what, something was amiss. For a long time, he hesitated as he didn''t want to spoil his mistress'' mood. However, he ended up taking a decision.


    "My Lady! There is something I don''t like about the current situation. I would suggest you to wait before meeting with Lord Mo. Please, give me enough time to investigate a bit longer. This entire business with Tu Jianhe and the others seems fishy to me. The contract they talked about is indeed very beneficial to them and crushes Lord Mo''s Blazing Swallow. However, knowing Tu Jianhe, I feel like he went a bit too easy on him. Tu Jianhe is not a generous man at all."


    "You worry too much, Jia Lao. Either he was balanced out by his partners or Tu Jianhe simply didn''t want to destroy Lord Mo''s shop. After all, he hopes to make some benefits from it. Besides, pushing someone too far can be a problem. We still don''t know what Lord Mo did to infuriate City Lord Sihe. It''s still possible that Lord Mo could try to silence Tu Jianhe and his partners. Crossing an alchemist who''s also a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon and who''s escaped a City Lord might not be too smart."


    "Well, it''s possible... But I do worry. I sincerely don''t know why but I feel that something is strange in this matter. It is as though all the stones on the board are favorable to us and yet they look like a gaping maw waiting for us."


    "You''re just nervous because the game is too easy. But you''re right to be cautious. Anyway, we''ll see what''s what tomorrow."


    "As you wish."


    Still a bit uneasy, Jia Lao accepted his mistress'' decision. Furthermore, no matter how much he was trying to think about the situation, he didn''t see what Cao Yun could do. Even if he had somehow tricked Tu Jianhe and his partners, Lady Gu Xue was formally recognized by Boss Gui as leader of this city. Through Boss Gui, this was Lord Wanghuo who was recognizing Lady Gu Xue. This kind of legitimacy was enough to protect her.


    Trying to take her down without the approval of the Nalupu Kingdom or the Xinian Confederation was impossible. Considering Cao Yun''s situation, there was no way he had either of those. Otherwise, City Lord Sihe would have found him by now.


    -


    The next day, Lady Gu Xue did visit Cao Yun. Cao Yun''s residence seemed to be extremely busy and Cao Yun himself appeared to be a bit flustered. Xixue did everything she could to make things look like she was hiding their current turmoil and it worked perfectly well.


    While affecting fake arrogance, Cao Yun welcomed Lady Gu Xue. The old lady was smiling brightly as though she had already won. In her mind, she could already see her ruling a city-state as an Accomplished Demon. She was ecstatic and could hardly hide it. Still, she tried to look friendly. After all, she was here to offer her sincere help to Cao Yun.


    Despite her advanced age for her cultivation, Lady Gu Xue still looked relatively young. At least, she looked way longer than old mortal women. However, that wasn''t much comfort to her. It was extremely clear that she had used several pills in combination with balms and even superficial make-up to try and look younger. Most likely, there was a bit of vanity behind it, but this wasn''t all it was. Looking too old for a cultivator was a sign of weakness, especially among demons. Some humans sometimes took it as a sign of wisdom. But among demons who valued blood and essence, old features meant that one was reaching the end of their lifespan, hence their essence and blood were spent.


    Thus, Lady Gu Xue was a bit obsessed with looking young. At the same time, she didn''t want to betray this fear as it could entice betrayals. Of course, in Cao Yun''s eyes, everything was obvious. As an alchemist he was able to clearly see the signs of overconsumption of low quality pills. But after their meeting, this wouldn''t be a worry for lady Gu Xue any longer.

 Chapter 517: Ruohes fate

    Lady Gu Xue was accompanied by Jia Lao. The man was bald and had a very discreet mark between his thin eyebrows. If Cao Yun had not known any better, he would have thought that this man was some kind of monk or priest. He was however a eunuch. From what Cao Yun had gathered thanks, in large part, to Xixue, this man was a former slave Lady Gu Xue had taken in. Somewhat similar to what Xixue had imagined of her role at Boss Gui''s side, he had grown from slave to advisor.


    And his advice was so precious he had now almost as much influence in Ruohe as Lady Gu Xue herself. Since the woman was childless, this Jia Lao had filled in that role in a political sense. For everyone in Ruohe, he was most likely to be her successor considering that he was less than half her age and his cultivation was going very well. In fact, this Jia Lao might have a chance of becoming an Accomplished Demon if given enough time.


    While Lady Gu Xue was trying to hide her victorious smile, Jia Lao was concealing his apprehension. Immediately, Cao Yun found out the same thing Xixue had discovered. This Jia Lao was smarter than his mistress. However, he wouldn''t change anything. As soon as Cao Yun had come to this city, their fate had been sealed. In fact, unless a real Accomplished Demon had come, they were doomed to fall in front of him. After all, they had almost no defense against his soul attacks and none of them could beat him. Moreover, they were relying on slaves a bit too much for their defenses. Because the city wasn''t too rich, buying slaves had been cheaper than hiring guards for many positions.


    In theory, there was no problem to that. Besides, the slaves they had to guard the city were all former citizens of the city. In fact, most of them had been tricked by the likes of Tu Jianhe. As soon as they had accumulated enough debts, they sold themselves to repay them. As such, many hunters were forming the guard. Although they were attached to the city, they had absolutely no love or loyalty for its elite. Thus, they were very easy to bring to his side as soon as he erased their Slavery Brands.


    Right now, with all his array formations and the men he had freed, Cao Yun already controlled the entire city. At the moment, he was simply making things more official by breaking the news to Lady Gu Xue. Furthermore, she had some connection with Boss Gui that might be useful.


    Cao Yun lead the two of them to his chambers. There, wine had already been served and they sat down to enjoy it. Immediately, Lady Gu Xue realized that Cao Yun was way too relaxed considering his current situation. Looking briefly at Jia Lao, she began to be as worried as he was. Maybe it had been a bad idea to come to him so directly. After all, Cao Yun had the strength to kill her easily. But if he had been suppressed by mere businessmen, she was certain that she could deal with him politically. Suppressing that foreboding, she tasted the wine and was charmed by it.


    Clearly, this was one of the finest wines she had ever drunk. What she didn''t know was that this wine didn''t even come from the Desolate Sepulcher, it had come from the Hongchen Kingdom. And indeed, it was an extraordinary wine. Before she could take another sip, Cao Yun''s voice resounded.


    "Lady Gu Xue, I guess that you''ve heard about the nasty rumors surrounding me... Slanders produced by those fools wanting to suppress my shop, nothing more."


    "Obviously, Lord Mo. I didn''t even deign to listen to those, but I did hear people spreading them around like a disease. Surely, we should put an end to this! Do not worry, my friend, I will deal with them accordingly. No one else needs to hear any of those stupidities."


    "Thank you for your proposition. But I already took care of those. I found the men behind those rumors and made them understand that it was bad for all of us. After all, all of our business was being affected by such falsehood spread with abandon in the streets."


    Lady Gu Xue''s smile was starting to crack. She had meant to pressure Cao Yun by using Tu Jianhe''s campaign against him. But if he had already taken care of him, this would be more difficult to do so. In fact, she might be forced to try and pressure him herself. However, she felt like it was a terrible idea indeed. By his tone, the rumors were clearly true. He had been working for City Lord Sihe one way or another. If the man before her had been able to escape from City Lord Sihe''s rage and plotting, he was absolutely terrifying.


    While he was observing the conversation, Dian Mo finally saw through Cao Yun''s local plan. All along, he had been wondering why Cao Yun cared about this city so much as it wasn''t too important. At the same time, if he cared so much, he could simply kill those in his way, threaten the others and even use seals on them. Apart from City Lord Sihe, he had no reason to believe anyone could see through them. And even he might not be able to if Cao Yun was cautious enough, especially if he followed Dian Mo''s advice and he didn''t use too many of them. Even an expert would need some time to figure out exactly what Cao Yun was doing with his seals.


    At that moment though, he had finally understood his point. His goal wasn''t just to control the city. No, he wanted to make sure his identity was recognized by all. Thanks to this rumor of him working under City Lord Sihe in the past, no one would question his absence of history. Indeed, City Lord Sihe was cunning and it was absolutely possible for him to conceal even a powerful alchemist''s existence. Moreover, the rumors would obviously spread like wildfire among the elite of the cities. In fact, the more Cao Yun was trying to silence them while calling them ridiculous, the more people would believe them. Of course, there was a risk that City Lord Sihe might learn of them, but he was very far from Ruohe so it would take a lot of time.


    The best thing was that if City Lord Sihe tried to deny those rumors, people would never believe him. They would all think he was trying to preserve his secrets. Thus, Cao Yun had created a perfect persona. Nobody would ever wonder where he had come from as they would all assume he had been discovered and trained by City Lord Sihe until some fallout took place. Since then, Cao Yun had escaped and had tried to hide himself. Then, they could imagine everything they liked. Maybe, he had broken through recently and wasn''t afraid of City Lord Sihe anymore, especially so far from his city. Maybe he had found some dirt on him and was holding it against him to keep safe. It wasn''t very important.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Obviously, there was a risk. But any plan of Cao Yun was risky to begin with. If demons learned he was human, it was impossible to guess what they would do to him. Considering his knowledge in alchemy, he would probably be enslaved to benefit from them. And if they learned that he was an important figure of the Hongchen Kingdom, they might try to sell him to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. In any case, Cao Yun didn''t intend to be found out, by anyone. Even the young boy Dan Yao could never learn about this. Despite the adoration Cao Yun could see in his eyes, he wouldn''t risk it. Furthermore, even if he reacted well, it wasn''t impossible that someone could force some information out of him. And so was also the case for Xixue.


    "Lady Gu Xue, I summoned you here because I have many things to discuss with you and your advisor."


    ''Summoned?!'' Lady Gu Xue and Jia Lao were both infuriated by the word, but there was something urging them to wait to hear more before saying anything.


    "Recently, I crafted a mutually beneficial contract with the hunter''s union. And I just signed a very good contract with Tu Jianhe. Without even speaking about my prosperous Blazing Swallow, I have a huge influence on Ruohe now. In fact, you could say that the entire economy of your city is now in the palm of my hands. Thus, I did think that it was high time for us to talk about this so that we could find a way to live together in harmony. You see, I have no intention of staying in this small city for too long. In a few days, I will go to Duma to meet Boss Gui. And since you have some connection with her, it might be interested if you were to write me a letter of recommendation."


    "Lord Mo, I do admit that your presence, and your pills, have changed some things in our Ruohe. But I will have to review all those contracts to make sure that they are in accordance with our laws. I am sure that the Xinian Confederation would frown upon someone hoarding too much influence and power. In fact, Lord Wanghuo might also find it distasteful. You should wait and allow me to smooth things over."


    "I have no time for such matters. And there is no reason for them to hear anything about those contracts, they are strictly private. Besides, I have another one for you."


    As soon as Cao Yun spoke, Xixue entered the study with the contract. Just like the rituals demanded, she brought two wooden planks, a small one and a larger one. The small wooden plank was there to signify Lady Gu Xue about the contract and the larger one was the contract.


    "If the Xinian Confederation or Lord Wanghuo don''t approve of your contracts, they are null. Now, if you''ll excuse me..."


    Clearly, Lady Gu Xue was more than upset and she intended to call for reinforcements straight away. However, it was too late for that. Before she could fully get up, Jia Lao fell to his knees. Cao Yun had focused his killing intent on the eunuch. Despite his cultivation that was going smoothly, he was only a middle Golden Blood Child. Besides, he was no fighter at all. Against Cao Yun, he had no chance to even keep standing. On the other hand, Lady Gu Xue could put up a fight which would obviously reveal Cao Yun''s cultivation.


    "You...!"


    Furious, Lady Gu Xue was about to strike Cao Yun. But seeing his calm demeanor, she stopped herself. If she were to fight a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon, she would die before knowing what had happened. The mere fact that Jia Lao was still breathing showed that he didn''t intend to kill them.


    "Lady Gu Xue, do not think that I don''t know who spread those rumors, or that I don''t know what your intentions were. Even if I were to kill you here and now, do you think I would be punished for that?! I have all the evidence I need to prove that you slandered me in order to pressure me into a terrible contract. As long as the Xinian Confederation learns of that, they won''t care about your corpse. I''ll just have to pay them for the inconvenience. In your opinion, how much will your blood cost me?"


    There was truth in Cao Yun''s words. He was after all a talented alchemist. But Lady Gu Xue could tell that there was bluff in there as well. He didn''t want City Lord Sihe to hear about him. Not yet at the very least. Then, she had still room to negotiate.


    "Lord Mo. I fear that this Tu Jianhe pig lied to you to exonerate himself of his crimes. As much as I understand your anger, this is no way to act. I serve directly under Boss Gui. Killing her retainers wouldn''t help you do business with her. However, I can help you with that. And I can also make sure that all your contracts are approved without anyone ever hearing about your presence in our Ruohe. Our city is small and insignificant for someone of your stature. Do not tarnish your name because of the lies of some second-rate loan shark."


    Playing around with ''Weeping Demon'', Cao Yun mostly released Jia Lao.


    "You might be right on that account, Lady Gu. I''ll have to think about it for a few days... In the meantime, I am sure that my servants will be very welcoming to you."


    There was no doubt that Lady Gu Xue and Tu Jianhe were now Cao Yun''s prisoners.


    -


    "Are you sure about this, boy?"


    "Isn''t that what you taught me about demons? They think that might makes right. By acting too meekly, I will be trampled upon and that was precisely what that woman wanted to do to me. On the other hand, by being domineering without going past certain limits, I will earn respect. And I am in dire need of this respect, both from the Nalupu Kingdom and the nomad tribes. First of all, I need to establish my presence in this Desolate Sepulcher. Don''t you agree with me?"


    "Well... this is a dangerous game. As you said yourself, if you go past certain limits, someone is bound to confront you. And the moment your cultivation is found out to be fake, you''ll suffer a fate worse than death, boy. As you said, might makes right."


    "I know, this is why I truly need to keep up appearances. If I act too weakly, they will think I am weak, and sadly, they would be right. At the same time, I need to become stronger and stronger. That is why I will adapt the blood runes and seals you found in Xixue''s body. And I will also keep up my mind cultivation to make it appear as though my cultivation is very stable among the Accomplished Demon realm."


    While Cao Yun was speaking with Dian Mo in his meditation, Xixue came to his chambers.


    "Lord Mo, everything is ready. Lady Gu Xue will accept our terms. Ruohe''s economy is completely under your control."


    "How much were you able to negotiate?"


    "I didn''t even reach your upper limit. We will pay her 6.3% of our total income in Ruohe and she will make sure our Blazing Swallow flourishes without anyone from the outside prying into it. On the other hand, she also wished for some pills."


    "Give me the list."


    Looking through the pill names, Cao Yun had Dian Mo translate them into pills he was familiar with. Since there was no requirement of quality, Cao Yun could accept it with no problem. The first part of his plan for that continent was a complete success. He still had a few loose ends to take care of though.

 Chapter 518: Last preparations

    Cao Yun had no desire to rule any city. Political power wasn''t something he was looking for. In fact, even the economic power seemed meaningless now. Everything was just a means to an end. And his end was extremely clear, he had to grow stronger and stronger to then rescue his sister. In the process, he would also try to alter this land''s fate as it would help out mankind as well. But to be fair, even if it had had no impact on the war, he would have still tried to do something. Slavery was simply something he could not watch idly by. Maybe he wouldn''t completely succeed. After all, this wasn''t his land and he had no deep experience of its culture and history, but he would still try. However, he was no saint and he knew that there would be consequences.


    Now that Lady Gu Xue had agreed to Cao Yun''s demands, he had no more reason to stay in this city. Most of what he had done had been in order for him to solidify his identity. As much as he would try to silence the rumors about his former association with City Lord Sihe, they would spread among the rich and powerful. That was precisely what he was expecting. His act of trying to suppress those would only make them more true. Thus, he could easily explain both the fact that no one knew about him, that he had literally come out of nowhere, but also the fact that he was such a good alchemist and seal master.


    Without those rumors, there would have been too many questions. Now, the demons he was going to deal with would think he truly was one of them. This would offer many benefits. First of all, they would not think to look for another answer. They would also treat him as an equal and they would thus more easily accept to work with him. At the same time, thinking of him as one of them, they would believe him subjected to the same cultural constraints as them. That had been the people of Ruohe''s weakness. The Desolate Sepulcher had many constraints. They adhered to tradition and rites a bit too much. Since they were expecting Cao Yun to do the same thing, it would make his life a bit easier.


    Besides, the political and even economic structures of the Nalupu Kingdom and the Xinian Confederation weren''t too resilient. Most likely because they had been isolated on this continent for so long, they had grown complacent. They had had no competition unlike the Hongchen Kingdom. Humans had been forced to create powerful institutions which were thus more difficult to subvert. Of course, that didn''t mean they were perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But working within so much disunity would be a good thing for Cao Yun.


    In fact, the only force he was a bit worried about were the Sisters of the Abyss. Despite all the intelligence he had gathered, he knew close to nothing about them. Like all the demons, they put a lot of emphasis on blood and were called its protectors, whatever that meant. Furthermore, they had very specialized sisters for certain difficult jobs. They were spies, assassins, seers, teachers, ... Cao Yun had heard rumors about them but they were very secretive and clearly cultivated mysticism around them. Some stories were simply unbelievable and sometimes even contradictory. Most likely, those women were the reason why this Nalupu Kingdom was standing so strong on the continent. They were acting in the shadows. And this was something that fascinated Cao Yun. Instead of ruling a kingdom, ruling its rulers might be an better prospect.


    Anyway, Cao Yun made sure that everything was dealt with in Ruohe. For that, he arranged for Tu Jianhe to free all of his slaves. In fact, Cao Yun could have freed slaves himself by altering their Slavery Brands. But after hearing what Dian Mo had to say about City Lord Sihe, the young human had decided not to tempt fate. He would try to leave as little evidence as possible. If City Lord Sihe could understand anything about the way Cao Yun was dealing with his Slavery Brands, he might adapt to it and become even more proficient. City Lord Sihe would obviously become a threat to Cao Yun, but he didn''t need it to happen too soon. First of all, he had to be ready for it.


    Thanks to Cao Yun''s connections with the hunter union, his Blazing Swallow grew even stronger. Besides, many of the slaves under Tu Jianhe were hunters who had been pushed into more and more debts until they had to sell themselves. Taking down Tu Jianhe''s business had greatly improved his reputation. In the end, Cao Yun decided to leave his business in the hands of the Silver Conch and Jia Lao. Lady Gu Xue would obviously stay Ruohe''s leader, but she was no businesswoman and had no interest in becoming one. Besides, no matter how pills she took, she would only prolong her lifespan, not improve her cultivation. Of course, Cao Yun could have easily helped her with that thanks to his own blood, his mind cultivation or his alchemy. But this would have revealed too much and he had absolutely no reason to help her out that much.


    In less than a month, Ruohe''s economy was entirely between Cao Yun''s hands. Thanks to that, he had a great reputation in the neighboring cities and had a huge and still growing wealth. In other words, he had gotten everything he had been looking for. The hunters also spread very positive rumors about him, especially among the nomad tribes. What Cao Yun didn''t realize at that point was that the Sisters of the Abyss had sent someone else to spy on him.


    Thanks to all his array formations, she had not been able to come too close to him. Several times, Cao Yun had wondered whether he had been too paranoid. Clearly, he hadn''t. In his mind, he still remembered Cang Yin, the girl who could change her shape. Her ability had come from her demonic bloodline, so obviously, Cao Yun was much more careful than usual. But his growing spiritual senses were reassuring him a lot. However, he didn''t want to be trapped by a illusory sense of security. Thus, that spy was unable to enter his inner sanctum. Apart from a select few, the young alchemist didn''t let anyone too close to him and his array formations prevented them from doing so in the first place.


    Finally, everything was over. After making sure that his presence wasn''t necessary in Ruohe, Cao Yun was ready to leave for Duma where Boss Gui was City Lord. From lady Gu Xue, he had received a letter of recommendation signed with her own blood. This was as good as having her put her life on the line for him. Although this probably won''t be enough to earn Boss Gui''s trust, this would allow him to do business with her without too many problems.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    There were a few loose ends Cao Yun had to tie up. First of all, Tu Jianhe had to die. That man was just too dangerous to let live. Thankfully, he was a truly despicable character so it didn''t weigh on Cao Yun''s conscience. That being said, he didn''t want to become like demonic cultivators, using and discarding people. Anyway, in the middle of the night, Cao Yun entered his residence without any problem and poisoned him while he was sleeping. His mastery of poison was good enough that no one would suspect it. It would look like his cultivation had gone awry. In a few days, he would die of blood deviation and no one would question it. To begin with, the knowledge of poison was very lacking in this continent. After all, poison was viewed as the most heretical knowledge of all as it contaminated the blood.


    Of course, Cao Yun had been smart enough to use a poison which wouldn''t leave any trace in Tu Jianhe''s blood. Thanks to the book of Tree of Death, his own master, Cao Yun had many poisons at his disposal. And a mere Golden Blood Child couldn''t do anything against them as he couldn''t even feel he had been poisoned.


    As Cao Yun was preparing to leave Ruohe, a young man came to his chambers. Dan Yao kowtowed to his door and knocked his skull on the floor three times, with just enough strength to draw a bit of blood. The fresh blood flowed on his face where there were still traces of soot from past mistakes in the alchemy laboratory.


    "Master, don''t forsake me! Please, bring this useless one with you. I will give all of my blood for your cause, master! This one is not worth anything without Master''s guidance. Although I may be slow and stupid, I won''t slow you down, I won''t disappoint you. I will work until my body turns to dust and crumbles. My very last drop of blood will be for you, Master!"


    While Dan Yao was pleading so, Cao Yun couldn''t hear him as he had secluded himself in his cultivation room. Thus, the poor boy spent several hours in this position, refusing to sweep the blood off his brow. For other demons, this was a huge act of humility. Letting one''s blood flow and touch the ground was humbling beyond words. Indeed, this liquid was not just blood, it was seen as a demon''s honor and also as its own ancestors. In one''s blood, there was the bloodline of one''s entire genealogy. Thus, Dan Yao''s act was like forsaking his own ancestors to accept Cao Yun as his one true master.


    Unfortunately for the boy, Cao Yun would not notice him before several hours. And even if he had, he was simply too busy right now to leave his cultivation room.


    Indeed, thanks to Dian Mo, he had finally been able to come up with a revised version of Xixue''s seals. Not only would they help his cultivation go faster, they would also improve his general knowledge and his overall strength. Seals, blood runes, array formations and even martial arts to some extent were using the same kind of principles. By controlling the flow of certain energies, one could produce various effects. Those seals he was currently trying to form in his own body using his blood would truly work like an array formation.


    Unfortunately, Dian Mo could help him too much because of his current state. But his advice was so good that it wasn''t such a problem in the end. Besides, creating the seals himself would be beneficial on many aspects. Just by working on it, Cao Yun was learning to control his Golden Blood with more and more ease. It wouldn''t be long for him to be a full-fledged 5th-grade Golden Blood Child. After that, he would need to send his Golden Blood into his spine, following the Governor Vessel. As a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was still working on improving his meridians. Working on his Extraordinary Vessels was supposed to wait until he was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior.


    But he had no reason not to try and begin with his Governor Vessel as soon as his blood cultivation was ready. At the same time, he would still use his Qi and Golden Blood to strengthen and temper his meridians. In ''Cultivation of Wrath'', there were many strange routines to perform to help with the meridians. Some required the use of specific pills or demonic beasts blood, but if Cao Yun could use his own Golden Blood, it would make things faster. Indeed, it was his own fluid, there would be no toxin within it and it would be absorbed much more easily by his own body.


    After a few hours, Cao Yun had formed all one hundred and eight blood seals he needed in his body. They were arranged a bit differently compared with Xixue. But he and Dian Mo had adapted them to Cao Yun''s own body and cultivation. Since he was human, there had to be differences obviously. But they had also gotten rid of a few things City Lord Sihe had added to turn Xixue into a human bomb. Thanks to this practice, this would help Cao Yun alter Xixue''s body to also neutralize that.


    Once he was done, Cao Yun cultivated a little and immediately felt the improvement. His blood was flowing with much more fluidity and force. Performing a strange routine while still meditating, the young human was sending almost all of his Golden Blood along the course of his own meridians. There were brutal reversal to stress out the meridians and train them. After all, they would have to resist a lot of pressure during the Lesser Tribulation. Thus, it was paramount that they could endure it. The effects were great and Cao Yun was very optimistic about his future.


    Of course, he also trained his mind cultivation a little. His Unclean Evil was progressing nicely. At the same time, it was slowly getting engraved into his Drop of Wrath. Thanks to that, he could feel an even more intimate relationship with this Drop of Wrath. Even its Flying Poison was slowly getting closer to Cao Yun''s Flying Poison. There was no doubt in his mind that he would ultimately merge this Drop of Wrath with his entire being. It was already under his absolute authority, but it would be soon be completely one with him.


    After a few hours working on his cultivation, Cao Yun was very satisfied. Now that he had gotten the huge work out of the way, he could travel again. Since his cultivation was just a matter of time, he would now get to work on his project for the Desolate Sepulcher.


    Leaving his cultivation room, Cao Yun immediately felt Dan Yao''s presence in front of his door. To be honest, he had been hesitating about bringing that young boy with him to Duma. He needed to work on his alchemy and being by Cao Yun''s side was the best option for him to progress. However, he was a bit weak and Cao Yun would probably not be able to protect him if things went wrong. For Xixue, he had no choice since she absolutely wanted to come in order to get news about her sister.


    Seeing Dan Yao being so insistent, Cao Yun''s mind was made. He opened the door.


    "Student Dan Yao, I saw your sincerity and your hard work. You will become a good alchemist in the future. I will not forsake you. So instead of wasting your time on my doorstep, keep working on my teachings. We will leave tomorrow, get ready."


    A huge smile lit up Dan Yao''s face.


    "Yes, Master!"

 Chapter 519: Traveling to Duma City

    In the end, Cao Yun traveled with Xixue, Dan Yao and Nie Pian. Nie Pian was an old man and he had almost no hope of advancing his cultivation. However, he had become fascinated by Cao Yun''s business. He had realized that being close to him would ensure a perpetual income. Although there was some danger, he decided to follow Cao Yun instead of just working in the Blazing Swallow shop in Ruohe. No, he needed to sink his teeth in something bigger.


    All his life, Nie Pian had wanted to become a powerful and influential man. Now, he had finally found his ambition once more by Cao Yun''s sides. There was no need for some petty scheme or some tax fraud as he had committed before.


    Besides those three, the bodyguards of Tu Jianhe had joined Cao Yun as a form of escort and so had a few hunters. Among them, Cao Yun was a living god. He had stayed less than three months in Ruohe and had completely changed the city. Of course, this was a medium-sized city that wasn''t so important to the Nalupu Kingdom. However, it was essential for the small cities all around it as many hunters were going through it to sell their booties. Besides, it was also rather important for the economic fabric of the area because many raw materials were going through it as though it was a gate toward the desert.


    The mere fact that the Nalupu Kingdom seemed to have failed to realize the real importance of the city was baffling. At first, Cao Yun thought that taking over the economy of Ruohe would be difficult and he was ready to leave fast in order to get to Boss Gui. But after realizing that it had been quite easy, he had re-imagined all of his plans. As much as he didn''t want to be overconfident, this entire continent seemed to be ill-prepared for his tactics. Living cut off from the rest of the world had caused too much stagnation.


    In fact, apart from Boss Gui, there had been no real change in the power hierarchy for a very long time. And even that change had been caused by an external factor. Without the insane war waged by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, this wouldn''t have happened. Boss Gui had specialized herself in the sale of slave warriors. Maybe it was due to Cao Yun''s memories of Axiu Qian, but he could empathize with those slaves in particular. When it came to slavery in general, it was the history of his own kind that was touching him. Somehow it felt a bit less personal. However, he was still disgusted by any form of slavery and by some of the violent ways of the demons in that kingdom. Thankfully, there didn''t seem to be some fanatic religion hating humans.


    By slowing down slavery, at the very least, Cao Yun would also slow down the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Of course, they had now a momentum of their own and after annexing several demon kingdoms, they didn''t need the Desolate Sepulcher that much anymore. However, that would still be a good thing for mankind. In fact, Cao Yun was also already thinking of forming some kind of alliance among demons. That was very risky because if they really united against the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, there would be nothing to prevent them from attacking the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Depending on the strength of the demon kingdoms, the alliance he had in mind and the Empyrean Asura Theocracy could be so damaged after a war that they would have no choice but to negotiate with the humans once more. There were many things to consider. For now, he didn''t even know the state of the Hongchen Kingdom. But he was thinking about it because he didn''t want his kingdom to fall. And since he intended to kill Emperor Weide, this could very well happen. Even revealing the truth of Emperor Weide''s treason could be a problem for the unity of the Hongchen Kingdom. So if Cao Yun wanted to get rid of him while defending his kingdom and his friends, he had to make sure that the demons would not win the war.


    During the five to six weeks of travel toward Duma City, Cao Yun had many thoughts going on in his mind. Using his mind cultivation, he pushed them aside. He needed more information to take new decisions. For the time being, he would go with his original and more conservative plan. If he could go beyond it, it would be welcome, but for now he wouldn''t be greedy. His main objective was still to create a wealthy and influential commerce so he could get a boat toward the main continent. For that, Dan Yao and Nie Pian were useful.


    As much as he was considering them for his plans, Cao Yun had grown attached to the young boy. When it came to Nie Pian, he was still a bit apprehensive because he didn''t really know the old man. In his eyes, he could see a new flame that had been absent during their very first meeting. Nie Pian had ambition, but there was no ill will toward Cao Yun, in fact there was gratitude. Anyway, he would keep an eye on him just in case. Since he was convinced Nie Pian would stay in Ruohe, he had not really tried to get to know him. In fact, Cao Yun had left a huge part of his business in Xixue''s competent hands. Speaking of her, he also had to fulfill his promise to her and to find her sister. However, he had made no promise to rescue her sister. Depending on the situation, that might be an idea because Xixue''s help was just too good to let her go if he could avoid it.


    Obviously, during the travel, he also developed his cultivation. This was one of the most important aspects of his plan. By the time he reached Duma City, Cao Yun was a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child. In other words, he had a perfect control over his Golden Blood. Unfortunately, he had few opportunities to really train his meridians. According to ''Cultivation of Wrath'', ''Demon Steel Drums Flesh'' was a way for one to strengthen both meridians and Extraordinary Vessels. There were twenty routines to master.


    Each routine was related to a specific meridian or to a vessel. And each routine had as many moves as there were acupoints on the specific meridian or vessel. Simply memorizing all the moves and their sequence was very easy for Cao Yun. Although they were quite strange some times with very acrobatic twists here and there, there was nothing too difficult to do with his current body. By alternating contraction and relaxation, this was using the flow of blood and the muscles themselves to temper the meridians from within.


    Combining that with his mastery of Fire Qi and Water Qi, Cao Yun also included the Wood element of his world tree. His Golden Blood was also making everything that much faster. Besides, thanks to ''Cultivation of Wrath'', Cao Yun realized that there were many ways to combine those routines. Just like meridians which were interconnected and even shared acupoints with vessels, it was possible to mix routines together. Depending on one''s own body and mood, it was useful to always adapt the combination of the moves to one''s specificity.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    When it came to his blood and mind cultivation, everything was going well. In fact, Cao Yun was advancing his mind cultivation at a very steady pace. Although he had always questions about his own temperament, he couldn''t detect anything unusual in his behavior. The situation around him had changed, but for the time being he didn''t feel like he personally had. Well, he was older and saw things differently, but he didn''t think this was caused by his mind cultivation.


    As a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child, he would need to send his Golden Blood up his spine and his Governor Vessel, which demons didn''t have. That part might be slightly more difficult because of the existence of that Governor Vessel. Since he hadn''t tempered it yet, it might get damaged by his Golden Blood. Thus, the young human decided to change things up. Although tempering and strengthening one''s Extraordinary Vessels was exclusive to 6th-grade Mortal Warriors, he would create a program to strengthen the parts he needed in his Governor Vessel without causing other problems. For that, he needed to take into consideration which meridians were linked to his Governor Vessel along the way. Indeed, there was a reason why one would first focus on their meridians. So he would need to be careful, but he was confident.


    The real tricky part would be to bypass his Shendao, the Heart Gate. Along the spine, there were three Flood Gates, Mingmen the Life Gate, Shendao the Heart Gate and Fengfu the Palace Gate. Each one was a delicate place in one''s spine. The goal of the Golden Blood Child realm was, to put it in simple terms, to nourish one''s mind with the Golden Blood. Then, a demon could begin cultivating his Turbid Demons. Just like humans, their sea of consciousness were in their head although demons didn''t have real Upper Dantian. But to get to one''s head, it was necessary to pass through the spine. And those three gates were very dangerous and could cause internal injuries. In fact, it was literally possible to kill oneself by forcing one of the Flood Gates open.


    Because Cao Yun had already worked on his acupoints as a human cultivator, getting through them would be much easier. That didn''t mean that there was no risk though. After all, he was sending a very dense, heavy and rich fluid through them, his own Golden Blood. Besides, his new blood seals would also help him out with that process and even with his Qi cultivation. Everything was going so well Cao Yun began to worry a little. Somehow, he was afraid that he was going to hit a bottleneck at some point. And apart from the Lesser Tribulation, he didn''t see what could go wrong. Thus, he was growing worried about that even though he had at least a couple of years before reaching that point, in theory at least.


    -


    Finally, they reached Duma City. Compared with Ruohe, that was like comparing a small city to the capital of a kingdom. Even the architecture was different. All over the place, Cao Yun could see buildings with extremely impressive and sometimes bold architectures. The influence from the ancient kingdoms of the demons and of Demon God Da Mo himself was clearly there, but there was something unique and new as well. Even the Imperial City wasn''t so daring. Sometimes, the differences were a bit too pronounced and it felt like a building belonged to a completely different city. But overall, the general composition turned Duma City into a nice painting.


    From what Cao Yun knew and from what he had observed himself, demons were more emotional than humans. In average, the difference wasn''t so important, but when it came to the extremes, they were much more important among demons. Those extremes could be artists of course, but also warriors. On the battlefield, demons could get enraged more easily than humans. And their blood cultivation didn''t help with that trait. In fact, this was a real problem for them. As much as it could yield great results, this was a double-edged sword. No wonder some demon had tried to create Cao Yun''s mind cultivation to get rid of that weakness in their cultivation.


    Contrary to Ruohe, Cao Yun could also sense powerful array formations. They were nothing he couldn''t deal with, but it would take him a lot more time even with Dian Mo''s full assistance. Anyway, to earn Boss Gui''s trust, it would probably take longer. Even before officially entering the city, Cao Yun could tell it wouldn''t be as easy to take over its economy. Besides, since Duma City was one of the official twenty-one city-states of the Nalupu Kingdom, it was bound to be watched much more closely. Indeed, Lord Wanghuo, the Xinian Confederation and also the Sisters of the Abyss were attentive to all the city-states.


    When it came to Duma City, they were even more attentive because Boss Gui had risen to prominence relatively recently thanks to the sales of slave warriors. Apart from her, no one knew how to train them that well and that fast. But apparently, many of her slaves died during the training, or were at least so maimed that they couldn''t be of any use afterward. As an alchemist, Cao Yun was certain he could help with that. That was his main idea to get closer to her. If he could improve the survivability of her slaves, he might be able to earn her trust faster. Furthermore, he had other tools at his disposal. But first, he would need to see her in person to decide the best way to get to her.


    Although her reputation was cruel, she was also considered very rational and level-headed. Those were very contradictory things in Cao Yun''s mind. Maybe not everything about her was true. Since City Lord Sihe wanted her dead, it was also possible that there were fake rumors about her, even concerning her slaves. After all, some of the numbers he had heard were simply insane. If only one out of a hundred slaves survived, her operation would not be able to turn a profit. And it was also possible that she was fueling the rumors herself in order to get that reputation. After all, Cao Yun was also doing something similar with his fake affiliation to City Lord Sihe which was probably known by many throughout the Nalupu Kingdom by now.


    Anyway, for the time being, Cao Yun would hold his judgment. Depending on Boss Gui herself, he would act differently.


    After entering the city, the young human felt a few gazes on him. There was also someone using spiritual senses to feel his aura. Since he was prepared for that, Cao Yun immediately responded. His own spiritual senses clashed with those. It was just enough to tell whoever had done that that he was actually an Accomplished Demon himself. Obviously, if it turned into a fight, Cao Yun wouldn''t be able to win against true spiritual senses, but he was just keeping up appearances now. He didn''t go full-out. It was the equivalent of dogs barking at each other.


    But this first impression really drove in that this wasn''t a small city he could easily get under his thumb.

 Chapter 520: Entering Duma City

    Duma City was under Boss Gui''s rule. Although she had been officially recognized as a City Lord by Lord Wanghuo and the Nalupu Kingdom, she kept her tile of ''Boss''. Somewhat similarly to Cao Yun, she had been a merchant who had slowly climbed the hierarchy until ruling an entire city. Originally, Duma was only a hub for travelers to stop by. Thus, it wasn''t exactly poor but its economy was extremely limited and nothing of real value was produced there. Products were exchanged but not produced. The city was perfectly located to go toward many other city-states. And this was what had helped Boss Gui with her business.


    She had not started with slavery. But very quickly, she realized this was a good venue. By a twist of fate, she chose her new business a few months before the Empyrean Asura Theocracy asked for slaves. At first, they were mostly after miners and menial workers, with a few slaves who could be used for cultivation, one way or another. At that moment, she saw the opportunity and seized it. She sold them a few slave warriors. Thanks to her training, they proved very efficient and that was how she quickly became a City Lord. To this day, no one really knew how she had been able to train slaves so fast. In fact, Cao Yun was also interested in that. Maybe he could imitate her ways to improve himself.


    But the fact that Boss Gui herself wasn''t that powerful of a cultivator seemed to show that her ways weren''t too great either. Maybe it was too dangerous for her to try. Or maybe it couldn''t help an Accomplished Demon progress. Since Cao Yun wasn''t an Accomplished Demon, he was still intrigued by the possibility.


    Before going to Boss Gui directly, Cao Yun wanted to be ready for anything. Thus, he booked a room in the most prestigious hotel of the city. Indeed, despite Boss Gui''s business, many people in Duma City were still heavily reliant on the travelers to make a living. Cao Yun also went to several restaurants, as though he was simply a merchant enjoying life between two long travels. Of course, he was also examining the city and noting all its defenses. Even for Dian Mo, the array formations were quite intricate. This was nothing he couldn''t deal with. After all, not a single array formation exceeded the 5-star Heaven rank.


    Most likely, there was no deep heritage to this city. And since no one in the current era could set up a Spirit array formation, there was none. In other words, it would be rather easy for Cao Yun to take over the defenses of the city. Still, he wouldn''t be able to use force to do what he wanted. However, he would be able to protect himself if things went bad.


    While he was in the city, he quickly noticed that Xixue was becoming restless. Their relationship was a bit warmer but she mostly kept her distance with him, and anyone else for that matter. To this day, Cao Yun was certain he had never seen her true colors. Besides, she was always wearing the mask he had made for her. Since she had been trained by City Lord Sihe to join Boss Gui, and then die along with her, showing her face might be a problem in here. It was almost certain that City Lord Sihe had spies in Duma City.


    It took Cao Yun a few days to be set up. Nie Pian immediately took charge of the business expansion he had been ordered to lead. From what Nie Pian and Dan Yao knew, they were in Duma City to set up another shop and to secure a contract with Boss Gui. It wasn''t exactly wrong, but it wasn''t the complete truth either. Before approaching Boss Gui, Nie Pian had suggested that they should form smaller contracts with other businesses. This would improve their ability to negotiate with Boss Gui. But many such businesses would not deal with them unless she gave them permission.


    Thankfully though, Duma City was full of foreign merchants and businessmen too. They would be easier to deal with and this would even help them spread the Blazing Swallow throughout the Nalupu Kingdom. Moreover, the hunters accompanying Cao Yun also had a few contacts in this city. In a matter of days, they had already established a few connections and Cao Yun''s pills were already being spread through the city. With his goal in mind, Cao Yun had chosen his first pills very carefully. Since Boss Gui was training slave soldiers, she most likely needed pills to keep them healthy.


    At first, he had thought about pills to strengthen them, but her ways seemed to already be very effective. Thus, he thought about the survival rate he had heard. Although it was most likely wrong, otherwise she would never have been able to turn a profit, there had to be many casualties during her training. So he had decided that those pills were the best bet to attract her attention. If she could keep more slaves alive, she would make more money. As much as he heard tales about her cruelty, Cao Yun had also heard how rational and reasonable Boss Gui was. In fact, there were also discrepancies in the stories surrounding her. Even in Duma City, it was difficult to know exactly what kind of character Boss Gui was.


    Some people were terrified of her, others were in awe.


    -


    In order to spread his name quickly, Cao Yun got in contact with the largest auction hall in the city. It really reminded him of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. However, the rules were very different. For example, the hall didn''t have the power to ensure the safety of the items once outside of its premises. In other words, it wasn''t rare for people to be robbed or mugged after buying some item in an auction. Within the building, there were guards to ensure it wouldn''t happen. But once outside, everything was fair game. The hall wouldn''t get involved.


    And since might often made right in this derelict Nalupu Kingdom, the officials might not punish a thief. As long as they could pay off enough officials or were powerful enough, demons could do almost everything they desired. After all, Boss Gui''s business relied on capturing slaves from the nomad tribes. And strictly speaking, this was absolutely forbidden. Yet, no one seemed to care at all. In fact, she was considered as a City Lord and a very good businesswoman. That level of corruption going to Lord Wanghuo himself repulsed Cao Yun.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    First of all, integrity was a very important value in the Hongchen Kingdom. A value Cao Yun was starting to mistreat for his own goals right now. Although he was very aware of that, he was still able to justify his actions for the time being. However, he was afraid of rationalizing to much at some point in the future. It felt as though the corruption of this Nalupu Kingdom was soiling him as well. That being said, he was too weak to uphold such an important value. Until he could do otherwise, he was ready to use almost any underhanded methods to get to his goal. Hopefully, he wouldn''t find himself crossing lines he had drawn in the sand for himself.


    The other point that disgusted him was that the Nalupu Kingdom''s corruption reminded him of Emperor Weide. Publicly, he boasted about his virtue, but behind closed doors, Cao Yun knew what he had done and what he was still doing. Obviously, he didn''t like this Lord Wanghuo, and by extension his entire Nalupu Kingdom.


    Even the Xinian Confederation was completely corrupt. However, all this corruption was also helping him a lot. As long as they were convinced he was one of them, Cao Yun could get away with many things. But showing off his wealth and his strength, that were both fake at the moment, he would be able to bend the rules, or even break them completely. Besides, his wealth was really starting to grow. When it came to his strength, it would of course take more time though.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was assisting at his own auction. Without exceeding the quality of the market by too much, the young alchemist had put some of his pills on sale. He had also asked Dan Yao to present some of his. Although he couldn''t refine any Human pill for now, his current pills weren''t too bad. Because he didn''t have the time, Cao Yun had decided to train the boy on very specific pills. Instead of learning very general knowledge, Dan Yao was being specialized in a few pills that would be very helpful for the business. Like that, he would be able to replace Cao Yun sooner rather than later. And from there, he would also be able to learn how to refine other pills.


    Instead of teaching him the entire theory, which Dan Yao would have had a hard time understanding, Cao Yun was making sure he was fully mastering how to refine those select pills. For now, it was wielding very good results if he said so himself.


    Nie Pian had also gotten an idea. In the pills, they were engraving a swallow, the Blazing Swallow''s insignia. When it came to marketing, Nie Pian was very competent. In fact, in a few months, Cao Yun knew that his company would not need to rely on himself too much. Both Nie Pian and Dan Yao could do most of the work. And by adding Xixue to the mix, there wouldn''t be any problem at all. Although this company was only a means to an end, Cao Yun took pride in the fact that he had been able to build it so quickly and that he had found reliable workers to keep it going. In a sense, he understood what Zhi Yin had felt with the Heavenly Swallow Faction. Even if she knew she had to leave it behind, she wanted it to outlive her departure.


    As a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon with a huge wealth, Cao Yun had been led to a balcony in the auction hall. There were many people he had heard about and even met during the past few days. After all, the auction hall had a very good reputation and there had been rumors about Cao Yun''s pills. Indeed, he had helped spread those rumors along with his employees.


    Among the crowd, Cao Yun recognized many influential people. But he didn''t talk with anyone. A few people seemed more important than others. For example, he recognized the colors of the military. Although the Nalupu Kingdom was formed of twenty-one independent city-states, they were all under the rule of Lord Wanghuo. As such, he had formed a military. Each city was forced to send some of its soldiers to the Nalupu Army. Then, the Nalupu Army sent several legions to protect the city. Of course, those legions were all from different city to avoid any familiarity. By fueling the competition between the city-states, Lord Wanghuo was able to control them to some extent. He still didn''t want them to have local armies though.


    Cao Yun also noted the presence of Boss Gui''s representative. She was a young and beautiful woman. With long red hair neatly tied atop her head, that slender woman clearly had very powerful muscles. Although Cao Yun couldn''t use his spiritual senses discreetly in this place, he didn''t need them to know that she was a slave. There was a way she was behaving and a way the others were behaving around her that betrayed that. As much as they scorned her, they didn''t dare to be outright disrespectful. In other words, they were afraid of Boss Gui''s fabled cruelty.


    In that woman''s eyes, Cao Yun was able to see a deep loyalty and a disdain to everyone around her. Although she was a slave, she seemed to serve Boss Gui proudly. Unfortunately, Cao Yun wouldn''t be able to turn her to his side very easily, if at all. Since Boss Gui was specialized in slavery, she was careful with the people surrounding her. Besides, the Slavery Brand was mostly produced by City Lord Sihe so she didn''t trust it too much either.


    On her robe, Cao Yun recognized the symbol of Boss Gui. It was rather strange for demons as it was a snake''s poisoned fang. Considering how much poison was despised, this could also explain why Boss Gui''s representative was so poorly received by the others. Beyond all else, there was a dignified woman with dark hair crisscrossed by bloody streaks who was looking at that redhead with absolute disdain. That woman had the colors of the military and many people were talking with her. Clearly, she was Weiji Nian.


    Cao Yun had not met her but he had heard about her. Weiji Nian''s uncle was part of the Nalupu Army. In fact, he was a very important general. Thanks to him, she had a very high status in Duma City. However, she also had a nasty reputation of abusing her position to get what she wanted. Thus, she had been at odds with Boss Gui several times since she wouldn''t give in to her demands. Unfortunately for Weiji Nian, even her uncle couldn''t do anything against a City Lord. Although Boss Gui wasn''t too strong herself, she had enough wealth and influence to have strong backers. Besides, taking down a City Lord could rally other City Lords. Such a thing was unthinkable to Lord Wanghuo. He would not have a rebellion!


    The City Lords had to be kept happy and in competition with one another so Lord Wanghuo could rule things from above. If they killed one another, it was not a problem. But the Nalupu Army could not kill a City Lord. There was very high chance Lord Wanghuo was even backing up City Lord Sihe against Boss Gui. After all, she had grown too fast and was certainly dangerous with her powerful slave warriors.


    Observing the crowd below as everyone was getting to their seat, Cao Yun noted everything he could about them and their behaviors. He was able to see many things with his senses. For example, he uncovered a few adulterous relationships, a few secret deals between supposedly rivals and even some corruption as money was given out to people in charge of the auction. To be fair, some of them were not really putting much effort into concealing their activities in such a large crowd.


    Most of what Cao Yun saw didn''t seem useful. But he couldn''t know what information could serve him later. The auction was finally about to begin.

 Chapter 521: Bidding on Blazing Swallow pills

    Just like Cao Yun, a few people had their own balcony to take part in the auction. All things considered, it was very similar to what he knew about auctions in the Hongchen Kingdom. There were a few different rules regarding how one would make deposits beforehand. As a matter of fact, they had to pay to enter the auction. Besides that payment, they could also put a deposit to ensure that they had enough funds to place their bids. In theory, they could only bid up to twice their deposit. In other words, this was a form of guarantee.


    Of course, like everything else in this Nalupu Kingdom, there was also unwritten rules. For example, Cao Yun had bribed a few attendants and even the ones who were organizing this auction. This was probably the case for almost everyone in the balconies right now. Although this wasn''t absolutely necessary, this would allow Cao Yun to bid on all the items he wanted without any obstruction from the auction hall. If Cao Yun was bidding against someone who had not bribed the auction hall, he would have the advantage as the hall would pressure them. On the other hand, if someone else who had bribed them too bid against Cao Yun, the auction hall would stay perfectly neutral. Furthermore, Cao Yun could bid as much as he wanted. After all, people knew about his wealth as an alchemist.


    Thanks to his sojourn in Ruohe, his reputation had already reached the influential people and nobility of Duma City. In fact, his reputation was spreading all over the Nalupu Kingdom along with rumors about him and City Lord Sihe. The fact that Cao Yun appeared to be trying to suppress them proved to many that they were true enough. Apparently, his time in Ruohe had not been wasted at all. Now, he could act without any problem in any city-state of the Nalupu Kingdom. And no one was asking any question about his past. The fact that he had a lot of money, that he was an alchemist, that his bloodline was extremely powerful and that he was an Accomplished Demon helped him of course. But those rumors were helping cement those facts in everyone''s mind while providing an answer as to where all those benefits had come from. Without those rumors, many people would have asked questions he couldn''t answer.


    In the balconies, Cao Yun sensed several eyes on him. Of course, Weiji Nian and Boss Gui''s representative were among those prying eyes. But he sensed something that send cold shivers down his spine. For an instant, it felt as though someone had pierced through his very heart. Even his Drop of Wrath acted up a little. It was so faint though that Cao Yun wondered whether he had imagined it or not. It was difficult even for him to pinpoint the origin of that sensation, especially because he was forced to restrain his spiritual senses in this place. However, he was able to detect from which balcony it had come from.


    Without pulling his eyes from the auction, Cao Yun sent a telepathic message to Xixue by his side, still wearing her mask.


    "Who is in that balcony to the right of Sir Mou?"


    Although she was a bit stressed about her presence around so many powerful people, Xixue was keeping her composure very well. When she heard Cao Yun''s question, she almost jumped but controlled herself. She had gotten used to this way of speaking to her, but it still felt a bit strange to be honest. Since the balcony''s curtains were closed, she couldn''t see who was in it. So she took some document and went through it. When she reached the information she was looking for, she stayed silent for a whole second staring at it.


    Not waiting for her to recover, Cao Yun looked at the bamboo tablet she had in her hands. On a strip of bamboo, written in red ink, which perfectly imitated blood, was the name of the person who had bought for that particular balcony ''Sister Lisha''. Apart from that name, there was no information. Obviously, Cao Yun had recognized the character used for ''Sister''. This was a character that was almost impossible to translate in Nuhua. In simple terms, it referred to a blood sister. And in this particular context, it referred to a member of the Sisters of the Abyss, the largest religion order in the Desolate Sepulcher.


    Once more, Cao Yun noted how secretive and dangerous those women were. Just to be sure, he pushed his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to its limit. And although it seemed impossible that she could see through his Drop of Wrath, he still decided to put a focus on it to conceal it perfectly. Even if Xiao Xuefeng had failed to see through it, his Drop of Wrath had changed since then as it was now mixed in his blood. Because those sisters were known for being the protectors of blood - whatever that meant - Cao Yun didn''t want to take any risk. Just being close to one of the sisters felt strange to him.


    Finally, the auction began. The first items were of no interest, at least not to Cao Yun. However, he was still quite intrigued by them. Indeed, most of those items were art pieces. There were also a few historical items. For example, there was a sword that had belonged to a demon of the Demon God Era, the equivalent of the Great Sorrow Era for humans, when Demon God Da Mo ruled the entire Piaolu planet.


    The art objects were all very different from what Cao Yun knew. Although he had no intention to buy any of them, simply observing them satisfied his curiosity. As much as he liked poetry, he wasn''t a great connoisseur of painting or sculpture. He enjoyed them of course, and thanks to what he had read, he knew a lot about them, but they just were not his favorite form of art. They simply didn''t evoke the same kind of emotions in him. On the other hand, poetry had always echoed within him, as though he was feeling the thoughts and emotions of the writer.


    Anyway, when the first items were sold, almost no one in the balconies had bid anything. Then, Cao Yun''s first pill appeared. It was a very simple pill but it still caused a small event. Indeed, it had reached the grade of Pure. For the Desolate Sepulcher, this was almost as if they had seen a True Essence pill. Seeing the awe in some of the eyes around him, Cao Yun was happy he had not overdone it with a real True Essence pill. Besides, this wasn''t a pill that was well known in the Desolate Sepulcher. It could replenish a bit of blood and improve the circulation of blood through one''s muscles. For demons, this was a great pill. And for someone who was training demons, this would also be very interesting.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    In fact, Cao Yun was rather happy when Boss Gui''s representative bid first. Just by her entering the bid, a huge part of the audience grew quiet. They wouldn''t dare to be disrespectful toward Boss Gui, even indirectly. Despite a few scornful eyes from some demons, no one went against her. But just before she could take her prize, a sinister laugh resounded in the auction hall.


    "Miss Wo, it seems like many people are terrified by you... It''s not that I want to make things difficult for your mistress, but this pill might be helpful for my son. I hope that you will not take it to heart, but I will be sadly forced to compete with you."


    Absolutely everyone in the auction room could hear the ridicule in Weiji Nian''s voice. But there was no one stupid enough to get between those two women. Offending either of them was a recipe for disaster. As much as Boss Gui was known for her cruelty, Weiji Nian was know for her anger outbursts. With her familial connections, she could easily have many people in the auction hall killed. Thus, they had absolutely no interest in offending her at all. No matter who would win this bid, not only would they not react, not a word would escape their lips afterward.


    "Red blessing on you children, I hope you won''t mind my entering this lively competition. Such a pill piqued my interest I must say."


    When Sister Lisha entered the bid so early, that was another situation altogether. While tension was rising, Cao Yun felt something else. His first reaction was that his plan was working very well as he had caught Boss Gui''s eyes. Then, he thought about all the money he would make but this didn''t last very long in his mind as money was just a means to an end. Finally, he felt another cold shiver through his spine when Sister Lisha spoke. With her final words, Cao Yun felt her intent on him for a split second. Clearly, it wasn''t the pill that had piqued her interest but him. That had not been part of his plan, but he obviously couldn''t get Boss Gui''s attention without attracting other people''s sight on him too.


    The three women fought for a while. Despite the tensed atmosphere between them, they did not go overboard with their bidding. Since neither Weiji Nian nor Miss Wo was ready to admit defeat to the other one, they reverted to what amounted to diplomacy in this kingdom. They let Sister Lisha buy the very first pill.


    "Thank you, children. May the Blood flow in you."


    Once again, this was a strange word used for ''Blood''. It didn''t refer to the usual blood in one''s flesh. In fact, this was more of an esoteric way of referring to the substance of life and the link to one''s ancestors both symbolized by one''s blood. There wasn''t a better word to translate it in Nuhua. Anyway, this was some form of set phrase used by the Sisters of the Abyss.


    When the other pills came, Miss Wo and Weiji Nian also fought for a few of them. When the quality was a bit too poor, they left the other bidders participate in the auction. However, Sister Lisha didn''t bid for any other pill. It was as though she had been interested in getting a single pill and this didn''t sit well with Cao Yun. Somehow he imagined that this was bad for him in some way. But despite all of his alchemy knowledge he didn''t know what they could want with a single pill. However, he was certain this wasn''t for consumption. Besides, with the Sisters of the Abyss'' reputation, they could have bought all the pills. Hell, they could have bought almost anything in this auction, simply by pressuring others. In terms of wealth, Cao Yun knew they were rich but he had no idea how much.


    With each pill sold though, Cao Yun was getting richer and richer. Unfortunately, the auction hall was taking a huge percentage, compared with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Despite all of Nie Pian and Xixue''s efforts, they had not been able to lower it too much. From thirty percent, they had gone down to twenty-five percent. Still, this made Cao Yun a lot of money. And when his shop would be official in Duma City, he could force better terms on the auction hall. Maybe it was because they knew that that they had tried to squeeze as much profit as they could out of him for the time being.


    By the time all his pills were sold, he had more than doubled his wealth. The competition between Miss Wo and Weiji Nian had increased the price a lot. And this had also galvanized the crowd when they could bid. Since they had no chance of winning when either of the women was in play, they focused all their efforts on those times they didn''t bid anything. In the end, Cao Yun''s pills had been sold for way more than their actual price. Even with the auction hall''s cut, he had made a killing in that auction. And this wasn''t yet over.


    After the pills, there were a few more objects. Obviously, this caught Cao Yun''s attention, as well as many others. If those pills had been sold for so much, then the last items had to be extraordinary. According to the list Xixue had in her hands, there were still two last items. Apparently, the auction hall had changed the order of the sales because Cao Yun''s pills had been so popular. They hadn''t wanted to break their momentum. And they had been right. However, apart from Cao Yun, many had already spent a lot of money. In fact, even Miss Wo and Weiji Nian had bid more than their deposit. Of course, the auction hall wouldn''t restrain their capacity to bid as they knew they had enough funds.


    When the first item appeared, Cao Yun was angry as he had not thought about this. The first item was no item at all. In front of the crowd, a tiny girl was brought in chains and very revealing clothes. She couldn''t be more than seventeen years old. In her eyes, Cao Yun immediately saw a world of pain and torment. His first instinct was to jump on stage and to kill the attendants holding her chains before breaking them. When he looked at the girl''s face, he saw his own sister''s face for a long while. Then, he heard sobbing by her side.


    Under her mask, Xixue was crying. As much as she was trying to control herself, Cao Yun could sense that her entire body was shivering. Without any delay, he expanded a part of his Wei Qi and spiritual senses around her. Using his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', he tried to conceal her before anyone could notice her behavior. He also cut off any sound out of her. Only he could hear her and he sent her a telepathic message to ask what was going on. Of course, he already knew the answer to that question. But as it turned out, he had been somewhat mistaken.


    "This... this is Meiyue. She was another girl from my village. When my sister was taken, I thought she had died like many others. But she... she... she''s my cousin."


    For the very first time, Cao Yun felt as though Xixue was completely genuine. Even with her mask, he could see her face reveal true emotions. Maybe the mask helped a bit. But the emotional shock of seeing a cousin she had thought dead had broken the dam. Obviously, Cao Yun could understand the emotions raging within her.


    Unable to tell whether it was for her sake or because of his personal history, Cao Yun had to buy this Meiyue. No matter what!

 Chapter 522: Ruthless with words

    Something had definitely changed in Xixue. Until now, she had acted tough and distant. Most likely, this had been engraved in her by City Lord Sihe. Because she had lived in some nomad tribe, she was hardened to some degree. However, she was still very young and she had suffered a traumatic experience. The fact that she had been able to rein in her emotions until now was impressive, especially considering that she had no mind cultivation and that demons had stronger emotions than humans. It somehow reminded Cao Yun what had happened to him.


    Immediately after the slaughter of his family, he had not felt that devastated. In fact, he had even met Feng Yingyue and his mind had been focused on other matters. But when finally it hit him that everything had really happened, he had needed some time to recover. Xixue would probably be a bit different in the following days. And she would probably want to find her sister even more than before.


    For the time being though, Cao Yun needed her to stay calm. Thankfully her mask was hiding most of her emotions and his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was taking care of the rest. Despite those precautions, Cao Yun sent a few commands directly into her mind. Then, he focused on Sister Lisha. Since the beginning, he was able to sense disturbing things from the woman. If someone could see through his stealth art, it was this woman. Luckily, she had been attracted by the young woman on stage when Xixue''s emotions escaped her control. Besides, the young woman quickly regained control of herself as she knew what was in play right now.


    On the stage, a beautiful woman presented Meiyue. The poor girl had empty eyes. Despite her clothes and make-up, Cao Yun found her terrible. Although her physique and her appearance were top-notch, he couldn''t ignore the feelings shown by her eyes and her demeanor. There was little doubt as to what had happened to her. Furthermore, the beautiful woman made sure that no doubt was possible.


    "This is a slave girl from the Lotus Tribe. She''s been captured around two years ago. From her history and from our own assessment, she is perfect for dual cultivation with a male partner. Of course, her cultivation is quite weak but her bloodline is impressive. For any male under the Golden Blood Child realm, dual cultivating with her will double their result with half the effort. Besides, she is extremely beautiful and has been taught the best ways to please her master.


    "Even if dual cultivation is of no interest to you, she would also be a good mate to produce some powerful offspring. As I said, her bloodline is exceptional for such a girl. This is truly a rare find. And the bid will begin at 12 Heidai coins."


    That was the equivalent of around one Yuanbao. Learning the price of slaves had not been a very pleasant part of Cao Yun''s plan. However, it was essential since he was going to deal with Boss Gui. All things considered, this was indeed an expensive price for a Blood Child slave.


    Xixue''s tears had been replaced with seething rage. Thankfully, her mask was hiding her face. In fact, it was because she had this mask that she allowed her emotions to be so blatant on her face. Just like Cao Yun, she could imagine what had happened to her cousin for those two years. But more than that, Xixue was also imagining what had happened and was still happening to her sister. She had to know where she was! Cao Yun knew that she wouldn''t accept any more delay.


    Until now, she had submitted to his schedule because she knew that she couldn''t simply rush forward and get her answers. But now that they were so close to Boss Gui and to the auction hall that had probably sold his sister, she had to know as soon as possible. One way or another, she had to know about her sister''s fate.


    Although Cao Yun intended to bid, he first waited for other bidders to reveal themselves. Of course, he was worried about Miss Wo and Sister Lisha. The first one was Boss Gui''s representative. Even if Boss Gui dealt mostly with slave warriors, getting a weaker slave who could help her other male slaves cultivate faster might be interesting. When it came to Sister Lisha, she was representing the Sisters of the Abyss. From what he knew, they were always looking for girls and young women for their order. No one really knew what they wanted with them precisely. Some served the order with their life, others with their death. This was the only thing that was known.


    While his attention was on those two women, this was another woman who surprised him. From another balcony, he heard Weiji Nian''s voice.


    "15 Heidai coins! This girl will be perfect for my son. He''s getting very close to a breakthrough to the Golden Blood Child realm. There is no doubt his great-uncle will be very proud of him when he sees him next and he''s finally stepped into this new realm. So, I plead you all to indulge me in this."


    Although she had not spoken his name, Weiji Nian had just used her uncle''s reputation in the Nalupu Army to pressure almost anyone into not bidding. Even in the other balconies, no one dared fight with her in this bid. The only ones who could were thus Miss Wo and Sister Lisha.


    Everyone had been surprised by her speed. Most likely, Weiji Nian had already known about this slave girl. Since she was bidding on her, it meant that her bloodline really was perfect for her son''s cultivation. Thus, it would be very unwise to fight her on this. Even Miss Wo and Sister Lisha refrained from doing so.


    "Going once..."


    As the woman on stage was about to close the bid very fast, she was surprised by another voice. As soon as this voice rose in the auction hall, everyone looked at its origin. Obviously, it had come from Cao Yun''s balcony.


    "18 Heidai coins."


    "Mister Mo, I do not think that this young girl will be of any help in your laboratory. And if you''re looking for some companionship, I could point you toward a few brothels where you will find better suited girls."The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    There was obviously a bit of derision in her words, especially at the end of her sentence. However, it was also mixed with genuine surprise and a bit of anger as well. Clearly, apart from a very few people, Weiji Nian wasn''t used to being challenged. The woman on stage was also a bit embarrassed. She had received some coins in order to help Weiji Nian get the girl. That was why she had spoken so fast earlier. Against Mo Yun though, she couldn''t do much. As a matter of fact, the auction hall couldn''t do much.


    "Miss Weiji, my reasons are my own. Unlike you, I don''t really want to reveal anything about my personal life. If your son can''t get a girl by himself, then try to buy her from me!"


    Cao Yun''s tone shocked everyone. Although he was furious against this entire deal, he had not let his emotions take the better of him. His attitude was precisely calculated. He could feel in the crowd that it was producing exactly the effects he had desired. Miss Wo''s interest in him had increased a bit. However, so had Sister Lisha''s.


    On the other hand, his direct rival Weiji Nian was speechless for a few seconds. A few people controlled themselves as they wanted to laugh at the woman''s dumbfounded face. It was clear that she wasn''t loved by anyone here. Indeed, she was always using her uncle''s name to behave higher than her real status. For demons who valued bloodline and strength, this wasn''t very pleasant to submit to this woman who had neither. Her uncle had strength and influence, and she was shamelessly borrowing them. But this was the corruption of this Nalupu Kingdom at works. And to be fair, others were also sometimes borrowing someone else''s prestige for themselves. Maybe some were simply jealous that she could do so all the time.


    Since Weiji Nian didn''t know how to answer, there was a long silence. But it was quickly broken by Cao Yun''s irritated voice.


    "I placed my bid! Why aren''t you calling it?!"


    Even without using his spiritual senses, Cao Yun''s tone was harsh enough that it produced an effect on the beautiful woman on stage. Right now, she was in a difficult situation. If Weiji Nian didn''t get what she wanted, her wrath would surely befall her. However, she simply couldn''t do anything against this alchemist. Besides, he had sold several pills and clearly had the necessary funds to outbid Weiji Nian.


    Quickly, the woman tried to remember Cao Yun''s deposit. Maybe if Weiji Nian could bid enough, he wouldn''t be able to buy the girl. Pressuring him would be difficult but she had to try to save her own neck. However, while the auction attendant was thinking about her survival, she was met with Weiji Nian''s dumbfounded face.


    "Miss Weiji, the current bid is at 18 Heidai coins."


    "Why do you add such useless words?! She knows the bid since I called it myself! Are you trying to play favorites?!"


    Cold shivers went down the woman''s spine. She had indeed misspoken. Between two bidders with such a background, she had to stay perfectly neutral. As much as Weiji Nian could have her killed, so could Cao Yun.


    "This impolite one is deeply sorry, Lord Mo. Please, excuse my unseemly attitude."


    "Stop stalling and call it!"


    "20 Heidai coins!"


    The attendant''s stalling had worked. Weiji Nian was back to reality. Her eyes were full of blood and fire. If she could, she would probably leap forward to strangulate Cao Yun right away. Not only had he insulted her, he had insulted her son. There was no way she would let him live. Right now, she was thinking of all the horrible tortures she would have her uncle inflict upon him. Even if he was an alchemist, this wouldn''t save him. Hell, she would have him roasted alive!


    Blatantly ignoring Weiji Nian''s glare, Cao Yun kept looking at the attendant.


    "You see. She had heard!"


    "Of course, Lord Mo. Once again..."


    "Why don''t you call it?!"


    This time, Weiji Nian had lost all decorum. Because the insult had come as such a surprise, she had lost her composure completely. Right now, she was barking at the attendant as though she were her personal servant.


    "Miss Weiji, from the rumors I heard you were supposed to be an elegant and dignified woman. Please, control yourself, lest you bring shame to your esteemed uncle."


    Everyone in the crowd wondered the same thing. "Elegant?!", "Dignified?!". Before Weiji Nian could add another word, Cao Yun raised his bid.


    "30 Heidai coins."


    "You...!"


    Once more, Cao Yun ignored her completely. After this performance, Cao Yun''s name and his company''s reputation would spread even faster. If he was so disrespectful toward the niece of a general in the Nalupu Army, that proved that he had powerful backers. After all, he had escaped City Lord Sihe''s influence... By using Weiji Nian''s face as a stepping stone, Cao Yun was raising his own profile. To be honest, he was also unhappy about her comments concerning the slave, treating her as a mere commodity, a present for her son to abuse.


    In that moment, Cao Yun could still see his own sister''s face on the stage. Besides, he was feeling Xixue''s raw emotion by his side. He had to admit that he was enjoying humiliating that disgusting woman. And although it was her job, he was also glad that the attendant was in such a bad situation. He had absolutely no respect for anyone who would treat others like mere objects.


    Each time he saw Meiyue''s chains and revealing clothes, he was becoming angrier and angrier.


    "50 Heidai coins!"


    "51 Heidai coins."


    "55 Heidai coins!"


    "56 Heidai coins."


    No matter how much Weiji Nian raised her bid, Cao Yun simply added one Heidai coin more.


    ...


    "74 Heidai coins!"


    "Oh?! Isn''t that the amount you''ve already paid for buying my pills?! 80 Heidai coins! Instead of wasting more money, you should just admit your defeat. I''ll even be nice with you. If your son needs a dual cultivation partner, I''m certain I can use some pill to alter the bloodline of a demonic beast. Wouldn''t that be a fitting replacement for your son''s desires?"


    "You...! I''ll... I swear...!"


    "Attendant, while that woman keeps babbling, shouldn''t you call my bid? I am certain that her bids have exceeded her deposit. But you should also know that I didn''t even use all the money I''ve earned in this very auction until now. Thus my bid should be considered as not exceeding my deposit at all."


    "I... I mean..."


    While the poor attendant didn''t know how to act, someone else got on stage. It was a very well-dressed man. Many recognized him right away. He was this auction hall''s leader. And he had some small influence in the Xinian Confederation.


    "Please, Lord Mo, you''re making things difficult for us... Miss Weiji is an honorable customer of our auction hall. We will never ask you to renounce your bid of course, but let''s stay civil, shall we?"


    "Humph! Is it civil to flaunt her uncle around as if he''s her own strength?! But I will be lenient toward you since you''ve been respectful. Is that girl mine yet?"


    The leader''s face turned toward Weiji Nian. Her skin had gone completely red. In that moment, she truly looked like Axiu Qian in Cao Yun''s memory. Demons had skins that were usually a bit darker than humans from the Hongchen Kingdom. In fact, Weiji Nian''s skin was rather pale. But because of her rage, she had turned dark red. Seeing that she was unable to say anything more, the leader called it. Besides, he wanted this bid to be over as soon as possible.


    "Going once... Going twice... Gone! That slave girl is Lord Mo''s for 80 Heidai coins. Thank you for you purchase."


    He knew that he would have to apologize to Miss Weiji. But the leader had absolutely no reason to offend Lord Mo Yun either.

 Chapter 523: Another bidding war

    "Are you sure this was the correct move?"


    Dian Mo''s voice resounded in Cao Yun''s mind. Even now, it was very faint and weak. If someone else had heard this voice, they would have never believed that it used to be a spirit created by Demon God Da Mo.


    "Why are you deliberately seeking conflict with that woman? Aren''t you letting your emotions take over?"


    To be fair, Cao Yun also wondered the same thing from time to time. Since he was practicing the blood cultivation of asura, losing control of his emotions was a real threat. But, although he had to admit that his emotions were of course influencing him, his actions were still rational. At the very least, they appeared rational to him knowing what he knew. Everything made sense when he was looking at the bigger picture. Obviously there was danger in his plan, but what he wanted to accomplish in as little time as possible could not be risk-free. And right now, antagonizing this Weiji Nian was the least risky thing he had in mind.


    "This woman''s husband is working for City Lord Sihe. Although she repulses me, I didn''t choose to insult her just to vent my anger. I can already see it in several people among the crowd. Rumors of my falling out with City Lord Sihe will spread like wildfire without having to do anything about it. When I approach Boss Gui later on, this will be important. Besides, as soon as I am working under Boss Gui, killing me openly will be even more difficult. Of course, if they learn that I am no Accomplished Demon, this would be a different matter completely."


    "Boy, as much as you argue about it, I can feel your Po acting up. You should be extremely careful. After all, we don''t even know who invented ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. And we don''t know if anyone has ever reached the pinnacle with it. Besides, you''re also using blood and Qi cultivation systems at the same time. I''m not saying that it''s wrong, but this is uncharted territory."


    "You''re afraid I''ll develop an inner demon?"


    "I''m afraid you''ll become one..."


    Dian Mo''s last words shook the young human a bit. But he had taken upon himself to check his own mind and soul frequently. He was no monk or saint who wasn''t affected by neither this material world nor his own emotions. However, he knew that he was no beast either. Besides, the mere fact that he was careful about such things proved to him at the very least that he was not going down the wrong path. Still, he listened to Dian Mo''s advice. After all, he was the only other being who could see Cao Yun''s mind and soul from within.


    Now that the girl Meiyue had been sold, she was taken off the stage. Cao Yun would get to her later on and he already knew how he would handle it. What he wasn''t too sure about was whether he should bring Xixue with him or not. Despite the time spent with her, he was seeing her under a new light now. She wasn''t an emotionless secretary. Because of his past, Cao Yun had obviously a soft spot for siblings, especially sisters. He knew this could become a weakness and it could be exploited against him. But in this case, he was certain that Xixue''s tears had been genuine. But he still decided that he should reunite her with her cousin behind closed doors, for both women''s sake.


    In the crowd, there was a deathly silence as everyone was too afraid to offend anyone. And in the balconies, apart from Sister Lisha and Miss Wo, everyone was also worried about the situation. They simply couldn''t afford to offend Weiji Nian in any way. At the same time, they couldn''t side with her openly as it would offend Mo Yun and maybe also Boss Gui who was ruling this city. In fact, even the auction hall''s leader was in a pinch as he didn''t know how to keep going.


    Before anyone else could react, Sister Lisha spoke.


    "Let''s not muddy the Blood. Brother Mo, you are indeed ruthless with your words and your money. But Sister Weiji is no less impressive for going against such a formidable opponent. Losing and winning are two necessary sides of the same coin we call life. While victory is sweet, can''t it also be deadly? While defeat is bitter, isn''t it also useful? Victory and defeat are two liars. The wise one can see through their allures and perceive his own truth through the latter''s smile and the former''s frown."


    Sister Lisha''s words were spoken very calmly. In them, Cao Yun and any Accomplished Demon really could tell that she was putting some intent. The crowd regained a bit of life as if the events had happened in some distant past that didn''t bother them anymore. Even Weiji Nian''s face became a bit less red. Even though she had some rivals, namely Boss Gui and her followers, she had never been insulted in public. Worse than that, Cao Yun had also insulted her son. One way or another, she will have him suffer for his insults. But now was not the proper time or place.


    "Sister Lisha is quite wise. We could study your words for decades before understanding the meaning you put behind them."


    Weiji Nian''s words were said without any ridicule or second reading. However, a few demons in the audience were able to tell that she had probably not really understood neither what she had said herself nor what Sister Lisha had truly meant. That woman really was pathetic... That was such a shame that she had an uncle to protect her. Unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could do about that.


    Then, the final item in the auction was brought on stage. At first glance this wasn''t anything impressive. However, Cao Yun was immediately stunned by it, and so was Dian Mo. It was difficult to tell which of the two of them was the most speechless. Luckily, the young man was able to hide it perfectly. And this time, it seemed as though Sister Lisha''s senses were not on him. She too was focused on the piece of paper that had been brought on stage just now.


    Between two beautiful attendants, a man and another woman, presented on a small pedestal, there was a long parchment like piece of paper. On it were some fine examples of calligraphy. Although the crowd had to admit that the art was rather good, it didn''t hold up when compared to some other pieces sold beforehand. Obviously, everyone was wondering what was going on. It couldn''t really be the last item of the auction. There was no way it would go for a very high price. In fact, some people would have left already if they didn''t fear offending the auction hall and the rich Accomplished Demons in the balconies.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Sensing that the crowd was full of doubts, the auction hall''s leader was quite satisfied. Now, his effect would be perfect.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, this unimpressive looking piece is a rarity that you will only see once in your entire lifetime. This is an original work by Demon God Da Mo''s personal aide, Holy Pang Yu. It is more than forty thousand years old. Despite its age, it has remained in perfect condition. The paper itself has been made from Saint Wallowing Moth''s silk threads. The ink is mainly made of Deafening Thunderous Liger''s blood essence, but there are also traces of demon blood in it. Although the analysis can''t tell for sure whether this was Holy Pang Yun''s blood, it certainly belonged to a Reborn Demon.


    "Although we have had some trouble translating the entire thing, this is mostly a Four-Four Aphorism poem written after some great victory. Unfortunately, we won''t be able to discern anymore than that. However, we are absolutely certain of its origin and its authenticity. Our bid will begin at thirty Heidai coin."


    Each word of the auction hall''s leader was enough to make the entire audience gasp, except for two people, Sister Lisha and Cao Yun.


    In fact, in Cao Yun''s mind, this was something else entirely which was making him speechless. On this parchment, there were obviously Moshenhua and ancient demon tongues written in a very elegant way. However, there were also a few characters no one in the audience could recognize. Some simply thought they were so stylized and ancient that they simply didn''t recognize obscure characters of their own language. A few even entertained the possibility that those were Insight Writings. Only Cao Yun had seen through them, those were Antique Sixian characters. In other words, whoever had written this had had access to Cleansed Asura''s language somehow.


    As soon as the parchment had appeared, Cao Yun had begun to cross-reference it with everything he knew from Cleansed Asura''s memory. Even with his mind cultivation, it would take a very long time to do so. But this might be a great opportunity for him to speed up his translation of the materials. Right now, his focus was on ''Death Verses'' but if he could translate anything at all, it would help him in the long run. Moreover, he learned something else from Dian Mo.


    "Boy, this man is absolutely wrong. I''ve never seen this handwriting before. This isn''t some Holy Pang Yu''s work. Holy Pang Yu... What has this moron done to receive such a title...? Anyway, this is someone else''s handwriting. Besides, there has to be more to the text than just a poem. Besides, the Four-Four Aphorism style didn''t exist while Pang Yu was alive. This idiot on stage doesn''t know his history right. And I can assure you Demon God Da Mo wouldn''t have written such a weak poem. The structure is almost nonexistent and it barely adheres to the rules of the period. Nowadays, you''re a bit lax when it came to the rules. But back then, demons would have adhered to them more strictly."


    Although Dian Mo''s analysis was spot-on, Cao Yun didn''t care too much as he already knew who had written this text. Dian Mo had not noticed it because he had not studied it himself. But after spending so much time working on ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', there was absolutely no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind. This calligraphy was the work of his mind cultivation''s method. There were great differences but they couldn''t fool Cao Yun''s eyes. In fact, he was also feeling a very deep familiarity with the characters in front of him.


    If this was the handiwork of the writer, it could be extremely useful. Not only were the characters themselves interesting, but the blood used in the ink was also priceless. Thankfully, no one else seemed to have had notice the true nature of this piece. After all, they didn''t even know about the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Looking all around the room, Cao Yun detected a lot of enthusiasm, but nothing to indicate they were seeing something more than a great historical piece of art. That was until his eyes met Sister Lisha''s.


    At that moment, the two of them realized that they both knew this piece was much more precious than what had been said. However, neither of them could them how much the other one truly knew. Since the Sisters of the Abyss were know to be the protectors of Blood, it was possible Sister Lisha had perceived something in the ink. Or maybe she knew the real meaning behind those characters. That was unlikely since Cao Yun himself wasn''t too sure. His best guess was that they were talking about the Turbid Demons in some way. After all, there were exactly seven characters. Maybe it was a first draft of the mind cultivation manual. Or maybe it was something to complement it.


    No matter what the truth was, Cao Yun had to have this piece. And apparently, Sister Lashi was of the same mind.


    While the auction started, the two of them kept looking at each other, trying to read what they truly knew. Try as they might, they simply couldn''t pierce through their intent. And while they were engaged in that exchange, the bid was slowly rising. In less than half an hour, it had gotten to 92 Heidai coins. This was obviously a lot. In fact, some people had clearly exceeded their deposit but the auction hall knew they could pay. They had no reason to stop them from giving all their money away.


    Finally, when the bids were calming down, Sister Lisha spoke first.


    "100 Heidai Coins!"


    Everyone looked at her a bit dumbfounded. If she had bid first, she probably wouldn''t have had to rise the bid so much. After all, just out of respect for the Sisters of the Abyss, most bidders would have stopped bidding. In fact, they would have known that they had no chance of outbidding Sister Lisha so they had nothing to gain by going up against her. However, what they saw was that Sister Lisha was focused on Mo Yun as if he was her rival in this bid, but surely...


    "110 Heidai Coins!"


    The uproar was far superior to what had happened when Cao Yun had gone against Weiji Nian. Some were even afraid that his words would be as ruthless and insulting. Disrespecting the Sisters of the Abyss was a death sentence, even Lord Wanghuo would never do such a thing in public. Thus, Weiji Nian was quite pleased. She was looking forward to this tiny man making such a mistake. Although she would have preferred to kill him herself, this would still be acceptable.


    Contrary to everyone''s expectations, there were no bad words exchanged between them. Even now, they were still studying each other, trying to find out what they had discerned in this calligraphy. Each one was wondering if they had missed something the other had not. And the price the other party was willing to go to would reveal something...


    "125 Heidai Coins!"


    "150 Heidai Coins!"


    "160 Heidai Coins!"


    ...


    By adding everything that had been sold today, the sum would reach around 500 Heidai Coins. This piece of calligraphy alone might be worth more than anything else already sold...


    "280 Heidai Coins!"

 Chapter 524: End of the demon auction

    During the entire bid, Cao Yun and Sister Lisha were staring at each other. However, there was no animosity of any kind the crowd could perceive. What others perceived was that they were both hiding their true intentions. People were not fools and they guessed that there was more about this calligraphy than what they had thought. Some even wondered whether it had been written by Demon God Da Mo himself and not Holy Pang Yu. That being said, everyone knew what Demon God Da Mo''s handwriting and calligraphy looked like and this was nothing like what they had in front of them.


    Besides, against a Sister of the Abyss, no one would bid, except for Mo Yun apparently. If he was ready to outbid a Sister, he had to have a very good reason. Thus, many rumors would spread all around the city. But what happened later would totally make Mo Yun famous. And ironically, it would also protect him from several nefarious people while speeding up his plan.


    Indeed, as the bid had exceeded 400 Heidai Coins, the equivalent of 160 Yuanbao, Sister Lisha didn''t raise her bid. Like before, the attendant on stage was tongue tied and didn''t know what to do. But this time, Cao Yun was patient. Instead of pressuring the attendant and Sister Lisha herself, he kept looking her in the eyes. The both of them had a vast wealth. But if push came to shove, she could probably outbid him without too much problem. After all, she was a representative of the largest religious order on the continent. Still, Cao Yun could pay up with pills. The true question was how much each one was ready to pay for the parchment. And hidden behind this first question was how well they understood the value of this parchment.


    Cao Yun was certain that it had some connection with his mind cultivation. Obviously he was interested in it as he was trying to cultivate faster. The recent doubts he had had about his mind might also disappear thanks to it. Although he had remembered all the characters, studying their aspect and having access to the real deal were two different concepts. Maybe there were subtleties he hadn''t yet seen. Furthermore, the demon who had written it had left his blood in the ink. Certainly, this would add something to it. Since blood was precious, they wouldn''t waste it, even though it wasn''t blood essence. Finally, there were Antique Sixian characters in the mix. They might help unlock the secrets of this language.


    Thankfully, Sister Lisha was lenient. After long seconds, she closed her eyes and smiled. With this smile, she projected a serene aura all around her. She had been beautiful all along, but now her beauty had something religious, sacred, to it. Even Cao Yun who had nothing to do with their beliefs was moved for an instant. She reminded him of some monks he had met when they had visited his parents a long time ago. Those Sisters were dangerous. Someone with a weak mind would easily be converted by them. Their words were mysterious and could take several meanings to please their listeners too.


    In the demons'' eyes, Sister Lisha was almost a saint, while in Cao Yun, she was some tempting witch. That being said, he had no animosity toward her, he was only wary of her and her entire order. After all, he didn''t know enough about that and that didn''t sit well with him.


    "Lord Mo, it seems that the Weaver of Souls is smiling upon your Blood today. Considering how far you were willing to go for this historical parchment, I do believe that it was meant for you. I retract my bid."


    "Thank you for letting me win, Sister. I will make it up to your order."


    "Lord Mo is too generous. As long as you use your talents for our Nalupu Kingdom and keeps your Blood flowing, we will be happy."


    That expression didn''t mean to literally make his blood flow, but to continue his bloodline. That way, his blood would keep flowing in his descendants. Although this was a set phrase of the Sisters, Cao Yun found something else behind those words. Once again, it felt as though she was looking through him. And his Drop of Wrath got agitated for an instant even with ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Those Sisters truly were dangerous. His priority would be to learn as much as he could about them. But he had already done everything he could on that front, short of invading their temple in Duma City. Despite his confidence in his stealth, he somehow wasn''t sure this was such a bright idea. For the time being, he would focus on the array formations around. Maybe Boss Gui could tell him a bit more as well.


    "Then, this parchment is sold for 412 Heidai Coins to Lord Mo Yun. Thank you for your patronage, Lord Mo. Thank you to you all for your presence today. Although you might not have obtained what you were expecting, we were happy to receive you all today. Hopefully, you will all be luckier during our next auction."


    Slowly, everyone left the auction hall. Several attendants brought the different buyers the items they had bought. For most people, they recovered a part of their deposit. A small part of it was used as an entry fee. But the rest, after subtracting what they had bought, was given back to the bidders. Only a handful of buyers were led to private chambers, either because their bids had a bit exceeded their deposit or because their purchases needed to be handled with care.


    Cao Yun was among those few. After all, even by subtracting what he had won during the auction, he had far exceeded his deposit which had only amounted to a hundred Heidai Coins. In theory, he couldn''t even have had bid 412 Heidai Coins on the parchment, but he had bribed enough people so they completely disregarded it. Besides, they knew he was good for it considering his Blazing Swallow company.


    A young attendant brought him to a secluded room where he barely had time to sit before someone came to him. Since he had bid so much, the auction hall''s leader came in person to see him. He was a rather short man with dark hair. His skin was clearly old despite many efforts to look as young as possible, just like Lady Gu Xue in Ruohe. Youth was a symbol of strength among demons as it showcased their vitality and by extension their Jing. Upon entry, this small old man kowtowed in front of Cao Yun.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Lord Mo, this insignificant one apologizes for the behavior of his attendants. That lady will be severely chastised for her affront."


    Waving his sleeve, Cao Yun dismissed another servant who was pouring some wine in a cup. Without standing up, he let the leader kowtowing on the floor.


    "I do not care how you handle your personnel, I want my belongings. Here is my payment!"


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took the Heidai Coins he was missing. They appeared in front of the leader in very neat stack of fifty coins. The Heidai Coins were oblong flat gold ingots with engravings to show that they were legit. The weight and concentration of various ores were strictly monitored. At the very least, it was one of the greatest achievements of the Xinian Confederation, if not the greatest. Anyone could trust in Heidai Coins.


    "You can check them and count them easily and then give me my purchases."


    "Lord Mo, I wouldn''t dare doubt you."


    Just as he said so, the leader was already counting the various stacks and making sure he had received the right amount. Later on, he would even weigh them all just to be sure that he wasn''t missing even a fen* of gold. However, he had no intention of doing so in front of Mo Yun himself, it would have been a bit disrespectful. And just as he was discreetly counting the coins, he had made a slight hand gesture to other attendants. Before he was done counting, the two items he had purchased arrived in front of him.


    The first one was the parchment. Without any hesitation, he sent his spiritual senses within the paper and the ink to make sure that everything was in order. Then, he simply took it in his spatial ring.


    After the parchment, it was the turn of Meiyue to arrive. She was still wearing very revealing clothes and a few chains. The chains were clearly for show since she had a Slavery Brand in her soul. Not every slave were thus branded, after all the brand was expensive. Most slaves were just controlled through fear. Besides, the slaves who had sold themselves to pay off a debt had no reason to really rebel. And those who had been condemned would be put to death if they were not compliant. Slaves used as warriors or bodyguards were often branded in such a manner though. After all, they could be a threat to their masters. For dual cultivation slaves, a pathetic euphemism for sex slaves, brands could alter the dual cultivation. The fact that she had been branded showed how much she had probably fought at first, until the pain broke her will. And demons had very strong wills to begin with.


    On the other hand, the nomad tribes often required a Slavery Brand. After all, it was illegal to enslave them. So they could technically ask for their freedom. Of course, with a Slavery Brand putting their life in someone else''s hands, this was absolutely impossible. Even without the Slavery Brand, few would have listened to them anyway. Sometimes, the brand was mainly used for transportation when there was a real possibility for the slave to escape. If they did, they would simply be put through terrifying agony and quickly brought back.


    While the attendants were dealing with paperwork, Cao Yun used his Flying Poison to imitate spiritual senses and talk with Meiyue.


    "Girl, you have no reason to trust me, but listen well. Do not react to my words until I tell you to. Soon, I will get rid of your Slavery Brand."


    No matter what Cao Yun could say to her, Meiyue did not react. It wasn''t because she was obeying him, even though as a slave she should. No, she was simply used to her masters playing mind games with her. Oftentimes, they appeared to be nice at first before they really got into it. But after that, she was only an object in their eyes. She wasn''t valued much more than a pill that could help their cultivation. As long as they could get a bit of progress or pleasure from her, they would do anything. A few of her masters had even bathed in her blood, slowly draining her body over several weeks to make sure she stayed alive. To be fair, it did have a good effect on them. But among her masters, she had also met one woman who had been exceptionally cruel for no reason. And she loved to mess with her mind.


    Thus, Meiyue simply didn''t care about what Cao Yun could tell her. Ironically, it was a good thing for him. Even now, he was taking a small risk telling her everything here in the auction hall. But he also wanted to make a small show for his audience. And he felt ashamed to go back home with a slave in chains behind him. While he was speaking with her, he was also studying the Slavery Brand. There was nothing very different from the Slavery Brands he had already erased. So he knew exactly what to do to get rid of it easily.


    Finally, the auction hall''s leader was done reviewing all the paperwork.


    "Lord Mo, we just have to give you control of her Slavery Brand and..."


    "This won''t be necessary!"


    Cao Yun simply waved his hand. In Meiyue''s mind, she kept hearing his voice. This time though, she was sincerely surprised and reacted.


    "I am working with your cousin Xixue. She came here to find information on her sister and we found you."


    As soon as he was done speaking, her Slavery Brand disappeared as if it had never existed. Meiyue was genuinely shocked, but she soon controlled herself. For the people around her, the scene meant something else entirely. They couldn''t know that she had been shocked by the news about her cousin. They were certain that Cao Yun had done something to her. And the auction hall''s leader knew what it was. Since he was connected to her Slavery Brand, he knew that it was done. The man in front of him had erased a Slavery Brand as though it was nothing. There was no doubt at all. Mo Yun had definitely been working for City Lord Sihe. In fact, he even started to suspect that Mo Yun had taken part in the creation of the Slavery Brand. Otherwise, there was no way he could get rid of it so easily.


    Obviously, the rumor would spread around Duma City. Once again, that was Cao Yun''s point. He wanted people to think he was equal to City Lord Sihe. For now, they thought he was a servant who had escaped. But then, his alchemy and his knowledge of the Slavery Brand would slowly shift things around. Maybe Mo Yun was the real brain behind City Lord Sihe''s business. City Lord Sihe was being attacked and he didn''t even know it yet. Worse, he had no way of defending himself because Cao Yun had no past to exploit and no one would believe it.


    "Is there anything else?"


    "No, Lord Mo. Everything is in order."


    "Thank you."


    Before leaving, he gave a few smaller coins to everyone. Meiyue followed him as if in a trance. After hearing the name of her cousin, there were only two possibilities in her mind. Either Xixue had also been captured, or what that alchemist had told her was true. For the time being, she didn''t want to get her hopes high, but she did have hopes, as much as she didn''t want to entertain them. Unwilling to walk in the streets with a girl in chains and almost naked, Cao Yun sent the chains in his spatial ring and gave her real clothes. Once again, this brought hope to Meiyue and she hated herself for feeling hopeful. A dark voice in the back of her mind kept telling her that this was just a trap to play with her.


    Cao Yun couldn''t be oblivious to her turmoil. It fed his anger a bit more.


    *1 fen (alchemy unit) = 373 mg

 Chapter 525: Five stalkers

    Sensing Meiyue''s distrust & fear, he didn''t prolong the wait. He decided to quickly bring her to her cousin. But he couldn''t do so in the auction hall as he didn''t have as much control over the place as his own residence. Unfortunately, taking over the array formations of the entire city was a very lengthy process. Besides, he couldn''t simply activate array formations he had altered or he would simply reveal his hand. Thus, the best course of action was to reunite the two girls in his residence where no prying eyes could see them.


    As he was about to leave with Meiyue, Sister Lisha came to him. She was wearing the black and dark red robe of the Sisters of the Abyss. Under the right light, it truly looked like she was clad in demon blood. Besides, the complex ornaments in her hair and her jewelry even made it look like Golden Blood as they were glistening. Like many demons, her hair had streaks of red in them but they also looked like they were made of bronze now that he was seeing her in the full light of the day, not in the shadows of her balcony. She had voluptuous forms clearly highlighted by her robe and her ornaments. And although he couldn''t be sure of her cultivation, she was undoubtedly an Accomplished Demon like he was pretending to be. His own spiritual senses could feel hers.


    Looking at her, he knew that even his senses could not pierce through the face she was putting on. Cao Yun could tell whether someone was lying and what they were feeling most of the times. Even Spirit Warriors could not always hide it from him. But this woman was clearly well versed in the arts of the mind and the soul. For a demon, this was dangerous as it was the only thing making humans superior. Demons had powerful wills and souls but were not very good when it came to controlling them minutely. Apparently, the Sisters had ways of developing such a subtle control. But Cao Yun had no idea how well she was trained in that domain, or how many Sisters were as well trained as she was. For all he knew, she might still be an exception.


    Refusing to make Meiyue wait any longer, Cao Yun asked a servant who had come with him to bring her to his residence. He had already sent Xixue back earlier as he didn''t want her to meet her cousin in the auction hall. Either she wouldn''t be able to control her emotions, or she would be forced to suppress them. In any event, he didn''t want a joyous reunion to be muddied by such considerations. So he stayed to talk with Sister Lisha who was adamant on the matter.


    "Red blessing on you, child. Our Order heard great things about you, Brother Mo. This is nice to see that those were still inferior to the truth. Congratulations on your purchases."


    "Sister Lisha. I am sorry if I offended your Order today. But there was just something about this calligraphy that spoke to me. If your Order wishes it, I could allow you to admire it and even study it to make a copy."


    "This will not be necessary, Brother. As long as it is within your hands, we are certain that it will be well protected and treated with respect. After all, this is a very important piece of our history that you just bought. But I wanted to talk to you about other matters. As I said, your talent has been recognized by our Order. Thus, we would be fortunate to have it be put to our uses. Indeed, our Order would like to craft a contract with your Blazing Swallow."


    While he was speaking with Sister Lisha, Cao Yun could clearly feel that she was trying to sense something in him. Once again, the two of them were hiding things from each other. What really worried Cao Yun was that he couldn''t see anything through her, but he felt as if she was able to sense something. Deep in his heart, the Drop of Wrath was reacting from time to time. Since the Sisters of the Abyss were connected to blood, he was sincerely afraid she might discover it. Besides, she might even be able to discover that he simply wasn''t a demon but only a human masquerading as one. Anyway, he didn''t want to keep this conversation going in such a place. In his residence with all of his defenses set up, he would feel more at ease.


    "Sister, I will be glad to discuss such a proposition. It would be my delight to help your Order. Unfortunately, I am still too busy right now setting up shop in this Duma City. I will have my servants send you a formal invitation very soon. Then, we''ll be able to discuss it at length later on. I hope this is agreeable to you..."


    "Of course, Brother. I will be looking forward to your invitation. And if our Order can do anything to help your shop, do not hesitate to ask us."


    There was such a confidence in her statement that Cao Yun felt as though Sister Lisha was ruling over Duma City. However, she officially had no authority. It belonged to Boss Gui. And speaking of her, her representative Miss Wo came walking toward the two of them. In the distance, Cao Yun also noticed Weiji Nian. Her eyes were burning with indignation and hate. She didn''t look toward Cao Yun though, most likely because of the other two women. Since she had taken her purchases, the woman simply left the auction hall without looking back. Cao Yun knew that she would be a problem. But enraging her had been part of the plan. Unfortunately, he couldn''t kill her easily.


    First of all, she was an Accomplished Demon. Killing someone in Duma City was also harder than in Ruohe or in the wild. And finally, her uncle would truly become a problem. For the time being, Cao Yun''s influence would protect him from her.


    Miss Wo reached Cao Yun and Sister Lisha. While they were still speaking, she interrupted. Like Sister Lisha, she had red streaks in her hair but her hair was mostly black. Her eyes were also black. Up close, Cao Yun could tell that she had no Slavery Brand in her, but her behavior showed that she had been a slave for a very long time. Most likely, she had somehow earned her freedom and was now working for Boss Gui. Her face was emotionless and very harsh, just like her body was sturdy and muscular. She seemed to be made of muscles despite her slender figure.


    "Lord Mo, my mistress would like to talk business with you. She will send you an invitation later in the day."If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    After few words, Miss Wo simply saluted both of them and left. Letting out a small laugh at Miss Wo''s very direct behavior, Sister Lisha also bid Cao Yun farewell.


    "May the Blood flow in you."


    Finally, Cao Yun could go back to his residence in peace. Since his conversation hadn''t lasted very long, he quickly found Meiyue and his servant walking toward his residence in Duma City. Xixue had probably already come back. But this wasn''t the only thing he saw. Although they were trying to hide, a few people were clearly following Meiyue. There were five figures trying to conceal their presence. Against someone who had learned Huang Liyue''s stealth art, they were unable to hide anything. In fact, the mere fact that they were trying to be concealed revealed their presence to Cao Yun. In his eyes, they were very conspicuous. However his servant had not noticed anything.


    He was one of the bodyguards Cao Yun had freed from Tu Jianhe. Even though he was a late Golden Blood Child, he had failed to notice them at all. Using his Flying Poison, Cao Yun sent him a telepathic message so he would take a very precise road. Thanks to his training, the servant didn''t let this surprise affect him at all. And he did change his course. He was still walking toward the residence of course, but through a very different path. Very quickly, he understood what was going on since the path he was taking was favorable to an ambush. Even in the city, it wasn''t too rare for people to be killed, especially after an auction. Obviously it didn''t happen every single day, but violence was common place enough.


    As long as they could pay Boss Gui, killers wouldn''t get into too much problem. But if they couldn''t pay or if their target''s death was offending someone too high, they would suffer for a very long time before being put to death. Killing the alchemist Mo Yun would probably be a problem in that situation. After all, both the Sisters of the Abyss and Boss Gui had expressed their interest in him. But if his servant was killed and his newly acquired slave stolen, it could be resolved with some money and maybe by sacrificing some pawns.


    Most likely, those five pursuers had been hired by Weiji Nian. She could sacrifice them if they were to fail, or even if they succeeded, in order to calm the anger of Boss Gui or the Sisters. On the other hand, if Cao Yun killed them, she would deny any connection with them. Unfortunately, Cao Yun couldn''t extract their memories with Dian Mo''s current weakened state. And torturing them would not give him any more information. What he would need was proof. But Weiji Nian''s move would give him enough to pressure her into being a bit less aggressive.


    As soon as his servant walked into a narrow alley, the five figures drew their weapons. Even though he knew he was being followed, the bodyguard didn''t see or feel anything at all. For a former hunter, this was a very alarming situation. He knew that predators were stalking him but couldn''t detect them at all. Hopefully, his new master would protect him.


    Because the five figures were concealing their presence, they had reduced their Wei Qi to a minimum. In other words, their defenses were extremely weak. Furthermore, not a single one of them was an Accomplished Demon. They were all late Golden Blood Children. Fighting them would be a problem for Cao Yun though as it could reveal his real cultivation. However, he had no reason to fight them fair and square. Since they were acting as assassins, he would treat them as such.


    Using his own stealth, Cao Yun appeared behind the first would-be assassin. His sword slid through his ribs in his back. In an instant, the blade had gone through his heart. At the same moment, Cao Yun used his Flying Poison to assault his mind and crushed his throat with his bare hand. From his sword, a powerful surge of Qi exploded his heart in an instant. Then, the assassin''s lifeless body was sucked in his spatial ring.


    Very efficiently, Cao Yun took down all five of the pursuers. He had chosen this alley because it would lure them out, but also because he had set up a few array formations here already. Indeed, he had prepared a few ways out of his own residence in case of trouble. Because not a single one of them was wary of being attacked while they were stalking their prey, killing them turned out to be extremely easy. Even Cao Yun was surprised how weak they were. Weiji Nian had chosen poorly. Or maybe she simply didn''t have any good men. Most of her influence really came from her uncle. After today, she would think twice before attacking Cao Yun in any way. Even now, she had not attacked him directly, proving that she was afraid of the consequences.


    Just to be sure that his message would be heard, Cao Yun took the heads of the five would-have-been assassins. Later on, he would have them sent to Weiji Nian discreetly. Although he had no way of proving she was behind it, he wanted to make sure that she knew that he knew.


    "Boy, are you sure this is a good idea to search more conflict with that woman?"


    "Apart from her uncle, she''s no danger at all. But you are indeed right. I can''t antagonize her more than what is necessary. Unless she comes after me again, I''ll put a stop to it. Maybe I''ll have a few pills sent to her and her son to try and calm things down for the time being. However, since I''ll be in conflict with City Lord Sihe anyway, I will have to take care of her at some point. The moment isn''t ripe though."


    "I thought you didn''t like unnecessary conflicts?"


    "I don''t! But this is necessary."


    "Really...?"


    Once more, Dian Mo seemed to doubt Cao Yun. As a consequence, Cao Yun began to doubt himself a bit. Was he truly acting reasonably? Maybe his emotions, namely his anger, were controlling him, or at least influencing too much... But no matter how he thought about it, he knew that he would get in conflict with that woman. Besides, since she wanted Meiyue as a sex slave for her son, he couldn''t avoid some friction at the auction hall. Honestly, it was possible he had gone a bit too far. Anyway, he would deal with it when the time came.


    -


    At last, he reached his residence. From Xixue''s chambers, he could distinctively hear a lot of crying. But this was good crying. After making sure everything was going well, he didn''t intrude on the two cousins. He didn''t want Xixue to have to suppress her feelings in front of him. And he put himself in her shoes. If he had reunited with a member of his family, namely his little sister, he wouldn''t want a stranger interrupting them.


    Besides, Cao Yun had something else to do. In his own chambers, he took out the parchment. The seven characters were sitting in front of him. Now, he could literally smell the odor of blood in the room. Although the calligraphy was old, the blood still appeared to be rather fresh, thanks to the blood essence of the Deafening Thunderous Liger in most part. But the young human could feel a familiarity not only with the writing but even with the blood of the writer. There was no doubt that whoever had written those seven characters had also written his mind cultivation manual.


    Studying the seven characters, he tried to copy them in his own sea of consciousness. Although they appeared in his mind, they had no effect at all, unlike the Insight Writings in the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. Surely, there was some secret hidden in this calligraphy though.

 Chapter 526: Strengthening ones shame

    First of all, Cao Yun focused on the Antique Sixian characters. After all, learning about this language was very important to him. Unfortunately, the documents he had from Cleansed Asura were all corrupted. When he had sent them to his disciple''s mind, Cleansed Asura had tried to translate them. But because he had been too weak, only a handful of them had been effectively translated. And apart from ''Cultivation of Wrath'', none was useful for his cultivation.


    On the other hand, the rest of the documents had become a mix of Antique Sixian and Nuhua. Some were combining the two writing systems while others were using only one of them but were phonetic. There were some texts in pure Nuhua but they didn''t make any sense at all. And the only explanation was that the characters had been used phonetically to transcribe the original Antique Sixian without any translation. It was also possible that the opposite had happened. In other words, some text in Antique Sixian might just be a phonetic transcription of Nuhua. But since Cao Yun could not read the Antique Sixian script, he couldn''t be sure.


    To put it simply, these documents were a complete mess. Even learning the Antique Sixian would not allow Cao Yun to read everything. But it was a necessary step nonetheless. Thankfully, he had a bit of Cleansed Asura''s memories so he at least knew how the language sounded like. But he had not enough control over those memories to go through them as he pleased. Otherwise, learning the language would be easier. Besides, they were also fragments of his true memories. In some of them, he didn''t even speak Antique Sixian.


    Looking at the Antique Sixian characters, Cao Yun then tried to find any occurrence of those in the documents in his sea of consciousness. Thankfully, they were not rare at all. In fact, one of them seemed very common. It had been greatly stylized in the calligraphy and Cao Yun had also failed to recognize it at first. By cross-referencing everything and thanks to the context of the calligraphy, he was able to deduce their meaning. Finally, he was even able to get their reading. Hopefully, the Antique Sixian simply had one reading per character, or few variations. Otherwise, things would get even harder.


    For several hours, Cao Yun tried to deduce the meaning of other characters, either because they had similar parts from those he already knew, or because they were often associated together. Of course, he wasn''t able to decipher the entire script, but he certainly made a lot of progress. In the following days, he would keep working on it when he would have some time.


    Since those characters were referring to one''s soul, they were even a bit helpful in reading the ''Death Verses''. Cao Yun was also able to read of handful of poems and small texts. In the end, he was very satisfied. However, he had not abandoned the idea that there was something more in that calligraphy. Surely, if the Sisters of the Abyss had wanted it so bad, there had to be something else. Furthermore, it had clearly been written by the same demon who had written his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''.


    Using his Flying Poison and even his partially subdued Unclean Evil, the young human tried to follow the writing directly within the ink. Just as if he was manipulating his Qi, he controlled those aspects of his very soul outside of his body and traced the characters. Unfortunately, it didn''t help him at all. Maybe the Sisters of the Abyss had just been after the ink because of the blood within. If that was the case, Cao Yun could definitely extract the blood and use it for himself. But somehow it felt like such a loss.


    Using his logic, Cao Yun tried to analyze the calligraphy once more. Then, it hit him. He even wondered why he had not thought of it any sooner. The calligraphy had been done of silk paper made out of Saint Wallowing Moth''s silk threads. To begin with, this choice of paper was highly unusual among demons. Moreover, the Saint Wallowing Moth was also known to be heavily affected by the emotions around it. It could literally feed off the remnants of souls either in the air or in blood. Hence, their silk was a very good conductor of spiritual senses.


    But this wasn''t all, the ink had been a mix of the writer''s blood and Deafening Thunderous Liger''s blood essence. Although the blood essence of this legendary Immortal Beast was incredibly precious, this wasn''t what attracted the young cultivator. Indeed, this blood was also extremely yang and would naturally clash with the silk of the Saint Wallowing Moth. Considering the craftsmanship of the calligraphy, this choice didn''t seem intelligent at all. And looking at it more closely, the blood had not penetrated deep into the paper. Without the blood from the writer, the calligraphy would have probably not endured so long in fact.


    The ink was precious because of the blood within. But what truly mattered was the paper itself, neither the ink nor the calligraphy.


    Once he had reached such a conclusion, Cao Yun thought about jade slips. Jade slips were made by carving out the interior of some jade. In order to read them, one had to send either their Qi or their spiritual senses into them. Then, they would retrace the engravings and be able to read the contents. Maybe there was something similar.


    With a lot of caution, Cao Yun sent his Qi with the intent of the Drop of Wrath into the silk paper first. He would not use his spiritual senses from the beginning. And he finally saw it, well he sensed it. The way the paper had been made was extremely complicated and convoluted. There was no reason to assemble the fibers like that. In other words, it was the paper itself that contained a deep meaning. The characters were just some superficial thing to lose the unknowing reader.


    Following those fibers, Cao Yun was able to see great similarities with some of the Insight Writings in the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. Any doubt that was still impairing Cao Yun disappeared.


    Finally, he used his spiritual senses to try and decipher the meaning behind this silk paper. His Flying Poison entered it and immediately, the young man sensed a powerful pull on his soul. It was as though something was trying to lead it on a specific path. Although his first instinct was to resist, he decided otherwise. He let a large part of his Flying Poison follow this pull. Then, he focused on the trajectory within the silk paper.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Before long, he clearly felt that his Flying Poison was tracing a specific character. In fact, it traced several characters forming an entire sentence. It was not written in any language known to Cao Yun, but it was mixing both Antique Sixian, Nuhua, Insight Writings and other scripts he had never seen before. He even suspected that some characters had been invented. Indeed, what mattered wasn''t the shape of the characters or the sentence. What truly mattered was the path followed by his Flying Poison.


    Now that he had no more reason to fear anything, he sent his entire Flying Poison within the silk paper. At last, he understood the meaning of this path. On a superficial level, it was simply explaining the concepts behind the Flying Poison which Cao Yun already knew. The Flying Poison was really the Po of Jing, the Earth aspect of the Po. In its Turbid Demon form, the Flying Poison was related to anger and wrath.


    Once again, what truly mattered was more subtle. Along the path, the silk of the paper itself added something to Cao Yun''s Flying Poison. He could tell that it was tempering it somehow. However, since he had already achieved a complete form of his Flying Poison, it was a bit useless. That being said, it might be very efficient when used with his Unclean Evil. Thus, that was exactly what Cao Yun did. Taking the Flying Poison back in his sea of consciousness, he send then his Unclean Evil in the paper.


    Considering that he was working on his Unclean Evil, using this silk paper proved useful. He could feel that there were traces of someone''s spiritual senses along the silk. Those remnants were attacking his Unclean Evil without causing too much damage. After only two circulations though, Cao Yun was forced to stop. Indeed, his soul was starting to truly hurt. Although each small attack was not that impressive, their cumulative nature was a real problem. In some sense, it was like working on his muscles. Hurting them was good as long as it wasn''t too much. A bit of pain was necessary but too much pain would cause lasting damage.


    Of course, when it came to his soul, Cao Yun was not ready to have it injured in any way. Besides, Dian Mo''s doubts about his personality being changed by his mind cultivation were still affecting him a little. As much as he claimed that he was the same man, he was still fearful of the possibility. After all, one''s personality was defined by the constant interaction between their souls. Thus, working on his souls could indeed change him. Changing wasn''t too frightening to him because he had understood that what he perceived as his ego was truly different from those. However, he had no intention of becoming something he didn''t want to become.


    Taking his Unclean Evil back in his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun felt how much powerful it had become. In less than a few minutes, he had advanced this aspect of his Po as though he had trained for two to three days. Even though he would need some rest before doing it again, this would obviously improve his mind cultivation''s speed. Although he thought about attempting to work on another one of his Po, he stopped himself. First, he would analyze the effects on his Unclean Evil. Later, he could try other ways to use this calligraphy. Very carefully, he put it in his spatial ring.


    -


    After his session, Cao Yun took some rest. He received reports from his hunters that the heads of the assassins had been sent to Weiji Nian. And as he had expected, she didn''t cause any problem. In the Hongchen Kingdom, Cao Yun would have had problems with the authorities of the city. But in Duma City, Weiji Nian had no reason to show her weakness. As long as it stayed between them, she would not reveal it publicly. Face and reputation seemed much more important in the Desolate Sepulcher. After all, the administration of the Nalupu Kingdom wasn''t as strong as the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Of course, Weiji Nian had a lot of hostility toward Cao Yun. But he also knew she would not go overboard. At least, she would probably ask her uncle''s permission to do anything, or maybe her husband. Indeed, her husband was working for City Lord Sihe. No matter who she would ask, it would take a lot of time for her to get a reply. Alone, she would not do anything against Cao Yun, especially if he allied himself with Boss Gui. What truly worried Cao Yun was the Sisters of the Abyss.


    While he was resting, Cao Yun received the visit of both Xixue and Meiyue. The two girls kowtowed in front of him. Looking at them, there was no doubt that they shared a common ancestry as daughters of the Lotus Tribe.


    "Lord Mo, thank you for your generosity."


    Meiyue''s face had completely changed. There was a new light in her eyes, as well as deep rage and hatred. Just like Xixue, she wanted the blood of those who had tormented her.


    "Miss Meiyue, I am sorry for what happened to you. But could you tell it to me in more details?"


    There was pain in her eyes but she forced herself to remember as much as she could. By her side, Xixue put her hand on her shoulder. For the first time, Cao Yun was seeing a warm aspect of Xixue''s personality. Clearly, he had never seen her true face yet. Or, to be more precise, he had simply seen superficial facets of her true self.


    "I was taken by some slave hunters, just like Yinl¨¹."


    As she pronounced that name, Meiyue stopped to look at her cousin. Seeing the hurt in her eyes, Cao Yun didn''t have to ask who this Yinl¨¹ was.


    "But they separated us before we reached Duma City. Because they had taken a lot of women, they decided to have some fun before selling us. Yinl¨¹ was among the best fighters and her bloodline was higher than most so she was kept safe. For the rest of us, we were first sold to different brothels. Then, I was bought by an influential man. When our dual cultivation became too slow for him, he sold me again. And finally, you bought... I mean, you freed me."


    "Then, you never actually were sold to Boss Gui?"


    "No."


    "Did you hear anything about her, besides the common rumors?"


    "Very little... Some slaves confirmed that she could be insanely cruel, but that she was also extremely fair. To be honest, it''s hard to know exactly who this Boss Gui is. I fear that you''ll need to form your own opinion. I cannot help you on that matter."


    "I understand. Thank you. What do you intend to do now?"


    Although he was speaking to Meiyue, his words also concerned Xixue.


    "Lord Mo, I don''t want to stay in this damned city longer than necessary. If it pleases you, I would like to leave in order to join other tribes in the desert. Although our Lotus Tribe is gone, there are parent tribes still roaming through the desert."


    "I understand. I will give you what''s necessary. I will also send word to Ruohe so your travel is safe. And I will have a message for the tribes you meet."


    Although he had not planned for it, this could be a good opportunity for Cao Yun to improve his reputation among the nomad tribes. And they would clearly be useful allies in his plans. While in Ruohe, he had heard that some had decided to call him Tie Po. To be honest, he wasn''t entirely sure of the translation of this name. But since they had chosen this name for him, he would keep it while interacting with the tribes.


    On the other hand, Xixue had no intention of leaving.

 Chapter 527: Meeting the small City Lord

    "Boy, are you sure you can spare those resources to help that girl? You already used a lot of your funds in that auction..."


    "Humph. Everyone is certain that I am immensely rich. And to be fair, it won''t take long for me to earn back what I spent. Money won''t be a problem at all, but people needed to be convinced of that. Besides, I decided to help Xixue and by extension her cousin. I won''t just stop halfway through that."


    "I thought you didn''t want to become a saint or a savior..."


    "And I don''t. But that doesn''t mean that I will become cold and indifferent to the suffering I see around me. Moreover, I''m just helping her reach Ruohe without any problem. From there, she''ll have to rely on herself to get back to the tribe she wants to meet. Since she grew up in that Desolate Dune Desert, I do think she''ll be able to do so by herself. And although it wasn''t my first intention, her words will be very useful to rally the nomad tribes behind my banner when the time is ripe. I will give this continent the catalyst it needs to grow out of this corrupt Nalupu Kingdom. Whether they''re able to use it or not won''t be my responsibility though. In the end, I only wish to leave this continent with enough strength to help my own people."


    "Despite your words, I do sense some attachment to those demons already. That Xixue girl struck a chord. Because of her familial torments, you feel some connection and some obligation to her. If things go awry, I am not sure whether you''ll truly be able to abandon this continent to itself..."


    Cao Yun was sincerely unsure of what he would do. Although he had a few plans in mind, he couldn''t predict the future. Helping the demons get rid of the Nalupu Kingdom and of their salve trade was also helping him and the Hongchen Kingdom. But he really couldn''t know how it would turn out in the end. Besides, as much as his interests were aligned with this goal, he was also doing so out of detestation of slavery itself. His emotions could indeed muddy his vision. Maybe Dian Mo was right about his mind cultivation affecting his reason...


    Anyway, Cao Yun had suffered his doubts for too long. Now that he had grown more powerful, he wanted to act, not lose himself in his thoughts and self-doubts. While this conversation was happening in his mind, Xixue was standing in front of him.


    "Lord Mo, I received word from Miss Wo. Boss Gui is interested in hearing your offer. Here is her invitation."


    Using both hands, Xixue extended a small wooden plank. The wood seemed extremely precious and on it was an exquisite piece of calligraphy made with ink and blood. By now, Cao Yun was used to the decorum of the Nalupu Kingdom. Such a wooden plank was just a way to invite Cao Yun to further discuss business. There was nothing binding, but it was a very important step. Although he had failed to gather much information about Boss Gui, he was prepared to go meet her. After seeing Miss Wo, he had found out something very interesting, but he needed to be sure of it first. For that, he had to meet her other slaves. And if he was right, everything would be much smoother.


    "Prepare my carriage, I will go there myself. And you will accompany me. If things go well, we might find out where your sister is fairly quickly."


    "Lord?"


    Xixue was still a bit emotional after reuniting with her cousin. And now, she truly believed in Cao Yun. As a result, she wasn''t afraid of showing her true colors in front of him.


    "Thank you, my Lord, for helping me and my family."


    "Girl, you were also very useful to me. You upheld your part of the bargain by helping my business and teaching me the protocols and the rituals of this kingdom. Now, it is high time for me to uphold mine by helping out your sister."


    -


    Before the sun set, Cao Yun''s carriage arrived at Boss Gui''s residence. It was a bit outside of Duma City although she was officially its City Lord. Indeed, her residence was also the place where she trained her slaves. As such, it was rather large. Furthermore, she didn''t want anyone to get a glimpse of her trade secrets. In fact, it had been very smart because it had prevented Cao Yun from altering her array formations like he had begun to do in the entire city. When he approached the residence, he smelled a thick odor of blood and he felt a powerful killing intent all over the place. But there was also something else in the air which made him think he had been correct in his guesses.


    Cao Yun''s carriage was welcomed by Miss Wo. She had changed her attire and seemed a bit warmer now. But she was still unable to smile apparently. Her face remained severe no matter what feeling she was trying to convey.


    "Lord Mo, welcome to my mistress'' residence. She is looking forward to meeting you."


    Although her speech was a bit rough, Cao Yun felt her sincerity. Maybe it was simply her accent that deformed her words to make them sound harsher than they were. But Cao Yun didn''t let it affect him at all. He was able to see through her, and it felt good to be honest. After being confronted to this Sister Lisha''s impassible expression, it was a good sensation to see Miss Wo''s feelings written all over her face despite her efforts. She seemed quite relaxed despite Cao Yun''s presence.


    "Thank you, Miss Wo. I do not want to impose. Here is a gift for your mistress."


    Xixue, with her mask on, stepped forward. The ceremony took several minutes during which she simply gave a wooden box containing a pill Cao Yun intended to offer Boss Gui. Exchanging gifts was also a very important part of the protocol between business partners. And Cao Yun intended to become one with Boss Gui. Offering a gift was also a very delicate art. Indeed, the value of the gift had to be carefully studied. Moreover, as an alchemist, he had made sure to show his worth to Boss Gui''s venture.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    He had surmised that she needed help to maintain her slave warriors. Even though he didn''t know her methods for sure, and despite the impossible numbers he had heard, there was little doubt that many slaves were at least injured during her training. Thus, she would be glad to get a way to preserve them as much as possible in order to sell more of them without lowering their quality. Besides, it was also in Cao Yun''s interests to keep those slaves alive. Trained slaves could be very helpful in upturning this Nalupu Kingdom. In fact, Boss Gui was most likely pressured because of that. The Nalupu Kingdom wouldn''t just do nothing and watch while she was gathering a small army of powerful warriors. In fact, Cao Yun was almost certain that City Lord Sihe was at least supported by some officials in the Nalupu Kingdom or even the Xinian Confederation.


    Once the ceremonial was done, Cao Yun was finally able to meet Boss Gui. He walked with only Xixue into the inner courtyard of her residence. All around the place, he could see warriors training. But those were already powerful fighters further refining their skills. They were not the newly acquired slaves Boss Gui was training. Looking at their faces with utmost care, Cao Yun noted the same subtle marks he could see on Miss Wo''s face. But there were also other signs, even more subtle all over their bodies. It was no wonder no one had been able to see anything, but as an alchemist, and a specialist of poisons, there was no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind.


    Boss Gui''s method was somehow using poison. From what he knew, this was one of the greatest taboos among demons, at least in the Desolate Sepulcher. Obviously, Boss Gui wouldn''t want anyone to know the truth. In fact, it was even possible the slaves themselves didn''t know about this. The signs were very subtle and the effects would probably not seem significant. Most slaves would probably think the pain and soreness came from their training, not some poison. However, Cao Yun wasn''t absolutely sure what poison was being used. However, it was a shame. He wouldn''t train by poisoning himself, so he wouldn''t learn anything useful for speeding up his cultivation in here. But he would be able to form some connection with Boss Gui and that was enough for now.


    Finally, he saw a small figure sitting on the stairs of the main pavilion. At first, Cao Yun thought it was just a heap of clothes. Indeed, there was a heavy pelt with silver fur atop an open robe. But when he looked closely, he saw the shape of a short woman under those. She was wearing very practical clothes and had simply put that rich robe over her shoulders. Women were just a bit shorter than men in the Desolate Sepulcher, there wasn''t much difference to be honest. However, they were all a bit shorter than humans in the Hongchen Kingdom. Once again, the difference wasn''t much, but it was enough so that Cao Yun was considered pretty tall.


    In front of him, the woman was very short, by any standard. Cao Yun even imagined that those heavy clothes on her shoulder served to increase her stature somewhat. But the fury itself was also a sign of status as it proved she was a great fighter. Indeed, it was the fur of an adult Silver Six-Tailed Fox. Just by looking at the luster of the fur, that demonic beast had clearly been on the verge of forming another core. Cao Yun had been unable to kill a young Silver Six-Tailed Fox, so he could imagine that Boss Gui was really powerful. Among demons, wearing such a fur meant that she had killed it herself and not used anyone else''s help.


    Despite her stature, she didn''t seem weak at all. In fact, her face showed a great arrogance and an absolute conviction. Although looking young was a sign of strength, there were a few wrinkles on her small face. Indeed, Boss Gui had to be more than a hundred years old as she was a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. And she had grown in influence really fast in the recent years, she had probably suffered from a lot of stress. That being said, this wasn''t the most striking fact about her. No, Cao Yun was immediately drawn to her eyes.


    There was a piece of clothe circling her head and hiding those eyes but Cao Yun could still discern a few signs. Boss Gui was completely blind. Of course, since she was an Accomplished Demon, she had spiritual senses that could replace her eyes. Besides, her senses were way stronger than those of any mortal. In fact, even if Cao Yun didn''t use his physical eyes, he could see without any problem. However, this had to be a great sign of weakness. Despite that, he had never once heard about it. This fact alone showed how much people feared her and her fabled cruelty.


    Even without seeing her eyes, there was a powerful fire in her entire demeanor. This woman was full of ambition and she was ready to go to great lengths to achieve said ambition. Although he couldn''t see any trace of cruelty in her, he knew she was capable of it if things called for it. If she inflicted pain and torment, it wasn''t out of some sadism, it was out of necessity. At least, it was out of what she thought was necessary to maintain her position and to advance her ambition. She was the kind of woman he was glad doing business with. He had chosen wisely.


    Unlike most demons, she had pure black hair and she had probably black eyes in the past. In the Nalupu Kingdom, this would be seen as a sign of weakness once again. In fact, her bloodline didn''t seem too impressive either. At least, Cao Yun was not able to discern anything particular in it. Surely, she had struggled a lot to get to where she was right now.


    Seeing Cao Yun, Boss Gui stood up while staying on the stairs. Compared with Cao Yun, she really looked very short, not quite as small as a child of course, but still not very impressive for a City Lord. Understanding that this was probably affecting her pride, Cao Yun made sure never to make her feel too short in his presence. This would be a problem for their alliance. In fact, he tried to look unimpressive while she was putting on airs with her clothes. To be honest, Cao Yun wondered how heavy her clothes were, just to make her look bigger. Under those though, he could tell she had toned muscles just by looking at her forearms exposed by her open robe.


    Looking carefully at her face, Cao Yun saw the same signs he had discerned on Miss Wo''s face as well as on some of the guards and slave warriors. Her eyes had been burned by some kind of poison, but it was slightly different from the one afflicting the others. Once more, being victim of poison was also a sign of weakness as demons believed it contaminated the blood. Anyone using poison was seen as an heretic but those who had been victim of poison were seen as weak, as though their blood had rotten in their veins.


    Miss Wo climbed the stairs and knelt besides her mistress. Despite her impassiveness, Miss Wo''s movements betrayed a deep loyalty toward Boss Gui. There was no resentment or hatred even though Cao Yun could tell she had been trained as a slave by her. Boss Gui was not using fear to control her right now, she had inspired a powerful feeling of devotion in Miss Wo and her other close servants.


    Once again, it took some time for her to give Cao Yun''s gift to Boss Gui and for Boss Gui to open it. Decorum and protocols were always very important. Even Boss Gui adhered to them closely despite the arrogance exuded by her entire being.


    "Thank you, Lord Mo. Your gift is deeply appreciated. I hope our gift won''t be too modest in comparison."


    In her words, Cao Yun could tell that this wasn''t just decorum. She had indeed been very impressed by his gift. He had chosen wisely once more.

 Chapter 528: Feeding a new sword

    Although he was growing a bit impatient, Cao Yun adhered to the protocol to the letter. Several minutes later, he could finally get his gift. Several servants had brought it tied up in some niece piece of clothe. There was no doubt as to what the gift was as soon as he saw it. That was a sword, a demon sword. Unlike humans, demon swords were meant to draw blood more than to kill. Of course, they could kill very well too. But in fights between powerful demons, spilling the enemy''s blood was sometimes a better strategy. Besides, blood was considered as something extremely precious and important. Depriving one''s enemy of his blood was thus both symbolic and practical.


    In fact, in some duels, what was important was the amount of blood drawn, thus avoiding death duels. Losing too much blood to someone was seen as a defeat. Besides, the demon weapons could absorb blood instead of Qi. Unlike humans, demons didn''t control their Qi outside of their blood after all. So a blade would often be plunged in blood in order to fill it with Qi. Cao Yun could use both methods though. In his hands, such a weapon would become even more powerful. In fact, it would probably become his best sword for a long time.


    Thankfully, the sword presented to Cao Yun didn''t look too ridiculous. He had seen serrated blades that looked absolutely stupid in his eyes. To be fair, some were just for show as ceremonial weapons. Fortunately, the one presented to him was aesthetically pleasing. Besides, it was clearly a very powerful blade. Most likely, it had reached the Heaven grade at the very least. Since demons weren''t using the same ranking system, it was a bit more difficult to be sure, but if he had to give it a rank, it would be a 4 or even a 5-star Heaven sword. Considering the worth of his pill, this gift was a bit too much. But considering the needs of Boss Gui and himself, it seemed appropriate. After all, as an alchemist, a sword didn''t seem too useful to Cao Yun.


    Boss Gui explained her gift.


    "This blade is simply called ''Scarlet Ruin''. It was forged from the finest ores of our region. Master Panzao worked on the blade for seventy-two days and seventy-two nights with more than a hundred blacksmiths. Only an Accomplished Demon can showcase the full strength of this sword. Although Lord Mo Yun is an alchemist, I am sure that this sword will prove to be a great ally. The metal sucked in great amount of blood. According to Master Panzao, it is a thirsty sword that will devour your enemies'' blood essence each time you unsheathe it. We hope that such a weapon is to your liking."


    Each and every word was true. With his own senses, Cao Yun could tell that this was a great sword. And the fact that Boss Gui was gifting him a sword meant that she knew he had been using one. Although a spear was his weapon of choice, he wanted to work on his swordsmanship as well, in order to preserve the martial art of his great-grandfather. Thus, he had to admit that he was very pleased with the gift. Just by touching the sword, he could tell that it was a great receptacle of Qi.


    With great sincerity, Cao Yun bowed toward Boss Gui while accepting her gift. However, her next words showed him she had another idea besides simply responding to his own gift. Giving and receiving gifts was a normal part of the ritual between business partners. But often, the gifts themselves were also messages that one had to decode.


    "Lord Mo, before putting such a fine piece of art back in its scabbard, it must drink. Mister Dai!"


    Snapping her fingers, a young man answered his mistress''s call and walked toward Cao Yun. He was a late Golden Blood Child, probably close to becoming an Accomplished Demon. Just like Miss Wo, he had traces of the same poison on his flesh. Since he had been training, he was only wearing some pants and his chest was glistening with sweat as well as many bruises that had not been able to cut through his skin. In front of Cao Yun, he looked like a bronze statue with red eyes and completely shaven. All around him, there was a powerful killing intent. There was no doubt that he was a powerful warrior who had killed many.


    "Mister Dai is probably the best trainee I have under the Accomplished Demon realm. Please, Lord Mo, be lenient with him. I wouldn''t want him to be too much injured."


    In Cao Yun''s mind, there was absolutely no doubt that she was trying to test him. However, he couldn''t come up with an excuse not to fight. In fact, it was indeed a custom for someone who had received a weapon to test it out by drawing someone''s blood in a duel. It was a way of baptizing the weapon as demons believed they fed on the blood they were drawing.


    Mister Dai saluted Cao Yun. Although he was fighting an Accomplished Demon, he had no fear in him. That was when the solution came to Cao Yun. It was so obvious that he had not thought about it at first. He saluted him back. Then, he let out both of his Flying Poison and Unclean Evil. Then, he simply looked at the slave who had challenged him. Before the fight even began, Cao Yun launched a mental attack against the living bronze statue. His ''Weeping Demon'' had become an important part of his arsenal. And as his mind cultivation would improve, it would grow stronger and stronger.


    Against someone who had seen a lot of fights and violence, this wasn''t too powerful of course. However, Cao Yun''s mind cultivation was enough to freeze him for an instant. In an actual fight, this would mean his death. That being said, this wasn''t his point. After showcasing the effects of his spiritual senses, he retracted them.


    "I will restrict my cultivation for this duel. I truly want to appreciate this fine weapon you''ve gifted me. Besides, I truly wish to sample the famous training of Boss Gui. All over the Nalupu Kingdom, I heard that you nurtured the best warriors so I would like to see that for myself."


    "Lord Mo, I would advise you against it. Mister Dai is the strongest Golden Blood Child among my servants. In fact, he can boast to be the strongest in the entire Nalupu Kingdom now that Miss Wo is an Accomplished Demon. I wouldn''t want you to be injured before we could conduct any business."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Boss Gui''s words were full of arrogance. but faced with this Mister Dai, Cao Yun could tell she wasn''t wrong at all. He was indeed extremely impressive. In fact, even Cao Yun wasn''t sure he could win in a fair fight against him. But that also meant that if he didn''t pretend to lower his cultivation, his real strength would be exposed. At least, with his earlier show, Boss Gui and Miss Wo had felt his spiritual senses. No one would actually believe that a Golden Blood Child could have spiritual senses. Now, he simply had to fight well enough and he could blame is poor performance for an Accomplished Demon on this self-imposed restriction.


    Cao Yun reined in his spiritual senses, making a great show of it. Apart from Accomplished Demons, no one could tell the difference as they simply couldn''t see or feel his soul outside of his body. Thus, this was clearly for Miss Wo and Boss Gui who were watching him closely. Then, Cao Yun circulated his Golden Blood to the utmost. A powerful vitality erupted all around him and spread along with thick killing intent. Even Mister Dai was a bit shaken by it. On the stairs, Miss Wo and Boss Gui were also pleasantly surprised. His cultivation was firm and stable. That was often the downfall of alchemists. The fact that he had not fallen for it made Boss Gui quite glad.


    Mister Dai wasn''t fighting with a sword but with a club with sharp spikes on it. Without any hesitation, he charged toward Cao Yun and tried to crush his skull.


    ''Falling Star''!


    With the speed and the aura surrounding the club, it almost turned into a small sun. In fact, the very light of the day seemed to converge on the weapon as it turned red with heat. Mister Dai''s body also became more and more bronze-like to the point that it was almost reflecting all the light of the sun while his skin was turning hot and making the air around it shimmer.


    With his knowledge of array formations, Cao Yun could tell that all his escape routes had been cut off. There was an intense heat swirling around him. No matter what he did, the weapon would fall on his head. And meeting it with raw strength wasn''t an option for him without exposing his Qi cultivation. However, that technique was still not perfect. And as an array formation master, he was able to see several flaws he could exploit. Any other Golden Blood Child would have been in a very difficult position though. Boss Gui''s pride was absolutely justified.


    Cao Yun didn''t use his new sword yet. Instead, he used ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''. This was the martial art he had created from Axiu Qian''s memories and ''Dance of Slaughter''. First of all, he evaded the strike without any problem, also adding his knowledge of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' to his movement. Putting some vibration in his palm strike, Cao Yun hit Mister Dai on his exposed flank. Also, he sent a few strands of pure Qi into the fighter. Because he had no reason to believe otherwise, the slave was convinced he was fighting a demon. Thus, this attack would clearly surprise him a lot. In fact, he wouldn''t even understand what had happened since he had no experience with fighting humans. He would only think it was due to the vibrations.


    ''Stepping in the Sun''!


    Quickly, Mister Dai put some distance between the two of them. For an instant, he almost disappeared in the light of the day. Then, he stood far from Cao Yun. As much as he was trying to conceal it, he was hurting and there was even a bit of blood at his mouth.


    "Good, very good, indeed. Your technique is excellent. Boss Gui can be proud of your training."


    As he spoke, Cao Yun brandished his newly acquired ''Scarlet Ruin''. Although he had not developed his Sword Aura, he circulated his Spear Aura a little. Around the young swordsman, it added a layer of intimidation. Miss Wo and Boss Gui saw through it. They could tell that he knew how to use a sword very well. Of course, he had no Sword Aura, but he was talented for an alchemist.


    ''The Wind rises in the East.''


    ''Blazing Aegis''!


    A powerful gust of wind assaulted Mister Dai. Reacting quickly, he used his club in order to protect himself. As though it were a shield, he stabbed it in the ground as an aura of light and heat engulfed him. A lot of sand was also sent toward him and bruised his skin without drawing blood. Several cuts appeared on the club though as Cao Yun was wielding his sword. Even he was getting excited with his new weapon.


    Before Mister Dai could break free as he was trying to orientate his club in a specific direction, Cao Yun suddenly changed his form. His movements went from slashing with speed and elegance toward stabbing and violent. With more pinpoint attacks directed toward Mister Dai, his club couldn''t be used a shield as easily. Indeed, Cao Yun''s sword was moving faster than his heavy club despite Mister Dai''s impressive muscles.


    ''The Thunder rumbles in the West.''


    Lost in his own excitement, Cao Yun went to the next move of his ''Three Storms'' just as Mister Dai was adapting to it. The sword he had in hands was just too good for him to waste such an opportunity. Thunder bolts spread through the heavy club and assaulted Mister Dai''s flesh but he didn''t react at all and simply pushed through the pain. It was obvious that Boss Gui''s training had been hellish.


    ''Scorpion Stabs the Sun''!


    Mister Dai''s club met Cao Yun''s blade head-on, ready to push it back with raw strength. But he was surprised that the form had changed once more.


    ''The Ice hails in the South.''


    With a powerful move, Cao Yun deflected the club and pierced through Mister Dai''s defenses. Then, his sword touched his skin for the first time since the beginning of the duel. Through his arm, Cao Yun felt as though he had struck a metal wall. Thankfully, he had trained his muscles as well and was physically stronger than any typical Golden Blood Child. However, his weakness would have been exposed here and now. His sword was able to pierce Mister Dai''s skin. Finally, he drew some blood from the slave warrior.


    Still level-headed, Mister Dai moved away while recovering his weapon. However, Cao Yun didn''t let him do as he pleased.


    ''The Three Storms unite in the North.''


    All of a sudden, his sword had all the attributes of the three first verses. Each of his move contained traces of those attribute, swift slashes, precise stabs and powerful strikes. The art was to balance those attributes in each move in order to produce the precise effect he desired. For a few more minutes, Mister Dai and Cao Yun kept fighting. Mister Dai had clearly been training beforehand and he exhausted himself first. But the young swordsman could tell he was a great fighter.


    In fact, Cao Yun surprised himself really enjoying their little duel. Both of their weapons clashed with each other again and again. Miss Wo and Boss Gui were quite impressed as Cao Yun was supposed to only be an alchemist. Undoubtedly, there was more to Lord Mo Yun. And this proved many of the rumors they had heard about him.


    Although he wasn''t using any Qi Manifestation, Cao Yun''s blood while using ''Three Storms'' had summoned dark clouds above Boss Gui''s residence. His strikes could unleash wind, thunder and even ice. On the other hand, Mister Dai looked like a blazing bronze statue emitting a lot of hot light. On his perfect body though, there were already a few slashes while Cao Yun had only received one strike in his shoulder that had not injured him. The time to end this duel had come.


    ''All is gone in the world.''

 Chapter 529: The light in the dark sky

    Over the residence of Boss Gui, dark clouds had formed as Cao Yun had finally used the full form of ''Three Storms''. In the darkness blocking out the sun, there were powerful whirlwinds sending hail down below. Light was coming from transient lightning crossing the black expanse.


    ''The Wind rises in the East. The Thunder rumbles in the West. The Ice hails in the South. The Three Storms unite in the North. All is gone in the world.''


    This was the full version of ''Three Storms'' invented by Cao Beiwen. Cao Yun had only ever seen it performed by his father. As he wasn''t too close to the Spirit Warrior realm, his technique was still a bit weak compared with Cao Guang. However, for his current cultivation, it was indeed extremely impressive. Even Boss Gui was thoroughly convinced that he was indeed an Accomplished Demon suppressing his real cultivation. Besides, his Golden Blood was shining through as his aura was full of vitality. Cao Yun''s bloodline made him nobility in the eyes of any demon.


    On the other hand, Mister Dai didn''t let this intimidate him. His martial art was a common technique taught to most of Boss Gui''s slaves, ''Shadow Over Heaven''s Light''. That technique was supposed to outshine the sun in the firmament, hence the name. Event he light from heaven would be overshadowed by this art. Just like Cao Yun, Mister Dai pushed his art to the limit. His skin now looked as though it was really made out of bronze. His bloodline was inferior but he still circulated his Golden Blood. In his eyes, rivers of shining blood appeared. His club was as bright as the sun. And in the clouds above them, the sun was trying to pierce through the veil of darkness.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun was simply a better martial artist. Even if his cultivation had been even weaker, Cao Yun would have won this contest. Besides, he was both using his blood and his Qi, trying to conceal it both under his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' and the vitality of his Golden Blood. No one could see through the fact that a large part of the Qi Manifestation was caused by Cao Yun''s control over his Qi and not his blood. After all the end result was the same anyway.


    Now that they had both unleashed their ultimate mastery of their art, they charged toward each other. Cao Yun''s Spear Aura helped him a little. Even though he was using a sword, this aura was still active somehow. Besides, new Insight Writings were being formed right now in his sea of consciousness. Just like Chief Leader Baishen had told him, forming one Martial Aura would make forming new ones easier. Of course, he wouldn''t give birth to his Sword Aura right away, but it would be way faster since he knew the sensations of the Spear Aura. After all, someone who had mastered a weapon could master another one with more ease than someone who was learning from scratch.


    Mister Dai was like a statue of pure metal with his club ready to crush anything in his path. All around him was an intense heat making the air shimmer while spreading a blinding light. Cao Yun could not see anything at all, at least not with his physical eyes. But even without using his spiritual senses, he was able to sense Mister Dai without any problem. He could feel the movement of the air as well as the Qi in it, but he could also hear it very distinctly.


    Just like his opponent, Cao Yun had decided to be very aggressive and was also charging toward him. However, he was clearly faster than his opponent. Furthermore, the winds were pressing against Mister Dai slowing him down while pushing Cao Yun forward.


    ''Falling Star''!


    As Cao Yun reached a striking distance, Mister Dai struck first. From above, the light of the sun finally pierced through the black clouds. And his club went straight for Cao Yun''s head. Even with his cultivation, he could tell that such an attack would injure him, or even kill him. Mister Dai and Cao Yun had both gotten a bit too excited and had maybe forgotten that this was just a sparring session, not a death battle.


    Anyway, this time the young human felt that there was an intense pressure all around him sealing his moves. This was a mix between Mister Dai''s killing intent and his martial art. However, this wasn''t enough to intimidate Cao Yun. Quickly mobilizing his mind cultivation, he broke free. Unfortunately, even an instant could mean certain death in a fight. Now that the club was reaching his head, Cao Yun''s sword made a large arc in the air. With a violent gust of wind, he was able to change the trajectory of the club. It grazed his face and struck his left shoulder.


    Since his mastery over ''Three Storms'' wasn''t perfect yet, Cao Yun resorted to his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''. Over his shoulder, the scales of the Azure Dragon appeared. The impact was so violent that even though they were almost material, they were crushed and some even cracked under the strength of the blow. Thankfully, since the club''s trajectory was not direct due to Cao Yun''s parry with his sword, it wasn''t at full strength. Then, the scales moved all over Cao Yun''s body to strengthen his sword.


    At that moment, Cao Yun''s sword was still in contact with Mister Dai''s club, but now it was above it. Scraping the club, ''Scarlet Ruin'' went directly toward Mister Dai''s neck, following Cao Yun''s circular motion. As it was scarping the club, sparks flew everywhere.


    Cao Yun and Mister Dai both had the vision of the sword beheading the bronze fighter. However, at the very last moment, Cao Yun lowered his aim. His ''Scarlet Ruin'' sliced through Mister Dai''s chest. Despite his effort to control the force of the blow, Cao Yun cut through his muscles and even grazed his bones. Thankfully, he didn''t touch his heart. For a demon, this was the most important organ, besides their brains of course. Even if they were able to recover faster than humans thanks to their blood and vitality, demons could not grow back a heart, at least not with their current cultivation. After all, even Boss Gui who was a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon couldn''t regenerate her lost eyes. But maybe poison had been responsible for this.


    Now that Mister Dai was standing with a large crimson cut across his chest, the fight was over. The black clouds slowly dispersed as his light dimmed down. The colossus knelt in front of Cao Yun.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Thank you, Lord Mo, for this exciting fight and for sparing this lowly one''s meager life. It is unfortunate that this incompetent one can''t make you use your full strength. But the fight would have been too fast and wouldn''t have been enjoyed by anyone. Pardon my inadequacy."


    Little did Mister Dai know that Cao Yun had in fact used most of his strength. Of course, with a spear, he would have been even stronger. After all, his mastery over ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' was better. The martial art itself was stronger. Furthermore, he had a real Spear Aura, not an unformed Sword Aura to rely on. Moreover, he had not used his mind attacks during the fight, or his stealth. In other words, although Mister Dai could fight him on an equal footing, if he really wanted to kill him, he could. Even without using all of his hidden cards, he had still won the fight. And he could tell that the both of them had taken it seriously, especially by the end.


    "Thank you for letting me win. My sword thoroughly enjoyed facing you in battle."


    Cao Yun was sincerely happy about this fight. First of all, he loved martial arts and fair duel like this one. It had been some time since he had not fought someone in such a manner without any ulterior motive. Technically, he had to fight to showcase his strength and keep his status in Boss Gui''s eyes, but he had forgotten all of that during the fight to be honest. Besides, he had also been able to push his sword art a bit further thanks to this fight. If he succeeded in securing a contract with Boss Gui, he might use her own men to train for some time. At least, the idea crossed his mind, but he wasn''t too sure how it would play out.


    Looking down below, Cao Yun saw that the shining blood of Mister Dai was being sucked in by his own sword. ''Scarlet Ruin'' was slick with this Golden Blood for a very short amount of time. By blinking, one would have missed the phenomenon. But now, the blade was absolutely clean. In his hand, Cao Yun could feel that the sword was brimming with vitality. It even reminded him of ''Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear''. Just like that spear, this sword had no will or spirit. However, it had a form of instinct. Even now, it wanted more blood to quench its thirst. With that sensation, Cao Yun remembered the Ebony Snake Dragon''s scale he had in his spatial ring. At some point, he intended to use to forge another weapon. But even now, he was hoping on Ren Chao to forge it for him. First, he had to go back to the Hongchen Kingdom though.


    "Boss Gui, this sword is indeed exquisite."


    "Lord Mo, I didn''t know you were such a technician. Your fight was impressive despite your suppressed cultivation."


    "You''re being too generous, Boss Gui. Those are just some moves I learned on the road to protect my life. Although I can boast that no one would surpass me in terms of alchemy, I wouldn''t be so bold as to make that claim when it comes to a fight."


    "I see that you are indeed very confident in your alchemy then..."


    After sending a signal to Xixue, Cao Yun watched as she brought a small wooden plank with some characters written in blood on it. Miss Wo accepted it and gave it to Boss Gui without reading it, or even watching it at all.


    "City Lord Gui, Alchemist Mo Yun officially asks for an audience about our mutual interests."


    "Alchemist Mo Yun, City Lord Gui officially accepts your request."


    After exchanging a few formal words and doing all the necessary rituals, the two of them walked into her office. Boss Gui had in fact two distinct halls. The first one pertained to the official affairs of Duma City. However, she brought Cao Yun in her personal office where she could discuss her private endeavors. Once again, everything in the Nalupu Kingdom seemed to adhere to very strict conventions. More often than not, they were absolutely arbitrary so they had to hide some ancient culture that people had forgotten by now. The mere fact that corruption was so rampant that it was now part of those rituals and protocols showed how low the Nalupu Kingdom had fallen. But Cao Yun wouldn''t complain about it as it was a good thing for his plans.


    -


    Now that they were ready to talk business, Boss Gui put down the heavy pelt she had on her shoulders. All of a sudden, she almost lost half of her stature. In fact, she truly looked like a frail young woman. Despite her toned muscles Cao Yun could imagine thanks to her forearm, she was very slender. Besides, her hidden eyes that had suffered through some poison caused a desire to protect her. However, Cao Yun knew that she was stronger than he was. Furthermore, she was also able to be incredibly cruel if it was necessary. In fact, it was probably the reason behind her cruelty.


    Everything about Boss Gui was seen as a weakness by other demons, her unimpressive bloodline, her small stature, the few wrinkles on her face, her blindness as well as the traces of poison she was hiding. Most likely, only a handful of people knew about the poison though. On the other hand, all the other points would naturally make her look inadequate in the eyes of most demons. Thus, she had to be intransigent and extremely brutal in order to maintain her image. The fact that Cao Yun had not heard anything about those points showed that the demons truly feared her to a great extent.


    "Lord Mo, I won''t beat around the bush. I heard rumors about you and City Lord Sihe. What is the truth of the matter?"


    "Boss Gui, I appreciate your candor. Unfortunately, there are reasons which prevent me to delve too much into the matter. Know that City Lord Sihe is certainly not my ally in any sense of the word. In fact, this is also part of the reason why I came to you. I imagine that your business would profit from my pills and I would certainly profit from your prosperous business as well as from your protection."


    When Cao Yun refused to answer Boss Gui''s questions, he sensed Miss Wo''s muscles tense. There was no doubt at all that she was ready to strike him down. The threat wasn''t too obvious, but it was still there. In fact, she had probably already killed people who had refused her mistress in some way.


    Boss Gui studied Cao Yun for some time. Although his mind cultivation could allow him to lie easily, being sincere was always a better option. After all, he could never know if the person in front of him could have some way of knowing the truth. Instead of making up lies, simply refusing to answer was the best solution. And it showcased his general honesty even more. Although she had no eye, Cao Yun felt Boss Gui''s gaze on him for a long time. It was even stronger than piercing eyes. In fact, he even wondered whether she would be able to see through him. It was said that demons had stronger emotions. So they might be able to sense small variations in his mood better than most humans.


    "Humph. Fine, I''ll drop that matter for now. Your pills did catch my attention. On that point there is no doubt. However, in order to truly help my training of the slaves, you would certainly need to know more about said training, right?"


    "Indeed. As much as I can give you very generic pills, if I had a better idea of their real training regime, the results would be better. Since I know that trust will need time to build, I can first provide you with those generic pills. Over time, I will simply adjust them to your needs."


    "No need for that, walk with me."

 Chapter 530: Training poisonous bugs

    Honestly, Cao Yun was a bit surprised by Boss Gui''s attitude. Although they had just met, she was ready to make him visit her training grounds. Indeed, the reason why her residence was away from Duma City was because she had a vast expanse to train her slaves. Some were training outside. All of them were already quite powerful for slaves. There were a few instructors and the training itself didn''t seem that different from what Cao Yun had experienced from Chief Instructor Peng. It was a bit more brutal, but the demons had a higher cultivation as well.


    Indeed, all the demons outside were Golden Blood Children at the very least, while the instructors were all half-step Accomplished Demons or true Accomplished Demons for a couple of them. From a distance it was difficult to tell for sure, but Cao Yun was certain that they were all slaves. However, they didn''t seem to all have a Slavery Brand. In fact, Cao Yun could barely feel anything of the sort. Of course, he would need to use spiritual senses and he couldn''t really do so discreetly here. That being said, he had the feeling that those slaves had either other kinds of seals or no seal at all.


    That feeling got stronger when he saw the way the instructors and most of the trainees were looking at Boss Gui. A majority of them had a deep respect for her while a small minority still had more fear than awe. But even they didn''t have any hatred or resentment toward her. Thinking about the situation, Cao Yun also deduced that Boss Gui wasn''t comfortable using the Slavery Brand manufactured by City Lord Sihe. And even though she was an Accomplished Demon, it didn''t mean that she was proficient in seals like Cao Yun or City Lord Sihe were.


    The trainees were all wearing very short and ample trousers while the rest of their body was exposed. The women also had some bandages to cover their breasts. Instantly, the reason was obvious. Their skins were covered in bruises and shallow cuts. During their training, they were activating their blood by striking their flesh. Besides pushing their blood cultivation, it was also strengthening their flesh. Some of the slaves had very reddish skins while others were closer to the bronze hue Mister Dai had. Only a few of them were looking like humans from the Hongchen Kingdom. It was a sign that they were constantly circulating their blood cultivation.


    In fact, the instructors also had faint red lines here and there on their bodies, just like Axiu Qian had in Cao Yun''s visions. This was a sign of their cultivation too.


    Most of the wounds were on their backs, around their spines, as well as on their chests and rib cages. Most likely, it was to help them send their Golden Blood into their head. Thus, they all had a blood cultivation similar to Cao Yun. Some were more advanced, but most of them were also 5th-grade Golden Blood Children. Obviously, this piqued Cao Yun''s interest. Cultivating that many fighters was very difficult. And he was intrigued by it, hoping to find ways to improve his own cultivation. Once again, he noticed that they all had faint signs of using poison.


    Even Cao Yun wouldn''t have noticed it if he hadn''t already detected that in Miss Wo, Boss Gui and Mister Dai. Mister Dai was already back to teaching some trainees. The wound on his chest had already stopped bleeding, but it would take some time for it to completely hide and then fade away over time. Demons truly had impressive vitality. But Cao Yun knew it because his own blood had made him able to recover from heavy injuries. Even Ren Chao had been helped by his bloodline as well.


    "Your training is very good indeed. How long did it take to bring those cultivators to this level?"


    "Well, from the 1st-grade Golden Blood Child to the 5th-grade, we usually need eight years of intensive training. Of course, their cultivation is not as stable and a few can''t keep up with our pace. In fact, those who fall behind too much or are injured are sold to do various works. Some are still strong enough to be bodyguards or foot soldiers. Those who are too injured or damaged though have to be sold to do miscellaneous tasks, labor works, sometimes clerical works as well. I also have a wing of my courtyard to teach them about proper etiquette. The most talented can learn the art of administration. Even though I focus on incredible soldiers, I do not limit myself to that."


    "How many injured?"


    "I would say that something between thirteen to seventeen percent of our trainees are too injured to go all the way. Among them, half are so injured and damaged, they simply are unfit to fight or cultivate any longer. Thankfully, the other half is stuck in their cultivation while still being good fighters. I can still train them to improve their martial arts. Besides, I am also working on battle formations. Although we''re not quite there yet, it would allow my men to become independent units. Instead of selling warriors, I could sell an entire unit with its own battle formations, making them even more dangerous than some Accomplished Demons."


    "Truly impressive indeed."


    With this new information, Cao Yun looked throughout of the courtyard until he did find a group of trainees working on coordinated attacks. Although he wasn''t an expert in battle formations, he was an array formation master. And Boss Gui was absolutely right. They weren''t quite there yet. Although their coordination was good, their battle formation was way too simple and didn''t improve their overall strength by much. Besides, even he saw many weaknesses in it. Clearly, Boss Gui was lacking the competent teachers on that front. However, since she had such a good way of cultivating her fighters, this wasn''t too much of a problem.


    In fact, eight years to break through five grades of the Golden Blood Child realm seemed impossible. The amount of injured or maimed cultivators also seemed very small compared with such an achievement. Cao Yun had gone faster, but he had the Drop of Wrath and his own Qi cultivation and mind cultivation to boost his blood cultivation. For an average demon, this should take between twenty to thirty years. In other words, she had reduced it by more than half. However, he had to admit that demons didn''t spend all their time training so intensely. But then, came the question of the injured. With such an intense regime, there should be more than that. In fact, Cao Yun was convinced that half the demons would develop Qi deviation and maybe even inner demons before they could reach the 5th-grade Golden Blood Child stage.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    No matter how he reasoned, the only thing that could explain such results was the poison he could detect in them. But it was very faint, to the point that they probably didn''t even know they had this poison in their veins. Had they known, they probably wouldn''t have such respect for Boss Gui. Most likely, their respect came from the fact that she had elevated them to such a cultivation. Even if they were slaves and sold to wage war on the main continent for the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, they had hope. Slave warriors could buy their freedom through their battle exploits.


    Those slaves had all learned very useful skills they could use to improve their lives in the future. Besides, with their current cultivation, they could live hundreds of years. Even if they were to sacrifice an entire century as slaves, they would still have a long life before them afterwards. It made perfect sense. And technically, Boss Gui had never enslaved anyone herself. She was simply buying untrained slaves to train them and sell them away. Most of their hatred was directed toward the Nalupu Kingdom itself and its corruption as well as the slavers who had captured them.


    "Boss Gui, you have a literal army. You could even conquer City Lord Sihe''s city with such a force in a few years..."


    "Lord Mo is too naive. If someone were to attack a City Lord, all the other City Lords would unite against the common threat. For now, we''re all competing against each other. No one would budge if City Lord Sihe or myself were taken down by other means. But a direct attack would be an act of war against the entire Nalupu Kingdom."


    "It seems like you did think about it..."


    This time, Boss Gui only answered with a smirk.


    "If you''re impressed by this, then you will be amazed by what''s going on in our facilities."


    Completely changing the subject, Boss Gui walked towards the buildings in her courtyard. Until now, Cao Yun had only seen the Golden Blood Children, but obviously most slaves she bought arrived as Blood Children. Thus, she had to train them just to turn them into Golden Blood Children. From the lowest 1st-grade Blood Child to a full-fledged Golden Blood Child, it would take as long as a human crossing over the entire Mortal realm. So it would take at the very least fifteen years for the average demon.


    When they got closer to the buildings, Cao Yun sensed a thick killing intent as well as a heavy stench of blood. Besides, he was also hearing the clashes of weapons as well as the sounds of flesh being struck. In other buildings, he couldn''t hear anything at all. But just by looking at them, he could tell they were either places to study or to meditate. However, he was greatly intrigued by the buildings where demons were clearly fighting.


    Finally, he entered one of them with Boss Gui, Xixue and Miss Wo. What they saw was indeed impressive. In some kind of shallow but wide pit, a dozen of demons were fighting a large scorpion. It was as large as an elephant, but its shell was full of cracks all over. Undoubtedly, this scorpion had already fought for a very long time. With its stinger, it swept away a demon who hit the wall of the pit with an impressive speed. Some of her bones cracked and the wall was covered in her blood. Then, an instructor retrieved her broken body and carried her to another room while she was breathing painfully.


    In the pit, the demons were still fighting the demonic beast. One of them tried to climb out but an instructor simply kicked him in the face to send him back in. Using this as an opportunity, the scorpion tried to cut him in half with its pincers. The pincer did penetrate his flesh. The young man screamed in agony. But before he was cut clean in two halves, the same instructor who had broken a few of his teeth, jumped in and held the pincer open, almost breaking it. In fear, the scorpion moved back and let go of the young man. After making sure that he couldn''t fight anymore, the instructor sent the young man toward another servant who brought him toward the same room as the first demon.


    To replace those two, other slaves were brought in. They were shaking and could barely hold on to their weapons, mere wooden sticks. The killing intent Cao Yun had sensed came entirely from that scorpion and its brethren. Indeed, there were several identical pits in that room and in other rooms and other buildings. Those demonic beasts had been pushed to despair. That scorpion in front of him was a Lake Walking Scorpion, a mere 2-core demonic beast. Cao Yun could kill it in a single move as it wasn''t even stronger than a 6th-grade Mortal or a 6th-grade Blood Child. Unfortunately for the demons down below, they were all early Blood Children.


    Considering their number, they should be able to put up a good fight, and to be fair, some were really holding their own. However, they lacked a real team work and the beast was thoroughly enraged despite its fatigue. What Cao Yun also knew about this demonic beast was that it was venomous. Most of its venom was in its stinger. That being said, it was also letting out its venom in the surrounding air. With his training, the young alchemist could tell that there was indeed a bit of poison in the air, but it didn''t belong to the Lake Walking Scorpion and it was very faint. That poison was heavily concentrated in the pit. In other words, it was clearly made so by Boss Gui herself.


    "We took out the venomous glands of that beast, but it''s still terrorizing our new recruits. Fear and pain are necessary at first. With time, they will grow strong enough to fight the demonic beast. Then, we put them against a more powerful beast. And if they refuse to fight or try to run, we beat them until they accept their position. Those who fight well and valiantly even if they''re not successful are well treated and fed. For example, that girl earlier will receive more food than usual while the boy who tried to run won''t eat for a week unless he proves himself."


    "This is very extreme. Aren''t there too many injured with such a method?"


    "Indeed, it is extreme, I agree. But it yields very good results. In just five to seven years, most of our trainees reach the Golden Blood Child realm. And they all accept that such a brutal and violent method was in fact a blessing in disguise."


    "Where are sent the injured?"


    "We put them in the blood on the slain demonic beasts, along with some other herbs. With their own wounds, they absorb this blood even faster. We also use several decoctions and balms. This is a part in which your alchemy would prove very useful indeed. We already tried some of your pills and they are terrific in order to heal them faster."


    "I would like to see the composition of this mix of blood and herbs."


    "Of course, I would love to hear your opinion on it."


    Once again, Cao Yun was surprised that Boss Gui agreed so easily. Although he was shocked by the training method, he had to admit that it truly seemed efficient if her figures were right. By fighting demonic beasts and absorbing their blood afterwards, they could progress fast. But they would also accumulate internal injuries. But the crux of the training did seem to be this poison.

 Chapter 531: Blood and venom

    Before getting to the other room where the injured trainees were taken care of, Cao Yun really observed everything going on in the building. What really intrigued him was how she could make people so respectful of her despite the way she was treating them at their arrival. And he quickly understood that. This first training was not simply to make the newly acquired slaves stronger. She was quite literally breaking them, not just physically but also mentally. They had no time to think about anything else but surviving.


    Although the instructors were making sure that no one died during the fights, there had to be accidents. And the pain was deterrent enough for the slaves to give their best. Besides, they were all rather young. Not a single one of them was older than sixteen. Thus, they were easier to manipulate. After months or even years of such a brutal treatment, even the will of demons would suffer. Then, she simply had to promise them strength and status. Before long, they would respect her and some would even be glad they had been bought by her. This was rather wicked in fact.


    Obviously, Cao Yun didn''t like that at all. However, he had to admit that such a method was extremely efficient. Moreover, such an army of slave warriors might be useful to him, and not just in the Desolate Sepulcher. Furthermore, many of those slaves were now in the Empyrean Asura Theocracy''s army. There might be ways to use that to his advantage in the future. Anyway, he had to work together with Boss Gui for the time being. Once again, he felt the Unclean Evil in him get agitated. In front of him were boys and girls sometimes even younger than he had been when his family was slaughtered. Some of the girls were the same age as his little sister. And they were in an incredible torment, both physically, and worse than all, mentally. And yet, he wouldn''t do anything to help them.


    Cao Yun was trying to convince himself that, should his plans succeed, the slaves would be set free, it didn''t really alleviate his shame. Once again, he felt as though he was just trying to justify his own weakness and cowardice. It was true though, he couldn''t do anything for them now. But that didn''t mean he would abandon them. Besides, he couldn''t save everyone and neither did he want such a thing. That responsibility was too much. However, he couldn''t simply ignore what was going on right under his nose.


    After observing the violent training of the young slaves, Cao Yun followed Boss Gui and Miss Wo into another room. There, the injured slaves were put into small basins full of dark blood. Immediately, Cao Yun''s nose recognized the same poison he had smelled all over the place. This time, it really wasn''t subtle at all. All this time, even Cao Yun had a hard time analyzing the poison because it was too faint. But in those basins, the poison was extremely potent. And since the slaves were injured, it was able to enter their bloodstream very easily. Besides, they were barely conscious so they wouldn''t notice anything strange at all. Apparently, the instructors themselves were unaware of what was really going on.


    Most likely, they thought that those were just medicinal herbs of some kind. But Cao Yun was absolutely certain that mixed in the blood was the altered venom of some demonic beast. Considering that the slaves were fighting Lake Walking Scorpions, he tried to compare it with their venom. This wasn''t the same thing, but it was very similar. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had only an academic knowledge of the ecosystem of the Desolate Sepulcher. In other words, even if he now knew all the common species of this continent, he couldn''t know the smell of their venom without experiencing it himself. Knowing what a flower looked like was easy through a book, but knowing its smell without actually smelling a real one was very difficult.


    While the young alchemist was observing the basins intently, Boss Gui was observing him. She had agreed to show him her greatest secrets with too much eagerness. Cao Yun suspected that she was looking for something. But since he didn''t know what it was, he simply didn''t pay it any mind. He would cross this bridge when the time was right. Once again, she surprised him by allowing him to literally take some of the blood.


    Analyzing it, Cao Yun was able to discover many herbs along with the scorpion venom. The mixture was rather clever, but it was far from perfect. Most of the herbs were meant to soothe the body and heal the slaves yes. But some were there to mitigate the effects of the venom as well as to speed up its spread throughout the bloodstream.


    Boss Gui brought Cao Yun to her office where she let him use his cauldron to perform some tests on the mixture of blood, herbs and venom. He spent several days working on it. All the time, Boss Gui was watching him. Not a single one of his movement escaped her eyes. Of course, he took a few pauses. Boss Gui had arranged for him to have a room all for himself. After making sure that the room was appropriately isolated, Cao Yun used it to meditate and cultivate a little.


    His mind cultivation was going very well. In fact, being in such a place with slaves being tormented all around him was good for his Unclean Evil. And because it was good for his cultivation, it increased his own shame and things snowballed from there. Although cultivating shame was improving his Unclean Evil, it could also be dangerous. If his Unclean Evil went out of control, he would give birth to a powerful inner demon. Of course, he had ways to deal with it, but turning his sea of consciousness into a battleground wasn''t the most optimal way of cultivating his mind and soul.


    In order to improve his mind cultivation, Cao Yun also used the calligraphy he had in his spatial ring. It truly was incredible, but it wasn''t miraculous either. For a time, Cao Yun hesitated to work on his third Turbid Demon. He had already chosen it, the Stinking Lungs. After the Po of Jing and the Po of Qi, it was the Po of Shen. Shen was the spirit. For example, Cao Yun had the character of Shen the Fire Spirit in his sea of consciousness. The mind referred to someone''s intellect and knowledge while the spirit was related to their aspirations, their motivations, their will even. The Shen wasn''t exactly the mind itself but the general controlling the other parts of the mind. Yi the Earth Intent and Zhi the Water Will were both under the jurisdiction of Shen the Fire Spirit.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    As a Turbid Demon, the Stinking Lungs was related to corruption. And Cao Yun was starting to feel like his ambitions and desires were corrupting him. Besides, Dian Mo kept telling him that he was changing because of his mind cultivation. Maybe working on the Turbid Demon of corruption could help him make sure that this wouldn''t happen. As much as Cao Yun was trying to say that he was the same man, he wasn''t too sure. After all, the mere fact that he had learned about the fate of his sister had changed him. But it was difficult to tell whether the circumstances had changed or whether he had changed. Everything was always changing after all.


    Even though he was isolated, the young human didn''t work on his Qi cultivation. As much as he wanted to become a Spirit Warrior as fast as possible, he had no intention of revealing his true nature. Besides, he could still just use his blood to temper his meridians. It was a way for him to advance his Qi cultivation without directly working on it. At the same time, he was sending his Golden Blood through his spine. His current 5th-grade Golden Blood Child stage required for his Golden Blood to ascend his spine all the way to his heart. This was the Shendao, the Heart Gate. Forcing it could be dangerous as it could injure his heart.


    After some hesitation, he decided to try out something. Taking a single drop of the venom mixture, Cao Yun absorbed it into his own flesh. All around the drop of venom, he was sending his Black Heart Flame, just in case. If things went bad, he could burn it all away in an instant. As an alchemist, controlling toxin, poison and venom was rather easy. Thankfully, this venom wasn''t too strong for him. Furthermore, the herbs were indeed lowering its potency. Such a venom could not injure Cao Yun at all. In fact, his blood could completely annihilate it even without his Black Heart Flame.


    Since the herbs were negating the effects of the venom, it would have no impact on Cao Yun as he wasn''t a Blood Child like the other young slaves. Thus, he carefully used his Black Heart Flame to burn away some of the herbs in the drop he had absorbed. The process wasn''t easy but Cao Yun''s mastery of alchemist made things smoother. While trying to purify the venom, he still burned away a few drops of it. But in the end, he succeeded and found himself with the pure version of the venom. According to him, it was probably a 4-star Human poison. In other words, it wasn''t too dangerous for Accomplished Demons but it was absolutely deadly for Blood Children.


    Controlling the pure venom, Cao Yun mixed it with his blood. And although the effects were small, he did feel something. His Golden Blood became hotter and was attacking his own flesh with more vigor. That was when he understood the training of Boss Gui. The effect of that venom was to raise the temperature of the blood while increasing its flow. Like that, the poison would spread even faster throughout the bloodstream. Then, it would corrode the flesh from within. Cao Yun could imagine the painful death that would result from it. But before death, ironically, the cultivation of the victim would be pushed forward. For a Golden Blood Child, it wouldn''t be very efficient. But still, since it could help the blood circulate faster and increase its vigor, it would still yield some effect nonetheless.


    For demons who had taken this poison since a young age, it would certainly have a positive impact on their overall cultivation. The mere fact that they became Golden Blood Children at a younger age than most was helpful in itself since their essence and vitality were necessarily stronger. However, there were drawbacks since their bloodstream would be coated with this venom, accumulating more and more toxins. At one point, they would hit a wall, just as if they had trained by swallowing pills. Since they were meant to be slave warriors, this wasn''t much of an issue. Besides, no demon could go further than the Accomplished Demon realm anyway.


    The biggest issue was cultural. For demons, soiling their blood in such a manner was absolutely out of the question. Using herbs to alter their blood, and even pill, was considered as neutral, even though some demons scorned such practices. However, when it came to poison or venom, all demons were opposed to their uses with a passion. The Sisters of the Abyss were adamantly opposed to such heresy and so was the Nalupu Kingdom. Even the nomad tribes who hated the Nalupu Kingdom still respected the Sisters of the Abyss. As such, they also refused to use any form of poison despite living in the desert with many venomous and poisonous species.


    Now that he understood the mixture better, Cao Yun did try it on himself. Unfortunately, it didn''t help him at all. His control over his blood and his Golden Blood in particular had already reached a plateau. Even with this venom, it didn''t increase the flow of his Golden Blood, especially not in his spine.


    The next day, he kept on analyzing the mixture with his alchemy in front of Boss Gui. Of course, he had already found out the secret of it, but he was putting on a show so as to not reveal how he had truly figured it out.


    "Boss Gui, this mixture is indeed intriguing."


    "Did you find anything interesting about it? Could you have a way to make it even more potent. To be honest, I''m not too good when it comes to alchemy. I mostly invented it through trial and error. After stumbling upon some strange herbs, I tried out their effects on my slaves. Sadly, many died or were terribly damaged before I could create my current blood mixture."


    "Unfortunately, this is a very intricate mixture of herbs and blood indeed. I was able to sense other things within, but I would like to have a complete list if at all possible. That being said, I do think there are ways to improve it."


    In the room they were in, there were only two other persons apart from Cao Yun and Boss Gui, Miss Wo and Xixue. However, Cao Yun decided not to talk about the venom within. First of all, he didn''t want to show all his cards right away. But even if he had wanted to, he would not talk about poison or venom in front of either Xixue or Miss Wo. Apart from Boss Gui, he didn''t know who was aware of the true nature of the mixture. Until then, he would keep it a secret.


    Cao Yun looked at Miss Wo. She wasn''t as impassible as always. In fact, he saw both disappointment, relief but also doubt. This was a very strange combination of emotions she went through all at once. Very subtle movements of her facial muscles and her chest betrayed her in Cao Yun''s eyes.


    "Miss Gui, I am almost certain that I can refine the perfect pills for your slave warriors. Although I can''t promise anything about how effective they will be, I can assure you they will yield good results in the long run."


    Everyone noticed that Cao Yun had changed his address. Now, he was talking to her as an equal. However, Boss Gui wasn''t ready to do so just yet.


    "I am glad to hear your promises, Lord Mo. However, I would need something a bit more substantial. I received a letter from Lady Gu Xue. After hearing about you, I tried to find out more. But I found nothing, so I had my suspicions. After seeing your fight though, my suspicions are now gone."

 Chapter 532: Hypothetical assassination attempt

    Although he couldn''t see Boss Gui''s eyes, Cao Yun was able to clearly sense her intention. She wasn''t bluffing at all. There was no doubt that she had found out something about him. But the fact that she was convinced didn''t mean that she really knew. Besides, Cao Yun wasn''t absolutely sure what she thought she had uncovered. Thus, he kept his calm and controlled his emotions to showcase doubt and surprise.


    "I''m not too sure what you''re talking about..."


    "Lord Mo, you shouldn''t be too coy with me. You''ve appeared out of nowhere all of a sudden with alchemy skills that can''t be found in our Desolate Sepulcher. And during your fight with Mister Dai, you showed us a martial art that doesn''t exist in our Desolate Sepulcher either. You come from the main continent, God''s Land, isn''t that right?"


    Finally, Cao Yun was a bit relieved. At the very least, Boss Gui had absolutely no idea he was human. In fact, it seemed so impossible that she had not considered this possibility once. If his cover was blown, he had no idea how demons on this continent would react. The Empyrean Asura Theocracy would want him dead, but he didn''t know enough about either the Nalupu Kingdom or the nomad tribes to be sure. Humans had never walked this land for millennia now, after all.


    "Miss Gui, the fact that you didn''t find any mention of my martial arts or my person doesn''t mean that I didn''t exist. Absence of proof isn''t the same as proof of absence. Maybe everything about me has been kept secret. After all, can you claim to know everything that''s going on in the Desolate Sepulcher? For instance, do you know precisely what''s going on with City Lord Sihe?"


    The implication was obvious, but once again, Cao Yun wasn''t lying. Implying that he had worked for City Lord Sihe was not the same thing as stating it outright. As soon as he spoke, Cao Yun saw two things. Boss Gui was trying to hide it but he had been able to instill some doubts in her. On the other hand, her bodyguard Miss Wo was more tense than ever. If he really worked for City Lord Sihe, Cao Yun could be a threat to her mistress.


    "Lord Mo, what do you know about City Lord Sihe? From what I gathered, you seem to be opposed to him through various persons. In fact, he will probably try to get rid of you one way or another."


    "And this is precisely why I am intent on forming an alliance with you, Miss Gui. But if you want to talk about City Lord Sihe, let us do so. I know that he intends to kill you."


    Not an instant after the word had left his mouth, Miss Wo was circulating her blood cultivation and pouring her Qi into her weapon. In less than a breath, she could be on Cao Yun with all her strength. In fact, he could literally feel her killing intent focused both on his neck and his heart. Miss Wo had seen him fight and considered him dangerous. Even though the strength Cao Yun had showcased was nowhere near hers, she was still under the impression that he had suppressed it for the fight. Had she thought otherwise, she would have concluded that Cao Yun was no direct threat to her mistress though.


    "Oh? And are you the instrument of this plan?"


    Contrary to Miss Wo, Boss Gui was more amused than anything else. In fact, she didn''t believe he was here to kill her at all. Her question was more of a joke than a real question.


    "Of course, City Lord Sihe wants me dead, as much as I want him dead. However, if he strikes me down, even through a servant of his, all the City Lords and even Lord Wanghuo will unite against him. They couldn''t accept such a threat to their authority. If one of us kills another City Lord, then he could do so again. Without me City Lord Sihe would grow too strong and rich. The other City Lords would use that as an excuse to pressure him. If he plans to kill me, he''ll have to do so in a roundabout way."


    "Indeed, Miss Gui is absolutely right. However, what makes you think that this roundabout way has not already started? The poison might already have been introduced?"


    "Do tell, Lord Mo. What kind of poison are we talking about?"


    "Just like the venom of some demonic beasts can increase the flow of blood and make the body destroy itself from within, a traitor among your most competent servants might do the trick."


    While Miss Wo didn''t really understand the comparison between the venom of a scorpion and a traitor, Boss Gui got the innuendo. At that moment, she was convinced that Cao Yun had found out her secret. To be honest, she had wanted to test him by showing her full operation. And for now, he wasn''t disappointing her at all. Because she was convinced that he came from God''s Land, she was also convinced he had not the same scruples as her fellow countrymen. The fact that he was talking about poison so casually reinforced her belief. But at the same time, the way he was talking about City Lord Sihe made her doubt. Maybe he did come from God''s Land but had worked for City Lord Sihe nonetheless. It was absolutely possible.


    As much as she was trying to hide it, Cao Yun could read her very well. The more time he was spending with her, the more he was able to read her. Demons had stronger emotions so it was more difficult for them to hide them. Of course, at Boss Gui''s level, the difference wasn''t much, but it was still there.


    There was another person who was reacting to Cao Yun''s words. Xixue, as the instrument of Boss Gui''s death imagined by City Lord Sihe, felt very awkward. Thankfully, she was still wearing her mask. No one could see her face. Besides, they never once considered her a threat at all. After all, she was only a Blood Child. Miss Wo could probably take her down just with her killing intent.


    "And do you know which of my servants is a traitor?"


    Once again, Boss Gui seemed more amused than upset. On the other hand, Miss Wo was so tensed and focused that all her senses were focused on Cao Yun. In fact, she had completely disregarded everything and everyone else. At the moment, Xixue did not exist in Miss Wo''s eyes. Soon, this would change suddenly and she would realize that being too focused on a potential threat could blind her to an actual one.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "I never said that you had a traitor in your midst. I merely stated that introducing such a talented servant that you couldn''t refuse their help would be a great way to weaken you. You would drop your guard and no one would have any reason to believe that that servant was working for someone else. After a few months or even years, if that servant were to kill you in an incredible accident, then no one could blame it on City Lord Sihe. Of course, some might have unfounded suspicions, but in the end, his innocence would prevail."


    As Cao Yun explained City Lord Sihe''s actual plan, Xixue was more awkward than ever while Boss Gui''s amused attitude was slowly changing. What Cao Yun had just described did sound like City Lord Sihe''s kind of plan.


    "What kind of accident are we talking about?"


    "If someone, let''s say a master of seals, were to place some deep in the body of a slave that you would buy, he could plant the seed of your demise in your entourage. Then, the seals would explode at a specific moment, maybe triggered by the cultivation of said servant. In that way, people would think that it was a terrible form of Qi deviation. Although rare, such accidents happen."


    Although demons had no Dantian, they could still detonate themselves by focusing their blood in a specific spot. Usually, a suicidal demon would concentrate all their blood in their heart to put it under pressure. In such a manner, their heart would act as a Dantian. Then, the Qi within the blood would suddenly burst outward, destroying the body of the demon and even causing an explosion that could kill others around them. That was exactly City Lord Sihe''s plan. Once the seals within Xixue would be activated, her blood and blood essence would detonate, killing Boss Gui.


    Considering that almost nothing would remain of Xixue, it would be impossible to detect the seals engraved in her bones. The witnesses would be left with two alternatives. Either Xixue had decided to kill herself all of a sudden, or she had taken a wrong path in her cultivation. Such accidents had happened in the past. And the fact that the seals were improving her cultivation speed, it would certainly seem like she had gone too far too fast. Even if other City Lords had suspicions on him, City Lord Sihe would be untouchable. Then, he would have to deal with the absence of City Lord Gui in a reasonable manner so as to not give a reason for the City Lords or Lord Wanghuo to fear him.


    "When I hear you, it feels as though you''re not talking about an hypothetical plan... But, hypothetically, what kind of slave would cause me to lower my guard?"


    "Well, it could be an alchemist like me of course. But if City Lord Sihe had such a talented alchemist, he would try to keep him for himself, not sacrifice him. In fact, he might try to hide him from the rest of the world and force him to work relentlessly for him. No, the best kind of slave would be a weak one. A slave you wouldn''t imagine could be used as a warrior. But since it would be necessary for you to find them valuable, then the solution is simple."


    "Some form of clerical assistant? Maybe an adviser? A secretary?"


    "Yes, that would be the best kind of slave to get close to you. A slave trained to be a great help in the administration of your business would clearly make you intrigued. And if she could help you battle City Lord Sihe, you wouldn''t think of her as a possible agent of your enemy. Weakening himself to make you more trusting of the scorpion in your den would be a good strategy."


    "She? Do you know who that slave would be?"


    Tension was rising in the room. Even now though, no one was paying much attention to Xixue, further proving Cao Yun''s point in fact.


    "I''m only talking about possibilities, Miss Gui. However..."


    Suddenly, Cao Yun took off Xixue''s mask. Obviously, the young girl was shocked. As soon as he did so, Boss Gui and Miss Wo''s attention focused on her. They could tell she was anxious and even afraid. The first thought that came to their mind was that they would have never considered such a weak girl to be a threat. In itself, it was a threat.


    "Miss Gui, I present to you my assistant, Lady Hanqu Xixue. Without her, my Blazing Swallow wouldn''t have become as successful as it is right now so fast."


    "Hanqu?"


    The name triggered some memory in Boss Gui. She was a girl from the Lotus Tribe. She had already seen slaves from the Lotus Tribe, but she had not bought a single one of them yet. However, she knew that the entire tribe had been decimated and everyone enslaved or killed. The slave Cao Yun had bought also came from that tribe, Hanqu Meiyue. Then, that explained why he had bought her. It wasn''t for dual cultivation at all.


    "Miss Gui, my servant''s sister was sold in your city. Rumors had it that you had bought her yourself. Hanqu Yinl¨¹, does that ring any bell?"


    "Yinl¨¹? I remember that name, but I didn''t buy her. No girl from the Lotus Tribe seemed like good material for my training. Their bloodline was good but it wasn''t too compatible with my training regime."


    That meant that the venom of the Sun Staring Scorpion wouldn''t have been as effective on them. Or maybe it would have been rejected. To be honest, Cao Yun didn''t know enough about the venom and the mixture of Boss Gui as well as the bloodline of the Lotus Tribe to be sure about this.


    While she was speaking, the eyeless Boss Gui was still staring at Xixue. And Miss Wo''s attention was now equally split between Cao Yun and Xixue. Although she appeared weak, Miss Wo was wary of her and especially of her possible explosion.


    "Do you know what happened to her?"


    "If I remember right, the Sisters of the Abyss bought her."


    Hearing that, Xixue was deeply shocked. The Sisters were known to recruit woman slaves. They would serve the Sisters either in life or in death. Obviously, the worst possible outcome came to Xixue''s mind. Could her little sister have been sacrificed by those witches? Although she had much respect for the Sisters, like everyone else in the Desolate Sepulcher, Xixue had suddenly lost most of it. The religious order had turned into an evil cult in her mind, in less than an instant.


    "I see..."


    "Lord Mo, where did you meet your young assistant?"


    "Oh? I was leaving the Desolate Dune Desert. On my way to Ruohe, I found a caravan that had been attacked by a Tyrant Sun Scarab. Since Xixue had survived the attack, I took her in. Apparently, she had been trained by City Lord Sihe but she was going to be sold in your own city. Considering her talent, she would have probably piqued your interest through Lady Gu Xue''s reports. Pardon me though, but I decided that she would better serve me than you."


    "What happened to that caravan?"


    "I told you, it was attacked by a demonic beast."


    "I see..."


    Obviously, Boss Gui got Cao Yun''s meaning.


    "Poor Xixue here had terrible seals in all her body, so I got rid of the most dangerous ones."


    "Lord Mo, it seems like I have to thank you."


    "Thank me? For what?"


    Tension was at its highest when suddenly, Boss Gui laughed out loud and heartily.


    "Lord Mo, although this conversation was instructive, I would like to go back to the matter that most interests me. Miss Wo, leave us."


    Hearing her mistress, Miss Wo was utterly shocked. However, she didn''t argue at all and immediately left the room. Cao Yun also sent Xixue away. The girl was very anxious to be in Miss Wo''s presence now that she knew she had been used as an instrument of death toward her mistress.

 Chapter 533: Internal monologues

    Now that he was alone with Boss Gui, Cao Yun was ready to be much more direct. But first, they needed to make sure that no one was going to listen in on their conversation. Thus, Boss Gui activated a few array formations. Once again, Cao Yun was quick to analyze them. The alchemy and the array formations were both rather poor in this continent. Their isolation had cost them a lot. If they had been on the main continent, the Nalupu Kingdom would have surely been conquered by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Thankfully for them, the Divine Blood Ocean was so dangerous that no one could invade them from the mainland.


    In fact, Cao Yun had learned that a few expeditions had been sent since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. However, they had all been destroyed by the ocean itself. Only a handful of boats had reached the shores and the cultivators there had been easily dealt with. In fact, this was during one of those expeditions that the Nalupu Kingdom began to forge ties with the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. The Sisters of the Abyss weren''t too happy with that at first, but the prosperity it brought was well worth compromising with a foreign religion as long they were not on the same land.


    In order to be really sure that no one would listen in on their secret conversation, Cao Yun also used his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' all around them while expanding his spiritual senses. Boss Gui also expanded her own spiritual senses. Now, they could talk through their mind. To pierce through their thoughts would require a powerful cultivator. Besides, even a late Accomplished Demon would get detected if they tried to do such a thing. Among the humans, Cao Yun wasn''t even sure whether Xiao Xuefeng would be able to do it. But she might, all things considered. Thus, Cao Yun became a bit more paranoid. After all, although demons were said to not control their spiritual senses very well, he had no idea what the demons on this land could do. He had met a girl who could literally change her form, so he had to be extremely careful.


    What reassured Cao Yun was the fact that Boss Gui herself was extremely careful as well. She had a good idea what Cao Yun wanted to talk about and she didn''t want anyone else to overhear it. Even Miss Wo couldn''t hear that. When it came to poison and venom, no demon in the entire Desolate Sepulcher could be trusted. Of course, not all of them were so averse to the use of poison. Like in every culture, people were not agreeing with everything. However, this was such a great taboo that even Lord Wanghuo could be overthrown were he to use poison and be discovered.


    "Mister Mo, you hinted at something that is of great interest to me. Do you know what I''m referring to?"


    "Of course, Miss Gui. As you correctly guessed, I was able to determine the composition of this blood mixture you give your slaves. Honestly, I don''t have that much experience with the scorpions so I can''t tell which species you used. Maybe you even mixed several species'' venom in that mixture. That being said, I ascertained the effects of the venom. Your mixture of herbs is very ingenuous. Would you be willing to tell me how you came to invent it?"


    "Since you''ve not been able I''ll give you a hint. The venom comes from a Sun Staring Scorpion."


    Sun Staring Scorpions were 5-core demonic beasts. Now that she had given him the name, Cao Yun was indeed able to put everything together. Unlike other scorpions, this one could also spit out its poison and it would enter the victim''s body directly from their skin. Everything made a lot more sense, including Boss Gui''s blindness.


    "So this is how you discovered its other uses... A Sun Staring Scorpion took out your eyes with its poison."


    "Precisely. At the time, I was a lowly Golden Blood Child. My entire caravan was destroyed by demonic beasts but I escaped in the Desolate Dune Desert. Unfortunately, a Sun Staring Scorpion spat its venom in my face. My eyes were corroded in a matter of minutes, so I tried to save my life by any way possible. I used many medicinal herbs to try and clean the wounds to prevent the poison from going further in. By the end, I literally took out my own eyes in order to protect my life. And it did work, I survived it. A nomad tribe even helped me recover faster. My eyes were lost. However, I found some great secret hidden in that venom. Our traditions were holding us back. They still are. By using this venom, I could forge great warriors. And so I did."


    "Boss Gui, why are you telling me this? Why have you let me watch your training? If words of your use of poison got out, the Nalupu Kingdom would annihilate you. The Sisters of the Abyss themselves would raze your residence to the ground."


    "Indeed, they would. But I do feel like there are other things you wouldn''t want them to know. Deny it as much as you like, but I do believe you''re not from this continent. Lord Wanghuo wouldn''t take kindly to spies infiltrating our continent. You''re probably unaware that the Sisters can sense blood with extreme minutia. Maybe our alchemy and other arts seem poor to someone from the God''s Land. However, I can assure you that the blood arts of those witches are absolutely insane."


    "Miss Gui, I won''t even dignify your accusations with a response. However, I am indeed very intrigued by those Sisters of the Abyss. Besides, if you sold them my assistant''s sister, I will have to deal with them at some point."


    "So you promised your assistant to help her rescue her tribesmen... How very noble of you. But since the Sisters have them, she is either dead already or have joined them. In both cases, she is lost to your assistant, no matter what she might think or hope."


    "Maybe, maybe not. It is not up to me to decide on the matter. I promised her my help and I will give it to her. But let''s go back to more practical matters. I can help you improve your mixture while even better hiding the poison. In fact, I could achieve similar results with much less venom. However, I cannot get rid of all the side effects."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Cao Yun looked intently at Boss Gui''s wounds and then stared at her few wrinkles.


    "Even you have suffered a few of them. Your essence has been corroded by the poison. Although you survived and even gauged out your own eyes, the poison still exacted a heavy toll. Of course, you''ve also been rewarded with this increase in cultivation. But I imagine that it is mostly stagnating now. Your body should be getting weaker and weaker preventing you from really cultivating your Turbid Demons."


    "Unfortunately, you are right. The dose of venom I received - in a very weakened state no less - was just too much for my body to handle. And after that, I realized that cultivation had become easier. To be honest, I didn''t use slaves for my experiments as I needed someone willing to describe the effects in details. Otherwise, the experiments would have been pointless."


    "You used yourself as guinea pig..."


    "Indeed. But it pushed my cultivation faster than I thought possible, half the efforts for double the results. Although I was aware that there would be a price to pay, I still went forward with it. I even tried different kinds of scorpion venom. The Sun Staring Scorpion was the only one with the right effects that I could counter with the herbs I had found. The nomad tribes had helped me as well. They know a bit more about poison and venom than we do. After all, they live in the Desolate Dune Desert where those demonic beasts roam free. Thus, they already knew a lot of herbs to counteract the venom. Unfortunately, they are poor alchemists and also believe that poison is some heresy. For them, such demonic beasts are evil creatures. In fact, they also despised me because of my injury."


    "So they were your first slaves, I imagine."


    Boss Gui chuckled.


    "I am not that cruel. They had saved my life after all. No, I didn''t enslave them at all. And I didn''t even kill them to hide my secrets. No, another tribe slaughtered most of the men and took the younger women for themselves. This is the tribe I first attacked. Since many other tribes were unhappy with them, I had no problem. In a matter of months, they were all dead and a few of them surrendered to me as willing slaves. That is how I first built my business. Cruelty was obviously a great tool in order to show that I wasn''t as weak as others would believe me to be. But fear isn''t a good tool to control people. In the end, a revolt from my own slaves could have taken me down."


    "You didn''t just refine your mixture, you also refined your training regimen. All the slaves I saw in your courtyard seem to truly respect you. In fact, I''m sure a good number of them would even refuse to be set free. Subduing so many people is worthy of praises."


    Even Boss Gui detected the annoyed tone of Cao Yun.


    "I had heard that you had freed your own slaves. So I take it you do not like our practices... But do not forget that I simply train them after others enslaved them. Then, I sell them to people who will treat them as mere weapons. However, my warriors do have a chance of reclaiming their freedom thanks to my training. Without me, they would stay enslaved all their lives. And their lives would have been even more miserable for some of them."


    "Miss Gui, are you trying to convince me, or yourself?"


    Once again, Boss Gui laughed out loud.


    "Mister, I could care less what you think of me. Judge me all you like. What matters is that I have the power to control my existence. I won''t apologize for anything else. Many do much worse than me. I don''t judge them. We''re all trying to survive and thrive in the world we''re born in. Even City Lord Sihe doesn''t have my hatred. Let him use all the underhanded methods he likes. If he wins, then he''ll be in the right no matter what he did. But if he loses, I will annihilate him completely."


    Boss Gui resonated with Cao Yun as he almost heard a voice calling for him to listen to her. What truly mattered was strength. He should get rid of all his scruples. In fact, he could kill her right here and now and take over her business. If he revealed the reality behind her blood mixture, he would unite a coalition against her and then take over her entire city. In his mind, he had visions of him as a great ruler over the entire Piaolu planet.


    Cao Yun knew exactly what those were. This was the influence of the Stinking Lungs, the Turbid Demon related to corruption. It was telling him to get rid of his morality in order to achieve his goals. But by doing so, he would turn into a beast. In fact, Cao Yun had seen it in Cleansed Asura and Axiu Qian''s lives. Ambition wasn''t a bad thing, but he was not ready to sacrifice himself to it. Even then, Cao Yun felt as though he had compromised too much.


    Hell, he was ready to ally himself with a slave dealer in order to execute his plans. Looking away was the best he could do. He wouldn''t directly partake in slavery. But the more he was trying to convince himself of that, the more he realized that his conviction was shaking. Could he really claim that he had nothing to do with slavery?


    On many other subjects, Cao Yun had no clear idea of morality. He knew that the world was complex and that there was no universal truth on all matters. After all, killing was bad, and yet he had killed a lot and so had others. There were circumstances in which killing felt right after all. Worse, there were circumstances in which killing was the right thing to do. In his mind, there was no doubt at all that killing Emperor Weide was the right thing to do. However, this could throw the Hongchen Kingdom in absolute chaos and Cao yun also realized that this was wrong. Then, what was the moral thing to do? Would he sacrifice the entire kingdom for his sister? If not the entire kingdom, how many people would he sacrifice for his sister?


    That was with the goal of protecting his Hongchen Kingdom while killing the vile traitor Weide that he was planning his actions and accepting his compromises.


    Dian Mo''s remarks about his personality shift was also influencing him. But he had decided to be more decisive and less passive for quite some time. Even if his actions were not perfect, he didn''t care too much. Cao Yun had no intention of becoming a saint after all. As long as he didn''t lose himself in his quest for his sister, he could live with himself.


    "I am not here to talk about morality, Miss Gui. I don''t like slavery one bit, but I have to admit that I do want an alliance with you. Your army could be useful. And unlike City Lord Sihe, you absolutely need me. First of all, my alchemy will help you and your business. Although I can''t get rid of all the side effects, I am confident in my abilities, enough to promise you that I can improve your condition. It might not be miraculous, but there will be improvement. Besides, I could reveal your use of poison. In that situation, we would probably destroy each other though."


    "I see. As allies, we''ll be stronger than any city lord. But as enemies, we''ll destroy each other completely. Indeed, allying yourself with me seems like a good idea. But what is your goal? You didn''t come here just to do business, right? You have something else in mind."


    "Miss Gui, I don''t think my intentions are too different from yours."


    A large grin appeared on her face, but she didn''t laugh this time.


    "You presume to know my ambition... Mister Mo, no matter what you think I desire, you are still seeing too small."

 Chapter 534: Finalizing an alliance

    Boss Gui & Cao Yun kept talking for a while to craft a contract. Basically, the Blazing Swallow would become an official partner to Boss Gui''s slave trade. As much as the idea was revolting to Cao Yun, he accepted because it aligned with his plans. As he was signing the contract with his own blood, the young human felt something stir within him. Once again, it was the Stinking Lungs. Because Cao Yun felt as if he was corrupting his morals, the related Turbid Demon was active.


    In a sense, it was a contradiction between Cao Yun''s view of himself and his actual actions. That contradiction caused a backlash. Thankfully though, Cao Yun knew how to handle it. It had been a very good idea to start on Stinking Lungs. But working on two Turbid Demons at once was a bit too much, even for him. So he would be careful and wouldn''t work on a third Turbid Demon right away.


    After they were done, Boss Gui & Cao Yun called Miss Wo and Xixue back inside. Miss Wo was focused on the two intruders as she wanted to make sure her mistress was safe. In her mind, Cao Yun was as strong as Boss Gui, even maybe a bit stronger because his martial arts were very good. Of course, he wasn''t on Boss Gui''s level at all. But none of them knew it, not even Xixue. Even now, he had maintained his image of a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. Otherwise, things would have gone down in a very different way.


    "Miss Gui, I expect to see some of your warriors in my own courtyard before the sun is set. I will start working on improving your blood mixture as soon as I can. But I might also be useful on another front."


    "Do tell."


    "I saw that you were trying to teach them battle formations. Truth be told, they are terrible at it. And although this isn''t my area of expertise, I am confident I can improve on that. In fact, I could even improve their martial arts along the way."


    "Indeed, your technique was very good. It almost felt like you had mastered the Sword Aura."


    "Unfortunately, I have not yet reached such proficiency in the sword. However, I am certain that I can push your warriors to higher limits. In order to prove myself, I suggest that I start with a single unit of your warriors. In fact, choose the one who performs the least well."


    "Fine, we''ll try it out. I''ll also send you a few instructors. If your training is on par with your promises, they will see firsthand how it''s done. Like that, it would be easier for me to implement changes in my overall plan."


    "Then, everything is set."


    Cao Yun looked at Xixue who had put back her mask as she had exited the building. Despite her mask, he could tell by her demeanor that she was still shaken. Learning about her sister being sold to the Sisters of the Abyss had taken a toll on her. But this piece of news didn''t mean that her sister was necessarily dead. After all, the Sisters also used slaves as new sisters. If she had been a boy, the Sisters would have killed her for sure as no man was allowed to join their order. However, girls had a chance to survive as Blood Daughters. From the few things Cao Yun knew, the order considered that all its members were related by blood. Apparently, there was some kind of ceremony where they would share the same blood.


    Despite his best efforts, Cao Yun had not learned many things about the Sisters as almost no one knew too much. The only thing he knew was the common knowledge around them. For example, he knew how they behaved in public, what kind of jobs they would take and a bit about their religious views. Even those were not too well known to the public. They only knew the gist of it. In simple terms, Blood was both the blood flowing in their veins allowing life and strength, but also their link to their ancestors. Blood, seen as some form of metaphysical thing rather than just the red liquid, was sacred and should not be spoiled by anything. Everyone should thrive to strengthen their Blood in order to get stronger but also to honor their ancestors. Among those ancestors was their progenitor, the Weaver of Souls.


    Unfortunately, even Dian Mo didn''t seem to know anything about this Weaver of Souls. Apparently, he was a lieutenant under Demon God Da Mo. And he had died on this very continent during the Great War. In fact, the Desolate Dune Desert was thought to be the vestige of the fight during which he died. Even the Divine Blood Ocean had been named because the Weaver of Souls'' blood had flowed in it. According to the legends, the ocean itself had turned red with blood. Thus, it had strengthened the demonic beasts within. And it explained why crossing this vast expanse was so fraught with danger.


    Whatever the truth was, Cao Yun didn''t have enough knowledge to see through it. But there had to be some truth to those stories at the very least.


    "Miss Gui, since you''re the City Lord, you might be better at getting the answers I seek. Please, try to find out where Xixue''s sister is."


    Cao Yun bowed. Seeing him lower himself for her, Xixue immediately joined him and kowtowed much lower than he did. In fact, Xixue''s forehead hit the ground. In front of them, Boss Gui waved her sleeve.


    "Mister Mo, no need for that. I will do my best. My relationship with the Sisters is rather good, but don''t expect any miracle. What happens within their rank is of utmost secret. Getting any information out of them on the matter will be extremely difficult. At the very least, I''m confident I can learn whether she still lives or not. But I can''t even promise that."


    "So long as Miss Gui does her best, I can''t ask for anything more."


    "Thank you, Boss Gui."


    Miss Wo was still wary of Xixue. But she remarked her sincerity. Of course, she wouldn''t forget that she had initially been sent to kill her mistress. So she would do everything to keep her away from Boss Gui. Cao Yun was not much of a problem in her eyes. Like her mistress, Miss Wo was now convinced that he had not come from the Desolate Sepulcher. Although the two women still harbored some doubts, they were convinced of that fact, no matter how much Cao Yun could deny it. In fact, it was serving him as they were now convinced that he had no ties with anyone else in the Nalupu Kingdom. So he couldn''t be a spy or an assassin.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Cao Yun and Xixue took their leave. Before they crossed the outside courtyard''s door, Xixue whispered a few words only Cao Yun could hear.


    "Thank you."


    There was some tremor in her voice as she was very emotional. Considering his own history, Cao Yun could understand her very well. In fact, he also became a bit emotional but was better at hiding it. Besides, because of her mask, Xixue could let her emotions out without being seen so she didn''t try too hard to control them.


    -


    In a very different part of Duma City, Weiji Nian was venting her anger on some slave in her residence. The poor man was being beaten with a bamboo stick for a very minor offense. But Weiji Nian''s mood was so sour that she was almost ready to beat him to death for any reason at all. In fact, she had become worse than ever in the few previous days. Obviously, it was because of Cao Yun.


    Not only had she failed to buy the slave she wanted for her son, Cao Yun had mocked her in public. And when she had hired a few people to get the slave back, Cao Yun had sent their heads back to her. As much as she wanted to attack his residence and flay him alive, she couldn''t. First of all, she was not a fighter and her cultivation had been achieved through pills and blood given to her by others. In other words, she was rather weak for her cultivation that wasn''t very stable or firm either. Of course, had she known that Cao Yun was only a mere Golden Blood Child, she would have not feared him at all.


    Usually, she could have hired stronger cultivators to capture him so she could torture him to death. However, her brain wasn''t completely rotten yet. She knew that Cao Yun, as an alchemist, had a high importance. Her husband was working for City Lord Sihe and was out of town while her uncle was a general in the Nalupu Kingdom army. Usually, their status would mean that she could do anything. But they also meant that her actions would have consequences for them too. Even if she could kill Cao Yun, there would be dire consequences on her entire family. Thus, she first had to contact them both to get their permission, and hopefully their help.


    "Mother, stop terrorizing our help."


    While she was beating on the exposed spine of her slave, a young man entered the room. He was dressed in extravagantly expensive clothes. He was around fifteen or sixteen years old with the cultivation of an early Blood Child. Most likely, he was either a 2nd-grade or a 3rd-grade Blood Child. To be honest, there wasn''t anything extraordinary about him. The young man was even a bit plump for his young age and had a very banal face. Apart from his clothes, he didn''t look exceptional at all. In the street, he would have looked like any other demon.


    As soon as she saw him, her mother dropped her blood covered bamboo stick and ran to him to hug her child.


    "Bao''er, you shouldn''t concern yourself with those slaves."


    "Mother, they''re so afraid that they can''t do a good work anymore. If you want to vent your anger, just buy a useless slave to beat up. This shouldn''t be too expensive. Our servants are well trained, you''re just wasting money at this point."


    Weiji Bao''s tone was completely detached, as though he was talking about mere furniture. But it was how he perceived slaves. As far as he could remember, his household had been filled with slaves bending to his every whim. Even his mother was always dotting on him and everyone else in Duma City was treating him with both respect and fear because of his family. Of course, such an upbringing wouldn''t create a very thoughtful individual. In fact, even his father didn''t like how his mother was treating Weiji Bao. Unfortunately, he was barely there and any tutor he had tried to hire had met with disaster because of the duo formed by this mother and her child.


    By now, Weiji Bao''s father had accepted that his son would be a useless boy for a long time. Hopefully, he could still teach him some sense in the future...


    "Bao''er, how is the girl I bought for you?"


    "Humph. She can''t keep up at all. Besides, her bloodline is very poor and I can''t cultivate very well with her. I think I''ll just use her to give me baths and massages, she''s just too boring."


    "I''m sorry about that, son. If only that bastard had not... Anyway, I promise I''ll find you a suitable dual cultivation partner."


    "Thank you, Mother, I know I can count on you."


    In Weiji Nian, there was a deep love for her son, especially when he thanked him. She had to be able to give him the world. And the world included the slave bought by Cao Yun. Somehow, she had to get that girl. Of course, Weiji Nian didn''t know that she had left town since Cao Yun had done everything to protect her. However, she knew that Cao Yun had gone to Boss Gui. Thus, she decided to visit her as well. Although she didn''t like Boss Gui too much because of her status, Weiji Nian hadn''t a bad relationship with her. In fact, she had almost no interaction with Boss Gui. In her eyes though, Boss Gui was a pathetic woman who had stumbled upon some money. That poor Weiji Nian had a delusion about her own status apparently.


    -


    Boss Gui received a letter from Weiji Nian. Basically, it was asking - no demanding - that she didn''t associate with Cao Yun as he was a despicable character who didn''t know about the proper etiquette. Since rituals and traditions were very important in the Nalupu Kingdom, it was a somewhat big accusation. Of course, Boss Gui didn''t care in the slightest. Besides, she knew why Weiji Nian was upset and she couldn''t care less. First of all, Weiji Nian was always throwing around her uncle in order to be respected. But her husband was also working for City Lord Sihe, Boss Gui''s worst enemy right now.


    Still upset after learning about how City Lord Sihe had planned to have her killed, Boss Gui wrote a letter back to Weiji Nian. The content was very short.


    "Miss Weiji, I understand your situation. After all, your son couldn''t get it wet without paying or forcing a woman. But I can suggest a solution. If you like him so much, you could dual cultivate with him yourself. Since your husband is absent so often, it might even help get rid of your terrible attitude as well. But be assured that if you touch Lord Mo Yun in any way, I won''t touch you at all. However, I will skin your son alive in front of you before I take out his manhood and his eyes. Don''t worry though, I wouldn''t kill him of course. I know how to flay someone without killing them. And I''m sure Lord Mo Yun would have pills to grow back his skin in a record time. However, I''m not too sure about his other appendages. But, do as you wish, Miss Weiji."


    Miss Wo was watching as her mistress was writing her letter. Clearly, she was very upset as she seldom wrote such crude things. But that woman was especially annoying and her husband was plotting with the man who wanted her dead through despicable plans. Of course, she was quite mad even if she was able to hide it very well. At least, she was usually able to hide it. In that letter though, she wasn''t trying to hide her disdain.


    Miss Wo wanted to convince her mistress not to send the letter but she knew that it wouldn''t work at all.


    When Weiji Nian received the letter, she almost fainted from rage and humiliation.

 Chapter 535: Stability

    Just to be sure that her message had been clear enough, Boss Gui increased the guards around the residence of Weiji Nian. As the official City Lord of Duma City, it was her prerogative after all. Besides, with all her slave warriors, she probably had the strongest guards among the City Lords. Lord Wanghuo and the Sisters of the Abyss had even stronger guards of course, but they were above City Lords. Maybe the Xinian Confederation could boast to have better guards than Boss Gui. However, hers were absolutely loyal to her without needing to pay them anything at all.


    For a few days, the association between Cao Yun and Boss Gui was the topic on everyone''s lips. The two of them were still figuring out the small details of their alliance. With his knowledge of alchemy, Cao Yun did improve upon her blood mixture. Of course, the improvements wouldn''t be spectacular but he could shave off a few weeks, even maybe a couple of months from their training. For Boss Gui''s business, this was a great improvement in fact.


    Moreover, Cao Yun did impart some martial arts to the trainees as well as the instructors. Since he had read every book he had ever come across, he had an entire library of manuals on every conceivable weapon. Just having the knowledge didn''t mean he could simply master any weapon. But with his own mastery of the spear and of the sword, it was very easy for him to teach that knowledge to others. Besides, he didn''t need to make them into great masters, he just had to improve their level. And it turned out to be rather easy.


    Cao Yun had not just decided to do so to improve his relationship with Boss Gui. He had understood how she was controlling them. After they were enslaved by others, she bought them, broke their spirit in the pits while poisoning them to speed up their recovery and make them stronger. After months being abused in the pits, they all realized that they were growing stronger and stronger, faster than they would have ever imagined. Maybe the poison was also affecting their mind, but to be honest neither he nor Boss Gui knew anything about it for sure. Anyway, the intense psychological trauma and pressure put on young people turned into excitement, and even gratitude to some extent.


    Then, she simply had to take them out of the pits when they broke through to the Golden Blood Child realm. From there, she would impart them martial arts and knowledge to make them even stronger. She gave them a new purpose and a sense of accomplishment. Even those who were sold to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy felt as though they were part of something bigger. Playing on their psychology, Boss Gui had made a perfect small army. But Cao Yun also knew how to manipulate them. It would take time of course, but he knew he could give them something even greater to aspire to. Maybe he wouldn''t be able to replace Boss Gui in their hearts, but he would take his place anyway.


    "Boy, you keep surrounding yourself with slaves. No matter what you claim, your very plan revolves around using slaves, doesn''t it?"


    "My plan will free them all."


    "Those who survive, you mean."


    "I can''t save everyone. But if I''m able to unite Gui''s army and the nomad tribes, I could topple the Nalupu Kingdom. Gui doesn''t really care about slavery. Anything that could give her influence and real power would be to her taste."


    "What?! You want to put her in Lord Wanghuo''s place?!"


    "To be honest, I''m not too sure. Although I have a general idea of where I want to go, I am altering my plan as things evolve. Now that I''ve met her, Gui will be a part of my plans for sure. There are different possibilities. I might engineer a rift between the City Lords, tearing apart the Nalupu Kingdom. I could also use the nomad tribes to put pressure from the outside. Attacking both from within and without, taking down Lord Wanghuo would be easier. My problem is mostly about the Sisters of the Abyss. The Xinian Confederation is only interested in money. As long as I can give them profit in a way that doesn''t revolve around slavery, they''ll take it. Those people have no real principle apart from their money."


    "So you intend to ''use'' the people who are hunted down and enslaved?! How is that different from slavery? You''re just using them as pawns."


    "I won''t debate morality with you. If you can give me a better plan, go ahead."


    Cao Yun was obviously upset about his discussions with Dian Mo. In fact, he was slowly realizing that his discussions had shifted. Before they used to talk about array formations, seals and even martial arts. Sometimes, they had talked about poetry, culture, philosophy and many interesting subjects. Recently though, Dian Mo seemed to always be critical of his actions. Besides, he was making Cao Yun doubt himself more and more.


    Of course, Cao Yun knew that his actions were not following the moral of the School of Ren Dao. But there were other philosophers and moralists who would argue he was in the right. Among the Lesser Houses of Wisdom, some had argued about a more practical view of morality where the end was just as important as the means. Others had gone a bit farther but Cao Yun didn''t quite agree with them. Both the end and the means were important. Keeping a clear conscious while doing nothing didn''t sit too well with him. But doing what felt right while causing more pain and suffering was also a terrible thing.


    Despite his cultivation and his mastery over martial arts, Cao Yun was in doubt right now. He thought he was doing something right, but it did feel wrong indeed. Truth be told, he hated to be part of some political intrigue. If he had been strong enough, he could have simply forced the Nalupu Kingdom to stop enslaving the nomad tribes altogether. Technically, it was illegal in this very kingdom. He didn''t even have to change their minds, just to force them to apply their own laws. However, he wasn''t strong enough. And that was also the reason why he had to stay here some time before going back to the mainland. He couldn''t fight either the Empyrean Asura Theocracy or Emperor Weide in his current state.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Moreover, once he would be back, he would end up in the same kind of moral dilemma. Even if he could kill or depose Emperor Weide with the help of others, it would cause chaos. That chaos could then be used by the demons to take over the Hongchen Kingdom. Cao Yun wouldn''t have just killed Emperor Weide, but many more innocent people. Having such a responsibility was not something Cao Yun cared for. One thing was for sure, he would never become a ruler. What he had realized was that staying behind the scenes while having enough strength and influence to force the rulers to do what he wanted was a much more comfortable spot. He didn''t want to be in the arena.


    With all those thoughts in turmoil in his mind, Cao Yun still trained his mind cultivation, using the calligraphy as support. And since he was back in his residence where he had put enough array formations to be completely isolated, he also worked on his Qi cultivation as well as his blood cultivation.


    As a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior, he was trying to forge his meridians so they would withstand the Lesser Tribulation. He was using both the Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, coupled with his Golden Blood rich in Fire, the Water Qi in his Lower Dantian, as well as the Wood from the world tree slowly growing in him. Thanks to his knowledge of alchemy and his experience with his Five Prodigious Gates, tempering his meridians wasn''t too difficult. In fact, his Golden Blood was making things even easier, also strengthening his flesh around the meridians.


    After reading many books besides the ''Cultivation of Wrath'', Cao Yun chose a very specific way of tempering his meridians. Instead of working on them one by one, he was tempering several of them at the same time, focusing more on the acupoints than the entire meridians. Indeed, several acupoints from different meridians were close to each other or were compensating each other. For example, there were points that would balance the effects from one another. So he was tempering them at the same time, working on smaller sections of his meridians. And with his blood cultivation, Cao Yun also worked on all the smaller meridians that weren''t part of the 12 standard meridians. Technically, those twelve were enough to break through, but he still followed Chief Instructor Peng''s advice and worked on the lesser meridians as well.


    While working on his meridians, he was also tempering his Du Mai, the Governing Vessel in his back. Although he had to work on it in the next grade of the Mortal Warrior realm, he needed it for his blood cultivation. Indeed, as a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child, he had to send his Golden Blood, through his spine, into his heart. Thus, the blood was traveling along the same path as the Du Mai. Besides, the Du Mai, just like its counterpart the Ren Mai, the Conception Vessel, were connected to the 12 standard meridians through many acupoints.


    His Po of Jing, his Flying Poison, was helping him moving his Golden Blood with more ease. And his incomplete Po of Qi, the Unclean Evil, was improving even more on that. After all, his Golden Blood was made of blood and marrow, so it contained Qi and Jing. Despite its density, Cao Yun was able to control it very well. Unfortunately, the problem was Shendao, the Heart Gate.


    Along the path of the Du Mai, there were three Flood Gates. He had already crossed Mingmen the Life Gate in the back of his Lower Dantian. Now, he was working on Shendao the Heart Gate that was directly beneath the heart, centered on the spine though. The name was merely due to its location. Indeed, this gate was connected to the heart, sending too much blood or Qi there could injure one''s heart. Even with the Drop of Wrath in his heart, Cao Yun didn''t want to play around with that. He still remembered his failed cultivation and intended to cultivate fast but safely.


    Thankfully, his work of all his acupoints was making things easier in the long run. He clearly wouldn''t need to wait as long as other demons. According to his progress, he was certain he wouldn''t need more than a year to cross that Flood Gate. Of course, this was just an estimation. But he was confident enough.


    Besides all of that, Cao Yun could now train his sword and his spear as he wanted. Indeed, the slave warriors in his courtyard were perfect sparring partners. Furthermore, there were also instructors who were all Golden Blood Children. In fact, Mister Dai had come along. That was perfect because Cao Yun could simply claim he was suppressing his cultivation without revealing he wasn''t actually an Accomplished Demon.


    Mister Dai was a great partner. He decided to learn the sword from Cao Yun after being impressed by his fighting style. Although he hesitated, Cao Yun decided not to teach him ''Three Storms''. He did want for this martial art to spread and flourish, but somehow he didn''t feel like doing so right now. For the time being, it was still too intimate. After all, it was a connection with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. At the same time, he truly wanted this art to survive and for that, he would need to transmit it. Since his family was gone, there was no point in keeping it a secret art. Moreover, he intended to improve it even further to make it an extremely powerful martial art that would make his family immortal throughout the Piaolu planet.


    On the business side of things, Dan Yao was improving very fast when it came to alchemy. Even without Cao Yun, the books he had received were put to good use. Although he was lacking any talent, he was compensating with his hard work. Unfortunately, he always suffered from cauldron explosions now and then. But in the end, his pills were getting better and better. Unlike Cao Yun, he probably wouldn''t be able to do anything original as he had a hard time understanding the concepts of alchemy. However, he was very good when it came to copying the pills already refined by Cao Yun. His hard work was paying. The quality of his pills wasn''t on par with Cao Yun of course, but his pills were very consistent all things considered, except when the cauldron exploded.


    Xixue was not working too hard on the other hand as she was plagued with uncertainty. Boss Gui was still trying to learn more about her sister. However, some day, Xixue decided to change. She threw herself in her work so that she didn''t have to think about anything else. Anyway, she couldn''t do anything about the situation as she was waiting for more information. So she helped Nie Pian.


    The old man was very competent when it came to dealing with money. In fact, he was too competent. After all, he had been enslaved because of a condemnation for tax frauds. Most likely, he had committed other crimes that had not been discovered since he was so good with accounting. Even Xixue had a hard time following his paperwork. To be fair, she had been trained in general affairs by City Lord Sihe to be a good secretary to Boss Gui. So her skills were good overall but never great in any specific domain. On the other hand, Nie Pian was a genius when it came to handling money and accounts.


    This didn''t sit too well with Xixue of course. However, she had to admit that he had improved their cash flow a lot. Cao Yun didn''t care about the Blazing Swallow too much as it was already making him rich. But Xixue was interested in understanding how Nie Pian had improved it so much so fast. He had even hired a couple of other alchemists to go into new ventures. Obviously they weren''t as good as Cao Yun and they were not trained like Dan Yao. But they could refine basic pills that would get the stamp of the Blazing Swallow anyway.

 Chapter 536: Scam

    Since Cao Yun was focused on improving Boss Gui''s formula and training her instructors, he wasn''t taking care of the Blazing Swallow. On the other hand, Xixue herself had been preoccupied with the return of her cousin and then the information she had received about her own sister. Several times, she had even hesitated to directly go to the Sisters of the Abyss. But she couldn''t do anything about them. After staying out of the business for some time, she decided to invest herself in the Blazing Swallow once more.


    What she discovered was that Nie Pian had created a very convoluted accounting. He had bought a few other businesses here and there. Thanks to the wealth produced by Cao Yun, he had really developed their company. They weren''t just selling pills now, they were also selling all kinds of products. He had also bought a few restaurants and had launched himself in the arts as well. The only thing Nie Pian had really stayed out of was slave trade and brothels. First of all, he knew he shouldn''t try to compete with Boss Gui in her own city. But he also knew how much Cao Yun despised such practices so he abstained from that. That being said, he had really hesitated about that.


    Maybe the fact that he had been enslaved as well caused Nie Pian to have some scruples. Anyway, Xixue barely recognized the company. Nie Pian had even bought some shops that were competing against each other. From the outside, it was almost impossible to know who was really owning those shops. In fact, Nie Pian''s influence was also extending outside of Duma City. Of course, the Blazing Swallow had ties with Ruohe. But Nie Pian had also made deals with other small cities all over the place. For now, he had remained in the area of influence of Boss Gui. The other capitals administered by other City Lords were a bit far for him to have already established connections.


    For all intents and purposes, Nie Pian was the leader of the Blazing Swallow. And Xixue had to admit he was damn good at his job. When it came to commerce and finance, Nie Pian was way above her, there was no doubt. But managing a business wasn''t just that. And Nie Pian was lacking when it came to dealing with people, either his own employees or the clients.


    Moreover, Xixue quickly realized that he had put together a few scams. The alchemists he had hired had produced subpar pills using the emblem of the Blazing Swallow. Such a practice was a terrible idea. Yes in the short term it would produce benefits. But it would inevitably harm the prestige of the Blazing Swallow. Unfortunately, Nie Pian was unable to project himself in the future apparently. He was blinded by the immediate present without thinking about the company in a few years or even decades. This had to stop as soon as possible.


    Although she admitted that most of his decisions were good, some were just terrible. In fact, this was very surprising. She went from being fascinated and impressed to wondering what kind of moron Nie Pian was. It was no wonder such an intelligent and crafty man had been condemned. His intelligence and his complex plans were blinding himself to his shortsightedness. Besides, he thought himself too smart to get caught, forgetting that he had indeed gotten caught.


    -


    At the moment, Nie Pian was working in the main shop of the Blazing Swallow in Duma City. From time to time, he liked to act as a salesman instead of just being the accountant. Of course, he wasn''t no mere accountant, he was managing the entirety of the shop. By then, he was truly seeing the Blazing Swallow as his own company. After all, he knew that Cao Yun didn''t care much as long as it was working well and that Xixue wouldn''t stay here forever. Although he didn''t know about her sister, he was aware that she had another goal than just taking care of this business.


    The old man was alone manning the shop. There were a few servants who were cleaning and making sure that the items were placed properly. But only Nie Pian was able to receive customers. This was a very slow day and almost no one showed up.


    Finally though, a plump boy entered the shop. Immediately, Nie Pian saw that he was full of himself and a perfect mark. He had to come from a very wealthy family just by looking at his clothes. There were two late Golden Blood Children accompanying him. What Nie Pian didn''t know was that an Accomplished Demon was also monitoring the boy from afar. More than that, Nie Pian failed to recognize the boy as he didn''t go out in public too often because of his protective mother. Indeed, this boy was Weiji Bao, Weiji Nian''s son.


    The very first thought that went through Nie Pian was "What a sucker!".


    Nie Pian didn''t leave him anytime to look around. In order to sell him as many pills as he could, he had to prevent him from thinking too much. By the look in his eyes, it shouldn''t be too difficult. Clearly, this boy was not used to using his brain too much. All his life, Nie Pian had despised people like him, people born in wealth. That had been the main reason behind his frauds and scams, at first at least. Overtime, Nie Pian had grown to love his little scams so much that they went out of control. But in the beginning, they had been ways to get revenge on his own poor upbringing.


    Affecting a very subservient attitude, Nie Pian went directly toward the young boy and his two guards.


    "Young Noble, what can this meager shop do for you?"


    As soon as he noticed Nie Pian, Weiji Bao took his demeanor as a given. After all, he was a great lord from a powerful family.


    "Oh, I''m just looking around. I heard good things about this shop and I wanted to verify the rumors by myself. Are all those the quality of the pills?"


    Weiji Bao was pointing at the small notes in front of the wooden box presenting the pills.


    "Yes, Young Noble. All the pills have been examined by independent appraisers. No pill in our shop is below the Perfect grade. But for a noble man such as you, only the best pills could enter your eyes. I''m sorry that we don''t have any True Essence to propose to you, but we do have a few Pure pills. Please, Young Noble, follow me."This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "Pure pills?! Indeed, your shop is impressive... Is your owner here?"


    "Unfortunately, Young Noble, our Lord Mo Yun is working on other products at the moment. Managing all his shops personally would be too difficult even for such a talented man. However, I can assure you that he overviewed the production of most of our pills. Here, look at those pills. This one is able to clean any toxin in the body. That one can help you improve your Jing."


    Nie Pian showed many pills to the young Weiji Bao. Each time, he was watching his reactions to see in which direction he had to take his speech. Suddenly, he found the perfect hook.


    "And this one can help you win all the battles of the bedroom. With this pill, you''ll be able to get going for hours, for days, or even weeks. Besides, it will improve your sensations at least fourfold."


    Nie Pian kept on piling promises seeing that they were working on the young man. But then, he suggested other pills with very similar promises. By the end, he had sold around twenty pills to this idiot. In fact, almost all of those pills but one had been refined by the new alchemists hired by Nie Pian. And they were not Pure pills at all. Indeed, the independent appraisers were really working for a company that had been bought by Nie Pian through various other companies. It was almost impossible to link those appraisers to the Blazing Swallow, but they were definitely on Nie Pian''s payroll.


    To be honest, Nie Pian had no idea of the actual quality of those pills. He had the real reports from the appraisers, but he didn''t really care too much. The alchemists had assured him that the quality was very good. Moreover, he didn''t know much about alchemy. Besides, until then he had had no problem with his new pills. And this sucker was buying them as soon as the old man promised him carnal pleasures. Although he was smiling pleasantly to the young boy, Nie Pian was looking at him with disdain and ridicule internally.


    Finally, Weiji Bao left the shop with a huge smile on his face, sticking his chest out when he walked out. His two guards were not knowledgeable at all when it came to alchemy and they were honestly too afraid to say anything to their young master.


    With a simple customer, Nie Pian had earned almost four months worth of profit. And if that young boy was dissatisfied with the pills, he probably wouldn''t make it public. After all, it would be like advertising that he was inept in the bedroom. What an idiot!


    -


    Weiji Bao took the very first pill he had bought. Thanks to his mother, he always had partners to dual cultivate. Although he was a bit young as he barely was seventeen, he had known many women. If his father had been home, he would have put a stop to this debauchery. Unfortunately, his mother was always spoiling him even in inappropriate ways. Having many partners wasn''t a problem for demons. What was really frown upon was having many children as it was seen as a waste of Jing. Indeed, a child was conceived when a couple exchanged Yin and Yang Jing. The male and female essences would meld into each other to produce the Prenatal Jing of the unborn child. For everyone on the Piaolu planet, this was the moment when the part of the soul that could reincarnate would enter the child. From there, the Hun and Po would form themselves fully and guide the development of the child.


    Because of that belief, demons didn''t conceive too many children and had many ways to make sure of that. There were a lot of techniques to prevent the man from giving out his essence. Thus, it was very rare for a cultivator to have a child without wanting it. So dual cultivation wasn''t frown upon even with many partners. Still, even for demons, Weiji Bao was a bit young to have such a debauched lifestyle. But no one would openly criticize him because of his insane mother.


    As soon as he took the pill, Weiji Bao went to his partner. However, no matter how long he was working on it, he couldn''t show his virility. Such a thing had never happened to him. Completely impotent, he began to panic. His first thought was to call for another girl. No matter what the two girls did, Weiji Bao''s plight wouldn''t change. After a few hours, the women were really panicking as they were worried they would be punished for their master''s failure.


    Deeply ashamed, Weiji Bao finally decided to go to his mother. There was no doubt in his mind that the pill had done something to him. In his mind, he wondered whether his current situation would last forever. For the first time in his life, Weiji Bao was absolutely terrified. For a cultivator, this truly was shameful, especially for demons. His inability to fight in the bedroom could be seen as a weakness of his Jing. And he would thus be seen as weak. Even now, Weiji Bao could hear the laughter and ridicule against him.


    That being said, telling what was plaguing him to his mother felt even worse. That was why he had tried to solve the problem himself. He had taken two more pills from those he had bought. However, they didn''t change the situation. If anything, they made things worse as the toxins from those pills piled on the toxins already plaguing him in such a shameful manner.


    "Mother! Mother!"


    Hearing the despair and panic in her son''s voice, Weiji Nian immediately rushed toward him.


    "What is it, Bao''er?! What''s going on?!"


    "I... I..."


    His eyes full of tears, Weiji Bao didn''t know how to tell her what was going on. Thus, he pointed to his bedroom.


    "I took some pills to... But it doesn''t work."


    "The pills didn''t work?! What do you mean? What pills?"


    "Not the pills! IT didn''t work, IT."


    After some time not understanding, Weiji Nian''s face turned a bit red. From his bedroom, she saw two beautiful women coming out. And she mostly understood what had happened. It was hard to say who was feeling more awkward. However, the two girls were clearly terrified. There was a high chance that Weiji Nian would kill them just to silence them about what had happened. Unfortunately for them, they were right and they would be killed very soon after.


    "Do you have those pills?!"


    From Weiji Bao''s hands, his mother received them. There was the emblem of the Blazing Swallow on them. All of a sudden, her rage exploded. Apparently, they were decided to ruin her family. And now they were targeting her son. No matter what, she would obliterate them all. Even if Boss Gui was trying to intervene, no one could stop Weiji Nian. If things went awry, she could still count on her husband and her uncle. They would understand her for sure!


    "Boy, I''ll call a physician for you. First we''ll have those pills examined. And then, I will make sure that justice is carried out in a swift manner. Don''t worry, everything''s going to be fine."


    Despite her rage, Weiji Nian didn''t want this story to be made public. The shame would be too much for her family to bear. Besides, it would all fall on her poor lovely child. Although he was the victim, he would be mocked and ridiculed. Not only had he been scammed, he couldn''t get it up without a pill at his age... She could hear the words of the people insulting him. Of course, they wouldn''t do so to her face, but they would still gossip about her son. And Boss Gui would be just too happy with that.

 Chapter 537: Rampage in the Blazing Swallow

    Xixue met with Nie Pian in the main shop of the Blazing Swallow. The sun had just set and the shop was closing. As soon as he saw the usual mask, Nie Pian felt as though he was going to lose something. In the past days, he had been the only one to make the decisions for the business. But he knew that this right didn''t belong to him at all. As much as he understood that, he still didn''t want to let go of his toy.


    "Miss Xixue, it''s a pleasure to see that you''re back. I was truly worried about you those past few days. How are you?"


    "Mister Nie, don''t give me that. I''ve been hearing about all your decisions, you''ve been having a lot of fun while we were otherwise busy."


    Nie Pian bowed respectfully without lowering himself too much.


    "Miss, I understand that this was your responsibility but you were clearly indisposed and I didn''t want to put more strain on you. However, I am confident that my decisions were all for the good of Lord Mo''s Blazing Swallow."


    "At the very least, you didn''t forget who owns this company. Frankly, I do agree that most of your decisions were good. But they were also very shortsighted. I reviewed the alchemists you''ve hired, they''re not terrible but they aren''t great either. If you had only used them to make pills outside of our brand, this wouldn''t be a problem. But you''ve associated Lord Mo''s brand with those subpar pills."


    "Do not worry about that, Miss Xixue. I''ve made sure that all the talented appraisers would never give a poor rank to our pills."


    "Fool! Don''t you think people would notice the difference after using them?! We''re not talking about art pieces. I know that you mostly dabbled in art in the past. If you sell a fake painting, you can get away with it, but pills are different. Of course people will notice. Not only will it lower our brand''s reputation but they will also understand that the appraisers were bought and they will lose their value. Besides, you didn''t need to do so to keep making profit. Instead of your little scam, you should have simply hired those alchemists in other shops to extend our market to less wealthy cultivators."


    "But Miss..."


    "Silence! Nie Pian, I do admit that you have your uses and most of your work is indeed very good. You can take pride in that. But you''re just too greedy and you lack vision. From now on, all your decisions will go through me. And in my absence, I will nominate some assistants to make sure you don''t do anything stupid. At the very least, you were smart enough not to try to fill your own pockets. Otherwise, your punishment would have probably been death."


    "My... punishment?"


    Nie Pian gulped down. Honestly, he was convinced that he would be rewarded for his investment in the company. Although Miss Xixue''s words sounded true, she had to be jealous of him. This was clearly the reason why she was being so harsh with him. But he could defend himself. He would go directly to Lord Mo Yun to get his efforts recognized for their worth. If he had to be slightly punished beforehand, he could accept it. Afterward, Miss Xixue would regret treating him in such a manner. Full of vindication, Nie Pian didn''t say anything or tried to justify his actions. As a former slave, he knew that those were rarely good options. However, he couldn''t accept Miss Xixue''s assessment. His plans were not perfect of course, but they were very sound and he was making a lot of money thanks to them.


    Suddenly, they heard the door to shop crack. The shop was closed but someone forced the door through sheer force. Surprised, they both looked at the entrance. A servant tried to stop the woman who was coming in but he received a powerful slap that sent him flying into a wall. Despite her wrath, Weiji Nian still controlled herself. Otherwise the servant who was an early Blood Child would have been reduced to a mist of blood.


    Nie Pian didn''t recognize the woman but there was something familiar to her. On the other hand, Xixue immediately remembered the auction in which Cao Yun had humiliated her and her son.


    "Miss Weiji, this is the private shop of Lord Mo Yun. We are under the protection of City Lord Gui. If you have grievances, you should send a formal request to City Lord Gui before receiving an audience. You can''t just break into our private property and assault our employees. Please, Miss Weiji, listen to reason."


    Xixue couldn''t be too subservient because of her master''s status but she didn''t want to escalate things. In the back of the shop, there were a few guards ready to act. But against an Accomplished Demon, even one who wasn''t a fighter, they wouldn''t fare too well. Most likely, they would just buy enough time for the other employees to run away. Cao Yun had also set up some array formations they could use to protect themselves. But they were not perfect either.


    There were only two ways for Xixue to resolve the issue. Either she could convince Weiji Nian to calm down, or she had to get to her master or to Boss Gui for help. Apart from that, she had no way to stop that woman. Besides, her eyes were clearly full of anger. Xixue was still under the impression that she was furious about the auction, but it didn''t make any sense to wait for so long before doing something about it.


    When Weiji Nian threw some pills to the ground, Xixue understood that the matter was different. She saw the Blazing Swallow emblem on those pills and turned toward Nie Pian. The old man wasn''t a fool despite his foolish actions recently. Obviously, he put two and two together. Her face was familiar because he had seen her son. And he had scammed him with those pills. For an instant, Nie Pian almost heaved a sigh of relief. Such a situation could simply be resolved with money. Considering the nature of those pills, she wouldn''t want people to know that her son had bought them. He was ready to apologize and reimburse all the pills, even those already consumed. However, he had no time to do so.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "You''ve poisoned my son!"


    ''Poisoned?!'' Nie Pian couldn''t retort to that. Surely those pills weren''t good but they were not poison. Accusing someone of poisoning another demon was probably the worst accusation possible in the Desolate Sepulcher. It was seen as a heresy and also an insult to all the ancestors of the victim. The Blood was the link between a demon and all his lineage. Soiling it with poison was not just attacking the person but also his entire family past and present. Such an accusation could force Weiji Nian''s uncle to intervene as his own name and lineage would be smeared by that heresy.


    "Miss Weiji, your accusation is extremely serious. If you are not satisfied with our pills, you can''t insult us with such slander. We are open to discuss the matter, but we won''t be bullied into submission by your egregious words."


    "Insult?! Slander?! Egregious?! My son was poisoned by your pills and you dare talk back to me?!"


    Weiji Nian was now actively pushing her blood cultivation. All around her, there was a thick killing intent but her bloodline really wasn''t too impressive for an Accomplished Demon. Clearly, her cultivation had been achieved through other means than talent and hard work. However, she was still an Accomplished Demon. Her spiritual senses spread through the shop, prompting the guards into action. A dozen of Golden Blood Children appeared in front of Xixue and Nie Pian. They used all their strength to contain the mere aura of their opponent. On the other hand, Xixue activated some array formation. However, she didn''t put up any defense and didn''t try to attack Weiji Nian.


    In a direct fight, they had no chance at all. Even if she could have escaped, the guards would probably be killed and the situation would escalate even further. Cao Yun had to settle this matter. Looking at Nie Pian, she was furious and the old man was cowering in fear. Now, he finally understood that she had been right. He had messed around with pills and now he was finding the consequences of his actions. His punishment was well deserved. Nie Pian suddenly abandoned his idea of going directly to Cao Yun. From now on, he would accept all Xixue''s judgments, if only he could get out of this situation unscathed.


    "Miss Weiji, such violent actions are not welcomed in Duma City. Please, go through the proper channel and we will establish the truth of the matter. If you have been wronged by our Blazing Swallow, we will redress your grievances, I assure you."


    "You think I don''t know that you''re in cahoots with Boss Gui?! She''ll throw her weight around to get you out of trouble! I should just skin you alive right here and now. Then I''ll send your bloody heads back to your dog of a master. Hell, you could be a plaything for my son for a few days. Because of your treachery he''ll have to find new ways to entertain himself with your body, girl."


    Weiji Nian was completely insane. When it came to her son, she was unable to listen to reason. Xixue had heard about it, but now she finally understood it in her flesh. Just looking at her eyes as she was using her spiritual senses was too much for the young girl. The woman''s skin had turned almost completely red with fury while her eyes were pitch-black.


    "So I''ll just throw my weight around?!"


    A voice resounded throughout the shop. Suddenly, all the pressure caused by Weiji Nian''s cultivation simply vanished. It was as though her killing intent had been extinguished but everyone could still see the bloodthirst in her eyes. However, Weiji Nian herself was now surrounded by a powerful killing intent blocking hers. Everyone had recognized the voice.


    In the entrance to the shop, Boss Gui was standing with Miss Wo and Cao Yun by her sides. When Xixue had activated the array formation earlier, it was to contact her master to tell him that there was danger in the shop. Coincidentally, he had been with Boss Gui at the moment. He had just sent back the instructors and the trainees to Boss Gui to see how they had progressed in his care. Suffice to say that Boss Gui had been extremely pleased with the results. And she couldn''t wait to train all her instructors. In fact, she intended to send some elite warriors to Cao Yun for him to train them. Besides, she had also learned a few things of interest about Xixue''s sister.


    Unfortunately, they had been rudely interrupted when Cao Yun detected the activation of his array formation. It had sent him a telepathic message. Although there was no word, there was an image. The array formation was sending him the image of what was going on in his shop. As long as he was in Duma City, he could receive it after someone had activated it that array formation. Obviously, he told Boss Gui that Weiji Nian was threatening his business. Since she was the wife of an ally of City Lord Sihe, she couldn''t not act. Thus, she had decided to come in person.


    After hearing her talk about her mistress, Miss Wo really wanted to cut off her head. Disrespecting the City Lord could clearly be reason enough to slay someone. Even with her uncle and husband, Weiji Nian couldn''t do as she pleased. But, on the other hand, Boss Gui couldn''t either. As a City Lord, she was under the jurisdiction of Lord Wanghuo, head of the Nalupu Kingdom.


    "Miss Weiji, if you have a problem with Lord Mo Yun''s shop, you should take it to me first! I will not tolerate such disrespect toward me! You''ve clearly misinterpreted my letter as empty threats. I can assure you they were not empty at all. And they were no threats either. What I wrote is a just an objective description of what''s going to happen."


    "Oh, I know that those were not empty! You''ve conspired with this dog to poison my dear son! I will have justice for him!"


    "Poison?!"


    "Don''t play coy with me!"


    Obviously, Cao Yun had no idea what was going on either. He was about to send some message into Xixue''s mind to ask her to explain when he saw the pills on the ground. It was fairly easy for him to guess what they were. All those pills were meant to improve either the sexual prowess of someone or the pleasure from the act. Besides, they all had the Blazing Swallow emblem despite being forged by someone else. More than that, their quality was very poor and they had a lot of toxins. Whoever had refined those had tried to improve the amount of medicinal essence with complete disregard for the amount of toxins.


    Looking at Xixue and Nie Pian, he could tell who was the culprit. That old man had tried to scam others with his shop. There would be hell to pay after that. However, in front of an outsider, he could not admonish his servant. Besides, he couldn''t lose his face in front of Boss Gui either. But he would have to deal with the situation accordingly.


    "Miss Weiji, I can assure you that no one poisoned your son. I don''t know what happened but my pills are not to blame in the matter."


    "Not to blame?! I called several physicians who assured me that my son will never be able to... Damn you!"


    Weiji Nian leaped toward Cao Yun ready to tear him apart. Since Boss Gui was also on the trajectory, Miss Wo acted without any hesitation. Barehandedly, she sent a strange punch toward the enraged woman. A solemn hymn spread through the shop and the next instant, she was behind Weiji Nian. Since the woman wasn''t a fighter at all, Miss Wo easily pinned her to the ground in a strong chokehold. The more she was trying to move, the more she was suffocating herself. For an Accomplished Demon, not breathing wasn''t a problem, but Miss Wo was also cutting off her blood circulation.


    Although she could still stay conscious for a long time, this wasn''t pleasant at all, especially considering the difference in strength.

 Chapter 538: Burning out impotence

    Boss Gui herself was a bit disturbed by the situation. Weiji Nian was being restrained on the ground by her bodyguard Miss Wo. But Weiji Nian was the niece of a great general in the Nalupu Kingdom army. To treat her in such a way, she had to have very good reasons. Unfortunately, she had no idea what was going on here. At the very least, Weiji Nian had tried to assault an alchemist she was allied to so she could easily justify Miss Wo''s reaction. However, she had to get to the bottom of things. Even as a City Lord, she couldn''t just wave this situation away. On the other hand, she really didn''t want to lose Cao Yun as an ally. After all, he had already helped her quite a bit, and he knew things about her.


    If worse came to worst, Boss Gui might even be forced to get rid of both Weiji Nian and Cao Yun in order to protect herself. In fact, Cao Yun was able to see that Boss Gui was thinking of many outcomes that wouldn''t be good to him at all. After all, she was known to be ruthless and her ambitions were too grand to be thwarted by anyone. Cao Yun was absolutely certain that she would kill anyone in her way, even her most faithful servant.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had seen through the situation fairly quickly. Later, he would need to punish Nie Pian for his stupidity. Even though he was very helpful when it came to handling the financial aspect of the Blazing Swallow, if he caused this kind of problem, he was better off fired. But for the time being, Cao Yun was thinking of ways to get out of the current situation. His plans could not be thwarted because Weiji Nian''s son couldn''t get it up!


    As he was trying to find a solution as fast as possible, the old man stepped forward. He kowtowed toward Cao Yun, Boss Gui and Weiji Nian. In fact, he slammed his head so hard on the ground that he almost split his skull open.


    "This unfilial one is responsible for everything! This idiotic one didn''t consult Lord Mo Yun and sold pills forged by incompetent alchemists. This senile old man offers his blood to appease Lady Weiji''s wrath."


    Hearing and seeing Nie Pian, there was absolutely no doubt that he was absolutely sincere. In fact, even Weiji Nian began to calm down. Thus, Miss Wo released her. But the woman was still enraged. Knowing that she couldn''t act as she pleased in this situation, she stared at the old man.


    "How can such weak excuses save my son? I demand Boss Gui to punish this old fool. I want you to pull out his tendons one by one, to flay him alive, to cut off his appendages, to burn his flesh, to boil his blood, to feed him to wild beasts. Then I will think about whether to further punish the Blazing Swallow or not. A shop can''t hide behind its employee to justify the lack of competence of its leader. Mo Yun should have controlled his employees better than that!"


    Once again, Boss Gui was in a bad position. Clearly, torturing Cao Yun''s employee to death would impact their relationship. On the other hand, he had committed a crime. Although he had not deliberately poisoned Weiji Nian''s son, she could make a case that he had. After all, everyone knew of the conflict between Cao Yun and Weiji Nian. It wouldn''t be too hard to paint the situation as an assassination attempt in fact. In that case, the Nalupu Kingdom would probably investigate itself. In the worst scenario, Weiji Nian''s uncle could come in person with a part of the army to deal with the situation. All that was happening because of a teenage boy trying to get it wet. This wasn''t even funny...!


    "Miss Weiji, I do understand your anger. However, do you want revenge, or do you want satisfaction?"


    "What?!"


    "My employee did wrong you. But if you bring it out in the open, imagine the ridicule your son will face. Such shame will also spread to you and even to your uncle. Your entire lineage would be embarrassed by this situation."


    "Mo Yun...!"


    In Weiji Nian''s eyes, there was pure insanity. When it came to her son, she was unable to control herself in the least. However, this was precisely what Cao Yun was counting on. In fact, he had just realized how useful it would be in the future. She was related to a powerful general of the Napulu Kingdom and she was very easy to manipulate and even control. Before that, he had thought about killing her when she became too much of a nuisance. But thanks to Nie Pian''s scam, he had realized that she could be much more useful than he had initially thought. However, he had to manage her first. For some time, she would be a threat until he was able to put a leash on her through her son.


    "Miss Weiji, please hear me out. Although those pills are sorely lacking, my alchemy is not. I am absolutely confident that I can help heal your son completely and some more."


    "You want me to let you experiment on my son?!"


    "Would you prefer his condition to be made public and to stay all his life?"


    "You...! How can I know you won''t do anything worse to him? How am I supposed to trust you at all?"


    "Simple enough. I can swear to disband my Blazing Swallow if I fail."


    "Not enough! If you fail, I want to slaughter all of your employees and you will forfeit your life. Having you as a slave would be perfect."


    "Lady Weiji!"


    This time, Boss Gui couldn''t stay silent. Cao Yun was her partner in business, humiliating him in such a manner was akin to humiliating her. Besides, she couldn''t accept that such a great alchemist was enslaved by a woman connected to City Lord Sihe. Indeed, her husband was working for City Lord Sihe. If Cao Yun was enslaved by her, he would ultimately serve him and this would be a real problem to Boss Gui. Furthermore, he knew a lot about her own secrets. In fact, he knew enough to sentence her to death for her experiments with poison.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Of course, she wouldn''t be sentenced to death but she would also become a slave to either City Lord Sihe or to Lord Wanghuo himself. Her business was too lucrative for the Nalupu Kingdom to be discarded so easily if they had a way to control it instead. By blackmailing her, they would indeed control it all. In other words, if Cao Yun was enslaved, he had to die. Boss Gui was starting to regret her alliance with Cao Yun. Maybe his uses were outnumbered by the potential risks he could unleash.


    "Miss Gui, this isn''t a problem at all. I am absolutely sure that I can resolve the issue."


    To be honest, Cao Yun wasn''t afraid of being enslaved. Considering his knowledge about seals, there was no one in the Desolate Sepulcher who could enslave him, not even City Lord Sihe. Although Dian Mo had told him to be cautious of this man, he clearly wouldn''t be able to enslave Cao Yun. So even if he failed, he could disappear if need be. Of course, he had no intention either to fail or to let go of what he had already built. He had no time for such things. So he would resolve the stupid boy''s problem. Besides, it was also a good opportunity to enter Weiji Nian''s residence and to spy on her.


    With his current strength, he couldn''t do much against her. But he would lay the foundation for his future plans. To be honest, he was thinking those plans even as he was speaking with her. Those had not been imagined before, but Cao Yun knew how to adapt to the situation. Although his overall goal was the same, the fine details could change according to the changes around him. And right now, he had a good opportunity. Even if keeping Weiji Nian alive was a threat, killing her was also a threat as he would immediately be accused and that her uncle would probably come in person.


    Paradoxically, leaving Weiji Nian alive for the time being was probably safer in the long run. And because of her inability to think when it came to her son, she would be a problem for her own allies more than she would be to Cao Yun. That being said, he wasn''t underestimating her. So he would need to prepare himself for several scenarios.


    As he was forced to think on the fly, Cao Yun was assaulted by many scenarios. He didn''t like to deal with things he had not prepared for and he tended to overthink things. In fact, this was linked to what he perceived to be his worst flaw. Naturally, he wasn''t proactive enough. Even if he had tried to change and act to reach his goal, he was afraid of falling back into a purely reactive role. Even if his plans weren''t perfect, and even if he wasn''t absolutely sure what the right thing to do was, he had to act because he wouldn''t go back to his old ways. Waiting for his enemies to act or for the situation to change by itself were not viable solutions. He had to make the world change and to confront his enemies himself.


    -


    While Weiji Nian was still seething with rage, they all went to her residence. Obviously, this caught the eyes of many in the street even if it was rather late. Many rumors spread in the following days. But Boss Gui would deal with them in her common fashion. Besides, she would also publish an official statement to claim that they had met in order to move past their old grievances.


    Once within Weiji Nian''s residence, the young human took in every single detail. Of course, what interested him the most were the array formations. If ever he needed to sneak in the Weiji residence for some reason, he needed to have a perfect plan of the place while also knowing everything about the array formations. Once again, they were really not a problem to him. Still, they would take some time to completely overcome with his current cultivation. But if he absolutely needed to sneak into this place, this wouldn''t be much of a challenge, especially if he broke through even further.


    Finally, Weiji Nian brought Cao Yun to her son. She had summoned all of her guards in order to protect her son. If Cao Yun was doing anything slightly threatening, he would be dealt with. Because she was unable to think straight when her son was concerned, Weiji Nian had just revealed all her guards to both Cao Yun and Boss Gui. The young human had now a perfect understanding of her forces. Indeed, he couldn''t deal with them right now, but knowing about them all was a huge help. In fact, he also noticed the guards who were under a Slavery Brand and the others. He had also noted that for the other servants.


    At last, he faced Weiji Bao. The teenage boy seemed crushed by depression. Thanks to his mother, he had always obtained everything he had ever desired. Frustration was a very foreign and abstract concept to him. In all honesty, Cao Yun was pitying him. Even if he had grown in a relatively wealthy family, Cao Yun had not be spoiled in such a manner by his parents. Weiji Nian had not been helping her son at all by acting like that. In fact, it was possible that it was too late for him. However, Cao Yun had not enough compassion to care too much about Weiji Bao. After all, he had probably committed many crimes already, especially on his slaves.


    Thinking about his condition, Cao Yun imagined what he had in mind when he used the pills. Very quickly, any compassion he could have had for him was gone. Although he was young, Weiji Bao seemed old enough in Cao Yun''s eyes to be responsible for his own acts. He wouldn''t be able to hide behind the inadequacies of his mother. Maybe Cao Yun was trying to justify his future actions. Even he wasn''t too sure about it. But he wasn''t a moralist and didn''t claim to have a perfect understanding of what was just or not. However, there was no doubt in his mind that this world would be better off without this Weiji family.


    While Weiji Bao was almost catatonic, he didn''t resist Cao Yun at all. Besides, he had no way of resisting him considering the difference in their cultivation. That being said, Cao Yun didn''t want to use force as he was surrounded by Weiji Nian''s guards. He didn''t want to give her any reason to complain. Thus, he took his wrist in his hand and read his pulse. With his intent and his spiritual senses, he was able to see deep within his bloodstream.


    In a matter of seconds, Cao Yun had detected the medicinal essence and the toxins of the pills sold by his employee. Clearly, they had been terrible. Those alchemists had tried to refine high-grade pills but they had completely disregarded the problem of the toxins. They were incompetent alchemists, yet Nie Pian had hired them. Cao Yun would need to put things in place to deal with new hires. Maybe he could even have Dan Yao help with that. While Nie Pian was perfect for taking care of the books, Dan Yao could take over the alchemist part of things. Later, he would have Xixue restructure his Blazing Swallow. It had to be able to function without either of them since they wouldn''t always be present. The branch in Ruohe was working very well. But their main shop in Duma City was facing such problems...


    Anyway, it really wasn''t difficult for Cao Yun to get rid of the toxins through the use of the Black Heart Flame. For a moment, he even hesitated to place a few seals in Weiji Bao. But he thought back to what Dian Mo had told him. There was a possibility for City Lord Sihe to discover his seals sooner or later. Thus he decided against it. He would find a better way to put a leash on Weiji Nian. Unfortunately, it would take some time during which she would not stop to be a threat to him. Hopefully though, she would calm down a little after Cao Yun had cured her son.


    While Cao Yun was burning the toxins, some turbid air was leaving Weiji Bao''s mouth and nose. Knowing what it meant, Weiji Nian was ecstatic. Once the toxins had been mostly eliminated, Cao Yun also decided to burn away the medicinal essence of the pills.

 Chapter 539: Learning from and solving ones mistakes

    "The side effects of the pills should be gone completely. However, there is some residue from the toxins. Your son will need to take some remedy for that if he wants to make a full recovery. In fact, it might even be a blessing in disguise. Indeed, my pills could help him improve his prenatal Jing slightly. Don''t expect anything incredible, but there might be some effect on his health, both in the chamber, and outside of it of course."


    Everything Cao Yun was saying was false. He had already taken out the toxins, but he had also burned away the medicinal essence to cancel any positive effect from the pill. The use of the Black Heart Flame within Weiji Bao was the reason why the boy was still rather weak as it had taken a toll on him. Obviously, he wouldn''t say that and he was also convinced that few people would be able to tell what had exactly happened in his body. At least, in this Desolate Sepulcher which had such poor tradition in alchemy, poison and array formation, there was no doubt in his mind. Maybe City Lord Sihe could figure it out, but he wasn''t even certain of that. Besides, by the time he could see Weiji Bao in person, there would be no trace left.


    Even the idea of improving his prenatal Jing was false. After all, Cao Yun had no reason to help him at all. However, he could stall for time like that. If Weiji Nian was convinced she needed Cao Yun''s assistance, she would wait longer before doing anything against him. Since Cao Yun didn''t want to risk killing her right now and couldn''t either control her through her son for the moment, trying to stabilize their relationship was the right move.


    No matter what he was saying, Weiji Nian, and even Boss Gui, couldn''t tell whether he was lying or not. The more someone''s mind cultivation was developed, the easier it was to both see through someone else''s emotions while hiding their own. For the moment, Cao Yun''s mind cultivation was higher than those women. Apart from Xiao Xuefeng, he didn''t think someone could stand on an equal footing with him thanks to his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', further helped by his calligraphy.


    Because Weiji Nian wasn''t too hospitable, Cao Yun and Boss Gui left her residence very soon after healing her son. However, they still gave her some words of advice.


    "Miss Weiji, I will forget your complete disregard for etiquette and tradition. But no matter the issue you are facing, you should always consider your position. Your actions also impact your husband, your uncle and your own son. In that conflict, you should have come to me first and we would have dealt with it in the proper manner. Out of respect for your blood, I won''t divulge anything about what transpired this day. Miss Weiji, you should be careful about it as well."


    Boss Gui''s threats weren''t well veiled. But the worst part for Weiji Nian was that she was right. Even now, she had asked her uncle and husband for their help against Cao Yun after being humiliated by him in the auction hall. After today''s events, there was no doubt that they would forbid her from doing anything against him. Their position and their face was in the balance. If this incident was revealed to the public, they would look utterly ridiculous. Besides, she had technically violated the rules of the Nalupu Kingdom. Even if the punishment wouldn''t be too severe, this could affect her uncle''s carrier in the army. One''s reputation would always impact their family as well. So Weiji Nian had to keep her face no matter what.


    After leaving the Weiji residence, the two associates parted as Boss Gui knew that Cao Yun had things to deal with in his own residence. However, she still gave him a message. She had taken a lot of precautions before giving it to him. She had even went so far as to send the message to him through a telepathic communication and it had also been encrypted. It took several minutes for Cao Yun to decipher it. But by the time he had come home, he could read it. There was clearly a very important piece of news he might be forced to discuss with Xixue. But for the time being, he had to deal with Nie Pian and the troubles he had caused.


    The old man was still kowtowing on the ground of the main Blazing Swallow shop. On his forehead, his blood was still flowing fresh. Of course, Cao Yun was furious toward him for his stupid scam. On the other hand, he realized that he had failed to take care of his own business himself, leaving most of the responsibilities to others. And in the end, Nie Pian''s stunt might have helped him, only the future would tell. That being said, he had to make sure that such events didn''t happen again. He couldn''t let this business ruin his other plans. The Blazing Swallow was just a means to an end. In fact, he didn''t care much about its success so long as it was enough for him. And enough it was!


    "Nie Pian, your stupidity almost cost us a lot. Thankfully, I repaired your mistake."


    "Thank you, most gracious lord. If it is necessary, I am ready to lay down my life to atone for my crimes."


    "Old man, what would I do with your life?! I already had it and you bought it back for a sum that I can spend on a single meal. If I had any interest in your life, I could take it in an instant. No one would mind. What I care about is your skill, but you should also understand when you are over your head. If you can''t recognize and correct your mistake, then your uses will be outweighed by your stupidity."


    "I understand, my Lord. I am ready to publicly admit to my mistakes so as to spare you any embarrassment."


    "Idiot!" This time, Xixue herself spoke. "You think admitting publicly that the quality of our products is a lie would be a good thing for anyone but our rivals. Are you really working for this Weiji harpy?!"


    "No, no! I swear on my Blood!"


    "Enough! Nie Pian, you will give me a complete list of all the mediocre pills you''ve sold. I will refine substitutes to buy the silence of those you''ve scammed. All the funds necessary for those will come directly from your pockets or your future salary."This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "Of course, my Lord. I will also fire those alchemists. If necessary, I could also have them killed to keep them quiet about what happened."


    "It won''t be necessary at all. I''ll put them to good use too. Although their pills were rather poor in comparison with mine, they are more talented than Dan Yao. Thus, I will have them learn the most important pills I''ve taught to him. They should be able to refine good versions of them before long. In fact, they might even push Dan Yao in the good direction as well. However, they''ll still be able to refine other pills but without our emblem. The pills bearing our emblem should always have a good enough quality to deserve it and so they don''t damage our brand."


    "I understand, my Lord. I will do as you ordered."


    "Old man, remember that I won''t stay in Duma City forever. Even Miss Xixue will leave at some point. You will have to do better if you don''t want this Blazing Swallow to crumble."


    Cao Yun''s last words caused a stir within Nie Pian but also Xixue. Although the old man wasn''t too sure what he was talking about, he could guess that Cao Yun had loftier ambitions than just being the richest man in Duma City. In fact, Nie Pian imagined that Cao Yun wanted to lead the Xinian Confederation. Of course, he couldn''t imagine that Cao Yun''s goals were beyond the Divine Blood Ocean. On the other hand, Xixue sensed something else. Could he have had gotten news about her sister?!


    "Now, deal with the shop and those alchemists. I expect to get the list of the pills before the end of the night. Obviously, you will be the one to got to the buyers yourself to both apologize and give them the new pills. No one should be willing to divulge the matter publicly, especially with Boss Gui on my side, but still make sure that they understand it is in no one''s intention. You might even negotiate some benefits for them in our shop. But all the money you''ll spend in that endeavor will come from your own salary and profit, don''t forget that. I will not pay for your mistakes. Although we must keep a united front before the outsiders, that doesn''t mean that I will tolerate such a stupid behavior from you. You should have known better. Stop thinking about short-time gains and ponder about the future of our Blazing Swallow."


    "I understand, my Lord. I swear that I won''t disappoint you. If I fail again, I will not offer you my life, I will take it myself."


    "Fine, then do as Lord Mo Yun ordered. If you commit another mistake, solve it before it becomes a problem though. Don''t count on others to bail you out the next time."


    Xixue was also impatient. Of course, Nie Pian thought it was because of him, but she was just impatient to get done with him so she could ask Cao Yun about something else. Her intuition told her that she was right about what Boss Gui had told him.


    At last, they left Nie Pian. Xixue didn''t ask anything as she followed Cao Yun into his personal chambers. As soon as they entered, he activated all the array formations he could. Thus, she knew that he had something of great importance to tell her. Obviously, she was convinced it was about her sister Hanqu Yinl¨¹. Unfortunately, she was mistaken.


    When Cao Yun finally decided to talk to her, he transmitted her the deciphered message sent by Boss Gui.


    "City Lord Sihe is targeting the Sand Wolves Tribe. His men are Golden Blood Children. They should arrive in three to four months according to my information network. I can''t guarantee the accuracy of this information, but there is no doubt he will attack that Sand Wolves Tribe."


    The Sand Wolves Tribe was the tribe in which Hanqu Meiyue had gone after leaving Duma City.


    "According to Miss Gui, City Lord Sihe is trying to imitate her own business by training slaves to sold them directly to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. That would be in accordance with his attempt to kill you. First, he needs to show that his business is as viable as hers. Then, he could kill her and replace her. As long as there''s no proof that he was directly involved, the promise of his profits would be enough to calm down everyone else. Apparently, he already captured a few slaves. But this Sand Wolves Tribe is one of the strongest. If he can enslave them, it would be easier for him to produce good slave warriors that could rival Miss Gui''s."


    "But you don''t know anything about Yinl¨¹?"


    "Unfortunately, we don''t know for sure yet. There is no doubt that she was sent to the main temple of the Sisters of the Abyss, the Temple of a Thousand Sighs. Since then, no one has any information about her. Thus we can''t know whether she was indoctrinated in their order or sacrificed. I''m sorry..."


    Xixue took off her mask since she was alone with Cao Yun. Her face was very serious. She was calculating.


    "To get to the Sand Wolves Tribe, it would take at least two months from Duma City. We would reach it before City Lord Sihe''s men."


    "Well, it depends on when the message was sent to Miss Gui in the first place. Besides, the arrival time is only an estimate. So if you wish to protect the Sand Wolves Tribe, we should depart as soon as possible."


    "We?!"


    "Indeed, I promised to help you and I will. Besides, I have some interest in the nomad tribes, I won''t hide it from you."


    "But if they learn that you work for Boss Gui, they won''t be happy to receive you at all. Hopefully, my cousin and I can defend you, but they don''t like outsiders even if they''re from neighbor tribes. You would put yourself in danger. Although the Sand Wolves Tribe has no Accomplished Demon, they''re terrible fighters, especially in the desert. They might be able to deal with City Lord Sihe''s men by themselves."


    "I doubt it. From what Miss Gui uncovered, they are absolutely ready to enslave as many people as they can. Yes, they probably won''t eradicate the entire tribe, but this isn''t their goal. As long as they get enough prisoners, their mission will be a success. So I give you the opportunity to go support them with my help. Or we could stay here, consolidate our presence in Duma City in the hope that Miss Gui finds out more about your sister. We could also try to get closer to the Sisters to learn more. But in the meantime, the Sand Wolves Tribe will suffer."


    Xixue was full of hesitation of course. She had to choose between a hypothetical way to save her sister and a much more concrete threat to her cousin. Such a decision wasn''t easy at all. However, if her sister was with the Sisters of the Abyss, her fate was either certain, or she was safe for the time being. On the other hand, her cousin was in real danger. As the very least, she could warn the Sand Wolves Tribe. And with an Accomplished Demon such as Cao Yun, they might be able to save much more tribesmen.


    "Lord Mo Yun, I would ask of you to help me protect the Sand Wolves Tribe and my cousin Hanqu Meiyue."


    "And I will listen to your wish."


    -


    "Boy, are you serious?! Why would you help those sand people?! You might expose your cultivation or even die in the battle! Is it because you feel guilty and ashamed of being allied with a slaver like that Boss Gui?!"


    "To be honest, it might be the case, at least in part. But I also need the help of the Desolate Dune Desert tribes. Furthermore, I will have to confront City Lord Sihe. Although this is dangerous, as long as I''m able to protect that tribe, there will be many benefits in the future."


    "Come on, you bleeding heart..."


    Dian Mo really wasn''t on the same wavelength as Cao Yun.

 Chapter 540: Leaving Duma City

    For the following days, Cao Yun examined several maps to be sure of the best path toward the Sand Wolves Tribe. Those maps didn''t show the location of the tribe of course, but Xixue knew where it was. Like most of the nomad tribes, the Sand Wolves Tribe was in fact semi-nomadic. In other words, they had several places they would occupy depending on the season and the time of the year. The tribe wasn''t located at the exact same location either. Considering the increase risk of being enslaved, the nomad tribes had begun to split into smaller groups so that they wouldn''t be all captured at once in case of an attack.


    While the Nalupu Kingdom had grown richer and richer, the nomad tribes had suffered a lot. But they were not ready to die out just yet. Thankfully the Desolate Dune Desert was their best weapon against those slavers. Despite their best efforts, neither Boss Gui nor City Lord Sihe, not even Lord Wanghuo, had discovered all the secrets of the desert. On the other hand, the nomad tribes had lived thousands of generations there. Obviously, their understanding of the desert was way beyond what the Nalupu Kingdom could claim to know. However, no matter how Cao Yun was looking at things, they would ultimately disappear if things kept on going in that direction.


    Although Cao Yun had taken them into consideration in his plans for the Desolate Sepulcher, he wasn''t absolutely sure how useful they would be. From his understanding, they had barely any Accomplished Demon in their rank. Of course, this might also be a ruse to prevent the Nalupu Kingdom from exterminating them with their full strength. For the time being, the Nalupu Kingdom was satisfied with launching raids against them when need be. In fact, the rest of the time, they even had commercial relationship with the tribes. To Cao Yun, it was rather strange that people would interact positively with the entity that was reducing their brethren into slavery. But the world was indeed a complicated place.


    Cao Yun himself didn''t have all the answers to morality so there was no reason for others to do either. Just like he was cooperating with Boss Gui for his goal, so were the nomad tribes. To protect their lifestyle, they did need to keep in touch with the Nalupu Kingdom even though they sometimes launched raids to enslave some of them. In fact, some tribes had even launched raids themselves on other tribes to sell slaves to the Nalupu Kingdom. The more Cao Yun experienced the world, the more he was realizing that things were quite messy. Figuring out who were the good guys was difficult.


    In the past, Cao Yun simply thought that the demonic cultivators and the demons were the bad guys and that the Hongchen Kingdom was overall good despite some crime here and there. After all, the Hongchen Kingdom was built on cooperation between humans for survival against the demons. Now he was aware that nothing was as simple. In a land that wasn''t his, figuring out what was wrong and what was right was more difficult and this didn''t feel too well to be honest. However, he would not falter and he would stay true to what he believed, even though his beliefs weren''t many. If his plan went well, slavery would not disappear completely overnight, but most of it would be abolished. This would be a good thing for everyone as it would also affect the strength of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Besides, Cao Yun could also get some benefits for himself. In fact, he was thinking more and more about it now that he had met Boss Gui.


    Once they were ready, Cao Yun and Xixue left with Hongyu. Before their departure, they tried to deal with the Blazing Swallow so that it could endure during their absence that could be very short or very long. They had no idea how long they would have to stay away. With Hongyu''s speed, Xixue''s knowledge of the desert, and Cao Yun''s senses, they would be able to take the fastest way possible. But even then, it would probably take a few weeks to reach their destination. The Desolate Dune Desert was inhabited by powerful demonic beasts they really didn''t want to face, just like the Divine Blood Ocean in fact. Those demonic beasts were ironically protecting the nomad tribes even though they were extremely dangerous. Besides, space was also quite strange, most likely because of the Desolate Pillar Cao Yun had first emerged in.


    Checks and balances had been put in place to rein in Nie Pian''s bad habits. Hopefully, he had learned his lesson for good. But still, Xixue insisted on many changes to make sure of that. Dan Yao was also given more power. All the time before Cao Yun''s departure, the young man begged his master to not abandon him. No matter Cao Yun''s efforts, the boy was convinced that his master was leaving because of him somehow. A bit tired of it, Cao Yun gave him several assignments to keep him busy. By setting up a deadline, he also showed him that he was expecting to come back. At that moment, Dan Yao changed and was suddenly worried about Cao Yun''s safety.


    After realizing that his master wasn''t abandoning him but was flying into danger, Dan Yao became increasingly afraid for him. This time, it moved the alchemist. Although this boy could sometimes be annoying with his whining, he was earnest to a fault. In time, his hard work would clearly pay off. Anyway, Cao Yun had a soft spot for the kid for sure.


    Then, they simply had to get things set with Boss Gui. So he refined enough pills for more than a year. Dan Yao had been taught how to refine most of them. Even if he still lacked the capacity to refine them in the same quality, he was successful in refining them. With his hard work and the assistance of the other two alchemists, Cao Yun had no doubt that he would reach proficiency before the reserve of pills ran out.


    Finally, they left Duma City.


    -


    Weiji Nian was absolutely enraged by Cao Yun of course. But she couldn''t directly act against himself for several reasons. In fact, she had finally received words from her uncle who was closer than her husband. He had forbidden her from doing anything. Even her attitude in the Blazing Swallow was unacceptable. Thankfully, her uncle didn''t know for now. Hopefully, she could conceal it from him for some time. In fact, since this had been mostly kept quiet, she might be able to completely hide it. However, she was certain that at the very least the Sisters of the Abyss knew about it. They were always spying on everyone and Weiji Nian had not been discreet at all. Even Boss Gui might leak out the truth in some circles to pressure her and her family.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Furthermore, Weiji Nian needed Cao Yun''s alchemy to help her son''s condition. However, her reason was clearly failing her when it came to her son. Despite his best efforts to dissuade her, his mother had called in Sister Lisha. In order for their meeting to stay as secret as possible, Sister Lisha had come in person. As much as Weiji Nian thought it was the proper thing to do considering her own status, this wasn''t Sister Lisha''s view of things. Apart from a City Lord, almost no one was worthy enough to be visited by her. In the Sisters of the Abyss, her rank was Mother Lisha. She was directly under the High Mother, the supreme leader of the order.


    Even the ranks of the Sisters were kept secret. Thus any Sister would be called ''Sister'' just because she was part of the order. Only within their own midst would they call each other''s ranks.


    "Sister Lisha, I would like to hire you to spy on someone."


    "On Mo Yun."


    "Indeed."


    Weiji Nian wasn''t surprised at all that the Sisters knew about her intentions. This order of witches was always watching everyone. Although they were respected by the entire Desolate Sepulcher, it didn''t mean that every single individual liked them. For one, Weiji Nian wasn''t too pleased with the fact that she was even interacting with one. Most likely, she was frustrated by the honor and respect they received. Of course, no one would point out to Weiji Nian that she was receiving a lot of honor and respect that she clearly didn''t deserve.


    "I''m ready to pay a lot to get this information."


    "500 Heidai Coins."


    "What?!"


    Now, Weiji Nian was surprised. Even though she had imagined that the price wouldn''t be cheap, such a sum was simply extortion.


    "This isn''t negotiable. This is the price necessary for us to give you the information that will be useful to you. If you cannot pay, this is fine. I''ll take my leave."


    "Wait!"


    Sister Lisha had already turned around and was about to leave the Weiji residence. Whether she was paid or not, she would need to spy on Cao Yun either way. But if she could get some money out of it for her order, she had no reason to refuse. Knowing how Weiji Nian was when it came to her son, Sister Lisha knew she could get as much as she wanted out of her so she had decided on a vast sum of money that Weiji Nian could still pay. Besides, she had not promised her to tell her everything about Cao Yun, just what could be useful to her. Of course, Sister Lisha would be the judge of said usefulness.


    "I agree..."


    "Good. I will follow Mo Yun personally."


    Weiji Nian kept quiet while Sister Lisha took her leave. As soon as the Sister was gone, Weiji Bao entered the room to confront his mother.


    "Mother, you shouldn''t go down this path. Father and Great Uncle wouldn''t be happy with you."


    "Boy, it''s sweet that you care so much about me. But I''m only thinking about your future. The way he treated you... This Mo Yun is a threat to you, and to our entire family. I''m not sure whether City Lord Sihe really has some ties with him, but one way or another, he will want to get rid of this alchemist. If I can give him some information he could exploit, this will be beneficial to us all. Do not worry about me, my sweet boy. Just focus on recovering. I''ll buy any servant you desire."


    Even Weiji Bao wasn''t appeased by his mother. Usually, he was carefree because his mother was pampering him way too much. But he had some feeling that things would go poorly if they kept associating with Cao Yun. Although he didn''t know why, since Mo Yun had treated him, he felt terrified of that man. Maybe it was the Black Heart Flame that had coursed through his flesh. But of course, Weiji Bao had no way of identifying what that sensation had been. What he knew for sure was that he didn''t want to be faced with this man. And he didn''t want his mother or his family to do either. But he also knew that nothing could stop his mother when it came to his fate. Usually he liked that, but not this time.


    -


    Hongyu was extremely glad to fly around with Cao Yun on her back. While he had been busy in Duma City, she felt a bit alone. Of course, she could fly around as much as she liked and she even explored around the city. She was always careful of course, but she had enjoyed her time to its fullest.


    She had subdued all the demonic beasts around Duma City. After all, she was a 5-core demonic beast. In that time, her cultivation had finally stabilized and she could even use her Evil Core, balanced out by her Wrath Core. In actuality, she was probably as strong as a 6-core demonic beast. At the very least, no demonic beast who had less than five cores could be a threat to her. Besides, even among the 6-core demonic beasts, they were not all able to fly. And this gave her a huge advantage. Even if she couldn''t have killed a 7-core demonic beasts, she might still be able to escape, just like Cao Yun. In fact, the two of them together might be able to kill such a demonic beast, as they could probably fight off an early Accomplished Demon as well.


    Thanks to her strength, she had really enjoyed herself around Duma City. However, she still felt alone without Cao Yun. Despite her cultivation, Hongyu was still quite young. As much as her body had evolved fast, like most demonic beasts, her mind was still immature. For her, Cao Yun was her big brother and she had no other family. Although she wasn''t sad about her parents'' death because she couldn''t remember them, or their death, she had a feeling of emptiness from time to time. Cao Yun could also feel it and obviously felt guilty about it, further improving his work on the Unclean Evil, the embodiment of his shame.


    Taking the right course, they crossed into the Desolate Dune Desert. Despite his great senses, Cao Yun failed to notice Sister Lisha who was following Hongyu in the desert. Even without a flying demonic beast, she was able to fly fast enough to stay on their tail all the time. The Sisters were proficient in many occupations. Sister Lisha seemed to be great at sneaking around. If Cao Yun had been able to see her, he would have realized that she was using the same principles behind ''Ashen Feather Seal'', but she was applying it to her own blood. And her proficiency in the art was greater than his by a large margin. Only Huang Liyue could have surpassed her in that domain.


    It would take around three weeks for Hongyu to reach the destination Xixue had designated as the Sand Wolves Tribe''s location. Instead of flying directly into their camp, Hongyu stopped some distance away. Xixue walked at the front while Cao Yun and Hongyu were following her, alert to any threat.


    In a tongue a little different from the local Moshenhua, Xixue yelled some words toward the camp. All around them, men and women appeared out of the sand. Even Cao Yun was surprised. He had failed to notice them. The sand itself had completely masked their presence. Obviously he was a bit afraid. Even though those cultivators were no threat to him, other cultivators or beasts could hide in the sand and he might be blind to them.

 Chapter 541: The Sand Wolves Tribe

    Realizing this short-coming, Cao Yun decided to use his spiritual senses specifically toward the sand. Very soon, he discovered that this sand was completely saturated with Fire Qi. Besides, there was also a form of intent within that sand that immediately assaulted his very soul. While his Flying Poison was related to Earth, the Unclean Evil was linked to Wood and Stinking Lungs to Metal. In other words, those last two Turbid Demons were ill-equipped to deal with some aggressive Fire Qi. Thankfully, his Flying Poison, with the support of the intent from the Drop of Wrath could sink pretty deep into the sand.


    Although it wasn''t too clear, Cao Yun could feel a form of familiarity with this sand. At some point, he even realized that the faint intent within the Fire Qi seemed to warm up to him. As he was trying to go deeper and deeper, the resistance should have increased. However, it didn''t. Just as the pressure was increasing on his soul, the dim intent within the sand was getting less and less aggressive thus the overall strain on his soul didn''t change much.


    While he was doing all that, Xixue was speaking with the tribesmen all around them. They were all Golden Blood Children. Not a single one exceeded the 3rd-grade stage. In other words, Cao Yun would be able to incapacitate or kill anyone of them very easily. On the other hand, he could tell that they perfectly knew how to fight as one. Even though he wasn''t an expert when it came to battle formations, he knew about the Six Stratagems. They are clearly mastered ''Breathing as One'' as their breath was perfectly harmonious. It wasn''t as easy as breathing according to the same rhythm. Instead, their overall breath had a very specific rhythm. Their group seemed to have a life of its own. A better way to put it would be an orchestra. Not all the instruments were playing at the same time or with the same melody, but they were producing something coherent and beautiful.


    If he were to fight such a force, Cao Yun was confident he would triumph, but it would be harder and he would need to be smart about it. Sheer brute force wouldn''t work too well against trained fighters like those. In fact, such a training might be useful to Boss Gui''s slaves. By combining their training with hers, they could create a powerful army indeed.


    Just as he was thinking about it, Cao Yun saw images of conquest. Maybe he could simply take over Boss Gui''s business. If he could force those tribes to follow him, or even enslave them, he would obtain an army powerful enough to take over most of the Desolate Sepulcher. With time, he could even develop a force that could contend with the weakened Hongchen Kingdom. In his mind, he was seeing himself ruling over the entire Piaolu planet. Then, he saw images of his enemies enslaved, tortured or killed at his feet, begging for a mercy that would never come. After them, it was his own friends who were submitted to him completely. There were entire harems bent to his every whim.


    As he was lost in this vision, Cao Yun sensed a powerful sensation throughout his chest. His Flying Poison was still probing the sand down below. Thus his Unclean Evil and Stinking Lungs were powerful within his sea of consciousness. The two characters representing them were floating both around his Po the Metal Corporeal Soul and within his Drop of Wrath where he was trying to duplicate them. Around those characters, there was some turbid air. Suddenly, Shen the Fire Spirit emitted a fierce light just as flames surrounded it. The flames descended toward Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. Under the lead of the Rune of Fire, those flames tamed the two Turbid Demons.


    At this point, Cao Yun had not completely mastered them. The Stinking Lungs was the Po of Spirit and its Turbid Demon version related to corruption of one''s values and ideals. The vision Cao Yun had just had was obviously a corruption of his ambition. And Dian Mo was seeing all of that.


    "Boy, you may have bitten more than you could chew with those two Turbid Demons at the same time..."


    "I know. But I still have them under control. I was just carefree with my Flying Poison. But if those had been real Turbid Demons, I could have literally just lost my mind right now. It''s no wonder there isn''t a lot of Accomplished Demons. Just like demonic cultivators, they can go insane pretty easily. If demons didn''t have such a strong will, they could never cultivate beyond their second realm."


    "Indeed... But didn''t those visions make you reflect on your plans? They''re not too different, aren''t they? As much as you claim to be opposed to slavery, you allied yourself with a greedy woman like Boss Gui whose entire fortune depends upon enslaving others to sell them."


    "This is a means to an end. The reason why I allied with her is because she''s absolutely pragmatic. I know precisely where she stands and thus I won''t have any surprise with her. As long as helping me is in her best interest, she''ll keep doing so. Besides, she''s not enslaving others for any other reason than for money. Thus, if I can show her a better way to gain power and wealth, I could rally her to my cause. Others might be more difficult to convince. I''m not too sure what''s the stance of the Sisters of the Abyss on the matter. However, the Nalupu Kingdom needs slaves to maintain its authority so it will be harder with Lord Wanghuo."


    "So you really intend to try and free all slaves?! Do you think you''re some kind of savior?!"


    "Once again, I don''t plan to be a saint. But I''ve seen a way to at the very least diminish slavery. I don''t think I can alter those demons'' culture enough to get rid of the concept. And I have no time to lead an extensive social reform. Furthermore, I''m no more a politician than I am a saint. However, what I can do for those peoples, I will do."


    "But in the end, it''s just so you can diminish the Empyrean Asura Theocracy''s strength and find a way back to your own continent. Boy, if you could find a way back home right now, wouldn''t you just abandon all those people, even that girl Xixue, and go back to your sister? Even if you lack the strength to oppose Emperor Weide yourself, Sect Leader Xuan and Spirit Master Xiao would be behind you. Hell, you might even get the support of Matriarch Huang. With those Spirit Warriors as your backers, you could save your sister after all. Don''t you think so?"Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "... And how could I get a boat back to the main continent and then cross it completely to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom? First of all, Lord Wanghuo controls the navy outside of this Desolate Sepulcher, not a single boat can leave without his say-so. With my current status, I couldn''t get a boat and I''m not even sure I could sneak onboard. But then, I would reach the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Without enough strength, I wouldn''t make it back home. I do think my current plan is my best option."


    "... Really...? Fine, let''s say you''re right. Why are you helping this Xixue? You could have simply sent a message to warn this tribe. Do you think you can take down an entire battalion sent to attack them?"


    "I could have sent a message. But I also want to earn the respect of the nomad tribes as they could make my life easier."


    "And it has nothing to do with the sob story this Xixue told you?! Don''t you think of your own sister when you hear about Yinl¨¹?"


    "Maybe I do. I won''t deny it, actually. But I still think my actions are rational and reasonable."


    "But if they weren''t, would you still go through with them or would you abandon this girl? Are you sure you''re not driven by your Turbid Demons? As much as you think you''ve got them under control, can you really claim it to be absolutely true?"


    "I... Thinking too much about all the possibilities leads to stagnation. I''ve already be passive enough. Maybe my actions are not perfect, but they are better than sitting around doing nothing!"


    "Humph! You''re still too young..."


    Suddenly, Cao Yun paused. Until now, his conversation with Dian Mo was a bit frustrating, but this word had just caused him to have a strange thought. He was ''too young''. In front of a spirit as old as Dian Mo, everyone on the Piaolu planet was too young after all. But Cao Yun had hopes of getting this old at some point. He wouldn''t just stop after becoming a Spirit Warrior. He would reach the pinnacle of cultivation. And on the way, he would save his sister and also his kind. Hell, he might even save the entire Piaolu planet from an all-consuming war.


    -


    Although Cao Yun was talking with Dian Mo within, he was still paying enough attention outside in case things went bad. He also was able to quickly identify the dialect used by the Sand Wolves Tribe. In the end, it was just a variation of the Moshenhua, it wasn''t too hard to decipher it as many words were similar. Besides, Cao Yun was always trying to learn new languages in order to have better chances with the Antique Sixian of Cleansed Asura. It didn''t take him more than one double hour to get the gist of this dialect. And the next day, he would speak it almost as well as a native. This would probably be seen positively by the tribe.


    "I am Xixue from the Lotus Tribe. My cousin Meiyue joined your Sand Wolves Tribe recently. Our Bloods are not linked yet, but I would like to see your chieftain. We have dire news for your Sand Wolves Tribe."


    The men and women surrounding Cao Yun and Xixue relaxed a bit. The young human could still feel their killing intent on him. If he showed any sign of hostility, they were ready to strike to kill. However, they were hearing Xixue''s story. Thankfully, they did know of Meiyue. After all, the tribes often had several small settlements. Not only did they change settlements according to the period of the year, but they also divided their own tribe among them. This had always happened to a degree. But with the campaign to enslave more and more nomads, this had become a necessity. Sometimes even a small tribe would divide itself into ten different settlements. That way, their bloodline would always survive in the end. Most likely, they had learned this lesson with the annihilation of the Lotus Tribe.


    After long discussions, the tribesmen called another man. He was a half-step Accomplished Demon without a doubt. His skin was dry and seemed almost as leather. For any other demon in the Nalupu Kingdom, this would have been a symbol of weakness. But among the desert dwellers, it was a symbol of strength and honor. It meant that he spent most of his life hunting in the desert. The Fire Qi within the sand had clearly affected his skin. But it had also helped his cultivation within. His blood was rich in fire. With his Rune of Fire, Cao Yun could feel it.


    That man was probably the most powerful Golden Blood Child he had met until now. Besides, he had clearly a lot of experience. Thankfully, this tribe wasn''t powerless at all. They could put up a good fight against the slavers sent by City Lord Sihe. But that didn''t sit too well with Cao Yun either. There was no way City Lord Sihe wasn''t aware of that. Maybe he was not targeting the main tribe. Maybe he would attack a smaller settlement. But he had no way of knowing the exact location of the Sand Wolves Tribe. At best, he had a rough guess. It was possible that Boss Gui''s intel was poor.


    Anyway, this was a great occasion for Cao Yun to form some relationship with the Sand Wolves Tribe and other tribes as well.


    As he approached Xixue, the man was very pleasant. He smiled warmly and welcomed her in their midst. However, his attitude was different toward Cao Yun. There was no doubt in his mind that Cao Yun was an outsider, he wasn''t part of any tribe. He wasn''t from the desert, which meant that he was from the Nalupu Kingdom. Thus, he was a possible threat. Try as he might though, he couldn''t decipher his cultivation. That meant that either he had a strange technique to hide it or he was an Accomplished Demon. In order to give that impression, Cao Yun mobilized his spiritual senses again. Most of his Flying Poison still remained in the sand, but he had taken a large part of it back in his sea of consciousness to balance out the other Turbid Demons.


    Using the common Moshenhua, that man spoke to Cao Yun with disdain.


    "This old man is Sha Lang Hu. Who might that man be?"


    There was a thick accent in Sha Lang Hu''s words. At first, Cao Yun wasn''t even sure about his name. Thankfully, he had good ears and was able to piece things together in his mind. Using what he had gathered from their dialects, Cao Yun replied.


    "This humble traveler comes from the West with the surname Tie and the given name Po. Accompanying that Lotus girl, I was hoping to deliver truth to the Wolves of the Sand."


    Sha Lang Hu was surprised by Cao Yun''s speech, even Xixue was. He had adapted very fast after hearing the young tribesmen. In fact, he almost sounded as though he had indeed grown up in the desert. Of course, his appearance was a testimony to the contrary though. There was another thing that surprised Sha Lang Hu.


    "You claim the name Tie Po to yourself? Is that traveler the one who freed a caravan several moons ago."


    "This is he, Uncle."


    Before Cao Yun could answer, Hanqu Meiyue had come. She immediately went toward her cousin to enjoy their reunion. Sha Lang Hu and his soldiers'' gaze on Cao Yun changed.


    "The Wolves have heard of Tie Po''s tale. It will be our honor to have that man for dinner. Chieftain Sha Chai Ren will want to meet that man. Dire news are not welcomed, but a messenger shouldn''t be thrown out."

 Chapter 542: Discussion between Wolves and man

    What really struck Cao Yun was that there was no child in the settlement. There were a few Blood Children but they were all above twenty at least. In fact, the settlement itself seemed truly desolate and the people a bit depressed. With Cao Yun''s arrival, this caused some activity as many tribesmen went to look at the two outsiders. Xixue wasn''t particularly interesting as they had already welcomed her cousin in their midst.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun was a true sensation. With his acute senses, he could easily make out all the conversations about him. Everyone was wondering whether he was truly Tie Po. Cao Yun had not crafted this name. Strangely enough, it had been given to him by those he had freed in the Desolate Dune Desert, along with Xixue. There was probably some history behind the name but he didn''t know about it.


    Anyway, talks about him were mostly to confirm whether the rumors were true or not. In fact, some even invented entire facts that surprised Cao Yun himself. But the gist of it was that he was able to break the Curse of Blood and Sorrow. Clearly, this was the Slavery Brand manufactured by City Lord Sihe.


    While he was walking through the settlement, Cao Yun kept on working on his spiritual senses. All the way, he was spreading part of his Flying Poison in the sand. As he was doing so, he realized that this was a good exercise. Not only was it strengthening his Flying Poison, it was also forcing him to balance out the other Turbid Demons in his sea of consciousness. From time to time, he could feel some unbalance and he had to rectify it. He was walking a thin line, but unfortunately, there wasn''t a perfectly safe way to do so. However, he was extremely careful indeed.


    The settlement was mostly made of tents with few permanent structures. As the Sand Wolves Tribe was semi-nomadic, they had a few settlements they migrated to and from depending on the period of the year and the desert itself. Thus, they could leave this settlement very quickly if need be. In fact, the permanent structures were either some sturdy buildings which seemed to have a symbolic importance, maybe a religious one, and defenses. Indeed, there were many defenses all over the place. Cao Yun could tell that some of them were fairly recent. They had been forced to change their ways when the Nalupu Kingdom became more offensive. In a way, Boss Gui and City Lord Sihe were responsible for this.


    As much as Boss Gui was relying on quality of slave warriors, other city lords were only betting on quantity. As such, many tribesmen had been enslaved by various city lords to be sold to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. While it made them wealthier and wealthier, it was also helping the Nalupu Kingdom slowly getting rid of the nomad tribes they didn''t completely control. Apart from the tribes themselves of course, everyone was very happy with this development.


    Finally they reached the tent of the chieftain. It wasn''t too different from the other tents. In fact, it was even smaller as it didn''t need to contain a lot of people. However, it was obvious that the leaders were there because of the colors and emblems on it. There was a wolf entirely composed of sand and whose eyes were literally made out of fresh blood. Its body seemed to be a sandstorm in the form of its fur. Besides, Cao Yun could feel a few powerful auras in the tent. There were around ten people in there. Despite their power, only one had really reached the Accomplished Demon realm. And that person was relatively weak for an Accomplished Demon. Cao Yun could sense that their vitality was rather meek. Most likely, that person was either very old or had reached this realm by some means leaving them weakened.


    Before they entered the tent, Cao Yun and Xixue were stopped by two guards. Like everyone else in the settlement, their skin was leathery. This made them look older. Although this would have been a sign of weakness in the cities, nomads saw it as a sign of strength. Indeed, this proved how long they had stayed in the harsh desert and had survived. Given their strength, they should have been able to reduce the effect of the Fire Qi within the sand to their skin, but this would never occur to them to do so. Besides, it probably helped them cultivate a little bit.


    Sha Lang Hu walked forward and entered the tent first. As soon as he did enter, his presence almost disappeared. Without his spiritual senses, Cao Yun would have been unable to perceive him at all. Even his physical senses were useless as he could not hear anything within.


    For the time of a cup of team, Cao Yun and Xixue waited at the doorstep. At last, the tent opened again. Sha Lang Hu told them to come in.


    As soon as they entered, they saw eight people with identical robes. Those were very similar to the other tribesmen''s clothes but with a few emblems on them to show their status. Most were men but there were a couple women. Just like Sha Lang Hu, their skin was very dry and leathery, even the women. In fact, there was a single man with healthier skin and he clearly seemed out of place, just like Cao Yun. However, he was wearing the same emblems as the tribe.


    Cao Yun guessed that he had to visit the cities often. After all, the tribes relied on their commerce with the cities on top of their hunt. Even though they had a complicated relationship with the Nalupu Kingdom, they still had to work together in some way.


    On some small platform, there were two heavy chairs with a couple sitting in them. The man had a very severe face with a few scars and a missing eye. His skin barely seemed human. Strangely, it looked like leather and bronze at the same time with tinges of dark blood. The scars themselves were deeply dark and reddish. And his remaining eye was completely white. Looking more closely, it had streaks of gray in it. However, his gaze was intense beyond belief. This man had certainly lived through many life-and-death situations.


    His hair was also gray and white cascading on his chest and upper back. They were so long they reached his waist. Moreover, they were completely disheveled, so much so that he almost looked like a beggar. Although he looked extremely old, he was still exuding a powerful aura. Considering his looks, it was hard to tell but he had to be around a thousand year old and some more. There was no doubt that he was reaching the end of his natural lifespan.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    By his side was a woman delicately grabbing his arm. She seemed a younger by a margin. Once again, it was hard to tell but she was probably around five to six hundred years old.


    Just like the old man, she exuding a strong aura, but unlike him she was not an Accomplished Demon yet. Given her age, this was a proof that their cultivation wasn''t too developed in the Sand Wolves Tribe. In fact, this was the case for most nomad tribes. Even in the cities, cultivation wasn''t flourishing. Early Accomplished Demon seemed to be the pinnacle for many demons, while only a handful could reach the late Accomplished Demon stage.


    Indeed, they had stayed isolated a bit too much and their methods were clearly lacking. Even Cao Yun''s basic knowledge was superior to theirs. Moreover, he had to admit that cultivation one''s Turbid Demons was indeed complicated and dangerous. Maybe they had faced many problems and were now afraid of crossing this boundary. Even though his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' was relatively safe, it was still fraught with danger.


    When the old man spoke, his voice was thundering. It completely filled the tent and resounded everywhere. Cao Yun could literally feel it in his bones and throughout his flesh. The old man had poured his spiritual senses in his voice. But it wasn''t that much more powerful than Cao Yun''s Flying Poison. Without seeming aggressive, the young human surrounded himself with his spiritual senses.


    "This old man heard of Tie Po''s tales. Tie Po is supposed to have vanquished the Curse of Blood and Sorrow. If that man is Tie Po, that an is welcome among my cubs."


    "Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, this man is known to the nomad tribes as Tie with the given name Po. Among the city dwellers, this humble servant is also known as Mo, given name Yun."


    "Oh?! That man speaks the tongue of the Wolves?! And the Demons are indeed strong in that man."


    "Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, this man is ashamed to show such meager talent before that chieftain''s majesty. This humble one has dire news for the Wolves."


    "My father had heard this from valiant Sha Lang Hu. Bringing calamity to our Wolves is a severe crime. If Tie Po is indeed that man''s name, this humble girl hopes that man has answers to the Council."


    The woman by Chieftain Sha Chai Ren spoke with such grudge in her voice. Although it was bitter, Cao Yun immediately knew that this wasn''t directed at him per se. Something had happened recently and everyone was upset or depressed. The gloomy looks he had seen outside were proof enough.


    Forcing himself to speak in their local dialects, Cao Yun was very direct. Although their language was a bit convoluted at times, with double or even triple negations, they were ironically very direct in their meaning. It seemed as though their language wasn''t optimal for their culture in some sense. Or maybe this very convoluted language was a way to compensate with their direct words and tones.


    "This humble one is sad to bring ominous news as the Wolves already seem to lick their wounds. However, a messenger cannot be guilty of the message he brings."


    "But a messenger should be careful with their words, lest their lose their heads."


    "Old woman, I will be careful with my words, but so should you. Let me speak my piece before you throw shades on my person."


    "Gan''er, let the man who claims the name Tie Po speak."


    "Yes, father."


    "From your enemy City Lord Gui, I have on good authority that your enemy City Lord Sihe intends to strike at your heart. A battalion of trained Golden Blood Children is coming to strike at your heart and enslave your cubs and kill the others."


    "Humph! Old news that is! The Falcon Peak''s settlement was razed when the moon hid her face."


    Although Cao Yun wasn''t too familiar with the names given to locations in the Desolate Dune Desert, he could figure out where this Falcon Peak was thanks to what Xixue had already told him. Besides, by thinking about the cycle of the moon, this had happened four days ago. With that in mind, City Lord Sihe''s men should be a week from this settlement. Besides, if they had already captured slaves there, it wouldn''t be too difficult for them to find all the other settlements before they could escape.


    "I am sincerely sorry for your loss. However, the danger is not over. City Lord Sihe does not intend to launch a simple raid on your tribe, he will eradicate you all if you let him. This is why I came. Although me strength is meager, I do intend to help you deal with the current crisis."


    "Humph! And that arrogant man thinks we weak cubs need his assistance?!"


    The Chieftain''s daughter had extremely harsh words spoken in an insulting tone. Thus, Cao Yun decided to make things clear.


    "Silence!"


    Using his spiritual senses and his ''Weeping Demon'', he sent a powerful mental attack in her direction. For a moment, she had a monster covered in blood and standing on a mountain of crushed heads and whitened skulls. Behind him was fire and broken spears.


    All the Council was immediately ready to strike down the outsider, but Chieftain Sha Chai Ren stopped them with a single gesture.


    "My daughter did let her pain poison her words. If Tie Po is willing to risk his Blood for ours, we will be glad to accept such assistance. However, I wonder what Tie Po would like in return..."


    "Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, this humble one won''t ask for much. I will help your tribe survive this crisis because our enemies are aligned in this situation. The accursed City Lord Sihe is also a threat to my humble person. However, I do expect to be received with more respect."


    "This old man will believe in your sincerity and in your strength. Unfortunately, my Blood is almost dust in my veins. This old man won''t be of much help to you."


    "I understand, Chieftain. Please, listen to my strategies. My strength is alchemy not war, thus my means are limited in a fight. However, I learned how to use others'' strength in order to win ten thousands wars."


    In the Chieftain''s eyes, ridicule could be seen as she was still upset. But there was also something else. Despite her pain and anger, she was happy to have someone else help their tribe. Everyone could tell that she had no problem with Cao Yun. She was simply torn apart by her sadness and mourning. Although Cao Yun didn''t know it, she had lost a child and several grandchildren recently. That was also why the other members of the Council were so defensive when it came to her. She had suffered enough!


    "If your strategies are sound, we will listen to them, Tie Po."


    Sha Lang Hu was the one who spoke first. He was standing besides Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, indicating his status. Although he was the youngest one in the tent, he was also the one with the strongest cultivation apart from Chieftain Sha Chai Ren. In fact, unbeknownst to the Council, his cultivation was higher than Cao Yun''s.


    For a few hours, they discussed about Cao Yun''s plans. He used his knowledge of array formations and martial arts to propose a sound plan. Moreover, he could refine some pills to both strengthen the tribesmen and heal them during the battle. Of course, there side effects, but they were preferable to slavery or death.


    By putting forward his status as an alchemist, he could probably avoid most of the fights. Indeed, he didn''t want to reveal his real strength to all.

 Chapter 543: Using the desert to hide

    "Boy, you''re sure you should help them out and risk your life?! Seriously, you barely know them and they''re demons!"


    "I''m not reckless. If there is no chance of winning, I have ways to leave. In fact, this sand will prove very helpful for that in case of emergency. Besides, who tells you that I can''t win? However, I''m not just helping them out of the kindness in my heart. Getting closer to this tribe will help me in the long run. Furthermore, weakening City Lord Sihe is always a good thing, so is weakening the Nalupu Kingdom."


    "If you want my opinion, you should just take what you need and leave. With your mind cultivation, you could probably engrave a few seals in those demons to force them to obey you. Gifting them to City Lord Gui will also do nicely. It will weaken City Lord Sihe and will even strengthen your cooperation with that woman."


    "Except that I don''t wish to enslave anyone. I''ve agreed to associate myself with Boss Gui because it will bear a lot of benefits but that doesn''t meant that I agree with her actions. Instead of trying to instill more doubt in me, stay silent. If you want to be helpful, try to think of good array formations to increased their defenses. Lately, your knowledge of array formations has become too superficial."


    "My injury is serious. Even now, I haven''t fully recovered from that old bastard''s mind. But remember, if you die, I die too. So don''t be reckless. You have no allegiance to those demons. I understand that having a good impression could be useful, but it''s not worth your life!"


    "I know. Trust me, I know."


    Looking around the settlement, Cao Yun wasn''t looking at demons, he was looking at sad and frightened cultivators. There wasn''t any kid, but there were still families. He could tell that some had lost their closed ones in the recent raid while others were afraid to suffer the same fate in the coming attack.


    For a few days, Cao Yun and Sha Lang Hu put together some plan. Sha Lang Hu wasn''t a great expert of battle formations, but with Cao Yun''s meager knowledge of the art combined with his understanding of array formations, they improved their ranks. The entire settlement was also mobilized to set up array formations and prepare traps. Many were sent in the desert to hide in the sand. If Cao Yun himself had failed to notice the vanguard, no one else would be able to do so. Besides no Accomplished Demon was supposed to participate in the raid.


    Despite that intel, Cao Yun was still working on the assumption that the attack would be led by an early Accomplished Demon. They didn''t have the time to prepare correctly, but they could increased their chances. The more Cao Yun thought about the upcoming battle, the more he realized that this settlement was just too weak. Even if they had Chieftain Sha Chain Ren, he couldn''t really fight on the front line. And they couldn''t get reinforcements from other settlements.


    After most of the planning was done, Cao Yun didn''t stay to take part in the preparations. Instead, he decided to scout ahead. After all, they had no clear idea where the forces of City Lord Sihe were. Neither did they know their number and their formation. Thus, Cao Yun decided to tale care of that. He went alone with Hongyu as he was confident in his stealth.


    Sha Lang Hu and Xixue tried to convince him not to go alone, but he refused. His chances were way higher alone. Besides, he didn''t want to show his actual cultivation to them in case he had to use it. And to be honest, he also wanted to make sure that the information he had received was correct. As much as he didn''t want to see this tribe slaughtered, he had no intention of giving his own life if there was no chance of winning. If worse came to worst, he could still try to evacuate some of the tribesmen to regroup with other tribes and mount a counter offensive against them.


    Apart from Xixue and a little bit Meiyue, he knew no one in the tribe. Even in the few days he had spent along with them, he had not been able to grow too close to them. In fact, he had expressly avoided to grow too close to them knowing that no matter what would happen, some if not many of them would perish.


    On top of Hongyu, the young human circulated his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to its limit while also using his spiritual senses to probe the sand all around him. This time he could not afford to be surprised at all. Hongyu rose high in the sky. With both her and Cao Yun''s senses, they could see extremely far. Besides, she was much faster than any battalion sent in an unfamiliar desert.


    No matter how confident he was, Cao Yun was also very careful. After more than thirty hours, they finally detected the signs of cultivators walking in the desert. This was a group of around forty cultivators. Leading them were two young men and an old woman. All three of them had clearly suffered quite a lot. One of the men was missing an arm and the injury was roughly treated. It was most likely that it had happened during the fights. After all, they had no reason to use that kind of method while they had seals that could inflict untold torments. Moreover, damaging young slaves was not a very good idea and their master wanted a lot of slaves.


    Looking at their faces from afar, it was clear that they had been psychologically destroyed. Although he couldn''t tell whether they had received the Slavery Brand or not, their wills were obviously broken. The battalion was using them as hound dogs to find the settlements of the Sand Wolves Tribe. The two young men were barely fifteen and their eyes were empty. No matter what kind of technique they had used, they were helping them without any passion.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun could tell that the battalion had very little discipline. Their clothes were disparate and so were their cultivation levels. Most of the battalion was made of late Blood Children. However, there was also a uniform group of soldiers who looked professional. Those soldiers were middle Golden Blood Children at the very least but only eight of them were in this group. Contrary to the others, they were extremely disciplined. Taking them head-on would be a terrible mistake.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Boy, I don''t think that this is their main force..."


    "Indeed. They''re probably some kind of advanced or search party. I''m not too sure about the ways of City Lord Sihe, but their main forces should be at least four or five times their size."


    "... Maybe... It seems like he really wants to enslave a lot of those Sand Wolves people. Even if you can help them get out of this crisis, they''ll fall into another, maybe even worse than this one."


    "The tribes need to unite their strengths if they want to survive and stay free."


    "Survive for what? Prolonging their torments?"


    Day after day, Cao Yun was growing weary of this new Dian Mo. Since his injury, he had clearly become much more negative. For quite some time, the young human had grow closer to the Palace Spirit. But recently, he was more annoying than anything else. And he had also become less useful when it came to array formations.


    "I already told you I had a plan for this continent. Those tribes could be useful in the long run. And I promised Xixue I would help her anyway. If I really think there is no hope, I''ll just escape with her and her cousin. I could even take away a few tribesmen as well. In fact, we could use the attack on the Sand Wolves Tribe to unite the other tribes against City Lord Sihe. But the best outcome would be if I can at least reduce the number of casualties. There is no doubt that many will die and I know it. I won''t fight a hopeless battle. So don''t worry about your own survival! But for now, leave me alone as I need to think."


    While remaining hidden high in the air on Hongyu''s back, Cao Yun observed carefully the cultivators. His main concern was obviously the eight trained soldiers. The other ones could easily be destroyed by a united force. In fact, they would probably disband in case of real danger. Those were not disciplined soldiers. Most likely they were mercenaries of some kind. Since they were there for money, they would value their lives more than their mission.


    If he were to face the eight soldiers himself, Cao Yun wasn''t absolutely sure he could even kill them. But if they escaped, they would know his real cultivation and this would be a problem. However, if they didn''t see his face, it would not be an issue.. Many plans emerged in his mind as he was observing them. Thankfully, they were not being too fast and the three Sand Wolves tribesmen were in no hurry to bring them to the settlement.


    Even though Cao Yun didn''t know what they were using to force those three, he thought he could use them. Since there was no Accomplished Demon in that group, they would have a hard time sensing his spiritual senses. Thus, he decided to expand them toward the three tribesmen. Because he was trying to stay very far away from the group, it was a bit difficult to spread it all the way down. Thanks to his training, he was able to do so without too much problem.


    Looking around their bodies, he found a lot of injuries. The battle they had been in had truly been violent and they seemed to have fought till the bitter end. Unfortunately, they had no chance against the army they had faced. However, there was no form of seal in their flesh or blood. Cao Yun also looked carefully at their bones and everything was in order. Then, he decided to examine their seas of consciousness. And that was when he found the issue. There were strange marks in them. But they were not the Slavery Brand he had seen before. It was an even more complex form of seal.


    Examining them closer, Cao Yun felt some ominous sensation out of those marks. Given his distance, Cao Yun could only get a vague understanding of what was going on in their seas of consciousness. To get a real view of them, he would need to send a larger amount of his own Turbid Demons in. The three tribesmen were too weak to put up any resistance. But even if they had, they were not on Cao Yun''s level at all. What really made him think though was the fact that those seals did seem much more complex than the Slavery Brand.


    The Slavery Brand was a kind of seal imagined by City Lord Sihe so it could easily be used on others. Thus, this brand could even be planted by a Golden Blood Child thanks to the equivalent of an array formation plate. It wasn''t out of the question that the same process could be used for other seals. But even through this technique, not everyone could activate correctly a complicated seal. Besides, it was much more difficult to put it on some array formation plate. So Cao Yun was wondering whether there was an Accomplished Demon among the army.


    In that vanguard, this wasn''t the case. But there could be one in the larger force. And in that case, Cao Yun would be in a real pinch. Taking on an Accomplished Demon was on the same level as taking on a Spirit Warrior. It wasn''t something he wanted to do without being prepared for it. However, it wasn''t completely impossible. After all, he had already killed a Spirit Warrior, but with several weeks of preparation beforehand. Dian Mo''s words echoed in his mind. And he was wondering if it was worth it.


    Anyway, for the time being, he was looking for info. So he kept on examining the seals in those three tribesmen. For that, he would need to get closer though. He was already mobilizing his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to its limit so he couldn''t really improve that. After lowering Hongyu''s altitude, Cao Yun was still unable to perceive their seas of consciousness well enough. And he wasn''t sure he wanted to try getting even lower than that. If he was discovered, the situation would become worse. He didn''t want anyone to warn the main force of the attack.


    After thinking about it some more, Cao Yun circled the group a few times using his full spiritual senses to make sure that there was no other party following them. Thankfully, there was no one. They were not careful enough apparently. So he decided to go ahead with his idea. Retrieving his spear from his spatial ring, Cao Yun used a combination of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' and ''Three Storms'' to summon the winds. He had actually never done that in such a manner. But it wasn''t too difficult. The two martial arts were related to the Wind element.


    Before long, a small tornado rose above Cao Yun. Using even his Qi Manifestation, there was a large dragon rising higher and higher in the sky. Because he was farther than the group, he was well hidden so he unleashed as much strength as he could without endangering Hongyu in the process.


    Suddenly, the Azure dragon dove down. It completely disappeared in the sand in a large dust of Fire Qi. Even Cao Yun could feel the aggressive nature of the Fire Qi as he was manipulating the Qi Manifestation of the Azure Dragon. His Rune of Fire, Drop of Wrath and Spear Aura were all working to strengthen his technique. Swimming in the very sand, the Azure dragon reached the vanguard party. All around them, there was now a small whirlwind.


    It didn''t take long for this whirlwind to expand. More and more sand was sent all over the place. While the three tribesmen were in a weakened state, they were used to the harshness of the desert. On the other hand, the vanguard party wasn''t. This completely stopped their group. Moreover, they were not familiar with the movements of the wind in the Desolate Dune Desert so they didn''t realize such a change was strange for this place.


    The eight disciplined soldiers circulated their Golden Blood and spread their Wei Qi to protect themselves while the rest of the mercenaries were pinned down by the sudden sandstorm they were in. No one was able to pay attention to their surroundings too much. This was a great opportunity for Cao Yun.

 Chapter 544: Three-Gated Government Palace

    Because he had already trained with it, Cao Yun could more easily move his spiritual senses throughout the swirling sand all over the place. On the other hand, the senses of the entire vanguard were diminished. In fact, he thought about using this opportunity to kill a few of them, but he still had some work to do before that. Besides, the real threat remained the eight soldiers and they were in a very cohesive formation at the moment. Getting close to them would be really difficult.


    Spreading his spiritual senses around the three tribesmen, Cao Yun was finally able to completely invade the sea of consciousness of one of them. His Flying Poison entered that empty space in the form of Cao Yun.


    The Turbid Demon in the shape of the young human appeared over a completely transparent ocean, under a completely transparent sky. The sea of consciousness was absolutely empty. Obviously it was strange. Furthermore, he could still sense that there were strange marks within, even though he couldn''t see them at all. Using those senses, Cao Yun moved around toward where the closest mark was.


    Although the sea of consciousness was infinite, he could get there in a few breaths. Once he was there, Flying Poison focused his senses around himself. The rage within the Turbid Demon began to change his form. His skin turned as red as blood with a few black shadows moving under its surface in ominous patterns. Some bones started to grow over his skin as though they were protruding from his body. On those bones, green moss began to grow until it turned into eerie green hair. Besides, three bony tails were slowly growing from his rear end.


    Despite those terrifying changes, it still retained an uncanny resemblance with Cao Yun. In fact, the young human was literally feeling as though it was part of his very soul. To be honest, this wasn''t feeling very good. By using the Flying Poison, Cao Yun''s mind was filled with anger. At the same time, the Unclean Evil and the Stinking Lungs were also acting up so he had to focus on keeping them under control.


    As the Flying Poison''s rage was now condensed all around him, the air was turning turbid in his vicinity. The once pristine sea of consciousness was now being polluted by his mere presence. And with it, the spot right before his eyes was also changing to reveal what had been hidden. The air undulated and collapsed as a large black structure appeared. At first it looked like a large obelisk, but it turned out to be the pillar of a giant door. It looked like the door of an ancient temple, two pillars supporting a large wooden roof with many sculptures and engravings.


    Written with charred letters within the wood was the name of the gate, the Door of Contrition. While the roof was high in the sky, the pillars were standing deep in the ocean below. There was no more transparency. In fact, the ocean around the pillar looked exactly like a rotting swamp. From its revealed surface, obscure vapors rose, completely changing the nature of this sea of consciousness.


    Flying Poison roared with all of his rage. From the roof of the Door of Contrition, a couple bells rang, echoing with his insanity. Then, three doors appeared in total. They were all positioned toward a specific spot that was still invisible. The doors were Door of Contrition, Door of Agony, Door of Submission. Each one was a bit different while retaining the same architecture. Moreover, they were all the exact same height and same width. However, Cao Yun knew there was some kind of mystery behind them. He could still try to break them apart through sheer force, but he wasn''t too sure it was a good idea.


    Not only did he want to get rid of the seal without damaging the tribesmen, but he also didn''t want to alert the soldiers or whoever had set up this seal. Thus, Flying Poison flew around the three doors without entering the area they were delimiting. By the time he was done, the sea of consciousness was filled with the odor of a decomposing swamp. This was a realm of death and rot. He could fully understand the look on the tribesmen''s faces now.


    Hesitating a little, Flying Poison literally took a protruding bone in his body, his ulna that was coming out of his left wrist. A long sword left his bloody flesh. On the bone itself, there were many small pikes and fissures. He swept the air causing drops of his blood to fly toward the center of the three doors. Before its eyes, the blood disappeared, turned into smoke in an instant. After several other tests, it was clear that one could only enter through the three doors and nowhere else. Once again, he might have been able to through pure brutality but it wasn''t his goal.


    Using his knowledge of array formations, Cao Yun tried to divine which door he should enter through first. Flying Poison flew up in the sky to try and get a better view. His blood expanded a bit around him as his eyes were turning into solid gold pellets. Some of his blood formed a makeshift compass in his hands. The three doors were hiding the main palace. But if he were to take the wrong door, he would be faced with a fake palace that would put him in danger. What he quickly realized was that the right door wasn''t permanent.


    Observing them, he could tell that they were always leading to different places, so he had to choose the right one at the right moment. Flying Poison went right in front of the Door of Agony. Once again, he sent drops of his own blood into the Door of Agony.


    He could then feel that each drop was sent into a different realm. Indeed, this sea of consciousness had been divided into seventy-two independent realms. Of course, they were all within the sea of consciousness, but barriers were separating them. Most of the drops were pulverized in an instant. A couple were struck by lightning while another one was turned to stone before being smashed.


    Flying Poison could detect ten thousands variations in the opening of the Door of Agony. They were literally moving around and ever changing. But what Cao Yun had realized in a matter of seconds was that each variation was an illusion. There was no true entry. In fact, all the gates were probably traps without a right answer. With his bone sword in hand, Flying Poison rose to the level of the roof and examined the inscriptions much more closely. The names of the door were written in a very ancient script of the Moshenhua. Thanks to his time studying languages, Cao Yun was very familiar with this script. Each character was much more complicated than the current script but it also meant that there was much more subtlety to them.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Within the Contrition character, there were ten different parts that could mean something different. After analyzing all the doors, Flying Poison gripped his sword firmly and struck down one of the characters. Suddenly, the door shook and the air within the opening shimmered. Without waiting for even a single breath, Flying Poison soared through the gate. Then, he found himself in front of a giant palace in the void.


    As it was surrounded by pure nothingness, a large golden and jade palace was floating before Flying Poison. On its roof, there were large braided ropes that were tied to the palace. Their other extremity was disappearing into nothingness. But as there were six such ropes, Cao Yun guessed that they were connected to the six pillars of the three gates leading to this palace. This time there was no word on the roof, but Cao Yun had the strange feeling that this palace was called the Three-Gated Government Palace. Although demons had no Upper Dantian, their sea of consciousness was located in their head, just like humans.


    Right now, Cao Yun felt as though he was literally in the Chamber of Government of this tribesman''s Upper Dantian, even though he had no such thing. However, it made perfect sense. The Chamber of Government was responsible for motivation and focus. It was situated to the west and was related to the Water element. Most likely, this seal was forming a makeshift Chamber of Government to completely break down the victim''s will. Once their will was destroyed in such a way, it was extremely easy to force them to do anything, like guiding this vanguard party toward the settlements of the Sand Wolves Tribe.


    What truly made Cao Yun think was the level of sophistication of this seal. It was much more complicated and subtle than the mere Slavery Brand. He simply couldn''t believe that even an extraordinary master could imprint such a technique on a plate of some sort. Most likely, a true Accomplished Demon had been responsible for setting up this seal within those tribesmen. And it also explained why they had chosen tribesmen who were extremely weak. They couldn''t put up any mental resistance to this intrusion.


    Now that he knew what he was dealing with, Cao Yun could find a way to break this seal apart. The golden and jade palace seemed to be carved out of a single large piece of ore in which various precious elements had merged together. In fact, Cao Yun couldn''t detect anything within and the doors were purely decorative. Very quickly, he identified that the palace was a diversion, just like the doors had been. The crux of the problem was what tied this palace to the sea of consciousness, the three gates themselves. And those gates were linked to the palace through the six braided ropes. Thus, Cao Yun had to cut them apart and the palace would lose any connection with the sea of consciousness. It would drift into nothingness and dissipate.


    Of course, the problem was to destroy the ropes without causing lasting damage to the sea of consciousness. If the tribesmen died for no apparent reason, it would look very suspicious indeed.


    Once again, Cao Yun analyzed the seal himself as Dian Mo seemed strangely quiet. When the young human tried to connect with him, he realized that the Palace Spirit was almost sleeping. Since his injury, he had moments when he was in a form of deep slumber. Day after day, Dian Mo was worrying Cao Yun more and more. But it wasn''t time for worrying. Thankfully, Dian Mo had trained Cao Yun in the art of seals for quite some time now. Thus, he was confident he could deal with the present situation. And he did.


    Flying Poison rose in the air with his bony sword in hand. From his rear end, three bone tails covered in spikes and fresh blood had fully formed. By that point, Flying Poison barely retained any feature of Cao Yun apart from his face, even though it had also changed a lot. With his golden eyes, Flying Poison looked at the place where the six braided ropes were tied to the Three-Gated Government Palace. Then, he struck with all of his strength. Cao Yun was using ''Weeping Demon'' at the same time as he was mobilizing his Spear Aura and his ''Three Storms''.


    From ''Weeping Demon'', the entire space trembled and the golden and jade sculpture got covered in cracks. It found itself submerged in an ocean of blood and wailing. All over the gorgeous sculpture, tortured spirits appeared in the form of disfigured corpses. Then, this ocean of torment and gore turned into a savage hurricane under the effect of ''Three Storms''. That was when the sword finally reached the braided ropes. As that attack struck, the ropes got imbued with blood just as they were being cut apart. It didn''t take long for the seal to break. Under Flying Poison''s full wrath, it had no chance at all. Even if it had been set up by an Accomplished Demon, they couldn''t be stronger than an early Accomplished Demon.


    Now that the ropes were cut apart, the golden and jade palace simply sunk into the nothingness below it. Without the seal to stabilize this space, it was collapsing on Flying Poison. Even though he had succeeded, he risked being crushed which would heavily injure Cao Yun. So he didn''t stay idle. His three tails flailed around and reached for one of the braided ropes before it was engulfed into nothingness too. Once he had it, he flew toward the end of the rope as fast as he could.


    Just as the space was collapsing, Flying Poison found himself in the sea of consciousness of the tribesman. The three gates were still there but they were now full of cracks. The ocean below was still a warm but there was now a thick odor of blood everywhere. From the swamp, a bright red light emerged as the water turned into fresh blood. A radiance shot forth, causing the three gates to turn into dust and crumble. There was no doubt to have, the seal had been thoroughly broken and the demon''s strong will was shining through once more.


    Most of the Flying Poison left that sea of consciousness. Now that Cao Yun knew how to deal with this seal, it was fairly easy to take it down. Although it was complex and sophisticated, it wasn''t meant to be very resistant, just tricky to get rid of without injuring the victim. At least, it was a relief as it meant whoever had set them up wasn''t extraordinarily powerful.


    Once the three tribesmen were out of their daze, they all received a telepathic message by Cao Yun.


    "This humble one is named Tie, surname Po. This one was sent by the Wolves to protect their cubs. Do listen to these words as you might be able to take revenge on those snakes who attacked your den."


    Displaying his full understanding of their dialect, Cao Yun spoke like a true Sand Wolves tribesman while retaining some form of outsider''s accent. The name Tie Po stunned the three of them. But they had heard storied about the way he had unraveled the Curse of Blood and Sorrow before. Combined with the fact that he had freed them from the Three-Gated Government Palace, they were now fully trusting him. Thankfully, the sandstorm hid their shock. No one noticed that their expression had changed, so they quickly played their part again.

 Chapter 545: Moon Sheltering Adansonia

    Cao Yun gave the three tribesmen clear instructions about they had to do. For an instant, he entertained the idea of lying to them as they would be forced to trust him anyway. However he rejected it soon enough. Not only wasn''t he too happy about the idea given what they would risk in the upcoming endeavor. But if they were to survive, it would be useful if they told everyone that he had spoken the truth. Trust between Cao Yun and the Sand Wolves Tribe would be more easily achieved and the rumors about Tie Po would spread faster. Besides, he could tell that they would do everything they could to kill this vanguard, even if they had to sacrifice their lives. Hopefully it wouldn''t come to that though.


    Cao Yun was still hoping to catch at least one of those eight elite soldiers. Making the mercenaries run away in panic would be fairly easy as long as those core soldiers were in danger. At the same time, he had no intention of revealing his true cultivation to anyone yet. In the mind of those three tribesmen, Cao Yun couldn''t be a mere Golden Blood Child. After all, he had freed them from an extremely powerful and complicated seal inflicted on them by an Accomplished Demon. Moreover, he was flying above them without being noticed at all and had summoned the power of the desert to conceal them.


    Obviously, not a single of those things had been achieved through Cao Yun''s own power as an Accomplished Demon. He was flying thanks to Hongyu, hiding thanks to Huang Liyue''s technique, controlling the wind with his martial arts and freeing them through his advanced mind cultivation. To be fair, if they had known he was only a Golden Blood Child, their esteem for him might have skyrocketed instead of plummeting down. But he wasn''t ready for anyone to know about his real strength. Hopefully, he could keep up appearances until he truly became an Accomplished Demon. He was halfway there after all.


    Having observed the desert with great attention, Cao Yun knew exactly where he wanted the three of them to lead the group of mercenaries. On his way, he had found several demonic beasts such as Infernal Camel Scolopendras, Sun Staring Scorpions, Silver Six-Tailed Foxes and lesser demonic beasts. But for his plan, he had chosen a place where flying demonic beasts had established their hunting ground. Even if he had been seen by them, they wouldn''t have dared to come too close to Hongyu. She was after all a powerful Fenghuang with a rich bloodline due to the effects of the Drop of Wrath. Other birds were intimated by her aura. Unless they truly wanted to kill her for some reason, or they were much more powerful than she was, they would not attack her out of the blue. Besides, they couldn''t detect her anyway. But this instinctive respect would be useful to Cao Yun to keep his aura of an Accomplished Demon.


    Once the sandstorm finally ceased, the group marched forward. The three tribesmen who had wholeheartedly agreed with Cao Yun''s plan and were putting their lives in his hands kept acting as though their wills were broken. They didn''t change their course by much. Thankfully, the sandstorm had disorientated the group enough that they didn''t notice the slight variation in their trajectory. Instead of going straight toward the settlement of the Sand Wolves Tribe, they were going a bit to the south. According to Cao Yun''s calculations, it would take them until the middle of the night to reach the place he had in mind. Thus, he decided to fly around in order to try and find more about the main force.


    Unfortunately, the desert had concealed most of the tracks Cao Yun could have followed. But this wasn''t a problem he had to deal with right now. As he was flying around, he was thinking of many ways to make the soldiers talk. But he could also use them in other ways. In fact, some of those ways seemed a bit too cruel even for slavers such as them. However, they had made their decision after all. For some time, Cao Yun tried to be sure that his mind wasn''t being polluted by his Turbid Demons. At last, he concluded that those were his genuine thoughts.


    In fact, he even took Dian Mo''s words to heart. And he kept wondering why he was helping this tribe and to which extent he was willing to go. After seeing the state of the tribe and the faces of those three prisoners, he wasn''t convinced he had the heart to leave them to their fate. Maybe he was being too soft like Dian Mo was suggesting. Deep within himself, he had no real reason to risk his very life for them as he had had other means to make sure his plans came to fruition. In fact, he might not even need the full strength of the nomad tribes. They were more like an insurance to increase his chances of success.


    To be honest, he might even find ways to leave this Desolate Sepulcher without helping anyone. He could take over the slave trade completely and use it to weaken the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Hell, he could also use an army of slaves to help him take down Emperor Weide. When those thoughts came back to him, Cao Yun knew they were the Stinking Lungs'' doing. But this time, he wasn''t worried about them. Instead, he let them flow through him. Some could be offended by such thoughts. Indeed, they were clashing with Cao Yun''s image of himself. But he knew that those terrible thoughts were just that, thoughts. Everyone could have absolutely monstrous thoughts, that wouldn''t define him.


    Since he didn''t entertain those ideas at all, they were just wild fantasies swimming around in the recesses of his mind, caused by his Turbid Demon. By refusing to clash with them, he made them weaker and weaker until they almost disappeared, becoming a silent whisper in the back of his mind. As he was cultivating his mind and soul, he was getting better at that. And each time, he was learning how to separate his thoughts and desires from his own conscious. He had already experienced a similar sensation of separation in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom.


    At last, the group of mercenaries reached some kind of large tree. They saw it from a distance. Alone in the middle of the desert, there was a dead tee with white branches coiling around each other. This was exactly what Cao Yun had told the three tribesmen. But even without his instructions, they would have known where the tree was as they knew no to get too close to it. With its thick trunk and many branches forming a complex dome all around it, it was a Moon Sheltering Adansonia. Indeed, under the faint light of the moon, this white tree seemed like a smaller fainter moon on the ground. And this was precisely where the name came from. It was also a very good material for alchemy and even blacksmithing. In fact, it was a good material period.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    What the mercenaries were unaware of though was that such a tree was dangerous not only because it attracted very specific demonic beasts, but also because of its own nature. And this was exactly why there was no demonic beast on that tree during a night where the moon was visible.


    Seeing the tree, the mercenaries even though that this would be a good place to rest. Since the three tribesmen were not looking worried at all, they had no reason to worry themselves. Thus, they decided to set up a camp. As much as they could survive long periods of time without drinking and eating, this desert was taking a toll on them. Moreover, they had already fought several battles against some tribes and they were getting both tired and complacent. This Desolate Dune Desert wasn''t so bad after all...


    What truly infuriated some mercenaries was the fact that they had been forbidden from touching the women. Hell, even among the three slaves they had taken to guide them, their superiors had made sure that there wouldn''t be any pretty girl. The male mercenaries were not as disciplined as the elite soldiers sent by City Lord Sihe. So they would probably had given in to temptation. However, City Lord Sihe couldn''t have that, he had clear plans for his slaves. By using new form of seals, he hoped to achieve better results in his training regimen. Hopefully, he could rival City Lord Gui. Besides, just making sure that she couldn''t get more slaves easily was also a good point. If need be, he was ready to eradicate the tribes close to Duma City.


    He wasn''t forced to kill them all. By frightening them enough, they would naturally be pushed away from City Lord Gui. For the time being, despite the fact that she paid to get slaves, she had not organized raids herself. So the tribes were still more afraid of City Lord Sihe. Contrary to City Lord Gui, he was counting on quantity not quality so he had enslaved much more tribesmen than she had.


    Anyway, they set up their camps. Despite their relaxed attitudes, the mercenaries were kept in order thanks to the eight elite soldiers. They were always making sure that everything was done properly. In the Desolate Dune Desert, they knew that they were never safe. Although they were using those three slaves who knew more about the place, their wills had been broken so the soldiers weren''t absolutely sure about their cognition. This was a relatively new seal their master had used and she had warned them that there could be side effects. In fact, this was why they had taken three of them. If one or even two were to die suddenly, they could still carry out their mission.


    As they were setting up their camp, they didn''t notice anything. After all, unlike Cao Yun, they couldn''t see what was going on literally under their feet. Since the very first moment they had reached the Moon Sheltering Adansonia, its roots had been active. By now, they had encompassed the entire area where the mercenaries were. Thanks to Fire Qi rich sand, no one could sense anything. However, the Moon Sheltering Adansonia was able to resist the aggressiveness of this sand despite his very Yin nature. It wasn''t due just to the strength of the moon it was absorbing but also to the blood it was drinking often.


    When Cao Yun sensed that it was moving around, he didn''t move. Instead, he kept his focus on the three tribesmen. And as soon as the roots stopped moving, he knew that it was time.


    All of a sudden, the roots stabbed through the sand and went straight for the demons'' hearts. Not a single target was omitted. All the mercenaries, the eight elite soldiers and even the three weakened slaves were attacked by the roots of the dead white tree shining under the moon. Just as its roots were attacking from below, its dome also sent forth many branches, flying through the air like knives. They also targeted the demons, just in case.


    At least a third of the demons were caught off guard. In an instant, their hearts were pierced and the Moon Sheltering Adansonia immediately began to drink their blood. Under the shock, they were unable to put up much resistance. By the time they had realized their plight, it was too late. Their cultivation level wasn''t high enough to survive long without their heart, especially not when their blood was being drained at the same time. When those first victims were dead, the roots went back into the sand, carrying the corpses with them. They would slowly decompose and merge with the sand.


    Those who had survived the first assault were now faced with the thrown branches. Like javelins, they were less accurate than the roots. After all, they were now attacking moving targets. A lot of demons were still stabbed, but only a handful died on the spot. However, those who had been stabbed felt as though they were getting weaker and weaker. Even though they were disconnected from the Moon Sheltering Adansonia, those branches were still absorbing their blood. The main tree could then easily pick them up and drink the blood for itself.


    Many demons were still strong enough to take the branches out of their bodies. But not a single one tried to help each other. Apart from the eight elite soldiers, all the mercenaries were caring for themselves.


    Unfortunately, it changed when the eight soldiers issued orders. Contrary to the other demons, they had been able to fend off all the attacks. Although they had not felt the first attack coming, they had been able to react in time to avoid any injury. With conviction and strength in their voices, they helped raise morale. Soon, the mercenaries found a semblance of order as they were cooperating with one another.


    What the elite soldiers failed to realize though was that the three tribesmen had been completely spared by the Moon Sheltering Adansonia. In fact, they had even disappeared completely. And they had certainly not been devoured by the vampiric tree. Of course, they had no time to care about them at the moment as they knew what kind of danger they were in. Although they still hadn''t recognized what tree it was, they had understood what it was doing. And now, it was targeting them with its full attention. However, if they had known what this tree was, they would have focused on escaping. Right now though, they were afraid to move too fast, afraid that the tree would pick them up easily if they broke formation.


    High in the air, Cao Yun was still standing on Hongyu''s back. Now, there were three other persons behind him, the three tribesmen. They were watching the massacre down below. As soon as the slaughter had begun, they had felt a powerful aura around them. The moment Cao Yun told them to, they had jumped with every bit of strength they had left. Since he had timed it perfectly, Cao Yun had been able to conceal their disappearance with ''Ashen Feather Seal'' while retrieving them in the middle of their jump as the tree was killing the mercenaries. Although delicate, it had been a huge success. Now, he was still hoping to capture at least one elite soldier.

 Chapter 546: Lightning and burrowing roots

    The Moon Sheltering Adansonia was probably weaker than a real Accomplished Demon, but still stronger than a late Golden Blood Child. Thus, it should have been easy for the mercenaries to fight it. However, its danger lay in its sneak attacks. Just as they were focused on dealing with the branches hurtled toward them as javelins, the roots were still beneath them. Obviously, they were forced to split their focus in order to avoid being impaled.


    Now that the surprise was gone, the elite soldiers were maneuvering the mercenaries with more efficiency. All of them had their weapons drawn. Thanks to their formation, they were defending those who were the best marksmen. Several demons had now bows in hands. When they shot their arrows, they whistled, producing terrifying sounds. Some arrows turned into mythical creatures while others wailed as though they were damned souls. From the Moon Sheltering Adansonia, a barrage of branches was sent toward those arrows. The light of the moon blinded the archers for an instant as they collided.


    Only a handful of arrows went through and reached the dead white tree. The dome of the tree was shaken as a small hole was caused by the attacks. However, it quickly closed itself up. With the blood it had just ingested, the vitality of the Moon Sheltering Adansonia was even stronger than before. So it could easily produce new branches. It was as though the mercenaries were fighting against the blood of their dead comrades.


    Watching the scene, Cao Yun could tell that the group of mercenaries would at the very least be able to escape. There wouldn''t be many more casualties. Or, rather, the Moon Sheltering Adansonia wouldn''t cause many more casualties. However, the tree wasn''t the only threat here. In fact, the tree was living in harmony with other threats. Now that the white tree had had its fill, it was time for the second part of the dinner.


    Thunder echoed in the distance. Dark clouds appeared above Cao Yun and the mercenaries down below. Despite being thick thunderclouds, they didn''t blot out the moon. After all, the moon was giving strength to the Moon Sheltering Adansonia and the newcomers didn''t want the tree to be weakened. As the situation was evolving, the elite soldiers kept their calm and gave many orders. They had finally understood that they had to retreat immediately. Against the Moon Sheltering Adansonia, they had a chance, but they were surrounded by threats unknown to them. Besides, since their slaves had disappeared and were probably dead, they couldn''t accomplish their mission anyway. Right now, their best solution was to join back with the main force. They were ready to face their punishment rather than to die and be devoured by the creatures of this desert.


    For demons, having their blood devoured by a tree or by demonic beasts was a terrible thing. If they were killed by another demon and their blood or even blood essence devoured by them, it was fine as their blood would survive in them. But being devoured by demonic beasts meant that their blood would forever be lost in those beasts. In a sense, it was the equivalent for humans to lose their Hun and to be unable to reincarnate. Indeed, it wasn''t rare for demons to extract at least the blood essence of their enemies in order to devour it. Some even went to the extreme of devouring the heart of their enemies, but it was much more rare to be honest. In fact, in some duels, the two fighters would drink a cup of wine mixed with blood from the two of them so the slain one would live on in the victor.


    It was difficult to discern what was pure tradition and what was truly useful. After all, Cao Yun had practiced ''Fate Devouring Gate''. With that technique, it was possible to devour the blood essence of a demon to improve one''s cultivation. But the effects were obvious only with the blood of a much stronger demon. At his current cultivation level, even if Cao Yun absorbed the blood essence of all those demons below, it wouldn''t do much to help him. In fact, it would probably have no effect at all on his cultivation. Besides, the Moon Sheltering Adansonia and the arriving demonic beasts wouldn''t let go of such a feast easily.


    Finally, everyone saw what demonic beasts had arrived, they were large vultures. The largest one of them was probably the size of two men. Its head was entirely red as though it was covered in dried blood. Around its long black neck, there was some kind of fur that was soiled with fresh blood. Clearly, they had been chasing some other prey but had been alerted by the Moon Sheltering Adansonia in some manner. Cao Yun knew that those demonic beasts and this Moon Sheltering Adansonia were in osmosis. On their bodies, the feathers of the Gloating Thunder Vultures were white and covered with a lot of sand still sticking to them. And their talons were shining under the moon, looking terrifying. Not only were they as sharp as razors, they were also covered in small pikes and looked like serrated blades to lacerate their victims.


    As soon as the Gloating Thunder Vultures appeared, the archers shot toward them. Immediately, the Moon Sheltering Adansonia grew new branches to block most of the arrows. Then, from the black thunderclouds, lightning struck down. At the same time, the Gloating Thunder Vultures disappeared in the black clouds. Not a single one of them was injured. After this failed attack, the Gloating Thunder Vultures reappeared suddenly.


    From the black thunderclouds, they dove down toward the ground. Each one of this dozen of demonic beasts got a prey. They had targeted the weaker mercenaries. All of them tried to use their weapons and circulated their blood to the limit. However, the talons of the Gloating Thunder Vultures were inflicted untold pain as they were tearing apart their muscles. Although demons could heal faster than humans, those wounds were so messy that it would take them a lot of time to recover. Moreover, they would have no time at all. The poor victims were already brought toward the Moon Sheltering Adansonia. Without leaving any moment of repose, the mercenaries were stabbed through by the branches. This time though, the tree didn''t absorb all of their blood. Most of their blood remained for the Gloating Thunder Vultures once the tree had destroyed their hearts.


    Dropping the dead bodies on the ground, the Gloating Thunder Vultures went back to attack the group of mercenaries. Knowing that retreat had become impossible, the elite soldiers were ready to face those demonic beasts. Unfortunately for them, their orders were not listened to any longer. In panic, several mercenaries tried to run away. As soon as they broke formation, roots from the Moon Sheltering Adansonia attacked them. Many were killed, increasing the frenzy of the survivors. Despite the shouts from the elite soldiers, the mercenaries had lost all morale. They became easy pickings for the combined effort of the white tree and the ferocious vultures.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    On top of Hongyu, the former slaves were extremely pleased. Those men had abused their companions and killed many of them in the raids. Seeing them as mere food for demonic beasts felt right. At the same time, their admiration for Cao Yun increased. He was standing tall on Hongyu while observing the massacre, completely detached from what was going on. As his robe was fluttering in the winds caused by the black thunderclouds, he appeared as a vengeful god to them.


    Knowing that trying to calm them their men was useless, the eight elite soldiers prepared their own defenses. Although they were outnumbered, all hope wasn''t lost. The demonic beasts and the tree had a very good tactic, but they would probably be unable to react to something unexpected.


    As the Gloating Thunder Vultures were busy slaughtering the mercenaries, the elite soldiers pushed their blood cultivation to its limit. Their very skin turned a dark shade of red. Here and there, there were golden lines on their skin as well, produced by their Golden Blood. As they were focusing on their blood, a Qi Manifestation began to form around them. There was a large bull riddled with spears stabbed everywhere in its body that was consequently covered in its own blood. When its hooves trampled on the ground, terrible echoes spread throughout the land. In its eyes, there was pure rage and savagery.


    Instantly, some of the spears stabbed in the large bull flew upward just as two soldiers were shooting with their bows. Those arrows were spears as large as a human trunk and covered in the golden blood of the bull. They whistled in the air, directed toward the black thunderclouds. When they went through those clouds, they left large holes behind them and fell back to the ground in the direction of the Moon Sheltering Adansonia.


    At the same time, several soldiers stabbed with their spears, halberds and tridents. The large bull charged forward. Many branches and roots were sent to stop it. But he didn''t try to avoid them at all. As the soldiers were expertly using their own weapons to break the most dangerous attacks, the bull was still going straight toward the Moon Sheltering Adansonia. It collided with its full body against the dome of the tree. Using all of its strength, the bull broke apart most of the branches and hit the trunk of the tree. However, it was too resistant even for such an attack to uproot it.


    Now that the trunk was exposed, the arrows that were falling down could reach the white tree. Thus, the Gloating Thunder Vultures tried to intercept them. Lightning fell all around the Moon Sheltering Adansonia in order to protect it just as some vultures were trying to grab the flying spears with their talons. Unfortunately for them, the blood all over the spears made them slippery. But they were still able to alter the trajectory of some of those spears.


    The Moon Sheltering Adansonia emitted a blinding white light as it focused all the energy of the moon. The large bull was still trying to uproot it as roots were piercing its body all over the place. The backlash caused a few of the elite soldiers to cough out blood. At the same time, the archers were still shooting more and more arrows toward both the flying demonic beasts and the exposed tree. Even Cao Yun had to admit that they were good. Since they were forced to fight from a distance, he couldn''t judge their martial prowess too much. But they had a very good formation and cohesion. Furthermore, the archers were very competent.


    Of course, the demonic beasts wouldn''t let them do what they wanted without striking back. Thus they attacked the battle formation of those eight elite soldiers. Since the majority of them were holding polearms, they tried to keep the vultures at bay. When the Gloating Thunder Vultures attacked, the sound of thunder deafened the soldiers, some had even blood coming out of their ears. However, they didn''t break their formation. At the same time, lightning struck down toward the demons.


    They all used various martial arts to defend themselves. Unfortunately for them, they could move too much as they had to protect the archers. The fight was extremely fierce but the vultures had the advantage as they could easily retreat after each assault while the demons were rather static. Although the Gloating Thunder Vultures weren''t stronger than the elite soldiers, the fact that they could fly was giving them an overwhelming advantage on the demons.


    A scythe slashed the sky and cut off the wing of one vulture. When it touched the ground, a saber was drawn to behead the demonic beast. Moving around, the vulture was able to block it with its razor claws and tried to pluck out the attacker''s heart with its beak. Before he could succeed, a bone emerged from the ground and stabbed through the vulture. Enraged by their first loss, its comrades tried to slaughter the demon with the saber as he was a bit farther from the others. Despite his best efforts, he was struck by lightning after a strange sound paralyzed him an instant. Then, he was dismembered by several Gloating Thunder Vultures attacking at the same time.


    With this death, the Qi Manifestation attacking the tree was weakened and the other demons all felt the strain on their bodies increase. A few of them were forced to use their very blood essence to stay strong.


    The fight went on for long minutes. After more than an hour, both the demonic beasts and the demons were exhausted. They had all lost a few comrades. But no side seemed ready to let go of the battle. Demons with such a cultivation were rare in the Desolate Dune Desert. Although it was fraught with risks, the Gloating Thunder Vultures couldn''t abandon those preys. On the other side, the demons knew they couldn''t escape without exposing themselves to even more casualties.


    Cao Yun could tell that the battle would soon reach its end though. After all, they were all exhausted and had pushed themselves too far. But even he couldn''t tell for sure who would win. The Moon Sheltering Adansonia had lost most of its glory after being trampled by an enraged bull. The once magnificent dome was now broken all over and even with its vitality, the white tree would need some time to recover from that.


    While the issue of the fight was uncertain, Cao Yun had made something certain. He knew precisely who the leader of those elite soldiers was. During the fight, he had been severely injured too. Even his spear had been broken and he was now fighting with a sword. However, his aptitude in the sword was clearly inferior to his spearmanship.


    As both sides were getting ready for a final assault, Cao Yun was also getting ready for something else.

 Chapter 547: Snatching ones prey

    As she could sense the tension in Cao Yun''s muscles, Hongyu was also getting herself ready. With the thick odor of blood everywhere as well as the few corpses and limbs scattered across the sand, she was thirsting for some action. Given the violence of the fight, even the Moon Sheltering Adansonia''s roots had no time to take in all the spoils now flowing on the battlefield. Several Gloating Thunder Vultures had been killed as well as many more demons. While Cao Yun didn''t care at all for either their possessions or their bodies, Hongyu was hungry as the smell was reaching her.


    Moreover, even if their weapons and artifacts were pretty much useless to Cao Yun, they could still be useful to the Sand Wolves Tribe. So he might as well try to gather a bit of them. At the same time, he didn''t want to risk his life for so little. If he was too greedy, he could also be forced to reveal his full strength to the three liberated slaves. At the same time, flying away without taking anything might also alert them. As an Accomplished Demon, he should be able to take care of those weakened Gloating Thunder Vultures and demons, as well as the Moon Sheltering Adansonia. Even if he wasn''t specialized in fighting, that should have been possible for him, but then the three of them were exhausted and didn''t know that much about Accomplished Demons. The mere fact that they could fly unassisted made them almost divine in their eyes.


    Using their exhaustion, Cao Yun sent some surges of Qi and spiritual senses around them. Before long, they fell in a deep slumber. At the very least, they would not witness anything. Although he wanted people to spread his name in the tribes, he couldn''t afford to look weak so he didn''t take any risk. Considering what they had already seen, they would probably believed whatever he would tell them afterwards, especially if he was able to get some important things.


    Right now, Cao Yun''s main goal was the leader of those elite soldiers. Unfortunately, he wasn''t too injured compared to his allies.


    Finally, the Gloating Thunder Vultures and the Moon Sheltering Adansonia were going for the kill. The branches of the Moon Sheltering Adansonia rose toward the sky where the light of the moon was stronger. From a perfect dome, it had become a broken mess because of the onslaught of the demons. Now, it took on the appearance of inverted roots. And the demons could imagine what the roots beneath the sand looked like as well, all ready to pierce through them. A literal forest of bloodthirsty pales were waiting below them and they couldn''t fly at all.


    The Gloating Thunder Vultures also landed on some of the branches that were waiting for them. The demonic beasts and the white tree had been working in unison for a very long time. Since the tree couldn''t move around, the Gloating Thunder Vultures sometimes brought in preys for it to feed on their blood. On the other hand, the Moon Sheltering Adansonia was protecting the Gloating Thunder Vultures and could kill many more victims, but only if they got too close to it. In fact, the Moon Sheltering Adansonia was also sending sweet odors in the air to attract some preys. But of course, it had had no reason to do so against those demons. In fact, it had expressly not done so because it didn''t want to give them any reason to have any doubt at all.


    As it had demonstrated so earlier, the Moon Sheltering Adansonia was able to show a great intelligence. Contrary to the demonic beasts, it had no real mind of its own yet. But its strategy was still extremely smart nonetheless. With enough blood and Qi, this tree could slowly form an independent mind though.


    The white tree''s branches finally reached the dark thunderclouds. It really looked like the branches were thunderbolts sent down by the clouds themselves. Suddenly, the Gloating Thunder Vultures screeched. Even Cao Yun was forced to put up a powerful Wei Qi to resist this attack. He also sent more Qi to protect those he had just saved as the pressure of the sound alone could rupture their organs. On the other hand, the elite soldiers were manifesting the Qi in their blood. Behind them, there was a large blood demon with the head of a furious bull covered in an armor of bones. This Qi Manifestation had four arms. Two of them were holding a drawn bow while the other two were wielding a scythe and a cudgel. Both weapons were made out of bones as well and he could wield each one with a single bulging arm.


    All over the body of that creature, there were seals and blood runes. On the ground, the soldiers were using various martial arts but they were all complementing each other.


    Just after the sound attack, lightning from above and roots from below formed a vast forest trying to kill the demons trapped between those two perils. At the same time, the Gloating Thunder Vultures dove toward their preys. They didn''t even try to dodge anything as the roots and the lightning were all perfectly directed toward their enemies without endangering them at all.


    The giant bull creature stomped and struck down with its cudgel toward the ground. The sand was sent flying all over the place as many roots were broken. In the air, the bull slashed with its scythe and literally cut apart some of the lightning, the clouds above were also sliced in two. Finally, its bow shot several arrows who looked like bull horns. All of them were directed to the Gloating Thunder Vultures. This time, they were forced to dodge those projectiles, but a few vultures were struck down. Only one died in this attack while others were only injured.


    As the final clash was about to happen, something changed suddenly.


    From above the dark clouds, the roar of a dragon resounded. Some thunderclouds were sucked in toward some sort of whirlwind. Then, the figure of a fully manifested Azure dragon appeared. Above him, almost hiding the moon, there were seven bright stars. The Azure dragon dove toward the ground, coiling around the roots and the branches. It wasn''t trying to attack either the Moon Sheltering Adansonia or the Gloating Thunder Vultures. However, its gaze was set on the demons.


    Surprised by the sudden interruption, the demons were stunned long enough to put them in danger. Thankfully for them, their leader was able to react in time. The archers were ready to deal with it while a few were putting up a defense. However, the real threat wasn''t this Qi Manifestation.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    All of a sudden, Cao Yun threw his spear. ''Fish in the Galaxy''! His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' crossed a vast starry ocean and struck the leader in the waist. Instantly, he lost a leg and was thrown away by the impact. Cao Yun had poured his Spear Aura in this attack and was very close to reaching Spear Intent. Indeed, by focusing his Spear Aura on a single point, he was starting to understand how to really wield it and focus it as he wanted. Although the leader was seriously injured, Cao Yun was now fully revealed to all.


    With their leader down, the soldiers'' Qi Manifestation got weak enough for Hongyu to dive down. Using his spiritual senses and his Qi, Cao Yun sent surges of Qi on several body parts on the ground as well as a few artifacts, taking them all in his spatial ring. Several arrows whistled near him and a scythe tried to cut Hongyu in half. However, the young human was ready for this attack and the demons were also dealing with the Gloating Thunder Vultures and the roots from below. Now that they were distracted, their enemies didn''t show them any mercy.


    In the chaos and confusion, Cao Yun was able to take the leader away. Of course, he tried to resist but Cao Yun struck him with a palm from ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''. Some of the intent from the Drop of Wrath entered his bloodstream and his lost control over his own blood for some time. Thanks to that, he couldn''t put up much of a fight, especially considering how exhausted he already was.


    Happy with his prey, Cao Yun flew away as fast as he could while hearing the violence of the fight in the distance. The Gloating Thunder Vultures didn''t try to stop him at all, not even the Moon Sheltering Adansonia. Although they had lost a prey, they were not too greedy. If Cao Yun had appeared earlier, they might have chased. But by now, they were too exhausted and simply wanted to enjoy the demons they had fought. They were not ready for another battle yet.


    -


    When the sun rose again, Cao Yun was holding the leader of this group. He had already put several seals in his body and had also tended to his wounds. After all, he didn''t want him to die while he still had questions for him.


    Among the seals, there were many meant to prevent him from killing himself or even manipulate his blood at all. Right now, his entire bloodstream was perfectly controlled by Cao Yun''s Drop of Wrath. In fact, Cao Yun could literally kill him with a thought by sending all of his blood in his major organs so they would blow up from the pressure alone. But, once again, he had no reason to kill that man yet.


    "No matter what you want from me, I won''t submit! You won''t learn anything from my mouth!"


    "Oh?! Maybe you still think the seals in your sea of consciousness will protect you from me, but they won''t! I''ve already taken them out."


    Behind Cao Yun, the three former slaves were also admiring their former master being tormented in his turn. They were overjoyed at the sight. But they were even more ecstatic when they saw the realization in his eyes. This Tie Po was more powerful than his grand master City Lord Sihe. Indeed, Cao Yun had taken out every seal in that man''s body and sea of consciousness. Otherwise, his mind would have literally collapsed before he could answer any questions. And there had even been a seal meant to warn whoever had planted it in case of death. Now, Cao Yun could do whatever he wanted to this man and he had several ideas. But first, he needed answers.


    On the side, Hongyu was devouring the last pieces of demons and vultures Cao Yun had been able to put in his spatial ring as he escaped the battlefield. The sight alone was horrifying to the man as he recognized arms and legs, even a handful of heads. Seeing his companions being devoured by a demonic beast was a huge blow to his morale. However, demons had impressive willpower. And this man was no exception. In fact, his willpower was even stronger.


    "Do whatever you want with me, I won''t speak! Grind my bones, pull out my tendons and nerves, let your best feast on my writhing flesh and blood. I won''t betray my masters!"


    "Well, I do believe you. Unfortunately for you, there are ways to diminish your will. What your master has done to those three, I will do to you."


    The man''s eyes bulged.


    "Impossible! You can''t..."


    Just as he formed the thought, the man remembered that Cao Yun had really erased all the seals in his mind, but also in the seas of consciousness of those three slaves. That meant that he was probably on par with City Lord Sihe himself. Then, he remembered what he had heard. Although City Lord Sihe had denied it, there were rumors that a former associate of his had betrayed him and had joined Boss Gui. This man was Mo Yun, and this was probably the man in front of him.


    Before he could think anything else, his sea of consciousness was invaded by Cao Yun''s Flying Poison, Unclean Evil and Stinking Lungs. Although Cao Yun could not reproduce the same exact seal as the Three-Gated Government Palace, he had understood its main principles. By using three of his Turbid Demons, Cao Yun set up several seals that would also compartmentalize this man''s sea of consciousness. Then, he used his own knowledge of the Upper Dantian to target certain areas with specific seals. From the man''s sea of consciousness, nine bone pillars appeared, the equivalent to Cao Yun''s Nine Soul Peaks. From those bones, golden chains emerged and dove into the infinite ocean below.


    In that man''s sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was able to extract some things. He had already formed some Insight Writings in his way of the spear. And they might be useful to Cao Yun''s Spear Aura. Unfortunately, he was still unable to perform a thorough Soul Memory Search and Dian Mo was too weak to do so. Of course, Cao Yun might try to do it himself, but the risk of failure was too high.


    With this complex seal, the man''s mind was becoming hazy and his will was weakening. Even his eyes seemed a bit empty. Thanks to that, he would be easier to manipulate. And indeed, Cao Yun was able to extract a lot from him after several hours of interrogation.


    By the end of the day, Cao Yun knew almost everything about the main force. There were around four hundred mercenaries and approximately seventy soldiers working directly under City Lord Sihe. But they had also added more than a thousand slaves to their force. And contrary to Cao Yun''s intel, they were being led by an Accomplished Demon, a woman named Xin Zhe. She was a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon who had trained in the art of seals under City Lord Sihe himself. Although she wasn''t a fighter, she was exceptionally dangerous.


    In fact, Cao Yun wasn''t sure he could beat her when it came to mind and soul attacks. Fleeing might be a good idea indeed. But he still had other options. The mercenaries could be scared off and the slaves could be freed. There were really only seventy cultivators who would fight to the death. Those were the real danger. And above them, was this Xin Zhe. Cao Yun had already several plans to take them down. Although he had not extracted the man''s memories, he knew almost everything about this main force. Unfortunately, there was little he could use in practice...

 Chapter 548: Plan of battle

    After getting everything he could from his prisoner, Cao Yun hesitated. From that point forward, he had many options he could try out. Running away with a few tribesmen and Xixue seemed like a sensible option. However, he was convinced he could somehow do something. After all, he had already killed an even stronger cultivator. And from what he had observed himself, that Xin Zhe had a powerful mind cultivation but it was still inferior to his even without Dian Mo''s help. Besides, running away from this fight would delay his plans. Hell, if City Lord Sihe became too influential, all of his plans would fail and he would have to wait even longer to go back to the main continent.


    Moreover, fighting would also improve his martial arts and help his cultivation. On the other hand, he couldn''t fight in front of the tribesmen without exposing that he wasn''t as strong as he had claimed. That being said, there were other ways to deal with that particular problem.


    "Boy, no matter what you think, it''s not worth it. Cut your losses right now! That Xin Zhe is a real 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. In a fight, she''ll reduce you to dust, boy. You''re not even a half-step Accomplished Demon after all."


    "You underestimate me a bit too much. There''s no way I would ever fight her head-on. And since you''ve become useless, I formed my own plans. I do think I can kill that woman. Losing an Accomplished Demon will be a huge blow to City Lord Sihe. In fact the problem is her small army. There are almost two thousand cultivators marching toward the Sand Wolves Tribe. Even if we gathered absolutely everyone from the settlement, I think we could only get a quarter of that number, roughly."


    "Once again, boy, I tell you to escape. Take that Xixue girl and whoever you think is worth saving and run away! You don''t owe those people anything. Why would you risk your life for them? Is it still about your dead family?"


    Hearing Dian Mo, Cao Yun truly became enraged. He was trying to use his family in that argument. But, honestly, that was partly true. After seeing those people of the Sand Wolves Tribe, he didn''t have the heart to abandon them to death, desolation and slavery. Even though he hated it, Cao Yun had to admit that it clouded his judgment. But then again, he was certain that he could do something. Although he was no saint, and he wasn''t even sure what the right thing to do always was, he knew for sure that he couldn''t abandon those people to their fate. In fact, it might even cause him to develop an inner demon. Furthermore, he couldn''t run all the time, especially on an isolated continent.


    He had a handful of years to get as strong as possible in order to rescue his own sister. And to get the strength he needed, he would have to take some risks. In fact, he had already taken a few with his mind cultivation, despite his past failed breakthrough in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom that had made him wary of going too fast.


    "I''m not sure all my plans could work, but if I get the cooperation of the entire Sand Wolves Tribe, they just might."


    -


    Going back to the settlement, Cao Yun brought the three rescued slaves of course, but also the prisoner. Upon his return on Hongyu''s back, Cao Yun was acclaimed as Tie Po. The clamor was so loud that the council left their tent. Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was being helped by his daughter Sha Chai Gan. Apparently, Sha Chai Gan had lost most of the animosity she had had for Cao Yun. Most likely, he had simply come at a bad time when he had first entered the tent of the council. It was obvious that Sha Chai Gan cared deeply for her old father. However, he was now very weak and, to be frank, he didn''t seem to be long for this world. Cao Yun could understand her frustration and anxiety. Besides, their very tribe was on the verge of being wiped out as well. There was enough tension that he could forgive Sha Chai Gan''s outburst.


    Several tribesmen rushed to meet the two young men and the old woman. Among them were familiar faces. They burst into tears as they were finally reunited. A middle-aged man and his wife hugged the young man who had lost an arm. They were both sad and happy at the same time as they could imagine what those three had gone through. Then, they looked up at Cao Yun. His reputation as Tie Po had already spread, but now they were seeing first hand that he could indeed break the Curse of Blood and Sorrow. There was no doubt!


    After this warm reunion, the villagers turned their gaze on the prisoner. His eyes were empty and he was covered in injuries that had been roughly treated just so he wouldn''t die. In their own eyes, there was only hatred and murder. However, as long as Cao Yun was holding the prisoner, they wouldn''t dare to do anything against him. If Cao Yun hadn''t been there to keep him alive though, they would have torn him apart like wild beasts.


    "Lord Tie Po! This humble one congratulates that man on his success! The moon will be soaked in blood tonight. Our cubs are avenged and their Blood may flow toward the ocean of their ancestors."


    "Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, there is no need to thank this incompetent one. This one was only able to rescue three of yours while many more have fallen. That vermin here has also given this one much information that Chieftain Sha Chai Ren should hear about. As such, this humble one requests a meeting of the council in secrecy."


    "Of course, of course!"


    Although he was trying to hide it to the rest of the village, Cao Yun''s words caused some alarm in the Chieftain''s heart. Hearing the concealed urgency in Cao Yun''s voice, he could guess what he wanted to talk about. And unfortunately, it turned out that he was right.


    Once they were all in the tent of the council, Cao Yun revealed everything he had learned from the prisoner. The man was kneeling beside Cao Yun, his eyes staring in the void as though he wasn''t there. Even when they talked about him, he didn''t react at all. To be honest, the council was a bit afraid of his behavior as it suggested that Cao Yun could break the mind and spirit of everyone in the settlement. Of course, he wouldn''t do so, but that Xin Zhe could. Being enslaved was one thing, but losing one''s mind seemed to be an even worse fate. This City Lord Sihe already seemed evil, but apparently he could debase himself even more.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    On a table surrounded by all the members of the council, Sha Chai Gan had spread out a map of the Desolate Dune Desert. Several settlements had been marked using small pieces of wood. According to the information gotten from the prisoner, they had also placed the forces of Xin Zhe. There were also two other vanguard groups apparently. The one Cao Yun had eradicated had been looking for the main settlement of the Sand Wolves Tribe while others had been sent out to raid smaller ones. By now, they had probably attacked more than two thirds of the settlements. The Sand Wolves Tribe could very well disappear in this campaign. Without Cao Yun''s assistance, their tribe would be entirely enslaved or killed.


    Among the slaves working under Xin Zhe, there were many different slaves. Thankfully, only a handful of those slaves had been trained by Boss Gui. City Lord Sihe had probably bought them through indirect means in order to understand how she was able to form such powerful warriors. However, Cao Yun didn''t believe he would ever find out the secret behind it. Poison was almost unknown as a discipline, because of all the taboo surrounding it. And this was a very good thing for Boss Gui, but especially so for Cao Yun.


    On the map, they had also placed small rocks to indicate the most likely trajectory of that army. Considering their size, they would probably be left along by most demonic beasts. Although some were stronger than even Xin Zhe, they would have a hard time killing that many demons. And being injured in the desert would make them prey to other demonic beasts. There was indeed strength in number.


    The council discussed various ways to defend the village. Cao Yun''s knowledge of array formations really came in handy. They would also bury a few soldiers at specific points to launch surprise attacks. Although they wouldn''t survive, they might be able to at least delay the army and maybe cause a large number of casualties. Hearing all those plans, Cao Yun wasn''t satisfied at all. They had already accepted defeat and were just planning to either buy some more time or inflict as much damage as they could while they were being wiped out.


    "Your plans are all too tame. You''ve already admitted your end. Instead of planning for your death, you should plan theirs!"


    "Lord Tie Po is critical, but we simply can''t contend with such a force. What would Lord Tie Po have us do? We intend to die with dignity to uphold the Blood of our ancestors! What more can Lord Tie Po ask of us?"


    "Miss Sha Chai Gan, your ancestors would be even more pleased if they could feast on the blood of your enemies rather than yours. Besides, you''ve forgotten an essential point. Most of that army is composed of slaves. Considering that they''re soldiers, fighting for City Lord Sihe moreover, I imagine that a vast majority of them are being controlled through the Slavery Br... the Curse of Blood and Sorrow."


    Cao Yun had learned that the name ''Slavery Brand'' was really not appreciated by the nomad tribes. Such a disgusting technique had to have an ominous name in their view.


    "Lord Tie Po is suggesting that we should turn the slaves against the slavers?! But how...?!"


    Suddenly, realization came to the entire council.


    "I can free them all, but even for me, it will take some time so we have to find a way to keep the army busy while I do my thing. Unfortunately, I won''t be able to help you much during the fight. And freeing that many slaves will obviously weaken me. Even if I succeed, I don''t know whether I''ll be able to deal with an Accomplished Demon, no matter how weak they could be. However, if we try to attack that Xin Zhe before freeing the slaves, I don''t think we can succeed as that army is just too big."


    Cao Yun''s words did make sense. To be honest, the first part about it taking a lot of time was correct. However, it wouldn''t weaken him by much. Of course his mind would be exhausted, but his fighting strength wouldn''t change by much. That being said, this was a good cover in case he was forced to show his full strength. He could claim that he had been weakened by his first exploit. Moreover, no one would doubt he was actually an Accomplished Demon if he could free a thousand slaves.


    The problem was simple now. They had to find a way to immobilize this army and to somehow separate the slaves from the rest of the group so Cao Yun could do his thing. Although it was simple, it wasn''t easy at all. Their best bet would be array formations. But setting up such a powerful array formation that even Xin Zhe would fall victim to it would take an awful lot of time. Thus, Cao Yun and the council had to find ways to slow them down.


    With that purpose in mind, they talked once more about sacrificing their men to stall the army. If they kept harassing them on their way to this settlement, they could buy some time. But their losses would be huge. In fact, most of their tribe would already be killed or captured before the army could lay waste to their settlement. In small groups, the Sand Wolves Tribe would be was faster than that large army so they could maybe exploit that.


    Through the use of pills, Cao Yun could also improve their chances. The best option was to launch small raids on the marching army to slow them down. But this would still cause many deaths. After all, Xin Zhe was among them. With her cultivation, escaping would be difficult. Even if they could hide in the sand, they would have to be extremely careful. However, General Sha Lang Hu volunteered himself and his men for this mission. On the map, he showed all the places where they had good chances of escaping. They could launch small attacks and disappear as fast as possible into the Desolate Dune Desert. Their knowledge of the territory might just be enough to protect them even from an Accomplished Demon. The main point was to escape before the army could react to the surprise. Of course, the more they would attack, the more the army would be prepared.


    This was a very dangerous mission, but it might work. At the very least, it would lower morale a little and slow down the army. Thanks to that, Cao Yun might be able to set up the array formation he had in mind. Besides, Cao Yun also had plans involving the prisoner. But all of them together would not be enough to win without a fight. At some point, the Sand Wolves Tribe as a whole would have to risk their lives. And everyone knew that there would be large casualties. Obviously, they were not pleased at all by this prospect. However, no one had a better plan.


    If Cao Yun had been much stronger, he might have been able to deal with the army himself. Unfortunately, he was bluffing... But because he had given his word to the Sand Wolves Tribe, he would fight with them to the end. Contrary to them though, he was almost certain he could escape, even Xin Zhe, if things became too difficult. Thus, in private, he discussed with Chieftain Sha Chai Ren and his daughter. Together, they chose a handful of tribesmen to take away in case of emergency.


    For several days, the entire tribe was working on the plan of battle. Cao Yun''s array formation would require a lot of manpower if it was to be set up in time.

 Chapter 549: Plans in the desert

    According to the information they had obtained, Xin Zhe would reach the settlement in over two months. Considering that she had sent a vanguard first, she was clearly being cautious and had only a rough idea where the settlement was. Even with the slaves she had taken from other smaller settlements of the Sand Wolves Tribe, she didn''t have a perfect map of the Desolate Dune Desert. Thus, they were only able to indicate the trajectory and couldn''t just point at it on a perfect map. In fact, Xin Zhe''s forces were probably drawing maps as they were exploring the Desolate Dune Desert.


    Until now, there was no real incentive to explore this land. But as City Lord Sihe was trying to expand his business and to beat Boss Gui, it would serve him well. That was also the reason why Xin Zhe had sent out two other vanguard parties. This was a guess, but it made perfect sense.


    Taking all of that into account, they probably had somewhere between three to four months. And if they could harass them enough, they might even be able to delay them for half a year. In such a long period of time, Cao Yun was almost certain he could set up his array formation. Besides, he had other ideas to stall Xin Zhe and even injure her directly. Ironically, he might use City Lord Sihe''s own plan against his forces.


    The array formation he had in mind was called ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin''. This was a 5-star Heaven array formation. In other words, it really was the pinnacle of array formations even in the Hongchen Kingdom where there was a deep culture of array formations. For the Desolate Sepulcher, such an array formation would truly be miraculous. However, only a powerful Spirit Warrior was supposed to be able to set up such an array formation. And since Dian Mo was almost useless as of late, he could barely help Cao Yun.


    Despite his weakness, Dian Mo was still able to give a few pointers to Cao Yun here and there while he was getting ready. But the young man had to admit that he wasn''t as good as he used to be, especially not when it came to such an array formation. That was such a pity! However, Cao Yun had not counter on his help too much. In fact, he had planned as though Dian Mo would not help at all, so any bit of help was welcomed.


    Xixue was also helping Cao Yun coordinate the tribe. Although this wasn''t her native tribe, she knew more about their culture than Cao Yun. Thus, she was able to improve their productivity while assisting Cao Yun. Alone, he would never be able to set up such an array formation. Many hunters were sent to gather the materials he needed. As the name suggested, this array formation required several parts from insectoid demonic beasts. In his spatial ring, he already had several of them, such as the carcass of the Tyrant Sun Scarab. But they were not enough at all. Besides, the array formation would need to have a radius of several li. Until now, Cao Yun had never attempted such a thing.


    Although he didn''t abandon his Qi or blood cultivation altogether, Cao Yun focused on his mind cultivation as it would clearly be the limiting factor in his endeavor. Moreover, a powerful mind and soul would help him a lot against Xin Zhe and her seals. This was the best strategy he had if he wanted to win. His body wouldn''t be on par with hers even if he trained every single day until she arrived, unless she took more than a year to get there, maybe even more than two years. Thus, he would focus on the only thing that could really give him an edge.


    Since his Flying Poison was complete, he was now working on his Unclean Evil and his Stinking Lungs. Of course, the Unclean Evil was the most advanced one. It was also being engraved in his Drop of Wrath. With every bit of progress, Cao Yun could sense that the Drop of Wrath was getting stronger. In fact, it was actively helping him out. Along with the calligraphy he had bought, his progress was faster than ever. In fact, he would probably be able to complete the third layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', ''Subdue the Seven Demons'' in five to six years now.


    Those three aspects of his Po were not Turbid Demons in reality. At the moment, he was still working on their healthy version, but his mind cultivation worked by pushing them at the limit of turning into Turbid Demons to really feel them, and also to get ready when they would be Turbid Demons. Indeed, in the cultivation system used by demons, it was necessary to turn them into Turbid Demons. This was precisely why there were so few Accomplished Demons in the Desolate Sepulcher as they lacked methods to make the process safer.


    The real name of Flying Poison was the Po of Jing, Unclean Evil was the Po of Qi and Stinking Lungs the Po of Spirit. Thus, those three aspects of his Po were the foundation for most of his cultivation. After them, there remained Po of Yin, Po of Yang, Po of Heaven and Po of Earth. They were a bit more esoteric in nature. With his understanding of both alchemy and array formations, Cao Yun could understand the Yin and Yang aspects of his Po. Heaven and Earth were a bit more obscure. But considering it probably meant something like being focused on the material needs or the spiritual needs. Just as there was Yin in Yang and Yang in Yin, the Hun and Po were not perfect either.


    While the Po was made of the souls responsible for life and death and thus obsessed with material matters, it still contained aspects of the Hun. Indeed, the Hun was composed of the three souls interested in more spiritual needs such as deep link with others or spiritual awakening to the truth of the universe. Cao Yun would get to that in time. But for now, those were concepts he could intellectually understand but not feel in his very soul.


    Between the two Po, the Po of Qi or Unclean Evil was the more advanced and the easier one to advance as he had worked on it the longest. In his sea of consciousness, it was starting to take on a corporeal form, just like Flying Poison had. Hopefully, it would be easier to tame. In fact, he might even use Xin Zhe to do so, as he had used Gu Song with the Flying Poison. But his Unclean Evil might not be fully formed by that time. And even Xin Zhe might not be powerful enough to be used as an anvil this time. Most likely, he would have to rely on his own mind cultivation, using his Flying Poison. In fact, his knowledge of seals would probably get in handy.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Even now, Cao Yun was working on his sea of consciousness. He was creating many seals to protect himself as much as possible. He also worked on the seals Xixue had in her bones. Now, he could use a guinea pig. Indeed, he had absolutely no qualms using the prisoner to test his theories. Besides, he also had a very specific objective with him that could help them a lot.


    -


    As weeks passed by, the Sand Wolves Tribe was now ready to put into practice their strategy to stall Xin Zhe. Thanks to Cao Yun, they had gained access to many incredible pills. Although there were risks associated with gulping down pills, they were clearly inferior to being slaughtered by Xin Zhe''s forces. Thus, many didn''t care about their far future and were only interested in gaining strength right now. Even if they were impeding their progresses in the future, they were getting strong enough to fight and survive in the present.


    Contrary to what he had done with Boss Gui''s instructors, he had no time to form anyone though. Thankfully, General Sha Lang Hu and Sha Chai Gan were extremely competent. The General could train a large part of the tribesmen while the Chieftain''s daughter knew exactly who was good for each role in the village. After more than a month getting ready, the village had truly turned into a military camp. And hope was back in the hearts of everyone. Cao Yun was almost worshiped by some. First of all, an Accomplished Demon was respected as a living god by many. But the fact that Cao Yun had been able to break the Curse of Blood and Sorrow so easily and claimed he could free thousands of their comrades had brought him even higher in their esteem.


    To be fair, Cao Yun didn''t know how to feel about that. Although he would need this kind of fervor for his plans, he didn''t want the tribesmen to turn into mindless puppets following him without thinking.


    For some time, Sha Chai Gan was in fact suspicious of him because of that. Even if she had no more animosity toward him, she was still looking out for the best interest of her people first. Since her dad was not long for this world, she would have to lead in the near future. So the two of them interacted a lot as her father was getting more and more tired. Most of his prenatal Jing had already been depleted and he was now living by consuming his own blood essence day after day. Because of that, Sha Chai Gan came to know Cao Yun. And she decided that he was indeed trustworthy.


    Finally, General Sha Lang Hu left with four groups to delay Xin Zhe''s advance in the desert. Their mission was simple enough, but it was extremely risky.


    They used their knowledge of the Desolate Dune Desert to get to Xin Zhe''s forces way faster than they could move around. Not only were they mostly in the dark when it came to this land, but they were also many, which impeded a fast progress. And they were even drawing maps as they were moving around. Since they had lost contact with the vanguard they had sent, they had formed another one. Apparently, they had never found the bodies. After all, the bodies had been either stolen by Cao Yun or devoured entirely by the Gloating Thunder Vultures and the Moon Sheltering Adansonia. There was nothing left to find anywhere.


    Sha Lang Hu''s men could hide in the sand for days without being harmed at all. In the sand, even Cao Yun had a hard time finding them. And with a few pointers from him, their stealth had improved even further. Even Xin Zhe wouldn''t be able to detect them unless she spent hours examining each patch of sand. In other words, this would delay them even longer. Even without that, the soldiers would get more cautious so their advance would slow down anyway.


    Sha Lang Hu''s plans worked perfectly well. Since they knew what road the army was following, they were able to set up many traps along the road. Some were pure decoy meant to throw them off. Sometimes, they buried parts of demonic beasts in case Xin Zhe was looking carefully. Other times, they literally used demonic beasts by luring them toward the army. And at other times, they buried themselves in the sand to launch some raids. Each time, they were only able to kill one or two soldiers or mercenaries while injuring a handful of them. But Sha Lang Hu''s men suffered a few casualties of their own. Each group was made of around ten men. Ten against two thousands were obviously insane odds. But they were only trying to harass them, not win anything.


    This harassment tactic worked like a charm. Even Xin Zhe was getting irritated. She was forced to maintain a firm discipline, especially among the mercenaries. Since they were unhappy being the ones attacked by those raids, she was also forced to put the slaves first. After three of four attacks, the slaves were now forming a perimeter all around the group at all times. Thus, they were the ones being attacked first. But this changed Sha Lang Hu''s plans. After all, Cao Yun could erase the seals in their minds. So they tried not to kill them. In fact, Sha Lang Hu was able to capture some slaves during his raids.


    Unfortunately, he had no way of freeing them of their seals himself, so he sent them back to the village. That reduced his forces of course, but this would both weaken Xin Zhe and strengthen the Sand Wolves Tribe. Having an army composed mainly of slaves was a terrible idea in the end. And the other part of the army was made of mercenaries. They had little to no loyalty as far as they could be paid. In fact, if they were too afraid, they would run away and leave the soldiers and Xin Zhe exposed.


    -


    In the village, Cao Yun was still working on ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin''. By now, he had decided where he would set it up thanks to the detailed maps from the Sand Wolves Tribe. He had even gone there to get a perfect picture of the place. In his sea of consciousness, he had duplicated the place, even taking in the position of the stars in the sky. Because the array formation was so advanced, he had to make sure to increase his chances of success, no matter how minute the increase was.


    At least a thousand times a day, Cao Yun imagined the process of setting up this array formation. With his mind cultivation, it was easy to do so without getting too tired. Time in his mind was much slower than it was outside. Thus, he had in fact a couple years of preparation. Unfortunately, this wasn''t something he could use to speed up his mind cultivation. Indeed, he could think much faster than anyone else, to the point that time seemed to slow down, but cultivating his mind was not just a problem of thoughts. Indeed, he had to really feel it. Besides, the Po was the corporeal soul, so it was connected to his body and his physical sensations.


    While he was working on that, Cao Yun didn''t abandon his martial arts. To the contrary, he was working on integrating ''Three Storms'' in his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars''. He had already used both martial arts jointly, but he was seeking something deeper. By working on the two of them, he could feel that his Spear Aura was slowly turning into something more. The Insight Writings were now being regrouped and seemed to form entire words.


    Paradoxically, this was a proof that his understanding was getting deeper, but the words were also harder to understand. So his progress would slow down a little along the way.

 Chapter 550: Walking through the desert

    In the Desolate Dune Desert, a group of over a thousand demons was walking. They had caravans pulled by demonic beasts. Among the group, the clothes were very disparate. Some were wearing red and black armor with the emblem of City Lord Sihe. Others also had the emblem of the Nalupu Kingdom on their armors, but they were few. Then, there was a larger group of demons who were not homogeneous at all. Almost each one was wearing something else and not a single one had a complete armor.


    Finally, there was a last group, the largest, who wasn''t wearing any armor at all. In fact, they didn''t even have shoes to begin with. And their weapons were very rudimentary. They were wielding halberds. Some also had a sword at their side and a few had bows in their back. Clearly, those were all slaves. And they were forming some kind of perimeter around the entire group. Each group of slaves was led by a soldier in armor.


    Thanks to those soldiers, the group was marching in a perfect formation. It wasn''t rare for the soldiers to issue orders so the formation didn''t break apart. Everyone had to be synchronous. Considering that they had been attacked several times already, they were being extremely careful.


    In the very middle of their formation, there was a rich palanquin carried by burly slaves without any weapon. As the sun was very high in the sky, the palanquin was completely close. However, everyone could still feel the gaze from the woman inside. As a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon, she could sense everything that was going on around her by using her spiritual senses. Unfortunately for her, she had had no time to relax recently. With all those attacks, she was forced to push her spiritual senses to the limit in order to try and feel any change in the sand around them.


    Just like Cao Yun, her spiritual senses had a hard time getting deep into the sand. But unlike him, she had nothing to help her and it didn''t feel familiar at all. In fact, the faint intent within the sand was almost rejecting her. Thus, she had to really exert herself to be able to sense anything at all. Hopefully, the Sand Wolves Tribe wasn''t buried too deep in the sand.


    That woman was sitting cross-legged in her palanquin, her eyes closed. Her skin was a bit lighter than some demons as she was always hiding from the sun when she could. At the same time, her skin was extremely smooth and she didn''t seem to be older than twenty-five, or even younger. On her pretty face, there was some light make-up and a few locks of red hair were falling on its sides. She was Xin Zhe, a close associate of City Lord Sihe.


    Her current mission should have been easier and she was getting incredibly frustrated as time was passing by. At first, everything had gone very well. But it had been weeks since they had heard anything from their vanguard parties. Most likely, they were all dead. Worse than that, they were perpetually harassed by some Sand Wolves Tribe. Recently, they had been able to capture one of them alive. But as she was trying to probe his mind, some seal attacked her from within his sea of consciousness. While fighting that seal, she had killed him and hadn''t been able to extract anything out of him. Considering her talents in that domain, it had infuriated her even more.


    There wasn''t any other way to put it. She hated this damn desert!


    When she found the Sand Wolves Tribe, she would make them pay with tears and blood. Of course, she couldn''t kill or maim them as her master wanted them as slaves. But she had many ways to torment and torture them. That being said, even now, she was too busy trying to sense anything at all to think about it. She didn''t dare splitting her focus. The next time, the Sand Wolves Tribe attacked, she would be ready. At least, she was convinces of it.


    The sun was finally at its highest point in the sky. By then, the heat around the group was extremely intense. The soldiers in armor were all Golden Blood Children so they could resist that kind of heat even while wearing that much metal. Even the slaves weren''t in a bad state. After all, they had all come from tribes in the desert. Looking at them, it was clear that they shared common traits, like leathery skins. But at the same time, they also had obvious differences showing that they had been abducted from different tribes all over the place. However, not a single one of them was too affected by the sun.


    On the other hand, the mercenaries weren''t too well. A large part of them had not reached the Golden Blood Child realm yet. As such, this heat was a bit difficult to contend with. Of course, it wasn''t anything they couldn''t withstand, but it was still very uncomfortable. Some were even eyeing the palanquin, feeling jealous of Xin Zhe. But not one of them was stupid enough to say anything about that. Who had told them to be weak after all?! If they had been Accomplished Demon, they could have ridden in that palanquin. But they wouldn''t have needed one to begin with.


    A general close to the palanquin sent a signal to his men, rising his closed fist. Quickly, the order spread and the entire group stopped marching. At that very moment, they all heard a whistle in the distance. An arrow had been shot rather far from their group. For everyone, there was no doubt about it, this was a signal from the Sand Wolves Tribe. But they couldn''t know whether it was just a ruse or an actual attack. Indeed, they had been attacked by some tribesmen, but they had also been tricked by fake attacks as well. Although they knew that this was meant to throw them off, they were forced to take everything seriously. Even if those small raids couldn''t wipe out the army, no one wanted to be among the victims. And that was why the slaves were surrounding the entire group.


    A small battalion of slaves was sent forward with an armored soldier leading them. When they reached the location where that arrow had been shot, they didn''t find anything at all. Most likely, this was a feint.


    Just as they were coming back toward the army, screeches echoed in the sky. Suddenly, giant eagles dove toward the demons. What the slaves knew but had not told their masters was that such an arrow was meant to attract the attention of demonic beasts, not demons. In fact, it was often used to distract them away from the tribe in case of emergency. Even with all her seals and mind attacks, Xin Zhe couldn''t perform a Soul Memory Search. In other words, she could force the slaves to answer her questions, but she couldn''t force them to tell everything that they knew as she simply couldn''t know the extent of their knowledge.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    And with the numerous attacks from the Sand Wolves Tribe, the slaves had even become more rebellious. It was irritating her even more. Maybe she would need to imitate Boss Gui. If she skinned a few of them alive to teach the others a lesson, they might be more open about what they knew. But then, City Lord Sihe would probably be pissed off. Besides, she would simply diminish her own forces and that could even impact the morale of the entire army as it would show that she was losing her nerves...


    Three large eagles attacked the still army. Those were Sun Radiating Bald Eagles, 5-core demonic beasts. As they dove down, they lacerated a few slaves and killed some mercenaries. All of them were ready for battle and tried to retaliate but the Sun Radiating Bald Eagles were not stupid. After using the surprise to their advantage, they flew away with a few preys they had captured.


    Completely infuriated, Xin Zhe left her palanquin. From her spatial ring, several metallic disks appeared and she threw them toward the escaping Sun Radiating Bald Eagles. Around them, the light of the sun was making discerning their exact position difficult. Every soldier could see several faint images of the eagles instead of a single clear one. But for an Accomplished Demon, this was a useless trick as she could see without her eyes.


    Her metallic disks all reached their targets. In an instant, thee three Sun Radiating Bald Eagles were cut apart. Several pieces fell to the ground in a spectacle of gore. It was clear to everyone that Xin Zhe was reaching her limit. After the demonic beasts, some were afraid that they would fall victim to her anger. Instead of sending joy through the army as their attackers had been killed, they were more anxious than ever. And she could also feel it.


    "We''ll set camp for the day. Since they wanted to devour us, let''s enjoy their flesh instead."


    Giving orders to some of her men, she also asked for wine and dried meat they had in their spatial rings to be distributed among the army. Although they had not prepared for such a long expedition, they had taken more provision than necessary, thankfully. Of course, the three corpses were not enough to feed everyone. But since their flesh was better than the dried meat they had in their spatial rings, it was distributed to the soldiers and mercenaries that had already showed their valor. Then, the rest was given in priority to the high ranking soldiers and mercenaries.


    Looking in the distance, where the arrow had come from, Xin Zhe could imagine the blood running through her fingers. She couldn''t wait to get her hands on those primitive tribes. This time, she imagined many torments she could inflict upon them without upsetting City Lord Sihe. They would pay for wasting her time. If she could, she would love to bathe in their blood.


    -


    In the Sand Wolves Tribe''s main settlement, Cao Yun was finally ready. It had been several months since he had first arrived. For the time being, General Sha Lang Hu''s strategy was working just fine. They were receiving messages almost every week and Xin Zhe''s progress had slowed down considerably. At the moment, Cao Yun was almost certain that his plan would work. Although Dian Mo wasn''t as useful as usual, he had still helped him quite a lot, he was forced to admit it. And the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' was close to completion.


    Assisted with several Bamboo Maps he had drawn thanks to the tribe''s accurate maps, he had already planned the whole thing. Considering the size and the complexity of the array formation though, he was forced to ask the help of most of the village.


    Although he had been mostly secluded this whole time, he had interacted with the entire tribe. By now, he knew everyone by name as each one had wanted to meet with Tie Po. Chieftain Sha Chai Ren had even told him of the tale of Tie Po and why this name had been chosen for him. To put it simply, Tie Po was their equivalent of Emperor Nuwa, but he had failed. Around fifteen thousand years ago, he had tried to lead the nomad tribes against the Nalupu Kingdom of the time. Slavery had also plagued the demons. After losing their human slaves, they had not waited long before enslaving their own kind as it felt natural to them.


    Tie Po was a legendary figure who had stood up against that. Obviously, he wasn''t opposed to human slavery in the least. But he deemed that a demon should never treat another demon like a mere human. So he led a rebellion against the Nalupu Kingdom. Tie Po was stopped and massacred. Most of his close followers were also tortured to death in front of large crowds. But his fight had not been for nothing. The Nalupu Kingdom had been weakened and they couldn''t hunt down the nomad tribes who had been united under Tie Po. Unfortunately, this union didn''t last long and several centuries later, the Nalupu Kingdom had become stronger than before. Still, traces of these events remained.


    Demons who had learned to live without slaves didn''t try to enslave their own kind as much as before. Of course, it changed very recently because of this Empyrean Asura Theocracy.


    Even though Cao Yun didn''t want to get attached to this tribe, he was forced to admit that he did in fact care about them. Now, he was almost certain that he couldn''t abandon them even if his plans failed and the situation was critical. Hopefully, he wouldn''t have to make that choice. Thankfully, there was no child in the settlement. Because of his history with his younger sister, Cao Yun was weak when it came to children. He knew it, but this didn''t change anything. In fact, even Xixue was causing his memories of his sister to resurface. He could not abandon her, no matter what happened.


    It took more than twenty days, but the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' had been set up. According to his estimations, it had around seventy-eight percent of efficiency. For such a complex array formation, this was extraordinary, especially considering that Cao Yun wasn''t either a Spirit Warrior nor an Accomplished Demon. Even a middle Spirit Warrior would probably have a hard time dealing with such an array formation. And because the knowledge of array formations was really poor in the Desolate Sepulcher, Cao Yun was confident that not even Xin Zhe would see through it.


    In fact, from the reports he had read, she was becoming more and more upset. This would make her careless. The mere fact that she was making her army march in a tight formation was a sign that she wasn''t a great strategist. Or maybe, she simply wasn''t used to dealing with array formations. No general in the Hongchen Kingdom would have allowed his forces in such a tight formation as it would increase the risks of falling into a trap like the one Cao Yun had set up. Array formations were a real problem during military campaigns. But demons in the Desolate Sepulcher just weren''t used to them, as they weren''t used to poison.


    Cao Yun had indeed the possibility of using poison, but even the Sand Wolves Tribe wouldn''t approve of it, so he had decided not to use any.

 Chapter 551: Freeing the prisoners

    The day was approaching. General Sha Lang Hu had stopped his small raids, but he had left several decoys on his way home. During more than three months, he had harassed them relentlessly. But he had also been smart about it so that they would always stay on their toes. From what he could see, it had worked like a charm. In fact, Xin Zhe herself had almost tried to chase them by abandoning her army. Unfortunately, despite all her strength, her army''s morale was getting so low that she couldn''t leave them alone. Besides she would have been forced to turn over all the sand of the Desolate Dune Desert to find them.


    The only consolation she could find for the army was that they were clearly walking in the right direction if the Sand Wolves Tribe were taking so many risks. However, it wasn''t much consolation. In fact, because she had failed to extract almost anything out of the few prisoners they had taken, her own strength was now in doubt. As she was growing more impatient and frustrated, Xin Zhe also began to kill some mercenaries and even a few soldiers. Although strength was highly valued by demons, this wasn''t a show of strength, but of weakness. A general shouldn''t kill his own men before the battle because of personal feelings.


    Of course, not a single member of Xin Zhe''s army would dare utter those words out loud. Just thinking them too strongly might warrant them Xin Zhe''s fury. After all, the powers of an Accomplished Demon were not too well known. Some mercenaries imagined that she could read their minds. But the recent events had shown them that she wasn''t as mighty as they had imagined.


    Despite the several ambushes and traps, the army hadn''t lost many men. In fact, less than a dozen were dead, and a bit more than thirty were injured. Since demons recovered faster than humans, those injuries weren''t a problem at all. And soon, they would reach the main settlement of the Sand Wolves Tribe. Of course, some were worried that they would have fled by now.


    In the Sand Wolves Tribe, in contrast, morale was higher than ever. Cao Yun had fully embraced his role of Tie Po. Now that he had learned more about the man, he understood the origin of this nickname. Although he had failed in his ambitions, Tie Po had still united the tribes and protected them from complete subjugation and enslavement. Such a fate had come back to haunt them. And suddenly a man had appeared who could break the Curse of Blood and Sorrow inflicted by City Lord Sihe. Obviously, the tribes had used the name of the legends to call him.


    Tie Po''s achievement was in reality rather minimal. But he had been a figurehead. In fact, his own role was so small that the Nalupu Kingdom had all but forgotten about him. Only the tribes had a tradition with this name, just as they had several oral traditions that still escaped the Nalupu Kingdom. Anyway, Cao Yun had found this name to be quite useful.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun had also completely attached himself to this tribe. Currently, he couldn''t abandon them at all. All the tribesmen who couldn''t fight had been sent to other settlements. General Sha Lang Hu and Cao Yun had taken care of all the vanguard parties sent by Xin Zhe so the other settlements were safe. But they had to stop her army or they would find every member of the Sand Wolves Tribe. Thankfully, they had had enough time to call some reinforcement from various settlements. In fact, with the name of Tie Po thrown in the mix, a few other tribes had accepted to send some troops.


    Among all those new fighters, there was no Accomplished Demon either. The only one they had was the old, and almost dying, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren. A few decades ago, he was still very respected. But by now, he was seen as a senile old man whose daughter was controlling as she saw fit. Although it was so far from the truth that it was ridiculous, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s reputation had been tainted by those rumors. And it was indeed true that he lacked the strength to correct them. Besides, if his daughter had tried to silence them herself, they would have simply grown worse. Still, the Sand Wolves Tribe was a rather big tribe and remained a bit of respect by most of the neighboring tribes. Moreover, they were aware that City Lord Sihe''s threat was also looming over their head.


    If the man the Sand Wolves Tribe were talking about really was Tie Po, it could change many things. In fact, many tribes were already prepared to wrestle Tie Po from the Sand Wolves Tribe. Before the battle had even begun, they were seeing him as some form of political tool. Just like the real Tie Po, this new one would probably be pretty useless except in his capacity to unite all the tribes around a single leader. Obviously, each chieftain wanted to be that leader. But they had to make sure that this man was the real deal, and then they had to find ways to lure him to their side.


    The last month before the offensive, Cao Yun received many proposals from emissaries sent by seventeen different tribes. Some were so small it was clear they were just trying to curry some favor. But others were obviously playing a political game. Honestly, Cao Yun was completely spent by his time preparing and setting up the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation. At the same time, he had pushed his mind cultivation to the brink of a breakthrough. However, he wasn''t quite there yet. Thus, he had decided to spend some time working on his martial arts.


    Still under the guise of training the fighters, Cao Yun pretended to restrain his cultivation. He could also add that it was a good thing to reserve himself for the real fight.


    During those training sessions, all the emissaries were always trying to get him to visit their tribes after the battle. They weren''t putting down the Sand Wolves Tribe directly since they were in their ranks. And honestly, they had seen Chieftain Sha Chai Ren. Despite his old age, he was still powerful enough to crush them with his own hands. However, they could all tell that it wouldn''t last long, he was clinging to life for this battle. Indeed, there were high chances that he wouldn''t be able to survive it. His daughter Sha Chai Gan was painfully aware of that and she was taking more and more responsibilities.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Contrary to their first encounter, Cao Yun and Sha Chai Gan were working well together. To be more precise, she was mostly staying out of his way and he was glad about that. On his end, Cao Yun was upholding the honor of the Sand Wolves Tribe in front of the emissaries from the other tribes, and she was glad about that in return. Their relationship wasn''t cordial, and in fact a bit cold at moments, but it was very professional and extremely effective to organize the tribe for the upcoming battle.


    -


    General Sha Lang Hu informed the High Council about the situation. The High Council was formed of the eighteen tribes of the Crimson Ashes Basin where the Sand Wolves Tribe was mainly located. Although the tribes were called nomadic, they were in fact semi-nomadic. And their settlements were in general in various regions. Thus, it was difficult to form a stable council of several tribes. The current neighbors of the Sand Wolves Tribe would not be the same after the next migration. But for the time being, the High Council was formed of the tribes of this Crimson Ashes Basin.


    Xin Zhe''s forces would finally reach the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation in less than three days. After that, they would get to the settlement in only a handful of days. Everything would be decided at the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation. Cao Yun had chosen the spot not just because of the array formation but also with the fight in mind. In particular, he had been careful about the sand there. Many people could hide all over the place. Besides, the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' was ingenious enough that it would spare those Cao Yun had marked with a specific seal.


    Before the arrival of Xin Zhe though, Cao Yun had prepared a gift for her. It was soon time for the gift to be delivered. Even among the High Council, no one but Cao Yun, not even Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, was aware of that gift.


    In the tent they were in, everyone was speaking with a personal dialect. Although they could all understand each other, there were always some nuances lost. Moreover, it really felt strange to the ears. Since they were all used to a specific dialect, hearing some many of them mixed together was strange as they couldn''t adapt to them. On the other hand, Cao Yun was very happy to hear so many variations of the same language. And he picked most of those dialects. Even now, he had hopes he would be able to decipher Cleansed Asura''s texts.


    "Lord Tie Po, is everything ready?"


    "Do you ask a wolf if its fangs or claws are ready?!"


    "This question is an insult to Lord Tie Po!"


    "Indeed, such impudence..."


    "Enough! I do think that preventing Lord Tie Po from answering is even more insulting."


    Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was old enough that he didn''t have to care about the emissaries'' sensitivity. Thus, he cut their nonsense as soon as it started. Now wasn''t the time to grovel in front of their new political tool.


    "Thank you, Chieftain. Everything is ready on my end. Unless someone has anything to add, I do think we can depart immediately. As I already told you all, I won''t be able to be of much assistance. This array formation is so complex that it will require my undivided attention. Upon activation, the entire army of Xin Zhe should be divided and easier to deal with. At that moment, I will use the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' to not only isolate them, but also to try and free as many slaves as possible. Their number should decrease fast. Besides, I was also able to set up smaller array formations. They wouldn''t be much use against even a Golden Blood Child, but they should help us get rid of most mercenaries. Then, the main problem will remain Xin Zhe and her close soldiers."


    "Although my blood has lost its luster, my arms retain their strength. I will burn every drop of my blood essence if need be, but if you''re able to pin down Xin Zhe, I do think I can lead an assault on her. Hopefully, I''ll be able to take her down. After all, she''s no fighter."


    "Senior Sha Chai Ren, no need to try and prove yourself. We all remember the legends of the past. Boasting about your capacity will only result in us failing to seize the victory."


    A young and brazen emissary forgot himself after being rebuked earlier. After those words, he felt as though his flesh was being burned and his blood boiled. Seized by panic and terror, he immediately kowtowed and struck his head to the ground. A second later and Chieftain Sha Chai Ren would have killed him for his insults.


    "Chieftain, this stupid one''s words betrayed him. This miserable one is ready to lay his life for this insult, Chieftain. My humble tribe has nothing to do with such poor manners."


    "Boy, you will be the first blood we sacrifice before we go to war."


    "I understand, Chieftain. It will be a great honor for this insignificant one."


    This was indeed a tradition of the Desolate Desert Dune Tribes. Before a large battle, it was customary for one to draw a vast part of his blood, even using some of his own blood essence. The blood wasn''t drawn to death of course, but losing one''s blood, especially for a demon, wasn''t a happy occasion at all. For the tribes, it was called ''Soothing the Sand''. Through that ceremony, it was believed that the desert wouldn''t ask too much blood from their tribe during the upcoming battle, while their enemies would be bled dry.


    By taking part in this ''Soothing the Sand'', the young man was not only saving his life, but also his face and the face of his tribe. Indeed, his words would have been taken as insults by any chieftain. Even his own chieftain would have punished him harshly. If there wasn''t a terrible battle coming up, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren would have probably demanded his head or his heart. Thus, he was grateful and he resented his stupid tongue and his rotten brain. Besides, he had misspoken in front of Tie Po. Undoubtedly, his own chieftain would punish him once more. So he had to gain as much honor as possible during the battle.


    "Before we depart however, I have one final surprise for Xin Zhe. General Sha Lang Hu, I need you and some of your men to send back the prisoners from the vanguard parties. I will add my own prisoner to the mix. You will transmit them the message I have here. Make sure that Xin Zhe finds them as she enters the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin''. Then we will all wait for the signal. I can assure you you won''t be able to miss it."


    Everyone was a bit doubtful. In fact, General Sha Lang Hu himself had had some reserves when Cao Yun had asked him to keep some demons of the vanguard parties alive. But he had obeyed without asking any question. Besides those few men, Cao Yun had his own prisoner, the only survivor of the first vanguard he had crossed paths with, the one from which he had free three slaves. During all those months, Cao Yun had been able to develop his art of seals. For that, he had used the seals he had observed in Xixue''s bones.


    In fact, Cao Yun was getting close to a breakthrough in that domain. It would help him cultivate even faster than before. Of course, his current speed was already impressive so it wouldn''t improve it by much. But he was looking for any improvement. However, there was another use for those seals that City Lord Sihe had intended to put to good use. Now, it was Cao Yun''s turn to do so.

 Chapter 552: Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin

    Xin Zhe''s army was thoroughly exhausted. It wasn''t physical of course. But mentally, they were tired of their constant wariness. Not only were they forced to be cautious about their surroundings, but they also had to walk on eggshells in front of Xin Zhe herself. After suffering from a few seals left by Cao Yun in the seas of consciousness of the few prisoners they had taken, she was as upset as she could be. Usually, she was in control of everything. Apart from City Lord Sihe, no one was better than her when it came to seals. In fact, she prided herself with her ability when it came to manipulate minds. On that specific point, she thought herself superior to even City Lord Sihe. After all, even he couldn''t break someone''s will as easily as she could.


    On the long way toward the Sand Wolves Tribe though, she had realized that this Tie Po was better than her. At first, it wasn''t obvious as she could still pin her mistake on overconfidence. But even after using as much care as she could, she had still failed repeatedly. Clearly, this man had surpassed her. In fact, she even begun to wonder whether the rumors were really baseless. She had obviously guessed that this Mo Yun was also this Tie Po thanks to the first slaves she had captured. It wasn''t that hard to piece things together. But there was no real proof and no one would care about an Accomplished Demon killing a few slavers. Besides, he was now working with Boss Gui, so he was even more difficult to approach.


    What truly gave her pause was his ability when it came to seals. Thus, she truly wondered whether he had indeed worked with or for City Lord Sihe. Maybe even she was unaware of something. After all, she was privy to every single detail of his organization. At first, she was certain that it was impossible. But now...


    Anyway, no matter who that Mo Yun really was, he would soon be a problem of the past. Most likely, he was helping the Sand Wolves Tribe right now. Although she wasn''t sure of his purpose, Xin Zhe could guess that he was trying to impede City Lord Sihe''s business in order to promote Boss Gui. Whatever his reason was, Xin Zhe intended to take him down and bring him as prisoner to City Lord Sihe. Such a man had to be used, she couldn''t simply kill him. Unfortunately, he was also a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. Of course, like her, he probably wasn''t a fighter. Thus she was hopeful she could deal with him and the tribe at the same time. In fact, the tribe might have already escaped. That would mean even longer days spent looking for them. She was really sick of this desert!


    As Xin Zhe was pondering over her frustration, something new happened. Without giving any order, her palanquin stopped. For some time now, she had relinquished her spiritual senses because of her fatigue. Immediately, she expanded them once more and heard her generals just as she observed the situation.


    "Lady, we''ve noticed several of our men walking toward us in the distance."


    "Did you identify them?"


    "Yes, Lady. Those are members of the vanguard parties. The wounds on their bodies and the dryness of their faces and lips show that they''ve been held captive a long time and have been released in the burning sand several days ago."


    "I see... But why would they free them?! This might be a trap, General. Send a small party to recover them while I keep an eye on things. Also make sure our defenses are strong. The sun is setting soon so we''ll establish a camp here. Hopefully this will be the last one before we get to those rats."


    "Understood, Lady."


    Just as the general sent his orders, Xin Zhe did as she had said. Her spiritual senses spread forward. Even now, the prisoners were a bit too far for her. Thus, she decided to get closer. Leaving her palanquin, Xin Zhe slowly rose in the air. When she thought she was at a safe enough altitude, she flew toward the prisoners, almost acting as vanguard to her own men. Xin Zhe hated doing this kind of thing as she preferred to stay inside and give orders rather than to dirty herself. Under the scorching sun, she circulated her Golden Blood to protect her fair skin. After seeing several nomad tribesmen, she didn''t want their skin. Of course, there was almost no risk considering her cultivation and the little time spent under the sun. But she was very careful anyway.


    From up above, she was still able to send her spiritual senses deep into the sand below. All around her own men, there was no trace of any kind of trap or ambush. Even for her, this was painful to leave parts of her soul in this sand saturated with Fire Qi. But she was now used to this pain.


    When her men reached the prisoners, a few of them simply collapsed in their arms. Although they were Golden Blood Children, they had been deprived of water for too long. The couple who could still talk were not coherent at all. Still, Xin Zhe was careful and focused herself all around the spot they had met with her own men. After she was certain that everything was safe, she wondered whether there was any trap within the prisoners themselves.


    Just as her army was setting up camp, a few of them were still guarding their surroundings. The generals weren''t too convinced by Xin Zhe''s idea. If it were up to them, they would have preferred to go back or even simply move in another direction before setting up the camp. It really felt as though the Sand Wolves Tribe wanted them precisely there. To be honest, it wouldn''t have changed anything.


    Indeed, Xin Zhe had failed to notice an observer. Cao Yun was above them all on the back of Hongyu. A few days ago, he had already tested his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' against Xin Zhe. Maybe she could have noticed something unusual if she had been paying attention, but her spiritual senses were completely focused on the sand after all those ambushes. This was exactly what Cao Yun had been hoping for. In fact, everything was going extremely well.


    He had not thought that Xin Zhe herself would get close to the prisoners. That was both good and sub-optimal. To tell the truth, it would have been better if the prisoners had been brought to her within her army. But she was still doing precisely what Cao Yun was expecting. After having to deal with all those seals, she knew that Cao Yun was a master in that domain. Obviously, she would look for seals within those prisoners. And that was exactly what he was counting on.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Floating before Cao Yun''s hands were his compass and a few flags with various characters on them. There were also a lot of high spirit stones. Apparently, there weren''t many spirit stones in the Desolate Sepulcher so he didn''t want to waste those he had in his spatial ring. But they would probably be necessary to activate his ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation. And now, he was waiting for the perfect moment. If he timed it just right, he would have to use much fewer spirit stones and the effects would even be better while also injuring Xin Zhe in the process.


    As she was examining the prisoners, Xin Zhe detected several seals in their seas of consciousness. Trying to probe their minds would be a problem. But then, she noticed something else. Someone had tried to hide it with blood runes, but there were engravings within one of the prisoners'' bones. When she tried to look at it more closely, she remembered something else she had worked on with City Lord Sihe. Almost a year ago, they had engraved seals in the bones of Xixue, a girl who had been in the caravan destroyed by Mo Yun. And if she remembered right, those seals could...


    Suddenly, Xin Zhe flew away, back toward the army. Her own men down below didn''t understand her abrupt flight. However, it became clear when the prisoner she had been examining literally exploded. His flesh ruptured and all his bones turned into shrapnel piercing through their bodies. Those bones were full of Qi and covered in blood and blood runes. Those men were only Golden Blood Children so they died on the spot as such an attack could even injure an Accomplished Demon. But this didn''t stop there, all the blood of this poor prisoner was vaporized instantly, causing a vast shockwave full of Evil Qi and even Death Energy. Cao Yun had also added his own note as there were faint traces of his Black Heart Flame.


    Despite her speed, Xin Zhe was caught in the aftermath of the explosion. This was almost the same kind of suicide attacked they had planned against Boss Gui. Xixue''s seals, engraved in her bones, were supposed to activate some day when she was close to Boss Gui. If even an early Accomplished Demon stood next to her at that moment, they would be killed unless they acted right away. And no one would have been able to suspect such a thing, so Boss Gui herself would not have been able to survive. And even if she could, she would still be so weakened that taking care of her after that would be easy enough.


    Never had Xin Zhe imagined that she would be on the receiving end of a trap she had helped to create. But the truth was right in front of her, her rather just behind her. However, she also realized that this explosion was a bit different from what she had prepared. There was something more in it, there was a powerful corrosive force. Even at a distance, her very soul was injured and a large part of her skin was burned away. As an Accomplished Demon, she would be able to heal it very fast but it was still painful and caused her much distress.


    When she finally recovered her wits, she realized that the scenery had completely changed. She wasn''t in the desert anymore. Right now, she was in a strange place she couldn''t identify. All around her, there were walls made of golden sheets she could somehow see through. There was also a strange light as she wasn''t able to discern its source because it seemed to come from all around her at once. Maybe the golden sheets themselves were producing this light. Besides, those sheets also had small capillaries running through them, almost as if those were pieces of living membranes.


    Immediately, she expanded her spiritual senses but didn''t discover anything at all. Beyond the golden sheets around her, her spiritual senses would simply not expand. She could analyze the narrow space she was in but nothing more.


    What was currently happening to Xin Zhe was also happening to everyone in her army. Small groups of mercenaries, soldiers and slaves were trapped between golden membranes, unable to detect anything beyond those, even though they seemed almost transparent. Obviously, this was the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation.


    Outside, as soon as the explosion had been caused by Xin Zhe''s probing, Cao Yun had sent his flags and some high spirit stones all over the place. The shockwave of the explosion itself helped kick-start the array formation so he had been able to keep more high spirit stones in his spatial ring. For now, everyone was trapped in the array formation. From above, it really looked like the shedding of a giant cicada sending golden light all over the place.


    The point of that array formation was to trap and separate forces on the battlefield. The main problem was that it also prevented anyone from attacking from the outside. However, it was possible to break it apart layer by layer. Of course, with each layer broken, the array formation would become more unstable, increasing the risk for the rest of the cultivators to break free. But Cao Yun was confident that they would have a very hard time with it even though his array formation wasn''t that powerful.


    Anyway, right now, there was still someone who could attack from without, Cao Yun himself. Not only did he know perfectly the layout of this array formation, he also knew how to spread his spiritual senses within. In order to physically enter a layer, it was necessary to break it open, unleashing the people within. But one could send their spiritual senses inside of the layers if only they knew which path to take.


    Because he had set up this array formation himself, Cao Yun knew exactly what to do. Besides, he already had a rough idea where all the slaves were. Thus, he hurried up and sent his spiritual senses at the precise location of those slaves. Like all the other cultivators, they were all over the place. But because most of the slaves had been surrounding the army, they were mostly trapped with other slaves.


    In the distance, the small army mainly composed of the Sand Wolves Tribe with some reinforcements from the tribes of the Crimson Ashes Basin saw the golden hue. This was their cue to move toward the battleground. Unlike the army of Xin Zhe, they were not impaired by the Desolate Dune Desert at all. So they were able to get there very fast.


    When they arrived, Cao Yun was floating above the giant corpse of a dried golden cicada. Obviously, he wasn''t flying, he was still sitting on Hongyu''s back. She was the one hovering above the array formation. With the golden light from the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' and the majesty of Hongyu, Cao Yun appeared like a god to the tribesmen. Many believed that he had in his veins the Blood of Tie Po. Although demons believed in reincarnation of the soul like humans, they also believed that one''s will and spirit survived through their Blood.


    Then, they saw some turbid air exit Cao Yun''s Upper Dantian and enter the array formation. At the moment, he had focused his spiritual senses so much that they were almost visible to a Golden Blood Child. Some were a bit afraid at that sight as they felt the anger of the Flying Poison course through them.

 Chapter 553: Picking enemies like fish in a barrel

    The forces of the Sand Wolves Tribe were ready for battle. They had no real army but the men led by Xin Zhe were no real army either, they were a band of mercenaries and slaves held together by but a few. In the Desolate Dune Desert, they had not come with large siege engines, but Cao Yun could imagine that there were more destructive weapons in their spatial rings. But those spatial rings were few and they probably had a rather small capacity. Still, they would probably be enough for the battle they had had in mind.


    Everyone trapped into the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation was fighting to get out, except for the slaves. First of all, they had no reason to try and escape knowing that they would simply meet their masters back. Moreover, they knew about Tie Po and they had seen how he had played Xin Zhe again and again with her own specialty, seals. Thus, they were convinced that the rumors they had heard about a man who would break the shackles of the Cruse of Blood and Sorrow were true. Finally, the array formation was preventing anyone else from activating the Slavery Brand implanted in most of them. As a result, they could not be compelled through pain to do anything.


    If they had tried to help, the array formation would have probably crumbled sooner. But at the current rate, Cao Yun was confident he could keep it up at least three double hours. His main concern was whether he would be able to free all the slaves before then or not. However, he put his worries aside and got to work. His Flying Poison fully manifested in his sea of consciousness. Cao Yun had altered the place a little. In the eight directions he had created large pillars that pierced the eternal sky and dove into the infinite ocean. Those pillars always seemed to be at an unreachable distance. Even if someone were to travel toward them all their life, they would not touch them.


    On each pillar were several inscriptions to protect his sea of consciousness from intruders and from external attacks. But those pillars were also meant to protect his sea of consciousness from himself and his very soul. For now, it wasn''t necessary, but if the Turbid Demons escaped his control, he might them. And since he was about to push his mind and soul to the limit today, he had prepared those pillars as a precaution. Of course, he would keep them around after that, if they survived the day...


    In the vast expanse, the Flying Poison had a complete body with three long tails of bones, blood and green hair. He floated toward Cao Yun''s Po and grabbed the other two characters from Unclean Evil and Stinking Lungs in his hands. Smoke rose as they burned his palms. When he released them, he had the two characters visible in the bloody palms of his hands. At last, he was fully prepared to do his task.


    Flying Poison flew toward the center of Nine Soul Peaks now covered in bright green vines from the world tree. Without any delay, he dove into the Drop of Wrath and disappeared. Flying Poison had left Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness completely. As it wasn''t Cao Yun''s full soul, he could do so. Indeed, it was the Drop of Wrath''s Flying Poison. Cao Yun''s Turbid Demon had not reached this level yet, but when it did, it would merge with this one as his soul and the Drop of Wrath were forever connected now.


    Upon leaving Cao Yun''s body, Flying Poison became his spiritual senses. As such, he was bodiless and shapeless. Because of his extraordinary focus, a few tribesmen were able to see a vague smoke around Cao Yun, but nothing more. Xin Zhe would have been able to sense something stronger, but she was busy with the array formation and couldn''t spread her own spiritual senses outside.


    Cao Yun''s Flying Poison flew into the shedding of the golden cicada and easily found his path within. Based on the position of everyone when the array formation got activated, he knew where they were in the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin''. There were thirty-six layers in total. So there were between fifty and a hundred men by layer. Each layer was in fact a fold of the golden cicada''s shed skin. Even a late Accomplished Demon would have not been able to get out of this array formation in less than an hour. Besides, it was easier to set up than a killing formation as it was completely passive once activated.


    Most likely, powerful 9th-grade, or even 8th-grade, Spirit Warriors would have been able to get out of there in the time of an incense stick. But thankfully, the Desolate Sepulcher was isolated and the demons there knew close to nothing when it came to array formations, not even a seal expert like Xin Zhe.


    -


    Speaking of Xin Zhe, she had finally found the perfect opportunity to let out her frustration and rage. After finding out that her spiritual senses could not pierce through the golden membranes around her, she had no hesitation at all. She pushed her blood cultivation to the limit. Instead of turning darker or redder, her skin became pale as porcelain. But all over her skin, marks appeared. They were stylized seals and marks. Her clothes were rather revealing and they were in fact specifically revealing those marks. Mixing gold and blood, they were a physical manifestation of her Golden Blood.


    Her cultivation technique was ''White Bone, Gold Blood''. As she had gotten it from her direct master along with a drop of blood essence, she was extremely proud of this technique. Thus, she liked to have clothes that would show every mark on her skin. And to be honest, those marks were extremely beautiful. Right now, she looked like a precious sculpture made of porcelain and painted by a grand master. But her beauty soon showed it had thorns.


    From some of the marks, golden disks covered in blood appeared.


    ''Seven Vertebrae Carry the Golden Palace''!


    Seven of those disks grew larger. The biggest of them disappeared with a strident sound. The next instant, it was spinning insanely fast while trying to pierce through the golden membrane in front of Xin Zhe. As it was still spinning, another disk that was a bit smaller with large blades on its circumference joined it. The two of them rotated one against the other, increasing the pressure against the membrane. One by one, each of those seven disks collided against each other, further amplifying the tension on the membrane.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    As she was pushing her cultivation and her technique to the limit, Xin Zhe was fully realized that she had indeed been injured by the earlier explosion. Even now, she wasn''t able to produce all of her strength despite her rage. In her sea of consciousness, she was also mobilizing her formed Flying Poison. Unlike Cao Yun, Xin Zhe had no real mind cultivation. She was simply following the blood cultivation method known to all demons in the Desolate Sepulcher. As such, there was a large disgusting beast in her sea of consciousness.


    If Cao Yun had seen within her mind, he would have thought it looked like the Yellow Death World. The water was dark and there were bones everywhere. But most bones had golden or bloody seals in them. Some bones were carved so much that the marrow was visible inside. In the center of her sea of consciousness, there were ribs sticking out of the water, forming a form of cage, just like Cao Yun''s Nine Soul Peaks, like a hand with many fingers trying to grab something on the surface of the ocean. At the base of those ribs, there wasn''t any spine. Instead, there was the summit of a skull with many small fissures within.


    Inside this rib cage, this was where her Flying Poison was. That large disgusting beast was literally impaled on one of the ribs. Many smaller bones were sticking out of it. And all around the Turbid Demon, there were chains made out of blood. Each link in the chain had a peculiar form, probably designed by Xin Zhe herself following both her ''White Bone, Gold Blood'' method and her knowledge of seals deepened by City Lord Sihe.


    At the Flying Poison''s sides, there was her Unclean Evil. For now, it wasn''t fully formed. In fact, there was only a trunk with deformed limbs and holes in its flesh. Such a spectacle was truly disturbing. Even knowing that this creature wasn''t made of real flesh and was just a mental representation, this was appalling. After all, they were not the aspects of her Po, they were truly Turbid Demons. Without this kind of control imposed on them, they would wreak havoc and probably destroy Xin Zhe from within, like any inner demon would.


    Because she was using her spiritual senses to amplify her technique, the Flying Poison mainly and the Unclean Evil a little were both being drained of their strength. Thus, their influence on Xin Zhe was growing stronger and she had to use her own will to keep them trapped. This was why being an Accomplished Demon was so difficult without the right technique. If Xin Zhe knew about Cao Yun''s ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', she would do absolutely anything to get it. In fact, any demon would. No sacrifice was big enough to get such a refined art.


    ''Sifting Through Ten Thousand Ivory Shards''!


    After her initial attack, Xin Zhe did not let up. Hundreds of smaller disks joined the seven big ones to try and pierce through the golden membrane. For the moment, it was being distended. As long as there was some kind of effect, Xin Zhe would not abandon.


    -


    In another part of the golden cicada, there were around eighty slaves all trapped together without any soldier or mercenary. They were not panicking at all. In fact, they were rather comfortable. Then, they heard a voice in their head.


    "I am Tie Po. Whoever wants the Curse of Blood and Sorrow purged from their Blood, announce yourselves."


    With this statement, Flying Poison had nothing to add. All the slaves kowtowed in the general direction of the voice.


    "This unworthy one pleads for Lord Tie Po''s benefaction."


    Then Flying Poison entered the sea of consciousness of the closest slave. Although he could have forced his way through their souls, it was much easier to have them drop all defenses. Considering how many slaves he had to free, he couldn''t waste his energy at all. He made quick work of the seal. But even if he spent only a minute on each slave, he would still need much more time than what the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation could offer him. That was why he had to be strategic. With the time he had, he knew he could probably free, at best a third of them, at worst, only a quarter. Instead of worrying about that, he stayed focused on his work.


    Cao Yun had already trained a lot. And unfortunately, he could barely improve his speed. If Dian Mo had been able to help, he might have been able to do so, but it wasn''t the case considering his weakened state. However, he had found a way around that problem. Even though the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation could not stay up too long, he could further optimize it by breaking the layers one by one.


    Each layer broken would naturally send more energy to the remaining layers. If Cao Yun had been more powerful, if he had been a real Spirit Warrior or Accomplished Demon with full spiritual senses, he might have even been able to control precisely the amount of energy in each layer. Right now, each layer was as resistant as all the others, no matter who was within. So after breaking some layers, it would strengthen the rest of the array formation. Like that, he might be able to add one hour, maybe a double hour, but he wasn''t too confident as a lot of damage would have already been inflicted upon it.


    Moreover, during the process, he would obviously unleash soldiers and mercenaries. That was why the tribesmen were waiting outside of the golden skin. With his Flying Poison, he might have tried to attack their seas of consciousness, but this would have slowed him down much more. And he wanted to put all the chances on his side. Thus, he only focused on the slaves.


    Since the first layer was only trapping slaves, Cao Yun broke apart this layer first. Then, he spent almost the entire first double hour freeing them from their Slavery Brands. After that, he worked on another layer where there were also mercenaries. After this one, another layer would be broken, and another one, and another one, ...


    As soon as the second layer was broken, mercenaries were freed from the array formation. Immediately, they were attacked by the forces of the Sand Wolves Tribe. The battle was extremely fierce. However, without the guidance of a real soldier, the mercenaries were completely disorganized. Because they had kept their formation when the array formation had been activated, they had been trapped together with other fighters they knew. So they were still able to use battle formations.


    Unfortunately for them, the tribesmen were just too many for them to handle. Besides, the freed slaves had also turned on them almost immediately. While they were fighting, Cao Yun was getting rid of the Slavery Brands in the new slaves from the broken layer.


    With such a strategy, the battle became rather simple. But, alas, this array formation wouldn''t last forever. For now, the tribesmen had only fought easy battles. When they were faced with a real challenge, things would be different. Despite Cao Yun''s presence, they knew he was too busy to help them. Besides, he wasn''t even a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon so he wouldn''t have been as useful as they would think.


    Thankfully, the first mercenaries'' battle formations were not good enough against the combined strength of the tribesmen. However, they were resisting long enough for another layer to be broken before they were all killed. Like that, there would be more fighters entering the battlefield than those leaving it.

 Chapter 554: Azure Dragon dives toward exposed cicada

    Despite their best efforts, the tribesmen were having a tough time dealing with the waves of fighters. Indeed, they were appearing faster than they could deal with them. Thankfully, General Sha Lang Hu was able to lead his forces in a proper manner. Besides, they had several pills to help them recover their strength. On the other end, their enemies had often wasted some of their own strength trying to break out of the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation.


    Speaking of which, several elite soldiers had been trapped together and were combining all of their martial strength to break down the golden membrane around them. Just like Xin Zhe, they were focusing everything at a single point, in the hope of piercing through. Unfortunately for them, they were not successful at all. And like many others, they were just wasting their strength before the actual fight. Thus, they decided to stop altogether. In their minds, only Xin Zhe and City Lord Sihe would be able to break through this defense. Moreover, they were in no immediate danger. So, unlike the undisciplined mercenaries, they were patient. At some point, they would need to fight. Because they were fully aware of that, they decided to save their strength. Instead of trying to break free, they sat on the ground and began to meditate. Suddenly, without any order being given, a few dozens soldiers simply sat down.


    In layers of the array formation where soldiers were mixed in with mercenaries, they gave the order to stop anything else and sit down. And in yet other layers, the soldiers gave the order to subdue the slaves. Because they didn''t want to kill them, it wasn''t too easy to deal with them, but the slaves were often outnumbered so they were taken down. Even after having their Slavery Brand removed, they were unable to resist when they were one against five. Keeping them alive would be a challenge though. The mercenaries wouldn''t have any problem killing them of course, but the soldiers had to consider what their master would say about it. City Lord Sihe had spent a lot of resources. But his training didn''t create warriors as good as Boss Gui''s.


    In the innermost layer, Xin Zhe was using her entire ''White Bone, Gold Blood''. ''Throne of Broken Bones''! From her spatial ring, thousands of bones appeared. Some were from demonic beasts but most of them were clearly from other demons. All of those bones were perfectly white with golden inscriptions on some of them. Those golden engraved ones seemed to act as generals relaying her orders to all the other bones. Among them, several sizes and shapes existed. But they were all working together as though they were forming Xin Zhe''s private army.


    While the disks she had thrown earlier were still spinning in an attempt to pierce through the golden membrane, Xin Zhe was trying something else. The ground under her feet turned into a literal grave. She was now walking on the dead bones of myriads of beings. Despite being in a place of death, she appeared perfectly pure. But her skin was as white as the bones below her feet. Slowly, she rose in the air as the bones floating in the air formed some kind of large halo behind her.


    Suddenly, a part of that halo flew forward in the shape of a giant spear. It collided heavily with the disks she had already sent. Amidst the strident sound of the disks, another loud noise echoed throughout the entire ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation. Everyone trapped in it heard it and they knew that Xin Zhe was trying to break out. This increased the morale of all her soldiers. At the same time, from the outside, the tribesmen all heard it and even saw the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' shake a little.


    Up in the sky, Cao Yun was still on Hongyu''s back using his spiritual senses as much as he could to deal with the Slavery Brands within the array formation. As soon as he sensed Xin Zhe''s action, he focused on his compass. Apparently, this woman was more competent than he had hoped. Indeed, she had not been able to spot the weakest point of the array formation. But she had found one of the weak spots nonetheless. If she kept pressing on, the array formation wouldn''t last too long. Thus, Cao Yun had several choices. He could literally get into the array formation to fight her, but he was almost certain to know how the fight would go.


    If he had been a real Accomplished Demon, even a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon, he could have killed Xin Zhe fairly easily one-on-one. Unfortunately, he was no such thing, for now. Weighing all his options, the young human kept focusing on freeing as many slaves as he could. At the same time, he diverted a little bit of his spiritual senses to analyze Xin Zhe in details. He would try to absorb as much information as he could. Anything could be useful to him in actual combat. Besides, by the time she would break out of there, she would be much more tired than he was. Furthermore, she had been slightly injured in the earlier explosion. If he could keep her busy and far enough from the battle, they had a chance of winning.


    Indeed, although it didn''t go as smoothly as they had hoped, the tribesmen were still fighting valiantly. Moreover, they had not used their main card yet. Cao Yun had to make sure that the fight would remain as balanced as possible. And for that, he needed to free as many slaves as he could before Xin Zhe broke free. Unfortunately, the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation had a weakness. As much as Cao Yun could break the layers one by one, if one layer was forcibly broken from within, it would weaken the entire array formation. Thus, it would become easier and easier to destroy it from within.


    And finally, Xin Zhe destroyed the golden membrane in front of her. As soon as it collapsed, she found herself in a new layer. But this time, she was among some of her soldiers. There were also a few mercenaries and some slaves. Immediately, she made sure that their seals were still active. Then, she gave out orders to break down the golden membrane once more. Even if she had not been able to identify the weakest point, she had found a good strategy to break down each layer. So she would not try to improve it, she would simply apply it as efficiently as possible to get out as soon as she could.


    This turned into an indirect fight between between Cao Yun and Xin Zhe. While he was choosing the layers to take care of, she was breaking them down. Cao Yun was trying to optimize the number of slaves he could free while breaking the layers as fast as he could. With each layer he broke, the array formation could grow stronger. But with each layer Xin Zhe was destroying, it was growing weaker. At first, Cao Yun was faster than Xin Zhe, but it soon became the opposite.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    When Cao Yun realized that he was going to lose, he got ready for the second part of his plan. After all, he knew that he couldn''t hold this array formation forever. Of course, he had hoped to keep it stable much longer than he actually had. But there was no point focusing on this right now. He had planned other contingencies. Once again, he didn''t like being so weak. His understanding of array formations was very good and theoretically, he should have been able to set up a stronger ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin''. Unfortunately, he was still too weak for that. Even his mind cultivation was not good enough to take in all the details at once and control every single aspect of the setting up. What he could achieve in his sea of consciousness could not be easily translated in the real world yet.


    When Cao Yun felt that Xin Zhe was about to break through the array formation, he took a heavy decision. At once, he broke every single layer of the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' except for the one she was still trapped in. Like that, she found that the golden membrane had turned much more resistant and her trick would not work as fast as it had until then. On the other hand, Cao Yun had freed all the remaining forces at the same time.


    Of course, General Sha Lang Hu had always been aware that this was a possibility. Besides, Cao Yun had warned him beforehand. While the opening of the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' was a surprise for those inside, it was a given for General Sha Lang Hu. Thus, he was able to launch a surprise assault on the various forces who had been trapped within the array formation. Unlike them, he knew exactly where they were and how many they were. Cao Yun had observed them all and General Sha Lang Hu had been told everything as well. The first assault was thus very successful.


    Many soldiers were killed. Those elite soldiers were indeed their main target. The mercenaries could be scared off, the slaves could be freed and didn''t even want to fight to begin with. But those soldiers were working directly under City Lord Sihe. They would not defect, nor desert. So they were the primary targets to kill. And everyone knew it.


    Now that they were free, the elite soldiers immediately stood up and took out their weapons. While the first assault caught them by surprise, they were able to get it together pretty quickly. Circulating their blood cultivation, they found each other in an instant. And without a moment''s delay, they got in formation. From this moment, trying to pick them one by one was impossible. Besides, they were probably strong enough to even kill a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon in his prime. In fact, they might have been able to deal with Xin Zhe herself. Although being an Accomplished Demon was a huge advantage, it didn''t mean invincibility.


    The greatest advantage an Accomplished Demon had on a battlefield was the ability to fly. Indeed, it would allow them to fly away if things went very bad, what Golden Blood Children couldn''t do.


    As they were forming their battle formation, Cao Yun decided to help out as much as he could. From above, he took out his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Using both his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' and his ''Three Storms'', Cao Yun made the entire Horn Constellation appear above him. The clouds above Hongyu were as dark as the night, yet the stars of the Horn Constellation were all shining within it. In fact, the Seven Piercing Stars were all present in the sky. And around the Neck Star, the Neck Constellation was also slowly congealing. Soon, it would be officially formed.


    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the golden Insight Writings were vibrant. They were all dancing in the air, spiraling around each other, forming texts and hymns. In fact, the hymns of those characters began to dimly echo within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. He was getting closer and closer to forming his Spear Intent. With his Spear Aura to its limit, Cao Yun''s ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' now looked like a real Azure Dragon. It wasn''t the effect of his martial art, but of his own understanding of the Way of the Spear. Unlike his Qi Manifestation, it didn''t rely on Qi at all. In fact, a mere mortal could theoretically produce such an effect if they had a deep enough understanding of their art. Of course, it was absolutely impossible in practice.


    On the ground, everyone was stunned by what was happening above them. Since Spear Aura was unrelated to one''s cultivation, Cao Yun had no problem showing off. In fact, many were convinced that such a Spear Aura bordering on the Spear Intent could only be achieved by an Accomplished Demon, simply because of the time required to reach a high understanding of one''s martial art.


    In the dark clouds, where the stars were shining as though it was a second sky, two bright sapphires appeared. They were extremely threatening as Cao Yun had imbued them with his ''Demon Weeping'' and his Turbid Demons. At that moment, the young human was using almost everything. His main goal was to ascertain his position in the eyes of everyone below. At the same time, he was truly trying to help them. From what he could feel in the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'', he would only have one strike to help the tribesmen. After that, they would need to rely on themselves. Thankfully, no one below was an Accomplished Demon. Since Cao Yun could most likely kill any one of the elite soldiers, he could inflict a lot of damage even with their battle formation.


    ''Sea of Blood''!


    All the elite soldiers felt a paralyzing fear seize their hearts. For an instant, they even stopped breathing. But everyone else on the battlefield had an awful fright as well. It was as though the sky had turned into an infinite abyss from which they were feeling a powerful blood thirst. Even though it wasn''t directed at them, many were shaking. Obviously, for the soldiers who were targeted by this, the sensation was much worse.


    ''Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky''!


    Using this moment to strike, Cao Yun used a move he had never worked on. In fact, a few minutes ago, he had no idea such a move was even possible. But from the golden hymns in his sea of consciousness, he had gotten some inspiration. By combining his two martial arts, he had reached this conclusion.


    From the dark clouds, the figure of the Azure Dragon leapt toward the ground. Along with its massive body, the Azure Dragon was surrounded by the black cloud full of thunder. As it was coming down from the Heavens, the Azure Dragon was also bringing the stars down as well as a destructive wind. Suddenly, everything went crashing down on the soldiers just as Cao Yun''s ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' was striking in their direction.


    At that moment, all the soldiers freed from the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation had just enough time to brace for impact.

 Chapter 555: Fighting on two fronts

    As the few dozens soldiers tightened their formation, a large shield appeared all around them. It had an elegant curved shape and seemed to be made of pure jade. On top of the shield was inserted a piece from a turtle shell. When the Azure Dragon fell on the shield, the sound of metal clashing against metal resounded all around. Some cracks appeared in the shield but it endured. Unfortunately, Cao Yun wasn''t strong enough to break apart such a powerful formation. But it wasn''t his goal either.


    While Cao Yun''s attack was still assaulting the shield, the violent winds born from the Azure Dragon were also causing a small tornado to rise around the soldiers. They were ready for a fierce attack from a powerful Accomplished Demon, but they soon realized that this attack was inferior to what they expected. However, they soon understood that the goal behind the attack was different as well. Indeed, along that small tornado, the Fire Qi rich sand of the Desolate Dune Desert formed a large cloud all around them. First of all, this wasn''t pleasant at all but Golden Blood Children could endure. The real problem was that it completely messed around with their senses. After all, even spiritual senses had a hard time piercing through this sand.


    On the other hand, the tribesmen were used to this sand and even to dangerous sandstorms. Although their senses were also affected, they knew how to deal with it by compensating with other senses. Besides, they were also used to navigating the currents within the sandstorms. Their skins were proof that they had suffered because of this burning sand. As much as it was causing them pain, it was also a great ally in many situations, like this one.


    As Cao Yun''s attack was ending, the tribesmen rushed toward the soldiers. In their very first approach, many screams echoed as mercenaries were killed mercilessly. From above, Cao Yun could see some of those mercenaries leave the battlefield using this cloud of sand. After all, they were simply here to get paid. If things went south, they had no real reason to risk their lives, especially if they could get away without anyone realizing their departure. Apart from Cao Yun, almost no one seemed to care about them as they were so engrossed in the battle for their survival.


    With his martial arts, Cao Yun was still controlling the winds to make sure that the sandstorm would not stop. From this moment, the tribesmen had the advantage. But they had to press forward as fast as possible. Those disciplined soldiers wouldn''t stay confused for too long. Soon, they would obviously adapt to the situation and things would change. Thus, General Sha Lang Hu used everything he had to take them down. They were their priority target!


    Within the cloud of sand, the tribesmen unleashed their martial arts. Scythes made of sand, stings from scorpions, magical gourds and many more phenomenons appeared all over the place but were more or less hidden by the sand. Horses neighed as the soldiers were launching some form of counter-offensive. Those horses that were Qi Manifestation tried to trample their enemies, but it paradoxically increased the density of the cloud of sand. With his spiritual senses, Cao Yun might have been able to see everything clear. But he was more focused on the remaining ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation for now.


    Indeed, Xin Zhe was still trapped in the last layer of the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin''. And she wasn''t alone. There were still some soldiers with her. Once again, Cao Yun wanted to keep them in there as long as he could. Since the fight seemed to be favorable to the Sand Wolves Tribe, Cao Yun sent all of his spiritual senses within the array formation. Then, he finally decided to attack Xin Zhe in her domain. Because she had exerted herself a lot and that he had nothing else to manage in this array formation, Cao Yun invaded her sea of consciousness.


    Xin Zhe was still using her ''White Bone, Gold Blood'' technique to try to pierce through the last golden membrane when she felt a tremendous pain in her head. Because of concentration, she had even failed to sense anything at all until it was too late. But it was now clear to her that someone was extending their soul in order to enter into her mind. To be fair, Cao Yun had used ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to conceal his own spiritual senses until very moment of the attack. It would have been difficult for Xin Zhe who was a bit injured, tired and upset to notice it at all.


    At first, she was about to resist, but she decided against it. If someone wanted to fight her on her turf, she was ready for it. Thus, she completely let herself be invaded while preparing herself for a fight in her very sea of consciousness. As she had trained along City Lord Sihe, she was used to those fights. ''Muddying the Sea, Bloodying the Mind'' was a training method they had used often together. It simply consisting in a mock battle using seals within their seas of consciousness. While Cao Yun invaded hers, she could also attack his by damaging his very soul.


    In front of her own soldiers, she sat cross-legged in the air. It was a very strange sight as her torso didn''t move at all while her legs simply crossed as though there was an invisible ground under her hips. The soldiers knew exactly what was going on as some of them had already seen her fight a soul battle. Since she was out, they began to increase their efforts to get out of this golden membrane. After all, if the one responsible for the array formation was fighting Xin Zhe, the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' might get weaker.


    -


    In Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness, Cao Yun found almost no sea. As his Flying Poison appeared in her mind, Xin Zhe had remodeled it. What he found all around him was a vast ocean of bones hiding all the water. The sky above his head had turned into one giant black cloud crisscrossed with white flashes. As soon as he saw them, he realized what they were. Those white flashes were Death Energy. Xin Zhe had been playing around with white energy.


    Indeed, because her technique relied on manipulating bones, Xin Zhe had ended up developing an affinity with Death Energy. Obviously, it wasn''t as good as Cao Yun thanks to his ''Death Verses''. But her technique wasn''t heavy on the use of Death Energy. In fact, the main reason why it focused on bones was because of the marrow within. After all, marrow and blood were two magical substances for demons. One of the main point of ''White Bone, Gold Blood'' was to literally suck the marrow from bones in order to integrate it with one''s body.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Before Cao Yun could fully analyze this strange and deathly sea of consciousness, a voice echoed.


    "You dare invade my soul! Is it courage or stupidity? My name is Xin Zhe, direct assistant of City Lord Sihe. Let me guess... You are this Tie Po I''ve heard about, or rather, Mo Yun."


    "That you know about me isn''t surprising at all. To be honest, I had hoped to keep my identity secret for a while. But I knew that your master would learn of it sooner or later. Unfortunately, you''re not the one who will tell him anything."


    "Oh?! You are so confident. Stupidity it is then. You''ve entered my world, and you won''t leave it unscathed."


    What Xin Zhe failed to realize was that Cao Yun was much more comfortable with a soul battle. After all, his mind cultivation had allowed him to develop his soul faster than his blood or even Qi cultivation. In a real fight, he would have had a clear disadvantage. Besides, he didn''t want to expose himself for now.


    "Is that what you think? You do realize that I bested your own master several times. How do you think I got away from him?"


    "You''re lying! If you had anything to do with City Lord Sihe, I would have been made aware of it!"


    "Do you really think so? This bastard used me as long as it was convenient for him. But he always kept me imprisoned, squeezing everything he could out of me, using my knowledge of seals and alchemy to improve his own business and build his influence. There wouldn''t be any Slavery Brand without me."


    Although Cao Yun was spewing utter nonsense, he could tell that it was having some kind of effect on her. That was until he mentioned the Slavery Brand.


    "You''ve revealed your hand, liar. City Lord Sihe and I developed the Slavery Brand together."


    "Of course, you did. But where do you think his great understanding of seals came from?"


    In order to salvage his lie, the Flying Poison made several strange signs with his hands. In the air in front of him, a very complex rune appeared. there was no doubt in Xin Zhe''s mind that it looked exactly like a seal used by her master. Of course, it was literally a rune Cao Yun had copied from him by studying both the Slavery Brand and the engravings within Xixue''s bones.


    "Then, it means that that girl is still alive. Our plan against that Gui failed then..."


    For a few breaths, there was absolute silence in Xin Zhe''s mind. Then, she realized why Cao Yun was engaging with her instead of attacking right away.


    "You''re simply stalling for those ruffians to kill my soldiers!"


    "And you''ve just noticed now?! You''re not the brightest, are you?"


    In a battle of soul and mind, one''s ability to control their emotions was paramount. So trying to piss her off was a good strategy. As much as Xin Zhe knew it, she had a hard time suppressing her anger. The tone in Cao Yun''s voice was irritating beyond comprehension. But she wasn''t an amateur either. Despite her physical and mental fatigue, she kept her emotions in check. And she used them in order to unleash her Turbid Demons.


    While Cao Yun simply had the Flying Poison in her sea of consciousness, she had also the Unclean Evil. Even if it was not completely cultivated, it was still present there.


    Breaking apart the sea of bones, a large figure really similar to Cao Yun''s Flying Poison appeared. The main difference was that it had golden chains around him, still linking him to the center of Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness. At any moment, she could let it free, but she wasn''t sure she could rein it in afterward. For now, she decided not to completely unleash it. However, she had pushed his wrath to the limit in order to tear apart Cao Yun''s soul.


    Unlike Cao Yun''s Flying Poison, hers had two large wings and his bones were absolutely white with several runes in strategic locations. Clearly, this was a way for her to control it. Most likely, she had used her knowledge of seals to improve her chances of breaking through. Undoubtedly, City Lord Sihe had done the same thing as well.


    Before the Turbid Demon could attack Cao Yun, the ocean of bones acted. Several spear like bones flew toward Cao Yun. He evaded them all, just for white thunder to fall on him. Cao Yun was now flying all over the place evading attacks from above and below at the same time. That was when the Flying Poison attacked him. He grabbed a few bones and slashed toward Cao Yun. The fight was extremely intense in the air.


    Cao Yun evaded some spears from below just when the leashed Turbid Demon slashed at his neck. One of his tails grabbed the spear like bone from below and used it to block the attack. As soon as Cao Yun touched this white bone, he felt a searing sensation in his very soul, but he didn''t let go. The bone and the Turbid Demon''s makeshift weapon collided and literally exploded into fine powder. Immediately, white thunder fell. Cao Yun evaded it at the very last moment. He could feel some Death Energy within, but there was also something else. It was still connected to Xin Zhe''s soul in some manner, it wasn''t just wild Death Energy.


    In fact, this white electricity reminded Cao Yun of ''Death Verses''''s third verse, ''Living Death''. It was a way for someone to turn their own Po into Death Energy. Like that, they would always have a source of Death Energy at the ready. Of course, Xin Zhe had not achieved such a thing. But she had somehow combined external Death Energy, she had probably absorbed from some bones, and her own Po. And there was no apparent clash between those two forces. This was interesting. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no time to admire her technique.


    Right now, he was fighting with everything he had. Well, almost everything...


    From his palms, the Flying Poison revealed two large and complex characters. As soon as she saw them, Xin Zhe understood what they were. They were both the Unclean Evil and the Stinking Lungs. That man was trying to cultivate two Turbid Demons at the same time?! She was barely managing to cultivate her own Unclean Evil while keeping her Flying Poison in check. Now that she thought about it, Cao Yun''s Flying Poison didn''t seem to be chained down in any way. And yet, it was obeying Cao Yun''s every command. Without a conscious mind to guide it, the Flying Poison couldn''t fight like he was right now.


    As Cao Yun was intrigued by her technique, Xin Zhe was intrigued by his mind cultivation. He had to have a special technique to cultivate his Turbid Demons. If she could get it, she might be able to ascend all the way. Maybe she might even be able to become a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon. With her current progress, she wasn''t sure she could cultivate more than four, maybe five, Turbid Demons. Obviously, this made her jealous. After breaking his soul apart, she would try to sift through it to find all his secrets.


    For the time being, they both focused on the battle. After Cao Yun had revealed his palms, the two characters appeared in the black sky. The white energy floating around struck them and they reacted violently.

 Chapter 556: Chaos within and without

    Within Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness, the fight was raging. From the outside, it was completely different though. While she was still sitting cross-legged in the air, Xin Zhe was perfectly immobile. On the other hand, her soldiers were actively using the white bones from her spatial ring as well as her disks. Those were weapons much superior to theirs. Besides, they still retained some of her Qi and blood. With them, they were targeting the exact target Xin Zhe had attacked before entering her sea of consciousness. Although they weren''t as powerful as she was, they were about to break down the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation. It was only a matter of minutes now.


    In the air, Cao Yun was sitting on the back of Hongyu. She was alert in order to keep him safe. After all, there was a large battle on the ground. Everyone was much too busy to spare any attention toward Cao Yun. In fact, only Xixue cared about him. Indeed, she was in the mix despite being rather weak. To be fair, the Sand Wolves Tribe had been forced to mobilize absolutely everyone who could fight in order to have a chance. Even with everything on their side, they barely had the advantage.


    Unfortunately, the sandstorm caused by Cao Yun was calming down. Once it mostly dissipated, it showed utter chaos. Some demons had turned into monsters with pure red skin and golden lines over their bloodied skin. Qi Manifestations were also everywhere. A man with a morning star was wielding it around. With each move, hymns echoed throughout the battlefield as drops of fuming blood spattered everyone around. Those drops were corrosive and could sink into one''s flesh.


    The sand had literally turned red from all the blood spilled. Blood was extremely important in a fight between demons. There were many customs around blood throughout the Desolate Sepulcher and also in any kingdom where demons lived anyway. Some customs seemed to clash with each other as different traditions and belief systems were coexisting. However, during a fight, spilling the enemy''s blood was probably a universal practice that shaped the weapons of the demons. After all, blood was equivalent to Qi for humans. While humans could replenish their Qi easily from the environment, demons were forced to store it in their blood, instinctively. With less blood, they could wield less Qi. It was rather simple. Besides, stealing the blood of the enemy was also often seen as absorbing their strength.


    In some tribes, it was customary to drink some of the blood of the battle. But even among demons, cannibalism wasn''t considered as a good thing. In fact, it was a forbidden taboo. Drinking blood was almost always a practice in which a few drops of blood were put in wine and it was really wine that was drunk. However, there were techniques to steal the blood essence of demons and it wasn''t considered as cannibalism because the goal wasn''t to absorb the blood or the flesh, but the essence of the other demon. Once again, different tribes could have different views on all of those. Unlike humans, demons were much more diverse. After all the humans had developed their culture under the perpetual threat of slavery and annihilation so they were much more cohesive. And this was their strength as the demons had a hard time agreeing on most subjects. Even the Desolate Sepulcher was much more cohesive than the main land.


    On the battlefield, General Sha Lang Hu was using large claws that were also as long as his forearms and could slice a mere mortal in half quite easily. As he was wielding his weapons, the manifestation of a massive and terrifying black bear was slaughtering many mercenaries.


    Thankfully, many slaves had joined the Sand Wolves Tribe in the battle. The tribe had prepared enough weapons for all of them. And they were happy to get their revenge on the soldiers. At the same time, some other slaves were still under the threat of the Slavery Brand. But as it turned out, those who were in control of those seals were all under the last layer of the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation including Xin Zhe of course. Still, it was a problem. If those soldiers were to die, the slaves under their command would have their Slavery Brands activated and they would die in the worst torments they could imagine. However, some decided that it was worth it.


    In fact, many of the slaves still inflicted with the Slavery Brand decided to disobey their direct orders. As long as their masters were trapped and isolated from them, their Slavery Brands didn''t seem to be affecting them at all. But they knew it would change as soon as the array formation fell apart. Unfortunately, Cao Yun was too busy with something else to do anything about them. Xixue was looking at him in the sky, worried. In this battle, she was mainly taking care of the resources, be it the weapons or the pills. Indeed, many pills had been refined to heal and even strengthen the Sand Wolves Tribe.


    While the battle was pure chaos, the same could have been said about the fight within Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness.


    Cao Yun''s Flying Poison had carved the Unclean Evil and the Stinking Lungs characters up in the sky. As soon as the Death Energy connected with them, they began to siphon it. Loud explosions echoed in the sky as the two characters became like two black holes sucking in all of the Death Energy getting close to them. Cao Yun had imbued them with his knowledge of ''Death Reeling''. So Death Energy was just like Qi. But because this Death Energy was also mixed with Xin Zhe''s essence and intent, the characters themselves were starting to crumble. As they were literally falling apart, the absorbed Death Energy was immediately used to restore them. Thus they were in a perpetual state of death and rebirth. And this was driving the associated Turbid Demons mad.


    Xin Zhe was faring too well either. Sensing that Cao Yun was stronger than her in the arts of the mind and soul, she was forced to admit that she was in a tight spot. Ironically, if she had fought him in the physical realm, Cao Yun would have been almost powerless against her. But she had been under the impression that he was stronger physically and weaker spiritually. In other words, she had been overconfident about her own mind cultivation. If she had known all this, she would have never allowed Cao Yun''s soul to enter her sea of consciousness. Considering her strength, she could clearly have been able to block him beforehand.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    As she was starting to panic, Xin Zhe completely let go of the chains reining in her Flying Poison. Now free, he screamed as loudly as he could. Many more pikes appeared all over his bloody and green haired body. He launched himself toward Cao Yun. Now, he didn''t care about anything else than to kill the intruder. After that, he would probably turn his rage either against Xin Zhe or even against himself, it was common.


    Because it went straight for Cao Yun, the Flying Poison literally broke apart most of the bones emerging from Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness. With his tails he took some of the fragments to hurl them toward his target. At the same time, he was creating weapons with the sturdiest bones. Reacting swiftly, Cao Yun flew as close to the hidden ocean as possible. That way, the Flying Poison had more bones to go through and it was slowing him down. Because he was pure rage, the Flying Poison was not thinking at all. Otherwise, he would have realized that they were not limited to the laws of the physical world. He could have gone much faster. In fact, he would probably have been able to directly appear in front of Cao Yun. After all, it was Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness so her soul was ruling this place. She could do things Cao Yun couldn''t.


    Thankfully, the Flying Poison had gained in raw strength but had lost any strategic mind he might have had. However, he was a real threat as he could inflict true damage to Cao Yun''s soul. As much as he could easily repair his flesh, Cao Yun wasn''t too sure about his soul. Moreover, injuring his Flying Poison would make the Unclean Evil and the Stinking Lungs too powerful in comparison. So it would be dangerous for his very mind and soul.


    Hidden behind some of the bones in Xin Zhe''s ocean, Cao Yun''s Flying Poison literally put his hand through his abdomen. It was as if he was trying to rip out his own heart. But what he got out of it was a ball of black flames, the Black Heart Flame. Immediately, he crashed it into the bones surrounding him. The bones were burned to nothingness in mere instants. The Black Heart Flame was growing as it was devouring more of those bones.


    Finally, Xin Zhe''s Flying Poison had found Cao Yun. He flew straight toward his target. But at that moment, he found himself in an ocean of pitch-black flames. In an instant, he stopped moving and yelled in pain. Forgetting about his enemy, the Flying Poison tried to escape in the air. At that moment, Cao Yun used his tails to grab him and throw him down below. The Flying Poison went through the ocean of flames once more and collided with some of the bones still hidden beneath the true infinite ocean of Xin Zhe. Under the shock, those bones shattered and the Flying Poison found himself in the water. However, it didn''t do anything against the Black Heart Flame. It was still devouring the Flying Poison.


    Taken over by pure madness, the Flying Poison only cared about soaring high in the sky. If he had been able to think clearly, he would have simply swum away to emerge farther. But he had lost all reason and the pain wasn''t helping with that.


    Sensing the critical situation, Xin Zhe tried to intervene. The bones that were forming a kind of barrier over her ocean sunk down at the bottom of the infinite water. Seeing this change, even the irrational Flying Poison was not stupid enough not to seize this opportunity. He swam away from Cao Yun and then flew high in the sky. As he was doing so, Cao Yun manifested a golden spear in his hands. It was literally formed from some of his Spear Aura. In reality, Cao Yun had almost reached the realm of the Spear Intent. He really just needed a small push in the right direction to complete it. Even now, as he was manifesting this golden spear, the Insight Writings in his own sea of consciousness were soaring in the sky and forming hymns by dancing with each other. Those hymns were also echoing in his mind at the same time.


    Within those Insight Writings, there were also fragments of what he had been able to extract from the Demon King''s essence. In those Insight Writing, there were few pointers related to the Dao of Death, but also even the Dao of Space. Of course, Cao Yun couldn''t understand them at all and even if he had been able to, they were not that great anyway. However, they were there without a doubt, thus this improved Cao Yun''s understanding of ''Death Verses'' marginally. As a consequence, even his Black Heart Flame was improved a little.


    Cao Yun threw this golden spear toward the Flying Poison. Without any hesitation, Xin Zhe took a swift decision. Her deformed Unclean Evil suddenly appeared on the trajectory of the golden spear and was impaled in her Flying Poison''s stead. She had preferred risking a Turbid Demon that wasn''t formed rather than her fully formed Flying Poison. But the pain to her soul was immense. In fact, at that moment, she completely lost control of the Flying Poison.


    Now that he had done enough damage, Cao Yun focused on the two characters in the sky. From those black holes, four large columns of white lightning emerged. They struck Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness in the four cardinal directions. Just after that, Cao Yun''s Flying Poison escaped from her chaotic sea of consciousness. Understanding what he had done, Xin Zhe tried to keep him trapped within her.


    Because she couldn''t rely on her Flying Poison, Xin Zhe resorted to her seals. That was her greatest strength after all. As he was flying away, Cao Yun was stopped by a very complex seal that appeared before him. It was a form of character with thousands of strokes. Merely analyzing it would take too long, but Cao Yun could tell that it was difficult to go through it without injuring his soul. Once again, he used his two black holes in the sky. Xin Zhe was also trying to stop those, but she was unable to do a thing as her focus was split on too many problems at the same time.


    From the black holes, white lightning struck the complex character. Right after that, Flying Poison performed several signs and six seals appeared around him. He tried to fly through the complex seal. His own seals acted as shields. They all crumbled and exploded but Xin Zhe''s seal had been weakened enough for Cao Yun''s Flying Poison to go through it.


    Finally, he reached one of the four columns of white lightning. As soon as the Flying Poison was on the other side of that column, he struck it with a palm. All four columns vibrated with the same harmony and a loud sound echoed throughout Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness. She had realized what Cao Yun was trying to do but it was too late. He had formed a seal to trap her within her own sea of consciousness. As soon as he had sent those two characters in the sky, this had been his goal. The Flying Poison was just a distraction to cause more chaos. Unfortunately, he had succeeded as Xin Zhe had lost all control over her own Flying Poison.


    Soon, her soul would be endangered. Worse than that, even if she broke the seals trapping her, her Flying Poison could very well take over her body. But before it could do so, her physical body would be powerless to defend itself. Thus, she could very well die while still trapped in her own head...

 Chapter 557: Battlefield submerged in blood

    Among Xin Zhe''s army, there remained around thirty soldiers still alive while only a hundred mercenaries had been killed or injured so heavily that they couldn''t fight anymore. The number of mercenaries who had fled the fight was very low as well. As a matter of fact, there were almost as many freed slaves as there were mercenaries left. Combined with the Sand Wolves Tribe, the two forces were well balanced. Thanks to their knowledge of the Desolate Dune Desert though, the tribesmen had a small advantage.


    Unfortunately, it was about to change as the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation was being attacked from within by the last soldiers trapped alongside Xin Zhe. Now that he had destabilized Xin Zhe''s soul, Cao Yun had to use this opportunity to strike her down. For that, he would need to unravel the array formation. But beforehand, he had to take care of the last slaves. Their Slavery Brands were connected to those soldiers. After being in Xin Zhe''s sea of consciousness, he knew for a fact that she had nothing to do with those seals. Most likely, she had delegated the management of those slaves to her own soldiers.


    If those soldiers were to get killed, the slaves would suffer untold torments until they too died. This was a great way to force them to fight to their death for their commanders. Unfortunately, it was impossible for Cao Yun to get rid of every seal in the slaves. But by altering or even stealing the seals within those soldiers, he could change things. He had not thought about that before. Furthermore, he had been convinced that Xin Zhe would be the one with those master seals. In that case, getting to them would have been extremely difficult and Cao Yun wanted to get things done fast.


    Now that he was certain of the situation, he sent his spiritual senses and thus his very soul into the heads of the last soldiers trapped in his array formation. Immediately, he was faced with some defenses, probably set up by Xin Zhe and City Lord Sihe. Breaking down those defenses was a bit complicated but he had amassed a lot of experience to this day. Thus, he was able to get in their seas of consciousness. Unlike Xin Zhe, they mobilized all their will to try and prevent such an entry. But they were not Accomplished Demons and had almost no control over their soul. In the end, Cao Yun was able to steal the seals.


    Even for him, breaking them apart while in those soldiers'' seas of consciousness was too difficult. Moreover, his soul was exhausted. Against Xin Zhe, he had gone all out and he was starting to feel the aftershock. Just taking the seals away from those soldiers was much easier than destroying them. Furthermore, Cao Yun had thought about leaving his own seals behind but he had strained himself too much for that. He was too weak at the moment to do such a thing. All things considered, he had been right to only attack Xin Zhe at the last moment. Even with all her fatigue, she had been a problem.


    Now that the soldiers had lost those seals, Cao Yun sent a telepathic message to General Sha Lang Hu to warn him. Indeed, he was about to break apart the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation. Controlling it would allow him to surprise the soldiers within. Besides, the array formation was about to be destroyed anyway. And he obviously told him that the slaves were now all free. Hearing this, General Sha Lang Hu did not hesitate at all. At the top of his lungs, he shouted for everyone to hear him.


    "Brothers, all the master seals have been purged! You''re all free! Join us!"


    He had filled his voice with the greatest determination. Although he had no understanding of any mental attack, it was close to being one. In fact, it was an application of Order in Chaos from the Six Stratagems. Once again, General Sha Lang Hu had little to no understanding of battle formations in an academic sense. However, he was so used to battles, mostly against demonic beasts, that he had gained a profound, instinctive, knowledge of battle formations. Thanks to that, his voice imbued with the absolute determination he had was enough to convince everyone on the battlefield that he was right.


    After his shout, the slaves were all galvanized and joined the fight wholeheartedly. On the other hand, the army was destabilized. Besides, Xin Zhe was still absent so morale was low. At that moment, more and more mercenaries were trying to escape. Knowing that it was very good for them, the tribesmen always made sure to let them leave the battlefield. In fact, they wanted as many of them as possible to leave since it would make their fight easier.


    The addition of the slaves to their fight could have been a problem paradoxically. But General Sha Lang Hu was able to maintain cohesion within his forces. The former slaves were inserted into their battle plans without too many problems. After all, they had prepared for that as it was one of the main points of their strategy, turning the enemies'' forces against them.


    At last, the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation broke apart. The soldiers within were indeed surprised as they had seen no sign that it would happen so soon. Obviously, the array formation had not been destroyed from within, but from without, by Cao Yun himself. When it broke apart, General Sha Lang Hu and his forces were ready. Immediately, they cut off this fresh group of soldiers from the rest of the remaining soldiers. They didn''t want the two groups to gather and unleash even stronger battle formations. Divide and conquer was a very sound strategy when dealing with battle formations. Moreover, without Xin Zhe''s spiritual senses to send telepathic orders on the battlefield, it would be more difficult for them to coordinate their efforts.


    Although they were surprised, the soldiers didn''t go into chaos. Unlike the mercenaries, they had been trained to act together. As such, they were able to adapt and react to new situations on the battlefield. In fact, most mercenaries were really just hunters or martial artists who were selling their services. Soldiers were trained for actual wars, and could sometimes be used for other activities such as hunting, or capturing slaves as was the case right now. But at their core, they were trained to thrive on a battlefield.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Without any delay, the two isolated groups of soldiers adopted a new battle formation. Archers quickly took out their bows and fired toward strategic positions. Many Qi Manifestations appeared all over the place while all the demons were pushing their blood cultivation to the limit. Everyone could tell that this was the last moments of the battle. Until this point, they had all tried to save some strength for this very moment. On one side, the tribesmen didn''t want to be completely spent when the last reinforcements would enter the fray. On the other hand, Xin Zhe''s forces were waiting to be reunited to launch a massive counter-attack.


    General Sha Lang Hu was also forced to react as he could see the flow of the battle going in the wrong direction. Even though they had been isolated, the soldiers were able to maintain both discipline and coordination. Most likely, they had other ways of communicating with each other. In fact, the arrows themselves were not just meant to kill, although they did kill a few. They were also serving as ways to share information. Without spiritual senses, there were many options to coordinate armies, such as flags, horns, or even arrows. Some arrows were hidden within the flights, and depending on the way they were shot, the direction in which they shot as well, they meant different things.


    While the army was trying to break through the tribesmen''s forces, Cao Yun decided to deal with Xin Zhe in a definitive manner. If he had been able to search her soul in order to extract her memories, he would have. Unfortunately, Dian Mo seemed to be utterly useless recently. Admittedly, Cao Yun was a bit harsh, but he was really starting to dislike Dian Mo. Before his injury, he had been really enjoying the spirit''s company as well as their discussions. But now, he was mainly putting doubts in his mind. Even then, Cao Yun was wondering whether it meant that Dian Mo had changed, or that he was really going down the wrong path. That being said, Cao Yun was tired of second-guessing himself all the time. What he needed was to act and to assume the consequences of said actions.


    Before he could do anything though, Cao Yun sensed something. All around Xin Zhe, the ground shook. Her spiritual senses erupted in every direction. Her skin was pale white as though she was dead. But there were golden and bloody lines and runes here and there on her exposed skin. A form of armor made out of bones appeared as an ethereal manifestation around her body. From her spatial ring, thousands of bony weapons emerged. It almost felt like Xin Zhe had just broken through. She was unleashing all of her strength at once. Up in the sky, Cao Yun could feel her fury.


    On the battlefield, it was a shock. Her energy gushed forth and a few tribesmen simply collapsed on the spot. Using this opportunity, the soldiers killed them and were almost about to join. That was when Chieftain Sha Chai Ren reacted!


    Suddenly, a massive killing intent descended upon the battlefield. It was even stronger than the killing intent from the two armies combined. Under their feet, the soldiers sensed that the bloodied sand was getting hotter and hotter. Even for them, the atmosphere were overwhelming. This aura of pure rage and blood thirst was pushing against the strength gushing out of Xin Zhe. It wasn''t able to push it back but it could contain it. As Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was using all of his cultivation, his daughter was worried about him. The old man had not fought until then in order to save his strength in case Xin Zhe decided to attack his men.


    Since Cao Yun was hiding his real cultivation, he had planned for this. He had explained it away saying that he would probably be too weak or too busy to deal with her while maintaining the array formation. Even now, he could simply explain why he was acting against her by saying the array formation had exhausted him.


    Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was coughing a lot of blood, even some bright and golden blood. The poor old man was literally dying just to prevent Xin Zhe''s rage to submerge the entire battleground. His daughter was at his side with a few others to protect him in case of danger. But she couldn''t do anything to protect him from his own exertion. Xixue was also away from the battlefield and could witness everything. Unlike others, she was focusing on Cao Yun, worried for him.


    Thankfully for Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, Xin Zhe had no intention of taking part in the war. Now that she had unleashed all of her strength, she looked up. Her eyes were two fiery beads. In an instant, she flew all the way up and found herself staring directly into Hongyu''s eyes. The flying demonic beast still only had five demonic cores. Although she was in the process of forming her sixth one, she only had the strength of a middle to late Golden Blood Child. In fact, she was probably a bit weaker than Cao Yun, and she definitely didn''t have his aptitude for battle. After all, demonic beasts couldn''t used martial arts. However, she was able to sustain Xin Zhe''s stare. She wasn''t afraid to die.


    While she was weaker than Xin Zhe by a margin, she was certain that she could fly faster than her. And she was also convinced that fighting alongside her brother Cao Yun would increase her chances. They might even triumph in the end. After all, they had always prevailed.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun was a bit more concerned. Considering what he had just done in her sea of consciousness, her Flying Poison should still be causing havoc in her mind and soul. Although he knew that demons had strong wills, he had not imagined that Xin Zhe''s will was so firm. The only explanation he had was that she had pushed her injured Unclean Evil to fight off the influence of the Flying Poison and recover. After that, she had probably broken apart his own seal to get out of her sea of consciousness. She was truly a dangerous opponent. But now, Cao Yun was forced to deal with her. Hopefully she was running on fumes...


    "Boy, I told you that helping those ruffians was a mistake! Run away!"


    Although he disagreed with the first part, Cao Yun was in perfect agreement with Dian Mo''s command. Without speaking, he gave the same command to Hongyu. Suddenly, she was surrounded by bright flames with a few tongues of black fire. Using until her evil core, Hongyu flew as fast as she could, away from the battlefield. Even if Cao Yun couldn''t escape, he could draw Xin Zhe away from the Sand Wolves Tribe. Not only would it save them, but it would also help him hide his true cultivation. After all, if he had to fight her, he might have a chance to win, but he would be forced to expose himself.


    On the battlefield, General Sha Lang Hu was greatly relieved. On the other hand, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren didn''t relent. Even now that she was gone, he was still using his killing intent. But instead of fighting Xin Zhe''s influence, it was assaulting the enemy soldiers. His daughter was trying to convince him to stop, but at the same time she didn''t want him to lose focus as a backlash could kill him in an instant. Finally, Xixue was probably the only one worried about Cao Yun. All the others were almost certain he would prevail because he was Tie Po. But she had not such blind faith in him.


    Weighing down her options, Xixue decided to abandon her post. She ran toward the direction of the flames she could still see in the sky.

 Chapter 558: Cao Yuns best spear move

    While flying on Hongyu''s back, Cao Yun was free to act. Behind him, Xin Zhe was extremely fast but still couldn''t catch up with Hongyu''s speed. After all, she was a demonic beast related to the True Fiery Fenghuang. Apart from a Blue Mane Falcon, she was most likely the fastest demonic beast. In addition, she could use her evil core to produce even more energy. Not only that, the flames she was leaving behind her were also rich in Evil Qi.


    Although she was beyond herself, Xin Zhe was still rational enough to see that those flames were not normal at all. As such, she was forced to alter her course so that she wouldn''t go near those. And she was absolutely right to do so. Not only would they affect her flesh, they might even entice the Flying Poison to go on a rampage again. She really didn''t need that at the moment. Even if she had controlled her rage and had almost broken through, she had done so by pushing her Unclean Evil too far too fast. After today, she would need decades to repair all the damage, if she could even do such a thing. Obviously, she was looking forward to drinking Cao Yun''s blood essence. In that moment, her most primal urge had taken over.


    All around Xin Zhe, there were thousands of bones rotating. Even at a distance, Cao Yun could feel the Death Energy still trapped within some of those bones. Thankfully, he had a better affinity with Death Energy than her. What was probably an advantage to her in most fights would become a problem. That being said, he couldn''t reveal it too soon. Moreover, just having a better affinity didn''t mean much if her strength was vastly superior to his. Hopefully, she had already spent most of it. Anyway, Cao Yun still wanted to increase his chances of success. For that, he knew exactly where he was leading her.


    All of a sudden, an skeleton arm appeared in front of Cao Yun. Completely vertical, the extended arm pointed a finger to the sky. Above that index finger, various currents of energy gathered. In an instant, there was a large ivory and golden disk with thirty-six blades spinning on top of the finger. With an abrupt movement, the arm sent that disk flying toward Cao Yun and Hongyu.


    ''Heavenly Spirits Ruin''!


    Hongyu instinctively increased the flames around her body. Within Cao Yun''s Drop of Wrath, the Rune of Fire shined brightly. From his very heart, the Black Heart Flame merged with Hongyu''s flames as well as his own Wei Qi. But even that kind of defense would not be able to protect them from the force coming for them. Indeed, although the disk was relatively far, Cao Yun could already feel the air pressure and hear the strident sound of its rotation. Besides, the disk itself was full of Death Energy and blood essence extracted from the preys Xin Zhe had killed. There was no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind that if he took this attack head-on, he would suffer a lot.


    On the other hand, escaping was impossible. Indeed, there was some form of pressure all around Cao Yun and Hongyu. By the time he would break through this pressure, the manifested weapon would have already sliced them in half. Thus, he had to deflect it as best as he could. Unfortunately, he was far from the spot he wanted to reach. Obviously, Cao Yun had prepared other array formations. But only one could help him against Xin Zhe. However, the woman wasn''t stupid despite her fury. If he had trapped her army in array formation once, he could do it again. This time, she wouldn''t be careless. And she would never allow him back in her mind. The mere fact that he was running away proved to her that he wasn''t a fighter. So she would use everything to kill him fast.


    It would have been a good thing to bring him back to City Lord Sihe, but her life was much more important. Besides, she could still try to capture his soul, or at least parts of it, after killing his body.


    What Cao Yun did shocked her though, and made her think.


    Behind Cao Yun and Hongyu, space broke as though it was made of glass. And on the other side of that broken mirror, there were seven stars, the Piercing Stars of the Azure Dragon. Among them, two had constellations around them. While the Horn Constellation was complete, the Neck Constellation seemed a bit dim with a few missing stars here and there. If Xin Zhe had been closer to the scene, she would have heard faint voices chanting strange hymns directly from Cao Yun''s Insight Writings.


    His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' in hand, Cao Yun also mobilized his Black Heart Flame around his weapon. At the same time, he used ''Dragon''s Heart'' to the limit to increase his overall strength by speeding up his blood. Said blood was condensed as much as possible while racing through his bloodstream. Within his bloodstream, there was a golden hue everywhere due to his Golden Blood that was so rich in vitality because of this condensation. At this moment, Cao Yun''s physical strength had clearly reached the level of Spirit Warrior or Accomplished Demon. Of course, he couldn''t keep it up for too long and he had only reached a strength equivalent to the first grade.


    Despite his efforts, Cao Yun could still feel the pressure of Xin Zhe''s ''Heavenly Spirits Ruin''. With his mind cultivation, he could analyze the situation as though time was almost stopped. And he knew for a fact that his current strength would not be enough at all. He still needed more. Thus, he began to recite the ''Death Verses'' in his mind to join his Insight Writings. There was a bit of the Dao of Death in his Insight Writings thanks, in part, to the blood essence he had absorbed from the Demon King. Combined with his understanding of ''Death Verses'', it could give a strange affinity to his attack that could help him against ''Heavenly Spirits Ruin''.


    Even then, he wasn''t done yet. Cao Yun also mobilized his whole mind cultivation to focus his spiritual senses on his attack and use his soul to strengthen it. Unfortunately, Cao Yun''s mental attacks couldn''t do anything against a technique already unleashed.


    After pouring everything he had, Cao Yun finally circulated the full form of ''Three Storms''. A terrible wind formed some kind of tornado around Cao Yun and Hongyu, sucking in the flames to become a firestorm. Hongyu instinctively poured her own strength into this maelstrom. When Cao Yun thought that the right moment had come, he unleashed absolutely everything at the oncoming attack. He didn''t pull any punches.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ''Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky''!


    Once again, he used the technique he had just discovered, a technique mixing his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' and ''Three Storms''. His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' had literally turned into a tongue of fire he was holding in his hands covered in blue dragon scales. Cao Yun''s eyes were also as blue as the two brightest stars shining behind him. When the attack was unleashed, his spear simply stabbed forward. Although it looked like a very normal stab, it was almost perfect with nearly no mistake and useless move at all. This was the quintessence of the spear Xin Zhe was witnessing.


    ''Complex Returns to the Void'' was a very simple and widely known principle of martial arts and most techniques in fact. Simplicity was the best technique possible. Learning the complex was necessary but the final goal for a martial artist was to go back to the root of their art and to extract the very essence of it in simple moves. Flashy moves were good, but they had too many ways to fail and they distracted from the essential. Instead of unleashing a very complex and intricate technique, a very simple motion going straight for the opponent''s heart was better.


    What shocked Xin Zhe though wasn''t Cao Yun''s technique, although she had to admit that it was great. She wasn''t even surprised by everything he had displayed. To be honest, she didn''t understand everything he had just displayed in front of her. It wasn''t even the fact that her target was clearly a human. Indeed, because Cao Yun had used everything he had, he had also exposed his cultivation as he couldn''t maintain ''Ashen Feather Seal'' at the same time as everything else. No, what completely broke Xin Zhe''s mind was the fact that Cao Yun was nowhere near the Accomplished Demon or Spirit Warrior realm.


    At that moment, she didn''t even question why a human had the cultivation of a demon. In front of her was a mere Golden Blood Child who shouldn''t even have any spiritual senses to begin with. And yet, he had bested her in her own sea of consciousness. Immediately, she realized that he had to have an extraordinary mind cultivation. If she could get her hands on this manual, she would be able to reach the far reaches of the Accomplished Demon realm. In fact, she even imagined herself as an Exalted Demon, the first since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. Ambition was burning within her eyes at the moment.


    Cao Yun had clearly poured everything he had in his technique and Xin Zhe wasn''t too impressed. Yes he was very powerful and dangerous, but his best wasn''t to her level, even considering her current state. The mind cultivation he had would be hers. But then, she realized that there was a problem with that plan. Indeed, his mind was incredibly powerful and it would be difficult to break it even to search his memories. Besides, demons weren''t too good with such intricate techniques. Although she was confident, she wasn''t an expert at all. And she knew that her usual seals wouldn''t be sufficient to force the truth out of him.


    Anyway, if her ''Heavenly Spirits Ruin'' could injure him enough, she would have a chance. And maybe she could also use the tribesmen''s torments to extract what she wanted out of him. After all, for some reason, he seemed to care. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have risked his life in the attack, especially not considering what he truly was. Had he been an Accomplished Demon, she could have understood the risks taken, barely. But since he was only a Mortal Warrior, a human, then there had to be something emotional in that irrational decision.


    Xin Zhe was absolutely right of course. But although Cao Yun had grown attached to the Sand Wolves Tribe by staying with them, he wasn''t overly emotional about them. In fact, the reason of his help was much more related to his goals but also to his vision of himself, and obviously his past. Xixue and her search for her sister had moved him. Unfortunately, Xixue was on her way, to deliver herself right in Xin Zhe''s bony claws.


    Finally, an Azure Dragon leapt from the broken space behind Cao Yun and Hongyu. As it crossed through the black and red flames, they turned into tiny wings all over its body. All around the Qi Manifestation, the winds were also forming a tornado of fire and death. Despite the distance between Cao Yun and the white and golden disk, space seemed to be altered. It was due to Cao Yun''s Spear Aura. When he stabbed forward, it was as though his spear had already struck the disk although it was still far away.


    With this shock, Xin Zhe realized that she had miscalculated a little. This boy''s strength was higher than she had thought. Besides, he had very strange things. For example, she sensed that the Death Energy she was controlling within the bones was getting weaker, as though it was tamed by Cao Yun''s mere presence. In fact, the white and golden disk started to lose a bit of its colors and her own bony weapons vibrated. But with a surge of blood, she calmed them all. However, she couldn''t give more strength to her attack as it had already been unleashed. She would still need some time before reaching Cao Yun. After all, she had spent a lot of vitality and strength in that attack.


    She hadn''t gone as far as Cao Yun. But Xin Zhe had clearly used her most powerful attack with almost all of her strength, only saving some in the perspective of a longer fight. That was also the reason why she was now confident she could beat Cao Yun. The boy had used absolutely everything and it was obvious. Even if he could deviate her attack, she would be in better shape than him and the fight wouldn''t be over at all. Even with pills, Cao Yun wouldn''t be able to bridge that gap.


    Obviously, Cao Yun knew it but he also didn''t have any choice.


    His spear was clashing against the spinning golden bone disk. The scream of the Azure Dragon was filling the air. Alongside this powerful scream, some strange words could be heard very faintly. As he was mobilizing everything he had, Cao Yun was forcing his Insight Writings to form longer and longer hymns. In fact, his sea of consciousness was now full of long verses floating around, emitting golden light all around them. The seven stars in the sky were also shining brightly over those hymns. In turn, those verses were sending back this light with a golden hue added to it. New words also appeared, those were the verses of ''Three Storms''. Quickly, they merged with the golden verses as though they were bridging them, getting them closer together.


    Before long, Cao Yun also had a dozen scriptures in his sea of consciousness. Then, he felt something change within him. Inside his Upper Dantian, the Chamber of Splendor got filled with heavenly hymns and golden lights. That chamber was related to art. Thus, it was also related to martial arts. Suddenly, Cao Yun had understood something new about the Way of the Spear.


    Although it was barely noticeable, he altered the move he had found almost perfect himself. He had been too arrogant to think so. Perfection was impossible to reach. And the closer one was, the more difficult it was to go forward.


    At that very moment, Cao Yun focused all of his Spear Aura at a single point on the tip of his spear. He had achieved Spear Intent!

 Chapter 559: Cao Yuns fall

    Cao Yun''s ''Tainted Heavenly Spear'' regained her original form as he was focusing every ounce of Spear Aura he had on the tip of the weapon. This was clearly Spear Intent. Indeed, the main difference between the two martial states was the ability to concentrate and control one''s Martial Aura. At this stage, Cao Yun''s Insight Writings were forming entire verses. After Spear Intent, the next stage would be Spear Heart when the Insight Writings would coalesce into a full-fledged scripture. But that was easier said than done of course. When someone''s understanding of an art was already so high, improving it was like climbing to Heavens. But any small improvement could have tremendous impact on one''s prowess.


    The Qi Manifestation of the Azure Dragon was however still extremely clear. It was colliding with the ''Heavenly Spirits Ruin'' sent by Xin Zhe. The two weapons were causing a terrible shrill to echo all over the place. Even where the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' array formation had been set up, the soldiers could hear a bit of this irritating noise despite their own battle.


    Obviously, this sound also helped Xixue find Cao Yun. Indeed, she was still going after him. Although she couldn''t do anything to help him during a fight, she strangely wanted to be there to support him. He had done a lot for her and she wanted to repay him in any way she could. Since she wasn''t nowhere as fast as Hongyu, it was taking her some time to get there. But thankfully, they had stopped moving. And hopefully, the fight wouldn''t be too fast. In fact, if Cao Yun were to kill Xin Zhe quickly, she would appreciate it. But she had a foreboding that this wasn''t going to happen like that. Otherwise, Cao Yun wouldn''t have had to lure her away from the battle. Somehow, she felt as though he was expecting to lose. And yet, he had still lured her away.


    In actuality, Cao Yun had intended to lure her into another array formation he had prepared. Although he sincerely wanted to help the Sand Wolves Tribe, he didn''t want to give his life for that. At first, he had truly helped them with ulterior motives for his own schemes. But he had grown attached to this tribe while he had stayed with them and he also cared for Xixue. Even if their interactions were mostly professional, he could empathize with her when it came to her missing sister. That being said, he was no saint or self-sacrificing hero. As long as his own sister was in danger, he would do everything he could to stay alive. Hell, he had even accepted to work with Boss Gui who was selling slaves. Deep down, he hoped that he wouldn''t have to discover to what extremes he was ready to go for his sister, but he could go far.


    At this moment, Cao Yun''s entire being was condensed at the tip of his spear. He was both at his most powerful and his weakest. Indeed, he had kept nothing to protect himself. Luckily for him, Xin Zhe did not attack at this very moment. She was simply transfixed by what she was seeing. That human had a blood cultivation similar to the demons. But more than that, his mind cultivation was extraordinary. As such, Xin Zhe was weighing her options. But one thing was certain, she didn''t want to kill him, she had to get this cultivation method. But she couldn''t let anyone else know about this method. Thankfully, Cao Yun was too weak to resist her. So long as she didn''t fall prey to his traps, there shouldn''t be any problem.


    ''Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky''!


    Cao Yun''s attack reached its pinnacle. Even Xin Zhe was surprised. A mere Golden Blood Child was able to contend with her most powerful attack. Of course, he was pushing himself to the limit and she had herself been wounded and exhausted. However, this was unheard of. Although a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child could exchange a few moves with an Accomplished Demon, and a small group of them could even fight off an early Accomplished Demon, Cao Yun was nowhere close to this stage yet. However, Xin Zhe could tell that he had several cultivation methods, he was cultivating both his Qi and his blood, while also working on his very mind and soul. She couldn''t wait to pry all those secrets out of him. Besides, she could also make him pay at the same time.


    While Xin Zhe was preparing her revenge and her torture as though Cao Yun was already in her grasp, his spear was slowly penetrating her ''Heavenly Spirits Ruin''. The golden and white bone disc began to get covered in small cracks. The Azure Dragon was screaming as much as Cao Yun was. The young man''s skin was almost red as he was exerting himself as much as he could. His condensed Golden Blood was flying in his bloodstream at an incredible speed while his Qi was almost being depleted. Cao Yun was literally using all the Water Qi and Fire Qi he had already gathered in his Dantian.


    Even if he survived this fight, it would take months for Cao Yun to gather as much Qi. Thankfully, replenishing one''s Qi was easier than cultivating. In a sense, cultivating was not only about gathering Qi in one''s Dantian, but also training said Dantian to take it. Thus, cultivating Fire Qi could take years, or even decades, while replenishing it, especially with array formations and pills, could only take weeks, or months in the worst cases. Unfortunately, Cao Yun was facing such a case.


    At last, his spear broke through. The disc ruptured. As the cracks crisscrossed its entire shape, the weapon broke apart. A loud explosion echoed throughout the place and countless fragments of bone got sent in every direction. Xin Zhe''s ''Heavenly Spirits Ruin'' had been utterly destroyed. Even she suffered a bit of a backlash as the technique was still linked to her since the Qi in her blood had manifested it. However, she didn''t mind at all. Indeed, Cao Yun had used absolutely everything he had. Just staying conscious was difficult for him. But worse than that, Hongyu had also poured most of her strength, if not all, in that attack.


    The flying demonic beast could barely stay in the sky. Trying to stay strong, Hongyu controlled her fall and landed on the burning sand of the Desolate Dune Desert. During said fall, Cao Yun was unable to move a single muscle. He was quickly separated from Hongyu as they plummeted to the ground. In fact, Cao Yun was so tired that he couldn''t even send his spear back in his spatial ring, neither could he grip it. Thus, the heavy spear stabbed into the ground and almost entirely sunk into the sand. Cao Yun also sank a bit in the sand and could feel it burning his flesh directly as his Wei Qi was gone.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    In his sea of consciousness, he could only hear Dian Mo frantically trying to tell him to escape. But they knew it was hopeless.


    "You stupid brat! You''ll get us both killed! I told you to abandon those ruffians! What are you going to do now?! I can''t die like that! Not after everything I''ve done! Not after everything I''ve sacrificed! Brat, come on!"


    Dian Mo''s words barely registered in Cao Yun''s mind. If they had, he would have been more upset than before. There was clearly something wrong with the Demon Palace. And it was getting worse. But now wasn''t the time to worry about that. Now wasn''t the time to do anything at all. There was nothing Cao Yun could do. He was going to die here in this desert, unable to save his sister.


    That was his only thought at the moment. He could hear the screams of his little sister as Emperor Weide was ripping her Soul Embryo from her body to feed his own. Then, he heard the maniacal laughter of said Emperor Weide as he ascended to the Sage Realm. Although he might never have enough time to become an Immortal, he would probably get strong enough to subjugate the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Emperor Weide would become a hero of mankind, just like Emperor Nuwa. But his fame would rest on the corpses of the Cao family and even the Shui family, and many more Cao Yun could not even count. He couldn''t let that happen! He couldn''t let his name disappear like that!


    No matter how much he was trying to do anything, Cao Yun was unable to move a single muscle. He could barely breathe in that moment. Only his will had prevented his Qi and blood from damaging his internal organs. But there were still some injuries here and there.


    Even in his condition, he was aware of his surroundings. Xin Zhe appeared above him. She was floating right above his broken body with a sinister smile on her face. In her confidence, she had even retracted most of her cultivation.


    "Human, you''ve given me a fright I have to confess. But in the end you were just bluffing... Do not worry, I will use your gifts way better than you ever could. Either you relinquish them willingly or I will have to take them from you. The process will be slow and painful. And not just for you... If you give me what I want, I will give the mercy of a quick death to those savages. But if you don''t, you will be able to enjoy every single instant of torment they go through because of your stubbornness. What say you? ... Oh, I''m stupid! You don''t even have the strength to talk. I''m not even sure you can think clearly either..."


    Despite her bravado, Xin Zhe was sincerely afraid of entering Cao Yun''s mind. Somehow, she could tell that there was something strange in his sea of consciousness. What she instinctively feared was the Drop of Wrath. But in Cao Yun''s current state, it wouldn''t protect him for long. Besides, Xin Zhe was an expert when it came to seal, she would be able to seal the Drop of Wrath while taking what she wanted. In fact, she might even be able to take the Drop of Wrath itself with enough time. All of his strength would be passed over to this woman. What a tragic ending...!


    As Xin Zhe was towering over Cao Yun''s body, Xixue finally arrived. She saw the scene of carnage. Hongyu was almost buried in the sand too with her blood soiling the desert. Cao Yun was completely powerless, all his aura gone. At that moment, Xixue was even able to guess what he had been hiding all this time. Cao Yun wasn''t an Accomplished Demon. To be honest, she had her doubts as she had known him for some time now. But seeing him like that, she was certain of it. Cao Yun was only a Golden Blood Child. However, something else shocked her. With his weakened state, he was unable to hide his true bloodline and his meridians. The demon Mo Yun was in fact the human Cao Yun. Xixue was unable to process it.


    Before her eyes, Cao Yun''s broken body rose in the air under Xin Zhe''s control. Witnessing it all, Xixue wanted to yell something but she was overtaken by shock and surprise. It was as though she was paralyzed. And it probably saved her life as Xin Zhe would have killed any witness in a heartbeat.


    Just as she was about to try and take away Cao Yun''s secrets, Xin Zhe stopped moving. Cao Yun''s body heavily fell back to the ground. From Xin Zhe''s mouth and nose blood flowed. then, her very eyes started to bleed. However, she stayed perfectly immobile. Suddenly, her blood coagulated and from her very body, blades of her own blood pierced through her flesh. In an instant, Xin Zhe had turned into a porcupine. Without any scream, Xin Zhe had barely enough time to register what had happened to her as her dead body got crushed by an immense pressure. The next instant, only a small ball of bright blood remained from what was a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon just a minute ago. Although Xin Zhe had spent around half of her strength and had relinquished all her defenses in front of Cao Yun, not just anyone could have killed her in such a manner. Clearly, her killer was at least a middle Accomplished Demon.


    Early Accomplished Demons were already rare in the Desolate Sepulcher, but middle Accomplished Demons were even scarcer. And there were only two known late Accomplished Demons, Lord Wanghuo and the High Mother of the Sisters of the Abyss.


    The already shocked Xixue was completely paralyzed at the moment. Now, there was no chance at all for Cao Yun, or for the Sand Wolves Tribe. They would all die or be enslaved. In fact, they could not even resist a middle Accomplished Demon so they wouldn''t even have a choice between the two. All the slaves Cao Yun had freed would be thrown back into this living Hell. However, what Xixue was waiting for did not happen.


    Cao Yun''s body fell back to the ground. Since he wasn''t too high, this fall wasn''t dangerous at all. But no one came to claim his life or his body. Whoever had killed Xin Zhe seemed to have simply left. In fact, Xixue wondered whether she had imagined that. Indeed, there was no trace of Xin Zhe at all. Maybe the gods had intervened. Maybe Cao Yun truly was the reincarnation of Tie Po. After all, he was a human who could also cultivate his blood like demons. Surely, there was some strange magic behind it. Chasing this superstitious nonsense from her mind, Xixue ran toward Cao Yun.


    What Xixue failed to notice was that a woman was floating above the scene. To be fair, even with Cao Yun''s senses, she would have been difficult to notice either. Indeed, she was using a technique similar to ''Ashen Feather Seal'' to conceal herself. But if Xixue had seen her face, she would have recognized her right away. She was Sister Lisha from the Sisters of the Abyss.


    In her right hand, she was holding the bead of blood that Xin Zhe had turned into. For some time, Sister Lisha kept observing to make sure that Cao Yun was alive. After that, she did everything she could to erase any trace of her presence at all. Despite her technique, she might have left some ounce of her bloodline in the air. When she was satisfied with the situation, she rose higher and higher to see the battleground. Then, she simply flew away without anyone ever knowing she had been there at all.

 Chapter 560: Monastery of Bliss and Repose

    After saving Cao Yun''s life and killing Xin Zhe, Sister Lisha didn''t stay any longer. In her eyes, it was obvious that the Sand Wolves Tribe was going to survive this battle. The tribes in general would grow a bit stronger and bolder after that. And Tie Po''s name would spread farther and farther. But this wasn''t the main thought in her mind. All of those were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. What she had discovered had to be told to the High Mother as soon as possible.


    Among the city-states of the Nalupu Kingdom, there was one who was the religious center of the Sisters of the Abyss order. It was relatively far from Duma City, but it wasn''t as far as City Lord Sihe''s city. Indeed, their religious center was in the outskirts of the Desolate Dune Desert and not in the more temperate areas of the Desolate Sepulcher. Even for Hongyu, it would have taken two to three months to get there. However, Sister Lisha was a middle Accomplished Demon and unlike most city dwellers, she knew quite a lot about the desert. She was able to avoid or scare away any demonic beast. As such, she was able to fly even faster. She even used some strangeness in space to speed up.


    In the end, it took her a little less than two months.


    When she reached the city, she immediately saw the tall trees reaching to the sky and the rich buildings all over the place. In the middle of the Desolate Dune Desert, there was a literal oasis. The city was not that large but it was still very impressive with extraordinary buildings. Besides, there was vegetation all over the place. It was a green garden in an ocean of sand. In the very center of this oasis was the monastery of the Sisters of the Abyss. It was a large residence with many interior and exterior gardens full of various colors and brimming with life. The entire oasis exuded a powerful vitality in fact. Most people simply called it the Oasis of Life, but it had another name that was almost impossible to translate, or even pronounce in any language. Apart from the Sisters, no one knew this language in fact, to the point that they never even taught this name to anyone outside of their order.


    Atop the front door of the monastery of the Sisters, a name written in strange script was engraved. Below this world no one could read, there was another one, the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Most of the residence was in shades of red and black with many golden and silver engravings. Thankfully, the green vegetation was altering this choice in colors. The gardens weren''t just green as there were many flowers as well. All those present in the residence were women. Some had long hair while others were shaved. And all of them wore red uniforms with various shapes and shades. However, they all had a symbol on them. It looked like three pillars at first glance. But, looking closer, those pillars were in fact each formed by three distinct segments with slightly different shapes and sizes.


    Before entering in the Oasis of Life, Sister Lisha used her spatial ring. Her casual clothes were replaced with a red robe that had this exact same symbol. It also had various pieces of clothes falling on her shoulders, acting like some kind of belt and altering her appearance. The design was very intricate and clearly showed a religious hierarchy of some kind among the Sisters of the Abyss.


    When her feet touched the ground, she let go of any concealment. She literally appeared in the midst of a crowd of people. They were clearly pilgrim since they were clothed in various manners. As soon as they saw her, they all bowed in her direction without daring to say anything at all. Disregarding them completely, Sister Lisha walked toward the Sisters guarding the gate.


    "Greetings, Sisters. I come back from an important assignment by the High Mother. My Blood is heavy with dirt, but I have to see the High Mother immediately. I won''t suffer any delay."


    "Understood, Senior Mother. We will convey your feelings without any delay. May the Blood flow in you."


    "Thank you. May the Blood flow in you, Sisters."


    Sister Lisha kept on walking in the street. As she was walking in the direction of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, many pilgrims bowed to her. Some even kowtowed and prostrated themselves to her. She wasn''t walking too fast but she seemed faster than anyone else who would run. Everyone moved away from her path so as to not impede her at all. In the Oasis of Life, the Nalupu Kingdom had no authority, the Sisters of the Abyss were all-powerful.


    According to an ancient story, a man had disrespected a Junior Sister once. As soon as he insulted her, his flesh was crushed by an authoritative aura and nothing remained from him but a small bead of blood. The Junior Sister then gathered this bead delicately in her hands as though she was collecting water in her palms. Finally, she disappeared behind the heavy doors of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Later, the family of the dead man made a long pilgrim throughout the Desolate Dune Desert barefoot and kowtowed for forty days and nights in front of the monastery. Apparently they were forgiven as they all survived.


    Of course, no one was absolutely sure of the truth behind this story but no one was in a hurry to discover it either. While in the Oasis of Life, if someone seemed to even have an ounce of animosity toward a Sister, his own family would chastise them. In fact, it wasn''t rare for some young people to be beaten by their own family members, just out of fear of the Sisters.


    As soon as she reached the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, the doors opened in front of Sister Lisha before she could even use her spiritual senses. In fact, she had not circulated her cultivation at all since her landing in front of the gates. Even now, she almost seemed like a mortal.


    Behind the gates, on her sides, were eight sisters with shaven heads kowtowing on her way. Just as she crossed the threshold, the eight sisters barely stood up, their shaven heads still lowered, and pushed the heavy gate closed. It was clearly an effort for them. Even if they were trying to hide their grimaces, Sister Lisha could imagine them without her spiritual senses. She remembered when she had been a lowly Junior Sister. So she didn''t look down on those women at all. The young blood was essential, as much as herself or the High Mother. It was unfortunate that more than half of them would not make it. But they would keep serving the Sisterhood even in death. There was no failure among the Sisters. Never!If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Red blessing on you, Junior Sisters."


    "This insignificant one thanks the Senior Mother. May the Blood flow in the Senior Mother and the High Mother."


    All eight of the young women spoke in unison in the silent hallway.


    Sister Lisha had not waited for their answer and was already walking toward the Motherly Hall. In the Sisters of the Abyss order, it was believed that all the women entering it were related by blood. There were in fact rituals to make it so. As such, their titles were either Sister or Mother with various seniority ranks. Outside of the Monastery though, all Sisters were indeed referred to as Sisters. In fact, no one knew of their actual ranks and they were keeping it that way. Apart from the High Mother, it was very difficult for an outsider to know the rank of a Sister.


    Even Sister Lisha was only known to be a Mother by Lord Wanghuo. The Nalupu Kingdom had no idea of her actual seniority. As such, they were forced to treat all the Sisters with the same respect no matter their functions.


    Before long, Sister Lisha reached the Motherly Hall. Once again, she didn''t have to push open the doors. They were opened in front of her. But this time, she bowed three times before entering. Once inside, all the women were wearing clothes similar to her. Indeed, there were five other Senior Mothers and twenty-eight Mothers. The room was separated by a central alley with small tables for the Mothers on both sides facing toward the south wall. Then, there was a small dais where the Senior Mother were sitting between this south wall and the Mothers. Unlike the Mothers, the Senior Mothers were facing each other on both sides on the alley that was turning into small stairs.


    Finally, just before the south wall, on a large dais, there sat the High Mother. Contrary to all the women in the room, her head was completely shaved. On her bald head, there were various marks looking like tattoos made out of her own blood. They were extremely complex and beautiful. In fact, they sometimes appeared to be alive. Although they didn''t move when directly looking at them, they gave the impression of being different after looking away for only an instant. This was a very strange feeling. Those tattoos were also falling on her forehead a little and all the way to her eyebrows and the very top of her nose, there were some smaller marks.


    Apart from those tattoos, the High Mother had a very young face, full of life and vigor. However, her eyes appeared extremely old and filled with secret knowledge and cunning thoughts. Even to Sister Lisha who was familiar with her, the High Mother was terrifying.


    Just after entering the room, the doors closed again. Sister Lisha bowed toward the Mothers, bowed lower toward the Senior Mothers and finally kowtowed toward the High Mother. Then she walked forward until the first dais. She once again bowed toward her Senior Mothers and kowtowed toward the High Mother. This time though, she waited and stayed on the ground.


    "This humble Sister''s Blood is heavy with dirt. May this humble Sister approach the Source of our Blood?"


    "Your Mother allows you to approach within the sanctity of our Blood."


    Sister Lisha stood up while keeping her waist bent forward as though she was bowing. Then, she took the final steps toward the highest dais, where the High Mother was sitting. Immediately, she stopped and kowtowed once more. After this final kowtow, she stayed on the ground, sitting, and began to speak.


    "High Mother, this one followed your orders. I have spied on the one called Mo Yun and discovered many things that are of interest. Some are too sensitive to share with anyone else, High Mother."


    "Leave!"


    As soon as she spoke, the High Mother''s voice spread throughout the room. Everyone felt as though she was talking directly to them, all except Sister Lisha. Very quickly, all the other women left the room after prostrating themselves before the High Mother. Finally, Sister Lisha was alone with the High Mother.


    "You may relax your decorum, Lisha. Tell me what you''ve discovered."


    Despite the familiar tone in the High Mother''s voice, Sister Lisha knew to stay as formal as possible. The High Mother was an old monster of the previous generation before her own seniors. In fact, even Sister Lisha wasn''t sure whether the High Mother was older than Lord Wanghuo, neither did they know is she was stronger or not. Thus, she didn''t stand, she only sat with her back almost straight, but not quite.


    "This Mo Yun is even more incredible than we had thought. There is clearly some ancient blood in his heart. I''ve been able to feel it during his fight against Xin Zhe. Unfortunately, I was forced to kill her as she was about to kill the boy. Indeed, Mo Yun is not an Accomplished Demon as I had surmised. But his cultivation is even a bit weaker than I had thought. He''s only a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child. However, this isn''t the concerning part. Mo Yun is human."


    "Human?!"


    "Yes, I am not too proficient in the ways of humans. But he should be a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. My guess is that the ancient blood in his heart allows him to cultivate our ''Crimson Inferno Road''. Unfortunately, I have been unable to determine whether this blood belonged to the Progenitor. That being said, there are clear traces of the Progenitor in him. Even the sand doesn''t affect his spiritual senses."


    "And about those spiritual senses? Did you find how he got them?"


    "He''s probably cultivating a very powerful mind cultivation. Unfortunately, his array formations are complex and strong. Even I didn''t see through them all. I am sure that his technique has something to do with the calligraphy I let him buy in that auction. But I can''t be sure of anything else..."


    "Why didn''t you bring him here directly?"


    The High Mother''s tone was always calm and seemed sweet. But Sister Lisha had already seen her in battle, covered in blood. She knew that this decorum was hiding something else. One time, she had been talking very courteously with a visitor. Suddenly, she had ripped his head apart from his body with her bare hands because she had felt disrespected. Although Sister Lisha wasn''t afraid of being killed, she was cautious.


    "High Mother, he was terribly injured. Besides, I have discovered a great way to make him come here of his own volition. Apparently, he got close to a girl named Xixue."


    "Xixue?"


    There was a bit of surprise in the High Mother''s voice.


    "The name means nothing to you, but..."


    "She''s from the late Lotus Tribe. Her younger sister Yinl¨¹ joined our ranks when we bought her at a slave auction. Is Mo Yun really attached to this Hanqu Xixue?"


    The one who was really surprised was Sister Lisha. Could it be that the High Mother knew absolutely everyone in the order, to the lowest Junior Sister?! She didn''t let her thoughts interrupt her words though.


    "Yes, High Mother. And he will grow even more attached as she was about to heal him when I left them."


    "Great. We''ll use this Yinl¨¹ then. Admirable work, Lisha. Give me all the details you can. Afterwards, we''ll deal with this Xin Zhe. She might feed our well."

 Chapter 561: Digging up the body

    While Sister Lisha was still on her way to the Oasis of Life and the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, the battle between City Lord Sihe''s forces and the Sand Wolves Tribe was ending. General Sha Lang Hu and his men had finally been able to kill almost all the soldiers. They had suffered heavy casualties as well, but the pills Cao Yun had refined beforehand had saved many lives. In the end, they could sincerely claim to be victorious.


    After the battle formations fell apart, even the soldiers who had lost their leader Xin Zhe began to get disorganized. Most of the mercenaries scattered in every direction while a few soldiers deserted. Unfortunately, the most casualties were among the slaves. Since some of the seals had not been removed, dozens of slaves were killed in atrocious torments because of their Curse of Blood and Sorrow. As much as they had been prepared for such an outcome, it was still painful to watch.


    Even as the fight was over, some of the slaves were being tortured to death by those seals. As a consequence, General Sha Lang Hu and Chieftain Sha Chai Ren ordered to put an end to their suffering. Those who had fought to free them were forced to kill them. Then, demons got busy gathering the bodies. It took some time as some bodies had been scattered all over the place. The entire area was now red with blood. However, the tribesmen did everything they could to salvage most of the blood from the corpses. What really mattered was obviously the blood essence.


    Demons also believed in reincarnation but they mainly believed that the blood essence of a demon contained a very important part of their soul. As such, it was important to keep it even after their death. Sometimes, that blood essence was even shared among the living relatives of the deceased. But there were many different beliefs and practices. No matter how different they were, they were all related to blood in some manner.


    Chieftain Sha Chai Ren tried to help but his daughter stopped him. Indeed, he could barely stand up, let alone walk around. During this battle, although he had not fought directly, he had exerted himself to a point from where he might not come back. In front of the others she tried to keep her composure, but those who knew her intimately could see the worry in Sha Chai Gan''s eyes. General Sha Chai Ren asked the freed slaves to help the injured as well as Chieftain Sha Chain Ren. They immediately agreed. After all, those demons had risked their lives to free them. Of course, they had also fought to protect themselves. But the end result was that they had been freed by them.


    As the tribesmen were dealing with the aftermath of the battle, Xixue was running toward Cao Yun and Hongyu. The fenghuang was still breathing and even began to move around, trying to get the burning sand off of her. On the other hand, Cao Yun was absolutely immobile, half buried in the burning sand. Besides, his clothes were torn apart and several wounds were visible in his flesh. Most likely, when the ''Heavenly Spirits Ruin'' had exploded, several fragments had pierced through his skin. In his exhaustion he had not even noticed it at all. But he had bled quite a lot. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s blood was now so heavy that it had stopped flowing on its own.


    Xixue was now fully aware that, not only was Cao Yun weaker than he had claimed, but he was also a human. Obviously, she had a hard time processing it. It wasn''t that she had something against humans. But she couldn''t imagine how a human could cultivate his blood like a demon. Indeed, even now that Cao Yun was unable to hide anything at all, she could feel that he had meridians and Golden Blood. Since she was only a mere Blood Child, she couldn''t feel much more, but this was enough to amaze her.


    Pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, Xixue began to dig him out of the sand. As she was trying to dig around his body, the sand burnt her hands. Despite the pain, she kept on digging until she was able to pull him out of the sand. With much effort, she succeeded and completely got him out of the sand. Even though he was unconscious and could not mobilize his cultivation at all, the sand had not burned his skin at all while Xixue had blisters on her poor hands. Once again, she was amazed and many thoughts went through her confused head.


    From her robe, she took out some pills Cao Yun had refined before the battle. He had given her some of his best pills, just in case. Without any hesitation, she decided to feed them to him. The first pill she took was an orange bead with yellow glints under the harsh sun. This was a Golden Blood Essence pill. From what she knew, it was supposed to help someone with their blood but she didn''t really know the details as Cao Yun had kept quiet. This pill was a 5-star Heaven pill that could promote blood essence and replenish blood in general. Even with his current abilities, Cao Yun had not been able to refine a Perfect pill, but its effects were still very good.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun was not even conscious enough to swallow the pill and control its medicinal essence. Xixue would probably need the help of someone else. However, she was worried to reveal that he was a human. Even she wasn''t sure how to react so she didn''t know how the others would react. That being said, she sincerely wanted to save his life. After everything he had done for her and for the tribes, she couldn''t let him die like that.


    As she was confused about what to do, Hongyu stood up and approached the two of them. Although extremely weak, Hongyu could move around and was fully conscious. She was also painfully aware of Cao Yun''s condition. Thus, she sat close to him and tried to use her own Wei Qi around him, as though to replace the Wei Qi had not. As her Qi entered his defenseless body, the pill was instinctively swallowed as if some vitality had gone back in his flesh. Even without consciously controlling the medicinal essence, the pill was still efficient. It had probably lost a quarter of its efficiency, but it was still enough to help Cao Yun''s condition.


    In a matter of seconds, Xixue could feel some improvement in his blood. His wounds even began to close themselves as his vitality was coming back. Invigorated by this first success, Xixue gave him a second pill. This time, this was a Gushing Argent Well pill, a 4-star Heaven pill. Instead of replenishing blood, this pill was meant to reinvigorate the entire body. In particular, it was very good with Qi. Just by swallowing this pill, a huge surge of Qi shot through Cao Yun''s meridians and vessels.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    His Lower and Middle Dantian avidly sucked in all the Qi they could out of this pill. They were so empty that they acted as small black holes. Any Qi getting near them was trapped. Although it was good for the Dantian, it was bad for Cao Yun''s body. Indeed, he was in dire need of Qi circulating through his meridians. Thankfully, his blood was also rich in Qi and it could palliate this problem in some way.


    Xixue didn''t give him more pills just yet. She knew that they necessarily contained toxins. Eating too much pills could have a negative impact. And when someone was almost dead, toxins could very quickly become a problem. Besides, she was able to see an improvement right away. As his body was still processing the two pills, it was getting stronger and stronger. Indeed, his marrow was already producing more blood to replace what he had lost and from said blood, his Qi was also being replenished. However, he was still deeply unconscious.


    Within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, the young human was also barely aware of what was going on. Thankfully, he had not only exhausted himself, but he had also pushed his Turbid Demons to the limit when he had used his spiritual senses. As such, even they were not strong enough to cause any problem. However, there was another spirit who could, Dian Mo.


    The Demon Palace was floating around in Cao Yun''s dim sea of consciousness. All around this palace, the golden verses formed by Cao Yun''s Insight Writings related to his way of the spear were shining a faint hue. In the sky, even the seven stars were weak, but the Neck Constellation was almost complete. The Five Agents were also barely producing any light. On the other hand, the Nine Soul Peaks were brimming with life. To be more precise, the vines and roots of the world tree that were all over those Nine Soul Peaks were exuding a great vitality. At the same time, the Drop of Wrath was the strongest source of light and strength in the entire sea of consciousness.


    Within Cao Yun''s heart, the Drop of Wrath was also extremely active. More and more blood and Qi were coming out of it as it had sucked in a large part of the medicinal essence from the two pills. In the past, the Drop of Wrath had healed Cao Yun from a deadly wound even though he had only been a Mortal. Now that he was a middle Mortal Warrior, it was even easier to heal Cao Yun. Even if Cao Yun could probably not heal a severed limb, he could heal from most injuries with his current vitality and blood cultivation. And Xixue was seeing it with her own eyes.


    Dian Mo was observing all of that from within while Xixue was seeing it from without. There was some hesitation in Dian Mo, as though some internal battle was fought. In the end, the Demon Palace returned at the center of the Nine Soul Peaks. It stayed quiet during Cao Yun''s recovery. But it didn''t stay idle by. A few seals appeared from the Demon Palace and went throughout Cao Yun''s body. They mixed with the seals he had formed himself to push his blood cultivation. Even for Dian Mo it seemed difficult to alter them so it took a lot of time.


    After a long double hour, the young man was still unconscious. That being said, Xixue felt some great changes. It was clear that his life was in no immediate danger. Something else surprised her. His meridians were beginning to fade. She could tell that they were still there but it was as though they were disappearing under her eyes. And in a sense, they were. Indeed, Dian Mo''s new seals were concealing them since Cao Yun could not do it himself with his ''Ashen Feather Seal''.


    In the end, Cao Yun''s condition was stable enough and his humanity was completely hidden. Moreover, no one would try to look for meridians or Dantian since they had no reason to suspect he was anything but a demon. Now that there was no danger of his identity being revealed, Xixue decided to call the rest of the tribe. They were probably already looking for her so it wouldn''t be difficult. Sure enough, it took her less than an incense stick to find some tribesmen.


    Accompanying Xixue, several tribesmen found Cao Yun''s body. When they tried to take him away though, Hongyu stood up and sent her own Wei Qi around. Xixue tried to calm her down, but Hongyu refused for anyone else to take Cao Yun''s body. Thus, they decided to simply put Cao Yun''s body on Hongyu''s back. This time, she let them do so, knowing their intention. A few of them also went to fetch Cao Yun''s ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. The spear was so heavy that it took a dozen men to pull it out of the sand. Once again, Hongyu was very defensive and took the spear in her beak. Unlike them, she could easily lift it. Since she was too weak to fly, she walked with her brother on her back.


    Although she seemed to be wary of the demons, she followed Xixue without any problem. In fact, Xixue could sense some affection coming from Hongyu''s eyes. The group walked back toward the army.


    When they arrived, they all saw Cao Yun''s broken body and were terrified at first. But then, they realized that his blood was relatively strong. There was no doubt that he was alive and already recovering. Another question went through their mind though. And General Sha Lang Hu was the first one to ask it to Xixue.


    "What about Xin Zhe?"


    "They fought. The battle was exceptional. And when it was over, there was nothing left of her."


    Xixue wasn''t lying at all. But she was hiding some more important details. Xin Zhe had not been killed by Cao Yun. But there was indeed nothing left of her. In fact, the only remaining thing of Xin Zhe was a small bead of blood in Sister Lisha''s hands.


    In the following days, the Sand Wolves Tribe would organize various reunions with other tribes in order to decide what to do with the slaves. A single tribe couldn''t take care of all of them. At the same time, they discussed about what to do against City Lord Sihe. Indeed, he wouldn''t stop there. During all those reunions, the name of Tie Po came back every single time. But for the time being, the Sand Wolves Tribe was taking care of him. To be honest, the other tribes were afraid. They didn''t want the Sand Wolves Tribe to keep him for themselves. But since he had helped their tribe, they weren''t too sure about his real feelings toward the Sand Wolves Tribe so they didn''t want to incur their wrath.


    For several months, Cao Yun would stay unconscious, slowly healing. At the same time, Sister Lisha was walking toward a well. It was under the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. There was in fact several wells in front of her. From all of them, the thick odor of blood and a strong vitality were filling the air. With extreme solemnity, Sister Lisha approached the well she had chosen. In her hands, she was holding the bead that had been Xin Zhe.


    Very carefully, Sister Lisha lowered the bead in the well. When she completely let go, the bead turned into a small river of blood that flowed into the well. A bright light shined in the room as the well was absorbing this new blood. In the center of the room, there was a large pool of bright red blood. Sister Lisha looked at it for some time before another Sister called her.

 Chapter 562: Months of absence

    For more than three months, Cao Yun stayed barely conscious. From time to time, he would wake up but it never lasted more than a few minutes at a time. However, Xixue saw it as improvement. During all this time, she cared for him along with many others from the Sand Wolves Tribe. Even Sha Chai Gan came in person to watch over him. Many of the slaves who had been freed during the battle also wanted to pay him a visit.


    Considering his current condition, the Sand Wolves Tribe were forced to put guards around his tent to keep others out. There were some tensions but thankfully, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was highly respected. Despite his age, he was the strongest cultivator among all the chieftains of all the tribes, not just in the Crimson Ashes Basin.


    Of course, they would have preferred to see him, but people coule accept to simply kowtow around his tent. Somehow, his condition and the mystery around him made him even more important in their eyes. He had truly risked his life and almost gave all his blood for them. In their eyes, he was a savior who would finally help them against the tyrant Lord Wanghuo. To be fair, the tribes were still officially doing business with the Nalupu Kingdom and they truly needed the Nalupu Kingdom to ensure their survival in the long run. But the previous years had been more and more tense. Some form of revolt would have already happened if Lord Wanghuo wasn''t a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. Against such an enemy, with a powerful army to assist him too, they would simply be crushed. Some thought that maybe it wouldn''t be so bad considering the fear they were living in. Many were starting to prefer death to slavery. Hopefully, Tie Po would end the conflict one way or another.


    In fact, some now believed that his survival was proof that he would succeed where the original Tie Po had failed. After all, he had been killed in his endeavor while Cao Yun had survived death. He might even be invincible... Some small tribes who really needed hope were starting to imagine unbelievable stories. Maybe he had the blood of Tie Po, or even the ancestral blood of the Weaver of Souls. Mystical claims kept getting bolder. And yet, they were believed by a few.


    These claims even caused a lot of frictions with the Sand Wolves Tribe as they were keeping others away from him. Furthermore, since he was too weak to be moved, they were also forced to stay where they were, in the Crimson Ashes Basin. Unfortunately, City Lord Sihe probably knew where their settlements were now. Well, he might not have learned all of their locations since the slaves had tried to keep them secret as much as they could and that Xin Zhe was dead. But some mercenaries, and even a few soldiers, had escaped.


    As soon as Cao Yun would be strong enough to leave, they would leave. But until then, they were forced to accept the help of all the tribes, even tribes from other regions of the Desolate Dune Desert. The closest region was the Green Star Desert and they had sent a lot of reinforcements. They had been severely affected by the slavery trade. But their tormentor wasn''t City Lord Sihe, it was Boss Gui.


    With more tribes holding different views on various things, including Tie Po, tensions were arising more and more frequently. As a consequence, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was forced to be as active as ever, worrying his daughter. Besides those tensions, other chieftains were slowly making their way toward the Sand Wolves Tribe and she knew it would increase the pressure on her father. It wasn''t a good thing at all.


    -


    In Duma City, the Blazing Swallow was managed by Dan Yao and Nie Pian. Thankfully, he had learned his lesson, more or less. Xixue had given some authority to several people to check things. Dan Yao was always making sure of the quality of both the alchemists and the pills sold. Since their business had expanded, they had other experts to make sure that everything was as was announced in the shops. Besides, Xixue had also bought the services of a few appraisers to be absolutely independent. Even if Nie Pian tried to cheat, he wouldn''t be able to deceive them and he couldn''t buy them either.


    Thankfully, their relationship with Boss Gui was also very good. Moreover, even Weiji Nian stayed quiet and didn''t cause any problem for the company. They had grown larger and richer than Cao Yun had hoped. To be honest, he didn''t really care as the company was just a means for his ends. He could literally discard it without batting an eye if it became more nuisance than it was worth. But Xixue''s organization had allowed the company to function without Cao Yun''s presence at all. That being said, it had almost been a full year since his departure.


    Cao Yun had thought about making enough pills to last a long while. And Dan Yao had truly progressed. Although he wasn''t an exceptional alchemist, he was now extremely talented when it came to the particular pills Cao Yun had taught him how to refine. Teaching them to other himself had helped him improve significantly faster. Thanks to his presence, the company was able to produce pills that Boss Gui could use to improve her own slave warriors. However, she was becoming impatient when it came to the larger promises of Cao Yun. That being said, she wasn''t ready to abandon doing business with the Blazing Swallow. On the other hand, she was planning to look for Cao Yun herself if he kept being away.


    Almost three to four months after the battle in the desert, several reports reached Boss Gui. And she learned about Cao Yun''s current situation. Obviously, she didn''t have all the details, but she learned that he had killed Xin Zhe, one of the most trusted lieutenants of City Lord Sihe. Her first reaction was to smile, it was a genuine smile. Anything that could weaken her enemy was a positive thing. But then, she thought more about that. Since Cao Yun was affiliated to her through his Blazing Swallow, it could be construed as an attack by her. But she could also control the narrative. After all, Xin Zhe had been sent in the desert to enslave and kill the members of the Sand Wolves Tribe.


    Hopefully, considering the distances, she had learned this news before City Lord Sihe. She might be able to petition Lord Wanghuo and even the Xinian Confederation ahead of City Lord Sihe. At the very least, she could throw some shade on his word. She simply had to paint it as an attempt by City Lord Sihe to disrupt her own business. Cao Yun was trying to form commercial relationships with the Sand Wolves Tribe and City Lord had mobilized his army to try and stop it. Cao Yun had been heavily injured in the conflict and had been forced to defend himself. Truth be told, she didn''t even know whether Cao Yun was injured or not. But given the delay between messages, it could easily be faked anyway.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    For many days, Boss Gui made sure that her story was straight. She had several reunions and even visited the Blazing Swallow. At first, Nie Pian was absolutely onboard, but then he decided to check with others. He didn''t want to cause any more problems for his master. However, it was impossible to contact Cao Yun in any reasonable period of time. Thus, they decided to go with Boss Gui''s plan which seemed sound enough. At the very least, they tried to make sure that she wouldn''t throw them to the beasts. After all, if they refused, she might be forced to distance herself from them so that the Xinian Confederation and Lord Wanghuo wouldn''t accuse her of attacking City Lord Sihe''s interests.


    Another woman received important reports, Lady Weiji.


    Some of the soldiers who had deserted came to her. Given that they had abandoned the battle, they were afraid that City Lord Sihe would kill them. And they were absolutely right. With her uncle in the military, Weiji Nian knew what punishment they would receive. In fact, she used their fear to extract any bit of information they had. Even compared with Boss Gui, she had a better understanding of what had happened. In particular, she knew that Cao Yun was terribly injured and in a deep sleep. Hopefully, he would stay like that for several more months.


    Hearing that, Weiji Nian also realized that the Sisters of the Abyss were not doing a thorough job. Indeed, she had not learned all of that. What she had heard from the Sisters of the Abyss had been a watered down version of those events. As much as she suspected that they were hiding the truth from her, she couldn''t denounce them. First of all, she couldn''t denounce the Sisters of the Abyss period. But even if she had been able to, she didn''t want her husband and her uncle to learn that she was still obsessed with Cao Yun. Refusing to believe that the Sisters of the Abyss were bad at their job, the only explanation was that they had some interest in Cao Yun. This made her plans even more complicated.


    Looking at the four deserters in front her her, she had a good idea. At the very least, it appeared as a good idea in her eyes. If they had learned of it, her husband and her uncle would have probably slapped some sense into her. That woman seemed to be in a hurry to destroy their household...


    "You cowards! You do know what punishment is reserved for vermin like you, the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls!"


    Immediately, the four soldiers kowtowed as low as they could, almost lying on their stomach. They were begging Weiji Nian for her mercy.


    "Fine. I might have a solution for you to regain your honor and avoid such a cruel fate. Mo Yun is hurt and unconscious. Even if he regains consciousness he should still be weaker than a Golden Blood Child. This is the perfect opportunity to kill him."


    "But, Mistress, he''s probably heavily guarder by the Sand Wolves Tribe. And they gained a large number of slaves to reinforce them. There is no way we can even get close to him."


    Immediately, they thought that she was asking them to go kill him themselves. This was a way of dying with honor. But deserters had little honor to begin with. As long as they could keep their heads, they would be happy. They knew that to avoid the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls, they would have to risk a lot. But certain death wasn''t appealing to them.


    "You do realize that your entire Blood will have to suffer the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls, right?"


    "Mistress?!"


    "You did not simply dishonor yourselves, you implicated your entire bloodline. Your wives, your children, your parents. We will punish all seven generations of your Blood to cleanse your dishonor. And City Lord Sihe will be merciless. He won''t just send their Blood back to the dirt, he will make them suffer the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls. Have you ever witnessed such a punishment?"


    Now that their eyes were filled with terror, Weiji Nian knew she had struck a chord. Thus she pressed forward, detailing the punishment. In fact, she had no idea whether City Lord Sihe would go to such extremities. Of course, the deserters would suffer this punishment. And it was almost certain that their children and spouses would be killed too. However, she didn''t think that City Lord Sihe would inflict such a cruel punishment to them. And he would probably not kill all seven generations of their Blood. This was a figure of speech to refer to anyone sharing enough of their bloodline. In reality, it was difficult to draw perfect boundaries between families and bloodlines, so an arbitrary limit was always chosen.


    "I only saw this punishment once and even I never wanted to see another one." Once again she lied, as she had gone to several of them, even enjoying the show with her son. "They will flay you, break the bones in your limbs and pull them out piece by piece. They will slice your appendages, grind them and feed them to you. You will feast on your own blood and flesh. By the time the punishment is over, you''ll know what your entrails taste like. After that, it really depends on the imagination of your tormentor. During the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls I''ve seen, they used maggots to devour the victim from within. By that time, he couldn''t even scream because they had cut off his vocal cords."


    Unable to know whether she was embellishing things or not, the four cowards were unable to move as they imagined the sensations in their own flesh.


    "I''m sure that if you beg enough, they''ll torture you to death before they begin on your relatives. But I can''t promise you anything."


    "Mistress! Please, save us! Mistress! Have mercy! We''ll do anything! A moment of weakness destroyed our future, but please spare our families!"


    "Do not despair. Your lives are already forfeit, but there is hope for your families yet. If you die while accomplishing a great deed for your master, no one needs know about your moment of cowardice. But for that, you must follow my instructions. I already know how you could kill Mo Yun, even without getting too close to him. For the time being, stay in my residence, I will hide you from City Lord Sihe. He won''t know about your pathetic conduct until after you''ve earned his respect back."


    The shaking men were all thanking Weiji Nian, praising her mercy. Fearful cowards were probably the easiest people to manipulate. But they would be perfect puppets to get rid of Mo Yun. After the humiliation had caused to their family, she would not spare him at all. Her son had completely recovered. As much as Cao Yun might indeed have pills to help him, she was certain he wouldn''t sell them to the Weiji family. Besides, she couldn''t trust a single pill of his, let alone feed one to her only son. Thus, she had decided to kill him!

 Chapter 563: Gathering the Crimson Ashes Basin tribes

    Chapter 563: Gathering the Crimson Ashes Basin tribes


    Many things were happening while City Lord Sihe still didn''t know what had transpired in the Desolate Dune Desert. After all, the mercenaries and soldiers who had fled had no reason to go back to him. To the contrary, they had all the incentives to delay the moment he would learn the truth. Thankfully, his city-state''s capital was Siqian City. And it was relatively far from the Sand Wolves Tribe. Of course, it wasn''t too far but paradoxically, Duma City was closer to it. Besides, the weather itself seemed to be against City Lord Sihe. Indeed, powerful sandstorms were blocking the most direct path between Siqian City and the Crimson Ashes Basin, the same road Xin Zhe had taken.


    In Duma City, Weiji Nian, Boss Gui and Nie Pian were all thinking of the best ways to deal with what they had learned. Some of those plans were sinister. Indeed, Weiji Nian decided to use the influence of her uncle and her husband to fake her authority. She forged letters from the two of them to get the help she needed. Before long, she had been able to mobilize a few men from the Nalupu Kindom''s army. And she had even convinced some of the running mercenaries to help her in order to avoid City Lord Sihe''s wrath.


    What she was missing was the crucial part of her plan. For that part, she could absolutely not be suspected. If people found out what she had planned, even compared with this usurpation of authority, this would be a disaster for her and her entire family. However, she simply had to kill Cao Yun. And considering that he had killed Xin Zhe and was now gaining much influence among the tribes, as well as in Duma City and even neighboring cities, she felt as though it was her last opportunity. Unfortunately for her husband, her uncle and even her son, Weiji Nian was unhinged.


    Some time ago, she had discovered very interesting facts by listening to her husband. City Lord Sihe was indeed working with some dangerous people who were hiding from the Nalupu Kingdom. And if she could get in contact with them, she would finally get the last piece missing from her plan. After that, Cao Yun was as good as dead. The best part was that it would also take care of the witnesses for her and they would never even suspect a thing until it was too late for them. But in her mind, those soldiers were cowards to begin with. Moreover, the few soldiers mobilized by her uncle''s authority would allow her to pin the disaster on Cao Yun. She might even be able to use their deaths to denounce Boss Gui and her alliance with the Blazing Swallow. To be honest, there were many holes in her plan, but as it turned out, a thorough investigation in Boss Gui''s affairs wouldn''t be good for her. Indeed, she was using poison for her slaves, the greatest taboo.


    -


    As this was happening in Duma City, the Crimson Ashes Basin was being extremely agitated. Finally, all the major tribes'' chieftains had gathered in the settlement of the Sand Wolves Tribe. With them, they had taken a large part of their own tribes. But there were more tribesmen in various settlements all around the Crimson Ashes Basin and the overall Desolate Dune Desert. It had been at least a decade since such a gathering had not happened. Such a period wasn''t odd at all, but the intensity of the slave trade had also caused them to delay another meeting. After all, being gathered in a single place was a great risk, especially knowing that City Lord Sihe might know where they were.


    For a few weeks, some chieftains tried to delay this meeting even further. In the end, they were forced to accept to it. Even among their own tribes, people were talking about Tie Po. The slave trade had really pushed the tribes against the Nalupu Kingdom. Many were out for blood and Tie Po was the symbol they latched onto.


    It took a couple months but all the tribes had finally sent delegations. Among them were the five major tribes apart from the Sand Wolves Tribe. They were the Sun Scorpion Clan, the Crimson Mirage Tribe, the Freezing Sand Tribe, the Moonshadow Clan and the Whispering Hare Tribe. Tribes and clans were a bit different while being the same. In fact, the major difference between a clan and a tribe was the blood relation between its members. Anyone could join a tribe, but a clan only accepted those born within and those who married within. In other words, a clan was a large family in which everyone had to adopt the same surname.


    All the chieftains, patriarchs and matriarchs of those tribes were gathered in the largest tent of the settlement, where Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was sitting as the overlord of them all. By his sides were also General Sha Lang Hu and his own daughter Sha Chai Gan. As much as she was trying to hide it, she was worrieda bout her father. And indeed, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren showed signs of weakness. However, he also had to conceal it in front of the other chieftains.


    As much as he was esteemed by the others because of his old age, he was mainly respected for his strength. After all, no other chieftain had broken through to the Accomplished Demon realm. Thus, he was clearly the most powerful among them. And in the past, he had showed his strength in battle. However, those accomplishments were far back in the past. In his youth, he had even obliterated an entire tribe who had tried to conquer the Sand Wolves Tribe. Indeed, the tribes and clans were not friendly with each other most of the time. In fact, the assaults of the Nalupu Kingdom had tightened their bonds, causing them to be more peaceful toward each other.


    In the tent, the other chieftains were accompanied by one servant each. They were all standing around a large table on which various documents were visible. Among them was also a detailed map of the Desolate Sepulcher.


    The Sun Scorpion Clan was represented by Patriarch Liang Lisheng. He was a burly man covered in heavy fur coats. Despite being a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child like almost all the others, he had scars on his face. His bald skull was also crisscrossed by old scars. The reason was very clear to those who knew him. His face had been slashed by some scorpion demonic beasts and the poison had caused those scars to be permanent. Indeed, his clan was known and feared because they were dealing with poisonous demonic beasts. However, they officially never used poison themselves. That being said, the mere fact that they were dealing with poison regularly had caused their clan to be a bit ostracized by others.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Their clan was however, very powerful. They were a rather small clan but their warriors were known to be among the strongest. Cao Yun would have deduced that they were probably using the same kind of methods Boss Gui was using with her own slaves. Although their ways were not as refined as hers, they had also discovered that poison could be used to enhance one''s strength and cultivation. As such, they had crafted strange rituals with various poisonous demonic beasts. Unlike Boss Gui, they were not directly consuming poison. In fact, they believed that facing a poisonous demonic beast was what made them strong, not the poison itself. They had a very ritualistic approach to things and didn''t try to understand them as poison was a taboo even for them. That being said, many rumors about them and poison were going around.


    Patriarch Liang had arrived the last and he was already grimacing with a few veins popping on his skull. Clearly, he didn''t want to be here at all. However, the name of Tie Po was causing some ruckus among his own clan and despite Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s old age, he couldn''t be absent from such a gathering. Technically, he had not been invited as no chieftain had been. But they all knew that they had to be present.


    The Crimson Mirage Tribe was represented by Chieftain Hong Yanxu. She was a slender woman wearing a reddish robe that didn''t leave anything to the imagination. It was extremely tight and open in various places. On her fingers, she had a few rings as well as metallic claws prolonging her nails. Her makeup was heavy and yet didn''t appear out of place, perfectly enhancing her natural charm and her fiery long hair adorned with gold. Although she was extremely beautiful, there was a sense of danger all around her person. She was like a beautiful plant ready to devour any who would venture too close. Despite this eerie atmosphere, she was poorly concealing her own fear and worries.


    Apart from her, there was only one other woman among the chieftains gathered around this table. That other woman was Matriarch Ying Hua of the Moonshadow Clan. Just like Chieftain Hong Yanxu she was wearing a red robe. However, hers was very loose and didn''t showcase her more modest forms. Besides, her head was completely shaven and she had a large tattoo on her forehead. It was made of nine horizontal lines, three whole and three others broken in three pieces each. Over those lines was tattooed a stylized drop of blood. Unlike Chieftain Hong Yanxu, she was wearing no makeup and no jewelry. The contrast between the two women sitting close to each other was sharp.


    The last two tribes were represented by Chieftain Bing Mosha for the Freezing Sand Tribe and Chieftain Feng Tian for the Whispering Hare Tribe. Both men were very different from Patriarch Liang Lisheng. Unlike him, they didn''t have bulging muscles. In fact, it was hard to identify where Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s neck ended and where his head started because his muscles were simply too large for that. Although they weren''t as muscular, they were still exuding a powerful aura around them. Chieftain Bing Mosha was very tall and his dark blue robe was exacerbating his cold demeanor. No matter what could happen, he seemed to always be cold and indifferent. It was difficult to get a read on his thoughts.


    Finally, Chieftain Feng Tian looked like a banal man. There was nothing worth noting about him. In fact, he was so bland that without focusing on him, it was possible to forget his very existence. If Cao Yun had been there, he would have immediately recognized some form of stealth technique. But it was so ingrained in him that he was simply using it out of habits. Most likely, he wasn''t even aware that he was using his stealth. And it was so effective that no one else seemed to notice that he was doing so. Even his servant had a very faint presence behind him. Their tribe was known for their stealth indeed. They were probably the weakest tribe invited at this table. And yet, no one would ever underestimate them as their uses were many both to survive in the desert but also to wage any form of war.


    No one dared to speak before Chieftain Sha Chai Ren officially announced the beginning of their gathering. However, there were many glances thrown all over the place and a few grimaces. Patriarch Liang Lisheng was the most expressive around the table. But he could already see some accusations in the eyes facing him. In particular, he sensed a lot of animosity from Matriarch Ying Hua. To be fair, he had tried to annex her clan several times in the past.


    When the Nalupu Kingdom really started to enslave the nomad of the Desolate Dune Desert in mass, Patriarch Liang Lisheng even tried to follow their example. Eight years ago, he literally launched a raid on a few settlements of the Moonshadow Clan in order to capture and enslave as many women as he could. Indeed, the Moonshadow Clan was known for its beautiful women and their rich bloodline. Compared with some of the noble families of the Nalupu Kingdom, their bloodline wasn''t impressive. But among the tribes and clans, they were a prize, especially for the Sun Scorpion Clan who had great warriors.


    Thankfully, the Lotus Tribe had helped the Moonshadow Clan along with some other smaller tribes and clans. In the end, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren even intervened to mediate between them. Waging war between tribes and clans wasn''t a rare occurrence. However, it had become much more so since the development of the slave trade. Thus, the Sun Scorpion Clan was not seen favorably by anyone. Some nasty rumors had spread about them. Unfortunately, Patriarch Liang Lisheng had to admit that they were mostly true. That being said, he would still kill anyone daring to speak about them in public, or loud enough.


    By Moonshadow Matriarch Ying Hua''s side, Chieftain Hong Yanxu was also giving him a sideways glance. There wasn''t as much animosity in her eyes, but he could still feel it deep in his soul. Despite her alluring beauty, even Patriarch Liang Lisheng had no views on that woman. Although her cultivation was equal to him and her martial arts probably weaker than his, he was no confident about killing her. Worse, he wasn''t confident about surviving her. If he truly crossed her, he would probably simply not wake up one day.


    Sensing the tension slowly building up within the tent, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren finally stood up. He needed his two hands to support himself out of his throne. Obviously, everyone saw it and they could all feel that his Wei Qi was weaker than ever. He was still an Accomplished Demon, but he was clearly reaching the end of his lifespan. No doubt was possible that the current events would hasten his demise. As such, many shifted their attention toward both his daughter Sha Chai Gan and General Sha Lang Hu. At the moment, it was unclear who would succeed him. According to tradition, it should be his daughter because she was sharing his blood. But General Sha Lang Hu seemed like a better choice.


    In fact, it appeared logical to most that General Sha Lang Hu should simply wed Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s daughter. As such, she would officially rule the tribe but he would retain all of his authority over the tribe. During such chaotic times, his presence was a good thing.

 Chapter 564: The council of the Chieftains

    Attempting to conceal some weakness in his voice, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren officially opened the discussion.


    "Honorable Brothers and Sisters, as you''ve been told already, we have pushed back against an attack devised by City Lord Sihe. Like many of our brethren, we have suffered from various raids and several of our own sons and daughters were abducted and enslaved by the Nalupu Kingdom. While City Lord Sihe is not the only one behind those raids, he surely is the most prominent slaver. Besides, his seals are a plight to our people and our survival.


    And as you''ve been told, we stood strong and we prevailed, even against a large army and a powerful 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. The main reason for this victory was Venerable Mo Yun also known by many as Tie Po. This name wasn''t chosen by him but people took it upon themselves to compare him with that great hero. For the time being, Venerable Mo Yun is recovering in my personal quarters.


    There are several reasons for this meeting, but they all revolve around the slave trade problem. City Lord Sihe will not stop after this first failure. And if they succeed in enslaving our Sand Wolves Tribe, other tribes will follow suit. If we don''t unite now, there will be no hope for the future. I would like to hear your opinion on those matters."


    Obviously, everyone already knew about all of that. But having a direct confirmation by Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was changing things a little. However, there were still other things to confirm before adding anything else to the conversation. Because he knew this, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was waiting for those questions. The first one to ask them was Chieftain Feng Tian. His voice surprised everyone as they had almost forgot his presence. In fact, they were forcing themselves to remember his existence at almost all times.


    "Venerable Chieftain, my Whispering Hare Tribe heard many rumors about this Mo Yun. While some are clearly nonsensical, others are at least partially based on reality. There are also various claims that seem dubious about his character. Please, do not take my questions as insults, but I would like to know more about this man."


    "Brother, ask any question you wish. I won''t take your words as insulting at all as I know it would never be your intention. Your tribe is well known and respected. You have nothing to fear from me."


    "Thank you, Venerable Chieftain. Then I will not hold back. First of all, I would like to confirm his abilities and their extent. There are many claims about the way he can unravel any seal. Such claims range from believable to mystical. Indeed, I heard rumors about the fact that he would have released thousands of demons from the Curse of Blood and Sorrow just by looking at them. While such rumors seem preposterous, there is some basis behind them. Please, tell us how much of it is true."


    The question caught the interest of everyone. Indeed, this was an extremely important information to get. As everyone was focused on Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, waiting for his answer, the old man smiled, clearly amused.


    "Unfortunately, even Venerable Mo Yun has no such divine ability. That being said, he is indeed able to unravel any seal created by City Lord Sihe. During the recent battle, he freed many a slave. However, even he couldn''t save everyone as some fell victim to the Curse of Blood and Sorrow, dying in horrendous agony. Honestly, I couldn''t tell how far his abilities in that domain go. But I can tell you for sure that his knowledge and mastery over seals is greater than City Lord Sihe''s without any doubt possible."


    Patriarch Liang Lisheng seemed to be the most affected by the news. Like the others, he had heard rumors about Mo Yun''s ability regarding seals. But he didn''t seem happy to have a confirmation of his superiority over City Lord Sihe. This immediately caught the attention of Matriarch Ying Hua who had deep resentment toward the burly man.


    "Thank you for your honest answer, Venerable Chieftain. There is another matter about Venerable Mo Yun''s ability I''d like to confirm. Is it true that he set up a Heaven grade array formation during the battle that opposed you to City Lord Sihe''s treachery?"


    Once again, everyone was waiting for Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s answer as it was another important issue.


    "Indeed. Venerable Mo Yun''s knowledge doesn''t just stop at seals. His mastery over array formations is also extremely impressive. Without his array formations, we would have been unable to prevail. And even if by some miracle we had, our losses would have been so many that our tribe would be extinct by now. I can affirm that his mastery is second to none in the entire Desolate Sepulcher in both regards, seals and array formations."


    "Venerable Chieftain''s words confirm the information I had received. As much as having such an ally is a cause for celebration, there are troubling matters surrounding Venerable Mo Yun. Is Venerable Chieftain aware that this Tie Po is also the head of Blazing Swallow, a company that is actively working with Boss Gui, the most cruel and renown slaver?"


    Suddenly, the excitement in the chieftains'' eyes turned back into tension. They had all heard the same rumors but didn''t have time to confirm or deny them as of yet. After all, they were all rather far from any city so it was obvious that it would take time. Watching at Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s face, the answer to these accusations was obvious.


    "Indeed, he is the very same man. I won''t pretend to know for sure what his intentions are, but I can tell you that he means our people no harm. He literally put his life on the line for us. Given his strength, he didn''t need to go this far if his goal was simply to obtain benefits from us. I sincerely believe he is opposed to the tyranny of the Nalupu Kingdom as it is crushing us right now."


    "With all due respect, Chieftain, this is quite apparent to me and to anyone with a sound mind, that this Mo Yun is simply working for Boss Gui. The only reason he''s helped your tribe was to thwart City Lord Sihe''s plan. Most likely, he means to enslave you all himself. Considering how specific Boss Gui is, he was probably looking for the best warriors among your tribe in order to enslave them."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s tone was rude and domineering. What was apparent to all was that the respect he had for Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was quite limited indeed. Still, he wasn''t ready to cross any permanent line yet.


    "Ha ha... Little Patriarch, you accuse him of working for Boss Gui against City Lord Sihe, but aren''t you just looking for your own interests?"


    "What?!"


    Matriarch Ying Hua''s cold voice resounded through the tent. In her tone, there were many attacks directed toward the Sun Scorpion Clan''s Patriarch. Unlike him, she wasn''t holding back at all. In fact, she was quite proud to just how little she was respecting him. On the other hand, Patriarch Liang Lisheng couldn''t let his anger explode. As soon as his raised his voice, he sensed Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, General Sha Lang Hu and even Chieftain Hong Yanxu''s intents focus on him. If he made a wrong move, they would all attack him instantly. This wasn''t the time for a physical confrontation, only words could be used today.


    "My poor Liang, you don''t seem to realize that everyone knows. If you thought your involvement with City Lord Sihe was a secret, think again!"


    "Baseless rumors! How dare you defame me?!"


    "There are indeed many rumors about Patriarch Liang Lisheng dealing with City Lord Sihe. Although nothing has been confirmed yet, those rumors are probably not baseless at all. However, knowing to which extent those two are working together is difficult to assess."


    With a very calm voice, as if oblivious to the tension around him, Chieftain Feng Tian spoke. The Whispering Hare Tribe was know for their accurate information. Even Patriarch Liang Lisheng knew it was useless to debate them. Besides, he didn''t have the means to do so.


    "Venerable Brothers and Sisters, what is baseless is my involvement with the slave trade! Of course, I have some business relations within the Nalupu Kingdom, like all of us. But it doesn''t mean that we are servant of Lord Wanghuo. City Lord Sihe is a powerful and influential member of the Xinian Confederation. I am sure that you are all indirectly involved with some of his operations. Unlike you, I''m just more open about it. In fact, if we can show him that we are more beneficial than his slave trade, we might get it to stop. After all, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy won''t wage war forever and the revenue from the slave trade will diminish with time."


    "Poor little Patriarch... No one believes the lies you spew. Your very words are like poison in the air. The Lotus Tribe unfortunately paid for opposing your venom when you turned your violence against my sisters and daughters."


    "Matriarch! You go too far! I understand that you despise me for attacking your clan, but I would have never betrayed the Lotus Tribe for outsiders. If I wanted to resolve my grudge with them, I would have attacked them directly!"


    "But then, there wouldn''t have been any benefit for you, right?"


    This time, it was Chieftain Hong Yanxu who spoke. Against her, even Patriarch Liang Lisheng didn''t dare to be too arrogant or to raise his voice.


    "It is indeed odd that the Lotus Tribe, as small as it was, was completely eradicated. In fact, it is also odd that City Lord Sihe seems to know where our settlements are with that much precision. I firmly believe that he did get his information regarding the Sand Wolves Tribe from our own brethren. This is quite troubling. In fact, City Lord Sihe almost found our own settlements. Thankfully, the information they used was outdated and they lost themselves in the desert. The Desolate Dune Desert took care of those for us."


    Chieftain Feng Tian''s voice was still very calm and he tried to stay as factual as possible.


    "Are you going to accuse me of everything that''s going wrong for us?! I also lost clansmen to slavery!"


    "But your clansmen were never enslaved by anyone related to City Lord Sihe. In fact, you''ve fallen victim to Boss Gui more often than not. She indeed bought most of your slaves. After all, they are already great warriors so they served her well. That could explain your resentment toward Mo Yun. You were right when you said that we are all involved in various businesses with the Nalupu Kingdom despite the slave trade. We do need them to survive after all. So there is no reason to hold Mo Yun to a higher standard. From our information, he never actively took part in slavery. In fact, he even freed slaves, both through force and legally."


    "All of this is a way to gain our favors. There is no doubt that he would benefit from City Lord Sihe''s demise. This Mo Yun might not be a slaver himself, but he is just using us to get rid of his friend''s competitor!"


    "I do think, Patriarch Liang Lisheng is correct." A new voice echoed in the tent, Chieftain Bing Mosha''s voice from the Freezing Sand Tribe. "We can''t assume that Mo Yun will help us out of the kindness of his heart. He is clearly looking for some kind of benefit. Although it might not be directly related to Boss Gui, I do think he is using us for another purpose. However, we have no reason to involve ourselves with him. Although the slave trade is a huge problem, we can''t confront the Nalupu Kingdom directly. If we cause too much problem, Lord Wanghuo could intervene in person. And then, we would all be wiped out."


    "I do not think it would be wise for the Nalupu Kingdom to completely annihilate us. After all, they do need us as much as we need them. Without our tribes and our knowledge of the desert, the Nalupu Kingdom would ultimately crumble. Even the trade with the Empyrean Asura Theocracy will eventually end. That being said, it is possible for Lord Wanghuo to punish us with extreme cruelty. As long as he profits from the situation, he won''t involve himself in politics. But if our actions cause him any trouble, he might indeed react harshly. Thus, I have to agree with Chieftain Bing Mosha. Our best course of action is to keep using the Desolate Dune Desert to hid from our tormentors. And that means that we must weed out any traitor."


    Chieftain Hong Yanxu''s last words were directed at Patriarch Liang Lisheng. She in fact made no attempt at concealing it. Before he could answer anything, Matriarch Ying Hua followed.


    "While I agree about Lord Wanghuo''s nature, I disagree with my sister''s conclusions. Instead of directly attacking the Nalupu Kingdom, we could instead focus our efforts on City Lord Sihe alone. His seals are making the slave trade so much simpler and easier for them. With him out of the picture, the slave trade won''t disappear but it would clearly slow down. At the same time, we could also try and negotiate with the Sisters of the Abyss. Tie Po is gaining a lot of influence, we could use it. Instead of staying outsiders, we could try and get a real place among the Nalupu Kingdom. Technically, City Lord Sihe is violating the law as forced slavery is forbidden by both the Nalupu Kingdom and the Sisters of the Abyss."


    "Humph! Matriarch Ying is too optimistic!"


    "You simply don''t want to take down your best friend, silly Patriarch..."


    "This Mo Yun is just using us all! He is ready to sacrifice every last one of us to kill City Lord Sihe and help his dear friend Boss Gui! That is the truth!"


    "Enough!" Chieftain Sha Chai Ren stopped the argument before it turned violent. "I heard you all. Now hear me out."

 Chapter 565: Negotiations in the desert

    Despite the clear indications of Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s weakness, his aura was still valiant. His blood was powerful and rich. Even though his voice was a bit hoarse, there was a strong sense of strength and pride in it too. No matter his age, he was a pillar of the tribes, the only demon in his generation and all current generations to have become an Accomplished Demon within the Desolate Dune Desert. Obviously, they had to show him respect. The only one who was reluctant about it was Patriarch Liang Lisheng. But even in his defiance, there were still shards of pure respect. After all, his own tribe valued strength above all.


    "Some of you believe that we should just keep hiding, that we should just ride out the storm. Although I do understand your concerns, Chieftain Hong Yanxu, Chieftain Bing Mosha, my humble opinion is that you are gravely mistaken. You think that once the war of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy is over, the slave trade will die out and things will go back to what they were beforehand. Indeed, the Nalupu Kingdom needs our knowledge of the Desolate Dune Desert. But they don''t need our freedom at all. Instead of enslaving us in mass to sell us, they could simply enslave us or even simply subjugate us to serve their own ends."


    Chieftain Hong Yanxu stayed quiet and pondered over the several layers of meaning in his words. On the other hand, Chieftain Bing Mosha responded as soon as Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s voice quieted down.


    "Venerable Chieftain, excuse my impertinence. I think that you are judging the Nalupu Kingdom too harshly. Only a handful of merchants resorted to this abominable trade. Combined with the fact that the slaves are sold to the God''s Land, this allows Lord Wanghuo to deny any involvement. After all, enslaving demons without a just cause is illegal and even condemned by both the Nalupu Kingdom and the Sisters of the Abyss. If slavery on such a scale happened within the confines of our Desolate Sepulcher, no one would accept it. THis would blatantly go against every teaching of the Weaver of Souls!"


    This time, Matriarch Ying Hua was also agitated after hearing all of this. Indeed, her tribe was very devout to the Weaver of Souls, but she wasn''t directly part of the Sisters of the Abyss.


    "I do fear that Venerable Chieftain Sha Chai Ren is correct in his assumptions. Despite the influence of the Sisters, the Nalupu Kingdom did commit such crimes already. Lord Wanghuo hides behind the excuse of ignorance when everyone knows precisely what''s going on. After all, they all get the benefits of those crimes. Besides, they don''t need to directly enslave us all, they could just enslave enough to keep all the tribes in check. And all that would happen in the Desolate Dune Desert. No one in the cities would ever witness it firsthand, so they could all keep denying it and live their life."


    "In fact, the Sisters might be happy about this too. Recently, they''ve received more girls than ever."


    Chieftain Feng Tian''s words clearly upset her and she replied instantly.


    "They are trying to save those girls! The Sisters of the Abyss are followers of the Weaver of Souls, don''t think they are as vile as Lord Wanghuo or City Lord Sihe!"


    "I am sorry if I offended you, Matriarch. However, it is undeniable that they are doing nothing to stop this serious crime against their own beliefs. And yet, they do benefit from it in some manner."


    Before the debate could go out of hand, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren took over once more.


    "Although those are just my fears, I do think that such a possibility is very likely. First of all, we have no idea how long it will take for the war to end so this slave trade could go on for decades. And even if it stops early, we could still be subjected to slavery or subjugation in many forms. Simply hiding and waiting for the storm to end is not a viable option. Then, we must find some way to end it on our own. And I sincerely believe that Mo Yun is the answer to it.


    "Some of you pointed out that he might be working with or even for Boss Gui. I do not think that this is a particularly big issue. We all have ties to the Nalupu Kingdom. Hell, we indirectly do business with City Lord Sihe and Boss Gui themselves, as well as other slavers. So we shouldn''t hold that over Mo Yun. In fact, his connections with Boss Gui could help us a great deal. We could get rid of the plight that is City Lord Sihe without directly upsetting Lord Wanghuo."


    As he was speaking, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s intent ostentatiously fell upon Patriarch Liang Lisheng. Thus, he was the first to answer, not even waiting for him to finish his thoughts.


    "Chieftain, we want us to ally ourselves with Boss Gui in order to get rid of City Lord Sihe?! So you want us to become dogs, being used by Mo Yun?!"


    "Patriarch Liang! You will not speak in such a manner to my father!"


    "Oh?! Your father needs a little girl to speak for him?!"


    "Silence!"


    Suddenly, a powerful killing intent surrounded Patriarch Liang Lisheng. This time, his words had been faster than his thoughts and he realized it immediately. However, he simply couldn''t move without risking an attack. He knew that even a wrong syllable could end up in a death battle.


    "Patriarch, I have had enough of your insolence and disrespect! We all know that you do have ties with City Lord Sihe. But out of respect for your clan, your dead father and your illustrious ancestors, I put up with it. If you keep insulting any of us, I will ask on their behalf to punish their foolish and unfilial descendant."


    "I apologize, Venerable Chieftain. My blood was too hot... Honorable Sha chai Gan, I also apologize. Brothers and sisters, Matriarch Ying Hua, my apologies extend to you all as well. The situation is serious and I lost my nerves in this occasion..."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Ignoring him, the conversation kept moving forward.


    "Mo Yun stayed several months in our presence and he literally risked his life, and almost died, for us. I do not believe that he is using us at all. Maybe Boss Gui would like that. But I think he got closer to her for his own personal reasons, in order to gain more power and influence. In my opinion, he was already thinking about ways to help us in our plight. Suspecting him without any proof would be a terrible mistake."


    "Then, what is your proposition, Venerable Chieftain?"


    "I do think that our most viable option would be to show our strength against City Lord Sihe to establish ourselves as a great power, just like any other city state. Then, we could try and negotiate with the Sisters of the Abyss. They have always respected our claims over the Desolate Dune Desert. Although I can''t know everything that is going on within the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, I do think they are our best choice. If we can show our strength, get both Boss Gui and the High Mother behind us to negotiate with Lord Wanghuo, we do have a chance. Even the Nalupu Kingdom cannot officially recognize the current state of the slave trade. In fact, we could use City Lord Sihe as a scapegoat. The Nalupu Kingdom could pin all the crimes on him. Maybe the slave trade wouldn''t die down, but it would greatly diminish."


    A bit timid, Chieftain Bing Mosha decided to answer once more.


    "What Venerable Chieftain Sha Chai Ren says makes a lot of sense. However, you do realize that this could also give the Nalupu Kingdom the justification to attack us on a large scale. They could construe our attack on City Lord Sihe as a rebellion. Enslaving and eradicating us would thus be justified. Besides, there is another problem. Controlling our own tribes and clans will be difficult. After all that we had suffered, many are out for blood. However, if we go too far, Lord Wanghuo will simply slaughter us all. Against him, we have no choice, unless the High Mother intervenes on our behalf."


    "I do agree that those risks are real. This is the main problem in fact. We can''t go too far if we wish to negotiate, but our own sons and daughters are reaching the end of their patience. In all honesty, Mo Yun''s arrival is a problem in itself. More and more worship him as Tie Po''s literal return. No matter his stance, this could push them toward more and more violence. We can''t go down that road or we would all die."


    "The situation is indeed perilous, I won''t lie about it. However, I do not see a better solution right now. Brothers, Sisters, if any of you has a better option, please speak."


    The only one who almost answered was Patriarch Liang Lisheng. However, this time, he knew better than to speak his real mind. There was no way he would go against City Lord Sihe. In fact, he might even protect him to earn his favors.


    "I won''t force any of you to join. That being said, my Sand Wolves Tribe will follow Tie Po. We will do everything we can to end the slave trade."


    "With all due respect, Venerable Chieftain, it is easier for you to say. After all, City Lord Sihe already found your settlements once. If you do nothing, your tribe will probably end up like the Lotus Tribe. But my Sun Scorpion Clan has much more to lose, and so have the other tribes and clans represented here today. You claim that you''re not forcing us. On the other hand, you use Tie Po''s name, knowing full well that it will put a lot of pressure on us. Our own sons and daughters will ask us why we don''t follow the second coming of Tie Po."


    "This time, I do agree with Patriarch Liang Lisheng, even though I sense more nefarious intentions behind his words. Venerable Chieftain, we should talk more about this entire situation. Whether we follow you or not, we will all be caught in the storm you''ll cause. Please, understand our hesitation."


    For several days, this council of chieftains stayed under the same tent. They barely had any rest discussing the current situation and how to respond to it. Unfortunately, for a very long time, the discussion didn''t seem to go anywhere. Each time sometime was swayed by an argument, another argument changed their mind once more. Despite his intentions, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren needed some support. Even if he had said his Sand Wolves Tribe could go alone, he was in dire needs of allies. On the other hand, no tribe or clan was in such a desperate situation right now. They would probably end up in it at some point. But everyone was hopeful they could indeed simply hide and wait for the end while other tribes suffered.


    -


    While all of that was taking place, Cao Yun was simply sleeping in the same large room he had been in since the battle. He was in the personal quarters of Chieftain Sha Chai Ren who was trying to convince the major chieftains to join him. Oblivious to all of that, the young man could only barely feel Xixue''s presence by his side. In fact, she had almost never left while many had come and gone including Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, his daughter, his generals and his servants.


    Cao Yun''s consciousness had mostly returned but he was still too weak to move around. As such, he made sure that his surroundings were safe and then focused on his sea of consciousness. First of all, he decided to observe his Turbid Demons. His Flying Poison was fully under his control, but the Unclean Evil and the Stinking Lungs were another problem. Clearly, he felt it had been a mistake to try and cultivate the two of them together at the same time. Ironically, the emotions he had felt were probably enough to work on his Corpse Dog as well, which was related to fear. But he was not reckless or stupid enough to do such a thing before he had at least the Unclean Evil under his control for sure.


    When he had thought he was going to die, Cao Yun had realized that he was more afraid about his sister and his family''s legacy than himself. The faces of his friends had also appeared. Although he didn''t want to work on his Corpse Dog yet, he made sure to keep those feelings in mind. They were not pleasant at all, but they would be helpful in the future. Moreover, he was unfortunately certain that he would have even more reason to be afraid along the way.


    Observing his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun was quite pleased with himself in fact. He had risked a lot, but he had also pushed his understanding of the spear to the point where he had entered the Spear Intent state. Furthermore, his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' had also improved as the Neck Constellation was now fully formed. There remained five constellations for him to develop. The next one was the Root Constellation. Now that he had felt the process, it would only be a question of time and diligence.


    In his body, the Drop of Wrath had helped him regenerate faster than before. In fact, his main concern was that he had depleted almost all of his Qi. Even now, he couldn''t absorb it too fast or he would risk injuring himself. At first, he would need to go slow, but he was convinced he could recover completely in less than three months, especially if he used array formations. However, if he simply absorbed Qi in great quantity in the middle of the settlement, everyone would notice he was a human. This added an extra layer of difficulty to his situation.


    Although he was grateful to be alive, he was also wondering what had happened. In his last moments of consciousness, he had clearly seen that this was the end. Xin Zhe should have killed him. And yet, someone else had killed her in an instant before leaving right away. Obviously, the identity of that person was a huge problem. Not only was that person much more powerful than Cao Yun, but they also knew that he was a human. By now, whoever they were working for knew about him.


    Finally, after several weeks spent sleeping, Cao Yun stood up on his bed. Surprised at first, Xixue was ecstatic.


    "Master! How are you?"

 Chapter 566: Speaking honestly

    Cao Yun had been barely aware those past months, so he didn''t know what was going on in the settlement. However, he knew perfectly well that Xixue had nursed him all this time, almost never leaving his side. Once again, he felt as though he was seeing another side of her. Even her face seemed much more expressive. Until now, she had mostly been playing the role she had been taught by City Lord Sihe. Even when she had given up on his plans, she had kept playing the role of the good assistant, always professional and barely showing her true colors.


    Truth be told, Xixue was still just a little girl forced to grow up too fast in this brutal world. Similarly to Cao Yun, she had survived the obliteration of her family, either killed or enslaved, and her sister had been taken from her. From what they knew, she was probably a slave welcomed by the Sisters of the Abyss. So they had no way of being sure whether she was alive, serving them, or dead, still serving them anyway.


    In Xixue''s eyes, Cao Yun saw his own, as well as his sister''s when he saw her being taken from him. Kids, and young girls in particular, were a soft spot of his. It had been the same for Mei Ying, Mei Hua''s little sister. But this was different now. Xixue seemed to be ready to open up, and maybe he should too. After all, if he wasn''t mistaken...


    "I''m fine, thank you. I sensed you by my side for a long time now."


    Xixue could feel some doubt in his voice. Instantly, she knew that he wasn''t putting up a front. With his mental fortitude, he could perfectly control his emotions. But he chose not to. As a consequence, Xixue also decided not to hold anything back. That being said, the two of them didn''t know how to begin this conversation, so she answered blandly.


    "No, Master, it is I who must thank you."


    Xixue looked all around very suspiciously. Obviously, Cao Yun noticed this behavior and rightly concluded that she had something to tell that shouldn''t be overheard by others. Thus, he expanded his spiritual senses around them both. Even though he was still somewhat lacking in Qi, using his soul wasn''t a problem at all. Of course, he couldn''t push it too far. But his soul had also grown from his recent fight. On the other hand, it was a bit harder to use his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' that relied on Qi Manifestation, so he limited it. Thankfully, he only had to cover a very limited area. After all, he could simply send his thoughts to her, or even control the flow of his voice in the air so it would only reach her ears. In fact, he was controlling the flow of air around them both so no sound would escape. He was just being very thorough, especially because he had a good idea of what she wanted to talk about. After all, she had been the one who had found him after the fight...


    As he was enveloping her in his spiritual senses and his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun felt all the seals Dian Mo had added in him. Until now, he had not really sensed them and that in itself was worrisome. After all, Dian Mo was not too reliable recently. But he had not attacked him or anything while he was weak. In fact, if Dian Mo had tried anything, Cao Yun might have died by trying to defend himself. Thus Dian Mo had maybe decided not to risk it. A few months ago, Cao Yun wouldn''t have thought that at all, but he had to accept the reality of his companion.


    At first glance, the seals appeared to only keep up the appearances of a demon by hiding his meridians and Dantian. As a result, they had also slowed down his Qi recovery, but this seemed like an acceptable bargain. From what he had overheard already, some in the tribes were almost fanatical. If they learned that their Tie Po was really a human, he was certain that they would react violently. In fact, Cao Yun was re-examining his choices at this very moment.


    His main goal was to get out of this place and back in his own kingdom with enough strength to take down Emperor Weide, the traitor of mankind. In his plans, he had found a way to maybe eradicate a large part of the slave trade in the Desolate Sepulcher. Of course, demons would probably keep slavery as a form of punishment or a way to sell oneself in order to repay debts of some kind. He wasn''t foolish enough to think he could change an entire culture by himself. However, he was worried that the tribes and the slaves would die in large numbers. Even during the last battle, many had perished. And many more would perish under his name. He wasn''t too sure about any of that... Hopefully, there were other ways. What he really needed was power!


    Once again, Cao Yun was at a loss but he didn''t want to go back to being indecisive.


    No one had all the answers. Everyone was just trying to lead their lives as best as they could. Cao Yun simply needed the strength to shoulder the consequences of his own actions. If, or rather when, he made mistakes, he would have to correct them and not reject the fault on someone else. Maybe he could find a way to resolve things more peacefully, but for now he would stick to his plans. Besides, they could evolve along the way. They already had several times. Besides, despite his status and the name given to him by the tribes, he had no authority on them. First of all, he should listen to their opinion, to know to which lengths they were ready to go.


    Hopefully, he could get Sha Chai Ren on his side. He seemed reasonable enough. Still, he would need to know how the dynamics within the Sand Wolves Tribe and among the other nomadic tribes had evolved. Honestly, Cao Yun was really tired of all this politic. He was forced to use it, but he had really no interest in it whatsoever. Besides, he could see that leaders weren''t as free as he would like to be. He didn''t want all those restraints and responsibilities. After saving his Hongchen Kingdom, he wanted to explore the mysteries of the Dao, not lead a country of some kind.


    While he was thinking all that, Cao Yun also worried about Dian Mo, still analyzing his seals. There were things in those he couldn''t recognize for sure. A few months ago, he would have trusted Dian Mo as they had gotten closer as time had passed. But after his heavy injury against Demon King Mo Wang, he had changed. The simplest explanation was that he had been corrupted by Mo Wang''s mind in some manner. There were alternative explanations, though... Maybe the injury was more serious than he had thought and Dian Mo was dying. If that were the case, he might be aiming to overtake Cao Yun''s body as he had once planned already.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    No matter what the truth was, Cao Yun had made a deal with Dian Mo he could not go back on, unless Dian Mo directly betrayed his own word first. For the time being, he had done no such thing. Moreover, Cao Yun had to admit that he had grown attached to their conversations. But they were already gone anyway. At the very least, they weren''t the same. It was as though he had lost a friend who had drifted away with time. As those thoughts crossed his mind, he remembered his sworn brothers and sister. He had no idea what they were living through right now.


    In fact, Cao Yun had been thrown away from the Hongchen Kingdom before he had learned the nature of the attack. Cao Yun only knew what had transpired in the Imperial City. Unbeknownst to him, several portals had been opened everywhere in the Hongchen Kingdom. Things had been very bad at the time. Since he didn''t know, Cao Yun could only imagine the worst scenarios. Thus, he preferred not to dwell on it at all, especially considering the fact that he had no power over it. Several of his Turbid Demons could be cultivated with all the emotions he was feeling at the moment. But that would be for later.


    Although Xixue''s cultivation was weak, she felt the protection of Cao Yun around her and began to speak. It jolted him back to reality. Instinctively, he had used his Chamber of Heavenly Court to speed up his thoughts. Apparently, his mind had indeed improved as he didn''t need to consciously use the chamber. In fact, he realized that he didn''t need to focus on his Upper Dantian and its chambers to use most of their abilities. It truly felt relaxing, not having to focus on his own mind.


    "Master, back then, I... I felt that you were..."


    Yes, it was exactly what he was expecting. In her eyes though, he sensed that she wasn''t asking for confirmation. She knew exactly what she had seen. In fact, she was clearly looking for a way out. Right now, she was almost begging him to tell her it wasn''t so. And she would gulp down any half-baked explanation. However, he decided to go against her wishes and surprised her but saying the silent part out loud.


    "Human?"


    There was no use denying it anyway. If she had not told it to anyone else, he could trust her. The real threat was if someone were to try and invade her sea of consciousness as they could steal her memories. But he could set up some seal in her soul to prevent that. Now, he had the mastery to do so without endangering or harming her at all so it wouldn''t be a problem in the slightest. No one in the Desolate Sepulcher would be able to pry this information out of her. In fact, he was almost certain he could protect this particular piece of information from even Xiao Xuefeng if need be. Unfortunately, he wouldn''t be able to protect her entire sea of consciousness, or all of her memories, but he could prevent anyone from accessing certain of these.


    What truly troubled Cao Yun was the fact that whoever had killed Xin Zhe knew that he was human too. And they also knew that he was no Accomplished Demon or Spirit Warrior either. He was trying to comfort himself by saying that they were not hostile. Otherwise, they would have attacked him at the moment. But the truth was that he had no idea who they were or what they wanted. He had guesses, but they were not good enough. And the most likely explanation was that they would use this information to control him somehow. He would always have this threat looming over him. Having someone on his side who knew the truth would be more reassuring than anything else.


    Although she had known, hearing it directly from Cao Yun was troubling Xixue. Now, Xixue couldn''t deny it.


    "Master, you..."


    "I''ll tell you the entire truth."


    And he did.


    Cao Yun held nothing back about his origins or his name. Of course, he didn''t literally tell her everything about himself or his cultivation. But he told her that he had come from the Hongchen Kingdom founded by Emperor Nuwa and that he simply intended to go back home to defend it against the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Since they were more or less directly involved in the sudden spike of the slave trade, she obviously wasn''t too fond of them, to say the least. Besides, they had different religious views that clashed with hers. Unlike them, she had no hatred toward humans. Most likely, because she had been enslaved herself, she perfectly understood why humans had rebelled against Demon God Da Mo.


    Slavery might be the tool to reunite some demons with the humans, ironically enough...


    "Master, if you only plan to go back to your kingdom, why are you helping us? Are we just a means you intend to exploit?"


    This time, he could see and hear genuine fear in the little girl. She didn''t want to be used and thrown away like what City Lord Sihe had planned with her before she had met Cao Yun.


    "This isn''t wrong. But it isn''t entirely true either. When I first saw what was being done to you and the other slaves in that caravan where we met, I was ashamed to let such atrocities happen. Even now, I am sincerely unsure what the right course of action is. I despise people who regard others as mere resources or pawns, hence I hate slavery, among other things. If I could at least reduce its use in your people, I would do so. But I''m not as powerful as I claim. And although I have plans, I cannot guarantee anything. I''ll be honest, if I have to choose between your people and my own flesh and blood, I will choose to save my sister''s future. For that, I need to survive and grow strong enough."


    Hearing him talk about his sister touched Xixue. She realized that she was like him. If she could be reunited with her sister by betraying Cao Yun, she would do so without any hesitation. Even now that she was feeling closer to him, she knew that she wouldn''t hesitate. Honestly, it was hurting her deeply. Being this transparent to herself was incredibly painful. And she didn''t hide it to Cao Yun. She wouldn''t hide her emotions or her thoughts to him any longer.


    Xixue could tell that Cao Yun was being honest. Speaking of honesty, Cao Yun could have easily hidden his true intents and she would still have felt the same thing. But he was indeed being honest right now. He sincerely didn''t know what was the best thing to do as he couldn''t simply force his views and desires on the entire Desolate Sepulcher. On one hand, he did want to abolish any form of slavery. But on the other hand, he could already see absolute massacres taking place with ultimately no good result. In the end, he couldn''t control the fate of entire peoples.


    In fact, he even thought about abandoning his designs and simply leave as fast as possible. Still, he had invested a lot in the recent months and he had grown closer to many demons. At the very least, he would give them the opportunity to take down Lord Wanghuo. But politics was really not something he enjoyed.


    "Master, I swear never to reveal anything. I understand your situation, and I will do everything I can to help you. However, I probably won''t be too useful if even you can''t come up with the right strategy. I will still tell you what I''ve learned during your sleep."


    And Xixue filled him in on everything that had taken place. Her information was so good, he even wondered if she had spied on the meetings of the chieftains themselves.

 Chapter 567: Playing in the desert

    Thanks to Xixue, Cao Yun knew almost everything. Not only was he made aware of the stance of all the Chieftains, he even got a sort of history lesson on them all. Obviously, he wasn''t fond of Patriarch Liang Lisheng. Apparently, the Chieftains were almost as uncertain as he was, if not more. This was reassuring. Knowing that people who were literally living in the Desolate Sepulcher weren''t sure how to handle the situation made things easier for him. As a stranger, he had no way of finding the right answer. But hopefully, he would do more good than bad overall. In fact, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s wisdom was also comforting. He was clear headed.


    Apparently, Cao Yun''s goals were more or less aligned with the Sand Wolves Tribe. However, there were still issues. First of all, the other chieftains had to be convinced and this Patriarch Liang Lisheng was clearly a threat. Although everyone knew it, they couldn''t simply kick him out. After all, he had the best fighters. In fact, knowing Boss Gui''s ways and the reputation of the Sun Scorpion Clan, Cao Yun was able to draw some conclusions. Many ideas were crossing his mind, but he wasn''t sure of anything yet. His proximity with City Lord Sihe and the recent attempt to enslave a tribe as large as the Sand Wolves Tribe were giving Cao Yun some insight.


    For a few days, he hid his recovery, and Xixue covered for him. Thankfully, the Chieftains were simply too busy and no one else was authorized in his tent apart from Xixue and a few handpicked servants. Cao Yun could now sense the people around his tent. They were too many, but Xixue confirmed that almost a fourth of all the tribesmen had once kowtowed toward his tent during his sleep.


    All this worship didn''t really please Cao Yun at all. In fact, it was making things for difficult. He now had both a political and semi-religious presence in the tribes. This could be useful, but this was also very dangerous both for him, for those who worshiped him, and even for those who didn''t. The situation would be even more complicated to navigate. Besides, he would have even more pressure on his shoulders. Given his new status, Cao Yun tried to learn more about the Weaver of Souls.


    This deified demon was a lieutenant in Demon God Da Mo''s army. Some claimed that he was born on the Piaolu planet while others stated that he had come here along with Demon God Da Mo himself. There were different versions of his birth and his life. His death was an even more unstable story. The Weaver of Souls would have died during the Great War, what the demons called Gods'' End. There were many epic stories about his last moments. But what happened after his death was almost always the same in all the stories. The Desolate Pillar in which Cao Yun had first appeared had been caused by the violence of the fight. According to the stories, his very soul was still inhabiting this permanent sandstorm. Thus there were often pilgrims trying to go near it.


    His blood had covered the Desolate Dune Desert and had flowed into the Divine Blood Ocean, turning everything red. In fact, it was believed that the intense Fire Qi in the blood was the result of his blood that had been mixed into the sand. To be honest, Cao Yun was wondering whether this story was in fact true. After all, he had felt an intent within the sand when he had used his spiritual senses. Although everything couldn''t be true, the story might not be pure fabrication.


    The entire situation was a headache for Cao Yun. Not only was he unsure of what he should do, but now he had to deal with fervent supporters he had never asked for.


    After a few days, the young human felt good enough to leave his room. And yet, he didn''t as he didn''t want to be confronted by the crowd. However, he had to cultivate in order to restore the Qi he had depleted. Now that his Dantian were properly trained, he could absorb both Water Qi and Fire Qi faster. But it would still be obvious for people around him that he was cultivating his Qi, a thing only humans could do. So he needed to be away from the settlement. Thus, he informed Xixue and decided to leave in secret. Thinking about it, Cao Yun still decided to tell Chieftain Sha Chai Ren. Through a servant, he could send him messages even during the never-ending meetings. Knowing that he had a lot of influence now, Cao Yun was reluctant when it came to interfering. As such, he didn''t meet him in public.


    Using his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun was able to leave the settlement without being noticed at all. There wasn''t any Accomplished Demon in the settlement aside from Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, another reason why he had warned him in advance. To be fair, Cao Yun would have probably been able to deceive him, but he was still lacking in Qi.


    -


    Finally, Cao Yun and Hongyu reached a secluded spot in the Desolate Dune Desert. In a matter of minutes, he dug a cave and used various instruments to make sure that it was stable. After that, he set up several array formations all over the place. They were there to hide him, protect him and also, of course, helping him cultivate.


    Since this place was full of Fire Qi, filling his Middle Dantian wouldn''t be a problem at all. However, the Water Qi would indeed be a challenge. Because he wanted to recover as fast as possible, he decided to set up a modified version of the 5-star Earth array formation Tidal Gathering Mist along with the 2-star Human one Clouds in the Lake. Tidal Gathering Mist was meant to gather Qi while filtering the Water element. This was an array formation he had used when he had first gathered Water Qi in his Lower Dantian. On the other hand, Clouds in the Lake was an array formation meant to condense the water in the air. It was used to produce water out of thin air. In fact, it had been used on Cao Yun''s gourds so they would never stay empty for long.


    Although those two array formations weren''t extraordinary, Cao Yun also combined them with Center of All Things. This array formation was able to make a specific location neutral in the five elements. As such, it was balancing out the excess of Fire in the air. By weaving those three array formations together, Cao Yun had been able to create a spot in which Water Qi was accumulating over time. Since it couldn''t escape those array formations, the Water Qi was really getting denser and denser too, perfect for Cao Yun''s training.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    While it was being filled, the young human could still work on absorbing the Fire Qi. And for that, he went full out. Indeed, he literally buried himself in the burning sand. Now that his body had recovered, it was easy enough for him to resist the burning sensation. Besides, he wanted to make sure of something. Quickly, he was certain of himself. As he buried himself deep into the sand, he could distinctly feel the intent all around him. At first, it had attacked him. But as soon as Cao Yun had mobilized his mind cultivation, it had stopped altogether.


    By now, Cao Yun was absolutely certain that this Weaver of Souls was related to his mind cultivation. From the stories he had heard, it did make sense. After all, his name had come from his obsession with soul and mind. For millennia, he had worked on improving the soul and had run experiments on Turbid Demons themselves. Clearly, his experiments had bore fruit. Most likely, the calligraphy Cao Yun had in his spatial ring was also related to the Weaver of Souls. The fact that the Sisters of the Abyss had wanted to buy it so much was proof enough. At the very least, they knew it had a connection with the Weaver of Souls. For them, he had been a living god, just like Demon God Da Mo.


    It only took Cao Yun three weeks to completely fill his Middle Dantian with Fire Qi. During the process, he also felt the Rune of Fire. It had probably helped him to fast things up. When he was done, he jumped out of his hole and went into the sand cave he had created. It was a completely different climate all of a sudden. Indeed, thanks to his array formations, the place was full of moisture, condensed in a specific location. While still covered in sand, the young man summoned the wind around him, performing a small version of ''Imperial Throne''. Then, he sat in the middle of his array formations. Despite his best efforts, Water was a very rare element in this desert. So it took more than a month for his Lower Dantian to be filled again.


    Finally, he had recovered his full strength, and some more. Completely depleting one''s Qi was a bad idea in general. Simply doing so had pushed his previsions for his cultivation farther in the future. But thankfully, he had not suffered any lasting injury. However, there was still a problem he had to solve. In his meridians and Dantian, there were still seals left by Dian Mo.


    "I can''t seem to see through all those seals... I would be interested in understanding them better."


    "Oh, it''s just that I crafted them in a panic. After all, I had to conceal your true nature, boy. If I had had any other choice, I would have done otherwise, I assure you. If you can''t get rid of them yourself, I''ll help you out, boy. No need for you to spend your time on those."


    Obviously, both Dian Mo and Cao Yun were aware that such explanations were not enough. In fact, they were really just an evasion of the question. That being said, Cao Yun attentively observed as Dian Mo unraveled all the seals he had added. He made sure that they had all been taken care of, and really tried to understand them and what they meant in details. From now on, he simply couldn''t trust Dian Mo at all. Besides, he had become almost useless when it mattered. Apart from the deal they had made, he had no reason to keep him within himself. However, he still felt bad for the Palace Spirit. Depending on the reason behind his recent change, Cao Yun might be forced to do something about it. Even now, he still wasn''t entirely sure about his fate.


    -


    Once he was done recovering, Cao Yun was reluctant to go back into the settlement. As much as he wanted to protect the tribes from slavery by the Nalupu Kingdom, he didn''t like being entangled in their affairs. On the other hand, he had grown fond of some among the Sand Wolves Tribe. And of course, he cared about Xixue, probably because he could sympathize with her story.


    For the time being, he took advantage of his solitude to advance his cultivation. Right now, he was a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child and a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior with one aspect of his Po fully formed and two others in progress.


    In his blood cultivation, he was practicing ''Ascend the Cliff''. It meant that he had to send his Golden Blood, through his spine, into the region of his Middle Dantian and his heart. Sending his Golden Blood wasn''t complicated at all, but going through his spine and increasing the flow was indeed dangerous. In the spine, there were three gates, the Flood Gates. He had already overcome Mingmen the Life Gate and was now working on Shendao the Heart Gate. Each gate was very delicate and forcing one''s way could cause injury. Even with his control over his acupoints, it was a long process. Of course, he could speed things up thanks to his experience but it was still taking some time. And he really didn''t want to hurt himself.


    When it came to his Qi cultivation, Cao Yun was practicing ''Forge the Meridians'' with traces of ''Forge the Pillar''. As the names suggested those were the two stages in which one would strengthen and temper their meridians and Extraordinary Vessels. In particular, the ''Pillar'' was referring to the Conception and Governing Vessels that were parallel to the spine in the front and the back of the body. This step was probably the most important one before the Lesser Tribulation. Indeed, those were where the Soul Embryo would be born, where Cao Yun would have to make his Water Qi and his Fire Qi clash with each other. Any weakness there could literally mean death.


    Although the young human was focused on strengthening his meridians for now, he was obviously also having an effect on his vessels as a consequence.


    Now that his Water Qi and Fire Qi were full again, he used them in conjunction with the Wood element from the world tree in order to temper his meridians. Once again, he targeted specific acupoints first and was then working on tempering the portions of the meridians between them.


    During his time alone in the desert, Cao Yun also decided to hunt in order to test himself. After all, he had developed his Spear Intent and had even forged his second constellation, the Neck Constellation. Besides, Hongyu would benefit a lot from eating some demonic beast''s flesh and cores. And so he did hunt and she did eat her fill.


    In fact, Cao Yun lost himself in those battles. As a matter of fact, he was finally enjoying himself to the fullest. He didn''t kill every single demonic beast he met. In fact, he spared quite a lot of them. If he didn''t need to kill one, he simply let it go once he was through with it. Hongyu was also having a lot of fun, fighting alongside her brother. Besides, she was also slowly forming her sixth core. To be honest, Cao Yun had absolutely no idea how long it would take her. But she would be very impressive with six cores!


    For several weeks, Cao Yun lived an adventure of his own, walking through the desert to fight demonic beasts. When he met other demons, he concealed himself as he didn''t want anyone to recognize him as Tie Po. In fact, he almost felt like he was on the run from the people who worshiped him, and he was, to be fair. Xixue and Sha Chai Ren were probably having it rough hiding his departure. In the end, he decided to stop having fun and went back toward the settlement.

 Chapter 568: Bloodfire Vermilion Haze

    As he was traveling back with Hongyu, Cao Yun was thinking on what he intended to do. For now, he had almost everything he needed. With Boss Gui, he had a powerful ally who could literally give him an army of exceptional slave warriors. As much as he despised the idea of using them, especially the way Boss Gui had broken them in order to get their undying loyalty, he absolutely needed them. Now, he also had a strong force with some of the local tribes. Of course, they were not as well trained, but in the Desolate Dune Desert, they were very good since they knew the place and how to use it against their enemies.


    Besides, the name Tie Po they had given him had served to galvanize the tribes to the point where some were quite literally worshiping him. Once again, Cao Yun didn''t like it very much but this could be useful if he could get the help of the chieftains. Hopefully, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren would be very helpful in that regard. At the very least, Cao Yun had some trust in him.


    Honestly, there were many things Cao Yun didn''t like. And yet, he had need of those. It was having a real impact on both his Unclean Evil that was related to shame and the Stinking Lungs that was related to corruption. He really despised his own weakness. If he had been strong enough, he could have done what he wanted without using people like that. In fact, he was starting to doubt his own sincerity. As much as he was telling himself that he wanted to abolish the slave trade, he was making use of it for his own ends. And even if he claimed that his goal was ultimately good for the demons of the Desolate Sepulcher, he wasn''t so sure about that.


    Peace between the Nalupu Kingdom and the tribes of the Desolate Dune Desert was almost impossible at that point. To be fair, the Nalupu Kingdom had been enslaving nomads by the thousands in the recent years, to feed the conquests of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy and line their own pockets. At the moment, Cao Yun was painfully aware that his plans could cause a gigantic war between the Nalupu Kingdom and the tribes. A war the tribes would clearly lose. Right now, he could envision a near future of total civil war and massacre.


    First of all, he didn''t want to be responsible for that and he had no intention of assuming any political function to stabilize the continent. After all, he had things to do on the main continent and he couldn''t abandon his own sister. Besides, dealing with politics would slow down his cultivation and restrain his own freedom. That really was a headache for Cao Yun. Although his plans might work, the consequences were not something he wanted. Despite the history between humans and demons on the Piaolu planet, he didn''t have any animosity against their kind. In fact, he had grown close to some of the demons, Xixue for example. Moreover, the Desolate Sepulcher had never threatened the Hongchen Kingdom, nor would it in the future.


    After much reflection, Cao Yun could only see one force that could potentially calm things down. However, he had not enough information on them to make clear plans. Like Matriarch Ying Hua, he wondered if the Sisters of the Abyss could help negotiate between the tribes and the Nalupu Kingdom. Technically, the current slave trade was illegal, even though Lord Wanghuo was looking away.


    It took Cao Yun a few days to finally reach the Sand Wolves Tribe again. Hopefully, Sha Chai Ren and Xixue had been able to cover for his absence. It wasn''t too difficult since he had mostly stayed confined in his room. But he had to admit that he had been gone longer than he had initially planned.


    When he was close to the settlement, he caught the scent of blood in the air. It wasn''t that rare in the Desolate Dune Desert as demonic beasts were killing each other as much as they were attacking wandering demons. However, it shouldn''t be the case this close to the settlement. Besides, he also smelled something different about this blood. At first he wasn''t too sure but his expertise told him that there were toxins in the blood.


    Immediately, he circulated his ''Ashen Feather Seal'' and also concealed Hongyu''s presence as best as he could. They also rose higher in the sky to increase their stealth while flying closer to the settlement. With all of his senses at the ready, he focused his mind on the Sand Wolves Tribe, trying to get any clue he could find. There was no more doubt in his mind. Some kind of poison was mixed in with the blood he could smell. Of course, the scent was very faint. Unfortunately, he could barely make out what kind of poison had been used but it was certainly there.


    Soon enough, he saw the corpses of a couple dozen demons. They had been impaled, probably a few days ago. Looking at them, Cao Yun determined that they were no tribesmen. However, they seemed to be soldiers from the Nalupu Kingdom. Among them, he didn''t recognize anyone as their skin had been burned by some kind of poison. The corrosion of said poison even prevented him from recognizing their blood. Otherwise, he would have recognized some of the soldiers who had fled the previous battle to go to Weiji Nian.


    What Cao Yun quickly noticed was that among those corpses, a few had no more blood in them. Those had several holes in their chest and back. Getting closer to them in order to inspect the corpses, the young alchemist noticed traces of necrosis around those holes. Considering that those demons had been Golden Blood Children, it didn''t make sense that their bodies would already show such signs. Those had been done while they were still alive.


    There was something else that was intriguing. Impaling demons like that was a form of post-mortem punishment. Leaving their bodies out in the open would attract various demonic beasts that would devour their flesh and their blood. However, it was very clear from their overall condition that they had been like that for a few days. And yet, the bodies were mostly intact. In fact, the only wounds Cao Yun could notice were the result of a fight. Thus, even demonic beasts had not devoured them, although most of them had still some Golden Blood in them. Even after death, it would take a few months for their blood to completely dry up and a few years for their bodies to start decomposing. It was said that Spirit Warriors could conserve an intact corpse for decades, to the point where it was sometimes difficult to know whether they were dead, sleeping or meditating.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Cao Yun carefully examined the corpses with those strange marks. From his spatial ring, he even took out a few alchemical tools. There was no doubt, those marks had been caused by a poison of some kind. And this was precisely the poison he could smell in the air. They were the cause of this ominous scent. Using his spiritual senses, Cao Yun even dissected their bodies with his mind. His soul could penetrate their flesh without disturbing the bodies. Within their veins and arteries, he saw many signs of necrosis as well. But those signs were older. Those demons had been poisoned for quite some time before their death, probably three or even four months. Considering where they were, they had probably been poisoned after leaving the Desolate Dune Desert and before coming back in.


    Despite his analysis, the alchemist was unable to determine what poison had been used. Indeed, there was just a faint scent left, caused by the remaining wounds. The poison itself was completely gone from their systems. As a matter of fact, those specific demons had not even a single drop of blood left. However, the other corpses had. So he began to observe and analyze them. It didn''t take him long to find traces of poison, even in their Golden Blood. But they had not been killed by it. They had clearly been killed during fights. However, the poison was still active and Cao Yun could finally get some answers.


    This poison was even mentioned in ''Tree of Death''. According to the manual, this was a 3-star Heaven poison, the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze. Luckily, this version was not as potent as the real deal. Indeed, the real poison would literally increase the temperature of the blood so much that the blood itself would burn through the victim''s flesh. It truly was a horrible way to go. But what Cao Yun had in front of him was a watered down version mixed with a bit of Salt of the White Turtle and several other toxins. In fact, there were also components meant to keep the victim alive for some time. And it made perfect sense now.


    The first corpses he had examined were carriers. It was even possible that they had not known themselves. Looking once again at their corpses, it was now apparent that they had been fed other pills beforehand in order for their bodies to sustain the poison long enough. In fact, it was possible they had simply thought of the first symptoms as consequences of their exposure to the Desolate Dune Desert. But hidden in their flesh, there were clear signs of seals. Someone had used them to carry the poison in their flesh until they reached their destination. Then, that meant that...


    Without a moment''s delay, Cao Yun had Hongyu fly straight forward.


    In a matter of minutes, he reached the settlement of the Sand Wolves Tribe. Sure enough, this was pure chaos. The tents were now full of makeshift beds. Many demons seemed sick. There were even screams and moans all over the place. With his senses, Cao Yun picked on the scent of death and decay. Around one demon out of thirty in the settlement had already died from the poison. It had spread like a disease and infected a large part of the demons. Not everyone was poisoned thankfully, but almost a third. Furthermore, those affected were mostly warriors.


    Most likely, they had been sent against those soldiers Cao Yun had found dead. During the fight, the carriers had used their martial arts and their blood cultivation. No doubt was this the trigger the poison had been waiting for. From their bodies, the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze erupted as a red mist. As no one was expecting poison, no one had prepared for it. Among humans, the use of poison was not common but it was a real possibility. As such, it was harder to poison a human cultivator during a fight. On the other hand, demons considered poison as the worst taboo possible so no demon would ever expect such a thing while fighting their own kind. Unprepared against such a dangerous poison, they had almost no chance.


    As soon as Cao Yun arrived, several demons noticed him. After all, he wasn''t trying to hide at all. However, their attitude toward him had completely changed. There was a strong hostility in the air. If looks could kill, Cao Yun would have died here and there. Most likely, they resented him for not helping them and even being away during the attack. But he could deal with that later. First of all, he had to make sure of the situation. So he spread his spiritual senses all over the place, ignoring the resentment below. Try as he might, he couldn''t find any trace of neither Chieftain Sha Chai Ren nor Xixue.


    Before he could ask anything, Sha Chai Gan got to him. The woman was wearing a pure white outfit which told him everything he needed to know. There was no doubt on the matter. Her father was dead. In her eyes, he was seeing disdain and hatred. Even during their first encounter, she had been more open.


    "Venerable Mo Yun." Her words were full of derision. "To what do we owe your gracious presence?"


    "Lady Sha Chai Gan, I''ve seen the bodies impaled in the west. The poison they carried is a variation of Bloodfire Vermilion Haze. I''ll need to examine a few victims first, but I might be able to refine some antidote. There is no time to lose."


    "Ha ha ha! So this is your angle!"


    Behind the mourning woman, Patriarch Liang Lisheng had arrived with the other Chieftains. Most of them had traces of the poison as their veins were apparent here and there. Thankfully, they were powerful enough to resist it. They had probably been close to Chieftain Sha Chai Ren during the attack. But the poor man was too old and weak to do anything against the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze.


    "After sending us this plague, you want to keep playing the savior?!" Finally, Cao Yun understood what was happening, but he wasn''t sure what had convinced the chieftains. "Look, brothers and sisters! Look! Our savior Tie Po is back with promises of an antidote! What do we say to his most gracious offer?"


    "Die a traitor''s death! May your corpse feed the scavengers! May your blood rot in their entrails!"


    The entire tribe was now up in arms, ready to kill Cao Yun if they had the chance.


    "Mo Yun, despite your attempt to hide it, we discovered the signet of Boss Gui. You only helped the Sand Wolves Tribe to thwart City Lord Sihe. Your goal was probably to make us gather so that traitorous bitch could kill all the chieftains with her poison. Thankfully, my Sun Scorpion Clan is used to dealing with such monstrosities. So, Mo Yun, we won''t need your so-called help. Boss Gui thought she could pin that on City Lord Sihe and that we would become your docile slaves. Well think again!"


    "Chieftains, it doesn''t make any sense. No matter what you think..."


    Before he could articulate any intelligent answer, a powerful clamor resounded throughout the settlement. It was useless to try to defend himself. They had already made up their minds. They hated him as much as they had worshiped him, or even more. But at the very least, he had to know what had happened to Xixue. Was she dead too?


    While he was talking to the chieftains, ready to fly away at any moment, his spiritual senses were exploring the tent in which he had stayed with the young girl all this time. He simply found a letter.

 Chapter 569: The fangs of the wolf king

    A few days prior to Cao Yun''s return, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was still trying to convince everyone of his plan. It had now been more than five months. Despite the danger of staying where City Lord Sihe could potentially find them, they didn''t seem to mind too much. In fact, some chieftains were convinced that City Lord Sihe would not attack again soon. After all, the time needed to send him any news of what had happened and for him to organize another attack was just too long. Most likely, it would take him at least an entire year. The Desolate Dune Desert was their best weapon as it made traveling in it extremely difficult for those who didn''t know its secrets.


    Recently, City Lord Sihe had kept more and more of the enslaved tribesmen around him. Instead of selling them immediately to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, he seemed to be building a small force. This mere fact added credence to Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s position. It was possible that City Lord Sihe was preparing himself to subjugate all the tribesmen, or at least those with knowledge and authority. Then, the entire Desolate Dune Desert would be under the direct control of the Nalupu Kingdom. In fact, City Lord Sihe could even try to replace Lord Wanghuo.


    Of course, Lord Wanghuo wouldn''t let him do as he pleased. Most likely, City Lord Sihe would offer him most of the territory to avoid being crushed by his strength. Lord Wanghuo wasn''t a very good politician, or a very good strategist, nor was a good ruler. However, he was simply the most powerful demon on the entire Desolate Sepulcher. First of all, Accomplished Demons was rare on this isolated continent. And he was an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon, at that. Even the High Mother of the Sisters of the Abyss was weaker than him. And in a fight, he was absolutely monstrous. Only Chieftain Sha Chai Ren had seen him fight with his own eyes, but the stories told about Lord Wanghuo were in way exaggerated.


    If Lord Wanghuo really wanted to kill all the tribes of the Desolate Dune Desert, he could do it himself. After all, they had only one Accomplished Demon, the old Chieftain Sha Chai Ren himself. The only reasons why Lord Wanghuo hadn''t done so were because there was nothing to gain from it and that it would take too much time, while disturbing his own Nalupu Kingdom for several years or even decades. Besides, he probably didn''t want to think of the intricacies of the matter. But if City Lord Sihe took care of all the difficult parts, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was certain that Lord Wanghuo would be very pleased with the result. And he had to convey this urgency to his brothers and sisters.


    With the arrival of Mo Yun, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren had found a way to form an alliance between all the tribes. If he could just unify the Crimson Ashes Basin, they could potentially gather all the tribes of the entire Desolate Dune Desert under the same banner. Then, they could be strong enough to oppose City Lord Sihe and show Lord Wanghuo another option, more profitable in a shorter span of time. At the end of the day, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren understood his ruler''s personality since he had been alive longer than anyone else in the tribes. Lord Wanghuo was too strong for his own good. He had grown bored with almost everything.


    In fact, he had probably thought about going to God''s Land. But the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was problem. After all, Empyrean Asura was a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon. Most Likely, if Lord Wanghuo was able to break through again, he would leave the Desolate Sepulcher for good. Because of this boredom, and his general lack of care for his responsibilities and his office, Lord Wanghuo appeared completely apathetic. Chieftain Sha Chai Ren knew it wasn''t true, but he also knew he could use this lack of interest to his own interest, precisely.


    His main concern was Patriarch Liang Lisheng. There was no doubt in his mind that he had some kind of deal with City Lord Sihe. Hopefully, he was only working with him because of seals put in him to threaten him. If that was the case, Mo Yun could probably get rid of them. Otherwise, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren would need to make sure that he was dealt with in other ways. Unfortunately, his Sun Scorpion Clan was small but full of great warriors who would be extremely helpful both in battle and to convince other tribes to join their alliance. The best outcome would be to marginalize Patriarch Liang Lisheng in their own alliance.


    While the conversations were going nowhere, alarms resounded throughout the settlement. The chieftains recognized the horns. From their sound, enemies were approaching. Most of the array formations set up by Cao Yun were obsolete. Because they relied on nature to manipulate the Wandering Qi, array formations could become obsolete rather fast if they were not managed properly. Besides, Cao Yun had set them up quickly while focusing on the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin''. Before leaving, he had not restored them all as it would have taken at least a month of work. Even Chieftain Sha Chai Ren had thought it useless.


    The chieftains all exited the tent to be informed of the attack. A group of soldiers and mercenaries was heading in their direction. There was no way to know their affiliation from their clothes but they were rather strong, middle to late Golden Blood Children. Those soldiers were the one mobilized by Weiji Nian. Although she was a bit insane, she wasn''t completely stupid and had made sure that those soldiers would be almost impossible to associate with either the Nalupu Kingdom''s army or her own family. After all, she had used the influence of her uncle to forge a letter in order to mobilize official soldiers, and had used her husband''s connection with City Lord Sihe to force the deserters back into the fray.


    That force wasn''t as near as threatening as the previous army, but they were still a problem. They could cause serious damage and kill a lot of tribesmen. Thus, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, despite his old age, decided to confront them himself.


    "Sir?! You shouldn''t...!"


    "General! No need to dissuade me! I will go fight! Gather your strongest men, we''ll meet them out before they can get too close to our settlement."


    Shot down by his lord, General Sha Lang Hu turned toward Sha Chai Gan. Like him, she was sincerely worried about her father. Her lips quivered but she didn''t say anything. First of all, she knew it would be useless. But she also knew she shouldn''t show any sign of weakness in front of the other chieftains. While her dad had spoken, he had sent her a telepathic message.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Daughter. I may not come back. If that should happen, this could help unify all the tribes. Most likely,t his threat comes from City Lord Sihe. If I die in battle because of him, this could galvanize everyone against him. Venerable Mo Yun left a few weeks ago to train in the wild, but he should be back soon. If I die, keep his secret until his return so people don''t lose faith in him. They must keep believing he was in a deep sleep and simply couldn''t help us. Otherwise, they could imagine he abandoned us.


    "But you must also do two other things. You must marry General Sha Lang Hu and ascend to the role of chieftain yourself. Say that my last order was to name him Marshal in consideration of all his achievements. I''ve left instructions for you to follow in case of my death. Daughter, I do not plan on dying today. But I do fear that the danger is real... If I do not make it back, you must be strong as you will face many threats from without and within. Everything you need to know is written my letter, but I am sure that you will be a good chieftain. After all, I''ve seen you grow and learn all those years... I love you!"


    As she was lost in her thoughts, Sha Chai Gan didn''t see her father, General Sha Lang Hu, the other chieftains, and a few dozens tribesmen from various tribes leave toward the enemies.


    -


    The enemies seemed absolutely desperate, as though they could hear and feel the whip of their master cracking the air and striking their backs. Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s men were hidden beneath the sand, ready to ambush them. Thankfully, there was no Accomplished Demon in their group and killing them would be rather easy. What Chieftain Sha Chai Ren wanted was to avoid as many deaths as possible on his side. Thus, he would lead the charge. Besides, it would be good to remind everyone of his own strength. He had probably been a bit too dramatic with his daughter. However, he still had a terrible sensation in his bones. Somehow, he felt as though there was a hidden danger.


    Try as he might, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren didn''t identify anything. Out of caution, he even asked Chieftain Feng Tian from the Whispering Hare Tribe to scout out their surroundings. With his handful of men, he didn''t find anything out of the ordinary. Apart from the frenzy in the eyes of their enemies, there was nothing strange. Thus, the old chieftain finally decided to go ahead with the attack. Still, he had formed several layers of protection just in case. Besides, the settlement was a bit too close to his liking.


    Without any hesitation, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren launched himself into battle. Taking out a large Guandao, he leaped toward the enemies. His weapon was a giant halberd twice as long as Ren Chao himself. On its tip, the blade was curved like a moon, but it was also full of small teeth meant to rip the flesh and bleed out his enemies. The blade itself was almost as big as a human torso. Attached to the blade, on the other side of its edge were a few heavy discs as well as some clothe. Finally, on the other end of the Guandao, there was a spiraled pike as long as Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s forearms.


    In an instant, he pushed his blood to its utmost and Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was surrounded by the image of a red fur. It looked like a wolf but it was completely covered in blood and its claws were completely black and as long as its arms, both on its fore legs and hind legs. The wolf was not standing completely straight like a human, but it wasn''t on its four legs either. No one could see its eyes because they were covered by its bloodied fur, but out of this fur, from its mouth, there were monstrous teeth.


    ''Blood Fang Through the Storm''!


    Slashing horizontally with his Guandao ''King''s Claws'', Chieftain Sha Chai Ren immediately cut a few of them in several pieces. As the slash was directed toward their torsos, some of them also had their arms cut off by the attack. However, it didn''t deter the surviving fighters. As soon as their comrades were cut apart, they assumed a strong battle formation. But instead of going after their direct enemy, they decided to forge ahead. With spears and shields, they simply ran in the direction of the village.


    Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was ready to showcase his full ''Wolf King''s Scarlet Dance''. However, he suddenly felt a burning sensation in his chest. In an instant, following his intense flow of blood due to his martial art, the pain spread to his entire body. Looking around, he understood. In the air, some grayish smoke had risen from the corpses. By cutting them apart, he had caused their blood to fly around. And with it, a terrible poison had been unleashed. With red eyes, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren let his fury out. This was the worst taboo among demons. His very blood was now contaminated. This was like insulting his own ancestors and desecrating their very corpses.


    ''Sandstorm''s Howling''!


    Using his entire chest and all the air within his lungs, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren let out a powerful howl. As he was slashing with his ''King''s Claws'', the old man seemed to be dancing. His movements were beautiful but they were all filled with fury and blood thirst. By using his most powerful technique, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was simply spreading the poison faster through his body. But his goal was now to slaughter all the enemies before their bane could curse his tribesmen. Along with his dance, the air and the sand formed a gigantic storm. His howl itself shook the running enemies.


    Even though they were focused on defending themselves to get to the settlement as fast as they could, they were forced to deal with him first. Several slashes penetrated their shields. As much as they tried to block them, a few of them were killed nonetheless by Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s fury. That was when the other tribesmen and the chieftains decided to intervene. The only one who stayed behind was Patriarch Liang Lisheng.


    Soon, he understood what Chieftain Sha Chai Ren had sensed.


    "They''re using poison! Keep your distance!"


    Everyone had finally realized what was going on and why their chieftain had suddenly gone all out. But it was too late for him. In fact, it was too late for most of the fighters already. Hearing Patriarch Liang''s words, the enemies themselves were shaken. A sudden realization flashed in their eyes. And since they had no choice anymore, they still decided to perform their duties until their death.


    Now armed with despair, the enemies charged forward to reach the settlement while the tribesmen were hesitant to fight them directly, afraid to be poisoned. The only one who truly fought with abandon was Chieftain Sha Chai Ren. Now, he was like a sandstorm covered in fur and blood. Armed with his Guandao, he slashed, pierced, tore. His ''Wolf King''s Scarlet Dance'' was in full display. Even Patriarch Liang was in awe.


    The fight lasted many hours. But Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was simply too old and tired. He couldn''t prevent the enemies from getting too close to the settlement. Still, he was able to slaughter them all by the end. Unfortunately, the poison had already spread all over the place. In horror, he died while seeing the tribesmen in the settlement in a state of panic.

 Chapter 570: Denunciation

    After hearing the stories told by Patriarch Liang Lisheng, Cao Yun had many doubts. At the end, he tried to embellish Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s death as much as possible. He described a frenzy wolf as terrifying as the moonlit sandstorms of the nightly desert. In his wake, he left sorrow and death, misery and destruction. His ''King''s Claws'' was shining with a wicked light while before slick with fresh and poisoned blood. All around him, the fur of the Blood Wolf was tainted by the traitorous blood of those accursed demons who had rejected any dignity.


    At the same time, Patriarch Liang tried to downplay his own achievements until the end. He cowered in front of the poison and ordered his men to be careful to a fault. Because of his indecisiveness, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren could not be saved and a few poisoned demons went through their defense. In their treachery, they brought the disgusting tainted blood flowing in their veins to the doorsteps of the settlement. Still, the chieftains united were able to exterminate them all and made them suffer many torments before impaling them with their cultivation mostly stripped away.


    Breaking the cultivation of a demon was much more difficult than for a human. To cripple a human cultivator, it was often enough to destroy their Lower Dantian. Sometimes, it was necessary to also break their Middle Dantian. As it was the location of the heart, it was more difficult to do without killing, but surges of Qi could break apart the walls of the Middle Dantian while leaving the heart mostly intact. The damages were still enough to kill a man, but it could take years or even decades if done correctly. Finally, destroying the Upper Dantian was the most difficult thing to do, without killing the victim of course. As such, apart from using poisons, runes, or other mystical means, crippling the cultivation of a late Spirit Warrior was so much more complicated than just killing them, it was rarely done. However, some array formations could prevent them from using said cultivation by trapping their soul and Qi within their body, or making moving them around almost impossible.


    For demons, their cultivation was in their blood, their flesh and even the marrow of their bones. Breaking apart some of those bones to extract the Golden Blood was one way of doing so. The process was incredibly painful of course. Other ways were to use Blood Runes. Just like what City Lord Sihe had done to Xixue, it was possible to engrave runes directly into the bones of a demon. Cao Yun had even duplicated the concept in order to speed up his own cultivation. Instead of engraving runes in his bone, he had drawn them in blood and marrow both within and without.


    Anyway, this explained most of the wounds Cao Yun had sensed on the corpses. They had suffered several days without their cultivation and had ultimately died. Those who had lasted the longest simply died of thirst while under terrible agony. They probably wished they had died of suffocation of bleeding like others.


    "Patriarch Liang, from what I hear, your tribe is full of great warriors. And you are used to dealing with poison from demonic beasts..."


    "Enough! You try to shift the blame on our Patriarch! Wretched impostor!"


    "We trusted you! Chieftain Sha Chai Ren believed in you! And now he died the worst death possible!"


    Indeed, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren had not only been killed, he had been poisoned to death. For demons, this was akin to having his soul burned away. His blood had been tainted. All of his ancestors had been insulted and desecrated. Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s spirit would never find peace and would be tormented for many of his reincarnations. Only by praying the Weaver of Souls could they hope to alleviate his torments. Cao Yun had now a good grasp of the beliefs of demons. Although they too believed in the reincarnation of the soul, they were convinced that the blood was the vessel of the soul. Thus, the separation between flesh and soul invented by humans was much more tenuous, or even completely nonexistent for some.


    Before he could add anything, Cao Yun''s voice was silenced by a chorus of hatred and condemnations. As much as they worshiped him as Tie Po, they were now hating him as Mo Yun. All those feelings of admiration and gratitude had turned sour. An extreme had led to another. Although humans could also be extreme, demons were above that. Since his arrival, Cao Yun had seen a few instances of that, but now it was in plain view. Demons had stronger emotions in general. This allowed them to create incredible art, but it could also lead to situations like that. Even if a large proportion of them were not any worse than humans, there were enough demons with uncontrollable emotions to sway the entire crowd.


    In the current situation, Cao Yun knew that it was pointless to try and explain himself. Patriarch Liang''s story didn''t make too much sense at the end. Despite Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s cultivation and his full use of ''Wolf King''s Scarlet Dance'', too many enemies had breached their defenses and gotten to the settlement. It wasn''t impossible of course. Maybe the old man had been weaker than Cao Yun thought. Or maybe the poison, or some old wound, had caused him to falter. Or maybe, just maybe, someone had helped.


    Hoping for a lifeline, the young man on Hongyu''s back looked at Sha Chai Gan''s eyes. She was clearly one of the demons with stronger emotions. In her pupils, Cao Yun could see a seething rage and resentment. He wasn''t entirely sure it was directed to him for sure, but it was there. Unable to calm down the crowd, and without any ally ready to confront such a vehement mob, he knew that things were going to get ugly soon.


    Thankfully, those demons were still under the impression that Cao Yun was a powerful 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. Otherwise, Patriarch Liang Lisheng would have probably attacked him right away. In fact, they wouldn''t even have talked with him and they would have subjected him to the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls. Before anyone could assault him, Cao Yun decided to fly away with Hongyu. Her speed was so great that no one could follow her. After all, there was no Accomplished Demon so they couldn''t even fly. However, Cao Yun still decided to recover Xixue''s letter.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Once Hongyu was far enough, he simply jumped down, used his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. With no one able to sense him, not even Chieftain Feng Tian of the Whispering Hare Tribe, he got into Chieftain Sha Chai Ren''s tent.


    There, he saw and heard Sha Chai Gan crying. Her face was smoldered into the newly appointed Marshal Sha Lang Hu. The man was clumsily trying to console her. Her words were mostly incoherent and difficult to hear. However, Cao Yun was able to perceive several curses toward both him and Sha Chai Ren himself. She seemed to resent her own father just as much as she despised Cao Yun for being away during his death. Because Sha Chai Ren had trusted Cao Yun so much, she hated the young man for that death. But she also blamed her father for walking toward said death knowingly. There were many things Cao Yun couldn''t decipher.


    Ironically, Sha Chai Gan''s deep emotions helped him take the letter away without any problem. First of all, his stealth was just too good for them to see through it. But even if it hadn''t been, they weren''t paying too much attention to the letter. A large part of the tent was in complete disarray, as though someone had trashed the place. And for all he knew, Sha Chai Gan had done precisely so. Under a small pile of documents and draperies, Cao Yun found the letter and disappeared from the settlement.


    With Hongyu carrying him, the young man returned to the small cave he had built while away training in the desert. On the way, he was being careful, focusing his senses to avoid any unnecessary risk. Although they had flown there already, the winds were a bit different so they were forced to take another path. Besides, the desert was always changing and carelessness often meant death. Even with his current strength and with Hongyu''s help, they wouldn''t survive an encounter with a powerful demonic beast. Thankfully, they had never come near a 9-core demonic beast. Such a creature would tear them apart rather quickly. Even Hongyu might not be able to fly away from such a monstrosity.


    At last, they were safe. The cave Cao Yun had dug in the sand was still there. Thus, Cao Yun went inside and finally opened the letter. On the back of the folded letter had been Cao Yun''s name, and it was unmistakably Xixue''s handwriting. That was why he knew from the start that the letter was for him. The young girl had even added a small drop of blood to the ink so his senses could pick it up with more ease. It was a good thing she had been so thoughtful. Otherwise, he really might have simply flown away after sensing that Xixue was not in the settlement. After all, the tribesmen had been out for blood and Cao Yun was meant to be the sacrificial lamb.


    The letter was extremely shot and went straight to the point. Examining it in depth, Cao Yun could confirm that it was both her handwriting and her style. Since she had taken care of the Blazing Swallow a lot, he knew exactly how she wrote. And in no way could this have been a fabrication. In fact, it was also unlikely for someone else to force her. Otherwise, she could have altered her handwriting slightly or even used different characters or words.


    "Master Mo,


    "I wanted to wait for your return, but there is no time. I warned Chieftain Sha Chai Ren of my departure, but I didn''t tell him everything. The truth is that I was put in the position you''ve described to me recently. If you had to choose between the Desolate Sepulcher and your sister, you would surely choose my sister. Unfortunately, my answer is the same. My sister needs me. I will thus leave immediately. Chieftain Sha Chai Ren believes that I am going to the Sisters of the Abyss in secret so I can negotiate with them.


    "Truth be told, I will try to negotiate. But my main goal is to meet my sister and help her out. Sister Lisha didn''t tell me what was happening exactly. But there is no doubt in my mind that Yinl¨¹ really asked for me. Sister Lisha had some proof with her.


    "Master, I hope we''ll meet again.


    "Your servant, Xixue."


    There wasn''t any date on the letter but Cao Yun could guess that it had not been long ago.


    Obviously, he understood Xixue''s desire to see her sister again. But he was almost certain that this was too good to be true. Apparently the same Sister Lisha he had met in Duma City was the one who had come to her. And she had something with her, or maybe some words from Yinl¨¹, that convinced Xixue that her sister was really sending for her. Even the timing was odd. It had happened between two battles, and some time before the Sand Wolves Tribes was attacked with poison and a large part of the tribesmen contaminated.


    There were several possibilities. But none of them were very reassuring. Besides, Cao Yun had had a strange feeling about Sister Lisha from the beginning. Like Spirit Master Xiao, he couldn''t read her at all. And she also had some air around her making him feel like she would probably be able to escape even his senses. This was just a sensation of course, but he was quite confident about it.


    As much as he thought about it, the Sisters of the Abyss had no reason to target Xixue. If she had had any particular bloodline, Cao Yun was certain he would have felt it. Thus, the only logical conclusion was that he was the one being targeted and they were using Xixue to get to him. Of course, it was still possible that somehow Yinl¨¹ had suddenly decided to meet her sister. Maybe the Sisters had simply been training her and she had no right to contact the outside world. However, Cao Yun doubted it. If something was too good to be true, it was probably a trap of some kind.


    Unfortunately, his plans for the Desolate Dune Desert were mostly dead, gone with Chieftain Sha Chai Ren and Patriarch Liang''s accusations. Turning the crowd in his favor again would be almost impossible. Besides, with Patriarch Liang controlling the narrative, they would probably focus their rage on Boss Gui instead of City Lord Sihe. So the first thing Cao Yun did was to write a letter explaining what had transpired. He needed to get it to Duma City as fast as possible. But he also intended to find Xixue.


    Thinking about it, Cao Yun accepted to sacrifice some time. Although Duma City was a couple months away, Ruohe was closer. Helping Hongyu with a few pills, some demonic cores, and even a bit of flesh from slain demonic beasts, Cao Yun flew as fast as he could toward Ruohe. After giving the letter to Lady Gu Xue, he just inquired about general news before leaving right away. The letter was sealed so that no spiritual senses could read through it without destroying its content. Besides, once opened, it was impossible to reseal it. Finally, he had made sure to crypt the message. Only Boss Gui could understand the full meaning of this letter. Even though he had acted in haste, he had been as careful as possible.


    Before thinking of a plan, Cao Yun had Hongyu fly in the general direction of the Oasis of Life and the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Its location was known to all as many pilgrims went there all year long. There were periods in which pilgrims were more numerous, but there was bound to be some of them any day of the year.


    Even with Hongyu, reaching the Oasis of Life would take three to four months. But it was long enough for Cao Yun to think of something. Moreover, Xixue would probably arrive around the same time. Even though Sister Lisha was an Accomplished Demon who knew the road, she wouldn''t be as fast as Hongyu. With Cao Yun''s little detour to Ruohe, the two women would probably arrive a few days or even a couple weeks earlier.

 Chapter 571: Debating before the oasis

    When Cao Yun could see the outskirts of the Oasis of Life, he asked Hongyu to land out of sight. The Oasis of Life was full of vegetation and color, golden buildings, bright red roofs, green and blue walls. Lost in the middle of the Desolate Dune Desert, this was a true gem. With his piercing eyes, Cao Yun could make out various architectural styles. Clearly, the buildings had been erected across a long period of time, by many great artists and builders. Unlike many cities that were squares or rectangles, this one almost formed a perfect circle, like a small island surrounded by an ocean of sand. Leading to it, there were three paths.


    Those paths were not paved or anything, yet they were very easy to spot. Because of the large number of pilgrims throughout the years, the sand itself had been marked by their march. Thus, there were three trails left in the sand. The desert around almost formed walls, reaching to the knees of the few pilgrims going for the city right now.


    By chance, Cao Yun had arrived on a side of the city without any path. Thus, it was much easier for him to hide. Like before, he decided to dig some form of cave in the sand, strengthening it with various array formations and a few tools from his spatial ring.


    Despite her constitution, Hongyu was exhausted after so many travels. After all, they had barely rested since Cao Yun had woken up. After leaving for the Desolate Dune Desert to train, Cao Yun had come back to the Sand Wolves Tribe just to be chased immediately. Even in Ruohe, they had only stayed a couple days before hitting the road once more. Although Cao Yun had used his Qi and vitality to help her out, as well as a few pills, she was still in dire need of rest. So the young man decided to leave her behind to give her a breather.


    Caressing her feathers, Cao Yun sent his Qi and spiritual senses through her flesh. As usual, she didn''t object and let the warm sensation enter her body. With his knowledge, the young alchemist could tell that she was forming her sixth core. Guessing when it would be completely formed was almost impossible because it depended on many factors. Demonic beasts cultivated by absorbing the Qi from their environment and their prey, either cultivators'' meat or other demonic beasts'' flesh and cores. Since Cao Yun had given her pills and a bit of his own blood, her sixth core had formed rather fast in comparison to other demonic beasts. Still, there was a physiological limit to how much Qi could be absorbed. Everything left over would simply be rejected by the body.


    It was very similar to how much a man could gain muscle. It was necessary to eat a lot, but past a certain threshold, the body could not build muscles anymore. The same principle applied to demonic beasts and Qi. In fact, it also applied to cultivators in general. The body needed to be properly trained to slowly adapt to those changes over time. Force feeding a demonic beast or a human, hoping for them to progress faster, was just fattening them up for no reason.


    "Hongyu, I''ll go alone."


    Before he could finish his words, the fenghuang protested. She stood up and her small screeches filled the cave. No matter how much she was trying to hide it, Cao Yun could tell that she was exhausted. However, she didn''t want to be left alone. After all, she was smart enough to understand that there was great danger in that nearby city. Her brother couldn''t fly. As much as he was fast on his feet, Hongyu knew he needed her if he wanted to escape fast enough. Even tired, she was faster than he was. Besides, she could fly.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun knew that there were formidable Accomplished Demons among the Sisters of the Abyss. They were rare in the Desolate Sepulcher, but the Sisters were powerful and influential. It wouldn''t be surprising if they had a few late Accomplished Demons. The High Mother was clearly one of them, but it was possible for others to exist within this religious order too. Considering Hongyu''s condition, she couldn''t fly away from them. In fact, even at her peak, she probably would have trouble flying away from any late Accomplished Demon or Spirit Warrior.


    Cao Yun''s mission rested entirely on stealth. Before doing anything too rash, he only wanted to explore the city and maybe pinpoint Xixue''s location. In his heart, he still hoped that this was just him being paranoid. After all, there really was a chance that the Sisters had truly meant to reunite the two sisters. Hoping as much as he wanted, the young man couldn''t quiet down the uneasiness in his heart.


    "Little sister, I''m just going to find Xixue. I won''t do anything risky. As soon as I feel any danger, I''ll disappear and leave the city."


    No matter what he said, Hongyu wasn''t convinced. Thus, Cao Yun decided to give her a demonstration. Now that he had fully recovered and that his mind was even a bit sharper, he used the full version of ''Ashen Feather Seal''. ''New Life Through Ashes'' manifested his Qi as a form of ash all throughout his body and mind. This time, he even used his Turbid Demons to create some kind of black cloud of dust within his very sea of consciousness. ''Covering the Mud with Cinders'' sent those newly formed ashes to specific acupoints in his body. Adding to it his knowledge of ''Crimson Inferno Road'', he also sent ashes to points within his bloodstream and deep into his bones. Some of those ashes even formed runes and seals.


    Finally, ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes'' was the last chapter of Huang Liyue''s stealth technique. That last part was still incomplete as Huang Liyue was still creating this technique. It consisted in using one''s bloodline to strengthen the technique. By mastering it, it allowed someone to become perfectly invisible. Anyone around would simply fail to notice their existence. Huang Liyue could reach such a level thanks to her True Fiery Fenghuang''s blood and the seven True Fiery Drops she had cultivated. For Cao Yun, there was an even more powerful bloodline he could draw upon, the Drop of Wrath that was now fully his. Explaining this last chapter was almost impossible as it was about sensations. Cao Yun mobilized his blood, helped by his blood cultivation, and moved it around while mixing it with the ashes. Some of his blood even manifested ashes itself through the Qi within.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Before long, even though Hongyu was staring at her brother, he simply disappeared. There was absolutely no indication he had ever been there. In truth, Cao Yun was still standing next to Hongyu, even touching her. But the demonic beast''s mind could not register him at all. The more she tried to focus, the more her mind was playing tricks on her. Before she could really panic, Cao Yun reappeared.


    "You see? You have nothing to fear. I''ll go in, find where Xixue is and come back."


    Just like Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, Cao Yun had a foreboding that things wouldn''t go so smoothly. After spending some time calming Hongyu, he knew he had to warn her without upsetting her.


    "However, if I don''t come back, I forbid you from entering the city. In fact, I forbid you from entering any city! You must go into hiding and avoid any demon. Promise me."


    Sensing that Cao Yun was seriously thinking he could die during this mission, Hongyu was indeed upset. That being said, she could see in his eyes that he wouldn''t change his mind. Despite her strength and stature, Hongyu was still very young. She didn''t understand everything that was going on, but her instincts were extremely sharp. After some hesitation, she accepted. Then, Cao Yun gave her a spatial ring, attached to a thread around her neck. The thread was made of Golden Unearthed Silk, a metal that could be braided into a fine fiber. As a 2-star Heaven material, it was extremely durable and wouldn''t break easily.


    "I''ve put my most precious belongings in here. I''ll just take what''s necessary with me. Even if I don''t come back right away, I will leave that city alive, do not doubt me on that point. And when I do, this spatial ring will help me find you. There are many seals within so no one else can open it and so that I can track it without any problem. You could hide in the most remote area of the Desolate Dune Desert, I could still find you. No matter what happens, do not fear for me. If things go bad and I can''t join you right away, I''ll still find a way to get out of it alive. Do not despair of. Never!"


    Cao Yun wasn''t sure he believed all those words. And yet, he felt like he had to say them. Truly, he had a terrible sensation about this Oasis of Life. He couldn''t exactly tell what it was. But at the same time, he felt attracted to it, like a moth attracted to a flame. It wasn''t just for Xixue. Now, Cao Yun felt like he needed to go in that Oasis of Life. The closer he was, the stronger this feeling was. Finally, he put his finger on it. This was the same sensation he had felt within the sand of the Desolate Dune Desert, only much stronger. Clearly, it was related to the Weaver of Souls, the demon god the Sisters of the Abyss worshiped.


    Once Hongyu was calm and Cao Yun prepared, he left the cave and completely disappeared. Even his feet didn''t leave any trace on the sand. This was an improved use of the ''Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves'', the very first stealth technique he had learned, mixed with his ''Ashen Feather Seal''.


    Before he could even reach the city, he heard the voice of Dian Mo deep within his sea of consciousness.


    "Boy, you''re really going to risk your life for this little girl?! She left of her own accord. There is absolutely no sign that she was taken by force. Maybe she had been lured into a trap, but if that''s the case, the trap is clearly meant for you. In that case, she''s just the bait and you''re simply going to take it?!"


    "Right now, there are only two things I''m sure about. The first one is that I will save my sister. And the other one is that I must make sure Xixue is safe."


    "Is it because she was also looking for her own sister? Do you somehow feel closer to her because of that? Yes she helped you, but it was only to forward her own goals. From the beginning, she used you as much as you made use of her for your business and some info. You have no allegiance toward her. However, you promised to keep me safe and to find me another body. If you die, I''ll die too, brat."


    Dian Mo''s tone changed a little at the end. Once again, Cao Yun had a terrible feeling when it came to the Palace Spirit. Dian Mo had changed too much too fast.


    "Are you still affected by Demon King Mo Wang?"


    "What?! Boy, I''m trying to help you here. And you repay me by insulting me?! I took care of that old geezer. Yes, it wasn''t easy, but I did it. Maybe I''ve not felt too good for a while, but I''m recovering fast enough. Hell, I helped you hide your human cultivation only recently, didn''t I?! Speaking of which, the one who killed Xin Zhe was probably part of the Sisters of the Abyss. If they found Xixue so easily, that means that they had been keeping tabs on you and her. In an instant, she was able to crush an enemy who could kill you without too much problem. And you want to sneak into their very home... Think about it, brat, think!"


    Dian Mo put on airs, taking on an affected voice as though he was being slandered in the worst possible manner. But then, he quickly shifted to a more accusatory tone. And finally, he changed the subject.


    "Oh, I did think about it!"


    Obviously, Cao Yun wasn''t duped by Dian Mo''s words. Unfortunately, he had made a deal with him, swearing on his Dao Heart. Breaking such an oath could damage his mind so much that it would form inner demons even he couldn''t contain. Besides, he had to admit that Dian Mo had indeed concealed his meridians and Dantian. Without him, the entire Sand Wolves Tribe would have been made aware that he was a human. And with the recent developments, things would have been much worse...


    "I have many doubts, but being indecisive won''t help me at all. Like you, I have no desire to die, not until I''ve saved my sister. In fact, even after that, I do not intend to die either. So instead of trying to change my mind, think of ways to help me. Right now, you''re just creating more doubts in me, that won''t be helpful at all. In fact, it could even hinder me, couldn''t it?"


    "Tss! Fine... But I have nothing for you, kid. Your stealth is as good as it gets. But I can''t tell what ways those Sisters have."


    "Shouldn''t you know more about demons than I do?"


    "Of course I know more. But those Sisters didn''t exist when Demon God Da Mo made me. In fact, this entire place didn''t exist, not in this form at least, before the Great War."


    "And you know nothing of this Weaver of Souls?"


    "I only know what you do. He was an underling of Da Mo. There really is nothing much to say about him apart from that."


    Although he wasn''t fully convinced, Cao Yun couldn''t detect any falsehood from Dian Mo. However, that didn''t mean he was telling the truth. He could simply be that good with lies. Besides, Dian Mo was quite literally within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness so he had probably gotten used to his mind. In other words, he should be better than most when it came to duping the young human.


    Anyway, now that Cao Yun was so close to the Oasis of Life, he wasn''t going to leave with nothing. Hopefully, he could salvage parts of his plan with Boss Gui and the Blazing Swallow. At the end of the day, he simply wanted to leave the Desolate Sepulcher to save his sister. Even though he had wanted to get rid of, or at least diminish, the slave trade, he was painfully aware that he was insignificant for the moment. Without enough strength, he had to resort to petty plots.

 Chapter 572: Entering the Monastery of Bliss and Repose

    As much as he sincerely wanted to help Xixue, Cao Yun knew he had also chosen this course because the Sisters of the Abyss might hold the key for him to get more strength. Indeed, the Weaver of Souls was most likely the one who had written the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual he had found. This manual had given him so much that the Weaver of Souls could be considered is grandmaster. But he might be able to get even more from him through the Sisters of the Abyss.


    Although he had still some attachments to the Desolate Sepulcher, they were few. Apart from Xixue and those working for his Blazing Swallow, he had no real reason to care. Yes, he wanted to halt the slave trade because as a descendant of the human enslaved by Demon God Da Mo, he was repulsed by such a barbaric practice. But he also knew that he wouldn''t be able to change everything with his meager strength, he could only help them a little. Hell, he had even allied himself with a slaver, Boss Gui. Both his Unclean Evil and Stinking Lungs had grown stronger through the shame and feeling of moral corruption he had been filled with. Even if he slowed down or even ended the slave trad with the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, demons would probably still resort to slavery as a form of punishment, or a way to pay off debts or simply earn money by selling one''s children or relatives.


    Besides, Cao Yun''s goal wasn''t to help these demons. He wanted to go home, to see his sister again, and to strike down the traitor of the entire human race, Emperor Weide.


    After his failure among the Sand Wolves Tribe, Cao Yun knew that his best way to get back to the main continent and the Hongchen Kingdom was to fully commit with Boss Gui. He should help her to snuff out City Lord Sihe and become the most influential city lord in the Nalupu Kingdom. With her as an ally, it would be easy for him to arrange for a boat in order to cross the Divine Blood Ocean. From what he had heard, this Divine Blood Ocean was full of dangerous demonic beasts. Although they were not necessarily as strong as those one could find in the Desolate Dune Desert, they were much more dangerous. Indeed, they could sink a boat. In fact, even flying boats or demonic beasts could be attacked by those monsters. And in the ocean, they had an unfair advantage.


    Only the Nalupu Kingdom''s navy had the necessary knowledge and competence to cross this ocean. Even them could not ensure that every boat would reach God''s Land. Many boats, and with them many lives, had been lost already. However, the trade was simply too lucrative for anyone to stop it.


    Thinking about that, Cao Yun already felt ill helping Boss Gui who was torturing her slaves in order to make them more compliant before rewarding them with strength through poison to make them grateful and obedient. And he should help her even more. He should let go of all his disgust and corrupt himself even more. No, he didn''t want that. Even if he found his sister, he wouldn''t be able to sustain her gaze. How would he be any different from Emperor Weide or any common demonic cultivator? He wouldn''t be. Using others, even demons, for one''s personal gain as though they were mere objects, simple commodities, cattle, was the Evil path. Considering his plight, he could accept to negotiate with his conscience a little, but he had red lines he would never cross. Although he couldn''t define them clearly, he was feeling as though he was sailing dangerous close to them.


    Strangely enough, Cao Yun even welcomed this new adventure. Hopefully, Xixue was safe and the Sisters of the Abyss were not a threat. But he wasn''t too optimistic. After all, they often bought slaves, mostly young girls or women with good bloodlines. Even if no one knew precisely what they were doing with them, many were never seen again. Some undoubtedly became Sisters of the Abyss themselves. The others were said to serve the Sisters even in death. Although nothing was confirmed, Cao Yun could imagine that they were not buying slaves just to free them, as he had done several times.


    Finally, after walking through the desert without leaving any trace behind him, Cao Yun reached the outskirt of the Oasis of Life. Using his entire cultivation to back up his stealth technique, he entered the sacred city. Even from afar, he could see the Monastery of Bliss and Repose where the Sisters of the Abyss were. It was almost certain that Xixue and her sister Yinl¨¹ were there. However, Cao Yun was cautious and didn''t get too close to the monastery just yet. Instead, he walked all over the place, staying in the outer ring of the Oasis of Life.


    Since the city itself was forming an almost perfect circle, it was divided in several rings with the Monastery of Bliss and Repose at its very center. It was as though life had been gushed forth from the monastery itself.


    Walking around for several hours, Cao Yun had a thorough map of the place. His goal was simply to secure several roads out of this place in case of emergency. Although he didn''t intend to grab Xixue and run just yet, he was erring on the cautious side. For the time being, he merely wanted to get as much information as he could. Only later would he try to formulate a plan to get Xixue out, if need be. In fact, Cao Yun even set up a few array formation flags. For the moment, they were not forming any array formations, but he got ready. With one more flag at the right position, he could suddenly form a few array formations. Until this time, no one would be able to sense them at all since they weren''t there.


    Apart from those flags, he also set up runes. This time, Dian Mo was a bit more useful than usual. After all, his life was also on the line. Since he had given up on convincing Cao Yun to cease his foolishness, he decided to help him in order to increase his chances of survival.


    Once everything was ready, the young human made his way toward the Monastery of Bliss and Repose.


    -


    Within the monastery, the High Mother suddenly called Sister Lisha in. The woman knew that this moment would soon come. So she had been waiting and preparing herself. In less than ten seconds, she was in front of the High Mother. This time, they weren''t in the Motherly Hall where all official matters where handled. No, they were both in the personal quarters of the High Mother. Thus, they could let go of pretenses and decorum.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    High Mother Qin Xue wasn''t wearing her ceremonial clothes but a much more plain robe with a few red patterns reminiscent of very stylized bloodstains. Despite the more relaxed atmosphere, there was still an almost suffocating aura around Qin Xue. When she was in the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, she was always surrounded by a thick odor of blood. The younger Sisters always needed a lot of time to get used to it. Sister Lisha didn''t even notice it.


    In her room, there were many paintings and calligraphy masterpieces. In fact, her quarters almost looked like the hall of an art exhibition. Women were dancing in various strange postures on engravings with a few characters that were clearly not written in Moshenhua. If Cao Yun had been there, he would have been shocked to recognize Antique Sixian. Eons had slightly changed the script but there was no mistaking Cleansed Asura''s language.


    "Sister Lisha, how is Xixue doing?"


    "Her sister did a very good job. Xixue has already advanced to ''Weaving of the Scarlet Thread''. In two to three years, she should be ready for the Blood Abyss. However, it might be wise to keep her as a Sister. Are you sure that she should follow the ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' path? She seems to be as talented as her sister..."


    Since they were in private, Sister Lisha had no problem questioning High Mother Qin Xue''s orders, something she would never do in the Motherly Hall. And High Mother Qin Xue didn''t seem to mind either. In fact, this was why she had chosen to have this conversation here, among other reasons.


    "Would Junior Sister Yinl¨¹ betray us otherwise?"


    "No! Junior Sister Yinl¨¹ is absolutely loyal to the Weaver of Souls and to our Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Even if we were to ask her to lay down her own life, she would deem it a great honor and do so without any complaint. But this is undeniable that Xixue''s presence is pushing her to perform even better. I don''t necessarily see the benefit in sending her to the Blood Abyss. I do believe that she should follow her sister''s example and practice the ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation''."


    "Lisha, I spared Junior Sister Yinl¨¹''s life, not because of her talent which can be found in many other girls, or her bloodline which is tainted, but because you petitioned for it so intently. You took a liking to this little girl and I indulged you. However, the Blood Abyss needs sustenance. We can''t let down the Weaver of Souls. He might rise yet again if we nourish his blood with enough care. Since you claim that this Xixue is as talented as her sister, I will let you choose. Either Junior Sister Yinl¨¹ or this Xixue, which one should follow the ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' path? I think I know your answer already..."


    Indeed, in front of such a choice, Sister Lisha had no doubt. Honestly, she had sacrificed many young girls, some with much more potential than those two sisters together. That being said, she had indeed taken a liking to Junior Sister Yinl¨¹ and she was trying to find a way to spare her some pain. Reuniting her with her sister just to have her sacrificed a few years later seemed unnecessarily cruel.


    "But, High Mother, wouldn''t Mo Yun be a good enough offering?"


    "Yes, he will be. But no matter what his mysterious bloodline is, it won''t be enough. Prepare Xixue well, but also prepare her sister. Junior Sister Yinl¨¹ will be the one who offers her to the Blood Abyss."


    Hearing those last words, even Sister Lisha was shocked. This time, High Mother Qin Xue''s tone was different. Sister Lisha knew her enough to understand that there was no discussing this final order. Besides, no matter her personal doubts, she had blind faith in her High Mother.


    "I understand, High Mother. You intend to test her devotion to our order... She will not disappoint, I can swear to that. What about Mo Yun though? According to my calculations, he should soon arrive."


    High Mother let out a small laugh. The tattoo on her head shined with a bright red hue.


    "He''s entered our monastery a few moments ago. I have to admit that his stealth is extremely impressive. If I wasn''t waiting for him, I might really have missed him. Unfortunately for the fool, you gave me a glimpse at his bloodline. It is indeed extraordinary. It''s really a pity he''s a male... Otherwise, I would have trained him in the ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. He could have become such a powerful sacrifice... Truly a shame..."


    Hearing that Cao Yun had entered the Monastery of Bliss and Repose without her knowing about it, Sister Lisha was once more shocked.


    "High Mother, pardon my incompetence. I will alert the guards right away!"


    "Stop! Everything is fine. His journey should lead him straight to the Blood Abyss. Once he''s there, I will deal with him personally. There is no need for you or anyone else to be involved in this mess. Although he lacks the preparation and the proper training, his bloodline should still be enough to satiate the Waver of Souls for some time. In fact, it should nourish it more than a thousand demons. Maybe this Xixue could live for a few decades if everything''s going well. For the next week, no one is to be allowed within the Blood Abyss under penalty of death."


    "Yes, High Mother."


    -


    During this time, Cao Yun was indeed walking through the corridors of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. There were only women, of all ages. Even the servants were women too. No man was allowed in the monastery. The only notable exception had been Lord Wanghuo. Otherwise, if males were to visit the Sisters of the Abyss, they always met outside of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Even High Mother Qin Xue had a residence specially made for such a purpose.


    Among the vast and splendid gardens, many girls were performing a form of dance. One older woman was leading them. Clearly, they were learning some form of martial art. The technique appeared quite bizarre to Cao Yun. One instant, they were moving so slow that they seemed perfectly immobile. The next instant, they were moving with incredible speed and strength. Such a way of alternating slow and fast movements was having an effect on their blood. During the training, a couple girls collapsed. No one seemed to care about them at all. After a few minutes, they finally stood up once more and simply resumed their training.


    Cao Yun realized that the youngest girls had their heads shaven. Other women had also the same "hair style". Thus, he wasn''t too sure what the significance of this was. However, the older women with shaven head also had a few tattoos on their head. Maybe they were meant to represent some kind of achievement or rank.


    Anyway, Cao Yun wasn''t too interested in this right now. But he still observed them for a long time in order to get as much information as he could. Given what he had seen, it was possible that Xixue would be shaven as well. But this wouldn''t confuse Cao Yun at all.


    Soon, the young man heard some of the women talk about a newcomer. Listening intently, he understood that they were indeed talking about Xixue as they mentioned her sister Yinl¨¹, calling her ''Junior Sister''. So Yinl¨¹ had really become a full-fledged member of the Sisters of the Abyss.

 Chapter 573: The Blood Abyss

    Unbeknownst to him, Cao Yun was following a specific trail that had been laid out for him. Although he was convinced that he was acting on his own accord, there were invisible forces drawing him nearer and nearer to their dark intent. From the very moment he had entered the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, High Mother Qin Xue had sensed him. Even now, as he was stealthily walking through the corridors to spy on the Sisters of the Abyss, her senses were on him. There was nothing he could do, nowhere he could run. Cao Yun was already trapped but he simply didn''t know it.


    The only reason why High Mother Qin Xue didn''t directly attack him was to avoid causing a scene. She would rather have him dealt with in secret. Since no one other than her could detect him, the young man was making her job easier. It was as though the lamb had come with the hatchet for its own slaughter. There was no scenario in which Cao Yun could escape or survive. Thus, High Mother Qin Xue was very calm and even found the situation amusing.


    Honestly speaking, she was sincerely astounded by his stealth technique. If only Cao Yun had been a real Accomplished Demon or a Spirit Warrior, he might have been able to fool even her. The Sisters of the Abyss had a very high affinity with blood and yet, his own bloodline was almost concealed from her senses. Sister Lisha had caught some glimpses of it a few times. Although High Mother Qin Xue didn''t know what it was exactly, she could tell that it was ancient beyond belief, maybe even predating Demon God Da Mo and the Weaver of Souls themselves. This truly was a pity that Cao Yun was a male, and a human too. Otherwise, she was sure that she could have refined this bloodline further before offering it to the Blood Abyss.


    Deciding not to dwell on it, High Mother Qin Xue observed as Cao Yun was getting dangerously close to Xixue''s quarters. She had given orders to isolate her until this situation was resolved. Using her own spiritual senses, she was subtly influencing Cao Yun but also giving instructions to the Sisters. That way, she could control everything Cao Yun heard, giving him precisely the information she wanted so he would follow the trail meant for him. And it worked so well this wasn''t even funny.


    Before long, Cao Yun found himself in a large room directly under the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Despite his powerful mind cultivation, the young human realized that he had no real recollection of how he had gotten here in the first place. He had been following some clue in order to find out where Xixue was. One thing led to the next and then there he was. The room was extremely vast, full of intricate and beautiful sculptures. Although he didn''t know who they were, statues were clearly representing some demon gods or sages. Most of them were females but not all of them.


    The ground was made of rock with very complex carvings in it. But what really caught Cao Yun''s attention were wells. Everywhere, there were deep wells from which a thick odor of blood was exuding. In this room, the entire air was saturated with the stench of blood. But along with it also came a rich vitality. Even Cao Yun''s Drop of Wrath reacted to it. From the outside, heavy doors were preventing any of this atmosphere from leaking outside. But once he was inside, his Drop of Wrath seemed to be overjoyed, ready to devour everything. Besides, he also got a sense of familiarity from some of the statues. His mind cultivation was circulating by itself just after looking at some of them, just like what happened each time he used the calligraphy Sister Lisha had wanted.


    Cao Yun got closer to some of those statues. At last, he saw seven statues across the room he hadn''t noticed at first. They were not demons, nor humans, not even demonic beasts. Seeing them, there was no mistake possible, they were Turbid Demons personified. In fact, Cao Yun recognized the Flying Poison right away. It was riddled with protruding bones covered in eerie green hair. Three bony tails were circling him. In fact, they were so lifelike that they felt as though they really were moving. The statue itself could have jumped toward Cao Yun and he wouldn''t have been surprised.


    Then, the other statues were clearly the six other Turbid Demons. But before he had any time to really study them, he felt a suffocating aura all around him. In an instant, his seven apertures and his 361 acupoints were completely sealed. Cao Yun couldn''t move at all, not even to breathe. While observing the statues, he had become one. As though controlled by invisible strings, he rose into the air. Before he could get to grips with the reality of his situation, the young man was levitating above the largest well in the room. Below his feet, he could somewhat see the surface of the liquid in the well. Since he couldn''t move his head in the slightest, he didn''t have a perfect view, but this was enough for him.


    The well was filled with blood obviously. Below Cao Yun, said blood was almost boiling. Falling into this well wouldn''t be a good thing at all.


    As he was still perfectly paralyzed, Cao Yun was trying to mobilize all of his cultivation, but to no avail. When he used his blood cultivation, his very bloodstream turned cold, so cold that moving his blood around became torture. When he used his Qi cultivation, his meridians suddenly shrank and a stabbing pain assaulted all of his acupoints. When he used his mind cultivation, his sea of consciousness got covered in a red mist fogging his mind. There was nothing he could do at all.


    Suddenly, all his clothes were ripped away from him. Even his spatial ring was taken away from him. Thankfully, he had left his main spatial ring with Hongyu, along with his most prized possessions, like the paintings of his family. In this spatial ring were only ingredients, tools, supplies and his weapons. Moreover, there were also seals on it. It wouldn''t be easy for anyone to look what was inside of it. Of course, right now, this wasn''t his main concern. There was no doubt that he had been attacked by a late Accomplished Demon.


    Finally, High Mother Qin Xue appeared in front of him. Just like Cao Yun, she was floating in the air. This time, she had adorned her ceremonial red and golden robe. With a small dagger in hand, she recited a few mantras, made several mudras and then began to cut into Cao Yun''s flesh. The wounds were extremely shallow, just enough to let out some blood. Even High Mother Qin Xue had to exert a tremendous amount of strength to pierce through Cao Yun''s skin. For an Accomplished Demon, this wasn''t much, but an early Spirit Warrior would have had a tough time injuring him with such a light weapon. Besides, his wounds would have closed almost instantly. Because she was suppressing his blood cultivation and using her own, he could recover.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Soon enough, Cao Yun was covered in bloody runes carved directly into his skin and flesh. In his mind, there was no doubt about what High Mother Qin Xue was doing. She was preparing a sacrifice. The entire time, she didn''t talk to him, as though he was already dead. Only at the end did she acknowledge his existence.


    "Boy, this is such a pity that I couldn''t train you more. As a human practicing blood cultivation, you would have so many secrets for us. But I only care about the blood hidden in your very heart. Although I''d like to rip it away from you, I realize that it wouldn''t work at all. This blood would destroy me as it is. So I have no other alternative. You will feed the Blood Abyss, the blood pool of our god, the Weaver of Souls. Do not worry, your death, albeit incredibly painful, will be rather quick. Besides, you will serve a most holy purpose.


    "And so you can die in peace, the girl you were looking for, Xixue, she will join you soon enough. Unlike you, we can train her so she becomes a most appropriate sacrifice. If your blood nourishes the Blood Abyss well enough, she might live longer. Think about that..."


    Without further ado, High Mother Qin Xue dropped the young man. As if a puppet whose strings had been cut, he fell into the well down below. Finally able to move, he still couldn''t do anything since he couldn''t fly. He couldn''t use his cultivation right away either as his body was recovering from the shock. However, he had no time to do so as he body entered the pool of blood.


    Instantly, he felt a terrifying pain. It was even worse than the lava pool Dian Mo had sent him to during the trials of the Palace of Wisdom. There was an insane heat assaulting his entire body. From his wounds, the blood from the pool tried to enter his flesh and got mixed in within his own bloodstream. Cao Yun had never felt such an intense pain. For several minutes, that almost turned into hours, he fell down the pool of blood. This excruciating torture almost broke his spirit, but it didn''t. However, the young man was forced to circulate his entire mind cultivation. In particular, he focused on the Chamber of Medicine Field of his Upper Dantian.


    Within the blood pool, even High Mother Qin Xue''s influence couldn''t reach him. But it wasn''t really a problem for her as the blood was going to devour him in mere instants. And she was perfectly right. The blood all around him entered through the runes she had carved in his flesh. Within his bloodstream, there was now a devouring force, avid of his blood. No matter what he tried to do, he couldn''t counter it. Even though he had regained the control of his full cultivation, this was just too strong and violent for him to do anything. It was as a raging storm had entered his veins, everything was being swept away.


    This blood had a tinge of the intent he had felt within the desert, but it was much more diluted. Besides, it seemed to have been completely corrupted, mixed in with so many different bloodlines that it had gone out of control. Although the intent had no consciousness, it was as though it had gone insane and berserk, devouring everything. As soon as Cao Yun touched the blood, it became even more vicious than usual. It was as though it had sensed the same familiarity from Cao Yun too. And now, it wanted to cleanse itself of its impurities by devouring the man from which the sensation emanated.


    As his flesh was quite literally being devoured, it was trying to heal and reform itself. Thanks to his blood cultivation, his flesh was indeed full of vitality. His very veins were reforming a bit slower than they were being consumed. Thus, some of the intruding blood left his bloodstream and attacks other tissues such as his muscles and bones. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s Golden Blood was so heavy that it was not leaving his body. Besides, the pressure from the Blood Abyss itself preventing his wounds from bleeding out. The problem was not blood coming out but blood coming in.


    Feeling the Drop of Wrath, the blood from the well headed toward his heart where the physical Drop of Wrath was. Obviously, as soon as this corrupted blood entered his heart, the pain almost killed Cao Yun. If he had not been using his mind cultivation already, the pain would have knocked him out for good.


    When finally, the blood reached his Drop of Wrath, everything changed. The corrupted blood had found its tastiest meal and it sank its teeth into it. A massive surge of blood from the pool invaded Cao Yun''s body. Using everything he had, Qi, spiritual senses, blood runes, the young man tried to keep it away from the Drop of Wrath. Too weak and completely submerged by this Blood Abyss, he failed. However, the very moment the corrupted made contact with the Drop of Wrath, the prey and the predator exchanged their role.


    All of a sudden, the corrupted blood tried to flee from the Drop of Wrath, saving Cao Yun''s life. Some of the blood that was too close to it couldn''t react in time. A large quantity of this corrupted blood got sucked in the Drop of Wrath in an instant. Unfortunately, the corrupted blood still stayed within Cao Yun''s body, eating away at his flesh everywhere it could.


    Cao Yun''s Lower Dantian was thankfully protected by his Qi cultivation as a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. His Middle Dantian had been under too much strain to protect itself because the corrupted blood had been attracted by the Drop of Wrath. Ironically, what had attracted so much fury was also the reason why Cao Yun''s Middle Dantian and heart were safe. Some of the corrupted blood even tried to enter his Upper Dantian, his head and his brain. After seeing what the Drop of Wrath had done, Cao Yun focused all of his mind cultivation on it. His entire sea of consciousness turned into a red sea and the image of Axiu Qian appeared. From his three heads, only two eyes opened. But they shone a golden light that imbued his sea of consciousness. Cao Yun''s spiritual senses were enough to keep the corrupted blood away from his mind, but it wasn''t powerful enough to protect his entire body.


    Still tormenting by his flesh being devoured and reformed at the same time, Cao Yun could barely think and was acting out of instinct. By then, most of his mind had retreated within his sea of consciousness. However, it wasn''t as safe as he had thought.


    Because his entire being was under assault, it gave an opening to his Turbid Demons. Although Flying Poison was fully under his control, Unclean Evil and Stinking Lungs were not. Since he had cultivated the two of them at the same time and had reached completion for neither of them, both were a threat to him. Deprived of intelligence, they still reacted to Cao Yun''s moment of weakness.


    Just like his Flying Poison, they both appeared in his sea of consciousness and started to take on a monstrous form.

 Chapter 574: Unclean Evil

    In Cao Yun''s body, the Blood Abyss was wreaking havoc. It was attracted to his Drop of Wrath like a moth to a flame. But this blood seemed to be smarter than a moth as it was avoiding the Drop of Wrath itself, or maybe it was preventing the blood from getting too close to Cao Yun''s heart. Honestly, Cao Yun had no time to think much about it. He was thankful that his life was safe for now. However, the pain and torment were unbearable. Indeed, the Blood Abyss had invaded all of his flesh, almost everywhere in his body. Even his Dantian were under assault as were his meridians and vessels.


    If Cao Yun''s Qi cultivation had been weaker, he would have died as his meridians, Dantian and even Extraordinary Vessels would have been consumed by this blood. Thankfully, he was literally working on tempering his meridians and had even begun to improve on his vessels even though it was the point of his next cultivation grade. As his meridians were being corroded, the world tree''s seed acted upon. Throughout his entire body, his meridians and vessels became as the roots of the world tree he had seen in Cleansed Asura''s inner world. Until now, he had mostly used it to temper his meridians using Water Qi, Fire Qi and the Wood element of the seed. But now, it was acting on its own to protect itself, also strengthening his meridians in the process. That being said, his meridians were being slowly devoured, but just like the rest of his flesh, they were being healed faster than they could be damaged.


    In fact, Cao Yun''s meridians were healed much faster than his flesh thanks to this world tree''s energy. The Blood Abyss was not even able to penetrate his meridians, vessels or Dantian. Thus, the young human would be safe for much longer, as long as he could withstand the intense pain.


    This intense pain was precisely what had allowed his Turbid Demons to go out of control completely. His sea of consciousness had turned entirely red. Not only was the sea made of blood, even the sky had a crimson shade as though the stars themselves had bled. The Drop of Wrath had fully manifested the form of Axiu Qian. With his two shining golden eyes, he was observing as the Turbid Demons were fully manifesting themselves.


    The Unclean Evil had taken on a physical appearance in Cao Yun''s mind. Even though everything within his sea of consciousness was just a form of mental representation, a very real smell assaulted Cao Yun''s senses. It was worse than everything he had ever smelled as it was not from the physical world. Unable to fully describe it, he would have resorted to colorful images such as rotting corpses and feces of the most horrid kind. Such a stench was arguably worse than the pain he was suffering through. At least, it distracted him from it for a few seconds. But the physical pain of having his flesh, his very muscles, burned away and regrown over and over again was simply too intense to be forgotten long.


    A large portion of the blood sea turned gray and brownish as a form of black sludge emerged from it. At first, it was a shapeless blob slowly rising to the surface of the water. Soon though, it began to assume the form of a tall and slender creature. It barely looked human as it was completely deformed with proportions that didn''t make any sense at all. Although it was extremely tall, its arms were way too long with a couple joints too many. At the end of those arms, there were incredibly long talons. Fully yellow and rotten, those talons were partially immersed in the black sludge covering the sea under the creature.


    That sludge was still falling from the emaciated body of the tall creature, so much so that it was difficult to make out if it had skin, fur, scales or even his facial features. From what looked like his face, there were only two yellowish lights piercing through the blackish horrid sludge. Unlike the golden lights of Axiu Qian''s eyes, this yellow color seemed sickly. On the long spine of the creature, there were thousands of spikes, some very small and some incredibly long, as much as his talons.


    When it finally moved, it let out of deep growl. Even its mouth was impossible to see through the black sludge covering its body. But as it screamed, the Unclean Evil spread the disgusting smell everywhere within Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Any mortal would have fainted if they had smelled or seen such a creature in real life. In fact, the pain assaulting Cao Yun was paradoxically helping him distract himself from such a sight. In particular, it was helping him forget that this abomination was in fact a literal part of his soul. It was the form of his perverted Po of Qi, distorted by his feelings of shame. And he had much shame indeed.


    Fortunately, the Stinking Lungs was not fully formed yet as Cao Yun had worked on it for a shorter time. That being said, that third Turbid Demon was undoubtedly starting to take on a physical appearance too. Before long, Cao Yun knew he would have to deal with the two of them at the same time. Clearly, working on two Turbid Demons had been a bad decision. But this had not been the worse decision he had made recently...


    "Brat, look at what you''ve done! Your stupidity caused this and now we''re both going to die! You know what?! I refuse to die with you, stupid brat!"


    Dian Mo''s Palace of Supreme Wisdom suddenly grew. It was now the size of the real Palace of Supreme Wisdom Cao Yun had seen in the Wubei Sect. Besides, it was floating in the red sky and being reflected in the blood sea below. It had completely left the Nine Soul Peaks but was still towering over Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness in its very center.


    "This Drop of Wrath is the only thing keeping your body alive at the moment. But it seems like your very soul won''t survive for long. Leave me the blood of this ancient asura and I swear that I''ll rip apart your enemy. Emperor Weide will die by my hands. And I can even promise to spare your sister and our friends any pain."


    "Old geezer, you think I''m stupid?! I''ve known who you were for some time now. You''re not Dian Mo! You''re Demon King Mo Wang!"


    From the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, a strange fire burned as though a lantern. From this flame, an evil and maniacal laugh erupted.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "Brat, you''re absolutely correct. Still, Dian Mo is not completely gone yet. As such, attacking me would be like attacking him and you made a vow not to injure him at all. You vowed on your Dao Heart. If you try to break this vow, the backlash will be so severe that you will have no chance at all against even a single Turbid Demon. Brat, think about it. You''re going to die, this is a given. But if you surrender your gifts to me, I can survive and make your vengeance a reality."


    Unfortunately, Demon King Mo Wang''s words were true. If Dian Mo had been completely destroyed, Cao Yun would have felt it for sure. Thus, he was just barely alive. In fact, Mo Wang had probably been unable to kill him so he had just subdued him. Besides, Mo Wang had nothing to do. Cao Yun''s soul was under attack by a part of itself. If he just waited long enough, he could take over Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness just like he had taken over Dian Mo. Most likely, he was just hoping to get it as fast as possible so he would increase his chances of survival. Indeed, despite his words, Cao Yun could feel desperation in his tone. Even he wasn''t sure he could survive, and that didn''t fill Cao Yun with confidence.


    Before he could answer anything, Cao Yun was forced to divert all of his attention toward the Unclean Evil. Although it was far from Axiu Qian, it raised its arms. Its talons were so long that they immediately could pierce through Axiu Qian''s figure. They even lacerated the Nine Soul Peaks, leaving imprints in them and cutting apart some of the green roots from the world tree. As a result, Cao Yun''s meridians suffered instantly as the world tree''s vitality flickered. Even his Upper Dantian was seized by acute pain.


    Axiu Qian''s chest was literally pierced by those talons. Without any hesitation, he grabbed them and broke them apart. With some fragments of them in hand, he threw them toward the Unclean Evil. Without any reaction, the Turbid Demon received them both in its head and chest too. They simply disappeared within the black sludge. From its arms, the black sludge flowed over its broken talons and they grew longer and longer once more.


    From Axiu Qian''s six arms, various weapons appeared. Before he could use any of them though, the black sludge suddenly erupted from Unclean Evil and stuck to the red body of the asura, infecting him with its pestilence. Unlike Unclean Evil who seemed to be almost immobile, Axiu Qian moved suddenly. His speed was incredible and he suddenly appeared behind his enemy. With a cudgel, he struck the head of the Turbid Demon. Its head literally caved in as the cudgel went all the way to the ocean below. However, its body turned into black sludge and mud. It was as though Axiu Qian had struck a kind of viscous liquid.


    As this black ooze was spilling under Axiu Qian, it began to crawl all over his legs. Before he could do anything, something else happened to Cao Yun. Because Cao Yun was now fully connected to his Drop of Wrath, the mental projection of Axiu Qian was also affected. The more Cao Yun was using his Drop of Wrath, the more violent the Blood Abyss was getting. By the time he was manifesting the full version of Axiu Qian, the Blood Abyss was in a frenzy, trying to invade his body.


    Cao Yun''s flesh was being consumed faster and faster. As a consequence, his blood cultivation and even his Qi cultivation were pushed to their limits just to regrow his tissues. In order to do so of course, Cao Yun was consuming large quantities of his own Qi and blood. As much as both were extremely dense, he would never be able to keep it up forever. His only chance was to either leave or to learn to absorb the Blood Abyss itself. And leaving was impossible as High Mother Qin Xue would sense anything erupting from the pits.


    At the time however, Cao Yun was just to busy keeping his mind in check. He was literally attacked on all fronts and was acting out of despair. If Dian Mo could help him, he would have had a better chance, but he now knew the truth he had feared for some time. Even if Demon King Mo Wang had not attacked him directly, the young man knew that he was simply waiting for the right opportunity. And Cao Yun couldn''t really divert his attention while Unclean Evil was attacking him and Stinking Lungs'' threat was looming over his head.


    The Blood Abyss was clearly trying to destroy his body to finally break the Drop of Wrath free from him. Indeed, if Cao Yun was dead, the Drop of Wrath would become without a master, ripe for the taking. By fully controlling the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun had paradoxically made it less difficult to be taken from him. But it wasn''t easy either. After all, Cao Yun would use all the strength of the Drop of Wrath, even if he had to consume all of it.


    As the Unclean Evil''s taint was spreading through both Axiu Qian''s figure and Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness, he could literally feel his shame as though it was a disgusting taste in his mouth and a repulsive smell in his nose. The sensation was physical as well as emotional. He remembered all those who had died for him. He remembered all his poor decisions, all the heinous acts he had let happen around him because he was weak and afraid to act.


    "Brat, this shame will devour you alive. This is your last chance. Surrender yourself to me and I can even preserve some part of your soul."


    "Humph! Are you really trying to convince me or are you just trying to instill doubt in me so that I feel even more shame?! My Dao Heart won''t be swayed by your ridiculous words! As a demonic cultivator, you have no idea what shame is. Unlike you, I have a sense of propriety. Shame is a perfectly natural and healthy emotion to have. In fact, I am glad not to be a shameless old geezer like you. The day I don''t feel shame is the day I should reflect on myself the most."


    "Brat, big words for someone being devoured by his own Turbid Demons! I got rid of your Dian Mo, I''ll get rid of you. In fact, I have nothing to do but to wait. If you''re too stupid to accept my proposal, I''ll just watch as your very soul is perverted. Struggle, brat, struggle. The weaker your Turbid Demon is after devouring you, the easier it will be for me to subdue him and take over your body."


    Unfortunately, Demon King Mo Wang was right with his last remark. Even if Cao Yun won against his Turbid Demons, the old spirit would simply need to wait long enough. As long as he destroyed Cao Yun''s mind before his body was too much damaged, he would win. Besides, Cao Yun would be too busy trying to survive to even try to fight Demon King Mo Wang. Moreover, he technically couldn''t attack Dian Mo''s remnant without breaking his vow and risking some serious mental damage.


    In other words, Cao Yun was in a very terrible position. However, it wasn''t hopeless. As shame was spreading through him, Cao Yun also remembered all those times he had almost died and had survived anyway. Dian Mo was not completely dead either. And Cao Yun had realized that something was wrong with him for some time now. Hopefully, his preparations would be enough.


    While he was still trying to resist the Unclean Evil, Cao Yun finally summoned his Flying Poison. From one of Axiu Qian''s six arms, the creature covered in green hair, almost looking like moss, flew in the air and dove toward his legs. With its bony tails, its claws and even its feet, the subdued Turbid Demon tried to get the black sludge off Axiu Qian''s red skin. At that moment, a shrilling sound echoed throughout Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness as Demon King Mo Wang was watching gleefully.

 Chapter 575: Stinking Lungs

    Flying Poison''s bones were sifting through the black mud. Soon he realized that this mud, this Unclean Evil, was in fact made of rotten flesh. It had rotten so much that it had turned into this disgusting black goo. And although he was doing everything he could to get it away from the figure of Axiu Qian, he ended up covering himself with it. The green moss on his protruding bones became coated in this taint.


    At the same moment, the source of the shrilling noise became apparent. The Stinking Lungs, the corrupted Po of Spirit, the incarnation of corruption, had formed a physical appearance too. Unlike the emaciated Unclean Evil, Stinking Lungs was bloated. It had very small legs and arms that were almost blue as if no blood circulated from them. On the other hand, its chest and throat were enormous. The skin itself looked as though it could burst at any moment. And it was deathly pale with some terrifying purple outgrowths over it. Because of its bloated throat, the pathetic creature could not even open its mouth. So the sound had come from somewhere else.


    Soon, the Stinking Lungs screamed once more as Cao Yun was focused on its form. At the moment air left its distorted chest, the young human realized where it was coming from. All over its distorted chest and throat, purple lacerations appeared and air and blood came out at once. The blood was extremely dark as the creature seemed to be always suffocating. When the sound came out of its deformed body again, the purple outgrowths also pulsated and a few of them finally burst, letting turbid air and blood out too.


    After the stench of the Unclean Evil assaulting Cao Yun''s nose, the shrilling sound from the Stinking Lungs was destroying his ears. Although everything was happening in his sea of consciousness, this was affecting his physical body all the same. Besides, he was also trying to fend off the savagery of the Blood Abyss.


    While Cao Yun was in intense pain and torment, Demon King Mo Wang was simply enjoying the show in his floating Palace of Supreme Wisdom. However, as much as he was trying to appear confident and arrogant, he too was afraid. To be fair, even if he got Cao Yun''s body, he wasn''t sure he could do anything at all in this situation. His best bet was indeed for the young man to give up as soon as possible. If only he could get his body fast enough, he might be able to survive. After all, he had been a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even though he had not been able to save all of his Spirit Embryo, he had fed off Dian Mo.


    If Demon King Mo Wang could get Cao Yun''s body, and especially his Drop of Wrath, he was convinced he could recover most of his cultivation. Besides, Cao Yun was also a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child. Thus, he might even become stronger than before. In those conditions, he should be able to tame all those Turbid Demons and even escape the Blood Abyss. But then, he would have to fight his way out of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose while being injured. To be honest, he wasn''t entirely sure he could do it and survive it all. If worse came to worst, he still had an ace up his sleeve to subdue the brat. Moreover, Dian Mo had finally stopped to resist him. Maybe he was afraid of being destroyed too. When everything was over, Demon King Mo Wang planned to annihilate all traces of Dian Mo and Cao Yun.


    While Flying Poison was covered in the black goo, the giant red asura protected him from the horrendous sounds of the Stinking Lungs. Throughout Cao Yun''s Upper Dantian, this upsetting melody was echoing in his nine chambers. Then, it even began to affect his thoughts and his very memories. Cao Yun''s only remedy was to hold on to his rage and ironically to his shame to preserve the nature of his memories. Both feelings were now completely intertwined.


    Finally, Cao Yun understood something. After having used the Weaver of Souls'' calligraphy, he had a better understanding of the seven Po, the Corporeal Souls. Within his Nine Soul Peaks, Cao Yun''s Five Agents got activated. The golden Insight Writings of his Dao of Spear also rotated around them as Shen the Fire Spirit was sending its flames all over the place. The bony Po character was bathed in flames and struck with Cao Yun''s golden runes. Suddenly, it shattered into countless pieces that formed floating disks around the seven smaller pieces representing its different aspects.


    As Cao Yun was circulating what little he had understood from the calligraphy, the Blood Abyss became even more violent, as though it was attracted to it. Unlike the sand of the desert, the intent within this blood turned much more eager to assault Cao Yun. Most likely, it had been corrupted by all the blood added to it to make it grow and prosper.


    Since he had no other choice, Cao Yun gritted his teeth. In fact, they cracked and blood filled his mouth. At the same time, the Blood Abyss was burning his face too. Cao Yun''s outward appearance was almost as terrifying as the Turbid Demons in his sea of consciousness. Indeed, his skin, muscles and even some organs, were constantly being consumed by the Blood Abyss while they were reforming themselves. Only his bones, heart, meridians and Dantian, were able to fully resist with almost no damage. Everything else was under constant assault. His pain was beyond belief.


    His current priority though was his mind. If he couldn''t get his Turbid Demons under control, there was nothing he could do. And for that, fighting them head-on wasn''t the best option. He also had to improve his understanding of them. After all, they were part of him, or rather, their influence was shaping him just as much as any other soul in him. Indeed, he had understood quite some time ago that everything he could identify as his self was in fact the product of a constant dialogue between his ten souls, the seven corporeal souls and the three ethereal ones, his Po and his Hun. As they were constantly in dialogue, those souls were evolving themselves and also being influence by the outside world. In fact, the actions they shaped also shaped them in return. A very complex cycle of cause and effect was always altering one''s self.


    Since his rage was literally mixed in with his shame, Cao Yun had a better grip on it. While Flying Poison was wrestling with the Unclean Evil, Cao Yun was wrestling with his emotions. Shame was indeed essential. Without shame, he could fully fall into depravity like any common demonic cultivator. On the other hand, letting shame fester and keep his morale down wasn''t good either. But he realized that his rage was only fueling his shame because his anger was turned inward. He despised himself for some of the things he had let happen, the people who had died right in front of him to save his life. His family had done so, but even Hongyu''s parents... damn, even Dian Mo in the end. Then, he also recalled all the torments suffered by the demon slaves. He might have prevented some of them but he didn''t because of his plans, using his weakness or his indecisiveness as cover.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    He knew that he didn''t have any good answer to any of those. But he shouldn''t turn this anger against himself. He should turn this anger against those who were truly responsible for those crimes. There was much he could not repair, but there was even more he could do in the future. Instead of being crushed by this shame, he should used it to motivate himself even more.


    At last, Cao Yun was able to weaken the Unclean Evil. As soon as it was weak enough, he didn''t hesitate. Thanks to Dian Mo, and sadly maybe Demon King Mo Wang a little, he had a very good grasp on seals. The very moment the Unclean Evil showed any sign of weakness, the Flying Poison clawed a seal in the black mud. The Insight Writings also drew various runes in the air while using the flames from Shen the Fire Spirit too. All those seals and runes completely subdued the Unclean Evil. It wasn''t yet under Cao Yun''s full control, but it was getting soon to it. In a few weeks, or months at worst, this second Turbid Demon would finally be subdued, pushing Cao Yun further on the third layer of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''.


    In the sky, Demon King Mo Wang wasn''t too pleased. Now, Cao Yun could deal with the Stinking Lungs. And his mind and soul were not that weakened by the previous fight. If things kept going on like this, he might miss his best opportunity. Maybe, he should act soon. There was some risk associated with it, but there was risk with any action or inaction he took at this point.


    As Cao Yun was about to take care of the Stinking Lungs, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom finally acted. Thousands of columns appeared all around his sea of consciousness. Although the palace itself was still floating in the air, it felt as though Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness itself had become the very palace. Before he could do anything against it, he felt nails piercing his bones. It felt as though his own Golden Blood had turned into countless needles sticking through his bones. This honestly wasn''t worse than the pain of the Blood Abyss, but it was a very different kind of excruciating pain.


    This time though, Cao Yun was ready for it. In fact, he had been ready for something like that for quite some time now. The moment Damon King Mo Wang activated the seals he had hidden within Cao Yun''s body when he had been unconscious, the boy followed suit. Indeed, he had observed those seals already. When the fake Dian Mo had gotten rid of him, Cao Yun didn''t trust him so he made sure to have some way to counteract them just in case. And thanks to his observation of Xixue''s body and the seals created by City Lord Sihe, he altered the seals he had created for his own blood cultivation.


    As soon as Demon King Mo Wang issued his command, those seals turned against him. Although they caused terrible pain to Cao Yun, the real victim was Demon King Mo Wang. In fact, if Cao Yun had not been so distracted and in such a terrible position, he shouldn''t have suffered anything. However, he couldn''t use his Drop of Wrath or even his cultivation systems as he saw fit at the moment. Anyway, Demon King Mo Wang truly was affected.


    The columns that had appeared in all corners of Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness crumbled into dust. The Palace of Supreme Wisdom was also full of cracks as bright green thorns pierced its walls. Cao Yun had weaponized the vitality of the world tree seed. And it had worked perfectly. Since he knew that the threat was a disembodied spirit, he had tailored his attack for that. After all, his promise to Dian Mo had entailed that he could hide himself and the outside world from him for some time every day. Cao Yun had used it well.


    "You can''t attack me!"


    "First of all, I didn''t, you just triggered a reaction. But more importantly, my vow is only to Dian Mo. Even though you keep him hostage, I have no reason not to attack you. If I hadn''t had to deal with those Turbid Demons, I would have attacked you already, idiot. I also promised Dian Mo that I would protect him by hiding his very existence and that I would help him get another body. As ii turns out, I do need to get rid of you for that to happen. If there is no way to save him from your clutches, I know for a fact that he wouldn''t want to become a prisoner like he had been for so long, am I right?"


    "Stupid brat! If you think, he can hear you, let alone answer you..."


    "Boy, go ahead! Destroy that bastard!"


    "What?!"


    A tiny ball of fire flickered for an instant within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. After that, both voices ceased. Suddenly, Cao Yun could tell that the two spirits were fighting for dominion once more. Apparently, the world tree''s attack had helped Dian Mo gain some ground. But his voice was so weak that there was little doubt as to his survival. Thus, Cao Yun couldn''t let him die for nothing. Although they had met as enemies, Dian Mo had certainly become a good friend. And today, he was going to die for good.


    The Unclean Evil acted up once more but thankfully, the Flying Poison kept it under check. The only real threat now was the Stinking Lungs. Cao Yun''s Spear Intent echoed throughout his sea of consciousness. As it sung hymns imbued with other understandings from Cao Yun, the many Insight Writings attacked the Stinking Lungs while the Five Agents were trying to quarantine it with the flames of Shen the Fire Spirit. Because flames were involved, the Rune of Fire also helped out. Fire was perfect against the Stinking Lungs. First of all, it was a representation of corruption and fire was often a representation of cleansing, just like water in some sense. However, the Stinking Lungs was also the corrupted form of the Po of Spirit, both related to Shen of course, but also to the Metal element. As such, Fire was perfect to melt and weaken it.


    Although it wouldn''t completely subdue the Stinking Lungs, it bought enough time. Axiu Qian grabbed the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Since its two occupants were busy fighting each other, he had no problem seizing it. His golden pupils shined through its darkness. The space within the palace was drowned in golden light. At that moment, Demon King Mo Wang finally flew out of it. It was a ball of darkness with five bat wings.


    The very moment it tried to escape, Axiu Qian''s remaining arms went for it and grabbed him. The giant red asura was trying to crush the last will of Demon King Mo Wang. Finally, Cao Yun was convinced he had some good grasp over his own mind. It was good considering that he still had to deal with the torture plaguing his physical body. However, Demon King Mo Wang''s remnant was not going to do down so easily.

 Chapter 576: Crushing palace

    "Stupid brat! If you think I''ll go down this easily, think again!"


    "Old geezer, I already devoured some of your blood essence, I''ll just have to devour your very soul now. You thought you could trick me, but despite your old age, you''re still too hasty. Apparently the fear of death is too strong even for you and you couldn''t resist it. If you had stayed within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, you would have been safe, moron."


    "What?!"


    "I had no intention of really crushing it. But I''ll definitely crush you!"


    "You...!"


    Demon King Mo Wang''s form changed. From a small of darkness, he turned into a giant bat. He had five black wings covered in red veins. Contrary to bats, his face was absolutely horrible. There were purple and red colors all over it and it had an air of hatred and disgust. From his mouth, this ethereal shape had hundreds of sharp fangs. Most were very small but so sharp that they could sink into the sturdiest metal. A few of them though were so large that they deformed his mouth. A couple of them even reached all the way to his navel.


    Flapping his wing, Demon King Mo Wang created powerful gusts of wind. Suddenly, this wind turned into blades going straight for both Axiu Qian, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom and even the Nine Soul Peaks. He truly wanted to thoroughly destroy Cao Yun. While the boy had to face him, he also had to fend off his physical torment and be cautious of the Stinking Lungs. Thankfully, Unclean Evil seemed to be tamed for the time being. But he didn''t want to give it enough time to become a problem again.


    In the bloody sky, the Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars shined through the red clouds. Their light was a bit altered but two great constellations were clearly visible, the Horn Constellation and the Neck Constellation. From the infinite sky, the image of a large azure dragon descended toward the ocean below. Only its head and horns were fully physical. The rest of its body was made of winds. It crashed toward the thousands of blades, trying to take them down. In this endeavor, it was aided by the golden Insight Writings from Cao Yun''s Spear Intent.


    Axiu Qian then tried to grab the giant bat. But the fight wouldn''t be so easy. Demon King Mo Wang opened his wings while chanting a mantra. Pure darkness spread from his shape all around Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Even the Azure Dragon and the golden Insight Writings had a hard time shining through this blackness. Pushing his Shen the Fire Spirit further and further, Cao Yun was trying to fight off this obscurity. In it, Demon King Mo Wang had become incredibly fast. On the other hand, Cao Yun could barely follow him as his very mind was being obscured.


    From the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, a gong echoed. The green thorns all over it shined brightly. For an instant, Demon King Mo Wang''s form was revealed from the darkness. Before Axiu Qian could seize him, he flew away, toward the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He dodged the fangs of the Azure Dragon and sent his own blades against Cao Yun''s Golden Writings. As flames were hurtled toward him, he closed his wings and stayed uninjured.


    Finally, he was about to enter into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom once more, ready to tear apart what remained of the weakened Dian Mo. Cao Yun''s counterattack against his seals had not only injured Demon King Mo Wang but also the already weakened Dian Mo. As such, it would be even easier for Demon King Mo Wang to kill him. Since he had already abandoned all pretenses, he had no reason to keep him alive. Now, he was decided on taking what he wanted from Cao Yun by force.


    Thankfully, Dian Mo was prepared as well. For months, he had suffered under the thrall of this pathetic human who had not even lived two thousand years. There was no way he was going to suffer one more instant. In fact, he would rather kill himself here and there rather than being bested by this stupid brat.


    Without any hesitation, Dian Mo used all of his strength. The Palace of Supreme Wisdom turned into a golden palace and literally flew toward the giant bat. Unable to avoid such a projectile, Demon King Mo Wang flapped his wings with all of his strength to create a wall of wind in front of him. Then, he closed his wings and recited many mantras. His wall of wind did nothing but dissipate when the golden palace flew through it. And then, it crashed into his wings, breaking them immediately. The bat was crushed by the base of the palace that suddenly came crashing down toward the ocean below.


    When it touched the surface of the ocean, its speed was so high that the water had turned into solid rock upon impact. Demon King Mo Wang''s wings were completely destroyed, bending at very weird angles all over the place. From his mouth, there was black blood and some of his fangs were shattered. On the other hand, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was covered in cracks. Some had appeared before the crash, but they had been made way worse. Even though it had turned to gold, it had been extremely damaged in that attack. In fact, Cao Yun could barely feel any vitality from it.


    "Boy, don''t waste your time... Crush that bastard for good..."


    "Dian Mo?!"


    Thankfully, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom endured but a terrifying silence had spread throughout Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. Dian Mo''s vitality was so low that Cao Yun wasn''t even sure whether he was dead or alive. At least, one thing was for sure, he was freed from Demon King Mo Wang. But he might have really died during this attack and the Palace of Supreme Wisdom might be his corpse. Still unsure, Cao Yun would not have any confirmation before some time.


    Determined not to let Dian Mo''s efforts go to waste, Axiu Qian''s figure grabbed Demon King Mo Wang. The broken bat could barely move. In fact, its only moves were probably just twitches. Without any hesitation, Axiu Qian''s five other red arms tore apart each wing at the same time. There wasn''t even any scream or moan escaping Demon King Mo Wang''s mouth. Instead of completely killing him right now, Cao Yun had an idea.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Since the Stinking Lungs was corruption itself, using a demonic cultivator to both strengthen and subdue it might be a good idea. Axiu Qian used all five wings as blades and hurtled them toward the Stinking Lungs. Under attack, the Turbid Demon tried to wail once more. Once again, it filled Cao Yun''s mind with pain and anxiety. However, the wings did go through the wall of wind caused by this wailing. And they pierced through the Stinking Lungs'' skin. Although the wounds weren''t too severe, it proved something to Cao Yun.


    After taking the long shattered fangs of Demon King Mo Wang, Axiu Qian attacked the Stinking Lungs. With one arm, he held Demon King Mo Wang''s broken body in front of him and it did shield him from the terrible noises of the Stinking Lungs. Finally, he stabbed the Turbid Demon in several places, completely pinning it down. Ripping some of the wings still in its flesh, Axiu Qian covered the Turbid Demon''s throat and chest with it, almost strangulating it. His main goal was to block the lacerations from which the wailing came from. And it did work.


    Now, both Turbid Demons were being subdued in their own way. Later on, Cao Yun would need to take care of them independently, but it would be so much easier. In fact, in four or five months, he would have completely subdued his first three Turbid Demons. Would remain Corpse Dog, the Po of Yin associated with fear, Fallen Arrow, the Po of Yang associated with aimlessness, Yin Bird, the Po of Heaven associated with anguish, and Devouring Robber, the Po of Earth associated with envy and resentment.


    There was still one thing to deal with before focusing on what was happening to his body, which was somewhat of an emergency as well. He had to get rid of Demon King Mo Wang for good. Cao Yun''s Insight Writing lacerated its body while the flames of Shen the Fire Spirit, strengthened by the Rune of Fire, were crawling over Axiu Qian''s hand to burn the body to a crisp. At the same time, Axiu Qian was crushing it with all of its strength, using the properties of the Drop of Wrath fully. Flying Poison was busy keeping Unclean Evil down, but the Azure Dragon was free. It bit off its head.


    Before long, Demon King Mo Wang''s very soul was ripped into pieces. Now, it would only be a matter of time for Cao Yun to completely destroy it. The most efficient way was simply to absorb all of the fragments within the Drop of Wrath. Slowly but surely, the Drop of Wrath would digest them as it had already digested his blood essence. Demon King Mo Wang was thoroughly dead now, he would not even be able to reincarnate in any shape or form.


    For the time being, Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness had found some semblance of calm. Of course, there was the fact that it had turned completely red with blood because the Blood Abyss was literally devouring his own flesh with each passing moment. Apart from that small detail that was making him go crazy with pain, everything was fine. In fact, Cao Yun sincerely didn''t recall everything that had just happened. He had mostly gone with the motion. No matter how strong his mind cultivation was, it couldn''t make him forget such a high level of pain.


    For several hours, maybe more, Cao Yun''s body had been invaded by the Blood Abyss. First of all, he couldn''t escape it because his arms and legs were missing large pieces of muscles. Although his bones were mostly protected by his Golden Blood and his meridians by the world tree''s vitality, his other tissues were in a terrible condition. Even if there was not the threat of the Sisters of the Abyss above, he would have no way of swimming back up. And he was probably extremely deep into the pit. In fact, he couldn''t even see the surface from where he was. Moreover, he was in no condition to use his spiritual senses for the time being. To be honest, they were probably too weak for him to feel the surface anyway.


    Through the thick blood he was in, it was difficult to make out how large this pit was. In fact, he didn''t even know whether all the pits were connected or separated.


    Even after getting rid of the immediate threat of both his Turbid Demons and Demon King Mo Wang, Cao Yun had unfortunately no time to relax. However, his mind was completely exhausted. Apart from the pain, there was almost nothing else. That being said, he had to survive. He had to!


    Fighting against his mind trying to shut down, he pushed through by pushing his mind cultivation further and further. Stinking Lungs and Unclean Evil did act up a little, but they were still under some form of control, for now. Of course, if Cao Yun got too weak, they would probably wreak havoc again. It would be wise to quickly subdue at least one of them. With two Turbid Demons to subdue a third one, the task would be easier. Besides, Cao Yun had more or less awakened to the process. Dealing with Turbid Demons was both a question of mind fight but also a journey of self-discovery through one''s emotions.


    With no time to fully recover, the young man sent his intent throughout his body to see how screwed he was. And he was indeed in a hopeless situation. This would be the perfect moment to develop Corpse Dog and Yin Bird, fear and anguish. But it would also spell his doom. Pushing aside any thought about Turbid Demons or even negative emotions, Cao Yun soon realized another main problem.


    The Blood Abyss had already depleted a lot of his own blood. In a matter of days, he would be unable to heal his own injuries. In fact, because he had been losing and using a lot of blood, his own body would need nutrition faster than he thought. Indeed, a cultivator could stave off hunger, thirst and even the need to breathe, as long as they had enough Qi in their physical blood and that their flesh had been tempered to a reasonable level. In other words, Cao Yun should have been able to survive in there for months, but he was going to die in days because the Blood Abyss was depleting his blood.


    His only chance would be to absorb said Blood Abyss, at least partially. But of course, this Blood Abyss was devouring his own flesh. Only the Drop of Wrath could subdue the Blood Abyss. But since it was staying far away from it, Cao Yun couldn''t move it out of his heart or his heart would end up being consumed. The only alternative was to force the Blood Abyss within his own heart himself.


    In fact, this was Cao Yun''s current cultivation stage. As a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child, he was practicing ''Ascend the Cliff''. It consisted in sending one''s Golden Blood through one''s spine into one''s chest cavity, and in particular, one''s heart. But for that, it was necessary to open Shendao the Heart Gate. This Flood Gate was extremely delicate and damaging it could literally destroy one''s heart and cause death.


    Moving his Golden Blood through there was already difficult, but if he had to force some of the Blood Abyss in his Shendao the Heart Gate, Cao Yun could imagine both the pain and the difficulty.


    For several hours, Cao Yun tried to find any other way. In fact, he literally slipped in and out of coma several times. At first, he didn''t even notice, despite his mind cultivation. Thankfully, the Turbid Demons were much calmer now that Demon King Mo Wang was gone and that Cao Yun''s mind had gotten used to the situation.


    Slowly, his fear turned into despair. He had to find any way he could to get out of this. Then, he had to resort to that single way. He would need to gamble everything...

 Chapter 577: Cultivating survival

    Most likely, Cao Yun had spent around ten days in the Blood Abyss already. Although the pain was constant, he was never able to get used to it. After all, it was always devouring his flesh as he was reforming it. Thankfully, he had fully replenished his Qi not long ago or he would have been in an even more precarious situation. Since he was now completely alone, he pondered some time on his course of actions.


    By now, he was thoroughly convinced that his only chance to survive this was to absorb some of this Blood Abyss. Otherwise, he would just deplete all of his strength bit by bit until the moment he would simply either die or be unable to protect his major organs and be consumed. Thus, his survival hinged on his blood cultivation ability. As such, he rummaged through all his knowledge, making sure he had not overlooked anything.


    After much consideration, he finally decided on the best way to do what he had to do. Until now, he had been able to protect a large portion of his blood thanks to the quality of the Drop of Wrath. His blood was indeed extremely heavy, but not as heavy as the blood within the Blood Abyss. As a consequence, some of his blood had indeed been absorbed into the pit as well. However, his Golden Blood was completely safe for now. In fact, the Golden Blood had replaced most of his original blood by now.


    In ''Crimson Inferno Road'', Cao Yun had used the ''Fate Devouring Gate'' technique. As its name suggested, it consisted in absorbing the blood essence of someone else. In fact, he had used it to absorb some of Demon King Mo Wang''s blood essence after their very first encounter. The best thing to absorb though wasn''t blood essence but Golden Fate, a physical manifestation of one''s prenatal Jing. It was even a catalyst in the formation of one''s Golden Blood. Prenatal Jing was extremely difficult to increase, one could only try to improve its quality. By practicing ''Fate Devouring Gate'', one''s Golden Fate could indeed be improved, increasing both one''s potential and lifespan. Prenatal Jing was used to produce Qi and would ultimately run out, causing old age and death.


    But this technique alone wouldn''t be enough. Indeed, Cao Yun had made some experiment. When he had tried to absorb some of the Blood Abyss, the opposite happened. No matter how much he tried to resist, the Blood Abyss was simply too violent to be tamed. In fact, even a late Accomplished Demon would probably have been devoured by such a capricious ocean of blood. Thankfully, Cao Yun had his Drop of Wrath that was the bane of this blood. Thanks to it, he was able to survive his little experiment.


    His best chance was to use the Drop of Wrath to subdue the Blood Abyss before absorbing it. However, if he let the Drop of Wrath out of his heart, the Blood Abyss would probably try to devour his organ. He could regenerate much of his tissues, but not everything. Without a heart, without his Middle Dantian, his blood cultivation would surely be crippled and he would quickly be devoured whole with or without the Drop of Wrath. At that point, he would most likely only be able to survive within the Drop of Wrath itself. But he wasn''t a Spirit Warrior and his soul couldn''t survive long outside of his own Upper Dantian.


    There was another way though. If he couldn''t bring the Drop of Wrath to the Blood Abyss, he could bring the Blood Abyss to his Drop of Wrath. Cao Yun tried to find a better way but nothing worked. In fact, his situation was getting more and more desperate. When it was desperate enough and he had no other alternative, he steeled his resolve. Sending even a small fraction of the Blood Abyss within his heart was extremely risky. After all, if he lost control, it would attack his heart.


    Until now, the Blood Abyss had been trying to get into his Middle Dantian to take the Drop of Wrath. But at the same time, it seemed to be too afraid to go all the way. In fact, even if Cao Yun tried to force it, the Blood Abyss would do everything not to go too close to his heart. Thankfully, Cao Yun had worked on both ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' and ''Drowning One''s Heart in Blood'' to improve his blood cultivation. Both methods had very similar principles. In short, they consisted in sending as much blood as possible within one''s heart in order to temper it. While ''Drowning One''s Heart in Blood'' put the emphasis on Fire Qi to fill one''s Middle Dantian, ''Storms in the Crimson Furnace'' was indeed only aiming at one''s blood.


    Because he had worked on them both for some time, Cao Yun was proficient enough to force some of the Blood Abyss in his heart. However, there was still one major problem. In order for this foreign blood to enter his heart, Cao Yun only had one access, one of his three Flood Gates, Shendao the Heart Gate. When it came to his own blood, he could simply go through his bloodstream. But it wouldn''t work for the Blood Abyss as it would consume his veins and arteries before it could get near his heart. Then, he had to force it through the Flood Gate he was currently working on. Any mistake would mean being crippled or killed.


    Even though Cao Yun had a good control over his acupoints, using them for Qi and for blood were two different issues. Besides, it wasn''t just any blood, it was a foreign and very aggressive blood hell-bent on consuming his flesh.


    With no other choice, the young man did everything he could to improve his chances. First of all, he pushed the world tree''s vitality to its limit, focusing as much as he could in his Shendao without endangering his meridians, still protected by it. He even used his own Golden Blood to coat the region around Shendao. Thanks to the Rune of Fire, he controlled the Fire Qi in his blood expertly. This also added another layer of protection to his Shendao.


    Finally, he decided to attempt a try. As a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child, he should practice ''Ascend the Cliff'' with his Golden Blood. At the moment, he was practicing it with the corrosive blood of the Blood Abyss. Opening his Shendao of his own accord, the Blood Abyss got into it immediately. As soon as enough got inside, he tried to close up the acupoint as much as he could. A throbbing pain pierced his chest as though his heart was about to explode. A burning sensation spread from his upper back where the Shendao was, all the way to his heart. But it stopped just before his main organ.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    In fact, the burning sensation was trying to get away. As much as the Blood Abyss was attracted to his Drop of Wrath, it was also too fearful to get near it. Thus, it literally tried to leave through the Shendao it had come through already. From both sides, the Blood Abyss was either trying to get in or to get out. Within, it was raging to leave his body. Without, it was attacking to get in. At the same time, the Blood Abyss kept on devouring his ever-growing flesh.


    Once more, Cao Yun circulated his mind cultivation to resist the pain and keep his focus. He had to funnel the Blood Abyss already trapped in him through his heart. However, it wasn''t cooperative at all. Pushing his mind cultivation, Cao Yun also tried to remember the calligraphy that was probably the Weaver of Souls''. At that moment, he felt that the Blood Abyss in his chest was a bit calmer, as if the Weaver of Souls'' influence was soothing it. Without any hesitation, Cao Yun used this moment of relative calm to send as much of the intent of the Drop of Wrath in it. With one move, he tried to force all the captive Blood Abyss into his heart. Contrary to his expectations, it really did work.


    Now that the Blood Abyss was in his heart, he had to count on the Drop of Wrath. Thankfully, he wasn''t disappointed at all. His Drop of Wrath devoured it all in an instant. The Blood Abyss didn''t even have time to cause any problem within his heart. Against such a powerful blood, it had no chance at all. After all, it had belonged to an Immortal Demon at the very least, and probably much stronger in reality. There was even a chance that Axiu Qian had gone all the way to the ninth realm of blood cultivation, and had become a Calamity. But Cao Yun couldn''t be sure. After all, even Cleansed Asura had not reached an equivalent level.


    Thanks to this Blood Abyss being absorbed, Cao Yun recovered some of his strength. At the same time, he felt his mind cultivation improve a tiny bit. It wasn''t much, but he did feel as though his mind was refreshed and the Turbid Demons had become weaker. Most likely, they had stayed as strong as before, but his own mind had become stronger. It wasn''t much, but with his great sensibility, he could still feel it clearly. There was no doubt possible. The Blood Abyss truly contained some of the blood from the Weaver of Souls and he had written ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''.


    Taking some time, Cao Yun made sure that his Shendao was safe. For several days, he kept on doing the same thing. It was enough to keep him alive, but he had to do much more than that. First of all, he had to gain enough strength to swim back up within this extremely heavy and dangerous blood. But he also needed to garner enough strength to escape from the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. High Mother Qin Xue was probably even more dangerous than this blood pit. On the other hand, he had no idea what was happening outside. Maybe Xixue was in danger, or even dead already.


    Since all that was outside of his control, Cao Yun used his mind cultivation to chase all his thoughts. For too long, he had been full of doubts about many things. As much as he wanted to change, he knew that this was a part of himself. When he was younger, he had a hard time making proactive decision, but even now he still was unsure of the right thing to do. The only thing in which he was certain was his martial arts and his cultivation. Thus, he decided to solely focus on his training. And he did.


    The process of pulling in some of the Blood Abyss within his Shendao was excruciating. Even after doing it several times, it wasn''t any easier. In fact, he was only able to absorb enough blood so he wouldn''t deplete his own blood and Qi. However, he still wasn''t able to stave off the Blood Abyss that was consuming his flesh over and over again. In fact, Cao Yun was forced to rest for days between each time he absorbed some Blood Abyss.


    In the meantime, he worked on his cultivation. His only way to forget the pain was to focus on something else, to put his mind to work. And this work was obviously his cultivation. First of all, he always made sure that the two Turbid Demons were kept under tight lock. Each time he absorbed some of the Blood Abyss, he realized that they became easier to control. Before long, they would be fully subdued. At that time, he could try to chain them down to his Nine Soul Peaks so they would join his Flying Poison. In fact, both the Unclean Evil and the Stinking Lungs were starting to materialize themselves within the Drop of Wrath. They were getting very close to being fully fleshed out. That meant that the Drop of Wrath would really become stronger.


    On the matter of his blood cultivation, his Shendao was obviously getting tempered. Because of the nature of the Blood Abyss, he simply couldn''t take more of it each time as it would endanger his life even if his Shendao could take it. After only three weeks, Cao Yun had officially crossed the threshold of the 6th-grade Golden Blood Child. This cultivation level was called ''Gold Heats Up Heart''s Passions''. It simply consisted in tempering one''s heart, and the entire chest cavity as a matter of fact. Since Cao Yun had already worked on his Middle Dantian, it wouldn''t take long for him to break through. Besides, the Drop of Wrath was also strengthening his heart. But now, he could make his Golden Blood travel through his entire spine, all the way to his head. That would be the final Flood Gate, Fengfu the Palace Gate.


    What progressed the fastest though wasn''t either his mind cultivation nor his blood cultivation. During all this time, Cao Yun had focused on protecting his meridians and Dantian rather than his flesh. Thanks to the incredible bloodline granted to him by the Drop of Wrath, he could even regenerate his limbs and some organs. Most demons couldn''t do such a thing, at least not to such an extent. Maybe a powerful Golden Blood Child could grow back a finger or some small part of a minor organ. But only a much more powerful demon could regenerate their own flesh. In fact, some demon, like Axiu Qian, could regrow their entire body from a single drop of blood as long as their soul endured. Cao Yun''s resilience wasn''t to this level but it was still prodigious. However, it applied to flesh, not to his meridians and Dantian that were unique to humans.


    For several weeks, his meridians were imbued with the full vitality of the world tree while being assaulted by the Blood Abyss. After taking car of his other cultivation systems, Cao Yun always made sure to circulate his Water Qi within his meridians. Like that, he could temper them through the use of Wood, Fire and Water. As an alchemist, it was relatively easy for him to handle all of that despite the debilitating pain.


    For several days that turned to weeks, that then turned to months, Cao Yun cultivated in the deepest parts of the Blood Abyss. Clearly, this had been the very worst experience of his entire life. There was not a single instant in which he was not in pain. Not only was this a physical pain, but this was also a mental pain. However, he also felt perfectly at ease there. He had no decision to make, he simply had to stay alive and work on his cultivation. Even if he screwed up, he would be the only victim. Holding the fates of others wasn''t something he really liked after all.

 Chapter 578: Trapped in blood

    Now that Cao Yun was a 6th-grade Golden Blood Child, he had to nourish his chest cavity, ribs and heart. As his heart would change, his blood would do too. His Golden Blood would slowly becomes the only blood in his body. With the Drop of Wrath in his heart and the fact that he had already tempered his Middle Dantian that was full of Fire Qi, such a grade would be extremely easy to break through. In fact, unlike most demons who would need two to five years, Cao Yun could do so in a matter of months. Moreover, he was trapped in the Blood Abyss. As much as it was torturing him and trying to devour him, it was also speeding up his cultivation.


    Several times, Cao Yun still tried to swim upwards but the pressure was just too much. His bones and his flesh could take such a pressure put on them, but he could barely move. Besides, since his limbs were always being devoured and reformed just as fast, he couldn''t very much rely on them. Strangely enough though, it comforted him. After all, he had no way of leaving so he had no guilt to feel about staying there. Although it was hell, it was also a great place to cultivate. And Cao Yun felt as though power was the greatest tool he needed. If he was powerful enough, meeting his goals would become so much easier. He wouldn''t have to pretend being a strong cultivator, he would simply be one.


    Through his Shendao the Heart Gate, he could let an almost constant stream of the Blood Abyss in. The pain never diminished but his Shendao was resistant enough to sustain the strain. Besides, his heart could easily absorb most of this Blood Abyss thanks to the Drop of Wrath. It was barely improving though. After all, it had already reached great heights. However, the energy absorbed through the blood was released from the Drop of Heart and helped Cao Yun temper his very heart. With his knowledge of blood cultivation, it became a very simple process, albeit painful.


    Alone in this pit of burning and violent blood, Cao Yun had nothing to think about except his cultivation. During his mind cultivation sessions, he tried to think about the calligraphy he had bought. Unfortunately, he didn''t have it with him. Fortunately though, neither did High Mother Qin Xue. He had left it in the spatial ring given to Hongyu. In that ring were his most prized possessions. Without this calligraphy to increase his efficiency, Cao Yun still tried to remember it as best as he could. It wasn''t easy at all, even with his incredible memory. After all, this calligraphy contained extraordinary secrets even Cao Yun had not pierced through.


    While he was remembering the calligraphy, the Blood Abyss he had absorbed reacted and images surged into his mind. He saw a young man full of vitality. His skin was completely crimson, as red as blood. All over his body, there were also golden lines as though he was some kind of statue. But he was clearly alive and breathing. His eyes were pure obsidian and he had silver hair with golden ornaments. Immediately, Cao Yun recognized a Reborn Demon, an asura on the same level as Demon God Da Mo. He wasn''t just a demon, but a full-blooded asura for sure. Demons were the half-breeds between humans and asura Demon God Da Mo had conceived on Piaolu Planet.


    Seeing this young man, it became obvious to Cao Yun that he was the Weaver of Souls, Fangzhi Hunpo. In many visions, Fangzhi was simply standing and Cao Yun couldn''t make out anything else. Sometimes, he saw him alongside Demon God Da Mo. The body of the Demon God was exactly the same that was still trapped under the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal, called Devil''s Jail by the Wubei Sect. Even then, his body was gigantic. His cultivation had been higher than Fangzhi''s, but both asura seemed to respect each other''s strengths although they were not of one mind.


    Later on, the visions told another story. Fangzhi Hunpo was standing with Emperor Nuwa. Cao Yun could only see her back but he immediately recognized her. She had black hair tied in a very complex shape with silver and golden ornaments. It was exactly how Emperor Nuwa was always depicted. Besides, she was wearing a perfectly white robe as though she was mourning someone. Once again, these clothes were almost always the ones used to represent her, mourning those who had fallen on the battlefield and those she had not been able to save from slavery. Emperor Nuwa mourned for mankind and implored them to always protect each other.


    Finally, the young man saw a monstrous battle between Fangzhi and Demon God Da Mo. It happened on the Desolate Sepulcher. At the time, it wasn''t a continent. Back then, it was still attached to the main land as there was only one big continent. Cao Yun only saw glimpses of their fight and couldn''t make out everything. From Fangzhi''s back, eight long and sharp black spider legs came out. From their extremities, they were holding a spinning wheel and various threads. Those very threads formed extraordinary runes. Besides, there were also many needles flying all over the place to attack Demon God Da Mo.


    On the other hand, the Demon God wasn''t waving any weapon. He was using brute strength to fight against his opponent. Apparently it wasn''t enough. Indeed, at some point, Cao Yun saw Demon God Da Mo with a giant cudgel. The continent had been engulfed in a prodigious storm spanning as far as the current Desolate Sepulcher. Its center was the current Desolate Pillar in which Cao Yun had first arrived. Fangzhi''s spider legs had been either broken or ripped apart. His hair was disheveled and his red skin was covered in his own blood. Before the cudgel crushed him completely, he threw as many needles as he could toward Demon God Da Mo. Cao Yun saw through this move while Demon God Da Mo had not.


    Among all those needles, there were copies of manuals. Since he had seen it before, the young man recognized the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. Then, the Weaver of Souls had truly been the one who had written this manual. Many had probably been lost or destroyed. Several had found their way toward the future Hongchen Kingdom. But it was likely that there were other versions of this manual still in existence. Thankfully, the demons seemed to be oblivious to their existence. Even the Sisters of the Abyss had probably not found them. Given how powerful they were now, they would be a nightmare with such a manual. It was a good thing it wasn''t within the spatial ring they had stolen from him.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Amid those visions, Cao Yun also got much knowledge. He had seen various runes and seals used by the Weaver of Souls. Apparently, mind cultivation and seals were his specialty, hence his name. But there was even more. The Weaver of Souls clearly knew how to speak Antique Sixian. Probably, it had been a spoken language where Demon God Da Mo and the Weaver of Souls had come from, or maybe they had encountered it before reaching the Piaolu Planet. Indeed, there was now no doubt that both asura had come to this planet from another one.


    Thanks to those visions, Cao Yun was able to learn quite a lot of Antique Sixian. By studying them further, along with what he already knew, he was certain he could master this language in less than a year. But it wouldn''t allow him to read all of Cleansed Asura''s documents as they were a mixed-bag of Antique Sixian and Nuhua. That being said, he would clearly be able to understand some of those documents and improve his knowledge. Besides, he could finally start to decipher those he couldn''t comprehend right now.


    -


    Finally, after five months, a loud boom echoed from his heart. For many hours, his very heart pounded as though it was trying to escape his chest. In fact, if the heart of a mortal had pounded like that, it would indeed have broken their ribs and escaped their chest. Of course, with his cultivation, this was nothing to Cao Yun. However, it was proof that he had officially reached the 7th-grade Golden Blood Child stage. Now, he would need to practice his Golden Body. Thanks to his improved Golden Blood and his excited beating heart, Cao Yun could fundamentally change the nature of his tissues. Maybe this would help his flesh resist the Blood Abyss.


    By achieving a Golden Body, he might truly break free from the Blood Abyss. At the very least, it would diminish the pain, hopefully.


    Practicing Golden Body was rather simple in theory. One had to send one''s Golden Blood into their own flesh to temper it. In fact, it was like burning one''s flesh to destroy any impurities. In other words, it was more or less what the Blood Abyss had been doing to Cao Yun''s flesh for almost half a year now. There were many techniques to improve the process. Most of them were movements meant to concentrate the blood and the mind on specific points. There were also different orders in which one would try to produce a Golden Body. With Cao Yun''s understanding of his own body, finding the best way wasn''t too difficult.


    Now that he had advanced his blood cultivation, Cao Yun also tried to move once more. In fact, from this day onward, he did try to move around more and more. The pressure from the Blood Abyss was incredible and it pushed not only his blood cultivation but his physical cultivation as well. If he could see him train, Chief Instructor Peng would be proud of his former student beyond measure. Despite his achievements, he was not neglecting his physical body. It was sadly what many cultivators did. To be fair, most of them simply didn''t have the time to cultivate everything at the same time and they were in a haste to improve first their Qi cultivation and to become Spirit Warriors. One could understand them. But because Cao Yun was already extremely fast with his cultivation, he could take some more time to make his foundations even sturdier.


    While fighting both the pain and the immense pressure, Cao Yun was thus cultivating his body, his blood, his Qi and even his mind. Almost every aspect of the young man was being cultivated by this horrendous experience. Unfortunately, he could not develop his martial arts in those conditions. Because he was missing those martial arts, Cao Yun imagined many fights in his mind, but this wasn''t the same thing. He could improve his perception of his Spear Intent but he couldn''t develop it much. However, he could find ways to train his knowledge of certain occupations. In fact, he mainly trained on his knowledge of seals.


    Within the texts left behind by Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun had found some blood cultivation manual. He hadn''t been able to translate everything and he didn''t even know the full name of it. Most likely it was something like ''Star Robbing Vessel'', but he couldn''t be entirely sure of that. What he was sure about though, was that this manual was way beyond everything he had read among the libraries of the Desolate Sepulcher until now. Even if Cleansed Asura was human, he had found texts about asura cultivation. After all, a human could still try to adapt them to cultivate their own blood, just like some humans of the Hongchen Kingdom had done.


    ''Star Robbing Vessel'' insisted on turning one''s body into a large constellation in order to absorb the Fire Qi from the stars themselves. There were various ways to do so, certain postures to practice, mental visualizations, and many other methods. The one method that intrigued Cao Yun was the idea of forming blood stars and blood vessels. The first ones would emit their Fire Qi outward while the latter ones were meant to absorb the natural Fire Qi coming down from the stars. Although there was no access to the stars, Cao Yun was able to adapt this technique thanks to his understanding of array formations.


    Moreover, instead of simply forming blood stars and blood vessels, he created blood seals and runes thanks to what he had learned from Dian Mo. In fact, he also found texts talking about seals within Cleansed Asura''s documents. He couldn''t understand everything now but he could still piece some things together to try and improve his own seals a little bit.


    After around six months of practice, Cao Yun had formed a large and complex network of seals within his bloodstream. He had even made it so it was perfectly harmonious with his meridians and vessels. By that time, his two cultivation systems were well integrated with each other.


    Once again, a large boom echoed from Cao Yun''s entire body. Strength gushed forth from his joints as all his tendons and muscles vibrated with incredible force. He had finally reached the stage of the Golden Body, he was now officially a 8th-grade Golden Blood Child. Most average demons would have taken somewhere between three to eight years. He had done so in half a year. Of course, most demon would have been much faster in Cao Yun''s current environment, given they had been able to survive long enough...


    At the same time, the young man felt that force reverberating within his own body as though some of it had been trapped. A powerful vibration assaulted his meridians all over the place. This was in fact exactly what he had planned for. Thanks to his seal, he had done everything to trap this energy resulting from his breakthrough so he could use it for another breakthrough. This time, Cao Yun was trying to forge his meridians and to become a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior. The process was relatively violent but it had high chances of succeeding. And it would even strengthen the connection between all of his cultivation systems.


    In order to do so though, he had to circulate his Water Qi and the Wood of the world tree. Indeed, his blood was full of Fire Qi. Besides, the Blood Abyss was also an extremely Fire environment.

 Chapter 579: One year in the abyss

    In Duma City, almost two years had passed since Cao Yun had left for the Desolate Dune Desert. He had stayed with the nomad tribes for quite some time. Just after that, he had completely disappeared. Obviously, he was being kept prisoner by the Sisters of the Abyss. Or rather, he had been sacrificed to their Blood Abyss. However, contrary to their expectations, he had not been entirely consumed by the potent blood of their god. In fact, the opposite was happening as Cao Yun was using said blood to improve his cultivation. That being said, absolutely no one knew about this. Only a few even knew that he had been captured by the Sisters of the Abyss. Among those few were Boss Gui and Lady Weiji Nian.


    Boss Gui had several spies all over the Nalupu Kingdom. But she had no spy within the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. However, she had spies among City Lord Sihe''s servants. And most likely, he had spies around her too. In fact, she knew of a handful of them so she was using them to send false information to City Lord Sihe, or to confuse him by mixing truth and falsehood. Of course, he was probably doing the same. But in this particular instance, he had been more than happy to make sure that she knew about her recent partner''s demise.


    And indeed, it had been quite a blow to her. After all, he had not been able to perfect her training regimen. However, he had made some improvements. And even without Cao Yun''s presence, Dan Yao and Nie Pian were managing Blazing Swallow. This boy Dan Yao had proved himself again and again. All the pill recipes Cao Yun had taught had been mastered by him. In fact, because his master had disappeared, Dan Yao worked even harder and harder. By now, he was recognized as the youngest alchemy genius. That being said, his talents were limited when it came to other pills. Thus, he was always working to live up to everyone''s expectations.


    Strangely enough, the very alchemists he had taught Cao Yun''s pills to were then teaching him about the basics he didn''t know. In fact, while he was officially their teacher and their superior, he was also their student. As such, he had dozens of incredible teachers, all proficient in different parts of alchemy. Soon, he would truly become a genius in many areas. Besides, unlike them, he had no arrogance for he knew his own limitations. Dan Yao would never stop to learn all his life and he would forge his own legend while always feeling like a novice. This very attitude would be the reason of his success.


    Boss Gui was a very good judge of character. After Cao Yun''s demise, she could have cut all ties with Blazing Swallow. At that point, Weiji Nian would have surely either bought or destroyed this company, or both. After all, she hated Cao Yun with a passion. However, Boss Gui still saw through Dan Yao''s worth. Moreover, even without Xixue, Nie Pian was a very good manager. After his stupid mistakes, he had apparently learned his lesson. In truth, he really hadn''t but he was forced to go through Dan Yao and even several others before validating any decision. As such, his stupid ones were all discarded. On the other hand, his honest decisions were all excellent. It was a shame that such a talented man had to be so corrupt and dishonest. But then again, both were so ingrained in him that it was hard to separate them. Because he was so ingenious, he thought he could escape any consequence. And because he had such dishonest ideas, he had to be very smart and ingenious not to get caught.


    During these almost two years, Boss Gui''s business had kept flourishing. At least, it had for the first year or so. Then, City Lord Sihe became much more aggressive. He tried to enslave even more people than what he was used to. And his slave warriors had become better. Thankfully for Boss Gui, they were not as good as hers, but there were so many of them that he was flooding the market. In fact, some were even bought within the Desolate Sepulcher. Until now, this slave trade had been limited to selling them to the main continent. Keeping demons enslaved by force within the Desolate Sepulcher seemed preposterous. Indeed, every law and religious precept forbade such deeds. As long as the slaves were sold far away, the Nalupu Kingdom could turn a blind eye.


    Despite this progressive change, Lord Wanghuo didn''t seem to care at all. This was to be expected. After all, this man wasn''t a very good politician. At heart, he was a brute and a fighter. The only reason why he ruled was because he was so damn strong and powerful. But more and more people were voicing their complaints. After all, some were worried that one day they might be enslaved without a cause. Selling oneself or one''s family was fine for most but being forcibly enslaved while having committed no crime was unthinkable. On the other hand, as long as it was limited to the nomad tribes, no one would really fight against it. They simply voiced their concern but still lived their life as if nothing was going on.


    -


    In the Weiji residence, Weiji Nian was kneeling in front of her uncle. While she was dressed in rich clothing, he was clad in red and black armor. He even had his helmet on. All over his armor, there were many engravings, some characters and a lot of images. There were skulls and images of broken bodies, severed limbs and heads. His armor was a representation of his deeds on the battlefield. As such, it was still covered in blood in several places. However, there was no trace of dirt or mud. After all, Marshal Weiji was a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon who could fly above the battlefields.


    "Dear niece, if I hadn''t loved my sister so much, I would strike you down right here and right now! How could you be so stupid?! Do you realize how many of my own men I had to kill to hide your plot?! Forging my seal on an official document?!"


    "But, uncle, ..."


    Seeing her raise a complaint, Marshal Weiji couldn''t contain himself and slapped her. Although she was also an Accomplished Demon, Marshal Weiji was way above her. Besides, he was a fighter unlike her. The slap echoed throughout the residence and the walls even shook. Weiji Nian''s face was reddened and tears began to flow. Being hit by her own family made her feel so indignant.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "If I hadn''t proved myself so hard to Lord Wanghuo, he would have had both of our heads chopped off. And you still want to defend yourself?! When it comes to your son, you lose all common sense. For the Weaver''s sake, we took care of that Mo Yun! You simply had to wait! And you just couldn''t! You almost threw your son''s life away too, you do realize that, right?"


    Weiji Nian''s tears kept flowing but for another reason. She did realize her mistake. Thus, she immediately kowtowed and banged her head on the solid ground.


    "Uncle, I was wrong! This unfilial one is full of remorse. This unfilial one forgot the bonds of her blood. When our son is concerned, we lose sight of everything else..."


    "Good. At least, you''re not an animal and you''re able to acknowledge your mistakes. I''ll still ask your husband to keep an eye on you. Thankfully, your crime isn''t too serious. After all, we''ve been able to turn in around on this Mo Yun. In fact, City Lord Sihe even found a way to blame Boss Gui for such heresy. There are rumors everywhere that she is using poison. But I still had to help City Lord Sihe slaughter many nomads because of your stupidity. However, it''s true that we do control them now, mostly..."


    Marshal Weiji''s voice had small peaks of anger but he was gradually calming down. As his calm was coming back, he watched his niece''s cheek and felt terrible. This had been the first time he had struck her. Although she had committed a heinous crime, she was still his family. And thankfully, no one knew that she was the one behind the poison used against the Sand Wolves Tribe''s settlement. In fact, most people thought it had been done by Boss Gui and Mo Yun. And his disappearance didn''t help the rumors at all.


    Obviously, the Sisters of the Abyss knew the truth and City Lord Sihe had to make sure that they didn''t spill it. As such, he had been forced to pay them a lot, and not only with money.


    -


    "High Mother, the new slave girls have arrived."


    Sister Lisha was kneeling in front of High Mother Qin Xue within the Motherly Hall. There were several other sisters on both sides of the steps leading to the High Mother.


    "How are they faring?"


    "City Lord Sihe did choose them well. Most can become great Sisters of our order. In fact, I am pretty certain a few have the potential to become Mothers."


    Although she could on the faces of the Mothers and Senior Mothers that they weren''t too pleased with such an evaluation, no one would dare speak out of turn in front of High Mother Qin Xue, even less so in her own Motherly Hall.


    "Good. And the other ones?"


    High Mother Qin Xue didn''t seem to really care about those girls. In fact, she was much more interested in the other girls, those who would not become sisters. Even though the question wasn''t asked directly, Sister Lisha knew perfectly well what High Mother Qin Xue was asking. As much as it disgusted her, she also knew that this was essential for the survival of their order and the preservation of their god''s blood. Sacrifices were necessary to maintain the Weaver of Souls'' blood. Hopefully, they might even bring him back. After all, it was said that an Immortal Demon could be reborn from a single drop of blood and the Weaver of Souls had been on the brink of breaking through to this realm when he died. There was hope for a half-step Immortal Demon too.


    "Their bloodlines are not too shabby. They''ve already started to learn our ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. Some have almost no talent and we''ll teach them the ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' path right away. As for a third of them, they could push it further. I do think we should wait a little before leading them down this road. That way their bloodline will be pure enough to be worthy of the Blood Abyss."


    "How far do you think they could go?"


    "I can''t be sure of anything, but some of them are as talented as Xixue, maybe even more."


    "Fine, we''ll prepare the worthless ones first. They will have the honor of feeding our god. Although their lives amounted to nothing, their deaths will prove beyond what they could ever imagine."


    "High Mother, is a sacrifice necessary so soon after..."


    "Of course it is! I had hopes for this Mo Yun. You had told me how incredible his bloodline was. And honestly, I too was duped. But he barely even improved the quality of the Blood Abyss. Maybe it was because he was male. After all, Weaver of Souls was male too. Maybe there was some clash between his bloodline and the Blood Abyss so his bloodline was eradicated rather than absorbed. What a waste! How long will it take for Xixue to be ready?"


    -


    Xixue was practicing with her sister Yinl¨¹. The two sisters were working alone. They were almost identical, but Yinl¨¹ could be more easily recognized thanks to the fire in her eyes. Unlike Xixue, she was completely converted to the religion of the Sisters of the Abyss. She was a faithful follower of the Weaver of Soul. Xixue lacked this fanaticism. However, she had decided to stay within the Monastery of Bliss and Repose to remain with her sister. To be fair, she didn''t really have any choice, but she had never once attempted to flee.


    The two of them were sparring. In fact, it wasn''t really sparring, everything was choreographed. Indeed, they were practicing the ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. That was the main martial art and cultivation method of the Sisters of the Abyss. Until now, no one outside of the Sisters had even been able to get access to the first level of this art, ''Veil of Crimson Initiation''. And no one knew about the two paths this art could take.


    While Yinl¨¹ was practicing the ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' path, Xixue was on the ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' path. The cultivation was very similar at first, but it became increasingly different. At Xixue''s current stage, she needed a partner to develop her ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace''. And Yinl¨¹ was perfect because they were sisters. By practicing with her, their bloodlines were in harmony and their results were enhanced. Most likely, Yinl¨¹ was gaining more than Xixue.


    "Sister, you''ve progressed a lot. In a few months, maybe a year, you''ll finally be ready to showcase the full mastery of your ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace''. The ceremony will be great. That day, you will finally realize the greatness of the Weaver of Souls. I know you''re only staying for me, but I am certain that this ceremony will open your eyes to the truth."


    "I guess..."


    After some heated debates between the two, Xixue had mostly decided to keep her thoughts for herself. Besides, there was always something dangerous in her sister''s eyes when she talked about that ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' ceremony.


    Maybe, just maybe, Xixue regretted having her sister back. If she had simply been dead, she would have mourned and moved on. But because she was alive, Xixue was trapped. She longed for her time with Cao Yun. And she had no idea where he was. Hopefully, he hadn''t been stupid enough to come here. After spending enough time around the Sisters, she knew for a fact that he would have been killed in an instant. Against Sister Lisha, let alone High Mother Qin Xue, he wouldn''t stand a chance. He would be like a fly in a spider''s net.


    Hopefully, he was fine and far away from the Monastery of Bliss and Repose.

 Chapter 580: Demon Steel Drums Flesh

    Now an 8th-grade Golden Blood Child, Cao Yun had cultivated a Golden Fate, Golden Blood and now a Golden Body. Obviously, the name didn''t mean that his body was actually golden. In fact, demons had various physical appearances depending on both their cultivation and their bloodline. And their appearance would change more and more as they would circulate their cultivation. It was fairly similar to the Qi Manifestation of humans, but also to the transformations of demonic beasts. As long as their cultivation was low, they were almost indistinguishable from any human apart from their skin and hair being a bit redder in general. But humans could also have those attributes, especially considering that humans and demons were coming from the same ancestors.


    As a matter of fact, legends told that humans, asuras and devas were all descendants of the Three Jade Saints. Those mythical cultivators had received the Three Heavenly Treasures: Jin Xue, the Golden Blood, Tian Qi, the Heaven Qi and Hun Po, the Perfect Soul. Because Heaven itself was jealous of them, the Dao struck them down. As a consequence, their beings were split apart and from their extinction came humans with meridians and Dantian, asuras who excelled in blood cultivation and devas with ethereal mind and soul. Cao Yun didn''t know how much of it was true, but it would explain many things. After all, he was able to cultivate the ''Crimson Inferno Road'' reserved to demons. Of course, it was due to the Drop of Wrath, but he was still human.


    Thanks to his improved cultivation, Cao Yun was able to move around some more and his flesh was much more resistant. However, the Blood Abyss was still slowly devouring his skin and his superficial tissues. They were reforming fast enough that no damage lasted long. That being said, the pain was still permanent. Although it had reduced in intensity, the true torture was to always be in pain rather than to suffer a lot one singular time.


    Using the fact that he could move, the young human decided to work on his Qi cultivation. Indeed, ''Cultivation of Wrath'' had a specific technique to help him break through, ''Demon Steel Drums Flesh''. Not only would it help him strengthen his meridians in order to become a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, but it could also be applied to strengthen his Extraordinary Vessels which would bring him all the way to the 7th-grade Mortal Warrior stage. After that, he would simply have to go through the Lesser Tribulation in order to become a Spirit Warrior. With such a goal in front of him, Cao Yun couldn''t help himself from being excited.


    He was feeling a bit guilty staying down there as things were happening above. But he did need this amount of strength if he was to do anything about the situation. Besides, he simply couldn''t swim upwards. The crushing pressure only allowed him to move a little. Several times he had even tried to jump and couldn''t get higher than a simple mortal. Maybe he acquired the magical ability to fly, he might be able to get out of this Blood Abyss. And for that, he had to reach the third realm of either his blood cultivation of his Qi cultivation as both Accomplished Demons and Spirit Warriors had this ability.


    ''Demon Steel Drums Flesh'' was rather simple in theory. One had to perform specific routines for each and every meridian and then Extraordinary Vessel. In total, there were twenty routines with a total of 361 movements. Each movement was related to an acupoint linked to a meridian or a vessel. At the same time, there were various mantras and visualizations to use in order to improve the flow of both Qi and blood in that specific acupoint during the movement. The muscles and tendons themselves would be used to pulsate and strike both the bones and the meridians. The idea was to use the soft tissues as a hammer and the bones as an anvil in order to forge the meridians.


    With his vast knowledge of alchemy, Cao Yun could also use the Five Elements Wheel to make things faster. And since he was in such an oppressive environment, he could also use it to his advantage. Moreover, he even used his blood runes and seals in order to improve the process. He practiced ''Demon Steel Drums Flesh'' for dozens of hours at once. Then, he rested a bit by focusing on his mind cultivation and went to his blood cultivation. He repeated the cycle again and again.


    In his blood cultivation, he was practicing ''Overcome the Last Mount''. The point was to finally cross the last Flood Gate, Fengfu the Palace Gate. This one was the most delicate and the most dangerous as it was at the basis of the skull, just before one''s head and brain. It was a narrow gate crushed between the skin of the neck and the cervical vertebrae. Sending too much Golden Blood through there could literally sever one''s spinal cord and cause death. During this step, it was imperative to be extremely cautious. And Cao Yun was. However, he could feel that he was also extremely close to a breakthrough. Most likely, he would advance his blood cultivation even before his Qi cultivation.


    After seven more months in the Blood Abyss, the young cultivator had strengthened all of his meridians. Instead of just focusing on his twelve standard meridians, the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect heeded the words of Chief Instructor Peng once more. He also worked on his lesser meridians: his fifteen connecting collaterals, his eight divergent collaterals, his twelve muscles meridians and even his four cutaneous meridians. In total he worked on his fifty-one meridians, without forgetting or disregarding any one of them.


    Since ''Demon Steel Drums Flesh'' only referred to the twelve standard meridians, Cao Yun was forced to adapt the movements and routines. Thankfully, he wasn''t mindlessly practicing, he had also acquired a deep understanding of what he was doing, in huge parts thanks to Chief Instructor Peng. Indeed, his training had made Cao Yun much more sensitive to his own body. After all, he had acquired an Unquenchable Vessel back then.


    At the same time, the young man had also worked on opening his Fengfu, the Palace Gate. He was certain that he was going to break through in his Qi cultivation in a few days when suddenly, something happened. While he was carrying some Golden Blood through his Fengfu, he felt as though a dam had broken. All of a sudden, his Golden Blood flowed through his vertebrae and rushed into his head. In fact, in his entire body, the flow of Golden Blood became powerful and violent. All of his three Flood Gates were suddenly overflowing with Golden Blood. Cao Yun''s mind immediately focused on Fengfu the Palace Gate, terrified of what it could mean.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun was able to control himself. This was the sign that he was breaking through. But if he lost his composure and tried to stop or even slow down the flow, he then could injure himself and even die. What was happening had to happen on its own. He had to stay outside of this even though this was a terrifying sensation. Indeed, it was as though he had lost all control over his own blood and his very own body. For a cultivator who had worked on controlling even the tiniest muscle, it was indeed terrifying. At the same time, Cao Yun was overly excited. After all, he knew what it meant.


    For more than sixteen hours, his Golden Blood flowed throughout his body as though a tidal wave. When it was subsiding, there was a single part of his body the Golden Blood had not invaded, his Upper Dantian. Although Fengfu the Palace Gate was leading to his head, the Golden Blood had remained on its surface, entering the skull but not the brain. As a matter of fact, this was literally the point of the last and ninth grade of the Forging the Marrow realm. Indeed, Cao Yun was now a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child. Now, he had to practice ''Celestial Palace Accepts the Offering'' so his Golden Blood would enter into his Upper Dantian. Once there, it would nourish his mind and sea of consciousness. For other demons, it was what allowed them to both turn their Po into Turbid Demons and to subdue them into their own strength.


    As Cao Yun was human, his Upper Dantian might be a problem. Honestly, he wasn''t sure. Demons simply had to cross the barrier of their brain, but Cao Yun had an Upper Dantian. Although it wasn''t physical, it was a part of his Qi system. Thus, his Qi might block the entry of the Golden Blood. On the other hand, Cao Yun had developed his Upper Dantian thanks to the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. After energizing all of his nine chambers, he had a bit more control over his Upper Dantian than any Mortal Warrior. Thus, he wasn''t too sure how difficult or easy this step would be.


    After spending more than a day basking in his breakthrough, the young man decided to keep on working on ''Demon Steel Drums Flesh''. He executed his routines again and again. With each new movement, he could feel the Qi within him move around as well. He was always approaching this routines in various manners. Sometimes he chanted the mantras of the manual in his head. Sometimes, he imagined the very characters of the mantra moving in his meridians. Other times, he emptied his head completely. Or maybe, he fully focused on each acupoint and was just observing the Qi coming and going. There were almost as many variations as there were movements and routines.


    This particular time, Cao Yun had decided to let go completely. He wasn''t paying attention to anything in particular and was simply trying to live the moment. In his meridians, he felt a surge of Qi. Both Water Qi and Fire Qi from his Lower Dantian and Middle Dantian were mixed with it, but they were perfectly balanced. With the Wood element from the world tree seed, they were tempering his meridians from within. Instead of focusing on any place in particular, the young man kept on moving around while taking in every sensation he could. His meridians were starting to pulsate and so were his muscles.


    Throughout his body, there were small vibrations of muscles contracting and relaxing in a frenzy rhythm. It was getting stronger and stronger but this didn''t disturb Cao Yun. His Qi was surging through his entire body in various cycles following the routine he was doing. At first, he had wanted to do the twenty routines eight times before changing his approach. But it had been thirty hours since he had started this mindful attempt. His mind was focused on nothing in particular while still absorbing every sensation. There was no conscious analysis or even thought about this. He was simply noticing the sensations and moving on.


    In the end, Cao Yun practiced the entire twenty routines for eight days straight. Even his body was reaching his limit. After all, both his Qi, blood and mind were exerted by this effort. Moreover, he had the full pressure of the Blood Abyss.


    Ultimately, there was no great phenomenon. However, the young man knew. He had broken through two grades. Now, he was officially a 7th-grade Mortal Warrior. In other words, he was at the door of the Spirit Warrior realm. The only thing he had to do was to cross the threshold. But the threshold was the Lesser Tribulation. It was extremely difficult and dangerous. Even his father had failed once. Besides, he also remembered how vulnerable attempting the Lower Tribulation would make a cultivator. At the moment, Cao Yun had simply no way of trying such a thing. But he knew that he could do it. It was much earlier than he had thought, but he could definitely reach this realm. There was no doubt in his mind.


    In order to test out his new cultivation, Cao Yun tried to condense as much Wei Qi around him as possible. He was able to push away most of the Blood Abyss. All of a sudden, the pressure almost disappeared. Instead of being on his physical body, it was now on his Wei Qi. But that meant that his body felt as light as a feather. Although he couldn''t fly yet, he really had the feeling he could.


    Ironically, Cao Yun was missing this pressure after so much time spent under it. In fact, he also needed the blood of the Blood Abyss to sustain himself. After all, he had no food, no water and no air down there. He was getting his sustenance from the Blood Abyss itself while his Drop of Wrath was absorbing it bit by bit. And with hi sturdier meridians and vessels, he might even be able to absorb more and more of it.


    Since his Qi cultivation could not advance any further in this environment, Cao Yun focused solely on his mind and blood cultivation. After nearly two years spent in this Blood Abyss, his Unclean Evil was fully tamed. The creature had been chained to the Nine Soul Peaks. Just like the Flying Poison, it was completely subdued and it had even appeared within the Drop of Wrath. As such, Cao Yun''s spiritual senses had developed even further. Unfortunately, they weren''t strong enough so he could spread them outside of the Blood Abyss but they could get twice as far in every direction.


    This time though, Cao Yun decided not to work on the next Po aspect, his Corpse Dog. Corpse Dog was the Turbid Demon associated with his Po of Yin and it was corrupted by fear. Fear was also a feeling he was unfortunately very familiar with, both for him and for his family and friends as well. At the moment, he was afraid for the entire Hongchen Kingdom, for Hongyu and also for the few demons he had formed bonds with. That being said, he would be smart this time and he would wait for the Stinking Lungs to be fully tamed before attempting to subdue another Turbid Demon.


    As he was working on his blood cultivation, Cao Yun was absorbing more and more of the Blood Abyss. Of course, it was still too small for the Sisters of the Abyss to notice, but the quality of the Blood Abyss itself was slowly diminishing, prompting them to make sacrifices earlier.

 Chapter 581: Abyssal Blood Veil Art

    Because his mind cultivation had progressed and he was absorbing more and more of the Blood Abyss, Cao Yun had increasingly more visions as well. They weren''t from the Weaver of Souls though. Indeed, he was mostly seeing through the eyes of women and girls, very young girls as well, too young for the fate reserved to them. Each time, he could see the figure of one of the Sisters of the Abyss. More often than not, said figure was blurry due to the tears in the eyes of the girl. However, he recognized Sister Lisha a couple of times and High Mother Qin Xue much more often.


    The blood at the bottom of the pit was extremely old and the density of the Blood Abyss made it difficult for blood to go deep fast. With time though, all the blood given to the Blood Abyss would simply merge. In fact, those visions showed clear signs of degradation. In other words, the emotions attached to the blood were slowly being corroded. Because the Weaver of Souls'' blood was so potent, even ghosts were being consumed. Indeed, such deaths had caused the emergence of many ghosts and tormented spirits but they had also been trapped in the Blood Abyss and consumed. Only blood could endure in this place, and Cao Yun.


    Through those visions, Cao Yun saw a younger High Mother Qin Xue when she still had hair and no tattoo on either her face and head. Although he wasn''t too sure about the ranks of the Sisters of the Abyss, she was probably already a high-ranking Sister at the time. In fact, she was a Junior Mother. Because it was not known outside of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, the Sisters'' ranking was shrouded in mystery. But it was rather straightforward. The low ranking Sisters were Junior Sisters, Sisters and Senior Sisters. Then the higher ranking Sisters were Junior Mothers, Mothers and Senior Mothers. Finally, at the utmost summit was the High Mother, a unique title.


    Even in the oldest visions he had of High Mother Qin Xue, there was no compassion or sadness in her eyes, contrary to some of the other Sisters. In fact, there was excitement and sometimes even elation as though she was witnessing something exceptional. But there was no mistaking the hint of greed in her eyes as well.


    Most of the girls were thrown into the bit against their wills. But a few of them jumped on their own as though they were possessed by some religious fervor. Seeing all those sacrifices from the eyes of the victims was extremely disturbing. Besides, Cao Yun could only think about his own younger sister and how she was being raised to be slaughtered for one man''s ambition. Apparently, the same thing was happening here but on a much larger scale. High Mother Qin Xue was even worse than Emperor Weide. Although Cao Yun didn''t know what she was trying to gain, he was certain that she wasn''t killing all those poor girls just for some religion belief. She was full of ambitions, maybe the same Emperor Weide had, maybe immortality even.


    Amidst those visions, the young human also had flashes about Fangzhi Hunpo. But those glimpses were completely distorted. He saw some landscapes, some floating palaces. There were river of gold, lakes of silver, pillar of flames and arches of shadows. Although he couldn''t make out everything, Cao Yun saw planets made entirely of crystal with sculptures as he had never seen before. He could see literal stars fall down and sink into a bottomless ocean. Some of those images were just impossible for his mind to understand. Despite what he had already seen in visions and even witnessed firsthand, this was incredible.


    Most of what he saw from Fangzhi Hunpo was absolutely useless, albeit beautiful. Other times, the beauty was balanced by cruelty and savagery. Indeed, he saw towers made of skulls, mountains of flesh, drapes of human skin, screaming weapons made out of tormented souls. It was impossible to know whether Fangzhi Hunpo, Demon God Da Mo or something else had made those things. But it was highly disturbing, especially when it was mixed in with such great landscapes and fantastical places and planets.


    At some point, Cao Yun finally had a vision that was priceless. He did not recognize the handwriting he had seen in the ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. In front of his eyes, there was an almost complete manuscript, written entirely in Antique Sixian. Thankfully, it wasn''t as messy as Cleansed Asura''s documents, it was true Antique Sixian. Thus, Cao Yun was able to read it without much problem. If this manuscript had endured, it was obviously extremely important.


    The name on the cover was ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. Unbeknownst to Cao Yun, this was the very martial art and blood cultivation method practiced by the Sisters of the Abyss. Most likely, this vision had come from the sacrificed Sisters. At the moment, this was what Xixue and her twin sister Yinl¨¹ were working on.


    The manuscript was divided into nine parts, but there was a deviation at some point. In other words, there were two paths in this method. The first one was called ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' while the other one was ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace''. The names of the two paths referred to the chapter where the method diverged. Those who followed the ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' had no other thing to learn or practice after that. Indeed, this was the end of the path as its ultimate goal was to turn them into sacrifices. Demonic cultivators would call these poor cultivators human furnaces, or maybe demon furnaces in this instance. They were not seen as living beings but as resources one would cultivate being reaping them.


    On the other hand, ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' was supposed to continue but Cao Yun could barely find anything on it. After all, almost all sacrifices had been from those unfortunate girls who had been thrown onto this sacrificial path. Since this cultivation method was closely related to the Blood Abyss he was in, Cao Yun decided to look at it more closely.


    The first chapter ''Veil of Crimson Initiation'' explained how one could manipulate their own blood. Although there were movements Cao Yun wasn''t too familiar with, as well as this strange concept of fast within slow and slow within fast, there was nothing new to it. He didn''t even try to practice it as he already had a great control over his blood.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    The second chapter ''Weaving of the Scarlet Thread'' explained how one could use their own blood to create seals. The vocabulary was a bit different as blood was referred to as thread and seals as tapestries. But the concept was once again very easy to figure out for someone who had worked on seals and blood runes for some time now. Besides, Cao Yun had even had the help of Dian Mo in order to master it. In fact, he was literally using his blood to create seals in order to improve his blood and Qi cultivation. Thus, he barely looked at it and moved it.


    The third chapter ''Blood Mirage Manifestation'' was much more interesting. Indeed, it explained how one could use the threads to completely conceal their presence. Honestly speaking, this wasn''t more advanced than Huang Liyue''s ''Ashen Feather Seal'', but it was specifically tailored to hide one''s blood and bloodline. Most likely, this was also related to how High Mother Qin Xue had been able to both detect him and hide herself from his senses. This time, he got interested and worked on it for a while. Ultimately, there wasn''t much to it. The real secret was in the use of seals, what seals to use and where to use them. Most of it depended on one''s own bloodline. Obviously, Cao Yun tried it immediately and had good results. He would still need some time but he had gotten the hang of it. And by mixing it with his ''Ashen Feather Seal'', his stealth would be almost perfect among Accomplished Demons and Spirit Warriors alike.


    The fourth chapter was the one where the paths diverged. This was the chapter that would spell death for some of the practitioners. Cao Yun had very little information on ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' except that it was supposed to harness the power of the Blood Abyss. On the other hand, ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' was focusing on creating specific seals and ''tapestries'' within one''s body in order to make them perfect sacrifices. It would both enhance the quality of their blood while harmonizing it with the blood of the Blood Abyss. In other words, it would reduce the clash between the Blood Abyss and the sacrificed blood.


    Looking at it, Cao Yun soon realized that this technique had been created by someone else. It lacked the ingenuity and elegance of the other chapters. In fact, it was much more crude. Even the language used was a bit different. For most people it wouldn''t be evident, but Cao Yun had spent a lot of time trying to decipher the Ancient Sixian before he could finally understand it. Besides, among Cleansed Asura''s documents, there were poems and novels written in Ancient Sixian. Among those, there were many that had not been altered when he given them to his young disciple. As such, it was apparent that whoever had added this ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' chapter had a very shallow understanding of Ancient Sixian. They could read and understand it but they clearly couldn''t speak it very well. Most likely, they couldn''t even pronounce it right as the melody had disappeared from the sentences.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was much more intrigued by the ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' chapter. Since he was literally within the Blood Abyss, learning how to harness it seemed like a good idea. Even if he didn''t have the full chapter, he got a few glimpses. High Mother Qin Xue had pushed some rivals into the Blood Abyss. This had probably helped her becoming a High Mother faster. Clearly, she was ruthless and knew what she wanted. Since he had discovered a technique that could harness the Blood Abyss, her goals became much more obvious to the young man''s eyes. But he still wasn''t sure whether she was simply trying to preserve it because she was using it, or if she wanted to improve it to a specific point for some other purpose.


    Considering that his Qi cultivation was stagnant and that his mind cultivation was much easier as he was only subduing one Turbid Demon at a time, Cao YUn could focus more on his blood cultivation. While working on ''Celestial Palace Accepts the Offering'', Cao Yun incorporated ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' in his training. As he was literally within the Blood Abyss, it turned out extremely easy to practice. Besides, he had already harnessed some of the Blood Abyss for himself thanks to his Drop of Wrath.


    -


    Under the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, where the pits leading to the Blood Abyss were, a strange phenomenon happened. Although the quality of the blood didn''t change much, it began to radiate a faint light it had never before. High Mother Qin Xue herself went there. Before all the Sisters kneeling around her, she was examining the Blood Abyss.


    Despite her cultivation, even she couldn''t directly touch the Blood Abyss without suffering from it. Circulating all of her blood cultivation, her skin turned darker and darker shades of red as the tattoos on her head started to shine. They looked like they were hovering over her skin. But no Sister would dare to look at her anyway so they didn''t notice anything. But they would have been transfixed by those living tattoos that looked like dancing lights above her head. They were forming a very complex and intricate web. From her hands, such a web appeared too, made out of her own blood. It was able to seize a small part of the Blood Abyss to extract it.


    Even with all her cultivation, a single drop of the Blood Abyss was almost too heavy to carry. But she had to know what was going on. Such lights had never appeared before in her lifetime. And she had already lived a very long time.


    Since Cao Yun''s sacrifice had been so long ago, High Mother Qin Xue didn''t connect the two events. According to her experience, he should have been consumed more than a year ago. Nothing should remain of him except for random thoughts and memories. Even his potential ghost should have been devoured. Thus, she was utterly puzzled by what was going on. At the same time, she was excited. Maybe it was proof that the Blood Abyss would soon be ready. She had to accelerate the sacrifices!


    -


    After only a month of practice, Cao Yun felt a deeper connection with the Blood Abyss. The visions he received were clearer and most of them were from the Weaver of Souls and not the poor girls sacrificed to his blood.


    At some point, he even caught a glimpse of the original ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' manual. Apparently, it had been written in Antique Sixian but the Weaver of Souls had translated it himself because he wanted it to spread as far as possible. Such a thought was worrisome for Cao Yun. It was a good thing that no demon had ever found this manual. Maybe he should make sure that this wouldn''t happen either. If demons could cultivate it, they would indeed become too powerful.


    Because he had seen him alongside Emperor Nuwa, Cao Yun wondered whether he had maybe hidden his work himself. He probably didn''t want Demon God Da Mo to find it as he could have increased the strength of his own demons, or maybe himself.


    This was another manual that really caught Cao Yun''s interest though, the original ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. Fangzhi Hunpo had crafted several manuals, but this one was special as it was tailored to his specific bloodline. In fact, he had created it so a successor could use his blood to advance. In other words, he had created this method because he knew that he was going to die and wanted his death to be of some use.

 Chapter 582: Studying the Weavers legacy

    In total, Cao Yun had been trapped in the Blood Abyss for over two years by then. But those two years had given him so many benefits that he was rather pleased. Of course, the pain had been intolerable and the sight of his own flesh being consumed hadn''t been pleasant at all. Few people could claim that they had seen parts of their organs through their flesh. And honestly, this wasn''t something Cao Yun would like to boast about. On the other hand, he now had proof that his blood cultivation was extremely impressive. Even normal Accomplished Demons wouldn''t be able to regenerate entire limbs so easily. For humans, it was even worse and even with miraculous pills, the regenerated flesh wouldn''t be as sturdy as the previous one. In other words, they would need to retrain their limbs for quite some time. But demons had their cultivation in their blood, not in their Qi, so the regrown parts would retain the full cultivation.


    In fact, only a Reborn Demon could easily regenerate their limbs through their cultivation alone, without any pill or outside help. Most likely, Cao Yun had such an ability thanks to the Drop of Wrath. After all, it had already healed him the first time he had been left for dead in a ravine. Hopefully, this wouldn''t become a habit of his. Even now, he had been thrown in there while they were using the girl he was trying to protect.


    Thinking like that, Cao Yun remembered Xixue and her probable fate. Hopefully she was still alive. Honestly speaking, he wasn''t deeply attached to her but he had taken a liking to the girl and he certainly didn''t want her to die, especially not in such a manner. In the back of his mind, he saw her as he was seeing himself. Indeed, she was trying to save her own sister who had been forcibly enrolled within the Sisters of the Abyss, like Huiying had become Emperor Weide''s daughter. Yinl¨¹ had probably been indoctrinated in some capacity so it wouldn''t be easy to make her leave. And that was also Cao Yun''s problem with his own sister. Unless he could awaken the memories within her, convincing her that Emperor Weide was evil would be difficult.


    While he was a bit anxious about Xixue''s fate, Cao Yun knew that there was nothing he could do if he didn''t become powerful enough. After all, High Mother Qin Xue was a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. And she was in her place of power. Most likely, she could harness some of the power of the Blood Abyss for herself. Thus, even escaping from her would be incredibly difficult. Cao Yun did not even entertain the idea of facing her in battle. He would be crushed in an instant. According to that line of logic, he decided to focus on his stealth by incorporating ''Blood Mirage Manifestation'' within his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Thanks to his knowledge of seals and blood runes, it was incredibly easy. In fact, he used the last chapter Huang Liyue had left unfinished, ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes''. It had been tailored for her specific bloodline but he was able to adapt it.


    The other thing he focused on, except for his blood and mind cultivation, was ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation''. He practiced the various movements, poses, recited the mantras and circulated his blood in the manner explained by what little information he had gleaned from the few memories within the Blood Abyss. The most important part though was what they called the tapestry. To put it simply, it was a way of creating a complex seal using one''s blood. That seal was spread throughout one''s body and it was the way one used to harness the Blood Abyss.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun didn''t have the full shape of that so-called tapestry. However, he had a better memory of the calligraphy he had obtained. So he got the idea of trying to duplicate it. At first, it was a bit hard. Even with his memory, that calligraphy was very difficult to remember. In a sense, it was a form of Insight Writing. Only someone who fully understood it could replicate it. Thankfully, Cao Yun had already subdued two Turbid Demons and was close to subduing the Stinking Lungs. As such, he was able to duplicate some of the shape.


    The results were very positive. Indeed, the Blood Abyss responded to this tapestry with even more strength than the actual ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation''. After all it had been drawn by the Weaver of Souls using his knowledge of the best cultivation technique he had written. So the remnants of his intent still within the Blood Abyss were attracted to it. In fact, Cao Yun was able to absorb some of the purest blood within the Blood Abyss. There were almost no memories from sacrificed women.


    Moreover, his Drop of Wrath absorbed said blood fully, what the Sisters couldn''t do. Using this technique, they were only able to harness some of the Blood Abyss in order to improve their cultivation. First of all, they had very muddy blood. But worse than that, they couldn''t fully absorb it and had to relinquish it soon after.


    Within this blood, Cao Yun could feel the Weaver of Souls'' indignation. Although he had died a long time ago, his intent had survived. Even now, it wasn''t completely exhausted. His mind was gone. His spirit had been consumed. His soul had been destroyed. His memories were blurry. But his intent had been supported by his will and desires, his obsession if you will. And Cao Yun was the answer to his obsession, his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' had endured. His life''s work had endured. As such, Cao Yun received a lot of his memories.


    The Weaver of Souls hadn''t been a saint. In fact, when he was still working with Demon God Da Mo, he had committed many crimes. However, he ended up regretting his actions as he developed his soul cultivation. He realized that cruelty and savagery were what held demons back. Most of his life on the Piaolu planet had been spent crossing asura and humans. Demon God Da Mo and Fangzhi Hunpo had come to this planet with eight other demons. So they had to impregnate many human women for their experiments...


    The demons slowly woke up Fangzhi Hunpo. He realized that their emotions were too unstable because of the asura blood. From that, he recognized the same thing in himself. And with time, he realized what monstrosities he had committed. His experiments had really been terrible. Even through the small glimpses that remained, Cao Yun was repulsed by them. But Fangzhi Hunpo had truly done everything he could to redeem himself. He had even aligned himself with Emperor Nuwa. There was one specific memory in which he literally helped her escape Demon God Da Mo''s clutches. Without him, she would have died that day and humans would have remained slaves. In other words, a full-fledged asura who had enslaved mankind was also responsible for their liberation.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Seeing a summary of the Weaver of Souls'' life opened Cao Yun''s eyes. Although he had not done anything as monstrous, Cao Yun had grappled with morality recently. He knew that slavery was one of the worst crimes he could imagine apart from total obliteration. However, he had been forced to turn a blind eye to it for his own purposes, even helping Boss Gui find a way to poison her own slaves in a more efficient way. All this time, he had comforted himself with the fact that he would ultimately find a way to stop such a barbaric practice. But the truth was that this was an issue way beyond what he could solve. He was just one man.


    Witnessing such a depraved individual slowly becoming a moral pillar was eye opening. If even Demon God Da Mo''s brother could realize the errors of his ways, there was truly hope for everyone. Some would refuse to accept it until the end, but enough might be convinced. Slowly, a new vision of the world was emerging in Cao Yun''s mind. The worst person could become good. And the best person could become evil incarnate. Cao Yun really didn''t want to become a saint or a hero. On the other hand, he didn''t want to disregard his own moral compass. This was a fight of every moment and he was now decided not to lose it.


    While all that was going on in his mind, his thoughts on the matter were still a bit immature and he would need time and experience to sort it out. But his Stinking Lungs, related to corruption, was becoming slightly weaker. Recognizing that he himself could be corrupted even without realizing it until it was too late was an important step for Cao Yun.


    Amidst those memories, there was a more immediate reward though. Indeed, there was the full version of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. The remaining five chapters he had not seen were all there.


    The fifth chapter ''Sewing Soul and Blood'' explained how one could use their own blood threads within their very mind. Combined with ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'', this would be a huge improvement on Cao Yun''s mind cultivation.


    The sixth chapter ''Veil of the Blood Moon'' explained how to draw power from the Moon itself. Contrary to the Sun that was Yang, the Moon was Yin. Because demons tended to be too excited and had uncontrolled emotions, this was a good way to calm them down. Of course, it could still help Cao Yun, but it wasn''t that important to him.


    The seventh chapter ''Crimson Web of Enslavement'' explained how one could use the very same principles as ''Sewing Soul and Blood'' but in someone else''s mind. In other words, it was a soul attack. Until now, Cao Yun had not found such an attack. And since he had developed his spiritual senses, this was something he could actually use during a fight. He might be able to attack someone on several fronts at the same time. Besides, a cultivator without spiritual senses would have a very hard time defending against such an attack. They would be more or less forced to just rely on their will.


    The eighth chapter ''Blood Abyss Manifest'' was also extremely interested as it explained how to fully use the strength of the Blood Abyss, the Weaver of Blood''s own bloodline. By mastering this technique, one could harness and control the entire Blood Abyss. However, it wasn''t possible to absorb it. In a sense, it was like using a weapon.


    Finally, the ninth chapter ''Eternal Weaver''s Ascendancy'' explained how one could completely merge with the Weaver of Souls'' bloodline. As such, they would become the master of the Blood Abyss.


    What Cao Yun didn''t know was that even High Mother Qin Xue herself had not a single character from the last two chapters. Even the ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' taught to the Sisters of the Abyss had been completed by inventing two different chapters because those were missing. High Mother Qin Xue would have given anything just to catch of glimpse of those chapters. And yet, Cao Yun had them both, complete. If she knew about this, she would literally lose her mind. After all, she had gone to so much trouble in order to have a slight chance of absorbing part of the bloodline within the Blood Abyss. But with the entire art, it was possible to become the master of the entire Blood Abyss.


    Something Cao Yun did notice though was that no chapter talked about any form of sacrifice. The Sisters of the Abyss had invented that practice because it made things easier for them. The more he looked into it, the more he realized how foolish it was. Yes, it had allowed them to create a vast underground lake of blood. But most of this blood was just from other demons and not the Weaver of Souls. In fact, they had diluted it more than they had protected it. As such, they were forced to make more and more sacrifices just to prevent the original properties of the blood from disappearing. And sacrificing people who had a poor understanding of the ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' was the worst decision possible. It would have been better to sacrifice those who had pushed it all the way.


    Examining it again and again, Cao Yun was absolutely certain of his analysis. But he was convinced that High Mother Qin Xue could not have missed it either. She was deliberately perpetuating these foolish sacrifices while they were ineffective and monstrous. Quantity was seldom better than quantity. And in this case, this held true as well.


    Since he was still stuck at the bottom, he couldn''t do a thing about it though. However, he had found something that could give him an edge while confronting High Mother Qin Xue. And he was looking for more. Thus, he kept on practicing his blood cultivation alongside ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''.


    ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' was mastered very quickly and ''Sewing Soul and Blood'' brought him a lot of benefits in his mind cultivation. Within his sea of consciousness, he was able to turn his entire ocean into blood and then spin the blood into threads. From those threads, he could create complex webs in order to chain down his Turbid Demons. Flying Poison and Unclean Evil were already chained into the Nine Soul Peaks. So he summoned them and tried out various ways of forming webs to so the results. With enough training, it would make subduing the other Turbid Demons a bit easier. But this wasn''t a miraculous method either. After all, Cao Yun was already using the masterpiece of the Weaver of Souls, ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''.


    Cao Yun completely disregarded ''Veil of the Blood Moon''. After all, he was trapped underground so absorbing the energy of the Moon was out of the question. And the technique itself wasn''t that interesting to him either. However, ''Crimson Web of Enslavement'' was enticing. That being said, he was much more interested in the last two chapters ''Blood Abyss Manifest'' and ''Eternal Weaver¡¯s Ascendancy'' as they would be of incredible help to get out of this situation. So he focused on those chapters. Thankfully, it wasn''t necessary to master them in order, although it would make things easier for most cultivator.

 Chapter 583: Debating morality and corruption

    In a small courtyard of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, Yinl¨¹ and Xixue were practicing their ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. While Yinl¨¹ had reached the stage of ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'', her twin sister was still practicing ''Blood Mirage Manifestation''. But she was very close to finally reaching her sister''s level. However, it had been decided that she would follow the ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' path. As such, after practicing it enough, she would be sacrificed to the Blood Abyss. Although Yinl¨¹ knew it, she didn''t protest. In fact, she didn''t even warn her sister. Instead, she was helping her advance as fast as possible as if she wanted her to be sacrificed at the earliest.


    Sister Lisha was observing it from afar. For a few centuries now, she had witnessed the sacrifices. They had begun before she even joined the Sisters of the Abyss. Many of Sister Lisha''s sisters who had enrolled at the same time had been sacrificed in order to maintain the Blood Abyss. However, the sacrifices were less and less effective with time. She had hoped that Mo Yun''s strange bloodline would improve the Blood Abyss. But it had had almost no effect. Since then, they had been forced to kill even more girls. And soon, she would have to watch as Yinl¨¹ killed her own twin sister. As much as Yinl¨¹ seemed to accept it, Sister Lisha knew that it would have lasting consequences on the girl, and she was quite fond of her. But she too was loyal to the Sisters of the Abyss. She couldn''t go against High Mother Qin Xue. Thus, she simply had to be there for Yinl¨¹ after the sacrifice.


    At the same time, more and more demons were being enslaved throughout the Desolate Dune Desert. In fact, even the poor demons in the small cities of the Nalupu Kingdom had been enslaved with higher rates. Even small offenses could lead someone to being enslaved. There were rumors that officials were sometimes making up charges to convict a demon as to force them to be either enslaved or sell their own family members. Although economy was going very well in the large cities, the smaller towns were becoming increasingly poor.


    Apparently, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy needed more and more cannon fodders. They even paid good money for dual cultivation partners. But they had to be young and beautiful. Their bloodline wasn''t even considered. It was easy to guess that cultivation wasn''t the main reason behind it. City Lord Sihe had diversified his slave trade. He wasn''t just selling slave warriors but also sex slaves. Of course, officials were hiding it, but this didn''t stop the rumors. Even the Sisters of the Abyss were starting to have problems with City Lord Sihe. Indeed, they needed those girls after all.


    High Mother Qin Xue had absolutely no problem with City Lord Sihe''s practices so long as she wasn''t affected. To be honest, Boss Gui didn''t care either. Apart from the victims and those close to them, no one seemed to really care. This was absolutely disastrous. Besides, Lord Wanghuo didn''t lift a finger. His own laws were being broken so daringly and he didn''t mind. The Sisters of the Abyss whose religious precepts had to deem such acts appalling didn''t mind either. All those who should have opposed this abomination were in fact profiteering from it and turning a blind eye, or worse, partaking in it. The only thing they cared to defend were their own interests.


    Thankfully, Boss Gui didn''t stoop to City Lord Sihe''s level. But it was difficult to know whether it was because of the practice itself or because she knew she couldn''t fight him when it came to quantity and she had to keep working on quality. Moreover, the Blazing Swallow had indeed helped her improve the quality of her own slave warriors. Recently though, she had been forced to keep most of them instead of selling them. After all, the market was being flooded by City Lord Sihe so she had to reduce her offer so the demand for her warriors didn''t die down completely. At the same time, she needed more and more bodyguards. In a month, she suffered from eight assassination attempts. Although she knew who was behind it, she had no proof.


    Most of the would-be assassins had died. And they were all from nomad tribes. But it was an open secret that the tribes had all fallen under City Lord Sihe''s thumb. Indeed, Liang Lisheng from the Sun Scorpion Clan had slowly gained in influence and had gathered all the tribes under his banner. In truth, he was really working for City Lord Sihe. And he used Boss Gui as a scarecrow. Because of him, the nomad tribes focused their effort and hatred on her instead of City Lord Sihe. Nothing was going well for the woman, apart from her relationship with the Blazing Swallow.


    -


    Almost a year later, Xixue was finally ready. The Sisters of the Abyss had chosen the perfect day for her sacrifice according to the movements of the Moon. In two months, she would be sacrificed. Sister Lisha encouraged her disciple to spend as much time as she could with her twin sister so she would not regret it later on. But Yinl¨¹''s answer was exactly what the Sisters had taught her.


    "When Xixi gives her Blood for the Weaver of Souls, she will inhabit the Blood Abyss. So I will always be close to her. She will know bliss for all eternity and I will be able to feel her presence with me forever. There is no reason to be sad, Senior Mother. You''ve taught me well and I understand the responsibilities we have. I am just sad that Xixi won''t know the chance she has until the last moment. I just hope that the ritual is quick so she can know the pure bliss promised to us all by the Weaver."


    Somehow, those words and promises rang empty to Sister Lisha''s ears. After all, they were her own words. But as she grew older, they became more and more distant. Although she could quote and teach them, she didn''t think she still believed in them. So many sacrifices had occurred, and yet the Blood Abyss had barely improved. Worse than that, it oftentimes even regressed because a sacrifice had been of poor quality. However, Sister Lisha still believed in High Mother Qin Xue. So she didn''t falter. She reined in her emotions and kept moving forward.


    -


    Within the Blood Abyss, Cao Yun had reached a high proficiency in ''Blood Abyss Manifest''. Thus, he could easily absorb huge parts of the blood within. In fact, he mainly absorbed the true blood of the Weaver of Souls. It wasn''t entirely pure but it wasn''t as corrupted as the rest of the Blood Abyss. The more he absorbed it, the more he got memories from the Weaver of Souls, and the faster he could cultivate.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Finally, he fully opened his three Flood Gates, Mingmen the Life Gate right behind his Lower Dantian, Shendao the Heart Gate right behind his Middle Dantian, and Fengfu the Palace Gate right below his Upper Dantian. With those three Flood Gates opened, he circulated the blood he had just absorbed and refined through the Drop of Wrath throughout his bones, in particular his spine. This was the last part of ''Celestial Palace Accepts the Offering''. Indeed, using this circulation, he propelled his own Golden Blood with it.


    At last, his Golden Blood entered his real Upper Dantian, in other words, his brain. All of his sea of consciousness turned red. But this wasn''t an ominous red. Instead, it was the scarlet light of life. There were even golden streaks within this red inner world. Since he had an acute sensation of his nine chambers, the young man could feel the Golden Blood feel them all one by one. Each time, this activated his mind and elevated it even further.


    While the process was going on, his Turbid Demons fully appeared in his sea of consciousness. Flying Poison and Unclean Evil were both chained down to the Nine Soul Peaks with golden chains and green vines. However, the Stinking Lungs was relatively free. And this was the moment Cao Yun chose to end this.


    For months now, he had worked on his emotions and memories. Because he was completely alone down there for close to three years by then, he had started to talk to Dian Mo. Unfortunately, he was still absolutely silent. Indeed, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was still in his sea of consciousness but it had no sign of any life within. There was just a golden palace with many cracks in it that was floating in the ocean, surrounded by Cao Yun''s Nine Soul Peaks. However, the young man took the habit of talking to him as someone would talk to a person in a coma. Cao Yun was almost certain Dian Mo was dead, but he couldn''t be entirely sure.


    "You think I''m an idiot... The arrogance I had to think I could change an entire civilization... But I couldn''t just do nothing. I couldn''t stand the crimes around me. And yet, I did turn a blind eye to them, in the hope of stopping them in the future. But that future might never come. Maybe I just tried to justify my apathy. Of course, I''m not some naive kid who wants to be a great hero. I won''t solve the entire world''s problems. Still, I could have saved more people if I had just tried to do something right away.


    "On the other hand, I could have saved many more through my plans. What is better? To have clean hands but to be powerless, or to dirty oneself in the hope of doing better? Even now, I''m not sure I could have done it, but... I don''t know. I didn''t like when I was just reacting and not acting. But now that I act, I''m still unsure of what I should do. Acting just for the sake of not being passive is ludicrous.


    "In the end, what I really care about is my own blood, my friends, the people I know intimately. Yes, I do care for the suffering around me, but in a different way. Maybe I shouldn''t have gotten involved in this. Should I choose between a bigger evil and a lesser evil?


    "But once again, I need power to influence things. But if I get power, I can''t just stay idle by while terrible things happen all around me. I''m not a philosopher, a moralist or a monk. I don''t have grand ideas about right and wrong. I do think real corruption is certainty. Being certain of something makes people stop thinking about it. There is no absolute answer to what is right and wrong, it always depends on the situation.


    "One can be corrupted by evil but also by good, deciding to only apply your own moral to the world without imagining that you might be in the wrong or that others can see things differently or simply be in difficult situations. I won''t be sanctimonious. I won''t be a valiant hero saving everyone. But I do want to do what''s right. On the other hand, I have to take responsibility for my actions. I might not do the right thing, or the best thing. But I can''t just take my moral from some old monks who wrote about a world they have no stake in. Although I''ve been brought up within the School of Ren Dao, I don''t agree with all their teachings. But I do agree that slavery is appalling. In fact, treating intelligent beings as though they are objects, mere resources is what''s so disgusting with it. It''s just like what Emperor Weide is doing with my own family. He killed us all because we were an obstacle. And now my sister is his cattle, simply waiting to be slaughtered without even knowing neither her past nor her future fate.


    "Corruption is not just becoming evil, it''s also trying to always be moral and upright without doing anything. Some monks decided to become apathetic to the world so it doesn''t corrupt them. I don''t want that for myself. I can''t by apathetic. Maybe I''m just too young, but I really can''t. So I have to tread a thin line. I don''t have all the answers and this is what I must accept. I will err, but I won''t let it corrupt me."


    Cao Yun had realized that he had tried to change the reality of the Desolate Sepulcher in the worst possible way. He had let the filth of the world corrupt himself instead of fighting it. He could have kept clean hands by simply never engaging with the slave trade. But by doing so, he would also have been powerless to do anything against it either. Being pure but powerless wasn''t helping anyone but his own conscience. Accepting to feel guilty was necessary. He would fail and make mistakes. Cao Yun felt as though being shameless and guiltless were just as bad as being self-righteous and pure without ever taking any action. One had to take action but not shirk away from the consequences of said actions.


    Refusing rewards was one thing, but refusing responsibility was not something Cao Yun could do. He would not delegate his moral responsibility to anyone, not even a philosophy or a religion. This was why the Sisters of the Abyss could do such evil. They felt that this wasn''t their responsibility, they were simply following the orders of their gods who was conveniently speaking through High Mother Qin Xue.


    If the Weaver of Souls had been able to speak, he would have admonished them until they died.


    All those thoughts caused the Stinking Lungs to move around. Several times, it tried to shriek but couldn''t. Cao Yun''s own voice echoed throughout the sea of consciousness. At last, golden chains emerged from the Nine Soul Peaks and chained down the disgusting monster. Its distorted chest and throat were pierced in many places by the chains. They then constricted it and completely trapped the creature within another one of the Nine Soul Peaks. Like Flying Poison and Unclean Evil, each Turbid Demon was trapped in a peak. And Cao Yun could summon them as he saw fit.


    Technically, the young man had subdued three Turbid Demons. Soon, he could work on the fourth one, Corpse Dog that was related to fear. But before that, he knew he could finally master ''Blood Abyss Manifest''. In fact, he might even be able to push his blood cultivation further thanks to the Blood Abyss.

 Chapter 584: The Blood Abyss reacts

    Probably because of their ancestry, humans and asura had almost the same soul. At the very least, it was made of the same substance and could be broken apart in the same pieces. Most likely deva also had a very similar soul. Although theirs was supposed to be even more powerful or pure. Since Cao Yun had never met a deva, he didn''t really know what it meant or what the right word to describe it was, but the soul of a deva was supposed to be Hun Po, the Perfect Soul of the Three Jade Saints.


    The soul was often divided into two parts, the Hun, the Ethereal Soul and the Po, the Corporeal Soul. While the Hun was pushing the person to seek some form of transcendence, the Po was busy dealing with mundane life and material needs and desires. Each soul could be corrupted and become a problem. If the Hun was too strong, it could push someone to abandon every attachment to the physical world to the point where they would let themselves starve to death. On the other hand, if the Po was corrupted, it could lead to extreme desires and uncontrollable emotions.


    Through this analysis, Cao Yun had also discovered something about morality. There was no absolute answer to every situation. Thus, some people tried to seek comfort in truths laid out by others, until they followed them blindly without ever questioning them. Such a thing would lead the person to be certain of their righteousness, but they would shirk away from any responsibility. They could proudly announce that they were virtuous but they were just following someone else''s orders, most of the time from some dead moralist or theologian. But some people would simply see the absence of absolute answer as a way to justify their own corruption and perversion. If no one could find a perfect answer, then any answer was good after all. In the end, those people would also shirk away from any responsibility.


    The young man had understood that, just as it was necessary between Hun and Po, balance was also necessary in morality. Balance didn''t mean that the answer was exactly in the middle. It meant that it was to be found somewhere between the various extremes. But the real truth Cao Yun had come to was that he had to take responsibility for his actions, and even his lack of action. He would never be able to affirm that he had found the right answer, but it shouldn''t stop him from trying to find a right one even if it wasn''t the best.


    He had subdued Flying Poison by accepting his rage and anger, not letting it take over himself, but without repressing it either. He had subdued Unclean Evil by accepting that shame was necessary. Living without shame was to be a monster. And now, he had subdued Stinking Lungs by understanding that corruption was throwing away responsibility, or giving it to someone or something else. The next step would be to subdue Corpse Dog, the embodiment of fear and terror. Cao Yun was afraid of many things. Of course, he was afraid for his friends and for his sister. He was also slightly afraid for Xixue and the few demons he had connected with in the Desolate Sepulcher. But most of all, if he had to be honest, he was afraid of total death.


    Down in the Blood Abyss, his very soul could have been consumed. Thankfully, he was now in control of the situation. But he needed even more to get out. And to make sure that he could face the consequences of his actions, he first needed the strength to act. He was now extremely close to the Spirit Warrior realm and also the Accomplished Demon realm. However, he couldn''t attempt the Lesser Tribulation in this place. In fact, even in the best place possible, he would still need a few months to prepare himself. Indeed, he didn''t want to fail even once. He was looking for the most perfect breakthrough he could achieve. The Lesser Tribulation was an essential part of a cultivator''s journey and it could not be corrected later on.


    With all that in mind, the young man decided to attempt a breakthrough in his blood cultivation. And the best way to achieve it was to use the Blood Abyss. High Mother Qin Xue and all the Sisters were using it for themselves after all. Then, he would use it to cultivate and to end their sacrifices. Just as Xixue had been practicing the ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'' path of the ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'', Cao Yun had prodigiously advanced in ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' path. He had disregarded both ''Veil of the Blood Moon'' and ''Crimson Web of Enslavement'' for the time being and had jumped all the way to ''Blood Abyss Manifest''. Indeed, he was within the Blood Abyss so it would be easier for him to master this technique.


    ''Blood Abyss Manifest'' consisted in summoning the strength of the Blood Abyss. In fact, it was about manifesting some of the blood essence of the Weaver of Souls. In this Blood Abyss corrupted by all the sacrifices meant to preserve his blood, it was a bit more difficult to find his blood essence. By attempting to safeguard their god''s blood, the Sisters had completely corrupted it. Thankfully, Cao Yun had mastered enough of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' that he was familiar with the Weaver of Souls'' intent. As such, he had been slowly absorbing more and more of the Blood Abyss. With the Drop of Wrath and his Black Heart Flame, he was burning away every trace of corruption. His Stinking Lungs was even helping with that, alongside the Rune of Fire.


    Bits by bits, Cao Yun was gathering some of the blood essence he needed. In the end, he reached a proficient level in ''Blood Abyss Manifest''. But he had no way of reaching the pinnacle. It would probably take him centuries to refine pure blood essence from the Blood Abyss. Even with all his efforts, there were still impurities within the tiny drop of blood essence he had obtained. But he simply waited for it to be enough for his cultivation.


    Finally, Cao Yun decided to practice the last chapter of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'', ''Eternal Weaver¡¯s Ascendancy''. Once again, this was a chapter unknown to even High Mother Qin Xue. In this chapter, one would use the blood essence from ''Blood Abyss Manifest'' in order to merge with the intent of the Weaver of Souls. After that, one should theoretically be able to control the entire Blood Abyss. Of course, that control would also depend on the individual''s strength. But what High Mother Qin Xue was able to achieve by mobilizing her entire cultivation could be achieved much more easily.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    In fact, what the young man had in mind was to use this partial blood essence and ''Eternal Weaver¡¯s Ascendancy'' in order to break through. Currently, he was practicing ''Celestial Palace Accepts the Offering'' as a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child. Within ''Eternal Weaver¡¯s Ascendancy'', he had found a way to send his Golden Blood temper his mind. By adding the Weaver of Souls'' blood essence, his breakthrough would be both easier and stronger. In theory, he might even be able to strengthen his mind cultivation since the Weaver of Souls was the asura behind his mind cultivation manual.


    Circulating the blood essence, Cao Yun prepared for around forty days before sending it through his Fengfu the Palace Gate. By doing so, his entire spine served as a column for his Golden Blood to reach his Upper Dantian. The flow became stronger and stronger. Although blood was in his skull, it was having little impact on his mind. His own Upper Dantian was in fact protecting himself from this intrusion, but this was exactly what Cao Yun didn''t want to happen. He would need to break through this barrier without damaging his Upper Dantian. Thus, he circulated his mind cultivation, also trying to replicate the calligraphy he had read. In his sea of consciousness, there was now a vast tapestry made out of blood. It looked extremely similar to the calligraphy that was still in the spatial ring given to Hongyu.


    This tapestry of blood was resonating with the blood essence, helping it cross the barrier of Cao Yun''s Upper Dantian. As soon as contact was made, the blood essence was absorbed directly into Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness and his Golden Blood flooded his brain.


    Several bright white flashes blinded him. This white light, with golden hues, permeated through his entire sea of consciousness. He could even feel his three subdued Turbid Demons. They were both frightful and reverential.


    Cao Yun''s mind was shaking. His entire world was now this intense bright light. All of his senses were completely overtaken. He couldn''t see, hear or feel anything else but this bright sensation. Even the pulsation of his heart and the blood in his veins had disappeared from his cognition. At first, fear almost settled in as he was not ready for such a phenomenon. But this sensation of fear soon gave way to pure bliss. The boundaries of his body dissolved and his mind spread all around his surroundings. It lasted for several hours.


    When the light dispersed, the young man could finally sensed that the world around him had completely changed. He was seeing things with his very soul and not his senses. Of course, it was similar to what he had done with his pseudo-spiritual senses, but it was much more. It wasn''t just a difference of degree but a difference of nature. There was no word to explain it. It would be like explaining what the color red was to a man born blind. Yes, it was as if Cao Yun had obtained a completely new sense.


    Now, he could let a large part of his soul out of his mind. Because of his Upper Dantian, it wasn''t as much as what other demons or asura could do, but it was very close. He would need to become a full-fledged Spirit Warrior though. Otherwise, forcing more of his soul out of his Upper Dantian could damage it. Nevertheless, he had officially obtained true spiritual senses. Along with them, he should also have obtained the ability to fly. But he was still contemplating the changes.


    Around him, the Blood Abyss was boiling. It was reacting to him and more of the blood from it was going directly within Cao Yun. This blood was both nourishing his body and his soul as most of it was now outside of his body. He could feel the familiarity he had felt in the burning sand of the Desolate Dune Desert. The Blood Abyss was usually calm. But even though it was incredibly heavy and dense, it was reacting fiercely to Cao Yun''s breakthrough.


    If he had been outside, a powerful aura of vitality and a thick scent of blood would had spread several li all around him. But since he was trapped under the Blood Abyss, almost nothing happened outside.


    Still exhilarated, Cao Yun tried to finally fly. Some magical thing happened around him. It was as if his body had lost all weight. Suddenly, Cao Yun began to rise a little without moving his limbs at all. The Blood Abyss was still impeding his movements but he was definitely moving up. Besides, he had not tried to use ''Eternal Weaver¡¯s Ascendancy'' to control the Blood Abyss. In theory, he should be able to connect with it. Indeed, he could absolutely feel a tiny part of the intent of the Weaver of Souls within his mind. Thus, he had to be able to, at the very least, influence the Blood Abyss.


    While he was rising up, Cao Yun realized that he wasn''t even a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon. No, because he had already subdued three Turbid Demons, he was in fact a 4th-grade Accomplished Demon. Demons were subduing their Turbid Demons in another matter. Unlike Cao Yun, they were actively pushing them to become true Turbid Demons while the young man was just subduing them as aspects of his Po, before they really turned. For demons, it was more dangerous but the results were faster and more powerful. On the other hand, Cao Yun''s way of cultivating his Turbid Demons was much more stable. He had not really turned his own Po into Turbid Demons. Instead, he had pushed each aspect toward that direction to subdue the Turbid Demons before they could really be created.


    While Cao Yun was slowly rising upward as he was getting used to his new cultivation, Sister Lisha had been called by the Sisters who were watching the Blood Abyss. The woman had been on various missions recently so for the time being, she had decided to stay within the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Moreover, she was sincerely worried about her disciple Yinl¨¹. And she wanted to be there when the sacrifice of her sister would happen.


    Suddenly, the surface of the Blood Abyss began to move. The tumult wasn''t even violent, but this caught everyone''s attention. Indeed, it had never happened before.


    Seeing this phenomenon, Sister Lisha''s beliefs were shaken. For several months now, she had doubted High Mother Qin Xue. She had thought that she was going too far with all the sacrifices. But clearly, they had worked!


    Guilt submerged Sister Lisha. She never should have doubted the High Mother. Yes, it would be difficult for Yinl¨¹, but her sister could become part of the foundation of something much larger than she could ever imagine. They might really bring the Weaver of Souls back from the dead.


    As that thought emerged, Sister Lisha regained all of her faith. She literally began to chant the holy verses of the ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. Those had been added later on by the Sisters of the Abyss. The Weaver of Souls had never written anything even slightly similar to such verses. But they were now considered holy scripture throughout the Desolate Sepulcher. Besides, they were written in Antique Sixian so almost no one really understood them, adding to their mysticism.


    While she prayed to her god, Sister Lisha saw that the phenomenon increased. There was now a powerful aura of blood and vitality permeating the underground chamber. She could even feel the distinct intent of the Weaver of Souls. She had to warn High Mother Qin Xue immediately!

 Chapter 585: Meeting in the Blood Abyss

    Disregarding decorum completely, Sister Lisha spread her spiritual senses to contact High Mother Qin Xue. The use of one''s spiritual senses was strictly monitored and regulated within the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Even attempting to invade the chambers of the High Mother was akin to heresy and would be punished by death. However, Sister Lisha knew for a fact that such a fate would not befell her. In fact, being tardy in her informing the High Mother might result in her death instead.


    High Mother Qin Xue was meditating in her private room. She had only a thin clothe around her waist. Although she was old, her body was extremely firm. There was almost no sign of old age on her skin as she regularly bathed in a pool of demonic beast blood. Her body radiated an aura of strength and vitality. As she had been meditating for several days at that point, even she was covered in sweat. The tattoos on her shaven head had spread all the way down her spine. They almost formed her own vertebrae in her back, but with strange runes that looked like they were moving around. One who would watch her back, after regaining their composure, would not notice anything strange. But each time one would take their eyes off her tattoos, the next instant, they would seem different.


    Her chambers were obviously so well protected that not even Sister Lisha''s soul could get inside. However, she immediately sensed that someone was attacking her defenses. It was as if someone had knocked on her door with a sledgehammer. This wasn''t very polite. But High Mother Qin Xue also recognized the presence of Sister Lisha. And she knew that she wasn''t stupid enough to interrupt her in such a manner unless something extremely important had happened.


    Standing up, High Mother Qin Xue raised the thin clothe to her shoulders. It barely hid anything but it prevented the clothe from falling off. Then, she opened her door and sent her own spiritual senses toward Sister Lisha. When she found out she was in the chamber of the Blood Abyss, she was first worried. If something had happened, it could be a disaster. Without even thinking, she stormed through the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. She was so fast that the sisters didn''t even see her, they simply felt a powerful gust of wind.


    In fact, High Mother Qin Xue was so fast that she arrived before Sister Lisha could explain the situation. And when she was there, it had become pointless.


    Towering over the largest pit in the underground chamber, High Mother Qin Xue was extremely excited. Her perception was even stronger than Sister Lisha''s. Thus, she could tell that the Blood Abyss''s purity had improved. She had been plagued with this problem for some time. Sacrificing girls was always dangerous. On one hand, it could maintain the Blood Abyss and prevent it from drying up. On the other hand, it polluted the blood of the Weaver of Souls. Thus, she had to be very careful when choosing a sacrifice. And this had also been the reason behind ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace''. Not only was it necessary to strengthen the blood of the sacrifices, but it was also vital to harmonize it with the blood of the Weaver of Souls. Unfortunately, this harmonization only worked with women. As such, she had not even tried to have Cao Yun practice it.


    High Mother Qin Xue had been absolutely right. If Cao Yun had practiced their version of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'', he would have not gone far. But their version was poor in comparison with the full art invented by the Weaver of Souls.


    While all the Sisters in the chamber were kowtowing in High Mother''s presence, Sister Lisha was simply bowing respectfully. The scene was extremely strange. After all, this was the most holy place within the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. And their leader was almost naked, looking into the Blood Abyss, paying no mind to anything else.


    "Sister Lisha, you did well! Our efforts have paid off. Maybe it was that Mu Yun''s blood that did help after all... How is your student''s sister?"


    "She''s ready, High Mother. If you wish it, we can perform the rites and prepare her for the sacrifice."


    "Of course, I wish it! There is no time to lose. We must take advantage of this surge of vitality. The holy blood essence of the Weaver of Souls is reacting. It''s purifying itself. We might really witness the second coming of our god in our lifetime. Proceed as fast as you can."


    "Understood, High Mother."


    While High Mother Qin Xue stayed immobile, looking down in the Blood Abyss, Sister Lisha left in a hurry and gave many orders throughout the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. In less than a minute, she was already talking to her student Yinl¨¹. She was still training with her twin sister Xixue. The moment she saw the look in her master''s eyes, Yinl¨¹ understood. There was excitement but also a tinge of sadness.


    Yinl¨¹ was aware that her master felt bad about sacrificing her sister. But she wanted to assure her that this wasn''t an issue at all. She was completely loyal to the Sisters of the Abyss. If Sister Lisha had asked her, Yinl¨¹ would have jumped in the Blood Abyss herself.


    "Master, is it time?"


    "Indeed. The Blood Abyss reacted like it had never before. It might be our chance and we can''t let it go. Are you ready?"


    As she spoke, Sister Lisha''s gaze lingered on Yinl¨¹ before shifting toward Xixue. Yinl¨¹ answered first as her sister bowed.


    "Master, my sister mastered the ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace''. Her blood is perfectly harmonized with the Blood Abyss. There is no reason to hesitate. She is ready to take a step further."


    "Good."


    "Xixi, you''ll soon receive the highest honor of our Sisterhood."


    Despite Yinl¨¹''s excitement, Sister Lisha could read confusion and worry in Xixue''s eyes. As the days, the weeks, the months and the years had passed by, Xixue''s happiness of being reunited with her sister had turned into sorrow. Yes, she had found her sister, but the link that had always existed between them had disappeared. When they were younger, it had been as if they were sharing one mind. But now, they were as strangers to each other. Most of the times, Xixue couldn''t tell what her twin sister was thinking. But she was her own blood and she did love her, no matter how much she could change.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Sister Lisha, my sister is right. I am ready. It has been weeks since I couldn''t progress further in my cultivation. There is nothing more I can learn from ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace''."


    Maybe, she could finally understand her sister''s mind. By looking at Sister Lisha''s eyes, Xixue understood that whatever was going to happen was dangerous. But she wanted to advance so she might see why her sister was so engrossed with this monastery and this sisterhood. She was ready to risk her life just to feel closer to Yinl¨¹. Obviously, she didn''t realize the true meaning in Sister Lisha''s eyes. Although she didn''t conceal everything when she was in Yinl¨¹''s presence, she always made sure to keep Xixue in the dark as of the truth of the ceremony.


    "Good. Then, we''ll go right away. There is no time to lose."


    When Sister Lisha came back into the Blood Abyss chamber, High Mother Qin Xue had clothed herself. Still, she had not put on her ceremonial clothes. Instead, she had adorned a fancy robe with gold, silver and crimson red. All over it were runes painted in obsidian ink that looked like her tattoos. Sister Lisha saw that her hands and feet were also now covered with a few tattoos. She was circulating most of her blood cultivation at the moment. In Sister Lisha''s eyes, it was a clear sign of her excitement.


    As soon as Xixue entered the room, High Mother Qin Xue''s spiritual senses were all around her. Even if she had wanted to leave, it was now impossible. Xixue''s fate was sealed. But, just like Mo Yun, her fate had been sealed the moment she had entered the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. In fact, it had probably been sealed the moment she had received a message from Yinl¨¹ to meet her in the Oasis of Life. And now, she was about to fulfill her fate.


    High Mother Qin Xue''s eyes stayed focused on the Blood Abyss. But she examined Xixue''s blood more carefully than anyone else ever could. There was no doubt that this Xixue was indeed talented. Sister Lisha had been right, she could have followed the ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' path, but the sisterhood didn''t need new members that badly. What they needed was enough blood to feed their dead god. Soon, he might finally recover and they would bask in his glory. After all her sacrifices, all her hardships, everyone she had killed to reach this place in time, High Mother Qin Xue was going to receive her just reward. Even with her cultivation, she had a hard time controlling her body from shaking.


    "Come closer, Junior Sister. Admire the Blood Abyss. You should feel a connection with it."


    Xixue was a bit afraid as High Mother Qin Xue had not hidden her spiritual senses at all. She felt completely naked in front of that woman, and not just physically. It was as if her very soul was laid bare in front of her. Worse than that, High Mother Qin Xue wasn''t even looking at her. Even her mouth had not moved. Her words had resounded into Xixue''s mind. And she felt compelled to obey. So she walked forward and looked at the Blood Abyss.


    Immediately, she did feel a deep connection with the blood down below. Part of it was due to her mastering of ''Devouring Abyssal Embrace'', but there was also something else, much fainter. She simply couldn''t put her finger on it. After all, no one else had even noticed it, maybe because they had been too excited about the strange phenomenon.


    As she was looking down the Blood Abyss, Xixue felt her body rise into the air. High Mother Qin Xue was completely controlling her, as she had controlled Cao Yun a few years ago. Xixue''s body was now horizontal, facing the surface of the Blood Abyss.


    "Girl, circulate your blood cultivation as much as you can. You will merge with the Blood Abyss. The experience is beyond anything you could ever imagine, so you must be prepared."


    "Xixi, listen to the High Mother. I swear that you won''t regret it. This is the highest honor of our Sisterhood. From this moment onward, we''ll always be together."


    Terrified, Xixue calmed down a bit after hearing her sister''s voice. She had no choice anyway but to circulate her blood cultivation.


    When it satisfied High Mother Qin Xue, all the sisters began to chant mantras in Antique Sixian Xixue knew almost nothing about. Suddenly, she felt the force supporting her disappear. In an instant, her world turned red as she fell directly into the Blood Abyss.


    As soon as she touched the Blood Abyss, what had happened to Cao Yun happened to her. But unlike him, she had no way of resisting or healing. The Blood Abyss completely corroded her skin, ate through her flesh and entered her bloodstream. Soon, it also entered her bones as she was still falling deeper and deeper. She tried to move around and swim back up. She even tried to look at her sister, but everything was just red. There was no way to see what was going on in the room. And those in the room couldn''t see through the Blood Abyss.


    Xixue had almost no time to process what had happened to her. Was this a trial she had to go through? Was her sister aware of this? Could she survive? Was she meant to survive? Confused and disoriented, Xixue didn''t even feel pain at first. Time slowed down as her mind was muddled. When she finally felt that her flesh was being corroded and that her very organs were attacked by the blood, she finally understood. They had raised her for this purpose, to feed this well of blood. Her own sister had trained her just to become a sacrifice.


    The poor Xixue held on the thought that her sister could never had willingly done so. She had been kept in the dark. But if that were the case, they would have had no reason to let her see the scene. No! She had to be ignorant of the matter. Otherwise... Otherwise...


    Xixue''s thoughts began to drift away. She was dying. And worse than that, she had lost the will to live. For a long time, she had survived in the hopes of finding her sister. She accepted to become City Lord Sihe''s pawn just for that. She had done things she wasn''t proud of just for that. But when it happened, it didn''t turn out as good as she had thought. And now, she didn''t know what she was living for. Maybe dying here wasn''t such a bad option...


    As her thoughts turned darker and darker, she felt a familiar presence. While she sinking deeper and deeper, she felt Cao Yun''s aura. She was one of the few who had been able to sense his real aura when he had been wounded by Xin Zhe. As such, she recognized him straight away. Then, he had been killed too in that Blood Abyss. That had been her fault. Most likely, he had come here looking for her and had died because of it. She really should just die, everyone would be better off like that.


    Those last thoughts turned into pure nothingness as Xixue''s brain stopped.


    In the Blood Abyss, Cao Yun was rising higher and higher just as his breakthrough was settling down and his control over the Blood Abyss was getting stronger with each moment. Spreading his spiritual senses all around him, he was literally flying, not swimming. Suddenly, he felt a familiar presence too. Then, he saw a face. Xixue''s body had been almost completely devoured by the Blood Abyss. Even her head was being dissolved. For an instant, he saw her face before the skin disintegrated entirely.

 Chapter 586: Wrathful god

    It took some time before Cao Yun realized what had happened. To be fair, it was surreal. As he was rising higher and higher within the Blood Abyss, he had felt Xixue''s presence. But before he could get to her, her entire body had been consumed by the Blood Abyss. At the moment, he was quite literally bathing in her flesh and blood.


    Among the demons he had met in the Desolate Sepulcher, Cao Yun had felt the closest to her. Besides, he related heavily to her and her sister''s story. And now, she was gone, body and soul. There simply didn''t remain anything of her but wild emotions floating around. Even those would be consumed as she would never have a ghost. Because Cao Yun was spreading his spiritual senses over the place at the moment of her death, he felt her emotions and even caught a glimpse of what had happened. After all, that scene had been ingrained in her mind.


    Cao Yun saw High Mother Qin Xue throw her down the same pit he had been thrown into. But he also saw the face of Yinl¨¹. She didn''t bat an eye as her sister was sacrificed. Unlike Xixue, Cao Yun had absolutely no doubt that she had known about the ceremony. In fact, she had probably known from the beginning. Even before Xixue was lured into the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, Yinl¨¹ had known she would be sacrificed to what they believed to be their god. And yet, she had helped them all the way. She was fully committed to their Sisters of the Abyss and had thrown away her bonds with her blood sister.


    Obviously, this affected the young man. After all, it could very well happen with his own sister. His worst fear wasn''t that she was going to be killed, but that she would abandon any bond with the Cao family, that she would not even remember them, in fact. But this fear was snuffed out before it could even rouse Corpse Dog, the Po of Yin. Cao Yun''s anger took over completely. Now that he had subdue three Turbid Demons, he could summon and use them without being consumed by them. Thus, he could feel anger and rage course through his entire being, not just his flesh but also his very soul. However, he was in complete control of the situation.


    For the first time, Cao Yun circulated his entire comprehension of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. He had not fully mastered ''Eternal Weaver''s Ascendancy'', but he had understood it enough to use some of it. Combined with his mind cultivation and his wrath, it became much more potent. His Drop of Wrath was also acting up a lot. He had already restored three of the seven Turbid Demons within thanks to the Weaver of Souls'' mind cultivation method. So there was also a link between the Drop of Wrath and the Blood Abyss.


    Cao Yun couldn''t fully merge with the Blood Abyss, nor did he want to. He would have gladly merged with the Weaver of Souls'' blood essence. But he didn''t feel comfortable merging with a pool of blood full of resentment and torment. Most of the Blood Abyss had come from people who had been sacrificed, usually young girls at that. Using even an artifact created through demonic means wasn''t considered demonic in itself, Cao Yun would simply not feel comfortable with that. Besides, it would even have averse effects on his mind cultivation. High Mother Qin Xue''s methods had clearly corrupted the Blood Abyss beyond repair. Most likely, Cao Yun would be unable to extract more of the Weaver of Souls'' blood essence. It was a shame, but he had still reaped much benefit.


    Soon, he would be able to cross the Lesser Tribulation. He would be much more powerful than any 1st-grade Spirit Warrior as he was also already a 4th-grade Accomplished Demon. Cao Yun would transcend both cultivation systems. In fact, he would have loved to work on the soul cultivation system used by the devas. But he had no knowledge about it besides that it existed.


    Circulating the ''Eternal Weaver''s Ascendancy'' while full of rage against High Mother Qin Xue, the Blood Abyss reacted beyond what he had hoped. The resentment, indignation and hatred from all her victims coalesced around the young man''s naked body. The density of the Blood Abyss increased tenfold. If he had not broken through, he would have certainly been crushed to a pulp. But he had broken through. As such, he could control all of this power. And he indeed to put it to good use.


    In the Blood Abyss chamber, Yinl¨¹ was observing the pit her twin sister had been thrown into. It had been less than a minute but the Blood Abyss was already reacting violently. Her sister might be the one to finally bring forth their god. If such a thing happened, her death would be a joyous occasion. Her sister would be immortal within the Weaver of Souls. On other hand, Sister Lisha was as excited, but she was still worried about her disciple. When she saw the excitement in her eyes, her worries didn''t die down. Although she believed in the same things, she felt terrible about what Yinl¨¹ had gone through, and even worse about the fact that she was feeling excitement and not sorrow.


    High Mother Qin Xue was using all of her spiritual senses and understanding of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' to probe the Blood Abyss. It had never reacted as it was doing right now. The very surface of the Blood Abyss was like the ocean during a storm. Impatient, High Mother Qin Xue was ready to kill even more girls. Sister Lisha wasn''t the only one in charge of training future sacrifices.


    Before she could give any such order, High Mother Qin Xue''s mind was blown away.


    All of a sudden, the Blood Abyss quieted down. The next moment, it erupted like a volcano. From all the pits in the chamber, towers of blood rose into the air. Those geysers flooded the entire chamber. Reacting in time, Sister Lisha and other Senior Mothers spread their spiritual senses to help the sisters. They flew above the ground so they wouldn''t be attacked by the Blood Abyss. On the other hand, High Mother Qin Xue was slow to act. Dumbfounded, she was covered in the Blood Abyss. Her cultivation and her Wei Qi protected her somewhat. But the real blow was to her mind. She was now convinced that she had succeeded.


    Indeed, high in the air was the shape of a man. He was naked but covered in a thick layer of blood. There was no doubt that this was the blood from the Blood Abyss. And yet, the man was not affected at all. There could only be one explanation in the Sisters'' minds, this was their god, the Weaver of Souls.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    In the air, all the Sisters still bowed to their divine master. Even High Mother Qin Xue was full of respect. She floated higher than all the other Sisters, trying to get closer to her god.


    "Lord Fangzhi, this humble servant welcomes your return. This servile old woman hopes that Lord Fangzhi was pleased with the Blood offered to him."


    "You...!"


    Two golden lights pierced through the blood covering that naked man. Of course, he was Cao Yun. At the moment, his Drop of Wrath was fully activated. His blood cultivation was circulating as much as it could while using ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' at his current limit. Even his Qi was circulating like crazy throughout his body. He was probably as strong as a late Accomplished Demon, especially with the Blood Abyss all around the place. Unlike the Sisters, he was now completely impervious to its corrosiveness. In fact, he could even control it. Even without any weapon, he was also circulating his Seven Piercing Stars.


    From Cao Yun''s hands, the Black Heart Flame began to appear. His Rune of Fire was amplifying its potency. And the flame itself was being fed by the deep hatred of the Blood Abyss all over the place.


    High Mother Qin Xue was so dumbfounded in front of this miracle that she failed to sense the tone in Cao Yun''s words. In fact, no one recognized it apart from Sister Lisha. Even with a single word, she had identified Cao Yun''s voice and a deep fear spread throughout her body, freezing the blood in her veins. All the Sisters had some tiny traces of the Blood Abyss in them as they all trained with it, or fed it through their sacrifice. As such, Cao Yun''s presence had some influence on them. While the Sisters and even High Mother Qin Xue took it as their own devotion having an impact on them, Sister Lisha felt what it really was. Cao Yun was actively suppressing their bloodline.


    Without saying another word, Cao Yun used his ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath'', the martial art he had crafted himself from his understanding of ''Cultivation of Wrath''. ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' had no martial technique as it was purely a blood cultivation method. However, Cao Yun incorporated it in his techniques in order to submit the Blood Abyss to his will. Thus, each one of his movements was accompanied by the Blood Abyss itself.


    In an instant, Cao Yun''s elbows sank into High Mother Qin Xue''s sternum. Because she didn''t expect it at all, she was taken by surprise. Her bones cracked and literally pierced her lungs and heart. Such a wound would have been lethal to any Golden Blood Child, but High Mother Qin Xue was a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon, even beyond Cao Yun''s current cultivation. If she had not been dumbfounded by her own devotion to the Weaver of Souls, Cao Yun would have not been able to wound her so much in a single move. However, he did have the control of the Blood Abyss, and unlike her, he was a fighter.


    The Blood Abyss entered High Mother Qin Xue''s body through the shock and tried to devour her organs from within. Circulating her own version of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'', she dispelled it, but the pain was still present. Completely shocked, she didn''t know how to react. Her very god had appeared before her thanks to all her efforts. And his first act was to attack her. What did that mean?!


    Before she could get her thoughts in order, Cao Yun kept attacking.  His left elbow was still deep in her sternum when his right palm struck her in the throat. From his Lao Gong, the Labor Palace, the Black Heart Flame erupted and invaded the old woman''s body. It immediately tried to get into her sea of consciousness. Instinctively, she used her own Turbid Demons to fight it back. Unlike Cao Yun, she had almost formed her Demon Soul.


    Humans created their Soul Embryo during the Lesser Tribulation. For demons it was a bit different. Technically, even one Turbid Demon was considered a Demon Soul. But in truth, the real Demon Soul was the amalgamation of all seven Turbid Demons. As a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon, High Mother Qin Xue was almost there as she had begun to work on her seventh Turbid Demon.


    Relentlessly, Cao Yun grabbed her head and hit her with the full strength of his knee. As they were both flying, their strength was mostly coming from their spiritual senses anchoring them in the air. But Cao Yun''s body was also exceptionally strong, much stronger than High Mother Qin Xue''s. As such, his strikes were devastating. By now though, she had almost come back to reality. The knee was aimed at her face. before the strike connected, she pushed with her spiritual senses and raised her arms. Both of her forearms got cracked by Cao Yun''s violence. And her very soul was still under assault by the Black Heart Flame, while her skin was being attacked by the Blood Abyss.


    Suddenly, a voice cut through the chaos of the scene.


    "This is Mo Yun!"


    Sister Lisha didn''t even try to conceal her words. Instead of telepathy, she used her real voice. This finally jolted High Mother Qin Xue back to the real world. Indeed, she recognized the golden eyes in front of her. And the face hidden behind the blood belonged to the one man she had sacrificed almost three years ago. But this caused even more confusion. He had survived down into the Blood Abyss for three years, his cultivation had clearly skyrocketed and he had the aura of the Weaver of Souls all around him, to the point where he was controlling the Blood Abyss. High Mother Qin Xue knew his mastery over ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' had absolutely exceeded hers but had no idea how he had done so. After all, he shouldn''t even have known anything about this cultivation method.


    His breakthrough was also worrisome. Although he had lied about his real cultivation, Sister Lisha and High Mother Qin Xue knew he had not been an Accomplished Demon at all. And yet, in three years, he had become, at the very least, a middle Accomplished Demon. Worse, his strength was on the level of a late Accomplished Demon. Moreover, they also both knew that he was a human, not a demon. Obviously, the two of them were extremely confused and, to be honest, terrified.


    They had been waiting for their gods and the worse kind of devil had come out of the Blood Abyss.


    "My name is Cao Yun!"


    Cao Yun''s voice thundered throughout the chamber. It was clearly the voice of a wrathful devil ready for a slaughter like no one had ever witnessed before. Along with him were the resentments of all the sacrifices of the Sisters of the Abyss. They were all after revenge and blood. Something even deeper was acting at the heart of the Blood Abyss. The last shreds of the Weaver of Souls were also furious against those who had claimed to serve him. First of all, he would have never liked to be worshiped as a god, unlike Demon God Da Mo. But more than that, he would have been repulsed by the ways of those women, especially High Mother Qin Xue.


    Right now, the Monastery of Bliss and Repose was no longer their place of power. This place belonged to Cao Yun fully. In here, he was even more powerful than a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon.


    The Sisters in the air were getting ready to help High Mother Qin Xue. But Cao Yun didn''t let them any time to act. He was still pummeling down the old woman who was about to react at last.

 Chapter 587: Entangled with the High Mother

    Completely naked and covered in thick dark blood, Cao Yun really looked like a devil who had emerged from the Blood Abyss. But in his golden eyes, the Sisters felt as though they could see their gods, the Weaver of Souls. Obviously, they were all shaken beyond belief. Among them, Yinl¨¹ was the most shocked of all. A few moments ago, she had watched as her twin sister was sacrificed to the Blood Abyss. She had sincerely believed that they would bring their god back to life. But instead, they had incurred the wrath of a devil. Maybe her faith and piety hadn''t been good enough. Deep into her heart, she had harbored doubts about her sister''s death. She was the one responsible for this because she had failed to properly worship the Weaver of Souls.


    In the air, High Mother Qin Xue finally recovered. Cao Yun''s ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath'' was insane. This technique was so brutal that it terrified the Sisters below. ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath'' focused on hand-to-hand combat, but most of its techniques were meant to be used at very close range. Thus, it relied heavily on elbows, shoulders, knees, headbutts. There were also various grabbing techniques. In other words, Cao Yun was unleashing on High Mother Qin Xue. In the span of a few breaths, she had already received hundreds of strikes. Cao Yun was moving so fast that he caused a few sonic booms.


    Thankfully, the chamber was sturdy. If they had fought in the city, nearby buildings would have suffered some damage. But the chamber had already been damaged. Indeed, the Blood Abyss was still erupting as though a violent storm was plaguing it. The Sisters who had reached the Accomplished Demon realm were helping the other Sisters by making them float in the air. They should have simply evacuated them but they were still stunned.


    Finally, Sister Lisha had recovered as well. She gave orders for the weakest Sisters to be flown away. The entire Monastery of Bliss and Repose had to mobilize to deal with this man. However, she didn''t tell everything about him. In fact, she kept calling him Mo Yun even though he had revealed his human name. She wasn''t thinking too deep at the moment and she simply didn''t want to back herself into a corner. Controlling information was essential. Because she wasn''t sure what was going to happen, she preferred to keep as many options available as possible. Deep down, she wondered whether Xixue was dead for an instant. But, judging by Cao Yun''s wrath, it was clear that he had watched her die. Maybe they did deserve this punishment.


    Contrary to her student, Sister Lisha thought they were being punished for sacrificing that young girl, and so many before her. Her beliefs had been shaken for a long time. Recently, the tremors of the Blood Abyss had renewed her faith just for it to collapse completely just now. At the moment, she had no more faith in the Sisters of the Abyss or the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. On the other hand, she was still loyal to the ideals of the Weaver of Souls. And somehow, she could sense his presence within Cao Yun. Maybe the Weaver of Souls had really come back to judge them.


    "Stupid boy! You should have accepted your death!"


    High Mother Qin Xue kicked Cao Yun away. Within her kick, she had poured most of her blood cultivation and she had even used her spiritual senses. For some time now, both of their spiritual senses had clashed against each other. The wrath of Cao Yun had enhanced his Flying Poison, backed up by the Drop of Wrath. As such, he was able to deal with High Mother Qin Xue. But she was growing stronger as she recovered from her initial shock. Now, her spiritual senses were using almost all of her Turbid Demons.


    During a fight, a Spiritual Warrior or an Accomplished Demon could use their souls to pressure their opponents. If they fought against a cultivator who couldn''t use their souls, the fight could end in an instant as their opponent was defenseless. In a fight against someone of the similar realm, those attacks were mostly meant to weaken their opponent overtime. Unless one had an overwhelming advantage, they couldn''t win simply by using their souls. Still, High Mother Qin Xue tried to do just that.


    The tattoos all over her shined with the color of blood. All around her, a complex web of blood, like a tapestry, appeared. Immediately, filaments of blood went toward Cao Yun. He knew exactly what she was doing and didn''t try to stop her at all. This was the Sisters of the Abyss''s version of ''Crimson Web of Enslavement''. However, Cao Yun had the real deal. Although he had not tried to master it, he knew enough to see many flaws in the High Mother''s technique.


    In his sea of consciousness, he let part of her soul enter. Soon after, he launched his own attack. Using her own web, he accessed her soul. Now, the two of them were intertwined. From their seas of consciousness, a form of ethereal battlefield formed. Their souls were clashing against each other, each one trying to take over the other. Within High Mother Qin Xue''s soul, there was a large eagle with three red eyes and golden feathers. From its talons, there were silver threads still slick with blood.


    In Cao Yun''s soul, he manifested the full form of Axiu Qian. The red giant had three heads and six arms. This time, his six eyes were fully opened and shining a golden light everywhere. Within Axiu Qian''s, there were various weapons. Among them was a large spear surrounded with black flames. In one of his right hands, there was a black mace covered in blood as it was harnessing the Flying Poison. He was also holding a rigid fan in the shape of a gourd, with purple energy around it as it was harnessing the Stinking Lungs. Besides the weapons, Axiu Qian also had a gourd at his waist. It seemed rotten and had some putrid smell from the Unclean Evil.


    The two manifestations fought within their intertwined seas of souls. High Mother Qin Xue was once again shocked. She should have had the upper hand but Cao Yun was fighting her as an equal. After all, his mind cultivation was much more powerful than hers but they both originated from the same source. Thus, he knew all of her weaknesses and she couldn''t find any in him. Otherwise, she would have found them in herself and corrected them already.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    While their souls were clashing, their physical bodies were still fighting. Now that Cao Yun was an Accomplished Demon, he could easily fight on those two fronts at the same time. Because he was naked and didn''t have his spatial ring, he had no weapon. However, he wasn''t completely unarmed. Harnessing the Black Heart Flame, Cao Yun circulated both his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' and his Spear Intent. In his hands, a spear made of the Black Heart Flame appeared. Mobilizing his Qi Manifestation, it took on a physical shape. It wouldn''t be as good as an actual spear, but it was still better than nothing.


    On the other hand, High Mother Qin Xue had her spatial ring. From it, she called forth thin threads that floated all around them. They were almost invisible to the naked eye, but for cultivators of their level, they could see them distinctly. Clearly, they could cut through even a late Golden Blood Child easily. If Cao Yun''s body had not been tempered, he would have been killed in an instant by those. However, as soon as she attacked him with them, he stabbed in many directions without moving from his spot.


    ''Crafty Harassment'' and ''Dragon''s Twin Horns''!


    Mixing two moves together, the young man sent many gusts of wind toward the threads coming to cut him down. They were all pushed back. Above the two fighters, the stars of the Horn Constellation and of the Neck Constellation were manifesting themselves. Apart from them were five other isolated stars. But the Root Star was slowly being surrounded by a white hue as its own constellation was getting formed by the spearman. Those Seven Piercing Stars were pressuring anyone under them as if a real legendary dragon was present.


    High Mother Qin Xue wasn''t bothered by those stars. However, she was bothered by Cao Yun''s martial prowess. She was powerful, yes, but she was no fighter. If she couldn''t overwhelm her opponent with sheer strength, winning was becoming more difficult. But she still hadn''t revealed all of her cultivation. If she couldn''t crush him with her soul alone, she could still rely on her blood cultivation. Unlike the boy, she had lived for more than a thousand years. She was absolutely confident in her cultivation. Besides, that boy was a human. Although he had a unique bloodline and the strange ability to cultivate both the human and the demon way, she was certain he couldn''t have surpassed her.


    And the truth was that he hadn''t. Even with the full version of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'', Cao Yun was still leagues away from High Mother Qin Xue''s level. Indeed, she was a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. In a few decades, she could climb up to the 8th-grade and finally have a fully developed Demon Soul. But even with only six Turbid Demons, her Demon Soul was twice as formed as Cao Yun''s. However, she had realized that his mind cultivation was at the very least equal to hers. In fact, it might even prove to be superior. But his weakness lied in his blood cultivation. As a human, he certainly couldn''t hold a candle to her. And even if he had been a full-fledged demon, or even an asura, there was no way she would lose to a junior who was only a 4th-grade Accomplished Demon.


    High Mother Qin Xue circulated her own understanding of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. Since ''Crimson Web of Enslavement'' wasn''t so good, she began to chant the verses of ''Veil of the Blood Moon''. As soon as she began to chant, Cao Yun heard a very broken version of Antique Sixian. Unlike him, she had never listened to this language. Although she could read and understand it, she had a very shallow understanding of how it was supposed to sound like. As such, her ''Veil of the Blood Moon'' was rather weak, even though Cao Yun had disregarded this technique. Indeed, it was supposed to draw strength from moon and shadows. Within the Blood Abyss, it was pretty much useless.


    This was only the first step she took though. It mainly served to give her some rest while she was getting ready.


    ''Silk Through Red Steel''!


    Suddenly, all her threads went taut. In an instant, they closed on Cao Yun, trying to cut him apart. Those threads were probably made of Silk Gold, or something similar, maybe some Golden Unearthed Silk have even been mixed with it. But among those, many threads were Qi Manifestation of High Mother Qin Xue. By circulating her blood, those threads had manifested themselves. Thousands of threads able to cut through Ageless Marble were snapping toward Cao Yun. Their very movement caused a sonic boom.


    ''Vibrating Flesh and Burning Blood''!


    Along with the movements of her threads, High Mother Qin Xue added some vibrations into the air. Before her weapon could cut Cao Yun apart, he was assaulted by a powerful melody. He immediately coughed up blood. Without any hesitation, he circulated all of his Qi and blood as his very organs were being attacked. The vibrations went past his Wei Qi and entered his body. In a way, it was similar to ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' from ''Dance of Slaughter''. As he was weakened, it gave the three-eyed eagle some leeway to attack Axiu Qian. The bird circled around him, binding his legs with the silver threads it had in its claws. Then, it went straight for his left face, trying to gouge out his eyes.


    Cao Yun''s Qi was overflowing with Fire Qi. Even though he had tried to restrain himself, in the Blood Abyss, he could barely absorb anything else by Fire Qi. As such, he released the excess right away. The air around him turned hazy and slowed down the vibrations. Axiu Qian moved and struck the three-eyed eagle with his mace. The soul manifestation evaded but its wing got injured by the sheer movement of air. Of course, there wasn''t really air, everything was going on in the strange amalgamation of Cao Yun and High Mother Qin Xue''s seas of consciousness.


    In the physical world, Cao Yun sustained ''Vibrating Flesh and Burning Blood'' but ''Silk Through Red Steel'' finally caught him. He was struck by hundreds of threads. Even his body couldn''t take it all. He was lacerated all over and some of his heavy blood spilled over his skin. As he was already covered in the blood of the Blood Abyss, it didn''t show. However, the Blood Abyss helped him regenerate as fast as he was cut. And despite all the strength behind the attack, not a single thread cut through his bones. He had trained his body so well that he surprised High Mother Qin Xue. He had Chief Instructor Peng to thank for that. Hopefully, he would be able to thank him in person once more.


    Cao Yun still found himself completely entangled in the threads. Seeing them up close, there was no doubt that those were equivalent to a 5-star Heaven weapon. They could have cut apart an early Spirit Warrior or Accomplished Demon. In fact, if Cao Yun hadn''t been covered in the Blood Abyss, he would have probably sustained extremely serious injuries he couldn''t have healed fast enough. Then, she would have used his moment of weakness to strike him down. Unfortunately for High Mother Qin Xue, this moment of weakness never came.


    ''Imperial Throne''!


    The Neck Constellation shined toward Cao Yun as a large tornado erupted all around him. In it, the blue hue of the Azure Dragon was visible, mixed in with the orange hue of the Neck Star. High Mother Qin Xue was taken aback as her offensive didn''t go as planned. Several of her own threads snapped, but most endured. Those manifested by her blood cultivation were even stronger than the physical ones.

 Chapter 588: Blood Moon

    Sister Lisha had finally organized the other Sisters. Anyone below the Accomplished Demon realm had left the Blood Abyss chambers. At that point, they would only be a burden. Besides, the very ground was covered in the corrosive blood of the Blood Abyss. The crimes of the Sisterhood had literally come back tot he surface to attack them. Although Sister Lisha did feel guilty, she simply couldn''t let Cao Yun kill High Mother Qin Xue. Because, it certainly looked like he had the upper hand for now.


    In truth, Cao Yun was really struggling to keep up with her. At the moment, he wasn''t holding anything back. In fact, he was even pushing a bit too far but the Blood Abyss was helping him. While it was strengthening him, it was also a real threat to anyone else. Moreover, he had a psychological advantage on them. After all, he was in their holy place and he had just come out of the pit in which they believed the blood of their god was. It really was of course, but they had corrupted it overtime.


    Now that Sister Lisha was organizing the Sisters, they became dangerous. Floating in the air, they began to chant the verses of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. Even though they didn''t quite formed a battle formation, it was very similar. In reality, it was a variant of blood runes and seals. ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' emphasized a lot the use of complex webs, like tapestries. As such, each Sister was creating her own piece of a much more complex web. All of them together, with Sister Lisha''s guidance, turned out to be extremely powerful. Truth be told, they might have beaten High Mother Qin Xue. And in their own Monastery of Bliss and Repose, they would have even been able to kill a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon, maybe even a 1st-grade Exalted Demon. Of course, like humans, no demons had been able to cross into the fourth cultivation realm in the current Forsaken Dao Era.


    Cao Yun felt them immediately but so did High Mother Qin Xue. She couldn''t let go of such an opportunity. Thus, she did everything she could to stop Cao Yun from interfering. Her tattoos shined through her clothes. Their light literally cut through the fabric of her robe. All around her, strange feathers appeared. In their seas of consciousness, the three-eyed eagle''s feathers scattered all over the place. Its main body was still covered in feathers of course, but many more had just appeared. They were trying to stick to Axiu Qian''s body. Waving his giant mace around, he tried to send them away but it was almost impossible.


    At last, he opened the lid of his gourd. A putrid smell spread. The feathers closest to him simply fell down as if they had lost all life. The Stinking Lungs was a very potent and corrosive force, fighting off the very soul of High Mother Qin Xue. After all, everything happening in that space was really happening in their minds. As nothing was truly physical, this was a battle of the will. Although demons had stronger wills in general, humans knew more about manipulating their soul and mind. As such, Cao Yun ended up having a small advantage. He had a strong will and knew how to use it.


    Besides, High Mother Qin Xue was only using techniques from ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' and Cao Yun had the real and complete version of it. Even the Sisters chanting in the air were poorly pronouncing the Antique Sixian. It was obvious that their art was inferior to what he had in his mind. But it was still powerful, just not as powerful as it should have been. That being said, that also meant that Cao Yun knew how to get rid of it.


    In the physical world, High Mother Qin Xue was trying to keep her distance with Cao Yun. But at the same time, she didn''t want him to move around. Unfortunately, her threads turned out to be useless in that endeavor. After pushing them away, Cao Yun focused his Spear Intent on his Black Heart Flame spear. From the Blood Abyss, blood rose and formed a whirlwind around the tip of this spear. From the Horn Constellation, the stars animated themselves. They all descended toward Cao Yun, taking on the shape of a large Azure Dragon.


    At the same moment, the Heart Star was pulsating with deep crimson shades. It was as though it was echoing the Blood Abyss down below. Within Cao Yun''s veins, his Golden Blood was moving like crazy. And in his meridians, the excess of Fire Qi had invaded everything. Had he had weaker meridians, they would have ruptured, and so would have his veins. This was ''Dragon''s Heart'' pushed to its limit. Thanks to that technique, he could increase his overall strength eightfold. In fact, he had been using it since the start of the fight, but he was trying to push it even further thanks to the Blood Abyss. Any tiny increase was phenomenal at this point.


    The Azure Dragon reached Cao Yun''s back and slithered its way onto the shaft of his weapon. As soon as it happened, the spearman released his attack. The Azure Dragon''s talons and fangs were covered in the Black Heart Flame as though it was breathing it out. At the same time, its blue scales were covered in the dark blood of the Blood Abyss. When it moved through the air, it looked like a dragon made out of blood and shadows.


    High Mother Qin Xue was ready to receive this attack. The feathers all around her formed some kind of shield while others were sent flying toward the incoming spear. Cao Yun''s Spear Intent had turned the spear into a breathing blood dragon but it was still a spear move.


    When the attack was supposed to connect, nothing happened. High Mother Qin Xue realized that she had been duped. Cao Yun had used his Spear Intent and his mind cultivation to trick her. The attack was real but her perception of it had been completely wrong. It had never be aimed at her, in fact, it was aimed at Sister Lisha''s group. But that also meant that the feathers she had sent to collide with it reached Cao Yun instead.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''!


    Receiving the attack in full, Cao Yun''s body got covered in scales, forming a large armor around him. Still, many feathers cut into it and literally went through Cao Yun''s body. A few of his organs were pierce but he had focused his defense on his three Dantian, protecting both his head and his heart at the same time. That being said, High Mother Qin Xue''s attack was indeed powerful and his left arm was almost cut clean off. Without the Blood Abyss to regenerate him, he would have lost this limb. And outside of this Blood Abyss, he wasn''t sure whether he could grow back another arm. In fact, he was mostly certain he couldn''t, yet.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    After taking this much punishment, he converted all of that into strength. Instead of feathers, it was scales he sent forth. A large part of them were aimed at High Mother Qin Xue again, but several scales went directly toward Sister Lisha''s group.


    As she was coordinating the other Sisters, Sister Lisha was free to act while her Sisters were busy chanting.


    Although she wasn''t as strong as High Mother Qin Xue, she was still a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon. In other words, she was theoretically stronger than Cao Yun. Of course, the young man had clear advantages here thanks to the Blood Abyss. But passing through her defenses would still be extremely difficult.


    ''Heavenly Dome of Blood''!


    Sister Lisha didn''t even hesitate to use the Blood Abyss. With her knowledge of ''Blood Abyss Manifest'', she tried to increase her own strength. Around the Sisters, the shape of a moon made out of blood appeared. Cao Yun''s scales reached it first as they were smaller, lighter and thus faster than his spear. Not a single one was able to pierce through this large dome. However, it was made in parts with the Blood Abyss. And Cao Yun had a greater control over it.


    After his scales, the spear had no trouble finding its way inside the large dome.


    Sister Lisha retracted it immediately. Instead, she focused her own blood. With her bare hands, she grabbed the bloody dragon. The mere contact with the blood of the Blood Abyss burned her skin. In an instant, her very bones were touching the dragon''s scales. At the same time, the Black Heart Flame was assaulting her. It was even more corrosive than the Blood Abyss as it was mostly made out of Evil Qi. Cao Yun was probably the only one on the Piaolu planet who could control it without any problem. Even demonic cultivators were much more cautious than he was when dealing with Evil Qi. Besides, his mind cultivation had even pushed his mastery further. Soon, he might even be able to turn his own Qi into Evil Qi and back.


    Indeed, Evil Qi was simply Qi contaminated with negative emotions. By harnessing his own Turbid Demons, he could manifest the same properties in his Qi. And since it would be his emotions, he could control them and retract them easily. In a sense, it would be like merging Qi and soul in a single substance.


    Still trying to stop the spear, Sister Lisha''s flank was pierced. From her entire body, thousands of threads appeared. A bloody shawl also manifested itself around her shoulders and arms. All the threads coiled themselves around the spear while her shawl slithered its way onto the dragon''s body. The blood and the flames were corroded both threads and shawl but Sister Lisha didn''t let go. Even though she had a hole in her flank, she didn''t let go. Maybe this was her punishment for letting the High Mother sacrifice so many people. But she couldn''t let her be killed.


    If High Mother Qin Xue was killed, their entire order might fall. Cao Yun''s fury wouldn''t stop just there. Sister Lisha had an ominous feeling that everything she had dedicated her life to might collapse in a single day. There was a presence behind Cao Yun that was terrifying her.


    With all her efforts, the bloody shawl perfectly covered the dragon''s body. Then, the threads spun around it and nailed themselves into the walls of the Blood Abyss chamber. The spear was perfectly immobile now, still stabbed into Sister Lisha''s flank. But the wound wasn''t fatal. She simply controlled her bloodstream to preserve her blood. But the Black Heart Flame and the Blood Abyss were still assaulting her. She didn''t know how long she could last, but she was strong enough to resist several days maybe. In fact, she could have avoided the spear or even parried it. But she had to defend her Sisters at the moment.


    Finally, their chanting was over just when High Mother Qin Xue was ready to attack Cao Yun once more. Everything in this fight had happened in an instant. After all, they were all very powerful cultivators. As such, they could exchange thousands of moves in a single breath. Despite the strength of their attacks, their bodies were also extremely resilient. As such, a fight between powerhouses could last very long. According to the legends, Emperor Nuwa and Demon God Da Mo had fought each other for almost four years before a victor was finally decided. Most likely, it was indeed legends. But the fight should still have lasted a lot of time, several days maybe, even more than a few weeks. It was hard to say for sure.


    Hopefully, Cao Yun wouldn''t fight for several days. He really didn''t have the stamina to hold his current strength for this long. Everything in his body and even soul was screaming at him to stop. But he didn''t!


    Before High Mother Qin Xue could attack again, she moved back. Immediately, the dozen or so of Accomplished Demon Sisters had formed their blood runes. They formed a giant red moon above them. It even eclipsed some of the Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars. Only the Heart Star was able to shine such a bright red. Cao Yun felt the vitality from his blood being sapped. At the same time, High Mother Qin Xue''s blood was gushing forth. She was feeling stronger than ever. The difference was so great that Cao Yun turned pale while she was blushing.


    "This is your end, devil! You tried to usurp our god''s blood! Die!"


    All the threads around High Mother Qin Xue coalesced into a shadowy figure. It looked like the giant maw of a dragon with fangs made out of solid dark blood. It went straight for Cao Yun. The crimson light of the blood moon seemed to increase both its strength and its ferocity.


    Weakened, Cao Yun didn''t even try to dodge or block it. Instead, he began to chant.


    Contrary to High Mother Qin Xue or the Sisters, his words were true Antique Sixian. With help from the Weaver of Souls'' memories and what he had already heard in Axiu Qian''s memories, he knew exactly what it was supposed to sound like and he could speak it as well as a native speaker. Unlike the Sisters, his grammar was perfect and his pronunciation indiscernible from the real deal. Besides, his voice also contained the intent of the Weaver of Souls, or at least, what remained of it after all the corruption by the Sisters of the Abyss.


    The Blood Abyss down below shined brighter than the blood moon. The entire formation created by the Sisters collapsed and the moon broke apart. Pieces of it fell toward the ground in a terrible explosion. Even High Mother Qin Xue was forced to move or she would have been crushed. On the other hand, her monster got completely flattened by a large piece of the blood moon. The Sisters had poured most of their blood cultivation into it. As such, it was powerful enough to destroy High Mother Qin Xue''s Qi Manifestation. As a result, she received a powerful backlash.


    Worse than that, all the Sisters, even the High Mother, felt their blood reversing itself in their veins. All of them had a terrible sensation, as if a giant mastodon was sitting on their chest. Cao Yun''s words and intent were suppressing their bloodline. There was no doubt about it.

 Chapter 589: Beliefs

    The sudden change in High Mother Qin Xue, along the crushing of her Qi Manifestation caused severe damage to her body. One moment she was full of strength and vitality and ready to strike down the enemy of her god in all of her righteousness. The next instant, she was palish and coughing up some black blood. Within her body, the Black Heart Flame was still acting up as she had not have enough time to deal with it properly and the stench from the Blood Abyss was burning her nostrils. Her entire body was in pain but she could bear it until the devil was slain.


    Profiting from her weakness, Axiu Qian''s assault intensified. He threw his lance toward the three-eyed eagle. As it whistled through their seas of consciousness, the vastness was filled with the scream of a dragon. As it was trying to avoid the spear, the eagle got struck by the sound. Stunned, it couldn''t recover fast enough and the spear pierced through its right wing. Before it could register what had happened, the stench from Axiu Qian''s gourd engulfed the creature.


    Suddenly, the eagle turned into many feathers trying to fly away. All of them were touched by the stain of the Unclean Evil. Unable to go very far, the feathers were soon engulfed into Axiu Qian''s hands. Three of his hands were now free and they grabbed as many feathers as they could, crushing a few of them in the process. As they were quite literally representing High Mother Qin Xue''s soul, her torment was intense.


    Instead of using the situation to his advantage, Cao Yun was still chanting. If he went after High Mother Qin Xue right away, the Sisters would go back to their formation and he would be in a pinch. Fortunately, he had other ways to get out of his current predicament.


    "You dare accuse me of usurping your god''s blood?! This blood was given to me in earnest. I am the only one legitimate enough to wield it. Did you think your crimes would go unpunished?! Did you think so little of your god that you thought he would not know or would not care?!"


    "Blaspheme...!"


    "Silence!"


    Cao Yun''s voice wasn''t loud but there was a powerful sense of authority in it. Indeed, he was summoning all of the intent from the Weaver of Souls he had extracted from the Blood Abyss. The very place he was in gave him a tremendous advantage. Moreover, the Sisters all had some of the Blood Abyss in them. Within ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'', the ''Crimson Pact of Subjugation'' path consisted precisely in harnessing the Blood Abyss'' power to improve one''s blood cultivation. As such, it was as if their progenitor was talking to them. Worse, it was as if their very god was admonishing them.


    Even High Mother Qin Xue was affected by Cao Yun''s aura. Besides, she was extremely weak at the moment. Her best option would be to let him talk to regain some of her strength. But she was somewhat afraid of letting him talk. She felt like if she let him have his say, she would never be able to utter a world, ever again.


    "You..."


    Her voice had weakened even more than before. It was so feeble that even the Sisters didn''t hear it. At the moment she spoke though, all of the Weaver of Souls'' intent congealed on her. As Axiu Qian was strengthening his grip on the feathers, she could feel her soul being utterly crushed. This wasn''t the right time to fight back. Here Cao Yun was too powerful. But she was certain that most of this power came from the Blood Abyss itself. If only she could fight him elsewhere, she would kill him in a matter of seconds. To be fair, she was mostly right on that account. But this was also why Cao Yun would never give her this opportunity.


    High Mother Qin Xue''s fate was sealed. It had been sealed for a long time, even before she targeted Cao Yun.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun didn''t intend to kill everyone. Maybe he would have done so some time ago. He would have tried to wash the crimes committed by the Sisters of the Abyss with their blood. However, he had changed and he was convinced this was a good thing. Many of the Sisters had not taken part in the sacrifices directly. They had simply stood by, either willfully ignorant or complicit by their inaction. Sister Lisha was the greatest example of that. Although she knew those sacrifices were wrong, she did nothing to stop them. Deep down, she still thought she might be able to profit from them if they did succeed.


    Cao Yun had images of Axiu Qian''s life in mind. The asura had killed countless people. At first, he did so for his vengeance, but slowly, he lost himself in his own rage. He killed the guilty, the ones who abetted them. Then, he also killed those who stood by doing nothing. By the end, he simply turned into a killing machine. He slaughtered entire worlds. Thousands of planets were engulfed in the flames of his war. Alone, he eradicated so many people that it would take several mortal lifetime to count them all.


    Thanks to his mind cultivation, Cao Yun was fairly confident that this wouldn''t happen to him. Even now, he was still in control of his Flying Poison. But the threat was still there. Nothing and no one was perfect. The best cultivator could fall prey to their inner demons.


    Besides, Cao Yun couldn''t very well judge the Sisters. He had stood by Boss Gui doing nothing while she was torturing her slaves. Of course, he had done so with good intentions. He told himself it was for the greater good. At the end, he would be able to help more people by letting a few suffer right now. Even now, he still wasn''t sure whether he was right or wrong, whether he was just trying to justify and console himself or he had been sincere to himself. But it didn''t matter now, his plans had failed.


    With the Blood Abyss at his command, he was probably stronger than all the Sisters of the Abyss. He could level down the Monastery of Bliss and Repose and send them all into the Blood Abyss where they had thrown so many victims. But it wouldn''t help anyone and it wouldn''t change anything.


    It would just make him feel better. Corruption, as he now understood, could assume several faces. It could be someone doing slightly reprehensible acts. Slowly, they would find themselves doing worse and worse until their very view of morality itself would be wrapped. Morality was much more a matter of emotions than a matter of reason. Now, Cao Yun was realizing that. People felt that something was right or wrong and then, they tried to come up with reasons to justify why it was so. This wasn''t inherently bad, but this allowed some to turn to completely heinous fiends while still justifying themselves. Cao Yun was certain that, even now, High Mother Qin Xue felt as though she had been right all along. And he would never be able to convince her otherwise.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The worst thing was that, in a sense, she had accomplished her goal. A small part of the Weaver of Souls had been saved thanks to her throwing Cao Yun down into the Blood Abyss. Without her actions, his intent would have slowly died down. Even though she had corrupted it, she had simply sped up the natural process. Without Cao Yun''s presence, nothing could have even saved a tiny fraction of his intent.


    There was another way to be corrupted though, it was by doing good. Doing what was seen as the right thing could also be a form of corruption. Wanting to be so pure as to disregard the consequences of one''s actions just because it was the right thing to do was just as corrupt as doing evil itself. Right now, if Cao Yun killed all the Sisters, he would feel righteous. He would only please himself by doing so though. Yes, he would feel like a great hero, but in the end, he would have helped no one.


    Simply avenging the victims wasn''t enough. He wanted to do something for the living too. At the moment, he quite literally had the largest and most powerful religious leader of the Desolate Sepulcher in the palm of his hand. He could crush the Monastery of Bliss and Repose and feel good about it. Or he could make use of it. It wouldn''t be as satisfying, but it would do much more good in the end. Cao Yun had always told himself he didn''t want to be a hero or a saint. And he did believe in that. There was too much pain and injustice in the world for anyone to take it all upon themselves. Besides, he didn''t think there was a single person who was wise enough to know what was right for everyone in every situation.


    Seeing Xixue''s death had shocked him a lot of course. But in the Blood Abyss, he had thought of what should be done. He had altered his plans, but not to the point of throwing them away completely. His main goal was to leave the Desolate Sepulcher and to go back to the main land so he could save his sister. Right now, he was closer than ever. Indeed, he had finally entered the third realm of blood cultivation and soon, he would attempt the Lesser Tribulation. He would probably not be strong enough to fight Emperor Weide on an equal footing, but he would not be powerless either.


    Besides this goal, he still wanted to alleviate some of the injustice in the Desolate Sepulcher. At the very least, he would do what he could. He wouldn''t go out of his way to change the world around him, but he couldn''t turn a blind eye to what was happening right in front of him.


    "Qin Xue, you''ve sacrificed thousands upon thousands of young innocent girls and women to the Blood Abyss. You even killed your political rivals. The Blood Abyss took in all of their resentment, their fear, their pain, their anguish. Now, it is time for you to feel them too. Let''s reveal all your crimes!"


    Cao Yun spoke in Antique Sixian and the Blood Abyss reacted. Just like humans could discern someone''s Qi, demons could easily recognize someone just by their blood. Sister Lisha did recognize some of the blood below. There were women she had known about, but others as well. She even recognized some of her friends who had presumably died in missions. She had always had suspicions but now they turned out to be absolutely true. Even the blood of the former High Mother was mixed in the Blood Abyss.


    "In the name of the Weaver of Souls, you''ve shed the blood of your fellow demons. You claimed that it was for the greater good as it would allow for your god to come back. But you could clearly feel that it was false. You can delude yourself as much as you want but you can''t lie to your senses. And you can''t lie to your Sisters any longer either. You can all feel it, right? The Blood Abyss is almost only made of the blood of the victims. There remains nearly nothing of the Weaver of Souls, and it is all within me now. Qin Xue, you knew, but you couldn''t accept the truth and went on your killing frenzy. How many innocent girls died to your madness?!"


    "Not enough! I would have killed everyone just to preserve an ounce of the Weaver of Souls. And your mere existence proves that I was right. Now, give it to me!"


    High Mother Qin Xue lost it when Cao Yun confirmed that he had the last figment of the Weaver of Souls in him. If she could take it, she would control the Blood Abyss instead of him. Even if she couldn''t bring her god back to life, she could become her god. High Mother Qin Xue would become Demon God Qin Xue. After taking over the Desolate Sepulcher, she could kill Lord Wanghuo and lead a campaign toward God''s Land. She would crush the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Then, just to get her revenge for this day''s humiliation, she would kill every human in the Hongchen Kingdom. In fact, she could keep Cao Yun alive long enough to witness it.


    She wouldn''t enslave the humans, she would torture them all to death in front of Cao Yun. She would make him drink their blood and eat their flesh. Visions of horrors appeared in her mind. And as Cao Yun was connected to her, he also showed her thoughts to all the other Sisters. Even they were appalled by those. Clearly, High Mother Qin Xue had completely lost it. Her thirst for power had led her astray and they finally realized it.


    Besides those images, Cao Yun kept chanting the words of the Weaver of Souls. He was the one asura who had turned against Demon God Da Mo because of his cruelty. He had even given his life to protect Emperor Nuwa and had helped save the humans. And now, a human had saved the last figment of his intent while a demon had almost consumed it because of her ambitions.


    Indeed, Cao Yun had done nothing to hide that he was a human. Only High Mother Qin Xue and Sister Lisha knew about it. But now, all the Accomplished Demon Sisters had felt it. There was absolutely no doubt about it. But there was no doubt either that Cao Yun had cultivated his blood just like a demon. A human who could cultivate both the human way and the asura way was unheard of. Moreover, he did have part of the Weaver of Souls within him. No one could deny it. Then, should the Sisters keep following High Mother Qin Xue or him?


    Doubts entered their minds. To be honest, Cao Yun had used all of his soul and mind cultivation to influence them. If he had been stronger, he could have converted them all to his beliefs in an instant. This was a bit terrifying. At the same time, he had not altered their minds, he had just pushed them in the right direction, fanning the doubts they had already in them. At the same time, he had used the Stinking Lungs to also push High Mother Qin Xue in the right direction.


    All the Sisters were using arts created or inspired by the Weaver of Souls who had crafted Cao Yun''s mind cultivation method. Of course, he could easily sway them, especially under the current circumstances. But although, he wanted to redeem the Sisters, he had no such hope for their frenzied leader. The old woman was rushing toward him, ready to claw his heart out of his chest with her bare hands if need be.

 Chapter 590: Eight Hundred Silky Veins

    High Mother Qin Xue had completely lost it at that point. Within their shared sea of consciousness, the three-eyed eagle who had turned into feathers had been completely crushed by Axiu Qian''s hands. The few feathers that had escaped his grip were covered in the pestilence of the Unclean Evil, while those in Axiu Qian''s hands were now soiled with blood. Cao Yun''s Flying Poison had perverted High Mother Qin Xue''s very soul. Deep within herself, the Demon Soul she had been forming was turning against her. His Stinking Lungs were fully developed and the putrid smell that had permeated throughout her sea of consciousness had helped push her over the edge. Soon, her own Demon Soul would turn into a true inner demon. But she was extremely powerful.


    In other circumstances, she should have been able to fight against such an attack. However, Cao Yun''s very existence was already an assault against her sanity. After everything she had done, everyone she had sacrificed, a mere human had obtained more from the Blood Abyss and her own god than she had in her entire life. Obviously, this was infuriating.


    At the same time, the Sisters around Sister Lisha were completely stunned, for the same reason. They could see that High Mother Qin Xue was even more cruel and murderous than they had thought. And they also saw that her plans to revive the Weaver of Souls had not only failed but even hastened the loss of his intent. Without Cao Yun''s presence to gather it, it would have disappeared for good. In other words, Cao Yun had literally saved the last fragment of their gods. Moreover, it appeared clearly to them that he was using the Weaver of Souls'' arts. Since they were all proficient in ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'', they could see through Cao Yun''s current technique.


    Unlike their art though, his version was clearly superior. There was no doubt to be had, he was holding the complete version. Lost for millenniums, the Weaver of Souls'' ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' had been mostly reconstructed by the Sisters of the Abyss. In fact, their religion had grown from a small group of scholars who were trying to study the Weaver of Souls'' martial arts and cultivation techniques. Overtime, it had grown and had ended up encompassing most of the Desolate Sepulcher. Then, they had completely deified the Weaver of Souls and spread his teaching, or their version of his teachings to be more accurate.


    Of course, some of those teachings had been altered or invented altogether. But contrary to the Empyrean Asura Theology, there was no hatred of humans at all in them. Thankfully, that part had been saved from his original view of the world. Fangzhi Hunpo had fought Demon God Da Mo on that very point. In fact, he had become convinced that studying the cultivation method of the humans could help improve the cultivation ways of the asura, and the demons as well.


    Disregarding the Sisters who were doing nothing, simply watching the fight, High Mother Qin Xue completely unleashed everything she had. From her spatial ring, several hundred strings emerged and crisscrossed the entire chamber. They even reached the Blood Abyss down below, trying to absorb some of the blood. Even though Cao Yun was mostly in control, High Mother Qin Xue was still extremely powerful and talented. She wasn''t a fighter but she was a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. She wouldn''t be easily slain. Although her soul was under constant attack, she retained enough reason to know what to do. If she could simply kill Cao Yun, then she could put everything under her control again.


    In fact, if she could extract the knowledge of ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' from his very soul, she could reach a higher level. Instead of awakening her god, she could become that god. And she meant to!


    ''Dancing Threads of Evisceration''!


    Without hesitation and disregarding her own safety, High Mother Qin Xue circulated all of her blood cultivation, increasing the turmoil in her soul. Although she was controlling the threads with her mind, some were still held in her hands. This gave her even more control as she could feel the vibration of the threads directly in her flesh. Tightening her hands, some of her blood slowly flowed on the threads. Very soon, all the threads were covered in an extremely thin layer of her own blood. Without Cao Yun''s senses, this would have been impossible to notice.


    Suddenly, some of the threads darted toward Cao Yun as though they were sharp needles. Every single attack was aimed at vital points in his body. Indeed, they were targeting his acupoints. Humans and demons both had acupoints, but they were in different spot since demons didn''t have meridians. Unfortunately, High Mother Qin Xue knew that Cao Yun was human so her attacks were targeting his acupoints with expert aim.


    ''Crafty Harassment''.


    Cao Yun moved all over the place, avoiding every thread sent toward him. But even with his speed, this was a difficult task. Besides, he was really getting exhausted at that point. He had to kill High Mother Qin Xue as fast as possible. Physically, it would be almost impossible, but thankfully, her soul was weaker than her body. If she had been a trained fighter, a great martial artist, Cao Yun would probably have been dead by now. Fortunately, she didn''t even master any form of Martial Aura while Cao Yun had developed his Spear Intent.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''!


    Slashing with his spear, the tail of the Azure Dragon flashed into existence for an instant, cutting apart many threads around Cao Yun.


    ''Slicing Veins of the Fallen''!


    Before he could advance toward the old woman, she controlled the cut threads. They all flew in Cao Yun''s direction. Unable to avoid the first ones, his back was lacerated by those threads as he could feel the blood of High Mother Qin Xue enter his body. Within the blood, there were many tiny runes that immediately attacked his flesh. Compared to the Blood Abyss, this was nothing. But he couldn''t get distracted. Even ''Dragon''s Chest'' barely protected him as the threads simply cut through the Qi Manifestation of the scales. When they were close to him, Cao Yun could see that they truly looked like pulsating veins.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ''Thread of the Blood Moon''!


    In the Blood Abyss below, the reflection of a new blood moon appeared. However, there was no celestial body in the air.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    The young man didn''t wait for the moon to fully form. He simply threw his spear toward the ground. In the Blood Abyss, the image of a starry path lead the way toward the blood moon. In that starry path reflected in an ocean of blood, the Azure Dragon swam like a fish and crushed the young moon in its maw. Without his weapon for an instant, Cao Yun rushed even faster toward the old woman. This time, he was using ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''. His eyes were injected with blood and his skin was redder than usual.


    ''Blood-Laced Web of Destruction''!


    Between Cao Yun and High Mother Qin Xue, the threads formed a complex web. Even without touching it, everyone could tell that those strings were able to cut through anything. Of course, the young man also knew that. However, he didn''t slow down at all. Turning in midair, he put his forearms in front of him so that they could hide his entire body. He was perpendicular to the web as though he was lying on his stomach. When he smashed into the web, his forearms were severely cut. The threads even reached his bones. But they were unable to completely cut through his bones. They got stuck in them.


    As soon as Cao Yun made contact with the web, the threads were about to close around him to cut him apart. At that very moment, his spear had flown back into his hands.


    ''Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky''!


    Merging ''Three Storms'' and ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' once more, Cao Yun''s body spun as an azure tornado ripped apart all the threads. Some were even sent toward High Mother Qin Xue''s face who was able to stop them before they lashed at her. Still surrounded by a a raging tornado, the young spearman tried to stab through the old woman''s heart. Although they were a certain distance apart, he knew that his Spear Intent was powerful enough to cross that gap. And he was right.


    Focusing all of his Insight Writings, Cao Yun mobilized his Spear Intent and struck.


    ''Crimson Whispers of the Abyss''! ''Thousand Needles of Devastation''!


    At the same time, some of the threads vibrated and many changed direction in midair to turn into thin needles. Cao Yun was in the middle of his attack and got pierced throughout his body. Thankfully, the raging tornado prevented the aim of the threads to be true and almost nothing vital was hit. However, the vibration of the threads persisted. In the air, the sound didn''t affect it thanks to the air around him. On the other hand, the needles sent the vibrations directly into his flesh.


    Coughing up blood and sensing some of his veins and organs split open, Cao Yun still pushed forward. Certain of her victory, High Mother Qin Xue was horrified when the spear didn''t stop. Its trajectory didn''t even change. Before she could react, the spear had pierced her heart. As it was made of Cao Yun''s Black Heart Flame, it was incredibly corrosive. Even with her body, she couldn''t stop it. The Black Heart Flame engulfed her own heart and the pain almost knocked her out. Pure rage and disbelief kept from passing out.


    Just like Cao Yun, she felt her organs break apart and her veins open in her body. As a powerful demon, she could still control the flow of her blood even without veins. But the pain was intolerable. Besides, the Black Heart Flame also affected her mind and soul. Indeed, Axiu Qian''s image was still tearing apart her three-eyed eagle''s feathers.


    ''Fractured Strings of Fate''!


    All the tattoos on her body appeared in full and shined as they had never done before. The next instant, they all left her body, alongside some of her own veins. Just like her threads, they acted like tentacles ready to skewer Cao Yun through and through. This was the ultimate technique of her martial art, ''Eight Hundred Silky Veins''. With this, she put her life on the line but she could suck all of Cao Yun''s blood, regenerating herself while killing him.


    Unable to move, Cao Yun was in an even worse position. He had already used everything he had but that old woman was just too resilient. There was still hope in his eyes though. If he could bring her down into the Blood Abyss, he would gain the upper hand long enough to win this fight. Indeed, her soul was clearly on the brink of collapse. Even if she was able to heal her body, it was too late for her. There was no way she would survive, either she would go mad or she would be devoured by her own Turbid Demons from within. However, she still had enough life in her to kill Cao Yun.


    The very veins of High Mother Qin Xue pierced through his skin. Then, she began trying to suck him dry. At first, she was able to absorb some of his blood. But soon, she tried to touch his Golden Blood. It was so heavy that she couldn''t move it at all in her current condition. However, by touching upon it, she incurred the wrath of the Drop of Wrath itself. Even if it was totally under Cao Yun''s control, it could still act out of instinct. Sensing the invader threatening it, the Drop of Wrath fought back.


    Instead of absorbing Cao Yun''s blood, it was the Drop of Wrath that was beginning to absorb the old woman''s blood. Because of the surprise, she didn''t react fast enough. As the Drop of Wrath was feeding off her, the figure of Axiu Qian became even stronger and fiercer. The assault on her soul intensified while her very blood was being taken from her.


    Using that opportunity, Cao Yun grabbed her shoulder and pushed his spear further and further into her chest. Then, he unleashed a barrage of elbows and knees into her broken body. Always holding the spear, he prevented her from leaving. Even if she had wanted to, she couldn''t have anyway. After all, her very veins were still within Cao Yun.


    Finally, Cao Yun plunged his hands into her stomach. For a human, this was the spot of the Lower Dantian. Although demons didn''t have such a Dantian, they still had something Cao Yun was after, the Golden Fate, the physical manifestation of one''s prenatal Jing. This was almost like the core of a demonic beast. Without hesitation, Cao Yun ripped apart her flesh and grasped the Golden Fate, it felt like a small lump of gold.


    Such a vision was horrifying for the Sisters still spectating immobile. In the two fighters, there was just pure savagery. Cao Yun was skewered throughout his body with veins coming from many parts of High Mother Qin Xue''s body as well. Those veins were bulging as blood was going through them. At the same time, their religious leader had a spear completely through her heart, more than half of the weapon was visible out of her back. And now, Cao Yun''s hands were plunged into her belly, ripping apart her flesh.


    With a powerful jerk, he took out the Golden Fate. High Mother Qin Xue looked below. She was simply unable to comprehend what was going on. It was as if a mortal was watching their heart being ripped apart from their chest. Prenatal Jing was the source of all vitality in the body. Without it, there was only death.


    Trying to reach for it, High Mother Qin Xue failed. Her body went limp. Both Cao Yun and High Mother Qin Xue fell into the Blood Abyss down below, lifeless. For several minutes, Sister Lisha and the others were unable to move. They could barely breathe as they watched the Blood Abyss slowly consume High Mother Qin Xue''s body. However, it left Cao Yun''s body intact. In fact, it clearly helped regenerate him.

 Chapter 591: Closing off the monastery

    Unconscious for a few minutes, Cao Yun finally woke up. His body was still covered in wounds and with blood. But most of it wasn''t his own blood, it was the Blood Abyss. After the fight, the Blood Abyss had begun to recede back into the pits. There remained a layer of blood thick enough for someone to drown into if they lied down on their stomach. Cao Yun had fallen on his back but the blood of the Blood Abyss had splashed all over his skin. Although it had not healed him completely, it was good enough for him to try and stand up.


    The young man was still completely naked but the thick dark blood was hiding most of his body anyway. In front of him was High Mother Qin Xue. Unlike him, she had fallen on her side and the Blood Abyss had already begun to consume her skin. Thankfully, her Wei Qi was still powerful despite her death. As such, her body was mostly intact apart from the side directly in contact with the Blood Abyss. Her left arm had lost most of its skin and all her clothes around the flesh was gone. No bone was visible yet, but the spectacle was gruesome. Besides, her stomach was split wide open after Cao Yun had plunged his hand in it to tear apart her innards.


    Looking at her corpse, he focused his spiritual senses. Her Demon Soul had already left her body. Such a powerful demon could live a long time outside of her body. Letting her escape even in such a condition wasn''t a good idea. He would need to do something about it, but now wasn''t the right moment. After seeing the gruesome wound on her stomach, Cao Yun looked down at his hand. In it, he could still see and feel her Golden Fate. It had taken the shape of small lump of gold. And it contained all of her prenatal Jing. For cultivating, this would be even more useful than the demonic core of a 9-core demonic beast.


    At his current level of cultivation, exterior resources weren''t too important. Indeed, the third realm of cultivation was turned inward in both systems. Although he wasn''t yet in the Embryo Realm, Cao Yun would soon attempt the Lesser Tribulation and become a Spirit Warrior. Once in this realm, one would focus on their Soul Embryo. Yes, he would need to feed it a little, but it would only be one small grade. Most of the grades were about slowly transporting the Soul Embryo into one''s Upper Dantian in order to awaken it to the outside world.


    On the other hand, the Conquering the Seven Demons realm of the asura system was clearly turned toward one''s soul. As a matter of fact, Cao Yun had already been practicing it for some time. Pills could be useful, but raw materials and pure blood or Qi were of almost no significance. However, he could still use the Golden Fate to improve his body. To this day, Cao Yun was still following Chief Instructor Peng''s advice. Even if cultivation slowly drifted away from the physical, tempering one''s body as much as one could was a good idea, especially for a martial artist. Thus, he would use everything he could to gain even a tiny edge against other cultivators.


    His first thought was to put the Golden Fate in his spatial ring. But he had none on it. However, High Mother Qin Xue had hers on her right hand. It levitated toward Cao Yun who grabbed it. Unfortunately, there weren''t many useful things in it. That being said, he still took it and stored her Golden Fate in her own spatial ring. Besides, he also took out some clothe. Although he had no problem being naked, he had not forgotten about the ladies watching him from above. With spiritual senses, clothes were a bit useless, but still, there was some amount of decorum needed. Thus, he clad himself in some red robe.


    Indeed, Sister Lisha and her fellow Sisters were watching, still completely stunned. They were observing High Mother Qin Xue''s corpse being slowly devoured. In their astonishment, they had even failed to sense her Demon Soul leave her body. Even now, they were hoping for her to simply stand back up just as Cao Yun had done.


    Moreover, seeing the young man stand up while he had still many holes in his flesh was disturbing as well. It felt as if a dead was coming back to life. But they could tell that he wasn''t dead at all. In fact, it terrified them even more. But considering his current state, they could kill him without any problem. In their mind, they were unsure however. Thus, all the Sisters were waiting for Sister Lisha''s decision. Now that High Mother Qin Xue was dead, she was the de facto leader of the Sisters of the Abyss.


    Just like her fellow Sisters, Sister Lisha didn''t know what to do. Cao Yun had clearly shown that he had some connection with their very god. Besides, she had hated High Mother Qin Xue''s ways for a long time but had stayed quiet. Obviously, she felt both ashamed and guilty. However, she couldn''t let her order fall like that. Deep down, she still believed in the ideals she had been presented when she first joined. Even if they had been perverted to some extent, she couldn''t throw them away just like that.


    Although he was lacking in strength, Cao Yun had to maintain the illusion that he was fine. He acted as though the Blood Abyss had completely healed him. The truth was that he wasn''t sure whether he could even run away. If worse came to worst, he could still dive into the Blood Abyss for some time. Then, he would come out even stronger than before. He would become a plague for the Sisters of the Abyss. Unlike him, they couldn''t do so. If they tried to dive into it, they would simply be consumed alive and later become his own fuel. That was also the reason why he had fought High Mother Qin Xue with so much abandon. He had a safe spot right below him. Thankfully, he didn''t have to resort to that. Indeed, such a strategy would be too cowardly. But he would still have done so rather than being killed. He was proud, but he wasn''t stupid.


    Still speaking in perfect Antique Sixian, Cao Yun floated toward the Sisters, always ready to fall back and dive into the pits where all the Blood Abyss was receding into. With it, a large part of High Mother Qin Xue''s blood was following. Although her flesh was mostly intact, her blood had left it completely through her wounds and had been mixed into the Blood Abyss. Things had come full circle. Her desire to feed the Blood Abyss had caused her to become its food. The irony wasn''t lost on either Cao Yun nor Sister Lisha.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "You are the new High Mother, I take it?"


    In his voice, Cao Yun kept the intent of the Weaver of Souls. As such, she felt his words resonate deep in her very soul. Sister Lisha answered without even thinking.


    "I guess so..."


    "Let''s take a look, shall we?"


    Immediately, Sister Lisha, sensed Cao Yun''s soul all around her. Before she could react, it had already entered her sea of consciousness. Unlike before, Cao Yun had fully developed his spiritual senses now that he had become an Accomplished Demon. As such, he could enter her sea of consciousness and even try to extract some memories. However, it was a delicate procedure. Most demons were even unable to do so because their souls were powerful but they lacked any subtlety with them. Of course, Cao Yun had been trained in the ways of humanity so he could have tried to do so. Besides, his time training with Dian Mo had taught him a lot through the art of seals. But this wasn''t his point.


    Instead of assaulting her soul, he tried to feel what she was feeling right now. On her face, he could already hazard a guess. Now that he was in her soul, he was certain of it. She was devastated by High Mother Qin Xue''s death, but she was also relieved in some way. The sacrifices would end for good.


    "I see, you stood by doing nothing while your High Mother was committing those terrible crimes. You knew it was wrong, but you didn''t go against her wishes. Deep down, you even hoped that she was right and you would have been happy to reap the fruits of such a monstrous tree. Unfortunately for you, those sacrifices didn''t do anything except causing pain and hastening the demise of your god''s intent. Your High Mother will be remembered as the worst heretical criminal of your entire cult. But you can change things."


    Cao Yun could have talked in her mind, but he didn''t. He wanted all the Sisters to hear his words. With the intent of the Weaver of Souls and the current situation, his words shook them to their core and they believed every single syllable. Moreover, what Cao Yun was saying was indeed true and they knew it. But none would have said it out loud.


    "You stood by doing nothing while crimes were being committed. But your High Mother''s crimes weren''t the only ones. Throughout your land, there are terrible crimes. I was foolish enough to think I could change it all. I can''t. But you can! Maybe, not everything, but you know that you can make a difference. You can influence this land toward better ways. Or you can stay stuck in the old ways and keep still and silent while more and more girls and boys suffer injustice. What will you choose?"


    Deep down, Cao Yun had a lot of rage. Even now, he still had a small voice in the back of his mind telling him to kill everyone. He could imagine the entire Oasis of Life turned dead. But he also had the images of Axiu Qian''s wrath. By letting his emotions take over, he had become an absolute monster. Yes, killing the Sisters would appease the young man. He would even feel justified in those acts. But then, the situation would become worse for everyone else. Besides, he too had stood still while crimes were being committed around him. He could justify it by claiming his plans were for the greater good, but so could Sister Lisha.


    "Choose now!"


    Pouring everything he could in his words, he even used ''Sea of Blood'' from ''Weeping Demon''. His eyes turned as red as the Blood Abyss. Considering the place they were in and the fight they had just witnessed, all the Sisters felt as though they had fallen into the Blood Abyss. A terrifying pressure was crushing their souls. All of them literally stopped breathing as they were waiting for Sister Lisha, no, High Mother Lisha''s answer.


    "I do wish to change things..."


    "Good."


    Before they could recover, Cao Yun planted seals into the seas of consciousness of all the Sisters. For the time being, they weren''t too strong, but they would endure long enough for him to regain his full strength. After that, he could strengthen them. Thankfully, they were all practicing ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art''. As such, it was easier for Cao Yun to turn it against them. He used ''Crimson Web of Enslavement'' to create his temporary seals. If they had resisted, he might have failed to do so because he was simply to weak. But his words had taken down all their defenses.


    "I have no desire to take over your cult. In fact, I have no desire to rule or anything. I was swept into some political struggles and I despise it. However, this doesn''t mean that I will turn a blind eye when I have the opportunity to help those who suffer. In the next few months, we will change your cult. Then, we will change the Desolate Sepulcher. Until then, I want you to completely close the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Do so immediately. Activate all the defenses of your monastery and recall all of your Sisters, no matter how important their mission."


    Without letting Sister Lisha any time to answer, Cao Yun floated back toward the ground. In his spatial ring, he took High Mother Qin Xue''s corpse. Her Golden Body could be put to good use later on. Right now, Cao Yun''s main concern was to heal himself. And he couldn''t let the Sisters realize how weak he was. If he stayed even a few more seconds in the air, he would have simply fallen. In fact, before he reached the ground, his soul failed him. Thankfully, he was almost to the ground, but he did fall without anyone noticing it.


    "Lisha, you have the opportunity to change your land for the better. If you listen to my orders, things will improve. But if you don''t, I will take down your entire Monastery of Bliss and Repose. I will burn the Oasis of Life and cover the sand in the blood of your Sisters. Prove that your order deserves this second chance, or feel the wrath of the god you''ve already betrayed. You also betrayed the trust of the young girls you''ve let Qin Xue slaughter, do not betray all the young girls who still draw breath today!"


    With those words, he dove into the pit. Cao Yun simply put the red robe back into the spatial ring. But he had no fear for the ring. Now, the Blood Abyss was not a danger for him at all. And indeed, it didn''t attack the spatial ring. That being said, the Blood Abyss was good for Cao Yun to recover, but it couldn''t improve his cultivation but marginally.


    All the Sisters looked at High Mother Lisha, unable to speak. For several minutes, there was complete silence in the chambers while the Monastery of Bliss and Repose was more active than ever. The Sisters who had evacuated the chambers of the Blood Abyss had obviously warned everyone else.


    "Close the monastery!"


    After some hesitation, Sister Lisha had made up her mind. She would listen to Cao Yun for the time being. Truth be told, the seal Cao Yun had put in her soul didn''t affect her decision at all. She could tell that he had been so weak that she could probably destroy the seal through sheer will. But his words and the conviction in his eyes had made her falter. Maybe he could help her change the world for the better. This time, she couldn''t do nothing. She felt compelled to at least listen to him and try this out.


    She also knew one reason why Cao Yun had asked to close the monastery. High Mother Qin Xue''s Demon Soul had escaped her corpse. They couldn''t let her leave.

 Chapter 592: High Mother Lisha

    Deep within the Blood Abyss, Cao Yun was recovering. This fight had almost killed him. In fact, without the help from the Blood Abyss and the fact that the Sisters of the Abyss had deep ties with it, he would have lost. If Sister Lisha and the others had kept on fighting, he would have been forced to retreat into the Blood Abyss. In the end, he was certain that he would have triumphed as he could have simply cultivated his Turbid Demons. But this would have taken around a decade or more. Thus, High Mother Qin Xue would have had the time to prepare defenses against him.


    Anyway, it wasn''t important to think about it now. However, he kept the slight fear he had felt within his heart. After all, his next Turbid Demon would be the Corpse Dog, the Po of Yin associated with both wisdom and fear. This was the fourth of the Turbid Demons related to one of the Five Elements as well. Flying Poison the Po of Jing was connected to Earth, Unclean Evil the Po of Qi to Wood, Stinking Lungs the Po of Shen to Metal and Corpse Dog the Po of Yin to Water. After this one, remained Fallen Arrow the Po of Yang associated with Fire and related to the lack or absence of goal and self-worth. The ultimate two Turbid Demons were directly associated with Earth and Heavens, not the Earth element, but Earth as in the material aspect and Heaven the spiritual aspect of the world.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun could boast that he knew maybe more about Fallen Arrow than Corpse Dog. Indeed, even after everything he had thought about, he was still feeling a lack of purpose. Right now, his two main purposes were to save his sister and to cultivate. But cultivation and seeking knowledge were a bit too broad and he had no idea what it really meant except for the fact that he was sincerely in search of it. Maybe he was in search of a purpose as well...


    Thankfully though, he could put his moral dilemmas to rest. His world view had both become broader and simpler at the same time. Now, he could accept that he didn''t have all the answers. But that didn''t mean that he shouldn''t still try to do as much as he could based on what he knew. He wouldn''t try to become the savior of the entire world as it was way beyond his ability and his wisdom. Also, he wouldn''t like that kind of responsibility. However, he wouldn''t turn away from what was in front of him. He wanted to be stronger to change what wrong had been done to his family. That being said, he couldn''t stay blind to what was happening around him. Strength would also give him some amount of responsibility. Otherwise, he would become more and more detached overtime and he might turn into those who had disgusted him.


    In the Desolate Sepulcher, he might not be able to change everything that he thought was wrong, but he knew that Sister Lisha had a heavy conscience about what her order had done. Thus, he was confident he could count on her to try and do better. Still, he had to make sure that she wouldn''t turn against him. Most likely, she was still in shock. When she was level-headed, he would talk with her again. Moreover, he had to recover.


    With High Mother Qin Xue''s Golden Fate in hands, he focused on his blood cultivation. A large part of his soul left his body and surrounded him. Spiritual senses were extremely difficult to describe as he could feel the world with his very soul, without using his senses. From the Golden Fate, he absorbed High Mother Qin Xue''s prenatal Jing. This was ''Fate Devouring Gate'' from the ''Crimson Inferno Road'' cultivation method. Thanks to his Drop of Wrath, it was extremely easy to crush her prenatal Jing now that most of her soul had left her body anyway.


    In a matter of days, Cao Yun absorbed all of her Golden Fate. In the end, it didn''t really improve his cultivation by much, but he had a bit of improvement in his blood and flesh. Maybe he had also strengthened his own Golden Fate, it was honestly hard to tell for sure. What was certain however was that he had fully recovered. The Blood Abyss and the Golden Fate had healed his body in full. Now, he simply needed to absorb enough Qi. But for that, he would need to leave. Indeed, his main concern was Water Qi, but down there, he could only absorb Fire Qi.


    Cao Yun was also restless about the situation. He had to make sure that he was on top of things. Then, he would need to look for Hongyu and the other demons he had met in the Desolate Sepulcher. Xixue had died. If he had been faster, he might have been able to save her. So he didn''t want others to die because he was taking his sweet time. Of course, he wasn''t just thinking about Hongyu and the demons, but mainly about Cao Huiying.


    Thinking about Xixue and his sister, Cao Yun was terrified. What Yinl¨¹ had done to her own sister filled Cao Yun with fright. Maybe his own sister would also turn against him. Her situation was worse than Yinl¨¹''s as she was being manipulated by Emperor Weide and had lost all her memories. She might never remember her brother. And she might never believe him until it was too late. Worse than that, even if Cao Yun were to kill Emperor Weide, she might still consider him as an enemy, unable to accept her ''father''''s evil designs. Something even worse could happen, she could be dead by the time Cao Yun went there. Instead of worrying about everything, he had to make haste. He would have enough time to think on the road.


    -


    Sister Lisha and the others obeyed Cao Yun''s command. They completely closed off the Monastery of Bliss and Repose and recalled all the Sisters. Of course, the news traveled fast throughout the Nalupu Kingdom. In a matter of weeks, Lord Wanghuo would even be informed. But it would be after Cao Yun left the Blood Abyss.


    A few days after Sister Lisha had witnessed her mentor''s death, a presence surrounded her. She immediately recognized it. There was no possible doubt. High Mother Qin Xue''s Demon Soul was in the room. Thus Sister Lisha let her enter her sea of consciousness without any resistance.


    "High Mother?"


    "My daughter, you have to save me! I need a new body as soon as possible."


    "A new body?!"Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Sister Lisha already knew what it meant, but she had to be sure.


    "Our Sisters all practiced ''Abyssal Blood Veil Art'' so they will be perfect. But the body shouldn''t have reached the Accomplished Demon realm. Still, it needs to be sturdy enough to support my Demon Soul for a few centuries. If I can take this bastard''s soul and bloodline, I know that I''ll find a way to stay alive. Hell, I might even be able to break through. With our god''s inheritance, I could reach the pinnacle and become an Immortal Demon."


    "You want to sacrifice one of our Sisters to stay alive longer?"


    "So what?! This order is nothing without me. They are nothing without me. I would rather they all die than to let our order fall. Think about the Weaver of Souls'' ideals. We are doing all of this for the greater good of the demons, not just in the Desolate Sepulcher, but also in God''s Land."


    "You''re insane! The only thing we''ve achieved is to hasten his intent''s ineluctable demise. You only see us all as sacrificial pawns for your own ambitions. You would betray every single demon and every single principle we have just to attain your desires!"


    "Silence, girl! I made you! I made all of you! My ambitions are what turned our order into such an influential force!"


    "Lies! You killed all the Sisters in your way. Without you, we would have become even stronger. And the Nalupu Kingdom wouldn''t have fallen in such a state of decadence. For the Weaver''s sake, we are thriving by enslaving and selling our own kind to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. They would slaughter us all as much as they slaughter humans. After all, Demon God Da Mo is known to be an enemy of the Weaver of Souls."


    "Enough! If you refuse to help me get a body, I can still get yours. I''ll just have to erase your Demon Soul! I will become the new god of all demons. And I won''t just stop at the Piaolu planet!"


    Although High Mother Qin Xue was more powerful than Sister Lisha, her Demon Soul had suffered a lot during her fight with Cao Yun. Besides, she had grown weaker after leaving her body. At the moment, Sister Lisha''s Demon Soul was probably as strong, if not stronger than hers. As soon as they began to fight, Cao Yun''s seal activated. Deep within the Blood Abyss, he felt it. His seal wasn''t very powerful and had been used as a symbolic gesture more than anything. That being said, it was not absolutely trivial.


    Sensing that High Mothers Qin Xue''s Demon Soul had invaded Sister Lisha, he felt even more confident than ever. Now, she would be easier to convince. Since he had recovered, he left the Blood Abyss. Using his stealth, he easily reached Sister Lisha''s chambers. Thankfully, the woman''s soul was powerful. He simply had to help her a little. High Mother Qin Xue realized too late that she got trapped into Sister Lisha''s sea of consciousness. Indeed, Cao Yun had produced new seals. Then, he shared a bit of strength with the woman, even giving her a pill.


    Sister Lisha accepted it all without thinking. After all, it was a huge help for her. For several hours, the fight raged within her own soul. Sister Lisha was sitting cross-legged, covered in sweat while Cao Yun was concealing her ordeal and his own presence. No one questioned what was going on inside as she had already stayed in her chambers for several days at this point. That was how High Mother Qin Xue died, without any grand fight or any audience at all.


    Sister Lisha disregarded all her pleas for mercy and crushed her Demon Soul completely. In the upcoming months, she would slowly absorb it all. Although she wouldn''t become a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon, Sister Lisha would indeed break through into the 6th-grade Accomplished Demon stage.


    After her internal fight was over, the woman opened her eyes and met Cao Yun''s. For some time, they stayed immobile. Then, they began to talk using their spiritual senses.


    "I am sorry about Xixue... I should have done something... I knew it was wrong, but I... The truth is that I hoped that her death would help us. After so many sacrifices, it had to bear some fruits. I couldn''t accept that all those girls had died for nothing. And... deep down, I wanted it to work no matter the cost..."


    "I know!"


    "Then, why aren''t you killing me?! You probably recovered a lot. You could have killed us both while we were fighting each other. Hell, you could have let the High Mother kill me and then kill her after she had exhausted herself. This would have been easy!"


    "It would have been, indeed. But this wouldn''t have achieved anything. If I kill you, where should I stop? Should I kill the entire Monastery of Bliss and Repose as well? Should I slaughter all the tribes of the Desolate Dune Desert and then go on on massacring the whole Nalupu Kingdom? Your own conscience will hold you responsible for what you''ve done. If I had not seen it in your eyes, you would indeed be dead by now. By keeping you alive, I''m not helping you at all, I''m helping the world. You have the power to change things here, and now, you have the incentive to do so with all your might, just to redeem yourself in your own eyes. Of course, there are those whom I will kill for sure. But I refuse to become a bloodthirsty savage. I''ve seen what it can do to others."


    Indeed, Cao Yun had seen how Axiu Qian had turned into an absolute monster because of his hunger for vengeance. There was no way he was going to become like him. But that didn''t meant that he wouldn''t kill anyone. In fact, he already had a few ideas about those he would kill soon. Killing Sister Lisha and the Sisters of the Abyss wouldn''t help anyone though. And then, he would need to ask himself whether he should kill Yinl¨¹ too. This was a moral dilemma he didn''t want to deal with. However, he couldn''t forgive them anything either.


    "From this day forward, you will follow the true ideals of the Weaver of Souls, and my orders! Disobedience will be mete out with death without any mercy. Your order did enough damage to this land and you''re going to rectify it. Besides, I refuse to see Yinl¨¹. No matter what happens, she must never appear before me."


    "I... I understand."


    "Do you pledge your allegiance to me?"


    "I do."


    At the moment, Sister Lisha was at her weakest and Cao Yun had no qualms using it to his advantage. As much as he didn''t want to kill her, he completely despised her and her order. They had bought so many slave girls and had sacrificed a good number of them. He wouldn''t shed a tear for any of them. However, he could make use of them for some good for a change.


    Since she was submitting, Cao Yun could easily plant far more complex seals in her soul. Besides, her fight against High Mother Qin Xue''s Demon Soul had weakened her and she had accepted a lot of Cao Yun''s soul in her already. It didn''t take him very long to create such a complex seal that no one in the Desolate Sepulcher could unravel it, not even City Lord Sihe. From this moment forward, Sister Lisha would have only two choices, obedience or pain and death.


    -


    In the next days, she officially became High Mother Lisha. But Cao Yun was the one secretly commanding the Sisters of the Abyss. He also put seals in all the Sisters who had witnessed High Mother Qin Xue''s death. Only one of them opposed him so he killed her with no hesitation at all. No one knew who was behind the Sisters of the Abyss and it was what Cao Yun preferred. He didn''t want to rule or to have any political importance. He was tired of politics. But he wanted to have power and influence to change what needed to be changed.

 Chapter 593: Political center of the Desolate Sepulcher

    The Monastery of Bliss and Repose had been completely closed and every Sister in the order was wearing white. The funerals would last for six months so everyone could come from very corner of the Desolate Sepulcher. All the city lords of the Nalupu Kingdom would be present, even Lord Wanghuo himself. But they would not be the only ones. Even the nomadic tribes would send representatives. After all, the Sisters of the Abyss were the official religion of every demon in the Desolate Sepulcher. And it had become even more true under High Mother Qin Xue.


    Her ambitions had pushed her to eradicate any other religious organization. And she had also made sure that no one from the Empyrean Asura Theocracy could preach on her land. She was perfectly fine with accepting their money, but she and Lord Wanghuo always made sure that they never sent anyone. Moreover, crossing the Divine Blood Ocean was almost impossible without the knowledge of the Nalupu Kingdom. They were the only ones with the navigators who could sail those waters with any chance of survival. And this was also the reason why Cao Yun needed their help.


    Speaking of Cao Yun, he reorganized the Sisters of the Abyss by controlling High Mother Lisha. All the Sisters who had witnessed the fight between him and former High Mother Qin Xue and had survived were already in very high positions. But he also decided to appoint a few specific Sisters after going through all the documents of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. In a matter of days, he read absolutely everything and knew now more than Lord Wanghuo himself.


    What really interested him of course was the fate of his Blazing Swallow. Thankfully, it had endured. Dan Yao had grown into a great alchemist. Even without Cao Yun''s help, he had improved himself tremendously. Right now, he was probably a 5-star Human alchemist, maybe even close to becoming a 1-star Heaven alchemist. Only his cultivation was stopping his progress. Honestly, this made Cao Yun quite happy. The boy was good. On the other hand, he had been a bit worried about Nie Pian. Thankfully, the old man had done nothing wrong. In fact, he had turned his tendencies around and had made the Blazing Swallow even more profitable than ever.


    Unfortunately, the Blazing Swallow had been under attack by City Lord Sihe and a few others who had sided with him. Even the nomadic tribes were against them, which limited their supplies. After all, alchemists needed a lot of materials, and many came from the desert. Without Boss Gui''s support, they would have disappeared or been bought by City Lord Sihe. Fortunately, Boss Gui had helped them as much as she could.


    Of course, Cao Yun didn''t believe for a second that she had done so out of the kindness of her heart. But all things considered, she had given them a very great deal. Most likely, Nie Pian had negotiated it tooth and nail. Apparently, the Sisters of the Abyss had kept tabs on his company way past his presumed death. However, they had not interfered at all. In fact, High Mother Qin Xue was probably waiting for the Blazing Swallow to grow even more. Maybe she intended to use their alchemy for herself, so she had no desire to see being destroyed or engulfed by City Lord Sihe.


    The nomadic tribes also interested Cao Yun a lot. They had completely fallen under the thumb of Liang Lisheng, the Sun Scorpion Clan''s Patriarch. Every other tribe or clan was either directly under his command or had proclaimed their allegiance in some manner. All of that had been done under the pretense of fighting against the evil Boss Gui, called by some the Smiling Flayer. There were even more horrendous stories about how she tortured her enemies, and innocent people. Some claimed that she was bathing in the blood of babies and poisoning water supplies in the desert.


    Of course, Boss Gui could be cruel, but those stories were pure fiction. Apparently, the more outlandish they were, the more they were spread and believed. Her clothes were made of demon skin and she ate fresh flesh everyday. Boss Gui was truly seen as a devil incarnate, worse than a demonic beast. Although those stories were mainly spread throughout the Desolate Dune Desert, they still echoed in the Nalupu Kingdom. Slowly, she was losing her influence. Rumors about using poison were clearly the worst. It had been to the point that Lord Wanghuo had summoned her to his court.


    Lord Wanghuo never cared about politics at all. In fact, it was absolutely a chore for him. In that regard, Cao Yun could understand him completely. And yet, he had been forced to deal with the situation. Her influence diminished but she stayed a city lord. After all, even now, she was helping the Nalupu Kingdom make a lot of profits, despite City Lord Sihe''s interference. Thus, Lord Wanghuo had no desire to get rid of her, and he probably didn''t want City Lord Sihe to grow too much and too fast either.


    From what Cao Yun read about him, Lord Wanghuo was a martial artist who had become the strongest demon in the entire Desolate Sepulcher. However, he was stuck as an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon, unable to take the last step. Moreover, no one was his equal anymore. So he got bored and slowly settled as the de facto ruler of the entire land. Overtime, he became more and more reclusive and apathetic to the outside world. Apparently, he was spending more time in his harem and his dining hall than in his court. Obviously, he was powerful enough that no one would ever reproach him anything.


    In the documents, Cao Yun also got confirmation of what he had suspected. Weiji Nian had been behind the attack in the Sand Wolves Tribe. In the past, she had asked the Sisters to spy on Mo Yun. They had complied but only gave her what information they deemed useless because they had other plans for the young human and his strange bloodline. The more Cao Yun read, the more upset he got. In his mind, Weiji Nian was already dead. That woman might have been useful but she was impossible to reason with. After what she had done, she had to go, or she would do even worse in the future. Not even her family could control her behavior.


    The only question in Cao Yun''s mind was whether he should kill her entire family along with her. Her husband was working for City Lord Sihe. Her uncle was in the army of the Nalupu Kingdom, supporting City Lord Sihe as well. And her son was clearly terrible. After all, he had already met him and knew of his ways with his female slaves. In the three years Cao Yun had been away, he had not changed. Or maybe, he had changed, for the worst. Cao Yun had no qualms killing them all, but he was just pondering over the best decision for both his future and the future of the Desolate Sepulcher. Since he was going to kill Weiji Nian, he also decided that her direct bloodline should also go. At the very least, he would kill those who were involved in her and City Lord Sihe''s affairs. And he knew how to do so in the best manner.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Finally, those documents revealed something that truly piqued his interest. The Desolate Pillar was thought to be the place where the Weaver of Souls had fought Demon God Da Mo. Both had been half-step Immortal Demons. So their fight had shaken the entire foundation of the Piaolu planet itself. However, Emperor Nuwa had not been present. Most likely, she was still training at the time. What was interesting was that the two asura were believed to have appeared out of thin air. There were two places where Demon God Da Mo would frequently appear. One was his own domain from which he almost never left but stayed in seclusion for long periods of time. And the other one was this Desolate Pillar.


    The Weaver of Souls also had the same legends attached to him. Apparently, he stayed in seclusion for a few decades at a time before appearing in public again. Each time, he was in that spot or in Demon God Da Mo''s private domain. Obviously, Cao Yun was extremely curious about that situation. After seeing Demon God Da Mo''s body and some of the Weaver of Souls'' memories, there was something that wasn''t quite right. As half-step Immortal Demons, they shouldn''t have been able to live for so long.


    Many people had thought that those asura had a much higher cultivation. After all, a late Immortal or a late Immortal Demon could live for around a hundred millenniums. But their cultivation was much lower in reality. At first, Cao Yun simply thought that the legends were just legends. Maybe there had been multiple Demon Gods all bearing the name Da Mo. But it was wrong as well, according to the Weaver of Souls'' own memories. Thus, there had to be something else. And Cao Yun had thought of a possibility. Maybe they had found a way to slow down their aging process, maybe an array formation, maybe a pill. It seemed unlikely, but there had to be something to it. And the Desolate Pillar might help him figure it out. Although Cao Yun wasn''t interested in it considering his young age, he knew how precious such a secret could be. Besides, no one but him could enter the Desolate Pillar and come out alive. And this secret might be connected to Emperor Nuwa as well.


    While everyone was moving toward the Oasis of Life, almost everything had stopped all over the Desolate Sepulcher. After all, their High Mother had died. The mourning would last for years probably and the land would slowly come back to its usual activities. But for the time being, everything had slowed to a halt.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun had nothing to do with the funerals. He had High Mother Lisha take care of everything and didn''t concern himself with anything. Instead, he decided to do something much more personal.


    From the Monastery of Bliss and Repose''s inventory, he took everything that could be useful to him. In particular, he retrieved a compass. After all, his best compass was still with Hongyu and his main spatial ring. And that was the reason for this compass. Cao Yun wanted to find Hongyu as soon as possible. Of course, he wanted to get his possessions back, especially the paintings of his family. But he was also genuinely worried the fenghuang. Fortunately, no document ever said anything about her. This could be good news if she had been able to hide, or bad news because there was nothing to tell about her any longer. Hopefully, she was alive though. After getting her parents killed, Cao Yun wouldn''t be able to accept that she had died as well.


    Using his stealth, improved by what he learned from the Sisters of the Abyss, Cao Yun left the Monastery of Bliss and Repose without warning anyone. He had just told High Mother Lisha that he was going into seclusion. She had no reason not to believe him. And even if she had, she had no right to question him. Besides, she had to admit that his reorganization had been good. He had chosen the same Sisters she would have chosen, except for one. Yinl¨¹ remained the most basic Sister. Although High Mother Lisha valued her a lot, she knew that even mentioning her name would upset Cao Yun and she was worried that he might kill her. Only Xixue''s memory was protecting her sister, her sister who had betrayed her to her death.


    After leaving the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, Cao Yun flew for a few hours. From some spatial ring, he took out a sword and used it to fly. Using an object made flying easier. But he had to admit that flying around without any assistance was extremely liberating, especially after spending three years trapped underground in some hellish blood pit. For several hours, he simply flew around without a care in the world. This reminded him of his first time flying on Hongyu''s back.


    Those thoughts brought him back to reality. He had to find her. If she was in any danger, he didn''t want to be a second too late. He would have some time to enjoy himself afterward. Thus, he used the compass to track the spatial ring he had given to her before they had parted.


    For several days, he flew forward in the direction shown by the compass. Despite his current cultivation, Cao Yun was still cautious. There were 8 or even 9-core demonic beasts in the Desolate Dune Desert. With his stealth, he could stay hidden from them, but he couldn''t use too much of his cultivation or he would reveal his presence. However, he was moving as fast as he could without putting himself in any unnecessary danger.


    The land below him was very monotonous as he crossed through the desert. He saw a few caravans moving toward the Oasis of Life. Some were officials going to present their respect to former High Mother Qin Xue and High Mother Lisha. But others were simple pilgrims like always. Obviously, there would be more pilgrims for quite some time. The Oasis of Life would become the center of the Desolate Sepulcher for a few decades at least.


    After a month was passed, Cao Yun finally felt Hongyu''s presence. With his current senses, this didn''t mean that she was close, but she was definitely closer. Now, he didn''t even need his compass to find her. But that worried him. She was almost showing off. Thus, she could attract the wrong kind of attention.


    Cao Yun saw a small oasis in the distance. It was incredibly small compared with the Oasis of Life. But what stupefied him was that he had read no mention of this oasis anywhere. Someone should have stumbled upon it at some time. It hadn''t just spurted out of the ground suddenly. Besides Hongyu''s aura and bloodline which were so similar to his, the young man also sensed many demonic beasts. There were at least a thousand of them gathered in this small oasis.


    Feeling all of that, Cao Yun hastened his pace while trying to maintain his stealth as much as he could.

 Chapter 594: Oasis of the dead trees

    Three years ago, Cao Yun had given his vastest spatial ring to Hongyu. In it, he had placed many seals. Among those, there was one specific seal made solely to track it whenever it could be. As long as it was still in the Desolate Sepulcher, Cao Yun was absolutely confident he could find it without any problem. Hongyu had taken the ring and flown away as her brother had instructed. As much as she hated that, she obeyed him.


    For all those years, she had been worried sick about Cao Yun. In her eyes, he was her only family. Although she was powerful, she was still a very young demonic beast. Of course, they oftentimes matured much faster than humans. After all, in the wilderness, they would be eaten alive otherwise. Parents couldn''t take care of their children for too long. Unlike humans, the fenghuang almost only lived as a couple. As such, they couldn''t bear the burden of a useless child. And indeed, Hongyu had become stronger than most mortals in a record time.


    At that time, Hongyu was still forming her six demonic cores, which was the equivalent of a late Mortal Warrior or Golden Blood Child. This was very good, but she still wasn''t on the level of the most powerful demonic beasts in the Desolate Sepulcher. After all, there were some 9-core demonic beasts. Even with her Evil Core and Wrath Core, she wouldn''t be able to compete with them. However, she would most likely be stronger than any 6 end maybe even 7-core demonic beasts even without her sixth core. The mere fact that she could fly was an advantage against many demonic beasts. More than that, she was among the fastest flying demonic beasts on the entire Piaolu planet.


    Using that incredible speed, she could evade any opponent on land. In the air, it would be a bit more tricky. Indeed, space was becoming more and more turbulent as one would go higher and faster. In fact, it was as if space itself was turning into a dense wall as she went faster and faster. The Desolate Pillar was causing disturbance in space, but there was also something else. She could tell because the higher she was, the more space was acting weird and this was the same in the Hongchen Kingdom. Space around the Piaolu planet had clearly been altered by something, or someone.


    Despite this issue, she could still fly at incredible speeds for short amounts of time. This would be enough during a fight. But to travel through the Desolate Dune Desert, she was forced to slow down. With her current speed, she would probably have been able to simply cover the entire globe in a matter of hours, or even minutes. This wouldn''t be a very sustainable speed, but she could do it, if only space was behaving. If she had been able to do so, she could have brought Cao Yun back as soon as he got taken away. But unfortunately, she couldn''t... And her brother might die because she was unable to protect him. Instead, he was protecting her. He had healed her by using his own blood and all his vast knowledge. She felt as though she wasn''t doing enough for him.


    If Cao Yun had known Hongyu''s thoughts, he would have felt very bad. After all, he still considered himself the reason for her parents'' death. Obviously, he had not killed them, but his mere presence had called a catastrophe on them. Once again, they would have been long dead if Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue had not saved them from a Muddy Bashe. In fact, Hongyu would have died at that time as well. But this didn''t change what had happened to them later on because Cao Yun was a target.


    Hongyu avoided any place where demons were present. Instead, she found a rocky part of the desert. From above, she could only see desolation and didn''t feel any trace of life. For the time being, this would be the perfect spot. With extreme elegance, she landed among the rocks and finally got some rest. After more than ten days flying int he air, she needed to sleep.


    When she woke up, Hongyu was jolted back to reality by the sensation of Cao Yun''s spatial ring in her claws. With her beak, she dug into one of the biggest rocks and hid the spatial ring there. Although she knew that her brother had put defenses on the object, she still was extremely cautious. After all, she also understood how important this small object was for him. Thus, she used her hottest flames to melt the rock and completely trap the ring within. It wouldn''t be very hard to break the rock apart of course, but there was no indication that this rock was special so no one would have any reason to do so. However, she knew that her brother could find it, no matter where it was. Even if something were to happen to her, he could find it back.


    For the moment though, Hongyu was quite hungry and thirsty. Just like Cao Yun, she could go long periods of time without eating, drinking or even sleeping. But she was undoubtedly hungry eve though she could survive without food for much longer. On the other hand, she really needed water. Thus, she focused her senses to try and smell anything. Water would also cause Water Qi to be more condensed, maybe she could feel that as well.


    Finally, Hongyu sensed something. To the south, there were traces of water. It wouldn''t take her more than a cup of tea''s time to get there with her speed. Obviously, she didn''t want to get too far from the spatial ring as it was a beacon for her brother. Thus, this place was perfect. There was just one problem though. Around that spot, she could feel the presence of many demonic beasts. Not a single one had more than six demonic cores. What worried her was the sheer number of demonic beasts. According to her senses, there were hundreds of them.


    With extreme caution, she flew high above the spot. There were small trees that looked like they had been burned to a crisp. However, they were still exuding an intense vitality. Looking from above, Hongyu saw that those trees were forming some kind of circle in the center of which there was a deep pond. It wasn''t very large but there was much water in it. Maybe those trees were related to its existence. Hongyu couldn''t really make any guess. But she could guess what was happening down there.


    The demonic beasts were waiting their turn to drink. No more than a dozen demonic beasts were drinking at a time. Hongyu saw a Silver Six-Tailed Fox, a 6-core demonic beast, slowly drinking from the deep pond. On its fur, she could feel Cao Yun''s presence. It was incredibly faint, but it was there. Indeed, this was the Silver Six-Tailed Fox Cao Yun had fought and let go. The Silver Six-Tailed Fox, and the other 6-core demonic beasts around it, heard Hongyu. The fox''s ears moved slightly but it didn''t stop drinking as though it knew it was completely safe at the moment.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The burned trees acted as a form of barrier. The other demonic beasts refused to cross it until the 6-core demonic beasts were done. Once they were done, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox and the others, slowly moved away. Then, a dozen 5-core demonic beasts walked forward. There were Frost Shattering Bone Tigers, Sun Staring Scorpions and Earth-Shaking Elephants. Hongyu looked at the scene some more.


    Realizing that there was no aggressiveness and no violence among the demonic beasts, she felt at ease. Even the weakest 1-core demonic beasts were not afraid at all. But while they were surrounded by some of their natural predators, they should have. That fact alone told Hongyu that it was safe to go down there. Thus, she slowly descended. Although she didn''t know why the demonic beasts were all waiting outside of the circle formed by the dead trees, she did the same thing.


    When she landed, there was no movement among the demonic beasts. Not a single one seemed to be surprised or fearful, or hostile. She walked calmly toward the front of the line as the weaker demonic beasts simply moved out of her way until she reached a group of 5-core demonic beasts like her. A few Earth-Shaking Elephants and even a couple Sun Staring Scorpions let her walk forward. In other circumstances, she should have fought for her life, especially against the Sun Staring Scorpions. But at that moment, they were peaceful and even welcoming. Eventually, she found herself among the dozen demonic beasts that were waiting for their turn.


    Just like them, she waited until the others were finished. And she walked forward with her group. Delicately putting her beak in the water, she felt how fresh it was. This wasn''t just any water, it was incredibly strong in both Water Qi and Wood Qi. There was no doubt in her mind that those dead trees were somewhat responsible for that. Although she was thirsty, she controlled herself and drank as calmly as all the others. Her instincts also told her that she had to drink a reasonable amount. After all, every demonic beast was waiting for their turn and she didn''t want to cross them. Even with her speed, they could rip her apart.


    Hongyu decided to simply imitate the others. Somehow, they all stopped drinking at the same time, as though each one was observing the others to know what was proper. Then, she walked out. Seeing that even the first group of 6-core demonic beasts was staying, she decided to stay, just to be safe. She didn''t know whether it would be considered impolite to fly away after drinking this water. And she was right, the demonic beasts would have taken it very bad.


    For a few hours, all the demonic beasts waited in calm. Only when the last 1-core demonic beasts were done drinking, did they begin to move. But contrary to Hongyu''s expectations, they didn''t leave. They all went toward the dead trees. And they gave a drop of blood each to one specific tree. Apparently, they were trying to balance the amount of blood so each dead tree could receive the same quantity. This time, the 1-core demonic beasts gave their blood first.


    Before long, it was Hongyu''s group to go offer their blood. Although she was reluctant to do so, Hongyu understood that it was a form of payment for the water. She had truly needed this water and she could definitely part with a single drop of blood for it. Besides, it was only normal blood, not blood essence. Otherwise, she would have attempted to flee.


    When she walked back, she crossed the path of a young Five Bloods Pheasant. He was a 6-core demonic beast who had missed her until now. But as soon as he saw her, he puffed his feathers and clearly tried to show off. Hongyu completely ignored him and walked forward. The poor Five Bloods Pheasant looked at her she got away without even acknowledging his existence. As a young demonic beast, he had never had any partner. Obviously, he was attracted to Hongyu. After all, she had the bloodline of a fenghuang while he had the bloodline of the Vermilion Bird. As such, they were very close. There was a deep rivalry between them though.


    That being said, this Five Bloods Pheasant had the bloodline of the Dusk Vermilion Bird, a lesser form of the Vermilion Bird family. As a consequence, he wasn''t too domineering, unlike the Five Bloods Pheasant Hongyu and Cao Yun had met. Besides, he was also much younger and was clearly courting her. Despite her young age too, Hongyu instinctively knew what he was after and she had no intention of giving it to him. Thus, she ignored him completely. But, once again, she imitated everyone else and stayed near the pond.


    The poor Five Bloods Pheasant was dejected. Of course, he still walked toward the dead tree and gave a drop of his blood. He looked backward but Hongyu didn''t car at all about him. With a low head, he walked away from the dead tree. Still, he tried to stay close to Hongyu. Each time he was walking toward her though, she was walking away. He was almost chasing her in a circle. Of course, he was always walking slowly as not to show any hostility. But some other demonic beasts saw it and found that scene particularly amusing, especially the Silver Six-Tailed Fox. Just like the Five Bloods Pheasant, he was a young male. So he understood the drive behind the bird''s behavior. It even reminded him of what he had faced himself. Thus, he was secretly mocking him while mocking himself.


    For quite some time, this game took place and amused a certain number of demonic beasts. But slowly, tension built up. When the Five Bloods Pheasant stopped chasing Hongyu around, she too realized that something was going on. The demonic beasts were clearly moving away from a specific spot. This time, she could feel fear in them. Instead of letting the Five Bloods Pheasant go near her, she went to him. Contrary to her expectations, he wasn''t happy. Indeed, he was cowering in fear at that point. Even the proud Silver Six-Tailed Fox was terrified. He was hiding it a bit better though.


    Seeing all the demonic beasts try to reduce their presence and become as small as they could, even the 6-core demonic beasts, Hongyu imitated them once more. Until now, it had served her well.


    There were large dunes all around them. Suddenly, one of those dunes collapsed completely. It had never been a dune to begin with. A monstrous demonic beast left the sand. That creature was almost twenty times larger than Hongyu if she opened her wings in full. With each step of its four legs, the ground was shaking. On its legs, that monster had sharp claws as long as Hongyu''s body. With her senses, she could smell some poison on those claws too. The demonic beast was covered in a flexible armor shell that extended to its forehead and ended up in a thin but deadly tail that was leaving traces in the sand.


    The burning sand of the desert was covering that armor shell but its deep red was still shining through. If Cao Yun had been there, this armor shell would have triggered his memory. This was a Crimson Dune Lord, a 8-core demonic beast looking like a large and deformed armadillo.

 Chapter 595: Muddy waters

    Under his body, the Crimson Dune Lord had long hair. They almost hid his limbs as only his long claws were visible. And on his face, those hair looked like a thick beard on a very old wrinkled face. Besides, some hair were also on his shell armor and on his tail, but they were extremely small and almost invisible.


    As it was moving toward the pond, the Crimson Dune Lord''s every step was causing disturbance on its surface. Until now, he had probably been sleeping under the dune. In fact, he had been the dune. Hongyu had not detected his presence at all and it horrified her. Although he was not a 9-core demonic beast, he was still way above her current strength. Only Cao Yun would have been able to sense his presence. At that moment she realized that crossing the Desolate Dune Desert without her brother was much more dangerous than she had imagined. If she were to encounter a similar demonic beast, she would die without understanding what had happened.


    All the demonic beasts were prostrated before the Crimson Dune Lord. Despite that, a few lower demonic beasts found themselves on his path. Even though there was a large path open for him, he deviated a little and some poor beasts on the side were crushed without mercy. He didn''t even flinch as though he was just walking on sand. The sound of their bones being crushed under his claws echoed throughout the small oasis as the weaker demonic beasts shivered. Among the unfortunate few, most were kids but even their parents or their tribes didn''t react. They knew that only death would be the outcome.


    Suddenly, the Crimson Dune Lord stopped moving. Still covered with a layer of sand, his head moved toward Hongyu. In the entire crowd, she was the only one whose head was not all the way to the ground and it caught his attention. Before anything could happen, the young Five Bloods Pheasant who had failed to court her pushed her slightly with his wing. Instinctively, she bent forward even more and completely hid her face from the Crimson Dune Lord.


    The giant creature growled for some time. Despite her powerful cultivation, Hongyu could feel it deep in her bones and then in her very demonic cores. In an instant, that beast could crush her as though she didn''t exist. Instead, he sent his senses all over her body. Nothing was hidden to him. She was glad that she had hidden the spatial ring because there was no telling what would have happened if she had in on her at that moment. Fortunately, even the Crimson Dune Lord couldn''t pierce the mysteries of her Evil Core and Wrath Core. In his eyes, those two cores were in fact extremely feeble. Even if she was a 5-core demonic beast, she had barely been able to form her last two cores. As such, she would never form a sixth one and she was no threat at all.


    After deciding that she was of no interest to him, the Crimson Dune Lord kept on walking toward the pond. Because he had turned toward her, his path changed even more and he crushed a few dozens demonic beasts more.


    Contrary to all the other demonic beasts, the large armadillo didn''t respect the dead tree at all. He put his all face into the pond and drank as much as he could. Although he didn''t dry the pond, everyone could see its level slowly go down. In the end, he had drunk even more than all the demonic beasts together. But he wasn''t done. Instead of leaving, he kept on walking forward, completely entering the water. Splashing water everywhere, he dived down and immersed himself entirely.


    For several hours, he played in the water, cleaning himself off. The clear water turned muddy with all the sand that got off. Slowly, his armor shell became shinier and shinier until it was as red as fresh blood. From his hair that covered all of his flesh, even more sand was washed away. When he was done, the water seemed to only be mud.


    Once again, he disregarded the dead tree and didn''t give his blood to them at all. In fact, instead of using his own blood, he would use another demonic beast. While he was walking, he chose a random Two-Tailed Eluding Fox. She was a beautiful female with three demonic cores who was probably on the verge of forming her fourth core. As soon as his eyes stared at her, she felt her blood freeze in her veins. The Silver Six-Tailed Fox Hongyu and Cao Yun had met was also anxious. But he knew that there was nothing to do.


    In an instant, a tiny piece of the armadillo''s armor shell erupted and flew toward the poor Two-Tailed Eluding Fox. Despite her terror, she did try to avoid it. However, it was faster than her by much. The tiny piece caught her right in the chest as she moved. Its sheer momentum impaled her on one of the dead trees behind her. She wasn''t dead right away though. Unfortunately, she knew what was going to happen, unlike Hongyu who was watching with intense curiosity.


    Like it had absorbed the blood given to it willingly, the dead tree also sucked in the blood given against the Two-Tailed Eluding Fox''s will. It took almost no time at all. But the body of the fox shriveled as her blood was being completely sucked in. Then, her flesh even turned into dust and her three demonic cores fell in the sand. Even then it wasn''t over. Her very demonic cores broke apart and turned into dust before merging with the sand.


    Hongyu could feel an intense vitality emanating from the dead tree that had just been fed by the giant armadillo. Before leaving, the Crimson Dune Lord stared at Hongyu once more in a clear attempt to intimidate her. That really wasn''t necessary at that point. Even if she tried to fly away, his shell could still pierce her. Maybe she could avoid being struck in any vital part but considering his claws had poison, she was certain that those small pikes would too.


    In her mind, it was obvious that this entire area was ruled by this powerful demonic beast. But she was still unsure whether leaving would be the right decision. Of course, she could retrieve Cao Yun''s spatial ring and find another spot. But the presence of so many demonic beasts despite this threat showed her that this place was ideal. She would have a hard time finding another oasis and she might run into even worse demonic beasts. At the very least, the Crimson Dune Lord didn''t seem to want to kill and eat her. Anyway, she would stay some time to figure out the situation before making any rash decision.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Once the Crimson Dune Lord was gone, the demonic beasts all went toward the deep pond. This time, they had no intention of drinking water. Instead, they began to clean it up. Even the 6-core demonic beasts worked on it. If they kept it like that, they might end up losing this oasis and no one wanted that. The Silver Six-Tailed Fox looked at some young Two-Tailed Eluding Foxes. They were from the same pack as the one who had just been killed. He was clearly sad about their plight, but he could do nothing. Slowly, he walked past Hongyu. After looking at her for an instant, he went toward the pond and began to help as much as he could.


    The two of them had recognized one another for sure. Cao Yun had beaten him fair and square but had let him go. Although it was tiny, Hongyu could see a small scar on the underbelly of the fox. Most of it had healed and she wouldn''t have noticed if she didn''t know what to look for. Her brother had truly injured him but there had been nothing lethal. Considering Cao Yun''s strength, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox wondered about Hongyu''s actual prowess. However, he had no interest in fighting her for the moment. In his eyes, she was still too weak because of her two feeble demonic cores.


    On the other hand, the Five Bloods Pheasant seemed to find her stronger than he was. Maybe it was because of the close relationship between their bloodlines, but he could figure out that this seemingly weak 5-core demonic beast was probably stronger than any 6-core demonic beast present. Although it was just a feeling, the young bird was confident in his analysis. While she was dazed, Hongyu felt the touch of the male''s beak. He beckoned her to join him as he was walking toward the pond.


    Hesitating for an instant, Hongyu decided to follow him. Although he was persistent in his seduction, he seemed proper enough. Besides, if he tried anything untoward, she could crush him in an instant. But for the moment, she didn''t want to look too strong. Attracting too much attention would be terrible, especially if that was that Crimson Dune Lord''s attention.


    Like all the other demonic beasts, she helped clean up the oasis. It took several hours of hard work, but they succeeded. Before the sun came down, the water was as clear as it had been before the Crimson Dune Lord had bathed in it.


    When the task was over, Hongyu looked at the dead tree and realized that the tree that had sucked the Two-Tailed Eluding Fox''s blood had a few buds all over it. Those tree weren''t completely dead, but they needed blood to regenerate. However, those buds wouldn''t survive very long, it was clear for everyone. They would need much more than just this amount of blood. What no one saw was that the one dead tree that had been fed by Hongyu had more vitality than all the others. Although nothing was apparent, it had regenerated much more thanks to the properties of her blood. After all, she had some of the Drop of Wrath''s properties in her veins. And the Drop of Wrath had brought Cao Yun back to life. It was also helping him regenerate from serious injuries.


    -


    For weeks, Hongyu stayed in the area. She ended up joining the young Five Bloods Pheasant on his hunt. Fenghuang were rarely hunting. Demonic beasts were not all bloodthirsty. In fact, fenghuangs were usually rather pacific and it was also why they were viewed in such a positive light by humans. That being said, they were absolutely carnivorous. Although they could also eat plants, their main food was flesh from other demonic beasts. On the other hand, the Five Bloods Pheasant was an avid hunter. In fact, being close to Hongyu pushed him to prove himself so he hunted even more than usual.


    Despite all his attempts, Hongyu never accepted his advances. On his side, he never went too far. Although he kept pestering her, he never tried anything too rash. Otherwise, he would have been killed. After seeing her hunt with him, he was absolutely certain that she would rip him apart in a fight. Instead of scaring him, it made him even more flirtatious. That fenghuang was clearly a great mate. Besides, his bloodline was much fainter than hers so there wouldn''t be any clash and their fertility would be very good for their species. Reproduction was often difficult for powerful demonic beasts with strong bloodlines. But theirs were very compatible. Unfortunately, Hongyu didn''t care about that at all. Even now, she was worried about her brother.


    Almost every month, there was a large gathering around the deep pond. Every time, the same process happened. Even demonic beasts who had tried to eat each other the previous day became tame and docile during that time. And each and every time, the Crimson Dune Lord would come out, drink and clean himself. With no fail, he always killed a few demonic beast, some by accident, others by design.


    Sometimes, a demonic beast on his way put some plant or some rock in front of them. Most of the times, the Crimson Dune Lord would ignore it completely. But if it caught his eyes, he would spare the demonic beast. Instead of stepping on the poor beast without mercy, he would slightly alter his path after taking his prize. Hongyu was becoming sicker and sicker each time, but she couldn''t do a thing. Besides, she had to think about her brother.


    Hongyu''s presence changed things though. The dead tree became more alive each time. As she spread her blood on every dead tree, each one was getting a surge of the Drop of Wrath''s properties. Mixed with the blood of all the others and those sucked completely dry after the Crimson Dune Lord killed them, the trees were really coming back to life. Obviously, all the demonic beasts were overjoyed. Unfortunately, it also made things worse for them.


    Indeed, the Crimson Dune Lord also noticed the change. Like all the others, he didn''t draw any connection between that and Hongyu. Instead, he became convinced that it was a cumulative effect of all the blood. Thus, he murderer even more demonic beasts. Until now, he had killed lower beasts, but after a few months, he started to kill 4 or even 5-core demonic beasts.


    Before long, every demonic beast felt threatened. So they always brought gifts for the Crimson Dune Lord. Hongyu refused but the Five Bloods Pheasant found gifts for her too. Reluctantly, she took them and presented them before her.


    In two to three years, the trees had grown a lot. There was now a small oasis with vibrant trees all around a deep pond. Despite the Crimson Dune Lord''s tyranny, more and more demonic beasts were gathering each month, which hastened the growth of the oasis as well. At the moment, there were thousands of demonic beasts and the Crimson Dune Lord was basking in their submission to him.


    Now, he had completely changed his behavior. He was actively expecting gifts toward him just to have the right to stay alive and to approach the pond. Like before, Hongyu was reluctant but her companion was always bringing gifts in her stead. In exchange, she helped him a lot when he was hunting. In a sense, she was hunting more than him, but he was busy finding gifts for the Crimson Dune Lord instead. As he became greedier, it was hard to find gifts he would find worthy. Many demonic beasts had been killed because he had been unsatisfied. And today, the Five Bloods Pheasant wasn''t too sure about his gift. He gave the best one to Hongyu and kept the other for himself.

 Chapter 596: Satisfying a tyrant

    The small oasis was now luxuriant. All the dead trees had turned into lush plants that almost covered the entire pond with their shadows. However, there was no vegetation except for those specific trees. There was a small isle of greenery in an ocean of blazing sand. Thanks to those trees, the pond had grown even larger. Soon, it would probably spread to their very trunks. Thus, there was no doubt at all that they had been the reason for that pond in the first place. Most likely, their roots had formed the bed of this pond. Maybe they had even helped the condensation of the water.


    For an alchemist and a specialist of array formations such as Cao Yun, this phenomenon would have been obvious. Wood could strengthen Earth and Earth could contain Water which then nourished Wood. This was a very well known small cycle within the Five Elements. Of course, even demonic beasts could understand that to some extent. But there were many complexities within this apparent simplicity. Anyway, it wasn''t important at all for this oasis.


    As had become his habit, the Crimson Dune Lord was waiting under the shadows of the large leaves. He wasn''t into the water but under the foliage that extended outward. On the other hand, all the other demonic beasts were waiting out in the sun. Each one was slowly walking toward the gigantic tyrant, bringing him gifts to avoid a terrible fate. Most of the demonic beasts could simply not leave this area. Few could fly. But even then, they were afraid of being eaten by other demonic beasts. And they would not find another water source so easily.


    Even Hongyu who could more easily fly away had decided to stay despite this tyranny. So weaker demonic beasts had no incentive to leave at all. Better the tyrant they knew than the predator they hadn''t met yet. One by one, they brought him gifts. Sometimes, they even gave him some of their blood essence. Thankfully, the Crimson Dune Lord wasn''t expecting much from the lower demonic beasts. This day, he only killed two of them among several hundreds. Not a single one thought about protesting. Of course, if all the demonic beasts attacked him, even an 8-core demonic beasts wouldn''t survive. But many demonic beasts would die in the process.


    Even the Crimson Dune Lord was aware of that so he never went too far. He wanted the demonic beasts to be afraid but not to the point where they would throw their lives away to get rid of him. Besides, he was also a form of protection against other demonic beasts as powerful as he was. Another 8-core demonic beast could have been worse than he was.


    Unfortunately, when it came to 5 or 6-core demonic beasts, he was much more ruthless. First of all, they were much more of a threat to him so he wanted to keep their number low. Moreover, they could get resources than weaker demonic beasts wouldn''t dream of hoarding for themselves. So he was expecting rare and powerful gifts from them all. After he had killed an Earth-Shaking Elephant in a single strike, all the other demonic beasts had understood. Even the proud Silver Six-Tailed Fox was bending to his will. Hongyu too appeared submissive in his presence.


    That day though, Hongyu''s companion, the male Five Bloods Pheasant was full of terror. He was almost certain that his gift wouldn''t be seen in a good way by the Crimson Dune Lord. But he had not found anything better. Recently, he had chanced upon a Dry Earthly Root. However, he had not found any good gift apart from that one. Thus, he generously gave it to Hongyu. This Dry Earthly Root was a 4-star Heaven ingredient extremely rich in Earth element. For the Crimson Dune Lord, this would be a kingly gift.


    Hongyu wasn''t aware of that. She was convinced that the Five Bloods Pheasant had found an even better gift for himself and had thus given her this one. Of course, she had been happy with his gesture. But she was also bitter because she knew that it would end up in the tyrant''s stomach. At the very least, it would spare them for the time being. And it could even help them escape from his wrath and greed for the next few months. As such, she wasn''t worried at all. However, she soon sensed that her companion was shaking with fear.


    Since they had spent almost three years together, they had become extremely close. Fortunately, the Five Bloods Pheasant''s attitude had changed overtime. After understanding that Hongyu didn''t care about finding a mate, he had calmed down. With time, they had become very good friends. Although he clearly wanted more from her, he was happy to wait for now. Unlike humans, the Five Bloods Pheasant had specific breeding periods. So he didn''t mind about the purely platonic relationship between them. However, he still hoped to get some offspring out of her someday.


    At last, it was Hongyu''s turn to come before the large tyrant. Like usual, she tried to be as quick as possible. Bending her neck in front of that creature wasn''t pleasant at all. Her very blood was screaming to her. And she could feel both the Evil Core and the Wrath Core. Each one wanted to devour this Crimson Dune Lord alive. But she knew that she was simply too weak to do so. Thus, she accepted her situation and just tried to make it as bearable as possible. Obviously, the Crimson Dune Lord accepted her gift without any hesitation. He was extremely pleased. Behind her, the Five Bloods Pheasant was hopeful that his joy would reduce his anger.


    When it was his turn though, the Five Bloods Pheasant showed much more subservience and respect than Hongyu, even more than usual. Then, he put a piece of Moon Sheltering Adansonia in front of the Crimson Dune Lord. Even though the Moon Sheltering Adansonia was a terrifying plant, it wasn''t too precious. Besides, the Five Bloods Pheasant had only been able to find a small piece of bark from it. For an alchemist, this could have been valuable to use in the forging of pills. But, by itself, it wasn''t too valuable apart from making a nest for some birds. When it came to a large armadillo, it was pretty much useless.


    The joy in the Crimson Dune Lord turned to anger immediately. He felt even insulted by this ''gift''. Without any hesitation, he raised his claws and struck toward the Five Bloods Pheasant. Even the poor demonic beast was surprised. He had thought that he would get beaten or threatened. But no, the Crimson Dune Lord was striking to kill. His claws were directly aiming at his throat. Resigned, the male bird accepted his fate. After all, he could barely avoid this strike, and he would never escape another attack. In the end, it was better to die now rather than later. Besides, he didn''t want to drag Hongyu in it with him. He had messed up...If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Closing his eyes, the Five Bloods Pheasant waited for a death that never came. At the last moment, he felt something crash into him. When he opened his eyes, he had been sent in the distance and beside him was Hongyu. With her incredible speed, she had pushed him out of the way. However, her back had been lacerated by the Crimson Dune Lord''s claws. A thick odor of blood and poison spread around her. For now, she was alive, but she had been severely injured. Even if she wanted to fly away, she couldn''t.


    Without thinking, the Five Bloods Pheasant grabbed her in his claws and tried to fly away. Even alone he wouldn''t have been fast enough, but while carrying someone else, he was just too slow. From the Crimson Dune Lord, several pikes were thrown. They left his shell armor and whistled in the air. The two birds were punctured several times and fell back to the ground. All the other demonic beasts were moving out of the way. They didn''t want to get involved in it. Only the Silver Six-Tailed Fox was looking with great interest. He was trying to see if there were any openings. But there were none...


    If he could kill the tyrant, he would. Looking around, he realized that even the 6-core demonic beasts like him weren''t moving at all. In their eyes, he only saw resignation. This was useless. Maybe he would be better off trying to leave this place after all... The Crimson Dune Lord wouldn''t let any of the 6-core demonic beasts develop a seventh, it was obvious. No more what kind of gifts they brought to him, he would probably kill them as long as they became too much of a threat to his reign. And in time, he would develop a ninth core and things would get even more hopeless.


    Enraged, the Crimson Dune Lord wanted to kill the two renegades with his bare claws. Thus, he got out of the shadow of the trees and walked toward them. He wasn''t in any hurry. Even if he had been, he wasn''t fast at all. On the other hand, his armor was almost impenetrable. As such, he wasn''t afraid of any attack from above. And below, his claws would slice anything trying to sneak in. Moving away, the demonic beasts looked as the tyrant was about to slice the two birds apart.


    The Five Bloods Pheasant moved around and protected Hongyu with his body. This time, he didn''t escape death. His body was literally cut in half, covering Hongyu with his own blood. Losing it, the mutated Raging Blood Fenghuang lashed out. Since she was about to die anyway, she summoned all the strength of her Evil Core and Wrath Core. All of a sudden, she was surrounded by black flames and the odor of blood spread farther and farther. Even the lush trees were agitated. After all, her blood had helped them much more than anything else. As such, the rustling of the leaves echoed all around the oasis.


    The blood from the Five Bloods Pheasant was still covering her when she charged toward her enemy. Since she was injured, she wouldn''t be able to fly very high or very fast. Still, she was much faster than that large beast. Considering how resistant his body was, she tried to take out his eyes first. In an instant, her flames engulfed the head of the armadillo. Unfortunately, his head simply moved forward within the flames, uninjured. His hair was a bit burned but that was it.


    Hongyu was able to avoid two strikes. But the air pressure caused by those hit her and she fell back toward the ground. This time, the impact was even worse. The Crimson Dune Lord trampled her friend''s body as he was coming for her. She might not even be able to harm him at all. Seeing her, the other demonic beasts realized that she was stronger than most of them. In fact, she might even be able to contend with a 7-core demonic beast. However, she had been injured from the get go. Without her ability to fly with ease, the fight had become absolutely one-sided. And even if she had been in perfect condition, she would never have won. At the very least, she would have been able to escape though. And if they had all fought together, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox was convinced that they might have won with only a handful of deaths.


    Anyway, it was too late now. Hongyu was about to die. The Silver Six-Tailed Fox didn''t have the heart to watch. He would really need to get away after that. This area was great but he would have to settle for somewhere else.


    The sound of flesh being teared apart echoed throughout the oasis. But after that, there was absolute silence for quite some time. Finally, a large thud resounded and the entire oasis shook. The Silver Six-Tailed Fox was surprised and opened his eyes once more. What he saw was beyond his wildest expectations and even dreams.


    -


    Cao Yun was flying on a sword when he found where his spatial ring was. Within a rocky formation, he detected its presence. After making sure that there was no demonic beast or no threat whatsoever around him, he split one of the rocks in two and got his spatial ring. It didn''t take him long to open it. All the seals were intact. No one had even tried to access his spatial ring. Delighted, the young man found all of his belongings. He was glad to get the paintings of his family back of course, but he was also happy to get his weapons and his artifacts.


    Besides, there was also the calligraphy by the Weaver of Souls that was of great interest to him, especially after his time in the Blood Abyss.


    Without waiting, he took out his spear, ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Just by touching it, he felt a deep sense of familiarity. Now that he had fully developed his Spear Intent, he felt closer to his weapons. He could probably push it further than before.


    He didn''t take his time to enjoy it though. After all, he was now worried about Hongyu. Indeed, she was nowhere to be seen. However, he could tell that she had come here frequently as he could sense her aura. Considering that they shared so much together, it was easy for him to detect her presence. Thus, it didn''t take him long to notice that she was in the oasis he had seen nearby. Using his stealth, he flew toward that place without a moment''s delay.


    While he was flying, he felt her aura flicker. Something was happening to her. Cao Yun didn''t completely throw caution to the wind, but he sped up as much as he could. The young man was ready for almost anything. He was certain of one thing, Hongyu would not die!


    Before his eyes could see it, his spiritual senses had understood what was happening. He could feel the presence of the Crimson Dune Lord, a powerful 8-core demonic beast. It was on an equal footing with a 6th-grade Accomplished Demon while Cao Yun was only a 4th-grade Accomplished Demon. But it was busy dealing with Hongyu and didn''t notice Cao Yun''s approach at all.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    Cao Yun threw his spear in the weakest spot of the large demonic beast. It went through and through, completely ripping apart his soft tissues before flying back into Cao Yun''s hands. The demonic beast had no time to understand what had happened as Cao Yun had unleashed all of his strength in a mere instant, pushing his Spear Intent to the limit.

 Chapter 597: Saying farewell to the desert

    With his Spear Intent focused on his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'', Cao Yun had also used his ''Dragon''s Heart'' to its limit as well as his Black Heart Flame. Everything he had, he had poured into this attack. Thus, his strength was colossal. Even if he had not known anything about the Crimson Dune Lord, Cao Yun would have guessed his weak spots. Indeed, although his shell armor was incredible, his flesh was less resistant. Still, it was an 8-core demonic beast so not just anyone could have penetrated it. But Cao Yun had done it with more ease than he had thought.


    Since his fight with High Mother Qin Xue, he had not really been able to test out his strength. But he knew that his cultivation alone shouldn''t have made things so easy. It was clearly his Spear Intent combined with it. Martial states were incredibly powerful but they were also extremely hard to attain. No level of cultivation could help someone to reach them. No, they had to be understood through one''s martial art. Of course, cultivation also increased one''s ability of understanding and even feeling certain things. Besides, living longer was also helpful as some states could take centuries to achieve. But in the end, even a mere mortal could theoretically reach them.


    Cao Yun remembered a legend he had heard. A mere mortal had been wounded and his Lower and Middle Dantian had been destroyed when he was very young. Unable to cultivate his Qi above the basics of the Foundation Realm, he turned to martial arts. In a few decades, he had mastered Sword Soul, the fifth martial state. One day, he fought a late Spirit Warrior. Although he died during the fight, he had been able to wound his opponent. And this Spirit Warrior always bore the scars of this battle. Even the best medicine he had could not heal him completely. Then he died a few years later because of those injuries. Most likely, the legend was a bit exaggerated but it proved a point. Cultivation alone was not enough.


    Just to be sure, Cao Yun flew down. He took out his sword ''Unrivaled Above the Sand'' and unleashed the full form of ''Three Storms''. The beast was cut into tiny pieces and his eight demonic cores fell to the ground. Before they could touch the sand though, Cao Yun''s spiritual senses took them in. They ended up in his spatial ring in an instant. There was no doubt that this Crimson Dune Lord was thoroughly dead. Unlike cultivators, his soul could not survive outside of his body. It could produce Evil Qi of course, but under such a powerful sun, it would be burned away very soon before it could really become a problem.


    All around Cao Yun, the demonic beasts were stunned. They didn''t know how to react at all. It just seemed unreal for most of them. Only the 6-core demonic beasts were able to accept what had just happened. Among them, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox recognized Cao Yun immediately. Unlike him, the human had grown a lot. His strength was incomparably higher than during their fight. Now, Cao Yun could kill him in an instant without moving a finger, just by controlling his spear through the air.


    Disregarding the thousands of eyes upon him, Cao Yun appeared before Hongyu in an instant. She was wounded and covered in the blood of her friend. The Five Bloods Pheasant was completely dead as well. He had probably died thinking that Hongyu was also going to meet a terrible fate. Thus, she felt incredibly bad about it. For years, she had grown closer to him and now he was gone forever. More than that, she had been unable to do a thing about it. At that moment, she felt exactly as Cao Yun had felt several times already.


    The beast looked up toward her brother. Her emotions were conflicted. In those pupils Cao Yun could feel sadness and joy mixed together. Although he didn''t know everything that had happened, he could quickly put things together. Clearly, this bloody Five Bloods Pheasant had been dear to her and he had died while protecting her, like her parents. If Cao Yun had come a bit sooner, he would have lived. But he had first gone to his spatial ring. This decision had sealed the fate of this poor beast who had given his life for Hongyu.


    Once again, Cao Yun felt bad, but not as bad as before. He had come to accept than certain things were unavoidable. His decision had caused his death, but he had no way of knowing it beforehand. Like always, he was forced to make decision without knowing everything, no one could know everything. So he had to stop feeling guilty about it all. Instead, he had to learn and try to do better the next time. Besides, without his weapons, he might not have been able to kill the Crimson Dune Lord so easily. If he had not recovered his spatial ring first, Hongyu could have died as well during the fight. There was no way for him to know for sure.


    "Hongyu... I''m sorry about your friend..."


    The Raging Blood Fenghuang understood his meaning. She bowed her head as a sign of appreciation. Then, she turned toward the body of the Five Bloods Pheasant. Delicately, she moved him around so he was resting peacefully on the ground. All around her body, flames danced as she burned away the blood covering her. For a few minutes, her flame intensified and then spread all around the Five Bloods Pheasant. With his Vermilion Bird bloodline, flames shouldn''t have hurt it much. But now that he was dead, they were able to completely engulf his flesh.


    Everyone stayed silent as Hongyu was burning away his body. Before long, there remained only ashes. Hongyu turned toward Cao Yun with a glint in her eyes. He understood her intent. Thus, he used his spiritual senses to recover all the ashes and none of the sand. Although she was injured, Hongyu tried to fly but she couldn''t do much. Discreetly, Cao Yun helped her with his spiritual senses. They rose a bit higher. Finally, Cao Yun scattered his ashes in the wind. Even his demonic cores had been destroyed as Hongyu didn''t want anyone to eat them. For fiery birds like them, turning to ashes was a form of great respect.


    Hongyu and Cao Yun looked down below toward the demonic beasts. Without any hesitation, the young man took the carcass of the Crimson Dune Lord in his spatial ring as well. However, he did leave at least half of it for the other demonic beasts. Of course, they waited for Cao Yun''s departure. As they were leaving, Hongyu looked intently at the Silver Six-Tailed Fox. They had also grown a tiny bit closer in those three years, but were mere acquaintances. She didn''t feel attached to him at all, nor him to her. That being said, she knew that he could become a powerful ruler of this region.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Once the two were gone, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox was the first one to feast on the flesh of the Crimson Dune Lord in the hope of forming a seventh core.


    -


    Because Hongyu was injured, Cao Yun didn''t bring her to the Oasis of Life immediately. Instead he helped her heal. In his spatial ring, he still had a lot of alchemy pills. Besides, he had the body of the Crimson Dune Lord and of High Mother Qin Xue. Cao Yun had obviously no respect for either of them. Thus, he simply gave them to Hongyu to eat. And she did without any hesitation.


    Combined with the pills, she recovered all of her strength and some more. Then, Cao Yun even gave her one of the 8-demonic cores, but he kept the other ones for now. They would be much more useful once turned into pills. Moreover, he might need them for his own cultivation since he intended to go through the Lesser Tribulation.


    With all his spiritual senses, Cao Yun examined her entire body. There were many scars and injuries that had not healed completely. In those three years, she had been through some hardships for sure, but they had not been too terrible. There was nothing worse than what could be found within any wild demonic beast. In fact, it was even on the lighter side of things. Her Evil Core and Wrath Core were also perfectly fine. The properties of the Drop of Wrath were still balancing out the Evil Qi in her. In fact, she could probably control the Evil Qi to some extent, not as well as Cao Yun of course, but this was still impressive. Few demonic beasts on the Piaolu planet could do such a thing, although Cao Yun had heard about legends.


    Finally, he saw traces of her seventh core being formed. It would take a few years for it to come to fruition, but he was confident he could help her fasten things up. In less than a year, he could probably help her form her seventh core. Cultivation for demonic beasts was much simpler than for humans or demons. They were always just collecting energy in order to form demonic cores. Of course, one could not form a demonic core all of a sudden, just like a human couldn''t develop great muscles just by eating a lot. The body had a limit to how fast it could build muscles, and the same was true for demonic beasts and demonic cores. That being said, Cao Yun knew of many pills that could help Hongyu.


    Moreover, now that he understood Antique Sixian perfectly, he was working on deciphering all of Cleansed Asura''s documents. In them, he had found treatises on alchemy and array formations. By combining what he had understood with his own knowledge, he had reached a level that no one on the Piaolu planet could boast to master. In fact, his understanding of alchemy had probably reached the Spirit level. Even Spirit Masters Hua Fenfei and Xiao Xuefeng had probably not reached this level. But he had not tried forging a Spirit pill and was not too confident about it. First of all, he needed to fully master the forging of Heaven pills. And as soon as he was a full-fledged Spirit Warrior, it would be so much easier.


    With a Spirit pill, he might really be able to help Hongyu forge her seventh core in a matter of months, not years.


    After he was confident in Hongyu''s health, they both flew away. Cao Yun matched her speed as she was flying a bit slow. At first, he was afraid that he had missed some injuries but he quickly understood. She was saying farewell to this place. Instead of going in a straight line, she flew all over the place and Cao Yun followed her without saying anything. He completely let her do what she needed to do. Then, they did fly faster and faster.


    At first Hongyu was trying to be mindful of her brother. Now that he could fly, he probably couldn''t fly as fast as she could. But as he could still match her speed, she went faster and faster. Even Cao Yun, and even while using an artifact to fly faster, couldn''t go as fast as she could when she went all out. But in the Desolate Dune Desert where space forced them to slow down considerably, he could follow her without any problem. However, he would not be able to match her sudden bursts of speed during a fight.


    -


    Finally, they both came back to the Oasis of Life and into the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Many people were there to celebrate High Mother Lisha and to mourn former High Mother Qin Xue. However, the very big shots had not arrived yet so Cao Yun and Hongyu had no problem sneaking in. High Mother Lisha saw through their stealth because of their bloodlines. But to be fair, Cao Yun wasn''t hiding them that wall considering he was just trying not to be seen by the crowd.


    Once again, he asked to be informed of any new development but the Desolate Sepulcher had really come to a stop since the announcement of High Mother Qin Xue''s death. This was a very good thing for Cao Yun and his plans. He didn''t have to worry about anything for quite some time. Thus, he might go ahead and try to breakthrough once more. His Qi cultivation didn''t match his blood cultivation and this would become an issue over time. Thus, he wanted to go through the Lesser Tribulation as soon as he could.


    For a few days, Cao Yun visited all the Sisters he had under his control, just to make sure that his seals were working well and to remind them of their actual status. He was in control of everything and they were just serving under him in secret. He also talked with High Mother Lisha. Thankfully, he realized how right he had been when he had chosen her. All the reforms she proposed were great, some even exceeded what Cao Yun could have imagined. After all, he was no leader and didn''t know much about their religion. Although he read a lot, he had no actual experience. Besides, the theological texts often contradicted each other, so it was hard to know what was the actual situation of the Sisters of the Abyss and their religious order.


    Since he now controlled the public face of the Sisters of the Abyss, he simply had to tell her what kind of result he wanted and she would do the heavy lifting for him. Moreover, he didn''t want to change absolutely everything and neither did he care. What he wanted to change though, High Mother Lisha agreed. The Sisters of the Abyss would fight with more vigor against unlawful slavery. Slavery might still be used as a form of punishment or a way for someone to repay a debt. But the order would do everything to uphold the laws that already existed anyway. All things considered, it was good. Cao Yun was aware that there were other issues, but he couldn''t single-handedly change an entire culture. And he couldn''t know what was good or bad. Even good intentions could lead to disastrous consequences. He had learned that feeling good about something wasn''t the same as actually doing good.


    At last, he retired into his chambers. The entire Blood Abyss had been turned into his personal chambers. With Hongyu, they entered and she felt a proximity with the Blood Abyss, not as strong as with Cao Yun, but there was still a faint connection. There, she would be able to grow stronger a tiny bit faster. And this was also the place Cao Yun had chosen for his Lesser Tribulation.

 Chapter 598: First Lesser Tribulation attempt

    It would take several weeks or even months for everyone to get into the Oasis of Life. However, the ceremony would only start after Lord Wanghuo''s arrival. After all, he was the undisputed king of the Nalupu Kingdom. Although he wasn''t a great politician, he was an incredible warrior. From what Cao Yun had read, even in his now indolent life, he was probably the strongest demon in the entire kingdom, and even the whole continent. On the other hand, he was a lousy politician and king. As such, the real political power in the hands of the Sisters of the Abyss and the Xinian Confederation. Right now, Cao Yun ruled the Sisters which were also the religious power of the continent.


    Soon, he would also rule the Xinian Confederation. For the time being, City Lord Sihan had gained in favor and was the dominant leader of the confederation, while Boss Gui was almost excluded from everything. Before Cao Yun''s disappearance, she had already little influence, but she was still privy too many things. Now, the Xinian Confederation acted as though she was plagued, avoiding her and ignoring them as much as possible without expelling her outright. After all, she was still a city lord. Going too far against her would piss off Lord Wanghuo. And they still needed his permission to go that far.


    Despite almost never taking any decision, Lord Wanghuo always made sure that everyone knew who had the real power, the power to kill and destroy. This was how he had kept his throne all this time.


    If Cao Yun''s plans succeeded, City Lord Sihan would be dealt with and Boss Gui would lead the Xinian Confederation. Just like High Mother Lisha, Cao Yun would then control her. With those two institutions under his command, he would effectively rule the Desolate Sepulcher. But political power was a fragile thing. Even he wouldn''t be able to do everything he desired. After all, not even Lord Wanghuo could do so. The nomadic tribes were always a small thorn in his side, and the beliefs of the demons couldn''t be easily changed. Even a powerful king had to take his subjects'' beliefs and desires into consideration to avoid an uprising. No matter how powerful he was, Lord Wanghuo was still only an Accomplished Demon. He couldn''t kill everyone, and lesser demons could team up to take him down. Besides, he also had to make sure that his army stayed loyal to him.


    The more Cao Yun thought about the complexities of political power, the less he wanted it. There was no way he would actually take an official position. No, he would just manipulate those already in power, or even place those he wanted in positions of power. Then, he could keep the freedom he wanted. If Lord Wanghuo heard Cao Yun''s thoughts, he would wholeheartedly agree with him on that point. Being king had not brought him much more than what he already had as the strongest warrior in the entire Desolate Sepulcher.


    Even after Lord Wanghuo''s arrival, the ceremony would last quite some time. They first had to hold a memorial service for High Mother Qin Xue. Since Cao Yun had taken her body and given it to Hongyu, they would not be able to show it. To be fair, even if he had given it to them, the body had traces of the fight and this would prove that she had been killed. Instead, the Sisters of the Abyss would have to claim that some ritual had to be performed quickly. High Mother Lisha had already found the texts to justify all that. And there were many witnesses to High Mother Qin Xue''s death to attest that it had been of natural causes. Of course, all those witnesses bore the seal made by Cao Yun.


    After this service that would last a few weeks, there would be other religious rituals to celebrate High Mother Lisha''s new status. According to their texts, she would need to be purified by blood. Cao Yun had read everything about those rituals, they were very complex, long and incredibly detailed. Sometimes, even the movements of High Mother Lisha''s fingers were codified. This was honestly a nightmare and Cao Yun couldn''t possibly imagine anyone would have the patience of either performing or observing the rituals. But the truth was that tens of thousands of demons would be there to admire those rituals. And many more would try to do so without being able to.


    During this huge waste of time, Cao Yun had other plans. From his spatial ring, he took out the calligraphy of the Weaver of Souls. For several days, he admired every single detail of it while circulating his mind cultivation. In his sea of consciousness, he had created a copy of the calligraphy but it was lacking. Now, he tried to improve it as much as he could. With the genuine article in front of him, it was easier. But easier didn''t mean easy. It would still take him a lot of effort, but the result was worth it. This calligraphy was able to improve his mind cultivation.


    Right now, Cao Yun was cultivating his fourth Turbid Demon, Corpse Dog. But his efforts were about to be focused on something else. Indeed, he was on the verge of attempting the Lesser Tribulation. This was why he immersed himself into the calligraphy, he was preparing his mind. During the Lesser Tribulation, he couldn''t be interrupted or distracted by anything. His own father had failed his own attempt and Cao Yun was younger than he had been. The first time Cao Guang had tried to break through into the Embryo Realm, he was in his forties. At the moment, Cao Yun was no older than twenty-five. Less than ten years had passed since his family had been slaughtered.


    Because he was a child at the moment, Cao Yun kept a vivid memory of his father''s failure. It was the very first time he realized that his father wasn''t all-powerful. Until then, he had always had a pristine image of both his parents. This image had begun to crack after this failure. And his world had collapsed when even his great-grandfather had been killed in his own residence.


    Thus, Cao Yun wanted to stack all the odds in his favor. Once his mind was ready, he set up a few array formations. Most were meant to isolate him from the outside world. No sound, no smell, no light, nothing from the outside world could enter his Void Island array formation, a 5-star Heaven one. With his current knowledge, he had even been able to set up several Pristine Heaven array formations and a few Seamless 1-star Heaven ones as well. He added an Universe Engulfing Sparrow array formation on top of the Void Island one, no spiritual senses could enter it either. But he also set up a few illusory array formations. For all intents and purposes, the Blood Abyss chambers were empty. If someone tried to sense what was happening in there, they would see nothing strange. The Universe Engulfing Sparrow could be a problem because it created an empty hole in one''s perception, with illusions around it, it disappeared too.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    But the most important array formations were those hidden within. All of them were set up around Cao Yun''s main array formation he had found in the Cultivation of Wrath, the Raging Blood God. Although it was perfect for Cao Yun''s cultivation, it was only a 2-star Heaven array formation. As such, Cao Yun was able to almost reach the Seamless state, but only reach a 98% retention of the Wandering Qi. Still, it was impressive, especially for his age.


    This Raging Blood God array formation was able to increase both Fire and Water aspects of the Drop of Wrath while harmonizing them. This was the greatest challenge of the Lesser Tribulation. One had to use both their Water Qi and Fire Qi. In fact, both Qi had to clash against each other without hurting the cultivator. Since the Drop of Wrath was literally made of blood, it contained some Water element, but it also contained a lot of Fire element as well. Most things contained all five elements, it was the ratio between them that changed and gave the properties of the thing itself.


    Hongyu was hidden within the first layer of array formations but she stayed away from Cao Yun as she could tell he was in need of focus and silence. Besides, she was digesting what she had eaten. Like Cao Yun, she was attempting a breakthrough, but it would be much easier for her. At the very least, she didn''t risk her life at all. The worst thing that could happen to her was to fail and to have to absorb more Qi to form her sixth core.


    On the other hand, Cao Yun could really die during his breakthrough. He could also be maimed. Even if his flesh could regenerate, his Dantian didn''t have that chance. Maybe he could form a Pure Golden Dantian like his former servant. Although he thought he might be able to pull off the forging of the Life Boiling Cradle pill, he had no certitude as to whether the pill would work anyway. After all, it wasn''t a miracle pill that would work all the time. Thus, he didn''t want to risk injuring himself. Moreover, he could also succeed in breaking through but not to the extent he wanted. One the Soul Embryo was formed, there was no reforming it. It was sometimes preferable to fail than to succeed with a weak or deformed Soul Embryo.


    After doing everything he could to increase his chances and reading all the documents he could within Cleansed Asura''s library, the young man felt ready. Worrying too much or over-preparing would lead to opposite results. Thus, he sat cross-legged on the ground and focused all of his senses, physical and spiritual, into his own body.


    The last three stages of the Forge Realm consisted in the Lesser Tribulation itself. Those three stages had to be broken through one after the other. It was impossible to pause or to rest or one would go back to the doors of the 7th-grade Mortal Warrior.


    The 7th-grade Mortal Warrior stage precisely was called Crystallization of the Dantian. The name was clear enough as to its contents. The cultivator had to crystallize their Middle and Lower Dantian. This was probably the easiest part of the Lesser Tribulation. However, once both Dantian had been crystallized, it was impossible to use the Qi within. And this stage depended heavily on how much Qi each crystallized Dantian had. But more importantly, the ratio between the two Dantian. In the ideal situation, each Dantian had to have exactly the same amount of Qi with inverse ratios of Water and Fire Qi. In fact, the purer each Dantian was the better. But even then, there was a limit. There had to remain some Water Qi within the Fire Qi and vice versa. There was always Yin in Yang and Yang in Yin.


    The main problem was that if the "impure" Qi was too small, it was hard to perfectly match it between the two Dantian. A very small difference would become a huge ratio in the end. On the other hand, it was best to have as little "impure" Qi as possible. Thus, Cao Yun tried to have exactly that.


    He had a harder time controlling the Water Qi. Indeed, the Rune of Fire he had in him made controlling the Fire Qi quite easy. Thus, he was able to purge the excess of Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, reaching a point where both his Middle and Lower Dantian had exactly the same amount of Qi. He simply had to balance the Water and the Fire within now.


    Cao Yun stayed sitting for several days without moving a muscle. In fact, several times, Hongyu wondered whether he was dead or alive as his chest barely moved at all. Sometimes, it simply stopped moving altogether, but Cao Yun''s blood was so full of vitality, he didn''t need to breathe for rather long periods of time. Besides, his heart didn''t even need to beat for his blood to nourish his flesh. Even though he was still technically considered a mortal, he was already so much more.


    Lost in his thoughts, the young man was able to strike the perfect balance. At least, it was perfect with his abilities. Only a handful of Mortal Warriors could have reached such a state. There only remained a glint of Water Qi in his Middle Dantian and almost the same amount in his Lower Dantian. Once again, the Rune of Fire came in handy. Even if he had a hard time controlling the Water Qi, he could sense the small amount of Fire Qi in his Lower Dantian. The difference between his two Dantian had to be negligible.


    Now came the moment to crystallize his two Dantian. Once it was done, there was no coming back. The only way to improve a crystallized Dantian was to break it apart and begin anew. Nothing could be added or subtracted, so Cao Yun would have to start from scratch. Besides, breaking apart the crystal would consume a lot of effort and energy while being risky. Almost all of Cao Yun''s Qi was contained in his Dantian, but there was still largely enough to sustain his body for a few weeks, even some months.


    Using also his spiritual senses, Cao Yun focused all of his strength inward. The pressure upon both his Dantian increased tenfold, a hundredfold, until it was so high that the Qi itself turned solid. It was similar to what demonic beasts did naturally by forming their demonic cores. Soon, Cao Yun had two small crystals within his Dantian. Each one exuded vitality and energy. Now, he had to work on the 8th-grade of the Forge Realm before too much energy was dispersed.


    Clearly, this was the most dangerous part of the Lesser Tribulation. In fact, it was the Lesser Tribulation in itself. This was the moment when one failed or succeeded. Of course, it depended greatly on how well the crystals had been formed, which itself depended on the cultivation before that. Cultivation was always being built on what the cultivator had achieved before, so each stage was important and couldn''t be disregarded. That was the main reason why some never reached a high level.


    This stage also relied on the sturdiness of one''s Extraordinary Vessels. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s were incredibly resistant. But he would unleash much more strength than other Mortal Warriors, so even he was a bit worried about it.

 Chapter 599: Qi Impact

    The 8th-grade Mortal Warrior stage was simple enough to summarize. It was called Qi Impact. The cultivator had to throw each crystallized Dantian against each other so they would merge together in a cataclysmic explosion. The crystallized Dantian were, to be more accurate, the crystallized Qi within the Middle and Lower Dantian. Indeed, the Dantian themselves could not move, it would be like moving one''s heart within their body. But the entire Qi contained in both Dantian that had turned into small crystal with immensely dense energy within were called crystallized Dantian themselves by extension.


    In principle, it was easy. In practice, it was incredibly risky and difficult. Indeed, first of all, the two crystallized Dantian had to be appropriate for each other. Thankfully, Cao Yun had succeeded in this endeavor as much as he possibly could. It would be difficult for anyone to reach a more suited state for both of their Dantian. What really mattered wasn''t necessarily the stat of each one, but their relation to each other. Cao Yu had almost reached a perfect state for both of his Dantian. Thus, he could begin this next phase with a serene mind. And this was the most important part.


    First of all, both crystallized Dantian had to be thrown at each other with the right amount of strength so they would meet around the Huang Ting, the Yellow Court. This acupoint was near the stomach, but the name was also used to describe the entire region. The two crystallized Dantian would be thrown along the axis of the Ren Mai, the Conception Vessel that also connected the three Dantian from the front of the body.


    If the impact took place too close to either Dantian, it could shatter them, either leaving heavy injuries, crippling the cultivator, or even killing them on the spot. So aiming for the right place was essential.


    At the same time, they had to be thrown with as much strength as possible while the cultivator had already sealed most of their Qi within the two crystallized Dantian precisely. So they had to rely on their will and intent to command them. Hence, it was essential to have a great control over one''s Qi. For that part, Cao Yun had no worry at all. But he was worried to throw to hard or too soft. Indeed, the two crystallized Dantian had to explode upon impact so their energies could merge together and give birth to the Soul Embryo.


    If the impact was too weak, they would not shatter but they would be damaged. In which case, the cultivator either had to attempt to do so again, risking to birth a weak or deformed Soul Embryo. Or they would have to get both crystallized Dantian back in their original Dantian to break them apart and attempt the breakthrough another time. Once again, reverting the crystallized Dantian back into Qi was not an easy process and it would bring about some consequences for the cultivator.


    On the other hand, if the cultivator threw them too hard, the shock could injure them. It was why the Extraordinary Vessels had to be sturdy enough to resist it. In theory, the stronger the impact was, the better things would be. But the Extraordinary Vessels had to resist it. Moreover, the impact shouldn''t be too strong either as to not send a feedback into the two Dantian that were obviously connected by the Conception Vessel.


    Cao Yun first began to move around each crystallized Dantian to get a feel of how they behaved. Even though he had read that in Cleansed Asura''s documents, he would have thought about it by himself. And this was the right move. Indeed, in this new form, Qi behaved quite differently and Cao Yun would have to take that into consideration. As such, he played around with both crystals for quite some time. He even moved them outside of his Dantian to get the right sensation. But he was extremely cautious as to never get them close to one another.


    Once he was comfortable moving them around, he did approach one with the other. Immediately he felt both an attraction and a repulsion. The Water and the Fire elements were pushing each other away while the tiny amount of the other element was getting attracted. In other words, the Water Qi attracted the Water Qi but repulsed the Fire Qi and vice versa. That meant that he would need a lot of strength to pulverize them against each other. Slowly, he tried to get them as close as he could to understand how this force between them would react. The closer they were, the stronger this repulsion was. It was to the point that it would have been impossible for Cao Yun with all his strength to make them touch each other. Thus, it was imperative to throw them toward each other so that the momentum itself would break this intangible barrier.


    Finally, Cao Yun decided to attempt the Qi Impact. Beforehand, he summoned all the vitality of the world tree within him. In his body, it felt as though vines were growing all around his Conception Vessel, but only in the segment between his Lower and Middle Dantian. Although the young man wasn''t too afraid about damaging his Middle Dantian thanks to the Drop of Wrath, he was sincerely worried about his Lower Dantian. Thus, he focused a large part of that vitality around his Lower Dantian. Technically, it was stronger as he had tempered it for much longer. But the protection of the Drop of Wrath made the Middle Dantian even more resilient.


    Of course, Cao Yun was also using his blood and the property of the Drop of Wrath within to protect his Lower Dantian, but he preferred to be as cautious as possible.


    In his mind, he knew that the collision would happen almost instantly after he would throw the two crystallized Dantian. After all, the distance was quite short and he would need to throw them with unimaginable speed. In other words, he would have almost no time to protect his Dantian between the moment he would throw the two crystallized Dantian and the moment they would collide. So he prepared as much as he could to be ready when that happened.


    At last, after more than two weeks, Cao Yun was as ready as he could get. Of course, he could always try to prepare more. But at this point, he would only waste time. Considering that most of his Qi was condensed into two crystals, he couldn''t waste all the time in the world. He had to act before this absence of energy affected him.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Nothing existed in the world but his two crystallized Dantian. Cao Yun didn''t even focus on his Extraordinary Vessels now that he had prepared them. He was confident in his training until now and knew that they would resist almost anything he could throw at them. What he wanted now was to get the best impact possible between the two crystallized Dantian. Once thrown, there was no coming back. But the young man was resolute.


    Suddenly, the two small crystals were thrown against each other by an invisible force that was Cao Yun''s spiritual senses. Even Mortal Warriors who didn''t have spiritual senses could do so. Indeed, they could move their soul around within their own body, but unlike Cao Yun, they couldn''t move it outside of their body. That being said, because Cao Yun had reached genuine spiritual senses, they were thus stronger even within his body compared with other Mortal Warriors. As such, the speed exceeded what any other Mortal Warrior could have achieved. Which was both a good and a bad thing, it all depended on what Cao Yun could support.


    In the blink of an eye, the two crystals collided against each other. As soon as they did, they ruptured completely. The crystals were shattered into countless tiny shards that kept on colliding against each other. They were thrown everywhere within Cao Yun''s Conception Vessels. It didn''t take long but it felt like an eternity for Cao Yun who was using his Chamber of Heavenly Court. The shards became smaller and smaller. Soon some completely exploded and reverted back into pure Qi.


    His Conception Vessel was bloated but it endured. The vitality of the world tree sustained it and his blood nourished it as it was under attack from within. A few small injuries were caused by the large explosion but thankfully they were healed almost instantly. And almost nothing injured his Dantian. However, he could feel an incredible force and heat within his Yellow Court. It felt as though he had swallowed a small sun. That being said, he had known worse when he had been into the Blood Abyss. The pain was probably unbearable for many but not for Cao Yun, not even when it had reached this level.


    Before it could calm down, Cao Yun had to enter the final stage, the 9th-grade Mortal Warrior stage. It was called Embryo Formation. Once again, the name was self-explanatory. This last stage was difficult because it had to be performed right after the collision of the two Dantian. Under the force of the impact, Water Qi and Fire Qi were able to merge with each other to produce something completely different. Cao Yun realized that this new substance was akin to his very own soul, but also slightly different. This substance was the foundation of one''s Soul Embryo. But simply leaving the wild Water Qi and Fire Qi act out wasn''t good enough. Now that he had been able to break the barrier between these two elements, he had to manipulate them so he could form his own Soul Embryo.


    This stage was almost impossible to interrupt. Indeed, the two forms of Qi were mixing with each other. Even if the cultivator did nothing, some kind of Soul Embryo would be born. And once it was born, there was no altering its foundation. Of course, even a weak or deformed Soul Embryo could be useful as one would still temper and nurture it. But its foundation was exactly what prenatal Jing was to humans and demons. It was possible to refine and temper it but almost impossible to really improve it. In fact, the Soul Embryo''s foundation was even harder to alter. The only pill Cao Yun knew about that could do so was a 5-star God pill. And he had learned about it while reading Cleansed Asura''s document. No one in the Hongchen Kingdom had ever heard about such a pill. And no one probably would, ever.


    The difficulty of this last stage resided in the control of the two elements. Fire and Water were behaving in a completely new way. Even Cao Yun''s knowledge as an alchemist couldn''t prepare him for this. The state of those two elements was never encountered in nature. Maybe it was similar to how a soul was born when two parents shared their Jing. But it was also slightly different in ways difficult to describe. Even Cao Yun who had read extensively on the matter and was feeling it at the moment could not fully understand nor describe what was happening. The two elements were both behaving as usual while breaking every law and notion he had about them. Indeed, they were both Water and Fire and something else in-between at the same time. That substance was more primitive and raw, but it still contained traces of both elements. At the same time, it had traces of other elements.


    As much as the two crystallized Dantian had been purified, there were always traces of the Five Elements in all things.


    Using his entire knowledge of alchemy, even texts from Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun did everything he could to control the process. His goal was simple enough. He had to make sure that the Fire and the Water merged as much as they could into this new substance so as little of the original elements were present within his Soul Embryo. And he could literally feel his Soul Embryo being born while doing so.


    Alchemists had a bit of an advantage. But even Cao Yun had a hard time so this advantage didn''t amount to much. Besides, Cao Yun also a vast understanding of array formations. It helped him as well, but didn''t amount to much either.


    Nothing he had read could really prepare him for this last stage. It was incredibly personal and was different for each cultivator. This was the last step to break through the barrier between Mortal Warrior and Spirit Warrior, the last part of the Lesser Tribulation. Although Cao Yun had crossed through the most dangerous part, this last part would shape his future. If his Soul Embryo wasn''t good enough, he wouldn''t be able to reach the highest levels of cultivation. And short of dying and being reincarnated, there was nothing to do to improve the foundation of one''s Soul Embryo. Even the pill he had read about was unreachable. After all, Cleansed Asura himself would have been unable to get one.


    Doing everything he could, Cao Yun tried to control this wild energy and to focus it where the Soul Embryo was being formed. At first, it was a small ball of silver, but it kept on growing and growing. Slowly, its shape changed and looked more and more like a small human, a silver baby in a fetal position.


    As time passed, the wild energy calmed down. More and more of it reverted back to pure Qi. Thus, Cao Yun got more and more anxious about merging what wild energy remained with his Soul Embryo. However, he remained as calm and composed as he could despite his hurry. He didn''t want to risk damaged this forming Soul Embryo.


    Finally, everything calmed down within Cao Yun''s body. Then, something gushed forth from the tiny silver baby that seemed to sleep into his stomach. A powerful silver light shined and drowned his entire world. Even his sea of consciousness became full of this silver color. Nothing else existed. Cao Yun had officially entered into the Spirit Warrior Realm, also known as the Embryo Realm.


    When he opened his eyes next, he was floating above the ground and his soul was naturally spread all around him. Although the change wasn''t much because he had already had this experience before, emotionally, it was powerful. After all, he had reached the realm his father had attained just before his death.

 Chapter 600: Silver Soul Embryo

    For several hours that turned into days, Cao Yun admired his Soul Embryo. Calm and warm into his Huang Ting, the Yellow Court, there was now what looked like a plump little baby in a fetal position. Looking closely, this baby had no face and no apparent feature. In fact, it looked more like a statue of a baby than an actual human being. It wasn''t moving either, nor breathing for that matter. After all, it was a soul, not flesh and blood. Try as he might though, Cao Yun''s senses couldn''t pierce the surface of this Soul Embryo.


    On the other hand, there was a constant stream of vitality leaving this Soul Embryo and entering Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness. With each passing moment, his own soul was being energized by the mere presence of this Soul Embryo. The way he was seeing and feeling the world around him had completely changed. And if he had not been able to fly before, he would have gained this ability here and now. However, he still got many benefits from this Soul Embryo.


    First of all, his spiritual senses were much stronger and much sharper than before. Asura cultivation created a Demon Soul that could unleash a lot of power but was difficult to accurately control. Even though Cao Yun had not really developed a Demon Soul per se, his Turbid Demons were having the same effect. In fact, the Drop of Wrath could somehow be considered his Demon Soul as he had forged his own Turbid Demons in it.


    Since his spiritual senses were more developed, all of his mind and his very soul were now stronger and sharper too. His ability to understand, to feel, to perceive, everything in his mind had grown stronger. And it would keep on growing stronger, at a very slow rate of course, but still.


    At the moment, it was difficult to gauge his strength, but he should be able to take on a middle Spirit Warrior or a middle Accomplished Demon, skipping almost two grades. Indeed, besides being a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun was also a 4th-grade Accomplished Demon. Within each realm, the differences between the grades grew larger and larger. In other words, for an early Mortal to fight a middle Mortal and win wasn''t too surprising, although it was laudable. But for an early Spirit Warrior to fight and beat a middle Spirit Warrior was much more impressive. After all, less than a decade separated the two Mortals but several decades, sometimes even centuries, separated the two Spirit Warriors.


    Thanks to his double cultivation, even triple cultivation considering his mind and soul, Cao Yun could fight someone of a higher grade than him. Of course, he had killed High Mother Qin Xue, but he had been forced to use the Blood Abyss to succeed. Alone, against an Accomplished Demon who actually knew how to fight, he wouldn''t be able to accomplish such an exploit again. However he was confident in his ability to fly away.


    Now that he was a Spirit Warrior, he would need to develop his Soul Embryo. Almost everything in this realm was related to the Soul Embryo. First of all, Nourish the Embryo consisted in filling back the somewhat depleted Dantian and to send more and more Water Qi and Fire Qi around the Soul Embryo. Since eh couldn''t directly turn them into its same substance, one had to use their very soul to nourish the Soul Embryo and then use this mixture of Water and Fire to slowly regenerate what they had given away.


    After the Soul Embryo was nourished, Awaken the Embryo consisted in focusing one intent to awaken the Soul Embryo. This step was delicate as it was necessary to knock on the Soul Embryo like a door without jolting it. Indeed, if it was disturbed too much, it would be dangerous for the Soul Embryo. On the other hand, being too delicate wouldn''t allow it to be awaken. Thus, repetition was key there. Some people could spend decades slowly trying to awaken their Soul Embryo. But for the average Spirit Warrior, this step took around a decade, no more. Once awaken, the Soul Embryo would allow the cultivator to live for one and a half thousand year. Only in the late grades one would reach a life expectancy of two thousand years.


    Then, the cultivator had to strengthen their Upper Dantian so it got used to the presence of the Soul Embryo. Indeed, in the 4th-grade Spirit Warrior stage, the cultivator would subsequently try to send their Soul Embryo into their Upper Dantian where it would stay as long as it existed. The goal was then to slowly impregnate one''s soul into the empty Soul Embryo. In fact, it was very similar to what Cao Yun was already doing with the Drop of Wrath, pouring his own Turbid Demons into it.


    Finally, the actual soul of the cultivator would merge with the Soul Embryo, increasing the cultivator''s longevity and vitality for the lest stages. During those, both souls had to be perfectly harmonized to be really one before opening the Third Eye. This was an acupoint on the body but also a point on the Soul Embryo itself. Once this point was open, the Soul Embryo could see the world directly without using spiritual senses. And the last step was to form a connection with the world itself, the Dao. The Soul Embryo could commune with the Dao through the Bai Hui, the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. Once this final step was done, the cultivator could finally be able to see and sense the Dao.


    Only then one could hope to comprehend even the lowest Dao. This was the key to understanding the Dao of Death for Cao Yun. Even with the ''Death Verses'', he couldn''t progress far as a Dao had to be felt, not intellectually understood. It was like developing a sense or an intuition. Intellect was useful and necessary but it wasn''t sufficient at all!


    -


    As Cao Yun had broken through, a wave of energy had erupted from his body during the collision between the two crystallized Dantian. Thanks to his array formations, this energy had stayed trapped within the chambers. Thus, he could absorb it anew to begin to fill his two Dantian back up. Besides, the excess of Fire Qi in his body was almost a solved problem. If he simply absorbed Water Qi now, he would be able to balance the two kinds of Qi with no issue.


    Within the array formations was another person, Hongyu. And she had been bathing in Cao Yun''s energy for quite some time now. Besides, her own cores were very familiar with Cao Yun and the Drop of Wrath. As such, she was also able to absorb a large part of this wild energy. In fact, it had given her the last push she needed to finally condense her sixth core. So she was doing precisely that. But even Cao Yun didn''t notice as he was still stabilizing himself. His breakthrough had been optimal so he didn''t want to waste it by going out of seclusion too fast. The more energy he could absorb back in, the faster he would be able to break through again. Moreover, the wild energy could still be used to nourish the Soul Embryo a little.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    When Cao Yun finally opened his eyes anew, he saw a new demonic beast. Hongyu had turned into a 6-core demonic beast, a Sky Tyrant Fenghuang.


    Her size hadn''t changed by much, but she had a completely different aura. Her feathers were black as night and red as blood with piercing bright eyes full of intelligence. Her beak was also jet black. Here and there, some feathers looked like flames. But besides those feathers, there were actual flames on the fenghuang. Indeed, behind her, there were three thin but long tails formed of small round feathers. Looking closely though, those feathers were really flames in the shape of round feathers flailing around.


    As soon as she saw her brother looking at her, she expanding her wings proudly. Fire engulfed her entire body and merged with her. With his Rune of Fire, Cao Yun felt an even greater affinity with Hongyu. He stood up and walked toward her.


    At first, she was worried that her brother would be injured by her flames, but nothing happened. Cao Yun put his hand in the flames. Instead of a burning fire, he felt a gentle warmth. Of course, he was helped by his Rune of Fire, but it was also done by Hongyu instinctively. As a Sky Tyrant Fenghuang, she could control the temperature of her flames and even decide what she wanted to burn or not. If she had so desired, she could have produced flames hot enough to even make Cao Yun wince. However, she probably never would have been able to actually burn him, especially with his current cultivation.


    At the moment, Cao Yun could kill an 8-core demonic beast without fearing for his life. A 9-core demonic beast was another matter. But by using array formations and martial arts, he might be able to succeed. Despite their strength and intelligence, demonic beasts remained beasts. Cultivators had many more weapons demonic beasts couldn''t imitate at all. Otherwise, demonic beasts might have dominated the entire Piaolu planet.


    The first thing Cao Yun and Hongyu wanted to do was to fly in the air and test out their new strength. Unfortunately, it wasn''t possible at the moment. Indeed, every major player in the Desolate Sepulcher was attending the induction ceremony of High Mother Lisha. Soon, Cao Yun would learn that half a year had passed while he was secluded in his chambers. This surprised him a little, but not much. Some cultivators could spend decades in seclusion without realizing it at all. But thankfully, he had come out before everyone had left. After all, this was a golden opportunity for him to act upon his plan.


    The ceremony was still going on so he had to wait a little to see those he wanted to meet. But fortunately, they had all come, either on their own, or prompted by invitations from the Sisters of the Abyss. Still, he asked to be given a report on what had happened during his seclusion. Almost nothing worth noting had happened. The situation had barely evolved in fact, but it was going in the direction of City Lord Sihe, putting more and more pressure on Boss Gui. In other words, it was going exactly in the opposite direction Cao Yun desired. This wasn''t an issue though as he was confident in his plans.


    He would probably have to wait a few days only before he could finally meet with anyone. Thus, Cao Yun decided to do something else in the meantime. Although he had beaten Mo Wang''s spirit, he hadn''t absorbed all of his memories yet and he wanted to. Getting more information was always a good thing, but one had to be able to analyze them and prioritize what was really important within. Otherwise, one could be drown in memories and lose sight of what actually mattered.


    With his Soul Embryo formed, Cao Yun''s mind was sharper than ever so he felt that it was the perfect moment to sift through all those memories. Thinking like that, he remembered Dian Mo and tried to see whether he was alive or dead. Unfortunately, there was no trace of his spirit at all. Contrary to a normal death, there was no body left behind to confirm if he had really died. When a spirit died, there was nothing left. Thus, Cao Yun still wasn''t sure whether he was dead or simply in a deep sleep. But the Palace of Supreme Wisdom was still in his sea of consciousness.


    Finally, Cao Yun entered Demon King Mo Wang''s memories to find out if anything could be useful. And he had been right. The first thing he found was the library of Demon God Da Mo. Demon King Mo Wang had stumbled upon this library by pure chance. In fact, it appeared quite suspicious to Cao Yun. It felt as though someone had led him to it. In the same time, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had risen. So the young human was starting to wonder whether the Empyrean Asura had helped out Demon King Mo Wang in order to upset the balance of power within the Hongchen Kingdom. Demon King Mo Wang himself had apparently been suspicious but had found nothing unusual so he brushed it off.


    In the library, Cao Yun found many things interesting about the past. It strengthened his desire to know more. Most likely, he wouldn''t find much more in the Desolate Pillar, but it was worth a try. Apparently, Demon God Da Mo was often secluded for months before leaving. But it wasn''t long enough for a cultivator of his level while being too long for simple meditations.


    Cao Yun also learned more about Emperor Weide. He had been controlling the demonic cultivators for centuries now. Thanks to this library, Demon King Mo Wang had broken free from his control but had been severely injured. That was why he had attacked the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. With the Heavenly Silver Peach, he had healed himself and had definitely erased any seal left behind by his former master. Emperor Weide had protected the demonic cultivators, helping them to gain more and more power, because he was using them for his own ambitions.


    The more he learned about him, the more Cao Yun wanted to separate his head from the rest of his body. But he wouldn''t stop there. Although he didn''t want to turn into some kind of enraged monster, he had no problem shedding rivers of blood and creating mountains of severed heads if need be. That being said, he didn''t want the Hongchen Kingdom to fall. Since he couldn''t turn the entire kingdom against him, he would have to prove his crimes first while maintaining the cohesion of Emperor Nuwa''s kingdom.


    The memories of Mo Wang wouldn''t convince a lot of people. After all he could have created him themselves. And if they found out that he had the cultivation of a demon, the people wouldn''t trust anything coming from Cao Yun. Thankfully, he had several great cultivators among his friends. And technically, he was still the Young Master of the Wubei Sect.


    Anyway, for now, he had to deal with the Desolate Sepulcher. And so he did!

 Chapter 601: Meeting the boss

    Cao Yun basked in his new strength for some time. But his inability to go outside and soar freely through the sky was really upsetting. Hongyu was in the same state, with even much more frustration. But they had to take it. By now, the Oasis of Life had at little tripled in size. Indeed, many pilgrims from the entire Desolate Sepulcher were there, both from the Nalupu Kingdom and the nomad tribes. As such, even with all of his stealth, Cao Yun didn''t want to risk being discovered. Everyone still had to think that he was dead and no one, absolutely no one, had to guess his role within the Sisters of the Abyss.


    In fact, apart from a select few who all had seals implanted in them, not a single Sister knew about his presence. As far a they were concerned, the emergency that had happened in the chamber of the Blood Abyss was High Mother Qin Xue''s accident. The details weren''t clear. Some talked about Qi Deviation during her training. Others even imagined that she had been burned by the Blood Abyss themselves. But no one could imagine what had really happened. Moreover, the Sisters of the Abyss were the masters of information and spies within the Desolate Sepulcher. Thus, it wouldn''t be hard for them to hide anything. For decades, many different rumors would spread throughout the continent. The truth would even be spread by the Sisters themselves so as to hide it even more.


    A human had bathed into the Blood Abyss and awakened the intent of their god to strike down the High Mother. It was so outlandish that those who spread this rumor were ridiculed by all. But those were really acting for High Mother Lisha to hide the truth in plain sight.


    Finally, someone brought Cao Yun the report he had been waiting for. Everyone he wanted to meet had arrived, but Lord Wanghuo wasn''t there yet. He was probably the only one who could thwart Cao Yun''s plans. But, first of all, he was a lousy politician so he might not be able to do anything apart from using brute force and violence. More than that, from what Cao Yun had read about him, he might simply not deign do anything at all in fact.


    The persons who really interested Cao Yun were City Lord Sihe and Boss Gui among the Nalupu Kingdom as well as Patriarch Liang Lisheng from the Sun Scorpion Clan and Sha Chai Gan from the nomad tribes. Besides them, he was also interested in Weiji Nian. She too had arrived in the Oasis of Life along with her son Weiji Bao. During Cao Yun''s entrapment and later seclusion, Weiji Bao had grown to be a man. Unfortunately, the influence of his mother had done nothing to steer him away from the path he had already been walking.


    Around Weiji Bao, there were many disgusting stories, all hidden by his mother who believed him to be a perfect saint, no matter what cruelty he showed and visited upon others. On the other hand, his father was too busy working for City Lord Sihe. His great uncle might have been able to correct him but it was too late. And his little nephew kept on abusing his family''s authority to get what he wanted. This boy had tortured and killed many slaves just for fun. In his eyes, they were nothing more than objects or furniture and he didn''t care about them at all. Even among demons, this wasn''t a practice that was looked upon nicely. All the help from his mother didn''t prevent his reputation from going into the gutter rapidly. However, his family name was protecting him, for now...


    For an instant, Cao Yun had a bi of compassion for this boy. His parents had clearly failed him. But he wasn''t a boy no more. It was time for this man to learn that actions had consequences and his mother wouldn''t be able to cover for him, especially after what he was going to do to her, to both of them. In Cao Yun''s mind, the only problem was the rest of the family, in particular, the uncle. Weiji Nian''s husband was a done deal as he was attached to City Lord Sihe, but the uncle was a high member of Lord Wanghuo''s army so Cao Yun couldn''t do anything to rash against him. At the very least, he had to have a legitimate reason, or a sure way of never being associated with his death.


    At the moment though, Cao Yun was more interested in meeting the demons he had formed connections with. After learning that his Blazing Swallow was doing just fine, Cao Yun was more than happy. Despite the pressures from City Lord Sihe and the entire Xinian Confederation who was clearly siding with him, they had endured, and in no small part thanks to Boss Gui''s support. However, it shouldn''t belittle Nie Pian and Dan Yao''s efforts either. Xixue had also helped a lot by organizing their business. In a way, Cao Yun felt as though it was part of her legacy so he didn''t want it to die. Besides, this business would help a lot.


    Of course, money wasn''t a problem for Cao Yun, not a problem at all. But this business was important for influence, much more than for money.


    -


    Among the pilgrims, Nie Pian and Dan Yao were present. With this great concentration of people and power, they had to be there to defend their business. Boss Gui had also come with them and some of her bodyguards, among whom were Miss Wo and Mister Dai. Cao Yun had met both of them already and knew that they were competent. Against him though, they would have no chance. Although their cultivation had improved, it had been nowhere as fast as Cao Yun''s. To be fair, they were also very busy working for Boss Gui, especially with all the pressure she was under. And the poisons used by her had their limits.


    Even though their cultivation was faster than most demons, it was clearly coming to a halt. Using poisons to improve the body and blood was one thing. But improving one''s soul as an Accomplished Demon was much more complex. Yes, there were poisons that could help by provoking the Turbid Demons, or weakening them, or both at the same time. However, they were obviously much more difficult to use, much more dangerous, and most of all, Boss Gui probably knew very little about those. In fact, apart from Cao Yun, this knowledge was most likely unknown to all in the Desolate Sepulcher. After all, a large part came from what he had been able to read in Cleansed Asura''s documents.


    Boss Gui and the Blazing Swallow were staying close to each other, even in the Oasis of Life. Although no one would be foolish enough to attack them there, as they would risk the wrath of the Sisters of the Abyss, and everyone else with them, their situation wasn''t good either. The Xinian Confederation was making sure that their life was as difficult as possible without any direct involvement.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    One day, their presence became the talk of the entire Xinian Confederation though. Indeed, a Senior Mother visited Boss Gui. And she even humbled herself and visited the Blazing Swallow establishment. Unlike some who had been able to rent buildings in order to create temporary stores, the Blazing Swallow was still operating out of a tent. However, this Senior Mother entered it as though it were a prestigious shop.


    Obviously, this caused an uproar. Those who had no idea of the concealed war between the Xinian Confederation and Boss Gui only thought that this shop had to hold great products and were flocking to enter it. On the other hand, those privy to what was happening behind the scene felt that something was shifting. This simple visit dealt a heavy blow to City Lord Sihe''s operations.


    Despite all his efforts, he had not been able to compete against the Blazing Swallow when it came to alchemy. Over the years, he had still been able to poach a few alchemists from them. But he had never been able to get the recipes for their greatest products and no alchemist had been able to duplicate them well enough. Although some of their products were of better quality, they didn''t have the highest pills Blazing Swallow had. Of course, those recipes had come directly from Cao Yun so Dan Yao had been extremely careful with them. In fact, not a single alchemist knew the entire recipes, not even those Dan Yao trusted the most.


    In the following days, not a single representative of the Sisters visited anyone from City Lord Sihe''s side. That being said, a few Junior Mothers were sent to valued members of the Xinian Confederation who were either neutral or a bit indecisive in the matter. It was clearly interpreted as an attack against City Lord Sihe''s party. Thus, they all began to act behind the scenes, trying to get to High Mother Lisha. Many gifts were sent with all the rituals and ceremonies. But they were refuses without adhering to much ceremony at all. Such an act was obviously an insult but City Lord Sihe couldn''t say anything.


    In fact, those who had sent those gifts for him also felt terrible. Being associated with him had been extremely profitable. But now, they could sense that things were changing. Still, they could stomach it if the money kept on flowing. The winds could shift, but what mattered was the position their sails in the right direction. They were still convinced that City Lord Sihe would be able to get out of it. Maybe the new High Mother Lisha was changing the alliances of the Sisters of the Abyss. But with enough time, he would be able to make her listen to reason.


    This visit had been planned in order to induce this particular series of events. Although it hadn''t been too direct, it hadn''t been too subtle either. Everyone in the know could immediately deduce what it meant. More than that, they could deduce that the Sisters wanted them to know. For many it was taken as a warning to stay away from City Lord Sihe. But that didn''t mean that they would go closer to Boss Gui or the Blazing Swallow. No, most people simply decided to wait on the sidelines. For the time being, they would keep very civil interactions with those two parties and they would see how things would evolve from there.


    -


    Another reason for this visit was a message from Cao Yun himself. He wanted to meet them in person. Obviously, he didn''t disclose his name or the fact that he was alive. Boss Gui was under the impression that High Mother Lisha herself wanted to see her. Thus, she left her bodyguards behind and went toward the Monastery of Bliss and Repose.


    Although she wasn''t a religious person, Boss Gui knew all the rituals and ceremonies. As she was in the most sacred capital of the Desolate Sepulcher, she adhered to them strictly. Many people were watching her. Any small failure from her part could cause ripples that would affect her entire life. Even if she had been summoned by High Mother Lisha, she wasn''t sure whether it was a good or a bad thing. So she was even more careful than usual.


    As she climbed the stairs of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, she was wearing pure white. Just like in the Hongchen Kingdom, white was the color of mourning and grief. According to the calendar used by the Sisters of the Abyss, that period was still meant to mourn High Mother Qin Xue''s passing. Boss Gui also tried to be as humble as possible and chanted a few prayers she knew from the Sisters.


    Someone who didn''t know her might have thought she was a Sister herself. But she had absolutely no interest in becoming one. In fact, she could literally do the opposite of what she was doing if it was good for her. Instead of worshiping the temple, she could set it ablaze to turn up a profit. In that sense, Cao Yun trusted her. Unlike others, she was absolutely rational. She could be cruel if it was necessary, but wouldn''t be if it served no purpose. As long as he could show her where her interests lay, she would do everything Cao Yun wanted. For the time being, it was what truly mattered.


    Boss Gui walked into the Monastery of Bliss and Repose and was welcomed by the same Senior Mother who had visited her. Unbeknownst to her, this Senior Mother had Cao Yun''s seals in her sea of consciousness. At any moment, he could simply thought about it and she would die. As such, she obeyed his every commands. Moreover, those were also High Mother Lisha''s words. And all the Sisters of the Abyss knew and respected her when she was still Sister Lisha. If Cao Yun had tried to push someone else as the High Mother, they might have decided to throw their life away to fight him. But as long as Sister Lisha was the High Mother, they could endure it as they were convinced that their order would endure it.


    Boss Gui was led underground. As they went deeper and deeper, she began to be afraid. She even wondered whether they had given her so much honor just to lure her into a trap. But thinking about it, it didn''t make any sense. The difference between their status was abyssal. The Sisters of the Abyss could have destroyed Boss Gui just by a wave of their sleeves. That being said, it didn''t prevent her from being under a lot of stress.


    Although it hadn''t been Cao Yun''s intent, he knew that it would help his talk with her. Having her under pressure would expedite the process. By showing her how much power and influence he had, he was facilitating her understanding of his propositions.


    After a few minutes, Boss Gui entered the chamber of the Blood Abyss where Cao Yun was still living. When she entered, she saw no one at all, but smelled a thick odor of blood throughout the air. Of course, she felt more than uneasy. Before she could react, the Senior Mother closed the doors and left. Even if she had tried to, Boss Gui wouldn''t have been able to open those doors. They were heavy of course, but what prevented them from being opened were blood runes and seals.


    Then, she heard a voice. The world in front of her changed slightly. Where there was no one before, she now could see a large bird and a young man she recognized immediately.


    "Mo Yun?"

 Chapter 602: Forced contract

    Cao Yun was wearing a dark blue robe with black embroidery on it. Boss Gui couldn''t read it but she knew right away what those characters were. On his clothes, he was wearing characters from Nuhua. Immediately, it confirmed everything she had already suspected. The Mo Yun she knew was just an illusion. In front of her was not a demon but an asura. And it made a lot of senses. However, it also ignited genuine fear in her. She had nothing against humans as she only cared about business, to the point where she was using poison which was the biggest taboo. But if Mo Yun didn''t try to hide his origins, then it meant that he knew for a fact that she wouldn''t ever talk about this to anyone.


    While trying to hide it, Boss Gui sent some of her spiritual senses toward the gates behind her. Everything was locked. Not a shred of her soul could leave these chambers. And no one in the entire Piaolu planet could penetrate those gates without forcing them. The seals and the runes on them would prevent any form of extrasensory perception from going through them. Still, any seal or rune could be broken or unraveled. However, it would take time and this would be difficult not to arise suspicion. For all intents and purposes, Boss Gui was trapped down there with Cao Yun.


    While she was a powerful 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon, there was no doubt in her mind that Cao Yun was much stronger than she was. Besides, he clearly ruled over the Sisters of the Abyss in secret. In fact, she even began to imagine wild things about what had happened to High Mother Qin Xue. Combined with all the pressure she had felt in the past few years because of City Lord Sihe, Boss Gui was truly terrified. However, she was extremely good. Thus, she hid it so well that even Cao Yun couldn''t see how afraid she was. She remained as calm and composed as ever. After all, if he wanted her dead, he could do so easily. But then, there were worse fates than death...


    Cao Yun was gladly surprised by Boss Gui''s composure. He gestured to her to sit in a specific spot. Of course, he had sensed her attempt to feel through the gates but he didn''t care. In truth, he could have completely sealed her spiritual senses, but he didn''t want to go to such lengths right now. Besides, Boss Gui was completely blind. The poison she had encountered had given her great ideas for her business but had robbed her of her eyes forever. Blocking her spiritual senses would be akin to throw her into pure darkness.


    Boss Gui walked forward and sat down in front of Cao Yun without adding any other word from her. Right now, Cao Yun was busy writing some letters. With both hands, he was writing two different texts while several brushes were flying around and writing on other pieces of paper. Obviously, they both knew that these were theatrics. But they did work on the atmosphere. Meeting Boss Gui wasn''t that important to him, just a small task to do between more pressing matters. That also meant that he didn''t truly need her. Ironically though, it proved to him that he had put some thoughts into her presence here, so he did need her.


    After a few minutes, Cao Yun stopped writing and all the papers disappeared into his spatial ring.


    "It''s good to see you again, Sister Gui."


    Throwing her title away, Cao Yun was using the word ''sister'', but it wasn''t the same word used for the religious sisters of the Sisters of the Abyss. It was much less formal and even a bit affectionate. Boss Gui had not been called in such a manner for a long time and she hated it. After all, even her enemies were shaking in fear when they heard her name, thinking of the cruelty she could inflict on them. Strangely though, she didn''t feel that this word was out of place here. And this made her hate it even more. Her fate was in this man''s hands and she resented her own weakness. She should have been smarter than that, she should have prepared contingencies. But she had wasted all her efforts on City Lord Sihe.


    "Sister, it''s really a pleasure to see how well you''re going, despite the circumstances. Without you, my Blazing Swallow wouldn''t have prospered that much. In fact, it would have crumbled to dusts and my employees would have probably been tortured for their secrets and killed. So it is with genuine gratitude that I greet you today."


    "Thank you, Mo Yun."


    "Oh... it isn''t my name. My real name is Cao Yun. And as you can imagine, I am indeed a human. I hope that this isn''t a problem to you...?"


    "Of course not. It does come with a bit of surprise, I must say."


    "There''s no need to pretend. You had to have had doubts about myself. Although I tried to hide my origins, even associating myself with City Lord Sihe somehow, you had to find it suspicious."


    "I did. And the idea did cross my thoughts. But I didn''t think it was the most probable solution. Why did you come to our Desolate Sepulcher?"


    "There isn''t any deep reason really. Sincerely, believe it or not, but I got stranded here by accident. Maybe the broken space of the Desolate Pillar was the best spot for my arrival, but there was no intention behind it. In fact, I do wish to go back to the Hongchen Kingdom as I have urgent matters there and people counting on me, especially during this war against the Empyrean Asura Theocracy."


    "And this is why you tried to get close to me... You want to have access to the national navy so you can sail back to God''s Land."


    "Indeed. However, there were things that I couldn''t disregard in this continent. You see, we humans have a history with slavery. When I see around me, it makes me sick to my stomach. That being said, I did understand that I couldn''t change an entire culture by myself, especially from the outside. Thus, I will task the Sisters with this mission. And I do want your help in several endeavors."


    "But I profit from slavery. Do you really think I''m the best person for this kind of task?"Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Boss Gui was more and more anxious. But this time, it wasn''t out of fear. She was getting excited about what she could imagine. If she could secure an alliance with the Sisters of the Abyss, she would clearly become the most powerful woman, outside of High Mother Lisha obviously, in the entire Desolate Sepulcher.


    "Of course, you are. The fact that you dominate this business along with City Lord Sihe puts you in the perfect position. Besides, I do know that I can count on your pragmatism. You''re not dealing in slaves because of some ideas of principles, but simply to make money and increase your influence. If I can show you a more profitable way, you will take to it in a minute. In fact, I am certain that you are thinking of it right now. In that mind of yours, you probably already have many plans to make even more money and climb higher and higher. I can promise that if you follow my lead, you will rule the Xinian Confederation in less than a year."


    "Less than a year?!"


    Even she couldn''t believe such a thing. Despite a support from High Mother Lisha herself, it would take some time for her to recover after everything City Lord Sihe had done to her.


    "Well, probably much less than a year in fact. It may be hard to accept but things are going to move very fast. You see, I already lost a lot of time here. And now that my cultivation rose to such a level, I do want to leave as soon as I possibly can. The fastest way is for me to have Lord Wanghuo give me boats and a great navigator. If I control both the Sisters of the Abyss and the Xinian Confederation, I don''t see how he could oppose me, even with his personal strength."


    "But the Xinian Confederation is dominated by City Lord Sihe. And he also has a lot of support within the military. Getting rid of him will be much more difficult than you think."


    "To the contrary, you underestimate the superstitions of your own people. I was in the nomadic tribes for some time and I realized how easy it was to turn them. For the moment, they think that you used a deadly poison against them. And this mere rumor was able to put a lot of pressure on you. I will use a similar method against City Lord Sihe. The reason why he didn''t press that advantage against you is because he is using poison himself."


    "Even if I stop..."


    Cao Yun interrupted her before she could elaborate further.


    "No need to stop. As an alchemist, I can tell you that poison and medicine are extremely close. So close in fact, that they are sometimes indistinguishable. And now that I control the religious order of your Desolate Sepulcher, it will be easy to alter your decoctions so they pass as orthodox pills rather than taboo poisons. The same can''t be said of City Lord Sihe. Besides, I already know how to spread those rumors. And this time, they will be absolutely accurate. Spreading rumors that contain truths in them is much easier after all. And they are harder to dispel too.


    My main goal is to go back home of course. But I do want to bring a bit more justice to these lands. Do not misunderstand me. I am not some kind of great savior or moral arbiter. But since I have the opportunity to lessen sufferings I see around me, I do feel like it is my duty to address it. Maybe it won''t amount to much, but I sincerely think it will do good. Even in a purely selfish way, if you demons stop supporting slavery, then you will be less inclined to see humans as just slaves. And stopping your slavery trade will also weaken the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Not by much I imagine, but I''ll take every advantage I can."


    "But to do so, you''ll blackmail others and even cause some riots and deaths. No matter how well you do what you plan, innocent demons will die, even slaves themselves."


    "I told you already. I''m no saint. And I am no stranger to death either. What I realized is that people who make a spectacle of their virtue are no better than those who hide their corruption. I don''t have all the answers, but I know that some things are clearly wrong. What I see around me is clearly wrong. Even if I have to do questionable things, I will try to change what I can. But I do have lines I will not cross. With my plans, I do think we can limit the number of deaths to a minimum. Besides, they will be focused around City Lord Sihe and his supporters. I can live with that. And I know that you don''t care at all as long as it''s good for you."


    "Precisely! You don''t see any problem working with me, knowing that I don''t care at all about your so-called morality."


    "I don''t mind what''s your mind. I only care about your actions. And you''re smart enough to know what is your interest. In this current society, City Lord Sihe will end up winning. And you know what will happen to you, so you will work for me and do as I tell you to. We both know it to be true. However, I will also put seals in your sea of consciousness to make sure that you are always reminded of our deal. High Mother Lisha will also make sure that you don''t forget, even after my departure."


    "So you despise slavery, but you will resort to it with me?"


    "You won''t be my slave. I have no slave and I won''t ever have any. These seals will just ensure that you respect your words. Am I forcing your hand? Yes, of course. But you know what the alternative is, so we both know that you will agree to all my conditions. In a year, your slave trade will be completely over. Your business will turn to alchemy completely. And in exchange, you will have all the economic power and influence of the Xinian Confederation behind you. Are you telling me that this isn''t what you wish?"


    "Of course it is what I wish."


    "Fine then. Just relax and I will create the proper seals in your mind."


    And so Cao Yun did. He put several seals right in her sea of consciousness and she didn''t resist at all. Like he had said, those were not the Slavery Brand used by City Lord Sihe, or even Boss Gui. However, she did feel like she was completely under his orders, and she was. At any moment, he could decide to kill her. But those seals would prevent anyone from stealing her memories and would kill her if she disobeyed her own word to Cao Yun. In a sense, it was more of a contract that she couldn''t break.


    The two of them discussed for several hours. Cao Yun told her everything he intended to do. Now that there were seals in her, her secrecy was absolute. Even if someone tried to pry those secrets from her very soul and mind, they would fail, even City Lord Sihe himself. In fact, even Xiao Xuefeng would fail. Boss Gui''s mind would be obliterated before those secrets could be recovered.


    -


    Wile the ceremonies were going on in the Oasis of Life, Cao Yun''s plans had been put into motion. Within the Oasis of Life, he couldn''t act as he wanted because of all the powerful Accomplished Demons there, Lord Wanghuo above all. But there were still things he could do. For example, he had asked the Sisters to put subtle pressure on City Lord Sihe, and on the Weiji family.


    After many considerations, Cao Yun had decided that the entire Weiji family had to go. Although he couldn''t get to the uncle, he could get to the wife, the husband and the kid. And he knew exactly what he was going to do. To be honest, he was glad that Weiji Nian and her son Weiji Bao were both terrible people. And deep down, he asked himself whether he would have done the same thing if the boy had been innocent of any crime. Thankfully, he didn''t have to find the answer to this question, although he hoped that it would have been negative.


    This time, he didn''t ask the Sisters to do anything but make sure that his presence was well hidden.

 Chapter 603: Experimenting with Bloodfire Vermilion Haze

    Cao Yun had arrived at the Weiji residence. Thanks to the Sisters of the Abyss, he didn''t have to do any form of reconnaissance. Still, he did spread his spiritual senses around just to be sure of what he had been informed. Everything was exactly as the reports had told him. The Sisters were clearly the best intelligence organization in the Desolate Sepulcher. So obviously, they knew absolutely everything one could know about a residence within their own Oasis of Life.


    In fact, the residence was technically outside of the Oasis itself. Indeed, there were so many people that even the Weiji family wasn''t important enough to warrant a spot within the Oasis of Life. However, they still adhered to all the laws and customs of the Oasis of Life, especially considering the circumstances and who was present in the Oasis. Disrespecting said laws would not only insult the Sisters but the entire Nalupu Kingdom and Lord Wanghuo himself.


    Weiji Nian had caused enough problem not to add to them. Thus, she and her son were rather calm and subdued. In fact, her husband had decided to stay in their current residence instead of remaining at City Lord Sihe''s sides. Most likely, his missing his family was part of the decision, but his fear of what his wife could do also played a huge part in this.


    On the other hand, Weiji Bao was less subdued than his mother. After all, he had always been able to do whatever he wanted with little to no consequence, especially toward his servants. It was an open secret that he abused his servants as much as he abused his slaves. As he grew older, it became worse and worse but his mother always covered for him. As much as it caused trouble for his father, he did cover for his son and wife too.


    Each time he was with his family, he tried to admonish both his son and his wife but they only stayed quiet when he was home. For Weiji Bao, his father was all bark no bite. In Cao Yun''s eyes, the parents were both to blame for their son''s attitude. But it was a good thing as it would make what he had to do easier.


    Deep down, Cao Yun knew that the way he was acting and his plans were a little hypocritical. However, he had absolutely no issue when it came to killing Weiji Nian. On the other hand, he did feel bad for her husband and son. In fact, he really felt bad for the husband, but at the end of the day he had sided with City Lord Sihe so he was his enemy. Even in the Hongchen Kingdom, it wasn''t too rare that an entire family was punished for the crime of its head. That being said, Cao Yun had no intention of killing the entire Weiji family.


    Weiji Nian had to go because she had tried to kill him with poison and she would do worse if she could. Her son was as much a threat as she was, especially when considering his current behavior. Besides, it would spare many victims. And the husband was working for City Lord Sihe. Since Cao Yun was trying to weaken City Lord Sihe, it was the right move, even though he wasn''t sure it was right to do so.


    Although Cao Yun had made up his mind about assassinating them, he didn''t want to kill anyone else, especially not the servant. But the good thing with his plan was that it didn''t require such a large slaughter. Moreover, the assassination would look like an accident, an accident that would affect City Lord Sihe beyond comprehension. If he was successful, he could take down City Lord Sihe''s influence in one move while getting rid of real threats.


    After visiting the Weiji family, he would also visit the nomad tribes who were close by, in the periphery of the Oasis of Life. There was more he wanted to do, but Lord Wanghuo''s presence was a huge deterrent. In fact, he counted on the fact that he was currently engaged in some private discussion with High Mother Lisha. While he was busy, Cao Yun could act with much more freedom.


    As long as they were all in the Oasis of Life, Cao Yun had many trump cards up his sleeve, so he couldn''t let go of such an opportunity. In fact, he might even be able to fight Lord Wanghuo if they were both in the chambers of the Blood Abyss pits, like he had used them to defeat High Mother Qin Xue. But considering his reputation, it would be much more difficult. At the very least, he could escape with his life. Thus, if he could avoid it, he would try not to face Lord Wanghuo directly. Besides, he probably didn''t have to at all.


    With the Sisters covering him, Cao Yun entered the Weiji residence. Their array formations were so rudimentary that he walked through them without breaking a sweat. To be fair, no one was particularly anxious since they were on the territory of the Sisters of the Abyss. Lord Wanghuo himself was also present. So no one could imagine that any crime would take place. Moreover, setting up array formations for a temporary residence that would be destroyed afterward seemed unnecessary.


    Even if they had set up their best array formations, Cao Yun would have still been able to enter and walk freely anyway. After all, the demons were not very good when it came to array formations while Cao Yun''s knowledge was beyond what the Hongchen Kingdom even knew. His brother Sun Liao would probably be jealous of him. Once again, Cao Yun thought about his brothers and sisters in the Hongchen Kingdom. It strengthened his will even more. No matter what he had to do, he was going to go back and do what he could to help them against the Empyrean Asura Theocracy and the traitor, Emperor Weide.


    The young man could feel Stinking Lungs in him. As it was related to corruption and integrity, it was very active recently. But Cao Yun had found out his truth. Adhering too strictly to one''s moral just to feel good seemed as corrupt to him as disregarding one''s moral completely. It was a fine line to walk though. But, after all, no one had ever said that doing the right thing was easy. According to many books he had read, the vision of what was good or bad had evolved even within humans. Cao Yun knew that his current actions weren''t particularly good, but he didn''t think they were that bad either. After all, he was trying to spare the innocents and would only commit terrible action against the guilty ones. But he knew that those actions were terrible, so he steeled his mind and used his mind cultivation to quiet down his emotions.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Finally, he reached the chambers of Weiji Nian. In this residence, she was sleeping in the same chambers as her husband. When Cao Yun entered, the two of them were not completely asleep, neither were they fully awake. The couple was cuddling in bed when he came in, unnoticed.


    For several minutes, he observed them as they looked peaceful. Unfortunately, both of them would soon die. So he could let them a few more minutes of peace and tranquility. As much as he despised Weiji Nian, he had nothing to say against her husband personally. Because he was helping City Lord Sihe, he was also guilty in a way, but then some could claim the same about Cao Yun and his alliance with Boss Gui.


    When he was ready, Cao Yun sent his own spiritual senses into their minds. He didn''t need to completely break their minds. His goal was simply to knock them out long enough for his plan. As soon as they lost consciousness, Cao Yun brought them where he wanted, a small room he had seen on the plans. This would be the best place for what he had in mind as it looked like a reclusive laboratory.


    After the parents, Cao Yun also abducted the son. When he entered his room, he saw clothes torn apart on the floor and a bruised servant under his sheets. There was absolutely no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind on what had happened. A strange sensation crossed his mind. Cao Yun was thankful and glad that this servant had been abused because it made his life easier. Immediately he chased this thought and felt terrible about it because he knew that there was some truth to it. At the same time, he didn''t feel responsible for a wandering thought. Anyone could have terrible thoughts and feelings. What mattered was whether one would entertain them to the point of acting on them or not.


    Abducting Weiji Bao was even easier. Since the servant was a mere Blood Child, she had no chance of ever feeling anything around her if Cao Yun didn''t want her to.


    At last, the parents and the child were gathered in the same laboratory. From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out many tools and spread them all around the room. In a few instants, it really looked like a laboratory. Everything had been prepared beforehand thanks to the information from the Sisters of the Abyss. Cao Yun was as cautious as he could be, trying to erase any trace of his presence, even on the smallest tools.


    Some of the Sisters had confirmed that they could have felt his aura on them. But now that they were helping him, he knew exactly what to do to make sure that only the Weiji family''s aura was on those tools.


    Cao Yun then wondered whether he should wake them up or not. But he didn''t. He had no desire to gloat in front of Weiji Nian. Of course, a part of him wanted revenge, but this wasn''t what this was about at the moment. Moreover, one might try to sift through her memories so he couldn''t even leave any trace of his presence in her own mind. On the other hand, he couldn''t destroy their seas of consciousness or assault their minds as he didn''t want to leave any clue. Thus, they would wake up when the poison would kick in. That was what made Cao Yun feel bad.


    Indeed, Cao Yun had planned to use the 3-star Heaven poison, the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze. His plan was simple enough. If it worked, everyone would believe that the Weiji family had been killed by their experiments on this terrible poison. Besides, it was the poison that Weiji Nian had used against the nomadic tribes. So it wouldn''t be difficult to create further proof that she had dabbled in it. But it would connect City Lord Sihe directly to this poison and its usage against other demons.


    With that, he could completely destroy City Lord Sihe''s reputation. And the best thing was that it wasn''t a fabrication. Yes, he was going to create the incident and some proof. But at the end of the day, City Lord Sihe was indeed playing around with poison. On the other hand, Cao Yun was also working to erase any trace of that fact that poison had been used by Boss Gui. And he was trying to replace her use of poison by legitimate alchemy.


    Cao Yun''s main problem was that the poison wouldn''t kill the Weiji family quickly. And he couldn''t do anything to prevent it as he couldn''t leave any evidence behind. Although he had no mercy for Weiji Nian and little for her son, he did feel bad. And he also knew that simply feeling bad wasn''t a way for him to absolve himself. When everything was said and done, he still took the decision to go ahead with this plan and he would accept the consequences of his actions. Between several scenarios, he was convinced that he had chosen the best one, or at least the less bloody.


    The shame he was feeling was a good thing in his opinion. Indeed, it proved that he had not lost himself in corruption. He was aware of what he was doing, why he was doing it and how awful it would be.


    In the end, Cao Yun broke a vial and left. In the vial was some of the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze. It spread in the room and infected the three unconscious cultivators. Quickly, they woke up as pain was shooting throughout their bodies. Their very blood was turning into molten lava in their veins. Cao Yun had made sure to create the fastest poison possible. As such, the pain was already so terrible that they couldn''t move and they could barely even think.


    Not a single scream left their mouths, only low whimpers as their muscles were completely contracted. Blood even flowed from their mouths as they were clenching their teeth. Cao Yun saw everything. He felt as though he had to.


    Thankfully, he had been correct in his dosage. When they had awaken, the poison had almost already killed them. But the few moments they stayed conscious and suffering seemed to be an eternity. With his senses, Cao Yun saw every single detail. At first, he saw the confusion, the sheer terror, and in Weiji Nian''s eyes, he saw the comprehension. She knew about this poison so she knew what was happening to her body even though she didn''t know why.


    Since she was the most knowledgeable, Weiji Nian also knew what was happening to her son. Despite the intense pain, she tried to extend her arm toward her son, trying to grab his hand. But she never made it. In her eyes, Cao Yun saw the pain of a parent losing a child in terrible circumstances. No matter what the two of them had done, Cao Yun felt almost sick. He would have preferred to cut their heads off and be done with it, but this was an essential part of his plan. Poison had to be used.


    Someone who would play around with poison right in the middle of the Sisters of the Abyss'' sanctuary would be seen as the worst blasphemer of all times. The shock caused by such an act was necessary. At the same time, Cao Yun blamed his own weakness again. If he was strong enough, he wouldn''t need to stoop to such a level. He could have simply killed his enemies in one swift move. In the end, he really didn''t like that he had to take politics into consideration at all. What he truly desired was freedom. As long as his flesh and blood was threatened by Emperor Weide, he wouldn''t be completely free though.


    Finally, the three members of the Weiji family were dead. Thankfully, he had been right with his poison. They had not suffered for too long. It had been intense but short. This did alleviate his sense of guilt somewhat. Still, he stayed near the residence until the poison had spread far enough that it was too faint to kill anyone else. At least, he had succeeded in preserving the lives of all the servants. No one else had died and this was a good thing.

 Chapter 604: The truth in a dream

    Soon, the bodies of the Weiji family would be found with all the evidence that they had been working on poison. Everything would be clear. Besides, the Sisters of the Abyss would have the jurisdiction to act as they pleased. Thus, the truth would be set in stone. The Weiji family had broken the taboo and were dealing with extremely dangerous and heretical poisons. Moreover, the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze was among the worst poisons for the demons. Indeed, it was directly affecting one''s blood and could be carried into someone''s bloodstream as a weapon.


    Immediately after that, it would be easy to put the blame of what had happened in the Sand Wolves Tribe on the Weiji family instead of Boss Gui. In fact, it would also be very easy to implicate City Lord Sihe in the matter. And this would even explain why the Sisters had suddenly turned their backs on them. Everyone would imagine the worse and City Lord Sihe would quickly be isolated. On the other hand, Boss Gui''s reputation would skyrocket. But Cao Yun wasn''t done just yet.


    After taking care of the Weiji family, he had to take care of the nomadic tribes. And it would be even easier considering that they were farther from the Oasis of Life than the others. After all, they didn''t want to be too close to those who were enslaving them. Even if this place was neutral, they couldn''t let go of their grudges. Moreover, they were closer to City Lord Sihe''s side.


    This time, he didn''t intend to kill anyone. One accident was believable, but if he were to kill anyone else, people would get suspicious. Thus, Cao Yun had chosen his target with care and had chosen the perfect moment to act, when the two parents and Weiji Bao were together in the residence. Even at that moment, Cao Yun wondered if he should also kill the uncle. Since he was working with City Lord Sihe, he would know that something was wrong there. Maybe he would believe that this was accident considering that Weiji Nian had indeed already used this poison. But he would probably know that this laboratory wasn''t hers. But he couldn''t really say anything as he would have to admit that he knew about her activities.


    City Lord Sihe would also have a hard time defending himself because he was indeed working with poison. His only angle would be to try and expose Boss Gui''s use of poison. This was why it was essential for the Sisters of the Abyss to support her. Instead of poison, they could claim that she had been experimenting with alchemy. And it would be credible since everyone knew about her links with the Blazing Swallow. Anyway, Cao Yun was almost certain everything would work out just fine. With the Sisters on his side, the risk of failure was minimal. He could turn most of the Nalupu Kingdom against City Lord Sihe. Now, he had to make sure that the nomadic tribes would also turn. And for that, he had to prepare certain things.


    The nomadic tribes had all fallen under the influence of the Sun Scorpion Clan''s patriarch, Patriarch Liang Lisheng. He was obviously under City Lord Sihe''s thumb and had helped to turn them against Cao Yun. But now, everyone thought that Cao Yun was dead. And no one in the nomadic tribes had broken through to the realm of Accomplished Demon. In other words, no one would be able to detect Cao Yun, or to even think about the possibility that he could try to sneak into their camps.


    That was exactly what Cao Yun did. Just as he had snuck into the Weiji residence, he snuck into the nomadic tribes'' camps. Unlike the important members of the Nalupu Kingdom, the tribes had set up tents and not temporary buildings. With spatial rings, it wasn''t too difficult to bring buildings without foundation. But the nomadic tribes didn''t have as many resources and as many spatial rings. Besides, they were accustomed to this kind of life and it felt right to them. They had a few rudimentary buildings here and there. But when they changed from one settlement to another, they were used to sleeping in tents. Even in the settlements, tents were used.


    Of course, those weren''t small tents. For any mortal, they would be extravagant. Although cultivators didn''t really care of heat or cold, the tents were able to keep the temperature inside in check. Most mortals would have loved to live in those tents instead of their poor housings. This made Cao Yun realize that there were things to do for his people. Emperor Weide had been focused on the demons and didn''t really take care of his people. After all, he had worked with the demonic cultivators and had sacrificed his own people, so it wasn''t too surprising.


    In due time, Cao Yun would have to take care of Patriarch Liang Lisheng. But for now, he decided to visit someone else, Sha Chai Gan, the daughter of Chieftain Sha Chai Ren. Since her father''s death, she had assumed a lot of responsibilities. But she was under the direct authority of Patriarch Liang Lisheng. In fact, he had tried to marry her for quite some time. Until now, she had been able to put it off, but she wouldn''t be able to resist for long. Her Sand Wolves Tribe was suffering from political pressure. If Patriarch Liang Lisheng could marry her, it would strengthen his authority as her father was recognized by all as a great chieftain. And he had been among the strongest cultivators in the tribes.


    For several months, General Sha Lang Hu had helped her. Unfortunately, he had suffered from Qi deviation during a period of seclusion in an attempt to improve his cultivation. He had hoped to become an Accomplished Demon. Thankfully, his failure hadn''t killed him but he was severely injured. To be honest, even the Sisters weren''t too sure whether this had been a genuine accident or not.


    Yes, Patriarch Liang Lisheng had many reasons to cause such an accident, but there was no conclusive evidence. That being said, Cao Yun kept it in mind. At the very least, Patriarch Liang Lisheng was using this situation to his advantage. But Cao Yun could do the same, and with better results. Contrary to Patriarch Liang Lisheng, he didn''t care about Sha Chai Gan''s body in the least. Thus, it might be easier for her to accept Cao Yun''s offer than to share her bed with this patriarch.


    With all that in mind, Cao Yun quickly found her tent and entered it in the middle of the night. Although cultivators didn''t need that much sleep, Sha Chai Gan was indeed sleeping. She was under a lot of pressure, but here, she felt safe so she used the time she had to rest as much as she could.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    It was no problem at all for Cao Yun to get into the tent without arousing any suspicion. At his current level, only a very powerful mind could see through his stealth. Besides, he had the Sisters of the Abyss covering him and he was outside of the Oasis of Life. Around there, there was not even a single Accomplished Demon. In fact, he could have assassinated anyone he wanted. And he truly wanted to kill Patriarch Liang Lisheng. Unfortunately, it would have to wait. Moreover, he could kill him without resorting to trickery or poison and that would feel better. Right now, he simply wanted to make sure that he would have someone else to take over the alliance of all the tribes. And obviously, the person he had in mind was Sha Chai Gan.


    The first time they had met hadn''t been too good. But Cao Yun''s opinion of her had dramatically improved with time. What had truly left an impression on him was her loyalty to her father. He was certain that even in death it would still apply. So he had to show her the cold facts and he knew he could convince her to help him out.


    Before trying to talk to her, Cao Yun entered her mind. With great care, he examined every parcel of her mind and even her body. Hidden within her, he did find several seals. Most were clearly seals meant to improve her cultivation. But there were a couple of seals that were unusual. Looking closely, Cao Yun identified their uses. Those seals were meant to subdue or even kill if events dictated it. Most likely, City Lord Sihe had given such seals to Patriarch Liang Lisheng. If Sha Chai Gan became an issue, they had a way to deal with her. However, she was probably unaware of their existence. Thus, Cao Yun didn''t unravel them. Instead, he altered them just enough so they would be in his control now.


    Although he had no intention of threatening her with them, it was easier to do so than to unravel them. And he certainly didn''t want anyone to notice as he didn''t know how long it would be before he would enact his plans for the tribes. In his mind, it would be quick, but there could be unforeseen events along the way. But, he truly didn''t intend to use those seals. To be honest, he really didn''t need them to threaten a Golden Blood Child. Those seals were important for Patriarch Liang Lisheng as he wasn''t an Accomplished Demon. Besides, he could deflect any responsibility and blame her death on someone else, probably Boss Gui once again.


    Anyway, once Cao Yun was done examining her, he talked to her, directly into her mind.


    As she was sleeping, Sha Chai Gan felt a presence. She woke up but realized that she wasn''t in her tent. She was walking in a black valley. Although it looked exactly like a verdant valley, the grass had been replaced with black ashes. Above her head, the sky was as red as blood. It truly was a dream as she couldn''t control her movement. She was simply a spectator. In a daze, she felt like she had been walking for centuries while knowing it had only been a few seconds. Although she was aware that this was a dream, she couldn''t do anything, she couldn''t even talk. But worse than anything, she couldn''t wake up.


    Finally, she stopped moving. In front of her was a shadowy figure. When he turned to face her, she recognized Mo Yun. He was a bit older and his aura had dramatically changed, but it was him alright.


    "Miss, it''s been quite some time. There are many things you should be made aware of."


    As soon as he finished his sentence, Sha Chai Gan fell through the ground. She was floating in the sky as she could see Patriarch Liang Lisheng conspire with City Lord Sihe and Weiji Nian. The scene wasn''t very clear as it was a dream, but she knew what she was seeing immediately. A red mist was whirling around them. Suddenly, she saw her father and many of her tribesmen. The red mist spread in their midst. Many exploded into a mist of blood. Finally, she saw her own father die in front of her. Patriarch Liang Lisheng then crushed his corpse under his feet. From the broken body of her father, he took his weapon and brandished it as though it was his.


    "The attack on your Sand Wolves Tribe has not been imagined by Boss Gui. Everything was done by the treacherous Weiji Nian, an ally of City Lord Sihe. You should be pleased to learn that this vile woman died by the same means she used to kill so many of your brothers and sisters. But there is another servant of City Lord Sihe who took advantage of this tragedy to usurp your father''s authority and even claim dominion over all the tribes. And you know that what I''m saying is true.


    "For quite some time, you have suspected that General Sha Lang Hu''s injury was not a mere accident. To speak the truth, I do not know whether it was the case or not. But I can tell you that Patriarch Liang Lisheng would not shy away from such means. I have no way of knowing how informed he had been of the attack. But he clearly received instructions on how to use it best. Thanks to this attack, he put all the blame on Boss Gui and then on me so he could take over all the tribes.


    "In the last few years, his power and influence only grew. Several dissonant voices have been silenced. You know that this isn''t right, and yet you did nothing. Don''t you think that you''ve been dishonoring your father''s memory by your inaction?"


    Rage was spreading through Sha Chai Gan but she couldn''t do anything but listen and watch. Although she didn''t believe every single word of her dream, she knew that some of it at least was true. Indeed, some words mirrored her own thoughts. Patriarch Liang Lisheng was a poisonous scorpion and there was no doubt in her mind that he had indeed caused some accidents to eliminate any opposition. Besides, he was really using Boss Gui as an excuse for anything. She had become the epitome of the enemy, ready to use any underhanded method, blaspheming any belief. If one listened to Patriarch Liang Lisheng, Boss Gui was an abomination wearing demon flesh.


    The dream kept on going for what felt like an eternity. After making accusations, Cao Yun then showed her some proof of what he claimed. Thanks to the Sisters of the Abyss, he had everything he needed to convince Sha Chai Gan of the truth. He didn''t even need to lie or alter the facts. This was nice as it erased the bitter taste of the assassination. Truly, Cao Yun hadn''t liked to poison two parents and their child in such a way. He would have rather killed his enemies with his own hand, face to face. And he was sincerely afraid of crossing a line. Seeing others as mere pawns to be used and discarded felt incredibly wrong and was opposed to everything he believed.


    In that case, it hadn''t been like that, but he was afraid that one day it might turn out this way. He didn''t want to go down that road. And for that, he would need to distance himself from politics as much as he could. Although he might have good intentions and even good results, he knew that he could also lose himself and find many rationalizations for absolutely disgusting acts. No, he would leave politics to others. But he had to make sure that those he left it to were worthy of it.


    Sha Chai Gan was among those he had chosen.

 Chapter 605: The end of the ceremonies

    Finally, Sha Chai Gan woke up. The first thing she did was to look all around her in a frenzy but there was absolutely no one. Indeed, Cao Yun''s stealth was impossible to see through for a Golden Blood Child. Even most Accomplished Demon wouldn''t be able to see through it. However, Sha Chai Gan had this eerie sensation that someone was observing her. She couldn''t tell whether it was just her dream or if it was actually real. After Cao Yun''s intrusion into her mind, things weren''t too clear for her.


    Suddenly, she heard his voice directly into her mind.


    "It''s been a long time since we''ve seen each other. And we didn''t part in the best of terms. Miss Sha Chai Gan, I am sincerely sorry for the loss of your father. At the time, I didn''t have the opportunity to properly talk to you, by no fault of mine must I add. But I do imagine that you understand now that I wasn''t responsible in any way, shape or form. First of all, I never worked for Boss Gui, I simply formed an alliance with her for convenience. In fact, it would be correct to say that she now works for me in a sense.


    "Besides, she had nothing to do with the attack either. On the other hand, City Lord Sihe is indirectly responsible. In the next day, you will learn who the true culprit was as I have personally killed her with her own poison. I do hope that this will make you trust my words."


    This was a bold move for Cao Yun. But as he was observing her attitude with each word he was sending into her mind, he decided to go forward with this. Unlike the Sisters of the Abyss, he didn''t want to blackmail or threaten her if he could avoid it. Since it was possible to come to an understanding, he was trying to do just that. Moreover, to be honest, even if she told everyone about this, she would have no proof at all and against the words of the Sisters, no one among the Nalupu Kingdom would believe her. The tribes might believe her to some extent, but not even everyone.


    Hearing everything Cao Yun was saying, Sha Chai Gan didn''t react much. That being said, Cao Yun was able to see many emotions shine in her eyes. He knew that he was getting to her.


    "You''ve seen how the Sun Scorpion Clan is ruling the tribes. And I am certain that you have developed doubts about them. Your doubts are absolutely right. They are working for City Lord Sihe. Honestly, I have no reason to think that they were aware of the attack before it happened. But they probably helped the culprit get the poison. And after the attack, they did use it to gain power and influence, just like City Lord Sihe. They didn''t create the events but they did use them to crush any opposition."


    "What do you want from me?"


    "It is quite simple. Soon, the truth will be exposed. After the current ceremonies are over, the Sun Scorpion Clan will lose its head. Since I want to limit the loss of life, it would be good for the tribes to have a new ruler like your father, someone everyone can respect. Otherwise, the legitimate desire for vengeance might cause too much violence. City Lord Sihe will fall as well, this is certain. Boss Gui will take over the Xinian Confederation. And, despite everything you might believe about her, she will work on the abolition of the current slave trade."


    "You want me to control the tribes so we focus our efforts on City Lord Sihe? While trusting in the Smiling Flayer when it comes to the fate of our people?!"


    "I do not ask you to trust her, I ask you to trust her interests. Boss Gui can indeed be incredibly cruel, but only if it serves a purpose. I did ponder over the issue for a long time, as a matter of fact, I had a lot of time to think about it with nothing much to do apart from just that. I won''t pretend that this solution is perfect, but everything else seems worse, and by a huge margin. Miss Sha Chai Gan, I did things I am not too proud about to make sure that the outcome is as good as possible for as many people as possible.


    "I''ll be honest with you, I don''t need you to attain my goals. But you might prevent many deaths in the upcoming months if you''re able to smooth things over. It won''t be perfect and I can''t tell how many will suffer, all the more reasons for you to listen to me. City Lord Sihe will die, the Sun Scorpion Clan''s Patriarch will die. But the future of the tribes can be brighter than you ever thought. If everything goes well, you will be regarded with almost as much esteem as anyone else in the Nalupu Kingdom. Honestly, I don''t know how long it will last, but I do think it is worth a try, don''t you?"


    "I..."


    "I won''t ask for your answer right away. But I will add this. I have examined General Sha Lang Hu''s injuries. I would like to tell you that they were caused by my enemies, but I honestly don''t know whether they were genuinely caused by Qi deviation or not. However, I can tell you that I know how to heal them. Thanks to my alchemy, I can almost completely get rid of any trace of his injuries. And I am ready to give you the pills and the treatment if you do agree to listen to me. Besides, I''m not asking you to do anything else than to protect the tribes and their interests. The Sun Scorpion Clan will lose their Patriarch. Even if you were to warn them, there''s nothing they''ll be able to do at this point. In fact, their only move would be to beg for Lord Wanghuo''s protection but we all know he wouldn''t care at all. So your choice is whether to help your tribe and all the others afterward or to cling to some unwarranted resentment toward me."


    With those last words, Cao Yun disappeared completely. For Sha Chai Gan, the difference wasn''t perceptible. When he stopped talking, she waited a few minutes. Realizing that he had to be gone, she fell backward on the bed she had been sitting on. Lying down, she observed the ceiling of her tent and pondered over what he had just said. Many thoughts were going through her mind at the moment. She could feel a deep fear in her heart but also a lot of excitement in her blood. Deep within, she also had a rage she could barely contain. And despite all her efforts, it was growing and growing.


    -If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The next few days, the Oasis of Life was in uproar. The news of the Weiji family''s death had been suppressed but everyone with enough influence was aware of all the details. Once again, the Sisters of the Abyss had done their work. In the past, they could have completely erased this story, but they were actively making sure that those who ought to know knew. The wisest demons were painfully aware of this shift in the attitude of the Sisters. It made so much sense, considering the way they had treated Boss Gui''s side recently. It was obvious to everyone that they were now siding with Boss Gui and forsaking City Lord Sihe.


    Obviously, there was no proof against City Lord Sihe. And he made sure that everyone knew how much he was distancing himself from the Weiji family. In fact, he was smart enough to cut himself from Weiji Nian''s uncle. General Weiji was even summoned by Lord Wanghuo. It wasn''t rare for an entire family to be held accountable for the crimes of a single member.


    General Weiji was forced to publicly disavow his own blood. Thankfully, Weiji Nian was simply his niece, not his own daughter. As a matter of fact, General Weiji had no kid at all. Weiji Nian had always been like a daughter to him as her parents had died some time ago. And Weiji Bao had been like a grandson to him. Thus, he was absolutely furious. To add insult to injury, he was forced to denounce them publicly. Despite this, he lost his connection with City Lord Sihe and, in Lord Wanghuo, he saw that his future within the military was compromised. Lord Wanghuo was a terrible politician as he simply didn''t care that much. However, he was far from being stupid. There was no way he would keep favoring someone with links with a terrible poison.


    Besides, it wasn''t just any poison. It was Bloodfire Vermilion Haze. Not only was it a poison that was designed to attack the bloodstream, the worst possible thing for demons, but it had been used recently against the nomadic tribes. Lord Wanghuo didn''t want to deal with a revolt led by all the tribes and maybe some of his own Nalupu Kingdom. Worse, the Sisters of the Abyss were clearly supporting the movement. Thus, Lord Wanghuo decided to meet with High Mother Lisha once again. He could use the excuse of the ongoing ceremonies to justify it without looking weak. Indeed, he couldn''t summon her like a servant, but he didn''t want to look like he was groveling to her either. The opportunity was thus perfect to save face for the both of them.


    Cao Yun kept on observing what was going on without intervening at all. He had done everything he could at the moment. The less he was doing, the happier he was. Dirtying his hands hadn''t felt good. But deep down, he was certain that this was the best option available to him. Honestly, he still wasn''t absolutely sure whether he was simply hopeful or right. However, he had accepted that doing the right thing wasn''t easy. Something were clear but with politics, the waters were muddy. It wasn''t involving just individuals, but entire peoples. Sometimes doing something that felt wrong was in fact the right thing to do.


    Once again, the young man had realized that feeling good or bad about something wasn''t the most important thing. He would judge his decisions by their fruits. Cao Yun wasn''t a moralist or a philosopher. He didn''t have any all-encompassing theory about morality. In fact, he had realized that most of his morality had come from his upbringing. If he had grown as a demon in the past, he would have probably felt morally justified to enslave humans. Morality seemed to be closer to feelings than to reason. One could invent many reasons to justify their morality but Cao Yun was now convinced that morality itself came from one''s emotions. The reasons were just there to make them seem more than what they were, and to feel good about them.


    Even now, Cao Yun realized that all his justifications on why it had been right to kill Weiji Nian with her own poison were serving the purpose of making him feel better. Even the crimes of Weiji Bao were used by him to alleviate a small sense of guilt.


    With all that in mind, Cao Yun kept on working on his emotions and thus on his mind cultivation. He was sincerely interested in all the conflicting emotions within himself. Using the calligraphy by the Weaver of Souls, Cao Yun was observing his own emotions and thoughts as though they were from someone else. He was simply an observer. What he observed was that his thoughts and emotions were still moving around even without his conscious intervention. It was both terrifying and hypnotic. For all intents and purposes, it felt as though he wasn''t really in control of anything. What he perceived as his self was being influence by so many things. Although he had always felt like he was in control, he really wasn''t. But then the question was on how much influence his self had on any of this.


    While Cao Yun was busy exploring his own mind and soul, the situation unfolded almost as he had imagined, thanks to the efforts of High Mother Lisha, Boss Gui, and even Sha Chai Gan. The seeds he had planted were bearing the fruits he desired.


    City Lord Sihe was even the first one to leave the Oasis of Life after Lord Wanghuo''s departure. In fact, he had literally waited for Lord Wanghuo before leaving. Indeed, it would have been an insult to do so beforehand. But City Lord Sihe didn''t want to stay close to the Sisters and to so many people who wanted his demise. His main goal was to ride the storm. Unlike Lord Wanghuo, City Lord Sihe was good when it came to politics. And he knew that he could dig himself from any hole, no matter how deep. After all, Boss Gui''s situation had seemed hopeless a few weeks ago. And yet, she was now stronger than ever. Perception was almost everything. Thus, City Lord Sihe had high hopes he could get out of this situation given enough time. For that though, he had to be decisive and smart. On both accounts, he was convinced he was.


    After City Lord Sihe''s departure, the tribes began to move away as well, led by the Sun Scorpion Clan. The news about Weiji Nian''s use of the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze had weakened their influence a little. But thankfully for them, they had already crushed their most vehement opposition. So they still retained the control of the tribes. And they decided to follow City Lord Sihe''s example. They were afraid that more information would weaken their foundations. Sha Chai Gan made sure that everyone was following them, surprising even those close to her, like General Sha Lang Hu. After the recent events, she trusted Cao Yun''s words. So she knew that Patriarch Liang Lisheng wasn''t long for this world.


    While she made sure that no one defied their authority, she also began to organize her entourage to be ready when the time came.


    Finally, Boss Gui and the Blazing Swallow stayed longer than anyone else and visited High Mother Lisha even after the ceremonies. It showed how much the Sisters of the Abyss were valuing them.


    In the end though, they obviously left the Oasis of Life. The ceremonies were officially over and the Monastery of Bliss and Repose kept its gates open. High Mother Lisha had been recognized by everyone. In other words, Cao Yun was controlling the religious authority of the Desolate Sepulcher and soon he would also control the tribes and the Xinian Confederation. Everything was going as planned. Thus, he would be able to leave this place soon enough.


    While the Blazing Swallow left the Oasis of Life, General Weiji did the same. For weeks, he had remained in seclusion, unwilling to show his face. But he had stayed within the Oasis of Life until Boss Gui''s departure.

 Chapter 606: A sun in the night

    Cao Yun had tried to think of everything, but to be sure, he had High Mother Lisha send Sisters with a few groups. In particular, several Sisters had infiltrated the nomadic tribes and two of them had been sent with the Blazing Swallow to protect them. The Sisters were exceptional when it came to infiltration and information gathering, but they were not all good fighters. However, almost no one would dare to directly fight anyone from the Sisters of the Abyss, at least in the Desolate Sepulcher. After all, they were servant of their god, the Weaver of Souls.


    While everyone was slowly leaving the Oasis of Life, Cao Yun was busy cultivating. In his mind, there were many doubts, but he had decided not to let them control him. Although he couldn''t be sure whether his acts were the right things to do, he had to act. Still, he was plagued with hypothetical questions. Until now, he had been able to avoid killing innocent people. But he knew that some would die because of his actions, and some time he might even be in the position where he would have to choose between his plan and killing someone who had one nothing wrong. Hopefully, it wouldn''t come to this. But, the worst part was that he wasn''t sure what he would choose. Of course, he wanted to believe that he would never cross that line, but deep down, he had doubts.


    All those thoughts were fueled by Unclean Evil''s shame and Stinking Lungs''s corruption. Although he could have stopped them, he didn''t want to as those thoughts were necessary. If he didn''t question himself and his actions, he could go down a terrible path. In his mind, he still had visions of Axiu Qian''s life. The asura had slaughtered slavers at first, but soon his rage engulfed him completely. By the end, he was killing almost everyone and he destroyed all who were close to him in his fury. Despite good intentions at first, he had become a true monster.


    When someone was absolutely sure that what they were doing was the right thing, or that they were responding to a higher mission, then they could become worse than the vilest criminal. And Cao Yun was acting with the idea that he was doing good indeed. Thus, he knew that he had to keep himself in check. Not every means could be justified by the goodness of his goal. Knowing it was a good thing, but it would not be enough.


    Besides those two Turbid Demons, Cao Yun was also cultivating his Corpse Dog, the embodiment of fear. And there were many fears in his young mind. First of all, he was indeed afraid of becoming what he had once despised, using others as though they were insignificant resources he could play around with. But he was also terrified by the story between Xixue and Meiyue. If twin sisters could be pushed to such a tragic end, he was afraid for his own sister. Her mind had been poisoned by Emperor Weide for years now.


    In fact, Cao Yun wasn''t too afraid about her survival. Emperor Weide would do everything to keep her alive and well until he needed to consume her Soul Embryo. And considering how much time had passed, it was almost impossible for her to have forged a Soul Embryo, even with the best teachers and alchemists. Maybe she was closer than anyone else, but no one could match Cao Yun''s speed in that regard. After all, his mind cultivation and his asura cultivation had helped a lot. Throughout history, he might find some genius who had maybe been faster than him. But in the current era, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind. Moreover, luck had also played a part in his cultivation, he could not deny it. But he could not rely on luck all the time, so he had to consolidate his cultivation.


    Using the calligraphy of the Weaver of Souls and his own emotions, Cao Yun was slowly working on his Corpse Dog. As much as he wanted to advance as fast as possible, he was also afraid of working on two Turbid Demons again. Ironically, it helped him develop Corpse Dog faster. Being afraid was not a bad thing as it would help him avoid doing anything stupid. But fear could be all-encompassing and completely paralyze someone. This was a thin line to walk, just like he was doing when it came to the morality of his actions. He could easily fall on the wrong side of the line and he might not even realize it until it was too late. However, he was confident in himself, for now...


    Corpse Dog was the Po of Yin, related to the Water element. Water was able to calm down, but it could also freeze someone. On the other hand, Fire would excite but it could also burn. With the Flying Poison, the Unclean Evil and the Stinking Lungs, Cao Yun had developed the Po of Jing, the Po of Qi and the Po of Shen. In other words, he had already strengthened the three treasures of the human body. The Po of Yin and the Po of Yang were a bit more difficult to master. After them would come the Po of Heaven and the Po of Earth who would also be a bit more difficult. But of course, they would also increase his overall strength by quite a lot. There was a qualitative change, not just a quantitative one.


    Obviously, Cao Yun also worked on his human cultivation. In his upper abdomen, he could feel his Soul Embryo. From the tiny silver embryo, he could feel surges of pure energy coursing through his body. Those surges were very faint though.


    As a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun had to nourish it with care. In its current state, his Soul Embryo was still extremely weak, just like a newborn who had not even breathed once. His first task had been to fill up his Dantian again since they had been mostly depleted by the Lesser Tribulation. This hadn''t been too difficult to be honest. With alchemy, it had even been an easy process. Slowly building one''s Dantian was difficult and long, but filling them up once again was easier as one simply needed the right amount of Qi. With his current body, Cao Yun could absorb large quantities of Qi without much problem. Compared with his time as a Mortal, it was like night and day. What would have taken him months to absorb, he could do so in a matter of hours, if not minutes.


    By the time everyone had left the Oasis of Life, around three to four months had passed and Cao Yun''s Dantian were full and vibrant. Besides, he had been able to balance Water Qi and Fire Qi. Now, he would use the combination of Water Qi and Fire Qi to nourish his Soul Embryo. In this process, the only important thing was to be patient. By over-nourishing the embryo, one could damage it. But it also had to receive enough to grow.Stolen novel; please report.


    This stage wasn''t just about nourishing it though, it was also about connecting with it, listening to it. By nourishing it, one had to be attentive to its needs and its reactions. In its current state Cao Yun''s Soul Embryo seemed lethargic but it really wasn''t. There were many small and subtle details one had to be aware of in order to understand the small life within them. This Soul Embryo was an empty soul that would later become the vessel for the cultivator''s soul itself. Thus, it was imperative to be extremely familiar with it.


    There were pills to help nourish the Soul Embryo. Cao Yun had found several of them throughout all the documents he had. But in ''Cultivation of Wrath'', he had read how harmful those pills were in the long run. Indeed, they were deprive the cultivator of this occasion to better understand their Soul Embryo. And this could cause many problems. In particular, it could make crossing into the fourth realm almost impossible. So of course, Cao Yun abstained from such pills even though he could have forged them. Instead, he used array formations to completely isolate himself from the outside world so he could focus all on his mind on the Soul Embryo.


    He entered into a meditative seclusion. Although he had planned to stay in this state for a few days, when he left it, more than a month had passed. He had been so engrossed in his exploration of his Soul Embryo, that time had flown by. This was something every cultivator knew about. But Cao Yun had not thought that this would happen to him to such an extent. Spending a week or two meditating instead of a few days was fine, but he had almost stayed confined for two whole months, short of a few days. Thankfully, his preparations had been good and High Mother Lisha had handled everything well.


    Coming out of seclusion, he could feel his Soul Embryo all the time and was constantly feeding it with a stream of Water Qi and Fire Qi. At the same time, he was also using the Drop of Wrath to send its intent to it so his Soul Embryo would also become acquainted to it. Cao Yun''s plan was clear. He intended to fuse his Drop of Wrath, that was slowly turning out to be his Demon Soul, and his Soul Embryo. Instead of just having them work together, his plan was to merge them into one soul. He didn''t know exactly how to do so, but he knew that this was possible, especially after spending so much time knowing his Soul Embryo. They were made of the same substance and had basically the same purpose, becoming a vessel for one''s real soul.


    -


    When he left his seclusion, Cao Yun pushed all those thoughts aside. It would take a few months for his Soul Embryo to be nourished to the point he could call himself a 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior. But it wouldn''t be difficult, the Lesser Tribulation had been the difficult stage. Unless Cao Yun grew impatient, the first stages of the Embryo Realm would be smooth. So obviously, he would keep himself in check an rein in his impatience. After all, he could probably fight a late Spirit Warrior or late Accomplished Demon with his current strength. Although a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior like Emperor Weide was out of his league, he might still be able to overcome this gap through strategy, array formations, seals and martial arts. His Spear Intent would also be a great weapon as it didn''t rely on one''s cultivation.


    He received reports from High Mother Lisha and saw that everything was going as planned. Hopefully, only City Lord Sihe would suffer from the consequences of said plan. And Cao Yun could even send the Sisters of the Abyss to try and protect the civilians when the war would begin. Because, it was almost impossible to avoid a war. However, instead of being directed toward Boss Gui, City Lord Sihe would be the target.


    Right now, Cao Yun had to deal with the nomadic tribes. From what he had read, the Sisters had done their duty. And so had Sha Chai Gan. There was no doubt that she had listened to Cao Yun as she had slowly distanced herself from the Sun Scorpion Clan and Patriarch Liang Lisheng. So the time was ripe for Cao Yun to act. Since everyone thought Mo Yun dead, he didn''t want to change that. But after much consideration, revealing himself as alive would be a good way to get what he wanted fast. After all, he would need Lord Wanghuo to give him a boat and a good navigator. And for that, he would have to reveal himself to him. Using an identity that was already known by many would be the easiest and fastest way. At least, Cao Yun was convinced of that.


    Of course, it could also arise suspicion. But the point wasn''t to be clean of any suspicion. The point was to make sure that no one could prove anything. By controlling the Sisters and soon the Xinian Confederation, this wouldn''t be an issue at all. Cao Yun would completely control the narrative. From what he understood, Lord Wanghuo wouldn''t really care as long as his own interests weren''t impacted. In fact, Cao Yun was almost certain that they would be impacted positively.


    Hongyu had now a better control of her improved body. As such, she turned out to be a bit faster than Cao Yun. With her, he was now that fastest man in the entire Desolate Sepulcher. Considering how long travels could take, even a small advantage could go a long way. Most likely, Cao Yun could travel from one corner of the continent to the other in around four months while many others would spend from half a year if they dared to cross the Desolate Dune Desert to an entire year, or even more for weaker cultivators or large caravans.


    Of course, Cao Yun and Hongyu were able to get to the nomadic tribes before they had even reached their own settlements. This time, he didn''t try to be discreet at all. He knew, thanks to the Sisters, that there were a few spies from different factions hidden among the tribes. And he wanted to make a true spectacle out of his appearance. He didn''t just want to win over the tribes, he also wanted to send a message to everyone else watching through those spies. So he had no intention of harming them. Instead, he had to make sure that they would live to spread the news, especially City Lord Sihe''s men.


    In the desert, Cao Yun saw the caravans before they noticed him at all.


    In the night sky, there were three streaks of fire left by Hongyu''s fiery tails. On Cao Yun''s command, the Sky Tyrant Fenghuang burned as bright as day. Everyone in the caravans turned around, surprised that the sun was rising so soon. But the sun was getting dangerously close to them. The nomads were afraid that a powerful demonic beast was attacking them. Technically they were right, but it wasn''t a wild demonic beast. And the main concern they should have had wasn''t the demonic beast itself.


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun sent thousands of swords all around the caravans. They stabbed into the ground, forming a large and complex array formation all around them. In his hands, he had a small plate in which he had engraved a 5-star Heaven array formation. It wasn''t perfect at all. In fact, Cao Yun wasn''t too proud of it, but it would be enough right now. After all, he didn''t want to confine the nomads for too long and there was not a single Accomplished Demon among them. Besides, he knew for a fact that they wouldn''t work well together, thanks to Sha Chai Gan and a few others who were on her side.

 Chapter 607: Descending among the tribes

    From all around the caravans, large pillars of fire erupted. They broke through the sand and reached the sky until even the late Golden Blood Children couldn''t see their summits. Cao Yun had crafted this array formation himself by using the Fire Qi that was so abundant in the sand of the desert. Honestly, it wasn''t a very powerful array formation and a joint effort by the tribes would have been enough to break it apart. In fact, this array formation was more of a spectacle than anything else. Although it could have trapped any single individual present, it would never be able to hold the entire group captive.


    Just as the pillars emerged from the ground, Hongyu let out a powerful screech. Using his spiritual senses, Cao Yun also put a lot of pressure of everyone''s soul. But this wasn''t just to intimidate them. His goal was more prosaic. Throughout the crowd, he searched for traces of seals left behind by City Lord Sihe and his supporters. When he had snuck into the tribes to talk to Sha Chai Gan, he had also looked for them. Many tribesmen had been marked by various seals without even knowing it.


    Those were not Slavery Brands as they would have been recognized by most. Besides, they couldn''t be placed on others discreetly. Instead, those seals had clearly been placed as a way to subdue the tribesmen if need be. Obviously, no one in the Sun Scorpion Clan had any seal at all. All those seals had been put on dignitaries of the other tribes. At a moment''s notice, the Sun Scorpion Clan''s Patriarch could probably kill them or simply inflict enough pain to subdue them.


    Cao Yun''s first move was to get rid of all those seals. His goal was to reveal Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s lies and to kill him so Sha Chai Gan would take over. She would serve his interests better. And his interests were perfectly aligned with the tribes this time. He wanted them to campaign against City Lord Sihe and to not attack innocent citizens of the Nalupu Kingdom. Through Sha Chai Gan and General Sha Lang Hu, he was convinced he could achieve both objectives.


    The few Sisters of the Abyss hidden among the crowd had been warned of this attack, even though they didn''t know who Cao Yun was exactly. There were five Sisters who were all late Golden Blood Children. Only one of them was an early Accomplished Demon and she was also the only one who knew about Cao Yun''s real identity. Like High Mother Lisha and the other Accomplished Demon Sisters, Cao Yun had put a seal in her sea of consciousness. As such, she was loyal to him as she didn''t have a choice. However, she was also impressed by his appearance. She had seen him fight High Mother Qin Xue, but now he was attacking tens of thousands of people. Even Lord Wanghuo couldn''t win such a fight. The only advantage for Cao Yun was his ability to fly away.


    Obviously, Cao Yun had no intention of fighting all the tribes, but he had every intention of crushing Patriarch Liang Lisheng and anyone who would get in his way. Thankfully, Sha Chai Gan, her supporters, and the Sisters were making sure that almost no other tribe took part in the conflict.


    Hongyu was now in the center of the fiery cage. Her majestic aura made her look like a small sun above everyone else. While she stayed there, Cao Yun jumped down. His robe was fluttering in the air as the sudden heat was causing some violent wind. Looking down below, he could perceive the various emotions coursing through the crowd. In particular, he was focused on the Sun Scorpion Clan. Patriarch Liang Lisheng was terrified as he had recognized his enemy. Cao Yun was probably strong enough to crush him in an instant and he had no reason not to do so.


    This wasn''t Cao Yun''s intention though. Indeed, he had to make sure that the tribes would target their hostility toward City Lord Sihe. If he simply killed Patriarch Liang Lisheng, it would be difficult to do so. Instead, Cao Yun and Boss Gui would become their target. Even Sha Chai Gan would have a hard time reining them in. And the Sun Scorpion Clan could rise to power once more. And even slaughtering the entire Sun Scorpion Clan would accomplish little. Besides, there were children among the clan, albeit a few, so Cao Yun would not kill them. He could assassinate someone like Weiji Bao, but he would not kill little kids who had done nothing wrong.


    Fortunately, Cao Yun had thought about that beforehand. And the seals planted by City Lord Sihe''s sides for Patriarch Liang Lisheng would be helpful in this endeavor.


    "Patriarch Liang Lisheng! I have come back to clear my name of your slanderous lies!"


    "You...!"


    "Silence!"


    Cao Yun''s soul crushed Patriarch Liang Lisheng. In an instant, he felt as though he was in a freezing ocean of blood. The stench was assaulting his senses while his body was quivering. This was Cao Yun''s ''Weeping Demon'' at full strength. Now that he was a full-fledged Spirit Warrior, he could use powerful mind and soul attacks. Besides, ''Weeping Demon'' relied on one''s Po so his asura cultivation was ideal for it. Even Chief Elder L¨¹mian from the soul and mind pavilion would have been impressed by it. Cao Yun could combine the strength of an asura soul and the subtlety of the human soul. He wasn''t yet as powerful as a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior or a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon, but his strength was comparable to higher stages of those realms.


    Obviously, Patriarch Liang Lisheng couldn''t do a single thing against such an onslaught. In fact, he couldn''t even move or speak. Worse than that, he could barely breathe. For a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child, this wasn''t much of an issue. But the sensation of someone preventing him to breathe made Patriarch Liang Lisheng more than nervous. It meant that Cao Yun could really kill him with a thought. He had to mobilize all of his strength if he intended to survive. And no matter what, he did intend to survive. Even against an Accomplished Demon, he had a secret weapon hidden in his spatial ring. He simply had to wait for the right opportunity.


    In Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s mind, he merely had to injure or even distract Cao Yun so all the tribes would unite against him. No matter how strong he was, he would not be able to fight tens of thousands of demons. Obviously, he was right on that account, but he was wrong to think that the tribes would unite for him.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Lady Sha Chai Gan, I pay my respects to your father. His end was a disgrace. Such a man should never have suffered so. But the true culprit has been revealed. Weiji Nian was the one who ordered the attack on the Sand Wolves Tribe. I won''t shy away from the truth. She attacked you to get to me, but unfortunately I had been away at the time. This will not bring Chieftain Sha Chai Ren back but her own Bloodfire Vermilion Haze claimed her life. However, she did not act alone. She used her family''s influence as well as mercenaries working for City Lord Sihe.


    "Once again, I''ll be honest. I do not know whether City Lord Sihe was aware of it. However, he clearly knew the truth after the attack, at the very least. And he used it to turn all of you against his main rival, Boss Gui. Contrary to the accusations, I never worked for her. We do have a contract, but I am not her underling. In fact, I''ve been slowly pushing her to stop dealing with slavery. And it is official now, Boss Gui will stop any and all slave trade she''s engaged in."


    Cao Yun''s words caused an uproar among the crowd. Pouring all of his spiritual senses in his voice, he was able to spread his voice across the entire audience. Moreover, his words sounded true, as though spoken by an ethereal spirit, touching everyone''s mind and soul.


    "Sir, I humbly accept your words. My father had trusted you, and I still believe in his judgment. After his death, I was blinded by grief and pain and I failed to clearly see who the true guilty was. Patriarch Liang Lisheng used this opportunity to wrestle more power for himself...."


    "You...!"


    Several tribesmen from the Sun Scorpion Clan suddenly erupted. They couldn''t let their own patriarch be attacked while he couldn''t defend himself. At that moment, Cao Yun released his hold on him a little, just enough so he could indeed speak and move around.


    "Miss Sha Chai Gan, do not let his words sway you! This abomination is using some mind trick to deceive you! Don''t you see the truth?! He is working with Boss Gui and he wants to annihilate use all!"


    The crowd was extremely confused. But most demons realized that there was more to the story than what they were seeing or hearing. Besides, their leaders had clearly decided not to take part in the conflict. Thus, it was obvious that the future of their tribes would be decided by Sha Chai Gan and Liang Lisheng. But Cao Yun would also play a large part. Of course, not many were pleased by the idea of a stranger interfering with their tribes. Still, they would wait and see, for the time being.


    "But Weiji Nian has been exposed as the true culprit, Patriarch!"


    "Lies! Do we have any proof that this Mo Yun didn''t kill her himself?! He could have planted the poison in her residence to put the blame on City Lord Sihe by association!"


    As it turned out, Patriarch Liang Lisheng was perfectly right. But it didn''t change anything at all. The truth was that Weiji Nian had indeed ordered the attack on the tribes.


    "Wake up! He''s using some technique to manipulate you all! Soon, he''s going to try and kill me. But after me, what do you think will happen to you?!"


    Desperation and fright in Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s voice were affecting the crowd. Some leaders were already wary of Cao Yun. And their fear was indeed that he was going to kill the Sun Scorpion Clan''s leader and then he would kill them off one by one. Maybe Sha Chai Gan had already planned it with him. But it didn''t seem like something she would do. If the situation was reversed, they would believe straight away that Patriarch Liang Lisheng was setting them up. But thanks to her father, but also to her own actions, the tribesmen had more faith in Sha Chai Gan than in the entire Sun Scorpion Clan. After all, there were nasty rumors on them and the use of poison.


    "Patriarch, I won''t let a stranger murder one of our own. However, you should step down for now, until we''ve been able to examine everything thoroughly."


    Sha Chai Gan knew that letting a stranger kill the man who was currently leading all the tribes was a mistake. Any justice and punishment had to be dealt with by the tribes themselves, not by Cao Yun.


    "Sir Mo, please, let our tribes handle our own affairs."


    "Although I was falsely accused by this wretched creature, your tribes have suffered more from his actions than I have. Thus, I will leave the matter of his punishment in your hands, Chieftain Sha Chai Gan."


    Slowly, Cao Yun descended from the sky toward the ground. Soon, he was between Sha Chai Gan and Liang Lisheng. With his senses, he could clearly see orders being given among the crowd. The Sun Scorpion Clan was preparing themselves for something. The Sisters were also ready as they could see everything too.


    Cao Yun put himself close enough to Liang Lisheng, knowing what he had in mind.


    In the patriarch''s mind, everything was over. If he let Sha Chai Gan arrest him, he would not come out alive. And apparently, everyone had either sided with her or was waiting to see what would happen. But many sordid secrets of his could be exposed if he let her investigate him. This wouldn''t be the best outcome, but he had to take over by force. Thankfully, he had readied himself for quite some time now. In an instant, he could turn it around and swarm Cao Yun and Sha Chai Gan. Many tribesmen would die, but at least, he would keep his influence. Besides, as long as he spared enough women, he could repopulate quickly.


    All of a sudden, a black powder flew from Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s spatial ring. All of it was directed at Cao Yun. Since his enemy was a powerful Accomplished Demon, the Sun Scorpion Clan''s Patriarch did not hesitate to use everything he had just on him. This was indeed the strongest poison he had on him. Cao Yun recognized it easily thanks to Tree of Death''s book. Within that black powder was a dangerous mixture of Purple Leafed Belladonna, Salt of the White Turtle, Gray Viper Fangs Paste and other deadly poisons. In fact, Cao Yun even saw something similar to the Black Death Prison that had caused Chief Elder Suxian''s demise. But this wasn''t the full recipe, just an imitation.


    Anyway, this black powder was indeed powerful enough to heavily injure an early Accomplished Demon. Even a middle Accomplished Demon would have been afraid of such poison. Of course, poisoning them would be difficult, but if the attempt was successful, one could really manage to kill an Accomplished Demon. This time though, Cao Yun had made sure that the black powder reached him. He could have flown away, he could have stopped the cloud of black powder. He could have done many things to prevent this attack, but he did not. Instead, he prepared himself to receive it.


    When the powder got to him, he took out several pills from his spatial ring and discreetly ate them. At the same time, he was able to absorb most of the black powder into his spatial ring, replacing it with another black powder, that was just some flame powder for his alchemy. No one apart from the Accomplished Demon Sister saw through it. But knowing the effects of the poison, Cao Yun was able to imitate the symptoms. The pills he had gulped down helped with it as well.


    All of a sudden, he stumbled and fell to the ground with blood and foam at his mouth.

 Chapter 608: Judgment by fire

    Patriarch Liang Lisheng couldn''t let go of the opportunity. Cao Yun, a powerful 4th-grade Accomplished Demon was kneeling on the ground, coughing blood. There was even blood coming out of his eyes and nose too. If he had been more attentive, he would have realized that this didn''t make sense. Cao Yun''s blood was incredibly thick and heavy even for an Accomplished Demon, but what was flowing on his face was akin to a mortal''s blood. Obviously, he wasn''t going to waste his true Golden Blood. The young man simply wanted to make it look like the poison was effective and apparently this tactic was effective in order to reach his goal.


    From his spatial ring, Patriarch Liang Lisheng took out a large scythe with a serrated blade. There was also a handle in the middle of the scythe. Such a weapon was meant to either cut through someone or inflict gaping wounds to sturdier opponents so that they would slowly lose all their blood. Everyone around seemed to be paralyzed. Even Sha chai Gan wasn''t doing a thing and neither were the Sisters. All of them had heard Cao Yun''s voice in their minds telling them to simply watch and wait for the moment of truth.


    Before Patriarch Liang Lisheng could attack Cao Yun though, three feathers fell from the sky. Hongyu had three long tails made of fiery feathers. Each one of those tails had lost a single feather. And all three of them had fallen around Cao Yun. Suddenly, the young man was engulfed in a pillar of flames. The abrupt heat made Patriarch Liang Lisheng jump backward. Hongyu was a 6-core demonic beast. As such, she was on the level of a late Golden Blood Child, in theory. In reality, her Evil Core and Wrath Core made her more powerful than that and she could keep her own against an early Accomplished Demon.


    That pillar of flame seemed extremely dangerous. But within, Cao Yun was completely unaffected. In fact, he was even feeling comfortable. After all, the properties of the Drop of Wrath were coursing through those flames. Besides, Cao Yun''s Rune of Fire was also excited and elated by those flames. On the other hand, if Patriarch Liang Lisheng or anyone else tried to enter those flames, they would be burned to cinders in a short amount of time. And they were painfully aware of that. Unfortunately, individually, they could do nothing against Hongyu who was way too high in the sky. Besides, she was so fast that she could evade most attacks.


    Patriarch Liang Lisheng became nervous. In the flames he could see that Cao Yun''s condition was improving as he could only see his silhouette slowly standing up. He had used his strongest poison. If Cao Yun survived this, his death was absolutely certain. For an instant, he hesitated whether he should try to take down the array formation first, or attack Cao Yun with all of his forces, or maybe Hongyu and then Cao Yun. Unlike Cao Yun, his mind cultivation was very weak. Besides, demons were much more sensitive to their emotions. It had positive aspects as their art was more vibrant. But in this situation, it was a clear negative.


    In his state of panic, Patriarch Liang Lisheng tried to push all the tribes to attack with him.


    "We have to kill this brat! If we let him live, he''ll destroy us all!"


    The other leaders were looking at Patriarch Liang Lisheng with suspicion and even derision in their eyes. At that moment, it dawned on him that he had literally used a terrible poison in front of everyone else. In his Sun Scorpion Clan, it was perfectly accepted. But, despite the rumors, no one else had actually seen any member of the Sun Scorpion Clan use poison to this extent. Every time they did use poison in public, it was weak enough that they could claim that it was alchemy, medicine or something else.


    The old man wanted to beat himself up. How could he have been so stupid?! Fear had completely overtaken him. Truth be told, Cao Yun had prepared for this encounter and he did intend to force the old man''s hand. However, it had worked better than he could have imagined. Maybe because he had been leading the tribes for so long, Patriarch Liang Lisheng had thought of them as his own Sun Scorpion Clan. He had forgotten what his real position was among them.


    "Listen to me! This brat is a danger for us all! I had no choice! For now, just focus on killing him, we can talk about anything else afterward, but we can''t let him live! Listen to me!"


    Many leaders discreetly looked at Sha Chai Gan. Seeing that she was doing nothing, they followed suit. Others were more hesitant, but they didn''t want to be the first one to act. Besides, from what they had heard, Cao Yun''s grudge was with Patriarch Liang Lisheng and City Lord Sihe. Many either believed his words about Weiji Nian and the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze or were not too fond of Patriarch Liang Lisheng as a leader. Of course, allowing an outsider to kill the leader of a tribe was a bit of a problem though.


    "You...!"


    Seeing that he would get no support, Patriarch Liang Lisheng attacked alone. He brandished his scythe. The weapon turned into bones covered with some exoskeleton around them. When he struck the pillar of flames, the stinger of a scorpion appeared and stabbed through the pillar. However, it was immediately destroyed by the heat and the scythe itself barely penetrated the pillar. Before his weapon was melted, Patriarch Liang Lisheng took it back. But it was too late, a significant part of the weapon had indeed been melted.


    "Help me!"


    Ignoring the rest of the tribes, Patriarch Liang Lisheng asked his own Sun Scorpion Clan for help. Although their knowledge of battle formations was superficial, they were able to use a handful of them. Thus, they all attacked as one man. A large pincer appeared and tried to cut through the pillar as well while the patriarch''s scythe was acting as the medium. But this time, the blade was completely burned. The metal melted and Patriarch Liang Lisheng was even forced to let go of the weapon as his very hands were burning.


    With a scream, he let go of his scythe that was in a terrible condition. This weapon was only a 5-star Human weapon according to the Hongchen Kingdom''s classification.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Despite this loss, everyone saw that the pillar had weakened. The pincer had been able to crush it a little but it had recovered after the attack had failed. With enough time, they could break through. Time wasn''t something Patriarch Liang Lisheng had in abundance. So he needed more men. After all, his Sun Scorpion Clan was rather small compared to all the other tribes.


    At that time, Cao Yun''s shadow was fully standing within the pillar. If he waited any longer, the Accomplished Demon would recover and kill him without any hesitation. Considering that no one was helping him now, no one would help him then. As such, fear seized Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s heart. Losing all rationality, he decided to force the leaders to obey him, no matter what.


    "Fools! Either you fight by my side or you die!"


    As he was speaking these words, Patriarch Liang Lisheng used the mantra taught to him by City Lord Sihe in person. This could activate the seals within the nomads. Key figures of each tribe had received those seals without even realizing it. They could inflict untold agony or even kill. Thus, he used them to compel the tribes to fight for him.


    Unfortunately though, nothing happened. No matter how much he was focusing on the mantra, nothing was going on. In fact, the tribesmen were looking at him as though he were a madman.


    "I told you to fight! Why isn''t it working?! Why aren''t you in pain?! Damn it all! If you refuse, just die!"


    Suddenly, he changed his tactic and chanted the mantra out loud. At that moment, he was trying to activate the death seals in several tribesmen. Although not everyone was knowledgeable in seals, they knew enough about the Slavery Brand, which they called Curse of Blood and Sorrow, to recognize the mantra. After all, it was also the work of City Lord Sihe.


    Many tribesmen were afraid, but nothing seemed to happen.


    "Why isn''t it working?! What''s going on?!"


    "I am!"


    Cao Yun''s voice resounded throughout the array formation. He had once again poured his soul in his voice. Even the Accomplished Demon Sister felt an instinctive fear in her very bones. His voice was vibrating within the flesh of every demon around him. There was also a powerful killing intent mixed with it. Although it was targeting Patriarch Liang Lisheng, everyone else could feel it and they were frozen.


    "You... Impossible..."


    "Old man, I already freed hundreds if not thousands of slaves from this Sihe''s seals. Why did you think I couldn''t unravel the sloppy seals he had inflicted upon the tribes?"


    This time, everyone believed Cao Yun''s words. Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s face was proof enough.


    In the pillar of flames, the shadow of Cao Yun rose in the air. Although no one could see his actual figure, they could see two blazing eyes, full of hatred and rage. It was as though they were always looking at them. Each one of the tribesmen felt as though Cao Yun was looking deep into their souls.


    Suddenly, his spear stabbed through the pillar of flames. Patriarch Liang Lisheng had no time to evade. His hips were struck. In a single attack, Cao Yun had cut off both of his legs. Then, his Black Heart Flame burned the two bleeding limbs.


    On the other hand, Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s torso fell on the ground. Using his cultivation, the old man was controlling the flow of his blood so that he wouldn''t bleed to death. Even without legs, he could survive what was lethal for a mere mortal. However, unlike Cao Yun, he had no hope of ever growing his legs back. In fact, many Accomplished Demon couldn''t regenerate as much as Cao Yun.


    Obviously, the vicious attack sent shivers down everyone''s spine. But after Patriarch Liang Lisheng was struck down, the pressure on everyone disappeared. Cao Yun wasn''t threatening anyone else anymore. The only reason why Cao Yun had spared the Patriarch''s life was because of his plan. As an outsider, it would be a mistake to kill the current leader of the tribes. Moreover, he knew that his death would come quickly. After all, he had already revealed his hand. It had been much easier than he had thought. Clearly, this old man was a terrible leader.


    "As you''ve seen yourself, Liang Lisheng colluded with City Lord Sihe. He had placed seals in many of you so he could compel you to act for him. Although I do desire to kill him myself, it is not my place to judge him. Chieftain Sha Chai Gan, I will leave him to your justice."


    "Thank you, Sir Mo."


    Sha Chai Gan walked forward. Soon, she reached the bloodied torso of Patriarch Liang Lisheng. He was doing everything he could to stay conscious. Despite being a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child, the sudden loss of blood, the shock and the pain were about to knock him unconscious. In fact, he was barely aware of what was going on around him.


    "Liang Lisheng, you''ve colluded with an outsider to enslave us. The evidence is overwhelming. Will anyone come forward to defend this man?"


    Some in the Sun Scorpion Clan were hesitating, but no one else seemed to care. In fact, there was fury in the other tribesmen''s eyes. Even Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s own clan was afraid to step forward for him. The few who were ready to speak up suddenly felt incredibly cold. Then, they heard Cao Yun''s voice in their minds. And they completely froze. Their Patriarch was done for. But hopefully, they could save their clan. By using him as a scapegoat, they could manage to save their skin.


    Cao Yun played on that. Besides, keeping a clan that was knowledgeable in poison was obviously a good idea for tribes that lived in the desert. As long as they stayed ambiguous on their use of poisons, the other tribes could tolerate it, to an extent. But Cao Yun was also personally interested in their knowledge. They might even work well with Boss Gui. Finally, he had no enmity against the Sun Scorpion Clan so he had no reason to want them dead. In fact, Cao Yun was trying to spare as many lives as he could.


    On the other hand, Patriarch Liang Lisheng was not among those he cared about. Sha Chai Gan raised her sword.


    "Liang Lisheng, although you are deserving of the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls, I will make your end swift."


    Her sword suddenly stabbed through Patriarch Liang Lisheng''s heart without any hesitation. Then, she rotated the blade and the old man''s heart exploded in his chest. With disbelief in his eyes, the old man whimpered for a while before dying in front of the entire tribes.


    Just after his death, Cao Yun released the array formation. His presence was clearly awkward so he rose in the air. With few words, he left on Hongyu''s back. He would only come back in a few days after Sha Chai Gan had reorganized the tribes. Besides, the Sisters who were already infiltrated among the tribes would also take part in this reorganization. Everything was going according to plan. Now, Cao Yun ruled the Sisters of the Abyss and the tribes. Soon, he would also rule the Xinian Confederation through Boss Gui.


    With that much influence, he could indeed change some things among the Desolate Sepulcher. But he had realized that he couldn''t alter this society as he saw fit, he could only nudge it in the right direction. Although he was uncertain on many subjects, he was very clear when it came to slavery. That had to stop!


    Finally, after gaining so much influence and power, he could get his boat from Lord Wanghuo and go back to his own kingdom, his friends, his family.

 Chapter 609: Reforming ones plan

    When he came back, Cao Yun used his stealth so no one would detect his presence apart from one specific person. Instead of going to Sha Chai Gan, he went to the Sister of the Abyss who was leading the others infiltrated within the various tribes.


    She looked rather young but there was no doubt that she was more than a thousand year old. After all, she was a middle Accomplished Demon. With her vitality, Cao Yun could see her reaching the 7th-grade or maybe even the 8th-grade Accomplished Demon with enough resources and efforts. However, the 9th-grade Accomplished Demon stage seemed almost impossible. As there were few 9th-grade Spirit Warriors among humans, 9th-grade Accomplished Demons were few as well among demons. In fact, they appeared to be even fewer. After all, there were many more demons and as far as Cao Yun knew, only the Empyrean Asura had reached this realm. Even Lord Wanghuo was merely an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon.


    To be fair, this was much more difficult for demons. A Soul Embryo was less powerful but much more stable than Turbid Demons. As an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon, one had to merge all seven Turbid Demons into a single entity, the true form of the Demon Soul. But obviously, each Turbid Demon was fighting against it but also trying to take over all the other Turbid Demons to rule alone. A failure at this step would mean total annihilation of one''s soul. For humans, only the first step into the Spirit Warrior realm was really dangerous. As long as one didn''t try to rush things, the Embryo Realm was safe. But if one was impatient, it could also turn out to be a disaster. Demons were always walking a fine line. And Cao Yun understood that very well. They could lose themselves while cultivating their Turbid Demons.


    For a long time now, Cao Yun had been uncertain and indecisive. When he was younger, his lack of decision had always tormented him. But now, he was second-guessing his decisions and the morality behind them. Honestly, he didn''t like this kind of responsibility.


    The Sister bowed before him. She was Senior Mother Fen Caiji. Like most of the Accomplished Demons among the Sisters of the Abyss, she had seals planted in her soul by Cao Yun. Although he wasn''t treating them like slaves, it didn''t feel right at all. They were his permanent prisoners. With a single thought, he could obliterate her completely. Although he wasn''t able to read her thoughts, he could read all the emotions she was trying to hide, right on her face. Maybe because of the threat, Senior Mother Fen Caiji didn''t hide her emotions very well. Or maybe they were just too strong even for her, which meant a lot.


    Before Cao Yun, she was terrified. And she was also appalled.


    "Master, we followed your orders and supported Chieftain Sha Chai Gan. Soon, she''ll have authority over all the tribes. Besides, we fanned the flames of the rage against City Lord Sihe. Many among the tribes would be ready to give their lives just to bring him down."


    "Your name is Fen Caiji, right?"


    "Yes, Master."


    Obviously, Cao Yun knew it and he was absolutely certain of his memory. But he was trying to connect with her. Deep down, he felt guilty. In fact, he was cultivating this guilt and this shame. He had no idea who this Fen Caiji had been before his encounter with her. Of course, she had known about the sacrifices committed by High Mother Qin Xue, like all the other Senior Mothers. Still, Cao Yun didn''t know what kind of woman she had been. Maybe she had been opposed to those without daring to speak up against a woman who would have killed her right away. Or maybe she had fully supported those. From what he had read, it was impossible to know for sure unless he invaded her mind, which he wouldn''t do. After all, any Soul Memory Search could leave the victim broken, or even dead.


    "Tell me honestly what you think of my actions."


    "Master...?"


    Fen Caiji''s first thoughts were that this was a trap. As she was about to use empty words and stroke her master''s ego and flatter him, she saw a flicker in his eyes. Fen Caiji stopped herself before a single syllable left her lips. The two of them were perfectly isolated and not even a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon could have easily heard them. Thus, she decided to speak her mind. If Cao Yun wanted to punish her, or even kill her for that, she could live with it.


    "You''re too rash! Yes, you''ve put Sha Chai Gan as the leader of all the tribes and fanned their hatred toward City Lord Sihe. But their rage won''t stop there and even Sha Chai Gan won''t be able to control them all. Soon after City Lord Sihe falls, the tribes will turn against the rest of the Nalupu Kingdom and even among themselves. There will be a bloody war!


    "And you think you can simply end slavery by intimidating everyone?! How long do you think it will last?! You''re just trying to make yourself feel good in my opinion. No one, not even the Weaver of Souls could end this practice. Yes, he had forbidden it completely before his physical death and yet it came back. It will come back again, do not doubt it. At the very best, you''ve simply postponed its return. But you can''t change an entire society in such a manner. Unless you stay and replace Lord Wanghuo, your efforts will only be temporary.


    "Boss Gui obeys you right now. But when the leash loosens, she''ll keep serving her own interests. Maybe you count on us to make sure that things don''t revert back, but they will, to some extent at the very least. You won''t be able to change everything and everyone. And if you think otherwise, you''re ignorant or stupid! You will shed a lot of blood, a lot of innocent blood, even the blood of those you claim you want to defend, for a mediocre result."


    Contrary to her expectations, Fen Caiji saw no anger in Cao Yun''s eyes. In fact, she saw that he was intently listening to her words. Finally, she stopped and realized that her words had been less harsh than she had intended. The flicker in her master''s eyes had held her back a little.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "You might be right... Honestly, I''m not sure of my actions myself. This society is not mine and I don''t know how it will react. But you''re mistaken on one point at least. Slavery increased and became unbridled because of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. It''s obvious that ending the demand will end the supply. Boss Gui won''t see any benefit in it so she won''t go back to those ways. In fact, she might see more benefits in mercenaries rather than slaves. Changing only the Desolate Sepulcher won''t work, but maybe someone could try and change the entire Piaolu planet as a whole. After all, we''re all connected. Even our ancestors are the same as demons and humans mixed with one another.


    "But my fears are that you are right on the bloodbath. This is what I''m trying to prevent. Although this isn''t my country, I don''t want to be responsible for so many deaths. You might no believe me, but I''m really trying to prevent it. And I do think that things would have been worse with City Lord Sihe''s ways. Honestly, I don''t know whether I''m doing good or bad. But at some point, I had to act. Besides, I do want to leave this place as soon as I can, but it doesn''t mean that I want its people to suffer without any reason.


    "If you also care about those people, Senior Mother Fen Caiji, help me out. Your mission is try and smooth things over among the tribes. I do not care whether Sha Chai Gan stays their leader very long. My priority is to kill City Lord Sihe and to avoid blood to be shed all over the Desolate Sepulcher. Any loss we can prevent is a good thing, but we can''t compromise our objectives either."


    Fen Caiji hesitated a little, but she ended up responding. In her master''s eyes, she could see his sincerity. To be honest, he could have easily faked it. But as it turned out, he was really sincere. Besides, this Fen Caiji was completely under his control as he could kill her at any moment. Thus, he had no reason to hide anything from her. Her seals would kill her if she tried to betray him and would erase her memories if someone tried to forcibly read them.


    "Then, if you really do not care about ruling this place, I have a proposal..."


    "I hear you."


    -


    Cao Yun and Fen Caiji talked for a couple hours. Finally, he left. Cao Yun went to Sha Chai Gan. The first thing he did was to give her the treatment for General Sha Lang Hu. Then, he gave her very specific instructions. Among them, the most important was to listen to Senior Mother Fen Caiji. Sha Chai Gan would rule the tribe coalition for a very short time as a matter of fact. But she would remain the chieftain of the Sand Wolves Tribe. And it was what really mattered to her. Besides, they would not be forced to wage the brutal war she was seeing in their future. As such, she was quite happy. Instead of fanning the rage against City Lord Sihe, they tried to erase the damage done by the Sun Scorpion Clan.


    While they were reorganizing the tribes, many were tried and sentenced to death among the Sun Scorpion Clan, but also among other tribes as well. Sha Chai Gan tried to avoid those deaths, but they had to calm the anger of the tribesmen.


    While that was going on, Cao Yun was meditating away from the tribes. Hongyu was chasing and feeding her forming seventh core. With a seventh core, she would be on Cao Yun''s level in theory. Of course, he would remain much stronger than her. But, to be fair, he might not win a fight against her as she could fly away faster than he could, and she could keep this speed for much longer as well. After all, she was a fenghuang while he was a human.


    Cao Yun was nourishing his silver Soul Embryo while also cultivating his Corpse Dog. Obviously, he was very careful as he didn''t want his fears to affect his weak Soul Embryo. With the experience he had accumulated, tempering his Corpse Dog wasn''t hard at all. He even used his other Turbid Demons to help it along. His shame and his fear of corruption were helping a lot. Thinking about the consequences of both action and inaction was also a sound strategy as he could imagine many terrible scenarios. Sadly, imagination was a good fuel for fear. Fear could indeed completely submerge someone and create so many doubts one could not act at all. Or to the contrary, it could push someone to take stupid decisions out of fear, without thinking them. Not thinking or overthinking were both extremes that were bad.


    Like many things, balance was the key. But finding the right balance was also difficult. Besides, it was always different. The balance itself would change over time and would be completely distinct between two situations.


    More and more, Cao Yun was abandoning this Desolate Sepulcher to think about his birthplace and his family. As much as he had cared for some of the demons, and as much as he sincerely want to help this land, in the end, it wasn''t his place. Soon, he would leave, probably never to return again. He would do what he thought was right. But he would have to let the inhabitants themselves take their fates in hands. Slowly, he was working toward it and Fen Caiji''s plan had been good. He couldn''t do everything as she had told him. And he wasn''t even sure whether it would be possible. But some ideas had been worth a shot. Cao Yun was not vain to the point he thought all his plans were perfect, or even good.


    After hearing better ideas, he changed his mind on several points. What Cao Yun had learned with all his introspection was that everything was always changing, even within people. What felt right one day could be wrong the next. Deep down, he had found a stable foundation. So he could change his mind without affecting his vision of himself at all. Besides, he had already changed a lot, and yet he still felt like the child who had failed to protect his little sister. But Cao Yun knew that this was also an illusion. Few people could actually see themselves change. Just like a man who would suddenly realize that he was an old man after he got hurt doing something banal.


    One day, someone could wake up and realize they had become what they had always hated. And to avoid that, it was necessary to cultivate one''s shame, among other things.


    As all that was swirling in his head, Cao Yun abandoned many doubts he had. Or rather, he finally accepted that they would always be with him. And strangely enough, it quieted them all. Of course, he would always have doubts, but nothing was ever certain and nothing would ever be. At some point, one had to push those doubts aside to act. The most important thing though was to be flexible enough to adapt as the consequences of those actions unraveled. One could judge a tree by its fruits. Thus, one had to be able to change how the tree was grown depending on the taste of those fruits.


    The more Cao Yun was meditating, the more he found himself detached from the mundane world. But he wasn''t completely detached because he still cared about many things. That being said, he had absolutely no interest in having any political role. Thankfully, he had other people in mind who could do it in his stead. Indeed, he would have to kill Emperor Weide, so someone would need to rule the Hongchen Kingdom in order to avoid its destruction. And Cao Yun already had names in mind. Hopefully, they were still alive and well.


    Once he was done, the young man could tell that his Soul Embryo had grown stronger. To fully develop one''s Soul Embryo could take from anywhere between a year to ten year, for an average cultivator. Patience was key!


    Anyway, Cao Yun decided to let the events he had triggered unfold. For the time being, he would visit a place where he hoped to get more answers.

 Chapter 610: Walking through the storm

    Since the moment he had finally left the Blood Abyss, around nine to ten months had passed by. And by the time Cao Yun had reached his destination, an entire year had gone by. In his Huang Ting, the Yellow Court, he could feel that his silver Soul Embryo was slowly growing. With his current mind cultivation, it really wasn''t difficult to divert a part of his focus on his Silver Embryo. At any single moment, he was sending his intent and some mixture of Fire Qi and Water Qi toward this small embryo.


    With this intent, he also mixed the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Since the Drop of Wrath itself had been marked with Cao Yun''s own Turbid Demons, it was growing stronger and stronger and was quite literally an extension of his own soul at that point. Thus, it was also useful to nourish the Soul Embryo. From everything he could read and observe, his Soul Embryo was nearly perfect. Perfection was impossible of course, so he clearly had obtained the best result anyone could reasonably hope for.


    While he was cultivating his Soul Embryo, he was also half-way done with his Corpse Dog. Soon he would even be a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon, working on his Fallen Arrow. But this time, he had no intention of rushing through the steps. Even if he got a boat and a navigator from Lord Wanghuo right now, he would still need several months to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom. Considering his current strength and all the knowledge of alchemy and array formations he had, he knew he could rival almost any opponent. Besides, he had no plans of facing Emperor Weide alone. Indeed, he didn''t intend to confront an entire kingdom alone. Thankfully, his friends and supports were all still alive and well.


    As he was flying on Hongyu''s back, they reached the place he wanted to go back to, the Desolate Pillar. Before Cao Yun was a monstrous tempest. It was quite literally a wall of pure chaos. This giant storm was in the middle of the Desolate Dune Desert. Some even thought that this was the reason why this desert existed in the first place. During the Great War, the Weaver of Souls had fought and died here. From the violence of the battle, this part of the main continent was ripped away. The once luxurious land turned into sand. And the sea itself was so full of the bloods of the gods that it became the Divine Blood Ocean. Many demonic beasts absorbed the blood and became Immortal Beasts, making any trip on the ocean dangerous.


    Even nowadays, the Divine Blood Ocean was known to be ruthless. Not only was the ocean itself dangerous with extraordinary tempests and violent waters, but the demonic beasts were also much more dangerous than on land. After all, the most powerful demonic beasts in the Divine Blood Ocean could survive the violence of this harsh ocean every day, while fighting other demonic beasts. And there was no human or demon to cull those. As such, the Divine Blood Ocean had probably the most dangerous demonic beasts on the surface of the planet.


    Cao Yun remembered this storm perfectly well. It was the place where he had been transported to when the Demon King had attacked the capital of the Hongchen Kingdom. With all of his current knowledge, it made even more sense to the young man. Indeed, space was rather strange and unstable all over the Piaolu planet. But around this storm, space was almost on the verge of breaking apart. As it was the most fragile spot, it was also were he had been able to emerge from. Luckily, he had not emerged too deep into the storm and had been able to leave rather easily. Indeed, as space was so distorted, one could walk for centuries in circle without even realizing it.


    Obviously, an array formation master had ways to circumvent that problem. And Cao Yun had a clear plan in mind, because he did want to go back in. There were questions that needed answers. Maybe he wouldn''t find them there, but he also might. And he needed those answers before leaving for his birthplace. Many things appeared strange to the young man now that he knew more. He had knowledge from both the demons and the humans. He had literally saw images from the Weaver of Souls. All images weren''t clear, but some piqued his interest. In particular, he was curious about how the asura had been able to rule over the Piaolu planet for so long.


    Originally, Cao Yun had not questioned it too much. In fact, many humans had assumed that Demon God Da Mo was some kind of title passed down from generation to generation. The first Demon God Da Mo had conquered the Piaolu planet. And either he had died or had gone away for his successor to take over, just like Emperor Nuwa had left the planet after becoming an Immortal. For those historians, the demons'' claims that Demon God Da Mo had really lived for tens of thousands of years were preposterous. Indeed, he had never reached the stage of Immortal Demon. At the very best, he had been a 9th-grade Reborn Demon. But now, Cao Yun was certain that it had been the original Demon God Da Mo all along. Moreover, the Weaver of Souls had lived as long as he had.


    Around the storm, Cao Yun spent several days placing array formation flags. The storm was so large that it did take almost two weeks to go all around it even without taking any pause, without sleeping, and with Hongyu''s speed. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had to place the flags himself. No matter how smart Hongyu was, she couldn''t set up an array formation. Besides, he had to adapt it depending on the environment. This was really an array formation per se. The flags would work like cardinal points for his compass while inside the storm. Unfortunately, Cao Yun would need to understand the Dao of Space if he wanted to navigate this storm by himself. So he had thought about this stratagem. Instead of using his senses, he would trust those flags.


    Once he was done, Cao Yun sent Hongyu away. This time, he had made sure to find a perfect spot for her while he was away. There was no dangerous demonic beast and she could live her life while he was exploring. In a few months, his plans should come to fruition ad he would need to visit Lord Wanghuo. High Mother Lisha was already planning for it all. After that, he would probably never come back in this land. Thus, he had to explore right now.


    Mobilizing his martial arts, ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' and ''Three Storms'', Cao Yun took out his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. In fact, he even circulated his Spear Intent. All around him, a small whirlwind appeared. It was also encompassing his spear. Here and there, one could see flashes of azure as well as a few scales. Calmly, Cao Yun walked forward, spear first. He pierced through the storm wall and entered into the Desolate Pillar.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Just like the first time, the storm was extremely intense. But Cao Yun was also much stronger. Moreover, he had the intent of the Weaver of Souls with him. The burning sand caught in the storm couldn''t injure him at all. In fact, it wasn''t worse than mere rain falling on him. However, he did focus on his Spear Intent every single step of the way. Although it wasn''t entirely necessary, it was also a form of training. In a sense, this Desolate Pillar was serving the same role as the Howling Crane Gorges from the Wubei Sect. Of course, it was much more violent.


    As he was walking forward, Cao Yun always kept an eye on his compass. From time to time, he put it back in his spatial ring so it wouldn''t be swept away as he had to focus on his stance not to be blown away himself. And as time was passing by, he could see how the flags outside were moving around. Of course, the flags weren''t really moving, space around Cao Yun was distorted. And these were these distortions that were causing this permanent storm.


    At some point, Cao Yun even felt it himself. While he was walking slowly, he felt as though something was trying to tear him in half. Quickly, he moved forward and this force stopped. If he had been an instant too late, he would have literally been cut into two pieces. Of that, he was absolutely certain. Even a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon would have suffered under such a force. Although he couldn''t perceive the Dao, he knew that this was due to space. Indeed, he had read a bit about the Dao of Space. This was one of the major Daos, and also one of the most complex, along with the Dao of Time and a few more esoteric Daos, like the Dao of Death as a matter of fact. Each concept could be considered its own Dao, but many were not really useful and were just derivation of more important Daos.


    If Cao Yun had been able to study the Dao, this place would have been perfect, both to understand the Dao of Space but also the Dao of Wind. Anyway, he could still deepen his understanding of his martial arts thanks to this powerful wind. It was a pity that this storm had no thunder nor hail or he could have developed his ''Three Storms'' even more.


    Finally, Cao Yun reached the center of the Desolate Pillar. The wind had become so powerful and so violent that he was forced to bend forward and to use his spear to cut through the storm. His Spear Intent had literally turned into a dragon made out of wind and scales surrounding both his spear and his body. From afar, if one had been able to see through this storm, they would have thought that Cao Yun was in fact a demonic beast of some draconic heritage.


    The young man himself didn''t know how long he had walked in the storm. He could only estimate time through his own cultivation. Although he had felt as though months had passed, his cultivation had not advanced at all. From that, he could imagine that only a handful of days, or maybe mere hours, had passed. But his perception of time had been completely thrown off. Once again, it might have been caused by the strange distortions of time. From what he had read in the documents left by Cleansed Asura, time and space were intertwined in some way. Although he didn''t understand it at all, Cao Yun trusted his master''s words. After all, he knew that time could flow differently in different realms.


    To be honest, Cao Yun himself wasn''t sure what he would find in the Desolate Pillar.


    Right in front of him was the corpse of the Weaver of Souls. He recognized him right away. In the very center of the storm, his corpse was absolutely spared from the terrible winds. In fact, it was the eye of the storm. No wind was hitting this corpse. But it didn''t look like a corpse at all.


    Indeed, the Weaver of Souls, Fangzhi Hunpo, was simply standing there. Apart from his closed eyes and the total absence of movement, he seemed perfectly alive. According to what he knew, the Fangzhi Hunpo had died somewhere between twenty to twenty-five thousand years ago. The fact that his body was completely intact was simply astounding. Maybe it was the storm and the distortion of space that had helped. Even a 9th-grade Reborn Demon''s body wouldn''t have stayed in such a state for so long. Even though a cultivator''s body didn''t rot as fast as the corpse of anyone else, it still ended up rotting. From the legends, only an Immortal Body could stay intact for eons.


    Fangzhi Hunpo looked different from what Cao Yun had seen though. He was very old and seemed incredibly weak. Clearly, he had fought for so long that he had spent all of his strength. There were wrinkles all over his face, but there was also a faint smile. What was most shocking was his paleness. Indeed, Cao Yun could tell that there was not a single drop of blood left in his corpse. Either he had consumed all of it during the fight or he had lost all of it. His blood should have been even heavier and richer than Cao Yun''s.


    Apart from this corpse, there was nothing else, no weapon, no spatial ring, nothing. Apparently, Cao Yun had come here in vain. Still, he had to try to get any kind of answer he could. Maybe, he could even take the corpse away. he thought about bringing it to the Sisters of the Abyss. This would obviously improve their influence over the Desolate Sepulcher. Religious fervor could be a powerful tool.


    As he was analyzing the corpse with his senses, Cao Yun walked closer and closer until he was also in the eye of storm. All of a sudden, a heavy burden was taken off his shoulder. Even he had not realized what an effort it had been, and how exhausted he was. Suddenly, he felt a tremendous fatigue wash over his entire body. He felt as sleepy as he had ever been. No matter how much he was fighting this sleep, he couldn''t do a thing.


    His spear stabbed into the sand as he was trying to stay up and standing. But he simply crouched over his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' as though it was a mere cane. His vision was blurry as his eyelids were closing themselves on their own. Even with all of his will, he couldn''t will them open. There was nothing to do. He was just sleepy. His entire body was sleepy. His very soul was sleepy. And then, he was asleep.


    Cao Yun''s body fell to the ground, completely immobile. Just like the Weaver of Souls'' corpse, he wasn''t breathing anymore. There was no apparent movement. But there was a faint smile on his face and he looked peaceful. Anyone else seeing him would have thought that Cao Yun was simply dead. But he wasn''t. He was sleeping.


    Even his sea of consciousness seemed asleep. But within it, the Drop of Wrath was burning and raging. A bloody light spread throughout Cao Yun''s soul. Soon, it encompassed all of his sea of consciousness. Finally, this light made Cao Yun open his eyes. However, he realized that those weren''t his eyes. At least, those weren''t his physical eyes. He immediately realized that he was in some kind of dream. And all around him was a strange place he had never seen before. In the distance he could see a large tree floating in the vacuum of space.

 Chapter 611: Fate of the Weaver of Souls

    Cao Yun was in some kind of trance. In his dream-like state, he was unable to control his own movements and no thought was able to penetrate his mind. He was simply present and observing. In front of him, the first thing that appeared and completely drowned his vision was this giant tree.


    Before Cao Yun was the vastness of space, pure darkness with very few stars here and there. Yet, there was some powerful light that was being emitted by this tree. It was like a sun but in the shape of a large trunk with many branches. In real life, the light might have blinded even Cao Yun''s eyes. But in this dream, he could see clearly through the light. The tree itself was gray and white. Here and there, one could see black patterns as though it had been struck by lightning and charred. Some branches were broken while others had been cut and lacerated.


    But enough branches remained to form a complex web spreading all around the trunk. And those branches were going toward the stars. All around the tree were seven orbs Cao Yun didn''t notice at first. But those orbs looked more and more like planets. Thanks to Emperor Nuwa, humanity knew the actual appearance of their own planet so Cao Yun could identify those easily. However, his eyes were swept away as he couldn''t control his own movements.


    He saw the roots of the tree disappearing into darkness as though they were outside of space. And as his eyes followed those roots, they caught other branches Cao Yun had missed because they were not emitting any light at all and had disappeared into the obscurity. However, those branches were clearly spreading toward Cao Yun''s place. Finally, he rose into the air and saw that he was himself standing on an eighth orb.


    As he rose higher and higher, he saw scenes of battle everywhere. Humans, demons and other creatures he couldn''t name were fighting all over the place. Clearly, there were Immortal Beasts, but there were also creatures he had never encountered. Even through Cleansed Asura''s documents, he had no idea what those creatures were. What he had learned from Cleansed Asura was that humans, asura and deva were the main intelligent beings everywhere in the universe and in other realms. But they were not the only ones. Most likely, they had really descended from the legendary Three Jade Saints. But not even Cleansed Asura had met one of them.


    At some point, they had spread throughout reality and ruled countless worlds. But somehow, they were wiped out, leaving their descendants behind them. Humanity had not originated on the Piaolu planet. Most likely, they had arrived there at some point when they were stronger. Many more humans had spread all over the universe and even in other worlds. Considering how vast each universe was, it was difficult for low cultivators to even be aware of these vast populations.


    Among the fighters, Cao Yun could recognize creatures that looked like humans but had features belonging to birds or to dragons. Here and there, he even saw moving trees fighting large demons. The fight itself was surreal. Before his eyes, he was watching as near Immortals were killing each other. And leading the humans and the demons, fighting side-by-side, were Demon God Da Mo and the Weaver of Souls. Although he couldn''t know it from just his vision, somehow Cao Yun knew that this was a war of expansion.


    Demon God Da Mo was leading his armies and his slaves to try and conquer this world. But the war got worse and worse. The crust of the planet began to crack. Pillars of magma erupted as thunderstorms razed down entire continents. The planet had turned into a hellish vision. No mortal living being could inhabit this world. In his thirst for conquest, Demon God Da Mo had eradicated an entire world. But it had not staved off his hunger. This was the real moment Fangzhi Hunpo realized his former friend had lost it.


    As Cao Yun''s eyes moved around uncontrollably, he saw the other orbs around the tree. They were all attached to it by some branches. But like the world broken by Demon God Da Mo''s lust for conquest, those branches seemed to disappear just before those worlds. It would be almost impossible for someone on those worlds to see them. And among those orbs, Cao Yun recognized a blue sphere. Although it had slightly changed since then, this orb was undoubtedly the Piaolu planet. And it was trapped within the branches of this celestial tree.


    Suddenly, Cao Yun''s body was jerked upward. With incredible speed, he went through the burning and poisonous atmosphere of the world he had seen die. Just as he passed through the last layer of atmosphere, the world itself broke apart into many pieces. The spectacle was apocalyptic. Strangely, the absence of any sound made it even more ominous. Cao Yun could hear nothing at all, absolute silence just as a world was exploding into large chunks of dead rock. The branches all around those rocks appeared completely this time. The rocks slowly started to wither and turned into dust as though the branches were draining them dry. Just like that, a planet had disappeared.


    Then, the young man found himself in the presence of Emperor Nuwa and the Weaver of Souls. Before them were detailed maps of the Piaolu planet. The landscapes had changed but Cao Yun could recognize them nonetheless. From that, he could also imagine how violent the Great War had been. Although the planet was naturally changing over time, some of those changes were simply impossible in the time frame he knew. Then, they had been caused by violent fight between powerful cultivators. Around Emperor Nuwa were her most trusted aides like the Four Saints or Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng.


    On those maps, there were many things. But Cao Yun was strangely drawn to small green cubes put at specific places. Somehow, he once again knew something he shouldn''t have. Those were gateways to those other orbs held by the celestial tree, the Celestial Fusang Progenitor. They had to destroy all those gates so Demon God Da Mo had nowhere to run away. But there was also another reason, a reason the Weaver of Souls himself couldn''t reveal to anyone else. He had been privy to a terrible secret. Hopefully, no one would need to learn about it if the gates were really closed, if all the branches were separated from the Piaolu planet.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Demon God Da Mo and the Weaver of Souls had used those gateways because time was contracted there. Apparently, the Piaolu planet wasn''t fully encompassed by those branches. As a consequence, a single year on those other worlds could pass while a few decades had gone by on the Piaolu planet. Each world was a bit different. Besides, time was a complicated matter, even for such powerful cultivators. But this had answered Cao Yun''s question. Because of their campaigns on those other worlds, they had ruled much longer than their natural lifespan. But there was no grand longevity secret. They had indeed lived around two millenniums only, but in places where time was contracted compared to the Piaolu planet. And many armies of slaves had died in those failed conquests.


    Finally, Cao Yun was brought back to his own world. He was now witnessing the last fight of the Weaver of Souls. Demon God Da Mo was killing him. The two of them had taken on giant appearances. They were fighting each other with golden and crimson fire while calling forth thunderstorms. They even slashed through space. Demon God Da Mo absorbed the blood of thousands of demonic beasts to form a large halberd he threw toward his opponent. No matter how fast it was moving, it was unable to reach its destination as though space was expanding before it. Hymns and sutras erupted from the air all around Demon God Da Mo as his former friend was attacking his soul directly.


    From the Weaver of Souls, many Turbid Demons appeared. In fact, there were one hundred and eight demons who emerged from his forehead. They submerged Demon God Da Mo. Without any hesitation, he grew additional arms to catch them. Several were crushed to blood and dust while an unfortunate inner demon was torn in half. His blood fell into Demon God Da Mo''s mouth to quench his thirst.


    The fight was absolutely terrifying. Now, Cao Yun knew exactly how the Weaver of Souls had died. Indeed, as the fight was ending, the poor demon had lost a huge part of his blood. Just like Cao Yun, his blood was so heavy that it was hard to make it flow. Yet, his blood was indeed flowing like a river. As soon as it touched the ground, his heavy blood sunk deep. Knowing how far the Monastery of Bliss and Repose was, Cao Yun was impressed that his blood had been thrown all the way there. In a desperate move, the Weaver of Souls decided to ignite his very bloodline. Through his entire body, his blood turned into fire. Above his head, there was now a crown made of the corpses of his seven Turbid Demons.


    It broke apart and flew toward Demon God Da Mo. The tyrant had been able to take his blood halberd back. With that weapon, he destroyed some of the pieces but a few still penetrated him and sunk into his flesh, poisoning him. After this fight, the Weaver of Souls was dead but Demon God Da Mo was weakened. Maybe, the old asura had been the reason why Emperor Nuwa had won in the end, without giving her own life like he had. Even then, she had been helped by so many people. This proved how strong Demon God Da Mo had truly been.


    Although Cao Yun could not be sure that those visions were absolutely accurate, he did believe them. There were a few differences between them and the official history. But obviously, some things would never be written down, or not the way they had really happened. Having an asura help free mankind didn''t seem to be a good story to tell in order to create a strong sense of unity among humans. Indeed, the demons had been used as this symbol of evil who wanted to subjugate or annihilate mankind.


    After learning and seeing so much, Cao Yun did not regret his trip. However, he found out that he was still trapped in his dream. Then, a sudden pain seized his head. In his sea of consciousness, his attempt at reproducing the calligraphy from the Weaver of Souls was burning. It was being altered without his consent. As it was happening, his very soul was being altered too as though someone was moving around his bones and his flesh was being dragged along with them. The pain was intense but Cao Yun focused on his Soul Embryo. He didn''t want it to be injured in any way. As much as he could regenerate his flesh, he couldn''t regenerate his soul. Within his soul, the Soul Embryo was the weakest and most important part so he focused on protecting it.


    Before long the pain was gone. Cao Yun realized that the calligraphy was now almost identical to the real thing. Better than that, the different parts were in fact improvement. With that, his mind and soul cultivation would be even easier. There was no doubt that he had seen the Weaver of Souls'' memories and that they were currently affecting his very mind. Fangzhi Hunpo''s body had been dead for a long time. His very soul had died. A tiny bit of his intent had survived in his blood and Cao Yun had recovered it.


    Apparently, this intent had reacted to those memories. By the time it was done, it had completely dispersed. Thankfully, Cao Yun had left a sliver of it in the Blood Abyss for the Sisters of the Abyss. But what little intent he had taken with him was now completely gone. It had improved his mind cultivation using itself as fuel.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun was still trapped in this dream. Now, everything was black as any intent from the Weaver of Souls was gone. But that also meant the the intent couldn''t bring Cao Yun out as it had probably brought him in. As such, he had to find his own way out. And for that, he would be forced to use violence.


    Circulating his ''Cultivation of Wrath'', Cao Yun mobilized the Turbid Demons within the Drop of Wrath. As he was now trapped in a world of pure darkness, he was legitimately afraid. Thus, his Corpse Dog was powerful. And under Cao Yun''s efforts, it materialized in his dream. Even in this absolute darkness, Cao Yun could see its shape. It was a very large wolf. Despite being emaciated to the point where one could see its bones under its skin, this Corpse Dog had very heavy gray fur all over its body. The fur was falling down on its body like a coat too heavy and too large for it. There was something absolutely grotesque with that creature.


    Before it could do anything though, chains appeared all around it and sealed any movement of it. Cao Yun''s Five Aspects appeared all around the Corpse Dog. Then, the Nine Soul Peaks emerged from the darkness. Soon, the Drop of Wrath''s bloody light also spread throughout the darkness. Gradually, this blood was overtaken by gold, then by the azure of the sky. Over time, Cao Yun''s full sea of consciousness reappeared. The Corpse Dog was powerless against those chains and it found itself dragged into another of the Nine Soul Peaks. At the same time, a new character was forged in the Drop of Wrath thanks to Po the Metal Corporeal Soul.


    Cao Yun had officially subdued his fourth Turbid Demons and was now a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon. He would then need to work on the sixth one, the Fallen Arrow, the embodiment of the absence of meaning and purpose. It was the corrupted form of the Po of Yang, the brother of the Po of Yin which was related to the Corpse Dog. While the Corpse Dog was Water, the Fallen Arrow was Fire.


    For the time being though, Cao Yun was more worried about something else. Although his sea of consciousness was back, he was still trapped in his own body, unable to move around. Having one''s body as a prison was indeed horrifying to the point where it had pushed Cao Yun to master his Corpse Dog a bit faster.

 Chapter 612: Waking up

    For what seemed like hours, days, months, Cao Yun was trapped in his own flesh. Thankfully, his mind had escaped the absolute darkness of space. But he was unable to control his body at all to the point he couldn''t even open his eyelids. Moreover, he was also unable to feel anything from his body either. Without his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun would have been deprived of all his senses. Fortunately, he could enjoy his senses in this place. After all, it was his own sea of consciousness so he could experience whatever he wanted, just like in a dream he could control.


    Obviously, time wasn''t passing as fast as what he perceived. Although he could get the impression that entire days had passed, it wasn''t the case. After days unable to do anything, he would suddenly realize that only a few seconds had gone by. It was as though he was constantly falling in a daze. But his mind was able to pull him out of it each time. That being said, it was still a difficult experience to live through.


    In order to get out of this state, Cao Yun tried to connect with his Dantian. Since his sea of consciousness was located in his Upper Dantian, he had thought that this was a good idea. Unfortunately, he failed time and time again. Besides, he couldn''t use his spiritual senses as he was unable to feel his body. Indeed, he had to use his acupoints to let a part of his soul out. And this had become impossible. So his body had truly turned into a prison.


    Then, he thought about something else. Instead of connecting with his body directly, he tried to go through his Soul Embryo. This was risky as his Soul Embryo was still weak, but he didn''t see any other way out his current predicament. Thus, he attempted to connect with the small embryo in his stomach. Considering the inherent danger of such an attempt, he was extremely careful. But it worked!


    Soon, Cao Yun was able to feel his Soul Embryo. From there, he got new sensations in his Huang Ting, the Yellow Court between his Lower Dantian and Middle Dantian. Slowly, the young human was using his Soul Embryo to light up his own body. Feeling the faint waves of energy radiated from the tiny silver soul, he was able to spread his awareness back into his body, bit by bit. This was a very strange experience. At the same time, he felt closer and closer to his own Soul Embryo as it was the key to take his body back. In fact, as his intent was focused on the Soul Embryo, it was getting nourished more and more.


    At last, Cao Yun was able to open his eyelids. Then, he worked really hard simply to wiggle his fingers and toes. With patience and determination, Cao Yun was finally able to sit up and even stand up.


    When he did stand up, he felt reinvigorated as though he had come out of a deep sleep. Looking around, he realized that the corpse of the Weaver of Souls had crumbled into dust. But the Desolate Pillar was still raging all around him without entering the eye of the storm. Despite all of his knowledge, and everything he could read in Cleansed Asura''s documents, Cao Yun wasn''t entirely sure what had happened. But he knew that this was nothing bad against him. Maybe the Weaver of Souls had waited all those millenniums to share his life story. The mere fact that his corpse had endured for so long was prodigious. Most likely, it was related to the way space was acting around here. Even Cao Yun wasn''t too certain about anything.


    Once he was fully awake, the young man examined his body. Nothing had changed. On the other hand, he had forged his fourth Turbid Demon and had gotten more intimate with his Soul Embryo. Beside the knowledge he had acquired, this was a good harvest. Coming here had clearly been the right decision. But since there was nothing left to do, Cao Yun decided to take the dust left behind by the Weaver of Souls'' body and left.


    The same way he had walked through the storm to enter, he walked through it to leave. During his travel, he was happy to see that the flags he had set up outside were still there. With his compass, he was able to find his way outside while using his spear and his Spear Intent to cut through the raging storm. In his sea of consciousness, the golden Insight Writings that were forming small hymns were slowly coalescing to compose entire sentences and paragraphs.


    After the Spear Intent, the next martial state was Spear Heart. From Cao Yun''s understanding, one had to be one with his weapon to achieve such a state. And the manifestation of Spear Heart was the formation of an entire scripture in one''s mind. This would be the foundation of one''s martial dao. Everything one had understood either consciously or unconsciously would be within this scripture. Just by studying it, one could progress further and further. Although he wasn''t quite there yet, Cao Yun could see the signs that he was getting there. Martial states were theoretically independent from one''s cultivation, but as one''s mind developed, they were easier to enter and master.


    Basking in his achievement, Cao Yun crossed the storm while observing everything that was going on in his mind and soul. During his travel back, he felt like an outsider looking at a theater play. He was trying to take in as many details as he could without altering or even influencing what was going on in his own mind.


    Finally, he got out of the storm. The first thing he did was to look at the stars. It was daylight so it wasn''t easy, but he was still able to see the shapes of a few stars despite the intense light. Thankfully, he had indeed spent less than a month in the storm. For a moment, he had truly been worried that his perception of time had been wrong. If he had spent too long, not only would his plans have failed, but his sister might be in more danger.


    It didn''t take long for Hongyu to come back. Most likely, she had felt Cao Yun''s return and she hadn''t been too far away. Looking at her, Cao Yun could tell that she had hunted a lot and was already forming her seventh core. It would take some time of course, but she was on the right path. The two of them flew around for some time. They enjoyed each other''s company and forgot about anything else for a few hours. But then, it was time to go back to the Nalupu Kingdom.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    By now, the tribes should be well organized and Fen Caiji''s idea should have reached High Mother Lisha. Hopefully, she had already gotten in contact with Lord Wanghuo. Very soon, Cao Yun would get his boat and his navigator. He could already picture the Hongchen Kingdom in his mind. In fact, he could even feel it in all his senses. He remembered the smell of the grass, the taste of the food, even the gentle caress of the wind. The Desolate Sepulcher was clearly a harsher environment. For demons, it wasn''t such a problem, but mere mortal humans would have a terrible time in this land.


    With Hongyu, Cao Yun immediately went back to the Oasis of Life. Once there, he put the dust of the Weaver of Souls'' corpse into the Blood Abyss. He wasn''t sure of anything, but it might help the Sisters of the Abyss in the long term. And indeed, in the decades to come, the Blood Abyss would get more and more potent, increasing the strength of the Sisters and their influence over the Desolate Sepulcher. Moreover, it proved that High Mother Lisha''s ways were better than High Mother Qin Xue''s. No more girl was sacrificed to this Blood Abyss. Still, over time, the Blood Abyss would decline again and again. It was impossible to keep it as vibrant as it was without doing anything. Thus, High Mother Lisha created a new form of sacrifice. When she decided to elect a new High Mother, she sacrificed herself into the Blood Abyss. And it did work. Now, only the most powerful member of the order would give their life for the Blood Abyss and only at the end of their natural life.


    Once he was done, Cao Yun asked for reports on the situation. Everything was going very well until he read about the Blazing Swallow. Apparently, Nie Pian had betrayed them. The old crook had ran away with a substantial amount of money, to the point where he had almost bankrupted the shop. Without Boss Gui''s founds and a little help from the Sisters, the Blazing Swallow would have closed while Cao Yun was away. Nie Pian had indeed been enslaved as punishment for his crimes, tax frauds. But for years, he had stayed loyal to the Blazing Swallow even under all the pressure by City Lord Sihe.


    After his betrayal, a terrible thought occurred. What if he had been working for City Lord Sihe all along?!


    This new turn of events didn''t disturb Cao Yun at all. There were seals in Nie Pian''s soul so the only person he could turn to was City Lord Sihe. And he did. According to the Sisters, he had joined City Lord Sihe and had asked for his protection. In exchange, he gave him pill recipes and even evidence against Boss Gui. Considering the desperate situation City Lord Sihe was in, he was forced to agree. As he couldn''t get rid of Cao Yun''s seals, City Lord Sihe added his own to counter them. Obviously, Cao Yun could easily unravel them all, but he would need to get close enough to the old man.


    While reading all the reports, Cao Yun was visited by High Mother Lisha.


    "We are ready. Lord Wanghuo accepted an audience."


    "When?"


    "In six months from now."


    "Good. I still have a few things to deal with. Tell your Sisters to improve the security around Duma City. I fear that City Lord Sihe will do something stupid against either Boss Gui, the Blazing Swallow, or both. If he does, it will help us a lot. Let''s hope that he is that stupid. But there''s no reason to risk the lives of our allies in this hope. However, I haven''t heard any news on Marshal Weiji. What about him?"


    "After his summon by Lord Wanghuo, he secluded himself. No one has heard of him since then. We do have a few Sisters in the capital. But if you want to shift our focus on Marshal Weiji..."


    "No need for that. I know that your Sisters are already spread thin as it is. But if he makes any move, I want to be informed of it.


    "Have our trip to the Nalupu capital prepared. Considering the distance, we''ll leave in four months. This time, I will accompany you to talk to Lord Wanghuo in person and not through you."


    "I understand. Will that be all?"


    "Yes. Let no one disturb me as I meditate and cultivate. And treat Hongyu with as much respect you would do me."


    "Of course."


    High Mother Lisha left and made sure that Cao Yun''s orders were known and obeyed. In Duma City, there were five Sisters. Among them, there was a single Accomplished Demon, but she had already formed three Turbid Demons. She was thus a middle Accomplished Demon. In other words, she was more powerful than anyone around Boss Gui or even around City Lord Sihe. Although she couldn''t face an entire army, she could deal with any assassin sent by City Lord Sihe. Besides, her stealth was a huge advantage. However, no assassin was ever sent.


    City Lord Sihe had already lost a lot. For the time being, he had decided to be much more passive. He was licking his wounds. Instead of being rash, he was carefully planning for his next move. With Nie Pian by his sides, he hoped to find an economic way to bring Boss Gui and the Blazing Swallow down. This was more his domain than violence. At heart, City Lord Sihe was a businessman after all. Although he had no problem hiring assassins, or even sending small armies, this wasn''t his forte. Moreover, he had suffered several defeats recently so he decided that this wasn''t his time yet. He might have tried to grab too much too fast.


    On the other hand, Marshal Weiji was seething with rage. His niece and and son had been murdered. He didn''t believe the theory of the accident for one instant. After all, he knew that this laboratory was fake. As much as he knew that Weiji Nian had dabbled in poison, he also knew that she hadn''t made the poison herself. There was no reason why she would have played around with such potent poisons in her own home, let alone in the Oasis of Life. She was blinded by her attachment to her son, but she wasn''t completely insane and stupid. Thus, Marshal Weiji could only see one guilty. He was absolutely certain that Boss Gui was somehow behind it. This was the only logical conclusion he could come to. After all, Mo Yun''s survival wasn''t known outside of the nomadic tribes. And they had no reason to spread it around.


    Obviously, the news would indeed spread. But it would take some time. And it certainly hadn''t reached the capital yet. In fact, it wouldn''t reach the capital for quite some time. On the other hand, Lord Wanghuo would be informed ahead of time by his own spies. Undoubtedly, he would know that the Sisters of the Abyss wanted him to be informed as he was going to be visited by High Mother Lisha and the so-called Mo Yun.


    Marshal Weiji was under house arrest because of his family''s involvement with poisons. Officially he was free to go but Lord Wanghuo had been clear enough that he didn''t want him to leave his residence. There had been enough problems. Even now, Lord Wanghuo was forced to deal with things he didn''t like. He loved reaping the benefits but he didn''t quite liked to deal with any form of problem. Unfortunately, he had to at the moment. And it was keeping him away from his harem.


    In his residence though, Marshal Weiji had gathered anyone who was loyal to him. If he could solve Lord Wanghuo''s headaches, he would regain his favors. At the same time, he could avenge his family as well. Thus, his sights were turned toward Duma City and Boss Gui.

 Chapter 613: Abandoning ones family

    Contrary to his niece, Marshal Weiji wasn''t rash. However, the death of his family members had upset him, obviously. Still, he had other family members he had to consider first. Indeed, by disobeying Lord Wanghuo himself, his entire family might be sentenced to death on several generations. It really wasn''t rare for a family to pay for the crimes of their head, sometimes even for any individual within the family. As such, it forced the family itself to regulate the activities of everyone in it. Among humans, the same was more or less true but the offense that would cause such an extreme punishment was limited to high treason. By killing the entire family, it limited the risk of resentment as well. It was barbaric but oftentimes effective.


    Marshal Weiji had a wife and several children, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As much as he had doted on his niece, he couldn''t just throw away everything for her. That being said, he was still plotting against the Blazing Swallow. Knowing that Lord Wanghuo and probably the Sisters of the Abyss themselves were spying on him, he was extremely careful. Unlike his niece, he was always calm and rational. At the very least, he was convinced that he was calm and rational.


    For weeks, he prepared several plans and decided to go on with one of them. Thankfully, he wasn''t stupid enough to try and use his authority. In this endeavor, he would act as Weiji He, not as a general of the Nalupu Kingdom''s army. He even left his armor behind. There was no sign on him that he had ever been connected with the Nalupu Kingdom in any way, shape or form. This was a personal matter and he would treat it as such. Hopefully, it would limit the consequences. At the very least, he was certain that Lord Wanghuo would punish him and no one else. After all, he had proved himself for decades and he was ready to assume the full responsibility of his actions if it went badly. But it wasn''t going to end badly.


    Weiji He acted alone, not even asking for anyone''s help. In fact, he even decided to step down as head of the family. In his stead, he nominated his oldest son. The two men were talking in Weiji He''s private chambers where many seals were making spying almost impossible. Some of the Sisters of the Abyss would have been able to eavesdrop but they were busy with other matters. Among the Sisters who were watching the Weiji residence, not a single one could perceive anything in this room.


    "Father, this is insane!"


    Although he was trying to be respectful, Weiji Fen was as angry as he could be. His face was crimson red. Although his skin was a bit dark and red, like many demons, this shade of red was clearly due to a lot of blood going to his head because of his anger. Both Weiji He and Weiji Fen were 5th-grade Accomplished Demons. Technically, their cultivation was the same as Cao Yun''s. Of course, they didn''t also cultivate the human path as no demon could due to the absence of meridians and Dantian in their bodies.


    Moreover, the two men were around three to four hundred years old. Even among demons, this cultivation speed wasn''t that impressive. But the Forsaken Dao Era had also hit them hard. Currently, they were indeed among the most powerful demons on the entire planet. Besides, they were the strongest cultivators in their family. As Weiji He had had his first son when he was merely a hundred years old, his cultivation was a bit higher. But he had been stuck at his current grade for some time, unable to fully develop his Fallen Arrow. To be fair, his life had been much busier than his son''s.


    "I won''t hear a word about it! Weiji Nian was maybe harsh and cruel sometimes but she didn''t deserve such a fate. I know you''ve never quite liked her. But in the end, blood is blood. And she was our blood."


    His father''s tone was also full of anger. Weiji Fen''s anger was out of fear for his father, but also for his own family. On the other hand, Weiji He''s anger was because he knew how reckless he was but he couldn''t let go of his niece''s death. She had been his sister''s daughter. But unfortunately, his sister had died. Honestly speaking, he had loved his sister much more than he even loved his children or his wife. After all, he had married for political reasons and his wife was just a means to an end, both for his career and to produce heirs. But his sister and he had been incredibly close.


    Moreover, her death had been completely natural so he had not been able to vent his anger. Right now, he was convinced that the Blazing Swallow was behind the death of his niece so he was going to vent his anger. Just like Weiji Nian, he was blinded. His niece couldn''t think straight when it came to her son and he couldn''t think straight when it came to his dead sister, and by extension, his dead niece.


    "She died by her own hands. You have no evidence that the Blazing Swallow was behind it. Even assuming that this wasn''t an accident..."


    Before his son could finish his sentence, Weiji He slammed his fist into the table between them. Although it was made of Dry Ironwood, the strongest wood available on the Piaolu planet, his fist caused a dent in it. Besides, the wine cups that were on the table flew and broke on the ground. This was a mess. The legs of the table even sunk into the floor despite it being made out of Ageless Marble.


    "It wasn''t! That entire laboratory was fake. She wouldn''t have meddled with poison in such a way. Hell, she wouldn''t have known what to do with it. When she used poison, she had the Sun Scorpion Clan prepare it and handle it for her."


    Weiji Fen wasn''t afraid of his father, but he still didn''t want to infuriate him any more than that. Thus, he let go of the issue and didn''t try to reason with him about Weiji Nian''s death. In his mind, she had been stupid enough to play around with such a deadly poison before, she might have tried it again.


    "Even assuming all that, you don''t know who was behind her death. And you''re just going to attack the Blazing Swallow?! Right now?! The Sisters of the Abyss are supporting them! You''re not just going to spit in Lord Wanghuo''s face, but you''re also going to insult the Sisters themselves?! Have you lost your mind?!"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "This is why I''m making you the head of the family. If you want to distance the family from my actions, I''m fine with it. But if I find the evidence I''m looking for, our name will rise even higher than before. My association with City Lord Sihe is well known even though it''s not official. Everyone knows that our family has tight ties with him. If he goes down, we will go down as well. Our fate won''t be as bad as his, probably, but we''ll still suffer."


    "And if you don''t find anything?! Even if you''re right, if you can''t prove it, it will just be seen as City Lord Sihe sending his goon to do his handiwork."


    "I do not care. Son, stop trying to reason with me. My mind is made up and I''m ready to face the consequences of my actions. This is a risky bet, but if it pays off, our entire family will soar."


    "Father, if you officially make me head of the family..."


    "I do!"


    From Weiji He''s spatial ring, a small wooden tablet appeared. There were several blood seals on it. Such a wooden tablet was used as a family registry. In particular, it contained the list of all the family heads throughout history. The Weiji family wasn''t that ancient so there had only been around fifty family heads.


    As soon as the tablet appeared, Weiji Fen knelt before his father. Seeing this tablet was akin to seeing the first progenitor of the Weiji family. As it was in Weiji He''s hands right now, it made him the head of the family. But he let go of it. The tablet flew from his hands and went to Weiji Fen.


    "Son, stand up. Put your blood on this family tablet and you will be the Weiji family''s family head. After that, do as you please. I entrust the fate of our family to you. But no matter what happens, do not be as stubborn as me. If something bad happens to me, do not hesitate to forsake me instantly. I am ready to die like a dog, but I won''t take you all with me."


    Weiji Fen had an instant of hesitation. But he then stood up. With both hands, he delicately took the wooden tablet. After looking at it for quite some time, in complete silence, he brought his right hand to his mouth. Biting his finger, he was able to draw a single drop of blood. His blood, as a middle Accomplished Demon, was extremely heavy and it wouldn''t flow down his skin, simply staying where it had been drawn.


    Slowly, Weiji Fen pressed his finger on the tablet, right under the blood of his father. Now, he was officially the head of the Weiji family. Thus, he had absolute authority on everyone in the family, even the past generations. If he wanted to, he could disavow his own father. But it was too hard to do, even under the current circumstances.


    "Family Head Weiji, this one pays his respect."


    Seeing his own father kneel before him and addressing him with so much respect and reverence felt incredibly strange. But it helped him realize what had just happened. This simple act of putting his blood on the tablet had completely changed things now. He was now responsible for the entire family. And he couldn''t let his filial affection get in the way of this. He couldn''t risk his entire bloodline because of his father''s stupidity. But he still didn''t want to make the decision. Thus, he was going to force his father to make it for him.


    "Weiji He, the Family Head, under the authority of the first Progenitor, forbids you from taking any action against the Blazing Swallow. You are hereby sentenced to a century of seclusive meditation. You might not leave our Weiji residence unless a century has passed or you''ve reached the 6th-grade Accomplished Demon stage, on pain of banishment."


    "This humble one hears and accepts Family Head Weiji and Progenitor Weiji''s orders."


    Obviously, both men knew that Weiji He was going to disobey those orders. But this would allow the Weiji family to distance itself from his actions. From this moment onward, anything Weiji He did was of his own accord and could not implicate his family. Of course, Lord Wanghuo could see through such an obvious move. But he would have no reason to attack the Weiji family as it would weaken him even more.


    After their discussion, Weiji Fen made sure that his order was written down on an official tablet. It was then signed and sealed by Weiji He himself. If he went ahead with his plans, he would officially be banished from the Weiji family. Of course, if his plan was successful and he could prove that everything had been set up by the Blazing Swallow, he might be pardoned by the family head, his own son. Besides, he would get the favors of both City Lord Sihe and Lord Wanghuo.


    A few days after accepting and signing the strict orders of the family head, Weiji He disregarded them completely and left the Weiji residence under the cover of night.


    Unfortunately, the Sisters of the Abyss who were watching him failed to notice him. Although his stealth wasn''t that good compared with Cao Yun or High Mother Lisha, he was still proficient enough that they missed him. Besides, they were not expecting that at all.


    Weiji He went straight for Duma City. He was about to get the answers he wanted, one way or another.


    -


    In the Oasis of Life, Cao Yun was meditating and cultivating. Once again, he had set up array formations all around himself. Although he worked on his Fallen Arrow, most of his concern was on his Soul Embryo. Thanks to his mind cultivation, he was certain that his blood cultivation would go smoothly. In fact, he had no worry until the 8th-grade Accomplished Demon stage. At this stage, he would need to merge all seven Turbid Demons into one. Hopefully, he would succeed thanks to the Drop of Wrath, but this was a completely different process so he couldn''t be sure how difficult it would really be until he had reached it.


    Even if he got stuck on this stage for quite some time, he was not worried about his blood cultivation. The Drop of Wrath was much more helpful when it came to blood cultivation. After all, it had come from a demon who had at least broken through to Immortal Demon. In fact, he had most likely been much higher than that. Cao Yun didn''t think he had gone all the way to the ninth realm, Calamity, but he might have been either a Heaven Traitor or a Conqueror. Unfortunately, his memories were too hazy to know for sure. Besides, Cao Yun was not too familiar with those realms.


    Anyway, Cao Yun had decided to focus on his Qi cultivation as much as he could as it would be slower. At the moment, he was still nourishing his Soul Embryo. The process wasn''t difficult but it was slow and required a lot of patience. Unfortunately, he hadn''t found anything to speed things up without adverse consequences, even through the documents left behind by Cleansed Asura.


    Indeed, any method to accelerate the process was riddled with danger and could easily impeach one''s progress in the next stages. Since Cao Yun had produced an excellent Soul Embryo, he had no intention of squandering his efforts. As such, he was forced to be patient. Thankfully, his blood cultivation was making him very strong already. But he also wanted to develop his Qi cultivation. After all, among humans, he didn''t want to expose his asura cultivation. In a fight, he would be forced to always hide it like he was hiding his human cultivation among demons.


    Of course, concealing a part of his cultivation in the middle of a fight was reducing his overall strength. Against most opponent it wasn''t a problem. But against a powerful cultivator, it would be a huge problem.

 Chapter 614: Weiji Hes mission

    While waiting for their departure toward the capital, Cao Yun had enough time to cultivate. Since his blood cultivation was so smooth, he did focus on his Qi cultivation. The sensation of having a Soul Embryo in his stomach was extremely strange. But he was getting used to it by that point. Using his Fire Qi and Water Qi in combination in order to nourish it was becoming easier and easier. In fact, he didn''t even need to think about it anymore. This was also part of the reason why he didn''t want to speed things up.


    Of course, he wanted to improve his intimacy with his own Soul Embryo and prepare firm foundations for his future. Indeed, Cao Yun was resolute. He would be the first one in many generations who would overthrow the curse of the Forsaken Dao Era. He would become a 1st-grade Sage, not a half-step Sage or any thing of the sort. For that though, he was looking for the best cultivation he could get. Now that he wasn''t afraid of being too weak, he could focus on strengthening his foundation. Indeed, his blood cultivation would bring him higher and higher for a few years without any problem.


    Apart from getting a firmer grasp of his Soul Embryo, spending time on this stage also allowed Cao Yun to experiment with his Fire Qi and Water Qi. In other words, he was gaining many things that would be useful in the future, while still improving himself daily. His mastery over his own Qi in various aspects was a net positive. In fact, he was also working on his understanding of the five elements which would help him in many other aspects of his cultivation, even in his martial arts in fact.


    Moreover, working on his soul also helped him to work on his Spear Intent which he was trying to develop into a Spear Heart. Unfortunately, his Spear Heart and his Soul Embryo had in common that it was impossible to know how far they had advanced. Someone had described them as hatching an egg. There would be no change in the egg until one day it would suddenly hatch. In truth, it wasn''t totally accurate as someone could see signs before the final moments, but the image was clear enough. Almost nothing would change for months, years, even decades for some. And suddenly, one''s efforts would bear fruits. Most people were unable to advance, either because they lost their motivation, or because they had many other things to do that diverted them from this long work. Each day without improving was like regressing by an entire week.


    In this stage of his cultivation, there wasn''t anything special or extraordinary to do. It was very tedious work without any immediate reward. Cao Yun could tell why so many people failed to climb high. But it also reminded him of martial arts. Throwing thousands upon thousands of punches in order to perfect one''s form was tedious, boring and many failed to adhere to such a routine. However, this was important work. And Cao Yun had mastered such a routing before. In fact, he derived a lot of pleasure just from noticing tiny and subtle details that differed from punch to punch. No punch was identical, ever, as no one could actually reach perfection. There were always imperfections to correct. At the moment, he was doing to same thing and it was keeping him focused and interested in his current cultivation.


    -


    While Cao Yun was waiting for the audience with Lord Wanghuo, Weiji He had reached his destination. Of course, he wasn''t as fast as Cao Yun or Hongyu, but as a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon, he was still very fast. Besides, as a general in the Nalupu Kingdom''s army, he knew the terrain. As such, he found the fastest way possible toward Duma City. And here he was, floating before the city.


    When he had left, he had used his stealth and not a single Sister observing him had discovered anything amiss. At that moment, he was also using his stealth art and no one was the wiser. Although he couldn''t know for sure, he was certain that the Sisters of the Abyss had sent Sisters to protect Boss Gui and the Blazing Swallow. From everything he had witnessed, there was now some form of alliance between them. Maybe the Sisters were trying to take over the entire Desolate Sepulcher. After all, if they took down City Lord Sihe completely, Boss Gui would eventually lead the Xinian Confederation. And if she was the pawn of High Mother Lisha, then the Sisters would rule the continent.


    Weiji he knew Lord Wanghuo enough to be sure that he wouldn''t involve himself with it unless it caused him direct harm. In fact, recently, Lord Wanghuo had become more and more indolent. He was spending increasingly more time in his harem. As a matter of fact, this had pushed Weiji He to get closer to City Lord Sihe through his niece''s husband. Such a man was unfit to lead. Of course demons were much more sensitive to their emotions and passions, but they were not devoid of reason. Thus, they could control themselves. Lord Wanghuo''s attitude wasn''t too popular, but he was just too powerful. Even alone, he could kill most Accomplished Demons in the entire continent. Besides, his personal army was also extremely strong and ruthless when it mattered. In other words, no one would dare to challenge him.


    Because he was trying to be discreet, Weiji He floated down and landed on the ground. Then, he restrained his spiritual senses as much as he could, focusing everything on his physical senses and his stealth. Most of all, he focused on controlling his bloodline, knowing that the Sisters were extremely good at detecting any bloodline. Afterward, he simply walked through the main gate and entered Duma City. It wasn''t hard at all and no one seemed to notice his presence.


    In Weiji He''s mind, the culprit behind his niece''s death was unequivocally Boss Gui. At least, it was what made the most sense. After all, he knew for a fact that she was also using poison like City Lord Sihe. But he couldn''t expose her without exposing him. Also, he would probably have to expose the fact that his niece had indeed used some Bloodfire Vermilion Haze, and that he knew about it and had stayed silent. Anyway, he had many reasons to suspect Boss Gui but as many reasons prevented him from revealing anything at all. But if he simply killed her and took the evidence afterward, everything would be solved. At the very least, it was his logic.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    In the worst case scenario, he also simply thought he could get away with it. Indeed, his stealth was good enough that he was hard to detect. If Boss Gui had been able to kill his niece without leaving any proof, he could do the same. Of course, he didn''t have the Sisters of the Abyss backing him up. In fact, he was quite literally in the opposite situation.


    As he was walking through Duma City, he was slowly regaining his calm. Without the excitement and the freshness of the plan he had concocted, he realized that this might not have been such a good idea. On the other hand, he was there, so he might as well make the most of it. Unfortunately for Weiji He, as a general, this kind of rash decision had always benefited him. Thus, he had not learned to doubt himself too much. Even if he could see many holes in his plan, he was certain he could make it work.


    During a battle, no plan was perfect. So he had to adapt to an ever changing situation. Until now, he had never lost a single battle. On the other hand, he had never fought a large battle, neither had he fought in a war. Until now, he had always repressed small revolts and uprooted bandits and criminals. From time to time, the military was even used to cull demonic beasts. He wasn''t anything like the demons in the Empyrean Asura Theocracy who were constantly waging war against their neighbors, both demons and humans. Even the humans were always preparing for war with the demons, and felt as though they were in a constant state of siege.


    Weiji He pushed all those thoughts aside when he reached the residence of Boss Gui.


    -


    Boss Gui was walking in her courtyard. Before her were dozens of men and women wearing very little clothing. All of them were covered in sweat and bruises. Clearly, they had just stopped an intensive training session. Everywhere around them, there were tools of training, weights, racks filled with various real and dummy weapons. On the ground, there were traces of fight, and a few blood stains. Thankfully, no wound was too serious and the demons had mostly healed. Still, some bruises remained here and there.


    Behind Boss Gui were Mister Dai and Miss Wo. Since Cao Yun had last seen him, Mister Dai had reached the Accomplished Demon realm. Of course, he wasn''t too powerful and he probably wouldn''t reach the later stages of this realm. But this was a great accomplishment for a man from the nomadic tribes. Besides, he had also recently become a completely free man. When Boss Gui had agreed Cao Yun''s terms, she had freed all of her slaves and employees. Of course, they now all had contracts with her which were almost as restrictive. But technically, they weren''t slaves. That meant that she couldn''t sell them, but she could sell their services as mercenaries.


    Even if the difference didn''t seem important at first, it was a huge improvement for them all. As such, they all saw Boss Gui in a new light. Obviously, she didn''t care at all, she only cared about profit. Seeing how grateful they were showed her that Cao Yun was clearly right, she could make more profits from them as mercenaries rather than mere slaves.


    Beside their freedom, the mercenaries were seeing how far Mister Dai had cultivated. And they could feel the effectiveness of Boss Gui''s treatment, which came directly from the Blazing Swallow. Honestly, it was a bit less effective than her usual poisons, but there were fewer side effects. In fact, almost no one would die from it. And those who would die were already too weak to be trained anyway, so they wouldn''t even receive the treatment.


    Everything seemed to go well for Boss Gui. However, she was in a terrible mood. Since they didn''t know her as intimately as Mister Dai and Miss Wo, the trainees didn''t realize anything. After all, she was talented when it came to hiding her real thoughts.


    "Very well! You''ve all made good progress. I''ll increase your wage for this day. Those who are on duty must stay and keep guard. The others, you have your entire day. Good work!"


    "This humble one thanks City Lord Gui!"


    As one man, they all bowed. Even those who had to stay and keep guard around the residence were grateful. After all, they knew that their comrades were going to buy some wine and some meat for them too. The only problem was that they couldn''t get some friendly company. But it wasn''t such a good idea to even think about it around Boss Gui. As much as they were seeing her in a positive light, they hadn''t forgotten about her cruel reputation either. She liked being both loved and feared at the same time. It was nice.


    As the trainees left, she retreated in her chambers with Mister Dai and Miss Wo.


    Once inside, she threw down the fur on her shoulders. Suddenly, she seemed much smaller, especially with the two large demons in front of her. Finally, she even took off her blindfold. Beneath it, her eyes were completely burned. Although she was a demon, she hadn''t been able to regenerate her eyes. First of all, not all demon was as full of vitality as Cao Yun. And most importantly, she had received this wound when she had been much weaker. Her eyes were long gone and her flesh had healed around what remained. In other words, it wasn''t pretty at all. Few people had ever seen her without the blindfold. Even seasoned soldiers would have found it hard to look at it without flinching the first time.


    "Mistress, may I speak freely?"


    "We''re alone, so go ahead. I already know what''s on your mind anyway..."


    Miss Wo was a bit uneasy at how easily her mistress could read her.


    "Is your mood due to Nie Pian?"


    Before Boss Gui answered, she spit on the ground as her face was disfigured by anger.


    "That old bastard! I should have skinned him alive when I had the chance! The next time I see him, I''ll make him eat his own..."


    "Mistress!"


    "What?! You''ve already seen me do it a few times..."


    Miss Wo was obviously disgusted because she had indeed seen such scenes before. After all, killing someone in such a way was always meant as a spectacle for Boss Gui. She didn''t care about torture, or even death, but they were tools for her to instill fear in her enemies, and even in her own allies.


    "That Sihe bastard is using the old geezer to take down my operations! That senile old fart gathered every intel he could on me and is now using it to bury me! When I get my hands on him, he''ll beg for death for months. Hell, for years!"


    "Mistress, I don''t understand why he would betray you for City... for Sihe. After all, with Mo Yun''s return, Sihe is doomed and you''ll lead the Xinian Confederation."


    Miss Wo stopped herself before saying ''City Lord'', and this was the right decision seeing the anger in her mistress'' eyes. Hearing the question though, Boss Gui took an entire bottle of wine and downed it in an instant.


    "This bastard has been stealing from me and the Blazing Swallow for years, almost from the start. And we didn''t see a damn thing. Yes, he helped the company, but he especially helped himself. I guess he thought it wouldn''t matter since we were going to be crushed. But if we were the ones doing the crushing, Mo Yun and myself would find him out. And that Sihe pig was the only one who could unravel his seals. I''ll grind his bones to dust!"


    In her anger, Boss Gui was oblivious to Weiji He''s concealed presence.

 Chapter 615: Paranoia

    Siqian City had become the economic capital of the Nalupu Kingdom since City Lord Sihe had developed his Slavery Brand. For decades, he had thrived thanks to his seals but he had never reached such a level of wealth and influence. It was only thanks to the war waged by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy that he had really struck gold. He had understood what would be required and provided his Slavery Brand.


    The main point of the Slavery Brand was that it was easy to manufacture so almost anyone could use them. On the other hand, those seals were still difficult to unravel for most people. However, Accomplished Demons with enough knowledge could unravel them in a couple days. Unfortunately, City Lord Sihe had recently discovered that Mo Yun was able to unravel them in record time.


    More than the alchemy of the Blazing Swallow, what City Lord Sihe yearned for was this knowledge. Although he was a seal master, he wouldn''t have claimed to be able to get rid of his own Slavery Brand in less than ten hours at least. Mo Yun had been able to free many people in record time and it had piqued his interest. Of course, City Lord Sihe was also interested in wiping out his rivals. But he wasn''t too afraid about money in his current position.


    At least, it had been his mindset a few months ago.


    Now, City Lord Sihe appeared desperate. He was secluded in his office with a few trusted aides and Nie Pian. Among them all, City Lord Sihe was supposedly the youngest and yet he appeared to have aged several decades. His hair was gray with a few balding patches here and there. For an early Accomplished Demon, it would have been a sign of old age. But City Lord Sihe was barely four hundred years old. Stress had affected him much more than it should have. Or maybe it was the sudden drop.


    For more than a decade now, he had been at the top without any real rival. Even Boss Gui had not entered his eyes. Although she had grown in power, he had always deemed her unworthy of his attention until recently. He had been convinced that he wouldn''t have to do anything to crush her. But apparently, she had crushed him without doing anything. The Sisters of the Abyss had done all the work in her stead. That being said, City Lord Sihe wasn''t stupid and he could guess that someone else was pulling the strings.


    Considering the recent death of High Mother Qin Xue, he was now convinced that she had been assassinated and that someone had secretly taken over the Sisters. Now, that same person was trying to take over the Xinian Confederation. As those theories, which happened to be right, festered in his mind, he became more and more paranoid. And yet, he had welcomed Nie Pian in.


    The old had indeed been in contact with City Lord Sihe for years now. In fact, he had begun to work for him soon after Cao Yun''s disappearance. City Lord Sihe had analyzed his seals. For weeks, he had focused on them as they were incredibly complex and fascinating. They weren''t anything he couldn''t handle, but he had needed a lot of time to do so. Thankfully for Nie Pian, without Cao Yun''s presence, no one was talented or competent enough to notice any difference in his seals. Since then, Nie Pian had helped City Lord Sihe.


    For a couple years, City Lord Sihe didn''t really care. As he didn''t see the Blazing Swallow as a true competition, it was pointless. As a matter of fact, he had been much more interested in the seals used on Nie Pian than on his help. But all this time, Nie Pian had been loyal and extremely useful. City Lord Sihe''s aides had used him to slowly asphyxiate Boss Gui''s business. They had even mapped all of her interests throughout the Nalupu Kingdom and knew exactly where to strike to get to her. Her entire business could collapse. Nie Pian had even helped them invest some money in projects going against her own interests.


    Unfortunately, with Cao Yun''s return, Nie Pian had been forced to leave in a hurry, knowing that his master would be able to tell that his seals had been altered. Nie Pian came to Siqian City and revealed everything he knew to City Lord Sihe. Learning more about Mo Yun, City Lord Sihe''s paranoia was fed. He was now seeing this man''s work in everything. In fact, City Lord Sihe had executed a few of his trusted aides. As such, everyone around him was afraid. There was no doubt that he was losing it but they couldn''t say anything to him as they didn''t want to lose their heads.


    "City Lord, we''ve received a secret letter from Marshal Weiji."


    "Are you sure that it''s from him?"


    "We''ve examined it several times to be sure. There is no doubt that he wrote it personally. He used his encryption. And the letter was perfectly sealed."


    City Lord Sihe was looking all around even though he was alone with his aides. The room itself had been surrounded by many seals and array formations. Even Cao Yun would have had a hard time getting in or simply sending his senses in. Still, City Lord Sihe was afraid of anyone spying on him. He quickly took the letter from his aide''s hands. The paper was blank. Injecting his Qi and spiritual senses into the sheet of paper, City Lord Sihe discovered the seals he had taught Weiji He. This was indeed a letter by Marshal Weiji. Why would he write to City Lord Sihe though?


    Reading the contents of the letter, City Lord Sihe lost it. He threw the paper to the ground. Before it could reach it though, the paper combusted and turned into ashes.


    "This moron! Damn him! Damn them all! First his stupid niece causes me nothing but trouble, and now this?! This is a conspiracy! I tell you all! This is a conspiracy!"


    "Master?"


    City Lord Sihe was overtaken by rage and contempt. How could someone be that stupid?! This had to be some ploy, right?! But then, who would be plotting, and against whom?! Many strange theories were born in his mind as he was trying to piece everything together.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "This imbecile is warning me to cut ties with him if he fails."


    "Fails? Fails what?"


    "He''s going to kill Boss Gui and the Blazing Swallow''s head."


    "That''s..."


    "Yes, that''s suicide. He tried to distance himself from his family as if that could really help. His only hope is that Lord Wanghuo remembers his services and spares his family. But considering my situation, I will suffer the most if that idiot does that..."


    "Master, Marshal Weiji could succeed without being detected, right?"


    "Impossible!"


    Nie Pian spoke. By now, City Lord Sihe trusted him more than his own aides. Some were a bit upset, but they had to admit that his information had been useful to go against Boss Gui despite everything that had happened.


    "The Sisters of the Abyss are probably monitoring Boss Gui and the entire Duma City. Even if Weiji He succeeds, he will be found out, there is no doubt on that matter. We should denounce him publicly before anything happens."


    Some of the aides were pondering over it while others decided to oppose it immediately.


    "Master, we can''t do this! Marshal Weiji has been a trustworthy ally for many years. Besides, he is still highly seen in the army. We can''t betray him in such a way."


    "Didn''t he betray us with such a rash decision? He''s protecting his family, but he can''t really protect us. Unless we throw him to the dogs, we''ll be accused. In fact, this mere letter is proof that we knew about his ploy. If we don''t publicly do anything about it, we become co-conspirators with him."


    Hearing Nie Pian''s words, City Lord Sihe''s eyes bulged.


    "Yes! What if this letter is not meant as a warning but as incriminatory evidence?! Now that I know about this, if I stay silent, that means that I conspired with him. Yes! This is the ploy! As I told you, this is a conspiracy! No one can be that stupid! He allied himself with our enemies, he''s going to sacrifice himself to save his blood, but he''s already betrayed us!"


    "Master... Please, think straight. Marshal Weiji wouldn''t do such a thing. And there''s no big conspiracy against you, you''re just..."


    All of a sudden, the woman who was trying to reason City Lord Sihe felt an intense cold all around her. Then, she saw his face distorted by madness.


    "You''re with them... You..."


    Unable to control himself, City Lord Sihe jumped forward and grabbed her throat. The other aides were horrified but didn''t dare to do anything. They knew that any one of them could be executed on a whim. Their master had completely lost it. Almost all of them were convinced that his cultivation had gone wrong. He had been working on his Stinking Lungs. Maybe its corruption had corrupted his mind. Demons had stronger emotions so they were a bit more sensitive to mental corruption. However, his aides couldn''t say anything.


    They watched hopelessly and horrified as City Lord Sihe was crushing the old woman''s throat. Killing a late Golden Blood Child in such a manner required some time. She didn''t have the strength to break out of that hold. Besides, she was no fighter at all. It was painful to watch. After long minutes, she finally stopped moving. As City Lord Sihe squeezed harder and harder, blood spurted out. In the end, he literally ripped her head off by crushing her throat.


    "I''m surrounded by traitors!"


    As he was looking around, all his aides were shaking in fear. They all lowered their heads and knelt in front of him.


    "This humble one is loyal to City Lord Sihe. May this one''s unworthy blood be turned in mud if this one lies."


    -


    In Duma City, Weiji He was finally about to do what he had planned. He had written this letter to City Lord Sihe before leaving for Duma City. Although he had tried to protect his family, he knew that they were still at risk. Hopefully, City Lord Sihe could protect them as well. Moreover, City Lord Sihe had always been good to the Weiji family so Weiji He didn''t want him to feel betrayed if he was implicated by his actions. The old businessman would know what to do better than a soldier like Weiji He. Political intrigues weren''t Weiji He''s forte.


    Marshal Weiji''s strong point was his military prowess. Although he was a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon, he could probably face a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon alone and still triumph. Besides, he wasn''t fighting any powerful Accomplished Demon, he was going to kill an early Accomplished Demon and some late Golden Blood Children. Even Mister Dai and Miss Wo were no threat to him at all. But he was trying to not be discovered. It was the only problem he had to deal with. Killing his targets would be the easiest part of his plan. At least, it was his train of thought.


    After observing the three demons talking for quite some time, Weiji He decided to act. Stealthily, he entered Boss Gui''s residence using the cover of the night as well. Weiji He had quite literally turned into shadow. His art was called ''Crawling Shadow''. He had learned it from his master. On the battlefields it wasn''t very useful, but for assassinations and spying, it was incredible. He could enter any shadow and move around it. Such an art was extremely strange. From what he knew, it had been developed by a Reborn Demon. Usually only someone who could study the Dao could perform such an art. However, the one who had invented it had refined it so much that even Accomplished Demons could use it.


    Moving around in the shadows, Weiji He got closer and closer to Boss Gui.


    The very moment he entered her private courtyard, he felt something around him. There was some kind of barrier preventing him from going forward. When he tried to force his way in, he was pushed backward. His body literally got ejected from the shadows. In front of him had been an array formation set by Cao Yun in person. There was no way he could have forced his way in through brute strength. Unfortunately, Weiji He wasn''t too knowledgeable when it came to array formations. Instead, he was well informed on seals and blood runes, which was useless in that situation.


    Immediately, everyone in Boss Gui''s residence was alerted. Sensing much movement all around him, Weiji He jumped back into the shadows. But it was too late. Among those who had been alerted was Sister Xie Yue. She was the one in charge of the few Sisters sent to protect the Blazing Swallow. At the moment, she was only a 4th-grade Accomplished Demon. And the other three Sisters sent with her were all late Golden Blood Children.


    As she felt the intrusion, Sister Xie Yue flew toward Boss Gui''s residence. The very first thing she saw was the figure of a man trying to disappear in the shadows. Instinctively, she struck. As she was striking, her mind registered the technique, ''Crawling Shadow''. And as it did, her mind also screamed ''Marshal Weiji''. The Sisters were the most well informed in the entire Nalupu Kingdom so Sister Xie Yue knew exactly who was in front of her without any problem.


    She had sent a flying sword toward Marshal Weiji without thinking. As he was melting into the shadows, he was weak to an attack. Thus, the sword stabbed him directly in his back. Thankfully, he moved at the last moment and the blade didn''t impale his heart. Instead, it tore through his left lung. The pain caused his technique to fail. Once again, he was ejected from the shadow. Those two backlashes back to back threw his blood into a frenzy. The Qi throughout his bloodstream was in an uproar.


    Before he could properly recover, Marshal Weiji found himself surrounded by Boss Gui''s mercenaries. Although they were no real threat to him, he also sensed Sister Xie Yue. Since she knew who he was, he had to kill her. But she was proactive.

 Chapter 616: Chained sister

    Before Weiji He could react, Sister Xie Yue took out several artifacts from her spatial ring. High in the night sky, a powerful firework exploded. For a split second, Duma City was lit as in broad daylight. Everyone received the message clearly. The city was under attack. After all, Sister Xie Yue couldn''t be sure whether Weiji He was alone or not. Although she had not felt any other intruder, she had not felt Weiji He either. Given, he had some strange technique to hide in the shadows, but someone else could have a similar technique. Or, they could be waiting for a second wave of attacks. Apparently, he was here to assassinate discreetly, but he might have prepared some backup.


    Even without any backup, Weiji He was not someone Sister Xie Yu could take on alone. In fact, she wasn''t sure she could take him on at all. Thankfully, she had many resources in this city. Considering that her mission was to protect Boss Gui and the Blazing Swallow, she couldn''t leave. Even if Cao Yun had not put seals in her, she would have never abandoned her mission. The Sisters of the Abyss were disciplined like that.


    Hopefully though, she might be able to deter Weiji He. If he had come with the intention of being discreet, she might very well be able to convince him to leave. After all, he had done nothing yet. And before the Sisters of the Abyss, many would simply surrender. Even Lord Wanghuo wouldn''t want to harm the Sisters in any way. Still, before trying to talk to the would-be assassin, Sister Xie Yue was also preparing her next move, were the first one to fail. Cao Yun might be her salvation in this situation. For the moment, if she could buy some time, it would be perfect.


    Sister Xie Yue didn''t want to corner Weiji He just yet. Most likely, she was the only one who had recognized him. Thus, she spoke telepathically to him.


    "Marshal Weiji, cease this madness. You''ve done nothing irreparable just yet. I can only imagine the distress caused by your niece''s untimely demise. However, this won''t solve anything."


    With her information, Sister Xie Yue was convinced that she knew the reason behind this assassination attempt. At the very least, she was almost certain of her. She could only imagine two scenarios. Either City Lord Sihe had sent him, but it seemed impossible since Weiji He wouldn''t have risked enraging the Sisters of the Abyss and Lord Wanghuo for City Lord Sihe. The other scenario was that he deemed Boss Gui responsible for his niece''s death. Of course, Sister Xie Yue knew for a fact that it was wrong. After all, she had helped conceal the truth on Cao Yun''s orders given to her trough High Mother Lisha. Still, she could understand why Weiji He would think Boss Gui was behind it. Indeed, like many others, he still didn''t know that Cao Yun had survived. The news had spread among the nomadic tribes but it had not reached the entire Nalupu Kingdom. Besides, he had been secluded for some time.


    "Sister, get out of my way! There is no reason for us to be enemies. You cannot stop me in any way. Let the bastard die by hands. I have no qualms with your order."


    "Unfortunately, Marshal Weiji, High Mother Lisha herself tasked me with the protection of this city. By attacking anyone within the confines of Duma City, you go against the Sisters of the Abyss. Think carefully. I can assure you that Boss Gui was in no way responsible for your niece''s fate. You are making a terrible mistake."


    "Marshal Weiji?! I am Marshal no more. I am Weiji no more. I renounce my title and my family name for my revenge."


    Obviously, Weiji He didn''t really intend to forsake his name or his title. But were he to fail, he was trying to protect his family. Were he to succeed though, he would forget about it all and come home as if nothing had happened. At the very least, it showed Sister Xie Yue that he was prepared to go all the way.


    "Sir, do not go to such extremities. Your niece forfeited her life when she dabbled with the taboo. We both know that she is guilty of many crimes and so was her son."


    "She might have failed this son by her inability to discipline him properly. But Weiji Nian didn''t deserve such a fate and neither did that idiotic son of hers. You claim that Boss Gui isn''t behind her death. Then, who is?"


    Weiji He wasn''t thoroughly convinced, but if there was truth to her words, he might uncover something. Just like Sister Xie Yue though, he was preparing his next move. Unfortunately for him, time was helping the floating woman, not him. Still, in his mind, no one in Duma City could contend with him unless they used battle formations. But he was a great soldier and knew probably more about battle formations than he knew about martial arts.


    Of course, Sister Xie Yue couldn''t tell him anything about the truth. Even if she had wanted to, her seals would prevent her from doing so. And Weiji He would be unable to sift through her memories to get any information. Her very memories would be destroyed if someone tried to enter her mind. She realized that she had spoken herself into a corner. But she didn''t really have a choice. As long as Weiji He thought Boss Gui was behind the death of his niece, he would target her and he would never believe that it was a mere accident. Fortunately, he had turned his sights toward Sister Xie Yue herself. He was half-convinced that she had information on Weiji Nian. Hopefully, it would help her protect Boss Gui and accomplish her mission.


    "Sir, please, if you feel wronged, we can talk to High Mother Lisha and Lord Wanghuo. They will soon meet. I can petition High Mother Lisha to hear your grievances."


    Reminding Weiji He of the relation between the Sisters and the Nalupu Kingdom was meant to calm him without directly threatening him. Besides, Sister Xie Yue was already using some form of mental attack through her telepathy. Unfortunately, Weiji He''s will was too strong. And it wasn''t wavering at all. Any Golden Blood Child would have already fallen on their knees, asking for her forgiveness.


    "Enough! If you won''t tell me, I''ll get the answer myself!"You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Suddenly, Weiji He took out a halberd from his spatial ring. The serrated blade itself was as large as Weiji He''s body. All over the blade, there were metallic rings, small chains and many decorations. Not only the blade, but the shaft also was immense. In total, the weapon was three times as large as Weiji He. And it was also extremely heavy. Most likely, it was around seventy to eighty thousand dan*. Only a late Golden Blood Child could hold this weapon, but even they wouldn''t have been able to wield it properly. Besides, without spiritual senses to handle it, the sheer weight of the weapon would have caused the wielder to sink into the ground. On the other hand, Weiji He was already floating above the ground with his weapon.


    Speed was more important than weight when producing strength. But it didn''t mean that weight wasn''t important either. Forsaking speed for weight was often a mistake, but as a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon, Weiji He could wield his halberd with extreme speed despite its heaviness. And he did.


    ''Splitting the Realms''.


    The sound of hooves trampling on the world echoed throughout Duma City. Many thought that an army had been unleashed against them. Weiji He found himself directly in front of Sister Xie Yue. His halberd struck horizontally, trying to cut her in two. As it moved, the air itself was compressed. Even without using any martial art, he would have been able to create shock waves and the sound of thunder, but he was using martial art. His art was called ''Chaos of War'' and Sister Xie Yue was familiar with it. It would give her a small advantage. But the difference between their cultivation was a problem. Even one grade was a lot for Accomplished Demons.


    Another advantage she had was that Weiji He''s stealth relied on shadows, not hers. But she had to be smart about it.


    As the halberd was about to strike her, she could feel its weight. With a direct hit, even she would be split in half, there was no doubt in her mind. She couldn''t receive any strike from that weapon while Weiji He was wielding it. Being close to the halberd, she could also smell the thick odor of blood around it. It was a mixture of Weiji He''s killing intent and the blood shed by the weapon itself. In long fights, demons'' strategy was often to bleed their opponents to death as it was the source of their Qi. it explained most of the shapes of their weapons. They were meant to kill yes, but also to bleed their opponents in such situations.


    Sister Xie Yue was alone in front of Weiji He. Her other Sisters were coming but not there yet. And the mercenaries simply couldn''t fly. Besides, she had already ordered Boss Gui and her bodyguards to stay within the array formation where they were relatively safe. On the ground though, the mercenaries were getting ready for a battle formation. According to what she knew, it would have helped them fight an early Accomplished Demon. Against Weiji He, it wouldn''t be as helpful, but it might still give her the edge she needed. Every bit of advantage was good to take. And she would take them all.


    From her own spatial ring, thousands of chains emerged. They completely covered her as though they were an armor. Then, she tried to block the weapon with both her arms. From her hands, the chains spurted forward and formed a thick layer between her and the weapon.


    When Weiji He''s strike collided with the chains, the force of the impact was spread throughout this armor. Sister Xie Yue still felt how intense it was and she could even hear her bones screaming at her. The chains themselves were bent by the impact. But in the end, her bones didn''t break and she survived the first strike. At this very moment, her chains became animated once more and tried to coil around the halberd in order to entrap it.


    Weiji He reacted immediately. First of all, he rotated his halberd with a sudden jerk. All the chains around it broke apart. At the same time, he kicked Sister Xie Yue in her sternum. Once again, the chains took the brunt of the impact, but the woman still felt pain and controlled herself not to spit out some blood. On her stomach, there was a bruise in the shape of a hoof. Her chains had broken apart as well, but they moved and reformed her armor once again.


    With the chains tightly coiled around her body, Sister Xie Yue was extremely alluring. However, Weiji He didn''t let it distract him. She was also extremely deadly. Although her cultivation was a bit weaker, he wasn''t taking her lightly. Immediately, he was using all of his strength and going for the kill. As a matter of fact, this was also Sister Xie Yue''s intention.


    The broken links from her chain floated in the air. Suddenly, they flew straight toward Weiji He. He was surprised by the first ones that cut his chest. They didn''t penetrate too deep though and his wounds were merely superficial. He didn''t lose any time trying to dodge of parry the other links. He simply made sure that they didn''t hit his eyes or fingers. He didn''t want to lose his weapon.


    Sister Xie Yue''s chains emerged from her back. They formed eight large heads. The Qi Manifestation of a gigantic hydra appeared behind her. The heads attacked Weiji He while he was trying to close the distance he had created by kicking her away. Now they were high in the sky. Sister Xie Yue had been able to lure him away from Boss Gui''s residence. The array formations there were mainly defensive. But Cao Yun had set up other array formations throughout Duma City.


    Weiji He''s halberd drew circles in the sky. Two of the hydra''s heads were cut apart. The sky too was cut apart. The clouds were becoming red as blood and dirt mixed together. And the strikes from his halberd were shattering them. With each strike, he was creating shock waves that shook the entire Duma City. A fight between two middle Accomplished Demons was no laughing matter. If they were too close to the ground, they could level the city without any problem. After all, the Great War against Demon God Da Mo had almost destroyed the Piaolu planet according to the legends. And the fight against the Weaver of Souls had created this very continent.


    While he was beheading the Qi manifestation, Weiji He didn''t feel another chain directed toward his heart. It was completely invisible as Sister Xie Yue was using her stealth on it. It had emerged from her fingers. Unfortunately for her, her Sisters arrived precisely at this moment. Weiji He got distracted and moved at the worst possible moment. Her chain pierced his chest and tore through his left lung once again. The wound he had already sustained there worsened, but it didn''t kill him straight away as she had planned. Without any hesitation, she tried to control the chain so it moved around in his chest cavity. Weiji He let go one of his hand and grabbed the chain that had turned visible with it. The chain was slippery as his blood had flowed on it.


    With all of his strength, he ripped it apart, taking some of his own organ with it. In a frenzy, he used the chain to suddenly jerk his opponent toward him. Xie Yue was taken aback by his fury. All of a sudden, she found herself before Weiji He who grabbed her throat. With his other hand, he was ready to slash her apart with his halberd. In his eyes, she could only see blood and killing intent.


    All around Weiji He, there was a thick odor of blood as though he had come back from the bloodiest battlefield. And all around him, some could see broken bodies, severed heads and horses trampling on them all. This was a scene of devastation. Then, his halberd fell down toward Sister Xie Yue.


    * 70k-80k dan = approximately 3,500-4,000 tons

 Chapter 617: Chaos in Boss Guis residence

    Still coiled in her armor of living chains, Sister Xie Yue was trying to break free. But the grip on her neck was strong enough to crush even her throat. At the same time, she was hearing the sound of thunder, as though a cavalry stampeding through the red clouds. On her face she could already feel the air pressure caused by the mere movement of the tyrannic halberd.


    ''Lake of Iron''


    Before the strike could claim of life, which she was certain it would, Sister Xie Yue sent forth all the chains around her. They spread with her at the center. Even Weiji He was struck by them. Despite his cultivation, he was pushed away and his strike missed its target. Still, Sister Xie Yue''s eardrums almost ruptured and she felt a tremendous force against the side of her body. Her blood was raging like crazy as her heart was pumping with abandon.


    Without any hesitation, she pressed on the attack. Although she was weaker than her opponent, she couldn''t stop the fight. Thus, the only alternative she had was to fight with everything she had. Besides, the very Sisters that had made her stealth attack against Weiji He fail were here. They could join with the mercenaries. All of them gathered could probably tip the balance of the fight. After all, there was only one grade of difference between their cultivation. And Weiji He had truly been oblivious to her stealth attack. Maybe another one could work if he was distracted again.


    As Sister Xie Yue was rushing toward him, Weiji He turned his sights toward the other Sisters and the mercenaries. He hit the air with the bottom of the halberd, as though it were the ground. When it hit, a powerful shock wave was created that extended all over the place. In the red and broken skies, skeleton horses appeared. They were without any soldier on their backs, but they were clearly war horses. Some pieces of flesh remained here and there on those horses and could be seen through ripped armor. Most of all, they could be smelled. Blood and decay were everywhere now. ''Chaos of War'' was indeed a horrifying art. One would feel like they had been thrown into the bloodiest war they could fathom, and some more.


    The mercenaries and the Sisters realized that they were standing on severed heads. While the Sisters quickly regained their sanity, it disrupted the mercenaries. Even though Boss Gui had trained them, they were not as disciplined as the Sisters of the Abyss. They would need more time to regroup. Unfortunately, they had no such luxury.


    The skeleton war horses had reached them. They were the embodiment of the shock wave created by Weiji He''s halberd. For Sister Xie Yue, this was nothing. But for late Golden Blood Children, this simple attack was deadly. A few mercenaries and the Sisters were firm enough and stood their ground. All of them took out their weapons. The Sisters were even able to set up an improvised battle formation. They were like a rock in the storm. Several horses broke apart on their weapons. But some of the mercenaries broke a few bones. Behind them though, enough horses passed through to kill a handful of panicking mercenaries.


    Despite the deaths of those mercenaries, the Sisters realized that they had not even been Weiji He''s target. No, his shock wave crashed into the array formation behind them. All the war horses broke apart on this array formation. Their bones ruptured and exploded. Like thousands of small knives, those bones tried to pierce through the defenses of Boss Gui''s residence.


    Before Weiji He could send another attack, Sister Xie Yue was already close enough. With her chains, she could keep her distance. But she didn''t want her enemy to be able to break free as he would clearly attack the woman she was tasked to protect. Of course, if Weiji He wanted to run away, she would allow it without any hesitation. Her mission was to keep Boss Gui alive, not to kill a madman like Weiji He. Unfortunately, it was unlikely. After all, if he ran away, his life was forfeit. All the Sisters of the Abyss would track him and even Lord Wanghuo would want his head. In fact, if he didn''t surrender, his family would be tortured and killed to force his hand. So he had to succeed or die. And Sister Xie Yue knew it as much as he did.


    ''Nine From the Lake''!


    Sister Xie Yue was still clad in her armor of chains and surrounded by a lake made out of those very chains that had spread all around her. From this lake, nine heads emerged. Although they were made out of the chains, they looked very life-like. They were serpentine and full of pure hatred. Their yellow teeth could be seen in their scaly maws. Suddenly, they attacked Weiji He from all sides.


    ''Breaking the World''!


    With the flat of his halberd, Weiji He struck the very first head coming for him. When they collided, the entire world shook. The shock of the impact repelled it as many links were broken apart. Under such a force, they were completely flattened but it didn''t stop them. Those broken links flew toward Weiji He. This time though, they were unable to pierce his Wei Qi. He had been surprised the first time, but he was not going to let the same attack hit him again. In fact, he was more worried about a stealth attack from a small chain than those links that couldn''t even pierce through his flesh.


    Before the other heads could devour him, Weiji He moved around. His halberd fell on the closest head and he cut it in half. Several pieces of the chain fell to the ground, inert. Weiji He knew that he had to close the distance with his opponent while Sister Xie Yu knew she had to maintain it as long as she could. It would become a battle of attrition. Although Weiji He had more stamina in theory, his lungs had been pierce through and through twice already. Despite his blood cultivation, Weiji He wasn''t like Cao Yun. He couldn''t heal as well as the young human.


    In his chest, his lungs had already begun to heal. In fact, the exterior wounds had closed up. But his organs were not yet healed. It would take a few hours, maybe even more than a day considering how severe the injuries had been. The pain was not that hard to bear, but the wounds were weakening him. And as he was forced to exert his own strength, he couldn''t even heal properly, which then would require more time and more Qi. He really wasn''t in a good position. Besides, he couldn''t completely forget the mercenaries and the Sisters below. Although they were not his match, they could be enough to help Sister Xie Yue win.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Assessing the situation, Weiji He reached a conclusion. He was going to die. There was almost no chance for him to survive. But at the very least, he could take down his enemies with him. Unfortunately, his worst enemy was still confined in her residence. At that point, Weiji He had grown convinced that Sister Xie Yue was just trying to protect her no matter what. She had most likely lied. Boss Gui had maybe not killed Weiji Nian herself but she had given the order. Seeing to which extent the Sisters of the Abyss were protecting her, he was certain of his analysis. Of course, he was wrong. But Sister Xie Yue couldn''t tell him the truth either. Moreover, it wouldn''t have changed much at this time.


    From his spatial ring, Weiji He took thousands of small axes. Controlled by his spiritual senses, they flew all over the place. Against Sister Xie Yue, those axes were almost nothing. Indeed, she simply used her own spiritual senses to disrupt Weiji He''s. When they got too close to her, the trajectories of the axes got chaotic and slow. Her chains easily picked them off. This was why most Accomplished Demons of equivalent strength didn''t fight using their spiritual senses to control their weapons. On the other hand, the Golden Blood Children had no way to disrupt Weiji He''s spiritual senses. As such, they had to fend off the axes with their own weapons.


    Once again though, the real target was the array formation. Weiji He had almost not moved away from Boss Gui''s residence. Sister Xie Yue had tried to lure him away toward another of Cao Yun''s array formations she could use against him, but he had not fell into her trap.


    The axes struck the barrier that had already been damaged by the horses and the shock wave. Under this relentless assault, the barrier finally gave way.


    -


    Deep under the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, Cao Yun''s meditation was disturbed. He sensed that his array formation had been broken. If someone had been able to unravel it properly, Cao Yun might not have felt anything. But because it was so abruptly destroyed, he did sense it. After all, this was a 2-star Heaven array formation. There were parts of it dedicated to send information to its master. At that moment, Cao Yun knew that Duma City was under attack. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do.


    Just to reach Duma City would take a few months. Even with Hongyu and his own speed, it would take at least two to three weeks. However, he sent this information to High Mother Lisha. With their network throughout the Nalupu Kingdom, they could know what was happening their in record time. Information traveled faster than people.


    -


    Cao Yun was right. He wouldn''t make it in time. The array formation had completely collapsed. It looked as though a dome of glass had exploded. But the shards disappeared as they were falling down. Now, Boss Gui''s residence was wide open. The array formation couldn''t protect anyone anymore. Weiji He abandoned his current fight and flew at full speed toward Boss Gui.


    Sister Xie Yue tried to get in his way but she wasn''t fast enough. Between Weiji He and Boss Gui, Mister Dai and Miss Wo acted as human shields. Unfortunately, they were torn apart. Their bodies exploded as though they were mere bags of blood. Finally, Weiji He''s hand grabbed Boss Gui''s throat. The war general looked into her burned eyes.


    "This is such a pity you won''t see your body when I cut off your head..."


    Boss Gui felt utterly powerless, more than she had ever felt in her entire life. Her body was already very small. But at that moment, she felt smaller than ever. She couldn''t even speak. The woman thought about all the crimes she had committed, all the suffering she had visited on others. And she was going to die for something she had not done. Irony was too cruel, even more than Boss Gui had been all her life. In her next life, if such a thing was really true, she would be even more ruthless and cruel. She wouldn''t meet such an end.


    Without adding another word, Weiji He brandished his halberd and hacked away. Considering the difference in cultivation, all of Boss Gui''s Wei Qi was useless. His tyrannic halberd went through the small woman as though she were not even there. Weiji He let her go at the moment of impact. Her body was ripped apart in an instant. Under Weiji He''s rage, the force was so intense that her head almost exploded while her shoulders were blown away. Her arms fell to the ground, soon followed by her mangled body. Finally, Weiji He grabbed her head and literally crushed it in his hand.


    "Weiji Nian, you are avenged!"


    At that very moment, Sister Xie Yue''s chains pierced through the war general''s heart. This time, there was no distraction. Sister Xie Yue''s chains did pierce through his back and went directly for his heart. As he had focused everything on Boss Gui in that moment, he had left himself wide open. The very moment Sister Xie Yue''s chains stabbed his heart, they spread all around. His major organ exploded and the chains attacked everything they could in his body. Weiji He had already given up on life.


    While he was dying, it dawned on him that he had been as stubborn and stupid as his niece. When it came to her son, she couldn''t think straight. When it came to his sister and her daughter, he couldn''t think straight either. Hopefully, his bloodline wouldn''t be afflicted with such a plight. His foolishness may have doomed his entire blood. Still, he was convinced that he had done enough to distance himself from everyone else. Of course, he would have preferred to survive his vengeance. But he had been prepared for such an end and had done everything he could to help those who would survive him.


    He could feel the chains moving around in his chest. As an Accomplished Demon, even losing his heart and his major organs were not enough to kill him right away. Besides, he knew that Sister Xie Yue was trying to preserve his brain. The Sisters were not as good as City Lord Sihe, but they could most likely extract his memories, even from his corpse. Thus, he had no hesitation. Weiji He sent all of his remaining blood into his own head.


    There, he focused on his Turbid Demons. Without batting an eye, he unleashed them all. Immediately, they attacked his very sea of consciousness. Just like Cao Yun, he had developed the Flying Poison, the Unclean Evil, the Stinking Lungs and the Corpse Dog. All of them unleashed, his sea of consciousness had no hope. They ripped it apart, even destroying each other in the process. Weiji He''s last moments were pure agony and anguish. But he had made sure that all his memories were destroyed, along with his very soul. Unlike Boss Gui, he had no hope for another incarnation. And he didn''t mind.


    Sister Xie Yue felt it right away. There was nothing she could do. Thus, she completely destroyed Weiji He''s head. After all, she was afraid one of those Turbid Demons could injure her in some way. The chances were low, but she didn''t take any risk now that there was nothing to save from his mind. Looking around, she saw the corpses of Boss Gui, Mister Dai and Miss Wo. Outside, a few mercenaries had been killed as well. She had to report her failure to High Mother Lisha now...

 Chapter 618: Feeling the three souls

    Now that he had gotten the hang of it, manipulating his Fire and Water Qi had become natural to Cao Yun. In fact, he had even trained his ability to nurture his Soul Embryo to be as natural as breathing. With each breath, he was sending more nutrients to the small silver soul in his stomach. Of course, being conscious of the process, focusing on the process even was paramount to developing a close relationship with his Soul Embryo. But it would slowly develop even without any intervention from Cao Yun. Observing without interfering would help him during the next stage of its evolution.


    For the average cultivator, fully nurturing their Soul Embryo could take around a decade. Hopefully, he wouldn''t have to wait that long. After all, he had already developed his mind and soul cultivation. Thanks to this experience, he was hoping things would go faster, at least after this initial stage. But knowing that he couldn''t really force the process, Cao Yun counted on his blood cultivation to increase his strength. Currently, he was almost certain he could not contend with Emperor Weide directly. But by the time he would reach the Hongchen Kingdom, he intended to close the gap even more. In less than a decade, he had gone from being powerless before the late Spirit Warrior to being able to compete with him. There was no reason why he shouldn''t be able to even rival his power. Besides, he knew he would get support.


    The time to leave the Monastery of Bliss and Repose to meet with Lord Wanghuo was drawing near. It pushed Cao Yun to cultivate even more. At the moment, he was focusing on the Fallen Arrow and things were going very well.


    Fallen Arrow was the counterpart of Corpse Dog, in the sense that Corpse Dog was the corrupted version of the Po of Yin while Fallen Arrow was the corrupted Po of Yang. Corpse Dog was Water while Fallen Arrow was Fire. In its healthy version, Po of Yin was about wisdom while Po of Yang was about order. As such, Fallen Arrow dealt with aimlessness, the sensation that nothing had any sense because everything was already decided, or that everything was following a certain order that could never be altered. For a cultivator who had to adhere to a strict routine, sometimes for several centuries, this sensation could be quite strong.


    Indeed, sitting cross-legged in some cave for several decades at a time could create the feeling that it was pointless. Everything was pointless as one would simply keep on doing the same thing over and over again. After achieving their goal, cultivator often found another goal to achieve. This was an unending cycle. Even in death, it would not end, as one would be reincarnated. At some point, they were bound to reincarnate into another cultivator and begin anew. Every effort poured into their endeavor was going to be swiped away by the vastness of space and time.


    Even becoming an Immortal wouldn''t change anything. Immortals could live for half a hundred thousands years. But that wouldn''t create meaning in their life. Like everyone else, they would feel fear at the prospect of dying. In fact, Cao Yun could imagine that the idea of dying would become quite unbearable and unacceptable to beings who named themselves Immortals. There was no point one wouldn''t fear death, maybe. Maybe cultivation was useless. No matter how powerful or knowledgeable one would become, they would never achieve true immortality. After all, if that were the case, wouldn''t there be true immortals in the world? Wouldn''t Cao Yun have found them?


    As he was focusing on Fallen Arrow, Cao Yun could feel Corpse Dog taking over. Indeed, the feeling that everything was pointless and futile was causing great dread in him. The two Turbid Demons were complementing each other.


    Even if everything was futile, then what? Cao Yun wasn''t about to end his life, as it would be as futile as living anyway. Only in life could he find some sense, not in death. And he would be reincarnated anyway. The only solution would be total and absolute annihilation, but he lacked the constitution for such an extremity. On the other hand, he quickly overcame this dread thanks to his curiosity and his passion for both martial arts and cultivation. Simply witnessing what the next stage of cultivation was filled him with excitement. Maybe it was pointless, but so what? Whether it was or not was unimportant. It was something he wanted to explore, and in itself it was a good enough reason to pursue this endeavor.


    At some point in his life, his hopefully very long life, he might come to the realization that there was no point to existence itself. But even then, he would keep moving forward, following his Dao Heart. His will was strong enough to fore through this ocean of uncertainties. Maybe he was simply not thinking deep and hard enough on the matter. But somehow, Cao Yun felt that dwelling too long on such a question would create more harm than good. Maybe he was simply too young.


    When he got the sensation that nothing had any meaning, he felt as though he was falling in an infinite abyss of nothingness. Thankfully, he had a very specific goal he could cling to. He was focusing on his sister. He had promised his parents that he would protect her and he was not going to forsake this promise, no matter what. If nothing had any meaning, it meant that his own sister''s fate was meaningless, that her very life had no sense. But it had! At least, in Cao Yun''s eyes, his sister''s life was incredibly meaningful. And he used this to fight the sensation caused by Fallen Arrow.


    That being said, he didn''t completely reject the sensation either. He merely used this deep meaning to anchor himself. Feeling Fallen Arrow moving around in his psyche, Cao Yun had to admit that there was a lot of truth to it. He had been chasing for meaning for quite some time. Once his sister was safe, as he would make sure that she would be, then he wasn''t sure that he would be able to hold such an important purpose anymore. The only thing he could replace it by was his will to explore the mysteries of both cultivation and the universe, the Dao itself. Would it fill him with the same kind of meaning? Would he feel once again that everything was meaningless? And even if it did fill him with meaning, how long would that last?


    For hours, for days, for weeks, Cao Yun oscillated between hope and despair on those questions. It was as if there were several Cao Yuns fighting among his own mind. Some of them were convinced that their life had some kind of deep meaning, or even merely superficial meaning, while others were convinced that the entire world was doomed from the start, a stupid mechanism always moving forward and crushing everyone. Sentient beings were just parts of this mechanism with the sensation to be individuals which they were not. Very somber ideas went through Cao Yun''s mind. Only the image of his family and his friends was able to anchor him.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Obviously, Cao Yun wouldn''t find the answers to such questions. At least, he wouldn''t find them in a matter of months or years. But cultivating Fallen Arrow wasn''t about finding answers to whether there was meaning in life or not. Cultivating one''s Turbid Demons was about the emotion itself, not reason. As Cao Yun was cultivating Fallen Arrow, he was also able to feel his Hun move around a little. It had been a long time since he had felt it that intensely, and it wasn''t even very intense to be fair.


    Unlike the Po which was related to earthly needs and emotions, Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul, was related to higher functions. Po was separated in seven parts while Hun was often considered to be three souls united together. The highest Hun was Tai Guang, the Great Light, then Shuang Ling, the Bright Spirit, and finally You Jing, the Dark Essence. You Jing and Shuang Ling were much closer to Earth than Tai Guang. As such, they were often considered those responsible for ghosts. On the other hand, Tai Guang was the part that would always travel back to the Heavenly Court to await another incarnation.


    Each aspect of one''s Po was driven by a desire, a longing. You Jing the Dark Essence longed for connection to one''s family and friends. It longed for a desire of belonging. Shuang Ling the Bright Spirit longed for understanding the world around. It was probably the strongest part of Cao Yun''s Hun. In fact, it was strong in many cultivators as it was what was driving most of them. Finally, Tai Guang the Great Light pushed people to want transcendence, something bigger and higher than the world itself. It was what pushed human beings to religion and philosophy. If a cultivator had a powerful Tai Guang, they would often become monks or scholars. To be fair, it wasn''t that powerful within Cao Yun. His only real religious belief was reincarnation, but everyone in the Hongchen Kingdom believed in it. And Cao Yun had felt souls leaving one''s corpse before disappearing. Such a phenomenon was quite mysterious and did evoke the idea that it was being sent to some other mystical place, maybe the Heavenly Court indeed.


    One''s Hun was often separated into Heaven, Earth and Man as to distinguish it from the ranks Earth, Human and Heaven. Indeed, the lowest Hun was You Jing the Dark Essence that was considered as Man as it related to the connection with other human beings. Then Shuang Ling the Bright Spirit was Earth as it related to the desire to understand the world. And finally Tai Guang the Great Light was Heaven.


    As Fallen Arrow was demeaning life and its meaning, Cao Yun''s Hun was stirred by it. It was maybe the first time since Cao Yun had worked on the Hun character that he really felt his Hun. In fact, he could almost feel the distinction between the three different parts. This sensation quickly passed though. However, it had some lasting effects both on Cao Yun''s psyche and on his Soul Embryo. After all, his Soul Embryo was supposed to harbor his very soul, and even merge with it eventually.


    After feeling that, Cao Yun wondered whether his blood cultivation was not about to improve his Qi cultivation. But trying to chase this sensation again was doomed to fail. It had appeared while Cao Yun wasn''t even trying to produce it. If he tried too hard, it would never come again. It was a lesson he had learned from Chief Elder Baishen when it came to martial states. But it was true for any sensation. In order to promote a sensation, one had to free their mind of any expectation and tension. It could come back over time. The more one was anxious about it, the harder it would be to feel it again. Besides, the sensation wouldn''t be as good the second time with such an attitude.


    The young man could feel that he was almost halfway done with Fallen Arrow. After developing four Turbid Demons, he was getting quite good at it. Apart from the last stage that consisted in merging them together, he didn''t harbor any doubt that he could advance his blood cultivation. He might even become a 7th or 8th-grade Accomplished Demon by the time he met Emperor Weide again. Hopefully, he would have advanced his Qi cultivation as well. At the very least, he was hoping for his Soul Embryo to be awakened. But from his current stage, it could take twenty to thirty years to an average cultivator. Blood cultivation was faster, at least in the lower realms. On the other hand, it was more dangerous, just like demonic cultivators in a sense. After all, demonic cultivators had obtained some of their ideas through the demons themselves.


    -


    Time had passed and Cao Yun had not felt his Hun. Suddenly, he was distracted. Obviously, he was upset about it. But seeing High Mother Lisha herself, he understood that something important had happened. She wouldn''t have disturbed him for no reason. Looking at his compass, he realized that it wasn''t time for them to depart. Thanks to his compass, he could get an idea of the position of the stars relative to it. As such, he had some idea of the current day.


    "Master, dire news from Duma City."


    She didn''t beat around the bush as she knew it would only upset him even more.


    "Speak freely."


    "Marshal Weiji abandoned his family and his rank to pursue his own vengeance. He got convinced that his niece''s death had been orchestrated by City Lord Gui. As such, he snuck into Duma City undetected. He tried to assassinate City Lord Gui. Although his first attempt was foiled thanks to your array formation, Sister Xie Yue was unable to stop him. He forced through your defenses and claimed City Lord Gui''s life. Sister Xie Yue tried to recover his mind but it was already being consumed by his Turbid Demons. His memories are completely gone. We do have what remains of his corpse though."


    Cao Yun listened carefully. There was no falsehood in High Mother Lisha''s voice. She was as factual as possible. Besides, Cao Yun knew Sister Xie Yue''s abilities. She couldn''t do much against Weiji He indeed. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had not thought that Weiji He would be so reckless. After all, he was putting his entire family at risk by acting in such a manner. Even though he had abandoned them, they could still be considered guilty by association. Despite Weiji He''s services to Lord Wanghuo, the Sisters of the Abyss could still pressure him into punishing his bloodline.


    "Did any Sister die?"


    "No, master. A few mercenaries employed by City Lord Gui died. The Blazing Swallow is also untouched, thankfully."


    "I see..."


    Going back to his compass, Cao Yun tried to divine something. Considering the distance, it was almost impossible to understand anything about the array formations he had set up in Duma City. But it made sens that a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon had been able to break through it. Cao Yun had to adapt to the new situation.

 Chapter 619: Doubts and open ideas

    High Mother Lisha kept observing Cao Yun as he didn''t seem bothered by what had just happened. Within her, she couldn''t chase the image of High Mother Qin Xue out of her mind. Would this human behave in such a way as well? Would he sacrifice anyone and everyone for his ambitions? After all, he had taken over the entire order. Could they have exchanged one tyrant for another?


    Although she couldn''t feel Cao Yun''s seals in her sea of consciousness, she knew they were there. As she thought about them, she could imagine them ready to destroy her very soul. In fact, she even wondered whether Cao Yun could read her thoughts or not. She knew of no such seal, but this young man was strange beyond her beliefs. After all, he was a human who had cultivated the demon path. Not only was he able to cultivate just like the demons, but he was even better at it than they were.


    Among humans, Cao Yun''s Qi cultivation was fast, but there had been faster cultivators in records. Among demons though, it was insanely fast. To be fair, he had the manual written by the Weaver of Souls. This had been a great advantage for him, a small book found in a tiny city had changed his life. On the other hand, he also had the Drop of Wrath. As it had belonged to an incredibly powerful asura, it was even better at improving his blood cultivation than his Qi cultivation. And High Mother Lisha could clearly feel this strange bloodline in him. In fact, this was the reason why High Mother Qin Xue had targeted him. But by targeting him, they had made him much stronger, to the point where he had simply taken over their order.


    Now, they were all his servants, even the Sisters who didn''t know of his very existence. High Mother Lisha was slowly wondering whether she should give her life to do something about it. But any action she would take would be met with death, not necessarily her death. She could see Cao Yun kill her other Sisters until she submitted. So she wasn''t in a hurry to test his resolve and his cruelty. At the very least, he had stopped sacrificing anyone to the Blood Abyss. And yet, he had improved the quality of the Blood Abyss like no other before him. By throwing the ashes of the Weaver of Souls in, the Blood Abyss was as vibrant as it had ever been.


    The news of Boss Gui''s sudden murder had awaken the debate within High Mother Lisha''s mind. Indeed, she was weighing the pros and the cons of serving Cao Yun. The obvious con was that he could probably destroy the entire Monastery of Bliss and Repose. This was obviously a huge problem. But High Mother Lisha''s malcontent was growing each day. Maybe seeing how Cao Yun didn''t seem to care that much about the life and death of those he was using as pawns would be the last straw. In what way was he different than High Mother Qin Xue in the end?


    While High Mother Lisha was contemplating what she should do, Cao Yun was pondering on the current situation. On Senior Mother Fen Caiji, he had altered his plans. Although Boss Gui''s death was part of it, he had to adapt. All things considered, he wasn''t bothered by the woman''s death. After all, she had been a slave trader. She had killed, tortured and enslaved many people throughout her life. He had no tear to shed on her fate. But he was upset that his plans had been foiled. With this course of thoughts, he felt a bit shameful. But he wasn''t ashamed that he didn''t care about Boss Gui, he was ashamed that he had ever needed her in the first place.


    The more he was dealing with politics, the more he despised politics and himself by extension. However, he was sincerely trying to do what he thought was best. His main problem was that he wasn''t entirely sure what was the right thing to do. Hopefully he would soon leave the Desolate Sepulcher. And although he had no intention of ever coming back, he was still trying to make things as good as they could for the demons living there. At the end of things, he wasn''t the one who would live with the consequences of his action, and it didn''t sit right with him.


    As he was thinking, he realized that High Mother Lisha had not left. In her eyes, he could see that she was also wondering about many things.


    "How are things going on in the nomadic tribes?"


    Cao Yun''s voice suddenly jolted High Mother Lisha out of her own thoughts. Obviously, she was able to hide most of her emotions and surprise. However, Cao Yun''s senses were better than most people so he could still read her like an open book. He didn''t want to pressure her though.


    "Chieftain Sha Chai Gan has completely taken over the alliance of the nomadic tribes. For the moment, she''s been able to calm them down so they won''t attack. But their hatred against City Lord Sihe is immense. There''s no telling if she''ll be able to keep everyone from doing something stupid. Thankfully, Senior Mother Fen Caiji is doing a very good job as well. I don''t think we''ll have any problem as long as we deal with City Lord Sihe soon enough."


    "Is she re-organizing the tribes as instructed?"


    "Yes, she is. Once the alliance is over, Chieftain Sha Chai Gan will still be regarded as a figure as respected as her father was. The tribes will be able to prosper much more thanks to her reforms. Of course, many didn''t take too well to those reforms, especially the Sun Scorpion Clan. But they couldn''t go against the popularity she''s enjoying right now. Our Sisters are taking care of any who would go in her way."


    "Any casualty?"


    "As you''ve ordered, we''re keeping them to a minimum. Bribes and threats are mostly enough to silence any dissenting voice. Moreover, they fear that their own tribe will tear them apart if they act against Chieftain Sha Chai Gan or our order. But some of the elites in the Sun Scorpion Clan were just too dangerous, so we had no choice in the matter. Master, I don''t understand, why don''t we just get rid of this clan?"


    "Senior Mother Fen Caiji made a convincing argument about them and I thought about it some more. Now that Boss Gui is dead, I''ll have to ponder over it again, but we may have some use for this clan. Well, not as it is now... We''ll have to change it a lot, but it could be the salvation of the nomadic tribe ironically. They sold out their own brothers and sisters and yet they may become the instrument that will keep them out of slavery for centuries to come, if not more."If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    As he casually mentioned Boss Gui''s death, Cao Yun sensed a bit of tension within High Mother Lisha. He gave her some time of silence and contemplation. Eventually, she asked the burning question that was plaguing her mind.


    "Master Cao, you''re just using people all around the Desolate Sepulcher. Are we just pawns in your game? Is it because we''re demons and not humans that you disregard our existence? Don''t you care about what fate befalls any of us? How many are you ready to sacrifice? Aren''t you worse than High Mother Qin Xue?"


    Under this barrage of questions, Cao Yun didn''t react. He let her finish as her voice was getting tenser and tenser. He could feel some desperation but also much resentment.


    "I''m doing everything I can. I''m honest right now. The truth is that I don''t have all the answers. And this is the biggest difference with your former High Mother Qin Xue. I don''t know whether what I''m doing is right or wrong. I can assure you that my intents are good, but it is far from enough. Honestly, I''m going with the flow despite the plans that I laid out. I will alter and adapt them as the situation unfold.


    "I won''t shed a tear for Boss Gui as she knew what she was getting into and she was far from being a good person. That being said, I would rather avoid bloodshed as much as I can while going in the direction I want. I have very few principles I can''t bend. In fact, I do think that having unyielding principles is a terrible thing. The world is ever-changing. If you don''t change with it, you''re bound to become the very thing you despised in the first place. Besides, you cannot know for sure whether your principles are good unless you test them. But then, you have to be prepared to change them accordingly. This is what I am doing.


    "I don''t have all the answers and I won''t pretend that I do. As a matter of fact, if you have any good idea, I am ready to not only hear them but use them as well. You are right when you point out that I am no demon. Despite the time I''ve spent among you, I am still a foreigner in your culture. I can''t know for sure what the reaction of the demons will be to my reforms. My main goal is indeed to go back to my Hongchen Kingdom, but I sincerely wish to make this Desolate Sepulcher a better place. Even out of sheer selfishness, if the slave trade ends, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy will be weakened, not by much, but weakened nonetheless."


    Hearing Cao Yun''s honest words, High Mother Lisha was a bit taken aback, but she was also furious. She couldn''t tell why exactly but she felt a powerful anger welling up in her. Maybe it was simply because Cao Yun could admit openly something that had been plaguing her for decades. He wasn''t certain about the morality of his own actions, just like she had been uncertain. But unlike her, he was still trying to do something about it. On the other hand, she had given the responsibility of her own moral to High Mother Qin Xue. And even now, she was ready to give it to Cao Yun.


    He was right though. Soon he would leave. After his departure, High Mother Lisha would have to deal with these matters herself. It might be time for her to take actions and not just delegate her moral compass to someone else. However, it would mean accepting to take accountability for her choices.


    "What do you intend to do with the Sun Scorpion Clan?"


    "At first, I sincerely wondered about simply dissolving the clan and dispatching its members in other clans and tribes. But Senior Mother Fen Caiji''s idea was much better. We could make this tribe into a real army for the entire tribes. Instead of dissolving it, we could dilute it. The idea was to allow people from any tribe to join and to be trained. Slowly, the Sun Scorpion Clan would lose its current identity to become a mixture of all the other tribes. Like that, they could work to protect the tribes without playing favorites. Of course, it''s not perfect as it would require the tribes to have some common goal. At the very least, this new army would be useful against enemies from the outside, like the Nalupu Kingdom. And it might even prevent infighting to some extent."


    "I see... You could also use it as mercenary force. With Boss Gui''s death, why not just merge her own mercenaries with this Sun Scorpion Clan? We Sisters of the Abyss do act as spies and assassins despite still serving our own interests. This could be possible with the Sun Scorpion Clan. Besides, Boss Gui''s mercenaries and the Sun Scorpion Clan both use poisons to enhance themselves. I know that your Blazing Swallow is working on better pills for that very purpose. Thus, this could also strengthen the relations between the Blazing Swallow and the tribes. Consequently, it would also strengthen the relations between the Nalupu Kingdom and the tribes."


    "Indeed. This isn''t a bad idea at all. We''ll have to discuss it some more. But we could turn the Sun Scorpion Clan into both an army and a business. Moreover, having them as mercenaries to show how powerful they are will deter even more people from attacking the tribes. And the need for slave warriors will diminish if you have access to mercenaries. This is worth thinking about. I''ll let you work on it. You should also talk with Senior Mother Fen Caiji about this, I''m sure that she will have great insights as well. After all, she knows the tribes better than we do."


    Seeing that Cao Yun really took her opinion into consideration alleviated most of High Mother Lisha. She wasn''t sure whether he was giving her this task to keep her happy and subservient, but she was still ready to perform it as best as she could. But she had other ideas as well.


    "If you want to minimize the casualties, why don''t we simply assassinate City Lord Sihe?"


    "Humph... I''ve thought a lot about it. But things are not as simple. Even without the Sisters of the Abyss, I am confident that I could sneak into his very residence and kill him without leaving any evidence. However, killing a city lord is a dangerous matter. Lord Wanghuo couldn''t stay silent about this. And the culprit would be obvious. Just as Marshal Weiji blamed Boss Gui for my actions, Lord Wanghuo and the entire Nalupu Kingdom would blame either the Blazing Swallow or the Sisters of the Abyss themselves. The city lords couldn''t accept this murder as it would be a threat to them directly. You can imagine the bloody civil war that would ensue. But do not worry, City Lord Sihe sealed his fate."


    "I understand your concerns of course. But I do think we could smooth things over. For example, we could blame Marshal Weiji''s action on him. As you''ve just said, killing a city lord is no laughing matter. if we can implicate City Lord Sihe in this murder, then we could force Lord Wanghuo to execute him himself. In fact, all the city lords would approve of it."


    "I know. As I said, his fate is already sealed. There is no reason to worry about him at this point. In fact, my only point of concern is Lord Wanghuo''s reaction. No, it''s not true. I''m also concerned about keeping the resentment between the various cities and the tribes to a minimum. Great changes can cause turmoil and civil war. I want to avoid that at all cost. And for that, the Sisters of the Abyss are perfect."


    "I understand. We will make sure to insist on the teachings of the Weaver of Souls to unify all demons."

 Chapter 620: Weiji Hes posterity

    The day of the meeting between High Mother Lisha and Lord Wanghuo was drawing near. As such, Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha had left the Monastery of Bliss and Repose to get to the capital of the Nalupu Kingdom, Sidina. Considering that they weren''t in any hurry, they would reach the city in around a month. There, the Sisters were already preparing everything for their arrival.


    Since the induction ceremony of High Mother Lisha, Lord Wanghuo had stayed secluded in his harem and had let his ministers take care of all matters. Consequently, the Sisters of the Abyss were more or less ruling the entire Nalupu Kingdom as the ministers either didn''t care to argue with them, were sympathetic to them, or were simply not influential enough. The death of High Mother Qin Xue could have dealt a huge blow to the Sisters. Thankfully though, the transition had been smooth, in parts thanks to Cao Yun''s seals that had forced all the powerful Sisters to side with their new High Mother. But also, because High Mother Lisha was already respected and extremely competent.


    On the other hand, the ceremony had not been very beneficial for Lord Wanghuo. Those with enough involvement in politics knew of his indolence but he had kept his halo of strength in the eyes of the population. Seeing him at the ceremony had broken that a little. Cao Yun had not found the time to attend it so he had not witnessed anything.


    From the reports he had read, Lord Wanghuo had been a great warrior. Even today, he could kill any demon or demonic beast in the Desolate Sepulcher with his bare hands. For centuries, he had not been forced to take out any weapon to deal with his enemies. According to some stories from credible sources, he had already slaughtered a dozen middle Accomplished Demons back when he was on their cultivation level, not higher. Cao Yun could probably do so, but he had to admit that he had been extremely lucky with his cultivation.


    Seeing their king and champion in his current had demoralized many commoners who had been fortunate enough to attend the ceremony. By contrast, High Mother Lisha had seemed like a much more reliable figure. However, Lord Wanghuo didn''t care at all. He had dismissed any minister who had tried to make his appearance more kingly. Of course, he had still respected the ceremony and had not broken any ritual or custom. After all, this was an important part of their culture.


    Despite his lacking aura and his indolence, Lord Wanghuo still respected the Sisters and their religious order. Although he wasn''t a pious follower of their teaching, he had a lot of admiration for them and the Weaver of Souls. Unfortunately, something had broken in him and his behavior had gotten worse and worse over the years. He built a harem with thousands of beautiful women whom he changed frequently. And he had been spending more and more time with them.


    For the demons, it was not a good behavior. Some would admit that a king could have several concubines, maybe even a small harem. So long as it wasn''t too covert. But demons valued their blood and their essence. Having too much intercourse with too many partners was seen as a waste of one''s essence. The worse thing would be to have too many children without any regard for their bloodlines and for the loss of essence one had to endure to give birth.


    According to the Sisters, the problem hadn''t come from his Turbid Demons as some could think. No, the problem was in fact rooted in his own strength. He didn''t care much for politics. But he even came to disdain it completely. For a time, he tried to challenge himself. But after conquering the entire Nalupu Kingdom and eradicating some extraordinary demonic beasts, he had grown tired. There was nothing in life to stimulate him. Although he was alive, it felt as though he was dead.


    Learning of all of that, Cao Yun was quite stricken. Indeed, he was working on his Fallen Arrow. And Cao Yun himself was wondering what meaning he would find in life, especially after saving his sister and killing Emperor Weide. He would obviously do everything to protect the Hongchen Kingdom too. But at some point, he would be done.


    After all of that, Cao Yun wished to explore his cultivation even more, maybe travel through the universe and beyond. But how long could he stay driven? And if he got stuck in his cultivation, would he devolve slowly like Lord Wanghuo? He could completely lose his drive. After all, despite his mind cultivation, Cao Yun could lose his motivation. Cultivating Fallen Arrow was affecting his Dao Heart and putting doubts in his mind as to the meaning of everything, especially his own life. For the moment, he had a clear goal in mind so he could focus on this. But he also thought about the future...


    Hopefully, he would find more answers as he would grow. But Cao Yun had now become certain that everything he thought was him was in fact the emanation of his ten souls interacting and clashing with each other. In fact, he could literally feel his Shuang Ling the Bright Spirit yearning for the knowledge of the Dao. At the same time, Tai Guang the Great Light was pushing him toward even more spiritual pursuits. Maybe he could become a monk. You Jing the Dark Essence agreed with it as it could create a new family for Cao Yun. However, it also had contradictory aspirations as You Jing also longed for Cao Yun to stay with the friends he was missing.


    Other desires and emotions from his seven Po were clashing with his three Hun. Some times, the Hun were all in disagreement with the Po. Other times, some of the Hun and the Po were clashing with the rest. Cao Yun could somewhat feel this permanent battle in his own mind. The more he was aware of that, the more he was left aghast. What remained of himself? Was everything he was just the emanation of those souls?


    Even when Cao Yun was using his mind cultivation to rein in those souls, he could tell that this was somewhat the product of their desires as well. More and more, he couldn''t find the limit between what he always felt was him and those souls in him. And more and more, they appeared to be both himself and some external force. But if they felt like some external force, then that meant that there was really something remaining apart from them. Or was this very sensation itself caused by them too?The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    This existential crisis had already begun some time ago but it was simply growing more and more acute as Cao Yun was discovering his own soul. Honestly, he was a bit afraid of what he might discover. Maybe this was also a reason why some cultivators didn''t persevere long enough. Besides, no cultivator in the Piaolu planet had any hope to break free from the shackles of their own mortality. Maybe ignorance was bliss for some... But not for Cao Yun.


    The young man was steeling his will, his resolve and his Dao Heart. He wouldn''t let these feelings get in his way. Maybe this was also caused by his own souls battling each other. But so what? If that was the case, whether he let this hopelessness drown him or not would also be the result of those souls. If there really was nothing that was truly himself, things would still be better with more knowledge and more power. Maybe he could discover something along the way. And if he didn''t, at least, he would probably enjoy his life even if he was simply being driven by those souls.


    -


    As Cao Yun was contemplating all of that while traveling toward Sidina, someone else was having a crisis.


    In Siqian City, City Lord Sihe had learned about what had happened in Duma City. On one side he was happy that his greatest rival was dead, Boss Gui. On the other, he had lost a huge support within the army, Marshal Weiji He. This wasn''t a small loss at all. Besides, he could probably be accused of somehow be behind this assassination. If he had not killed Boss Gui, he had his reasons.


    Even Lord Wanghuo would think twice before killing a city lord. And City Lord Sihe was not on Lord Wanghuo''s level at all. Moreover, the mere death of a city lord was bad news. After all, it proved to everyone else that this was possible. Thus, it would be met with extreme anger from all the other city lords. Of course, City Lord Sihe was afraid to be accused. He was already in a bad place.


    Besides all this, Boss Gui''s death was paradoxically not good for his business as it would create more chaos. It was good for no one''s business as a matter of fact. But City Lord Sihe''s business was already going down as getting more slaves was almost impossible now. He had already sold most of his slaves and was having a hard time getting more valuable slaves.


    Thankfully, Nie Pian was salvaging his business with his knowledge about Boss Gui''s trade and the Blazing Swallow. For months now, Nie Pian had been working like crazy. He had invested a lot of money in various places and had turned up a huge profit. With Boss Gui, he might even be able to divert more and more money from her own assets.


    Indeed, Nie Pian was working like no other servant of City Lord Sihe. And he was being successful. Since Boss Gui''s death, he had secluded himself in his study, sending orders through sealed letters to many others. City Lord Sihe had quickly ordered everyone to obey his commands as though they were his. And since then, everything was going well for his trade.


    Nie Pian had bought some of Boss Gui''s hidden assets. With her sudden death, she had not been able to warn anyone and Nie Pian was probably the only one who had a full picture of all her investments. As such, he might even be able to buy more than half of everything she once owned. This would be great for City Lord Sihe.


    Although such news should have elated City Lord Sihe, he was still growing more and more worried. Consequently, he was also growing increasingly paranoid.


    One day, he suddenly opened the door of his personal chambers and saw a servant slowly walking on the other side of the corridor. Without any warning, he jumped forward and crushed his skull with a wooden chamber pot while screaming like a madman.


    "Who sent you?! Who are spying for?!"


    With each scream, he crushed the bloody corpse. The poor servant had not even been a Golden Blood Child so he had no chance at all. And obviously, he had just been in this corridor by chance. As a matter of fact, he was cleaning chamber pots...


    There were many incidents of this kind. It was to the point where the servants were forbidden from getting inside the residence alone. City Lord Sihe was given detail plans of their comings and goings. But there were still more minor incidents.


    In several meetings, his counselors were simply afraid to speak their minds. Thus, Nie Pian was getting more and more influential. Although the counselors might have resented him, they did not. Indeed, they were quite pleased that someone else was keeping City Lord Sihe in check. Besides, Nie Pian was lining their pockets too. And he was always consulting with them as much as he could.


    Each counselor felt as though Nie Pian had a very personal relationship with them. And so did City Lord Sihe.


    Unfortunately, his madness didn''t stop to his residence. When he left his residence, all of his counselors were filled with dread. It only happened a few times, but each day City Lord Sihe went in town, he caused a major incident. They were even forced to buy an entire restaurant because he had killed the manager and the cooks thinking they were trying to poison him.


    Since then, he had also had a few cooks boiled alive after accusing him of assassination attempt. Clearly, City Lord Sihe had lost it and people were now really starting to plot against him. Ironically, his paranoia was now becoming warranted.


    -


    In the Weiji residence, Weiji Fen was holding the most important gathering of his entire life. After Weiji He''s demise, the entire family was in uproar. They had been put under house arrest. At every door, there were guards ready to strike down anyone who would try to exit the residence. Most of their servants had been taken away. All of their slaves had been confiscated too.


    For the time being, they were simply happy that Lord Wanghuo had not executed anyone, Lord Wanghuo of his ministers. Maybe he was simply too busy having some fun in his harem. But hopefully, he would remember the loyal services of Weiji He.


    It was hard for Weiji Fen but he had to denounce his own father. Cutting blood ties with one''s family was already hard for humans, but with the importance of blood and bloodline in their culture, it was even harder for demons. For example, adoption was much more widespread among humans and almost nonexistent among demons. For being adopted in one''s family, it was necessary to engage in an ancient ceremony to forsake one''s blood and accept another''s.


    Weiji Fen was surrounded by all the high members of the Weiji family. They were all wearing white and he was wearing red and white. Before him was small altar with various narrow and long wooden planks. Each wooden plank had a small drop of blood on it. This was the family altar with the blood of all their ancestors.


    Obviously, Weiji He''s blood was there as well.


    Weiji Fen took out the wooden plank that used to be his. After chanting a few words in a language that no one could understand as it was a corrupted form of Antique Sixian, he raised the plank in the air. Weiji Fen turned toward the rest of the family. They all chanted the same words.


    Those were ceremonial words meant to insult someone, denounce them and even curse them. From now on, Weiji He''s blood was a blight on their own family. They would have to perform various rituals to clean themselves of such a diseased blood.


    When this part was over, Weiji Fen literally burned the wooden plank down.


    Even going to such extents might not be enough though. Maybe they would also need the support of City Lord Sihe...

 Chapter 621: Dangerous reply

    City Lord Sihe''s mental state was truly spiraling out of control. Most people were convinced that he had suffered from some form of Qi deviation. The term was a bit different for demons, but it was the best possible translation. Because demons'' emotions were stronger than humans, working on their soul was always more dangerous. In a sense, it was similar to what demonic cultivators were doing. Thus, it was easier for them to completely lose control of either their emotions or their very cultivation. In the first scenario, it would only affect their mood, and maybe even their personality a little.


    If a demon suffered from true Qi deviation though, they could simply lose their sanity. And those around City Lord Sihe were witnessing just that. The worst part was that they couldn''t do a single thing about it. A few of his close counselors had tried to talk about the issue but they were rewarded for their loyalty by torture and death. Indeed, City Lord Sihe immediately thought they were trying to force him out.


    Maybe they were trying to have his abandon his title so they could take it for themselves. Or they would exploit the fact that he was seeking help to undermine his competence and try to steal his position. City Lord Sihe could only see enemies all around him. In fact, even Nie Pian himself had to be extremely careful when he talked with City Lord Sihe. Despite being the only person he truly listened to, Nie Pian realized how unstable City Lord Sihe was. The wrong word with the wrong tone could lead to his death. Simply working under City Lord Sihe was putting one''s life at risk. Nie Pian truly missed his days in Duma City. But he had no choice at that point. He had to see things to their end.


    The counselors and the servants were doing everything they could to stay as far away from City Lord Sihe as possible. Some even left the entire region. A few defected for other city lords. Unfortunately, it increased City Lord Sihe''s paranoia. After all, such events were proving him right. Thus he put several people under house arrest and even forced them to relocate their family in Siqian City. Consequently, if they tried to leave, he could simply eradicate their entire bloodline.


    The more paranoid City Lord Sihe was becoming, the more influence Nie Pian had. Indeed, everyone was passing through him. After all, he would never attack or threaten them and he knew how to convey their messages to City Lord Sihe without causing his mood to shift too much. Nie Pian knew exactly what to say, how to say, and more importantly what not to say. Thus, he was actively trying to calm City Lord Sihe down. But sometimes, it also required to fuel his paranoia a little so that he could turn it against an actual problem.


    At that point in time, Cao Yun had probably reached the capital of the Nalupu Kingdom, Sidina. That meant that he would have an audience with Lord Wanghuo. If things went smoothly, Cao Yun would get everything he was looking for. Nie Pian had to act as soon as possible. And things seemed to go well for him. Indeed, he had received a message from the Weiji family. Their family head, Weiji Fen was asking for help.


    As Weiji He''s son, Weiji Fen was denouncing the actions of his own father. But it was absolutely necessary in his current situation. After that, he praised City Lord Sihe in no unclear words. Obviously, he was terrified and was looking for someone to protect his family. Unfortunately, no city lord would accept to do so after what Weiji He had done. Supporting the Weiji family would be a terrible decision for most. Thus, Weiji Fen had turned toward City Lord Sihe.


    Actually, it would be even worse for City Lord Sihe. Indeed, it would prove to everyone that he still had ties to the Weiji family. In fact, it might even link him to Weiji He''s stupid decision. And consequently, it would implicate him in City Lord Gui''s assassination. Obviously, City Lord Sihe could have none of that. Although Weiji Fen tried to address the issue, he was somewhat clumsy about it. And it didn''t take Nie Pian too much work to make his words sound like a threat when he talked with City Lord Sihe.


    To be fair, he didn''t so much change the words, but rather altered their meaning by adding some commentary and tone to them. When he heard the secret letter, City Lord Sihe lost it.


    "That bastard is trying to coerce me?! Who does he think he is?! If he goes down, I''ll go down with him?! Is that what he thinks?! I''ll tear his tendons out and strangulate him with them! I''ll make him eat his own flesh! Bastard!"


    City Lord Sihe was really letting his anger out. His screams could be heard throughout his residence despite many measures to prevent sound from leaving his chambers. Everyone in the residence was terrified as they didn''t know who he was talking about. Many even made plans to leave in a hurry if things went bad. Not only was it risky to work for City Lord Sihe, the benefits were also getting fewer and fewer.


    As a matter of fact, Nie Pian was probably the only one keeping the economy of Siqian City running. With only City Lord Sihe, the city would have collapsed some time ago. Slowly, Nie Pian was in fact replacing City Lord Sihe in all his duties of city lord. However, everyone was acting as though it wasn''t the case, simply because they were genuinely afraid that Nie Pian would get killed by their actual City Lord''s insanity. That being said, most people would welcome Nie Pian a their new City Lord.


    "City Lord, I do believe that this Weiji Fen is simply clumsy with his words. He''s afraid of what could befall his family. Most likely, he tried to contact other city lords and failed. He probably turned to you in his despair. At the time, Lord Wanghuo didn''t say anything about their fate. However, they are under house arrest with guards ready to kill anyone leaving their residence. I can imagine their fear. Weiji Fen will do anything to save his blood."


    "Anything indeed... You''re absolutely right! He''ll use me as a scapegoat if he has to. By blaming me for his father''s foolish decision, he could protect his family..."Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Nie Pian didn''t even have to distort the truth to fuel City Lord Sihe''s paranoia. His imaginative mind was enough to create the worst possible scenario. Now, Weiji Fen was a conniving traitor in his mind. And nothing could ever change that. Even if Nie Pian tried to alter it, he would fail. Instead, he would lose his position close to City Lord Sihe.


    "But, we can''t simply kill him. After all, there are guards all around the Weiji residence. And who could be trusted for such a task?"


    "You''re absolutely right... And I can''t even go there myself. I''m surrounded by snakes and I can''t leave my own city for fear that they''ll strike me at my lowest. It''s such a pity that your cultivation is so weak."


    Even though City Lord Sihe had given Nie Pian many miraculous pills, and used various seals to improve his cultivation speed, it wasn''t enough to bring him all the way to late Golden Blood Child. After all, Nie Pian was indeed quite old. His lifespan could increase if he was able to breakthrough to the Accomplished Demon realm, but it was incredibly difficult at his current age. Besides, he was always busy with other matters. This was also a problem for everyone in Siqian City. They would love to see Nie Pian take over instead of City Lord Sihe, but he would die in a few decades at most. He wouldn''t leave more than a century in the best case scenario. Still, it would be better than to keep a madman as city lord for more than a millennium...


    "I know! We''ll send a reply along with a small surprise. Since that moron''s niece used some Bloodfire Vermilion Haze, we''ll do the same thing. Yes! People already accuse them of using this poison, so we''ll use it against them once more.


    "Take a brush. Write down my reply. I have to make it so that everyone reading it knows that I take my distance with this accursed family."


    "Of course, City Lord, immediately."


    Nie Pian wrote down every word. The letter wasn''t encrypted in any way. In fact, it was clear that City Lord Sihe wanted everyone to be able to read the letter and get its meaning. When Nie Pian was done, City Lord Sihe took the letter and read it several times to be sure. After that, he had Nie Pian rewrite it at least a dozen times. Only when he was truly satisfied with the result did he take it away in his personal quarters.


    For several days, he worked on his plan. Along with the letter, he would send the dreaded poison. But he had to be careful about it. He wanted people to be convinced that the poison had come from the Weiji family, not him. As such, he would have to make sure that the letter would have no trace of it and that no one could determine when it had arrives. Indeed, if someone could discover that the poison had struck soon after the letter had come in, it would be obvious. He wanted anyone to be able to find and read the letter after the Weiji family fell to the poison. But he didn''t want anyone to figure out he had used this poison.


    In the end, City Lord Sihe found a guard he could corrupt. And since the guard would be close to the residence, he would die as well anyway. Killing the Weiji family was already bad, but also killing guards sent by Lord Wanghuo was even more terrible. However, City Lord Sihe didn''t care at all. He was convinced that he was fighting for his life there. And he was, but he was doing everything he shouldn''t have. In a sense, he was actively fighting against his own life. Unfortunately for him, there was no stopping him. Nie Pian didn''t even try in fact.


    -


    While City Lord Sihe was busy with his assassination ploy, that had been so successful for both Weiji Nian and Weiji He, Nie Pian was busy in Siqian City. There was more and more unrest as City Lord Sihe''s disease had pushed him to increase the taxes. He was forbidding people from leaving their house at certain hours. Many of his guards were patrolling the city, arresting innocent people under his authority. This was a total disaster and everyone knew it. But people were too afraid to speak up. And they were right. In the streets, there were still bloodstains from protesters.


    Nie Pian was doing everything he could to calm things down. He had even given orders to the guards so they didn''t perform their duties as intended. Unless they couldn''t hide it, they let people slip through their fingers as much as they could.


    Outside the city, there were also a few tribes that were getting agitated. Thankfully, Chieftain Sha Chai Gan had calmed things down on her side as well. But there were still tribes who were vehemently opposed to City Lord Sihe. Nie Pian talked with them whenever he could, asking as a diplomat between them and Siqian City.


    Because City Lord Sihe had completely abandoned his duties, Nie Pian was forced to assume his authority from time to time. As it turned out, he was rather good at it but didn''t like it one bit. Nie Pian was much better with numbers and money than he was with people. Always trying to keep everyone happy was part of his job of course, but in the current situation, it was just too exhausting and he wasn''t even earning any money from them. He truly wanted to stop. Any ambition of being the future city lord he could have had was gone. In a matter of months, his face had aged so much, he now looked like a frail old man despite all the miraculous pills he had consumed.


    Thankfully, no one wanted things to get out of control, so it was rather easy to keep the tribes from attacking Siqian City. Otherwise, there would be a bloodbath. Nie Pian was also tired of the thick odor of blood surrounding City Lord Sihe. He was killing people constantly because of his paranoia. He had killed counselors, servants, citizens, slaves, men, women, elderly, children. City Lord Sihe had completely lost any moral sense he might have had beforehand.


    As Nie Pian was talking with the tribes, he knew that his master was preparing an assassination through poison. This was a terrible idea, but he couldn''t talk him out of it. Thankfully, his ordeal would soon be over. Finally, he could leave City Lord Sihe''s side and even retire. After everything he had done, Nie Pian was looking forward to his retirement. He would enjoy the last decades he had in front of him to the fullest. In fact, imagining what he would do was the only thing keeping him from going insane himself. Without that incentive, he might have collapsed from exhaustion and fear. Indeed, he was sincerely terrified of City Lord Sihe, like anyone else in Siqian City. One misstep could cause everything he had worked for to crumble.


    -


    Cao Yun had finally reached Sidina along with High Mother Lisha and a few Sisters. They would have an audience with Lord Wanghuo in a few days. For the time being, they settled to a small residence the Sisters of the Abyss had prepared beforehand. Everything was ready for this visit. High Mother Lisha would go to a temple of the Weaver of Souls while Cao Yun was staying at their residence. She would be busy for a while.


    After that, Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha would visit Lord Wanghuo. A good thing was that he had left his harem in order to receive them. For weeks, if not months, he had stayed secluded in his harem. So everyone was quite pleased with this visit. Finally, they could get Lord Wanghuo to make some decisions.


    Just after leaving his harem, Lord Wanghuo was assaulted with paperwork. Despite appointing many competent people at key positions, Lord Wanghuo still had to perform this kind of duty. Chief Elder Baishen would have felt bad for him...

 Chapter 622: Lord Wanghuo

    Since they had an audience with Lord Wanghuo, High Mother Lisha and Cao Yun walked toward the royal palace. Contrary to the Oasis of Life, the royal place was not in the desert and yet there was less vegetation. The place was rather urban with many single-story buildings. There were vast courtyards but the vegetation wasn''t too visible from the streets. Looking at the various buildings, it was obvious that this had been a smaller city once. Many buildings had been added fairly recently, they couldn''t be more than a century old. Considering how old Accomplished Demons could live, this was the equivalent of five to ten years for mere mortals.


    And indeed, this royal city had been built upon the site of a small town. Before Lord Wanghuo conquered the entire Desolate Sepulcher, he had been a little boy from this town. After becoming the absolute ruler of the entire continent, he decided to come back home. Unfortunately, his family was terribly poor and they had all died before he had even reached the Golden Blood Child realm. Maybe this had driven him to focus solely on his strength. Nowadays, no one could rival him at all.


    With High Mother Lisha at his sides, Cao Yun''s experience was extremely strange. Everyone was treating her as though she was a goddess on this land. In a sense, she was considered to be the representative in the mortal world of their gods, the Weaver of Souls. After getting visions from the Weaver of Souls and collecting his ashes, this felt very weird to Cao Yun. And he wasn''t used to this kind of attention.


    Even in the Wubei Sect, as the Young Sect Master, he had not felt like that. People were looking at High Mother Lisha as though she was not of flesh and blood. They didn''t see her, they were seeing the god she represented.


    When they finally reached the royal palace, the guards didn''t even dare to ask any question of High Mother Lisha, and by extension of him either. Even if she had had no audience with Lord Wanghuo, they would have probably allowed her to enter. Although they were afraid of Lord Wanghuo''s strength, they wouldn''t have risked offending their god.


    At last, Cao Yun entered the royal palace. His plans were about to bear fruits. Now, he simply needed for the king to give him a navigator and a boat so he could go back to his land. Soon he would finally be able to see his sister again, his friends, his homeland. Crossing the entire God''s Land infested with the Empyrean Asura Theocracy wasn''t a problem for him. With his stealth, he wasn''t afraid of any demon on the Piaolu planet. However, he couldn''t just swim through the Divine Blood Ocean. Even flying would be a problem.


    Cao Yun had studied various maps but they were not too useful. The Divine Blood Ocean was simply too erratic. Only someone who intimately knew this ocean could safely cross. And even then, many navigators had died traveling from the Desolate Sepulcher to God''s Land. If their trades with the continent were not so important to their economy, the Nalupu Kingdom would have stopped risking its boats and navigators a long time ago. Of course, Cao Yun could still try to travel on his own. But he didn''t like the idea of getting killed by the weather or by some lurking demonic beast before he could put his hands on Emperor Weide. Such a death would simply be too tragic, it wouldn''t even be funny.


    Walking up the small stairs leading to the audience hall, Cao Yun examined the array formations set all over the place. If things went poorly, it was necessary to have a perfect understanding of the layout. The array formations themselves were very primitive and Cao Yun could get rid of them in an instant. In fact, he could easily turn them against those they were supposed to protect. But there were also blood runes and a few seals here and there. They were a bit more complex, especially the blood runes.


    The seals weren''t a problem, but he could feel a powerful bloodline in the blood runes. Without any doubt, Lord Wanghuo had used his own blood, the blood of an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon. Those blood runes would be a problem for sure. But hopefully, Cao Yun wouldn''t have to resort to his last plans. For the time being, things were going relatively well. Even if Boss Gui''s death had altered his projects, things were still moving forward in the right direction.


    Before they entered the audience hall, High Mother Lisha and Cao Yun could hear soft moaning and small laughs. The two of them knew immediately what those many voices were about. High Mother Lisha''s face turned red. It wasn''t out of embarrassment, but out of anger.


    "This pig...! He knew we were coming and yet...!"


    If they had been in the Oasis of Life where the Sisters of the Abyss were absolute, she would have lost it. Most likely, she would have admonished Lord Wanghuo in front of everyone else, completely disregarding his authority and the etiquette. But the thing is, Lord Wanghuo wouldn''t have done such a thing in the Oasis of Life. It seemed obvious that he was actively trying to piss off High Mother Lisha. From what Cao Yun understood of him, he was bored out of his mind. Thus, he was trying to take some pleasure out of upsetting the High Mother of the Sisters of the Abyss after being forced to play by the rules during her induction ceremony.


    Within the royal palace, no demon could use their spiritual senses. In fact, even using one''s physical senses too much was seen as a violation of etiquette. Even if there was no real way to prevent one from doing so, most demon adhered to it strictly. Discretion was paramount. And a single small indiscretion could cost one''s head.


    Obviously, when they finally reached the top of the small stairs, they were able to see what Lord Wanghuo was doing.


    On a large golden throne with red cushions, there was a fat man with his chest completely exposed. His feet were also bare. And he was completely slumped on his golden throne. His head was shaved but there was a very long mustache falling on both side of his grinning mouth. Even from the entrance of the audience hall, High Mother Lisha could smell a thick odor of alcohol still stuck to his facial hair. In his eyes, Cao Yun could see an extinct fire as though there used to be a great will in them at some point, but it had been snuffed out. On his bar chest, besides his hair, there were many scars. His muscles were still visible in his arms and chest. But his stomach was extremely plump.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    And all around this fat man, a dozen beautiful women with little clothing were massaging his muscles. Most were using their hands, but some were a bit more imaginative with their body. Such a glorious hall was being used in such a lewd manner. Of course, this made High Mother Lisha furious. And although he was feigning he had not noticed, Lord Wanghuo was extremely pleased with the redness in High Mother Lisha''s face.


    The protocol demanded that the visitors wait for Lord Wanghuo''s command in total silence. A servant ran past them and knelt in the middle of the audience hall.


    "High Mother Lisha, High Mother of the exalted Monastery of Bliss and Repose, representing the will of the Progenitor, the Weaver of Souls.


    "Lord Mo Yun, esteemed guest of High Mother Lisha, owner and founder of the Blazing Swallow from Duma City."


    Despite his small stature, the servant''s voice was loud enough that it echoed throughout the audience hall a few times. Cao Yun had hesitated on whether he should use his real name. After all, there were still chances that it could somehow reach the Empyrean Asura Theocracy and then the Hongchen Kingdom. The odds were small, but he didn''t want to take any risk at all. Although Cao Yun was honestly tired of hiding his identity, the mere fact that a few people around him knew who he really was would be enough for now.


    For several minutes, Lord Wanghuo seemed much more interested in the charming women around him than in his guests. As he had been bound by protocol, so was High Mother Lisha now. But she would find a way to make him pay. The worst thing was that it would probably amuse him as well.


    Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha could clearly tell that he was completely indifferent to those women. His senses were focused on the two of them, especially High Mother Lisha. He was simply trying to irritate them. Apparently he was taking a lot of pleasure just seeing how far he could push her temper. But in the end, he got bored of even that. Then, his senses went on Cao Yun.


    Although spiritual senses were forbidden in the royal palace, it didn''t apply to the king himself. As such, his spiritual senses coalesced around Cao Yun. However, the young man was not afraid at all. Despite his strength, Lord Wanghuo wasn''t adept at manipulating his soul. Consequently, he was unable to penetrate Cao Yun''s Wei Qi. For several more minutes, Lord Wanghuo tried to pierce through Cao Yun''s body to explore his cultivation and his bloodline. The more Cao Yun resisted him, the happier and the more excited Lord Wanghuo was.


    At some point, Lord Wanghuo completely forgot about the young women around them. He even stopped grinning like an idiot. The tension between the two men was incredible. Lord Wanghuo ended up using more and more of his spiritual senses. Along with them, he let out some of his killing intent. Suddenly, he got brought back to reality. One of the women who was using her entire body to massage him fainted.


    As she had been so close to him, she was the most affected. But all the women were having a bad time to be honest. Although they were trying their best and even if the attack wasn''t directed at them, they were still feeling as though they were on a battlefield facing Lord Wanghuo. There was nothing pleasant about that.


    Before she could fall to the ground, Lord Wanghuo caught the young woman in his arm.


    "Oh?! It seems we''ve gone a bit overboard today... Ha ha ha! Oh?!"


    After his obvious fake laugh, Lord Wanghuo feigned to see High Mother Lisha for the very first time.


    "High Mother?! How embarrassing that you''ve seen me in such a state... My travel to and from your prestigious Monastery of Bliss and Repose left me exhausted. Thankfully, those charming creatures proposed to appease my fatigue. But, you''ve also had a very long journey toward my royal palace. High Mother Lisha, would you like some company to help massage this exhaustion out of his body?"


    Lord Wanghuo clapped and a few half-naked men entered the royal palace.


    "Would you prefer some men, some women, or both of them? I''m sure they would be elated to help relieve your stress in any way you would see fit."


    Cao Yun could distinctly hear High Mother Lisha''s breathing. In fact, everyone could hear the anger and irritation in her breath. Honestly, the men and women were all a bit uncomfortable. After all, they were probably all believers in the Weaver of Souls. Seeing the High Mother of the Sisters of the Abyss being played in such an obscene way wasn''t pleasant for anyone, except Lord Wanghuo.


    But this time, the fat king was much more interested in Cao Yun so he cut his teasing short.


    "Oh? Maybe High Mother Lisha has already everything she needs by her side...? Thank you, my sweet darlings. You can rest. I''m sorry if I''ve exhausted you."


    Sending a surge of Qi in her, the woman who had fainted woke up full of vigor. Lord Wanghuo kissed her gently and let her go. All the men and women left the audience hall as quickly as they had come in.


    High Mother Lisha didn''t even note the innuendo behind Lord Wanghuo''s words. Clearly, his teasing had worked very well. High Mother Lisha could imagine why High Mother Qin Xue always hated meeting Lord Wanghuo outside of the Oasis of Life. From now on, she would do just as her predecessor had done. This pig was unworthy of her time!


    Still half-naked, Lord Wanghuo stood up from his throne. Standing up, he was even taller than Ren Chao or Yun Ping. He was around ten chi* for sure, even taller than Cao Yun''s first spear. Now that he stood up, his stomach fell. Although his muscles were clearly visible through his fat, his physique struck Cao Yun''s mind. Some monks were sometimes a bit plump or even fat, but it was oftentimes a choice. In fact, the statues of Buddha were often shown like that to give off the vibes of a peaceful and joyful man, not a powerful warrior or an incredible cultivator who could wipe out an entire planet with a thought. However, Lord Wanghuo''s physique had clearly been caused by neglect. He simply didn''t care and he stopped training his body while he abused food and wine.


    A normal human being would have probably died with all the food, wine and fooling around Lord Wanghuo was doing. But he was a cultivator so it didn''t affect him much in the end. However, it did have an impact on his physique. Despite that, Cao Yun could still sense a powerful aura all around Lord Wanghuo. There was no doubt that this man could definitely crush him. And he was walking toward Cao Yun as though he had found his next prey. At the moment, Cao Yun was much more alluring than all the finest women in the world, or the tastiest food, or the most refined wine.


    "You''re the famous Mo Yun? I heard a few stories about you. But none does you justice. I thought that this day would be boring, but it might just get excited in the end..."


    In Lord Wanghuo''s eyes, there was a tiny fire. Cao Yun''s presence had intrigued him. But after testing him with his spiritual senses, Cao Yun was now the only thing on his mind.


    Before Cao Yun or High Mother Lisha could react, Lord Wanghuo punched Cao Yun right in the face.


    * 10 chi = 10 ft = 3.33 m

 Chapter 623: Peng and Baishen defeated

    Both Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha were taken aback. They had expected many things, but not that. After all, Lord Wanghuo had always shown respect toward the Sisters of the Abyss. Although he could tease the Sisters when he was in his own palace, it didn''t mean that he would act against them or their guests.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun had to be present to negotiate with Lord Wanghuo as he would be the one who would use the boat. After thinking a long time about it, he had decided to come in person. There could have been other ways but it was the most direct. According to everything he knew about Lord Wanghuo, this should have been very easy to convince him to help. In fact, Cao Yun had thought that other things would be difficult obstacles. They had turned out easier than he had imagined though.


    What calmed Cao Yun''s heart was that Lord Wanghuo''s punch wasn''t backed with his full strength. Still, it was enough to break even Cao Yun''s skull. Of course, with his full strength, Lord Wanghuo had probably enough strength to simply take his entire head off with a single punch. So that was him showing a huge amount of restraint.


    Lord Wanghuo''s punch connected with Cao Yun''s forearm as the young man had barely enough time to protect himself. He didn''t even use any martial arts. Instead, he simply tried to rotate his body while closing his arms in front of his face. Under the strength behind Lord Wanghuo''s fist, Cao Yun''s arm broke in several places. Despite his own strength, Cao Yun''s arm then hit him right in the face.


    The young man felt that his skull almost ruptured. Thankfully, it resisted. But Cao Yun was sent flying in the distance. Since he was still in the royal palace, Cao Yun decided not to use his spiritual senses. Honestly, he could have done so as he already knew how to get rid of the array formations around him. But he didn''t know enough about the seals and blood runes to be absolutely sure. Moreover, he didn''t want to show his hand right now.


    Cao Yun''s body broke apart the steps as he crashed into the stair. He had still enough velocity to damage the courtyard. However, this didn''t inflict any injury to his body at all. Only Lord Wanghuo''s fist had caused any harm.


    High Mother Lisha was flabbergasted as she simply couldn''t fathom that Lord Wanghuo would act in such a way. Looking at him though, she saw a fire that had been extinguished. There was no malice or bad intent in his eyes. He had the eyes of a child who had just found a new toy and was too excited to control himself. And that was exactly the case.


    In fact, thanks to his mind cultivation, time had seemed to freeze around Cao Yun. Unfortunately, no matter how fast his mind was, he was limited by his body. Still, he used some time to assess the situation. He simply couldn''t fight in the royal capital. Thus, he didn''t take out his spear, he didn''t use any pill or poison. In Lord Wanghuo''s eye, he saw that the fat king was simply testing him out. So Cao Yun decided to show him what he was capable of. The more impressed Lord Wanghuo would be, the easier for Cao Yun''s plan.


    When Cao Yun finally stopped crashing into the pavement, he simply stood up. Covered in dust, he strongly tugged on his robe. All the dust flew away. Although Cao Yun''s forearm was broken, he didn''t show any sign of pain. In fact, such a fracture would heal in a matter of minutes. On his face, the redness caused by the shock of his own forearm was mostly gone already.


    Lord Wanghuo''s eyes were ecstatic. Before High Mother Lisha could say anything, she saw Cao Yun signal her to stay quiet. He could tell that she was incredibly upset. First of all, Lord Wanghuo had teased her to have some fun. And now he had literally punched her guest in the face. Obviously, this was not appropriate, even for the king of the Nalupu Kingdom. After all, High Mother Lisha had the religious authority here.


    Apparently, Lord Wanghuo had not lost all of his mind. Indeed, he turned toward her and bowed slightly.


    "High Mother, please accept my sincerest apologies. When I saw your young companion, my blood simply took over. Sidina will pay for the building of another temple in order to show my contritions. High Mother Lisha may choose any location and any amount of riches."


    Then, he turned toward Cao Yun.


    "Young man, you''ve truly impressed me. Not only were you fast enough to block some of my punch, but you even survived it with no lasting injury. The last time I punched someone like that, they literally flew away from the palace entirely. The very fact that you''re still in the courtyard is impressive. I had heard about your skills in seals, but clearly my reports were lacking in huge areas.


    "Once again, my deepest apologies, High Mother. I couldn''t resist when I felt his blood. It was as though he awoke something in me..."


    Cao Yun knelt in the courtyard.


    "Lord, this humble one cannot accept your praises. If you had used all of your strength, I couldn''t even have survived such an attack."


    "Oh?! Really?! Something tells me you could have. After all, you didn''t even take out your weapon, you didn''t use any martial arts, any seal, any array formation. I took you by surprise and you still did so well. In fact, you''ve even thought about fighting me head on and you changed your mind right before blocking me. Although your body is not as fast as mind, your mind clearly is. Now, I do want to see you at full strength."


    Completely disregarding High Mother Lisha, Lord Wanghuo walked toward Cao Yun. The sluggishness that was in him mere instants ago was gone. However, Cao Yun could still tell that he was not at his peak. For decades now, Lord Wanghuo had lived in indolence and comfort. His will had obviously diminished. Compared with Cao Yun''s Dao Heart, Lord Wanghuo was only motivated by the prospect of having some fun. That was it.


    Thankfully, this was motivation enough for Cao Yun to make him do what he wanted. And what he wanted was a boat. But if he could push it a bit further, he would.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Lord, your praises are just too much. This humble one would never dare to show his meager skills in front of such an august warrior."


    "Enough of this ridiculous prattle. You''re under the protection of the Sisters of the Abyss, I understand that. But I don''t want to kill you, that would be no fun at all. I want to spar with you, at your full strength. I''ll even restrain my cultivation to your current level. Hell, I won''t use any weapon apart from my bare hands. On the other hand, you may use whatever means you desire, weapons, array formations, martial arts, blood runes, seals, whatever you can throw at me.


    "Just tell me what you wish for and it is yours. My only condition is that you do fight me with everything you have. If I find it amusing enough, I''ll give you everything you desire and even more. What say you?"


    Faced with Lord Wanghuo''s frankness, Cao Yun was a bit dumbfounded. Clearly, this man was a great warrior but a terrible politician. It was no wonder City Lord Sihe had been able to grow so influential and powerful. The Sisters of the Abyss and the Xinian Confederation were the real rulers of the Nalupu Kingdom. From what Cao Yun knew, there were a few good ministers but they couldn''t really compete with those two powerhouses.


    The Sisters controlled the religious and spiritual life of the Desolate Sepulcher while the Xinian Confederation ruled over its economy. Sidina had stayed so powerful thanks to the sheer strength of its king, but also to its port. Indeed, Sidina had the largest port of the Desolate Sepulcher attached to it. Besides, they controlled all the boats that went to the God''s Land. In other words, they could completely shut down the import and export. Thus, they controlled the Xinian Confederation to some extent.


    "Lord, I appreciate your feelings. Unfortunately, I have no face before you. I''m nobody and I can''t ridicule myself showing meager tricks in front of such a powerful and noble king. After all, I''m just a lowly guest of her excellency High Mother Lisha."


    Frustration could already be read on Lord Wanghuo''s face. This time, he turned toward High Mother Lisha. And he was forced to take a more respectful tone.


    "High Mother, forgive this stupid one for his jokes earlier. Surely, a woman of your nobility won''t take it to heart. Please, help this foolish king to convince your guest. I will let your Sisters preside over this sparring session. I can assure you that no harm will come to your guest. Please, talk some sense into him."


    Although his words were a bit clumsy, High Mother Lisha could feel his sincerity. He truly was like a little boy who just wanted to play with his new toy. No matter how much he claimed he wouldn''t break it, he just might. High Mother Lisha wasn''t worried about Cao Yun, she was worried about herself and her order. However, she heard Cao Yun''s voice in her mind.


    The young man didn''t even need to alter the array formations of the royal palace. He simply used the seals that were already within her soul to talk directly to the old woman.


    "Guest Mo Yun, this is a great opportunity for you as well. Few can boast that they sparred with the strongest demon in the Desolate Sepulcher. I am certain that Lord Wanghuo will prove very generous."


    "Indeed, indeed. Well spoken, High Mother. Sir Mo, I imagine that you do not need money at all considering your business and who your friends are. But you certainly need a bit of support against this... City Lord... what was his name again?"


    "City Lord Sihe."


    Perplexed, High Mother Lisha finished Lord Wanghuo''s sentence.


    "Yes, that''s him! I could suppress this idiot for you. Of course, I don''t doubt that you already have some idea to deal with him, hence why you''re here. But I can get rid of this problem in an instant. Even though I can''t kill him, I can make sure that he won''t be supported by anyone else in the entire Desolate Sepulcher. For a city lord, it''s as close to dead as can be."


    "Lord, I appreciate your words, but this wasn''t the reason why I visited you. City Lord Sihe is a thorn in my side and I will deal with him myself. However, I was hoping for something else from you. This is quite a lot, so I don''t know if I should ask..."


    "Ask! Ask away! If I can give it to you and it can make you accept the fight, I''ll do whatever!"


    "Lord, your words are very generous, but my needs are large indeed."


    "Enough, enough! Just spew it out already!"


    "I''m sorry, Noble Lord, for wasting your precious time."


    Cao Yun was clearly toying with Lord Wanghuo. High Mother Lisha wondered whether it was some form of revenge for his unprovoked attack. But it was also a way to weaken Lord Wanghuo''s determination before asking for something big. Of course, she thought about the boat, but it didn''t seem like a huge deal. What could be a problem was the navigator, not the boat.


    "Lord, the truth is that I have some business to deal with on God''s Land. And I would need a few things."


    "On God''s Land?! Then, you''ve come for a pass? Wait! No, you''ve come for a boat and... a navigator?!"


    "Not only that, Noble Lord. This is why I said that... No, you''re right. This is just too much to ask of you. Please, forgive this unworthy one."


    "Enough already! Yes, this is quite a lot... And more would you want beside that?!"


    Lord Wanghuo was getting nervous. Right now, he could only think about his sparring session with Cao Yun. The young man''s bloodline had truly excited the martial artist within him. He couldn''t tell exactly what it was, but Lord Wanghuo sensed something deep within the young demon in front of him. He had to spar with him. Moreover, if he wanted to leave the Desolate Sepulcher, this might be his only chance to do so.


    At the very least, Lord Wanghuo had decided to protect Cao Yun from City Lord Sihe. Without even trying, Cao Yun had found a great protector. On the other hand, despite all his claims, Lord Wanghuo might clearly be carried away and severely injure, maim or even kill him during their sparring session. Neither Cao Yun nor High Mother Lisha had neglected this part. He wasn''t the most trustworthy of men. Although he was sincere now, no one could tell if he would be able to control his excitement.


    Apparently, Lord Wanghuo was also learning the meaning of the word frustration. Despite his vices, Lord Wanghuo had the mind of a little brat. Strangely enough, Cao Yun was convinced this might have helped him when dealing with his Turbid Demons. His mind was a bit too naive for them to affect him too much.


    "Lord, this humble one would like to make sure that the Blazing Swallow survives my departure. Unfortunately, Boss Gui''s death by the hands of your former Marshal Weiji dealt a heavy blow to this hope. Thus, I would like for Lord Wanghuo to make sure that the Blazing Swallow endures."


    "Of course, this isn''t a big deal. What would put your mind at ease?"


    High Mother Lisha didn''t even wait for Cao Yun''s cue. Indeed, she was smart enough to know exactly where he was going with that.


    "Lord Wanghuo, with City Lord Gui''s death, a new city lord should be appointed for Duma City. Might I suggest that you appoint Dan Yao? He is the best alchemist of the Blazing Swallow. Our land lacks great alchemists, this could also be a huge opportunity for Sidina. Having tight ties with an alchemist isn''t a bad idea at all."


    "Indeed, indeed. What a great suggestion!"


    Lord Wanghuo''s sudden agreement shocked both Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha. In fact, Cao Yun could imagine the headaches this king was causing for his ministers. In a way, he reminded him of both Chief Instructor Peng and Chief Elder Baishen combined in one man. This was a very dangerous combination. Cao Yun truly pitied his poor ministers.


    "What do you say, Sir Mo?"

 Chapter 624: Minister of the Left

    Clearly, Lord Wanghuo couldn''t care less about the administration of his own Nalupu Kingdom. According to what the Sisters of the Abyss knew, everything was in fact handled by his ministers.


    Apparently, he had once been a great general. Although his tactics and strategy were rudimentary and a bit brutish, he had been an exceptional figure of the Desolate Sepulcher''s history. Seeing him like a fat child in front of him, Cao Yun couldn''t even picture the man he had been. Indolence had completely broken him. The reports from the Sisters were accurate and it disheartened Cao Yun.


    In his own land, he knew of two great leaders, Empyrean Asura and Emperor Weide. Both were terrible in Cao Yun''s eyes as one simply wanted to eradicate his entire kind while the others was ready to betray his own people for power. In front of Lord Wanghuo, Cao Yun didn''t feel the same disgust. He simply felt sad as he was witnessing the decadence of a once great cultivator.


    Idleness and pleasure had vanquished what weapons had failed to destroy. Apparently success could be worse than any sword or spear in the world. This awoke Fallen Arrow in Cao Yun''s mind. Once his goals were achieved, would he also fall in such a state? Although Cao Yun was ready to explore the vastness of this world and even others, he had no way of knowing how far his cultivation would really go.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun also had a few examples of great men and women who had not let success destroy them. But in a way, Lord Wanghuo could be his future. Indeed, Cao Yun was certain that he would grow to be more powerful than anyone on the Piaolu planet. Would boredom claim even his will? As much as he wanted to negate this thought, he didn''t. After all, it was helpful for his mind cultivation. As long as those doubts didn''t damage his Dao Heart, they could be used to strengthen it. It was only in doubts that one could really grow. As it was in peril that one could push his strength and his martial arts further.


    Speaking of martial arts, Cao Yun was almost as excited as Lord Wanghuo at the prospect of this challenge. Clearly, he was winning way more than Lord Wanghuo in this exchange. But the king of the Nalupu Kingdom didn''t mind, or rather he didn''t care at all. In fact, the very notion of politics had not entered his mind once during his discussion with Cao Yun. Apparently, making him do whatever Cao Yun wanted would be easier than he had thought.


    "Noble Lord, this humble one is extremely grateful of your generosity. This talentless one is ready to receive pointers from Lord Wanghuo."


    "Good, good."


    Lord Wanghuo slapped his own belly that giggled around while he was laughing heartily.


    "Please, rest in Sidina for a few weeks. Prepare yourself. I want to spar with you at your most powerful. Whatever you need, consider that you already have it."


    High Mother Lisha intervened once more.


    "Lord Wanghuo, I do think it would be more appropriate to find a suitable place in the desert for such a sparring session. After all, even though Sir Mo is nowhere as strong as you are and even if you suppress your cultivation to his level, your fight would likely cause some damage to the royal palace."


    In fact, High Mother Lisha could already see Sidina in flames. Even with Lord Wanghuo suppressing his cultivation, the two cultivators were both powerful and great martial artists. Being too close to their fight could mean death. Besides, despite Lord Wanghuo''s claim that this would be a simple sparring session, she knew that he wouldn''t be able to control his excitement. Cao Yun was in real danger. If he could not match Lord Wanghuo, he might really end up dead. Obviously, this would also be a terrible thing for High Mother Lisha as her seals would kill her and all the elders of her order.


    If the Sisters of the Abyss were to die under such circumstances, it would be too tragic to even laugh about it.


    Looking at High Mother Lisha''s eyes, Cao Yun knew exactly what she was thinking about. And, as a matter of fact, he agreed with her. Dying in a simple sparring session would be simply too stupid. But so would be dying in the stomach of a sea monster because he had not found a suitable navigator.


    "Noble Lord, if it is possible, I would like to meet the navigator before our duel. This would put my mind at ease before the fight."


    "Of course, of course!"


    Lord Wanghuo immediately sent his spiritual senses all over the place. Cao Yun was sensitive enough to feel it clearly. In front of him, this shameless and debonair king was an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon. He was in the process of merging his seven Turbid Demons together into a real Demon Soul.


    Demons and asura alike named their Turbid Demons in the Accomplished Demon realm their Demon Soul. But in reality, contrary to humans, their actual Demon Soul was only forged at the end of the Accomplished Demon realm, during its eighth stage. Then, the ninth stage was called ''Chaining the Beast'' and it consisted in chaining down one''s Demon Soul before it could destroy the cultivator who had brought it forth.


    Such a Demon Soul was much more powerful than a human''s Soul Embryo. And Cao Yun could feel it. His own Soul Embryo was shaken by Lord Wanghuo''s Demon Soul. Moreover, his very Turbid Demons got excited as well. And so was his Drop of Wrath. Cao Yun had more or less already formed a Demon Soul. Indeed, he had already merged some of his Turbid Demons into his Drop of Wrath. Eventually, his Drop of Wrath would become a complete Demon Soul. Then, he might find a way to also merge his Soul Embryo and his Demon Soul. But he wasn''t absolutely confident about it. In fact, he had no certain idea about what to do to achieve such a goal.


    Right after this sensation spread through Cao Yun, a man in a very dignified robe wearing imperial insignia and a very narrow and tall black hat appeared. There was absolutely no doubt that this was a minister of the Nalupu Kingdom. In fact, from the reports of the Sisters of the Abyss, he was the Minister of the Left in charge of all political affairs within the Nalupu Kingdom.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Minister Renhai, I need you to immediately appoint..."


    "Dan Yao."


    Seeing that he couldn''t even remember the man''s name, High Mother Lisha reminded him of it.


    "... from the Burning Sparrow as City Lord of Duma City."


    ''Burning Sparrow''?! High Mother Lisha and Cao Yun had the same thought, but it was close enough that Minister Renhai seemed to understand instantly. It wasn''t that Lord Wanghuo was stupid, he simply didn''t care at all. Even remembering the names was a pain for him.


    In Renhai''s eyes, the two guests saw a bit of anger and frustration. Unfortunately, he couldn''t say no to this foolish king. Still, if they had been in private, he would have admonished him. Contrary to his king, Minister Renhai was a very formal man. As such, he would never allow his emotions to dictate his actions.


    Moreover, Minister Renhai also knew that there was nothing he could do or say that would change Lord Wanghuo''s mind. Sadly, he knew him well enough to discern when he could influence his decisions or not. This was not such a moment.


    "Lord, it is a bit delicate as the city lords are in uproar after City Lord Gui''s death. Besides, City Lord Sihe is causing a lot of trouble in Siqian City. The city lords around him are also worried about him. I do think it would be better to wait for a few weeks before making this decision official. But I can still write it down and perform the rites. Sir Dan Yao will be recognized as city lord, but we can wait before making it public."


    In a few instants, Minister Renhai had found the best way to handle the situation knowing that his king wouldn''t budge. In fact, he even barely listened to him. Once again, it was not out of stupidity. Lord Wanghuo never intervened in political affairs and he trusted his Minister of the Left entirely on such matters.


    "Thank you, Minister Renhai."


    Both High Mother Lisha and Cao Yun slightly bowed in front of the dignified man. Hearing their thanks, he stroked his small mustache. He was quite happy with their response as his king had clearly made this decision to please them. With such an answer, he would accept Minister Renhai''s proposition without any problem.


    "Good, good. Now that it''s settled, I also want you to choose our best navigator. He''ll accompany my young friend to God''s Land as soon as possible. Who''s our best navigator?"


    "Lord, our best navigator is undoubtedly Jing Baiyu."


    "The White Whale?!"


    High Mother Lisha couldn''t contain her surprise after hearing this name. Immediately she regained her senses and shut up. Cao Yun also remembered this name. Jing Baiyu the White Whale was a former admiral of the Nalupu Kingdom. Unlike the army, the naval forces of the kingdom were pretty much useless. In fact, they mainly served as bodyguards for the various convoys crossing the Divine Blood Ocean.


    Among the admirals, Jing Baiyu was a legend, in the sense that not even the Sisters of the Abyss knew much about it. According to their reports, he was indeed a great navigator. But he was also a very peculiar man. For more than two centuries, he had walked on firm ground only two days because he had been forced to. This man loved the sea and the ocean so much that he never left them. Even when his boat was at the dock, he remained aboard. As such, the Sisters had very little information on him.


    "Indeed, High Mother. Admiral Jing Baiyu crossed the Divine Blood Ocean more than two hundred times. Few navigators reached such a number. Unfortunately, the Divine Blood Ocean is treacherous even to those who know it very well. What truly makes Admiral Jing Baiyu our best navigator is not how many travels he''s made, but how many he failed.


    "In his entire career, he only failed once. And he survived to tell the tale while protecting most of the cargo he was protecting. A giant 9-core sea monster attacked his convoy. Despite of that, he defended his boat with his very life. Such a heroic act allowed most of his crew and of the other boats to escape while a very small number was destroyed. Admiral Jing Baiyu is undoubtedly our best navigator. With him, you have the highest chances of reaching your destination alive."


    Hearing the tales of Admiral Jing Baiyu, Cao Yun was convinced. Honestly, he didn''t know much about navigation anyway. He simply knew that it wouldn''t be as easy as crossing the Desolate Desert. And even then, the knowledge of the tribes had been extremely useful. So he would also rely on the knowledge and expertise of this admiral.


    "Thank you, Minister Renhai."


    "And could my young friend meet with this navigator already?"


    "Unfortunately, Admiral Jing Baiyu is not in the Desolate Sepulcher. He should be back in a few months. Moreover, it will be almost impossible to convince him to leave his vessel. Sir Mo Yun will have to climb on board. I will try to negotiate with Admiral Jing Baiyu as being on the same vessel will be easier. But he''s a very stubborn man. I don''t think that even death or torture could intimidate him."


    "I''ll let you handle it all! Don''t worry our guests with all those. I know you''re competent enough.


    "You heard, my young friend. If Minister Renhai tells you that he''s found the best navigator, it''s a done deal. Don''t listen to his worries, he''s simply modest like that. As long as he speaks with this Admiral Gray Fish, he''ll accept to sail toward God''s Land with you. Don''t worry about a thing."


    Obviously, Lord Wanghuo only wanted Cao Yun to focus on their upcoming duel. Given what he had just heard, Cao Yun was indeed convinced. The best navigator in a few months was better than a mediocre one right now. Besides, it would leave him enough time to deal with City Lord Sihe. Everything was going as planned, but Cao Yun wanted to stay here until the end. After that, he would have to trust those he had put in key positions.


    At the moment, he had influence on the tribes through Chieftain Sha Chai Gan and the most powerful religious order through High Mother Lisha. With Dan Yao, he also had influence over the Xinian Confederation. But only after dealing definitely with City Lord Sihe would his influence over this Xinian Confederation be total. Once he would have his hand in almost every matter in the Desolate Sepulcher, he would be more at ease with leaving.


    This wasn''t his land. So Cao Yun had chosen a few individuals to place them at key positions. They would shape the future of the Desolate Sepulcher while avoiding as much bloodshed as possible. After all, Chieftain Sha Chai Gan had already avoided a civil war between the tribes and part of the Nalupu Kingdom. With City Lord Sihe gone, this situation would be over for good.


    The only uncertainty in Cao Yun''s plan at the moment was in fact Nie Pian. The old man was currently managing City Lord Sihe''s affairs and making a name for himself. In fact, he was doing too good of a job. Getting rid of Nie Pian might be another problem entirely. However, Cao Yun could be flexible with his plans. He was open both to change and to better ideas. Maybe he would have to alter his plans once again. Most likely, Nie Pian wouldn''t find Cao Yun''s new plans agreeable at all. But the old man had sealed his fate already. He would have to accept the consequences of his choices.


    "Lord Wanghuo, Minister Renhai, this humble one thanks both of you for your generosity. I will retire into my lodging to prepare myself. Please, convey the place and the time through my servants and I will be there, Noble Lord. In the meantime, may I ask that no one disturb me?"


    "Of course, of course. No one in the entire Desolate Sepulcher would dare to disturb you, my young friend. I''ll even prevent anyone from talking about your very existence. You can focus on your preparations!"

 Chapter 625: Preparations for the royal duel

    For a few weeks, Cao Yun didn''t receive any message. But confidant that Lord Wanghuo would keep his words, as he could simply do whatever he wanted anyway, he stayed calm. In seclusion, he prepared for his fight. Although it was supposed to be a friendly duel, anything could happen. It didn''t happen too often, but people did die while engaging in friendly fights. Moreover, he had the foreboding that Lord Wanghuo didn''t really know when to stop.


    At the same time, the fight itself was an incredibly good opportunity for Cao Yun. Not only was he going to obtain everything he wanted, he was also about to test himself against someone close to Emperor Weide''s strength. Despite being the most powerful demon in the Desolate Sepulcher, Lord Wanghuo''s cultivation wasn''t as high as Emperor Weide''s. Of course, cultivation wasn''t everything.


    All things considered, Cao Yun couldn''t really compare the demon king to the traitor of mankind. After all, they were only separated by a single stage, and they were practicing two different cultivation systems. Although the asura cultivation system shared many similarities with the human cultivation system, such as the way grades and stages were implemented, they were fundamentally different. Besides, Cao Yun could not compare the two men''s martial arts prowess. he only knew that they were powerful, but that didn''t tell him much.


    During this fight, he could get a lot. This might help him in his martial arts and maybe even in his Spear Heart. Indeed, he was having a very hard time developing his Spear Intent into a Spear Heart. Of course, this was to be expected. He had never thought that this would be easy by any stretch of the imagination. But since his cultivation was going as fast as it could, Cao Yun was hoping to improve the other aspects of his strength.


    While Cao Yun was getting ready, Minister Renhai worked on his new orders. Dan Yao was secretly appointed as City Lord of Duma City. They would still wait before they would make it public. But no matter what would happen, Dan Yao could claim this title and no one else would be able to steal from it. Moreover, the Sisters of the Abyss increased their protection of Duma City as well.


    Minister Renhai was having a headache with Lord Wanghuo''s impulsive, and often idiotic, orders. Thankfully, he seldom gave orders as he was too busy trying to entertain himself in various ways. Recently, he had spent an awful lot of time in his harem. But after Cao Yun''s visit, Minister Renhai found out that this had had a positive impact on his king.


    To speak the truth, Minister Renhai felt more like a regent than a minister. In a sense, he was close for Lord Wanghuo to what Nie Pian was for City Lord Sihe.


    Since Cao Yun had ignited a fighting spirit in Lord Wanghuo, he decided to train again. It had been decades since such a thing had happened. Lord Wanghuo''s decision surprised many experts whom he invited to spar a little with him. Not a single one was able to excite him. It wasn''t that they were necessarily too weak, but he knew them and their style. There was no surprise and no challenge sparring with them. But he had sensed something in Cao Yun.


    Hopefully, this duel wouldn''t let Lord Wanghuo down. Minister Renhai had seen him this excited a few times. But if things didn''t turn as good as he had hoped, he would fall into a depressing phase. This could be a big problem. Minister Renhai was really the man who was holding Sidina together. Even with all his strength, Lord Wanghuo couldn''t keep the cohesion of the capital, let alone the Nalupu Kingdom.


    Unfortunately, Minister Renhai was simply not very sympathetic to the fates of his own people. From what Cao Yun had read, he was a competent administrator but he failed to consider the consequences of his politics on the life of his people. In fact, the people didn''t even enter his mind. Everything was a bit too theoretic for him. He was manipulating numbers and policies, not sentient beings.


    Anyway, this wasn''t really Cao Yun''s problem. In fact, it was even a good thing for his plans. Working with people who were pragmatic and had no great ambitions was easier. They had no surprise. And understanding what they wanted and how they saw the world was easy enough.


    The only thing that weighed on Cao Yun''s mind was Nie Pian. As a matter of fact, this was also what was plaguing Minister Renhai''s mind. He just couldn''t see where things were going in Siqian City. City Lord Sihe had clearly lost it. Yes, Nie Pian was helpful as he was preventing the situation from getting worse. But at the same time, he was now more popular and reliable than the actual city lord.


    Ironically, many were still acting as if City Lord Sihe was the actual city lord simply by fear of his jealousy. Given that his behavior was so erratic, they were afraid he might see Nie Pian as a traitor trying to usurp his function. And it was in no one''s interest to have an unsupervised City Lord Sihe. He would ruin the entire region in a matter of years, if not months.


    Minister Renhai decided that the best thing was simply to wait. As long as things were holding, there was no need to take any drastic measure. In fact, intervening might simply make things worse. And he certainly didn''t want to take this responsibility. These inclinations of Minister Renhai for safe policies were what had led him and Lord Wanghuo to let the slave trade happen so blatantly.


    Although this was illegal and contrary to all the teachings of the Weaver of Souls, they didn''t lift a finger. There were many reasons. But the most important factor was that dealing with the issue was much more complicated than simply looking away. After all, it had been good for almost everyone in terms of economy, except for the slaves of course. But the slaves were not really citizens of the Nalupu Kingdom since they were from the desert tribes. Besides, slavery was already recognized as a voluntary practice to pay off debts or as punishment for some crime. Thus, Minister Renhai didn''t even try to look into the real situation of those slaves who had been illegally abducted.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Lord Wanghuo''s enthusiasm surprised his partners. He fought day and night for several weeks. In fact, he barely ate and didn''t drink any alcohol. Even his harem was left unattended. Honestly, the women were quite pleased about this period of rest.


    -


    In Siqian City, City Lord Sihe wasn''t even leaving his chambers anymore. Only Nie Pian was authorized to see him in private. Every day, he was making lists of his enemies and of potential spies. He was going through all the reports he had on the entire Desolate Sepulcher.


    In particular, City Lord Sihe, was looking at those who had visited Sidina recently. He imagined that everyone was conspiring with High Mother Lisha and Mo Yun to destroy him. And the Weiji family was the first target on his list. After all, Weiji Fen had asked him for help, but now he was also petitioning Lord Wanghuo almost every day from his house arrest.


    Obviously, City Lord Sihe would never help Weiji Fen. And Weiji He''s son had written to him out of despair for his current predicament. But City Lord Sihe was seeing him as a threat and a traitor. He was trying to lure him into a trap. But soon, his reply would arrive. City Lord Sihe had bribed the guards. Everything would go perfectly well. He was certain of his plan.


    When he had some time, City Lord Sihe cultivated.


    As a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon, he was working on his Unclean Evil. It was related to shame. But strangely, City Lord Sihe wasn''t feeling anything at all while working on this Turbid Demon. Instead, there was a powerful sensation of fear and despair. Those were feelings associated with the Corpse Dog. But most demons would only work on this at the fourth grade of the Accomplished Demon realm. Technically, it was possible to work on one''s Turbid Demons in any order. But this specific order had been introduced by the Weaver of Souls so it was seen as the orthodox way.


    Cao Yun could have confirmed that this was indeed the best order possible to maximize one''s chances of success while drastically reducing the risks.


    No matter what he was doing, City Lord Sihe couldn''t find the tranquility to cultivate for more than a few dozens of minutes. Each time, he saw the faces of those who would betray him.


    While City Lord Sihe was basically useless, Nie Pian was running both his business and his office. Now, he was clearly seen as the unofficial city lord of Siqian City. After all, City Lord Sihe had either killed, banished or terrified everyone else around him. Many were certain that he had fallen into some form of Qi deviation. Maybe his Turbid Demons would kill him soon enough. At least, many were hoping for such an end.


    Obviously, some were jealous of Nie Pian. But they were also convinced that once City Lord Sihe was dead, they could wrestle his office from Nie Pian''s hands. After all, he was of low birth and was even a criminal. Hell, he had been a slave. They might keep him to run things. But they would never let him have any real power. Thus, many were hoping for City Lord Sihe to come as soon as possible, afraid that Nie Pian might solidify his position.


    As a matter of fact, they were right to be afraid as Nie Pian was indeed protecting himself. His bad habits had all come back to him and he was diverting large sums of money away from Siqian City and the City Lord. He had stolen from Boss Gui and now he was stealing from City Lord Sihe. The old man either didn''t fear anything, or the lure of money was too much for him to resist under any circumstances...


    At last, the reply sent by City Lord Sihe to the Weiji family had arrived. In fact, it had arrived two days before the fight between Cao Yun and Lord Wanghuo. But, of course, no one knew about this upcoming fight, for obvious reasons.


    -


    Weiji Fen was called by the guards. Being ordered around in his own house was humiliating but he had no choice. Despite all of his father''s efforts to distance himself from his family, the Weiji family had to suffer because of his rashness. And Weiji Fen would grovel before anyone if it meant he could help his bloodline even a little. Desperate times called for desperate measure.


    Weiji Fen was petitioning everyone he could think about, either discreetly or more formally. For example, he kept on trying to get an audience with Lord Wanghuo. Although he knew that this was impossible, he still tried. In fact, Weiji Fen was even ready to give his own daughters to Lord Wanghuo''s harem if he could elevate their position. Even if he couldn''t protect the entire Weiji family, simply saving even one of his daughters, or any Weiji daughter, would be good enough. Truly, he had abandoned any pretense and any honor. But he didn''t care. Unlike his father, he was ready to stomach a lot of humiliation in order to protect his bloodline.


    Maybe Weiji He''s selfish actions had impressed that upon him. Or maybe Weiji Fen was simply this kind of man. His family was more important than his name or reputation. This was quite rare among demons, even among humans to be honest...


    In the main room of the Weiji residence, a guard was waiting for Weiji Fen. The guard was a woman. She had long red hair and piercing green eyes. Her armor was perfect with a few decorations of war on it. Honestly, most of them were clearly from menial tasks but she was wearing them proudly. Weiji Fen knew what kind of guard she was. This woman, N¨¹he Wang, only cared about her career. Similarly to him, there was nothing she would do if it could advance her goals. But their goals were drastically different.


    She was sitting in the seat reserved the family head as though this residence was hers. Although she had little authority, she was always abusing it whenever she could. On the opposite, she was a sycophant to those of higher standing. Before the downfall of the Weiji family, N¨¹he Wang had even offered herself to Weiji Fen as a courtesan. Because he had refused, she felt humiliated and was clearly getting her revenge right now.


    "Ah?! You''re finally here?! I''ve been waiting..."


    "This humble one is terribly sorry, my Lady."


    Hiding his distaste of the woman, Weiji Fen''s tone pleased N¨¹he Wang very much. She stood up with a smirk on her face while the man who had rejected her was kneeling before her prestigious armor.


    "City Lord Sihe deigned to reply to your supplications."


    From some clothe covering the lower part of her armor, she took out a small letter with the seal of City Lord Sihe. Immediately, Weiji Fen knew that City Lord Sihe had bribed her. And indeed, he had. Without any hesitation, she softly threw the letter toward Weiji Fen. Quickly, he took it in hands.


    "This humble one thanks the noble lady. This humble one thanks City Lord Sihe."


    Eventually, Weiji Fen opened the letter. He didn''t dare to have too many hopes. Most likely, the letter was to tell him that Siqian City couldn''t support him. But simply getting a reply was a positive sign. It meant that City Lord Sihe still felt some connection with the Weiji family. If he wanted to cut all ties with them, he wouldn''t have bribed a guard to give him a secret letter.


    With trembling hands, he broke the seal and opened the letter. As he was reading it, his face got darker and darker.


    Looking at the despair on Weiji Fen''s face, N¨¹he Wang was quite pleased. She had humiliated herself in front of such a moron. But his rejection had been a boon in disguise. Otherwise, she would be in the same situation he was in right now. She had to be more careful in the future.


    What changed Weiji Fen''s face wasn''t the content of the letter. No, it was something much more sinister...

 Chapter 626: A duel in the desert

    The Weiji residence was close to Sidina but not directly within the confines of the capital. As such, news of the events occurring there would take a few days before being reported. At the same time, City Lord Sihe and Nie Pian were both anxious while waiting to know how things had gone. More specifically, they were worried that clues of their involvement would be found. Although City Lord Sihe had decided everything alone, Nie Pian was well aware of his intentions. Strangely, through City Lord Sihe''s paranoia, it never occurred to him that the only man who knew about his attempt on the lives of the Weiji family might betray him.


    Considering all of that, Cao Yun and Lord Wanghuo were completely unaware of what was going on very close to the capital. Although it would take a few days for most cultivators, it would barely take a day for either of them as they could fly and knew the terrain perfectly well. Besides, they wouldn''t need to fear any demonic beast so close to Sidina.


    That being said, they were both preoccupied with the upcoming duel. Lord Wanghuo was clearly excited. On paper, Cao Yun wasn''t the strongest opponent he had fought, but he could tell that there was something more. The mere fact that he couldn''t exactly put his finger on what was different told him that it was worth his time.


    After sparring with many experts, Lord Wanghuo realized a terrible truth he had hid from for a very long time. He wasn''t the man he once was. Of course, he was still powerful enough as to suppress everyone in the Desolate Sepulcher. However, he had clearly let himself go. His boredom had led him astray in more ways than one. The worst part is that he couldn''t even find the will to change his lifestyle.


    Indeed, Lord Wanghuo had grown accustomed to the delicacies of the palatial life. Having an entire staff at his service at all time was extraordinary. He could eat and drink whatever he wanted. Even now, he could find new food thanks to great chefs. Moreover, he also had a prodigious harem. Among those women were the most beautiful girls one could imagine. All from various areas of the Desolate Sepulcher. In fact, he had even received girls from the God''s Land thanks to his business with the Empyrean Asura Theocracy.


    One might accuse Lord Wanghuo of wanting to preserve this business in order to receive even more kingly gifts. Those people would most likely be arrested and executed of course, because they would be absolutely right.


    The main reason why Lord Wanghuo wasn''t doing anything to prevent the slave trade was not boredom and apathy, although those were among his reasons. His main motive was that the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was extremely generous and knew exactly what kind of gifts this king wanted. Although Lord Wanghuo wasn''t as depraved as some other kings of the past, he wasn''t a model of virtue and self-control either. At the very least, he had the decency of respecting the Sisters of the Abyss to some extent. And his Minister of the Left was doing a very good job handling the political affairs of the kingdom.


    Unfortunately, Minister Renhai didn''t care much about the people either. Everything could be summed up by figures and paperwork for this man. Going out on the actual field might do him some good. But Cao Yun wasn''t even convinced this could change the way he had been instructed. Minister Renhai could see real life in front of him and still claim that everything seemed fine on paper.


    Even before a barren land, he could still look at his figures and argue that the land was fertile and the production plentiful. This kind of bureaucrat was hard to change. At the same time, he would be easy to manipulate for someone who understood his true nature. It was necessary to speak his language. Most likely, this was why the relations between the Xinian Confederation and the Nalupu Kingdom were so good while there were so much strain between them and the nomadic tribes. This was one more reason why forced slavery wasn''t considered as a serious problem. Moreover, High Mother Qin Xue had not cared at all as it was providing her with many girls for her order and her sacrifices.


    All those interests mixed together had completely destroyed the lives of many demons in the Desolate Dune Desert.


    Thankfully, those interests were also easy to control so that such practices would stop. After meeting Lord Wanghuo and Minister Renhai, Cao Yun was now convinced that his plans could really work. This place wouldn''t be perfect of course. But at the very least, people wouldn''t be captured and enslaved without any reason other than profit. This was the best Cao Yun could do as he couldn''t change an entire civilization alone, as an outsider of that culture. He had to make it so those changes could endure after his departure.


    Lord Wanghuo and Minister Renhai had nothing against the nomadic tribes, they simply didn''t care or didn''t realize how severe the problem was.


    With that in mind, Cao Yun could stop worrying about this. Instead, he was focusing on his upcoming duel. As much as Lord Wanghuo was claiming he wouldn''t kill Cao Yun, the young man felt as though his life really was in danger. He had to at least please Lord Wanghuo''s hunger for an interesting fight. Thus, he would have to use everything he had, but he didn''t want to reveal that he was human. Obviously, this would limit his abilities a little. That being said, his asura cultivation was much more advanced than his human cultivation.


    Indeed, Cao Yun was a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon and only a lowly 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. Besides, during the first two grades of the Embryo Realm, his silver Soul Embryo would not even be awake. Although he could feel it and its influence on himself, his Soul Embryo was in a state of deep sleep. In fact, waking it up was the point of the second grade. The difference between a sleeping and an awaken Soul Embryo was obvious. Such a gap in strength was similar to the gap between the eighth and ninth grades of the Accomplished Demon realm.


    Cao Yun worked mainly on his martial arts and his martial state. Those were independent of his cultivation. And those were probably what Lord Wanghuo was excited about.


    Finally, the day came. It literally happened two days after Weiji Fen had received City Lord Sihe''s letter.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    A messenger was running like crazy in the small part of desert between the Weiji residence and the capital Sidina. This was a demon clad in a large gray cape. That demon was facing a powerful wind and the cape was protecting them from the burning sand. No demonic beast close to the Weiji residence could travel as fast so that demon had taken it upon themselves to run toward the capital. Such an important event had to be reported at once.


    Oblivious to that, another messenger reached Cao Yun''s temporary residence. This small boy gave his message directly to High Mother Lisha. The poor kid was shaking as though his soul was in grave danger. Although he was a royal messenger, political and religious figures were different. Right now, he was talking as though his very god was in front of him. At the same time, as messenger of the king, he couldn''t lower his own status too much.


    Thankfully, the High Mother in front of him was Lisha not Qin Xue. As such, she was amused by his behavior. In fact, she found the little boy to be quite cute. So she made things easy for the boy who left with a huge grin on his face. Then, she warned Cao Yun.


    The place and date of the duel had been chosen. It was in a nearby part of the desert. Lord Wanghuo, Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha would go alone. No one else would accompany them or witness the duel. This was somehow to be expected. Obviously, the all-powerful king of the Nalupu Kingdom could not let himself be seen fighting a young man. Most likely, this was Minister Renhai''s doing.


    The truth was that Lord Wanghuo had specifically asked it himself even before Minister Renhai told him to. Indeed, he was worried that Cao Yun would not dare to show his full strength. It was common for cultivators to hide some of their abilities as no one could know what their enemies could learn from those. Thus, Lord Wanghuo wanted their fight to be a secret. Almost no one knew about it and this was a very good thing.


    -


    At last, the two men found themselves in an obscure part of the desert, not to far from the Divine Blood Ocean. The humidity in the air was much higher than what Cao Yun had felt in the Desolate Dune Desert. This also meant that heat was much more dangerous as sweat would have a harder time evaporating from anyone''s skin. For cultivators such as them, this was not a problem at all. After all, they could literally jump into a volcano without suffering much, if at all.


    All around the two men were large pillars of rock and various types of sand. They looked as though this place was once a vast temple, but only the columns had survived. They were all extremely tall but their shapes were varying. Some were large at the bottom and thin at the top while others were large or thin all the way. Others were completely different as well. Some were standing perfectly straight while a few were bent.


    Cao Yun didn''t really care about his surroundings. He had just made sure that there wasn''t any trap or any hidden demonic beast. Now that he knew this was a safe place for their duel, he didn''t care at all. After all, they could crush those pillars without even touching them directly.


    Lord Wanghuo was finally wearing some clothes on his upper body. Over his shoulders, he had put some silk robe.


    As soon as the two men were ready, High Mother Lisha flew high in the sky. She would be watching this duel from a safe distance. Deep within herself, she was worried about Cao Yun''s fate while also wanting him to suffer. If he died, her order was done for, but at the same time, she didn''t like being his servant. It really felt as though she was just a slave with a few extra privileges.


    "Sir Mo, this is finally time to enjoy ourselves! I sincerely hope that you''ll give me your best. Even though I''ll restrain my cultivation, I won''t go easy on you. So don''t try and play it safe. No one is watching us except for High Mother Lisha, use all of your strength from the beginning, or this will be boring. And I won''t accept to have gone to all the trouble of finding this place and coming here in person to be bored."


    Of course, he had done none of the work finding this place. But Cao Yun didn''t care about that. He had to admit that Lord Wanghuo was right. He had to use most of his strength from the beginning. However, he was still reluctant to use absolutely everything such as his Drop of Wrath, his soul and mind cultivation and his Qi cultivation. That being said, he was confident in his martial arts and he wouldn''t hold them back.


    "I understand, Noble Lord."


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out his spear, ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. As soon as it appeared in his hand, Cao Yun circulated his Spear Intent increasingly close to a Spear Heart. In his sea of consciousness, hymns and sutras were everywhere as well as golden Insight Writings forming complete verse.


    In the physical world, Cao Yun looked like a general on a battlefield. Lord Wanghuo could feel his killing intent and could imagine rivers of blood and mountains of corpses and severed heads. Limbs were everywhere on the battlefield. Cao Yun''s very weapon was covered in blood and the wails of the souls killed by ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' could be heard all over the place. Most of it was due to his Spear Aura he was exuding, but also to the means used to forge ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Indeed, it had been forged with Burning Soul Fire. Some parts of the souls burned for that fire were still attached to the spear. As Cao Yun''s soul cultivation was growing stronger and stronger, he was also getting closer to his spear.


    Slowly, this sensation diminished until everything was focused around Cao Yun. It was almost impossible to describe but he looked like he was one with his spear. It just felt natural. Obviously, Lord Wanghuo knew that this was the sign of one''s mastery over Spear Intent. Cao Yun could focus his Spear Aura instead of wasting it.


    But Cao Yun didn''t stop there. From his spatial ring, ten thousands small swords appeared. They began to rotate behind him like eight concentric circles, alternating between direction and speed of rotation.


    Finally, Cao Yun began to rise in the air slightly. In the sky above him, seven stars faintly appeared. He wasn''t using Qi Manifestation directly so he was forced to rely on the movement of his own Golden Blood in order to produce some form of it. In his sea of consciousness, the Seven Piercing Stars of the Azure Dragon were vibrating and fully visible. But in the physical realm, they were much fainter.


    Lord Wanghuo was still pleased with what he was seeing. In fact, the Spear Intent alone had rejoiced him. Clearly, this fight wouldn''t be for nothing. Martial states didn''t depend on one''s cultivation. In theory, a mere mortal who would control the most powerful of martial state could kill a true immortal. Of course, reaching such a level required so much time, sensitivity and wisdom that no mere mortal could reach it. In fact, even some immortals who dedicated their life to this pursuit fell short.


    As a matter of fact, Lord Wanghuo had only mastered the Fist Aura, and just barely. After all, his style was too brutal and not that much refined. That being said, he had no regret about it considering his fighting style had brought him where he was today.


    As Cao Yun was going almost all-out, Lord Wanghuo did the same while restraining his own cultivation.


    He immediately threw the robe on his shoulders and found himself naked from the waist up. His pants were even shorter and just went beneath his knees. Suddenly, his skin turned as red as blood while he was smiling like a predator before its prey.

 Chapter 627: Dragon against mammoth

    Lord Wanghuo was indeed suppressing his cultivation as though he was a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon just like Cao Yun. But he couldn''t hide the richness of his blood and he would use the full extent of his martial arts. In truth, the main difference was that he wouldn''t use his full Demon Soul. This would reduce his advantage but he was still superior to Cao Yun on many points. Thankfully, Cao Yun''s body and Golden Blood were both extremely advanced as well.


    Aspects of Lord Wanghuo''s fighting prowess Cao Yun could not compare with were his experience, his killing intent and what he was witnessing right now.


    After the Accomplished Demon realm, an asura or a demon would then begin to harness the power of the Three Bodily Fires, namely the Bladder Fire or Common People''s Fire, the Kidney Fire or Body''s Ministerial Fire and the Heart Fire or Imperial Fire. By merging them together, they would form their True Fire. This True Fire would further refine their blood, and in particular their heart blood. It would also temper their marrow and their flesh, pushing their body to an entirely new level. This was known as the Exalted Demon realm.


    Using this True Fire to temper their flesh without killing themselves was part of the fifth realm, the Reborn Demon realm. Just as humans would gain the ability to use a Domain during their fifth cultivation realm, so would asura and demons. However, this ability wasn''t exactly a Domain. Instead of projecting a part of their soul cultivation around them to manipulate the world, they would alter their very body, flesh and blood. This was known as Blood Incarnation. Although some could mistake it for Qi Manifestation, this wasn''t.


    Right in front of Cao Yun, Lord Wanghuo was using a form of Blood Incarnation. Similarly to Emperor Weide who had somehow developed a pseudo-Domain, Lord Wanghuo could use a pseudo-Blood Incarnation. Even High Mother Lisha was incredulous. She had heard rumors but none had been able to confirm it and it had always seemed too much. If even the Sisters of the Abyss had been unable to confirm the rumors, no one had.


    Lord Wanghuo''s body kept on changing before Cao Yun''s eyes. Unlike a true Blood Incarnation, the process was rather slow. Still, it was fast for humans. On the other hand, Cao Yun could have attacked many many times. However, this wasn''t a battle to the death with a mortal enemy. Cao Yun''s goal wasn''t necessarily to win the duel. In fact, he wanted to make sure that Lord Wanghuo was pleased with it so he could gain exactly what he wanted and needed from him. Lord Wanghuo was clearly a simple man and Cao Yun had easily seen through him. Spoiling his fun would be a terrible idea.


    After his skin, his muscles began to change. Despite the fat in his belly, his muscles became very visible under his red skin. They bulged and his arms became larger. From his shoulders, two large tusks came out. The blood covering them began to flow to the ground but some stayed as it flowed into detailed engravings in the ivory of those tusks.


    On his body, his hair grew and turned brown. His already big stature increased even more. Soon, he was almost thirteen chi* tall. As such, he was a bit more than twice Cao Yun''s size. Of course, in itself it wasn''t really a big thing. After all, Cao Yun was fighting with a spear. Moreover, cultivators rarely had to fight too close to each other. But this was intimidating.


    Besides, his killing intent did grow along with his body. When Lord Wanghuo was done transforming, Cao Yun felt as though he was on a battlefield where thousands upon thousands of enemies were staring at him with deep hatred in their hearts. The sensation wasn''t completely new, but he had almost never felt such a powerful killing intent. If Cao Yun''s mind cultivation had not been high enough, he might have crumbled and knelt. Thus, if Lord Wanghuo had not suppressed his cultivation, Cao Yun would have been at a terrible disadvantage as he would have had to fight this urge all the time.


    "Thanks, young friend. It seems that you do intend to go all-out and so will I."


    This time, every word from Lord Wanghuo''s mouth sounded like a death threat. The difference between his actual tone and the feelings caused by his words was extremely strange. Although the young man could tell that there was no actual threat behind those words, something deep within him was still terrified.


    Lord Wanghuo bowed slightly and made a specific gesture with his fists. This was a salute unique to the Desolate Sepulcher. Obviously, Cao Yun copied him. The duel had officially started and High Mother Lisha was ready to intervene at any moment. Honestly, she wasn''t sure what she could do if Lord Wanghuo lost control. But if Cao Yun died, she and the other High Mothers would follow him in death. So she would put her life on the line if things went in that direction. Hopefully, they wouldn''t...


    Cao Yun made the first move. With absolutely no hesitation, he threw many of his swords all around the battlefield. Many stabbed through pillars of rocks and completely shattered them. There was no subtlety and he didn''t even try to conceal his weapons. After all, Lord Wanghuo knew that those swords weren''t met to stab him, they were forming some array formation around him. But since he wasn''t knowledgeable when it came to array formations, short of stopping all of the swords, he couldn''t do anything.


    With his very first move, Cao Yun had created several array formations he could activate anytime he wanted. But, for the time being, he didn''t.


    On the other hand, Lord Wanghuo demonstrated his fighting style. He was extremely direct and brutal.


    ''Crimson Sunder Strike''!


    In an instant, Lord Wanghuo was right in front of Cao Yun and he threw a simple punch in his face. Of course, a simple punch from Lord Wanghuo in his current state was absolutely deadly.


    ''Mountain Under Thunder''


    While his body was going down toward the ground, Cao Yun raised his spear horizontally to block the punch. Although he was able to redirect the blow, he still felt tremendous vibrations going through his spear and then his arms. Using his own Qi and understanding of vibration, he was able to stop them. His arms only trembled an instant, impressing Lord Wanghuo.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    He didn''t relent in his attack. Before Cao Yun could get back to the ground, Lord Wanghuo unleashed several leg strikes.


    ''Throne Breaker''!


    Each strike manifested a giant elephant foot covered in brown fur still slick with blood. The young man was able to block most of them and evaded another few. On the ground, they left deep scars. Many pillars had already exploded into dust and the ground itself was shaking with a few cracks all over the place.


    Cao Yun went down inside the cloud of dust caused by those opening moves. However, Lord Wanghuo didn''t follow him. Instead, he rose in the air and used his ''Blood Tyrant''s Art'' martial art.


    ''Blood Furnace Palm''!


    After his leg strikes, Lord Wanghuo sent thousands of palm strikes everywhere. There was almost no place that was spared by his fury. Obviously, his goal was to force Cao Yun out. He didn''t want to chase him for hours. No, he wanted a direct confrontation. In a matter of seconds, the topography of this place had already changed. A fight between middle Accomplished Demons was an absolute catastrophe. One could imagine what the Great War between Emperor Nuwa and Demon God Da Mo was like. After all, they had quite literally created this continent.


    Cao Yun wasn''t trying to hide though. As soon as Lord Wanghuo lost him, Cao Yun used his stealth and immediately left the cloud of dust. Seeing the barrage of palms trikes from Lord Wanghuo, the young man decided to act swiftly as he was endangering the array formations he had just set.


    ''Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky''!


    Cao Yun used the technique he had invented by merging his family''s martial arts with his own.


    All of a sudden, he appeared behind Lord Wanghuo who had been unable to see through his stealth amid the fight. Cao Yun''s spear stabbed directly toward Lord Wanghuo''s heart through his furry back. Hundreds of small swords flew at the same time. Focusing both his martial art and his Spear Intent, ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' turned into a small tornado with an azure dragon coiling around it.


    ''Tyrannic Bell''


    Lord Wanghuo''s skin suddenly turned as solid as Silk Gold. The swords collided with him. Sparks erupted when they exploded on his skin. By the time Cao Yun''s attack reached him, Lord Wanghuo had been able to move around. In an instant, he assessed the attack. Although it might not pierce through him, it would indeed stab through his skin and probably deep into his flesh. Lord Wanghuo and High Mother Lisha were both impressed.


    As he got more excited, Lord Wanghuo grabbed the spear with his two hands.


    ''Blood King''s Grasp''


    Cao Yun''s spear was spinning faster than any natural tornado. Despite his ''Tyrannic Bell'' and his Blood Incarnation, the skin of Lord Wanghuo''s hands was shredded. His heavy blood covered Cao Yun''s spear. This slowed down the rotation though, considering how heavy it was.


    While he was trying to stop the spear with his bare hands, Lord Wanghuo was pushed back. At the same time, the azure dragon moving along the shaft of the spear attacked the king. It coiled around his entire body and bit into his neck. Even the azure dragon''s teeth couldn''t get too deep into his skin, but they did draw blood.


    When the spear finally stopped moving, Lord Wanghuo grabbed it firmly and tugged on it to get Cao Yun. The young man decided not to let go of his weapon and got thrown toward his opponent. In fact, he found himself thrown toward his left shoulder while Lord Wanghuo''s right hand had pulled ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' behind him.


    ''Stampede of Extreme Despair''


    Cao Yun could see himself be impaled on the large tusk protruding from Lord Wanghuo''s massive shoulder. In fact, he was able to see the image of a gigantic mammoth. Only in books had Cao Yun seen this kind of animal very reminiscent of the elephants he was a bit more familiar with.


    Knowing the terrible fate awaiting him, Cao Yun struck his own spear. This sent a powerful vibration force in it that even impacted Lord Wanghuo. As his blood was covering the spear, his hold on it wasn''t too good. It slipped from his hand and struck his side. Although the impact wasn''t too strong, this allowed Cao Yun to break free. He altered his trajectory at the last moment.


    ''Imperial Throne''


    A powerful wind erupted all around Cao Yun. With a movement of his palm, he struck Lord Wanghuo''s shoulder before he got himself impaled and tried to move away.


    ''Heaven Crushing Mace''


    As Cao Yun had gotten close enough, Lord Wanghuo didn''t want to let him go. Raising both his arms, he struck down with his two fists in a downward motion. Although Cao Yun was able to move far enough to avoid his fists, he got struck by the shockwave of the attack. Within it, Lord Wanghuo''s killing intent was mixed with his Wei Qi.


    Cao Yun was brutally crushed toward the ground. He literally sunk into the ground under the force of the impact. Many of his bones were cracked. Some of his ribs even shattered in his chest and threw tiny sharp pieces into his own lungs. As blood was filling his chest, Cao Yun immediately sent his Qi in his organs to repair them while he was controlling his blood stop the hemorrhage.


    Lord Wanghuo''s face showed a bit of disappointment until he saw Cao Yun storm out of the ground. Hundreds of small swords were thrown toward Lord Wanghuo to cover Cao Yun''s rapid movement.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''


    While he was moving away from Lord Wanghuo, Cao Yun changed his weapon and took two other spears he had prepared beforehand. He only held to one while the other was floating around him. Behind him, space broke apart as though glass. And the seven Piercing Stars appeared.


    As he threw his spear toward Lord Wanghuo, pieces of this broken glass were taken along with it. Each piece of glass contained either one of the seven Piercing Stars or smaller stars from the Horn and Neck Constellations.


    In the sky, the seven Piercing Stars were also visible along with two larger constellations and a smaller one, the Root Constellation Cao Yun was working on.


    Lord Wanghuo tried to avoid the spear but it was behaving strangely as though space was being distorted around it. And it was. Although Cao Yun couldn''t understand the Dao of Space, he had gotten used to the way space was apparently broken all over the Piaolu planet. His spear was swimming in space and causing ripples to affect and distort it along the way.


    Unable to perfectly dodge it, Lord Wanghuo closed his arms and used his ''Tyrannical Bell''. Closing his arms tightly, the two tusks formed a kind of barrier in front of him. The spear collided with his massive shoulders and shattered, also breaking apart one of his tusks. Then, the second spear arrived too.


    The very moment it struck Lord Wanghuo, he relaxed his body and moved around it, letting the spear go forward. His shoulder was a bit lacerated and his remaining tusk grazed but he avoided the second strike. Since he couldn''t predict the movement of the spear, he waited before it was close enough to follow its trajectory and let it go past him.


    Cao Yun had taken his original spear back in hand. He was already exhausted as he had been using ''Dragon''s Heart'' since the very beginning of the duel. But he knew that this fight would not end just yet. He could clearly see it in Lord Wanghuo''s eyes. Indeed, his opponent was absolutely excited by this fight and he wanted much more.


    Some drops of Lord Wanghuo''s Golden Blood finally hit the ground below. They were even heavier than Cao Yun''s Golden Blood. Each drop caused the ground to shake a little. When the drops exploded on the ground, the quantity of blood was quite impressive. Indeed, Lord Wanghuo''s blood was extremely dense. Each drop was forming a tiny puddle.


    * 13 chi = 13 ft ~= 4 m

 Chapter 628: Lightning and dragon

    Without any hesitation at all, Cao Yun gulped down some pill he had prepared beforehand. Even though he was restricting his own cultivation, Lord Wanghuo still had much more stamina than him. Besides, Lord Wanghuo was extremely excited by this fight. However, there was a bit of frustration in his eyes. Indeed, he wanted a much more direct fight. On the other hand, Cao Yun had no reason to get too close to his opponent.


    All over the place, the swords thrown by Cao Yun began to pulsate with energy. Cao Yun''s first array formation just activated. The wandering Qi got channeled by the swords. So did the blood of Lord Wanghuo that was flowing on the ground. Many droplets rose in the air and got taken in the flow of wandering Qi. As the array formation got activated, several other swords were charged in energy and literally exploded into thousands of shreds.


    Each sword created a small bolt of lightning that shot upward.


    ''Blue Hue Rises in the West Heaven''!


    The sky turned darker and darker as Cao Yun was circulating the second move of his ''Azure Dragon Through the Seven Storms''. By combining his family''s ''Three Storms'' to the ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'', he had produced this second move. Behind him, the flying swords all began to glow just as lightning was crisscrossing the skies. It was as though many small azure dragons were sailing the black abyss above them.


    Here and there, some bolts of lightning struck the ground. The energy was then recaptured by Cao Yun''s array formation. In other words, the lightning was trapped in this battlefield, which would save Cao Yun a lot of his own energy. Instead of producing this Qi Manifestation himself, he relied on his array formation. In a sense, it was almost exactly what Sun Liao had been doing when he was only a Mortal. Moreover, it allowed Cao Yun not to use his Qi cultivation at all, hiding this part of himself to Lord Wanghuo. Honestly, he had no idea how Lord Wanghuo would react. Most likely, he wouldn''t even care... Clearly, he only cared about the fight.


    Knowing that a battle of attrition would result in a more boring fight, and that he would exhaust himself way before Lord Wanghuo, Cao Yun rushed forward. Just as Cao Yun had waited for his opponent to perform his Blood Incarnation, Lord Wanghuo had let his activate his array formation without trying to stop it in any capacity. After all, he wanted to enjoy the fight. Otherwise, he could kill Cao Yun with relative ease.


    ''Stampede of Extreme Despair''!


    As Cao Yun was charging straight toward Lord Wanghuo, the massive red demon did the same. Many shock waves were created all around him as he moved faster than speed, much faster. The air was shaking as much as the ground. It truly felt as though a mammoth was stampeding all over the place. With his remaining tusk, he was aiming for Cao Yun''s heart. Although he didn''t want to kill the young man, he wasn''t holding back. In the sky, High Mother Lisha was worried. But she wouldn''t intervene before the very last moment. Otherwise, she would spoil Lord Wanghuo''s fun and this wasn''t a very good idea, even for her.


    A tiny fraction of a second before Cao Yun and Lord Wanghuo clashed with each other, several swords behind Cao Yun suddenly flew all around them as lightning bolts. The next instant, Cao Yun himself turned into lightning and found himself near one of those swords. This time, he wasn''t directly behind Lord Wanghuo but on his side, where his first tusk had been broken.


    Cao Yun''s ''Blue Hue Rises in the West Heaven'' had incorporated aspects of the Room Star. ''Crafty Harassment'' allowed one to move all over the place while harassing the opponent with light spear strikes. And its variation, ''The Dragon''s Belly is Contorted'', prevented the opponent from leaving a certain area with a very similar technique. After pondering over it, Cao Yun had merged those concepts with the concept of thunder and lightning from the second one of the ''Three Storms''.


    While he moved away from Lord Wanghuo''s stampede, the swords that had been behind him were now forming a wall of blades right in front of the king. Most of them were crushed by his ''Stampede of Extreme Despair''. When Lord Wanghuo stopped in his charge, all the energy he had accumulated was released and created a wall of wind and killing intent that moved forward and crushed them. But some of the swords still remained relatively intact and did collide with his skin.


    Even without ''Tyrannic Bell'', that many swords did cause him some pain and even a few superficial injuries. But then, the worst part came from the swords he had destroyed. Indeed, they turned into millions of tiny pieces of metal going straight toward their target. Although they had been caused by Lord Wanghuo''s charge, they literally went the opposite direction of the force and struck him. The sheer amount of shards and their incredibly small size caused Lord Wanghuo a lot of pain.


    Obviously, Cao Yun seized this opportunity to strike him with his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Using all of his Spear Intent, he unleashed ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''. Unlike an instant ago, Cao Yun didn''t turn into lightning, his spear did. Right now, the young man was holding an azure dragon made of wind and lightning. This was partially a form of Qi Manifestation induced by his blood cultivation, not his direct Qi, and a form of Spear Intent. Nonetheless, this technique was terrifying. Anyone under the Accomplished Demon realm would die instantly if struck with such an attack and most middle Accomplished Demons would be severely hurt if not more, especially if caught unguarded.


    The thunderous dragon leapt toward Lord Wanghuo''s flank and tried to take a bite out of him.


    ''Crimson Tyrant Ascends''!


    Without any warning, a powerful gust of killing intent gushed forth from the injured king. Under the barrage of shrapnel and the upcoming attack, he released all of his rage, infused with half of his Turbid Demons. The air turned incredibly hot. Cao Yun felt his very blood burn in his veins. A weak cultivator would literally burn alive if they were too close to Lord Wanghuo in this state. Besides, the killing intent was driving Cao Yun mad. In his sea of consciousness, he was forced to control his Turbid Demons who were trying to break free from their chains. Even his Drop of Wrath got rattled. Suddenly, it wanted to go berserk. Thankfully, Cao Yun was in control so nothing too dangerous happened.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Nonetheless, Cao Yun lost his composure for an instant and this was long enough for Lord Wanghuo to avoid the attack and to get close enough to the young man. Immediately, he grabbed his arm and then his neck. With his tremendous strength, Lord Wanghuo completely stopped Cao Yun''s charge and diverted the strike of the spear. His ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry'' caused lightning to struck the ground below and a few pillars of rock exploded into dust in a cataclysmic explosion.


    ''Blood King''s Grasp''


    The young man could feel his blood being drained of energy by Lord Wanghuo''s grip on his neck. At the same time, he was squeezing tighter and tighter. Although cultivators of Cao Yun''s level didn''t need to breathe as much as others, it was still vital. Besides, although he could control the flow of blood in his body, if Lord Wanghuo squeezed hard enough, sending the right amount of blood in his head would become a problem. But truth be told, Cao Yun would most likely literally lose his head before that became an issue.


    Lord Wanghuo was still holding his arm and was almost standing behind him while crushing his neck. This made any attack toward him difficult as Cao Yun couldn''t reach him with his other arm. Thus, he decided to not even try that. Pushing through the tremendous pressure of Lord Wanghuo''s killing intent, he was able to send a surge of spiritual senses toward his swords. He commanded them to come to him.


    Under this barrage of attack, Lord Wanghuo didn''t dodge at all. In fact, a few swords literally stabbed him. But no injury was deep enough and the hilts of the swords were just sticking out of his body.


    "Come on! Fight back! Come on!"


    As Cao Yun heard his neck begin to crack, he finally let go of his inhibition. In his sea of consciousness, he completely circulated his mind and soul cultivation along his ''Cultivation of Wrath''. The Drop of Wrath turned into the demonic figure of Axiu Qian and his five current Turbid Demons fully manifested themselves, even Fallen Arrow, the one he was currently working on.


    In the physical realm, Cao Yun''s eyes turned as red as blood.


    ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''!


    At last, he unleashed the martial art he had learned through the memories of Axiu Qian himself and the ''Dance of Slaughter''. Without any hesitation, Cao Yun literally dislocated his left shoulder to give himself more room to move around. Since he still couldn''t reach Lord Wanghuo with his right palm, he grabbed the king''s right hand holding his left wrist and kicked his right elbow with as much force as possible.


    Cao Yun''s ankle almost broke and a few of his bones were cracked. But it did weaken Lord Wanghuo''s hold on him. As soon as he felt that weakness, he pushed through the pain and flew as close as possible toward his opponent. With a large swing, he sent a devastating right elbow strike to his neck, returning the favor. But Lord Wanghuo blocked it simply by headbutting the incoming elbow. Both men felt their bones scream in agony. But they were not done yet. Since Cao Yun was close to him and Lord Wanghuo was more than twice his size, the young man had some advantage. It was indeed easier for him to strike.


    Immediately, Cao Yun unleashed a barrage of attacks, knee strikes, elbow strikes, palms, kicks. He sent everything he had toward his opponent. Finally, it weakened his hold on the young man''s neck. Then, Cao Yun focused his efforts on breaking that left arm. Because he couldn''t achieve such a result with his bare hands, he wielded his spear with a single arm, like Yun Ping. using his leg to give some impulse to his spear, he spun it and struck on Lord Wanghuo''s wrist, shattering it. Although some blood was drawn, it didn''t cut through the entire wrist. Still, this caused his opponent to release his grip. At that very moment, Cao Yun kicked Lord Wanghuo''s chest and turned into lightning to get away from him.


    He didn''t get too far though. No, he wanted to stay close enough to strike. With a swift movement, he put his left shoulder back together and called a sword to his left hand. With both sword and spear, Cao Yun began to unleash his wrath on Lord Wanghuo.


    As a response, the towering demon just smiled. This was what he had been waiting for. Thus, he didn''t try to close the distance. Instead, he met Cao Yun''s attacks with his bare hands. For several minutes, they struck at each other. Each movement caused sonic booms to lacerate the stormy black skies and the cracked ground. Even High Mother Lisha was forced to use her cultivation to protect her ears or she would have gone deaf. This was the same thing for both Cao Yun and Lord Wanghuo, as a matter of fact.


    With each strike, the two men were going more and more berserk. There was a strange harmony between Lord Wanghuo''s ''Crimson Tyrant Ascends'' and Cao Yun''s ''Cultivation of Wrath''. Indeed, the king''s killing intent was making the Drop of Wrath mad, which increased Cao Yun''s strength and excited Lord Wanghuo''s killing intent even more. In fact, it was hard to tell how far they would be able to go like that. Honestly, Lord Wanghuo was even beginning to let his real cultivation slip through as he was just too much into this fight. High Mother Lisha could sense it but she was undecided on whether she should interrupt the fight or not, just by looking at the expression of abandon on both of the fighters'' faces.


    ''Crimson Reign of Blood''!


    Up in the sky, the High Mother immediately recognized the king''s technique. Every drop of blood around Lord Wanghuo would strengthen him while he was draining all strength from it. And indeed, Cao Yun could feel his blood being affected. But he used the full intent of his Drop of Wrath to counter it. His spiritual senses intensified the strength of his Wei Qi and this pressure on his bloodline made him even madder. The Drop of Wrath wanted to crush the one who was trying to steal it from its master.


    Still, Lord Wanghuo felt his vigor increased. He was able to siphon a tiny part of Cao Yun''s blood, but he was also able to recover the vigor from the blood that had been shed, both his and Cao Yun''s.


    Indeed, beneath the two fighters, several drops of blood had fallen down toward the cracked ground. While they were still flying, they had created a small puddle below them. Since their blood was so dense and rich, each drop could contain a high quantity of blood and was extremely heavy. Anyone could still small impacts where each drop had fallen, despite the destruction caused by their fight itself.


    Lord Wanghuo''s skin turned even redder, if it was possible, and his broken tusk began to grow back. On the other hand, Cao Yun was pushing his Golden Blood to the limit, along with his Drop of Wrath. He could clearly feel that he was getting dangerously close to the end of his stamina. But there was not a single instant of rest during this fight. In order to end the fight, he tried to use his knowledge of ''Slaughtering the Enemy'' to put vibration into his attacks. This did surprise Lord Wanghuo and it even made his blood move strangely, but it wasn''t enough at all.


    Cao Yun had absolutely no desire to end this fight. Indeed, he could feel his Fallen Arrow growing stronger and stronger. He might literally be able to improve his cultivation by a few months, if not a whole year, in a single day of fight. But he couldn''t contend with his opponent''s stamina.

 Chapter 629: Five mammoths

    As a last attempt to prolong the fight, Cao Yun tried to break away from Lord Wanghuo. But it was to no avail. Lord Wanghuo was completely immersed in the fight. While Cao Yun was mostly on the defense, parrying and blocking his attacks with his spear and his sword, the king was using his larger body to assault him. Lord Wanghuo almost only relied on his fists, but he was putting all of his weight behind each strike. Moreover, he was also using as much of his Turbid Demons as. Although he was engrossed in the fight, he had not broken his promise yet. He was on the absolute threshold of the 5th-grade Accomplished Demon stage but he was still within its confines.


    Besides, Cao Yun was himself reaching the threshold of his current cultivation. Performing a breakthrough during a fight was rarely a good idea. Indeed, the risks were extremely high. Of course, a friendly fight was something else. But Cao Yun wasn''t even sure whether Lord Wanghuo was still lucid enough to let him do so. After all, he would be happy to fight a better opponent, so he should, but he might simply not even realize what was going on.


    ''Crimson Reign of Blood'' was still sapping Cao Yun''s strength while strengthening Lord Wanghuo. It was as though he was absorbing some of his Golden Blood''s properties. Against a weaker opponent, Lord Wanghuo might have drained them of any vitality in a few seconds. Such a technique was indeed tyrannic. On a battlefield, superior numbers could fell even a much stronger cultivator. Of course, the number had to be high if the difference was colossal. But if one could literally kill anyone who was too weak, it was a problem. Some cultivators could do so with spiritual senses, but it wasn''t easy. Lord Wanghuo''s technique was almost as dangerous as a Domain. That being said, it wasn''t as potent or powerful. And he wasn''t near the strength of an actual Monarch or Reborn Demon.


    What Cao Yun could feel was that it wasn''t his blood per se that was behind drained, it was his very essence. At first, his blood was most affected, but then the effects spread to his Lower Dantian and he could feel his Golden Fate being drained away bit by bit. Even the Drop of Wrath felt this attempt. Immediately, the Drop of Wrath reacted by instinct alone. All of his Turbid Demons were in uproar as they were connected to his Drop of Wrath and his essence.


    At the same time, the young man felt that his silver Soul Embryo was reacting as well. This terrified Cao Yun. If his Soul Embryo was damaged, there was little he could do to heal it. From Cleansed Asura''s texts, he knew of pills to heal a Soul Embryo, but they required legendary ingredients and even the best alchemist in the universe might not be able to refine it. Obviously, Cao Yun wouldn''t be able to do so. After all, such a pill would be a treasure even for a late Monarch. For Cleansed Asura himself, this was a very precious pill as well, although a God-Monarch had no need for it himself.


    His Soul Embryo was sending waves and waves of energy to try and compensate the loss of Cao Yun''s essence. For the time being, he was able to protect his essence, but his strength was diminishing just defending it. The pressure exerted on his Soul Embryo was becoming a real issue. On one hand, it was good for his cultivation, but it was clearly pushing the Soul Embryo too far too fast. In a sense, it was like a human trying too hard during a training. At some point, his Soul Embryo would hit a breaking point. Even if it didn''t break, it would need more time to rest and this would slow down Cao Yun''s Qi cultivation, while his blood cultivation was sped up by the fight.


    ''Cracking the World''!


    With his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'', Cao Yun struck Lord Wanghuo as hard as he could directly on his punching right fist. The spear turned into a dark blue scale. Throughout the area, the sound of bones breaking echoed. Lord Wanghuo''s fist had indeed been broken, but so had the Qi manifested scale. Before Cao Yun could move away though, Lord Wanghuo had caught the extremity of the spear with his broken hand. Despite the pain, he grabbed it as firmly as he could and unleashed another strike with his left punch.


    This time, Cao Yun summoned all the swords he had between the incoming punch and his chest. He even used ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield'' with everything he had. An armor made of scales, wind and lightning appeared all around him while shards of broken swords orbited him. The flying swords exploded before Lord Wanghuo''s ''Crimson Sunder Strike''. Since he only struck with one hand, he wasn''t as powerful as he could have been. But this single punch still sent shock waves everywhere. The ground below was completely destroyed. Even Cao Yun''s array formation nearly broke. But it did endure, which probably saved the fight for Cao Yun. Thankfully, his array formation was sturdy enough and the swords acting as flags were protected by the very Wandering Qi they were manipulating.


    Finally, the punch struck Cao Yun''s chest, but it barely injured him. Still, realizing that he was still hurt a little sent cold shivers down his spine. Considering the defense he had mounted, without those flying swords, Cao Yun could imagine that his chest would have been caved in and his heart crushed.


    All around Cao Yun, the force behind that strike was channeled through the wind, lightning and event the shards of swords. Suddenly, he released everything as a powerful tornado all over the place. Although Lord Wanghuo was holding on his spear as much as he could, he did get blown away.


    This allowed Cao Yun to get a bit of distance between them. Unfortunately, Lord Wanghuo had other ideas. Using his Fist Aura, he simply raised his broken hand in the air and sent a gust of killing intent all around himself. The strength generated by Cao Yun''s attack was engulfed and snuffed out. Lord Wanghuo''s fist looked as though it was covered in fresh blood. The size of his fist was also incredible. It was larger than the entire battlefield. Although it was clearly an effect of his Fist Aura, the sensation was still there.


    Cao Yun was seeing Lord Wanghuo with his normal size, which was already impressive, and his gigantic fist. And yet, both things seemed perfectly natural and nothing looked weird. After all, this was a form of illusion in a sense.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ''Hell Elephants Trample the Heaven and Earth''!


    At last, Lord Wanghuo unleashed a technique even High Mother Lisha was unaware of. Until now, she had known every attack and was thus more at ease. Still, she had been anxious for the longest time, fearing for Cao Yun''s death and ready to act at any moment. But now, she was faced with something she didn''t even know and thus couldn''t prepare for. She wouldn''t know when Cao Yun really was in danger. Moreover, she wasn''t sure whether she could do anything at all in that situation. Honestly, Cao Yun was much stronger than she had initially thought.


    The only time she had seen him fight was when he was using the Blood Abyss. Today, she was seeing his strength. Besides, she also knew that this wasn''t even all of his strength as he was still hiding his Qi cultivation.


    Out of Lord Wanghuo''s fist, five large mammoths appeared. They were all different from one another. The first one was covered in green hair soiled by old blood sticking to it. It had five tusks and a few others that were broken, all coming out of its face. That first mammoth was the biggest one with gigantic muscles still visible under its heavy fur. Then, the second one looked quite big as well but its fur was covered in black mud with a terrible stench coming out of it. And it had no tusk at all. After this one, the third mammoth had yellowish fur, even white here and there. Only two tusks were on its face, but from its spine, large spikes were protruding from its back. The fourth beast almost looked like it was merely fur on a pile of bones. Although it had no tusk, its very ribs were coming out of its fur.


    Finally, the fifth mammoth was covered in gray and white hair. Its fur was much longer although it wasn''t as heavy. Four tusks were visible. Cao Yun was immediately sensing something intense from this fifth beast. Indeed, it was resonating with his Fallen Arrow. After all, all of those five mammoths were physical manifestations of Lord Wanghuo''s Turbid Demons. And this one was his Fallen Arrow, the Turbid Demon Cao Yun was trying to temper in order to break through.


    As soon as they appeared, those five large beasts stampeded. They leapt toward Cao Yun without any hesitation. While they were running through the air, the world turned darker and the stench of blood assaulted everyone''s nose. Although it was still daytime, the storm manifested by Cao Yun and the various techniques used by Lord Wanghuo had turned this place into a small hell. Everything was dark and bloody.


    Seeing this, Cao Yun didn''t even know what to do at first. He quickly realized that this technique was affecting his very morale. Immediately, he circulated his mind and soul cultivation. Then, he analyzed the situation and was forced to use his last trump card. On the battlefield, he still had one array formation left. Immediately, he activated it. Although it had been weakened by the fight, it was still intact. This array formation was a very simplified version of the ''Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'' he had used. As such, it wouldn''t last long, but he could set it up fairly easily even without knowing the terrain too much.


    A golden hue spread and formed a small layer of barrier all around Lord Wanghuo and his five mammoths. Still, their steps alone were enough to make it shake. Besides, they were upon the barrier in an instant and it wouldn''t last very long. Cao Yun had to find something soon. And he did!


    ''Weeping Demon''!


    Since Lord Wanghuo was using his Turbid Demons, Cao Yun could do the same. Thus he used the mental attack gifted to him by Chief Elder L¨¹mian of the Wubei Sect. Now, he could fully use it. In fact, he had even altered it a little to better work in synergy with his own cultivation and his own mind and soul. Maybe, a better name would be ''Weeping Asura'' as it was now quite different from the actual ''Weeping Demon''.


    With his current understanding of the technique, Cao Yun didn''t need to even look at someone directly in the eyes for it to work. In fact, he didn''t even need to look at the person. As long as his target could perceive Cao Yun in any capacity, the technique could be used. But it was indeed most effective by direct eye contact. As it happened, Lord Wanghuo was indeed looking at Cao Yun directly. Thus, the technique was incredibly powerful.


    In an instant, the two men found themselves locked in a mental battle. The pull was so strong that they completely left the physical realm. As a consequence, the five mammoths disappeared there. However, they did appear in their mental battlefield. This was a form of amalgamation of Cao Yun and Lord Wanghuo''s seas of consciousness.


    Lord Wanghuo was unfazed and kept on attacking. Large peaks were coming out of the sky as though a mountain had been turned upside down and thrown into the skies. From this large mountain range, many golden chains were keeping other large beasts trapped. Some of those chains were coming down and keeping the five mammoths on a leash. This wasn''t difficult to understand that those were similar to Cao Yun''s Nine Soul Peaks in some way. And those beasts were Lord Wanghuo''s Turbid Demons.


    Just like Cao Yun when he had only mastered Spear Aura, there were golden Insight Writings floating around in Lord Wanghuo''s sea of consciousness.


    While Lord Wanghuo was visible, Cao Yun''s body was gone. His awareness had merged with the gigantic body of Axiu Qian and he was perceiving this mental battlefield from his viewpoint. Thus, he saw the mammoths rush toward him. His golden eyes pierced through them. The hymns and sutras of his Spear Intent coalesced into a large golden javelin. It wasn''t yet a real spear, but it was getting incredibly close to one. Still, getting there would be difficult beyond measure. For now, Cao Yun was still trying to acquire his Spear Heart.


    Axiu Qian threw the golden javelin toward the Flying Poison mammoth, completely skewering him. The poor beast got impaled onto one of the upside down peaks. The Corpse Dog mammoth was grabbed by Axiu Qian''s hand as it was faster than its brothers, so closer to Axiu Qian. Although its body was covered in sharp bones, in fact it was mostly sharp bones, Axiu Qian grabbed it without any problem. Then, the mammoth caught on fire and began to melt in Axiu Qian''s hand.


    In this space, Cao Yun''s mind was much stronger thanks to the Drop of Wrath. But Lord Wanghuo was no pushover. His body became as large as Axiu Qian''s form. After all, nothing was truly physical there so their size had no actual limitation apart from their will. As a demon, Lord Wanghuo was supposed to have a stronger will. That being said, Cao Yun was quite confident in this new battlefield.


    Lord Wanghuo charged toward Axiu Qian. But with its three other arms, the giant asura grabbed the Unclean Evil mammoth, the Stinking Lungs mammoth and the Fallen Arrow mammoth. Axiu Qian squeezed as much as he could while the beasts were being burned by his very touch. Such an assault on his Turbid Demons inflicted incredible pain to Lord Wanghuo''s mind. Still, he rushed forward. However, the distance seemed to stretch more each time he was going forward. The notion of space didn''t really exist in this place but Lord Wanghuo was too stubborn to stop. The harder it was for him, the more enraged he became. His killing intent was permeating the entire battlefield.

 Chapter 630: Fighting in the dirt

    Through will alone, Lord Wanghuo destroyed the space between him and the giant figure of Axiu Qian that Cao Yun had manifested. The two titans fought against each other. Since none of this was actually physical, what truly mattered was their will and their understanding. In fact, it was even fairer than Lord Wanghuo suppressing his cultivation. All of the Turbid Demons he had manifested disappeared. They turned into long locks of hair that went back into the manifestation of Lord Wanghuo.


    The two giant red demons had merged with five Turbid Demons and they were fighting with abandon. The infinite blood sea all around them was shaking with every movement they made. The sky also suffered from their fight. While hours and days passed in their mental battlefield, almost no time seemed to flow in the physical realm. Indeed, the concept of time and space had lost any and all meaning in their minds. It wasn''t that time was different, but that their perception of it was. Every move they could imagine became reality.


    Soon, there were even variations of the fight happening. Thousands of Lord Wanghuo and Axiu Qian were fighting in different realms. It was almost impossible to distinguish what was the actual fight and what was just the imagination of one of the fighters. Anyway, they kept on pummeling on each other with everything they had.


    Cao Yun''s golden Insight Writings formed partial spears and small javelins that Axiu Qian used to fight. On the other hand, golden runes were flying around Lord Wanghuo as he was using his Fist Aura. With his four arms, Axiu Qian had a small advantage but it didn''t mean much.


    High Mother Lisha was able to feel that their fight had changed. They were fighting with their minds and souls. But she couldn''t see or perceive anything of said fight. Thus, she became even more nervous. Indeed, she couldn''t do anything to stop it if things went out of hand. As such, she was in doubts as to what to do. Hopefully, this part of the fight would end soon and they would come back to a physical battle.


    Lord Wanghuo was using his bare fists, his elbows, even his shoulders and head. On the other hand, Cao Yun could fight with a spear, a sword and his bare hands all at the same time. Even then, Lord Wanghuo was not easy to beat. Both fighter was evenly matched. On Lord Wanghuo''s face, Cao Yun could see complete elation. This was the most fun he had had in a very long time. Sincerely, that terrified Cao Yun. Although he was having fun too, he was worried that Lord Wanghuo would try to renege on his promise just to keep him around.


    After what felt like several days of a very brutal hand-to-hand combat, the two men were mentally exhausted. This wasn''t something one could easily recover from. Indeed, their very wills were weakened. Even with pills, it was hard to recover fast from such a state. However, Lord Wanghuo had almost formed his Fist Intent. Under the greatest fatigue of his entire life, he was forced to focus his Fist Aura so much that he had unlocked the sensation needed to understand his Fist Intent. On the other side, Cao Yun was getting closer to his Spear Heart. All of his Insight Writings were slowly coalescing. From many small sutras and hymns, Cao Yun had formed a handful of long sutras. Soon, he would finally form an entire scripture, this was Spear Heart.


    Besides his Spear Heart, Cao Yun had developed golden Insight Writings of both his Fist Aura and Sword Aura. In each case, he was getting extremely close to forming an actual Martial Aura. Obviously, mastering an advanced Martial State with his spear art made unlocking lesser Martial States of other arts easier. Still, it wasn''t too easy either. Besides, Cao Yun wasn''t interested in acquiring many Martial States. Instead, he wanted to absolutely master at the very least his spear art. The sword and the fist were also acceptable, but they were still less valuable. As long as he didn''t have to divert too much of his time, he had obviously no qualm getting better at them. Unfortunately, everyone was a slave to time itself. Otherwise, Cao Yun would have loved to master absolutely everything.


    Moreover, Cao Yun who wasn''t suppressing his cultivation also gained a lot on that front.


    At last, the two fighters were too exhausted to keep on going. Their seas of consciousness naturally separated and they woke up in their bodies. Technically, they had not really left their bodies of course. But a very small part of them had formed this mental battlefield. Stronger cultivators would have been able to fight with all their strength both in their mind and in the physical realm. Unfortunately, neither Cao Yun nor Lord Wanghuo had minds powerful enough yet.


    As they were completely exhausted, the fight was mostly over. That being said, Lord Wanghuo had no intent to end it there. However, just like Cao Yun, he could not even maintain his flight. Indeed, the two men slowly fell to the ground. Although they had still some strength left, they were lacking will and motivation. Their very souls had been weakened. Nonetheless, Lord Wanghuo would not stop.


    All of the Qi Manifestation and Blood Incarnation slowly dissipated. There were now only two men facing each other in a cloud of burning dust. Considering their constitution, they were still incredibly dangerous of course.


    Lord Wanghuo attacked first. He charged at Cao Yun and sent a powerful punch toward his face. When Cao Yun tried to block it with both forearms in front of him, his opponent sent his other fist like a hammer to strike the summit of the young man''s head. Rapidly moving his two arms apart, Cao Yun swept the two strikes at the same time. Since he couldn''t block all the strength behind Lord Wanghuo''s strikes, he redirected them. Immediately, he felt that his opponent was too strong. As soon as the surprise was gone, Lord Wanghuo''s fists would not be hindered by Cao Yun''s hands. Thus, the young man leapt forward and sent an elbow directly into Lord Wanghuo''s sternum that cracked a little.


    Then, Cao Yun lowered himself and struck the legs supporting the big king. Both of their legs screamed in agony. Despite the pain, Cao Yun kept on going, using all of his strength even if he had to break his leg against his opponent''s. And he did. Lord Wanghuo''s leg broke in two, just as Cao Yun''s tibia ruptured. Soon, the fight ended up on the ground. The two men were wrestling in the dust, covered in their blood and sweat. From high above, High Mother Lisha still didn''t know what to do. Her indecisiveness had not changed since she watched helplessly as High Mother Qin Xue sacrificed innocent girls.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    That last part of the fight was extremely brutal and messy. On the ground, Lord Wanghuo''s bigger body wasn''t much of an advantage since Cao Yun stayed so close to him all the time. Still, the two of them were completely engrossed in the fight. Although it seemed chaotic, each fighter was able to analyze the movements of the other one. Thus, their battle turned even more interesting. Lord Wanghuo who wasn''t used to being pushed this far was ecstatic. As it turned out, Cao Yun was also quite happy with this fight. He was sincerely enjoying himself while he was improving both his overall cultivation and his martial arts. Besides, he was also getting everything he wanted out of Lord Wanghuo. After all, he wouldn''t be able to deny his enjoyment.


    In other words, Cao Yun had won everything. Even if his plans didn''t work as well as he imagined and hoped, he would still be able to leave the Desolate Sepulcher and find his sister. Besides, he knew that he was getting closer and closer to the day when he would be able to fight Emperor Weide himself. But he wouldn''t be alone. Hopefully, his friends were still well and alive in the Hongchen Kingdom.


    While their fight was still intense, it clearly wasn''t as violent as it was before. Both fighters had exhausted themselves mentally. As such, they could barely control their blood or Qi for Cao Yun. Consequently, their fight looked like a battle between two mortals. Of course, their bodies were considerably more powerful and they could crush any mortal to dust with their bare hands. Still, their was barely anything that a cultivator would use.


    After several more minutes of this bloody battle going nowhere, High Mother Lisha finally decided to intervene. In truth, it hadn''t even been her decision. Cao Yun took it from her. It had been extremely arduous but he mustered enough will to send her a telepathic message. This was enough!


    At last, High Mother Lisha fell from the sky and reached the two men. With a single gesture, she separated them. It was a though a gust of wind had taken their bodies and pushed them away from each other.


    "Noble Lord, pardon my intervention, but this fight is over in my opinion. I don''t see any point in pursuing it any further. Of course, if your opinion is different..."


    For a few seconds, Lord Wanghuo didn''t even understand what had just happened. In his mind, he was still in the fight. Realizing that his opponent was gone and that High Mother Lisha was now facing him, he finally came back to his senses. High Mother Lisha had been worried that Lord Wanghuo would not be pleased. But he was. It was clear in his eyes that this fight had filled him with glee.


    As was customary, he bowed toward his opponent and Cao Yun did the same. The two of them were completely covered in sweat, blood and burning dust. With a surge of Qi or spiritual senses, it would be easy to get rid of it, but they were too exhausted even for that...


    "This fight was to my liking indeed. It''s too bad that you''re leaving so soon. Unlike some of my other opponents, I''m sure that you''ll grow even stronger, and much faster than I could."


    Looking at his own body, Lord Wanghuo sighed in regret.


    "Apparently, I''ve let myself go."


    Cao Yun knew the truth though. This wasn''t Lord Wanghuo''s body that was a problem. For a cultivator, the most important thing was indeed their Dao Heart. Lord Wanghuo had tasted comfort and abundance. Unfortunately, it had affected his very will. Now, he couldn''t go back to the way he was before becoming king. He wasn''t a warrior or a fighter anymore. After all, if he really wanted to fight powerful opponents, he could have crossed the Divine Blood Ocean to fight Empyrean Asura. But for that, he would need to abandon his harem and his chefs. Besides, he might actually die against such an opponent.


    Somehow, Cao Yun was convinced that Lord Wanghuo had been able to risk his life at some point. Nowadays though, he would not endanger himself. If he had wanted him as an opponent, it was because he knew for a fact that Cao Yun could not really put him in any serious danger. He wanted the thrill of the fight without the risk. Most likely, Lord Wanghuo would never recover from his own victory.


    Defeat was hard to overcome, but victory might be impossible to survive. After becoming king, the previous Wanghuo had died and Lord Wanghuo would never bring him back to life. Although Cao Yun was certain of his analysis, he wouldn''t dare to utter a single word of it to his opponent. After all, he did want his navigator and his boats to go back to his land. Besides, his plans weren''t over. But now that Lord Wanghuo liked him, it was a done deal.


    Indeed, Lord Wanghuo liked Cao Yun very much after this fight. For days, he would propose him to visit his harem. He would even offer him many women. But Cao Yun refused. Although he did miss the touch of Feng Yingyue, it wasn''t the main reason of his refusal. The main reason was simply that he found it distasteful. Using others as mere commodities didn''t feel right to him. That being said, he couldn''t insult Lord Wanghuo. So he did accept the company of several women in his chambers. However, he stayed chaste. To be honest, it was a bit difficult at first since his will had been weakened by his fight.


    Cao Yun claimed that he needed to seclude himself to meditate, which was true by the way. Thus, he stayed alone in a private room for several days. When he finally left, he was reinvigorated and saw that there was a dozen beautiful women in his chambers, wearing little to no clothing. That was a gift of Lord Wanghuo... High Mother Lisha had accepted and now Cao Yun had to deal with it. Clearly, the old woman had wanted to make his life a bit difficult by teasing him.


    Anyway, the women were talented in art as well so this was how he enjoyed them.


    In a few months, he would meet Jing Baiyu the White Whale. In the meantime, he was waiting for a specific event. If he wasn''t mistaken, what he was waiting for had happened while he was fighting Lord Wanghuo. Now, he had to wait for the king to receive the news.


    It didn''t take long. Only a couple days later, Lord Wanghuo was informed that a terrible slaughter had happened. Everyone in the Weiji residence had been killed. Even the guards who were watching the residence had died in agony. The Bloodfire Vermilion Haze poison had been used once more. It was the same poison that had killed Weiji Nian, the same poison she had used against the nomadic tribes. Apparently, this poison was the bane of the Weiji family. Although no one had any clue, Lord Wanghuo knew immediately who the culprit was. Besides, they had found a letter from him to Weiji Fen.


    In fact, they had found two letters from City Lord Sihe to Weiji Fen. Minister Renhai made sure that they both came from the city lord. The first one was obviously there to hide his real purposes. If City Lord Sihe had been there, he would have protested that he had only sent this one though. He would have no knowledge of the second one while recognizing his handwriting nonetheless.

 Chapter 631: Nie Pians Betrayal

    Cao Yun was honestly embarrassed by Lord Wanghuo''s so-called gifts. However, he did make the most of it. Several gorgeous women wearing incredible dresses were playing music, drawing calligraphy, chanting poems, dancing. A few girls also helped Cao Yun in his cultivation through massages. That being said, he did stay chaste. Honestly speaking, it wasn''t because the women didn''t want him, but it did feel very strange to him. Besides, he was worried about many things, including whether Feng Yingyue was alive or not.


    After they had understood that Cao Yun wouldn''t be as gluttonous as Lord Wanghuo, the women became even more agreeable. As it turned out, those so-called gifts were very good. Cao Yun enjoyed himself and he also developed his cultivation.


    The fight had pushed his Spear Intent. At the moment, he was getting closer and closer to the Spear Heart. Reaching such a state would be incredible for Cao Yun. Indeed, Martial States had nothing to do with one''s actual cultivation, although cultivation made reaching them easier. Some Martial States were just impossible to reach without a certain cultivation, just because they were simply too hard to grasp and any mortal would be dead before getting to it. However, one''s Martial States were unbounded by one''s cultivation. Obviously, such a power was alluring to Cao Yun. With an actual Spear Heart, he might really be able to contend with a late Spirit Warrior. Technically, Lord Wanghuo had suppressed his cultivation. Otherwise, the fight would have been much shorter and one-sided. Cao Yun would have been able to struggle a little, but that would have been pretty much it.


    His Qi cultivation had also advanced as the pressure on his Soul Embryo had helped nourish it. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to know how long nourishing it would really take. For the time being, it was an egg. Even if the egg showed signs of moving around, it was impossible to know when it would actually hatch. One day, it would suddenly break open and that would be it. For now, Cao Yun had to be patient and take good care of it.


    What also progressed was his asura cultivation. Indeed, he had almost developed his full Fallen Arrow. Although he had not found perfect answers to all the questions about his goals and purposes in life, he had made some progress. To be fair, even the greatest sages could not easily find a satisfying answer to those questions. Was there even any goal to one''s existence? Even if Cao Yun became truly immortal and could explore reality itself, would that be all that satisfying? Eternity in itself was terrifying. But a mortal couldn''t even imagine what it would be like. Most likely, the way Cao Yun viewed reality itself would change as his understanding of the Dao would mature. At the moment, his desire to explore the Dao and the mysteries of the world was strong. Maybe it wouldn''t last, maybe aging would change his perspectives. Sincerely, Cao Yun doubted that as nothing else truly motivated him.


    After seeing many people ruling over others, Cao Yun was absolutely certain that he didn''t want that at all. First of all, he would always be in doubts as to whether his decisions were right or wrong. And he saw how far some rulers could fall. As much as he wished to believe that he would be different, his own experience told him that he wouldn''t. He would be as hypocritical as others, maybe not as much as the worst rulers. But he knew that he would change, and he was afraid of who he might become. On the other hand, choosing the people who actually ruled wasn''t a bad idea.


    On that point, Cao Yun had already chosen who would rule the Desolate Sepulcher. It was obvious that Lord Wanghuo wouldn''t do anything. Even his few decisions mostly came from Minister Renhai''s influence. So long as Lord Wanghuo had the comfort and luxury he enjoyed right now, he would be content, not to say complacent. It was the very reason why he had not done anything about the sudden rise of forced slavery.


    Then, Cao Yun''s chosen rulers would really control the policies of the Nalupu Kingdom and the Desolate Sepulcher as a whole. Chieftain Sha Chai Gan was already ruling the nomadic tribes. Even if she had separated them anew, they were all under his influence. With the Sun Scorpion Clan now changed to a group of elite mercenaries, she would remain the most powerful figure of the Desolate Dune Desert for a very long time, especially considering who her father was and General Sha Lang Hu at her side. At the same time, she would be supported by Dan Yao and the Blazing Swallow, the richest alchemy company in the Desolate Sepulcher.


    Soon, Dan Yao would even be officially announced as City Lord Dan Yao. And Dan Yao was indebted to Cao Yun for everything. Besides, his past as a slave made Cao Yun a bit more confident about his future. Still, he was not completely naive and had made sure that the boy was the right person for the situation. At the very least, Cao Yun had found no one better and Dan Yao seemed really good. Moreover, Cao Yun had also other influences to balance Dan Yao''s power.


    Obviously, the Sisters of the Abyss were completely under his thumb as he could kill all their upper echelon with mere thoughts thanks to the seals forced in them. He himself thought he was hypocritical to fight slavery while blackmailing all those women. However, he didn''t really care that much in the end. She had made their choice by following High Mother Qin Xue. That was how he was able to justify his own actions to himself. As much as it was flowed, Cao Yun was not naive enough to think that there would be a perfect solution right in front of him. Reality was messy and finding the righteous path was not easy. It was a fight of every instant unless one became a complete hermit. Unfortunately, Cao Yun lacked the constitution for that, he was still attached even to some demons he had barely met.


    Finally, Cao Yun had to get rid of City Lord Sihe. For that he had the perfect plan. At least, he had been convinced of that until Nie Pian had joined Siqian City. Even now, Cao Yun could read many reports praising Nie Pian. Almost everyone seemed to like it to some extent. Of course, City Lord Sihe''s violence and insanity were helping a lot. With that alternative before them, they were absolutely glad that Nie Pian was an available option to get things done. Almost no one wanted to deal with City Lord Sihe.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    There were many reasons behind why so many influential people were running away from City Lord Sihe. Unfortunately for them, they were still tied to him by business and couldn''t easily escape from his clutches. First of all, City Lord Sihe had clearly lost any support in the capital and among the Sisters of the Abyss. This was a big deal for everyone else. Moreover, he had been implicated through the Weiji family and their use of poison. Nasty rumors had been spread. And most of those rumors had not even been fabricated by the Sisters of the Abyss, although a few clearly were to be fair.


    Taking all that into consideration, the main reason for City Lord Sihe''s isolation was the fact that he had become truly paranoid and had killed many people for absolutely no reason at all. Who would want to risk discussing anything with him? Even a harmless encounter could result in one''s gruesome death if City Lord Sihe wasn''t in the right mood. Only his status as City Lord was protecting him. Secretly, many were intriguing behind the scenes to convince Minister Renhai to abolish his status. Technically it was possible, but it was also extremely rare. And Minister Renhai was afraid that other City Lords would frown upon it, fearing that it might happen to them at some point.


    Unfortunately, Minister Renhai lacked any form of imagination. He simply couldn''t think outside of the way he was instructed. For him, real life was an abstraction. His politics was limited to administrative documents and paperwork. Honestly, most City Lords were also done with City Lord Sihe but stayed mostly polite if they were not already affiliated with someone else. In fact, they were also mostly convinced that City Lord Sihe was behind the assassination of Boss Gui. Although she had never had a good reputation, mostly because she was the newest addition to their circle, they couldn''t forgive her death. But there was no clue. And to be fair, City Lord Sihe really was innocent.


    At last, Cao Yun received the news he had been expecting. The Sisters of the Abyss knew before anyone else. After all, they were extremely good at intelligence, and they were expecting it too. High Mother Lisha brought Cao Yun the news in person. As soon as she stepped into his room, she saw a heaven of art and beauty. Honestly, even she fell under the charm of all those beauties. But she was there for serious business. That being said, she did get some ideas on how to reform the Sisterhood by focusing on art instead of sacrificing people to a pool of blood. That would help them spread their influence even more if they got excellent painters, musicians, and many other excellent artists in general. They could nurture that much more than they were doing at the moment.


    High Mother Qin Xue wasn''t stupid enough to talk in front of all those women. After all, they came from Lord Wanghuo''s harem. If they could improve their position and status by leaking some secret they had overheard, they would. Most likely, Minister Renhai had planted some of his trusted agents among them. In fact, High Mother Qin Xue literally knew who they were. Thus, she sent a telepathic message to Cao Yun, knowing no one could intercept it within this room.


    "The Weiji family was slaughtered. Their bodies have been found as well as letters from City Lord Sihe. Minister Renhai authenticated them personally."


    "Then, they already think that City Lord Sihe is behind the attack?"


    "As of now, they''re not entirely certain. But the evidence is clear and subtle enough. They won''t find any reason to doubt it. Besides, it is actually the truth. My guess is that Minister Renhai will try to play it safe. However, Lord Wanghuo genuinely appreciated Marshal Weiji He. Although he couldn''t support his last actions, he did want to protect his family. Thus, City Lord Sihe is a dead man. There''s no way for him to survive. In fact, I''m pretty sure Lord Wanghuo will ask us to get rid of him one way or another."


    "What about Nie Pian?"


    "If they dig, and they will, they won''t find anything against him. In fact, they''ll even find proof that he tried to dissuade City Lord Sihe from acting in such a way. Unfortunately, City Lord Sihe acted behind his back."


    "And the truth?"


    "Nie Pian pushed City Lord Sihe until he decided that killing the Weiji family was his only hope. And he fabricated the second letter to put doubts on the first one City Lord Sihe was trying to shield himself with. I have to admit that this is a perfect move from him. Even if some evidence came to light, as soon as it''s not too obvious, everyone would defend him against City Lord Sihe. After all, this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of him for good."


    "That''s good news. When Lord Wanghuo asks you to get rid of City Lord Sihe, don''t accept right away of course. I wouldn''t want Minister Renhai to figure out that this was our goal. And send a message to Nie Pian. Tell him that his actions have caused his demise. Make sure that everything pointing to him is under your control. As much as he covered himself, I''m certain that he missed a few things. As you said, no one cares about it at the moment, but things might change soon."


    "What is your plan for Nie Pian? Didn''t he betray you? No matter what you think, it might be dangerous to trust him with anything..."


    Cao Yun didn''t answer right away. Instead, he kept his thoughts to himself.


    "Betray me?! Hmph...!"


    After some awkward pause, he finally answered High Mother Lisha.


    "We''ll need to talk about this in the near future. For now, just make sure that Nie Pian is protected. My guess is that he''ll be chosen as a temporary replacement for when City Lord Sihe disappears. After that, we''ll have to adapt. My first idea was to make Sha Chai Gan a City Lord. But this might not be the ideal move in the end. It could reduce her influence on the tribes in fact. And since Nie Pian has done such a great job, he might be perfect for the position."


    "What?!"


    As much as she was surprised, High Mother Lisha didn''t betray her emotions. None of the women saw anything else than Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha enjoying some wine while admiring their craft. They could imagine that they were talking mentally, but none could know what they were saying to each other, even those who were actually trying.


    "As I said, there are many things we''ll have to talk about concerning Nie Pian. Although many influential people like him at the moment, they''ll turn on him if he tries to become City Lord. After all, he''s a former slave, a nobody. He''s liked because of the contrast with City Lord Sihe. For his status to reach this level, he''ll need something else."


    "And you want the Sisters to support him?! He''s already betrayed you! No matter how much you think you can control him..."


    "I don''t plan on controlling him. And he didn''t betray me at all. Do you really think that City Lord Sihe could have removed my seals that easily without Nie Pian dying from it? You really took me that lightly?"


    "What?! You mean..."


    "Oh?! Something even you couldn''t see through. I honestly thought it was obvious. I have to admit that I''m disappointed that you failed to see through it. Maybe it was too obvious so you didn''t consider it."


    "You sent Nie Pian to City Lord Sihe?!"

 Chapter 632: Pearl-Devouring Deer

    High Mother Lisha was honestly a bit shocked. Even though she was the leader of the best intelligence network in the Desolate Sepulcher, she had not been aware of that.


    "Master, you had no reason to hide it from me with your seals, so why?"


    "It''s quite simple, you had no reason to know. In fact, there are many things you don''t need to be informed about. But since my plan seems to have worked perfectly, now you know. And the reason is because I''ll need your help on this. You will send a message to Nie Pian. I am quite confident that he accomplished everything I asked of him and even more. At the moment, he should know absolutely everything about City Lord Sihe''s business. Most likely, he also knows a lot about those who gravitate around him as well, whether close or not. He''s in the perfect position to succeed him.


    "This won''t be good new for him. Unfortunately, his mission was just too successful. I didn''t want to burden him with this task, but he''ll have to replace City Lord Sihe, at least for a few decades. We''ll have to provide him with some pills to extend his lifespan and slightly improve his cultivation. Here is the exact content of my message."


    High Mother Lisha received many characters that didn''t make much sense directly into her mind. Clearly the message could only be understood by Nie Pian.


    "Only trust it to the best of your messengers. It is important that it reaches Siqian City before anything and anyone else. On our side, we''ll work on getting rid of City Lord Sihe. Lord Wanghuo and Minister Renhai won''t appreciate the extermination of the Weiji family as well as their royal guards. City Lord Sihe is done for. Our job is to make sure that it ends up with Nie Pian alive and in control of Siqian City in his stead."


    "How do you plan to achieve that?"


    "You will! First of all, your order will denounce City Lord Sihe for the use of poison. And you will also denounce Boss Gui at the same time. We''ll use ''Lie Trapped in a Truth'' to manipulate the people. The use of poison by Boss Gui, City Lord Sihe and the Weiji family will be completely exposed but we''ll control the narrative. This should strengthen our Blazing Swallow as well as the reputation of Nie Pian who was obviously opposing the insanity of City Lord Sihe at the peril of his own life and blood.


    "If the Sisters of the Abyss expose all of them at the same time, City Lord Sihe will have no opportunity to shift the blame unto someone else. In the end, Boss Gui''s death will greatly help us as we can put all the blame about poison on her. In fact, it will also weaken her former slave business, thus strengthening the nomadic tribes and Chieftain Sha Chai Gan and the reformed Sun Scorpion Clan. I''ll let you take care of the political and religious aspect of this. Everything should be set perfectly.


    "Nie Pian will protest that he can''t be City Lord. He obviously can, but this is a lot of work and worries. Considering his personality, it won''t be too difficult to push this position onto him. He''ll earn a seat at the Xinian Confederation. Soon, Nie Pian and Dan Yao will be the vast majority of the Xinian Confederation. While everyone thinks they''re enemies because Nie Pian betrayed him, they are in fact both working under me. Thus, the Xinian Confederation will be mine, as are the Sisters of the Abyss, the two main cities, the Desolate Dune Desert and its tribes. In other words, the only part of the Desolate Sepulcher and the Nalupu Kingdom I won''t directly control is the capital. However, we both know how inept Lord Wanghuo is. As long as we make sure that the capital receives enough profits, we won''t have any problem at all."


    "Master, is Dan Yao aware of your ploy with Nie Pian?"


    "Obviously! They''re supposed to be deadly rivals so they both had to know as to avoid them from actually killing or destroying each other. In fact, Nie Pian is still working on the finances of the Blazing Swallow. But now that he can see almost everything related to the economy of the Nalupu Kingdom, the Blazing Swallow will become even stronger."


    "And you''ll be able to shape the future of our entire nation even though you won''t do a thing. You won''t even be present."


    "And I probably won''t ever come back. So no, I won''t shape everything. I chose the people I trust and so I trust them to change things for the better. With the new system that will exist after me, this Desolate Sepulcher has everything to be incredibly prosperous and successful. But ultimately, it is your land and thus it is your responsibility. I have no desire to rule anyone. Moreover, I doubt about my own purpose so I won''t try and find the purpose of an entire people. Decide it yourselves!"


    High Mother Lisha could tell that Cao Yun was already detached from everything in the Desolate Sepulcher. His mind was already back in the Hongchen Kingdom. So she believed him without any problem.


    -


    Everything happened as Cao Yun had predicted. The Sisters of the Abyss publicly denounced the blasphemous use of poison by Boss Gui, the Weiji family and City Lord Sihe. Since the first two were all dead already, everything fell upon City Lord Sihe who had completely lost his mind anyway. This gave the perfect opportunity to all the other city lords to publicly denounce his numerous crimes as well. Of course, they were mainly trying to get rid of him to usurp his lands and businesses. Some also had debts that they wanted gone. If City Lord Sihe was killed, they might be able to erase those debts.


    Minister Renhai tried to handle it personally but Lord Wanghuo was furious. Although Weiji He had abandoned the Nalupu Kingdom for his personal vendetta, Lord Wanghuo had always liked him. He couldn''t accept that a valiant Marshal of his army suffered such a fate. Since he had been killed in battle against a Sister of the Abyss, Lord Wanghuo''s sense of honor stopped him from taking any action against Sister Xie Yue. However, he couldn''t accept what had happened to his blood. All of Weiji He''s family had been killed and their blood poisoned and tainted. There was no way he could admit that. Besides, it had happened close enough to his capital and his own royal guards had been slaughtered in a disgraceful manner as well.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Not even Minister Renhai could quell his king''s fury. Moreover, it had happened around the moment of his duel. Thus, the news had completely spoiled his fun. Although he might not admit it, this might be the main reason behind Lord Wanghuo''s uncontrolled anger. He personally signed the death sentence of City Lord Sihe. And he chose the worst death possible within the confines of the Desolate Sepulcher''s beliefs. City Lord Sihe would be devoured alive piece by piece by demonic beasts. His blood and flesh would be digested. His very being would be turned into excrement.


    In fact, ancient practices consisted in the dishonored demon being devoured by other demons. But thankfully, those practices were obsolete. Even Demon God Da Mo had abandoned them in his time. Obviously, the Weaver of Souls had also frowned upon them. But being devoured was indeed very dishonoring without being blasphemous like poison.


    Nie Pian received the message from his master and quickly turned against City Lord Sihe. He had the full control over his assets and his servants. All of City Lord Sihe''s influence was in the hands of Nie Pian. And he weaponized them against City Lord Sihe.


    What City Lord Sihe had failed to realize was that he had never released Nie Pian of Cao Yun''s seals. Cao Yun had altered them. In fact, he had made sure that City Lord Sihe experimented on some of his seals. But Cao Yun had provided those seals himself most of the times. Thus, when City Lord Sihe worked on Nie Pian, he was too confident. Instead of releasing those seals, he was contaminated himself. For months now, his Turbid Demons had been turned slowly against him, just enough so it would fuel his paranoia and his somber feelings but not too much so no one could really notice it. After all, demons had stronger feelings than humans so his behavior could be explained without any form of Qi deviation.


    As soon as City Lord Sihe had taken Nie Pian, he had sealed his fate. The only opportunity he had of besting Cao Yun would have been to kill Nie Pian. In fact, Cao Yun had been afraid of this but Nie Pian had still accepted the risks. Indeed, he felt incredibly grateful to his master and also remorseful for the way he had mishandled his business. Even though it had only happened once, Nie Pian did feel guilty about it to this day. After such a success, Cao Yun hoped this regret would be blown away. Besides, he would be too busy to even think about it.


    Indeed, this was a terrible headache for Nie Pian. He had hoped he could finally leave after City Lord Sihe''s demise, but he had just received orders from his master. Moreover, he could feel the trust of City Lord Sihe''s servants. They were all relying on him to protect them from the various external influences who would try to usurp City Lord Sihe. Without a city lord, Siqian City might be raided. The population feared the other city lords even more than the nomadic tribes. Some were afraid that Lord Wanghuo would simply kill everyone indiscriminately.


    Thankfully for the city, the Sisters of the Abyss arrived first. They helped deal with City Lord Sihe. He had become a prisoner of his own house. The Sisters made sure that he wouldn''t end his own life by sealing his cultivation. Then, they prepared Siqian City for Lord Wanghuo''s arrival.


    All around the city, the nomadic tribes and the Sun Scorpion Clan were waiting as well. Officially, they were there to witness City Lord Sihe''s torture and death. After all, he had done terrible things and committed many atrocities against the nomadic tribes so it didn''t appear strange to anyone. In secret, they were there to protect Siqian City and make sure that Nie Pian could handle things without any disturbance from another city lord.


    Lord Wanghuo did reach the city incredibly fast. He had been riding on a Pearl-Devouring Deer, a 9-star demonic beast. This prodigious beast was as large as a massive horse. Even considering Lord Wanghuo''s stature, the Pearl-Devouring Deer still looked impressive. It had large and complex antlers that looked like crystal with many perfect pearls in it. Its fur was golden and almost disappeared in the color of the sand. Finally, its face was extremely thin and elegant. Although it was running like the wind, its movements all seemed light and few as though it was simply walking without even touching the sand under its hooves. Honestly, the Pearl-Devouring Deer''s demeanor clashed heavily with Lord Wanghuo''s oppressing aura.


    When he arrived, Lord Wanghuo was welcomed by the entire population of the city. They were all bowing before him. In fact, they had been bowing for hours waiting for him. A few people had collapsed of thirst of fatigue. But as soon as they knew Lord Wanghuo was close enough to perceive them, they didn''t dare to move at all. Even the Sisters of the Abyss and Nie Pian were bowing among the crowd. The only one who wasn''t bowing was City Lord Sihe. He was bound in front of the city with chains piercing his flesh. Many seals had been used to completely suppress his cultivation while keeping him alive. He had not eaten or drunk for weeks, since his arrest. For an Accomplished Demon, this wasn''t such an issue. But with his cultivation suppressed and exposed to the desert day and night, this had been difficult for him. Obviously, Siqian City wanted to appease Lord Wanghuo''s anger.


    As soon as he saw him, Lord Wanghuo wanted to cut City Lord Sihe open but he restrained himself. His mere killing intent caused many villagers to faint even though it had not been directed at them.


    "Who is Nie Pian?"


    "Lord, this humble and unworthy one is Nie Pian."


    Without moving, the old man answered the question. In the crowd, the Sisters of the Abyss were ready to act if it was necessary. Lord Wanghuo was often unpredictable.


    "You did well! From now on, you''ll be acting as city lord of Siqian City. Prove yourself and you''ll earn the official title."


    Everyone was surprised and shocked. But they were also extremely happy. After all, Nie Pian had a great reputation in Siqian City. Unfortunately, everyone was frustrated because they didn''t dare to show their excitement in front of Lord Wanghuo''s fury. And soon, they would indeed witness his fury.


    Lord Wanghuo turned his gaze toward City Lord Sihe.


    "You evil bastard! You''ve betrayed your kingdom, your blood, your King and your God. There is no salvation for you. Your blood and your bloodline shall be extinguished henceforth. Zhupao!"


    From behind Lord Wanghuo, his Pearl-Devouring Deer walked forward. It slowly reached City Lord Sihe. Then, it began to eat him alive. Under the spiritual senses of Lord Wanghuo, his blood didn''t flow to the ground. Instead, every single drop of blood was devoured by his mount. The process was slow and excruciating. Lord Wanghuo and his mount Zhupao made sure that he stayed alive and conscious as long as possible. For an Accomplished Demon, this was unfortunately, a very long time.


    The entire Siqian City as well as the nomadic tribes around it witnessed the entire execution. Such an execution was among the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls. In fact, this was one of the worst of them, especially for high demons. He died like a beast and his blood would be completely lost and digested.


    In the end, Cao Yun did control the fate of the entire Desolate Sepulcher.

 Chapter 633: Melancholy through the streets

    Cao Yun simply stayed in his room in the capital. He didn''t even try to get to Siqian City. Indeed, he was confident in what he had put in motion. With the support of the Sisters of the Abyss, he was absolutely certain of himself, especially after seeing Lord Wanghuo and Minister Renhai. He learned of the terrible death of City Lord Sihe and it didn''t disturb him at all. After all, along with Boss Gui, the two of them were clearly the ones responsible for the slave trade.


    Moreover, Cao Yun had already left this Desolate Sepulcher. At the very least, his mind was already back to his own land. He had spent too much time here and had mostly bad memories of it. Although he had gained in strength and power, he had a bitter taste still in his mouth. Indeed, he had been forced to compromise a lot. Even though he had few great principles, he still felt a bit corrupted. In a sense, it was good for his Turbid Demons. But it could also turn against him. The only real positive was that he had abandoned his naivete. Finding the right thing to do in complex situations was much more difficult than he thought.


    Although an act might seem terrible, or the right thing to do, the consequences could be the opposite, or a complex shade of everything. As a leader, it was necessary to make such decisions all the time as the fates of many relied on those. Thus, Cao Yun didn''t wish to have any power at all. At the same time, it was useless to pursue cultivation and strength if it was to sit and do nothing about the world around. For example, Cao Yun did wish to protect the Hongchen Kingdom. But he didn''t want to make the tough decisions. In fact, he was sincerely unsure whether he was the right person to make them.


    Instead of trying to rule, he would rather find people worthy of this honor and responsibility. But this wasn''t a gift, it would be a heavy burden for them. And at the moment, Nie Pian was indeed realizing that being a city lord had many benefits. But unless one was as corrupt as a few other city lords, this position also had a lot of constraints.


    For weeks, Cao Yun kept on meditating and cultivating. He had absolutely everything he could ask for. Thus, he took advantage of it to prepare for his trip and for his return to his own kingdom. He bought many weapons, built array formation plates, seals, pills, ... He also worked on his mind cultivation and Qi cultivation.


    Several times, he even tried to get in contact with Dian Mo. Unfortunately, there was still no response from the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Try as he might, he couldn''t even sense any sign of life. Deep down, he was still hoping that Dian Mo was alive, albeit weak. Unfortunately, he had no idea what he could do for him if that was the case. Cao Yun tried to send some of his intent into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom but nothing happened. He circulated his full mind and soul cultivation and focused it on the Temple of Supreme Wisdom to no avail. With each passing day, he was more and more worried about the fate of Dian Mo.


    This would have seemed ridiculous to Cao Yun a few years ago. But Dian Mo had truly become dear to him. And he missed the spirit and their long conversations. Ironically, as Cao Yun was already feeling as though he had left this land to go back home, he found himself homesick. Most of it was due to the place where he was being different to the place he felt he had already gone back. Honestly though, he had a few attachments to this Desolate Sepulcher. Despite saying he would never come back, he just might. In a few decades or centuries, he might try to see how far they had gone.


    At the same time, Cao Yun was worried. If he came back to realize that everything he had done had gone undone, or worse, it had made things immensely worse for everybody...


    Cao Yun was in a state of confusion and felt melancholic without knowing exactly what was responsible for it. Although he had cultivated his mind to a deep level and he could use it in powerful ways, understanding his own self was much more subtle. Maybe he was influenced by the Fallen Arrow. Even though he was close to mastering it, it might really impact him. Or maybe it was something else.


    Under these feelings, Cao Yun used his stealth art and decided to walk through the streets as a mere commoner while hiding most of his cultivation. Thankfully, he was not annoyed by anyone. He simply walked through the streets not knowing where to go. The people seemed happy enough in the capital. It was very different from what he had seen within the tribes of the Desolate Dune Desert. Obviously, the capital was much more prosperous than any other city. Even the business of Boss Gui or the one of City Lord Sihe had not brought that much wealth to their city. But again, the capital was taxing them...


    The young man ate at several street vendors. For a few hours, it felt like he was a peaceful commoner enjoying a trip to the capital. Honestly, it emptied his head and made him feel better. He completely put aside all ideas of cultivation or plan. Now that he had succeeded in his ambition of going back home, a sort of void was seizing him. Simply forgetting everything felt incredibly good.


    Letting his own legs lead him, Cao Yun found himself outside of the city. Soon, he had met up with Hongyu. His mount was now a 6-core demonic beast, a Sky Tyrant Fenghuang. In her, he could feel something very familiar as she had a Wrath Core with the intent of the Blood of Wrath. There was also Evil Qi in the shape of an Evil Core. Just like Cao Yun, she seemed to be perfectly at ease with using Evil Qi. Thus, she had an advantage. The two of them were stronger than cultivators and beasts of the same rank.


    Now that he was with her, they flew around a little. Cao Yun and Hongyu both felt at ease with each other. However, Cao Yun had a terrible feeling in his stomach. He was wondering whether it was right of him to bring Hongyu back to the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, he was about to confront Emperor Weide. There was no telling what would happen. Besides, he had no information on his friends or even his sect. Hopefully everyone was alive and safe. But he had no real way of knowing. For all he knew, he might get back to a kingdom at war with many victims.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    The only thing Cao Yun knew for sure was that the Empyrean Asura Theocracy still bought slaves. Thus, their war was not over. Otherwise, they would not have asked for soldiers and warriors. They were also asking for young women to entertain their troops. Clearly, there was no indication that their war was over yet.


    Of course, Cao Yun was hoping for the best, but he could not stop himself from imagining the worst.


    As if knowing his question before he even asked it, Hongyu landed on top of a large cliff. They were able to see the Divine Blood Ocean from there. Obviously, Sidina had been built close to the ports since it was the basis of the economy and the trade with God''s Land. The ocean was strangely calm despite all the stories Cao Yun had heard about it. However, he could still smell a faint odor of blood within the air coming from it. In this very smell, he recognized the intent of the Weaver of Souls.


    According to the legends, the blood of the Weaver of Souls had turned the Divine Blood Ocean red. Many demonic beasts had become incredibly powerful and ferocious. While admiring the ocean that was still separating him from home, Cao Yun could indeed envision this scene. After all, he had seen great battles in the memories of all those immortals he had seen. Cao Yun was probably the only one on the Piaolu planet who had witnessed such legendary battles and he had done so directly from the memories of those powerhouses. No matter what would happen, he had indeed been lucky despite everything bad that had also happened to him. And he had made great friends. He really hoped they were alive. They had to be. And he was going to be reunited with his brothers and sisters very soon, even his blood sister.


    Hongyu''s feathers caressed Cao Yun''s hair as she took the young man under her wing as though she was hugging him. Without exchanging any word, Cao Yun knew what she meant. She would go with him. Although she might have lived happily here, she couldn''t part with her brother just yet.


    For several hours, Cao Yun admired the ocean alongside Hongyu. He was truly at peace and even fell asleep like that. All of the tension he had been feeling simply vanished and he fell into a deep slumber. On the other hand, Hongyu stayed awake and watched over her brother. Although nothing could really put him in danger around here, she was instead defending his sleep and peace.


    -


    When Cao Yun finally woke up, he was completely rejuvenated. He felt as though he had slept for years and was full of vigor and energy. Even his mind felt fresh. Then, he suddenly realized something. There was a gush of brilliant silvery energy all around his sea of consciousness. The ocean itself seemed to be made out of argent as though it was reflecting a full moon that didn''t exist. Sending his mind inward, the young human felt it.


    His Soul Embryo had finally be filled with energy. It had been much faster than he had thought. Maybe it was thanks to his mind cultivation, his blood cultivation. Maybe it was due to the pressure put on it during his fight with Lord Wanghuo. Whatever the cause was, Cao Yun had officially stepped into the 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior stage. And he had literally done so while sleeping. Most likely, letting go had helped it tremendously.


    Just like Martial States, conscious efforts could sometimes be detrimental. Worrying and focusing too much about relaxing made relaxing impossible. It was the irony of trying to strop trying. With his Soul Embryo brimming with vitality, Cao Yun''s mind seemed clearer. It was subtle, but he could tell that some clouds had dissipated before him. The world around him was a bit more vibrant and his negative emotions were easier to rein in.


    Now that he had reached the 2nd-grade, he would need to awaken his Soul Embryo. For the time being, it was still alive and empty of any mind. This stage was indeed known as ''Awaken the Embryo''. Contrary to some techniques, the name was extremely clear. But once again, force would not do Cao Yun any good. There was no known trick, even throughout the documents left by Cleansed Asura. Or rather, the few tricks were all ill-advised. Indeed, Cleansed Asura had found ways to quickly awaken one''s Soul Embryo but those techniques all caused damage or even destruction to the Soul Embryo. Some of those techniques were meant to temporarily allow a cultivator to awaken their Soul Embryo to increased their strength, but the backlash could be lethal. Even if one survived, they might never be able to cultivate further.


    Everyone knew of Saint Xun Ke who had sacrificed his own Soul Embryo to protect Emperor Nuwa. Such an injury couldn''t be healed by any pills known on the Piaolu planet. Even Cleansed Asura would have a very hard time doing anything at all for it.


    This sudden thought about Saint Xun Ke woke up a quote in Cao Yun''s mind. ''All men, no matter how long they live or how bright they shine, can shape the world. A fleeting moment for a man, an eternity of benefits for mankind. No cultivation can replace the Dao Heart!'' That was what had faltered within Cao Yun, his Dao Heart had been soiled by his doubts about morality. Then, he reflected back on Saint Xun Ke''s greatest treatises, ''Ruling the Waterfall to Raise the Mud'' and ''Darkness in Light and Light in Darkness''.


    The main point of those treatises was to discourse on the morality of the sovereign and its impact on the people. And it resonated with Cao Yun''s feelings. A sovereign''s morality was essential for the people to follow by example. However, no sovereign could really rule without bending morality and commit crimes and even heinous and cruel deeds. A just sovereign was the one who could discern when such acts were necessary and perform them while still being disgusted by them.


    Such a sovereign might still retain the image of a just and moral ruler who would inspire the people. For that, the sovereign should always try not to perform those acts. And even when he did, he should never enjoy their fruits. Instead, he would make sure that those acts always benefited the people and not hims directly. But if a sovereign was corrupt, he would justify any action while enjoying all of their benefits. With such a ruler, morality would slowly be shaped into the interests of the sovereign himself.


    What suited the ruler would become just and moral and what contradicted him would become evil and immoral.


    The more he thought about it, the more Cao Yun had to agree with Saint Xun Ke. Although he couldn''t stay pure and moral if he wanted to act in this world, he always had to be able to look at himself honestly. Violence and cruelty shouldn''t be the first tools used by anyone. But that didn''t mean that there was never a time for those. For example, there was no doubt in Cao Yun''s mind that Emperor Weide had to die.


    As though a veil had been lifted, Cao Yun could see his future with bright light. The Hongchen Kingdom had already fallen before the attack of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Although it was not as corrupt as the Nalupu Kingdom, Emperor Weide''s deeds had already pushed it in this direction. Corruption had already poisoned his kingdom. It was necessary to cleanse it of this poison along with the invading demons. But this couldn''t stop there. A just ruler who could still make the tough choices without being corrupted had to be found. Cao Yun had a few ideas on the matter. One thing was certain, he wouldn''t be this leader!

 Chapter 634: Golden Hammer on Silver Rock

    Getting back to his residence, Cao Yun felt extremely serene. Although he had not solved all his inner turmoils, his mind was clear. Partly, it was due to his Soul Embryo being fully nourished. But this in itself was due to his state of mind that had changed. While he was walking back home, Cao Yun took all his time and read philosophy and poetry. In his sea of consciousness, the words were echoing and he was enjoying them as much as he was projecting them into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Indeed, Cao Yun was still hoping for some miracle. Since he couldn''t tell whether Dian Mo''s spirit was totally extinguished or not, he would act as though there was yet chance for him.


    At last, the young man reached the capital Sidina. Thus, Hongyu couldn''t walk freely in. That being said, he had received the permission from Minister Renhai through High Mother Lisha. Walking into the city, the guards let him and Hongyu pass. They didn''t even ask for any document. Indeed, they had memorized the faces of everyone they shouldn''t be messing with. Obviously, Cao Yun was part of those people. Even if they had tried to stop him, Cao Yun could still enter the city even without not realizing it. Anyway, the soft way was always a better approach if possible. It felt better to enter through the main gate rather than sneak in.


    The two of them finally got to Cao Yun''s residence. The young man gave orders so that a place would be prepared for Hongyu until the day of their departure. Now, Cao Yun had nothing more to do than to wait for the arrival of the navigator Jing Baiyu. Then, he would simply wait some more until their boat departed and they reached God''s Land as the Desolate Sepulcher called the main continent. For humans of the Hongchen Kingdom, the continent didn''t even have a name other than Hongchen Continent. Ultimately, the entire planet belonged to the humans as the demons had invaded it long ago.


    Obviously, no one imagined that mankind would ever be able to take the entire Piaolu planet back. But no one could accept to concede any portion of the continent to the demons who had enslaved their kind for so many generations. Thus, the continent didn''t get a proper name. Even the Desolate Sepulcher had no name on the maps of the Hongchen Kingdom. But to be fair, no one had ever been there since the Great War. The humans weren''t even sure whether there were inhabitants there so the need for a name had never occurred.


    After Hongyu settled in the inner courtyard, Cao Yun cultivated for a few weeks.


    Many things happened throughout the Desolate Sepulcher. Nie Pian was recognized as the acting City Lord of Siqian City. In the shadows, a lot of city lords or other influential cities were intriguing to take over after his time was up. But the Sisters of the Abyss gave him all their support. Besides, a few people tried to form secret alliances with Dan Yao to take down Nie Pian and Siqian City thinking that they were mortal enemies, which they publicly were. This allowed Dan Yao and Nie Pian to completely grasp the nature of their true enemies. Indeed, Nie Pian also received the same kind of propositions.


    As a matter of fact, they either stayed ambiguous or simply accepted some of those alliances. For all intents and purposes, they were mortal enemies and they were going to play this part as well as they could. This way, they would be able to protect each other. Of course, it was difficult to know how long such a situation could go on. Moreover, Nie Pian was already rather old and his cultivation could not progress too far. Thus, he was already thinking about a heir. On the other hand, Dan Yao was young, and as an alchemist, he would get access to many pills that would help him cultivate and prolong his lifespan.


    The Xinian Confederation also fell into the hands of both men. Together, they controlled the entire thing. But obviously, everyone was convinced that they were at odds. Once again, they would have to keep up the appearances but they could influence the Xinian Confederation to do exactly what they wanted.


    The nomadic tribes were also gaining in strength. The Sun Scorpion Clan was getting more and more recruits. With enough time, it might even become a small army that could rival with the Nalupu Kingdom. In the Desolate Dune Desert, at the very least, they would become unbeatable. And they formed strong ties to both Nie Pian and Dan Yao. Some ties were public and others were more secretive. The poison used by the Sun Scorpion Clan to strengthen themselves had been replaced by the pills of Dan Yao. Of course, there was still poison within. But the Sisters of the Abyss could sanction those pills as much transformation had occurred in the refinement process. After all, the Sisters were the arbiter of religion. If they claimed that pills were not poison, they were not. Besides, the recipes themselves were secret so no one really knew how much poison if any was in those pills.


    In other words, everything was going pretty well. Cao Yun had truly transformed the Desolate Sepulcher. Although he had not fundamentally changed the institutions, he had changed all of their leaders, except for Lord Wanghuo. And he had also deeply altered their links to one another. Apart from the Nalupu Kingdom itself, everything else was working together. Maybe this Desolate Sepulcher could form a single political entity, like the Hongchen Kingdom did. This would obviously make things easier. But this was now out of Cao Yun''s hands. After carefully choosing those he had placed in high positions, he could only hope for the best. In the end, this wasn''t his land and he didn''t want to force his views on them all. Honestly, he wasn''t even sure what his views were on many subjects. And he couldn''t be bothered with it.


    In seclusion, Cao Yun focused on his Soul Embryo. It was still asleep in his Huang Ting, the Yellow Court. Within his stomach, Cao Yun could feel a great warmth. It was both physical and emotional. From his stomach, it spread throughout his body, slowly transforming his very flesh and meridians. All the way to his Upper Dantian, he could sense this radiant energy. Everywhere in his body, Cao Yun could perceive this silver hue. But it was also accompanied by the intent of his Drop of Wrath. The two of them were mixed together.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    In fact, Cao Yun could see that his Drop of Wrath had tinges of silver in it. On the other hand, his Soul Embryo was not affected by his Drop of Wrath yet. Indeed, Cao Yun was consciously preventing it for the time being. Before trying to merge them together, he wanted to make sure that his Soul Embryo was safe. But this phenomenon proved to him that fusing his Demon Soul and his Soul Embryo could ultimately work. At the very least, they were not clashing with each other. So this was a positive signal.


    During the ''Awaken the Embryo'' stage, the technique was extremely simple. No matter what he tried to read on the matter, the answer was always the same. One had to focus on their Soul Embryo with enough sincerity to make it wake up. For some, it could take one to two years. For others, it might take decades. There was no absolute. Even talent wasn''t much of an indicator. According to some legends, there was a cultivator who had gone through terrible hardships to reach this stage. Everyone had thought that he would never be able to awaken his Soul Embryo. Yet, it had awaken after a single day. Of course, there was no way to make sure whether this story was true or not.


    The point of the story remained true nonetheless. It was almost impossible to predict how long one would need to awaken their Soul Embryo. But an average cultivator would take somewhere between five to twenty years. The lucky few would probably only need one to two years. But doing so in less than a year was unheard of outside of stories and legends.


    Although there was no trick and no shortcut, there were many techniques. In fact, there were too many techniques. Cao Yun went through all known techniques within the Hongchen Kingdom. Then, he looked through what Cleansed Asura had discovered himself. In ''Cultivation of Wrath'' itself, there were dozens of techniques. Each one had notes from Cleansed Asura. As a matter of fact, his conclusion was always the same. The technique didn''t really matter as long as it wasn''t a poor one. Among the good techniques, there was no superior art. Each technique was simply different and how useful one was depended solely on the individual. Consequently, it was impossible to really decide on any universal technique.


    Cao Yun would have to choose the one he found was the best suited for him.


    Obviously, he discarded all the techniques that seemed terrible. In order to awaken one''s Soul Embryo, one had to focus on it and slowly wake it up. During the process, the Soul Embryo could get frightened or even injured. It was like waking up a small fragile infant. At the same time, the process itself would increase the link between the cultivator and their Soul Embryo. So this stage could help the cultivator''s future cultivation if it was done well. Ultimately, the cultivator''s soul and Soul Embryo would become one. Thus they had to be extremely intimate with one another.


    Among the discarded techniques was ''Starfall on a Frozen Lake''. This was a terribly aggressive method only advised to those who had formed an incomplete or already injured Soul Embryo. As it was impossible to form another one, they would have to make do with it. So this technique was a form of gamble to try and still improve one''s Soul Embryo. But it could injure it even further. If the cultivator was not good enough or simply unlucky, they could literally shatter their Soul Embryo. Obviously, Cao Yun didn''t consider using it. But he still read it to get a better idea on how it was supposed to work.


    Even the failed techniques could help Cao Yun. Understanding what not to do was also a good thing. Some of those techniques seemed almost suicidal. ''Silver Moth Drinks the Dawn'' was using a decoction to awaken one''s Soul Embryo. But this decoction was a form of poison. It would literally cause the Soul Embryo to reach a critical state to force it to awaken. The success rate was incredibly low. Only a desperate cultivator would ever try such a thing. Besides, it had to be repeated several times as it would jolt the Soul Embryo awake, if it didn''t die, but it would fall back into a deep slumber.


    Looking through the technique and manuals, Cao Yun tried to imagine what they would feel like. He even tested a few of them on himself. Apart from the crazy techniques, each one was indeed good but none was great. Of course, testing them for several weeks or months would be necessary to really compare them. But that would mean that Cao Yun would simply have awoken his Soul Embryo before choosing a technique.


    From everything he read, it was necessary to choose a technique and then trust it. Changing one''s technique all the time wasn''t a good idea. The main argument that convinced Cao Yun was that one would simply get better at using a technique. Changing after months of practice would necessarily lead to using a technique with less proficiency. Thus, Cao Yun decided to follow Cleansed Asura''s written advice. He focused on the techniques of the ''Cultivation of Wrath''. Among them, few were really using the Drop of Wrath. And, as a matter of fact, those were other techniques Cleansed Asura had altered to use the Drop of Wrath''s intent instead of one''s own intent.


    In other words, he had not been able to create a technique that was truly unique to the Drop of Wrath. After all, he had most likely been unable to really test it.


    The names of all those techniques were getting blurry in Cao Yun''s mind. ''Moonlight Stirs the Depths''. ''Veil of Mist Upon the Mirror''. ''Gentle Rain on Jade Leaves''. ''Silent Bell Beneath the Mountain''. ''Lantern Hung in the Abyss''. ''Soft Thunder in Hollow Bones''. ''Hidden Ember, Patient Flame''. ''Waters Erode the Mountains''. ''Golden Hammer on Silver Rock''.


    He read all those techniques and the notes left by Cleansed Asura. Pondering over the matter for a long time, Cao Yun decided to use the last one, ''Golden Hammer on Silver Rock''. But he didn''t use it as it was written.


    This ''Golden Hammer on Silver Rock'' consisted in using one''s intent to slowly knock on one''s Huang Ting. Some techniques directly knocked on the Soul Embryo but not this one. Instead, it was using both the Middle Dantian and Lower Dantian to produce some vibration within the Huang Ting between them. With enough time, those vibrations would awaken the Soul Embryo. However, Cao Yun altered it with what he had learned from all the techniques he had read.


    Using the intent of the Drop of Wrath, he filled both of his Dantian with Qi and knocked as though his intent was a hammer and his Dantian bells. Vibrations erupted. Using his marrow, he made sure to focus this vibration within the Huang Ting. His understanding of ''Dance of Slaughter'' helped him control these vibrations.


    At first, he was obviously extremely careful and the vibrations were faint. With more and more practice, he would slowly increase them depending on the reaction of his Soul Embryo. After each strike of the hammer, Cao Yun made sure that the Soul Embryo was reacting well. Within his Dantian, he didn''t just send Qi, he also poured some of his Golden Blood and even some faint traces of his Turbid Demons along the intent of the Drop of Wrath.


    Between each session, Cao Yun focused on the Soul Embryo to feel how it was reacting and to plan for the next small strike. The process was tedious and long. But it was safe.

 Chapter 635: Fading Fang

    Cao Yun tested out various means of producing this vibration through his Huang Ting. Basically, ''Golden Hammer on Silver Rock'' was using both Dantian as resonating chambers. One had to then make sure that those vibrations would be mainly focused on their own Soul Embryo. With Cao Yun''s knowledge and understanding, this was extremely easy to do. From this point forward, there was no other trick. That being said, Cao Yun was still trying to improve it as much as he could.


    In the end, the only real thing to improve was the interval of time between each small strike. Assaulting his Soul Embryo too often was bad. Thus, he had to gauge the reaction of his Soul Embryo each time. In itself, it was helping him get closer and closer to it. Truth be told, it reminded Cao Yun of an egg he would be hatching, just like Hongyu. He had to make sure that once hatched, the egg would be familiar enough with his own soul and mind. The tighter their bond, the faster and smoother his cultivation would be for the remainder of the Spirit Warrior realm.


    For weeks, Cao Yun remained in isolation and focused solely on his Qi cultivation. He even neglected his martial arts and his blood cultivation. To be fair, they had both risen tremendously. And considering that awakening one''s Soul Embryo could be a lengthy process, Cao Yun prioritized it. Moreover, in the Hongchen Kingdom, he couldn''t fully show his blood cultivation. It would have to be hidden at all times by his Qi cultivation. Thus, he had to push it far enough.


    While Cao Yun was doing all that, Hongyu was also slowly developing her seventh core. Unlike Cao Yun, she had to absorb enough Qi into her forming core in order to fully manifest it. Just like muscles for humans, simply eating more would not make them grow bigger after a certain point. Her body itself could not agglomerate all the absorbed Qi into her slowly forming core. In fact, the quality of what she ate was much more important. It could take decades for her to form this seventh core. But she had been spoiled with how fast her cultivation had been. And indeed, the Evil Core and Wrath Core she had were both making her stronger and her cultivation faster.


    That being said, she was clearly reaching a plateau. Her cores would become more and more difficult to form, especially if she didn''t actively try to form them. Cao Yun might be able to help her thanks to some documents about demonic beasts he had read. However, he was too busy right now. And she didn''t want to disturb him. So she spent most of her time enjoying a slow life in the residence they were staying in. From time to time, she went out to hunt other demonic beasts. But there weren''t powerful demonic beasts around the capital, for obvious reasons.


    After more than a month, Cao Yun finally received good news. He had obviously received much information on what was happening within the Desolate Sepulcher. But he hadn''t really reacted to any of it. After all, he had planned it and after that, it had been out of his hand. From now on, the politics of this continent wasn''t his problem anymore. Maybe he might come back some day to check on them. But he wouldn''t worry. This was their life and he had given them everything they needed to succeed. The very future of the Desolate Sepulcher rested on the people he had chosen. This would be a heavy burden for them of course. But this was the best thing for everyone. At the very least, Cao Yun couldn''t find a better solution.


    High Mother Lisha herself interrupted Cao Yun''s meditation. Very carefully, she entered his private chambers. An array formation was completely isolating Cao Yun from the rest of the world. But it wasn''t too strong since he was in a safe location. Such an array formation only allowed him to stay in a quiet environment. Still, High Mother Lisha didn''t disturb it. Instead, she studied Cao Yun''s face and demeanor. The fragrance of the incense was relaxing her as she was watching over the young man. He was wearing plain clothes and had an extremely serene face at the moment. She barely could recognize the man who had slaughtered High Mother Qin Xue or fought Lord Wanghuo. Cao Yun almost looked like a young monk. Besides, his beard had been recently shaved.


    After a few minutes, when Cao Yun didn''t seem to be in the middle of something delicate or important, she finally stepped into the array formation. She bowed and waited for Cao Yun to react to her presence. No matter how deep his concentration was, she knew that he would sense her presence. And indeed he did.


    Since he was still watching the effects of his last golden strike, the young cultivator remained in his meditative state for a while. Clearly, High Mother Lisha''s message wasn''t urgent enough to break his concentration so it could wait. Other people would have become mad seeing this scene. The greatest religious leader of the entire continent was bowing to a young man who wasn''t even a native of the Desolate Sepulcher, a follower of the Weaver of Souls, or even a demon in the first place. However, both Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha found the thing absolutely natural.


    At last, Cao Yun opened his eyes. After spending so much time within his mind mind, he spoke out loud. After all, his array formations would conceal their conversation. And if things became too sensitive, they could end up speaking telepathically anyway.


    "What is it?"


    "Noble Lord, Jing Baiyu the White Whale finally berthed at the port. Minister Renhai sent his orders and the Captain is ready to receive you."


    Cao Yun was a bit perplexed about the way she phrased that last sentence.


    "Receive me? Where is Captain Jing?"


    High Mother Lisha hesitated but finally spoke out loud.


    "Jing Baiyu''s words were as such: ''The damn brat can come and beg me permission to board my beauty so long as I stay in dock.'' Those were his exact words..."


    Even after hearing those words, Cao Yun wasn''t particularly shocked. From what he had heard from this Jing Baiyu, this was to be expected. The old man was known to be boorish. However, he was simply talented enough that not even Lord Wanghuo gave him any attitude about it. In fact, Lord Wanghuo found his demeanor refreshing as he would consider everyone else the same, even if they were the king of the Nalupu Kingdom in person. Considering how important the trade with the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was, no one would dare to make trouble for a captain who could cross the Divine Blood Ocean.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    "Then, I will go ask for permission right away. My things are all ready?"


    "Yes, Noble Lord."


    As she answered, she gave him a white spatial ring. It was the most spacious spatial ring anyone could find in the Desolate Sepulcher. Some could equal it, but none could surpass it. And yet, she gave it without any hesitation. Cao Yun had bought many things to prepare himself for his return. He had hundreds of plans. Unfortunately, he knew that those were almost useless. Indeed, as long as he didn''t have a right picture of what was going on, his plans were mere ideas. Thus, he made sure to be prepared for almost everything. At the very least, he had used all the resources he could find in the Desolate Sepulcher.


    Apart from this white spatial ring, Cao Yun kept his personal spatial ring he had once gifted to Hongyu. He also had a few others of varying sizes. Each and every single one of those spatial rings had seals in them. Among them, most seals were meant to both protect and locate the rings, but other seals were also meant to attack any would-be thief. Stealing from Cao Yun would become almost impossible, and lethal in many cases. He had remembered his lesson from Cang Yin.


    Thinking about that, Cao Yun remembered his worries about characters like Cang Yin and Sha Diyi. Hybrids between humans and demons could have infested the Hongchen Kingdom. Technically, every human and demon was in fact some form of hybridization between humans and asura of course. After all, both were descendants of the legendary Three Jade Saints. But those people had been birthed by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy to infiltrate the Hongchen Kingdom. By crossing bloodlines, they had been able to dilute their demon blood in order to produce humans. So they could go through the barriers of the Hongchen Kingdom. And they could strike from within.


    In fact, there might be high cultivators or high officials who were completely loyal to the demons. And it would be impossible to detect. Indeed, they were truly humans but indoctrinated by religious zealots who hated all mankind and wanted the death of every single human being in order to bring back their god, Demon God Da Mo. Those traitors were probably even more dangerous than the Empyrean Asura Theocracy and Emperor Weide united. After all, the greatest strength of mankind was its unity. Unfortunately, the Empyrean Asura had conquered all the other demon kingdoms to unite them in his folly. And now, the humans were fighting among themselves. Cao Yun was truly worried about the current state of the Hongchen Kingdom.


    -


    Cao Yun reached the port where Jing Baiyu was. Since his boat had berthed here, Captain Jing Baiyu, the While Whale, had not left his ship once. The old man was known by all. He hated the ground and loved the sea. If he could, he would simply live among the tides. But unfortunately, he had to come back all the time. At the very least, he needed to repair his ship and to replenish his supplies. Besides, he had to perform tasks for the Nalupu Kingdom in order to keep getting enough funds.


    It really wasn''t difficult to find the White Whale''s ship. As soon as Cao Yun reached the dock, he didn''t ask anyone, he simply walked toward the oldest and most decrepit ship he could fathom. Just by looking at it, the poor ship seemed to be falling apart. No paint was visible anywhere. Even the name of the ship was gone. What had once been ornaments were all smashed. Planks were put here and there and the ship looked as though it was being held together by a few nails. Despite all that, there was a certain aura all around the ship.


    With his senses, Cao Yun could immediately tell that a lot of blood had been shed on and around this ship. Both demons and demonic beasts had died around that ship. But this wasn''t the only reason behind that aura. The ship itself was majestic. All its flaws could not hide how great this ship was. Indeed, Jing Baiyu''s ship had been crafted by incredible artists and craftsmen. Jing Baiyu had participated in the process himself. To this day, he was the last man alive who had helped build this ship and he was its only captain.


    On the deck, Cao Yun saw the figure of an old man. He was rather large for his age. On his head and around his mouth were gray and white hair. Clearly, this old man had never heard about scissors or razors for quite some time. Unlike Cao Yun, he wasn''t groomed at all. His clothes were washed-out because of the salty air of the ocean. But his skin and his eyes had also suffered.


    Just by looking at him, Cao Yun could tell he was a late Golden Blood Child. This cultivation level wasn''t impressive at all to the current Cao Yun. But for someone who spent their life on their ship, out at sea, it was indeed a huge achievement. The old man was obviously Jing Baiyu.


    Despite his appearance, Jing Baiyu was not even two hundred years old. He could probably live for eight to nine hundred years old more. In fact, he might even reach the Accomplished Demon realm at some point in his life. And yet, he appeared so old and worn. Everything around him though screamed vitality and strength. When he saw Cao Yun, Jing Baiyu didn''t bat an eye. The young man couldn''t even know whether he had been recognized or not since Minister Renhai had probably told him everything.


    Anyway, Cao Yun walked toward the ship. He bowed respectfully and projected his voice toward the old man.


    "This humble one asks for permission to board your respected ship."


    "Humph... Not too bad... Come on in, boy."


    A hoarse voice answered Cao Yun''s words. Thus, he slowly walked forward and boarded the ship.


    "Welcome on Fading Fang! You''re the boy this scoundrel asked me to bring to God''s Land?"


    "Indeed I am."


    As they were speaking, Jing Baiyu was inspecting Cao Yun very carefully.


    "Do you know anything about boats?"


    "I''ve read..."


    "Then you don''t. Just say so instead of wasting my time! Have you ever been on a boat?"


    Cao Yun remembered very tiny boats he had been on. But he already knew the While Whale wasn''t talking about those so he immediately answered.


    "No, sir."


    "Useless! If you ride with us, you''ll be under my commands. No matter what I ask of you, I expect you to obey. Is that clear?"


    "Yes, sir."


    Cao Yun thought about adding a few words to try and get a favorable opinion from the captain. But he had realized that Jing Baiyu would frown upon any other answer than something direct and to the point. It was futile to try and impress him. In fact, it would have the opposite effect.


    "Will you ride alone?"


    "No, sir. I will take a companion with me, a demonic beast."


    Jing Baiyu stopped for an instant. His face got darker and he clearly made some effort to control himself.


    "What kind of demonic beast?!"


    "A 6-core demonic beast. She''s a Sky Tyrant Fenghuang. I can assure you that she won''t cause any..."


    "Are you kidding me?! You want to bring a freaking demonic beast on my Fading Fang?!"

 Chapter 636: A chicken in a boat

    Jing Baiyu was furious and yelled at Cao Yun.


    "Get off my ship!"


    "Captain Jing, please, listen to me. I don''t understand your outburst."


    Jing Baiyu was ready to smack the young man but he controlled himself. Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether it was because he could obviously break the old man in two without trying, because he had been sent by Lord Wanghuo, or simply because Jing Baiyu restrained himself. But Jing Baiyu''s ill temper didn''t relent. He was still so enraged that his voice caused the deck to shake.


    "No demonic beast is allowed on my boat. You should have known that, you ignorant brat! Demonic beasts attract each other. If we sail with your chicken, we''ll be swarmed with other demonic beasts. Even I won''t be able to insure the safety of our trip. You''re literally asking us to die for no good reason. And then you ask me why I''m mad?! You should have educated yourself before begging for my help!"


    Suddenly, Cao Yun realized the anger of Jing Baiyu. But he also realized that the issue was easy enough to deal with. Indeed, demonic beasts would often attract each other because unlike humans they were unable to hide their Wei Qi. In fact, they even prided themselves with their Wei Qi in order to mark their territory. Of course, demonic beasts could hide their presence for some time while they were hunting or in hiding. But this wasn''t something they could maintain long term. After all, they had no knowledge of martial arts or cultivation. Everything they were doing came to them instinctively.


    "Captain Jing, your anger is understandable. But it is unwarranted. First of all, Hongyu is much more capable at stealth than any other demonic beast you''d ever encounter. Moreover, I am an array formation master. This is no difficult feat for me to set up an array formation aboard your ship so that her presence will be completely hidden. As a matter of fact, I should be able to conceal all your crew''s presence much better than they can do themselves. Please, I simply ask that you let me prove it to you."


    "... Boy...!"


    Jing Baiyu was upset but he still controlled himself. Looking at the bowing Cao Yun, his rage slowly diminished. Another reason why he was furious was superstition. Although there was a practical reason behind why demonic beasts were not accepted on his ship, there was also another one. Almost every ship who ever transported demonic beasts of sufficient strength got toppled and sunk. Of course, no one could know the real reason. Maybe the beasts themselves had caused the disaster. Maybe their very presence had attracted other demonic beasts who had attacked the boat.


    From those disasters, a superstition had emerged. Demonic beasts were ill omens. Even seeing a demonic beast before leaving a port was seen as a bad omen. The crew would practice several rituals to purify themselves. As much as Jing Baiyu didn''t care for those superstitions, he knew that most of his crew would. A crew who was worried and didn''t trust their captain was worse than any other demonic beast for Jing Baiyu. Still, he also knew that he couldn''t simply throw out a boy sent by Lord Wanghuo. He could enjoy his freedom thanks to his usefulness. But there was a limit.


    Moreover, Jing Baiyu was actually sensing a lot of sincerity from Cao Yun. Thus, he decided to change his mind. But he had ulterior motives. Hopefully, he could convince Cao Yun to leave.


    "Fine, boy. I''ll agree. But you and your chicken will have to obey my every order. Is that clear?"


    "Yes, sir."


    A huge grin deformed Jing Baiyu''s face. He walked toward a bucket full of turbid water and threw it in front of Cao Yun''s face along with a mop.


    "My crew left for their permission. They won''t be back before three weeks. In the meantime, I except you to take care of my Fading Fang with me. First of all, you''ll clean the entire deck. And you can''t use any of your cultivation. She is fragile so using too much strength might damage her."


    Looking at the state of the deck, Cao Yun doubted Jing Baiyu''s words. Clearly no one was too delicate with the poor boat but the wood used was just extremely sturdy. On the other hand, the deck was indeed dirty after many months out at sea. Without any word of protest though, Cao Yun immediately began to clean the deck. He didn''t use any of his cultivation. With his spiritual senses, he could have controlled the mop without even touching it. Instead, he was using his own body.


    Obviously, such a work was taxing on a mortal but it was nothing at all for a cultivator. The only thing was that it was long and tedious. Also, many cultivators would have felt insulted to be asked to simply clean the deck of any boat. On the other hand, Cao Yun didn''t mind. If it could help Jing Baiyu accept him, he was ready to do so. Besides, while he was mopping the deck, he was still cultivating. At the moment, his cultivation only required that he focused his intent in his Soul Embryo. As such, mopping the deck was in fact a good way to release his internal tensions. He was using it as a relaxation tool.


    Jing Baiyu didn''t do anything and simply watched Cao Yun clean the deck. The captain was hoping that giving degrading tasks to Cao Yun would make him protest or resist. Either the young man would quit and this would be it or Jing Baiyu could use his refusal to work to justify throwing him out of his boat. Unfortunately, Cao Yun obeyed his every order. Even when Jing Baiyu made him clean absolutely everything in the boat using the most tedious methods, Cao Yun simply obeyed.


    As a matter of fact, Cao Yun''s mind was solely focused on his internal cultivation. His acts were purely mechanical. After all, they didn''t require much knowledge. But it began to change. Indeed, seeing Cao Yun being so obedient, Jing Baiyu began to ask him to do other things. He even taught him many things about the boat. Cao Yun learned how to take care of the sails for example. In less than a week, Cao Yun had visited the entire boat and learned almost everything one could learn about it.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Then Jing Baiyu began to teach him more and more about how to navigate. Since Cao Yun was both extremely responsive, curious and could understand all of that as soon as he heard it, Jing Baiyu got more and more excited. All day long, he taught Cao Yun about his passion. And indeed, Jing Baiyu was a passionate man. Etiquette was something he didn''t care at all. When it came to teaching someone, it could be an issue in fact. Oftentimes, he reprimanded people who didn''t understand what he had taught them only one time. But with Cao Yun, this wasn''t a problem. He could not only remember everything but he could also apply it after seeing it once.


    Cao Yun quickly realized that Jing Baiyu didn''t know how to speak about anything else than his boat and the sea. And even then, he was a very pragmatic man. There was no poetry or deep meaning in his words. However, Cao Yun could still perceive the vibrant passion in Jing Baiyu despite his matter-of-fact tone.


    Before two weeks had passed, the two men had developed some deep tie. Cao Yun was glad to have learned so much. Although Jing Baiyu was a terrible teacher, he had the knowledge. On the other hand, Jing Baiyu was happy to have found someone whom he could teach. Until now, he was simply getting angry simply because a crew member had not understood in an instant what Jing Baiyu had learned in ten years. Such experiences were frustrating for everyone. But his crew put up with it simply because Jing Baiyu was indeed the greatest navigator there was. Moreover, even getting a fraction of his knowledge and experience was better than getting all the knowledge from another navigator.


    So his crew accepted his rashness. And they knew it was only due to his terrible quality as a teacher. Even behind his harsh words, Jing Baiyu wasn''t unnecessarily mean. As long as his crew was doing what they were told, he would never be unfair. However, when a mistake was made, he was also implacable. His judgments were fair but strict. After all, even a small mistake could cost lives on the Divine Blood Ocean. His crew loved this aspect of their captain. He never gave them a task they couldn''t perform but he expected them to perform their duty to the best of their ability.


    Cao Yun quickly realized all that about Captain Jing Baiyu. On the other hand, Jing Baiyu realized how talented Cao Yun, and how earnest and sincere he was. This became a huge problem for him. He had no reason to expel Cao Yun. But worse than that, he didn''t want to expel him at all. In fact, Jing Baiyu would have loved to have Cao Yun join his crew. Unfortunately, he knew that this was impossible. As much as Cao Yun could learn and was eager to learn, he didn''t have Jing Baiyu''s passion for the sea. Maybe he could develop it when they would be sailing, but Jing Baiyu doubted it, from his own experience.


    With a deep sigh, Jing Baiyu reached the moment when he had nothing more to teach Cao Yun. There would be other things but those would only happen while navigating. Theory wasn''t Jing Baiyu''s forte. In fact, nothing was his forte when it came to teaching. But there were things he could only show and not explain. Thus, he had nothing more to task Cao Yun with and nothing else to teach or show him. As a consequence, he had to give him his final judgment. After some hesitation, Jing Baiyu finally spoke.


    "Boy, I''ll accept your chicken on my ship. But she must remain in the lower decks. And you must show me those array formations of yours. I''ll convince my crew, but they won''t be happy. You''ll have to show them you can be useful. I can''t have too much tension among my crew members. When we''re sailing, we don''t have time for this. You must understand that we always have to adapt to the sea. So it''s very unpredictable. Sometimes nothing will happen for days. And suddenly, the entire crew will need to work harder than they did their entire life for an extended period of time. It''s imperative that they can all work together without friction."


    "I understand, sir. I don''t want to cause you any trouble. And I can swear on my Dao Heart that Hongyu won''t be a problem at all."


    "Fine... But show me your array formation first."


    So Cao Yun did. They went to the lower decks. Looking at the place, the young man was uneasy. According to Jing Baiyu, the trip to God''s Land could take six to twelve months depending on the weather and the demonic beasts. So Hongyu would have to stay hidden in this place for a very long time. The lower decks didn''t have any view of the exterior. So Cao Yun could imagine that the trip would be harsh for Hongyu. Hopefully, it wouldn''t be too bad. Despite his efforts to make her understand the risks, she was adamant about her decision to follow him.


    The young man gave orders so Hongyu could enjoy her freedom as much as she could before the departure.


    He set up an array formation in the lower deck and proved his point to Jing Baiyu. While inside the array formation, even by circulating his full blood cultivation, the captain couldn''t sense a thing at all. Of course, he wasn''t as sensitive as powerful demonic beasts, but he could tell how incredible this array formation was. Using all the space he could, Cao Yun made sure the array formation would allow some movement to Hongyu. Thankfully, the Fading Fang was large. After all, it had been used to transport slaves from the Desolate Sepulcher to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Such a thought wasn''t too pleasant as Cao Yun imagined Hongyu being transported like a slave. She was not a pet or a domesticated beast, she almost was like a little sister to Cao Yun at this point. After all, her parents had died for her and they had entrusted her to him.


    Finally, Jing Baiyu was convinced.


    "I''ll convince my crew about this. Go fetch your chicken. Our ship will depart in two weeks as soon as the sun rises. If you''re not there, we''ll leave without you. And during the entire trip, you''ll be a member of my crew. In other words, you''ll obey all of my orders without any question. Any mistake will be dealt with fairly but harshly."


    "I understand, sir."


    Clearly, Jing Baiyu was reluctant. But Cao Yun knew that it would disappear after seeing Hongyu. At least, he hoped that it would. And he couldn''t be sure about the crew''s feeling. Hopefully, it would go well. After all, they were going to spend close to a year together in restricted space while entrusting their lives to each other. Indeed, Cao Yun wasn''t sure whether he could survive alone in the Divine Blood Ocean. The sudden changes in the weather were terrible enough. But the demonic beasts could also be a great threat to any human or demon.


    Cao Yun was already ready so he simply had to fetch Hongyu. He made sure that she could enjoy her freedom as much as she could. But finally, the day of the departure came. Cao Yun used his stealth to help Hongyu conceal herself. Jing Baiyu didn''t want to hide her from his crew, but he didn''t want anyone else to know that he had taken a demonic beast aboard his ship. Indeed, there were heavy superstitions about them among the navigators.


    Hongyu was led to the lower deck. Finally, she realized why Cao Yun had tried to warn her so much. The space wasn''t too narrow, but it was still rather small. She felt as though she was confined in stables. And in a sense, she was. Besides, she could also feel that Jing Baiyu didn''t want her here at all. And she knew the entire crew would be like that. Apart from Cao Yun, no one wanted her here. This wouldn''t be a leisure cruise for her.

 Chapter 637: Blood Storm

    Cao Yun was a bit tired when the boat departed. Indeed, for one week straight, Lord Wanghuo had organized festivities. As soon as he had learned that Cao Yun was leaving for good, he tried everything to make him stay. And in Lord Wanghuo''s mind, the best things to keep Cao Yun here were wine, foods, women and martial arts.


    For one week straight, many women offered themselves to Cao Yun and used of all their charms on the poor young man. Knowing that they had been sent with the express intent of tempting him so he would miss his boat and stay, Cao Yun declined everything. But he had to admit that this was extremely tiresome. Besides, Lord Wanghuo kept inviting Cao Yun so he couldn''t simply stay in seclusion. After all, he didn''t want for Lord Wanghuo to find any excuse to prevent him from leaving. Even though he had given his word, Cao Yun wasn''t absolutely convinced by this king. It became especially true when he saw how he organized festivities.


    The banquet was never ending. No matter how much Lord Wanghuo would eat and drink, there would always be more food and wine on the table. Most of the food simply rotted away as there was just too much. That being said, Cao Yun did enjoy the food and the wine. For the entire week, he discovered many flavors. He even decided to take the recipes with him. Unlike Lord Wanghuo, quantity wasn''t interesting to Cao Yun, but quality was. So much great food being wasted was hard to behold. But the art performances he saw during this week were so great that they were worth it.


    Lord Wanghuo mainly asked martial artists to perform their art in front of his guest. But there were also musicians, dancers, poets, and all varieties of performers. On that note, Cao Yun had to admit that those festivities were great. That being said, he was convinced that Minister Renhai was behind them, or maybe other ministers. Looking at Lord Wanghuo''s crude appreciation of those spectacles, it was pretty obvious.


    Nalupu Kingdom''s King even tried to convince Cao Yun to stay by promising to show him all the greatest manuals of his kingdom. To be honest, Cao Yun wasn''t really interested. Now that he could mostly understand Antique Sixian, Cao Yun was able to slowly translate all of Cleansed Asura''s documents. Of course it would take some time as they had been corrupted, mixing Cao Yun''s Nuhua with his master''s own language. But he was now convinced that he could translate them all over time. As such, the manuals within his own sea of consciousness were much more precious than anything Lord Wanghuo could show him.


    For the entire week, Cao Yun was as polite as he could be. In fact, he was in the same state he had been while cleaning Fading Dang''s deck. The young man''s mind and soul were focused on his Soul Embryo while his body was mostly going through the motions. However, Cao Yun knew how to get rid of Lord Wanghuo''s constant attempts. In a sense, Cao Yun felt as though he had to get rid of some suitor. This was rather strange, the women felt less like admirers than Lord Wanghuo himself. Sincerely, this was unsettling.


    Cao Yun decided to play the same kind of game. If Lord Wanghuo really wanted to stay close to him, he could simply follow Cao Yun to God''s Land. As soon as he began to talk in such a manner, Lord Wanghuo became much less insistent. Indeed, despite his desire to fight worthy opponents, Lord Wanghuo had lost his edge. His Dao Heart was clearly broken and it would slowly fade away. Already, Lord Wanghuo had regressed. With time, he might even fall further.


    Comfort had become too important for Lord Wanghuo. He couldn''t abandon it to go on a long cruise. But more than that, he had lost the taste of a real challenge. Lord Wanghuo lacked the strength of character that would allow him to fight Empyrean Asura. Indeed, he would never endanger his life. Against an opponent like Cao Yun who couldn''t kill him but could still challenge him while suppressing his cultivation, Lord Wanghuo was ecstatic. But against someone who could really injure or even kill him, Lord Wanghuo lost all of his lofty ambitions. He would much rather spend time in his harem.


    Unfortunately, Cao Yun could tell that this wasn''t strictly speaking an inner demon that was afflicting Lord Wanghuo. Of course, with time, it might turn into one. But most likely, Lord Wanghuo would simply remain longer and longer within his residence, enjoying comfort and luxury. The affairs of the world would go on without him completely. And all of his ambition would erode until he couldn''t even fight an early Accomplished Demon without using his cultivation to crush them. Such a fate was sad. But since Cao Yun had never met Lord Wanghuo before he had fallen so much, he had no regret in his heart. If such a thing had happened to a great hero of mankind, Cao Yun would have felt terrible. In a sense, even Emperor Weide had not fallen that far. Although he was despicable, he wasn''t pathetic...


    As the Fading Fang was leaving, Cao Yun remembered everything that had happened in the Desolate Sepulcher. He remembered all the people he had met and all those who had died. Most of his bonds with this place were either cut and resolved. Now his mind was solely focused on the Hongchen Kingdom.


    According to Captain Jing Baiyu, the trip would most likely take eight to ten months according to the weather. But he immediately added that the weather on the Divine Blood Ocean was unpredictable, as were the demonic beasts. He couldn''t promise anything. Sometimes, they could reach God''s Land in less than six months. But their longest trip had taken them more than fifteen months. This was the time Jing Baiyu faced a terrifying 9-core demonic beast. At the time, he had a large fleet. Against such a demonic beast, the entire fleet could have been destroyed but Jing Baiyu saved almost everyone as well as most of the cargo. Of course, they didn''t kill the demonic beast, they were simply able to lose it.


    Technically, Jing Baiyu had earned the rank of Admiral, but his crew kept on calling him Captain. Thus, Cao Yun had also called him Captain. Besides, he was currently only commanding this one ship, Fading Fang. Since the time Cao Yun had first seen it, it had been repaired. Strangely, the repairs made it look it shabbier. But it had a powerful aura indeed. And with Jing Baiyu commanding it, the ship felt like the safest place on Earth. Cao Yun wondered whether this was a form of Martial Aura or battle formation in a sense. Some commanders on a battlefield could indeed create a powerful aura all around their forces. This wasn''t just charisma, but something a bit more tangible. However, Cao Yun couldn''t quite put his finger on what it was. It was similar to the Spear Heart he was yearning for. Maybe being close to it might give him some insight.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Anyway, the crew wasn''t too pleased with Cao Yun''s presence. First of all, they were literally making this trip for him alone. Of course, some cargo had been added to their ship but it had been an afterthought. The only reason why they were leaving so soon was Cao Yun. Obviously, they were mad at him. Besides that, he had brought a demonic beast aboard. In their mind, he was simply toying with their lives as though they were no better than slaves. Since the crew kept on transporting slaves to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, they had a strange relationship with slavery.


    Cao Yun didn''t really care about the tension. After all, he could sense that the crew was absolutely loyal to Jing Baiyu. They wouldn''t be a problem at all, simply because their captain had ordered them not to be.


    For days, they couldn''t even talk. Indeed, manning Fading Fang was a tough job. Everyone was always working. There was no time to talk or to bond. At first, Cao Yun''s presence was a bit of a problem in itself as it was throwing off the crew. Slowly though, he got to perfectly match their rhythm. With everything Jing Baiyu had taught him, Cao Yun turned out to be a great crewman.


    With time, the crew naturally accepted him among them. Even though they had no time to talk much, the bond between them became obvious. Cao Yun and the crew were like soldiers bonding during war. In a sense, sailing Fading Fang was indeed a war.


    Despite having heard of the dangers of the Divine Blood Ocean, Cao Yun was still surprised when he faced them himself.


    Although the ocean might appear calm, it could suddenly turn into a raging storm. Out of nowhere, hail and thunder could appear and span for dozens of li*, if not hundreds. If one were to go straight toward God''s Land, it would be around fifty thousand li. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible as one had to avoid the strongest storms and the demonic beasts. Besides, it was necessary to slow down a lot to assess the situation. The trip was truly exhausting, both physically and mentally. For Cao Yun, the physical fatigue was almost non-existent but the crew felt it for sure. As such, they had to alternate between various positions to stay as alert as possible. Some times, they were forced to rest of course.


    Apparently, their trip was rather uneventful. Despite the powerful storm, nothing too dangerous happened. However, the crew didn''t relax. In fact, it had the opposite effect. Everyone was waiting for the worst to come. And as it wasn''t coming yet, they feared that it would be even worse than they imagined. Each day where something terrible didn''t happen filled the crew with more and more dread.


    In this anxious atmosphere, Cao Yun''s talented help provided much comfort. At the very least, he wasn''t dead weight. And in a dangerous situation, he would be able to help.


    Before long, Jing Baiyu gave Cao Yun more and more responsibilities. The young man was eager to learn. After all, such knowledge might be helpful. To be honest, Cao Yun was thinking of what would happen if he was stranded in the ocean alone. He didn''t want to think about the boat being attacked and destroyed. But the possibility was still there. Moreover, other things could happen in the future. If he had the expertise of a great navigator, he might not be stuck on another continent for years. By the time he would get back home, Cao Yun wasn''t entirely sure how many years would have gone by as he couldn''t be certain of the time he had spent within the space storm when he had first gotten to the Desolate Dune Desert. After that, he had spent a few years in the Desolate Sepulcher.


    As Fading Fang was crossing the Divine Blood Ocean, the thing the crew dreaded finally happened. The blue sky suddenly turned red. The waters beneath the boat reflected this hellish color as the wind simply stopped altogether. The boat was completely stuck. Immediately, Cao Yun wondered whether he had entered his sea of consciousness as this red was the color of blood. But he was still within the physical realm as Jing Baiyu''s voice reminded him.


    "All hands on deck! Blood Storm!"


    Once again, Cao Yun had heard of those Blood Storms but he had never been in one before. According to what he had read, those were the worst storms in the Divine Blood Ocean. Some thought that they were caused by the remaining blood of their gods when it fell into the ocean. Honestly, Cao Yun wasn''t too convinced. Indeed, even now, he couldn''t feel the intent of the Weaver of Souls. But he could feel a very powerful killing intent. Many mortals would have fainted or even simply died by just being here. Thankfully, the crew was used to those terrifying events.


    Everyone was busy on the deck. And so was Cao Yun. He had learned what to do. Jing Baiyu barely yelled any order as all of his crew knew what to do. When he was in doubt, Cao Yun simply looked around and he immediately got what had to be done, so he did. As the boat couldn''t move at all without any wind, the crew was busy protecting it. They had to ride the storm. Once the Blood Storm truly came, they had to be ready. Nothing could save them within the storm so they had to get everything ready beforehand. Whether they would survive or not was decided right now. In other words, now was the battle, but they would know if they had won it only later.


    Finally, the Blood Storm fell.


    All of the crew went in the lower decks, even Jing Baiyu. Cao Yun hesitated as he would have loved to witness the Blood Storm. But he did trust Jing Baiyu. He wasn''t sure whether he could survive such a storm himself. What he had read was rather scary to be honest. Even Accomplished Demons could be killed in such a cataclysm.


    As everyone was in the lower decks, along with Hongyu, the Blood Storm erupted. Suddenly, the boat moved all over the place. They could hear terrible claps of thunder outside accompanied with insane movements of the boat. The sea had been broken by the storm and Fading Fang was hurtled in random directions. Several times, the boat itself got hit by a giant wave and almost toppled over. Thankfully, the crew was used to it, albeit not to this scale. They moved alongside the boat to try and diminish its brutal movements. Cao Yun and Hongyu did the same. Their added weight didn''t change things much, but it was still something.


    According to the books Cao Yun had read, such a Blood Storm could vary in intensity and in duration. Apparently, this one was especially terrifying. Even Jing Baiyu was afraid of it. Cao Yun could see the terror in the eyes of the crew. Knowing that they had survived a 9-core demonic beast, Cao Yun realized how scary the Blood Storm was. Right now, this was only the beginning. For long minutes, the storm just kept on getting worse and worse.


    Suddenly, the worst scenario came true. A part of the upper deck exploded, struck by lightning. The boat caught on fire just as sea water was slowly invading the lower decks.


    * Approximately, 1 li = 500 m = 500 yd

 Chapter 638: Twig in the storm

    Suddenly, the lower decks turned bright red. The water and the sky almost mixed together. No one could tell the difference between the two. First of all, they both had the color of blood, but they were also violently clashing with each other. It was impossible to tell the difference between the water and the air. In the midst of this utter chaos, Fading Fang was a small twig in a vicious tide.


    That scene was now laid bare in front of everyone as the upper deck was literally burning in bright red flames. After that first fissure, many cracks appeared all over the place. Thankfully, they weren''t as deep. But if they fully ruptured, the entire boat would be flooded with the red water of the Blood Storm. Besides, this wasn''t just any kind of water. Within this red flow, there was a thick killing intent. Just being close to it might be dangerous for someone''s mind. Being submerged in it would clearly kill even a Golden Blood Child in a matter of minutes. Although all the crew could still breathe water with their powerful lungs and blood, this red water would undoubtedly kill them as though they were mere mortals.


    The crew immediately acted. No one waited for Jing Baiyu''s orders. In fact, he never even gave any order. Indeed, he also immediately went to work on the cracks. From several places, the crew took many wooden planks, nails, tar and various products to repair the damage. The worst part was that they couldn''t get rid of the water within the lower deck. Unfortunately, they couldn''t go outside as the boat kept on being thrown around. Even moving was a problem. But the crew was exceptional. Following Jing Baiyu, they all worked on various parts of the boat.


    Obviously, Cao Yun didn''t sit idle by. He helped the crew as much as he could. Moreover, he was probably the only one who could get rid of the red water. After all, he had his spatial ring. There was still enough space for him to take the red water in. For the time being though, the important thing was to seal off the breaches in Fading Fang. Otherwise, more and more water would pour in. Even Cao Yun felt sick with this red water and the Blood Storm outside. That being said, he helped as much as he could.


    Hongyu herself helped the crew. Her presence wasn''t seen as a problem at all int he current crisis. As she lacked the dexterity of the demons as well as their knowledge, she did what she could. With her wings, she tried to slow down some of the breaches. Going against the pressure of the pouring red water was probably the most difficult part for the crew. Thanks to Hongyu''s help, it became easier. While they were working on some part of a breach, she could block the flow of water elsewhere.


    Unfortunately, no matter how much they were working, the breaches were simply too many. Moreover, the upper deck was still on fire. At some point, it would collapse completely and fill the entire boat. Fading Fang would sink at the bottom of the Divine Blood Ocean. Everyone was aware of that looming threat. However, the only way to extinguish the fires was to go outside. Anyone who went outside would simply die. Even an Accomplished Demon would die in such a storm. At the very least, his life wouldn''t be assured.


    Since it was his boat, Jing Baiyu decided to go outside and extinguish the flames. Without any hesitation, he walked toward a breach leading to the upper deck from which no water was currently pouring in.


    "Ren Shibian, assume command!"


    A burly young man who was busy sealing off a huge breach suddenly turned toward the voice of his captain. The young crewman was covered in what looked like blood but was merely water. Under the onslaught of the Blood Storm, his will was on the brink of collapse. Hearing this order could have crushed him. Instead, it pushed him forward. The captain was ready to give his life to save the crew. Ren Shibian had no right to let him down. With a surge of vitality and will, he acknowledged the order.


    "Yes, Captain!"


    His thunderous voice echoed throughout the lower decks and even eclipsed the raging storm for a tiny moment. All the crew was acting as one. Once again, Cao Yun felt this strange aura all over Fading Fang. This was very similar to both the Spear Heart he was researching and Order in Chaos from the Six Stratagems of battle formations. From now on, the crew would work until the end with a powerful will guiding them. Even if Jing Baiyu were to die, his will would still inspire his crew till the end.


    Seeing Jing Baiyu ready to leave the lower decks, Cao Yun acted. In an instant, he pushed Jing Baiyu backward. From his hand, a small spatial ring erupted and reached Jing Baiyu. It was the smallest spatial ring Cao Yun had and it could easily be discarded if the need were to arise. And it had.


    Before Jing Baiyu could say anything, Cao Yun was outside of the boat. Since they were taken in the storm, using spiritual senses wasn''t much of a problem as it wouldn''t attract any demonic beasts. However, the problem was that the Blood Storm itself made using one''s spiritual senses extremely difficult. The thick killing intent everywhere was enough to crush a weak cultivator''s will. As such, it was also incredibly taxing on one''s soul. Sending his soul outside was painful beyond belief. Thus Cao Yun could barely use any spiritual senses. At the very least, he was able to do so in the limit of his own Wei Qi where it was safer.


    The very first thing Cao Yun did was to chain himself down to the boat. He used many chains and ropes to tie himself to the main mast. Then, he looked at the damage everywhere. The boat had indeed suffered a lot. But it was still fighting the storm. There was hope yet. Taking a wooden plank, Cao Yun sealed off the breach he had used to escape the lower decks. From within, the crew would probably strengthen it. So Cao Yun didn''t waste too much on it, he had to extinguish the fires.


    Although they were in a storm with water and hail everywhere, the fires wouldn''t stop. Indeed, they had been caused by a powerful lightning. And worse than that, the lightning wasn''t over yet. Cao Yun could literally see that the ocean was on fire in several places as well. The Blood Storm was so intense that water itself could boil and even burn. For all intents and purposes, Cao Yun felt as though he was in hell. It was as though he was still in the magma pool of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom or the Blood Abyss of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. But now, he had to care for others than himself. Thus, he had no time to admire the scenery.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Thanks to all the knowledge he had gotten from Jing Baiyu, Cao Yun got to work on the boat. Of course, he began with the fires. Using everything he could, buckets of water, torn clothes and sails, the young man was trying to kill the fires. They were extremely strong and difficult to calm down. As he was working on them, the young man felt the Rune of Fire within him acting up. The Drop of Wrath shined with this rune. Suddenly, Cao Yun knew instinctively how to deal with those flames.


    The young man circulated his cultivation and poured his Qi on the flames. Trying to completely isolate them from the air around, he was able to reduce their ferocity. Apparently, his Qi mixed with the intent of the Drop of Wrath was soothing the flames. They were docile as though their master was admonishing them. Most likely, it was the influence of the Rune of Fire Cao Yun had gotten out of the Hellish Dragon Fruit.


    In the lower decks, Hongyu also felt this force. She felt her own fires being suppressed. But she was still too busy to care about it. Besides, she wasn''t using fire at all. In a confined place like these lower decks, this would be extremely stupid and reckless.


    Once the fires were dealt with, Cao Yun realized that his task was not over. First of all, lightning struck the boat again and other fires started. But there was also a lot of damage he had to deal with if the boat and the crew were to survive.


    Several times, the winds simply torn him away from the boat. Thankfully, the chains held. Many of the ropes and chains broke over time but he replaced them as he was focusing on the boat. Even with some of his Qi infused within the chains, they still snapped when the storm raged. Within this hellish storm, Cao Yun felt utterly powerless. Of course, a weaker cultivator would have died instantly and even a cultivator on Cao Yun''s level wouldn''t have been able to do as much as he was doing. That being said, the wind could fly him all over the place and he couldn''t do much to stop it besides tugging on the chains linking him to the boat. This was a humbling experience.


    As his mind was focused on repairing the boat, Cao Yun suddenly had a thought.


    His great-grandfather Cao Beiwen had invented the Cao family''s martial art ''Three Storms'' when he had faced a terrifying storm. Cao Beiwen had almost lost his life back then. But thanks to this traumatic experience, he was able to understand some principles of the Dao. ''The Wind rises in the East. The Thunder rumbles in the West. The Ice hails in the South. The Three Storms unite in the North. All is gone in the world.''


    Within ''Three Storms'', Cao Beiwen had poured everything he had understood about wind, thunder and hail. Of course, he had been a mere Martial Warrior back then. Thus he couldn''t really understand the Dao. But he had been able to catch a glimpse of it as his life was nearing its end. This had changed him completely. In fact, one could say that this tragic day had fashioned him into the man he had become. Without this storm, the Cao family might have never existed as it had.


    All those thoughts flooded Cao Yun''s mind as much as the Blood Storm was threatening to flood Fading Fang. The young felt a deep desire to let himself be taken by the storm in order to fully experience it. In a way, it was the point of Howling Crane Gorges where he had trained. He had to surrender to the Blood Storm to understand it better. Unfortunately, he had to fight this urge. First of all, it felt completely suicidal. But he also had to think about the entire crew and Hongyu.


    For hours, Cao Yun worked on keeping the boat safe from the outside while the rest of the crew was working within. Not a single soul relaxed. They all poured their everything into the task at hand. After all, their very lives were at stake. No one was slacking off. Obviously, the respect of the crew toward Cao Yun and even Hongyu was now immense. Facing death together was a bonding experience indeed.


    Those hours turned into literal days. No one could tell how long the Blood Storm would last. But they were all reaching their limit. Even Cao Yun was exhausted. He had to fend off all of the elements. Being thrown by the cruel winds was particularly painful.


    Finally, Cao Yun had no more strength, even after gulping down several pills. He couldn''t accept to die in a storm after everything he had done. Such a fate was unacceptable!


    The young man tried to work through the fatigue and the pain. The Blood Storm had gained in intensity, but for many hours now it had stagnated. Hopefully, it would soon either calm down or cease altogether. As he was trying to convince himself, Cao Yun fell into despair. Indeed, the Blood Storm suddenly became twice as violent. Without being able to do anything, Cao Yun was once again torn away from the boat. The chains holding him to the mast went taunt and Cao Yun was almost broken in two now that his Wei Qi was weaker.


    The poor young man was lost in the sea of crimson winds and red water. Only the chains still holding were visible. Despite the violence of the event, Cao Yun was still conscious. However, he could barely do anything. No matter how much he was trying, he couldn''t even control his arms. His spiritual senses were just as useless. Simply trying to project his soul outside of his body was impossible. The winds and the killing intent within were scattering his soul each time.


    Thus, Cao Yun had no choice. He had to go with the flow of the Blood Storm. Hopefully, it would calm down enough for him to get back to the boat. His only chance was that the chains and the ropes would hold long enough. Even though he was confident in the main chain he had used since it was made of an alloy of Bin Iron and Silk Gold, he couldn''t have the same trust in the mast itself. A few masts had snapped already. Cao Yun had saved them as much as he could. But now he could picture the main mast snapping. In fact, the chains themselves might cut through the mast.


    Since he couldn''t do a thing for the moment, Cao Yun decided to spare his strength. When the time came, he had to be ready. Panicking wouldn''t do him any good at the moment. Instead, he opened his mind to relax and be fully aware of the situation. As soon as he could find a way to save himself, he would use it without any hesitation.


    In this state of relaxation and readiness, Cao Yun finally experienced the Blood Storm with his entire being. He was just like Cao Beiwen. There was nothing he could do to save himself. He was totally at the mercy of the elements. But that also meant that the elements were fully exposed before him. Without any conscious effort from Cao Yun, his ''Three Storms'' began to circulate in his sea of consciousness.


    Soon, his ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' also acted up. Indeed, Cao Yun had connected both martial arts as they were linked to the Wind element. This was his ''Azure Dragon Through the Seven Storms''. And this martial art was circulating in him. In the outside world, the Horn and Neck Constellations appeared. And so did the Root Constellation. Cao Yun had finally formed it.

 Chapter 639: Enlightenment in the storm

    The young man was being thrown all over the place while still chained to the main mast of the boat. Despite his mind cultivation, his mind was in disarray. He couldn''t even tell when he was under water or in the air. Indeed, because of the violence of the Blood Storm, air and water were always mixing with one another as giant waves kept on crushing Fading Fang. Luckily, the crew was safe. The boat had crossed the part where most of the lightning strikes were concentrated. However, that didn''t mean that the Blood Storm was less dangerous. That meant that the lower decks were safer though.


    Now that he was thrown into this great chaos, Cao Yun finally understood the origin of the Blood Storm. At the very least, he had his suspicions. The legends attributed this phenomenon to the blood of the gods that had turned the ocean red during the Great War. Maybe it had indeed changed the ocean and the demonic beasts within. But Cao Yun could not feel anything related to the Weaver of Souls in the red water.


    What he could feel though was a senseless killing intent. There was no elaborate mind behind it. After being directly in the Blood Storm, Cao Yun was now convinced that this was the killing intent of demonic beasts. Most likely, the Blood Storm was caused by the remaining killing intent of the slain demonic beasts. The only thing Cao Yun knew was that the Divine Blood Ocean was much more savage than the continents. Beneath those waters, there was a perpetual war between countless demonic beasts. This was the reason why the Divine Blood Ocean was so dangerous in the first place.


    As much as the natural disasters were dangerous, the boats could avoid most of them. Even the Blood Storms were excessively rare. That being said, they weren''t entirely natural apparently...


    No, the real threat was lurking beneath the water. Many boats had been destroyed by demonic beasts. The intense war between them all made the demonic beasts of the depth much more dangerous and powerful than those on the continents. Moreover, there was no culling by humans or demons. As such, there were probably many 9-core demonic beasts. In fact, there might even be half-step Immortal Beasts. After all, no one knew whether the demonic beasts were afflicted in the same way demons and humans were. It might be possible for them to cross the threshold no one else could since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era.


    Honestly, Cao Yun wasn''t in any hurry to find that one out, unless it was because Hongyu broke through of course. Anyway, if demonic beasts on the level of late Spirit Warriors and late Accomplished Demons, one could imagine the intensity of their killing intent. It was rare for demonic beasts to leave Evil Qi in huge amount. Many theorized that this was a difference in the nature of their souls. Although they could be extremely intelligent, they were still beasts and lacked the complexity of human emotions. They did sometimes produce Evil Qi, but it was rare and in small amount so this Evil Qi was short-lived. Maybe there would be more of it in the depths as they were incredibly Yin since no light from the sun could reach down there.


    Anyway, this mostly explained the phenomenon to Cao Yun. But he wasn''t interested in it. Instead, he was much more interested in feeling the storm itself. And he did. His Root Constellation was slowly forming itself. Both the Horn Star and the Root Star were binary stars with main stars of similar sizes and secondary stars twice or even four times smaller. On the other hand, the Neck Star was solitary and as big as those four stars together.


    In his sea of consciousness, the hymns and sutras of his Spear Intent were making the water shine with gold. The blue and white stars in the sky began to vibrate along the rhythm of those melodies. Slowly, the golden Insight Writings rose toward them. From the water, two sets of different Insight Writings also emerged. Those were Cao Yun''s Fist Aura and Sword Aura. While his Fist Aura didn''t change much, his Sword Aura began to dance along his Spear Intent. The characters seemed to try and form another text.


    All those characters rose into the air toward the binary stars. They were dancing around one another but the Spear Intent was much more developed and coherent while small characters from his Sword Aura were trying to mix with the large hymns and sutras of his Spear Intent. In the end, they didn''t merge, but they looked exactly like the two binary stars. Because the Sword Aura was moving around the Spear Intent, the various hymns and sutras were forced to get closer together, and closer together, and closer together, ...


    A bright golden light erupted!


    Finally, Cao Yun had reached the state of Spear Heart. The golden Insight Writings had formed a complete scripture. It contained all of the profundities Cao Yun had been exposed too. It would be a treasure of knowledge and understanding for his own way of the spear. In the physical world, Cao Yun''s demeanor also changed. Although he was still being thrown around by the Blood Storm, there was something more to him. It was hard to tell at the moment, but any sentient being would be able to feel that he was more dangerous. In a sense, he was akin to a living weapon. Even without a spear, he could produce similar martial arts. Of course, he still needed a physical weapon to showcase his full potential. But any spear would show its utmost potential while being wielded by Cao Yun and his Spear Heart.


    The next state was known as Spear Spirit. No one on the Piaolu planet had reached this state for dozens of millenniums. In this state, one would form a Spirit Weapon. Although the name was similar, it wasn''t a spiritual weapon. However, the main difference was the origin of the weapon and its power. A spiritual weapon or a Spirit Weapon would both be bonded with their owner''s soul. But the main difference was that a Spirit Weapon also came from the owner''s soul and understanding of the way of that weapon while a spiritual weapon was built outside. Thus, both weapons would grow with the owner''s understanding of the weapon. But the Spirit Weapon''s growth would also improve this understanding at the same time, so the growth would be much faster, with even more benefits. In a sense, spiritual weapons had been invented to try and mimic Spirit Weapons. But they were still very good nonetheless.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    This sudden enlightenment delighted Cao Yun. As his Spear Heart formed, his Root Constellation also appeared in full. Forming a Constellation could take him somewhere from two to three years. And now, he had three of them, out of the seven Constellations. Besides, they were simply the second stage. In the third stage of ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'', he would have to turn them into Mansions. But for the moment, he wouldn''t spoil his pleasure by thinking of the road ahead. Instead, he focused on the road he had already traveled. This was a huge accomplishment indeed.


    In the stars above, he could also see signs of the ''Three Storms''. Truly, he had merged ''Azure Dragon''s Seven Piercing Stars'' with ''Three Storms''. His ''Azure Dragon Through the Seven Storms'' was on its way to becoming a true martial art, even more powerful and profound than both of them combined. In a sense, he was creating the future of the Cao family. Such an art contained the hard work of Cao Beiwen as well as the desire of the Cao blood for justice.


    His next Constellation was the Room Constellation related to movements creating array formations around the enemy. For the moment though, his Root Constellation was extremely useful as it was related to grounding and defensive movements. This improved Cao Yun''s resistance in the Blood Storm, allowing him to get even better sensations within this maelstrom. However, this was still excruciating.


    -


    When finally the storm was over, Jing Baiyu was the first one to leave the lower decks. Hongyu also wanted to leave, but she had promised Cao Yun to stay down below, restricted into her array formation. However, the crew was able to see how sad she appeared. Because she had helped them during the entire ordeal, they sincerely felt bad about the way they had treated her as though she was a terrible omen. To be honest, a few crew members were blaming her for the Blood Storm. But they were smart enough not to say anything out loud. Captain Jing Baiyu himself would have made them pay their stupid words, and they knew it. So they kept this resentment within. Thankfully, most of the crew was grateful and didn''t see Hongyu as a bad omen anymore. That being said, they didn''t want her out of the lower decks either.


    A demonic beast could easily attract others. And after a Blood Storm so terrifying, they didn''t want any more problems. Maybe this was unfair but honestly, they didn''t care much. Their lives were more important. Sadly, they were used to mistreating those traveling with them, as they were often slaves. As much as they could sympathize with them sometimes, they had learned to keep some distance as they knew the fate of their ''cargo''. Although Hongyu was different, their attitude didn''t change.


    Jing Baiyu immediately saw the chains and ropes tied to the main mast. Most of them had ruptured, but not all of them thankfully. Before even assessing the damage to his own ship, the captain grabbed the chain and tugged on it. He didn''t even have to give any order. As one man, half of the crew grabbed the chain and helped him. The other half was waiting for the extremity of the chain to reach the upper deck.


    In a few seconds, they brought Cao Yun up. The young man had stayed in the Divine Blood Ocean''s waters for a few hours. Just like the rest of the crew, Cao Yun could breathe underwater. First of all, cultivators didn''t need as much oxygen as mere mortals, so they could hold their breath for extended periods of time. But they could also survive with the low amount of oxygen within water, allowing them to quite literally breathe water, probably for years or decades without much issue. Contrary to the crew though, the killing intent within the red water had not been enough to kill Cao Yun. However, the violence of the Blood Storm combined with it had injured him.


    The young man they fished out of the ocean was barely conscious. And he had not enough strength to pull himself up without their assistance. In fact, he was barely able to stand up. After coughing all the water in his lungs to breathe with more ease, Cao Yun thanked the crew. Of course, they refused his kind words and thanked him in return. They helped him down toward the lower decks. Finally, Hongyu was able to see her brother and she tried to hug him as much as she could with her body. Within her soft feathers, Cao Yun felt perfectly at ease.


    While he was resting, the crew dealt with the repairs. Considering the violence of the Blood Storm, there were a lot of things to deal with. But Captain Jing Baiyu''s priority was to make sure they could reach the shore. They still had two or three months to get there. But the repairs themselves would probably take a month, or longer.


    First of all, Jing Baiyu threw out all the water he had trapped into the spatial ring Cao Yun had given to him. This had saved their lives, just as much as Cao Yun''s actions. Then, he led the crew to repair the boat as fast as they could. With their enthusiasm, they could be done faster. Maybe they might succeed in less than month. At the very least, it was possible. Although Cao Yun needed to rest, he did give some materials to the crew as he had prepared everything he thought he might need. Obviously, he had prepared for the trip. In fact, the only thing he had not taken in his spatial rings was a ship. No matter how much space his spatial rings had, he lacked the space for a full ship that could survive on the Divine Blood Ocean. Otherwise, he would have taken one to spare...


    Several times Cao Yun tried to help but the crew refused. They wanted to show their gratitude. As much as he understood that, Cao Yun would like for the repairs to be done with as soon as possible. That being said, this was also a great opportunity for him to cultivate. After all, he had gained some precious insights within this Blood Storm. And this made him feel like his ties with his great-grandfather were now tighter than ever. Indeed, he had lived through a similar experience. Reading through ''Three Storms'' again, and some texts left behind by his great-grandfather, Cao Yun seemed to understand his state of mind better. With it, he was also understanding Cao Beiwen better as well overall.


    A few times, it wasn''t the crew but Hongyu who stopped Cao Yun from going up onto the upper deck. She didn''t want him to exhaust himself even more. Although he could have rejected her concerns, he didn''t. This period of calm was indeed good for him. He even advanced his Qi cultivation and his blood cultivation, even though he was indeed much more focused on his Soul Embryo.


    As soon as Fading Fang was in any condition to sail, Jing Baiyu began to move again. Indeed, remaining in the same spot for too long was dangerous in the Divine Blood Ocean. For the moment, they had been lucky on the front of the demonic beasts. The captain didn''t want to take any risk. A Blood Storm was extremely rare, but demonic beasts were not. Not even encountering a weak demonic beast was very strange.


    With Cao Yun''s knowledge, it made sense in fact. Many demonic beasts had been killed nearby and this had caused this extremely violent Blood Storm. But that also meant that something had killed those demonic beasts nearby. Staying around here was indeed a terrible idea. And Cao Yun was glad when Fading Fang moved again.

 Chapter 640: Sailing the Divine Blood Ocean

    For a period of time, the crew had been more relaxed than usual. After all, it was extremely rare to be attacked right after a Blood Storm. Indeed, the demonic beasts would either run away or be destroyed by it. With hindsight, Cao Yun knew that the demonic beasts killed by the Blood Storm would probably make it last longer and be even more violent. Thus, a Blood Storm could easily degenerate and become an incredibly vicious phenomenon.


    Now that the ship was moving again, the crew became increasingly more tensed. After enough rest, Cao Yun was finally allowed back among them. It wasn''t that they had not wanted him. But they had realized that if another threat came their way, having Cao Yun at his best was the right idea. Even Captain Jing Baiyu had not realized how important Cao Yun could be for his ship. Now that he had came to this realization, he obviously wanted him to be ready for what could come next. That being said, Cao Yun did work as much as anyone else.


    Instead of reducing the workload of Cao Yun, the entire crew tried to work harder and harder. Cao Yun''s mere presence was galvanizing them. Jing Baiyu wasn''t too sure he liked it as he didn''t want his crew to overwork themselves. Thankfully, they still were reasonable enough. After all, working to exhaustion and then making mistakes was extremely stupid and they were aware of that. None of them were novices.


    Although the crew, Cao Yun and Hongyu had a better relation, the atmosphere was even more tense than before. After all, everyone was waiting for another disaster to happen. WIth each passing day, the disaster seemed to draw closer and closer. The fact that it wasn''t happening just made the crew mad. Not a single one of them could believe that they would cross the rest of the Divine Blood Ocean without any other incident, no matter how small or big.


    While Cao Yun was carefully working, he was also developing his cultivation. With each breath he was taking, Cao Yun was practicing ''Golden Hammer on Silver Rock''. Now, it was almost instinctive. But simply doing it out of habit wasn''t as effective as focusing on his Soul Embryo at the same time. Thus, Cao Yun was diverting a large part of his mind and intent to do just that. He imagined golden melodies being produced by the shock on his Middle Dantian and Lower Dantian. Slowly, those melodies were filling his Huang Ting and reaching his Soul Embryo. The silver embryo was being engulfed in those melodies.


    They weren''t just random vibrations. With his intent, Cao Yun kept sending parts of his mind and soul in them. In fact, he even recognized notes that belonged to his newly formed Spear Heart. With such a practice, this would make his Soul Embryo more familiar with his own soul. Thus, this would speed up the next stages of his cultivation. In fact, when his Soul Embryo would awaken, it would immediately be a bit more powerful.


    This wasn''t all Cao Yun was doing. He was also using his Drop of Wrath that acted as his Demon Soul. Indeed, his goal was, in time, to fuse the two souls together, along with his of course. He might not be able to produce the kind of soul the legendary Three Jade Saints had, but he was excited to see if he could succeed and what would happen. Since he was feeling that both souls were compatible with each other, he wasn''t worried. Besides, he could change his mind if things were to change. Cao Yun wouldn''t risk his very soul without any insurance beforehand. But this seemed like a good idea at the moment. When the time came, he would make his final judgment. However, this might be a way to finally break the curse of the Forsaken Dao Era.


    Cultivating the two systems had made Cao Yun realize how well they worked together. In fact, he was a bit disappointed that he couldn''t cultivate the deva system. He had never even met a deva. In the documents left by Cleansed Asura, he barely read anything about them. Either Cleansed Asura had not meant any of them, or, more likely, the documents talking about them were not among those deciphered yet. The only thing Cao Yun knew for certain was that the deva system focused on the soul itself.


    Humans had Qi and meridians, but their bodies were inferior to the asura who cultivated their blood. Humans had souls that were a bit weaker in will but much more stable when it came to emotions. This allowed humans to form better masters when it came to the arts of the soul and the mind. On the other hand, asura had much stronger wills, but their emotions could more easily lead them astray. However, they had fewer risks of forming inner demons thanks to their will. And asura had no meridians, their Qi was fully contained within their blood. In the Piaolu planet, the asura and humans had birthed the demons, but they were almost identical to actual asura. It was just the way Demon God Da Mo had named them to distinguish them from himself.


    It was said that the Three Jade Saints had Three Heavenly Treasures: Jin Xue, the Golden Blood, Tian Qi, the Heaven Qi and Hun Po, the Perfect Soul. While humans had inherited the Tian Qi and asura the Jin Xue, it was logical that the deva had inherited the Hun Po, the Perfect Soul. From what Cao Yun read, deva had no meridian but their Qi wasn''t in their blood. Immediately, it became confusing but he couldn''t find much more information on that. He read something about the Five Winds but couldn''t make much sense out of it. Maybe it was just a different name for something humans and asura had, or it was something else entirely. After all, humans had meridians and demons hadn''t. It stood to reason that the deva might have something neither humans or demons had.


    Anyway, there was nothing very useful on the deva. Moreover, Cao Yun was much more interested in deciphering other books and manuals, such as ''Death Verses''.


    -


    For weeks, Fading Fang sailed without any issue. Several times, demonic beasts came dangerously close but they were detected in time and Jing Baiyu was able to navigate around them. He even avoided another smaller Blood Storm. At some point, Cao Yun saw a large part of the Divine Blood Ocean in the distance fall into darkness suddenly. It was as though an isolated area had fallen into the night for no apparent reason. Even the clouds had not shown any sign of this. In a way, it was as if light have ceased to exist for a very long time.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jing Baiyu had felt it or something like that because he had altered the course of Fading Fang before the phenomenon happened. Having never read anything about such an event, Cao Yun was quite shocked. This Divine Blood Ocean was indeed extremely strange and dangerous. To be honest, he didn''t want to experiment that area of darkness for himself. Out of curiosity, he did try to get some info from the captain.


    The White Whale didn''t answer much. In fact, he had absolutely no idea what it was himself. But he had lost a few ships in such a tragedy. The sailors had called it the Orb of Decay because it seemed to be a spherical phenomenon. It wasn''t just light that was extinguished, Qi itself ceased to exist in this space. After such an event, the crew would find the unfortunate ships caught in this Orb of Decay. Everyone on board had turned into dry bodies. Not a single drop of blood or ounce of Qi remained in them, hence the associated name.


    They had even had a case when a sailor just lost an arm and a part of his leg because they had been caught in an Orb of Decay. The pain had been so terrible, he had cut off his limbs himself to escape. Most likely, this had saved his life, but he had lost a huge part of his vitality and had died a few months later anyway.


    All that being said, Jing Baiyu himself had no actual idea how he had been able to sense it. Indeed, this was the most important question for Cao Yun. He wanted to be able to detect those before they happened. Unfortunately, Jing Baiyu had just acted on instinct alone. After many decades on the Divine Blood Ocean, he had learned to trust his instincts, and he was mostly right.


    -


    According to Jing Baiyu, they would reach God''s Land in a month or less. Unfortunately, the Desolate Sepulcher didn''t have a detailed map of God''s Land. And Cao Yun only had a detailed map of the Hongchen Kingdom and what was around it. The Empyrean Asura Theocracy was mostly a mystery to the Hongchen Kingdom. And it was also the case to the Desolate Sepulcher. After all, they only traded with them through the Divine Blood Ocean so the crew had never been able to draw a map except for the shores they were visiting. That being said, it allowed Cao Yun to choose the most suitable port. This was a very small port where he could easily disappear toward nearby villages. But it was still close enough to other large cities to allow him to get there if he could.


    Cao Yun''s first goal was to find his way back to the Hongchen Kingdom of course. But he also wanted to use this opportunity to learn more about their enemies. If he could, Cao Yun might even be able to deal them heavy blows. Although this wasn''t his first priority, Cao Yun didn''t want to get rid of Emperor Weide just to see the Hongchen Kingdom eradicated by the Empyrea Asura Theocracy. If he saved his sister just so she could die in other horrendous ways, this would be useless.


    After his time among the demons of the Desolate Sepulcher, Cao Yun had become more familiar with their ways. Obviously, the demons in the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had a different culture. They even had a different religion entirely, and were persecuting everyone who didn''t share it. But his time among the demons still made Cao Yun feel like he could get to know them better. Indeed, the Desolate Sepulcher was at least able to have a trading relationship with them. Of course, if they had been on the same continent, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy would have destroyed the Sisters of the Abyss to force their beliefs on all. And in time, they might just do that after killing every single human.


    -


    Fading Fang was sailing in a quite turbulent sea, but nothing too bad. It was night and the rain was falling heavily on the ship. Since no one could use spiritual senses, either because they simply physically couldn''t or because Jing Baiyu had forbidden it so as to not attract demonic beasts, they were covered in rain. The water within the rain was a bit acid but nothing that could really injure a powerful demon cultivator. It didn''t affect Cao Yun at all while it was just slightly uncomfortable for the rest of the crew.


    Suddenly, they heard thunder, but they didn''t see any lightning. It happened again, closer this time, but still no lightning. Before anyone could find it strange, Jing Baiyu screamed orders all over the place. The crew and Cao Yun didn''t think for one second and obeyed his every words. This was the very first time Jing Baiyu was forced to scream with such panic in his voice. Usually, his crew knew exactly what to do. But this time, he assumed full control of his crew, giving them direct orders.


    At first, he tried to alter the course of Fading Fang. But the thunder still came closer. When it was clear, they couldn''t be faster than whatever this was, he tried to move in yet another direction but slower as to not cause any ruckus. Unfortunately, the sound still followed them. No matter where they were going, the sound was clearly following them. The crew became terrified as they could tell something was chasing them. But they didn''t panic and kept obeying their captain. Cao Yun did the same.


    In the lower decks though, Hongyu was panicking indeed. She could tell that a powerful demonic beast was chasing them. There was no doubt at all. And it was much more powerful than even the Crimson Dune Lord that could have killed her easily without Cao Yun''s intervention. In fact, she was worried that it had even exceeded the realm of mere demonic beasts. Could it have been an Immortal Beast?!


    If the crew had heard Hongyu''s thoughts, they would have lost their will. Against a 9-core demonic beast, they had almost no chance, but against an Immortal Beast, they were already all dead. Cao Yun couldn''t feel what Hongyu was experiencing but he could still perceive her terror even though she was in the lower decks. Moreover, he could tell that Jing Baiyu was also terrified of something. At the same time, he was controlling himself so as to not discourage his crew. Clearly though, Jing Baiyu was already thinking on how to survive, not on how to fight or escape.


    Jing Baiyu was cursing in his heart. This had already happened to him. Touching his chest, he felt a deep scar that was still there. During their first encounter, he had almost lost his life as he had literally been cut apart. The wound had miraculously spared his heart. Considering how important he was seen by the Nalupu Kingdom, they had used all their medicine on him to save his life. Evidently, it had worked out. But this time, he didn''t think he could survive at all. However, Cao Yun might be able to.


    At the moment, Jing Baiyu was hesitating between asking Cao Yun for help, which he knew Cao Yun would gladly give, or asking the young man to escape with Hongyu. With the knowledge he had imparted to the boy, he could most likely survive the rest of the way to the shore.


    Unfortunately, this dilemma was solved when a large shadow appeared beneath Fading Fang. All around the ship, columns of water rose into the air. In an instant, there was a huge cage formed of water and whirlwinds in a perfect circle surrounding Fading Fang. Then, they heard a scream that almost killed the entire crew. A fourth of the men fainted just after hearing this guttural scream. They were right above a 9-core demonic beasts and they were its prey.

 Chapter 641: Stormriser Leviathan Emperor

    Fading Fang was the largest boat of the Nalupu Kingdom. As such, it was around 130 chi* long and it weighed more than fifteen thousand dan*. And yet, the shadow beneath Fading Fang made it look small. Indeed, the shadow was almost ten times as big as the entire ship. Of course, it might have been due to the way light was affected by the water itself. But as the beast began to appear, it was clear that it was indeed much larger than the boat.


    The dome of raging water and winds all around the ship and the demonic beast was thirty to forty times larger than the ship. As such, it left enough space for the creature to move around. But at the same time, there wasn''t enough space for the ship to escape or avoid the creature.


    Jing Baiyu remembered what had happened when he had first met this beast. Indeed, he knew exactly what this demonic beast was. And right now it was their bane. Under those circumstances, they couldn''t do a thing. The only reason why he had been able to survive his encounter with it and save most of his ships was because they had not been trapped under this dome. Thankfully, he had felt something was odd and had ordered his entire float to change course. One ship was destroyed by the dome itself when it formed while two others had been trapped inside of it, never to be recovered.


    That being said, the rest of the float had not been saved that easily either. Jing Baiyu had been forced into a long and strenuous battle against the demonic beast. In the end, he had literally led his float into a Blood Storm to escape the demonic beast. Even in the Blood Storm, they had been chased for several hours until the demonic beast finally let them go. Most likely, it had found a better or easier prey. Otherwise, it would have kept on chasing them until it had devoured them all.


    Apparently, Jing Baiyu had postponed his fate, but he had not prevented it. Already, he could see his death. Worse than that, he could see the death of his entire crew who had put their lives in his trust. He didn''t want to betray that trust but there was nothing he could do. No matter how much he was trying to think of any solution, he couldn''t.


    Suddenly, everyone felt the intense killing intent of the 9-core demonic beast. It even crushed some of the smaller masts. Indeed, it was so powerful and dense that it had a physical presence. Everyone on board could feel that they were heavier both physically and mentally. Terror began to overcome their reasons. Even Jing Baiyu fell under this tyranny. He was the only one who could calm down his crew, but his own despair had made him vulnerable.


    Cao Yun perceived the true strength of the demonic beast through its killing intent. Thankfully, it was no Immortal Beast or they would truly be dead. But it was indeed a 9-core demonic beast. In the lower decks, Hongyu also felt this huge monster. Under this crushing pressure, her own cores reacted. In her chest, there was a tiny stone. It was the seventh core she was currently forming. Under this assault, it vibrated insanely. Only through the use of her other cores was she able to calm it down and prevent it from rupturing. Fortunately, her Wrath Core and Evil Core were sturdier than the cores of the giant monster.


    Being the only one with his senses intact, Cao Yun slapped Jing Baiyu. Within his hit, he had poured some of his Qi and even spiritual senses. Now that they were attacked by such a powerful demonic beast, there was no reason to suppress his aura in any capacity. After all, no other demonic beast would be suicidal enough to approach this dome. That meant that Cao Yun and Hongyu could go crazy as much as they wanted.


    "Boy..."


    Jing Baiyu came back to the real world. Most of his paralyzing terror was gone. However, he was still full of despair. There was no way they could escape or survive. In a way, he even resented Cao Yun. He would have preferred to die without having a clear mind. Immediately, Cao Yun grabbed him and looked straight in his eyes.


    "Captain! There is still a way. As long as we''re alive, we''ll fight. Even if we can''t kill that thing, I am confident I can at the very least pierce through the dome. If I can open a breach, I need you to go through it. Can you do that? Or are you going to abandon your ship and your crew without trying everything you can?!"


    "You... You''re right! Everyone, to your stations!"


    Jing Baiyu''s scream literally caused the ship to shake. Honestly, it was already shaking because of the large demonic beast beneath it, but it still shook under Jing Baiyu''s scream. Now that they heard their captain, the crew came back to reality as well. Without even thinking, they obeyed. They didn''t need to hear any plan or anything. If their captain needed them, they would be there. The crew trusted him fully.


    Now that the crew was back to work, Cao Yun could do what he had promised. Even with all his strength, he wasn''t delusional. He knew he couldn''t kill such a thing, especially while protecting the ship. And even if he miraculously killed the 9-core demonic beast, he would be stuck in the middle of the Divine Blood Ocean, probably injured so much he couldn''t save himself from other threats.


    Although he didn''t want to risk Hongyu''s life, he needed her. Besides, she would die with the rest of the crew and himself if they didn''t do anything. Thus, he called her and she immediately left the lower decks. In fact, she quite literally broke through it despite the recent repairs. However, no one blamed her for it. There was no time for patience. And there was no time for superstitions either.


    Cao Yun and Hongyu both flew in the sky. Under the dome, the winds were not to their advantages, but they didn''t mind at all. Cao Yun could use his spiritual senses to fly and protect himself while Hongyu was probably the fastest flying beast on the entire Piaolu planet. But Cao Yun''s main concern was about saving Fading Fang. Even if he tried to breach through the dome right now, the ship would be destroyed and his plan would fail. First of all, he had to somehow distract the beast or lure it away. For that, he would have to attack.


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    Spreading his spiritual senses all over the place, Cao Yun was able to engulf the entire dome in them. He had to spread them a bit thin, especially under the water. But he could now perceive everything that was going on. In his mind, he made several simulations of what could happen just as he was acting them out, revising his predictions. The battle had already started.


    Thousands of swords appeared behind him, forming several circles rotating in different directions and with varying speeds. At the same time, he had two spears in hand, including his ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar''. Above the dome, there were his Seven Piercing Stars, three of whom were full Constellations. Cao Yun was also circulating ''Dragon''s Heart'' to its fullest as well as his mind cultivation. Both of his spears were surrounded by a golden aura that was barely visible. But the weapons seemed much more dangerous while they were in Cao Yun''s hands.


    The boy gave orders to Hongyu who immediately obeyed. With all her flames, she flew straight toward the dome. As they were in the center, she chose a random direction. Jing Baiyu knew this was where he was supposed to go.


    From the depths, large sharp columns began to rise. Those were spikes on the demonic beast''s shell. They immediately formed a large maze around the ship. Jing Baiyu was able to avoid a direct collision but the flank of Fading Fang crashed against one of them. They were huge and sailing through them in this violent wind was tough. But Jing Baiyu and his crew were motivated.


    Thankfully, Cao Yun acted.


    ''Fish in the Galaxy''!


    His second spear flew from his hand. All around it, dozens of sword were rotating as though the spear was a star and the swords planets orbiting it. As it flew toward the monster below, the spear turned into a large dragon made of seven stars linked together by golden lines and runes. The spear collided with the giant shell and it went right through it. With all of Cao Yun''s strength, and because the beast wasn''t expecting such resistance, the spear literally went through and through. The ocean around the beast shook as the demonic beast moved around violently. The water even turned a bit reddish with its own blood. Cao Yun had aimed at one of its cores. And he had not missed at all. Unfortunately, the core was strong enough. It had altered the trajectory of the spear. That being said, the ninth demonic core was indeed cracked, diminishing slightly the demonic beast''s strength.


    On the other hand, the demonic beast was now full of rage against Cao Yun.


    From the water, a large tail looking like a giant eel erupted. It tried to slap Cao Yun out of the sky and into the Divine Blood Ocean.


    Cao Yun turned into lightning for an instant as he reached the surface of the ocean. In fact, Cao Yun was now literally standing on the shell of the beast. It was so huge it looked like a small rocky island. But it was indeed its natural shell. That 9-core demonic beast was known as the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Cao Yun was the only living man to have seen its entire shape in the Piaolu planet. But he had read books about this creature from previous generations.


    The demonic beast looked like a large sea snake but it had a large shell in the middle of its body it could retract into. Besides that, there were strange natural armor plates all over its body. Its very head looked like a giant rock with many sharp edges. It could crush or cut through its opponents.


    When the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor screamed, it sounded like thunder. The dome became more and more agitated as the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was being attacked by Cao Yun.


    Now that the young man was on its back, he did not hesitate at all!


    ''Cracking the World''!


    His ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' fell on the shell of the beast and cracked it open. For an instant, the spear looked like a giant pillar that was holding the sky and the ocean. The mere shock of Cao Yun''s weapon with the shell caused a terrible storm. It was followed by even worse weather as the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor went back underwater. This sudden movement almost caused Fading Fang to be swallowed into the ocean. Thankfully, Jing Baiyu had been warned and was ready for it. Fading Fang was going straight in Hongyu''s direction. The Sky Tyrant Fenghuang used all her flames to try and pierce through the dome. She was successful but only for an instant. And it wasn''t big enough for Fading Fang.


    Hongyu focused all her Evil Qi and the intent of the Drop of Wrath she had received. Then, her flames shined in black, red and even golden lights. She was slowly focusing all her flames to breach the dome just as Fading Fang would arrive.


    Although he was ready for it, Cao Yun got engulfed in the ocean with the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor''s sudden movement. Now, the demonic beast was solely focused on Cao Yun. That was good for Fading Fang but terrible for the young man. It was as if he was facing a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon, someone even stronger than Lord Wanghuo, but who wouldn''t suppress their cultivation. His only advantage was that demonic beasts lacked any knowledge of martial arts, array formations, or anything complex. On the other hand, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was a killing machine.


    Cao Yun was stuck in a whirlwind created by the demonic beast. Although it couldn''t use martial arts, it could instinctively create strange phenomenons, just like Hongyu. She could produce flames without using martial arts, it was just natural to her. Stormriser Leviathan Emperor could naturally control the water, the winds and even thunder and lightning. In a sense, it was the embodiment of Cao Yun''s ''Three Storms''. The irony wasn''t lost on Cao Yun.


    As the young man broke free from the whirlwind, he received a rock. It struck him with incredible force.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Spear and Shield''!


    Many of the swords around him formed an armor while his own Wei Qi turned into dragon scales. The rock was just a distraction though. Once again, the tail of the giant monster came for the young man. Under water, it was much faster than before. But Cao Yun had absorbed the force behind the rock and he directed it toward the tail while trying to move away. Although he avoided the direct attack, he suffered from the shock wave caused in the water.


    As his entire body was suffering from the intense pressure, Cao Yun found himself right in front of the head of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Its eyes were almost as big as the young man''s torso. The sheer size of the demonic beast was terrifying. On the other hand, it hindered the beast''s fighting abilities. It had a hard time catching Cao Yun. Against small preys, it was at a clear disadvantage. On the other hand, it could probably kill Cao Yun in one or two moves, if it could actually strike him.


    Now that the young man was right in front of its head, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor charger forward. Its entire body got surrounded by lightning. As electricity flew everywhere, Cao Yun suffered a lot as water was conducting it. His movements were slowed down terribly, preventing him from moving out of the way in time.


    The large head of the colossal snake hit Cao Yun. The sharp rocks cut through his chest.


    ''Dragon''s Chest''! ''Imperial Throne''!


    The young man was using everything he could to reduce the impact and protect himself but he was already covered in blood.


    * 130 chi ~= 130 ft ~= 40 m


    * 15k dan ~= 750 tons

 Chapter 642: Despair in the storm

    Cao Yun was projected upward. Flying through the immense pressure of the Divine Blood Ocean crushed his back. Suddenly, he found himself into the air. But the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor''s assault wasn''t over yet. Cao Yun had been successful, the 9-core demonic beast was clearly focused on him and had completely forgotten about Fading Fang. But the plan wasn''t as good as the young man had imagined it to be once he was actually faced with that giant leviathan.


    The full shell of the beast left the water. Outside of the ocean, it was a bit smaller than its shadow. But it was still much larger than Fading Fang, and much much larger than Cao Yun. Although its size had been an advantage for Cao Yun when he was fighting it up close, it was also terrifying to say the least. When it emerged from the Divine Blood Ocean, giant tides erupted toward the outskirts of the dome. Indeed, the gigantic dome of water and wind was still up.


    In one spot, Hongyu had focused all of her flames to try and breach it so Fading Fang could escape. Although Cao Yun wanted her to escape with it, she had no intention of doing so. Indeed, she would stay and fight with her brother no matter what. But she also knew that he couldn''t go all out while he was worried about the ship. And the crew had been nice to her in the end. Despite their attitude in the beginning, after crossing through the Blood Storm, they had completely changed. She wouldn''t let them to die if she could do something about it. And she could.


    A giant tide was going straight for Fading Fang. Although Jing Baiyu was focused on Hongyu, waiting for the right moment to sail forward and leave this prison, he was still attentive to the fight. Hence, he saw the tide beforehand and his crew got ready for it. There was nowhere for them to go. They had to somehow go against the tide or it would literally crush them against the dome that was quite literally a storm fashioned as a jail.


    In the air though, Hongyu had a better idea than just facing the tide. She waited until the very last moment. When the tide was about to hit Fading Fang, she finally unleashed all of her flames toward the dome. The shadow of a giant golden fenghuang covered in bloody feathers appeared. The blood on its feather and the gold of its flesh were all flames. Even its black eyes, talons and beaks were flames as well. It was made of Hongyu''s flames and Qi, as well as her Evil Qi. It soared forward and crashed against the dome. Suddenly, the water was vaporized.


    Under Hongyu''s attack, a large portion of the dome turned into a literal vacuum. Fading Fang was being drawn into it just as the tide was pushing against the ship. The White Whale was smart enough to take advantage of the situation. Using those two forces, he sailed forward. Fading Fang went through the gap. They did cross through the heated vapor that almost cooked them alive. But they did go through the dome entirely. It was much thicker than they had imagined. Fortunately, Fading Fang did cross through, albeit after taking a lot of punishment.


    As soon as they were out, the crew was ready to sail far away. But they immediately realized that neither Hongyu nor Cao Yun were following after them. Still, they were too scared of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Without thinking, they got ready to sail away.


    "Stop, you feckless pack of ingrates!"


    Jing Baiyu''s voice resounded throughout Fading Fang and his entire crew did stop. With shame, they looked behind them. Through the dome, it was extremely difficult to see what was going on clearly. However, they could see the flames of Hongyu as well as the vague shape of Cao Yun. What they saw clearly though was the titanic body of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor.


    Although the demonic beast didn''t seem to be able to fly, it could swim. And swim it did!


    On the inner surface of the dome, the giant monster was defying gravity. Its serpentine body was covered in small pieces of scale. Of course, what was small for the demonic beast was the size of several men. Its body did look similar to a huge sea snake with a large shell in the middle. But it had not yet revealed everything it was. From its shell, many tentacles gushed forth. They all went toward Cao Yun who had not yet recovered from the intense attack. Even with all of his cultivation and body conditioning, the young man wouldn''t survive more direct attacks. Facing a 9-core demonic beast was just insane. Even with its ninth core damaged, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was not an enemy Cao Yun could face.


    In that moment, the young man thought about Emperor Weide. If he could not even survive such a fight, he would never be able to face his main enemy. Despite everything he had gone through, he was not powerful enough yet. What was the point of living then...?!


    Instead of fighting those thoughts, Cao Yun cultivated them. He made sure to focus on them so they would engulf everything else. This feeling of powerlessness. The sensation that everything he had accomplished was nothing. The certitude that everything he could ever do was pointless. Life was pointless!


    As those feelings were growing in Cao Yun, his Fallen Arrow was getting stronger and stronger. All of his other mastered Turbid Demons had taken form already. From the Nine Soul Peaks, four golden chains had appeared, all connected to one of Cao Yun''s Turbid Demons. At least, those were the Turbid Demons he had already refined.


    Those chains acted as leashes. The first thing was a creature of blood and shadow covered in sickly green hair and strange protruding bony parts as well as three bony tails. Then, there was a horrid smell that was emerging from a black sludge covering a tell and slender humanoid creature. But its proportions were clearly wrong as its arms were just too long with too many joints. Besides, there were yellow and rotten talons at the end of those impossible arms. Besides those two was a bloated mess of a creature. It was deathly pale with disgusting purple outgrowths on a sick stretched so much it could snap at any moment. The poor thing had tiny legs but an enormous bloated throat covered in lacerations, with blood and puss oozing out of them. The air around that creature was turbid and poisonous.


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    Finally, their last companion was a large emaciated wolf that was almost only bones its skin. But it looked bigger thanks to a heavy gray fur covering it. Unfortunately, it didn''t make it look healthier as the fur was falling down its body, making it look even tinier in comparison.


    Everything creature was more grotesque than the previous one. They were Flying Poison, Unclean Evil, Stinking Lungs and Corpse Dog.


    Soon, another form appeared. It looked like Cao Yun at first, but it was wearing a prestigious golden armor. Cracks appeared in that armor and its colors began to dim just as the armor shattered everywhere. Jagged edges of the armor dug into the general''s skin. His very helmet melted a little and literally wiped away his face. Even his nose was barely visible, it was as though his face and his helmet had been paints mixing together. As the armor shattered, the sound of bones breaking echoed throughout Cao Yun''s sea of consciousness.


    Finally, something became visible in the back of the fallen general. There were dozens upon dozens of arrows and broken spears stabbed into his back but no blood was visible. Instead, the armor had melted around it and its molten metal was the blood of the general. The chest of the armor caved in. In the hands of the general, there were two broken swords. At that point, the general was only holding hilts with small pieces of ragged sharp metal still holding onto it.


    At last, Cao Yun had fully materialized Fallen Arrow. Technically, he was still a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon as he had yet to conquer it. But it still increased his strength by a lot.


    Something unexpected also happened. His Soul Embryo reacted to it!


    As his Po the Metal Corporeal Soul was evolving, so was his Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul apparently. Obviously, it affected his Soul Embryo. When Fallen Arrow emerged, a wave of despair and utter lack of purpose spread through the young man. It was as if his very life was useless and he should just give up everything and die. Although he was actively cultivating this emotion to develop his Turbid Demon, this had a real impact on him, both mentally and physically. As such, his Soul Embryo was also affected, despite his efforts to shield it.


    It wasn''t a bad thing though. Indeed, his Soul Embryo''s reaction helped Cao Yun. A vast wave of warmth also spread throughout his body. Just as Fallen Arrow was emerging, it got weakened. There would be no battle against this Turbid Demon. Cao Yun''s Soul Embryo had already struck him. Using this opportunity, the young man circulated his mind and soul cultivation. His Five Aspects fully manifested their powers. From a fifth peak of his Nine Soul Peaks, a golden chain emerged and grabbed Fallen Arrow. In an instant, it was subdued and turned into Cao Yun''s own strength.


    Even the young man had a hard time believing it. He had prepared himself for a battle against his newly formed Turbid Demon. This was the reason why he had manifested all of his Turbid Demons. But, in the end, such a battle had not happened. Fallen Arrow was now chained down to the Nine Soul Peaks. Too late it tried to resist. But now that Cao Yun had grabbed him, Fallen Arrow had absolutely no chance of breaking free. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no time to explore his Soul Embryo. If his Soul Embryo could help him subdue his Turbid Demons faster, the opposite might also be true. Until now, he had been afraid of damaging his Soul Embryo by using his Turbid Demons directly. But he might find ways to do so gently. And in the next stages, he might even go harder.


    Developing two systems at the same time was in fact twice the results for half the efforts and not the opposite as one might have feared. Indeed, the systems were working on different aspects so they could complement each other. The only real negative point was the fact that it was almost impossible to really practice them for most people. Humans had tried to imitate the blood cultivation of demons but it wasn''t as good and useful so the positive effects were fewer.


    Anyway, Cao Yun was still in the middle of a fight. Although his cultivation had literally just broken through and he was now a legitimate 6th-grade Accomplished Demon, his opponent was still much stronger than he was. That being said, the sudden surge of energy and warmth through Cao Yun''s body made him feel much better as well.


    The tentacles of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor came right for Cao Yun. As they closed in on him, many smaller flagella spurted forth from the large tentacles. Everything was slimy and with a thick smell of fish. Honestly, Cao Yun was disgusted. Before he could do anything though, Hongyu was already there. With her speed, she could cross through the dome in an instant.


    As she moved around, she tore through the sound barrier many times causing a powerful shockwave throughout the watery jail they were in. Even the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was shocked while it was swimming in its own stormy dome. Unfortunately, Hongyu had used a lot of her strength already and she had barely any flame left. She would require much rest before she could fight such an onslaught.


    Realizing that Hongyu had not left the dome, Cao Yun panicked. He had to protect her! Since she couldn''t fight, Hongyu didn''t try to face the tentacles. Instead, she simply flew right into Cao Yun to take him as far away from them as she could. With incredible speed and agility in the air, she flew across thousands of flagella and was finally able to escape in another part of the dome. But the tentacles kept on coming for them.


    Without waiting, Cao Yun took out two pills. He gulped one down and threw the other to Hongyu who did not hesitate an instant. When it came to her brother and his pills, she had blind faith in them. And she was right. Already she could feel her strength coming back to her and so could Cao Yun.


    ''Dragon''s Tail Sweeps the Sky''!


    ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' swept horizontally in front of Cao Yun. Circulating his Spear Heart to the limit, the spear turned into the tail of a gigantic dragon, almost as large, if not larger, as the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. It cut through the tentacles as though they were nothing. Unfortunately, it didn''t cut through the dome of storm. And just as the tentacles were cut down, they simply grew back in an instant while the demonic beast screamed. Within the dome, a furious tempest rose. Thunder deafened Cao Yun and Hongyu. The very air was full of electricity as the waters below were raging as though a typhoon was upon them. The pressure in the dome also increased a hundredfold.


    Such a weather was insane! It wasn''t as bad as the Blood Storm yet, but imagining that a single creature had caused all this was incredible. This was the full might of a 9-core demonic beast. Even Hongyu had a hard time flying in such an environment.


    Cao Yun realized that this place was almost like a Domain of sorts. Immediately, it reminded him of Emperor Weide who had been able to develop a pseudo-Domain despite being a mere Spirit Warrior. This was the best time for Cao Yun to test himself in such a situation. Now that the boat was safe, Cao Yun had a way to escape. But he was worried about Hongyu. However, he couldn''t let those feelings get in the way or they would both die.

 Chapter 643: Flying through a living storm

    Many tentacles and lightning bolts went toward Hongyu and Cao Yun. Thanks the pills Cao Yun had refined, the two of them had recovered a significant amount of strength. As violent as this storm dome was, it wasn''t as lethal as the Blood Storm. As such, Cao Yun could indeed use his spiritual senses. Moreover, they had become even stronger now. Using his five Turbid Demons, he focused his spiritual senses around him. Instead of spreading them far, he kept them close so they would be denser. Thanks to that, the storm barely affected him at all. His spiritual senses and his Wei Qi were mingled with one another. At the same time, he was using his ''Dragon''s Chest'' and ethereal dragon scales were flying around him and the swords behind his back.


    On the other hand, Hongyu had been able to produce new flames all around herself. Now that Cao Yun and Hongyu could work together without having to worry about Fading Fang, they became much stronger.


    Without even speaking or communicating through spiritual senses, the two of them flew around the tentacles, the small flagella and even the lightning bolts. Here and there, the storm dome sent localized tornadoes toward them. Even though Cao Yun wasn''t as fast as Hongyu, his senses were better and he could avoid everything sent toward him as well as she could. The two of them were not hit a single time. However, they had to keep moving as fast as they could to keep up with the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor''s onslaught.


    While they were seemingly toying with its attacks, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was getting increasingly more mad and furious. From its rocky head, one could see a large rift opening up. This didn''t seem to be its mouth though. Indeed, the large 9-core demonic beast had two gigantic maws. This second one was a bit lower and much wider. As it opened, it truly looked like a rift between two mountains. Of course, its head was much smaller than a mountain, but this was the feeling anyone watching it could have. They saw the earth itself being opened up.


    Suddenly, a powerful water jet erupted from its gigantic maw. In an instant, it crossed the vastness of the storm dome. Cao Yun and Hongyu immediately dived down and were able to evade the attack. The Stormriser Leviathan Emperor''s attack literally cut through the entire storm dome. Even outside, some of the water fell upon Fading Fang and her crew. The pressure was so intense that it cut the demonic beast''s own tentacles. The tornadoes and even the lightning bolts were cut apart as well. But the titanic beast didn''t mind at all.


    Indeed, its limbs grew back in an instant and the storm became even more violent after this apocalyptic attack. There was no doubt in either Cao Yun or Hongyu''s mind. If they had received this attack, they would have been severed and killed on the spot. Even with Cao Yun''s regenerative abilities, he would have been reduced to a bloody paste on the spot. The Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was still swimming on the inner surface of the storm dome. But as Cao Yun and Hongyu had gotten closer to the surface of the Divine Blood Ocean, it also decided to dive down.


    Suddenly, the massive body of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor swam all the way to the top of the dome. The sun itself was hidden as though a mountain had risen to occult the heavens. The next instant, the giant monster stopped moving and simply fell down toward the Divine Blood Ocean. Its mere fall through the air caused an intense air pressure to push against the surface of the ocean and the walls of the dome. Once again, even Fading Fang and her crew felt it. They had to literally fight against this air pressure not to be pushed farther away from the dome as Jing Baiyu could not abandon Cao Yun.


    When the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor reached the surface of the Divine Blood Ocean, it was much worse. A tyrannical tempest raged. Cao Yun and Hongyu had been able to move out of the way but even they were taken in this tempest. Both the air and the water moved all over the place. At the same time, the 9-core demonic beast sent its tentacles to grab its two preys.


    ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry''!


    The young man used all the force of the storm to strengthen himself. Within his ''The Son of Heaven''s Cavalry'', Cao Yun poured his understanding of ''Three Storms'' as well. Within his sea of consciousness, his Spear Heart vibrated and a name emerged in his mind.


    ''Son of Heaven''s Chariot Tramples the Nine Skies''!


    The scale all around Cao Yun turned golden for an instant as his Spear Heart intervened. All the winds and the raging water around Cao Yun seemed to now revolve around him instead of chaotically engulfing him. Cao Yun stabbed forward with his spear. ''Tainted Heavenly Pillar'' turned into a war chariot pulled by nine horses with dragon-like features such as scales and multiple legs. The chariot rushed toward the surface of the Divine Blood Ocean and the horses trampled all over the shell of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor.


    At the very same time, Hongyu burned brighter then ever. Many of her feathers flew through the tempest and struck many of the exposed flesh of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. As such, the large beast writhed in pain. Such a tyrannical and powerful demonic beast was not familiar with this concept at all. Most of its preys didn''t even have the opportunity to fight back. However, when it had been a weaker demonic beast, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor had been used to those intense battles. In fact, it had grown more and more powerful thanks to them.


    In a sense, its will was much stronger than anyone Cao Yun had ever faced. Indeed, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor had faced death almost every single day of its life until it became the absolute tyrant of the Divine Blood Ocean. Even now, there were many 8-core demonic beasts and even a few 9-core demonic beasts who wanted to take its place. However, the 9-core demonic beasts stayed in their own territories while the 8-core demonic beasts were biding their time. Such an intense battle was making the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor''s blood boil. It had to kill those two and devour them. Maybe it would have a chance of finally breaking through. It might truly become an Immortal Beast.


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    Although demonic beast had no heritage like humans or demons, they instinctively knew about cultivation in a sense. Without theory, they simply understood that devouring and absorbing more and more Qi would slowly push them forward. And instinctively, they could tell that nine cores were the absolute limit of the demonic beast. After that bottleneck, something completely knew would await them. They would be reborn into something else entirely. Every demonic beast inherently desired this even though they couldn''t explain or even understand why. In fact, those who didn''t desire it would simply become food for the others.


    The Stormriser Leviathan Emperor''s shell vibrated under Cao Yun''s ''Son of Heaven''s Chariot Tramples the Nine Skies''. The dragon-like horses were pulling the war chariot all over the place and literally breaking down small peaks on the shell. But something else made the shell vibrate, it was the body of the demonic beast itself. Suddenly, small mountain peaks simply protruded out of the surface of the water. Every small patch of rocky armor on the large snake turned into a peak. It was as if its very bones were coming out of its body.


    The shell itself grew larger and wider. Because of this sudden change, Cao Yun''s attack was broken and the young man suffered a small backlash as the movement of his Qi was forced to stop without any warning. But this wasn''t too bad for Cao Yun who had a great control over both his Qi and his blood.


    Several pieces of rocky peaks flew all over the place, trying to hit Cao Yun and Hongyu. Once again, the two of them evaded most hits. But Cao Yun wasn''t fast enough this time, maybe because of the sudden backlash to his Qi that had still affected him.


    ''The Dragon''s Body Hits the Earth''!


    Since he couldn''t evade everything, Cao Yun crushed a few rocks with the butt of his spear. Even with his superior strength, each hit against his spear reverberated through his entire body. Cao Yun had to use of full cultivation just to stay conscious. Once again, staying too far away from this monster was a bad idea. Ironically, he would be safer closer to the demonic beast. Thus, Cao Yun flew through the onslaught of rocks, lightning bolts and tentacles.


    Seeing her brother in a difficult situation, Hongyu tried to help. She threw as much fire toward the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor to distract it. Hongyu wasn''t a fighter like Cao Yun but she was aware that getting closer to her brother would simply make the demonic beast focus its attacks even more. Instead, she wanted it to dilute its attacks. And it worked like a charm. Furious, the beast diverted more rocks toward Hongyu, alleviating the pressure on Cao Yun.


    When he was close enough, Cao Yun dropped from the sky. Now, he could almost touch the slippery skin of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. As such, it was much harder for the beast to strike the young man. When the body of the giant monster moved, Cao Yun simply followed its movements. From the shell, many more tentacles emerged with thousands upon thousands of tiny flagella. Every single one of them was going for Cao Yun.


    Flying as close to the massive body of the beast, Cao Yun slalomed around the oncoming attacks. This was extremely hard but he pushed his spiritual senses to their limit in order to improve his senses. Finally, Cao Yun reached his goal. He literally went in the opening between the shell and the serpentine body of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor.


    Immediately, the 9-core demonic beast became crazy. It stopped any attack against Hongyu. The storm dome itself crumbled in an instant. When the air pressure and the raging tempest contained within the dome were freed, it turned into a nightmare for Fading Fang. Jing Baiyu was ready for it though. The White Whale had already faced such a terrible tempest when he had sailed away from his first encounter with that very beast. He knew how to preserve both his ship and his crew.


    In the meantime, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor dived down as far and deep as it could. Maybe it was hoping to kill Cao Yun with the sudden change in pressure. Even the worst pressure of the Divine Blood Ocean was nothing much to Cao Yun. He could breathe the little oxygen still present within the water than was now filling his lungs. And his flesh could easily support even greater pressure. On the other hand, Hongyu was not as fast in the water than she was in the air. Still, she did decide to follow the giant monster and her brother who had flew into its body.


    Indeed, Cao Yun was now within the body of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Suddenly, rocky peaks emerged all around him as well as tens of thousands of flagella. Everything was trying to kill him. Even with all his spiritual senses, avoiding them all was almost impossible so Cao Yun pushed his ''Dragon''s Chest'' as much as he could. His entire body was covered his dragon scales. The swords behind his back were also now rotating all over his body, forming a small tornado. Electricity was also coursing through the swords. From time to time, two swords would clash and a lightning bolt would emerge. Cao Yun had become a tiny storm within the belly of the beast.


    His goal was extremely clear though. In his first attacks, Cao Yun had damaged the ninth core of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Those cores were the main weakness of any demonic beasts, just like Dantian for humans and the heart for demons. As such, Cao Yun had decided to attack them directly. But even from within, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was incredibly powerful. Cao Yun couldn''t easily cut through its flesh. However, he could find the wound he had already inflicted and find his way toward the ninth core, and maybe other cores as well.


    In the Divine Blood Ocean, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was writhing in agony. The beast literally struck itself against the oceanic floor in order to kill the human being who had invaded its body. Until now, such a thing had never happened. Indeed, no demonic beast would have thought of such a strategy. The Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was mad beyond reason as a small ant was going through its body. It could feel tiny movements within itself. Like an itch, the sea beast was trying to scratch itself.


    Cao Yun evaded many tentacles and rocky peaks. Because of the movements of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor, it became more and more difficult to move around without being struck. Finally, Cao Yun did get hit. A tentacle almost crushed his head. When he avoided it at the very last moment, a rocky peak pierced through his back. Even with all his defenses in place, the sharp rock did pierce through and through. Still, its size was drastically reduced by the collision against the swords and the dragon scales. That being said, Cao Yun''s left lung was torn apart. Immediately, the young man controlled the flow of his blood to prevent the injury to worsen.


    Sea water came into his open wound and Cao Yun quickly closed it using his Wei Qi and Golden Blood. In a powerful rotating movement, his spear broke the rocky peaks in an instant. Despite the pain, Cao Yun kept on going until he finally saw the wound he had inflicted in the very beginning of the fight while the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor had been focused on Fading Fang. Already, the wound was closing itself up. Many tendrils were trying to get each side of the wound close together. Cao Yun had to get inside before it was completely healed!

 Chapter 644: Plucking cores

    Cao Yun was quite literally in the belly of the beast. After going through the space between its flesh and its shell, Cao Yun had found the wound he had inflicted upon the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor and was now making his way deeper and deeper. Not only was the beast wriggling around trying to get rid of this intruder, everything within the creature was trying to kill Cao Yun.


    First of all, fluids of varying kinds were assaulting Cao Yun. The young man couldn''t tell if it was just blood, but these fluids were extremely corrosive. Even his Wei Qi was being attacked by those. No matter how strong his defense was, some of this blood touched his skin. Once again, the young man was being devoured alive by this corrosive substance. Apparently it had become some kind of routine. Cao Yun was always being corroded by something, whether it was lava, a blood pool, or the literal innards of a demonic beast. However, no matter how many times it happened, it never felt good.


    With his regenerative abilities, Cao Yun could regrow his layers of skin a bit faster than they were being eaten away. That being said, it was still extremely painful, thus it taxed his mind that was already busy fortifying his defenses. All of his Turbid Demons were being used as well as energy directly from his Soul Embryo. Since Cao Yun had mastered his Fallen Arrow, his Soul Embryo had not awoken, but it had clearly grown stronger. Maybe he could use his Turbid Demons to speed up his Qi cultivation. But, at the same time, Cao Yun didn''t want to risk injuring or damaging his Soul Embryo. Anyway, this wasn''t the proper time nor the proper place to think about it.


    Regrowing his skin also demanded energy from his body. Although he had taken some pill to recover, Cao Yun was still exhausted. So he decided not to lose any time at all. The young man was trying to go straight toward the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor''s ninth demonic core, the one he had damaged. This initial injury had probably reduced the strength of this 9-core demonic beast. But it had still been extremely powerful. If such a creature could practice real martial arts and could think as a human being, it would be a disaster.


    With his current blood cultivation, Cao Yun was the equal of an 8-core demonic beast. Adding his Qi cultivation to that, he could indeed slay an 8-core demonic beast without too much problem, especially if he used his stealth to attack it by surprise. That being said, some beasts were more dangerous than others. But against a 9-core demonic beast, Cao Yun wasn''t stupid enough to think he could easily win. As much as he was confident in his ability, he might be severely injured. Thus, Cao Yun would try to avoid such a direct confrontation. Unfortunately, in this case, he had had no choice.


    Since the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor had wanted this fight, Cao Yun had no qualms ending it. Besides, he had even broken through in the middle of the fight. And now, this gigantic monster would give Cao Yun even more benefits.


    Finally, the young man cut through several layers of tissues that had grown back after his initial attack. They were even weaker than they had initially been. Indeed, the beast had not the same regenerative ability as Cao Yun. Besides, it was much larger so it would require more time and energy to recover. But now, it would be much more difficult. Indeed, the young man was literally in front of the ninth core.


    Before Cao Yun''s eyes was a demonic core the size of his own chest. It looked like a kidney stone. And indeed, it was close to the kidneys of the beast. But it was something else entirely. A demonic core was similar to spirit stones. Spirit stones were natural condensation of Qi into special minerals. Demonic cores were the same kind of condensation but by the very body of the demonic beasts. The process was purely instinctive but many compared it to cultivation. After all, it allowed demonic beasts to grow stronger and stronger just like cultivation helped human beings. But, by some strange properties, the demonic beasts also changed. Many thought that they simply awoke their dormant bloodlines with each new demonic core.


    In that pulsating purple crystal, there was a huge crack caused by Cao Yun''s initial attack. Now that he could admire his work in person, Cao Yun realized that he had almost cut it in half. If his attack had been more powerful or a bit more to the left, the demonic core would have truly been shattered in several pieces. This was no wonder why the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor had been so mad toward him. And it would probably get madder yet.


    Without any hesitation, Cao Yun controlled all the swords in his back and cut off every tissue linking the demonic core to the body of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor.


    Outside, the beast was wriggling with fury in the Divine Blood Ocean. Hongyu was watching it, not knowing what it should do. Clearly, this episode was due to her brother acting up within the beast itself. But Hongyu had no idea what was really going on so she was unsure of what to do. Thus, she simply observed the situation and tried to recover her strength with the effects of the pill still coursing through her body. She focused on her Evil Core and Wrath Core to replenish her Qi and her flames, ready to help Cao Yun if need be.


    Once its ninth core cut off from the rest of its body, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor lost in strength. However, to Hongyu, it looked like it had grown in fact stronger. This was just due to its fury. The Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was simply furiously spending, and wasting, more and more energy. As it had no way of using any soul attacks, or even using its own intent inwards, the demonic beast couldn''t do anything against the intruder within its body. And it was aware enough of that fact to be filled with fury and despair.


    Usually, any creature stupid enough to enter its body on its own would simply die, being digested by its bodily fluids. Unfortunately for the 9-core demonic beast, Cao Yun could resist those natural defenses. Thus, the demonic beast could only move around in the desperate hope that Cao Yun would somehow get crushed. But Cao Yun could easily cut through the muscles that would contract around him. Besides, the beast was ironically too big. The young man could evade most of its frantic movements.


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    At last, the demonic core was completely severed. Now that it was floating within the fluids of the beast, Cao Yun engulfed it in his spiritual senses. He made sure to completely isolate it. Severing the mental connection between it and the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor wasn''t too hard at all, especially with Cao Yun''s mind cultivation. Once it was done, Cao Yun was able to store it in his spatial ring.


    In order to store something in a spatial ring, its owner had to spread their spiritual senses around the object and take it in. If something else was trying to stop it, it was impossible to do so. For example, during a fight, it was theoretically possible to simply steal one''s opponent''s weapons. But any living being would have some Wei Qi around them. And it would naturally extend to the weapon they were holding. In other words, only if the opponent was much weaker could one steal their weapon. But in this scenario, there was no need for that as they could simply crush the opponent in an instant.


    Right now, Cao Yun had stolen more than a weapon from the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. In a sense, he had stolen one of its major organs. And the worst part was that Cao Yun wasn''t finished. Now that he had had taken one demonic core, he had no reason to stop. The Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was now insane, but it was also weaker. Thus, it became even easier for Cao Yun to go after its other demonic cores and so he did.


    The young man traveled through the body of the poor beast. Using his compass, he easily found the other demonic cores and simply reaped them as though they were grass. Cutting all the flesh around the pulsating crystals, Cao Yun stored them all in his spatial ring.


    Outside, Hongyu could clearly see that the beast was growing weaker and weaker. It had used all of its fury to flail around but it was over. Now, the poor beast seemed to simply wait its own death. It had been a major predator within this area of the Divine Blood Ocean for several centuries. And yet, it had been killed so easily by a mere human it could barely seen because he was too small. But the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor didn''t die full of resentment. It was simply the way things were in the wild. There was always a better predator.


    Soon, weaker demonic beasts would fight over the carcass of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Then, other 9-core demonic beasts would fight to get its territory. The Divine Blood Ocean would get very interesting in the coming months and even years. Demonic beasts would wage war against each other for the scraps.


    Cao Yun was well aware of that. And it might even cause the Divine Blood Ocean to become much more dangerous. It wasn''t a very good thing, especially for the Desolate Sepulcher who relied on its trade with the continent. But, then again, their trade would naturally diminish now that they had stopped selling slaves. Cao Yun simply hoped that Jing Baiyu and Fading Fang would have no problem on their way back.


    Anyway, the young man had not had much choice in the matter as he didn''t want to be devoured by the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Moreover, the demonic beast would have destroyed Fading Fang and killed her entire crew without his intervention. At least now, they had a real chance. Besides, the demonic beasts would not go all-out right away, most likely. As long as Fading Fang came back home soon enough, they shouldn''t have too many issues.


    Once all nine demonic cores were inside Cao Yun''s spatial ring, the young man still wasn''t done. He would have loved to take the entire body in his spatial ring. But none of his spatial rings were large enough. Besides, he had already taken a lot of resources with him. But he knew which parts of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor were the most important an the rarest. As an alchemist, and as an array formation master, this body was a treasure trove. Thus, Cao Yun made sure to take with him the best parts of the demonic beast. He literally filled his spatial rings with everything he could, prioritizing the best organs and bones.


    Finally, the young man left the dead body of the beast. It was now resting on the ocean floor, lifeless. Looking at the giant creature, Cao Yun did feel something. He had killed a 9-core demonic beast himself. Of course, it wasn''t as impressive as killing a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, but this was something. And he had gained a lot, both for him and for Hongyu. Indeed, devouring demonic cores from a 9-core demonic beast would be an incredibly beneficial thing for her. At the same time, in his current cultivation, amassing Qi wasn''t very important to Cao Yun.


    Indeed, Cao Yun''s cultivation was now much more spiritual. Working on his Qi, blood or physical body were still important aspects but they were clearly secondary now. Any advantage he could obtain, he would try to get it. But his main concern was his soul. Both in the asura cultivation system and the human cultivation system, the third realms put the emphasis on one''s soul. And the next realms didn''t rely heavily on Qi either. In fact, Qi and blood were the main concerns of the first realms. And this was why it was essential to have a firm foundation during those realms. Afterward, there was no time for that, most of a cultivator''s time should be used to work on their mind and soul, not on material things of any kind.


    Sighing deeply, Cao Yun abandoned the rest of the body. The Divine Blood Ocean was already turning red as the blood of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was spilling outside of its carcass through its wounds. Soon, there might be another Blood Storm around here. Still covered in the blood of this demonic beast, Cao Yun left the Divine Blood Ocean. As the young man was leaving, he saw that Hongyu had already eaten some of the flesh of the demonic beast while he was still inside. Clearly, she was as disappointed as he was about the idea of leaving such a large piece of meat at the bottom of the ocean. Still, Cao Yun had kept some great pieces of the body in his spatial ring. He had indeed thought about Hongyu''s appetite.


    For some time, Cao Yun had thought about using the blood of the beast to try and keep other demonic beasts away. But it would have the opposite effect. Now that the ruler of this area was dead, all the demonic beasts would want a piece of its body. Using its blood might indeed frighten some weak demonic beasts. But powerful 8-core demonic beasts, or even another 9-core demonic beast might be attracted to it instead, which would cause them even more problems.


    At last, Cao Yun got back to Fading Fang. Jing Baiyu had waited for the young man all this time, despite the threat of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor.


    "Boy, you... you''ve done it...!"


    Although he was leaving the Divine Blood Ocean, Cao Yun still had some of the beast''s blood on him. He would wash it carefully afterward of course. But he had something else in his hand. The young man threw it at the captain.


    The White Whale received the gift. It was a piece of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor''s fangs. In fact, it was the absolute extremity of its teeth. Jing Baiyu looked at it intensely. That beast had almost destroyed him twice. And now it was dead, just like that. Squeezing the fragment of teeth, Jing Baiyu got emotional. Although he had saved almost everyone, some of his crew had died during his first encounter with the beast. They were now avenged.

 Chapter 645: Sailing in the lower decks

    After everything that had happened, Fading Fang sailed as far away and as fast as possible from the carcass of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor at the bottom of the Divine Blood Ocean. Everyone knew that it would ultimately attract a lot of scavengers. Most likely, it would cause an even greater Blood Storm than what they had experienced. Indeed, the very blood of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor would cause one by itself. But as many demonic beasts would fight over the body, more and more blood would be spilled. In the end, it could produce a devastating Blood Storm even 9-core demonic beasts and late Spirit Warriors and Accomplished Demons couldn''t even survive. The crew wasn''t as clear as to how the Blood Storms were caused. Unlike Cao Yun, they had not understood the entire process. However, their superstitions told them that the death of powerful demonic beasts would bring about a Blood Storm.


    For many, it was some form of divine act. Maybe it was a remnant of the blood of the Weaver of Souls interacting with the death of a demonic beast. Anyway, even though their reasoning was flawed, they had the right idea. Besides, what mattered to them was to survive their travels, they didn''t really care about exploring the reality of the phenomenon.


    After Cao Yun had slain a 9-core demonic beast, the crew had a completely different attitude toward him. Of course they had known that he was much more powerful than them. But at this moment, they fully realized how terrifying he could be. Cao Yun was not even thirty years old at the moment. When he had been sent to the Desolate Sepulcher, Cao Yun was around twenty. By now, less than a decade had passed by. Honestly Cao Yun himself wasn''t entirely sure how long it had been.


    To be fair, Cao Yun had been through a lot in the past years. Although the last year or so had been going relatively well for him, his first years in the Desolate Sepulcher had been terrible. He had traveled a lot throughout the continent. He had faced many deadly situations and had almost died a few times. After much suffering and hard work, he had survived and had risen higher than ever before. If he had to guess, he had spent eight years in the Desolate Sepulcher, by counting the time of his current travel. But he couldn''t be sure whether the portal he had gone through had sent him to the exact same time.


    Obviously, he hadn''t been thrown into the past or the far future. But it was possible that he had lost a year or two, maybe even more. There was no way for Cao Yun to know as he didn''t know how time had been behaving in the portal he had taken. After all, he knew that in this realm where the Weaver of Souls and Demon God Da Mo were time was different. It was a real possibility that he had spent several months or years in that transitional place before breaching through it and entering the Desolate Pillar.


    Anyway, Cao Yun would soon get his answers. Fading Fang was now sailing straight for the shore of God''s Land. In a matter of weeks if not days, Cao Yun would finally be back.


    Since the crew was now awed by his presence, even Jing Baiyu had to ask Cao Yun not to work. It wasn''t that the crew was afraid of him, but they wouldn''t act in the same way around him anymore. And the White Whale couldn''t afford any mistake. At this point, he wanted to end this travel as soon as possible. Besides, the Divine Blood Ocean would get more dangerous for a while.


    On that topic, Cao Yun apologized to Jing Baiyu. There was almost no time to talk while sailing on the Divine Blood Ocean but the captain found the time to talk to Cao Yun, alone in the lower decks. Cao Yun was pleased to notice that Jing Baiyu''s attitude had not changed at all. To be fair, he wasn''t even afraid of Lord Wanghuo either. Moreover, Cao Yun, despite all his strength, did need a ship to sail safely through the Divine Blood Ocean. Demonic beasts were less dangerous than nature itself. And Jing Baiyu was the best navigator in the entire Piaolu planet.


    "Boy, don''t take it to heart. For the time being, just focus on... on whatever you want to focus on, I don''t know... Stay with your chicken, we''ll handle the ship."


    "I understand, sir. I am sorry about the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. It might make your travel back more difficult."


    "Why the hell are you spewing out such idiocy?! You think we''re punishing you because of that...?! Are you stupid?! Is there something wrong with your brain?! Well, there''s got to be something wrong, right?! After all, you''ve fought this abomination... Even Lord Wanghuo would have probably ran away and left us to fend for ourselves... Stupid boy! You saved our lives! Don''t take us for ingrates and beasts, right?! It''s just that the crew won''t be able to work as well with you among them. You''re like some royalty, some great genius. They won''t focus on their job as well with you in the crowd. Some will try to curry favors or impress you. Others will be too nervous not to make any mistake. Those big men can be quite sensitive I tell you. Pathetic...!"


    "I really understand, sir. But I sincerely worry about you on the way back. I don''t have to face the consequences of my actions but you..."


    "Shut the hell up! If I tell you there''s no problem, there is none! Who is the best navigator?! You or me?! Who knows this Divine Blood Ocean better?! You or me?! Do you want to sail Fading Fang in my stead?! Is that what you want?! No?! Then shut the hell up! With all the demonic beasts trying to carve a piece of this Stormriser Leviathan Emperor and its territory for themselves, other parts of the Divine Blood Ocean will be so calm that it won''t even be fun. Don''t worry a thing about us! Without your intervention, we''d be dead already after all. And we all accept that we can die at any point. Besides, it''s not as if you''ve attracted the beast yourself. Stop blaming yourself, for the Weaver''s sake! You sound like a young girl..."


    The captain became more and more vulgar as the conversation advanced. In the end, Cao Yun simply accepted the current situation. Although he was worried about the crew, there had not really been any other way at the time. Maybe he could have tried to only injure the beast so the ship could escape. But it could have decided to chase them until the end. Moreover, even if it had only been injured, many demonic beasts would have still attacked the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor to take advantage of any injury. All things considered, this was probably the best outcome. And what Jing Baiyu was saying made sense.


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    In the lower decks, Cao Yun set up more array formations to completely isolate himself and Hongyu from the outside world. Even though they were getting closer to the shore, Cao Yun didn''t want to waste any time at all. In fact, as he was getting closer to the shore, he was getting more and more anxious. Despite his victory against such a powerful demonic beast, Cao Yun deemed that he was only strong enough to challenge a middle Spirit Warrior or Accomplished Demon in a fair fight. Of course, he was not forced to face them in a fair fight, he had many other tactics such as array formations, pills, stealth, poisons, ...


    That being said, he was not confident he could kill Emperor Weide himself. Although he could probably find allies to help him, at least he hoped it was still the case, he truly desired to kill Emperor Weide with his own strength. In a sense, it was the wish of the Cao family.


    Cao Yun gave a large piece of meat to Hongyu as well as the largest demonic core from the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Within the isolating array formations, he had set up smaller ones so that Hongyu could absorb most of the Qi within without much problem. That being said, she still needed time to digest it all. But now her cultivation would go as fast as it possibly could. Honestly Cao Yun wasn''t sure how far she could go with these demonic cores. During the condensation process creating demonic cores, energy was always lost. Besides, each demonic core was not as dense in every species.


    At the very least, those demonic cores should help her form her seventh core and maybe even go all the way to the 8th core. But he couldn''t be certain whether she would be able to fully form her eighth core, let alone her ninth demonic core. Still, it would help her get there much faster. It was hard to guess. However, Cao Yun would imagine that in less than six months, she should have formed her sixth demonic core. After all, she was able to digest Qi much faster than many other demonic beasts. In fact, the young man wondered whether it was due to her bloodline alone or if the Evil Core and Wrath Core were playing a role. Besides, his pills and array formations also helped her condense Qi faster than her metabolism could usually do on its own.


    While she was cultivating by simply eating and absorbing Qi, Cao Yun focused on his soul. He had now formed the five Turbid Demons associated with the Five Elements. Flying Poison was the Soul of Earth, Unclean Evil the Soul of Wood, Stinking Lungs the Soul of Metal, Corpse Dog the Soul of Water and Fallen Arrow the Soul of Fire. Once again, those attributes were to be considered in a philosophical sense and not in any physical aspect. Besides, the first three Turbid Demons were also known as the Po of Jing, the Po of Qi and the Po of Shen, as each one was connected with those aspects of the body.


    Then, Corpse Dog and Fallen Arrow were respectively referred to as the Po of Yin and the Po of Yang. Those were the names of the non-corrupt version of those souls. With those two Turbid Demons, Cao Yun had now both the Yin aspect and the Yang aspect of his Po. The last two Turbid Demons were the Soul of Wind or Po of Life and the Soul of Void or Po of Death. Each one was responsible for the coordination of the seven Po during birth and the formation of the body as well as during death and its decomposition. Those were two very difficult Po to control. But honestly, Cao Yun wasn''t afraid of them at all. Everything had gone well for him and it would continue, especially now that he could also use his Soul Embryo.


    The next Po he would work on was the Po of Life, whose Turbid Demon was the Yin Bird. It was associated with anguish. Unfortunately, Cao Yun could boast that he knew a lot about this emotion already. He didn''t need a lot of effort to feel it throughout his body.


    Instead of worrying about his asura cultivation, Cao Yun focused on the human cultivation system. Indeed, he sent his intent into his Soul Embryo. At first he couldn''t tell whether anything was different but he focused some more. It was very subtle but the Soul Embryo had changed a little. Of course, there was more energy coming out of it. But Cao Yun had been looking for deeper changes in its structure. Unfortunately, it was still impossible to tell how long it would take for this Soul Embryo to wake up. It could wake up in a minute or in a year, or in ten years. Such a thing was almost impossible to predict. Maybe someone like Cleansed Asura could have predicted it better with all of his knowledge. But even then, it was unlikely. Probing one''s Soul Embryo was dangerous in itself so no one would risk that just to get an estimate.


    Cao Yun kept on using ''Golden Hammer on Silver Rock'' to slowly wake up his Soul Embryo. This time though, he also mobilized more and more of his Turbid Demons. After seeing the impact they had on his Soul Embryo, Cao Yun truly wanted to test that out. That being said, he wasn''t reckless and didn''t want to risk his future. Thus, he was extremely careful, monitoring his mind and soul as much as possible.


    After a very long time, he decided that there was no danger. However, he couldn''t see any obvious result either. Maybe it was the awakening of a Turbid Demon that had pushed his Soul Embryo. If that was the case, he would need to wait several months, two years at most, to see it again. Hopefully, his Soul Embryo would have awoken on its own by then.


    After some reflection, Cao Yun decided to start working on the third stage of the Embryo Realm. After Awaken the Embryo, the next stage was simply known as Strengthen the Upper Dantian. The goal of this stage was obviously to temper one''s Upper Dantian with the express purpose of welcoming the Soul Embryo in it. There were two components to it. First of all, the Upper Dantian had to be strong enough to stand the presence of the Soul Embryo as it would increase the pressure. In the worst cases, it could kill the cultivator or drive them insane over time as it would also increase the pressure in one''s skull.


    The other aspect though was something Cao Yun could not yet train. Indeed, it was to familiarize the Upper Dantian and the Soul Embryo with one another so they wouldn''t clash at all. As long as one''s Soul Embryo wasn''t awakened, it was so dangerous to move it around that it was akin to suicide. Even Cao Yun wouldn''t attempt that at all as he wasn''t suicidal.


    So Cao Yun decided to strengthen his Upper Dantian. With his mind cultivation, it was already very powerful. But Cao Yun knew he could strengthen it some more. Besides, he now knew how to do so effectively after working on his Lower Dantian and Middle Dantian. In fact, he could use his Golden Blood to make an even better job. It wasn''t random if the Upper Dantian was the last one to be strengthened as one had to be extremely careful with this one.


    As Cao Yun and Hongyu were in the lower decks, a few weeks passed by. Finally, Fading Fang stopped moving. Immediately, Cao Yun felt it and opened his eyes. It could only mean two things!

 Chapter 646: The cliffs of Gods Land

    The first thing Cao Yun was worried about didn''t come to pass. Thankfully, the ship wasn''t under attack yet another time. Since he wasn''t sure about the situation, the young man didn''t spread his spiritual senses all over the place. Instead, he went to the upper deck. Then, he finally saw his wish come true.


    Before Cao Yun''s eyes was God''s Land. Although he had never seen his continent from this place, he recognized it right away thanks to the map of the entire planet drawn by Emperor Nuwa when she ascended. That Piaolu map was one of the sacred treasures of mankind. Even if it wasn''t extremely detailed, it gave a clear idea of the shape of the continent. But even without this Piaolu map, Cao Yun would have recognized it. Indeed, there was a deep sense of familiarity. Although he had never been here, he could feel that he was back home. After nearly eight years, almost a decade, Cao Yun was back. Now, he had one goal in mind. He had to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom.


    Cao Yun wanted to save his little sister of course. But he also wanted to defend the entire Hongchen Kingdom as well. Killing Emperor Weide without thinking of the future of his friends and fellow humans would only throw the Hongchen Kingdom into chaos. And the Empyrean Asura Theocracy might use it to wipe out mankind. Thus, Cao Yun also needed to make plans to take care of that looming threat.


    At the moment, Cao Yun was at a disadvantage because he had very little information on the current situation. In fact, although he was hoping that his friends and the Hongchen Kingdom were safe, he couldn''t know for sure. Since the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was still trying to buy slaves, Cao Yun guessed that the war wasn''t over. That meant that mankind was not eradicated yet. But that also meant that they were still waging war. Cao Yun had no idea how much damage had been done to the Hongchen Kingdom and its people.


    Obviously, the young man would have to garner information on his way to the Hongchen Kingdom. Besides, he had to find a path toward it. Although he had the Piaolu map, he wouldn''t just rush forward through the air. Even with his stealth, he wouldn''t risk exposing himself like that. Instead, Cao Yun would first explore the demon lands. His first task was to get a good understanding of what was going on. Unfortunately, the Hongchen Kingdom had always lacked good intel on the demons. But apparently, the demons had good intel on the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, they had probably spent decades if not centuries carefully crossing bloodlines in order to produce human spies.


    Since Demon God Da Mo''s invasion of the Piaolu planet, his asura bloodline had been mixed with the human bloodline. Nowadays, humans and demons had very similar bloodlines so by carefully planning, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had been able to suppress the asura blood of some children so that they would pass as humans. And indeed, there was no way to tell that they weren''t humans. After all, they were humans. But they were also children of demons and were absolutely loyal to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. They had probably been indoctrinated since birth.


    The crew was looking at Cao Yun as Fading Fang had stopped moving. They were still some distance away from the shore. In fact, they were facing a barren land with nothing in sight. Indeed, Cao Yun didn''t want to arrive in a large city or in the usual harbor used by the demons. Jing Baiyu and his crew didn''t have a complete map of God''s Land but they knew those northern shores well enough. As such, they found the perfect place for their arrival.


    "Boy, there is no settlement or village around this place. You won''t meet anyone. But there are small villages not too far either. You should be able to find them very easily, if they still exist..."


    Cao Yun looked at Jing Baiyu strangely.


    "This Empyrean Asura Theocracy burns everyone they deem a heretic. It''s not rare that small villages simply get wiped out while we''re away. It happened a few times already... They don''t have the Slavery Brand that City Lord Sihe invented so they can''t rely on their own slaves for war too much. Of course, they also enslave some demons as well. After all, they''ve conquered most of God''s Land apart from the human kingdom and a few small cities. But their slaves are mostly used for menial tasks or simply sacrificed to their god. Burning people for their Demon God is very common within the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Some even think it''s a great honor..."


    There was clearly disgust in Jing Baiyu''s voice. Slavery wasn''t much of a problem to him as he had been transporting slaves for decades if not more. However, it was the religious aspect that really rubbed him the wrong way.


    Indeed, the teaching of the Weaver of Souls was completely opposite to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy who still worshiped Demon God Da Mo. In the Desolate Sepulcher, blood was everything. Of course, blood was also important for the Empyrean Asura Theocracy as they were demons. But they had a completely different outlook on it. For them, blood was also the vessel of one''s soul. By burning their sacrifices, they were purifying their souls so they could rejoin Demon God Da Mo ans strengthen him. In a sense, they were feeding their gods by burning other demons. But they were also purifying them from their heresy as they were allowing them to join with their god.


    "Thank you, Captain. I hope your way back home won''t be as eventful as our travel was..."


    "Don''t sweat about it, kid. I told you already, the demonic beasts will be so busy fighting each other over the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor that we''ll be just fine. I''ve already plotted our course back home. Yes it will be longer, but it probably will be safer as well. I would say that you''re in even greater danger than we are and I know how strong you are. So you can imagine how dangerous it could be around here. The Empyrean Asura is much stronger that Lord Wanghuo. This isn''t something I could easily say in the Desolate Sepulcher, but it''s the truth.


    "If the Divine Blood Ocean wasn''t between us and those barbarians, they would have invaded and conquered us all a long time ago. So be extremely careful. I don''t know why you''ve come here, but don''t overestimate yourself. For the time being, they''re focused on the humans so you should be safe as long as you stay discreet. Good luck!"


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    Of course, Cao Yun couldn''t tell him that he was human in the first place. Besides, he had to stop the Empyrean Asura Theocracy one way or another at some point. He wouldn''t let them wipe out mankind. But he did acknowledge the White Whale''s worries. The Empyrean Asura was most likely a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon, maybe even a half-step Exalted Demon just as Matriarch Huang Yufeng was a half-step Sage. There was no real way to be sure. But anyway, Empyrean Asura was clearly a great threat. Cao Yun wouldn''t be careless around him.


    "Thank you."


    The young man bowed slightly and even thanked the entire crew. Then, he called for Hongyu. Despite absorbing the Qi from the demonic cores of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor, Hongyu had not yet formed her seventh core, but it was getting closer and closer. She was still a Sky Tyrant Fenghuang. Leaving the lower decks, she kept on suppressing her aura with Cao Yun''s teachings. The young man jumped on her back and circulated ''Ashen Feather Seal''.


    His current understanding and mastery of this ''Ashen Feather Seal'' was a bit higher than Huang Liyue''s herself. At the moment, it was probably a 3-star or even a 4-star Heaven martial art. The ''Blood Withers While Life Flourishes'' had been a problem to Cao Yun because he didn''t have the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang. But he had a deeper understanding of blood cultivation so he could easily use his bloodline in a similar fashion. Besides, he was currently circulating the technique through himself and Hongyu, using her bloodline as well. As such, his stealth became that much better.


    As soon as he circulated ''Ashen Feather Seal'', Cao Yun and Hongyu simply disappeared. Although they were still there, the crew was unable to sense them at all, even with their physical senses. Of course, none of them was even an Accomplished Demon. But to be fair, most Accomplished Demons and Spirit Warriors would be unable to see through this stealth technique. Apart from late Spirit Warriors and Accomplished Demons, only a handful throughout the Piaolu planet could possibly detect them. And even then, they might simply sense that something was off.


    The two of them flew away from the ship. Immediately, Cao Yun recognized the space around God''s Land. Space around the entire Piaolu planet was strange, almost as if it had been fractured. Most likely, it had happened either during the Great War between Demon God Da Mo and Emperor Nuwa, or during the invasion of Demon God Da Mo. In fact, Cao Yun wondered if it could have happened during the Legendary Era. After all, little was known about it, but most of the glorious past of mankind had been lost. After all, even the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal had been used a simple jail by the Wubei Sect. No one had been aware that it had been crafted by one of the greatest emperors of mankind, the Empyrean Human Emperor.


    Cao Yun had grown interested in the Dao of Space after his reading of ''Daydreams on the Heidai Peak''. His time in other realms and even in the portal that had brought him to Desolate Sepulcher had fed this interest. Unfortunately, not even the greatest genius could understand anything of the Dao before becoming a Sage. Besides, Cao Yun wouldn''t claim to be the greatest genius. He wouldn''t be too humble either. But there were definitely cultivators who were true geniuses, and he wasn''t among them.


    In a matter of seconds, Hongyu reached the shore. There was indeed no sign of life or any activity around this place. In the distance though, Cao Yun could see some smoke. As Jing Baiyu had told him, there were small villages not too far away. Maybe this smoke came from such a place. Carefully, Cao Yun and Hongyu headed in that direction.


    -


    In a forest close to the cliffs, a group of eight Golden Blood Children were having a feast. They were sitting around a fire while enjoying some demonic beast meat. Two of them had their armors on while the others were more relaxed. Those armors were red and black with the insignia of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy on it, a drop of blood on fire. In fact, it was hard to differentiate between the blood and the fire as they were melded into one another.


    All around the group, there were bodies of other demons. There was also a huge pile of ash. Although it was impossible to tell, it appeared clearly to anyone knowing anything about the Theocracy, that those ashes were also bodies. Either they had been burned after their death, which was a common custom among the Theocracy, or before their death. Unfortunately, both were common occurrences.


    Among the bodies, not a single one of them belonged to a powerful cultivator. There were old men and women, a few children as well. Worse than that, there were moving bodies. They weren''t completely dead yet. But they had been thrown in the pile of bodies nonetheless.


    In another corner, there were a few young women, naked and bruised. They couldn''t have been older than sixteen. One could imagine what had happened to them, and what would happen to them again, and again, until those men were done. Then, it was easy to imagine their final fate.


    Finally, there was another young man who was probably fourteen or fifteen. The poor boy was tied by his neck to a tree. His feet were barely touching the ground, but it was enough so he wouldn''t be strangulated to death by the rope. Just like all the other victims, he wasn''t a powerful cultivator. In fact, he was the only one who had even achieved the bare requisites of the 1st-grade Blood Child stage. He was also naked and bruised all over. On his body, there were traces of burns and lacerations. His arms were not tide but they couldn''t move on their own. Apparently, the soldiers had cut off his tendons, but not in his legs as he needed them to stay alive. And they didn''t want to kill him yet.


    The soldiers didn''t care about those victims at all. They were all busy eating their fried meat. Soon, they would move again. Thus, they would have to kill everyone. But for the time being, the show was amusing enough. One of the soldiers even stood up and walked toward the broken girls. Grabbing one of them, he forced her to drink some wine while laughing as she was choking on it.


    Suddenly, their fire got extinguished.


    Although they were cruel, they weren''t stupid. Immediately, they knew that they were under attack. All of them took out their weapons and got into some kind of battle formation. While being early Golden Blood Children, they could easily kill a middle Golden Blood Child and even protect their life against a weak late Golden Blood Child. This battle formation was indeed very good and they were trained well in it.


    Unfortunately, it wouldn''t help them at all against the threat coming for them. All of them could feel a cold rage surrounding them. There was a powerful killing intent focused on them. In their minds, there was absolutely no doubt that they would die today. However, they couldn''t move at all. They were frozen in place by both terror and something else. Anyway, even if they could have moved, they would have been slaughtered nonetheless. There was no reason to spare such monsters!

 Chapter 647: No mercy spear hand

    Cao Yun had just come back to his continent but he was still a long way home. According to the Piaolu map, he probably still would need a few months to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom. Besides, he didn''t know much about the situation. So he had to garner intel first. For that, he had to find demons who had this intel. Thankfully, he had spotted that smoke and went directly toward it.


    With his current stealth technique, Cao Yun was extremely confident no one would spot it. After all, there was little to no risk that Empyrean Asura was here in such a remote place of his empire. That also went for any late Accomplished Demons. Thus, Cao Yun flew toward the smoke without any worry. Still, he was careful. After going to all this trouble to come home, he wasn''t going to be reckless. Sometimes, it was just before one reached one''s goal that things would go south, especially because one would relax and become careless.


    In a few minutes, Cao Yun spotted the origin of the smoke. It was night and the fire was extremely clear even lost within the woods. Several trees had been cut off to create a small resting place and in its center, there were eight demons. Two of them were wearing armors and two of them were women with extremely long dark hair. Their skins were very red, accentuated further by the light of the camp fire.


    All around them, Cao Yun could feel a powerful killing intent. Although one couldn''t see the blood they had spilled, Cao Yun could feel it. Hell, he could even smell it in the air. Indeed, the young man saw the broken bodies, the burned ashes, and the tormented captives. All of a sudden, his rage peaked. If he had not controlled his Flying Poison and his Drop of Wrath yet, they would have exploded into fury. Immediately, he had the desire to slaughter them all. In fact, his killing intent almost broke his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. Thankfully, Cao Yun controlled himself. He let this anger pass through him.


    Now, anger and rage were mere weapons for Cao Yun. He wouldn''t lose himself in them. But he could still use them efficiently. However, that didn''t mean that he didn''t experience them nonetheless. Cao Yun was sincerely furious. Those eight Golden Blood Children were already dead. But he did need to know the situation before acting out of impulse. Then, he would need to extract some information out of them. Finally, they would meet their just punishment.


    Cao Yun sent his spiritual senses all around the area. In it, he had especially focused on his Flying Poison. As such, he had magnified his killing intent. Suddenly, the eight demons took out their weapons and got into some kind of battle formation. Although Cao Yun didn''t recognize it, he was able to easily spot their weaknesses.


    This battle formation wasn''t too bad considering their cultivation. In fact, Cao Yun would have even praised their teamwork if it had been in different circumstances. Clearly, those eight demons knew how to work together. Even a mediocre battle formation would have become good in their hands. But it would never be good enough for them to deal with a 6th-grade Accomplished Demon such as Cao Yun.


    There was immense tension in the air. As the demons could feel Cao Yun''s rage, Cao Yun could feel their fear. They knew that their lives were at risk. And yet, none of them tried to run for it. At the very least, they were used to life and death situations. If one of them broke the battle formation, they truly would have no chance at all. But with it, they might be able to survive. Although the chance was slim, it was better than nothing. That being said, they would rather avoid a fight if possible. And since they didn''t know who their enemy was, they were still waiting.


    Using that to his advantage, Cao Yun didn''t show himself and only relied on his asura cultivation, not revealing he was human. From all around the demons, Cao Yun''s voice echoed. It was impossible to tell where it was coming from. In fact, some times, it sounded as though it was coming directly from their own minds. The group''s terror increased again. Right now, they were facing a powerful Accomplished Demons. Even though they couldn''t tell his cultivation, they could guess that he was either a late Accomplished Demon or very close to becoming one. And they were correct.


    "Who are you?"


    A woman bowed in a random direction as her companions lowered their weapons and knelt on the ground. Their weapons were mostly long range weapons but there were two huge broadswords too. On their halberds, spears and broadswords, Cao Yun also recognized the serrated blades he had grown accustomed to in the Desolate Sepulcher. Indeed, making one''s opponents bleed to death was probably a universal tactic among demons. After all, blood was quite literally Qi for the demons. Losing blood would make anyone weak of course, but it wouldn''t deplete humans of much Qi. On the other hand, demons would also lose great amount of Qi. However, it was harder to make them bleed. As their cultivation rose, demons'' blood became denser and heavier.


    For example, Cao Yun''s Golden Blood was so dense that merely cutting his skin would not make him bleed at all. Thus, those weapons were quite useful to induce bleeding when dealing with demons. Clearly, those demons were used to fighting other demons, not humans.


    "Senior, we''re envoys of the Burning Blood. Our task was to punish heretics who turned away from our Demon God."


    "Was your task to torment them to such degree as well?"


    The woman seemed embarrassed by the question. However, there was no remorse at all. In fact, she genuinely looked like a child who had made a small mistake and got caught. This made Cao Yun even more furious.


    "Senior, we had been on missions for a very long time. My companion and I needed some entertainment. But I assure you that we''ll deal with those poor souls according to the rites. We will purge their heresy in the Holy Fire. Rest assure that we won''t fail in our mission."


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    "You said that those are heretics?"


    "Indeed, Senior. They refused to worship Demon God Da Mo. Their own neighbors denounced them. Despite our efforts to bring them to the light, they didn''t listen. They kept claiming that Demon God Da Mo was a devil and that Empyrean Asura was a tyrant. Apparently, they didn''t worship any living god. Some even referred to Traitor Nuwa as Emperor. Such heresy cannot be accepted. We''ve burned their houses and found several heretical documents. Unfortunately, there are still too many heretics and we can''t focus our efforts on the humans because of those traitors."


    "I see..."


    That was it. Cao Yun didn''t need to hear more. Once he was done with them, he would simply search their seas of consciousness himself.


    All of a sudden, the poor boy who was hanged fell to the ground. The rope tying him to the tree had been cut by Cao Yun''s spiritual senses. Before the demons could react, a young man had appeared before them. Obviously, this was Cao Yun.


    He had put on an azure robe looking very similar to the robes of the Wubei Sect. Of course, it didn''t have any symbol of the Wubei Sect on it. So the demons couldn''t recognize it at all. But it did appear strange to them without being able to tell what was different. By their reaction, Cao Yun guessed that he would need new clothes. Even this robe appeared too human. For the moment he didn''t care as those demons would not survive the night.


    Cao Yun was unarmed and Hongyu was still hidden. However, the eight demons were not stupid. They immediately knew that this normal looking young man could kill them all with ease. For the time being, they were still waiting to see how things would evolve. Hopefully, he would just scold them and ask them to deal with the heretics. None of them could imagine that such a powerful Accomplished Demon was not a follower of Demon God Da Mo. And the thought that he wasn''t even a demon to begin with didn''t enter their mind one instant.


    "I''ll let you perform your move first. After that, you''re dead!"


    The killing intent around the group peaked. There was no doubt about it. The man in front of them was going to kill them. Although they didn''t know why, it was absolutely certain that his mind was made up and there was no talking him out of it. That also meant that they had only one chance to survive this encounter. As such, they did not hesitate. If their enemy was overconfident, they would use it to their own advantage. In the past, they had already killed an early Spirit Warrior with their tactic. There was no reason it wouldn''t work on an Accomplished Demon.


    To an untrained eye, their kneeling positions would look submissive. But to Cao Yun, they were clearly fighting positions. Their goal was to give the impression of submission so as to create confusion and surprise when they suddenly turned deadly. None of that would work on Cao Yun. At the moment, he was testing his Spear Heart. Indeed, he had not taken out his spear or any weapon for that matter, but his sea of consciousness was brimming with the golden hue and the hymns of his Spear Heart scripture.


    Suddenly, all demons drew their weapons and attacked with perfect coordination. All of their Wei Qi melded into one. Even their blood cultivation was synchronized as they unleashed all of their strength in a single attack.


    ''Godly Pyre of Pure Bliss''!


    All their Qi and Blood Incarnation turned into fire. The eight of them literally looked like their skin was made out of living fire. Tongues of fire erupted from their weapons as they struck forward. They went directly for Cao Yun, attacking from many different angles, cutting off any possible retreat. However, the young man had no intention to retreat. Instead, he raised two fingers with his right hand while his left hand stayed behind his back.


    As he raised those fingers, they appeared as though they were a spear. Maybe it was their own attack creating some kind of illusion. But the eight demons saw a spear suddenly materialize in the man''s hand, or rather in place of his hand. Then, he stabbed forward with what now appeared to be merely his hand.


    Without any special technique, Cao Yun''s spear hand stabbed toward the battle formation itself. However, he wasn''t aiming at any demon in particular. Instead, he was aiming at a weakness within the battle formation. Battle formations were similar to array formations. Instead of changing the flow of the natural Qi with flags or other instruments, battle formations altered the flow of Qi within several fighters and between them. But that did meant that their was a complex flow of Qi between the fighters. And Cao Yun had just targeted a weakness within this flow.


    As his strike hit, their battle formation was disrupted. It suddenly collapsed on them. To their surprise and dismay, the flames turned against them as they suffered a backlash. It wasn''t enough to kill or even injure them severely. But it completely ruined their plan. Indeed, they intended to unleash all of their strength and simultaneously run away. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had not taken the bait.


    Now that their battle formation was down, Cao Yun pressed forward. In a flash of lightning, he arrived in front of the woman who seemed to be the leader. Once again, he simply used his two fingers and stabbed her in the shoulder. Her right arm fell to the ground as her shoulder exploded. A man behind her got caught in the attack as Cao Yun''s Spear Heart had turned his hand into a deadly spear. His head simply disappeared in a mist of blood.


    To their credit, the demons didn''t panic. They didn''t just kill elderly people and children. Indeed, they had been on the front lines against the humans as well. Although they were terrified and almost certain that this was their end, they stood their grounds and fought. Since they couldn''t flee anymore, they had to at least do something, anything.


    All of them were ready to attack Cao Yun but he simply moved too fast for any of them. It was as if time had slowed down. Lightning struck three times. This wasn''t lightning though, it was Cao Yun moving around and stabbing with his right hand. At no time did he move his left hand. In fact, his posture barely even changed. He simply appeared at one spot and moved his right hand in a very natural and relaxed manner. Each time his hand moved though, blood would be spilled.


    The eight demons were now on the ground. Five of them were dead for sure. One had a gushing hole where her heart used to be. Another demon had simply been cut in half. The other two had lost their heads just as their other companion had.


    But the three remaining demons were in no state to fight back. Their leader had lost her right arm completely. Because of this wound, she had lost so much blood she was unable to even move. The killing intent from Cao Yun had literally entered her body already and she felt as though she was in a burning hell while still feeling extremely cold at the same time. The sensation was more disturbing than painful as she was in shock. Her two surviving companions were in terrible situations as well. In fact, they were both dying at the moment. But they still had enough time left for Cao Yun to get the information he wanted from their very minds and souls.


    Among the victims of the eight demons, only the boy''s mind was clear enough for him to understand the scene. He simply couldn''t believe what he was seeing. For days he had hoped for those demons to die in agony. And now, his wishes had come true before his very eyes.

 Chapter 648: A shattered mirror

    Honestly, Cao Yun felt very good and at the same time he resented it. Indeed, this really wasn''t the place to have such positive emotions. All around him was death and desolation. Cao Yun was especially moved by what could happen to young people, girls in particular. Obviously, it would affect most people. But Cao Yun''s past with his sister made him particularly sensitive to those things. As such, he didn''t like the feelings he had right now.


    He had to admit that it did feel incredibly satisfying to be able to destroy Golden Blood Children, the equivalent of Mortal Warriors, without any effort at all. Even without his cultivation, his mere Spear Heart was enough to slaughter them all as if they were nothing. Despite their battle formation, none of those demons had ever understood even a Martial Aura. As such, they were just too weak for Cao Yun. And this had felt incredible. At the same time, he couldn''t just forget what had happened and the people suffering around him.


    In fact, it ironically added to his satisfaction. The sensation that he had punished the wicked felt good. For once, the situation was very clear. There was no doubt as to who the bad guys were. Unlike in the Desolate Sepulcher, Cao Yun had no moral dilemma. He could simply slaughter the wicked and protect the innocent. Unfortunately, many had died before he arrived. And those who had not had still been horribly tortured. That being said, Cao Yun was happy with the resolution. And this didn''t sit too well with him as it felt like it wasn''t the place for that.


    Without any hesitation, Cao Yun entered the seas of consciousness of the demons still alive. A Soul Memory Search could be a deadly technique even if one didn''t mean to kill someone. The three demons before him were dying anyway. As such, Cao Yun didn''t have to care at all about their survival. And even if they had not been dying, he would have gladly killed them with his Soul Memory Search. But he was also trying to improve his mastery over this technique.


    In the first demon''s sea of consciousness, Cao Yun used the orthodox Soul Memory Search, the same one used by Xiao Xuefeng. His own soul entered the demon''s sea of consciousness. Despite their particular lack of Dantian, demons still had their sea of consciousness in their brain, where humans had their Upper Dantian. His sea of consciousness was in a terrible state after the fight. Even as the demon was still alive, his very soul was beginning to leave his body while his Po was slowly turning into Death Energy as it was starting his death process.


    The infinite ocean had turned completely black. Bones were forming as though tiny particles in the ocean were coalescing into bigger masses. Those bones were perfectly white and contrasted with the somber ocean. As they appeared, they seemed to siphon the water more and more. Cao Yun felt as though he was back in the Yellow Death World. And, in a sense, he was. After all, the Yellow Death World had been Cleansed Asura''s dying Inner World. Of course, Golden Blood Children had no Inner World but one''s sea of consciousness was very similar. Indeed, one would turn their sea of consciousness into their Inner World in the higher realms of cultivation.


    At the moment, Cao Yun was cultivating the Po of Life, the one responsible for the formation of the body. But before him, Cao Yun could observe the Po of Death, the final goal of the Corporeal Soul, breaking down the body, helping the Ethereal Soul leave the body. As negative emotions mixed with this process, one''s Qi could turn into Evil Qi. And right now, Cao Yun could see everything before him. Obviously, he thought about his ''Death Verses''.


    Thanks to his understanding of ''See Through the Mud'', Cao Yun could easily perceive Death Energy. In fact, he could even control it to some extent with his mastery of ''Death Reeling''. Right now, he was observing the secret of ''Living Death'', how Po could become a source of Death Energy. He had already observed it a few times, but this was different because he had reached the stage of Po of Life and Po of Death. His understanding of his own Po was revealing new things to him. He might be able to perform a rudimentary version of ''Living Death'' if he could master both of those aspects of Po. However, Cao Yun wasn''t going to work on both aspects at the same time. He had already tried and it had gone badly. That being said, he was impatient to work on his Po of Death. Finally, he could advance his understanding of ''Death Verses'' without becoming a Sage. Even if he couldn''t understand the Dao of Death, he could still progress in ''Death Verses'' to some extent.


    All that was good, but Cao Yun focused on his Soul Memory Search. As he had taken the appearance of Axiu Qian, Cao Yun grabbed the void at the center of this decaying sea of consciousness. Suddenly, it turned into a globe of black light that had not been there an instant ago. Unraveling many strands of his enemy''s soul and emotions, Cao Yun finally reached what he was looking for, he saw many memories in front of him. In an instant, he could see the life of the demon dying before him.


    As he was watching this life unravel, Cao Yun felt even better about his death. Thankfully, there was no redeeming quality to his life. This Zhen Moyu was nothing special. Since he was young, he had been a bully. Then, older, he had turned for the worst. Their chief had ordered them to purge some heretics in nearby villages as they had received words from believers in Demon God Da Mo who lived there. Their orders had been clear, they had to kill them and nothing else. However, they were bored so they decided to have some fun. Besides, Zhen Moyu found some of the girls very attractive. He even proposed one of the girls to spare her for her company but she refused herself to him.


    Sadly, this girl wasn''t among those still breathing. Cao Yun could see everything he had done to that poor girl as if he was the one doing it. It was like being in a dream. The more Cao Yun experienced Zhen Moyu''s memories, the more furious he became. At the same time, he could feel something else going on in his soul. Indeed, Cao Yun could imagine and almost feel the agony of the poor girl. As such, it arose the interest of his Yin Bird.


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    In fact, Cao Yun himself was in pain, but this wasn''t a physical pain. Everything before him reminded him of what had happened to his sister. Even now, he didn''t know what Emperor Weide had done to her to make her forget who she was. Seeing this poor girl suffer because of the lust of such a disgusting man, Cao Yun was indeed in pain. This helped his Yin Bird grow stronger. And Cao Yun knew it. But there was something more.


    Once he was done, Cao Yun had obtained some information, but Zhen Moyu was just an underling, he didn''t know much. That being said, Cao Yun had found out who was their chief in the region and where their camp was. He had also figured out that the war with the Hongchen Kingdom was still raging. No side had taken the advantage. Empyrean Asura had promised a swift victory but the demons had now been fighting for almost a decade. Morale was low among the demons and Empyrean Asura launched more and more internal campaigns to slaughter dissidents and heretics. The definition of heresy had also been extended over and over again.


    What really surprised Cao Yun was the faith of the people who had just been slaughtered. Apparently, they believed in a Cosmic Buddha. In itself it wasn''t too strange. However, his name was unmistakable. Although this was in another language, Cao Yun recognized it immediately, they were believing in the Wheel Sutra of Buddha Cangjing. Although Cao Yun wasn''t religious, he still knew a lot about the Wheel Sutra. After all, it was the largest faith within the Hongchen Kingdom. Technically almost everyone followed the School of Ren Dao, but it was a philosophical school, not a religious one. As such, the Sutra Faith was indeed the largest religion.


    According to the legends, Buddha Cangjing was a figure of the Legendary Era. But one night, a man had a dream where Buddha Cangjing gave him the Wheel Sutra. And the same kind of story existed among the demons. For them though, Buddha Cangjing came from the same world where Demon God Da Mo was born. In their faith, Buddha Cangjing was above Demon God Da Mo and had wanted to preserve the demons from his evil teachings. Their Sutra Faith was extremely similar to the one followed by humans in the Hongchen Kingdom. But they were oppressed and very few in the demon kingdoms. Before Empyrean Asura''s conquests, they had more influence and power. But he crushed them.


    Their Sutra Faith talked about how one could better understand the Way by living a simple and even solitary life. There were a bit more restrictions as demons had stronger emotions. But apart from that, it was almost the same Wheel Sutra. What truly differed were the rituals and the various practices around this Wheel Sutra. But the core teachings remained the same.


    Obviously, this shook Cao Yun a little. He wondered if that Buddha Cangjing had really existed. At the same time, it was good evidence that someone had indeed given this Wheel Sutra to the people. But at the same time, the stories were very different. If Buddha Cangjing had truly existed, he probably wasn''t either a man of the Legendary Era or an asura of Demon God Da Mo''s birthplace. In fact, he might not be either a human nor an asura...


    Anyway, Cao Yun wasn''t too interested in theology at the moment. If his cultivation progressed enough, he could leave this planet and sail through the universe and even beyond to find all those answers.


    After getting the memories of Zhen Moyu, Cao Yun hesitated. In the end, he decided to use a technique he had learned in Cleansed Asura''s documents, ''Melting the Shattered Mirror''. It was very similar to ''Fate Devouring Gate'' but it was about souls. In ''Fate Devouring Gate'', one would absorb the blood, and if possible the essence, of a stronger cultivator in order to improve their own blood and essence. On the other hand, ''Melting the Shattered Mirror'' was about devouring one''s very soul in order to improve one''s soul as well. It was more dangerous as souls contained traces of the person''s mind and ego. It wasn''t just pure energy.


    As such, Cao Yun was more confident using it with someone with a weaker cultivation. The technique was simple enough but hard to master. One would start by shattering the enemy''s soul as much as possible. Then, they would melt every fragment of it to get rid of the person''s ego completely. When their soul was just pure energy, then it could be absorbed.


    Without any hesitation, the giant figure of Axiu Qian smashed the very air before him. Cracks appeared in the void and spread all over the place. From Axiu Qian''s figure, five chains emerged and Cao Yun''s Turbid Demons appeared out of the blood that was Axiu Qian''s body. From all of them, black flames emanated. They spread like wildfire throughout the cracks, causing more and more cracks.


    Cao Yun had the idea of using his Black Heart Flame to thoroughly destroy his enemy''s soul. This Black Heart Flame was full of Evil Qi and Death Energy. It consumed his enemy''s soul while splitting it into tiny fragments. Everything that was Zhen Moyu was consumed by the flames until only raw soul remained. In a sense, it was similar to his Soul Embryo as it was devoid of any personality or memories. Once Zhen Moyu''s soul had reached this stage, Cao Yun decided to absorb it. But he wasn''t willing to pervert his own soul by this ingestion.


    Instead of using the fragments to improve his own soul, he used them for the Drop of Wrath and the Turbid Demons in it. After all, although it was now a part of him, it wasn''t his soul. In a sens, it could be said to be his Demon Soul. Considering the amount of rage and negative emotions in it, Cao Yun had no doubt that it couldn''t be perverted by Zhen Moyu''s soul at all. Besides, almost nothing of Zhen Moyu remained, if anything at all. Cao Yun''s Black Heart Flame had been extremely effective.


    In Zhen Moyu''s collapsing sea of consciousness, the five Turbid Demons were devouring pieces of bones and swallowing vast amount of the ocean water. At the center of everything was Axiu Qian. At the same time, Cao Yun was observing the spectacle, trying to perceive a bit more of his ''Death Verses''. Seeing Zhen Moyu''s soul being destroyed in such a fashion, Cao Yun was absolutely cold. In the first place, he had not cared about this man''s fate. But after seeing his entire life, he reveled in his demise. Maybe he could have been reincarnated into someone better, but Cao Yun thought it was even better to just get rid of him completely. There would be no reincarnation for this abomination.


    As his Demon Soul was growing stronger, Cao Yun could feel that his Soul Embryo was also improving. The changes were extremely subtle, but his Soul Embryo seemed to echo what was happening within his Drop of Wrath. Unfortunately, those changes were much more minute and subtle within the Soul Embryo. It was always too hard to know what was really going on within the Soul Embryo without risking damaging it.


    When the Black Heart Flame had completely consumed Zhen Moyu''s soul, Cao Yun controlled them with his Rune of Fire. They emerged out of his skull and engulfed his entire body. In a matter of seconds, Zhen Moyu''s entire body was consumed by the flames. Cao Yun extracted all of his blood and crushed it into a tiny drop before turning his sight toward the other two demons who had witnessed the scene with terror in their eyes.

 Chapter 649: A messy world

    Cao Yun didn''t feel any remorse for what he had done. Obviously he wouldn''t have killed and consumed the soul of just anyone. But those demons didn''t deserve any mercy at all. Honestly, it felt refreshing to him. There wasn''t any moral conundrum for the moment. Besides, the agony he felt all around him was fueling his Yin Bird. Now that the other two demons had seen their companion being burned body and soul and his blood extracted into a small bead, they were cowering in fear. After Cao Yun was done with them, nothing would remain.


    Immediately, they were ready to tell him everything he wanted to know. They began to beg for their lives but it was to no avail. Cao Yun had used Zhen Moyu as a test. Now that he was perfectly confident in his ability, he didn''t hesitate. His soul entered both of the demons at the same time. The same scene happened within their seas of consciousness. The giant figure of Axiu Qian shattered their very souls as the Black Heart Flame spread everywhere. The fear and agony of those two demons was consumed by Cao Yun''s Yin Bird through the Drop of Wrath.


    Some tiny pieces of the white bones within their dying sea of consciousness entered the massive body of the three-headed demon. They immediately merged with Cao Yun''s Yin Bird. As they did, Cao Yun did feel the pain of his victims. At the moment, he was suffering just as much as they were and this was pushing his soul cultivation further and further. In fact, he also felt the agony of the people his victims had tortured and slaughtered throughout their lives.


    Honestly, those two demons weren''t as bad as Zhen Moyu throughout their lives. However, they had still done terrible things even before slaughtering the people lying around them at this very moment. Despite a few difficult moments in their lives, Cao Yun didn''t have mercy for them. Weakness to the cruel ones was cruelty to the weak ones.


    Among those two demons was Mei Qingluan, she was the leader of this small group. Born in poverty, she had fought extremely hard to become stronger and stronger. Honestly, this was admirable. But she also had no concern for those she had to crush to get to the top. As long as she could advance her career, she would torture and slaughter just anyone. Besides, killing weaker demons felt her feel superior. Her humble beginnings were still plaguing her and crushing those beneath her made her feel better about herself.


    In her memories, Cao Yun obtained more information than he had with the other demons. Now, he had a good understanding of their chain of commands, of where other groups were in this region. Apparently, they were in the extreme North of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. This was the last region they had conquered. Since the war with the Hongchen Kingdom had started only a few years after this conquest, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had not been able to completely eradicate those they considered heretics. Besides, their definition of heresy had kept on extending.


    The Empyrean Asura Theocracy''s forces were spread thin already. Most likely, they were waiting for the end of the war to slaughter all heretics everywhere. But the army was forcing more and more demons into its ranks. Clearly, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy wasn''t in a very good position. The strength of mankind had always been its unity. Even after being conquered, the demons didn''t all kneel before the Empyrean Asura. A few revolts had happened even before the war. In fact, since the beginning of the war, more and more demons were opposed to it so the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had been forced to delay some battles in order to suppress those revolts.


    Everything Cao Yun was learning was good news. The support for the Empyrean Asura Theocracy wasn''t as important as he had thought. Still, it didn''t mean that the demons were favorable to the Hongchen Kingdom or the humans. But they didn''t necessarily wanted its annihilation either, especially if it was this costly. Empyrean Asura had promised a swift victory. Unfortunately, it had not worked out that way. The conflict was almost frozen.


    Mei Qingluan was the only one of the group who had been active on the front lines since the beginning of the war so she had a better understanding of what was going on. Unfortunately, her rank wasn''t very high. Thus, Cao Yun didn''t get a great understanding of the war. That being said, he now knew where the demons were most active. They were using tunnels directly under the Subei Province. Obviously, Cao Yun recognized these tunnels straight away.


    Those were the tunnels discovered by the Huang family. They were full of precious ores and spirit stones. Maybe they were affecting the array formations left behind by Emperor Nuwa and Saint Duan Huang. In fact, it was possible that the array formations themselves had helped the natural formation of those spirit stones. With Cao Yun''s knowledge of array formations, this made perfect sense. That place was probably where the array formations protecting the Hongchen Kingdom were the weaker. That being said, the array formations directly around the Hongchen Kingdom weren''t the only defenses humans had against demons. Besides, the tunnels limited the number of demons the Empyrean Asura Theocracy could send at a given time.


    Moreover, the humans were not stupid, they knew that the demons were coming from there. They had placed large forces to fight them off. As a result, this place had turned into a vast network of trenches. No one seemed to be able to win anything there. There was only death. But Cao Yun decided that this would be the perfect place for him to go back into the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, he knew those tunnels very well thanks to the Huang family. Most likely, the Huang family had been very helpful with their knowledge of the caves.


    After he was done devouring the souls of those demons, Cao Yun turned his attention toward their victims. The boy he had freed from the tree was now sitting, using this very tree to support his back. He had covered himself with some clothe and was massaging his throat and his many wounds all over his battered body. On the other hand, the girls were non responsive at all. They had barely registered what had happened around them in fact.


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    Seeing them in such a state gripped Cao Yun''s heart. He could see the face of his sister. Deep down, he didn''t want to imagine it but he did picture what it had been like for her when she had been captured. Cao Yun didn''t know if she had been tortured or abused. Maybe he didn''t want to know. But not knowing made him imagine worse fates every time. Most likely he soul had also been tempered with. Hopefully, her memories had simply been sealed. If that was the case, Cao Yun could easily get rid of those seals and make her regain those memories.


    Looking at the poor girls, Cao Yun wondered whether it was a good thing to give his sister her memories back. All of a sudden, she would remember her family''s slaughter and whatever torments she had been through. After all, Cao Yun knew that at the very least she had lost parts of her arm. He could imagine that she had suffered much more than that. As doubts began to creep up back inside his mind, Cao Yun focused on his resolve. It wasn''t the moment to doubt, it was time to act!


    Cao Yun''s worst enemy was very close and he now had the strength to oppose him. His cultivation was going very well. Soon he wouldn''t even need help to face Emperor Weide in battle. But for the time being, he had to take care of the victims in front of him.


    All of Cao Yun''s doubts and painful memories were feeding his Yin Bird. Ironically, the more he suffered, the stronger he was becoming. With all the pain and torment around him, it would be easy for Cao Yun to develop his Yin Bird. In fact, it would probably be fully developed and tamed by the time he reached the border of the Hongchen Kingdom. Even without doing much, just taking in the sheer desolation all around him was enough to advance his cultivation. This was possible because his mind cultivation was very good and stable. As such, Cao Yun didn''t let this pain and agony overwhelm him.


    Trying to help the girls, Cao Yun reached his hand toward them. Immediately, they winced and drew back from his hand. In the same movement, Cao Yun''s hand drew back as well. Those poor girls were lost in their pain. Even now, they thought that their torment and abuse weren''t over. Either they had not realized that Cao Yun wasn''t part of the group who had tormented and tortured them, or they simply thought he was just another monster like them. For a few moments, Cao Yun stayed immobile before them.


    From his spatial ring, he took out some clothes and threw them on the girls. Maybe he should just wait for them to get some rest. When the sun was up, it would be a better moment to try and talk to them. With his spiritual senses, he had made sure that there was no one nearby. Besides, Hongyu was still flying over the place. If someone tried to approach, Cao Yun would know it soon enough to act in consequence.


    Now that the demons were killed and completely devoured body and soul, Cao Yun decided to take care of the other bodies. Those who had been reduced to ashes couldn''t be helped of course. But he could move the dead bodies. As there were movements within the pile of bodies, he knew that some had been thrown in it alive. With his senses, it was easy to find out who was dead and who wasn''t.


    While he was moving the bodies, Cao Yun was being observed by the young boy. He was looking as Cao Yun was respectfully laying the bodies of those he had known all his life. Some were so broken and disfigured that even the boy couldn''t recognize them. But he could make out some details here and there that told him who the body belonged to. Seeing this, the boy finally began to cry softly. All this time, he had been strong so as to not give his tormentors the satisfaction. But now he couldn''t contain himself. At the same time, he didn''t have the strength to go all out even when he cried. Something was still holding him back.


    Since he was being careful, it took Cao Yun a lot of time. Of course, he focused on moving away those who were still alive. He set them aside and gave them pills to help them. In the end, he had rescued four people. Everyone else was dead...


    Even those he had rescued were in a terrible state. Some had lot limbs or even their eyes.


    Finally, Cao Yun sat down and looked at the boy. Obviously, Cao Yun couldn''t stop himself from thinking about his own past. This boy had suffered even more than he had when he was a child. He had seen everyone he cared about being tortured to death and he had been tortured too. Besides, they had been betrayed by the other demons living with them in their village. In a sense, Cao Yun had also been betrayed by his own kind, through Emperor Weide. But it wasn''t the same thing.


    The young boy stood up and walked toward Cao Yun. He was holding some piece of clothe and was moving very slowly because of the pain. As he reached Cao Yun, the boy collapsed. Before Cao Yun could catch him, he stopped. The boy was now kowtowing in front of Cao Yun.


    "Great Lord, please help me avenge my people. Please. Help me kill them all. All those who gave us to those monsters. All those who stood by doing nothing. I want them all to suffer and die as we did! Help me! Please!"


    The boy''s voice was breaking as he had a hard time even speaking. His throat had almost been crushed while he was kept hanging on that tree.


    Once again, Cao Yun had a moral dilemma in front of him. He wanted to help this kid, but he was also afraid of what this kid would become. Looking at the boy, Cao Yun also imagined what he could have become himself. He could have turned out to be a demonic cultivator. Cao Yun could have turned against the entire Hongchen Kingdom. If he hadn''t learned how to control the Drop of Wrath, he would have become a feral monster. In fact, Cao Yun even thought about what would have happened if he had been found by a demonic cultivator instead of Xiao Xuefeng.


    The boy in front of him could become this feral monster. Although it could be a good thing for the Hongchen Kingdom as it would weaken the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, Cao Yun didn''t want that for the boy in front of him. Unlike Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun wasn''t good enough to enter the boy''s memories without risking damaging his soul. After everything the boy had been through, Cao Yun would risk doing that. Thus, he relied on the memories of the demons he had killed.


    Apparently, this boy was named Lan Duoyan. He was only fourteen. Cao Yun could relive what had happened to him. The demons had killed all of his family in front of him. Unfortunately, his mother had been abused and slaughtered before him too. The demons had found it very amusing that Lan Duoyan didn''t cry so they tried to break him by any means possible. Everyone he cared about had been tortured and killed. He had been tortured himself of course. Those images flooded Cao Yun''s mind. He could imagine what this boy would do if he had the strength to avenge them.


    Cao Yun wasn''t sure what to do at the moment. He couldn''t waste too much time here, but he didn''t want to simply abandon those he had saved. At the same time, if Cao Yun gave him strength, without guidance, this young man could become a true monster. Once again, the young man was faced with some dilemma. Even when this wasn''t about politics, things could be difficult. Apparently, this was this very world that was messy. Although some things were straight forward, some were very complex.


    Figuring out what the right thing to do was seemed to be a headache each time.

 Chapter 650: Temporary disciple

    Honestly, Cao Yun could accept to turn a blind eye to the people who suffered all around the world. After all, he couldn''t resolve every single injustice in the world, even when those were tremendous. Besides, even if he had the power to act in all cases, he might not know the best way to resolve them and he would end up creating more harm than good. There were many people who were absolutely certain that they were doing the right thing and ended up becoming tyrants. Deep down, Cao Yun was convinced that Emperor Weide thought himself on the righteous side. In fact, even Demon King Mo Wang had thought he was right, that his actions were a necessary evil of some sort.


    All that being said, he couldn''t simply forsake the people who were suffering right before his eyes. Not being able to save the entire world was no excuse to not act at all when it was happening in front of him. But then, he had all the same problems he had before. Thankfully, his problems were smaller. At the moment, he was simply thinking of what would be the best outcome for the victims he had just saved.


    Saving them from one torment to let them suffer another one, probably even worse, wouldn''t sit well with Cao Yun. At the same time, he couldn''t take them with him. In Lan Duoyan''s eyes, Cao Yun saw the same rage that had seized him after the slaughter of his family and the loss of his sister. But it was even worse in his case. The young man didn''t know what future would await Lan Duoyan, what kind of man he would become if he survived.


    Looking deep into himself, Cao Yun made a decision. No matter how much Lan Duoyan had suffered, Cao Yun couldn''t give him too much help. First of all, he had other things to take care of. Thus, Cao Yun decided to do as Cleansed Asura had done to him. He would give Lan Duoyan the tools to fight for himself. However, he wasn''t ready to give him too much either. His main concern was that Lan Duoyan would turn into a monster, just as Axiu Qian had. Although his rage was turned toward the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, it was also turned to those who had not acted, who had cowered away while his friends and family were tortured to death.


    If Cao Yun didn''t do a thing, Lan Duoyan would probably die anyway and it would solve that issue. But Cao Yun wouldn''t accept that either. So he gave him some martial art manuals. Maybe Lan Duoyan would still end up being killed, but at the very least, he would have a fighting chance. Since he was too weak at the moment, Cao Yun chose the manuals that would help Lan Duoyan the most.


    Since surviving was Lan Duoyan''s main concern, Cao Yun began by giving him some stealth technique. Obviously it wasn''t as good as his ''Ashen Feather Seal''. This was a technique Cao Yun had found in the Desolate Sepulcher, used by the Sisters of the Abyss, ''Crimson Within the Moon''. As it turned out, it was perfect for demons and extremely good at hiding one''s bloodline. Demons relied much more on blood than Qi so it would probably help Lan Duoyan turn almost invisible to most Gold Children and a vast majority of the Golden Blood Children as well. Still, he had to reach a good enough proficiency at it first.


    Instead of simply giving him the technique, Cao Yun literally sent it directly into his soul. As such, he also added his own pointers to it. This would help Lan Duoyan master it faster.


    Cao Yun also did the same thing for a few martial art manuals. All of them were chosen specifically to allow the boy to survive even when all odds were against him. They stressed the importance of speed and of unpredictability. In fact, Cao Yun altered some of them to add techniques from his own ''Axiu Qian''s Blood Wrath''. As Lan Duoyan was a demon, it would be very beneficial to him.


    More than all that, Cao Yun gave him a watered down version of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. With his current achievement in it, Cao Yun could easily alter it. No matter how much Cao Yun would like to help the kid in front of him, he would never give the entire version of ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'' to a demon he had just met. As such, he decided to focus on what worried him within the boy. His altered version put all the emphasis on taming one''s wrath, the Flying Poison. But he also added parts of Yin Bird in it. After all, Yin Bird, which Cao Yun was cultivating right now, was all about one''s agony. Obviously, Lan Duoyan would be good with it.


    After all those gifts, Cao Yun also decided to protect himself. Within Lan Duoyan''s sea of consciousness, he put several seals. If the boy tried to disclose anything related to Cao Yun, including the techniques he had just received, his mind and soul would simply be wiped clean. All of his memories would be engulfed but his soul would endure. Unfortunately, Cao Yun wasn''t yet good enough to simply target specific memories, so all of Lan Duoyan''s memories would be gone.


    Besides that, Cao Yun had also made sure that if Lan Duoyan was completely possessed by his Turbid Demons, his seals would help him. But if Lan Duoyan lost himself and there was nothing to do, those seals would ultimately destroy the Turbid Demons along with the young boy. As long as Lan Duoyan didn''t become a middle to late Accomplished Demons, he couldn''t contend with those seals at all. They would be a great safeguard.


    Hopefully, with all of that, Lan Duoyan could survive. Cao Yun also looked at the other survivors. Unfortunately, they were all too unstable and broken to gift them the same thing.


    Raising up the still kowtowing Lan Duoyan, Cao Yun spoke to him in a very calm voice.


    "Boy, I''ve accepted you as a temporary disciple. What you suffered through cannot be expressed with words. No matter how much hatred you have in you, you can''t turn into a monster. As such, I have given you the means to save your own life. Whether you''re able to grasp this chance or not will be up to you. I have many matters to attend to. Since your friends are still in such a terrible state, I will give you some things to help them. I will allow you to teach them some of my techniques as well, but only when they''re ready."


    From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took several materials as well as his cauldron and his furnace. With his current cultivation and understanding of alchemy, Cao Yun was clearly a 5-star Heaven alchemist. Besides, his ''Aureate Grove'' was a great treasure as well. Using all of his knowledge, it didn''t take long for Cao Yun to refine many pills of high quality. He even used the blood of the demons he had just killed in order to refine a few pellets. Once everything was ready, he gave them to Lan Duoyan.


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    "Those pills will help your friends recover. They will also come in handy if you ever get injured. But their main purpose will be to help you in your cultivation. Obviously, they''re not miraculous, but they''ll help you reach the Golden Blood Child realm in less than five years, so long as you cultivate diligently. You should have enough for yourself and your friends. Follow my instructions when you use them."


    A thorough list of instructions appeared out of thin air before Lan Duoyan. The young boy didn''t even know how to react to all of this. In his eyes, Cao Yun was some divine messenger. At first, he had thought of him as a vengeful spirit, but now he was a great benefactor.


    Finally, Cao Yun carved a small array formation into a plate and gave it to Lan Duoyan. Since the young boy was barely a Blood Child, he wouldn''t be able to use a spatial ring. Thus Cao Yun had used his knowledge as a de facto 5-star Heaven array formation master to create a kind of spatial pouch. In that spatial pouch, he had put in the resources the group would need to survive for a few months. Unfortunately, he couldn''t put more in a single spatial pouch. Of course, he could still make more. But Cao Yun thought he had given them enough. He could always give more and stay longer with them, but at some point he had to move on. Honestly, it didn''t feel good.


    As much as Cao Yun didn''t want to be seen as some kind of great hero and even savior, he couldn''t disregard the pain right in front of him. It was especially true when it came to young girls and to this young boy who reminded him of himself. To be fair, Cao Yun had also benefited from this encounter. In a way he saw his gifts as him paying them back for what he had obtained even though those poor victims had nothing to do with it really. Right now, his asura cultivation was progressing along his ''Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''. Simply observing their torments through the eyes of those disgusting soldiers and being close to them had pushed Cao Yun''s Yin Bird to advance faster.


    Moreover, every single thing he had given Lan Duoyan were insignificant for him but incredibly important and precious to the young boy. Cleansed Asura had done it for Cao Yun and now Cao Yun had done it for this boy. In a sense, it was also a way to end his karmic bonds.


    After he was done, Cao Yun instructed Lan Duoyan on his cultivation. At the moment, he was a very weak 1st-grade Blood Child. In the first realms, he would have to circulate his blood throughout his body, organs and bones. The pills Cao Yun had gifted him would help improve his blood. With an improved quality, it would be both easier to move and to feel it as well. Getting better sensations would obviously speed up one''s cultivation. After that, demons had to send their blood deeper and deeper within their bones, directly into their marrow. Once again, Cao Yun''s pills would improve the quality of both their bones and marrow, getting rid of many impurities and strengthening everything. If one couldn''t break through to the Golden Blood Child realm in less than five years with both those pills and Cao Yun''s pointers, they would never amount to anything anyway.


    Still in disbelief, Lan Duoyan simply followed every instruction. For a very long time, he was convinced that he was in a dream. Maybe he was still hanged to the tree and was hallucinating all of that. Or maybe he was simply dead...


    Anyway, the young boy did everything Cao Yun told him to do. He was almost in a trance. Ironically, because his mind was unable to comprehend the situation, it was much more calm. This allowed him to better circulate his blood and to get incredible sensations.


    While Lan Duoyan was cultivating, Cao Yun did the same. His Turbid Demons had devoured all the fragments of the souls Cao Yun had shattered. For the moment, Cao Yun had only looked at their memories. Now, he decided to fully digest everything else. In his sea of consciousness, he manifested Axiu Qian''s figure at the center of his Nine Soul Peaks. From him, golden chains appeared, connecting him to those Nine Soul Peaks. On five of those peaks, Cao Yun''s Turbid Demons were visible. They were still partially trapped into the peaks though. And a sixth shadowy figure was barely visible on a sixth peak, it was obviously Yin Bird.


    Many small silver fragments were flying all around them. Not a single one could escape the Nine Soul Peaks though. It was as if Axiu Qian was the Sun and those fragments were trapped by its attraction while the Turbid Demons were celestial bodies orbiting the Sun, like the Piaolu planet.


    As Cao Yun was slowly digesting all of them, he was focused on his Soul Embryo. With each fragment absorbed by his Turbid Demons, he could feel both them and his Soul Embryo grow stronger. But that didn''t mean anything about how long it would take for his Soul Embryo to wake up. On the other hand, it would clearly speed up the process of forming and taming his Yin Bird.


    Something truly unexpected happened though. As Cao Yun was controlling the soul fragments, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom manifested itself. A few soul fragments were caught in it and disappeared in the palace of Dian Mo. This was the first time Cao Yun had any clue as to whether Dian Mo had survived or not. Unfortunately, even by focusing his mind and intent on the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Cao Yun couldn''t get anything more. In fact, it was possible that the one who had survived was Demon King Mo Wang. But it was also possible that neither of them had survived and this was just a reaction of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom itself. After all, the Drop of Wrath was no proof that Axiu Qian had survived, it was even proof of the opposite in fact...


    While he was cautious of not getting his hopes high, this still improved Cao Yun''s morale tremendously. This was a very good sing. That being said, he wouldn''t go around devouring the souls of others, not even demons. Cao Yun would not become like the demonic cultivators he had fought. He would never regard others as mere resources. That didn''t mean that he wouldn''t use his enemies as resources either. If someone meant him or innocent people harm, Cao Yun had no qualm destroying them body and soul, or even turning them into raw materials for his own goals. He wasn''t naive at all, especially after everything he had lived through and seen.


    -


    As the sun was rising in the sky, Lan Duoyan finally got out of his trance. When he woke up, he realized that Cao Yun had left. He might have thought everything had been a dream if only he had not all the resources left behind by this great master. Besides, the girls and the few survivors were free of their torment while the demons who had tortured them were gone forever.


    Not knowing in which direction Cao Yun had gone, Lan Duoyan kowtowed to the sun and swore to always remember Cao Yun''s words. He would get his revenge, but he would not turn into a monster either. For the time being though, Lan Duoyan swore that he would survive, no matter what. He would accept every humiliation just to survive one more day. And in the end, he would get his revenge!